#I drew him sad. I’m so fucked up and evil. *turns into a wolf like rammstein mfs in du riechst so gut and runs away*

[mylove-thresher]

don’t worry chat I could never (false buzzer meme sfx)

[black-streak]

Waiting for the Worms - Hey You

Part 15

I had planned to be so much further in the plot by this chapter and yet here we are. I don't want to say this is a filler chapter, because the reunion of the team and all is important but like, nothing exciting happens here. Very tame. Don't expect anything crazy. That's next chapter.

Special thanks to @cassiopeiathequeen for reading this over for me when I second guessed if I should even post this one or not.

CLOSED list of dinner specials (I'm tired, shush): @northernbluetongue @thethirdwheelfriend @shizukiryuu @theatreandcomicfreak @michellemagic @karategirl119 @moonlightstar64 @my-name-is-michell @mystery-5-5 @zalladane @queen-of-the-trash-planet-tm @miraculousdisapointment @dorkus-minimus @jardimazul @allthebooksandcrannies @g-arya @worlds-tiniest-spook-pastry @persephonescat @mycupisbroken @luciferge @18-fandoms-unite-08 @dawnwave16 @alwaysreblogneverpost @kris-pines04 @mysteriouslyswimmingfan-blo-blog @weird-pale-blonde-person @you-will-never-know-how-i-think @kokotaru @naclychilli @slytherinhquinn @clumsy-owl-4178 @ladybug-182 @darkthunder1589 @evil-elf16 @dast218 @lysslovsanime @emilytopaz @naoryllis @iloontjeboontje @thepeacetea @danielslilangel @finallyaniguana @i-like-fairytail-and-stuff @vixen-uchiha @yuulxd @bleeding-heart-romantic @magic-inthe-stars @st0rmy-w1th1n

~---~

It took a moment for anyone to move, all still looking back and forth between Jason and her, as though unsure how to proceed.

While they took their sweet time figuring it out, Damian glanced at Jason, then back to her, "I see what you meant now. This will take time to adjust to."

"Oh?" She inquired, a quirk to her eyebrow.

"I keep looking to him, but that isn't correct, is it? It's annoying to think I might accidentally treat him as I treat you just because his flesh prison is the one I am accustomed to."

"Would that be so terrible?" She offered, face barely hinting at amusement.

"Yes."

Chuckling, she drew him closer into her lap where he allowed himself to huddle close, turning to watch the masses once more.

Jason, a state of content shock, kept their hands tightly bound, watching the two before him interact with such ease. Meanwhile the others only just now found the nerve to move fully into the living room, very aware of the two sets of eyes observing them. One pair, they thought they were used to, had seen almost everyday for years, but the glow to them was different. Electric green seemed to spark through the vivid blue, dangerous and wild. 

Kagami never felt fear as a civilian, especially after having been a superhero for so long. Had never felt threatened or like an easy target, but those eyes on her suddenly made her feel like prey in the sights of a killer. The dark green eyes set below only added to this.

Juleka couldn't explain how on edge the little boy put her. His hardened eyes never strayed from their little group, harsh and judging. No child should be so intimidating or coiled so tight, as though to pounce. The protective arms wrapped around him seemed less for their safety, but rather hinted at more than one opponent should things go downhill.

Marc suddenly had a new idea for a story about a lone wolf and her wolf cub, living in the wilderness, avoiding conflict but capable of taking down even the mightiest of warriors. They could wager a guess where that idea came from as they stood behind the armchair Kagami placed herself in, Chloe sitting on the arm of it, Juleka sitting on the carpet between her feet.

As for Chloe, she simply stared at who she could only assume was Jason. That tall, ridiculously muscled man, with his white streak and swimming teal eyes was who they had fought alongside so long? How in the hell did he pull off a tiny little teenage girl for so long? How old was this guy even to have such a scarred, built body? What had Mari been through in her time as him? She couldn't help it, she needed to know.

"Jason, how old are you?"

He startled in his seat, turning to look at her, "uh, well I was a year older than her, so eighteen, I guess."

"Seventeen and a half," Marinette corrected.

"But he said-"

"You don't continue aging in a dead body."

She answered so matter of fact, so flippantly, they fell silent once more. Kagami was the first to regain her bearings.

"Must you be so blunt about it?"

Those eyes swung to focus in on her, sharp with challenge, "Why not?"

Chloe rose to it first, "Because it hurts okay? Your acting like it means nothing, but it does. It hurts-!" 

"Like a crowbar to the face?" She cut in, a dark little smile twisting her face as the green seemed to flash in her eyes.

Damian snickered at the playful jab, adding on, "Such cutting words, Mari, how do they compare to the autopsy?

"Like a gentle caress, little one," her grin becoming more wicked as she nuzzled the top of his head. Right then the hand she forgot was gripping her own became nearly crushing as it shook.

"Fucking hell, Mari," his voice rattled out and as her head jerked in his direction, she saw his crumpled expression break into a broken laugh. He ran his free hand through his hair, "I only found out you were alive an hour ago, could we maybe hold off on the morbid humor?"

"Hey, that means I was alive two and a half more years than you thought though," she attempted to comfort him.

"Yeah? And how were those two years spent?" He snarked back, though she could hear the desperation in his voice, begging to know why she hadn't come back sooner. Hadn't looked for him.

"Curbing my bloodlust," she easily replied, not outwardly reacting, eyes searching his for understanding. The flash of green in his own answered. 

He shook his head and nudged Damian, the boy instinctively moving at the nudge from a familiar hand and looking pissed upon realizing his mistake as he dropped onto the other end of the couch behind where Mari had ended up. Jason heeded him no mind as he pulled Marinette closer until she moved herself into his lap, letting herself marvel at how small she now was.

"Excuse me? Do we just not exist over here?" Chloe snapped into their little bubble.

"I wish," Damian muttered.

"Watch it brat."

"Chloe," Marinette growled out the warning.

The blonde teared up, "Mari, we're friends. You remember right?"

Sighing, she clamped down on the anger, "Of course I remember. Please try to refrain from calling him names though," swiveling towards Damian, who had started smirking, she snapped him out of it, "And Damian, learn tolerance. More people will be entering our lives now and we'll have to navigate around those the other chooses to associate with." He hunched in on himself at her reprimand.

"She lashed out at you. Her feelings about your death are not your fault."

"They aren't, but I also have zero tact about the topic of my demise. Maybe I cannot be blamed for her feelings over my dying, but I could control how hurtful my words are. Then she wouldn't have felt the need to lash out, just as you wouldn't. I won't become more tactful and I'll understand if she doesn't wish to talk to me because of it, but I could have," she turned back to Chloe with that, noticing the contemplative look to some, sadness to others. Jason simply looked like he understood and sympathized.

"So how exactly did this group come to be?"

"It took less than two months for Jason to fire Chat," Juleka spoke up, gripping Kagami's calf from her spot on the floor, purposefully drawing attention to the person she held, " choose her as the new black cat."

"Fair enough, and the rest are holders as well, I presume?"

At this moment, kwamis began to reveal themselves, Longg peeking out of Chloe's bag, Trixx popping out of Marc's hoodie, Mullo showing off their spot amongst Juleka's hair. Tikki eventually floated out of Kagami's blazer, looking at her with forlorn, yet hopeful eyes.

Feeling a purr start up against her neck, she twisted to look up at Jason.

"You two switched?"

"We switch often," Kagami spoke here, cradling Tikki who sat her palm holding back tears at the lack of reaction given, "good for confusing the enemy. They never knew which of us it was until the fighting style gave it away."

"It also became necessary due to my not being a very good fit for Tikki despite my body being the proper match," Jason cut in here.

"Juleka and I switch often as well. Fits us better that way."

"I stay the same, but I have three different forms, so I suppose it's fair," Chloe added.

"And Hawkmoth?"

"Gone. We ended it about a year or so ago," Jason reassured.

Only then did a tiny, happy smile slip onto her face, lightening the atmosphere and allowing everyone in the room to relax.

"Tikki? I've missed you sweetie bug," Mari cooed, the little goddess perking up and launching herself forward into the other side of her neck to cuddle close.

"Mari? I'm so happy you're alive! I missed you so much, you don't even know!" Tikki sniffled then immediately begin to scold her, "don't you ever pull a stunt like that on me again, do you hear? I can't lose you again."

"I know, I'm sorry. I cannot promise that."

"What does that mean?!"

"I might not have known I would die in that moment, but I would do so again," she looked over to Jason now, "I would take that hit again without hesitation. And I'm sure my life being threatened isn't going to suddenly stop. I will however do everything within my abilities to prevent another unnecessary death." 

The kwami gave a little huffy sniffle and ducked back into her neck once more, as Kagami gave a cough. "Don't worry, I have no intention of taking back your miraculous. You fit Tikki quite nicely from what I can tell."

"You.. Don't want me back?" Tikki spoke up.

"It's not that I wouldn't like to have you back by my side, but tell me truthfully Tik. Looking into my soul, could you see me being able to use your miraculous?"

The kwami deflated once more at that, knowing her to be right. At that moment, she felt a small hand softly tap her back before reaching up by her neck and slowly cupping the sleepy cat resting there. Sitting perfectly still until Plagg had been completely extracted, she turned to watch Damian slowly pet the God, the surprisingly docile kwami watching the boy out of the slits of his eyes. 

"What is he?" Damian looked to her, wide eyed and curious.

Chloe spoke up, trying to amend the static from earlier, "He's a kwami. They're like pocket sized Gods, bonded to pieces of jewelry. The person who wears that jewelry is granted the ability to use the corresponding kwami's power. His name is Plagg and he's the kwami of Destruction."

Damian nodded along, eyes filled with wonder as the others took turns introducing the other kwamis in the room, Tikki joining them as Plagg floated back over to Mari. For her part, Mari relaxed further as the others became purposefully distracted so as not to overwhelm each other any further, while also keeping Damian occupied.

Turning to greet Plagg, she offered a considering look, "You were on my person in the cafe."

He nodded.

"You adjusted my aim during the attack."

"You were going to kill them," he tensed up, tone defensive.

"I know."

"Marinette-"

"I'm glad you stopped me. They were not lives that needed taken."

"You've changed so much," the cat kwami sounded remorseful and desolate, taking her in, soul and all. 

"I have. You still love me though?"

"Course I do, sweetheart," the big green eyes teared up, never good at hiding his real feelings around her, especially now that he could see his own destruction magic in her soul and consuming Jason's body.

Taking a deep breath, she spoke out to the room, informing them that she'd be in the kitchen, making lunch. They all nodded in agreement, knowing they all needed the space to figure out their thoughts.

Jason followed her, "Mind if I join you?"

Turning around, knowing they no longer had an audience, she let her tears fall freely, speaking softly to not alert the others "Jay? This is real isn't it? You're really here?"

Holding her by the shoulders, he leaned down to meet her eyes, "shouldn't I be the one asking that?" He teased, smiling at her small laugh, "This is some surreal shit, isn't it?"

"Yeah," she choked out, rubbing her eye as she pushed forward and pressed her face to his chest, wrapping herself around him, feeling his arms hover a moment before pulling her in tight.

"You're being strong for him, aren't you?"

Grabbing his hand, she led him into the bedroom, closing the door softly, "He doesn't have anyone else, Jay. I'm sure he told you about the league?"

"Yeah, something like that."

"Didn't happen to mention what he was doing there, did he?

"He slipped a bit, but I'd rather hear it from you."

"Talia is his mother. She took me in so I could get him out. Trained me to be the perfect protector, gave me the means to leave, disconnected from him completely so he wouldn't argue. And of course I agreed. He was being abused, Jay. It was so terrible, the way they were raising him. But I don't know what I'm doing."

"I don't know, you seemed to be doing a pretty amazing job out there," he brushed tears off her face, still amazed that he could, "How do you want to handle this? With me having taken my body back. I'll follow your lead here."

"About that… You and I have joint custody."

"What?"

"Legally, you're his older brother, who adopted him after your parents died, since you were of age to do so. Marinette Todd is your wife who adopted him with you."

"Wh-why would you- I mean-?" He cut himself off, confused.

"Well I mean, I didn't think the connection would ever come back, but in case it did or if I felt it safe to find you. I didn't want to take a chance. We can go back and change them?"

"It's fine, just, how old did you make us to be married and able to adopt a child?"

"Well he's your brother, so the adoption part would be easy despite age, plus we forged documentation for cps check-ins for two years, so they won't be checking now."

"And how old does that make us?"

"You're twenty one and I'm twenty. We've been his legal parents since you turned nineteen. We married the year after I graduated high school. You looked old enough to pull it off and I wasn't sure what I looked like anymore but doubted anyone would look twice."

"Well alright then," he blinked, pulling her close again and setting his head on top of hers, "It's going to take a while to get used to being this tall," he admitted.

"How do you think I feel," she rested fully against him, blown away by the ability to lean on someone for once.

A knock sounded on the door and Damian peaked in, "Mari? You need to come see this."

[dragonstoravens]

Babylon Vol. 1: Unflattering, Apologies

[ID: a blue patterned banner with text reading “BABYLON.” End ID.]

(Oh boy here comes some PLOT! Sorry not sorry in advance from me and @charlottedotexe-- this one’s a bit rough. No specific warnings, but this is where that “Trinity’s still lawful evil, remember?” bit comes in)

Taglist (ask to be added or removed!): @charlottedotexe @glitterandstarshine @rainbowcoloreddays @the-starlight-chills @erased-in-stone

General: @elywritesbydarkness @residentofthedisc @humour-and-hyperfocus @skyfirewrites @viawrites-andacts

14. Unflattering

    Azure really, truly, understood why some people were cruel. Sometimes a situation called for it. Sometimes it was necessary for a greater good. 

    But this time in particular, she did not understand.

    “Jericho!” came the greeting, the same one everyone here seemed to use for Trinity. “Great thinking on that deal with the alien colony a couple of months ago. I heard the margins from that conflict were positively astronomical.”

    “Oh, yes. That.” Trinity turned away from Azure to face the man who’d addressed him, leaving his face in a shadowed profile from where Azzy sat. His voice took on that casual calm it always did when he talked business, but this time something about the tone sent a shiver down her spine. “It wasn’t exactly a difficult decision. I believe they would have paid anything considering the reports I’d received on the state of their military, and it was simple to speak to marketing about making use of that desperation.” One corner of his lip twitched up. It wasn’t a smile. “I assume your firm saw some profits from the situation as well, Darcy? I don’t deserve all the credit, of course, but the Jerichos appreciate your recognition. As always.” The man clasped his hand with a professional nod and smile, a look of respect on his face. Trinity still wore that not-quite-smile, cold and calculating and… pleased. It looked alien to Azure. She hated it.

    Trinity heard a sudden whirling click as Azure’s communicator ejected itself from her neck, slamming a wall between her mind and his. She looked away and scratched at the base of her neck, then shoved her hand in her pocket. Most likely, that was her putting it away. She’d taken it out completely. Her jaw was clenched, the strong line even more stubborn than usual, and she refused to meet his eyes as she reached forward and grabbed a glass of water from a nearby tray. Her shoulders sparked dangerously, and she brushed them off.

    “I’ll be right back dear.” It did not sound like he was very dear. Her smile was nearly threatening as she pulled from his side as though he’d leave a residue if she did it too slowly. “I’ve got something to do quickly.”

    Trinity’s eyebrows pulled together. “...Of course.” She took off, barely waiting for him to finish his response. That was strange. He knew she didn’t like business talk, but she liked being alone at these events even less. And she didn’t seem anxious or upset, so she likely wasn’t running off to hide like he sometimes did. Whatever it was she was mad about, he was sure she’d come back and tell him what was going on soon enough. And he did still have business to attend to.

    It only took a few minutes for a slight bit of concern to start creeping in. His experience with Azure so far was one of nearly fatal honesty and very little patience, although she was getting better at putting up with these long, boring events. Usually, because she was talking to him about it through the comm, which was still blocked off. If something was wrong all she had to do was mention it and he’d leave, but instead she was off on her own, without even giving him a legitimate reason why. It only took a few minutes more for concern to become something a little easier for him to deal with-- or at least more familiar. Annoyance. It was not a good feeling. He was making at least a cursory attempt to shut it down when he saw Azure approaching  from across the room. 

    Even before she arrived at his side once more, he could see that whatever the problem was, it had yet to be solved. The set of her jaw wasn’t any softer, and the comm still wasn’t in, and her tone was cool whenever she spoke, but at least whatever that tight, threatening undertone was had diminished. She leaned against his arm, body stiff and movements bordering on mechanical. Where she’d normally be hanging from his arm, a lounge-singer’s grace with that distinctly Azure slouch, she was instead standing almost primly beside him. It bordered on prudish. Someone else approached her, a woman hell bent on asking where she’d gotten her shoes from, and her friendly demeanor returned. 

    “Oh, they’re MiZara originals, only ones of their kind. I can take your card, he’s always willin’ to hear out a custom request.”

    The two chatted amiably for a moment, a card was exchanged, and Azure returned to her sour expression not moments after her conversation partner vanished into the crowd. “Sorry about disappearin’, I had a couple issues with my cybernetics to work out.” A bold faced lie, her cybernetics never had issues she needed to fix immediately like that. They were well crafted and carefully maintained, and they both knew it. The annoyance was back, despite his best efforts. 

    “I see. Do you need to leave? To… fix them further?” Without really meaning to, he matched her stiffness, the cool calm he so often used when speaking to strangers turned back on her in a way it hadn’t been since their first meeting. He would give her an opening, he decided. If she didn’t take it, then clearly she didn’t plan to give him an honest answer about any of this, and he would leave it alone. The idea made his skin crawl, an unpleasant boiling in his blood. God, he hoped she would take it-- though he wasn’t sure even that would satisfy his frustration now. He tapped a foot, watching her for a response.

    Azure looked around, looking for any more of his business partners trying to ask him questions or congratulating him on further profiteering of a disgusting caliber. “If you’re done for the evenin’, I think that’d be best. I’m not sure dancin’ is really in the cards for me this time around.” Her shoulders relaxed just a touch. Relief, maybe. 

    “I see. In that case, we’ll leave.” He turned on a heel, heading for the exit with the kind of stride that made people get out of his way without a single thought. With the icy silence between the two of them, the air seemed almost colder in their wake as they passed unimpeded through the ballroom and out into the night. Trinity had the car door open for her as almost an automatic response, but he didn’t wait for her to get in, walking around to the other side and opening his own door to enter the car at nearly the same time she did. As soon as both doors were closed, he fixed her with those horribly cold green eyes. In the calmest voice he could manage, he said, “Would you like to tell me what that was really about?”

    Her eyes widened, shock in their depths, and then that shock gave way to a churning anger. An arc of electricity jumped from her left shoulder to her right hand, and she looked about two seconds away from baring her teeth like a wolf about to strike. “Oh, I’m so sorry I didn’t light into you in a ballroom full of people. Please, remind me to clock you the way I’d like to the next time you think it’s a dandy idea to exploit the sufferin’ of an entire colony.” The snarl to her voice was foreign, unfamiliar. “Really, I’d be so pleased to cause that much embarrassment on the spot.”

    His eyebrows shot up. It was a valid reason to wait, but that wasn’t exactly first in his mind right now. Despite all the time he’d spent cultivating a perfect, untouchable exterior, it was all he could do to hold onto it now. Anger pushed itself into place over hurt as her words struck home, and over it all he struggled to keep calm. Perfect calm, the mirror-still surface of a pond, freezing into a bitter cold fractal shield. It had always protected him before.  “Azure, I have a job and I do it,” he snapped, the words unfeeling to the point of sounding nearly derisive. Worse-- uncaring. “I never expected you to like it, but I thought from our first meeting onwards that you understood it. If I misled you into thinking I’m some kind of saint, my fucking apologies. You know I’m climbing a ladder, and this kind of work is a rung.”

    “Oh don’t fuckin’ start in on that train of thought, I read about that fuckin’ deal on my little walk to clear my head and save you the embarrassment of becomin’ a barbecue.” She glared at him, scoffing. “That was a colony tryin’ to fight for its right to survive, and you would have done very well for yourself even at half that cost. I’ve seen the schematics for those warheads, asshole, I helped you price them.” Sparks continued to shoot off of her and she moved away as far away from him as she could. She was mad, but she didn’t want him to catch fire quite yet. “I’m disappointed in you. That deal wasn’t goin’ to do anythin’ extra for you on your way up your ladder. It was cruel, and unnecessary, and I know you know it because you’re not a fuckin’ idiot. You disgust me right now.” She looked upset now, sad in a way he hadn’t seen before. Her shoulders slumped, her jaw relaxed, and her brows knit together. “All those people need that funding for things beyond just a war. They need it for food and to recover from the hell they’re goin’ through. You’ve sentenced a nation to possibly decades of poverty just because you could.”

    Trinity drew in a sharp breath, and there was a moment of something too fiercely charged to be rightly called ‘silence,’ as the dangerously climbing hum of electricity buzzed louder and Trinity’s shoulders drew back with the minute slowness of an assassin silently cocking a gun. Any moment now, Azure’s control would slip and explode. Any moment now, Trinity’s enraged, haughty, emptiness would freeze him to the core and shatter. Any moment…

    But just as it seemed the space between them would tear in two if it stretched a second longer, Trinity’s mask slipped, abruptly, and fell away. His face beneath was blank-- a completely different blankness than the uncaring calm he’d worn almost all night. This was naked, raw, an exposed nerve. This looked more like he’d gone catatonic, or perhaps been smacked in the back of the head by a brick. In the moonlight, his face was deathly pale. 

    Of course he’d thought of that. He’d known it from the beginning. And he’d been taught to ignore it, to believe people he didn’t know were barely people at all. No-- he had taught himself to ignore it. He’d always said that no matter who he worked for or with, he would remain himself, Trinity, not just a Jericho or a pawn of Fate. But when it came down to it, he’d let that learned cruelty override his own sense of purpose. He thought, for the first time since he’d made that deal, of who he was climbing this ladder for. She would be disgusted, too. And she hadn’t even crossed his mind when the opportunity had been handed to him on a silver platter. Silence stretched once more, but this time there was a give to it. Into that silence, Azure spoke once more.

    “I don’t want to watch you lose your whole soul, Hotshot. Or at least what’s left of it, after these bloodsuckers have their fill and you finally reach whatever the top of that ladder is.” She looked out the window. Her hands were still sparking, the little lights landing in her lap and petering out. “Your line of work is tough, ethically speakin’, and you have ambition in spades, and those aren’t necessarily bad things on their own given the circumstances. But I know for a fact that the guy who made that deal is not the one I made good enough friends with to be his date at big fancy events regularly enough to know the difference between wine glasses now. That guy is actually worth the time. I’m not sayin’ you have to be perfect, no one is. But fuckin’ think next time, Trinity. It’s out of character for you not to.” The sparking finally died down. She could see the blank look on his face. It seemed like maybe she’d gotten through to him. Or maybe he wasn’t the person she thought he was. Only time would tell. “Nod if you’re not catatonic with shock.”

    Only Azure, Trinity thought numbly. Only she could rip him and his entire business model to pieces with just a few words-- that somehow still managed to pay him compliments he knew he didn’t deserve from her-- after spending half the night furious at him, and in the next breath somehow make a joke out of it all. The least he could do was respond to the joke. He did so, with a wooden nod of his head.

    There were parts of what he’d said that he still stood by. For one thing, he still wasn’t sure how she’d gotten the impression that this was out of character for him in any way. But she was at least correct in saying he hadn’t thought this through. If he had, maybe he would have realized that this could only hurt the very few things he truly cared about. But his heart, as it so often did, had slipped his mind. It occurred to him, as he sorted through the choices leading him here, that he had another very difficult conversation to plan after this one. There was someone else who deserved to know that he’d slipped, even if there was no way he was sharing the details. He sighed, shifting for the first time in what seemed like eons to run a hand through his hair.

    “I can’t truly apologize. It’s long past too late to make up for my choices.” His expression didn’t change, though somehow Azure got the feeling that ‘long past too late’ referred to something much further back than one business deal. 

    What it did refer to was a total mystery,  but Azure told herself she’d deal with that one later. Between the weird sense of self and the panic attacks, who knew what other bullshit he had going on. She had other, more present issues to deal with. Like getting that look off his face and teaching him a damn lesson about making up for mistakes.

    She smacked him in the chest, just hard enough to sting.

    “Dumbass, just fuckin’ do it right next time. You’re right, you already fucked up. You’re not exempt from self improvement just because you fucked up. Now say sorry.”

    He turned back to look at her and blinked a few times, surprised. “...Sorry?”

    “We’ll work on it. Good enough for now.” She looked almost fond under all that disappointment. “Maybe you ain’t a lost cause.”

    Somehow that fondness hurt worse than any amount of anger or disappointment that had led up to it. He was suddenly very aware that there was no way he could convince her to leave, or convince her to think of him any way other than however she damn well pleased. That was simply who Azure was. Which meant that someday, he was going to watch himself hurt her again, and that was just going to be something he had to accept. He took the realization in stride. There was no reason to dwell on it any longer than that, it was just the way things were. But he had at least decided that however that hurt was to come about, it wouldn’t be like this. He would do what he had to do to climb the ladder, but this kind of exploitative deal would not happen again.

    The car came to a stop at the drop point, and Trinity glanced back over at Azzy. “We’re here. You should let the ship know you’re back early.”

    “Of course.” She tapped a few words into a communicator. “Won’t be long, they hung around this time.” Her eyes met his, and she patted his shoulder. “Sorry for hittin’ ya. My “siblin’ to a sad sack” instincts kicked in before I could stop ‘em.” She thought for a moment before adding, “And next time I’m pissed, I’ll try to maybe keep it under wraps a little better before I run off to chill out. I just didn’t want to cause a scene, it wouldn’t be good for you.”

    He shook his head. The list of things he knew about Azure’s brother just kept getting more confusing. Vigilante, fashion designer, sharpshooter… and sad sack, apparently. “You don’t need to apologize. You did the best anyone could ask of you in that situation. It shouldn’t have been something you had to do at all.”

    “Yeah, but if I’m gonna go around demandin’ apologies, I may as well own up to anythin’ I might have done.” She brushed a couple of sparks off her skirt and opened the car door. “Have a good night, Hotshot.”

    “You too.” It was most certainly not enough, he’d said so little to her throughout this and had barely even apologized. Part of the reason for that was that apologizing to Azure again felt pointless and stale. He had no way to apologize to the buyers, that ship had sailed. So his apology would have to be held in his future actions. Far easier said than done.

    He turned back to his own ship, and set the coordinates for his home planet of Eden. At least he could do something about the other apology he’d roped himself into.

15. Apologies

    The sun had fully set and stars were clear in the sky by the time Trinity arrived home in Eden. He kicked his shoes off at the door, losing his coat and tie just as quickly, and headed up the stairs of his dark and silent house. The room at the end of the hall was mostly dark as well, but a tiny sliver of light peeked out from under the door. He sighed, put a hand to his temple, and knocked.

    The light went out immediately. Trinity rolled his eyes, fondly exasperated despite the situation. “I already saw the light. You can’t pretend you’re asleep. Can I come in?”

    There was a pause, and the rustling of blankets. The light clicked back on. 

“...Okay.” 

    Trinity opened the door and stepped inside. His thirteen year old sister sat up in bed with her arms crossed, a tablet on her lap clumsily hidden under the corner of her duvet. “I know I’m supposed to be asleep, but--”

    “It’s ok, Adriel.” He sighed and sat down on the edge of her bed. “I know it’s late, but can I talk to you about something?”

    Adriel’s defensive expression was immediately replaced with one of concern. “Are you okay?”

    Trinity bit his lip to hold back a grimace. Dammit, he hadn’t wanted to worry her. Though there was probably no way he could have approached this that wouldn’t have. “I’m fine,” he told her calmly. “But I need you to listen. Understand?”

    She nodded. He continued.

    “You know I try not to bring up business too much, it’s not your company and unless you want it, it never has to be. But you also know why I decided to take it over.” he paused as words seemed to fail him, and looked up at Adriel.

    Adriel saw her brother waiting, needing something from her to continue, and nodded solemnly. She might have been young when the power structure of the Jericho family had taken a dramatic shift into the hands of her older brother, but even at the age of eight she had known that he would never have taken over the Jericho business by choice. All that power and responsibility, forced upon him, no matter how much he pretended it was voluntary. Sometimes she couldn’t help but feel just a bit guilty. She knew how smart he was, he could be doing anything he wanted by now. Without the business pulling him down. Without her to provide for. But any time she so much as hinted at that line of thought, he shut it down. If Trin was anything he was stubborn, and he had told her more than once, point-blank, that he refused to let her blame herself for being young, for needing things. She wished he would follow his own advice.

    Trinity was still watching her, something tumultuous in his eyes she didn’t understand, but before she could try to offer some sort of consolation he began again. “I made a bad deal. I knew when I made it that I didn’t need it to advance, or to keep the two of us taken care of, but I chose not to think about any of that. Luckily, someone I know wouldn’t let me get away with it so easily.” He half-smiled, a small, self-deprecating expression that anyone looking in would have been shocked to see on the face of Trinity Jericho. “I said I’d do what I had to so you and I can be taken care of, but I didn’t have to do this. I’m sorry.”

    Adriel frowned. She knew he wouldn’t tell her any more than that, no matter how much she asked, but it was rare enough he brought up work at all. It must have been bad, or this mystery ‘someone he knew’ had really let him have it, for him to mention it to her in the first place. Let alone apologize. Sure, he apologized to her all the time, but that was for stupid things, like forgetting he’d said she could go out, or eating the last brownie. And any other time he’d gotten this weird guilty look on his face, he’d outright refused to talk to her about it or denied that anything was wrong at all. So why was he talking to her about it this time? 

    “What did that person say to you?” She couldn’t quite keep a bit of anger from mingling with the confusion in her voice, and Trinity held out his hands, pacifying.

    “Nothing that wasn’t true. Like I said, I made a bad choice. It just took a person who wasn’t looking at it from a business perspective to make me take notice.”

    “And you’re not going to do it again.”

    “To the very best of my ability, no.”

    Adriel shook her head, with a scoff. She would never understand why her brother worried so much. “Ok, then why are you apologizing to me? I wouldn’t have known, would I?”

    Trinity blinked at her. “And that makes it better somehow?” 

    He wanted to say that everything he did had a chance of reflecting on her. He wanted to say that he’d come close to completely forgetting about the only good reason he had for still running this company, let alone working with the people he did. He wanted to say that even if he’d already damned himself, he still wanted his little sister to think well of him, and that he didn’t want to have to lie to keep it that way. But saying any of that would only make her worry. Luckily, she didn’t give him the chance.

    “No. It would still be bad. But you’re my brother, and I’m not going to hate you because you did one thing without thinking about every possible tiny consequence first. And I wasn’t even upset about anything before you came in. Aren’t apologies supposed to be for people that you hurt?”

    Trinity rolled his eyes to the ceiling, letting out a frustrated huff of breath. Now she was getting somewhere. “Let’s assume for the moment that I can’t apologize to those directly involved. And just because your connection was indirect doesn’t mean I don’t owe you an apology. So, as I said, I’m sorry. I’m going to keep trying to do what’s best for you.”

    “I really don’t think you have to try that hard,” Adriel said mildly. “But I forgive you... if that means I can go to bed now?” She smiled, hoping he would smile back. She hated when Trinity was sad, almost as much as he seemed to hate it when she was. This conversation hadn’t made much sense from the start, but she at least hoped she’d said enough that he wouldn’t feel so guilty. She understood guilt.

    “Sure, Addy.” He didn’t smile, not quite, but he did lean over to kiss her lightly on the top of the head. “Goodnight.”

    That would have to be enough for now. She settled back onto her pillow, tucking away her tablet for real this time. “Goodnight.”

    As he left the room, Trinity pulled up a note on his eyescreen and drafted a quick message. He’d wait a day or so, then send it. Adriel was right in that she hadn’t been upset, but someone else had been. 

    “Azure,

    “I didn’t say this properly before. I apologize. I will do better.”

[lucastheunlucky]

High Steaks | Miles&Lucas

Timeline: Current; After this Chatzy Location: Luke’s apartment; downtown; @ofmyownpack Summary: Miles picks up that Lucas is having a bad night and immediately comes over to check on him with food in hand. He learns what’s going on involving this ghost, and offers help to find her missing body.

It didn’t entirely surprise Miles that there was something going on that Luke hadn’t told him about. He had been alone so long that the instinct was to take on everything by himself. Miles wished that Luke would just stay at his place, but he wasn’t going to insist on it. Luke needed his independence, he needed his normalcy. That, and he had Miles’ birthday gift BBQ grill and fire pit up on the roof. No better place to have a heart to heart than on a rooftop in the summer. “Hey. So I decided against the takeout plan, purely for this.” He held up a bag from the butcher’s with some premium steaks, hot dogs, and burgers. “And I brought beer.” He clapped Luke on the shoulder. “Come on, buddy. Let’s go talk.” 

Luke wanted to stay under his blankets and be a blob for another few hours. He had said he needed someone over, which had been a first for him to admit since he’s had a chance to ask anyone. Miles here was difficult though, it always was for Luke when he looked at his brother and saw, heard, and felt the threats settle into disturbing images. The smell from the bag drew an eye out, the weight of the bag enough to tell him how much red meat was in there. “Okay,” he staggered out of bed, and grabbed a random t-shirt, tossing it over his head as they headed up to the roof, in his hands his knife set, and a few supplies to prep the meat and season it. His shoulders were down while they walked, and he seemed very exhausted, where he usually would be joking and playfully talking Miles ear off, he wasn’t. Luke took his time setting things up, wanting to prep correctly, and get the grill at a good heat. 

“Just like training a dog,” he teased as Luke got out of bed and came over to follow him up to the roof. “Get the red meat out and lure ‘em.” He cracked open one of the beers, handing it to Luke before taking one for himself. Miles was trying to lighten the mood, but he could tell Lucas was carrying something heavy. He started to fire up the grill, unpacking the food and placing it on a tray, starting with the steaks. “You know we’re gonna get to it eventually, so we might as well dive right in. What’s up, buddy?” 

“Bleh,” was Lucas’ response, an old, childish one that came out when his older brother would ask a child sized Lucas to do a chore for him or a favor. He salted the food, and hit it with crushed pepper. It was difficult to word, the situation fresh, but also confusing since he didn’t entirely understand this side of the supernatural. “There’s a ghost of a wolf around, she's here now. Blanche said we can’t see her, that’s the young woman who saw her presence at the shop, she’s a medium or something-- I dunno,” he shook his head, “Blanche said she’s emotionally attached to me because,” he sighed, and could feel the lingering effects of this ghost feeding subtly off him. “Gotch is the one who killed her, buritally might I add. She can’t move on.”

“I’m guessing this isn’t a Mufasa’s spirit lighting up the stars kind of situation?” Miles asked with a sigh. He didn’t know this Blanche girl too well, but he’d met her once, when she’d been asking for help about someone who’d been attacked by a hunter. Jeez, why was it always hunters? “Blanche sounds like she knows her shit.” Miles took a sip of his beer. Luke had taken charge of the grill, and Miles let him do his thing. Miles was pretty good with a grill, but Luke was the chef in the family. “I don’t really know how ghosts work,” he admitted quietly. “Is she here right now?” 

“Should be. But I don’t either, apparently, cause she’s been around since I was put in that grave and never noticed,” Luke said with a bitter edge to it. “We went back there, where I was--” he glanced over at his brother, just to be sure it was him, and not a hallucination, and it really bothered him that he couldn’t actually tell right now. “It fucked with my head seeing that place again. Blanche said sometimes ghosts are on the verge of turning into something else? I can’t remember the word, but they can make you see things, and it feeds off people as their emotions change? Shit man, who knows. I’ll take a physical being any day over shit I can’t see, touch, or deal with a set of claws.” He plopped down close to Miles even though there was plenty of room on the roof, and put his head on his shoulder after the food was cooking. The touch told him he was here. “We have to find her body. Put her to rest. I can’t go back to that place. I really need you too.” 

"That poor girl," Miles sighed. He couldn't help but start casually glancing around to see if he might be able to catch a ghostly outline or something, but he was pretty sure it didn't work that way. "Like evil spirits?" He shook his head. "I can understand that. If I'd been killed violently and stuck around to watch the asshole keep hurting other people, I'd probably turn into a vengeful spirit too." He'd already downed one beer. Luckily, he'd foreseen this and bought a twelve-pack. "So what does that mean for you?" he asked, opened his second beer. 

“Once her body is found, we can give her a proper burial, and she will move on,” Lucas’ stomach growled at the smell, and leaned up to turn the meat over. “I’d do it, but she materialized and made me hallucinate Gotch, and you-- cause I was too close to our grave or something.” He reached for a beer, and turned to face Miles. “Even right now, looking at you without a touch component. I’m not sure you are you. I mean, I think so, but it’s hard seeing what she showed me. She will just get stronger. I think you can find her body the fastest-- even with all this. I’m sad for her.”  

“Oh, shoot. That’s some heavy shit.” What Miles wouldn’t give to just be gearing up to watch the NBA finals or the superbowl with his brother instead of talking about some poor girl who’d been murdered. The sooner Gotch was out of all their lives, the better. “Did she make you have a vision or something? Ghosts can do that?” He breathed a heavy sigh. The first steak was done, so he pulled it off the grill and onto his plate, along with some corn on the cob and some grilled mushrooms. “I’m me. I promise.” He squeezed Luke’s shoulder. “I can do that. Just tell me where to look.” 

“I just saw you, like, you were standing there so clearly. It was very real,” he plated up, and plopped back down on the chair. “I could hear and see Gotch too, bleh,” Lucas frowned, his stomach souring. “Strawford Park, you need to take Blanche though,” he looked over at Miles. “She needs protection, she’s sensitive to them, the ghosts. I was so worried about her, but she can perform what is necessary to get her moved on. Please keep her safe. She has the lot number and I can give you her cell.” 

Lucas was such a sensitive soul. Miles could feel the agony in him. All the kid wanted was for everyone to be safe and happy. It sucked that he had to get dragged into such hell. He didn't deserve it. He should've been out living his life, learning to be a professional chef, going to that awesome culinary college he'd wanted to go to, kissing girls, kissing boys, making those dumb adolescent mistake. Instead, his years had been dedicated to this. "I know her. Not well, but... vaguely. She knows Regan, I think. I'll talk to her." 

“Good, okay--” Lucas’ shoulder relaxed somewhat, but it would be challenging until this poor ghost could move on. That could have been so many wolves. The ones who were wrongfully murdered, and so brutally dealt with. “You know, this will be over someday and then a different climb happens.” He chuckled a little, taking an oversized bite of his burger. “I’ll just be happy to call mom and dad.” Luke honestly said in the simplest of ways, and of all the things he wanted to do when Gotch was killed, that was the most on his mind. “I really want this to end, okay. We have to win.”

Miles wrapped an arm around Luke, giving his shoulder a momentary squeeze. “We’re gonna get through this, okay? We’re gonna have Monday Night Football and chips, BBQs with mom and dad and Ava and Nathan, you’re gonna date, maybe go back to school, we’ll just… be normal, okay? We deserve that at least.” He pulled his arm back and elbowed Lucas in the arm. “Now eat your fuckin’ steak before it gets cold.”

That all seemed like a far away dream, but Miles always had a way to make someone feel like they could reach the stars. It was why he always put his older brother on a pedestal, never entirely believing he could reach where he saw. Why it was so easy to just walk away, fade to a place that muffled and stopped his soul from shining. Lucas could smile for the world easily, but he didn’t always believe. He won’t be able with Gotch until the end. “Bossy-- shut up,” he chuckled, and started eating anyway. At least with this, he could handle. 

[ill-skillsgard]

Hell and All Its Devils - Alex Høgh Andersen/Valter Skarsgård/Bill Skarsgård

Title: Hell and all its Devils

Description: Going to Hell and finding out all the devils are handsome is an eternity you might be able to get comfortable with.

Warning: 18+ for sex/slight DDLG/weirdness/swearing etc. 

A/N: The first (and technically only so far) fic I’ve written with AHA in it. 

I wanted to break up with him. Alex and I just weren't meant for each other. And before you begin to think ill of him, let me just mention that it didn't have anything to do with something he had done. At least, nothing he had done on purpose. His acting career was starting to take off and I was seeing less of him because he was always abroad. Even though he sent me video messages that I could watch over and over again before I chose to let them disappear, it wasn't enough to fill the lonely void. I had stopped going out to bars because fending off strange men was not something I wanted to do while I was hopelessly drowning the sorrows that had arisen from remembering that my boyfriend was having a blast filming in Ireland, New Zealand, South Africa or wherever. It became obvious to me that going to bars was only fun if you were there to attract mates. So you can see how it seemed pointless for me to attend Ladies Night or Friday three-for-two cocktails when I was tied down to a boyfriend I thought I was just making up in my head. The music reminded me of him and the way he would always dance to pretty much anything that was playing over a speaker. He didn't care if it was country or reggae or gangster rap. Alex always liked to move. In his sweats with his hair up in a bun, walking down a store aisle pushing a shopping cart, at parties sprinkled with TV actors, on the beach when someone walked by with music playing on a cell phone- he cracked a smile and did a dance. Sometimes it was downright exhausting trying to keep up with his high energy for an entire day but when those blue eyes darted at me and scanned me from top to bottom and concluded with a delectable lick of his lips, I couldn't help but melt in my panties a little. That's why it hurt so bad to envision the scenario of me sitting him down after he had come home to explain why I couldn't be with him anymore. All those times I watched him shake his ass while we were shopping for groceries or how he looked when he got home from the gym still pumped and rosy from his efforts weren't enough to quell the raging fact that I was so desperately alone when he left for his work. I thought I could swing it. I thought I could date an actor but it was less glamorous than wrap parties and helping him prepare for auditions by reciting lines with him. It was trying not to beg him to fly out to see me on an off day of filming when I knew he wouldn't be able to stay awake through the time change anyway. It was putting on his show just to watch him speak. It was me thinking about how invariably sad I was when there was nobody beside me in bed. Then one night, Alex fucked me and everything changed. And when I say "everything" I mean everything. Alex insisted that he would get a car home from the airport so that I didn't have to pick him up. When I told him that I didn't have to and that I wanted to pick him up he scoffed and said, "No, no, no, you're not going anywhere. Just get yourself ready for me. I have a month's worth of cum to dump inside you." "You're lying," I said. He laughed heartily. That laugh that I loved so much. "What do you mean?" "You sent me a snap of you jacking off last week," I reminded him. "Oh, yeah... Well, that doesn't count." "It counts." "Fine! I have a week's worth of nut to bust inside of you, okay? Get excited. Daddy misses his tight... Fucking gorgeous little pussy." "Oh my God! What did I tell you about referring to yourself as Daddy?" "Sorry! Sorry. I know you don't like that." "It creeps me out." "Hey, but can you actually do me a favor?" He asked. "Yeah." He dropped his voice low and rumbled, "Send me a picture of it." "No!" "Why not? Please! Please... I want to see. Get me hard before I even get home." "I have to... Shower. You'll see it soon enough." "Never soon enough, baby. Never. Okay, I'm going to let you go and I'll see you in half an hour, yeah?" "Yeah." "All right, bye." When he came through the front door hauling only one suitcase with him I knew that meant that he was only staying for a little while because when he had initially left he had two cases with him. Nevertheless, I was elated by his warm presence. Every time I watched those bright blue eyes light up I couldn't believe that they were sparking for me. "Come to me. Come to me, now!" He threw his arms open and I bounded into them. He lifted me and whirled me around like I weighed nothing and when he kissed me I instantly turned to mush in his arms. The overwhelming glow that he gave off made me forget all about how much I had been thinking about breaking up with him. How could I? He kissed me deeply with both of his hands on my cheeks. His dark hair was down and I ran my hands through it. "Go on and get upstairs. Get naked. I'm going to put a hundred babies inside of you." Alex came vaulting up the stairs and met me before I had a chance to take off all my clothes. Luckily he was there to help and soon I was stripped down to nothing while he was still wearing jeans, a long-sleeve, and his denim jacket. I pulled at his clothes but stood back after he dropped his jacket on the floor and took off his shirt. He must have been really keeping up at the gym while he was away because his body looked just as cut or even more so than when he had left. It was another thing about us that was different. Alex liked to keep in really good shape, or rather, he had to for his role even though I knew he would still be a gym rat without the acting career. I didn't much care for working out even though I tried. Alex had been a good trainer at first but I never kept up with it while he was away. He could always tell how badly I had been slacking whenever he would convince me to work out with him. He could run around the block ten times easy and I could hardly make it around twice without panting like a lost mutt. He didn't care if I worked out or not though. He tossed me on the bed and climbed up between my legs anyway. His evil tongue slithered out after he pressed a few kisses to my legs. "Baby, can I ask you something? And you're allowed to say no and I expect that you will but... Fuck... Would you... Nah, nevermind. Some other time." I sat up slightly with pause, "What? What is it?" He shook his head and continued to trail kisses down my inner thighs. I pulled my leg away from him and he laughed as he tried to catch me. "It's nothing. Nevermind!" he said, flashing teeth with a cheeky grin. "It obviously isn't nothing if you brought it up now. What were you going to ask?" Alex rolled his eyes but continued to giggle, "I just... Fuck, I get so... Horny on set. I can't get off to porn. I mean... I can but it sucks. I was sitting there one night thinking how great it would be to have you up on my screen whenever I wanted... Doing dirty things for me." "Alex... I send you videos all the time." "I know but I usually don't get them until morning when I have to go to the gym. Then they disappear. You should send me ones that I can keep." I swallowed hard. The idea of sending each other explicit videos had been discussed several times and we always drew the same conclusion; although we trusted each other, we both recognized the type of damage one could do with a single video and since Alex was starting to get recognized everywhere, he particularly paled at the thought of a video of him stroking his cock getting leaked across the internet. I completely understood. "We talked about that-" "-Let me make a movie." Crossing my arms over my exposed chest, my look soured and he scoffed again at me, nudging my knee to indicate he was just kidding around. But I knew he wasn't kidding. The mischief in his eyes was undeniable. He was a good actor but I could tell when he was withholding the truth just by how playfully he decided to approach a touchy subject. "See? I told you it wasn't worth bringing up." "What do you mean 'a movie'?" I interrupted. "Like... You know. A video of you and me. Just a little something to keep me going when I'm away for so long. Something that can hold me over until I can afford to take you with me." Another thing about Alex that bothered me was how easy it was for him to charm me into doing things that I knew were bad ideas. He had this innocent young pup look that was just a ruse for a snarling wolf of a dark side and I usually didn't recognize I had been coaxed until it was too late. He pulled out one of his nice cameras and popped in a memory card that had been tucked away in the same camera bag. "I'll have to get you to send me it later," he said with an unrelenting smirk of victory on his handsome face. "Why can't you just use your phone?" I asked. "Because! I want full HD. I want to see every fucking drop of my cum leaking out of your pussy in 1080. If we're going to do this, we might as well do it right, yeah?" Trying not to blush, I shoved my face into the pillow until he had his camera all set up. When I looked up, the lens was pointed right at me, mounted threateningly on a tripod that had been tucked away in his half of the closet. "No! What the hell? Alex! I can't do this with that pointed at me so aggressively!" Alex ignored my complaints and went about making sure the framing was to his liking. He surveyed the screen and made adjustments all while looking completely enraptured in his work. This was an art project for him and himself. He got behind the camera again and unzipped his jeans with one hand while gently setting the angle of the camera with his other hand. "Do me a favor and start playing with yourself for me... Please?" When I watched his hand disappear into the front of his pants it was like a trigger that wiped any memory I had had of denying him what he wanted. I leaned my back against the cushioned headboard and spread my legs, reaching down the center of my body to stroke my clit to life while I watched him bite his lip and rub his cock in his jeans. "Oh, that's nice, baby, yeah. That looks good." "Does it?" "Yeah. Fuck yeah," he hissed. "Get it all nice and wet for me. Get it nice and wet for Daddy." I bit back what I wanted to say to him and just did as I was instructed because he started slowly pushing his pants down and that was what I ultimately wanted whether there was a camera pointed at me or not. My boyfriend fucked me like an animal, in all positions and ignored every rule we had ever set for each other. We started off in classic style with me slowly licking at the head of his cock while up on all fours as he stood at the bed's side edge. I missed him so much that I was moaning around his length in no time. Snapping his hips back before he got too close, he smiled and pushed my hair out of my face. "Oh my, that's a nice mouth," Alex nodded at me, slapping my pouting lips with the underside of his cock. "Daddy likes." He wasn't supposed to call himself Daddy and I wasn't supposed to just grab his balls and cause him to gasp but we were both breaking rules. When I had them firmly in my grasp he shivered. "What did I tell you about that?" He whispered so that the camera couldn't pick up his voice. "I don't remember, Daddy." That demonic giggle waltzed from his throat as he grabbed my wrist and squeezed hard so I let go. "Turn around, now. Show the camera your ass. Go on. Get down closer. Closer to the end of the bed. Yeah, that's right." I don't know why I was so pliant to his command but I did what he said and he climbed onto the bed after me and I could feel the entire corner sag beneath his weight. With both his hands on either one of my ass cheeks, he spread them apart and gave one a firm slap that echoed off the walls of our bedroom. "Good evening, Mister Andersen. I'd like to present to you something that I'm sure will get your cock automatically hard. This gorgeous set of holes that this incredible young lady has gifted to you and you alone to fuck. Tonight, I'm going to do all sorts of nasty things to it for your viewing pleasure. So sit back and enjoy the fucking view, my good man!" A laugh threatened to escape my mouth after I had realized that he was narrating homemade porn to his future self. It was a ludicrous idea but nothing was too silly for Alex to try once. He continued to slap and pry me apart, looking at me and then back at the camera, nodding with a smirk as he went to work. I tittered when I felt his mouth suck a nice sloppy kiss on the right side of my ass before switching to the other side. "Already so wet," he mused, slapping my slit a few times for emphasis. "Listen to that... Pure fucking wetness just for me." Instead of slapping me some more he dipped his middle finger between my slick folds and gently into my opening just for a moment. When he took his finger out he popped it into his mouth and moaned with extra drama projecting his voice. "So good. Is there anything better than fresh, sweet pussy juice?" We started the night with a plan and by the end of it, I think the camera's battery had run out. He had been playing with me all night long and well into the early morning. When I looked out the window with my make up crusted in the corner of my bleary eyes I could see a watery screen of the pale violet morning sky driving the dark back down into the horizon. Alex and I had fucked for hours and the sheet was spotted with various stains from drool, his cum, my cum, and our sweat. We passed out with his cock still inside of me, no pillows and the camera still mounted on the tripod.

~*~

Our little romp into the amateur porn world was mind-numbing enough to make me forget that I had ever thought about breaking up with him. Even when he left I stopped wallowing in the tars of my self-pity. Life seemed to return back to normal and I could maybe handle him being gone for weeks at a time. I didn't want to lose him. I had been stupid to question my devotion to him. But I'd like to remind you that I did say that everything changed. He called me one night before bed. It was the afternoon for me but for him, it was nearly midnight and he had admitted he was bored in his rented apartment, alone and craving a good old-fashioned orgasm before going to sleep. His voice sounded weird on the phone like he was doing a bit and making his voice lower and more resonant. "Why are you doing a character right now? Or are you starting to lose your voice?" I asked him as I made my way upstairs to take the memory card out of the camera so I could send the file to him using a card reader. "I'm not? What are you talking about?" He asked. Even his accent sounded different and I was certain he was joking around and changing his voice just to be an idiot. I laughed it off but when he started telling me about something else it honestly sounded like I was talking on the phone to a stranger. "Seriously, Alex, what the hell are you on? Why does your voice sound like that?" "Alex? What the hell are you on? That's not my name. Why are you being weird? This is my voice." "No, it's not! Why are you doing a character right now? I thought you wanted me to send you this fucking video?" "I do! You're making it weird!" "No, you are!" "Just send me the video for fuck's sake! Or get on FaceTime and show me your pussy." I shook my head as I popped the memory card into the reader and stuck it into the computer. "It's going to take a little bit. The file is huge." He laughed and it wasn't his normal laugh. "Yeah, we fucked for hours, didn't we?" "Are you there with your buddies pulling a prank on me? Because it feels like that's what you're doing right now." "Babe... I'm literally alone in my apartment." "Put Alex on the phone." "Who is Alex!?" "My boyfriend!" "I'm your fucking boyfriend! Who the fuck is this Alex guy you're talking about?" I stared at my cell phone screen and saw the name Husband<3 at the top of the screen with a picture of us together in the mountains when we went to Norway but something was extremely off. It wasn't Alex in the picture anymore. It was somebody I had never met holding me, smiling with me. The voice filtered loudly through the speaker trying to get my attention and I scoffed. "Okay, Alex... This is the most elaborate prank you have ever pulled. You honestly got one of your buddies to photoshop our picture from Norway together? I'm impressed." "Babe... I'm seriously starting to get angry. You need to stop calling me Alex. It's getting really weird." "Then what is your name then, huh?" I humored him. "It's Valter, you idiot." "Well, Valter. I have no fucking idea who you are or how you got my boyfriend's phone but this has gotten a little out of hand. Please put Alex back on the phone." "Stop it. Now," the voice said angrily. "You stop it!" "I don't know why you're being such a brat but I'm definitely not in the mood anymore. Forget I asked about the video at all. Goodnight." I stared at my phone in awe for a long time. Each time the screen would time out I would touch it and bring it back to life so I could stare at the picture of me and the stranger I had never met before in my life. The photoshop job was legitimate. I honestly could not tell that there had been any tampering at all and I half expected to get a phone call right back from Alex laughing his ass off for having fooled me so hard. The phone call never came but when the file transferred from the memory card to the computer I was hit with an even harsher blow of confusion. The video was definitely of me from the other night, naked on the bed, standing on my palms and knees, swirling my tongue all over the head of someone's cock I had never met before in my life. It was the same guy from the picture. He was tall- much taller than Alex and blonde. I covered my mouth when it had gone dry from falling open. Watching the video was equal parts disturbing, striking and bewildering. I shook my head a dozen times to make sure I wasn't having a crazy dream. The audio was real and I remembered everything that happened on the screen as it had happened that night only what I was watching was not me and Alex. It was me but the man with me was somebody I had never crossed paths with in my life. Alas, he was fucking me in all of the same positions that Alex liked to fuck me in. I clicked up the volume and heard him saying the same words that Alex said. I knew I was really losing it when, on the screen, he made me clamp my legs together and turn over on my side with my ass so depravedly displayed to the camera. The man in question used one huge hand to part me so he could slide his cock into my opening slowly and deliberately, showing his future self how good it felt by keeping my cheeks separated, moaning each time he pushed in and pulled out. The blond man leaned over to me and said, "I'm going to fucking come so hard inside that nice little pussy. You ready for it?" I watched myself twist my neck to face him and he kissed me as he pumped himself into me. I moaned and he nodded with a smile breaking our kiss. He looked at the camera and gave my ass one more satisfying smack. "She said I could come inside of her. What a nice, pretty girl. Are you a nice, pretty girl?" He asked me. "Mm-hmm." "Louder, for the camera, honey." "Yes." "Yes?" "Yes, Daddy." His head fell back as his teeth sank into his plump bottom lip. Lips that I couldn't remember kissing even as I observed myself doing so on the computer screen. I was startled by the ringing of my phone again. It was his ringtone. A song I had picked especially for him. It was a tune that he loved to dance to and that's why I had chosen it. But when I looked at the screen and saw the picture of us with the name Husband<3 displayed across the screen I felt my heart stop beating and the resulting lack of blood made it feel like I was being choked by an invisible hand. In the video he was thrusting into me hard, telling me how close he was to coming and that he wanted me to help him by squeezing my pussy around his cock as best as I could. He loved that. He had always loved that. His vocality during sex made for some memorable nights and had opened me up to try new things with him if it meant I got to hear more of his sweet, filthy words. When I answered the phone he didn't say anything right away. He only sighed as we both sat in silence listening to each other's breathing. "You going to apologize to me? Because you know I can't sleep when there's a rift between us." Tears started bubbling up behind my eyes. Where had my Alex gone? How was it possible that I was watching somebody else pulling his cock out of me followed by a thick trail of white cum? He bit down on my left ass cheek hard and I squealed in the video. I got up and went to the full-length mirror in our closet, still on the phone with him as I pulled down my pants to see if there were any remnants of bruises left where he had maliciously bitten me. Nothing but more confusion poured over me when I saw the purple splotch that had lightened since that night but still remained in the exact spot he had sunk his sharp teeth into. "What's your full name?" I asked. He scorned the question with an impatient scoff. "Valter... Skarsgård. You want to say it back to me?" "Valter Skarsgård." "Need any other verification?" "Can we FaceTime?" I asked. "Yeah, one sec." I accepted the call and the face that appeared on my phone screen definitely belonged to the man in the video who was repositioning me so the camera could watch him fucking me from behind. It was not Alex even though my phone so prominently said my almost-husband was calling me from the number I had saved as his long ago. As I watched the face on my phone's screen, I felt a heatwave of shyness dry up my tongue. I didn't know what to say to the stranger on the other side of the call. And it wasn't as though he was ugly or even slightly unpleasant to look at. In fact, he was quite beautiful, with light green eyes and a cataclysmic pout the likes of which I had never seen. His hair was much shorter than Alex's but still long enough to fall over his face in blonde pieces. "Are you okay? You're really starting to freak me out," he mumbled. "I don't know if I am. I don't know." "Well just... I don't know either. Forget about the video. I'll just watch it when I get home next week." "Okay." "Are we good?" He asked. "Uh... Yeah. Yeah, we're good," I lied. "All right well... Guess I'm going to sleep now. I'll text you in the morning." "'Kay," I whispered. "I love you." "I love you too." When the call ended I ransacked the closet to find the shoebox full of photos I had kept with the intention of making a scrapbook but had subsequently given up on. Sifting through dozens of glossy pictures, I found all of our photos from the times we had traveled together and on nights out with our friends. Polaroids of me sitting on his lap or kissing him. Even my favourite picture of us sticking our tongues out at each other was devoid of all things Alex. I logged into my social media and saw in a relationship with Valter Skarsgård as a descriptive line in my profile. When I clicked on his page, his profile picture was of us together. In the closet, his clothes were all the same but in different sizes. His shoes were bigger, his pants were longer, his sweaters smelled different. Not unpleasant, but different. Why my brain decided to give up and go crazy on me then was a mystery that had me calling in sick for work and contemplating checking myself into a hospital. By the time he came home from shooting, I had fully accepted that I had gone batshit insane. He walked through the door and smiled at me. He was at least a full five inches taller and his face matched the one I had watched in our home video. "Hey, crazy. Did you miss me?" I cracked an uneasy smile. The last thing I wanted to do was alert him to just how violent the storm of perplexity had gotten within me. "Of course." "You're not still convinced that I'm not me?" "No... I can see that you're most definitely you." I didn't know what else to say to him and when he opened his arms for me to walk into I did just that and was scooped up lovingly like we had known each other for years. He kissed my cheek first and then my lips and I kissed him back even though it felt wrong. What I wanted to do was ask him what the fuck he had done with Alex and how he had managed to paste himself into every little detail of our domestic life together. Where was my blue-eyed, brown-haired Viking? Who was this tall, Swedish giant in his place? His taste was different, his mannerisms were different, his moods were different. Everything was just... Different. Surely I had somehow lost my mind along the path of severe mental anguish that had been carved out by the dread of being alone. Maybe it was my punishment for thinking about breaking up with him. No, surely something so mundane as the parting of two humans wasn't enough to cause such a splice in my matrix. There was something going on and I had a feeling it would reveal itself to me when it wanted to. Settling into my new life was surprisingly easy and one day I woke up and had already accepted that this was life and if nothing else fell into disarray then I might as well go about my days as normally as possible. Voices didn't come to me and I didn't relent into depression or even find it hard to get out of bed each morning. It was as though this new life had invigorated me. Valter was sweet to me but he wasn't without his bitterness. I found him to be playful but impatient, enthusiastic but sarcastic. His humor was a little darker but everything about him was physically brighter from his head of shining gold hair to his perfect nose and his broad shoulders to his long, thick legs that boosted him up much higher than my reach. He came home and promised to stay home for at least two months over the Winter. Filming had concluded and he was putting all other endeavors on the back burner so that we could spend time together. I was in love, renewed. There was a morning before we were scheduled to fly back home from our vacation in Cuba. I thought I had eaten something I shouldn't have but the feeling only lasted for a little while and then came back the next day on the plane. I managed to get up to vomit in the bathroom and sweat it out away from curious eyes. I had never experienced air sickness before. "You okay, babe?" Valter asked when I got back to my seat, big round eyes shining up at me from the aisle seat. "I think so. I don't know. I think I'm going to try to nap." "Yeah, you do that." He held my hand the entire flight home and then eased me through the airport after we landed. We drove home while I burped and started to feel aches in my muscles. After a week of feeling crummy and vomiting every day, Valter made a suggestion that smashed a whole bunch of sense into my head all at once. "Babe what if you're like... Pregnant? I don't know anything about that but your symptoms sort of match up." Blinking in sudden realization, I rose up sitting in the bed as Valter whirled around to face me in the computer chair, legs spread far apart, a look of curiosity on his face. "Oh... Oh shit. You might be right. Valter... What if I'm?- Oh, God." Piling into the car, we set off quickly to the drugstore to buy a couple of pregnancy tests. Valter was concerned and I could see it on his face but there was also a mix of something else. I sensed adventure and anxiety. They were playing Uptown Girl by Billy Joel over the speakers in the pharmacy and Valter didn't even crack a smirk at it or start to gently bop along to the music. Valter wasn't Alex. Our impatience led us to a coffee shop busy enough for the clerks to not notice us rush into the washroom together but not so populated that anybody came to disturb us by knocking. "Turn around. Turn around!" I exclaimed after he had locked the door behind us. "Okay!" He threw his hands up and pivoted on the heel of his sneaker. "Read the instructions first!" "I know how to use one of these, Valter." He turned back around glaring. "Oh, do you, now? I wasn't aware that you had ever been possibly pregnant before!" "I helped my friend take one in high school! Now, turn the fuck around so I can piss on this stick!" A gentle hint of a smile twisted the corners of his lips as he turned to face the wall again, hands behind his back as he rocked forth onto the balls of his feet. In the process of taking the pregnancy test, I peed on my own hand a little and whined when he made fun of me. I set the test down on top of the toilet paper dispenser and washed up while we waited with clenched lungs for the results to appear in the form of two lines or one. After I had dried off my hands and discarded the paper towel, Valter turned to me with a look of gentle unease. He grabbed the lapels of my coat and dragged me into a tight hug. "What if you're pregnant?" "I don't know." "Oh my God... What if I put a baby inside of you?" Laughing heartily, I nuzzled into the black wool of his coat and replied, "I don't know! I guess... We'll have to figure that out together." We both walked out of the coffee shop washroom hand-in-hand with the looks of a couple that had just realized their lives were about to change forever. I didn't know then that being pregnant would become the least of my concerns.

~*~

Valter came to as many appointments as he could during the weeks he was home. He was scheduled to fly out to LA to start filming after Christmas which was swiftly approaching. We didn't tell anybody about the pregnancy because we didn't want to jinx it. I even requested that he stay behind in the waiting room the first few times I went in to see the doctor. He didn't mind and held my hand until my name was called. Before I got up, he pulled me gently to kiss me. It was surprisingly caressing and deep and when he pulled back he was smiling. "I love you," he told me. "I love you too, booger." The doctor examined me and claimed that everything seemed to be progressing nicely and if I had no concerns to tell her about then I did not have to come back for at least a month. I contemplated telling her about the strange mental break down I had had months prior but it seemed pointless to bring it up then after I had already accepted it and moved forward. Valter wasn't in the waiting room when I left the office but there was a different man sitting in the seat he had been sitting in. He was the same height and looked up at me with these wildly striking eyes that made me recoil. They just bore into me and a happy smile stretched over his lips. "So? Everything okay?" I looked behind me to see if the man was talking to somebody else but it was just me and the receptionist out of view behind her desk. "Excuse me?" I asked him. I turned the corner to see if Valter had moved seats or perhaps had left to find a washroom. "Babe... What are you doing?" He asked. "What the fuck... I don't know you." He laughed, stood up and approached me. I backed up a little bit and bumped into a chair. My reaction confused him and he paused for a moment to give me an odd look. "You want to get going?" "I'm waiting for my boyfriend. Who are you?" He cocked his hip and jeered. The receptionist looked up from her desk and didn't attribute any concern to my exchange with this guy. "Well, I guess you're going to be waiting a while then because I'm leaving," the man with brown hair and wicked eyes shrugged. My gaze followed him as he left and it wasn't until I watched him cutting through the parking lot towards our car that I decided to start following him. "Um! Um! Excuse me! What the fuck are you doing?" I yelled after him as he unlocked our car and got into the front seat. He rolled down the window and threw up his hand. "What the fuck kind of bit is this? What are you doing?" "What are you doing? Get out of my car!" "Babe... This is my car." "No! My boyfriend bought it!" "You want me to show you the registration there, officer?" He jabbed. Reaching to pull open the glovebox, he pulled out the papers and handed them to me. I scanned the document and felt this horrible lump of bile rise up my throat. The car was a 2017 Chevy Impala registered to Bill Skarsgård. "Skarsgård?" I asked aloud. "Uh, yeah! You know... The last name our child is going to have? The last name you might get if your crazy fucking ass decides to marry me one day. Now, please... Get in the fuckin' car, babe. I'm starving. Let's go get falafel or something." The car ride was painfully silent and when we got our food we ate quietly. This Bill guy kept looking at me like I had two heads, which was fine because I'm certain that's how I was looking at him. The strange part was; he reminded me of Valter at certain angles and in different lights. I scrambled up the stairs to our room when we got home and threw open the closet door to start rummaging around my shoebox full of pictures again. If I could put into words the level of mystification, I would, but as I saw all of the shots of me with Bill, there was no way I could describe the feeling of panic in my gut. Why was this happening again? Where was Alex? Where was Valter? Why was I the only thing that was constant? Bill found me on the floor in the closet and shook his head. "Man... Pregnancy hormones are the real deal, huh?" Tears squeezed out from the corners of my eyes and I stared up at him. "Why is this happening to me?" "Why is what happening?" "This? Why are you different again?" "I'm not different. What are you talking about? You're really starting to freak me out! Did that doctor drug you or something because you're acting so weird!" "If you knew what I was going through right now you would understand." "Well, if I could be pregnant for you then I would!" "It's not that!" "Then what is it?" He bellowed. "I don't know! I can't explain it without sounding like a crazy person!" He knelt down beside me and wrapped me up in his arms. His scent was different. He smelled like high-end cologne. His shirt felt like expensive material. He was definitely not Valter yet somehow he knew me and knew that I loved to have the back of my neck rubbed and pinched. "I know things are changing really fast and all the time but it's going to be okay," he whispered. There was no trace of Valter in his murky green eyes. There was even less Alex. If there wasn't a mirror showing the reflections of me sitting on the floor and him kneeling beside me I would have said there was no trace of me left either. Yet I was there and so was Bill which was as much a comfort as it was an abstruseness that boggled my mind and shook me up even harder than last time. Exactly which part of Hell I had wandered off into escaped me. All I knew was that the devils there were beautiful enough for me to succumb to the gaslight. I slumped into his arms and let my tears absorb into his shirt as I accepted my new fate again. "I love you." "I love you, Bill."

[beencaughts]

o16, o19, o30 ly :))

⊰ v. princess and the moon ⊱

“I’m so sorry. I really fucked up this time.”

Luna accepted Prince’s proposal without really thinking anything through. She knew she loved him and didn’t want to live without him again. That was all she needed to feel confident enough to say yes. But when she woke up in the morning, Luna couldn’t help but feel like she let Prince off easy. They argued about his disappearance a lot, but Luna never felt like he really understood how hurt she was. They wouldn’t have fought so much if he did. She isolated herself from her friends and made big life changes to deal with the pain of losing him only to cry herself to sleep anyway. Those months without him did a number on Luna. She needed him to see that. Luna fumbled nervously with the sleeves of her sweater, her knees tucked under her chin as she took a deep breath. “Prince, we need to talk.” The look of confusion and worry on his face made her want to pacify him immediately but she decided against it. “I agreed to marry you because I know I don’t want to live without you. I love you, but I can’t really marry you if you won’t see how much you fucking broke me,” she says, the last part coming out in a sad laugh. “I’m still so fucking hurt, so I need you to just listen to me and try to understand so I can get over it.” Luna felt as though she was being dramatic but this was apart of her healing process. She imagined many times what she would say to Prince if given the chance and she couldn’t be engaged to him without saying it all first. Luna told him everything from the time he left to now. She was She started crying halfway through her spiel and never really stopped. “Every time I saw you and we’d argue, I’d be scared that was the last time I would see you. When I accepted your proposal, I said yes because it was a promise you wouldn’t leave me again. You fucking ruined me, Prince, and you never said sorry for it.” Luna felt too embarrassed to look at him. No matter how many times she’d done it, she could never get used to being vulnerable around Prince. She felt herself being pulled into his embrace. “I’m so sorry. I really fucked up this time.”

⊰ and ⊱

Luna barged down the street not really caring about who or what was in her way. This probably wasn’t the best time for her to be doing this considering she just talked Prince out of murdering his dad but she was livid. How could her friends not tell her that Nick was a paid killer? Luna considered Nick to be a really close friend, and she couldn’t believe that he was getting paid to probably kill innocent people like her mom. “Fuck off!” Luna snarled as she whirled around to face Prince, ripping her arm from his grasp. Nick started to catch up to them, but he was also smart enough to stay a few feet behind. There were many things Luna wanted to say and do to Nick— none of them positive. Now it was Prince’s turn to talk her down. “I’m so sorry. I really fucked up this time.” Luna chuckled sarcastically. “You’re sorry? You left for me for a year because I didn’t tell you that Matt was fucking was your sister, but you expect me to accept your ‘sorry’ when you’ve been friends with an assassin for years and didn’t tell me?” Luna felt more hurt than anything. Prince knew better than anyone how much her mom’s death affected her. It never got easier for her to accept that her mom was gone or that someone wanted to hurt her family so bad that they paid for it. Luna still had nightmares about that day, sometimes having anxiety about them one day coming back to finish the job. And all this time, there was someone just like them with her almost every day. “All of you are liars. My mom was the reason I came. She’s the reason I am here, and all I’ve done is befriend people who support criminals like the ones that killed her—that tried to kill me. You, Prince, are the biggest hypocrite of them all. You broke my fucking heart all because I didn’t tell you about Panda and Matt, but this whole time you were hiding something from me too. So thank you for once again pouring salt on my cuts.” Luna turned away from Prince and continued on her journey, hoping he got the hint that she wanted to be alone. So many things that she thought she was getting over started to hurt her all over again. It took time for Luna to forgive her friends when she blamed them for Prince leaving her. And it definitely took time for Luna to forgive Prince but all of that was gone. Her ring suddenly felt ten times heavier on her hand as she thought about his betrayal. Maybe it was a sign that she wasn’t ready to marry him after all.

⊰ v. no reason ⊱

Iola’s eyes stung from the mass amount of tears pooling in her eyes. She felt like she couldn’t move fast enough to get away from Jason. His voice trailed after her, but she kept walking away not really knowing where she was going. Iola had work obligations that she couldn’t get out of the night of Jason’s big art show. She really wanted to support him, but no one was willing to change their schedule. Luck must’ve been on her side, though, because her photo shoot ended early and left her enough time to still make it. She hadn’t told Jason that she was on her way because she wanted to surprise him but once Iola got there, she was the one in for a surprise. Iola was stopped in her tracks at the sight of Jason talking to his ex, a scowl etched onto the blonde’s face. Iola always got the feeling that his ex didn’t like her because she still had feelings for him, but Jason always swore that it was nothing and they were just friends. Iola getting jealous was like the boy who cried wolf: the one time she was rightfully jealous, it was hard to take her seriously. And right she was. Iola could tell that his ex was being flirty, but she never expected that the girl would be bold enough to kiss him. An audible gasp left Iola which drew attention to her presence. The last thing Iola saw was an evil glare from the girl and Jason moving towards her before she took off. Maybe she shouldn’t have been so angry at Jason because he didn’t seem susceptible to the kiss, but it left Iola wondering what had he done to make his ex feel like he would be. “I’m so sorry. I really fucked up this time,” Jason said finally catching up to her. Iola whirled around, her finger poking him in the chest as she seethed. “Why the fuck was she even there, Jason? I mean is she really that damn important for you to invite her here? God, every time I got mad about you sleeping with someone else you made me feel like an idiot even when you tried to hide that you were getting dinner with her. You didn’t even tell me you invited her! Maybe I wasn’t completely crazy to be scared that you found someone else.” Iola was trying so hard to contain her anger before she did anything stupid. Jason had always been the one exception, and she didn’t want that to change even if she felt like she was completely justified. Iola turned away from him as she attempted to remember everything she learned in anger management, but it was no use especially the more he spoke to her. Her hands balled into fists as a last ditch effort to contain her anger. “Jason,” Iola started calmly with clear venom in her voice, the tears never stopping. “Don’t even bother coming home. Don’t text me or call me. When I’m ready to talk to you, I will. And if you ever speak to her again, we’re done. Jason, you think you’ve seen me angry, but you haven’t even seen half of it. I gave you my heart. Don’t fucking break it.” Her expression turned to complete sadness as she said the last sentence, her voice cracking. Iola walked past Jason, bumping into his shoulder before she got any more upset.

⊰ july 17th ⊱

Arianna thought that she and Zayn were in a good place in their marriage. She thought that they were past the drama that happened when they were only dating. They were young then so they were bound to make mistakes. Now, they were adults and had a family. Four kids were a lot, but they managed to keep the spark alive in their relationship— or at least Arianna thought they did. She was in the midst of putting their youngest child down for a nap when Zayn strolled in from the night before. “Leilani wouldn’t stop asking for you this morning. Why didn’t you come home last night or at least tell me you weren’t?” Arianna questioned, her eyes narrowing suspiciously and her arms folding across her chest. He mumbled something about falling asleep at his friend’s place, kissed her on the forehead, and went upstairs to their bathroom. Arianna had pure intentions following him up there. She was suspicious, but she didn’t want to fight or argue about him staying out all night. Ari just wanted to spend time with her husband before it was time to pick up the kids. However, she could feel the lump in her throat forming at the sight of hickeys and scratch marks all across her husband. “Oh my god,” Ari whispered in horror. Her face was buried in her hands as she paced the floor. Arianna could accept that when Zayn cheated in the past, he was only hurting her. She could leave him and there wouldn’t be any consequences. But she couldn’t accept that now he was hurting their family. Could she really leave him knowing that their family was on the line? “We have kids! We have a family. Ho—How could you do that to them? To me?” Her shaky hands were tangled in her hair trying to make sense of it all. Why would he cheat knowing they have a family? Arianna could only blame herself. He’d cheated on her before. If Zayn was willing to sacrifice his family for a one night stand, then maybe she was the root of the problem. She sat at the foot of their bed, defeated. “I’m sorry I’m not enough,” Ari spoke softly as her tears spilled down her cheeks. “I stuck by you through every mistake, every fuck up. I married you and had four of your kids, and yet I’m still not good enough for you. All I have ever done was love you with my whole heart. Why is it so impossible for you to love me like that too?” Arianna finally looked up at Zayn with pure hurt in her eyes. The sound of their son crying pulls her attention away from her husband. Wiping her face free of tears, she goes to comfort him - deciding it would be better to finish their conversation after she had time to get over the initial shock and think.

⊰ v. what if ⊱

“You’re damn right you fucked up this time!” Arianna seethed. She shouldn’t have been so angry since it was her fault Ashton even did the things he did, but the emotions just spilled out of her. She couldn’t believe that Ashton was bold enough to do things that made Zayn suspicious of them. She hated Zayn would even think to question her even if he was right to do so. Arianna always told Ashton that she never wanted to choose between her husband and Ashton (as backward as that sounds), but in this moment it was obvious who’d she choose. “God, Ashton, what happened to being lowkey? You are 24, not 5. Fucking act like it and stop throwing tantrums every time you see my husband, okay? I choose to be with him because I love him. If you cared about me even just a little, you would respect that.” There was irony in Arianna’s words because she wasn’t even respecting her marriage by sleeping with Ashton. She felt the anxiety creeping in her chest as she thought more about her affair. Zayn was far from perfect but he didn’t need to be. Arianna would much rather deal with all the bullshit he put her through than to live without him. Ashton would never be able to understand that. All Arianna could see was his face when he asked her if there was something between her and Ashton. He was so sure that she would never do anything like to him when she denied it. “Oh my god. I’m a horrible person,” Arianna panicked as she paced the room with her hands in her hair. “This was a mistake. We were a mistake. Look, Ashton, whatever this is is over. I can’t do this anymore.” Arianna was in tears at this point, running around the room trying to find her things to get home. She could hardly breathe and felt dizzy. And even though Ari had probably just broken his heart, Ashton pulled her into his arms to comfort her. “I’ve really fucked up. I love him, Ashton. I can’t be without him. What have I done?” Arianna managed to get out as she cried into his shoulder. Maybe Ashton fucking up was what Ari needed to actually work on her marriage instead of running to him whenever things got tough. 

⊰ v. katie and leo ⊱

Leo didn’t know to process the fact that Katie wanted to fuck his dad. All this time he thought she’d been coming around more, dressing more provocatively, and flirting because she was finally ready to be more than best friends. His feelings for her never went away, but he was able to contain them when they had the understanding that they were going to see other people. However, with his thinking that Katie wanted to be with him, his feelings were front and center which he was regretting deeply. After Eli spelled everything out for him, Leo had done everything in his power to avoid her. He would leave for school later so he wouldn’t have time to pick her up. He changed his routes to class and spent the least amount of time at his locker as possible. Leo even went as far to ask his parents to not let Katie in. “Why?” Luna asked, her eyes narrowing suspiciously. He shrugged. “I haven’t been feeling well lately. I don’t want to get her sick.” Leo didn’t want to see her so badly that he was willing to deal with his mom babying him to cure his non-existent illness. Leo missed her like crazy but he told himself it was for the best. He could only keep up this game for about two weeks before she came barging in his room hotheaded as ever. “Can’t you take a fucking hint?” Leo spat venomously. “Since you can’t, I’ll spell it out for you: I don’t want to see you ever again. When we chose to put off dating for other experiences, it didn’t mean come ‘round here and use me to be a slag for my dad.” Leo regretted his harsh words almost instantly after they left his mouth. He was always an asshole to other people but never her. He wanted to so badly pull her into his arms and tell her he didn’t mean any of it when she became visibly upset, but his demeanor never faltered. Leo tried telling himself that it was what she deserved. He moved closer to her until Katie’s back was against the wall and he was in her face. “I thought you wanted to be with me. I was more than ready to be with you, but I’m glad Eli stopped me from making the biggest mistake of my life. Now get the fuck out, Katie,” Leo growled, the last sentence coming out through gritted teeth. He stormed out of his room and outside, ignoring his dad’s question about where he was going. If Leo was thinking properly, he wouldn’t have let Katie see her way out while only his dad was home but he needed to get away from her—the girl that broke his heart.

“It wasn’t what it looked like!”

⊰ v. princess and moon ⊱

Stacey was something of a mortal enemy to Luna. She didn’t understand why this girl was so persistent about snagging Prince, but the fact that he was willing to encourage her just to make Luna jealous pissed her off. Luna couldn’t take her eyes off of them. Prince was leaning over Stacey as he often did with her. Luna didn’t want to say that her feelings were hurt but she couldn’t ignore the dull ache of sadness in her heart. Anger was just the only emotion that she was able to project at the moment. Luna tried to not seem upset when the two of them approached the group she was with, not wanting to give Prince the satisfaction of knowing that his plan was working. However, the moment that Prince was about to walk away from her with Stacey, she couldn’t let him. “I want to talk to you,” Luna smiled. Her face fell into a scowl once her back was to Prince and she was pulling him through the crowd of people to go somewhere with fewer witnesses. “Fuck you, Prince. What the hell is wrong with you?” Luna hissed as she shoved Prince as hard as she could the second they were alone. “I know I was brushing you off but for you to try and get back at me by flirting with her? I ought to fucking kill you!” Luna’s hands were hitting Prince wherever they could make contact. It hadn’t taken long before he was gripping her wrists and yelling in her face that it wasn’t what it looked like. Luna rolled her eyes. If Prince was trying to make it seem like he was flirting then that was what he was doing, no? Nevermind the fact that even if Prince knew that he wasn’t flirting, Stacey thought he was and she was going to throw it in Luna’s face the next time they ran into each other. If Prince cared even a little bit about Luna’s sanity at school, he’d have chosen literally anyone else. “Well, you got what you wanted, Prince. You’ve got my attention. What the hell do you want?” And just like every time they argued, their mouths ended up on each other. Luna wasn’t very interested in that, though. Her lips traveled to his neck, nipping and sucking wherever she could. When she pulled away, Luna smiled at the marks she left behind. Her lips slowly approached Prince again but this time they stopped at his ear. “Have fun explaining why those weren’t there 10 minutes ago.” Luna allowed herself to linger for a few more seconds before she shoved Prince away again and walked away from him, texting Cassie that she was ready to leave.

⊰ v. no reason ⊱

Iola always tried to tame her jealousy and anger. It wasn’t healthy to be so possessive, but the thought of Jason being with someone else made her sick to her stomach. He was her soulmate — they were endgame. Iola and Jason had plans to go out with Lip and June tonight. Unfortunately, Iola had to take a rain check because she was swamped with homework, but she encouraged Jason to still go. She wouldn’t be able to pay much attention to him and there was no reason for them both to suffer. Iola only made it halfway through her paper before she sighed out of boredom. “Time to procrastinate for 3 hours,” She mumbled to herself, her hand immediately going for her phone. Iola checked Snapchat and was happy to see that Lip posted on his story. She might as well live vicariously through his posts. A smile graced her lips at the sight of Jason. His cheeks were the perfect shade of rosy and his pupils were huge. She was happy to see him having fun until she went to the next video. Iola noticed that there was a girl with her arm wrapped around Jason’s waist, her body all over him as she attempted to get in the video. And to make matters worse, that was the last video Lip posted for the night. Iola checked June and Jason’s story but to no avail. Her mind started racing with possibilities. She liked to think that afterward Jason pushed the girl off and said he had a girlfriend, but her mind kept thinking about him doing the opposite. The more she thought about Jason actually entertaining that girl, the angrier she became. Jason was naive especially when he drank. To him, the girl probably wasn’t doing anything wrong. Iola tried to distract herself by getting back to her paper but all she could think about was that video. By the time Jason came strolling in, Iola had driven herself to insanity. When Jason went in to kiss her, Iola dodged his lips. Instead, she shoved her phone in his face which projected the video that made her so angry. She could hear Jason sigh. “It wasn’t what it looked like!” Iola rolled her eyes, crossing her arms across her chest as she waited for Jason to explain. 

⊰ july 17th ⊱

Being married to a celebrity was hard. There was always going to be someone to start drama between them. She understood it when their drama made for good television, but its been years since they were on TV. No one gained anything from trying to cause tension in her marriage anymore. Her phone lit up constantly from the influx of people tagging her in a picture of Zayn. She could admit that the pictures definitely looked questionable. His arm was around the lady’s shoulders and they were laughing together as they headed to wherever. Arianna was trying not to get in her head about it but with his history of cheating, it was really hard not to. She was never the jealous or possessive type because, despite everything, Ari still trusted her husband. She convinced herself that every time he’d stepped out of their relationship, it was because he still wasn’t used to being committed. Arianna started dating Zayn knowing that he messed around with nearly everyone. It was going to take time for him to adjust to monogamy. But deep down she still held a bit of grudge which was why these pictures did kind of bother her. Arianna tried to seem unbothered when Zayn came home, but she could never get anything past him. He immediately knew that there was something up with her. “I know it’s probably nothing, but the internet would not stop tagging me in this,” Arianna said, showing him the pictures while her eyes focused on the ground. She felt relieved when Zayn assured her that it wasn’t what it looked like. The girl was just someone new on his team and he was only trying to calm her nerves before her first meeting. Ari was probably being too trusting, but she figured that he would’ve admitted if it was something else going on like he had before. With a single nod of her head, Arianna wrapped her arms around Zayn and stood on the tip of her toes to give him a kiss. “Zayn Malik, you’re lucky I’m not crazy or else you’d still be in big trouble,” Arianna pointed out with a smile. 

⊰ v. what if ⊱  

Arianna chuckled at Ashton’s assurance, shaking her head. They were definitely more than friends no matter how much they tried to convince themselves they weren’t. Of course, they could never really be more than friends but the feelings were still there. It made sense why Ashton would try to assure her that he wasn’t seeing someone else. “Ashton, it doesn’t matter what it looked like to me. You don’t have to keep your girlfriends or hook-ups or whatever a secret. I don’t know if you know this, but I actually vowed to spend the rest of my life with someone else,” Arianna said sarcastically as she flashed the ring on her hand. She did feel a bit jealous of the girl, though. Whoever she was was experiencing the life Ari could’ve had with Ashton if he chose not to leave the show. Arianna always wondered what would’ve come out of their relationship but by the time she could get the answers, she was already married. It was hard knowing someone else was living her what if. Arianna pushed her feelings to the side, though, to show Ashton that she was there for him just like he was for her. Ari snatched the phone back out of his hand, admiring the girl on the screen. “Hm, she’s cute. What’s her name? Where did you meet her? Do you like her? Did you ask her to be your girlfriend? Is she as good in bed as me?” Arianna joked. He still looked like a deer caught in headlights despite her attempt to lighten the mood. Sighing, Arianna takes a seat next to him. “Ashton, seriously. It doesn’t matter if you see her. I was joking about the last question. Really, tell me everything else. I want to know.” Arianna ruffled his hair playfully, finally being able to get a smile out of him. Did she really want to hear about this new girl? Not really, but she pretended to just like he probably pretended to listen to her when she talked about Zayn. Ari just wanted to be there for him like he was for her all those times even if it were as genuine as she would have liked.

“I’m sorry. It’s just the best option for me right now.”

⊰ v. princess and moon ⊱

When Luna decided to keep her friends’ secret, she never expected that it would lead to this. She thought she was being a good friend, but she never considered it would mean she was being a bad girlfriend. They all had secrets that they were keeping from someone. If it was her duty to tell those secrets then Luna would’ve told Pandora about Prince’s actual job. His words hurt her because he spoke as if Luna didn’t love him more than anything or anyone. It was almost as if his inability to accept Panda and Matt outweighed everything else including her. Luna couldn’t help the sigh that slipped past her lips. She wasn’t trying to seem like it but she was frustrated and wasn’t that good at hiding it. “I didn’t even know that long, Prince! Do you really think I was the first person on their list to tell when I’m dating you, the person they definitely didn’t want to know? Panda begged me not to tell you, and she’s been my friend since the first day I walked into that school. What was I supposed to do?” Luna sounded panicked, desperate even. She felt Prince growing more distant from her every day, and she wasn’t willing to let him go that easily. For the first time since they’ve known each other, their lovey moments outnumbered their bad moments. Instead of dignifying her with a response, Prince instead mumbled something about needing space to think. Luna latched onto his arm, the tears in her eyes begging him not to leave. They needed to talk about this not run away from each other. And it was as if he could read her mind when he said “I’m sorry. It’s just the best option for me right now.” There were still tears in her eyes but now all she could feel was anger. If Prince was willing to throw away everything they built because his sister was exercising free will, then maybe Luna shouldn’t care so much either. “Whatever, leave. I don’t know why I even bother with you. You can’t think about anyone but yourself,” Luna said as she threw his arm away from her forcefully. She practically sprinted to her room and slammed the door as hard as she could. Her back rested against the door, her hands running through her hair out of frustration. Luna was just praying that Prince would snap out of it and soon. 

⊰ v. no reason ⊱

Iola knew that one day her overbearing desire to get married was going to scare Jason off eventually. He made it clear that he wasn’t ready and her unwillingness to accept it caused them to clash constantly. It didn’t help that this argument came a week after finding out that Jason was with someone else while they were broken up. Iola already felt insecure about that and now his insistence on waiting to get married only made it worse. “Jason, if you don’t want to marry me because that girl showed you there’s more than just me then you should just admit it!” Iola yelled, throwing her hands up at her side. She was taken by surprise when Jason didn’t respond to her and instead stalked out of her room. It didn’t take a genius to know that he was going for the door, so she ran past him to block his path. “Are you really going to leave right now? We’re not done talking about this. Why does it piss you off so badly that I love you so much I want to marry you like yesterday?” Iola considered that he put the blame on him not being ready to spare her feelings. Four years wasn’t a huge age difference, but she was 19 and he was 23. There were some obvious maturity differences between them in certain aspects. Maybe he wouldn’t be ready to commit to her until she was more mature since he did pick 26 as the age to get engaged. Iola could come up with conspiracy theories all night, really. She could tell that Jason was over the conversation by the way he gathered her in his arms, kissing her forehead. “I’m sorry. It’s just the best option for me right now.” He assured her that they would talk tomorrow, but she was almost positive it wouldn’t be about this. Not feeling like talking about this anymore either, Iola shrugged her shoulders and moved out of his way. “Leave if that’s really what’s best for you. I see there are more important things than reassuring your girlfriend that you only have eyes for her especially after she found out you were a big whore,” Iola smiled sarcastically before heading to her kitchen. What better way to make herself feel better than by eating her feelings?

⊰ july 17th ⊱

Arianna and Zayn were complicated people respectively and together. They both had their own demons to battle: Ari with her depression and self-harm and Zayn with his addiction. They were bringing a lot of baggage to the relationship, but as long as they had each other, it seemed as if they could overcome it all. Arianna wished it were that easy, though. While she was slowly but surely getting better, her boyfriend was doing the complete opposite. Ari tried her best to help him, but it was nearly impossible if he wasn’t willing to help himself. When Zayn decides to finally take the steps to get better, Arianna felt relieved. She already spent so much time visiting him in hospitals and she didn’t want to do that anymore. Ari wanted to see the man she loved happy and healthy, no matter how much it pained her to be away from him. Arianna lingered awkwardly by the door where his bags sat. She’d been holding in her tears all morning, but she reminded herself that she couldn’t be selfish. This was for him to get better. However, the moment he turned to her to give her a proper goodbye, the sobs spilled out of her. Arianna immediately ran into his arms and held him as tight and as close as she could. She buried her face in his chest so he wouldn’t have to see her ugly cry before he left. “I’m going to miss you, babe. So much,” She cried, Ari’s voice muffled by his shirt. She appreciated Zayn comforting her even though it was her who should’ve been giving him peace of mind before he left. Arianna shook her head when she heard him apologize about going with the best option for him. It caused her to pull away and her hands to cup his face. “No, you don’t have to apologize. I know this is good for you. I’m just gonna miss you like crazy. Who else am I going to cuddle with all day? Or who’s gonna make me tea? Who’s going to annoy me all day? And most importantly, who’s gonna sex me up?” Arianna chuckled, hoping to see Zayn mirror her. She wanted him to leave with the image of her being her typical annoying and joking self, not a sobbing mess. Arianna connected their lips for a kiss, gently yet passionately. She wasn’t going to be able to kiss him for weeks; Arianna needed to take advantage of the time she had to do it. Finally being able to pull herself away, Ari gave him another smile. “Don’t forget about me, yeah?” She laughed weakly, watching him pull away from to gather his things in his hands. 

⊰ v. what if ⊱

Arianna couldn’t say she didn’t see this day coming. She knew Ashton was going to eventually realize that he deserved more than what she was giving him. The tears streamed down Arianna’s face, a sad smile on her lips. She didn’t want to believe that this was the end of them. They could never truly be just friends and that was sad because right now Ari wasn’t only losing someone she loved, she was also losing one of her closest friends. Arianna rested her head on his shoulder gently while her hand rubbed his back soothingly. “I’m sorry. It’s the best option for me right now.” Arianna chuckled because it was the best option for him yet he sounded so broken up about it. Removing her hand from his back, she took his hand into hers. She turned to face him and forced him to do the same. “I’ve hurt you for a long time. You don’t have to be sorry for doing what’s best for your heart,” she assured him. Arianna didn’t want to let go of Ashton, though. She was selfish and every time she told him she never wanted to choose between him and Zayn, she meant it. Not in the way of choosing who to be with though that was also a part of it. She never wanted to choose who was in her life. Ari loved Zayn more than anything, but his faults tended to outshine his good qualities more frequently than she’d have liked. And Ashton, he was sweet and gentle. He never judged her despite everything she was doing being immoral. He accepted her for who she was. She was going to miss having someone like that in her corner. Her hand went to cup his jaw softly, her thumb wiping away the tears on his cheeks. She leaned in slowly as to not scare Ashton away. Arianna kisses Ashton gently. Her lips lingered on his for a while, wanting to savor the last few moments they had left together. Pulling away, Ari rested her forehead against his. “I’ll always be here for you, Ash. Whenever you want me to be.”

[emeraldwaves]

Title:  Angels in the Snow Chapter 9 Pairing:  Promptis, side Gladnis, Rating: E  Word Count:  7,686 Read on Ao3 Summary: On a snowy morning, the wolf Prince Noctis discovers an intruder, a fox boy from Niflheim, playing in the snow. Though they quickly become best friends, everyone knows Prompto Argentum does not belong in the Lucis palace, and Noctis can only protect him for so long, especially when Prompto isn’t exactly what he seems. Now, two years later, Noctis still has not come to terms with Prompto missing.

Full fic under the cut! thanks @its-love-u-asshole for betaing!

Gladio hated when Ignis was right. After 23 years, he probably should've been used to it by now, since Ignis was always right, but this time he really hadn't expected their dumbass prince to just run off into the woods in the middle of the fucking winter when the hunt was so close to being finished.

He'd howled after him, barking when he saw Noctis slip away from him. Tricky bastard. Gladio couldn't help but wonder if he had planned this. Maybe meeting Lunafreya and leading a hunt had been too much for him and he'd finally fucking snapped or some shit.

Dashing through the snow, paws hit the ground as he tried desperately to smell where the prince had gone. It was difficult to see through the wind whipping up blusters of snow, and he thought he had smelled fox too? They weren't far from the border of Niflheim, but no foxes should be anywhere near their border or their territory.

Gladio's eyes widened when he suddenly realized where Noctis had gone. There was no way he wouldn't trail a fox scent, especially when he probably thought it could belong to the one person he'd been looking for for so long.

There was no way...

Gladio's pace quickened, and he could barely see where he was going, however he was following his nose, focused on the prince and the smell of fox.

He halted at the clearing when he saw the scene in front of him; Noctis, back in his human form laying on the ground as Prompto had him in a choke hold. Gladio could barely process the scene before he ran forward and bashed his head into Prompto's side who yelped out, rolling off of the prince's body. Noctis coughed, sitting up slowly, while Gladio took the brief moment to shift back into his human form.

Stretching out his neck, he rolled his shoulders back, ready to hit Prompto again if he had to. "What the hell is going on here?!" he growled.

Noctis rubbed his neck, and shook his head slowly. "I-I dunno," he muttered, his body trembling, and Gladio could smell the fear on Noctis' body. "I...I found him and he didn't remember who I was and then he attacked me."

Prompto began to push himself up, one hand gripping his side. Gladio could imagine a large bruise was probably forming there, he hadn't held back when he'd seen their old friend attempting to murder their prince.

Stomping over to him, Gladio stared down at Prompto, his golden eyes thin while he gazed murderously at him. "What the hell are you doing, kid?" he growled.

Prompto jerked in the direction of Gladio, his eyes narrow and evil. "He's my target. Let me at him!" he snarled. He attempted to stand up, but Gladio knocked the wind out of him, jerking his knee directly into Prompto's stomach. The fox's ears fell back against his head, he rolled to the side.

"Gladio! S-Stop!" Noctis cried out. "D-Don't hurt him!"

"What the hell am I supposed to do Noct? He's trying to kill you! Whoever this is, it sure as hell isn't Prompto...." he mumbled, watching as the fox gripped at his stomach, slowly trying to push himself up. Gladio reached forward and yanked his hair up, slamming Prompto head against the snow, knocking him out cold. "There we go..." he mumbled.

"What did you do!?" Noctis yelled, and he leaped up, rushing to Prompto's side.

"I don't know what's going on with him, but if that is Prompto, he'd been seriously messed with," Gladio grumbled. "I just knocked him out. Don't have to get your panties in a bunch," he scoffed, folding his arms.

Bending down, Gladio lifted the fox onto his back and began to walk back towards the main clearing where the shift back usually took place. "Is he...going to be okay?" Noctis asked, trudging his boots through the snow to catch up with the older Alpha.

"He's not dead if that's what yer askin'," Gladio muttered.

"I knew that," Noctis huffed. "I mean...will he figure out who I am...remember me?"

"I dunno, Noct," Gladio shrugged, holding Prompto's floppy body up. "I want to say he will if you just...jog his memory a little bit, but we don't know where he was, or what they did to him..."

Noctis' hand ran gently over Prompto's. His markings were completely uncovered, showing off the gentle Omega waves, and his strange flat Beta ones. His fingers trailed over the black as he walked next to Gladio. "I knew he was alive..."

Gladio smirked, nudging the side of the prince. "You sure did," he chuckled.

"I just knew there was no way he would leave without...saying something or...I dunno," Noctis muttered. "I just didn't think he would ever leave."

"Where the hell did he come from?" Gladio asked, but Noctis shrugged. It was as if Prompto had appeared just as mysteriously as he had left. He was on the border of their territories, so perhaps he had been coming back to the palace. But if he was planning on killing Noctis, his return was most likely for the wrong reasons. "So I take it you don't know why he's trying to kill you, either," Gladio continued.

"No...I went to hug him, and he tried to strangle me. Wherever he's been...they obviously...brainwashed him...or...something. Prompto...My Prompto would never..."

"I know," Gladio sighed softly, knowing Noctis spoke the truth. "If you can jog his memory, I'm sure he'll wanna stay and be a part of your life again," Gladio muttered, squeezing Prompto's thigh. "Wherever he was," he grunted. "He sure as hell got heavier."

"He looks a little taller," Noctis muttered, sad he'd missed the changes Prompto had underwent. "And his hair sticks up more," Noctis said, gesturing to the top of his own head. "But I actually think he looks thinner, like he hasn't really been eating."

Noctis' voice was filled with concern, and Gladio couldn't blame him. In a way, Prompto was his soulmate. He was the person Noctis wanted to spend the rest of his life with, whether they be bonded or not, and now that he was back, Gladio thought it might be possible for them. Not romantically of course, but they could at least be together.

He hoped it would make Noctis happier. Seeing the prince walk around all mopey for the past two years had been anything but easy for any of them. And Gladio was selfishly happy Prompto was back in hopes he would get more time with Iggy. Plus, he couldn't deny he himself was also happy the little fox was back, as long as they could return his memories to him, and break him of his strange desire to now kill Noctis, Gladio could start retraining him, which had always been oddly rewarding. Probably because the fox worked so damn hard.

They made their way to the main clearing, where Regis stood, looking none too pleased with either of them. "Gladiolus, where have you and my son been?!" he asked, folding his arms. Though Gladio saw the older man's eyes narrow when he realized the Alpha guard was carrying something, or someone rather. "What...happened?"

"We found...Prompto," Gladio said, his gaze flicking to Noctis. The prince was oddly quiet, his gaze turned towards the ground, ears pressed against the back of his head.

"What?" Regis said, his ears sticking up as he stepped towards the two. "Gods..." he whispered, when he drew closer, his hand lifting up Prompto's bangs to see his tranquil face. "Where did you find him?"

"A clearing near Niflheim territory," Noctis mumbled.

"He needs to be locked up immediately," Gladio said, practically interrupting Noctis. "When I found the two of them, Prompto had Noctis pinned to the ground, trying to strangle him."

"What!?" Regis' voice boomed, and he turned his eyes directly towards his son. "Is this true, Noctis?"

"Yeah...But I know he's been brainwashed or...or something! It wasn't him!" Noctis exclaimed, growling at his father.

"Calm down, Noctis. I'm not going to take him away forever," Regis sighed. "But I agree with Gladio, we need to make sure he is secured until we discover what is wrong and what happened."

"...Fine," Noctis muttered.

"Gladiolus, please take Prompto to the main dungeon. Once he's woken up, we will reassess the situation and see what needs to be done."

Regis turned and headed back towards the palace, Gladio following quickly behind him. He prayed they could snap Prompto from whatever was going on in that damn head of his, or he feared Noctis would never recover from the pain Prompto left in his heart this time.

~~

The room was dark and cold when Prompto awoke, and he glanced around the room, trying to figure out where he was. It definitely wasn't anywhere in Niflheim, that was for sure. Even though he had technically been locked away, he still had a room.

So the next logical conclusion was that he had made it to Lucis. But had he actually done what he was supposed to? He couldn't remember, and he despised that.

Frequently, Prompto knew there was so much he couldn't seem to remember. Anything past Niflheim felt like a blur. His childhood with his dad in the lab, anytime he tried to recall specifics, his wrists would ache and his head would feel cloudy, like things were missing that he couldn't understand.

And lately, it had only gotten worse.

His thoughts had been so hyper-focused on one thing and one thing alone. Noctis Lucis Caelum, the Wolf Prince of Lucis.

Noctis was Prompto's target. Ardyn had trained him for this, he was counting on him, and the last thing Prompto wanted to do was disappoint Ardyn. His wrists hurt just thinking about it, and he didn't want to move, keeping himself curled up on the floor.

When he'd saw Noctis, killing him should've been easy. Before blacking out, he could recall wrapping his hands around his slender neck, pushing down gently on his windpipe...but something had been strange about the entire interaction. Noctis hadn't seemed scared at all. He hadn't run when Prompto had stepped towards him, and the prince had known his name. How? His dark blue eyes had shone with a soft understanding, and he hadn't flinched away. In fact, at first, he'd been happy. Why? Why?

He groaned, his wrists hurting even more the more he thought about it. His ears folded down, and he wrapped his fluffy tail around his body. He must not have done it. If he had, he doubted he would be in so much pain.

"The quicker you do it, the faster your marks will stop hurting Prompto." Ardyn's voice purred and echoed in his ear and Prompto placed his hands over them, as though covering them would drown out the noise of his voice. He hated that voice, loathed it, and was also a little terrified of it.

Shocks shooting down his spine, his wrists aching with a throbbing pain he couldn't stop...but worst of all, was the empty hole inside of his chest he couldn't explain. It wasn’t a physical hole, but it was there nonetheless, he could feel it daily, the dull stab of something...missing. As if something had been there before and now no longer was. And the closer to his heat he drew, the more difficult it would be to think about it, like there was someone who was meant to help him instead of dealing with it alone as he always did.

The heats were absolutely unbearable...and he was always forced to ride them out alone, locked in his tiny room, where he'd spend about 5 days, desperate for a release that never truly came. Touching himself could really only do so much.

But all that was going to go away once he got rid of Noctis. Ardyn had promised. He'd promised him freedom, and he'd promised Prompto he'd find him a good fox Alpha, so he would no longer be alone during his heats. Of course, something about the idea of an Alpha made him feel strange, angry...but perhaps it was just because he was so damn tired of dealing with his long ass heats alone.

The door opened loudly, and Prompto jerked back, pulling him out of his thoughts as he scurried back to the corner of the room.

"Wake up, kid." The voice sounded familiar, but Prompto couldn't quite place it, and he covered his ears, shaking his head, a thought suddenly dawning on him. If he had killed the Wolf Prince...there was no way they were going to let him leave...there was no way they were going to keep him alive.

A bang on the front of the cell made Prompto's eyes open as he stared up at the large, muscular man in front of him. His ears were tall, and dark, and his long tail swished back and forth angrily. "What the hell is your problem?" the man snarled at him. "Tryin' to kill the prince? You're lucky Noct likes ya' so much or I would've killed you on the spot," he spat.

Noctis...liked him? What? Why would the prince like an assassin from Niflheim? How did he even know him? The questions spiraled around in his head, and he hissed as his wrists began to hurt even more.

"What?" The man spoke again. "Are you not going to answer me?" he snorted, and pulled a chair up to sit in front of the cell. "You know, until they figure out what's wrong with ya, they're not going to let you out of this cell. Hell, I'm pretty sure Iggy never wants to let you out, but he's just protective of his prince." The man sighed, rubbing at the bridge of his nose. "So anyway, I'll ask you again. What the hell is going on with you?"

Prompto's ears folded back against his head. "I...I don't know what you're talking about," he said finally. "I don't even know you!" he muttered. That didn't feel correct though. There was something about the wolf that seemed so familiar, the scar down his cheek...his golden eyes which glistened with frustration...but he couldn't place him. He groaned, grabbing at his wrists as they began to burn again.

"What, you don't remember anything about your time here?" The man spoke with a hint of snark to his voice, and Prompto shook his head in response. "Brainwashed I guess."

Brainwashed? No...why would he be brainwashed? He was a fox, he'd always been a fox, and Ardyn had told him how he'd been training for this his whole life. Lucis was full of horrible wolves, constantly trying to stop Niflheim from expanding, from doing what they were naturally supposed to do. The wolves were unnatural, trying to unify the lands...they wanted the power all to themselves. Wolves weren't meant to get along with rabbits or swans, or any other animals...they were hunters, and if left unchecked, they'd start to kill foxes too.

Growling, Prompto bared his teeth at the man in front of him. "Stay away from me," he hissed.

The man began to roar with laughter. "Oh little fox. Ya' may not remember me, but I sure as hell remember you, and I think it's pretty cute you're still as feisty as ever."

No, he didn't remember this man, and the more the familiar feeling tugged at his head, the more cloudy things felt. As though some thoughts and memories were being obstructed by the fog in his brain.

"W-Who are you?" Prompto whispered, tucking his knees up to his chest.

The man sighed, and for a moment, Prompto thought he looked...sad? "The name's Gladiolus Amicitia, but you called me Gladio," he said. "I'm the leader of the Wolf Guard, and my main job is to guard the prince. You know..." he chuckled, folding his arms. "You wanted to be a part of the Guard at one point. Hell, you worked so hard for it even though you're a puny little fox."

That...didn't make any sense. How could he, a fox, be a part of the Wolf Guard? No...No all his training had been with Ardyn...in preparation for this!

"No!" Prompto yelled, slamming his hands down on the hard, stone floor. The vibrations against his palms rolled up his arms, the pain throbbing against his wrists. "You're wrong! I've...I've never been here!"

Gladio sighed. "Noctis is going to be really disappointed when he hears you say that to him."

Noctis...so the prince was still alive? Maybe..he could convince this Gladio person to bring Noctis to him. He just had to act like he wanted to see the prince and-

"He...missed ya', you know?" Gladio muttered.

Prompto froze. Noctis missed him? But...why? The pain was back, spreading out all over his body. The hole he constantly felt in his chest felt like it was expanding, growing larger the more he thought about Noctis. He could see his caring, deep blue eyes, his jet black hair and robes against the white snow...he felt how smooth his skin was beneath his hands before he had tried to...

"...I-I...I don't know what you're talking about. I've never met him before today!" he yelled and pressed his head against the wall. It hurt...thinking about Noctis, it hurt more than any punishment he'd ever received in Niflheim.

Gladio sighed, as he stood up away from the chair. "I think you do know, you just don't remember. Damn foxes," he grunted, his tail flicking back and forth angrily. "Maybe you'll remember when Noct is finally allowed to talk to ya'," Gladio said, walking away from him slowly.

As much as Prompto knew he should be happy about a chance to fulfill his mission, he only felt terrified of what would happen when he saw those deep blue eyes again.

~~

"He doesn't remember anything," Gladio said, and Noctis stared, no response coming to his lips. It was the one thing he hadn't wanted to hear, but how could it not be the case? Noctis could still feel the ghost of Prompto's fingers over his neck, the slight pressure from when he had pushed down...

Of course Prompto didn't remember. Prompto...his Prompto would never have done that to him.

In his mind, Noctis had always tried to imagine what their reunion would be like. He wanted to imagine Prompto running towards him, into a giant hug, a comfortable feeling as he felt his best friends arms wrap around his body. He'd tell Noctis he was so happy to see him, and Noctis would welcome him home.

Instead, Prompto's hand had wrapped around his neck, and Gladio had knocked the fox out, and dragged him to the jail cell in the basement of the palace.

"Noct?" Ignis said, and gently placed a hand on his shoulder.

"...yeah," Noctis said, the only word he could find in his vocabulary.

"The Niffs must've done something to him," Gladio said. "I have no idea how deep the brainwashing runs but-"

"I'm going to break him of it," Noctis said, looking up at the older wolves.

"Noct..." Ignis said slowly. "We don't know what happened to him. It has been two years and we don't how deeply embedded his new...thoughts are."

Frowning, Noctis stepped back from Ignis, glaring at both of them. "I don't care," he snapped. "We're best friends! We...we were...." He couldn't say they were mates even if it was true. It didn't matter if it had only lasted for a few hours, it had left an impression on Noctis, and he could only assume it had done the same for Prompto.

"I know you were but-"

"So it doesn't matter. The second I talk to him, talk about some memories and stuff, I know he'll remember," Noctis whispered, clenching his fists down by his side.

"Look, Noct, I agree you should try talkin' to him, but I don't want you to be disappointed if...he doesn't remember," Gladio muttered. "I said a few things to him, and he seemed like he had no idea what I was talking about. Actually he just looked like he was in pain."

Noctis felt his breathing grow shallow. He was in pain? What the hell had happened to his best friend? He knew Prompto had been taken...the fox never would've left on his own... And hearing Gladio talk about Prompto in such a way...it made the anger in his chest slowly creep upward.

"You know of all people know how hard Prompto works, how much he cared about all of us! How can you assume that’s just lost forever?!" he snapped.

Gladio frowned. "We don't know what kinda technology Niflheim used! They've got tons more shit than we even know about!" He growled, looking at the prince. The two Alphas always grew far more heated than they needed to whenever they argued. "It might not be up to him whether he breaks out of it or not!"

"Noct, please calm down. We don't know what we're dealing with."

"Have some faith in him, in me!" Noctis yelled. "At least let me try talking to him!" He couldn't bear the thought of Prompto sitting down in the cell, alone, cold, probably terrified. And if he didn't remember who they were...it was probably even worse than Noctis thought.

"Well then Gladio and I will be joining you," Ignis nodded. "If you truly insist upon going."

"W-Why?!" Noctis said, his ears folding down. "You already have him in a cage! Why can't I just speak to him on my own?"

"Noctis, Prompto attempted to murder you today. We do not know what he's capable of, or what he might try and do. If Gladio and I are there, we can protect you. There is nothing you can't say in front of the two of us," Ignis insisted.

"I...guess..." he grumbled. They did know practically everything that had happened between the two...Noctis just wanted his time alone with his old best friend. He knew if he talked to him, he could find the right things to say, the things that would help Prompto remember. He'd been waiting for him. He'd been waiting for Prompto to come home, and now that he had...he was going to do everything in his power to keep him here with him. He wouldn't let anyone take his best friend away...and even if they couldn't be together in the way Noctis wanted...at least Prompto could stay with him and be by his side, and he wouldn't have to miss him so damn much.

"It's just a safety precaution," Ignis explained. "We will not interrupt your time with him. But please Noctis, we don't want you to get your hopes up...it is possible Prompto will not be able to retrieve his old memories..."

"I don't care, Iggy," Noctis said, his nails digging into his skin. "I'll go visit him every damn day if I have to. I'll make sure he remembers. I don't care how long it takes."

"You're an idiot, Noct," Gladio snorted. "But I can't deny, that I respect your, uh, determination?"

"I finally found him, you guys..." he sighed, covering his eyes. He'd wanted to cry about it, because even if the person in the cell wasn't quite Prompto he was so close to having his best friend back, it almost didn't seem real. "I'm not ever letting him go again."

Above all else, he wanted to keep him safe. He loved him. That was the truth, and even if Prompto didn't remember, Noctis would keep him in the cell until he remembered that he loved him too.

~~

The basement was cold, and his steps echoed against the stone corridor as he walked closer to Prompto's cell. Noctis despised that they were keeping him here. Yes, he had tried to kill him, and he knew that was a punishable offense. Actually, he was lucky Gladio hadn't killed Prompto on the spot. Still, he didn't wish for Prompto to be so alone down here. There was no way his memory would be jogged if he was trapped alone in the basement.

"Can't we move him back to his room, keep him locked up in there."

"Tch," Gladio scoffed. "You remember what happened the last time we tried to keep Prompto locked in his room? And you haven't seen him yet, he's...different Noct," Gladio mumbled.

"I guess," he grumbled. "I just hate knowing he's down here by himself."

"Get him to remember you, and then he can do what he wants," Gladio chuckled, patting Noctis heavily on the back.

"Heh, yeah," Noctis said, turning the corner to where the cell was located.

He could barely see Prompto it was so dark, but when he squinted, he could see his bushy, blond tail, wrapped around his body. He looked fed, and clean, so Noctis was happy to see the guards hadn't been treating him poorly. Not that Gladio would ever allow for such behavior.

Noctis stepped forward and knelt to the ground, his tail curling around his body as he stared at his old best friend in the corner. Prompto looked mostly the same, though Noctis was sure he looked thinner. His eyes held a fear Noctis hadn't seen before, and he hated it, wanted to wipe all the fear immediately out of his eyes.

"Hey Prom."

"W-What?" he trembled, raising his head to look up at Noctis. "Have you come to kill me finally?"

Noctis frowned, his ears folding back against his head. Did Prompto really believe they were going to kill him? He supposed if he didn't remember anything about them, and had only known what Niflheim had told him, it wasn't so farfetched to think wolves would kill a lone fox.

"No, Prom..." Noctis said, sadness laced through his tone. He hadn't wanted to cry, especially not in front of Gladio and Ignis, but seeing Prompto in front of him, cowering in the corner, looking at him with eyes that said he had no idea who he was...Noctis bit his lip, attempting to hold back his tears. "It's me, Noct, do you really...not remember?"

"Noct?" Prompto said slowly, his body unfurling as he slowly walked towards the front of the cage. His bright blue eyes stared into Noctis' blankly, as though his mind were reeling, struggling to remember. He winced, and began to shake his hands out, as though he were trying to toss the pain off of his fingertips."P-Prince Noctis?"

"Yeah. Do you remember?" Noctis asked softly. It was hard not to get his hopes up, especially having Prompto so closes to him, so alive. He wanted to reach his hands around the bars and pull Prompto's cheeks to his, kissing him. He wanted to tell him he loved him. Two years had passed, and none of his feelings had gone away, and they were only amplified, having Prompto directly in front of him.

"You're...my target," he whispered.

"Noct..." Ignis warned, both him and Gladio taking a step forward the second they heard the word 'target' fall from Prompto's lips.

"No, Prom. No..." Noctis shook his head. "You're...my best friend. We're....You grew up here, you-"

"No! No, no, no!" Prompto yelled, covering his ears as he folded them against his head, shaking back and forth. "You're not my friend," he panicked. "You're going to kill me!"

"I would never hurt you," Noctis said gently, reaching his hand through the bar. "Please Prompto, you have to believe me, you have to remember."

Tears glistened in Prompto's eyes as he saw the hand come through the bars, his eyes blinking as he glanced from the hand to Noctis' eyes. It almost looked as though he was about to remember exactly everything he'd forgotten.

In an instant, his eyes changed to a frown and he dug his fingers into Noctis' arm, yanking him forward. Noctis' head hit against the bar, and he winced as Prompto's fingers moved around Noctis' throat, grabbing at him. "They told me...you would tell me that. They told me not to believe your lies."

"Noct!" Ignis yelled and grabbed his shoulders, yanking him away from Prompto's grip, a few scratch marks appearing on his pale skin. "That's enough. We're done for today," Ignis muttered.

How had this happened? Anger boiled under his skin. Who the hell had made Prompto think he was lying about their friendship? Noctis would kill them...rip out their heart, so they could understand the pain of the hole he was constantly living with. First, Prompto was taken from him, and now, he didn't even remember.

"I'll help you remember, Prom!" Noctis yelled. It was useless to argue with Ignis because he knew the advisor was not going to let him talk to Prompto anymore today. Not with that stunt he just pulled. Noctis would be lucky if Ignis let him do anything with Prompto again, though in reality he'd probably make him sit farther away.

Prompto winced again and gripped at his wrists, his body trembling. He seemed to be in so much pain, as if whenever he did something wrong, or not quite right, he'd be punished for it. Noctis swallowed. "I'm coming back tomorrow, and the next day, and the next...until you remember exactly who I am and who you are!" Noctis called out, before turning around against Ignis.

"I want to be alone. I'm going to my room. Please tell Luna I don't want any visitors this evening," Noctis said quietly. He walked towards the staircase, blinking back the tears that threatened to fall from the corners of his eyes.

~~

"This is a disaster," Ignis sighed, plopping down in a chair in his bedroom. Gladio shut the door behind them, leaning his back against the wooden frame.

"No kiddin'," he grumbled. Seeing Ignis like this, so worried, so concerned for Noctis always tested Gladio's patience. He knew it was the advisor's job, and oh, how many times they'd discussed that, but it still made his instincts frustrated beyond his own comprehension.

"And right as Lady Lunafreya got here." Ignis rubbed his forehead, and Gladio stepped forward, gently placing a hand on his shoulder.

"Iggy..."

"I apologize, Gladio...I just thought...I thought perhaps with Lunafreya being here and Noctis finally seeming to be a little more...happy...I..." he muttered.

"Yeah I get it," Gladio said. "It's not ideal. That Prompto would come back to him right now."

"No," Ignis whispered. He turned his green eyes up towards Gladio, his pale ears folding down against his head. "Please don't take this the wrong way. I am of course thrilled to have Prompto back. I just..."

"If he doesn't remember who Noctis is, it's almost like we're right back to the place where we lost him the first time," Gladio finished, knowing the man was struggling to find the correct way to word his feelings.

"...Yes..." he said so softly. "I hate it, Gladio...I hate seeing him hurting so much." Ignis stood up and slammed his hand against the table. "It is our job to protect him, and yet...and yet..."

Stepping forward, Gladio wrapped his arms around Ignis from behind. "Hey...Iggy...sh..." he whispered, planting a soft kiss on his shoulder. "It's not like we could plan all this shit with Prompto. We didn't know he was still alive, and how the hell did we know he was going to come back."

Ignis' hands were sweaty when he rest them over Gladio's on his stomach, his head falling back against his shoulder with a long sigh. "I know..." he mumbled. "I just hate seeing him in pain over this again. I watched him for two years...two...long years...suffering alone...not letting me help him and I just...every time I see him walk away from me like that, I feel I've failed him." Ignis let out a shaky breath, as though he were holding back his tears.

Gladio trembled. He hated it, everything with Ignis was always about Noctis. He'd known it would be like this when he fell in love with Ignis all those years ago, and he'd promised he'd wait, he'd promised he'd be okay with this, but with every passing day it grew harder and harder to control his Alpha instincts.

But Gladio knew his place.

Protecting Noctis was, of course, Gladio's job as well, and these past two years hadn't been easy on any of them, but Gladio had watched Ignis stress and stress, desperately trying to do anything to relieve Noctis of the pain he'd felt losing Prompto. Gladio's instinct was to try and protect the man he loved, even when Ignis had pushed him away multiple times.

"Iggy..." Gladio said, brushing his fingers over his lower stomach. "You can't blame yourself. What happened to Prompto was no one's fault...and what happened to the two of them...well they were idiot kids..." Gladio murmured, pressing his face against Ignis neck.

Betas didn't have scents, or rather, their scents were incredibly weak. But this close to Ignis, Gladio thought he smelled delicious, like the perfect blend of coffee and mint. Fresh, clean...Ignis. Gladio could've buried himself in that scent. He loved it, loved him. Ignis was going to be his mate, and Gladio wished he could calm him with his own scent or do anything to make the Beta feel better, but nothing an Alpha could do would really affect him.

Ignis' breathing began to even out, his eyes shutting against Gladio. His long fingers trailed over Gladio's thick ones. "Do you think...do you think...Prompto will ever remember who Noctis is?" Ignis asked softly.

"I sure as hell hope so," Gladio muttered. "Seeing him a few times myself, it seems like there are things he's trying to remember but he just can't quite figure it out. His real memories have gotta be somewhere though...tucked away."

A soft huff left Ignis' nose, his chest rising and falling against Gladio's hold. "If anyone can bring Prompto back, I'm sure it is Noctis."

"Me too," Gladio mumbled.

Ignis tail moved back, wrapping around Gladio's large dark one, squeezing it gently. A small gasp left his lips. It was such an intimate gesture, one Ignis often didn't share until they were together during one of Gladio’s ruts.

A chuckle left his lips. "Are you so surprised that I am looking to you for comfort?" Ignis whispered, sadness in his tone. "I have been a horrible mate-to-be, haven't I?" he said softly.

"'Course not," Gladio murmured, squeezing his tail back while he pressed his lips to his neck. Even when Ignis was so focused on Noctis, and worrying about the prince, Gladio couldn't help but adore him.

Ignis unwrapped their tails and turned around, gently touching at Gladio's cheeks. "I...I haven't helped you with your ruts lately."

Gladio turned his cheek to kiss at Ignis' palm. "We talked about that. I was getting too close to knotting ya'. You can't help me until you're ready to be mated. That's on me, not you."

"And then I slept with Noctis..."

A small growl left Gladio's throat, and he gripped at Ignis' waist pulling him closer as he wrapped his tail back around Ignis' squeezing possessively. "We...already talked about that too..." he said maintaining his composure.

"I'm sorry, I know you hate it..." Ignis mumbled, looking down. "And I'm constantly worrying about Noctis and talking to you about it, and really it's not fair. I'm not an Alpha, but I am intelligent enough to know that it must bother you...it must be painful to hold back your desires and-"

"Iggy," Gladio whispered, resting his forehead against Ignis'. It was rare Ignis got so...disheveled with his thoughts. "It's okay."

Ignis' thumbs brushed over the slight stubble on Gladio's jaw. "Are you sure?"

Gladio nodded. "'M'sure...It's both our job to protect the prince, and we're gonna figure all this out, and eventually we're going to be together. I promised you I'd wait, and I'm keepin' that promise," he said.

Ignis sighed, his green eyes shutting behind his frames. "I love you, so much Gladiolus," he whispered, pressing their lips together.

Gladio was always weak to Ignis, no matter what he did, and he wrapped his arms around him tighter, deepening their kiss. "I love you too Igs."

"I'm sorry to make you wait," he muttered.

"Well...let me stay with you tonight," Gladio whispered, kissing at Ignis' jaw, and from the way a small sigh left Ignis' lips, Gladio knew the man wasn't going to say no.

~~

The prince came to visit him everyday, just as he had promised, and Prompto was confused, to say the least.

The first time he'd come, he'd sat directly across from the cell, looking straight at Prompto in the eye, and everything had hurt. His body ached as he desperately tried to place why those eyes made his heart beat faster than it ever had before.

But now, Noctis sat far away, in a chair, and he mostly he would tell Prompto stories. The first few times, Noctis tried to engage, to get Prompto to talk to him, but now the prince no longer did that. Instead he just...talked.

One time he spoke about Prompto helping him sneak out of the palace into the gardens to play in the snow. He'd talked about how no one else would ever do fun things with him, Prompto had been the only one. He'd help him skip meetings and dodge his father. He helped him feel like a real kid, not just a prince. "You were fun. Always smiling. Even on the snowiest of winter days, when the clouds covered up the whole damn sky, you were like this ray of sunshine. I always got a little scared you'd melt the snow you were so bright."

Prompto couldn't understand why Noctis' voice trembled so much when he spoke of that.

"I love you, Prom. I'll see you tomorrow."

And he really didn't understand why Noctis was constantly telling him he loved him.

The fox hadn't expected Noctis to actually come everyday to talk to him, he'd planned on spending the rest of his days wasting in away in the cell. Honestly, it was probably better that he just die right here, right now, rather than go back to Niflheim and have Ardyn punish him. The thought sent a shiver down Prompto's spine.

Sometimes Noctis would bring Ignis or Gladio. Ignis didn't talk much, but Gladio often did. Gladio liked to talk about training both him and Noctis, but Prompto couldn't recall that either. "You trained the hardest of any of my recruits. You were going to be the best damn guard, probably because you love this idiot so much."

Love? He didn't love Noctis. He was going to kill Noctis. Even the world love made his wrists ache and his chest pound in a very unpleasant manner. Whenever they brought the word up, Prompto always recoiled, the pain in his wrists too much for him to bear.

After about a week of this, Noctis took a seat in front of the cell again, much to Ignis' dismay. "I wanna tell you a story, Prom," Noctis said, his tail swishing around his body. "And I think it would be better if you could really...see me," he said.

The intrigue was too much for the fox, and he slowly scooted towards him. Noctis' blue eyes were deep, and stared at the ground. It would be a perfect time to reach out, and possibly slam his head against the bars-

No...No Ignis and Gladio were here, and they wouldn't stand for that, and perhaps if he was on his best behavior...they might begin to trust him?

His ears stood up as he watched Noctis take a long and deep breath. "When we were kids, I promised you...I was going to make you my mate. And...Prom, I really meant that," he said slowly. Mates?! He was supposed to be mates with the Wolf Prince of Lucis?! But he was a fox...and- He winced as a stabbing pain hit him in the chest.

Why? Why did these people act like they knew him so well when he'd never even been to this place before?

"And then...one night you...or I...I think it was my fault. I had just had a rut and you came to my room and you smelled my scent and it threw you into a heat. And Gods Prom, you smelled so damn good." Prompto watched as Noctis clenched his hands in his lap. "Anyway..." he continued softly. "We...we ended up mating. Officially. I gave you my knot and we created a bond."

The prince held up his golden wristlets, pushing them down as he showed Prompto his fiery Alpha marks. "Your Omega marks were here with mine."

His wrists began to burn as he looked, and he started to shake out his hands. Why the hell did it hurt so damn much?! He began to glance around the cell nervously, as if the walls were slowly closing in on him. Was he even breathing? His breaths were too shallow to tell.

"And then...we were bonded. We were bonded Prom," Noctis said hurriedly. "It was only for a few hours, but we were. My father, my idiot father made us break our bond." Noctis placed a hand over his chest. "You feel it right? You feel the hole in your chest."

The stabbing grew worse the longer Noctis spoke. Like someone was jabbing a knife into his heart over and over. He'd always felt this hole the prince spoke of. He'd always felt it like something had been ripped from him, something that was supposed to be there and now no longer was. He'd always thought it was because he was unmated, but...maybe it was something else.

His head began to throb, and the room slowly started to spin. He tried to concentrate on the prince, but the words kept swirling around in his head.

"You feel it right? You feel the hole in your chest." Prompto's hand lifted to his chest and tried to grip at the robes obstructing him from his heart.

Of course he felt it. He'd been feeling it for years.

"Because I feel it everyday. Every time I wake up and see the sun, every time I walk by your room, every time I think about having to mate with Luna, every time I think of your scent, your smile, your hair." Tears were streaming down the prince's cheek as he clutched at his own robes.

Why was the prince crying? For him? It seemed so genuine...how could he possibly be lying about this. Swallowing, Prompto felt his hand begin to reach out for the prince, his body trembling. If only he could stop his tears.

"It's you, Prompto. It's always been you. I love you, and nothing is going to change that. It's my fault that you're like this, and I regret letting my father force us to break our bond. It's all I think about..." he whispered, tears dripping onto his hand.

Prompto's hand lay on Noctis' cheek, gently brushing some of the tears away. 'Don't cry, Noct, don't cry!' It was what he was yearning to say, but Prompto couldn't find his voice. It was trapped behind something blocking him.

"And when you were gone...I kept watching the gardens, waiting for you to come back, so it could be just like the day we met and you taught me to make snow angels."

Prompto froze. His eyes widened as he stared at Noctis in front of him. Snow angels?

'When there's this much snow on the ground, you gotta make a snow angel!'

It was white, so white. Like an undisturbed blanket, untouched and pure.

'"Okay, okay. I'll teach you!"

There had been a small wolf there though. A boy, his own age, long black fluffy tail, dark ears, pale skin. He'd been beautiful. And though he was so dark against the stark white snow, Prompto had known, in that very moment, he was an angel.

'You gotta move your arms up and down, and kick your legs out and in! Like this.'

They had laughed, the other boy had been so curious and he walked through the snow as if he'd never touched it before, like it was a forbidden fruit he had never been allowed to taste. They'd been awkward, flopping in the snow, the fur on their tails wet and matted, but together they had made the most beautiful snow angels Prompto had ever seen.

'And tada! It's a snow angel!'

He'd found out Noctis was a prince then, and he'd been ripped away from him, but they found their way back to each other. So many times had Prompto been ripped away from Noctis, but he always found his way back, no matter what. They were soulmates. Best friends.

He loved him, had always loved him and would always love him.

Suddenly, he found himself face to face with his prince, tears streaming down both of their faces, and all Prompto could do was stroke at his cheek through the metal bar and whisper "Noct" over and over, like he'd never forgotten him at all.

[i4z-0892-il]

Eggshells 7

Author: Jena @i4z-0892-il

Summary: AU Serial Killers Sam and Dean Winchester find themselves in a bind when the Reader gets caught in the cross-hairs of their plans.

Pairing: Sam x Reader, Dean x Reader

Word Count: 1,401

Warnings: dark!fic, NSFW, 18+, Very graphic descriptions of violence, mature themes, death, mentions of death, torture abuse, language, assault

A/N: This has been one of my favorite fics to work on and I’m pretty proud to share it with you guys, so if you felt something please let me know. I literally survive off of your feedback.

Inspired by my girl @alphvjensen’s incredible story Sex and Violence

Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4 - Part 5 - Part 6 - Part 7 - Part 8 - Part 9 - Part 10 - Part 11 - Part 12

If you like my work consider buying me a Coffee, or leave me some Feedback!

Tag List

Masterlist

The gravel crunched under tires as he rolled up to the house, Dean slowed and turned the music down attempting to recognize the foreign car in his driveway. Lisa would have told him if they were expecting company, and the pit that drew in his stomach didn’t help to quell his curiosity. He came to a stop, cautiously getting out as he noticed the front door standing wide open. Something was wrong, and he feared dreadfully so. He opted to go through the garage running through the layout of his home briefly, picking up a tire iron on the way. He slipped silently through the back door and into the laundry room, he could hear quiet sobs.

“You can leave right now, I won’t say anything to anyone.” Lisa said, firmness in her voice even though she quaked with terror.

“Why would I do that? I only just got here.” Came a man’s voice that he couldn’t recognize.

“My husband will be home any minute now.” She said defiantly, attempting to reason with the intruder.

“Lucky for you, I don’t give in to scare tactics.” The man said. Dean dialed 911, rattled off the address quietly and slipped his phone in his pocket before rounding the corner carefully. Green eyes landed on the tall figure that brought the storm in his home. He’d seen his face before on the news related to a series of horrible murders in the tri-state area; Gordon Walker. Ice ran through Dean’s body as the gravity of the situation landed in the back of his mind, he and his family were about to become victims to the slaughter. Just another statistic and sad casualty of a cruel world. He had no intentions of becoming a poor unsuspecting backgound character in the documentary of Gordon Walker’s killing spree. Ben and Lisa were huddled together in front of the couch, Gordon loomed like a thick shadow of violence with trained a gun at Ben’s head. Even still Lisa remained unreadable, not able to give him any satisfaction, anger, hate and terror marched through her. Dean took a silent and meticulous step forward.

“You kill us and you’re a dead man.” She seethed, Gordon knelt beside her pressing his lips to her ear.

“I’m more alive now than you’ve ever been in your life.” He said.

BANG

Ben slumped to the ground, a scream erupted from Lisa as she gripped Ben’s shirt pulling dead weight to her.

“No!” Dean snarled abandoning all safety precaution, Gordon turned firing off another shot landing it’s target into Dean’s stomach. He stopped the jarring stabbing of white hot metal tearing through his core and stopping him in his tracks. Adrenaline and the will to survive took over a he swung the iron as hard as he could, but Grodon was faster than he’d given him credit for, and he was met with a sharp jab to the stomach nearly splitting him in half and dropping him to his knees. Gordon flipped the butt of the gun in hishand before whipping it across Dean’s face.

“Guess he wasn’t as tough as you thought he was.” He said to Lisa unamused.

“I’ll fucking kill you…” Dean groaned, too disoriented to will his body to move. Gordon yanked him up, face to face by his collar, the fire that burned in his green eyes sent a thrill through the Murderer’s bones, he meant it. Gordon grinned grabbing the tire iron as he stood moving to tower over Lisa who locked eyes with her killer unafraid now. He had robbed her of fear when he murdered her son.

“You’re going to rot in hell.” She spat. Gordon raised the tire iron above his head.

“I’m rotting here, what’s the difference?” He said apathetic as he swung, the iron cracking bone and muscle into paste, leaving nothing but an unrecognizable mess to stain the floor boards forever. Dean froze into stone unable to comprehend what was happening in front of him. His entire life taken from him in minutes.

Gordon pressed the gun to his forehead, waiting for the reason not to shoot.

“Fucking do it!” Dean roared, there was no world he wanted to live in if Ben and Lisa couldn’t. “Shoot me right fucking now or I swear, I will hunt you down and kill you myself."

There it was.

“You’re one of us now.” Said Gordon cooly, putting the gun in his waistband. “One day you’ll see.”

Then he was gone, a whisper of black smoke lingering in the presence of evil. Silence overtook the house, deafening, the sounds of his hysteria as he tried to hold onto lifeless remains and sirens drowned out by loss.

“A Detective would like to speak with Dean.” Said Sherriff Mills. Dean sat catatonic in his chair paying her no mind. Sam stood to address her.

“I think he’s given enough statements for the day.” He said on his brother’s behalf.

“Sam I know he’s been through a lot, but if we’re going to catch this guy the more we know now the better.” She responded. He knew she meant well and if anyone could understand what Dean was going through it might have been her.

“All due respect Jody, but I don’t think he can give you anymore information than he already has. I’d just really like to take my brother home. We have a lot of matters to deal with.” Sam said, Jody agreed with a reluctant nod.

“He remembers anything, anything at all you boys give me a call.”

He’d never felt such an all consuming emptiness, they were gone, and that was that. No amount of begging,or pleading would bring them back, but that wasn’t an answer that satisfied. The days went by in a blur, Sam took care of everything. The funeral was lovely and filled with people who spoke of touching memories shared and a community rocked to it’s foundations; but he knew what was festering in those closed caskets. Ripe and rotting, unrecognizable to the world as his beautiful and vibrant Lisa, and his quick and sweet Ben. Empty sorry’s and condolences flooded in from every direction, but he could process none of it.

Days turned into weeks and he found the only numb to his endless misery was found at the bottom of a bottle. Eventually even that stopped helping. Sam begged him to get help, to move out of the house that haunted him, but he would have none of it. He couldn’t leave them, not when they were still there.

The stain began to fade but never disappearing serving as a cruel reminder of the horror that struck in his own home. He stayed away as much as he could finding refuge in the local dives, dreading being back in the house, but unable to say goodbye. The roadhouse was where he found him. The first of many, but he didn’t know that yet. The air changed when the man walked through the doors, white teeth shone through a smile that was all too familiar. It wasn’t Gordon but it could have been, and that was all it took to fill him with a destructive violence the would rip it’s target to shreds. He wanted to tear that sick fucking smile off of his face.

He followed him when he left, stalking his prey like a wolf in the night, he followed the man to his house, that fire in his stomach growing more and more irritable with each passing minute. The man wasn’t even in the door when Dean could hold back any longer. He let loose every ounce of himself in a flurry of fists until there was no longer a face where one should have been. With each smack he felt more and more free, as if finally he’d been given release, after so long living in shades of gray he could see color again.

Dean stood above his work, his body shaking with an exhilarating electricity. He’d fucked up. The reality began to set in over what he’d done, but he didn’t feel guilty, rather- regretful that he’d made such a big mess, and he had no intentions of going to prison. So he  called the only person he could trust.

“Sam, I need help.”

Tags: @roseangel013bf, @sanityoverrated27, @nibeca, @deanlenaotp, @deanandsamsbitch, @classyjellyfishpoetry, @sarahbearccxc, @smiling-meerkat, @goldenangelbloodcastiel, @pearlparty, @aquabrie, @lindsaylove1226, @notnaturalanahi, @mogaruke, @deansbitch1967, @ladylustitia, @supernatastic101art, @starhdust @ellen-reincarnated1967, @wedontapologize, @butiaintgonnaloveem, @deansbitch1967