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annabethisterrified · 4 years ago

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Book Review: THE TOWER OF NERO (The Trials of Apollo #5)

***No spoilers until you go under the cut!***

After months in the human form of Lester Papadopoulos, the former god Apollo is nearing the end of his trials alongside the young Meg McCaffrey. All their adventures and misfortunes have landed them back in the place it started-- New York. Meg and Apollo must defeat the final, most powerful emperor of the Triumvirate, who also happens to be Meg’s manipulative stepfather. Meanwhile, Nico, Will, and Rachel have important roles to play as the final battle looms. Even if they can defeat Nero, a more terrible enemy awaits in the form of Python, Apollo’s nemesis. Still, if they can succeed, Apollo will finally be restored to godhood. But after everything he’s been through, going back to the way things were doesn’t sound so great anymore. Apollo and his friends will have to find a new way to make all the sacrifices and pain they’ve experienced and witnessed worth it. That is, if they can survive their final trial.

As both the culmination of The Trials of Apollo series and the Camp Half-Blood Chronicles, The Tower of Nero excels at bringing the complicated, moving themes of the saga into final, meaningful reckonings. Nero proves to be a chilling and impressive enemy who forces Apollo and Meg to put everything they’ve learned through their journey together to the ultimate test. New and old characters combine to see the story to its end, and long-time readers are rewarded with actualized development and a bittersweet farewell. The Tower of Nero is a fitting and robust conclusion that shines with all the heart, humor, and growth that makes this saga a worthy frontrunner in children’s literature.

SPOILER SECTIONS BELOW

Welcome!!!!!!!!! Y’all. Y’ALL. I am REELING. If you’ve been around here a while, you probably know I’ve been online here since 2012 (?????!!!!!) where I subjected by followers to weird takes and frantic excitement about the upcoming installments of Heroes of Olympus, then Trials of Apollo. Since I was ten years old, this story has been such a huge part of my life. Now I’m 22 (?????!!!!). So. How am I feeling? I’m feeling like I need to flip over every piece of furniture in my house. In a good way. Look. I gotta break this down into three parts because I’m the worst!

I. TRIALS & TRIBULATION

The Trials of Apollo, to me, felt like the inevitable conclusion to Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Heroes of Olympus. We went through two series where we intimately followed the lives of young demigods growing up through two brutal wars, dangerous quests, and personal reckonings. Gods certainly made appearances, and some were more helpful than others, but the message was always clear-- the demigods were on their own. Two wars fought, two wars won, and at what cost? For what change?

Bringing a god down to earth (both literally and metaphorically) is really the only way a story like this could be rounded out. Especially when the god in question is Apollo. He’s the son of Zeus, who punishes him by turning him mortal. This family set-up already has enormous implications in reference to the previous chain of mythological events: Zeus killed his father Kronos, Kronos killed his father Ouranos, etc.

Prophecy is also the scaffolding of this entire saga. Everything is dictated by it-- every quest relies on it, most of the demigods we meet are led by it, and the whole Greek/Roman world seems to build their lives around it. My point is, Apollo was a great character to use as the mouthpiece of this last series. He’s been present throughout the previous two series, and he’s relatively unaffected by the Greek/Roman divide. The enemy, the Triumvirate, is also an exciting antagonist-- they’ve fueled and funded the previous two wars, and their obsession with becoming “gods” is loaded with implications as Apollo races to return to his own status as a god.

Apollo himself is also a completely terrible being. From the first pages through his perspective, there’s certainly little sympathy or commiseration with our narrator. Apollo is many things: spoiled, petulant, selfish, and arrogant. He is not good, and now, he is no longer a god. Still, his voice and struggle remained compelling and engaging throughout the series.

His bond with Meg McCaffrey is, without a doubt, the emotional heart of the whole series. I think they both see aspects of themselves in each other, and it was a genius move to make her the stepdaughter of the enemy. Nero literally sent Meg to be Apollo’s controller and thought that she would easily bring him down; the fact that both these very troubled people cling to each other in the face of such manipulation and frightening circumstances-- and then repeatedly choose to fight their ways back to each other time and again-- is really what makes this series work so well.

With Meg and Apollo at the forefront, after The Hidden Oracle the series takes on something of a “tour” format. We discover new places and revisit old characters across the country, which was definitely exciting for long-time readers to see familiar faces undergo even more development. (This might just be me, but I don’t think ToA can really stand on its own without the worldbuilding/establishment of the first two series-- that’s not a knock on it, but so much of it picks up where the previous series left off, which might make it a disorienting read for someone new to the world.)

Of course, the obvious midpoint reversal of the series is the death of Jason Grace in The Burning Maze. A flip switches completely-- not just for Apollo, but for the whole cast. This is not an incident that just “happens” and is swept aside. In the final two installments, Jason is threaded throughout the story, showing how grief is never truly over. But his sacrifice saved everyone he loved, and had profound impacts on everyone he knew. As brutal as it was, I appreciated how Jason really changed everything through his choice.

By the time Apollo and Meg return to New York in The Tower of Nero, they are better, stronger versions of themselves. The things they once wanted-- godhood restored, or a father’s approval-- are no longer appealing. Their development (both individually and as friends) is utterly believable and hard-won. We see characters from The Hidden Oracle return changed, too. Losing Jason has dredged up dark feelings within Nico, Rachel is warding off the influence of Python in her mind, and Will’s healer heart is put to the test in yet another final battle. (Listen, this kid played instrumental roles in The Last Olympian, The Blood of Olympus, AND The Tower of Nero. The fate of the world really is in his capable, glow-in-the-dark hands.)

Together, Apollo and team venture into Manhattan for a very intense, exciting, and profound final reckoning with Nero. (CHAPTER 20, ANYONE????) Both Apollo and Meg, once and for all, come into their own and reclaim their power and independence. The pay-off is immaculate, and it’s jarring to remember the Apollo we once knew-- the easygoing one from The Titan’s Curse, the snobbish one from The Blood of Olympus, and the self-pitying one from The Hidden Oracle. His development throughout ToA is seamless and incredibly moving, and we’re left with a protagonist that we can truly, unequivocally root for and love.

II. HAVE YOU LEARNED?

When Nero is defeated, the real enemy still lurks. Apollo’s age-old nemesis, Python, has long haunted him. Their final reckoning is one-on-one, and after everything Apollo’s learned and been through, he goes into his last battle not necessarily caring whether he lives or dies-- he just knows Python must be defeated, no matter the cost. Don’t get me STARTED on his last conversation with Meg!!!!?????? (”Just come back to me, dummy.” I LOVE THEM)

So, yeah, I’m already crying at that point. Apollo (slowly regaining his godhood) goes into this completely by himself, assuming all risk and responsibility. He’s forced to sacrifice the Arrow of Dodona, and eventually chooses to sacrifice himself by flinging them both down to Tartarus. But we don’t stop there! Oh, no, we go all the way down to Chaos. The primordial soup of all the pantheons, all of existence. Python crumbles, and Apollo clings to the edge-- he clings to life.

This is it. This is the literal rock-bottom moment of the saga, and I’m completely unsure of how he’s getting out of this one. Who’s going to rescue him? What can he even do at this point? Genuinely, I had no idea where this was going-- and I never would have guessed that it would be the goddess Styx who shows up. She’s played an important, but also very minor, role in ToA. I was baffled at first-- I thought, what does she have to do with any of this? But then it ended up playing out in like the most breathtaking, moving way possible. It’s one of the most defining scenes of the entire 15 books to me.

She only asks him: “Have you learned?”

This is the goddess of promises and oaths. Since The Lightning Thief, we’ve seen how oaths are tossed around like confetti. Percy’s very existence (not to mention Thalia and Jason’s) is because of a broken promise. An oath to keep with a final breath is one of the revisited elements throughout the Heroes of Olympus series. Apollo makes willy-nilly promises in The Hidden Oracle, which he later regrets.

Then, at the end of everything, Styx only asks Apollo if he’s learned. All the talk of promises and oaths in this story doesn’t actually have anything to do with “keeping promises”-- certainly, so many promises are broken we can’t keep track. It all boils down to whether we learn from what we experience and use that to become better people moving forward. It’s about making sure we mean what we say and what we do. It’s about commitment and devotion to the people we love and the things we care about. Promises don’t matter. Only action does.

I can’t understate how thoroughly pleased I was that this was the final reckoning of the saga. It was an unexpected and completely profound moment, and such an important scene to use as the emotional climax of the book.

III. WHERE WE GO FROM HERE

After 15 years and 15 books, The Tower of Nero had to find a way to bring the saga to a close without nailing the coffin shut. More standalone novels are surely on the horizon (I’m looking at you, Nico and Will), but as a whole, this saga did need to come to a satisfying end.

Let’s pick up after Apollo is restored to godhood. He wakes up to his sister Artemis, and the very first thing he does? After finally returning to his true form, the thing he’s relentlessly yearned for the whole series? He just breaks down sobbing. He’s miserable. There’s no relief or joy in the realization that he’s once again an Olympian.

I’m always a sucker for the trope of “Character does everything possible to reach Goal only to realize that Goal isn’t actually what they want or need at all”, so of course, I was moved to see Apollo learn that he doesn’t actually care much about whether he’s a god or a human anymore. (In fact, he later remarks that he envies Lu’s new ability to grow old and age alongside Meg and her foster siblings.)

I was doubly-moved that Apollo’s restoration to godhood was not an action on Zeus’s part. From what little context we get (a lot happens “off screen” and even Apollo isn’t sure), it appears that Apollo either reclaimed his own godhood through sheer force of will to return from Chaos and reunite with his friends, and/or Styx aided him. But it seems obvious Zeus wasn’t involved, which has HUGE implications for the power structure of the Olympians moving forward.

A lot of us, myself included, had certain expectations for how Apollo’s inevitable reunion with Zeus and the rest of the Olympians would go. I, for one, was excited to see Apollo either tell off his father, or possibly assume a position as the new Camp Half-Blood director or New Rome’s pontifex maximus. Instead, we got a somewhat quiet, but incredibly tense interaction between all the Olympians. The closest thing to an outburst is actually between Hera and Zeus, as she tells him off for not mourning his son Jason, as Apollo did. (Dare I say....I liked Hera for a moment?) (ALSO, I’m fully on-board with the theory that Zeus did not intervene in Jason’s death as a punishment for Jason publicly calling him “unwise” in The Blood of Olympus.)

The whole scene reads as a powder keg. Already, it’s established that Apollo, Artemis, and Dionysus (and possibly even Athena and Hera) have no illusions of Zeus’s grandeur. They do not view him as family, or even as a leader. He’s simply just the one with enough power to punish the rest of them when they get “out of line”.

Apollo began naming Zeus as his abuser fairly early on in the series. Perhaps witnessing the way Meg thinks and speaks about her stepfather Nero made this clear for him. In either case, he begins to explicitly mirror the very same advice he gives Meg in dealing with her abuser: distance yourself from the abusive person/situation, and accept that tyrants do not change and it is not your responsibility to attempt to make them “see the light”. Thus, Apollo makes no appeal or argument to Zeus– he understands by then that it’d be fruitless. Instead, he’s concentrating his energy on doing everything he can do with what he has; he’s committed to being a protector and friend of demigods, and he sees that other gods are beginning to (if not already) see Zeus’s wrongness. (More on this here.)

Was it what I expected going into the book? Nope. But I have to admit that it was really exciting to see Zeus try to hide the very real fear of realizing that his son Apollo is no longer afraid of him, and is quite possibly more powerful than him, too. Apollo switches gears entirely away from Zeus, and focuses his energy back on the friends he’s made and the children he has. It’s a refreshing reminder that it’s often more productive to concentrate on helping others instead of harming those who harm us.

That being said, I would have liked a few paragraphs or pages discussing what practical differences there will be for the lives of young demigods in the wake of this change. I understand that might not have worked given the very condensed timeline post-returning-to-godhood (the story ends literally the same day or day after), but I do hope and believe that Apollo’s transformation is going to change the way demigods perceive gods-- and what they will expect of gods in the future. Just look at how Apollo is received by the campers at CHB. They’re ecstatic to see him. They think of him as a hero. Apollo is coming back just to help and spend time with his kids, his friends, and the campers, and he’s going to keep coming back. The other gods are certainly going to feel some pressure to follow suit.

Speaking of Apollo’s reunions...shall we?

I loved that we got to see all the main-players one last time. Mimicking the “tour format” of the series, we get to watch Apollo catch up with his loved ones, who helped him learn how to be a better person throughout his trials.

It was sad, but reassuring, to watch Nico come to terms with Jason’s death. I like how he outlined the differences between Hazel’s and Jason’s deaths, and why he isn’t interfering out of respect for Jason. Watching Jason appear to Apollo (ambiguously as a ghost or as a figment of Apollo’s dream-imagination) was another moving reminder of the stark differences in the ways that different demigods prioritize and think about what it is to be a hero. Jason’s idea and Percy’s idea, for instance, are super different because of the way they were raised. Percy would put anything on the line for his family and friends; so would Jason, of course, but he also has a much broader view of what’s worth sacrificing your life for...which is admirable in ways, but also painfully sad, since a lot has to change in order for Jason’s death to carry weight. Over the course of the last two books, I think it’s very safe to say Jason’s death did change just about everything for the people who knew and loved him, and even those who didn’t.

Whew. Okay, back to Camp Half-Blood. Nico and Will are clearly now very comfortable with each other, and it’s refreshing to see how they both watch out for each other and bring out the best in one another. I’m excited for their inevitable solo book, but regardless, it’s good to see Nico getting the help he needs (from his own experiences, from Dionysus, Will, etc), and for Rachel to get some distance from her terrible parents by living out her art student dreams in Paris.

Then, we drop by the Waystation. I simply cannot get over the fact that Calypso is at BAND CAMP. Anyway, it’s unsurprising to find out that she and Leo are still “complicated”, but I’m glad she’s experiencing the highs and lows of mortal life, and that Leo is working on helping out vulnerable youth (and has two mom figures in his life!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!). Glad we get to see Thalia and Reyna both happy and healthy, too.

Next up, Camp Jupiter and New Rome. LOVE that Hazel and Frank have both reclaimed the curses that haunted them since The Son of Neptune. They really both did just...like...basically die to bring down the Big Bad and then come back better than ever. (Side note: I still obviously have issues with the fact that Hazel is SO YOUNG! There was no reason for her not to be 15/16 like the rest of the Argo 2 crew! Ugh.)

Anyway, then we say goodbye to Percy and Annabeth. Except for the annoying continuity error in terms of the timeline of them learning about Jason, I really really really loved this parting moment with them. I know some readers wanted Percy and Annabeth to stay in New York, but it always felt very natural and meaningful for me that they’d want to relocate to New Rome. That was always the Big Dream for most of Heroes of Olympus, and it makes sense to me that they’d choose to live somewhere designed for demigods to actually live and grow old and raise families. Besides, I’m quite certain they’ll frequently be visiting New York. I digress.

It was super bittersweet to see these two finally off on their own (and basically living together, as Apollo teasingly implies) going to college! Definitely a huge sigh of relief and satisfaction after following all their exploits since they were twelve. I’m so glad we get to see them (all things considered) happy and excited for their new life together. They certainly stepped back in this series, as they deserved. But they still lose Jason, and that’s something that weighs heavily on them and likely always will. Apollo calls Jason “the best of us”, and I don’t think that use of “us” is lost on Percy, Annabeth, or anyone-- Apollo’s identity and alignment is with them now, which will hopefully lead to positive change.

Then, simultaneously the saddest and happiest (?) reunion-- with Piper. This was obviously really heavy, since the last time Apollo sees her is in the wake of Jason’s death. For me, I’m very proud and excited by the fact that Piper is the only character who basically forges a whole new life (outside of the sphere of the Olympians) for herself. She’s far from other demigods and gods, and is committed to reconnecting with her mortal family and making a beautiful life. She has a new friend, too, which is absolutely awesome. (I mean, we all KNEW, right? But it’s really great to see this confirmed on-page.) When Piper told Apollo that he did right by Jason, I definitely lost it. And I also just really loved the final beat with her-- Apollo’s stammering a goodbye, but Piper’s already turned around to walk back to her new friend and her new life.

The final farewell, of course, went to Meg McCaffrey. She’s reclaimed Aeithales, and is now foster-sibling-extraordinaire by rescuing Nero’s other adopted demigods and giving them a new chance. Meg’s really matured and grown into such a kind and strong leader, but it was super bittersweet to see how much she still values Apollo. Their reunion just about broke me. They share a bond that no one else will ever understand, and they brought each other out of darkness that nearly ended them both. I literally can’t think of a better final dialogue than what they share:

You’ll come back?

Always. The sun always comes back.

I’m fine!!!

Anyway, this brings me to the closing lines of the story. Just as Percy opens The Lightning Thief by directly addressing the reader, Apollo closes The Tower of Nero by bidding farewell to us.

Call on me. I will be there for you.

On so many levels, this line works really well as the ending. For me, and I imagine for you too if you’re reading this, these 15 books are a pillar of our childhoods. We grew up alongside these characters, and found enormous excitement and identity and magic in these pages. The story may have come to a close, but it lives on within us-- it’s something we can return to time and again for enjoyment and understanding.

More than anything, this story pulled off something I didn’t really know was possible: it makes me feel genuinely and enthusiastically glad to be human, no matter how strange or hard it gets.

____________

My fifth-grade teacher assigned The Lightning Thief as mandatory reading when I was ten years old. I picked it up reluctantly, but from the first lines, I just completely fell into this story. Twelve years since that assignment, I’m now a traditionally-published author myself...writing about what else but mythology, of course. These books saw me from elementary school all the way to post-college life. It’s hard to imagine where I’d be without them-- certainly, I’d never have achieved my lifelong dream of becoming an author, nor would I have found such an incredible online community like the one I’ve found here. I consider myself extremely lucky to have grown up alongside these characters and their incredible story.

I know we’ve likely got more standalones in this world to come, but this is still the end of the saga. I’m sad to see it come to a close, but I’m so ecstatic with the send-off we got, and I’m excited to let the story settle and become a part of me-- something that will always affect how I see the world, something that reminds me of why I write, and something that’s always there to welcome me home.

#review #tower of nero #trials of apollo #the tower of nero #the trials of apollo

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sepublic · 4 years ago

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From Understanding Willow to Agony of a Witch

I think Understanding Willow is in some ways foreshadowing to Agony of a Witch, as well as the flashback in Young Blood, Old Souls; Specifically Amity, and the way she handles hurting her close friend Willow, and how that parallels how Lilith hurt Eda…

The first time Amity hurts Willow, both herself AND Willow are being threatened here. In Agony of a Witch, Belos threatens to kill Lilith by the end of the day if she doesn’t deliver Eda to him; Not only that, but Lilith has been told by Belos that he’ll cure Eda of her curse if she does so. Lilith knows the curse is worsening, that Eda hates it and wants it gone- And we also know from Eda herself that it’s going to deliver her to a ‘fate worse than death’.

Amity is being threatened by her own parents, which- It’s asking a LOT for an abused kid to stand up to that. But not only that, Willow’s chances at Hexside are directly threatened, and Amity couldn’t imagine ruining Willow’s academic future! And while I doubt Willow would’ve enjoyed losing her chance at Hexside; I feel like had she known the full context, she wouldn’t have valued enrollment at the school THAT much, just as Eda hates the curse, but isn’t willing to have it cured if it means joining Belos. Amity and Lilith make this sort of choice for their loved one, without really telling them or giving them any agency in it; Likely because it hurts a lot for them to admit that the person they’re serving is terrible. For Lilith, she’d be admitting to Eda that yes, Belos IS a tyrant that she’s been serving; And Amity, she’s an abused kid, and I imagine it’s super uncomfortable to admit what her parents are like to anyone, even her best friend.

Then in the present-day, Amity goes behind Willow’s back to burn her memory photo; And while I can see her having some semblance of altruism behind the act, ultimately it was done in selfish motive, possibly to preserve Amity’s friendship with Luz, for fear that Luz would judge her after hearing how Amity broke ties with Willow. When Lilith and Eda had to duel to join the Emperor’s Coven, Lilith also goes behind Eda’s back to curse her; And while I’m sure she also justified it in her head with the idea of Eda being so talented that she could join the Emperor’s Coven another time anyway (just as Amity could’ve reasoned that Willow wouldn’t want this painful memory), it was still done for selfish reasons.

Lilith wanted to join the Emperor’s Coven… And she cast a curse that should’ve been way more simple, way less disastrous, than it actually was; Just like how Amity burned the memory photo, and only expected THAT photo to burn; But then the rest did, starting a process that would’ve destroyed Willow’s mind, while also igniting (ba-dum tsss) some very powerful grief and rage within her former friend. Both Lilith and Amity acted selfishly to harm their loved one, believing the actual effects would be way less than what they ended up being… And unlike Amity, Lilith wasn’t able to undo the damage.

(It’s also worth noting that Lilith didn’t have a ‘Luz’ to guide her, to tell her that what she did was wrong; While also providing Lilith the opportunity and support to fix the actual problem. I just think that’s important to remember when it comes to this show’s themes of loneliness and how that can really effect one’s relationships and handling of issues.)

Of course, Lilith and Amity also contrast as well, as they’re not exact copies of one another; Lilith’s selfish decision came in the past, Amity’s in the present; With Lilith’s more forced decision happening in the present, while Amity’s occurred in the past. Lilith’s second mistake was in some ways done to remedy what she’d done; While Amity’s was to hide what she did. In Understanding Willow, we’re led to assume the worst of Amity, but then find out the story was more nuanced than we were led to believe; While with Lilith, we’re led to believe that she’s trying to cure her sister out of the goodness of her heart, and she IS… But then we learn that she’s also fixing a problem that shecaused. Amity’s actions are re-contextualized as more sympathetic, whilst Lilith’s become much darker.

However, even though Amity’s side of the story DOES make her rejection of Willow come across as a lot less cruel and painful, and in some ways altruistic… It was still bad. And I think that’s interesting, that Amity recognizes that it’s valid to tell her side of the story regarding what happened, to at least get that out of the way; But she also acknowledges that it hardly excuses what she did, that Amity still messed up and she has to change her behavior to fix things. While Inner Willow does briefly calm down and reconsider everything that happened with the new information, Amity still makes a point that she still failed Willow in ways she didn’t need to; And that she needs to make up for what she’s done, apologize, and change her behavior.

Amity never suggests nor insinuates that Willow should be grateful, that Willow should forgive her- If anything, Amity resists telling the truth, possibly because she refuses to defend herself. Amity thinks that what she did to Willow was so deplorable that it doesn’t need an explanation, because that wouldn’t change what she did. But in the end, Amity tells the truth- Possibly because she’s learning to vouch for herself with Luz’s encouragement… But mostly, I imagine, because Amity knows that Willow deserves closure as part of the healing process. That even if Amity was doing what seemed like the best decision at the time, Willow still deserves to know the truth, just to give her that peace of mind.

This is different from Lilith, who refuses to tell Eda about why she cursed her sister, about why she’s willing to take Luz hostage; Likely out of more cowardice, but also some degree of pride. Again, Lilith probably doesn’t want to admit that her revered Emperor is actually a terrible person for threatening her, to Eda’s face. Lilith never explains her side of the story to give Eda some comfort, that at least Lilith had to be forced to do this; And she definitely doesn’t explain why the curse happened, for plenty of selfish reasons, alongside potentially not wanting to hurt Eda with that kind of knowledge of betrayal. When Lilith DOES initially confess, she does so out of spite; While Amity does it out of a sense of care.

Then there’s Lilith explaining her side of the story a second time, regarding why she cursed Eda; And while she tells it to Luz (because Eda isn’t there), it at least gives closure to the girl, who can later pass it on to Eda if Lilith can’t. It reassures Luz that Lilith isn’t THAT terrible, that she did mean well, or at least not nearly as terribly- And thus she can be counted on for wanting to fix her mistakes.

In short, Understanding Willow foreshadows Agony of a Witch, in that both episodes have a witch who’s forced to hurt their loved one, under duress of both themselves AND their loved one. Lilith and Amity both thought they were doing the best possible option in that scenario, while also protecting the loved one they were hurting; But in the end, they still caused pain, and neither Eda nor Willow owe them forgiveness. Similarly, Lilith and Amity don’t want to admit their side of the story, because it means acknowledging that they’re unhappy, that they’re being forced to do this and lack agency; And it involves admitting to others that the people they look up to in their lives, are actually terrible.

There’s also foreshadowing to Lilith’s flashback in Young Blood, Old Souls; And how an explanation shouldn’t detract from the apology… After Lilith confesses, she briefly insinuates (whether or not she believes it or if she’s just doing damage control) that her explanation would make Eda less hurt, and in many ways that makes sense… But it’s also clearly done because Lilith believes that Eda will be more inclined to forgive her, while with Amity, she doesn’t seem to expect much, if any sympathy… Lilith seems to hope that additional context will make Eda less hurt; But Amity knows that while Willow deserves context, she also deserves an actual change in behavior, whilst Lilith continues with trying to capture Eda, and even threatens Luz’s life to do so.

Lilith realizes this, and that’s why in Young Blood, Old Souls, she both gives her a long-due explanation for the curse, and THEN follows up by actually changing her behavior; Helping Luz rescue Eda. Because even if context is needed, it doesn’t make up for an apology; Actual changed behavior is also needed. When Lilith realized she first cursed Eda, she tried to change her behavior initially by finding a cure, but she didn’t tell the truth. Then when Lilith told the truth about the curse, she didn’t change her behavior and kept using Luz as a hostage, while trying to capture Eda; Only by doing both, by telling the truth AND changing her behavior, did Lilith begin to make things right with Eda. Now she’s begun to reconnect with her sister after so long… Thereby providing a happiness and closure that was long-due.

These similarities make sense, Lilith and Amity ARE narrative parallels after all! By the end of the day, they recognize that they still irreparably hurt a loved one, and shouldn’t expect them to be grateful that they didn’t hurt them as much as they could have; ‘For your own good’ does not justify hurting a loved one, even if that motive does provide more nuance and closure, as well as a reassurance that they weren’t hurt pointlessly, needlessly- At least, that was not the intention. Because knowing what happened and explaining yourself, let’s that person know they weren’t hurt for no reason, and that if there’s good intent behind actions; That good intent can be repurposed to be actually constructive, helpful, meaningful! Because they DO want to help, really, and they need guidance on how to do so- They’re not someone acting with planned malice, the way ‘jerks who want to debate aren’t coming from a place of intellectual honesty’, as Luz would put it!

And ultimately, I think it plays a role into why Eda will sometimes explain, upon questioning by Luz, her own thought process behind certain unusual ideas or teaching methods, as a reassurance that she DOES care and want the best… Which in turn shows Luz that Eda is willing to respond to criticism, because she’s acting in good faith, or trying to- And that means Luz feels safe to voice her own ideas, because she knows that Eda will legitimately take them into account, this time really, for Luz’s own good. It’s an open, honest communication, and showing that your loved one’s input really did have an impact. It’s why I think Lilith and Amity could really benefit to learn from Eda, because if they’d been more open and honest with those they cared about, been willing to reach out and admit that they need help- A LOT of issues could’ve been avoided. And while sometimes it can be too little, too late; Oftentimes it’s better late, than never.

#the owl house #toh #the owl house amity #amity blight #the owl house lilith #lilith clawthorne #the owl house willow #willow park #the owl house eda #edalyn clawthorne #the owl house luz #luz noceda #meta #foreshadowing #analysis

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supernovaken · 4 years ago

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Why I love Blackbeard - One Piece Discussion | Supernova Ken

Marshall D. Teach has to be one of the most well written characters in the history of Shonen. At the very least, within the One Piece story itself I find him to be one of Oda’s most compelling individuals; and the fact that we know mostly nothing about him adds even more to the thrill and suspense that we are sure to get when his character arc and background is finally presented.

We all see him as the perfect antithesis to Luffy but have we really appreciated what that fully means. With the details Oda has given us so far I'd like to argue that Blackbeard's journey is the better story of ambition and reckless luck when compared to the journey of our protagonists’.

It’s common for fans to think that Teach is a master tactician, lying idle on Whitebeard's ship with plans to betray him and eventually work his way up to getting the Gura Gura no Mi for himself, an everything was triggered with Thatch’s discovery of the Yami Yami no Mi. But i feel this gives too much credit to his forward thinking ability; whenever the question of the smartest one piece character is brought up i’m not sure Oda has ever hinted at Blackbeard being anywhere near that list. To be Luffy’s antithesis, he needs to be just like Luffy while at the same time being his complete opposite, and this is where his drive and decision making come into play.

Saying all his actions were part of some master plan is like saying Luffy’s actions were also. Luffy defeated Arlong to gain notoriety and a 30M Berri bounty, planned to be acknowledged by bounty hunters at Whisky Peak to show his toughness to Vivi and Igaram, this would put him in striking position of the head of Baroque Works who Luffy knew was Oka Shichibukai Sir Crocodile and give him the Devil Child Nico Robin, reader of the Polyglyphs. Master Plan to become King of the Pirates phase one complete.

Sounds ridiculous right, that’s my argument when it comes to Teach. Hear me out as I map out Teach’s mindset and how he really got to his position as an Emperor of the sea through his unshakable will (of D.) and mastery of opportunistic decision making.

Blackbeard only wanted the Yami Yami no Mi initially. If he had found it first he would’ve just eaten it and possibly left WBs crew amicably. (I do question if he would have the idea to kill WB on his own to get the Gura Gura). There would have been no reason to kill Thatch and be chased across the Grand Line as a traitor so I’d say he joined the WB pirates in the same way as the rest of the crew, with a deep love and respect for his Pops. This didn’t change at all in the 20+ years he spent on the ship, but his fierce ambition pushed him to do something drastic when he saw an opportunity was about to be lost to him forever.

It might even be that Thatch already ate the Devil Fruit and killing him was the only way to get it back as we’ve learnt more recently in the series Blackbeard understands this secret. This would explain the vague line Oda gave us of ‘the one who found the fruit could eat it’, even if that’s a ship rule there’s nothing stopping him from stealing it and running away like he ends up doing, so Thatch’s death must’ve been a requirement.

He didn’t plan to become a warlord but saw an opening when Crocodile lost his position and figured the freedom to move when you have that title would be helpful (i.e. no plan to attack impel down and free prisoners at this point). There were no openings before Luffy defeated Crocodile and if he had really wanted the position as part of some master plan, he would have propositioned the government by showing what he could do the same way Law did with the Rocky Port incident.

To become a warlord he originally wanted to capture Luffy as he was the rookie that brought Crocodile down and this was a first for the World Government, so they’d happily give the position to him if he can get rid of the Luffy problem.

When he missed Luffy at Jaya he still planned to pursue him to get the position but Ace caught up to him at this point, he even invited Ace to join his crew so didn’t plan to capture him at first until he realised there was no other way but to battle him. Rather than kill him he used it as his buy in to become a Warlord. Up onto this point, all his actions have been heavily circumstance based, and Teach is just a master at exploiting the circumstances put in front of him.

Without Ace’s planned execution I doubt Blackbeard would have attempted to raid Impel Down as even before he arrived he knew of the danger Magellan presented; he saw an opportunity in the Marines preparing to battle WB at Marineford so the prison would have less support available. Now his position as a Warlord will help him get to the door without question so the idea to break a few inmates out hit him.

Even showing up at Marineford was him improvising. He couldn’t have known how the war was going til he got there and even if he did, Ace and Whitebeard were on the verge of getting away. He probably only planned as far ahead as attacking the losing side rather than gaining the Gura Gura. If WB got away he would have attacked the Marines potentially or given up altogether and ran the other way. Even after taking WBs fruit he had no idea how to escape, was ready to battle the WB pirates and the Marines there and then which I don’t think that crew would’ve been able to handle at that stage; luckily Shanks stopped the war.

I would say from that we know enough to say he’s never been planning anything. Him joining WBs crew as an orphan was just as innocent as Marco joining. This is what makes him so compelling, if Luffy were in the same position we know everything would go very differently. Blackbeard the ultimate One Piece character.

https://youtu.be/QHgd9bnKRNo

#blackbeard #onepiece #marshall d. teach #shichibukai #warlords #yonko

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queensdivas · 4 years ago

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Peonies Chapter 8

It has been a while since I've posted about Grigor or The Great. Y'all I have been busy with finals and another fic on archive that has been my favorite thing to write. If you've ever watched The Terror from AMC then you'll enjoy this.

But I haven't forgot about one of my favorite fics. Never.

Other than that! Here we go after weeks of not writing.

Previous Chapter

Masterlist

The idea of falling asleep after today just sounds nauseating. Seeing the horrors in front of me then coming back to my apartment for Peter wanting to kill me. Then for Grigor to storm off due to the fact that he thought I would lay with my own cousin by marriage. Yes I’m well aware that’s still a common practice amongst the Monarchs of the world but not in my book!

Turning my head to watch the flames slowly begin to die down before my eyes. The room was beginning to spiral into that infamous Russian cold. I didn’t feel like throwing another log on since part of me thinks I deserve to be in the wintry world that I have chosen to live in.

This plan for making Catherine the ruler of all Russia is becoming stale. What have we done that’s been achievable anyhow! Go to the front to feed a bunch of soldiers! You saw what happened when I alone tried to help Peter! Catherine influenced a new Patriarch yet the women of the court still find Catherine to be an annoyance. There has been absolutely no effort or somewhat change Catherine has done to make things more in her favor. God she is a child thrown into a world that she has no idea what she's doing. Although I should be guiding...but...

What good am I doing here! I feel as if I’m just now a fuck toy for Grigor to feel a womens touch since his wife is with the Emporer on a daily basis! Throwing the blanket off me to march over to the nearest vase and chuck it across the room!

A screech left my body as I cleared everything off the vanity onto the floor. I could feel the blood rushing through me for this anger to spiral out of control! This stupid country! Grabbing a book to throw it against the wall!

THIS STUPID COUNTRY!

HOW CAN ONE FUCKING BELONG TO THIS COURT!

HOW CAN ONE SINGLE HUMAN BE SUCH AN ABSOLUTE MORON! AND YES THAT HUMAN IS ME!

WHY DOESN’T HE TRUST ME!

I’M NOT HIS WIFE!

THIS STUPID GOD DAMN COUNTRY!

IT’S MAKING ME QUESTION EVERY SINGLE THREAD OF INSANITY I HAVE BECAUSE THE MAN I’M BEGINNING TO FALL FOR HAS MAJOR TRUST ISSUES! CAN’T HE SEE THAT I AM A ONE MAN ONE WOMEN SORT OF WOMAN!

YES I’M A WHORE TO A MAR….

Huh...would you look at that Chiara? All because he lit a fire under your own ass because everyone else around you stays clear of it.

I…..

I feel nothing….

Maybe the cold will make me feel something in this empty body. Grabbing the handles of the window to pull them out. They smacked against the walls for the wind to soar through my room. It flew through my hair for the first few seconds for it to stop. The cold swaddled me up but I didn’t move from the window.

I do not deserve the things I have been given in life. For I am a cold hearted bitch with almost no remorse in my actions. I could possibly kill a hundred people and proclaim it to be for the greater good. No sense of remorse or sadness.

How could Grigor want to love someone as vile as me..I am cold..evil. Someone like me doesn’t deserve the warm embrace of what love is. This lust is beginning to form into the most dangerous tool one can have in their life. For it can bring life and destroy it in a matter of seconds.

I miss his touch..the way his fingers would glide across my arm as we snuggled together on the bed. The way he kissed my forehead after a long time of making love. Him showing me his drawings and I know he’s drawing me in my sleep! It hurts to feel this sort of way! I don’t want to feel anything! This feeling is almost heart wrenching and...beautiful.

My breathing began to choke till the only warmth that was on my body was the singular tear that had escaped my eye. I’m not a crier. Though we Italians embrace our emotions and turn it into something beautiful, I think this tear is a sense of relief. If I didn’t feel anything. I wouldn’t be whimpering in front of an open window.

A gentle beat from the door echoed through my room as I didn’t even move. If Peter was sending his soldiers to kill me I get the feeling there would be no knock. Please let it be Grigor. I need to feel his touch and tell him the truth. Not all of it but at least enough that I don’t spoil my plans for Catherine.

I closed the window to hurry over to the fire and toss a log in. If it’s Grigor then he probably would prefer something a little warmer. Please him please. Grabbing my robe to put it on as I opened the door. My eyes expanded from the confusion of who was standing before me in my bed robes.

“Elizabeth?” Well if she was coming to kill me I imagine my room has some sort of secret entrance and would’ve done it in my sleep.

“I hope I didn't disturb you. I think we need to have a little chat.”

“We do?” Dear God if Peter opened his mouth about what he started and what I finished I’m going to go kill him myself!

“Yes. May I come in?” Taking a step back for the door to open. She was in her bed clothes as she noticed the mess I had made in my room.

“The work of Peter no less?” I kept my mouth shut for once waiting for her to say something more. She’s going to defend Peter as much as she can. Probably for his own father who I imagine she secretly loved. From my understanding Peter the Great was also quite promiscuous just like his mother. A family of harlots.

“I heard from Peter what happened here early today. I highly doubt that you called him a bastard since he can be quite over dramatic.” So she’s aware that he’s a sniffling bastard whose inability to rule is quite prominent.

“Not talking much tonight are you? Usually you have a comment to say if I were in here talking about Peter.”

“For once Elizabeth. I could truly give a shit about Peter and his antics. I’m not here to please him and make him happy. I’m here for Catherine and making her more comfortable with her new station.” Try not to think that we might kill her own Nephew in a good amount of time. If not by Catherine then by the military.

“You’re not angry that he was in here and wanted to kill you?” She sat down in front of the fire in the love seat for me to stand before here.

“Your nephew. My cousin by marriage is a harmless little bug in my life Elizabeth. His actions were not even worth a single drop of sweat from my brow.”

“Did the stabbing of a major General not scare you? As an outsider I thought it would have scared you horribly.”

“Not scared. More gasping which then leads to utter annoyance. I am more than capable of handling Peter when he’s in a state of anger trying to kill me. What do you even want because I would like some sort of rest.”

“Be more gentle when it comes..

“Just because his mother was a horrid woman does not excuse his actions Elizabeth! That’s saying Zeus should be considered a kind man even though he raped Leda because of his own mental state. Peter thinks of him as Zeus when in reality he is worse than Hades himself! Life is horrid Elizabeth and constantly blaming his issues on his mother is disgusting and you standing here trying to defend him holds you accountable for his actions.”

“What an interesting comparison. You are a very bright woman and that wicked tongue is able to strike anyone down.”

“I can strike down anyone with tongue and steel.” Taking in a sharp breath to walk over to a full bottle of sweet red wine.

“Would you like a glass?” Asking for her to nod. Popping off the court to grab two glasses then bringing two glasses over for us. Sitting down across from here to begin pouring her a glass. She motioned for me to stop for me to pour myself some as well.

“I apologise dear Aunt Elizabeth. I sometimes forget to catch my tongue before it falls out of my head.” We both took a long drink to the point when we were done I had to pour a little more between us.

“It’s quite alright. I’m just grateful you didn’t kill my beloved Nephew before it was too late.” Before I could answer the doors bursted open.

“Excuse me mam?” Turning to see a serf was standing by the door of my world. Did something happen to Fernanda?

“Zasha? What is it?” Elizabeth stood up from my chair to approach her.

“It’s the Emperor. He’s fallen gravely ill.” Well. That is going to solve our problems much faster than I thought it was going to happen. She wrapped herself around her robe as we began walking out of my bedroom.

“Why are you coming? I thought you despised him” She asked for me to nod but was still walking.

“We’re family by marriage. He is now my cousin whether I like it or not.” Turning the corner to see that Orlo, George...and Grigor were waiting outside the room. Splendid. I imagine his wife was ready to lay in bed yet stumbled into that mess.

“From what I’ve seen and heard it sounds bad. A lot of vomit and blood.” Orlo told us to stand next to Orlo. One of the priests that was in the room came out with the black mask on his face to then take it off before us.

“You may not enter the room. For it might be contagious till the doctor tells you differently. For he’s running a high fever, a lot of vomiting, and has been seeing strange visions. The Archbishop is there with him now. He’ll tell you more once he comes out.” Is...Is that vomit on his mask? Or...dear god. He walked past us heading down the hall towards the apartments.

“How is he?” Catherine came in with a very well detailed look of uneasiness.

“Very ill.” Elizabeth told Catherine for my eyes to drift over to Grigor. He was holding onto George but staring directly at me. Stupid man. Stupid man!

“Can we go in?” Catherine asked Orlo but I’m assuming not.

“Well everyones being kept out here.”

“In fear of contagion.” Finally looking at Grigor again for us to lock eyes for a brief instant till I turned to Catherine.

“He’s been vomiting continuously throughout the night, and he runs a high fever, and he has fits of wild delirium.”

“The Doctor and Archbishop are with him.” I told her to place my hands on her shoulder to give some comfort to this poor wife and my cousin. The door opened for a child to come out with a bowl filled with blood and vomit. Not to mention his entire body was covered head to toe in Peters upchuck...and from the smell..the back door was also used as well.

“Excuse me.” Oh the smell! Covering my nose for Grigor and I to look at one another again. He doesn’t look concerned. Is that a smile?

We all leaned into the doorway to see what was happening in there since we could only hear the sound of Peter vomiting and coughing more and more. I did the sign of the cross to hold onto my cross necklace. I don’t pray for Peter. But I pray for the Doctor inside the room that he stays safe from whatever disease has fallen upon Peter. Peter could go to hell for all I care, but I have to keep up appearances.

The Archbishop popped in the doorway for us to straighten our backs. He came out of his bedroom to close the door behind him. Grigor inched a little closer to me to the point I could sense the warmth radiating off him.

“How is he?” Grigor asked for the Archbishop to stare directly at us.

“Extremely ill. The fear is that it may be Cholera.”

“Cholera?” That’s a rough sickness. Even I wouldn’t wish that sort of death on my enemy.

“Which I suspect he will have caught from a possessed, nocturnal animal. Probably a badger.” If I ever get sick in this country I would rather just endure the ride home and die in a carriage. These doctors are not touching me with a ten foot pole!

“Where would he have come across a possessed badger?” Catherine asked thankfully. That sounds absolutely unrealistic and not how you even got Cholera. Not that I don’t know how you get Cholera but I imagine it’s not from a possessed badger.

“If it is Cholera, he will die, will he not?” Holding her a little tighter as a cue to sound a lot more concerned. You have to make it believable that you’re distraught that he might die!

“It’s a strong possibility that we must face.” Looking at Orlo who kept the same straight face he usually has.

“Oh my little man.” THE POOR BABY! I WILL WEEP WITH A BOTTLE OF WINE AND GLORIOUS MUSIC!

“The Doctor is working hard on cures. It may be something else.”

“Has he said anything? Is he talking?” Why would he be concerned if he’s talking? Grigor might as well give a shit if he truly dies or not.

“He speaks intermittently. Much of it is deranged. Said he was a wolf, and wanted to eat Swedish children for breakfast. And there was some talk of what he’d like to do to Chiara and with various ladies of the court. I’ll spare you the details.” My body ran cold for Catherine to turn and face me. The blood in my body felt as if it dried up as I wanted to vomit. Looking at Grigor as I felt so disgusted with myself.

“Before more bouts of diarrhea and vomiting.” The Archbishop went back in for Grigor to take in a deep breath.

“I will go in to see him.” Say what?

“Do not risk your life.” Elizabeth told him as he stopped in the doorway.

“I want to be there for my friend.” Bullshit! He could give an absolute shit about Peter at this point!

“I had no idea your husband was so brave, Georgina.”

“Oh yes famously so.”

“In more ways than one.” Adding into the conversation for George to turn and face me.

“Just being honest.” An angry snake she is when I add my own little comments. Settle down hypocrites.

Orlo, Catherine, and I huddled into our own group to see the expression of Catherines face change from the fake grieving widow to an excited future ruler. Must admit this is a little exciting for me as well.

“If this is Cholera, he could be dead within the day.” Orlo told us as Catherine was beginning to smile slightly but trying to control herself.

“Right. That means..”

“Yes. Yes it will be yours. You will rule Russia.” By God it’s going to actually happen.

“After all our planning..it just..”

“Falls right into your lap.” Orlo finished as the doors opened back up. The ArchBishop came out of the room to take off his mask. Remember when I said that this planning became stale? I stand corrected and I was completely wrong. This just made everything better.

“In light of this terrible situation, a meeting is being called to deal with the possible transition of power.”

“To me.” Easy Catherine. That’s a little too exciting for someone who's losing their husband.

“Indeed. It seems so. You are the next...should the worst happen.” Seems like the worst is about to happen right before them. If it’s going this quickly then I might be going home soon! Finally an end to this horrid nightmare and cesspool!

“Prepare with prayer, and the senate will be called.”

“I look forward to it.” Damn it Catherine!

“Not him dying. That is bad. And sad. And we hope for the best and a speedy recovery.” If I could slap my own face I would without making this seem like we’re excited that Peter is dying.

“God will be with us. He always is.” The Archbishop left the hall for Catherine and Orlo to talk amongst themselves. I need to talk to Grigor. I can’t stand being apart from him at nights for it is his warmth I believe that is keeping me sane. I don’t think I can tell him that I think I’m starting to love him but atleast telling him I need him is a good start.

*Grigors P.O.V.*

DIE! DIE YOU HORRIBLE HUMAN! YOU THINK YOU CAN SLEEP WITH MY OWN LOVE BECAUSE YOU’RE THE EMPEROR! DIE DIE DIE! I WILL KILL YOU AND WILL LIVE PEACEFULLY IN MY OWN LIFE!

Removing the pillow to see that he was still breathing! Bastard! Slamming the pillow back onto him to push down even further in hopes that I might finish the job! Just die! How hard is it to kill someone who's already dying! Talking about Chiara as if she’s just a common peasant!

“What are you doing!?” George yelled as I continued to push down harder and harder.

“What is right and you know it George! I have to do something!”

“Fuck!” George pulled me back as we stopped to see Peter was still breathing. Dragging me from his bed towards the middle of his room.

“I was given the choice to be a man or a child! I’ve decided to become a man for the sake of my sanity!”

“You poisoned him?”

“Arsenic. From the wall in his borscht!” Feeling the cold slap from George as she was in full rage of my actions.

“What happens to us when he’s dead? Think what Peter provides for us!”

“You...you..”

“You’re a stupid fool Grigor!” She took a deep breath to calm herself down.

“Our situation is complex. Yet also simple! We have a safe life with Peter! Luxury, security, a place in court. Who’s he gonna be replaced by? Catherine!? We’re nothing to her! What happens to us then? Not to mention Chiara is making it much more difficult to handle this situation. No thanks to you!”

“So you may have a lover but I may not!” I love Chiara and this marriage is non-existent!

“Grigor?” Peter called for me as I turned to see him barely awake and moving. Say something George! You hypocritical bitch say something!

“We’re here.” George, like a mother goose, flew to Peter's aid. Well. It’s very clear now on where my life stands now. George has made her bed and it is time for me to make my own with a Duchess who isn’t afraid to get the job done when it needs to be done.

Letting go of the pillow to march out of the room and slamming the doors shut. Taking in a few deep breaths to calm myself before scampering off to Chiara. Chiara? Where is she? Perhaps in her chambers!

It was like seeing a light at the end of the tunnel heading to her apartment! The outline of the room was glowing before my eyes. Chiara..my love. The only woman in this world that can make my knees buckle to bow at her feet. That fire is intoxicating to the point that I might die of happiness.

Slamming the door open to see Chiara was in front of the flames looking directly into them. Her head slowly turned to face me with a somber look. A bottle of wine sitting next to her looked thoroughly used. Oh my precious flame. Closing the door to sit down next to her as she went back into looking into the fire.

“I placed my blade against his neck threatening to take his life away. Why didn’t I slice it open? Tell me why I didn’t Grigor?” She asked for me to place my hand on her cheek.

“What happened before I came in?”

“He was mad that I helped Velementov at the front for strategy. He drew a sword on me and I fought back. I won and threatened him that if he were to ever draw his sword on me that I would win. I...I should’ve sliced his throat open and strung him up as if he was game to place on my wall.” I feel like I should tell her that I’m the one that poisoned him. That he is dying in his own bed because the world would be better without him! She was literally going to kill him before I even came into the room!

“Chiara. I’m the one who caused him to become ill. I poisoned him in the borscht while he was eating dinner.” Her expression was the same as before till it clicked in her mind. Her entire face went from a beautiful red to a ghostly white in a matter of seconds.

“Holy shit..” She whispered to turn her attention to the fire. Is she going to tell Catherine? Not that Catherine might care much but what if she does? Would she tell the court? No...no what have I done!

“I would ask why but that..oh my god.” Turning her head to face me as I gulped.

“If it helps, I did it for you. For us..for everyone in the court that his idiocy will go away.” Her lips were slightly open with her breathing beginning to rise.

That lovely color began returning to her cheek as she climbed on top of me and wrapped herself around me. Those entrancing lips striked against mine as my hands traveled up her back to pull her shirt. She stopped to place her index finger on my lips.

“For you committing such a horrendous act. Allow me.” Removing her finger to place a kiss on my lips, to my cheek, then right underneath my jaw line. I could see the stars from how well she was working those luscious lips. Her hand gripped my cock to start playing it through my pants. God her touch. It’s almost too delicious to even allow. My eyes rolled back for me to lay down on the rug for her kisses to start moving down my body.

I love her...I hope that she knows that I would kill an army for her without regret...

~~~

@mirkwoodshewolf @bonafiderocketqueen @johndeaconshands

@jd-johndeacon-or-jackdaniels @amethyst-serenade @radio-ha-ha@i-have-a-wonky-eye-too @deck-heart @actuallyanita @the-baby-bookworm @ewanmcgregors @panagiasikelia

#grigor x reader #grigor dymov #grigor dymov x reader #grigor smut #grigor #elle fanning #The Great #Catherine the Great #catherine #The Great hulu #romance

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corvusravenette · 3 years ago

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FanFiction: Qi Ye

Title: I Thought of You and Yet You Came Based on Original Work: Qi Ye || Lord Seventh Author: Priest Genre: BL Warning: Gore and Violence Rate: Teen / Young adults Pairing: M/M (Wu Xi + Beiyuan) Chapter: 2 of 5 +-+-+-+-+-+-

Swinging off his warhorse, Wu Xi pulled Beiyuan into his arms, shielding him against the rain that had slowed down to a drizzle as his hands moved quickly, determinedly, ripping the cloth covering Beiyuan’s wound in halves. He could sense footsteps grazing over and he snapped his eyes up only to recognize the uniform were men of Heaven’s Pane. The one closest to him quickly saluted, Wu Xi noticing his left arm missing before the man turned around, gripping a sword in his right in a protective stance over them. In a battle-ready formation, what was remaining of the men surrounded him, their backs to him, providing as much protection as their sorry bodies could handle against possible sneak attacks.

Wu Xi nodded in gratefulness and went to work immediately. His lips pressed into a thin line, refusing to say anything else, he kept astute focus on the one person that he was not willing to let go. The Netherworld Judge would have to wait a lifetime before meeting Beiyuan again. His hands continued to strip the chemise off Beiyuan and inhaled a sharp breath as the garish wound on Beiyuan’s chest were displayed full frontal in his line of sight. Fingers steady, his identity as the Great Shaman kicking into gear, he deftly poured vials and vials of unknown medicines from his lapels into Beiyuan’s mouth and over his most prevalent injury. The skin above his ribs were shredded to the bone, his blood not coagulating fast enough in the rain and Wu Xi carefully positioned the flayed skin as best and as quickly as he possibly could over the wound before pouring a deep purple liquid over it. The purple liquid [1] stained the skin so vividly, it looked as though Beiyuan’s body had taken a vicious beating. Carefully, Wu Xi took a smaller pouch from one of the many compartments in his robe and took out a hook needle and some thread. He began the tedious process of suturing the open wound, from shoulder to abdomen efficiently, at the back of his mind grateful that he had years of medicine in his belt. Ripping the seams of his cloak into large strips of cloth, Wu Xi quickly wrapped the deepest of Beiyuan’s wound tightly, the blood already coagulating after coming into contact with the purple liquid he had poured on it earlier, stemming off the blood flow. He became increasingly aware of the presence of more people coming towards them, but he was not willing to spare them further thought, his chaotic mind had stilled akin to the clear pond of reincarnation – not a ripple to be seen on the surface. He had pushed his fears so far down his own mind that he became almost statue like, methodically processing the leaden body in his arms without a word. “Great Shaman, we must make headway soon,” the familiar voice of Nuahar spoke barely above a whisper. The warrior had stopped and knelt across Wu Xi, his eyes quickly taking into account how grievously injured the Prince was. Swallowing his apprehension and doubt for the Prince’s survival, and as though fearful of the Great Shaman’s wrath if he had spoken this out loud, he pushed on, knowing that they needed to get out of the rain. “The war is over, the Emperor sends summons for us to head into the capital. A residence is being prepared as we speak”. “Good,” Wu Xi replied, his tone monotonous as he covered Beiyuan in what’s left of his partially wet and torn cloak. He needed to get Beiyuan quickly out of the rain and he needed to disinfect the wounds again. This news was welcomed relief. However, Wu Xi could not be complacent. A life and death fever would set in without a doubt. Steeling his determination, Wu Xi moved, “Let’s go,”. Wu Xi hoisted himself up first onto his stallion and a short while later, Nuahar lifted the comatose prince carefully into his arms, taking care not to jostle or tear the latter’s fragile wound although the Great Shaman had sutured the worst of it closed. Wu Xi sat the man across in front of him, resting the latter’s head on his shoulder, an arm securely holding him around the waist. Swallowing the growing lump in his throat and blinking away rapidly as he turned around to face the remaining surviving Heaven’s Pane assassins, he deftly tossed a few vials of medications towards the men and instructed Nuahar and the rest of his elite Nanjiang warriors who had sought after him up here, to take care of Master Zhou Zishu’s men. Battle-weary and heavily injured, Master Zhou’s men breathed in relief as the Southern warriors helped them up onto their horses, their wounds freshly covered in medicine. Bowing their heads in a silent prayer for all those who perished in this idyllic mountain grounds, led by Nuahar, Wu Xi followed closely downhill, paying close attention to Beiyuan’s shallow breathing. He didn’t dare ride his stallion hard, no matter how much he wanted to, the fear of injuring Beiyuan too deeply ingrained in his soul. Pulling the cloak closer and holding his most precious beloved close to his heart, Wu Xi pressed a reverent kiss onto his eyebrow, his eyes reddening as he continued to blink away the unshed tears that threaten to fall. The small troop then made its way into the war-torn land towards the capital city. *** “Great Shaman,” Zhou Zishu was standing in the doorway of Beiyuan’s room, “The Emperor demands to know the Prince’s status. You can’t hide him forever,”. Wu Xi’s features hardened as he snapped his head around towards the man standing rigidly in the doorway, his braids whipping along with the movement. His black eyes stared down the man who hadn’t changed out of his blood-soaked clothes either, the human skin mask he usually wore to hide his face had been taken off. In its stead, a sharp chiseled face was revealed – handsome in an almost cruel way, his eyes dead, a hint of brokenness almost visible around its red edges as though he had stemmed off a flow of tears just moments before. Wu Xi had no patience for this Emperor who coveted his beloved, but he knew in this land Helian Yi held the absolute power as the Son of Heaven. He was not willing to forget that this Prince had chosen to die for the Emperor over leaving with him.Were all his ill-fated reincarnations not enough?! He was still going to die for this dog of an Emperor, again?! A sudden image of a man with a head full of white hair flashed through Wu Xi’s memories, burning bright in his mind’s eye, like a memory from multiple lifetimes - the nightmarish remnants of the Dream Stupor courtesy of the comatose man behind him crept in from the depths of his pain. Just as quickly, he blinked, and the image was replaced with the man now standing in front of him. Reining in his already brittle hold on his emotions, Wu Xi spoke possessively through gritted teeth, unconsciously moving to hide Beiyuan’s body from Zhou Zishu’s sight lest the latter made an attempt to grab him. “He is already on death’s doorstep! The Emperor still refuses to let him go?” the suppressed anger and incredulity in Wu Xi’s voice was apparent as he glared viciously, “Master Zhou, I don’t care who you are but I am taking Beiyuan away! Away from this goddamned land! Dead or alive, I will take him back to Nanjiang with me. I am not blind to the fact that Helian Yi has feelings for him! If I can see that then I’m sure you’re stark aware of it too! I will slaughter anyone who desires to even think of taking Beiyuan away from me. Do you hear me?” Wu Xi spent no time beating about the bush, rising from his seat next to Beiyuan’s comatose form to face the Emperor’s right-hand man head-on, not fearing the callous way he had just threatened the captain of the Emperor’s personal bodyguards. If he must, he would kill this man too, be damned the consequences. Zhou Zishu was not the least bit surprise when he heard this forceful declaration. He observed the Great Shaman’s features for a short moment – knowing that this Southern warrior was true to his words and would carry out what he threatened to do, knowing that although he was older than this man, the latter had stronger qi and could easily suppress him in hand to hand combat. He was also a strong leader, his people having blind faith in him. He was privy to the strength of the Nanjiang warriors too. If they were to pursue an all-out war once again with these Southern warriors, this empire would crumble and perish into oblivion. He was sure of it. He knew though that despite it all, even if he gave in all his strength, he would be powerless against him if the Great Shaman decided to take it upon himself and chop the head of the Emperor off. He saw the fire in the younger man’s eyes. Those were eyes not to be trifled with. He let the harsh words sink into him momentarily. His past actions, his blind devotion to the Emperor’s quest for power had cost him so much... Xiao Liang. That name gave him pause. His breath hitched in his throat. He looked down, unable to hold the Great Shaman’s piercingly overbearing gaze, as he swallowed hard – memories of his shidi’s mischievous smile and that monumental guilt over his death gnawed at him viciously. Blinking away the tears that threatened to fall, Zhou Zishu turned his face away, his back now facing the Great Shaman. “Easy, Da Wu, lest your qi deviates from your anger. Rest assured the Prince will be martyred in this war if you so wished it. I will prepare a body double, but the Emperor still needs to be informed. Else, he might storm this residence himself and I won’t be able to stop him,” Zhou Zishu responded after a while, turning around again to face Wu Xi, a determined smile on his face as he steeled his resolve to do this good deed in memory of his dead shidi, “Beiyuan would never tell you in this lifetime. He did not stay here to die for the Emperor. He is a man of Great Qing and was prepared to die for the country. He had plans to leave the country, to Nanjiang, to find you if he survived this war. Yes, His Majesty has him in his heart, but the Prince already has you in his. He sent you away to keep you safe. I hope he recovers well and that you both live a long prosperous life away from all of this. Da Wu, I swear it on my life that he will no longer be in the Emperor’s sight,”. With a slight bow, Zhou Zishu left the way he came – quietly blending into the dark night. Wu Xi stared after him, long after he had gone. The words the former carefully said remained ringing in his ears… Yes, His Majesty has him in his heart, but the Prince already has you in his… He turned around, the heavy weight in his heart refusing to even lift a smidgen as he sat back down by Beiyuan’s side. His beloved’s breathing was dangerously shallow as he held the ice-cold hand in a tight grasp. Lifting the icy fingers to his lips, Wu Xi reverently kissed each tip in utmost sincerity, unable to hold the tears at bay any longer as he held the open palm to his cheek. Stroking Beiyuan’s hair, Wu Xi vowed to never let another man harm his beloved, his determination giving him the drive he needed to stamp down the fear of losing this man and to save him at all cost. Nuahar and Ashinlae who were standing outside the door, kept an eye on the Great Shaman, making sure that they were there whenever he needed a new change of bandages or medicines brewed. The warriors looked at each other somberly, a quiet veneration taking over them. Never had they seen this young man, who was as frigid as the ice-cold North, be openly honest with his emotions to this extent. Their hearts despaired for him as they watched the boy they had taken care of their entire adult lives grow up in a hostile environment, forced to adapt to the fake courteousness of the Great Qing people, watched him build tentative friendships, witnessed his very first oath of love and to have that love be almost taken away from him in front of his very eyes. Deep within, the warriors had developed a deeper sense of respect for the Great Shaman’s determination and his devotion to this beloved one. Only a great man could spur an army to rescue his most beloved. They nodded almost understandingly and made a silent promise that they would follow this Great Shaman until death invites them home. Wu Xi didn’t know how long he had stayed by Beiyuan’s side that night, refusing to change out of his clothes, keeping vigil by the bedside, changing the bandages repeatedly and applying new concoctions multiple times. He was determined to hold Beiyuan’s flickering light alive, no matter how dim, channeling his qi in soft tendrils inwards to mend Beiyuan’s fractured meridians. His foundation was already weak to begin with, a bitter result of years of idleness reared its ugly head and had slowed his recovery down. Wu Xi swore to himself, if… if his beloved lived on through this night… he would force-feed him all the foundation building pills he could find. That grim almost humorless thought sank deep in his heart, taking root as he scolded the dying man in front of him in his head. This is what you get for not taking care of yourself! Now look what you’ve gotten yourself into! If you weren’t such a lazy bout, you wouldn’t have been this… badly injured… Wu Xi’s hands stilled as the voice reprimanding Beiyuan in his head immediately quietened. “Bei..yuan?” he whispered, gingerly holding two fingers to the pulse on his neck. “Nuahar! Ashinlae! Quickly get in here!” *** Writer Notes: [1] Potassium Ferrate - wound seal for coagulating blood

Click here: CHAPTER 1 || CHAPTER 3

#fanfiction #qi ye #lord seventh #wu xi #jing beiyuan #xiyuan #zhou zishu #priest

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salvejoon · 4 years ago

Text

No King Rules Forever | myg - M

I am the fire I am burning brighter Roaring like a storm And I am the one I've been waiting for Screaming like a siren Alive and burning brighter I am the fire

⇒ Summary: Escaping the Imperial City 4 years ago, leaving behind painful, bloody memories, your body scarred and your soul bruised, you went into hiding, swearing to never fall into the Emperor’s hands again but when his twin brother and the rightful heir to the Imperial Throne finds you, asking you to return to that God-forsaken city you had left behind, to re-open old wounds and place yourself directly in the Emperor’s gaze, to help him take the city and overthrow his brother, you find yourself at odds: do you stay hidden or do you step into the light and sink your fangs into the man who ruined you?

⇒ Or: Emperor Min needs to die cuz he’s a psycho and while you and Yoongi agree on that part, you don’t really agree on anything else.

⇒ Pairing: Dragon Aspect!Yoongi x Snake Aspect!Reader

⇒ Genre: Angst, action, a dash of crack, a tiny bit of fluff and smut.

⇒ Rating: 18+

⇒ Word count: 17k

⇒ Warnings: whoo boy, here we go, unedited cuz im a lazy fuck, mentions of torture and sexual assault (nothing too descriptive), gory fighting as in there will be blood, poison, people melting, arrows in kneecaps, character death, cursing, smutty goodness, soft smut uwu, Yoongi is a soft boi and reader needs to be held, cunnilingus, unprotected sex (Wrap it up, my dudes), creampie.

Spying eyes watched carefully from the shadows of the tall trees around him, moving as the cloaked figure before him picked up herbs and put them in a basket. Careful not to stand in the direction of the wind, he moved silently, stealthily through the bushes, cautious not to make any noise and draw the attention from the clothed figure.

It could mean his end if noticed but he had his orders and had to make sure it was whom they believed it was.

So far, he had nothing to go on. He could neither see shape or a face on the figure, a smart move for someone not wanting to be discovered.

But a gust of wind blew harshly between the trees and the hooded figure was suddenly without a hood, revealing long hair that glinted in the sun and his eyes widened slightly as the figure turned to the side, showing him the feminine features of their face.

It was her.

They’d finally found her.

But his ogling was soon interrupted as she whipped around and he felt her eyes on him, seeing him even under the cover of the shadows. Her eyes narrowed dangerously and he felt a shiver run down his spine.

He had to leave.

Now.

Namjoon stared at the corpse at the ground, scratching his neck as he felt a sigh build up, “He was my best tracker…” He stated and let out a heavy sigh, “This is unexpected.”

“Y’know, as the smartest aspect, you really are dumb.” Jin commented and prodded the corpse’s knee with his shoe.

“How was I supposed to predict that poor Sijun would lose his life? Maybe he was ambushed-”

“He wasn’t ambushed. Look at the wound. It’s too clean, too precise to have been made by a soldier or an assassin who suddenly jumped at him.”

“Yoongi…” Namjoon looked at his oldest friend as he bowed down and examined the many cuts across Sijun’s body, “Sijun was the best damn spy we had! There’s no way that she did this.”

Yoongi scoffed and rose, “She is capable. It’s most likely that Sijun wasn’t hiding well enough and she discovered him.”

“She was the one who gave your brother the scar, right?” Jin asked as they walked out of the forest and into the clearing, the flow of the water strong in the creek as it had been raining.

“My brother didn’t see her coming either.” Yoongi stated as he looked around, spotting the basket near the water, tumbled over, no doubt having been left behind by the woman he was currently trying to find, “She’s around here. Let’s be a little bit more wiser than Sijun and not get killed.”

Namjoon sighed heavily as his two friend began walking east, “I should have stayed home.”

“Mistress.” Your handmaiden, Shari, looked confused as you scurried around the cave, “What has gotten into you?”

You shook your head, “We have to leave.”

“Why?”

“I was seen today.”

Shari’s eyes widened, “That’s not possible. We have covered every track and-” You grabbed her hand, clenching it and she took a few calming breaths.

“It was only a matter of time before…” Shari looked desperately at you as you paled visibly, “Before he would find me, Shari.”

“Are you sure it as one of his trackers?” Your handmaiden asked as you let go of her hand and resumed with packing a small leather bag with only the bare essentials.

“I smelled Dragon on him.” You stated, your hands beginning to shake as you were reminded of the taste and scent of it, “It’s him. Which is why we have to leave.”

“But what if he finds us again, Mistress? What happens then?”

“We will keep on moving. He will never find us.”

“But what if he does?”

You looked down at your hands, her shaking voice affecting you and sighed heavily, “Then you will to save yourself. Now pack your things.” Your tone was final and Shari nodded solemnly as she headed over to her own bedding to pack her belongings.

Shari was tired of running but she could not leave your side. Not when she owed her life to you. Ever since that fateful night in the palace, she’d sworn an oath to serve you and stay by your side until death.

But she wanted to fight.

She wanted you to fight.

She stole a glance at you over her shoulder, knowing that underneath your hard and cold exterior was a strong and fiery soul but that soul had endured so much pain and was now afraid. She knew that underneath your robes that hid your body so well, were scars that you thought so ugly and hideous that you still avoided your mirror image to this day.

She wished that you had never set foot in that horrible palace.

“If we set out by sunset, we can use the cover of the dark to-” You stopped abruptly when the air shifted and carried a scent with it that you knew all too well.

You got to your feet quickly and handed Shari your belongings, “We’re out of time. Take this and run.” You said to her, ignoring how puzzled she looked, “Run as fast as you can and don’t stop.”

“W-What’s happening?”

You simply offered her a sad smile and cupped her cheek as it dawned on her what was about to happen, “N-No, I won’t leave your side!”

“Shari, go. There’s no time.” She shook her head wildly and your heart lurched in your chest, “Go through the cave, take a left and follow the river once you exit the cave. Just like we’ve practiced.”

“Y/N…”

“That’s an order, Shari.”

Tears spilled over and rolled down her cheeks as she slowly nodded and you leaned over, kissing her cheek as you whispered, “Take care, child.”

You watched as she bolted in the opposite direction, heading further into the cave. She would be safe, that was all that mattered. You took a deep breath, the scent of him nearing flooding your senses. You could almost taste him on the wind.

You felt fear take a solid hold on you as you headed for the entrance to your hideout.

You had often imagined facing him again.

You didn’t expect to walk away from this alive.

But you sure as hell would drag him down with you.

Still, nothing could prepare you seeing the dark figure behind the waterfall, the water bending his body in a weird shape and acting as the only barrier between the two of you. It was terrifying and you fought hard to take another step.

You were about to face the man that had ruined you.

It was now or never.

Shari stood at the secret exit to the cave, a brief pause as she looked back into the darkness of what had been her home for a year. Her heart was breaking in her chest at the thought of you dying but you had given her an order.

One that she intended to follow.

A gust of wind almost knocked her over and she felt the hairs on her arms raise in fear.

Then she heard the sound that she had only heard once in her life, that horrifying night when you had fought the Emperor himself and given him the scar, the night the two of you had barely escaped the Imperial City alive.

It was loud, the stone walls of the cave trembling, causing dust and debris to fall to the ground. She picked up her pace and ran as fast as she could towards the light at the end of the cave.

Yoongi didn’t know what to expect as he had followed the trail that had led him to the waterfall. The Aspect of the Snake. Enigmatic, elegant, intelligent, wise, fearless, cunning, scheming and striking.

Some of the wisest Emperors and Empresses had been an Aspect of the Snake.

He had never met an Aspect of the Snake.

Nothing could have prepared him for the real thing that was in front of him. It was as if the air itself dreaded what was about to happen as it died down, the forest around him grew quiet and only the sound of the waterfall filled the hilltop valley.

Then the wind picked up, in the opposite direction, almost sucking him toward the waterfall itself and then he saw them.

Glowing green eyes, looking directly at him and the ground trembled, the waterfall dispersed as the giant snake shot out of the cave with a roar. Yoongi had little to no choice but to change himself.

Namjoon and Jin were sent backwards from the sheer force of you and Yoongi’s forms colliding. As they scrambled back on their feet, they were almost blinded by the sun hitting the tangle of scales that was before them. Silver blended with black in a fierce battle. The ground shook beneath their feet with the giant Aspects battling. Yoongi’s growls and your loud hissing thrummed in their ears.

“We have to stop them!” Namjoon yelled out, fearful for his friend as he saw you twirl around Yoongi’s lithe body, most likely intending to squeeze the light out of him.

“How?!” Jin yelled back, “If you haven’t noticed, we’re kind of in human form right now and could easily die if we-”

“You idiot! Change!” Namjoon yelled before he changed into his own Aspect form and Jin followed suit.

Shari could only look on in horror as you battled the Emperor, his Dragon form even more terrifying than what she’s seen in paintings: the long slender body of his Dragonform, covered with blackened scales, his long claws digging into your pale imprenetable scales, trying to find purchase as you wrapped yourself around his body, his tail tangling with yours, his eyes glowing a bright golden color that some said was the representation of a setting sun.

His growls vibrated through his body and through hers which only gave away the magnitude of his size and power.

It seemed like you had the upper hand for a second but then she couldn’t but to cry out when he finally sank his claws into your body and you let out a wail of pain. Tears flowed freely when she saw blood stain the silver scales of your body.

But her heart stopped when she saw the Aspect of the Ox and the Monkey join the fight.

All of the Aspects towered above the trees and she had never felt more helpless in her life as she watched you not only battle one Aspect but three.

As strong and mighty as you were, you were no match for three of them. She saw how you strained your long body, trying to maintain a strong hold on the Emperor and to sink your fangs into the Monkey, the acidic venom dripping from them and onto the earth beneath.

She could smell the burned soil and wood in the air.

The Monkey finally got it’s hands on you, getting ahold of your head and pulled you away from the Emperor and his mighty form fell to the ground. Your body twisted itself around the Monkey’s strong legs and you squeezed, causing it to let go of you as it toppled over and you quickly got out of it’s grasp and you slithered your way through the forest, mowing down trees on your way, trying to get some distance between you and your enemies.

But there was nowhere to go because you were trampled by the Monkey and you let out a loud hiss as you curled yourself around it’s body again, anger now flooding your veins as you squeezed the Aspect in your grasp.

The Monkey, battling your crippling tight grasp, tripped over it’s own feet and fell, rolling towards Shari. The handmaiden let out a panicked scream, getting the attention of the Ox who was busy trying to help the Emperor get back up. It’s eyes widened as it spotted the small human, two fighting Aspects getting closer and closer each second.

It ran, leaving behind the Dragon and bypassed you and the Monkey, leaving dirt, dust and trees in it’s path.

Shari was cast in it’s large shadow. It huffed and she was knocked over by it. She covered her eyes to protect them from the dust, cowering in fear as the beast towered above her. It could easily crush her beneath it’s hoof.

But it didn’t move. Not even when the two other Aspects crashed into it’s large body, did it move an inch. It simply huffed again and it sounded annoyed.

“Enough!” Came the booming and deep voice from the Ox, “We didn’t come here to fight you!” Then as to get the point across, the Ox changed back into it’s human form and from the dust, Jin appeared, “We’re here to talk.”

Monkey, who was entangled in your body, stopped resisting, “It’s true.” He managed to wheeze out. Your eyes darted between Jin and the Monkey in your hold and you were at a loss of what to do.

“I cannot trust you!” You finally spoke, your voice distorted to a deeper tone, “He has gotten into your minds and poisoned you.”

“He…” Came the voice of the Emperor, now hovering above you and the Monkey, “Is not me.”

You lunged at him with snap of your jaws, “Liar!”

The Dragon hummed deeply before landing onto the ground, a little away from where you currently held the Monkey pinned down and evaporated into a dust cloud. Your eyes narrowed when they saw the figure emerging.

It was the same face that haunted you at night but yet, it was not. Instead of long, straight blonde hair like his brother had, his was jet-black and only went to his ears but the thing that caught your attention the most was his eyes. They were filled with emotion, nothing you could distinguish but there was emotion in the brown orbs.

Not the void you had so often stared into.

And he lacked the parting gift you had given your once would-be husband: the scar across his right eye.

The Monkey slowly felt you loosen your crushing hold on him and inhaled loudly when he felt like he could finally breathe.

Seconds ticked by and Yoongi raised an eyebrow, “Are you going to change back so we can talk like civilized human beings?”

“Careful.” You hissed but removed yourself from the Monkey completely, allowing him to change back into human form and you decided to take a chance and change back as well, “That you do not anger me further.”

You cautiously stepped backwards to your handmaiden and the young girl launched herself at you.

“Mistress!”

“It’s okay, Shari.”

“Y-You’re hurt…”

“It’ll heal soon. Are you hurt?”

She shook her head, “No. The Ox saved me.”

Jin smiled and inclined his head, “Jin is my name.” He introduced himself and continued, “I had to. My friend over there is quite clumsy and would have crushed you had I not intervened.”

“Hey! How about a hand here?!” Namjoon called out annoyingly, “Gods have mercy, I think she’s crushed my ribs.”

You scoffed, “You would be dead if I had.”

Yoongi watched as Jin moved over to help Namjoon, cursing at him for being a clutz but you seemed to only have your eyes on him. It was clear that you were distrustful of them, making sure to keep your guard raised, even with your servant clinging to you, he didn’t doubt you were still able to hurt him.

You were also scared.

Of him.

He could smell it on you.

Yoongi took a step towards you and you hissed in warning, “Calm down, girl.” He grunted and folded his arms.

“Girl?!” You exclaimed loudly, filled with ire, “I will let that slide this once but you will tell me why you trespassed-”

“We didn’t actually trespass seeing as this mountain borders onto the Emerald forest and last time I checked, you weren’t the owner of these lands.” Yoongi interjected, looking bored.

“You have 10 seconds to tell me why you’re here.” You growled.

“Or what?” He challenged and the hilltop grew quiet as you glared at him, hands clenching.

“If your friends hadn’t intervened, I would have killed you, Yoongi.” You spat his name and his eyes widened slightly, “Your brother found out what happens when you corner a snake and it almost cost him an eye. Don’t make the same mistake.”

Yoongi. The twin brother of Emperor Min. The rightful heir to the throne. The first born son of the great Dragon Emperor.

You wanted to laugh.

A lost cause. Banished from the Imperial City forever by his own brother. You had never met him, only heard hushed whispers of him from your time in the palace. The Emperor had never uttered a word of his brother either.

But the things you had heard were more than enough. A coward was what he was, not even taking up arms against his brother when he had cut down their father in cold blood, no protesting when he had taken the throne as his own.

You weren’t impressed to be in his presence but you would listen to what he had to say.

You stared at the three Aspects that sat on the opposite side of the campfire, the sun barely noticeable on the horizon, stars beginning to dot up the sky in all their formations.

At this time, you and Shari would normally have been sitting alone, letting your full bellies settle after dinner and the young girl would entertain you with her hopes and dreams of a future where your lives were normal and you weren’t on the run.

Now you were joined by 3 other Aspects and the tension was palpable.

“After 10 years…” You dragged your eyes from the fire to Yoongi, “You decided to rebel against your brother?”

You were met with silence.

“Pathetic.”

Namjoon winced audibly and received a jab from Jin as Yoongi spoke, “I have my reasons. What is important is that it is happening.”

“And what, pray tell, are those reasons?” You asked coldly, standing up, dusting the dirt away from your dress and were again met with silence which didn’t surprise you, “Why should I help you, hm? Where were you when thousands of innocent people, children, were enslaved, killed, had their homes and livelihood destroyed?” Your tone changed as you continued, anger rising, “Where were you when he attacked the Northern Lands and slaughtered millions?”

“Hey, there’s no need to be so-” Jin began but you cut him off quickly with hiss and your eyes flashing green.

“Where were you when your people needed you? Hiding. Like a coward.” You finished.

“Like you?” Yoongi asked and met your hardened gaze.

You felt his words dig at your heart like a dagger, your lungs suddenly burning with how the air had been knocked out of them with two simple words, yet you refused to let it show, “You don’t know the hell I went through.” You spat, “I will not help you or your rebellion.” You announced, anger and hurt making your hands shake as you turned on your heel and headed for the cave.

“W-Wait Y/N!” Namjoon called out and moved to get up but Yoongi stopped him with a hand.

“Don’t bother. We shouldn’t have come.” He said, glaring at your retreating form.

“Maybe I can talk to her and-” Namjoon looked at his friend with pleading eyes.

“We have wasted enough time on your ideas, Namjoon.” Yoongi snapped, finally letting the anger from your words show, “The woman doesn’t want to help. Fine. Leave her to rot here.” With that he rose and left the campsite, walking in the opposite direction, disappearing in the darkness.

Namjoon sighed loudly and Jin shook his head.

What a mess.

“She wants to help you...” Came a shy, quiet voice and the two men looked at the young girl opposite of them, “But she’s scared.”

“Yoongi is scared too. He just won’t admit or show it.” Jin explained with a nod, “I’m scared. Namjoon is scared.”

“Me too.” Shari agreed and stood up, “You’re welcome to stay for the night. We have extra beddings in the cave, should you wish to sleep somewhere dry.” She bowed graciously, “Goodnight… And thank you for saving me, Jin.”

He smiled at her as she turned and left them alone at the fire.

“So… Jin, I think it’s your turn to talk to him.”

“Mistress.”

You were quick to wipe away the wetness on your cheeks as you heard Shari approach you and put a gentle hand on your shoulder. She didn’t say anything as she knelt down behind you and put her head against your back.

You felt a comforting warmth spread in your chest at her silent support and you reached up with your left hand, putting it on top of hers.

This girl had been your only source of companionship since you had escaped the palace. She had been there, next to you with her childish charms and naive hopes when you had been all gloom and doom. She had pulled you out of your night terrors, learned how to deal with them when all she should worry about was playing with other children and making friends.

She had to grow up too quickly but somehow she still had hope to keep her going forward.

You wished you still had hope.

“Shari…” Came your trembling voice and she simply squeezed your shoulder, understanding your unspoken words.

She was the only thing that kept you going these past 4 years.

Yoongi’s words had cut you deep and while you hated to admit it, he was right. You were a coward.

You were no different that he was.

You had a choice: help him overthrow his brother or stay here, in hiding... Being a coward.

You could return to a normal life. You could give Shari the life she deserved.

“You’re going to help them, aren’t you?” She asked, hopeful, and you nodded curtly. Even though you couldn’t see it, you knew she was smiling.

Perhaps you could allow yourself to have some hope, after all.

Namjoon stood awkwardly shifting on his feet outside the cave, nervously anticipating your exit.

After the talk he had with Yoongi which mostly consisted of his friend telling him to fuck off, shut up and take his big words somewhere else. It wasn’t the first time Namjoon had to give a little speech about what was right to Yoongi, even though he was the oldest and should be the wisest.

Yoongi had listened to him and had seen reason.

Now he just had to convince you to do it too.

You appeared just as he blinked, like a lightning strike from a clear sky and he yelped, causing you to raise an eyebrow as he tumbled backwards and fell onto the ground.

“Y-You startled me.”

You looked down at him with a stoic impression, “Good. I haven’t lost my touch then.” You extended a hand to help him back on his feet and he took it. Dusting himself off, he took in your attire: a burgundy robe, tied around your waist multiple times with a black piece of cloth, black pants showing underneath it, stuffed into dark boots. You shifted and he caught glimpse of a black bodice.

Then he saw the dual kopis’ at your hip and the bag on your back.

“Are you here to try and convince me to join your little rebellion once again?”

Namjoon snapped out of it and focused his eyes on your face where he saw a tiny smirk, “You knew?”

You hummed and stepped out of the cave, “I had an inkling.” You said as you walked out, “But you pacing back and forth anxiously gave it away.” You stated, glancing at the tall man and his now rosy cheeks.

“Also you talk rather loudly.”

“S-Sorry.”

Shari came running towards the two of you, adjusting the straps of her back onto her shoulder, “All done!” She exclaimed as she came up to you, smiling up at you.

“You sure?” You asked, looking down at her.

She nodded definitively, “Yes, Mistress.”

“Good. Because we won’t be coming back.”

Namjoon stumbled after you as you continued walking, “Does that mean you’ll help us?”

You kept walking, “No, I wish to see if my weapons can skin a Dragon.” You paused for effect, “Alive.”

Shari chuckled beside you as Namjoon halted in his steps, looking pale and fearful. You rolled your eyes and stopped, “I am joking, Namjoon.”

He released a breath, “Thank the Gods.” He mumbled.

“For now.” You shrugged and continued walking down the hill.

You could already smell them as you reached the base of the hill where Jin and Yoongi awaited you. Jin smiled as he spotted you and Shari while Yoongi didn’t even spare you a glance.

You were about to tell him how rude it was not to acknowledge a Lady when Jin opened his mouth, “Good morning, ladies. Looking battle ready and fierce as ever.” He complimented as you and Shari came up to him, “How are you this morning, little one?” He asked when she looked up at him, her big brown orbs twinkling with excitement.

“Excited!” Shari clapped her hands.

“I expected to see you return alone.” Yoongi stated, glancing at Namjoon.

You could still give him an earful but refrained and simply resumed walking, heading into the dense forest, Shari grabbing Jin’s hand to drag him along.

While Jin and Shari had fun playing games on the road, obviously bonding, you and Yoongi had yet to utter one word to each other. That didn’t stop the Dragon from talking about you, as if you weren’t there. He took your lack of acknowledgement as a challenge. You annoyed him. He didn’t know why but he wanted your fieryeyes on him as you lashed out at him hence his comments got more provocative as the hours went by.

You were twitching with each comment coming from him, wanting nothing more than to teach him a lesson or ten.

Instead, you tried to make small talk with Jin, asking him about his family. He had a wife, three sons and a daughter and he talked with such warmth and love about his family, that it made the annoyance caused by Yoongi fade into the back of your mind.

It made you a little sad too. While his tone was warm and happy, there was an underlying yearning to return to them.

“I miss them so much.” He admitted, the smile vanishing from his face and sadness washed over his features, “I’ve been gone for too long already.”

“How long?” You asked.

“A year, give or take. My wife sends me letters though.” He smiled but it didn’t have the same happiness as his usual ones, “The boys are getting wilder and stronger and are wreaking havoc in the house.”

“What about your daughter?” Shari asked, “How old is she?”

Jin looked down at his side, “She’s a little younger than you and she is amazing. Strong, beautiful, funny, smart… Takes after her father, you know.” He winked at Shari and ruffled her hair, “You remind me of her actually.”

You smiled at the interaction. The young girl sorely lacked a father figure in her life. You were all that she had but even you couldn’t give her everything a child needed, no matter how hard you tried. Certainly not a life where she feared for her life everyday was fit for a child.

“We’re nearing the camp.” Yoongi caused the moment to fade with his statement.

You didn’t have to wait long until the air filled with the scents of sweat, horses, leather and smog.

“How many men?” You asked Yoongi as he walked up beside you, finally looking at him.

“2000.” He said curtly.

“2000? That’s not nearly enough to attack the Imperial city. Your brother has tens-of-thousands of soldiers.” You stated, eyes widening as Yoongi merely shrugged and bypassed you, picking up his pace as the camp got closer.

Truly, he couldn’t be serious?

Shari clung to you as you walked further and further into the large camp, soldiers all around you barely paying you any attention, the few that did curtly inclined their heads as a formal greeting.

“I don’t like it here.” The young girl murmured and you hugged her tighter to you, knowing her fear of soldiers and wished you could whisk her away.

“I’ll protect you, Shari. Don’t worry.”

“I know.”

Yoongi led the way through the camp and when you came upon a larger tent, he entered it and you followed suit with Jin and Namjoon behind you.

In the tent was two men, each dressed in their own battle attire. It was the sigils on their back that indicated their status and just how important they were.

“You’ve gathered other Aspects?” You asked, eyes slightly widening when their heads turned to look at you.

“They’ve returned!”

You couldn’t distinguish whose voice it was, mind still reeling from the fact that Yoongi had gotten so many Aspects to join the rebellion, especially considering that some of them present was allies with the Emperor.

“Is this who I think it is?” A voice snapped you out of it and you took a step back when the owner of the voice strolled over to you with strong steps, inhaling deeply, “It is!”

You looked up, a very young but muscular man, with wide brown eyes stared at you with amazement and a grin that reached his ears

“Careful, Jungkook.” Yoongi warned him, “She has a bad habit of attacking first and asking questions later.”

Your eyes narrowed as Jungkook shook his head, “She looks nice though!”

Could they stop talking about you as if you weren’t there?

Then Jungkook leaned in close, too close for comfort and you felt the beginnings of a hiss in your throat when he sniffed you. Loudly.

“And she smells so good!”

Aspect of the Dog, you guessed.

“A true beauty.” Another voice drawled and you turned your head to see a slightly older man make his way to you, his eyes sharp and focused, his presence sending a shiver down your back.

He was intimidating.

“Jackson…” Yoongi warned cooly, watching as his comrade drank in the sight of you.

Jackson, as was his name, bowed graciously in front of you, “My name is Jackson and I am the Aspect of the Tiger, my fair lady.” He took your free hand and kissed it, making Shari giggle and he winked at her, “You honor us with your presence.”

Yoongi snorted loudly and you glared at him briefly before smiling at Jackson, “Thank you. Finally someone with manners.”

This caused Yoongi to glare at you.

“Ah, you make me blush, my lady.”

“Please, call me Y/N.”

“First name basis already. I like it.”

“Are you done making the rest of us gag?” Yoongi huffed.

“Jealousy is an ugly thing, Yoongi.”

“I am not-”

“Alright, everyone, settle down and let’s get back to what we’re actually here for.” Namjoon’s voiced boomed over the others, successfully silencing them. He walked over to the table and placed his hands on it, “Scout reports?”

“None yet, Namjoon. They have yet to return and-” Jungkook was cut off as the curtain to the tent was whipped aside and in stepped another man but this one, you knew.

Your eyes widened as you took in the huffing Jimin, his cheeks red from exertion but they were still those soft cheeks you remember cupping in your hands, the same plush lips that you remember kissing you on the cheek, the same brown eyes that had once pleadingly begged you to let him go and now they landed on you and he stopped speaking. You hadn’t even noticed that he had begun talking.

“Y-Y/N?” His voice crumbled steadily as you let go of Shari and walked over to him, your heart leaping in your chest as he quickly crossed the distance and drew you into his arms, hugging you tightly.

“Gods, I’ve missed you.” He mumbled before burying his face in the junction of your neck and shoulder, nuzzling it with his nose.

You felt teary-eyed as he drew you back and he beamed when he saw your face, “I missed you too.” You managed to get past the lump in your throat.

The sweet reunion was interrupted as Namjoon cleared his throat and Jimin removed himself from your arms and walked over to the table.

“I have a few questions for you, Jimin, but we’ll talk later. Now, what have our scouts found out?” The Aspect of the Monkey asked, his eyes flicking between you and Jimin.

The sun was setting over the Imperial City, bathing the building in a golden hue and coupled with it’s brightly colored tiles and buildings, it would make for a breathtaking painting.

The golden towers of the Imperial Palace glinted in the sun as they stood high above the rest of the city, like a beacon of light guiding those who needed safety from the dark.

But all this simply covered up the grim truth of the city and it’s inhabitants. The streets were littered with sick people, the poor sitting on the corners, begging for a coin just so they could buy a loaf of bread, starving orphans that didn’t even have the strength to stand, let alone play. The streets were no longer clean or traversable as they were covered with garbage.

What had once been a bustling city, a hub for all traders alike, a place where teaching and schooling was important, a city that felt safe with the guards patrolling the streets, was now the opposite. It was a city full of hopelessness, death and decay.

And the one who ruled over the city and it’s people cared not about it.

Emperor Min sat on his golden throne, staring at his sword when his spymaster entered the throne room, his eyes locked onto the Emperor, “My Lord.”

“Ah, spymaster Lee.” Min glanced at the man, “I hope you bring good news.”

“I-I do, my Lord. The Southern borderlands raids have been successful… Um, the new recruits have proven to be quite effective.”

“That is good news indeed, Lee.”

“I do have… bad news, my Lord.”

Min sighed and reclined back in his throne, waving his hand, “Yes, out with it.”

“M-my scouts say that the Tiger Aspect...” Lee trailed off, fear interlaced with his voice, “That he has joined your brother’s rebellion.”

The booming laughter that followed made the spymaster take a step back as the Emperor rose from the throne, “Good, finally I have an excuse to kill him.”

“There’s more, my Lord.”

Min looked at the trembling man and raised a brow, “What?”

“Reports h-has come in and s-some say that they’ve seen her.”

“WHAT?!” Min roared and Lee fell to his knees with a whimper, “That bitch is still alive?!” He growled and swiped at a decorated vase, sending it flying across the room, “Not only did my brother, now her as well! Why doesn’t people know that when killed, you stay dead!”

Lee cowered before his Emperor as his shadow fell over him, “It’s fine. It’ll be fine.” Min sighed and placed a hand on his spymaster’s head, “You will send assassins after her.”

“Y-Yes, my Lord!”

“But if they fail, my dear spymaster, then you,” Min paused, grabbing Lee’s chin roughly, forcing him to look up, “You will pay for their mistakes with your life.”

“This is your tent.” Jin drew back the curtain and you walked inside, Shari in tow, “I know it’s a little small but it will be a couple of days before we leave.”

“To the Imperial City?” Shari asked, looking up at him.

“Yes.”

“Will I be fighting too?”

Jin gave her a small smile as he knelt down and ruffled her hair, “No. You will be staying where it’s safe.”

“But who will be protecting me?”

“Some of the soldiers.”

“Then I’d rather be out there fighting with you! I refuse to be near-”

“Shari.” You short call of her name made her mouth close quickly, “Why don’t you find Namjoon and ask for some water?”

Hesitantly, your handmaiden nodded and left the tent, leaving you and Jin alone. When she was out of earshot, you looked at Jin, “Shari doesn’t feel safe around soldiers.”

“I gathered as much… Why?” Jin asked and leaned against the pole that held the tent up.

You sighed quietly and turned your back to him, “Before becoming my handmaiden, she had a family but they were poor and like so many other poor people, she had to steal food.” You began untying your belt holding your kopis’, “One day, she had snuck into the palace barracks after having followed a tradewagon of food. She was spotted and didn’t get away.” Jin nodded as you continued, “She was put in front of the Emperor as she had trespassed into the Royal Grounds and attempted to steal from the Emperor himself.”

Jin shifted on his legs, beginning to feel unsettled, “What happened then?”

“The Emperor told the guards to ‘punish her however they saw fit’.” You told him and he felt a shiver run down his back, “I begged him to call it off, to punish me instead and let her go. I knew what those guards intended to do, Jin, I could smell it on them. The desire.” You felt sick to the stomach as you recalled it, “She had her clothes torn off, in the middle of the throne room and all the Emperor was doing, was laughing as she cried for help.”

“Please don’t tell me they-” He began, eyes tearing up.

“No. I stopped it before it got that far.” You cut him off and placed your belt on the table and you heard him murmur ‘how’, “I killed the one who was holding her down. Sliced his throat.”

Jin closed his eyes and shook his head, “And the others?”

“I killed them that same night.”

“And you?”

You stilled briefly, thinking it went unnoticed but Jin saw, “What did he do to you, Y/N?”

You ignored the question and continued, “Two nights later, her family’s house was burned down. With her family inside it.”

“Gods…” Jin exhaled, his heart breaking for the young girl, “So you took her in?” You nodded.

“She has no else but me, Jin. Shari has been there for me when I had no one. I owe her much.” You turned to face him, “Which is why I am warning you, should any harm come to her while under your soldier’s protection-”

“I promise that she will stay safe.” He quickly cut you off, “Please. Shari will be safe when we head into battle.” You stared at him for a moment, as if trying to gauge if he was truthful but then you nodded and walked past him, just in time as Shari entered the tent.

“Namjoon said he will have someone bring water to us, Mistress.” Shari told you and you smiled at her.

“Thank you, Shari.”

Jin pushed off from the pole and inclined his head, “I’ll be going then. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

As he left your tent, he felt deeply troubled by the fact that you had avoided his question concerning you. Just how much had you endured at the hands of Min?

He didn’t want to think about it.

“Did she say anything?” Yoongi’s voice startled him out of his thoughts and Jin whirled around to see his friend approach him, “I saw her kid leave the tent.”

“Are you stalking me?” Jin asked, crossing his arms as he raised a brow, “Or are you stalking her?”

Yoongi snorted and brushed past him, settling against a rack of weapons, “As if.”

“I’ve known you for over a decade, Yoongi.” Jin eyed his friend’s relaxed posture, “And I think you’re intrigued by her.” As his words settled, gone was the relaxed posture and his friend tumbled against the rack, almost causing it to fall over which resulted in Jin laughing out loud.

“I-I am not! She’s annoying, has a stick up her ass-”

“I think you want to be said stick.”

“Jin, I am warning you…” Yoongi trailed off, knowing by the grin Jin had, that his cheeks were tinted pink. Still, the older man held up his hands in surrender and Yoongi scoffed.

“But to answer your question, she told me of how she and Shari ended up together.” And so, Jin proceeded to retell the story to Yoongi.

Yoongi couldn’t sleep that night, thoughts running rampant in his mind, the story Jin had told him and the fact that you had avoided Jin’s question, troubled him. He knew his brother was a sick bastard.

But his mind ran wild with imaginations of what his brother had done to you and he felt sickened by it. It bothered him that it was all he could worry about when he was about to start a war in less than two days.

But he had also found a new kind of respect for you. To hear that you had willingly offered yourself for punishment to save a simple girl was not matching the image that he had created of you in his mind.

It actually proved it wrong.

And in a way, despite how horrifying that story was, he was glad that Jin had told him.

He wondered if there was more to you than just glares, snark comments and aloofness.

Why are people yelling, screaming and cheering at the asscrack of dawn? Was Yoongi’s first thought as he exited his tent, grumpy and still wrecked with sleep, “What the fuck is all this commotion?!” He yelled and some soldiers jogging by, stopped.

“There’s a fight happening, my Lord.”

“A fight? Who the fuck wants to fight each other before breakfast?”

The two soldiers glanced at each other and one of them spoke, “Jimin and the Lady and… It’s midday, my Lord.”

Yoongi rubbed one eye with hand, “Midday-” He looked up and squinted at the sun, “It’s midday… Shit.”

“Was there anything else you needed, my Lord?”

He waved his hand, “No and don’t call me that, I’m no Lord.” The soldiers saluted and ran off and Yoongi turned on his heel, heading back into his tent when he froze, “Jimin and Y/N? Fighting?”

He ran, following the stream of soldiers and he saw the large group of people, forming an arena around the two fighters. Grunting, he pushed his way through the crowd and reached the centre.

You grunted with effort as you pushed Jimin off you, “Gotta be faster than that, rabbit.” You goaded and took a defensive stan and Jimin attacked you again with a swift kick aimed at your stomach but you intercepted it with one hand and wrapped your other hand around his thigh and pulled.

Yoongi watched as you hurdled Jimin down onto the ground with a cry, creating a wave of dust at impact and he shielded his eyes.

“So far, it looks like she’s winning this round.” He heard Jin’s voice and looked around, trying to spot him and he saw him stand next to Namjoon and Jackson a few feet away.

“Why the fuck are they fighting?” Yoongi asked when he approached them, causing all three men to whip around to face him.

“Ah, overslept again, I see. Bad habit.” Namjoon stated with a shrug.

“They’re sparring, my dear friend.” Jin clarified and drew Yoongi in with an arm around his shoulder, “Come! Join us!”

“In what?”

“Betting on who is going to win this last round. So far the score is 1-1 so this is the last round.” Jin said with a grin, “I’d bet on Y/N. She’s been throwing Jimin around this round like he’s wet paper.”

“Jimin clearly has the upperhand and is simply dragging out the time!” Jungkook joined them, “Everyone knows that he’s the best damn close-combat fighter in these lands.”

Namjoon looked at the youngest Aspect just as Jimin was crawling out of the hole you had put him in, “I wouldn’t quite say that, Jungkook. You see, Y/N and Jimin trained together back when they were younger.”

Yoongi looked at him, “How do you know?”

“He told me. I was curious as of how they knew each other.” He explained with a bored expression.

“Yes, and apparently they were lovers at one point too.” Jackson grumbled angrily, “But I am going to make her my woman! No rabbit will stand in my way.”

Yoongi didn’t know if he wanted to hit Jackson or not, “You can’t force her to be your anything if she doesn’t want to.”

Jackson shifted his eyes from the fight to Yoongi, “I will not force her. I will make her fall for me with my charms. I’m sure you could learn a thing or two, young Dragon.”

Yoongi opened his mouth but Jin was quick to place his hand over it, turning his head to you and Jimin, “Alright, that’s enough kids.”

Jimin wiped the sweat off his brow and chuckled, “I see you haven’t gotten completely rusty on your old days, Y/N.”

“Did you just call me old, Jimin?” You asked as you began to circle each other, “We both know I was always the better fighter.”

“Not true. I’ve beaten you plenty of times.”

“That was years ago.”

You set off and Jimin jumped backwards, turning his body midair, avoiding your charge and you put one foot to the ground, whirling around, just in time to block a punch from him.

“We can keep going like this all day, Y/N.” He noted as you huffed, straining against his fist in your hand, “Or I can at least.”

“I am not tired, if that’s what you’re insinuating.”

You headbutted him, hard, causing him to groan and stumble back but you gave him no breathing room as you charged at him again, wrapping your arms around his midsection at you collided with his body.

Jimin grabbed your shoulders as he placed his feet solidly on the ground, halting you and then he aimed a well-placed kneecap right into your stomach, sending you flying upwards into the air. You maneuvered yourself to land safely on both feet, a distance away from him.

The crowd began cheering but it quickly died down when your eyes began to glow green and the crowd moved outwards, creating a greater distance between you and them.

“Oh, so you want to fight dirty now?” Jimin yelled but stomped the ground with a foot, causing it to tremble slightly, his own eyes flashing pink, “Let’s go then.”

“Now it’s getting interesting.” Jin clapped his hands and smiled excitedly.

“You enjoy violence way to much, my friend.” Namjoon noted and shook his head.

At that very second, the sparring contest jumped up to a whole new level, ditching any slow movements, doubts or hesitations to leave room for two living blurs chaining blows and blocks at astonishing speed.

After a long moment spent out of time, you could hardly tell if it'd been one minute or one hour, you decided that you had enjoyed yourselves enough and impulsively went on the offensive. Jimin, still focused on the playful yet deadly dancing, noticed too late that the game part was over... He received a powerful blow in the ribs and growled with anger.

"Good one!” He groaned, frowning at her at the second he counterattacked.

You dodged him and resumed into a regular exchange of blocked blows, only this time much more violent... and aiming at hurting. You had struck without restraint, which meant you'd put enough strength in your fist to break his bones. Good thing he was an Aspect, because had he been human, he would have had a broken rib or three.

He kept playing cat and mouse with you until the right opportunity: he seized your right arm as he blocked it and pulled you toward him. Thrown off balance, you reacted by sending your knee right between Jimin’s legs.

Jimin froze on place as a wave of immense pain spread from his groin, "Really?" He managed to get out.

But he didn't have time to waste as you used his temporary loss of control to grab him and send him flying across the arena. People were quick to move out of the way and he crashed heavily against a couple of tents that fell or broke upon impact. Jimin clenched his teeth to keep his pain silent and shook his head to clear his thoughts just in time to see you rush toward him to try and finish the match before he was back in the game. Jimin dodged your leg that created a small hole in the ground and got up on his feet and leaped toward you, taking advantage of your precarious balance to grip your waist with both his arms and pin you on the ground.

You fell, entangled, and struggled on the dirt to take the upper hand. You finally got it, straddled him and threw a powerful punch toward his jaw. But your friend deflected it with his free arm and countered with a strong head butt.

Unfortunately for him, you were… pretty hard-headed.

“You can do better, Jimin.”

Then Jimin lifted his right leg in your back, placed it between your chests and gripped your neck in the bend of his knee before pushing you backwards. You saw the danger come; if you let the man block your head between his strong legs, you could very well lose the match.

You resisted the movement, all the effort concentrated in your abdominal muscles, then used your hands and arms to free yourself while sending your foot to Jimin’s jaw for good measure. You heard him growl as you rolled on the side and stood up. Jimin jumped to his feet and rubbed his jaw soothingly before joking, “You’re really trying to damage my handsome face.”

“It’ll heal.”

And you attacked, even faster, even stronger, to the crowd’s general amazement, trying more and more daring and risky moves to find a way past the each other's defenses. You both sometimes took the upper hand, but the more time passed, the more you gained the advantage over him, hurting his weak spots with the precision of a striking cobra. Jimin scored some good hits too, like the full-powered kick he'd managed to land on your shoulder and which had sent you staggering, the loud crack indicating that he had dislocated it.

You simply but it back in place with a small hiss.

Nevertheless, Jimin started to feel the match was escaping him. While he began to tire under your constant assaults, your energy seemed endless. You really were a formidable opponent.

You exchanged a new flurry of blows until he missed a block and took an uppercut fully charged in the throat, followed by another in his chest. The first cut his breathing for a short instant, the next caused a loud crack to echo through the camp and he immediately knew – through the sound and the intolerable pain that flooded his veins – that you actually managed break a pair of his ribs. He staggered and fell on his knees, coughing and grunting in pain.

He saw you hesitate; you’d heard the terrible noise but he could tell you really wanted to win this match. He knew why it was so important to you, that the soldiers and the other Aspects needed to believe in your strength, to assert yourself in a powerful position.

In the end, it seemed your fear to have badly wounded him superseded your determination and you moved closer to check he was okay. Your softness were really your biggest weakness.

Jimin sprung like a tiger on it’s prey. He had you.

But you had anticipated the deception this time – you knew him too well – and you leaped backwards, moving out of his reach. You both landed on your feet and observed each other.

Even with a few broken ribs, your friend would have no trouble trading blows until he saw an opportunity to immobilize you, so you had to be careful.

You could feel the audience holding their breath around you, waiting like statues for something to happen.

It seemed like you had to use the element of surprise.

Jimin was taking his sweet time to approach, knowing that rushing would only give you the chance to dodge and escape. You observed him intently, seemingly trying to figure him out. He could almost hear the wheels of your brain turning faster.

Then suddenly, he stood within striking distance, he focused and attacked, fist first so he could follow up with a kick to block your escape. You evaded the blow at the last second, but not in the way he'd anticipated.

You jumped. High.

Then you fell. On him. Legs wide open.

Jimin was so surprised he missed the only half-a-second long window that could have gotten him out of there, and suddenly his nose and mouth collided with your lower stomach while your legs closed around his neck. Your entire body suddenly weighed on his shoulders, and you used your momentum to accentuate the movement and make him topple backwards.

Almost slowly, Jimin took three steps back and, unable to keep his balance, collapsed on the ground. His back slammed against the ground, the impact only dampened by the presence of your legs crossed against his nape. You then bent forward to evade your victim's leg swings and kicks, and a large smirk appeared on your face.

“You give up?” You asked, still smirking.

“Yes, I tap out.” He rolled his eyes and felt you dislodge yourself from him. The crowd began cheering when you helped him back on your feet, your eyes having returned to their natural color.

“I am going to marry that woman. Gods, I am so hard right now.” Jackson mumbled, staring at you as you talked to Jimin.

“Gross, Jackson. Really? Ugh.” Jin scowled.

Yoongi ignored all of them but he had to agree with Jackson. He too, had never been so hard as he was at that moment.

After the fight, Jimin had invited you to a walk. You had your right hand placed on his forearm as he walked beside you, through the noisy camp, soldiers and horses running around you. The tension in the camp had heightened since you arrived, clearly anticipated for the battle.

You didn’t want to think about that now.

“How have you been all these years?” You asked him, looking up at him. He was just as handsome as you remembered him, even with dirt and sweat spattered across his face.

“I’ve been good. Busy. But good.” He said with a smile and glanced down at you, “And you?”

You slowly looked away from him and ahead, “I’ve been… Surviving.” Jimin’s smile faded, “Yeah. Surviving.”

“Y/N… Why didn’t you come to me?” He placed his other hand upon the one that rested on his forearm, “I could have helped you.”

“No, you couldn’t. I had just helped you escape from him and I would only have put you in danger had I sought you out. I didn’t want to endanger anyone else.” You shook your head, “I feared that he might have found you and killed you after you disappeared.”

“I have a friend, Taehyung and he took me in, helped me heal and get back on my feet but since I had no lands left, I sort of remained with him until Yoongi arrived on his doorstep, asking us to be a part of his rebellion.” Jimin explained.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t stop him, Jimin.” Your head hung low as he slowed down, “I tried but he wouldn’t listen.” You closed your eyes, “You lost everything.” Your voice trembled slightly as your heart constricted painfully in your chest.

“Hey.” He put a finger under your chin to make you look at him, “Not everything. I have you, don’t I?” You nodded, blinking, and Jimin was quick to wipe away the single tear that fell, “I have Tae, Namjoon, Jin, Yoongi, even Jackson. I got a wife and a kid on the way.”

“You what?” Your eyes widened, “Why didn’t you tell me?” You hit his arm and he laughed, “You tell me this now?!”

“Sorry, I didn’t tell you sooner.” He smiled and tugged you gently along as he began walking, “What about you, Y/N? Any bachelors?”

You snorted, loudly, “I haven’t really been lucky in that aspect, Jimin, and after the last one, it has sort of been the last thing on my mind.”

“Really? Hm, we should change that. What about Jackson?”

“As handsome as he might be, he’s a little too aggressive for my tastes.”

“Jungkook?”

“Too young.”

“My friend, Taehyung is still unmarried but I don’t think the two of you will get along very well.”

“Why?”

“He’s the Goat Aspect.”

You chuckled softly, “You’re right about that one.”

“Hm. What about Yoongi?”

You almost tripped over your own feet at the mention of his name, “The brother of the man who ruined my life? What a good idea, Jimin.”

Jimin frowned and stopped walking, “Yoongi is not like his brother, Y/N. He is a good man, albeit a little…”

“Cold? Rude? Pig-headed?”

“Yeah, that but he’s kind, compassionate and strong-willed. He actually reminds me of you.”

You threw your head back and laughed, “Please. He and I are not alike. He could have stopped his brother from killing their father but he didn’t. Instead, he let it happen and got banished from the palace. He could have stopped Min from doing all of the terrible things he’s done but no, he didn’t even try. It’s a miracle he’s mustered up the balls to finally do something.”

Jimin looked thoughtful for a moment before he spoke, “Yoongi actually tried to kill his brother that day he killed their father.” Your eyes widened and all humour left your face, “But Min… Killed him.”

“B-But how? He’s alive-”

“Magic.” He simply stated.

You reeled back, “Magic like that is forbidden and for good reason…”

“A life for a life.”

“Who…?”

“His mother.” Jimin sighed and it felt like all the air had been punched out of your lungs, “After Min killed Yoongi, he threw him into the river. Jin found him a couple of days later, floating in the river. He pulled him from the river and brought him into his house. At first he contemplated of burning him but… He was contacted by the Empress.”

“How? She remained in the palace-”

“She was a witch.” Your eyes widened at the revelation, “Yeah. There weren’t many magic users left back then but she was one of the few.” Jimin continued, “She made Jin take an oath to keep Yoongi safe until the time was right.” Jimin paused and looked at you, “So don’t say that Yoongi didn’t try.”

“But why now?”

“He was scared. Like you. He still is. So… Cut him slack.”

“We haven’t really… talked that much. Mostly fought, actually.” You snickered but it was hollow, “I may have treated him with contempt. Because he looks like him…”

“And you know that’s wrong.”

“Yes.”

“You know, maybe you should reach out to him, try to make him understand you a little better. Try to be friends. History tells us that the Snake and Dragon were always good friends.”

“That’s putting the bar a little high, Jimin. I’ll just begin with being a little nicer to him.”

“That’s my girl.”

Yoongi was, mildly speaking, having an existential crisis. Okay, maybe not that extreme but he was certainly having a crisis.

About you.

Okay, so maybe Jin was right. He was intrigued by you. He could even admit that he was attracted to you, as was proven by his earlier predicament. He had never seen such elegance and strength before, certainly not in a fight. Sure, you and Jimin were both excellent fighters but you… You had truly stolen his focus.

He still found you annoying and uptight but perhaps that would change with time as he got to know you.

He wanted to know more about you.

“Fancy meeting you here.” Your voice startled him and he visibly flinched, “Did I startle you? Good.” You snickered.

He expected you to walk away but instead, you approached him and sat down next to him in the soft grass.

“You are really annoying.” Yoongi said, sparing you a glance. You had changed your outfit. You were no longer clad in a bodytight suit that accentuated your curves, breast or ass.

Frankly spoken, he was glad that you had changed. He didn’t want a raging boner again.

Now you were dressed in a simple, long dress and your hair cascaded down your shoulders. You looked relaxed.

“So are you.” You retorted and shot him a glare, “Did you see the fight earlier?”

“I did.”

“I didn’t see you.”

“Oh, so you were looking for me?” Yoongi smirked and turned his head to look at you, taking much pleasure in how you sputtered and shook your head wildly.

“Absolutely not.”

“Hm.”

A moment of silence passed and you felt uneasy under his sharp eyes, shifting in the grass.

“Are you scared of me, Y/N?”

You froze at the question and opened your mouth to answer but decided to close it again. Yoongi took your silence as his answer and moved to get up when your hand grabbed his wrist.

“I am not scared of you… As per say.” You began, looking at him with pleading eyes, asking him silently to stay, “But you look exactly like him and… sometimes my mind thinks you are him.”

“I am not him.” Yoongi said but sat back down next to you.

“I know that! But that still doesn’t change the fact that you look exactly like the man that....” You trailed off, not wanting to venture out where you couldn’t go back.

“The man that what?” He pushed and he saw you pale, “Y/N, what did my brother do to you?”

You whispered something and at first he didn’t hear it but he heard it the second time.

“He ruined me.” You murmured weakly and gone was the strong, pig-headed woman he had only seen up till now. You were shaking, pale and afraid.

“He… ruined you?”

You rubbed your arms, suddenly feeling cold to the bones, “Your brother was once my betrothed but you already know that, I’m sure. My family thought that it would be a good match and an honor to have their daughter marry the Emperor and thus I was sent to the palace 3 months before the wedding would take place, to prepare me for the grandiose honor of becoming Empress.” You let out a short, emotionless laugh, “Empress. I was supposed to be nothing more but a trophy. He treated me as such as well. A thing... A plaything that he could burn, flog, cut and beat until I was drowning in a sea of my own blood. To torture endlessly until he grew bored of it. But none of that broke me… It wasn’t until he forced himself upon me that my spirit broke.”

Your eyes teared up but you continued, “It happened once and it was after I had betrayed him by helping Jimin escape from the palace. He thought giving me 12 lashes wasn’t enough. I had to be taught a lesson.”

Yoongi closed his eyes, wishing and regretting he asked, “And that was when I began to fear him.”

“Y/N…”

“Your brother not only scarred my body to the point where I can’t even stand to look at it, he also-”

“Y/N, stop!” Yoongi raised his voice, “That’s enough.” His voice trembled, wrought with emotion, “Stop. Please.”

You turned your head to look at him as he took your hand in his, his thumb gliding over your palm in an effort to comfort you. It didn’t comfort you and when you saw the emotions swirling in his eyes; the sorrow, the sympathy, you broke down.

Yoongi didn’t know what to do when you leaned into his side, crying softly, your hand clenching his strongly as if you needed him to keep you anchored, so your emotions didn’t get the better of you.

He hushed you gently as you wept and he stayed with you until the last of your tears had dried up.

You sat in comfortable silence, your head placed on his shoulder and you breathed in deeply, feeling slightly light-headed.

“I was wrong about you and for that, I apologize.” He said softly, clenching your hand within his.

You simply hummed in response and closed your eyes, silently wishing the moment to last a little bit longer.

Jin noticed a change between you and Yoongi. It all began when he saw you smiling a tiny smile in Yoongi’s direction that morning and the Dragon’s own lips tugged upwards. Then his friend had walked over to you and placed a hand on your shoulder and Jin expected you to send Yoongi flying, but you didn’t. Instead you let it linger there as the two of you talked.

Then Yoongi leaned in closer and whispered something in your ear that made you flustered and now you actually hit him.

Just not with full force. Which Jin had expected. No, you simply swiped your arm leisurely at his shoulder while Yoongi was smiling at you.

What was this?

The Ox kept a close eye on you throughout the day as it passed by. The two of you would walk, side by side, through the camp while Yoongi talked to you about his journey that led him here. He told you of how he had gathered the other Aspects and of how the rest would meet them at the city. Jin also noticed how your hand lingered on Yoongi’s arm, as you listened intently to what he was saying.

“Is it just me or are those two actually being… Friendly?” Jackson asked, eyes locked on you and Yoongi walking amongst the tents, “That’s quite a change over the span of a few days…”

“Are you scared he might steal her from you?” Jungkook smiled at Jackson, “I think he might.” That earned him a hard hit on the shoulder, “Ow.”

“Shut up, mutt. I refuse to believe that Y/N would fall for someone like him.”

“And what if she does? What then?” Jin levelled a hard stare at Jackson, “I actually think they make quite the pair.”

“His brother-”

“His brother is his own person, Jackson. You know this. Now Y/N does too. Let them be.”

“You know, you actually surprise me, Yoongi.”

“How so?”

“I didn’t expect you to be this smart. I actually kind of expected you to be quite… Dumb.”

“You surprise me as well.”

“Do tell.”

“You’re even more annoying once one get to know you.”

You slapped his arm but there was a smile on your lips, “It’s a part of my charm, thank you very much.”

“You are actually, quite charming.” His compliment made your cheeks heat up. He’s been doing that a lot lately. Complimenting you, that is.

And it made butterflies erupt in your stomach.

You didn’t know what to make of it.

“I have a question, Y/N.”

You looked at him with a tilt of your head, “Ask away.”

“What will you do after?” Yoongi glanced at you, “If we win.”

You hardly doubted that it would be a hard-earned victory. You had no doubt that people would die.

But somewhere, something told you that you would win.

“I… Don’t know. I mean, Shari and I have been on the run for so long, that I can’t imagine us doing anything else but…” You paused and looked off, into the distance, watching the setting sun, “I could see myself in a house, with Shari, tending to our garden.”

“No husband?” He asked.

You chewed your lip, “Maybe. If the right one comes along.” You felt him shift beside you, “What about you? What are your plans once you become Emperor?”

“I don’t plan to become Emperor.”

Your head whipped towards him, eyes wide, “W-What? Surely you must be jesting, Yoongi. Who else is there but you?”

“I can make a whole list of people who would be a better Emperor than I.” He declared and shrugged, “I don’t want to be Emperor. I never wanted that.”

“There are many that would disagree with you. Myself, included.” You stated, placing a hand on top of his, “But that is up to you. No one can or will force you.”

Yoongi smiled slowly, “Thank you.”

“What do you want then?”

He hummed and leaned back, resting against the tree that towered over you, “I want many things. To travel the world. Learn new languages. Meet new people. I want to settle down, own a farm or something like that.”

“You really want it all?”

“I want it all.” He parroted you, his brown eyes shifting from you to the sun, “Nothing less.”

“Then you shall have it all, Yoongi.”

Later that evening, a couple of hours after sunset, Shari pounced you the minute you entered your tent and you yelped, “Ah! Hello.”

“Miffed u, istres.” She mumbled into your cloak and you chuckled when she drew her head back and looked up at you, “You’ve been gone for almost the whole day.” She pouted as you patted her head.

“Namjoon hasn’t been entertaining you enough?” You asked as she let go of you, shaking your head at her small ‘no’, “You know it’s not very polite to be ungrateful, Shari. Namjoon offered to teach you to read and write all by himself.”

“I know, Mistress but it’s more fun when it’s you.”

You huffed out a laugh and took off your cloak, putting it on your bed, “I’ll teach you once this war is over with, I promise.”

“Yay!” Shari clapped her hands and you smiled at her excitement but then it died down and she looked solemn, “We’re leaving tomorrow…” She murmured and you walked over to her and knelt down, “I-I’m nervous.”

“I know. Me too.”

“What if you die?”

You cupped her cheek, “I won’t.”

“Promise?”

You kissed her cheek, “Promise.” and Shari graced you with a small smile, “Now, how about a bath? You stink.”

“That was rude, Mistress. You could use a bath yourself.” She scowled at you but her eyes lit up at the mention of a bath, “But I forgot my soap.”

“You can borrow mine.” You winked at her as she cheered, “It’ll be just a minute.”

“Ugh.”

“You can ahead and head towards the stream. Don’t leave the camp though. Stay within the light of the torches.” You told her and she was almost halfway out the entrance when you called to her, “And take my cloak. It’s a little cold outside.”

“What about you then?”

You snickered, “I’m going to be fine.”

Shari grabbed your cloak and ran outside as she struggled to put it on. She breathed in deeply, the scent of your vanilla soap and lotus perfume lingering on the cloak and hugged it tightly to her body. She pulled the hood over her head and headed towards the edge of the camp.

Sharp eyes landed on the hooded figure and grinned as he recognized the cloak. He dipped the arrow head in the bottle of acid and notched it, taking aim.

“This is almost too easy.”

You exited your tent, a cloth bag in your hand containing your soaps as you headed towards the edge of camp, looking forward to a nice bath and some time alone with Shari.

But then you heard someone yell and saw soldiers run by you. You picked up your pace but that was when you smelled it.

Blood.

You dropped the bag onto the ground and bolted, not giving a single care to the gathered people as you shoved them away, your heart beating wildly in your chest as you prayed to the Gods that what you feared was not-

You stopped. Stopped breathing. Stopped moving. Stopped thinking.

There, on the ground, lay a small body, wearing your cloak, in a pool of her own blood. You saw the arrow in her back, smelled the acid that had burned a hole into her chest.

You screamed. Loudly. You fell to your knees next to Shari’s body and turned her around, weeping loudly as you saw her lifeless eyes stare up at you, “No… No… Please… No.”

You pulled her to your chest, hugging her tightly, “Shari, wake up.” You whispered brokenly, shaking her gently but the only thing that moved was a single trail of blood from her mouth.

You cupped the back of her head, pulling it to you and buried your face in her hair as the hood fell from her head and wept.

Jin and Yoongi pushed their way through the crowd but halted the second they saw you cradling Shari’s body, weeping loudly, whimpering, begging her to wake up.

Jin’s eyes teared up and he took a deep breath, his eyelids closing as a stray tear ran down his cheek.

Yoongi slowly walked over to you and knelt down, his knees sinking into blood-soaked dirt and he slowly put a hand on your shoulder. You didn’t move as you kept looking at Shari’s face, “Please don’t leave me.” You sobbed.

“Y/N.” He said but you shook your head.

Yoongi looked down at the young girl, taking in her pained expression that was etched onto her face, her last moment. He took a deep breath before glancing at Jin over his shoulder, “Find the one who did this and bring them to me.”

Jin nodded and left.

Dawn came and you stood atop a hill, holding a torch and looked up, seeing the funeral pyre for the first time. You slowly walked over to it and looked down at the body that lay atop of it.

You heard Jin behind you, beginning his parting words. You tuned them out and took one last longing look at Shari’s face. She looked peaceful, with her eyes closed, her face clean, her hair done neatly in a braid. You could hear her bubbling laughter on the wind as it blew and you let your eyes close as you put the torch to the pyre and let it drop to the ground, stepping away.

Yoongi walked up to you, standing beside you, his head bowed. He could hear your shuddering breaths and he let his hand brush yours gently, offering his support in silence.

You took his hand interlaced your fingers as you silently let tears roll down your cheeks, watching the pyre carry the ashes of her to somewhere far away and you prayed, silently, that wherever it was, Shari had everything that she dreamed of.

Jungkook held the curtain to the tent aside and you walked in, accompanied by Yoongi, Jin, Namjoon, Jimin and Jackson.

“I chased him down after… what happened.” The young man said softly, You said nothing but simply walked over to the bound man and looked down at him. He looked up and his eyes widened when he saw you stand in front of him.

“He’s yours to do with as you please.” Yoongi stated.

You nodded and they took this as the cue to leave the tent. You sat down graciously in front of the man and removed the cloth from his mouth.

“How is this possible? I killed you.” His voice was dry and trembling as you calmly stared at him.

“You failed.” You explained, your voice cold as ice.

“I-I…”

“And now you will die.”

“You don’t scare me, snake,” He spat the word but there was still a sliver of fear in his tone, “The Emperor would have killed me anyway for failing him.”

You nodded slowly and pulled out a small vial, filled with a green substance, “Yes. He would probably beheaded you or have you hanged.” You removed the lid from the bottle and raised it up between your faces, “What I intend to do is much worse.” Your eyes flashed green as they met his, “Do you know what my poison does to a human body? It’s much like the concoction you used but much more potent. It will melt your insides, organ by organ, muscles by muscle, bone by bone until there is nothing of you.” You scoffed, “To think that he believed it would be strong enough to kill me is pathetic.”

The man opened his mouth, “Long live the Emper-” You grabbed his jaw roughly, forcing his mouth wide open with ease and he whimpered pathetically.

“Your Emperor won’t live for long. Neither will you.” You said slowly and moved the tiny bottle to his mouth, “Now drink up.”

You emptied the vial into his mouth and made sure that he swallowed it all.

You heard the rustling of the curtain to your tent, feet stepping onto the carpet, making the dirt beneath it crunch. You didn’t move when he placed a small plate of gravy in front of you, on the table you sat by.

“You need to eat.” Yoongi said softly, “You need the strength.”

“I’m not hungry.”

He sighed, “Y/N.” But you didn’t say another word, simply staring at the wall of the tent. Then he saw your hands move in your lap and he spotted one of Shari’s blouses in your hands.

You flinched when you felt him put a hand on top of yours, his face entering your vision as he gently turned your head with a finger under your chin. You looked at him, taking in how the light from the torch in the middle of the tent casted his soft, feline like features in a golden light. You saw how his eyes portrayed emotions so easily and just how easy it was to read them: his own heart filled with sorrow and regret.

Yoongi saw your lower lip beginning to tremble as tears gathered in your eyes, “She’s gone.” You began, voice a mere whisper, “I promised her that she would stay safe and I failed. I promised to protect her and I failed.” The more you spoke, the more tears flowed freely, “And it’s my fault. It’s my fault, Yoongi. I let her go. I made her put on my cloak… It’s my fault.”

“No, hey, no.” He cupped your face, kneeling down beside you, thumbs gently wiping away your tears, “It’s not your fault. You didn’t know.”

“I should have known that he would-”

“No. None of that. It is not your fault.”

“You don’t understand… Shari was the only thing that I had left.” You inhaled, soft noises escaping from you as you broke down, “I have nothing.”

“You have me, Y/N.” Yoongi pulled you to him and you desperately swung your arms around his neck, burying your face in his shoulder, “You have me.” He repeated as you wailed loudly, “You have me.” He felt your hands grip onto his shirt tightly, your wails muffled by the cloth.

To have him there, next to you, his presence and warm body, coupled with his words, it all washed over you like a warm blanket, shielding you from the hurt, the pain, the ache. It all seemed to lessen with each second.

You sniffled and drew back. Your arms shifted, moving your hands to his chest and you crossed the small space between you, placing a kiss to his lips.

Yoongi’s eyes widened but he didn’t move, seemingly frozen in your hold. Your lips, wet and tasting like salt, glided from his lips to his jaw, to his temple, to his ear and you whispered, “Make me forget. Please.”

He exhaled a shaky breath, “Are you sure?”

You nodded.

He pushed you back gently, his eyes searching yours for any uncertainty and when he found none, he pulled you to him, his lips collided with yours and a spark lit in his abdomen.

You whimpered softly into the kiss, feeling his tongue grace your lower lip, begging, pleading for entrance and when you granted it, you tasted him and a whole slew of colors exploded behind your lids. He pulled you up with him, his hands finding purchase on your hips as he guided you backwards, mouths still connected, to the bed and he broke the kiss to lay you down gently on the the soft mattress and he crawled over you.

You reached out for him, hands desperately trying to remove the shirt from his body and he let pull it over his head. He hissed when your hands glided up his stomach, over his dusky nipples and dipped his head, capturing your lips once more but this time with more ferocity.

Your skin tingled with excitement as Yoongi began to untie your robe but you froze when you felt his cool hands on your stomach.

He pulled away from your lips, “What’s wrong?”

You looked down and he followed your gaze, eyes widening slightly when he saw the many scars across your stomach and chest.

His heart twisted painfully when you began to close your robe, “No. Don’t.”

“I shouldn’t have asked you. I’m sorry.” You turned your head away as you couldn’t bare to meet his eyes, “It’s hideous.”

“No, it’s not.” He leaned forward and nuzzled the valley between your breasts, “You’re beautiful.” He kissed the skin there and ventured further down, planting soft butterfly kisses on each scar , pushing your hands away and let your robe fall open. He placed a kiss above your navel and gazed up at you. The intensity in his eyes and how they darkened with desire made your breath hitch.

You sat up and let the robe fall from your shoulders, laying back down you watched as he untied the ribbon that held your trousers up, slowly pulling them down, placing a kiss to each expanse of skin that was being revealed to him.

“Beautiful.” He murmured against your thigh, moving back so he could remove your trousers and he threw them to the ground and returned to you, pushing your legs apart.

Your hands shot down to hide yourself from his gaze, embarrassed at how he eyed your center with such hunger but he growled and slapped them away.

He placed himself between your fleshy thighs, taking in how your folds already glistened in the torch light, “I want to taste you.” He said, his voice deep and rough and it sent a shiver through you, “Can I?”

You nodded slowly and almost choked on a breath when you felt a finger run down your center, avoiding the aching bud, “Y-Yoongi…”

Yoongi didn’t waste more time as he dove in, his tongue circling around your clit and you let out a groan. He then slid one finger into your weeping cunt, moaning loudly when your hips bucked against his face and when he added another, you let out a mewl.

“Please.” You begged. Yoongi continued to lick your clit and pushing his fingers in and out of you, feeling you grow more wet under his onslaught.

Then he removed his mouth from your clit and his fingers from your cunt and you almost cried out when you felt his tongue push inside you, lapping up your juices, “Ah!”

Yoongi gazed up at you and almost came in his pants then and there; to see your face, contorted in pleasure, pleasure that he was giving you, your hands fisting your robe in desperation and the sounds that erupted from your mouth as he continued to eat you out.

You felt something building in your abdomen. It felt hot, tightening and you feared it would snap. He felt it too when your walls clenched around his tongue and he placed a thumb on your clit, rubbing in circles.

“Hngh - I’m going to cum.” You warned him, voice raspy and throat dry.

“Then cum.” He commanded.

He continued to lap at your center as your back arched off the bed, mouth open in a silent scream. He drinks every drop that gushed out of you and only removed himself when you whimpered pathetically.

Yoongi crawled up your body, placing a kisses on his way and you put your hands around his neck when he kissed your jaw. You could feel his hard cock against your stomach, straining against the fabric of his pants and you sighed blissfully.

He kissed you then, mouth open, tongue invading yours, letting out a grunt when he felt your hands touch his cock over his pants.

“I - Hmp.” He silenced you quickly with his mouth but you pushed against his chest with your hand, “I want to-”

“Later. I need to be inside you.” He grumbled and removed himself from you and you had never seen a man shed his pants so fast in your life, eyes widening as you saw the size of him but you quickly found yourself caged under him again, his mouth on yours, arms resting beside your head. You felt the tip prod your entrance and whimpered.

“Yoongi, hurry up.” You huffed when his lips dislodged from yours and he grinned cheekily as one of his hands went down to grab his cock and line it up with your entrance. Your mouth dropped open when you felt him breach you, slowly, your walls clamping down on him tightly.

“Gods...” He hissed as he pushed deeper into you until his hips were flush against yours and he stilled, letting you get accustomed to him.

You put your legs around his narrow hips, hands venturing up his arms to his shoulders, “Move.”

He pulled out and thrust back in and all the air left your lungs. He set a slow and languid pace, head bending down to nibble at your collarbones while you gasped with each thrust, your cunt weeping onto the mattress. The blazing fire began to build in your lower stomach again but you needed more.

“Faster.” You huffed out, licking your dry lips. Yoongi looked at you and you saw uncertainty flash in his eyes, “I can take it.”

“As you wish.” He nodded and leaned back on his heels, removing your legs around him, moaning loudly as he looked down to where you were joined as he drew back, his cock glistening with your arousal, “Fuck.” He gritted out as he slammed back in.

You keened as his pace increased, your back arching, legs trembling as he held them spread for him, his cock leaving no crevice untouched as he fucked you.

You let out a cry when he shifted his angle and his cock hit a spot that made you see stars, “Don’t stop!”

He chuckled but that quickly changed into a groan when your walls clamped down around him, “Are you close, my sweet snake?”

You nodded wildly, your hands trying to find something to hold onto as you felt like floating. He put one of your legs on his shoulder and held onto it, nails digging deep into your thigh and fucked you harder. His balls tightened and he knew he didn’t have long but he needed you to give him one last orgasm.

So he moved his other hand and started playing with your clit and you let out a wail as you came, the blazing fire finally erupting and setting all of your nerves on fire. Yoongi cursed as your walls clamped down on him like a vice and he thrust a couple of times before he let out a groan, spilling his cum inside you, filling you up.

He fell forward, your chests rubbing against it each as you both breathed heavily, coming down from your highs.

He kissed you and rolled to the side, his softening cock leaving your cunt and you let out a tiny whimper.

“Thank you.” You whispered and turned over to face him, offering a tired but satisfied smile. He smiled back and let you scoot closer, resting your head on his chest.

“Stay.” You murmured.

Yoongi kissed your forehead, “Gladly.”

You stared at the closed gates of the Imperial City, seeing the soldiers running on the high walls, preparing for a siege as ballistas and archers lined up along the walls.

You felt anticipation for the upcoming battle. It wasn’t going to be easy.

“What about the people?” You asked as Jin appeared next to you, “Thousands of innocents will die.”

Jin hummed, “I have men in the city that are taking the civilians underground, to the catacombs.”

“You really have thought of everything.” You noted and Jin grinned.

“Actually, that was Namjoon. Gotta use his big brain for something.” He turned and walked back to the tent where the rest of the Aspects stood along with some new additions: Taehyung, the Goat Aspect, Hoseok, the Horse Aspect, Anduin, the Pig Aspect, Wrynn, the Sheep Aspect and Dina, the Rooster Aspect.

“The trebuchets are ready.” Dina said as it was her that had brought the majority of the weapons, “As is the ram.”

“Good.” Jackson nodded, “Then I’d say let’s get started.”

It was chaos. The ram had been a failure and countless of soldiers had already lost their lives and the gate was still standing as was the walls. You were growing frustrated and knew that something had to be done.

Something drastic.

“Jin!” You called out across the battlefield, eyes quickly finding the man amidst the soldiers, “We need to open that gate!”

“If you haven’t noticed, the ram was a failure!” He yelled back.

“I know but how about you use your thick skull and big brain for once and bash it open?!”

Jin’s eyes widened and he mulled over the idea, “Yeah… That could work but what about the soldiers?! I don’t want to tramble them.”

You rolled your eyes, “Everyone! Draw back! Fall back from the walls!” Your command echoed with the other Aspects as they commanded their soldiers and Jin nodded and ran towards the gate whereas others ran away from it.

You watched as he got closer and closer, dodging arrows with relative ease but when they began firing the ballistas at him, you grew fearful. He had to change.

Then he vanished in a dust cloud and you heard a loud, booming bellow and saw his Aspect form charge right into the gates, bursting them open.

“Everyone! Charge!” You heard the command and bolted towards the open gates, watching as Jin trampled down one of the walls, creating more entrance points for the soldiers.

The General of the Emperor’s army was quickly remobilizing his soldiers and they charged towards you, storming out of the gate in waves.

You drew your kopis’ and vaulted over debris, diving down with a cry, sinking your weapons into an enemy soldier, his blood spattering on your face.

Then you heard a horn sound behind you and you looked back to see the cavalry beginning to charge with Hoseok at the front, his spear glinting in the sun.

You smirked and yanked your kopis’ out of the body, letting it fall to the ground and proceeded to run further into the city.

Gritting your teeth, you fought your way through the enemy soldiers, never losing sight of where you had to go.

The Imperial Palace.

“My Lord, they have breached the city.”

“I can see that, you idiot!”

Emperor Min was pacing back and forth, perching high above the city, in the throne room, where he could see the battle unfold below.

He couldn’t lose the city. He wouldn’t lose to his brother.

He had the advantage of a bigger army but Yoongi had the other Aspects at his side and Min roared in frustration, “Damn it!”

But then he saw you run up the many stairs leading to the palace and he grinned, “It seems like she wants to greet me in person.”

Yoongi had lost sight of you on the battlefield and were growing anxious. He cut down another soldier with his sword and continued further into the city, Jin beside him.

“Where is she?!”

“I don’t know. She bolted right after entering the city!” Jin answered, grunting as he parried an incoming blow from a soldier.

“Damn it, woman!”

You reached the courtyard, breathing heavily and looked around. The place was vacant of soldiers.

What was Min planning?

“Min!” You yelled at the top of your lungs, “Come out, you coward!”

You heard laughter but couldn’t pinpoint where, so you whirled around yourself.

“Did you miss me that much, Y/N? That you had to see me before my brother comes to kill me?”

“I will be the one to kill you, you bastard!” You growled, your only answer was more laughter, “I intend to finish what I began those years ago!”

“Ah, yes. The parting gift you so lovingly bestowed upon me.” The hairs on your back stood as you felt his presence behind you and you whirled around to see him step out from the shadows of the tall pillars, “As you can see,” He paused when your eyes met, “It’s healed quite nicely but has left such an ugly scar.”

“That’s nothing compared to what you did to me.” You tensed up as he stepped towards you slowly, his sword still sheathed.

“Aww, come on now. You can’t tell me you didn’t enjoy some of it. For example that one night we made love.”

You hissed, your eyes flashing green as you felt nothing but anger, “Am I digging up some bad memories, my love? I’m sorry. How is your little handmaiden? I heard that she sadly lost her life. You have my condolences.” Min bowed mockingly and you had to restrain yourself from charging at him.

“Fuck you!”

“Is that all you can come up with? Where is that sharp tongue of yours?” Min began to pace around you, closing in on you slowly, “You know, I am a little disappointed in you, Y/N. To think that you joined my pathetic brother’s little rebellion… I had thought better of you.”

You didn’t answer and he continued, “Cat got your tongue? I saw the mighty Tiger down there. Are you warming his bed at night? He is tall and handsome, after all.”

You knew what he was trying to do: to goat you into attacking him. Too bad for him, you already knew his tricks.

“Answer when spoken to, dove.”

“No, actually…” You paused and relaxed your stance, “I’m fucking your brother.”

This got a reaction out of the Emperor as he stopped, his eyes turned hard and he scowled, so you continued, “What? Didn’t want to share with your brother?” You mocked.

“Shut up.”

“You know, I’ve always wondered what you lacked as a child to have grown into the sadistic asshole you are today but all I could come up with was that you are simply jealous of Yoongi.” You saw how he tensed up, his hand touching the hilt of his sword, “I can’t imagine how it must feel to always have been the second son…”

“I said shut up.”

“I pity you, Min.”

“SHUT UP!” He roared as he changed into Dragon form and lunged at you, a move that you had seen coming. It seemed like he had forgotten how cunning you were. You dodged his attack and ran into a nearby building.

Yoongi heard the roar his brother let out and he looked towards the palace where he saw his brother’s golden Dragon form and he could only think of one person who could have provoked his brother to change directly into that.

You.

He left the battle and ran towards the stairs leading to the courtyard.

You ran through the collapsing building as Min tore it asunder. You leapt out a window and fell to the ground but a huff.

You barely had time to get up on your legs when Min bashed his tail at you, creating a huge crater.

“You whore!” He roared loudly as you ran across the courtyard, “I am going to kill you!”

“You failed once and you will fail again, Min!” You yelled as you headed towards another building but Min had already seen where you were headed, so he moved his massive tail skywards and slammed it into the building, sending you flying backwards across the courtyard.

You groaned, head reeling from the hard landing when you felt something heavy land on top of you, pinning you down and you knew it was his claw. Min opened his mouth wide and you saw how he took a deep breath.

You had to change. Now.

Min let out a roar as he blasted you with fire, burning everything to ash but when he felt something snake around his body, he knew he’d failed.

Your silver scales glinted in the sun as you rose above him, the lower part of your body wrapping itself around his hind legs, your hood unfolding itself to cast a shadow over the Dragon in your hold and you hissed loudly, fangs out and ready.

Min didn’t waste a second to try and untangle you from him but you simply clenched around him and he tried to take move, his tail moving wildly behind him, destroying everything in it’s path. He roared when you lunged at his head, only to miss it as he moved and breathed fire on you again.

You could easily withstand his flames for a short period of time but he continued and youfelt the burning flames begin to dance across your scales, bringing pain with it, you hissed loudly before bending your body and sink your fangs into his right leg. Min reeled from the bite but before you could release poison into his system, he took off into the air, dragging you with him upwards.

He could fly.

You could not.

You removed your fangs from him and began to untangle yourself from his body but he used his claws to grab ahold of you.

“Where do you think you’re going?” He growled, “I just want to show you the view from up here.” He sped up and you looked down, the ground getting further and further away from you.

You felt panic overcome you as he only soared higher and higher and then he let you go.

You plummeted towards the earth, bracing yourself for impact as you could do little else when you saw a black Dragon fly towards you.

“Change back!” Yoongi yelled out and you did so, vanishing in a puff of smoke and you were back to human form. Yoongi opened up his claw and felt relief washing over him as you landed in his palm.

“Thank you.” You said as he closed his claws around you to keep you from falling.

“What the fuck were you thinking?!” He yelled as he made a u-turn, his long black body quickly heading back towards the ground, “You could have been killed!”

“We don’t have time to argue, Yoongi, as your brother is coming back! You yelled, seeing Min flying fast towards Yoongi and you.

Yoongi had barely time to turn his head when his brother collided with him, sending you flying out of his grasp and you could only look on as Min sank his claws into Yoongi’s body, forcing a pained whine from him as they hurtled towards the ground.

You fell through the roof of the palace and landed in the throne room and you whirled your head around to see the two dragons crash into the courtyard, a tangle of black and gold. They rolled across the courtyard and down the stairs and you jumped down onto the next roof, following them.

“I’ll kill you again and this time I’ll make sure you stay dead!” Min roared as he lunged at Yoongi’s neck, drawing blood. Yoongi twisted his body and sank both of his front claws into his brother’s body.

“Not if I kill you first!” Yoongi bellowed as he bit into Min’s leg.

You ran as fast as you could, seeing as the dragons finally came to a stop halfway down the stairs. You watched as they each took a lunge at one another, pained roars and whines coming from both of them.

At this point, they would kill each other. You changed into your Snake form again and slithered your way down the stairs. Min saw you out of the corner of his eye and turned his head to breath fire at you but Yoongi snapped his jaws shut around his snout, forcing his mouth shut.

You sped up and opened your mouth wide, fangs emerging from your gums and you launched yourself at Min, sinking your fangs into his neck. Yoongi struggled to maintain his hold on his brother when he felt you wrap yourself around Min’s body as you continued to pump your venom into him but he didn’t dare letting go.

It took minutes before your venom began to work but soon enough Min began to go slack and Yoongi removed himself from his brother watching as you wrapped your body tighter around his brother’s body, venom starting to dribble from the puncture wounds and onto the ground.

He watched his brother struggle weakly in your grasp but you responded by tightening ever further and Yoongi were sure that if Min didn’t die by your poison, then he would die from your body crushing his.

Then he looked into the panicked eyes of his brother and he felt a small pang of pain at seeing his brother suffer like this. Yoongi wished it could have been different, he truly did but his brother deserved everything he got and more.

Finally, Min sagged in your hold, his Dragon form going completely slack and you slowly untangled yourself from him and let go of his neck.

Yoongi stared at the lifeless form of his brother before he slowly began to disperse into ash.

“I hope you find redemption, brother.” He said as the ashes carried his brother away, “I truly do.”

You stood in the throne room, bruised, sweaty and dirty but you didn’t care. As you heard the people and soldiers cheering in the city below, you were filled with relief.

It was done.

Yoongi appeared next to you with a sombre expression and you turned your head towards him, “Why the dark expression?”

“I don’t know… I guess I feel a little sad about my brother.”

You nodded in understanding. As vile as Min had been, he had still been Yoongi’s brother, “I know.”

“Yeah.” Yoongi said nothing else but he felt a smile tug on his lips when he felt your hand graze his and he grabbed it, “So...Princess.”

You snorted, loudly, the sound taken Yoongi aback and he stared at you with wide eyes, “Princess? Don’t call me that.”

“What was that sound? Did you make that?”

“What?” You raised a brow at his dumbfounded expression, “Oh fuck off. Aren’t a lady allowed to snort?”

“That was a very manly sound, Y/N.”

You shrugged and squeezed his hand, “So what are your plans now, Dragon Lord?”

“Well, I was hoping that you would perhaps join me in celebrating the victory.”

“Hm.”

“Privately, of course.”

Jin groaned as he stretched his back, leaning against the pitchfork in his hand and he looked over the field of corn and sank his head, “Why is there so much left?”

Then he heard horses and he looked to the road, a smile creeping up on him as he spotted two familiar figures.

“Honey! They’re here!” He called out to his wife and let the pitchfork fall to the ground as he walked to the gate of his house, waiting to greet his friends.

“Why are you mad?! I didn’t do anything!” He heard Yoongi yell and he didn’t have to wait long to hear your response, “And that is exactly my problem! I needed help to get up on the horse and you just stood there and did nothing!”

“You usually don’t have a problem getting up on a horse, woman!”

“I am pregnant, you bastard. With your child!”

Jin simply smiled as your horses came to a halt outside of his gate. He was snickering when Yoongi came up to him, annoyed, asking him what was so funny and the Ox simply patted his friend on the back before offering you a hand to get down from your horse.

#thebtswritersclub #cypherwritersnet #Yoongi smut #yoongi x reader #yoongi x female reader

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zachsgamejournal · 3 years ago

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PLAYING: Breath of Fire IV

I think we’re closing in on the end. But in good ole BoF fashion, the last leg is taking the longest. Also, Nina is totally the main character of this game.

NINA

I’ve only ever beaten BoF 3, 4, and 5--though I’ve played 1 & 2. It’s a constant that Ryu is the main character, and that Ryu is the player. Ryu is never (to rarely) given dialog because the player is meant to imagine the voice of Ryu. And while this definitely works for BoF 3 and 5, Nina is clearly the main character in 4.

1. We Start the Game as Nina

In both BoF 3 and 5, we start the game as Ryu, and that’s basically where we stay for the whole adventure (occasionally controlling other characters). BoF 4 has us start with Nina. It’s a simple distinction, but sets up my next point.

2. Nina Makes All the Decisions

My screenwriting professor said the main character makes the decisions that drive the story. In this sense, Ryu is extremely passive. He’s mostly just along for the ride. It’s Nina that offers to help him, Nina that decides he should tag along, and it’s Nina’s quest he joins. Later, Nina decides to rescue Cray. Nina goes to her father for help. Nina asks the gods for assistance. Nina insists they save Ryu. Nina encourages Dies not to abandon Ershin. Nina insists on the helping that furry...thing. All the while, Ryu is just like, “...sure.”

I vaguely know how the game will end, so we’ll see if this all holds up.

3. It’s Nina’s Quest

The game starts with Nina and Cray on a mission to find/rescue her sister. While Ryu is integral to the plot, he doesn’t have a lot of skin in the game. Nina is also royalty, and this game has some Games of Thronesian politics going on. While Ryu’s actions carry little weight beyond the act itself, everything Nina does has the ability to affect policy and international relationships. We see this when the Empire pressures the Alliance to cede territory post Nina’s rescue op failure.

Also, Nina just told Ryu that she loved Cray. Ryu isn’t even the love interest in this game.

I’m actually really happy that Nina is the star. Female characters aren’t normally given the respect they deserve. Maybe instead of Breath of Fire, they should have called this “Wings of Destiny”...cause Nina has wings.

Back to the Plot

So, Ryu went super-Dragon and killed some imperials. The gods have offered to help Ryu, (as long as he plays hide and seek first), and Fou-Lu has escaped the village in which he had started to feel at home.

Nina and the team discuss things and decide that if it’s Ryu’s destiny to meet up Fou-Lu, they might as well confront him proactively. They seem to be under the impression that the empire is using Fou-Lu gain power (if they only knew).

Ursala is the Imperial captain that captured us, but now she’s our captive. The team asks her to help them get into the Empire. She’s confused. It was her mission to bring the dragon to the Empire, so this kind of works out...She agrees and is now a playable party member.

I like her.

Heading back to the warp gate, we learn that it’s broken because of our previous activities (and because we were attacked by Captain Jackass). Ursala tries to make us feel bad, but she works for an evil Empire--so jog-on. We have to head north and need a sandflier but don’t have the cash. This is comical, cause I put in a cheat for infinite Zenny way back when...

We’re supposed to ask a merchant sandflier for help, but we’re too late. Ursala immediately jumps to action and without a word, Scias follows her lead. They take the merchant ship like a band of pirates and it turns out to be a French-accented froggy friend from before that sexually harassed Nina, Marlok. He tries to make use feel guilty, which works on Nina and Cray--but the rest of us know he’s a POS. He offers us a bond to buy a ship, expecting that we’ll do great things and thus able to cash in on our success.

We get to a checkpoint, but it’s blocked. Ursala wants to fight the guards, but Nina is against it. We do the non-violent solution of trampolining over the wall. We get to a ship yard...I only now realized in the game that the oceans aren’t water--but mud. weird...where’s all the water? So the only seas are up north.

The captain doesn’t want us on without the blessing of the sea god. We got to coastal cave and find the Sea Dragon there...I think. We get his blessing and are good to go. The captain now doesn’t want women on board. The women insist that they are tough and have been through a lot. The muscle the dude we keep fighting shows up, and it’s implied that his defeat would prove we’re tough. Ursala shoots him and falls off the mass of the ship. So a new test of courage is needed. Ursala and Nina must stay within the hull of the ship over night with ghosts and bugs. They succeed.

As we travel across the sea, we fight muscle dude again (he was much stronger this time). And then the wind stops. The sailors think this area is haunted, maybe by a god. We go check it out. The dungeon is interesting, but frustrating. You have to walk across planks to get to the other side, but the planks break and drop you down into the hull. There’s a light over your head to warn you when you’re about to fall, but I still fell a lot. In the hull, as you walk, skulls that are spread about rattle and vibrate: it’s eerie and entertaining. Eventually we find a rock creature that thinks of itself as a god, but it’s just a rock powered by god-power. So we kill it.

No remorse.

The wind returns and we make it across the sea. After traveling through a jungle, we meet a furry thing. I feed it some food and it seems happy...I think. At the end of the jungle we find a treehouse and are attacked by more furries. The previously furry comes to our defense and we meet Beyd. He has married one of the furries and maybe these are his children? Cray had my reaction and was like, “Well...uh, anyway--how do we get to the empire?”

One of the furries gets sick and Nina vows to save it (cause she’s the main character!). This brings us to an interesting, but not super fun mini game. We get to sail the boat, but you have limited supplies. Every second you’re on the seas, the supplies get used, but they’re used faster if you row. Rowing is necessary because the wind doesn’t always blog in the direction you need. So you have to decide whether to burn supplies by rowing, or wait for the wind to change directions. There’s places to find and treasure to discover. It is, kinda fun...

While we’re out here collecting medicine on the high seas, I also find the sea god: SCORE!

We save the furry and are guided to some islands that are available to walk across when the tide is low. So we venture a cross some tropical keys. It’s pretty. The group gets tired and Nina insists on taking a break: cause she’s the main character. After our rest, the tide has risen and the group is trapped. Cray is pissed and Nina feels responsible.

This is an interesting part of the game cause the group has to survive on an island and reflect on their mission. Ursala warns it could be months or years before the tide recedes. Chill Ursala. The group explores the island and finds both water and and great fishing spot. We’re gonna be fine. Just delayed.

Scias likes the island, as he just sleeps all day. After a while, Cray chills out and apologizes for his temper. While Ryu is casting a line, Nina reveals that she’s in love with Cray, causing Ryu to trip. Nina reflects on her feelings, unsure if they’re true and doubtful that Cray feels the same.

The tide recedes and the team escapes. We come to a riverlands that requires some log riding and log dodging. It’s cute, but I want to get out of here...

Fou-Lu, after escaping the village, receives a direct hit from the hex canon. They apparently used the friendly lady that help Fou-Lu as a “sacrifice” to power the canon. EVIL! Fou-Lu survives and arrives at the capital. He meets statue guardian that recognizes him as the first emperor. Fou-Lu orders the guardian to destroy the imperial city. Fou-Lu is pissed, and just doesn’t seem to think humans are worth it...

As the guardian destroys the city, Fou-Lu cleans up loose ends, finally killing the general that ambushed him on the night of his awakening, and then killing the current emperor. The Emperor first tries to act subservient to Fou-Lu, but then stabs him with the “dragon slayer” sword. It doesn’t work and Fou-Lu laughs in his face.

Similar to Breath of Fire 3, the game has reached a point where it doesn’t have more story to tell, but wants to add hours. So there’s tons of little quests and obstacles that have little to do with the overall plot. It’s sad, because the minigames and mini-nations they’ve created are really interesting.

I tried to think back to how Final Fantasy 7 handled this. I think, for the most part, the game doesn’t make its endgame clear until much later. Most of the game is, “What should we do now?” So I don’t feel there’s as much a “rush” to get to the end. Also, much of the game is about tracking Sephiroth, so you’re really looking for clues as you find obstacles, vs having an end destination and just running into a million reasons why you can’t get to it. You feel out of control and inconvenienced. But these obstacles would make really interesting and fun side quests. Having them as options would absolutely make them more interesting.

Another thing that Final Fantasy 7 really succeeds at is making each new area a new piece of the puzzle. You’re always learning history about the world or a character. So while it might be a brief obstacle, it’s also an interesting deeper dive into the world. Breath of Fire’s diversions don’t feel as enlightening.

Still, BoF4′s diversions still feel like progress cause we inch closer to the goal...it’s just that we’re not getting much character or world development in the process.

Combat

I do prefer the combat over BoF3 (and many RPGs). I like that the other characters are always on-call in the battle, and it’s easy to switch out (more so than Final Fantasy X -- how I remember it anyway). I’ve done zero grinding, and I’m pretty proud that I’ve survived so far. After crossing the sea, it seemed like the enemies were getting ahead of me, but I got better at using the spell combos (which are cool!). So surviving a few battles usually meant getting a few levels up. When I first played the game, i was cool with grinding, but I’m glad I don’t have to now. The only thing that is cheating: I gave myself 99999+ zenny. So I’m able to stock up on healing supplies. Though it helps, I’m sure a few hours of grinding would have me being just as well stock on healing supplies.

Is it better than Breath of Fire 3?

I’m a little torn. Breath of Fire 4 is “epic”. There are multiple nations that have a strong sense of culture and history. The mythology around the dragons is of the galactic scale. World War is in the balance and my party includes two members of royalty and two semi-gods. The world feels huge even if the story is pretty linear.

In contrast, Breath of Fire 3 had three nations--that I could tell: Wyndia, Eastern Kingdom, and across the sea. Strangely, Wyndia had gangster cities, gangster markets, and amoral lab that was accidentally making mutants. While eastern kingdom seemed pretty chill and peaceful--but lacked a ruling entity. Hmmm...

Where Breath of Fire 3 feels “better” is that it feels more personal. The story starts small: a lost dragon-boy found my starving thieves. We live in a small town and solve small-town issues. This slowly grows to include local gangsters, a kingdom, and a dragon holocaust before we battle God. I like Breath of Fire 4′s characters, but I feel like I have a stronger bond with BoF3′s. Also, I felt like BoF3 tried to explore the grey area: killing monsters that had feelings. I felt emotionally challenged in the different scenarios. Whereas, BoF4 is always: “We’re the good guys, and we do the good things!”

#Zach's Game Journal #PLAYING #Breath of Fire 4 #PlayStation #PS1 #DuckStation #Video Games #Nina is the Hero #Of Gods and Dragons #JRPG

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saphiiiic · 5 years ago

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I can’t stop thinking about how brilliantly Villanelle was written in episode 3.

When in Rome she allowed herself to be vulnerable, she let her guard down for Eve and her declaration of love was thrown right back at her. She felt hurt, she felt stupid, she felt rejected and that’s why she shot Eve in the heat of the moment. We know however that she regretted that decision in seeing how thrilled she was to be told that Eve survived.

When Villanelle is given the postcard from Dasha showing that her next job is in London we immediately see that she is apprehensive. “No, it’s too soon, I have to prepare, i’m not ready, how about that?” There’s some brilliant acting from Jodie where her voice wavers and after she’s finished talking we see that she looks close to tears. She’s not yet ready to confront the heady mix of emotions that she feels for Eve.

She puts on a brave face however and although her facial expression says otherwise she tells Dasha “You’re right, you’re right I know what i’m doing, I can handle this”. She doesn’t want Dasha to become suspicious but she’s also trying to tell herself that she can do this. She has to confront her feelings head on.

We now see a series of events where Villanelle, despite still feeling vulnerable, makes a variety of decisions in which to help her own confidence and to change how she is perceived, especially by Eve.

The first sense is smell. We see Villanelle enter a perfume shop in London. “I want to smell powerful, I want to make people gag with it”.She then launches into a wonderfully creative monologue detailing what happened between her and Eve in Rome. “I want to smell like a Roman centurion who’s coming across an old foe, who in battle once hurt him greatly, oh but since then the Roman centurion has become emperor and is now powerful beyond measure”. Especially in the animal kingdom scent plays a big part in power. The stronger a creature smells the more powerful they are deemed to be.

Then we come to the idea that size also means power. We don’t know where she gets it from but Villanelle chooses to wear a very large suit for when she meets Eve. It makes her shoulders wider, it makes her seem more imposing and no doubt in wearing it, it gives Villanelle so much confidence.

Next comes sound. Once on the bus Villanelle swaggers towards Eve, taking each and every pole with her hand, filling the space, an incredibly cocky smile playing about her lips and a simple “Hi Eve” is enough for Eve to FLIP. Eve wonders how blase she can be in this moment? after everything that’s happened she’s still this cocky little asshole who thinks she can walk up to her in public and say “Hi Eve” as if nothing has ever happened? it’s intended to rile Eve up and that it certainly does.

Finally there’s body language. The scene culminates with Villanelle pinning Eve to the seat, her hand gripping Eve’s jacket hard and her face inches away from hers. Pinning down is a typical action in body language to display dominance, to overpower.

Villanelle wanted Eve to see her as powerful. She wanted to overpower Eve. She wanted to take that power away from Eve that she herself had when she chose to turn Villanelle down and walk away. She wanted to flip the narrative on its head and regain the control that she usually has in her life.

#killing eve #villaneve #eve x villanelle #villanelle #eve polastri #oksana astankova #sandra oh #jodie comer

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k7l4d4 · 3 years ago

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Midnight Striga: Fairy Tail/Owl House Cross Fic Episode 7 Part 2

Hello all, I’ve returned for another piece of Midnight Striga! Everybody Clap Your Hands!!

Scowling to himself, Hunter ducked away from the human. He… wasn’t supposed to be in Bonesburough, not really, but it was one of the few days off he got, so he decided to make the most of it with some research. Events had shifted. What before everyone would’ve laughed off as some kind of joke, or the words of a deluded fool, were proven true when a group of human rogues decided to raze the Covention, using magic!! Hunter wouldn’t deny, he burned to know how they did it, how did they overcome the biological limitation? If ever questioned, he could and would easily decry it as Wild Magic, something to be locked away for the heresy against the Titan it was… but in private, he craved that power for himself. Not for glory, or conquest, no! He wasn’t an idiot.

He wanted to be normal.

“Stupid human, thinking I would buy a cheap excuse like that.” He muttered. It burned, it truly did, that she somehow thought he would fall for a ploy, even if she had no clue who he truly was. ‘The Emperor’s most trusted agent, The Golden Guard himself!’ He puffed out his chest, smirking in pride at what he’d accomplished. And it WAS an accomplishment. Anyone who knew the truth of his situation would no-doubt cry about how he had it all handed to him by his uncle, and if they did he would have no problem laughing at the fools, behind their backs of course, no need to start a fight when he could finish one.

For as long as he’d been in his Uncle’s care, he’d worked and slaved to obtain his position. He’d studied, trained, honing his body and his mind to be the best. If someone crossed him, he found ways of getting even, and without even having to get his own hands dirty half the time. Seriously, he understood the need to maintain the Coven’s image of being the best of the best, but most of them were just stupid!! ‘Even Clawthorne.’ He scornfully smirked to himself. He was ecstatic at seeing the cocky witch being taken down a peg, especially by her own hand. The fact that it showed the Isles what she really was, a worm and a cheat who slinked her way to the top, made it all the sweeter, and not to mention that her actions unleashed the most dangerous Wild Witch in generations into the populace. He knew that’s not how it actually worked, but it was a convenient lie that people would reach of their own free will, and would make an excellent tool for getting her out of the way when she finally outlived her usefulness.

But that’s besides the point. He shook his head lightly, clearing his thoughts as he leaned against a bookshelf. The human was here, in the library, and that was an opportunity he wouldn’t let pass. He wouldn’t stalk her or anything, but he’d be watching, waiting, and listening to see just what exactly she intended for the Isles. The mad laughter of those maniacs who had been brought in echoed in his ears, his eyes hardening into stone at the memory. If she turned out to be a threat, he would destroy her. Even if he never gained the secret to the humans’ ability to wield magic, he would gladly sacrifice it to protect the Isles. He swore it.

“This place is both amazing, and kind of ridiculous.” Luz commented, having put aside any thoughts of that rude guy from before, determined to make this a good day. She ducked under a book flying overhead, glaring at it as it shrieked at her. “I wonder if anyone would be willing to help me navigate this place.” She murmured, rubbing her head at another near miss.

“I believe we can help with that!” A voice that seemed to mix charming and cheese together in a corny mess sounded out behind her. Turning around, Luz raised an eyebrow at what she saw. Two Witches, a male and a female, and by her guess twins, if the incredibly strong resemblance and similarity in age was anything to base her decision off of. The two were standing back to back, the boy shooting a cocky grin that he probably thought made him look “so cool!” beneath his deep green hair and golden eyes, his apparent sister tilting her head in a different direction, gazing off in thought, a mysterious look in her eyes.

Luz turned on her heel, already done with these two. “Yeah, if you’re trying to flirt with me, I prefer homemade food and some shopping,” She said, not watching as the two collapsed in shock. “Also, you guys kind of come across as desperate.” She added, turning her head back to shoot them an eyebrow.

“W-we weren’t flirting with you!” The girl shouted, face flushed, even as her brother sat in a heap, poking at the ground with his finger. She marched over, her flush fading as her look shifted from it’s brief moment of outrage to some measure of control. “We just overheard you saying you’d appreciate someone showing you around, and we happen to know someone. We’d be cool introducing you.” She explained, looking Luz up and down as she did so. She shrugged. “But yeah, we probably would flirt with you normally, but we don’t have time for that today. Ed!” She called, her brother raising his head in response. “Let’s go find Mittens!” Her brother nodded in agreement, still seeming a little dazed from Luz’s snark from before.

“Whoa whoa whoa!” Luz rebutted, raising her hand in a halting motion. “Did I say that I agreed? Because I don’t think I did.” She said, crossing her arms.

The girl huffed, hands on her hips. “Do you have a reason to actually refuse?” She challenged.

Luz paused, thinking for a moment, before shrugging. “Fair. Okay, let’s go.” She stopped, causing the girl to groan.

“What now?” She asked.

“I just remembered I never got your name.” Luz sheepishly admitted.

The girl blinked, before chuckling, some of the tension in her face bleeding away. “Yeah, I did too.” She stuck out her hand in a shaking gesture, leaning forward at an angle that honestly looked a little silly. “Emira Blight, at your service.” She smirked.

“And I’m Edric!” Edric called out, popping up behind his sister.

Luz laughed. “Heh! Good to know! Since we’re formally introducing ourselves, not that I don’t believe for a second that you don’t know who I am,” She said, shooting the two a challenging smirk. They had the good sense to accept it with a shrug and a nod without putting on airs. “The name’s Luz. Luz Noceda.” She declared, shaking the slightly older girl’s hand. Her grin turned mischievous. “So, I’m assuming that Mittens is Amity?” She asked gleefully, leaning forward, even as the two siblings did the same.

“You know Luz, I think we are gonna get along just fine.” Emira declared, an equally mischievous smile on her face, mirrored by her brother. With that, the trio rapidly began plotting how to best fluster the composed youngest Blight. Hey, Luz more or less liked her, but she thought a little harmless goofiness would get her to destress some. Not too much though, she liked her head on her shoulders. The trio walked off, heedless of their watcher in the isles.

Boscha breathed out a sigh of relief. “They’re gone.” She muttered. Not only was she here, but so were Amity’s older siblings!? Yeah, she wasn’t gonna stay and get caught in whatever craziness those two decided to get into. With a spine-cracking stretch, Boscha pulled away from the Isles, pulling a book to her chest. She breathed in deep, sighing out, before freezing at the sight of flame licking out of her mouth. Clamping her jaw shut, she rapidly shifted her eyes back and forth, already feeling paranoid at anyone having seen that. She clambered off towards the checkout, the book white-knuckled in her grip.

The book’s title read “Mysteries of the Mind, and Other Dark Truths.” Maybe now Boscha will be able to get some answers.

Luz rounded the corner, arm slung over Emira’s shoulder, chatting away with the other girl. “-And that’s why I never date a girl with fire magic without asking if they are medicated or not first!” She boldly declared, completely unbothered by her own past misadventures. Admittedly, she and Azzie probably would’ve still been together, if she wasn’t head over heels for a childhood friend who ran away with the circus.

Edric sprayed out his drinking, choking on his laughter. “And she let you live!?” He asked incredulously, choking and wheezing all the while.

Luz sheepishly shrugged. “Yeah, maybe trying to tell her that I wanted to break up while she was waiting for her medicine to be refilled, and while she was practicing her spells to boot, wasn’t my smartest move.” She was SOOO lucky she dodged that initial attack, her butt still felt like it was singed at the memory!!

Emira gave her an amused smirk. “Oh, I wonder why?” She playfully ribbed the other girl. Her look of amusement softened. “You know, I was honestly all geared up to tear you apart at first.” She casually admitted, even as Edric stared at her in shock and Luz raised an eyebrow at her admission. “Yeah, after I got a rundown about what you accidentally dragged Mittens into, and trust me, I know you wouldn’t be able to stop her, I was totally prepared to dismember you and bury your corpse so you could never get involved with her again.”

“Eh, not the worst thing anyone’s admitted to wanting to do to me.” Luz said, shrugging the casual death threat off. Edric just wordlessly worked his jaw, somehow at a loss for words.

“But… as much as I want to blame you, I get that it wasn’t your fault, what went down. So I’ll be keeping an eye on you, but I’m not gonna try anything. Especially not now that I know how fun you are!” She finished, giving Luz a chipper wink, getting a friendly smirk in response. As the next area caught her eye, she perked up. “Oh! I think we’re here!”

“Finally!” Edric cheered, having gotten bored of the place a few stacks ago, with only Luz’s stories to keep him going. Who knew you could cause so much chaos with Cheese, a banjo, and a juggler!? He must find a way to top that…!

Peering around the corner, Luz’s eyes widened. “Is that what I think it is?” She asked, her voice tight with awe and fervent hope.

“Yeah.” Emira squeaked, equally overcome.

Edric just raised his eyebrows. “I don’t get the big deal, but you guys do you, I guess.” He said, shrugging.

Before them sat Amity Blight, her normally stern look having fallen away, a look of innocence and kindness gracing her features, as she read from the book in her lap to the children surrounding her, Skara standing to the side with a happy smile of her own.

“‘What do you think you’re doing?’” Amity read along, keeping pace with her place in the book, her eager audience leaning in closer, with Skara sidling up too, a sheepish grin on her face at how captivated she was with the simple reading. “‘We’re your friends and we wanna help!’ said the Tin Boy with a yelp. Otabin smiled and paced the floor. ‘I’ve never had real friends before.’”

Luz suddenly found herself very much identifying with a children’s book character from a story she never read, just from that one line. She turned to the twins with starry eyes. “Amity reads to kids?” She stated more than asked, getting an enthusiastic nod from Emira and a playful smirk from Edric.

She watched in slight awe as Amity continued. “‘Then we’ll be your first.’ The Chicken Witch Clucked. Otabin couldn’t believe his luck.” She turned her gaze to the kids, eyes glowing in delight at this simple kindness she was performing. “So, Bookmaker Otabin, surrounded by friends, bound a book of friendship and that’s the end.” She finished cheerfully, the children cheering and applauding, while Skara threw an arm over her friend’s shoulder, which Amity playfully shoved off.

“Yay!”

“Thank you so much.”

“Goodbye.”

One particular kid walked up to Amity and hugged her legs, before speaking in a strikingly deep voice. “Thank you for the story Miss Amity.”

Amity gave the little demon boy a kind smile, reaching down to return the hug. “Ah, thank you Braxas. Have a good day, and give your dad my wishes while he heals up. See you next week.”

The little demon, Braxas apparently, cheerfully ran off, waving in reply behind him. “Okay!”

Skara gave a soft laugh, clapping her hands. “That was so sweet, Ams!” She cheered. She shot Amity a mock critical look. “And just why haven’t you shown this to me before?” She asked faux-haughtily, even as Amity snorted.

“I think what I do to destress is my own business.” Amity replied dryly, getting a sheepish laugh from Skara in response. Her smirk softened into a smile. “But still, I’m okay with you having shown up. The kids really liked you.” She gave Skara an appraising look. “I honestly didn’t expect you to be cool with something like this.” She softly admitted.

Skara gave Amity a stern look. “Amity, I get that I can be judgy, but I’m not gonna bust your chops for being nice to kids.” She said sharply, before shifting into a teasing smirk. “Still, you know that now you have to do something I like to do without other people, right?”

Amity spluttered. “I don’t remember agreeing to that!” She said hotly, her face flush.

Skara spun on her heel, pulling Amity along with her. “Ah, don’t be such a buzz-kill! It’s nothing illegal, and I promise, you’ll enjoy it.” She said, giving Amity a wink, prompting the other Witch to roll her eyes.

At that point, Luz decided that it was about the right moment to reveal herself. “Well, well, well! It looks like Hexside’s number one lemon drop has a secret sweet center.” She commented, stepping into view.

Behind her, Edric and Emira shared matching looks of glee, mouthing the words ‘lemon drop’ to each other in delight. Oh yeah, they liked Luz, for sure!

#the owl house #fairy tail #owl house au #fairy tail au #owl house crossover #fairy tail crossover #luz noceda #amity blight #emira blight #edric blight #braxas the owl house #skara the owl house #magic

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little-mad · 3 years ago

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Downsides of Thievery Pt. 2

~ Previous Part ~ Next Part ~

Despite being a criminal, Gavin could still attempt to maintain a dignified appearance. He could hold his head high and walk right into the cage the giant had set down in front of him. Doing so would prove to both the federal agents and the alteon that Gavin was a man of honor. But instead of doing any of that, Gavin turned tail and ran.

Was it sensible? Definitely not. Was it rational? No way. Was it the only thing Gavin’s instincts were urging him to do? Yes, absolutely.

His sights were set on the door that would lead him back into the building and away from that cage wielding colossus. Of course, with a rooftop of armed agents there was no chance he would make it very far. Gavin was expecting to be tackled or tazed at any moment. What he hadn’t been expecting was for something to snag the back of his gray jumpsuit and lift him up off the ground.

There was a moment of confusion where Gavin wondered how the hell someone had managed to pick him up so easily. And then he remembered, “oh yeah, there’s an eighty foot giant standing a couple yards away.”

Rael nearly let slip a snigger when he witnessed the human criminal start to scurry away from the cage that had been placed in front of him. The sight was reminiscent of the rats that would wander into the palace kitchens and quickly get chased off by the resident guard cat. Surely this human must know he had no hope of escape? Catching him would be effortless, and that was something Rael intended to make quite clear.

After swiftly lowering himself into a crouch, Rael reached out and carefully pinched the fabric of the prisoner’s garment between thumb and index finger. As he lifted the miniature man up into the air, he couldn’t help but silently marvel at how insignificant the weight was. It was remarkable how a creature, who supposedly possessed near the same level of sentience as alteons, could be handled as easily as a wooden doll.

It was impossible not to notice the fearful looks on the other humans’ faces as they watched a member of their race get plucked up. “They knew what I came here for, and yet they act surprised,” Rael thought derisively. He hoped these people weren’t humanity’s best and bravest, because if they were so visibly shaken by his simple movements, then surely they could hardly handle any real conflict.

With an easy rotation of his wrist, Rael turned the criminal gripped between his fingers around to face him. He figured it was time he addressed the human that would be in his charge.

When Gavin was ten, his best friend made him watch The Exorcist during a sleepover. He was absolutely terrified and had haunting nightmares for weeks. For the longest time he’d claimed that the experience of watching a 70s horror flick in the basement of a suburban home was the most scared he had ever been.

Well, as Gavin was being dangled in front of the face of a giant, held up only by a two finger grip on the back of his collar, he decided something had finally topped The Exorcist incident.

It was difficult to breathe, and it felt as though his heart had lodged itself in his throat. His heart was hammering like crazy, but his body was practically frozen solid.

Gavin was someone who was rarely rendered speechless. Whether or not it was clever or well thought out, he usually had at least something to say. But how the hell was he supposed to talk to a giant?! It was like talking to a damn mountain!

The alteon’s teal eyes almost looked to have a hint of disdain in them as they focused in on Gavin. His eyebrows were raised as if to say “are you done yet?” Shockingly, it seemed like he hadn’t been impressed by Gavin’s half baked escape attempt.

“My name is Rael, and I am responsible for delivering you to the Emperor.” Gavin flinched when the alteon began to speak. His voice was smooth, and a fair bit higher than the deep, thunderous bass Gavin had been expecting. “While you are in my custody you are to follow my every command,” the alteon--Rael stated. “If you intend on engaging in any stunts like the one you just pulled, I suggest you adjust your plans.”

Gavin felt a chill run across his skin. Rael’s voice was fiercely authoritative, and his words held hidden promises of retribution were Gavin to ever step out of line. Were it coming from a human, or you know, someone that wasn’t taller than a building, then he could have easily just rolled his eyes and scoffed. But Rael was incredibly, terrifyingly huge. Gavin had no doubt the giant man could snap him in half without even straining a muscle.

When the human showed no intention of responding to the warning he’d been given, Rael sighed. The little man was practically motionless as he stared with wide eyes that Rael now could see were of a hazel color. The only indication that the figure gripped between Rael’s fingers was alive, was the occasional blink as well as the rising and falling of his small chest.

While Rael was initially a bit frustrated by not receiving a response, he reminded himself that a silent human could be a good thing in the long run. If the man remained quiet the whole time, it would certainly make Rael’s job a lot less annoying.

“May as well get on with it then. The sooner we leave, the sooner I’m done with this assignment,” Rael thought to himself.

Considering the human had already blown his chance to enter the cage of his own accord, it fell on Rael to forcibly relocate him. Without hesitating, Rael used his freehand to grab a hold of the human’s body. As his fingers wrapped around the man’s tiny form, Rael couldn’t help but notice how powerful the action made him feel. This “Gavin Stone” was entirely at his mercy, and his life was quite literally in his hands.

Rael wasn’t able to dwell on those thoughts for long though, because the human had seemed to finally remember how to move again. Though it wasn’t effective in the slightest, the little man was squirming wildly in Rael’s fist. With his arms pinned to his sides as they were, there really wasn’t much the human could do but thrash around like some kind of fish out of water.

Rather than scold him, Rael decided just to tighten his grip ever so slightly around the human to send the message. The man let out a soft gasp and his struggling instantly ceased.

Satisfied that the human had been successfully reigned in, Rael reached down to the rooftop to pick up the iron cage. The door was already open, so it was easy for him to simply drop the man inside before shutting the door with a clang of finality.

Not bothering to wait for the human to orient himself, Rael moved the cage down towards his hips and reattached it to his belt. He was sure it would be a bumpy ride for the small man, considering he would be bouncing against Rael’s thigh as he walked, but the comfort of a little thief was far from being a priority.

With Gavin Stone taken care of, Rael turned his attention to the remaining humans standing on the rooftop. They all continued to stare at him as if they were looking at some kind of monster. Whatever, if they wished to view him as a monster, then so be it. The opinions of humans mattered little to him.

“Thank you for your cooperation,” Rael stated as he straightened back up to his full height. “The Emperor will be pleased,” he added while reaching into his pocket to pull out the talisman that would allow him to travel back home.

Having a giant hold you up by the back of your collar? Horrible, awful, would not recommend. Having a giant hold you in their fist? Somehow more horrible, more awful, and even less recommended.

Gavin didn’t like being confined, well most people didn’t like being confined, but Gavin especially disliked it. He hadn’t liked being locked up in a jail cell, but he would pick that over being trapped in someone’s fist any day.

The heat emanating off of Rael’s skin, the feeling of his massive pulse surrounding him, and the knowledge that all it would take was a firm squeeze for his life to be snuffed out...it was all enough to make Gavin finally snap out of the daze he had been in.

Fight or flight instincts had kicked in. Of course, when the threat was over eight stories tall, the obvious choice was flight. But since Gavin couldn’t flee while stuck in the giant’s hand, he needed to fight his way out first. Logically, he knew trying to break free of the solid grip around his body was fruitless. Unfortunately, the thing about instincts is that they don’t always care about what’s logical.

Gavin had been in the middle of desperately struggling when suddenly the fist in which he was imprisoned began to clench. The gasp he had let out in response was more due to shock than actual pain, although he had a feeling he’d be sporting a few new bruises tomorrow.

Shortly after that, Rael had stuffed him into the cage and hooked said cage onto his belt like it--and by extension Gavin, was some kind of fashionable accessory.

Gavin was in the middle of attempting to pull himself up to his feet when suddenly he was sent sprawling back to the floor of the cage by Rael’s massive movements. He let out a low moan. This shit was like being on one of those janky traveling carnival rides where it always felt like there was at least a 40% chance you wouldn’t make it to the end.

When Gavin finally was able to drag himself up to his feet, he looked out of his cage and realized the cause of his latest fall had been Rael standing up straight. Gee, nothing made a guy feel more tiny and powerless than being seriously affected by someone else’s normal, everyday movements.

Even though he was only at the giant’s hip height, Gavin still felt so far away from the rooftop he had just been standing on. The agents below already looked pretty small from this perspective, he could only imagine what they looked like to Rael.

There was a part of Gavin that wanted to be mad at the people who had just handed him over to a literal giant, but at the same time, he knew they were just following orders. Even the ones in charge who had okayed his extradition to the alteon dimension weren’t really to blame. Gavin had to imagine it was hard to say no to the request of a giant Emperor.

So instead of shooting the agents below a middle finger or a particularly nasty glare, Gavin offered them a sad little wave. After all, they may very well be the last humans he would ever see. He wouldn’t want his final interaction with his species to be negative, right?

None of the agents waved back, though Gavin could see several of them wearing sorrowful looks on their faces. “I hope they cry about me tonight,” he thought. Surely he deserved to occupy their minds for a little while. Maybe they’d have to talk to a priest or a therapist about him….yeah, that would be nice.

Gavin was tugged out of his fantasizing when he noticed his alteon captor was holding some sort of smooth stone with engravings etched on one side. Rael held it up to his face while he muttered what sounded like some sort of chant in a language Gavin couldn’t understand.

For a moment, he wondered whether the alteon was completely cuckoo, it would be just Gavin’s luck to get stuck with a crazy giant. However, he then remembered something he’d seen on a documentary on TV while he had been flipping through channels. The smooth, British voice of the documentary’s narrator had explained that alteons could travel from their dimension to the human dimension through the use of magic. It was for this reason that humans had no way of opening dimensional portals.

Whatever Rael was doing must be part of some kind of magical ritual to open up the door to the alteon dimension, Gavin determined. And sure enough, a few moments later a massive shimmering circle appeared out of nothingness.

Gavin stared slack jawed at the portal that towered even taller than Rael. While the edges of the thing glittered a vibrant blue, in the center of the hoop was what appeared to be the image of a lush forest.

In theory, Gavin had been aware that alteons could do magic--and not the kind of magic humans did, somehow he couldn’t imagine Rael pulling a rabbit out of a hat. But seeing something happen before his very eyes that defied the logic and science that his world was governed by...it was more than a little stunning.

“Farewell then,” Rael’s voice rumbled from above. Gavin looked up through the bars of his cage to see the giant offer the federal agents a short nod before pocketing the engraved stone.

And then abruptly, Rael turned towards the waiting portal, the sharp motions once again sending Gavin tumbling down into a heap. He managed to pick his head up off of the floor just in time to see they were headed straight for the doorway into the alteon dimension.

“Goodbye, Earth. It was nice knowin’ ya.”

#g/t #giant/tiny #g/t writing #my writing #oc: Gavin Stone #oc: Rael

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risingsouls · 3 years ago

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Recruited: Chapter 18

[Hey, this one actually has a little more meat to it! Anyway, here’s some emotional shit for you. I was actually going to make this go through the fight with Ginyu at the ship, but since Nabs likely won’t be super involved in that, it didn’t quite feel like the natural place to end the chapter the more I wrote.

Bonus note: while I was editing, “Man, I Feel Like a Woman” by Shania Twain came on Spot.ify while she was *SPOILERS* doing some killing and it was honestly hilarious.

ANYWAY, as usual, you can find the rest here!]

Nabooru

Nabooru regained consciousness slumped against the same wall Vegeta blasted her into, the back of her head pounding from the impact. She shoved another soldier's corpse from her lap and regained her feet, senses immediately reaching out for first Vegeta's familiar ki. She located the prince's energy. In motion and rapidly zipping across the planet. Frieza's overwhelming ki remained near the ship along with what remained of his forces. Zarbon's was nowhere to be found.

She sensed the approach of the five menacing power levels before she located Frieza awaiting the arrival of the Ginyu Force outside the ship. He did little more than comment that he was surprised she survived Vegeta's attack, confirming that Zarbon had not been so lucky. The pods crashed into the planet's surface not far from them, interrupting any chance for further conversation. Fortunate for her, perhaps; though she survived, she failed to stop Vegeta. A success for her but a failure in Frieza's eyes that could have earned her the most brutal of punishments.

The five members of one of the Cold Empire's most prestigious forces could not have been more diverse. Or odd with their penchant for flair and over the top poses which they showed off in way of introduction and greeting. She recognized the captain from his image on the screen during his meeting with Frieza. The tallest member of the team--Burter--resembled a blue, bipedal snake. Recoome had Nappa's tall, muscular build but kept his untidy crop of ginger hair unlike the bald Saiyan. The smallest member of the team, Guldo, was short and squatty with an extra pair of eyes. Jeice stood as tall as Vegeta, perhaps, and sported long, snow white hair. He delivered the case holding the requested scouters to Frieza. Though unneeded, she took the scouter offered to her and fit it to her face.

She suspected impatience and secondhand embarrassment urged Frieza to send the team off with orders to retrieve the dragonballs and bring Vegeta back to him alive. The tyrant filled their wait time--short, too short--with idle conversation about what he planned to do first with his immortality, and she nodded along while monitoring the meeting across planet at his request. She reported that the Ginyu Force found Vegeta, and that the scouter picked up two other readings with him. Likely the same pair they encountered at the last village they conquered. Within minutes, Ginyu parted from the rest of the group and headed back in their direction. Alone. Vegeta wouldn't go with him willingly, that was obvious. But her stomach churned with the possibilities of why Ginyu would leave Vegeta with his team instead of remaining to force him to comply.

When he arrived, he confirmed her most dire suspicion: all seven dragonballs drifted from him to rest at Frieza's feet. The emperor's glee was palpable and she was surprised he found even the split second it took to end Ginyu's "Dance of Joy" prematurely. Her mind raced with courses of action. Grab a dragonball and throw it. Break it. Try to run Frieza through with a ki sword or decapitate him before he could make his wish and deal with Ginyu's retaliation after. Think up some distraction from the ludicrous request of asking Ginyu to finish his dance to destroying the ship. Escape.

Frieza raised his voice and demanded immortality to the heavens and she found herself inert and unable to act on any of it. Several agonizing seconds passed by with none in the vicinity daring to make a sound. Watching. Waiting. And in Nabooru's case, trying to keep from vomiting on the orange spheres. Ginyu finally broke the silence, voicing what they all were thinking: had it worked? Was Frieza immortal and, therefore, unstoppable as the undisputed ruler of the universe? It was all she could do not to suggest he allow her to help him test it, but Frieza decided on his own it hadn't and deigned to personally track down whatever remained of the Namekians to request instructions on how to activate the balls, leaving her alone with Captain Ginyu and the rest of the soldiers.

She wanted to find amusement in Ginyu forcing the remaining soldiers to bury the dragonballs--the location of which she took keen note of-- and the following try out session the captain forced them to endure to fill the unexpected opening at Guldo's swift defeat (which she only reasoned her way out of with the excuse that Freiza likely wouldn't be pleased if he tried to recruit his last general without his permission), one they both witnessed via their scouters. Her continued monitoring of the battle between Vegeta, the two strangers, and the three remaining members of the Ginyu Force kept her from enjoying the show as Guldo would be the only success for Vegeta: within minutes, his and the strangers' ki signatures hovered dangerously close to zero. Lips parted to relay the information to Ginyu, who was berating the lackluster posing skills he witnessed, only to stop short when another power level appeared. A significant one. With all the members of the Ginyu Force accounted for and Frieza on the other side of the planet, she could only guess that some powerful Namekian warrior had just now decided to jump into the fray. But doubt circulated such a theory: with how proud and courageous the rest had been, why would this one wait so long?

One, two power levels lowered. The third raced back in their direction. All those of the remaining Ginyu Force members. The downed ki signatures were then reduced to nothing, but she was pulled from her confusion, the ever-raging battle between hope and anxiety especially with a new contender she could not identify as friend or foe placed on hold, by a panicked, battered Jeice rejoining them.

"Captain!" The warrior sounded as though he might burst into tears at any moment. "Captain, you've got to come quick! This guy, this Saiyan, just showed up outta nowhere and trounced Recoome and Burter like they were nothing!"

Another Saiyan? Jeice would know Nappa by name, likely, and this power level far exceeded what Nappa could have managed in the short amount of time since she lost track of him. The only other Saiyan she knew of was Raditz's brother. Had he come to Namek? Did that mean the other two who saved the Namekian child were in fact Earthlings? Why would they come all this way?

"A Saiyan? You don't mean Vegeta? He's no match for Recoome or Burter, and the rest of the Saiyans are dead." Ginyu waved a hand, allowing those he hadn't sent into orbit over a sloppy turn or weak arm extension. "At ease, men."

Jeice shook his head. "No, Recoome dealt with Vegeta like he was nothing. But this other guy showed up before we could finish the job with the kid, baldy, and Vegeta and took Recoome out with one blow!"

"What?! That's impossible! No Saiyan could stand up to Recoome and Burter! Let alone so swiftly!" When Jeice failed to rescind his report as a joke, Ginyu growled. "Well, we can't just let him get away with such an egregious affront to the esteemed Ginyu Force!"

He turned to Nabooru. "Keep guard of the balls, and if Lord Frieza returns before I do, tell him the captain went to take care of business."

"What else would I do?" Her question went unanswered and likely unheard as the pair shot off into the sky, back toward the battlefield Jeice left behind.

Her gaze drifted from the relieved soldiers to the tamped down dirt covering all seven dragonballs. With no more idea of how to work them than Frieza, digging them up and making a wish herself wouldn't do her any good. She once more considered the idea of hiding one to continue to hinder at least Frieza once he returned. At this point, destroying them entirely felt like the best move. The endeavor had been exhausting and more trouble than they were worth for Frieza in her opinion. Who could possibly threaten him? No one held a candle to his power and he knew that. Unless he truly worried about Vegeta gaining immortality himself, the continued quest for immortality in the face of each upset only proved how deep his paranoia went. If any other endeavor had proven this troublesome, Frieza likely would have abandoned it, either as a lost cause or place some other retinue of soldiers on completing it. The fact that he stuck around this long meant he feared losing everything no matter how powerful he was.<

Laughter caught her attention. One of the soldiers entertained the others with a series of lewd poses he suggested they show Ginyu when he returned. No matter her decision, she didn't dare risk an opportunity for witnesses to relay her betrayal to Frieza and bring him back to the ship before she could make her move to hinder his wish.

She grasped her scouter and removed it, fingers curling around the device to crush it. The crunch of plastic and static turned the men's attention to her. One folded his arms and clicked his tongue. "Why'd you do that? We just got these scouters and you go and break yours? Do you like being blind or something?"

Orange-yellow energy swirled in each of her palms, further heightening the soldiers' confusion, glances exchanged between each of them. "Has this boring planet made you lose--"

Nabooru extended her arms and fired a wave of ki, overwhelming the squadron for a clean kill. Save for the one that had enough foresight to spring into the air to avoid the blast, arms crossed and shielding his face from the flash of light and debris.

"You really have lost your damn mind!" Panic struck her as his hand twitched upward toward his face, his scouter. Nabooru cursed under her breath and shot upward. She grasped his wrist halfway to the device in a crushing vice grip. The soldier yelped in agony in lieu of protest when her free hand tore his scouter away and destroyed it. She pressed her hand to the middle of his armor, power coursing through her body once more to center in the palm of her hand.

"Please, I beg you. I won't tell Fr--"

She didn't wait for him to finish his warbling. The blast swallowed him as it had his comrades, leaving no more trace of him behind than dust carried off by the planet's pleasant breeze.

"So, you did survive my blast. I thought I sensed your pathetic power level, but it’s difficult to say among the rest of the mediocrity here..."

Her body went rigid and she whirled around, senses and gaze locking onto the unexpected presence. Vegeta stared up at her from the ground, hands on his hips and a wicked smirk on his face. His armor and battle suit had taken further damage in his bout with Recoome, but outside of stray blood and dirt staining his flesh, he seemed to shrug off the shame of being so thoroughly trounced as Jeice suggested.

Nabooru drifted back to the ground but maintained her wits and guard. Vegeta remained a potential adversary to her despite their shared goal. "I was hoping for a little peace and quiet," she answered, brushing a stray strand of hair out of her face. "And then you showed up."

"Too bad for you," he responded gruffly but not without humor. "Where are the dragonballs?"

Nabooru nodded toward their location. "Over there. Buried." He glanced in the direction she indicated, and she added, "Frieza tried to make his wish but they didn't work. He sought out the last few Namekians to find out how to make his wish."

A growl rumbled from the prince. "Figures. Kakarot and his cronies were right, then." He stalked toward the ship and indicated she follow with an impatient wave of his hand and a glare shot over his shoulder. "Let's go. Consider yourself my prisoner now because you won't be leaving my sight. Got that? Try anything stupid and I will kill you."

Nabooru pursed her lips, nose scrunched in distaste, but followed him back aboard the ship. "You want to track down a collar leash to make sure I don't go anywhere, too?"

"Don't tempt me."

They trekked through the ship's hall, dodging debris and stepping over corpses of the unlucky retinue Frieza brought with him. They ducked into the crew locker room and storage area, one of the few places on the ship that seemed to have escaped the havoc wreaked upon it since arriving on Namek. Nabooru followed Vegeta's order to lock it behind them, a seemingly unnecessary precaution when everyone outside of Freiza and the Ginyu Force had perished, and from what she could sense, were still engaged in their own affairs.

"Where's your scouter?"

Nabooru turned from the pin pad near the door to face him. "I destroyed it. Before you showed up, I had planned to dig up the dragonballs and hide at least one to keep Frieza from getting his wish. I didn't want the communicator to pick anything up."

"Hmpt…" He pulled the damaged armor over his head, tearing his gloves off with his teeth and kicking off his boots. "That makes you useless in keeping a watch out for Frieza. You could have been in the middle of that little scheme of yours and gotten caught."

"Don't insult me. I'm not an idiot." Nabooru flipped her ponytail and crossed the room to her storage locker. She pulled off her glove and rested her palm against the scanner. With her own battle suit tattered from Vegeta's attack, she decided the current lull was as good a time as any to swap it out for the spare set she brought with her. "I taught myself how to sense energy. I heard you and Nappa talking about how the Earthlings could do it without a scouter, so I decided to figure it out. I wanted any edge here I could get."

Vegeta didn't reply and instead headed toward the back of the room for the showers, peeling off his battle suit as he went. He switched the water on and stepped in. "Good. Keep watch then."

She rolled her eyes and mock saluted him, yanking the tie from her hair and removing first her armor then her battle suit. She was halfway through pulling the fresh top back on when she slowed. "Vegeta, where's your tail?"

He glowered icily from behind the glass door, and she imagined the usual lash of his tail that would accompany a killer glare like that one. "The Earthlings cut it off."

"Oh…" Nabooru slid her armor back over her head and seated herself on one of the benches. She lifted her leg and pulled her burnt red stockings over her feet and up her legs. "You mentioned Kakarot earlier. That was the name of Raditz's brother, wasn't it? He's here? That other power level that showed up a bit later to your fight with Recoome?"

Vegeta grunted, seemingly more focused on scrubbing his face than listening to her. Still, she continued, keen on taking advantage of what would likely be her one chance to shed light on all the confusion surrounding the last few months and fill in the gaps in her knowledge. "So those other two that were here...they're Earthlings, then? Why would they come here though?"

"The same reason you and I are here: the dragonballs." He finished scrubbing the dirt, blood, and grime from his body and kicked the door open. Dripping wet, he stalked to the general storage cabinets, leaving puddles in his wake. "If they listen to Kakarot, they'll be heading this way with their radar and hopefully whatever password they need to summon the dragon."

She almost asked why they wanted them, but assumed Vegeta wouldn't have cared enough to ask. "You don't seem worried about that." She slipped her feet into her boots and replaced her gloves. "Are you going to let them summon this dragon and then steal the wish from under them?"

"Precisely. So long as Ginyu keeps Kakarot busy, it will be no problem."

Nabooru hummed, intrigued by the order in which he named the two men currently engaged in battle from what she could detect. "What Jeice said is true then. Ginyu didn't want to believe a Saiyan defeated Recoome and Burter. Kakarot must be an impressive warrior, then, to first cause you guys and then the Ginyu Force so much trouble."

"Tch, whatever." Nabooru glanced back at the Saiyan, slight amusement dancing in her golden eyes as he angrily jerked a new battle suit of a dark gray hue on. "I'm stronger now, too, so if Kakarot decides to be a problem, I'll kill him."

She hummed, aware that his claims of gaining more power were in fact true after the beating he took from Recoome. Another boost in his strength to further increase the ever growing gap in their power. Annoyed as she was by it, she had one last question she needed answered before either of them could be distracted again. She chewed her lower lip, twisting the hair tie between her gloved fingers.

"What happened to Nappa? Did Kakarot kill him?"

He snorted. "No. He should have, though."

Though his words should have relieved her, for it suggested the chance he still lived, dread twisted her stomach into knots. "Where is he, then? All intel I received suggested he never left Earth."

"That's because he didn't." Vegeta finished pulling his gloves on. "I killed Nappa."

Nabooru was on her feet before she could stop herself, her anguish transforming to rage at the confession. "You what?!" Leather creaked as her hands balled into fists, and Vegeta's continued unbothered demeanor only heightened her anger. "Vegeta, how could you?! Nappa was nothing but loyal to you! Basically raised you! Not to mention one of the very last--"

"Don't patronize me, woman." He turned to face her fully, dark eyes voids of nothingness. He spoke with the authority of a parent chiding a child that couldn’t know better: “I don’t have to explain anything to you, but killing Nappa was a mercy. As a warrior, one he would have preferred to than being unable to continue to fight. Then or potentially ever again. He was useless to me and himself.”

Her emotional response far outweighed reason, any understanding she found in his words based in her personal and cultural understanding of herself as a warrior or what she had gleaned of the Saiyans. “That’s a leever dung excuse and you know it! You could have easily gotten him back to his pod and sent to the nearest base! You just…” Alarm bells rang in her ears but rage silenced the warnings to stop while she was ahead. Before she said something she didn’t mean and knew was far more complicated than a black and white right or wrong. “You wanted to kill him! You wanted to because you’re a monster! You’re a monster just like Frieza who--”

Her back slammed into the far wall before she saw the attack coming, before her senses caught the quick uptick of his energy as a warning. Vegeta yanked her down to his level by her armor, and his other hand clutched her neck with just enough force to restrict her breathing and bruise.

Rage once more burned in his onyx eyes, a sight somehow less concerning to her than the emptiness she witnessed there not moments before. She met it with her usual defiance, stubborn scowl fighting to keep the natural pain and panic from her features that came with being forced into such a vulnerable, compromised position.

“How dare you,” he seethed. Fingers tightened on her airway, and she bit back a pained squeak. “How dare you compare me to him. I should kill you right now. You’ve given me the information I need, and I’ve more than humored your shit long enough. You’re a weakling, and you’ve more than outlived your usefulness to me.”

She grabbed his wrist, this time unable to hold back her gasp for air or avoid fighting back through the instinctual need to live. Her mind clouded from the lack of oxygen and her lungs burned. Then, the tightness around her neck subsided. She sucked in a heaving breath and just barely managed stretched her arms outward in time to catch herself and keep her face from slamming into the tile floor. She rubbed her neck and refilled her lungs.

“Pathetic…”

Her fingers curled into her palms. Pathetic. A weakling. A whore and a traitor. She could almost feel the blade of ki in her hand, visualized it piercing through his armor, his chest, out his back. His blood dripping from the wound as she forcefully reminded him how powerful she was. What it meant to cross a Gerudo warrior, even one that had a higher tendency toward mercy than many others, scorned and pushed too far. But she knew she couldn’t take him. She knew he was right that he far outmatched her, would stop her attack before it started. And though she wanted to fight him anyway, to engage him in what would likely be a final, infuriated assault, she remembered what was at stake. Home. Her people and seeing them again. Returning to the life she dreamed of night after night and so desperately wanted back. The one ripped from her to serve and do the horrific bidding of a tyrant. Even if the chances of dying far outweighed those of actually making it home with two people ready to off her, if their odds of defeating Frieza depended on everything working out perfectly in their favor without a single hiccup, proving herself to a man who would never see her worth again, who had written her off as the worst sort the moment Frieza promoted her, felt insignificant.

Jaw tight, she pushed herself back up to her feet and refused to meet his gaze. The tension within the enclosed room threatened to suffocate her faster than his hand at her throat, but she refused to break it. To speak to him. She had nothing to say between her anger and grief. No matter how her mind whispered she should swallow her pride and apologize to some degree for comparing him to Frieza, she refused to entertain the idea. Her conscience would cease to matter when she was murdered or finally, finally, made it back to her home.

Any inner turmoil she battled was forgotten when a pair of ki signatures approaching and landing outside of the ship alerted her and, if his glance toward the side meant anything, Vegeta. “Finally.” He strode to the door and opened it. “Let’s go. Keep your mouth shut and stay close to me. Once the dragon is summoned, we’ll ambush them. Got it?”

He didn’t wait for her reply and disappeared into the hall again, the tap of his boots on the tile quickened with his revived urgency. Nabooru bent to retrieve the dropped hair band and pushed her hair back into her usual high ponytail, twisting the elastic around her thick, crimson locks. With the fleeting consideration to steal the wish for herself, use it to teleport her back to her homeworld, she followed Vegeta out of the ship. Though she had little faith the prince would keep his word to her when this was all over, she would keep hers. Her desire to do it for him and the justice he deserved waned, but freeing herself from Freiza meant freeing her people from him. Thus, no matter how tempting, sabotage was out of the question.

She would continue to aid Vegeta for now. Until he made his wish and killed Frieza. Until she could escape Namek and return home.

#fic: recruited #got a little emotional for me at the end man

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