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cjsmalley · 2 years ago

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The Phantoms and Ladybug give the Ladyblog and interview:

Phantom sighed, summoning his regalia, “I’m actually the Ghost King.”

Alya dropped into a curtesy, “Your Majesty! I am so, so sorry I didn’t—”

“It’s okay,” Phantom said hurriedly, “you’re human, that means you’re not one of mine and hopefully you never will be.”

“What does that mean? Your Majesty?”

Phantom frowned, “Ghosts are something…almost unnatural. In the life cycle. You know: we eat the antelope but when we die, rot, and become grass they eat us?”

“Did you just misquote the Lion King?” Chat muttered.

“Anyways,” Phantom ignored him, “when people die, they’re supposed to just…move on, to whatever’s Next.”

“You don’t know?” Alya questioned.

“No,” Phantom shook his head, “I…haven’t moved on. You know? I’m…my job’s to get other ghosts to move on and make sure they don’t bother the living too much. My job’s to be…well, the boss. I am the Law in the Realms.”

“Which’s why you were able to take Chat’s soul.”

“Yes,” Phantom looked frustrated, “I don’t want souls—I deal with ghosts, I got souls coming out my ears. But Chat wasn’t my first—we use the term Wished Away. I…wasn’t going to leave a kid with someone who would Wish Away his own son. Even to save his wife’s life. So I agreed and took him, back home.”

Alya nodded darkly, “And Chat? What was that like?”

Chat Noir grinned, “Oh, it was wonderful. Papa may own my soul but he gives me much more freedom than my biological father ever did. I was only required to maintain good marks in my classes and inform him of my activities. I even have siblings!”

“Other Wished Away children,” Phantom explained with a tight smile, “Chat wasn’t my first, he wasn’t my last. Some were like him, Wished Away on purpose. Others were Wished Away accidently. Their caretakers tried to sell their own souls but messed up the ritual.”

“Why would—?”

“One was sold for a longer life,” Phantom sighed again, “by his grandfather. Chat was soul—without his consent—to save his mother. Two were sold for revenge. Three accidentally, trying to gain protection for them. One was born a slave, his mother Wished to give him a better life. One, his mother was dying and his father was already dead and he was hated for not being fully human.”

Alya was counting on her fingers, “so, that’s…ten kids, counting Le Fantome. All by yourself, your Majesty?"

"Oh no," Phantom chuckled as Chat and Fantome laughed hysterically at the thought, "god no, I have a wife and we have a best friend we call our platonic third. My family's still alive and so’s theirs. Everyone works together. And they aren’t all needing constant parental support, like Fantome and Chat are both mostly independent adults. The three accidental Wished Away still have their biological families helping, because they love their kids, it really was an accident—”

“Ten kids and…one grandchild,” Ladybug spoke up shyly, causing everyone to whip around to her.

“My Lady?” Chat choked. He was desperately hopeful and utterly terrified, looking at her like she had hung the sun and the moon and the stars.

She nodded, smiling tearfully, holding up her phone with the confirmation text from her doctor.

Chat let out a whoop, grinning like the proverbial cat, and dove in to kiss her.

“Oh my gosh,” Alya whispered, strangled and laughing, “Breaking News: Ladybug and Chat Noir are having a baby!”

There was a rather light thud.

“So,” Le Fantome drawled, “not to break the moment but…the king just fainted.”

Danny Phantom adopts more kids than Bruce Wayne

I’ve seen a lot of fics going around about how Danny will get summoned as the Ghost King via cultist and dpxdc fics going around and I had an idea.

So Danny (ages 14-16 ish depending) gets summoned a lot, and in those summoning’s there is usually a sacrifice. Normally, if the sacrifices are kidnapped adults and the like Danny beats up the cultist and just lets the sacrifices go.

But what happens when the sacrifices are younger?

A literal child gets offered up, a soul contract binding them to Danny (probably as a slave or food or whatever, I just think like John Constantine’s contracts but without the con). Danny still beats up the cultist but now he has a kid with a soul contract that he can’t break without severe backlash happening to the kid and there already pretty hurt form the cultist.

Panicking and worried about the kid, Danny seals the contract but with some adjustments, so now for all intent and purposes he now has a kid.

Danny takes the kid back to the Far Frozen for Frostbite to heal, constantly sending calming emotions to his new kid while panic texting Sam and Tucker they had a kid now and spamming Jazz with questions on how to parent.

Many freak-outs and logistic family meetings later and they’ve worked out a relatively (more like half-way) decent plan for parenting. The kid is very happy with the new and loving parents and auntie and things calm down as much as things can with three liminal teenagers, a half-dead one, and a elementary schooler can between parenting, going to school, ghost king duties, and hiding all of this from Jack and Maddie.

Danny cries the first time the tot called him Dad. Sam and Tucker record this for blackmail. Danny gets even when Sam and Tucker breakout the waterworks when they get called Mom and Pops.

And then a few months later another summoning happens, this time with a 17 year old. They get adopted.

Five months after that, another summoning, this time with two 12 year old’s. They get adopted.

Thirteen months after that, another summoning. The kids 15. Adopted.

Two months after that, summoning and there’s three of them. All adopted.

By the time Danny, Sam, and Tucker are about to hit college age they have thirteen kids give or take. All of them call the Trio Dad, Mom, and Pops. Doesn’t matter if some of the kids are older. Team Phantom are the best parents most of them have ever had. Age is blatantly ignored in most situations. Dani is considered the oldest. The first adopted kid is considered the second oldest, etc.

Danny’s castle in the Infinite Realms has a room for all of this kids and portals going out into different dimensions depending on where the summoning happened. The Trio didn’t want to completely uproot any of their kids lives so they make sure all of the kids have the right records, access to schooling, etc.

Cue two of the kids (maybe three if you want John Constantine drunkenly auctioning off his at the time non-existent first born, accidents happen, the whole hodgepodge family has a understanding to punch Constantine on sight if they ever see him on their siblings/sons behalf) being from the DC universe.

Older of the two goes to Gotham U (I think studying communications, politics, philosophy etc to be able to help Danny with his Ghost Kind Duties) and the younger getting a scholarship to the fancy rich kid school Damian attends.

Danny’s kids are about as liminal as they can get between the adoption contract, all of the ectoplasm exposure, and the kids all living in the Infinite Realms the majority of the time. Damian and the younger get along like a house on fire be cause they have similar interest based on life. I think the older sibling somehow befriends Tim Drake, Tim possible develops a crush.

Batman is very paranoid about the two possibly metas around his kids

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translations-by-aiimee · 3 years ago

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The Husky and His White Cat Shizun - Chapter 18

Original Title: 二哈和他的白猫师尊

Genres: Drama, Romance, Tragedy, Xianxia, Yaoi

This translation is based on multiple MTLs and my own limited knowledge of Chinese characters. If I have made any egregious mistakes, please let me know.

Chapter Index

Chapter 18 - This Venerable One has Begged You Before

Tianwen has a deadly killing move. The name was very simple, just one word: "Wind". Once activated, no piece of armor in the surrounding area could withstand it.

Mo Ran was naturally acquainted with the power of "Wind". He also knew Chu Wanning's strength so there was no need to worry. He glanced at the pale man whose robe was dyed red with blood. He threw away the rest of his talismans to buy Chu Wanning some time, then flew away to the edge of the fight. He grabbed Shi Mei with one hand, Madam Chen with the other, and took two unconscious people, hiding a far distance away.

Chu Wanning endured the severe pain and reluctantly moved his other. Suddenly, Tianwen burst out with a dazzling golden light, and Chu Wanning violently jerked it back.

The Master of Ceremonies Ghost went berserk. It jumped up and rushed towards Chu Wanning with a distorted face.

Chu Wanning's robe waved like a flame in a violent wind, billowing and flying. His eyebrows were furious, half of his shoulders soaked in blood. He quickly raised his hand, Tianwen's golden light became more and more intense then it took off by Chu Wanning's flying spin.

The willow vine stretched for several tens of feet and whirled into a golden spiral. Like a whirlpool, it engulfed the surrounding ghosts, dead bodies, golden children, and the roaring and twisting Master of Ceremonies Ghost into the center of "Wind". The fierce image that was created by Tianwen was then shattered in an instant!!!

"Wind" smashed and destroyed. Not even the surrounding grass and trees, being ripped up from the ground, were spared.

The huge storm centered around Chu Wanning let out a dazzling golden light. The sky grew dark, covered by flying sand and rocks. Whether it was a coffin or the dead, they were like grass fluttering in the wind.

She was sucked in and was cut up by the rapidly spinning Tianwen.

Sliced into tens of thousands pieces of debris. . .

When everything calmed down, there was no grass around Chu Wanning, a desolate and empty wasteland.

Other than him standing alone in his bright, auspicious clothes that resembled a blooming red lotus and a begonia blossom, there was only a ground covered in crushed white bones, and the horrible hissing of Tianwen's golden light.

From this point of view, Chu Wanning did the world a favour pumping out so many disciples.

Based on his performance today, if he wanted to, even if every disciple on Life-Death Peak were defeated, it wasn't impossible for him to keep fighting. . .

The golden light faded away.

Tianwen turned into flickering dots like stars, blending into Chu Wanning's palm.

He breathed a deep breath and frowned. Enduring the sharp pain in his shoulder, he slowly walked towards his disciples in the distance.

"How's Shi Mei?"

Coming to their side, Chu Wanning pushed through and asked.

The ink burned down to look at the unconscious beauty in his arms. He still wasn't awake, his breathing was weak, and his cheeks felt cold to the touch. This scene was too familiar, it was a nightmare that Mo Ran couldn't get rid of.

As Shi Mei was lying in his arms like this, as time went on, he wasn't breathing anymore. . .

Chu Wanning placed his hands on Madam Chen's and Shi Mei's necks. He mumbled out: "Hmm? How could the poisoning be so deep?"

Mo Ran's head snapped up: "Poison? Didn't you say they were okay? Didn't you say that they were just being compelled?"

Chu Wanning frowned: "The Master of Ceremonies Ghost relied on the fragrance powder to compel them. That was a kind of poison. I thought it was only superficial, but I didn't expect the poison to be this severe."

". . ."

"Send them back to Chen's house first." Chu Wanning said, "It's not difficult to expel the poison. It's fine as long as they don't die."

His voice was cold and unwavering. Although Chu Wanning normally spoke like this, at this moment, it really made people feel like he was uncaring and downplaying things.

Mo Ran was brought back to that year of heavy snow. He was knelt in the snow and in his arms was Shi Mei whose life was slipping away. With tears on his face, he hoarsely begged Chu Wanning to turn his head, look at his disciple, and pleaded for him to raise his hand to save his disciple's life.

But what did Chu Wanning say back then?

It was also in such a light and calm tone of voice.

Just like that, rejecting Mo Ran the one time he knelt down and begged.

In the heavy snow, the person in his arms gradually became as cold as the snow falling on his shoulders and eyelashes.

That day, Chu Wanning killed two disciples with his own hands.

One was Shi Mingjing, who he could have saved but didn't.

One was Mo Weiyu, kneeling in the snow mourning the death of his heart.

There was a sudden panic in his heart, a brutality, a snake-like flow of resentment, rage and viciousness.

There was a moment when he suddenly wanted to rise up and strangle Chu Wanning. Wanted to shed his kind and pleasant disguise, revealing the hideousness of a malevolent ghost. Like a fierce ghost from a previous life, it viciously tore into him, questioning him and demanding his life.

He claimed the lives of the two helpless disciples in that snowfield.

But when his eyes flicked up, they suddenly fell on Chu Wanning's blood-covered shoulder.

The beast's anger was suddenly cut off.

He didn't say another word, just stared at Chu Wanning's face with poorly-masked hateful eyes. Chu Wanning didn't notice. After a while, he lowered his head again and stared at Shi Mei's haggard face.

His mind gradually went blank.

If something happened to Shi Mei this time, then. . .

"Cough cough cough!!"

The person in his arms abruptly coughed. Mo Ran was stunned and his heart trembled. . . Shi Mei slowly opened his eyes, and his voice was extremely hoarse and weak.

"A-. . . Ran. . .?"

"Yes! It's me!" In his ecstasy, the haze disappeared. Mo Ran's eyes widened. The palms of his hands were pressed against Shi Mei's cool cheeks, and his shining eyes trembled. "Shi Mei, how do you feel? Does anything hurt? "

Shi Mei smiled lightly, his eyebrows still. He turned his head, and looked around: ". . . How are we here. . . How did I faint. . . Ah! Shizun. . . cough cough, this disciple is incompetent. . . this disciple. . ."

"Don't talk," Chu Wanning said.

He gave Shi Mei a pill: "Since you're awake, take this poison dispersing pill. Don't swallow it right away."

Shi Mei took the medicine then was suddenly taken aback, his colourless face appearing even more transparent: "Shizun, how did you get hurt? You're covered in blood. . ."

Chu Wanning still had that faint, calm, irritating voice: "It's nothing."

He got up and glanced at Mo Ran.

"You, find a way to bring both of them back to the Chen's residence."

When Shi Mei woke up, the gloom that was deep in his heart suddenly vanished. He nodded quickly: "Okay!"

"I'll go first. I have something to ask the Chen family."

Chu Wanning said and turned to leave. Facing the vast darkness of the night, the fields covered in decay, he finally couldn't supress a twitch in his eyebrow, revealing a painful expression.

The entire shoulder was pierced by five fingers, the tendons and veins were torn apart, and the Master of Ceremonies Ghost's claws even pierced the bones deep in his flesh and blood. No matter how he pretended to endure it calmly, no matter how he tried to stave the bleeding, he was still be a human being.

It still hurt. . .

But so what if it hurts.

He walked forward one foot after another, the hem of the wedding dress flying around.

For so many years, people respected and feared him, but no one has dared stand by his side. No one cares about him. He has long been used to it.

Yuheng of the Night Sky, the Beidou Immortal.

No one liked him. No one cared whether he lived or died, whether he was sick or suffering.

He seemed to be born without the need for the support of others, no need to rely on anyone, no need for company.

So there was no need to shout out in pain, and crying was even more unnecessary. Just go and dress the wounds, cut off all the festering flesh around the tear and apply ointment on it.

It didn't matter if no one cared about him.

Anyway, that's how he came to be alone. He's survived all these years. He can take care of himself.

When he came to the door of the Chen residence, before he entered the courtyard, he heard an ear-piercing scream.

Chu Wanning didn't care about aggravating his wound and immediately rushed in - only to see the old lady Chen with a disheveled hair, her eyes closed, but chasing her son and husband all over the house, only ignoring the young daughter of the Chen family. She stood beside her in panic, huddled tightly, shaking.

Seeing Chu Wanning enter, Mr. Chen and his eldest son screamed and rushed towards him: "Dao Master! Dao Master, help!"

Chu Wanning held them back. He glanced at Madam Chen's closed eyes, and said angrily: "Didn't I tell you to watch her and keep her from falling asleep?!"

"I can't help it! My wife is unwell. She usually goes to bed early. After you left, she was still holding out at first, then she fell asleep, and then she started to go crazy! She started screaming. . . yelling. . ."

Mr. Chen shivered and ducked behind Chu Wanning. He didn't notice that he was actually wearing an auspicious outfit, nor did he notice the hideous wound on Chu Wanning's shoulder.

Chu Wanning frowned and said: "What was she yelling?"

Before Mr. Chen spoke, the mad woman rushed over with her teeth bared, screaming mournfully. It was actually the voice of a young woman—

"Spineless liar! Pathetically fickle! I want you to pay with your lives! I want you all to die!"

Chu Wanning: ". . . This evil spirit stoops low." He turned back and sternly shouted at Mr. Chen, "Does this voice sound familiar?"

Mr. Chen’s mouth was trembling. He rolled his eyes and swallowed nervously: “I don’t know, I don't recognize it, I don’t know! Please help! Please help!

Just then, Madam Chen rushed over. Chu Wanning raised his uninjured arm, pointing at the sky above Madam Chen, and a lightning bolt slammed down, trapping Madam Chen within a barrier.

Chu Wanning turned his head with an icy gaze: "You really don't know?"

Mr. Chen repeated: "I really don't know! I really don't know!"

Chu Wanning didn't say anything else. He whipped out Tianwen and bound old lady Chen in the barrier.

He should have tied up the rest of the family outside, it would be more convenient and easier to gauge the situation, but Chu Wanning had his own rules of conduct. It wasn't easy using Tianwen to interrogate abnormal individuals. So he abandoned the soft approach and instead questioned the ghost in Madam Chen's body.

Interrogating ghosts wasn't the same as interrogating people.

When Tianwen interrogated people, they couldn't fight it and would speak.

When Tianwen interrogated ghosts, it would form a boundary where only Chu Wanning and the ghost would exist. Ghosts would regain their original appearance in the boundary and pass on their message to Chu Wanning.

A flame ignited on Tianwen. It snaked along the vine, burning from his end straight to old lady Chen.

The old lady let out a scream, and suddenly began to twitch. The original scarlet flame on the willow vine instantly turned into a blue ghost fire and burned back to Chu Wanning's side.

Chu Wanning closed his eyes. The fire burned up the willow vine onto his palm, but the ghost fire couldn't hurt him. It just burned all the way along his arm, down his chest, and then went out.

". . ."

The Chen family looked at the scene in horror. They didn't know what Chu Wanning was doing.

Chu Wanning's eyelashes trembled lightly, his eyes still closed, but a white light gradually appeared in front of his eyes. Immediately afterwards, he saw a small, white, jade-like foot step out of the light, and a girl about seventeen or eighteen years old appeared in his field of vision.

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#2ha novel #2ha translation #2ha #the husky and his white cat shizun translation #the husky and his white cat shizun #english translation #chinese bl #chinese novel #danmei novel #danmei #yaoi #yaoi novel #bl novel #mo ran #chu wanning #ranwan

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battery-forgot · 3 years ago

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Now, I come mid-week to give you all of my DSMP/MCYT headcanons because I have many

Don’t mind if these are repeated, misspelt, or has no logic, it is block game things and I am not checking over them-- and some will be organized, and some will be random, some might not have a Enter space because these are all ctrl c + ctrl v’ed from a Discord server I am in :]

Skeppy headcanons: Skeppy is 4 billion years old as scientists have thought that is how long ores and diamonds existed for

Skeppy's species is pretty rare

Every diamond that is broken or damaged causes Skeppy to feel a physical pain in his body

His species has lamp tail as they don't have night vision, some of them also have tiny wings that aren't usable, though they can kinda glide short distances with them

Because of his small height, he has taught himself magic to be able to change size, it can hurt him if he goes taller than 5'3, but he is able to get to Foolish's height if he tried

Sometimes random crystals grow on Skeppy's face, though they look different from normal crystals and can be used for things like explosives, though he doesn't know about it

Techno has seen Kristen but doesn't remember it well, though Kristen gave him his crown as a gift

Techno has a collection of skull masks that he has worn, he wears the skulls because of nostalgia now but he used to wear them because he thought they were cool and made him look threatening

Technoblade, Skeppy, Sam, Ranboo, Michael(the son- not Michaelmcchill), Phil, Bad, and some others really like shiny and golden objects

DreamSMP theme/"timeline" is kind of like a steampunk like thing

Drista is DreamXD's sister and DristaXD is Dream's "sister", though they aren't really siblings as they are robots

Drista and DreamXD are clones of DristaXD and Dream, though they actually look nothing alike

Callahan is a mute mini-god that everyone knows exists but doesn't really understand they are a mini-god. They kind of just chill and do what people ask them to do

Phil: Phil is more into traveling than anything else

Though he doesn't mind being a father figure, he doesn't think he is a good one especially after he killed Wilbur

He is able to turn into the size of a crow, though since his wings are now unusable, he doesn't do it as often as it is basically useless

Phil sometimes takes bird baths, though I guess they are always called that-

He has bird legs/talons,but they aren’t fully noticeable

joke headcanon I thought of is that Phil's handwriting is chicken-scratch because he is half-crow

Phil has really good memory, as a crow would

-DreamXD is actually pretty weak in powers, but he acts like he is the strongest person in the server

-Tommy's eye is just completely gone from when Dream killed him, but he covers it with an eyepatch

-Tubbo talks about things to Ranboo thinking he'll forget them, but some stories Ranboo remembers but doesn't speak about it because he doesn't want to make Tubbo worry too much

-Philza wasn't willing to kill Wilbur so Wilbur forced Phil by grabbing his arm and impaling himself

-Dream and Techno sometimes share stories about having ADHD

-Phil didn't really know about Fundy, he knew he existed but had no idea to how he acted, looked, or his actual name

-Wilbur had a letter written to Fundy about how he was sorry for what he was gonna do during November 16th, but the withers blew it up before Fundy knew about it

-Fundy doesn't let anyone hold his hand because it makes him remember the past where he would hold Wilbur's hand a lot

-Change of headcanons: Schlatt and Puffy are cousins, Tubbo was just a random kid that would follow Schlatt for hours a day, waiting for him to acknowledge him

-Dream jumps into the lava in the prison as it reminds him of Sapnap

-Bad was uncomfortable when Sapnap married Big Q and Karl because he went on a date with Quackity before but he still supported them (Yes I know Big Q basically had a divorce with Sap and Karl--)

-Skeppy knows a lot about other's pasts because of how old he is, even traumatizing facts

-Skeppy has a fear of fire (Pyrophobia) and he is kind of scared of Sapnap

-Dream used the revivebook on the cat Tommy killed, but Sam killed it thinking Dream would use the cat against Sam to escape quicker in the future

-Dream doesn't *fully* know why he is in prison, ever since Tommy and Tubbo killed him, a wire/chip broke in his body which made him forget a lot of things. Dream does get told what he had done a lot, but it makes him almost have a panic attack because he thought he was a pretty good person

-Ghostbur is Callahan, they were commanded by DreamXD to become Ghostbur so that everyone could feel like he was still there (Callahan can change who they are completely, but they don't actually know how they acted when as Ghostbur, though that doesn't mean he didn't know what happened, when Dream killed/revived Ghostbur, Callahan got to see what it felt like to die for the first time)

-Fundy has the habit of picking up things and using them at some sort of fidget (examples: knives, leaves, grass, wood, pencils, berry stems, etc.

-Ranboo will be writing/saying something about someone and use pronouns instead of their name or just with the person's name (example: "Puffy she/her was--" or "he/him writing down things") [Basically canon-]

-Tubbo used to headbutt people but stopped after around 2 years because he kept hurting people

-Phil used to squawk randomly when he was a kid, but he mainly just squawks when hiccuping now

-Even though Bad used to get really nervous picking people up because he was afraid he was gonna drop and kill them, he now just picks up everyone randomly... except Foolish and Ranboo

-Foolish is able to shrink to around 7ft, and unless he is building a big build, he will shrink so he can get around easier

-Because Ranboo is only half enderman, he isn't the full height of an enderman (He is only 8'5)

-If someone asks Charlie about his pronouns, out of confusion, he just responds with "Bones!" which sometimes leads Las Nevadas members (or just anyone really) calling him by He/it/Bones

-When Bad was being controlled by the egg, it made him get even more flashbacks about how his species was supposed to act which would end up with him panicking because that isn't who he wants to be (bonus: The more a member infected by the egg would panic, the more the egg would be able to take over the person because they can't focus)

-Kristin has taught Phil how to do makeup in their free-time of hanging out

-Kristin is insanely tall, if she shrinks then she turns more transparent, so she ends up looking more like a ghost when at average height

-Skeppy can't cry, though he still can feel sad

-Bad and Eret talk to eachother quite a lot

-When Tubbo was around 11-14, he would make redstone contraptions, though he doesn't remember how to make most of them now

Ranboo doesn't like photoshoots because he feels like everyone is staring at him, though this does mean he just doesn't have a passport photo, his alternative was to draw what he looked like on the passport but they didn't allow it, as well as Ranboo doesn't really remember what he looks like anyway because they don't like looking in mirrors--

I think this is half-canon but another headcanon is where every SMP is just an island far away from others. In this case, Hermitcraft, 30 day SMP, and other SMPs are all linked up, as for people who are in multiple SMPs, they travel around by boat for awhile, now, the thing I've just not figured out is how tf their look magically changes-like- outfit is decently obvious-- but do they magically transform like an anime girl? Idk-

Skeppy's voice randomly glitches out, is there an actual reason for this? No.

Quackity’s outfit is similar to Sub Urban’s (In Freak)

Skeppy acts as if he is royalty, he doesn't act rude or demanding unless joking- but he does act as if he is the superior person-

-Skeppy and Slime are the only "people" that don't have steampunk styled clothing because of how old they are

-Skeppy's hair grows insanely quickly and no one knows why, he honestly hates it

-Most of Skeppy's outfits have been made by Bad or Puffy

-Skeppy knows DreamXD as if he is a brother, but he despises him because of something that has happened around 3,000 years ago

-Skeppy has a lot of different shades in their hair on the "inside"(like- the side where his neck is is what I mean, I don't remember if it has a name or not-)

-Like I've said before, Skeppy's eyes are crystallized, but they are somewhat transparent, not enough to where you'd be able to see the inside of his head, but they are still transparent

-In the past, Skeppy didn't like their name which is why they called himself "Skeppy"

-He has an attachment to caves

-When Skeppy was a kid, they had the dream of him filling cave walls with houses of their own

-Skeppy goes by it/they/he

-Skeppy joke flirts with Bad all the time to confuse everyone, Bad doesn't like it because then everyone thinks they are dating which makes him feel a little uncomfortable

-Out of boredom, in the past, Skeppy would climb on the roofs of caves, hang upside down, and try and sleep like a bat

-They have no blood in his body, it is literally just a diamond covered with a thin layer of skin and hair

-Skeppy gets stressed out easily when it comes to learning because it just reminds him of everything he had to get used to as the billion of years he lived went by

-Skeppy used to not be allowed out into the open world, the first time it experienced going outside was when it was 2 billion years old

-Skeppy has accidentally caught things on fire during the day because of the reflecting of the sun, but even then, they are nocturnal so they don't really have to worry about it

-Wilbur adapted to hanging out with Sally in the water, he has some gills, but he can only breathe underwater for a bit longer with them

-Skeppy always has the equivalent of Diamond (armor) except when he was infected by the egg, he was equivalent to the strength of a Ruby

-Infected Skeppy has a redstone glow when touched, so when hugged(or hive fived- or- yeah you get the point), he would give a subtle glow around him until let go

-The Eggpire still can be controlled, but they are able to control it unless angered/upset

-Skeppy was 6ft when infected, now he is 3′9 un-infected

-At this point, Dream likes the prison because he sometimes feels safe there, like no one can hurt him

-DristaXD is more of a ghost robot than an actual robot

-DristaXD's hobby is murdering people and has basically been in some sort of jail before, she has broken chains around their ankles and hands, it seems to have been made of a really strong material as wel

-Sapnap used to have fire wings, but when he had to get extinguished, they disappeared, they are still there, they just aren't visible until dunked in lava and Sapnap can't use them anymore

-Infected Bad still took care of Sapnap, but Sapnap never cared

-Sapnap takes the name "lava cake" too seriously... though he thinks the literal lava cakes he makes taste good

-Puffy's hair has been dyed blue by Ghostbur before because he wanted people to remember Friend if they ever disappeared

-Going with my Ghostbur as Callahan hc, when Ghostbur was killed, Callahan kind of glitched between realities and so Ghostburs body glitched from Callahan's body and Ghostbur's then just disappeared. Callahan is still alive but they randomly glitch into different realities, he has glitched into places Karl has gone, including The Inbetween.

-When Ghostbur was glitching back into Callahan after killed, it shocked and concerned Dream

There you go :]

#dreamsmp #dreamsmp headcanon #skeppy #badboyhalo #dream #dreamxd #philza #Callahan minecraft #Ghostbur #Fundy #Wilbur #captain puffy #Sapnap #Quackity #mcyt headcanons #Ranboo #Tubbo

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maybedefinitely404 · 4 years ago

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Day 29: Prinxiety/Loceit (pt 4)

Aaaand, part 4, the finale!

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

@tsshipmonth2020

Day 29: You have a telepathic link with your soulmate until the two of you meet.

Content warnings: discussion of conversion therapy/after effects, PTSD, food mentions, anxiety/panic attacks, internalized homophobia, mentions of the foster system/abuse (mental, emotional, neglect, past eating disorder), minor self harm/blood, mentions of dissociating.

Word count: 5.1k

Despite Roman’s claims that being around other people would only distract him, and he didn’t want to have to walk to the library every time he had homework, Patton’s constant pleading eventually broke him down. Now, much to his roommate’s delight, they spent every night in the middle of the study floor in the library, and Roman found that he actually looked forward to it. Sometimes someone he knew would walk by, and give him a valid reason to take a short break, and having other people around somehow motivated him to work harder. He was starting to understand the appeal of the place.

Now, Patton and him were spending their afternoon there between classes, both working on their own projects and sharing a bag of popcorn twists. It was the only oil soaked snack that didn’t leave much residue on their fingers. Roman was deep in thought, struggling to remember an especially flowery Shakespeare monologue for a mock audition next week, when Patton kicked his leg under the table.

“What, Pat?” He took another moment to finish the sentence before he tore his eyes away from the book, surprised at his roommate’s barely contained excitement.

“You’ve been humming for half an hour!”

He hadn’t even noticed. He tended to do it a lot without realizing; humming along to his soulmate’s music. Ever since he’d come back almost a year ago, an occurrence he’d never had explained but held onto with fondness, Roman’s heart jumped every time his music played. It was just like old times, their old system immediately reinstated, and more than once he’d found himself singing along to the melodies in his head. Patton knew this, and could probably tell by the genre whether Roman was listening to his soulmate’s songs, or just had his own earworm.

“No, no, no, I like your humming! That’s not the point!”

“Then what’s the-”

“The guy behind you has his earbuds loud enough to hear!”

Roman strained his ears, and yes, he could barely hear the music coming from behind him. He definitely hadn’t noticed before, too deep in thought to notice something so trivial. But Patton was always on high alert, never able to keep his mind on one thing at a time.

“Okay, but what does that ha-”

“You’ve been humming the same songs as he’s been listening to for half an hour, Ro! I think he’s your soulmate!”

Roman’s eyes widened and he spun around, effectively dropping his book onto the ground. Yeah, if he concentrated, he could tell that the song in his head was the same as the one just audible through the other’s earbuds.

“Are you sure?”

“Positive!”

That’s all the convincing Roman needed. He jumped to his feet and rounded the other table so he was face to face with the stranger and knocked on the table a couple times. When he made eye contact, he thought he saw fear in the other’s face, but that couldn’t be right. Roman was not intimidating. The man at the table reached up to pop out one of his earbuds.

“Hello lovely, I have a question for you,” Roman purred, dropping onto his elbows on the table.

“I- I don’t-”

Apparently that counted as a meeting, because in that moment, the music in Roman’s head faded into nothingness. And he could tell it wasn’t just the music being paused. He was left with a neutral emptiness he hadn’t felt in a long time, a silence that was rare, and an innate knowledge that it had happened: their link was no longer necessary and had dissipated. Roman grinned wide, barely concealing a squeal.

“You’re my soulmate!”

He didn’t know what reaction he was expecting, but he sure as hell hadn’t expected the man at the table to get up and sprint out of the building at full speed.

“Stay here, Ro,” Patton was suddenly at his side, laying a hand on his bicep, “I’ll go after him. I don’t know what just happened but I don’t want it to happen again.”

Patton scooped up the other man’s things from the table and jogged out the library door.

-----

Virgil didn’t know where he was going; he hadn’t planned on running out of the library. Dammit, he hadn’t planned to run into his soulmate. And he knew that was his soulmate, and not just some weird coincidence. Because the moment they’d locked eyes, it was as if something in his mind had snapped, like a rubber band that had always been there but the pressure was so constant he didn’t notice it there until it was gone. Their bond had snapped; it was no longer necessary, because he’d met his soulmate.

He recognized the guy, just barely. They were in the same first year math class, a course often taken by upperclassmen (probably like his soulmate) because they’d put off getting a math credit until their final years. Logan had warned Virgil of that when he was choosing his first year courses, and so he was safely getting it out of the way so he could focus on his major in the coming years.

His breathing was choppy and strained as he tried to calm down his panic attack, dropping onto the ground under a large tree. He couldn’t keep running lest he collapse and draw more attention to himself, and that was far worse than anything he could imagine. Fighting the urge to scratch at his skin, he buried his head in his hoodie clad arms, fumbling with one hand to free his phone from his pocket.

It’s actually a guy, it’s a guy, he’s gay, wrong wrong wrong-

No, not wrong. It’s not wrong.

Yes it is, it’s going to hurt, you’re going to hurt, wrong wrONG WRONG!

His hands were shaking far too hard to text but he tried anyways, begging Janus to come pick him up early. Logan wouldn’t be done work for another couple hours, and usually Virgil would be fine just doing homework until his dad was ready to drive them home, but he didn’t think he’d be able to handle being on campus much longer.

“Hey, kiddo?”

Virgil’s head jerked up just as he clicked send, fighting every urge in his body to bolt again. It wasn’t the guy… his soulmate… but someone else he hadn’t met before, panting.

“Heya, my name’s Patton! You ran out without your stuff, so I brought it!”

Oh, he was holding his backpack, and his folder under one arm. Virgil was just trying to encourage his legs to move, to stand so he could take his things, when the stranger dropped into the grass in front of him. He flinched.

“Here ya go,” He pushed it towards him like a child trying to coax out a scared cat, “I’m so sorry me and Ro scared you. He just gets over excited sometimes. I promise he’s actually very gentle.”

Virgil stared, pulling in a halting breath.

“The guy who ran up to you, that’s Roman. I’m his roommate, by the way. I’m Patton. Did I introduce myself? Doesn’t matter. I’m a third year psychology major. Roman’s in third year too, music and theatre major.”

He should probably introduce himself too, but his hands were frozen, clamped around his phone, and he found his voice wasn’t cooperating. That didn’t deter the other dude, though.

“Here, I wrote out both of our numbers. Roman feels super bad for scaring you, so you can take your time, if you want.” He delicately placed a ripped piece of notebook paper on the backpack between them, “His is the first one. But I put mine in there too, so you can text me if you want to talk. The more friends, the better.”

Virgil’s phone buzzed, alerting him of Janus’ response.

“I’ll let you be, okay? Remember to text!” With an exuberant wave, he dashed back to the library. Virgil read Janus’ panicked message, asking what had happened, in a bit of a daze. His dad agreed to come get him, so he stuffed the paper into his pocket and slung his backpack over his shoulder.

-----

Janus had asked him not to go into his room when he was so worked up, instead giving him free reign of the living room while the older restarted the dinner he’d abandoned in favor of picking his son up. He’d turned on the TV for Virgil, changing the channel to a nature documentary, given Virgil his favorite weighted blanket, and left him with strict orders to call him if he started spiraling or needed a hug.

The distraction had worked for a while, the soothing voice of the narrator almost lulling him to sleep, until his racing brain had come to the conclusion that this was the worst thing to ever happen in the history of ever and that he was going to die alone. He’d been a little hopeful that his soulmate would be a girl, to somewhat appease his trauma, but life was never that easy. A part of him had also been a little miffed about that hope, because as much as he liked to pretend, he had a preference for boys. A big preference. And his soulmate was cute.

“Everything okay, Virgil?” Janus called through the pass through window into the kitchen, taking his eyes off his food preparation to watch his son’s pacing.

“Yup!” He lied, picking and scratching at the skin of his hands out of his dad’s view. The pain settled him a little, giving him something he could control, but he knew he’d get a figurative slap on the wrist for it later. A concerned slap, not an angry one. Maybe more of ‘a cuddle on the couch and wrap the little patches of broken skin and an update with his counsellor’. So not really a slap. At all. As it usually went.

Everything was wrong. What kind of shit first impression had he given his soulmate? Getting up and running away like an actual child? And that was only part of it. He was damaged goods, a broken person, who needed more help and reassurance than any other person. How could he explain to his soulmate that he was the cause of his problems without making him feel guilty? That wasn’t the life the man had signed up for, wasn’t the soulmate burden he’d wanted. He would want someone easy, someone who wouldn’t have panic attacks when they got shocked by a door knob, who didn’t stop eating when they were scared, who pressed pause on life when he woke up in a dissociating headspace. He couldn’t say that to him. He’d lost everything, that vague musical connection to an invisible soulmate, that had given him a subtle hope. It had been a quiet illusion, a promise that he’d be fine if it were never fulfilled. Knowing there was someone out there, providing him music, had been enough. But now…

“Virgil, hold these for me.”

When had Logan gotten home? He put his hands out obediently, clenching the fingers over the ice cubes placed in each palm. The sensation startled him and sent a shiver up his spine.

“Four, seven, eight. Ready?”

He followed the breathing pattern eagerly, feeling the curls of anxiety in his stomach slowly settle into butterflies. When he was breathing normally, an overwhelming sense of dizziness almost knocked him over. Logan took his arm and led him to the couch.

The next moment, Janus was kneeling in front of him, rubbing disinfectant into his few bloody scratches, the melting water dripping through his fingers and onto the carpet.

“I should have noticed,” he murmured as he stuck a couple bandaids onto each hand, refusing to meet Virgil’s eyes.

“Don’t blame yourself, Janus. I don’t think it was happening for too long,” Logan assured, running a hand down Virgil’s spine. “Did this have to do with the reason you left school early today?”

Virgil nodded.

“Are you nonverbal?”

“No,” he choked, clearing his throat, “Just dry throat.”

“I got it,” Janus leapt to his feet and hurried to the kitchen.

With a heavy sigh, Virgil leaned into Logan’s side, the hand on his back traveling to wrap around his shoulder comfortingly. The last drops of the ice cube hit the carpet, and he dried his hands off on his jeans. “I met my soulmate today.”

“I see,” Logan said. For the umpteenth time, Virgil was beyond grateful that Logan was an expert at masking reactions. It made difficult conversations easier.

“It’s a guy.”

“How did that go?”

“I ran out of the library and had a panic attack. His roommate brought me my stuff and gave me their numbers. I made an idiot out of myself.”

Logan was quiet, giving Virgil a little squeeze. A water glass was pressed into his hands and Virgil downed the whole thing, passing it back to Janus, who placed it on the coffee table.

“I think… I think I’m magnifying. Maybe.” He described his thoughts that led to his spiral as quickly as possible, feeling slightly pleased when Logan agreed with his hypothesis.

“You are definitely magnifying. Good job for recognizing that, Virgil. You don’t even know him, much less what he thought of your interaction.”

“What’s our next step?” Janus spoke up, resting a hand on Virgil’s knee and rubbing it with his thumb.

He shook his head. “I don’t know.”

“Can you sleep on it, and message him tomorrow?”

Virgil thought about for a second before shaking his head even harder, “No. I have class with him tomorrow, and we’re getting a study guide for a test. I can not miss it. But what if he comes up to me, or wants to talk, and I embarrass myself again, and-”

His dads both hushed him at the same time and he took a deep breath, closing his eyes against Logan’s side. “What do I do?”

“You could message him tonight,” Janus drawled.

“Are you crazy?” He shrieked, “No! What would I even say? ‘Hey, you freaked me out today, sorry for running like a lunatic’?!”

“Why not explain the cause for your hasty escape?” Logan piped in.

“That’s way too much to load onto him as a first conversation.”

“Not all the gory details, just a vague explanation. That’s how I started talking to Logan,” Janus stated, adjusting his position on the floor. “If he’s your soulmate, Virge, he’ll be okay to deal with this. It’ll come out eventually, and if something else happens, it will be nice for him to have some context.”

Virgil groaned. “I hate when you make sense.”

“We can help you construct an adequate message.” Logan squeezed him again, meeting Janus’ eyes with a small smile.

“Fine.” Virgil snarled, pulling out his phone and the two numbers, typing the first one into his ‘new contact’ list. “Okay, what do I say?”

-----

V: Hey, I’m Virgil. We met earlier today. In a manner of speaking.

R: OMG, hi! I’m Roman. I am SO sorry for startling you!

V: It’s okay. It wasn’t your fault.

R: I still feel bad DX

“He feels bad, what do I do?!”

“I would suggest explaining the reason you ran off to ease his concerns.”

“Me too. But ask first, and don’t give more details than you’re comfortable with.”

V: Can I be brutally honest for just a second?

R: Should I be nervous? Haha go ahead!

V: I was forced into conversion therapy about a year back, and I still carry a lot of the trauma with me. That’s why I ran. It was just gut instinct.

“He’s not responding, oh god, he’s going to block me, why isn’t he responding?!”

“I assume this news would take a moment to process. Focus on your breathing, Virgil. Don’t magnify.”

“You also sent it, like, ten seconds ago.”

R: Holy shit, that’s terrible. I’m so sorry.

“...That’s not what I expected.”

“This is a regular reaction from a human being with even a lick of common sense, Virgil.”

“Seconded.”

V: It’s okay, I have a really great support system now.

R: That’s good. I’ve never experienced anything like that, so I can only imagine how hard that was.

R: I don’t expect you to answer if you don’t want to or don’t know, so please don’t feel pressured, but do you know what kind of soulbond we have? Is it platonic?

“Shit, fuck, who do I answer that?”

“With the truth, I’d imagine. Do you have an answer to his question?”

“Remember what I told you, kid. Your own pace.”

“Logan, if I explain it, can you put it into words? Please?”

V: I’m not averse to a possible romantic relationship in the future, but at the moment I am still learning to become comfortable with myself, as I have negative connections to that part of my identity that can become problematic if not properly worked through at my own pace.

R: Give me a couple seconds to decode that

V: My dad wrote it, he’s a prof. I have both of them helping me not freak out right now.

R: You might want to date one day, but you need to take it slow because of your trauma.

V: Uhm… yeah. I could have said it like that.

R: Is talking to me upsetting you? We can always talk another time.

V: No, I’m okay.

R: Okay, then as far as I’m concerned, we move at your pace. That’s not an issue for me at all.

“I… oh. He’s… wow.”

“I agree with your sentiment.”

“I like this boy already.”

“DAD!”

R: Your dad’s a prof?

V: One of them is. He teaches at our school, Prof Sanders. 4th year chemistry?

R: Oh shit. I’m in his class.

V: Lol he thinks he knows you

R: You have two dads?

V: Yep

R: That’s so cool. I’d really love to meet them.

V: Wow, we met today and you’re already wanting to meet my parents?

R: Heeey, I want to meet them as a FRIEND.

V: My dad says after the semester’s over, you’re free to come by

One at a time, Virgil’s dads left him on the couch with an ear to ear grin, Janus to reheat dinner and Logan following him just so he could cling to his husband's waist as he moved around the kitchen. Neither of them wanted to disturb the little bubble their son was in.

-----

In the weeks following, they’d started to sit together in the one class they shared. Virgil had begun to join him and Patton on their nightly library study sessions, and after some more gentle convincing, had given in to sitting with their whole friend group during meals at the cafeteria. He was growing more comfortable with Roman, no doubt about that.

Didn’t mean he wasn’t fighting off an anxiety attack as he waited by the door to get picked up for their first outing alone.

He kept checking his phone and glancing out the peephole as Janus ran calming fingers through his hair. Virgil leaned into the touch instinctively, consciously slowing his breathing as Janus hummed. Logan was watching him from the entrance to the hall, leaning on the kitchen door frame. There wasn’t much he could do, but dammit if he wasn’t going to watch his son go off on the most anxiety inducing situation of all of their lives.

“You’ll be okay, kid,” Janus muttered, pressing a kiss to the crown of his head. “You’ve been friends with him for a while now, and he said there were no expectations. You’re in total control here.”

“What if I have a flashback, or a panic attack, or go nonverbal or something? He’s going to freak the fuck out and then all the work will be for noth-”

Logan spoke up. “You’re worried about things that may not even happen. And besides, haven’t you spoken to Roman about these things already?”

“A bit. Not in detail,” he whispered.

“I would suggest you do so, today if possible. It will make any possible situations that arise easier and less jarring to deal with.”

Virgil looked up at Janus, a pleading look in his eyes.

“He’s right, kid. The sooner you get it out of the way, the better.”

There was a knock at the door and Virgil nearly jumped out of his skin. To his disdain, Janus backed away until he was next to Logan, gesturing at the door with a small smile. Virgil growled out a curse and opened the door, the scowl on his face melting into a sickeningly authentic smile.

“How’s my favorite emo? Hi Mr. Sanders, hey Prof.”

“Hello.”

“Salutations.”

“Your favorite emo?” Virgil snarked, pulling on his jacket. It wasn’t cold, not in the slightest, but he’d rather have the extra layer.

“You’re the only emo I know, so the choice is easy.”

“By process of elimination, doesn’t that also imply I’m your least favorite emo too?”

“Don’t start this again, Mr. Son-of-a-professor.”

“I’ll start it if I want to!”

The door closed behind them with one final wave to his parents, and the house was quiet. Janus leaned into Logan’s waiting arms, resting his head on the other’s collar bone.

“He’s all grown up.”

“That he is, my love.”

-----

Virgil smirked as Roman set out a large cliche picnic blanket, gesturing for him to sit. He did, crossing his legs and leaning on his knees as the other began to unload the basket.

“Okay, so for sandwiches, I have turkey, peanut butter and jelly, and ham. Patton made me bring apple slices because he’s a dad, but I’m sure we can convince the ducks to eat them.”

To prove his point, a group of ducks paddled out from under a weeping willow half submerged in the creek.

“I like apples,” Virgil defended, grabbing a slice from the open container and shoving the whole thing in his mouth. “How many people were you intending to feed with that much food?”

Roman pouted from behind a container of potato salad. “I had to show off my food skills, duh.”

“You made that?” Virgil asked with raised eyebrows as Roman set out a tin of mini quiches and a smaller one stacked with brownies and cookies.

“The cookies were Patton’s, but he insisted I take some. And I would have bought more, but…” He tipped the basket towards Virgil, revealing the bottom absolutely filled with different canned drinks and water bottles. “I didn’t know what you wanted to drink.”

Virgil actually did laugh as he stretched forward to snag a Doctor Pepper, taking another apple slice as he sat back.

“Do you have a sandwich preference?” Roman asked, choosing a Sprite for himself.

“Turkey looks good.” Virgil said before his choice paralysis could come into play, breathing a sigh of relief as Roman handed one of the sandwiches to him. The less stress he added to his own life, the better.

Roman had been right to bring an assortment of food, because dammit, he was a really good chef. Virgil was nervous to try a quiche, since he’d never had them before and the texture was odd to him, but Roman assured that if he didn’t like it, he’d eat it instead. Apparently he wasn’t eeked out by germs. After a nibble though, Virgil ate almost half the tin. Who knew cold eggs could be good? Roman took the ham sandwich, and they split the PB&J. The ducks were more than pleased to be given Roman’s half of the apple slices but Virgil refused to share, since fresh fruits were still a treat after a life of preserves. The younger wasn’t a huge fan of the potato salad, so Roman eagerly finished it, seemingly more excited to move onto the desserts but not wanting to leave any leftovers.

They were just finishing up the frankly absurd amount of cookies and brownies when Roman broke their casual bickering, chasing a chocolate chip bite with a long swig of Sprite and tossing another apple to their swarm of awaiting ducks.

“So, tell me a bit about yourself, Virge.”

“What do you want to know?” Virgil replied, leaning back on his hands.

“Anything, really. Childhood, siblings, favorite color, darkest fear.”

“Quite a spectrum, there.” There was a lot he could talk about, but he felt it might be better to get the bigger things out of the way. Janus was sort of the leading expert on this kind of thing, so his advice had probably been sound. He brushed his hands together to get the crumbs off them as he spoke, “Okay, so I grew up in the foster system.”

Roman tried to hide his wince. “Ouch. I’ve heard a lot of bad things.”

“It’s fucked,” Virgil drawled, stretching his arms above his head with a yawn, “I spent most of my time in a group home, though, because I was called ‘difficult’. No one wanted to deal with my ass.”

“Why?”

“Mmm, ran away, didn’t listen, talked back, antagonized any biological kids.”

“So like, a normal teenager?” The last apple slice was sacrificed to the feathered hoard.

Virgil snorted, “Yeah, but I came with a receipt. And I kind of liked the group home more.”

“How many kids were in the home?”

“Never more than fifteen. It was a big home. But they circulated, and I was like a housecat. Never gone for more than a month.”

“Jeez,” Roman sighed, taking a sip of his soda.

“My foster homes weren’t better.”

“Oh?” It was a subtle encouragement to keep talking, but now it was getting into territory that Virgil liked to avoid.

“One of my foster houses was really neglectful, forgot to give us food, didn’t let us do laundry, that kind of stuff. Gave me a wicked ED. I was twelve.”

Roman grimaced.

“My next one was more emotionally and mentally manipulative. I was kind of made into a babysitter for their younger bio kids. I had to get them ready for school, make them dinner, just basically be a parent. After I ran away from them, they started having trouble placing me. I was older, had a shitty record, kind of a left over. I mean, I deserved it. I was a dick.”

“You were a kid, Virgil.”

“A kid who chose to make his own life harder.” He shrugged, “That’s why I was placed into… that home. They were a last resort place for other ‘trouble kids’.”

Virgil took a deep breath and, with Janus’ words in his mind, began to explain his attempted conversion; the slip of tongue that led to the placement, the verbal abuse, food deprivation, electroshock therapy, the snuck antipsychotics, forced isolation, ending with the day the wife had called the police behind her husband’s back out of guilt and he was rescued.

Roman was quiet for a long minute after he finished talking, staring entranced at the can in his hands. The ducks had dispersed during Virgil’s story, upset at the lack of food.

“I…”

Virgil waited for him to get up and leave, to say with false apologies that he didn’t think they would work out, that the connection was wrong. Because who would want to deal with him, his stupid trauma? But the man next to him didn’t move except to breathe, and Virgil took that as an invitation to continue, his tone quieter.

“I was super out of it for a while. Honestly, I don’t remember the rescue, or like a solid month after that, except for snippets here and there. The drugs were fucky. And then my social worker, god bless her heart, found Janus and Logan. Janus was in CT too for a while when he was younger, so they took me in. Took a long time, but I opened up to them, but by then I was eighteen. They still insisted on adopting me, though, and there’s absolutely no convincing Logan once he’s made his mind up, so… they did.” He waved his hands around a little.

“Three months,” Roman blurted out of nowhere, making Virgil flinch.

“What?”

“Were you in ther-... CT for three months?”

“Two and a bit, why?” The moment it was out of his mouth, he realized the implications, and his heart froze.

“You were gone for three months. I thought you died, or… I don’t even know.” Roman looked like he was about to cry, watching Virgil imploringly. Him going MIA must have affected his soulmate more than he’d thought.

“Two months of CT, and then another one before I got a new phone. I’m…” All the guilt he’d felt at the time came rushing back, the reminder of his soulmate’s music dwindling to almost nothing and him being helpless, “I’m sorry. Shit, I’m so sorry. That must have been…”

“No, Virgil, you don’t get to apologize. That was not your fault.” He reached out a hand as if to grab Virgil’s and immediately pulled back, wringing his fingers instead. “Sorry, my choice of comforting is physical. But I won’t.”

“Thank you,” Virgil choked out, running his hands through his hair.

“Can you look at me?”

He did, taking a shuddering breath. He was moments away from a panic attack and he was not looking forward to that disaster.

“You were being- quite literally- tortured for months. You were abused in ways that shouldn’t be legal, and you came out the other side stronger. Frankly, I’m amazed at your perseverance. You’re amazing.”

Simultaneously, Virgil felt a hot blush rise to his ears, and a sharp jolt run through his arms into his chest. He jerked violently, tipping over his own soda onto the grass.

“Shit, did I say something wrong?” Roman gasped, reaching over to pluck up the can before it could spill more. It was already half empty, thank goodness.

“No, I just… do that. Sometimes. From… CT. Kind of like ghost shocks, I guess.” Why couldn’t the ground just open up and swallow him whole, he wondered. He hadn’t done that jerk thing in front of anyone in so long. The last time had been in front of his now-parents, and they’d quickly grown used to it. He’d grown used to their own contact very soon and his twitches had stopped after he was accustomed to it, but it had never been directed towards him, and he had a feeling he’d need time to stop his impulse reactions.

“And me calling you amazing…”

“Triggered them. It’s an exposure thing though, so I’ll just need to get used to it. Don’t blame yourself.” He dug the heels of his hands into his eyes until bright white flashes of light burst into his vision. Suddenly, he was exhausted.

“Do you want me to drive you home?” Roman asked, already packing up their picnic basket. Virgil nodded, his social meter drained, and all ability to be a civil person was quickly deteriorating. His therapist said that would also begin to heal after a while.

Roman was an absolute angel though, letting the silence linger so Virgil could cradle his slowly growing headache, even opening the door of his car like a perfect gentleman. As they pulled out of the parking lot, Virgil rested his head against the seat and let a tiny smile tug at his lips. It would be a long process to retrain his brain (in theory, he was okay with being in a relationship with a man, but actually doing it? Infinitely harder), but for once, he was actually looking forward to the process.

Would you guys like a collection of one shots surrounding Virgil’s gradual warming up to his new family, a decent mix of angst and fluff? I have some ideas.

Thanks for reading! Now, a taglist.

@sapphic-satan

@anxious-logic

@wigsnatchedhoteltrivago

@extraintrovertedalien

@punk-academian-witch

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oopskashish · 4 years ago

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The Cursed Boy

A/N: this is probably my favourite fic so far. I absolutely adored writing this and it was a brilliant idea, my love. Thank you for requesting it, I hope you enjoy.

Also this was requested by @findzelda who is so sweet and lovely. Thank you for putting up with me. I love you💖

Pairing: Sirius Black x fem! Ravenclaw! Reader

Summary: Sirius is cursed that anyone who would love him will get hurt or die. Would he able to break it or would he have to live with it forever?

Warnings: angsty, fluffy (very much so), bad parents, hopeless and sad Sirius.

“YOU INSOLENT FILTHY BRAT! BEING AROUND MUGGLES AND MUGGLEBORNS WILL DO YOU NO GOOD! HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO YELL AT YOU TO TELL YOU TO STAY PURE! THIS IS THE MOST ANCIENT AND NOBLE HOUSE OF BLACK FAMILY AND I WILL NOT TOLERATE THIS DISGUSTING BEHAVIOUR OF YOURS!” Walburga screamed at her eldest son who was glaring back at her.

“YOU KEEP ON BESMIRCHING OUR NAME AND WITH THIS BEHAVIOUR OF YOURS YOU WILL END UP IN STREETS!”

“That’s a better place to be there than here!” Sirius yelled back at her.

Walburga took in a deep breath in and simply flicked her wand at him, casting a non-verbal hex on him.

“Anyone who will now love you in any manner will die or get hurt. This will show you your place.” Walburga turned around and left.

Sirius was left flabbergasted as he stared at the staircase in horror. It was no bluff, he knew it better than anyone. His mother was cruel as the grass was green during the spring.

Sirius ran a hand through his hair and sprinted up the stairs to his bedroom. He packed his bags, ignoring his quaking hands. He wiped his teary eyes and packed everything he needed.

He dragged the suitcase down the stairs, not caring about the noise it made. He was suprised that neither of his parents came out, but at least that was good.

Sirius entered the hall, where his brother was there.

Regulus looked up from his book and his eyes widened when he saw Sirius opening the drawer and searching for floo powder. His suitcase was all packed up, and he was carrying another bag which was filled to brim on his shoulder.

“You’re leaving?” Regulus’ voice trembled.

“There is nothing left for me here. Be intelligent and run away while you can.” Sirius grumbled, and he finally found the powder. He took a handful and took all of his luggage to the fireplace. He stepped in there and yelled.

“POTTER HOUSEHOLD, GODRIC’S HOLLOW!”

He closed his eyes when he felt the familiar feeling of being twisted into the flames, opening them only when he heard the tape Mrs. Potter loved to play.

No one was there in the hall.

He was already crying when he got his stuff out of the fireplace. He heard Mrs. Potter come in. She wordlessly embraced him and let him cry on her shoulder.

Sirius sobbed till his throat felt raw and his eyes were stinging with pain. He had held Mrs. Potter tightly, as if she would vanish into the thin air. She consoled the cursed boy gently.

When Sirius parted away, he saw James standing beside his mother. The two brothers embraced each other.

“What’s wrong, padfoot?” James whispered.

“I am never going back again. Never.” Sirius says, parting away and he rubbed his eyes harshly.

“You are welcome to stay here for as long as you wish, Sirius. It’s always a pleasure to have you.” Euphemia says kindly, placing a hand on his shoulder.

“Thank you.” He whispers.

Euphemia led the two boys into the kitchen and made Sirius some tea. James said nothing to his friend but kept a watchful eye on him, knowing his friend isn’t ready to speak right now.

Sirius thanked her when she served him tea. He sipped it and felt the soothing warmth spread in his body.

Sirius kept the cup in the saucer and took a deep breath in.

“My mother cursed me.” Sirius whispered.

James eyes widened just like that of his mother. “What was the incantation, child?”

Sirius shook his head at her. “I dunno, it was non-verbal. But she said that anyone who will love me will die or get hurt.”

Euphemia muttered some profanities under her breath that could have made even pirates blush, let alone two 16 year boys.

“We will find a cure, don’t worry.” Euphemia tells him, giving him a gentle smile.

-/-

Sirius sat on the couch, stunned. He was aware of the watchful eyes of the Potters and the curse breaker who were staring at him speechlessly.

He let out a shaky breath as looked down at his lap.

“Excuse me.” He muttered and got up. Just as he was out of the room, he sprinted upstairs to the bedroom James’ parents had given them.

It was a nice room, a stark contrast to what he had in his parents’ house. The walls were coated in the cream colour and minimal neutral decorations were there in the room. The room felt so home like just like the rest of the house, unlike the house he grew up in.

James entered the room to find Sirius sitting on the ground, crying silently. James knelt down and hugged him fiercely.

Sirius held onto James tightly as if he was the last string of sanity he was so desperately clinging onto., He laboured to breath let alone get a sentence out. He couldn’t believe it.

James held his friend’s shaking body, consoling the best he can. His heart broke to see his brother, his best friend, like this. In all the years they had been friends, Sirius hardly ever cried.

The last time James had actually seen Sirius cry before the summer holidays was when a cat got hurt.

“We will figure something out, don’t worry.” James whispered.

Sirius parted away, wiping his tears. “How?” He whispered. “We have gone through so many books, contacted so many people and it’s all hopeless. I can’t see you with a new injury every single week! Your mum burnt her hand and your dad got hurt by a potion that exploded.”

James sighed. “We don’t care, we will do something and we reverse this curse. Believe me.” James pulled Sirius into another hug, knowing his friend desperately needed it.

-/-

Sirius entered the Great Hall along side with his friends, staying aloof from the group. He looked around and found a certain ravenclaw had her hand bleeding.

A few teachers were around and she was being escorted to the hospital by Professor McGonagall herself.

Sirius sighed when he watched Y/N’s tears before she got out of the hall.

Y/N Y/L/N was a Ravenclaw who could be easily mistaken for a Hufflepuff. She was nice to everyone in the year, even people like Evan Rosier or Lucius Malfoy couldn’t bring themselves to hate her.

Kindness was oozing out of her, and she was the crush of Sirius. It was not hard to fall in love with a person who was as lovely as her.

Born and raised into a wealthy family, she was down to earth and never spurlged her money on unnecessary things like Sirius’ cousins. Instead she would buy books, so many that all the marauders had to help her once to carry them.

“It was just so tempting to buy them!” She would justify. James would laugh at her as Sirius found it adorable. She had even given Remus the liberty to borrow any of her books anytime he wanted, which was rather rare.

He remembered how his friends had told him that she was in love with him. At first it was hard to believe that.

Why would an angel like her would fall for me? Sirius would wonder.

And if this was due to the curse, Sirius was going to kill himself if that’s what it takes to end it. He just can’t watch people he love get hurt.

Remus’ full moon have been going so much worse and Peter once got hurt by Moony on the full moon night. James had already fallen off his broomstick and had fainted.

It was cruel to watch people he love suffer.

He felt a hand on his shoulder and he turned to Remus.

“We will make it through this.”

Sirius nodded, pretending to be hopeful.

-/-

Y/N entered the classroom and looked around, searching for an empty seat. Her eyes lit up when she found the seat beside Sirius empty. She quickly walked in that direction.

“Hi Sirius.” She chirps.

Sirius looked up, suprised but then he concealed his expression with annoyance. “What?”

Her smile slips away as she blinked at him in utter flabbergast. Never have Sirius been rude to her even when he is angry. She looks down, not being able to look in his cold grey eyes anymore.

“I was just wondering if I can sit beside you, but obviously you don’t want me here. I’ll just go. Have a good day.” She walks away.

Her heart breaks when she didn’t hear him call out to her as she expected.

-/-

“Maybe he was just in a bad mood? Maybe he had a fight with James, he is always seeming to be avoiding him too.” Ellie, her best friend, comforts her.

“Probably.” She mutters. She looked up at the Black Lake, the rare sunshine was making the waters glimmer like diamonds. The spot where she sat with her friends was also very isolated from others, making the tranquility in the air hug her.

“There is Sirius.” Ellie whispers. Y/N follows her gaze and found Sirius just a little away from them, looking at the lake alone.

“I am going to talk to him.” She says, getting up.

“Best of luck.” Ellie smiles at her.

Y/N walks to him, making sure her footsteps are as quiet as they can be against the grass. She bit her lip anxiously, finding the right words before standing beside him.

“Sirius.” She whispers.

He snaps his gaze at her.

“I have noticed you have been rather alone. I thought you might want some company.” She says, smiling up at him hopefully.

Sirius scowled at her and turns away abruptly and struts away.

She watched him walk away to the castle, her heart slowly breaking into a thousand pieces just like his.

-/-

“James!” Y/N yelled in the corridors, running upto him.

James turned to her, smiling at her. “Hello, y/n, how are you?”

“I have been good, thank you for asking. How is your head? That fall from the broomstick seemed painful.” She says, eyeing the bandage on his head.

“Nothing I can’t handle.” He shrugs. “Come along, I am going to have a walk by the Quidditch Pitch.”

Y/N nods and follows him, hugging her novel to her chest as they got out of the castle. They walk in silence till they reach a secluded area.

“So how do I have the pleasure to be blessed by your presence?” James asked in his usual dramatic tone.

Y/N chuckled a bit in amusement. “Well, I wanted to ask you something. It might invade your privacy a bit though, so I apologise in advance.”

James nodded, letting her continue.

She looked at the grass as she talked. “I have noticed that Sirius is being pretty aloof and, um, mean. Has something happened? I am very concerned about him.”

James sighs, coming to a stop and facing her.

“You deserve an explanation, you really do, but this isn’t my secret, love.” James says, running a hand through his ever messy hair.

She looked up at him, tilting her head a bit. “I am just very concerned, but okay, I understand.”

James sighs heavily again. “I will tell you but you can’t tell a single soul, please.”

“I promise I won’t.” She says earnestly.

“So you see,” James began, “Sirius was, um, cursed by someone that anyone who loves him will get hurt.”

She gasps.

“Or die.” He added.

“That’s so cruel.” She whispers, not even being able to fathom how lonely and terrible he must be feeling.

She was pulled into a hug by James, and she didn’t even notice the tears that were running down her cheeks.

“He has been staying away from everyone. And it’s pretty obvious that you’re in love with him.” James finishes, rubbing her back gently.

Y/N squeezed her eyes close as she hugged him back, tears still pouring out of her eyes.

How could someone dare to do this to Sirius? she thought.

She suddenly parted away, wiping away the tears by her hands. “I can help!” She says.

James looks at her sadly. “We have tried a lot, and we are not getting anywhere.”

“No James, you don’t understand. My godfather is the head of Department of Cursebreaking. If I call him here on the Hogsmeade weekend, he can come and help us out.” She says, her voice full of hope.

James lips parted in suprise. “Are you sure it won’t be any trouble?”

“Of course not! He has a liking for me and he always tells me to write to him if I am in any trouble. He can handle this all, I am sure of that.” She beams at him.

James grins back and hugs her again. “You are wonderful.”

“Let’s go to the owlery and send a letter already!” She says parting away, and dragging him to the tower.

James’ grin couldn’t leave his face. Finally his friend would be alright.

-/-

“Do you see him?” Remus asks y/n as they, along with other Marauders minus Sirius, were looking for her godfather.

“He should be near Three Broomsticks.” She says, biting her lip as she looked around.

She smiled when she saw a man with jet black hair and bronze skin leaning against the wall, his hands buried in the expensive coat he was wearing. He also had a brown bag along with him.

“He is there!” She exclaims, rushing to him.

Her godfather smiled when he saw her and pushed himself off the brick wall and embraced her, kissing her hair.

“Hello uncle.” She smiles.

“Hi Y/N/N, how are you?”

“Just fine. How are you?”

“Brilliant.” Christian glanced at the boys. “You all must be Y/N’s friends.”

“Yes, sir. I am James, he is Remus, and that is Peter.” James says earnestly.

“Nice to meet you all,” Christian nods. “Also, please call me Christian. Let’s get inside the shop, it’s freezing outside.”

They all rushed into the shop and sat at a table, ordering four butterbeer and a firewhiskey.

“Oh, by the way, Y/N,” Christian says, handing her the bag, “for you.”

“Thank you,” she smiles, opening peaking into the bag and she gasps. “All the works of Shakespeare! Uncle, you didn’t have to-”

“None of that, I know you love muggle literature and he is like the Merlin there or something,” He shrugs.

The boys exchanged a look at that.

Shakespeare wasn’t a Merlin of muggles, but they didn’t care to correct him.

The drinks were served and the talk began.

“So, Y/N, why did you call me here?” Christian asks, sipping his whiskey.

“Uncle, one of my friends has got cursed. Could you please help him out?” She asks him.

“Of course I will. What curse was it?”

“Christian,” James began. “He was cursed by someone that anyone who will love him will get hurt or die.”

Christian’s eyes widened at that.

“And who used that curse?” His voice was now grave.

“We are in no position to tell you that, sir. I mean no disrespect but we can’t disclose that without our friend’s consent.” Remus says.

Christian nods.

“Understandable. The use of that curse can results into one way trip to Azkaban without trial. It is hard to break, not impossible but hard.” He nods.

“Oh.” Y/N mumbles.

“Can I meet this friend of yours?” He asks James.

“Of course, he is in the forest right now. I can call him here.” James offered.

“No, that would waste a lot of time. If we two go there, it’ll be faster.”

“I am coming too!” Y/N exclaims.

“And me.” Remus adds.

“Me too.” Peter says.

“Very well, then.” Christian sighs, knowing that ressurecting the dead is easier than convincing anything to teenagers.

The five of them then made their way to the forest, while Christian asked the boys generic questions.

What do you wanna do later in your life? Ah, auror? Excellent. What about you, Remus? A professor, lovely. Mind it that students only get worse with time when it comes to mischief.

Y/N paid half a mind to the chatter and was more focused on finding Sirius. She caught a glimpse of the raven haired boy who was dressed in an expensive coat, no shocker there, kicking a few pebbles around.

“There he is!” Y/N exclaims, and rushed to Sirius without waiting for the rest of the group.

“Sirius!” She calls out for him.

The said boy turned around, his eyebrows furrowed in confusion as he sees his friends and a strange man.

“What?” He asks, in a gentler tone than the one from their previous encounters.

“So, mate,” James began sheepishly, “I, um, told Y/N about the situation-”

“YOU WHAT?”

“She deserved an explanation, you know it bloody well. And she found a way to help you out.” James says, a bit scared due to the outburst of his friend.

“We have already talked to some curse breakers and they said it’s impossible.” Sirius snaps.

“Who said that?” Christian raises an eyebrow.

“Mr. Henry Jones, sir.” Sirius answered.

“Jones isn’t that advanced curse breaker. He is good for the common curses, but the one that you’re suffering with, he wouldn’t be efficient in dealing with that. However, I can help you break this curse.” Christian answers.

“You can?” Sirius blinked in astonishment.

“Of course, I can. I am the head of the Cursebreaking department. However, we would have to do it tomorrow. I would need another wand to help me with it.”

“I can help!” Y/N exclaims, blushing when everyone turned to her in surprise.

“I won’t doubt your skills, love, but I need someone professional with me.” Christian smiles kindly at her.

“Oh, okay.” She murmurs.

“Sirius, can I please have a word with you in private?” Christian asks.

“Of course, sir.”

The two walked away from the group, Christian keeping a sharp eye on their surroundings. They reached to a secluded area.

Christian takes his wand out and flicks it while Sirius looked at him curiously.

“I don’t want anyone eavesdropping.” Christian answers the unasked question.

“I want to know who did this to you.” Christian says, sitting beside him on the rock.

“I can’t tell you that.” Sirius says, looking at the ground.

“Sirius, this curse is against the law and is a part of the dark magic. I can’t let go of this problem without arresting the one who caused it. You will be safe, I will assure you that. I can provide you security too, if you want.” Christian offers.

“I am sorry, sir, I just can’t.” Sirius shakes his head.

Christian sighs. “Was it a member of your family?”

Sirius nods solemnly.

“I can already make guesses, child, since I know a few people of your family well enough. But I respect your silence. If you change your mind, don’t forget to contact me.”

“Thank you, sir.” Sirius says sincerely.

“Of course, Sirius. I just want to tell you one more thing.” Sirius nods. “All of us need love to exist, and you’re no exception to it. You deserve love just as much as anyone else on this planet. Don’t forget that.” Christian got up and offered Sirius a kind smile.

“I won’t forget it, sir, thank you.”

Christian didn’t miss the tear that slipped away from his eyes but decided to say nothing.

-/-

“Moony, take everyone else away.” Sirius whispered in his friend’s ear as they all walked in the hallways of Hogwarts after their trip.

“Best of luck.” Remus gave him a smile before dragging away James and Peter to Gryffindor common room.

Sirius offered a hand to Y/N who happily accepted it and was led away by the gryffindor boy to a secluded hallway.

“Y/N.” Sirius whispers, not being able to look in her eyes. “I am so terribly sorry for being so mean to you these past weeks. I just wanted you to fall out of love with me. I couldn’t bear to watch you get hurt. I am so sorry.”

Y/N cupped his face and made him look at her. “You don’t have to apologise for anything, Sirius. I understand and I would have done the same if I was in your position.”

Sirius looked at her as a storm of whirling emotions was taking over his body. He was grateful, upset, happy, excited, aching, and feeling a thousand emotions all at once, and it was suffocating almost.

“I can’t thank you enough for what you did.” He whispers, stepping closer to her.

She smiled at him. “You don’t have to thank me either, I couldn’t bare the sight of you in grief.”

“I am convinced, my love,” he looks into those tantalizing eyes that he dream of most of his nights, “that you’re an angel.”

Bashful peonies bloomed in her cheeks as heat was taking over her body. She couldn’t help but hug him tightly, her hands around his neck as his went around her waist.

“You deserve love, Sirius.” She whispers in his ear. “I want you to know that you deserve so much love that you’re exploding with it, so much that you’re drowning in it willingly. You deserve the love that makes universes collide with one another. You deserve that is powerful enough to ignite the sun. You deserve it all, Sirius. All of it.”

Sirius couldn’t comprehend how could someone have so much love, and that too for him. He wanted to take those words away from her and morph them into a jewel and make it a locket that he would wear even after death, which would rest near his heart to remind him of this moment until the time ends.

Sirius blinked his tears away, as he pulled away just enough to look her in the eyes. “I have no idea what I deserve in this world, but I do know that if I want love, I want it from you and no one else.” He whispers, cupping her face as if she was the most magnificent creation of the gods, which to she indeed was.

According to him, gods must have spared several infinities to ponder and create her. Each part of her was weaved in the threads of gold and unparalleled jewels that Sirius could not name. He was certain that Aphrodite herself must have blessed her to be the most enchanting human being.

“May I kiss you?” He whispers, looking at her lips which he so desperately wanted to kiss.

“Yes, please.” She whispered back.

The two of them lean in and their lips brush against one another, and they felt the real magic that no wand can produce. Only together could it be produced.

They could barely think of anything but the divine feeling that was filling their lungs instead of oxygen. The sweetness of it invaded their veins and it danced along with their blood.

It was that moment they found it, they can’t find this kind of love anywhere but in each other. It was the kind of love that created life. It didn’t need words to describe itself, for the words could barely capture a sliver of what it is.

Y/N parted away, heaving as she leaned against his shoulder, her eyes shutting close to feel the love he had for echo in her soul. Sirius’ lips however trailed their way to her neck and started softly kissing her there.

“Will you be mine, love?” He asks her in a whisper.

She gave him a smile that made him question the definition of ethereal he was told by his elders.

“I have always been yours, darling.”

-/-

Y/N was waiting anxiously along with the three Marauders. Sirius was with Christian and another curse breaker named Matthew. All of it had been discussed with Dumbledore by Christian and they were granted permission to take Sirius to the ministry where the things would be executed more efficiently.

“He will be alright.”

“James whom are you convincing, yourself or us?” Remus snorts but James pay no mind to him.

Y/N was pacing in their dormitory, James was tugging at his hair, Remus was relatively calmer than others but he was still fidgeting, and Peter was stress eating a batch of cookies his grandmother sent him.

Y/N stopped when she saw the door in front of her open up and a beaming Sirius came in. She immediately rushed to him and flung herself at him.

Sirius caught his girl and hugged her tightly, kissing her hair. “It worked.” He whispers just loud enough for everyone to hear.

“HELL YEAH!” James whooped.

Y/N pulled Sirius into a kiss, ignoring everyone else. It was a slow kiss that slowed down the time along with it. They were both blissfully wrapped up in feeling stars explode in their bodies to look at others.

Sirius soon pulled away and kissed her forehead before going and hugging his friends. James had tackled him on the floor due to sheer happiness that was practically lighting up the room.

His brother was alright and that’s what mattered to him right now, and nothing else did.

After Sirius was done hugging everyone, he fell on the bed.

“I am bloody exhausted and I am going to sleep.” He announces before looking at Y/N. “Please cuddle me.”

“Whipped.” Peter mumbles as Y/N laid on bed beside Sirius who pulled her to himself and was clinging to her like a Niffler clings to his gold.

“We are leaving, too much PDA for my liking.” James announces and takes his two friends with him to the common room.

Sirius didn’t respond to them and only nuzzled his head in her neck, kissing the skin there before sighing.

“Thank you, my love.” He whispers.

She shuddered seraphically at the feeling of his lips against her neck. “You don’t need to thank me.”

“I do, you bloody well know I do.” He whispered, holding her closer as his eyes were beginning to shut. “But we will talk about it later. All I want is to sleep in the arms of the most ethereal girl in the world.”

Y/N kissed his hair and smiled. “I love you, Sirius.”

He smiles. “I never get tired of hearing those words or my name from your mouth.”

“I adore you, Sirius and I will say it till my last breath.”

He hums and pulls away a little, kissing her nose.

“Will you sing me a song?” He asks.

She raises an eyebrow. “I don’t sing.”

Sirius pouted and tilted his head a little. “You won’t sing for me?”

She hums, pretending to think.

“On one condition.” She plays his curls which made him grin.

“Anything.” He replies eagerly.

“You have to kiss me.”

“My pleasure.” And he leaned into another breathtakingly enchanting kiss, confessing their eternal love by the movements of their lips.

-/-/-/-

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nerajaana · 4 years ago

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*Sigh*

I really wish people would stop criticising Ned Stark for his apparent favouritism towards his younger daughter. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying dude‘s the BesTDadEva. Him assenting his idealistic fourteen year old SON’s decision to join a penal colony without much protest is numero uno on the list of his fails as a father. But never, ever say he was wrong to “indulge” (the word’s a stretch, really. he was just not the harshest authority figure in her life) Arya. Sansa’s quote -“One day she came back grinning her horsey grin, her hair all tangled and her clothes covered in mud, clutching a raggedy bunch of purple and green flowers for Father. Sansa kept hoping he would tell Arya to behave herself and act like the highborn lady she was supposed to be, but he never did, he only hugged her and thanked her for the flowers.” Or that moment where Ned gives his traumatised child a talk that borderlines on *if you continue to be the way you are I’m scared that you’ll die like my lil sis kiddo so stick with your fam no matter what #Unity* - is always misconstrued into justifying some bs about preferential treatment between the girls or some gibberish y’all blather about.

All it is supposed to be is a nine year old literal child doing what she always did during her playtime at home on that cursed journey to KL. Yes she should’ve had more people to monitor her, people who wouldn’t smother her like that cow of a septa AND more playmates- given that this is a lady of a great house there should’ve been a good number of companions (But the writer clearly wanted the Starks to have all odds against them and be as lonely and fractured as possible but that’s a discussion for another day.) And favouritism my foot. Dude has 1-2 tender moments and everyone loses it. Loves them both, hell he died a traitor’s death for the sake of Sansa wdym he wasn’t a good enough father to Sansa? Would he be better if he forced his child to go through the betrothal because more power babey ala HosterT or Tybitch? And yeah Cat used to praise Sansa for her etiquette and excellence in courtly manners (as did the septa) and send away the maids so that she can comb her hair personally while Arya’s the type to get dirty and present her dad with the flowers she collected and recieve spooky lectures from him after getting lost in the woods for three whole days and hearing about her innocent friend’s gruesome murder what shall we do about it, hmm?

For all the yodelling about limitations of a noblewoman and expectations she must meet right from the moment of her exiting the womb and her duties that ought to be drilled into her and how rejecting them/rebelling would result in nothing but despair, you guys are really hung up on Ned Stark not being a hands on parent. A duty that primarily falls on the shoulders of a Lady, unfortunately. Hella Backward Times those middle ages were, you see.

Either take the expectations and standards of the middle ages or that of the modern times as the basis for finding flaws with the characters. Choose a godforsaken lane and stick to it. This periodic yammering about boohoo Ned was a Bad Dad because he didn’t scold Arya for getting dirty after exploring her surroundings or have a talk with Sansa -who was too wrapped up in her fantasies that not even the murders of the household guards (whom she must’ve known all her life) and her father’s grievous injury weren’t enough to jarr her back to reality- is getting too tiresome and repetitive.

Ned Stark isn’t the paragon of fatherhood, but he’s better than most (except Oberyn). Really, there isn’t much of a competition, the dude didn’t do more than the bare minimum. But he happens to be the kind of a powerful af man who’d rather their children have long happy lives rather than powerful alliances to bolster his political standing in the continent - a highly endangered species. Good intentions but did a less than stellar job and honestly, all the stakes were ridiculously against him (👀 grrm with his plot armour damning the Starks and the North+Riverlands lulz)

To conclude, go touch grass before launching into the daily routine of overthinking and overanalysing fairly straightforward text.

#ned stark #arya stark #either the fandom doesn’t know how to read or overanalyses every single fuckin word and spin tales outta thin air there’s no in between #a song of ice and fire #asoiaf #valyrianscrolls #fandom dumbassery

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phecdasolar · 4 years ago

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Dream is immortal. He’s lived for a very long time already and will continue to live far past the limits of everyone else alive now. Once upon a time, Dream wasn’t Dream. Dream was Cornelius, and Cornelius was happy. He had a husband and together they adopted a son. Things were alright for the three of them, they lived their lives peacefully.

However,

Good things don’t always last.

Their cozy village turned into that of a breeding ground for madness itself and Cornelius fell as it’s first victim.

Or so everyone else thought.

Back to the other two, a distraught cat man held the bloodied body of his love close and wept, as the broken child stood behind him, muffling sobs that refused to quiet. Like this they were found by the villagers, those puppets of chaos and wrath, muddled with madness. They sought not logic but craved instead vengeance and bloodshed so it was that the grieving family of now two was put on trial, the child being spared but forced into a grief so violent those earlier sobs he could not muffle were silenced for good as he watched the one he called father plummet and burn.

The orphan was an orphan once more.

And so it was that the next day passed and the dreary toys of insanity’s cruel meddling struck the shattered boy down as well, him unable to defend himself but at the same not wanting to.

They had taken all he had, stripped him of all that he had loved and so the lonely orphan had no one nor nothing left to live for.

He walked into the cell and for the first time since death had claimed his father he smiled.

Robin was going home.

A week later a man dressed in green and white with tattered cloaks and a cracked mask burst through the tree line, arriving upon the village he shouted in joy yet was silenced by the sight he found.

No longer was this village a place of hope but of death and madness. Blood coated the ground, bodies lay draped across the square and in his horror ran to the house that he once called home.

It was empty.

Cornelius was alone.

And so the god who could topple mountains with a single word and lay waste to an empire with a mere flick of his wrist wept, for he could not bring back a life.

In his grief he knew could not bring back a life but oh, how desperately he craved to take one.

And so he tried.

(Tw for mentions of attempted s*icide)

He sat in the well and stayed there long after his lungs should’ve failed to function and yet he did not die. He traipsed to the top of the tallest mountain he could find and let himself plummet and yet when he hit the ground he laid there, unscathed and did not die.

He ran himself through with his sword, wrapped a rope ‘round his neck and swung from the tallest branch he could find and yet he still did not die.

(End tw)

The gift he had that seemed like a blessing to anyone was not that but a curse.

He could do nothing to relieve his pain, the crippling agony of once again being alone, he realized.

So he picked himself up and cleaned up his home. He dug graves and laid the bodies down to rest as there was no one left to do it themselves. He found large stones and carved into them the names of the fallen. He emptied the village of the blood that littered it and burnt the jail cell to the ground.

A distance from the village, into a little clearing he knew well was where he laid two headstones, carved with more care than the others. This was their meadow, the place where he sat with his head on Kat’s shoulder, hands intertwined as they smiled and watched Robin play amongst the flowers, giggling to himself and making flower crowns.

Cornelius sat in the middle of the clearing, now devoid of any laughter, facing the headstones. He sat and he bowed his head and he did not move as tears fell from emerald eyes and drenched the grass below and he did not move as the day turned to night and the night turned to day or as the grass grew and flowers wilted and sprung anew and time passed.

Cornelius did not move but instead dreamed.

He dreamed of better days and a better time where he was happy and loved and loved back just as strongly. And so when enough time had passed for the seasons to turn anew, he got up, and after placing two flowers on the headstones belonging to the dead pieces of his heart, Dream walked away.

For Cornelius was happy, but Dream only had just that: his dreams.

————————

I made my discord cry with this so imma make you guys cry too :)

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tallstars-rewrite · 3 years ago

Text

Chapter 16

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It was no good sitting here when Tallpaw knew what he should do.

His father was back in camp now, talking with Crowfur. Tallpaw watched them for a while. I should tell him I’m ready to try tunneling, he said to himself. He couldn’t put off this duty, no matter how much it felt like his paws had turned into stones at the thought of going up to Sandstone and telling him that. He found himself pacing around just out of his fathers vision, trying to psych himself up. Part of him was arguing at himself to stop being such a kit and go, another part was trying to reason but they look busy talking, maybe it can wait for tomorrow. He inched closer and caught part of their conversation.

“Hazelnose’s kits will be due in a couple moons,” Sandstone was saying to Crowfur. “Between Mistmouse and him, surely Meadowbreeze will consider pushing for some of them to be tunnelers?”

“I’m sure they will. I know my son’s been a bit skittish around it lately, but there’s been at least one tunneler in our line for so long,” Crowfur said. “The moons are bound to start looking up for us eventually. Even Tallpaw I'm sure will come around.”

The stones in Tallpaws feet began piling into his stomach. Oh no, don’t start talking about me!

Crowfur chuckled. “You know, I didn’t think I'd become a grandfather so fast. You blink and they’re grown up. Just wait a season or two and I’ll bet you’ll feel that way too.”

Tallpaw wasn’t sure he wanted to know where this conversation was going.

“Your tunneling bloodline is too tough to die out,” Crowfur mused, “Not sure who's available to him when the time comes to have his own kits, though.”

“I’m sure you're right,” Sandstone nodded, “I always thought Ryewhisker had a good head on her shoulders, and she's one of the more polite young cats. Shame she’s a runner, but she has tunneler blood. I think she’s a natural choice. Every cat noticed Shrewpaw padding after Fallowspring when they were apprentices together, so some cat had better balance out all these runner kits we’re bound to have.”

Tallpaw felt himself shudder. He could scarcely stop worrying about next moon, and his father was already imagining next newleaf. Wasn't learning how to tunnel enough? This part of "continuing the legacy" was on his shoulders alone as well? With Ryewhisker? Sandstone wanted him to have kits with her? Sure, Ryewhisker was nice and he liked her, but he didn’t feel that way about her! He’d never padded after any molly, certainly not the way Shrewpaw padded around Fallowspring. He couldn’t even imagine it without feeling his stomach squirm and tie itself in knots.

Suddenly he found his paws had turned on their own accord and were padding off in the opposite direction. Oh you’re such a coward, the voice in his head scolded. But whatever resolve he formed when he’d gotten out of his nest had completely left him. He couldn’t talk to his father today. Just...just let me have a few more days of putting all this off...

Even if walking wouldn’t necessarily make him feel better, releasing energy would at least relieve some tension. When he said he couldn’t sleep, Dawnstripe had granted his request to run a quick solo hunt and gather nest materials. He figured collecting bedding was a boring enough task to be considered a punishment, and whatever food he could bring back would be a bonus. Although she agreed, when she let him go Tallpaw couldn’t help but notice a hint of concern in her voice. He didn’t know why she would be worried, it wasn’t the first time he’d wanted to go on a run when he was restless. And the more food the clan had the better, right?

The night air was crisp and wet with dew, making the scents lingering on the grass all the sharper as he opened his mouth to taste them. Darkness just before dawn was when the field mice started scurrying about, and Tallpaw was on alert for them. But he found it so hard to pinpoint his focus. After missing a mouse and cursing himself for his slow pounce, he wandered farther north.

Tallpaw briefly allowed himself to revel in the feeling of the gentle breeze ruffling through his thin fur. The cool touch made him shiver, but it woke him up. The wind felt like an old friend brushing along his side, and he paused to listen for the soft humming song brushing over the hillsides.

It was comforting and momentarily quieted his mind, but still, a small stab of loneliness struck him. He found himself desperately wanting to talk to some cat about it rather than having the thoughts rolling aimlessly around inside his head. But how would he go about it? Briarpaw had enough to worry about all on his own. Tallpaw didn’t like the idea of dumping his problems on Dawnstripe when he was trying to make up for the spat at the gathering by proving that he was a capable apprentice, and not a dumb kit worrying over nothing. Brackenwing? No...what if she told Palebird? It was bad enough worrying about his father being disappointed in him. And he felt bad talking to Lilywhisker about tunneling matters in general. Frankly, he didn’t want word to travel in the clan at all. What would they think? It was best to keep problems to himself.

For the first time in a long while he found his mind wandering to his kithood, when he imagined a kit to speak to. He couldn’t remember when he had stopped talking to her, the imaginary friend he kept for himself. The spirit that was too far away to reply. Tallpaw had a hard time feeling there were really kind spirits watching over him. What would a kit even be like in starclan? She’d never gotten to grow up and wasn't even supposed to have been named. Would a spirit so young even remain with StarClan for long? Would she be frozen in time? What could he have in common with someone he'd grown so far away from? I wish she could have grown up beside me for real… he thought sadly. He missed the days when he could ease his own loneliness with his imagination, without having to bother any cat. It didn’t work as well now.

In the far distance, the Thunderpath was just visible, slick and smooth compared to the rough land around it. Turning to the treeline in front of him, he wondered if that kittypet was still wandering about. What was his name? Jake? He’d heard no reports from other warriors scenting a kittypet across the border. Surely it couldn’t hurt to check. His fur prickled a bit once he’d passed the border and slunk under a thorn bush and into the trees. Taking in the air, the kittypets scent was there, but fainter. At least he’s taking my advice and staying away from the border. But to his surprise, it wandered up through the woodland to the west, and looped several times. Tallpaw walked a long while trying to find the end of it, sure he must be going in circles until eventually he caught the scent stronger, a little way into a small tangly bramble patch. Tallpaw caught sight of a small lump of tufty orange fur and the sound of a cat snoring loudly.

He perked up. So Jake was here again. Tallpaw was surprised that he was pleased by this. He probably shouldn’t care about whether a kittypet was around, but he couldn’t help but be interested in the farm cat. A cat who happily lived with twolegs was still such a foreign concept. But what in StarClan's name had he been doing wandering in circles like that? Tallpaw’s lithe body slid with relative ease under the bramble patch. He poked Jake with his paw.

“Hey kittypet. Psst, are you alive in there?”

With a grumble and a snort Jake opened his bleary eyes “Wha--? Whosit?”

“It’s me, mouse-brain.”

After a couple heartbeats Jake’s green eyes blinked and lit up when he recognized him “Tallpaw! You came back after all!”

“I wanted to see if something had eaten you yet.”

“Nope!” Jake chirped. “Still got all my legs and whiskers attached! What are you doing up at night?”

Tallpaw snorted “what am I doing up? What are you doing asleep? Lots of forest prey is active at this time, haven’t you had any luck with it at all?”

Jake gave a huge yawn and stretched as much as he could without pricking his backside against the thorns. “Oh, right. The housefolk sleep all night and I usually sleep with them. I thought that was normal. That reminds me! I did actually catch something this morning! There was this other cat that came around, this reddish-brownish patched cat? I remembered what you said about not talking to anyone, so I ran away from her, but then I found a vole in the bushes. I think she left it for me, which was weird. That, or... I accidentally stole it.” He looked suddenly worried. “But...she hasn’t come back to beat me up or anything, so maybe it’s fine that I took it? I’m not sure how to do this whole ‘loner’ thing…”

“That might have been Reena,” Tallpaw said. “I hope it was anyway, or they probably would have beaten you up. Those particular cats are actually friendly as it turns out--Wait,” he paused, staring at Jake. “Hang on a second, have you been out here in the woods this entire time?”

Jake pushed his way out of the bramble patch with quite a bit of difficulty. Tallpaw couldn’t help but notice tufts of his orange fur were left behind all over the place from past struggles.

“Well, yeah!” he replied, almost sheepishly. “I keep getting turned around and couldn’t remember which side of the woods I came out on... I smelled cats on one side, then I thought I saw this reddish wild dog-like thing on the other side and ran back into the trees...It hasn’t been the best past few days. I thought I should sleep curled up in the thorns to be safe. It’s so uncomfortable."

A reddish dog thing sounded too much like a fox for Tallpaw’s comfort. “I’m sorry I took so long then.” Tallpaw said sympathetically. He couldn’t imagine how frightening it must be to be stuck somewhere strange with no one looking out for him. “I didn’t realize you were really that lost. You’ve definitely gone in the wrong direction if you’re trying to get back to your farm.”

“Oh.” Jake said with a sigh, “I was afraid of that. Every tree and field looks the same to me.”

Tallpaw purred in laughter. “Well, from the top of Outlook Hill in my territory, I think I could see the twoleg barn past the trees. I can guide you there. Besides, I'm supposed to be gathering nest material, and sheep wool from the pastures is a good place to start. Come on.”

Jake bounced with excitement as Tallpaw lead him back down the wooded stretch, keeping the edge of the moor in sight to keep his barings.

"Thank you Tallpaw! I seriously owe you my life! But….what about the dog-thing I saw? I didn’t look as friendly as the dogs at the barn.”

“I don’t believe any dogs are friendly.” Tallpaw snorted, “But if it was a fox you saw, I know how to scent for them. It was probably just passing through. You were smart to stay away from it though, a fox can make a meal out of a cat by themself. Two cats though, it might not think it’s worth the trouble if we stand our ground.”

Jake pressed a little closer to Tallpaw “A-Alright! Good to know. Little red dogs are bad.”

“That’s an understatement. It’s lucky I found you now, if you were really unlucky you’d have run into ShadowClan. We can’t figure out where they're spying on us from, and they definitely don’t need to see any other outside cats.”

“Who's ShadowClan?”

“One of the other four clans. We’re having troubles with them, and it's against our law to have alliances with outsiders, especially during times when we might fight. Outsiders don’t know the code or laws, and in the past they have led to increased casualties. We already have some on our border, and ShadowClan might try to use their presence as a justification to attack.”

“You’re going to have a fight? Are you nervous?” Jake asked.

“I don’t want to fight, but I suppose I might have to.” Tallpaw said, “It’s about protecting our home and clanmates.”

“Well that sounds like a good reason to fight, if you had to. I wouldn’t want to be in your paws though. You’re a really brave cat.”

Tallpaw almost laughed, “I wish. My father is in charge of some plans to help us defend against future attacks, and he wants me to help but I... don’t know that I can.” As soon as Tallpaw started talking he found the words just kept tumbling out of his mouth, about his fathers expectations for him, continuing the tunneler warriors legacy, his fear of the underground, like a frail blockage in a stream coming loose and pouring out. Jake, to his surprise, just kept nodding along and listening, although so much of it must have been incredibly confusing to him.

“Sorry,” Tallpaw felt a little embarrassed, “I don’t know why I’m telling you all this. Normally we’re warned against discussing clan problems with outsiders, but I think that applies more to other clan cats.” He glanced back at Jake teasingly. “Unless you're secretly just a really really convincing ShadowClan spy, planning on spilling all our secrets about tunneling.”

“Nope,” Jake purred, “I’ve never even heard of a ShadowClan until now. I could tell my friend Dusty all about it I suppose, but he won’t understand a word I'm saying. Your secrets are safe with me. Besides, I think everything you're saying, well, the bits I understand anyway, sounds understandable. I can’t even imagine what it would be like under the ground. It must be so dark and cramped, I’d be nervous too! Can’t you just tell your dad you don’t want to help in that way?”

Tallpaw sighed, “It’s not that simple. Clan cats have a duty to uphold our ancestors' skills, and pass them down. And apparently all my ancestors were tunnelers. I’m my fathers only living kit. You couldn’t understand, you don’t even know most of your kin--” he stopped short, suddenly worried that he might have sounded insulting, but Jake simply flicked his tail casually.

“I suppose not.” he shrugged. “I didn’t realize who you were ‘kin’ with even mattered to other cats.”

They came out of the woodland then, and the sheep pastures were in view.

“That was much quicker than I thought it would be!” Jake said, “I really need to work on my sense of direction.”

“Well hopefully you’ll have a better idea of where you are next time,” Tallpaw laughed, “I need to collect shed sheep wool before I go.”

“Can I help?” Jake asked, “As thanks for helping me find my way home?”

“Listening to me babble most of the way here is thanks enough." Tallpaw purred.

"But I don’t even mind hearing about your clan!"

"You really want to help with my chores? Well, I suppose I won’t stop you.” They spent the early morning as the gray dawn started just lighting the sky crossing the fields and gathering up a small pile of shed wool. Tallpaw rolled it into a ball he could carry. The wool was easy to press together, but he would only be able to gather so much on his own. Jake, though he got distracted by crickets a few times, was surprisingly helpful.

Tallpaw had gotten so caught up in their talking and wool hunting he hadn’t noticed Jake’s stomach growl. He looked a little bashful about it, but Tallpaw realized in the better light that Jake had gotten a little thinner under all his fluff.

“Oh Jake!” Tallpaw called, “You're probably starving, aren’t you? You’ve been in the woods for days.” “Well...I guess.” Jake pawed at the ground, “But I was having fun. There's not a lot of cats to talk to on the farm.”

Tallpaw couldn’t help but be flattered. “Thank you,” he purred, “But you should get back, the farmhouse you live in should be just up the hill. I’d hunt for you again, but it would probably take less time to get back to your home, and I assume you know how to get food there.”

Tallpaw left his ball of wool where he could find it and walked farther up the pastures with Jake. He didn’t want to see any twolegs, but he found that he also was stalling his departure. He felt more at ease here so far away from his troubles. When they crested the shallow hilltop, the sun had just started rising.

“I remember seeing this when I first wandered off!” Jake gasped, “Look over there, do you see those huge rocks in the distance?”

The twolegs farmland was surrounded by fences and flattened, and Tallpaw could see the faint outlines of the sheep bunched together and grazing in another field. Past that, faded blue in the distance, mountains towered high above the hills. He couldn’t always see the mountain very well from his territory, but they looked huge from here.

“When the sun rises and hits them, they seem even bigger. This place is beautiful” Jake breathed. “I hadn’t gone far from the barn until recently to appreciate it.”

Tallpaw remembered how he felt when he first looked over his territory after spending his life cooped up in the camp. He wondered if that was how Jake felt now.

“Tallpaw, do you ever look off at the distance and just feel this urge to try and run there? It seems so impossibly far and I can’t help but want to see what kind of world exists that far off. Or what the world down here would look like up there. How far off do you think it goes?”

“Farther than a cat could ever walk, so I hear.” Tallpaw said.

“I wish I could see it,” Jake said dreamily. “I know I haven’t traveled far, but there’s already so much more than I thought possible..”

“I don’t know that I’d want to go that far. I thought about it once, but it sounds too stressful never knowing where you are or where you're going.”

“But if you don’t know where you're going, then you can end up anywhere. That’s sort of exciting.”

The sun was just touching the peaks of the mountains now, turning the tips of them bright gold and the contrast of the shadows beneath even darker. Tallpaw’s eyes drifted down the mountains to the nearer hills rising up across from the farmland beyond the thin Thunderpath.

He gestured at them with his tail. “I think those hills are where our Moonstone is." Tallpaw had never gone there, but he knew the general place it was at.

“What’s the Moonstone?” Jake asked

“It’s a sacred place,” Tallpaw explained. “It’s our greatest link to our warrior ancestors. There is a fallen star under the earth, and at night when the moon shines through the tunnel, they come down to earth and can speak to us.”

Jake was staring at him. “You can talk to stars?”

“Sort of. The cats who live among them watch over us.”

“Wow,” Jake mewed in wonder, “The stories about you clan cats don’t really do you justice. I’ve always wondered what stars really were.”

Tallpaw smiled to himself at that. He was connected to something so much bigger than himself. Talking to Jake made him remember the parts he did like about being a clan cat, instead of just the parts that worried him. But however pleasant talking to the kittypet was, Tallpaw knew he couldn’t stay.

“I’ll have to be heading back,” Tallpaw said “I only wanted to see if you were still here, but I’ll need to hunt something before I head back..”

“I can’t believe you even need to practice. You’re so fast I would think you're the greatest hunter in your clan.” Tallpaw laughed “Hardly. I don’t feel very good at all most days. I’m sort of fast, but...that’s really all I have going for me. It’s not the same as skill.”

“Oh come on! But you’re not just sort of fast, you’re the fastest cat I’ve ever seen! That’s got to be good for all kinds of things!” Jake protested. “Every cat has a slump sometimes. I bet you’ll do great.”

“Thanks,” Tallpaw laughed. “I’ll certainly try.”

“You’ll come back again won’t you?” Jake asked hopefully “Maybe to that spot in the woods where we first met? Now that I've seen the trail in better light, I'm sure I could make my own way there and back. I really want to see how a clan cat hunts. Could you show me sometime?”

“I’ll...I’ll see." He couldn’t actually make that promise, but he knew that he wanted to. When he left Jake and returned to hunting, tucking away his wool bundle where he could find it later, he found his paws felt a little less heavy. For a while he’d forgotten how stressed out he was about his performance in WindClan. He felt lighter talking to Jake. It didn’t matter what he told the kittypet, because Jake had no one to tell that knew who Tallpaw was. And when he crossed back into his territory, it may as well have not happened, since no one knew about Jake but him. It’s almost like having a secret friend, he thought with amusement. He breathed in the sweet moor air as the breeze greeted him again, and felt as though he could run the whole territory. I’ve got to stop feeling sorry for myself all the time, it messes with my hunting ability. I am capable...I can do this.

chapter list / previous / next

#FRU 16 #chapter 16

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smiting-finger · 5 years ago

Text

I tripped and I fell and this HP AU came out

So I was chatting to @silverink58 about the beautiful original picture of Professor LWJ, and they were saying that when they picked up the prompt for the inktober exchange, they were hoping to read Hogwarts student!LWJ,

And I thought “oh how delightful, maybe I’ll think about that idea later”, and then that “later” became “now” and what I’m saying is they shouldn’t have let me download the google docs app onto my phone, because I clearly cannot be trusted.

@silverink58 this is for you, lol. Thanks for naming “Little Apple” :’D.

He almost doesn’t see it: a flutter of black fabric, the edge of a student robe before it slips away out of sight. But he catches the movement from the corner of his eye, and pure reflex has Lan Zhan drawing his wand to fire off a quick body-bind curse.

There's a muffled noise of surprise, abruptly cut off, and then the thump of a body hitting the floor.

When Lan Zhan turns the corner, it’s to the sight of Wei Wuxian, lying face-down on the ground.

“It’s after curfew,” Lan Zhan says, turning him over with a quick Levitation spell. “You should be inside your dormitory.”

Dark eyes glare indignantly up at him. Calmly holding Wei Wuxian’s gaze, Lan Zhan lifts the curse.

“Report for detention tomorrow,” he says, as Wei Wuxian sits up and pointedly rubs the small pink spot on his forehead.

“Lan Zhaaaan,” Wei Wuxian complains, giving the edge of Lan Zhan’s robe a beseeching tug. Lan Zhan feels his own lips thin at the over-familiarity of both the form of address and the physical contact.

“Don’t be like that! Let me off just this once? Think of the five wonderful years we’ve spent together as potions partners!”

“Just last week, you exploded our cauldron,” Lan Zhan reminds him flatly, and Wei Wuxian grins.

“Oh come on! Let’s not harp on about petty things like that,” he says, pushing himself up onto his feet. He shakes out his robes. “You wanted to know what would happen if we added the xiezhi horn, too, just admit it.”

Lan Zhan doesn’t dignify this with a response, and simply meets Wei Wuxian’s gaze and holds it.

He is a Lan of Gusu.

He would never admit to such a thing.

Wei Wuxian pouts, reaches out a hand and uses two fingers to give Lan Zhan’s sleeve a pleading tug.

Lan Zhan sighs.

After five years of being a detention hall regular, if Wei Wuxian was going to learn anything from writing lines, he would've done it already.

“Return to your dormitory,” he says, and Wei Wuxian smiles brightly.

“Yup, sure thing, absolutely,” he chirps, nodding in enthusiastic agreement.

He doesn’t move.

Lan Zhan looks at him expectantly.

Wei Wuxian blinks back at him with wide eyes.

Lan Zhan continues to wait.

It’s Wei Wuxian’s turn to sigh.

“Okay, fine,” he says, shoulders slumping in defeat as he turns back to his original direction and beckons for Lan Zhan to follow.

“There’s just something I have to do first - I swear it’s important. You can come with me to see, if you want.”

It’s a … bird.

A hatchling, almost completely featherless, that Wei Wuxian has hidden in a corner of one of the lesser-used greenhouses, and has been coming to feed every four hours.

It’s also, Lan Zhan thinks, staring blankly at its oversized head, squat little body, gangly legs and stumpy wings, really-

“Don’t stare at it like that just because it’s ugly!” Wei Wuxian hisses, turning from pouring whatever paste he’s made down the bird’s throat to swat Lan Zhan admonishingly on the arm. “You’ll hurt its feelings!”

“You just called it ugly,” Lan Zhan feels the need to point out. “But I’m the one who’s hurting its feelings?”

“Well, it’s just a baby,” Wei Wuxian replies reasonably. “It doesn’t understand anything that’s not bird-language yet.”

“It doesn’t understand anything but bird-language,” Lan Zhan repeats disbelievingly, “but it’s offended by stares?”

Wei Wuxian nods gravely.

“Everyone knows that body language is universal,” he claims loftily and Lan Zhan suppresses the desire to roll his eyes.

“You can’t keep coming every four hours,” Lan Zhan says, after the bird curls up and goes to sleep underneath a heating charm and Wei Wuxian’s threadbare toy demiguise (“What? I didn’t know if Jiang Cheng and I were going to be in the same dorm, and I was scared of getting lonely at night! I was eleven!”).

“Well, I’m going to have to,” Wei Wuxian replies carelessly, and shrugs. “Or it’ll die.”

“Its parents?” Lan Zhan asks and Wei Wuxian shrugs again.

“Didn’t seem to have any,” he says, quietly getting up and beckoning wordlessly for Lan Zhan to follow. “I waited an hour to see if one of them would come back, but nothing did, and it was crying, so.”

The moon is full and bright, providing ample light to guide their way back to the dormitories even now that all the lights have been put out.

“I did some reading in the library,” Wei Wuxian says around a yawn. “As it gets bigger, feedings will get less frequent. I don’t know what kind of bird it is, but it should only be like this for a couple of weeks, at most.”

Even for a couple of weeks, it’s not sustainable, Lan Zhan thinks when Wei Wuxian begins to list into his shoulder as they walk. He’ll have to leave halfway through every meal and risk getting caught by the other Prefects at night. He won’t be able to get enough sleep, which will affect his classwork, and, in turn, his learning, his grades, his disciplinary record-

“You can’t keep this up for that long,” Lan Zhan states firmly.

Wuxian groans. “I told you, Lan Zhan, I can’t just let it-”

“I’ll help you,” he says.

“You’ll - wait, really?”

They name it Little Apple because Wuxian says he's no fun.

("We should call it Little Ginseng, because that's what it looks like - bald and lumpy."

"...No.")

When it gets big enough to have a personality beyond eating and sleeping, Little Apple is surprisingly sweet. It loves: cuddles, being hand-fed and chasing after a love-knot tassel that Wuxian charmed to dance around in front of it.

It hates: eating by itself, being left alone for too long, cats (after Headboy Jin Guangyao's familiar somehow gets into the greenhouse and they have a very near miss), and Lan Zhan and Wuxian arguing.

It absolutely refuses to go to bed without being personally tucked in.

Soon, it starts to grow feathers; brown and grey patches of down sprouting all over its body, enough that they can stop renewing the heating charm.

It doesn't get less ugly.

("As its mother, even I think it's hideous. We should've called it Little Dustball, but it's too late now ")

They do, however, become very fond of it nonetheless.

("Hey, Lan Zhan, look, we learned manners today!"

Wuxian bows to Little Apple, who bobs its head unsteadily in return.

"-Lan Zhan, what's happening to your face? Lan Zhan? Lan Zhan, is that a smile?!")

They get caught.

"Wei Wuxian I expected no better of," his uncle growls after the greenhouse doors fly open to reveal his thunderous expression. "But Wangji, you are a prefect. I am deeply disappointed in you, sneaking off to the greenhouses at night to-"

Little Apple squawks.

(Although its adult plumage has started to come in, there is no colour pattern that Lan Zhan can see; it has three red feathers on this wing, two on that one, small tufts of white in a patch on its belly and a scattering of green along its back.

“It’s … really not going to get better, is it?” Wuxian asks, sounding like he doesn’t know if he should laugh or cry.)

Lan Qiren stares.

"It's so…" his uncle says, still staring down at Little Apple, who squawks again and stares right back. "Ug-"

“Don’t listen to him, Little Apple!” Wuxian cries, hastily covering Little Apple’s ears with his hands. “It’s what’s on the inside that counts!”

And then one day Lan Zhan walks into the greenhouse and realises that Little Apple is ugly no longer.

Its wings are in fact red and black; red coverts edged with a line of striking black primaries and secondaries. A small plume of blue curls back off its forehead in a proud crest. The feathers on its back and shoulders are a shimmering emerald green, in some areas even tipped with gold, its belly is a soft pearlescent white, and its tail feathers are starting to lengthen into an impressive train.

Beside him, Wei Ying gasps and places a hand against his mouth, evidently coming to the same realisation.

“Lan Zhan,” he says, deeply moved. “Our son is beautiful.”

It still can’t fly, though.

“I wonder if I should get my sword,” Wei Ying says, after an afternoon of running around flapping his arms has yielded no results beyond Little Apple having the time of its life chasing a new, human-sized tassel around the grounds like a particularly speedy chicken.

He flops backwards onto the grass. Little Apple promptly jumps on top of his chest and starts to preen his hair.

"Or what if I flapped my arms and you Levitated me," Wei Ying wonders, squinting thoughtfully. With a lazy wave of his wand, he Levitates Little Apple, who squawks angrily in protest until it's brought back within range of his ponytail.

Lan Zhan takes the opportunity to re-tie the bandage on his wrist, and can’t help but hiss slightly when he has to unstick it from his burnt skin. It’s not a serious injury - a small graze from a ricocheted spell he’d been hit with between classes, while stopping an altercation in the hallway - but he hasn’t had the time to visit the infirmary to have it healed yet.

When he looks up, Little Apple is right in front of him, staring up with glistening eyes.

“Aw,” Wei Ying says, propping himself up on one elbow and looking enchanted. “Look, Lan Zhan, he’s sad that his daddy’s hurt!”

Little Apple rests his face on Lan Zhan’s wrist for a moment, then sits back up and gives a self-satisfied squawk.

Lan Zhan looks down and finds that his wrist is fully healed.

“Huh,” Wei Ying says.

It turns out that they don’t need to worry about the flying, because the following week, Little Apple, eye caught by a firefly, simply spreads its wings, pushes off Wei Ying’s arm and takes off after it.

“Well,” Wei Ying begins after a moment of stunned silence. “I-”

Then Little Apple’s tail promptly bursts into flames and blazes a bright trail across the night sky.

“LAN ZHAN,” Wei Ying screeches, grabbing hold of Lan Zhan’s arm and shaking it.

“LAN ZHAN, OUR SON IS A PHOENIX!”

There’s no keeping Little Apple in the greenhouse after that. It comes and goes as it pleases with the blessing of even Lan Zhan’s uncle, who is kept mollified by the fact that Little Apple is a phoenix, as well as the steady supply of tears and feathers for the school.

Both Lan Zhan and Wei Ying take to leaving their bedroom windows ajar so that Little Apple can come in to roost at night when it returns, which it always does.

Until, one day, it doesn’t.

The next month, the Ministry announces that the Wizarding world is at war.

(And then, on a random morning after WWX comes back, there’s a tapping at the window of their shared bedroom, Lan Zhan gets up to investigate, and----!)

#The Untamed #wangxian #HP AU #fml #fic #mo dao zu shi

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twilights-800-cats · 3 years ago

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<< Chapter 17 || Chapter 18 || Chapter 19 || From the Beginning || Patreon >>

Chapter 18

Stoneheart wandered through the mist, whiskers twitching. He hadn’t expected to dream his way into this gloomy, dark forest again – he thought that, with Rowanclaw back by his side, his dreams would be nothing but the usual fare. Still, he was here, now, and with this being the third time... he found himself curious, rather than frightened.

There seemed to be no discernible trails through the sickly trees, and when Stoneheart opened his jaws to taste the air all he gathered was the musty smell of mushrooms and decay. There seemed to be no life anywhere, no prey or greenery to be seen, and there were definitely no landmarks of any kind that seemed to stick in his memory.

Stoneheart was puzzled by this place. It felt so wrong to be here – Bluestar had confirmed that this was not StarClan. Why did he keep finding himself coming back?

He paused, examining his surroundings. There was a stream nearby, filled with a thick, sludge-like substance that Stoneheart guessed was meant to be water. He approached it, bending his muzzle down to sniff at the liquid, only to recoil – it smelled rank, like several fish had died in it.

How does any cat live here? He thought, bristling.

He kept the water to his side as he walked, despite its odor. It was something to keep his direction, at least. It had to lead somewhere.

As he walked, Stoneheart supposed that if Bluestar’s spirit called this place home, then so did other spirits of her ilk. It makes sense that StarClan wouldn’t want villains like them around, he thought, padding on. But what does that mean if I’m here?

He tried scenting the air again and, to his shock, got a whiff of familiar cat-scent. As if his thoughts had summoned her, Bluestar seemed to be lurking nearby. Since Stoneheart had no idea how to wake from this dream of his own volition, he turned his paws towards his mother – she had woken him before, she could again.

It didn’t take long until he spotted her. She was sitting on a boulder that looked to be sinking into a mire of dead grass and mud, regal despite her surroundings. Bluestar’s dark eyes were locked on her son as he approached, her tail-tip twitching lazily.

“My son,” she meowed, when Stoneheart came into earshot. “You’ve come.”

“Are you calling me here?” Stoneheart asked, narrowing his eyes. “If you are, stop it. I’ve told you already that I want nothing to do with you.”

Bluestar seemed unaffected by his words. She flicked an ear and asked, “You are leaving the forest?”

Stoneheart blinked, then nodded. “The Clans are leaving, yes. At dawn.”

“Good,” Bluestar mewed. “They waited far too long, in my opinion.”

“I don’t recall asking,” Stoneheart grunted. “Unlike you, some cats care about what they’re leaving behind.”

Stoneheart wished his words stung her, but they didn’t seem to. Bluestar’s eyes only flickered, briefly, and he felt a flash of frustration towards his mother. Don’t you feel anything?

“Why stay in a land doomed to die?” Bluestar meowed on, “The forest was growing stale, too stagnant to change. This lake, though... there are infinite possibilities there – nothing needs to stay the same for long in a land like that.”

Stoneheart found himself both puzzled and wary at his mother’s words. He took a step back, frowning. “What’s that supposed to mean?” he asked.

Bluestar stared him in the eyes, her gaze even. “My dear son, your world is changing... and you and your sister are at the head of it. If you could just extend your paws, the power to control that change is within your reach.”

Stoneheart felt a chill. “I don’t want to control anything,” he growled. “I’m not you.”

She seemed not to hear him. “I could aid you, guide you...” Bluestar went on, “Oh, Stoneheart – the potential is within you, just waiting to be unleashed. Let me unlock it...”

Stoneheart’s hackles rose, and he unsheathed his claws. “Enough!” he snapped. His shoulder fur rose as he snarled on, “I listened to your poison once before and, while it brought me to ShadowClan, I told myself that I would never be deceived by you again! I want nothing from you, Bluestar.”

Bluestar’s eyes flashed at that. “Very well,” she decided, her tone frank. “You think yourself stronger than I, and I cannot blame you for that – but if you think that kits are all that it takes to satisfy you, you are mistaken. You are of my blood... and my blood is power.”

“It’s my blood, now,” Stoneheart scoffed, curling his lip. “My life. I’ll decide what’s worth doing with it.”

He turned his back on his mother. “Don’t darken my dreams again,” he growled, moving away from her. “I don’t need you.”

“Oh, Stoneheart,” Bluestar sighed behind him. Though she was still several pawsteps away, her voice sounded as if it were right in his ear. “This is the place for those who seek more... I did not call you here...”

The world darkened around Stoneheart, and the gray tom felt the land beneath his paws pitching, growing uncertain in its own physicality. Stoneheart sank his claws into it, desperate to cling, not wanting to feel that horrible falling sensation again...

“You came yourself.”

Stoneheart fell, wailing in the darkness.

———————————————————

Cold seeped into Stoneheart’s fur a moment later, and he woke with a start, panting. His claws scraped against pebbles as he scrambled to his feet, trying to regain his faculties.

Though the world was dim and gray, he was awake, and at Sunningrocks with three Clans worth of cats clustered around him. Some were still sleeping, desperate to catch a few last bits of rest in the home they would be leaving, other were moving restlessly about the area, scattering stones and talking quietly amongst themselves over the leftovers from the night before.

Dawn had not yet broken. Stoneheart looked up at the sky and felt a prickle of worry at the cloud cover – for the first day of their journey, rain would bode ill. He prayed to StarClan that it would warm up when the sun rose.

Rowanclaw was still sleeping with Brick and the elders, but Stoneheart knew he wouldn’t be able to sleep any longer. He carefully picked his way out from the elder’s den, grateful that he hadn’t woken any of them with his dreaming. He shivered – when he closed his eyes, he could still see Bluestar’s eyes boring into him, and hear the rasp of her voice, though he struggled to recall what she had said at the end.

Stoneheart spotted a dark shape atop one of the stones, and recognized the small body as Tinystar. The black tom was watching the sun rise over RiverClan territory, his tail wrapped around his paws as he nodded his head to the cat below him – Oakheart.

Curious, Stoneheart crept forward. His heart fluttered – though it was perfectly natural for Oakheart to talk to his leader, this conversation seemed quiet, clandestine. Something was off in their body language that worried Stoneheart.

“What are you doing, mouse-brain?” The hiss made Stoneheart jump. Curses!

Mistyfoot was beside him, her head tilted and eyes confused. Her gaze flickered between Tinystar and Oakheart, and she seemed to understand. She explained: “They’ve been talking like that since moonhigh – I wouldn’t interrupt them, not with the mood Tinystar’s been in lately.”

“Moonhigh?” Stoneheart questioned, widening his eyes at his sister. “Haven’t you slept?”

“I did,” Mistyfoot confessed, her gaze flickering away from him, “but... I had a bad dream. Couldn’t get back to sleep, after.” Quickly, she added, “I’ll be fine for the journey, trust me! I don’t think there’s a reason I could fall asleep during that!”

Stoneheart swallowed his concern. He didn’t blame his sister for her poor sleeping, and he touched his nose to her forehead. I hope she wasn’t in that place with Bluestar, he thought. He had scented her there, in the past; but there was just no way to be sure.

“What needs doing?” Stoneheart asked.

“Not much,” Mistyfoot confessed. “The herbs have been passed out, and everyone’s eaten everything we have... when dawn breaks, we move.”

Stoneheart felt a lump in his throat. The sky was already beginning to lighten, shafts of bright orange light filtering in between the dark clouds. “We should start waking cats up,” he decided.

“I’ll get ThunderClan, and tell Crowpaw to get WindClan,” Mistyfoot mewed. “He’s woken up early, too, and he’s been helping organize the apprentices.”

“I’ll take ShadowClan,” Stoneheart offered.

Mistyfoot nodded and hared away, bounding across the stones. Her first stop was Mousefur, who was curled up into a tight little ball. The older she-cat looked cross at being woken, but yawned and sighed, and Mistyfoot moved on.

As dawn broke, Stoneheart headed over to the outskirts of Sunningrocks, to the fern bed where ShadowClan was clustered. He felt a pang of regret – he'd slept with his ThunderClan family instead of ShadowClan while they stayed here. Were they angry about that? I’ll stick with ShadowClan on the journey, he thought. Oakheart and Mistyfoot will understand.

He nudged Smokepaw and Redpaw awake first, which woke Smokepaw’s mother, Duskflower. He ordered the apprentices to go join Crowpaw, while he and Duskflower went on to wake the rest of ShadowClan.

“Is it time already?” rasped Pinewhisker. The tabby tom was curled up tight with Nightwing, who was still twitching with sleep.

“It is,” Stoneheart murmured.

Pinewhisker yawned, and Stoneheart left him to wake Nightwing. Skipnose and Talonstripe woke easily, both young warriors eager to be going – Wolftooth growled and grumbled, and Stoneheart thought that he might get clawed by the older tom until his pale eyes opened.

“Off I go again, eh?” he grunted.

Stoneheart nodded in agreement. By now, he and Duskflower had managed to wake most of the Clan – Blackfoot was up, shaking dew from his pelt, and testing his voice as he woke Orre and Cedarheart. All around Stoneheart, ShadowClan woke to the dawn of the first day of their Great Journey and, as the sun rose, the other Clans were waking as well.

Stoneheart headed for Russetstar and Pansytail last – the two were curled up together in the shelter of a large fern that hadn’t yet felt leaf-fall's chill. He lifted the frond carefully and peeked inside, only to be met by Russetstar’s bright gaze.

“Ah,” Stoneheart breathed. “You’re awake already!”

Russetstar nodded, and then glanced down at Pansytail, who was still sleeping soundly. “I will be with you in a moment,” she said, her tail trailing down her mate’s side. “I want her to sleep a little longer.”

Stoneheart nodded in understanding, and pulled back. He turned around, facing Sunningrocks, which was now bustling with activity. Tallstar and Mudclaw had joined Tinystar and Oakheart in their conversation, and all around them their warriors were awake and stretching, preparing for whatever lay ahead.

The ferns behind him rustled, and Stoneheart felt Russetstar brush past, Pansytail coming a moment later. ShadowClan’s leader trotted to the other leaders with her head and tail held high, nodding to her Clanmates and sharing an encouraging word with those who needed it on the way.

Pansytail stretched beside Stoneheart, purring. “I had a good dream,” she told him. “I don’t know what this lake looks like, but I was there, with Russetstar. It was nice.”

Stoneheart felt warmth in his chest. “It will be nice,” he promised.

“I know,” Pansytail mewed. She touched her nose to his ear before loping off to join the other warriors.

“Where’s RiverClan?” asked Wolftooth. The gray tom looked cranky as he gazed over the river. “They were supposed to be here by now, right?”

“Lazybones, all of them,” sighed Skipnose. “They made us wait this long, after all – why not make us wait a moment more?”

“I’m sure they’re on the way,” Stoneheart told them. “Leopardstar wouldn’t go back on a promise like that.” At least, I hope not.

Skipnose shrugged, and Wolftooth huffed. Though they didn’t say anything more, Stoneheart realized that the other Clans were noticing RiverClan’s absence, too. They’d better get here soon, he thought. Already he could hear the monsters roaring to life in the forest. We can’t wait much longer.

As if his thoughts had summoned her, he spotted the silver pelt of Feathertail on the other side of the river. She was breathless, panting as she splashed across the channel that had once held so much water. Stoneheart got to his paws and pushed through the crowd to meet her on the shore, ignoring the swearing and complaints of the warriors he stepped on or bumped into.

“What's wrong?” he asked, heart beating in his ears.

“Feathertail? What is it?” Russetstar’s voice came from behind Stoneheart, and he turned to find her and the other leaders, along with Oakheart and Mistyfoot, there. Russetstar stepped forward, eyes serious. “Did something happen to RiverClan?”

It took Feathertail a moment to catch her breath. “I - we... hah... We can’t leave yet!” she managed, eyes wide and pleading.

“Why not?” Tinystar asked, his ice-blue gaze serious.

Mudclaw scoffed, looking irritated, “Don't tell me – Leopardstar is backing out? Why am I not surprised!”

Feathertail took another gulp of air, and this seemed to stabilize her. She shook her head. “No, no – Mudfur is dying. We can’t leave yet!”

Shock coursed through the crowd. Mudfur was dying? Stoneheart knew that RiverClan’s medicine cat was old, but he didn’t think he was anywhere near death. He exchanged a worried glance with Mistyfoot – what did this mean for the journey?

“I see,” murmured Tallstar. The old leader was nodding. “He is Leopardstar’s father... she would not wish to leave him while he is in so much pain.”

“Is there something we can do?” Mistyfoot asked, eyes round with concern.

Feathertail shrugged. “I’m not a medicine cat,” she said helplessly. “I don’t know – Mothwing's tried everything, I’m sure.”

Barkface’s voice cut through the conversation: “What’s this I hear? Mudfur is dying, you say?”

The small crowd parted, letting the WindClan medicine cat through. Behind him were the other medicine cats from all the Clans, all of them looking concerned and distressed for their colleague.

“He is,” Feathertail repeated, sounding more solemn now that she had caught her breath. “Leopardstar won’t let him die alone, so RiverClan isn’t ready to leave yet.”

Stoneheart felt a pang of sympathy for the RiverClan leader. He couldn’t imagine leaving Oakheart behind while he was dying. The pain she must be feeling right now...

Shadepaw pushed forward. “Let me go,” she pleaded, looking to Brackenfur. “I can make sure he’s comfortable!”

“No,” Brackenfur answered, shaking his head. “This is not something for apprentices to do.”

“But-!”

“There is enough to do here, Shadepaw!” Brackenfur’s voice was firm. “You and Ryewhisper must ensure that each cat has taken their traveling herbs, and ready the kits for travel. Do you understand me?”

“But I can-!”

“Do you understand me?” Brackenfur insisted, narrowing his eyes.

Stoneheart saw Shadepaw’s shoulders sag, and the tortoiseshell she-cat murmured, “I understand...”

There had to be a better way than that, Stoneheart thought, watching the young she-cat sulk away. He couldn’t help but glare at Brackenfur, but the older medicine cat was too busy talking to Littlecloud and Barkface to see it. Shadepaw is a great medicine cat! She took care of us on our journey all on her own! You didn’t have to snap at her in front of so many cats!

The three older medicine cats nodded as one. “We will sit with Mudfur and perform the rites when he passes,” Littlecloud decided.

Feathertail’s eyes shone. “Thank you,” she breathed.

“I’ll come with you,” Oakheart decided.

This earned him confused looks from Feathertail, Stoneheart, and Mistyfoot. “Why?” asked Stoneheart, tipping his head at his father. “Mudfur’s a RiverClan cat.”

Oakheart chuckled, twitching his whiskers. “He and I have a history,” he meowed. “I’ll tell you about it on the way...”

There seemed to be no changing his mind, and he limped down the shore and into the riverbed, looking back at the others. Tinystar made no move to stop him, but the small black tom did sigh, his ice-blue eyes glittering sadly.

“Go with your father,” Tinystar meowed, his voice patient, “the both of you.”

“Of course,” Mistyfoot said instantly, dipping her head. She trotted after Oakheart, her tail high.

Stoneheart cast a glance at Russetstar, who nodded her assent. He followed his sister into the riverbed, grimacing at the squelch of the mud and the smell of old water and dead fish. Though Mistyfoot had agreed quickly, she and Stoneheart shared a confused look – something was happening here that neither of them was privy to.

“Have Leopardstar meet us by the Twoleg bridge when you’re finished,” Tinystar told Feathertail. “If she is not there by sunhigh...”

“We’ll be there,” Feathertail promised.

The pale silver tabby turned and trotted across the riverbed, Brackenfur, Barkface, and Littlecloud behind her. Despite his limp, Brackenfur made the journey easily, even leaping over the trickle of water in the deepest part of the river with ease. Oakheart, however, needed helping – and his talking didn’t make it any easier for him to stumble on.

“See, when I was a young warrior, Mudfur was a senior warrior in RiverClan,” Oakheart was saying as he limped along. The mud sucked at his paws, but he didn’t seem to mind, and he took turns leaning on Mistyfoot and Stoneheart. “There was a battle for Sunningrocks in leafbare, and both ThunderClan and RiverClan were desperate for the land...”

They crossed the riverbed and made it into RiverClan territory. Stoneheart was grateful for the cool grasses, and the way they washed his paws clean of the nasty river mud. Feathertail led the way into the reeds, following a trail that smelled strongly of RiverClan – but Stoneheart wasn’t really paying attention, too absorbed in his father’s tale.

“We were all set to battle, you see, and we were evenly matched. It was going to be bloody!” Oakheart breathed, his eyes widening. “Our deputy at the time, Tawnyspots, and RiverClan’s deputy, Shellheart, were both old and weary of fighting... they were willing to talk it out, but they were surrounded by young, brash warriors who wanted nothing more than a few new scars...”

As the sunlight broke through a gap in the clouds, Feathertail led the way deeper into RiverClan land. Ahead, Stoneheart could see three tall willows, their long, trailing branches rattling in the faint breeze. RiverClan’s camp, he guessed.

“I was tired of the talking,” Oakheart chuckled. “So, I stepped up and said, ‘I will fight one of you, one-on-one, and whoever wins gets Sunningrocks.’”

Mistyfoot gasped. “Father!”

“That’s so foolish,” Stoneheart told him.

“Yes, it was,” Oakheart agreed, “and I thought I would scare them off with it, you see – but one warrior took me up on it.”

“Mudfur,” Stoneheart guessed.

Oakheart nodded. “Mudfur!” He sighed, his eyes turning far away with the memory. “I was too full of energy, too ready to fight and impress, that I didn’t think about fighting a senior warrior like him – but he stepped forward, and we fought – and what a fight it was! I still think about it... and not just because I lost!”

“You lost?” Mistyfoot looked shocked, and Stoneheart felt the same. It was difficult to imagine his father losing a battle.

Oakheart purred. “Oh, yes; he trounced me like I had just gotten my apprentice name that morning! RiverClan took Sunningrocks, and when we got back to camp Thistlestar – he was leader, then – even considered taking away my warrior name for a moon for my foolishness. But it impressed your mother, and it impressed some of the younger cats... and at the next Gathering, Mudfur announced he was going to be RiverClan’s next medicine cat.”

“No way!”

Oakheart blinked. “At that Gathering, I asked him why – he told me that he was tired of fighting over the things that didn’t matter, in the end. He made me think about my life, about what really mattered to me, and after... I asked your mother to be my mate. She said yes.”

Stoneheart shared a shocked glance with Mistyfoot. Their father had hardly spoken of Bluestar their whole lives – and when he had, it had never been with fondness, or nostalgia. There was an uncomfortable prickle in Stoneheart’s chest, but he wasn’t about to tell Oakheart to stop.

“I was happy, then,” Oakheart sighed. He forced himself to halt, just outside of the bent reeds that made the entrance to RiverClan’s camp. Feathertail and the medicine cats went inside, too focused on their mission to ask why the old tom was lagging behind.

Oakheart curled his tail over Mistyfoot’s back, and then Stoneheart’s. “Oh, my kits...” he breathed.

“Father... what’s going on?” Mistyfoot wondered, anxiety ringing in her voice. Panic gripped Stoneheart’s chest, and he stared into his father’s eyes. What’s happening?

“My life is here, kits,” Oakheart went on. “My memories, all of them, are in this forest, with cats I’ll never see again. Rosetail, my mother; Lionheart, my dear brother; Whitestorm and Tigerstar, my friends... Mosspaw, too, and yes... even Bluestar.”

Stoneheart felt something sink inside of him. Oakheart’s gaze was far away, as if he were seeing these cats he had lost along the way. Stoneheart suddenly had a terrible feeling about what his father was about to do, but he didn’t dare think about it lest it come into existence.

It didn’t matter.

“I’m staying,” Oakheart breathed. “When you leave, my kits, I won’t be joining you.”

#tb au #tb dawn #:`))

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writings-of-a-daphodil · 4 years ago

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Fire Keeper: Chapter 5

Douxie x fem reader

Chapter 1

Masterlist in bio!

Series Summary: You are Jim’s older sister who is taking a break from college and has moved back home to Arcadia. You end up joining Jim and his friends on their adventures. Chapter 5 Summary: After all your recent missions you need a break, but will you get it when Mr. Strickler comes over for dinner.

“Last class of the night,” Jim said as you arrived outside Mr. Strickler’s classroom. You scowled.

“I can’t believe he’s a changeling. He was such a great teacher.”

“Agreed.” The two of you went and sat in the back of the class with Toby and his Nana.

“He wouldn’t do anything would he?” Toby whispered to you.

“No way,” Jim whispered back. “Not with all these people.”

“I see the two best friends are talking. It’s just like normal class,” Strickler joked and you refrained yourself from rolling your eyes. The rest of the room laughed.

You yawned and glanced out the window only to see Bular pacing in the grass outside. “Um, we kinda have a situation,” you whispered without moving your mouth.

“What kind of situation?” Toby whispered back.

“Bular is outside.”

“I’ll handle it, just cover me.” Jim whispered something to Toby while you looked around the room for anything that could be used as a distraction.

With a plan in mind you whispered a spell you had learned earlier that week, “Interminus nocti sluumberso.”

Suddenly Strickler fainted to the ground and as the parents and students were distracted you nodded to Jim and Toby who were able to slip out.

You smiled, satisfied with your proficiency in magic. You let him sleep for a little while longer, only waking him up when Claire’s dad suggested calling an ambulance.

As he got off the floor he seemed shocked and one of the parents suggested he see a doctor. You left soon after to help Toby’s Nana home.

When you got to your own house Toby and Jim were waiting for you.

“How did it go?” You asked, hanging up your purse.

“We managed to lure him away,” Toby said proudly and you patted him and Jim on the back.

“Would you count that as the third mission today?” Jim asked Toby and you sighed.

“Yeah.” He thought for a second. “We could all use a break. Maybe we could go to the movies?”

“That sounds like fun, Tobes.” Jim yawned and you mimicked him.

“You two have fun. I’ll buy myself a normal, human book instead.”

~~~~

“Hi Archie,” you called to the cat that was lounging on a table. You began to browse through the books, this time looking for something just fun to read. You needed to relax, especially after all the missions you had recently gone on, and reading a good, normal book would do it.

You walked over to pet Archie and stroked him as you browsed. It was warm inside the bookstore which was a nice break from the chilly air outside, but you didn’t need a jacket so you took it off. You draped it on the table.

“Hello, Y/n.” Douxie said from behind you and you jumped a little. “Sorry I startled you.”

“It’s fine.” You smiled, though he had just scared you a second ago his presence had already calmed you. “I found another book.”

“Great, let me check that out for you.” He led you to the cash register and the two of you chatted while he rang the book up.

He handed the book to you and you were about to leave when he called out to you, “Um, would you maybe, uh, want to get a coffee sometime. I’d, um, like to get to know you better.”

“Sure,” you replied. You waved goodbye to him and then left.

You felt a little embarrassed, flustered, and confused. You were beginning to like Douxie and he seemed really nice. However, there was something about him that you couldn’t put your finger on, it wasn’t bad, there was just something.

You got into your car and you were about to turn it on when Jim called. “Hel-”

“Y/n Mr. Strickler is coming over for dinner tonight!” Jim exclaimed, not even letting you finish your sentence.

“What, no...” you didn’t know how to respond.

“Mom invited him when he went to the doctors office," Jim explained and you winced, realizing it was you who inadvertently sent Strickler there.

"Oops," you mumbled.

"It's fine," Jim said, "Toby, Aaarrrgghh, Blinky, and NotEnrique are going to brake into his office while we distract him.”

“Okay-” you sighed “-I’ll be home soon.”

~~~~

“I do not approve of this plan. It lacks a certain ‘killing the changling’ component,” Draal said and you almost agreed. You felt betrayed by the fact that Strickler was out for your brother’s blood.

“I would love to, but not until they locate the bridge, okay? And find out what he wants with me.” Jim sighed, taking out his frustration on the batter he was whisking.

“We could rip off his limbs, make him talk, more like scream,” Draal growled. “Now that sounds like a good plan.”

“No, no ripping anything. My mom...ugh! She kinda likes him.” Jim winced and you heard the front door open. “She’s here, I can't have you busting chops unless it’s a last resort, and only if it’s a last resort.”

“How will I know this “last resort?” Draal asked.

“Okay, If everything’s cool I’ll stomp once. If I run into any trouble I’ll stomp twice. Got it?”

“Two times. Then I tear his limbs.” Jim shook his head and the two of you began to walk upstairs.

“Just stay down here. And no Limb tearing,” you said peeking back down the stairs.

You walked into the hallway and heard your mom talking to Mr. Strickler while Jim glared. “We don’t judge here, all kinds are welcome,” your mom said then walked away to put a bottle of wine in the kitchen.

“Mr. and Ms. Lake,” Strickler said, acknowledging you.

“Mr. Strickler,” you said with false politeness.

“Please, my friends call me Walt,” he said calmly.

“What do your enemies call you?” Jim asked, chuckling. Mr. Strickler walked into the dining room, ignoring him, and your mom joined him. You wrinkled your nose at Mr. Strickler and your mom laughing and you instead went to help Jim in the kitchen.

“The teacher is in the hen house, mission is a go,” Jim was saying to Toby.

“Copy that Trollhunter. I’m waiting at the rendezvous point.” He paused. “I said ‘I’m waiting at the rendezvous point.’ NotEnrique!”

He hung up and you looked at Jim, “Let’s get this over with and try not to die.”

“He won't be able to take the two of us,” Jim reassured and you nodded.

“We’ve got this.”

~~~~

“Yes absolutely. So I said to my co-worker, ‘I brought you a midnight snack.’ Too bad for him he had indigestion for days. Well that’s the problem with eating Italian,” Strickler said, finally finishing his story. You and Jim laughed polightly.

Your mom’s phone began to ring and she stood up. “Oh, I’m sorry, it’s the hospital. I have to take this.”

“Go, go. I’ll try not to bore Jim and Y/n to death,” Mr. Strickler laughed and your face fell into a scowl.

“That’s a funny story you were just talking about,” Jim said.

“Yeah who was it again you were forced to work with?” You asked, trying to bait him.

“The Superintendent's son. He’s a bit bullish,” Strickler said with a meaningful look.

“Bullish, huh, That’s an interesting word. He sounds like a real monster,” Jim said glaring with a smile.

“Yes I know,” Mr. Strickler said, returning the glare.

“You know what?” You inquired, nonchalantly leaning back in your chair.

“I know you know,” Mr. Strickler said.

“How much do you know?” Jim asked, scooting back. He tensed up and you could tell he was getting ready for a fight.

“You didn't know I knew, but now you know, I know.” Mr. Strickler took a bite of food, not breaking eye contact.

“So I guess we all know,” you said, pursing your lips as Jim awkwardly reached for food while trying to keep eye contact.

“Bular called you ‘Young Atlas’ to force this very moment. He told me, ‘if I can't get you to hand over the amulet, I should kill you,” Strickler explained.

“You would kill him in front of our mom?” You asked, scoffing.

“Granted your death might affect our relationship and I don’t know what I would do with you, witch, but I will if I have to,” he snarled.

“Thats funny. I was just thinking the same thing,” Jim snarled in return.

“Oh hoho, and you did not just call me a witch!” You growled standing up.

“I did and I could call you something worse for causing my impromptu nap at back to school night. So, how about you tell me where the bridge is, and I’ll leave your heads attached to your bodies?” Strickler threatened.

“It seems we each have something the other wants,” Jim said and your mom came out of the kitchen and asked if anyone needed anything. The three of you each asked for a knife, for the steak of course.

The four of you continued to eat your dinner and the air was thick with tension.

“I’m stuffed. I can hardly move,” Jim exclaimed, pushing away his plate when he was done, but he kept his knife.

“Jim, your cooking alone should warrant you an A,” Strickler commented and your mom excused herself to go get the pie.

The three of you stood up ready to fight. “Give me the amulet,” Strickler barked.

You opened your mouth to say a spell, but the doorbell dinged, interrupting you.

“Why don’t you get it, witch?” Strickler asked and you glared.

“I will, but only because I know Jim can handle you on his own.” You stormed off to the door, hoping to get it over with.

You opened it an inch and slipped outside into the chilly air, slamming it behind you. Once again you didn't check to see who was at the door and how close they were standing so you practically threw yourself into Douxie’s arms.

He steadied you before speaking, “Do you hug anyone who appears on your porch or just the handsome ones?”

“Haha,” you said. “What are you doing here?”

“You left your jacket at the bookstore.” He held it out to you and you smiled, putting it on. It was very nice of him to come and bring it to you. Especially when you would have seen him tomorrow.

“Thank you, but how’d you know where I live?”

“I had to ask around, it took me awhile,” he said, smiling sheepishly and you nodded.

“Well, it was very kind of you. Um, I guess I’ll see you for coffee then?”

“See you then.”

You opened your mouth to say one last thing, but a crash sounded from behind the door.

“What was that?” Douxie asked, reaching for the door knob.

You stepped in front of him. “Oh, it’s probably just Jim he can be so clumsy. He gets it from me. I can be super clumsy too-” Another thud sounded, cutting off your rambling.

“Mordrax's Miracles, what is going on in there?” Douxie leaned to look through your front window before you could block him.

You turned around to thankfully see Jim and Strickler looking normal and sitting down while your mom said something. You sighed in relief, though Douxie’s odd choice of words left you confused.

“Oh, you’re having dinner.” Douxie seemed satisfied by what he had seen. He turned back to face you.

“Yep, my brother is a fantastic chef. Anyways, thanks for bringing my jacket.”

“Any time.” He turned to walk away, but you heard a loud clattering inside and through instinct opened the door to see the commotion. Douxie stood behind you and your attention turned to Jim who was ‘hugging’ Strickler from behind. They were both kneeling on the ground and you wondered how you would explain that.

“Who is ready for pie? Voila!” Your mom said coming out of the kitchen and breaking the silence. She froze through when she saw Jim and Strickler.

“Um,” Jim said, looking to you for help, but you shook your head slightly.

“Where is that contact lens? Ah here it is,” Strickler said, creating a cover story.

“I didn’t know you wear contacts,” your mom said.

“There’s a lot you don't know about me,” Strickler replied and you rolled your eyes. Jim stood up from searching and you realized the ‘contact lens’ was in fact his amulet. He nodded to you and you gave a small smile.

Your mom stared into Strickler’s eyes for a second longer and you cleared your throat. “Oh, who’s this?” Your mom asked and you realized Douxie was still standing in the doorway behind you.

“Douxie Casperan, Ma’am. I work with Y/n at the cafe.”

“Well, it’s lovely to meet you, why don’t you join us for dessert,” your mom offered.

“Oh I don’t want to intrude.”

“No, it’s fine. The more the merrier.” She walked into the dining room and the rest of you followed.

“Be careful with the pie, Jim did not get his chef skills from Mom,” you whispered to Douxie as he sat down next to you.

“Will do,” he whispered back and you smiled. You did your best to eat the pie, but it was as bad as you expected. The rest of the night was spent chatting and Douxie seemed to get along with Strickler as well as you and Jim did, which only endeared Douxie to you more.

Soon though dinner was finally over. You walked Douxie to the door as Jim prepared the leftovers of the pie to give to Strickler.

“So...” you started, not knowing what else to say.

“You have a lovely family. Your father seems interesting.”

“Oh, he is not my father, he and my mom are...friends. I don’t like him much, he’s kinda two-faced,” you said quickly, wrinkling your nose.

“Sorry,” Douxie said, running his hand through his hair.

“It’s fine,” you said. “Maybe one of these days you can join us for my brother’s cooking, I promise it is much better.”

“I’ll hold you to that,” He said then began walking down the street. He looked back and waved goodbye and you waved back, smiling as you leaned on the doorway.

Strickler came up to you after. “He seems nice.”

“Compared to you everyone is nice,” you snarled before your mom got into earshot. You stepped past him to stand next to your mom and Jim, who was holding a blue Tupperware.

“I insist. take it home,” Jim said shoving the Tupperware at Strickler.

“Oh. The recipe would have sufficed,” Strickler said, pained.

“No we insist,” you replied, stepping back so he couldn't hand the Tupperware over to you.

He smiled, resigned. “Good night, Barbara.” He kissed her hand.

Then he turned back to you. “Goodbye Y/n. See you at school, Young Atlas. It should be interesting, now that we’ve gotten to know each other so well.”

“It will be a shame when I don't have you for a teacher anymore,” Jim said, the hidden threat obvious to everyone but your mom.

You closed the door and turned around. “That went well, right?” Your mom asked.

“I don’t know he seemed kinda two-faced to me,” you said, shrugging.

“Two faced?” Your mom asked. You nodded, but your face turned to shock when Draal appeared behind your mom holding an unconscious Claire. He gestured to Claire and shrugged.

“It sounded like you three got along so well...” she turned her head to look but Jim spoke up.

“Honestly he’s not the guy he says he is.” You tried your best to signal Draal to go back downstairs without being too obvious.

“Honey, I know this might be hard for you...” she started focusing on you and Jim again.

Jim interrupted her, “Mom I don’t want you to see him again.” You flinched and nudged Jim. You didn’t like Strickler either, but telling your mom that would only anger her.

“Yeah? I really expected more from you.” She said and walked into the kitchen, thankfully not noticing Draal who had gone back into the basement.

You turned to Jim and whispered, “I’ll talk to Mom and you go take care of Claire. I hate Strickler just as much as you do, but you hurt her feelings.”

“Okay. I'm sorry.”

“You did a good job tonight Jim.”

“Thanks Y/n.” He went to the basement and you went into the kitchen.

“Hey mom.” You saw her standing and holding her head.

“I don’t know what to do, Y/n.”

“Trust your heart, Mom. I know you will work things out, but it might just take time.” She hugged you then pulled away.

Smiling, she said, “So your friend.”

“What about him?” You asked slowly.

“Well, not many guys go to your house just to return a jacket.”

“Well, Douxie is incredibly chivalrous,” you responded, feeling embarrassed.

“Mhmm,” was all your mom said.

****

Here ya go. I feel like the creators missed an opportunity with back to school night so I decided to include it in this chapter. Anyways, I hope you liked it and are excited for more! Have a fantastic day/night and stay safe!!

P.S. if you want to be on the taglist feel free to ask. I hope it works and please message me if it doesn't.

Chapter 6: https://writings-of-a-daphodil.tumblr.com/post/627768929717288960/fire-keeper-chapter-6

#douxie x reader #douxie #toa imagine #trollhunters imagine #tales of arcadia imagine #wizards imagine #douxie imagine #toa douxie #wizards douxie #tales of arcadia #trollhunters #toa #wizards

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dcforts · 5 years ago

Text

[monday 7: thunderstorm]

Phone battery: 96%

One moment they are speeding up on the empty road with the windows rolled down and the sun shining on the side mirrors and the next is as if someone threw a blanket over the sky. In a blink of an eye, the clouds gather above them and they find themselves in the middle of a downpour.

“What the fuck?” says Dean, pushing the brakes and activating the windshield wipers.

“Something is wrong” is Castiel’s helpful contribution from the passenger seat.

“Yeah, no shit.”

The rain gets havier by the second, raindrops hit the roof with such violence that it’s like they are fired from a machine gun. Even after turning on the headlights they can barely see what’s ahead of them beyond the hood of the Impala. The sky lights up and then a thunder rumbles so loud that even Castiel flinches.

“We should stop.”

“You think it’s a spell?”

“Whatever it is I don’t think it’s safe to go on.”

Dean sighs and signals that he’s pulling over on the right as if, even if there was someone behind them, they could see the indicators through the amount of water that paints everything grey.

He brings the car to a stop and fishes out his phone.

Phone battery: 91%

“Sam? Where are you?”

“Just out of the morgue. I think it’s a witch” he says, sounding slightly out of breath as he walks. “Hey, I thought you were coming to pick me up. What did the husband say?”

“Sam? Listen to me, is it raining where you are?”

“Raining? No. The sky couldn’t be clearer.”

“Fuck.”

“Dean, where are you?”

“I don’t know. Just outside of town, I think. But there’s a thunderstorm and we had to stop.”

“What? A thunderstorm? Is it rain what I’m hearing?”

“Yeah, so it’s either the son or the husband and they are onto us. Seems like they didn’t appreciate our little visit.”

“You’re saying they cursed you?”

“That’s what we think”.

“Shit. Alright, at least we have suspects and we know for sure that they’re using witchcrafts or something. Just, don’t do anything till I get back to you.”

“Alright.”

“Stay safe.”

“Yeah, you too.”

Phone battery: 86%

The rain is torrential, incessant. There is so much of it that it’s like there’s a river flowing over the windshield.

It’s not the first time that Dean got caught in a thunderstorm while he was driving. It happened more than once when he was a kid and weather apps weren’t a thing yet. John would pull up at the nearest rest area and they would wait it out catching up on their sleep.

But this is different. The rain could go on forever if something happened to Sam or if he couldn’t find a way to reverse it. That’s what bothers him more than anything, what makes him bounce his legs and clench his jaw.

He’s gone over their last two hours again and again trying to understand when and how the culprit could have done this to them but he’s had little success so far.

They can’t listen to music because they can’t risk the car running out of battery. They can’t play on their phones or do researches on their own or they will drain out their means to communication with Sam. They have no books, no food, no water. Dean doesn’t want to think about that. He taps his fingers on the steering wheel but he gets through two and a half Metallica songs before Castiel’s intake of breath and quick look his way tells him that he’s sick of it.

He retreats his hands on his lap.

Dean knows that Castiel is bothered as much as he is by the fact that they’re trapped and unable to help, even if he’s not showing it at the moment. In fact, he looks like the picture of serenity.

“How in hell can you be so calm?”

“I’m trying to be patient. There’s little else we can do.”

Dean scoffs.

Castiel shoots a look his way, then asks conversationally: “How did it go in Missouri last week?” and in response to Dean’s confused staring he adds: “The case?”

Dean gets that he’s trying to distract him and he lets him. He shrugs “Same old. Apart from Sam spilling coke all over himself, that was fun. And I got Jack a new record for the bunker. You’ve seen it?”

“He only told me about it a hundred times.” says Castiel in a pained tone. “It was nice of you.”

“Nah. You gotta teach them young.”

“You think he could join us on our next hunt?”

“We’ll see.” says Dean making a face. “But hey, you on the other hand… are getting better at interrogations. Looked pretty convincing with the kid.”

Castiel smiles: “Thank you.”

“Or, well, at least until you left the room just so you could follow his dogs,” adds Dean, raising his eyebrows.

“You can understand a lot about the owners form their pets’ behaviour”.

“Yeah?” humours him Dean, “What did you uncover? Other than they should learn how to use a vacuum.”

Castiel ignores his mocking tone. “Nothing stood out to me. But looking back now, I should have known that witchcraft was involved. They had three black dogs and I saw figurines of frogs in the living room.”

“I thought that cats were the go-to pet for witches.”

“They are generally associated with witchcraft, yes. But witches can form deep connection with any animal. Dogs, especially, escort Hecate, the triform greek-roman Goddess of Witchcraft. And Hecate takes her name from Heqet, the Egyptian goddess, usually represented as a frog. In hindsight, it was pretty clear.”

“So do you think it’s the husband? I doubt a kid alone would be able to do all that.”

“Maybe. But he seemed sincerely aggrieved by his wife’s loss.”

Dean sighs. Without any possibility to do real work that’s as far as they can get. He squints trying to see something beyond the raindrops splattered windows.

“Maybe it’s not bad as it seems.” he tries. “It’s dangerous to drive but what if we walked?”

“The curse could be cast on the car alone but I wouldn’t -”

“I’m gonna try.” Dean cuts him off, but he gets as far as resting his hand on the handle that a lightning bolt strikes one of the trees lined up down the road. There’s a loud crack and a vamp of fire that lights it up from the inside. A part of the trunk explodes and pieces go flying all over the street.

Dean and Castiel look at each other with identical alarmed expressions.

“Yeah, better say in the car.” Dean says.

Phone battery: 79%

“Let’s play a game.”

“Alright.”

“Okay. It’s a car game. Basically you say a sentence starting with ‘Fortunately’ and based on that I have to respond with a sentence starting with ‘Unfortunately’. Like, I say ‘Unfortunately, we got cursed.’ And you say ‘Fortunately…’?”

Castiel thinks about it, then says, “Fortunately, they didn’t want us dead, only permanently incapacitated.”

Dean raises his eyebrows. “Sure, that is reassuring. Alright. Um, unfortunately, I will eventually die of starvation.”

“Fortunately, we won’t have to wait that long cause Sam is working on it.”

“Yeah but unfortunately, he’s alone against the witch.”

“Fortunately, he is prepared and the witch is not too dangerous.”

“Unfortunately, he got to us.”

“Fortunately, as long as we stay in the car we are safe.”

“Unfortunately, we are trapped.”

“Fortunately, we are together.”

Dean had his mouth already opened, ready to fire his next sentence but his brain short circuits and he is stunned. He closes it again. He meets Castiel’s eyes and under his soft expression he recognizes a little smugness that comes from having silenced him. He really can’t think of anything to say.

Castiel bats his eyelashes feigning innocence. “Did I win?”

That shakes Dean up, who rolls his eyes and he is about to protest when something heavy and dark hits the window shield with a loud thump and has him almost jumping out of his skin.

“What the fuck was that?” he shouts. Instinctively one arm flies up to cover his face, his elbow out and the other reaches towards Castiel to grab a fistful of his sleeve.

“I think it was a bird,” is Castiel’s calm reply.

Dean lets him go quickly, adverting his eyes. He still feels his heart in his throat. He clears it. “Right.” Then after a moment “Don’t mention this to Sam.”

Castiel huffs a laugh.

Phone battery: 72%

And so they wait. The rain is heavy and unrelenting. Dean has cracked open his window to feel it on his fingertips and he has retreated his hand hissing for how violently it hit him. The wind picks up at intervals, it whistles around them, pushing through every draft it can find. Above them, clouds like cotton balls chase each other endlessly and lightning bolts draw threatening patterns in the distance.

Sam has texted and they know that everything is under control so Dean is feeling better now. Figuring they are going to be there a while, he has toed off his boots and climbed over on the backseat leaving Castiel plenty of space to stretch his legs, even if the guy in question has barely adjusted his position with his back to the door and lifted a knee on the seat.

Dean on the other hand, already sprawled on the backseat, has gradually slipped into a laying position. He is more or less relaxed, or at least, as relaxed as a person could be with hell going on right outside of their car but tucked in the quiet and safe space of their car, with the soothing sound of the rain on the roof.

They had worse - that’s a fact.

He lolls his head to the side to watch Castiel, who’s got his eyes fixed on a spot beyond his window.

“So, how’s a thunderstorm from up there?”

He says: “From heaven?”

“Yeah, no, from the sky? Never seen it, planes are not my thing, you know,” he says, shifting to settle on the side.

“It’s pretty,” he says after a long moment. His keeps his voice low and adds, “but here is better.”

Dean scoffs.

“I mean it. From here you can smell the wet grass, see the trees swinging, feel the raindrops hitting you,” his voice is deep and smooth and Dean’s traitorous eyelids flutter shut. “The view from the outside may be splendid” Castiel continues, “but here things happen to you, touch you, shape you. You are the view.”

Dean mumbles what he means to be a sound of agreement but it’s basically a long exhale.

He is drowsy. He is trying to tell himself that he cannot fall asleep but it’s becoming a little difficult as they lose track of the time.

Castiel turns to look at him.

“Dean?”

“Hm?”

“You can sleep if you want.”

“Nah, I’m fine. Tell me more.”

“About what?”

“Anything. Just, no more gross facts about animals. I’ve had enough of those.”

Phone battery: 60%

Dean jerks awake. Castiel is touching his shoulder. “Sam called,” he says.

Dean blinks a few times while the past hours come back to him. A thunder booming over his head reminds him pretty quickly. So he did fall asleep in the end. And it wasn’t at all a good idea, judging by his stiff neck and his dry mouth and the fact that he has nothing to drink.

“What did he say?”

“He is going to the family. Apparently the road is clear from where he is so it seems like we are in some kind of pocket dimension.”

Dean suppresses a swear and pushes himself up on one elbow. It’s too dark to see anything beyond the windows but for a moment the wind is so strong that the car starts shaking, then the sky flashes white and booms and the sound is ear-splitting.

“It’s getting worse,” he rubs his eyes and cheeks and finds a dry spot of drool on the corner of his mouth. “You think Sam is gonna be fine?”

“I’m sure.” Castiel says. “They thought it was just the two of us, so they won’t see him coming.”

“How long was I out?”

“An hour at most.”

“You watched me all the time like a creep, didn’t you?”

“No,” says Castiel way too quickly to be entirely innocent. He also shoots him an irritated look that Dean suspects is more related to having been called creep that for the accusation itself. “I rearranged your tape collection.”

Now Dean gasps, aghast. “Oh, no. Again? Don’t tell me. Please don’t tell me it’s by year again.”

Castiel just nods and Dean becomes the image of desperation. “How could y- Really, Cas? Come on!”

Dean catches a glint of Castiel’s teeth in the dark as he smiles. “No.” he says sounding all proud “I was joking.”

Dean falls backwards on the seat with a groan. “Unfortunately, you will kill me with your terrible sense of humour.”

“Too late. We’ve already established that I won that game.”

“You know right, that if we are here for a very long time I will eventually have to eat you?”

Castiel just rolls his eyes.

Phone battery 47%

Dean is still laying down, staring at the roof. Castiel has cracked his window open, just enough to let a breath of cool air in. It chases away the condensation on the windshield and brings in the smell of wet leaves and wet asphalt.

Dean is hit with the realization that they don’t get many moments like these. For one, none of them is covered in blood, and they are not fighting or running for their life. There is no anger or regret or guilt in the air. He can’t exactly complain.

Dean fixes his gaze on what he can see of his profile when is illuminated by the lightings: his dark hair, his high left cheekbone, his faint stubble, the tip of his nose. It’s even rarer to get to watch him unobserved. He feels a smile creeping on his lips.

For his part, it looks like it’s Castiel is starting to run out of patience. Dean can hear the rustling of his trench coat from where he is probably tormenting his hands in his lap. Knowing him, he can picture his mind is working tirelessly trying to find a way to be useful. Castiel loud sigh pierce the silence in the car.

“You told me to be patient earlier and now you’re bored of me already.” Dean teases.

Castiel turns towards him and then back ahead but there is no lightning that allows Dean to see his expression.

“I was just thinking. I thought you fell asleep again.“ There is a pause then he asks: “Are you? Bored of me?”

Dean sighs and feels protected by the dark and numbed by the sound of the rain and still a little groggy from his nap so he says. “Even when I see you all the time I feel like I barely see you.”

“I can’t tell if that’s good or not.”

“Yeah, me neither.”

Phone battery: 32%

The screen lights up and it’s Sam, finally calling with news.

Dean puts him speakers.

“Sam?”

“Dean, they put something in your car,” he sounds out of breath.

“Hey, hey, how are you? What’s happening?”

“I’m fine, I can’t talk right now. They were both guilty. The mother was an accident; the spell was meant for someone else. Actually the mother was on it too. Apparently the whole family is into magic. I gotta -” a loud thunder covers his words.

“Sam? We didn’t get that.”

“They said it’s in the car. Look for hex bags, amulets, something you can destroy. I gotta go.”

“Alright. Just let us - ” but he’s already hung up.

So they get moving. They look into every corner, feel blindly in the dark, under the seats, inside the dashboard, as far as they can go behind the cushions.

Fifteen minutes later they’ve covered every surface and found nothing.

“Shit. What if it’s under the car? How are we gonna get that?”

Castiel looks at him and his expression tells Dean that nothing good is coming. In fact he says: “It can only be in the trunk.”

Dean blinks: “You are not going anywhere.”

“Dean.”

“No. No way.”

“Dean, it’s our only chance” he says it as if Dean is being unreasonable.

“No, Cas, let’s talk about it first.”

“There’s nothing to talk about. I’m stronger than you. I’m the one who has to go.”

Castiel has made up his mind. He moves and Dean uselessly reaches out to grab him, but he can’t get a good grip as he is blocked by the front seat and Castiel slips away and pushes his door open.

The rain seems to get ten times worse as soon as he does that and the whole sky lights up threatening above their head. Castiel pushes through the wind to get a foot out.

“Cas! Jesus, close the goddamn door. This isn’t gonna work and you’re getting my seats all wet!” shouts Dean but Castiel doesn’t seem to hear him. Another loud thunder has Dean crouching down, and when he looks up again, Castiel is standing outside. He looks towards Dean and then shuts the door. Dean sees him struggling to get his feet one after the other, like an invisible force is keeping him from moving. His face scrunches up as he pushes himself forward with a hand on the car. He takes a step. He slips back a few feet.

Dean heart stops. “Cas! Fucking hell! Get back here!” he shouts, uselessly banging his hands against the seats. He tries to open his own door and remembers that he’s got no shoes on. He hurries to climb over on the front seat.

When he looks back again, Castiel has almost made it to the rear of the car. The sky rumbles angrily, it lights up violently. In frantic movements Dean slips his boots on and pushes himself to the right to open the passenger seat door.

He could lose him. Right there, right now, he could fucking lose him.

The rain and the wind hit him full force all at once. It’s like he’s stepped under a waterfall, he is cold and wet and struggles to breath. He battles against the wind trying to keep the car door open enough to allow him to get out and prevent it being ripped off from the car. He can barely feel his face and hands.

Towards the back of the car Castiel has reached the trunk. Dean can make out his silhouette wiping his eyes with a hand and with the other fumbling with the handle.

At last the trunk opens and covers him from Dean’s view. As he tries to move, his hair stand up all over his body and then there’s an explosion of sound so loud that he needs to cover his ears. It’s quick and violent and it takes him a few moments to realize that a lightning bolt has just hit a few yard from them. His legs start shaking.

“Cas! Come on!” he shouts terrified, knowing that’s useless, that he won’t be able to hear him above the thunders booming over their heads.

Through the rain that whips fiercely his face and blinds him, Dean watches as Castiel closes the truck and traces his steps back to the door that he holds open for him. As soon as he is within reach Dean grabs a fistful of his clothes and hauls him inside.

Phone battery 22%

Dean is yelling. He is still gripping a handful of Castiel’s clothes and he yanks and yanks at it and yells in his face. And Castiel is panting, he is soaking wet, his hair is dripping and plastered on his forehead and his eyelashes are stuck together and he lets himself being yanked and yelled at and he’s got fear in his eyes but also relief.

“I can’t believe you did that! What the fuck is wrong with you!”

Dean is angry cause his voice is not louder than the rain and it’s not louder than the thunder but he wants it to be to be able to convey just how angry he is right now.

Castiel just blinks and breathes. At last, he brings up a hand to rest on Dean’s.

“Dean,” he says trying to calm him down. I’m okay. I’m here. It’s over.

Dean feels the relief wash over his body but then it pools behind his eyes and he feels like crying.

“You fucking asshole.”

The corner of Castiel’s lips turns slightly upward.

Dean yanks once again at his clothes and he means to pull him into a hug but somehow he finds his lips pressed against Castiel’s. They are both so shocked that they freeze and quickly pull back.

For a second they breath the same air. Dean swallows and blinks and tries to regain control of himself. Castiel doesn’t look scared, he only tilts his head slightly like he does so Dean covers the distance between them once again. Castiel’s lips are full and wet and as Dean kisses them, for a second he forgets all about near death, rain, witches and curses.

Then a thunder erupts above them and they jerk apart once again. Dean lets go of Castiel and wipes a hand over his wet face. “We should –” it’s all he manages.

Castiel doesn’t know what to say either. He just nods and quickly bends down to retrieve the hex bag that he’s dropped when Dean kissed him.

Phone battery: 15%

It’s made of green silk and there’s a round symbol and a semicircle drawn on it. Castiel says they represent Hecate’s wheel and the Egyptian hieroglyphic for rain.

They don’t look at each other as they try to burn it. It takes more than one attempt as their fingers are wet and slippery and there’s nothing they can use to dry themselves with as everything else they have is also wet.

When it finally lights up it burns green. Dean winces as he sees it writhing on the floor mats of his car. “Oh Baby, I’m so sorry this is happening to you.” He says, and this is even before he realizes that they are both still dripping water all over the seats.

It’s almost instantaneous and slightly anticlimactic. The bag becomes dust and the clouds above them break, letting the sun shine through. Dean squints at the sudden change of light and when he opens his eyes again, everything is back to normal. The car is still covered in raindrops but the birds outside are chirping, there’s no tree half burned across the street and a car passes them by as if it’s just another day. Dean sighs and lets his head thump against the window while Castiel rolls down his.

They enjoy a moments of quietness, pierced only by Castiel saying “I’m sorry for scaring you”. He says it in his normal tone but it sounds loud to Dean’s ears, newly clear of rain and thunders.

He closes his eyes. “I just wish you’d stop jumping in on any occasion to get yourself killed.”

“I had to do it.”

Dean opens his eyes and shoots him a withering look. “But you almost died. Cas,” he takes a deep breath “don’t you get it? I’d rather be stuck under the downpour for the rest of my life than watch you die again.” He feels the rage take control of himself again and shake his voice and he lets it cause it’s better to ride it and let out what he wants to say than to hide in embarrassment.

He even holds his gaze.

“I can understand the sentiment.” Castiel says at last.

“Just – no more suicidal missions. If you don’t wanna do it for yourself, do it for me.”

Castiel presses his lips together and nods and Dean feels suddenly exhausted.

“Let’s not talk about this anymore.”

“Okay.” Castiel agrees. “Should we talk about - ”

“Uh, what?”

“Dean.”

“Cas,” he says, mimicking his tone.

Castiel holds his gaze for a long time. Dean says softly: “I mean, you know - right?”

“I do.” Castiel smiles. “Do you?”

“Yeah.” Dean swallows. He takes a deep breath and waits for a wave of dread to hit him but it never comes. He just feels like himself with a warm pleasant feeling in his lower belly. That’ll be time later to process it, he thinks, now they have stuff to do, places to go.

Phone battery: 5%

They are on the road again. It’s safe and quiet and sunny.

“Was it really necessary?” grumbles Castiel.

“Again, yes” Dean won’t hear no arguing. “I don’t even want to think about the damage we’ve already done.”

Sam’s phone rings once again before he picks up.

“Guys?”

“Sam? Dean is driving. Are you okay?”

“Oh, hey Cas. Yes, they went down pretty easily. Didn’t see me coming. Did you guys find the thing?”

“Yes, it was a hex bag. Everything is fine, we are almost in town.”

“Great. Should we agree on a spot so you can come pick me up?”

“Uh. We need to go back to the motel first. We are not wearing any clothes apart from our underwear.”

“You wh - ? Wait, what?”

“They were wet. Dean insisted. For the car.” Castiel says, trying to speak over Dean’s voice in the background that yells ‘Why did you tell him?’

Sam burst into laughing. “Oh my god.”

“So we will see you back at the motel?”

“Yeah, definitely, I will be there with my camera ready.”

There’s rustling and then Dean’s voice close to the microphone shouts: “Sam, I swear to God, I’ll run you ove-”

Phone battery: 0%

I am participating in the spnstayathomechallenge by @bend-me-shape-me @pray4jensen @helianthus21

#spnstayathome #monday 7: thunderstorm #deancas #destiel #deancas fanfic #4.5k #should be tagged genre? what genre?#dean says fuck in this one idk why #also can somebody just pick sam up #i need to stick to shorter stuff btw i spend so much time editing it becomes something im not even able to tell if its good or not #thank you for your lovely comments to my previous posts !! im lucky and underserving #deancas ficlet #deancas ficlets #my writing

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ashrimpnamedlauren · 4 years ago

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10% Left au: Chapter Two

Crowfrost’s eyes shot open.

What happened?

He sat up, his sight dizzy as he felt like his head was being ripped apart by foxes. Did.. Did we win? Is Blackstar okay? Is- He stopped, breathing heavily before closing his eyes. Is Dawnpelt okay? Are.. are my kits okay?

He tried to get up, but he felt weak; it was as if his body was ripped apart from the inside out. He groaned in pain as he tried to take in his surroundings. He instantly started gagging a bit as he was whacked in the face with the scent of death.

He instantly shot up, looking around with pure horror in his eyes as he realized what was going on. Bodies.. So many bodies.. Rowanclaw.. Toadfoot.. Starlingwing… So many dead..

He started slowly walking to the nursery. Dawnpelt.. She- He stopped at the entrance, his legs shaking before he almost collapsed on the floor.

Dawnpelt’s body was laid out in the nursery, her throat ripped to shreds. Kinkfur was next to her, her stomach ripped open and her guts spilled all over the floor. Ivytail was gone too.. Her head looked almost crushed.

“Dawnpelt..?” His voice had become nothing more than a meek whisper, his front paws forcing him over to his mate. “Darling, please.. Don’t leave me.. Please, please don’t leave me..” He let out a loud choked sob as he crumbled into his mates fur.

The first day he joined Shadowclan, a small, shriveled loner begging for help.. Nobody liked him, except for her. She helped him hunt, teached him how to fight properly, and always stayed by his side when others bullied him.

The warriors ceremony.. They got their names the same day. Even Blackstar was proud of him, when he caught a rook straight from a tree. Dawnpelt’s technique, of course, but they never told anyone. He remembered the days they spent together, rolling around in the grass and leaves, laughing and goofing around like they were apprentices again.

Flametail’s death.. Dawnpelt’s grief and hatred for Jayfeather, blaming him for her brother’s death.. He was beside his mate always during that time.. Even if he thought she was wrong.

Dawnpelt, telling him she was expecting his kits, just one moon before the battle. The tearful conversation afterwards. Wondering what the names would be.. Dawnpelt wanted to name one Juniperkit. He loved the name..

Hopeless futures, their kits growing up and becoming great warriors. One would be Juniperkit, of course, but the other names randomly generated in his mind. Bugkit. Gorsekit. Magpiekit.

He would never know that future now. His kits were dead. His mate was dead. Everyone he loved was gone.

The grief overcame his mind so much, to the point that he didn’t even register the movement out of the corner of his eye. But he finally noticed when he felt something plop down next to him.

He turned, and saw a shivering, grey and brown kit, that was bleeding from the right side of his face. It’s tufted, spiky fur gave away who the kit was.

The tiny tom looked up at Crowfrost, and said something that made his heart melt:

“Papa..?” Crowfrost quivered up a small smile as tears welled up again in his eyes, leaning down and licking Spikekit’s head. “Yes, Spiky.. I’ll be your new Papa, okay? I won’t ever let you be hurt.”

The little kit purred loudly from the lick and smushed his face against his leg. “Papa.. fuzwy Papa..”

The senior warrior’s heart melted almost instantly at this. He’s so sweet.. So innocent. I’ll never let him be hurt. Ever.

Nobody will hurt my son.

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

“Podpaw, hold your ground!”

The small Riverclan apprentice was fighting for his life.

The Dark Forest was much, much more than anyone ever thought. Mistystar had been killed at the start of the battle, by a cat he didn’t know, and everything had fallen into mayhem.

His mentor, Grasspelt, was by his side, helping him fight and making sure that he wouldn’t fall. He was thankful for her… He was bad at fighting. Without her, he would probably be dead right now.

But he was getting so tired.. He couldn’t even see his mom anymore, or Curlpaw. All he could do was keep fighting, but.. It was so hard. It was so hard to keep going, to keep fighting. It hurt to swipe, the soreness in his paws was becoming almost unbearable. But he couldn’t stop. He had to keep going, or else.. What was the point?

“THE NURSERY! THEY BROKE THROUGH!” Podpaw’s whole body stiffened as he turned to see several cats breaking into the nursery. The yowl seemed to have come from Robinwing, who was valiantly protecting a bleeding out Dapplenose from the spirits.

“MOM!” Duskfur was in there! With his little siblings! She just gave birth yesterday.. She couldn’t fight! He had to help them! He started pushing through the cats, only to be held back by Grasspelt.

“It’s too dangerous!” She yowled, kicking back a dark spirit as she spoke. “You can’t go in there!”

“Mom is in danger! I-i- I have to help her!” Podpaw wailed, swatting his mentor away and rushing to the nursery, despite his mentor running after him and screaming for him to stop.

He rushed in, and his eyes widened. Icewing! Did the warrior chase them off? Was Duskfur safe..? But as he looked closer, his heart crushed as he saw that the white she cat was covered in blood..

And was standing over his mom’s body.

“YOU KILLED HER!” His wail echoed with anguish, as he stared at the warrior.. No… traitor. “YOU KILLED MY MOM! HOW COULD YOU?”

Icewing turned, and Podpaw’s anger overwhelmed him when he saw the look of victory on her face. She was happy that Duskfur was dead! Her own Clanmate, his mother, was dead because of her!

Podpaw’s entire body became fueled with pure, unbridled hatred. WIthout thinking, he yowled and launched at her.

Icewing snickered, and instantly dodged, turning around and slamming the apprentice into the wall. Podpaw’s entire vision went white as his head crashed into the bracken of the nursery walls, pain filling his head and causing him to cry out.

Icewing let out a growl of victory, and slinked forward, her mouth opening to try and take a killing bite to his neck.

Podpaw backed away, but he couldn’t, and he yowled out in agony as Icewing slammed a paw into his chest, making him almost vomit from the force.

No! I can’t die! Not here, not now! I can’t let Mom down!

“Time to die, foolish little apprentice! Just like your mother.. You are weak!”

Icewing’s words, combined with his sheer determination to live, sent a burning energy through his veins, and he yowled, his left paw striking up and cutting a wound into Icewing’s belly, and ripped her stomach open.

He gasped, eyes wide with horror as the she cat instantly started shrieking in agony, collapsing to the ground. He didn’t mean to do that! It looked so painful..

But she deserved it. She killed Duskfur. She deserved to die.

He watched Icewing’s last struggles for life, before she collapsed, her eyes glazing over and she was gone. He.. killed someone.

But it was right.. Right? She killed his mom.. She killed his baby siblings. She tried to kill him.

His thoughts were interrupted, and his eyes widened when he heard a loud squeak coming from his mother's body. He instantly bolted over, eyes full of horror at the sight of the small kit.. Surrounded by his siblings' corpses.

He gagged, almost vomiting but held it back. He had to get out of here.. He had to protect his little brother. He picked the small baby up, walking outside.

He didn’t think it would be so.. Quiet.

Where was everyone? Did.. did nobody survive? Did he leave Grasspelt to die? Is Curlpaw dead?

Podpaw’s entire body started shaking. He couldn’t.. He had to leave. He couldn’t stay here, surrounded by his Clanmates' bodies.. He had to find shelter.

He turned away from the dead remains of his Clan and walked out of camp with his little brother.

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dammitadolfnomorecake · 4 years ago

Text

Once Bitten, Twice Stupid prt 94

Lance had fled. The cow crapped in his living room and that was that. He’d made it very clear Matt and Rieva were to scrub the floor clean or they wouldn’t be joining them all for dinner. Pidge and Hunk had a few things to finish up as it was, provided they’d get over the hilarity of Matt and Rieva gifting him a stolen cow. Naturally Hunk didn’t find the cow theft itself funny, only the absurdity and randomness of their now being a cow in the house... which was kind of funny, because no normal person would “relocate” a cow.

The rest of his presents had been marginally better. Rieva proved to be an okay gift giver if you didn’t think about the cow. She’d gifted him non-relocated plants, herbs for his garden and cat grass for Blue. Clearly her idea and not Matt’s who’d given him a “voucher” to join them in bed if his heats got too much. He’s tried to throw it out, but Matt rescued it for “safe keeping because you never knew”. Hunk normally gifted him garlic knots and cookies, a standard and tasty gift, that didn’t happen this year now that Hunk knew he was a vampire. His poor ray of sunshine gifting him a voucher to a department store in Platt, seeming guilty over not knowing what to give him. Lance didn’t mind. It was a practical gift, and lately Rieva and Matt had been wearing off on him. His bed turning into a mound of blankets and cushions, Rieva teasing him about nesting. He didn’t know what nesting was, only that he felt safe in his mounded up bed and seeing it was his house, he could do as he pleased. Pidge declared herself the best gift giver ever. He loved his gremlin, but could only groan at her present. She’d brought him a “vampire hunting kit” online. She was so proud of herself, thinking it hilarious. Lance did not. Trust pop culture to get a hunting kit wrong. There was some major eye rolling at the polished wooden stake in the box... God only knew what was in the enclosed vials that came with the kit, probably dye and water... though the crucifixes were pretty, so that was nice.

Lance didn’t think about the next predicament of what to do now that’d arrived in Platt so early. Dinner wouldn’t be until 6:30pm, so he’d head over to the nursing home around 5pm to spend some quality time with his Mami. It was a little after 11am now, meaning he couldn’t head to VOLTRON given they’d all be getting ready for the mission and he’d be underfoot. That didn’t stop him from parking in front of the bookshop out of habit. With three spare hours, he wanted to see Keith so badly it hurt. Pulling out his phone, he nearly screamed when someone tapped on his window, Krolia all smiles as if she hadn’t taken 10 years off his undead life.

Rolling the window down, Lance wasn’t sure what to say to her. All plans to get her and Keith on the same page hadn’t eventuated. His boyfriend struggling so hard with figuring out how to feel about his mother. It sucked. Lance wanted to take all that pain away, but the only one who could do that was Krolia herself

“Keith hasn’t come in yet, if you’re looking for him”

No. His boyfriend was probably still at his apartment but Lance didn’t want to park up out the front and make a scene

“I was going to give him a call... see if he wanted to get lunch or something before the mission”

“So he told you? Oh... that’s right, it’s your birthday today... Why don’t I take you to lunch, my treat”

Ummm... what?

“You don’t have to go out of your way...”

Lunch with Krolia didn’t seem safe... He didn’t want to step on Keith’s toes, or meet with Krolia behind his back

“Nonsense. It’s no trouble at all”

“I should let Keith know...”

“He’s the reason I thought we should talk. I don’t want to make things complicated between you... but he won’t listen to me. I just want to know how my son is doing”

Lance knew he was fucked. His fierce love for his Mami, and his family, made it impossible to say no. If he was estranged from his Mami, he could picture her asking his friends about him

“You know I can’t say no to that”

Krolia did. Her smile hadn’t wavered at all

“Excellent. I’ll let you choose the place, you know this city better than I do”

Please lord don’t let him be murdered for this... by Keith or Krolia... maybe Krolia... yeah, he’d rather be murdered than cause a misunderstanding between him and Keith. Fuck. His Mami always told him to be polite... and his Mami had hit it off with Krolia...

“Jump in. I think I know a place”

Lance was still quietly hoping for murder as he and Krolia sat inside the dimly lit pub. It was the same place they’d come as a group after the others had learned his secret. The pub itself wasn’t that poorly lit, but he’d tried to pick somewhere kind of unnoticeable from the door. Sitting on one side of the booth, Krolia slid herself in on the other side, picking up the menu

“You look tense. Don’t worry about Keith”

He was pretty sure worrying about Keith was now a default setting, right up there with over thinking

“How can I not? I feel wrong meeting with you when he’s still trying work out his feelings”

“You care about him a lot, don’t you?”

Lance supposed it wasn’t as obvious to Krolia... in fact, she probably thought it was weird

“Very much. That’s why... I don’t want to get between the two of you”

“Keith has made it clear that he doesn’t want to know me”

What kind of crap was that?! Keith was dying to connect with Krolia

“That’s not true”

“Let’s go ahead and order. Do you... eat?”

“I can and I do”

“Excellent. Now, what’s deep fried and covered in grease?”

Lance ordered a salad, with a nonexistent appetite, it was something he could pick at. Krolia ordering a steak burger so raw the meat reminded him of his new cow... that wasn’t his cow and he was in no way attached to. Her plate loaded with fries, and her drink of choice a chocolate milkshake. Not what he expected

“Do you want a fry? You’re staring”

He didn’t mean to stare. No one told him that his birthday was going to take this unexpected turn

“I’m fine, thanks...”

“Then loosen up. You might be a stiff but don’t tell me you have a stiff sense of humour?”

“My sense of humour is fine. I’m just not sure what I’m doing here”

“I want to get to know the man my son’s dating”

“If you want me to break up with Keith, that’s his choice to make”

Krolia dipped a fry in her milkshake, sending drops flying as she shook it

“Whoa. Hold up. Okay. No. Keith is well and truly able to make his own choices... I’m making a mess of this”

He couldn’t talk to Krolia like she was a regular person. The Blades were all weird. He needed to remember Keith’s initial social weirdness and work around it

“No... no. I’m being cranky. I feel like I’m breaking Keith’s trust and it’s not a great a feeling. Your son... he’s amazing. He really is. He’s so smart and funny. He’s complicated and awkward, but he’s so... You’re missing out. He wants to know you, but he’s scared of being alone. He gets scared when he feels out of control and lashes out. Thinking that it’s better to push everyone away before they get to see how much he’s hurting. He gets lonely really easily. And he’s so sweet. Even if our first date was a bit weird, he’s always trying his best”

Lance gushed. Word vomit came easy when he thought of all the ways that made his boyfriend made him happy. Keith wasn’t a perfect human, he had many flaws, like his failure to work without coffee, but Lance wasn’t perfect either. That was the thing about love though. They both knew they weren’t perfect but together they were muddling through it, while working on themselves as they did

“Do you want to see something?”

Lance had no idea where that question was going

“Okay?”

Pulling out her wallet, Krolia passed it over. Lance taking the silent hint to open it. Finding a well worn piece of paper in the back, his fingers shook as he pulled his out. A happy family staring back at him. Krolia, so in love with her partner, a mother’s smile on her lips at Keith, bundled in his father’s arms

“We don’t keep a lot of personal items being Blade members. The newer generation does, but we’re all prepared to die. Every mission I’ve been on, that photos waited for me to come home to. Giving them up broke my heart. It took everything I had not to go back. I really thought Keith would have a better life if I wasn’t there”

“Have you shown him this?”

“No. He wouldn’t listen if I tried”

“Then you need to keep trying”

“Maybe...”

Whatever Krolia was thinking was wrong

“My family isn’t happy. I know what it’s like to have distance and it fucking sucks. Keith... he always feels like no one sees him as anyone other than your son or Shiro’s little brother. He wants... he wants to be accepted how he is and who he is. Krolia, he’s such a good man. He really is. I always kept a distance. I never ever thought something like me could have the love of someone as amazing as him. He wants to know about you. About his dad. What you like. How you became a Blade member. He wants to be closer to you. I shouldn’t be saying any of this because I don’t want to be in the middle of it, but I will always, always be on his side. I can’t forgive you if you hurt him. I can’t. I can’t even cope with him liking me because he’s just... he’s just Keith and he’s amazing how he is”

“I don’t know how to tell him. He was so cute as a child. He had this purple hippopotamus that he’d carry everywhere. His father couldn’t send me updates on him, but... He was the sweetest little thing. He loved that hippo so much. He loved riding on his dads shoulders... he... he was so cheeky, so happy... he’d probably hate the memory if he knew that hippo came from me. You know, his dad named him. I wanted to call him Yorak, but he wouldn’t have it. And I wouldn’t have Keith any other way”

Keith wouldn’t hate the memory. Any memory Krolia could share with him was a memory Keith had lost along the way. Krolia really did love Keith

“I know it’s old and cliche, but if you can’t find the words write them down. And this photo, this photo would bring him so much comfort. He doesn’t talk about it, but I know he’s lost most of the memories of his dad”

Krolia went silent for a bit. Lance had really meddled too much. He’d said more than he wanted to, and this meeting really was hurting his heart because he felt so guilty that Keith didn’t know about it

“Maybe”

Her reply didn’t give him much

“Can I call Keith? I really don’t feel comfortable”

“Yeah. I only really wanted a chance to meet you alone to see what you thought of Keith and if you were serious with dating him. He’s precious to me. Leaving him has broken me like nothing else ever has. Anything else is a bonus. I’m glad my son has someone who sees him... even if you’re old enough to be his father”

“Don’t remind me. I have no idea what he sees in me”

He was dead. Old. Grumpy and didn’t like crowds... he didn’t have much to offer

“I think I have some idea”

Shiro answered Keith’s phone, explaining that Keith was busy. Quickly Lance unloaded on him that he was at lunch with Krolia and wanted Keith to know so there wouldn’t be a misunderstanding. Shiro sounded surprised, then understandably nervous about telling Keith.

Half an hour passed before Curtis, Shiro, and Keith arrived at the pub. Keith ready to explode into a fit of rage

“What the hell?!? What do you think you’re doing?!”

Lance flinched. Yep. This was why he was scared of...

“I’m sorry...”

Huffily, Keith crossed his arms. Lance unable to look at him. He’d known this was wrong. He felt physically sick...

“I wasn’t talking to you. I know this had to be mum’s idea”

Krolia defending him had Lance sliding down in his chair

“Don’t be mad at him. The whole time he was here he wanted to call you”

“Maybe he should have done that to begin with, or maybe you shouldn’t have kidnapped my fucking boyfriend”

“Babe...”

“No. I know you would have agreed because you’re too nice. I’ve been stressing all morning and now you’re having lunch with her”

Lance didn’t mean to turn on the waterworks. Keith was lashing out and every comment felt like a hit to the gut. All he’d really wanted was a nice simple day with Keith on his birthday

“Keith, I think that’s enough”

Placing his hand on Keith’s shoulder, Shiro seemed to know how Lance felt. He knew that Lance didn’t want to be here and how much it hurt to feel like he was betraying Keith

“I’m sorry... I know. I know. I didn’t want to be in the middle of you and your mum. I know I fucked up”

Sliding out the booth, Lance blindly pulled all the bills out his wallet, leaving them on the table before slipping past Keith. This was another bad birthday in a long line

“Lance”

Keith called his name softly, Lance looking at his boyfriend through a fresh wave of tears

“I’m sorry... I’m so sorry I hurt you”

Once again he was fleeing... with absolutely no place to go other than to his Mami because he’d really done it this time.

Keith knew he was acting out. He knew and the words still came out. What was his mother thinking taking Lance to lunch like this?!

“This is the part where you’re supposed to go after him. He only met with me because I wanted to talk about you, and get to know him better”

“You had no right”

Yeah. Keith knew this. Lance couldn’t say no because he had a stupidly big heart. That’s what made him such an idiot crumpet. His boyfriend was trying to let them work this out for himself but Keith couldn’t.

Pushing her empty plate towards Lance’s barely poked at salad, Krolia twisted to face him properly

“What am I supposed to do when you keep shutting me out? I want to be in your life. I want to learn about you from you. I thought maybe we could have a nice lunch and talk. That’s all. That man seriously loves you. He said repeatedly he didn’t want to meddle and you should have heard how he talked about you. You need to go after him and apologise”

Like his mother would be the first one he’d listen too about relationship advice. He already knew he had to apologise. He didn’t need her telling him

“What would you know?”

“Because I know how devastating it is to miss your opportunity!”

Keith didn’t know what to say to that. Shiro’s hand was digging into his shoulder now. They all had regrets. Things said and left unsaid... He shouldn’t have blown up at Lance. He knew he shouldn’t have. Triply so on his boyfriend’s birthday

“I don’t know where he could have gone”

“He was parked in front of VOLTRON when I ran into him”

Keith shook his head at his mother

“Lance knows we have a mission today and wouldn’t want to be in the way”

“Where else would he go?”

“I talked to Pidge before and he wouldn’t be going back to Platt. Rieva and Matt stole a cow and Lance wasn’t happy at all over it”

So his boyfriend was already having a bad birthday before Keith made it worse

“Perhaps he went to Miriam? If he knew he couldn’t see Allura or Coran at the moment?”

Curtis was a genius. Lance had to be headed to see his Mami

“Shiro, I need your keys”

“I don’t know if I should let you drive...”

“Give me your keys or your collectables get tossed”

Shiro’s eyes went wide as he pulled away

“You wouldn’t. Not my limited collectables...”

Fuck the stupid things. He had to apologise for being a douche canoe

“I would for Lance. I need to... I need to see him”

Shiro pulled his keys out, passing them over

“Don’t forget you need to be at VOLTRON at one”

“I’ll be there”

As Shiro passed his keys over, his mother cheered him on

“Go get your man!”

Keith felt awkward about visiting the nursing home without Lance beside him. The staff kind of recognising that he’d been there, so all it took was a quick explanation before he was signed in and shown through to the garden area where Lance was cuddles up with his mother. This felt like a terrible idea on his behalf. Lance probably never wanted to talk to him again. He was so fucking good at ruining things. Stuffing his hands in his pockets, Keith slowly walked over to the pair. Miriam holding Lance as Lance cried softly against her shoulder. Shit. What if Miriam hated him for making Lance cry? He hated him for making his boyfriend cry.

“Mijo, you have a visitor”

Miriam offered him something that wasn’t a smile, nor was it a frown. All Keith could describe it as was a “mum look”. Yeah. He’d fucked up, and she knew that he knew, and he knew she knew and now he was expected to do something about it

“Babe...”

Lance clung to his mother. Miriam sighing at him

“Mijo, you can’t ignore Keith”

“He wants to break up because I hurt him”

Miriam glanced at him around Lance

“That’s the clearest he’s been since he showed up. Would you like to explain what happened?”

Keith sighed. He really wanted to sit on the other side of Lance and cuddle him until he calmed down

“My psychotic mother kidnapped him for lunch and he was too nice to say no”

“Lunch sounds like a lovely idea”

Was Miriam messing with him, or did she think he and Krolia were suddenly going to besties

“It would be if it wasn’t my mother’s attempt at meddling”

Miriam smile fondly, moving her hand to pat the spot behind Lance

“It’s a mother’s job to meddle within reason...”

That was Miriam meddling. Sitting on the edge of the bench, Keith’s stomach was a pit of nerves as he rested his forehead against Lance’s shoulder, hand moving to rest just past Lance’s elbow

“I deserved to be punched in the dick”

Lance sniffled loudly, hiccuping as he wrestled his tears under control

“I don’t want to be in the middle. I want you two to work it out together. I know it was wrong... but she wanted to know if you’re okay... and I got to see a photo of your dad... she really fucking loves you and I don’t want to pressure you... and I don’t want you to keep fighting. I want you to be happy. Stupid Matt and Stupid Rieva stole a cow. Pidge dressed as a vampire. Hunk didn’t give me food because he thinks I don’t like eating normal food. You’ve got a mission. Our whole night was changed. And you were so mad at me”

That was a lot of “ands”. Lance didn’t seem to be having a good day at all, or everything he’d been trying to laugh off he couldn’t cope with now Keith had messed up. He was mad. Mad. Scared. Confused. Hurt. Betrayed. And a dozen different words that made his heart race at the sight of them together at the pub

“I was... am... I just don’t see why you’d go out to lunch with her, or why you didn’t tell me sooner. You can’t let her bully you”

Smooth. Real. Fucking. Smooth. Maybe he could go on his mission and just not return? Perhaps the ground would swallow him whole so stopped being such a dick?

Lance placed his hand over Keith’s, still talking at mami’s chest rather than Keith

“But she’s your mum. I... I want to know more about you and her. I’m 19 years older than you. I’m not cool, or hip, or rad, or whatever the word is these days... I know you hate having to talk everything out... and I know you both are awkward as hell... but you’re hurting and I hate it”

“That’s not your pain, babe”

“It is because it’s yours. I want to be the one you lean on, not the one you feel you have to keep secrets from. I know it’s hard for you, and I felt so rotten that I couldn’t tell you before we talked”

“I’m the one who overreacted. I know you’ve got a good heart and I shouldn’t have snapped. It really hurt seeing you able to talk with her”

“I could barely say anything right. Please don’t be mad. I told her if she can’t find the right words to say to write them down. It doesn’t make up for her leaving, and what she says isn’t my business. I’m not trying to force you to talk her. You’ve got to move at your own pace and be ready when you do”

Keith knew that. He knew Lance respected him enough to handle this on his own and that his boyfriend only wanted what was best for him. It was a little early, but he really wanted some time with Lance before the mission

“Mami, do you mind if I borrow Lance?”

“Heaven’s no. You two make up properly or neither of you get dessert tonight. I must say I’m looking forward to dinner”

“I hope you don’t mind. When I organised it, it was supposed to be just the three of us”

“Lance isn’t very good at handling his birthday... or his friends. Don’t worry about me, as long as you two work this out”

“We will. I’m sorry I upset him”

“Couples fight. Making up is the fun bit”

Lance snorted wetly, Keith didn’t know what kind of face to make when Mami was hinting at sex so openly

“Mami!”

“Go have a good time with your boyfriend. I’m very proud of you, Mijo. Happy birthday, my precious little boy”

“Mami, I’m 45”

“And you’ll always be my precious little boy. Go on. I’m sure you’ll have a wonderful time with Keith”

Lance seemed lost as they walked back to where they’d parked, Keith finding a spot across from Lance. Almost shyly he asked

“What do you want to do?”

His boyfriend was too cute

“I’ve got the hotel key... I know it’s early, but I’ve still got time before the mission. It’s your birthday, and I really want to spend some time with you”

“You haven’t even said it”

“That’s because I’m waiting until we’re at the hotel. You want to lead and I’ll follow? You’re probably better at finding this place again...”

A smile finally crept across Lance’s lips

“You do have a habit of getting lost”

“Directionally misplaced. Get your phone out and I’ll send you the address”

“Sounds good... babe... I really am sorry”

Keith couldn’t not hold his boyfriend. Wrapping his arms around Lance, he melted into the hold

“I’m sorry too. There’s no excuse for how I acted”

“I get it... I’ll see you soon?”

“Yeah, babe”

#once bitten twice stupid #oncebittentwicestupid

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