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lvis44 · 1 year ago

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Sweet Escape - Pt.5 // LH44

Lewis Hamilton x Y/N

Warnings: Swearing, Derogatory Language, 18+ (mentions of sexual acts and dirty talk), Physical Violence, Jealousy, Toxicity, Alcohol Consumption, Angst, Mentions of Forced Sexual Contact (only alluded to, not done, no S/A), Not Edited

Word Count: 5.7k+

Summary: Paradise is supposed to be fun and relaxing... a Sweet Escape, but when unspoken feelings and jealousy rise to the surface, everything can be turned upside down in the blink of an eye.

Notes: My sincerest apologies for the wait and thank you all for your patience. If you thought we had drama before hand, welcome to the rodeo, it's only gotten worse. Get ready to hate Lewis a bit, but it's well deserved. I will try to get the next part up this week, hopefully before race weekend really kicks off!

I am not a professional writer and all of this is a work of fiction and is strictly for fun. Enjoy! xxx

Previous Sections: Prologue - Part One - Part Two - Part Three - Part Four

“Can we talk?”

Those words have been rattling around in your head for almost a day now, ready to burst out of you at a moment's notice but never surfacing. Lewis hasn’t approached you and you almost didn’t expect him to, he’s been acting relatively normal for the last day. It’s been more than twenty four hours since everyone went on the hike and he’s been acting as if everything is completely fine. You gave him an olive branch and he grew a tree. You didn’t even really mean to give him the room that you had, it just felt so natural, so carefree. You could tell Charlotte has been concerned, keeping an eye on you at all times, even if from a distance. Her energy is the only thing in the house that truly seems off. You and Lewis may not be interacting exactly how you normally would, but there’s no hostility, no particular avoidance of each other. There’s almost part of you that wants to throw everything out the window and just let yourselves exist in this space, whatever it may be. The other part of you was worried that this was a survival tactic on both of your parts, just trying to get through vacation and in the end it would all come crashing down around you. You couldn’t let that happen.

You were lounging out by the pool, book in hand and a margarita nearby. The sun was warming your skin perfectly and you felt completely at peace, putting everything to the side as you engrossed yourself in the crime novel in front of you.

“You’re getting rather toasty.” You heard his voice come from next to you.

You looked up to find Lewis standing just above you, an accusatory raised brow, knowing you hadn’t applied sunblock in the last few hours. You noticed the spray can in his hand and huffed, you knew that if he’s finally acting normal with you, he would insist on you seeking shade or putting on more sunscreen.

“Fine.” You deadpanned, reaching out for the bottle as you stood up, stepping away from him in hopes of not suffocating him with sunscreen.

You could feel his eyes on you the entire time, not in the way they usually would be though. This stare wasn’t to unabashedly check you out, his eyes weren’t undressing you the way they may have in the past. This stare was gauging you, he was trying to look through your skull and into your brain, desperately attempting to read every thought you had on him in that moment. You knew he wouldn’t be able to read you that easily, not when you didn’t even know what your own thoughts were.

You finished applying your sunscreen turning back toward him, he quickly glanced away from you before finally making eye contact, trying to hide his previous gaze. It was no use, you already knew.

“All good?” He asked you as you handed him the bottle, once again his question was not in the context of the moment. He was asking a million different things with only two words. You didn’t know how to respond, simply settling for a small “Thanks” before returning to your seat and picking your book up once more.

Before you fell back into your story, you noticed Charlotte send Lewis a look of warning from where she sat across the patio. You assumed she had spoken to him, he was evidently aware that she knew of the situation. Miles seemed to be picking up on the unspoken energy as well, frequently checking on you out of the corner of his eye when he thought you weren’t looking.

As the sun began to set it was decided that the evening would be spent out. Charlotte wanted to dance and it took little convincing of the others. You quickly found yourself dressed in an outfit Charlotte had insisted you wear, an earthy toned dress with a cutout just above your belly button and a twist of fabric in between your breasts. You felt good, it hugged every curve perfectly and was just short enough that it showed off your thighs but still long enough you weren't concerned about flashing anyone. Once you were ready it didn't take long before you were being ushered into a waiting sprinter van. The drive would be incredibly short but none of you trusted yourselves to walk home later in the night, a chauffeur being a much better option. You were admittedly a bit anxious about the evening, knowing what nights out like this could quickly turn into. After a night of drinking and partying, it was rare that Lewis went home alone, but it was even rarer that he was able to keep his hands and attention off of you throughout the night, even when entertaining other company.

Many nights had been spent in dark, sweaty night clubs, everyone dancing, drinking, and laughing. People would usually end up invading your group, always drawn toward Lewis. He rarely turned down the attention, his ego thriving on it. Despite the women that would usually surround him, he always found a way to get to you. Pulling you to the dance floor when a song he knew you liked came on, bringing you drinks when he noticed yours was getting low, pulling you to the side to check if you were okay with attention you had drawn from another man. He always made sure you were okay and having fun, even if he was chatting up a random woman or women in an attempt to not spend his night alone. You had always noted his playboy activities, not really caring but finding them rather amusing. The women he was with never seemed to notice or truly didn’t care, as long as they got their one night with the godlike man. Many times you found yourself dancing with him, possibly closer than you should but he was never disrespectful about it, his hands would always roam but never to a point that you felt like he was truly trying something. You had never really thought anything of it seeing as you would frequently dance with Miles or Daniel too, they were always more reserved but you always chalked it up to personalities. Everyone danced with everyone, it’s how it always worked and it was always fun. Now you found yourself wondering just how your night would play out, how different things would be. He had been acting so comfortably around you recently that you worried he would be the same as always, but at the same time you kind of hoped it would stay the same.

The bar was partially indoors and partially outdoors, a large dance floor spanning from the patio into the open wall leading inside. It was positioned perfectly on the beach, giving a nice view of the moon's reflection off the ocean water. The music was notably louder indoors than it was out and you found yourselves claiming a table on the patio. Lewis and Miles had beelined to the bar, fighting over who was starting the tab as they ordered a round of tequila shots. Lewis seemingly won the argument, making his way to the table with a smug look on his face while Miles followed behind, certainly less amused. You couldn’t help but chuckle at the two men, grown adults who still seemed like teenagers half the time. Miles plopped down next to you, his arm draping over the back of your chair as he leaned back. You hadn’t noticed it at first but he slid a drink in front of you, matching his own.

“You seem like you could use a head start.” He said as he leaned down closer to your ear, making it so only you could hear him.

He pulled back with a large smile, bringing his own drink into the air, leaning it towards yours for a ‘cheers’.

“Here’s to having a fucking blast.” He said to you, everyone else distracted in their own conversation.

You smiled, grateful for his energy as you met his glass with your own before taking a much welcome sip of what turned out to be a Mojito. The shots arrived shortly after, everyone eagerly grabbing them. As everyone met their glasses in the middle of the table Miles once again repeated his toast, much louder this time, being met with hoots and hollers from your friends before downing their shots. You knew it was silly, but in that moment you wanted to freeze time. This was what you had wanted this vacation to be, carefree fun with people you loved. In no time at all Charlotte had pulled you and Miles out onto the floor, jumping and dancing in an uncoordinated way that made the both of you laugh but eventually join her in her antics. You had noticed that Lewis had disappeared indoors, you assumed in search of another drink, but you did your best to ignore it, hoping to just have fun.

You weren’t sure how much time had passed but you didn’t care, your face hurt from smiling so much and your stomach was tight from laughter. You felt light, a few more drinks in your system loosening you up quite a bit. You had left your friends at the dancefloor, heading to find a bathroom with Steph. The two of you were in a fit of giggles, apologizing as you bumped into other tipsy patrons. Your stomach flipped when you saw him, he had been gone for most of the evening. Lewis was leaning up against the bar, a warm smile and kind eyes directed at the bar tender. You could see the alcohol he had consumed across his face, his eyes lazier than normal but still as charming as ever. The woman he was talking to was absolutely beautiful, an equally warm smile on her own face. They looked familiar with each other, you watched as she reached out to squeeze his hand as she laughed, his face lighting up as well. Your mind wandered back to the night he had disappeared after the blow up with Talia. He had told you that he had gone to a bar nearby, went home with one of the hostesses. You still don’t know what truly happened that night, having heard him tell Charlotte a much different story, one that confused you even more. Was he really already finding someone to sleep with?

“Bitch, you comin’?” Stephs voice pulled you out of your trance, a drunken smile on her face as she waited for you.

“I need some air.” You said quickly, turning around and rushing back out to the patio.

You weren’t looking where you were going, just needing to get out of the room as soon as possible. You only stopped when you crashed into a broad frame, a cold drink running down your chest.

“Fuck.” You yelped. The ice felt like it could sizzle against your hot skin.

“Shit, I’m sorry,” A man's voice rushed out, “you okay? Here let me get some napkins.”

“It’s my fault, I wasn’t looking where I was going.” You almost laughed, still looking down to assess the damage to your dress.

When you finally did look up at the man who was now offering you stacks of napkins, you were stunned. He was painfully handsome, tan skin, big brown eyes, and a beautiful smile. You immediately noticed the similarities to Lewis and you wanted to slap yourself for even making the comparison.

“Not that it makes it any better, but it was just Vodka Soda so at least it won’t stain.” He laughed kindly, still handing you napkins, so many more than you needed.

“It’s fine, it cooled me off.” You joke, enjoying the distraction from the beautiful stranger.

“How about I get you a drink to make it up to you?” He offered, still standing rather close to you.

“You know what, I’ll take you up on that.” You laughed again, amused at the turn of events.

Before he could even step away you felt the presence of someone next to you, then a large hand on your back. You turned to see Miles, his eyes assessing you before turning to your new friend.

“We having a good time over here?” Miles asked, his eyes shifting back to you to gauge your response.

“Yeah,” You nodded with a smile, “Miles, this is, um.” You stuttered as you realized you didn’t even know his name yet.

The man laughed, “Jaden.” He stuck his hand out toward Miles, offering a handshake.

“Nice to meet you man, I’m Miles, Y/N’s bodyguard.” He said teasingly as he returned the handshake. You knew he was only half joking and you could tell Jaden was aware as well.

“Good to see she’s got people looking out for her.” Jaden acknowledged, a kind smile on his face.

“Why don’t you guys come join us, we’re just outside.” Miles nodded his head back towards your table where you could see Charlotte and Steph watching the situation.

Charlotte wiggled her eyebrows at you over Miles’ shoulder, mouthing a ‘wow’ as she looked Jaden over. You couldn’t help but giggle, returning your attention to the men in front of you. You knew Miles’ offer was his way of letting you have fun and keeping an eye on you, or moreso keeping an eye on Jaden.

“Sounds good to me, I was just gonna grab Y/N and I some drinks and then I’ll be right over.” Jaden said, nodding eagerly at the idea of spending more time with you.

“I was headed to the bar myself, why don’t I join you.” Miles said before directing his attention back to you, “You wanna go find Char back at the table and we’ll be right over?”

You nodded, smiling at him before telling Jaden you would see him in just a moment. You watched for a second as they got up to the bar, noting how Miles perched himself directly next to Jaden, keeping an eye on your drink like a poppa bear. You smiled to yourself, amused but grateful for how protective he could be. Instead of immediately heading to the table you passed it, stepping out onto the sand and slightly out toward the ocean. The music was quieter and you could hear the ocean better. You let the cool ocean breeze wash over you, grateful for the moment of brief peace. It wasn’t allowed to last long as you heard the familiar accent from behind you, slightly lazy with his words from the alcohol.

“I usually keep your glass full, sorry, I’ve been slacking tonight.” Lewis said, coming to stand beside you with a glass extended in your direction.

When you turned to look at him he had a lazy smirk on his face, once again gesturing the glass toward you to take. You knew it would be a gin and tonic, your favorite.

“It’s been more of a tequila and rum kind of night.” You say, unsure how to reject his offer.

“Really?” Is all he says, an amused tint to his voice.

You're not sure not to navigate this situation with him, unclear if it's the alcohol that is making him act so calm or if it's that he truly thinks everything is back to normal. You don’t have to sit in silence for long as Jaden comes up next to you, just as Lewis is opening his mouth to speak.

“There you are, Miles has your drink back at the table.” Jaden says, coming in rather close to you and placing his hand on your lower back. You feel as if it's a way of making sure Lewis knows that he is your company for the rest of the night, marking territory that isn’t rightfully his. You should, but you don’t brush him off, enjoying the way that Lewis tenses when he sees the action.

“You are?” Lewis asks, a noticeable gruffness to his tone.

“Jaden, Y/N's new friend.” Jaden's smile is cocky, like he can tell Lewis is displeased.

“Well, it sounds like you’re good on drinks then.” Lewis says to you, ignoring Jaden after giving him a once over. His voice is clipped and almost condescending, if you were a worse person you would slap him, but instead you just roll your eyes as he turns on his heel and walks away without another word.

“Who was that?” Jaden asks you once Lewis is out of earshot.

You’re rather amused that he doesn’t know, it’s a rarity that Lewis is unknown but you can’t help but enjoy it.

“Don’t worry about it, he’s just an ass.” You say brushing the subject off as you grab his hand and head back toward the table.

When you arrive Lewis is once again nowhere to be seen and you see Miles with two drinks in front of him, the full glass directly in front of his chest, kept close to him.

“For me?” You point at the glass with a giggle.

“For you.” He says with a laugh and a wink, extending the glass to you.

“Come on, let’s go dance.” Jaden says in your ear, gently pulling you toward the dance floor.

“Go have fun.” Charlotte tells you enthusiastically, wiggling her eyebrows at you again. You can’t help but laugh, allowing yourself to be pulled out to the floor.

You let yourself get loose, dancing up against him as his hand without his drink wanders across your stomach, pulling you close to him. You can feel a growing bulge against your ass as you dance with him, allowing him to nibble on your neck as you lean your head against his shoulder. The dance floor begins to crowd, everyone dancing with each other as their drinks kick in. You’ve moved further away from your table now but you can’t bring yourself to care. You catch a glimpse of Lewis out of the corner of your eye, he’s taking another tequila shot, licking the salt off of a blonde woman's neck. You roll your eyes, used to his antics, trying not to let it bother you. You have no right to be bothered, you’re acting just like him. You turn around to face Jaden, resting your arms over his shoulder as you lean in closer, your hips still moving with his. He leans down, placing another kiss to your neck before coming up in front of you, moving in toward your lips. You let him kiss you, there’s no fire, you don’t melt into it, but it feels nice. In the back of your head there’s an annoyance, angered that you're comparing his kiss to Lewis. You break from the kiss, turning back around to continue grinding on him. You hear him groan into your ear and it does nothing to you, you are a little turned on but nothing like Lewis had you in half the time. As the thought crosses your mind you open your eyes and immediately connect with his. Lewis is across the dance floor, a blonde woman dancing on him in a very similar way, but his full attention is on you. His eyes are filled with lust and you want to tell yourself it’s all from the woman grinding on him but you can’t help but feel that’s not entirely true. You don’t know how long he’s been watching you but you know it’s been a while. As you study his face, you see it, anger. You look away from him, turning your attention back to Jaden who is getting more explorative with his hands. This isn’t like you, letting a stranger feel you up in the middle of a club, but you can’t help but feel like you deserve the fun, deserve the thrill. It is vacation after all.

“Fuck babygirl.” Jaden whispers in your ear, his hand squeezing your hip.

He pulls away slightly, downing his drink as you do the same.

“I’ll get another round,” He says over the music, “you stay right here.”

You just nod, carrying on with your dancing. It’s not long before you know Lewis is there. When you turn around, he’s much closer than you expected, his chest almost touching yours. As if he’s allowed to, he grabs your hips, pulling you into him.

“What the hell has gotten into you, hmm?” He asks, his lips coming down to your ear.

He’s guiding you to dance with him, your singular attempt to push him away futile. His body up against yours feels better than it should and you let your alcohol foggy brain enjoy it for a moment. He feels better up against you than Jaden had and you hate it.

“Letting some random man dance with you like that?” He continues, his voice taunting, “Why would you go do something like that when I’m right here?”

He turns you around, pulling you even closer to him so your ass is right against his crotch. You feel it again, that same bulge that you felt the other day in his bedroom, the same one that had you weak in the knees with desire. You do your best to push past it, not wanting to let him win as you realize you already are.

“Because you’re you Lewis.” You sigh out, your voice betraying you as he leans down to nibble on your neck, much the same way Jaden just had. Unfortunately you can’t help but note that the way Lewis does it feels so much better. You try to put some space between you two but his grip is firm.

“What's that supposed to mean? You seemed to be enjoying it when I had you whimpering on my fingers, just think about what my cock would feel like. I would take such good care of you Y/N. I’d make you feel so, so good. Have that pretty pussy creaming all over me, over and over again. And fuck, I just know you taste like heaven, want you soaking my beard, letting me drink you up. You want that?” His rambling into your neck is breathy, working himself up as he talks. You know he’s drunk, can hear it in his voice. You want to push him away but you’re just as drunk and his promises sound like heaven on earth. What you don’t know is the mean game that he’s playing, he knows Jaden can see you, your head on Lewis’ shoulder as he palms at your tit. He’s making sure that Jaden knows you’re his whether you are or not. His ego and his jealousy a raging fire. He licks at your neck reminding you of the women he was with just a moment ago.

“Mmmm, the blonde didn’t work out for you I see.” You taunt him, making sure he’s thoroughly aware you saw him. You know he knows but you feel the need to rub it in.

“I could take her into the bathroom right now if I wanted to and we both know that, but right now I want you.” He groans the end of his sentence into your neck as he pulls you in hard against him.

You fight against everything within you that wants to let him take you home and make good on his promises. You know deep down it's a horrible idea and even what you’ve allowed him to do so far has only worsened the situation, you know you'll regret it in the morning.

“That’s exactly the problem, it’s just right now.” You say as you finally push him away, putting distance between you as you turn around to face him. His eyes are dark and he’s breathing heavy, he looks so painfully turned on that you're half tempted to put him out of his misery, but he made sure you knew that you weren't the only one who could do so.

“No, not just right now, always.” He shakes his head, trying to step towards you again but you back up, your hand in front of you, “I always want you, always have.”

You’re unaware that Jaden had started to make his way back over to you, getting closer by the second, already pissed off by what he just saw.

“We’re not having this conversation when you’re this drunk Lewis.” Your head sobering up a bit at his words, confusion running through your body.

“Baby, please just hear me out.” He pleads with you.

“This isn’t the time or the place for whatever the hell this is. You don’t get to do this just because your horny and want a quick fuck. I’ve seen you with multiple women tonight so don’t come over here and attempt to ruin our friendship.” Your voice is harsh, trying to get your point across.

“Oh so it’s entirely my fault? You let me have you for thirty seconds and then decide that I’m the bad guy when you get just enough? You’re a fucking tease. You could have stopped me the other day, you could have stopped me right now, but instead you indulge, get just enough for a thrill and then tell me I’m an asshole.” His voice is equally as harsh, alcohol induced anger bubbling to the surface.

“Really? You think that’s what I’m doing? Indulging in my best friend taking advantage of me?” Your voice is getting louder now and you notice some heads turning towards you. You know that saying he’s taking advantage of you is harsh and definitely a bit of an exaggeration but it felt the best way to get your point across.

You see his face twinge at the comment before softening, you can see the remorse across his features.

“Is there a problem over here?” Jaden's voice comes from behind you.

You had almost entirely forgotten about him, too distracted by Lewis.

“How about you mind your business man.” Lewis says, looking past you towards the man.

“Well if it involves my girl I think it’s my business.” Jaden says, stepping up behind you.

Lewis’ scoff is loud as you almost laugh, “Your girl?” You both say in unison.

“Fuck off dude, I know you saw how she was dancing with me, your times up, move on.” Lewis continues and you wish you could muzzle him right now.

“Well from the sounds of things she wasn’t particularly enjoying it, and it sounds like that's not the first time.” Jaden says, stepping in front of you slightly.

“It’s not like that, it came out wrong.” You try your best to reason with Jaden, grabbing his arm in an attempt to stop him from moving any further.

“Sure as hell didn’t sound it.” Jaden's voice is stern as he stares Lewis down.

Jaden is a few inches taller than Lewis, not by much but it's just noticeable. Lewis however is much more built, broad shoulders and biceps the size of both of Jaden's combined. You can tell Lewis is posturing, returning Jadens stare with just as much intensity. It worries you, you know Lewis is already pissed off and very drunk. You’ve never seen him be physical, hell you’ve barely ever seen him truly angry, but you’ve heard stories from his past, you know he can fight and he will never allow himself to be backed into a corner.

“How about you let my friend and I deal with our own problems mate.” Lewis bites.

“From how she talks about you I don’t think you’re exactly her fucking friend.” Jaden says, taking yet another step forward, brushing off your grasp on his arm.

“Guys, this is stupid. Lewis let’s just go.” You say, attempting to step around Jaden to get Lewis out of the bar before this escalates any further.

Before you can do that though, Jaden grabs your arm firmly, keeping you in place, “You’re not going anywhere with this jackass.”

Lewis’ eyes snap down to where your being held, the grip way too tight, “Get your fucking hands off of her, now.”

You wriggle your arm in his grasp, Jaden still not letting up.

“I said, get your fucking hands off of her, NOW.” Lewis’ voice is much louder than before as he steps forward. You're starting to attract attention and you're praying that in everyone's drunken stupor they don’t recognize the racing driver about to start a bar fight.

“Get off of me.” You try again to wriggle free from his grasp, him finally letting you go. You approach Lewis putting your hand on his chest, trying to push him towards the exit.

“Are you okay?” His voice has softened significantly, you can still hear the anger though.

“I’m fine, let’s just go.” You try again to get him out of the door before more people start paying attention. He doesn’t listen, instead grabs your hand gently, bringing it up in front of him to see the red mark around your forearm, the fingerprints firmly marked.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” Lewis roars over your shoulder at Jaden.

“Lewis, please,” You plead desperately, “it doesn’t matter, let's just go home.”

“He fucking hurt you and you’re saying it doesn’t matter?” His tone is incredulous as he looks at you baffled, clearly not letting up.

“Bro, what the fuck’s going on over here.” Miles' voice comes from behind you and you thank god for your savior in that moment.

“This fucking douchebag was forcing himself on Y/N.” Jaden spits out, clearly thinking Miles will be on his side, unaware of the relationship.

“I highly fucking doubt it.” Miles says, disgust in his voice as he makes his way over toward where you and Lewis stand.

“She said it her fucking self dude, great fucking body guard you are.” Jaden says sarcastically, referencing his comment when they were introduced.

“What’s going on Y/N?” Miles says softly, coming to where you're still pressed against Lewis, trying your best to either calm him or hold him back.

“Nothing, we just need to leave.” You say firmly.

Miles nods, trying to grab Lewis’ arm to pull him to the door, knowing he won’t back down on whatever has him so mad, “Come on man, it’s not worth it.”

“Let’s just go home.” You say calmly, rubbing his chest, hoping to ease him.

Lewis reluctantly lets Miles start to pull him away, keeping his arm around you to keep you as close as possible to him. You don’t fight him on it, it’s not the time.

“Jesus, you’re really going home with that fuck? I guess a slut gets what’s coming to her.” Jaden scoffs.

His comment makes you stop, every ounce of your being wanting to turn around and punch him in the face, but you don’t get the chance, Miles is already on the move. His fist makes direct contact with Jadens cheek, knocking him to the side and almost taking him off his feet. Much to your surprise, it’s Lewis who springs forward and pulls Miles back, grunting something into his ear as he restrains him, pulling him backwards.

“What the fuck!” Charlotte screams, just approaching the situation.

“Fuck you, you’re all fucking insane.” Jaden yells, gripping his jaw, no one in the crowd even moving to help him.

“Let’s get the fuck out of here.” Lewis grits out, pulling Miles back as he moves to grab for you as well.

Charlotte pays no mind, questioning Miles, “Miles, what the fuck was that, I’ve never seen you hit someone, what the fuck is going on?”

“Not now Charlotte.” Lewis says, somehow having become the calm one in the situation. Tears are streaming down your face as Lewis just about carries you out of the bar, Charlotte trailing along behind. You have no idea where everyone else is but right now you want to be as far away as possible.

The second your outside Lewis puts you down, cupping your face as you cry in front of him. He walks you away from the crowd outside the enterance before he pulls you hard into his chest, stroking your hair, letting you cry into his shirt.

“You're okay, it’s all okay.” He hushes you, trying to calm you down.

“No, it’s not all okay,” You suddenly scream at him as you push yourself off his chest, stepping away from him, your emotions from the last week have reached a peak, “neither of you, ever and I mean ever try to fucking fight someone for me again.”

You’re pointing hard at Lewis and Miles, who has since approached to check on you.

“Y/N-” Lewis tries to start.

“No, you don’t get to say the shit that you did or do the shit that you did and then try to fucking white knight all the sudden just because you’re jealous.” You scream at him.

“Baby, I just want to make sure you're okay.” Lewis pleads.

“Well I’m not,” You scream back, “none of this is okay. It hasn’t been since you tried to fuck me Lewis, I haven’t been okay. You have to have known that somewhere in the fucked up little brain of yours. And then you go and try to do it again? And even worse, blame me? Fuck you.”

Your words stop him dead in his tracks, you can see his mind reeling and guilt washing over his face.

“Honey-” Charlotte is slowly approaching you, trying to reason with you.

You don’t let her continue, “And both of you,” you direct your attention towards Miles who still seems to be in shock by your admission, “never fucking do that again, I’ll be damned if I see someone I love get hurt for me. I’ll let you know if I need help, don’t take it upon your fucking selves, I’m grown I can handle myself.”

Miles opens his mouth to speak but is evidently at a loss for words. Charlotte has stopped as well, unsure how to handle you in the moment.

“You know what, fuck this, I’m going home.” You say, tears still streaming down your cheeks as you throw your hands in the air, turning down towards the road to the house.

“Y/N please at least wait for the car, don’t walk home alone.” You hear Lewis call towards you, you can hear him following after you.

“Don’t” You whip around to yell at him, “do not follow me, please just fucking leave me alone.”

You turn back around, making your way down the road, no one follows you, leaving you in silence.

All you want to do is crumble into the ground and not get back up.

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covenofwives · 1 year ago

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Halloween Mansion

Dream, George and Sapnap are invited to a fun Halloween event by their siblings DreamXD, GeorgeHD and Sapnap4K. They get to play hide and seek in a scary haunted mansion. But they definitely don't want to be caught.

Tah-Dah :D Happy (very late) Halloween! This fic was started a way back in September and I stupidly thought I could finish it for Halloween. Nope :) But it's done now and while I had to change and alter some stuff, I am super proud of it.

Warning that this is a real long fic so please take breaks if you need to and read in spurts if that's better for you. I want you to enjoy it to the fullest.

Enjoy~

---

When the three Gods, GeorgeHD, Sapnap4K and DreamXD, said they had a special event planned for their siblings, there was equal parts curiosity and worry. The Gods had been saying for while they wanted a “play date” as it were with all of them. It was exciting to see the Gods so happy about the upcoming event but at the same time there was a fact looming over them that didn’t sit right with the Dream Team.

Halloween.

The day for candy and mischief was fast approaching. The longer the Gods were silent on the event, the more the Dream Team worried.

“It’s obviously a prank.” George reasoned. “HD tells me it will be ready soon. 4K is getting giddier every day. It’s a Halloween prank.”

The three had a rare free day together and spent the time hanging out. They were exploring through a forest and took a break in the afternoon. Naturally talk went to the upcoming event.

“It could be nothing.” Dream suggested, almost hopefully. “Get us all excited for the promise of something and then it’s just nothing.”

“Nah, 4K would actually cry if that was it.” Sapnap dismissed that idea. “He hates those pranks.”

“And they call it an ‘event’.” George pointed out. “So, whatever it is, it’s something big. Something that counts as an event to them.”

“What could be considered an event to a God?” Dream asked.

The three tried to bounce around more ideas, but they couldn’t reach an agreement, and without confirmation it would all just be guessing. None of the Gods were letting it slip what it was, so all they Dream Team could do was wait.

Painfully wait.

Finally they got news. Each of them received an invitation one morning, just showing up in their homes, with coordinates on it. It came a week before Halloween, and the invitation was decorated with cute pumpkins and bats. Definitely a Halloween event.

The three of them met up and after making sure it was the same invitation for all, went to the coordinates together. Unsurprisingly, the three God were there, ready to meet them.

“Finally finally finally!” 4K chanted happily. He jumped up from his spot on the log the three were sat at. “It took you so long!”

“You could have teleported us here.” Sapnap grumbled. “It took us all day!”

The three had headed out as soon as they were ready, which was just before noon, and by the time they reached the spot the sun was setting. It was closer to Kinoko Kingdom than anywhere else but none of them had ever been here. It was mostly a windswept biome, with steep hills and open fields. The three came to a forest line where the three Gods were waiting. With a very suspicious cobblestone wall behind them.

“We wanted you to get in the spirit.” XD said happily. He kept his arms down to his side but his hands were flexing and trying their best to keep still.

“What spirit? Tired?” Dream asked rhetorically, yet HD still responded.

“Exactly,” he started and his voice went low. “You’ve been walking aaaaaaall day and it’s starting to get dark. You just want to lay down and rest but it’s not safe out here. Then you see it…”

With a grin, and snap of his fingers, the cobblestone wall behind the Gods crumbled and fell away to reveal the forest behind.

The first thing obvious about the forest was that it was manually made. The trees were a mix of oak and dark oak, stretching up far to block out the sun’s light. Their branches were twisting unnaturally and their leaves were a rotting grey. The trunks of the trees had menacing faces carved into the wood, some that were only revealed when the light hit them a certain way. There was a worn out winding path through the trees leading up to dark crumbling gates, and behind that a massive mansion.

It was the full definition of a haunted mansion. The outside was decorated like an old timely building. It’s walls were an old white, almost grey with the decay look, and black roofs. The lights of the mansion were on, glowing an eerie orange, finishing the perfect picture of a haunted mansion deep in the woods.

The siblings were stunned, taking in every detail. It was Dream who spoke first. “When?! When did you even do all this?!”

“We’ve had the past few weeks to get this fixed up.” 4K boasted with a wide grin, his arms around both the other Gods.

“We are also Gods, this is not hard for us.” HD shrugged. “Most of the time was spent on designing the thing and designing the inside.”

“The inside!” George said excitedly. “Can we see inside?!”

“You will soon.” HD nodded. “But we have to explain the rules first.”

“Rules?”

The grin over 4K’s face widened, and even HD seemed to be holding back his own smile. The Nether God took his arms from the other two, letting them space out before HD carried on explaining. “This is your event. You’ll get to explore the haunted house we’ve made.”

“Buuuut,” XD added. “You’ve only got 20 minutes to explore and then find yourself a hiding spot. Cause after 20 minutes, we’re coming in to find you.”

“Find us?” Sapnap blinked as though confused. Then it clicked. “Oh! Like hide and seek right?”

“Yes! Exactly like hide and seek!” 4K excitedly nodded. He was practically bouncing on his feet. “We’ll give you time to look around you know, and admire our work. But then you’ve gotta find a spot to hide.”

“There are a few hiding spots in the house.” XD gestured back up to the mansion. “Some we’ve made secret. Secret doors, hideaways and crawl spaces.”

“But you’ll know all the hiding spots!” George quickly pointed out. “You three made them.”

“I mean…yeah” HD shrugged, chuckling a little with their admittance. “Honestly George, we’re going to find you eventually. There’s no time limit on how long we have. You just don’t want to be the first one caught.”

“Or the first one to tap out.” XD added.

The phrase ‘tap out’ sent a worry through all three of the siblings. One they knew the other was feeling. They gave a quick glance to each other before Dream brought up the courage to ask. “Tap out from what?”

“I mean, do we reeeeeally need to spell it out?” 4K grinned. “I think you know.”

As though to make a show and really get his point across, 4K lifted his hands in show and made wiggling motions with his fingers. If it was just hinted at before, it was very much laid out plainly now to different reactions. George’s face turned red under his mushroom blush with a nervous laugh. Sapnap flat out shouted while his face turned red.

“N-No! We didn’t agree to that!”

“Where is your Halloween spirit, Sap.” 4K lowered his arms and pouted. “You used to love Halloween when you were little. You’d ask for ‘tickle or treats’ all the time when you were little! You’d-”

“Stop!” Sapnap jump forward then, trying hard to cover 4K’s mouth a shut him up. It didn’t work exactly but 4K just laughed and struggled with his brother.

“It’s our Halloween present for you three.” XD explained with a smile. “We wanted to make something fun for you and get you into the season.”

“Wh-Whahat part of the Halloween season involves ti…th-that?!” Dream stuttered with his words, which was clearly noticed by the Gods.

Though XD smiled he didn’t point out it, and just answered. “Is it not in the spirit to run from monsters, and get soooo worked up over the thought of being caught?”

“Monsters catch you to eat you. They don’t catch to tickle usually.” George pointed out, glancing between the group and the mansion looming up ahead.

“The Halloween spirit is for fun tricks. Nothing gruesome or really harming.” XD said.

“If it makes you feel better George, you could think of us as tickle monsters.” HD smiled with his own amusement. “Those monsters wouldn’t hurt you.”

“Really?” George asked while watching over 4K and Sapnap’s scuffle.

The ‘fight’ between the two was very much over with Sapnap held up over 4K’s shoulder. Sapnap still fought as much as he could from his position, though it was hardly effecting his older brother. “If they didn’t ban me from tickling you I’d be wrecking you right now.” 4K growled playfully.

“Let me down and I will show you wrecking!” Sapnap growled back.

“Enough! Put him down, 4K.” HD called and despite an over dramatic huff, 4K obliged. Sapnap immediately scurried back to Dream and George’s side once he was free, glaring to his brother who just grinned back. “We are wasting precious time.” HD added.

“Yes yes of course.” 4K nodded enthusiastically. “We got to get to the game!”

Each of the Dream Team glanced up to the mansion again before looking to one another. They spoke without words, using their eyes only before looking back up to their brothers.

“What are the rules?” Dream asked.

The Gods smiled, 4K having to hold himself back from jumping for joy.

“You get 20 minutes to hide.” HD repeated. “It has to be somewhere in the mansion, it can’t be in the woods. Afterwards we’ll come find you. When we catch you, you’ll be tickled. When you safeword, the tickling stops and you lose.”

“If we see you, but we can’t grab you, you have a chance to run.” 4K grinned. “I mean, it won’t do you much good but you can run.”

“What if you can’t find us?” Sapnap asked almost hopefully.

“Oh we’ll find you.” 4K assured him. “We know every part of this mansion. We’ll find you.”

“Even if it does take us a while,” HD quickly added. “It doesn’t matter how long it takes us to find you. It matters how long you last the tickling. The one who taps out first loses.”

“And what happens to them?” Dream asked.

“That’s for later.” XD waved that off. “Now, is there any rules any of you want to add?”

The three looked at one another again. “N-No-No nibbling on my stomach.” Dream finally spoke.

“Oh true. He’ll die right away if we do that.” XD spoke so easily which made Dream’s face turn red.

“My wraps on my arms stay on.” George added in.

“Okay. That’s fair.” HD agreed then looked to Sapnap. “Anything for you?”

“Nah. You’re not even gonna catch me.” Sapnap boasted.

“Oh, really.” HD’s eyebrows shot up and a grin spread on his lips. “I hope I find you.”

Sapnap just grinned back, but Dream watched the way his legs twitched and he shuffled on his feet. It looked like he was readying himself, but Dream knew it was to let out his nerves.

“Yous ready then?” 4K asked with a wide grin. He was almost as jumpy as his brother, but he had a hunter glint in his eyes.

The siblings agreed, each growing more excited.

“Alright. 20 minutes. Your time starts as soon as you step towards the mansion.” HD said.

“Wha-! it should start when we’re in the mansion!” George whined.

“Walking on the mansion path still counts.” XD grinned. “So you three had better run there quickly.”

Dream tried to look to George and Sapnap, and organise a time to run together, but when he looked around George had already sprinted off, running up the path.

“What th-GEORGE!” Dream shouted.

“You’ve fucked it for us!” Sapnap shouted after but ran right after the brunette.

“Sapnap!” Dream shouted.

“Time’s started Dream! Better get moving~” XD called out.

Dream opened his mouth to argue but quickly shut it. He realised he was wasting time and quickly ran up after George and Sap who were near half way through the woods.

“They move fast when they’re timed.” 4K giggled and settled back down to sit on the log he was on before.

“Hopefully they’re fast enough.” HD said.

---

The three burst into the mansion doors together. Sapnap and Dream quickly caught up with George and without even waiting threw open the large white doors.

The front hall of the mansion was a wide open grand space. There were doorways on either side of the room and beside each of them a large stairway that curved up to the second floor. Between the stairs was a large archway leading to a further hall. The floorboards were an old grey with a large red rug, leading down to the long corridor.

It looked like there was a library room on the right and some sort of living room on the left with a fireplace. Dream only had a quick glance of it before his attention was drawn to the stairs, as George ran up them frantically.

“George! We’ve got 20 minutes!” Dream called up.

“It’ll take us 20 minutes to find a hiding spot! This place is huge!” George called back as he ran through the halls. The sounds of his footsteps faded further and further until they disappeared.

There was some truth in George’s words. They couldn’t really explore much of the house and take in all the details with a time limit looming over them.

“He’ll just get lost. That’s his strategy!” Sapnap said while peeking around the corner to the library. “One of these bookshelves definitely open.”

Dream looked into the room too. It would make sense for a haunted house to have secret doorways, but none of the bookshelves looked different from the others. All were built into the walls and stretched up the high ceiling. It was tempting to find it, but Dream didn’t want to waste time with one room.

“Let’s look around together.” Dream suggested. “And this way if we find a spot we want, at least the other person knows not to go for it.”

Sapnap agreed and the two carried on. They gave a quick look into the living room with the fireplace and immediately noticed the fire was fake and the back of the fireplace opened up. The two crawled through to a hidden kitchen. The middle of the room taken up by a large hob stove, but there was no other doors out so they retreated.

The hallway through the archway only had two doors at the end of the hall. On the right lead to a dark study with only candles of green flame for light and the door on the left was to an observatory. The wall to the back garden was all glass and would have probably been a nice room to relax in during the day. At night through it looked out to the dark forest with many glowing eyes looking to the large window. Dream wondered how many of the eyes were fake effects the Gods put on, and how many were real animals checking out the place.

“Okay. There is so obviously more hidden rooms down this hallway.” Sapnap commented as they walked back to the front hall. “Look how big this space is, and we know the kitchen is there,” he tapped the wall to elaborate. “So we know they’re absolutely hiding secret rooms.”

“I’m more worried about trick rooms.” Dream thought out loud. It had been a though plaguing him since he stepped foot in the mansion.

“Trick rooms?” Sapnap asked with his head tilted.

“Well they’re Gods with unbelievable powers. They could easily make a sort of…illusion. Or teleportation we don’t realise. Open one door and it’s a bathroom, then close and open it again and it could be another hallway.”

Sapnap blinked in thought, his eyes suddenly wide. “I didn’t even think of that!” He mumbled. “Well maybe that will make it harder for them to find us.”

“I doubt it.”

They had reached the stairs and quickly climbed up them. While exploring downstairs they heard running footsteps of George upstairs, frantically trying to find a hiding spot but neither could see him.

The upstairs had a lot more space than Dream was expecting which lead him to believe he was right that some illusion was at work. He tried keeping a map of the floor plan in his head but this large hallway already didn’t make sense. The stairs lead to a long hallway forward and then it split into three separate directions with a cross section.

“GEORGE!” Sapnap shouted out. “Where are you?!”

The silence that followed was eerie and unsettling. Dream and Sapnap gave a look before Dream shouted out as well. Still no answer.

“It’s a big place, he’s not going to hear us.” Dream gave out the excuse, though it didn’t exactly sit right with him. They agreed that was the reason, but kept an eye out as they continued down the halls.

The hallways each held a few doors which they randomly opened to search. Dream came upon a large grand ballroom, with a piano playing itself in the corner, and strange dancing lights all around the ceiling. Next was a half elegant games room. One side the room was in tact and the other was a rotten, house of horror mess.

Sapnap near enough screamed when he found a room full of skeletons. Dream ran to his side ready to help but as he got there the screams died and he looked to see that the skeletons were unmoving. They were sat around a study, displayed in different activities, but they weren’t mobs and made no attempt to move.

Dream sighed in relief, letting his heart calm down while he shot Sapnap a grin. “Dude, really?” He chuckled. “A few skeletons and you scream?”

“I thought they were coming at me, okay!?” Sapnap huffed. His cheeks flushed to his mistake and he kept one eye on the skeletons even while he scoffed how stupid it was.

The urge to tease his friend faded when he was reminded of the time limit. Sapnap closed the door and Dream kept quiet when he swore he could have seen the skeleton at the desk move it’s head ever so slightly just to get a last look at Dream before the door closed.

“How long has it been?” Dream’s head worked to keep himself in the moment and off the creepy atmosphere. The grand paintings of unknown nobles that lined the hallways all had eyes following the two. That was standard house of horror, but out the corner of Dream’s eye he swore he saw some of the paintings change and move and their expressions grew more wicked and horrid.

“I don’t know I lost count when he came up here.” Sapnap admitted. “It was five minutes I think we were looking around downstairs. Maybe.”

Okay, that made sense in Dream’s head. He made a rough guess of how much time past and followed from there. To keep himself safe he assumed they had ten minutes left. Ten minutes until this house became a real house of horror.

“Look! An attic!” Sapnap elbowed against Dream’s arm, drawing him from his thoughts before jogging ahead.

Dream couldn’t see it at first until he followed after and saw the thin drawstring hanging from the ceiling. Sapnap had already jumped and grabbed the string to pull it down.

The house made a horrid groan as the attic hatch was slowly pulled down but it was nothing compared to the scream that followed after it.

Dream and Sapnap both jumped, Sapnap losing grip on the string, but it already fell. The stairs unfolded and clattered on the ground, offering a way up but Dream and Sapnap were still shaken from the scream. But it was a scream both of them knew too well.

“George?!” Dream called up.

“Wha-Dream?!”

There was the sound of footsteps approaching before George’s head popped out over the small opening to the attic. His brunette hair was covered in cobwebs and dust.

“You idiot! I thought you were them!” George called down, his voice high pitched with anticipation, but Dream could see the sigh of relief through his body.

“We were shouting on you, idiot.” Sapnap said as he took a step up the attic stairs.

“AH! NO!” George suddenly shouted and steps forward to block the hatch way up. “No! This is my hiding spot!”

“What?!” Sapnap looked up. “Let us up and see! You can’t just call a spot!”

“I just did, idiot! Find your own spot!”

“No! Fuck off!”

Sapnap tried to charge up the stairs as George tried to block the way in. Dream quickly followed after, stopping a scuffle before it could begin and one of them hurt themselves falling down the stairs.

“We’re not taking your spot, George, we’re just exploring the house. Just let us up to see what’s there.”

George glared at the two like they were lying to him before he finally moved out of the way. “If you even try, I’ll push you both out.”

George backed away from the entrance and Sapnap quickly scurried up. Dream followed up after, surveying the room slowly as he did.

The place looked like what was expected of an attic in a haunted mansion. It was a rather long attic thought the slanted walls of the roof around it mad it seem smaller. The walls were a mix of the dark grey wood and old wallpaper which was ripped and peeling at some parts. There were old rusting clothes railings holding old timely clothes, piles of chest and boxes, mirrors and vanity chests covered in old sheets and old chairs all strewn about the place.

The space was a perfect for hiding and Dream was kicking himself for letting it go so easily. He was talking himself more out of it the longer he stared. It would be harder to evade the seekers in the attic with only one way out, and if they closed the hatch behind them it would be game over.

“I’m going to hide in one of these.” George lead them over to the pile of chests. “The big one! I’m going to slip in with the small box on top so it looks undisturbed.”

“You’ll move the cobwebs, idiot.” Sapnap quickly pointed out. “They’ll notice.

“No! No! Watch!” George excitedly went over beside the chests. Dream thought it was cute how George was so protective over his hiding spot, yet was so eager to show it off.

The chests were completely covered over in thick cobwebs though Dream hadn’t seen any spiders around the house. He grabbed a handful of the cobwebs and tore them away, enough that a few boxes were revealed before he stood back. Dream and Sapnap watched, giving glancing looks to each other before it started.

The cobwebs began to grow back. Slowly they formed their webs and entwined with one another until they grew back completely and recovered the chests.

“See! They’d never know! I’ll be perfectly hidden.” George grinned with a sense of pride. “By the time they come to look for me, the webs will be back up and they won’t know which chest to get. They’ll give up.”

“Very brave to assume they’ll just give up.” Dream said. “They might leave but they’ll come back.”

George scoffed to the very idea of it, and threw off the cobwebs, which Dream took notice had slowly dissolved. They completely disappeared before they even hit the floor.

“When are they coming anyway?” George asked.

Dream was just wondering that as he spotted the small circular window at the front of the room. He went over to it and tried to get a look out. It faced out to the front of the house and the forest before that. Then, right at the edge, Dream could see the Gods still sitting.

Even before Dream could spot the Gods, he knew something was wrong. When Sapnap and Dream found the attic hatch it should have been at the far back of the house but this window was right at the front. The attic space wasn’t big enough to reach there.

“This mansion doesn’t make sense.” Dream turned back to the two.

“Well it’s a haunted mansion,” George said with a shrug. “It’s got some trick rooms.”

“No, I mean the layout. The attic hatch is at the far back of the cross hallway so it should be at the back of the house. But the window is right at the front of the house.” Dream worked through the map in his head, already knowing it wasn’t making sense.

“What? No!” George shook his head. “The attic is right at the start of the hall.”

Dream gave a look to Sapnap, confirming with a look that wasn’t right. “No. The attic is right after the cross section in the hallway?”

George raised an eyebrow. “What cross section? The hallway upstairs is straight.”

It was already obvious but it was good having confirmation that the house was definitely making illusions. That changed Dream’s plan of trying to keep outrunning the Gods. Any doorway could lead him right into their arms.

Sapnap argued with George over it as Dream looked back out the window. He could barely see the Gods beyond the forest as the sun was fully set by now. But he could see them just enough to make out the fact that Gods were moving. They stood up altogether and then started making their way to the mansion.

“They’re coming!” Dream backed off from the window. Adrenaline coursing through him, drawing in his breath as he turned to Sapnap and George. “They’re coming here!”

“What do you mean they’re coming here?!” Sapnap gasped. “It’s not been 20 minutes!”

“It clearly has!”

Even with the coursing panic and shouting between the three, they were all smiling.

“Get out! OUT!” George quickly pushed the two back to the hatch again. “This is my spot! Out!”

“G-Geohorge!” Dream chuckled while trying not to fall down the stairs.

“We don’t have a spot to hide!” Sapnap tried to excuse as he put up the most fight to keep in the attic. Still even with his strength, George got a good jab onto his sides and he was tumbling down the stairs and into Dream.

“That’s not my problem!” George shouted.

The attic stairs were pulled up as soon as their foot was off the stairs. Dream and Sapnap untangled themselves, just managing to stand up when they heard the front door open.

“Dream Teeeeeam~ Come out and plaaaaaay~”

It was 4K’s voice, eerily echoing throughout the house and bouncing off the walls. It felt like it hit Dream’s bones. Chilling him completely and soon he was running off after Sapnap who had bolted the moment he heard the voice.

“Split up!” Dream heard himself yelling.

“Good luck, brother!” Sapnap shouted after him before he ducked down the left hand split of the hallway. Dream went down the right.

The upstairs had changed since Dream and Sapnap went into the attic and came back out. Dream immediately noticed it. Instead of the attic laying just ahead of the cross pathways, it was now in the middle of a straight hall that lead to a T-shaped corridor.

The map Dream had trying to make for himself was thrown out of his head as he scurried down the corridor. The left wall was lined with tall windows, letting in the light of the moonlight which worked in Dream’s favour as the mansion lights suddenly shut off.

Dream heard the distant screams of George which he hoped was just from the lights going out and not because he was caught. While giving a mental good luck to George, Dream carried on.

On the right side was a line of five doors, with no indication to what sort of room they lead into. Dream stopped in front of one door when he heard footsteps quickly run up the stairs. He had no time to think anymore and picked a door, running through and slamming it shut behind him.

If he had been hoping for some room, luck was not on his side. It was another hallway. A long hallway with many doors on both sides.

“What the fuck…” Dream whispered under his breath before taking careful steps forward. Lights were still on in this hallway, though it was dim candlelights flickering.

There was no time to take in any more detail as Dream remembered there was a God chasing him. If he was quick about it he could duck into another room and there was no way they’d know which.

Just trying to pick randomly, Dream walked up to the third door on the left, opened it and stepped through. He came out to the same hallway, but out of the first door on the right.

“Wh-What?” Dream looked up and down the hall. He quickly turned back, going back through the door he came out and instead came out the door opposite himself.

“What in the Scooby Doo fuck is this?!”

Dream tried to leave out the door that lead him into the hallway but it instead brought him out to the door on his left. Dream was stuck.

He ran through a few more doors, trying to make some sense of what door would take him out what, but it was all random chance. He tried walking through the door but keeping the door behind him open and it didn’t work. It seemed like each doorway brought him out to a new version of the hallway, untouched but just as confusing.

A part of Dream worried he was really stuck but he shook that off. This was a haunted mansion made by his brother and his friend’s brothers. It was all for fun, they’d never leave him in here. Though it honestly didn’t help his situation.

Dream went through a few more doors before the hallway finally changed. He came out the of the doorway leading into the hall, but then at the opposite end of the hall there was a turn. Dream didn’t question any more. It was new and got him out of this hallway so he quickly followed it.

Unsurprising but just as confusing, the turn lead into another hallway. There was about ten feet of actual hallway, and then it turned into a moving hallway. A tunnel that spun around and around with flashing arcade lights embedded into the ever spinning walls.

Dream had known these kinds of hallways were called vortex tunnels. He’d heard of them at carnival fun house rides but had never seen them. Even looking at it now was making him dizzy and making his eyes unfocused.

There was another door down at the end of the spinning hall, but the way forward wasn’t easy. Though Dream knew in his head he could get through it he was debating if it was worth it when he heard the click of a door opening, and a voice called out behind him.

“Who’s gotten caught in the trick hallway?”

It was GeorgeHD’s voice, chuckling with amusement and a tinge of a growl behind his voice.

There was no more time for debating, Dream just quickly leapt into the tunnel.

It wasn’t spinning too fast, at least not as fast as Dream thought. The flashing spinning lights were making it look faster but when he was up and actually watching it, he could easily follow the movement. He quickly stepped onto the shifting tunnel, moving in step with each turn he took. It meant he had to go slow, but at least he was moving.

He came to just about halfway through the hallway when he heard the footsteps quickly behind him. Dream looked over his shoulder to see HD standing at the end of the hallway. His eyes caught Dream’s and he beamed with a huge grin.

“Well hello, little champion.”

Nerves and anxiety welled in Dream’s chest, and came up in a mix of a squeak and hysterical giggles. He just about managed to let out a few no’s until he realised he had stopped moving.

Like a Looney Tunes moment, as soon as Dream realised his legs hadn’t moved the tunnel still did and he lost his balance. His hand tried to steady on the tunnel’s side, but it was no use when that moved too and Dream found himself on the floor of the ever spinning hallway.

“Well that was a mistake, wasn’t it?”

Dream turned on his side quickly, trying to look over his shoulder to get his eyes on HD before the tunnel spun him again. They still stood at the end of the tunnel, looming over Dream. They seemed excited when Dream looked at them, easily stepping out into the tunnel. They didn’t have to step carefully like Dream did. The spinning didn’t even bother HD as he stepped out. He didn’t fall or lose his balance in the slightest. As the tunnel span, HD moved with it with his feet firmly on the tunnel’s surface. They took another step, only this time it was while they were upside down.

“W-Wahait! WAHAHAIT!”

Dream tried sputtering his pleas, but it was hard to keep his eyes on HD and to keep readjust himself to the tunnels spin. He had managed to get the same motion going with his arms as he had with his legs, but one of his hands slipped and he was rolling again.

“You’re so silly, Dreamie! You’re stumbling all over the place.”

“NOhoho! Ihihi’m nohot! I-Ihit’s thihis tunnel!”

He tried to right himself again, but it was practically no use. He was confused and dizzy and overwhelmed with the giggles as HD made his way closer and closer. Walking because he knew he didn’t have to run.

When the God was just a few steps away, Dream made a last ditch attempt to escape. He was about halfway to the end of the tunnel, he could reach it so easily, he knew he could!

The tunnel made another spin and Dream moved with it. He rolled onto his back and let the tunnel roll him, getting him onto his hands and knees and he pushed himself forward. He cleared a good distance and managed to get his legs working to work with the tunnel’s spin again. The end was in sight!

“No you don’t!”

The back of Dream’s cloak was grabbed and he was yanked. Pulled up and up into waiting arms that wrapped around his chest and held him in close.

“NO! NO! Thahat’s noHOT FAHAIR!”

“I snatched up a little champion!” HD’s voice was gleefully pressed against Dream’s ear. “I got XD’s cute little brother!”

“STOHOHOP!”

The lights kept spinning with the tunnel, disorienting Dream. It didn’t help with HD moving him around. He was released from HD’s arms and laid onto the floor. Or…what was the floor for now. Dream was on his back with HD straddling over his legs. The God had no worry for the tunnel’s spinning, but when Dream realised his position, he panicked.

“W-Wait! Wait! Please!” Dream pleaded. “I’ll fall!”

HD’s response was a scoff, and didn’t stop him from yanking up Dream’s top to just above his ribs. “Like I would let something like gravity get in the way of tickling you.”

The tunnel came to another spin and Dream tried pleading again but to no avail. All he could do was brace himself, preparing for the drop. But it never came. Dream scrunched his eyes shut but risked a peek out. He wasn’t falling, but the tunnel was still moving. Dream could feel his clothes trying to fall. His hair fell over his face and he looked up to see the hallway he walked in through was on the roof. Dream was upside down, but he was perfectly stuck to the wall.

“Wh-Wha-at?!”

"Now enough of that silliness.” HD’s voice snapped Dream back into the moment and drew his eyes back to him. Just in time to see the swarm of ethereal hands appear out from behind the God. “It’s time to get you tickled.”

“W-WAIT!”

Dream screech fell on deaf ears, and turned into a squeal of over anticipated laughter. He shrieked and screamed as the hands descended upon him one after the other. The first ones grabbed at his sides, kneading him up and down, then his ribs were vibrated over and finally his stomach was prodded, skittered and tickled. His arms flailed, trying to bat away at the hands but he could never hit them. To be fair he couldn’t really see where he was hitting as his eyes squeezed shut again with is laughter.

“STOHOHOHOP! HEHEHEHEDEHEHEHEHE!” Dream gasped as hands stuck into his armpits. Thumbs drilled into his pits and fingers scribbled along the back of his ribs.

“Its such a shame your tummy is off limits to nibbling, because I would have absolutely nibbled you up.”

“H-HEhehehHEHEDEHEHEHEHE!” Dream squealed as his face burned red.

“I had hoped I’d find the little spitfire. He was so cocky and I was so looking forward to tearing him apart. But tickling you is just as rewarding.” HD carried on like Dream wasn’t even talking. Like he wasn’t even there.

Though in all honesty, Dream could only hear ever other word the God was saying. He couldn’t hear much over his laughing and he couldn’t focus himself enough with the spinning lights and the world just constantly turning. While Dream might not have been falling, his body still felt every spin and the sensation of being upside down.

“P-Plehehease! H-HeheDehe…” Dream’s laughter faded down, turning more into pants of breath and giggles. HD’s tickling ethereal hands had stopped and faded off. “I-Ihihi’m dihizzihihiy!”

“Are you dizzy, little champion?” HD’s voice went softer, but it was overly so. “Why ever for?”

“The ro-hohom is spihinnihihing!”

“Well don’t focus on that, you silly. You should be focusing on these tickles you’re getting!”

“HEHEheheheDEHEhehehe!” Dream’s face burned brighter. He brought his arms up to hide his face. While still hiding his face he tried to reach down for his mask, but his hand was snatched up.

“Uh uh. None of that now.” HD moved Dream arm back up to his face with the other. “If you wanna hide it’s gotta be in your arms, mister.”

“No! Nono! Thahat’s nohot fair!” Dream whined behind his arm. He peeked out over the top, trying to see where HD’s next attack was coming from, but the God had his eyes down, focused onto something else. Dream at first thought he was looking at his mask, but then he felt a poke against his hip and Dream squealed.

“HEHEDEHEHE!”

“I’ve always seen you in this outfit. During your challenges and manhunts. You always show off your hips and sides. Why is that?” HD wondered aloud.

“Wh-Wahat!” It wasn’t the question Dream expected. And it was hard to think of a response when his mind was hazy from the spinning and the ghostly tickles still coursing through his body.

“You’re on the run, from hunters,” HD started as they put their two fingers on Dream’s hip, just above the waistline of his combat trousers. “And you wear a body suit that shows off your sides and hips when you should be covered as much as possible.” Their fingers started walking slowly up Dream’s hip. “Your sensitive little sides and hips are so exposed. I had to assume you wanted them to be noticed.”

“No! Nohohoho! I dohohon’t! Ihihi dohohon’t!” Dream tittered and tried to bat HD’s hands away though it was no use. The God’s arm was unmoving and even when Dream tried to grab at his hand, HD carried on like nothing.

“You want people to notice your hips.” HD announced like he came to the conclusion, and a wide grin spread on his lips. “Which is perfect for me, cause I want to nibble those hips.”

“NO! NO!” Dream screamed. He struggled with renewed vigour, kicking his legs and trying to push his HD’s hands away. “N-Nohoho! You-You cahahan’t! I cahan’t behe n-n-nihihibbled!”

“Your tummy can’t be nibbled.” HD corrected with his grin spreading wider. “Your hip and sides are fair game.”

Dream was moved again, though this time it was his own fault. He felt HD weight lift from him and he immediately tried to turn over on his side to scurry away. His escape attempt was less than a second long before HD was back on his legs, only now Dream was on his side.

“Wait! NO! Stop stop stop!” Dream pleaded desperately. He tried pushing his hand over HD’s shoulder which stopped the God but Dream had a feeling that was from HD’s choice. “Dohon’t! Please don’t!”

“If you want me to stop, you know what to say.” HD reminded him. “Until theeeeen~”

The God opened his mouth wide, showing his full set of sharp teeth and eager grin. Dream only managed to scream for a second, before he fell into hysterical laughter and jumbled, unintelligible babbles in a plead for mercy.

---

“Good luck, brother!” Sapnap shouted after Dream as the two had split up. Dream had taken the right side of the hallway and Sapnap ran down the left and quickly burst in through the first door he came across.

It was a bedroom Sapnap had burst into. It was old, dusty and the air was thick but it wasn’t messy. A large bed pushed against the wall on the right of the room with a chest at the end of the bed and a vanity table close beside it. There was a large wardrobe which Sapnap had considered hiding in but then something beside it caught his eye.

It was a wooden panel, half way lifted up revealing a small lift inside. A dumbwaiter!

Sapnap hissed out a quick ‘yes’ as he ran over to the wall. He pushed up the wooden panel and took a look inside. It was a simple dumbwaiter but it was big enough for Sapnap to get in and it had a simple rope pull at the side so he could work his way down.

The thought crossed his mind that it might be dangerous, but he was fuelled by adrenaline and the hope his brother wouldn’t allow him to get hurt. He climbed in quickly as he could, trying to listen out for any approaching footsteps but he wouldn’t risk it anymore; shutting the door and working the rope to pull himself down. Eventually it came to a stop and Sapnap reached for the handle of the door out before suddenly pulling his hand back.

What if they’re out there waiting?! He thought to himself. He tried to listen out to the unknown room, pressing his ear to the wood before slowly lifting the panel. Thankfully, the room was empty. Now Sapnap just had to figure out where he was.

It was a dining room Sapnap spilled into. There was a large table stretching from one end of the room to the other and chairs all lined up. It seemed like a completely normal room, except Sapnap quickly noticed there were no doors, but there was a suspiciously large bust of an old guy next to an empty part of the wall and with just a minute of searching, Sapnap found a button in the statue’s eye which slid open the wall beside it out to the hall.

The hall was empty which was another weight off Sapnap’s mind. He gave a quick peek out both ways and there was no sign of anyone. Sapnap was safe, but the feeling only lasted a moment.

Safe for now, Sapnap still needed to find a hiding spot and the layout of the mansion changing seemed intent to thwart him. He had planned to find an easy hiding spot and while the God overlooked him, take the time to run and duck out of sight. That idea was no use when the building seemed to change.

But Sapnap couldn’t wallow for long as he caught sight of the open wall that was the secret doorway. The walls were thick but the space between them was hollow. Easily large enough for him to slip through.

An idea struck in Sapnap’s head and before he had the chance to think it over, Sapnap quickly slipped in between the walls. As though realising his idea, the secret door to the dining room closed behind him.

There were no lights between the walls of course so it was near pitch black. There were some speckles of light coming in through tiny holes in the walls, but Sapnap’s eyes were easily adjusted to the dark. Sapnap could just about fit in the walls, his shoulders touching either side, but that was more than enough space for him to move comfortably.

“They’ll never look in the walls.” Sapnap almost giggled to himself.

It was a good plan but now the only place Sapnap could move to was forward. It wasn’t good not knowing where he was going but if he stayed still for too long he’d get bored and give himself away. So he moved.

It was impossible to know where he was moving to but he came to a lot of turns in the hallway and followed them around. He tried to peek out through the tiny holes in the walls, making out certain rooms he was passing by but nothing interesting. The worrying thing was that he hadn’t heard any of the God’s roaming around.

It was good he was avoiding them, but Sapnap hated not knowing where they were. He definitely preferred being the hunter in these situations.

Eventually, after wading through the cobwebs and dust that was absolutely settling in his lungs, Sapnap realised the space in the walls was getting thinner. It wasn’t like he had much of a choice but it was getting more worrying the further he went the harder it became to move. Eventually Sapnap was forced to walk sideways to progress forward.

It seemed like the tunnels opened up a bit more after a few steps and while they did it wasn’t enough room for Sapnap to turn. He was stuck in a less than ideal position that was impossible to run from. Luckily, he shouldn’t really have to. There was no way they’d think to look for him in the walls. Sapnap was perfectly safe.

“Who’s hiding in the waaaaaaalls~”

A cold sweat ran down the back of Sapnap’s neck and he froze mid-step. It was XD’s voice that crawled up through the halls. Sapnap could have sworn on his fiancé’s lives that he didn’t hear anyone walk by, but then suddenly he heard the slow footsteps of the God which sounded right beside him.

Of course, Sapnap remembered. XD can float. An important fact he had so carelessly forgotten about in his giddiness.

“Which of our little brothers has become a little mouse? Squeaking around in the walls…”

There was a few well placed taps on the wall that Sapnap had to bite his lips down to not make a noise from. None were directly on him, but the were close to send his mind in a panic.

I need to go back as quiet as I can. He resolved, but the plan was foiled before he could even attempt to move.

The passageway ahead of Sapnap suddenly closed up. The narrow tunnel between the walls filled with what looked like cement and in the blink of an eye it hardened.

“No! Wha-!” Sapnap yelped before he could catch himself. He quickly tried to walk back the way he came, but as soon as he turned the walls ahead opened.

It wasn’t like the hidden door from before, swinging open, this time it was the front wall melting away into the room wherever XD was, and then XD leaned in. His arms braced against the opposite wall, blocking Sapnap from even trying to escape, and he leaned in with a curious smile before seeing Sapnap and it grew into a wide grin.

“Ohohoho! Little Sapnap!” XD giggled with delight. “I honestly thought it would be Dream to fall for the trap!”

“No! S-Stop!” Sapnap squealed and struggled back. The walls were too close to move far, and his shoulder touched onto the concrete blocking him in.

“I didn’t think you’d go for the walls,” XD spoke so casually. “I thought you’d be a runner for sure. But you’re just a little mouse.”

“Shut it!”

“A trapped little mouse.” XD made a step forward and Sapnap screamed.

“Stay away!”

“Our little mouse is stuck!” XD said gleefully.

“I’m not!” Sapnap snapped his teeth. He pressed himself as far as he could to the concrete and out of XD’s reach. Though nothing was out of his reach.

I can sneak under him and run. Sapnap quickly thought. His eyes scanned looking for a way out but XD spoke again.

“But you are…”

The walls tightened around Sapnap’s body just ever so slightly. It didn’t hurt him, but Sapnap still yelped. He pushed against the wall and wiggled, trying to get any room but it was no use.

“NO! That’s not fair!” Sapnap pleaded. “You can’t just do that!”

“I don’t recall that being in the rules.” XD hummed thoughtfully. One hand tapped on his chin, the other was reaching out towards Sapnap. “I believe the rules we were given was not to nibble on Dream’s tummy and not to touch George’s wraps.”

“S-SssstooOOOOP!” Sapnap shrieked.

“And you were offered to make a rule but you very bravely refused. Actually you boasted you didn’t need one.”

“I dohon’t-! I-I-!” Sapnap crumbled the closer XD’s hand got to him. “GEHET A-AHAw-awahay!”

“I’m helping you, little mouse. You’re stuck.”

“I dohon’t wahan’t your he-EEEEEEEP!”

The hand reaching out for Sapnap suddenly dropped down and grabbed around his ankles. The walls loosened ever so slightly as XD pulled and Sapnap was yanked down. He screamed but as he hit the ground it was soft, like falling onto a bed. His mind was in a mix of confusion; panic from the hand around his ankle and puzzled over the unusually soft landing. In his confusion he didn’t think to try and escape, and the walls squeezed close into him again, trapping him once more.

“Oh you fell!” XD spoke innocently, but his face was still grinning.

“Y-You-You pulled mehee!”

“I’m just trying to pull you out of the wall!” The hand clamped around Sapnap’s ankle pulled him just a little bit more, stretching out his leg and placing his foot in XD’s lap.

Sapnap tried to kick his legs away, but even his other leg was snatched up and held up and out of the way.

“Wait! Wait wait wait wait!” Sapnap’s voice melted from accusing to pleading. “Plehease! Please! Lehet me gohohoho!”

“I’m trying to, little mouse, but I need to pull you out.” XD’s hands were even trying to pull. Now while two sets of his hands held Sapnap’s ankles, his other hands began untying Sapnap’s shoes.

"NONONONO! Stop STOP!”

“This will help you wiggle out of there!” Sapnap’s shoes were off and tossed to the side.

“Juhust mohohove thehe wahahalls!”

“Nope!” Was all XD said before his nails touched onto Sapnap’s soles.

The tickling was instant, with no light flutter build ups or any real warning. XD’s claws raked up and down Sapnap’s soles before he tickled just lightly over his toes and then ran the pads of his index fingers up and down Sapnap’s arches.

Sapnap screamed with his laughter. Half was screaming for mercy, the other half was just random words and nonsense from his panicked, fried brain. He beat his fists against the walls, the floor, anywhere he could reach to get out the overwhelming feeling running through his nerves. Sap’s feet weren’t even that badly ticklish, but the tickling combined with being unable to move made him overly sensitive.

“You got to wriggle more than that little mouse.” XD spoke when Sapnap’s laughter calmed down. He had stopped tickling, but kept his nails on and poised to Sapnap’s soles, like a warning.

“I’m...Ihi’m nohohot aha m-mohousssse…” Sapnap managed to pant out.

“You scurry around in the walls, and get stuck in tight spaces. That is very mouse-like.”

“Mihice don’t get stuhu-AAAA!”

Sapnap was pulled once again, coming a bit more out of the wall before they closed in again. This time XD had access to his legs and he immediately got to work. Kneading and squeezing up and down Sapnap’s thighs. Skittering on the back of his knees. Sapnap got a little more kick in his legs but that didn’t help him at all. XD’s hands could hold him down and tickle him.

“Little mouse is almost out~” XD voice carried in an almost song. “I’m almost at his riiiibs~”

“NOHOHO! Nonohohoho! Noho yohohou’re nohohot!” Sapnap tried to claw and crawl further into the wall but anytime he got just a little give he was pulled back, only now his stomach was pulled out of the wall and exposed to XD’s waiting hands. The hoodie and top underneath was quickly yanked up and out of the way, free for XD’s skittering fingers.

“STOHOhohOoHOP! Pleheheheahease!”

“The little mouse needs to say his safeword if he wants it to stoooop~”

“NaAHAhaAhaAHA! Nnn-”

XD’s skittering claws rounded to Sapnap’s back, which was less tickly but still made him squirm. When the God’s hands started travelling up on his back though his voice got high and he squeaked out his pleas.

“PLEHEHEASE! Ple-Plehease! Please! N-Nohohoho mohohore! M-Mehehercy!”

“If you want it to stop you just gotta say the word.” XD shrugged. They lessened their tickling, allowing Sapnap a small break and a moment to talk. They kept his nails poised over Sapnap’s skin twitching just ever so slightly but not outright tickling him.

“N-Nohoho! No! I wohon’t!” Sapnap turned just ever so slightly to look at XD. Sometime between the tickling and walls moving, he had taken his mask off, keeping the criss-crossed wraps over his eyes but letting his wide smile show. “I’ll… L-Listen! Listen! I’ll-I’ll tehell you whehere Geohorge is hiding!”

XD made an over exaggerated gasp, his claws tightening just ever so slightly on Sapnap’s back. “You! You’d sell out your friends to save yourself!”

“Yehes!” Sapnap squeaked. “YES! Absolutely! You love tihihickling Geoohorge ahanywahay!”

“I love tickling anyone I find!” The End God sat himself up straight, squaring his shoulders like he was ruffled. “That includes...little,” he gave a poke into Sapnap’s sides, “sneaky,” another poke, “mice,” another poke, “who sell out their friends just to scurry away again.”

“Nohohohohonononoooo…” Sapnap’s giggles faltered and turned more into desperate pleas. “Dohohon’t!”

“And little sneaky mice who sell out their friends need to be extra punished.” XD grinned as he spoke, putting emphasis on his teeth clicking together and showing off his wide array of fangs.

There were taunting Sapnap. They were showing him what was going to happen. What he was going to be tickled with.

The will to live kicked into Sapnap’s limbs, surging him with energy. He kicked his legs hard enough he almost got out of XD’s hands, but even when one of his legs did get free he still couldn’t pull himself out of the wall. His leg was snatched up right away and he was pulled further out of the wall.

“WAHAIT! WAIT! DON’T-Dohon’t you dare…!” The warning would have been better taken if Sapnap’s voice didn’t get high and squeaky. And the person he was trying to threaten wasn’t a God.

Sapnap’s arms were free but were still just as useless. XD held them down pretty easily, and then his top was yanked almost up and over his head and the fangs were on the back of his ribs.

The fangs moved just ever so slightly but it was enough to fry Sapnap’s brain to the brink of insanity. He screamed and laughed and blurted out Prime knows what before the tickling was over and he was left panting on the ground.

By the time Sapnap felt somewhat conscious again, he felt XD’s hand pat on his side.

“You tapped out.” The God said it almost proudly.

Sapnap groaned into the ground before bringing up his arms to cover his face. His top and hoodie had been set right, though ghostly tickles still ran through his nerves and giggled in his words.

“Dihid I tahahap out f-fihirst?”

“Don’t know yet.” XD shrugged. “We will find that out when the others are done. Now come on.” He pat on Sapnap’s side again before standing up. “Let’s get you outside. Fresh air will do you good.”

Sapnap groaned in protest but it wasn’t really up to him. His body was like jelly and out of his control. He was brought up into XD’s arms as the God turned and began walking down the hall and out the front door.

The cold night air hit his face and the sound of distant owls hooting rang in his ears. It was a peaceful night. Enough that it settled Sapnap right to sleep for a quick nap.

---

George pulled the attic door up, slamming it shut for extra measure, making sure Dream and Sapnap knew they weren’t welcome. He felt a little mean, worrying they wouldn’t get a spot, but in a competition he wasn’t going to lose because of them.

He began pulling off the cobwebs right away, too frenzied to realise the thick veil of cobwebs had grown in denser. He just about got the boxes uncovered, but as he went to open his box to hide in, the cobwebs already started regrowing and covering the box again.

“What?! No!” George huffed and pulled the cobwebs off again. They grew back, and this time George could see the webs growing back in thicker. “You stupid-! Fine!”

Abandoning the task of pulling off the cobwebs, George instead pulled open the box he was going to hide in. He had to open it carefully, so as not to have the smaller box on top fall off, but George was too jittery with the prospect of being caught and frustrated from the cobwebs he threw off the box lid too fast.

The smaller box tumbled off and got caught in the cobwebs. It wasn’t such a bother but it made it obvious the box below, that George wanted in, had been disturbed.

“No! Just-Fuck!”

George was getting frustrated, not thinking clearly. He slammed the box close and tried to quickly reach for the dropped box, but his arm just brushed along the cobwebs as he reached over and that was enough to get caught.

The webs, now so thick they couldn’t be seen through, ensnared George’s arm. The webs stuck onto the cloth around his arms and even as George tried to pull back in a panic, the webs held him tight.

“NO! Nonononono!” George’s voice rose higher and higher the more panic set in. He knew he had a limited time before one of the Gods would eventually find this attic and each second fighting with this web was wasted. But George made the mistake of trying to pull away at the webs again, and that just got his other hand stuck too.

George shrieked in frustration, pulling at the webs to no avail and kicking at them to only get his leg caught. He knew struggling was making it worse. He just needed to calm down and think his way out of this. But when he took a breath and tried to calm down, the attic door open. And there was no calm anymore.

“Well, well, well…” The rumbling voice of the Nether God purred. George swung his head around as much as he could to see Sapnap4K slowly making his way up the attic stairs. He looked at George with wild, excited eyes. Like a hungry predator who just found his prey. “It’s the little prince who got caught in the webs.”

“NO!” George shrieked in time to the attic door slamming shut. 4K rose up to stand at his full height, almost reaching the attic’s ceiling with his horns. “WAIT! This isn’t FAIR!”

“Oh what’s not fair?” 4K’s head tilted. His voice mimicked concern but his eyes were still wild and his grin was taunting.

“I just…” It was a trap, George absolutely knew it was a trap, but the chance to plead for some kind of mercy he was not going to let pass. “I was trying to hide and this…web just caught me!”

George tried pulling at the web to make his point, but also trying in vein to pull it away. 4K nodded along sympathetically but his expression was amusement. Of course he was finding this funny.

“And th-that’s not fair!”

“You were given just as much time as the others to hide.” 4K mused, bringing a hand up to his chin to look thoughtful.

“Yes! Y-yes but this web just started going crazy! I had a good hiding spot, you would have never found me!”

“Really?” A flash of something sparkled through 4K’s eyes. A challenge perhaps. “Well then tell you what. I’ll give you ten seconds to get out of the web. If you can get out of the web in ten seconds, I’ll give you another 10 minutes to find a hiding spot. Sound fair?”

It wasn’t fair, and George screamed as such. “The time was twenty minutes! They got twenty minutes!”

“You did too.” 4K quickly pointed out. “And the web caught you. Really you shouldn’t be given any more time but I’m feeling merciful. Ten seconds to get out for ten minutes. Take it or leave it.”

George opened his mouth to shout unfairness again, but he quickly closed it and looked to the webs again. Those webs he had torn away so easily before, he could do it again. He could get away. He looked back to 4K and nodded.

“Deal!”

4K’s grin widened. “Ten… Nine… Eight…”

George’s heart raced and he turned back to the cobwebs. His arms were stuck, but there was a weaker point right where his left arm was and he tried to focus on it, pulling at his arm with all his might.

“Seven… Six… Five…”

The countdown was making George nervous. It was making him giggle out the squirming nerves in his stomach and losing focus. That was the reason he was breaking free, he decided. He was giggling too much so no matter how hard he pulled he wasn’t breaking free.

“Four… Three…”

4K’s voice sounded closer and George could hear the thump of his boots approaching. “W-WAHAHait! NO! You-You can’t come near me!” George yelped, making one harsh pull against his arm which actually got a bit of it free. “Wait! I’m doing it!”

“Two…”

A shadow towered over George, blocking out the light and while he might have got just a bit of his arm free it was nowhere near enough. Not when he felt 4K’s breath over the top of his head.

“W-Wait…”

“One!”

Warm darkness engulfed George’s vision. He was easily pulled up and away from the webs holding onto him so tightly before. He thrashed and tried to scream, pulling himself up so his vision wasn’t blocked by 4K’s stupidly thick arms.

“Let! Me! GO!” George kicked his legs and beat his fists into any part of 4K he could get, but it was a useless struggle.

The Nether God just laughed, pulling George further from the pile of boxes and the webs that fixed themselves up again. Further from freedom. “The little prince caught in a spider’s web~”

“ShuHUT UHUP!” George’s face burned red. He felt 4K finally stop and then sit down. George was planted on his lap but he wasn’t even allowed a second to get his barrings as fingers dug into his sides and began tickling.

“NoHOooHoHOhooHOHOHOOO!”

“You’ve been caught in the spider’s web, Georgie. And I’m the big bad spider.”

“Nohoho yohou’re nohohot! STOHOHOP!”

The fingers over George’s side switched from kneading in to skittering. The fingers scurried over George’s side, down his back and then over his stomach and chest. While George managed to keep his laughter down to giggles, holding back as much as he could, he couldn’t help but throw his head back and burst with laughter at the never ending onslaught. No matter where George’s hand went to try and stop 4K’s, the hands tickling would quickly flit to a new spot.

“Plehehease! StoHOHohOP!”

“Now you’ve been caught, Georgie. And you know what happens when you’re caught in the spider’s web?”

“NohoHOHO!”

“It means you get gobbled up!”

The attic turned on it’s side as George was lifted up. The arms he was trying to bat away he was now grasping onto for dear life. The fangs just brushed along George’s side and it was enough to make him scream.

Every limb kicked and hit for freedom, though it was like hitting a rock. George’s top had been pulled so the fangs brushed over his skin, nibbling up and down his sides.

George’s brain was in a constant battle. Trying his hardest to escape the arms holding him, but also knowing without those arms he’d fall.

“FOHOHOUR KAHAHAY!” George managed to scream out between the laughter.

“Now I’m not allowed to nibble Dreamie’s tummy. So you’ll just have to take his too.” 4K mumbled against George’s back. He kept deliberately close so his fangs and beard brushed against the brunette’s skin.

George didn’t even have time to process the words, he was too busy trying to kick himself out of 4K’s arms. It was only when he was turned around and the fangs touched on his stomach did he really hear the words. But it was too late.

George didn’t hear the scream, but he knew he must have because his throat felt sore and hoarse. He was now laid over 4K’s lap instead of hanging in mid air, and 4K’s hands were rubbing in soothingly over George’s stomach rather than tickling.

“It’s over, it’s over.” 4K’s voice was warm, and deeper than his teasing tone. “You called your safeword, it’s over.”

George groaned in frustration, though it was cut short from the burn on his throat. “That’s so not fair…” He whispered. “I don’t even remember doing it…”

While that was true, George knew he must have. 4K wouldn’t lie and during his panic of being tickled, George would have screamed anything for it to stop. Of course he’d never admit that though.

“You still called it, buddy, so it’s counts.” 4K said as he pat George on the back. “Come on. Let’s get you out of here.”

The weightless feeling swooped George up and into 4K’s arms. He gave a small whine of protest but had no energy to even pretend fight. Instead he just lay his head over 4K’s shoulder as the God carried him down the attic stairs and through the hallways to the front door.

The cold air was bracing, yet comforting on George’s face. The pleasant feeling was the last thing George felt before he fell into a soft nap.

---

George snored almost like his brother which Sapnap4K found extremely cute. The brunette lay in 4K’s arms, curling into his side and giving of the softest snores every few breaths. It was a gentle sound that passed the time while 4K waited. The sky lost the last of the sunset colours when 4K saw someone approach from the mansion.

DreamXD came down the path, with Sapnap asleep in his arms. The blonde God caught sight of 4K, relief sighing his shoulders when he saw it was George in his arms and not Dream.

If 4K was disappointed to see Sapnap had tapped out he hid it behind his wide smile and chuckled to XD. “I could see your sigh of relief a mile away.”

XD gave a sheepish smile, shrugging softly to not disturb Sapnap too much. “I was just relieved seeing you were okay.”

“Uh-huh…” 4K grinned as XD approached. He sat on the log beside 4K and rearranged Sapnap to sit on his lap. “Just because Dream isn’t here doesn’t mean he ain’t the first one out. HD just might not have found him yet.”

The smile dropped from XD then which 4K laughed at. “Dream’s tough! He’s probably still holding out.”

“Sure. Even though his whole thing is about running and not being caught.” 4K pointed out, and giggled as XD’s expression grew more worried. “Better hope Dream’s holding out.”

“He is!” XD assured the other God, but he couldn’t deny he was worrying. Dream was naturally slippery and usually got out of any situation, but XD was choosing to believe his brother was holding out. One thing about Dream was he was competitive and stubbornly so. He’d last.

A few minutes passed, though neither God was keeping count. They spoke softly with one another, making sure not to wake the sleeping siblings. 4K had taken Sapnap into his other arm, which Sapnap seemed to prefer as he snuggled into his brother’s side. Just when XD was starting to get concerned and offer to go in and look for them, he saw them.

HD made his way down the path with Dream on his back. XD thought his brother was asleep, but the closer they got, he could see Dream wasn’t sleeping. Or…maybe he wasn’t. Dream’s eyes were half open but they looked dazed and distant. His mouth was moving slightly which made XD think he was talking, but the only sound he was making were little giggles.

“That took a while.” 4K chuckled with delight when he saw Dream’s giggling face. “Take a while to find him?”

“No, actually. I found him right away.” HD said, almost sounding surprised. “He lasted the full time.”

Both XD and 4K blinked. “What do you mean?” XD asked.

“He never tapped out. Not once. Not even when I was nibbling his hips and the hands were all over him. He lasted for the time we agreed.”

“The full ten minutes?!” 4K yelped, but quickly quietened as he remembered the sleeping boys in his arms. “He lasted?”

“Yeah.” HD readjusted Dream on his back. “He’s a little bit tickle drunk right now.”

Ah. That explained it. Dream’s dazed and giggly look was from him holding off but frying his brain a little. XD came forward, taking his brother off HD’s back and carrying him in his arms. Dream giggled again but settled. When he was closer, XD could see Dream was between sleep and awake, barely holding on. XD just purred a little and Dream’s eyes fell shut with a soft giggle.

HD took his own brother back, holding him close as 4K stood up. “So… Who lost?”

The three God stood in a somewhat circle with one another. “Obviously, Dream wins.” HD shrugged.

XD controlled his expression but he beamed with pride on the inside. “Sapnap lasted for five and a half minutes.” He reported.

“And little Georgie lasted half that. About 3 minutes.” 4K reported with a wide grin and a wild look to HD. “So that means…”

“What?! There’s no way George lost!” HD bristled, his hair running wild with shoothing stars. “You got him worked up before it!”

“We agreed teasing could be allowed!” 4K quickly defended himself. “It’s not my fault he got himself stuck in the spiders webs. Besides, can you say you didn’t work up Dream? Get him anticipated?”

“Well…fine. Maybe.” HD grumbled. “I caught Dream in the spinning halls. He was already dizzy.”

“Sapnap fell for the space in the walls.” XD added in. “He was trapped when I got him.”

“Hmm, not the place I thought he’d go.” 4K hummed thoughtfully. “But then it’s decided. George tapped out first and lost. Which means you lose Starlight~”

“Oh shut up.” HD snapped, but a blush crossed his cheeks. Even XD, while excited, felt a pang of sympathy for the Overworld God. 4K’s teasing words ran over his skin, making XD feel like he was being teased himself. “We can’t deal with that now. We have to get these three to bed.”

“But soon though~” 4K giggled. “You can’t hide behind them for long~”

“Shush! Let’s get home.”

---

Dream woke up cocooned in warmth and groggy from the deep sleep. His skin felt tingly and giggles bubbled in his tummy, making him feel soft and squirmy. He tried to stretch and found he wasn’t alone. George was pushed up against his chest, hugging around his waist and behind him Sapnap lay lounged out.

It took a few blinks before Dream realised they were in George’s cottage. The three were laid on the floor of the main room, with blankets and pillows placed under them and another blanket on top of them. Dream tried to look around, and saw XD was behind him, pulling another blanket up.

“Go back to sleep.” XD spoke, their voice just a whisper. “You must be tired.”

“Mmm’not…” Dream tried to speak but his mouth felt like it was full of cotton and his throat scratchy. Exhaustion also swept through him as soon as the words left and his eyes drooped.

“Sure…” XD chuckled and tucked another blanket under Dream’s chin.

“What happened…?” Dream sighed. He remembered running through the spinning tunnel and being caught by HD. He was tickled but details of it were sketchy and came in spurts. It all went fuzzy after the fangs touched on his hips.

“You won.” XD smiled proudly. “You lasted the longest. George tapped out first.”

A surge of pride swelled in Dream’s chest, but he was too tired to really celebrate. “What does that mean? Is there a forfeit?”

“That will be later.” XD waved off, but he had a knowing smile. “You need sleep.”

“Don’t I get something?” Dream asked while fighting off a yawn as XD’s hand pat through his hair. “I won.”

XD hummed thoughtfully. “I’ll think of something for you.” He finally said. “But for now. Sleep.”

Dream opened his mouth to speak again, but XD settled behind him. His chest pressed against Dream’s back and he started purring. Then it was a losing battle with sleep. His muscles relaxed and his eyes closed again, his lids too heavy to open. Dream fell asleep surrounded by love, and dreamt of bliss.

#dsmp tickle #mcyt tickle #lee!dream #lee!george #lee!sapnap #ler!dreamxd #ler!georgehd #ler!sapnap4k #covenofwords

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crazycurly-77 · 3 months ago

Text

Lost in the Jungle - pt. 7

Gibbs took the satellite phone

“Stan. Olli. Are you there?”

“Yeah. What's up?”

“We found Y/N. She's okay, but her leg is broken.”

“Do you need help?”

“No. We'll build her a walking aid and I support her. Then we'll come to the base. Get the plane ready for takeoff.”

Then he ended the call and walked out of the plane back into the rainforest. He searched for a suitable branch and trimmed it with his knife.

After he was finished he went back and gave it to you.

He looked between Tim and you back and forth, saying frowning “everything okay?”

“Yeah. Tim only wished us all the luck in the world and hugged me,” you answered smiling and Tim was smiling, too.

Gibbs nodded “I'm glad your friendship will not be damaged just because we are a couple now.”

All three of you smiled and nodded with an awkward silence spreading between you.

Then suddenly Gibbs clapped his hands loudly

“Good. Y/N, I'll pick you up as cautiously as possible, but it will hurt. Sorry, no way to prevent this.”

“It's okay Jethro, I'll endure it. I know you only want to help.”

He gave you a short kiss, then laid his hands on your waist and began to lift you up slowly to hopefully not hurt you too much. You tried to help him and leaned on the stick he gave you as good as possible.

Because there was not much space in the plane, Tim went outside and waited there for you both.

Standing in front of the door he reached out his hands and helped you down, while Gibbs held you from behind.

Then the first challenge was done. All three of you were standing outside of the aircraft.

“McGee. Take the equipment, I'll take my knife and support Y/N on our way back to the base.”

“Yes, boss,” Tim agreed and then you all began to walk respectively limp in the direction of the base camp.

You had been walking for a while when you came across a large snake lying in the middle of your path.

Abruptly you all stopped confronted with this very large animal.

Gibbs took a closer look at her and then pushed her carefully aside, explaining “that's an anaconda. She's not poisonous and if I go for the thick spot in the middle of her, she has already eaten. So, come on. We have to be back before it gets dark.”

And with that you were on your way again.

Your progress was slow, luckily you didn't encounter any more dangerous animals. Sure, there were a lot of animals in the rainforest, but they kept a healthy distance from you so there was no immediate danger.

Your pain was getting worse and worse, but it didn't help, you had to get through it. Small breaks in between did bring about a brief improvement, but there was nothing you wanted more than to finally be able to lie down and rest your leg.

Gibbs did his best, but he couldn't take away the pain. He kept trying to encourage you to hold on, but you found it increasingly difficult. He frowned at you and asked worriedly, “Is it still okay?” All you could do was grit your teeth and nod.

He turned to look at Tim, asking

“McGee. How far is it?"

“About 500 m left, boss," came his reply. You got pretty far despite your injury, but when you tried to take another step, nothing worked. You couldn't help it and screamed in pain.

At your scream, Gibbs flinched just as you did. He looked at you with concern and determination. “It won’t work that way.” He turned and ordered "McGee, grab my backpack of gear and my knife and lead the way. I'll carry Y/N the rest of the way."

"Jethro, I'm far too heavy and it's far too hot for that. It'll be fine."

“I won't allow that," was his determined answer and before you could say anything in response, he had already picked you up in his arms and continued towards the camp.

“Jethro…” you began.

“I won't discuss this with you,” he said and stubbornly walked on.

You were so sorry that he had to go to such lengths to save you, but it made you love him even more, if that was even possible.

Your wonderful, stubborn and sexy marine.

He was such a treasure and you didn't understand how his ex-wives could let him go. You didn't get it for the life of you and you felt chosen that your best friend and your boyfriend were such great guys.

And then suddenly there was a clearing and there was a plane, too.

Finally you have reached the base camp!!

You all yelled and cheered in pure happiness and relief. You made it.

Hearing your shouting Stan and Olli came immediately running to you.

Olli took Gibbs’ bag from him and Stan tried to take you from Gibbs, but Gibbs refused and was marching further towards the aircraft.

Running besides him, Stan said “all is packed, we are ready for takeoff.”

“Good, start the engines and then let's fly home,” Gibbs answered.

Following the order Stan ran back, climbed into the cockpit and the machines came roaring to life.

Tim and Olli entered the plane, picked you up from Gibbs and sat you in one of the chairs. Immediately after you were cared for, Gibbs also climbed into the plane and closed the door, panting, just like the others.

The plane rolled and was airborne after a short distance.

Settling down Olli walked into the cockpit to Stan and Tim and Gibbs sat beside you.

After a few minutes you felt the questioning gaze of your boyfriend on you and you looked up to him.

The both of you locked eyes and with a scowl he asked “what did you do in Ecuador?”

(To be continued...in Chapter 8)

--------------------------------------------

Here you will find the other chapters of this story and the other stories I've written to date.

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Tags: @ilovemark1951, @hobby27

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#ncis #jethro gibbs x reader #gibbs #leroy jethro gibbs #gibbs x reader #leroy jethro gibbs x reader #ncis fanfiction

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yourmanz-sodapop · 1 year ago

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Settling in together

Namjoon x Top! Male reader

Warnings: N/A Part 2/3

“Ok, This couch is perfect” Namjoon must’ve said that about four couches already. “Didn’t you say that about the previous couch?” you asked. “Well yes, but this one feels different than all the other ones. I’m telling you baby this is the one.” he pouts. “You’re sure this is the one baby?” “Yes, this one, let’s buy it.” he says, clapping his hands. He was excited, how could he not be? You gave him complete freedom to decorate your home. So far he had chosen the dresser and nightstand set as well as the curtains for all the rooms of the house and now the couch.

“Ok, couch set check, next up is… kitchen table.” you see him from the corner of your eye walking off towards the kitchen area, as you're talking to an employee about what you want and how fast you can get it shipped to your house.

Walking towards the area you last saw Namjoon, you find him sitting at the head of a kitchen table, his eyes narrowing on every empty seat. “What are you doing?” “shhhhh, I’m trying to see if this would match the look I’m going for.” “What look are you going for?” “Right now I’m leaning towards a minimalist vintage look. I think it suits us both, you're an old soul” letting out an amused chuckle you lay your head on top of his, “Anything will be fine, now hurry so we can go look at the paintings you want to hang up.” Say no more Namjoon was up and looking around trying to decide. You knew it would get him to hurry up.

You need the house finished by next week but it seemed he forgot every other second. You’d made plans to have his parents over to actually see your new home, and to show them with proof that you are serious about their son, before it was just your words and small things you did. They loved you, they loved you just for the fact that you loved their son, that was enough for them but still you wanted to show them that Namjoon would always have a home with you, and that you could provide for him regardless of the fact that he made a shit ton of money from being an idol. I mean you also made a lot of money, you owned a finance company, one that you just branched over to Europe and hopefully soon you’ll add another branch in Korea near where you lived. As you were walking around looking at the different pieces of art, one specific one caught your eye. It was the same one you had in your office back home in America. It brought back a lot of memories.

“When are you coming back to visit?” You couldn’t stand seeing the tears on his face through the screen. “I don’t know, there was a problem with the construction crew, I need to go to Europe to see why they put a hold on it. I’m going to be gone longer than I thought I was, I’m sorry my love.” you explained. You’d already been gone for three months, signing contracts, getting permits overseeing construction for the new branch. “You promised you’d be back before I left on tour. I leave in two weeks.” he sobbed. You know how much it hurt, you haven’t seen each other in three months and now you have to break your promise about sending him off on his tour. You didn't say anything, what could you say to make him feel better? “I have to go” he whispers, “Namjoon, wait-” he hung up. It was one of the lesser bad moments in your relationship. But it was quickly fixed, you flew out that same night and postponed your meetings to spend the remaining two weeks with Namjoon.

“Babe!” Turning your head Namjoon was looking at you worriedly. “I called your name five times, are you ok?” He was carrying 6 pieces. “I’m fine baby, is that what you’re getting?” you asked. “Yes these, did you talk to the sales clerk about buying the couches?” “Mhm” “Ok then let's go, we still need to buy kitchen utensils and groceries. I’m not ordering take-out again.” “I’ll cook.”

Getting everything you needed for your new home took longer than you expected it to. Namjoon couldn’t make up his mind on a few things like rugs so you did have to go to a few other places the next day. Thankfully Namjoon found all the things he wanted and was satisfied with the end result of your house, now all you needed to do was wait for the weekend to come.

You were both enjoying yourselves with this new dynamic of reality, a reality where you both didn’t have to fight your schedules to see each other, nor hide the fact that you were in love. His fanbase took it better than you expected it to, of course there was some negative backlash. Mostly girls being upset that they wouldn’t have a chance to woo him, rather than the fact that he was with a man. It was a bit of a shock at first but you got used to seeing your face more on social media. The boys of course were over all the time now that the place was completely furnished with everything working as it’s supposed to. Now Namjoon understands why you got a three bedroom house.

Next>

#bangtan #bts x male reader #bottom bts #bts imagines #namjoon #namjoon x male reader #male reader #namjoon x top male reader #bottom!namjoon #bottombtsxtopmalereader #bts fluff #rm x male reader #rapmonster x male reader #rapmon x male reader #Kim Namjoon x male reader

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bethanydelleman · 8 months ago

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Thanks for the tag @firawren & @glassslippers-n-cowboyboots

1. How many works do you have on AO3? 45

2. What's your total AO3 word count? 208,023. And that's a bit surprising because a bunch of my longer fics are only on AHA or my website.

3. What fandoms do you write for? Mostly Jane Austen, all novels, Elizabeth Gaskell (Wives & Daughters), and Anne Bronte (The Tenant of Wildfell Hall). I have also technically written Oscar Wilde and My Happy Marriage, but those were very transformative.

I also have written some fics based on Kdramas, mostly for Alchemy of Souls.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

A Ride to Netherfield - Jane breaks her leg on the way to Netherfield and must stay for a month. Short one-shot (6k) and the first Pride & Prejudice variation I wrote.

Of Every Elizabeth - short and sweet Pride & Prejudice fluff, Darcy has nicknames for the plethora of Elizabeth's he's met over the course of his life (it was a super common name at the time)

Carry Me! - three vignettes of Jang Uk and Cho Yeong from Alchemy of Souls after they are married

The Fourth Bennet Sister - long fic (30k words), Pride & Prejudice variation where Kitty Bennet becomes aware that she is in a novel. She desperately tries to protect her sisters from harm.

All's Fair in Love and War - short Pride & Prejudice variation. Mrs. Bennet has weaponized compromise, men live in constant fear of being forced to marry.

5. Do you respond to comments? Yep. Every time.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? Umm.... I'm not good at writing angst. I don't like characters to suffer for too long.

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? All of them?

8. Do you get hate on fics? Yes, because I dared to write Mr. Darcy marrying Anne Elliot. People get more angry about that for some reason than Elizabeth Bennet marrying Captain Wentworth in the same fic. Someone even told me Darcy would rather "throw himself off of Pemberley" rather than marry anyone other than Elizabeth. (Fic is called One Week Late)

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind? I have written smut a few times, it's pretty vanilla because I am pretty vanilla. I was reading Victorian erotica when I wrote my longest one, A Little Before Their Marriage (Jane & Bingley fic).

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written? I constantly write crossovers, my first published novel is a massive crossover, Prideful & Persuaded. One of my fun shorts is Fall on the Sword, where every canonically single woman in Austen's novels decides if they want to try for the recently divorced Mr. Rushworth.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen? Not as far as I know.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated? No, though someone did translate one of my meta posts from Tumblr. That was cool.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before? Yes, The Marriage Contest with Branch Cloudsky and two with Amelia Marie Logan, Poor Caroline and Inferior Connections. All Pride & Prejudice fics, all funny. (You need an AO3 account for that one, the other two are on my personal website)

14. What’s your all time favourite ship? Catherine Morland & Henry Tilney. They are the only Austen couple I cannot bear to break up.

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will? I am writing a queer retelling of Emma called "Different Ways of Being in Love", where Jane Fairfax and Emma were lovers as teenagers, Jane is bi, Emma is a lesbian, and Mr. Knightley is ace, but I got stuck on the middle part. Someday hopefully!

16. What are your writing strengths? I'm told I write some pretty hilarious farces. I am told I do characterization well, which is my main goal when writing fan fiction. I try to stick as close to canon as possible.

17. What are your writing weaknesses? I don't write enough filler or develop things well enough. I like writing action.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic? I would possibly try my hand at French, but probably never. I also have a lot of trouble reading accented speech (looking at you Wuthering Heights), so I'd probably never write it.

19. First fandom you wrote for? I am fairly certain I started writing a fix-it fic for Nineteen Eighty-Four after I read it in high school. Not sure I would be able to locate it but it did exist. The first since I started writing again was a sequel to Pride & Prejudice.

20. Favourite fic you’ve written? Probably Unfairly Caught (my other published work) or The Fourth Bennet Sister. I NEEDED to write a Mansfield Park fic because I hate the ending, so it fixed my dissatisfied feelings. My goal is to edit The Fourth Bennet Sister and get it published sometime this year.

@wurzelbertzwerg, @kehlana-wolhamonao3 and @bad-at-names-and-faces

#tag game #personal #fan fiction #jane austen fan fiction #of course all my highest kudos works are P&P

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bunni-v1 · 2 months ago

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Cureé

Chapter 6: Strength Previous Chapter || Next Chapter Tw: None (I think!) Info: Rook x Reader; Jamil x Reader; Kalim x Reader Word Count: 4.6k Words

🍓Finally I finished and edited chapter 6!!! Yaya!!! Ugh this took too long. I have zero time to get anything done, I apologize. I'm typing this up during class rn so I hope I don't fuck up and miss anything.

Taglist: @kitsun369 @bloomstruck @squidsailing @roseinbloom02 @savanaclaw1996 @agaygothicmushroom @chloemari-e @qmabailor(Lmk if you want to be added or removed)

You gave Leona and Riddle a half-assed excuse, ‘so very tired’, and neither of them is bothered to protest. Riddle does insist on walking you back, but you manage to weasel your way out of that with a few well-placed lies. You sneak your way to a little nook hidden behind some pretty maple trees in the garden.

You and your brother used to retreat here when you wanted to hide away from the scary governmental figures or simply didn’t want to be bothered. Your mother would always come to find you and hide away until your father scolded all three of you for messing around too much. You press your fingers against a loose stone, and it pops out clean and easy. It reveals a small hole within the castle wall, one that your mother had used to store her hunting gear.

It wasn’t exactly a secret, not to your family at least, but it was good for keeping important things concealed. Your brother had stopped coming here when your parents passed, leaving it to be yours and yours alone. Not that you had much use for it anymore either, until now. You’d hidden that pretty staff in there a few days ago along with the bow Epel had gifted you, and your warmest cloak. You pull the items out, appreciating each for a moment, then begin work on your god-awful dress.

First, the ruffly, pastry-esque dress, which comes off easily. The sleeves give you trouble, but not nearly as much as the corset that is suffocating your ribcage. It takes you a few miserable tries to get the knotted bow undone on the wretched thing, but once you do you feel your midsection deflate. Goodness your ribs hurt, you don’t get how your brother does this every day.

The extra petticoat and crinoline are easy, and all that is left is a newly fitted pair of pants and a loose poet shirt with the sleeves cut off. Not the best for hunting, but… you weren’t hunting, so it would work. It was better than the dress.

You fight the dress into the little hole, and with the patience of a saint, you carefully slide the stone back into its place. On the fourth try. Still, it's done, so you give yourself a pat on the back and arrange your other items comfortably across your body. As you emerge from the trees, you peek at the clock. Luckily, it's only half past midnight, but… you are still late. Hopefully, Rook would be kind enough to dismiss your transgression.

You had no way to let him know you had other things going on tonight, but you were a princess so it should be obvious.

You tip-toe across the palace ground, narrowly dodging a few rotating guards, and finally, you are at your meeting spot. Before Rook, unless he gave up waiting for you. You scoff, what a silly idea. He’s too much of an oddball to give up after a bit of waiting.

This exit is the closest to the forest. It's the same one you and Epel used the night everything got all… messed up. You frown at the vast expanse of trees in front of you. They used to be so inviting – a symbol of freedom. Now they were so scary. There was so much uncertainty surrounding the thing you’d seen in there, and now all you felt when you looked into their branches was confusion.

You’d never gotten lost in that forest, but boy did you feel like you were now.

You bite the inside of your cheek, looking down at the staff in your hand. You still weren’t sure if this was a good idea, honestly, you doubted it was. Despite the adamant support of your friends and the small leads you’d gotten that motivated you, there was a fear that this was not the right path. If you hadn’t gone into the forest that night, you would’ve remained none-the-wiser about all of this. Vil probably would’ve solved it by himself, albeit probably very underhandedly, and you would be happy. At least… you think you would be.

Something settles on your head, making you jump. You look up to an arm and follow it back to the sly smile that does something unfair to your heart.

“Pourquoi si triste?” You tilt your head a little, and he steps closer, “Your heart is aching, I can see it in your eyes. What is worrying you so?”

“Not even hello?” you try to joke, but his everpresent smile doesn’t let up, “I’ve never disobeyed my brother like this. Not to this extent. What if I’m doing the wrong thing?”

He ‘tsks’ at you, like you’re a child, wagging his finger disapprovingly, “That’s not an attitude to have, Amour.”

“Could you at least try and see it from my perspective?” You plead, “I’ve spent my whole life doing as I was told, and this is scary.”

He grins at your words, it is somehow still reassuring, “Fear is what makes us grow. Fear brings about much needed change. La peur est le pouvoir.”

“Oh.” You couldn’t argue with that.

He nods his head further from the exit, taking your hands in his and leading you away into the forest. You feel a bit like Romeo and Juliet, though, contextually this is quite different. Still, you are forbidden lovers (could you call him your lover?) sneaking away in the dead of night. You do hope neither of you die tragically, though.

His sharp green eyes, which should be dangerous, ground you from any fear you’d been having about the trees. His hands a physical tether to reality so you do not lose yourself to your overwhelming thoughts. Before you know it, the two of you are at a small clearing, different from the one you and Epel usually use. This one is significantly more oblong and more untouched by mankind.

“So. Magic.” You say after gathering your bearings.

“Yes,” he responds cheerily, “before we begin, have you ever performed any spells at all? Even if it was something small like a levitation spell.”

You nod, “I don’t remember what I was being taught, but I think I used to be able to do very basic spells.”

“May I ask how old you were?” He continues.

“I think… six? Maybe seven?” You answer honestly.

“A very long time,” he hums, “you’ve forgotten most of what you’ve learned.”

“All.” You correct with a laugh. “Sorry, you’ll have to be patient with me.”

He eyes you, and you can’t tell what he’s thinking, but you know it must be mischievous by his response. “More time together, ma belle.”

You manage to fight back the flush that takes over your face and wave your wand menacingly in his direction, forcing the distance you need to calm down. He holds his hands up in defense, still smiling. He was always smiling.

“You brought your staff,” he hums approvingly as if he hadn’t told you to bring it.

“I need it, do I not?” You probe.

“Not necessarily,” he admits with a shake of his head, “performing magic works with or without the wand, but many magicians find it easier to do their jobs when channeling magic through the gems.”

You blink. The gem? You thought all of those were decorative. However, there would be no reason for all wands and staves to have them if that were the case. Still, if it were just the gems, why did you see so many wands and not nearly as many accessories with the gems at the centerpiece? It would be far more efficient, and significantly more pretty. Not to mention easy to hide.

“Think of it like fire,” he continues, “Fire needs a second source to grow strong. It cannot spread unless there is something for it to feed off. In this case, magic is the fire and the gem is the fuel.”

“If that's the case, then how are we able to perform magic without the gem,” you question, face scrunching up in scrutiny.

He finds it cute, judging from his laugh, and explains, “The gem acts as a fuel and a filter. It creates a more steady, controllable stream of magic that's stronger than that created with the bare hands.”

“Like… using a magnifying glass to bend the sunlight?” You try, smiling when he nods approvingly.

“Exactly like that,” he pats your head, and you press him away again with the pointed end of your staff, “Outil. Something we use to make things easier on ourselves.”

It makes sense that even something as fantastical as magic has rules and boundaries. While it is, quite literally, something that is wild it is natural in this world. As a natural product of your world, it must also follow the logic that Twisted Wonderland has pre-established. Magic is not some distant, terrible thing that intends to harm you. It is a discipline, just like history or horse riding.

“So, where do we begin,” you ask, staring at the gem cradled so carefully in the cat's paws, “Is it something we have to build up for?”

“We will start with what feels right,” you cock an eyebrow at him, crossing your arms unimpressed, but he doubles down, “Somethings are easy for some people but difficult for others. Magic is all about doing what feels best for you.”

You flex your jaw as you think, “Like… how some hunters prefer newer guns or crossbows, but others prefer longbows?”

“Precisely, you are very good with analogies, Princess.” He compliments sweet as honey.

“I read a lot. Anyway, how about… a light spell? That seems like a simple one.”

He hums, moving to position himself behind you. He is somehow warmer than Riddle was, possibly because of the cloak, and significantly larger. He easily rests his chin atop your shoulder as he guides the hand with the staff up and out a few feet away from you.

“Visualize the light coming from the staff,” he commands.

You do as he says, closing your eyes and trying your best to visualize the light in your mind. You can see it, the gem sparkling, and then white light glimmering from between the cat's paws, illuminating the area. You pry open an eye, and there is no light, just your staff pointing up at the sky uselessly.

You nearly give up, but Rook wraps his hand around yours and gives it three gentle taps. You glance up at him, then look back in determination. Maybe closing your eyes wasn’t the call. You muster up the mental image in your head, glaring hard at the gem. There is a tingle in your fingertips after a long moment, and then the tiniest glimmer of light shines.

It’s not even enough to illuminate the area, only the little cat itself, but pride still swells in your chest. You did it. You can do magic. Rook’s arms wrap around you to clap, jovially singing praises. A bit of an overreaction, but you appreciate it nonetheless.

“It was hardly a spark,” you scoff, despite how excited you are.

“Most beginners can hardly handle that! You did it in one try. You’re a natural.” He’s practically serenading you, not that you’re complaining.

You have to shove yourself out of his arms, which are so firmly holding you in place against his chest, to properly ready yourself again. One success doesn’t mean anything in the long term, but it does help get your hopes up.

“Again,” you say, leaving no room for argument.

·┆✦ʚ♡ɞ✦ ┆·

You stay in the forest for another two hours, repeatedly practicing that light spell until you can both consistently use it and the light is bright enough to guide you through the dark. You can only do the ladder one out of five tries, but it’s still progress!

By the time Rook is guiding you out of the forest and up to your room, you are too tired to think. Who knew magic was so… draining? It was like any other use of energy, you supposed, but this felt a bit extreme. You were practically being carried by the sly huntsman up the stony stairs of the castle, not that you had any protests.

He was slick enough to get both of you around without raising alarms, and even if you were caught he could come up with several excuses with that silver tongue of his. Goodness, you really should not trust him, should you?

“Ma Cher, are you alright?” He asks though it's very obvious you are not.

Still, you humor him with a smile, “I am very tired. I did not expect that to take so much energy.”

“Poor thing…” he coos, “allow me to help you.”

You go to question, but he’s already slid his arms under your legs, carrying you princess style. You let out a little yelp, which he hushes with a tap on your thigh. If anyone were to pass by now, it would look like the princess is being kidnapped by a wannabe Robinhood.

“Better?” He asks with all the enthusiasm of a puppy.

You don’t have the energy left to bicker at him, so you sigh, “Much. Thank you, Rook.”

He quietly takes you to the window below your bedroom, the pretty Wisteria climbing up your Trellis a welcoming sight. You had chosen them with your father years ago at the market, and they had been just what you needed to pretty up your favorite spot in the castle. It’s too bad he never got to see them reach the top, he would’ve loved them. Your aching bones are crying for the comfort of your bed, which is so close, but still so far. Just one climb away, but you doubt you could will yourself to do such a thing right now.

You look up to Rook, tilting your head a little, “You don’t mean to make me climb that, do you.”

He smirks, “Of course not. Not in your state. I will climb for the both of us.”

“What.” You say, more of a statement than a question.

Surely he did not mean to tell you he was going to climb up with one free hand. Could he even do such a thing with a person in his arms? You squeak as he adjusts you to be thrown over his shoulder, one arm firmly gripping your legs, and the other climbing up to your balcony. As the ground got further and further away, you became more and more religious, praying that the Seven might have mercy on your weak little heart.

You are jostled and jolted around with each vault up the Trellis, but make it up in one piece. Your heart may have stopped a few times though. When he sets you down inside your room, you place your hand over it and sigh when you feel its thrum against your hand. Calm now, you fixate a glare on him.

“You have no manners,” you scold, arms crossed.

He moves across the room, to your closet, and begins to examine your many nightgowns while ignoring you, “You have many dresses.”

“I’m a princess,” you say as if it was obvious, which it was, “That’s our whole thing.”

He pulls a two set of silken pajamas, your favorite set, out, “You don’t seem to like them much.”

You take the pajamas out of his hands, shove him out, and begin to change. “I do not. Not much, at least.”

“You look beautiful in them,” he compliments, “but you are at your best in your hunting gear.”

You think he means it as a compliment, and you’re not exactly sure what he’s complimenting, but it flatters you regardless, “Thank you. I think so too.”

You smooth over the cool fabric of the pajamas, smiling to yourself. Now these made you feel pretty. They weren’t form fitting, but they weren’t too loose. You felt good, and you felt like you looked good in them. How Rook managed to pick these out was a mystery, but you stepped out and gave him a little spin.

“How do I look in these?” You giggle, facing him.

A wide, almost glowing grin lights up his face, “Magnifique!”

Heat rushes up your face, and you cannot hide your embarrassment, but that doesn’t bother you as much as it should. “Do you like silk, Rook?”

“I do,” he affirms, following you with his eyes as you settle on your bed, “it’s a beautiful fabric. Soft and shimmering.”

“I feel the same way. It makes me feel pretty when I wear it, which is what clothing is meant to do.” You admit, “I wish I could feel this way wearing everything.”

“You are beautiful wearing everything,” he defends as if second nature.

“And you are a flirt,” you laugh, pressing into the plush of your pillows and closing your eyes, “a shameless, strange, admittedly very charming flirt.”

You feel him sit on the opposite of the bed, and you don’t have to see to know he is watching you. The way the hair prickles on the back of your neck is sign enough. This time, though, you do not feel like prey being stalked at dinner. This is… comforting. Like being watched by a guardian angel.

His gentle hands tuck a strand of hair behind your ear, the leather of his gloves rough but comforting all the same. It reminded you, briefly, of your brother coddling you when you were just a little thing. How you missed being just a little thing.

“Rest princesse,” Rook breathes softly as cotton, “you have earned this much.”

Without opening your eyes, you respond with a question, “When will I see you again?”

“I will visit you again in a week,” he assures, fingers trailing over your cheek and leaving goosebumps in their wake.

“I will practice in the meantime,” you finally open your eyes to his adoring smile, “I won’t let you down, I promise you.”

“You have never let me down.” He sighs. You don’t know what that means, or what it implies, or why he would say such a cryptic thing. You are warm and fuzzy inside from it regardless, “Practice with your knights. They will help you.”

You watch him, bewildered, as he moves in a swift motion across the room to the window. You’re not sure how much he knows about you and what happens behind these walls, but you know it’s much more than you’ve told him. It should make you feel sick and gross, but it is nice to be known in the way you know everyone else. It is also nice to not have to know this strange man.

As he perches on your window sill, a familiar sight to you now, you feel an ache in your chest. Is it longing? Desperation, maybe? No, no, this is something else. Its worry. You were worried for him, and you weren’t sure why. You’d seen what he’s capable of – you know what he’s capable of. Still, you can’t help it.

“Be careful,” you call out, voice soft as rain, “please.”

“When have I given you a reason to worry?” he responds with that strange smile of his, and then he is gone from view.

·┆✦ʚ♡ɞ✦ ┆·

The day after the dinner is entirely uneventful, as is the day after that, and then the day after that. It’s all boring proceeding after a tiresome meeting with court officials. Necessary, but entirely too drab. Normally your brother would amuse you, and you him, but since things are tense still that does not happen. It is only on the fourth day that you find yourself interested in something other than your mysterious hunter friend.

Bickering can be heard – well, more like grumbling and gleeful laughing – between the columns of the lower level of the castle. Bored out of your mind, Ace and Deuce are too busy with something involving Riddle, and Epel is still unable to visit you between his workload you decide being nosy is the best option.

You peak your head around the corner where you hear the commotion, and laugh at the sight. Kalim and his ‘friend’ (servant) Jamil are arguing about Sevens knows. Your little giggle reveals your position and startles the two men, both whipping their heads around to look at you, like terrified deer.

Kalim relaxes into a bright grin when he sees you, stopping his (unintentional) antagonizing to wave and bound over to you. He doesn’t see the glare Jamil levels on him, but he never does. You give Jamil an apologetic smile, which only earns you a glare of your own.

Unlike Kalim, Jamil was not kind. He was rather selfish and cruel, caring more about others' perceptions of him than anything else. Though, you would likely be the same way if your family was on the line. More than that, he hated the ruling class – not that you could blame him. Needless to say, he did not like you when you first met, but you think you can call him a friend now. You’d spent many late nights of Kalim’s visits up talking with him about how broken things were across the lands. He was smart, a nice match to your wit. You think he feels the same.

Kalim pulls you into a tight hug, something he hasn’t had the time to do since arriving. You wrap your arms around him too, sighing at the physical affection. Kalim was, among the other future rulers, your dearest friend. Unlike Jamil, you didn’t have to question that, and unlike your other suitors, you knew that he had no hidden motive. He was Kalim, your friend, and that was all he or you needed or wanted.

“It’s good to finally see you, Kalim,” you say as he pulls away, “and you too Jamil. I didn’t know you came with.”

“I’ve been busy herding people around,” Jamil groans, approaching, “Your brother loves free workers.”

“You look tired,” Kalim worries, ignoring Jamil’s complaints as always. You have no idea how Jamil puts up with that.

“I am tired,” you confirm, “I’ve been very busy the past few weeks, this is my first free day.”

“We’ve heard,” Jamil says dryly, “your birthday outburst was a sight to behold.”

You sigh, “I think my reaction was reasonable enough.”

“I’d be pretty scared if Malleus Draconia just… approached me like that,” Kalim admits while rubbing his neck, “especially if he were claiming me as his significant other. I probably wouldn’t have, y’know, yelled at him though.”

“The yelling was so I wouldn’t cry,” you admit, “I was just so heated.”

“Well, it’s over now,” Jamil states with finality, “he hasn’t bothered you since, right?”

“Thank the Seven,” you laugh, “I don’t know if I could keep myself together if he claims me as his partner again.”

“At least you’d live a cushy life with him. Anything you want, probably tons of delicious food,” Kalim muses, “I wonder what kind of food they have in the Valley of Thorns…”

“I’d rather not find out, thanks.” You chuckle, “What are the two of you up to, though? Anything fun?”

“No,” Jamil answers dryly, “We’ve done everything there is to do already, there’s no fun left here.”

“Imagine living here then,” you huff.

“No thank you,” Jamil responds quickly, “I’d rather not be around your brother more than necessary.”

Kalim frowns, clearly in disagreement, “Vil isn’t so bad. He’s just… uptight.”

“And pushy,” Jamil adds coldly.

“Reminds me a bit of a friend of mine…” You muse with a smile, eyes glancing over Kalim.

It takes him a second to get the hint, but once he does, he visibly flusters. “I’m not that bad!”

“So you admit Vil is bad,” Jamil smirks.

You can tell Kalim can’t handle the teasing, so you pat him on the back lightly. He takes it all well, smiling as though it never happened. You missed them quite a bit, not having seen them since Kalim’s last birthday party. Even then, he was so busy entertaining others, that you were mostly alone with your brother the whole time.

“I can’t believe it’s been so long,” you sigh.

Jamil raises an eyebrow, but Kalim is the one to ask, “So long since what?”

“Since we’ve talked like this,” you force out, throwing your hands up, “It felt like we were all strangers for a while.”

“We’re not little kids anymore,” Jamil answers, ever the cynic he is, never one to wistfully long for the old days. Not that they were too pleasant for him. “We’ve all got responsibilities now, there's no time to sit and talk anymore.”

“It’s nice to do that sometimes, though.” Kalim argues, “It’s okay to take breaks and catch up with friends, so long as you still get things done.”

You nod along, but you doubt Jamil feels the same way. He’s not allotted the same things as both you and Kalim, whether or not Kalim notices this fact. “You are right, but not everyone is afforded that grace. I know my townspeople aren’t, at least very rarely. We’re very privileged to be allowed to complain about this at all.”

The look on their faces is nearly unreadable, and you feel a little worried you’d upset them, but Kalim grins that sweet grin of his. Bright as sun. “Your people are lucky to have someone like you.”

“No. I’m nothing special,” you dismiss, “You are a blessing to your people. Everyone in the Scalding Sands speaks so fondly of you, I wish I could be adored like that.”

“Y’know, I used to wish I was half as considerate as you are,” he starts, “but then I just wouldn’t be me. We all have our strengths and weaknesses, and as much as my people love me, I know I’m kinda oblivious and selfish without trying. That doesn’t change the fact that I’m beloved, it just makes me flawed, and that's okay too.”

“Woah,” you say surprised. Kalim waxing poetry was not common, in fact, it never happens. He hates poetry, “Where did you get that from?”

Jamil throws his hands up, “Wasn’t from me.”

“Surely not,” you roll your eyes, “you’re not the kind to forgive flaws in others.”

He scowls at you, but makes no move to deny that fact.

“What I’m saying is,” Kalim laughs, taking your hands in his. They are warm like summer days spent rolling around in flower fields and jumping into creeks, “You should stop comparing yourself to everyone else here. You’re amazing. I mean, that speech you gave at dinner was- Even Leona seemed impressed!”

“Thank you, Kalim,” you say, genuinely thankful to hear it.

“If you two are finished courting each other,” Jamil interrupts, “Kalim is due to a meeting with some traders from the Scalding Sands in about an hour. If we want to be there in time, we’ll have to leave now.”

“Awwww,” Kalim whines, slumping over like a child, “do we have to.”

“It’s important. Your father will have my head if I don’t get on you about it.”

“But I want to talk with the Princess longer,” he continues to argue, which makes you smile a little too wide.

“Go, it’s important,” you urge, “you’ll be here a while longer, so we can talk other times.”

He pouts at you but doesn’t argue further, reluctantly allowing Jamil to pull him along. You give him a little wave, and Jamil a thumbs up, though he doesn’t seem to appreciate the gesture.

As you watch them, you consider what Kalim said about you carefully. You had been feeling so helpless recently with everything on your plate, but you were not weak in the slightest. You would just have to readjust those strengths to work in your favor now. You’d already begun to do so, negotiating with Riddle and Leona, sneaking around with Rook, and researching with Ace and Deuce.

Perhaps you were less helpless than you thought you were. That was scarier than being helpless.

#twst #twisted wonderland #twst x reader #twisted wonderland x reader #x reader #bunni's treats 🧁#rook hunt #rook hunt x reader #jamil x reader #kalim x reader #kalim al asim #jamil viper #cureé

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stellar-constellations · 5 months ago

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Hey! I'm not a very active user here, but I wanted to check in with the yandere shinso au a few days ago and haven't been able to find it. Has it been discontinued? If it was, i couldn't find any post saying that it was

Oh, you're right! I completely forgot to post that announcement. I thought I did, but knowing me I probably had a dream of writing it and I thought I posted it when in reality I didn't... Silly me!

Yes, the Bound Together series has been discontinued and deleted for a multitude of reasons.

One; I feel like it was very cringy. I kept looking back at the work and I couldn't feel myself enjoying it. I knew I could do better, and that series just wasn't cutting it.

Two; It was originally a self-insert. I started writing, I've written hundred-thousands of fanfics I did for fun, which is how I discovered I liked writing. In fact, An Alliance was actually a self-insert too, when it got to 60,000 words was when I decided to post it to the internet (after editing all the exclusive facts of me and my appearance).

The difference between An Alliance and Bound Together was that An Alliance had a completely different (Y/N), one that was made of pure fiction; whilst Bound Together felt extremely exclusive and I felt it didn't relate to other readers since it was originally a self-insert series beforehand.

Three; I had no motivation for the series. It felt like I was constantly at a writer's block with it, and it felt like there wasn't much to write or try to plot-out since it was so exclusive. It was stuck in its own little box that it made it hard to try and branch out.

Four; I actually bumped into many obstacles because I didn't actually watch or readMHA! Trust me, I tried so damn hard (I tried watching the series on three separate occasions throughout the years, and I also tried reading the manga but I just couldn't like the series). Honestly, I hated the protagonist and couldn't find myself enjoying the series plots or ideas, the anime just felt forced to me. So because I never liked the anime or manga, I never had a full grasp on Shinso's personality; I only knew the basics and that made it difficult to write.

The reason why I even wrote for Shinso was because he was a relaxed, semi-realist/pessimist, and a sleepy boy (don't judge me, I have a type). Personally, I like slowburn relationships with lots of quality time and just enjoying each other's company, not much romance honestly, so it also projected into that series and made it even harder to try and relate to the audacity (basically like reason two).

I write for characters I actually simp for, that way I can be motivated and so I can actually enjoy writing. I would rather lick gum off people's shoes for a living than EVER IN MY LIFE write for Toji, so I just need to like the character to write them.

So yeah! That's my reasons for canceling the series. Hopefully, all of my stars orbiting my galaxy will understand my reasonings. I'm not going to even try lying, it's best not to look to me redoing the series because I seriously doubt I will. After that fiasco, I decided to update my masterlist to only anime I've watched or mostly watched, that way I could have an easier time writing and you all will have an easier time reading! Thank you for this question, and I'm glad you reminded me about this!

This is my new and improved masterlist if you want to check it out. Please be aware, requests are not my top priority. My top priority is myself (because good work is only when you're in a good state of mind and body. Don't destroy yourself for random people on the internet) My second priority finishing Star Patient, listening to my reader's opinions and ideas for the plot and characters, and answering questions. Anything else is third priority.

#stellar constellations #update #shinsou hitoshi #hitoshi shinso x reader #shinsou x reader #silly me forgetting to post this...

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linghxr · 2 years ago

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What I’m watching (cdrama edition)

I don’t really talk about cdramas on this blog except for this one ask I responded to over 1 1/2 years ago. I’ve been branching out and watching more Chinese-language shows lately, so I thought I’d share what I’ve been watching.

Already watched:

《想见你》 Someday or One Day Unless I’m forgetting something, this was the first Chinese-language show I ever finished (I previously started but abandoned a few others). It’s a love story but also a mystery and kind of a time travel story, so it really has something for everyone. I am not a romance fan, but I ended up crying over the relationship. I was somewhat disappointed by the movie version, which only made me think more highly of the show honestly.

《开端》 Reset I couldn’t watch this show late at night because it really got my adrenaline pumping, and I just couldn’t turn it off! If you want a show that that will have you on the edge of your seat but also has a more human side, then definitely check this out. The characters were very memorable, and the show was the perfect length in my opinion. I think this show deserved all the hype it got.

《流星花园》（2018） Meteor Garden (2018) I decided to check this out because I’ve seen a lot of reference to Meteor Garden over the years. I chose the 2018 version because I could not bring myself to look at 2001 hairstyles. This show starts out as kind of an enemies-to-lovers story but then shifts to just a romance story. My interest waned a bit by the second half—I think they should have kept it under 40 episodes. I also didn’t really care for the subplots involving the secondary characters.

《摇滚狂花》 Rock it, Mom This was a very short drama and a quick watch. It’s about a has-been rock singer reuniting with her estranged daughter. At first, it felt fresh and interesting, but it got old fast. I felt like the characters didn’t have much growth or development. I also found the ending to be unsatisfying.

Currently watching:

《消失的孩子》 The Disappearing Child I've been watching this show gradually with my friends, and we’re almost done! We’re all really enjoying it. As the name suggests, there is a child who disappears, but there’s also two other storylines involved. We were going crazy trying to guess how the three would connect. Now that the plotlines are starting to converge, the payoff is insane. This show will hook you instantly but also keep you on your toes.

《猎罪图鉴》 Under the Skin I am about 1/3 through this show, which I’m watching...with my dad! It follows an artist working as a police sketch artist and a police detective, both of who are haunted by a past murder that connects them. I don’t think this show is very realistic, and it’s also hard to follow at times, but I’m looking forward to seeing where it goes.

《你安全吗？》 Are You Safe? I watched the first few episodes of this show but then stopped because I was watching too many shows at once. I’m determined to at least give it another go. So far it’s about a man who works as a technology consultant/vigilante hacker(?). I’m not sure where it’s going because frankly I don’t remember what has happened so far.

《她和她的她》 Shards of Her I literally just started this show, so I don’t even really know what it’s about or what will happen. But it looked interesting, and I heard it was good.

On my radar/watchlist:

《隐秘的角落》 The Bad Kids

《沉默的真相》 The Long Night

《狂飙》 The Knockout

《摩天大楼》 A Murderous Affair in Horizon Tower (shoutout to @liu-anhuaming)

《回来的女儿》 Homesick

As you may have noticed, I’m mostly interested in short mystery/crime shows. Police lingo is difficult for me to understand, but hopefully I will improve as I watch more shows!

#cdrama #cdramas #my watchlist

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cutelittleriot · 10 months ago

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Return to origin chapter 9

Branch wakes up to Poppy groaning in pain. He knew it was only a matter of time before he would hear it and he is prepared and ready to help.

Heading over to his girlfriends sleeping bag he gently picks her up and brings her over to his bed and covers her up it's better to lay on something soft for when your in pain.

"Thanks Branch" Poppy says trying to smile at him before groaning. He heads over and gets the ice pack along with some berries and herbs that help reduce pain. Mixing them together he makes a mixture for her to drink.

"Here drink this it will help ease the pain" He says holding out a spoon for her to drink from. She smells it and grimaces. "Ugh why does it have to smell like that?" She grimaces before quickly swallowing it but it was obvious it tasted horrible.

He goes over and grabs the ice packs he had prepared and lays them on her legs,she jolts a bit from the cold at first but soon relaxes. "Thanks Branch really I mean it" She says giving her signature overbite that he loves and her fangs make him love her even more even though he though that wasn't possible but then again you can never love someone too much.

"I'm going back to sleep haven't been able to sleep well for a couple hours" Poppy says turning over in her bed. "I will be close by if you need me just call alright?" He says and she nods before closing her eyes and he quietly leaves the room.

He has around until lunch before the claws come in if his math is right so he needs to prepare. He could make that soup again it's simple but tasty and good for a person who can't exactly leave their bed at the moment.

Nodding he heads to his kitchen and begins to make himself some breakfast along with prepping the ingredients for the soup. He has himself a simple breakfast. After filling himself up he puts the ingredients in the pot and sets it to slow simmer to really bring out the flavor and so it would be ready near lunch.

After finishing up and cleaning up the mess he suddenly comes to a realization. Since waking up nothing hurts. Nothing felt weird well other than having a new appendage in the form of a tail but not like how it was yesterday. He felt completely fine.

"Is......is the transformation complete?" He asks himself. Giving himself a onceover maybe two or three times more just to be safe he was the same as he was as when he went to bed last night. No other new appendages, no pains,no aches nothing.

He wants to laugh,it's over this utter nightmare of a week is over. That means after today Poppy only has one more stage and then she is done. She can finally leave his bunker becuase he knows what she is like when stuck in one place for too long it's just not in her nature unlike him.

He just wonders how the other trolls are going to react to them. He knows he is probably overthinking and they are some of the most accepting trolls out there but still there is always that little thought in the back of his mind, if they could forgive and accept the bergens they can accept him.....hopefully.

Shaking his head and ridding himself of those thoughts for now he decides on what to do while waiting for the soup to finish cooking. He could hear Poppy was still asleep and wasn't in pain at the moment so that's good any second where she isn't in pain is good.

He let's his mind wonder on what to do when one rears its head. When he went out the other day he tried walking,well standing on all fours and when he did he remembered it felt wrong almost like something was missing. Maybe now since this transformation seems to be complete maybe he can try again.

Looking at his paws,his new legs and his tail he sighs and first tried the same position he did when he went out. To his surprise it felt.... good, better than last time because of the pawpads on his feet. He begins to walk a bit and to his surprise he felt fine,nothing set wrong or missing like last time. His tail swaying as he walked as if to help him keep his balance.

To be honest he sort of....liked walking like this....he really hopes this isn't just some sort of instinct that was telling him this.

He still preffered to walk on 2 legs but he might start doing this when he is alone,or out scavenging or collecting stuff for his bunker. Getting back up he decides to head to his bathroom. He needs to take a look at himself again.

Heading to the bathroom he closes his eyes before reopening them as he takes in his reflection. He looks himself again in the mirror taking a good long look at himself. He places a paw on the mirror and smiles.Even with all of his new features you could easily tell it was him. He wasn't unrecognizable like he thought he was going to be.

Despite everything that happened he was still himself.

After taking one last look at himself he heads out. He decides to finish working on the book now that the transformation is seemingly complete. Grabbing it he takes a seat on his couch only to wince as he sat on his tail. "Right have to get used to this thing,that means I can't sit the way I used to anymore" He complains as be adjusts himself,this tail was going to take some getting used to.

As if knowing that he was complaining the tail thumps on the couch. Glaring at his tail he gets back to writing. Now that he has all his data he can really get to work. He is at it for a few hours up until near lunchtime. Just enough time to give Poppy her lunch and then prepare for her claws to come in.

He decides to put away the book in a drawer near his workbench and head back to the kitchen. The soup is just about done so he decides to go check on Poppy and he can tell that she is starting to wake up.

"Hey Poppy how are you doing?" He asks even though he knows she is pain it's still good to ask. "Hurting but I'm doing alright for now,though I can tell its almost time for these claws to come out I just want them out already " She complains to him.

He places his paw in hers "Don't worry it's almost time until then how about I get you some soup? I made more of the one we had a few days ago" he suggests and she nods happily as she really did enjoy it.

Going to the kitchen real quick he quickly returns with a bowl of hot soup and it smells absolutely delicious. "Mmmmm that smells so good" Poppy says as she takes the bowl from him. His tail wags at the compliment but he ignores it. "You know Poppy I can feed you if you need me to,not that you aren't capable I'm just offering!" He says trying to explain himself.

She just laughs at her boyfriend being his usual self "Its ok Branch I understand what you mean. I'm fine for now really but thank you for offering" She says happily enjoying her soup.

"So I got some good news for us after your tail grows in I am 99.9 percent sure that will be the final stage after that it will be complete" He says excited. She looks up at him her eyes gleeful "Really? Are you sure?! She asks hopeful she has been getting just a bit stir crazy and she can't wait to get outside to see her friends again. She has no idea how Branch stayed in his bunker so much but then again she didn't go through what he went through when he was younger.

"Yep pretty sure I checked myself over and nothing hurts, nothing new is growing, nothing feels weird, I feel completely fine" He says gesturing to himself. "Alright! Only one more day to go and then we are out of here!" Poppy exclaims excited she wishes she could get up and express herself more but she knows better than to do that with the current state of her legs.

"Yep its almost over" Branch says having gotten over his excitement a while ago but is still happy for his girlfriend. She soon finished the soup but doesn't ask for seconds she doesn't want to loose her lunch on accident when her claws come in. She certainly lost hers when she saw......it happening so she wants to be safe.

Branch takes the empty bowl back to the kitchen when his ears shoot up in alarm as he hears Poppys breath hitches and he quickly runs back to his room almost running on all fours as he makes it back quickly.

"Are you ok Poppy are your claws coming out?!" He frantically asks. "No but it's just about time I can feel it" She says wincing. He nods and grabs the paper towels ready at a moments notice. She chuckles at how attentive he is being right now,how did she get so lucky? She asks herself that all the time.

While waiting the two decide to play some card games to pass the time but not long into the second game her breath hitches as she yelps in pain. "Its time!" She yells as she grabs her scratching board gripping it tightly with her claws.

Branch nods and gently pulls back the overs and right before his very eyes in a matter of seconds small white claws rip out of the slits that were on her paws dripping with blood. Quickly he cleans them off and they quickly retract back into her feet. While cleaning he sees that her feet are close to being the same shade of pink as her paws.

"There we go it's done" He tells her and she sighs. The easy one was done now they wait for the part they were dreading the most. "Wow that hurt alot, I can only imagine what's coming next" Poppy says slightly panting from the pain. "Yeah there is no true way I can describe it it was just pure pain for me agonizing pain" Branch winces at the memory of it and the sounds of his screams.....he didn't even know he could scream that loud.

"So what do you want to do now? Do you want to finish playing out game or....." Branch trails off awkwardly. "Hmmm oooh how about we finish our game and then I can go back to my scrapbook! I'm almost done I'm on the last chapter" She tells him but he just looks concerned.

"Are you sure your up to scrapbook with....you know this?" He gestures to her legs. "Yep don't worry I will stop when it gets to be too much" She explains but that didn't lessen his concerns much but relents and gives her the scrapbook along with the materials.

She goes to show him what she has done so far and he has to admit that it looks good and not overly violent. Like with the fangs stage she made it to where your teeth just comically fall out not mentioning pain at all and there isn't any blood to be seen. She doesn't show anything violent with the claws and just that they grew from your paws and she even managed to make the leg transformation not as bad.

For the next few hours she continues to scrapbook as he watches beside her content to just watch her do the thing she loves to do. His tail swaying in happiness at the tranquillity of the scene he even purred a few times when she pets one of his ears every once in a while.

Though he could tell the pain was getting to her as her wincing became more and more frequent,she would take longer breaks before going back but before long she can't scrapbook anymore and has to stop. He quickly puts away the materials and turns back to Poppy who is panting more often. It was almost time,his heart is pounding like absolute crazy at the moment. Quadruple checking making sure everything is ready for the inevitable.

He keeps pacing back and forth as he continues to rub his hands together, it was his sort of nervous habit as his tail keeps twitching showing just how concerned he was getting. "Branch" Poppy calls for him and he has never run so fast. "Is it time?! I will get the-" "No no it's not that" She tells him stopping him in his tracks as he tilts his head confused.

"Branch it's ok you went through this remember? We know what to prepare for we have everything we need right here we just need to be patient and wait that's all we can do" She says gently grabbing his paw and he nods.

He sits beside her and the intervals between her groans and winces were getting shorter and shorter. "Branch I think it's time we use that gag before it's too late" Poppy says before yelping. He nods and quickly gravity and wraps it around her mouth as she bites down. She gives a muffled thank you before turning her head sideways wincing again.

It's almost time he can feel it in his bones. He hands her the scratching board and she quickly begins to scratch at it trying to release some of the stress she is having right now.

With nothing to do but what he lays his head on the bed beside her she tries to stroke his hair but every minute or so she winces and when she does ends up grabbing his hair on accident. Only maybe a half hour passes before he hears her breath hitch as her grip on her scratching board tightens so hard he thinks its going to break, and begins to scream.

Even through the makeshift gag it was still pretty loud. Twisting and turning her head like crazy as she continues to scream as tears come out of her eyes. He can't stand seeing his girlfriend in such pain but it has to happen and there's nothing he can do to help.

*Crack*

*Snap*

*Pop*

*Crunch*

His ears pin back against his head. When he heard it it wasn't as loud due to his screaming but here he can hear it in all of its horrifying glory. Gulping at what he was about to see he lifts the covers and stares.

Just like what happened to him he witnesses Poppy's legs rearrange themselves and change shape all the while making those sounds. He has no idea how Poppy didn't pass out seeing this. He wants to throw up he really does but he can't he needs to be here for her.

After what seems like forever when in reality it was only 2 minutes her legs finally become the same digigrade shape as his and the sounds stop as does Poppy's screaming.

Going over to her he removes the gag from her "Is it.....finally.....over?" She asks while panting hard. "Yep its done no more pain the worst part is over" He reassures her and she smiles before soon falling asleep from the stress and adrenaline.

Now that the worst part is over he removes everything he had put in here for this situation and begins to put them away. All the while doing that he has to agree with Poppy. He doesn't know if he will ever be able to froget what he witnessed let alone heard.

He manages to hold in his lunch thankfully but only barely. He surely hopes nobody else eats that fruit,he doesn't want to wish that upon any troll. Shaking his head after making sure was back to its proper place he heads back into his room and he is going to have her leep in his bed tonight, she needs it and he can go one day without his bed besides he can just use her sleeping bag.

Quickly doing his nightly routine he turns off the light and lays down in her sleeping bag.

'One more day and then it's all over no more pain' with that final thought he falls asleep.

Bonus

I did each stage of branchs transformation enjoy I drew what his claws looked like unsheathed for those curious.

Can't wait to show you guys what Poppy looks like next chapter so excited :D

#trolls #trolls 2 #trolls 3 #branch #poppy #broppy #return to origin

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beauty-and-passion · 11 months ago

Note

Just wanted to say that I've been a long-time fan of yours, since before PoF, and your analyses were some of the most well-thought out, nuanced and well-researched pieces on the site (my favorites are the playlist analyses they're like my comfort ones lmao). Even tho I've drifted away from the fandom, I still check back in here every now and again to see what's going on. Whilst I love ur series, I do think it's sad you've had to give urself that closure, which is one of my biggest hang-ups with this series. This painful, slow decline where SaSi drags on and on, losing all its momentum & fans and ending with a quiet sizzle rather than a bang as it should, is the worst way to end a series that touched so many people, including me. Tbh, if Thomas is going to use his ever-patient SaSi fans to milk views and money for his other series, he owes it to them to at least finish it properly. He owes his fans a lot of things, and a S2 finale is the main one, you can't milk SaSi for views and not create an episode for 2 years, you can't have your cake and eat it too. Don't want to do it anymore? Cut it, end it, so people can finally move on. The decline of SaSi has been one of the saddest things to witness, but I'm glad you're branching out into other things (tbh kudos for making it this long) and I'll stick around anyway even if ur analyses aren't SaSi because I don't read them for the content, but for the captivating way you write :)

Oh no, compliments! My only weakness!

But seriously, it's beautiful to feel so appreciated and I thank you a lot for that. I am glad you enjoy my analyses so much and it makes me very happy to know they have a good use. If they can help someone feel better, then I will keep writing them until the end of time - no, you can't take back your words now, they will come and be stupidly long because I love to ramble about stuff I like :P

Your words about SaSi are perfectly understandable and I agree with everything you say. It's really a shame that this series is slowly declining and it probably won’t end up like a bang, as it deserved.

Sure, Thomas explained a lot of things and it's now a bit clearer why this happened. However, this doesn't take away from the fact that the organization is pitiful and the lack of communication shouldn't have happened at all, not in a competent team. There are definitely issues and I hope Thomas will work on them as soon as possible, because they can affect his future projects too.

I felt we were going in this direction and I was growing frustrated. So, I did what I do every time there is something I don't like: I try to fix it, even if just for myself. And that's what I did with FSS3. I wanted to see these threads close in a satisfying way, I wanted to see the themes I care about being developed as they deserve. I wanted to give these characters a mature development, because I deeply love them and I deeply love the concept and the possibilities of Sanders Sides.

So, I put my ideas down - with the help of all the people who contributed to the survey. And now, I feel much more satisfied. I know FSS3 isn’t canon, but it’s as close to canon as possible - and, hopefully, will keep being like that for some time too. It’s something I wanted and needed and I’m glad people appreciated it and felt it was good for them too.

And now, I will gladly branch into other stuff. I need to do a bit of a makeover on the blog and expand the “not SaSi” section, first. Then I already have three series I want to talk about and one will be very long, so it might take a lot of time. And then Eurovision will come in May and the Book of Bill will come out in June and maybe I will also talk about the books I love in the future? Or about other series I follow and enjoy? I still don’t know, but be sure I won’t run out of things to talk about. I just wish my ramblings will be worthy of your time and I will keep deserving your appreciation, no matter what I’ll talk about <3

#sanders sides #ask #FSS3 #thomas sanders #future projects #it warms my heart to know people would still follow me #I will do my best to deserve your time #it's the bare minimum

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feeling-pushy · 6 months ago

Text

The Three Amigos

Recently added a new character to my "Creature Apocalypse" story. A friend for both Montanha and the old Rosie (and also future lover for Montanha >.>) anyways I hope you guys like it! Fallow me on my BlueSky Account to know more about the characters I've mentioned!

“And where did you say you learned this?” asked Rosie as she watched her older friend fiddle with some sticks and a looped wire.

“Wikihow. I googled a bunch of stuff, before the internet went out and screen shot a bunch of how-to's.” Montanha explains as he finishes setting up his little trap. Two sticks were staked into the earth, parallel to each other. One stick was bigger than the other and had a hole in it so a bit of wire could be threaded through and tied around it. The rest of the wire was looped around on itself and resting on the smaller of the two sticks. It was made in a way that if a small animal, like a rabbit, were to hop threw the loop, the loop itself would tighten and hopefully kill it.

Sitting back to admire his handiwork before looking back at Rosie with a grin. “If this one ends up working I can make a bunch more and hopefully we can get a bunch of meat.”

“Ugh, I would kill for some meat!’ says Rosie with an exaggerated groan, ‘I’m so sick of dried foods and foraged shit. I want proteeeiiinnn!”

“Yeah, yeah, I hear yah. Come on, let’s go set up one more test trap and then you promised me that you’d help me practice my bow and arrowing.”

“Oh right, I did promise that. Yeah, you could definitely use the practice.” Rosie says with a smug grin as Montanha rolls his eyes. Getting up, Montanha and Rosie move about a hundred yards to the east before Montanha sets his backpack down and starts rummaging threw it. After a minute he pulls out some bright neon orange rope, “got this from that Home Depot we broke into last week.” He said with a proud smile.

“So resourceful.”

“Shush.” He says, pulling out his phone again to look at some step-by-step guides. Slowly he weaves the rope together into a net. He then takes the slack and hands it to Rosie. “Can you go climb that tree for me and find a good branch to loop this on please? Put it on one of those bottom branches, nothing too weak but I need it to have at least enough give so I can make a trigger for the trap.”

Rosie takes the rope, “You got it Monty my man.”

“You know I hate being called Monty.” He complains, Rosie just smiles at him before climbing a nearby tree. She was like a little squirrel, buck teeth and all, Montanha thought to himself as she scurried up there. She tested a few branches before she found one that seemed strong enough for the purpose of their trap, throwing the rope back to Montanha before scurrying back down. “Alrighty! Branch secured!”

“Thanks.” Montanha takes the other end of the rope from Rosie and begins rigging up the trap. Fortunately, he was tall enough to reach up at the branch with some minimal effort, pulling it down some and holding it in place with the trigger, so that when it tripped it was snap back up to its original position and if they were lucky, the animal that set it off would be inside the net. Sitting back with a satisfied smile, Montanha looked to Rosie, “Alright, hopefully we catch something big with this one.’ He then gets up and dusts some dirt off his jeans, ‘Now let’s go practice some archery.”

“Alright my man!” she said with a grin as the two of them went to go find a nice little clearing, about a hundred yards away from the traps, so as to not scare off potential prey. Rosie and Montanha stand in a clearing surrounded by towering trees. Together the two had taken a nearby rotted log and rolled it over to lean against another tree, Montanha then carved a ring around the middle. Making them a makeshift target to use.

Rosie, with her bow in hand, takes a few steps ahead of Montanha, who holds the bow uncertainly, his tall frame dwarfing the slender weapon. “Alright, big guy, let's go over the basics again. Grip the bow firmly but not too tight, try not to crush it. Then you knock the arrow onto the string before pulling back.” She says as she demonstrates, pulling back with a smooth, practiced motion.

“Alright...” Montanha draws the arrow back as Rosie instructed him to do. It should’ve been easy enough for him strength wise, but for some reason, he always struggled with pulling the string back. Not only that, but he found he was having trouble keeping the arrow from wobbling up and down in his hand. For some reason he just couldn’t keep his hands steady, “Stupid fuckin- ugh!” He growls frustrated after wrestling with it for a few moments.

Rosie watches Montanha's struggle, “Whoa, calm down Paul Bunyan. No need to get frustrated, just adjust your grip a little, you’re still squeezing it too hard.’ Rosie steps over to him, she makes him relax his draw before helping Montanha adjust the grip on the bow, gently guiding them to the right place, ‘Ok better, now try drawing again, but focus on keeping your arm steady as you draw back.” She says stepping back.

With the new hand positioning and advice, Montanha had a much easier time drawing the bow back, though still not as fluid as Rosie, it was still an improvement. “There you go, that's better. Now, the arrow. Slide it onto the arrow’s rest, nock it properly. Make sure it's aligned with your sight.” Montanha nods and tries again. This time he had a better grip on the arrow and kept it straight, he looked over to her expectantly, “like this?” Rosie nods approvingly, a grin spreading across her face, “Much better! You've got the hang of it big guy. Now, hold that position steady, and release when you feel confident. Remember to keep your focus on the target, not the arrow.”

She demonstrates this with her own bow, drawing back the arrow and with a single slow breath, releasing her shot. The arrow struck the center of the makeshift target, and Rosie, with a smug grin, turned to Montanha, “Think you can handle that big guy?” She challenges a little. Rolling his eyes playfully, Montanha took his turn, looking at the target, and once he felt like he was in a good spot, letting the arrow go. However, his shot went wide, missing the bullseye by a wide margin, “shit...”

“Nice try, Mr. Zombie Apocalypse Expert. Maybe you should stick to your axe.” she teases.

“Alright Katniss Everdeen, not everyone can be as naturally gifted as you apparently.” he quips, hand on his hip. Rosie laughs but relents, “Alright, alright once more, with feeling.” she goes over the steps of aiming and releasing the bow one more time with him. Showing him how he needs to plant his feet and to relax his shoulders. With this guidance, Montanha releases a slow breath before letting the arrow fly. This time, it hit the outer most ring of the target.

“Daryl Dixon, eat your heart out.”

“Whatever, Charlie Matheson.”

“You cannot wound me with names of characters I don’t even know. Just like you wouldn't be able to wound me with that arrow.” she sticks her tongue out at him after she says that. Montanha rolls his eyes at Rosie's antics and goes to pull the arrow out of the target. “At least I'm getting closer to the target. I'll be putting dinner on the table before we know it!”

“Yeah! Maybe we'll get a turtle...or a fish or something.”

“Shut up!’ he aims the arrow again and fires, still hitting around the outer rim ‘I meant to do that.” He says a bit sheepishly, “Oh I'm sure you did Apollo...”

The two continued to practice their archery for a while, both playfully going back and forth on the teasing, Montanha especially getting on her when she slipped up on a shot and hers hit a nearby tree a couple of feet away from the target, which annoyed her. Not like he had much room to make fun, when more than half of his shots ended up going wide or embedding themselves into the dirt in front of him.

He did manage to hit a bullseye once and Rosie was actually quite proud of him, “There yah go Montanha! I’ll make an expert out of you yet!” she says beaming up at him. Montanha turns to her with a smile, “Thanks Rosie… Hey, you wanna go check on the snares?” At the mention of the traps, Rosie brightens up. “Do you think we caught anything by now?”

Montanha shrugs, “I hope so. Besides, we should start heading back to camp anyway.” He says, noting that the sun was starting to make it’s way down from the sky, which meant it would soon be evening. “Great!” she says, already running to grab the arrows and kick over the makeshift target. Once the two of them packed up, they set out to check their traps.

The first trap they checked was the small snare trap and it was unfortunately empty. Rosie sighed but then perked up again as they headed for their second, bigger trap, the net they'd made with bright orange rope had the potential to catch something rather large after all. “Maybe we caught something big to eat! Like a fox or maybe even a boar! Whatever it is I hope it's made of meat.” Rosie says with her trademark optimism.

Montanha wouldn't have minded some meat as well, though with their luck they probably be lucky if they caught a fox of some kind. However as they got closer to the net, they did hear the sounds of something struggling, and though they couldn’t yet see it behind the shrubbery, it was safe to assume they’d caught something.

Rosie, eyes shining, ran forward towards the trap, crossing the brush line before him, “Montanha, we got something! We got... uhhh.” her cheers suddenly stopped and Montanha, feeling a small bit paranoid, hurried over faster to see what it was. As soon as he was within sight of the trap, Montanha looks up at the net to see that there wasn't an animal in the net but a young man around Montanha's age.

“Oh god, don't hurt me! Or turn me into the main course!” the young man cried as he struggled in the net, clearly panicked. Both blinked stunned at the sight. They had not expected to see something like this. “ ... Think that’s a Creature?” Montanha says, asking the most obvious question.

It wasn't the most ridiculous question to ask, though. It was better to be cautious these days than to trust something at face value. For all he knew it could be a Creature and whether this was a trap it set up or if it was genuinely caught, wouldn’t really make that much of a difference in the end. Still, Montanha couldn't help but feel a bit bad for the guy, who clearly looked scared, he felt the need to help the poor guy out. Though he refrained from doing so at the moment.

Rosie thought on it for a moment, but then she smirked “No, I don’t think a Creature would be dumb enough to get caught in a trap like this.’ Looking up at the guy in the tree, she leaned on her bow like a prop and looked up at him with a smirk playing on her lips, ‘How's it going, buddy? Come here often?” she teases.

“Ha! Real funny kid, really funny. You right about one thing though, I'm not a Creature. I'm just a guy trying to survive this end of days bullshit like you both are. So... Would you mind letting me down... Well unless you two are Creatures. You’re not Creatures are you..?” he hesitantly asks.

“What would be more embarrassing for yah? If you got caught by people, or Creatures?” Rosie asks, still smirking at the absurdity of the scene. The auburn fellow did not look nearly as amused as her, “Both kinda suck right now, but I'd rather chance it on the ground.”

“Would you prefer the safe way or the fast way? Cause both can be arranged.” Rosie provokes, but before the guy can retort though, Montanha raises his arms, “Alright, alright, everyone calm down. Look, we're sorry you got trapped in our net.”

“Our brightly colored orange net-“ Montanha looks over at Rosie “Shush.’ he looks back up at the man hanging in the net, ‘We're not Creatures and we can prove it... And I'm sure you can prove it as well. So why don't we get you down and we can get past this? Hm?” the young man nods hesitantly, “Yeah, alright.”

With the confirmation, Montanha asks Rosie to untie the rope holding the net, which she does. Once the net released, Montanha caught the man before he can hit the ground, the guy looked a bit surprised to be caught but looked out at Montanha with a small smile, “Thanks...”

“No problem.’ Montanha says setting him down, he gives the guy a friendly smile ‘There you go. Sorry about all that, and sorry about my friend here. She's actually pretty insufferable...” Rosie, annoyed, elbows him roughly, which only made Montanha chuckle. The young man shrugs a bit with a smirk “Hey, it's fine. I'm just glad you guys aren't Creatures or... Desperate cannibals or something.”

Rosie’s eyes go a bit wide, “Yo, that be kinda fucked up though. Who would even resort to such a thing??” Montanha shrugged at her question, but is more focused on the new guy, “So what's your name? I'm Montanha and this is Rosie.” he says as he gestures to both himself and her. Rosie gives him an upwards nod as she looked at him.

“I'm Asher, you can call me Ash for short though.”

“Sup Ash Ketchum!” Rosie quips with a sly grin, Asher merely crosses his arms and smiles “Not much Rosie O'Donnell.” He shoots back. A big grin spreads across Rosie’s face “Oh, I like this one.’ looks at Montanha, ‘Can we keep him Dad?” Montanha rolls his eyes “What, is he a puppy?”

“Aww, come on, Uncle Monty! I've been really good and I got all A's on my last report card!”

“Stop.’ He says, shooting a look at Rosie before looking back at Asher, ‘Do you have a place to stay right now? We got some food if you wanna crash with us tonight. The least we can do after trapping yah after all.” Montanha offers. Asher eyes softened at this, “I don't have a place, so I think I'd like that.”

“Great, come with us then.” Montanha says as he and Rosie then lead the new guy to their camp. They start to hike to the camp which wasn’t too far thankfully.

As they walk, Rosie saddles herself up next to Asher and Montanha could see she was flashing him her signature rat-tooth grin, which Montanha knew meant she was about to try to get something from him. “So Bear Grills, you don't happen to have any meat on yah, do you?”

“I don't...” he says, Rosie throws her head back “Baaallllsss. Not even some jerky? I’ll settle for jerky.” Asher shakes his head, “ ’fraid not.”

“Baaaaalllllllllllllssss!”

Asher feels a bit bad about that, but then he remembers something and suddenly he slyly smiles, “buuutttt, I may know where I can get you guys some.”

Both perked up at that.

“Seriously?? Spill!!” Rosie says grabbing the guy by the arms and giving him a small shake, he gives a chuckle, “Haha alright! Alrighty! Do either of you have any experience bow hunting?” he asks. At this question, Rosie’s chest puffs out a bit in pride, “I'm you're girl.”

“Great!’ Asher then looks up at Montanha, ‘What about you big guy? Did you do any hunting before the world went I Am Legend on us?”

Montanha looks a bit flustered at the question, “No, I wasn't really- wait.’ He stops when the second part of his question finally registered with him, he turns to look at Asher with a grin spreading on his face, ‘you know I Am Legend??”

“Oh no, here we go...” Rosie says with a slight eye roll.

Asher, on the other hand, seems to become equally excited as he grins up at Montanha, “Of course I know I Am Legend! I loved that movie! But I kinda wish they went with the alternate ending a bit more.”

“Seriously!!! Like the alternate ending is so much more thought-provoking!’ he exclaims, the volume of his voice, which he usually kept low to be disarming, quickly going up in his excitement, ‘Letting the zombie lady go and watching them take her back in and Robert seeing that this was their world now is just so much better than the generic girl showing up to the resistance group with the cure bullshit that almost every other movie does!!”

Asher didn’t seemed to be too effected by the sudden change of volume as he matched his excitement, “Right?! And it gives the movie so much more depth!”

“Oh and the part when his dog dies??”

“God yeah that part always makes me cry!”

“And honestly people give so much shit for the CGI looking bad, but like honestly for the time it’s not so bad-!”

“Hey nerds! Hunting?” Rosie asks cutting off their geeking out. Asher gives an apologetic grin as he flushed a bit in embarrassment, ”Oh-right! Ok, Montanha I know you said you didn't hunt too much, but do you think you could still be able to help us as much as you can?”

“Yeah, I should be able to.” He says nodding. “Yeah, don't worry, he's still learning, but my man here is a beast when it comes to lifting shit!” she says, patting Montanha's torso, like a used car salesman might pat the hood of a car. Asher grins at that, “Great! Follow me but watch your footing. I saw a group of deer moving through the woods a ways back. They'll probably be around here by now.” He says before leading the two of them in a new direction.

Eagerly, the two of them followed Asher as he led them through the woods. Both Asher and Rosie treaded silently, already entering a sort of hunting mode. Montanha trailed behind them and tried to stay quiet like them, but he lacked the instinct and he was the loudest out of the three. Which is why he decided to hang back some ways to not ruin their stealth.

After a few more yards Asher, stopped both Rosie and Montanha with a hand and gestured to a pack of deer grazing in a clearing just up ahead. Asher brought the two of them in close, whispering quietly as he shared the plan with the two of them “Ok, what I need you to do Rosie, is to use your bow and go for that older buck over there with the gray fur. Montanha, once the buck is down and the rest of the herd runs, we're gonna need your help to haul it back. Then we’ll all be able to eat like kings.”

Montanha and Rosie both nod as Rosie pulls out her bow. She nocks in an arrow and draws the string back. Her face is flat as her eyes taken in the environment around her and examined the deer. She draws a couple of deep controlled breaths in... and out, in...

She lets the arrow fly on the exhale.

The arrow wizzes threw the air like a dart and hits the deer dead in the side, piercing the heart and making it go down. The other deer, startled, immediately flee the area leaving the elder buck behind. “Nice! You got it!’ Asher says standing up and gestures for them to follow ‘Come on, let's make sure it's down.

Rosie jumps up with a cheer and starts making her way through the brush. Montanha followed the two, his face awashed with awe. Even after seeing her do that a dozen times, Montanha still couldn't help but be impressed by her skill, watching her take down that deer had been quite the sight. She truly was something else. Hopefully one day he could be at her level, but for now he was happy she was around to help him learn those skills and make these crucial kills.

Once they make it down there, Asher and Rosie check the deer. It was down, but not quite out as it let out shallow breaths and looked at the three of them with wild-eyed fear. Rosie hums as she sees this, “I guess the wind was a bit stronger than I thought, sorry about that old fella.” she says to the deer as she crouches down. “Montanha, hand me the knife please.” She asks holding out a hand for it.

Montanha’s stomach starts to churn, knowing what she's going to do next. He’d seen her do it a couple of times before, but he still swallows a bit dryly, as he hands the knife over. Once she has it, he turns his head to look away from what happens next. Asher see's Montanha’s reaction to this, and becomes a bit sympathetic, seeing that despite the size, this guy seemed like the gentle type of soul. Something that was probably hard to be in this more cutthroat world they now lived in.

Asher then looks over at the deer and starts stroking its neck in a calming manner, “Shhhh...it's ok old man...I'm sorry we have to do this.” He says soothingly, no doubt the deer was scared, but he did seem to calm down a bit as Asher continues to gently stroke his neck, its eyes relaxing and loosing some of that wild fear. Asher looks at Rosie and nods as she pushes the knife into the deer's chest.

Even as she does this however, Asher keeps on stroking the deer softly and hushing it calmly as the old buck finally slips away with a final exhale, “There we go.” Asher coos gently. Once the deed was done, Rosie slashed at the neck and turned the creature more downhill to help speed up the blood draining process. It didn't take too long for all the blood to gush out, and once it was drained, Rosie stood up and looked at Montanha, “alright big fella, you're up!”

Montanha nods as he now stoops down himself, bending his knees and hooking his arms underneath the carcass. Getting a good hold on the deer, in one fluid motion he lifted the body up with ease and hoisted it over his shoulder with only a small grunt of effort. Asher was a bit taken aback by the ease with which he did that, “Uh. Do you need any help with it at all, Montanha? That buck can't be light.” He says eyes kinda wide.

“No, it's fine. I got it.” Montanha said rather nonchalantly, there wasn’t even any strain in his voice as he said this, looking at Asher with a bright smile. The deer was heavy sure, but it wasn't anything he couldn’t manage.

“Alright, if you're sure. Damn, you gotta tell me your work out regiment. Maybe I won't be so lanky! Haha.” Asher jokes. Still, his face flushed a bit, most likely due to the now cooling evening air, Montanha thought. He chuckled, “It ain’t nothing special, comes with being the size of a literal mountain. Truthfully if I wanted too I could probably carry both you and this deer, if you’re willing to get thrown over the other shoulder.” Montanha jokes.

“Yeah he once had to do that for me after I twisted my ankle after a hunt!” Rosie adds.

“Haha wow. Uh, I’ll have to take you up on that next time I twist an ankle!” He jokes again with an even redder face. This cold evening air must really be getting to him, Montanha thought. “Well then lets get going before it gets too cold out here.” Montanha says as the three of them head back towards the camp.

Once they reached the camp Asher, wanting to be a polite guest, begins skinning the buck while Rosie started the kindling and Montanha begin gathering up the logs to start a fire. “So, where did yall come from before all this started?” Asher asks.

Rosie stoking the fire is the one to answer the question, “Oh well, the two of us used to work together back before the world ended, just like a shitty minimum wage job, yah know? And well, on the day that it happened Montanha had this like 'bad feeling’ after he saw some strange stuff happen outside and in the store. So he makes this whole big scene as he jumps on the PA system and tells everyone to evacuate the store! And boy you should’ve seen our manager, she was piisssseedd! She and Montanha start like bickering at the front of the store over the whole thing. And I was kinda freaking out at that point, cause I’m worried about my parents and I wanted to go home. So Montanha offered to take me back, and we ended up having to walk like half the damn day to get there cause everyone was already out of the city by that point. But he walks me all the way there and then well...’ she pauses and her face gets a bit sad, ‘well long story short we realized there was no going home. So we've just kinda been traveling together ever since.”

Montanha nods, “Yeah it's just been us.”

“I see... I was just ditching school when it all happened. Right there in the middle of town, the Creatures started attacking and I had to run back to the trailer park where my dad and older brother were. My brother didn't make it... And I don't know what happened to my dad, I can only hope he’s ok out there. But either way, I've been traveling alone ever since.” Asher says his head low and not meeting their eyes as he continues to field dress the deer.

Montanha and Rosie share a look as he says that, Montanha especially looking sympathetic as he looks at Asher, “That must've been tough...”

Rosie nods, “Yeah, I don't think I could've traveled by myself... Montanha is the only person that keeps me going some days.” She admits, looking back at Montanha as she does. Asher, setting the deer's hide aside sighs “It was rough a lot... But I'm at least glad I made a couple new friends today, even if just for today.”

At his words Montanha and Rosie share yet another look with each other. Montanha’s sad eyes already said enough for Rosie, who after a moment of silent debate, meets his sad eyes with a small nod and a smile. Once he got the silent confirmation, Montanha addressed Asher, “You know, if you want too, you can always travel with us for a while.’ Montanha offered, ‘As long as you can tolerate having to put up with this one…’ Rosie shot him another look, ‘but we got decent supplies, and there should be enough for a third person.”

Asher looks up at that, his eyes lighting up a little as he laughs a bit “Well, as long as you two are willing to put up with my dumbass, then I accept!”

Both Montanha and Rosie light up as well, “Well, you're in luck! This is a pack of fools. Now we can be the three amigos of stupid.” Rosie says as she grins.

Asher chuckles again, “Three amigos huh? Yeah I can work with that…”

“Alrighty! Now lets celebrate with some good ol’ deer meat! I need meat now!!” Rosie yells.

“Calm down you clown, we’ll cook some meat soon.” Montanha says rolling his eyes.

“Who are you calling a clown Sasquatch??”

“Ok beaver girl.”

“Boy I’m about to put your ass in the fire if you call me a beaver girl again” Rosie threatens. Montanha just laughs, not at all taking that threat seriously. Asher watches these two have their verbal tussle and for the first time in a long time, the cold and heavy feeling that has been sitting in his chest since the day he lost his family, starts to lighten a little.

#Montanha #Rosie #Asher #my ocs #Creatures #apocalypse #alien apocalypse #writing #my writing #FP writings #fanfiction

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gaymergal · 5 months ago

Text

@helloallec

So like for that Wip I do have a solid middle chapter done 😅 (but like the backstory to get to this point is…overwhelming, I have some of it outlined but 😓 idk if this will ever be a finished fic)

😶 if you want the chapter is below the cut

“Gan?” Sheik yelled into the fog. He cupped his hands, trying to project louder. “Gan? Gan, can you hear me?” Panic tinged at the edge of his voice. He had longed to call out to Link, but knew the plea would have fallen on literal deaf ears. He prayed to the goddess that she had fallen somewhere close to Gan.

Giggling tore him from his thoughts and he whipped his head around trying to find the source. By the light of the three, these woods were truly haunted.

“Who’s there?” Sheik pulled out his Sheikah Slate and tried to use its torch function, but to no avail. Though he knew it to be fully charged, the slate would not turn on.

More cackling echoed around him, seemingly coming from a different direction. “Show yourself!” He bellowed only to be met by silence. He rummaged around in his backpack to find a lighter. There was enough loose sticks and foliage around for him to make a fire.

He kept it tight. A medium sized fire, something hopefully bright enough that his partner and childhood friend could spot it in the thick of the fog, but not large enough to catch the forest on fire.

He tried his Sheikah Slate again. Even when he pulled out his portable charging unit and tried plugging it in, both the battery pack and Slate read as dead. “Fuck these woods,” he said blowing at the fringe of hair the fell over his left eye.

He surveyed his surroundings once more, and was unsurprised that there was fog and mist everywhere he turned. He had thought that the three of them were prepared, thought that they could enter the Lost Woods, domain of the restless forest spirits, find the sword of legends and go home.

Something rustled at the edge of his visage, Sheik took a sizable branch and lit it from the fire pit. He didn’t bother to call out to it. He edged closer to the rustling, flaming stick in hand. He could make out a little bit of the ground he walked on, could see that something was rustling the leaves on the forest floor. He tracked it slowly, eyes so glued on the ground beneath him that he didn’t notice the crumbling stone wall until he smacked it with his shoulder.

He yelped, dropping the stick, which promptly set the pile of leaves closest to him on fire. “Shit!” he cursed, stomping on the fire closest to him but it did him no good. The fire spread before his eyes, lighting a trail of leaves that surrounded the stone structure he had run into. His pale blue eyes widened in fear, it was bad enough that he had lied to his mother when he said he, Link, and Gan were going to the Herba region rather than sneaking off on their impromptu quest.

He imagined his mother’s face when she learned that he had burned down the most ancient and sacred forest in all of Hyrule…even if it was fucking haunted and infested with ghosts.

Princess Zelda was a fair and kind constitutional monarch, but as a mother she was known to be much more of a hardass. Sheik would rather combat a magical forest fire rather than face the wrath of his mother.

Thankfully the fire stopped spreading, sparing Sheik’s hide, but it did not burn out. Red flames danced, staying eerily within the courtyard of the highlighting a large decaying stone structure.

Or at least he was pretty sure the building had been comprised of stone at one point. The structure now was nearly completely mossed over, slowly returning to the forest with each decade it remained unused. Sheik carefully approached a broken archway of the courtyard and gasped once he stepped over the threshold.

There was something here…something old, older than the decayed building that housed it, older than the crumbling stones surrounding him, and older than the large gnarled tree roots underfoot. He swallowed thickly, feeling the presence close in around him. Sheik scratched at his right hand, the old magic lingering in the air made his skin itch.

He tried his Sheikah slate one last time, hoping that it would let him signal Gan or anyone really. The screen remained dark, and he lamented that magic and technology rarely ever worked well together. He placed his backpack down by the entrance way and made an arrow point towards the heart of the structure, an old temple he presumed. He filled his pockets with his non-tech arsenal. A sickle and chain, kunai’s, cherry-bomboms, and a potion his grandmother had brewed for him two years ago that he was fairly certain was just moonshine now.

He took a swig of the amber concoction, it imbued him with a liquid courage that was not at all due to the workings of royal magic. With his trusty sickle and chain in hand he entered the Forest Temple of the Lost Woods.

His hand tingled again as he pushed deeper into the temple. He tried his best to follow the pull of magic, but whoever built this temple was definitely drunker than he. That or Grandma’s potion was more aged than he thought…but no, alcohol induced or not, Sheik was standing sideways on a wall looking down at the entrance way he had just gone through. Across the gap of the foyer, he saw a hallway jutting out of the wall with no discernable path to it.

He looked around and saw what might have been a chandelier at one point but was now a mass of mossed over metal hanging from the ceiling. He swung the chain of his sickle and threw it to the light fixture. He tugged hard where the chain had caught, it didn’t budge much, but there was no guarantee it would hold his weight. Sheik made the sign of a triangle with his right hand before attempting the swing across the foyer.

The ancient fixture groaned heavily under his weight and Sheik was clenching hard even before it cracked and fell from the ceiling. He was barely half a story up, he braced himself for the fall, but was unprepared for his breath to leave his lungs so abruptly when his back hit the floor boards. Sucking in a breath he went to stand but heard the tale tell signs of cracking wood planks. “Sweet Hylia!” he hissed. The floor broke beneath him and he scrambled for his sickle.

There was nothing for his chain to catch on to, so he angled the blade to catch the stone wall of the chamber he was falling into and slowed his descent. Sparks flew, crackling and spitting embers at his face until his legs, then torso, were submerged in water. He was grateful for having left all of his tech outside, his clothing was soaked in gross moldy water. “For the love of Nayru!” he cried to the dark waters.

He awkwardly dog paddled around, waiting for his eyes to adjust to the dark flooded basement.

There was a light coming from a distance and with nothing better to steer to he headed that way and ended up on a shore line? It wasn’t the flooring of the temple above. It was soft dirt, the water that he had fallen into lapped at the edges like small waves. He shivered, stepping out of the water, and took off his hoodie and shirt in an attempt to get warm. He thought of discarding his trousers, but didn’t want to be wandering around this creepy ass temple in just his boxers.

The shore was only marginally lighter than the pitchblack waters he had fallen into. Wherever the light source was coming from, it didn’t fully encompass the shoreline. He fished around in his pockets for his cherry bomboms and lighter. The lighter was uselessly wet, he gathered the driest looking driftwood he could see and struck the cherry bombom with a rock until it detonated , catching the driftwood and his hand in the tiny explosion.

Sheik cursed for the umteemth time that day, blaspheming to the remaining members of the pantheon whilst shaking his hand. He cradled his hand clenching and unclenching his fist and plopped down by the fire.

He was beyond pissed. Today had not gone to plan at all. His frustration gave way to curiosity. Even from here he could feel the old magic growing stronger. If he strained his ears he could hear something, not the giggles of mischievous forest spirits, not the voices of Gan or Link, something calling to him. Only him. It only wanted Sheik. That’s why it had to send the others away.

While he tried to dry out by the fire, he could feel old magic pulsating from whatever laid down the path to the light. He shivered, it had to be the sword of legends, the blade of evil’s bane. The Master Sword. It was crazy to think they had actually found it! With the sword of legends in hand the three of them could make their own destiny.

Sickle at the ready, Sheik rose from the fire. In the soft dirt he drew a deep arrow, pointing towards his best estimate of where the light was coming from. He wanted Gan or Link to find him, he hoped that in her genius Link would find away to avoid the mossy water.

He walked away from the shore, and once again encountered fog.

It was as if he was back outside in the forest. He nearly tripped several times over, the fog getting thicker the further he got. Tree roots were once again abundant, but they were unlike the trees he had encountered outside in the forest. Nestled in the grooves of winding roots were pools of water. As he passed them he caught glimpses of movement, the water reflecting things that were not there…Or at least he hoped were not. One particular tree gave him pause, it looked familiar to him, though he knew not why. The reflection in the pool of water gathered at the ancient tree startled him greatly and he stumbled away.

It was her! It was him! Well, the old him. He approached the pool again this time prepared for the blast from the past. A young Zelda stared back at him. She looked just as he had in a family portrait that hung in his mother’s chambers. He raised his arm, and the young Zelda did the same. It was unsettling. He had started transitioning not but two years after the memory the pool reflected. He touched the scars on his bare chest and the Zelda reflection made the same movement.

He stomped in the puddle, erasing the image of his past self. That young girl didn’t exist any more. He had spent the last eight years forging a unique path for himself. He wasn’t going to be a Zelda like his mother before him or her mother before her.

The royal family, much like the rest of Hyrule, clung to their old traditions and superstitions. Every royal daughter named Zelda, every child of the captain of the guard named Link, every Gerudo voe named in the likeliness of Ganondorf.

Was it any wonder why every couple generations the tragedy of the Triforce appeared? Power to the King of Sands, Wisdom to the line of the Goddess, Courage to the Champion of the realm.

Power corrupted by the Demon Demise. The curse of Din, named after the minor goddess who first fell under the immortal demon's spell. Forever damning her descendents to seek the Triforce of Power, to claim the powers of the triforce as their own.

Cursing them to fall at the hands of Courage and Wisdom

Like a broken record, round and round it went, Hyrule had burned and been rebuilt a dozen times over and still the tragedy played out. Din’s descendants would seek out Power. The Goddess Hylia, bonded to the minor goddess Nayru, would bless their descendants with the Wisdom, and Light to trap Din’s children. A Champion blessed by the minor goddess Farore, chosen not for their bloodline, but for their Courage and fealty to the realm, would arise and would be the vehicle by which Nayru’s and Hylia’s children slew Power.

Thoughts of Gan, and their sweet smile, filled Sheik and he stomped his way through the misty grove. Shoving old growth and branches out of his way.

He would never raise a hand against his partner.

Chaos was leaking back into the kingdom. Monster attacks, a rarity in this modern day and age, were popping up with a growing frequency. It had been six generations since the last Triforce war. It was foolish for his Mother to simply pray that they be spared from their destiny. If not them then who? His sisters? His sisters’ children?

He was going to be smarter than their ancestors. He was going to break the cycle before it started. With the Master Sword, the blade of evil's bane, he would have the Power to seal Demise before it took hold. He would have the Power to break the Triforce before its tragedy could begin anew. He would have the Power to save Gan. He would have Power.

Sheik pushed further, deeper into the grove of trees and came across the source of the light. It was a larger pool of water, much larger. The lake before him stretched on for as long as the eye could see. Its waters lighter than the dark murky depths he had originally fallen into. Nearly blindingly so. He blinked rapidly, the whole area was bathed in light, coming from the dark temple above it was hard to adjust.

His hand jolted and it felt like a bombom had gone off in his palm. Sheik grinded his teeth and bore through the pain. Through squinted eyes he peered ahead and his stomach dropped faster and harder than when he had fallen through the floor. “No.” He whispered to himself.

“No!” He yelled out to the golden light dancing in front of him.

His eyes burned with tears, and he found he couldn’t look directly at the sacred emblem floating above the waters. He cast his gaze to the water just below, where the reflection of the Triforce danced mockingly at him.

“Sheik! Sheik, can you hear me?!”

Sheik whipped his head and turned to the sound of Gan’s voice, they sounded so far away, as if on another level of the temple searching for him.

“Stay away!” Sheik bellowed with all of the breath in his lungs, hoping the warning would carry through. By the goddess this couldn’t be happening now! He needed more time, they didn’t yet have the sword of legends. Power couldn’t take Gan away from him.

Gasping for air he turned back to the Triforce and hissed. “You cannot have them. I won’t allow it!”

Ċ̸̨̡̢̭̭̱̭̦̺̻͕̯͚̰̹͗͑̆̾̓̔̌͛̽͆͆́h̶͉̦̖̝̲͎͖͎̃͐̀̚̕į̵̨̛͉̏͋̿͛̎͗̌͌̋͝l̴̨͇͔̝̟̰̦̥̞̆̌̃̒͋̅̌̎̀̉̅̔̓͗̇͘͜d̷̡̛̼͙͍͚̥̯̘̩̫͖̣͍̱̜̓̈̈́̏̀̅͌̐͛̓̈́͒̂͘͜͠ͅ ̸̙̞̲̭̫̻̫͔̭̘̌͊̎̏͊̒̀͐͋́̏̕͝͠͝o̷̧̢̞̯̺̘̜͎̩̱̮̥͕̣͚͈͎͌͜͜f̷̣̠̻̝͜͝͝ ̵̯̾͒͌̅̎̋̚͝ͅD̵̡̡̡̧̛͕̤̱̘͍̭̮̺̼̖͈̿̅̓͌͆́͠ͅͅi̵̞̰͓̹̔̓̆��͙̗͉͎̦̖͈ņ̸̨̞̯̯̹͎͖̼̣̯̊̀̃̿̒̓̓̓͜͝ͅ…̴̩͔̻̮̓̑̈̕ͅc̵̨̢̻̟̰̭̗̱͉̐͝ơ̸̳͓̰̝̭̣̳̜̙̹͍͔̈́͗̌m̷̧̛͙̳̟̫͖͉͉̲͔̙̬͕͂̈́̇͆͂̒͜ͅe̵̜̥̥͊̓̉̈́͋͒̄̉͐́̈́̀̐̚͝ ̵̳͔̒̓h̵̢̩͚̙̲̝͉̜̳͎̻͙͒̽̒̉̈́̊́̒͝ĩ̶̧̢̛͎̖̪̪̗͕̬̻̯͗̽̏̅̀̓͛̐̅͋͛̈́̎̈̈́̚͜͝ͅͅt̷̡̨̛̛̺͓̎̏́͒̀͂̓̊̎̏̏̌̚h̴̢̨̨̺̞̟͙̦̥̞̟̺͉̃̐̆̾̄̒͒̂͋̊̄̈̚̕͜͠ͅe̸̢̯̼̘̳͂̈̓̃͐̍̊̐̊̄̅͛̍ͅr̸͈̀́̿̑̃̾͗̉̒͝

Sheik flinched hard. The call came from within, the Triforce speaking directly to his body. He reached for his sickle and threw it. It was no blade of evil’s bane but it would have to do.

His weapon never made contact.

It disintegrated before it even came close. Sheik’s throwing arm froze as the handle crumpled in his grasp.

Hot tears ran down his face. The magic in the air was restless; the Triforce was ready to have a host once more after nearly 300 years of slumber.

The Wise decision would have been to have never stepped foot in this temple. Perhaps it was Courageous, walking closer to the divine relic, courageous to accept that he was bound to this cycle. In the end, he was driven to do what he did by Power.

He reached out his hand and grabbed the top most triangle, he seized Power. The golden triangle glew red, and soon everything was bathed in crimson. In a red flash the fog vanished, the water he was wading in evaporated, the trees turned to ash and were swept away by the unnatural wind that raged all around Sheik.

He couldn’t be sure that he wasn’t not screaming. The Triforce of Power fused into his hand. The other two pieces broke away and flew off.

He saw it. He could feel it. Power rising in him as he understood Demise’s master plan.

Their fates had been cast. Their fates were sealed by the actions of ancestors they never knew. After so many generations, the lines had blurred enough for Demise to gain a foothold.

Courage to the Champion of the desert, determined to change their destiny. Wisdom to the Scholar of the realm, the mislayed child of champions and queens…Power to the line of Din, who after eons of waiting had finally intersected with the line of the Goddess.

It would end soon. The war between Demons and Goddesses. In her eternal fight to wipe out Demise and his kind, would Hylia slay her own blood?

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#wips #my writing

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