#Henrik kept his promise

[crimsonlyinglilly]

Mikaelson fluff

some small bright spots of joy to combat the sad I keep writing.

---

The first time Kol realised he was taller than Elijah he couldn’t help but crow about it, pleased and proud, Klaus and Finn had joined him in his mocking by asking if it was hard, Elijah had been good about it, letting out loud put-upon sighs, and reminded them all the things he was better at. 

The teasing had died down after that until Rebekah had earnestly promised Elijah she would be kinder to him when she also got taller than him. 

Elijah had quickly declared Henrik his favourite when he had sworn never to outgrow him, which Henrik had taken in seriousness, stuck his tongue out at them and pulled his ‘best brother’ away.

For the next couple of weeks, all of them kept finding their belongings out of their reach, it only stopped when they discovered Henrik on Elijah’s shoulders red-handed, tying Finn's favourite belt on a branch high above on the tree closest to his hut.

[212-apricity]

chess and muffins

heyy everybodyyyy

ok so firstly i promise chapter 12 of mastermind is coming pls bear w me; secondly ive been watching the olympics and you guys. literally why does everyone look like models like they're GORGEOUS esp steven nedoroscik and armand duplantis like yummmm

also can we talk about the muffins pls bc they’ve had a chokehold on me for way too long now like pls i need to recipe rn

anyways a friend of mine, @curaheehee , asked for this one and girl i really hope this lived up to what you wanted bc guys i tried my best and i lowkey hate it but i hope it was okay for the ask😭🙏❤️

The chatter of the audience around the stadium hums behind me, accompanied by multiple news reporters and retired athletes, everyone giving their opinions on the past events today.

Simone, Suni and I are standing around the sidelines, chatting away trying not to “psyc ourselves out” as we wait for the officials to finish prepping the equipment before we can compete.

“I really wanna try one of those muffins Henrik keeps posting about, they look so delectable” I say, imagining the muffins I’ve seen everywhere but still havent had the chance to try.

“No you really need to, they’re soo good” Simone adds as Suni nods along,

“How long do you guys think they’re going to take? Like its already been almost an hour, I’m getting so bored” Suni says impatiently as we look around and still see the officials fiddling around with the equipment.

“Who knows, the french overcomplicate everything” I say, making the girls laugh as we look around for anything else interesting to keep ourselves entertained during the wait.

Simone spots a rubiks cube under a chair and picks it up saying excitedly, “Hey Y/n didn’t you say you could solve one of these things?”I smile, taking the cube from her excitedly, “I don’t know honestly I think the last one I solved was like two years ago.”

“Try it, I’ll time you” Suni says getting her phone out as Simone reshuffles the cube.

“Three, two, one, Go!”

I shuffle the cube around as quick as I can and finish in 7 seconds, yelling out along with the girls as everyone around us looks at us strangely as we jump up and down out of excitement.

“Okay, on the plane back home you have to teach me how to do that” Simone says.

“Me too!” Suni adds.

I open my mouth to respond but before I can, I feel someone tapping me gently on my shoulder and I turn around to see who it is.

“Hi,”

Steven Nedoroscik.

Of course.

I had seen him earlier this week in the mens pommel horse event and I couldn’t stop giggling over him during and after the event when Simone and Suni kept showing me edits of him.

I try to keep my cool as he speaks, “I think I dropped my rubiks cube somewhere here earlier, have you seen it?”

“Oh! Yes of course,” I’m broken out my trance as he finishes asking his question and I turn around to take the cube back from Suni as she hands it to me with a smirk as Simone tries to repress her giggles, seeing me so flustered.

“Thanks,” He says with a smile looking down at the solved cube, “Who solved this?”

“Oh I did, sorry I didn’t know it was yours.” I say, slightly embarrassed.

“Don’t worry about it, how long did it take you?” he says, making me feel a lot better.

“Seven seconds” I say proudly as he raises his eyebrows in surprise,

“No way! The fastest I’ve solved one in is eight seconds” he remarks, making me laugh.

“Hey how long do they take to set these things up?” I ask putting a hand on my hip and the other pointing to the stage.

“Don’t even get me started, I had a whole nap in my event”

I laugh along with him, “I might just have to start doing that too, but I’m not competing for another week after today so I’ll probaby just spend the rest of the week hunting down the chocolate muffins and playing chess.”

With this Stevens eyes lit up, “You play chess too?” he said exictedly

“A little bit, not like competitively but my dad taught me when I was younger” I say, smiling at his interest.

He goes to reply but is cut off with a thick french accent over the speakers announcing,

“Everyone who is not a gymnast or a coach, please exit the area; the event will begin shortly.”

Before he leaves, Steve asks, “Hey if you’re not doing anything tomorrow morning, would you want to meet up at the dining hall and play a round?”

I’m stunned at first but quickly recover once I hear another announcement over the speakers, louder this time.

“Yes. I’d love that” I say, smiling broadly as he lets out a held breath and nods before leaving, almost tripping over a chair behind him making me laugh.

timeskip

I scan the trays of pastries in the breakfast section in search of the chocolate muffins before giving up when I couldn’t find any and taking a pain au chocolat and water instead and making my way to where Steve was carefully placing chess pieces on the board.

“Good morning,” I say, taking a seat in front of him causing him to look up and smile,

“Good morning,” he says, pushing his glasses up slightly, “I saved you a chocolate muffin they were about to run out”

He hands me a chocolate muffin, still warm, “Oh my gosh stop, I was so heartbroken like two minutes ago I thought Henrick took them all, thank you so much” I laugh, blushing slightly.

“Of course! Shall we start?” he laughs, blushing and motioning to the board.

“No hold on,” I say after a bite of the muffin, “What does the winner get?”

“Hmm…” he thinks, “How about if you win, I get you muffins every morning for a week,”

“Mhm okay I like where this is going”

“And if I win, you go on a real date with me” he looks up nervously through his glasses catching me off guard with wide eyes.

It takes me a minute but I respond, “Okay”

I’ve never tried harder to lose.

again like i lowkey hated it uughh but guys please feel free to send in any requests about anyone bc im rotting away until september 6th and ive got literally nothing to do❤️❤️

[crystalninjaphoenix]

Where Lightning Strikes

Fantasy Masks AU: Chapter Forty-Five

A JSE Fanfic

Believe it or not, we're actually getting pretty close to the end of this story. It didn't hit me personally until I started writing this chapter and then I was like "oh... wow." Crazy, right? I'll warn you now, this chapter ends on a cliffhanger because it got pretty long. Anyway, the five guys race out of the Wyldwood to warn the other Masked Phantoms about the King coming for them. A battle eventually breaks out. Wonder what'll happen next :3c Enjoy the chapter!

Previous Part | | From the Start | More AU | Read on AO3: CrystalNinjaPhoenix

Taglist: @brokentimewatch

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The group didn’t say a word as they traveled through the Wyldwood. Chase hardly noticed the changing scenery around them. Even as they passed through an area with bright orange fruit in the tree boughs, even as they hopped over a stream that whispered like a voice beneath them. Dead silence surrounded them as they hurried east as quickly as they could. They were all thinking the same thing. Worried about what would happen if they didn’t beat the King to the camp on the cliffs.

The sky slowly darkened into night, but they didn’t stop  like they usually did. They kept walking. Draco meowed at them, a whiny sound, and wove between their legs like he was trying to trip them up. They all tried to ignore him, but eventually Marvin stopped and sighed. “He’s trying to get us to rest for the night.”

“Should we, though?” Henrik asked. “We know that the King and his warriors have horses. We do not. If we rest for too long, they will beat us there.”

“But if we run ourselves into the ground, we won’t be able to help once we get there,” Jackie muttered. “Maybe we can... maybe we can keep going for a little bit?”

Chase nodded, and he saw Jameson do the same. They glanced at each other, identical nervous expressions on their faces. “Do you have any oracle clues that might help us, Jair?” Chase asked.

No, but I have a feeling, he replied.

“What sort of feeling?” Chase asked.

Jameson frowned. I don’t know. It’s just... Maybe I’m just nervous, and need to get there soon.

“You’re picturing all the things that could go wrong, aren’t you?” Marvin said. “Walking some more might take your mind off that.” He started forward, only to stumble. “Damn it, Draco! I couldn’t see you down there!” Draco meows another whiny meow in response.

“He is being very insistent,” Henrik chuckled.

Marvin bent down and scooped Draco up. “Sorry, fluffy boy. I promise we’ll stop to rest soon, but we need to get there as quickly as we can.”

“Let’s not walk for too long, though,” Chase said slowly. He glanced up towards the sky—or more specifically, the tree branches blocking out the sky. “It’s hard to tell how much time has passed with the sky not visible. It could be easy to stay up too late, especially since these glowing plants still provide enough light for us to see.”

“We’ll be careful,” Jackie said. “King Sam already got on me for pushing too hard. I can’t let him down.”

The group fell silent once again as they continued to walk. But eventually, the exhaustion of walking quickly all day caught up to them, and they had to stop to rest. “Just two more days,” Henrik said quietly. “If we move as soon as the light starts to appear through the trees, we might be able to shorten it to one and a half.”

They set up their usual watch shifts and then all tried to sleep. And though the anxiety of racing the King tried to keep them awake, the long day of action and movement had exhausted them, and they all fell asleep eventually.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next day was more silence, more urgency. They almost didn’t have breakfast, since Marvin pointed out how they never got hungry while in the Wyldwood, but Henrik insisted that they at least eat a little. After all, they didn’t know if the lack of hunger was because they didn’t need food, or because the Wyldwood was simply suppressing the feeling. So they compromised on eating while they walked. The bread and dried meat they’d brought tasted like nothing in Chase’s mouth. Worse than nothing. It tasted like tree bark.

They didn’t have as much light as they wanted. It seemed that the sky was still cloudy, which they all took as a bad sign. But luckily, the little sunlight that made its way through was still enough to see, especially with the natural glow of the Wyldwood helping it out.

As they walked, Chase pulled out the piece of vellum with the banishment chant they’d come up with. He scanned the words over and over, then tested himself by closing his eyes and trying to recall them. He did this over and over again until the chant was engrained into his mind. Then he took a break. Then he tried to recall the chant, tested his knowledge against the written word, found that he’d been slightly off, and started reading the chant repeatedly again.

They sped up over the course of the day until they were almost running. Once they realized what they were doing, they slowed their pace down again to conserve energy... but then slowly started running again. That went in a cycle all day, until it started getting dark and they naturally went down to a walk so that they wouldn’t trip. Draco tried to block their way again, but Marvin grabbed him and carried him until they were ready to sleep.

“We’ll be there tomorrow for sure, won’t we?” Jackie said.

“Yes... if all goes well,” Marvin agreed.

Chase swallowed a lump in his throat. “What... what do we do if... if we’re not there in time?”

Don’t even bring that up! Jameson said, going pale.

“No, he is right,” Henrik said quietly. “Having hope is good, but if we do not prepare for everything, we will be too panicked.” His eye twitched slightly. “But we must not focus on the worst scenario too much. Th-this stress is... already making my symptoms worse.”

“Oh, really?” Chase blinked. “You seem to be handling it better than you did on the river ride to camp.”

“The mood soothing drink is helping,” Henrik muttered. “But... especially when I am up on watch at night...” He took a shaky breath. “But that is beside the point.”

“Hey, it’s always good to know when a friend needs something,” Jackie said. “And now we know that you need to be relatively... not stressed.”

“Not too much, though,” Henrik hurriedly said. “Because we must be prepared.”

Jameson took a deep breath. He nodded. If the King gets there before we do... he’ll no doubt wreak havoc on the camp. In that case, we can only do what we can to get people out of there and drive the warriors back. And keep ourselves safe, of course. I forgot to ask, but do we have a place to meet up with everyone if something goes wrong? Like how you all went to the Cliffs once Wyvernlair was attacked?

“Yes, we have a spot,” Jackie said. “We go north, to the base of the Dragonteeth Mountains.”

“That’s good to know.” Chase let out a sigh of relief. “So if worst comes to worst, we make our way north.”

“I think this is the best we can come up with right now,” Marvin said. “We can talk more tomorrow, after we’ve gotten some sleep.”

The others all muttered their agreement, then set up their watch shifts and tried to get some rest. Just like the night before, the exhaustion caused them to drift off.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The clouds persisted into the morning of their seventh day. They seemed to hang even lower in the sky than previously. There was no conversation, only movement. Hurrying across the vivid green grass of the Wyldwood—

Until, about halfway through the morning, they reached the border. The hard line where the Wyldwood met the normal forest. The regular woods looked dull and colorless compared to the Wyldwood they’d spent two weeks walking through. Chase blinked wildly, feeling like the magical light of the glowing plants had imprinted onto his eyes, leaving streaks of an afterimage.

“Oh!” Marvin gasped. “It’s—it’s so strange to see.” He stopped momentarily, then rushed forward, following after Draco who was already running for the border. “Hey! Draco! Wait up!”

The others glanced at each other, then hurried after him. “We did manage to cut some time off the journey by staying up late,” Henrik muttered. “Now we only have to get out of the forest and towards the camp. That will not take too long.”

No time to waste! Jameson said, pushing himself forward.

Though they’d left behind the silence of the Wyldwood, the normal, nonmagical forest was still eerily silent. The quiet put Chase on edge once he realized what was happening. It was never good when the forest went quiet. It usually meant there were predators around. 

The sky was still cloudy, a lid of gray pressing down on the world. They ran faster and faster, gaining speed as they all worried about what was happening at camp.

Things started to look familiar. Then the trees began to thin. Then they burst out into the empty field around the cliffs, the salty smell of the sea slapping their faces. “There!” Jackie gasped, pointing. “Camp!”

The tents were set up, and they could see the movement of people going about their business. Everything looked... fine.

“No time to waste!” Henrik repeated Jameson’s words from earlier, and all of them ran forward.

A crowd gathered at the edge of camp, watching them approach. Some Phantoms called out friendly greetings, but they quickly fell silent, taking in the fear and urgency on the five’s faces. “Where are all the branch leaders?!” Jackie shouted as soon as they were in earshot. “Tell them to meet at the central tent! And everyone else—start packing! We have to move! We’e been discovered again!”

The crowd immediately sprung into action, scattering like birds at the sound of a bowstring snapping. Some of them ran off to their personal tents, preparing to gather their things. Others started shouting out for the leaders—Holly, Lukas, Tripp, Nemet, Anna. Chase ran up to the nearest person and grabbed them. “The kids,” he gasped, breathing heavily. “Where are they? A-are they okay?!”

“The two children? Oh, they’re fine, I’m sure... sir?” The Phantom glanced up at the antlers on Chase’s mask, confused at how they glinted in the faint sun coming through the clouds.

“Do you know where they are?” Chase insisted.

“No, sorry. Um, they’re your kids, right? Maybe check your tent?”

Chase nodded. He’d only spent one night in a tent in this camp, so he wasn’t quite sure where it was. But he was pretty sure it was out on the edge somewhere. He ran in the direction he thought was right, looking around, passing by people who were hurrying in the same direction. The news that they needed to leave was spreading quickly.

“Hey! Chase!” Someone suddenly grabbed his arm, pulling him to a stop. It was Vsevna, looking down at Chase with worry in his eyes—but Chase wasn’t his main concern. “You all are back, yes? Where is Henrik?”

“Uh... I-I don’t know, I think he went to the central tent,” Chase said.

Vsevna nodded. “Thank you.” He let go and hurried over towards the center of camp, easily dodging others coming the opposite way.

Chase kept going forward. “Amabel! Quentin!” He shouted, calling for them. “Amy! Quen! Where are you?! We need to go!” All these tents looked the same! “Amabel! Quentin! Where are you?!”

He was remembering another time he ran about looking for them. He remembered the flames, then the darkness of the forest. The frantic feeling. The bone-deep fear and panic as he went deeper and deeper into the trees. This wasn’t the same! This wasn’t the same! He knew they were here! He knew they were safe here somewhere! He just had to fight back the terror threatening to overtake him, latching onto him from the memories of that night—

“Dad?” One of the tent flaps opened up, and a small face peeked out.

“Quentin!” Chase skidded to a halt and ran over to him. “There you are! Is Amabel in there with you—yea, there she is.” He laughed as Amabel also poked her head out.

“What’s going on, Dad?” Amabel asked. “Is something wrong?”

Chase sighed. “Something went bad, but if we move fast, everything will be fine. Do you two have anything you need to pack up?”

“Um... I don’t think so?” Amabel said. “Just these bedrolls that these Phantoms gave us. Oh! And this!” She reached back into the tent and pulled out a small bow, perfectly sized for her—though honestly, a bit shoddily-made. “That Lukas guy found this for me!”

“Really? Hah, that’s nice of him.” Chase smiled slightly. “Alright, let’s roll up those bedrolls, then we have to get you all to safety. We’re heading north, the others should know where specifically.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Henrik!” Vsevna burst through the entrance to the central tent.

“Vsevna!” Henrik looked up, gasping. “You—what are you doing here?!”

“I wanted to see you, that is what I am doing here!” Vsevna said.

“O-oh.” Henrik blinked. “Well… thank you. I-I am fine, as you can see.”

Jackie, Marvin, Jameson, and Henrik were all busy trying to pack up everything kept in the central tent. Mostly maps and other bits of parchment and vellum. The other three looked over at Vsevna curiously. “Hey, Vsevna, have you seen any of the branch leaders on the way here?” Jackie asked.

“No,” Vsevna shook his head. “I am sorry. But I am sure they are on the way, I heard others shouting for them. Is there anything I can do to help while I am here?”

Actually, is your ship nearby? Jameson asked. Perhaps we can pack up things and send them there. Maybe people too.

“Great idea, Jair!” Marvin said.

Vsevna nodded. “The Serpent’s Wake can carry a lot of people in case of emergency. It will not be comfortable, but it will be better than the alternative. Are we all right to assume that the King’s warriors are on their way?”

“Not just them,” Henrik said. “But the King himself, too.”

Marvin lifted up the canvas edge of the tent and peered out. “It’s getting really dark out there for this time of day,” he muttered. “It looks like a storm is coming.”

“That gathered really quickly,” Jackie said nervously. “We have to hurry! Where in the world are the others?!”

As he asked that, another person hurried through the tent entrance. “Nemet is packing up the medical supplies,” Holly said as she approached. “She heard that we were moving and thought she should get a head start on that. Not sure about any of the others, though.”

Jackie cursed under his breath. “Well, hopefully they’re doing the same. We don’t know how much time we have before the King gets here. I’m betting not nearly as much as we’d like.”

Thunder rumbled across the sky, and a split second later light flashed through the canvas, bright enough to light everything up in detail. Vsevna inhaled sharply. “Everyone, out of the tent!”

Jameson looked confused. Why?

“No time to protest!” Henrik said. “Everyone get out!”

They all ran for the entrance, rushing out in confused hurry—

CRAKK!!

The sound split the air. Light flashed all around them, followed by a rush of heat. Burning rubble flew past them. Marvin yelped as a bit of it smacked against his shoulder, which he quickly pushed away. Smaller clumps of dirt from the ground pelted them as well. 

The central tent had been struck by lightning. Now it was burning.

“He’s close,” Marvin said quietly.

“All our records... gone,” Jackie whispered, staring at the bonfire before them.

Jameson shook his head. No time to mourn. We have to get out of here!

“R-right!” Jackie snapped himself out of it. “Abandon the camp! Just run! Try to get to the ship or run out north!”

“Jackie!” A voice shouted. The group turned to the side, looking in unison. Tripp was rushing forward, breathing heavily. “Oh, all the rest of you, too! A party of horses is approaching from the northeast. The forest is on fire behind them!”

“What?!” Henrik gasped.

Vsevna cursed heavily in a variety of languages. “Tell everyone to get down to the coast! To the ship!”

“The King,” Marvin whispered. “We have to hold him off so the rest of the Phantoms can escape.”

Jackie nodded, determined. “Henrik, Jameson, you direct everyone to the ship. Marvin, Tripp, Holly, let’s go stall these guys.”

Marvin and the other two nodded in unison, and the four of them ran forward, heading northeast. In the distance, there was an orange glow. The fire Tripp had mentioned.

Jameson looked at Henrik with worry. Do you know where Chase went?

“N-no, I saw him run off, but...” Henrik trailed off. 

I bet he’s looking for his kids, Jameson said. Do you know where they might be?

“The little ones have been spending a lot of time in one of the tents,” Vsevna said. “They have made a little home in there. I can show you the way?”

Jameson shook his head. Just tell me the way, I’ll go look for them. You two start shepherding people towards the ship!

Henrik and Vsevna glanced at each other, then both looked at Jameson and nodded. “Be safe,” Henrik said. Vsevna pointed in the direction he thought the children—and therefore Chase—would be.

Of course. Thank you. Jameson smiled, then ran off. He had a bad feeling about this... 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thunder crashed. Once, then twice, in rapid succession. “Whoa!” Chase gasped, watching as a bolt of white light flashed down from the heavens.

“Was that lightning?!” Quentin asked. “I-it was so close!” Amabel grabbed onto his hand, pushing him behind her protectively.

“It’ll be okay as long as we get out of here,” Chase assured them. But—that bolt had hit the direct center of camp. There might’ve been people caught in that blast. “Come on. We’re going north.” He grabbed Amabel’s hand and rushed forward. “Do you guys need me to carry you?”

“No, we can keep up, Dad!” Amabel said, and Quentin nodded, determined.

Chase nodded back. “Alright, if you’re sure.” He ran, though not as fast as he could have. He wanted to make sure he wouldn’t lose the two of them in the crowd.

“Dad! Look!” Quentin pointed. “Is that fire?”

“Huh?” Chase stalled for a moment. His eyes followed Quentin’s gesture—and he gasped. In the distance, he saw the forest—the forest they’d come from, the forest connected to the Wyldwood—glowing and casting smoke into the air. It was a small fire so far, but something like that would spread rapidly. “Damn it,” he cursed. “We have to circle around to the west.” When did that fire happen?! Was it caused by that first lightning strike? No, it was too big for that. The most likely explanation was that it was made by humans—and he knew what that meant.

Other Phantoms were running forward as well, trying to get out of camp, many of them carrying bags on their backs or from their shoulders, weapons in hand. Ready to flee, but also ready to attack any enemies they might run into. But... up ahead, others were running back into camp, shouting something. “Not that way!” “Horses on the horizon!” “Warriors bearing the royal crest!”

What?!

“D-Dad?” Quentin looked up at him with wide eyes. Amabel did too, though she was trying to keep a stiff upper lip.

“We—we go around,” Chase said. “This way.” He turned sharply right, pulling the kids along with him. Now they were heading directly west. Hopefully they could avoid the warriors, it didn’t seem like there were that many of them in the Wyldwood!

And yet, out in the distance, barely seen under the darkness of the thick, low-hanging clouds... a dark, morphing shape was quickly approaching. A rumbling sound approached, though this time it wasn’t thunder, merely a sound pretending to be it. Hoofbeats. Countless hoofbeats. There was no way. How were there this many warriors approaching?! Had there been others waiting outside the Wyldwood?

From the front of the dark shape of the horses, a zap of greenish lightning arched forward, soaring through the air in an instant and crashing down on one of the tents. Sparks and flames flew. Phantoms shouted in alarm. One of them who’d been caught a bit close to the blast patted their sleeves down, putting out fire that had grown from some of the sparks. “Stay close to me!” Chase shouted, pulling Quentin and Amabel near.

Another arch of lightning, hitting a different area of camp. That was the King, wasn’t it? It was him, and he wasn’t holding back.

Quentin was starting to lag behind, panting heavily. Chase leaned over and scooped him up into his arms, moving Amabel’s hand to hold onto his belt. “Don’t let go,” he said, and the family continued to run. The flames from the tents were spreading quickly to the other tents. Unnaturally so: the tents weren’t that close together. But nonetheless, the world around them was growing bright orange, smoke starting to fill the air. Quentin was coughing, burying his face in Chase’s shirt.

Soon—much too soon—the horses came into view, galloping towards the camp with no regard for the flames, or for the tents, or for the people. Some Phantoms stopped trying to flee and raised their weapons, planning to cut through the warriors. Chase’s stomach dropped. He began veering off course, veering to the south, trying to keep the kids safe from the coming horde for as long as possible. They had to watch out for the cliffs, though.

...the cliffs.

The forest on fire in the background.

The King’s arrival, both him and Chase in the same location.

Chase stumbled for a moment. No... was this... the moment? Was this the environment in Jameson’s vision? But—but—the children! They weren’t supposed to be here! He was supposed to keep them safe! He couldn’t confront the King now!

“Dad?” Amabel asked, worried.

“I’m fine,” he said quietly. “Come on.” They had to get away from—!

In an instant, the warriors were upon them, horses trampling the grass around them. Chase yelped and stopped short, pulling Amabel back just as a blade swiped through the air in front of her—aimed for Chase, but at the right height to slash across her face if he hadn’t acted quickly. He let out a shaky breath, and ran around one of the unburned tents, taking Amabel and Quentin with him, hiding from sight. As soon as the first wave of horses has cleared up, they’d bolt.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The warriors arrived quickly. By the time Marvin, Jackie, and the others reached the edge of camp, the horses were already upon them—and there were much more of them than expected! “What in the fucking world?!” Marvin cursed. “Where did they all come from?!”

“No time to worry about it!” Jackie drew his swords. “We have to delay them.”

“Aye.” Tripp cracked his knuckles. “Sorcerers! Sorcerers!” He shouted out to the other Phantoms, causing a couple to come rushing. “Let’s make this terrain difficult for these bastards!” He stomped on the ground, and the earth rumbled, spires of rock shooting into the air. One of the horses ran right into one, moving too fast to stop. The other sorcerers did similar things, making the ground rocky or soft and mire-like.

One of the warriors managed to break through the barrier. They swiped downwards at Jackie, but he quickly parried, deflecting the blade. Holly drew her own blade and stabbed upwards at the warrior, landing a glancing blow.

Marvin started throwing magic spells at the horses, conjuring up a shield at his back so that nobody could surprise him. Jackie ran forward, slashing wildly, aiming for the horses’ legs, keeping low so as to avoid sword slashes from above. Holly and Tripp joined in as well, attacking with their weapon and magic. “Try to hold a line!” Jackie shouted.

Other Phantoms, upon seeing their leaders fighting, were trying to do the same. The sorcerers were bending fire from the tents and throwing it in the warriors’ faces. Arrows began flying through the air, knocking warriors from their horses. It was hard to make out anything in the stark lighting. Everything was dark, the sun blocked from the sky, the firelight casting deep shadows. If it wasn’t for the way the white Phantom masks stood out, reflecting the light, it would’ve been difficult to tell who was friend and who was foe.

A warrior came rushing forward, leaping from their horse and shouting a battle cry as they brought an axe down on Marvin’s shield. Marvin cried out in pain as the shield shattered instantly. The warrior began to swing it around, but then an arrow—larger than normal—flew threw the air and pierced his back, knocking him down. “Marvin! Jackie!” Lukas shouted from somewhere in the crowd. “Where are the others who went to the forest?!”

Neither of them answered right away, immediately caught up in another fight each. Jackie kicked down a warrior then slammed the hilt of his sword against the back of their head, knocking them out. “Not sure about Jameson and Chase!” He shouted back. “Looking for the kids! Henrik and Vsevna are taking people down to the ocean!”

“The ocean?! Ah, the ship!”

“Yea!” Marvin ducked a swinging blade. Draco yowled and jumped at the warrior who attacked him, clawing at their face. “We’re buying people time to get there!”

“In that case, I’ll let Nemet know!” Another large arrow flew through the air,  then Lukas’s voice faded away. 

Marvin glanced around. He conjured up a rope of white magic—then lit it on fire. Perhaps not the best idea to add to the flames around them, but more and more warriors were pouring in, dismounting from horses that were either injured or unable to continue through the fire and magically-made obstacles. He had to do something! He took a deep breath, then let out a loud yell, spinning in a circle. The flaming rope whipped around, knocking over some warriors and forcing others to back up. Now that the space around him was clear, he ran forward. Towards Jackie, who was fighting off a pair of warriors. Marvin sent out a bolt of magic to help him, knocking one down. Jackie soon took care of the other, glancing back at Marvin. “Thanks,” he breathed.

“Where’s the King?” Marvin asked. “Have you seen him yet?!”

“No—I think he’s sending in the warriors first. But he’s definitely here. Most of these warriors are wearing helmets, and I’m pretty sure those ones are his inner circle.” Jackie deflected another swipe from a warrior passing by, running wildly through camp. He almost went after them, but saw that Holly was able to stop them easily. “Why?”

“Haven’t you noticed the lightning?” Marvin asked. “It’s green! That’s not normal! He’s burning down the camp, we have to stop him!”

Jackie nodded. “Of course. He’ll be hanging back. We’ll have to carve a path through the warriors to find him. Have a way to do that?”

Marvin bit his lip, thinking. Then he gestured for Draco to come closer. As soon as the cat was close enough, he pulled magic from his focus and wrapped it around Jackie, Draco, and himself. A bubble-like shield. “I’m pouring all my power into this now,” he said. “If we just charge forward, they won’t be able to stop us!” Indeed, an arrow bounced off the shield only a second after he said that.

“...worth a shot, I suppose,” Jackie said. “If we can make a path through the warriors, others can follow us.” He looked around at the Phantoms fighting, then whistled for attention. Many of them looked towards him, and Jackie pointed forward with his sword—northeast, the direction the warriors had come from. Then he looked at Marvin and nodded. “I trust you.”

For some reason, Marvin’s eyes got really watery. The acrid smoke must’ve been able to penetrate the shield. That must have been the reason. He nodded back at Jackie. “Let’s go.”

And with a loud battle cry, the two of them charged forward.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Everyone down! Be careful!” Henrik yelled, gesturing for people to hurry towards the path down the cliffs. The path was difficult enough under the best of circumstances, but now it was dark, and there were the unnerving sounds of battle all around them—shouts of pain and rage, clanking metal, heavy thuds, the rumbling of sorcery moving the earth. Everyone had to be extremely careful. But not too much. Otherwise, a bottleneck would quickly form.

Vsevna whistled, pulling aside one of the magic-wielders. After a series of quick questions, the magic-wielder began shooting lights into the air, flashing in a quick pattern. Henrik recognized that as ship signals. They were telling the crew on the Serpent’s Wake to send out boats. All of them. Now. 

“Vsevna, do you need your axe back?” Henrik suddenly asked.

“What?” Vsevna glanced at him, confused. “No, later! You may need it!”

“Right, r-right, silly question.” Henrik nodded. There was a high-pitched ringing in his ears. And beneath it... whispers. Very distracting whispers. He could swear that there were twice as many shadows in the crowd than there should be. Damn it! This was not the time for symptoms! He had to focus. “E-everyone! This way! This way!”

“Henrik!” A voice shouted. Henrik didn’t hear it at first—or, he did, but it blended into the ringing and whispering so much that he paid it no mind. “Henrik! Henrik!” A figure suddenly rushed at him!

Immediately, Henrik drew the axe from his back, planning to swing it—but then he realized who it was as they stopped nearby. “Nemet! There you are!”

Nemet nodded. She was holding an axe in one hand and dragging a box in another, all sorts of bags and boxes strapped to her body and rendering her silhouette unrecognizable. Behind her were a handful of others in a similar situation. “We rescued as many medical supplies as we could. Some doctors are staying to help fight and heal people. The rest of us are moving the supplies and getting the sick and injured to safety.”

“Yes, yes, of course!” Henrik nodded. “D-down the path. Be careful!” He stepped to the side. “They should be sending boats out any moment.”

Nemet gestured for others to go in front of her. Doctors accompanied the patients, helping them down the steep path. Some of these people had been injured or come down with an illness before the attack, but Henrik saw a handful with burns from the flames, many of them being half-carried. He swallowed a lump in his throat. “Nemet, go with them,” he said. “You have to keep this all organized.”

“You are the head doctor, Henrik!” Nemet pointed out. “You should go!”

“I cannot! Not while more injuries might come in! I must guide them! A-and I... I must know how the others are faring!”

Nemet shook her head stubbornly. “I can do that for you.”

“No, please, you get to safety!” Henrik’s voice cracked. He glanced at Vsevna. “Y-you too, Vsevna. Your crew will need you.”

“I cannot abandon you!” Vsevna insisted.

“You know you cannot abandon your ship, either! That is not what a captain does!” Henrik looked back and forth between them. “Both of you, get to safety. Please. I-I cannot...” He trailed off.

“You cannot lose us?” Vsevna asked... though it wasn’t a question meant to be answered. He already knew. “And do you think we want to lose you?”

Henrik started. “I-I—”

“Sova, do not think so lowly of yourself,” Vsevna whispered. “Your four friends will want you to be safe. And if you are to speak to me of my duty as a captain, I must remind you of your duty as this place’s head doctor. Nemet is right. You should go, you know the most and the others will all listen to you. They need you.”

Henrik hesitated. Then he took a deep breath. “Nemet, give me your supplies, I will carry them down.” His voice was so quiet that it was almost drowned out by the noise. Nemet knew what he said, though, and started unstrapping her bags and boxes. “Y-you look after the four of them, though. Promise me.”

“I promise, Henrik.” Nemet nodded. “Now get out of here. Vsevna will be down eventually.”

“I will,” Vsevna confirmed.

Henrik smiled at the two of them. Then, despite the nerves in his stomach, despite his heart screaming at him to stay, to make sure the others are safe, telling him that he had to go back, that he had to do something to make up for all his shortcomings... he started to walk down the path to the beach.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The initial wave of warriors had faded, but there were still so many of them. Chase didn’t dare leave the hiding place he’d found, in between the canvas folds of a half-fallen tent, to run out into the open. He couldn’t put his kids in danger like that. He had to protect them above all else!

But they were running out of time. The longer they lingered, the more risk of being discovered. Chase took a deep breath. No one was paying attention now. They had to go! “Now!” he whispered, and darted out into the open, holding Quentin tight to him. Amabel clung to his belt, keeping up easily for now, but he could hear her breathing becoming more and more ragged as they sprinted across the burning camp Ash and smoke filled the air. With the dark gray clouds in the sky, it was hard to tell what was going on, but Chase knew how to run in a straight line, and that was all they needed! He was sure they were approaching the west edge of camp now!

And then a figure rushed out of the smoke, swinging a large curved blade. Chase yelped and turned around, protecting Quentin but feeling the blade slice across his own back. He turned back to see a warrior pulling back the blade for a stab at him. Quickly, he ducked low to the ground, twisting away to protect Quentin again. Amabel cried out, then tackled the warrior’s legs. She was trying to knock him down, but the warrior was much too sturdy. All they did was stumble. They looked down at her and raised the blade—

“NOOO!” The scream leapt from Chase’s mouth like a living thing with a will of its own. He dropped Quentin and tackled the warrior. Again, they proved sturdy, but he was able to grab onto their wrist, twisting it and squeezing it until their hand spasmed and dropped the blade on their own. But then—something hit his stomach, knocking the breath out of him. He immediately fell to his knees, gasping for air. The warrior had punched him with their other hand. They quickly picked up their sword and then went for a stab aimed at Chase’s throat—

THUNK! An arrow sprouted from the warrior’s back. They stumbled, looking around. And at that moment, Amabel and Quentin attacked. Amabel picked up her little brother and threw him at the warrior. He hit their chest, arms wrapping around their throat. The weight of a small child being thrown was enough to finally knock down the now-distracted warrior.

A whistle pierced the air. Chase looked around for the source of it. Jameson! His bow was strung and out; he was the source of the arrow. Jameson gestured for the family to follow him. Chase nodded and quickly scooped up Quentin, throwing him over his shoulder and then picking up Amabel and holding her close to his chest. They both yelped as he did this, but he was already running towards Jameson.

They sprinted through a section of thick smoke and emerged on the other side coughing. But they must’ve gotten past the main conflict, because there was no one on this side of the smoke, and only a few tents. Yes! They’ve reached the edge of camp! But as Chase glanced around, he saw more horsebound riders, too close for comfort. They didn’t seem to have noticed anything yet, though, so he quickly put a tent between him and them, setting the kids down once there. Jameson hurried over. Are you all safe? Unhurt? he asked.

“We’re all fine, Jameson, thank you,” Chase said. “I-I have to get these kids to safety.”

“We’re fine, Dad,” Amabel said, though her face was pale as a sheet.

“This is no place for children your age,” Chase said firmly. “We’re going to head straight this way. It’s open, but it’s also dark, so hopefully they won’t notice if we move slowly enough and keep low to the ground. Hopefully, we’ll... w-we’ll get... away...” He trailed off slowly, that thought from earlier coming back to him.

“Dad?” Quentin tugged on Chase’s shirt. “Is everything okay?”

Chase? Jameson asked.

Chase took a deep breath and looked over at him. “Jameson... I have a question. This... situation. We’ve found ourselves in. Is it... familiar to you?”

Jameson tilted his head. What do you mean?

“The cliffs,” Chase said quietly. “The fire. The King being here. Is it... is it like your...?”

Jameson realized what Chase was asking. He gasped out loud, color draining from his face, and he looked back over his shoulder towards the conflict. For a moment, he was silent. Chase, he finally said. This... this might be it. No, I... I think you’re right. I think this is it.

Chase went pale. He shook his head. “No. N-no, it can’t be.”

Why not? Jameson asked.

“Because I can’t fight the King now!” Chase protested. “Not when I have my kids to look after!”

“Whoa! Dad, you’re going to fight the King?!” Amabel gasped.

“Well—I’m supposed to,” Chase said. “Jameson, he’s a—” He stopped, hesitating.

I see the future, Jameson said. And I know that your dad here can defeat the king. I’ve seen him do it, while on a cliff’s edge with a burning forest in the distance.

Quentin gasped. “Dad? Dad can do that?!”

“I...” Chase swallowed a lump in his throat. “No, I-I can’t.”

“Why not?” Quentin asked, confused. 

“Because I have to make sure you get to safety,” Chase said. “I’m your father. I need to protect you above all else.”

Amabel and Quentin glanced at each other, and then Amabel stepped forward. “If you defeat the King... Mom will go back to normal, right?” she asked.

Chase felt his stomach drop. “Well... I don’t... I-I think so?”

“And so will everyone else from home?” Amabel asked.

“Y-yea.”

“Then you have to do it, Dad,” she said firmly.

“Wh-what?!” Chase gasped. “I-I can’t just leave you out here! Not with warriors nearby.”

Jameson briefly put a hand on Chase’s shoulder. I’ll look after them, Chase.

“You don’t have to worry about us!” Quentin said. “If you defeat the bad guy, then all this will stop anyway!”

“That’s not—not exactly how it works,” Chase said slowly. “I-I think.” He wasn’t sure what would happen after the King was defeated. Would all his enchantments disappear? Or would they remain until Jack dispelled them?

...Jack...

Jack was still a prisoner in his own body. And he would continue to be... until that spirit was taken care of.

And everyone else—everyone who had been enchanted. The spirit would never release his hold on them willingly. They would remain under his spell until he was defeated.

And the enchanted warriors would continue to come after his family... after his children. 

Could he really defeat an evil spirit?

Well... there was only one way to find out, wasn’t there?

Chase took a deep breath. He looked at Jameson. “Protect them.”

Jameson nodded solemnly. I’ll guard them with my life. I swear. He bowed his head a little. Good luck. Make the future happen.

Chase gave him a wavering smile. “Don’t add pressure to it.” Then he looked at Amabel and Quentin. “I’ll be—I-I’ll try to be right back. You’re going to go out west. Keep to the coastline, with the ocean in sight. That way, I’ll know which direction to head to find you.”

“We won’t go too far, Dad,” Amabel said.

Jameson nodded. I’ll keep them within sight of the fire. While we were on the ship, I spotted  an outcropping of rock not too far from here, that will probably be a good place to wait.

“Rock outcropping. Got it.” Chase nodded. “I’ll... I’ll see you all soon.” He knelt down in front of the kids and wrapped them both in a tight hug. “I love you. So much.”

“We love you too, Dad!” Quentin said.

“Yeah, we love you!” Amabel agreed.

Chase closed his eyes, trying to seal this moment in his memory forever. The King had separated him from his family in the first place. That was what started all this. Now, he was being separated from them again. But he was doing it willingly. He was doing it... to end this. 

He opened his eyes again and stood up. He looked at Jameson. “I love you too... brother.”

Jameson blinked, surprised. Then he immediately started tearing up. And I love you as well, brother, he said, hands shaking. Good luck.

“Good luck.” Chase bowed his head. Jameson bowed his head back, then took the two kids by the hands and led them away, heading into the safety of darkness.

Chase watched them go for a moment. He saw Quentin glance back at him and wave, and he waved back. Amabel didn’t look. But he knew that didn’t mean she didn’t care. He waited until their figures started to blend into the shadows. Then he turned back around, to the smoke and the fire. He took a deep breath, covered his nose and mouth with his shirt, and plunged back into the smoke.

[georgiaandgray]

House Arrest With A Stranger (Suburbia, With

The first day after Thor and Loki left was the hardest.

The house, already a bit battered and patched up with Strange’s casual magic, felt too big without Thor’s booming laughter or Loki’s sarcastic asides crackling through the walls.

The boys were restless.

Erik spent hours staring out the window like he expected to see his father march back up the driveway at any moment, covered in glory and dust. Leif attempted to practice “battle drills” in the backyard, much to the irritation of Strange, who kept flicking wayward soccer balls back at him without looking up from the book he had summoned to float lazily at eye level.

And little Peter asked every hour if they could "go find Dad now."

Elise made peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and kept the laundry rotating, feeling like she was treading water against a tide of growing anxiety. Strange, at least, made himself vaguely useful.

The first morning, he took stock of the defenses around the house, setting small but powerful magical wards around the perimeter. They shimmered faintly in the daylight — golden runes etched into the air itself — and Strange gave strict orders that none of the boys were to cross them.

"And don't poke them," Strange added, watching Leif suspiciously.

"Why not?" Leif asked immediately, eyes lighting up with mischief.

"Because I don’t want to explain to Thor why his son exploded." That seemed to do the trick. Strange was a strange houseguest — no pun intended.

He didn’t eat much, didn’t sleep much, and seemed to treat the whole situation like an extended meditation retreat.

The Cloak of Levitation often floated independently around the house, occasionally bumping into Peter or attempting (badly) to fold laundry, which made the little boy giggle uncontrollably.

One rainy afternoon, Elise found Strange in the living room, sipping coffee out of her "Best Mom Ever" mug and flipping through the boys’ comic books with an almost academic seriousness.

"You’re going to wrinkle those," Elise said lightly, folding fresh towels.

Strange peered over the book.

"Do you know how many multiversal threats have started with an innocent child and a cheap comic book?"

"Do you know how many multiversal threats have been stopped by a tired mom with a wooden spoon?" Elise countered.

For the first time, Strange cracked a real, warm smile.

"I can see why Thor fell for you," he said. Elise, busy sorting socks, just laughed.

"They all fell for me," she said wryly. "Even Loki. He just pretends otherwise."

Strange’s eyebrows shot up.

"You know?"

"I have eyes, Doctor," she said, smirking.

Before Strange could reply, there was a crash in the backyard.

Elise and Strange bolted to the back door to find Leif and Henrik trying to "train" again, this time with sticks they had clearly enchanted (badly — very badly) to move on their own.

The sticks whipped around wildly, smacking into each other, the fence, and nearly into Peter, who was clapping with unholy glee. Strange cursed under his breath and with a wave of his hand, the sticks dropped like dead snakes.

"You said no magic," he barked.

Henrik's chin lifted defiantly.

"Dad wouldn't have let us just sit here."

Strange opened his mouth — then hesitated. Because that was true, wasn’t it? Thor believed in action. He believed in fighting for what mattered. But Thor also trusted Elise. And here, she was the general.

"No magic," Elise said firmly, stepping forward.

She reached out, brushing Henrik's hair off his forehead, so gentle and steady he didn’t flinch even though he clearly wanted to.

"Not until your father comes back. Promise me."

One by one, the boys grumbled but gave their word.

Satisfied, Strange muttered a few more wards into the air for good measure.

As the day faded into evening, Elise made grilled cheese sandwiches and soup, serving them up while the boys argued over cartoons and Strange pretended not to be amused. It was domestic. It was cozy.

But under it all ran a taut thread of fear.

When the boys finally passed out in a pile on the couch, sticky with cheese and exhaustion, Elise found herself at the sink, absently scrubbing dishes she had already washed twice. Strange approached quietly, his expression softer than usual.

"They’ll be back," he said simply.

Elise turned off the faucet, gripping the counter to steady herself.

"I know," she said. But her voice trembled.

And Strange, who had seen too many wars and too many women waiting at the edges of them, said nothing more.

He just sat down at the kitchen table, opened his spellbook, and kept watch with her. Together, in the flickering light of the ordinary world, they waited for the gods to return.

[countrymusiclover]

1 - Never Get a Break

Part 2

Family is More than Blood

@secretdreamlandmentality

Mature don't read if you're not 18 +

When we're young, we're taught the distinction between a hero and a villain,good and evil,a savior and a lost cause.

But what if the only real difference is just who's telling the story?

I come from a long line of the villains in the tales you've heard about vampires,werewolves, witches, and everything in between.

The school behind these gates protects the secrets of people like me and my children.

My name is Raelyn Mikaelson, I was born a siphon witch of the Gemini coven. The wife to Klaus Mikaelson and the mother to his four beautiful children…the only vampire in existence to be able to have children once they turn.

I could go into the long and complicated story and how all this happened but you already know everything for the most part. So let’s jump into what has happened since two years ago we finally put the Hollow down and we rid the world of its magic forever.

Hope, Alina and Missy are eighteen now. Andrea is finally a teenager. I can hardly believe it. Little Henrik is seven now. And if I’m right Lizzie and Josie should be fifteen and will turn sixteen soon. I know if you were still here you would be over the moon about all of this.

Hope isn’t a full Tribrid yet she still needs to become a vampire. Missy has become a heretic like me and J. Oh Alina and Jackson are going to school together and she has now become what I call her a werewitch. Andrea should follow her path someday when she and Henrik trigger their wolf curse. Then my little boy will have to die and become a hybrid just like his father.

Caroline has run off again in search of a cure for the merge before her twins turn twenty-two. I try to remain hopeful she will find one since I can’t provide it for her anymore ... .oh Jacob and Hayley are living with us in Mystic Falls even though we aren’t actually there at the moment.

You know Klaus, he promised me the world and everything and he won’t go back on a promise. Regardless I love and miss you with all my heart, I’m not sure why I am writing these letters even though you can’t ever read them, but it has become a hobby. I’ll write more later.

Love you mom, Rae.

Closing the book on my lap I lifted my head upwards seeing my husband come in from the kitchen in our hotel room. He insisted we have the best sweat possible. He smiled, tossing me a blood bag that we had kept in the mini fridge. "With all the letters you wrote to her you could have a whole book written, love."

"Yeah a book that no one can know about. With it saying supernatural creatures are actually real. I'm not sure a publisher would believe anything I'm saying." I sent him a glare tearing open the blood bag drinking from it slowly.

He came and sat down beside me making the bed dip at his weight. His eyes softened when he focused on me. “I could just compel them to ignore that little detail.”

“Then it wouldn’t be real, Nikkaus. If I ever wanted to tell our story. I want everything to be real. Everything to be true and see people’s reactions. But that’s not what you want to talk about is it?” I sent him a smirk, being able to read him like the back of my hand after all these years.

Klaus flopped down beside me on the bed crossing his arms behind his head. “So where do you wish to go in this big wide world next?”

“Nik, we’ve literally almost been all over the planet. New Orleans, then Paris, then Italy. I mean honestly we can’t just snap our fingers and run all over the earth.” I shook my head at him rolling onto my side so we were facing each other.

He reached up playing with hair in between his fingers while he spoke. “We’re vampires, Raelyn. We can do whatever we want. Especially you and me. After all, we are two of the strongest creatures on the planet.”

“Ah I see. You’re still holding back what you want to talk about. Spit it out or I’ll find out through a tickle ear.” I threatened him with a playful smirk on my face scooting closer to him.

Klaus used his vampire speed vamping above me trapping me in between his body and the mattress of the bed. “You said that we would try again for another baby once the kids were older. The triplets are adults now so…can we?”

“Oh my god you’re ridiculous Niklaus. I have only been denying for two years and it’s already driving you crazy!” I smacked his chest with my hands feeling my face turn red at the thoughts running through my mind.

I wouldn’t lie to myself and say that I didn’t want to sleep with him again. I mean we would always be attracted to one another forever. But we had both agreed that until things had settled down that we would do it again. After Lucien/Marcel and the Hollow we had been separated every time we were so close to a stable relationship with our kids. I couldn’t live through anymore time apart from the man I loved. "You're ridiculous, Nik. Are you seriously that needy.” I couldn’t not tease him not believing that he would be so demanding of us sleeping together again. I mean of course I enjoy it who wouldn’t when you have someone like him.

I attempted to get up from the bed but he snagged my wrist holding me still in my place.

He spun me back down onto the bed holding my wrists above my head. “Raelyn, surely you’ve felt the desire too. I mean it can’t just be me now..”

He trailed his hand underneath my shirt feeling me jump at his fingertips. “Nik please , ah!”

Klaus leans down, capturing my lips with his in a deep hungry kiss. I kissed him back gently before he started moving kisses down my face. “Ah ah I see what I do to you, Mrs. Mikaelson. That you are so sensitive just as I am.” He kissed down, nuzzling his nose into my neck as he went.

“Ohh Klaus!” I moaned, throwing my head back against the pillows. One hand was bawling the fabric of his shirt in my fingers.

He moaned, crashing his lips onto mine again where I wrapped my arms around his neck. “See you don’t want to leave this bed just as much as I do. Hmm…you can’t….help…yourself either.”

“Klaus stop. I…if you’re going to tease me…get it over with please!” I scooted up onto the pillows feeling my chest heaving up and down with the veins going underneath my eyes.

Klaus sat up on his knees shrugging his gray Henley over his head tossing it somewhere across the room. He moved his hands down to my shirt, tearing it in half. “Gentle or dominant, love?” He questioned throwing my torn shirt off the edge of the bed.

“Either way I don’t care. I just want you right now.” I told him, taking his face in my hands, I drew him in for another kiss.

He smiled into the kiss moving one hand through my hair deepening the kiss. Our hands were moving everywhere across each other. We both began to moan when he fisted the other's hair. “If we have another baby….ah…what should we name it.” My husband breathed out holding himself up by his hands on either side.

“Niklaus shut up and make love to me!” I began to move against him and leaned up pressing my lips down upon his. He embraced me back instantly when my fingers dug into his back, drawing blood that would heal later. He ran his body over every inch of my body he could reach, both of us slick with sweat as he moved against one another, our pants and moans filling the room.

The bed was moving against our actions where he kept hitting the specific spot that we both moaned afterwards to. He broke the kiss where I held his face in my hands tracing his cheek with him thrusting into me slowly. “Rae, I love you!” He moaned when I pulled his head downward burying my face in his neck nuzzling my nose and kissing into his skin.

“I love you too, Nik.” Grabbing a hold of his shoulders I flipped him onto his back catching him off guard where he flashed his hybrid eyes up at me.

He put his hands behind his head looking longingly up at me like this with him. His eyes scanned my neck before he sat up with me sitting on his lap. “Do you want to give this another go?” He traced his thumb over the vein in my neck.

“Absolutely. We belong to each other.” I smiled, brushing my long hair out of his way. My eyes never left his while put his head in the crook of my neck breaking the skin and drinking my sweet blood.

Not wasting a second I buried my face into his neck drinking his blood with the same gentle yet needy feeling running through our veins at this moment. He kept his face in the crook of my neck while our bodies were just molding against each other. We shortly reached our heights in only a matter of minutes where he drew his head back when I harshly tugged on his hair until the phone was ringing like crazy . “Bloody hell…you’ve got to be kidding me!”

“Who is it?” I grabbed my phone from the nightstand with me still staying as close to Nik as I was.

Hope’s voice came through the phone shocking us both never thinking we would hear something like that. “Mom. Dad, we just had to face a dragon. Alairc wants you guys to come back to school now.”

“Uh okay. We’ll book the next flight home.” Hanging up the phone Klaus sent me the same confused look before we separated and got dressed, both annoyed that we apparently couldn’t have a rest from craziness. Especially when we live in Mystic Falls.

Comments really appreciated ❤️

[cute-and-undead]

Jackie followed Marvin into the office, letting them do whatever adjustments they needed to do and keeping quiet as they did so. Now that he wasn’t actively doing any fighting, it began to hurt so much more. The prominent pulse on each slash was felt through his whole face, and it only made the dark that much scarier. It was all just pain, no visuals to distract from the sharp shocks.

So when instructed to keep his eyes open, he leaned down towards the sound of running water as he nodded. The fact that Marvin kept the blood from flowing into his eyes helped, but he still let put soft pained sounds as he let the water go info his open eyes.

“Hey… it’s Chase.” As they worked, Chase came in behind them and walked over to the sink. He introduced himself for Jackie’s sake, placing a gentle hand on the hero’s back and rubbing it slowly in silent support.

Meanwhile, Jen went over to Numa with Ugear. He deserved this chance to get this anger out, especially since he wasn’t around to assist in Mavri’s passing. So when he began to lay into her, she forced her to pay attention to every punch and shout. There was no way she could move, Numa still bound by the roots, but Jen shifted the thorns into something more dulled. She would feel the wrath Ugear had been building up for years. There was no ignoring it, not on Jen’s watch.

Henrik let them go, briefly looking over to see Ugear punch Numa across the face. He then quickly turned back to his husband, just petting him and enjoying this brief moment of calm. He did need to go upstairs and help his friends soon though, leading to him speaking softly to the wolf.

“If I let you go with me upstairs, do you promise to be nice and gentle with our friends? Because I don’t want to have you away from me, but I will if I have to.” He hated phrasing things this way, feeling like he was speaking to a child, but he had to make sure Anti understood exactly what he was saying. He couldn’t risk any more accidental blood on the demon’s hands.

Don't Say My Name [ x ]

@cute-and-undead

Anti was out on a job, looking for a mage that was supposedly becoming trouble. Usually, the demon treated these jobs strictly as work, but this assignment was a little bit different. It had a personal touch that sparked something within him. As he was being given the details of who he was tracking down, the name Numa came up. It took a moment for Anti to recognize it as Mavri's old assistant, but once it clicked, he was instantly on the case. He set out to look for her, a craving for vengeance settling in his chest.

The demon found her without too much trouble, and a fight ensued, but Numa had tricks up her sleeve. She was prepared - in fact, it was almost like she was waiting for this moment. As Anti shifted and attacked her, Numa unleashed a spell on him that seemed to turn him into her own personal guard dog. He obeyed her every command without a second thought.

That was how the two of them ended up in the field behind the septic household, Numa standing next to Anti. He stood on all fours, a harsh look in his eyes as he stared ahead.

"Call for them," Numa commanded, a devious look in her eyes. Anti was the reason her mentor was gone, so she intended to make him pay.

Anti didn't think twice, lifting his head and releasing a long howl. He hardly ever howled, only ever doing so when he really felt he needed to, and the sound was distiguishable from other wolves because it sounded much deeper. The sound resonated through the field, reaching the house that stood a ways away from where they stood.

[inkribbon796]

Egotober 2022 Day 24: Thriller Night

Summary: Harvest Day is a special festival in the city, that unfortunately for the heroes they would get to attend all of it on this particular year.

A/N: Hey, look, it’s that Silver vs zombie raccoon story I promised literally years ago.

Prompt: Zombie

Characters: Silver, Marvin, Jackie, Iplier, Robbie

Chapters: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31

~::~ Ten Years Ago ~::~

The city liked to throw a little Harvest Day Festival about a week before Halloween. Silver liked to make an appearance. One, because he just loved the holiday and liked to make a little game about how to dress up and keep his identity hidden. And two, because sometimes he and the other heroes were a good deterrent against teen vandalism.

Villains were also attracted to large groups of people, so that was an additional third reason. The vandalism was more common.

Silver was talking to people when a little ten-year-old boy ran over, his mother not far behind him.

“Silver! It’s Silver, mommy.” The little boy had on a striped black and white shirt and zombie make-up on his face.

“Hey little guy,” Silver knelt down to get closer to him, making a glancing check at his mother before looking back at the kid. “What’s your name?”

“I’m Robbie,” he smiled.

“Well, nice to meet you Robbie,” Silver smiled.

Robbie asked Silver to sign his little treat bag and Silver did before Robbie’s mom thanked him and after a bit led Robbie away to the rest of the furniture. Silver would not see the boy or his mother for the rest of the night. But they would meet again. When Robbie was older and being taken under Henrik’s wing as his apprentice. But for now, the little boy in his zombie make-up walked away, and Silver went about watching the crowd. Making sure no one was causing too much trouble. A little bit was okay, but a fight was something else.

Marvin and Jackie had arrived as well an hour in. Something about Anti being spotted in the area so Silver was braced for Anti to show up and attack someone. There were a lot of families here, some with young children. Silver saw at least two wheel chaired children, one young teen with a crutch, and three parents or grandparents with walkers. He mentally labeled them as high priority because in a rush of stampede they wouldn’t be able to evacuate as quickly.

He was relaying that to Jackie and Marvin when Silver heard the first scream. It wasn’t Anti. Anti, against all odds, decided to wait until Halloween to cause trouble that year. He already had a target he was working on torturing and one Halloween night the heroes would find that body in the man’s house. Tonight, Silver was racing off to find the common and he saw one of the rogue mages that like to terrorize the city on occassion. She was older and she and Marvin had a bit of a rivalry. But normally she was a petty thief and attacked when provoked.

Tonight she was pulling a screaming child along.

Silver flew over and snatched the child away, the small boy was shaking and clutching onto a little squirrel plushie he was holding. The kid was in a little red cape and a fake crown.

“Hey! Hey!” Silver shouted and the mage took off. Jackie and Marvin followed after her as she turned into a bird and flew off.

“Kay!”

The boy in his arms began screaming and crying and Silver quickly let him go so he could run over to the man coming over to them. He was in a warm coat and the kid threw himself into the man’s arms as he cried. The man had dark hair and a mustache and beard.

“Kaylor, you cannot stray that far from me,” the man said and looked back at Silver cautiously.

“He alright?” Silver asked.

“Clearly not,” the man said, holding the boy close to him.

“Everyone else alright?” Silver asked.

“Yes, I took my eye off of him for a second to talk to one of his brothers,” the man said. “People steal children all the time in this town, I should have kept a better eye on him.”

“We stopped it tonight,” Silver promised. “Tonight is better.”

“Right,” the man said. “Come along Kay, your siblings will be happy to see you’re safe.”

The small boy didn’t say anything, just clinging to his father’s jacket and sniffling.

“Hope you have a better night,” Silver said.

The man picked the boy up when he didn’t move to pull away. Then he turned to Silver. “Thank you, though.”

“It’s my job, happy to do it,” Silver said as Damien turned away from Silver, thankful that the hero wasn’t good at seeing through magical glamor.

Silver zipped back to try and find Jackie and Marvin and they were standing in front of an above ground sewer entrance.

“She in there?” Silver asked, hovering just above the ground.

“Yeah, bracing myself to have to burn another costume,” Marvin groaned.

“Not liking how she just tried to abduct a kid, that’s new,” Silver said.

Eager to fish the witch back out, Silver started to move into the sewer, taking off his cape and folding it into his pocket in his suit. The superhero called out into the foul smelling tunnel as he flew in, trying to listen.

They weren’t deep into the sewer system but it was enough to smell it. Marvin’s magic chased after him to cover his mouth and head protectively from disease and dampen the smell just enough.

“Hey, why are you so far in town?” Silver asked as he tried to listen for movement, braced for attack. “Thought you hated people.”

“What have you done?” The Witch’s voice seemed to bounce off all the walls.

“Don’t know, you’re the one suddenly kidnapping kids,” Silver said.

“That is no child, not anymore,” she said. “And now I will not get another chance.”

“That’s good,” Silver said. “No more kidnapping kids. The theft of magical ingredients, I get, but I’m not going to let you kidnap people.”

“Then my revenge shall be just,” she said and finally Silver spotted magic being casted in the darkness. Before he could fly in, something was lifting out of the rushing river of sewage.

It was a huge raccoon, almost as big as Silver was. It looked like it was sewn together and the eyes were white. The stretch of death somehow managed to overpower the festering odor of sewage.

The zombified, giant raccoon jumped and the witch escaped.

Marvin flew in to help him and together the two were able to vanquish the zombie raccoon. It died and Silver was suffering some bad-looking bite wounds. And they rushed him over to the clinic that Dr. Iplier was working at.

It was late, and the man was about to go home when Jackie and Marvin came in without costumes. Marvin still had a simple cloth mask covering his mouth and nose.

Dr. Iplier froze when he saw them.

“Hey, Doc,” Mark smiled sheepishly, out of his Silver Shepherd costume entirely.

“The fuck happened to you?” Dr. Iplier demanded. “Why do all of you smell like shit?”

“Funny you say that,” Jack smiled. With his mask gone, Iplier almost couldn’t recognize him.

Iplier rolled his eyes but ushered them in to clean and more importantly disinfect Silver and Marvin’s wounds. And then get them both all kinds of shots set up. Rabies and tetanus shots were given to both with other shots coming the next week as an “extra precaution for the idiots swimming in shit stew” as Iplier called it.

Within a week Iplier would stop being angry at them, and start laughing about the idea of them being beaten up by a demon raccoon in the sewers. He’d laugh specifically at Silver because they had a longer report together.

It’d be all fun and games until Silver started to turn into a zombie from his bites, which was cured the same day he presented symptoms but Jackie wound up breaking his arm in the struggle to subdue the hero. Two doors, three door frames, and a wall would also be destroyed in the fight.

Not the worst day in the base, but it would get more laughs out of Iplier so it wasn’t a complete disaster.

[crimsonlyinglilly]

DAY 4: ALT 1: major character death, Day 5: ALT 3: pick who dies and DAY 26: concealing an injury and DAY 27: post-victory collapse(sort of)

more for @febuwhump, several in one to catch up.

more from Stolen Three, Elijah finds himself becoming Mikaelson Collateral, set The Original Season 1 x 19

----

Healing had never been something Elijah had learned, it was one of the few things Dahlia never tried to teach them as it kept them reliant on her, and after the sleep spell granted them a type of immortality it wasn’t needed.

That was something he truly hated now, as it left him only being able to ease the pain of those he could have- should have been able to save.

Including himself.

He had been ignoring the growing difficulty he had as he breathed and hiding the aching pain as well, it wasn’t that hard he had grown up knowing just what pain he could show and how to use magic to numb it otherwise.

He must have broken something in the first explosion and hadn't wanted to take any attention from the others more in need, Jackson needed to focus on his pack. He had realised it was worse than he had first assumed not long before the second explosions but by then he noticed it was too late.

Modern era was fascinating, the development in medicine and technology and easy spread of information had grown in the last century. He has spent most of his plane journeys looking into how the body worked, medical dramas had become a guilty pleasure.

It was that that helped him realise how badly he had miscalculated by ignoring the pain after he had used a break from helping to lift his shirt to find  much of his torso a bruise and solid, blood filling the area it shouldn’t. Even without even finishing the medical course his body was enrolled in before he woke he knew it was too late to get to a hospital.

It wasn’t the first time he was dying, last time he had borrowed a body he had felt it fade in old age, as joints stiffened and organs failed.

He had died a few times in his own body, while they were joined he felt what his siblings and aunt did, so he felt Freya's poison, the time Finn's vampire had drained him, the few times his underground ring opponent’s got a lucky hit.

Dying had always been a second concern after his aunt's reaction to it.

This was a mix of them all, the growing exhaustion from the blood lost, burning from dying muscles and aching throbbing of his whole body, only his aunt would never know, this time.

It wasn’t a real death for him unlike the unfortunate people he held as they breathed their last, people he had gotten to know in the last two years.

So if he wasn't truly going to die, there was a permanence to it. While he knew he'd be waking up in around a year, he was going to lose the short lived freedom, the people he had met.

So even as he had tried to distract himself from the growing trouble he found himself mourning the few extra months he could have had, just as Jackson was freed from the curse, just as he met Hayley.

The second round of explosions had just infuriated him as a reminder he would not be around to help them find the ones who set it up.

Being awake one year every century made it hard to connect to those that had the freedom Live, but he had, made friends, formed relationships and now they were dying because he never thought to learn healing even in his brief freedoms from Dahlia and he wouldn’t even be able to avenge them and protect them for what was coming.

He was a powerful witch and once again it was useless, only this time it was his own fault at least.

“HELP.” Oliver’s scream dragged him from the daze he had found himself falling into, “SOMEBODY HELP!” It took him far too long to get himself to move and by the time he got there he found Henrik Mikaelson lift the mobile home so Oliver could pull Eve out.

“Come on, Eve. Come on. It's okay. You're gonna be okay.” Oliver promised, and Elijah found himself blinking as he was forced to lean on a tree watching as Henrik carried Eve towards a cabin. 

He tried to take a deep breath as he realised what the increase in his lost moments meant and ended up coughing spitting blood as the taste of copper filled his mouth and started to take shorter breaths before he followed, it seemed he had even less time than he thought.

“That wound should be healing by now.” He caught the youngest Mikaelson saying as he entered. Eve’s shirt was lifted to show a large bandaged wound.

“She never killed anyone, never activated the werewolf gene.” Oliver explained “So she can't heal, not like us.”

“My blood,” the boy-man offered earnestly, “it could heal her.”

“Vampire blood? Trust me, she'd rather die.” Oliver snapped, Elijah leant against a wall to focus on breathing and staying aware, being stuck as a fourteen year old had to suck he realised looking at the youngest Original, a thousand years old and still looking like a child compare to those who would seem like literal children  “Look, we can't just let them get away with this.” Oliver counitied shifting the attention from Eve to revenge.

“We don't even know who's to blame.” Jackson said as he stood from Eve’s side. Elijah winced as he watched Jackson level a warning glare at Oliver, there had to be a level head to help Jackson manage Oliver and others who would follow him in the desire for revenge, Eve had pretty much been leading the untriggered of the pack for years she was known and trusted.

“The hell we don't!“ Oliver shouted and Elijah heaved a sigh as he realised what was needed, unfortunately it set off coughing fit making the three suddenly aware of him.

He clasped a hand over his mouth as more blood filled it.

“Eli!” Jackson and Oliver called, Jackson started to step towards him but it was Oliver that caught him as his legs gave out.

“I smell your blood.” Oliver commented as he managed to regain control of his coughing, Elijah gave him a bloody smile as he pulled his hand away, looking at it for a moment to see the mess, blood dripping from his palm and chunks of clots.

“Fuck!” Oliver exclaimed, before he could reply Jackson filled his vision.

“What happened? When?” Jackson demanded as one of his hands cupped Elijah’s face as the other started to look for an injury, he allowed himself to lean into the warm hand, he took in the care in the gesture and made no attempt to stop it when Jackson lifted his shirt. 

“Shit!” Oliver’s voice cut in and forced Elijah to open his eyes when he didn’t remember closing them, Jackson was staring in horror “why didn’t you show anyone?”

“I was focused on the other, and hadn't realised how bad it was until it became too late.” he answered,his voice pulling Jackson's eyes up to meet him.

There wasn’t any denial in Jackson’s eyes he knew what he meant.

“Too late?” Oliver echoed

“Do either of you have a knife?” He asked, “preferably a sharp one.”

“You're a witch,” Henrik cut in as Jackson slowly pulled out one. “Do you know any healing spells?”

Elijah smiled bitterly at the reminder of the hole in his education really, but why would Dahlia teach them something they could use when running from her? He knew how to lighten bruises but internal bleeding was beyond him.

“She needs to trigger her curse,” he pointed out, his hand lingering on Jacksons as he took the knife and forced himself to step away from Jackson to Eve’s side. 

“We're not picking who dies.” Oliver shook his head,

“No, because there is no choice.” he said “She kills me, triggers her curse and heals or we both die because neither of us will live long enough to get to a hospital.”

“My blood could save you.” Henrik offered,

“Not me,” he shrugged “and I feel it would be insulting to turn this body into a vampire.” almost grinning at the confusion on the vampire’s face.

Eve woke with a groan as Elijah sat on the bed.

“Elijah?” she said as he noticed who he was, frowning and forcing herself up beside the clear pain as she noticed something, maybe the blood likely on his face “what’s wrong-”

“Eve,” he cut her off, “you need to trigger the curse.”

“No.” she refused flatly

“Evie!” Oliver called, Elijah caught the sound of a hand landing on his shoulder to pull him back.

“It’s her choice.” Jackson defended and Elijah hated one of the last things he was about to do was undermine him.

“I’m dying and I'd rather it not be pointless.” he told her, catching the pain and grief in her eyes as she looked from him to those behind him.

One death was better than two and a quick one now was kinder than a few hours as breathing grew harder.

“What?”

“I’m sorry to be manipulative,” he said lightly “but the pack needs you to calm them, Hayley needs you to be there for the baby, and I can't be there so you have to.”

“You want me to kill you?”

“Think of it as a mercy if it helps.” he about to give her more reasons before the itching at the back of his throat grew and he was choking, coughing up blood and bile.

Elijah wheezed in the aftermath, suddenly aware of the chest his back was against and the knife in her hand. He met her eyes and let himself relax into Jackson’s arms at her determination.

“Fine.” Eve sighed.

“I’ll leave you,” Henrik said as he moved, caughting onto the new tension in the cabin,

“Thank you,” Elijah forced out, making him freeze at the door “for helping.”

 “I’m sorry, I couldn't do more.”

Elijah eyed the torn and bloody mess of his clothes, skin and hair.

“You did everything you could.” he replied “That’s enough.”

“Why hide it?” Jackson as the door closed, leaving him with Jackson, Olliver and Eve.

“Hoping to hold out until after everyone was treated and the culprit caught then I'd have to fallen into your arms in a post-victory collapse.” he tried for cheer, it would have been a dramatic end for his brief escape,

“This isn't funny.” Oliver snarked

“It was always going to happen,” he reminded them and himself, he didn't get to mourn and they shouldn’t have to, “This was always temporary but you all make this life better.” He finished barely able to stop another coughing fit, even with his magic numbing most the pain, breathing hurt, his heart beating felt like it hurt.

“Are you ready?” Jackson asked, his voice audible thick.

“Yes.” he smiled, lifting one hand to tangle in Jackson's hair one last time. “Thank you.” 

He feels it, the sudden sharp stab by he doesn’t look away more blood forces its way up his throat by he locks his jaw, his magic fails and for a moment it feels all of the pain.

His vision dims but Elijah keeps his eyes on Jackson, as he feels his body fall limp against him.

The last thing in all his senses Jackson.

—-

Elijah wakes with a sudden cry, choking on pain he no longer felt.

He couldn't catch his breath.

“Elijah.” His name was called as he was suddenly pulled into a solid chest, his hand moved to catch the century old material and he curled into his brother's hold.

He missed Finn, he had always missed his siblings.

“What's wrong?” Finn’s asks, Elijah wordlessly shakes his head as he calmed himself from the echo of death.

“Do either of you know where you sister is?” A cold voice snapped and they both flinched, Elijah tried to pull away but Finn just tightened his grip.

Right he remembered as pulled himself out of Finn’s grip but not to far from him, Freya hadn’t returned before their last sleep.

Dahlia stepped towards them regrading them with a cool glare.

His brief freedom was over.

[maxineswritingcenter]

Passing The Torch - Niklaus x OC - Part 1

The Original Wife

Banner by maysdigitalarts

Klaus x OC (sorry) because isn't that why I started writing this blog

Kenaz has gone by many names, but one must never be spoken. Traveling, on the run, for centuries. But the past is always bound to repeat itself. 

----------

Life has always been pain. Followed by death and loss. Forever striving for the life she could never have. A life that was promised to her, taken away in blood. 

-

The 10th Century, Mystic Falls

The name she was given as an infant was Kenaz, the literal translation of the word in her native tongue meant “torch”. Harnessing the flame for warmth. Her father had always called her his little flame. He said that in the darkest times, like when her mother died, that she led him back to the light. Her childhood was a happy one, or as happy as can be. The wars had ended, there was peace with the nearby werewolf clan, and her magic grew stronger by the day thanks to her teacher, Esther Mikaelson. The arrangement began with her father asking the leader of the Mikaelson clan, Mikael, if his daughter could be trained under his wife in exchange for his leather goods. Mikael accepted. 

In her time under Esther, Kenaz had grown to know the Mikaelson children. Finn, always quiet and stuck to his mother’s elbow. Elijah, so kind and headstrong. Kol, a witch like his mother, was her classmate under Esther. There was little Rebekah, who dreamed of finding a prince and living out a life of happiness. The youngest, Henrik, always following in his siblings’ wake. And then there was the boy in the middle, the one who had captivated her, who made her heart flutter in her chest. Niklaus was the middle child, his mother’s favorite and his father’s most despised. 

Nik was an artist, whether it was witling toys for his sister or painting on pieces of bark. With her knowledge of herbs and flowers in the area, she brought him what he needed. He would grind the plants with water to create a watered down paste for his paintings. 

By the time they were eighteen they had been married, a union that Mikael had called a blessing in disguise. He believed that since Niklaus had a wife, something to protect, that he would finally be a warrior. But there was never any pleasing Mikael. 

In the beginning, their lives were perfect. Their own house, a family beginning in just a few months time. But then came Tatia. 

Tatia had come to the village a widow and a mother. Though she was rarely seen with the child who was kept with their grandmother. When she arrived, the community including Kenaz had welcomed her. But perhaps she had been too welcoming. 

Her looks, her bewitching nature had not only captured steady Elijah’s heart, but soon enough, she had taken Niklaus away. 

-

Mystic Falls, 1858

Kate was young, twenty-three by her looks, but eight hundred and eighty-one in truth. 

When Mr. Salvatore first hired her on as a governess for his two sons, he had asked for her story. She told him that her entire family, including her husband, had died of fever. She left for a better life of her own and only wished to teach children of the world. 

It had only been a few short months since Mr. Salvatore’s wife had died of an illness herself. Leaving his nineteen year old son, Damon, and ten year old son, Stefan, motherless and in need of a woman’s care. With a carefully placed charm, the job was hers. 

Stefan was a very sweet and kind little boy. He had a thirst for knowledge and a kind touch. A touch that Kate was more than happy to give. 

Damon was a fool-hardy boy with enough charm that if she were the girl she used to be, she would blush. Mr. Salvatore told her that Damon’s studies would be kept with him, but that didn’t stop her from teaching him humility, kindness, compassion. 

When she wasn’t working at the Salvatore manor, she spent her days in a sleepy cabin on the edge of town, drying herbs and keeping watch over the ruins of the village she had once called home. 

-

Mystic Falls, 2009 

Kass had become the mysterious new teacher for a time until the next one rolled in. She was young, meaning every hormone ridden boy was in love, reminding her of a sweet boy from long ago. One she hadn’t been able to save. 

It was the start of a new school year after the summer had left the town in tragedy. The Gilberts had been killed in a car accident, leaving their daughter and son in the hands of their aunt. Of course, when she saw their daughter, she saw why their life was surrounded by tragedy. Another doppelgänger. 

One could only hope that it would end differently this time, different than the sadness that followed her. She needed to protect this one before he found her, if she could muster the courage to. 

The school day was just starting, meaning that it was the beginning of the new semester. Of course, this day was going to be the day that started the nightmare all over again. 

She saw the eyes that used to look up at her as she taught him the ways of the world, that looked on in wonder, green eyes, Stefan’s eyes. 

It was early morning, most of the students would still be outside. But he was walking around, backpack in one hand and a schedule in the other. 

“Stefan...” She whispered, he immediately looked up, looking like he was seeing a ghost. 

“Kate?” 

---------

Read part two here!

New series? I hope the format isn’t too weird. 

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[http-anti]

Being able to see the way Henrik's gaze darkened in real time was a treat in itself and it made Marvin's insides stir in the best way. And that promise to make them feel better than even Chase could? That was quite the feat and it piqued Marvin's curiosity. Now they definitely couldn't refuse - not that they planned to in the first place.

The mage's eagerness slowly began to become more apparent, especially as Henrik's hand found the edge of their dress. Marvin released the rag they held, hands instinctively moving behind their back as their excitement began to form a little tent under their dress.

"Whatever you would like, Sir... I will happily oblige," Marvin mused softly, their cheeks darkening as they tried not to draw attention to their growing arousal. They kept their gaze fixated on Henrik, though their eyes quickly traveled over his form and briefly pictured him bending them over and ravaging them.

God, that was so hot...

Dirty Little Secret (Closed Rp)

This was an idea Marvin and Chase played around with for a little while. It wasn’t the first time they did role-play, but it was a type with a little more intense power dynamic than usual and would go on for hours. Marvin would be Chase’s maid for the day, cleaning up in the typical outfit while Chase teased until they both eventually got too pent up to hold back.

But, with all of their partners around, they decided to pull someone else into it. That was how Henrik got involved, shifting the scene a little but making an improvement. Chase would be in charge for a little while, but when he left to go somewhere, Henrik would step in like a flirty house guest who just couldn’t keep his eyes off the cute maid. Usually he wasn’t one for this type of role-play, but he was happy to try it out.

So now Chase was getting his bag together, heading out to what he claimed was a business meeting. In reality he would be sitting at a cafe for an hour or two editing a video, but Marvin didn’t need to know that. All the other needed to know was that Chase was not-so-subtly looking at their ass while they picked something up off the floor.

“Such a pretty little thing~…” Chase hummed seemingly to himself, despite Marvin being in earshot. Henrik, who was sat on the couch nearby with a book, pretended not to notice. He certainly enjoyed his own quick glance at Marvin, however.

“Alright Marvin, remember that I want this place cleaned by the time I get back. No excuses.” Chase informed, tone a little stern.

(( @http-anti ))

[crystalninjaphoenix]

House Party (And Other Matters)

Paranormal Preteens AU: Episode Three

A JSE Fanfic

And here is part three! After this, I’m gonna start spacing out the parts of this AU a bit more, slowly put it into the ordinary AU rotation I have going on. But for this week, we have this! Chase puts some more effort into bonding with Henrik, but soon after, they realize that the whole group needs to get together to talk about the library incident. They hang out for a while, but are interrupted right at the end. But hey, it turns out alright! I promise. Enjoy!

++++++++++++++++++++

The rest of Saturday and Sunday passed in a bit of a blur. Chase knew his mom could probably tell something was up, but he wasn’t about to tell her what happened. There was no way she’d believe him about a ghost in the library. 

Chase had the Jacksons’ phone number now, but he wasn’t sure how to talk to them—or what to talk to them about. What did the two of them even do? Other than wander around town and collect neat rocks (something Chase had seen them do on multiple occasions.) And how do you even start a conversation after seeing a ghost together? Especially when that was only your second interaction with them? So, since he had no idea how to do this, Chase decided to not do it until he needed to, and spent most of the weekend watching TV and occasionally skateboarding down the street.

Things changed on Monday. It was almost one o’clock, and Chase had been alone in the house for the past hour and a half. Mom had taken Henrik out somewhere, probably still trying to get him used to the town. Chase was just wondering when they’d be back when he heard the front door open. He turned around, leaning on the back of the sofa, and watched the two of them walk down the hall.

“—find another one if this doesn’t work out,” Mom was saying. She looked up and saw Chase staring. “Hi, sweets. Did you have lunch?”

“Nah.” Chase shook his head. He’d been thinking about making a sandwich for a while, but honestly? He was half-hoping Mom would bring home food.

“Alright, then. Does mac ‘n’ cheese sound good to the two of you?”

“Yeah!” Chase said. Henrik, standing next to Mom, nodded silently.

“Great. I'll go whip that up.” And with that, Mom disappeared into the kitchen.

Chase and Henrik were alone in the front room. Staring at each other. The TV was on, filling the silence with the sound of commercials. The two of them hadn’t interacted much while at home. Henrik spent most of his time in his room. It wasn’t a privacy thing, since Henrik kept his door open all of the time—even at night! While he slept! So weird—so maybe it was a personal space thing? Chase didn’t really understand. Either way the only time the two of them really saw each other was at meals.

Henrik shifted on his feet, then glanced over at the stairs. Clearly wondering whether it was worth it to go up to his room to wait for lunch to be ready. At that moment, Chase noticed he was holding something. “Is that a stuffed animal?” he asked.

“Was? Ah.” Henrik looked down at the plushie in his hands. “Ja. Your mom took me to the store and let me choose one.”

“Cool.” Chase didn’t have any plushies. At least, ones that weren’t kept in the old toy chest in his closet. But he didn’t have anything against them. “What is it?”

“A bat.” Henrik walked a bit closer, holding up the stuffed animal for Chase to get a better look at. The bat was made of soft-looking black fur, except for some orange felt in its ears and the inside of its wings. It was small and floppy with reflective dark eyes. The main body could be held in two hands, but the wings gave it a bit more size.

“I like bats. They, like, suck your blood and stuff.”

“That is vampires,” Henrik said.

“But there are vampire bats, right?”

“Ja, but they do not eat human blood, only animals like cows,” Henrik explained. “We do not have enough blood for them. And there are many bats. Most eat insects, but there are some who eat fruit or flowers.” He walked a little closer, going around the sofa, and held out the plushie. “Look at this. The bat has...it has...the soft and prickly things on its wings. So you can stick them together and hang it from things.”

“Soft and what?” Chase scooted a bit closer without standing up. “Oh, you mean velcro? Yeah.” There were two squares of velcro on the tips of the plush bat’s wings. “Cool.”

“Velcro,” Henrik repeated. He looked down at the bat and played with the wings, sticking and unsticking them. “It is not very accurate. Bats hang from their feet, not their wings. But I thought it was...cool.”

Chase laughed a little bit. It sounded weird to hear Henrik say a slang word like that. Not really bad. Just weird. He paused for a moment. The silence stretched between them, punctured by ad announcers on the TV. “Hey, uh...you’re smart, right?” Chase finally said. “Do you like, uh...space?”

Henrik blinked. “Do you mean...outer space?”

“Yeah.”

“I...I suppose. I think stars are interesting.”

“Okay.” Chase nodded. “What do you think about aliens?”

“Well...it would make sense for them to be real,” Henrik said slowly. “The universe is very big. But we probably will not see them in our lives.”

“Okay, but are aliens cool?” Chase asked.

Henrik stared at him. “I...suppose?”

“Alright good.” Chase scooted back to his previous spot on the sofa, leaving a full cushion of room next to him. “I was thinking about it, and like, we never have anything to talk about. And I think that’s because we don’t know any of the same things. So I’m gonna show you this show I like. About aliens.”

“Now?” Henrik asked, surprised.

“Yeah, the next episode’s starting soon.”

Henrik took a step back. “I should...I should ask Aunt Jess if I can watch the television.”

Chase raised an eyebrow. “She’s not gonna care, dude. As long as you don’t spend all day watching TV.” Henrik didn’t show any signs of sitting down, though, so he sighed. “But I mean...you can. I’m not gonna stop you. Just be back here really quick, it’s almost time.”

Henrik nodded, then hurried into the kitchen. Chase idly watched the commercials for a minute before he returned. “Alright,” he said, climbing onto the sofa next to Chase. “We can watch the television until it is time for lunch. A-and she said we could keep going after.”

“See? Told you Mom wouldn’t care.” Chase laughed. “You’re just in time, too. I was really hoping you wouldn’t miss the theme song, it’s great.”

It was a little awkward at first. Chase kept glancing over at Henrik to see if he was having a good time. And for a while, it seemed like he wasn’t. He was sitting on the sofa straight up, right on the edge of the cushion, his feet just shy of resting on the floor. Chase had never seen a kid sit like that while watching TV. But after a little bit, Henrik seemed to relax a little. Eventually, he started to ask Chase questions about the show. Chase was all too happy to answer. Once that got going, Henrik relaxed even more. He seemed fascinated with the show.

“—and so now they’re enemies,” Chase finished. “And they fight a few times. But now they’re forced to fight together in this episode because, I mean, how else are they gonna make it through the alien fighting pit? One of them’s on a timer and the other one’s only a tenth as powerful.”

“Ah, okay, okay.” Henrik nodded. The colors of the show reflected in his glasses.

“Do you not get English shows in Germany?” Chase asked.

“No, they do a thing where they get other actors to say the lines in German and put that instead of the English voices,” Henrik said.

“Oh. Maybe you just don’t get this show, then.” Or any of the other TV shows Chase had ever mentioned.

“Maybe we do?” Henrik shrugged, fiddling with the wings of the bat plushie. “I do not know. I do not watch a lot of it.” He paused. “But I think this is...good.”

Chase grinned. “Glad to hear that. Uh...thanks, Henrik.”

“Oh. Ah...” Henrik started to say something, stopped, then started over. “Can you...can you call me the nickname you used instead? On Saturday?”

“At the library?” Chase took a moment to remember what he was talking about. “Oh, you mean Schneep?”

Henrik nodded. “Ah, do not use it in front of your mom. O-or any other adults. But I think—I-I think that if it is just us, or other—other children—”

Chase leaned over and nudged him, pressing his shoulder against his. “Alright, Schneep. If you say so.” He smiled. “I guess it does kinda suit you.”

Henrik—Schneep had tensed for a moment at the sudden nudge, but then he smiled back. “Thank you,” he muttered, ducking his head and half-burying his face in the bat plushie.

They finished the episode and were in the in-between-shows commercials when Mom called out, “Boys! It’s time for lunch!”

“Shoot, we might miss the start of the next one,” Chase muttered. “Whatever, it’s fine. It’s probably not a new one, I can fill you in on what we missed.” And with that, the two of them headed into the dining room.

They were halfway through their mac ‘n’ cheese when Mom set her own lunch aside and sat up straight. “Alright. So. It turns out I’ll have to go into the office tonight, at six. I’ll be back around nine.”

“So we’re staying home alone?” Chase asked, perking up.

Mom smiled a little. “No, Chase, you’re not staying home alone.”

Chase deflated. “Why nooooot? I was staying home alone for, like, all of last year! I was alone earlier today! And then—then March happened and I—”

“March and April were different,” Mom said patiently. “We weren’t about to leave you home alone for that long so often. And you’re right, you were alone earlier. But the difference is that it was daytime, and only for an hour. This is night. I want to be sure you’re safe. And...maybe I would be fine with leaving just you alone, Chase, but I’m a bit more nervous with the two of you here.”

Chase pointed across the table at Schneep. “I’m older! I can look after him!”

“You are only one year older than me,” Schneep said. “Actually, you are only seven months older than me. That is even less.”

“Well, yeah, but you’re kinda tiny,” Chase pointed out.

Schneep looked down at himself, as if he could see whatever factor made him look so short. Personally, Chase thought the big sweaters he wore didn’t help.

“Either way, I still feel nervous,” Mom said. “So...I thought I’d call Jackie to come watch you for those hours.”

“...Oh.” Chase nodded. “Uh, yeah. That makes sense. If you’re nervous.”

Mom chuckled a bit. He didn’t understand what was so funny. “Alright. I can call right now, and see if sh—he’ll be able to make it.”

Suddenly, Chase got an idea. “Oh! Uh, Mom? Is it okay if we, uhhh...when Jackie comes over, we call some other kids to come over too? Uh, those two we saw on Saturday. Marvin and Jameson. And we can hang out and...talk and stuff.” Schneep, catching on quickly, nodded in support of Chase’s suggestion.

“Hmm? Sure, if they can come over, they’re free to.” Mom chuckled again. “I’ll have to ask Jackie if he’s okay with watching four kids instead of just two, though, so be prepared.”

Chase nodded. He looked across the table, and caught Schneep’s attention. The two of them had the same look in their eyes. It was time to talk about the library.

++++++++++++++++++++

The others arrived a few hours later, around 5:30. Chase was in his room, playing on his Nintendo DS, when Mom called from downstairs, “Chase! Henrik! Your friends are here!” So Chase saved the game, exiting to the main menu, and started downstairs. Schneep poked his head out of his room right as Chase passed his doorway, then followed him.

The Jacksons had arrived first. Mom was talking with them. “It’s very nice to meet you,” she said. “Your family lives down on Riverview, right?”

“Yep,” Marvin said.

“That’s quite a ways away.” Mom sounded concerned. “You didn’t walk the whole way here, did you?”

“No, we rode our bikes,” Marvin said, pointing through the window next to the door. “It didn’t really take that long, cause there’s this big hill on our street so we went fast down that and kept up the speed all the way here. That’s cause of, like, some science stuff.” He glanced at Jameson, who finger-spelled something in sign. “Inertia! Stuff in motion stays in motion.”

Mom laughed. “Alright. But if you need me to drive you home afterwards, I’ll be happy to. Or you can use our phone to call your parents.”

The twins nodded in unison. Then Jameson asked something in sign.

“Oh! Yes of course.” Mom pointed into the living room. “It’s right off the front room, sort of under the stairs. Feel free to leave your bag on the couch or something.”

Jameson smiled, signed something else, then headed in the direction she indicated. He waved at Chase and Schneep as he passed.

“Mom, do you know sign language?” Chase asked.

“Hmm? Oh, yes.” Mom nodded. “You know how Grandpa’s getting a little hard of hearing, so I learned ASL, and then figured why not learn BSL too since we’re living here?”

“Oh. Can you teach me?” Chase glanced at Schneep. “And Henrik, too.”

“Of course, Chase. We can start whenever you like.”

“Hi, Chase!” Marvin waved. “Hi, Henrik! Your house is cool. You have a front yard! Do you have a backyard? I didn’t get to see it from outside cause of your fence. That’s called a solid fence style, y’know, and I think your fence is plastic because the planks look too much like each other. But that’s good cause you don’t get splinters.”

“Uhhh yeah, it’s fake wood,” Chase said. “We put it up when we moved in. Do you wanna, uh, go into the living room?”

“Sure!” And without waiting at all, Marvin headed into the living room, forcing Chase and Schneep to follow. “Holy shit! You have three video game boxes!”

“Dude! My mom is right there!” Chase glanced over his shoulder, at his mom who was still in view and definitely within earshot. There was a look of surprise on her face. “You can’t just say words like that!”

“Okay,” Marvin said absentmindedly. He was too busy kneeling in front of the TV and looking at Chase’s game consoles. “You have an Xbox and a PS3?! Jeez! That’s awesome! What’s the purple one?”

“That’s a GameCube,” Chase said. “It’s kinda old. We used to have other old ones too, but uh...not anymore.”

“Cube,” Marvin repeated. “Cuuube. It’s a good name for it, ‘cause it’s a cubical video game box.”

At that moment, the bathroom door opened and Jameson reappeared. “Hi,” Chase said to him, then looked back at Marvin. “They’re called ‘consoles,’ you know.”

“Ohhh. Okay, that makes sense. I’ve heard that word before.” Marvin stood up. “We have a Wii. Right, JJ?” Jameson nodded, and signed something. “Oh, I’m looking at Chase’s game boxes—game consoles. He has three! That’s fucking insane! How many games do you have?”

“Uhhh...this many.” Chase walked over to the side of the TV, where there was a cabinet that came up to chest height. He swung open the doors to reveal shelves of video games. The cabinet wasn’t full; there were conspicuous empty gaps in the shelves. But it was still an impressive collection. “Again, we used to have more old games, but...now we don’t.” Schneep gave him an odd look at that, but the twins either didn’t notice the note of sadness in Chase’s voice or they didn’t care. The two of them clustered around the cabinet, signing at each other excitedly. Chase stepped back to give them some space.

Someone rang the doorbell. Chase glanced towards the sound, moving a bit so he could get a better angle of the front hallway. Mom looked through the small peephole in the wood, then opened the door and smiled. “Hi, Jackie. Thank you so much for stopping by, I hope it’s not too much trouble.”

“No, it’s okay, Ms. Walker. I mean, I’m not doing anything on a Monday night.” Jackie stepped into the house, glancing around. “Um...looks the same in here as last time, heh.”

“Yeah, not much has changed. Not down here, anyway. We’ve done some rearranging upstairs.” Mom kept one hand on the open door’s handle, checking the watch on her other wrist. “I really have to go if I’m going to make it in time. Look, if you have any trouble, I left my phone number on a sticky note on the fridge. There’s also some money to order food if you don’t want to cook. They should probably have dinner soon.”

“Got it.” Jackie nodded. “Don’t worry about anything, Ms. Walker. I can handle it.”

Mom laughed. “If you insist. Still, please call me if you need anything. Don’t worry about interrupting me, this is more important. I’ll be back around nine, nine-thirty at the latest. Good luck. And I’ll see you then.”

“Goodbye, Ms. Walker.” Jackie watched as Mom walked out the front door, waving to her as she got in her car and drove off. Then he closed the door and turned around to see Chase staring at him. “Hey, little man. So, uh...all your friends are over, then?”

“No, just the Jacksons.” Chase shrugged. “Uh...I guess we’re friends? I haven’t really talked to them that much—”

“It’s beanie boy!” Marvin shouted from the living room, sounding delighted. “Beanie boy’s the babysitter!” Next to him, Jameson laughed quietly.

“Hi, there.” Jackie walked into the living room, Chase following close behind. “You’re Marvin, right? I think I told you my name was Jackie. I’m not even wearing my beanie tonight.” True, that part of his outfit was missing. The red hoodie was still there, though. And there was an additional backpack, which he put down on the floor next to an armchair.

“Sorry, I’m not good with names,” Marvin said. “Or faces. Or voices. I know accents, though.”

Jackie laughed a bit. “Alright. Understandable. Hey, are you guys hungry?”

“Is it time for dinner?” Schneep asked. He’d settled down on the sofa at some point.

“It can be, if you guys are hungry. Chase’s mom said she left money for food. We could order pizza.”

Jameson gasped. He nodded quickly, then hurried over to the chair where he left his shoulder bag, pulling out his notepad and pencil. Meanwhile, Chase started up a chant of, “Piz-za! Piz-za! Piz-za!” which Marvin soon joined, and eventually Schneep.

“Alright, alright, I got it.” Jackie grinned, bending over to get his cell phone out of his backpack. “Pizza from anywhere in particular?”

“Mom and I always get Queen Cleo’s,” Chase said. “And we get a bag of—we get two bags of crazy bread.” He looked around at the others. “Guys? What toppings do you want? I want pepperoni, but we can get a half-and-half one. No olives, though, because they seep into all the pizza.”

Jameson already had an answer for this. He flipped his notebook over to reveal what he’d been writing. Marvin doesn’t like any toppings, just plain cheese. I like pepperoni and/or mushrooms. Absolutely NO pineapple for either of us, because that’s just weird.

“What?! Pineapple is good!” Chase said. “Jackie, get pineapple!”

“You already cast your vote for pepperoni, guy,” Jackie said, dialing the number for the pizza place.

Chase made a face, then moved on. “Schneep, what do you want?”

“I...ah...” Schneep looked a little lost. “It has been a long time since I had pizza. I-I think that just cheese is fine?”

“So we’ll get a half-cheese half-pepperoni with two packets of crazy bread, got it.” Jackie nodded.

Jameson reached over and tapped Chase’s shoulder to get his attention. Chase, can we play video games on your consoles?

“Oh yeah!” Chase grinned, practically bouncing with excitement. “Schneep, do you want to play? We have multiplayer games!”

Schneep shook his head. “I do not think I will be very good. But I will sit and watch. It will be like TV, yes?”

“You don’t have to be good at video games, you just have to have fun!”

“Well, I think I will have more fun if I sit and watch. Maybe...another time?” Schneep offered.

“Hmm.” Chase nodded. “Yeah, that’s okay.” He just barely got Schneep to sit down and watch TV with him, maybe video games were too much. Baby steps, as Mom said. “Okay, so what do you two want to play?” he asked, spinning back around to look at the twins.

The two of them were already back by the game cabinet. Jameson pulled out one of the cases and showed it to Marvin. “Really?” Marvin said. “I don’t think more than one person can play that. Why?” Jameson signed something. “Okay, yeah, but he’s not like a cute hedgehog, he’s more like a cartoon who fights crime and has an ‘attitude,’ tee-em. Do you just like it because he’s blue?” 

“Which one are you looking at?” Chase leaned over their shoulders. “Oh, no, that one’s hard, you don’t want to pick that one. And Marvin’s right, it’s only single player.”

Jameson looked him dead in the eyes, and lightly tossed the game over towards the TV, where it landed right in front of the consoles.

“Alright, fine.” Chase went over and picked it up. “We’ll take turns. Switch off every time someone gets stuck, which will happen a lot.” He started setting up the Xbox. “Or maybe we could each do one of the story stages, cause there are, like, three different stories with three different main characters. I call Shadow’s.”

And with that, the four of them settled on and around the sofa, ready to start playing.

++++++++++++++++++++

It took almost an hour for the pizza to arrive, during which the three of them made almost no progress on the game. Chase insisted they start from a new save file, and this turned out to be a good idea, as the twins had no idea how to use the Xbox controller so even the first levels were difficult. The two of them were stubborn, though. Between Chase’s coaching and their efforts they managed to each get through two levels. Meanwhile, Schneep was just as fascinated with the video game as he was with the TV show. He kept asking Chase questions about what was going on. Eventually, Chase found himself explaining each character’s backstory and how they all fit into this game. The other three were all very interested in this, which Chase was happy to hear.

Jackie didn’t participate much in the conversation, letting the four of them play the game on their own. He sat in a chair nearby and watched quietly. Chase kept asking him questions to pull him into talking, though, which he didn’t seem to mind. It was through Jackie that Chase learned there were video games you could play on the computer. And not Internet games, which he already knew about, but full-on game games. Chase asked him what his favorite one was, and Jackie gave a couple examples, none of which he’d heard of.

And then the doorbell rang, and the pizza arrived, and everything stopped so they could eat. It was delicious, of course, but soon after everyone had taken a slice...Chase figured it was finally time to bring up the elephant in the room. “Uh, so. After we finish eating,” he said, “could we talk about...about what happened in the library? Do you think we’ve...processed that enough?”

Marvin and Jameson looked at each other, then nodded. Schneep said nothing, but Chase already knew he was on board. “Do you...are you including me in that?” Jackie asked.

Chase thought about it. “Yeah. I mean, you picked us up. You’re kinda involved.”

“Alright, then. When you’re ready, I guess.”

They sat down in the living room again. Chase turned off the game, making sure it was saved, and looked around. Jackie was back in his armchair. The twins were on the sofa, sitting close enough to take up one cushion while Schneep had the other to himself. And Chase was standing, too nervous to sit. “So...” he said. “Uh...library ghost, huh?”

“Yeah, what happened?” Jackie asked. “I know you told me in the car, but can you tell me again?”

Together, the four of them gave a quick overview of the events at the library. Arriving to film a movie and ghost hunt, getting attacked by a ghost of an old woman, hiding under the desks, then eventually having to make a break for it while that book tornado formed in the center of the library.

We went back the next day, Jameson said. Everything was cleaned up, but one of the librarians said there’d been a bunch of destroyed books all over the ground floor on Saturday. I don’t think anyone saw the ghost other than us. The library was pretty empty, and I think the librarian was on break or something.

“Okay, then.” Jackie nodded. “And...it was definitely an old lady who, uh, attacked you?”

“Yes!” Chase emphasized. Clearly, hearing the story a second time did nothing to convince Jackie that the ghost was real. But he’d offered to help anyway, so there was that. “Well, it was started by that weird shadow.”

“What was this shadowy thing, anyway?” Marvin asked. “I didn’t see it.”

“Well you and Jameson were at the other end of the book aisle,” Chase said. “Schneep probably saw it. Right?” He looked over at Schneep, who merely shook his head. “What? But you were right next to me!”

“I was not looking where you were at first,” Schneep said. “If you saw a shadow, it was not there when I saw you staring at something.”

“Well, it was there.” Chase folded his arms. “It looked like a guy’s shadow, but there was no guy. But it was definitely there. I saw it before, in the park last week, but I’d kinda hit my head when I saw it the first time so I thought my brain was broken or something. But! Seeing it a second time means it was real! It pulled the ghost out of the bookcase and then touched her and made her glow green!”

“Maybe the shadow was coming from somewhere else,” Jackie suggested. “Um, what sort of shadow did it look like? I mean, who would it belong to?”

“I dunno. A guy.” Chase thought back to seeing it crouched on the bookshelf. “Not a kid. It was too tall. It laughed a little, and I think it sounded like a boy’s laugh? It had, like, the outline of hair, and that also looked like a boy’s hair.”

Jackie raised an eyebrow. “What’s a boy’s hair look like?”

“Short, I guess?” Chase said.

“Guys can have long hair,” Marvin said. “And girls can have short hair. Our aunt Linda has a best friend who lives with her named Sarah and she has short hair and likes to wear, like, suits to parties—”

“Ugh!” Chase interrupted. “I know guys and girls can have long and short hair! You get what I mean!”

So did the shadow make the ghost attack us? Jameson asked.

“I...don’t know,” Chase said slowly. “Maybe? It kind of...summoned her.”

“Maybe the shadow is another ghost?” Schneep suggested. “But it was one that was not as powerful, and could not make a body like she could. So it woke her up instead.”

“Is there anywhere the shadow could have...come from?” Jackie asked. “Like, if someone was on the balcony in the library and had a light shone on them, it could have looked like their shadow was down there.”

“No, we were away from the balcony when the shadow and ghost showed up,” Chase insisted. “The shadow couldn’t have come from anywhere. I know how light works, and it wasn’t at the right angle for a shadow to look like that!”

“Alright, alright, I believe you,” Jackie said, raising his hands.

“You do not believe us,” Schneep muttered.

Jackie shook his head. “No, I do. I don’t think you guys are making this up. I just...I-I don’t believe in ghosts.”

“I did not either, and then one started to throw books at me,” Schneep said.

Chase laughed.

“Why’d you come ghost hunting with us if you didn’t believe in ghosts?” Marvin asked, confused.

Schneep shrugged. “I-I think...I think I wanted to see what would happen. I, ahm, did not expect there to be one. But maybe it would be...interesting.”

Jackie sighed. “Well—”

There was a knock at the door.

No, it wasn’t really a knock. More like...a thud. A really loud thud against the front door. Everyone froze, looking towards the door. And again, there was a thud, this time followed by some scratching noises.

“Uh...that’s probably not your mom, is it?” Marvin asked. Jameson rolled his eyes and shoved him. Marvin shoved him back.

“It sounds like an animal or something,” Jackie said quietly, slowly standing up.

Chase frowned. “I don’t think there are any animals around here. I mean, the Hendersons have a cat, and Ms. Kennedy used to have this dog, but he ran away. And he wasn’t big enough to—”

Thud. The door shuddered. Then more scratching, the sound of claws digging into the wood.

“...do that,” Chase finished.

“Chase,” Jackie said in a low voice. “Does your mom keep anything in the house that’s big, heavy, and could be used as a weapon?”

“I-I think we keep the big mop in the closet down here.” Chase pointed. Unfortunately, the closet was really close to the front door. “And I have my baseball bat in my room.”

“Okay.” Jackie nodded. “You guys stay back.” He pulled out his phone and slowly walked forward. The others watched him go. Those who were sitting stood up and backed as far away from the front door as they could, while still being able to see it. Thud. Thud. Jackie stopped in his tracks, then took a deep breath, and looked through the small peephole in the wood. From where they were standing, the four boys barely heard him mutter, “What the hell?”

Thud. Jackie jumped backwards. He reached behind him, fumbling until he found the closet handle and opened it. He glanced down at his phone and dialed a number with one hand, while his other reached into the closet and blindly searched for something. While the phone rang, he looked back to the others. “Guys, go upstairs. It’ll be safe up there.” Then the other end of the call must have picked up, because he turned away and started talking. “Hi, yeah, I-I don’t know if I’m supposed to call you guys for this, but uh...I-I think there’s some sort of rabid animal trying to get into this house.”

Chase glanced back at the other three, his eyes wide. Marvin and Jameson looked over at him, their identical faces wearing identical shocked expressions. Schneep, meanwhile, had gone completely white, arms half-raised in front of him protectively. “Let’s go,” Chase whispered. He grabbed Schneep by the arm and ran for the stairs, pulling him along.

The two of them stopped at the top of the staircase. Here, there was a small landing-like area where you could look down at the living room. Marvin and Jameson hadn’t followed them. Instead, the two of them had run into the kitchen. Chase could see Jackie standing in the living room and staring into the dining room entrance. One hand held Mom’s mop, while the other still pressed the phone to his ear. “What are you two doing?!” he hissed. “Get up there!” Then he switched to the phone again. “Yeah, there are some kids here. Uh, four of them. Me? Uh, sixteen. Well, technically I—yeah. Yeah, the address is—”

Marvin and Jameson ran, sprinting up the stairs to the landing where Chase and Schneep were. As they dashed past the front hall, the thudding grew louder. The door shuddered in its frame with only the small lock holding it in place.

“What were you two doing?!” Chase half-shouted, repeating Jackie’s question.

“Getting stuff,” Marvin said simply.

Chase looked at what he was holding. “You didn’t need to get the pizza!” Was this really the time to claim the last slice of pepperoni?!

“No, look.” Marvin held up the plate with the slice. “This is important. I’m gonna—”

Thud! Thud! CRACK!

Something in the door broke. Chase wasn’t sure if it was the lock or the wood around it, but something broke and it flew open. Still on the first floor, Jackie gasped. He dropped his phone and held the mop up defensively in front of him.

A huge animal lunged into the house. It was a dog, but a dog bigger than any Chase had ever seen. Its head would come up to an adult’s shoulders, meaning it was as tall as the twins and taller than Chase and Schneep. Its fur was matted, shades of brown and black with the occasional white. It was built like a wolf, and yet, its ears were floppy, not the triangle shape that a wolf’s would be. And the tail was different: long and thin, almost snake-like as it dragged on the ground. The eyes glowed green, and drool dripped from teeth that looked way too large for the mouth. Besides him, Chase could feel Schneep shaking slightly, and he instinctively wrapped his arms protectively around him.

Jackie backed up, wide eyes locked on the impossible dog in front of him. The dog stared back at him. It growled, the muscles in its legs tensing.

And then Marvin leaned down from the top of the stairs and threw the slice of pizza right past the dog’s face. It splattered against the wall. The dog instantly looked towards it, and jumped to the side, sniffing the strange, food-smelling object. Jackie broke into a run, darting past it and over towards the stairs.

“Jesus fucking hell, what is that?!” He shouted, stopping on the landing by the others.

“It’s some kind of monster dog,” Marvin said, as if it was obvious. “Maybe it’s a werewolf? No, it’s not a full moon tonight.”

“Why are its eyes glowing?!” Jackie looked over the landing banister down at the monster dog, which was now licking the pizza off the wall.

“Well I guess there’s more weird stuff around than just ghosts.” Chase tried to laugh off the situation. “But, uh, I bet you believe us now, huh?”

“I...am considering it,” Jackie said slowly. He looked back at the others. “Anyway, are you guys alr—why do you have a knife?!”

Unlike Marvin, Jameson had not grabbed pizza from the kitchen. Instead, he was holding one of the big knives from Mom’s knife block. He looked down at it, shrugged, and signed something—which was pretty dangerous to do while holding a blade.

“I—okay? Fair enough?” Jackie shook his head. “Here, give me that. I think I’ll know how to use it better.” The two of them traded weapons, though Jameson didn’t look too happy about it. “You guys stay behind me, okay? We’re gonna back up. Maybe if we’re out of eyesight, it will lose interest.”

Slowly, the group stepped backwards down the hallway. Every single one of them kept their eyes locked on the monster dog, which was now sniffing around the entrance to the kitchen, until it disappeared from view. They carefully moved into Chase’s bedroom, with Jackie closing the door behind them. He kept one hand on the doorknob, keeping it closed, and the knife clenched in the other hand. Meanwhile, Chase suggested they start making a blanket rope, just in case they had to go out the window. The twins got right on that, but Chase himself just couldn’t. Schneep was still shaking, staring at the door, tensing every time there was a clatter from downstairs. Chase had to stay with him. He just...he just had to.

After a while, the sounds faded. The group was quiet, listening. But five minutes passed, and there was nothing. Jackie slowly opened the door and peered out. He walked into the hallway, and a minute later, shouted, “It’s gone!”

One by one, the four others filed out of the room, through the hall, and down the stairs. Jackie stood in the kitchen entrance, staring at open cabinet doors and spilled food all over the floor. He looked back at the others. “Are you guys alright?”

“Holy shit, it destroyed your kitchen!” Marvin shouted. “I knew it was gonna look for food!”

“We’re alright,” Chase said. “Just, uh...scared. I mean, I’m not scared, duh, but everyone else is.” Schneep was holding tightly onto his arm. He patted his hand awkwardly.

Jackie smiled a little. “Of course.” Then he sighed. “Uh...I called the police. They might be here any minute. What...what do we say?”

“Well. If you didn’t believe us about the ghost, they’re definitely not gonna believe us about the fucking huge dog,” Marvin said.

“Right.” Jackie sighed. “I guess we should just say we didn’t get a good look at it. Except that it was big. We all ran up the stairs before it broke in.” He paused. “I should call your parents. Explain what happened and that we’re alright. But then...what do we do about this?”

Silence. Then, Jameson cleared his throat. He signed something. “JJ thinks we should go back to the library,” Marvin translated. “Because we might be able to figure out what’s going on.”

“Yeah...yeah!” Chase nodded. “Maybe we can get that ghost and ask her some questions. Maybe she knows what the dog was all about!” He nodded faster. “Okay, so tomorrow—”

“Oh, we can’t do it tomorrow,” Marvin interrupted. “We’re going to the animal shelter to pet cats and hang out all day.” Jameson nodded, backing Marvin up. “What about the day after?”

“Sorry, I-I can’t,” Jackie said. “I’m not letting you guys go alone. But the day after tomorrow is, uh...my birthday. And my family’s coming over.”

“Oh, happy birthday,” Chase said. Schneep and Marvin echoed his words, and Jameson signed the same.

Jackie grinned a bit. “Thanks, little guys. So...what about Thursday, then?”

The others exchanged glances. “Uh, that’ll work, I guess,” Chase said.

“Great.” Jackie looked back at the ruined kitchen. He sighed. “I guess I’ll call your parents and then clean this up for your mom. Until the police show up, anyway. What do you guys want to do?”

Nobody said anything. Then, “I want to forget about this,” Schneep mumbled. “Can we play the video game again? And...forget about this?”

“Yeah, we can do that,” Chase said quietly. “What about you two?”

Marvin and Jameson looked at each other, then both nodded. “Sounds good,” Marvin said.

“Okay, then.”

“You guys go do that,” Jackie said. “Don’t worry about this for the rest of the night. I’ll talk to everyone.”

And so, the four of them played video games through all the chaos that followed, slowly relaxing. Until the Jacksons’ parents came to pick them up and Chase’s mom insisted the other two go to bed.

Surprisingly, they fell asleep quickly, drifting off into a dreamless darkness.

[dreadfamed]

ON HIS RELATIONSHIPS WITH HIS SIBLINGS .

FINN. there was no love lost between finn and klaus. finn was ever at their mother’s side, and klaus, who desired nothing more than his parents’ affection  ( so often denied him ), would have sheltered no small bitterness over the ease with which finn coexisted with their parents, the good terms on which they could live. however, there was nothing through which finn and klaus could connect. his eldest brother was the most serious of the lot, and even as a boy klaus did not know how to play with him. after their transformation, finn proved the most conservative of the lot, and as klaus grew more and more wild, learned to revel in what he was, he found Finn increasingly not only a bore, but also an annoyance and an impediment.

ELIJAH. elijah never stood against mikael in defense of klaus until after esther’s death, until their father hunted them all across europe. while they were brothers, while they played together as brothers would, joked together as brothers would, though elijah sought to teach the young niklaus the skills their father desired that he master, klaus lacks the same devotion to his brother that he shows to rebekah. at the very core of matters, he does not trust elijah, and especially after klaus’ heritage becomes clear, klaus always harbors a sense that elijah perceives his brother as something ‘other,’ something that does not belong. when they swear ‘always and forever,’  klaus hesitates in accepting and trusting that promise.

as years pass and klaus becomes less and less niklaus and more and more klaus, a monster who thrives off blood-filled indulgences and terror, klaus's distrust only grows: though elijah may be no less bloodstained, his refusal to acknowledge his indiscretions and the scorn he holds for klaus’s serve as but one more wedge between them. though they remain comparatively close, most of that connection comes from their mutual affection for rebekah. it is for her sake: being with her requires keeping company with each other. 

and over time, klaus does convince himself that he cares for his brother, and in some ways he does. yet that affection comes less from a steadfast devotion or deep-rooted affection and the promise of ‘always and forever’ than it does from a shared past. klaus calls himself rebekah’s constant, but in many ways he, elijah, and rebekah are all each others’ constants. they shared their childhood, mikael’s temper, esther’s betrayal, the loss of Henrik, fleeing from their father over a thousand years and witnessing the eternal passage of time. that constancy creates a bond that transcends even their differences and their disputes. it is this which stays their hands when they quarrel, this which would keep them from killing each other no matter what transpired, no matter how much they might convince themselves otherwise. 

KOL. in many ways klaus ever saw kol as the annoying little brother. after all, what brother doesn’t harbor such feelings toward their younger counterpart? but kol was also the most in-touch with his magic, the child of esther who showed true interest and potential. klaus always felt a special pull towards magic, but he possessed no magic of his own due to his werewolf nature, a fact he kept hidden and that left him envious of kol. 

after their transformation, that barrier would have ebbed, and over the centuries, kol became most like klaus. he became the sibling with whom kaus could most identify, who, he sometimes thought, could best understand him. at times, he found in kol a camaraderie as well as that solidarity that comes with time and the passing of years. however, as kol was prone to going too far and alerting mikael to their presence, klaus was forced to dagger him with no small frequency, brewing bitterness and enmity between them. yet, though klaus may put on a facade of not caring much for his younger brother, the loss of him would affect him more strongly than he is willing to admit. 

REBEKAH. of all his siblings, klaus treasures rebekah most. for all their squabbles, for all their arguments, for all he daggers her for her so-called ‘betrayals,’ he does love her unconditionally. it was she whom he was close to as a child, she who never made him feel less or unwanted. it was she he comforted and she who sought to defend him against mikael as they grew. it was she who, after learning of esther’s betrayals, swore never to forsake him. if there is one sibling he will always return for, it is her. if there is one sibling he misses in their absence, it is her. she is the only of his siblings for whom he will openly acknowledge actual and genuine affection, the one for whom he would do almost anything. 

but, with the way klaus loves, he desires and has desired nothing more than her complete and unending devotion. the men who charm her he perceives as threats, for insecure as he is, he is confident she will leave him sooner or later. he does not know how to share her love and refuses to do so. even with elijah, he battles for her attention, rendering their relationship an eternal game of emotional abuse, pulling her closer and pushing her away. he would rather keep her daggered in a box ( but with him ) than permit her to abandon him, no matter how temporarily. but it is with her alone that he can be tender, her alone from whom he does not fear the same judgment he expects from his siblings.

of course, he receives judgment from her with greater frequency over the centuries, as his crimes against her pile higher and higher. her accusations pain him far more than anything elijah or kol might say to him, making him erratic and volatile, but never would he truly harm her.

HENRIK. children possess a certain innocence: they are unassuming. thus Henrik was, until his death, free of all the bitterness that klaus held for his other brothers. henrik was even, in many ways, oblivious to the violence with which mikael treated klaus. this meant there was an ease in their relationship that, while it could not come close to how klaus felt about rebekah, made henrik his second favourite sibling. klaus often dragged henrik out upon his escapades, and the two of them found themselves in frequent trouble.  losing henrik, especially as klaus perceived himself responsible, was harder to bear than any of mikael’s abuse. klaus has largely shut it from his mind, all but forgetting that he once possessed a younger brother.

REGARDING ALL OF THE ABOVE. klaus has a very twisted perception of realty and a very twisted perception of his relationships, especially with his siblings. he expects to be the outcast, as mikael raised him, and so he finds in their actions proof to that end. he expects their scorn, so he hears it in their tone. he expects to be abandoned and betrayed, so he sees innocuous actions as betrayals. the way Klaus understands things is not how they are. 

[10ths-writing-corner]

Febuwhump #3- Blood loss

“Jackie… Jackie…?”

“Mmm?” The hero’s dazed look returns to the doctor in front of him and then at the rest. They all held a look of concern. Did he missed anything…? No, it was probably nothing… they couldn’t have noticed, right? He made sure to bandage the wound before he came in. The bleeding should’ve stopped.

“Are you sure you’re okay? You look like you’re about to pass out?” Chase ventured carefully

“M’Fine. I promised I’d be here to celebrate your promotion, right?” Jackie brushed off with a smile, but even the smallest movement sent a wave of pain and dizziness his way. The scene in front of him blurred itself out, everything multiplying before his very eyes. His friends called out for him yet all their voices felt as if they came from a long tunnel, and he was at the end of it.

The impact of his body landing on the floor is just enough to bring him back to reality but only for a split second. His mind is slow and sluggish, he had almost forgotten where he was that was until he felt hands tugging on his clothes. Jackie attempts to swat it away though his whole arm felt heavier than lead.

“He is bleeding. He has been bleeding the entire time.” Henrik states with worry, though there is a hint of reproach in his accented voice. “No, we need to get to the hospital fast. A car will not do— The ambulance will take too long, the blood loss is too great! Marvin, we need a portal—!”

The voice of his friend kept fading away, so did the clamoring around him. No matter how much he yelled at himself to stay awake, the darkness closing in was stronger. However, the hero didn’t feel fear, for he knew he would be safe in his family’s care.

[justyoursicanon]

{another one of these huehue. prompty 6 with Bing and Google(romantic/platonic either suits) and prompt 9 with Dr.Iplier and Dr.Henrik(romantic)}

Ohhh! Looks like I'm gonna do alot of writing rn! xD

Let's start with prompt 6! ^^

Prompt: 6. "Do you want a hug? "...." "I'm gonna hug you now, just push me if you don't like it."

Google harshly brought it's meta fist onto the wooden desk again out of frustration. The request that it received from Dark earlier was to hack into a certain folder and file that someone stole from their security files. Whoever stole it must have been a real smartass if their making Google hack into it for more then 5 hours and still not getting in.

Google sighed while threading its fingers through its hair and stared at the laptop screen in front of it, it's extensions had asked it if it needed help but Google denied and replied this was its job and did not want its extension having a hard time as well.

Just then Google heard his door crack open, he turned and glanced at its door and saw someone peaking through the crack. Their face was unable to be seen from a far but Google easily scanned them and found out it was Bing. It rubbed it's forehead and turned its chair in the direction of the door and asked. "What do you need Bing?" Google asked and Bing fully opened the door and closed it behind him. "You alright Googs?" Bing asked with his hands in their pockets. Google sighed again. "Not well at the moment. This wall that the file is hiding in has given me such massive impact of what is called frustration and is only getting worse as I still not succeed into breaking in." Bing nodded and watched as said frustration was now visible to the android's body posture.

Google's fist tightening, its fingers rubbing their forehead every once in a while, and the distant beeping. Bing thought for a moment then removed itself off the door. "Do you want a hug?" Bing asked and received no answer from Google, who was trying to figure out why they asked that. Bing walked forward and softly took Google's hand and made it stand up. "I'm gonna hug you now, just push me if you don't like it." And proceeded to hug Google.

Google mostly stood still, hands slightly away from Bing's sides as it felt Bing's soft arms around it's body. The hug was... nice, which was unusual to Google. This feeling was odd to it but not in a bad way. Google felt it's fans slow down and it brought it's arms to wrap around Bing as well and tried to hug back. In which led to Bing hugging him a little tighter.

When they parted Bing smiled at Google, and Google felt something near its face heat up. It can discover that another time but it felt relieved after the hug. "Now, let me help you with that wall." Bing offered and Google nodded. A possible smile crawling up to its lips but faded as soon as it sat back down.

Now for prompt 9!

Prompt: 9. "Come on it'll be fun!" "*sigh* if you say so."

Henrik watched as Dr. Iplier hurried but gently organized the last mess from his desk, Henrik can already feel the excitement from the other just vibrating off of him. "Slow down Edward, you could possibly make another mess if you hurry so much." Henrik said but by the time the words fell the other doctor was already done. Edward wore his coat again and passed by Henrik to grab his cardigan and gave it to Henrik. Leading him to chuckle and accepted it.

As soon as Henrik took it Edward dragged both of them out of their offices and the hospital and back home. Along the way Edward kept happily talking about how this surprise would be amazing. But Henrik just gazed upon his lover. Barely listening to whatever he was saying. "I'm not sure Edward, you sure the others won't barge in on us again?" Edward chuckled. "don't worry Love I promise it won't happen this time. And this surprise will be the best!" Henrik smiled but scratched his neck nervously. They arrived back at their shared home and Edward gently took Henrik's hand and smiled. "Come on it'll be fun!" Edward said and kissed his hand. Henrik sighed but smiled back lovingly. "If you say so."

And as promised, Henrik was greeted with a smooth music playing and scented candles around the kitchen and dining table, on the table was lightly covered in roses and the amazing smell of food was currently cooking. Henrik didn't ask about how Edward planned all of this but he was so happy he had a lovely partner like him.

and that is done! Go ahead and ask more if you like, I do enjoy writing these ^^

[beerecordings]

I ALMOST FORGOT TO COME SCREAMING INTO YOUR INBOX LIKE I PROMISED, AAAH!!

Okay so putting the all caps aside- Bee, my gooooood I'm going to miss the wolf au so much ; ; This story has made me feel so many different things, ranging from joy, pity, sadness, anger, hatred, and then something like contentment at the end.

Seeing everyone's different journey was wonderful, to see them grow, change and actively work on themselves, it really put a smile on my face. With Marvin going from his ever constant anger and outburst, Jackie with his unresolved issues with his father, Chase and Henrik's fear and anxiety about their new nature, and even Anti and JJ at the end!!

It's crazy to think back on the earlier chapters where I kept calling Anti a freak and such before the big reveal with Iris had happened. Every interaction we got to see with her just made me feel more and more sorry for him :( So I'm glad that in the end Anti is surrounded by people that wants him amongst them, that will protect him and hopefully let him protect them in return.

I could keep rambling about so many other details but I'm pretty sure I'd be repeating a bunch of other things I've already said in the tags I left, ha ha! I'll just say that this whole au was an absolute delight to witness, and to this day I'm still thinking about the lil ari cameo you put in one chapter :]

(And also one last thing, I still think that Jackie's dad is very punchable)

YAYYYY RAMBLESSSS

thank you Ari I'm so happy you've liked it!! and I love that you have noticed the details :)

Anti did a lot of horrible stuff and they definitely could have decided they didn't want him around, but I just wanted to see them offer him that radical forgiveness because they really do all see themselves in him in different ways. Henrik's felt out of control with his lycanthropy, Jackie, Marv, and Chase have all been victims of abuse, and JJ has the same need for stability and care that Anti has after the way Iris treated both of them.

I did think about having a bit at the end where Jackie texts his dad and his dad doesn't text back, so he just puts his phone down and goes to the park with the pack without worrying about it. cause it doesn't matter anymore

(Marvin also thinks Jackie's dad is very punchable. he respects Jackie enough to let him make his own decisions... but he will also be watching his back!!)

thank you so much to everyone who has left comments throughout the whole story!!!!

[parkswritessometimes]

Why did you Save Me?

Egotober day 6: Doctor I promise the story is related to the prompt!

TW: Mentions of Suicde, hopstial, sucidal ideation, slighty relgious talk

a03 link

“Why did you save me?” Those were the first words Chase said since the incident. Seven full days of silence and anger. He refused to let anyone touch him, ripping his hand away from anyone who tried to touch it. He glared at every doctor and nurse that were just there to do their job. He didn’t want to be here. He didn’t want to be anywhere. He should have been dead. He wanted to be dead.

Thousands of words flurried through his head. None of them with a hint of kindness. Words of hostility towards those who saved his pathetic life, words of disgust towards himself, and words of sorrow for his friends. But in the end that one sentence kept coming back: “Why did Henrik save me?”

Chase watched as Henrik froze. He turned around to try and meet Chase’s gaze, but Chase’s eyes turned back to the itchy gray sheets he was draped in. He couldn’t meet Henrik’s eyes. He knew they would be filled with kindness and tears. Two things of billions Chase didn’t deserve. He deserved to be dead, a fitting punishment for the hell he had created for anyone who dared enter his life.

“Because I love you.” Henrik replied “And because I do not think you want to be dead. I think you want relief.” Chase swallowed the lump in his throat, forcing the guilt farther down. He hadn’t felt emotions in so, so, long, how dare the first emotion his brain muster up be guilt. He wanted to be angry at Henrik more than anything. How dare he save him when he deserved to die. Every God in the universe answered his prayers for relief with one answer: Death. The universe wanted him dead. How dare Henrik play with the Gods' will.

“I want to die, Henrik. Please just let me die. I can’t-I can’t do this anymore. I can’t.” Bile crept up Chase’s throat, burning his heart. He was exhausted. Feeling was too much. Thinking was too much. Breathing was too much. Existing was too fucking much.

All of Chase’s thoughts stopped as Henrik threw himself onto Chase, holding him tight. He couldn’t remember the last time someone gave him a hug. A beautiful genuine hug. His best guess was the last time he saw his kids, nearly eight months ago. The dam finally burst and the flood waters rose up to Chase’s eyes.

“Chase, Chase. I-I am sorry. I need you here. I need you here with me. I don’t care if that’s selfish. Let me be selfish, Chase Brody.” Soft, careful hands ran through his greasy unkempt hair. Every movement was delicate and calculated, designed to show how much Henrik loved his little brother. Chase grabbed Henrik’s coat with what little strength he had, burying his head into Henrik’s blue scrubs.

“I-I want this to stop. I want-Fuck, Henrik.” Chase sobbed. “I can’t-I can’t keep doing this. Please just-just make it stop. Make everything stop!”

Knowing, kind hands cradled his face, as a forehead rested against his own. Henrik’s breath smelled like cinnamon and tobacco, such a disgusting, beautiful, familiar scent. Chase closed his eyes as Henrik’s thumb dragged over his cheek. Hot silver tears rolled down Chase’s pale skin onto the horrid blankets.

“I will do my best. We-We will get you a therapist, the best in the country. And-And new medication! We will-We will get you anything you want, anything you need, it is yours.” Henrik breathed, wiping his own tears away. Chase nearly choked on his emotions. Anything. His brother would give him anything, would do anything just for him. If they thought that it would make him feel better, give him just a smidge of joy it would be his. He didn’t deserve these people in his life. He didn’t deserve their kindness.

“Henrik I-” Chase’s voice cracked. He broke Henrik’s heart, what on earth could he do to pick up the pieces? “I-I am so sorry. I am sorry. I’m sorry. Please, I can’t-I’m sorry. I’m sorry I hurt you.”Chase scooted over as Henrik shifted his body next to him. Warm arms pulled him close to Henrik’s chest, as nibble fingers rearranged the wires. Chase clung to Henrik’s hips like it was the only thing keeping him safe from the coming storm.

“You-You need to learn how much you mean to me-to us, Chase Brody,” Henrik whispered after a few minutes of silence. Chase looked up at Henrik’s gray eyes, they were absolutely exhausted. Twelve days of Chase in a coma-like state, then another seven of silence and anger. There was only so much that the poor doctor could handle.

“I-I, Henrik-” Chase started. How on earth do you respond to that? He knew his brothers loved him, but love was conditional. You had to be perfect, you had to bury your emotions. Smiley Chase, happy Chase, that was worthy of love. Depression Chase, sad Chase, that was unloveable, deserved to be thrown onto the street.

“I know-“No. No, you don’t. We-We love you more than anything Chase. Jackie is almost always outside or out on the window watching over you. Marvin is in a cleaning and magic frenzy preparing for your return.”  Chase shot a glance to the window, silently hoping that Jackie was just right outside like Henrik said. He deserved an apology and a bone-crushing hug more than anyone in the world.

“He isn’t here” Henrik chuckled as Chase buried his head back into his chest. “I sent him home. Been outside that window or that door for so long now. He deserved a rest.” Chase nodded silently before readjusting his position. Jackie always overworked himself nowadays. He deserved the biggest, best nap the galaxy could give him. Hopefully, Marvin would give him the good blankets for once.

“Henrik?” Chase murmured, breaking the silence.

“Yes, Chase?” Henrik hummed back.

“Thank you, for giving me another chance.”

“Yes, well, that's what good doctors are for.”

“That’s what good brothers are for.”

prompt by: @tracobuttons