#BITCH THIS IS OUR TERRITORY!!! OUR TOWN!!! HOW FUCKING DARE YOU!!!!!

[anqelbean]

Our entire town is flooded with cars I want these tourists to LEAVE US ALONE

[americancowgirl19]

Puppet Master

Summary: Riley Biers, king from the shadows.

Warnings: angst, fluff, vampire mob shit

Reader: Female Vampire Reader

Pairings: Riley Biers x Female Vampire Reader

Word Count: 2,310

A/n: @fyeahtaylorp

Masterlist

“And what do we have here?” Aro questions, tilting his head as Felix forces the vampire he, Demetri, Jane and Alec brought back from America.

“This is one of the two vampires responsible for the newborn army in the Cullen territory, Master.” Jane tells him. “The other was torn apart and burned.”

Aro steps forward and places his hands on the American vampire. He struggles but is unable to escape Felix’s grip. Aro reads his mind. He sees his life, his death and his ‘resurrection’. He pays particular attention to the part in his memories where the Cullen boy, Edward, told the guards about this boy being his daughters mate.

“I see,” Aro whispers, pulling from him. As far as he could tell this vampire had no ability other than the fact that he is easily manipulated. For millenniums he had hoped that when his daughter finds her match they would be as useful as she is. The fact that he’s one step away from being useless is a disappointment.

His first instinct is to kill Riley before his beloved daughter ever finds him. Then, perhaps, he could find a suitable match and have Chelsea bond them together. Unfortunately, for him, the plan is just a passing thought as not even two seconds later the woman in question struts into the room.

Riley instantly senses you. He struggles even more in Felix’s grip until he can see you. Even though you’re barely in the corner of his eye, it’s enough to settle him.

“I wasn’t informed a trial was in session,” You state, your voice sounding as smooth as honey. Riley craved to hear it once more.

“Ah, my darling,” Aro greets, smiling brightly at you. You return the smile, albeit a more reserved one, as you walk to his side. “They have just returned from their mission and brought back the one responsible for all the trouble,”

“I see that,” You mutter, your eyes not sparing your friends a single glance. You stare at the kneeling man as he stares back at you. “Have you come to a verdict?” You question. Aro’s calculating eyes stare are you.

“He created a newborn army, caused quite the eruption.” Aro tells you. Your head turns to him. It only takes one look for you to catch onto what was going on.

You love your father as he loves you. The two of you worked hard to build this coven. As much as you loved him, you weren’t naïve. You knew your father’s thirst for power. You knew he would do anything to gain an inch, even if it meant hurting the ones he claimed to love.

You also knew him like the back of your hand. You didn’t need to be a mind reader to know what he was thinking. Even if it had only been a few minutes since you walked into the room, you could already sense the tie binding you to this new vampire. A tie that Aro knew about. You assume, by the look in Aro’s eyes, that this vampire has no ability to please Aro.

Only vampires that were useful to Aro’s ultimate plan survived breaking the law. The only reason he’s still alive is because of the connecting tie to you. Still, you knew that wouldn’t have been enough to save him had you not arrived. 

“Well, I’ve been paying attention to the human news. I haven’t seen a single report about some demonic creature tearing apart a city in America. That means the vampire secret is still a secret.” You tell him. Aro’s lips tighten, his eyes trained on you.

You walk toward the kneeling vampire, unable to help yourself you comb your fingers through his hair enjoying how his eyes close briefly to enjoy the contact. You don’t stop walking, you pace around Felix as you continue with your second point.

“Has he had any dealings with the Children of the Moon?” You question. 

Aro shakes his head hesitantly. A pleased, yet cocky, grin lifts across your face.

 “He hasn’t exposed our secret to any human, unlike your precious Edward Cullen. He also hasn’t hunted in Volterra, that I’m certain of.” You mutter, knowing that your friends had brought him straight to the castle. “He hasn’t been a false witness to any other crime. Any immortal children?” You ask, your eyes glancing to your father as you pause by the twins.

“No,” Aro says lowly. You stare into your father’s eyes wonder if he wanted you to continue or if he was done pretending to be in charge. He remains silent prompting you to continue.

“Yes, he has caused some attention with his hunting habits,” You concede. You slowly move back toward Aro. “and yes his newborns made a mess of things. However, all the newborns are now gone and his hunting's in the future will be more... discrete,” You promise him.

“The Volturi do not offer second chances,” Caius growls from his throne. Your eyes roll as you turn toward him.

“Oh, do shut up Caius or I will have you punished for the town you drained in 1305,” You snapped, glaring at him. You and Caius spend a few moments staring each other down. A stare down you inevitably win. A small surge of pride runs through you when Caius averts his gaze.

Turning your gaze, you look back at your father. You continue to step closer to him until your just about toe-to-toe. You’re posture is relaxed but your gaze is challenging. You dare him to go against you.

“So, let me get this straight you want to kill him for a law that has been broken by everyone in this castle at least once?” You ask. “I just don’t see how that’s necessary,” You hum.

“Perhaps you’re right,” Aro states.

“Perhaps,” You hum condescendingly. “Felix, let him go.” You order. The brutish vampire releases Riley. You hold your hand out as you continue to stare at your father. Riley looks around him as he slowly stands up. Slowly, he takes your hand. “Though, is suppose to make up for his transgressions he can have a place on the guard,”

“A marvelous idea,” Aro nods. You hum, taking your gaze off of him. You send a smirk to Caius before pulling Riley out of the room.

“What’s going on?” Riley askes you quietly. You don’t answer.

You take him to your part of the castle and into your private quarters. It’s one of the largest rooms in the castle. It certainly impresses Riley.

“Make yourself at home,” You tell him, closing the door behind the pair of you. Riley turns to you after observing the room.

“What the fuck is going on?” Riley asks.

“Before I tell you my story,” You say taking a seat by the table. “Why don’t you tell me yours? It’ll be easier that way,”

You waited for Riley to begin. You understood his hesitance. When he did begin, you soaked up every detail. You managed to bite back multiple growls at every mention of this bitch Victoria. You didn’t know whether to be happy or annoyed that she’s already dead. You honestly would have liked the pleasure of killing her yourself.

“Well, I can tell you for certain that Edward was right. Victoria was using you. She wasn’t your mate.” Riley sits down in the adjacent seat.  “You weren’t anything more than a means to an end,” You tell him.

“What is this place?” He asks, looking at you. “What am I doing here?”

“This is Volterra, Italy. You are in the Volturi castle. We are the strongest and largest coven of vampires. The vampire world, like the humans, have laws. We’re the coven that enforces them.”

“And I broke your laws,” Riley states.

“Some minor ones,” You shrug. “You did nothing that nobody else in this coven has done,” You assure him. Riley frowns his eyebrows and you sigh. “Think of us as... the vampiric mob.” You smirk. With that explanation, everything starts to click for Riley. “Every vampire here serves a purpose because every vampire here - well, almost every vampire has some sort of ability. Like Edward with the mind reading and Jane with the torture,” Riley nods keeping up with you so far. “If you have value to the coven, you live. If you don’t, you die.”

“And what is my value?” Riley asks. You press your lips together.

“I’m your true mate,” You tell him not wanting to beat around the bushes. “You’re still alive simply because I want you to be.” Riley’s eyes widen a fraction. 

“You’re my mate?” Riley whispers. You nod, gently holding his face in your hand.

“And I have waited for you for over three thousand years,” You tell him.

“You’re-... What?” Riley asks. You grin laughing at his astonished look.

“I had lost faith that you would come,” You whisper to him. “I figured after all the lives I took and destroyed that I wouldn’t ever find you. I figured you had lived a human life and died long ago without me ever knowing. I never believed I was worthy of you but here you are,” By the end your sentence you had moved even closer to him. “And I will destroy this entire coven, my father included, before I allow one of them to harm you.” You promise.

“Three thousand years?” Riley whispers. You laugh kissing his cheek.

“I hope you’re into older women,” You whisper in his ear before leaning back in your seat. Riley’s quick to grab your hand before you can withdraw from him completely. You smile, interlocking your fingers with his.

“You’re father’s in this coven?” Riley suddenly asks.

“Aro,” You tell him. “He can read every thought in your mind with a single touch,” You explain. Riley instantly pictures him. “He would have had you killed had I not shown up,” You mention.

“Can you read minds too?” He asks. You smirk.

“My gift’s a little deadlier than mere mind reading,” You tell him. Riley raises his eyebrows obviously wanting to know. “I can kill everyone in this castle at the same time without lifting a finger or blinking an eye,”

“How?”

“Molecular combustion,” You tell him. “I can speed up the molecules in your body until you just burst. I can do it so fast you won’t feel a thing or I can draw it out,” Riley winces. “So, as you can see, if I want something, I get it,” You wink at him.

“What do you do here?”

“Destroy problematic vampires,” You answer shortly. “My father, along with Marcus and Caius, run the coven. I’m not into politics or power all that much. I have enough to make me happy. I have more power sitting in the background than I would on the front lines,”

“How so?”

“Fear,” You smirk. “Everyone here is afraid of me, with good reason. I’ve killed some of my fathers prized possessions more than once. It’s why the twins make such an effort to befriend me. I’ve also sped up Caius’s molecular structure enough to cause severe pain for a month straight after he pissed me off one time. They can’t control me. They can rule the coven all they wish but if I want something all I have to do is take it. It brings me great joy to watch the oh so powerful Kings of Volterra shudder in fear at the sight of me and stand by helplessly while I take what I want. Stomping on their ego is always satisfying.”

“So, even though I have no power, I will be apart of this coven?” Riley asks.

“Yes,” You nod. Riley slowly smirks.

“And since you truly hold all the power, does that make me the second most powerful vampire?” Riley arches his eyebrows. You chuckle winking at him.

“Now you’re getting the hang of it,” Riley smirks broadly. “You spent the last year being that red headed whore’s puppet but now you’ll spend the rest of your immortal existence playing puppet master with the strongest coven, hell the entire vampiric race as your puppets” You tell him.

Riley imagines his future with this kind of power. You stand up and walk behind him. Your arms circle around him and rub his chest. Your head nuzzles into his neck, your teeth nipping at his marble skin.

“Anything you want, my love, I will be sure to give it to you,” You promise him.

“Your father is the king of Volterra... but if we control him then...” You hum biting his ear seductively. 

“You catch on quickly, my dear” You whisper to him. In a flash, you come in front of him and straddle his waist. His hands instantly grab your hips. “Rule from the shadows,” You tell him. “Wil Aro, Marcus and Caius as a front all opposers and enemies will target them instead of us,”

“Surely vampires know of your power, wouldn’t they be able to figure it out?” Riley asks.

“When I use my power, I never leave witnesses outside of this coven,” You tell him. “There are only three people outside of this coven that know of my power. Edward Cullen, Carlisle Cullen, and Alice Cullen. Should word spread, I made sure they knew what I would do to those they love,” Riley smirks holding you close to him.

“Rule from the shadows, all the power we want, all the benefits, hardly any risk,” Riley mutters.

“A major step up from small town Forks, don’t you think?” You ask, tilting your head.

“Well, I certainly didn’t think this is where I’d end up,” Riley admits before getting handsy with you. You smirk, dragging your nails down his chest. “Certainly glad I did though,”

“Ditto,” You whisper, pressing you lips to his unable to hold back any longer.

[petri808]

N4+Inukag Ex’s Still in Love @liz8080 its angst 🙃

It had been a year since the break up, but Inuyasha was no closer to moving on and according to his best friend, neither was Kagome. He only knew what his ex was going through because their best friends were caught in the middle and providing updates. Poor Miroku and Sango, Inuyasha was sure they thought he and Kagome were idiots by this point.

Not that it was from a lack of trying, because they both were trying... maybe a little too hard to start dating again. Inuyasha had tried the typical avenues like bar hopping and even posting a profile on dating sites. But if irony wasn’t such a bitch, every single site he tried would match him to none other than Kagome Higurashi. It was fate, Miroku would coax the idea onto his friend. Yeah, well fate didn’t have to deal with reality and they were two stubborn fools unwilling to relent.

At the bars, Inuyasha’s handsome hanyo looks gained a lot of attention and the night would always start off right. Every single woman in the place took a chance to talk to him. If he liked what he saw, he’d give them a shot to butter him up, lulling them in with his molten amber eyes. Flirty conversations and flowing alcohol made for... women making excuses and leaving him to walk out single. Every. Damn. Time. Because something always sparked his ex’s introduction to the conversation. It turned out once Inuyasha was past the tipsy stage, all he wanted to do was talk about Kagome. Good or bad. It didn’t matter and according to Miroku during one very drunken evening, he’d even cried. If it wasn’t for the blackmail video, he wouldn’t have believed it.

Okay fine! So he still loved the woman! They’d been together for seven years, that’s not something you just get over quickly! She wanted kids and he was hesitant... it wasn’t a no, but it wasn’t a yes. That’s when Kagome broke up with him.

Inuyasha swirled the drink in his hand with a low growl. “You know our world isn’t always safe,” he admonished his co-worker, a fellow Yokai named Kouga. “And she’s human, the child could be born human, and what if I can’t protect them both?”

“Stupid,” the Wolf yokai sneered back. “You’d lose the woman you love over fear? The Taisho’s son showing weakness, that’s pathetic.”

“Bite your tongue wolf. It’s not just about fear and you know it.”

“Yes, it is.” Kouga countered. “Modern times or not, that woman has spiritual blood coursing through her veins, so an offspring will most likely be a full hanyo. I suspect Kagome senses this, so it is your own fears that’s overruling you.”

“Tch, I didn’t come here for a lecture!” Inuyasha stood up from his bar stool. But as he turned to leave, his phone rang.

It was Miroku. “Something happened Inuyasha. Kagome was attacked on her way home by a yokai. No one knows who. She’s been taken to Shinkon Medical and she’s... in a coma.”

“What?!”

“It’s really bad, you should get here as soon as possible.”

Inuyasha doesn’t respond and quickly rushed out of the bar with Kouga hot on his heels.

“What’s going on?!” Kouga questioned.

“Something attacked Kagome.”

“Oh, fuck.” Kouga could see Inuyasha’s demon side manifesting, purple stripes along his cheeks and red eyes replacing gold. It must be serious.

When they arrived at the hospital, Miroku took them up to the room Kagome was in. Not that Inuyasha needed his help to track the woman’s scent, but thanks to Kouga’s steadfast hand in his shoulder, he stayed cognizant enough to follow quietly so as to not scare the staff. Sango stood just outside of the door ready for their arrival.

“Brace yourself Inu,” the woman warned, “she’s... it’s a miracle she’s still alive.”

He simply nodded shakily and walked through, leaving his friends to wait. There really was no way to brace himself for what he saw. Kagome was almost unrecognizable. She had tubes and wires hooked up to beeping machines that flashed her life on a screen. It was an unnerving sound in an otherwise deadly silent room. Her arms were all bandaged up, one leg in a cast with pins and metal sticking out, but her head... his fists clenched tighter. Her forehead was wrapped in gauze, face bruised and swollen, her nose and mouth with tubes coming out of them to keep her alive. Even in the dim lighting, he could see the blood, smelled the dried blood stuck in her hair.

It was his nightmares turned reality.

That’s when he smelt it, the lingering stench of a familiar panther yokai left on Kagome’s body. Had this been a targeted attack? Anger surged to the forefront. Inuyasha leaned down and took her hand gently while placing a soft kiss on her forehead. Regardless of reason, this yokai would pay dearly!

Inuyasha growled and sped off faster then any of his stunned friends could stop him, out of the hospital. Kouga called from behind in pursuit, but his demon side had taken over and nothing could stop him. He leapt over buildings, speeding through alleyways before humans could even register what had passed them by. There was no way to know exactly where the rogue could be, but he had a territory to start in.

The panther yokai had always hated the inu’s reign over the central part of Japan. They fought and lost an epic battle during the edo period, forever retaining a grudge. But this was a brazen attack, the first since those long ago days, and on a human?! It was unforgivable. It was because of the inu’s control that the human world was safe from the yokai inhabiting it. Most of the other’s, like Kouga’s wolf clan fell in line without any problems, and peace remained. Oh, this panther will pay dearly for trying to kill the chosen mate of the Inu no Taisho’s son!! This wasn’t the first time the two men will clash, but it will be the last.

From a rooftop, Inuyasha perched as he quickly scanned the dock area. The yokai was alone. Perfect. With a deep roar, he dropped down on top of the male before it could take off. Claws and fangs unhinged as the two males battled. Despite being a hanyo, Inuyasha’s blood was no different than a full-blooded yokai, and worse, his adrenaline and anger was without remorse due to the bloodied images of his girl lying in a hospital bed to fuel his rage. If there were any humans in this desolate part of town at night, it must have sounded like the unholy blood bath it was.

Over and over, Inuyasha tore his claws and teeth into the panther yokai’s flesh. Though he sustained some injuries of his own, Inuyasha felt nothing but the pure hatred coursing through his veins. Kouga had finally arrived as well, his screams to his friend to stop, deaf in his ears. His blood lust had taken control.

“Stop!!” Kouga roared and jumped onto Inuyasha’s back. He hooked his arms around both of his friends shoulders, lifting, and wrapping his hands behind the man’s head to restrain them from moving freely. Inuyasha thrashed hard against the hold, but Kouga refused to let go, continuously growling at the man to stop resisting. “You’re gonna kill him!”

“He deserves it!” Inuyasha countered.

“Agreed! But that’s not for you to decide my friend, so stop! He’s done!”

“Let me go Kouga!”

“Only if you’ll stop resisting. Think about Kagome, idiot! I’ll take the panther to your father for punishment, you need to get back to her!”

At hearing Kagome’s name, the human side of Inuyasha began taking back control from his inner demon. Kouga was right. If they were caught like this by authorities, being thrown in jail for murder would do her no good. Inuyasha let out a long exhale as his body slowly transformed back to normal, and he slumped in his friends arms. “You’re right.”

“I know I am, idiot.” Kouga let him go. “Now get out of here, and make sure you clean up! You don’t wanna scare the hospital people to death!”

“Yeah, yeah,” the hanyo growled, though he appreciated his friends help. “Tell my dad what’s going on and I’ll contact him as soon as I can.”

“Will do.”

It didn’t take him long to get back to his own house to clean up, and it was only then did Inuyasha realize just how far he’d gone that night. What little of his clothes was left undamaged was soaked in the blood of the panther yokai. He threw it all away and showered the filth from his body, then bandaged his wounds as best he could. By morning they’ll probably be healed, but with the adrenaline gone, the pain had also kicked in. He’d still do it all again in a heartbeat.

When he shambled back to the hospital, of course Miroku and Sango were concerned with his appearance. He assuaged their worries before flopping painfully into a chair at Kagome’s bedside.

“The doctors say she has stabled,” Sango explained now that he had time to listen. “But the shock has left her in a coma, so now we can only wait for her to wake up...” the woman paused, “there’s a small chance, Kagome may never wake up.”

Inuyasha shook his head refusing to entertain such a suggestion. “She’s strong, I know she will,” he spoke even though inside he wasn’t so sure. He just needed to hear those words of reassurance.

“You’re right.” Sango agreed. “We think so too.”

“Hang in there.” Miroku patted the hanyo’s shoulder. “We’ll be back in the morning to check on you.”

“Thanks,” Inuyasha nodded weakly.

Now that he was there, the couple left him alone, safe in the knowledge that no one would bother Kagome anymore. So, at the sound of the door closing behind him, the full weight of emotions engulfed Inuyasha. The guilt tore away at what little sanity held him together. He blamed himself for her state. If he hadn’t been so stupid and stubborn to leave her alone, that panther would never have dared to strike at Kagome. She was strong, but couldn’t have fended off a surprise attack by herself.

“I’m so sorry,” the tears broke free as he held her hand tightly in his own. “Please don’t leave me, Kagome. I’ll do anything! You want kids? I’ll give you all the pups you desire, just please come back to me. I can’t— I can’t lose you. It shouldn’t have taken something like this to make me realize that I’m nothing without you.”

Inuyasha thought the pain of losing his mother at a young age was hard, but this was a thousand times worse. His soul was bonded to Kagome by choice and his heart felt shattered at the thought of never hearing her voice again. If she died, a piece of him would die along with her.

Night turned to day, and days passed by with little to no change in Kagome’s condition. Inuyasha rarely left her side, except to take care of bodily functions or shower at the behest of friends and staff. Her family, his family, and their friends visited, but at night it was just her and him alone between the stale white walls of the hospital room. For two weeks, Inuyasha didn’t get a full night sleep. Exhaustion forced him to pass out at times, only to be awaken by nightmares. To suffer along side Kagome was his penitence as far he believed.

He clung to the smallest of improvements. By week three, all the bruising and abrasions were healing well, and Kagome was taken off of the breathing tubes since she was doing it on her own. She was still fed intravenously with a high protein diet to give her body the fuel it needed to mend. To pass the time, Inuyasha would talk to her about everything and nothing, sometimes telling her stories of ancient tales, or just reading the newspaper aloud. The doctors had told him coma patients can sometimes hear them talking, so it was worth a shot.

“It’s crazy right?” Inuyasha chuckled if only to keep his sanity intact. “I’d give anything to hear you yell at me right now.” He sighed. “Just call me an idiot, because I deserve it.”

“You’re not... an idiot.”

Inuyasha sat up stunned at the beautiful sound of Kagome voice. It was soft and raspy, but music to his ears nonetheless. He squeezed her hand. “Yes, I am,” he smiled. “But it’s okay, as long as I still have you— if you’ll still have... me? I’ll give you what ever you want, Kagome. Kids, anything, just please stay with me. I love you too much to let you go again.”

This time it was Kagome who squeezed his hand weakly. “I love you too, you big idiot.”

Inuyasha leaned over and kissed her forehead. “Now there’s the woman I fell in love with.” Everything was gonna be just fine...

The banner is for my AO3

[freefallingup13]

Kicked (Jaren’s Puppy)

This one has some more descriptions of where Toni and Jaren live, and the coven they live with. There’s some pretty vulgar stuff going on, you’ve been warned. Jaren is not a nice man.

Taglist: @emreads

Summary: Jaren, the leader of a wild, warmongering vampire coven, likes to keep a few werewolves as attack dogs. Some of the  werewolves the coven keeps - like his favorite “Puppy” Toni - are his personal pets.

CW: This is a pet whump/slavery fic, if I continue to post more of this story there will be dubcon. This piece in particular has non-con touching (non-sexual), implied non-con, implied murder, blood mention, alcohol mention, fire mention, human trafficking (as livestock) mention, dehumanization, head injury, Whumpee is a girl, and the Whumper is called “Master”. (Also for anybody squicked by this specific trope, a second lady whumpee is held in a man’s lap as he taunts her and eventually injures her as he throws her away.)

The party was loud, as they always were. Toni focused on trying to keep her eyes closed, trying to ignore the whooping and hollering. The smell of alcohol was overwhelming.

On the bright side, she could focus on the smells more than the screams.

Beyond the stairs she laid herself on was a large dirt clearing in the middle of camp. All around were tents, ramshackle huts of leather and stone, cages made from tied-together dungeon doors. The other wolves were restless, pacing back and forth. Some of them were half-shifted, stuck in between human and wolf form; most of them preferred to be in their wolf form. It was easier to take the abuse that way. 

The huts belonged to the troops. Most of them were empty, thanks to the celebration. The half-open huts near the clearing seemed to be the only ones that were occupied. (She tried to forget that the outer huts would have people within.) The vampires screamed into the night like wild animals as blood and alcohol dribbled down from their chins. Well - “dribbled” was a polite way of saying how messy they were.

In the clearing was a large bonfire, towering to the sky. The ground below it was always charred to black, even on a normal day. Some of the younger vampires were being dared to jump over it, to run through the flames. Some of them took up the dare, coming out with sooty marks and charred clothes. They would throw their fists in the air with a cry of victory before being swept away in the cheering crowd.

They were all so immature. They were out of control.

But that was the way Master liked it.

Morale was high, there was a feast to be had. The coven whose territory they had taken over this week had hidden a town, hidden a quiet trade of prey. Of course Master had opened it up to his troops once the health of the humans had been verified.

She scrunched her eyes tightly. That was as far as she would think about it. Humans were only livestock here. Nothing else. There was no need to think any further - there was no need to listen.

A frustrated shout to her side made her whimper, cowering onto the stone steps. At the end of the clearing, on top of a hill covered with stolen stone steps, was her Master’s throne. A mishmash of leather, stone, antler and bone, it was an intimidating, chaotic sight. He sat on it now, on layers of animal hides, with another girl in his lap.

“Come on,” Jaren cooed as he wrenched her hands away from him. “Don’t you think it’s nice? Everyone’s happy.”

“No!” the girl shrieked, struggling to get away from him. He only had one arm around her waist, but as a human against a vampire, she had no chance of getting away. “You’re killing them, you’re killing us-!”

“Oh, I’m not doing a thing,” Jaren laughed, grabbing her face roughly. He turned her gaze to the crowd by the fire, the writhing and screams that were a mix of torture and excitement. “You think they didn’t do that to you? You think that family didn’t have their fun, with every single one of you that disappeared?”

The girl hissed, shutting her eyes to avoid the sight, squirming to cover her ears. Jaren wouldn’t let her - he knew her wrists were starting to bruise in his hand, the way she yanked at them so hard. “The Calates protected us!” she yelled. “They kept us safe! The sacrifices were for all our good!”

Jaren couldn’t help but throw his head back and laugh, crossing one ankle to his knee and pulling the girl closer. “That’s so fucking cute,” he chuckled as he grabbed her hair, pulling her face close to his. “You meant nothing to them. You were just food. Compliant food, at that. Your village made it so easy for them…”

The girl tried to hide it, but it was overwhelming. The frustrated shriek that broke through her clenched teeth as she tried to hit him only made him grin.

Toni winced, curling up to the side of her Master’s throne. She tried to keep her eye on the fire, fire was nice. Fire flickered, always changed. It would eat everything weak that it was given, then sputter out when there was nothing left to consume. She watched now as pieces of the Calate estate were thrown in. They’d looted paintings, furniture, architecture. The sight of wardrobes full of clothes being emptied onto the fire made her look away.

She didn’t want any reminders that people had been living. They were gone now. They were all dead. They didn’t matter.

A sigh escaped her as she tried to rub at her eyes. It was too much. She’d been good, staying chained up next to Master the entire night so far. This, though, she couldn’t take any more of it. The screaming, the burning, the blood. Worst of all was knowing what people were doing to their prey in the huts on the outside of camp, trying to get their privacy as they-

She shook her head roughly. Don’t think of the dead. They would all be dead, they didn’t matter.

Toni just wanted to go to bed.

Suppressing a whine, she got to her knees, peeking over the armrest of his throne. “M… Master?”

“Huh?” He’d been in the middle of taunting, his hands steadfast on the girl’s hands. Those hands were surely broken by now, with how purpled they were from bruising. “What is it, Pup?”

“Can- Can I-”

She didn’t get to finish.

In one, desperate lash, the girl kicked out while Jaren was distracted, trying to twist away. She was on his lap, it wasn’t her fault that she was lined up so perfectly. Her slippered foot hit Toni in the head with all the girl’s strength in her fight for freedom, all her fear.

The explosion of pain made Toni cry out, though she wasn’t sure if she could hear it or not. All she knew was there was some thud, her head shook, everything was falling. She was falling, rolling down the steps until the chain around her neck tugged taut. Her yelping was cut off with a choke as she was forced to a stop, and she gasped for air. 

Somewhere she heard shouting as she tried to claw at the chain around her neck. A distant scream, closer than the others. She saw a blurry shape through her tears, vaguely human, blood and deep wounds covering the front as it was thrown down the steps to the fire.

Cold hands cupped her face, made her look up. There was something warm and sticky on one of them. It felt comforting to feel something warm. She tried to open her eyes, but she shut them again with a long whine. Everything was too bright, too much.

“Fucking christ, get the vet!” Master. That was Master. He sounded like he was shouting, but everything sounded so quiet and foggy. 

The chain was unwrapped from her neck, and she took as many deep breaths as she could. Somebody was holding her close, keeping her head still with one hand - she could tell the familiar smell of her Master anywhere. She tried to bury her face into his shirt, tried to beg for comfort. Speaking was impossible, with the thud echoing in her head.

There was a commotion of voices around her, though it was only her and her Master there. No- a third hand, turning her face away from her Master. This hand was gentle, opened her eyes with their fingers, patted her cheek when she whined. She was the one who was in Master’s lap now, getting checked by a doctor-

No, no. A veterinarian. Vampires didn’t need doctors. Pets and humans did. 

“She’s a little out of it, it’s possible she’s gotten a concussion,” the voice was saying, much clearer to her Master than to her. “She’s going to need rest, plenty of water. Give her more meat and fish with her meals, it’ll take a little over a week for her to get better - she’ll be pretty confused for a while.”

“That dumb human bitch,” Jaren seethed under his breath, holding Toni tighter to him. “Not a single mark on my Puppy, and one fucking human comes around trying to kill her like an animal.”

“Well, she’ll get bruises from the chain, too, from the looks of it,” the “vet” said, pointing at her neck. Pale blond hair fell over carefully cleaned clothes as she leaned closer to the pair. “I can already see the marks. She fell pretty hard?”

“The little bitch kicked her as hard as she could,” Jaren snarled, starting to stand up. “Rest and more food, you said?”

“Yes. She might have trouble with lights and sounds, as well. And like I said, she’ll be rather-”

“She’ll be confused for days, I know,” Jaren groaned, propping Toni up so her head rested against his chest. “I’ll be taking extra good care of my Puppy, then.”

“Nothing too rough. Preferably, nothing at all.”

“Are you joking?” Jaren scoffed, turning to look at the girl in front of him. “She’s perfect as she is, you think I want her to go mad and ruin it all? I don’t want her head hurt. Of course I won’t do anything.”

Bored red eyes stared back at him as the girl brushed her hair behind her ears, then crossed her arms. “Agreed, Sire,” she said simply. “Go on, I’ll make sure the party doesn’t wear anyone out too much.”

“You play second-in-command too often, Cora,” Jaren growled as he turned to his home, an abandoned castle, repurposed for the wild coven he ran. “Let them have their fun. Why don’t you do the same?”

“Because your drunk troops get my doctors drunk, too. And they attack the dogs,” Cora said, her chin tilting up. “If I didn’t stay sober, there’d be no one to treat them.”

Rolling his eyes, Jaren began walking to the castle doors. “Whatever you say, you boring girl,” he called over his shoulder. “Lighten up a little.”

“You brought me to the darkness yourself, Sire,” Cora called back as she headed back down to the steps. “So you’re stuck with me there as it is.”

[lisinfleur]

T&T - Chapter 8: Copyright

Author’s Notes | It has been being ridiculously hard to keep my mind focused and being able to produce chapters and shots. My anxiety has been fucking me up hard. But I managed to produce this one and I really hope you guys like it. I'll keep fighting! This brain will come back to work! Words | 1946 ⁑ Warnings: None

After some days of living in that castle, Ivar's wounds were pretty better. With the right supplies and no limitations, Atli was able to show his whole talent as a healer, and Ivar's body was almost fully healed at this moment.

With his new breath, the fallen king took some time to walk around the castle, discovering the many halls that place was composed of while Iliana was taking her turn serving tables and cleaning the place.

His crutched steps took him through a hallway where he could hear Brynjar's voice along with some others, discussing.

The familiar sound of plans of battle and war called Ivar's attention and he gently approached, trying to hear without being noticed hanging around. His ears caught the subject in the middle but it wasn't hard to really understand what was happening inside that room.

"...must understand, my king, that the absence of an heir..."

"It's not something important, Udir! For Odin's beard, stop disturbing me about Brimir's death! I have no heirs, then what? I'm still this place's king and they still owe me respect!"

Ivar approached, observing the figures inside the room around a big and beautiful map carved in a trunk in the middle of the hall - probably the map of Brynjar's lands. Brynjar's index hit potently a part of that map marked with some wooden pieces painted in red as he spoke. Ivar presumed those were enemy armies marked for them to recognize.

"These lands are mine! Those men are Earls who swore over their arm rings oaths of loyalty they're not fulfilling! I am their king, Udir! And if they want to call themselves kings upon my lands, they can wait for me to die since there is no heir to succeed me anymore or they can fucking put their grown-men pants and come! And kill me for the place they want so badly!"

So, Brimir's death brought more problems to that king than Ivar could imagine. Maybe he could help the old king to solve his problems with the rebelled earls as a way to compensate for the loss he caused.

The bearded man beside Brynjar sighed, and Ivar started paying attention to him as well as he patted Brynjar's back - maybe a counselor...

"Calm yourself down, Brynjar. Things are harder than before and we must put our minds to work. Do we really need these lands this much?"

The man was thinking of giving up. Ivar sighed. He knew exactly what was that flame into Brynjar's eyes.

"These are MY LANDS, Udir! My people! My father's lands before being mine! I brought these bastards here and they swore to me they would be loyal to my father's legacy! Don't you dare to ask me to abandon the place he fought and bled to conquer!"

Those words touched Ivar's spirit and he felt his heart clenching inside his chest. Kattegat was his father's legacy. His father's lands he lost to a bitch and her consort... If there was someone inside that room that could understand Brynjar's feelings, this person was Ivar himself.

"Then if you won't accept any deal with them, then you should listen to what I told you: go through the breach with your best men as I keep them here with mine. It will gain you time and the surprise element, Brynjar. I'll hold them back and you'll be able to cross the breach and take them from behind. We kill these earls and finish this senseless war."

Ivar saw Brynjar sighing, tired. But his experienced eyes ran over the map observing Udir's fingers pointing the breach and location where he would be with the earls.

"Udir..." Brynjar tried.

And the counselor insisted, pointing the place once again.

"It would be stupidity to face them face to face, Brynjar! You know that! Don't you trust me? Go through the breach."

Ivar's face frowned. There were several other possibilities to execute that plan and attack the enemy earls from behind, from their sides, all of them not taking such a strict way. Why was that man insisting so bad with that breach in special? Ivar lost the conversation for a moment as the counselor was insisting with Brynjar about the plan. His blues attentively running the map, looking around, absorbing the information, and observing the enemy earldoms and red spots. That place...

Something clicked on Ivar's mind: the breach was a road to one of the enemy earldoms they were facing. A road...

... just like Repton's road...

Ivar's eyes got large for a moment: Udir was leading king Brynjar into a trap?

"You think about what I said, Brynjar. It will be the end of the war, once and for all. If you want to put an end to this conflict, then prepare your men and gimme the order. You go through that breach and we stop this conflict together." Udir finished, patting the king's back before leaving, passing through Ivar with a frown, following the corridor out of the castle.

Ivar came into the room, looking at the map now close enough to confirm what he was thinking: it was a road just like Repton's road, with the form of a valley.

Perfect for archers to swallow an army entirely before its king could scream the retreat...

It was a trap. A trap he once used against prince Aethewulf. A plan of his that someone was trying to use against Brynjar.

The old king was deeply breathing, trying to get his head colder when Ivar's voice woke him up to the new presence inside the room.

"Since when do you know this friend of yours... Udir?" Ivar asked, looking at the king who sighed once again, taking a seat near the table, trying to relax.

"He's the son of a friend my father had for his whole life. I know him since I was a young man. He's around ten years younger than me but I got him as a counselor because of his conquers. A good strategist, good warrior. Not that honored as I wanted him to be, but good anyway," Brynjar answered, with a tired voice.

"I can see he's not that honored," Ivar said, walking around the table towards the part of that beautiful map where the breach was carved.

"What do you mean?" Brynjar asked, ready to defend his counselor from the strange who just arrived in his castle and was daring to move the pieces of his map.

"I've heard it once from an enemy I had. One that I defeated. Yet one that will always have my respect," Ivar started as the eyes of the old king were following his fingers slowly moving the red pieces through the way as if he was playing with toy soldiers, moving the enemy armies towards the breach.

"What battles did you won?" Ivar repeated the old words, moving the pieces, spreading them all over the representation of the hills around the road, as if they were archers, ready to attack whatever could cross that road with a privileged position.

"What battles did you lose?" his eyes found Brynjar's large eyes as everything started to make sense in his old mind while Ivar moved the blue pieces through the road, showing the plan in execution right in front of his experienced eyes.

Ivar stopped the pieces right in the middle of that road - the whole army would be lost at that point. Brynjar's eyes found his, shocked with the terrible revelation in front of his eyes, but Ivar kept speaking, clarifying to that man that the crippled man in front of him wasn't just a simple wanderer.

"In victory, you earn a lot, my friend. But it is in defeat that you learn the most. Whoever is this man you have by your side; he's leading you to a trap. He'll put an end to this conflict indeed. But the earls won't be the ones falling in this day."

"Who are you?" Brynjar asked, seeing such a wise man standing in front of him as if Odin himself had come into Ivar's body to warn him about that meticulous and cruel plan against this life.

"I'm a man who lost everything. I was once a king, like you, my friend. A king who ruled over beautiful lands beyond the sea. Lands that were my father's legacy. Lands I fought my brothers to rule over. Lands that I lost to someone I trusted with my life. I've learned with my defeat and now, I humbly bring this knowledge to a friend I owe my life to. Listen to me, king Brynjar: this man you call your friend will bring you nothing but doom. I saw this happening before," Ivar said, pointing the breach. "This road in the middle of the valley will be a beautiful channel of blood and dead bodies, all of them holding arrows in every part of their armors an archer could hit. And these bodies will be your best men, taken down without the chance of a fight if you listen to what Udir says this time."

Brynjar looked down at that valley once again. The valley that Udir was insisting so much could cover his army's passage. It was so close to the enemy territories! Brynjar noticed he was so absorbed trying to deal with the dishonor of attacking the earls from behind that he didn't take notice of how close that valley was of the lands he was trying to take back: the earls would take his army down without even having to travel with their men! He would be carrying his best men - as Udir was insisting so much for him to do - straight to death.

"Exactly, my friend," Ivar said, with a smile in his face, as if he could read the king's thoughts through his enraged eyes. "Your best men would be taken down without effort. All the men that could prevent them from reaching your kingdom and taking your crown. The strongest ones would be with you here, to die by the arrows, as the weaker ones or the ones who could easily be converted would be their second target to be taken after you couldn't prevent them to move forward into your town anymore. A smart plan that counts with the idea that you would be unaware of their actions... However, it can be a good moment for you, my friend."

Brynjar was lost. How in the nine realms to have such a close figure betraying him that horrible way could be turned into a good momentum for him? Ivar could see the disappointment and disorientation dancing into the old king's eyes - feelings he knew very well in his heart.

"Focus," he called up, making Brynjar look straight into his eyes once again. "It doesn't matter how hard it is, there will be time for you to mourn once this situation is over. Now, it's time to keep your mind focused, my friend. Doom is knocking on your door and Lord Odin prepares your seat in Valhalla. I think we can make him wait a little longer."

"How?" Brynjar's voice sounded full of determination once again and Ivar couldn't help himself from smiling.

The old man was full of life and there was still a lot to be done for his kingdom. Approaching, Ivar took his decision: he failed his father's lands, but he wouldn't fail Brynjar's. And if he could help that king to save his people and his crown with his knowledge, then maybe it was a sign from the gods that his own kingdom was still recoverable for him.

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[scriptingpenguin]

Family blood

A little nice short story about Sett dealing with some internal issues

With the everyday tension growing in Ionia, few find days of respite and luxury. Noxians were knocking at their door every few days or so. One would always hear of a village or town being torn from Ionia’s beautiful lands. The Noxians cared not for the destruction they left in their wake, their only care was to conquer and reap the lands for their own. 

Navori, a town where a crime lord is at the center. Anyone who dared challenge his word, would find their teeth on the ground. His reputation introduced him to anyone entering the town for the first time. Though there are some who think he is just some bastard child who is throwing a tantrum. In the crowds there were many hooded and cloaked citizens. Two whisper to each other as they keep their heads low, “I swear I saw her come this way…” 

“I cannot believe she slipped from under your nose!” The woman cried. 

“I swear she looked like you! She had all your features!” Her companion argued. 

While the two spoke and scurried through the crowd, there was a copy of the woman traveling in the opposite direction heading to a very dangerous part of town. 

In the pits, roaring and cheering can be heard coming from the stands. Skin on skin, bone on bone, thundering bodies hitting the floor as people fought for their glory or their lives. But under the pits there is a hideout one that was home to the infamous crime lord, Sett. The large half Vastayian wolverine like man slouched on his throne. A body dropped in front of him as the man whimpered and groaned. 

“You took from me something, and you have yet to pay it back. As per our agreement, you will work in the pits.” Sett gruffed staring down at the insect before him. He could almost taste the fear emanating from the lowlife.

“Take him away, his damn whimpering is giving me a headache.” He waved the man off as one of his subordinates gripped the man’s neck and dragged him out of the room. Sighing to himself, Sett looked over to his right hand, “Is that the last one? I need a break. It’s another one of those days.”

The woman nodded and put down the list in her hands, “Yes boss, that was the last one.”

With a groan the dark red headed man stood from his throne and walked out of the room with his hands deep in his pockets. He slowly paced through the hallways his head lost in thought. He sat on a bench and groaned with his head in his hands. 

“Same shit everyday. These Noxian fucks think they can run into my territory and try to take from me. You’d think with the few I send home packing with bruises and broken bones would tell their friends to keep away.” He huffed as he stared down at his feet, “And I keep getting reminded of the bad blood I have. Anytime I look at one of their faces.”

He would see feet approach him, “You sound like you need someone to talk to…” His eyes looked up to see a noxian woman in a cloak. As if a switch flipped in him, he stood up and swung his fists at the woman. 

“Fucking Noxian bitch how did you get in here?!” He growled.

The woman backed away and quickly her form changed into something more, her. The chameleon like girl looked over at him with her hands up, “W-wait, Neeko is not Noxian! She is just Vastayian! Well not really more Vastayashai'rei. But I am not a stinky Noxian!”

Sett’s demeanor completely changed from attack, to confusion. “Vataya-what? Sorry I am not really too intuned with my Vastayian side, though I should be. Question stands at how did you get here? And how did you do that?” 

Neeko transformed herself to look like Sett and giggled, “It’s magic! Neeko and her people can copy peoples Shoma! Oh that is another word you might not know… Um peoples auras I guess? Oh and Vastayashai'rei is what you might call the first of the Vastayians! My people are direct descendants!”

Sett looked at his mirror copy and tilted his head. “Wow, you really do look exactly like me… Even got my scar right. Huh, I needa shave a little… Wait do you copy everything?” He looks up and down his mirror. 

“What do you mean?” Neeko turned back into herself and looked up at the man.

“Well do you have… Actually nevermind. Also, no I don’t need to talk to anyone!” He growled.

Neeko sat down on the bench and smiled, “Its okay! We are like family! You can tell big sister Neeko all your problems and I can help in my own Neeko way!”

He raised a brow looking at her then shook his head, “We are not ‘family’ my only family is my ma who I love with all my heart.” 

“Not true! We are family! We share the same blood! Although your blood might have a lot more peoples in it. And aren’t these other people in this home your family?” 

Sett took a step back and let out an  exaggerated groan, “I mean, yea I guess? But calling me family is not a good thing. I am a damn Noxian bastard child who has the best and prettiest mom in the world.” 

Neeko’s ears perked up, “Pretty mom?! Neeko wanna see! Not as pretty as my Nidalee though!” 

Sett’s eyes narrowed as he looked at the chameleon, “No because you might turn into her. And that would be weird for me.”

“Sorry Neeko got off topic. But you are more than just that! Neeko can tell by your Shoma that you care deeply for mama! You may have bad things in your blood but that shouldn’t mean you are bad! You are you! You can be Vastayian, or Noxian, or even just Ionian if you want! You yourself defines you, not your blood! My tribe is my family, but Nidalee is also family! She helped Neeko when she was in trouble and Neeko is very happy for it!” 

Neeko hopped up and poked at the man’s chest, “Hating yourself just makes you wanna punch things! And if you are too busy hating yourself, where will your love for mama come from!” 

Sett looks at the girl in awe as she may talk funny but she is spitting out some major truth. Soon his right hand comes walking in with two cloaked Noxians being dragged by their collars, “Boss I found these two snooping around  and- wait who is she and how did she get here?”

The two Noxians pointed at Neeko, “There she is!”

Neeko ran behind Sett and hid, “Those two tried to capture Neeko. She ran from them both. That is how Neeko got here.”

Sett’s eyes threw fire at the two Noxians as he walked over to them. “Let me handle this.” His right hand dropped them both and walked off glaring over at Neeko. Neeko transformed into her and giggled at her, “Neeko thinks you are pretty…”

Cracking his knuckles he lifted one up by the scruff of his neck, “You Noxians never learn, Don’t Fuck With My People!” He reeled back and knocked out a few teeth from the man. He dropped his bloodied face on the floor and glared at the woman, “Get out of my town before I throw you both in the pits. I see either of your mugs again and I will do more than just take out a few teeth.”

 The two screamed out and ran out while Neeko smiled and tapped Sett’s shoulder, “Is Neeko your people?”

Sett smirked a little and nodded, “Yes she is. Thanks. Your a funny little one. You ever need help around here, let me know.”

“Well, Neeko could use a nice place to stay for the night, maybe next door to the pretty lady?”

[tiny-maus-boots]

If you can, I’d love a one shot about the redhead and her Cowgirl. Fluffy, smutty, doesn’t matter. Love those two! 🖤

Hope you like it, sorry I didn’t edit it. Of course it’s after 3 am and I haven’t slept in days so please ignore the wonky. 

Garters and Gunslingers - Bechloe

“Oh son of a turkey…” The shot went wide over her head but pinned down the way she was it was still too close for comfort. Beca tempted fate and peeked around the barrel, pulling back only just in time as another bullet came her way. “Sorry I called your mother a sow!” Another shot and she winced when it went right through the barrel just over her left shoulder. “Okay I’m NOT sorry I called her a sow you stupid cow fucking son of a bitch!” Beca shot off a few of her own rounds from around the barrel.

There were another couple of shots and then it got quiet. Beca looked for a way out of her current situation but she was well and truly stuck. There was no cover she could get to without taking a huge risk of being shot. It was her own fault really. She had gotten drunk before the sun had even risen, saddled her horse and rode to the furthest corner of the territory that she could get to before…

But she hadn’t gotten far. Not nearly far enough away before her horse went lame. She’d walked the rest of the way to a town she didn’t even know the name of and decided she was too thirsty to leave. And that’s where all her troubles started. Well. Not all. She wasn’t too drunk to realize she was running as fast as she could away from laughing blue eyes and a smile that had always made her weak. Beca tipped up the bottle she had forgotten she was holding in her free hand.

The whiskey slid down her throat in hot wash that normally made her cough and sputter but now just felt like a welcome pain. Beca rested the bottle on the ground and spun the cylinder on her revolver. There was one bullet left, and by her standards only one chance to try and get out of this. Beca raised the bottle again but a bullet shattered it in her hand. She looked at it mournfully then tossed the broken neck aside. “Well damn.”

“C’mon out you coward!”

“Hey! I am not a coward. Jesse…now he’s a coward. Can you believe that horse’s ass left me to die?? After all we had been through?”

There was silence for a moment and then a chuckle. “Shame. You seem like a real peach!” More masculine laughter rang out and Beca rolled her eyes. Ha fucking ha. “You’re outgunned three to one, so you might as well give it up.”

Another shot but she suspected it was only meant to punctuate the statement that she had run out of time. She bumped her head back against the wooden side of the barrel and took a deep breath. Beca closed her eyes against the bitter image of Cutter Beaufort on bended knee in front of Chloe, asking her so earnestly to be his wife. She was always running out of time. The days after he’d proposed had been a blur and she had thought she’d have more time….

But there had never been enough time for her to work through it. To learn to trust the way she had trusted Jesse with her heart. And now there wasn’t enough time for her to survive let alone speak all her close held secrets to the only person that ever really mattered. Beca gave the cylinder another spin to let the single round fall where it may. It didn’t really matter, her heart wasn’t in the fight, not anymore.

Beca rose up from behind her cover, screaming as she pulled the trigger. Her aim was oddly perfect and the first target in her sights went down hard. It was just muscle memory that made her swing her arm to the right to sight down her next target and pull the trigger. Her eyes widened in surprise when a man she wasn’t even aiming at fell to the ground dead. She looked at the gun in her hand and shook it as if that would somehow explain what had just happened. She had been momentarily distracted and the last man took aim and fired, the shot ricocheted off the ground at her feet and she danced back in fear. “Jesus Christ!”

A gunshot echoed out and the last man fell without her ever pulling the trigger. She blinked blearily at the gun in her hand then let it drop to the ground. It went off with a loud bang and she jumped. “If I’ve told you once, I’ve told you a thousand times. Don’t take the Lord’s name in vain.” Beca whirled to face the low drawling voice and sighed.

“Oh hell…”

It was a second before Aubrey’s heavy hand slapped the crap out of her. Beca stumbled back and fell to the ground under the stinging blow. She raised a shaking hand to her cheek as Aubrey stared down at her with cold green eyed fury. “That was for making me leave my best friend on her wedding day. Now get up.”

“Are you going to hit me again?”

“GET. UP.”

Beca scrambled up but took a cautious step back to keep out Aubrey’s reach. “Ow.” Aubrey gave her a sharp look and she realized that she was toeing a very thin line. Beca worked her jaw, the sting in face made her wince but she didn’t dare complain again. “What are you doing here, Bree?”

“That is the very question I am asking myself right now.” Aubrey glanced around at the people starting to peer out of windows and doorways now that the commotion was largely over and sighed. “We need to go. Before this becomes a bigger problem than you running your mouth faster than you can pull a gun. Again.”

She hated it when Aubrey was right but Beca nodded and followed along because she didn’t think she had any other choice. The blonde whistled shrilly for Rowdy and mounted him easily when he trotted up to them. The blonde looked down at her expectantly and Beca kicked a small stone with her foot, unable to meet the hard stare.

“I can’t Bree… I can’t see her marry someone else.”

“Then tell her how you feel Beca. Because she’s set to marry Cutter because he’s not afraid to tell her what she means to him.” Beca’s shoulders hunched at that, feeling Bree’s words like a sucker punch to the gut. It was hard to hear the truth of things and she balked at the idea of what Aubrey was suggesting she do.

“Yeah well by the time I get there it’ll be too late. And what if she lea…oh Jesus! Put that away will ya!”

Beca had looked up just as Aubrey had drawn her gun and pulled back the hammer. She had no doubt that the blonde would pull the trigger and shoot her where she stood.  “Gimme a reason, Bec. I swear by the Almighty I will put you out of all our misery right here and right now.” Beca took a deep breath and Aubrey’s eye twitched as if she were itching to do exactly what she said. “I get that you’re afraid. You been hurt bad, hurt in a way that ain’t easy to fix. But if you think for one second that Chloe would betray you…”

“I don’t.” And she didn’t. She knew it in her soul that Chloe would rather take a bullet than hurt her in any way. “What if….what if it’s too late?”

“Ride fast.” Aubrey gave her gun a twirl and slid it back into her holster. She kicked her heels into Rowdy’s flank, launching into a strong gallop. Beca raised her hands and let them drop to her sides.

“My horse is lame!”

“You a thief or not?”

Oh. Right. Beca gave a frustrated huff and ran to the nearest saddled horse tied to a hitch post. Someone came out from the general store but she didn’t dare wait for them to demand their horse back. Beca tightened her legs around the horse’s middle after a swift kick to get the mare going. She leaned forward behind the horse’s head as she struggled to catch up to her friend.

They rode hard for hours, long enough for the sun to make its slow decline toward the horizon and she knew that they were cutting it mighty close. The church loomed up before them, the doors already closed. Beca skidded to a stop and slid off the back of her mount, pushing its shoulder to nudge it out of the way. She almost hesitated but the too casual way Aubrey stroked the handle of her gun led her to believe that it was in her best interest to stay the course.

“Now or never Beca. Choose.”

Beca gave a nod and ran up the three steps to the door. The whitewashed wood was rough under her hands when she pushed in the doors and stumbled into the small church. “Wait!” Everyone turned in their seats to watch her as she panted more from the stress of the situation than exertion.

Cutter sighed heavily from the pulpit and held on to Chloe’s hands tighter. He wasn’t the bad sort and for any other person she’d be thrilled that they’d managed to find a good man that was handsome and rich. But this was Chloe and no one would ever be quite good enough, not even Beca herself.

“Beca Mitchell…of course. I almost thought you’d bow out gracefully.” Cutter’s voice was deep and clear and the disappointment was heavy in his words.

“Well thank God for tiny miracles.” Beca looked over her shoulder at the tall figure leaning against the back wall of the church. Stacie tipped her head up just enough to grace Beca with a smirk as if she had always known Beca would make an appearance. “What happened to your face?”

Beca brought her hand up to touch her tender cheek and realized she must have a hell of a mark. “The hand of God.”

Stacie chuckled and glanced over at Aubrey who had slipped into the church behind Beca. “And what a skilled hand it is.” The look in her eyes was so much more than the salacious words coming out of her mouth. It filled Beca’s heart with warmth and a longing to feel that kind of love without wondering when it was going to be stolen from her.

“You’re sweatin’ like a hoor.”

Stacie broke her gaze from Aubrey and chuckled with a shrug. “Well I am in a church, might catch fire any second now so you best hurry and state your piece.”

Beca nodded and started up the aisle that seemed to be getting longer with each step. Chloe had yet to look at her and she knew that there was a chance that it was already too late. She was to the foot of the pulpit before Chloe raised her head and met her gaze. She looked beautiful and for just a second Beca had forgotten how to breathe. “Chlo…”

“Becs….”

“Cutter.” They both turned to him and he gave a soft unhappy chuckle. “Don’t suppose you’re here to give your blessing.”

“No…no I’m not. I’m sorry Cutter, I am. But I love her. I have always loved her.” There was a quiet sniff from Chloe and Beca swallowed hard. “Even if it’s too late…I have to be honest. I’m not as good with my words as I am with my knives but, I love you Chloe. I think maybe I always have. Even when I was with him…it was you. It’s was always you in my heart. I can’t see nothin’ but you and I know Cutter can give you things I can’t. Money, safety…a family.”

As much as she hated the idea of Cutter and Chloe getting married, she hated what she was doing to him just as much. He didn’t deserve it and the more she spoke the more she realized what she was asking of Chloe.

“The only thing I got is all my love. But my whole heart is yours if you want it. An’ I’m sorry I never said it before, sorry I waited until you were at the altar before I found my words. And I’m sorry to you Cutter because it’s not fair and…if I were in your shoes I’d have shot me the second I ran through the door.”

“The thought may have crossed my mind.” The rows of town folk behind her chuckled in nervous amusement. “Truth of it is, I don’t rightly blame you. Much. Chloe, darlin’, you’re awful quiet. You can put your guns down and live the life of a well-cared for wife. Or…”

It seemed the whole church was holding their breath waiting. Beca risked a glance at Chloe. “Or a life of fighting, but I swear it’ll never be boring.”

A tear tracked down Chloe’s cheek and she wiped at it absently. “I’m sorry Cutter. You’re everything a girl dreams of but…”

“But?”

“She’s the only one I ever dream about.”

Cutter let out a deeply disappointed sign and kissed her cheek before placing her hand in Beca’s. He held their hands a second and levelled a meaningful look at Beca. “Don’t you break her heart Mitchell, or I will hunt you down and put you in the ground.”

“No sir, I won’t.”

He gave a short nod and gestured to the door. “Well g’wan then. Git. Before I change my mind.”

Beca wasn’t going to give him the chance for that, her grip on Chloe’s hand tightening as she tugged them toward the doors at a good sprint. For once she had been right on time. “Beca…what happened to your face?” Beca laughed as they burst out the doors to her new horse waiting so patiently.

“Let’s just say Aubrey gave me a heavy helping hand.” Chloe gave a musical laugh and Beca’s heart swelled. They had plenty of time now that they were together.

[mint-yooxgi]

[6] - Belonging - Wolf!Junmyeon X Reader

Wolf AU - Part of the EXO Trails of Moonlight Series

Genre: Fluff, Angst, Mature

Pairing: Junmyeon X Reader

Words: 1,501

A/n: What?! Double update, just like I promised, woot! Next part is finally here, yay! Sorry it’s super short, but I wanted to get it out. I finally figured out how to make the storyline go the way I wanted it too, so please look forward to the next few chapters because shit’s going to go down! Woot! As always, feedback is greatly appreciated, I hope you enjoy!

Previous

That night, Junmyeon lies awake in his bed, staring up at his ceiling. A frown pulls at his features as he crosses his arms behind his head.

Someone has let hunters into their territory.

Are these the hunters that are after your pack? Who let them in? Why are they here? How did anyone not notice hunters in their territory before now? Are you safe?

His eyes widen slightly as he thinks this last thought. If anyone dares threaten his mate, there’ll be hell to pay.

Letting a sigh escape his lips, he turns onto his side, thinking back to everything you told him that evening. He can’t completely relax knowing hunters are after you and your pack, and now knowing there are hunters in the area only makes his worry for you grow.

There’s only one brand of hunters left in the country that he knows of, and they are notorious for their hunting tactics. They’re the real beasts, the Nilus Clan. They hunt all supernatural creatures for sport, tracking them and using their weaknesses against each so called ‘monster’ they take down. They don’t hunt normally, with weapons made of materials that would normally harm a specific creature, no. Instead, they infiltrate and then they attack. 

The Nilus Clan is ruthless in making sure they know everything about the things they’re hunting, discovering connections between their prey and those around them, and using those connections to hurt them the most. That’s why they’re brutal when it comes to supernatural mates. If they get their hands on one of them, it’s game over for both.

Junmyeon can only imagine what your uncle went through, for he knows if they were to ever get their hands on you, and succeed, he would die from grief and pain. A shiver travels down his spine at the thought.

One of the worst things about this clan of hunters is they are incredibly skilled. They may be humans, but they have mastered the art of leaving little to no trail, and hiding in plain sight, making it difficult to track them.

Here’s his other dilemma, wolves do not attack unless provoked, even hunters. So, if Junmyeon, Kris, and a few others from the pack did manage to find the hideout of the Nilus Clan, they wouldn’t be able to attack them unless they’re attacked first. It’s an unspoken rule amongst the supernatural to avoid any bad reputations. Despite this, these hunters don’t seem to care.

Shifting over once more onto his back, Junmyeon lets a long sigh escape his lips.

Go to sleep! Minseok bangs once on the wall in-between their two rooms despite Junmyeon not being able to hear it. Your restlessness is keeping me up.

With another sigh, and a mental apology to his brother, Junmyeon sits up in bed, throwing the covers off his legs. Their rooms may be soundproof, but the pack connection allows for each of them to feel what each other are feeling, especially when close to one another, and when their emotions aren’t in check.

Making his way over to his window, Junmyeon sits beneath it, looking out at the moon shining in the sky. 

His mind is still racing with thoughts about what he’s going to do know about the situations he’s in. He knows Kris and the rest of his pack will back him up no matter what he decides to do, but only two of them know that you’re his mate.

Oh, how badly he wants to sprint to your house, take you into his arms and reassure you that everything will be okay. That he’ll protect you, no matter what. That you no longer have to worry about anything, now that he’s with you.

Staring at the moon, he thinks back to earlier in the clearing with you. The way you felt wrapped in his arms, your scent, but most of all, the way your lips felt pressed against his own.

His beast rumbles in content.

He’ll figure something out about how to deal with these malicious hunters, he always does. He knows, when the time comes, you’ll be with him every step of the way.

**

For the next few weeks, the two of you continue to meet secretly in the clearing. You both make sure to meet every other day to avoid suspicion from your packs, but you find it’s getting harder and harder for you to sneak out. You can tell Yisung is starting to get suspicious as to where you go every time, catching you sneaking out more often than not. However, whenever he catches you, he seems to be sneaking out or coming back in as well. You’re surprised he hasn’t confronted you about it yet, though.

Now, your uncle on the other hand, you have a sneaking suspicious he just knows. Knows that you’ve been sneaking out. Knows about Junmyeon, and how the two of you are mates. However, he has yet to say anything directly to you, only making subtle remarks here and there, a knowing look in his eyes as he mentions the handsome wolf from the town meetings, of which you make sure to attend every time. Even if it’s just to briefly see Junmyeon for only a few moments, stealing kisses behind the atrium every so often.

You’re just on your way home from meeting Junmyeon in the clearing for the night when Yisung’s scent in the air catches your attention. You find it strange since usually he’s not out this late, nor does he ever forget to cover his trail.

Following his scent quickly and quietly, you come across a small opening in the forest where the trees thin just enough for a few people to stand around in. Hiding yourself behind a bush, you peer through at the opening to see three people standing across from Yisung. Your brow furrows as you recognize their outfits, and hunting gear.

A sense of dread washes over you, along with confusion, betrayal, anger, and disappointment. You’re barely able to keep your breathing, and heart rate, in check as you realize that these are the same hunters that killed your aunt. Not to mention the fact that Yisung seems to be conversing with them without a problem.

“When will the attack happen? When will your hunters be ready?” Yisung asks, seemingly impatient.

“Relax, wolf, our plans are currently being set in motion,” the female in the centre says, appearing to be the leader out of the group of three hunters. “You’ll be alpha soon enough.”

“I better be,” he growls. “Ever since that idiot of a leader let that bitch into the pack, everything has been turned upside down. I never meant for you to kill his mate, only the bitch and the alpha.”

“Don’t worry, we’ll get it right this time,” one of the men on the left says.

“And how do you plan to do that? Since I am going to be part of this this time, don’t you think I should know what’s going to happen when the time comes?” Yisung crosses his arms, brow furrowing in a deep frown.

“We’ll attack in a few nights time, undercover, when the pack least expects it. It’ll simply be drawing out the pack for them to witness the deaths of the two wolves, then if they don’t join you, their own deaths will follow,” the woman says, grinning as if it’s the most obvious thing in the world.

“Very good,” Yisung nods, smirk pulling at his own lips. “Once those mutts are out of the picture, I’ll continue help your clan of hunters track down more packs to bring them down. No one ever suspects a hunter that’s actually a wolf, it’s perfect for infiltration.”

Your eyes widen at his words. This is all his fault? You knew Yisung was bad, but you didn’t realize how horrible he actually was.

“We raised you well, wolf,” the woman says, approval clear in her voice.

Never in your life would you have ever expected the Nilus Clan to have spared a wolf’s life, but learning that they’re using him to infiltrate, then attack, it makes sense. What better way to hunt wolves then with a wolf on the inside?

You have to warn the others before something bad happens that your could have prevented.

Quickly turning around, you speed off back to your house. Unfortunately, Yisung hears movement from the bushes as you leave, picking up on your scent in the next moment.

“Fuck, we’ve been discovered,” he snarls, getting ready to shift and run after you.

“By whom?” The woman seethes, reaching for her bow that rests at her back.

“The bitch,” he replies, distaste clear in his voice. Turning his head back towards the three standing beside him, his eyes flash a deep red, “Looks like there’s been a change of plans. Rally the troops, we’re going hunting. They’re not living past tonight.”

[its-rockin-pete]

Thank You for Your Candor

Notes and Description

I feel like Peter didn't really have much of a history or backstory, so I decided to play around and make one up. I know that in the books, his father dies a different way, but I figured that since pretty much nothing I was writing was canon, I was allowed to change things up. I also didn't know his parent's names, I made them up. Anyway, I'd love feedback and thoughts! 

There are four chapters, so i’m gonna post the first two today and the other two tomorrow!

(Please keep in mind that I haven't gotten around to reading the books yet, I simply did my research online as well as based things off of the movies, so if I got any details wrong, I apologize! I think I did a pretty good job, but hey, I could be wrong.)

Chapter 1

Transfer

“You can’t stay here. I don’t care what your result was, you cannot stay here.”

Even though I knew what my mother had just said was true, I mean, how could I not be upset?

“Are you kidding? No, you know what, you’re right. I can’t stay here. Not with you constantly breathing down my back and bitching at me for no reason.”

I could really tell that I had just struck a nerve.

“Do you need to leave right now?”

I immediately got quiet. The fact that my mom seemingly wouldn’t care if I left the day before the ceremony hurt like a bitch.

“Peter Hayes, I don’t know what the hell happened, but the older you got, I began to realize that I raised a selfish, narcissistic, liar. A liar. You don’t belong here. I mean- You’re constantly getting into random fights, and you talk to me like I didn’t birth you and spend sixteen years of my life raising you. You got everything you ever wanted and needed growing up. I spoiled you and I tried my best to be a good mother, but according to you, I’ve failed.”

She’s never said things like this before- hearing her tell me how she honestly felt about me almost made me feel sick. I really didn’t know what to say. I wanted to apologize, but something inside of me made it impossible.

“Fine. Well, you’ll be happy to know that you won’t have to see my face again after tomorrow. Thanks for your honesty.”

I threw my jacket onto a kitchen chair and walked out of my own house like I was an unwelcome stranger. As I was on my way out, I heard my mom trying to apologize, but I quite frankly didn’t wanna hear it. There was no taking back what she said.

I hate to admit that she was right.

I wasn’t sure where I was going, but at the same time, I didn’t care. Nobody else cared, so why the hell should I? After about fifteen minutes of aimlessly walking around town though, I finally decided on a location. Headquarters.

Chapter 2

Big Small Talk

The doors were locked as expected, so I pulled out my pocket knife and got to work. It felt wrong, but it's not like I was planning on stealing anything. Unless of course, I changed my mind when I got inside. There's not much to steal anyway, just some files that nobody really cares about, books, and yeah, there are weapons stored on a few floors, but pretty much every faction has guns. Imagine all the cool shit you could steal from Erudite headquarters though- they're loaded with all sorts of serums and technology. Erudite has always been seen as a pretty shady faction though; but I mean, all the more reason to consider transferring, right?  Might as well get some excitement out of life. I can't fucking stand Abnegation, so there would be no way in hell I’d step foot there, and Amity definitely isn't for me. All that love and happiness bullshi-

“Come on, damn it!”

As I was thinking, I was doing a horrible job at maneuvering my pocket knife between the latch of the two doors due to my lack of focus.

"Need some help?"

I quickly pulled my knife from between the two doors and turned around to see who my witness was. 

It was Molly.

"What are you doing out here?"

She pulled out her ID card and swiped it in front of the scanner. "I was out on my porch smoking a cigarette and saw you headed this way." She pulled the door open and held it for me- "So I follow you. You're always up to no good…" she shook her head and playfully smirked, “Why are you here?”

She followed me inside as I began to look around, observing little details that I might not have before, like the way the light reflected off of the marble floors, or how high the ceilings actually were. Stupid stuff like that.

“I dunno. ‘Figured it couldn’t hurt to say goodbye.”

“You’re leaving?” She sounded surprised for some reason.

“You’re not?”

She followed me as I continued to look around, picking up a book and skimming a few pages.

“Of course I’m leaving… My folks gave me some long speech about how I should follow who I really am, which is so unlike them, but I guess parents just know when it comes to these things…”

I put the book back and continued walking- “I guess so.”

“How’s your mom handling all of this?”

“Really well actually.”

She looked at me and raised her eyebrows, pausing before speaking again. She was probably trying to figure out if I was bullshitting or not.

“Really? I would’ve thought that she’d be losing her ever-loving mind begging you to transfer.”

I smirked and tilted my head to look at her, “Me too. She really hasn’t even said much about the ceremony. She didn’t even ask about my aptitude test. All she said was that she wanted me to be happy.”

Lying as always. I feel like I was just trying to convince myself that that's what really happened.

“Huh… Sounds sus to me… You sure she’s not hiding anything from you?”

I paused having no idea where a thought like that would even come from. “...Like what?”

“I don’t know… Maybe she wants you to leave so you don’t dig up any dirt on her. Maybe she’s purposely giving you some slack to make you wanna transfer.”

I became suspicious of her little theory; it was a bit too specific for my liking.

“What are you talking about?”

She hesitated for a minute before saying anything else. The silence of the room made things even more tense.

“Don’t you think your father’s death seemed a little- strange? Nobody just ‘goes missing’ and turns up dead like that...”

I immediately turned to look at her head-on. “What?”

“N-nothing… Nevermind, I was just thinking-”

“Thinking what, that my mother is responsible for my father’s death? Are you kidding me? My mother is a lot of things, but she’s not a murderer.”

She looked at me with that stupid “I know you’re pissed, but I’m not backing down” face, but stayed silent.

“You know what? That's your problem, Molly, you're always sticking your nose into other people’s business. I don’t understand why it's so hard for you to just worry about your own problems and keep your stupid mouth shut.”

She gawked at me and scoffed- “You’re one to talk, you just never know when to stop! It’s not my fault that everyone but you knows that your crazy mom took a knife to your daddy’s chest.”

I instantly lost control of my temper and lunged at her, gripping the collar of her jacket in my fists and slamming her against a pillar.

“Say it again, I fucking dare you.”

She stared back at me showing no signs of fear- it honestly only pissed me off more.

“Can’t handle the truth, Hayes? You’re Candor-born, it should be in your blood, you fucking coward.” She elbowed me in the chest and I let go of her. I didn’t know what to think at this point. I didn’t know what to do. I just stared at the ground and listened to her footsteps against the marble floor as they became more distant.

“See you tomorrow, Big Man. Choose wisely.”

I watched her leave and not even bother to look back. She brought up my dad, called me a coward, and my mother a murderer, and didn’t even glance at me as she left. What a friend… I can't believe I used to have feelings for that.

I looked around and really started to think about what had just happened. What if Molly was right? I never really did get a true explanation for my father’s death. I was only eight when he died and I was simply told that he went missing, but when I got older, my mother explained to me that they found his body far outside of Candor territory. She called it a suicide.

My father, although he was mostly distant and cold, never seemed like the type of man who would just off himself like that. He was a powerful, brave, courageous, and loud personality. He was actually one of the big names in our faction. He kind of held things together alongside Jack- although, Jack had much more power than my father.

I stood there and continued to think, and suddenly I got an idea. A horrible, brilliant idea.

[waywardxson]

Something Good

Who: Rory & Dare ( @sshardassanderson )

What: Rory and Dare discuss next steps

When: Nov 10, Mid-Afternoon 

Where: At Darius’s house.

Darius

Dare had been staying at the trailer after filling Charlie in on what was going on. It was the best way to make sure Bruce didn’t suddenly decide to show his face again with a former ghoulie and his kid in the trailer on serpent territory. With a grocery bag over his forearm, Dare entered the trailer with his new key for the new locks and carried the bags over to the kitchen and spread them across the counter. Most everything could wait to be put away until they had a chance to talk. He grabbed a couple of the beer bottles and brought one over to the couch for Rory and one for himself. “I’m sure you’ve got an idea what I wanna talk about.”

Rory

Normally Rory would be reading with Grace sitting on his knee. She'd lean against him and fantasize about this world of witches and wizards as he read through the lines, making up different voices for each character, but with the pain still heavy inside his chest, Grace was sitting next to him. They had just finished a chapter when he heard the door and looked up. Running his hand through her hair, Rory kissed the top of her head. "Baby, why don't you go color for a little bit? I'll make you some lunch okay?" She agreed and hopped up, taking the book with her while fixing her glasses. It took a little struggle to get up and he was halfway up when Dare came out inside, joining him. "Thanks," he said, taking the bottle. "I can take a couple guesses." Opening the drink, he took a long swig, "Grace is in the bedroom so we can talk openly."

Darius

Dare looked around, as if reaffirming that Grace was, in fact, out of the room and not peering around corners listening in. He was always suspicious when it came to the double C’s eavesdropping, and opened his own beer with a snap and took a drink himself. “You’re obviously not safe to return to the Ghoulies. I doubt you’d even wanna do it, but I’m sure you already know that you can’t go back.” He spoke low even though he was assured Grace was out of the room, grabbing a pot from a lower cabinet and filling it with water for grace’s lunch of Mac and cheese. “I’m not gonna make any demands of you, Rory. Despite what you think, you don’t owe me shit.” 

He set the pot on the stove and turned the burner on low-medium and picked his beer back up, giving Rory a pointed look. “So. We can do one of two things. We can help you lay low, get out of town, whatever you want so Derek doesn’t find you. Or—“ He paused. “You join us. And if you do that, I’m gonna request your loyalty. It’s for life. But I think a good leader should earn the respect of his followers. And that’s the kind of person I want to be. But I also don’t want you to feel required to swear an allegiance to another gang. If you want to escape with your child, I’ll help you do that. But, I’d also be happy to have you.”

Rory

"You're damn right about that. Aaron was a different story but I can't follow Derek," Rory said. There was no point in keeping things to himself. He and Dare had been through enough together, situations that could have led them astray from each other, but Dare was the kind of leader Rory had thought he was following when he'd first joined the Ghoulies so long ago. He'd been very wrong. Shaking his head, Rory said, "You saved my kid's life and mine, and you didn't have to do either." Whether Dare believed it or not, Rory owed him. But he also knew that the man before him wouldn't insist he join in order to pay him back or anything. He leaned back against the wall, letting it ease some of the aching in his chest. "I'll be honest. I thought about leaving a few times. But someone told me something about not running away from things we fear." He looked back at Dare and nodded once, "You've more than earned mine. I want to stay in Riverdale. It's home.. and I'd like to keep Grace as safe as I can. I think that's with you, with the Serpents. I'd like to be part of this, whatever that means, for as long as you'll let me."

Darius

Dare listened without interruption. He expected some hesitation, maybe even a request to think on it. But it seemed that Rory had already functionally made up his mind about allegiances. It was good to hear but Dare also knew taking on someone with such a large target on his head could be dangerous. But Derek had already proven himself a force to be reckoned with, and nobody was truly safe it seemed. “I’d be understanding if you did wanna run. But I get it. It’s like I’m fucking tethered here whether I wanna be or not. I can’t promise you that things are always gonna be good. That Grace is always going to be safe. But I can promise you I’ll do my damndest to make sure of it. Your kid is our kid. And I don’t mean she’s a gang member or anything. Just that we look after our own. You need money? It’s yours. A job? Done. And all I ask in return is you offer the same to anyone else.” He grabbed a box of the Mac and sighed, taking another swig of his beer. “I do what I can to try and be a good guy. I don’t always succeed. I’ve got Bruce’s blood running through my veins and it’s fucking toxic. But I’m never gonna make you go through what you just did. We have laws in place. And one of the first ones is no serpent stands alone. If this is what you really want, I’ve got your back. Always.”

Rory

Ever since that night, Rory hadn't stopped thinking. He couldn't. He'd spent so long with people that he believed he could trust. He should have known when they turned on Aaron so easily, not even trying to fight for him, that things were too fucked for him. He shouldn't have been surprised with anything that happened but the cruel nature of some people would always shock him. "I don't expect after everything that I can ever promise Grace she'll be completely safe but the safest I can get is this. I may not belong on the North Side anymore but I don't belong with them and neither does my little girl." He shrugged, "When I left, I didn't have shit and frankly, people showed up at my shitty apartment and it was either be part of something or I'd have to deal with them. I just had a newborn so I did what I thought I had to. It worked for a long time but.. they don't stand for anything. I may be shit but I know what my limits are and I reached mine a long time ago." The Ghoulies didn't have a law like that and Rory was realizing how much he'd been missing. "I want it," he said. "I can have their backs, and yours too. I don't know if there's some.. initiation or something but I'm with you."

Darius

Dare poured the macaroni into the boiling pot and got a spoon, stirring slowly. He had given a lot of thought into the initiation. Of course there were trials he was supposed to go through, but he debated whether or not to do it given the condition that he was in. He hadn’t known Rory was a former NorthSider either. He was a reject on all ends and Dare could only sympathize. “I can’t imagine. Where’s...Grace’s mother in all this? She bail on you or...?” He kept his voice low. “There’s four tests for initiation and they’re all pretty rigid. Outdated to a degree. My main concern is the last one. It’s just a huge ass beating in front of every serpent. But...given the fact that you got your ass beat saving my life, I think we can give it a pass. So all I’ll ask is that you know our laws by heart. Then we can get you tatted.” He stopped stirring for a moment. “You’re sure this is what you want? I wouldn’t stop you if you wanted to get out of gang life for good.”

Rory

At the mention of Grace's mother, Rory had a moment where his mind thought back to the last time he even saw her. She'd only just told him that she was pregnant. He'd promised that he'd stick around, be there to help raise their baby, but then he hadn't seen her after that. He was paid to leave, stay away from her, and shown the restraining order that had her name on it, wanting to keep him far away. Rory lifted his bottle and took another long swallow. He'd gotten good at not thinking about her. 

"You could say that," he shoved one hand in his pocket and looked up at Dare. "We had something. Well, I thought we did but.. She told me she was pregnant, I said I'd stick around, and then I never saw her again. She gave me custody of  Grace and her family paid me to leave. My parents found out, disowned me, and I ended up on the South Side." However, at the conversation of initiation tests, Rory shook his head. "I appreciate that, D, but I can't start out a new life like that. You said you all have each other's backs so that's what this was. If that's part of being one of you, I want to do it just like everyone else." Of course he already kind of regretted saying it. But Rory, despite having been a Ghoulie, had a lot of honor he hadn't showed in a very long time. He nodded at the question, "I'm sure." He wanted somewhere to belong, and this sounded like people he could call family. "I uh, I do have a request though.. and it's going to hurt like a bitch but I'd like you to do it."

Darius

With the macaroni cooking, Dare finally turned from the stove to give Rory and his beer bottle his undivided attention. He didn’t want to have to put Rory through more shit. Especially knowing a Ghoulie turned serpent meant they wouldn’t take it easy on him when they beat him into the ground. “The purpose of the last one is to show you’d be willing to take a beating for us. To die for one of us. I already know that but...the others don’t. Especially since you were a Ghoulie. A lot will probably think this is all just a trick but...” 

He nodded briefly. “I can’t imagine what that must’ve been like. And I’m sorry you lost her and had to do the single dad thing while doing underground fights and dealing with bone cancer. That’s uh...rough doesn’t even really begin to cover it.” “If you wanna do this the long way we can. I just don’t wanna rough you up anymore than you’ve already been. But until then, you’re not a serpent. Technically. So you’ll be under my protection. Personally. You’ve got my word you and Grace will be safe.” At the mention of a request, he quirked a brow. “And what’s that request.”

Rory

"That's the point," Rory said when the last trial was explained to him. "I showed you I'd take it for you but I didn't show them shit. If they're going to trust me, especially with my background, they need to do it themselves. Trust me, I'm not stranger to taking a beating. I don't want them worrying that I'm -- excuse the pun -- a snake in the grass or some shit." It would be his biggest victory to live through. "It's okay," he said, "but thank you. Wasn't easy but she's worth it. They wanted me out of town but I couldn't stand the idea of someone else raising my kid, y'know? I started over with nothing and the way I see it, I have a hell of a lot more now." 

Even though he'd left the apartment behind and the few things they'd had. He could build it up again. "You let me know the laws and I'll learn 'em. I'll do this whenever your family want to do it. I'll be able to survive it." Nodding when he said that Rory and Grace would be safe, Rory let out the tension that had been knotted between his shoulders. Then Rory put his almost empty bottle on the counter and grabbed his sleeve, tugged it up to show the Ghoulie tattoo on his arm. "I don't want to carry this for the rest of my life." It was going to hurt like a bitch but Rory said, "I'd like it if you cut it off for me."

Darius

Dare let the noodles finish up and brought them over to the sink, straining, adding milk, butter, cheese with them back into the pot, stirring. It was a lot to consider but Rory was a grown ass man and a father, capable of making his own grown ass decisions. If he wanted to do this in his way, through the tests and prove he was dedicated, then they’d do it. “Alright. I’ll uh, get you set up to go through the tests. Some of it is...fairly ridiculous but knowing the laws definitely isn’t. This will be good for you. I think. Just joining us. It’ll be a hard transition and people are gonna push your buttons but we’ll get you through it.” 

“So. I can get you set up here.” Dare pointed at the door. “There’s a vacant trailer just a bit ways down there. I’ll get you and Grace set up if you want it. We can sneak in, get your stuff out of your apartment. You just let me know if that’s what you want. You’re not required to live here. I can also get you a job at the garage I run if you don’t wanna throw punches every night.” Glancing down at the ghoulie tattoo, Dare frowned a bit. “You’re really hurting right now my dude. You really want me to skin this thing off now? We could just get you like a sick coverup tattoo or something.”

Rory

It was the right thing to do, Rory was sure of that. He may have been in a bad situation but he knew the difference between right and wrong, and this was decidedly right. "I have no doubt it'll be hard but I'm down for it. I'll prove myself." His eyes turned to the door and he nodded, "That would be great. I've really appreciated staying here but I think it'll help Grace feel a little more stable if she can see somewhere that's home. Shit, I feel like I'm always saying thank you." He knew that he'd pay it forward, and make it up to Dare in the future. Rory had thought about it already. When you couldn't get up and do anything, it was pretty easy to let your mind go. "We don't have to do it now if you don't want," he said. "But I don't want to start the tests with this still on me. It's not me anymore and it's not my future." And he was tired of it taking up residence on his body. He didn't belong to them anymore.

Darius

With the Mac and cheese finished, Dare got a few bowls down and set them aside. Undoubtedly the silverware would have to be examined for cleanliness as well before the little one would eat. “I want yo make sure you’re taken care of. I would do the same for any one of my guys. Since my old man has gone AWHOL, it’s been a big change here you know? And I want people to know that I’m not my father. And I have no intention of leading the way he does.” Dare grabbed a kitchen knife and set it back down again a moment later. “Why don’t we just get you a coverup instead? I don’t wanna skin you with your kid in the house. If you want it removed like that I’ll do it, but I think she’s seen enough of you hurt, right?” He made a gimmie gesture with his hand. “You got keys to your old apartment? I’ll get some guys together tonight to move your shit out and into the trailer.”

Rory

Shrugging his sleeve back in place, Rory finished the last of his beer and tossed the bottle away. "This is just curiosity speaking but what happens if that changes and your father comes back?" He walked over to the table. "I'm not assuming anything but I imagine if he comes back, things might change from what you have going on?" And he wasn't exactly sure where that would leave him. "Even covered up, it's still there." He wanted it gone but he didn't mind waiting until later. All he knew was that he really didn't want to get a Serpent tattoo while he still had the Ghoulie on his body. 

Then he had a thought and he said, "What if we were to go it during the tests? Maybe it will help everyone see I'm not fucking around with joining." Reaching into his pocket, Rory nodded and held out the key. "I'm going to have to come up with a new word than thanks. I can go with, show them where it is. I don't want your guys getting roughed up for me without me even being there."

Darius

Dare paused, folding the key into his pocket and crossed his arms over his chest. “If Bruce shows back up, I’m taking him down. There’s a hierarchy in place here and I’ve had it. No matter what, I have your back. And I’m not going to let anything put a stop to you becoming a member. He’s not the only one that gets to make decisions.” He sighed. “You didn’t have to get me out of there. But you did. And I’m going to pay that forward to you as a brother because I’ve had a lot of close calls with death lately, and it’d be nice having someone in my corner who knows what I’m dealing with in regards to Derek.” 

“We can try that.” Dare agreed as he zipped up his jacket. “We can worry about the trials next week. Take some time to feel better and get situated in your new place and new job if you need it. And me and a few others will handle moving stuff. Just text me the address and we’ll take it from there. You need to just rest here, enjoy your lunch of Mac and cheese with your kid, and stay here safe. Alright? Boss’s orders.”

Rory

Rory nodded and he could have told Dare that he would support him in that but it was pretty well stated there that he was. No one else would have done for him and his kid what Dare did and that spoke volumes. He smirked and said, "Yeah well.. you're pretty bad ass kicking Death in the jaw every time. I'm here now so I'm on your side like everyone else. Whatever comes up and whatever you need." Smirking, he started towards the living room so he could call after Grace for her lunch. "Already pulling out the boss's orders on me? I see how it is." 

He chuckled and then called Grace's name. As the little girl squealed and ran in, she saw the mac and cheese and practically attacked Rory with a hug. "Hey, it wasn't me," he said ruffling her hair. The little girl turned and flung herself at him, "Thanks Uncle D!" Running to the table so she could very carefully check the utensils cleanliness, Rory shook his head and looked up at Dare. "I'll text you."

Darius

Dare gathered  a few things to start getting ready to go, keeping everything out of sight of the little one. He rolled his eyes at the nickname but gave her a gentle pat on the head replying hands are clean before he resumed packing things into a duffel bag. “I’m absolutely pulling rank but it’s only because I care.” He added playfully with a layer of sickeningly sweet tone. “But seriously. This is part of the deal. We take care of you. I’m not gonna let you lift a da—...darn finger until you’re feeling at least 90% better.” He started for the door and paused a moment, looking at Rory and Grace, then back to Rory. “Just...don’t feel obligated to do this because you think you owe me, alright? Petty sh—stuff aside, I’d of helped you no matter who you were.” He grabbed the doorknob. “Help yourself to anything here. I’ll have your new place set up by morning.”

[fairyshuuu]

Growl pt1

Genre: Fluff (will contain smut/angst in future chapters) Length: 4.5k Pairing: Jongdae x reader Other member’s stories  ✼:*ﾟ:.｡..｡.:*･ﾟﾟ･*

part 1.  part 2.

You run your fingers through your hair and stuff your keys in your jacket pocket, wind nipping at your legs. Leafs of the trees along the sidewalk ruffle loudly, and a thick choking smog scent is ever present. Even in July, the air is still cold this early in the morning. Despite all the complaints you could think of, you like the city. You like the liveliness and the fact that you get a new shot whenever you need it.

The air though, is a little much for someone with a sensitive nose like you. It's overwhelmingly gross, and you don't think you'll ever get used to it. You’ve lived in cities bigger than this one for long enough to at least appreciate that there’s small parks littered all in between the houses. A last remnant of the wild nature that used to bloom underneath the stone buildings. Strange how much you still long for the open woods, after being away from them for so long.

Moving through rows of people who all stand much taller than you, your eyes shoot across the street as if automatically. A pale man, tall, with pitch black hair. Your skin twitches almost uncomfortably, and with a knowing gaze he meets your eyes. He seems inconspicuous enough, and you know no human would ever notice him, but you're no human and sensing another is very easy. He disappears quickly, barely sparing you a thought, and so you step into the tram without a second glance. Passing through most likely, since most don't like spending time in the city like you do. Too many people, too many chances to get recognized. But, you think, taking a seat in the plush chairs, way more chances to just blend in and be normal.

Being a lone wolf, literally, isn't fun. It is not easy, and if you could do it again maybe you wouldn't have left your pack at the age of 17 to see the world. But you did, and now this is the life you've accepted. You sip your coffee slowly, sinking away into the mass of people heading to work. There's a lot of rich people here, you've noticed. CEO's, lawyers, men and women dressed in fancy clothes. If the city is just rich, or the people in it are, you're not quite sure. Your latest apartment is quite small, and definitely crappy, but it's cheap and that's what counts. The tram stops, making most of the properly dressed people get off. Here is where you've sensed some others of your kind before, when scoping out this city.

You're quite sure a pack lives around this side of town, down in the woods a few miles away. Not that you're going to go and check. They would just chase you out of their territory and you'd be forced to move again. The tram goes on further, away from the rich city center and towards the edges of town, where you spend most of your days. You drink the last of your coffee, and look at the beautiful views that pass. You really like this city. And you'd do anything to stay out of other's radar, for once, just living the life you've always hoped for. A normal one.

***

"Excuse you?!" A sharp voice yelps, right next to your ear. If you weren't a nice person, you would have smacked the bitch across the diner. A growl fights to make it's way up your throat, but you hold it down, and give the woman a forced smile. The bleached middle aged wench across you glares up at you with a huff, and shoves the plate in your direction. "I've been coming here for 7 years and not once have I had such a rude waitress. How dare you?!" Her blue eyes flick all over the plate, and back at you.

You swallow, fisting your hands into the skirt that's tied around your waist and blink at her a couple of times, before repeating yourself, artificial smile plastered on. "You asked for a veggie burger, but without any dairy, fat or salt. You wanted no sauce, no carrot or cucumber, and onions were too oily here. That's what I told the chef, and that's what he gave."

The woman points her manicured nail at your face, and then at the plate, which has a mountain of lettuce and nothing else. "I'm lactose intolerant! You are making fun of my diseases, aren't you, you rude scoundrel?!" Biting your lip, you have to look away. Did she just call you a scoundrel? "I want to talk to the manager!" The wench screeches, all up in your face when she stands up, and gives you a victorious eyebrow raise.

Of course, the asshole she calls for shouts your name right that instant, like a cosmic joke of the universe.

"Sunny!" His voice raises above all other noise in the room. "Get your ass over here."

You just sigh, rub your hand over your face once and give the blonde witch a smile. "He'll be right over, ma'am."

Stuffing your hands in your pockets, you stomp away, and into the back room, where the angry owner of the place is. He doesn't acknowledge you, keeping his eyes on the paperwork in front of him. His face is sweaty, even though this room is far from too warm, and the smell almost makes you want to throw up. "What the fuck is the problem this time?" He sighs, penning something down on a blue post-it note.

"Someone had a complicated order, and is not happy with what the chef made for her, Sir." You start, anger now morphing to annoyance. Knowing him, it'll be your fault again, even if you just brought out the plate you were served.

"What time do you get off, Sunny?"

You frown and look at the clock. 5:54. "At six, Sir. I've been here since 7 am."

He hums and puts his pen down, clasping his fat hands together on the desk. "You're working until nine."

Mouth dropping open, you dig your nails into your own palms, feeling them dig sharply into your skin. If you weren't a nice person, you would have smacked him across the diner as well. "But Sir-" Your last tram comes at 8:57, so you’d have to walk all the way back home.

"And next time I have complaints about you, I'm throwing your pathetic excuse of an employee out, understood?!" He lifts himself from the chair and has the audacity to come to loom over you, while you swallow and glare at the bookcases there.

"Yes Sir."

Your foot collects with the trash can so hard that it flies all the way against the back of the alley with a loud clang and drops to the floor in a mess of litter. "If you can't have lactose, maybe don't go to a diner which serves only dishes with lactose! Seven years my ass, what have you been eating all those years, tHe FUcKiNG NaPKiN?!!" You shout at no one in particular, stomping around the alley like a child throwing a tantrum. "'If I hear complaints about you one more time-', the only one who complains every time is you!"

You take a deep breath, and come back to yourself, trying to focus on finding your calm before you shift and ruin your entire day. The cold air helps, though your hands are still shaky and your heart beats too fast. It’s eight and a bit now, and when your colleague spilled an entire jar of water on your feet you just had to take a breather outside. The younger girl apologized profusely though, and you're not mad at her. She's basically still a child, anyway. A pretty girl, but you do wonder how she was ever hired. She looks underage.

Running your hands through your hair a few times, you groan. You hate your job so much, but you need to in order to pay rent. After another second, you give in and pull open the door, frustration settling and determination taking it's place. You wouldn't let yourself give up that quickly. No way you’ll let that arrogant prick get under your skin like that. You’ll show him how capable you are.

***

Jongdae flashes a small smile, and scans her face. The girl across him is, with her long black hair and cherry red lips, definitely pretty, but Lord- does she talk a whole lot. And that means something coming from him. He takes a sip of water.

"... so pasta with cream sauce would be fine! It will remind me of my time in Italy." She flicks some of her hair over her shoulder and smiles sweetly, beaming up at him. "So how do you know Sehun anyway? I noticed he's never one to talk to the girls in class but I think I would have noticed that he had such an attractive friend if you were in our major, right?'

Jongdae nods, really questioning the girl's need for air, and leans back in his chair a little. "We're long time friends. I finished my major last year. I'm still on part time with my mentor."

The girl responds with an enthusiastic hum, and clasps her hands together. "Psychiatry seems so interesting! You must be really smart too, then huh, along with funny and handsome? I couldn't do it, you know, listening to all those people's problems and thoughts." She leans into her hand when giggling, and blinks up at him.

"Really. Who would have guessed." Jongdae nods quickly, averting his gaze to look around the diner quickly. What was Sehun thinking, setting him up with this giggling schoolgirl? She seems nice, but he can't deal with someone who talks more than he does.

"I hope someone comes to take our orders quickly though, I'm starving." The girl mumbles.

His eyes zero in on someone then, as if drawn by a magnet, even in the slightly dimmed light. A waitress, bright copper wavy hair and her hands and arms balancing five plates at once. She's shining, sparkling almost, a fiery determination in her eyes as she moves through the tables and delivers everyone's food. He almost chokes on his sip of water there and then. She's smiling, but her eyebrows are bunched, a funny fighting expression on her flushed face. Jongdae thinks he holds his breath, but really, it's hard to know what he does when this tornado of a person comes speeding past, too absorbed in her work to notice him. His eyes follow her already leaving shape until she dusts off her sweaty palms and moves back into the kitchen. It's only then, that his senses start working again, loud cluttered noise of the restaurant filtering in and the acute feeling of his heart beating about a million beats a minute. "Sunny!" The younger waitress calls, "that one is for table 5!"

Jongdae can't help the huge smile that comes on his face when it registers. This whirlwind of a person, full of thunder and lightning and static jumping off her persona like that of dark clouds, is called Sunny? Cute, that.

She comes walking back into the room with only two plates this time, and as she does, her eyes meet his in confusion. Her blue silver eyes meet his, and then they widen as if she just figured out how to fly, plates almost falling to the floor when she comes to a very abrupt halt.

Without hesitation, he's up out of his seat, following her with his eyes as she backs toward the kitchen.

"...and that was the- Jongdae?" His date suddenly blinks, surprised by his movement.

"Your story is super interesting, Annie, but I have to go. Sorry." He hurries, giving her a real smile this time.

And he's off, chasing after his mate with the biggest grin on his face. It's impossible how warm he feels right now, and how much he wants to know her already.

"It's Angela..." The girl calls after him, pouting.

***

Not good. Not good at all.

You stumble into the kitchen, slamming the door behind you. With wide eyes you try to process what the hell just happened. The wave of burning heat, slapping you in the face, and the fact that every cell in your body seemed to tremble and twist in his direction. You put your hands against your flushed cheeks in an attempt to calm them down, and take a deep breath.

You just met your mate. Your actual mate, the person who has been your other half for 28 years and the person who you thought you'd never find. It feels so sweet, way sweeter than you ever imagined it, but also terrifies you. You really like your life the way it is. You don't need a man fucking it up. And that seems to go both ways because he was clearly on a date.

You don't get the chance to process everything fully because the door you're resting your back against is being pushed open. You jump and push back, only causing him to giggle. It’s warm and melodic. The sound makes your heart swell, and you wish you could hate it but it only makes butterflies erupt in your stomach.

The young man of earlier pokes his ridiculously handsome face between the door once he pushes it open wide enough, an adorable kitten smile on his lips. You just frown at him and take a step away, folding your arms over your chest.

"Hello." He grins, voice deep and smooth. "I can already see you don't like me very much, but at least give me a chance?" The giggle that passes his lips is almost childlike, and makes your heart all soft. What kind of dark magic...

"Did you just run away from your girlfriend to chase me?" You frown at him, as he regards you with shimmering eyes, as if you are the most precious thing he's ever seen. It's almost insulting. Almost. You’re a lot of things, but cute isn’t one of them.

Again he laughs. You can already tell that this man is going to ruin you, with his joyful spirit and charms spilling out of his pores. He shrugs, and stuffs his hands in his pockets while taking a little step closer to you. "It's kind of our first date. Safe to say I won't be seeing her again though."

"Yeah, because you left her in the middle of a shitty diner to chase after another woman on your first date." For a second you wonder why you are so seemingly angry at him. Your past hasn't been easy however, and it's hard to convince your heart of that. He doesn't seem to mind though. And that in itself makes you even more frowny.

"H- Well, yes, probably, but also because I just met the most beautiful woman I've ever laid eyes upon."

Turning towards some of the dirty plates on the table behind you, you start stacking them nervously. "Oh, really? Where is she?" You turn over your shoulder to look at the guy, only to jump when he's right behind you.

He doesn't say anything for a while, just smiling down at you with his stupidly adorable moon eyes, before humming softly. "How do you do that?" He mumbles then, smile slipping off to really look at you., "You're looking at me with eyes that could shoot lightning and still you're brighter than the sun. Sunny really fits you."

When your name slips out of his mouth, you feel the full force of why people love their mates almost immediately. The word sends warm shivers down your spine and makes you feel floaty like nothing ever has. "I- I w-" you stutter, stepping from under his chin to slide to the side with flushed cheeks. "I'm really focused on my job, and I don't really do soulmates."

He just nods his head cutely, and smiles. "That's okay, I don't either." He runs a hind through his black hair, and grins to himself. "Can't you just see me as a normal guy asking you out? Just one date."

You giggle nervously, running your finger along the metal table edge over and over. You're acting like a total love struck fool right now, but it's impossible not to when your heart mellows at every second you're near him. "I don't even know your name." You just sigh, a horrible attempt at an excuse and you know it.

"Jongdae." He grins, quick to respond as he walks a little closer to you again.

This is a shitty idea. A really shitty idea.

"I promise I'll be sophisticated."

A giggle escapes you then, making you roll your eyes. "I really doubt it."

He gives you another smile. "Pinky promise." He holds out his phone for you to put your number in, right as your colleague walks in. Her eyes widen considerably at the sight of a customer here, but she doesn't say anything.

"You better not break your promise then, Jongdae." You are an idiot.

***

He didn’t lie. He looks more than sophisticated, with fancy suit and gold rimmed glasses perched on his pretty nose. Jongdae picked you up at 6, three days after you two met. And you hated to admit it, but he hadn’t left your mind for a second since that day. The entire walk home, you were practically singing, that’s how stupidly happy you were.

You’re dressed a lot more, how should you say it, dead inside, than Jongdae is. You’re wearing a black pencil skirt with a beautiful colored dragon on the side, a lacy top and several black rings adorning your slim fingers. Older people stared when you walked past them, Jongdae only grinning when you gave them a wink.

“Why are you so quiet?” Jongdae turns to you, cheeks high with smiles. He always looks so deliriously happy, you wonder if that ever gets tiring. Probably not. “You’ve been all shy the entire evening.”

You huff and glare up at him from where you’re holding his arm hooked in yours, before grinning slightly as you come to a stop at another big photograph, displayed in this gallery. You don’t really know why Jongdae chose to take you here, but it sure is sophisticated. “That’s just because you’ve been talking so much that I couldn’t get a single word in.”

Jongdae pushes your shoulder, giggling. “Not even true at all. I’ve been holding back more than I have my entire life.”

A snort passes your lips before you can help it. “How sweet.”

“I know.”

Right when you want to respond, you two turn a corner, where a big group of people is talking animatedly. You immediately feel that most of them are wolves, humming in interest. Is this the group of people that lives at the edge of the city? You doubt it, they don’t seem familiar. Still though.

Some of the people are looking at the photographs on the wall, some others crawling on each other’s backs and hanging on top of each other like a huge mess of limbs. Most though, are crowded around a small girl who has a huge blush on her chubby face, apart from the one black haired couple to the side who just look at the group lovingly. “Guys,” the one girl mumbles, looking around at some disproving people walking past, “quiet down. Thank you but you are really too much.”

One of the smaller men, red-brown hair bouncing up and down as he enthusiastically speeds over to her and throws his arms around her neck. “I’m never quieting down. We’re so pROUD, dUNgi!!” She just giggles and swats him away, before taking a sip of her champagne and coming to rest her head on one of the other man’s shoulders.

This group fill the entire room, and you can’t help but snort as you lean into Jongdae a little more. “See, this is why being alone is better than being in a pack. What a mess.” Giggling, you pass by the room where the huge crowd is, continuing down one of the halls. You catch eyes with one of them for just a split second, as his eyes widen, but before you can notice you’re out of view.

Jongdae grins a little sheepishly, and rubs his free hand at the base of his neck. “Yeah, I guess they do look like a whole mess.” The smile doesn’t reach his eyes fully.

“Loud, too. I couldn’t do it, I think, even if I tried.” Stopping for yet another picture, you frown, this one a lot more dark than most of the other works displayed here. “Do you think that one girl was the photographer? She takes really good pictures.”

The man to your side hums, before turning towards the side. “Yeah, she is really talented. I don’t like this picture though,” cocking his head at the dimly lit, deep blue picture full of small bubbles, as if it was taken underwater, “way too sad. Her works are so bright and pretty, they shouldn’t have hung this one up.”

You can’t help but nod, noticing the fire behind his words. “It seems like this one was taken in a sad past, where she had no hope. Drowning, almost.”

Jongdae quiets at that, finding your eyes for a second and resting on your lips. It makes your whole body shiver, but he seems lost in thought. Maybe that hit a personal note, you don’t know. Though being around him feels like being around an extension of yourself, you don’t know of Jongdae’s past, much like he doesn’t know of yours. The entire evening has just been filled with happy teasing and occasionally letting him slip his hand into yours, before giggling and pushing him away.

He breathes deeply, before coming back to you and smiling softly. “You have freckles.” He says it so softly, like it is something that makes you a dainty little flower, brushing a strand of hair behind your ear and you don’t have your right mind to shoo him away. “I didn’t notice it before, but- they’re all over. Here-” he points at your nose than, smile returning fully, “and here-” he brushes his thumb softly along your cheek, “and right- there.”

He puts his finger on the one freckle you know you have right at the edge of your lips, a very light one. When you move forward, or if you even do, you don’t know, but suddenly he’s way closer than he was before and your heart is beating out of your chest. His hands come up to cup your cheeks softly, and then is lips press to yours.

And when you close your eyes, you see fireworks. It’s just a peck, and Jongdae soon pulls back, but you’re frozen in the moment for way after that. Your lips tingle with the feeling of his, so soft and warm and pillowy that you’re lost at what to do. In your entire life, you’ve never had a kiss this careful, this gentle and it’s like the entire world has yanked up the saturation when you open your eyes again.

He doesn’t say anything for a while. When he does, a shy smile comes to play at his mouth corners, one you’ve never seen on him before. He always seems so confident in all he does, and yet here he is, blushing after a single kiss. Not that you can blame him, you feel bright red as well.

“I’ll walk you home, they are closing this place soon.” He sighs, before slipping his hand into yours and pulling you into his side.

The whole walk to your house, which was luckily only a good couple of minutes, was spent in a comfortable silence, or with soft whispers and giggles. You don’t know when it became so late that the sun sunk entirely behind the horizon. It must be at least 11 pm right now, since the city has become almost completely silent. Surprising, for a Wednesday evening.

Jongdae has been playing with your fingers the entire time, giggling every time you glare up at him or give him little jabs in the side. You’ve never been like this with a person before, but here you are. He lets out a deep breath, the warm air painting off against the cooling down evening, and then smiles. “Don’t look.” He suddenly says, disconnecting your hands and placing the one over your eyes.

You yelp, and take hold of his arm. “How can I walk when I don’t see where I’m going, Jongdae?”

“I’ll lead you.” He says, while you can hear his take something out of his pocket. His hand drops from your eyes. “Don’t look, yeah? I’m serious.” He doesn’t sound at all serious, so you laugh, but do as asked. His hand wraps around yours again, warm and solid, and then you feel the distinct feeling of a pen on your skin.

You bite your lip and smile, still walking on as you lean into him a little more. “Are you writing your number on my hand? You do know that this stuff only works in movies when I don’t have your number yet, right?”

Jongdae laughs loudly at that, the sound ringing through the street, before huffing playfully. “I’m not writing my number.”

“Hm.” You smile, patiently waiting until you feel the pen still on your skin, and hear the click of it. Jongdae squeezes your hand softly. “Can I open up now?”

“Yes.” He nods, grin audible in his voice, while he wraps his arm around your shoulder.

You don’t know what you were expecting, but a soft smile comes on your lips. On the back of your hand is a little sun, accompanied with just two words. ‘Yours, Jongdae’. He doesn’t say anything when you glance up at him with shimmering eyes, and leads you to the side, where to your dismay, you recognize your door.

“We’re here.” Jongdae smiles, holding in front of you and taking both hand in his. “I don’t know if I still have to say it, because it seems obvious, but I really enjoyed my night with you.”

“I really enjoyed my night with you too.” You nod, looking at your feet. “Do you want to come in for a while?”

His eyes flick to your door, and then back to you, to your door again. He gives a pained smile, before shaking his head. “I don’t think that’s a good idea. I promised to be sophisticated and I really plan on keeping to that. Next time, maybe.” He leans forward and presses a sweet his to your forehead, and then nods. “Have a good night, Sunny. I’ll text you tomorrow?”

“Okay.” You just nod, and wave him out. “Have a good night.” When he walks away backwards, he sends you a last breathtaking smile, and then he’s gone. You almost melt into a puddle right then and there.

What did you say again? Not letting a man fuck up your life?

Well… you’re done for.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter! New characters!! Yet again. By now you’re used to this, right? This au is going to keep going until it kills me. I really enjoyed writing Jongdae for once! I feel like I’ve been lacking a lot of him throughout the series so I’m very sorry toward any Jongdae stans.

Please leave a message about your thoughts, anything you noticed this chapter or what you liked in general!! Just know that if I get input I’m a lot more motivated to put out more content.

Thank you for reading! ♡♡

If you want to be (un)tagged for this story or any of my others, just let me know! @rissa-is-a-nerd (it’s finally here, mom. how long ago did i say this would come?) @ninibears-erigom @baekfanapleintemps @vamprrr

[weelittleweasley]

I Don’t Like Change | Sweet Pea x Reader

Prompt requested by anon: After transferring to Riverdale High, your relationship with Sweet Pea is put to the test.

Request status: Closed

Warnings: Profanity, ANGST

South Side High was being shut down. It was unfathomable to you that Mayor McCoy would have the audacity to shut down a place that she knew so many kids benefited from. Yes, the school wasn’t great, but it was a place that had no judgement. A place where kids felt safe. But of course, South Side kids never got what they wanted.

Multiple students where being transferred to Riverdale High on the North Side of town. Thankfully, the majority of you and your friends were all transferred to the same school. One of them being your boyfriend, Sweet Pea. You and Sweets had been dating for three years, and people knew you as South Side’s power couple. The two of you were inseparable. Your relationship was put to the test multiple times: when you told Pea you were joining the Serpents, getting involved with the drug business, family issues, questions of loyalty. But no matter what, you somehow always found a way to work through it.

The day of the transfer came and you were not excited to say the least compared to Sweets. “I don’t get why you are so happy about this,” you huff as you hop off the back of his bike. You fix the lapels on your leather jacket and untuck your hair from the back. “We are being thrown in a pool of self-righteous pricks.”

Sweets rolls his eyes and slings an arm around you, walking with a few other Serpents. “Think about it, baby. New textbooks, clean classrooms, toilets that actually flush?” The excitement was evident in his voice and it made you worried. “Think about the opportunities we are gonna have here,” he tells you as you roll your eyes. He groans and presses a chaste kiss to your lips. “Come on, let’s go.”

With that, you all walk into Riverdale High. The first impression of the school was Is this what a normal high school is supposed to look like? The walls were not peeling with paint, dilapidated from lack of attention. The lockers were all uniformly painted and locked adequately. But just because it had a pleasant exterior did not mean everything else was just as pleasant. When you step in, Veronica Lodge greets you. You had heard many mixed things about her from word of mouth. Jughead claimed she was harmless, but there was something about the way she spoke and the designer clothes that she wore that rubbed you the wrong way.

As you are toured quickly through the school, you show no emotion. This wasn’t where you wanted to be. This wasn’t South Side. This was the enemies territory. You looked at the other Serpents to see their reactions to all of this. Sweets, Fangs, and Toni all wore small smiles as you remained in shock. People were actually enjoying themselves? You looked at Jughead and saw that he wasn’t too happy about the transfer either. “I’m beginning to regret coming here today,” you huff to him as he nods his head.

“I’m with you,” Jughead agrees.

And that statement remained true for the weeks to come. Within days of you transferring to Riverdale High, Serpent behavior was banned along with forcing South Side High kids to dress in a school uniform. This was discrimination. You hated this place with every fiber in your body and it was clear to all of your friends that this was the last place you would like to be. But you and Jughead were the only two Serpents who felt this way.

Sweet Pea on the other hand was loving the switch. He was taking advantage of every opportunity given to him. You weren’t mad about that, he should be. The academia was better. But the fact that he was participating in Varsity sports and just adapting more to the North Side ‘way of life’ made you sick to your stomach. You could see that you were losing him to Riverdale High.

You were at your locker, tossing books into it as Sweets came up to you. “Hey, you,” he smiled as you turned to him with a small one. He pressed a kiss to your lips quickly before noticing your quiet nature. “You’re quiet.”

Shrugging, you sigh, “It’s been a weird day.” Closing your locker, you lean your back against it, Pea resting his hand next to your head, leaning over you. 

“Wanna talk about it?” he asks as you shake your head no. You slither your hand to the back of his neck to press your lips against his. He smiles into the kiss as you keep your hand on the back of his head, playing with the hair at the nape of his neck. He pulls away and presses his forehead against yours. “I love you.”

Smiling, you reply, “I love you, too.” The bell abruptly rings as you throw your head back and groan, causing him to laugh. “What are you doing after school? Do you wanna come over to my place?” you ask, wiggling your eyebrows suggestively.

He gives you a sad smile. “As tempting as that sounds,” he pecks your lips. “I have basketball.” His words make you slightly angry, but more sad that he would put something like this ahead of your relationship. “The weekend is almost here. You’ll have me all to yourself then,” he suggests as you roll your eyes. “I’ll catch up with you later.” With a kiss to the cheek, he dashes off.

The days go by and the increasingly frustrated you become. The more time you spend at Riverdale, it seems the South Side kids become more and more adapted to the new environment and you can’t help, but hate what you see. The only other person who understands is Jughead. Over the past few weeks, you’ve been confiding in Jughead, rather than in Pea, revealing how worried you are for you and Pea’s relationship. Instead of spending more time with you, he’s made excuses to stay at the school to play basketball, study, or just say he doesn’t wanna head back to the Wyrm yet. It drove you crazy to think that you could be losing him. “Y/N, losing Sweet Pea should be the least of your worries. He’s whipped,” Jughead teases you as you just stare at him, completely serious. “Look, I understand where all of this is coming from. And to be honest, I have the same fears but for different reasons. All I know is that something explosive is going to happen and it’s going to happen soon,” he confesses as you sigh. Nothing seemed right anymore.

And today was your breaking point. You wanted to be with Pea today after school, but again, he had basketball practice that he claimed he couldn’t miss. Toni told you to lay off of him and give him some space to which you replied to her to mind her own business. This was your relationship and you weren’t about to let someone else take the reigns. 

Sitting on the cold tile floor, you wait for the basketball practice to let out and for Sweet Pea to come out all sweaty. And there he is, leaving the gym, his tank top soaked in sweat, one ear bud in his ear, blasting music. Standing, you call after him, “Hey, you.”

He recognizes your voice and turns around. “Hey,” he beams as you walk up to him, him kissing your lips sweetly. “What are you doing here?” he asks.

You sigh, “I wanted to see you. I haven’t seen you in what feels like forever.” You lace your fingers with his as you both walk outside. “Now that you are a big shot basketball star.”

Sweets laughs. “Well, Coach says if I continue to play like I’m playing, he’ll put me in as starter for our first game,” he tells you with a smile. His words make your heart beat faster, palpitating with anxiety. He sounds like them. You speak your thoughts to him as he furrows his brows. “What do you mean?”

Grabbing both of his hands in yours, you tell him, “The crazy basketball practice hours? Warming up to Reggie fucking Mantle? Are you listening to yourself, Pea? I’m losing you to the North Side.” You couldn’t hide your fears anymore. This was spiraling out of control and you can’t handle it anymore. “You are turning into a different person. Someone I don’t know...” Sweets sighs and shakes his head. “You know I don’t like change, Pea.”

“Serpents don’t shed their skin that easily. Y/N, you’re overreacting,” he tells you as you scoff, repeating his words. “Just because I take advantage of the opportunities that are given to me here, which mind you were never given at the other hell hole, doesn’t mean I’m any less of the person I was.” You shake your head in disbelief. “I don’t understand why you can’t be happy for me for once.”

Your mouth falls open in shock. “You’re kidding me, right? I’m sorry that I’m upset because my boyfriend of three years has been treating me like garbage. You don’t talk to me anymore, I haven’t hung out with you in two weeks. Every time I try to talk to you, you brush me aside and run off to who the hell knows where! It’s like I don’t exist!” you tell at him.

He becomes increasingly more and more angry. “Fine, you want to act like this? We can act like this. Do you want me to even bring up you and Jughead hanging out more often? What’s that? I see you hanging out with him during lunch and before school and after school. Do you want to explain that, princess?” he uses an endearing term against you as you scoff.

“Jughead has actually been there for me unlike you. He actually listens to me,” you spit at him as he laughs, shaking his head. “At least I know I have someone to go to to talk to because you’re too busy fucking playing basketball like a fucking North Side prick!”

Sweets pulls at his hair, “Jesus Christ, how about you fuck Jughead?! Huh? He’s single? His blonde bombshell doesn’t want him anymore, maybe this is your chance!” His words hurt you as you feel a lump well up in your throat. “Is that what you want?” he yells at you.

You inhale through your nose, looking away from him, not daring to let him look at you crying. It wasn’t like this was your first fight, but it seemed to hurt a lot more than others. “You really are a no good son of a bitch,” you huff underneath your breath.

He says, “And you are a whiny bitch.” Before you can register, what is happening, your hand slaps him across the face, the sound echoing through the parking lot, haunting you. He is unphased by the blow as he rolls his neck. “Are you done?” he asks, anger in his eyes. It terrifies you. You have never seen him like this before and you don’t dare to respond. “You know what?” he asks. “Maybe we should just take a break.”

As the words fall from his mouth, your heart shatters. You don’t even wanna believe what he’s saying. At the same time, he can’t believe he uttered the words. He wishes he could take it back. He wants to take it all back and take you into his hands and pepper your face with kisses and says he doesn’t mean any of it. But before he can say anything, you say, “Maybe we should.”

The air falls silent and cold. You just stand there, looking at each other, both of your hearts broken. You let a sob escape your lips before walking away to your car. You can hear Sweet Pea call out your name, but you don’t want to look at him. You’d just be reminded about all of the things you failed at.

Days went by without Sweets and then weeks. Life was dragging on at a snail’s speed. Neither of you wanted this break up. It was evident. When the news was shared with everyone else, people were shocked. The South Side’s, and maybe Riverdale’s, longest power couple was done. It was no more. Just like that. And for what? Over a time management problem? It was stupid. It was silly. People told you that you should just talk and rekindle the romance.

But both you and Sweet Pea were far too competitive to cave in before the other. That’s why he never came to your locker again, or picked you up on his bike, or sent you good morning texts. That’s why you never came to a basketball game, or waited for him at the Wyrm, or called him at three in the morning just to hear his voice. Those were the reasons that pushed you to go on more dates, see new people, and to at least try to get yourself back out there. But every thing led back to Pea. 

Your heart still longed for him. Whenever you caught a glimpse of him in the hallway, your heart would race and your palms would sweat. But you would force yourself to look away, knowing that this was over. The same went for him. He’d see you laughing in the cafeteria with other friends and he’d smile to himself, knowing that you were happy. He’d secretly wish that he was the one making you laugh, your dimples ever so prominent. He’d wish that he had one last chance to kiss your chap stick covered lips and smell your rosy perfume. But that was all over.

Since you were both Serpents, there was no true way to escape each other. Boiled down, you had the same friends, the same family, the same hang out spot. Seeing each other was unavoidable. But you would try your best to leave the Wyrm when he entered, Toni insisting you stayed for a little while longer, Sweets praying that you would obey. You would just brush her off, making the excuse that you were too tired to say any longer when everyone knew that you just were going home to an empty house to mourn.

Today, you stood behind the bar of the Whyte Wyrm, cleaning glasses. The bar was almost completely empty. That was before he walked in. You tensed up at the mere sight of him. He wore a flannel and grey t-shirt, that same fucking leather jacket he refused to take off. He still looked so damn good. As you took him in, he did the same for you. You wore a black t-shirt and jeans, simple, but beautiful. Your hair was tied back in a ponytail, keeping the hair out of your face as the light from the bar made it seem like you had a foggy halo over your head. 

Sweets stepped further into the bar and spoke, “Hi.”

His baritone voice reverberated as your heart stopped at the sound of it. “Hi,” you mirror.

The room falls silent as he sits on one of the bar stools. You continue to clean the glasses. “You look great,” he compliments. He wanted to tell you that you looked fucking beautiful and he missed you so much. He wanted to tell you that he hasn’t been able to sleep right without you. His body ached for your touch.

“I feel great,” you lie, trying to dig into him. You wanted to tell him you felt like shit. You wanted to tell him that you were languishing without him. You wanted to tell him that you should have been more supportive of him and what he wanted. You wanted to tell him that you watched him play last game from outside the gym. He was good. Really good.

Sweets smiles. “I’m happy to hear that. Truly,” he tells you and you softly smile. 

Placing a glass underneath the bar, you speak, “Congrats on the playoffs. That’s great.” He thanks you and the room falls silent again. There is an electricity between you two, an unspoken tension that you both want to act on, but don’t. Again, that same power struggle. “Have you been seeing anyone recently?” you break the ice, popping the question that you were dying to know the answer to.

He shakes his head no and a weight is lifted off your chest. “I heard you’ve been on a couple of dates. How did that go?” he asks, hoping that you were going to say horribly. That all of them were awful and you miss him just as much as he misses you.

You shake your head. “Nothing worth while,” you admit. A weight is lifted off his chest. “Did you...want anything?” you ask.

His eyes widen before he realizes you mean anything to drink. “Oh, uh, no. I’m fine. Thanks,” he answers as you finish putting away glasses. The room falls silent yet again. You exit the back of the bar, wiping down tables now as Sweets watches silently. 

This cycle of weird questions and chaste answers continue until you walk back to the bar, tossing the towel behind the bar as your hands brush against each others. The contact makes you yearn for more, but you don’t do anything.

But he does. He takes your hand in his and you look at him confused. “Pea, what are you doing?” you ask as his heart skips a beat at the sound of your nickname for him.

“Just let me,” he says before connecting his lips to yours. The kiss is warm and tender. It’s sweet, but lustful at the same time. His lips are still soft and comforting like you remembered them to be months ago. The scent of cheap cologne and leather has not left him as you wrap your arms around his neck, pulling him in closer. His hands rest on your waist, pulling you into his body, craving more contact than what you are currently giving him. Sweets pulls away prematurely and says, “Y/N, I-”

“Shut it,” you say before connecting your lips again, him smiling as you do so.

[lillaxtrigger]

Young Hope: Chapter 34

The southern side of a mountain left blanket in snow of pure white bellows down along its incline a chilling wind, one that sends shivers down the spines of three figures that attempt the daring climb to the top. All of them come bundled in the warmth of their thick coats, warm hoods, and flapping scarves that mercifully shield them all from the harsh temperatures of the ascending peaks. While the trio continue to trail up through the snowy mountain face, the taller of these figures flips his hood right off to let his rust red hair flow in the cooling breeze; the young boy looking to one of his others that lead their way and question: “So, any particular reason why you up and decided to drag both of our asses towards the top of a giant fuck off snowy mountain? Or did you just wanna see our tits freeze off for shits and giggles?” Upon being given this question, the leader exposes her own orange head to the chilling elements and turns her gaze towards the boy; explaining the situation with: “Ryan, didn’t I tell you two before we up and head out here? We’re here going by the inscription I found in those caves, whatever might be at this mountain could be the next clue we need here.” “Let me try and reiterate here. Why the hell you decide to drag “our” asses through a giant fucking mountain.” “You insisted on coming with since Vivi wanted to.”

The last of the trio finally flips off her own fur hood and lets the cold air beat against her partially skeletal face; turning to the boy and claiming to him how: “Well, I sure as hell ain’t gonna leave a girl hanging. The fuck we got each other for if we ain’t gonna go through this kinda shit together?” “But to the top of a fucking ice cold mountain, really Vivi!?” the boy slightly exclaims to her. “Why your sorry ass bitch so much about it for, anyway? You just worried that all this cold’s gonna make ya dick shrink too much?” “I-bitch? None of us would have to climb through this snow ridden hell hole if you’d stopped being one and just use yer damn scythe to warp us to the top. I seen what that reaper of yours can do with it.” “Hell no! I ain’t usin that damn thing just cause yer fucking sorry dick’s freezing in the cold.” the skull girl harshly retaliates with. “If you don’t like using it that much, then why’d you bother bringing it with you?” Mally then questions. “The hell you on about, Mal? I ain’t got it with-” Vivi’s suddenly cuts herself short when peeking to one of her hands, frightened to find the very scythe in question resting in her palm; its unexpected appearance shocking her enough to toss the weapon into the thick sheet of snow. “Th-the-Holy shit! Why was it on me!?”

Waltzing past the frightened young lass, the red head picks mystical scythe right out from the thick white and brushes off the clinging snow off its blade; the face of the blade reflecting Ryan’s face as he asks the girl: “The hell you so bent up about this thing for? Mally couldn’t stop going on how much ass you were kicking back when the whole town threw a shit show.” “Don’t care. Holding it just don’t sit right with me. We don’t need that fucking garden tool anyway. We got us a whole bunch of other ways we can climb up to the top. Rough it up like a trio of fuckin hikers, go through some of the caves to keep from freezing our anus’s off, even could go back down and get some snowmobiles; all sorts of ways we could up without that fuckin scythe.” Its in that moment that the orange girl that led them swiftly get between the bickering duo, holding her arms out to both of them as she calms them with: “Alright, alright there. Ain’t no need to start with all this. We don’t gotta use the scythe if you don’t wanna Viv. We’ll just let Ryan hold onto it til you want to.” “Thank you there, Mal.” the skeletal lass says. “Why the hell do I gotta be the fuckin pack mule for?” Ryan barks. “Cause you were the one who wanted to bring it with us; so your gonna onto it for her.” “Hells yeah, bitches! Lets conquer this oversized snow cone and make it out dirty little hoe!” the skull girl excitedly shouts; wailing on as she darts further on up ahead towards the peak. Worried that her constant yelping may cause an avalanche to slide right down onto them, both of the skeletal young lady’s friends chase right after her; failing to see the darkening clouds that start to close in towards the mountain.

Both Mally and Ryan trudge through the thick blanket of pure white as they pursue their overly excited pal; the two thankful to see Vivian having stopped right behind a set of snow covered boulders. Once the two return to the skull girls side, the red head to her right starts to warn her how: “Jesus, Vivi. Don’t run off like that. Ya coul’ve gotten lost up here if you didn’t stop.” “Why did you up and stopped?” Mally then wanders. “Just look over and you’ll get yer answer.” she tells them. Like their friend had suggested they do, the two gaze out over the very cluster of snowy rocks that they conceal themselves behind; what they discover beyond the boulders making their muscles tense up alongside their glares. Prowling along the snow covered field up ahead could they all see what was a massive mountain lion; its fur and mane as pure white as the very snow beneath its paws. “Holy shit. That lions borderline giant. I didn’t even know they could grow that big.” Mally whispers out. “Why the hell is a cat this damn big out here for?” Ryan whispers back. “We might’ve just wandered into its territory that it patrolling. Anybody got some idea’s on how we could get through it?” Vivi asks. “Not too sure if we really have to. The oversized bastard doesn’t seem like it knows all of us are here yet. If we just lay low here and not make any loud sounds, it might just decide to fuck off” “I see what your thinking. But I’m pretty sure we need to be ready to run if it finds us, you hear me Viv...Vivi?” When hearing not even a single word from her friend, the two of them look back to find their skeletal friend no longer standing between them. Taking another look beyond the very rocks they hide behind, Ryan lets out a snarling growl upon discovering where their friend is; the skull girl racing out towards the lion while its back was still turned. “God fucking dammit!” he curses out as Mally leaps over the boulders and sprints off after their strawberry blonde pal runs to.

As Vivian approaches the back of the snowy beast, the skull girl dislodges her bone arm right out of the socket and wields her own limb as a makeshift club; ready to swing the blunt end of her own arm the closer she nears the feline. Once right behind the unsuspecting lion, Vivian smacks her own dislodged limb right into the back of the beast as hard as she possibly can; her eager rush nearly causing her to fall flat onto the frosty snow. Saving herself from tumbling onto the blanket of white, the girls eager bravado swiftly shrinks when gazing back and discovering her little sneaky strike leaving next to nothing along the back of its head; not even so much as a nick or dent along its neck. The giant mountain line slowly lifts its head from the ineffective blow to aim its furious icy glare towards its newly found prey; the girl before it helpless to only watch as it swipes its frosty claw towards her very flesh.

The icy beasts lethal claws are suddenly stopped by the blunt wood of a lone hockey stick; Mally holds the ferocious feline back from moving even another inch closer to her friend. “Vivi...Get back!” Complying with her friends urgent demands, Vivian retreats away from the two of them as she watches her hockey stick wielding friend keep the snow covered beast away. After seeing the skull girl get back far enough, the orange skater pushes the massive cat away from her hard enough to send it tumbling through the snowy blanket. “Bad ass Mal! Show that mother fucker who’s the leader of the pack!” the skull girl behind her compliments. Swiftly turning towards her friend, Mally immediately barks at her with: “What the hell were you thinking, Vivi!? You seriously expected to fight that beast just by hitting in the back of the head!?” “I thought it’d be enough to knock the damn cat out, okay!” Coming off of her skeletal pals excuse, the orange skater looks back in the direction she had knocked the deadly apex predator out to, only to find not a single trace of the lion seen among the field of pure white snow. “Where did it...” she ponders to herself as she gauges her surroundings.

Remaining hidden behind the mess of icy rocks, the red head peers out to the very back of the field to witness something emerging out from the snow behind the young strawberry blonde; Ryan leaping to the top of the rocky mound and screaming out: “Vivi, behind you!” Hearing her red headed friends warning, the skull girl starts turning back just in time to see the dangerous feline leap out from the blanket of white; the beast threatening to pounce upon her with its merciless icy claws reaching out for her flesh. Moments before the monstrous cat could dig its fangs right into the girls skin, a metal yo yo encircles Vivi’s very waste and hugs her tight; the girl jerked away from the approaching beast before she could feel the cold sting of its claws. Mally pulls her beloved pal away from the pursuing beast and tosses the strawberry blonde back as the feline lunges right towards her; rapidly swinging its icy claws out to the orange lass. Every attempt to swipe its paws out to the skater is blocked by the durable wood of her weapon; not a single claw able to reach the girls skin. Feeling her grapple yo returning to her side, Mally casts its hard metal shell straight into the beast head growling before her; the force of the blow powerful enough to knock the ferocious feline away. She watches the beast far more closely this time around to keep it from slipping out of her site; discovering an astonishing discover as she stares upon the rising lion. Beneath the monster snowy coat lied a thick layer of solid, transparent ice protecting numerous organs and stringing veins; piece of its face breaking off from where the girl had smack her gadget into it. “Fucking wot?”

Before the girl could comprehend what exactly she had been fighting, the frosty feline suddenly charges out swiftly to the shocked skater; Mally shaking off her confusing and bracing herself for the beasts oncoming charge. Right as overgrown cat was on the verge of pouncing upon her, Mally suddenly thrusts her back into the blanket of snow beneath her feet and tucks her legs in; evading the monstrous beast icy white bite as it glides right over her. Mally then takes the opportunity she had planned out and thrusts both of her feet straight into the icy predators very stomach; the white lion tumbling back from the stunning blow. The young skater leaps right off her back and lands back her own two feet; Mally suddenly feeling an incredibly stinging pain surge along the side of her leg. She looks along where she feels this horrible pain and discovers a ghastly vertical scratch left along the edge of her left calf; the scarlet of her blood leaking out and staining her denim pants. Shit! Hurts like hell here. Need to end this fast.

Ignoring the pain coursing through her leg, Mally limps over just in time to find the frosty predator taking chance to lunge right at her; the lass digging the end of her hockey stick into the snow as it approaches. Once the icy terror was right before her, the skater tosses out a flurry of powder snow straight into the beasts open wound; some of the snow leaking straight onto the monsters organs. Left utterly stunned by the pack of snow tossed into its face, the orange girl takes the time she had bought for herself to wack the oversize ice cat away from her; tossing her grapple yo out to the icy feline as its hurdled back. Her gadgets string entangles itself around the apex predators snow white leg, Mally taking that queue to jerk the horrible ice lion back and begins twirling the beast trapped in her grasps around the flat snowy field. Both Ryan and Vivi’s head spin about as they watch Mally spin the beast round and around; the frosty feline letting out a pained roar as the skater twirls it faster and faster. At last does Mally unravel her gadgets string from the lions leg and lobs the predator that had once troubled then out towards the mountain peak neighboring them.

The sky above them all starts to cast out its darkness as the orange skater drops onto the snow beneath her; kneeling on the blanket of white as both of her friends race to her side to attempt and aid her woes. Vivi’s eyes are drawn by the blood red that stain the snow at her friends feet; an audible hiss seeping through her teeth when finding how deep Mally’s cut was, the lions claw tearing through her pants and exposing her very muscle tissue. “Damn, girl. That don’t look too good.” “It’ll only get worse if we don’t do something. Viv, I’m gonna need one of your coat sleeves to tie around the leg to stop the bleeding. Least you can do after all that.” Ryan claims. Clutching the shoulder of one of her coat sleeves, the skull girl tears the fabric of her coat right off its very stitching; Vivi slinking the torn sleeve right off her skeletal limb and handing it over to the red head. “The hell is that supposed to mean?”

“Come on, Viv; that shit should be obvious. The fact that you just blindly went in and wacked a fucking mountain lion in the back of the head expecting it to just go down in one swing should be enough to tell you what the hell your problem is.” As Ryan starts to wrap his friends torn sleeve around the wounded skaters bleeding gash, the strawberry blonde barks back with: “Gimme a fuckin break here, man. It was the best I could think of then. Figured I try something since I didn’t hear you guys coming up with a plan.” The red head finishes wrapping Vivi’s sleeve around their fallen friends bleeding wound, the fabric of the sleeve soaking up the blood as Ryan finally ties it with a tight knot. “That's cause you didn’t even bother sticking around long enough to hear us out; you seriously just ran in swinging your bone arm to bonk it with. Least you could’ve done was try slashing yer scythe through it. Figure a single slash to the neck would decapitate it with one stroke.” The darkened clouds start to gather right above the mountain, flakes of pure white fluttering down from the very heavens.

As these tiny flakes of ice brush along the strawberry blondes face, her stare begins to embitter upon her friends very words; responding in kind with: “Like hell I need that piece of shit scythe! I can get by hella plenty without having to deal with its bullshit.” “What bullshit you even gotta put up with? Its the scythe of death for god sake.” Attempting to prying herself off the blanket of red stained snow, Mally meekly utters out from her painful groans: “Guys, hang on a sec...” Yet despite her weak little plead, both of her friends continue to argue among themselves; Vivi remarking to the red head on how: “Son of a bitch, you don’t even know what the hell yer talking about. Like you even got a single clue what its like for me to hold that thing. I...I fucking hate it!” “Hate it? You wanna bitch about hate? I hate the fact that your stubborn crap nearly got us all torn apart by a mountain lion, Why can’t you just get over yourself already and just take the damn garden tool?” “At least both of us did something back there. All I seen you do was piss behind a rock while both of us were bustin our asses off.” Ryan can’t help but let out a deeply frustrated growl upon his skeletal friends response, arguing how: “You come up with all these ideas on how to climb this mountain, but you never bother to think any of them through. Did you for once question how the hell were supposed to make a snowmobile go uphill?” “You say that same sort of shit about everything I think of; when the hell you think your gonna quit your bitching and listen to any of my plans for once?” “Like you have any idea’s that anybody supposed to take seriously. I’d wish for once you take just one minute to listen to the bizarre bullshit that comes out of your mouth; you just sound like some kind of fucking weirdo!” The falling snow around them grows ever more dense dark as the air between all three is robbed of any voice; the rage upon Ryan’s face swiftly fading away as he beholds the stream of tears welling in Vivi’s eyes. Before another word could be spoken between any of them, Vivian turns her back to both of them and races off in the opposite direction; every inch of her body disappearing in the growing blizzard’s fog.

The red head lumbers over to where his skeletal friend had once stood before him, his regret gradually transforming into anger as he lifts the scythe in his hands; throwing the weapon down into the snow as he screams out: “Fuck!… Out of everything that had to come out of my god damn mouth, it had to be weirdo, didn’t it? The hell is wrong with me?” Finally standing on her own two legs, Mally limps out from the pile of scarlet stained snow and wonders towards the upset red head; the first thing she asks of him is: “Why were you pushing her to use the scythe so much?” “You’re fucking joking, right? This whole trip through this oversized vanilla dipped snow cone wouldn’t be such a bitch if she just get over herself and use it. What you should asking is what the hell her problem is.” “Well, whatever it may be. Up and calling her names like that didn’t seem like the brightest idea. Wonder why she took so much offense to that anyway? Both my brothers and I have always been called weird ever since we hit middle school, never bothered us even a smidgen.” “Ah...It’s nothing...” the red head grumbles out. “All that didn’t sound like nothing.” “Fucki- Wil you quit bitching at me and help me catch up to her before she winds up getting herself lost?” Watching as the young red head race off into the direction their friend had sprinted off down, the orange skater lets out a little growl as she limps off in the same direction; skipping through the snow while keeping her cut leg off the ground as much as possible.

The constant snowfall beating against the mountain starts to grow heavy and dense as Vivian continues to race through the thick of it all; her footprints beginning to fading behind her as she sprints through the tundra. Ryan’s very voice proclaiming her to be a weirdo rings through her head as she rushes through the darkening blizzard, the insult causing numerous haunting memories to erupt from the back of her mind. “What’s the matter with you?” “What happened to your face?” “Is all that just a costume or what?” “Oh god, why did your arm come off?” “Look at you, you’re a fucking freak!” “Hey, look at what crawled out from the cemetery; just in time for Halloween.” “That bitch ain’t gonna have much of a social life scaring everyone like that.” “Lo and behold, the daughter of Jack Skelington.” “This is Halloween, Halloween, Halloween, Halloween!” “Jeez, just look at her. She missing an eye.” These painful memories only urge her to race faster through the thick blanket of snow; the blizzard that bellows around her growing stronger as she blindly continues forth.

A further ways back from where the strawberry blonde had trudged, both Ryan and Mally hurry through the snow before the growing blizzard covers the girls tracks; the orange skater remaining steadfast despite feeling the stinging cold along her wounded leg. “Vivi! Vivi!” the red head shouts out to the fog ahead, his pleading cry failing to pierce through the bellowing winds. “Shit. Of all the times she’s run out, she takes off to an approaching blizzard?” “I’m sure she’s smarter than that Ryan. Betting that she’s just looking for a cave to wait out the storm in.” Mally claims as she limps to his backside. “And why the hell are you still sticking around? Figure the smart thing you could do is head down and get it patched up.” “Their ain’t no way in hell I’m climbing down this mountain without Vivi by our side. Say all the mean shit you want, I ain’t budging til we find her.” The girls resolve calms the young man down from his frustration and turns over to the skater with a collected gaze; stating how: “Whatever then, its your funeral. Just don’t expect me to carry ya when you’re leg freeze off.” “Wouldn’t dream off it.”

Continuing a little further ways through the growing blizzard, the skeletal strawberry blonde finally finds somewhere to shield herself from the creeping cold storm; Vivi racing right through the snow and into the safe walls of a cave entrance. Finally having made it out of the harsh downpour of bellowing snow, the skull girl leans right along the chilling rocky side of the tunnel and holds herself tight to warm up; the hole left by her ripped off sleeve letting the cold seep its way into her coat. God dammit, why the hell he had to say all that shit!? It could’ve worked too; just needed a running start to pick up some real speed. The hell does Ryan know about that scythe anyway; like hell this bad bitch needs something like that. Mally doesn’t; she took that fun sized murder snow cat head on and made it her bitch. Bet even Cayenne wouldn’t have any problems with it either. Some eye lasers to its face and it’d go running out like the pure white prick it is. It’s just...Why can’t I be like that!? Why can’t I be a bad bitch too without having to use that fucking scythe!? Try so much shit to be better, but it’s never enough! There’s always someone better than me! Left utterly frustrated by all this running through her head, Vivian fiercely and repeatedly beats her bone arm into the rocky wall she rests upon; little chips of stone falling out from the wall with each hit. Then all at once does her burning rage quell when feeling the very cave she dwells in start to quake; the caverns trembling far too much to let the skull girl stand back up.

Back out in the middle of the harsh blizzard,  both the red head and the orange skater feel the entire mountain tremble beneath their very feet; the blanket of snow sliding off the incline they stand upon. “The hell is up with this earthquake!?” Ryan shouts. “I don’t know.” Mally exclaims. “Vivian! Where the hell are you!?” The young man’s cry proves loud enough to pierce straight through the quaking earth and howling winds, traveling through the fog blizzard and echoing straight into the caverns that the young lady in question dwells in. “Ryan!?” she yells out beyond the rocky cavern. Her voice sounds off through the winds and snow and reaches the young man’s ear, urging Ryan to race over to the source of the call; the skater behind him standing still as her own ears catch a distinct rumble growing closer. Aiming her gaze up towards the very top of the mountain, her pupils shrink upon discover an avalanche of pure white sliding right towards both of them; the snowy slide swallowing whatever dare stood in its way.

As the wounded skater cast her metal gadget out towards the running red head, she looks back to the few tree’s nearby to see which one of them was tall enough to spare them from the wrath of the avalanche; quickly eyeing one of the pine tree’s in question. Ryan’s race towards the cave comes to a sudden snag when feeling something wrap around his very waist, glancing down to find his friends gadget enveloping his lower torso. “What the fuck is goi-” Before the boy could question what the hell was going on, Ryan is jerked back towards the orange girl and ends up landing right into Mally’s very shoulder; the red heads anger shattered when discovering the avalanche about to it them. “Holy shit!” he screams, the young girl carrying her throwing her grapple yo towards the very tree she had eyed. “Hold on tight.” “But-” Moments before their skeletal pal could step out of the very depths of the caverns, an entire wall of pure white snow descends down on the way she came in; the bellowing winds thrusting her deeper into the caves.

The orange girls trusty gadget tangles itself along the very top of the lone pine tree, Mally jerking herself over to the top of the wood while carrying the red head on her shoulder; both of them pulled away from the ground moments before it could be swallowed by the avalanche. The two of them land right at the very tip of the tree and hold tight onto its bark as the avalanche crashes right onto the very base of the pine; Ryan shouting through the raging snow to the girl: “What the hell were you thinking!? She was close to us!” “Both of us ain’t gonna see her again if were dead!”

The tree that they cling onto among the avalanche fails to stay rooted to the ground for very long, the two kids feeling the pine tree being uprooted by the tumbling snow. Feeling the tree threatening to be pushed off the mountain, Mally warns the young man under her to: “Hold on Ryan. I think were about to go for one hell of a ride.” Its then that the tree they stand upon is finally pulled out from the earth and falls along the sliding snow, the two tightly holding onto the bark as they tree they sit on surfs along the avalanche. “Vivi could be buried under a shit ton of snow for all we know!” the red head adds. “Don’t worry. If she stayed in that cave, then I’m sure that she’s fine. Right now we need to find another way into the mountain so we can meet up with her.”

The two soon see themselves riding the avalanche towards an upcoming rocky ramp, suddenly feeling the very ground leave them as the pine is launched right out of the descending snow and glides through the cold mountain air; both of them clinging to the tree bark as he starts dropping back down and brace for impact. The pine needles and branches break apart from the tree upon its trembling landing, Mally and Ryan keeping a tight hold of the bark as the wood calms itself into sliding along the snow. Once the pine they ride on remains stable once more, the red head’s stare grows panicked as he looks out through the broken off branches; warning his orange haired partner that: “I’m not sure we’ll be as alright as her though!”

Peering in the same direction that the boy stares out towards, Mally’s pupils shrink upon staring out towards a wide, long, and deep chasm that swallows the snow and debris that are swept along the avalanche. Gazing out along both sides, the skater fails to find any sort of solid ground left along the chasm, practically slicing apart any options for an alternative escape; especially with a wounded leg weighing her down. Dammit. We’re not going fast enough to make it over the gap. Can’t jump over it with this gash in the way either. Guess there’s really only one thing left to do. Mally stands herself up onto the bark with her single uncut leg as she takes a tight hold of the red heads coat, Ryan looking to the orange skater and demands to know: “Hey, with the hell are you doi-” Before he could even finish questioning what the skaters plan was, Mally lifts Ryan’s ass right off the pine bark and catapults him out towards the side; the red head feeling the cold air blow through his body as he careens through the air with the scythe tight in his hand. “Go and find Vivi! Make things up!” she orders the red head to do moments before the tree she stands upon slides straight down into the fissure, swallowed by the darkness alongside the snow and shattering remains of the pine tree.

Reawakening back within the darkened mountain caverns, Vivi shutters from the cold as she pries herself off the snowy rocky ground of the cave; shaking off the grips that the sudden bellowing wind had knocked her down with. Raising her head right off the cold stone floor, the very first thing her eyes behold is the site of where she had entered this dark and lonely cavern; a surging concern coursing through her as she finds the exit densely packed with piles of snow left from that frightening avalanche. Dammit, dammit, dammit! The skull girl races to the mounds of snow and attempts to thrust through the powdery white with but her hands; her fingers barely able to claw through even an inch of the dense snow pile. Fuck! They were right there! God dammit, Why’d I have to run away like some pussy!? Should’ve just kicked Ryan in the testies and it all be over with… Shit...there ain’t no point in bitching about it now. There has to be another way out of this frozen shit hole. Seeing only one way to proceed onward, Vivian digs through her pants pocket to pull out her trusty mobile phone; sliding her finger through the menu’s until coming to the phones flashlight. Upon switching it on does a powerful bright light cut right through the darkness looming in front of the skeletal lass; illuminating the path deeper into these mysterious mountain caves.

The resulting avalanche has left the slopes of the mountains from top to bottom in a thick blanket of pure white; the pine tree’s and boulders that had littered the face hidden underneath the thicket of snow, with not another sound passing through but the howls of the mountain air. These winds chilling song is soon joined by the sound of shuffling snow, made by a pair of hands bursting out from the blanket with the scythe of death held in its palms; the red head these limbs belong to pulling the rest of his body out from the snowy depths for the winds to beat their cold sonata into his ears. Ryan lets puffs of his breath escape into the open cold air as his eyes wander out through the mountain fog; a wondering confusion stewing within him as he stares to the mystical weapon in his hands. Fucking hell...What was her problem back there? Why couldn’t she just take this damn scythe? What is it about this thing that she’s so afraid of?...Well, since it’s here somebody’s gotta use it.

Clutching the neck of the scythe with both hands, Ryan tucks the weapon back as far as he can before swinging its blade out to the dense fog before him; left ultimately perplexed when finding nothing happening as a result. The fuck? Though the young red head repeatedly flails the head of the scythe through the cold mountain air flowing before him, each and every swing that he takes yields next to no results in the slightest; nothing strange or weird happening before him. The hell his up with this damn thing!? Seen it cut through the air and open up rifts with just one swing. Why ain’t it working now? Is it just being used wrong? How does anybody even use it? Maybe… Lifting the scythe up as high as he can, the young red head thrusts its blade down through the very snow beneath his feet and drags the sharp edge along the white blanket; the weapon cutting cleanly through the powdery snow to make a single straight line. He pulls the mystical blade out from the snow to await for any sort of reaction, witnessing only the falling snow covering up the line he had made; a deep growl escaping between his teeth as the line vanishes in the snow. Why won’t this fucking thing just get me to Vivi already! Left utterly frustrated by the weapons lack of results, Ryan furiously tosses the mystical scythe out through the cold air and watches it as he vanishes into the dense fog. Staring out to where he had thrown the weapon away, his anger is slowly replaced with alight tinge of regret; a tiring groan escaping from his breath as he trudges off to the direction it flew. Son of a fucking bitch…

The red head braves through the bellowing winds that beat against his coated body, peering through the fog in hopes of making out the pure black neck contrasting against the pale white air. Eventually does he come to discover a strange light piercing through the void, the boy following the bright emerald green glow through the fog until coming to the very source of the light; discovering the scythe he had tossed away dug into the snow. Uprooting the weapon from the chilling white blanket, Ryan finds the eerie green light to be shining out from the weapons very blade; its emerald light cutting through the fog surrounding them both. Is it working now? Pulling the weapon back, Ryan swipes the scythe through the air like he had done before; his attempts to invoke a reaction failing like the last time. Ain’t doing shit. So why is it- Before the young man could ponder on what exactly was happening with the weapon in his hand, he feels itself jerking over towards the side and points its tip out towards a part of the snowy fog looming before him. The hell is it doing? What’s it pointing to? The thick void of white set in front of the boy finally starts to part away, the red head staring out beyond its shroud to discover another cavern whose entrance sat along the neighboring mound; the boy letting out a little sigh as he starts to trek towards the way in. Alright, ya damn outdated garden tool, lead the way.

Down along the very bottom of the ice cold chasm, the all the snow that had fallen down into its depths rests in a messy mound of broken tree’s shattered rocks, and plenty of white powder. The very tip of this pile suddenly erupts to uncover a single figure covered in snow clawing themselves out from its depths, shaking off the snow littering their body as they pull the rest of themselves out from the mess of snow tree’s and rocks. As the figure starts to shake off the powder around their body, they tilt off to the edge and start to tumble down the side of the pile; the snow coming off to reveal the figure to be the orange skater herself as she falls straight along the ice cold wall of the chasm. After stopping right at the side of the chasm, Mally pulls herself out from the snow and sits herself along the protruding rock next to her, the lass pulling her pants up to take a look at her wound. The torn sleeve that had mercifully covered the gash was gone, leaving the cut to sting in the cold open air. Need to take care of this…

The wounded girl slips her backpack right off and pops open the lid to dig through the numerous stuff she brought along for the trip; some strands of her blood staining the rock she sits on as she searches. Snacks, heating pads, clothes, water...here! Reaching right into the depths of her snow covered backpack, Mally pulls out a box with a red cross painted along the front; unlocking the seal and opening the first aid kit to reveal numerous tools used to treat life threatening injuries. Gauze, antibiotics, ointment, pills, some base medical tools, and a miniature defibrillator. Pulling one of her snowy mittens off her hand, the orange skater uses it to dust off what snow was still lingering along her wounded leg; a slight hiss escaping from between her teeth as she cleans the cut. Alright, now for the painful part.

Having cleaned her gash free from any pieces of snow, Mally then takes the mitten she brushes it off with and pours a bit of antibiotics onto its cloth; the girl taking a moment to breath before dabbing the cut with her mitten. Painful hisses and agonizing grunts constantly escape from her mouth as she continues to dabble her gash in the much needed medicine; working through the stinging pain as she lathers every bit of the wound. God...Glad to get that over with. Only thing left to do is wrap it up. Reaching right into the first aid kit, the orange skater pulls out a long strand of gauze and starts to wrap it all around her cut calf; the bandages absorbing the blood that is left as she ties it tight to her wound with a well tied knot. That should about do it. Now to put it to the test. The young girl pulls her pants leg back down to cover up the bandaged wound, slowly standing off the rock and onto her own two legs; Mally letting out small huffs and hisses as she applies more and more weight upon it. Finally after standing on her cut leg for a moment more, the pain coursing through it starts to fade and numb; the skater relieved to feel it finally beginning to heal. Least it doesn’t hurt as bad as it did a few minutes ago. Hopefully it’ll stay that way as we get back to business.

Having tended to her cut calf, Mally lifts her eyes up towards the top of the chasm she had fallen in from and finds small pieces of light and snow fluttering down from the fissure overhead. Gotta be a way to get back up. The few bits of light that mercifully shines down from the sky above let the skater see how it shimmers off the surrounding chasm walls; the lass looking closer to find every inch of the rock covered in thin ice. Can’t climb up, the walls are too slick. Lowering her site down to the very caves she stands within, Mally glimpses along the walls for any sort of opening she could enter into; all with nothing but solid rocky walls making up the walls of the chasm. Ain’t seeing any...But maybe. Left unsatisfied with what she finds around her, Mally takes out her metal grapple yo as she wanders over to the icy rock walls that make up the cave she stands in; putting her ear against its cold surface and taps the stone with the shell of her gadget. Pretty solid here. The skater starts to inch along the frozen cave side while continuing to knock along the rock, listening in for any sign the stone could give her. No…No...Come on...Gimme something…

The young orange girl continues to tap her yoyo’s shell along every inch of the icy wall for as far as five yards; a smile creeping out from her as soon as she hears the rock let a hollow clonk. There! Pulling her metal gadget back as far as she can, the skater thrusts her grapple yo straight into the icy wall and punches straight through the rock with but one single strike. The rest of the hollow wall crumbles from the lass’s punch, letting what sunlight their was pour straight into a chilling tunnel lead further down into the cavernous mountain. Finally starting to get somewhere here. Just hope that Ryan and Vivi can take care of themselves long enough til we’re all reunited.

With the light of her phone illuminating her way through the darkness looming ahead, Vivi continues forth through the cold mountain tunnels for any sign of a way out; unfortunately finding nothing but more rocks and darkness ahead of her. How fuckin long is this damn mountain, just been walking through nothing but darkness for around fifteen minutes now; the parts that aren’t just bone are starting to go numb here. Wish’d took the chance to ask Mally for a couple of those heat packets; feels like trudging through the worlds natural cold ass freezer in here. Making fucking popsicles in this freezing hellhole would just ruin them. First lick you try and take of them and your tongue just gets glued on the icy flavoring, with no way of pulling it right off. Just forever doomed to taste whatever piss flavoring you went and put in the mix. Imagine if you had to live with the taste of raspberry in your mouth til your tongue rotted off, You’d get sick of the shit pretty quick.

As the skull girl’s mind could wander any more of the near unbearable temperatures of the caverns that she traverses through, she suddenly slips right off the rocky floor and falls down right on her ass; feeling the chilling ground radiate its cold on her coated bottom. Bitch! God damn...Why the hell is the ground so slick here? Slowly rising off the slippery floor, Vivi aims her phone’s light down to the very ground where she had slipped off and discovers the very stone itself coated in a thin layer of ice; the surface glistening from her flashlight. Even the rocks here are frozen solid. There practically just ice at this point; like damn, its fuckin freezing down here. It can’t just be from how cold it is outside right?

Gazing out through the ice coating the caverns side, the light of her phone catch something peculiarly strange left underneath some of the frost she sees. Is that…? Vivian’s light shines past the surface of the ice to let her behold what lies encased within its cold shell; strands of veins, walls of muscle tissue, even dozens of vital and intact organs, all seemingly still left alive and working. The fuck? Slowly backing away does her light illuminate more of the strange ice that stands before her; the skeletal teen left utterly astonished to discover the icy shell to hold the very form of a lone wolf, devoid of any fur or skin along its frozen surface with only ice glistening along its moving body. The hell...what the hell is it? Its skin...Is it undead? Before Vivi could ponder any further on what sort of bizarre creature stood before her, the icy canine aims its cold gaze to the skull girl before it and lets out a snarling growl on site; its sharp icy fangs shimmering from her phones light. Whatever this transparent thing is, it looks hungry as hell. And it don’t look like it’s not gonna let anything pass without chewing off a chunk of meat. And this girl can’t afford to lose anymore.

Hoping to outrun the frosty wolf snarling before her, Vivi hastily dashes deeper down into the cold cavern tunnels; the icy beast pouncing forth after as its potential prey hurries away. The strawberry blonde keeps herself steady as she races along the ice coated grounds so not to fall on her boney ass again; the girl peeking back to discover the wolf pursuing her skating right towards her, beginning to close the distance between them. This thing is closing in fast. Fine, if this damn ice mutt wants to play that badly, then lets fucking go, ya overgrown animal ice pop! Turning an 180 back to the approaching frosty beast, Vivi witnesses the wolf pounce right towards her with its icy fangs bared; the skull girl holding her exposed skeletal arm out towards the dog as it nears. The frosty canine lands upon the girl and bites down hard upon her skeletal limb with its ice solid jaw, squeezing the arm trapped within its mouth as hard as it could. But no matter how much it tightens its jaw, Vivi‘s calcium bone arm remains strong and intact. A damn good thing that this arm doesn’t have any feeling. But lets see if this frosty motherfucka can feel this.

As the ice wolf keeps its icy jaw locked upon the skull girls bare bone limb, Vivian jerks the beasts transparent head off to the side and slams its head straight into the solid frosty wall; a loud yelp escapes from the dogs maw as it lets go of its prey’s limb. Both the strawberry blonde and the vicious wolf back away from one another, Vivi letting a smile crack between her cheeks when seeing the numerous cracks left along its head; the skull girl letting out a mocking laugh as she taunts the beast with: “Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! Bet you ain’t feeling so cool with yerself now huh, ya fuckin excuse for an ice sculpture? Seems all that hard ice keeping ya insides from fallin out ain’t worth shit with how easy it cracks. One swing straight into a wall and you lookin like you on the verge of cracking up on me. The hell you expect to chew off my ass when you can barely keep yours together?” As the young skull girl continues to mock and laugh at the cracked canine, the frosty wolf lifts its broken head up high and lets an ear piercing howl escape from its broken maw; Vivi stopping her taunting laugh and covering her ears from the cry as it echoes through the cave. As she covers her ears from the howl, the skull girl looks over to find the ice that coats the walls surrounding them both to break off the rocky sides and gather right onto the cracked parts of the wolfs head; the ice patching up the broken pieces of the wolf until its icy shell looked good as new. “Oh...shit...” Upon realizing that this fight is one that she herself cannot hope to win, Vivi does the next best course of action she could take and darts right past the reformed wolf; the cold canine resuming its pursuit once back in full form.

Trudging through the blanket of pure white covering the mountains surface, the young red head finally makes it to the entrance of the cave that his friends mystical scythe points him towards; the weapons emerald glow illuminating the way as he proceeds in. This piece of haunted garden equipment better know where the hell it’s going. Ain’t like there are any other leads to follow here. Phone receptions practically dead all this way up. Neither of them are just gonna call out of nowhere and ring up where they’re at. Only thing left to do is hope that those two can hold out through here long enough so they can be found.

As he continues through the mountainous caverns, Ryan is blinded from the floor he walks on by the scythes bright emerald light; failing to see a single speck of the ground. He then feels the rock that he walks on suddenly give out on him and starts plummeting down the depths of a dark icy pit beneath him; the boy loosing grip of the glowing green scythe as he falls down into the void. The mystical weapons tings could be heard alongside the red heads grunts as both tumble deeper down into the pits cold darkness Soon enough does the red head’s body slide along an icy incline that carries him safely down to solid ground until bonking his head right against a block of solid ice; Ryan rubbing his head as she starts to pry himself off the ice. Its in dragging his legs off the icy floor that the scythe suddenly sticks its sharp tip right into the ice between the boys legs; seeing the blade left mere inches away from his crotch makes him panic and back away against the icy wall. Dammit, fucking piece of shit garden hoe! If it does shit like this all the damn time, then its pretty easy to see why Vivi doesn’t want anything to do with it… But that isn’t really what’s up with her, is it? From what that skater said, she was unbelievable with it in her hands; practically unstoppable. So why then? What’s it about this damn thing that she hates?

Shaking off the pain from the rough fall he had, the red head grabs the neck of the eerie weapon and pulls it right out from the floor; the bright light the tip shines growing a wee bit brighter and revealing where exactly Ryan landed himself in. He brings the light over to the very wall of ice he had his back against to finds its surface holding strange carvings all along its body; the carvings seeming to take the uncanny but familiar shape of oakwood bark. What is… Trailing the light towards the top of this piece of ice does he find the top splintering off into countless upward directions; these spikes twisting themselves to splinter off into more lines of ice left decorated by thin shards of frost. Fucking...What? Wh-why is...Why is there a god damn tree made of ice down here? Dropping both his light and his eyes down to the very ground around his feet, the boy makes another strange and startling discovery; countless pieces of ice shaped as flora and fauna all made from carefully crafted solid ice. Every flower, every bush, every bristle, every grassy weed, and every single icy tree he could see reflects the glimmering glow of the weapon in his hand. My god...It’s like a whole forest made from solid ice. All the details in these trees and flowers are insane and complex. Who exactly took the time to sculpt and carve all of this, and all right down underneath this random rocky mountain of all places? Guess it makes sense to put it all down here though. The blistering cold keeps the whole thing from melting into a giant underground lake.

The curious young boy approaches one of the carefully carved tree and brushes his gloved palm against its bark, touching every rough groove and pieces that feels as if he was brushing against an actual tree. This shits crazy man...Not even a single chip out of place. Fucking bizarre. Left wondering what exactly lies beyond the tree’s icy surface, Ryan puts his ear up against hits face and knocks a good couple of times; left surprised to hear something actually scuttling inside the block of ice. The boy follows the sound up towards the top of the frosty tree and witnesses something rather weird and nearly disturbing. Ryan finds what seemed to be pieces of free moving ice taking the shape of blue icy squirrels; the light of the scythe piercing through their bodies and letting him see the colorful and running organs running beneath their transparent shells. What the fuck…

As he stares out to the mess of frosty rodents climbing along the branches of the tree, the sharp sound of shattering ice than sounds off right behind him; the red head quickly peering back to find a terrible monster approaching. Ryan starts to back away in the opposite direction as the scythes light reveals this beasts form; the boy shocked to see before him a giant bear formed from hard rough ice and icicles, with dozens of sharp cold spikes protruding out from its frosty shell and protecting the muscles and veins within. Finding the beast black beady eyes glaring right at him, the red head swiftly takes off deeper into ice sculpted forest with the frosty ursa pursing after; the glow from the mystical weapon reflecting off all the ice as he races on ahead.

Mally’s own spelunking expedition leads her to find dozens upon dozens of strange tunnels and pits all made from carved pure frosty ice; all with no more traces of rock anywhere left among them. Hollowed human and animal heads, melded together bodies of various creatures, hundreds of numerous limbs all holding one another in a chain of arms all connected and congealed; numerous holes leading deeper into their depths made along the eyes and mouths of the heads with some in the chests, backs, and the behinds of the bodies. What even is all this messed background art? What exactly took the time to make them all, and why? All of it looks like something out of hellish art novel from the medieval era, except it all froze over in some sort of nuclear winter just to solidify the borderline existential dread it all gives off. And the detail given to all of them. Jesus. Getting the impression here that they’ve been frozen over and hollowed out. All that from their eyes. Borderline nightmarish stuff right here. Kinda looks pretty cool, not gonna lie. But who the hell took the time to sculpt it all out, and deep down in the middle of a mountain too? Could...Could this be what the Kybr have made for people who passed the trial? Why send them all down here then?

While the orange skater takes in the surrounding ice sculptures that surround her, he ears manage to catch the sound of clopping footsteps echoing down from one of these carved tunnels; Mally brandishing her hockey stick for whatever may come out from the depths of these cold shadows. Emerging out from the icy darkness, the young lass witnesses those very steps belong to what seemed to be a piece of living ice; its shell sculpted in the form of a human baring a pair of goat legs. From where she stands, Mally could see some chunks of the frosty satyr broken off its head, body, and limbs; the muscles and organs held within its icy body work properly despite being exposed to the cold air. Its face remains utterly stiff and frozen as it stares blankly to the prepped and careful girl; the strange frosty creature taking not another step as it instead waves to the young girl before it; Mally lowering her guard upon the unexpected gesture. It’s waving...What’s this things deal? She watches closely as the satyr turns back towards the shadows it emerged from, glancing back to the girl behind it and waving in the direction its icy body faces. ...Alright...Guess we’re doing this now...Ain’t got anything else to go off of. Might as well. Having next to no other leads to follow for finding either of her friends, the orange skater withdraws her weapon and starts to follow the bizarre creature as it whimsically skips through the carved human headed tunnel; taking out her phone and using its light to illuminate the way.

Even with the caverns she passes replacing its jagged rocks with more complexly carved ice in the shape of animals all melded together, Vivi pays little attention to any of them as she continues to sprint away from the frosty canine nipping at her very tail; the skull girl glances back to see the icy beast starting to close the distance. Her racing sprint away from her frosty pursuer soon comes to an unexpected halt as she slips on the icy floor beneath her feet and lands right onto her stomach; the strawberry blonde flipping herself over and helpless to watch as ice cold dog right behind her lunges forth and prepares to dig its icy claws straight into what flesh she has to spare. When just mere feet away from its skeletal prey, a near invisible force bounces the beast away from the girl; Vivian curiously watch as the frosted wolf continues to fruitless beat itself against this very wall between them, like the very space itself was keeping them separated. “The fuck…?”

The young skull girl starts to rise back on her feet as she continues watching the monster that had pursued her clawing the invisible wall between them; a devious smile stretching across her face as she flips the dog right off and jeers it with: “Ha, suck a flaccid dick, ya shitty carved piece of piss ice! Can’t even tear through whatever the fucks keeping ya from chewing on my sweet ass with those stupid icy teeth. They ain’t even tough enough to chew through my fuckin bone. Just crawl back out from the frozen shithole that ya cam-” Before she could continue to pester and taunt the rabid beast any further, the spacial wall that keeps her safe suddenly pushes her away with an odd force of gravity; the push back strong enough to knock the girl on her bottom. “God, fine! I get the memo, alright! God damn, a girl can’t savor her lucky break, can she?” the skull girl shouts as she gets back on her boots. Left with no other way to travel, Vivi starts to trek deeper down into the rest of the carved ice tunnels set out before her; the wolf that was chasing after giving up its pursuit and roaming back where it had came.

While continuing to stroll through the depths of countless icy melded bodies of animals and people, Vivi keeps her eyes to the road ahead as her mind wonders what exactly might’ve saved her ass back there; what had stopped that frosted hellhound from tearing her throat right out. What the fuck even was that? It felt like the space itself was blocking that son of a bitch from tearing straight right through. But where the hell did it come from? These questions swirling through her head, the wondering young lass looks down to both of her own two hands and closely gazes upon her own bare bone limb. Was that shit from me? Did I do that somehow?...Fucking perfect, more strange and weird things to deal with here. As if all the skeleton parts didn’t already make me a fucking freak already. Thought just staying away from that damn scythe would be enough, but with this kind of shit happening...the hell’s even the point. God dammit, why can’t all this just stop!? Why can’t...Why can’t I just be a normal kid?…

Left lost in these saddening self reflecting thoughts, the strawberry blonde fails to find herself walking right towards an ice cold incline; her pitiable stare shattered when falling right on her bum and sliding down the cold slope of ice. Her screams echo through the icy tunnel as her body slides along the cold slick slide, Vivi suddenly taking tight turn after turn through the slope as she witnesses several other things encased in the frost that makes up the tunnel. Despite sliding down at dizzying speeds, she seems to recognize a couple of these things as assortments of mystical and mythic creatures from numerous origins. Hell’s very own demons, mystical elves and wood people, sea monsters and merfolk, ancient dragons and drakes; all of them left with their last moments utterly frozen in terror, sorrow, and despair. As fast as she leaves behind these numerous frozen corpses, the skull girl starts seeing the faint glow of an emerald light shinning out along the other end of this slide; the light bringing with her a feeling of creeping dread.

Coming to the very end of this icy tunnel, she coasts straight towards the light and goes right off a ramp melded along the very end of the slide; Vivi is practically launched out of the tunnel and careens through the ice cold air. In her little unwilling flight through the caverns, the skull girl catches what lies along the very bottom of these newfound caverns and discovers an entire dense forest of solid ice trees and frosty foliage lining the bottom of this chilling opening. Her eyes are then drawn to the very source of the emerald light that reflects off their reflective icy surface; finding one of her friends holding the mystical scythe in his hands as he stares out to the hurdling young girl. “Ryan!” she yells out to him.

“Vivi!?” the young red head exclaims. His eyes remain glued to his skeletal pal as she shoots through the air above him and is lobbed along the other end of this forest chasm, the boy helpless to only watch as she’s then swept straight into another tunnel left along the frosty solid wall. Having witnessed the girl that he had been looking for glide right above his very head, Ryan darts deeper through the ice made forest; weaving around tree after carefully carved tree in his hurry to find a way out of these frosty woods. No mistaking it, that was her alright. From the looks of things, she wasn’t exactly in control of where she was heading. Where the hell’s she even going anyway?

Before he could even ponder on any sort of guesses of where his friend could be going, the emerald glow of his scythe suddenly reveals a coated figure waltzing right in front of him. Though he attempts to stop before running right into the mysterious person, the ice beneath his feet remains too slick to stop his overall momentum in time and sends him running right into them. As quick as both of them had ran right into one another, Ryan and the coated figure stop right into an icy tree set along the wayside; the figure slamming right into the young red heads torso. “Get the hell off me!” he rudely demands while shoving the figure off him. “I-I can’t apologize enough for getting in front of you like that. I heard a couple of people screaming and thought it might have been some of my friends.” the hooded figure claims in a soft spoken tone. “Your friends?” The figure then unfurls their hood and lets her red and orange striped hair flow in the cold air, with a black head band keeping it all from hanging over her eyes. “I rushed over here thinking that I might’ve found them.”

Shaking his head from the encounter, the red headed boy starts to stroll of in the direction he was heading; his departing words to the lass simply being: “Aight then, see ya.” “Hang on a minute! Do you even know where your going down here?” the girl requests as she follows after the boy. “You ain’t the only one who has people to find in this frozen hell hole, and I ain’t gonna have some random girl I ran into just drag me down. I got things to do dammit.” “So you’re just planning on leaving me behind?” “That’s the idea.” “All four of my friends are scrambling through this giant mountain trying to find one another. Maybe theirs a chance that your friends might find mine and try and stick together. Think we might have better luck finding them if we do the same?” A small groan escapes from Ryan’s lungs, partially giving in to the girl’s request with: “If you wanna stick to me, then you better keep up. I ain’t waiting on you for your slow ass to catch up.” “Gee, how very chivalrous of you, how lucky am I to have come across such a gentleman.” “Hey, its the best ya got now. Either me or nothing, girl.” “The name is Roxanne.”

Along another part of these mysterious mountainous caverns, Mally continues to follow the lead of the frosty satyr through hollow ice made remains of dozens of giant creatures; the orange girl staring to their bodies to find veins coursing through them. Damn, this place is...pretty damn sweet. Just all the weird ass ice sculptures around here look really out there and detailed. Just beautiful. As chill as this tour through these icy pieces and frosty caverns rocks is, its still not really that clear where this guy is leading to. Hasn’t hinted or said anything since we first met...not that he could say anything really. Kind sus, but ain’t there’s anywhere else to go down here.

Soon enough does the young skater find her guide skipping right to the very edge of an icy cliff, peering out to what lies beyond the exit of the cavern. As Mally stops aside the icy mystical creature, she glares up to the top of the cave they stand within to find the icicles hanging of the roof of the exit taking on a far more square shape; each of them lined together in a curving line. Is this… Gazing down beneath the curved edge of the cliff, the skater discovers the incline of the cliff to take the shape of a giant curving tongue; the lass putting the pieces together and figuring out that both of them stand within the mouth of a giant frosty head. On the cusp of that very discovery, the icy satyr beside her taps the girls shoulder to nab her attention; Mally looking to her frosty guide to find it pointing out at what lies ahead. Peering out in this very direction, the skaters eyes widen as she stares out to a grand collection of slides and tubes made from transparent ice spread out through an incredibly wide chasm; all of it hanging overhead an endless field of deep darkness. Hot damn, all this looks hella fun to go through. It make one hell of a skate park, that’s for sure.

While looking through the whole collection of whirling slides and looping tunnels does the girl discover something slipping through one of them; her naked eyes failing to see what exactly could be gliding inside. Mally pulls out her phone from the depths of her pocket and quickly turns on its camera; zooming into what could be sliding within these very tunnels and tracking them as the resolution grows. Once the pixels finally smooth themselves out, the skater lets out a sharp gasp upon discovering who it is, recognizing her from her boney arm and strawberry blonde hair. Vivi! Having found her friends careening through out the network of icy tunnels before her, the orange skater wastes not another moment to delve straight down the head’s tongue; the girl looking back to the satyr that had guided her to find it waving her goodbye, Mally waving back in kind.

Coming towards the very end of the head’s tongue, the skater takes off its ramping tip and glides straight towards the nearest slide; landing right along its icy surface and racing into the rest of the frosty network of tunnels. Coming finding the shaft ahead to curve sideways, Mally kicks off to gain as much speed as possible; using her sliding momentum to trail right along the wall of the bottomless shaft until making it to the other end of the tunnel. Ain’t no big difference here? Just like rolling down steep inclines and hills on roller blades. Would’ve brought ice skates if all this was down here. Ahead could she find the open slide before her twisting all around, with the bottom shifting along the side, up the very roof, and returning to the bottom of the shaft. Leaning right in the very direction that the floor twists to, Mally twirls all through the twisted tunnel; keeping her feet to the icy surface of the shaft as it spins all around.

After making out of the corkscrewing tunnel, Mally glances over to find her skeletal pal still sliding right along; the skater taking a deep breath and shouting to her: “Hang on, Viv. I’m coming to get ya!” Upon promising this to the skull girl, the orange lass leaps right off the slide and jumps out into the cold open air; quickly taking out her trusty grapple yo and casting it out towards one of the icy shafts that hang right above her. The metal gadget sticks right to the bottom of the frozen tunnel and lets Mally swing across the abyss below and out to a closed icy tunnel; the young lass sliding across the tunnels roof and right down the steepening decline. Gazing up ahead could the skater find the tunnel ascending upwards, realizing how its way too steep for the girl to make it up with how fast she’s going. So rather than attempting to climb up the steep shaft, Mally looks over to discover another tunnel not too far away; the skater leaping right off and tossing her gadget towards the roof of the other tunnel. She swings through the cold air and lobs herself up to the very top of the frosty shaft, where she lands right on the roof of the tunnel as it starts to make its descent. As she shreds down the face of the dropping shaft, Mally starts to gradually pick of way more speed and momentum; the girl going as fast as 40 mph through the top of the tunnel and speeding straight towards an icy loop de loop. Racing right to the beginning of the loop, the blood almost immediately starts rushing right to her head as she runs right through the loop; Mally keeping herself conscious and focused and as she carries her momentum through towards the very end of the loop.

Out of nowhere does the entire cavern start to furiously tremble as both girls slide along the numerous stretches of ice; Mally keeping her balance along the top of one of these shafts as she fights against the sudden quakes. Aiming her sight up towards the very ceiling of the icy caves, the skater discovers the numerous boulders and icicles that make up its roof breaking off and tumbling down towards the network of frosty slides and shaft. One of these massive rocks winds up crashing straight into the very tunnel that Mally slides right on top of; the orange skater leaping right off the broken slide and out towards a whole pack of giant icicles descending before her. She whips her trusty metal yoyo out to one of these pieces of solid ice and wraps its string around the dropping icicle, swinging through the air and towards a whole set of descending boulders. When landing on one of these giant rocks, the orange lass skips along right towards the next, leaping from boulder to descending boulder until coming to another dropping icicle. After wrapping her trusty gadget around the solid ice and swings her way out towards the very slide that her skeletal friend slides through. The metal shell of the yoyo unwraps around the dropping piece of ice and is swung right towards the very tunnel that the skull girl slides through; Vivi herself reaching out form her friends very gadget as it comes right to her. But a few measly inches are all that keep her from catching the skaters gadget; Vivian left helpless as she continues sliding down the open shaft, watching as Mally plummets down towards the dark abyss beneath her. “Mally!” she calls out for her in desperate dread. Left with only a few precious moments to speak to her, the orange skater takes the moment to shout to her friend on how: “I’ll be fine! Just find Ryan! He wants to talk things out!”

The skull girl hears these words from her plummeting pal as she watches the skater vanish into the void below; the ice she slides through takes her at the very edge of the chasm and hurls her straight into a dark cold hole left along the rock. Among the shadows could Vivian feel nothing but the cold ice freezing her sliding bottom as she tumbles in the darkness; the skeletal teen eventually finding light once more as she drops down upon the bottom of a frost ridden chamber, slamming her ass down upon the hard sheet of ice coating the ground. Vivi swiftly rises from the icy floor beneath her and turns back towards the tunnel she slide down, clawing the steep and slippy incline with both of her own two hands; the strawberry blonde failing to climb up even an inch no matter how much she swipes at the ice. Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck! Why, why do I have to be so fucking useless at times like this!? Why can’t I spring into action like she does!? Mally did just that to try and reach me and look at what that got her? Just...fuck...Why am I so shitty at everything!?

While fruitlessly attempting to scale the icy incline back up, the skull girls ears suddenly catch something letting out a soft moaning breath behind her; the deep pitch of the sigh suggesting it belonging to something massive. Slowly does Vivian turn away from the steep frosty wall and ultimately discovers the very source of the almost leviathan breathing. Lying before the small strawberry blonde be a bulking giant made from thick frosty ice; its transparent skin giving the girl a view of the numerous organs and muscle tissue that lay sprawling within its very body. When the skull girls soft footsteps echo along the walls of the icy chamber, the monstrous frosty giant aims its glare to the young lady standing before it; Vivi left paralyzed as it stares to her with its cold black eyes. Oh shit…

Along the very edge of the ice made forest, both Ryan and Roxanne waltz out from the depths of the woods to discover what lies out beyond the icy foliage; the two peering out to find countless pieces of twisted floating ice blocks, their swirling and twisted ends connecting to one another as they span out through the cold open void up ahead. After letting a frustrated breath escape him, Ryan starts to carefully trudge along the long strands of ice as slowly as he could; the red headed girl behind him following him and matching his slow and careful pace. Deciding to finally break the drawn out silence between them, Roxanne starts off by claiming that: “You’ve been awfully quiet lately. You seem like you have something on your mind.” “Nope, ain’t nothing worth talking about.” he deflects with. The girl lets out her own little sigh before remarking how: “Guess I’m stuck having to deal with this again?” Peering back from the icy path they walk through, Ryan asks the girl: “The hell is that meant to mean?” “Can ya tell that your not the first person I dealt with who tries and bottle themselves up?” “Maybe that’s cause they wanna keep their shit to themselves and don’t want people prying in their lives.”

The two of them then come to a swirling fork in the road, where both Roxanne follows Ryan straight down the branching right; the red headed girl realizing the distance growing between her and her guide. “Hey uh, mind slowing down a bit, please?” “I warned ya if you were gonna follow me, then you had to keep up. Might as well fuck off if that’s too much for ya.” “Seriously, is their something weighing on your mind that bad that ya can’t even bother to stop for me?” “Really, the only thing here weighing me down is you.” “Ya know, this sort of defensive abrasiveness isn’t new to me. Only reason people act like this is cause they feel guilty about something.” Looking along the boys body could she see Ryan’s limbs slightly twitch upon hearing her state this; this being all too clear sign of her guess being right on the mark. “Well...whatever it might be, their ain’t anything wrong with talking through it all.” “Oh yeah, cause there ain’t any reason I wouldn’t wanna bring it up with some girl I’d just met.” the red headed boy defends with. “Sheesh. With that kinda attitude, I can sure as heck tell you that you aren’t gonna get anything sorted out.” “Do I need to remind you again of the fact that we just met? Just what the hell could you know about me in the half an hour we’ve known each other?” “Well I know that your pretty upset at something, that’s already abundantly clear.” “Upset is my default, woman. This is who I am.” “But...nobody wants to be.”

Distracted with arguing with the young red headed girl, Ryan fails to see path he walks through take a sharp dip and starts tumbling right down; Roxanne watching in worry as the young boy fumbles down the icy slide. The red headed boy soon finds himself careening right towards a curved wall of solid ice; the incline almost immediately bending upwards towards the very top of the icy slope. Ryan tries to break with both of his boots, their heels scraping against the hard solid ice beneath him; the young man however slides way too fast to break in time and continues heading straight towards the frosty wall. The boy’s entire body slams straight into the hard incline on solid ice; the mystical scythe slipping out of his hands and runs the sharp edge of its blade along his arm, cutting right through his coat and through his very skin.

Sliding down the very ramp that the boy had tumbles down, Roxanne manages to stop herself right as his side as she hears him let out a painful hiss; finding his wound bleeding down his arm. The lass kneels down before the young man and attempts to take a closer look at the boys fresh cut, Ryan scooting away from the approaching girl and demanding that she: “Get away from me!” “Just relax, okay. I’ve dealt with plenty of nasty cuts like this in my line of work.” “The hell are you, some kind of nurse?” “Something along those lines.” “Ugh, fine. Just make it quick.” Ryan then tells her, scooting back to her and presenting his open cut.

Roxanne then kneels down to the boys bleeding wound, staring at the cut as the blood stains the boys sleeve and recommending that he: “Just sit back and close your eyes.” The cold air still left stinging his cut, Ryan complies with the girl and does what she instructs; leaning his back against the icy wall and closing his eyes. As soon as he shuts his eyes, he feels Roxanne soft hands brush along his open wound with a sensational warmth replacing the painful sting; the euphoric heat calming whatever sort of painful agony he had felt before hand. “Damn girl, this feels like fucking bliss. The hell kinda good shit you got that’s doing this.” Ryan wonders, opening his eyes and gazing over to his arm. Almost immediately does his relaxation break away when witnessing the girl engulf his arm in a light violet flame, swiftly rising off the icy floor as he smacks the young girl away. “Ah!” Roxanne utters, rubbing the part of her face that the boy had hit. Looking back to the young man, she could see the panicking anger in his eyes as he points his weapons tip towards her; Ryan demanding to know: “What the hell do you think you’re doing!?” “I was trying to heal your arm!” “By lighting it on fucking fire!?” “Just look at it!” Like the girl suggests him to do, the red headed by peeks over to his arms to witness the pyre that had engulfed his cut beginning to quickly fade away; left taken aback by how fast they had made his nasty gash vanish and had healed his arm like new.

Hearing a pained hiss reach his ears, the young man looks back to find Roxanne rubbing the cheek that he had smacked; a sense of terrible guilt left welling within him as he watches the girl groan. The young man waltzes over to the woman’s side and hold his hand out for her to take, looking away as he claims that he’s: “Sorry...about that.” Roxanne takes the boy’s hand and is helped off the cold icy floor, the red headed woman claiming that: “It’s not like this hasn’t happened to me before. But it ain’t nothing, look how fast I can fix it.” The girl then slaps the part of her bruised face with her own hand and ignites a light violet flame along the skin of her cheek; Ryan watching as the mark he had left evaporates before his very eyes. “See, I’m fine. Don’t need to apologize for anything here.” “It ain’t just that. The way I treated you...and you still helped me...I...god I-” Moving over to the stuttering young man’s side, Roxanne puts a single hand on Ryan’s side and comforts him with: “Hey, don’t beat yourself up about it. I know you got a lot going through your head right now and are just on edge.” “I-I practically told you to fuck off and smacked you in the face, how can you not be pissed at me right now?” “I’m not, because I know that you were just panicking. It just comes with the profession of having to keep everyone from falling apart.” The young woman sees the boy taking another look to the arm that she had just freshly healed, the guilt in his eyes clear to see as the ice they stand upon. Moving in front of the young man, Roxanne then offers her hand to him and suggest that: “Why don’t we just keep looking for our friends. I’m sure we can both find them if we stick togeth-” Her words fall apart as the young man simply walks right past without talking her hand, Roxanne glaring to the boy with a sense of worry as she follows him out deeper through the swirling frosty path ahead them both.

The orange skater meanwhile continues to plummet down through the icy dark abyss, feeling the chilling winds bellow beneath her body as she constantly drops deeper down into the shadows. Gonna crash straight into the icy bottom at this rate! Need to do something! Something fast! Taking an urgent gander to her surroundings, Mally discovers a good couple of sizable cracks left decorating the sides of the pit she plummets down; their very presence giving her the idea she needs to save her ass. Swiftly does the young skater pull out both her trusty grapple yo and hockey stick, starting off by wrapping her gadget around her well worn weapon right around the sticks very neck. Once wrapping her weapon around tight enough, the young skater takes her hockey stick and tosses it out towards the crack like an Olympic javelin; the tip of the weapon piercing through the cold air as it travels forth. The head of the hockey stick manages to jam itself straight into the crack, the orange girl swinging out towards the wall and landing feet first onto its icy surface; her gadgets string stopping her from further plummeting down. Once coming to a full stop along the wall, the girl takes a look down and finds the bottom of the pit among the dark shadows; a relieved breath escaping her lips upon seeing the floor. Looks like this drop came to a stop just in the nick of time. While remaining hanging off the frosty wall of ice, her eyes catch something waltzing along the very bottom of the pit; a single figure bundled in a warm coat of white traveling silently traveling through the dark. Nobody in our group came in a white coat. Their way too tall to be Vivi, and they’re build is too bulky to be Ryan either. Who else could be down here with us? Who else knows that all this lies underneath this snowy mountain? Could it be...It can’t...can it?

Curious of who this mysterious newcomer could possibly be, Mally jerks her weapon right out of the crevice along the icy wall and drops down the rest of the way to the bottom beneath her; the coated figure stopping dead in their tracks upon hearing her land upon the icy grounds behind them. Slowly rising off the frosty floor, Mally keeps her eyes glued to the figure in the white coat as she utters out to them: “Tore...is that you?” The figure before her starts to turn in her direction; the details of their face hard to figure out among the misty darkness. Mally nonetheless keeps her eyes to the coated individual as they reach to their back. Mally’s alarms begin to sound off as she sees the very thing the figure pulls from their back taking the shape of fire arms; the orange skater preparing herself as they pull out the pistol and fire a beam of green right at her. The girl slides right onto the ice and glides right underneath the oncoming ray, Mally feeling the beams heat as it skirts right above her and reflects off the ice beneath her body. While continuing to slide along the ice, Mally lunges out towards the mysterious coated figure and swings her hockey stick right to the side of their neck; her strike thwarted when the figure blocks her hockey stick with the side of her green smoking pistol. The orange girl leaps away from the armed figure and gains some distance, finally coming to a stop points the end of her weapon out to them; shouting to them: “Alright, spit it out! Who the hell are you?”

Continuing to stare out the young girl before them, the mysterious figure decides to answer her demanding question by grasping her hood and pulling back; Mally making out their ghostly pale skin and purple eyes among the dim light. Finally goes the figure fully take off their hood and lets their ghastly green locks flow in the cold air like open flames. Oh my god… Baring the figures face in full, Mally’s faces starts glowing a shade of beat red the more she glazes through the flaming haired woman’s body; the skater blushing bright upon getting a full look at the woman before her. Holy shit… Before the young girl could become entranced by her own quivering infatuation struck by the ghostly pale woman standing before her, she starts to shake off her little boiling thirst and brings herself back down to reality; all the red that was on her face flushing away. Dammit, Mally! Don’t do this now. She just went and tried to shoot you! Gotta focus! Go-gotta… Peering back toward the armed woman, Mally manages to catch the green haired woman aiming a particularly piercing gaze; one that seems to stare upon her like the very eyes of a threatening presence. The very stare causes images of her brothers, her mentor, even herself to flash in her mind; the skater realizing what those eyes meant. Those eyes…This woman knows what she’s doing. Willing to bet she’s definitely killed before. She isn’t just some random mountain hiking teen. Might have to go into this way more carefully, she might have anything waiting up those coat sleeves of hers.

Keeping an eye over to the woman’s other side does she see the green haired hunstwoman reaching her hand out along her backside; Mally takes the moment to dash out towards her foe before the woman could pull anything out. Despite getting caught off guard by the young skaters sudden lunge out towards her, the green hunter takes her hand out from behind and tosses out whatever she had in her grip; a small steel ball lobs out to the approaching girl with its surface blinking a bright red color. Seeing the light blink faster and faster, the orange skater realizes exactly what the huntswoman had tossed right at her, ready to swing her hockey stick as she nears the flashing pellet. Gotta get this just right. Right as the blinking ball is just a few inches away from her, Mally thwacks the ticking pellet back like an incoming baseball; the flashing ball now set on a speeding course back towards its very sender. Seeing her own blinking pellet coming right back, the green hunter rolls right off to the side before it could smack right into her; the pellet exploding in a plume of emerald green. The green hunter rolls back on her own two feet and glances up to find her orange foe descending down towards her, threatening to hammer her hockey stick right down on her. Rather than attempting to evade the young girls descending assault, the huntress leaps out to the orange skater and rams her knee straight into the girls stomach; the ascending blow shaking Mally’s entire body and knocking the breath right out of her.

The green huntress’s beefy blow to her stomach sends Mally sliding along the icy floor of the caverns and slams her right into the frosty wall right behind her; the entire cavern quaking upon the girls impact against the caverns side. Recovering back up from this strike straight to her stomach, the orange skater glares up to the green haired huntress and finds her aiming the barrel of her pistol right at her head; ready to pull the trigger at any moment. Taking a look at the woman’s feet however does she see her little distraction having worked, finding her gadgets string wrapped all around her foe’s ankle. Hesitating not another moment longer, Mally jerks her grapple yo’s string back and pulls the huntress’s leg right out from under her; the green haired woman pulling the trigger just as her leg is tugged out and causing the beam to fire right out towards the wall hanging over the orange skater. The laser breaks apart the icy wall hanging over the young girl in an explosion of ice shavings; the snow fluttering down from the explosion smoking a faint green.

As Mally arises back on her own two feet, her green haired foe shakes off the metal yo yo wrapped around her ankle while reaching down in her coat; the orange skater withdrawing her gadget back as she witnesses the huntress pull out a bigger gun and aims its barrel out to the young skater. Seeing the green huntress ready to pull on the trigger, Mally skates off along the icy wall of the cave as the woman shoots out a constant volley of green beams from the tip of her firearms; the orange skater racing across the icy chamber with a whole barrage of deadly rays chasing right after. Continuing to unload every piece of ammo within her rapid fire rifle; the light from her guns green beams reveals something peculiar about her speedy orange foe; the hunter’s eyes squinting upon noticing some red stained bandages wrapped around the girls leg that peek out from her pants.

Eventually does the huntress’s gun finally run out of ammunition, the clicking of the guns barrel being Mally’s queue to kick herself right off the frosty ice wall and towards the flaming haired hunter; ready to swing her hockey stick right into her foe’s head. Witnessing the young skater incoming, the ghostly hunter quickly draws her pistol from her coat pocket; the orange lass proving faster however and swats the fire arms out from the huntress’s hand before she could even take aim. Having left the armswoman wide open, Mally pulls out her trusty grapple yo and clutches the gadget in her hand as she swings her own arm right up to her head; the tools thick metal shell thrusting right into the huntress jaw. The young skaters uppercut sends the green hunter tumbling through the chilling cavern air, the woman reaching in her coat as she careens and suddenly pulling out what seemed to be a hi tech bazooka; the flaming haired woman aiming its glass head right down to the skater below and firing out a big ball of green power. With the ball of deadly green plasma hurdling itself at her like a descending meteor, all Mally could do was attempt to block the oncoming blast with nothing but her metal gadget in a desperate bid to soften the blow; Mally closing her eyes as the crystal gadget letting out a sparkling glow the closer the plasma ball approaches.

The giant sphere of deadly plasma suddenly stops before the blast could collide with the young skater, Mally gazing back to the ball to witness her gadget absorbing the very blast that threatened to vaporize her. Once every part of the deadly ball of green is drawn within the metal yoyo, the orange girl gazes on the crystal embedded with the face of the gadget to find it glowing a brilliant bright green; Mally peering over to her flaming haired foe standing across the cave to find her just as confused as to what transpired. That crystal, did it do this? It just seemed to...eat that green ball. Look like it still has it inside too. Is that what those crystals under the town do? No! No time to think to deep about this. Since this thing caught it, wonder if it can…

Wishing to test what she could do with this newfound ability, Mally takes her gadget and swings out in front of the green haired huntress; the powerful plasma that her yoyo had absorbed expelling out from the crystal in a wave of bright green power. Seeing the powerful wave of bright green careening towards her way, the flaming haired huntress takes a daring leap out to the wave and vaults right over the deadly green plasma; the woman pulling out another pistol and rapidly firing both of them out towards her orange foe. The volley of green beams quickly approaching, the skater swings her yoyo around and catches almost every shot with her wondrous metal gadget; continuing to twirl the invention around in a circle as she sends the barrage back to their sender. The huntress tucks in her arms and legs as she descends down towards the returning barrage, a lot of the green pieces of plasma skirting right past her tucked in body; though a good couple of them manage to scrape past her coat and along her very skin. Despite the stinging pain of her own plasma shot, the green flaming haired huntress manages to land back down on her feet; both girls keeping their gaze to one another for whatever move the other has planned next.

Left to face the frosty giant laying before her, Vivi is left utterly paralyzed by the behemoths sheer size; the bulk of the giant blocking any sort of escape roots she could take around the monstrous piece of living ice. A quiet groan escapes from the hulking ice giants chiseled maw as that gently echoes along the chambers chilling walls; the skull girl attempting to put on a brave face as its glowing eyes continue to stare right at her. “What’s a matter, you oversize piece of frosted shit? All that ice give ya blue balls just facin this bad bitch here!” Upon these taunting words does the freezing golem attempt to push itself off the icy floor, Vivi swiftly backing herself against the dead end that it faces; the frost ogre struggling to lifts its whole body inches off the floor before it drops back down on its stomach. Watching the giant drop back down onto the floor, the strawberry blonde calms herself when finding the ogre missing chunks of its icy shell; the organs and muscle tissue being held within its body on the verge of spilling out at any moment. This pitiable site combined with the ogre’s painful groaning is more than enough to effectively replace Vivi’s paralyzing fright with a sympathetic concern.

Damn. That ain’t looking too good. All those muscles and organs just spilling out like goopy jello. That kinda shit would make anyone painfully pissed off. Just what the hell did this chill giant run into to take a hole that big in its side. It don’t even look bit through either, seems like something just bashed right through its side. This giant bastards entire body is blocking every single way through too. Long as its got that hole along its side, it ain’t gonna move a single inch. But who knows what this massive bitch might try if it does get moving… Well shit, guess the only thing that can be done is try and patch up that chunk of lice and get the fuck outta there as fast as hell. That wolf from earlier got smacked straight in the head hard enough to crack its skull, then the damn doggy bastard patched itself back up with the ice off the walls. This guy seems in way too much pain to reach for any of it. What if…

When an idea starts to ring out in her head, the skull girl takes grasp of her boney limb and uproots it right out from her very own socket; Vivi ready to swing her bone arm out like a makeshift club. The strawberry blonde begins bashing the blunt end of her own arm against the wall of solid ice beside her; each strike from her bone limb echoing along the walls and chipping off small pieces of ice that scatter themselves across the floor. After repeatedly beating the chilling wall of the cave several times, Vivian looks down to how much ice she had managed to beat off the side; the small chips of frost she broke off no bigger than her eye. A frustrated growl escapes from her teeth as she continues to bash the side of the cave with her hard bone limb; the giant lying before her staring to the girl as she works to chip away pieces of the ice. Its then that the icy ogre lifts its solid icy arm off the floor and hammers its giant fist out to the side, the sheer impact of the punch causing the cavern to quake and make the skull girl before it slip down on her ass. A boulder of ice then drops down from the roof of the icy chamber between the two of them; Vivi crawling back as she watches the frosty behemoth grasp the chunk of solid and break it to pieces with its incredible vice grip. The skeletal teen remaining frozen stiff from the giant display of strength, her fright starting to calm when watching the icy ogre point to some of the ice chuck and then to the wounds left along its shell. Uh...O-Oh. Oh! That’s what it was doing. Glad to see we’re both on the same page here.

Having realized what the giant wants her to do, Vivi thrusts her bone limb right back into her socket while rising off the icy floor; the skull girl strolling over to one of the ice chunks that the ogre had broken off for her and hugging the piece of solid frost with both arms. Struggling grunts leak out from the skull girls as she carries the heavy chunk of solid ice over to the ogre’s side, setting the piece of frost down when coming to the broken part of the giants icy shell. Vivi takes a moment to prep herself as she stares to the organs and muscle hanging out from the scar, her fingers nervously trembling before she finally grasps hold of the giants exposed inside. The frosty ogre lets out a pained groan as Vivi attempts to shove its organs right back into its transparent shell; the skull girl pushing the muscles back in as she tells the giant to: “Just bare with it, dammit. Almost got all of it in.” Finally does the skeletal teen get all of the loose organs right back into the behemoths body, Vivian taking the chunk of ice she sat beside her and covers the giants fractured side. While holding the piece of ice over the behemoths wounds, a soft white glow start to shine out from the chunk of frost that Vivi holds down; the strawberry blonde watching as it as the piece of ice merges with the golem’s transparent skin.

The illuminating glow finally fades to reveal the wound that once plagued its body now having fully vanished; Vivian backing away from the behemoth as it slowly rises off the frost covered floor and stands staring down upon her. As the hulking beast towers over the small skeleton, she witnesses the ogre lift its arm from its side and tightly shuts her eyes; left to nervously await for whatever the giant attempts to do to her. Several moments pass as Vivi feels next to nothing, the strawberry blonde opens her eyes to find the towering golem having lowered its hand to her very feet; keeping its icy palm wide open as it waits for the girl to step right up. Vivi hesitates for a moment before finally leaping right upon the behemoths offering hand, the icy ogre lifting its palm right up to its solid icy shoulder as soon as she stands upon its hand. The skull girl jumps right atop the chilling giants side and sits comfortably next to the ogre’s very head; the giant turns back towards the rest of the cavern lumbers forth with the strawberry blond holding on tight. “Hell yeah! Lets go wreck some shit!”

Treading lightly along the narrow path that hovers out through the chilling abyss, Ryan and Roxanne continue to practice caution as they balance themselves along the frosty walkway. Soon do their careful travels lead them to the path they stand on splintering off in several directions; each road presented before them branching off all through the icy chasm. The red headed boy decides to points the tip of the mystical scythe out towards each of the roads stretching out before them, paying close attention to how strong the emerald light of the weapon glows when pointing out to them. Finding the scythe letting out a nearly blinding light upon pointing to one of them, Ryan lowers the weapon to his side and claims that they should go: “This way.” The young girl behind him follows close as Ryan proceeds down the very path that the weapon in his hands had illuminated towards; Roxanne gazing upon the glowing green weapon as she asks: “Does that scythe belong to your friend?” “Yep.” “Is it why you two got separated?”

Rather than giving any sort of answer to the red headed girls question, Ryan remains utterly silence; refusing to even give her a glance of any kind. “Its not too late, you know.” she then claim. “The hell does that mean?” the boy asks as he then peers over to her. “Its not to late to try and patch things up with them. I’m sure that whatever made you all split apart can still be fixed if you just talk it out.” “Oh yeah, I’m sure as hell eager to show all my problems to some random girl I just met in the middle of a cavernous mountain. Haven’t we’ve been over this shit already?” “Listen, you can keep it a secret to me all you want; I’m not a part of whatever is going on with you guys. But I think you all should say something to each other; cause I’m willing to bet that whatever you might’ve said then might not just be weighing you down.” The girls very words leave the boy almost utterly silence, with nothing but a breath escaping him as he points his site back to the path they walk through.

The jagged icy walkway that they careful balance themselves on finally starts to widen out, giving both red heads a little bit more room to fidget around and spread their legs; something that starts to ease their woes as they continue down the icy path deeper into the abyss. This comforting change is suddenly pushed aside when their ears catch the rapid sound of clanging ice growing louder and louder from behind them; almost as if something was quickly scuttling right their way. The two teens glance back towards the very icy road that they had once walked and discover something horridly monstrous crawling towards them; a long strand made from several pieces of solid ice swirling along the top and bottom of the road. Its head aims its beady eyes straight to the pair of potential prey, its icy mouth dribbling out between its icicle like pincers as the two teens take off away from the frosted centipede.

Their race away from the pursuing icy insect leads them to the very edge of what seemed to be a frosty cliff, Ryan peering down to discover the rest of their escape route awaiting down below the steep chilling incline. “Come on!” he demands, grasping the girls hand as he drops down the frosty slide. As both of the red heads descend down the frosty slope, Ryan peers over to the side to find the very ice beside them sporting strange and peculiar carvings; some in the shape of horns, eyes, and a split tongue, all of it coming together to form the head of a chilling demonic creature. Sliding right down the hellishly icy heads very chin, both of the teens plummet down through a dizzying swirl that descends down towards a hole left in the very center. Gliding right down into this hole, the duo start to slow down when the incline starts to ease up; their sliding trip eventually crawling to a stop.

Pulling themselves right off the slippery frozen floor, the two of them peer out ahead to find the path once more splitting out in multiple directions; some of them heading straight up while others drop down into the dark void below. Before either of them could decide which of the roads before them to take, the crackling sound of ice roars out behind them; the red head glancing back to witness the icy centipede crawling down from the hole and approaching fast. Moments before the frosty insect nears, Ryan gets between it and the young girl; the boy ordering her to: “I’ll hold this bug bastard off. Just pick a path and hurry down.” “You really think I’m just gonna leave you behind to face that thing?” “I ain’t giving you much of a choice!” Declaring this does the young man aggressively shove Roxanne away and sends her sliding down one of the slopes descending down into the darkness; her screams echoing through out the wide caverns.

With the young woman sliding right out of site, Ryan turns back to find the deadly icy insect towering over him with its long frosty body; clutching the neck of the scythe in his hands as it starts to thrust its head down towards the boy. Alright, ya damn scythe. This is the last chance to prove your not some shitty gardening tool and live up to the reputation of the grim reapers personal weapon. The very souls stealer used by death himself.

A wave of confidence flowing through his veins, the young red head swings the emerald green glowing scythe right down towards the head of the monstrous insect; the sharp tip of the weapon digging straight into the bugs icy skull. Aiming to strike the leviathan centipede once more, Ryan climbs right on top of the beast itself and attempts to pull the mystical weapon out from the depths of the bugs head; the scythe refusing to move even an inch out from the ice of the insect. Just before he could try and pull it out once more, the frosty centipede lifts its head up high in the chilling cavern air; the red head holding onto the neck of the weapon as he’s left dangling beside the monstrous insects head. Whelp, gave you one more chance and you just fuck it up...And to think that there might’ve been any hope for this damn oversized hoe.

The giant centipede starts flailing its solid icy head about the cold air in a frenzied effort to shake the boy hanging on his head right off; the red head keeping a tight grip of is friends scythe no matter how much he’s flailed around. All the chaotic and frantic shaking about dislodges the scythe right out from the depths of the icy centipedes solid cold skull; the weapon and its wielder are sent careening through the cold air of the icy chasm. His flight through the chilling open air has him crashing right into a wall of solid frost, Ryan falling from the wall for the frost behind him to break apart; revealing the remnants of several numerous remains hidden among the frost. Descending along the side of the chasm, the red head discovers himself plummeting straight down towards an open hole left leading into the wall; the young man acting fast and thrusting the tip of the scythe right toward the wall. But the mystical weapon fails to pierce straight through the ice, the red head falling far too fast to shove the blade deep into the frosty wall and continues to drop down straight into the hole; his screams ringing out from the hole as he plummets right on in.

The orange skater meanwhile continues to evade the explosives thrown at her by the mysterious green huntress; the arms woman drawing her pistol as Mally leaps out from one of the exploding grenades. Witnessing her flaming haired foe fire out a green beam from her pistol, the skater quickly draws her own weapon as the emerald green ray nears; shielding herself from the laser with the crystals set along the face of her grapple yo. Once every bit of the pistol’s green shot is drawn straight into the metal yoyo, the orange lass casts her gadget down towards the mysterious huntress; the grapple yoyo descending down towards the arms woman in sparks of green like a descending meteor. The green haired woman rolls out of the way of the gadgets way as it hammers itself down upon the ice that was once beneath her feet; letting out an explosion of sparking green plasma.

After rolling right back on her own feet, the huntress aims the barrel of her pistol out to one of the falling skaters legs and fires out a single beam of green plasma; the lone shot hitting the mark as it strikes the bandage section of Mally’s leg. Feeling the stinging pain surging through her wounded leg once more, the orange skater fumbles right onto the solid floor; the blood from her reopened wound dripping down upon the chilling ice. “Dammit!” she curses out while grasping her bleeding calf, the bandages that had once closed the wound left sprawling along the floor. Just as she was suffering from this reintroduced pain, Mally gazes up to discover the mysterious green haired woman aiming towering above her; aiming her pistols barrel right to her head. Mally could see the green huntress’s finger ready to pull the trigger at any moment; her reopened wound from her calf making almost next to impossible to dodge her shot at point blank. Shit…

Meager moments before the flaming haired arms woman could finally pop a plasma cap straight into the wounded young girl’s head; both of them catch the growing screams of somebody approaching fast, the two girls gazing around the cave for wherever it could be coming from. Taking a look behind the very woman holding her down at gunpoint, Mally finds where the screaming echoes out from; a hole left hanging along the wall right behind them that spews out what seemed to be a random red headed girl right out from its depths. Witnessing the newcomer drop from the hole and sliding across the ice right towards them, the orange skater quickly rolls right off to the side; the huntress snapping her attention back towards her orange foe and fixes the barrel of her pistol back at her. Just before the green arms woman had the chance to pull the trigger, the red headed newcomer sweeps right through the huntress’s legs and trips her right onto the solid cold floor.

Arising right off the icy cold ground, the huntress glares out towards what had tripped her right off the floor, her near cold and merciless gaze warming up upon finding the young red head before her rubbing her butt as she gets herself up. “Roxanne?” she finally speaks. “A-Artemis! Thank god that you’re still okay. I thought that the avalanche had-” “Wait! Where did that girl go?” “That girl? I didn’t see a girl when I got here.” The green haired huntress then aims her eyes down the cavern behind her and finds the orange skater she was just about to finish off skating away into its chilling depths; Artemis quickly pulling herself off the floor as she demands that Roxanne to: “Come on, we can’t lose her!” “Wait! Lose who?” the red head questions as she follows after.

Along a nearby part of these very icy tunnels, the sound of screaming could be heard echoing out from a hole from the top of the chilling hall; the red head with the mystical scythe dropping right down from the dark recesses of the pit and flopping right onto the hard cold ground. “Ah...fuck...” he utters while slowly pulling himself off the floor. Just as he stands back on his own two feet, Ryan’s pissed attitude suddenly shatters when his ears catching a familiar icy clinking; the boy staring up to the hole he had plummeted down from in a cold sweat as the scuttling grows louder. Fucking hell! This frosty bug bastard just won’t quit, will it? Ain’t got any other choice. Gotta run like hell and hope to lose this giant icy dildo. Almost immediately does the young red head sprint off in the opposite direction of the hole, the young man glancing back just in time to witness the cold centipede that had terrorized him before squeezing itself right out.

The threat of the pursuing icy insect looming over him, the red head races along the icy tunnels as fast as his legs could carry him as he skips across all the cold veins left running along the cold floor; Ryan peeking back to find the cold and nasty bug quickly beginning to close the distance. Among his ever growing panicking, he finally notices the scythe in his hands growing brighter than it ever had before; the red head averting his site away from its intense emerald glow. Agh! The fuck’s going on with this thing? Its practically as bright as a solar light. Can’t even see what ahead-

Failing to see what he races towards, Ryan smacks himself right into what felt like a cold wall of hard solid ice and fumbles right onto the bumpy veiny floor beneath him; the boy opening his eyes from the impact to discover a cold gaze staring right back. Towering right over the laying young man be what seemed to be a colossal giant made from solid frost; its entire transparent body letting him peer into the working organs and muscles underneath its icy shell. Witnessing the ogre reach its massive arm right toward him, the boy braces himself for whatever the giant attempts to do to him; suddenly hearing the beast let out a furious roar alongside the blunt sound of ice hitting each other. Opening his eyes, Ryan discovers the icy sharp pincers of the centipede hovering just mere inches right over his head, the arms of the frosty behemoth keeping the bug from chomping upon his very flesh; the solid icy insect struggling to free itself from its grip as the ogre pushes the monstrous bug away from the young man. Once both of the giant pieces of living ice walk right over him, the young red head pries himself off the cold veiny floor to see a person hanging along the giants very shoulder; a soft hopeful smile cracking along his face as he hears the familiar girl cheer the monster she rides upon with: “Yeah, waste that icy son of a bitch! Break it in pieces like the horribly misshapen cock it is!” “Vivi?” the red head shouts out. Despite the boys voice being as clear as the ice he stands on, the strawberry blonde only pays him a small glance before turning her attention back to the fight. Shit. Guess she’s still pissed about what happened above the surface. Really anybody would hearing all that. Need to say something to her.

In just the short few moments that they fight one another, the frosty ogre pulls the icy insect apart with nothing but its brute strength; the remains of the centipede falling to the floor before scattering away from the victor. As the victorious giant lets out a prideful roar, Vivi joins in with a resounding cheer and shouts: “Hell yeah! That icy piece of long shit ain’t got nothin on this motherfucker! Fuck the rest, this bastards the best! Lets keep this kick ass train rolling!” Upon that request does the ogre start to lumber out to the icy tunnel stretching out ahead, neither of them acknowledging the red head right behind them as they continue forth. “Hang on a fuckin sec!” Ryan requests as he chases after.

Utterly determined to get through to his skeletal pal, the young man runs right behind the lumbering frosty ogre and leaps up to the behemoths unoccupied shoulder, hooking his weapon atop the giants side and pulling himself right up. After taking a seat right next to the frosty behemoths head, the young man peers over to the girl resting along the other shoulder; the way Vivi averts her own site away from his being a clear sign of her still remaining rather upset with him. The young red head takes in deep breath of cavernous cold air before starting off with: “Listen, about-about what happened...above. When I called you...that...I-it-I just had no excuse to call you that, especially with what kind of history you...have. It’s just seeing you race right in to fight that lion with almost nothing, it just...it just...god! You could’ve at least…” After forcing himself to stop mid sentence, he lets out a calming sigh and continues with: “About the scythe...I don’t get what your deal might be with it, not wanting to use something so insanely powerful and strong...but I really don’t gotta, do I. If ya don’t wanna use it, then fine. Have it your way. I don’t need a reason.”

Upon finishing his little attempt to apologize, Ryan finally hear the girl respond to him after letting out a little chuckle; jesting to him how: “Was that really meant to be an apology? I can practically hear ya forcing the words outta your mouth.” While the young skull girl continues to snicker, the red head shouts back how: “I’m tryin to make up for being an asshole here and you’re just being one right back; gimme some fuckin credit here!” Despite his yelling complaints though, the cheeky smile across his friends face is more than enough to bring some comfort to the boy; left happy that she’s at least talking to him.

Her cheeky laughter finally starts to die down, Vivi taking in a needed breath before reluctantly explaining how: “That scythe ya got in yer hands right there, the reason I ain’t so eager to use it…It’s cause it’s just a reminder that I ain’t like everyone else; that I’m just another freak that people expect to wind up becoming a horrible monster. Out of fear or just cause they a bitch, all the other kids just gimme all these glares whatever I do; like they’re all saying that you don’t belong with us, you monster. Some don’t even bother looking at me like that and just say it right to my face. Course I shove my boot in their testies when they do, but that ain’t the point. That scythe ya got there, Ryan, is just another reminder that at the end of the day, all of them are right. That one day, all their hate and jeering will be justified and that I’ll be the horrible monster they see me as now.”

Its in letting out all this remorse and pain for her friend to see in full, her guilt is swiftly replaced with a snapping anger as she hears Ryan start to let out his own kind of laughing. “Now you’re the one being a sappy piece of shit. Never thought I’d here that kind of moping bull come outta yer mouth.” Though his remark leaves the skull girl pissed, she starts to calm when hearing him continue with: “I mean, why the hell should you care what a bunch of fucking assholes think about ya. I never gave a single fuck about any of that and look how I turned out.” “Jeez, you saying that ain’t much of a motivator.” “You know what the hell I mean!” he barks back, causing a big smile to stretch out along the girls face.

Its that a rather loud grunt pierces suddenly pierces through their moment of making up, the two gazing out ahead to where the struggling had echoed from. “The hell was that?” Vivi wonders. “Sounds kinda familiar…That might just be-” “Mally! Hang on, yer home girl’s coming! Time to pick up the pace, my icy motherfucka! Vamoose!” “Wait, hang o-” Before Ryan could even finish, the frosty ogre they ride upon takes off further down towards the caves ahead; the young red head struggling to keep himself from falling off the behemoths shoulder.

The cut on her calf ripped right open, Mally skates herself across the bumpy frosty floor with just a single leg while constantly peeking back for any sign of her pair of pursuers; finding next to nothing but the droplets of blood that stain the ice that she skates past. This isn’t good. Its not good at all. That woman definitely knew where exactly to shoot, opened the wound along the leg of a midair target back up with just one shot. With one leg up short and bleeding out, there could be some serious trouble if she manages to catch up now. No other choice but to try and loose that huntswoman.

In that very moment does she peer back to find a big ball of bright light come zipping out towards her, letting out a sharp yelp from seeing the ball speed right her way; the orange girl instinctively getting down onto the icy cold floor as the glowing light flies right over her head. What...What the heck was that?- “Who the hell is this?” she then hears somebody wonder aloud. When the young skater hears this question being asked, Mally lifts herself up off the solid veiny ground to discover three more newcomers confronting her: A tall young man with slick hair, glasses, and strangely baby blue skin, a girl with green blotches who seems on the verge of melting, and another girl with a blonde bowl cut dressed in a salmon pink coat. “Probably with that asshole who ran off with the treasure.” the girl with the melting face accuses. Wait, treasure?

“Whoever she may be...” another voice then chimes in from behind, Mally snapping back to see both the huntress and red head having caught up with her. The green haired woman fixes her pistols barrel right at the wounded skater as she continues with: “We can’t let her escape.” “Artemis, she just a little girl. Why can’t we just let her go?” Roxanne questions. “She tried to strike me in the neck. She was attempting to kill me!” “Whoa, really?” the girl with the bowl cut exclaims. “Damn, she wasn’t playin then.” the melting girl states. “You tried to shoot me in the head!” Mally then reminds her. “Whatever, if we haveta show back up to Drake empty handed, we can at least blame it on her. Willing to bet that guy who took off with the treasure might be willing to trade if we take her with us.” the man with the baby blue skin suggests. “Ain’t like she can fight back all of us in the shitty state she’s in. Don’t even look like she can even stand up straight.” Dammit. They’re right. Their isn’t any other way around them. Can’t fight all of them at once with a bleeding leg. Gotta think of something, someway out of this mess.

Just as the five of them were ready to pounce out to the near helpless girl set before them all, an incredibly powerful roar echoes out from behind the trio; the roar loud enough to cause the very tunnel they stand in to quake. The veiny ground continues to tremble as loud crashing stomps could be heard approaching, the two girls and baby blue guy turn back in utter terror to witness a massive frosty behemoth charging right towards them all. “Not again!” the girl with the bowl cut utters. “What the hell is that!?” the man with the blue skin frantically asks. “Who fucking care, just run!” the melting lass exclaims. Upon very site of the nearing giant, the four girls follow the blue guy as they race off in the opposite direction; the trio passing right by Mally as she’s left behind to face the monstrous living piece of ice. With the cut left along her calf having been reopened, Mally could do little but sit and brace herself with icy ogre on the verge of ramming straight into her. Right as the giant was running right in front of her, it cleanly leaps right over the wounded young skater; the orange girl opening her eyes to look back and see the behemoth continue to chase after the group of girls. She’s even left further astonished when discovering who rides upon both of the icy beasts very shoulders; both Ryan and Vivi holding onto the monsters sides as it continues charging forth. “Yeaaaah! It’s showtiiiiiiiiiime!” the skull girl excitedly screeches. “Hold the fuck on, I think one of those girls might-” the red head attempts to explain, though his warning is abruptly cut off when he hits his head right on a chunk of hanging ice; the blow causing him to tumble off the giant’s side and fall right to the icy floor. “Ah, shit.”

Mally limps over to the unconscious boys side as their skeletal pal leaps off the beastly piece of ice’s shoulder; Vivi wearing a big smile on her face as she greets the orange girl with: “Nice to see ya in one piece, Mal.” “Uh, same here Vivi. But do you think Ryan will be okay?” “Oh yeah, the jackass will be fine; this ain’t the first time he’s been knocked out. This one time, I accidentally pushed him off my roof while we were looking for my left boot and he hit his head on the ground coming down. He was out for hours after that.” “Huh...guessing from your tone that you two worked things out?” “Yeah, we all good. He gave me his shitty little apology and I forgave the poor bastard. Can’t stay mad at him forever.” “Glad to hear that. But can I one more thing…What the hell did you guys just ride on!?” “Oh ho, man. You won’t believe the kinda crazy shit I’ve been through when we split.”

As the skull girl discusses the events that lead them right to here, the icy ogre continues its lumbering pursuit after the group of girls swinging its arms out towards the blonde with the bowl cut and the partially melting girl closest to it. Seeing her teammates dodging the giants swings by the skin of their teeth, Artemis aims her pistol right at the behemoth behind them and fires out a ray of green plasma right to the giants icy head; the shot failing to slow the beast down even a tad as the beam simply bounces right off its face. “Artemis! Quit fooling around and just use one of yer bombs!” the baby blue man orders out of her. “Can’t. I used them all up.” “What! How!?” “Ain’t gotta worry fam, I got this.” the gooey girl among them claims. From the palms of her arms, the slimy lass casts out a glob of dark violet goo down to where the pursuing beasts steps; the giant stomping right onto the slippery batch of ooze and falling right onto the floor with a thunderous slam. “How you like that, bitch!” the goo girl taunts. Have fun getting yer ass off the floor.” the girl with the bowlcut joins in. “Just shut up and keep running!” the blue man among them demands. Having knocked the icy giant off their tail, the group of girls continue racing down the icy tunnel; all six of them disappearing in the caves icy shadows.

Once pulling itself right off the floor, the frosty behemoth lets out a raging snarl readies to continue pursuing after them all; stopping just before it could take off when it hears the skull girl say to: “Just let em get lost. We still need yer help here.” As the icy ogre starts to lumber back to the trio, Vivi can’t help but ask: “Wonder what the hell their problem was?” “They mentioned how they though I knew a guy who ran away with some kind of treasure.” “In this mountain? The fuck were they on about?” “I ain’t too sure to be honest.” Amidst their confusion that the giant finally stands before them and lets out a low moan as it leans right in; the behemoth pointing its frosty finger out to the tunnels that stand behind them all. “I’m thinkin he’s wanting to show us.” Vivian claims.

Staring out towards where the giant points out towards, Mally then notices something glistening along the vieny frost floor ahead of them; the wounded skater rising off the ground and limping over towards where she sees the glimmering sheen. “Mally?” the skull girl utters. Limping out to the glow does she discover the scythe of death itself dug into the ice, the young skater grasping the weapons neck and pulling it out with just a single hand. “What’s this doing here?” she wonders “Oh, Ryan might’ve just dropped that while we were coming to kick ass.” the skull girl guess. “Hmm. You...want me to hold onto it?” “Ehh, yeah...for a bit.”

The frosty giant lumbers through the solid cold tunnels with the trio sitting atop the behemoths very shoulders; both of girls gazing through the ice making up these shafts to find the veins and that run along the inside growing more numerous and thick as they continue forth. Soon do all of them come to the very end of this long and winding tunnel to behold the site of a massive blue heart hanging right above a giant empty pedestal; the heart continuing to beat the rhythm of life despite being completely encased in a shell of solid ice. “Wow.” the skater awes. “Hot damn!” the skull girl exclaims. Its in the midst of their amazement that the behemoth they all ride suddenly lunges out to the empty pedestal as it lets out a panicked yelp, all three of them falling to the icy floor below; Vivi holding her unconscious friend in her arms as they drop down. Gazing back to the massive hulk of living ice, they find it searching over every side of the lavishly carved pedestal; its glowing eyes growing more panicked as it continues to search. “Jeez. What you think his problem might be.” Vivian wonders. “I think that whatever this treasure might’ve been, must’ve been helluva important.”

With the frosty behemoths search entailing nothing to find, it stands before the front of the pedestal and falls to its knees in defeat; the loud crash of the giants knee’s proving loud enough to snap Ryan right awake. Awakening back to reality, the red head looks over to find both girls wondering over to the pillar that the ogre had inspected; the boy question: “What the hell are you two doing?” “Rise and shine mother fucka, we lookin for clues on who might’ve took what was here.” Vivi states to him. “Gotta be some sort of clue they left behind around here that can...” Mally mutters as she continues to search, her voice petering out when taking a look at what lies behind the pedestal.

Both the skull girl and red head come around from the sides of the icy pillar, Vivi questioning her if: “You find something, Mal?” The two then stand aside the young skater to discover the remains of what seemed to be a withered piece of wood below an entire set of numbers all carved within the surface of the stone. “The hell is that?” Vivian wonders. “Not to sure; but whatever it might’ve been, they were eager to leave these numbers etched here.” “Let me look.” Ryan demands as he gently shoves the two of them aside. The young red head takes a long careful look to the numerous numbers left carved along the rock of the pedestal; informing the girls of how: “These...kinda look like some sort of coordinates. Coordinates that were carved on here really recently.” “You think that whatever might’ve left them here was trying to warn somebody?” Vivi ponders aloud. Staring upon the set of numbers, Mally claims to the two of them how that: “Whatever they were trying to tell us, seems that we’ll have to go and see what it might be ourselves.”

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I wanted to try something a little different this time around with story structure. This chapter of the story is but one half of a complete whole sequence that happens around the same time, the next chapter coming up filling in the blanks and explaining the events and seemingly convenient events that happen throughout this one. The pieces will connect together for you all in the next chapter.

[edenfalling]

Ooh! Homestuck, Dirk, Roxy, cuddle. It's the post-Sburb world, and there are too many people all the time, and only Dirk and Roxy want to flee screaming to a (pair of) faraway mountains. Bring back the blissful solitude of the post-apocalypse.

Notcompliant with the credits snapchats, because reasons. :) [2,700 words] 

---------------------------------------------Some Little Talk aWhile of Me and Thee--------------------------------------------- 

The stupid part is, up until that one moment, Roxy washaving a really good night. All her friends (except Dirk, who hung grimly onthrough dinner and absconded immediately thereafter) together in one room, enoughdinner for everyone to eat their fill and then dessert on top of that, thepleasant ache of an honest day's work building the infrastructure of their newworld... yeah. A good night. 

Except the thing is, as much as she needs people -- and sheneeds people a lot, needs that feedback loop of attention paid and returned --there's a big difference between hanging out online and hanging out with adozen people jammed together in a single room. And she hasn't been gettingalone time during the days either, always busy working with a crew ofcarapacians (who at least are quiet) and consorts (who are emphatically not). 

Roxy doesn't notice the slow buildup of stress, but she canpinpoint exactly when the night tips from I-can-manage to oh-god-make-it-stop. 

She's been kibitzing on the edges of Rose, John, and Jane'smeal planning session (defusing any baby disagreements before they grow intoanything serious), keeping half an ear on the Pictionary session Callie,Kanaya, and Terezi have going in the far corner, and watching Jade gleefullyannihilate Dave and Karkat at Mario Kart. It's maybe a little bit much to betracking all at once, but the satisfaction outweighs the strain until Davethrows a piece of popcorn at Jade, who teleports it into the tangle of Karkat'shair, who draws breath in preparation for an inside-voice-what-inside-voicerant, and Roxy is abruptly and completely done.Zip, zilch, finito, cutlery shop's closed up and all the merchandise is gone. 

She shoves herself up from the warm and squashy armchair shestaked out as her private territory back when they first built this grouphouse, and says to nobody in particular: "I'm gonna go check on Dirk, it'sbeen a while since he noped out and I want to make sure he hasn't broken his neckor started a robot apocalypse in his sleep." 

Rose and Jane break off their debate over the relativemerits of fish tacos and sushi to give her a pair of sharp glances. John justlooks adorkably confused. 

Roxy dredges up a smile from her last reserves of sociability. 

It must not be very convincing, because Rose frowns andtenses like she's going to ask if Roxy needs any help, or maybe even stand upand give her a hug. Her concern is like a warm mug of hot chocolate, but thething about warm mugs of hot chocolate is they're awesome on a frigid winterday after messing around in the snow for a couple hours, but this specific timeand place are more like a metaphorical scorching summer day when you're alreadysugared out and anything sweet makes you want to gag. In other words, amomdaughter's loving attention is nice in theory, but it's not conducive tonoping the fuck out of the room, not to mention if anyone touches her rightnow, Roxy might actually break down and scream. 

Fortunately, Jane rescues her. 

She does something to Rose -- elbows her? kicks her underthe coffee table? hard to say -- and while Rose is busy trying to regather hertrain of thought, Jane grins at Roxy, somehow managing to make the expressionboth obviously fake and equally obviously made of 24-carat solid goldsincerity. 

"That sounds like an excellent plan!" she says."When you find him, tell him that Jade needs to run the latest plans forthe electricity grid past him, particularly the battery storage systems forevening the solar and wind outputs. I think the files are in the civilengineering dropbox account, so he shouldn't need to ask her for anything untilhe's finished reviewing and annotating them." 

Roxy nods. 

"Well, what are you waiting for? Scram!" Janemakes little shooing motions with her hands. 

Rose, apparently catching on to Roxy's actual state of mind,smiles benevolently and waves goodbye. "Au revoir," she says in herperpetually dry tone. "If anyone asks where you are, I'll tell them I sentyou to give daddy dearest my love, perhaps in the form of seagull pie." 

Jane rolls her eyes. John snickers and sticks out his tonguein mostly mock-disgust. 

"Thanks, guys," Roxy manages to say, and flees. 

--------------- 

After a indeterminate period of time trying not tohyperventilate in her en suite bathroom, she sits cross-legged on her bed andwonders if she ought to make good on her escape excuse. 

Dirk's even worse with large groups than Roxy is and doesn'tmake any attempt to pretend otherwise, but he's still human (no matter how muchhe sometimes dislikes that fact) and even the most introverted human is, atbase, a social animal. And not all contact has to be as overwhelming as groupevents. 

Roxy pulls out her phone, briefly contemplates calling him,then tosses that plan right the fuck out the window. Voices are bullshit. Textis their mutual mother tongue, and she'd bet at least half a baby universe Dirkisn't up for vocalizing right now. 

-- tipsyGnostalgic [TG] began pestering timaeusTestified[TT] -- 

TG: the thing nobody ever tells you about other people ishow fuckin NOISY they areTG: amiright?TG: i never thought id say this, but i miss ourpost-apocalyptic disaster zoneTG: not like, the looming threat of the batterwitch n shit,but the quietTG: maybe even some of the survivalist stuffTG: rose and the crockerberts gave me the weirdest look wheni said we should make seagull pie for our next movie night extravaganzaTG: there is GOOD EATING on seagullsTG: and they make a nice change from fish you know?TG: i thought id finally gotten away from descaling fishwhen we ditched sea hitlers water hellscape, but nopeTG: here we are back to fish for every meal that doesnt comestraight from our alchemiters and dwindling stocks of gristTG: (its ok you dont have to talk back if you dont want to)TG: (i just wanted to bitch to someone who gets it)TT: It's cool.TT: I know exactlywhat you mean about the quiet.TT: If you're game toendure the ultra minimum of human contact, i.e., breathing within the samecubic meter of air, I'm on the roof by the south chimney.TT: If not, I can seethe dock and it's currently unoccupied.TT: Assuming this isa day when the incessant susurrus of waves will invoke positive memories ratherthan negative ones, that could make a decent temporary retreat.TG: awww, ur a sweetie, sitting watch over our friends likea depressed gargoyleTG: on due consideration im ok with breathing your grosspre-breathed airTG: maybe if we get really daring we can work up to touchingpinky fingers!TG: le gaspTT: Scandalous. What will the neighbors say?TT: But I'm down forperversion if you are, Ms. Lalonde.TG: k hang onto your panties, im coming up 

-- tipsyGnostalgic [TG] ceased pestering timaeusTestified[TT] -- 

--------------- 

Roxy scrambles over the edge of the roof (she could justfly, of course, but where's the fun in that?) to find Dirk not just near thesouth chimney but actually curled up in the angle where it meets the solartiles, using the heat radiating from the bricks to counter the early autumnchill. He has his shades off in deference to the darkness, but his eyes are closedinstead of aimed up toward the frankly gorgeous light of the pink and whitemoons, both approaching full tonight. 

Roxy flops back against the dark tiles of the roof, armsspread wide, and watches the moons flirt with thin veils of cloud. Her friends'voices drift out of the open windows downstairs, but distance and the ambientsounds of wind and wave blur them into a companionable sort of white noise. Theconsorts' various weekend parties are louder, but further away; noticeable onlywhen a line or two of song finds a favorable breeze or a new branch tossed on abonfire sends a gust of sparks above the trees and roofs of the slowly growingtown. 

The carapacians' celebrations, of course, make no sound. 

She and Dirk breathe in companionable silence for nearly anhour, while the white moon travels fifteen degrees toward zenith and the pinkmoon nearly twenty degrees in the same direction, edging toward partialeclipse. Roxy's still kind of giddy over the orbital mechanics of a three-bodysystem, and the difference two moons make in the rhythm of the tides. It couldtake years to work the changes into her bones. 

She has years tospend on things like that. She spent her whole childhood isolated and trappedunder an incessant, shadowy weight. Now it's gone. She's free. She's not aloneanymore. 

It would be nice if she were better at coping with thatchange. 

Beside her, Dirk sighs, pulls his legs up to his chest, andrests his face between his knees. Something's gone cockeyed in his head again,and if nobody interrupts him he'll just debate himself into knots and grandiose'for your own good' bullshit stunts. 

And hey, an hour of silence isn't enough to get Roxyanywhere near ready to face a crowd, but it's more than enough to talk to heroldest friend. 

"The dumbest thing," she says, jumping straight inbecause what's the sense in wasting mouth noises on irrelevancies, "isthat weekend movie nights aren't even party-parties,nothing loud or crazy intense. It's just all our best friends hanging out oncomfy sofas playing goofy sleepover games, but stupid me got so wound up I hadto run screaming into the night. Otherwise I would've lost my shit at them overfish tacos and a popcorn fight, and that's just wrong with a capital R." 

"Capital W," Dirk mutters, uncurling slightly andtilting his head until a sliver of orange iris is visible over the edge of hisright knee. 

"Pedant," Roxy says, rather than draw attention tohis temporary lack of shades. "I just keep thinking, it shouldn't bug meso much. You've got a perfect excuse to flip out at extended socialinteractions, mister raised-by-robots. I actually had real live neighbors. Ishould be over this by now." 

Dirk shrugs, which looks incredibly doofy when he's allcurled up like a pill bug. "As people keep telling me, brains aren'tparticularly logical organs. Besides, there's a pretty big difference betweensign language and a dozen plus people with actual vocal cords, some of whomhave a tragically shaky grasp of appropriate volume control." 

"Ha. Yeah. Still." 

"Still," Dirk agrees. 

Roxy spreads her arms wide, staring up at the moons and theas-yet-unnamed constellations of their new universe, galaxy, solar system.Their new sun's a little brighter than Sol used to be -- a little smaller inthe sky, a little more pure-white than yellow-white -- and more like Alternia'ssun in its position vis-à-vis galactic center, which makes for some amazinglydense and brilliant starscapes. And she's saying this as a person who grew upwith no artificial light to blank out old Earth's night skies. 

"Humans made the trolls' signs into constellationswithout any outside influence, just the shape of the universe orsomething," she muses. "I wonder if it's cheating to design ourconstellations ourselves." 

Dirk shrugs again, a faint movement of shadow against darkershadow in the corner of her vision. "All our sessions were fucked from thestart; we had to cheat just to get out alive. What's a little more cheatingcompared to that? Ethical qualms aside, I'm pretty sure this planet isn't goingto be the focus of any future Sburb sessions. That dubious honor goes to the billionsof native planets kicking around this universe. If anyone's getting gentlymanipulated into using three-eyed cats and purple horrorterrors as part oftheir star myths, it's all those statistically inevitable aliens out there inthe wild black yonder." 

"I bet their myths kick ass," Roxy says. 

"I believe that's more or less implicit in thedefinition of the word. I'm not sure what they'll make of a hat or an LPrecord, though," Dirk says. 

This time it's Roxy's turn to shrug. "Old-schoolD&D monsters, maybe? Or no, ten gets you one they'll go with crows andseagulls instead." She pauses, reconsiders. "Then again, Terezi'ssymbol is basically a giant lab tool with a shit-ton of cultural baggage, andKarkat's is kind of like, handcuffs, right? Maybe hats wind up as a symbol ofintellect and general badassery -- oh! or artificial life, like Frosty theSnowman's magic hat, 'cause of your robots and puppets thing -- and recordssymbolize creativity and art and stuff." 

"Hats as a symbol of hubris and overreach, morelikely," Dirk mutters. 

Roxy wriggles sideways until she's just close enough toflick the fingertips of her left hand against the side of his shoe. "Knockit off, dumbass. Nobody gets to badmouth my best friend -- not even my bestfriend." 

Dirk unburies his face and meets Roxy's eyes straight on,one eyebrow raised. "I was under the impression that that title belongedto either Jane or Calliope. When did I inherit the position, and why was I notpreviously informed of this change in status? Are you sure you're followingfriend protocol correctly?" 

Roxy flicks his shoe again. "Friendship is a bigcategory! You're all, like, different instantiations of the concept of 'bestfriend' -- Callie's my squee and kissing partner, Janey's my partner in crime,Rosie's my sister, Jake's my goofing off friend, Dave's my surrealism feedbackdude, John's my maybe-kinda-sorta other kissing partner, and so on and soforth. You, Dirk Strider, are theperson who knows me best in two and a half entire fucking universes. Okay?You're the one who knows what it's like. If I ever run off to be a hermit on amountaintop, I want you to come be a hermit on the mountain next door. We cansend heliograph messages back and forth, or learn how to yodel and shit, andonce a month we'll get together and have a wild and crazy hermit party, justthe two of us. That's the kind of best friend you are for me." 

Dirk is silent for a long moment. Then he unwraps his righthand from his legs and lets it drop downward until his fingertips are justbrushing the soft, ticklish (completely un-carapacian) skin of Roxy's leftwrist, right over the veins carrying blood back to her heart. 

"All that, back at you," he says. 

Roxy blinks back a sudden rush of tears, and laces theirfingers together. Dirk lets her. 

"Jade has some electric grid plans for you to lookover," she says after a minute. "You can do that anywhere,right?" 

"Yeah," Dirk says. 

"Then come seagull hunting with me tomorrow. Just the twoof us, out on the water. Like old times. I have a harpoon gun I've been wantingto try out, and we can tell anyone who complains that we're taking soundingsand stuff for potential tidal generators. Hell, we can even actually do that.But I miss you. I keep getting tangled up in everyone else and losing sight ofus." 

Dirk squeezes her fingers. From him, it's as good as a hug. 

"Yeah," he says. "It's a plan." 

Roxy looks up at the night sky rather than try to put heremotions into words. There's a patch that looks a bit like a cat with wings, ifshe squints and takes some heavy artistic license. She holds up her phone inher right hand and adjusts the camera settings until she can snap a usefulpicture. She'll photoshop the constellation in later tonight and show it toDirk tomorrow: their friendship, immortalized in stars. 

"Cool," she says. 

They watch the pink moon overtake the white one in silence,fingers still entwined, the same air pumping in and out of their lungs. 

--------------------------------------------- 

End of Fic 

--------------------------------------------- 

It's still a little disjointed, I think, but whatever. Iwin. \o/