#Coral Grief AU

[cartoondrawer]

🌊CORAL GRIEF AU.🪸

(A Wild Kratts AU)

||PART 1||

[premamelody]

THE END OF ME

(oc)

[hupla222]

Ponify Your Horizons Lore

Ack! I just posted but the promise of being able to share my lore with everyone was too great. This au is a fun one and I think it deserves to have its lore written out for everyone to enjoy. Buckle up, this one is a long one. And as always, let me know what you think. I love hearing from people!

Some basic things out of the way. Every breed (earth pony, pegasus, and unicorn) can use magic to some extent. Unicorns are much better at it and have much wider variety though, earth ponies and pegasi can only do like one spell each.

The Main Trio:

Liko: She's a young unicorn from a small town going to school in the big city. One day she was given a mysterious jewel (the Element of Magic) by her grandma and she became determined to figure out what is was. Especially after some strange unicorn and his Kirin lackies attacked her to try and get it. She doesn't have her cutie mark yet, but she shows an aptitude for empathetic magics such as being able to assess other's emotions and shield spells.

Roy: He's an earth pony colt from a small town with a love of adventure. He's always wanted to travel the world, like the pegasi do. He hasn't gotten his cutie mark yet but he shows an interest in navigation, using the soil as his guide. He met Liko when she was trying to hide from that strange unicorn.

Dot: She's an earth pony filly travelling with the RVT. Her mother sent her there when she failed to find her cutie mark anywhere at home. She's not too thrilled and mostly stays holed up in her room. She does show an interest in mechanics however. Liko is obsessed with being her friend and helping her find her cutie mark. Dot developed a crush on her because of this.

The RVTS:

Friede: He's a pegasus who rescued Liko and Roy from that mysterious unicorn and his Kirin. He promised to help Liko find out what her pendant really was and when they do, help her find the remaining Elements of Harmony. His magic allows him to shoot lightning from his wings.

Orla: She'd a pegasus who maintains the ship as its handywoman. Her magic allows her to create tailwinds with her winds, aiding in flying the ship.

Murdock: He's and earth pony who cooks for the crew and primarily takes care of Dot. His magic allows him to rapidly grow plant life, bringing them to harvest ready status.

Mollie: She's a unicorn and is the medic of the crew. Her magic is all healing focused, knowing a great many spells to heal all sorts of ailments. Liko really looks up to her.

Lucius: Lucius was a unicorn who ended up befriending five other creatures, all not ponies. They traveled the lands as the best of friends collectively growing to be known as the Six Heroes. Among this group was Gibeon, though he was rarely included. One day this group went to a place called Paradise (Area Zero) to stop a great evil. Paradise was a haven inhabited by a strange breed of unicorn who utilized paradox magics. In the depths of Paradise, they found a tree holding six colorful stones, the Elements of Harmony. When the Six Heroes vanquished the evil with these Elements, Lucius ascended and became an alicorn, promising to always protect the peace.

Gibeon: He's a unicorn the accompanied the Six Heroes on their journeys, assisting them in battle but never truly being recognized. He was furious when the Elements did not choose him as a barer, but the light of its magic did grant him with immortality. He rejected Lucius and ran away to live in Paradise, studying the Elements tirelessly, trying to figure out how he may gain their power and ascend as well. Eventually it struck him that he just could not do it alone and he needed five saps to help him.

The Explorers:

Amethio: He's a unicorn born in Paradise and is Gibeon's younger son. He was trained day and night since he was little on how to use his magic and on how he needs to acquire the Elements. He had two Kirin help him train. His magics allow him to control shadows as if they were tangible things, even being able to set them on fire, hence his cutie mark. He's serious and rarely has time for fun, even though Zirc and Onia try to be there for him.

Spinel: He's a unicorn from the outside (aka not Paradise). He likes to think of himself as the master of all magics, although it frustrates him to no end that he cannot fathom paradox magic. He specializes is surveillance spells such as camera like orbs of magic, hypnosis, and mind reading. No one really trusts him but he is in charge of the airship they use to travel around the region.

Coral: She's a pegasus from the outside. She's wild, likes to fight, and barely listens to what she's told. She's often used for scouting purposes although she wished she could do something more fun. Her magic allows her to create blizzards with her wings.

Sidian: He's a unicorn born in Paradise and is Gibeon's older son. He was trained from the day he was born on how to locate gemstones and that became his special magic. His horn is shattered so his gem finding spell is the only one he can use, all the others just explode. His magics allow him to read and utilize the resonance of the gemstones he finds, allowing him to absorb their inherent magic and fire it through his hooves. He is know as the Secret Weapon of the Explorers due to them using him to find the Elements and generally being the most powerful, though his magic can be difficult to aim upwards. He is more often than not forced to stay on the airship.

Chalce: She is an earth pony from the outside. She's the level headed one, working together with Spinel to come up with plans for the Explorers. Her magic allows her to control plant life, bending to her whim. She tried to act like a mother to Amethio and Sidian, since they never knew either of theirs, but they don't really like her.

Zirc and Onia: These two are Kirin who lived on the mountains the surround Paradise. The two stumbled upon Amethio one day, struggling with his fire magic, and they offered to help, since being Kirin they know a thing or two about fire. Gibeon heard of this and was pleased enough to delegate raising Amethio to them, with him regularly checking in. Ever since they've been grunts of the Explorers, steering the airship and keeping an eye on Gibeon's sons outside of Paradise.

And I think that's it for now. Wow was that long but I just had a lot to say lol. Let me know what you think and if I missed anyone you wanted to hear about! Stay lovely everyone!

[frownyalfred]

Hello yes it’s me again 🤠 I’ve decided to continue this little series of “things that have caused me to wake up in the middle of the night and clench my chest and go “GAh” because it is summer, I have too much free time to cry over very good fanfics, and writers deserve to feel noticed (coming from a writer who’s favorite comments are the ridiculously detailed/long/rant ones) So without further ado…

d. the coral room fic tags being like “Omegaverse 🥰 Enemies to Lovers 🥹 Nesting 💖” but then in parenthesis “but Bruce’s ver of nesting is stealing super weapons to assasinate Clark” the first time I saw this tag I spat out my coffee and probably laughed for about three minutes and to this day I randomly wake up and laugh about I don’t know why it resonated so much but it was genius

e. On a less happy note I physically cannot bring myself to ever again open your fic “Silent Running” because the first time I read it I don’t think I slept that night. Definitely a wake up-go “GAH situation there, the absolutely bone chilling way that fic settled with me?? Idek why?? Like it’s definitely not dead dove whatsoever yk, but the way you write this subtle nuanced “something’s-wrong” feel… The way you wrote it? I can’t explain? But I’m not sleeping well if I ever read it again?

f. GAH THE WAY YOU TALK ABOUT ALF/MAR/THOMAS I FEEL LIKE A SOLDIER ABOUT TO GO TO THE TRENCHES I FEEL THIRTY YEARS OLDER I FEEL LIKE IM FIGHTING FOR MY LIFE??? BECAUSE YOU DO SUCH GOOD CHARACTERIZATION OF THEIR DYNAMICS BUT THERES THIS UNDERLYING IMMORTAL SADNESS TO EVERYTHING ABOUT THEM BECAUSE LIKE. THE BASIS TRUTH OF DC IS THAT MARTHA AND THOMAS DIE. It’s so ingrained into canon that they are the DEFINITION of doomed by the narrative- and not just Martha and Thomas as characters, but the Alf/Mar/Thomas relationship as well!! SND YOU MAKW ME ABSOLUTELY FALL IN LOVE WITH THEM?? HOW DARE YOU?? Why would you do this to us? Why must you write such good character dynamics?

g. Speaking of characterization, let’s talk about your characterization of Jason Todd. Let’s talk about the absolutely SCRUMPTIOUS way you write him. Because like there is no babygirlification in sight, but there isn’t any of that misogynistic Jason Todd homicidal meathead stuff either- you’ve somehow written him better then half the dc writers out there. Like I FEEL like I’m reading about Jason Todd himself in what I consider to be his purest form (like Under the Red Hood). You don’t push off his grief and trauma, you don’t misinterpret his feelings and emotions, you don’t make excuses for his mistakes and actions, you instead embrace the barebones of his character in its entirety in this??? Breathtaking way??? Like I don’t wake up and go “GAh” when I dream about this, I instead silently levitate from my bed like I’m ascending to the next plane of existence.

h. NGGFFFHHGHHKDHX the way you wrote Clark in “eye in the sky” HELLO MA’AM WHAT WAS THAT WHO GAVE YOU THE RIGHT-

Because it’s a Injustice AU right! You know what’s happening! You know that it’s so bad, that there is no longer Clark but Kal, that the regime is horrible, and that’s how you start us off, with the glimpses into the inner workings of the Regime and you know it’s just as bad as ever and you think you know what to expect- and then you meet Clark Kent. GAH. GaH. AUTHOR. WHY WIULD YOU DO THAT? IT HURTS!! It hurts to have Duke walk in and see Clark Kent, see him with his plaid shirts and glasses and you are completely taken by surprise because you were expecting Kal! What’s Clark doing here!! He’s supposed to be dead!! And then it hits you how GENIUS it is to write it like that (after you stop crying from pure shock. I’m a bit of a crybaby). Like AUTHOR YOU HORRIBLY BEAUTIFUL WRITER YOU. YOU KNEW EXACTLY WHAT YOU WERE DOING.

I. And what’s worse- how it must be for BRUCE!!!! GAH! GAHHHH! WHAT DO I EVEN SAY TO THIS? The psychological torment, the emotional damage, the potentials for angst, I’m actually getting all breathy just thinking about oml I start rolling around my bed like a crazed burrito and if anyone saw me they’d probably think I was possessed and/or having seizures. Im realizing maybe this got a bit too long.

I have to do this in increments otherwise I kinda just look crazy… 🌚 I’m just a girl 🎀 (I’m so sorry)

Moral of the story is once again I love your works and you are a good writer 💁‍♀️💐

Oh my goodness, thank you so so much for this lovely ask!!

d. thank you, I love that tag. and it’s accurate for the fic — that’s just Bruce’s way of getting settled!

e. I feel that! It was a dark fic for sure. I’ve been writing too much dark Clark recently, I need to change that.

f. their relationship makes me feel genuinely ill sometimes, not because they’re bad but because of the weight of the future hanging over them. I want to write another fic for them in my room full of coral verse for sure.

g. thank you so much! He’s a hard character to write sometimes but I try to avoid pushing him too far to any extreme. He’s complicated even if it might not seem like it!

h. thank you for mentioning this! It was definitely a deliberate choice to have Duke meet Clark and not Kal. The casual menace of it was just too attractive to me.

i. yeah, Bruce is really going through it in that fic. You know when you’re going through something rough and you just shut down as much as you can? That’s how I view him in this.

Thank you so much again!! This was the best thing to wake up to.

[nephilimbrute]

with side order coming up i decided to make a recap(???) of my side order au. apologies if some of it isn't clear / doesn't make sense

it starts with the retirement of off the hook after octo expansion, roughly 2 years after splat2. (note that the chaos vs. order splatfest likely didn't happen, splat3 happens in some other way idk.) this part is a little janky but there's this "commander" (not related to tartar in any way) that decides to take over inkopolis via power and mind control. out of spite and as a first step they decided to go ahead and literally Kill pearl, who later died in marina's arms. after that marina wasn't able to do anything for the remainder of the day but hold pearl's body, and as the sun came up the next day only then did she decide to bury pearl just outside the pygmy mansion

her grief still persists, marina tried her best to keep the death of pearl a secret, during interviews she just says "oh she's been off the grid lately" or "visiting family", and when going out she'd try to make it quick to avoid being spotted by fans and it would only be for running errands. marina's grief (unfortunately) keeps her alive, she takes care of herself since its what pearl would've wanted. frequently she hallucinates pearl being there, and she's developed a fear for being around others, as well as gaslighting herself into thinking pearl is still alive, just away. she spends all of her time staying in the pygmy mansion. she waits and lingers, doing this routine over and over again for ~100 years, and eventually inkopolis itself crumbles to dust and is left barren

those 100 years pass and it's marina's time to shine!..kind of...the only feasible option for her was to brainwash everybody into a state of being "calm", making them into mindless walking zombies. despite everything she still felt guilt for what happened to pearl. inkopolis turns into a bleached dystopia, corals grow due to the neglect of it being cleaned, it becomes completely quiet and only marina is left with her thoughts

by the time the side order DLC takes place, she ""accidentally"" frees agent 8 from their "hypnosis". agent 8 suffers a splitting headache as soon as they're released and completely loses the ability to speak, their memory getting worse by each passing second. often times they get a sort of "déjà vu" or "flashbacks" of when pearl and marina were happier. marina still loves them dearly but she's afraid of hurting them, so she distances herself away from them, but 8 keeps on trying to reach her. in the DLC, marina acts like a final boss to the story, and when going against her she doesn't try to stop 8 from defeating her or attack back but instead she accepts it

extra stuff; the brain coral is used to control the minds of the inkfish, the other bleached corals represent neglect. the whole theme of side order is focusing on one's mental state and watching it deteriorate(?), memory loss (and similarly to octo expansion, 8 trying to get their memories back). marina sometimes wakes up with scratches or bruises (to which she denies), and she becomes somewhat dependent on agent 8

[chaoticm0therfvcker]

Beach Day (ElderLily modern au)

Elder Faerie and White Lily are on their first date since they tied the knot and got married to each other, and it’s your classic day at the beach! Sadly, Elder Faerie isn’t as excited for this as he’s acting, for he has a secret he’s kind of ashamed of

Tags: transmasc elder faerie, body dysmorphia, elder faerie has top surgery scars, a shitload of fluff and cuteness

“I can’t wait to show you the beach! It’s so beautiful.” White Lily excitedly told Elder Faerie.

As a kid, Coconut Beach was one of her favorite places to visit, next to Dragon Hill. It was this beautiful beach, with the softest sand, the clearest water, the cleanest coast, and so, so many different sea shells and little fish, and even some bits of coral from a coral reef near the coastline. That beach, as well as the national park, sparked her love for travel, and as soon as she was old enough to be on her own, she traveled the world, discovering new cultures and figuring out who she truly was.

It’s how she met Elder Faerie, it’s how she fell into that coma, it’s how she discovered all the fear and grief and darkness that plagued the world and sparked yet another passion, one for peace and love and justice and prosperity. But above all else, it’s how she realized just how precious her friends and her lover truly are, and how despite her now fragile form, she must care for them in any and every way possible. Crazy how the butterfly effect works, huh?

That beach changed her life, and now, that beach was going to be hers and Elder Faeries first date since they married and moved in together.

“And I can’t wait to see it, my love.” Elder Faerie replied, glancing at his wife and smiling softly.

Admittedly, Elder Faerie was happy to be going to this beach. He had seen just how happy Lily was to be taking him to this place, and the way her eyes lit up while describing this place to him, and after seeing all the horrible things she had been through recently, he knew he had to do whatever possible in order to preserve that innocent joy. Even if that meant facing a fear that had been looming over his head for years now.

See, Elder Faerie is a transgender Man. He was born a girl, with his cutesie innocence and his love for both cute girl stuff like fashion and makeup along with boyish stuff like video games and fantasy weapons. However, when he hit puberty, he realized something was off about his identity, about the way his soul felt broken when he developed curves and breasts, and his suspicions were confirmed when he discovered the gender spectrum in health class; he realized that he was in fact, a man. Sure, he still liked the classic “girly stuff” like cute dresses and his long, luxurious hair that reached down to his waist, but didn’t mean that he was truly a man.

He was a man stuck in a girls body, and now with a new body build and a bunch of crazy hormones, he was aware of how trapped he was, and he hated it.

Of course, White Lily knew all of this, and it almost made her love him even more. The way he braved such a difficult time, how he discovered such an amazing thing about himself, and how he was willing to share such a personal detail with her made her heart flutter with admiration and love.

However, because of his gender identity, Elder Faerie had gotten top surgery when he was in his early twenties, and while White Lily was fully aware of this too, she had never seen the scars left behind by his procedure.

Despite how wonderful he felt no longer having breasts, he hated those damned scars. It felt like some sort of burden, a dark secret that was harder to own up to than even realizing that he was trans. It made him feel incomplete, disgusting, fake. He had tried overcoming his fear by coming up with some stupid scar story like trying to dry a kitchen knife off with his shirt, but nothing realistic enough came to mind.

He wanted so desperately to believe that White Lily would accept him no matter what kind of scars were on his body, but nothing could calm his fear.

“…sunscreen, umbrella, drinks…” White Lily was mumbling to herself. She then turned to Elder Faerie, who had a wide-eyed blank expression on his face as he tightly clutched the steering wheel. “Are you okay, honey?”

Elder Faerie snapped out of his daze and glanced at White Lily with a confused expression on his face. “Huh? Oh, of course, I’m just thinking of all the wonderful things that might be at this magical beach you love so much. I packed my bathing suit, right?”

“You’re wearing it, silly. Don’t you remember putting on your swim trunks before we left?” White Lily giggled, “Are you… sure you’re okay?”

“I’m fine.” Elder Faerie reassured her, “just tired I guess.”

Just then, they pulled into the beach’s parking lot, and after finding a place to park, they got out and unloaded their stuff. Walking onto the soft sand on the beach, the couple found a spot, laid out their towel, and got to enjoying the beach. They shared snacks and drinks, made cute little sandcastles, and talked about life together.

Then, White Lily wanted to get in the water.

“I’m going to get changed into my bathing suit,” she said, pointing her thumb at the nearby bathroom, “why don’t you take your shirt off so we can go swimming? The water is really nice.”

Elder Faerie nodded. “Go ahead, I’ll be here waiting for you.”

Once she had walked off, Elder Faerie sat down on the towel and wrapped his arms around his knees, burying his head in the space between his knees and his chest. He just felt so… ashamed. He was ashamed of his body, of the scars on his chest, of his fear, of his cowardice, hell, he was ashamed of his shame! Most of all, he was ashamed of his lack of trust in his own wife. He knew White Lily loved him for who he was, and that she would be perfectly fine with the remnants of his top surgery. However, something deep within him was withholding his ability to show her the truth. Would she really be fine with it? Even if she was, how would she react to the way he kept this from her. There were just too many variables to trust that it would go well.

“Fae…?”

Elder Faerie’s head shot up at the sound at his nickname, and he saw White Lily standing before him, looking concerned. “Fae, what’s wrong? You’ve seemed off all day.”

“I’m okay, I promise.” Elder Faerie replied, shaking his head.

“Honey…” White Lily sat in front of Elder Faerie, “I can tell that something’s wrong. I know you want to support me and share my passions and stuff, but I don’t want you do feel like I forced you to come here.”

“No, it’s not that, I wanted to come here! I just-“ his breath hitched, and he could feel the sting of tears in the corners of his eyes, “I just-”

Before he could say anything more, White Lily leaned forward and pulled him into a hug, squeezing him tightly and nuzzling her nose into the crook of his neck. “It’s okay, Fae. You don’t have to worry about anything, i promise. I won’t force you to tell me what’s wrong, but I can’t help you if you don’t communicate with me. Just tell me what you need from me and I’ll do whatever I can to make you feel better.”

Though hesitant at first, Elder Faerie returned the hug, relaxing into White Lily’s grasp. “There’s… something that I need to show you.”

Elder Faerie stood up and slowly unbuttoned his shirt, shrugging it off of his shoulders. There was his bare chest, featuring his top surgery scars.

White Lily stood as well and gazed at the scars, gently reaching out and grazing them with her fingertips. “This is what you wanted to show me?”

“As you know before we met, I got top surgery.” Elder Faerie explained. “The doctors removed the breast tissue, and I didn’t have boobs anymore, and it felt amazing. But these scars, they made me feel ugly and unwanted. I know I could’ve easily trusted you to see them, but I couldn’t bring myself to show you.”

Once he had finished, White Lily immediately pulled him into a loving kiss. “You are not ugly, you are the most beautiful person in the universe, and you have been the most amazing boyfriend ever. Even before we confessed our love for each other, even when I was in that coma, you were the most incredible man that I could have ever encountered in my entire life, and a few scars aren’t going to change my view of you.”

“I’ve just felt so ashamed of them,” Elder Faerie admitted, “I was ashamed of my scars, and ashamed of my own inability to tell you. I mean, I’m supposed to be the brave one in this relationship! I’m supposed to support you, protect you, keep you safe and loved! And I’ve survived so much, and yet I’m afraid of showing you a few little scars.”

“It’s okay to be scared, my love.” Lily replied, “it’s okay to be vulnerable, and you don’t need to protect me. And how I see it, these scars tell a story. One of pain and fear and confusion and doubt, but also one of hope and love and triumph. They tell a story of a challenge you were able to overcome and the way it changed you for the better.”

Elder Faerie looked at his girlfriend lovingly, feeling himself start to tear up again. “I love you so much…”

“I love you more~” White Lily replied in a cheerful, sing-song tone of voice, “now c’mon, once you touch the water you’re going to love it.”

White Lily grabbed her lovers hand and started to pull him towards the water. Elder Faerie happily followed, quickening his pace so that he could walk next to her. Once they reached the water, White Lily dipped her toes in, Elder Faerie following suit. Then White Lily playfully kicked water at him.

“Hey!” Elder Faerie said through giggles. Putting his hands up defensively, he kicked water at White Lily as well, earning a giggle and a similar response from White Lily. Soon, the tension between them had melted away, and it was as if their sad yet intimate moment had never happened. The two were playing like kids, giggling and splashing each other, swimming out into the deeper parts of the water, and even exploring the nearby coral reef, White Lily of course having to wave hello to all the cute little fish that swam past them.

Soon, hours had passed by, and by the time they had dried themselves off and loaded their stuff back into the car, the sun was setting behind them.

“Today was amazing,” Elder Faerie gushed, “you were right, that beach is amazing.”

“I told you, that beach changed my life,” White Lily agreed, “I know it’s just sand and water, but that beach is the reason I decided to explore the world, and we both know what would’ve happened if I had never traveled.”

Elder Faerie chuckled lightly. “Well, you did travel, and we met, and we fell in love, and now we’re married, so it doesn’t matter.” He hesitated for a moment, then added “Maybe we should go there more often. Maybe even invite my little brother and his son when they visit.”

White Lily smiled softly and rested her head on her husband’s shoulder.

“That would be amazing…”

Taglist: @janayuga @katsunemillennium @trustymikh @c00kietin @tartelongan @cedric-my-beloved

[steddieunderdogfics]

For Challenge Monday-Colors in the Title, I have these in my bookmarks so I thought I'd share:

Rainbow in the Dark by etlagiapet:

https://archiveofourown.org/works/40619730

my heart's been borrowed and yours has been blue [Series] by LexiRoseWrites

https://archiveofourown.org/series/3460981

Red Touches Black - Daemon AU [Series] by Sparkle_Fiend

https://archiveofourown.org/series/3226062

harlow gold by

MacksDramaticShenanigans

https://archiveofourown.org/works/40451553

Rainbow In The Dark by etlagiapet

@etlagiapet

Rating: Mature

23,388 words, 5/5 chapters

Archive Warning: No Warnings

Tags: Post-Season/Series 04, POV Steve Harrington, Robin Buckley & Steve Harrington Are Best Friends, Platonic Soulmates Robin Buckley & Steve Harrington, Eddie Munson Lives, Post-Canon Fix-It, Bisexual Steve Harrington, Slow Burn, Eddie Munson Needs a Hug, Soft Steve Harrington, Eddie Munson's Vest, Gay Eddie Munson, mixtapes, Possibly Unrequited Love, Steve Harrington Makes Life Harder for Himself, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Mild Smut, Miscommunication, Requited Unrequited Love, No beta we die like Barb

Summary:

Steve doesn’t get a word in before there’s another splash. Robin squeals. He tears his gaze from the demobats, which dip and dodge around each other in a strangely graceful, hypnotizing dance, and looks at the water again because how the fuck many are there? He was sure they’d all been killed. He didn’t think there were any left. This was supposed to be over. But it’s not another demobat. It’s not a demogorgon, or Vecna, or any of the other insane shit they’ve seen over the last few years. It’s not even a fish. It’s a person breaking the surface of the water, sputtering and gasping with dark hair plastered over pale skin, and when they reach up to clear their vision, silver rings glint in the waning sunlight. Or: Against all odds, Eddie is alive, complete with two new demobat pals. Which means Steve is forced to face some feelings he threw onto a mixtape and then ignored because those feelings were wrapped up in too much grief and it was easier to just erase Eddie Munson from the equation of Steve Harrington’s Big Bisexual Crisis.

Red Touches Black by Sparkle_Fiend

@sparkle-fiend

Rating: Mature

39,324 words, 6/6 chapters

Archive Warning: Graphic Depictions Of Violence

Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Everybody Lives, Alternate Universe - Daemons, Getting Together, Friends to Lovers, POV Eddie Munson, Post-Season/Series 04, Hurt/Comfort, Protective Steve Harrington, Angst with a Happy Ending, Jason Carver Being an Asshole

Summary:

"Red touches black, poison lack. Red touches yellow, kill a fellow." A silly rhyme, to help remember the difference between a harmless kingsnake and a deadly coral snake. Wayne taught it to him when he was fourteen, and Calpurnia settled in the form of a scarlet kingsnake. Given the way people recoil when they see his daemon, he's pretty sure no one else in Hawkins has ever heard it before. Or maybe it doesn't matter - maybe Eddie is the one they think is toxic. **** Vecna is defeated, Max is saved, and Eddie's name has been cleared. All should be right in the world of Hawkins, and Eddie's only concern should be his inconvenient crush on Steve Harrington. But there are people who still think Eddie is guilty of murder, and they're not willing to let it go.

Thanks for the recs!

Know a fic that deserves extra love? Submit through our asks!

[prahacat]

The Drowning - an Obi-Wan-centric merpeople au about grief, family, deep-sea horrors and environmentalism

star wars prequels & the clone wars | gen | 60k, complete

characters: Obi-Wan, Dooku, Ahsoka

Summary: They have always lived in the reef, hidden in the sea, safe from the unsuspecting land-dwellers. This was their home. But the world is changing. The sharks disappear, the corals lose their colors, and one day, a ship comes to the reef. Obi-Wan would do anything to protect those he calls family. But where do you turn when the world is closing in around you left and right?

Read the complete fic on AO3!

[losingmymindrn]

As a fellow coral lover I would like to request coral relationship head cannons with a gender neutral reader (if you write this kind type of stuff sorry if you don’t) specifically before the hunger games and during. Coral relationship head cannons in general lol (like I. Said before could it be gender neutral reader) i don’t request stuff a lot so sorry if this is all over the place

Hello fellow Coral lover😌 ask and you shall receive (tw: mentions of suicide in the last few)

Coral is the biggest lover. She's completely attached to you, and would be destroyed if something happened to you, even if she does show it

Coral will bring you everything she finds pretty, like a sand dollar or an unbroken shell she found on the beach. In the first few months of dating, your shelves are filled with trinkets from the sea

Coral will spend lots of money on you. You want something from the market? It's yours. You can't find any clothes you like? She's having it tailored for you

Coral thinks about you day and night, and especially when she's out sea and has no way to reach you. She loves coming home to see you by the docks. She has no shame in hugging you in front of her crew

Coral will walk to your house in the pouring rain just to see you, and you'll always chastise her for being so reckless

She will beg you to go to those stupid parties other wealthy familes have, because she does not want to go alone and suffer by herself (My au)

If you are a crafty person, she likes it when you come to her house and make whatever. She says it's stupid and worthless but it's all joking, because on the inside, she's melting at how adorable you are when focus

If you read, Coral will let you into her office while she does her family's business. She does say just how distracted she is when you come, because she thinks it'll make you insist on not coming (my au)

Accidently, you might catch Coral drinking or smoking. Coral claims it's to calm herself and relax, but you know it's horrible for her. You always beg her to stop, and she does but it's hard for her (my au)

She takes you on long walks on the beach when it's raining. Well, more like you find her walking in front of your house and join in her stormy night walks

Coral loves going swimming with you. She'll be up at 2am so that you two can go swimming without anyone there

She kisses you like there's no tomorrow. She's scared every time you two kiss, she'll lose you

on the train ride to the games, she is already making the toughest choice of her life. Save mizzen, or save herself and go back to you

The first night in the zoo was the first time she had cried in a while. She missed you so much it was painful for her

Each tribute she killed ment she was closer to you, but closer to having to kill Mizzen

On her breaks, she would think of you. She would think of your lips and how warm you were. Each time she would repeat in her mind what she would say when she got home to you

As she died, her favorite memories played through her mind. You, her mama, her best friend. She wished she fought harder, ran faster. She would've been able to kill Lucy Gray if she did. But she didn't, and that cost her her life.

When not either of district Four's tributes came back, you and Mags, Coral's best friend, screamed and cried until you could both fill your own ocean

You couldn't get up after that when you came home. You were stuck to your bed and refusing to eat. Mags came by to lay with you. She had been taking care of Coral's family while dealing with overwhelming grief as well. You appreciated it, but you just wanted Coral

When you could get up, you went to Coral's house and rushed to her room, covering yourself with her pillows and burying your face in her pillows, sobbing your eyes out while Coral's scent still lingered on it

Sometimes you'd stay with Coral's mother, but you where mainly in Coral's room. Everything that was hers was the only thing that kept you together while tearing you apart

You don't live long after this. With the consent starving and fact that Coral couldn't and would never be back to love you, made a suicide welcome in your mind

You take your life by the sea, in the same spot you and Coral would watch the waves. Maybe it was too much, you were still young and could find other lovers, but it had been two years by now, amd you weren't any better

You held the ring she bought for you in your hands, slipping it on as you drank the poison you bought from the black market, your last thought of Coral's lips on yours

[caffernnn]

Free! Anniversary Fic Recs 🦋🐋🐬🦈🐧 Can you share your fav fics from each year (2013-2023) Free! has been around?

This is a very fun ask!! Lemme root through my bookmarks and see what I can find 😅

2013 - A lot of the stories I have saved from this time are shorter lil one-shots like “Never Leave” by Shimegami (classic mh hug-it-out interlude fic) and “The Sound of Settling” by teke (feelings realization stuff), but one other one I liked was “The Ocean You Gave My Heart” by miaoujones. Smut warning for that one (if that’s not your thing), but something about desert-bound Makoto learning to swim and indulge in water with Haru, thinking upon meeting him that he’s a wonder whether he’s really a mermaid or not, that’s neat!!

2014 - starting to realize the ones I kept any note of from the early years are some of the popular mh fics probably already recommended 10 times over, but there’s a reason why people sing their praises. If you haven’t checked out fics from tide tothemoon like 2/13189000 (mhtokyo my beloved), their writing is *chef’s kiss* delightful. Another AU I haven’t been able to bring myself to revisit was orihime’s reincarnation stories from “I cannot be without you, matter of fact.” There are two different stories, one where Makoto remembers their past lives and a follow up where Haru remembers, and oh that made me ache dude.

2015 - Speaking of suffering, have y’all checked out Heart’s Departure yet? I think we’ve referenced and talked about that story enough for it to speak for itself 🥴 heartbreaking circumstances but still cosmic and so so beautiful. Then, once you’re done crying about that story, hop over to “Shake the Heavens” by Ad_Astra to break down over (what I described in my ao3 bookmark) Makoto and Haru’s “inherently cataclysmic devotion.” I guess 2015 was the year of shoving the boys into tragic AUs and seeing how much they were willing to give up to get back to each other. A whole vibe

2016 - let’s goooo gamers, more AUs!! “I’d Create Oceans For You” by trashness is a fun fantasy adventure that has both tender moments and interesting action (and some banger art from donguris omggg). If you want something more future-fish-flavored that shows that happily-ever-after doesn’t save you from your grief, “Sublimation” by RedScribbler was great. You can find more of my thoughts on that one if you scroll back a bit in my “fic recs” tag — one of y’all sent it in and yeeees it was so up my alley!

2017 - Alright fellas, there are so many to choose from, because now we’re getting into the macbetha years! Who would I be if I didn’t mention “Eyes Wide Open All The Time” tbh?? It’s a long one with its own hard-hitting involved lore and world-building, but Beth builds this unique story in a way that pulls from the characters we know and love so effectively. I’ve sung the praises for this story multiple times (and could so do it again bro don’t tempt me) but I’ll end off with saying that if you’re fascinated in watching deeply-wounded people who’ve been put through hell learn how to make a life in the aftermath, there’s something special for you here. Aaaand, if you want something about 1/10 the length and not as heavy, “159 (Architect/Interior Designer AU)” by intoxicatedcinnamon has some fun moments 😌 that’s another one where you can find more of my thoughts somewhere in the fic recs tag (love when y’all send me stories 💚💙)

2018 - “Coral and Bone” by Macbetha my beloved!!!! Wanna play mermaids and fight the gods? Maybe try to find that summer magic that makes you want to keep going and accidentally fall in love on the way? I am puuushing you toward this story bestie. Everyone’s here and everyone’s having fun! OH ALSO I’m throwing in “Night Changes” by SEMellark because I love stories where Makoto and Haru actually figure out how to talk to each other. (Side note — a lot of these are probably gonna be things I’ve rec’d in the past, so feel free to scroll my tag for more details and consider this list an extra endorsement 😅)

2019 - (drops basket full of love for mutuals) OOPS OOPS OOPS!!! Don’t mind me, just popping in with some “Let’s Get Married” by sagesprouts and “Anthropocene” by testosterogna, nothing to see here but some classic natsunao shenanigans and one of the sickest elemental bender AUs out there 😌✨ I also have some fics from Svana saved from this year, but I’ll be mentioning her again later so hold on okay!!

2020 - alright, now the list is getting longer with everyone jumping back in during the early pandemic days 🏃🏻‍♀️SO FIRST OFF “green eyes, you’re the one I wanted to find” by infinite_always is an absolute FLUFF FEST of a soulmate AU! Unbearably tender moments but who doesn’t love that every so often? OH AND we have another one of my all-time ultimate fic recs here!! “Reaching” by CupNoodles55 has shaped and reshaped how I look back at Eternal Summer in the way I’d want any great canon-compliant fic to. Big love for interlude scenes and extra bits that help recontextualize or deepen what a moment could’ve meant in the show. Gonna end off 2020 with “The Sea Aflame” by Dizzydodo because even though this urban fantasy story is unfinished, I was super drawn in by the prospects of dragon!Makoto and whatever god stuff was going on with Sousuke. An interesting universe I love thinking about again from time to time.

2021 - Starting off strong with “love on the water, love underwater (and so on)” by rudimentaryflair because we love introspection here!!! Lovely writing style with lines that make me want to scale the walls. This take on Makoto is so so special. Also gonna rec “To Clear Away Today” by suhmayzooka (omg hiiii) if you want to be thrown into another hard-hitting intricate AU with loads of potential. Love exploring what we’ve got to see of the world so far 💞 and OOOH IT’S TIME!! “Extraordinary” by Svana_Vrika is basically canon to me at this point. Svana has a lot of sweet shorter stories with Makoto and Haru (look here, look here), but this one is everythinggg my guy. Similar appeal to “Reaching” mentioned earlier: a story of interludes that bring the story we already know to life in a delightful new way. Required reading for mhtokyo fans forreal. ONE LAST ONE OKAY!! “Teacher” by VeloxVoid is a great future fic with teacher!Makoto and artist!Haru (and I’m not biased just bc it was a gift exchange for me with details fit to my specific tastes wdym🧍🏻). Domestic blisssss

2022 - Ooh we’ve almost caught up y’all ☺️ gonna start with “All This and Heaven Too” by SocksAreArgyle because sometimes the bestie crafts a smorgasbord of smut with a delicious throughline of character/relationship development baked in. If you want your choice of spicy makoharus or some character exploration, you’re SET with this one. Next is “I Let My Heart Go” by martincrieff because sometimes the bestie looks at poor pining Makoto and goes “you know what would be messed up?” AND I JUST !!! So full of love and now full of flower petals. Hanahaki!Makoto my dearest boy!! Aaaand ending off the year with some tender mh (to Ikuya’s detriment) in “The Night Train” by Lizzyboo. They’re so softtt with each other and UGH this story is so nice. Love watching people take the crumbs from FS/FS2 and make a meal 💜

2023 - The year is young! And old! So here’s some more, with who knows how many bangers yet to come 🎉 First going to throw in the Makoharu Week 2023 collection for your perusal because I saw some fantastic stories emerge from that event. If you have twitter, I’d recommend also seeing some of the threadfics posted over there from the event as well 💚💙 and I thiiink I’m gonna close off for now with “just like it was always meant to be” by tonfea because they’ve been putting out banger stories that deserve all the love. Haru introspection is one of those things that isn’t always done very well (which is especially hard to reckon with in older fics) but tonfea’s stories all have an intimate understanding about Haru’s mind and journey that just makes sense.

Alright hello we made it to the end!!! Might’ve thrown in more than expected but I hope makoharu enjoyers find something on this list that fits their fancy 🥲 (and if anyone wants to rec something or ramble about a story here that they loved I’m all ears)

[mamamittens]

And I Knew Your Name

@newscoozines

Here's my individual piece for the soulmate AU zine!

My AO3 version!

Gol D. Roger/Portgas D. Rouge

Soulmate AU: Enemy and Lover name on opposing wrists.

Word Count: 2,560

There was a thick black band on his wrist. Only one.

Usually, this was meant to signify loss. To cover up a fated name was to hide from fate itself in grief. That wasn’t quite Roger’s aim, though. If he wasn’t so worried that somehow that fucking name would appear somewhere less hidden he’d have cut off his own arm to be rid of it. It was an insult that they even darkened his skin with their dedicated letters.

He'd hide this until his dying breath if need be. Something Reyleigh would often roll his eyes at over Roger’s dramatics. But Roger was often called dramatic so that was hardly anything new. He was a self-proclaimed ‘simple man’. With few, albeit passionate, interests.

Adventure.

The sea.

His crew.

A good fight that set his blood alight and made his bones ache from the force—as rare as such a thing was these days. It made him nostalgic for his early days at sea where a true challenge was around every corner. He wouldn’t trade away any of it though. His only true heading that distant point on the horizon. The One Piece.

His name would be legend. Echoing well into a new age and if he was a very lucky man, into the ears of…

He rubbed his thumb over the delicate scrawl across his right wrist. The one not covered with a band. Hidden for a slightly different reason behind long sleeves.

If word got out who’s name was on his wrist, the Marines would hunt them down mercilessly. Though he knew in his heart that anyone who he’d have the honor of bearing their name could very well take care of themselves, he was a romantic at heart.

He wanted to see them in person first. Happen across their path.

The Voice of the Sea laughing as he felt his pulse race under his thumb.

Soon~

Gol D. Roger grinned.

He could feel it in his blood.

Although… given how vague the Sea could be, he didn’t expect soon to be so… well, soon.

Scarcely a week later, in fact. In a dingy bar on a tiny, terrorized island.

His crew was boisterous as always while the staff scrambled to accommodate them. He’d leave a good tip and spare himself the lashing Reyleigh would give him otherwise. They were hardly hurting for money and the people here could use it.

A bottle fell, shattering as Roger winced under the withering glare of his best friend and first mate. Quickly leaning down to scoop up the glass before the barmaid cut her shoes on it or tripped. He’d never hear the end of it then.

Roger sensed more than felt the edge of a blade touch the crown of his head, trimming a few hairs from the barest brush.

Reyleigh levelled his gun as Roger grinned.

“Oh? And to whom do I owe the pleasure~?” Roger nearly purred in amusement, impressed despite himself. His eyes flickering up to leather boots too small for a man.

Interest piqued, Roger followed the line polished leather over toned calves to just shy of practical shorts with many pockets. A flash of pale thighs visible from his vantage point. Puffy white shirt that bared slender arms with a generous bust. The woman kept her bladed staff level at his head, but his mind was far away from the possible danger his hair was in.

Pink. Her hair was the first, pale blush of dawn at sea with eyes the color of deep red coral. Expression deeply unamused and more than a little annoyed. Freckles splashed across her cheeks in a way that begged for his hands to see if they were flecks of sunlight to be brushed away. She looked like she knew exactly who he was and didn’t give a shit.

The world sang a note of sweet triumph and he knew her name like he knew the call of the Sea.

Deeper than the waves and beyond the cut of the horizon. Deceptively delicate in a way that invited him to touch while challenging him on the right to try.

He waited, breathless like the sea before a hurricane. Already forgetting the question while knowing the answer. But he wanted to hear it.

Needed to hear it.

To bear witness to the moment her voice carried in this dank little bar in the middle of nowhere like a revolution.

“Portgas D. Rouge. Bounty Hunter.” Her voice did indeed carry. Firm like adam wood and carving a space in his soul to last forever.

Roger nearly swooned, his knee touching the ground in reflex as he feverishly wondered if begging would earn him more words or just a look of disgust.

He was willing to risk it for a chance.

“You can take me anytime.” Roger breathed, the moment broken by Reyleigh groaning in disgust. A firm boot kicking his back jerking a grunt from him. “Anywhere.”

Another, much more pointed kick he ignored. He meant what he said.

Rouge—oh, what better name than the color in his veins? Racing in with every beat of his heart?—seemed equally disgusted with him. But her eyes were on him and him alone, so Roger counted that as a success.

He stood suddenly, power he didn’t realize he could still call his own helping him rise to his feet. Blade cautiously moving out of the way as Rouge eyed him with suspicion.

“What game are you playing, pirate?” She sneered, her lovely features twisting and pulling him closer. Taunting him to touch, or if he dared, taste. That would likely end with a blade in his gut but for even a heartbeat of time the price seemed fitting.

He travelled the Blues and saw so much beauty. It was only fair that he paid extra to hold it in his hands.

Roger rotated his wrist, sleeve pulling back as he bared her mark with a proud smile.

“Whatever game leads me to you, love.” Roger sighed, watching as she glanced at his wrist in confusion. Her eyes widened and for a moment she seemed to recognize her own handwriting.

But then she snorted, setting aside her weapon to flash bare wrists—both of them—at him.

“You’re full of shit!”

Disappointed, Roger pouted. He’d been hoping to one day see his name across a wrist he wouldn’t shatter in fury. But he supposed it was only fitting.

Like the Sea, Roger had no claim to Rouge herself. But she’d always have a claim to him. He’s always loved things he couldn’t keep.

Roger reflexively reached out to grasp her hands and she pulled back with a snarl. His lips quirked as he sighed, reminded of the sharp snap of waves on the hull of Oro Jackson. Deadly and filled with promise if he stepped foolishly.

But he was doomed to be a fool his whole life, so he found the steps familiar and with no shame.

He pulled back his hand and looked Rouge in the eyes.

“This is already more than I could ever ask for.” Roger reassured her, lifting up his wrist to brush his lips over the curve of her name.

Rouge flushed as though she could feel it and it took everything inside him to not surge forward and embrace her. To show her for just a moment in time how humbled he was to bear her name.

It didn’t matter that her wrists were bare. He’d been marked as hers from birth and that was a greater blessing than he could have ever wished for.

“Ewwww!”

“Gross!” His youngest boys hissed from well within the protective circle of his crew. Roger chuckled, glancing back at them with a wink.

They were still so young… they’d understand one day.

“Get a room, captain!” Reyleigh complained, nursing a beer.

Roger huffed at that one.

“Oh, she’d never let me!” Roger mourned. “I’m blessed to yearn from afar like the mountains calling to the depths of the sea. Maybe if I’m lucky she’ll deign to drown me.”

Several of his crew members screwed up their faces in disgust.

“Look at what you’ve done! You’ve mortified the poor girl and all she wanted to do was turn you in for money!” Crocus laughed, Roger’s head whipping around to find only the flash of Rouge’s silhouette as she left the door. His heart fell as tears pricked his eyes.

Still, he didn’t despair long. Couldn’t even if his crew wasn’t teasing him mercilessly.

Soon! Again~! Again~! The winds laughed from the crack under the door.

--*--

Rouge huffed, pulling her jacket in close as a cold breeze whipped across the cliffs. She’d been in the business since she was a young girl surrounded by pirates so stupid they’d drown in a puddle. They were a plague just about everywhere they went and she felt a curl of satisfaction in her heart every time she dragged more in. Even if they were barely worth the cost of rope to tie them up with.

She’d always been that way. Stubborn and burning. Her home island always tutting about her lack of order and propriety. When she was a kid, the others would tease her about her temper. About her pink hair too soft for someone with such a rough mouth. Taunt her with assurances that her wrists were blank because she’d always make enemies but never anyone of note.

Her ma said it’s because even the Sea knows when it’s beat—realizing before she even drew breath that deciding who her little rose bud loved and hated was futile.

And judging by the shit show in the bar only a month prior, Rouge decided that it was a good call to leave her skin blank.

If there was anything she was certain of, it’s that the scruffy pirate fool was closer to her mortal enemy than any lover she’d ever claim.

“If I’d known I’d be blessed in such a way, I would have brought an offering for the Sea.” A soft, husky voice reverently spoke. Rouge jolted, looking behind her to find it was that damn pirate again. His eyes just as wide as the last time she saw him, face open like she was the first sunrise he’d ever seen.

Her glare did nothing but delight him and Rouge tried not to think about how striking he looked in the golden light. The sun and sea had been remarkably kind to him, as had a life of piracy. Broad and strong with tan skin, he looked like he was ready to weather any storm. But his eyes looked like he was ready to fall to his knees at her word.

It was irritating and weak… but Rouge couldn’t help but think it strange.

She’d been stared at before. Leered upon like she was a delicate flower inviting their touch.

But she’d never been looked at with such open admiration. Like she was a storm breaking across the horizon with the fury of a hurricane and he had no desire to find safe harbor.

Gol D. Roger looked like he would die happy crushed under the waves and lost forever.

Still, he was irritating.

“Do you need something?” Rouge hissed, dismissing her train of thought swiftly before he noticed and was suddenly encouraged to continue his bullshit.

“Always. But I’d be a foolish man to not relish the chance to beg—if you’d have me.” Roger walked closer slowly, coming to a stop by her side, his eyes reluctant to leave her.

“Have you no pride? I thought that was something you pirates killed for.” Rouge huffed, rolling her eyes. Was she supposed to be impressed as how quickly he intended to fall at her feet?

“Arguably, I have too much pride. But there’s no shame in being man enough to know want.” He protested.

“You’re just saying that because of some ink. I bet you wouldn’t be saying any of that if your wrists were bare.” Rouge shivered a little as the cold wind swept by them, though the edge was less with Roger taking the brunt of it.

“If I didn’t have your name on my wrist, I would have fallen to my knees when you introduced yourself. I needed to prepare myself for when I finally heard you say it. I think I still might fall to my knees, actually. What other response could I have to such wonder?” Roger admitted candidly and Rouge wondered if the man was capable of feeling shame or this bizarre lustful worship of a women he’s barely spoken to.

“Do you really think I’m going to swoon when you talk like that?” Rouge asked despite herself.

“Of course not… I can dream of it though.”

“Dream smaller.”

He laughed, loudly and with his whole chest for a long moment. Finally, he calmed, wiping his face with a large grin under his black moustache.

“I’ve always been told I’m too ambitious for my own good!” Roger barked. “But I meant what I said. This is more than I could ever ask for. Every sailor get used to admiring the stars from a distance.” He said, looking at her with a fondness she couldn’t understand.

“What do the stars have to do with anything?” Rouge couldn’t help but ask, her gaze caught in his as the world fell quiet. Even that devilishly cold breeze falling still.

“The first thing you learn to use when sailing is the stars. You’ll never touch them. You won’t even see them all the time. But they’re always there and they burn.” Roger whispered fiercely, “If I thought there was a chance, I’d gladly burn at your hands. Your touch would scorch my bones until there was nothing left but dust. Carve out everything that’s yours and—if you deign to—throw the rest to the Sea. I could rest at the bottom in peace having known your embrace.”

Rouge, not for the first time, felt flushed at his words. So bold and shameless, she’d never guess he was a pirate menace if she didn’t already own his bounty poster.

“I-I still intend to turn you in for the money.” Rouge hissed, turning away sharply. Already aware it was too late to hide her fierce blush.

A rough, calloused hand grasped her own gently. Just enough to stop her, fingertips tracing over her delicate wrist as he pulled her back. She looked at him in shock and embarrassment. He lifted her knuckles to his lips and kissed them chastely.

“Or I could just buy you dinner?” Roger suggested, his breath curling over the back of her hand.

Her wrists were bare, not that some ink would tell her what to do.

He was a pirate and she, a bounty hunter.

But Roger… looked at her like she was beauty and death wrapped in one. Aware and covetous of her thorns. He was an idiot but strong. Passionate.

He may look at her like a man beholding a squall bearing down on his sails until they were shreds. But she was the one left breathless.

“That can be arranged.”

At her soft words, he lit up like the sun. Rouge had never been soft, but that was alright. Roger was soft enough for the both of them.

[cartoondrawer]

Paisley’s outfits for Coral Grief!

[qibilette]

Can we hear more about the royal Seawing couple and their Issues tm?? I’m new here but DAMG if that isn’t such an enticing hook already…

absolutely!!! and dw about being new, I havent really gone in-depth on my au yet so im glad to talk about it :] one bit of lore before I start: the war started in 4996. in 4999, an absolute massacre of a battle convinced gill to pull the seawings out of the war, and he moved the whole kingdom underwater. coral backed him on this. this event is also when gill got all torn up, he was captured by burn & scarlet and very nearly killed before he could escape! orca tried to kill coral a few months after all this happened.

soooo anyhow! the way I handle the queens in my au is like a series of parables about ruling a kingdom. gill and coral are monarchs who let their own beliefs & feelings get in the way of being proper rulers.

gill believes firmly in the prophecy and wants to one-up the other kingdoms, especially burn's allies. when the dragonets of destiny bumble into his kingdom, he sees them as leverage against the others, who need them to end the war. he's also controlling and wants everything to go his way. In other news, he has a loose alliance with blister- he's agreed to back her if she wins but refuses to give her access to his army. she believes she can draw him back into the war. their relationship is tense and strange. blister would kill him, actually, if he weren't the door to an incredibly powerful army that she's convinced she can get back on the battlefield.

meanwhile, coral has lost 6 eggs to the statue and is stricken with grief and paranoia over it. she's very wary of anyone involved with the hatchery. at first her and tsunami are very close, but various things - her many neglected sons, torturing a hatchery guard, etc - drive them apart. coral has complicated relationships with all of her children, actually, but especially with anemone, turtle, and tsunami. she eventually improves, but that doesn't come until later (if I were to rewrite arc 2 it'd be a big part of turtle's story).

final note: yes, gill is still alive in the lost heir! tsunami killed her brother prince seal in the arena instead.

thank you so much for asking! I have sooooo much stuff for this lmao, im very excited to share

[oliveeeia]

Ok here are some fanfics (from different fandoms) that I read and LOVED on Wattpad and AO3, and I wanted to share them.

Wings of Fire:

Wings of Fire as Humans - Jess <3 - Wattpad -> Mostly about the Jade Winglet, for WoF as Humans fans

Welcome to Pyrrhia High - loading... - Wattpad -> Another WoF as Humans fic :)

Fortune Favours Queen Glaciers Nephew - A Qinter Fanfic - TOLoquacious - Wattpad -> QINTER (as dragons)

La Qinter Inn - nauseabeforethegame - Wings of Fire - Tui T. Sutherland [Archive of Our Own] -> Another Qinter fanfic hehe

The Sisters Grimm:

(There's not as many good Sisters Grimm fanfics out there as I expected- so here's most of the ones I found)

The Sisters Grimm Truth or Dare: Puckabrina - *Shadow* - Wattpad --> It's not all Truth or Dare it's actually better than that

Coral Grief - Dee - Wattpad -> This one is super short but amazing

Let's Dance to Joy Division - Chapter 1 - elvenwizards - The Sisters Grimm - Michael Buckley [Archive of Our Own] -> Not finished but YES.

Homemade - delfinos - The Sisters Grimm - Michael Buckley [Archive of Our Own] -> Basically Puck and Daphne taking care of Sabrina when she's sick.

cut me to the quick; sew me up again - Curlscat - The Sisters Grimm - Michael Buckley [Archive of Our Own] -> Maybe for older eyes? Like if your skirmish abt blood…

Who we Grew to Be - Curlscat - The Sisters Grimm - Michael Buckley [Archive of Our Own] -> If you ship Daphne and Pinocchio this one's for you!

Owl House (Gustholomule) :

Hot Cocoa (Gustholomule Coffee Shop AU) - Chapter 1 - orphan_account - The Owl House (Cartoon) [Archive of Our Own] -> Coffee Shop AU

Mattholomule's Five Swords of Friendship - Chapter 1 - disco_girl - The Owl House (Cartoon) [Archive of Our Own] -> This one is 👌

Miraculous Ladybug:

To Felix and Beyond // Miraculous Ladybug - Lilly - Wattpad -> Felix and Adrian are twins and Marinette and Bridgette are cousins and aghorjjknkfnsiuew

Miraculous Adventure - a Miraculous Ladybug fanfic - Chimpukampu - Wattpad -> Basically Marinette and Adrian get lost together

at our wedding - okayanna - Miraculous Ladybug [Archive of Our Own] -> Chloe and Adrian as kids

A Ring for a Lady - Chapter 1 - Musica - Miraculous Ladybug [Archive of Our Own] -> Beautiful.

Keeper of the Lost Cities:

How It Should Have Been: Sokeefe AU - ❄️Summer❄️ - Wattpad

President of the Sophie Foster Fan Club - Grace - Wattpad

Ice Dancer - 𝓣𝓮𝓮 - Wattpad

I haven't read any of those three in so long, but they are really great.

That was a long posssst happy reading everyone!

[frownyalfred]

one of the things i love in the au is your use of "miserable omega" and how it started lifting with clark, and when bruce found jason it was gone.

reminds me of what we were robbed in canon and how canon bruce, deep down, probably wishes jason had stayed dead (dont hurt me im basing my read on what hes doing to jason)

Thank you! I LOVE talking about the "miserable omega" portion of a coral room because I think it kind of attempts to subvert the whole omega in heat smells good trope a little?

Bruce is out in public and people desire him but as soon as they scent him they are immediately turned off. He could be in heat and people would still hesitate, because he was mourning and smelled like grief. He lost a pup and even if he wanted to pretend it hadn't happened, his scent would always reveal it.

Clark saw past the miserable omega scent but also gave Bruce's grief a healthy amount of respect. And yes, then it began to lift! Just in time for Jason to come home and accuse Bruce of never mourning him at all. Alas.

[bohemian-nights]

Lady Danbury Chapter 4

Word Count: ~6,353

Rating: Mature

Pairing: Lord Ledger x Lady Danbury

Description: The new Lady Agatha Danbury was decidedly not happy. Neither was Lord Ledger. Perhaps they might find a bit of happiness in each other.

AN: This is a Lord Ledger x Lady Danbury AU fic. Some plot lines from Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story have been axed🪓

Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3,

Death is not always a great tragedy. Befalling on those not deserving to be taken away so soon. It is not always a burden. A misfortune to those closest to them. It is a fact of life as simple, as involuntary, as breathing. Depending on one’s definition it can be a release of said burden. Bringing about long-awaited freedom, but it is not quite the freedom one hopes for those left behind. Especially the freedom which is bestowed upon young widows.                           

Freedom is a most curious and strange thing. Agatha had learned that over the years. The definition of the word she had looked up many a time. Liberation from restraint or the power of another. That is the definition she liked best. The one she lacked.                      

She had felt as if she were a bird. Trapped in a pretty gilded cage made to do tricks, chirp out niceties, and sing songs for all those who visited her. For those who owned her. She had no recollection of life outside of that cage. Of sun on her, the wind fanning her with a gentle breeze. She had been put there before she had learned the world around her.  

That gate was now open. She could venture out any time she wished to. To come and go as she pleased or never step foot in it again. She was free. Freed from her capturer. Freed by death. In name she was free, but name is different than practice.

Death is simple. It is the easy part of it all, Agatha decided. Freedom is not. For it is living and living is never so simple. It was living that followed after it all, after being trapped in that cage for so long that she found the hardest.   

Coral found her wandering the halls alone in the wee hours of the morning after Lord Danbury's funeral. Drinking a glass of port. There was a whole case of it left without its owner. “His favorite,” Agatha told her. Not hers. Never hers.   

It had been a long day and an exceedingly tiresome fortnight. The doctors had come and gone the morning Lord Danbury was carted away for one final time at the Danbury residence. The hermit had come out of his shell. Arriving at first light, word had been sent to him by one of her late husband's men, from his country house where he spent his widowerhood in seclusion with a daughter off married, but she was no longer married. 

She had joined him in widowhood. Agatha supposed she gave her father a renewed purpose. He had presided over the whole business. The first order of which had been her womb. Ordering his doctors which he had brought with him to inspect her person. 

“One has to be sure of these things, Agatha. We must know.” They would not take her word for it. They had to be sure that she did not carry the Danbury heir inside her. The new Lord Danbury. The pronouncement was the same as all the times before. She was not with child. Her belly remained empty. 

With the last of the doctors dismissed, the funeral was the next line. To that, too her father took command of. Agatha had not left her bed for a week. She did not grieve for her husband’s passing.  She had not the grief for grieving. She honestly did not know what she felt then, but she did not wish to deal with it all. To fake her sadness which she did not have. 

She wished to run and never stop, but would not be allowed to be out and about, to go on, and she did not wish to deal with the army of those who wanted to pay their respects to her. So she feigned fatigue. Melancholy. Despondency. Whatever she could, she said. Whatever act she had to perform, she did. 

She burst into tears when Lady Kent and Lady Smythe-Smith had come up to visit and would not take no for an answer. When her sister-in-law had come down from Bath she had fainted at tea. Having to be carried back up to her room by a footman as Coral took to fanning her. “Give my lady some room to breathe.” 

Agatha had tried the same with her father when he had called her to Lord Danbury’s study on some opinion on the service, having set up camp there among her dead husband's things, but he saw through her act.  “My dear it is just us. There is no need for theatrics.”  He would not bother her as long as she kept appearances. “You will need to save it for his funeral.”

She did. Lord Danbury’s funeral was a procession.  It seemed a silly thing to dress up so fine for one in mourning.  Her act of pretend languishing around her room seemed more real than having her stays laced so tight that she could barely breathe. To be stuffed into an ostentatiously black embroidered gown like a bird for show. A lace veil fastened to her curls to hide her tears that would never come, but yet that is how one mourns. 

Lord Ledger was there.  His wife was nowhere in sight as he stood a lone figure draped in black like and unlike the others. A shock to her eyes for he was one of the few from the old Ton, along with Lady Allen who winked at her from where she stood with an ever-present ill-contained grin, who had come, well Agatha could not name why she had come other than to imagine herself in her place and Lord Allen in Lord Danbury’s. 

Agatha wished to speak to the lord. He was the only person among the parade of falsity she wished to speak to, but she was whisked away to greet and thank the murmurers who wanted to give their vain condolences. Apart from Lady Allen who had paid her respects with a kiss. Not so quietly imparting to her with glee that caused a stir from the other mourners, “Now the fun begins my dear.” 

Lord Ledger had disappeared when she gazed back at the spot where she saw him last when she had managed to pull her attention away from the jackals. Agatha half wondered if she dreamt his person for she found nowhere in sight once Lord Danbury had been lowered into the ground. She put the lord out of her mind for a time. Everything that morning had passed by in a blur.  

Soon enough she had found herself in the entryway of her home. Standing in the morning she thought was still night. Drinking a glass of port. Finally giving words to that feeling which she could not name. Emptiness. 

She felt empty. Lord Danbury took up so much space in their marriage that he left no room for her. Agatha was a foreign creature. She caught glimpses of her in her reflection some days, but Lady Agatha Danbury was his creation. She was molded for and now he was gone. 

Lady Agatha Danbury drank port because that is what he drank. She suffered through blood lettings, stale food, lecherous doctors, and foul tonics because she had to bear him a son. She wore gold far too often for her taste because that was his favorite color. She did not dance at parties, becoming a sentient who stood on the edge of the dance floor gazing on because he could not or would not do so. 

Lady Agatha Danbury wore gowns of black because her husband was dead. She wore a veil over her face because she must mourn a man who had taken away her girlhood. She had to cry, to faint, to languish around, or say her thanks to those who pitied her loss all to show her grief over his death. 

That girl who wished to drink what she may, wear shades of violet, and be twirled around the dance floor with laughter was stifled under Lady Danbury.  Agatha could not exist. Her existence was a thing that continued to be ignored. Lady Danbury may be free for she could no longer exist as she was, but Agatha was not.  

The funeral had not put an end to the mourning business nor had it given her the freedom and independence of a widow. Her freedom had in fact become a  complicated matter. Agatha was a widow, yes, but a childless widow. A young childless widow who had yet to reach the age of thirty.

“You are not me Agatha,” Her father warned her when he had called her to Lord Danbury's study that morning after.  A room that she wanted to lock up and never step foot in again, but it was slowly turning into her father’s place. Joseph Robinson had become a permanent fixture at the Danbury residence. “You are too young for widowhood. The Danbury line is lost to us, but our line must continue on.” His dark eyes had grown uncharacteristically soft, but his words told another story.  

There were girls, respectable girls from the best families in the country who had never married at her age. The Danbury’s, the Robinsons, and families of the like were the new blood of the Ton. They could not afford to make mistakes. They could not afford to do as the others did. Especially when so much of their futures remained uncertain. 

Agatha was not free. This widowhood was a temporary thing. A thing that would be remedied once her mourning period ended. She was young. Well bred. A pretty thing that men wished to gawk over. More than like fertile with a more virile match.

Agatha of course made her protests. Tried to argue. She had her duties. She was the queen's lady-in-waiting. She had married once. She had tried to give birth to her husband's big-headed babe. She had done that duty, perhaps in time she might find some worthy man to, but her father held firm. She could not stay a widow for there was one area in which she lacked. An area that prevented her freedom. Income.  

He treated her like a child because of it. Ordering her about. Keep watch over her. Telling the servants to keep an eye on her when she ventured from her room. It was fine when he had first come down, a relief in fact when he helped her with Lord Danbury’s funeral arrangements, but Mr. Joseph Robinson had begun to overstay his welcome at his daughter's home. 

Though he had not been entirely wrong about her predicament, he, much like Princess Augusta, would not help her solve her circumstances. Not when it benefited him to do nothing. 

The Dowager Countess Lady Agatha Danbury was not a wealthy woman. She had found that out when her husband’s solicitor had been called for. It was he, and a host of others who Agatha herself procured replaced the doctors who frequented the Danbury residence. 

Under normal circumstances, her late husband's title and estate would pass on to their eldest son, but they had no children let alone a son which to pass his earldom and all that was entailed upon him to. His title would die with him. His estate would wither.  A fact which caused the other lords and ladies, of the new ton, much distress 

“Lord Danbury was the first of us to pass on.” Lord Smthye-Smith had said when the lot of them came over requesting an audience with her. “What is to become of us?” 

That was their woe. Their titles and estates. What would become of them when they too followed Lord Danbury to the grave? What would become of their children? Their heirs. What would become of the next generation after them? 

Would their sons inherit what had become their birthright? Their titles, their land, and their place in society. Will their daughters be seen as the sweet genteel young ladies of good breeding they were? Would their children be seen as worthy matches for the sons and daughters of their fellow lords and ladies? Would they be accepted and seen as true equals in mind and title?  Or would this progress be gone in a generation? 

The crown was no help with providing no answers to these dire queries. “It is up to the king to decide whether or not this experiment will continue on past this generation.” ‘Twas Princess Augustas reply at the palace. The king, that is how she skirted around the issues. How she loved to remind Agatha that she was the king's mother, not the king himself. She did not have the authority to act. She, like the others, was but a humble servant. Serving at his majesty’s pleasure. 

“How is our queen?” Information. That was her price. Her face was marble as she sipped upon her infernal tea. Lord Butte sat a sour-faced statue at her side though he looked pleased with the Princess's steadfastness. The other lord’s in attendance were not worth noting. They simply did nothing. 

The representatives' crown and the government would never act to secure their interests. Princess Augusta would not advocate for them unless she saw some manner of gain or benefit in it for said crown. They would watch on and see how things played out as if they were an orchestra merely there for their entertainment. 

Mayhaps the king might have been more sympathetic to their needs and endeavored to resolve their precarious state, but the king was nowhere to be found. His queen was too busy worrying over her distant king on top of her carrying the next.  Agatha would not add to her stress nor would she be the case of. So they were set adrift.  Their circumstances were left to run their course unaided. Oh, how they ran. 

Under normal circumstances, Agatha would be a wealthy woman. By the laws that governed their country the bulk, which amounted to two-thirds of her husband's fortune prior to his lordship, was to be inherited by Dominic Danbury, her husband's nephew. The boy was his closest living male relative and his chosen heir in the absence of a natural-born legitimate son. 

The remaining third, a mini fortune that could sustain her independence, as well as her dowry, which was rather a meager sum of five thousand pounds, was entitled to Agatha as his surviving widow. However, Lord Danbury’s estate had been left in near ruin.

“These are unprecedented dealings. Of course, we know that Dominic can not inherit your late husband's title or estate. The crown would never bestow the lordship and its holding upon anyone who was not Lord Danbury’s direct male descendant.” The solicitor had begun when he had answered her summons. 

Riffling through her late husband's papers in that study of his. Their meeting place after she had forced her father to vacate Lord Danbury’s chambers. Agatha was still the lady of the house and her father a guest. He could not nor would he keep her from conducting her affairs.  

The solicitor was an older fellow. Agatha reckoned that he had attended Eton with Lord Danbury. He was not patronizing. He did not treat her as a simpering widow or speak to her as if she lacked sense. Quite the opposite for he did not mince his meaning. 

“Your husband spent a great deal trying to appear as one befitting of his new station that  he failed to take into account the limitations of his income.” The man let out a sigh as he peered up at her. “His personal holdings not tied to the earldom are few and far between.” Agatha felt as if she dunked in ice water at his words. 

“My husband was one of the richest men in the country.” She wondered if perhaps she might be dreaming. Retracing her steps that day and her surroundings to see if anything was amiss. Surely what she heard had to be a lie. A figment of an overactive imagination from sitting inside this cursed house most days with her only outlet being teas where she was made to simper and conciliate. 

The late newly titled Lord Danbury was the son of a king. One of the wealthiest kings in Africa. He held one of the greatest fortunes on the continent. That kind of wealth could not be spent in a lifetime. “My husband's fortune could rival even the wealthiest of dukedoms. How can it be gone?” 

Gone it was. Lord Herman Danbury was a spendthrift who was prone to bending the truth. On so many accounts it seemed. He had spent his money on well-bred horses and fine carriages. New staff, lavish furniture which to decorate their new estate, tailors who made their suits and dresses, and club fees. “The fortune I'm afraid was not so great as your late husband led you to believe.”

Her dowry along her husband's fortune, a mere fourth of the sum he boasted of holding, was near depleted. Spent to assuage the man’s avarice. The money that was not spent for mere vanities sake was put into the estate. Out of reach to Agatha and her nephew. 

The old estate where she had spent the majority of her marriage was gone as well. a considerable number of linens was placed upon the property in exchange for lines of credit. Her late husband's greed knew no bounds.  

Agatha needed to remarry. She could not stay a widow. She lacked. Her freedom would be sacrificed and she would become some other lord's wife. His plaything. With haste. Or attempt to secure Dominic’s position. Secure a lordship for the boy. Attempt to secure her position as a woman in her own right by way of his guardianship, she could be free from the will of a cruel master twice over. 

She had taken a page from Princess Augusta’s playbook. Inviting her sister-in-law to join her for afternoon tea in the sunroom. The woman had not left for her home, but Agatha could see that she, unlike her father, grew weary of her continued stay at the Danbury residence. 

“I trust you find your stay with us pleasant under the circumstances dear sister.” Even to Agatha’s ear, her words dripped of false pleasantries. The woman sat before her had never been dear to her nor a sisterly, however, appealing to one’s better nature, establishing a more familial connection never harmed. Especially when one was trying to keep her son for her own benefit. 

“I have never been one for society or these people. Not as you or Hermain.” Her sister-in-law's characteristic air of disdain was absent. She looked hesitant as she sat her tea down. Drawing nearer to Agatha to occupy the seat next to her. 

“I leave for Bath on the morrow. I have already told your papa.” The two got along well. Agatha imagined that her papa would prefer a daughter like Mrs. Danbury to herself. A daughter who did her duty without complaint. Who had secured the family line .“I do appreciate what you are trying to  do for Dominic, but your father is right about your widowhood.” She placed a pat on the back of her hand. If it had been meant to comfort Agatha it only served to distress the lady further. Hoping that her leave would trigger her father to make his own preparations for his leave of her.

True to her word Mrs. Danbury departed for Bath that morning. Leaving her son in Agatha’s care. However, her father showed no signs of preparing for his departure. Mr. Robinson seemed content to stay right where he was. 

He was content watching Agatha scramble for independence. Content to see her make her way back from teas at the palace dejected. Or coming home from visits with the queen at Buckingham House with a headache. Quite content to see her under his thumb once more. Floundering and clawing trying to reach the surface. Drowning and he would not save her. Even to toss her a line so that she may save herself. Sinking deeper. Suffocating.

It came to a head when she had come back from tea at Buckingham house, reassuring the queen over her own woes, to find a man in her sitting room. Seated in her husband's favorite chair. A gaudy thing which, as with most of their furnishings in this tomb of a house, cost thrice than what it was worth. 

Richard Stokeworth. Dickey, he wanted her to call him. “Your papa tells me that you are fond of art. Montague House is to open a new exhibit this weekend with some pieces from Macedonia.  It would be my honor if you would oblige me with your company, my lady.” A smile stretched across his face as he leaned back awaiting her answer. 

 He was tall. A head taller than Agatha. Handsome with a straight white smile that stood out against his dark skin. Young. Not a blemish to cloud his complexion.  He couldn’t have been older than six and twenty. Richard Stokeworthwas a statue carved from onyx yet she felt nothing, but a creeping pit of dread when she gazed upon him.  

She stuttered for a moment before sprouting up from her chair with a start. Words caught in her throat. She couldn't speak. She did not wish to speak. Fearing what words that might slip out. I’m sure you are perfectly lovely. You might be lovely for someone else, but I would rather fall into a nest of thrones than be your wife. With one last stammer. her eyes flitting to her father's ashen face, Agatha ran from the room as if she were a child. 

She needed out. To be out of the house. To be out of the race. Out from the demands of the queen, crown, and the Ton alike. Out from under him. That man who sought to tempt her back into imprisonment. It was a prettier cage than the last, but a cage nonetheless. She’d lose herself all the same. She'd lose her mind if she did nothing. 

Sitting there staring at the walls in her room. Attending endless teas where most of the ladies in the room wanted her gone, or to use her be it for information or to soothe themselves Finding strange men in her parlor while her father held a self-satisfied countenance standing lurking in some shadowy corner of the room. A puppet master who had grabbed ahold of her strings and would not release them until a new master was procured. This time one who would get the job done. 

Coral had offered to come with her when she had seen her darting out from the parlor into the entryway. Forgetting her cloak along with proper shoes as she grabbed ahold of her veiled hat. Her maid and her father rarely got on, but both acted as mother hens watching her every move, albeit her reasons were much more benevolent than that man. 

Agatha waved away her maids' concerns. “I shall be fine Coral.” She needed solitude. Required it. A break. A breath. That is what she needed. Setting out on her into the wilderness of her estate, well her estate for as long as the crown did not recall it.   

She could not recollect the last time she had felt the sun kiss her face. A sable face covered by black lace, for she was supposed to be in mourning despite the pulling of forces that would not let her be and her own lack of feelings besides resentment towards her late husband, nonetheless she could still feel its warmth on her cheeks. The breath she held in, released.  Carried off into the air. 

Her run had turned into a walk once she had made it to the edge of her garden. The green manicured lawn turned to wild brown grass. It would have reached her shoulders had she not walked along the narrow trail cut between the blades. A well-worn path. Blanketed by sunbaked grass with its rays beating down on it. As if someone had wandered upon it without a destination a thousand times before as Agatha did now.

She happened upon a small house. A shack really. Mayhaps it once had been a gamekeeper's cottage, but its occupiers had long since deserted the desolate place. A carriage wheel and an assortment of broken ends and odds were placed in a half shed next to the cottage.

An old, but sturdy in appearance, bench sat in front of the structure's entrance under the cover of shade. A lucky find for her feet, which were still in her heeled black pumps, an entirely impractical shoe for her wandering was starting to hurt. The leather of her shoes pinched at the skin. 

Setting herself on that dusty bench, whose appearance did not lie of its durability, she hiked up her layer of skirts to slip off her shoes. Freeing her aching feet from their confines. Focusing on trying to draw circulation back into her lower limbs she was utterly oblivious to the sound of steady footsteps nearing until a voice spoke. 

“I would not think those were quite the best shoes for the fields.” She had not seen him in weeks, but there Lord Ledger stood before her. Cloaked in green with a walking stick at his side and a hint of a smile. Bowing, not forgetting his manners as  Agatha scrambled to put back on her blasted heels. 

The lord's presence was not entirely alarming though a bit startling. For she had not expected him. “What are you doing out here?” On her estate in the middle of this little valley. Only it was not her estate nor her valley. It was in fact his. 

“There is your estate.” He pointed a finger over to where she had come from. “And here is mine.” His stick planted itself softly into the ground “We abut, my lady.” She was the trespasser though he did not seem to mind her presence in his fields. Promising to not set the hounds upon her with a smirk holding no menace. It was teasing yet kind.

“I cannot fault you for taking a ramble.” Rambles that is what he called them. To assuage Lady Ledger. One could not have a mad husband. Or the appearance of a mad husband. Agatha imagined that appearances meant more to someone like her than personal satisfaction and happiness. To all of that side of the Ton. 

A ramble was merely a break from all the chaos. Not a break of one’s mind. Insanity is the key difference between an aimless walk and a ramble. Though Agatha felt as if she were on the edge of it. Her father would not care if she were on that edge. If she walked off that ledge just as long as she did her duty he would not question. The dowager princess would not waste and queen might spare a two 

“I do not believe I am rambling. I am sure it is just a walk. For I feel mad.” A walk nowhere. A walk perhaps into insanity. Marching to a slow doom set out to consume her. “Or that I will go mad.” She felt like screaming at the wind. If Lord Ledger had not come upon she would have. If that was not madness she did not know what was.

Concern was written across his lined face. His amber eyes softened as he apologized for her loss. Agatha had to bite her lip to keep from saying that she was not very sorry. Angrier at the fact that Lord Danbury’s death had not freed her from want. That it had brought on a new set of complications. “Walking or rambling, it will make you feel better.” 

He straightened as another smile overtook his face, wiping away some of her weight that held her down. “I expect you to wear riding boots tomorrow.” He pointed to her shoes with his stick.  “We shall ramble together at the same time tomorrow.” He took his leave of her with a bow. Leaving no room for argument nor did Agatha wish to. Curiosity seeped through her bones overtaking the melancholy she had felt from inaction and invisibility. 

True to his word, Lord Danbury was there. At that same gamekeeper's cottage. That same time when the sun's light was at a high. The corner of her eyes crinkled up when he caught sight of her. It increased the lines upon his face, but she thought it suited him. He greeted Agatha with a My Lady and she with a Lord Ledger. She felt her cheeks heat when their eyes met. Thankful that her chestnut skin hid her blush. 

They talked for hours. Of nothing, and nothing was a great distraction. Her worries and fears faded away as she focused on what was there. They talked about nothing as well. The plants they came across. The trees. The birds. Games. Wordplay. Riddles. Poetry. He recited to her poetry. His eyes held a warmth in them when he spoke.  A warmth that traveled throughout her. No topic was too small or too great for the other ear. Sometimes they did not talk at all and yet that pause did not need filling. 

They walked for hours. Her legs burned from the exertion. Her curls frizzed from the intricate style Coral had carefully crafted, but In those hours spent in his company that blush did not leave her. Nor that fluttering when he spoke or when he simply turned his gaze towards her. A  Fluttering of life. She felt alive. She knew that now. She had not been alive. Not truly. She had been existing, occupying space on this plane,  but existence is not life,  and this was just a taste of it. 

A ramble turned into a dozen. Turned to two dozen. Meeting at that little cottage. They would walk side by side along that narrow brown path where they were undisturbed apart from the rumblings of nature. It never lost its appeal. 

It was easy enough. Finding an excuse to get out of that suffocating house. I am going for a walk, father.” Just a walk. “I shall be back before dinner.” It was the truth in a way. Agatha had found that a partial truth was always easier than a lie.  

Mr. Robinson did not mind. He did not ask to accompany her. Even when her dinner sat cold Why would he when she was just wandering around the estate's empty land? She never took a carriage. Her dress was not askew upon arriving. Her makeup was untouched and her hair was kinked by the wind. 

No strange men lurked about in shadows or letters from unworthy admirers were delivered at the Danbury residence. She was just in need of a clear mind. 

He knew of her frustrations. Her will for independence, but she in turn knew how things went. A walk was the extent of the relief from those frustrations. She could gain. After all her father thought it better to have a contented daughter if he were to auction her off like cattle once more. Give her some measure of freedom, some measure of control, leave that door open and she shall not complain of her cage too much when it is shut. She will always want to come back through that door. 

While her father remained oblivious to Lord Ledger's presence with her in what was supposed to be a solitary exercise out from her cage, Agataha suspected that her maid knew. Coral was, if ever, a busybody. A gossip who could rival the likes of Lady Kent or Lady Allen. but she would not tell her father or another soul of whose company she kept on her walks. She was good for keeping her secrets.

“Do not forget your hat, my lady.” Gifting her a sly smile that made the corners of her mouth upturn in a feline way while she helped her pin her veil and hand her an umbrella.

Off she went and yet when she came back she was reminded of just how dreary her reality was. The queen who was a mere girl beyond her depth that their very place within society depended upon. Princess Augusta and her displeasure with her absence of information. The line of suitors her father had procured that looked at her as if she was a piece of meat or a trinket to be possessed beneath their pleasantries. 

She had lived for a few hours in Lord Ledger’s company with the wild surrounding them and when she arrived back through that door her cage was there to greet her. Agatha had lost and she had gained so much yet she was still in that gilded cage. 

And so those talks of nothing turned to something. Sitting upon that old bench under the cottage's awning with Lord Ledger at her side. Squinting as the day's dying light sought to impair his view. The Lord was a more than willing audience as she unburdened herself to him. 

“What is there?” His gaze was upon the grassy landscape before them. His voice a gentle timber. Apart from Coral, it seemed as if he could sense her moods better than anyone.

“My maid Coral.” Her friend. Her only friend. She was Lady Agatha Danbury the widow of an Earl who was the son of a king and the only true friend she had which she could depend on and who wanted her complete happiness was her small maid. 

“What is not there?” She let out a sigh at that question. Pursing her lips as she ruminated. The absences. The wants. There were too many to name. 

Her title. Her estate that could be recalled by the crown at any moment. The men who vied for her hand who viewed her only as a vessel for their own ambitions. To further their line. Her father among them. Her supposed access to the crown. They wanted it all.

Everything. It seemed the appropriate answer, but at the same time, it failed to convey the extent of her troubles. It was far too simple an answer for that. “A future in which I do not dread waking up in the morning.” The truth. She did not wish to go back to the life she lived. 

“Lord Danbury?” She turned to face him. His eyes remained glued to the landscape, but his tone was hopeful. He wanted an answer. A real answer. He would not judge her for telling the truth. 

“I would not say he is something that I lack.” She missed him least of all. Agatha did resent him for the mess he left her to deal with but did not miss or want for his presence. “ I might be a monster for thinking so.” She teased the lord before her with a smile. It was the unchristian thing to say. Not a sentiment that any good respectable wife, a grieving widow, should voice. 

“You are no more monstrous than I.” He finally turned to her. His eyes held a sadness as he continued on. Freedom. He called her free. She had to hold back a laugh. If this was freedom. If this was the extent of her freedom then she was truly doomed. 

“My father wishes to see me marry again.” She did not dare glance over at him. Her smile was gone as she joined him in his watch of the setting horizon. “I’m a girl to him. He is my keeper.” Lord Ledger was trapped in a loveless marriage, but he was a man. He could do as he pleased even in the confines of his dreary marriage. 

 “Next week is my birthday.” Another year gone. “And I have nothing to look forward to.”  Another year was wasted. Another year to come that would not be her own. 

Perhaps with a babe on the way. That is what her dear papa would want. What her new husband, who she will doubtlessly be married off to by the end of the year when Agatha could no longer use the excuse that she was in mourning, would want.

That was what awaited her. Nothing apart from life as someone's pet once more. Someone’s doll, an incubator, a spy, a servant who was to perform and act as they all wished with no account of her own wants and desires. Happiness and joy were not hers to have. She was a reed bending in the wind at other's whims. 

Agatha supposed she had one final option. The life of a nun. No one would stop her. No one could stop her from saying those vows no matter how much it inconveniences them, but that was not a life either. That was not a life for her. Not a full life. 

She had the allusion of freedom for a few moments. For a ramble every evening beside Lord Ledger, but that was the extent of her freedom and that freedom too would be gone like the others all too soon. Trapping her forever in darkness. 

“Rambles are there.” It was as if he had lit a candle in her darkness as he spoke to her. The lord turned to face her. A quiet conviction in his voice. With hope in his eyes. A hope that reached past her woe gripping her. Commanding her to wake from the abyss that surrounded her. Guiding her out of it. Into something unknown yet it made her feel riant. “I am there.” Agatha felt her breath catch.  “Are you?” He beckoned her to him and she followed. Eagerly. Heading towards that light. It was like a spell as they leaned into one another. An internal magnet drawing them together. Lord Ledger's breath, which smelled of mint and spice, fanned her warm face as he hesitated for the span of it before they plunged into each other’s depths. His lips landed upon hers and Lady Agatha Danbury was gone.

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