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kookiepredictions · 4 years ago

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Message from Jungkook’s Higher Self to his DF

My most precious,

I have been thinking about you again. Well, I say again, but I had never stopped in the first place. Do you think about me too? I think you do. At least I want to believe you do. I feel like that’s all that I have left right now. I feel so lost and confused. I feel like I’m trapped in a maze, but I’m not stuck in one place. I’m moving through this maze. And I’m moving willingly. It’s like there’s something at the end of that maze that is calling out to me and I can’t seem to refuse. I feel like I’m ensnared by that calling and I must keep moving towards it. It feels like I have free will but at the same time, I have absolutely no control over it. I don’t want to stop, but even if I wanted to, I couldn’t stop. So I have just 2 choices: either move towards the end of that maze, or be constantly restless. The only problem is, I don’t have a map to this maze. I’m moving but I don’t know if I’m moving in the right direction. Am I getting any closer or am I getting further away? No one else seems to know either. I look for help from others but when they do, I feel like it’s useless. I have to find my own way. I’m all on my own in this path. The only person I know can help me is you. I know you are the only one who can tell me exactly what is wrong with me and how to right it. So I look for you everywhere and everytime. And then it dawns on me— is this maze leading me to you? Is that why I can’t refuse its calling? Or is there more to it? And why do I think you are the only one who can help me? I’ve known for a while now that I love you. But this feels like a lot more than what I have known the word “love” to mean. Who are you to me and why do I need you so much? Every song, every movie, every person, every place reminds me of you. How are you more present in my life than the actual people present in my life? How do you have more control over my feelings than I have over them? As if it’s not scary enough that I am so addicted to you, I don’t even know if what I’m addicted to is real or an illusion. Are you even a real person? Is our connection even real or is it all in my head? Are you a “Twin Flame”, a “Soulmate”? Have I met you in the “Past?” I don’t understand these terms and the more I learn, the more confused and lost I feel. Are you a “Karmic”? Are you here to punish and torture me for everything that I have done wrong? Tbh, that seems more likely. Half of me expects you to one day say to me, wake up, all that shit is in your head. Or, haha, you really thought I would fall in love with someone like you? However that conversation goes, it always ends up with me heartbroken. Maybe I want you so much because I believe I can never have you. And why would I? What have I ever done to deserve you and a love so perfect? Why would I get so lucky? There are so many other people who deserve this more, then why would I be The One?

Frankly, this is what I’ve always felt about myself. I got all this success and fame at such a young age. And what have I done exactly for this? I have only done what I have been told to do by other people. When there were struggles and problems, the older members and other people stressed out and solved them. I didn’t do much. Yeah, I practice hard and all, but that’s really the least I could do. Failure or success, whatever has come to me, has fallen into my lap due to someone else’s effort. I have never felt like I completely deserve it. People always say, BTS are so humble, Jungkook is so humble. But I have never seen myself as an amazing person or even a nice person. Yet people always seem to believe that about me, so I’m like, alright if that makes them happy. And so I live a dual life every day. I give people what makes them happy, but I never let myself believe what they believe about me. I know who I am. I have indulgences that I am not proud of. If people knew everything about me, they would not love me at all. Not that it mattered to me that much. I had adjusted to this dual life. But now it does. It matters to me what you think about me, how you see me. And it terrifies me because what if you think I am bad person? What if you don’t love me or even like me? My mind says it shouldn’t matter, but my heart says it does. Why does your opinion matter so much?

For as long as I can remember, I have had very high ideals regarding love— and boy I started young! I wished for a perfect love story and went into connections hoping for it but somehow it always eluded me. In my head, it always seemed perfect, but the reality always turned out to be different. I don’t really blame the other person either. I just blame it on my fate, really. At some point, it started looking like I was fated to be in connections that would never fulfil me. Sometimes I tried to adjust and compromise, and sometimes I felt really frustrated and restless for more. I never categorically felt like I wanted something more, but it always felt like there could be more. And yet, how do you look for something you don’t even know exists?

I wished for a perfect love but I did not know what I was signing up for. I always thought if and when I fell in true love, my life would become so much easier. And so when I met you, and I had all these deep feelings for you, I thought, that’s it, now my life will be so much easier and happier. But then things took a drastic turn. You know how it feels when you are taking a trip somewhere and you’re on the bus and everyone later talks about how amazing the journey was, and you realize you missed it because you were asleep throughout that journey and now you wish you weren’t? That’s how it feels right now. I wish I wasn’t so asleep when I met you. I wish I had cherished you more. There’s so much I want to do for you now but I feel like I missed my chance. I feel like I let you down and I can’t forgive myself for that. I replay the past over and over wishing I had acted differently. I pray often and every time, I pray for a second chance with you. But then I think, if I hate myself so much for having hurt you, surely you must hate me more. You always assure me that you love me, but I find it so hard to believe because how could you ever forgive me? How could you ever want me back? And that’s the moment when I feel like I am only being delusional. You are no Twin Flame of mine, you are a punishment served to me by God— a punishment the pain from which I can never recover from. Once again, love has eluded me and I am fated to live the rest of my life in pain and regret, only this time I can clearly see that I have ruined it with my own actions.

But then again, a part of me never wanted to accept this fate. A very, very small voice inside me told me this time it was somehow different. That I still had hope. That I had reason to keep trying. And that is crazy because what reason do I have? I don’t even know if this is real! I have been advised by people to be careful, to not trust you so much. And truthfully, I have tried doing that as well. I have tried forgetting you, not thinking about you. But it’s always like when you’re told not to think about something, and you start thinking about it more. I have tried to reason with myself, used logic. But I always keep drawn back into that maze again. I must find my way through it. I’m afraid something dangerous might be on the other side of it and I don’t want to land in trouble and take those who I love with me, but I can’t stop! What is this self destructive behaviour? When and how did I start trusting you so much? I feel I am at the edge of a cliff ready to take a plunge and I am terrified. What if you are not on the other side of it? What if you deceive me, let go of me, leave me to die? I think of all this and then an even terrifying thought comes up— that I am, indeed, more willing to destroy myself at your call, than to take the chance to lose you. No one should have that kind of power over anyone. I feel like you have me under a spell but it is a spell I am willingly submitting to because it brings me so much peace and joy. I have never known this ecstasy and I am addicted to it. And it’s irreplaceable and unreplicable. You are the only source of it. I know because I have tried finding it elsewhere. From other people, from work, from my ambitions. It’s never the same. You make me so happy! I can spend hours with you and still never get enough of you. I could have you wrapped tight in my arms and still feel like you’re not close enough. You feel so close to me and still so far away. You’re always right within reach and yet I still can’t hold you. It’s frustrating! I don’t want to be stuck in this place forever because it’s torture. I want all of you but I am afraid you’ll not want me. I don’t know which is worse— to be rejected by you or to never try and find out if you wouldn’t. I throw emotional tantrums trying to get you to react and respond because that’s the only way I know how to get your attention because what else can I do? What can I give you that you don’t already have? And this is another aspect of this connection that I am scared of as well. How can I match you? What can I give you? For many years, I have seen myself in a certain way. I know why people like me or love me. I am Jeon Jungkook of BTS. For so long, that was my identity. You came along and shattered that illusion. Suddenly that identity isn’t enough anymore. I feel naked around you. I feel poor. What is my identity, I don’t know anymore. I was comfortable living a life of playing a role for other people to make them accept and love me, but it’s not working on you. And honestly, now that I see it through your eyes, I don’t like it anymore either. Who am I now? I feel like a nobody. What can a nobody give you? What can a nobody give anyone? I hate being here. And yet, there’s a strange sense of liberation in this that I have never felt before. As comfortable as I have been living a dual life so far, it also felt like a burden on my shoulders. I could never truly be myself with anyone. Now I feel like I can, with you. But what if you don’t like who I truly am? I am so scared to look at myself. This is the reason why I throw tantrums to get your attention. It is easier than looking into myself. Because I fear that if I did, I will only see bad things. I will only see myself taking and taking and taking from others and I will see my judgment in there— that I am indeed a very bad person and for that, I am punished to live a life without you. If that is the truth, I don’t want to know the truth. I want to live in this beautiful illusion forever— or so I think, until I am tired of living in the illusion and want the truth. I want to know how you feel about me. I want to know if there is hope for me in this journey or if I am trying in vain. I want to know if I’m on the right track or if I’m going crazy. I am lost, I am lonely even with so many people around me, and I have no map nor a compass. All I’m being shown is the edge of this cliff and being told to take a leap of faith and even the courage that it requires I need you for that.

And then I wonder, am I annoying you with all my neediness? Are you liking me less and less every day because of how lost and incapable I am in this journey? You are so smooth, you have figured everything out and everyday I try to catch up to you but you are progressing at the speed of light and I feel more and more lost. I feel like I am failing us again. But believe me, I am changing. It might be at a slower pace than yours but I have changed so much than who I used to be before I met you. And that is why I feel that there is something special about this connection— it hasn’t just changed me with regards to you, it has changed me in all areas of my life. And I am so proud and grateful for that. But the path ahead seems to be so long still and then I lose hope and hate this journey. Why does it have to be so difficult and complicated? You love me, I love you, then why can’t we just be together? Isn’t that what love is? That’s it, I am crossing my arms and sitting here and pouting until I get what I want. (lol cutie). And then after my tantrums dissipate, I see the meaning of this journey again. I see all that it has done for me, the way it has changed me, and I am grateful and hopeful again. That small voice has actually been getting louder and louder over the days. I think the balance is tipping in favour of hope. Every day I feel a little more hopeful that we are indeed meant to be together. Maybe that’s what this maze is all about. I see light flickering more strongly at the end of it every passing day. I just have to figure my way out. In doing so, I have been learning to grow more and more confident in my own ability. I may have been discovering my own true self, devoid of my past identity created from my ego. I am purging past energies heavily and having multiple tower moments and ego deaths on the way which is where the moments of pain, the anger comes from, but every day, my resistance is weakening and I am, little by little, accepting this journey for what it is, not what I want it to be. I think I am noticing a pattern here— after the pain always comes the feeling of liberation and power. I want to be everything you want and everything you deserve. No matter what it seems like on the surface— it may seem like I am this selfish evil person who only thinks about his own needs, but believe me, I want to return back to you all the happiness and peace that you have given to me, I want to fulfil all your dreams. It may seem like I don’t value you, but you are my most precious treasure, and I want to make sure you know what your worth is to me. I am trying my best to get there. I am navigating my way as best as I can. I hope it is enough for you. I hope you can be patient with me. I hope you never give up on me. Please don’t ever leave me.

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loki-lover84 · 4 years ago

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Season 01 Episode 01: “The Dragon’s Call”

I stormed down the cold stone corridors determined to get away from Uther, Arthur and any of the guards, once again Uther had sentenced another person to death for having magic and he honestly didn’t show any signs of remorse. That thing is cruel, petty and an abomination to the human race; he has the power to dictate who in Camelot may live and who must die but instead of executing the people that commit horrific crimes he goes out of his way to track down any that may possess the gift of magic and put an end to them just because they exist. I have slandered him and called him a coward many times, he kills what he can’t even begin to understand. Magic itself isn’t the issue, the issue only occurs when it is used for evil that is something that once again Uther can’t seem to understand.

In my fury I’d ended up bumping into Guinevere and knocking my sisters dresses onto the hard dusty stone ground.

“Oh Gwen, I’m so sorry I didn’t mean to!” I apologised picking up each delicate silk gown from the ground.

“Lady Y/n, you needn’t apologise. I was in the way clearly.” Gwen attempted to reason.

“Gwen, I’ve told you countless times to refer to me as Y/n you don’t need to add the Lady part I don’t like it especially not when it’s coming from you, my friend.” Gwen smiled timidly at me as I walked with her to the scullery to assist with cleaning my sisters dresses.

“I’ll never understand why you insist on doing the chores assigned to us you’re supposed to-“

“Get bored after doing nothing in my room or wander the castle aimlessly as I’m forbidden to venture anywhere else, yeah not my fancy.” I interrupted.

“What did King Uther do this time?” She questioned as we waited for the fire to do its part and heat the water up.

“He’s sentenced another to death for practicing sorcery, whether the man was or wasn’t doesn’t really matter all too much to him just as long as he gets the power to say they live or they die.” I huffed as I began to scrub away the dust and dirt off the first of Morgana’s dresses.

“He believes he’s keeping the kingdom safe.” Guinevere attempted.

“The kingdom isn’t safe from his bad decisions though; let’s face it they’re a greater danger than magic.” I ranted causing Gwen to sigh but she was amused by my statement.

“You keep scrubbing at the rate you are you’ll have me out of a job.” She laughed trying to lighten the mood.

“Never, for you shall receive the credit and they shall be none the wiser.” I smiled before continuing, “What’s next on your to do list today then?”

“I was going to go out to the lower town, I need to get some supplies.”

“Great I’ll join you, anything to get me away from here for a while.” I respond as we air out the dresses.

“Are you sure that’s wise I mean, King Uther’s already angry at you is he not what if today’s the day he catches you?” My friend asked anxiously.

“I don’t fear him besides what’s the worst that’ll happen?”

Guinevere walked alongside me she kept seeming like she wanted to say something, anything to change my mind but knew it’d be like talking to the castle’s stone walls. Eventually we reached my room and I pulled out the chest that was tucked under my bed and out of sight before revealing its contents of commoners clothing which to me was actually rather charming but to most people was all they could get. With some of Guinevere’s assistance I was able change out of my noble clothes and into my common ones.

With Gwen’s usual aid in keeping the guards occupied I was able to sneak around and out of the castle without a single guard harassing me, we’d arranged to meet up in the lower town so we could purchase everything she needed, everything was going to plan until a swarm of the townsfolk sped up the courtyard capturing me in their tight knit hoard. I was so close and now I was back in the courtyard unable to move and forced to behold the treacherous sight I desperately wanted to avoid…

The execution.

The drums began their solemn steady beat as two guards brought forth the man whose life was about to be stolen from him.

“Let this serve as a lesson to all, this man Thomas James Collins is adjudged guilty of conspiring to use enchantments and magic. And pursuant to the laws of Camelot, I, Uther Pendragon, have decreed that such practices are banned on penalty of death.” I woman shoved passed me to get a closer look causing me to fall onto a raven haired man.

I utter a small apology to him and continued to glare up at Uther.

“I pride myself as a fair and just king.” He continued.

“You’re a delusional, arrogant, pigheaded King.” I scoffed under my breath causing the raven haired guy I’d just bumped into to titter slightly.

“But for the crime of sorcery, there is but one sentence I can pass.” Thomas was forced onto his knees his head on now held against the block.

I looked around anywhere I could to avoid the inevitable and saw my twin lower her head in disgust as she beheld the sight. Knowing she was watching this made my stomach fall, I’d always tried to keep her distracted and away from these events but today it seems she chose to watch. Unable to look at my sister I scowled at Uther and watched as without a care, without remorse he lowered his hand signalling for the executioner to behead Thomas. The boy next to me gulped and tensed, I’m not sure what he was expecting to happen seen as though he’d willingly come to see this but his reaction certainly held elements of shock and fear? The rest of the crowd gasped, at least they had some elements of humanity in them.

“When I came to this land, this kingdom was mired in chaos, but with the people’s help, magic was driven from the realm. So I declared a festival to celebrate 20 years since The Great Dragon was captured, and Camelot free from the evil of Sorcery. Let the celebrations begin.” Uther dismissed his face gleaming with pride.

The crowd started to disperse until a woman cried loudly gaining everyone’s focus, even Uther remained upon his balcony.

“There is only one evil in this land and it is not magic! It is you. With your hatred and your ignorance…you took my son.” She cried to Uther as the crowed cautiously backed away from her. “I promise you before these celebrations are over, you will share my tears. An eye for an eye; a tooth for a tooth… a son for a son!” My heart pounded not Arthur yeah he could be a royal prat sometimes but he didn’t deserve to lose his life over Uther’s decisions.

“Seize her!” Uher commanded.

The old woman began chanting something in a high pitched squeal before she eventually disappeared from sight and creating a sudden gust of wind. Cautiously everyone disbanded and I snuck back out among the crowd to help Gwen once again.

I’d remained quiet the entire time I spent with her, I’d witnessed not only the execution but the threat on Arthur’s life. Arthur was like a brother to me we grew up together Arthur, Morgana and I we’d always been there for one another and now because of Uther, Arthur’s life was in danger.

The sun was setting by the time Guinevere and I had finished in town and it was probably best that we got back to the castle to perform our respective duties, Gwen’s to work and mine to float around the castle looking pretty and being the envy of others much like my sister, if only they knew. I scurried back to my chambers, Brenna my maid assisted with my redressing to look my part. Brenna and Gwen were my closest friends and I knew I could trust them with anything all the servants knew I helped them out but, only they knew and helped me sneak out of the castle.

“Thank you Brenna, I got caught up Gwen today I apologise for my absence.” Brenna smiled at me and shook her head.

“Hey, you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do to avoid our pompous King.” I couldn’t help but laugh at her boldness, she’s always true to her opinions and to herself and that’s what I love about her.

“Have you seen Morgana today?” Brenna shook her head as she made my hair look presentable. “She witnessed the execution today is all and I just want to make sure she’s alright.”

“Well from what I’ve heard she avoided everyone today and requested for time to think.” I find it great that if the slightest thing happens around Camelot somehow Brenna is the first to know.

“Thank you so much, I’m going to go and check on her hopefully Uther hasn’t completely corrupted her yet.” With that I left Brenna to her own devices and searched for my sister.

I was at the bottom of a stone staircase when I heard Uther conferring with Morgana.

“What is this? Why are you not joining us at the feast?” Uther’s voice sounded.

“I just don’t think chopping someone’s head off is cause for a celebration. That poor mother.” Morgana replied.

“You’re starting sound like your sister, it was simple justice for what he’d done.”

“To whom? He practiced some magic. He didn’t hurt anyone.”

“You were not around 20 years ago. You have no idea what it was like.”

“How long are you going to keep punishing people for what happened then?”

“Until they realize there is no room for magic in my kingdom. You will be with me when I greet Lady Helen.”

“I told you I want no part of these celebrations-“

“I’m your guardian! I expect you to do as I ask. If you show me no respect, at least respect our finest singer. You should stay away from your sister more she’s a horrible influence on you!” With that Uther began to storm away.

“You know, the more brutal you are, the more enemies you’ll create.” Morgana called to him as I walked up the stairs.

“Morgana, are you okay?” I ask gazing at my sisters infuriated expression.

“I see what you mean about him Y/n I really do.” The pair of us stood in a peaceful silence for a moment before heading back to our chambers for the rest of the evening.

“Aren’t you glad all you did was brush my hair?” I teased Brenna.

“Yeah, it would’ve been a shame if one of my amazing styles was only worn for fifteen minutes.”

“You can leave no you know.”

“But-”

“But nothing, get home and take care of yourself I see us as equals, you should too.” With that Brenna left and went home knowing she didn’t actually need to come back and ‘work for me’ yet she still does all the same.

The Next Morning

Brenna and I met up with Gwen and decided to help her dry the rest of Morgana’s dresses out of the windows as it was a pleasantly warm day.

“Keep hold of that especially tight, it’s one of her favourites.” I said to Brenna as I wafted another out of my window. “Hey look, surprise, surprise Arthur’s being a prat again.”

Guinevere and Brenna stopped what they were doing and stood beside me.

“I wish someone would just put him in his place sometimes, he can be so rude.” I grumbled.

“He’s just showing off in front of the other knights.” Brenna chimed.

“He still shouldn’t treat him like that though.” Gwen said clearly irritated.

“Tell me about it. Oh wait what’s happening here?” Brenna asked getting excited.

“At least someone’s trying to help.” Gwen sighed.

“Arthur’s not going to like that…Geez that was unnecessary!” I gasped as Arthur twisted a raven haired boy’s arm behind his back before motioning to the guards. “Arthur don’t be such a prat!” I growled as the guards took the lad away.

I left angrily leaving Gwen and Brenna to finish the remainder of the dresses in attempt to defend this stranger. Sadly by the time I got there he was already in the cells and he wasn’t allowed visitors either that or I was still forbidden from going down there after last time.

As night came Gwen got Morgana ready and Brenna helped me get ready for our guest performer, I didn’t want to be there but Uther demanded Morgana’s presence and she’d requested my emotional support so how could I refuse my own twins plea for help. Once we were prepared we stood waiting patiently in the throne room Gwen stood behind Morgana and Brenna stood beside me. Eventually Lady Helen arrived and Uther hurried to greet her.

“Lady Helen. Thank you so much for coming to sing at our celebrations.” Uther welcomed as she curtsied before him.

“The pleasure’s all mine.” Lady Helen smiled at him.

“How was your journey?”

“Oh the time it took sire.”

“Well, it’s always worth the wait.” Uther charmed as he politely kissed the back of her hands.

“It will be.” Lady Helen says ominously as she fiddles with her necklace.

After the welcoming of Lady Helen we’re quickly dismissed.

“Seriously, I spent longer doing your hair than you did wearing it like that.” Brenna grumbled as we walked back to my chambers.

I couldn’t help but laugh, no matter what she can always get a smile out of me.

“I’ll keep it up like this until I actually go to sleep if you’d prefer then your efforts wouldn’t be wasted.”

“Yes, do that.”

“I will.”

“Good.”

Our faces were hard and firm until we locked eyes and ended up laughing at our extremely childish behaviour.

“Now go to the tavern and have fun for me.” I say ushering her away.

“Of course, Lady Y/n whatever you say.” With that she grinned at me and hurried off to the tavern to spend her wages.

I’d snuck out once again with Guinevere only this time it was in hopes of finding Brenna she hadn’t shown up in my chambers earlier which was fine, she probably had a hangover but a few hours went by and she still wasn’t here so I found Gwen explained the situation and we hurried off to find her.

“She’s a nightmare that Brenna, keeps us all up takes our money then passes out knocking over my ale in the process. As if leaving me broke wasn’t bad enough!” I purple faced man complains loudly as he staggers out of the tavern clinging onto his red faced friend.

“My first time going to the tavern is not going to be just to take home my unconscious friend. Gwen pretty please can you get her, I want our first time to be special.” I ask childishly admiring the tavern.

Gwen shakes her head at my behaviour but goes in by herself nonetheless. Seconds later a swarm of giddy children rush by me, as much rotten food in their hands that they can carry. Curiously I follow them and I’m led right to the stocks, where the raven haired guy from earlier is as food is flung at his head. Remaining out of the line of fire I approach him and his breathtaking blue eyes meet my e/c ones. Okay he’s far more attractive than I initially gave him credit for, he’s looking at me. Y/n say something!

“Hi.” I squeak out. Well Y/n that was pathetic congratulations at being useless when talking to boys.

“Hello.” He smiles up at me despite his predicament.

“I’m Y/n, I help out around the castle sometimes.” I introduce, well it’s not a complete lie and I had to say something right?

“Right. Well, I’m Merlin…” He offers as much of his closest hand as he can and try my best to shake it giving the situation. “Although most people just call me ‘Idiot.’”

“No, I saw what you did, it wasn’t particularly smart but it was brave of you to stand up against royal prat.” I complimented or at least I hope it came off as a compliment.

“It was stupid.” Merlin laughed to himself causing me to smile slightly.

“Y/n.” Guinevere called from behind me with a half conscious Brenna hanging off her. “I’m Guinevere but most people call me Gwen, I’m Lady Morgana’s maid.” She introduced herself.

Merlin’s eyes brightened when he look at her, of course what guy wouldn’t find her to be stunning?

“Merlin.” He smiled at her as I took Brenna off her so she could also shake his hand.

“I saw what you did, it was so brave.” Gwen stated smiling at him.

“It was stupid.” Merlin sighed this time instead of laughing his self-deprecating laugh.

“Well I’m glad you walked away, you weren’t going to beat him.” Gwen said as she charmingly fiddled with her dress.

How can someone do that without looking even the slightest bit weird? I’ve got to ask her at some point.

“Oh, I…I could beat him.” Merlin says almost cockily if it weren’t for the slightly anxious laugh that accompanied it.

“You think? Because you don’t look like one of these big muscly kind of fellows.” She teases cocking her head to one side.

“Thanks.” He replies.

I might as well just leave the pair of them alone and take Brenna to her home until she’s feeling better.

“See you around Gwen, Merlin.” I call as Brenna and I stagger back to her home.

Wow I’m useless with men, it comes so effortlessly with other women, why do I fail miserably at it?

“Aw Milady blew off a lovely gentleman to take care of me I’m honoured.” Brenna slurred a silly grin on her face.

“Yes well the lovely gentleman likes Gwen so I thought we should leave them be.” I attempted to reason with my drunken friend.

“Pfft that won’t last.” Brenna giggled.

“Why not?” I asked genuinely intrigued.

“She likes Arthur, Merlin’s destined to like you.” She sing songed.

“Ah yes because Uther will allow Gwen and Arthur to marry and Merlin is what, my destiny? You lose grip on reality when you’re drunk.” I laugh as I make her some broth.

“It’s true! I promise!” She pleads.

“Okay I believe you now eat up so you can get into bed and be ready for tomorrow.” I kissed the top of her chestnut brown hair before leaving her home and heading back up to the castle walking passed a laughing Merlin and a giggling Gwen.

Upon arrival I changed into my exquisite f/c dress that complimented everything I had to show before pinning back some strands of my hair to speak with my sister.

“Morgana, do you have a minute?” I asked her as I poked my head around her chambers door.

“Of course sister, I have all the time in the world for you.” She smiled brilliantly at me.

“So, you have more experience with boys than I do and I need some help.”

“Which dashing prince stole my sisters heart, or maybe which knight?” Morgana teased as she pulled me into her room.

“Well I don’t know if he has you know because I haven’t the slightest idea when it comes to these sort of things. How am I supposed to feel?”

“Well when you like a guy usually your stomach feels weird and you become flustered so much so that you even sometimes forget how to speak coherently.” She began to explain.

“Okay and how am I supposed to feel when he talks to pretty girls?”

“Well everyone’s different, some people don’t mind it others get angry and annoyed, some become forlorn and feel like they’ve lost all hope.” Morgana calmly answered.

Great so ticks all across the board for liking a guy I hardly know, way to go me.

“Has someone else caught the attention of your love, sister?” Moargana asked a beautiful features contorting into strained ones expressing concern.

“Oh what no, nothing like that happened to me, I’m writing a story and needed help with the relationship front of things, got to pass time somehow around here.” I stuttered before giving her a false smile and leaving quickly.

In my hurry to escape from everything and just get back to my chambers I ended up colliding straight into someone. I tripped on my dress and hit the cold stone floor as did the other person. They were already up on their feet by the time I’d even turned around to take in my surroundings.

“I’m terribly sorry I wasn’t looking where I was going.” A familiar voice apologised profusely as they held a hand out to me.

I must’ve done something horrific if this is how life decided to play with me. I kept my head angled down but accepted his assistance in standing up. It’s not always easy when your corset is too tight.

“Thank you, I’m partially to blame though so don’t try to carry all that burden Merlin.” Oh why did I say his name I’m so stupid!

“Y/n?” Merlin asked as I looked up at him, “I thought you said you helped out here, but you’re-“

“I’m a dear friend of Morgana’s and she gave me one of her dresses for the celebration tomorrow night.” I hurriedly lied, “So, bye Merlin it was nice bumping into you literally.” Before scurrying away.

I’m weird I’m very, very weird . I mean good lie, failed on every other front though. I sighed audibly as I hid my flustered face in my hands and skulked back to my chambers were I spent time clearing my head by leaning out of my window and surveying Camelot in all her beauty. Once again night fall came and Camelot’s truer beauty shone brightly the flaming torches allowed finer parts to look even more exquisite thanks to the assistance of the dramatically casted shadows cascading on to any surface. I took a deep breath and gazed longingly at the moon, now that, natures own creation was the truest beauty of them all.

Once again the sun rose and Brenna was by my side eagerly waking me up in the most obnoxious of ways.

“Thank you for yesterday off, I really needed the recovery day.” She grinned.

“Yes, I know, you nearly scared Guinevere and myself to death when you didn’t show up and, the state you were in once we found you but hey, at least you gambled your way to fortune the other night.”

“Ah yes I’m a professional at predicting the future drunk and sober.” Her smile weakening slightly as did mine.

“It would be great you know if you really could see into the future like one of those, oh what are they called…”

“Seers, magic folk that can see into the future.” Brenna finished.

“Yeah a Seer it would make my state of mind better if you were one but then again Uther would have you killed so it’s probably for the best that you’re not one eh?” I laughed and Brenna shifted slightly.

After that we spent a few hours just talking about random things but we did make an arrangement for my first tavern visit which I was now eagerly awaiting with baited breath.

“Let’s do visit Lady Morgana and Guinevere I’m sure they’ll need our assistance with Morgana’s dress for tonight.” Brenna said randomly as she pushed me out of my room.

By the time we reached Morgana’s room Chambers we saw a very smiley yet flustered Merlin lean and came face to face with a beaming Gwen. Not what I wanted to see ever but yet there it was.

“So, it’s whether I wear this little tease, or give them a night they’ll really remember.” Morgan said deviously showing her dress options to us.

“Anyone in particular you’re after, maybe a certain blonde haired prince?” Brenna teases. “I’m pretty sure everyone except from him is aware of your intentions towards him.”

“I believe you’re right there Brenna at this rate though I wouldn’t be too surprised though, unless it’s fighting he’s not the sharpest tool around.” Morgan sighed sadly.

“I’m certain he’ll notice you tonight though, don’t worry.” Brenna winked as we decided upon her wine red dress that whilst left little to the imagination also provided a great sense of elegance.

“Y/n what about the boy you like do you have an idea of which dress you’ll wear to recapture his attention?” Morgana asked.

“Y/n you like someone?” Guinevere asked this being obvious new news to her.

“No these two are just convinced that I do for some reason.” I lied, wanting Gwen to be happy.

“Fine, but you still need to look stunning!” Morgana insisted whilst the other two agreed so I was now shoved all the way back to my chambers after being shoved all the way to my twins.

In the end we decided upon an elegant dress with a dark blue and silver burst and a greyish blue skirt with some light floral embroidery. I didn’t want to go to the celebration in the slightest but, at least I’ll look good while I’m there.

The celebration arrived sooner than I anticipated and Brenna and I were running late.

“I want you to blow everyone away tonight.” Brenna insisted as we hurried down the corridor my heels clacking against the ground as I held my dress up to run.

“I don’t know why, nobody will be looking at me, it’s either going to be the Lady Morgana or Lady Helen.” I argued.

“Yeah but now, thanks to me you’re another option for them.” Brenna replied.

“I don’t want to be!”

“Merlin will be there.”

“What?” I was amazed she’d even remembered his name, she was barely conscious and yet she somehow knows that, ugh never mind! “He likes Gwen, Gwen likes him we can just let them be happy.” I finally said as we reached the grand hall.

My twin had just entered and had immediately captivated Arthur as well as every other mans attention, I could’ve sworn Arthur murmured “God have mercy.” Whilst she strutted past him but I could be wrong. As I watched her walk with confidence I saw Merlin gazing at her before getting a disapproving look from Gaius.

“In you go.” Brenna ushered but I didn’t move.

“I can’t.”

“You promised Morgana you’d be here with her.”

“Yeah but that was before things go complicated besides she’s got Arthur and everyone else’s attention now.”

“Okay so while they’re all looking at her you and I can sneak in.” Brenna did have a point we could just sneak in now and hopefully remain unnoticed.

“Fine .” I entered the grand hall and walked to the opposite side of the room as Morgana, Arthur and Merlin whilst keeping my head turned away from most people.

Brenna and I chatted amongst ourselves for a while until.

“Don’t look now but a certain Mr Merlin is looking at you with his mouth hanging open.” Brenna whispered.

“It’s not nice to tease Brenna you know that there’s so lines we don’t-“ Before I could finish my sentence she turned me around to face Merlin and she had indeed been telling the truth.

Merlin was looking right at me his mouth slightly agape as Gaius lectured him before walking off. I turned back around to apologise to Brenna when she was suddenly next to Merlin saying something to him with a devious smile on her face as they looked towards my general area. Great I’m being looked at and I’m alone and back to looking like a weirdo. Well until my twin and Arthur came over to me.

“Y/n you scrub up well.” Arthur said.

“Wow geez thanks, as do you my royal prat.” I reply jokingly with a mock curtsey.

“Hey, I was trying to be nice.” He defended.

“Ah leave him be Y/n I’m afraid that’s as silver tongued as our dear friend gets.” Morgan playfully insulted threading her arm through mine.

“That’s not fair there’s two of you and only one of me.” Arthur huffed.

“Yeah that is how twins work you know, two of them all the time.” I reply before sneaking a glance Merlin’s way whom now had Gwen by his side but at least Brenna was there also so they couldn’t have alone time.

Why do I care I’ve hardly spoken to him, she knows him so much better than I do, I don’t get a say in any of this.

“…Don’t you agree Y/n?” Arthur asked.

“Hm what?”

“Where is your mind tonight?” Arthur asked.

“Oh is it him, is he here?” Morgana asked peering around the room.

“He, who?” Arthur demanded.

“No one, Morgana and Brenna are convinced I like someone so they keep acting weird and made me dress up like this tonight.”

“Okay so who do you reckon our lovely Y/n’s type is? Mybe it’s him?” Arthur said pointing to someone.

“No, I think more him.” Morgana said pointing at one of the knight’s, “ Or maybe-“ Morgana was cut off by the sound of the horns indicating for everyone to stand by their seats for the King’s entrance before they could actually sit.

“We have enjoyed 20 years of peace and prosperity. It has brought the kingdom and myself many pleasures. But few can compare with the honour of introducing Lady Helen of Mora.” Uther introduced causing an applaud from everyone present, even me out of politeness as he joined Arthur, Morgana and I at the head table.

Lady Helen stood upon a makeshift stage at the back of the hall to perform her song. Her voice was indeed beautiful but the words she sang were not English, there was an enchanting aura to everything about her in this moment, we were held captive to her talent. Slowly and gracefully she approached our table people succumbing to a sleep as she past them. My eyelids felt undeniably heavy and it became a challenge so stay awake to the side I could make out Merlin covering his ears as the room became cooler and darker with each note, Uther was already asleep quickly followed by Arthur and my sister. I fought to remain awake but it felt futile all my energy was being drained, the last thing I saw was cobwebs slowly appearing before I was out.

Minutes later I woke to a dark cobweb infested cold grand hall with the old woman from the execution trapped beneath our once hanging candelabras whom quicker that a flash threw her dagger right at Arthur, had it not been for Merlin, Arthur would be dead.

“You saved my boys life, a debt must be repaid.” Uther spoke to Merlin.

“Oh, well…” Merlin began.

“Don’t be so modest. You shall be rewarded.”

“No, honestly, you don’t have to, your highness.”

“No, absolutely. This merits something quite special.”

“Well…” Merlin sighed shrugging his shoulders slightly.

“You shall be awarded with a position in the royal household.” Uther says clapping his hand against Arthur’s back who in turned looked disgusted by Uther’s suggestion. “You shall be Prince Arthur’s Manservant.”

Poor Merlin, it was as if he’d been punished instead of rewarded for saving Arthur’s life. Everyone else applauded as Uther began to walk away.

“Father!” Arthur complained as neither he nor Merlin seemed particularly happy with the outcome.

People began to leave the grand hall Merlin included as Arthur pouted.

“Arthur, give him a chance. He saved your life treat him with some element of respect!” I said before also leaving the hall.

I was barely out of the doors when I was pulled to one side out of sight from the guards and passersby, a hand was over my mouth to prevent me from squealing in shock. I was up against a wall when Merlin’s bewitching blue eyes met my wide e/c ones once again.

“You’re just a close friend of the Lady Morgana are you, I didn’t think even close friends would be allowed to sit at the King’s table nor influence the prince like you do.” Merlin smirked as he slowly drew his hand from my mouth.

I didn’t know how to respond, I didn’t know if I was even capable of responding, my heart pounded against my chest my breaths uneven, I felt dizzy.

“I-I’m the Lady Y/n, the Lady Morgana’s twin sister.” I stuttered my eyes never leaving his.

“Well then, good night my Lady.” He smirked once again kissing the back of my hand before walking away leaving me dumbfounded using the wall against my back to keep me upright.

“Y/n you look…I honestly don’t know how to politely describe you right now, what did I miss?” Brenna asked a mischievous knowing grin on her face.

“Merlin.” I sighed almost swooning still looking down the hall Merlin just left down.

41 notes · View notes

pandawritespoorly · 5 years ago

Text

With Time: Chapter 35 - Concours D'arts Musicaux

Author’s Note: Here we go!!!

I'm not entirely satisfied with this chapter, but I do enjoy it a lot. Also, I'm sure you were all expecting a strong language warning, and you would be correct! 'Pissed' and 'Bitch'. Not nearly as many as you expected, huh?

Chapter Summary: The music competition. 🎉

First | Previous | Next

“You sure you want to go?” Allan asks.

“No one would be upset if you backed out,” Claude reminds her.

Marinette sighs shakily, glancing out her window towards her former school. She’d honestly been doing a lot better when it came to her classmates, but she hadn’t been back to the school itself since…

Since that day.

She massages her wrist unconsciously, thinking of the confrontation, the yelling, the fall. She still can’t really remember much past Chloe finding her in the bathroom.

Claude, Allan and Felix are in her room with her, on their way to the competition. Felix puts a gentle hand on her shoulder. “Marinette?”

She turns back to them, taking a deep breath to steady herself. She can do this.

“Y-yeah. Yeah, I’m still going to go. Worst case scenario, I leave early, right?”

“Indeed,” Felix agrees.

Nodding, she leads them out of her room, and the group makes their way out of the house. They walk across the street, and stare up at the school for a moment.

Marinette walks up the stairs, taking in the sight of the main courtyard, packed with students from all over for the competition. Oh, Kwami, there’s so many people-

“Marinette?!” A quiet voice says, barely loud enough to be heard.

The three boys ready themselves to deal with more of Bustier’s class. To their surprise, Marinette quickly finds the speaker and breaks into a grin, hurrying over.

“Marc! It’s been so long! How have you been?” She’s speaking to a dark haired boy in a red hoodie. Not part of Bustier’s class.

“I-I’ve been f-fine. Art club is s-so quiet without you, everyone was s-so worried, because you just disappeared, and your c-class was awful. Nathaniel said…” he trails off, frowning.

Marinette copies him. “What happened?”

“He w-was just saying a-awful stuff, and we br-broke u-up… he wouldn’t even work with me anymore, because L-Lila said she’d get him c-connected to a real writer-”

Marinette bristles. “He did what?”

Marc shrugs helplessly, “I- I think he figured it out eventually, he’s b-been sitting away fr-from everyone now.”

“But he hasn’t spoken to you? Hasn’t apologized?”

When he doesn’t meet her eyes, she gets her answer.

“Come on, we’re going to talk to him. He has no right to treat you like that and not apologize.” Marinette leads the boy up the stairs. Claude, Felix and Allan, who had watched the entire interaction smile and follow after her.

She’s doing well so far.

They arrive outside of what must be the art room, if the inside is anything to go by. Nathaniel, who they do recognize, is sitting inside, doodling idly.

Marinette’s got that look in her eyes, as she steps inside. “Nathaniel.”

His eyes snap to her immediately, and he stares at her in shock for a little bit before speaking, “M-Marinette? Y-You’re here?!”

She just stares at him, raising an eyebrow.

“I-I’m so sorry! About-”

“I’m not the one you should be apologizing to.” She pushes Marc forward gently, he’s looking at the floor, “Did you really abandon him like that?”

Nathaniel fidgets in his chair, “Well, Lila a-also said-” he realizes what he’s saying, “W-wait! I meant it differently! That came out wrong! I just… I’m sorry, Marc, I didn’t think a-about anything really, and, I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine,” he mumbles.

There’s tension in the room, from the unresolved issues between the boys. Marinette knows this doesn’t involve her. She shakes her head. “I think I’ll let you two talk.”

As she walks down the hallway, Claude stays back a moment to address Nathaniel, “She may have said otherwise, but she deserves an apology. The way she was treated here was vile and inexcusable.”

Only when Nathaniel nods shakily does the actor hurry to catch up to their friends. Marinette is speaking, “I just can’t believe that Nathaniel and Marc broke up! They had a great relationship! Lila really did a number on the class.”

“Don’t give Lie-la so much credit, Dupain-Cheng. It was you,” Chloe interrupts, appearing out of nowhere.

“What?” “The morons here get akumatized so much for a reason. You were the only one who tried to actually communicate, and the class fell apart without you. Everyday Ladybug and all that. All the couples have basically broken up, with the exception of Lahiffe and Césaire, because Lahiffe has no backbone and Césaire thinks they’re the definition of a healthy relationship.”

“Don’t exaggerate, Chloe. They’re perfectly capable of sorting out their problems on their own,” Marinette argues.

Chloe scoffs, shaking her head but dropping the conversation.

“Marinette Dupain-Cheng! Do my eyes deceive me or has the storm finally passed and our shining rainbow is back?!”

Marinette turns, sees Aurore standing a little ways down the hall, “Aurore! It’s been so long!”

She runs up to give her a hug. The taller girl rolls her eyes, “And whose fault is that?”

Marinette shrugs sheepishly, “Sorry, I-” “Not yours, little cloud! It’s that horrible hurricane that’s swept through here! She’s blocking out the sun, and that’s all we had left without you!”

“Oh, I know about that.”

At Marinette’s expression, Aurore smirks, “Ooh! There’s a storm brewing!”

The designer winks. “Perhaps.”

While the two girls chat, Chloe stands with the three boys Marinette had come with. “Marinette really downplays how many people loved her here. I’m not even sure she realizes she was pretty popular.”

Allan shrugs. “She hasn’t noticed at our school either, but she definitely is.”

“Good. She deserves people who appreciate her.”

Eventually, Aurore and Marinette part, and the group wanders away. Marinette shows them around the school as best she can. At one point, they get separated for some time and Marinette ducks into a classroom. She wanted to get out of the way of the people in the hallway to text her friends quickly. That plan is forgotten when she sees who is inside.

Lila and Alya stare at her in shock momentarily, before Lila shudders and pretends to hide behind Alya in a terrified manner. The former journalist pats her ‘friend’ comfortingly before standing and turning to Marinette.

“What are you doing here, Monsternette?”

The girl recovers from her shock and sighs sadly, “I’m here for the concert.”

Lila gasps. “I won’t let you harass my boyfriend!”

Marinette scowls, uneasiness giving way to fury. “I’m not the one harassing Adrien, and he’s not your boyfriend willingly!”

“Just because you’re some jealous creep, doesn’t mean you get to attack my bestie like that!” Alya yells.

“Oh, would you grow up?!” Marinette growls, gesturing wildly, “This isn’t some tv show where every action I take is because of some boy! Despite what you may think, I have a life outside of a romantic one!”

“Sure, so the fact that you’ve finally dropped the kicked puppy act has nothing to do with the fact that Adrien isn’t here?” Alya retorts.

Marinette stares at her. “What.”

“Please. Do you think we’re stupid? Everything you’ve ever done has been an act to gain sympathy. Thankfully, we had Lila to open up our eyes. All those times you pretended to do nice things? They were all so that we’d like you, honestly-”

“Do you even hear what you’re saying? You’re delusional! You think that was all an act? Do you think I pushed myself down the stairs and sprained my own wrist for sympathy points from a class that already hated me and a boy who wasn’t even there?!”

Alya opens her mouth to argue, but Marinette isn’t finished, “No! No! You do not get to downplay my feelings or how I was treated! Do any of you even realize how long it took me to properly heal from all that?!”

“It was just a few bruises-” “Emotionally! I didn’t even think that the people hanging out with me regularly for months even considered me their friend despite how obvious it was until I heard them call me that when they didn’t know I was around! I spent months feeling like any slip up would cause a repeat performance of what happened here! Do you have any idea how tiring that is? The effects it can have on someone?!”

Alya’s face softens, and she looks concerned for a moment. It really hadn’t occurred to her that Marinette might have been the victim. Then Lila speaks, “N-nice story, but I’m sure A-Alya won’t fall for it the way L-L-Ladybug d-did.”

Alya scowls, sympathy gone, “Of course not. Unlike anyone dense enough to like you wherever you go now-”

“I do not appreciate you insulting the entire population of the school we attend,” Felix interrupts.

Marinette turns to see Felix, Allan and Claude standing in the doorway, each of them looking beyond furious. She beams, running to give them all a tight hug.

“Now, whether or not you’ll excuse us, we have better things to do than try and carve stone with a stick,” Claude retorts as they turn away.

Down the hall a little ways, Allan is hugging Marinette tightly, and the girl is giggling slightly.

“Allan, it’s okay, I’m fine.”

“Still gonna’ hug you, ‘Nette. I can’t believe that of all the times you had to run int’ them it was the one time we weren’t there.”

Claude races over and joins the hug, and Felix just smiles at his friends.

When they separate, Claude looks at Marinette worriedly, “We heard some of that before we arrived. Did you really spend months thinking we didn’t consider you our friend?”

Marinette’s face colors a little and she looks away slightly, “In hindsight it was kind of dumb, but yeah. I thought you were all just being nice.”

“Nope!” Allan hugs her again, “You need more hugs.”

“For sure!” Claude agrees.

She only laughs, returning the gesture. When she’s finally freed, Felix gives her a quick one as well, having waited out the group hugs.

“Let’s not let them ruin our fun, I can keep showing you around!” Marinette suggests. The others readily agree, and they all move on. Lila and Alya aren’t their priority at the moment.

Soon enough, it’s almost time for the performance, so they go over their final preparations to reveal Lila once and for all.

“Alright, so first we show the slide with the public records proving she was in Paris when she was ‘traveling’, then her interview so that Jagged and Ali will speak up, then we can play the museum recording, and by then her mom will probably have some choice words, and by that time the police will have arrived, anything else?” “Nah, too much could over do it. We’ve got plenty more evidence if it’s needed though,” Allan says.

“Ms. Marinette! I was 87.3% certain you would show up for this event!”

The four turn to see a small robot floating nearby, “I wish to speak with you! I believe that Max is ill, as he seems to be suffering from delusions. He caught it from his classmates and I noted that you had immunity, and was wondering if you could help me!”

“You’re adorable,” Claude whispers.

“Markov!” Marinette greets the robot, “Actually, you might be able to help…”

---

The concert is over, and everyone did splendidly - to the surprise of no one at all. Allegra is back with her friends, and they’re all congratulating her.

It’s bittersweet in that Adrien can’t be with them yet.

The large projected image on the wall glitches, catching everyone’s attention. For a moment, it seems as if it goes back to normal, before it glitches again, changing to show a very different image this time.

Displayed on the wall are the dates in which Lila had supposedly been traveling with her mother. Directly next to them are public records showing her mother had been in Paris.

Some quiet murmurs begin to get around. Mostly confusion, either visitors who didn't even know of Lila, or people beginning to suspect the truth.

Next is a video, straight from the Ladyblog (someone had saved all the posts and made a site to act as an archive), of Lila claiming to know Jagged Stone and Prince Ali. This had been a ‘special feature’, a two-in-one interview of Lila talking about both of them in one clip.

“Oh yes, Jagged and I are very close. Basically best friends - well, after Ladybug of course - we first met when I saved his kitten from a runway. That’s when I got tinnitus. Anyways, I met with Prince Ali soon after because that’s actually why I’d been at the airport. Ali and I basically grew up together and I was on my way to visit.”

She continues, blabbering on about both celebrities for some time.

When it ends, there’s an outraged cry from the back, “That’s so not rock n’ roll! I’ve never met that girl, and she makes me sound like some creep! That’s defamation! Not cool!”

The crowd turns to see a fuming Jagged and Penny. Soon after, another woman stands, Prince Ali beside her, “Prince Ali would never associate with such a blatant liar. His only childhood friends are in Achu.”

The murmurs get louder, until a voice calls over the noise, “Lila Diablo Rossi, what is the meaning of this?! You haven’t been traveling, you said the school was closed! You said that Ladybug was incapable and that Paris was unsafe!”

Mrs. Rossi is fuming, trying to spot her daughter in the crowd. Everyone is furious now, because no one gets to speak about the city’s heroes like that.

Before anyone else can speak up, the screen changes again. There’s some text, with audio playing in the background.

The following audio was recorded when Ms. Lila Rossi happened to find a former classmate at the Louvre. This classmate had always claimed Lila was lying, and Ms. Rossi drove them out of the school through intense bullying. It has been edited to keep this person anonymous.

“-is you! Here I thought this would be a boring field trip! This is a spectacular surprise though!

“See, I told you I knew what I was doing. No one’s seen you in months and they all still hate your guts - rightfully so of course.”

There are footsteps as the speaker approaches the phone.

“You know, they call me their everyday Ladybug now? I’m honestly insulted - not only did they give me your old dumb title, but they’re comparing me to her. They were that is, until I changed that.

“Look at you! You’re pathetic! I can’t believe I considered you a legitimate threat to me. I could have just left you be and they would have eventually left you in their own time.

“Those morons could walk in right now and would still believe me if I told them you attacked me. They just despise you that much. Not that I can blame them - you’re just so detestable.”

There’s a stunned silence as everyone takes in what they just heard. The doors burst open, Ladybug and Chat Noir stand tall, accompanied by multiple policemen and people in suits with stern faces.

Ladybug steps forward, “Lila Rossi. You are under arrest for working with and assisting a known terrorist for your own personal gain.”

You could have heard a pin drop.

“There has been plenty of circumstantial evidence, but Chat and I never had any substantial proof. Then, a civilian got footage of you capturing an akuma and using it to akumatize yourself.”

The room erupts. People are shouting and screaming, Mrs. Rossi looks shell-shocked. The crowd pushes the girl forward, and she’s fighting.

“No! You can’t do this! I have immunity!”

“No. No you don’t,” Mrs. Rossi manages.

Lila pales. “...what?”

Her mother doesn’t respond, looking faint.

“I’m Gabriel Agreste’s future daughter-in-law! There’s no way-”

Chat interrupts, “Oh yes, that. We know all about that. The deal you made? We aren’t sure of the exact details, whether you made a deal with Mr. Agreste or with Hawkmoth who went after Mr. Agreste, but we know. Adrien was forced into that relationship, so there’s probably a few more charges to add to your list since you were well aware that he didn’t like you in that way.” “Sexual harassment isn’t okay,” Ladybug chimes in, “And surely you’re aware that’s what you were doing?”

At this point people have their phones out and are recording the whole thing. One of the people with stern faces steps forward, “Mrs. Rossi, you may want to come with us.”

She nods, following the procession weakly.

Ladybug and Chat take off. Soon enough, Marinette and Adrien slip back inside, showing up behind their friends, “Look who I found!”

Adrien waves awkwardly, though no one notices as he’s crushed in a tight group hug. He laughs happily as he returns the hug, it’s good to be back.

The moment he’s released, a yellow blur nearly knocks him to the ground.

“Hey, Chlo’.”

She hides her face, and while she may be silent, he can tell she’s likely crying. After about a minute or so though, she pulls away, looking as pristine as ever.

“Well, I say we get out of this place and away from these utterly ridiculous people.”

No one argues, and they head outside, quickly heading into the bakery. Adrien is ushered inside Marinette’s room where he’s bombarded with more hugs, everyone talking at once.

After they separate, they find their own spots to sit, and Marinette turns to the model, “So, what do you want to do?”

He hesitates, unsure, “Hmm… video games?”

“Yeah!” Claude cheers.

Marinette gets the stuff out and offers a controller to Adrien. Felix opts out, and conveniently enough, Allegra and Chloe are also left to wait. The girls sit next to each other, blushing lightly and pointedly not looking at each other.

Allegra’s hand lightly moves to rest over Chloe’s. She turns to look at their hands, then back to the braided girl beside her, who is suddenly very invested in the game. Chloe smiles, turning back to the screen as well.

Neither notice Felix sneakily taking a picture and sending it to the group chat.

---

Earlier:

Today’s the day! Alya is so excited for the competition! It’ll be fun to see Adrien perform, and maybe they can hang out afterwards. Lila has been an absolute godsend when it comes to convincing Gabriel to allow Adrien more free time.

It’s such a shame that she sprained her wrist again and can’t conduct the concert as she usually would.

Lila is nervous that all her usual bandmates wouldn’t be happy to see her, seeing as she ‘abandoned them’ so Alya is comforting her in an empty classroom.

“Lila, I promise, no one-”

The door opens.

She steps in.

Marinette Dupain-Cheng.

Alya can only stare, unprepared for this. Some traitorous part of her is happy to see her. Missed her.

Alya is disgusted with herself.

Lila shudders, attempting to hide behind her real friend. That’s all it takes to shake Alya from her stupor, she pats Lila gently and turns to her former bestie.

“What are you doing here, Monsternette?”

She sighs. “I’m here for the concert.”

Lila gasps. “I won’t let you harass my boyfriend!”

Alya’s heart goes out to her. Even when faced with Marinette. Her love and loyalty to Adrien shows no bounds. Alya is relieved that she is beginning to make progress. When it had been several months and Lila hadn’t seemed to recover at all from Marinette’s bullying, the class feared that the damage done was irreversible.

Marinette scowls, glaring at the two, as if they were the bad guys here. “I’m not the one harassing Adrien, and he’s not your boyfriend willingly!”

Oh she did not just-

Lila’s self-esteem is bad enough, and she’s confessed to Lila that she worries people will think she’s not worthy of dating someone as great as Adrien. Alya wonders if Marineitte was the source of that, because though they haven’t seen her in a while, it certainly sounds like something she would do.

“Just because you’re some jealous creep, doesn’t mean you get to attack my bestie like that!” Alya yells.

But there is no other explanation! Alya wants to shout. Why else would someone like Marinette bully someone like Lila?! Some part of her- some jealous part of her reached out and corrupted the rest of her, dragging that sweet girl that Alya once knew into some pit of cruelty.

Alya had been her best friend long enough to know that Marinette can go to extremes when it’s something she cares about.

Even if she shouldn’t care.

Even if it isn’t her business.

“Sure, so the fact that you’ve finally dropped the kicked puppy act has nothing to do with the fact that Adrien isn’t here?” Alya retorts.

The other girl looks at her incredulously. “What.”

“Please. Do you think we’re stupid? Everything you’ve ever done has been an act to gain sympathy.” If Alya had to tell the truth, she’d admit that she’d been… hesitant to believe at first that all of the nice things Marinette had done were just a ruse. Of course, now there’s no other explanation. People don’t just change personalities like a switch. If Lila’s testimonies were anything to go by, Marinette is not the girl they all thought she was. “Thankfully, we had Lila to open up our eyes. All those times you pretended to do nice things? They were all so that we’d like you, honestly-”

She makes good points, but it’s not like Adrien wouldn’t have found out! Then he would have been hovering over ‘poor Marinette’ for being injured! Lila had explained it! It made sense!

Or did it?

Alya opens her mouth to point this out, but Marinette cuts her off, “No! No! You do not get to downplay my feelings or how I was treated! Do any of you even realize how long it took me to properly heal from all that?!”

This time Alya does get a chance to point out the inaccuracies. “It was just a few bruises-” “Emotionally!” Marinette interjects, “I didn’t even think that the people hanging out with me regularly for months even considered me their friend despite how obvious it was until I heard them call me that when they didn’t know I was around! I spent months feeling like any slip up would cause a repeat performance of what happened here! Do you have any idea how tiring that is? The effects it can have on someone?!”

Oh god. Was it possible? Had they been wrong all along?! But… then they’d… Marinette had-

Lila whimpers. “N-nice story, but I’m sure A-Alya won’t fall for it the way L-L-Ladybug d-did.”

Alya scowls. She’s disgusted with herself for almost falling for that. “Of course not. Unlike anyone dense enough to like you wherever you go now-”

“I do not appreciate you insulting the entire population of the school we attend,” A vaguely familiar blonde boy interrupts.

Marinette’s face lights up at the three boys who have occupied the doorway. She rushes to hug them, and one of them speaks.

“Now, whether or not you’ll excuse us, we have better things to do than try and carve stone with a stick.”

And then they’re gone.

---

Lila had never understood why villains in stories were described as ‘cackling’ until she’d started doing this.

The pure power she feels every time she gets her latest sheep to turn against one of their own.

The way the target she chooses looks.

Utterly broken.

Completely destroyed.

It’s sensational!

It’s marvelous and she’s completely addicted.

It had been borne of boredom, but now it’s her very lifeblood. A high that never ends.

Until it does.

She’s stricken with horror, unable to do anything but stare at the projected images on the screen.

How?!

She’s been doing this for forever, and she’d never been caught by anyone other than a few insignificant brats. They’d been dealt with.

Her own mother didn’t even know!

And now…

Everything is fast forward and everything is slow motion.

The crowd pushes her forward and she finally remembers herself.

She is Lila Rossi. She’s made of stronger stuff than this! So she fights, because that’s all she has left. Pure animal instinct to kick and scream and shout.

“No! You can’t do this! I have immunity!”

“No. No you don’t,” her mother whispers.

Lila feels her remaining spirit drain away. “...what?”

At her mother’s silence Lila pulls herself together. Fine. So no diplomatic immunity. That’s fine. She can still work without that. She’s got her will. There’s always a way out. She is better than these imbeciles! They can’t just treat her like a commoner! A nobody!

“I’m Gabriel Agreste’s future daughter-in-law! There’s no way-”

Then Chat Noir speaks and all the rest of her hope disappears. She’s lost everything.

She doesn’t bother fighting anymore, submitting to the authorities.

There’s no use anymore. This is her end.

It’s all come crashing down.

---

Alya is next to Lila when it happens. The screen glitches and changes.

Everything changes.

Lila lied, and they all turned on Marinette.

Marinette, who had done nothing.

Nothing at all to deserve this.

Marinette who had done nothing.

Nothing to get back at them for all the pain they’d caused.

She’d just left them. Slipped out of their lives, and carried away like a leaf in the wind.

She had every right to be furious with them, and instead she just walked away.

Left them.

Alya knows she should be beyond pissed, though she’s not sure if it would be for Lila, or for what they all did for Lila, or even solely for herself.

And yet…

The guilt is what hits her first, and once it digs its dark claws into the pit of her stomach that’s all she can feel. Her heart feels torn to shreds and her knees can barely support her. With the guilt comes the shame, and it’s not nearly as potent but it’s just the cherry on top.

She’s not paying attention, because nothing matters right now because good god what did they do to Marinette?!

---

In a few hours time, Marinette and her friends are all decorating cookies in the kitchen.

One drops, and it breaks apart. Claude grins, and Allegra glares at them.

“Well, I guess-”

“Don’t. You already-!”

“-that’s just the way the cookie crumbles!”

Allegra sighs defeatedly. Adrien looks up. “What do you call it when you use a deer-shaped cookie cutter?”

Allan smiles. “What?”

“A cookie doe!”

Marinette and Allegra sigh. Felix just shakes his head.

“This is really friend-chip goals, huh?”

“Claude, these are sugar cookies,” Felix remarks drily.

“Hey, why did the Oreo go to the dentist?” Adrien turns to Claude.

They feign innocence as they turn to him, “Why?”

“To get his filling replaced!”

It’s almost impressive how many puns they get through without repeating while everyone finishes the cookies.

When the cookies are done, they turn on the TV, finding a news broadcast. Nadja Chamack is turning to the camera seriously.

“Shocking news in Paris today. If you’re just tuning in, you’re going to want to stay. During a musical arts competition at Collège Françoise Dupont, it was revealed that one Lila Rossi has been actively working with Hawkmoth himself for sometime now, doing everything from akumatizing herself, to manipulating others to be prone to akumatization themselves..”

“This is called karma, bitch!” Chloe cheers from where she and Allegra are sitting together.

“Language!” Adrien calls. The blonde only sticks her tongue out defiantly.

“Ms. Rossi is being held outside of the city pending investigation, but authorities assure us that this was investigated thoroughly before they made the public arrest. Ladybug and Chat Noir themselves assisted in the investigation, revealing that Ms. Rossi’s motivation was, in part, forcing Adrien Agreste to be her boyfriend. That’s right folks, Paris’ favorite couple has been revealed to be nothing more than an abusive relationship consisting of an involuntary victimized Adrien Agreste and a teen terrorist in the making.”

Everyone cheers at that.

“The Agreste brand has issued a brief public statement saying that they are unaffiliated with Hawkmoth, and that they were unaware of Ms. Rossi’s crimes. Adrien’s location is unknown. It is assumed he is taking a break from the media spotlight, and everyone agrees that after going through what is now known to be regular sexual harassment, he certainly deserves the break. Gabriel Agreste is under public fire for how Adrien was treated and some theorize he could be a close accomplice to Hawkmoth, if not the man himself. He is not the only one under fire though, as it was revealed that Collège Françoise Dupont allowed Ms. Rossi to get away with an astonishing amount of offenses while enrolled there. She faked disabilities, missed months of school with no real proof of where she was, and even caused one of her former classmates to leave the school due to the intense bullying she received while there. Speaking both as a mother and a friend of the child’s family, I am appalled that such behavior was not only allowed, but actively encouraged. Authorities assure us that investigations are underway - both into the school and the Agrestes, but many can’t help but feel that this is not enough. No amount of investigation can undo the pain caused by this individual.”

The broadcast continues, but the group tunes it out. Marinette sighs, “She’s gone. She’s gone and she won’t be coming back!”

“Finally.” Chloe rolls her eyes.

“It is a relief,” Felix comments, “that we will not have to deal with her nonsense anymore.”

“I’m glad that those awful classmates won’t have any reason to bother you now Mari,” Allegra sighs.

“About that…” Marinette raises a finger hesitantly. Allegra and Adrien look at her, while the other boys just frown. Chloe scowls.

“Yeah, they had a run-in before the performance,” Claude sighs.

“What did they do?” The two blondes say in unison.

“Nothing really,” Marinette shrugs. Adrien disagrees, if the way he hugs her tighter is anything to go by.

“We got separated and she ran into them in a classroom. Lie-la was up to her usual tricks, and Alya was defending her from Mari,” Claude starts.

“She held her own pretty well, but we got her outta’ there once we got there.” Allan smiles at the pigtailed girl proudly.

“Then she was hugged,” Felix states a-matter-of-factly.

Claude looks at Marinette meaningfully, asking permission. She understands and nods.

They sigh, “We also found out that Marinette didn’t think we considered her a friend for a few months.”

“Apparently, we were just being nice,” Allan remarks.

Allegra squawks, turning to Marinette, who is being held even tighter by the model beside her, “I will come over there and hug the low self-esteem out of you!”

“Already on it,” Adrien says. Marinette giggles as Allegra hugs her too.

Chloe is fuming, “Ugh, I think Queen Bee should come out of retirement just so Pollen and I can sting some people. Both of those wannabe faux foxes and their lackeys.”

Allegra turns to her, though still hugging her friend, “I think Honey Bee would be perfectly willing to do that herself.”

“I don’t think Kit Mime deserves to be compared to either of them,” Allan pipes up. Claude smiles.

“No superheroes are going to do anything to anyone,” Marinette reprimands. Adrien recognizes her Ladybug Voice™.

Chloe sticks her tongue out, “You’re not the boss of me. I’m also not hearing any protests to me just beating them up without the miraculous.”

Marinette glares at her.

“I don’t think you need to do much,” Adrien interjects, “I’m sure it won’t take much convincing for Chat Noir to pay them a visit.”

“These are all wonderful ideas.” Felix nods approvingly.

Marinette sighs in defeat.

---

Adrien and Marinette wave at everyone as they go, each with their own share of cookies (Chloe with extras for Sabrina). Marinette turns to him, “When do you have to-”

His phone rings, and he sighs, “Speak of the devil.”

She waits, watching. He keeps his face impassive as he hangs up and turns to her.

“Well?” “Father says that it may be for the best to ‘hide from the media’ here if it’s alright with your parents,” he reveals, grinning cheekily once he’s finished speaking.

She hugs him, “He’s basically bribing you with a sleepover, but right now I’m just glad that you get to stay over!”

Hurrying inside, she calls to her parents, “Maman? Papa? Can Adrien stay the night?””

Sabine pokes her head out from a doorway, “Of course, dear!”

That’s all Marinette needs to hear before she leads Adrien upstairs to her room hurriedly.

“If you’re not careful, I might just think you’re excited to have me over, Princess.” He smirks.

“I am! Usually you’re stuck in my room! Not to mention that you’re finally free from her.”

“I’m with her, Kid,” Plagg mutters lazily.

“I’m so proud of both of you! Both of you went through terrible things that you didn’t deserve at all, and you made it out without even being akumatized. You deserve a break!” Tikki chirps, “I’m so sorry you had to go through all that.”

Marinette smiles softly, petting Tikki until the Kwami smiles again, “It’s not your fault, Tikki.”

Tikki just looks at her mournfully, and the two Gods fly off to speak, giving their charges a break.

Adrien flops across Marinette, looking at her happily. She’s about to tease him when he slow blinks at her and she blushes lightly. He grins, then grins more when she returns the blink.

He snuggles against her, purring happily. She laughs, her hands finding his hair. They sit contentedly in silence for a little bit until Adrien notices Marinette drooping slightly, holding back a yawn. They’ve been sitting together for a while, his head in her lap while she scratches his scalp idly. She’s slowed, and stares forward blankly, blinking slowly every so often and seemingly just a few moments from dropping to the floor. She doesn’t realize she’s been found out yet, continuing to scratch where his cat ears would be.

He frowns, she wouldn’t normally hide being tired, unless-

“Marinette, I thought I made you promise not to overwork yourself,” he reprimands.

She flushes slightly, “What are you talking about? I’m fine.”

“You’re exhausted. When was the last time you slept, and how much sleep have you been getting most nights?” He sits up, studying her.

She slumps, knowing there’s no use trying to hide it. “I technically never promised. I just wanted to make sure that this went smoothly. For your information though, I slept last night.” She sticks out her tongue at him.

“How long?”

“...four hours. Three or less for the past week and a half?”

He gives her a look, and she just grins sheepishly. Shaking his head in feigned exasperation, he scoops her up into his arms. She kicks her feet, “Hey! I don’t need to go to bed, I can just sleep in tomorrow!”

“Yes, yes you do need to sleep now. I know how awful being overworked is, but you don’t have someone making sure you have time for sleep, so I will be doing that.”

She harrumphs, wrinkling her nose.

He reaches the top of the steps to her bed, turning and flopping backwards onto the mattress. The pair bounce slightly, and Adrien lets Marinette go to allow her to get into a more comfortable position.

“Oh, so you’re planning on just watching me to make sure I sleep?” Marinette teases.

Adrien shuts his eyes. “Nope. I’m a cat, so I’ll take any o-purr-tunity I can to nap.”

He knows she rolled her eyes, even if he can’t see her. She lies down next to him, huffing so he knows just how awful he is for having the audacity to make her rest properly.

After a few minutes, he feels the mattress shift as she carefully sits up, trying to go down and presumably work on some project. His eyes fly open, and he grabs her wrist. “Excuse you, I believe you’re supposed to be sleeping. I guess we’ll be doing this the hard way then.”

Before she can protest, he pulls her arm out from under her, catching her as gravity pulls her down.

“I’m not tired.”

“That’s because you’re being a stubborn baby bug.”

She scoffs, “Alley cat!”

“And proud of it,” he murmurs, pressing his face into her hair.

He leans against her pillows, dragging her with him so that she’s farther from the edge of the loft. Nestling her head under his, she reaches her arm over to give him a sideways hug. His other arm is wrapped around her back, and he carefully undoes her loose pigtails with his fingers. She hums appreciatively.

“I’m not tired you know,” she mumbles.

He just purrs louder, holding her closer.

She yawns, “Still… not…”

She never finishes the sentence.

Adrien grins, hearing her breathing beginning to even out. He rubs soothing circles on her back, trying to get her to rest sooner. He knows he was successful when her soft breathes line up with the pattern of sleep.

It’s not long before he goes the same way.

---

Author’s Note: There's a lot happening here, where do I even begin?

Anyone curious as to Lila's middle name? It means 'devil'. Very fitting.

Don't you love it when the resident supervillain is too busy doing PR to cause anything?

Sabrina is with her father, sipping her tea and watching Lila's world burn.

I sincerely hope you all enjoyed this long awaited chapter!! As I said in the beginning note, I'm not satisfied with it. Something just feels off, but who knows? I could be crazy! I hope this lived up to all the hype! 💖

Thanks for reading! Feel free to leave any thoughts, theories, constructive criticism, or anything really in my ask box, in replies or through reblogs. I love seeing what you think!

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wakandaforeverwrites · 6 years ago

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Two of a Kind

Erik “Killmonger” Stevens x Black OC

Warnings: This depicts a toxic and manipulative relationship and just know that in no way do I condone this kind of relationship in real life so do with that what you please. Also, this is only loosely proofread cause I got sick of looking at this shit so forgive typos and such.

She’s crazier than him. And more reckless.

Naomi could measure her life in one of two ways: before Erik walked into it and after Erik walked into it. She didn’t like to think about what her life was like before Erik.

Erik Stevens, or Killmonger as he was known to most people, was deep in the game by the time Naomi met him and maybe that was what attracted her to him. His arrogant demeanor and the air of danger that was ever present when she was around him called to that little sick and twisted part of her that was begging to come out and play.

She curled up in his lap as she played with one of his locs, twisting and twirling it around her finger, all the while listening as he conducted business. One of his associates was stupid enough to believe that he could leak information to the competition and get away with it. He was a young boy, fresh to the game and looking for a way to rise in power quickly. It was too bad no one told him that if he was going to take shots at the king then he better not miss.

Naomi had to admit that she admired his hustle, but it was the disloyalty that wouldn’t be tolerated. Erik had plucked him out of the gutter and tried to give him a means for a better life, and he repaid her man with nothing but stupidity.

“What you think we should do, Princess?” Erik squeezed her thigh, bringing her attention back.

The whole room seemed to stop and wait for her response, holding their breath. The thing about Naomi was that her mind worked in a similar fashion as Erik’s and he encouraged all the destruction and chaos she caused. They were two of a kind. She may have even been crazier than he was.

A slow smile spread across her lips and as she sat up a little more, “Cut his tongue out.” She took a break to nuzzle her nose against Erik’s neck. “And send it to his mama so she knows she raised a snitch ass bitch.”

“Y’all heard her.” Erik waved his hand and people are moving once more, jumping into action

“Wait.”

“What’s up?” His brows furrowed just slightly.

“I wanna do it.” She tugged on his gold chain with her lips poking out. “Can I do it, Daddy?”

“You gon’ fuck up your dress.” He said, eyeing the white dress that contrasted so well with her dark skin and that he’d been dying to get her out of since she got dressed.

“You’ll buy me a new one.” She smiled because she knew her words were true and by the way he chuckled, he did too.

“Alright then. Handle that, Princess.”

Rising from his lap, she shot him a smile over her shoulder when she felt his large hand swat at her ass. Yeah, there was no way she was keeping that dress on for too long after she was finished.

His tongue was already pulled out of his mouth and waiting on her. The knife they handed her wasn’t the sharpest and she was fine with that. The more he suffered, the better in her opinion. The cut wasn’t a clean one. She had to work for it, sawing back and forth as she took pleasure in the screams and tears that left the man on his knees in front of her.

Erik’s hands slipped over her shoulders and his lips brushed across the back of her neck.

“Might as well send his thumbs to his mama too. Meet me in the back room when you done.” He groped her ass for a brief moment as he watched her work diligently at her task before he was disappearing into the back room.

••••••

The look in Naomi’s eyes was murderous, staring at the woman who was hanging all of Erik’s shoulders across the bar like it was her place to be. Now, she knew Erik had side bitches; women that he manipulated to do his bidding when he didn’t want to his hands dirty and they all willingly went along with it because they wanted to please him. She even got along with some of them but they all understood that she was number one because this wasn’t any kind of sister wives shit and she wasn’t one to piss off, but this new girl, Bianca, didn’t seem to know any better. She had only been around for a few months and she was already proving to be more trouble than she was worth in Naomi’s opinion.

“What’s so funny? I would love to laugh too.” She plucked Bianca’s hand from Erik’s shoulder, all but shoving it off before she cut her eyes at her. “I thought you was just here to make drinks. Ain’t that what you hired her for?”

The smile faded from her lips and she kissed the front of her teeth. “Am I not allowed to talk now?” She rolled her eyes again.

“Roll your eyes at me again and I’mma take ‘em out your head and roll ‘em like dice.” She had never exactly taken anyone’s eyes out before but there was a first time for everything if Bianca kept trying her.

Bianca tilted her head to one side as she popped her gum, the sound like nails grating a chalkboard to Naomi. “You seem real jealous like you got something to be worried about.”

“And what exactly do I have to be worried about?” Naomi raised a brow with her scowl deepening.

“That someone might come and take your spot.”

At that Naomi had to laugh. This girl was delusional if she thought she had the ability to take her spot. There wasn’t a woman alive that could take her spot. Plenty of women had tried but none had succeeded.

“You must think that someone is you?”

“Bitch, I might be.” Bianca spoke with a grin on her face.

Naomi nodded her head for a few moments, processing what she had said. She looked at Erik and shook her head. “You keep filling these bitches’ heads with all these dreams and now I gotta beat her ass to prove a point.”

“You ain’t gonna bea-“ Bianca’s words were cut off by her head slamming into the wood of the bar.

The sound that came when her face made contact with the wooden surface is a sickening one. Naomi lifted her head, revealing her bloody nose, before she slammed her head back down. She heard a crack of nose as she broke her nose. The sound brought a smile to Naomi’s lips. Erik stood by, watching with the sound of laughter falling from his lips. Two men rushed over in an attempt to pry Naomi’s death grip from Bianca’s hair, but it was Erik that stopped them.

“Did I tell you to stop this shit?” The menacing tone in his voice didn’t match the grin that was on his face but it was enough to make the men back away from Naomi.

With a grip still in her hair, Naomi dragged the other woman’s body across the bar and dropped her on the ground. Bitch, I might be. She could hear those words as she took a step back to allow Bianca to her feet. She staggered, holding onto the bar to keep herself upright. She was busy trying to make sure that she didn’t fall flat on her face that she didn’t see Naomi picking up a barstool. She didn’t see it coming until the stool was whacking her across the face and she dropped to the floor in a heap. Naomi was ready to slam one of the stool legs into her face when the stool was plucked from her hands and Erik wrapped an arm around her body.

“Chill out, Princess. You’re not about to kill her.”

“Fuck you, Erik.” She squirmed out of his hold and pushed him away before storming off towards the front door.

“Aye, where you going?” Erik chased after her, grabbing her hand and pulling her into his chest.

“Away from you. I’m done. I can’t keep doing this.” She pushed against his broad chest but the hole he had over her was too strong.

“The fuck you mean you’re done? Done with what?”

“Done with you!” It wasn’t the first time she had said those words. They came out of her mouth at least once every few months.

“You done with me?” His brows moved just an inch as be looked down at her.

“Yes. With you and all these other bitches.” Her eyes flickered towards Bianca who had yet to even move from where Naomi had dropped her. Where there should have been feelings of guilt, Naomi was proud of her actions. She would do it again without question.

“You out here tripping for no reason. You already know these hoes don’t mean shit to me. You need to quit acting all paranoid.” His hand crept along her side, tracing the sliver of skin that was exposed between her shorts and her tank top.

“But-“ She was cut off by his lips on hers. He kissed her the same way he usually fucked her: hard and with a purpose as if he had something to prove. All of her resolve disappeared and she melted in his arms, pressing herself against him and molding her body to his.

“You love Daddy?” He asked when he finally pulled away. Despite the burning in her lungs, she didn’t want him to stop. She nodded her head. “You trust Daddy?” Once again, she nodded her head.

“And I’m still number one, right?”

“Ain’t no bitch out here that can take your spot. You need to quit being insecure and acting crazy.”

“You’re right. I’m sorry.” She would rather admit that she was wrong than face the facts that he was the reason she was insecure and acted the way that she did. His actions never gave her any reason to feel as secure and confident as she acted in public.

“You already know you’re about to make this shit up to me. All night.” She knew from the way he smiled that there would be little chance of her actually walking tomorrow.

#erik killmonger #erik killmonger fic #erik killmonger fanfiction #erik killmonger imagine #black panther fanfiction #black panther fic #black panther imagine

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inappropriatefangirlneeds · 6 years ago

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Gotham s5ep3 “Penguin, Our Hero” Personal Review

“His methods will be our salvation.” Warning spoilers below

“Mr. Penn´s head” So MR. PENN shielded Oswald from the state of things? “I simply couldn't stand seeing you upset while you were recovering.” Which really makes me wonder, either he did it before too, just not wanting to deal with Penguins outbursts which would partly explain Oswald´s distorted view of what´s going on but with the way he was pressing on the issues of food, starvation, failing bullets in 5x01 that seems highly unlikely, which either means the outbursts got to a critical point where it was unbearable or he actually cared about Oswald´s well being? Which kind of fits that he apologized to Oswald after being shot but that means that it must have been terrible difficult for him to work for Oswald, Sofia and Carmine at the same time also why? How did Oswald win him over? I wannt to know everything, and as far as I´m concerned he is still there. Also Penn still directing the (former Gertrud Kapelput Memorial Choir) choir might suggest he had a leading role in getting the people to Haven? I´d really like to have seen him in a position of reason that gets people out of a precarious situation but the episode made it look like he only did it because now it was specifically his head on the line. (Unless, that was something that Oswald said every 27 minutes, which .. is also likely) OSWALD COBBLEPOT okay so looks like Oswald wasn´t at all meant to be cruel, merely delusional? It seems Oswald really cared about Penn, thinking it would have been good for him to stay with him. He really believed his people were in a better situation than the slaves of other gangs. He genuinely doesn´t seem to get why people would prefer Haven instead of his territory. // “I'm sorry, Mr. Cobblepot.” “You fool! This never would have happened if you stayed with me. Why did you leave?” “Everyone hated you.” // “They probably go back to being slaves, I guess. My people, on the other hand, will go back to their regular lives, with their bellies full of gruel and their heads full of wonderful thoughts about their grand protector, me.” // “I kept people safe. I protected them from chaos. They should have loved me. Instead, they came here, to this pigsty, to be covered in fleas and filth. Why? What makes this place so special?” Oswald does´t think he´s a dictator or authoritarian he thinks he is living the “Great man theory” I´m glad that history moved past this and recognized that there is so much more to reality than a “great man” after another. Sadly that notion is one that´s hard to kill. You still have people thinking they benefit from a “strong” leader ruling with a firm hand. A strong man that´s guiding the nation is the only way to be protected and thrive. Someone that does act, someone that does do something! Not that It really matters much what that something is, as long as it isn´t weak. That way you get people praising Putin instead of being worried about the devaluation of democracy, that way you get orange fools that scream for a great wall instead of caring about facts, that way you get people saying Duterte doing good for his nation while soaking it´s soil with blood. At leas the show didn´t portray his underlings buying into this, they just showed Oswald believing it. Which is still .. ?? Oswald was living the “Strong man politics” (okay with the cult of personality tuned up on the higher setting) and I´m kind of glad they showed how there´s nothing behind it but I can´t believe that Oswald wouldn´t know that, that people need more than someone to praise and the general assurance that yes they are a strong nation, be proud and quit complaining! I like that Oswald not understanding why his approach didn´t work could maybe be meant to be a faint warning for people who call for men that lead like that? Okay I´m reading too much into this but can´t you see Trump being like why U no love me when I want the wall to protect you, when I kept your bellies full with the best fast food .. ? Just that it´s not a good fit for the Character previous Oswald was perceptive, seeing what people need and want and love. It wasn´t just about what he needs “the love of the people”, even when it was about his selfish gains he still had a strong grip on understanding the needs of others (and better than a bland abstract “they want safety and protection”) and used them. Like I could get that he´s just done, paranoid and afraid and just not able to deal with the issues, brushing the needs of others aside, everyone can get to a point where it´s too much, but this way it just looks like he really did care and believed he was doing good .. which means he was just being stupid. On the other hand when Oswald went into politics he had to be convinced that people want him there and genuinely like him. Granted there was plenty of reason for Oswald to not quite believe this. Now we have him not believing that people hate him. Which is a nice circle but the second half doesn´t make any sense. “Hope can only go so far.” And sometimes it runs circles. They really had JIM GORDON give another unreasonable promise to a CHILD but now he had BRUCE WAYNE sitting on his side, not only going along with it but with asking Jim to talk to the boy kind of being the reason for that to happen. I´m sure there´s more to say about this .. * “That's a good point. We didn't really think this through.” Street Demonz guys really got a talent to get to the heart of things with stating the obvious. “Well, whoever did just started one hell of a war.” (Tank 5x02) * Same with the “But, uh, they have guns.” comment “So do I and mine is most certainly loaded.” And I really thought, uh Oswald do you really want to point a gun on all the people round you? But wow he got a point with that. * I know it was short lived but for a moment I was like awwwww not both Oswald and Edward have their own personal STREET DEMON(Z) * What I liked is that they still have OSWALD COBBLEPOT be damn good at reframing and changing narratives. He´s out of people and needs others? Ah, nope wrong they are actually lucky to help him, let me tell you why “You're in luck, my friend. .as our interests are now aligned, I have decided that you may live.” * “You return our people and Edward” I´m kind of ehh with the dog thing but that distinction made me giggle. * “Rumors say pup went willingly.” Oh Olga “I'm not yours to lose. You can't stop me from going after Jeremiah. But I am asking you for help.” I saw that SELINA KYLE line somewhere online and thought oh no but turns out she teamed up with BRUCE WAYNE and it was actually nice. For a while. Sure that Selina getting murderous business is going to be a problem but I´m gonna ignore it as long as possible. Also yes! Jeremiah shot her because of Bruce .. rubbish .. I live for Selina rejecting the whole premise of that. I´m not overly fond of revenge but I like that they made it hers and not about Bruce in any way. (well, for now. Selina wasn´t too keen on Bridgit Firefly Pike roasting that kidnapper ring alive I guess that kind of reservation is over now) I feared that the line might be in the context of them going different paths but that it was followed by them agreeing to work together just made it more impactful. There is a possible relationship there but it´s not on these icky anyone belongs to anyone terms! I also liked that Selina didn´t just go out into the chaos but investigated. “These people come from all over Gotham, Bruce. Someone has to know something.” For all her reclusive attitude she obviously networked back in the early seasons, so she got to have a talent to talk/connect to people, I´d like to have seen more of this in that episode.

* “You didn't have to hurt him like that.” “He was trying to kill me, Bruce, just like Jeremiah tried to kill me. So as far as I'm concerned he got off easy.” Bruce subscribed to the JIM GORDONs way of things Selina to HARVEY BULLOCKs [“Three months ago, I would’ve lost my badge for that.” .. “You want rules for this game? I’ll tell you. I’ll make it simple, okay? You win or you die. Next time, shoot to kill.” 5x01] * Selina´s fight choreography against the Mutant Leader was awesome! A catoreography! * Selina sweeping a curtsey and playing along with the The Church of Jeremiah Valeska theatrics was equally awesome. * Oddly I didn´t like ECCO/HARLEY, her eyebrow is cool but for once I thought he acting was not stellar .. but that´s probably just me? The Ping didn´t impress me .. * One of the church boys is wearing a skirt, least their dresscode is better * Whoever blew up Haven: Fuck You! * CRACK THEORY: It might be Jeremiah acting through the Mutants. The Mutant leader said “Kill you. Kill Jeremiah.” but elaborated “Old Town North, okay? We don't mess with him.” so a contradictory statement. I guess the first was just posing, trying to keep the threatful appearance and the second statement the truth. They might still work for him, refusing it might count as messing with him? Oddly they guy talking to Selina about the rumours said that: “If you go to the Dark Zone, Jeremiah is the least of your worries. Everyone there is insane. Look at what they did to my friend.” which would suggest Jeremiah is less of a threat but that might just be perspective, Jeremiah might cultivate his church/cult image, laying low on the chaos and mayhem front for a while, while still having others creating it for him in that area. What I want to say I don´t think the Mutants have a motive for the destruction of Haven but I need them to be connected to it because I found it odd that they chased a person with an explosive device and watched that guy blow up in the same episode. They, if Selina is right are also responsible for the carved up person in Haven “Now we know who carved "kill" into that guy's chest.” So I´m naturally suspicious. What if the “kill” carvings were just meant to conceal the cuts where someone put explosives into that person? People bombs! (With Pyg we already had a grenade in a belly) Problem1: This needed more people like that. Which someone might have noticed, also why would they have been spread out in the buildings, I guess the medic area was just in one place. Problem2: I think Jeremiah has a motive, he put Gotham into this state and Haven is trying to remedy this aka. undoing/undermining his work, to it would naturally be a target but why would he not just do it himself? Problem3: The “Edward” and Street Demonz thing got Oswald to got there, it would be odd if an explosion right after that issue would be an unconnected coincidence * BARBARA KEAN remembers Season 1 and undermines the (repeated) Jim the Hero narrative, although there would be better arguments even talking to Harvey Bullock. “He, the idealistic rookie. You, the cynical veteran.” “You were sane.” “Now you carry his laundry. Do you ever wonder what your life might've been like if you'd never met Jim Gordon? I'd be dead, or wishing I was.” “You're delusional, Harvey. Just like all the sad saps who think the government is just gonna sail in and save them.” “Maybe.”

#gotham #gotham meta #gotham s5ep3 Penguin Our Hero #oswald cobblepot #mine Gotham full episode reviews

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cartoonjessie · 7 years ago

Text

Trapped in a Fairy Tale

A Rumbelle Secret Santa gift for @little-inkstone

Prompt: Trapped in a Fairy Tale

Rated: Mature

Summary: Belle gets stuck in a Fairy Tale while snooping around in the Dark Castle, and the only way she can make her way out, is with the help of Rumplestiltskin. As they race towards their Happily Ever After, they hope they can break the curse and return to their own world.

Word Count: 7333

AO3 Link

+++

Trapped in a Fairy Tale

She was ridiculously late with his tea.

He had even stopped his spinning and sat himself by the large table, gazing into the fire, then at the door, then out of the window, then back at the door, in the hopes that she would hurry up for a change.

No doubt about it that she had spent too long reading again. And now he was the victim, suffering in silence as he was thirsty and in the mood for her company and she was nowhere to be seen or heard.

He tried to listen a little harder. Did he even hear her yet, moving about the kettle of tea in the kitchen? He didn’t.

Frowning, he got up from his seat, and as he walked through the hallway, he already shouted: “Dearie, you best have a good excuse for your tardiness! I have other matters to attend to!”

Spinning, mostly, but she didn’t need to know that.

As he threw open the door in a majestic gesture, he looked around the empty kitchen, his hands coming to rest on his hips as he frowned even deeper.

He had no time for these games, and so he whisked to her room – then to the library – then even to the bathroom he let her use.

She wasn’t there. She wasn’t anywhere.

Biting his lip, he grew worried.

Had she ran away?

The thought felt like a stab to the heart. She had given her word to stay with him forever, and she had even seemed to be at peace here. The past weeks, she hadn’t cried a single time. He had even heard her laugh at his quips a few times, and a few days earlier she had baked him cookies!

They had been a little tough to chew, but the gesture itself had been a good-natured one, and had displayed her amiable nature. She would not offend him in this way, or would she?

Wherever she had gone, he could follow her there with the help of a tracking potion. Whisking into his working chambers, he stepped straight towards the cabinet that held his most valuable belongings, and stopped walking when he realized the cabinet was wide open, and there was a book on the floor in front of it.

His heart stopped for a brief moment.

She had expressed curiosity in his work on several occasions. But he had not expected her to snoop around his working chambers, not after he had strictly told her it was forbidden.

Crouching down to look at the book she had picked from the cabinet, he sighed.

Of course. It was the fairy tale of Rapunzel that had piqued her interest, and she must have been curious why he had kept such a lovely volume among his most lethal potions and weapons, instead of in the library.

Picking up the book, he closed it without reading a word and put it down on the table, a pained expression on his face.

He could already imagine why she had taken it.

She had probably expected nothing but a fairy tale – and she had thought she’d be reading a story – like any other – but what she had not realized was that this book was enchanted. Whoever read it, would get trapped in there, and would need to survive the perils of the story if they had any hope of ever making their way out of there.

Now she was stuck in the fairy tale of Rapunzel, and he grunted as he remembered how it went. She was probably waiting in a tower now, for a prince of some sort to come, and he wasn’t even sure if the prince was already in the story, or if she could only be released by someone else that underwent the curse.

When he had gotten this book, it had been a trinket to him, something he could one day trade away for other valuable dark magic, certainly not something he’d willingly get stuck in himself.

But as he stood there, he felt like he had to get her out of there. He was her best hope for getting out of there – her only hope. And how hard could it be? He had magic, he’d find the tower, get her out of there, kill whatever witch held her there, and they’d be back in the Dark Castle before anyone could say “and they lived happily ever after”.

Sighing, he shook his head as he opened the book. All it took to follow her, was to read a few lines, and so he began.

“Once upon a time, in a faraway land…”

+++

He groaned as the first light of day woke him from what felt like a very short nap. For someone who hadn’t slept in centuries, it was an odd sensation, and he rubbed his eyes as he sat up.

But as he sensed that he was on a bed, his eyes flew open immediately, and he tried to take in every peculiar thing about this situation as quickly as he could.

He was in a small but cozy bedroom that looked out over a larger round room. He spotted a large window with a view on a forest. Strangely enough, he was wearing leather – but not his fancy dragon leather, but regular brown leather and his hands… He raised them in wonder as he realized they weren’t scaly at all!

But if he wasn’t scaly, then he wondered if he was still the Dark One in whatever alternate reality he found himself in? Trying to summon some magic to his fingertips, he realized that he was completely failing at it, and he tried to crawl off the bed in horror, stumbling over a pile of rope and clumsily falling to the floor.

Grunting, he got up as fast as he could, suddenly realizing that the rope wasn’t rope. It was hair. And as he suddenly noticed how his head felt heavier than usually, he cursed when he realized the hair was his.

“For fuck’s sake!” He tried to gather the long braid in his arms, wondering how long the bloody thing was.

That was just his luck. He was the Rapunzel of the story.

But then who was Belle?

With the massive braid still in his arms, he headed to the window as fast as he could, gazing out over the infinite forest before him.

“Hello?” he called out as loudly as he could. “Can anyone hear me?”

“What’s gotten into you?”

He jumped before he whirled around and stared straight into Regina’s mildly skeptical face.

“Regina,” he said, surprised to see her here.

“What did you just call me?”

As she walked over to him and felt his forehead with the back of her hand, she frowned.

“You don’t have a fever, so tell me why you’re being so delusional this morning?”

He watched her as she turned her back to him and put a basket of provisions on the table. He spotted some bread, cheese and fruit, as well as a few bottles to drink.

As he stood there and just watched her, she grew more impatient.

“Come on, Rumplestiltskin, empty it. Are you still sleeping?”

He was terribly confused. She didn’t seem to be called Regina, yet she still called him Rumplestiltskin. Deciding it was safest to play along, he dropped his braids to the floor, dragging them behind him as he walked to the table and emptied the basket, realizing there was enough food in there for a few days.

“Now I must be off for a while,” Regina – or whoever she was – announced. “Anything you need upon my return?”

Rumplestiltskin shook his head but noticed Regina had taken his braid in her hand.

“Good,” she said. “Now sing.”

He frowned, not sure why, but seeing Regina’s impatient gaze, he quickly nodded.

He hadn’t sang in years.

“Which song?” he asked, hoping with a fast beating heart that he knew whatever the witch would ask.

She considered it for a few moments, before she said: “The Daemon Lover, if you please.”

He didn’t know if he was lucky that he knew that particular tune from when he had been small, or whether somehow, the people in this world were made of his imagination – and perhaps also Belle’s.

As he began to sing, he suddenly realized how his long ash-brown hair got the slightest glow upon it as it lay in Regina’s hand, and he witnessed how she closed her eyes, her entire being looking younger the more he sang.

When she raised her hand, halfway through the song, he stopped his singing immediately, and she got up and gently slapped his cheek, in something which she had meant to pass as some form of affection, perhaps?

“Thank you, Rumplestiltskin. Until soon!”

She whisked away before him, and as he put his hair in his hands and softly sang another tune, he saw how his hair gently glowed again. Each single tune, no matter how silly it was, had the same effect, and he tried to recollect as much about the fairy tale as he could.

He had never really read it, but could remember bits and pieces from his childhood.

In the fairy tale, Rapunzel was locked in the tower when she was a child, by a witch, because her parents had stolen from the witch? He wasn’t sure how the story went. But Rapunzel had been a princess. Did that mean that he was a prince in this world? And if Belle was not Rapunzel, and not the witch, did that mean that she was the prince who was meant to save Rapunzel?

It was either that, or maybe she was stuck in her own universe, facing the same villain he was.

As he gazed out of the window, he wondered how he could get Belle to find him while he was stuck in his tower. Calling out had apparently gotten the attention of Regina – or perhaps she had always come in the morning – he wasn’t sure.

Lowering his braid out of the tower, he was glad to see that it actually reached all the way into the grass beneath, and he left it out as he sat in the windowsill, singing tune after tune in the hopes that his voice would reach far enough for anyone who passed through the forest to hear.

But as evening fell, he realized that no one was around, and he was getting increasingly hungry and tired.

After eating some bread, he laid himself to rest, falling into a blissful sleep.

+++

It was still dark when he woke because he heard someone calling out.

“Rapunzel! Rapunzel let down your hair!”

His heart beat a little faster as he realized whose voice that was.

It was Belle’s – and apparently she was under the impression that Rapunzel was in the tower. A little ashamed to show his face just yet, he threw his long braid out the window, and as he felt her pull it, he tried not to yelp.

Holding onto his braid with both his hands, he felt her weight hang onto it, and though he sensed her movement, he still stepped back himself, hoping to pull her up a little faster, so that there would be less chance of her falling.

When she finally climbed into the window, Rumplestiltskin gulped, surprised by the sight of his Belle wearing an adventurer’s outfit, her tight pants leaving little to the imagination, and her messy hair and fierce blush betraying just how hard the climb had been to her.

As she saw him, she gasped, her eyes wide for a few moments as she stared at him with an open mouth.

“Rapunzel?” she finally asked, her voice uncertain.

He frowned, wondering if she didn’t remember him then.

“You know very well who I am,” he replied, and her mouth dropped completely this time.

“Rumplestiltskin?!” she asked incredulously, walking closer to him as she looked at him from top to toe, hardly able to believe what she saw. “Your skin… Your hair… You’re… you look human!”

“Obviously,” he replied sarcastically, folding his arms over one another. “And you have some apologizing to do!” he added sternly. “Had I not strictly forbidden you to go into any of the lockers and cupboards of my working chambers?!”

She gulped and looked down. “I’m so sorry,” she apologized. “I thought you had misplaced this book.”

Rolling his eyes, he indicated one of the two chairs around the only table he had in his tower, and as she took a seat, so did he, and he lit a few candles with matches, the moonlight not enough to illuminate the two of them.

“You’ve gotten us in quite a mess,” he muttered, careful to emphasize the anger and disappointment in his tone. “We have to make sure we get out of this story now, the sooner the better.”

Belle gulped. “I thought you weren’t coming for me,” she admitted. “It’s been so long.”

He raised an eyebrow. “What are you talking about? I saw you at breakfast this morning!”

Belle’s eyes widened. “What?! No! I mean… Not my morning! I’ve been here for months!”

“Months?” he repeated, a sensation of horror sinking to the pit of his stomach.

“Yes!” she continued in a hurry. “I’ve been training to be a knight! To fight! And then I met a king – he looked like King Midas – and he told me he lost his daughter Rapunzel! That’s why I came to look for you! It took me months to find your tower!”

“I’ve only been here since this morning,” Rumplestiltskin added, frowning. “You said the king looked like King Midas?”

“Yes, but it’s not King Midas. In fact, I’ve seen many people I knew from somewhere. Like, everyone I saw here looked like someone I already knew in my real life. That’s why I didn’t realize it was actually you!”

Rumplestiltskin sighed. “That explains why the witch that’s holding me here looks like Queen Regina. She’s the most powerful witch I know, which might explain why she took on the form of the villain of the story.”

As he spotted her soft gaze on his eyes, he grew a little nervous. He wondered why she was looking at him so sweetly.

“I’m glad I’m not alone anymore,” she said softly. “Thank you for coming for me, Rumplestiltskin.”

He waved it away as he averted his eyes. “No matter.”

She was still looking at him though, and he could feel it.

“Your eyes are really beautiful this way,” she remarked, and at the surprise of hearing such a thing, his gaze shot up immediately, his lips slightly parted as he looked at her in wonder.

He saw how she was looking at his hair with a smile, before she diverted his attention from the awkward topic.

“I know many versions of this fairy tale,” Belle continued. “But in most, the hero is supposed to push the witch out of the window.”

Rumplestiltskin nodded. “I figured something similar.”

“But there are stranger versions too. Where the hero falls in love with Rapunzel and she gets pregnant, and only when the witch finds out, the confrontation follows.”

Rumplestiltskin gulped. He was quite certain he could not get pregnant – fairy tale or not.

“And there’s one where the witch wins and both the prince and Rapunzel end up either dead or very unhappy.”

That wasn’t a happy prospect, and as Belle saw how worried he looked, she added: “But I’m certain we’ll think of something that will close this curse. When is the witch coming? In the morning?”

Rumplestiltskin shook his head. “Might be a few more days. She was gone for a while.”

Belle looked worried. “I don’t like being unable to tell when she will be here. Does she call for you to lower your hair each time she needs to get in?”

“Afraid not. She can whisk. Like I once could.”

She grunted, and Rumplestiltskin found it a funny sound. She didn’t look quite as elegant as before in the clothes she was currently wearing, and from her behavior it seemed like she had become quite the adventurer.

“I don’t like that,” she admitted. “She can just whisk in at any moment. How are we supposed to get an advantage on that?”

Rumplestiltskin stroked his chin for a few moments, before he suddenly snapped his fingers.

“I got something!”

+++

“Help! Help!”

Rumplestiltskin cried out as pathetically as he could, clutching his trembling hand as red liquid dripped from it.

As Regina – or the witch – whisked into the room, he knew the plan was working.

“Can’t I leave you alone for one day?” she asked angrily, rushing over to him and looking at his hand.

She was about to heal it when she realized it wasn’t blood at all, but paint, and the next thing she knew, she felt a sword ram through her heart, as Belle had emerged from her hiding place behind the cupboard and jammed her sword as well as she could into the witch’s chest.

Rumplestiltskin wasted no time, and as the witch was still grasping what was happening, he pushed her against the windowsill, then lifted her feet until she lost her balance and flipped backwards, landing a few seconds later in an awkward heap on the grass below them.

As both Belle and Rumplestiltskin looked out the window and at the lifeless body beneath them, they hardly dared to breathe.

“Is she dead?” Belle whispered.

Rumplestiltskin bit the inside of his cheek. “She’s not moving. Must be.”

As they stared at the witch a while longer, they both let out a relieved sigh, smiling at one another for a brief while before they looked around the tower room.

“And they lived happily ever after,” Belle said solemnly, gazing up at the ceiling, as though she was hoping to finish the tale this way, but nothing happened.

Looking at Rumplestiltskin for help, he looked just as confused as she was.

“Maybe we haven’t acted out the story the way the book wants?” Rumplestiltskin said darkly, his hands folded in his lap as he rested his back against the table.

Belle went with her hair to his braid, picking some part up as it lay around the room, and looking at it for a long while.

“Usually the braid gets cut, doesn’t it?” she wondered out loud, and as he nodded, she continued: “Do you have scissors?”

Shaking his head, he added: “I checked this place for everything of use. But there weren’t any scissors. Maybe you should use your sword.”

There was still blood on it, and Rumplestiltskin didn’t even protest as she wiped the blood off the curtains. As long as she didn’t do such a thing in the Dark Castle, he wasn’t going to complain.

Approaching him, she hesitated: “Would you like to do it yourself?”

Nodding, he took her sword and held it to his braid, cutting it off a little above shoulder length. Nothing special happened, even though Belle held her breath.

She was expecting something – some magic sign that they could go home now – but the long braid just fell to the floor.

“And they lived happily ever after,” Rumplestiltskin now said – hoping those words would trigger the end of the curse, but once again they just remained in the tower.

While he was thinking what else to do, he hardly realized how Belle had stepped closer to him – much closer to him, and as he felt her hands stroke through his hair, he looked at her in surprise.

“Fairy tales often end with a kiss,” she said softly, and as he noticed how she was looking at his lips, he nodded, his mind numb.

He could not help but notice the way she licked hers before she let them rest upon his, their bodies not touching as they leaned into each other as softly as they could. The kiss was sweet and left Rumplestiltskin with a warm feeling he had missed for a long time, and Belle felt very light-headed as she pulled back again, already missing the feeling of his soft lips on hers.

She hadn’t considered the act very long – she had hardly considered it at all – but now it was hard to stop considering it. She wanted to kiss him again, for it had been the sweetest feeling she had ever experienced, and there had been something else inside of her that had longed for more. Part of her wanted to give into that, but another part was terrified of what he would think about it.

She was his inferior, at least in the Dark Castle, but perhaps here she was something else. And somewhere over the past weeks, she had grown to care for him, even if he was the Dark One.

He looked tired, the thoughts that were going through his mind heavy, even if her kiss had been so light. Wanting it to be over, he said once more: “And they lived happily ever after.”

But nothing happened, and they were both left awkwardly standing there, wondering what else they needed to do.

“Perhaps…” Belle said. “Perhaps I must bring you to your father. To King Midas, or whoever he is in this story.”

He didn’t have a better idea and nodded. He was starting to fear that if she had been here for so many weeks, perhaps they had to stay in this world a few weeks longer.

+++

Getting out of the tower wasn’t easy. They used his long braid to climb down, but Rumplestiltskin had never been fond of heights, and he had trembled every inch he had dared to lower himself.

By the time he landed besides Belle in the grass, she had already dragged Regina’s lifeless corpse a little further away, and as she noticed his trembling hands, she took one in an attempt to comfort him.

“It’s alright,” she said softly. “This was the most dangerous part of the trip. Now it’s just a lot of walking, I suppose. But I know the way.”

He didn’t even object to the comforting way in which she spoke to him. In the Dark Castle, that tone would have been dealt with by a fierce and playful one on his accord, but now he was scared that perhaps they would be stuck for a while longer – perhaps forever – and his unhappy thoughts made it hard to protest anything.

She gathered her own belongings from beside a tree where she had hidden those. It was a bedroll and some food that she had gathered in a bag, nothing more, but he was glad that she was more prepared than he was.

They walked until nightfall, and Rumplestiltskin watched Belle as she made them a campfire. She seemed to be in charge, having gathered their provisions from the tower, and as she offered him a blanket, he took it and wrapped it around himself. It was already getting darker, and as Belle looked up to the sky, he followed her gaze.

“It should be a clear night,” she said. “We should be able to sleep in some caves the following nights. It shouldn’t take more than a week or two to reach the palace.”

He listened, but he didn’t reply, too occupied with his own thoughts, and as Belle sat down, she looked at him for a long while.

“I’m sorry,” she said as the fire continued to crackle. “I know it’s my fault we’re here.” She sighed deeply. “I know there’s no way in which I can make it up to you.”

He considered her words and could only look at her for a long while, and when he finally spoke, his voice sounded very tired: “Let’s just focus on getting back, alright? If what you said is true and you’ve been here for weeks already, then it’s only been minutes for our bodies in our own world. We should be fine a while longer.”

She nodded in response to his words, and as he lay down to sleep, she remained quiet, not waiting too long before she too sought the warmth of her blanket and closed her eyes.

+++

They hardly spoke while they travelled, both set on returning home as soon as possible, but sometimes Belle spotted his dark eyes on her as she led the way, and he didn’t look calculating or evil in those moments – just… different.

He was amazed by how much she seemed to be enjoying this adventurer’s life. Every now and then, she would set up a trap in the evening, and empty it the following morning and proudly show him the food she had caught. She was more self-sufficient than he was, and he was the Dark One, for crying out loud.

Once he got over his self-pity and realized that this human dream-body was getting hungrier by the day, he actively started looking for food, picking berries and nuts wherever he found them, and sharing them with Belle.

She wasn’t an expert in recognizing what was edible or not, having too little real-life experience with exploring forests, and whenever he inquired, she shared with him the story of her training, and how she had been taught enough to survive these forests. Meanwhile he taught her as well as he could about the food they were able to find on their journey.

By the time they reached an actual path in the middle of the forest, they were both relieved, and that relief only grew when they were starting to encounter the first houses and villages on their road to the palace of King Midas.

They spent a few nights in barns, and another in an inn, and they had both felt awkward at the prospect of sharing a bed together. But there hadn’t really been a reason for the awkwardness. They had slept with their backs turned on each other, as far from the middle of the bed as was possible, still fully clothed with nothing but their boots besides the bed.

She didn’t know why, but during their journey it had become clearer to her that she fancied him. He was handsome and mysterious and though he had every reason to curse at her for trapping them in this book, he didn’t. He didn’t seem happy, but he didn’t work out his frustration on her, and in turn she tried to lift his spirits.

During one particularly rainy day, it was hard to make him smile though, and they were both soaking wet by the time they arrived at an inn. The inn was so crowded that they couldn’t even get a room, and it took ages for their food to be served. As Rumplestiltskin resigned to the idea of continuing their travels to the next town, even though it was two hours further and it was already dark, Belle left him to his meal alone and instead headed into the village.

By the time she joined him in the inn again, she had slightly better news.

“I found us a place to stay!”

As she finally sat down behind her plate, she ate as fast as she could, and as he watched her he wondered what he had done to deserve her company – even if her table manners weren’t very proper in that moment.

The moment she was done, she got up again, and she took his hand to lead him outside, back into the pouring rain again, and he hoped he would be inside again soon.

But what she led him to, was a small carriage, and the driver at the front tipped his hat to them both, not drawing any further attention to them as they got into the carriage, and Rumplestiltskin looked at Belle with a confused expression.

“This one travels to the palace. He recognized me from my training days,” she explained as she lowered some blinds over the tiny windows, just to keep the rain and cold out. “We should get there in a day or so.”

Though it was cold and not the way Rumplestiltskin had hoped to spend the night, it would lead them closer to the King, and thus to the end of the story. He offered her a small smile.

“Well played, Belle. Let’s hope we’ll arrive soon.”

As they sat beside each other, Belle took some blankets out from underneath the seat in front of them, and offered one to him and kept one for herself.

“Let’s hope we don’t get sick. It is still cold and we’re quite wet.”

He nodded. “Can’t the carriage stop at an inn?”

Belle shook her head. “He won’t. He needs to return to the palace as soon as possible. I’m glad he didn’t mind waiting.”

As the carriage travelled through the kingdom, they both tried to sleep, though it wasn’t any fulfilling sleep, and they were aching all over by the time they finally arrived at the palace the following day.

It was the afternoon already, and as Belle led Rumplestiltskin from the courtyard to the palace gardens, the guards let them pass, until king Midas spotted them and ran straight to Rumplestiltskin, embracing him tightly and emotionally.

Rumplestiltskin didn’t seem too pleased with this, but played along, patting the man’s back while Belle smiled.

“Rumplestiltskin, you’re saved! Oh this is amazing! But what of the witch?” King Midas asked.

“She’s dead,” Belle assured him. “She won’t be around to torture your son any longer.”

She was rather surprised that when she had first heard of her mission, she had been sent to look for Rapunzel – his daughter – but once Rumplestiltskin had arrived, the story had changed, and now it was indeed a son that King Midas had missed all along.

“This is amazing. Thank you, Belle. Your bravery will be shared with the world – everyone will hear tales of how you rescued my son, but first you must tell me.”

“Father,” Rumplestiltskin interrupted the eager king. “Perhaps you should allow us to rest first? We’ve had a long journey and are rather exhausted.”

“Of course! Of course! I’ll have the servants prepare your rooms and draw up some baths. Tonight, we feast!”

+++

Their baths and bedrooms provided enough comfort for them to rest properly, and by the time the feast started, they were well-rested once more and eager to tell the King the story he longed to hear.

As Rumplestiltskin told the story from his perspective, he finished at the end with “And they lived happily ever after…” but even then nothing happened.

Belle seemed slightly worried, and so was Rumplestiltskin.

“We have not discussed your reward,” King Midas told Belle. “Name what you want. Anything – and you shall have it.”

What Belle wanted most of all was to return to her own world, but king Midas could not provide that. So instead, she kept quiet for a long while, thinking about it.

“I wish to marry your son,” she suddenly said, and Rumplestiltskin nearly spat out his drink at the words.

But looking at her with wide eyes, he soon realized why she had chosen that reward. It would ensure they would stay together for a while longer – and perhaps a marriage would be the physical manifestation of their happy ending – perhaps it would remove this curse once and for all.

The King happily agreed to her request, and for that they were both relieved, and preparations were made to wed them as soon as possible.

They didn’t discuss it. This wasn’t a real marriage, after all, just something to break the curse. The other didn’t need to know that true affection had grown between them, or that they were looking forward to their second kiss already.

To Belle, the experience of being wed was rather special. She realized that the odds of her truly marrying anyone as long as she remained Rumplestiltskin’s caretaker were very small, and so she enjoyed every bit of this new experience. She loved trying on the new dresses, getting her hair fixed by the servants, the way in which everyone spoke in hushed voices around her, excited for her future.

The day of their wedding it took a long while before she finally saw Rumplestiltskin, standing in front of the priest as he waited for her, his hair a little shorter again, not as messily cut by her sword as it had been before, and he looked truly beautiful in his brown leather outfit.

During the ceremony itself, they did look at one another, and they both tried to remind themselves that it wasn’t real, that it was just an act, but still they spotted some happiness in the other’s eyes every now and then – a happiness that was both assuring and exciting.

A knot was tied around their wrists, and not allowed to come off until the day was over, and so while they sat down for the feast, it was rather amusing to realize that they couldn’t use one hand without dragging the other along. It was clumsy to eat this way, and the only time that it didn’t disturb them was while they were dancing, something that they discovered they both enjoyed.

Rumplestiltskin was better at it than Belle would have figured, and he quite literally swept her off her feet several times as he whirled her around. For a few hours, they were even able to forget they were trapped in a curse, since they were having so much fun, but as they headed to Rumplestiltskin’s bedroom in the evening, their hearts grew heavy again.

This curse – if that was what it was – still wasn’t broken, and as they untied the knot that kept their hands together, they both didn’t look at one another for a long while.

“You don’t owe me anything,” Rumplestiltskin assured her. “I mean, marriage-wise.”

“Sex, you mean?” she asked bluntly, and she noticed how he startled at those words.

“Yes.”

She hesitated as she looked around his room, rubbing her arms.

“Maybe it will be what will break the curse?” she said softly. “Maybe it will be the promise of our happily ever after?”

As he sat down on the bed, he sighed deeply.

“Sex is just sex, Belle. I know there’s a lot written about virginity and purity in a variety of tomes, but even from a magical point of view, it’s about pureness of heart and soul, not about pureness of your lower regions.”

As Belle sat down on the bed besides him, she left plenty of room between them.

“If it’s just sex, and if it’s not as important if you make it sound, then why isn’t it worth a try?”

He startled now, looking at her as though she had gone insane, but she just smiled warmly as she looked back at him.

“I’m not afraid of sleeping with you. Nor am I disgusted or anything else that would make you hesitate. Let’s just do it. If it breaks the curse, good. If not, we’ll have had sex.”

He gulped, and Belle saw it. It wasn’t like she wasn’t nervous about the suggestion, but she’d been able to hide it pretty well. He, on the other hand, seemed to be drowning in his nerves, and though he nodded, she feared for a moment that he was more terrified of her than the other way around.

He didn’t even speak as he started to undress, and realizing that he had not said no to her suggestion, she started to undress as well, untying her corset as quickly as she could, and crawling underneath the sheets the moment she was naked, realizing that he’d crawled underneath it a few moments earlier, and that he had been watching her with a very dry mouth.

Once they were both underneath the sheets, she was the first to move over to him, and though he opened his eyes for her, he seemed hesitant as she kissed his lips again, his eyes still open as he looked at her.

“What’s wrong?” she whispered as she noticed this. “Don’t you want this?”

“I’m just surprised that you would want this,” he whispered back.

“Don’t be,” she said with a wide smile. “I don’t think you realize how handsome I find you. Now are you going to kiss me back or just lie here in confusion?”

She winked teasingly, and at that he relaxed, wrapping his arms around her bare back.

“Let’s do this,” he said slowly, gaining confidence. “Let’s find ourselves a happy ending this night, shall we?”

She chuckled, noticing how playful his gaze was before he flipped her underneath him and started kissing her neck. She could only moan in agreement to what he was doing, thrilled by the feeling of his hands on her back and in her side, and even more thrilled by the sensation of his length between her legs, already hard enough to enter her.

They didn’t rush it though, but instead kissed and touched for many hours, trying to make the other moan in longing before they finally joined each other in a true union, looking into each other’s eyes in the dim candlelight while they made slow but unquestionable love to one another.

Belle would not have believed Rumplestiltskin could be such a gentle lover, but he was, making her come several times before he eventually gave into his own desires and spilled his seeds deep within her, crashing on top of her when he was done, completely spent.

“I forgot human stamina was this weak,” he muttered as he rolled off of her, by means of an apology for not lasting longer, but she wasn’t about to complain.

“I’m human too,” she reminded him sweetly. “Trust me, this was perfect.”

He offered her a half-smile. “Yeah?”

She nodded with a smile of her own. “Yeah.” Though she didn’t want it to end just yet, she suddenly said: “And they lived happily ever after…”

But nothing happened, and at this they both let out a relieved sigh at the same time, realizing this of the other, Belle suddenly said: “We should try again tomorrow.”

He nodded, knowing she wasn’t just talking about their mantra, but about the sex.

“Definitely. Could break any day now.”

“Any day,” she agreed, hoping they had a while longer to explore this new bond between them.

+++

And so days turned to weeks, and weeks to months, and months to years.

They were growing older – both of them – and though they often said “And they lived happily ever after…”, the times between the moments they said that were getting longer.

It wasn’t just sexual attraction between them – it had certainly developed into a much deeper love, one that they had at first tried to hide from one another, but which they now no longer denied.

They became rulers of this peaceful make-belief kingdom, where nothing exciting ever happened – and they were fine with that. There were hardly any meetings to be had, and in their free time they were pampered by the servants, and by each other.

By the time they grew very old, they were starting to realize that “And they lived happily ever after” wasn’t a spell, it was what they had to do – and it was what they were doing.

Rumplestiltskin, being the older of the two, died peacefully in his sleep after they had spent over forty years with one another in this dream world, and Belle only remembered falling asleep by his side, the both of them very gray and old, yet when she woke, she wasn’t in their royal bed – she was on the floor in his study, her hands so much younger than before, her hair brown again, and Rumplestiltskin by her side looking like the imp that had captured her.

“Rumplestiltskin!” she immediately said, rushing to his side immediately, her hands on his chest while he woke, and as he opened his eyes and looked at her, he was disoriented for a few moments.

When she hugged him, he could not help but hug her back, the gesture something that had grown so familiar in their fairy tale world, and as they let go, they both got up from the floor, and Rumplestiltskin immediately closed the book, disoriented and hesitant as he looked at the cover underneath his fingertips.

“We should do that again,” Belle said playfully, linking her arms with his. “But next time, you go in first. I wanna be Rapunzel.”

As he looked to his side, he saw how sincere she was, how thrilled she was at the prospect of living such a life again, and he gulped heavily.

Noticing his hesitation, her gaze softened. “No? Just this life then? You and I, living here in the Dark Castle?” She smiled hopefully. “It can be just as beautiful.”

As she touched his scaly cheek, he shuddered, unable to believe that she still looked at him with the same loving eyes.

“It wasn’t real,” he whispered to her.

“My feelings were,” she insisted softly. “They still are. I love you, Rumplestiltskin.”

As she stood on her tiptoes to press her lips to his, he suddenly moved his hand beside her head and snapped his fingers, and as she lost consciousness and fell, he quickly picked her up before he lay her down on the floor again.

Snapping his fingers again, she awoke with a loud gasp, as though she had just resurfaced from a deep dive in the ocean.

Now she was the one to look completely disoriented.

“Rumplestiltskin?” she looked at him in confusion. “What happened?”

He knelt by her side, his gaze strict and his voice high and impish. “Why! You got trapped in a Fairy Tale, can’t you remember?”

As she shook her head, she just looked at him in confusion.

“Didn’t I tell you not to get into my cupboard? You opened the book of Rapunzel and got stuck in there! I had to use very difficult magic to get you out of there! You don’t remember?”

She shook her head again, still looking confused.

“I can remember coming into this room, but nothing more than that,” she said, rubbing her eyes. “When was that? I feel so hungry.”

“Must have been well over a day ago!” Rumplestiltskin said, not sure if it had been one or two days.

He offered her his hands and pulled her up from the floor, and she seemed a little dizzy.

“I’ll get you something to eat, and you’re to stay out of my cupboard from now on, understood?”

As she nodded, she looked worried about haven broken one of his rules, and he could not stand the sight of her looking so worried.

Summoning her favorite food to her, she looked up in surprise.

“Salmon!” She smiled. “That’s my favorite.”

He knew. After spending forty years with her in a fake universe, he knew everything there was to know about her. But she never had to know that.

“Lucky guess,” he muttered, turning his back to her. “Now eat up! You have an entire castle to clean!”

She smiled, glad he wasn’t too upset, and quickly ate her plate empty before she thanked him and headed out of his room again.

He licked his lips as he watched her leave. It wasn’t like he hadn’t enjoyed his time with her – quite the opposite. But he knew that he had to find Baelfire, and he knew that his maid would only be a weakness to his villains, and a weakness to his own heart. He had to try and forget her, if he would ever hope to be reunited with his son. There was another curse coming, and it would be hard if he had to fight for yet another soul when it came.

It was better if she’d never realize they had had a happily ever after already. He only hoped it wasn’t the only one he’d ever receive in his lifetime.

#rumbelle secret santa #little-inkstone #rss #rumbelle fic #rumbelle #mine #rss2017

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missymarysthings · 5 years ago

Text

Petrified Petals

“So...did you find me on accident, or on purpose...Salazar Rose?“ Medusa asked in a low tone as she watched the bat that had appeared take human form. She then laughed at the smirk that appeared on his face. “Don’t try to act clever. That was never your forte. You smelled the blood that was in the air until about...20 or so minutes ago? Maybe it hasn’t been that long. My sense of time is shot!” she said and laughed more.

“Lorena...Lorena...” Salazar said in a disappointed like tone and slowly shook his head. He then tsk’d and wagged his finger at her. “Is zis vhere your talk of hard vork und dedication gets you? You have alvays been a delusional fool und zis is ze final proof! How crazed und disheveled you look...how unsightly! Lower zan low class!“ he said and moved closer to her.

“I may be crazed, but you’ll always be nothing more than a glorified bat and a spoiled brat!” Medusa said in return as she moved to try and get in his face. However, her chains stopped her short. “You make too many mistakes Salazar, always depending on your grandfather Demetrius to bail you out! Either literally or by throwing around his name and credentials. Never by your own merits. One day...oh one day Salazar...it won’t work,” she said with a lopsided grin.

“So you say. As it stands, I am ze one ahead Lorena, not you,“ he said and revealed his fangs to her. “Right now I could have you at my mercy, und do vhatever I vanted. Who cares about a trapped has-been? Hmm?“ Salazar said and his eyes started to glow faintly.

Before he could move any closer to her, however, a wall of water appeared between them. He also felt the wind of something being swung at his neck but it stopping just before it would connect.

“I care,“ came the stern and, surprisingly, slightly commanding tone from Liliane. Her eyes were narrowed at Salazar’s back as her sword, Lucinda, was a mere inch from his neck. Her other hand had a bag with the various things she had brought for Lorena and herself to eat and drink.

“My Flower? You vould vaste your time vith zis disgrace?“ Salazar said, not believing she would be here, but still not moving yet just incase.

“For the last time. I. Am. Not. Your. Flower. I am happily engaged to Selik, and the only disgrace here is you,“ Lily said, not dropping her tone or her sword. “You are a disgusting piece of filth with no sense of morals, no sense of respect, and a disgrace to male kind. People like you, and your grandfather, are the ones who give bad reputations to the rest of your kin. The kind that damns the innocents that may be of the family name, blood, or race,“ she continued. “If you do not willingly get away from Lorena? I. Will. Make. You. She will not be harmed on my watch.“

Liliane had long since grown tired of the Rose vampire named Salazar. Ever since they first meet years ago in her university days she did not care for him or his disrespect. He was creepy towards her and she soon realized he really only saw her as a trophy for him to win. She was thankful to her Schwarzschild and Richter kin, for looking out for her the best they could. An incident and close calls may have happened at first, but they kept him at bay. And when she first met her now fiancé, and he noticed the evidence of what this Rose had tried to do to her, he did what he could to ensure her safety as well.

But she would not let them carry the burden alone. In a way, Salazar was the last straw that made her try again to learn the sword. So if they could not be there, she could fend for herself. Everyone had protected her and looked after her for most of her life...it was time she stepped up and not ‘hide behind them‘ anymore. She would help herself, and try to protect others if she could as well.

“Bitte, why such harshness? You vould really place ze Stellato over me?“ he asked as he glanced over the shoulder that didn’t have the sword dangerously close to his neck. “Look at her! How can you even-“

“Ten seconds Salazar. I mean it,“ Lily interrupted.

“My Flower! I-“

“Five. Four. Three. Two-“

“Fine!“ Salazar said as he turned back into a bat and flew to a different part of the roof. He changed back into his human form and tried to get closer to Lily. However, she pointed her sword at him, her eyes still narrowed. He stopped but reached his hands out to her. “Why can’t you see I’m ze perfect one for you? I can make your beauty shine so brightly! Make you ze envy of all ze high status ladies. I could give you anyzing you ask for! Lily bitte! Ditch ze brute und marry me instead!”

“Listen to these last words carefully,“ Lily said as one of her own eyes flickered a moment. “I will not be treated as some pretty little trophy to be paraded and shown off. I will not be with someone who does not respect me or my feelings. I do not need to be fancy, I do not need people to envy me for it. You say you can give me anything I ask for and yet you continually deny the one thing I ask of you. You will never be perfect for me, because you do not really accept me for who I am. And lastly? How. Dare. You.”

With a speed that her wolf kin would likely be proud of her for, Lily spun around once to give her the power and force needed to cleanly disconnect Salazar’s head from his body. She watched his head roll slightly near Lorena and his body crumple to the floor. Liliane huffed and resisted the urge to spit on his severed head. “Selik is not just some brute! My future husband is a wonderful man who is so much more than what he appears to be! But a shallow, pathetic, and sad excuse for a creature like you would have never understood.”

Medusa watched as Liliane tossed the bag she had up in the air before calling the wall of water over. She sat more fully as she then watched the water swirl around the Richter and her sword before gently going around the outside of the bag and dispersing. The only evidence that Liliane Richter had caused bloodshed was on Salazar himself and the part of the roof where they were.

When Lily carefully caught the bag and made her sword disappear, Medusa started cackling madly with glee. “What a show, what a show! My my, Liliane, I was not told about this side of you! How interesting!” she nearly squealed in excitement. “Oh to see Salazar get his comeuppance...gods I didn’t think I would get to see that day! Even at my lowest...I still outlived him,” Medusa laughed more and leaned forward so she could get a better look at his head. “The satisfaction...the slightest bit of vindication...I really could die now with the teeniest, tiniest bit of actual happiness despite all the madness and everything else...” she said in an actual soft tone.

Liliane sighed softly and brought her free hand to her cheek. “I’m not often like that. And this...is the first time I’ve killed anyone. It really should have been in self-defense or if he tried again to hurt you. I guess he really hit the last straw for me,” she said as she looked at Lorena and Salazar’s head. “What am I going to do about this? I can’t leave...this here. That’s not good for you. I don’t want to bother my relatives with this mess but...at the same time I don’t know...” she mused softly.

“Oh! Oh! Suggestion if I may?“ Lorena ventured before laughing a bit manically. “Send his dear grandfather the body! Only the body though! But the head, keep it as a trophy! I think that was the old tradition anyway! Or was that just rumors...hmm, you may have to ask your wolf kin for the truth! Or present them with the head, as much as he must have been a pest for them like his grandfather? Oh they would certainly be proud of what you have done. Or mixed feelings. But either way! They would know what to do~“ she continued.

“I...don’t think Selik would approve of me keeping the head of...that thing. I wouldn’t really want to keep it anyway. I never have to see his face and stupid or smug grins again and I’d rather keep it that way,” Lily said. “Actually...“ she then summoned some water again to push the head and body to a different part of the roof away from them. “Yeah, it’s probably best if I let papa Seff or his brothers handle it or whoever they get to do it...I’ll call them later, for now though...”

Medusa watched as Liliane moved closer to her and sat down. Raising a brow she further watched as the Richter pulled the things she had out of the bag and place them between the two of them. There were little sandwiches and...fudge? As well as what looked to be either tea or juice. “So...what is all this? That’s a little more than simply fulfilling a basic need...”

“I suppose. And maybe had I not felt like hand making all this I would have been here sooner and deterred that thing from getting near you. But...what is done is done,“ Lily said as she picked up a sandwich. “So besides the little sandwiches, which are the most obvious thing...I also made some cherry flavored fudge and some iced tea. The tea would have been cherry too, but I was out. I hope you don’t mind that its just sweet tea,” she explained. Medusa blinked at the Richter and looked at the sandwich.

“I don’t-”

“Deserve this? Ja, ja... I know you’re going to keep saying that Lorena. And I’m going to continue to insist otherwise. Unless you tell me what you refuse to...what grounds do I have to determine you don’t deserve any of this?” Lily interrupted and wiggled the sandwich lightly near Lorena’s mouth. “None. Now...I’m not going to have all this by myself, that would be rude. So...?”

Medusa rolled her eyes and scoffed. She still believed the kind Richter was wasting her time on her. However, the whole Salazar thing, that made her like Liliane a little more. “I’ll tell you what. Since I am grateful for what you did to that, well you put it quite well yourself on different occasions...” she said and paused to nod her head towards where Salazar’s head and body were with a laugh. “Over there...and it was quite delightful to me...I’ll acquiesce this time and eat, and drink, what you have brought for me.”

Despite the reasoning, Lily smiled happily. She was thankful that Lorena agreed to eat and get some nourishment. It may not be so easy next time, but for now she had accomplished something and it gave her a little hope. Still...she wondered if she could do it alone with as little as she knows. Maybe she could call Nia and the Reinhardt brothers. Or maybe just Sein. He was the oldest and the main one handling business matters if she remembered right. So surely he knew Lorena somehow right? Ruba told her that Lorena was the head of their family and business so...yeah?

Liliane was brought from her thoughts but Lorena actually reaching out and grabbing the sandwich from her. She blinked realizing that Lorena had freed one of her hands from chains to do so.

“However, I’ll not make you go through feeding me,” Medusa said with a laugh as she noted Liliane’s surprise. “I am really undeserving for that sort of treatment. Although the thought that you would have is sweet,” she added.

“Lorena...“ Lily began but stopped when Lorena shook her head.

“You better start eating too before I change my mind~“ Medusa playfully warned. Lily chuckled a little and slowly shook her own head before she picked up another sandwich for herself. “There we go~ To the demise of a mutual pest!“ she said before taking a bite. Medusa then blinked and quickly took another bite. “This is...more refreshing than I thought...“

“Oh my...“ Lily said softly, trying to hide her amusement, before taking a bite herself. “Well I brought plenty, so as much as you feel like eating...go ahead!“

Once Medusa eventually had her fill of tea, sandwiches, and fudge, her free hand instantly went back into being chained. She yawned a bit and looked at Liliane with one eye closed and a lopsided smile. She told the Richter that she did enjoy everything and that it was a good ‘last meal’ of sorts. Of course Lily told her not to speak like that but she just laughed and said that she’s thinking about resting her eyes for a bit. Medusa also wished her luck with the whole calling her kin to deal with ‘certain remains’ thing with a chuckle before she stopped speaking or laughing for now.

Lily promised that she would continue to check on her, but that only got the slight raise of Lorena’s shoulders as a response before she closed her other eye. Lily sighed softly before she moved to the completely other side of the roof and sat on the edge. She swung her legs idly as she pulled out her phone to make a few calls.

The first was to her papa Seff. She was going to use her water to move the body and head to a different location for someone to retrieve and do something with. She briefly explained that she had an encounter with Salazar and what she ended up doing to him and how she wasn’t sure what to do next. Of course she also apologized for troubling him with this and possibly being an inconvenience or causing consequences she did not consider. And of course, she also thanked him in advance and offered to make anything he and those that helped a large batch of anything they wanted.

The next call, however, was the trickier one. She wasn’t sure how to approach the matter. All she had though were her hopes that maybe he knew something or had ideas and her desire to help Lorena. With this call though, she got Sein’s voicemail. “Hallo Sein! It’s Lily. I’m hoping you can help me with something. It’s an unusual matter but...do you happen to know Lorena Stellato? Something has happened and she’s not doing well at all! But she’ll tell me nothing. Her state right now is...something to be seen in person, but please call me back and I’ll try my best to tell you and where she currently is. This may be a lot to ask but I swear I’ll make it up to you if you can help me help her! Thank you in advance either way...have a good day Sein.”

She hung up the call and sighed. For a moment she looked up at the sky in thought. For a few moments today she had seemed to balance Lorena’s aura, but it went chaotic again. At least right now it was more subdued. It was a little thing, and maybe it was only because Lorena was letting herself rest, but it was something else that gave Lily some hope.

“I believe you can be saved Lorena...”

#random prompt #continuation to Stone Shattered Soul #and Golden Heart of a Water Lily #Medusa Stellato #Liliane #lily #Salazar Rose #under a read more mainly because of lenght #but also because of subject matter

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onwesterlywinds · 7 years ago

Text

Dawning

For the first time in weeks, she savored her cup of coffee. To be able to sit and not do anything at all was such an unexpected but welcome pleasure, compounded by the fact that no other Riskbreakers were awake to disturb the peace. Argath was even content to share her presence, lying sprawled on the cool wooden floor as his paws twitched in sleep. Once it was clear that her momentary leisure would not be thwarted, she returned her papers to her office and forsook her customary table for a seat by the bar's eastern window, that she might watch the sun rise over the Goblet.

A heavy sense of unease weighed on her the longer she remained there, try though she did to combat it. At first she might have mistaken the feeling for restlessness, for the need to be at work after weeks of coordinating the Ishgardian campaign. Yet when she blinked against the glare of the morning sun on the stem of her teaspoon, she saw in her mind's eye the manse in its entirety as viewed from the Goblet's northernmost entrance and understood that the feeling was not her own.

Though he could recall so little of the path he had taken to the Shroud after stowing away aboard the Riskbreakers' vessel up in Azys Lla, his journey back to the Sandsea had been an easy one. He had permitted himself simply to walk for the first time since he had left on his mission for the XIIth, and his feet had carried him back to the manse as if of their own accord. Walking had given him more time to think about what he could begin to say.

The Sandsea was a prominent fixture along the Goblet's northern skyline, but any twinge of pride he might have felt was undone by his anxiety. The closer he came, the more he felt her presence saturated in every ilm of the land. He was reminded of how stupid it had been to think her dead, far from any trace of her though he had been.

He blinked upon reaching the house's front steps and was abruptly sitting at a table in the bar with a cup of black coffee, watching a shadow approach from somewhere out in the garden.

He raised a fist to knock on the front door and hesitated.

The door opened for him all the same.

Ashelia stood framed in the threshold, her violet eyes intent on him. Here, lit by the morning sun and standing only a few fulms away as she was, he could take measure of her far better than he had in the Dravanian ruins. She was tall, not quite Tia's height but certainly above Alma's; her hair, tucked back by a black beret, was of a lighter shade than that of the child in his memories.

When he beheld her face, he was ashamed to have mistaken her for Alma for so many years, even if that time had been spent seeing through her eyes. He saw much of Alma reflected there, yes, but so too did he see Tia in the curve of her mouth - and the slight quirk in her eyebrow as she surveyed him in return was the very picture of Brynhilde, his own mother, dead now for decades.

Somewhere in the bar beyond, a puppy began to bark.

"You're here," she said.

Her voice was of no surprise to him, as he had dreamed so often of speaking it himself. He nodded.

"On their orders?"

She seemed to already have sensed the answer, but he gave his reply nonetheless. "...No."

Her shoulders relaxed. Behind her, the dog continued its yapping.

"...You've come a long way."

So have you, he longed to say. "I stowed away on your airship up in-"

"I meant from Garlemald. You've seen Bernard, then?"

"Last evening. Just north of Baelsar's Wall."

At that, the barking rose to a volume and intensity that would render any further conversation between them futile. Rounding on the small shape crouched over the rug, he shouted "Argath, no!" just as Ashelia snapped "Quiet, you!"

Argath looked between them, doubtless confounded to be addressed thusly by a stranger, and offered one last defiant bark before scampering off into the basement. A quiet chuckle escaped Ashelia as she watched the pup depart - and as she turned back to face him, he was stunned to realize that he was laughing as well.

"Come in," she said at last, and held open the door for him.

It was eerie to watch him move about the Sandsea. He helped himself to a cup of coffee at her urging and knew without hesitation where each object necessary to the process could be found: mug in the cabinet above the sink, spoon in the leftmost drawer, kettle already warm on the stove, cream in the icebox. Judging by the continual furrowing of his brow with each step he took around the bar, he seemed just as confused by his own foreknowledge as she did.

"Muscle memory?" she offered as she handed him her own mug for a refill.

"Ashelia." They had taken seats at the booth by the window, and he marveled at the simultaneous ease and impossibility of it all. To say her name, let alone to say it to her... "You'll find me changed from the man I was twenty years ago."

The words came out sounding far more useless and trite even than he had anticipated, and the scowl she shot him in response was well-deserved.

He had walked a good many malms to tell her what he had to say and wondered if she already knew most of it.

"Doubtless you've wondered why I never followed you out of Ala Mhigo. Please know, Ashelia, that I would never have forsaken you willingly. The truth is that what I remember of Ala Mhigo's fall differs greatly from what actually transpired. For many years, what I knew was that you and your mother were dead - murdered by Bernard Undertaker - and that Alma went missing in the siege."

Ashelia's eyes widened, doubtless at the mention of Bernard.

"Only when we met in Dravania did I recall things as you do, as they actually took place - but even then, I cannot say for certain what became of me after we said farewell in Ala Mhigo. I was captured, tortured, I think-"

"No one else believed me," she whispered. She clasped her mug with one hand, holding it to the side of her face as she stared out the window. "I told anyone who would listen that you had saved me, but they thought me delusional after all the horrors I had seen that day. And then-" He had seen this expression on her face in the Dravanian ruins: a quiet loss, and a fear of losing still more. "I dreamed, night after night after night, that the Garleans were torturing me. Experimenting on me. I knew it was happening to you, somehow, though I couldn't understand it or put it into words. And Tia trying to end the dreams only made them worse."

Tia. She called her mother by her first name. Bernard had said nothing to indicate damage to their relationship - which meant that something unspeakable had come to pass between them.

"...Your mother."

She had dreaded the possibility of this moment for years. So often had she struggled to imagine what her father would have thought of her, been haunted by what he might have said for how their relationship had deteriorated. When she had been but a teenager, those thoughts and fears had been the only thread keeping her and her mother together, until even that had at last been severed. He must have seen something on her face, because his expectant face filled with concern the longer she fought for words. "She... things are better now. Or at least, they were. But she was never the same after Alma... after Alma..."

"What happened?"

Tears were the last thing she wanted.

"Alma was with us up until we entered the Shroud." She could not keep the tremble from her voice. "But the elementals wouldn't let her through. She tried to follow us, but the trees kept forcing her off the path, kept bringing her back to the highlands. And then the Garleans came, and we heard... we heard her screaming. She was begging for us to run, to leave her behind... and we never saw her again."

Were those tears in his eyes?

"And I know I wasn't the easiest child to care for, especially with the dreams. I would cry so loudly at night that half the camp proposed to throw me to the Amalj'aa. Tia started taking somnus, at first to sleep a little easier... and one thing led to another. She... she started..." She could not say the next piece without incriminating him for the same offense. "She started mistaking me for Alma as I got older, whenever she was on the pipe. When I was about fifteen or so, I couldn't take any more. My hair was still in braids at that point, like the ones Alma wore; I took my knife and cut it all off, down to the roots. We didn't speak for years after that."

He thought he recalled the years that followed: foul-smelling potions brewed in mesa walls, ventures and heists amid the blinding sands, and an abiding, gut-wrenching disdain for anything that did not further the ambition of home.

She took a sip of her coffee as he reflected on the nature of those dreams and winced as his own lips were burned.

"Bernard said she left the camp."

It was several moments before Ashelia could respond. "Things were improving between us after I founded the Riskbreakers. I don't know what changed, but she threw away her pipe. Only a few weeks ago, I received word from Gundobald that she had disappeared. It was as if she had stood up and walked away, though she's struggled to walk anywhere for ages. No one has heard from her since then, and by now, it's... it's been so long that we fear the worst."

"She was ill for some time," my bloody arse. Go fuck yourself, Bernard. "What's the likelihood of kidnapping?"

"There's been no word from Mil-" Milleuda Folles, he knew, sister of Kingsguard knight Wiegraf Folles. "-from the Corpse Brigade, or from any separatist Resistance factions, at least not thus far. If she were taken, ransom likely isn't their goal."

He sat in silence, turning his thoughts over and over for any possible answers and finding none. "I'll start looking for any trace of her as soon as I'm able," he promised. He would need to take considerable precautions to ensure that his presence in Eorzea remained undetected by any Garlean frumentarii, and perhaps two weeks was an impossibly cold trail, but this would at the very least give him something with which to occupy himself. Another task, another objective, another mission.

For only a moment, Ashelia's eyes lit up with hope.

"Can I trust Bernard?" The question spilled out of her rather abruptly during a tangent on his journey back from the Shroud.

Her father stopped, breathed a deep sigh, and lowered his gaze to the table between them.

"You said he... you said you remembered him murdering me and Tia." Even as she said the words, she strove to firmly remove the picture from her mind; it did not bear thinking about for a man who had once insisted on watching her sleep.

"The memory was the XIIth Legion's doing," he insisted. "Their means, I imagine, of turning me against Ala Mhigo once and for all."

It made sense. If her father and Bernard had been as brothers - her father, Bernard, and Marco - it stood to reason that the fracturing of a bond between two people so rooted in loyalty to their homeland would have been devastating to his deepest convictions.

Argath returned from the basement, triumphantly carrying an appropriated sock in his mouth.

"Bernard's been an ornery shite his entire life, but if he's even a fraction of the man he was twenty years ago, he wouldn't so much as think of doing harm to me. Or to my flesh and blood."

"Unless he saw it as a necessity, you mean."

At that, he smirked. "You've come to know him well."

"We have to think back." A slight frown crossed Ashelia's face as she did so. "Aside from the earth wyrm in the Shroud, what near-death experiences have there been that we've each recovered from?"

Her gaze fell down to a spot near the table, and he realized she was looking at the gash along his upper arm left from where the wyrm had swiped at him. "I nearly starved when I was about ten," she admitted in a voice quiet enough to make his heart break. "There was no food to be had in the camp for days, none at all. I went out into the desert and saw a dead peiste. It was half-rotted, but I supposed it would be safe from all the buzzards on it. The meat poisoned my stomach for a week. Gundobald told me it was through the grace of Nymeia that I survived."

When she was ten. "That would have been fifteen years ago." Fortunately he did not have to rack his brain for a corresponding incident. "There was a feast held in Ala Mhigo for all sorts of visiting Garlean dignitaries. One moment I was fine; the next, I was violently ill. Directly outside the ballroom doors." Ashelia gave a devious giggle. "I was in the infirmary for a week with what they figured was some sort of flu. But that care must have been what kept you alive."

"Something I've been curious about: I don't always see things from you when I'm asleep. It's usually when you're engaged in battle, I would say - though with you, of course, that's a relatively frequent occurrence. Would you say the same of your dreams?"

He paused for a moment to think. "Yes," he said cautiously, "and no. The most vivid dreams I've had were of... running across the Sagolii at sunrise."

"My morning exercise," she mused. "It was a form of meditation in its own way." She gazed out the window at the sky now turning from orange into blue, and he could not begrudge her her wistfulness for the memories they shared of color and light. "I imagine I was drawing on the Echo without realizing it. Perhaps that's the key to this connection, above all else: a connection to the Echo, be it through battle or meditation, or..."

"Anxiety," he finished. "The ruins were proof of that."

She nodded. It was the first either of them had spoken of that meeting, their first in twenty years.

"Do you think there could be a way to sever the connection?" he asked. The look she gave him was one of surprise, but it was not for his own sake that he posed the question.

"I... I don't know. Of all the people I've ever met with the Echo, I've never heard of anyone losing their gift. It could be this is something we'll have to simply... make the most of."

"Ashelia, I-"

"Don't," she snapped, and her voice was firm for the first time. "Don't apologize. Not for this. For all the pain it's brought us both, it's saved our lives."

That was certainly true.

"What now, then?" she asked at long last. The pause between their questions had been substantial enough for them to find time for a light breakfast: toast, bacon, and rolanberries. Though her father had savored the food, as he had doubtless seen little more than prepackaged Garlean rations for the past several moons, he had eaten only in moderation.

"I don't know," he admitted. He stood to her right at the sink, washing the dishes they had used. Already he was a better houseguest than half the residents of the Sandsea. "I do intend to look for Tia... but I have to determine first that the Garleans have no means of affecting my memories from afar."

It was a thought she had not imagined before: that she might regain her father after twenty years, only to lose him once more to the Garleans. "Do you want to stay here?" There was, after all, no safer place in Eorzea for anyone in hiding from the Empire.

He blinked in surprise, but thankfully, he made no displays of self-reliance. "I'd be grateful."

And so, in truth, would she. "What would you have me call you?"

"Whatever you wish in private, though 'Rosenheim' would be for the best among the rest of your company."

She nodded; though she longed not to care about what the rest of her subordinates thought or knew of her personal life, neither was she ready to reveal that the man who had inspired so much of what the company stood for had served for twenty years as a Garlean, willingly or otherwise.

He set the last plate into the cupboard and sighed, staring around at the bar as if he were truly seeing it for the first time. "This is all of your own making, you know," he said. "Whatever else our connection may have given you, I had no hand in this."

Argath sat down on the floor and scratched himself so vigorously that he toppled over.

"I hope you're proud." He placed a firm hand on her shoulder - an Ala Mhigan expression of solidarity - and she returned the gesture. "You've done far more than I could ever have achieved. And even had you not, you would still deserve to be proud."

Though it had been years since she had striven for his praise, she nodded. Her eyes began to sting with tears.

He laid his free hand along the side of her face, and she was in no way affronted when he leaned in to press his lips to her forehead. For only a moment she wondered if this touch might hold the means to finally sever their connection, if repeating the last contact they had had would be enough to dismantle the consequence of twenty years; then she felt a pressure against her arm and realized she was grasping him more tightly than she had thought.

#Undertakings #Ashelia Riot #Ashley Rosenheim #Argath the Wolf Pup

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