#I truly get annoyed by my older brothers thinking I got the best treatment | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

a-lil-perspective · 4 years ago

Text

Handle With Care

A/N: Okay I know y’all are probably sick of the repetitive Crosshair X Reader works lately. But I promise it will all make sense soon. First and foremost, I’m working to dig deep in establishing some key points while the narratives move forward. Aiming for the full effect here. (Also, keep in mind that I’m reviving ‘Verd’ika’). The fic takes place sometime after ‘Reticle’, for reference. Sick Crosshair. Soft Crosshair. (I know, basically all of my works are that way) I will defend that moody sniper because in actuality, he is a very soft boi who not-so-secretly just wants to be loved and coddled, and that is the hill I’m dying on. As always, feedback is greatly appreciated. [Warnings: None] @shadow-hyder @starflyer-104 @thegoodbatch @obiorbenkenobi @kriffingunlucky @karpasia @halzore @everyonehasanindividuality (Tag List is open:))

•{}•{}•{}•{}•{}•{}•{}•{}•{}•{}•{}•{}•{}•{}•{}•{}•{}•{}•{}•

Have you ever sneezed while your face is sealed airtight inside a bucket of plastoid?

News flash: It’s nearly as annoying as having a Yalbec male try to eat you alive—well, mate with you. Same difference, the sniper of Clone Force 99 will eventually come to find out.

The sneezing makes the air stagnant and it’s obnoxious, yet Crosshair is uncontrollably going on his fourteenth one in the short span of five minutes.

That’s completely normal.

The forebode of a creeping illness intensifies as the day progresses, and Crosshair finds himself growing more perturbed, fluctuating between hot and cold like an oscillating pendulum, and ticking like a time bomb waiting to go off, because of it. Tech’s face, scrunched with concern after having come at Crosshair with a thermal scanner, informs the sniper of a budding fever. But he’s not sick. Not at all.

He’s not sick, until your irresistible amiability convinces him that it’s okay to be, and that promptly earns him a spot snuggled in your lap, his stiff neck resting atop your thighs with only a slight begrudge to follow. His breaths are somewhat labored at the tightness seizing his chest. There’s a sharp pain running behind his eyes, and the feeling of suffocation is palpable—there’s so much pressure along his facial structure, his sinuses are burning. Yet he still manages to enjoy the way you’re running your fingers through the short fibers of his hair, nails scratching lightly along his temples and eliciting a stuffy hum of contentment from the miserable sniper.

Despite his unfortunate state, you’re having a rather lovely time. There’s no denying; you experience the swell of your already nurturing heart and an exhilarating thrill at the prospect of taking care of others—of Crosshair, specifically; ever the complex individual. You’ve long since established your solicit of such assistance, to which Crosshair slowly found himself relenting to the idea of as time paved the way. But the actual application of moments were rare.

It made the sniper slightly uncomfortable; the way his initial sneeze earlier that day had you immediately zeroing in on him with an intensity he believed only his sniper eyes were capable of. “I’m onto you”, your archly tone had soon informed, while a smile displaying nothing but affection immediately followed. Your height of perception rivaled his own, and extensive time spent with you reminded Crosshair that it was foolhardy to even attempt a facade, at this point. All it took was a beckoning of your index finger for the sniper to succumb to your care.

It’s every Clone’s most inward desire, really: to want, to crave the extended offer of a wholesome company that’s found beyond fellow Clone brethren. It’s but a dream. To take a beautiful soul by the hand and lead them past the doors of mass duplication—and in turn be lead—before traveling a ways until they each ascend the staircase of individuality; a spiraled one, snaking around itself yet still managing to differentiate. A Clone wants to usher you onto the same ship as them, wishes you to travel along the exact journey they’re on. It’s a never ending one, until it’s a short lived one. It surpasses beyond the surface level, transcending the artifacts of scars littering the planes of their battle-worn skin. It grants you a passage through the ancient cave of their emotions, where each broken piece you find along the way presents another opportunity for restitution, however minuscule. To say it’s a journey is only half of the intel.

Only half, but it’s progress for the sniper Crosshair. The thought worms it’s way past his sickly haze and warms him more than the herbal tea you steeped and promptly ordered him to indulge. He can’t exactly pay the same type of homage to the taste however, as he finds himself reflexively wrinkling his nose in disgust with each sip. The muted liquid didn’t taste near as good as one of his oldest companions that is Corellian Whiskey, in which he’s certain one long swig of will immediately restore his health to optimum performance.

“I’m afraid it doesn’t work that way,” you let him down with pragmatism and a chuckle. “You need something that’s going to help you get better, not get you tipsy.”

You ignore his rising justifications, taking the empty mug that he downed through a swirl of complaints and placing it on the small stand beside the cot before opening the drawer to sift through the contents in search of the standby supply of anti-inflammatories. A sound of disappointment elicits as you turn up empty, and you gingerly begin to shift Crosshair off your lap in order to exit the room in continuing the search.

“I’ll be right back,” you promise gently, however, his fervent resistance halts any further movement.

“So this is it... you’re just gonna leave me here, sick and dying?”

The sight of Crosshair’s perceived indignation is beyond amusing to you. His voice is faint and the words are drawn out in attempt at gaining sympathy over your apparent ‘inhumane’ treatment to the frail sniper. You’re in the middle of convincing him of his long life ahead and encouraging him to drop the theatrics when goggled eyes peer in from the doorway.

“Need anything in here?” Tech’s oh-so-helpful self inquires. You note that there’s a thinly veiled mischievous ring to his question. Realizing there’s no negotiating with the over-exaggerating sniper, you’re thankful for Tech’s intercession, unbeknownst to him.

“Yes, actually; anti-inflammatories and some antihistamines, if you’ve got them? I’ve got a clingy, feverish assassin in my lap who I’m trying to convince isn’t dying from a cold.”

“I’m not clingy!” The sniper’s hoarse whine permeated, eliciting a snort from you that failed to overpower another round of his sneezing fit.

Tech’s eyes sparkled with mirth in mirroring yours, and he beamed knowingly. Words seemed to play at the tip of his tongue but he appeared to think better of it, instead responding with a succinct nod of his head before promptly making a retrieval.

It took seventeen seconds and approximately ten sneezes before Tech returned to the scene of Crosshair’s frustrated state now manifested as various obscenities. The engineer handed you the bottles of medication, and the whimsical glint returned once again. He backed out of the room slowly and with deliberation while keeping his eyes trained on the sniper, before addressing his older brother.

“Oh, by the way Crosshair: I’ve recorded the sound of your rather undignified whining; prepare for blackmail—” the pillow suddenly and aggressively sailing over your head towards the fleeing engineer had you ducking and trying not to develop your own state of wheezing from the laughter that ensued.

“TECH! I’m gonna kick your ass!” The raspy threat fell on deaf ears, for the cheeky youngest brother was long gone. Crosshair was left in the company of both your quietude and incessant coughing once again.

“If you don’t cough up a lung, first,” you address him in concern.

Crosshair’s eyes met the frown tugging your features. The cool pads of your fingers absently traced the line-work of reticle surrounding his right eye. The gesture bestowed a sense of comfort, and Crosshair allowed his contentment to echo in the space between. He reached up to capture your fingers in his own. The radiating heat from his increasingly flushed face was a stark contrast against your mild body temperature.

“...I feel terrible,” he allows himself the admission. It’s a work in progress: Crosshair’s understanding that he can truly be authentically honest in such company—a good kind of honest. Vulnerable, even. More communicative. You’re constantly testing his mettle and his ability to emote, and you manage to bring the sniper to his knees each time; though not out of defeat, not at all. You stroke his hair and that smile, it burns right through him. In all honesty, Crosshair would find a way to malinger nearly every day if it meant getting to be taken care of like... this. He confesses that it’s... different. It’s... nice—very nice. A rarity, but one Crosshair found himself to be enjoying a little bit more with each budding opportunity.

“I know,” you soothe. “Rest, ner cyare ram’ser.”

His fond expression at your doting soon donns a coat of revelation; an afterthought. “Actually, I think just a good smooch will do the trick for me, Doctor—best medicine there is,” he convinces, however weakly.

You snort incredulously. “You’d know this from experience? And for the last time, I’m no Doctor—you go around saying that and I’ll have some of the best Clone medics in the GAR greeting me with trivia, or something.” You briefly acknowledge the way Crosshair has conferred upon you the title of ‘Doctor’ ever since you patched up a nasty gash of his some time ago, and you find sudden hilarity in the picturesque scenario of having Clone Trooper Kix, profound medic of the 501st whom you’ve met a handful of times, suddenly taking a predilection to you because he thinks you’re some prestigious civvie medic capable of wrangling in even the Bad Batch.

Oh how that couldn’t be farther from the truth—the quartet of super soldiers hardly adhere to your advice or sound reason on a good day. You’ll be the first to admit: you have no control over those rowdy men.

The sniper shrugs, rolling his shoulders before tentatively returning to the comfort of your lap and sprawling out. He inhales deeply, and smoothly continues. “In theory, it’s the best medicine there is. So maybe we should, you know, test that out—”

Crosshair melted against the spontaneous velvet of hungry lips. In that moment, neither of you actually paid any mind to his sniffles or the adenoidal lilt of his voice that was now resonating. He tastes exactly as you remember; you’ve had a few previous engagements. Though few and far between, they leave you certainly not forgetful, and Crosshair is a man to relish in the sight of you imprinting your affection on him. The flight to blissful paradise is over before you know it as you retract and consider it a victory over the way Crosshair nearly whines at your absence.

“That’s all you get, ram’ser—just a taste for now to get you to shut your yap and rest.”

Crosshair regards you with as much indignation as he can muster. “You’re a cruel woman.”

You deflect with a smirk and assertion. “Yet here you are, coming back for more.”

“Because I can never get enough,” he defends.

“But you feel somewhat better at least, don’t you? Best medicine there is,” you smugly remind the ill sniper.

Crosshair’s eyelids grew heavy laden as he focused on the hot smolder benevolently spreading through his veins like a blessing; an antidote that is your delicious affection and strong medication. It’s beyond welcoming, and Crosshair can’t decipher whether the rising heat was from the fever, or your intoxicating taste, or both. While the sniper wasn’t absolute, he came to the fierce deduction that it definitely had something to do with you, and suddenly his head was spinning.

“Yeah... Verd... you taste way better than the Whiskey,” Crosshair slurred with realization while in his delirious state, barely above a murmur as he nestled his head further into your lap and Maker, drowsiness was forcefully threatening to claim him already and the medications had barely begun to take effect. Your serene embrace deserved utmost commending for rivaling Wrecker’s, who’s only other arms Crosshair ever felt secure within—prior to you.

Your brows arch as a playful smile materializes. “Verd?” You questioningly test the syllable on your tongue.

Crosshair manages a conspiratorial smirk through his thickening fog of exhaustion. “Yeah... ‘Verd’. You know... Verd’ika? It’s a... new nickname for you—the shortened version,” he struggles to explain—well, ramble is more like it—he’s uncharacteristically rambling at this point, and you absently wonder if Tech and his impish tendencies are just around the corner still recording the latest developments for future leverage.

“You’re adorable when you’re like this,” you endearingly point out. Slightly goading though, you realize, as Crosshair’s head abruptly twists to better regard you with nothing short of perceived offense. His pride appears to have momentarily overpowered his cold in favor of salvaging his dignity.

“I’m a sniper,” he fiercely explains. “I’m not adorable.”

“No, of course not,” you smoothly placate after smothering a laugh. His newfound nickname for you once again surfaces from your sea of thoughts. You pursue your lips in contemplation. “Verd... I like it.”

Crosshair smirks approvingly. “Can’t wait to hear all the nicknames you have for me, Darlin.”

Of course he would say that. Crosshair’s not dying from a cold, but he is dying to hear the mellifluous vocalization of all the different names you’ve stored up for him while finally in the midst of love making.

Good thing patience is his strong suit.

A textured palm lovingly rests against the expanse of his forehead while his fatigued fingers card through your hair before coming to a standstill. In the production of quietude, sniffles, and unspoken devotion, your eyes flutter shut as you lean down to gently bond your forehead with his own as his exhaustion finally establishes itself in the form of light snoring.

“Another time,” you hum assuredly.

#star wars #The Bad Batch #Crosshair #Crosshair X Reader #okay but I love the nickname ‘Verd’#my writing #it’s all disorderly organization #but we’re getting there folks #just bear with me #please trust the process #or don’t #I don’t even trust it myself aha #it’s a Lil thing

118 notes · View notes

tanakavox · 4 years ago

Text

Christmas hunt part 3

Junior found himself pacing back and forth in his office like a caged animal. Something big was coming his way, he just knew it! The only time he felt this way was whenever… “SHE,” came around, and that was always followed by complete and utter hell afterwards. Junior had to force himself to stop pacing around and found himself pouring him a glass of something stiff before hurriedly knocking it back.

“Alright, you need to calm down Hei,” he spoke aloud, a hard edge to his tone as he knocked back another glass, “freaking out isn’t going to solve anything, so just. Calm. Down.”

Unfortunately just as Junior had managed to get his nerve under control, it instantly spiked back up when one of his flunkies came running into his office looking like he’d seen a ghost.

"Boss," He cried out, "There’s this Faunus kid that came running into the club! AND HE CLAIMS TO KNOW YANG XIAO LONG!”

The silence was deafening as his flunkie made the announcement, only to be broken by the sound of shattered glass as Junior let the empty glass in his hand slip out of his grasp. His face paled and his blood ran cold, flashbacks of his bar being destroyed several times over playing through his head like watching old film footage.

"No… it can’t be…”

-Main Lobby-

Zwei was sitting in a booth, currently demolishing a plate of wings and pounding back a shot of warm sake. He had arrived at the club roughly ten minutes ago, only to be greeted with open hostility from the bouncer.

“This ain’t a place for kids,” he stated in a condescending manner, “Why don’t you run along and go sing some christmas carols with the other little boys and girls your age?”

Zwei merely gave him an unimpressed look, not even bothering to rise to the obvious bait before simply flaring a little aura out. The bouncer tenses upon realize the “kid,” was a huntsmen, and his face lost all color when Zwei said:

“That anyway to talk to the brother of Yang Xiao Long?”

Which was how he found himself quickly escorted into an MVP booth and given access to, “The Good Shit.” The men escorting him told him that the Boss would be down shortly, and so Zwei found himself simply killing the time by eating his food and warming himself up with some sake.

Shortly after finishing his wings, he was joined by a very large and very nervous looking man who sat across from him. Zwei cooly looked the man over before knocking back another shot of sake, letting out a content sigh before he addressed the broker.

“Junior, I presume?”

The aforementioned Junior visibly flinched as if he was physically struck, before his face settled into a hard look as if he was getting down to the business.

"That’s me, and I'm just going to cut to the chase kid: who the hell are you and what’s your connection with that blond hellion?”

Zwei couldn’t stop the smirk forming on his face at the apt description of his sister. Looks like his sister's reputation was still well known at The Club.

“I’m her younger brother.”

Zwei’s smirk morphed into a full blown shit eating grin at Juniors reaction to his reveal of being Yang’s brother. His eyes had nearly bulged out of his head in shock, and the man looked like he was about to have a heart attack at any moment.

“Her younger brother,” he cried out in a panic.

“Yeah, younger brother. You deaf or something, or just particularly slow?”

Junior squeezed his eyes shut and let out a miserable groan as he found his hands automatically coming to meet his already aching head. Blondie was bad enough whenever she came around, and Romans red pain in the ass was just as bad(if not worse) whenever she stopped by, but there was another one of these little shits?!

‘Brothers above, what did I ever do to deserve this,’ Junior internally cried to himself, before he opened his eyes to address the amused Zwei in front of him, who was now gingerly sipping on his sake instead of pounding it back.

“Look, just,” Junior started in a tired tone, “tell me what you want so I can get you the hell out of my club.”

Zwei rolled his eyes at the melodramatic man in front of him, before he got a serious look on his face and decided to cut straight to business.

“I’m gonna keep this short and to the point: I need to know where I can get a Playstation Five.”

“...What.”

“Brothers, I’m starting to think you’re honestly slow! I said, I need to know where I can get a Playstation Five! Try and keep up Junior, geez.”

“...You didn’t order one ahead of-”

“No, I did not order one ahead of time,” Zwei angrily growed out, “otherwise, you think I’d be coming to you asking?”

Junior quickly held up his hands in a placating manner, desperately trying his best to not anger the young huntsmen in front of him lest he end up with his establishment destroyed again.

‘Of all times I need Miltia and Melanie the most, and of course they’re on holiday leave!’

“And before you ask why I’m going out of my way for this, it’s because I’m trying to get one of these stupid consoles for my newphew for Christmas.”

If Junior wasn’t about to have a heart attack before, then he certainly felt like he was about to now.

“Di-did you say, nephew,” he managed to stutter out.

“Yes Junior. Nephew. As in, the son of my older sister. You know, I was just giving you shit about being slow before, but now I’m truly wondering if you have some kind of learning disability.”

But Junior ignored Zwei’s insult as he was too busy internally swearing upon every single deity known to man, women, and Faunus alike. First, he learns that there’s a third little demon child to complete a twisted trio, but now they’re breeding?!

“Gods above, what poor bastard did she have to coerce spawning a brat with her,” he all but spat out, “can’t imagine how much of a little shit that hellspawn is to deal with!”

In a span of seconds Hei “Junior” Xiong realized that he had made two monumental mistakes. The first mistake was saying what he just said aloud instead of in his head like he had intended to. The second mistake?

“...What did you just say about my nephew?”

Was that he said what he said aloud in front of the last person he should have ever said that in front of. The temperature of the bar dropped to match the near frozen weather outside, as Zwei leveled a cold glare that sent chills down Juniors spine. Zwei calmly finished drinking his Sake, keeping eye contact with the now terrified Junior before gently placing his glass down…

THUMP

...Before slamming his hand down hard against the shared table between them. The force from the impact vibrated the whole club, while the table made a loud cracking noise as if it were being broken, though it had appeared to remain perfectly intact. Zwei slowly rose from his seat, face carefully blank as he continued to stare down the cowardly information broker in front of him.

“I asked you a question Junior,” Zwei ground out in a dangerous tone, “I said: What. Did. You. Say. About. My. NEPHEW?”

Junior broke out in a cold sweat as he began trying to stutter out an apology. No longer was he praying that his precious club would survive the night, he was now praying that HE would survive within the next five minutes.

“I-I DIDN’T MEAN IT ALRIGHT,” he cried out fearfully, trying to back away only to find that he merely backed himself further into his booth. “LOOK, I KNOW WHERE YOU CAN POSSIBLY GET ONE OF THOSE STUPID CONSOLES ALRIGHT?!

“...I’m listening.”

“There’s a raffle being held at the Franklin Mall tomorrow afternoon around two! They have three consoles available to win and if you’re lucky you might be able to get your hands on one as well!”

“...That’s all you know?”

“That’s all I know, I swear!”

Zwei continued to stare down Junior for several more seconds, before letting out an annoyed sigh.

“A raffel? really,” he muttered to himself, “of course, why not? Typical Rose luck I supposed, but I guess it’s my only option left.”

Zwei let out another sigh, before pulling out some bills and throwing them on the table.

“Lien for my food and the table, should cover most of the costs… I think.”

Junior didn’t even attempt to reach for the bills, still stricken with fear of the Gods put into him by the younger huntsman in front of him. Zwei rolled his eyes at the cowardly man in front of him, before he started walking away.”

“Thanks for the info Junior,” he called out over his shoulder, “Might come pay you another visit sometime. Until then, Merry Christmas.”

Junior finally allowed himself to slump in his seat, his heart was pounding so fast that he thought it was going to leap out of his chest and his clothing was drenched in sweat. It was at that moment the table that Zwei had slammed his palm into let out an ominous groan, before it split perfectly in half: one half landing on the now empty seat where Zwei was seated and the other on top of Junior.

The table landed on Juniors stomach, knocking all the air out of him and causing him to cough and wheeze for several minutes. Junior let out a pathetic whimper at everything that had happened to him in the past half an hour and once again wondered which of one of the brothers he must have pissed off in another life to deserve this treatment.

“Yeah, Merry Christmas…”

@thatorigamiguy did the edits. Thanks bro.

#rwby #rwby junior #junior #rwby zwei #zwei xiao long #zwei rose #zwei #fanaus zwei #fanaus zwei au #hei xijou

13 notes · View notes

naruwitch · 3 years ago

Text

Code Geass: Paladins of Voltron: Chapter 33: Island of the Gods

The sound of seagulls cawing and cold water lapping against her legs was what roused Nonette into consciousness. Blinking as the sun hit her eyes, she saw about a dozen of the birds circling above her.

With a gasp, she sat up. Looking around, she saw that she was alone, but there was no sign of Britannian troops or Knightmares anywhere. It was clear she was still on one of the islands if the sandy beach and glistening ocean was any clue, but it didn't seem to be Shikine Island. Otherwise, she was sure that she would have been picked up by now.

"How did I get here?" she muttered. All she remembered was fighting Zero in the Black Lion and then…

"It's no use," she growled, "I can't remember anything!"

Nonette knew that without any Knightmares, it was unlikely that she could call for help or request a rescue party. The best she could do would be to get to higher ground. She was sure that her unit was looking for her, and if what she remembered was correct and her other colleagues were here...

Prince Schneizel had some explaining to do.

Until then, though, she would have to simply survive, and the first thing to do in that case was to find some freshwater.

Hiking up along the mountain trail, the faint sound of rushing water caught her ear. Likely a waterfall. At least she knew there was a good water source here.

Turning around a bend, Nonette nearly leaped out of her skin as she came face to face with a large green lion head.

Under normal circumstances, she would have at least drawn her gun to defend herself, but the only weapon she had was her sword. She instinctively gripped the handle but not drawing it just yet, merely staring the lion down.

After about a minute of tense silence, Nonette slowly moved, realizing the lion wasn't moving. That likely meant whoever was piloting the lion wasn't inside.

That meant whoever was piloting it was somewhere in the area too.

Now on her guard, Nonette cautiously snuck towards the sound of the waterfall. She had no way of knowing if the pilot was armed or not. However, even if she didn't have a gun, all of the Knights of the Round were proficient with swords, or knives in Bradley's case. She would just have to make sure that she got in close to fight properly.

Sneaking as silently as she could through the foliage, she finally found the source of the sound, and as she expected, it was a waterfall.

What she wasn't expecting, though, was to see someone already occupying the pool beneath it, and she couldn't help but gasp.

It was a young man with platinum blonde hair. His bareback was towards her, so she didn't see his face, but what she could see was… horrifying.

Whip-lashes, bullet wounds, other crisscrossing scars (likely from knives) covered the teen's back. There were also fainter, more straight lines. Surgical cuts. She could barely make out any clear, smooth skin. But most horrifying of all was right in the middle of his spine.

A brand. The symbol wasn't anything she recognized. If she had to pick a word to describe it, though, it looked like some sort of mutated, three-pointed claw.

This man had been tortured. Brutally. As well as experimented on and labeled as property. Of all of the cruel things she'd heard the Empire doing to the Numbers, she was at least glad that branding had been outlawed. Wounds and injuries could heal, but brands, they weren't easy to get rid of. Most were impossible to remove, and from where that one was located, it was unlikely it could be done safely for him.

She must have made more noise than she thought, as a moment later, the teen turned from where he had been bathing. His eyes widened when he saw her.

Her eyes widened in shock too when she saw his face.

"Prince Zephyr?!"

The Knight of the Round was in too much shock that she overlooked the blond reach for something behind him and fired it at her. Next thing she knew, she felt a cord wrap tightly around her, causing her to lose balance and fall to the ground. Moments later, she cried out in pain as electricity ran through her body.

Then she blacked out.

On another area of the island, with a bit more of a rocky shore, Zero stood by, calmly observing the new location that he and Zen had somehow ended up. When he had come to, he had been unable to rouse his Lion. He knew she'd wake up on her own eventually, but what concerned him was that he was unable to contact the castle or the other Paladins. Something on this island was jamming the signal. The best thing to do for now would be to wait until Zen woke up to leave and regroup with the rest of the team manually.

"As I thought," he muttered, "This is another island… though the vegetation and climate are the same as Shikine Island. We can't be that far from it. I can't contact the castle right now. And with my face all over the news, I can't pass myself off as an ordinary person asking for help either. This is annoying."

His train of thought was cut off when he heard a noise to his right. Looking over, the person he spotted made him gasp.

'Euphie!'

The princess herself, soaking wet, also gasped as she came face to face with the mysterious masked revolutionary.

Nonette groaned as she regained consciousness for the second time that day. As she tried to move her hands, she realized that they were bound in what felt like hand-cuffs.

"Have a nice nap?"

Nonette gasped and looked up in surprise, the sun blinding her vision partially as her captor stood in front of her, now fully dressed in a black bodysuit and white and green armor. She noticed that they were by the Green Lion again, and the teen was perched on top of its nose.

Getting a better look at the teen now, there was no mistaking it.

"Prince Zephyr, is that really you?" she gasped hopefully.

The teen frowned and narrowed his eyes and pushed off the Lion's muzzle, landing on the ground.

"I don't know what the hell you're talking about, lady," he said severely, "My name's Rai."

"What? No, that's not…" she protested before pausing, "Don't you recognize me?!"

"Yeah, your name's Nonette Enneagram, Knight of Nine. A member of that bastard Emperor's personal watchdogs. It's hard not to figure it out considering how famous you are," he said, eyes still narrowed.

"That's not what I…" Nonette cut herself off and seemed to think for a moment, before looking at Rai again, "I see. If you don't remember… amnesia, maybe?"

Rai stared at the woman critically. It was evident that she knew him, but he had no recollection of her. Not from before or during his Galra captivity. She did call him Zephyr, though, which is what the other alien prisoners called him as well. That couldn't be a coincidence.

"Zephyr… what happened to you…?" Nonette whispered. Rai was surprised to see tears falling from her eyes. "Those scars… who did that to you?"

Rai gasped, his hand instinctively reaching around to the small of his back where the cursed brand rested. So she'd seen all of that? He hadn't even shown it to the other Paladins. The only person on the castle that had seen it was Coran, which he only saw due to performing a mandatory physical on each of them shortly after they arrived.

The Altean had been horrified, but not surprised that Rai had gone through such treatment. At the time, Rai had asked if Coran recognized the writing branded underneath the symbol. When the Altean confirmed he did, he asked to know what it said. Coran had hesitated at first, but Rai insisted.

According to the Altean, the script roughly translated to: 'Property of the Galra Empire.'

The Green Paladin begged the older Altean not to tell the others, and Coran agreed, knowing that these things were personal and sensitive to prisoners of war.

Now knowing that someone other than Coran knew about the brand made Rai unusually uncomfortable. Like he was exposed. Naked even.

As the Green Paladin's mind raced, all Nonette could do was bow her head as tears of joy and sorrow flowed down her cheeks. She'd found her prince, but what was the cost of it?

Zero's hand gripped the knife he had attached to his side as Euphemia continued to stare at him. He seemed to be her sole focus.

His mask hid the conflicted look upon his face. What on Earth was he supposed to say to her? Besides the hotel-jacking, this was the first time he was seeing his sister face to face. He remembered before their exile how he, Nunnally, and Euphie used to be. She was the first girl he had ever truly loved, besides his mother and sister. But now what did he do? He could use his Geass on her to make her forget she'd seen him, but that thought didn't seem too appealing right now.

"Lelouch," she addressed, taking him by surprise, "Lelouch, it's you, isn't it? I haven't told anyone about you, I swear! Please… let me see your face."

There was about a minute of silence before the Black Paladin moved. It wasn't to attack, though. Slowly and calmly, he let go of the knife and reached up to remove his helmet and mask, allowing the princess to see her half-brother's face.

Tears gathered in Euphemia's eyes as she cried tears of joy. Not wasting any more time, the princess ran forward and embraced her sibling.

Lelouch stood frozen for a moment, too stunned to move. Soon, his own emotions overpowered him, and two sank to the sandy ground, hugging each other close.

"I've missed you so much!" Euphemia gasped between tears.

"I've missed you too, Euphie," Lelouch whispered back.

Ocean and sand. That was all Kallen could see with her Geass as her vision swept around the area.

The second the Hadron cannon's attack had ceased, the rest of Team Voltron was shocked to see that not only Lelouch but Rai and both of their Lions had vanished! So had Nonette Enneagram and Princess Euphemia. And Kallen was getting increasingly irritated the longer her Geass couldn't locate them.

From what she could gather, the Britannian forces looked just as agitated. Several soldiers were scanning the area, likely looking for the princess and the knight.

She and the rest of the team still couldn't believe that someone would throw away and endanger their own men like that. True, in war it was inevitable that people would die, but it was a completely different story when soldiers were willing sacrificed like that! And the fact that the attack wasn't stopped by Princess Euphemia's interference!

"I can't find them!" she reported into the comm, "Not even my Geass is picking anything up!"

"Keep looking!" Suzaku practically barked, "They've got to be somewhere!"

"Hey, first of all, don't use that tone with me, Suzaku!" Kallen snapped back, "Second, I doubt looking in the exact same place for the fourth time, and yes, I counted, will bring different results! It's a little something called insanity, you know!"

"Plus, it's kind of hard to do a bigger search with all of the troops down there," Milly pointed out, "They were clearly after the Lions, so they could try and ambush us again if we aren't careful!"

"Allura, has the castle picked up the Lions' location yet?" Shirley asked.

"No, nothing!" Allura replied, "Wherever the Lions landed, the castle isn't picking up their signal!"

"Maybe they both got knocked out?" Rivalz suggested.

"No, the castle would still be able to find the Lions if that were the case," Coran answered this time, "Wherever they are, they're in an area that is completely blocking out their signal, in or out!"

"If it helps at all, I do sense that Lelouch and Rai are both alive. It's most likely that Zerith and Zen are with them wherever they went," C.C. spoke up, "Come back to the castle for now. It won't help anyone if you exhaust yourselves searching like this. The Knights of Round could still be in the area."

Kallen growled before spitting out, "Fine!"

With that declaration, the five remaining Lions turned tail and flew straight back to the castle.

Meanwhile, back on Shikine Island, the Le Fay continued to float over the beach, overseeing the cleanup and search party down below. The Gawain had been recovered, but unfortunately, both the Black and Green Lions appeared to have vanished, much to everyone's bewilderment.

Inside the ship's main hanger, Cecile was busy typing on a laptop by the recovered Gawain. Next to it was also the Tristian, Mordred, and Galahad. She was going over the data the Gawain managed to obtain during the fight, but she still felt shaken over what had happened.

"So Nonette really just vanished?" the voice of Gino Weinberg, the Knight of Three, echoed through the hangar, and Cecile looked up in surprise.

"Without a trace," Anya Alstreim stated plainly, staring at her personal electronic diary.

"And the two lions that were in the area are gone too. The Prince won't be pleased with this," the Knight of One, Bismarck Waldstein addressed gravely, "Are you positive you've looked through all the data?"

"No, Lord Bismark," Cecile addressed, "it's all just static in the Gawain's systems. No trace of what happened to Lady Enneagram or Princess Euphemia either."

"Hey, Mark, no offense," Gino suddenly said, eyeing the Knight of One suspiciously, "You didn't tell us that sacrificing Nonette like that was part of the plan!"

"Are you questioning the intentions of the Second Prince and Viceroy?" Bismarck challenged with a deadly gaze.

"But you also didn't intervene when you saw Princess Euphemia was there either!" Cecile couldn't help but point out in a rare burst of anger.

"If it wasn't clear for you to see, Miss Croomy, the three of us were also occupied with the other lions!" Bismark snapped. Cecile cringed back in fear of the Knight of One's wrath.

Before she could apologize, another voice entered the conversation.

"In all situations, priorities must not be forgotten either," Prince Schneizel acknowledged, walking into the room.

Cecile gasped, "Prince Schneizel! Y-You're here!"

"You impudent little…! How dare you look down upon the Second Prince of the Empire!" General Bartley exclaimed as he appeared as well.

"General Bartley…?!" Cecile lost her footing and slid down the stairs to land on her rear on the ground.

"Nice one," he commented.

"You're not hurt, are you?" Schneizel asked gently as he helped Cecile to her feet.

"Uh, thank you," she gasped as the prince helped her to her feet.

"Gah…! She's unworthy!" Bartley growled.

"You're quite the devoted subject, aren't you, General?" Lloyd observed.

"Primarily because the prince is the one who commuted my sentence and saved me from being chained up deep beneath Temple Tower!" General Bartley barked.

"I wish you'd stop thinking of me so formally," Schneizel told the General matter-of-factly, "You've been a great help to me in this current matter, as you were to my brother, Clovis. It is I who am grateful to you."

"M-my Lord!" Bartley gasped.

"Please, Bartley. Now my Lady Cecile, if you'll excuse me. Bismarck, Alstreim, Weinberg, please follow me. We'll discuss the events that transpired. In the meantime, Lord Asplund, you and Lady Cecile will use the Le Fay to locate Euphemia," the prince ordered before turning to leave the hanger.

"As you wish, Your Highness," Bismarck bowed curtly before he and his colleagues turned to follow the prince out.

Right as Lloyd turned to follow as well, Cecile spoke up, "Please wait! Were those orders yesterday issued by the prince?!"

"Silence! You don't want to be in contempt of royalty, do you?!" Bartley exclaimed.

"To be honest, I've been wondering about that too," Gino admitted awkwardly.

Despite the accusations, Schneizel responded anyway, "Those orders were mine, yes. I also fired the Hadron. Even in a situation like that, priorities mustn't be forgotten. The Empire is facing what is likely its most dangerous adversary. I saw an opportunity to eliminate the leadership, and I took it. I certainly didn't expect Euphie to rush out like that, but if something anomalous happened, we would have still been able to rescue both her and Lady Enneagram. That's what I gambled on."

"Okay… if you say so," Gino shrugged, but he still looked reasonably uncertain

"Yes, My Lord," Cecile nodded as well, "I understand now, and I sorely regret my rudeness. I accept any punishment you decree."

"Nonsense," Schneizel dismissed, "It's my fault for not protecting my subordinates. Can you ever forgive me?"

These were the last words Schneizel said as he left the hanger, but the Second Prince's mind was extremely troubled. While it was true that he ordered to have the experimental weapon inserted into the Gawain in an attempt to capture the Black Lion, somehow the machine had vanished, along with Zero, the Green Lion and its pilot, and Lady Enneagram. The Gawain didn't disappear, so it was a mystery as to why the two Lions vanished.

Something else was at play, and he hoped that he could somehow still talk the matter out with his brother before the situation became too dire to be reversed.

"How did you figure it out? Did Suzaku tell you?" Lelouch asked as he leaned back against a large stone. Euphemia was sitting on the other side, Lelouch's cape draped over her bare body as she had stripped out of her dress so that it could dry off.

"No. Well," Euphie stopped to think about her words, "he never specified you were Zero. He did say you were with Voltron, though. But I figured it out during the hotel-jacking."

She didn't see, but her brother nodded, "At the time, I said too much without thinking."

"Of course, I was never one hundred percent certain until now," Euphemia added.

"I see… I'm naive, as well. Even so, why didn't you discuss your suspicions with Cornelia or Schneizel?" he asked.

"I didn't because my sister never listened to me. And it never felt right to talk about it with Schneizel. Besides that… I think things are depressing enough as they are… Oh, Nunnally — how is she? Is she really all right? Suzaku said so."

"Yes," Lelouch answered, "She's better than she's been in a while, actually."

"I see… Can I assume that she knows everything? About Zero… and Voltron?"

"Yes," Lelouch nodded, "She knows everything, and why I'm doing what I'm doing."

"Lelouch I… I'm so sorry…" Euphemia stuttered, her voice cracking slightly.

"For what?" he asked, glancing back in confusion.

"For… for everything!" she gasped, holding back tears, "The hatred you must feel for us. The hatred towards the Emperor… towards us."

"No…" Lelouch answered, cutting Euphemia off, "Euphie, even after we were exiled, I never hated you. Of course, when I saw what Clovis and Cornelia became, I was scared at first that you changed too. But when I spoke with you at the hotel, I was relieved to see that I was wrong. You're still the same girl that would play with Nunnally and me at Aries Villa. You're still our sister."

"Lelouch…" Euphie murmured.

"I know you and Cornelia had nothing to do with my mother's murder. From what she told me, she investigated it extensively," he added as an afterthought.

Euphemia nodded, though, on the inside, she was relieved to hear that Lelouch and Cornelia talked. That meant her sister was still alive after all.

"Cornelia did think a lot of Lady Marianne and looked up to her," Euphemia said, "It frustrated her that she couldn't find who did it."

"Yes, I know…" Lelouch nodded again.

Suddenly, Euphemia's stomach gave a slight groan, and the princess looked down with a blush, "I believe feeling relieved has made me hungry."

Lelouch couldn't help but chuckle a little as he stood up, "Well, we're in luck. Somehow Zen was transferred here along with me. We should be able to find some provisions with her."

"Zen?" Euphie asked, confused as Lelouch went to gather her clothes.

"You'll see," was all he said with a light smile.

"Gotcha!" Rai shouted as he snatched another fish from the stream. Of course, it wasn't necessary to go hunting for food since Zerith had several packs of food goo stored inside her, but Rai wasn't going to let this opportunity slide. It had been ages since he'd had some decent Earth food.

"You know I can help you with that!" Nonette said. She was sitting by the shore, her hands still bound behind her, but she hadn't made any moves to get free. Rai's outer Paladin armor lay in a neat row beside her.

"Not a chance!" Rai couldn't help but snap a little back. He didn't care if the Knight of Nine claimed to know him; he wasn't going to take any chances while he was temporarily unarmed.

"Sheesh, were you always this stubborn before?" Nonette grumbled a little, but there was no malice in her tone. Instead, there was fondness and admiration as well.

"Oh my!" a now fully clothed Euphemia gasped as the two approached the still powered-down Black Lion in the forest.

"This is Zenobia," Lelouch introduced, "But I call her Zen for short."

"Well, hello, Zen," Euphemia greeted with a small smile.

Lelouch couldn't help but chuckle a little. He had yet to explain to Euphie how the Lions were sort of alive in a way, but he figured it would be easier to explain when Zen regained consciousness.

"I'll get inside and gather some provisions…" Lelouch trailed off, frowning a little. Sure the food goo would keep them alive for a while, but it wasn't exactly the best-tasting thing in the universe. But he wasn't in the mood to try and set any complicated traps right now. His physique may have improved over the last few months, but it was best to conserve as much energy as possible too, just in case he had to fight.

So he turned back to his sister, "Euphie, why don't you look around and see if you can find some berries or something? They would help improve flavor at the very least."

Euphemia blinked in surprise, "Does it really taste that bad?"

"No…" Lelouch shook his head, "It's just an acquired taste, let's just say that."

After a few seconds, Euphie shrugged, "All right, if you say so. I'll be right back."

"Be careful!" Lelouch shouted after her as she hurried off. As he lost sight of her, he sighed, looked at the head of his downed Lion, and then up at the sky.

"I just hope we're found soon…"

The atmosphere on the Castle of Lions was tense. For most of the night prior, the Alteans and Black Knights alike had been working non-stop to try and locate the Lions from above while the Paladins continued to scan on Earth's surface. Eventually, Coran made an executive order for the Black Knights and the princess to turn in for the evening, and they all did so reluctantly. They wouldn't be able to help Zero and Rai at all if everyone on the ship was acting like a gang of bumbling, sleep-deprived karjekals (whatever those were) by the time they were located Coran had said.

Now that the five remaining Paladins had come back, Coran had ordered them immediately to bed themselves, even if it was technically still mid-day down below. They protested, of course, which forced the older Altean to amend his statement and ordered at least a nap, which he promised to wake them from within a few varga.

Ohgi sighed as he picked at the food goo on his plate. He reminded himself that they wouldn't have to live off of this alone for much longer, as several of the seeds now in the new greenhouse had at last started to sprout.

He didn't want to offend the Alteans for their ways with food, but would it kill them to add at least a little seasoning to this from time to time?

He and almost everyone else in the dining hall looked up as Coran himself walked in.

"Still no sign of them?" Ohgi asked anxiously.

"Unfortunately no," Coran informed them, shaking his head, "The princess is continuously scanning the island and the area around it, but she still has yet to locate either the Green or Black Lions, which is deeply concerning."

"And you still don't know what happened to them?" Tohdoh asked who was seated next to Ohgi.

"No, it's like they vanished into thin space," Coran said solemnly.

"Um, you mean 'thin air' right?" Minami corrected.

"Ah-yes that!" the Altean corrected sheepishly.

"And it's isn't the result of a special ability on the Lions' part?" Tohdoh pressed further.

"Well… I wouldn't say one of the Lions doesn't have an ability like that, but it's highly unlikely that they used it given the situation."

"Do you think they could have wound up on one of the islands nearby?" Inoue suggested.

"We haven't picked up any signals from the surrounding islands yet. But once the Paladins are rested enough, I'm sure they'll start searching the other islands next."

"I beg your pardon Coran, but would that be wise?" Tohdoh asked. This statement drew the attention everyone in earshot, "Britannia will likely start to do the same, and the Green Lion is the only one equipped with stealth capabilities. Should the remaining Lions be too reckless and get spotted by enemy forces again, considering that several Knights of the Round are now present..."

"Colonel?" a small voice gasped from the entrance. Looking towards the door, Nunnally sat in her hoverchair, her eyes wide, "You're not suggesting that we stop looking for Lelouch, are you?"

Tohdoh blinked, and his gaze softened, "Of course not, Nunnally. I'm simply stating that we must exercise caution doing so. We can't afford to lose any more men, especially not another Paladin."

"Quite right," Coran nodded, "Rest assured, Nunnally, until we get solid confirmation that Rai and Lelouch have either been capture or, dare I say this, killed, we will not cease our search."

"Hell yeah!" Tamaki exclaimed, "There's no way those two kicked the bucket that easily!"

Biting her lip, Nunnally nodded, her heart hammering in her chest. She had just got her brother back not too long ago. If she were to lose him again so soon…

The princess's thoughts were cut off by a small hand on her shoulder. Looking up at the source, C.C. came strolling in.

"Well, for once you're correct about one thing, Tamaki," C.C. said, "those two are very much still alive. I can sense that they are."

"Thanks to that Geass thing they have, right?" Asahina asked.

"Yes," C.C. nodded, "So if the two are still alive, we can assume that the two Lions are fine as well. If Britannia had managed to capture either one of them, they likely would have made a statement by now."

"Even so, the fact that neither are responding on the comms is concerning nonetheless," Allura's regal voice said, calling everyone's attention to her as she walked in herself. Despite getting some rest herself, the princess looked a bit worse for wear with slight bags under her eyes. Her skin looked a little paler as well. "Coran, if memory serves correct, some of the shuttle pods are still equipped with the prototype stealth systems. If Lelouch nor Rai don't respond with the next twenty-four Earth hours, I suggest we use those to take to Earth and look for them ourselves."

"Very well, Princess. Does anyone object to this course of action?" the advisor asked the group as a whole.

No one spoke up, so Coran nodded, "Now Princess, please do sit down, you look like you're about to pass out!"

"I'm fine, Coran. Just… stressed," Allura protested.

"Well… aren't we all?" Coran sighed, several murmurs of agreement rippling through the group.

While this was going on, Nunnally couldn't help but bite her lip nervously. She was positive her brother was all right; she was sure she would feel it if he wasn't, but that didn't stop her mind from wandering to the worst-case scenarios.

'Lelouch… where did you go?'

"Lelouch… what exactly is this?" Euphemia asked as she eyed the green goo curiously. It looked like mashed potatoes drenched in green food coloring, but she had a feeling that it wasn't anything like that. She managed to find a decent amount of edible fruit on the island, much to Lelouch's relief. Hopefully, this can help with the taste.

"This is… uh…" Lelouch hesitated. Come to think of it, Allura and Coran never mentioned what the goo was officially called, did they? Everyone on the ship simply called it 'food goo.' The name probably just stuck. "We eat this a lot when we're on the Castleship. It was our only food source for a while. Now that we're back on Earth, we've managed to sneak some trips to markets and grocery stores, and Coran has been working with Milly and Rivalz to set up a greenhouse too."

"I see," Euphie nodded, "That's quite resourceful."

"Thanks. In a pinch, though, this stuff will at least keep us alive. It's not five-star quality by a long shot, but it'll sustain us until help arrives. Fruit only lasts so long, and hunting can be unpredictable without the right tools, which we, unfortunately, don't have."

Euphie nodded as Lelouch handed her a plate with a small amount of the goo on it, along with a spork. The fruit was situated between the two in easy reaching distance, and after pouring his own portion of the goo, the Black Paladin dug in. He was more than used to the texture and taste of the strange space food that he could eat it without too much incident, but he was fairly curious about how Euphemia would respond to it.

According to Kallen, Cornelia had refused to even touch the goo the first few times it was brought down to her in her cell. She only starting begrudgingly choking it down when she couldn't take the hunger anymore. Euphemia wasn't necessarily a picky eater, so he really didn't know what to expect from his sister.

Euphie tentatively scooped up a small amount onto the spork, eying it cautiously. She slowly brought it to her mouth and almost immediately gagged. She brought a hand to her mouth to keep from spitting it out and forced herself to swallow.

"It's... delicious," she tried to say politely.

Lelouch chuckled in sympathy, seeing right through her, "It IS still pretty bad, though. I think Alteans focus more on the nutrition value rather than taste most of the time."

"I see."

"This is what they make you eat?!" Nonette asked in shock and disgust after speed shoveling the food goo into her mouth. At least the faster she ate it, the less she tasted it. The fish had been tasty, though.

Just like Lelouch, Rai raided Zerith's emergency supplies, which included several bags of pre-packed food goo. He managed to catch a fair amount of fish, but he also wanted to preserve the supply as much as possible.

Biting into the first fish he could grab from the fire when he finished, he forgot how delicious Earth food was. That greenhouse and possible… oh, maybe they could give aquaculture a try too.

The Green Paladin shrugged, unbothered as he took another bite, "Everyone eats it, even the Alteans. Most of the time, this is all there is."

...Okay, that last part was a bit of a lie, but C.C. guarded her pizza stash like a dragon guarded treasure. After Tamaki tried to sneak one out of her hiding spot his first week on the ship, the immortal nearly sent him to the cryopods in a fit of rage.

Rai chuckled at the memory. He would never have thought the cocky, loud-mouthed rebel would have such a squeally scream.

After that, no one dared touch, much less question where the stash was hidden.

"It's honestly not that bad once you get used to it," Rai continued, "There's way weirder food out there in space. One of the other Paladins had a space bug stew one time."

Nonette rose an eyebrow but shook her head, deciding not to think about it.

Rai then jumped when the Knight of the Round let out a large belch.

"...Did you just burp?" he gasped.

"What? It's a normal bodily function. A Knight of the Round can't do that?" Nonette jabbed with a smirked.

"Well, besides the family itself, you guys are practically royalty, making yourselves look good," Rai commented before frowning, "All the while hiding just how rotten you are underneath."

Nonette's smile faded. "You really hate Britannia? Can't say I blame you given what happened…"

"It's kinda hard not to hate Britannia considering it's mostly filled with narcissistic warmongers who'll do anything for victory!" Rai began. 'You're just like the Galra' went unsaid at the last moment.

Nonette sighed, "I'll admit, some of the Empire's actions have been anything but honorable."

Rai scoffed, "If you're so hung up about honor, then why do you still do it?"

"It's not my choice, not my call," Nonette quickly explained, "The Emperor's orders…"

"Of course!" Rai threw his arms out in exasperation. "It's always 'the Emperor this' or 'the Emperor that'! I swear if I ever see that bastard, I'm gonna kill him myself if Zero doesn't get the chance to!"

Nonette looked toward Rai in minor surprise, "You… you really don't remember, do you?"

This snapped Rai out of his rant, "Earlier, you called me a different name. What was it?" the Green Paladin asked.

"Yes, Zephyr. That's your name," Nonette answered.

Rai flinched back. So he wasn't mistaken. The same name that associated him as Champion…

"My name is Rai," he denied.

"No!" Nonette exclaimed, sounding almost desperate, "Your name, your real name, is Zephyr zar Britannia."

At this declaration, Rai stumbled back in shock. No… this couldn't be true! But if that was his name…

"Then, that means…"

Nonette nodded, "Your father… is Charles zi Britannia.

"The stars haven't changed, have they?" Euphemia said softly as she layed down on Lelouch's cape on the sand, gazing up into the sky with her brother, "They were the same back then. We all used to gaze up at the stars together. Remember that? Wouldn't it be wonderful if we could live like that again? I'd be so happy then!"

The princess turned over to look at her brother better, "What are the stars like up there? Are they still like this from above?"

It took a few moments for Lelouch to answer, but he smiled slightly when he did, "Yes. If anything, I think they're even more beautiful. You feel closer to them."

Euphemia smiled in wonder, "What else have you seen? Will you tell me?"

"I can try," Lelouch answered with an amused smile, "But you know I wasn't much of a storyteller. I'm still not."

Euphemia giggled as she listened silently to the story of Voltron.

Rai felt his hands shaking as he fully processed the words that came out of Nonette's mouth. ""No… that-that's not true…" Rai stuttered, "I can't… you're lying… you're lying!"

"I'm not!" Nonette exclaimed before her face became somber, "I'm sorry, but that's the truth."

Rai couldn't take it as he fell to his knees. The world seemed to be closing in around him as he clutched his head, a loud ringing in his ears.

"Zeph!" he barely heard Nonette shout along with a shuffling. Was she trying to get out of her bounds? And do what?

All further panic was lost as a loud roar echoed through the trees. The ground shook beneath Rai's form as a large shadow draped over him.

"What the hell?!" he heard Nonette scream as the Green Lion stood protectively over her Paladin, his distress calling her into action.

Another weight fell on top of the Green Paladin, but unlike before, where it felt suffocating, this one felt warm. The feeling of safe, safe, safe sang like musical notes in his mind, harmonizing with a gentle but powerful purr.

It took several minutes before Rai finally calmed down. Zerith didn't move that entire time, pressed her quintessence gently but firmly against his, almost like when Arthur rubbed his head against their knee.

"Thanks, Zerith," he whispered, getting to his feet.

The Green Lion chuffed before slowing sitting down on her haunches like she did in her hangar in the castle. The second he was out of her shadow, her particle barrier shot up, shielding the Lion from any other outside threats.

Nonette stared up in shock. She was positive that no one else was inside that Knightmare. So how did it…?

"Surprised?" Rai asked, cutting her thoughts off, "Though it's probably obvious by now, the Lions aren't any ordinary machines."

The loud roar made Euphie and Lelouch jump and looked towards where it seemed to come from. Lelouch recognized it as one of the Lions and frantically looked up at the sky. Had they been found? It certainly hadn't been Zen roaring; he would have felt her waking up.

"What was that?" he heard Euphemia ask.

"...It'll be dangerous to investigate in the dark. We'll check it out in the morning. If I'm correct on what it was, we may have found our way off the island," Lelouch answered before glancing at Zen. Whatever had been in that Gawain Knightmare must have really injured her for her to still be out of it. He only hoped she woke up soon, or the castle had some way of getting her back on board as well.

Rai took a few more minutes to calm down. Now that Zerith was back online, her presence certainly helped slow his heart rate.

Nonette still stared at the Lion, looking ready to bolt if she had to.

Rai sighed, "Calm down, she won't attack you unless she thinks I'm in trouble… but you already saw that, so…"

Nonette visibly swallowed, honestly not sure what the best course of action would be. She wouldn't do anything to hurt her prince, but it would be suicide to fight the Lion, especially not without a Knightmare.

"Hold on…" Rai muttered, before glaring at the knight again, "Something doesn't add up. If it's true that I'm supposedly a Britannian prince, how come there aren't any records of a 'Zephyr zar Britannia' in the royal archives?"

Along with Lelouch's own knowledge, Rai had been using as much spare time as he could to research the Royal Family, trying to see how many of them could become potential allies to the Coalition. So far, Euphemia was the best option, but other possibilities included Odysseus eu Britannia (official crown prince of the Empire) and Marrybell mel Britannia (current Viceroy of Area 24, formerly Spain). Of course, now that they had Cornelia in their custody, there was always the chance for her to have a change of heart and join their side. According to Nunnally, she was willing to fight with them, but several Black Knights were still doubtful.

But like he said, throughout his sweep of the family, not once was there any mention of anyone named 'zar Britannia.'

"That's because there officially isn't one," Nonette revealed, "The Emperor wanted to keep your existence a secret, along with your sister-Oh right, Sophie! If you're alive, then is she?"

Rai grimaced, but still answered, "I don't know. The last time I saw her, she was supposed to be sent off to a work camp. I haven't seen her since."

"Work camp? Where?!" Nonette growled, looking infuriated.

Rai scoffed, "You wouldn't believe me if I told you. And I honestly don't know myself. Like I said, that's the last time I heard about her. Her current status is unknown to me too."

Nonette deflated at that, but Rai could still see the fiery anger in her eyes. It was clear that Nonette did seem to know him and his family. She knew Sophronia's name, and he never mentioned it in front of her. Was it possible that she really was telling the truth? He wished his Geass functioned the same way Lelouch's did; that way, he could know for sure.

"...I can't believe I'm doing this," he muttered to himself as he sat back down. Nonette looked up at him as he leveled her with a stare, "Look, I honestly have no clue if you're telling the truth or not, but… I need some answers, and an untrustworthy source is better than no source at all."

"I would never lie to you, Zephyr," Nonette insisted.

Rai didn't completely believe her, but he took a deep breath. He decided to start with something else he already knew, "What's my mom's name?"

Nonette answered immediately, "Erina Kurugui."

The world seemed to stop for the millionth time that day as he processed this information.

"K-Kururugi?" he stuttered.

"Yes," Nonette nodded, "Your mother was a member of the Kururugi family. The younger sister of the late Genbu Kururugi, in fact."

"What?!" he gasped, "Wait… so that means that Suzaku and I… are cousins?"

Nonette paused for a moment, then chuckled a little, "Huh, that thought never crossed my mind, but yeah, I guess you are."

Rai to take a breath as he processed this new information. So, in the span of less than an hour, he learned that not only was he Lelouch and Nunnally's half-sibling through that disgusting man, Charles zi Britannia, but now he and Suzaku were cousins.

He wondered if Suzaku knew about this or not.

He quickly wiped that suspicion from his mind. Sure, maybe Suzaku knew about his aunt, but he never mentioned having a cousin named Zephyr. And he was sure Suzaku would have said something if he had. Unless… he had been sworn to secrecy. He had proven that he was good at keeping secrets, at least.

Rai groaned. He felt like his head was about to explode, but he had to keep going.

"So, let me make sure I've got this right so far. The Emperor of the Britannia is not only my father but he, a man who actively encourages racism and war, married a Japanese woman?"

"No," Nonette shook her head, "They never got married. Erina and His Majesty had an affair that was kept secret from both families."

"Okay… why?" Rai had to ask. It made no sense. If it were for political purposes he'd understand, but this sounded more like a one-night-stand sort of thing. Were they drunk or high when this happened?

"I don't know," Nonette honestly shrugged, "As far as I know, I'm the only one who knew about this."

"Okay, so why did you get to know about us?" he asked suspiciously.

"I was assigned by the Emperor to be your knight to protect you," she answered simply.

So that explained a few things too. Why she was so protective of him and so desperate to rescue him from Zero and how furious she became when he told her about where Sophie may be.

"Okay, so where did we live? Before we disappeared anyway?"

"It was on an island known as Fiji," Nonette explained, "It's in the Pacific, east of Australia."

"Fiji?" Rai asked, "I don't remember that island being part of the Empire."

"It isn't," Nonette shook her head, "Officially it's considered an independent nation even now. The fact that it's not in Britannia's territory is likely the reason you and your family were hidden there."

"Okay… so happened to us then? How did we disappear?" Rai almost demanded.

At this, Nonette looked down sadly, "I can't answer that because not even I know. Before you vanished, I had been called away on another mission to quell some riots in Area Sixteen, the nation once called the Philippine Islands. When I got back… you were gone. It's like you were never there to begin with."

Rai nodded. He felt a small tickling in the back of his skull. Something was fighting in his memories to come to the surface, but it felt like a thick pane of glass was keeping it back.

"I'm guessing you searched for us?" he guessed.

"Yes," she nodded fervently, "I talked to practically every local I could get my hands on but none of them seemed to know who I was talking about. Then I pulled some strings in the higher ranks of the Empire to find out if you had been moved unexpectedly, I tried every trick in the book. I found nothing…"

Rai stared at the knight as tears gathered in her eyes, but remained silent. He could tell she wasn't finished.

"When nothing turned up from my own investigation, I confronted the Emperor himself and demanded to know what happened to you all. I got nothing out him, and as punishment, he demoted me."

"And yet now you're a Knight of the Round, one of his elite," said obviously.

To her credit, Nonette didn't take offense and just shrugged, "I practically started over after that. I rose in the ranks of the military, and eventually, the Emperor offered it to me. I saw it as an opportunity to use the position to expose the Emperor's darker side. I figured if the people saw it, they would remove him from power. Maybe even by force."

Rai stared wide-eyed. He hadn't expected that. She wasn't doing this out of loyalty at all! At least not to the Emperor.

"It's revenge," he realized, "You did all this to avenge my mom, my sister, and I?"

Nonette looked up from where she had been staring at the ground and looked Rai straight in the eye, "Yes. I'd avoid war if necessary, but if there were no other option, I would. I...I was your knight, assigned to keep you safe. And I turned my back for what felt like a moment, and you were gone. I failed you."

Rai remained silent, unsure of what to say. Here was a Knight of the freaking Round blatantly telling him that she will betray the Emperor she had swore to protect just for his sake?! Maybe… maybe he should tell her about the Galra. Voltron had questioned whether it was possible to recruit any of the Knights. If they did, that would be huge!

But something still stubbornly stopped him. No matter how much he wanted to, he couldn't bring himself to tell her the truth yet.

"I don't expect you to forgive me, much less believe me, and I understand if you don't, but that's the truth," she finished.

Rai bent down, his hands covering his face, fighting back a surge of bile rising in his throat.

"Are you all right?" Nonette asked with concern.

"I...I need a moment," he said quickly before practically sprinting towards Zerith. The barrier opened just enough to let him in, and the Lion bowed to let her Paladin enter her mouth.

He collapsed before he could make it to the pilot seat, breaths coming in heavy and quick. It was only Zerith's strong purr that prevented him from fainting. If she was flesh and blood, he had no doubt she would have been curled up on his chest and vibrating like a phone.

So many thoughts were racing through his head. He had finally learned his history, but at the same time, he wished he hadn't heard any of it. Despite learning all of this, more questions were still swirling in his head. The ones that Lelouch had brought up before the dual sprouted up again. How did he and his family end up with the Galra? Was the Emperor involved somehow? How was that possible, though? From what he could tell, once the Galra set their eyes on a planet, there were no negotiations. The planet either surrendered and became slaves, or the inhabitants fought to the very last man, and then the Galra took the planet anyway.

Like Coran had said, "You would know if the Galra had been there."

He was sure that the key was in his lost memories. If only he could remember-!

Suddenly, Zerith growled urgently. It was enough to shake the Green Paladin out of what was likely the beginning of a panic attack. Looking up at the window, he saw through Zerith's eyes to see lights shining from another area of the island up.

"We couldn't find Lady Enneagram washed ashore on the other islands, so it's obvious we should look here," Schneizel reasoned as he directed the search party from the Le Fay's throne room.

We'll send a search party out in the morning," General Bartley replied next to him.

"Hmm… And this must be what you mentioned?" Schneizel questioned, looking at the structure down below.

"Yes! We uncovered it when the Shinjuku incident occurred," Bartley explained.

Ah… Yes, I can see why this would've attracted Clovis' interest," Schneizel realized with a nod.

As the morning sun peaked over the ocean's horizon, Rai silently lead a still bound Nonette up the mountain. The Knight of Nine still made no attempts to escape.

"Are you sure you really saw a light?" Nonette asked.

"Yeah, definitely," he answered.

Leaving Zerith behind in the jungle foliage for now, Rai figured if they were Britannian forces that he could just drop Nonette off and sneak back to look for Lelouch and join back up at the castle.

"It must be a search party," Lelouch reasoned as he and Euphie trekked up the mountain on the other side. Zen still hadn't woken up, much to Lelouch's disappointment. Maybe this the problem was something only Allura and Coran could fix.

"Once we learn who it is, we'll know how to deal with them."

"'Deal with them'?" Euphie questioned anxiously.

Lelouch grimaced at the wrong word choice, "I mean that we can decide what to do once we realize who it is. If it's part of Voltron, nothing bad should happen to you, Euphie. And if it's Britannia…"

"I may be able to help. I can approach them while you sneak back to your Lion," Euphie suggested.

Lelouch nodded. That sounded like the best possibility.

"A Thought Elevator, you say?" Lloyd asked as he, Prince Schneizel, General Bartley, and several other soldiers stood inside the cave. On the massive stone doors in front of them appeared to be very ancient hieroglyphics, but they weren't ones that they could identify.

"I'm afraid archeology isn't my strong suit, especially this paranormal stuff," the Earl confessed quite casually.

"Why, you… Show some respect!" Bartley barked in irritation.

"As I was saying, this is way outside of my field," Lloyd continued to complain, "I wish you could've asked Cécile about this instead."

"Please don't complain so much," Schneizel said sternly, "My father is fascinated with this as well. Isn't that right, Bartley?"

"Yes," General acknowledged when the Prince looked at him, "We've found artifacts similar to these in a number of places around the world. Except for this one that I discovered, all the other sites are directly under imperial control. This is mere speculation on my part, but I think the real reason we're invading other countries is to obtain these objects!"

"And so, in order to analyze this ancient occult data, you're going to use the Gawain's Druid System, untuned prototype that it is?" Lloyd questioned before gesturing to the obtained and newly repaired Knightmare next to them.

"That's why we called you in," Schneizel answered.

"AH-HAH!" Lloyd exclaimed in understanding.

Unbeknownst to the men, one soldier eyed the monument critically, their yellow eyes narrowing in suspicion.

There was no doubt now. This was the source of that blockage. Now… how to remove it?

"I think it was around here," Lelouch muttered and he, and Euphemia approached a clearly at the top of the hill.

"Lelouch, if it is a search party, then will our time be over here?" his sister asked sadly.

Lelouch sighed, "Yes, it will. Only for now, though. I have a feeling we'll be seeing each other again very soon."

"I sure hope so," Euphemia answered with a smile. Lelouch smiled back, but the moment was ruined when they heard rustling in the woods on the other side of the clearing. Lelouch quickly put his helmet back on and braced himself for a confrontation when the people appeared.

'Rai!' he thought in surprise as the Green Paladin emerge from the foliage along with Nonete Enneagram, who seemed to have her hands bound.

"Nonette!" Euphemia exclaimed happily, jumping up.

Nonette and Rai both gasped, "Princess Euphemia!"

"Don't move!" Zero exclaimed, grabbing Euphemia's arm and drawing his knife, "This girl is my prisoner!"

"Le-Zero!" Rai exclaimed.

"Just play along," Lelouch whispered as his sister looked at him frightened. He then turned to address the pair in front of him, "Back away from my subordinate Lady Enneagram. Do that, and no one gets hurt here."

"Zero, you!" Nonette exclaimed angrily about to charge the terrorist. She had just found her prince; she wasn't about to lose him again. She was stopped in her tracks as she felt Rai grab her arm and hold his Bayard against her back.

"Nonette, wait! Please!" Euphie shouted, escaped Zero's grasp, and running towards the knight.

"Euphie, wait!" Lelouch shouted, but the moment he stepped into the clearing, a massive glowing red Geass sigil formed on the ground, much to everyone's shock.

'A Geass?!' both Lelouch and Rai thought. Suddenly, both Paladins felt their own Geasses burning in their eyes, them having activated all on their own.

Rai suddenly felt a throbbing pain in his head as he fell on his knees, clutching his head as he yelled in pain. The Geass sigil was no longer in just one eye, but both!

"Zephyr!" Nonette shouted, her bonds suddenly breaking, freeing her hands. Before she could kneel to Rai's level, though, the ground underneath the group shook violently, and the floor began to descend.

In an unknown location, a young boy smirked victoriously as his two targets fell right into the trap that he had set up for them.

The Thought Elevator began to glow a bright red, much to the shock of the Britannians as the entire cave shook viciously.

"Oh, not good…" Lloyd muttered as the readings on the Gawain skyrocketed to off-the-chart levels.

Simultaneously, on the beach Lelouch and Euphemia were that same morning, Zenobia's eyes flashed awake, and she leaped to her feet.

With a deafening roar of both anger and fear, the Black Lion shot into the air and beelined towards the Thought Elevator's location, the Green Lion right behind.

"Princess! The Green and Black Lions!" Coran exclaimed, "we've finally managed to obtain their signal. And they're closing in on one of the islands!"

"Aw, and just when I was about to try my new feature out!" Milly groaned with a pout, her hand having barely left C.C.'s when the signal alarms blared.

"Paladins, to your Lions now!" Allura ordered.

"Yes!"

"Got it!"

"On our way!"

As the Paladins all scrambled to their elevators, Nunnally let out a sigh of relief, leaning on a pair of crutches this time. If they found Zenobia and Zerith, that means they could finally find Rai and her brother.

"Hang on you two," Allura said, "We're coming to get you!"

"My Lord, please save yourself!" Bartley exclaimed in a panic as debris continued to rain down everywhere. He attempted to pull the Prince away as a large platform slowly dropped down from above, carrying with it Zero, another figure in green armor, Princess Euphemia, and Nonette Enneagram.

"Lady Enneagram!" Lloyd gasped, shielding his face, "And is that Zero?!"

Seeing the terrorist and one of his subordinates, the soldiers quickly raised their weapons to shoot them, only to be stopped by General Bartley, "Don't you fools! Princess Euphemia's with them! Capture them! Capture them!"

Rai struggled to his feet, his eyes wide, but he managed to grip his Bayard unsteadily.

Scanning the crowd, Zero cursed.

"Quiznack, we're in trouble!"

Then suddenly, something else caught Zero's eye. One of the soldiers that had his weapon pointed at him. But one look into his eyes told Lelouch that that was no soldier.

Instinctively, Lelouch shot at the soldier with lightning, and just as expected, the soldier vanished.

"Wha-what?!" Bartley exclaimed, having witnessed this too. An annoyed growl drew the group's attention to the center of the cave, and the Paladins' blood ran cold.

"What?!" Zero gasped at the sight of Haggar's hunched form. Her gold eyes glared back at him.

"No…" Rai muttered, taking a step back, pure terror freezing his spine, "What are you doing here?!"

Haggar shouted in fury and fired a beam of quintessence directly at Lelouch. The Black Paladin barely raised his arms in time to try and block when another crash echoed through the cave. Two large paws landed on either side of Zero, followed by a ferocious roar, which seemed to make the entire mountain tremble.

Lelouch didn't waste one more second, instinctively grabbing Euphemia around the waist, and with a yelp, Euphemia and Lelouch were snatched into Zen's mouth.

"Princess Euphemia!" both Lloyd and Bartley exclaimed as they watched as the princess was seemingly swallowed whole along with Zero.

Just as Zerith was about to scoop up Rai, the Green Paladin felt something grab him around his waist. He didn't have time to register who or what it was before he found himself and Nonette sprawled across the floor in Zerith's mouth.

The Lions didn't waste any more time as the duo shot out of the cave entrance, sending rocks, stone, and Knightmare Frames flying. Then Zen pivoted in the air, facing the cave entrance and her mouth lit up with blue light.

Lloyd gasped.

"HIT THE DIRT!"

A couple of soldiers fell on top of Schneizel to shield the Prince while everyone else immediately hit the cave floor and covered their heads just as Zenobia's blast of quintessence energy hit the Thought Elevator point-blank. The structure exploded and collapsed into rubble, leaving nothing salvageable.

The little boy gasped when he felt it, the feeling of the Thought Elevator collapsing. He fell to his knees, and he clutched his head, his eyes shaking with shock and rage as he took multiple rabid breaths.

"No… no…" He stuttered. "They… they destroyed the Thought Elevator!" V.V. ranted like a spoiled brat, "No! How dare you…! Voltron… you dare! You'll pay for this! You'll pay!"

C.C. blinked as she felt the exact same thing happen as well. At first, she was shocked, as destroying a Thought Elevator was no easy feat, but her expression quickly morphed into a smirk. She could only imagine the faces V.V., Charles, and Marianne were making right now.

"I did warn them, didn't I?" she stated with a satisfied smile, smothering a giggle.

"Viceroy, are you all right?" one of the soldiers gasped as everyone got to their feet.

"Yes, I'm fine," he muttered, dusting himself off, "So… that was Zero?"

"Halt! Stop where you are!" another soldier suddenly shouted.

Looking towards the entrance, the Second Prince spotted the cloaked woman that seemed to spook Zero. She was staring out at the sky with a scowl, likely watching the Lions fly off.

"Identify yourself!" Bartley shouted as soldiers surrounded the woman.

She simply growled, annoyed, before vanishing in a puff of smoke.

"Wha-what?!" Bartley exclaimed in shock, eyes wide, staring at where she once stood. Most of the other soldiers had similar reactions.

"Well… you don't see that every day," Lloyd commented.

Schneizel, on the other hand, narrowed his eyes, gaze calculating. Despite the loss of the Thought Elevator, he had learned two important things.

First, Zero was scared of that woman. Who she was, Schneizel didn't know, but it was rare that his brother showed actual fear to anyone. The last person to bring this emotion out of his brother was their own father.

And second… Those Lions had not had pilots in them when they had come to collect Zero and the green pilot. His logical mind kept saying that it was impossible, but he had seen it just now for himself!

Which allowed Schneizel to draw another conclusion he thought he never would in his life.

Those Lions weren't just advanced machines. They were alive.

Schneizel's thoughtful expression soon shifted into an intrigued smirk.

"Well, well, this game just got much more interesting…"

Lelouch quickly scrambled to the cockpit and pushed Zen to fly faster. They had to warn the others, fast!

"Hailing Castle of Lions, this is Lelouch!" he exclaimed urgently.

"Lelouch! Are you and Rai all right?" Allura's voice carried over the speaker.

"Yes, we're both fine!" Lelouch nodded, "We're heading back as we speak."

"Heads up then!" a voice inside his head exclaimed, "We're coming to intercept you!"

"Wha-! Milly, is that you?" Lelouch stuttered.

"Yep! Say hello to my new Geass, Lulu. I call it Absolute Telepathy."

"You made a contract with C.C.?" he asked.

"I knew I wouldn't have control over what the power would be, but I figured it was worth a try to see if it could be used to find you two," the Yellow Paladin explained over the radio this time.

"Wait, use what to find us?" Rai questioned from inside Zerith.

"...Huh, there's a drawback already. I guess I can only talk to one person at a time," she deduced.

"We'll explore it's practical uses later," Lelouch said, "We'll meet you outside the castle. And Princess, inform the rest of the crew to expect some guests."

"Guests or prisoners?" Allura asked for clarification.

"...One is for sure a guest, the other… I'm not sure. Rai?" Lelouch questioned.

"...We can decide when we're back on the ship," the Green Paladin said.

"Very well," Allura acknowledged, "We'll see you a couple dobashes… I'm glad you're both all right."

With that, the intercom switched off, and Lelouch spotted several colorful figures heading towards him and Rai.

"Lelouch…" Euphie asked, noticing the frightened look still on her brother's face, "...Who was that? Down there?"

"Someone… very bad."

#fanfic #code geass #voltron

4 notes · View notes

soheila-1996 · 4 years ago

Text

My story- Part fourteen

I have epilepsy. This details my seizures, I can’t speak for everyone, everyone’s seizures/ experiences are different. This is graphic. Seizures are messy. They aren’t fun and it felt wrong to make it out to be cute when they really aren’t. Pretty much all the things that happen in the plot have happened to me. Well, I’m not married to a king or live in a palace so…there’s that but everything else is accurate. There may be some jokes about it here because I do joke about it sometimes. It makes me more comfortable and I find it helps relax everyone around me. I’m also writing about it because there really aren’t that many fics written about it and I think it’s important to shine light on it.

Any feedback is really appreciated! :)

Tags: @kacie-0156 @texaskitten30, @cordonianroyalty, @kingliam2019 , @cordonia-gothqueen, @bobasheebaby @losingbraincellseveryday @marshmallowsaremyfavorite @jared2612 @flutistbyday2020 @debramcg1106 @anotherbeingsworld @leaharhys @cordoniaqueensworld @bascmve01

This is also part of wacky drabbles hosted by @wackydrabbles. The prompt this week is: #45: I don’t hate you.

Paring: Liam and Riley

Warnings: Suicide attempt.

Word count: 1,822

Catch up here

(Liam’s POV)

I sit beside my wife’s bedside, her hands in mine as she continued to lay almost lifeless on the bed. The doctor’s had said that they were expecting her to wake up soon. They had extubated her a little while ago. She had woken up very briefly but had soon fallen back asleep.

Of course, I’m relieved but I’m terrified. She wanted to die. No one has any idea how she’s going to react when she finally does wake up and that scares me.

Riley’s parents, brother and our friends have been in and out over the last few days. I haven’t left her. Drake had tried to get me to head back to the palace but I don’t want to miss her waking up. I don’t ever want to leave her side again If I’m being honest.

How can I trust her after this?

How will I ever be able to leave her alone again without being terrified that when I come back she’ll be dead?

I just don’t know what to do. I love Riley more than anything, I’d do anything for her but apparently I can’t protect her from her own demons. Why didn’t she just talk to me? I should’ve seen this coming. If I had this could’ve been avoided completely.

I’m exhausted. I don’t really remember the last time I got a good night’s sleep and I'm positive that it’s not going to be happening any time soon. Every time I close my eyes, I’m back there, back sitting on that bathroom floor with Riley dying in my lap.

I look down at Riley in my lap. Her eyes open and close a few times before they shut and won't open again. I can hear my heart pounding in my chest.

“Riley?” I call, shaking her slightly to try and get her attention. My heart sinks when she doesn’t answer. “Love, wake up.”

Her eyes remain closed and my panic only grows.

I can’t do this.

I can’t.

“Riley, wake up!” I called a little louder this time, shaking her a rougher than before. “Please…”

I vaguely hear Bastien in the background requesting an ambulance. I don’t even remember him arriving. “Liam, is she breathing?” Bastien asks, popping his head into the bathroom.

I swallowed thickly as I looked back at her again. Her chest isn’t rising and falling. picking, I placed my hand on her chest and felt nothing. “No, no, no….”

Surely this is just some kind of twisted nightmare. I don’t want to do this. I just want to wake up with her sleeping peacefully next to me.

“Liam?” Bastien asked, seriously.

I can feel the tears beginning to prick at my eyes. I’m completely panicked now. I’m scared and I don’t know what to do. It’s that type of fear that paralyzes you.

“Liam?” my guard asked more urgently this time.

I shook my head vigorously. “No, she’s not breathing.”

**.

It’s hard looking at her and not thinking about it. I don’t ever think I've been that scared. I don’t think I’m ever going to get that image of her lifeless body laying in my lap, Karol screaming for her daughter to wake up or that look on Micheal’s face. That night is something I’m sure is going to stay with me for a very long time.

I’ve been pacing around the waiting room for a little while. We arrived at the hospital over an hour ago now I think. Time just seems to go by so slowly especially while waiting on some news. I

haven’t heard anything and I’m not sure I want to know.

If she’s dead…

Karol and Micheal stepped out a short while ago, leaving Drake and I alone. I’m not sure when he got here, how he knew, I presume Bastien told him but I’m not certain.

He’s sitting on the couch watching as I pace.

“Liam, sit down.” I’m not ignoring him, I truly just don’t hear him. I’m trapped in my head thinking over everything that’s happened. I stop pacing when Drake places a hand on my shoulder. “Sit down,” he said, guiding me over to take a seat on the couch beside him.

Neither of us speak. What’s there to say? There’s nothing either of us could say that Is going to make this better. My wife tried to kill herself- there’s nothing more to be said.

A few moments later we heard a knock on the door. I called out for them to answer and a woman and man strolled into the room both clad in dark green scrubs.

“Your majesty,” the woman spoke, dropping in a quick curtsy. She turned and acknowledged Drake and turned back to me.

“Whatever you’re going to say you can say it in front of Drake,” I told her, matter of factly. I just want her to get on with it. I’m trying to read both doctor’s but they both seem to have a hell of a poker face.

“Okay. My name is Dr. Gale and this is Dr. Lambert,” She introduced, “I’ve been working on Her majesty since she arrived-”

“Is she okay?” Drake interrupted.

The younger woman nodded, “Yes. We were able to resuscitate her, had you not performed CPR at the scene, your majesty, she wouldn’t made it. You saved her life. We were then able to pump her stomach.

“But?” Drake asks, sensing there was one. I don’t know what to say. She’s alive....She’s alive that all I needed to know.

“She’s on a ventilator,” She continues, “She’s doing well at the moment but we just won’t know until she wakes up. She wasn’t breathing for a little while and her brain might’ve not been getting oxygen during that time,” she explains to us. I turned to look at the older man standing just behind her. “Dr. Gale is a psychologist. I thought It would be best if he were to speak with you about what’s going to happen next and what treatment your wife may need.”

He stepped forward and shook both mine and Drake’s hands. “I think it’s best that you both be aware now that when she wakes up it’s very likely that she won't be someone that you recognise. She attempted suicide- people all react differently to a failed attempt. We don’t know how she’ll react when she wakes up but I thought you both ought to know now ahead of time so It’s not too much of a shock later on. I also wanted to ask you some questions about if she had mentioned anything or if you know of anything that may have caused this but I can tell you're very eager to go and see your wife so of course all of that can wait.”

I nodded as they both led Drake and I down a hallway to her room.

We both sit by her bedside for a little while in silence. Again, what is there to say? It’s hard to look at her in this state.

I stare at my hands that rest in my lap. I can still feel them pushing down on her chest as I tried to get her heart to start beating again. “Have you ever felt bones crack under your hands, Drake? I mean have you ever heard them cracking and breaking, because of what you’re doing? ” I tried to get that image out my head, that sound of me breaking her ribs. The sound of me hurting someone that I love.

“Don’t do that to yourself, man. That’s kind of unavoidable, Li.”

“I broke her ribs,” I mumbled quietly. I can feel the tears welling in my eyes again as I grip her hand tightly.

“You saved her life, Liam. A few broken ribs doesn’t mean anything.”

“I still hurt her though, Drake,” I say quietly. I can feel the tears start falling down my cheeks again.

“It’s not that same, Li. You saved her life; you need to know that.”

I just nodded, I know breaking a rib was inevitable but I think it’s something that I will hold against myself for sometime to come yet.

I thought back to the words Dr. Lambert had said the other day. The truth is, I haven’t recognised Riley for a long time. She’s still the woman I love more than anything but she’s not the same person I married. She’s heartbroken and struggling with everything going on and so am I. She needs help. Professional help because I can’t help her- evidently.

There were so many warning signs that this was impending but I didn’t think it would actually happen. I know Riley isn’t one to talk about her feelings, which I’ll hold my hands up and say that it can annoy me sometimes because I want her to be able to come and talk to me so I can help. If something is truly bothering her she will come and we’ll talk it out. Like I’ve done countless times with her if I’m upset or worried about something. I just wish she did just that this time.

I’ve still got her hand gripped tightly in my own as I think over everything that has happened over the last few weeks. I’m just not sure how we move past this.

I immediately look at her as her hand twitches in mine. It’s a few seconds later when her eyes flutter open. I scoot my chair a little closer to the bed as her head falls to the side to face me.

“Hello, Love,” I spoke calmly. I took my free hand and wiped away some tears that started to trickle down my cheeks. She doesn’t say anything; she seems a little confused and out of it which I expected. “You’re in the hospital.”

“Okay,” She said, her voice a little raspy after not being used for a few days. She reaches up to her throat with her hands, wincing.

“They erm...They had to put a tube down your throat to help you breathe. They said it’ll be a little tender for a while,” I explain. Her eyebrows crease in confusion. I ran my thumb over her hand in soothing circles. “What’s the last thing you remember, Love?”

She thinks for a couple of seconds. It’s that look she now has on her face that tells me she’s just remembered what happened; what she tried to do.

“I-I tried to-” I simply just nodded in confirmation. “Do...do you hate me?” She asks, her voice cracks as tears start to stream down her cheeks.

I instinctively leaned forward and wiped away the tears. I took her face into my hands and smooth back her hair. “I don’t hate you. I love you.”

“I’m sorry,” she cries.

I squeeze her hand, “It’s okay. Don’t be sorry, I’m just glad you’re alright. You’re going to be fine. I promise. Love, I promise that it’ll be okay and that we’ll get through this. I promise.”

#my story #tw suicide #tw suicide attempt #tw overdose #the royal romance #trr #choices trr #king liam #riley brooks #choices fanfiction #soheila-1996 writes #epilepsy #the royal romance fanfiction #wacky drabbles

27 notes · View notes

zuzuslastbraincell · 4 years ago

Note

Katara!

KATARA KATARA KATARA

why I like them

oh god where do i even start. katara just contains so many multitudes - she's sweet and feminine and caring and attentive but she's never reduced to just that, she's never just 'the girl', she's also allowed to get mad, to be petty, to laugh at her brother, to be headstrong and stubborn, to express vulnerability, to cry and to laugh, to make ridiculous facial expressions and *be* very expressive. she's dealing with a lot of trauma not simply from the loss of her mother but that loss represents also how her tribe have been decimated by the fire nation, how she's the last waterbender, how all this pressure exists on her shoulders (but also pride, but also determination, to bring it back) and that is expressed subtly throughout the series with the same depth and love that male characters are afforded with regard to their respective traumatic experiences. and despite all this she never tries to stop making the world good? She's always pushing for change, she's always wanting to make things better, she's relentless and doesn't give up when it comes to her vision for a better world... she has such a big heart. and that coexists with a deep anger in her, and deep hurt. Not to make an ocean metaphor so early on but she's as deadly and deep as the ocean but she chooses to be kind and warm and that's so powerful.

why i don't

honnestly while katara's instincts to mother people are a sad symptom of how she was forced to grow up to soon and automaically asigns herself a role of emotional responsibility she has mixed feelings about, i know that if katara tried to mother me, i would be annoyed. but that sounds more like a me problem.

favourite episode

oh it's either the episode where she beats the fucking shit out of pakku or it's the southern raiders. the first one because it's so gratifying to see how she's grown and developed as a bender and really come into her own. the second because... god i love how *messy* the southern raiders is, and it really taps into what i love about katara - she's flawed, she runs off on an ill-thought out revenge mission with zuko, she's got a great capability for darkness as she quite seriously considers murdering a man she has every right to loathe and to kill - but she chooses against it, in the end. it would not be right for her, if not him. she chooses what's right for her in the end.

favourite season

I'm gonna be a wee bit controversial and say book 1 had the best conception of katara's arc from student to master and really saw her grow and flourish, from someone yelling at her brother' oafish prejudice to a real master, that really solidified her as an idealist and presented that as the strength that is, that showed her struggling with petty jealousy of aang's progress and had her stumble in ways that made her character comeplling and interesting - like what an introduction to her character! book 2 had some fantastic moments but i can't think of anything particularly remarkable about hee character arc - largely because it tied into aang's romantic arc i think at this point. book 3 had some absolutely fantastic moments (scam queens katara and toph!! painted lady!! southern raiders!! the final agni kai) that really shone but also book 3 lays a lot of groundwork for fanon i hate (e.g. katara as the mom friend - wish that headcanon would die tbh)

favourite line

fuck there's a lot of good ones but my underrated fave is when sokka says he's kissed a girl before but she's never met her and katara says 'Who? Gran-gran? I've met gran-gran' and it's bruuutaaall

but my favourite serious line is 'I will never ever give up on people who need me'. powerful.

favourite outfit

water tribe anything!! and i actually think her book one/book two braids are her best hair. underrated katara hair. personally she looks just adorable in her parka in the flashback to when she was like. eight.

OTP

katara/personal fulfilment

katara/happiness

katara/fulfilling her goals and dreams

katara/loving minor background character who is never named

there's some ships i like in AU situations - yuetara is actually one i lov, especially with waterbender yue, i just love the whole sea/moon thing as well as katara and yue rebelling in loud/quiet ways, being girlfriends who refuse to have their lives defined by the expectations of older men, who have a great sense of duty towards their nations and won’t let gendered expectations stop them.

and most of you know i like the messy drama of katara/azula in a lighter AU situation where they're like, school or academic rivals, and the legacy of imperialism isn’t quite so personal (and azula makes better choices, obviously), but it’s not as much as i “ship” them as i just find the potential dynamic interesting, they’re both driven by a sense of duty for their home, it’s just that means *very* different things depending if you’re SWT or FN.

none of them are OTPs though - they’re more just fun thought experiments

brotp

katara & sokka - absolutely love their sibling dynamic its amazing. both have been impacted negatively by the shit in their lives and are not always dealing with it in functional ways but theyre there for each other, through thick and thin, always have each other's backs, they roast each other and bicker and sometimes make stupid decisions and sometimes lash out but at the end of the day their love pulls through, they’re able to work past those conflicts.

katara & aang - honestly while i feel kataang was just so poorly executed in the show (listen guys I just can’t after ember island players, i know that was a bad episode, but i can’t) & i cant imagine katara wanting to leave the south pole after the war for long spells (it would have to be long distance love, lots of profound and heartfelt letters and occasional visits, if anything, but i dont know if that’s what katara wants or needs? so maybe it wouldn’t pan out?), but regardless, i really do think these two had a life-changing friendship where each really represented hope for each other, that's at the core of it, they both truly believe in each other, and inspired each other. katara & aang good.

a headcanon

chief katara anyone?? chief katara?!?!

oh oh OH i also think that katara, while primarily a combat bender during the war, actually takes to healing a lot more after the show and gets proper healing training at some point with the help of a trained medical expert and maybe yugoda. tbh i feel like the show was a bit dismissive of healing as an ability - i feel like having that is *extremely* useful in any combat situation, you always have a medic on hand - but i understand why katara, who wanted to be recognised as powerful regardless of her gender, and wanted to hold herself in a fight alongside sokka & aang, pushed for combat waterbending training because that is what 'powerful' looks like to her in the moment. obviously katara is capable of incredible healing feats (see: saving aang) but i think given we see her as a healer in lok (not a decision i necessarily disagree with) would mean a shift in focus. i think katara actually comes to realise she likes healing a great deal, but really she excels in all aspects of waterbending and is the south’s most respected master who helped rejuvenate southern style waterbending

unpopular opinion

the main reason people think katara is straight is because we see her have very few meaningful interactions with other girls outside of toph. ATLA as a show is a bit romance obsessed, and very heteronormative in that regard, and so interactions with minor characters almost always line up with a potential crush for sokka or katara, and later, zuko (suki, haru, jet, yue, song, jin....). we rarely see katara build friendships with other girls and it’s such a damn shame.

(anyway bi katara for life)

a wish

the version of the puppetmaster we saw was actually fire nation propaganda, i feel like katara would have felt deep compassion for a prisoner of war and after maybe some clashes, would have agreed to help smuggle her out of the fire nation and secure passage home for hama, and tried to assure her that she still has a place there. the treatment of hama in that episode was awful (but also hama was written to be almost cartoonishly evil, very much an evil witch in her cottage in the spooky woods? like the whole horror movie / spooky story opening was such a big tell) and tbh i reject the thesis that we saw ‘katara’s dark potential’ in that episode completely, or that bloodbending as a power is inherently dark, or katara’s use of it to stop hama ‘corrupted’ her. I feel like katara might feel this way as a teenager perhaps but with time (she can be a little black and white at times), and especially with more training as a healer, i think she might realise that’s not the case, she’ll realise that she was right to try and oppose hama, her elder (she was lashing out rather than really trying to oppose the fire nation), and it wasn’t a betrayal of her or her beliefs, but also her use of bloodbending wasn’t wrong or evil inherently at all? and maybe she’d find ways to use it for healing purposes? anyway my wish is that, i like the idea that they meet again, speak about their differences, reconcile a little / come to an understanding, and katara learns more from hama again

an oh-god-please-don't-ever-happen

anything where katara’s character is reduced to a comforter or a healing device for a man and his trauma. particularly zuko. (they don’t have that dynamic in canon thankfully, zuko would never, zuko respects her too much)

5 words to describe them:

idealistic, hard-working, powerful, headstrong, kind

my nickname for them:

chief. or comrade. :^)

#katara

7 notes · View notes

darknessisafriend · 5 years ago

Text

Your only chance for hapiness Part2

Part 1 here !

It’s finally here after so much time, I finally wrote it, I hope you will enjoy it, a Part 3 is planned ^^ @forensic-aep second part of your request^^

After getting dressed, the two of you headed to the Saloon where was Eli and Mayfield. Adrenaline still running through your veins, you intended on making her pay, the people here will remember you and the Sisters Brothers.

“Eli!” called Charlie, looking around for his brother.

“Up there!” he answered back, the two of you quickly headed in the direction of his voice, up to the office of Mayfield, as you arrived you noticed that Eli had tied her to a chair, she didn’t seem afraid enough to your taste, wasn’t she aware of their reputation?

“Well, you two took your time!” grumbled Eli, you cleared your throat, images of what had happened in the barn coming back to your mind, a slight blush creeping on your cheeks.

“I had some important things to care of…” smirked Charlie, turning his head to look at you and winking, ‘the bastard’ you gave him a punch in the shoulder, flustered.

“Ouch!” he exclaimed exaggerating, Eli let out a noisy sigh, and he was right, you should be focusing on Mayfield, being lovebirds will be for later.

“So, did she say anything?” asked Charlie, leaning his back against the deck as he looked at Mayfield right in the eyes, but you could see it in her eyes she wasn’t afraid, not yet; she knew some men like Eli couldn’t bring themselves to hit a woman, so you took the initiative, throwing her a punch on the forehead with the grip of your gun, she yelped with a mix of surprise and pain; Charlie whistled pleased by your gesture.

“She doesn’t deserve any special treatment Eli.” you told the older brother, she wouldn’t hesitate to kill him if she could, so he shouldn’t either.

“Oh my God, Warm told me he was looking for an investor for his prospection business, I didn’t get everything, I took him for an idiot but when I saw Morris, I told myself that if the Commodore was interested, it must have been serious...” Charlie went to sit behind the desk, looking in the drawers for objects of value.

“Did Morris leave a message for us?” asked Charlie.

“No... he traveled with Warm and that’s it.” She answered honestly.

“Oh really...” Charlie gave you and his brother a ‘I told you so’ look, you clenched your jaw, Morris turning is back on you wasn’t of good omen.

“Why did you want to kill us?” you asked her coming to stand next to Charlie, you stood close to him, you hip brushing against his shoulder, any notion of personal space was useless now, you felt Charlie, discreetly move his right arm, his hand coming to caress the back of your thigh, if he wasn’t doing business right now his hand would have went up to your ass, you actually found it quite exciting, to pretend like nothing was happening. With the other hand Charlie opened a music box that was in front of him, the nice lullaby contrasting with the whole situation

“I repeat, after, I start hitting.” threatened your lover.

“When I understood that Warm had something of value, I put my men after them, to bring it back to me…”

“You mean now there’s other guys after Warm?” cut off Eli with a hint of nervousness.

“Alright...very well Mayfield. You’re not gonna like what’s about to follow but that’s the price to pay when we meddle in our business...open your safe.” Ordered her Charlie mischievously.

“No... never.” you saw a sadistic smile form on Charlie’s lips, he truly had a problem with violence but for business you could accept it. So, he got up, his warm hand leaving your body to reach for his gun, he walked around the desk and directly pointed it at Mayfield’s temple, she jumped at the contact of the cold metal against her skin.

“Listen. Tell us how to open your safe or my partner here will blow your brain out with great pleasure.” you threatened her with a confident smile.

“Mayfield...” started Charlie, impatience growing inside him.

“You know...if you die right now, you won’t be just losing your fortune but also everything you’ve built here, your town, your men, your people...” you listed and it seemed to make her think, she was way too arrogant to let her small ounce of power crumble for a couple of objects of value.

“Alright, alright...the code is 7300956.” she finally said, Eli finally managed to open the safe, you smirked, it had been so easy to make her talk, you jumped as Charlie suddenly pulled the trigger.

“Was that really necessary?” you sighed, looking at her lifeless corpse.

“She could have sent other men after us, right Charlie?” replied Eli, his brother nodded as he went to look inside the safe; you nodded too they made sense; as your eyes saw what was inside the safe, you immediately forgot about the little annoyance you had, that Mayfield had gotten herself quite a treasure, with that you could live for several years without having to work!

“I’m gonna get our saddlebags.” you told them, quickly ruining to get this fortune out of the safe before the inhabitants came inside. With the two brothers, you did your best to share equally before heading to your horses.

“Y/N” called Charlie behind you as you were heading downstairs, you turned to listen to what he had to say, he held in his hand a silver necklace, with a small pendant made of diamond, a truly beautiful piece you had to admit.

“It would suit you.” he spoke with affection in his eyes, a small smile formed on your lips as you understood it was a gift from his own share, he put it in your hand and continued his way outside. Apparently public demonstration of affection wasn’t his thing but that, was a very romantic thing which you absolutely loved.

However, you were taken aback as you arrived outside to see the whole town looking at you and the brothers, they probably wanted to know what had happened.

“Find something to tell them.” Charlie said to you and his brother, why wasn’t he saying something?

“Well...something happened, hopefully you’ll be happy about it? And now...your turn to say something Eli” he looked at you, mouth agape, how dared you, you hid a smile, amused.

“Following a series of dramatic events... for which she bears full responsibility...Mayfield’s dead!” you couldn’t help but chuckle, he had struggled so much to find something better to say.

“No, no! Not like that! Don’t you have something positive to say?” added Charlie as he climbed on his horse.

“Well, please do Charlie!” you replied arching an eyebrow at him.

“My partners and I have good news; you can change the name of your shit town!” he joked. Before giving a quick to his horse, you did the same galloping, in case the people would react badly, from afar you heard music, well apparently, they were happy, at least you did something good today.

You rode until the morning lights, you struggled to stay awake, thankfully your horse followed those of the brothers, you didn’t know how they could stay awake especially Charlie after drinking so much. Once again you felt your eyelids getting heavy, you will close your eyes just for a few seconds, wouldn’t hurt anyone; you didn’t realize your horse slowing down to stop and eat grass. But Eli, felt like something was different he didn’t hear your horse behind; he turned his head to see.

“Hey Charlie...” he started keeping his voice down.

“What?”

“We should stop for a bit; I think she’s tired.”

“Who are talking ab-” your lover stopped talking when he looked in the same direction as his brother, your horse was happily eating grass, while you were fully laying on its neck, soundly sleeping. Charlie let out a soften smile.

“Alright, we have to bury our pay anyway, should be good close to those woods.” he indicated with his index the forest a few hundreds of meters away. Eli went to pick up the reins of your horse to let you sleep. Charlie looked at you tenderly as they got closer to the woods, you were so beautiful when you were asleep, he could see himself wake up next to you every morning.

“Seems like things got settled between the two of you…” insinuated the older brother with a knowing smile.

“Yeah.”

“And?” pushed Eli, he was curious to know what had happened.

“None of your business bro.” answered Charlie avoiding his brother’s gaze.

“Oh really, so you can ask me about the stole I have but I can’t ask you about the woman you’re lovesick about!” argued Eli, annoyed.

“I’m not lovesick.” Objected Charlie irritated, why was Eli so inquisitive right now?!

“Yes, you are. Since you came back from wherever you two where, you have that big goofy grin on your face” Charlie’s hand went up to touch his face, was he being so obvious?! He got down of his horse.

“I don't have a big goofy grin....” he muttered, taking a tool to start digging a hole to bury his share and answers Eli inquiring on Warm.

While Eli continued to bury his share, Charlie went to you, you were still sleeping on your horse, he rested his arm on the neck of the animal and tenderly looked at your sleepy face, he almost felt bad that he had to wake you up. He quickly verified that Eli wasn’t looking at him, then, gently his thumb went to caress your cheek, you must have been exhausted not to jump awake, or maybe you just trusted them now. You groggily opened your eyes at the touch, you directly met Charlie’s green orbs, he was looking at you tenderly, a small smile playing on his mouth.

“Feels nice.” you murmured your voice hoarse with sleep. Your lover chuckled silently before leaning forward to kiss your lips, how good it felt when he kissed you, you lifted your hand to caress his jaw, however when your tongue went to tease his lips, he broke away from you.

“Not here sweetheart.” he told you, throwing glances at his brother to be sure he didn’t catch him. Frankly you didn’t understand why he wanted to hide your relationship, maybe he feared teasing from Eli but the man was the kindest you had ever met.

“I’ll remember that.” you flirted, rubbing your eyes; he grinned in return.

“C’mon you have to bury your share; I dug a hole for you. Then, we’ll eat and rest for a bit.” He explained, resisting the urge to kiss you again.

“Alright” you straightened up and got off your horse, your balance wasn’t at its best, so Charlie briefly caught you, his hand lingering on your back, you were craving to be in his arms, and he was too.

“Here.” he said gently, handing you a plate full of stew, your fingers touched his, you made eye contact with him, you both froze for a few seconds, the time in”the barn had been way too short, if you could simply kiss him or cuddle with him you’d be happy but Charlie was still reticent to show his affection for you publicly.

As you ate, Charlie kept looking at you achingly, until he couldn’t help but take one of your loose strands of hair to put it behind your ear, you looked at him with a small blush on your cheeks, he gave you a shy smile, you had to admit that it was quite a unique sight, Charlie being shy. On his side Eli hid a knowing smile, he was happy to see his brother care about someone and be tender.

Eli was soundly snoring after eating; and you weren’t against a nap either. Charlie was simply laying down, maintaining his gun. Yeah, a nap with him would be even better, you smirked as you approached him. As you sat down next to him, he watched you curiously. Then, you sat on top of him straddling his legs with yours, he quickly checked that his brother was asleep before smirking, you leaned forward to kiss his lips, he let go of his gun, his hands coming to caress your butt, you deepened the kiss, tasting the tabaco of the cigarette he had recently smoked, you smiled as his tongue joined yours, how bad you wished to go farther, but Eli was there and you were exhausted; at least this could help you to wait for more intimacy, so you broke the kiss and rest your head in the crook of his neck, closing your eyes and sighting happily.

“What- hey I’m not your goddamn pillow!” whispered Charlie grumpily, you chuckled, he didn’t expect that.

“Not my fault if you’re warm and super comfortable...” you murmured, planting a kiss against his throat. He sighed in defeat, when you were asleep, his fingers went to trace circles on your back, it actually felt nice, to feel your heartbeat against his chest, and to have someone caring for him, even though he doubted you would protect him at any cost; maybe all of this was just an affair and when the job will be done, you will leave. He passed a hand on his eyes; he shouldn't think this way, and in any case, he had a good time with you.

Of course, when he saw Eli starting to wake up, he pushed you off of him as gently as he could and got up pretending to tend of his horse. You opened you’re eyes groggily.

“What in the-” you muttered; it took you a bit of time to understand that Charlie had again hid his relationship from Eli. You sighed; it had been barely a few hours and it was already pissing you off, it was just his brother, nothing bad.

As you rode again, Charlie was ahead, you saw Eli coming closer to you, he looked upset.

“Did you know about the formula of Warm and the torture?” he asked with hint of anger in his eyes.

“Yeah, that’s also why I was teamed up with you two, torturing a good guy like Warm isn’t my thing, I don’t mind to do it on other criminals but that...I couldn't, the Commodore knew you wouldn’t mind; well Charlie doesn’t apparently” you looked at Eli, he seemed even more upset now.

“Wait, you mean you didn’t know about this?” you exclaimed, confused; Eli nodded.

“Charlie told me that the Commodore ordered him not to tell me, asshole.”

“It doesn’t make sense...” you wondered, you started thinking, it’s true that Charlie was enjoying violence, too much, he was enjoying killing; the opposite of Eli who only did it when it was necessary; could it be linked to their troubled childhood?

“You think the Commodore is using Charlie’s...trauma for his own ends? Like manipulating your brother?” you asked him in a murmur, worry growing in your chest.

“Well no- wait, now that you’re saying this it would actually make sense...fuck! if I could put a bullet in that bastard´s face right now...” cursed the older brother, hate filling his eyes.

“We’re stuck in this whole thing now; we have to finish the job-”

“But I don’t want Charlie to do this” objected Eli, you sighed, you had to find a way to prevent this from happening.

“And I don’t either. Look, I don’t know the full story but it seems Charlie went through some tough shit and he’s rooted deep into violence but torturing people will only drive him crazy, we have to do everything we can to make Warm talk without having Charlie to torture him.” You said upset.

“We can find a solution and help Charlie.” You appreciated Eli’s optimistic side.

“I hope so...I might sound stupid but I don’t want to lose him...” you confessed, voicing for the first time your feelings for him.

“You don’t sound stupid; you know it’s the first time I see him care about someone else than himself…I’d love it if you became part of the family, I’m sure my mama will love you too” you chuckled, it was a bit early to talk about such thing as marriage but it’s was nice to hear that.

“Thanks Eli, you’re sweet.” You smiled sincerely, looking at him in the eyes.

“Eli! Don't you have your teacher waiting for you?” called Charlie from afar, looking at the two of you.

“What the hell are talking about Charlie?” you couldn’t help but laugh, was Charlie really being jealous right now? That’s when Eli understood.

“Can’t even talk with my business partner anymore, you idiot.” grumbled the older brother.

And Charlie for the first time started to feel jealous and possessive over you. And he wasn’t able to resist the urge to touch you much longer, he was sick of waiting to be out of sight of his brother, he was an impulsive man, he didn’t like when something or someone resisted to his will. You were so addictive; he had never felt this before, and maybe he feared to lose you to someone else even his brother.

When you stopped for the night. You were all sitting around the fire; he scooted closer to you, his shoulder brushing against yours; he gave his brother a look meaning ‘don’t you dare make a comment’, Charlie hated to show his vulnerability, he couldn't be vulnerable just like Eli, otherwise he would have never saved his mother from his dad. Eli shook his head in annoyance, Charlie was being so silly right now.

You were reading your book, and ignored Charlie’s presence, he was too proud or ashamed or whatever it was to show publicly that he was with you; and that upset you more than you imagined.

“Y/N?” he softly called your name; you sighed in frustration.

“What Charlie? Why do you keep interrupting my reading?” it came harsher than you meant it to be, a hint of hurt passed in his eyes.

“Wait, when did I interrupt you before?” you looked at Charlie raising an eyebrow, who was he kidding? But you saw he had a pure look of innocence confusion on his face, he had probably forgotten with the amount of alcohol he had that night.

“Anyway, what do you want?” you asked, not being able to resist him.

“Well I was wondering if you could read that book of yours out loud.” He admitted almost grumpily like he wanted to play bad boys, but he was just being cute.

“Oh yes please Y/N, it would be so nice!” added excitedly Eli.

“Well it’s asked so nicely” you replied sarcastically throwing a quick look at Charlie.

“Thank you” he mimicked his brother, you tried to hide your smile, he was an idiot but an adorable one. Making yourself comfortable against your saddle, crossing your legs, you cleared your throat and started from the beginning of the book.

“Call me Ishmael. Some years ago - never mind how long precisely - having little or no money in my purse, and nothing particular to interest me on shore, I thought I would sail about a little and see the watery part of the world.”

You felt Charlie carefully crawling closer to you to finally lay his head on your lap, you briefly stopped reading surprised, but you quickly got back to reading, you wouldn’t want him to go away, even though he came on his own will, you could feel he was on the defensive. As for Eli, he was so happy to see his little brother in love, it gave him hope for their future.

After a bit, one of your hands left your book, so that you could run your fingers through his hair as you continued to read out loud; you particularly loved his hair, thick and soft, Charlie closed his eyes in appreciation, lulled by your voice.

After, Charlie got more comfortable with showing you affection in public and he liked how it showed that you were with him. Every night, when you were camping outside, when Eli had fell asleep, you would hear Charlie shift under his covers until he got up, bringing his bed against yours, then he would lie down next you; you could feel the warmth of his body, his calm breathing, each time for a few seconds he wouldn’t move as if he feared something bad would happen in return; then, gently he would slid his arm around your waist, bringing himself closer to you, his warm breath tickling your neck, sometimes without a word you would simply join your hand with his, entwinning your fingers, the both of you quickly falling asleep afterwards.

But most of the time you would turn to face him, looking at him the eyes, you could tell he still felt conflicted about how he cared for you. You never spoke to each other in those moments, the suffering in his eyes was more explicit than any word, you would exchange a few tired kisses, until Charlie would snuggle against your chest, holding you close.

The travel was long, you had to cross mountains and plains, riding from dawn to the night, without encountering any ounce of civilization. You were eager find it again, even a small village would be perfect, especially so far from Oregon City; you had heard so many stories about the new giant cities building on the West Coast, you wondered what it looked like, how the people were dressed, what did they do for fun? Would a woman with your lifestyle be more accepted?

Today you reached the ocean, how splendid it was, it wasn’t your first time seeing it, once for a job further in the north you had reached the ocean to stop some guys to take a boat and flee to Mexico. But it seemed it was the first time for the two brothers, they had stopped their horses on top of the dune, looking at this water as far as the eye could see, they had big happy smiles on their faces, you closed your eyes and took a deep breath, inhaling the sea air. When you reopened them, Charlie was staring at you, his eyes shining.

“Beautiful” he said, you smirked.

“Are you talking about me or the ocean?”

“Both, although I might have a favorite...” he flirted, winking at you, you shook your head in disbelief, he could be so sweet sometimes.

“Sweet talker” you chuckled, before starting to descend the dune on you horse, you rode for the whole day on the beach, enjoying the wind on your face and the sound of the waves; you even decided on camping on the beach for the night, and you couldn’t resist any longer, you were going to go for a swim, nothing better to relax your muscles after days of horse riding. The sunset was truly magnificent, it was the perfect time.

“Wanna come with me for a swim?” you asked the brothers as you got up, taking your hat and boots off.

“In there?!” exclaimed Charlie looking at you as if you were crazy, who knows what creature was under the surface...

“Eli could you turn for a minute please?” you asked the older brother who instantly turned slightly blushing. Charlie watched you as you took off all your clothes, you were fully naked now, his mouth was slightly agape, what a sweet sight it was, it reminded him of that time in the barn, he didn’t have such intimacy with you since then because of the presence of Eli; but now he felt desire rise into him, he couldn’t wait for it to happen again. You smirked at him as you headed into the waves, Eli finally turned catching a glimpse of your bottom as the water reached your hips.

“What a woman...” he marveled.

“Did I tell you that you could look?!” scolded Charlie with jealousy “What are you doing?” he exclaimed as Eli got up, starting to take of his clothes.

“I’m going in, it looks very nice”, he watched his brother getting naked too, he couldn’t believe it, his brother naked and you too, he couldn’t let that happen, you were his and his only.

“C’mon Charlie, the temperature is really nice!” you called him from afar as you were joined by Eli, he was doing little jump, how fun it was to float like this.

“Charlie, come! It’s like flying!” laughed Eli, excited like a kid.

“Goddammit!” he groaned, irritably taking his clothes off, the truth is that he was genuinely scared of going in, but he was too possessive to let you naked with Eli. You laughed as he joined you with a grumpy face, he relaxed a bit when he noticed how easy it was to float, Eli was right, it was fun.

“AAAAH SOMETHING TOUCHED ME!!!” you squealed clinging on Charlies back wrapping your legs around his waist and your arms around his neck.

“What!? Where!?” exclaimed Charlie looking around, securely grabbing your thighs, you pinched you lips together, trying not to laugh.

“She got you!” cackled Eli, understanding you had pranked his little brother; Charlie groaned in exasperation, you planted an apologetic kiss on his shoulder. Before he made you fall in the water laughing with Eli.

That day you really had fun, the three of you playing in the waves like children, laughing, forgetting about anything else, and you loved seeing Charlie smile, those genuine smiles of happiness were so rare compared to his sadistic ones. You hoped that it was helping him to realize that life by your side could bring him satisfaction. Eli was the first one to get out of the water, he wished he could have stayed more but he started to feel cold. You and Charlie stayed a bit more. Charlie was looking at you with a happy smile, and as if he wanted to tell you something but something refrained him from doing so.

“What is it?” you asked trying to get him to talk.

“Nothing. I’m just glad to be here” he answered briefly avoiding your gaze with shyness ‘with you’ he added in his mind, he didn’t know how good it felt to hear him say this, you had never heard a man say such thing to you since you started your new life, you caressed the back of his head.

“You make me happy too, Charlie” he swallowed down at your words before closing the gap between the two of you.

Each day that passed you were more in love with him, he had this vulnerability, this sweetness that you wanted to fully unveil. Sometimes you wondered if you were attracted to him because he was as broken as you, but if you could make each other happy, then it was a good thing.

When you both went back on the beach, you felt teasing. Eli had his back turned to give some intimacy. Charlie had put his pants back on and was looking for his shirt.

“Now, where’s my-” he stopped when he realized you were wearing it with a proud smile, how nice it was to see you wear his clothes.

“I need my shirt back sweetheart.” He spoke, trying to hide how pleased he was at this vision.

“Then come and get it” you teased, he smirked and slowly approached you, looking at you like a predator would on its prey and damn that was arousing. When he was close to you, he started to undo each button, pleasantly realizing you were fully shirtless under it, his fingers came to caress your nipples, how he craved to taste them, he chuckled capturing your lips once more as he took his shirt off of you.

“Hey, I'm still here you know.” muttered Eli embarrassed by the sounds of kissing behind his back. You broke the kiss, he was right, the poor man had to bear this.

“Sorry Eli” you giggled, looking for your own clothes.

The rest of the night went by in a good atmosphere, Eli and Charlie even singing bawdy songs around the campfire, and this time you were in Charlie’s arms, settled between his legs, your back resting against his chest, sharing a cigarette.

That night Charlie wanted more than just cuddles and kisses with you, you had spent your time teasing him today after all. And you wanted it, but Eli was still there, you didn’t want him to see or even hear. Then, you felt Charlie’s hand slide in your pants and underwear to settle between your legs, you felt goosebumps form on your skin, you wiggled your hips, you had missed his touch so much, you didn’t want to resist, you wanted to give him, and give yourself to Charlie once again.

“Don´t worry he´s asleep” he murmured against your ear, feeling your worry. You closed your eyes as he nibbled your earlobe, you will do your best to muffle your moans of pleasure and not awake Eli.

“Charlie…” you moaned, feeling his hard manhood against your butt, you both wished you had been alone, you will have to pleasure each other in another way in the meantime. You turned to face him, sliding your hand beneath his shirt to feel his warm skin, he needily exhaled under your touch before taking possession of your mouth; as his tongue caressed yours, his hand went you massage your breast, his fingers teasing your nipples, earning a few hushed moans from you.

Your hand traveled down his pants, taking his erection in your hand, he growled realizing how hungry for your touch he had been and even more as you started to slowly move up and down. His hand went back between your legs, teasingly caressing your folds, you nuzzled closer to Charlie, closing your eyes in delight.

Your movements became faster and faster, Charlie’s forehead against yours, mingling your rapid breathing, trying to conceal your moans of pleasure.

“Y/N…I’m gonna come…” panted Charlie against your lips, he increased his circling around your clitoris making you cry out in pleasure, forgetting how quiet you tried to be. You and your lover soon reached climax, muffling it each other’s mouth. Charlie kept you in his arms the whole night, often planting tender kisses on your face; sometimes he wondered if all this was just a dream, and if not, he hoped your presence by his side will never cease.

The next morning as you departed from the beach in the direction of San Francisco; you noticed that Eli was sleepy, his eyes closing and opening, constantly yawning on his horse, and his brother noticed it too.

“What’s wrong, had a bad sleep?” he asked, thinking Eli might have had nightmares again.

“How did you want me to sleep after the noises you two made last night…” he grumbled with irritation. You were blushing so much as you understood what he implied, gosh you felt so embarrassed that he had to witness that and for once Charlie felt a bit awkward too.

“You told me he was sleeping!” you kicked his calve with your foot, he chuckled at your embarrassment.

“Well he was! It´s not my fault if you’re the noisy type!” your mouth formed an ‘o’ you were outraged at his comment.

“Of course it´s your fault! you´re the one who made me go noisy!” you realized too late what you had said, now Charlie had big goofy grin on his face, and now Eli was laughing his ass off, you rolled your eyes and sped your horse to go ahead of the two brothers.

San Francisco

“Fuck me it’s Babylon here!” exclaimed Charlie in wonder as he looked at the giant city full of life in front of him.

“Amazing...” you breathed looking at the buildings and the lights, and there were so many people around you that you could lose yourself in a few seconds. Speaking of which, people had passed between you and the brothers; Charlie had realized that too and was now pushing past them to get back to you.

“Hey, wouldn’t want to lose you sweetheart” said Charlie, relief washing over his face as he reached to grab your hand so he wouldn’t be separated from you again.

“If we find Warm, no need to look for a quiet corner, there’s none.” Commented Eli in wonder.

“Who gives a fuck! We can kill anyone we want. Look at them, all busy doing something!” replied Charlie with excitement.

Then, you stopped in front of a grand building, chic people wearing costumes at the latest trend of Europe, so many lights inside, crystal chandeliers, what a place.

“An hotel?” you wondered, you had never seen such a big building and so well decorated.

“Let’s go.” Said Charlie not even bothering to hide his excitement; you had to admit it was very tempting, a once in a lifetime experience.

“Must be very expensive.” Commented Eli, this time you agreed with your lover, Eli should loosen up a bit.

“Exactly.” Replied his brother already marching towards the entrance.

“Let’s have a bit of fun Eli! And we all deserve some nice place like this after what we’ve been through!” you added excitedly, hurrying to catch up your lover.

“Here are the water-closet, the bathroom with warm running water and finally your bedroom gentlemen; miss, yours is right here in front of theirs.” The suite was so well decorated and all fancy, it was just like a house for a family, you had never seen such thing before! You squealed as you entered your bedroom, letting yourself fall on the mattress, smiling at how soft it was, you couldn’t wait to get yourself in those soft and warm sheets.

As Eli went directly to the bathroom to take a warm bath, all excited to try warm running water; you felt Charlie’s gaze on you, you lifted your head to realize he was leaning against the doorframe looking at you with a tender smile.

“I hope you don’t plan on staying in your room the whole night…” you flirted, he smirked in return, leaving his spot to join you on the bed, taking off his hat and coming on top of you, his fingers caressed your face, his thumb brushing over your lips.

“Your wish is my command, sweetheart.” He replied with a smirk before capturing your lips, you buried your fingers in his hair, closing your eyes, his touch was intoxicating, each time you yearned for more and feared that all of this was just a fling.

When the time for dinner came, you all dressed nicely for the fancy restaurant of the hotel. It was your first time wearing a dress in years, it felt strange, and you were nervous about Charlie’s reaction. You knew he was going to like it, but you feared he might want you to stick with this type of outfit. When you came out of your room both brothers stopped talking and looked at you with their mouth slightly open.

“What? I’m not the first woman you see wearing a dress.” You joked uneasy at the attention you were getting. Charlie snapped out of his trance and took your hand in his to kiss it in a very gentlemanlike way.

“You’re beautiful.” He added softly; you detailed his appearance and he looked dashing with his hair perfectly slicked back, his black and red outfit that highlighted his warm tan and green eyes.

“Thank you, Charlie. You are quite a sight yourself.” You replied looking at him in the eyes, he smirked pleased at your compliment. “Very elegant too Eli.” He smiled shyly, bowing his head at you. You took your lover’s arm as he escorted you at the dining hall.

“But don’t expect me to wear this every day.” You informed him, leaning closer to his ear. He chuckled in return.

“No matter how gorgeous you are looking at the moment, I enjoy you daily outfit too; nothing better than a pants and shirt to highlight your curves…” he smirked, throwing you a glance full of lust, you chuckled, relieved he liked you the way you were.

“A little comfort in a moment of uncertainty” sighed Charlie taking a drag of his cigar, you smiled, it was true, that this type of place was quite relaxing after weeks on horse and sleeping in the wild.

“You know, I was thinking about something…we could go back to Oregon city, and say we didn’t find them.” Suddenly said Eli, his tone careful.

“What do we say to the Commodore?” you asked genuinely curious, why did he wanted to drop the job all of a sudden? Because of the conversation you two had?

“The truth. Morris left with Warm, destination unknown. They can’t ask us to find them without any clues to guide us. And we don’t know if Mayfield’s men didn’t catch them already…” he explained, this time with more confidence.

“Alright. What are you getting at brother?” asked Charlie wanting his brother to go straight to the point.

“With what we got in Mayfield, the money we saved at home and the rest we have enough to dump the Commodore once and for all.” Clarified the older brother; he was right, maybe it would be best to stop here and have a life with your lover, at least it was your wish.

“Sounds feasible, we’ve got a lot.” You said, supporting Eli, who flashed you a quick thankful smile.

“Why would we do that?” asked Charlie clueless, his brother sighed, as for you, you could feel Charlie was already losing patience.

“Have you ever thought about quitting work?” added Eli, more straightforward this time.

“But to do what?” asked again your lover, stunned.

“Don’t know…we could open a store just the two of us, Y/N could also come with us…” suggested the older brother, hoping this idea might be interesting.

“What store?!” replied Charlie getting annoyed by the whole conversation.

“Listen, both of us, we’ve had a hard time, we’re still alive, still young and we even have love from two wonderful women, it’s a good way out!” clarified Eli, his tone getting desperate, he looked at you for support.

“A store. A way out. What the hell is this bullshit?” exclaimed Charlie, Eli truly felt hurt by the reaction of his little brother and lowered his eyes, he didn’t know what else to add. On your side, you looked at your lover with pity, he truly thought he was good at nothing but killing.

“At least we know you want out, so quit.” He added coldly.

“What does that mean? That if I stop you continue?” replied Eli who was also starting to be angry at his little brother.

“Of course, I continue, I’ll still have Y/N as my new partner.”

“Charlie, at least consider what your brother says…” you intervened gently, briefly touching his hand but now he was fully irritated and looked at you as if you had betrayed him.

“Alright then, Rex asked me for work, there also Sanchez.” He spoke with hurt in his eyes, he didn’t want to give up his life, the reputation he had built, his importance.

“C’mon Rex and Sanchez you can’t trust them, they won’t protect you.” Objected Eli trying to show him he only meant his well-being.

“Oh because you protect me?” reproached Charlie, you understood his words had a deeper meaning, it wasn’t all about the current job, something older, a deep wound that never healed and you were pretty sure it was linked to what happened with their father.

“That’s what you tell yourself, to stay the nice Eli…but we’re the Sisters brothers, you and me, the goddamn Sisters brothers.” Charlie’s words were cruel, reflecting how traumatized he was “Fine, you took your decision, fine by me and I can tell you that the Commodore will like it too.”

“Charlie…” you tried, his mean words towards Eli were unnecessary.

“Y/N stay outta this.” He cut you off, avoiding your gaze; he wished you supported him instead of his brother “So, we finish the job, and split up.” He concluded; his tone final.

“Why are you saying it like this?! And after we split up?”

“What do you want me to say? If I stay with the Commodore and you-you open your store…”

“What you mean is that we won’t see each other again…”

“Of course not, every time I’ll be in town, if I need somethin’ like a shirt or shorts…” he answered with arrogance, now you felt anger rise in your chest, Charlie was being a dumbass, not even trying to consider the possibility of changing of life.

“Why are you saying this with such meanness?! Those words, why are you taking the conversation to such a low level! Cause you’re drunk!?” this was too much for Charlie who slapped his brother right in the face, the people in the room gasping, outraged at the scene. Every eye in the room were looking at the three you, you could felt their disapproval and felt ashamed to be in the company of someone who couldn’t control his emotions, he needed to learn to behave like an respectable adult.

Eli left to his room, feeling humiliated. As for you, you were angry at Charlie, why did he have to behave in such puerile way!? So, you got out of the restaurant, you intended to give him a piece of your mind, it wasn’t going to be pretty, but he had to hear this. You found him by the entrance, pacing back and forth, angrily smoking his cigar.

“Why did you have to be such an asshole!?” you exploded, looking at him severely, you were done being nice and soothing with him, he had to understand how childish he had behaved.

“Oh, you too now?” he replied bitterly.

“Yes, Charlie I’ve never seen a grown man behave so immature!”

“Did you hear him!? I’m not my father! I’m not drunk! In fact, I didn’t drink since we fucked for the first time!” he confessed raising his voice, ignoring the people around hearing him. You were glad he had given up alcohol but that will be for another time.

“You know very well what I’m talking about Charlie! Eli had a good idea; we won’t be so good at this job for many years more! And we’ll end up killed if we don’t settle somewhere!” you spoke urgently, you wanted to save him from his dark mind, offer him peace.

“Oh what now? You want me to become a seller! ‘Good morning to you mam’ you should buy this soap it’s real fuckin’ good!’ Bullshit Y/N!” fumed Charlie with sarcasm, still being stubborn.

“Oh because you think killing and torturing will make you feel better?! That you’ll have bright future ahead? I thought you were the smart one, apparently I was mistaken” you snapped back, hitting him right in the feels. He clenched his jaw at your words, looking at the ground as you left him to go back to your bedroom.

Charlie wandered in the city for several hours, trying to gather is thoughts, trying to understand his brother’s words and yours. Finally, he arrived in front of a brothel, the girls were the prettiest he had ever seen; but for once he couldn’t go inside, it didn’t feel right, and he didn’t feel any desire for them, all he could think of was you, he didn’t want just any woman, he wanted you…he felt…upset that you were mad at him. In that moment he finally understood, he was in love with you.

He had to get back to you and ask for your forgiveness. He rushed back to the hotel and knocked at your door, he didn’t care if it was late in the night, he had to talk to you. You were not asleep, your fight with Charlie had upset you; suddenly you heard someone knocking at your door.

“Y/N please, let me in...” you heard Charlie’s voice. You pinched your lips together; you were not sure you wanted to answer him. The only way to build something solid with Charlie was to settle, otherwise one of you would get killed, but Charlie refused to see that, he needed to understand that he could be happy and that he could be good at something else than killing. He knocked again, his voice more upset this time, you couldn’t resist to his plead and went to open your door.

Relief washed over his face as he saw you, he stepped in, closing the door behind him. He nervously passed his tongue over his lips.

“Y/N forgive me, I should have listened.” He started, he swallowed down as if it took him all his strength to admit this; you didn’t answer, he was sincere but what bothered you even more was why he came back to you, if it was just for fucking or to be his comfort only when he asked for it, you didn’t want him back; no matter how much it would hurt you.

“Before one of us gets heartbroken, is it just about sex or are we having something more?” you suddenly asked, you needed to know, he seemed taken back by your question, he looked to the side, he was tense as if he feared the answer, yours and his.

“I…What Am I to you Y/N?” he asked you back, still not looking at you, his heart was racing. You wished he would have answered first but if it enabled you to finally know the truth, you will answer first.

“I care about you Charlie, it’s hard to say because it never happened to me before but I think I love you…” you felt like your heart would explode in your chest, waiting was killing you, Charlie finally looked at you in the eyes, he seemed moved, very moved by your confession “What about you Charlie?” you urged him.

“I’d like this to work, very much…I want to stay with you and take care of you.” he admitted with nervousness, he had tears in his eyes, as if it was taking all his will to admit this, all the pain he must have went through to end up like this, you thought. He hadn’t told you he loved you, but his words meant the same. You released a relieved smile, taking his face between your hands, closing the gap between the two of you, he wrapped his arms around you, burying his fingers in your hair.

“Can I stay with you tonight?” he asked you against your lips, you smiled, guiding him to the bed. Tonight, together, your bodies intertwined, you will finally be complete, naked and your feelings bare, for the first time truly loving each other.

The next morning”

“I’m starting to think we’ll never find Warm; this city is so damn huge” sighed your lover, taking another drag of his cigarette

“We should check concessions offices...” you muttered sleepily; your face half buried in your pillow, one arm resting on his belly.

“You can stay here a bit more sleepyhead, I’ll go first.” he replied softly, getting up. You yawned, struggling to not fall back asleep as you watched him get dressed.

“You should talk to Eli.” you added; he sighed as he put his hat on his head, then he approached the bed.

“Yes ma'am’” he answered leaning forward to place a loving kiss on your shoulder.

As he closed the door on his way out, you brought his pillow closer to your face so you could breathe in his scent. You were happy, Charlie wasn’t the perfect man but so were you, and you both found comfort in each other’s company.

When you were finally fully awake, you quickly dressed up to help your lover but as you came out of your room you bumped into Eli, he was on his way out too carrying his saddle bag.

“Eli, what are you doing?” you asked him surprised.

“I’m leavin’” he answered, his tone low and frustrated.

“You’re leaving? Eli, your brother did something really stupid last night, but he didn’t mean it…”

“Well he didn’t apologize to me, didn’t he?” he cut you off grumpily.

“Not yet but I’m sure he will before the end of the day.” You insinuated, thinking about the conversation you had with Charlie.

“You don’t know him as well as I do Y/N. He probably spent his night in a brothel, drinking and now he’s sobering up in a back alley” continued Eli, going downstairs, you followed him.

“Well...”

“Please Y/N I know you mean well but I can’t take his childish and arrogant behavior anymore” he cut you off tiredly, you lifted your hands in the air, he needed time to think, he will probably come back as quickly as he left.

You headed outside anyway, you had to find Charlie and help him. But as you walked in the streets you recognized your lovers voice, he had found Eli, and was probably trying to convince him to stay. You decided to stay at a distance, waiting for them to settle their argument; you scoffed at your lover, how he pretend not to remember anything, with time you had understood he always did this rather than face problems. Then, you arched an impressed eyebrow and grinned as Eli threw him a heavy punch in the face, making his little brother fall on the floor, he deserved it.

When Eli laughed, you decided to join them, it was time to leave this part of the city anyway. Charlie was still massaging his jaw, you approached him pretending you didn’t see anything and pressed a big kiss where he had been hit, he winced at first still in pain, but then your touch calmed him, reminding him of the night he had shared with you.

“What do we do now?” you asked them, putting you hat on your head.

“Apparently Charlie knows where they are.” Started Eli, tightening the saddle on his horse.

“Yep, you were right about the concession sweetheart; at the name of Morris, American river, Folsom Lake.” Charlie announced proudly, you grinned in return. As Eli got on his horse ready to depart, you came to stand a few inches from your lover, placing your lips upon his, he leaned into your touch, putting his hands on your hips to bring your body closer to him.

“You did good Charlie.” You assured him, looking at him in the eyes, you were glad he tried to behave, and listened to your advice. He smiled in return, slowly blinking to thank you, if he was rewarded this way each time he behaved, he will do it more often, he thought.

You left for the concession, it wasn’t too far from San Francisco and it shouldn’t be too complicated to find them. You rode for a full day, and had to spend the night in the forest, by tomorrow morning you will get to them. Charlie didn’t wait anymore for his brother to be asleep anymore to be by your side, you were snuggled against him, both of you asleep in each other’s arms.

You jumped awake at a sudden groan coming from Eli and before you could do anything else you were pulled away from Charlie, someone holding you from behind, you realized your lover didn’t move, you instantly feared he had been killed, you struggled trying to break free but a second man came in front of you, Morris. They had the advantage on you, chucking you on the floor, Warm put his knee on your back, blocking your arms while Morris tied your legs together, then your wrists and finally putting a gag on your mouth to prevent you screaming for help.

“Now, let’s kill them!” urged Morris making sure his gun was fully charged. You kept looking at Charlie ‘please be okay!’

Tag list: @skaravile @lyoongx @weirdflecksbutok @charlie-sisters @niniitah-ah @stardancerluv @sgtsavoytruffle @ohcarlesmycarles @welcometomyhiddlesfandom @rajacero @sanguinandoscrivo (also tagging those who enjoyed part 1 @arthurismybby @jokerismyhubbie @lindemannhiddles @lephantom)

#The Sisters Brothers #charlie sisters #charlie sisters x reader #charlie sisters x you #charlie sisters imagine

50 notes · View notes

katehuntington · 5 years ago

Text

Title: Changes - part four Word count: ±5600 words Summary “Changes”: Huntress Zoë Sullivan (OFC) crosses paths and swords with the Winchesters, when the brothers stumble on a case she’s already working. When complications arise, they are forced to work as a team. Summary part four: With reluctance Zoë decides to patch up Dean, but when the older Winchester tries to find out why she became a hunter, tension rises. Episode warnings: Dark! NSFW, 18+ only! Angst, gore, violence, character death. Description of blood, injury and medical procedures. Demon possession, supernatural creatures/entities. Smut, swearing, alcohol use/addiction. Kidnapping, mentions of torture and murder, illegal/criminal practices. Mentions of nightmares and flashbacks. Music: Heartbreaker - Led Zeppelin Author’s note: I couldn’t be more excited to share Supernatural: The Sullivan Series with you. There are quite a few people I want to thank: @coffee-obsessed-writer, @soupornatural & @mrswhozeewhatsis, who edited the early drafts, and my girls @girl-with-a-fandom-fettish & @winchest09 who are deciphering the recent version. Everyone who encouraged me to go for it, you are awesome!

Supernatural: The Sullivan Series Masterlist 01x01 “Changes” Masterlist

The thunderstorm has passed on, a low, grumpy rumble sounding from twenty miles away, as the midnight rider pulls over at Motel 6. Red and orange colors of dawn paint the horizon in the east; the sun will rise within an hour or so. As Zoë puts her bike on the centerstand, Sam parks the black Chevrolet next to the Harley. Swiftly, he gets out of the car and walks around to help his brother, but Dean already managed to get out, muttering that he can do it himself.

The Winchesters approach to the entrance with Zoë on their tail, who keeps a sharp eye, more a habit than a necessity, trained to always be aware of her surroundings. But when she glances at Dean - who keeps a tight grip on his shoulder as he stumbles towards the door - she sighs, annoyed. It’s a guy thing, isn’t it? Feeling so sorry for themselves about ending up with a scratch or a bruise. And they truly believe they are the superior gender? She would like to see either one of those whiners live through childbirth. Without warning, Zoë walks up to Dean and smacks him against the back of his head. “Ah! You b--” “Don’t you dare call me that, or it will be your face my hand hits next,” she warns. “What’s your fucking problem?!” he snaps. “You’re acting like you're already seeing the white light. Stand up straight, let go of your shoulder and stay behind your brother,” she barks at him, while passing the two men on their way to the foyer. “Just don’t make a scene, okay?” “Do you have any idea how much this hurts? You put a bullet in my arm!” the older Winchester exclaims. “Be glad I didn’t put it in your heart, darling.”

Narrowed eyes flashing with sarcasm land on him, before Zoë grips the door handle. She’s about to push it open when Dean challenges her again. “You can give me all the attitude you’ve got, sweetheart, but you do realize you’re a fucking amateur for shootin’ another hunter, right?” he chuckles mockingly. With an eye roll, Zoë turns on her heels, fiercely glaring at the older Winchester brother, while biting the inside of her lip. This guy is seriously starting to piss her off. Does he really believe he can outsass her? That’s adorable, actually. “Let me tell you something, Winchester. Firstly, it’s called a warning shot, since you’re not dead. Secondly, I believe I was the one you didn’t see coming inside that house, I was the one who shot you and not the other way around. So tell me; who’s the amateur here?” She arches her eyebrows at him victoriously, then turns back to the door, whipping her hair round as she twists. The door falls shut behind the huntress before Dean can even think of a good counter. Sam huffs, shocked and yet impressed with her accomplishment. Who would’ve thought it was possible? She just shut up his brother. With his lips pressed together in a thin line, trying hard not to laugh, the younger Winchester follows Zoë, but Dean notices his suppressed smirk anyway and gives him a push in the back as they enter the lobby.

The door closes just as the thunder roars louder than it has all night. Dean, although reluctantly, does as told and stays in Sam’s large shadow, so the man behind the counter doesn’t notice his injury. The old man looks up from his magazine. He hasn’t done much, because the paper wrappers and the soda bottle still lay scattered across the desk. He did have coffee, though, probably to get through the quiet night. “At least I’m not just sitting here to become part of the furniture, thanks to you, Mrs. Johnson,” he comments, as it’s the third time in a few short hours she’s entered the lobby. “It won’t happen again tonight,” she promises, taking the room key after he hands it to her. “That’s easy for you to say, considering it’s morning,” he responds, unimpressed.

The man is not wrong. The clock on the wall is about to strike seven AM and she hasn’t had a minute of sleep in the past thirty six hours. While yawning, she continues her way to her room, leaving behind the Winchester brothers. Sam clears his throat loudly and Zoë looks over her shoulder, only then realizing she’s forgetting something. “Oh, right. These are colleagues of mine, they need a room,” she adds. “Sorry, no can do.” The manager flips the page, not even bothering to look up. Sam and Dean await an explanation with confused looks upon their faces. “Why not?” Sam asks. “Lots of folks coming for that Texas Hold’em Poker Tournament this weekend; I’m fully booked,” the old man explains. “Great…” Dean sighs, rolling his eyes to the ceiling. Sam pleadingly glances at Zoë, but she doesn’t blink. “I guess we have to find ourselves another motel then,” he concludes and intends to turn around. “Good luck with that, but you won’t find a bed at this hour. I think your best option is to take a few hours sleep in your car,” the manager advises, without looking up from his magazine. “Well, you heard the man; good luck with that.” Zoë walks on, not feeling even a bit responsible for the two men. Dean follows her to have a word, as Sam tries to talk to the manager. “Sir, isn’t there some sort of arrangement we can make here? Me and my brother, we’ve been on the road for quite some time and we haven’t slept on a decent bed in days,” Sam explains politely. Puppy dog eyes and a friendly smile; Sam’s secret weapon to get what he wants. His words are calm and friendly, but this time they are not enough to do the job. The hundred dollar bill the hunter slips the manager is, though. The man stands up and leans on the counter, biting on the plastic spoon from his empty coffee container, thinking through some kind of option.

“I don’t have any rooms left, but I tell you what,” he says as he turns over to Zoë and Dean, who are arguing down the hallway. “Room 82 has a double bed and a couch. If Mrs. Johnson doesn’t mind, I will allow you two to spend the night,” he suggests, while looking between the boys and the owner of the room. “What? Like... share?” she returns, her nose crinkling with disgust. “That’s what social people do,” Dean whispers, so only she can hear him. Ignoring his snarl, she looks over at Sam. There they are again, hazel eyes begging her. Her gaze trails back to Dean who hints at his shoulder. The blood is coming through his denim jacket and has started to drip down his arm; he needs treatment. No matter how much she detests sharing a room with the Winchesters, Zoë can’t let him sleep in the car. That would be a little too cruel, even for her. Although she doesn’t like Dean’s attitude, she was the one who did this to him. And so she sighs and nods, approving.

“Alright then, that’s settled. Now, I don’t want any trouble, this is off the books, so if anything happens…” the manager warns. “We understand. Thank you very much.” Sam gives him a grateful smile before he joins his brother and the huntress. The three of them walk through the hallway together, but as soon as they turn the corner, Zoë smacks Sam against the shoulder. She would have rather aimed for his head like she did with Dean a minute ago, but she doesn't, simply because he's too tall for her to reach. Sam puts his arm up in defense. “Hey!” “Why do you think I let you walk in the middle?” Dean comments. “What were you thinking!” she hisses with a lowered voice. “Don’t worry about it, I’ll sleep on the couch,” Sam offers when they halt by room 82. Zoë huffs, unlocking the door. “And let him sleep next to me? Not in a million years.”

She enters the room and switches on the lights, but before she can turn around, Dean claims the bed. With a sigh of relief, he settles against the backboard and props his feet up on the sheets, not bothering to take his boots off first. “Get off,” Zoë barks, the moment she catches sight of his actions. “I’m actually quite comfortable,” he nags, pressing the drenched, bundled scarf on the injury in an attempt to slow the bleeding. “You are fucking up my research,” Zoë persists. “I’m tired, hungry, and my shoulder hurts like hell, thanks to you. So if you have a problem with me crashing on the bed, you can bite me.” As Dean rants, the huntress raises her brow and cocks her head back. What did he just say to me? “Excuse me? Whose room do you think this is again, you ungrateful little shit!? Because I could’ve sworn that--” “My God, woman! Can you tone it down and cut me some slack here?” he interrupts agitated, hinting at the shot wound. “You’re giving me a headache on top of all this.” “Do I look like I care?” she snaps, turning back at Sam. “You two are either sleeping on the couch or on the ground. Figure out who sleeps where.”

She drops her helmet down on the table and takes off her worn biker jacket, which she hangs to dry on the back of the chair. Dean’s eyes follow her as she crosses the room, but then land on the metal briefcase, swallowing apprehensively when he beholds what’s inside. Right, getting shot was the easy part. Meanwhile, Sam takes a look at the Macbook Pro on the bed, kneeling down in front of it to observe the piece of technology. “This is cool,” he comments, letting his finger glide over the touchpad, enlarging the icons at the bottom of the screen. Zoë, who has started cleaning her surgical equipment, warns him. “Hands off. I just got it.” Cautiously, Sam backs away from the laptop. He’s not surprised by her hostile response, though. He barely lets Dean touch his own computer, let alone allow a stranger to work it, so he understands where she’s coming from. “You know, it just occurred to me -” Sam sits down on the side of the bed facing her, clears his throat and puts his hands together, leaning forward, “- I don’t think you ever answered my question.” Zoë doesn’t even look up, apparently not intrigued. “What question is that?” “How did you two meet?” Sam asks, curiously. Before she even says a word, Zoë looks up at Dean. Clearly, she doesn’t feel like answering herself. Dean keeps a hold of her gaze, his brow slightly furrowed. She nods, approving; he can tell Sam what happened. “Zoe was a case, about four years ago. Right after you left for Stanford,” Dean starts off. “A case?” Sam repeats, stunned. “She was possessed by a Diligo Vesco demon. Nasty son of a bitch, believe me,” Dean elaborates. “I read some lore on those. Don’t they feed on the loved ones of their host?” Sam recalls. “Sure do,” Zoë answers shortly, obviously not happy about the fact she’s the subject of this conversation. “We hung out a bit while Dad was working the job. He took care of it,” Dean tells.

Abruptly, Zoë gets up from where she was seated, gritting her teeth. Tension a little more evident in her walk, as she moves over to the kitchenette. After activating the electric kettle, she opens two cabinets. “Fuck.” Dean, who just wants this day to be over, sighs annoyed. “Now what?” “I’m out of whiskey,” she declares, closing the cabinet doors. “Well, I don’t know ‘bout you, but a beer will do just fine,” he comments. “Not to drink, brainless,” she responds, placing her hands on her small waist as she shifts her weight on one leg. “To fix you up.” “Right.” He clears his throat, but then suddenly realizes what she’s saying. “Wait, you’re gonna fix me up?” She can read the doubt in his facial expression, even though he tries to hide it. Before she can answer his question, Sam intervenes. “I can patch him up if you wanna get some sleep,” he offers. “Can you stitch up an axillary vein? Because I blasted his into oblivion,” she responds with an attitude. “No. Can you?” Sam counters. “She can, annoyingly enough,” Dean answers before Zoë can. “She studied medicine.”

Sam snaps his head to her now, surprised by the revelation. He expected Zoë to be smart, considering she managed to ambush them, but somehow he can’t picture the biker as a student. She is a hunter after all, and hunters don’t get to go to college, let alone university. He has first hand experience to prove that theory. “You’re a med student?” “Was a med student," she corrects, walking to the bathroom to get a towel and a bowl. “Sam, do your brother a favor. Go down the 52 into Rochester and take the first right. You’ll find a 24 hour shop with a liquor department on 55th Street.” “Got it.” Sam needs no further explanation and heads for the door. “Johnny Walker Black Label. If I take a sip it might as well be good,” she adds. “And while you’re at it, bring me a cheeseburger,” Dean also requests. “Extra onions.” “Make that two.” Zoë’s hollow voice sounds from the bathroom, but then she walks out. “There’s a Wendy’s around the corner.” “Anything else?” Sam grumbles, feeling used. “Yeah, I’d like fries with that. And if you deliver in ten minutes or less, there’s an extra tip in it for you,” Zoë answers smartly.

Dean smirks while his brother shakes his head. When the door slams shut, Sam leaves what should be an awkward silence, but Zoë doesn’t seem even a bit intimidated by the Winchester brothers. Without a word, she fills the bowl with hot water. With a clean towel in one hand and the bowl in the other, she walks to the bed and spots Dean’s grin. “What?” She frowns at his expression. “I have to say, you are way more of a smartass than you were back then,” Dean recalls, as he removes the bloody fabric from the entry wound. She sits down on the bed next to him and dips the towel in the sterile water. “Well, if it makes you feel any better, you’re still the same smart ass you were back then. Take off your shirt.” Dean looks at her sideways, pleasantly surprised by the sudden authorial demand. “Don’t get any ideas,” she responds with an icy stare. “Alright, but I normally don’t do this until the second date.” He opens the buttons with one hand, then takes off his flannel. A grunt leaves his throat when Zoë carefully rolls up the short sleeve of tee, the fabric comes loose from the wound. The huntress feels his pain, although she will not admit it, of course. It seems like a pretty clean shot, but there’s too much blood for it to be that simple. She presses the towel against the wound, letting it absorb the crimson red. Dean swallows thickly and looks away, grinding his teeth. He feels uncomfortable.

“This is fuckin’ embarrassing,” the hunter mutters under his breath. “Why is that?” Zoë takes away the towel, flips it over and presses it firmly against his shoulder again. “I got my ass kicked by a chick and guess who’s patching me up,” Dean admits. She grins now. “I can see how your pride got damaged.” “You’re enjoying this, aren’t ya?” he notices. “Totally,” Zoë chuckles. “But I would much rather be sleeping.” “That makes two of us.” Dean flutters his lashes, fighting the fatigue which decided to team up with the pain; blood loss probably has something to do with it. “You could have ended up far worse,” she remarks. “Dead, perhaps? You won’t get rid of me that easily.” He smiles cocky. “That’s not what I mean.” Zoë takes a closer look at the wound, careful not to touch it without gloves. “Sam might be the clever one, but my guess is that he couldn’t have fixed this vein.”

He looks aside for a moment, examining her. He remembers her hair being a lighter shade of brown, when the Californian sun still dyed her locks with gold. Now the color is more intense, darker, much like her eyes. Her skin seems soft, but there’s something about her that gives her a tough appearance. It’s a vibe he didn't pick up last time he saw her. Back then she was this innocent rich kid from Orange County; naive, nice, cute, clueless. Quite the opposite of how she comes off tonight. She grew up delicately, left the girl in the Sunny State and became a woman. If he’d spotted someone like her in a bar, he would make a move. Why didn't they end up between the sheets together? Now that he thinks of it, a previous boyfriend comes to mind, not that something like that ever stopped him from reeling women in. He came on to Zoë while working her case back in 2001 - despite her relationship status - but she declined, the good girl. Something tells him she’s anything but a good girl these days, which makes her even more interesting.

“Thanks,” Dean says, barely audible, somewhat out of the blue. Zoë glances at him with her brows curved, clearly not expecting any sign of gratitude. “Did Dean Winchester just thank me?” “Don’t push it.” A subtle smile pulls at the corner of her mouth. It’s the first time he sees a glimpse of the O.C. surfer girl he met back then. “Here, hold this.” She lays his hand on the towel still pressed to his shoulder and gets up. “It’s way too quiet in here.”

When she walks towards the radio on the small table next to the bed, Dean checks her out and nods approvingly without her seeing it. Definitely. He would definitely make a move on her. Heartbreaker by Led Zeppelin comes on the moment she turns on the radio. With a swing in her walk, clearly liking the tunes, she moves to the small kitchen and opens the fridge. “Beer?” He nods and she hands him a bottle. Waiting for Sam to return with the good stuff, she doesn’t open one herself, needing a steady hand for the procedure. Instead, Zoë searches the small fridge for something to eat, bending forward to shove some cans and bottles aside in the back, fortunately for Dean. He can’t help himself. Whoa, you could bounce a quarter off that-- “Dean, do me a favor and stop staring at my ass.” Zoë surprises him with a sudden and piercing glare as she closes the door. He quickly averts his gaze. “I - I wasn’t staring at your--” “Yes, you were.” With a grin she tears the wrapper from a chocolate bar. “Like I said: you haven't changed one bit.” He looks up at the huntress and can’t help but chuckle. She used to be so shy. Past Zoë would’ve felt embarrassed if she caught him checking her out. She would’ve kept quiet and certainly wouldn’t have called him out on it. But not the new version of herself. Zoë 2.0 doesn’t take any shit.

His eyes roam over her features as she sits down next to him and takes a bite of the chocolate treat. A few scars add to her tough appearance without taking away any of her beauty. Typical combat injuries: small white lines run down her eyebrow, barely visible scar tissue on the corner of her full lips and her chin. She puts away her midnight snack and dusts off her hands, after which she cleans them in the bowl of warm water, washing up thoroughly with betadine before attending the wounded hunter. Long lashes frame her brown eyes as she focuses on her hands as she scrubs them; they obviously have seen their fair share of fights, knives, and rifles. She has been hunting. It’s not just her skin that gives her away, it’s the tainting darkness lingering over her. Zoë has seen the worst. “You’ve changed.” She looks back at Dean, then averts her gaze, not knowing how to act or behave. His gaze penetrates her thick armor, the hint of pity in it confronting. She only spent two weeks with him, but she knows these moments are rare for Dean Winchester. The guitar solo of the Led Zep song sets in and gives an awkward feel to the moment, which Dean decides to break up. “So…” he starts off, nodding at the research on the bed behind him. “Hunting now, huh? Finished med school?” “Nope. Dropped out.” Again an unpleasant silence, the tones from the guitar strings echoing through the room as Dean searches for words. “That’s a shame.” Dean takes a swig from the bottle and continues. “What I understood from your sister, you were the best student in your class. I never thought you would--” “- end up like you?” she interrupts him. He nods. She ponders. “Too much happened to ignore and continue with my simple little life.” Zoë looks away, her gaze fading into a thousand yard stare for a few seconds. She doesn’t think about that period of her life very often. “Bullshit,” Dean argues while shaking his head. “You were on your way to becoming a top surgeon; there is nothing simple or little about that. You could’ve helped people your way, y’know, without the motel-to-motel lifestyle, a life expectancy of thirty and no pay.” “Where’s the fun in that when you know what’s really out there?” the huntress bounces back. “Big ass salary, white picket fence, a perfect career,” he fantasizes. “Don’t get me wrong, I dig what I do. I just never thought this would be the life for you.” Neither did I, Zoë thinks to herself, but she doesn’t admit it out loud. Instead, the woman who should have been a doctor bites on the inside of her cheek as she begins to clean the surgical equipment for a second time, trying to get rid of the frustration building inside her. Dean is poking the bear, but trying to provoke her to talk might not be his best move. Fact is, though, his question is spot on. The hunters’ world isn't her scene, yet she got stuck in this loop of endless cases.

“How’s Abigail doing these days?” Dean picks up the conversation again, when the silence drags on too long. Zoë shrugs, seemingly careless. “Wouldn’t know.” “You girls aren’t talking?” He raises his eyebrows at the information, remembering the bond between the Sullivan sisters well. Witnessing them was bittersweet, because the two reminded Dean so much of him and Sam, who had just bailed for Stanford at the time. Abi and Zoë couldn’t be close to one another while his dad was working the case, the risk of the demon manifesting and claiming even more lives too large. It hurt them both, like neither of them knew how to function without the other by their side. Much like how he felt while his brother was gone.

“You were thick as thieves,” he recalls when Zoë remains quiet. “Seriously, what happened after we hit the road?” Again her reaction lacks both compassion and emotion. “I became a hunter.” Dean narrows his eyes, reading her. “Yeah, but why?” “Why? Like being possessed by a demon wasn’t enough?” she returns. “No, most people would try to forget it ever happened and move on with their apple pie lives,” he claims. “Well, I’m not like most people, am I?” A deadly glare comes his way, and Dean is caught off guard by her sudden change of character. He’s making her feel uncomfortable, all the more reason to dig deeper. “You used to be.” “People change.” Annoyed, she drops the surgical instruments on the sterile sheet, the metal clattering. Dean keeps an eye on her, carefully observing her reaction. There’s more to this and she’s not telling him. “What happened?” he asks directly, but calmly. “Jesus Christ, Dean! Could you just fucking drop it?” she snaps, as the door of room 82 opens. Sam walks in and detects the tension between the two. Dean keeps looking Zoë in the eye with determination in his expression; he’s not planning to let this go. The huntress on the other hand, stares back at him and doesn’t need words to tell him to shut the hell up. “Okay… awkward.” Sam closes the door behind him and breaks the silence by holding up the bags. “I have booze and burgers.” “Ah, good, I’m starving.” The presence of food has Dean snap his eyes away from the hunters, reaching out for the paper bag, but Zoë snatches it away. “You’re not eating anything ‘til I’m done with you,” she decides, obviously trying to get back at him. Dean watches her walk away with the burgers, his jaw slack and mouth watering from the smell of grease drenched fast food alone. She’s got to be kidding him, right? “Ah, come on! That ain’t fair!” he complains, frustrated. The hunter frantically looks over at Sam who has trouble hiding his grin while watching the scene play out. He’s not going to back up his brother, though; he has learned quickly that Zoë doesn’t appreciate being countered. Not giving Dean’s objections any attention, she leaves the Wendy’s bag on the table, sits down next to him on the bed and pulls the chair by the wall in position to set up her instruments. First, she takes away the soaked through towel. Sam frowns when he sees the pierced skin where the bullet entered, pulls the whiskey out of a bag and places it on the chair. “Good luck with that,” he comments, glad he’s not the one going through it, nor being the one having to patch him up. That shot wound is no joke. “Yeah thanks, bro,” Dean returns sarcastically.

Zoë takes a serious look at his shoulder, making an unsatisfied sound with her mouth. “Sam, get me an empty glass,” she orders without shifting her eyes. Items are shoved in the sink cabinet as Sam tries to find what Zoë asked for. The noises from the kitchen disturb the music on the radio, but also the silence between Dean and Zoë. He hesitates; shall he continue his questioning? He decides to wait. After all, she still has to patch him up. As Sam comes back with clean towels and a glass, she checks in with his brother. “Do you want a local anaesthetic or are you gonna bite the bullet?” He sighs reluctantly. Although a sedation does sound tempting, he decides otherwise. “I’ll bite the bullet,” he replies. “I’ll be honest with you,” Zoë starts off, the tips of all five fingers gently pushing into his chest, beckoning him to lean against the headboard. “This will hurt like hell, but I need you to keep completely still. Without an X-ray I can’t tell for sure where the bullet is. It could be holding a damn finger in the dyke.” As the hunter lays back, he gulps. By now, her patient is getting somewhat nervous. “You do know what you’re doing, right?” Dean questions carefully as she puts on a pair of latex gloves. “Of course I know what I’m doing. You just need to hold still and shut up,” she replies, agitated. When he looks aside at his brother, Sam sees doubt and a slight trace of fear in his eyes. He decides to jump in to help. “Have you done this before?” Sam asks calmly, just as she takes a set of forceps in her left hand.

She stops, but doesn’t look up at him; this time her reaction isn’t as rapid as previously. Of course she could tell them she dug a bullet out of her own flesh only hours ago, but that would involve admitting she got hurt. Besides, a shallow shot wound isn’t comparable to this injury; the bullet tore his shoulder to pieces. The Winchester brothers wait for her to respond, but she decides to ignore the question all together and intends to go to work. Dean pulls away, looking her straight in the eye. “Before you stick that thing in my arm, answer the fucking question,” he demands. “I did this before, chicken shit. Happy?” she answers, annoyed. “On a human being?” Sam wonders, on to her. Again silence. After rolling her eyes, she sighs and shrugs. “On a dead pig, okay? What’s the difference?” “Hey!” Dean says, insulted, until he realizes what she’s actually saying. “Whoa, wait… You’re actually gonna do some difficult procedure on me that you’ve never done on a human being before?” “It’s not that difficult,” she claims, not even a bit worried. “I know what I’m doing, you just have to trust me.” “Trust you?!” Dean exclaims. “You shot me!” “Dean, calm down,” Sam tries, without result. “I am calm!” he argues, raising his voice even more. “Hey, asshat!” Zoë calls Dean back to reality, forcing him to face her by grabbing his chin and turning his head. “You listen up. I don’t see another option here, unless you wanna go to a hospital.” “What do you care?” he returns. She scoffs and cocks her head back, staring at him stunned as she lets go of him. “You know what? You’re absolutely right! I don’t give a fucking shit.” Mad, she gets up and throws the instruments back in the briefcase and tears the gloves from her hands. She slams the lid and heads for the door, which she pulls open and holds for them. “Zoë, come on. Wait a minute,” Sam says, desperately trying to repair the damage. “Nope. Now get the fuck out,” she orders. “You’re kicking us out? You’re fucking kidding me, right?” Dean says, dazed. “Do I look like I’m kidding?!” she returns the question angrily. “Maybe if you would stop being such a fucking jerk, I--” “Okay, fine.” Dean grabs his jacket and his shirt next to him and gets up, while Sam looks over from one to the other, startled and completely helpless. “Can’t we talk about this, guys?” he tries. “No!” both Dean and Zoë answer at the same time.

Dean shuffles towards the door, pressing his shirt against the wound. It’s clear he isn’t feeling well, but neither he nor Zoë even flinch, too proud to ever admit they have crossed the line. Despite his injury, they are about to go separate ways, purely because they are both so arrogant, that they can’t tolerate each other. “Okay, this is ridiculous!” Now it’s Sam who gets frustrated. Dean turns around and Zoë frowns; finally the younger Winchester has their attention. “Listen to her, Dean,” he claims. “Seriously? You’re on her side now?” Dean reacts, betrayed. “That’s not what this is about, damn it! There are no sides, we’re all hunters and we have a job to do. Fighting like cats and dogs isn’t helping!” Sam responds. “She has a point. We’re in Minnesota, remember?”

Dean needs a moment to think, but then recalls the case they worked about five years ago, in Lafayette, a little over a hundred miles west from here. The local police caught him and his father with the victim of a poltergeist, they had a clear view of his face before he escaped. When they started digging, they found a list of scams, carjacking, robberies, suspect of several more crimes and now murder to top them all. If Dean walks into a hospital and is listed as a patient, it won’t be long before the cops take him in. Even if he uses an alias, the chance of getting busted is a reality. “Fuck,” he curses, realizing Sam is right; he has ‘wanted’ written all over him. His brother looks over at the woman in their company, who leans against the doorway, her arms crossed in front of her. “Can you fix him up?” he asks, calmly. “Of course I can. I don’t get myself into shit I can’t handle,” she replies snippy. He nods approvingly and looks deep into her eyes. “Please,” he pleads. “I know you won’t do this for him--” “Obviously not,” she interferes pissed, shooting daggers at Dean. “Then do this for me. Please, fix him up?” Sam begs. The huntress watches Sam, still mad, but her mind settling down. Dean realizes that for his best interests, he better keep his mouth shut. Then she sighs and steps away from the door, which she closes. “Cut it out with the puppy dog eyes. I’ll do it,” she mutters.

Dean slowly sits down on the bed while Zoë opens her briefcase again, getting out the things she needs. “Thanks, Zo,” Sam says, grateful, words that Dean can’t possibly get out of his mouth. “Don’t mention it.” She puts on a fresh pair of gloves and takes her patient’s arm, as he leans back against the headboard again. His eyes tell her he would’ve rather gone to the hospital and figure out a plan to bust out later, but at least he isn’t saying it out loud. Considering it’s Dean Winchester, that has to count for something. “If you fuck up, I’ll kill you,” he warns. She glares at him, but finds a coy smile on his face. “Not if I kill you first,” she returns, a slight grin on her lips. He swallows apprehensively and mentally prepares himself. She steadies her hand, the forceps an extension of her fingertips. Both take a deep breath; here goes nothing. And she goes in...

Thank you for reading. I appreciate every single one of you, but if you do want to give me some extra love, you are free to reblog my work or buy me coffee (Link in bio at the top of the page)

Read part five here!

72 notes · View notes

honeyjaez · 4 years ago

Text

Maze of Miroh- Chapter 19: The Battle for The Under Pt 2

I have a somewhat long announcement guys so bear with me here.

Ahhh hey guys. I got a lot of reasonings as to why this chapter is so late. First, I started Uni again, and its been an adjustment. Two, some internal issues at work caused me to break down in a complete depression spiral. For about 3 whole weeks I cried at work at least once a day haha. Finally, and this was more recent, but the rumors regarding Woojin. I started this story of May 2019, before Woojin left, and afterwards I vowed I would continue to write him in my story despite no longer being in the group. But this issue it totally different in its entirety. Regardless if they are true or not (and we don't know that they are or not) the way he has handled the whole thing did not sit right with me. This topic hits close home for me as it is and I contemplated removing Woojin from my story all together to avoid making you guys feel uncomfortable as well as myself because it is such a serious trigger. As more rumors came out about his treatment towards the others members and what not I suddenly got a sick feeling in my stomach about him in general. When news first broke out I just wanted to go on in the story, never writing his name again and just totally drooping his character. I thought about telling everyone to not think of these characters as stray kids members and keep him in. But as I've had time to calm down and come to my own decision about the matter, I've decided that I will write him in this story for only this chapter and possibly next. I will be removing him from this story in a plot driven way and I would like you all to respect my decision on this matter. If it comes out later on that he is innocent of all his has been accused, then hey, *shrugs*. But I would rather that than me continue to write such a compassionate and kind character for someone who has lost their way in this regards. I just personally do not feel comfortable at this moment writing him in. Which really sucks because he was such an important part of this arc lol. Anyways, If I have offended you all by my way of removing Woojin from this story I am truly sorry. Again I thought about just totally pretending his character never existed in the first place. But as a writer, it didn't sit right with me.

With that, I have to tweak the story a bit, but I hope you enjoy this little update. Next update is nearly done (Actually this chapter was originally like 3 times longer, but I decided to cut it up.) Have a good night!

The Under:

To say Jisung was in a bad mood was a complete understatement.

All they were supposed to do was get down here, get the information they needed from Dowoon and get the fuck out.

There weren't supposed to be any psychotic speed demons, nor an emo Legolas wannabe with a stick up his ass. And there CERTAINLY wasn’t supposed to be any Virus.

Jisung furrowed his brow as their group ran towards the outer city limits. He looked behind him to see Minho straggling a few feet to the side, the older boy's eyes focused on the road in front of them. Jisung clicked the roof of his mouth with his tongue in annoyance before he turned back around to look at the buildings in front of them.

If only the others knew what they were going through. Jisung almost laughed imagining the raging meltdown both Changbin and Seungmin would have had in reaction to their current situation. They both are used to Chan’s more risky judgments, being in the group for as long as they had. Oh, if they could see us now….

He let out a long-winded sigh of defeat. They should have left when they had the chance.

But alas, he was being the selfish one here, and his other members had to be heroes incarnate, risking their lives for a group of people who they barely knew…Woojin hyung aside. And in return, it would be up to Jisung to protect them all since they were all so infuriatingly reckless.

Nope definitely not annoyed....

Jisung’s ears perked as he heard a voice call out to them as they moved closer to the edge of the city. His eyes adjusted forward to see Wooyoung looking back at them, mouth moving as he voiced a command to them. Right away, the team came to an halt as they reached the first signs of buildings, and Wooyoung turned to look back at them, his eyes dark and hard with determination.

“Since some of you don’t know how our city is set up, we will split up in groups.” he explained “Mingi will go with Minho to the eastern section of the city, while Jisung and I will head to the north… Jongho, you'll be in the west.”

Wooyoung’s voice faded from Jisung’s mind as he felt his blood run icy cold at Wooyoung’s words. Now his annoyance was being overwritten by fear. This was exactly what he was afraid of… they were splitting up.

“Hyung,” Wooyoung seemingly continued, looking towards Woojin “since you know the city, can you head to the center? Our 3 teams will have to work fast, ushering the people back here towards the southern part of the city where the bunker is.”

Jisung shook himself back to the present and looked to see that while his eyes were hard with determination, he didn’t miss the way Wooyoung’s hands trembled at his sides. He regarded the older boy with a wave of understanding and sympathy.

No matter how you look at it, we are working in a helpless situation… At Least he has the good sense to be scared…

But that begs the question. What about him? Was he scared? He was annoyed, that was for sure. But it didn’t take a genius to know his annoyance was just a mask, trying to hide his own fear. No matter what, the odds did not look favorable. 5 of them trying to evacuate an entire city on their own? Working with a timer that they didn’t even know what it’s set at?

No thanks, I want a refund.

Woojin must have sensed Jisung’s negativity, for he set his eyes on the younger, giving out a small, knowing cough to gain his attention. He looked up and locked eyes with Woojin, seeing the elder boy give him a half smile, like he was trying to reassure him.

“It won’t be easy,” he said out loud, tearing his gaze from Jisung’s and towards the party. “It will take all of our best efforts, but remember what Hongjoong said. No one has permission to die here and I am seconding that.”

The younger boys all stared at the older boy, their gaze turning hard with determination. Only Jisung looked apprehensive as he stared at his two teammates, and he found himself looking particularly in the direction of their green-horned Minho, who was still very much a novice in this world.

Jisung thought back to just a few hours ago in their shared room and Minho’s words caused Jisung’s brain to short circuit.

“Jisung, no matter what obstacle, what problem and what path leads in front of you, I believe with every fiber of my being that you will come out on top.”

God I really hope he is right….

If he was going to save the city and keep Minho alive he was going to need all the luck in the world.

Minho’s words replayed in his mind as he caught sight of Mingi making his way over to the brown haired boy. It was then that Minho himself seemed to feel Jisung’s gaze, and looked back, staring evenly. Jisung noticed with a twitch in his face, Minho’s soft eyes showing the slightest of fear to him. But before Jisung could do anything, Minho quickly covered it up with a misplaced resolve.

The younger grit his teeth in annoyance, knowing that look all too well. He saw it enough in his brother when they were kids and enough times in Chan and the others to last him a lifetime.

I swear to god he wants me to hate him...

Nothing made Jisung madder than a beautiful idiot with a death wish....

And Minho was all three.

There were a few exchanges between Wooyoung and the others, but all too quickly it was over and Jisung felt an arm ripping him from the circle, and thus tearing him from Minho’s gaze.

“Come on” Wooyoung muttered quickly “We have the furthest distance needed to travel. There is no time to waste.”

Just like that, Jisung was pulled from his fellow members, his stomach churning at the thought of being separated from them in a situation like theirs. If he isn’t there to stop them from being complete idiots, then who was?

Yep. Definitely annoyed.

“Fuck...” he cursed under his breath as he turned his back around, leaving the group behind as the both picked up speed. Jisung closed his eyes, sending a silent prayer to whatever god lived above to listen to his plea.

“Keep the idiots with a deathwish safe….please…”

Minho

Minho watched as Wooyoung dragged Jisung away, an uneasy feeling in his stomach starting to make its way upwards. He hated being separated just as much as Jisung probably felt. But he couldn’t argue with Wooyoung’s logic, nor could he back down from the task at hand.

He was going to save as many people as possible and show The Order that their time of winning was over.

Minho jumped slightly as he felt a hand on his shoulder, turning to see Woojin give him a comforting smile. “Jisung will be alright Minho,” he said, as if he knew his thoughts. “If anyone can take care of themselves, it’s Jisung.”

“Yah.” Minho agreed with a quick nod of his head.”You’re right.”

“Minho!” Mingi called “You ready? We need to get going!”

Minho turned to the taller boy who was standing next to Jongho and nodded “Ready”

Woojin took a step forward, brushing his shoulder with Minho’s as a form of comfort. “Take care of him Mingi, he is our important member and friend...lord knows what Felix would do to me if I lost him on this mission.”

Mingi snorted playfully “I don’t know who that is, but as long as he can keep up we will be fine.” He then turned towards Jongho, placing two hands on his shoulders “Be safe little one.”

Minho almost laughed as he watched Jongho look up at the taller boy with a mildly annoyed face, “You know I can kick your ass right?” he asked the taller boy.

Mingi was unfazed as he waved a hand in the air. “Details Details” he said with a smile, motioning for Minho to follow him. If Jongho had heard his comment, the youngest made no notion of it, and turned back around, heading in his own direction.

As they ran further and further from the others he couldn’t help but shake a deep feeling of dread. Minho turned his gaze backwards to look at Woojin’s fleeting figure and he felt his heart tightening in his chest. Something didn’t didn’t feel right.

“Tch!” Minho growled to himself mentally “No. I won’t psych myself out this time!”

This was it. This was another chance to do good, and prove to himself that he CAN do what is needed to be done. No more hiding. No more cowardice. Minho had to make a difference here or his promise to Jeongwoo would be meaningless.

The two of them went on for a few minutes in complete silence, but eventually Minho could feel Mingi’s gaze on him and he turned his head slightly to glance back.

“What?” was all he asked.

“How new?” he asked.

Minho's eyes widened in confusion, turning to get a better look at the bigger boy “Excuse me?”

Mingi chuckled, his gaze turning back to the road in front of them “I mean how new are you to this harsh world of fighting?”

Minho felt his cheeks warm in embarrassment at the question, and he quickly looked at the ground in front of him, sheepish. “Is it that obvious?” he mewed quietly.

Mingi laughed louder this time, throwing two hands in the air in kindness “Not really.” he chuckled “I mean just the fact that you beat San shows you have skills.” He said encouragingly. “I just ask because your members treat you like you're fragile… something you only really do when you are new to this world.”

Minho nodded, trying to calm down from his mild dose of embarrassment. “You can say that again….” he mused.

Mingi smiled at him and gave him a toothy grin “Well the others might not say it, but just the fact that you are against The Order makes you a friend to me!”

Minho’s eyes widened and he nearly smiled at the boy’s pure words. “I thought The Under were neutral when it came to The Order…” He said with a puzzled look. ”You neither give them support but neither do you fight against them… isn’t that right?”

But the younger boy shrugged rather casually, “That is the standard” he explained “But it doesn’t necessarily mean we all agree with it. Hongjoong hyung...” Mingi trailed off, like he was contemplating saying his next words.

“Truthfully….” the taller boy continued more slowly “If it were up to Hongjoong Hyung… We would have liked nothing more than to go the surface, to make The Under more than just a lawless city, that in which is suffocating in the mud and dirt down here.” Mingi turned and gazed at Minho, with the first sense of intensity he caught all day “He wants a better future for the children born down here, something we didn’t get.”

Minho looked at him, pondering his words for a few seconds, and trying to understand the underlying problem. Suddenly Chan’s words flashed through his mind.

“ If we even wanted a chance at overthrowing The Order, then we needed allies. Strong allies at that... “

Minho looked towards Mingi, face pure and honest “If given the chance... Would you fight back? And I mean seriously fight back...”

Mingi gazed back at him, noticing the serious expression on his face, nodding once. “Aye.”

Minho felt a wave of weight being lifted from him and he gave Mingi an earnest smile “Then maybe one day we will.”

It fell into a comfortable silence after that, but Minho couldn’t help but smile now as they ran. This was his first real interaction with another member besides San, and it left him hopeful that they could work together in the future. If they were all like Mingi and Hongjoong that is…

But before he could romance the idea any further, Minho’s smile dropped as he began to hear yelling in the far distance. Screams began to fill his ears and Minho realized with a thump to his heart that they were finally reaching an area with people. As they rounded the corner his eyes widened wide with alarm at the sight of crowds of people rushing forwards, carrying their young ones and belongings as they pushed towards the center. There was no order to it. It was chaotic and messy.

Exactly what Zico wanted.

Minho looked to Mingi who was also looking at the sight with a grim expression on his face. No matter how you looked at it, just two of them controlling this crowd was nearly impossible. It wasn’t going to be easy whatsoever.

But they had to start somewhere.

Mingi rushed forward then, aiming towards a herd of people, easily outpacing them and stopping at the front of them with his arms stretched wide as a blockade. There were a few shocked gasps but also a few who recognized the young boy almost immediately.

“Mingi-ssi!?” Minho heard a voice from the mass call “What are you doing?! Why are you stopping us?!”

Mingi looked at the crowd, his face dead serious. “Despite what Zico said, protocol calls for all evacuations to take place in the southern bunker!” he tried to yell over the chaos “I’m going to have to ask you to turn the other way!”

Hushed murmurs ripped through the crowd and Minho perked his ears forward to listen.

“That's true…” a female voice said.

“But why would Zico send us to the center if it wasn’t the safest…”

“No matter what it looks like we have orders…”

“Well I trust our leader!”

Please, Please… Minho pleaded.

But Minho’s plea was crushed as the crowd began to push Mingi backwards, choosing to continue on their path. He watched as Mingi was quickly shoved to the side by the masses and he ran forward, pulling him back up as the crown sprinted forward and away from them.

“Mingi-ssi!” he called, helping the boy off from the ground. “Are you okay?”

“Tch!” he spat. “They are choosing to believe Zico over me!”

“Well” Minho reasoned “They don’t know about Zico so of course they still trust him…”

Mingi punched the ground in front of them, his anger rising “Dammit!” he cured “If only Hongjoong hyung was here...”

“Mingi-ssi?” a voice called.

Minho turned to see a taller, older man with worn out blond hair looking at him from across the rushing street. He quickly made his way over to them, holding out a hand to Mingi.

Mingi looked up, taking the older boy's hand, a tired smile on his face. “Inpyo hyung!” he cried “Thank god you are here!”

The one named Inpyo nodded, his face grim “Once the alarm sounded my boys and I set out to help with the evacuations but we are having a bit of difficulties” he admitted. He then turned towards Minho, eyes narrowing in mild interest “Who is this?”

Mingi waved a hand in the air, “This is Minho. He and his group are helping us. Minho-” he turned, waving a hand at the taller man “This is Inpyo. He and his team are one of the best of our police force down here.”

“- Was ” Inpyo corrected, holding out his hand to Minho in greeting “We all retired a few years back when we couldn’t stand by Zico any longer.”

Minho nodded in greeting, taking his hand for a quick shake “I don’t blame you..”

Inpyo smiled at that and took his hand away. “Mingi,” he asked, turning back towards the younger “Why would Zico have the city evacuate to the center of the city?”

Mingi shook his head “I can’t explain right now, but it is all wrong hyung, the center of the city is the focal point of what's to come, and we need to get everyone to get away from there. But no one is willing to listen to me...”

Inpyo placed a hand on his chin, deep in thought.

“Asking them to believe in someone else over their trusted leader is a bit much for most people....” Inpyo mused.

“I understand that” Mingi agreed “But we have to convince them somehow…”

They were all quiet as chaos erupted around them, trying to think of a plan. Suddenly a thought came to Minho’s mind and he looked up at them with wide eyes.

“Inpyo-ssi?” Minho asked “When you say you were one of the best, how much did the people of The Under trust you? Did you have their respect?”

The question caught the older man off guard for a second but quietly nodded “Ah.”

Mingi scoffed “Didn they respect him? They practically worshiped the ground they all walked on…”

“Then why not have Inpyo and his team tell everyone where to evacuate?”

“As much as they trust me Minho,” Inpyo started “I’m still asking them to go against Zico’s orders...most won’t be willin-”

Minho held a finger up in the air to interrupt “But what if we don’t tell them to go against his orders?”

Mingi tilted his head in confusion “Okay, now I’m lost”

But Inpyo seemed to understand what Minho was getting at and nodded once “We tell them something different. Something they would believe came from Zico himself...”

Minho smiled, a small bode of confidence sparking in him “Instead of telling them the evacuation site has changed, we tell them that the center bunker is too full and overflow needs to evacuate to the southern bunker.”

Mingi’s eyes widened in realization while Inpyo nodded “It might work, especially if it comes from our mouths.”

“Hyung” Mingi suddenly turned and looked at the elder boy “Where’s Jiahn and the others? Can you get in contact with him? Have them help?”

Inpyo nodded, pulling out a small phone “I scattered them all to various districts. But I can call them and update the plan. Jiahn should be in the center of the city right now...”

Minho looked at the elder boy, chewing his bottom lip in worry. “If I can ask Inpyo-ssi. One of my hyungs should be arriving in the center region any second now to help with the evacuation. Maybe your friend could meet up with him.”

Inpyo smiled softly and nodded, “Better as teams than opposing forces. Who is your friend?”

“It’s Woojin hyung” Mingi answered. Inpyo’s face widened in mild surprise and he looked at Mingi with curiosity in his eyes “Woojin? Woojin is in the same group as Minho. Wooyoung is in the North with another of their teammates and Jongho is in the Western quadrant.”

Inpyo eyed him with a mildly disappointed look “And Hongjoong? Where are the rest of your teammates Mingi?”

The taller boy shook his head “Not enough time hyung. Just know they are all doing their part in this. Please hyung….We could really use your help…”

Inpyo nodded looking at the two of them. “I’ll get in contact with my team. Don’t fret Mingi-ya. The Under won't die here is I have anything to say about it.”

They stayed quiet as Inpyo opened his small phone and quickly dialed a few numbers. There was a few more heartbeats of quiet as he put the device to his ear, but soon enough they heard a click and a muffled voice on the other line.

“Jiahn hyung-yes yes I'm okay. Listen, plans changed” he started “We were right. Something is fishy with the center evacuation. We need to evacuate them to the sou-oh?” he stopped midstence as the voice spoke to him and Minho watched as he nodded in response “I get it. You met Woojin already and he told you. Okay. Well tell the people that the center is full and Zico has ordered the overflow to the south. Can you pass the information to Isaac and Yeontae’s groups? Great Thank you. Tell them when their sections are done and they have done a sweep to report to the southern bunker.”

And like that, without even saying goodbye the elder boy quickly shut the phone and turned back to look at them.

“For trusting sake, Mingi keep Minho with you as you work your ways inwards. We have a lot of ground to cover and not a lot of time.”

Both boys nodded and stood up from the ground, pounding their feet on the ground as they began to run into the crowd. A familiar sense of dread suddenly filled Minho to his core and he swallowed hard, his heart beat racing.

Why did he feel like something terrible was about to happen?

#kpop au #stray kids #stray kids au #lee know #minho #han #jisung #minsung au #bang chan #chan #changbin #seungmin #hyunjin #jeongin #i.n #felix #maze of miroh

5 notes · View notes

huntertales · 5 years ago

Text

Part One: Movie Night. (Clip Show S08E22)

Episode Summary: Sam, Dean and the reader share a bitter reunion with Castiel after finding the angel beaten and bloody in the middle of the road. While digging through the Men of Letters’ files, they stumble upon an undiscovered film which could be the key to completing the third trial. Meanwhile, Crowley digs into the reader and boys’ past, putting people they saved in mortal danger. Pairing: Dean Winchester x Reader Word Count: 5,472.

Previous Part | Supernatural Rewrite Masterlist

You tried your hardest to keep your attention on the case file you had been trying to read over for the past five minutes, one of the few you had left. A perk of living in an underground bunker built and maintained by the Men of Letters was that there were generations of them, collecting a vast amount of information you couldn't find on the internet or a book at the library. They had almost everything when it came to research material. Something in this place was the key to figuring out what the third trial meant when it came to "curing a demon." You'd do anything to complete the trials and be done with this once and for all. Even if it meant spending hours going through old cases to find answers.

Flipping to the last page in the file, you looked up for a second when you heard the sound of footsteps heading over to you and Sam. You grimaced at the sight of how many folders Dean was holding in his hands after going through the archives fetching out what was demon related. Somehow even if you managed to get the older Winchester involved with looking through these, you still had days of reading ahead until you made even the slightest dent in the Men of Letters' information at your fingertips.

"Please tell me that's everything." You said, almost pleading with the man

"Yeah." Dean said. You felt the slightest amount of relief at the possibility that you could be done with this angle, but he thought it would be funny to lie to you. You gave him an annoyed glare when he broke out into a smile and chuckled in amusement. "No, not even close. You see, the Men of Letters kept files on every demonic possession for the last three hundred years. I mean, we've got Borden, Lizzy, all the way to Crane, Ichabod."

You grabbed the files out of his hand and threw them with the rest you still had to look over. You thought going through cases was going to be a harmless task after how you acted just a few days ago. There was no denying, even to yourself, that these trials were affecting your body. You had to take it easy until you figured out how to finish this up. But even reading was starting to take a toll on you. You let out a frustrated groan when you felt a headache starting to come on. The dull throbbing pain made you clutch your head with both of your hands.

All though you were no stranger to migraines, there was so many other repercussions from doing the trials you’d been struggling to deal with. All while trying to keep your lifestyle going at the same time. You had so much on your plate right now between the trials and your pregnancy, not to mention a possible case if it landed in your lap by chance. But you were doing everything in your power not to let this get the best of you.

"How are you feeling?" Sam couldn't help himself but ask, concerned at your well being like his brother from how you'd been acting lately.

"Honestly? My whole body hurts. I feel nauseous and yet starving at the same time. And everything smells like rotting meat." You told the boys just a few of the symptoms you had been feeling lately. A little after you got pregnant, before all of this trial business started, the smell of meat alone made you feel queasy. Now the smell of decomposing meat was the only thing you could smell whenever you had to breathe. "God, the smell alone is making me want to vomit."

"I've had that hangover. Jaeger, man." Dean thought he could relate, turning what you said into a completely different angle. You gave him a look of disbelief from how completely opposite the two things were to each other.

"Maybe you should take a break." Sam suggested to you. "Get some air."

"Sammy, I know you're trying to help, but a little outdoors isn't going to do any good for me." You said. "The only thing that is going to make me feel better is finishing this."

"All right, well, I'll get you some grub, keep your strength up." Dean said. He hoped that if you at least ate something you might start to feel a little better. Getting you to eat something was the real problem he had been trying to tackle since these trials were starting to hit you harder than you were letting on. "You or the baby craving anything in particular?"

You shook your head, leaving him to figure out a suitable meal for you that you’d most likely pick at before shoving away. You only said yes to make him think you were okay, despite how your stomach felt queasy all the time, getting worse at the thought of eating anything. "Hey, while you're going that way," Sam decided to ask his brother for a favor. "mind grabbing me a beer?"

Dean stared at his brother with an irritated expression from the simple request. “Are your legs broken?”

“Do you want to help with going through these cases instead?” Sam asked him, lifting up the new one he was about to look over.

You glanced up from the file you had been reading to see that Dean decided to choose grabbing his brother’s beer after all. Right as you were about to get back to work, you spotted a familiar face standing on top of the steps to the library, examining the bunker you had been calling home for the past few months now. You went right back to the file when the both of you almost made eye contact with one another. You rested your elbow on the table to cradle your head in your palm, titling it just to block out Cas from your peripheral vision.

“Morning.” The angel greeted you and the boys, acting like everything was fine. You kept your head down as Dean glanced Cas’ way before making his way into the kitchen to fix you something. Sam was the only one who tried to hide his anger towards the angel. He forced the tiniest smile to make the air less tense. Cas hoped that you would at least say something in return. But it seemed your silent treatment was rolling over into today. “I like this bunker. It’s orderly.”

“Oh, give us a few months.” Sam said. “Dean wants to get a ping-poll table.”

“I’ve heard of that.” Cas said, understanding the activity humans made. “It's a game, right?”

You rolled your eyes in annoyance from how he still didn’t properly understand human knowledge at this point. However your anger towards him softened ever so slightly when you heard him let out a groan of pain. You looked up to see that he moved faster than his body could handle, causing the angel to lean against a chair and holding his side that was still sore. Having the angel tablet ripped out from your abdomen can do that to someone. A small part of you wanted to tell him to shut the hell up and suck it up. But you couldn’t do that to him.

You dropped your arm back down to the table when you were starting to become concerned at the serious pain he was in. The sight made you ask about his well being, an even bigger part of you wanted to know that he was at least going to survive long enough for one of you to rip him a new one for the stunt he pulled. “Are you okay?”

“My wound isn't healing as quickly as I'd hoped...But I am getting better.” The angel reassured you. You were partly relieved to hear he was on the mend, but some weren’t lucky as him. “And you're getting worse.”

You felt your hand slowly tighten itself into a fist at his warning you didn’t want to hear right now. “Why should I trust anything you say to me?”

“Because I’m a celestial being that can see what the human eye can’t.” Cas said. You didn’t seem to like the angel’s answer from the look that crossed your face. He went on, giving him the real reason why he was concerned for how you were handling these trials. “And I’m your friend, Y/N.”

“Right. Some kind of friend you are.” You muttered under your breath. “You really need to look up the definition for that word again before you start throwing it around. Because my friends don’t do what you did to us.”

“I’m worried about you hurting yourself.” Cas said, hoping you would understand where he was coming from. “That’s all.”

You could see in his face that he was truly sorry for the things he had done. There was nobody to blame blunt himself for running off without even a reason why. You knew his actions leading up to his disappearance weren’t his fault. But what he did after was all on him. You wanted him here while you were doing the trials for moral support. Maybe having an extra set of hands would have stopped Kevin from having a mental breakdown after being tortured by Crowley in his own mind. You wished Cas just stuck around. Maybe things would have turned out differently. Instead he chose to ignore you when you needed him the most.

Every instinct told you to hate the angel for the things he did to you. He failed you so many times. But you couldn’t. He was your best friend who stuck with you through thick and thin. He was the one who confirmed your pregnancy and kept the secret when you asked him to. You weren’t perfect. You failed. You cared about the angel much as you did for the boys. But he was frustrating at times from the actions he took. It was going to take a long time until you could even think about trusting him again.

“I’m fine.” You told him the lie you kept repeating to everyone when they asked. Your tone of voice was hard and distant enough for the angel to understand you didn’t want to have this conversation with him anymore. “I’ve got two trials down without your help. Only one more to go before all of this is over.”

”And this final test,” Cas asked you, “do you know what it is?”

“I have to cure a demon.” You said.

“Of what?” The angel’s response made you chuckle slightly.

“I’ve got no idea.” You said. “That’s what me and Sammy are trying to figure out.”

There wasn’t much Cas could do, even if you did let him be a part of this. You turned your attention back over to the file you were reading for a few moments before you heard the sound of Dean’s footsteps coming up for the kitchen with a tray in his hands. Whatever he managed to scrape together was most likely going to be pushed away. You weren’t in the mood to force yourself to eat something. He approached the table with a tray holding the meal intended for you, along with the beer Sam requested.

“Soup’s on. There we go.” Dean placed the tray between you and his brother. Right as the younger man was about to grab his drink, Dean took it upon himself to take a quick sip, wanting to make sure it was still good. The only thing that went fast in this place was beer. Still, he couldn’t be too sure. “I think this is, uh...Oh, it's still good.”

“Okay, that’s just gross.” Sam’s face scrunched up in annoyance at the childish thing his brother just did. While was down the drink he requested, Sam looked over the meal that was intended for you. “Really, Dean? A half drunk beer, jerky and three peanut butter cups?”

“You know I can’t eat meat.” You reminded him of the few things that had been banned from the place since you got pregnant. The number one thing was dead animal, just the slightest smell was unbearable. “Even if it is shriveled up.”

“Yeah, we're—we're running a little low.” Dean realized how pitiful and unhealthy the meal was. Considering how little you had been eating lately you needed all the nutrition you could get from the foods you managed to get down. You raised your brow slightly from what he was thinking, Dean decided to fix his mistake. “I'll make a run.”

“Dean, I can go with you.” Cas spoke up with an offer he could the older Winchester would take. He’d been trying everything he could think of to get to speak a single word in his direction since the night before. Dean kept his streak going, acting as if the angel didn’t exist as he headed over to a chair he had placed his jacket. “Dean. I’m sorry.”

“For what?” Dean casually asked, pretending not to know what the angel was trying to apologize for.

“For everything.” Cas said.

“Everything? Like, uh...Like ignoring us?” Dean wondered if that’s what the angel meant by his apology. Cas nodded his head. While it was nice to see the angel take responsibility for the actions that he took, that wasn’t what was really hurt Dean. It was ignoring him when he needed his best friend the most. Beating him with an inch of his life and vanishing into thin air just seconds after healing him. The angel had been so unpredictable these past few years. Dean couldn’t take it anymore. “Or like bolting off with the Angel Tablet, then losing it 'cause you didn't trust me? You didn't trust me.”

Cas admitted to all of the faults he did over the past few months, all the hurt and anger he had put on you. He’d do anything to make it right, starting with apologizing. “Yes.”

“Yeah. Nah, that's not gonna cut it. Not this time.” Dean said. He’d been down this path with him a few too many times. And while he looked past all the angel’s mistakes, there was no going back this time. He had too much to lose if he let him back in his life. “So you can take your little apology and you cram it up your ass.”

“Dean, I thought I was doing the right thing.” The angel told him the truth about why he did all those things, hoping if Dean knew the mindset he was under, maybe he could start to understand. But it only made it worse. He used that excuse before. And it caused pain Dean would never be over.

“Yeah,” Dean muttered under his breath, letting his words be just loud enough for the angel to overhear them. “You always do.”

While the argument unfolded between the two about their unresolved issues, you and Sam were witness to the entire fiasco. You were still upset with Cas for your own personal reasons. You had a feeling Dean's stemmed much deeper than the angel understood. Trust to the older Winchester was one of the most important things to him. He rarely gave it out to people, and almost never welcomed someone back into his life after being stabbed in the back. He'd done it to Cas before, but you had a feeling from how he lashed out, it wasn't going to happen again.

Sam cleared his throat, shifting the conversation back to what you and the boys had been working on earlier today before the angel made an appearance. "Hey, uh, do we have a room 7B?”

You and the boys decided to go on the hunt for this mysteriously room, leaving Cas to process how badly he screwed up with no chance of return. The bridge between Cas and Dean was burned, and you had a feeling nothing could repair the damage done. You were upset with the angel for obvious reasons, but you weren't badly hurt as Dean was. You understood where he was coming from, yet you wondered if he was being a little too harsh on the poor angel. Cas was like a puppy that still needed to be trained on the right thing to do. He peed on the carpet and chewed up all your shoes, despite all of the harm he caused, the angel was still your friend. It's not like any of you were innocent who didn't royally screwed up things from time to time. You spotted the room number after a minute of walking and headed inside first.

“Dude, go easy on Cas, okay.” Sam was on the same side as you were on this situation. He was upset with what happened, yet he still wanted to somehow mend the friendship he had with the angel. You felt around for a light switch, letting the room fill with enough light to get by. "He’s one of the good guys.”

“Dude, if anybody else—I mean anybody—pulled that kind of crap, I would stab them in their neck on principle.” Dean defended himself. “Why should I give him a free pass?”

“Because it’s Cas. He was..." You felt yourself momentary pausing when you realized the words that were coming out from your mouth. The look that crossed Dean’s face at how you were parroting the angel's flimsy excuse. You let out a quiet sigh, rolling your eyes from what you were doing, despite how you still felt about Cas yourself. "He was only trying to help."

“What are we supposed to be looking for down here?” Dean always had a habit of changing the subject when it got too uncomfortable for him. He pulled out a tiny flashlight from his pocket and began walking around the storage room filled with countless boxes and shelves.

“Anything on case one-one-three-eight. It was a class five infernal event—St. Louis, March 8th, 1957.” Sam said. You pulled out your own flashlight from your back pocket and began walking around the place, trying to find a box with the same numbers. Dean asked about what the whole mumbo jumbo about the class five event. “Yeah. See, the Letters have this whole rating system. ‘The Exorcist’ would have been a class two.”

“All right, so, what makes this puppet show so special?” Dean asked.

“It was weird.” Sam said. You furrowed your brow slightly from the description of the case. You wondered exactly what the person meant when they meant by just weird. Sam shrugged his shoulders when you asked him just how strange it was. “No clue. One of the files just had a note written in the margin about room 7B and the word ‘weird’ with three exclamation points.”

You let out a sigh from the lack of answers you had what exactly what you were looking for. You had no clue what you were looking for in the endless pile of boxes and files, and even if what caught Sam’s interest tied into what you needed to be focused in the first place. While the Men of Letters weren't exactly descriptive on what they thought was weird, at least they kept a tidy place. While you were going over every box on the shelf and looking for the case number Sam had told you about, it seemed the boys had found something interesting.

You turned your head to see that Dean had discovered a strange marking on the floor right as Sam discovered the box. You walked over to Dean when he crouched down on the ground to inspect it even further. Dean felt a cool breeze coming out from underneath the shelves, which meant only one thing. You stepped back and called for Sam's attention as his brother got to work on figuring out what was behind the shelves. It seemed they were multi-purposeful. Not only did they hold boxes of useful information that might come in handy one day, they were also a set of sliding doors that lead to another part of the bunker. As if you thought you knew everything about this place, it always liked to surprise you with the things it could offer.

“Is that a devil’s trap?” You asked, spotting a familiar symbol painted on the floor.

“It takes up half the room.” Dean noticed how big they had made it.

You drew your flashlight over the trap to see that Dean was right, it was huge, practically taking almost the entire space. You looked around to see there were other things in the room that were peculiar. There wasn’t a single piece of furniture, more along the lines of chains—some were hanging from the ceiling, a few on the walls, even a set on the ground. But these weren’t your typical iron set of chains to hold someone. You stepped forward to grab one dangling in the air and inspected the cuff, your finger traced over the engravings that were slightly familiar to you. Along with something else you weren’t quite sure what it was.

“These chains,” You turned your head to the boys and showed them what you discovered. “They have spell work etched into them.”

“So we have a dungeon.” Dean said. You looked around the room, taken aback at the place the previous owners rightfully had locked away. This was probably where they interrogated demons and poked at them, trying to figure out what those blacked eyed freaks were all about. Dean took it a whole other direction. “Finally!”

You scoffed to yourself after hearing Dean’s take away from discovering a dungeon in the bunker, you flashed your light over on him to blind the man. “I really hope you’re leaning more towards the ‘torture’ kind than the ‘sexy’ kind.”

“Best of both worlds, sweetheart.” Dean’s response and the way he playfully winked at you after made you roll your eyes once again from how he could be. He turned his attention back to the object his brother had found that he was currently still holding. “What do you got there?”

Sam pulled out what could only be an old film reel from the paper bag it’s been in for over fifty years, “Movie night?”

It wasn't too hard to find an old projector to help make screening the film easier. You and the boys headed to the library and set things up, still not exactly sure what you were about to witness. If it was in the files you found about demonic possessions you guessed the film was about just that. Possibly they filmed an exorcism that went in a very strange direction like one of them reported. You got comfortable in your seat and watched as the grainy screen counted down to the film until it changed into a shot of someone directing the camera on someone. It was a young priest from his clothing and the necklace with a cross hanging on his neck. He was sitting on a set of stairs smoking, appearing rather nervous and apprehensive from what he was about to park take in.

"Simon, we're filming." The person holding the camera announced to the man, when you heard them speak, you noticed it was a woman.

"Uh, hello, world." He greeted the camera with slight uncertainty.

"That thing giving you any trouble?"

You furrowed your brow slightly from the introduction of a male voice you heard off camera. It sounded male, and awfully familiar. The camera panned over to someone else—a man dressed in the fashion trend for the time period. Slacks and a white button up with no jacket, his sleeves rolled up to the elbow and his tie slightly undone. If you slapped a beard on him and made his slicked back hair a little longer, maybe even slightly messier, you'd bet all the money in the world that man was your father. It was a whole different version of him that you never saw before. This was back when he was still human...and a Men of Letters.

"Not yet. She's working like a beaut." The woman said. Your focus was kept on your father, watching as he took out the lit cigarette from his mouth. "So this new ritual we're going to see, this new type of exorcism, how does it work?"

Your father appeared like he was about to tell them all about it, but before he could, a distant voice shouted his and Simon's name, urging them to come quick. He dropped his cigarette bud to the ground and crushed it with the heel of his shoe, Simon properly disposed of it by putting it out in an ashtray. The priest began to look more nervous as he glanced back to the camera.

“I don’t know.” Simon said. “It’s my first time.”

"Don't worry. I've gotten all the proper research done. And I’ve sat in on a few of these. Nothing too bad has happened.” Your father reassured them from what they were about to witness. “It’ll be fine. I promise.”

Father Simon and your father began walking into another part of the room with their camera woman following behind. You felt your brow tightening together when you saw her get a glimpse of her own self in the mirror. It was a face you'd seen just a few months ago wearing a dead girl’s clothes. And instead of operating a camera she was having her fun with you and the boys, along with being responsible for the death of Henry Winchester. Abbadon, a knight of Hell. What she was doing in a Men of Letters’ based project raised some questions of your own.

“Am I going crazy, but is that Abbadon?” You couldn’t help yourself but ask.

“It’s not kill-y enough.” Dean said. “It’s gotta be the chick she’s possessing.”

You turned your attention back to the film, watching as the three of them headed to an open space lit with at least a dozen or so more candles, Father Simon grew more nervous when he heard another scream come from someone off screen. There was a sudden cut before the camera picked up again on an open book before backup on another priest, someone who was older than the others. He seemed to be urgent and impatient,

“Hurry. We must do it now.” He told all of them.

The camera turned to a woman who was on her knees, her wrists and neck were locked in a set of chains that were bolted to the ground with no chance of her to escape. Despite all of her grunts and screams, she couldn’t get out of this even if she wanted. You noticed her eyes were inky black, something you only associated one thing with. “Dead! They’re all dead! Everyone you’ve ever loved!” She exclaimed to the people, thinking it would scare them into submission, but the only person who seemed scared by the demons words were Father Simon.

"Hey, those chains look exactly like the one in our dungeon." Sam noted.

“In your what?” Cas was surprised at the words that just came out of the younger Winchester’s mouth. You must’ve forgot to inform the angel about your discovery.

“Demon on a leash—cool.” Dean said.

You kept on watching as the camera took a few shaky cuts before you saw your father grab a bottle from the table. He cautiously toed the line of the devil's trap, trying to keep himself at a safe distance while the demon thrashed and screamed, doing everything she could to break free. He managed to take her off guard when he splashed what could only be holy water in her face. Her skin burned as he quickly stepped back, yelling for the two priests to start. The older priest walked forward as Father Simon followed behind. He seemed suddenly terrified now as he stuck out his shaky right arm with a set of rosary beads hanging in his hand.

“Exorcizamus, te, omnis immundus spiritus...hanc animam redintegra...Lustra!” The older priest chanted a series of words that sounded like Latin, only one of them sounded familiar. He pulled out a knife and cut his palm, drawing up blood. You weren’t sure what he was doing, but what you saw unfold on the screen was nothing you could have guessed. He slapped his bloody palm against the demon’s mouth and shouted another word of Latin. “Lustra!”

A sudden burst of light peered through the demon's mouth and eyes, blinding the camera for a few seconds before the chaos dwindled down. You heard a few shuffling feet as the camera turned around to face the woman, wanting to make sure it was okay. You swore you could hear your father's voice say something along the lines of "Damn it, not again" before someone mentioned that "she's dead." You leaned forward in your seat as the woman pointed the camera back to the demon, who was lying on the floor. Her chest cavity was ripped wide open, and her eyes back to normal. It appeared something in their plan went south. “Where’s the demon?” She asked them. “Andrew, what happened?”

“Stop filming.” The older priest ordered.

She turned the camera back to Father Simon, who appeared to be terrified and shaken up from what he witnessed. You looked over to see that your father was in the background, his hands on his hips, doing everything he could not to lose his temper. "What happened?" She asked again, wanting some answers.

“Will you just stop?!” Your father shouted at her in frustration.

The last shot before the screen turned black was of him rushing over towards her, placing out his hand and shoving the camera down to the ground. You heard the projector run out of film, prompting Sam to turn it off, leaving the four of you even more baffled at what you just saw.

“Well, that was weird…” Dean said. “With three exclamation points.”

“I’d tack a few more on because of the whole, you know, seeing your dead parent and a woman before she got possessed by a demon working together." You said. The same demon who admitted to you about being responsible for turning your father into her own kind. You still weren't sure what you stumbled on, but you knew it wasn't the run of the mill routine of trying to get rid of a demon. "That wasn't a normal exorcism. They changed up the words."

“I believe ‘lustra’ is Latin for wash or cleanse.” Cas said.

“Oh, yeah, ‘cause that was the most freaky thing was the vocabulary. What about the bloody high five or the chest burster?” Dean brought up a few strange things they had done, nothing in which made sense. “Anything else on the film, like director’s commentary, sequel maybe?”

“Even better. Listen to this.” You said, getting up from your seat and heading over to the table where Dean and Cas were sitting at to show them the things you found. “The older priest, Max Thompson, bit the dust in '58. But the younger one is still alive and still in St. Louis.”

“Think this kind of weird is worth the drive?” Dean asked you.

"Guys, everything in those folders—the possessions, the deals all of it—we've seen that before. But that-- " You pointed over to the screen to make your reason why this was so important to follow this lead. "That was all new. Yeah, it's worth the drive."

"All right. Let's roll." Dean said. You shut the laptop and headed over to where you last put your jacket. It seemed someone thought they were included, but Dean made sure to set the record straight for the angel before he could try and tag along. “Not you.”

“Y/N is more damaged than I am.” Cas said, as if that was a perfectly reasonable excuse.

“Yeah, well, you know,” Dean said. “even banged up, Y/N comes through.”

“Dean,” The angel spoke up again, catching the hunter before he could head out and end this conversation before he could be given an opportunity to explain himself. “I just want to help.”

“We don’t need your help.” Dean snapped at him. “Just stay here and get better.”

There wasn’t much more the angel could say to make this situation better. He made his bed, and now it was time for him to lay in it. You knew it was for the better to have Cas stay here and out of trouble. While he might have been right about you being worse, you were still capable of walking around and getting to the bottom of this. You felt something about the film was important to the third trial. Everything was coming together...and you had a feeling some unanswered questions you carried for years might finally be solved.

[Next Part]

Rewrite Taglist:

@deansquirreljerkwinchester // @everything-i-tried-was-taken // @starswirlblitz // @albot-e // @supernaturalismydrug // @we-are-band-sexuals // @angiewinchestercas // @kaylinfayezink // @owhatshername1 // @kgbrenner // @cleo-is-my-doggy // @eeyore1988 // @dakota-dream // @lilylovelyxo // @timetravelingginger // @holahellohialoha // @quicksilver123456 // @natashacamillas //@lexi-anastasia //@kaylinfayezink // @deanwnchstr @albot-eh // @rashinyx2002 // @shellybeans // @icantfindacreativeurl // @becs-bunker // @oreosatmidnight // @bands-and-shietz // @fabulousmustachesonapolarbear // @clarewinchester // @releasethekracko // @alex-zeppelin // @mega-mrs-dean-winchester // @theskytraveler // @notmoose94 //@assassinofmasyaf // @caswinchester2000 // @savannah-m-99 // @sunlight-dean // @strayrosesbloom // @that-slytherin-over-there // @1000roughdrafts // @its-medeanwinchester // @simplyhemmings

Message me if you would like to be added!

16 notes · View notes

oddsnendsfanfics · 5 years ago

Text

We’re All Broken Pieces

Genre: Fan Fiction (The Last Kingdom) Pairing: N/A Warnings: Character Death, Mentions of Abuse Rating: G Length: Short Story Disclaimer: a strict work of fiction, I own nothing except the original characters and the plot line. In no way am I affiliated to any of it.

A/N: A bit of Sihtric from the world of We All Need Something to Hold On To. A bit scattered and all over the place, it wrote itself that way, fitting since Sihtric is scattered in thinking ;)

If you want to be tagged in my The Last Kingdom works, feel free to do so here!

Sihtric stood next to his best friend, his hands clasped in front of him, quiet and still, as the sun shone against the group. The sun shining at a funeral was almost comical.

Around him, Sihtric could see friends and family, all gathered for one grievous reason. Only days ago, his best friend had lost his wife, and these were the people who cared enough to gather to pay their respects and to bid the lovely Gisela farewell. On the other side of Uhtred stood Finan, the dark haired Irishman had traded his wide smile and jovial demeanor for a solemn expression.

Thyra; Uhtred's sister and a long time friend to Sihtric stood beside Finan with her husband, Beocca. On the other side of the grave Sihtric watched Gisela's brother, Guthred, the only blood family she had left. He was standing not too far from Sihtric's own blood.

Between the golden haired Hild and the mousy haired Osferth, stood the sable haired Sibbe. His twin sister, best friend, and life long partner in crime. Seeing the tears rolling down her cheeks, Sihtric's heart ached.

He wanted to go to his sister, hug her, and rock her in his arms. To tell her everything would be fine. They would be fine, but Sihtric found himself rooted to the ground. Sihtric never left Uhtred's side, keeping guard over his friend as Uhtred had done for Sihtric so many times.

The longer he watched his twin, the more pull it had on Sihtric. He hadn't been to a funeral since they had laid their mother to rest. Sihtric and Sibbe had been only thirteen then. As much as Sihtric loved his mother, Elflaed's funeral had been half the gathering that Uhtred's wife had brought.

He remembered the day, as if it were yesterday. Dressed in a black suit with his hair combed to perfection, he stood next to his sister, clutching her hand and doing his best not to let his tears show. Sibbe had stood like stone, sandwiched between Sihtric and Thyra. Uhtred had stood behind Sihtric, his wild long hair tied back, and his steel blue eyes snarling at anybody who dared to look at the twins before him.

"She'll always be with you." Thyra had spoke, when the funeral had ended and the handful of people began to leave.

"Not now, Thyra." Uhtred had groaned, rolling his eyes and loosening his tie. He hated suits, but out of respect, his adoptive parents - Thyra's parents - had made their children dress well. Elflaed deserved a smart looking funeral, Sihtric had heard Ragnar, Sr. chide.

"But she will, our loved ones are always around us. Ravn said so." Thyra huffed, dragging her late grandfather into this. Typical siblings.

"We should go." Sibbe managed to speak, her voice quiet. Sihtric had barely heard her, over Thyra and Uhtred. Words escaping, Sihtric nodded taking one last look at the fresh grave.

Walking away and leaving his mother had been the hardest thing he had ever faced. At thirteen, a boy is supposed to be worried about sports, and girls, failing his next math test - not worrying about his sister and how they would make it through without their mother.

A man spoke, jarring Sihtric back to his present, talking about God and how he would welcome Gisela. Right. Did this man even know Gisela? She had a multitude of beliefs, but God was not one of them. Sihtric couldn't blame her. Despite his sister's Christian beliefs, which he often teased her for, Sihtric knew it was rubbish.

If there was a God and if he was so grand, why had he left two thirteen year old kids without their mother? If there was such a being, why had he left Sihtric to suffer?

It was shortly after their mother's death that Sibbe had began to find God. She would attend church every Sunday, without fail, preaching to Sihtric when she thought their father wasn't listening. Telling her twin about all the amazing wonders that this powerful man had in store for them. The only good that came from it, was Sibbe's constant faith drove their older brother Sven crazy.

Wild and reckless, Sven had been a handful since he was born. It didn't mean Elflaed loved her eldest son any less. Sven was sixteen when his mother passed away, not that he cared. Sihtric hated his brother, almost as much as he hated his father. Cruel and manipulating, Sven was an ass.

Sibbe's faith had drove Sven crazy, which meant when Sibbe was home, he was not.

"Shut her up." Sven moaned, a pack of frozen peas against his face. The result of another fight, Sven was always in some sort of scuffle.

"Let her be." Sihtric stood up for Sibbe, who was singing some hymn she had learned the previous Sunday. "She isn't hurting you."

Sven was taller than Sihtric, stronger, and wider. He was slow and dumb, as far as Sihtric was concerned, but it didn't stop his mother from always telling her sons to play nice. When they were little, Sven would take Sihtric's toys and bury them in the back yard, always leading to Sibbe attempting to beat up her older brother in Sihtric's defense.

"She's annoying." Sven continued to gripe. "And so are you."

Rolling his eyes, Sihtric picked up his text book, to move to his bedroom. He was over listening to this bullshit. It didn't matter what he said, because Sven would continue to complain and in the end, Sihtric would be the one to get punished.

Sihtric had to hide is smile, now, when he stole a glance of Ragnar, Jr. A few feet from where Sihtric stood, the tall and imposing, blond man stood with his wife Brida.

Once, when Sihtric had been ten or eleven, he had got into a fight with Sven. Bloodied and bruised, he and Uhtred went home, despite their best effort to gang up on the older boys. When Ragnar had saw them, he demanded to know what happened. Scared for his brother, Sihtric refused to tell the teenager the truth. Uhtred on the other hand...

The next day Ragnar had cornered Sven on the walk home from school, demanding to know if he was the one who'd beat up Uhtred and Sihtric. Later that day, Sihtric was home helping his mother make dinner when Sven came in with a busted lip and swollen eye.

Kjartan had lost it, screaming and raging that his kids were never to go near Ragnar and Sigrid's heathens ever again. They were useless and violent - ironic, Sihtric thought. Elflaed had told him that kids would be kids. Then sent Sven to clean up and to bed without dessert.

Sven was too much like his father. Sihtric had always felt that way. Even as a child, Sven would be granted special treatment, while Kjartan would tend to ignore Sihtric. His excuse was that Sihtric was too soft and not at all a real man, nor would he ever be.

Unlike Sven and his much older half brother, who he only saw on holidays, Sihtric was quiet and not at all a fighter. Until the day his mother passed, she was his shining light. Losing her had sparked a raging fire in the quiet boy.

Despite the change, Sihtric would never raise his voice or fists in anger. If he did, then it made him no better than Kjartan or Sven. His mother had always told him that the key to being a good man, was to be generous and kind.

"Real men don't fight with fists and the good ones are never belligerent." Elflaed would tell her youngest son, kissing his forehead and stroking her gentle hands over his dark hair.

Then she would turn to her only daughter, kiss her cheek, and tell her “A good woman will fight as fearsome as any man, for what she wants.” Sihtric loved those moments with his mother.

The way she would smell, when he would sit with her on the couch, reading or watching tv. Her laugh - Sibbe had her laugh. Sihtric adored his sister, but when he'd had a few drinks and she began to laugh, it always left him with a lump in his throat and a hatred in his heart.

Hatred not for Sibbe or his mother, but for her loss. For the man who had tormented Sihtric, until the day he died.

Growing up, Sihtric and Sibbe had always been happy, safe, and loved. Sven, too. It wasn't until he grew older that Sihtric had learned the real truth about how cruel his father could truly be. If Sihtric had only known, then maybe he could have done something? He had failed his mother, in a way, allowing her to suffer all those years in silence.

She was a strong woman, never letting her children see the bruises or the scars, always with a kind and gentle smile. Sihtric should have known, Kjartan never hid his anger. Why had Sihtric never clued in that all that rage was being taken out on his poor mother?

Next to Uhtred; Sihtric clenched his fists.

Sihtric shuddered.

His hands clammy, his face pale. He caught Finan staring hard at him.

There had been some worry for Sihtric; Finan had held worry anyway. His friend didn't do well with death and this unfortunate accident was sure to bring back some sort of terrible trauma. Despite what Sihtric led people to believe over the last few days, inside he was still a boy, fighting for his life. The ghosts that were in Sihtric's head were beginning to come round in full force.

This wasn't about Shitric, which is why he had buried his emotions and focused everything he had on Uhtred and his family. Suppressing his emotions would only last so long, before the past came back. Sihtric shifted where he stood, his mouth dry as tears began to spill.

An accident had taken her away.

Sihtric had heard those words before. The police coming in and telling a family they had lost their mother, due to some unfortunate event. The difference was that this time it was an accident.

"Mom?" Sihtric could still hear his young voice, "Mom!" He called loudly, shaking his mother. When he didn't get a reply, he raced to the phone to call for help.

There had been so much blood. For nearly a year, Sihtric couldn't walk into the family room without fending off the urge to vomit. His body would shake and he would steady his breath, trying to push through in the best way he knew how.

"Your mother fell and hit her head." Kjartan's statement was cold.

At the time, Sihtric had been too grief stricken to realize, his mother's death was never just an accident. When the police had arrived, they were satisfied to claim it was exactly as Kjartan had said. She had fell and hit her head. As he grew older, Sihtric had dug deeper into the “accident”, finding what he had feared the most to be true. Without sufficient evidence, his hands were tied and his father got away with it.

If it hadn't been for forming a friendship with Uhtred; Sihtric felt that there were days, when he would have suffered the same fate as his mother. Uhtred would spend as much time with Sihtric as he could.

The two kids never discussed the bruises that Sihtric bore, they didn't need to. Uhtred wasn't stupid, he'd been the one who had told Ragnar that Kjartan was beating his youngest son. Sibbe, although aware of what was happening to her twin, had never suffered in the way Sihtric had.

If Kjartan had tried to raise a hand to his sister, Sihtric would have killed him. He would do anything, even now, to protect his sister.

Since becoming an adult, Sihtric had found that seeking help was a good way to begin the healing. He would never fully recover, who could? But he had made progress and had found some peace with his mother's passing.

Kjartan on the other hand - the only peace Sihtric would gain there was knowing that his monster of a father would never hurt his family, again.

Two years ago, when his father had finally died, Sihtric has spent two weeks in a drunken stupor. To an outsider it would sound terrible, but Sihtric had been so elated by his father's death, he didn't know what else to do.

Gisela, the shining light she was, had taken care of her husband's friend the best she could. All while still being the amazing and tentative mother and wife she was.

Sihtric had sat slumped on his bathroom floor, an empty bottle of tequila in his hand, a puddle of vomit next to the missed toilet. Tears staining his face, but Gisela didn't judge him. She had sat down, held open her arms, and let him cry until he fell asleep in her embrace.

"I could have saved her." He repeated over and over until he fell asleep.

"Sihtric, you were a boy. Nobody blames you, love." Gisela rocked him like one of her own children.

As much as Kjartan had tried, he could never break his son. Sihtric refused to be broken and defeated in the way his mother was. He had taken the abuse that Kjartan had decided to hand over without so much as a whimper.

If he showed pain or fear, Kjartan won. Sihtric refused to allow his father to win.

The first time Kjartan had hit Sihtric, the boy had been confused and drove himself crazy trying to figure out what it was he had done wrong. After a few weeks of taken a beating, for no reason, Sihtric thought he'd figured it out.

Kjartan was hurting, over the loss of his wife. Sihtric had taken it harder than anyone, being that he was the one who'd came home to find his mother. Obviously, his father didn't know how to cope.

A light breeze rippled through the grave yard, Sihtric felt the wind on his face, the sun still burning bright in the sky above. A father was to protect and love their children. When he'd learned the news of Gisela, one of the first things Sihtric had appointed himself was looking after the children.

He had been in their shoes once. Albeit Uhtred would never turn into the man Kjartan was, Sihtric had felt a need to protect the three young ones.

One day, Sihtric would settle down and have a family of his own. When he did, he would take everything he had learned about fatherhood from Kjartan and pursue none of it. He would love his children as fiercely as his mother - or Gisela. Sending his future children into the world with a firm and kind hand.

The loss of Gisela had taught him not to wait.

No more waiting, he would do it. He was getting down on one knee and asking Ealhswith to marry him. Sibbe would be thrilled, she'd always adored Ealhswith.

Sihtric had been in love with Ealhswith since her father had hired sixteen year old Shitric as a bus boy at Two Cranes. Ealhswith had been in her second year of university then, giving very little attention to the gawky boy working for her father.

Lying about his age to get the job in the pub, Sihtric also lied about his age to get a lease on an apartment with another young man working at the pub. Finan needed a roommate and Shitric needed a safe place for him and Sibbe to live.

Finan didn't ask many questions, although he knew Sihtric wasn't nineteen. His first year in college, Finan was more than happy to let the twins live with him. Shitric was a fantastic cook and Sibbe was always a breath of pure sunshine. Finan's own family life was estranged and he was no stranger to hard work and running away from an arsehole father.

Sihtric thanked his mother every day for sending him Ealhswith and Finan, when she had.

His mother had always known exactly what he needed. Sihtric snuffled through the tears, amused by the thought progression that his mind had taken. Scattered Sihtric is what Gisela would call him, teasing that he could never keep the same thought for more than a few moments.

Around him people began to move, parting ways, some retreating without so much as a word. Others forwarding their condolences as they prepared to leave. Sihtric stood rooted, his mind a million miles away. He could have stood there all night, allowing his own past to unravel, had his friend not needed him more.

"Shitric." Finan placed his hand on his shoulder, nodding his head toward Uhtred. Standing motionless, tears welled up in his eyes, and anger in his clenched fists, Uhtred stared at the grave. "Come on."

"Uhtred," Sihtric approached, his footsteps quiet in the grass. "We have to go, it'll be dusk soon."

"How? How do I leave her here?" Uhtred spoke, although his words weren't directly spoken to anyone.

"She'll be with you, our loved ones are always with us. I would be a liar, if I told you that it gets better, because it doesn't." Sihtric sighed, rocking on his heels, hands in his pockets. "It may never feel like you're whole again, but one day you wake up, you look outside and see the world and you know. You know she's with you and she's proud of you."

Uhtred's eyes red rimmed met Sihtric's gaze, a slow and dull nod let Sihtric know that his friend understood. A simple gesture between two men, told more than choked up words could.

@ceridwenofwales @laketaj24 @thewildbeauty @geekandbooknerd @therealcalicali @tiyetiye @pokeasleepingsmaug @goldentailedmermaids @sifshoney @wilddrabble @nxrdist @joyofbebbanburg @whenimaunicorn @carlya65 @kawennote09 @inforapound @tephi101 @shieldmaiden25 @naaladareia @captstefanbrandt

#sihtric elflaedsson #sihtric #modern sihtric #the last kingdom #tlk #let's be danes ⚔️#the last kingdom imagine #sihtric imagine #sihtric elflaedsson imagine #uhtred of bebbanburg #Finan the agile

46 notes · View notes