#I want people to see the meanings I hastily hid into my drawings and acknowledge

[stillthesunkenstars]

,

[dragonologist-in-the-making]

Remember Me

Based on THIS song

Pairing: Draco x fem!reader

Summary: Draco and reader’s perfect summer afternoon fell apart as Draco’s task for their sixth year at Hogwarts gets revealed.

A/N: coming in hot with some angst (very unusual for me I know!) I wrote this very quickly and I haven’t proof read it so pls pls pls let me know if you like!! It’s the first time I’ve really written angst on this blog so any feedback would be appreciated!

Warnings: Plot of Half-Blood Prince, talks of murder, neglecting parents, make-out session, toxic relationship (unsure if this counts but including it just in case)

Wordcount: 1053

…

The late-August heat was thick in the Malfoy Manner, as Draco and Y/N hid away in a corner, enjoying their last few stolen moments together before they headed back to the crowded halls of Hogwarts.

“Are you sure we won’t get caught?” she asked, breaking away from their passionate kiss momentarily, sighing as Draco moved his attention to her neck.

“Mother and Father are too wrapped up in their so-called work, and the servants know by now not to bother me.” He hastily replied, moving his lips back to hers to continue what they had started. “Besides, it’s a bit late for you to be asking this question, isn’t it?” he smirked, sparing a glance down to the floor where her shirt lay discarded.

She blushed, recoiling a little at his dismissive treatment of those who had raised him, his parents always being too absent to do most of the work. That, or they didn’t care enough to be involved, she thought sharply.

“Draco…” she trailed, pushing him away from her slightly. His playful pout turned more serious when he saw the anxiety in her eyes, teeth lightly chewing her bottom lip.

“What’s wrong, Princess?” He asked softly, using the nickname he knew made her insides go all soft.

The palm of his hand was cradling her cheek ever-so-gently, his thumb rubbing feather light circles in a way that made her heart flutter from more than just the nerves running through her veins.

“I’m just worried about going back to school. Everyone knows about your parents’… activities now and I don’t want us to get caught up in all that. I just want to graduate already and get away from it all, I don’t ever want to hear that noseless freak’s name again.” She sighed, anxiety not easing as she saw Draco furrow his brow at her words.

“It’s not that easy, Y/N”, he said, taking a step back from her and starting to button up his shirt. She slid off the desk she had been perched on, picking up her own shirt and sliding her arms through, suddenly feeling exposed and shivering despite the August air. “I’m a Malfoy. There’s a reputation I have to uphold.”

As he turned away with an almost unnoticeable shake of his head, she started wringing her hands, wondering if she ever should have brought up the conversation.

“Yes, a reputation of good manners and a princely air, Dray, not fighting on the wrong side of a war!” She couldn’t help but let her voice rise, and let the tears brim at her eyes as she caught on to his hints. Somehow, despite the perfect summer they had spent together, he had managed to sneak away and betray everything they had planned for the future.

“I had no choice, Y/N!” he was shouting now, and as he turned back to face her he didn’t miss the flinch at his tone, or the way her face was quickly flushing for an entirely different reason than ten minutes ago. “I’m sorry, I wanted more than anything to say no and walk out of there, but you know that wasn’t an option. You know what he would do to my family. I can’t be responsible for that.”

At this point, there were tears openly flowing between the two of them. At school, Draco always seemed so reserved and closed off to any emotion, but with Y/N he had never hidden, he showed himself completely. Or, she thought he had.

He saw her collecting the possessions she had scattered across the room and raced towards her, collecting her hands in his and sinking to the floor in front of her.

“No, please don’t leave. Please, you’re all I have left. You’re the one thing getting me through this, our future together.” He begged, and she felt her heart break a little at the swollen eyes that stared back at her. She sank onto the floor with him, bringing his knuckles to her lips and softly pressing a kiss there.

“I don’t know how to see past this, Dray. Where does the line get drawn? Do you keep tormenting first years who are just so happy to experience magic for the first time, purely for who their parents are? Merlin, I mean, are you going to start killing people without a second thought?” She saw him flinch at her words and she choked out a sob, somewhere between shock and disbelief.

She fell further to the floor, her hands slipping out of his shell-shocked ones. “They’re making you kill someone.” She whispered, voice barely audible, but he still nodded in acknowledgement of her words. “Who?”

“Please, Y/N, baby, please can we just pretend everything is as it has been all summer. I don’t want you to see this side of me. Please, remember me, before I become someone you won’t love.” Tears were still flowing down his face as he reached for her hands again, and she reluctantly let him take them. His words made her wary, and she looked into his eyes, drawing in a steady breath before she asked again.

“Dray. Who?”

“Dumbledore.” He sighed, more silent tears splashing onto the floor. Unable to help herself at the sight of the broken boy in front of her, she pulled him into her lap, letting him sob into her shoulder as she gently ran a hand through his blonde tresses.

They sat there for what felt like hours, watching the shadows move across the room, trying to figure out what the next move was. Eventually, once the tears had stopped, Draco’s croaky voice broke the silence.

“I’m sorry. You’re right, I’m not who you deserve to be with. I won’t stop you from leaving.” He pulled away from her, face to face, inches apart. The devastation was clear across both of their faces, and she felt a sense of unease settle over her.

“For our future?” She asked, voice quavering.

“I swear, once this is all done, we’ll go as far away as we can and never look back.” His eyes were clear, shining with sincerity.

Solemnly, she nodded, feeling the unease setting in her at what she was agreeing to, wondering if this was a choice she would always regret.

“Then I guess you have a job to do, Dray.”

[stained-glass-fragments]

A gasp of shock fell from Farona's lips as her eyes broadened, turning toward the voice she felt she dimly recognized. And there, standing near the back, was a high priest. But not just any high priest. Comical rabbit ears stuck out of a headband perched on his short, light brown hair, and even in the growing darkness of the room, he wore his token pair of sunglasses. And to top it all off, his ever-amused little smirk curled up the side of his lips.

Farona rose to her feet, suddenly feeling apprehensive as she stared back at the man. He was someone she once considered a friend and comrade, a party member, and a trusted companion. But now... "Yune Hiraze," she acknowledged softly. And despite his words, the young knight thought his casual stance leaning back against the wall suggested that he had actually been there for quite some time. She immediately flushed at the thought that he had been watching her - including her little tantrum.

He slinked away from the wall and slowly sauntered closer, his smile widening. "Embarrassed to be caught in prayer at a church? You always were an odd one, weren't you."

She gasped, a hand flying up to her face in attempt to hide her blush from view. Damn, how could he tell?! There was hardly any light in the room!

And as if reading her mind, he supplied, "I can see perfectly well in the dark, you know. It comes in handy for high priests like me to be good supporters in the deep dark bowels of Glast Heim, the Payon caves, and---well, you get the idea." He shrugged, and his smile took on a slightly more playful look as he halted just a few feet away from her.

"Farona, Farona," he mock-chided. "The way you're looking at me, it's as though you expect me to attack you."

She took a shaky step back, clutching her metallic-gloved hands together in front of her skirt. "I--I... you're here to bring me to the authorities, aren't you?" He opened his mouth as if to deny it, but she hastily cut him off with a growl. "Don't you play your dumb mind games with me anymore, Yune! You want the money they're offering, don't you? Or is there something else you would gain? It's always about you and your selfish---everything!" She threw her arms up in the air, eyes blazing in barely controlled fury.

For a moment, the smile vanished from his features, leaving a cold frown. But as if it was just something she imagined, a mere second later, the smile was back in place. And he dramatically clasped his hands over the area of his heart. "You wound me, Farona. I faithfully supported you for how long? Not to mention saving you from dreaded king Osiris when we first met... and you throw such accusations at me?"

Her gaze became frigid, making her eyes appear almost like chiseled ice. "Supported me? By abandoning Ryshun and I in the middle of a bloody battle with the Orc Lord and nearly getting us both killed? You ran away - you disappeared. I knew nothing of how to find you! I never even got the opportunity to get to know you---all you ever seemed interested in was learning everything about me when I wasn't allowed to learn a damn thing about you!" She paused to take a steady breath to calm herself, and looked away. "I don't know why you bothered to show up now. Unless you just want to mock me."

"Do you really believe that's the truth?"

There was an almost foreboding ring to his words that made her heart seem to cease beating - before it pumped wildly against her ribcage with an intensity that made it feel fit to burst at any moment. What did he mean?

She stared at him for almost a full minute before she found her voice. And even then, it was timid. "I want... to know the truth. Tell me the truth, Yune."

"The truth..." he repeated almost thoughtfully as he took another couple of steps toward her, "Is a dangerous thing. Perhaps surprising, perhaps life-changing, perhaps the key to everything..."

Farona's blue-green eyes narrowed. "I said don't start your---"

"Silence." And all it took was that one word to effectively cut her off, spoken with strength and power from the high priest that stood just a scarce few feet away from her. He always looked so cheerful and light-hearted that any amount of seriousness from him shook her to her very core. He seemed almost like a different person.

And as if on cue, the good-natured smile came back to his features. "I've actually come out tonight with the intention of telling you the truth, Farona. Yes. Telling you everything."

The anger receded from her like a balloon deflating. "Really? You will?" And just like that, her eyes lit up curiously, watching the brunette high priest with great interest.

"Now there's the cute face I remember so well," he quipped. A dust of pink flooded her cheeks. "But I imagine you have questions you want me to answer, am I right?" At her eager nod, his smile widened. "Well, go ahead, Farona. You want to know things about me, don't you? You claim you know nothing... and I'm offering you everything."

She licked her lips in preparation, wondering where to begin. There were so many things she wanted to ask about. But first and foremost...

"How... How did you find me here tonight? Was it just coincidence? I'm sure I didn't tell anyone where I was going."

"Ah, yes. That." He grinned broadly, showing a sliver of his white teeth. "Now, this might come as a bit of a surprise..."

Her eyes widened in horror. That look--that smile... "You--You can't read minds, can you?"

The high priest chuckled heartily, shaking his head back and forth. "No, no. I can't read minds. No worries about that. But yes, I certainly did know where to find you. If not mind reading, can you imagine why that would be?"

She blinked quizzically back at him. "Um, you saw me in town, maybe? I probably wasn't able to stay as hidden as I wanted to be." She mumbled the last part in mild embarrassment.

"Wrong again!" he supplied all too enthusiastically. "But you're growing tired of the guessing game, aren't you? Yes, I can tell. Well, I won't keep you in suspense any longer. I knew where you were going, because I followed you."

"But then you must have seen me in town," she argued instantly, eyebrows drawing together in confusion. "Or before I came to Prontera--maybe out in the fields by--"

"Farona, since the day I supposedly disappeared, you have never left my sight."

The lord knightress's jaw fell open as she stared back at him, dumbstruck, and disbelief etched into every crevice of her features.

"Oh, it's quite true, I assure you," he quickly added upon seeing her reaction. "Frilldora cards are incredibly handy. You don't need to be an assassin to learn that handy little cloaking skill of theirs."

It took a moment before the young woman could gather her wits about her again. And even longer before she could force her voice to speak. "You--You hid?! And you stalked me? Yune, that's not---why would you do such a thing?! We were worried about you and--"

His ever present smile never wavered. "Things didn't quite go as I planned. After all, your irritating little friend screwed up everything. He was supposed to die--and that raging idiot let you get between him and that monster. It took some quick thinking on my part to rescue you without being seen, but that bastard also still managed to survive. Pity..."

"Y-You're a priest!" she burst out frantically, hands shooting up in the air. "You save people! Not--not plot to get them killed! Father Reinfield will never let that--"

"Farona," he interrupted all too calmly. "You wanted the truth. I'm giving it to you."

She swallowed the lump in her throat, and took another few steps away from him, all too eager to put some distance between them. "I-I didn't think it would be so..."

"He was a hindrance," he continued, tone suddenly scathing. "No matter what I did, I could not get that idiot to leave your side. He was lovestruck, I'm sure." The high priest sneered at that, one of the bunny ears on his headband flopping down. "Enamoured with his little childhood friend and too damn lucky for any of my traps to succeed in removing him from the picture."

Farona's knees had started to shake as she looked back at him, trying to dismantle the so-called 'truth' he was spouting. It couldn't be true, could it? He and Ryshun got along while the three of them were traveling together. They exchanged jokes, they both teased her... and now he was saying that all along, he wanted the assassin dead? "Yune..." her voice pleaded.

"Though he did finally leave you just a few short weeks ago, didn't he? Before your accident revealed your little secret. I didn't need him dead so badly that I would go and track him down. He was more of an annoyance, than anything. And besides, without him in the way, my path to you was clear and open. All I needed was a reason for my sudden departure."

The little white ears on the side of her head flattened back. Somehow, she could tell this wasn't one of his jokes. Her voice was small as she spoke. "You followed me... for weeks. And even with him gone to find his sister... you still stayed hidden."

"Ah, I confess... you were absolutely fascinating to watch---especially on your own and without the influence of that childish baboon. I learned more from you in that time than I did with all that you willingly told me months and months ago. Ironic, isn't it?"

Her face flushed abruptly with building anger. "How dare you treat me like some object to---to STUDY. You're no better than those damn alchemis--"

"DON'T--" he interrupted with something that could only be classified as a roar. It echoed in the small chapel, bombarding her from all sides. And then he calmed, but his words, though soft and even, sounded anything but. "Don't you ever compare me to them."

"Oh, I-I..." She looked away awkwardly, her mind racing. Did that mean he didn't believe the lies those men were spreading? Was he actually saying, even indirectly, that he believed them to be as terrible as they really were? The thought made her heart swell in a strange way.

"Well, have another question for me?"

She stole a glance back at him, and noted with almost no surprise that he appeared as though his furious outburst hadn't even happened. The cheerful mask was right back in place, and now that moonlight had entered the enclosure, his features were clearer than before. And those rays of soft bluish-white light shined and reflected off of a certain accessory perched on the bridge of his nose. Nodding once, she kept her eyes rooted to the black shields guarding his gaze from her view. "...The sunglasses. You're wearing them even though it's dark in here. You wear them ALL the time... Why?"

Yune forced a laugh that didn't have even a smidgen of mirth in its depths. "You got quite a reaction from me about it once. Tell me, Farona, do you remember what happened?"

Her brows furrowed in thought. Yes, there had been that one time, about a month after they initially met. She thought him to be sleeping peacefully as his chest rose and fell in its prone position, the firelight from the campfire dancing and casting shadows along his form and the contours of his face. Her action had been impulsive, stirring from somewhere she couldn't even pin-point, but nonetheless, she had given in. Before she even knew what she was doing, the knight had reached her arm over, intending to pull the glasses off -- when with remarkable reflexes, he swiftly snatched her wrist just as her fingertips brushed the side of the solid object.

And he had warned her then that the sunglasses were not to be touched. Ever.

"You stopped me," she said. "And told me not to touch them."

His smile widened as he tip-tapped the side of his sunglasses. "Any theories about this one, Farona? You are a smart girl, after all."

She tilted her head slightly, studying his face in the light of the moon. "Well, you must have had something to hide. I thought maybe it was an injury or maybe the light was problematic to your eyes, or--" She cut off on a sharp gasp. During her vocal musing, he had reached up and removed the sunglasses. And he made no attempt to hide the scar that marred the area around his right eye.

However, even that was less shocking than the other thing he revealed with that simple gesture: His eyes were a deep, blood red. And there was something very eerie about his face as a whole that she couldn't put her finger on.

Yune smiled, stifling a throaty chuckle. "No surprise now, is it?"

That was definitely creepy, she decided. And part of her wished he would just put the sunglasses right back on. He looked far less intimidating that way.

"Tsk, tsk. Are you judging me, Farona? You of all people, I thought, would be able to understand..."

Understand. Understanding. That's what she wanted more than anything. And she felt a pang of guilt. So what if his eyes were a strange color and the pupils were slit? And the scar really didn't marr his features in any grotesque way. Who was she to judge when she was far more monstrous than he ever would be? She had their very blood running through her veins.

"I-I'm sorry," she stammered. "I was just surprised---And I--"

"I might believe that," he spoke as he took a sweeping step nearer to her. "If you could actually look at me when you say it."

She visibly flinched, and hesitantly raised her head to meet his eyes. The smile was still there. But it seemed... strained?

"Don't worry, I understand," he assured her softly. "After all, I can't expect you to like what you learn about me. I even admitted to trying to get your friend killed. I make no claims to be some sort of perfect and altruistic high priest of the clergy." She merely gave a stiff nod.

"It was a lie that brought me this far, Farona," he stated almost casually. "Just like you, I lied to everyone to get where I am. Many wondered about the sunglasses - how could they not? And all I did was tell them one thing that solved everything."

Farona was beside herself with his revelations. Yune knew the pain of having to hide something that could ruin your life. Maybe he really did understand more than she ever could have imagined. She blinked curiously back at him. "...What did you tell them?"

He raised his hands up and looked to the ceiling, as though talking to someone else situated up there. "I told them that the Gods do not need to see my eyes. They wouldn't want their devout worshipers to question those that wished to follow them on something so trivial. They know our pasts and our futures. One cannot hide from the Gods."

She stared at him, awestruck. It really sounded like something that one from the church would say and believe in. The knight opened her mouth to speak, but he stopped her by simply raising his hand.

"But there's more to the lie than that," he supplied with an almost wicked grin. She swallowed and he raised an eyebrow at her. "Really, that expression is unbecoming of you. There are no more murder attempts upon your friends involved in this explanation. I promise."

The smile he flashed her then looked genuine, but with everything she had heard about this man in the past few minutes, Farona couldn't be sure. Nonetheless, she gave a short, hesitant nod.

"I'll let you in on another well-kept secret, Farona. I don't believe in these 'Gods' at all." Her mouth fell open, but he either didn't notice or didn't care. "I desired to become a high priest for their powers and skills, not for their silly beliefs. And I wanted it badly enough that I was willing to put on an act. One that fooled everyone. And it worked flawlessly."

In that moment, he looked very proud of his achievement---his achievement of deceiving the entirety of the Prontera Church, and probably every single person that he ever met.

As quickly as the warmth of understanding flooded through, a cold blizzard blew in and froze her insides solid. "You don't really... you mean you never---all this time, you never cared about helping others or saving lives?"

She didn't want it to be true. He always seemed so happy, so cheerful---so helpful to everyone! He teased, he loved to joke, he was optimistic and... how could it be true? Was he really capable of wearing a mask that thick?

"Ah, but there we hit an important snag, my dear." She frowned at the name, but made no move to interrupt him. "You are correct in assuming that it usually meant little to me. I had bigger plans in mind. But like anything that is labeled 'absolute', there is always an exception..."

A dribble of hope seeped into her eyes. "So there was a time when you really were...?"

"Yes. There was a single exception. And she's standing right here in this very room."

[kimetsu-no-cuties]

Getsurei: Prolouge

Chihiro grunted as her mama dropped her down onto her futon, her wide and curious eyes watching her movements as she paced around the room. She hastily grabbed different items and stuffed them into a bag. Her confusion shifted to slight fear as she watched her mama grow increasingly more frustrated with trying to shove something else in the bag. Mama let out an inhuman growl when she could no longer force anything inside it, slamming her hands down in defeat.

“Mama, what’s going on?” She questioned, this wasn’t normal.

Mama paused to compose herself, then turned around a sad smile gracing her delicate features. Quietly, she moved to her, settling on her knees with a sigh. Hesitantly she brought her hands up to rest on Chihiro’s face, smoothing over the rough, scaly patches on her cheeks with the pad of her thumb. She took a deep breath, shaking her head at her daughter.

“Oh, Hiro… mama has to leave…” she whispered sadly.

Chihiro shook her head confused, eyebrows furrowing angrily.

“Is it because of those mean people in the village?” She said agitatedly.

Her mama simply shook her head with a little smile, hushing her as she brought her to lie against her chest. One hand ran through her hair while the other ran up and down across her spine, soothing her.

“No, no, it’s not just because of that… Mama has to go to keep you and Papa safe, okay?”

“We’re safest with you,” she shouted in protest, not able to grasp the situation at all.

“Hush, Hiro... “

Chihiro glared at the tatami on the floor quietly, thinking about the circumstance she was under. She didn’t understand why it had to be her mama; why not one of the mean village kid’s mamas? Was this Kami-Sama's way of punishing her for being different?

“It’s not fair,” she finally spoke up with a shaky voice, “why do you have to go?”

Her mother sighed, pulling away to look into her eyes “Mama doesn’t want to go, but life isn’t fair, Chihiro…”

Chihiro looked up at her, those vibrant green eyes that reflected her own filled with pain and sadness. The look was foreign on her Mama’s face -- it was wrong. It made Chihiro’s well up with tears, but she refused to cry, she had to be strong like her Mama.

“Tatsu,” she whispered the nickname, grabbing her attention, “do you know why that’s your nickname?”

Chihiro shook her head, “Uh, because I look like a dragon?”

“Not quite…” Mama chuckled, “it’s because you are strong, much like a dragon, you’ve got tough skin,” she placed her hands on her scale-like markings on her cheeks, rubbing her thumb over them, “well... more like scales, but you’re strong. You’ll be okay without me, you’ve got Papa, Jiji, Baba... even Mizuki to help you.”

She paused, thinking something over before moving her hands to the necklace around her neck. Chihiro had never seen her without it since she had been able to remember. She lifted it off from around her neck, holding it out so Chihiro could admire it closer, the dim lighting of the room glinting off its rough surface.

“Mama…?” Chihiro said quietly.

“This is my family heirloom, my Mama gave it to me and her Mama gave it to her, and so on,” she explained.

“That’s a lot of mamas,” she giggled.

Mama smiled affectionately down at her, “It is… now, I’ve been waiting for a while to give this to you, but I think now would be a perfect time…”

She lifted and placed it carefully around her neck, adjusting it until the moon was perfectly on display.

“When you look at it, know that Mamas there… I’m protecting you, always.”

Chihiro nodded absently, her curious little hands grabbing the necklace - messing up the careful handiwork of her mama as she observed it closely.

The moon was heavy in her hands, very old and scratched up, but still, each little gem in it was beautiful and intact. She wondered how old it was, probably way older than she was. It might’ve been more than thirty years old, that would be very old.

Mama watched her, biting her lip, her sharp teeth drawing a little droplet of blood which she quickly wiped away. She jumped slightly when Chihiro’s sharp eyes suddenly turned to hers - the eyes she got from Mama - the crisp blue-green shocking to see on a human child, especially with such an intense look on her face.

“Don’t forget about me…” she whispered, voice too serious for an eight-year-old.

Her mama stared down at her face, a look Chihiro couldn’t make out - maybe of shock and confusion mixed with sadness. She didn’t have much time to think about it, as she was pulled into a tight embrace where her mother hid her face in her shoulder sobbing quietly. Chihiro didn’t cry - she had to be strong for Mama.

For some reason, she felt like she would see her mama yet again.

A throat clearing pulled her mother apart from her, the kind face of her Papa peeking into the room. His face held the same grief her mothers did, but it seemed he wouldn’t cry - at least not in front of the family.

“You have to leave now if you want to be safe, Ayumu,” he whispered as he approached.

He placed a gentle hand on Chihiro’s head and pulled her into his side, away from her mother. Chihiro curled into him, holding onto his Haori tightly as she watched her mother collect her overstuffed bag. She began to walk away, posture slumped unlike her usual proud and regal appearance, but she stopped to look back at them once more as she stepped outside.

“Hurry,” her father urged, “you’ll be hurt if you don’t.”

She scrunched up her face slightly, angry and sad, but she nodded and turned away - not before saying one last thing.

“Be strong,” she whispered.

Chihiro smiled up at her Papa, who pressed her closer to him with a sigh. Both of them watched as she walked away until her father could no longer see her, though, Chihiro watched her retreat just a bit further before pulling away.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“‘Tsushi, Baba, Oba,” Chihiro called out excitedly.

She stumbled her way through the doorway, tripping over her feet a few times before finally landing face-first on the tatami. She groaned loudly, lifting her head slightly and rubbing at her face. She needed to be more careful when she was excited.

A hand reached out in front of her, around the same size as hers, and with that obnoxious laugh, she knew that it was Atsushi offering to help her. He flexed his hand again as if he thought she didn’t see it or something - though she knew he was just trying to get under her skin.

With a little huff she pushed herself up onto her feet, straightening out her kimono as best she could - she still had to look presentable for Baba’s sake. Atsushi chuckled at her, watching as she tried desperately to straighten herself out.

“Need some help,” he asked smugly - he was only two years older than her, but he treated her like a helpless child.

“No, Atsushi, I'm doing great… Besides I highly doubt you could be much help,” she sassed back with a roll of her eyes.

He held his hands up defensively taking a step back, “Okay, okay, I get it, you’re a big girl now. You don’t need big bro ‘Tsushi looking after you anymore.”

She growled at him, though she couldn’t stop the affectionate smile that grew on her face. He was like a brother to her, and despite how annoying he could be she loved him.

“Shut up, Atsushi.”

“Make me.”

“Alright, you two, quit your bickering. It’s already hard enough to live with Atsushi as it is, I don’t need both of you giving me headaches,” her Jiji’s annoyed voice sounded behind her.

She smiled widely, turning to face him with a wild grin just as he opened his arms for her.

“Jiji,” she squealed, throwing herself at him at full speed, both of them stumbling back a little from her force. She heard Atsushi groan a little at the sight -- good, maybe he’ll learn not to bother her.

“Kami-Sama, Tatsu, you’ve not only grown bigger, but you’ve gotten stronger too,” he groaned out humorously.

“Try not to be so rough Hiro, your Jiji is old,” her papa said tiredly behind them, he was always tired.

“Masahao I’d watch that mouth of yours unless you want to be sleeping outside tonight,” Jiji shot back with a little laugh, “besides she’s fine, nothing wrong with my little Tatsu showing off her strength!”

She smiled widely up at him, basking in the praise she was given from her second favorite person in the world - second only to her dear old Baba.

“Yeah, besides Papa, I don’t think I could ever possibly hurt Jiji, he trained in that army place right?” Her father rubbed her head gently, adjusting the strap of their travel bags with the other.

“Just be careful, and don’t hurt anyone too badly okay?”

“Okay, Papa, I’ll be careful,” she assured.

She watched him pass by and walk into the other room, the sudden commotion from the two other women in the house exploding from it as he walked in. She smiled at the noise, happy to be back where she was happiest. Jiji smiled back down at her, rubbing her head affectionately before pulling away to acknowledge her sister who made an appearance at the front door.

“Mizuki, nice to see you again kid,” he said with a small smile.

She nodded, quietly moving onwards past everyone without a word in her usual fashion. Chihiro didn’t like that about Mizuki - well she didn’t really like anything about Mizuki, but her silent disrespect made her angriest - especially when it was toward Jiji.

“I wish she wasn’t like that,” Chihiro grumbled.

“Yeah, not only is it mean, but it’s just annoying,” Atsushi chimed in with his thoughts after his long silence, “not to mention when she does speak it’s mean; it’s like she thinks she’s better than us.”

Jiji sighed, looking between the two kids then at the door conflicted. Chihiro knew he wanted to deny their claims against her sister, but it was hard to do so when he too knew it was the truth. They all knew it was the truth.

He shook his head and shoved Chihiro forward toward the family room, “Come on, let's stop picking on Mizuki and go say hi to your Oba and Baba.”

With a nod, she pulled away and followed after Atsushi, who was already excitedly prancing away. When they reached the room where the rest of the family was she smiled, quietly watching their interactions at the entryway for a moment. Oba was fussing over Papa’s appearance, while Baba quietly spoke with Mizuki.

Her Jiji cleared his throat in annoyance from behind her, drawing all eyes to him “Mikasa leave him alone, he’s not a child, he can fix his own hair.”

Oba pulled her hands away from Papa’s head, a nervous smile on her face as Jiji approached. Chihiro watched the interaction with a smile, happy to see her family acting as they normally did. Every interaction was so casual and comfortable, as it was meant to be.

She stared quietly for a few seconds more, giggling at Jiji smacking Papa upside the head for a smart comment he made - yes things were as they were supposed to be.

“Chihiro,” a quiet shaky voice called, her head turning to attention immediately, “come here, let Baba see you, Tatsu.”

Chihiro smiled and made her way over, pretending not to notice the annoyed look her sister gave her as she walked away. She pulled her arms around Baba’s frail body. Every time she held her it felt as though she somehow got smaller since she last did so - or maybe Chihiro just got bigger.

She gave her a gentle squeeze; not too strong, but not weak enough to make her Baba notice. She had to make a perfect balance to not hurt her physically, but still not weak enough that Baba would notice she was holding back. Baba was never one who liked being underestimated, then again neither was Chihiro.

“My, Tatsu, you’re so strong now,” she said with a laugh pulling away a bit, Chihiro didn’t mention she was hardly using any of her strength.

She placed her hands onto her cheeks, jerking her head around to observe her closely. Chihiro grumbled at the jerky movements but did nothing else as to avoid being reprimanded. For such a frail woman, she was scarier than Jiji when she was angry.

She rubbed at her cheeks, the roughness of her “scales” - as her family called them - setting her at ease somehow. Her Baba chuckled at her, she must’ve been wearing a weird face so she laughed along with her. When the laughter died down, Baba’s face faded to a sad smile.

Chihiro knew what she was thinking, everyone always thought the same thing, but she still had to ask, “What’s wrong?”

“Sorry, it’s nothing, you just…. look so much more like your Mama every time I see you,” she sighed, “you’re so beautiful… your father is going to have to fight off all the boys in your village.”

Chihiro groaned overdramatically, pulling away from her hands, “Baba quit! You know I’m not interested in boys!”

Baba just smiled knowingly at her, ruffling her hair slightly, “I used to think like that too before I met your Jiji.”

“Ew, Baba, that’s gross,” Chihiro whined, pretending to throw up.

“It’s always gross until you fall in love yourself, Tatsu,” she continued to tease, a smirk on her face that made Chihiro frustrated, “you’ll find someone who you love someday, and then you’ll understand what I mean.”

She groaned once again, both because she was disgusted and she felt a heavyweight on her back -- one that could only be her cousin. She shoved him off her, turning and immediately throwing a fist at his face. He barely dodged it and stumbled back a few times before his back met the ground. Chihiro smirked, ready to jump on top of him, but was stopped by her Baba’s angry voice.

“Chihiro, Atsushi, knock it off this instance,” she yelled angrily, grabbing the attention of the four others in the room.

“Baba, we were just gonna mess around a bit, honest,” Atsushi whined pathetically.

“Yeah, Baba, we were just going to roughhouse a bit that’s all, we’ve done it since we were little,” she defended - also not wanting to get in trouble.

“You two aren’t five anymore, you’re a young boy and lady it’s not appropriate for you to do things like that,” she scolded.

Chihiro was about to retort, not understanding why it was wrong to have a little fun with her cousin -- they used to do this all the time just a year ago -- when her Oba stepped in.

“Now now, Kaa-san, let the kids have a little fun they won’t be this youthful for that much longer, you know,” she said, gently helping Atsushi onto her feet and smoothing out his hair.

“They need to learn to act like proper civilized men and women as soon as possible, it isn’t right to have them roughing around with each other,” Baba retorted, to which her Oba merely hushed her.

She turned her gaze away from Baba and to the two children next to her - Atsushi her son, and Chihiro her niece. Chihiro watched her carefully, Oba’s eyes widening a little when they met her bright ones, gaze softening slightly after a moment. Out of everyone in the family, Oba was the one person who she couldn’t seem to read like the others.

As if Oba knew what she was thinking, she gave her a subtle wink - something that she always did when Chihiro stared at her so attentively.

“Now, why don’t you kids go out with Masahao and Jiji to get something sweet for later tonight… Baba and I will cook dinner in the meantime,” she turned behind her to Mizuki, “that includes you Mizu, have a little fun, okay?”

Atsushi immediately started shoving Chihiro out of the room excitedly, chanting ‘free treats’. Oba must not let him have sweets often, she could see why. Though Chihiro was excited as well, she didn’t miss her sister watching the both of them with annoyance as she followed them out - nor did she miss the side glance she gave Oba.

“Alright, Atsushi, shut your mouth,” Jiji snapped, pulling Chihiro out of her daze.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The group had been out much later than she thought they would be initially, the sun beginning to set over the horizon. She couldn’t complain, she never really got to go out due to her skin condition, so being out in the village -- albeit small in size -- was more than she could ask for. She even met a kind boy around her age who was selling coal, she didn’t catch his name, but she recalled finding him cute. She also met the girl Atsushi always gushed about when they visited, and she decided she was way too good for her cousin.

It was fun; the most fun she’d had in her entire life. Still, she had to go back home at some point, and that’s what she was doing. Holding onto the bag of sweets she and Atsushi picked out, resisting the urge to devour everything inside it by staring straight ahead and trying not to think of it.

She focused carefully at the distant scenery until her Oba’s home came into view, which caused her to pause. It was wrong. The door to her Oba’s home was completely torn apart, thrown away from where it was and in pieces on the ground. Inside she could just hardly see some broken pots and things strewn about - like there might have been a struggle. She could tell just from that alone there was something wrong - something had happened.

The adults didn’t seem to notice it, or maybe they couldn’t see it yet, she always had impeccable vision compared to everyone else she knew. Other than her Mama of course, but that wasn’t something she should be concerned with now. She needed to make the adults aware of the situation.

“Papa,” she said, tugging on his pants to get his full attention.

“Yes, Hiro,” he looked down at her, an affectionate smile on his face - the happiest she’d seen him in a while.

How she hoped that she was wrong, just this once, for Papa.

“I think something happened...”

He stared at her for a long moment, then looked up at the house, his face twisting in confusion. He must’ve just noticed the open door. He pulled her a little closer to his body, which did little to soothe her worries, but she appreciated it.

“I wonder,” he said quietly, “how about we get Jiji to go ahead and see what happened, and I’ll take the three of you somewhere else while he checks - would that make you feel a bit better?”

She nodded, gripping his shirt tightly. The last time he held her like this was when Mama left. She hoped she would see Baba and Oba again.

“Tou-san, would you go ahead and check up on the house please, Hiro’s a little worried.”

Jiji paused and looked back at them, about to come up with a retort, but snapped his mouth shut when his eyes met with Chihiro’s. He sucked in a quick breath before he nodded and turned away leaving the four of them behind as he hurried to the house.

Mizuki and Atushi turned back to look at the two of them, confused and a bit shaken at Jiji’s reaction.

“Obon, what’s going on…” Atsushi worried.

Papa shook his head, ruffling Atsushi’s hair with a smile, “Don’t worry about it, I’m sure it’s nothing… now… who wants to go back to town and get some more sweets?”

“Won’t Kaa-san be mad,” Atsushi asked, eyes wide but hopeful.

“It’ll be our little secret,” Papa said, placing a finger against his lips, ushering him away quickly.

He looked back when neither Chihiro or her sister moved, but Mizuki merely waved him off -- seems she wanted to talk.

They stood next to each other quietly for a few moments, the tension thick in the air. They were never alone together, not even at home, they always avoided each other as much as possible. Now she couldn’t avoid her sister, and she knew Mizuki knew that too.

Chihiro nearly spoke, but Mizuki beat her to it, “We both know something bad happened, something really bad.”

She nodded, “Y-you think someone was mad at Jiji or something?”

“I think it was demons,” Mizuki said blankly, not a drop of humor or emotion in her voice.

Chihiro stared up at her, trying to discern if that was a joke or not. Demons weren’t real, they were just part of scary stories her family used to scare them away from misbehaving. If that was so, why was her sister saying that? It couldn’t be a joke, she never joked about anything, especially not with Chiro. So what was she talking about?

“Don’t overthink it, it makes your head hurt…” she looked up to the house, “you should probably go check up on them, I know you want to.”

What? Was Mizuki being… considerate?

“Don’t think this means I like you, I don’t, I just know what’s best for my family,” she said quietly.

The confirmation of her hatred kind of stung, but Chihiro didn’t have time to think about that too much. She turned on her heel and ran as fast as she could, kicking up dirt and rocks with each step until she finally made it to the house - faster than she thought she ever could. Her feet stumbled over the tatami, slamming into the wall roughly before she could catch her balance.

“Jiji, Baba, Oba,” she called out, voice strained with worry.

No reply, just silence. She called out again, this time a bit louder and a bit more desperate. Her eyes took the time to scan the area carefully while she waited tensely, noting the broken vases and furniture. Signs of a struggle, but nothing more than signs.

She sniffed, the air was thick with the smell of iron and ash that nearly suffocated her. The smell, combined with the tenseness of waiting silently for something that maybe never come, made her nauseous. She was sure she would’ve fallen over dead had she not heard the smallest noises - just the gentle shifting of clothes, something easily missed if she was not listening for it.

She stood silently for another few moments, waiting for another noise - another indication of life. After getting nothing once again, she let out a silent huff, deciding to just find out who was in here; to find out what happened to her family.

She wishes she hadn’t.

Stepping into the family room, the stench of blood and ash was stronger -- more suffocating than before. It made her dizzy enough to feel her head spin, to make her close her eyes for a moment to recover. When she opened them she finally noticed the ruin the room was in. The walls, the floors, the ceiling all cut and broken; torn and smashed apart by an inhuman force; in shambles. Then she looked straight ahead, and nausea returned in full force like a kick to her gut.

There, sitting in front of her, Jiji was cradling a body -- Baba’s body. Oba’s lied near the entrance to the kitchen, her guts torn out and exposed for Chihiro to see. She couldn’t see the state of Baba’s, but she could easily assume it was no better. Next to all of this, glinting dangerously in the afternoon light, a sword of some sort.

Her body shook violently, face paling as she took in everything in front of her. Her family -- her life all dead in front of her. Taken by the man who she trusted with her life -- she didn’t want to believe it, but the evidence was clear, even if she knew that it didn’t fully make logical sense. She was going to die, she was going to die in his hands. Her Jiji was going to kill her.

A sob ripped through her body, at the realization, loud and clear in the silent room. She froze, she hadn’t meant to be so loud. She might’ve been able to get away safely had she stayed silent, but the sound snapped Jiji out of whatever trance he was in, his head whipping around to face her and his hand grabbing onto the sword. His eyes were wild and lit up with an emotion she’d never seen on his face before.

He looked crazed with anger.

She stumbled back, tripping over her feet and falling hard onto her back. She wasn’t ready to die, she didn’t want to die, she reminded herself as she forced her feet to keep pushing back away from him. She moved until she hit the destroyed wall, squeezing up into herself until it was painful.

Her mind at war, the clear evidence that he had killed her not matching up with the already destroyed home she saw earlier. He couldn’t have done this when he was with her, she tried to rationalize, but her body still kept moving back from him.

She kicked at his hands when they touched her, screaming at him to stop. Though she wanted to believe he wouldn’t hurt her, and it was all some misunderstanding. She wondered if this fear was what Baba and Oba felt -- overwhelmed and scared knowing the inevitability of death by their beloved’s hands was coming. She sucked in a breath, still pushing and screaming even as his arms wrapped around her tightly.

“Tatsu,” his stern voice called, but she just screamed; she refused to listen.

“Tatsu,” again, “Tatsu calm down, you’re fine.”

She screamed again, punching and pushing as hard as she could against him. She couldn’t go without a fight.

“Chihiro,” he said sternly, making her freeze in her actions on impulse -- her mind almost trained to stop at his tone.

“I’m not going to hurt you, now calm down you’ll suffocate if you don’t,” he eased, pulling her into his lap as she finally relaxed.

He held her like that for longer than she knew, she wondered if Papa noticed she was gone. If ‘Tsushi was worried about her… maybe they were coming back for her right now. Who knew? Her sobs died down into little sniffles and she allowed herself to relax fully into his arms, knowing full well she would never be able to escape him anyway.

“Jiji,” she mustered, “w-what… what happened to…?”

She wasn’t sure that she wanted to know, but she had to ask. She had to get confirmation from his mouth, not just from her eyes.

He pulled her back, face gravely serious as he looked down at her. His gaze bearing into her and making her feel even more uneasy. She was sure this was it, this was where he would kill her -- yet she still found the time to wonder if the rest of her family was enjoying their time in town, or if they were searching for her.

“Tatsu,” he said seriously, gripping her arms tightly, and she said her last prayer, “do you believe in demons?”

“What…?”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Prolouge End~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A/N: Hey! Uh yeah I wrote this thing... it’s not good... it’s actually bad so. Anyway, I’ve worked for several months on this, and I saw a few people encouraging me to post it... so I did. I guess you can sort of see this as a trial run for the fic. Anyway I hope it was good, cause it’s 4K+ words and by far the longest thing I’ve ever written and I worked really hard on it... hahaha...

[freckled-words]

Repost: Control

Because it is the spooky month! And because it was requested by my lovely blog wife @the-wild-ego​ Edited by @the-wild-ego​ Art done by @goodieghosty​ Inspired by & lyrics from “Control” by Halsey

And all the kids cried out, "Please stop, you're scaring me"

I can't help this awful energy

God damn right, you should be scared of me

Who is in control?

You weren’t normal. You’d known that for as long as you could create memories. 

It had just taken you awhile to realize what made you different from the other kids. 

In your eyes, the world didn’t hold just people, plants, and animals. There were also the “Others”. The creatures that hid under the bed, or made nests in dust piles, or watched from the shadows. 

When you’d tell your grade school classmates about the man with his head split open, three eyes, and teeth that were made of pine needles, they’d cry. They were scared. You were telling them about monsters. If they’d let you finish, they’d know that the Pine Needle Man had only wanted help finding pine cones. 

When you’d write stories about the tiny dust rabbits that lived under your bed, and share it with your English class, your teacher would scold you for writing about fiction. The assignment was supposed to be on the real world. 

As the years went on you stopped sharing with people. You turned to the library, and the internet, learning that you had a gift, or a curse. It was called ‘The Sight’. You could see through the layers that separated humans from the world that overlapped with the mortal plain. 

The house was awake, the shadows and monsters

The hallways, they echoed and groaned

I sat alone, in bed till the morning

I'm crying, "They're coming for me"

Understanding this about yourself did not make things easier for you. Because you stopped sharing what you saw, you didn’t tell people about the Others that would hang around in your classroom. You couldn’t help but acknowledge them, especially when they became agitated with being ignored. You tried to quietly send them off with a growled, “Go away” or “Buzz off!” Except someone else in your class would hear you. Then word would be spread that you were talking to yourself, and yelling at things that weren’t there.

Of course you’d been sent to the Principal’s office a handful of times. 

Each trip your parents had to make to the school was another evening spent being yelled at within the privacy of your house. 

“Why can’t you be like the other children?!”

“An embarrassment to this family!”

It didn’t matter which parent was yelling. They both conveyed the same message.

You were alone. Left to fight off the ghosts, ghouls, and unnamed on your own.

So you did.

Year after year, you faced down the Others. Some learned to leave you alone. Some found you to be their favorite source of entertainment. 

When you’d go downstairs in the mornings, with gashes on your arms, or bruises on your face, your parents assumed you’d snuck out in the night. You’d be grounded for having done nothing other than surviving.

With each year, you withdrew from other people. There was no point in trying to befriend anyone, not when you’d just chase them off with your odd behavior soon after. You got to a point where you only interacted with someone when forced to. You had a particularly strong dislike for partner/group assignments.

By the time you got high school you’d become numb to anything “scary”. Death, in particular, had long since lost it’s fear factor. Some days you had a stray thought that, should you die suddenly, no one would miss you. 

As that thought settled in and repeated itself more often, you learned that the phrase, “Negative draws negative.” was certainly true. 

The Others were, for the most part, small things. Tiny beings that you could push, or shove off you when they began to cling. In your final year of high school you noticed that the smaller ones were being replaced by ones that were bigger and more aggressive. The worst ones were able to speak to you. 

They would hover near you during classes and whisper, ‘Look how high up we are. If you opened that window, and fell, you’d die. Wouldn’t that be great?!’ 

Everything they would say was about you killing yourself. You hated it. You hated them. You wanted them to shut up. More than once you’d had to hastily leave the classroom to use the washroom, an attempt to put distance between yourself and their horrid whispers. 

Home didn’t offer any form of salvation either. Your parents had decided to act as though you didn’t exist, unless you directly spoke to them when you needed something. In response, they’d give you a cold stare and hand you a small bit of money to get what you needed. They weren’t really your parents, they were just the people that legally had to take care of you until your 18th birthday. You wouldn’t be surprised if on that day you found yourself living on the streets. 

And I've grown familiar with villains that live in my head They beg me to write them so I'll never die when I'm dead

The days blended together. Only being broken up when an Other, of particular appearance, caught your attention. 

Half way through the school year, your Phys Ed teacher became fatally ill and had to be replaced. Your classmates were fine with this. Ms. Charts was a drill sergeant and never gave anyone special exceptions. 

“I caught sight of the new teacher. It’s a guy! And he’s hot, with a capital H. I really hope he wears something that shows off his body.”

Although you didn’t interact with your classmates, you still paid attention to what they said. It didn’t hurt to keep informed on things happening. Sometimes bad things that happened to others were your cue to watch for meaner beings they couldn’t see. 

Going into the gym that day you put in the effort to learn about the new teacher. Your eyes went to him, and you froze. 

Your lips parted in a silent gasp. 

For nearly 18 years you’ve seen things that were gruesome, disfigured, and down right haunting. 

Your new gym teacher. Was not human. Nor was he something you’d ever seen before. 

If you squinted you could see the version that everyone else could see. A man in his mid to late twenties. His hair was buzzed on the sides in and clipped short on top, much as a soldier would. He had dark brown eyes, and skin that was naturally tanned in a shade of light copper. You figured he had some Asian ancestry. Standing roughly 5 feet 9 inches his body frame was lean and hinted at a lot of muscle not being displayed. 

Your Sight showed you something entirely different. 

The short hair was grown and pulled back in a low ponytail at the base of his neck. There was a slight glow to his skin that made his copper tone seem golden. His irises were a solid amethyst with black slit pupils. His eyes had a natural dark lining on the bottom rim. As he addressed the class, introducing himself as Mr. Battle, a length of shadows curled around him. When you tilted your head ever so slightly you realized it was a tail! It twitched at the tip, or swayed back and forth. 

Altogether, he seemed to be a humanoid feline? 

“ Y/N? Y/N!”

You startled at your name being called. While you’d been digesting this new discovery, he’d begun doing roll call. You ducked your head with a slight glare as your classmates snickered. His gaze leveled on you, and very briefly his brows furrowed, as though he were puzzling over you.

“Alright, start with laps!” He projected his voice like a military sergeant, making everyone jump and take off for the outer edge of the spacious room. 

As you ran you felt his stare burning into the back of your skull. Anytime you turned to meet his eyes, he managed to look away and watch the rest of the class. 

You didn’t like this, you didn’t like him. 

Throughout the rest of the warm ups, basketball drills and a couple more exercises, you put together a plan. It was a stupid plan, and it would put yourself at risk, but you didn’t care. At least you’d die from something more interesting than a blob with teeth and eyes.

Your Phys Ed class was right before the lunch break, meaning he wouldn’t have another class to follow. If you got lucky, you could confront him here in the GYM without anyone seeing. The last thing you wanted was an audience to mock you.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Changed back into your regular clothes, you’d hung back in the change room, waiting for everyone to leave. 

The bell for lunch period rang and you listened to your classmates dash out of the GYM. You gave it a minute or two before venturing out.

Just as you’d hoped, Mr. Battle was the last remaining person. What you didn’t count on was for him to be clearly waiting for you.

Those slit pupiled eyes rested on you, his arms were crossed and his posture reminded you of a cat resting casually, ready to spring at any second.

“I was wondering what had this place crawling with creepy crawlies. I got my answer pretty quick.” The military sergeant tone was gone, in its place, a more natural rumble. 

That wasn’t what you thought he was going to say. Thrown off, you quipped, “Look who’s talking.”

The layer around his form, that portrayed a normal human vanished, leaving you with a clear, unblurred view of himself. “You’re not very smart. You have the Sight, not the Gift. Don’t get cocky brat.”

The tail, that had been made of shadows before, was a true solid black tail now. The end of it flicked back and forth, another sign of irritated. 

You clenched your fists within your hoodie pockets, “I’m smart enough to know you can’t kill me, not if you want to keep up appearances as a teacher.”

His upper lip raised a little, allowing you to get a glimpse of a sharp canine, “I’m not here by choice. Your school has been drawing more and more Nega Dwellers and they’ve started spilling onto my territory. Once I deal with this mess, I’m handing in my resignation.”

His arms fell to his sides, he flexed his fingers and his natural nails lengthened into gold tipped claws. 

Your feet shuffled back, startled, a spike of fear breaking through your false bravado. Was he really going to kill you?! 

“Y-You can’t kill me, they’ll immediately suspect you.” There was a quiver in your voice. 

Why now? For these past few years you’d told yourself that death could come, and the world would be the better for it. Now here was death, ready to shred you apart, and you didn’t want to die.

Your fear increased as his lips drew back, showing more teeth in a feral grin, “Don’t worry kid, you’re not gonna feel a thing.” He crouched low, his body tensing and ready to spring.

The glow around him expanded into a bright light, blinding you. Covering your eyes, you heard his shoes squeak as he sprung forward. “PLEASE DON’T!”

There was a rush of air, you felt it blast past you, there was a series of squalls and pitched squeals. Lowering your hands you hesitated to look.

Standing just next to you, Mr. Battle held a squirming black thing. You paled seeing that it was roughly the same size and shape as you. A mouth with rows of teeth gnashed together as it thrashed around. 

“Good job kid, if you hadn’t snapped out of it, you would have made me a liar.” His slitted pupils slid back to you, “If you didn’t find the will to live, you would be feeling your own throat being crushed right now.” 

His clawed fingers squeezed and the creature squealed louder. The thing tried looping parts of its goopy body around his arm, to make him let go. 

You stepped further back, a hand covering your mouth as you shuddered, “What… What is that?”

“This nasty thing is called a Life Leech. This is the biggest I’ve seen in a few years. Usually when they get this big, the person they’re possessing commits suicide.” His tail swayed widely back and forth, his smile wide and pleased. 

“How did I not see it?!” How long had that thing been feeding off you? Was it when you started having those thoughts? Thinking that death would be fine, thinking that no one would miss you if you killed yourself. Although you were distant from your parents, you knew they would be upset with your passing. Years ago, you promised yourself to move somewhere quiet, away from the darkness and the coldness of your family. When had that changed to giving up? To just craving death and an end to it all?

Mr. Battle held out a hand and a golden blade appeared. You could see Egyptian hieroglyphs carved into the steel of the blade, the end of the hilt was shaped into a lion’s head. He thrust the blade up and under the Leech’s chin. It died instantly as black, bubbling liquid spewed from the wound and it’s mouth. He released its body and wiped the blood off his blade on the side of his pants. 

The blade vanished and Mr. Battle seemed to become an entirely different person as he yawned. His posture slouched and his tail lowered to give the odd little sway, “You can see some shit kid, but not everything. You’re welcome by the way.”

You were still reeling from the thing being revealed to you, and the impact it had had on your life. 

Seeming to pick up on that Mr. Battle strolled off towards the exit, “See ya, kid.”

He was just about to push the door open when you managed to pull some of yourself back together, “W-Wait! Who are you?!”

Looking back over his shoulder he reprimanded, “Not that you’ll see me again, but it’s Mihos.”

Then he was gone. 

Somehow you got yourself to continue through the rest of the day, and it all seemed surreal as everything seemed to be less daunting. 

When you made eye contact with your classmates, they didn’t flinch or return it with scorn. A girl even gave you a small smile back. 

The Others that had plagued you with suggestions of killing yourself were gone. So, too, were the ones that had seemed like permanent fixtures in the corners of the classrooms and in the hallways. Had you been the one drawing them all here? That Life Leech had been stirring up so much negative energy in you, it had been a homing beacon for the worst of them. 

New ones began to show, smaller, and surprisingly timid ones. They reminded you of the Pine Needle Man. They weren’t there to cause harm and had been kept away by all the more menacing ones. 

Mihos had said ‘Nega Dwellers’. If the Life Leech and the Others that meant harm were called Nega Dwellers, what were these nicer ones called? Was there a way to make sure the Nega Dwellers didn’t latch onto you again? Or what about getting them off other people?

You’d been so intent on keeping yourself away from other people, to protect yourself from their scorn, and ridicule, you’d never thought that maybe you could help them. You’d come close to stepping over the edge and letting death take you, there had to be others that could be saved from making the leap. 

Your interaction with Mihos had happened all in a handful of minutes. In that short span of time, your mind had been opened to the rest of the world that only you could see.

You couldn’t navigate it on your own, that much had been made apparent to you. Would Mihos help you? 

You recalled his dismissive behavior and how he’d magically vanished after dealing with the Life Leech. No one was talking about the good looking gym teacher anymore, in fact you were certain no one remembered the details of GYM class. Just that it had happened, and it had been uneventful. How had he done that?

For the first time, you had goals for yourself. The first being to find Mihos, the second, was to convince him to teach you. 

Life wasn’t going to be a monster that drained you away until you were nothing. It was going to be the monster you befriended and helped you explore the dangers of the world. 

[amaranthkick]

Fusion Confusion Part 7

(Part 1), (AO3)

As consciousness slowly came back to him, Shiro curled into the soft warmth to his side. He sighed happily, waking up with heart-gripping fear last night really highlighted how peaceful this morning was.

Oh, yeah, Lance offered to help him sleep after waking up last night from a nightmare. He chuckled fondly noticed Lance still cuddling him.

Shiro carefully slipped out of the loose hold without waking the other. To his amusement, Lance grumbled sleepily, weakly trying to reach out to get Shiro back. Eventually, Lance let out a huff, burying his face into the pillow, and quickly fell back into a deeper sleep.

Shiro grabbed clothes to change into deciding to let the younger sleep in while he could before they arrive at the Mutari as thanks for helping him out. He looked back at Lance. They were still stuck in each other’s bodies. Shiro’s sure he doesn’t sleep like that, his own face seem so soft and relaxed unbidden by fears or stress. He hummed to himself tucking Lance in, maybe one day, this war and the traumas the Galra put him through won’t have such a hold on him and he could have more peaceful nights like this one and be as relaxed sleeping in his own body as Lance is.

---

“Lance? Lance, wake up.” There was soft voice trying to gently coax him awake. It was also accompanied by some snickering in another voice, which was hushed by the first. “Pidge! Is that your phone? Are you taking pictures?”

“Lance loves to take lots of naps everywhere hoping to get his sleeping habit to rub off on me. I responded by embarrassing him with pictures of his bed head and sleepy faces.” Pidge was making no effort to hide her giggles.

“But Pidge, he's in my body. That's my bed head and face your getting.” He's honestly surprised and can only blink helplessly when she bluntly tells him she knows and this just means she has something on him too.

“Wha-” Shiro and Pidge turned swiftly to see Lance almost sit up, leaning heavily on one elbow and blearily rubbing the sleep from his eyes with his other hand. His expression totally soft and the tuft of white hair fluffier than usual. He could hear the tell-tale click of a cell phone camera.

Shiro was thoroughly unamused when Pidge hid the phone before Lance became fully aware. Her canary-eating grin only served to confuse Lance.

Shiro sighed and told Lance to get ready and eat some breakfast as they were a few hours away from Mutari. They have a long day ahead of them.

Once Lance was ready and joined everyone at the control deck, he caught sight of the planet on their screens. A nice mix of white from the clouds in the air and a dusty yellow from the land covered in shifting sands. From the close range monitors he could spot some green patches from vital oases around the city.

---

It's go time. Everyone was debriefed on their mission. Mutari seemed to have willingly surrendered probably to avoid needless violence but it wasn't teeming with galra. The Galra wasn't watching them too closely or visibly oppressing the people. There were a few watch towers to take out then it'll be liberated.

The paladins were suited up and headed towards their lions. Lance caught a glimpse of Shiro wearing the black paladin armor over his body. It left a bittersweet taste in his mouth. Lance could admit that he thought about what it would be like to be the black paladin, the leader, someone important. He just didn't think it would happen like this.

Lance shook his head of those thoughts, he had to focus on freeing Mutari. And he could still dream.

The team split up, Keith and Shiro charged ahead on point to attack the main bases while Lance, Hunk, and Pidge picked off any stragglers avoiding causing heavy damage to the city.

It didn't go as smoothly as they hoped, some building were smashed and there was dark gray smoke rising from several fires in the city. But it seemed the townspeople were handling them.

Shiro opened his mouth to mobilize the team to help put down any immediate dangers in the city when some kind of movement drew his attention. But when he turned he was just looking at sand. Maybe it was nothing, just the wind pushing sand around. But every time he wanted to look away, he got a bad feeling in his gut. Something was down there.

Sand burst everywhere as a gigantic figure jumped out of the ground. Shiro hastily jerked back the controls of the black lion to get out of its way.

Everyone flinched at the metallic screech coming from the giant bird-like creature that had suddenly shot out of the ground seemingly awoken by their fight with the Galra. As everyone eyed the creature, the tense silence only made its slow wingbeats seem more prominent and powerful. It's body was made from some kind of rusty metal. Lance swallowed thickly as he looked over the strange ridges that ran along the wings and body, the patterns they formed looked eerily like an avian skeleton.

Keith was the first to charge in for an attack, the rust color and it's slow movements made it seem like an easy target weakened by the sands of time. But it was way faster than he thought, easily moving out of the way of his heat ray. Keith barely had any time to react as it released an amber-colored energy blast from its beak.

“Keith, look out!” The blue lion managed to get in front of the red lion before the blast hit him. Blue took the brunt of the attack smashing into the red lion sending both hurtling back. They displaced a ton of sand when they crashed into the ground.

“Keith, you ok?” Lance asked while gingerly holding his head.

He heard the red paladin groan before a pained reply, “yeah.”

Keith was about to ask for Lance's status in return but he gasped at a shockingly familiar sight. “Lance, look!”

“What is it? -- no way!” Lance watched the troublesome bird monster as the others flew around and tried to land a hit on it but was equally shocked when he turned to find a boulder-sized glowing amber crystal in front of them.

The rusty, metallic bird was a fusion!

An idea quickly taking shape in Lance's mind. He tried to move Blue but the blast really did a number on her, she was hardly responding, bursts of electricity stuttering her movements. “Hey Keith, is Red good to go?”

He saw the Red lion get back on its legs. “Yeah. What do you have in mind?”

“Well, remember in Coran’s first tests with the fusion? Destroying the crystal ended up destroying the fusion, so it should do the same for that bird. But we should draw it far away from the city first in case there's a violent explosion. I'll update the others.”

“Got it.” Keith picked up the large amber crystal in the Red lion’s mouth and took off into the air. He fired a pot shot from his lion’s tail. Of course, the bird dodged it without difficulty and turned its attention to Keith but more importantly, the amber crystal.

It screeched angrily and started to chase after the Red lion who was fast enough to keep ahead of it. Keith swerved to and fro to dodge the blasts from the metallic creature.

Hunk went down to Blue to aid Lance meanwhile Shiro and Pidge were following behind the metal bird and Keith, thrusters on full power trying to keep up. Keith tossed the crystal high into the air while still flying forward to gain some distance. The bird hovered in place waiting for the crystal to fall back down to it. Shiro, Keith, and Pidge fired all at once at the crystal, obliterating it.

There was a blinding light accompanied by an ear-splitting screech. They gasped when the light faded and they saw the skeleton of a giant bird fall along with torn-up rusty sheets of metal and wires.

---

Hunk helped tow the Blue lion back to the castle. Lance hitched a ride with him in Yellow as he rejoined the others on their way to the city which was on a rocky stable surface instead of loose sand.

Shiro thought back to the previous planet they landed on, Lance had gotten surprisingly useful info from Lamura, the local caretaker of a zoo. So he ordered Lance and Hunk to aid the scaly, dragon-esque townspeople wherever needed and keep an ear on the ground for any clues that could lead them to the ancient ruins.

Whereas he, Keith, and Pidge will meet with the queen, Mistletein. Allura was unable to get a clear explanation as to why the Mutarians surrendered. But there could be a number of reasonable explanations for that such as to keep bloodshed to a minimum or they were vastly outnumbered and that was the safest option for her people. She also noted that she seemed a bit apprehensive to meet the paladins for some reason.

Shiro hunched his shoulders unconsciously as they walked towards the main tower in the northern part of the city. It seems Lance's body was exceptional at reading others body language. Unfortunately, most of what he was seeing; narrowed eyes and tight faces gave him a gut feeling that these people were pretty suspicious of him. Although some lessened their stares and become hesitant when they didn't find what they were looking for.

---

The queen growled softly as she bowed to the paladins, the rumbling was not that she saw them as threats but to simply acknowledge them. Her polished, shiny red scales spoke volumes for her regal status. Queen Mistletein thanked them for freeing her planet from the Galra. The paladins were surprised when she expressed her concerns about the monster bird, she had no idea where it could have come from. Pidge suggested that maybe the noise from fighting the Galra woke it up.

The green paladin leaned close to Shiro whispering, “maybe this also means they aren't totally aware of the ancient civilization Coran talked about. We'll probably have to look for it ourselves with the queen’s permission.” Shiro nodded in agreement. Coran did say someone found ancient ruins but it has been 10,000 years, kingdoms would've rise and fall and clear leads on any ruins could have been lost.

Shiro glanced at Keith and found that he was glaring at the queen. He was about to tell him to stop but noticed that she was intensely staring at them too. It took all of Shiro’s restraint to keep from tensing when he could feel her intense stare drilling holes into him. Shiro raised a brow when the queen tilted her head in confusion much like some of the other citizens. “Yes? Is there something the matter, your majesty?”

She flinched, clearly caught off guard seemingly embarrassed. “I-- I apologize if this might come off as rude or offensive but is the black paladin not the… champion? You do not look like him. I just wanted to confirm some things. We've never encountered your kind before and there were rumors that the paladins are of the same people as the champion.”

Shiro recoiled eyes wide, he could hear Keith growl angrily beside him not liking the potentially bad ways this could end. He swallowed steeling himself, afraid of what he might hear but bravely going forward. “Why? How do you know about the champion?”

As they had guessed, massive ships had once invaded the sky. The sheer number of robot drones and sentries, that display of strength made it seem like a hopeless battle. The king and queen surrendered trying to avoid anything from happening to their people.

However, they didn't bow their heads in complete submission. They would try to not bend to Galra rule as much as they could without drawing significant attention. Silently resist their will.

The Galra seemed to have predicted this and to make an example them the punishment for resisting they took the king and some random citizens to be prepped for the arena. Apparently, they looked fierce enough to put on a good show against their popular champion. In a fight to the death.

“The champion killed the king and the others for the entertainment of the Empire.” The queen stated a hint of bitterness in her voice. But she seemed to have caught herself and took in a deep breath. “I am sorry. I still miss him.”

Pidge looked worriedly at Shiro who was so tense he was shaking while pointedly looking at the ground. He was obviously struggling to accept he might've killed innocent prisoners even if he had no choice. “Shiro… maybe there's a misunderstanding somewhere…” She remembered how devastated he looked when he thought he hurt Matt before his memory came back.

A heavy, awkward silence settled on top of them. Only to be broken suddenly when Hunk started yelling in their comms asking if anyone can hear him.

Hunk was panting hard trying to catch his breath as if he’s been running for some reason.

Shiro swallowed down his raging storm of emotions for now. “Hunk, deep breaths. What happened? Are you ok?”

Hunk breathlessly tried to answer, “Strangers.. fighting.. Reckless..” He slowed down, lungs no longer burning, to give a clearer answer, “They jammed our comms... started fighting us but really focused on Lance… they were reckless, bystanders were starting to get in the crossfire. Lance said to split up and find you guys or to get back into contact with you while he led the angry Mutarians to an emptier place. The jamming signal stopped and I can speak with you guys but I still can’t get into contact with Lance. I-- I think he’s in trouble.”

(Part 8)