#I went out with them and threw myself down into the massive foot of snow and made the best damn snow angel in nothing but my pajamas

[clownbunnie]

When I had a mental health crisis, I put myself into a local place that served both addicts trying to get into rehabs that required prior detox/initial stability as well as those in mental crisis. I had told my interviewer that I did partake in a thc consumption every once in a while (illegal state) and so they put me on the addiction wing rather than the mental health wing- which was totally fine, I received great care no matter where they stuck me. But I was put into a room with an older black woman who never learned to read- she told me her background, the mental health issues she and her son struggled with, how it led to her addiction and now she was fighting to piece her life back together but she couldn't read. I was the only one who tried to help her, tried to help guide her along in the group therapy and group sessions- I even spent my free time hours with her, reading the stupid religious AA and NA packets despite being heavily not christian- The others there treated her like she was crazy, annoying, refusing to sit next to her so that she wouldn't ask them what certain things said, or where we were in our booklets- the staff tried to make everything as accessible as possible- often reading the packets word for word outloud for her, and even having presentations with more pictures, videos, and interactive material rather than just words upon words as they normally did. But it still wasn't fair, nurses didn't assist her with reading, they didn't have anyone to be an aid to her active disability that she stayed up a lot of nights crying about and I was the only one to help her actively so long as I could. I think of her often and wonder if she is okay.

When I was in rehab I had a roommate who was this little old black lady and she was completely blind. And I saw that and was like “anybody gonna be this lady’s guide?” And didn’t wait for an answer. I actually got in trouble for “perpetuating lesbianism” BECAUSE I WOULD LEAD HER BY THE FUCKIN HAND. And that was “”too gay for the program”” so I had to make sure she held my elbow instead and like. What really pissed me off is that she was not given aid whatsoever for her disability. It was fucking me doing her paperwork. I was able to help her sign her own name but I had to fill out all of her intake stuff and ask all these invasive ass demographic questions like don’t you motherfuckers have a guy for that??? I’m here trying to fucking recover too, not interrogate this poor woman with questions about whether or not she’s ever been raped or abused or whatever

[bright-eyes-strawberry-lies]

The Weather In PJO (brought to you by gods and demigods)

*alternating colors for ease of reading

**page numbers look weird because they're copied/pasted from ebooks

“Overhead, a huge storm was brewing, with clouds blacker than I’d ever seen over the city. I figured maybe it was global warming or something, because the weather all across New York state had been weird since Christmas. We’d had massive snow storms, flooding, wildfires from lightning strikes. I wouldn’t have been surprised if this was a hurricane blowing in.” - TLT pg 33

“One night, a thunderstorm blew out the windows in my dorm room. A few days later, the biggest tornado ever spotted in the Hudson Valley touched down only fifty miles from Yancy Academy. One of the current events we studied in social studies class was the unusual number of small planes that had gone down in sudden squalls in the Atlantic that year.” - TLT pg 65

“Outside, it really was storming, the kind of storm that cracks trees and blows down houses. There was no horse or eagle on the beach, just lightning making false daylight, and twenty-foot waves pounding the dunes like artillery. [...] Long Island never sees hurricanes this early in the summer. But the ocean seemed to have forgotten.” - TLT pg 156

“There was a blinding flash, a jaw-rattling boom!, and our car exploded.” - TLT pg 176

“I was still in bed in cabin three. My body told me it was morning, but it was dark outside, and thunder rolled across the hills. A storm was brewing. I hadn’t dreamed that.” - TLT pg 491

“It started to rain. Volleyball players stopped their game and stared in stunned silence at the sky.

I had brought this storm to Half-Blood Hill. Zeus was punishing the whole camp because of me.” - TLT pg 520

“BOOOOOM!

The windows of the bus exploded as the passengers ran for cover. Lightning shredded a huge crater in the roof, but an angry wail from inside told me Mrs. Dodds was not yet dead.” - TLT pg 629

“The weather had completely changed. It was stormy, with heat lightning flashing out in the desert.” - TLT pg 988

“In the distance, Los Angeles was on fire, plumes of smoke rising from neighborhoods all over the city. There had been an earthquake, all right, and it was Hades’s fault.” - TLT pg 1191

“I was standing on a deserted street in some little beach town. It was the middle of the night. A storm was blowing. Wind and rain ripped at the palm trees along the sidewalk. Pink and yellow stucco buildings lined the street, their windows boarded up. A block away, past a line of hibiscus bushes, the ocean churned.” - SOM pg 10

“After a few more minutes, the dark splotches ahead of us came into focus. To the north, a huge mass of rock rose out of the sea-an island with cliffs at least a hundred feet tall. About half a mile south of that, the other patch of darkness was a storm brewing. The sky and sea boiled together in a roaring mass.” - SOM pg 598

“A storm raged that night, but it parted around Camp Half-Blood as storms usually did. Lightning flashed against the horizon, waves pounded the shore, but not a drop fell in our valley. We were protected again, thanks to the Fleece, sealed inside our magical borders.” - SOM pg 1045

“Sleet and snow pounded the highway. Annabeth, Thalia, and I hadn’t seen each other in months, but between the blizzard and the thought of what we were about to do, we were too nervous to talk much.” - TTC pg 11

“Old spirits are protecting the bad boat.”

“The Princess Andromeda?” I said. “Luke’s boat?”

“Yes. They make it hard to find. Protect it from Daddy’s storms. Otherwise he would smash it.” - TTC pg 210

“Clouds seemed to be swirling around its peak, as though the mountain was drawing them in, spinning them like a top. “What’s going on up there? A storm?”

Zoë didn’t answer. I got the feeling she knew exactly what the clouds meant, and she didn’t like it.” - TTC pg 751

“I will do my best to destroy his boat with storms, but he is making alliances with my enemies, the older spirits of the ocean. They will fight to protect him.” - TTC pg 886

“We were standing at the dining pavilion, just where we’d last spoken before I went on the quest. The wind was bitter cold, even with the camp’s magical weather protection. Snow fell lightly against the marble steps. I figured outside the camp borders, there must be a blizzard happening.”- TTC pg 915

“The wind whipped cold off the bay. In the south, San Francisco gleamed all white and beautiful, but in the north, over Mount Tamalpais, huge storm clouds swirled. The whole sky seemed like a black top spinning from the mountain where Atlas was imprisoned, and where the Titan palace of Mount Othrys was rising anew. It was hard to believe the tourists couldn’t see the supernatural storm brewing, but they didn’t give any hint that anything was wrong.

“It’s even worse,” Annabeth said, gazing to the north. “The storms have been bad all year, but that—” - BOTL pg 359

“I had no choice. I called to the sea. I reached inside myself and remembered the waves and the currents, the endless power of the ocean. And I let it loose in one horrible scream.

Afterward, I could never describe what happened. An explosion, a tidal wave, a whirlwind of power simultaneously catching me up and blasting me downward into the lava. Fire and water collided, superheated steam, and I shot upward from the heart of the volcano in a huge explosion, just one piece of flotsam thrown free by a million pounds of pressure. The last thing I remember before losing consciousness was flying, flying so high Zeus would never have forgiven me, and then beginning to fall, smoke and fire and water streaming from me. I was a comet hurtling toward the earth.” - BOTL pg 618/619

“Mrs. O’Leary howled. I patted her head, trying to comfort her as best I could. The earth rumbled—an earthquake that could probably be felt in every major city across the country—as the ancient Labyrinth collapsed. Somewhere, I hoped, the remains of the Titan’s strike force had been buried.” - BOTL pg 1005

“I remembered what Tyson had told me at the beginning of the summer. “The old sea gods?”

“Indeed. The battle came first to me, Percy. In fact, I cannot stay long. Even now the ocean is at war with itself. It is all I can do to keep hurricanes and typhoons from destroying your surface world, the fighting is so intense.” - BOTL pg 1066

“Then the entire sea grew dark in front of us, like an inky storm was rolling in. Thunder crackled, which should've been impossible underwater. A huge icy presence was approaching. I sensed a wave of fear roll through the armies below us.” - TLO pg 153

“I saw a bank of storm clouds rolling across the Midwest plains. Lightning flickered. Lines of tornadoes destroyed everything in their path— ripping up houses and trailers, tossing cars around like Matchbox toys. “Monumental floods," an announcer was saying. "Five states declared disaster areas as the freak storm system sweeps east, continuing its path of destruction." The cameras zoomed in on a column of storm bearing down on some Midwest city. I couldn't tell which one. Inside the storm I could see the giant—just small glimpses of his true form: a smoky arm, a dark clawed hand the size of a city block. His angry roar rolled across the plains like a nuclear blast.” - TLO pg 216-218

“Over the city, a thunderstorm boiled—a wall of absolute black with lightning streaking across the sky. A few blocks away, swarms of emergency vehicles gathered with their lights flashing. A column of dust rose from a mound of rubble, which I realized was a collapsed skyscraper. [...] Wind whipped her hair. The temperature was dropping rapidly, like ten degrees just since I'd been standing there.” - TLO pg 468-470

“She faltered as a mighty groan cut through the sky. A blast of lightning hit the center of the darkness. The entire city shook. The air glowed, and every hair on my body stood up. The blast was so powerful I knew it could only be one thing: Zeus's master bolt. It should have vaporized its target, but the dark cloud only staggered backward. A smoky fist appeared out of the clouds. It smashed another tower, and the whole thing collapsed like children's blocks.

The reporter screamed. People ran through the streets. Emergency lights flashed.” - TLO pg 470-471

“Listen to me!" I said. "Kronos's army is invading Manhattan.'"

"Don't you think we know that?" East asked. "I can feel his boats right now. They're almost across."

"Yep," Hudson agreed. "I got some filthy monsters crossing my waters too."

"So stop them," I said. "Drown them. Sink their boats."

"Why should we?" Hudson grumbled. "So they invade Olympus. What do we care?"

"Because I can pay you.” - TLO pg 654

“Water sprayed his face, stinging his eyes. The wind picked up, and Hyperion staggered backward.

"Percy!" Grover called in amazement. "How are you doing that?"

Doing what? I thought.

Then I looked down, and I realized I was standing in the middle of my own personal hurricane. Clouds of water vapor swirled around me, winds so powerful they buffeted Hyperion and flattened the grass in a twenty-yard radius. Enemy warriors threw javelins at me, but the storm knocked them aside.

"Sweet," I muttered. "But a little more!"

Lightning flickered around me. The clouds darkened and the rain swirled faster. I closed in on Hyperion and blew him off his feet.” - TLO pg 903-904

[ressyfaerie]

I would love love love to see something along the lines of a Tyka mer au?? Especially if Kai is the merman!! I do love them ever so. Any age rating/idea I am so down for, pretty please!! 🥺🙏❤

Keep up with the great Tyka content it makes my day!

I know who you are and you always give me the best fic inspiration! I read your Tyka mer comics and I am INSPIRED. This might be longer than expected! But here I gooooo

So now that I finished it, I’ll be putting it in a readmore since it’s VERY LONG!!

It’s very rare that I write in first person! But this story definitely called for it, and I AM COMPLETELY IN LOVE. You’re going to want to ask for more, I can already tell.

So here it is:

When I was young, I was saved by a merman.

I remember how the cold seeped into my veins. My head was pounding from the force of hitting the water.

I was too young to know how to swim.

I couldn’t move even if I wanted to.

My body was numb, I descended into the dark blue sea, I saw the light glimmer from the surface, and felt water invade my lungs.

That’s when I saw him.

A flash of blue and milky skin. I felt the smooth scales wrap around my body. I saw his face, clear as day. His purple eyes, silver hair, and blue face markings. His face looked panicked, bubbles erupted from his mouth forming inaudible words. His face turned blurry, and my vision grew dark.

I woke up on the beach. No one believed me when I told them. Just a child’s fantasy gone overboard.

I always wondered how I made it back to shore without knowing how to swim, or how I missed all the rocks.

Someone must have saved me.

The more I visited the beach and saw no sign of a blue finned merman my belief started to dwindle.

Growing up I drew pictures, I even based my imaginary friend off my hero.

In my teens, my best friend Max reminded me of him.

“Tyson! I was just telling my friend about that mer-boy that saved you when you were a kid!”

I laughed it off, “it was a fairytale, Max. Nothing more.”

Years before, Kenny and Hilary sat with me on the beach one day after training.

“Could he still be out there?”

I cleaned my surfboard, looking off into the mysterious ocean.

Hilary passed me a bottle of wax for my board, “you know, I read at least eighty percent of the ocean remains undiscovered.”

Kenny looked up from his laptop, “every mermaid sighting has been proved fake. I still think what you saw was due to a lack of oxygen.”

I gave him an angry look, I didn’t mean to.

“Uh… but miracles have happened.” Kenny tried to reassure me.

I knew the truth.

Mermaids and mermen weren’t real.

After my Mom died, and my Dad left with my brother to explore the world, I had two things, my Grandpa, and my imagination.

Thinking of that boy was my playground. I’d bring sandwiches to the beach, and pretend to talk to him.

I made friends. And became a surfing champion. With my success my imagination drifted away.

I guess I really wasn’t ready for what came next huh?

“Tyson!”

Hilary and Kenny made their way towards my desk, I slammed my textbook closed, I was done with studying anyways.

“There’s a carnival in town! It’s close to your house, you want to come with us tonight?” Her eyes were bright.

I felt a pat on my shoulder, I looked to my right, Max’s blonde hair caught my eye.

“Carnival? Count me in!”

“I’m going too…” Kenny mentioned awkwardly, “Tyson?”

I rolled my eyes, carnivals were for kids. Besides I was planning on catching some waves tonight, but the weather was supposed to be really calm. I guess I could spare the time.

“Alright, sounds like a plan.”

I was right. Carnivals were for kids.

Doesn’t mean it wasn’t fun though.

We rode ride after ride. Kenny had to sit on a bench after he got sick, Hilary rubbed his back.

“Looks like it’s just you and me, partner!” Max slapped my back, “let's get some more snacks!”

Max pulled me towards another booth. I love food, but after a dozen different snacks, and a dozen different rides, I had to admit, I wasn’t feeling too well.

Max handed me a candy apple, I took a bite and felt my stomach turn.

“Bluh,” my lip turned in disgust.

“Wanna take a break from the rides?”

I nodded.

We lost Kenny and Hilary ages ago. Walking through the parts of the carnival with fewer people, we came across a mirror maze.

“Tyson, let’s go in!”

“Sounds fun!”

It was no surprise when I lost Max right away.

I could hear his excited giggles and him shouting my name, I tried to go in his direction, but eventually his voice faded out, and I found my way to the exit.

“Max!” I shouted into the maze, but there was no reply back.

He might have gotten out already…

I walked through the carnival looking for my blonde haired friend. No luck. There was a fortune teller, I made a mental note, Hilary would have liked to go back there.

Then something caught my eye.

ANASTASIA’S HOUSE OF WONDERS

It looked like a cardboard standee, with dark tents behind it. It couldn’t have been that big. I saw some people leave out the exit. There was someone in front of it. They were dressed in a creepy joker costume.

“Hey man,” I got his attention.

“Do you dare enter the house of wonders!”

“Uh, maybe? Is it cool? Like… what’s in there?”

“Things that will make your blood boil—”

“Things?”

“And creatures unknown to this world!—”

“Creatures!?”

“And above all—”

“Oooo what else!?”

“Look kid.” The grey haired joker lowered his arms and sighed, “can you just let me finish my speech?”

“Oh, yeah sorry.”

“I’m Bryan the sharpshooting joker! For only a few bucks—find yourself immersed in a new world!—”

“Okay,” I raised my hand, “that’s enough.”

“Oh thank god” Bryan’s voice dropped a few octaves.

The guy seemed kinda chill, so I leveled with him.

“So dude, is it actually worth my time in there?”

Bryan nodded, “yeah, it’s actually really cool.”

“Alright, sign me up.” I handed him a couple bills.

“Enjoy.” He counted the money.

Before I left I looked under his costume hat, “wait, don’t I know you?”

“Maybe?” He grumbled, accidentally revealing his true persona.

“Yeah! You were in the last surfing championship! You’re that crazy intense guy Bryan! What the heck are you doing here?”

“Uh, sidegig.” He lowered his mask, “have fun in there, kid.”

“Okay…”

I brushed off the awkward encounter and turned to the entrance. It was covered in two extravagant curtains. I pushed the fabric to the side and walked into the darkness.

Wait, is this a haunted house? Damn I shouldn’t have gone without Max!

The first thing I noticed was there was a lack of… people. Tesla coils and odd gimmicks littered the floor of the first hallway. I rolled my eyes, remembering carnivals were for kids.

The next room was bigger than expected, it was a dome with a button in the middle. I pressed it, who could resist a big red button after all?

Suddenly a snow storm picked up. I covered my face, “ah!”

It stopped before I could figure it out, I stared at the sleeve of my red jacket, where snowflakes started melting.

“Alright, that was definitely real snow! I’ll admit I have no idea how you did that one!”

I shouted to no one, but it still helped my nerves.

I—couldn’t figure out where the exit was.

I walked to the edge of the dome, it looked like a carnival tent, I tapped the edge, it rang back with a metallic sound.

“Uh.” I grew worried, “an exit would be nice?!”

I heard a sound from the other side of the room, and some fabric fell from nowhere, revealing another dark room, “thank you!”

Cautiously I made my way to the dark room.

I wish I hadn’t.

Inside were weird animals in green jars.

“Oof, these can’t be real.”

I tapped one, the baby bird inside moved.

“I assure you, they are all real.”

I turned to the corner. A.. man? He had a raven masquerade mask, and when Tyson locked eyes with him, he screamed and revealed massive black wings from his back.

“What the!?—”

I fell backwards, falling on my rear.

The bird boy made his way towards me.

“What are you?!”

“I’m Ian, the birdman.” He sounded tired.

“And in there,” he pointed to the next room with a black talon, “you’ll find my wolf friend.”

“You’re what!?”

I sat up, “naw, I’m done with this place. Your costumes are a bit too real for me.”

He shrugged, “that’s what they all say.” he sat on a crate with a loud thud, “enjoy the rest of the tour.”

I went to the next room because that guy was freaking me out. I really wanted to head back the way I came, but I couldn’t seem to find it.

Also, that guy seemed kind of familiar.

The next room felt colder than the rest. My heart raced when I saw a cage.

“Uh, hello? This haunted house is getting a little weird…”

I heard the clanking of chains, and a flash of red. On the floor of the cage was a boy, a bit older than myself.

“Are you okay?” I asked knowing it was an actor.

I heard a deep growl, and he lifted himself off the floor. I gasped when I saw his face.

A white wolf with a red mane bared his teeth at me.

I took a step back.

I felt the room grow cold, as the wolf tensed and growled.

It lunged forward and snapped it’s jaw, it hit the bars of the cage with a strength that boy shouldn’t possess, I turned and ran.

I ran through a wall tearing down fabric sprinting through tents.

It was dark, I couldn't see anything and didn’t know where I was going.

“Ah!” My foot got caught on a stone and I fell forward.

“How is this place so big! It did not look like this from the outside!”

In front of me was a curtain, it just barely touched the floor, I could see light shining from under it.

If I can’t find my way out… I might as well head for the light.

I lifted the curtain up and shielded my eyes from the bright white light.

In front of me I could just make out the wheels of a traveling train car. The front of it wasn’t metal, it was glass. Bright fluorescent lights hung over it. There was a sign next to me, I rubbed my eyes and could just make out the writing.

Newest exhibit! A rarity of its kind! Stay back, he splashes.

“What?”

Then I saw it.

The flash of blue, silver, and purple.

A merman threw himself against the glass repeatedly, tossing his fists against it. His wrists were in chains, and his constant assault against the glass only amounted to hollow thumps echoing through the tent.

I felt my body freeze.

It was the merman from my childhood.

Is this real?

I slowly made my way to the sealed aquarium.

The boy must have seen me enter the ring of light, because he stopped, he started floating, and stared at me.

“Hello?”

The merman didn’t move, he simply floated in place, I could see his chest move up and down.

“Do you recognize me?”

I made my way to the glass, getting a good look at the boy for the first time.

I placed my hand on the glass. I saw how red his wrists were from the chains.

He put his hand against the glass, only a thin separation between us. I smiled, and looked into his purple eyes.

I think he smiled at me. He opened his mouth slightly and a few bubbles popped out. I chuckled, and he looked back at me.

I stared up at the top of the tank, the lid was thick glass. A massive padlock kept it down. He saw me look at it, and he shook his head frantically.

I nodded, and placed my head against the glass, “you’re not supposed to be here.”

I jumped and hit the lock with my hand gauging how tough it was.

The merman waved his hand and mouthed words shaking his head.

“I’m gonna get you out of here!”

I looked around the room for a tool to use to break the lock. The only thing I could find was the sign I had seen previously.

I grabbed it, and tossed it to the ground, ripping it off its base.

The merman kept throwing his fist against the tank to get my attention, I ignored him knowing I had to help him.

I climbed the edge of the train cart so I was standing on top of the glass looking down at the silver haired boy. He floated on his back and kept banging on the glass with both hands.

It seemed like he was mouthing the words ‘get out get out!’

I used the stick tool I had made and bashed the lock, making loud sounds through the room. I kept doing it, but it didn’t budge.

The merman was banging on the glass mouthing the same words.

“I’m trying!”

I jumped down, knowing I would have to find a different tool, but I bashed it again in frustration.

The merman was frantically pointing now.

“What? What is it?” I watched his lips.

‘Behind you!’

I felt someone grab my shoulder, before I could scream they grasped my shirt and yanked me to the floor, dragging me away.

“Hey! You’re not supposed to touch people in a haunted house!”

I kicked and screamed while watching my merman frantically swim in circles and hit the glass with his tail. He was trying to get to me, but I knew it wasn’t going to work.

The man threw me into another room. I couldn’t see anything in the dark, I was tossed on a chair and sat up. He turned on a light with a click, and an old fluorescent bulb hung from the ceiling. I blinked a few times trying to find my way in the new surroundings.

A silhouette of a man sat on the opposite end of a table.

“You think you can try to take one of my treasures?”

“He is not yours!”

“Months ago I captured him. He’s rightfully mine.”

“Who do you think you are?!” I screamed at him, knowing full well this full grown man could cause me serious harm.

“He’s a rarity, I won’t let him fall into the hands of some snot nosed teenager with a superiority complex.”

I spat, “do you own this crazy place?”

“I do.”

“Don’t think I didn’t recognize your workers. I surfed with most of them in last year's competition.”

The man simply laughed, I finally got to make out some of his facial features. He was an older man.

“And why does the world champion desire my merman?”

“I don’t desire him, he needs to be free!”

“Ha!” The man’s voice bellowed.

I frantically searched for answers, for a way out—for the both of us.

“I’ll buy him from you!”

“Like you could afford him.”

“If I win the next competition—”

“You won’t.”

I grinned smugly, “you don’t know that.”

“You won by luck, my team is far superior.”

“Your team of monsters? Isn’t that cheating?”

“And you think being a descendant of a storm dragon is fair?”

“I’m a—what?”

The man shook his head.

“I know who you are, Tyson.”

“You gonna tell me who you are?”

The man chuckled in response to my anger, making me even more furious.

“The name is Boris. I take care of these boys—”

“By imprisoning them? Leave my merman alone!”

“Excuse me? Yours? Did you not just meet this creature?”

“Let’s say I’m feeling friendly.” I crossed my arms.

“He seemed to react to your presence, what did you do?”

I panicked, “how long were you watching for!?”

“Long enough. I’ve had him here for a few months, yet I can’t seem to break him.”

“Break him?” I was in disbelief, my childhood hero was not some horse at a stable!

“Yes, perhaps you could help—”

“No.” I grimaced.

Boris tapped his fist on the table, “well, it seems we are at an impasse.”

“You’ll never have my help.”

“I think I can live without it.” He stood up, he was much taller than me. “Please leave my circus, and don’t come back.”

“I’m not leaving without the merman.” I stood my ground.

“That’s a shame.”

I felt something heavy hit my temple—

I woke up on a grassy hill. I rubbed my head.

When I managed to sit up I overlooked the carnival from across a field. The lights were all out. It had to have been late for it to be completely closed.

Boris…

Now that I knew my merman was real, and that he was captured by such an evil man I had to find a way to get him back.

I’ll steal him. I’ll figure something out…

You better watch your back Boris.

I stared in the direction I thought my blue finned saviour would be in.

Hold on, I’m coming for you.

[zhaozaipalooza]

Your Weekly Drabble! - Day 1 | Festival

The missing drabble for LuZhao mini-week where I brought to you Holi? — here it is! ✨

The court painter fiddled with the array of tools at his side - paled slightly, lips forming a curse - then quickly bit it down, stammering about getting a few supplies before he excused himself. Red curtains framing the prince’s portrait-to-be settled behind him.

Lu Ten sprang from his seat. He paced to drum out his annoyance through the silks lining the floor. When that didn’t work, he ducked out of the same opening. 

A massive, tiled chamber cleared of the average riches piled in a palace room, sunlight streaming from the corridor outside, gave him more breath than his lungs knew what to do with. When the day glowed, he couldn’t resist the same - not as a child, not as a princeling aware of his place in a turning world, fire in his heart and fingers. Dance with me, sing with me, run with me, said the sun… and Lu Ten followed.

The rays guided his eyes over ornate fixtures, twisting pillars and rosy walls, to a guard stationed beside the open door. His helmet was clutched in a free hand to keep it from slipping over his eyes. He caught Lu Ten smiling, and mustered a look of confidence. 

Peace that uncommonly smoothed Zhao’s face - in his presence, no one else’s - was knocked off when Lu Ten jabbed a fist into his side. “Yip!” His eyes bugged, rubbing at the sore spot.

“Loosen up! You’re only in charge of me and the, uh…” he cleared his throat, “snail sloth. And no thief is going to steal the wallpaper.”

“It’s only been half an hour.” He gripped the helmet. “Anything could happen. Do you know how much this sort of position pays? To serve inside palace walls? I’ll never go hungry again.” His lips turned firm. “I wouldn’t have managed to land it without your pull. I can’t go risking it now.”

Zhao grabbed in air when the headpiece slid neatly off his topknot. The prince tucked it in the crook of his arm. “You won’t go hungry again. Ever.” 

“I promise.” Their eyes met, something of more absence than they knew what to do with fleeing their lungs. 

Lu Ten blinked off the daze first, hauling him by the arm behind the curtains, where the painter had abandoned his things. He was first to press his lips to his and linger slowly, sweetly.

Zhao’s laughter was between a rumble and a sigh. “You thought you could get bored when I was right outside?”

“Pah... I have you around for more than that.” He strung a lock of Zhao’s hair around his knuckle, thumb skimming his cheek. Within an instant, Lu Ten tugged free, jumped onto the chair where he was meant to sit motionless for hours - looking so daring and heroic that it was comical. “We’re adventurers! The gods threw us together, watched us train together, conquer together. We’re meant to make history, not lounge around waiting for history to make out who we were from a painting.”

“Hm, now there’s a good point.” His disbelief mingled with awe in Lu Ten’s shadow - one he barely noticed. Zhao laughed more, the sound crinkling with a soft snort. How are you so full of life?

“We could cross the tundra, climb mountain ranges where airbender ruins still whisper to the living,” Lu Ten pantomimed an otherworldly sensation, with a swirling mock of airbending - Sozin’s descendants weren’t taught much in the way of regard. Neither was the nation; Zhao fought a grin. “Or! We could master our firebending under the greatest there ever were… the very first benders to learn from the dragons.”

“The Sun Warriors?” He leaned against the wall, hoping it wasn’t indecorous - some part of him would always feel like an ugly blot in the lap of luxury. Zhao’s memory tingled, “I read of them. Once. Sounded like a tall tale to me. If they existed, they’re far gone now.”

“I say they’re alive and well.” He hopped down. The legs of the chair jerked back. “Fire of every color thrives there. Blue, purple, green, all blazing hot. Colors that don’t have names! There’s a thousand stairs to reach the golden temple behind a sea of clouds, and once you-”

“Come on, green fire? Your head’s stuck in a sea of clouds. I say tundra.”

“Stuck in a- you hate snow!” The prince’s huff spoke easily for him after all the time they’d spent together: dream a little! He gave Zhao one of his father’s looks and went to the pigments sitting in neat boxes in a larger hinged case, and grumbled again. This one stood for that sore loser…

“He hasn’t even mixed the powders into paints. I can tell where he sourced some of them - the white is crushed seashells, it looks like. Fragile, tiny shells… Four hours is starting to look like ten.”

“Green fire, purple fire, ooh,” Zhao was teasing, “What’s next, each of them stand for a pillar of society? Yellow for contracts, green for tea, pink for… hm, intercourse? I think we should start with that one when we get th-”

A creative itch had sprouted a full-out snarkfest; the prince suddenly twisted, flinging a fistful of ground powder in his guard’s direction. Outside of these walls they were lieutenant and ensign, soldiers homeward-bound if luck was on their side.

“Or maybe it stands for paying a little more respect.” Lu Ten smirked, hands at his hips. “Not that you’ve ever followed that pillar of society.”

Zhao shielded his face too late, swiped off the glimmering traces. Face ajar and upturned at his nerve.

Here, they were a lot younger, and they were home. As young as they should be.

“So that’s how it is.”

One half-hour stretched out for twenty more minutes, the seconds passing like snow in a blizzard. Fun thinned time, after all, dragging the sun higher into the sky, melting down their reservations. “You want to learn from the Sun Warriors? Well, I’m twice the warrior you are, and Agni knows my family has the divine blessing of the sun - so why not learn a lesson or two?”

“You’re on.”

Lu Ten ripped each box loose and scattered them outside the curtains; clouds of mushed petals, the deep green of palm leaves, a reddish rust like clay shingles, and pale alabaster shells - all drifting in the air like trails of smoke. The prince was splattered, his friend powdered head to foot like a circus novelty, and their laughter shook the gleaming (once spotless) hall.

“Get back here, get back here- oh no you d- ack!” Fingers smudged like they’d been rooting in the royal kitchen and licking off cream, sleeves rolled and rumpled, armor stripped so their feet could race lightly back and forth on the slippery floor.

“I’m over here, old man!”

Endless, Zhao thought, let this moment be endless. Bare skin freckled in a dizzying prism of sight and scent; he’d thrown something of tartness, plunged through the aroma of flowers to streak Lu Ten’s beaming face. He ceded him the point, returned with a swipe of orange made from dried seeds, dusting the top of his head like a showy plume. He puffed out a pale wisp. Lu Ten folded, cradling his colorful, aching gut.

They ended sprawled wide, one on top of the other, undistinguished from anything. Littering the crook of his collar, neck, cheek, and ear with kisses, the one pinned muffling a fit with the back of his palm.

“Hey,” Zhao rolled aside, the both of them heaving, trained on the hazy light pooled in the ceiling. “Don’t fire that painter.”

“Huh?” Soaking in the quiet, Lu Ten glanced over.

“He’s new to this. Wracked with nerves. Who knows if he’s trying to make ends meet? Give him a chance.” Like you did me.

The prince thought it over. “Of course. Snap judgements are more my uncle’s thing.”

“Oh gods, does he scare me.” They spent the little breath they’d scraped together snickering.

The Firelord’s firstborn accompanied the worrisome painter to pay his son a visit… No sooner had they entered the corridor did the spray of lavender on a flowerpot clue the artist to go lightheaded.

Iroh hurried to promise his compensation, divined the prince’s likely attitude to having to wash off and remain statuesque until dinner, and decided the best course of action.

The painter was redirected to capture the fiasco in a sketch, nearly abstract: both boys with their arms looped over shoulders, a smile held in their eyes as long as their warmth was close. The young man tutted under his breath as he improvised, following the stains and speckles on Lu Ten and Zhao with a deft fingertip. In the final touches, he seemed to have enjoyed himself, too.

“You should join us for dinner.” It was sundown. The prince held the piece of parchment gingerly, softening whenever his eye crossed it again.

Adventurers.

His father had extended the gesture, son nodding along. “No, no, I couldn’t.” Zhao held up his palms, still tinged with a sea of floral and earthen smells. “The pay as a royal guard is plenty, even for a temporary station… I can look after the rest myself. I know how.”

“It would be bad manners for us to let a guest leave without experiencing the most of their stay.” The general’s eyes twinkled. “And here is the best of the best! Meals so fulfilling they leave room for fifth helpings.”

“You are more than a royal guard here.” A warm, heavy palm took Zhao’s shoulder. “As close as you are to my son, I think of you as my own.”

All he knew, even decades after the best meal of his life, was that things would have gone a lot differently if he had refused.

- - -

What a dark path, the one that lay down the other fork in the road. Thankfully, in this life, Zhao had not strayed.

The city was rife with celebration, lanterns dazzling the canals as their reflections bobbed in the water. Brilliant red, jade, and silvery powders made from starch and ground herbs coasted the night air. 

A young girl in braids scampered down the pavement - chin purpled, hair smattered with blues and greens - and leaped into Zhao’s arms. He spun on a heel with her momentum, hearing a shriek of delight before her fists anchored themselves in his front. 

“This is the best! I never want to sleep again. And Ma bought me these!” She placed a warm cake before his face, expectant, and he nibbled off one end. Sweet bean paste.

Her smile revealed the gap between her teeth; snuggling to his chest again, she sighed in content. “It’s so pretty… How come this wasn’t around when you were a kid?”

“Well,” Zhao rocked her gently, an unconscious swaying that soothed her since she could crawl. “It’s actually for someone very special. He was alive when I was young. I knew him. Firelord Iroh wants the world to know him, too.”

Her eyes lit up. “I read about him in school. I tell my friends, ‘My daddy knew a prince!’ and they ask so many questions.” Zhao laughed softly, and she asked, “What was he like? Really like?”

He thought it over. “… Like this. Just like this.” Like what? Lights and colors flickered over the darkness, an endless sun, a glow that rose and went on forever. 

“Wonderful.”

[recurring-polynya]

Today’s AU suggestion comes from Tumblr user @missdramaqueensworld We had a bit of a back-n-forth, and I hope you don’t mind that I mushed a couple of your suggestions together into a Lighthearted Superheroes AU! Byakuya has always given me Big Bruce Wayne vibes, what with his extensive wealth and his flair for the overdramatic and his propensity for collecting orphans. I think I got the spirit of the thing (and, of course, the opening line!) I hope you like it!! (Note: I didn’t include the original prompt because it was very detailed and I didn’t want to give everything away, but please give credit to @missdramaqueensworld for all the good ideas and me for all the terrible superhero names)

Read on ao3 or ff.net

🦸    🌸    💥

“Hisana,” Byakuya called, as he contemplated the secret niche that was hidden behind the rear panel of his ancillary special occasion shoe closet. “Where is Senbonzakura?”

“Where’s what?” his beloved wife’s voice rang back.

Byakuya gritted his back teeth. “The mystical sword that has been passed down through twenty-eight generations of my family that allows me to fight crime as the mysterious hero Captain Sakura?”

Hisana leaned up against the doorframe of his closet. “Haven’t seen it. Where’s the non-mystical, yet very expensive tuxedo that allows you to escort me to the charity benefit that I’ve been planning for three months?”

“I am not joking, Hisana, I have a responsibility to the city!”

“That’s right, you do! You’re a charming and handsome philanthropist who is helping his beautiful wife raise piles of money for underprivileged children!”

Byakuya tried to rack his brain. Where could he have left the thing? “You know very well what I mean. The city is under attack by dark forces. Dark forces, Hisana!”

Hisana put her hands on her hips. “Don’t you have sidekicks for this?”

“They do not like being called sidekicks, they are allegedly adults now. Besides, you are the one who told me to stop bothering them so much. They have their own lives now, you said.” Which vehicle had he used last? The Sakura Bike? The Sakura Jet? He didn’t think it was the Sakura Jet-Ski, but honestly, all of last week was just blurring together.

“They can have their own lives on nights when I don’t have a charity benefit,” Hisana hissed.

Wait. He’d had that unfortunately team-up with the Great Desert Brothers (or were they calling themselves Phantom Thief NelDoPe again?) and he’d had to spend a great deal of time cleaning “Infinite Slick” off of Senbonzakura afterwards. The sword was probably on his workbench down in the Sakura Cave. Byakuya turned and attempted to exit his own closet, only to find his way blocked by the one opponent he had never truly bested: his 4’11”, stunningly beautiful and amazingly brilliant wife. “Excuse me,” he said.

“Excuse you?” Hisana asked, her eyes wide with false innocence. “You are not going down to the Sakura Cave.”

“I am going to the Sakura Cave.”

“You’re going down to the Sakura Cave because you’re going to drive us to the charity benefit in the pink Lambo, right?”

Byakuya regarded her. “The Sakuramobile is for official Captain Sakura business only. You are welcome to take the Aventador or the Huracan if you like.”

Hisana threw her hands out at her sides. “Byakuya. Look at me.”

Byakuya looked. Respectfully, of course. His wife was clad in a form-fitting navy blue sheath that flared just below her knees. From the front, the neckline was high and modest, but he knew for a fact that it swept low, exposing nearly the whole of her back. Her hair was swept up into an intricate knot at the nape of her neck. An array of tiny diamond hairpins shone like stars among the night sky of her tresses. Her makeup, as always, was impeccable, from her silvery smokey eye to the kissable red of her lips.

“Imagine!” she wailed. “Me! Walking through those huge doors at the Museum of Contemporary Art. By myself! To my own fundraiser!”

“I can imagine it,” Byakuya agreed. “You will turn every head in the room. That cad, Kuchiki, they will say. The fool. He knows not what he has.”

Hisana narrowed her eyes at him.

“The most beautiful woman in Seireitei City, for once, away from the overprotective glare of her impossibly handsome husband.”

Hisana rolled her eyes.

“You will have the undivided attention of every man in the room and more than a few of the women. They will be elbowing each other out of the way for the merest crumbs of your regard. And you, being you, should no doubt be able to spin these tragic circumstances into a positively dizzying pile of donation checks. That should make the orphans very happy, yes?”

Hisana’s face was screwed up into a lovely scowl, as her desire for his company warred with her love for parting cretinous billionaires from their walking-around money. Byakuya didn’t blame her, of course. She was a very patient and understanding woman to so frequently part from her charming and debonair husband in the best interests of Justice. Nevertheless, the city needed him at this desperate hour.

“And I promise,” Byakuya continued, lowering his eyelids seductively, “that I shall sweep in before the night concludes, to rebuke those fools who would ever doubt my devotion to you.”

The tip of Hisana’s nose twitched. He had her.

“You have to show up at the dedication of the new community center.”

“Of course I would show up--”

“In the costume.”

Byakuya’s jaw tightened. “Hisana.”

“Captain Sakura is the third most popular superhero among children aged 7 to 12.”

“Third! I used to be second!” Byakuya had an angry suspicion whom he had been overtaken by.

“Used to be,” Hisana replied. “Maybe you should think about making more personal appearances. And flex more. I hear that children love flexing.” Dammit, this further confirmed his suspicions.

Byakuya heaved a sigh. “Fine. I will show up and charm the little rapscallions. I will not ‘flex.’ Please, may I go now?”

Hisana gracefully stepped to one side. “Good luck. Stay safe.” She touched his arm gently as he swished past, and went up on her tiptoes to bring her face closer to his. “And check the umbrella stand in the front hall. That’s where your magic sword was last time.”

Captain Sakura alighted on the rooftop of Metropolitan Bank with the grace of a drifting flower petal. A large hole cratered the bitumen and the smell of C-4 hung unpleasantly in the air. Below, police sirens wailed and sirens cast blue and red reflections. Also, there was bickering.

“Are you sure he can breath in there?”

“I am a professional, of course he can breathe! You don’t believe me? I’ll trap you in a block of ice!”

“I never said I didn’t believe you, I just-- hey, look who’s here! Good to see you, Captain!”

Byakuya crossed his arms over his chest. “Yuki-onna. Sakura Boy.”

Yuki-onna, Mistress of the Ice and Snow, groaned. “You know very well he goes by Red Ronin now.”

Sakura Boy looked very much like he was biting his tongue as he tapped his massive whip-sword on his shoulder.

“Who was the perpetrator?” Byakuya asked, squinting inside the block of ice.

“That toothy bastard, Preying Mantis,” Sakura Boy supplied.

“He is one of the Ten Espada, you know, they often travel in--”

“We caught his dweeby sidekick downstairs, the police already have him,” Rukia replied. “We already swept the premises. You really didn’t need to come out.”

“It is bad enough,” Byakuya bit off, “that you two refused to take a honeymoon. You are supposed to be on a… a whatsit…” he waved one hand vaguely. “A stay-cation?”

“Eh, it’s not like we have hobbies,” Renji added, poking the block of ice with his sword.

“And aren’t you supposed to be raising money? For underprivileged children?” Rukia accused.

“I will be making a dramatically late entrance,” Byakuya snapped.

“Well,” Renji frowned philosophically, “as long as you’re here, can you help us figure out how to get this guy down to the ground?”

Children. You could raise them, give them their own utility belt, teach them to drive a jet ski, but they would still ask for your help in moving a seven-foot-tall mantis man trapped in a block of ice.

“Of course,” Byakuya agreed.

[babylooneytoonz]

Blood Trails (Book 2 of Coffee Stains)

Summary : It's been five years since you gave birth to your and Bucky Barnes' daughter, left her with his father and went on to resume your duties with HYDRA. If plans made by you do not backfire, where will all the drama come from? What happens when HYDRA finds out that the child had never died? And worse, what happens when a brainwashed you is assigned the mission to get your own daughter captured by your HYDRA handler Vasili Dreznov (Will be played by Jensen Ackles in my book) ? What will happen when your fate crosses paths with your once lover once mission once again?

Warnings: Darker theme, Steve Rogers left after passing the shield to Sam Wilson, Bucky and Natasha leave the Avengers towers, will have violence and abusive language, a dark Bucky, sexual assault, Bucky Barnes with short hair

Word Count : 2600 + (Allegedly?)

Masterlist link

The branches hung low with the weight of the snow, although the green was still there under the brilliant white, just hidden away under the coating of it. The air was of course cold; and the view from the massive penthouse suite that belonged to Tony Stark looked like a canvas painting, where the color of pristine white had been strewn all over it.

Five year old Sasha stood against the frosty glass, staring out into the horizon. Behind her, the fireplace had already been lit, yellow embers erupting out of it; and a tall, decorated Christmas tree stood in a corner where Natasha Romanoff sat, her legs curled underneath her, her fingers grasping a mug of hot chocolate, when the child's sweet voice rang out in the living room, "Мама, когда папа вернется домой? Рождество." (Mama, when is daddy coming home? It's Christmas Eve.)

"дорогая, your daddy must be with your uncle Sam, he will come home. Почему ты не ложишься в постель?" (Why don't you get into bed?)

"Нет, пока папа не вернется домой." (No, not until my daddy is home.)

Natasha rolled her eyes, thinking back on how this little girl was just like Y/N, and shot her a quick smile, her ears already having picked up on the sound of the front door unlocking, meaning Bucky was home. She slid out of the comfortable position she was sitting in and stretched her arms into the air, before mumbling something to Sasha, who's eyes brightened when she saw her dad walk in.

Bucky was dressed in a heavy winter coat, his short black hair gelled back perfectly, without a single strand out of place; but hidden underneath the warm cap that he was wearing. Upon seeing his girl run towards him, he bent slightly, when Sasha ran into her father's arms, her tiny little arms clasping around his sturdy neck as he lifted her up and hoisted her against his hip, a rare smile playing against his lips. If anyone could make James Buchanan Barnes smile, it was little Sasha Barnes.

"How have you been, моя любовь?"

"Mama didn't let me go out and play in the snow, I really wanted to go," she brought her palms to her eyes and started rubbing them, when Bucky kissed her on her forehead softly, and she forgot about it.

"Come on now, let's get you to bed, your mama and I have some things to talk about," he kept her against his hip as he started towards her bedroom, and slowly lowered her into her bed. Sasha immediately pulled her toy close to her chest, and Bucky tucked her into the blanket.

Once he was sure that Sasha was comfortable and warm, he switched the lights off and his heavy feet dragged himself out of her room until he found his way to the bedroom he shared with his now partner, Natasha Romanoff.

"You were at her grave again, weren't you?" She asked, as she looked at herself in the vanity, combing her reddish black waves.

"I was angry, I needed to vent out."

"Well, did you vent out? Did she make you feel better?" She stood up, taking off her robe, as she got ready for bed.

Bucky didn't answer her, instead, he took off his coat, and then his shirt, grabbing a sweatpants and a comforter from the closet and locked himself in the bathroom. He looked at his own reflection in the mirror as he stripped. Bucky was on the edge; he always had been, ever since he had lost you. He didn't understand why it had to be him, in the end that was left alone; abandoned. Everyone left him, be it Steve, who left him to be with Peggy, or you, who died yet gave him the best gift of his life. He didn't understand why he couldn't be at peace. First it was Natalia, the woman he loved, and he couldn't have her. But now that he had her, it was at the cost of losing you, and he couldn't bear it at times.

"Ты там в порядке?" (You okay in there?)

Her voice was enough to snap him out of whatever it was that was spurring in his mind.

"Спи, Natalia, сейчас выйду." (Go to sleep Natalia, I'll be right out.)

She didn't say anything else, and neither did Bucky come out for a few minutes. When he finally mustered the courage to step out, he saw that she had her glasses on and she was flipping the pages of a book.

"дорогой, I'm sorry I snapped," she looked up at him when she heard him, and took off her reading glasses, slowly placing them on the side table as Bucky got into bed with her. She got into the space between Bucky's legs, bringing her knees up to her chest as Bucky engulfed her in his arms, "I'm sorry I was so involved with myself, I didn't ask you how your day was." Bucky's words made Natasha give him a weak smile and she sat straighter, staring into her lover's eyes.

"I'm worried about Sasha, Buck, I think we should try to take her out. She is literally cooped up in here all day."

"No."

"Bucky, it will be okay."

"Natalia, you know Sasha isn't like other children, and we've done a pretty good job keeping her hidden from HYDRA so far, I want to keep it this way," he nuzzled his nose against the nape of her neck and she melted into his warm embrace, her eyes fluttering slightly.

"She is only five, Bucky. We are keeping her cooped up in this house like a prison."

Bucky sighed, a soft, punctured sigh as he fell back against the headboard of the bed, his fingers stroking through Natalia's hair, "What if they find her? They haven't tried in five years. Not that the two of us can't handle it, but we don't know how badly they'll be after us if they find out."

"I know, Barnes, but think of her, think of all the normalities in life that she is missing on and besides, isn't this what you and Y/N always wanted for her? For her to grow up in the most normal way?" Bucky grabbed her hand, bringing it up to his lips, as he planted a chaste kiss over her knuckles, "how about we take her to the park tomorrow? The two of us, and her. It'll be fun, дорогой." He finally said.

He smiled down at her, nuzzling his nose once again against her, and finally let her go as she straightened herself and got into bed. Bucky stretched once and lowered himself into bed next to her after switching off the lights.

╞═════𖠁𐂃𖠁═════╡

"Are you bundled up nice and warm?" Natasha placed the mittens on Sasha's hands and made sure that the girl was bundled up in a nice, warm jacket. She nodded with her bright blue eyes, the only thing that she had inherited from her dad, everything else being from her mother.

She took her hand and walked out of her bedroom, finding Bucky by the security alarm of the penthouse suite as he was clicking around on a few buttons that beeped. When he saw that the two were here, he smiled warmly and took his daughter's other hand and the family left their home.

They walked down the densely snowed in street, the little girl skipping in excitement, with a great difficulty off course, her either hands holding Natasha's and Bucky's until they reached the park.

"Can we build a snowman mama?" She looked up at Nat, who only nodded and swiped her palm playfully over her forehead, ruffling the top of her head as the two of them ran off, towards the piles of snow, leaving Bucky standing there, with a smile on his face as he watched them.

"Daddy, I'm gonna hit you."

A fistful of snow came smacking against Bucky's face and he gasped dramatically, leaning forward and swooping some snow into his metal palm.

"You think you're going to get away?" Bucky's voice boomed back, as he threw a fistful of snow towards the girl. The girl, however, was super agile, and fast. She ducked at the right time, and the snowball flew from above her and hit Natasha square in the face. She gasped, her eyes widening as she turned towards the two.

"No, you did not just hit me."

"It was daddy, he hit you."

"Well, she ducked," Bucky chuckled dramatically, but started running after the little girl, squishing the snow underneath his heavy boots. The girl, even with ankle deep snow all around her, was running at a pace faster than most children her age, no doubt the super serum running in her veins.

"Well you can't catch me, you're a slow poke, daddy," she called back, turning her head slightly so she could see where Bucky was. As she was still running, looking back, her footing got caught in the snow and she fell face first into the white, glistening heap. Bucky reached her in time, quickly pulling her out of the snow, her face red slightly as Natasha and Buck tried to warm her face with their palms and all this while, the little girl kept laughing heartily.

A few steps away, shielded well behind a trashcan, the top of which was covered in snow, two men stood, their eyes fixed on the family in front of them. One of them pulled out a cellphone and started recording a video of them. Two minutes later, they lowered their round sort of Scotland yard looking hat over their eyes and twirled around, sliding their hands into the coats as they walked off. The man who had recorded the video footage sent it to someone and then pressing the phone to his left ear, started speaking to the other one on the line in Russian.

"Похоже, она сыграла всех вас, Johanna.. Нет, я отправил вам доказательства. Ребенок Зимнего Солдата жив." (Looks like Johanna played all of you.No, I've sent you the proof. Winter Soldier's child is alive.)

╞═════𖠁𐂃𖠁═════╡

"Johanna, ты хорошо справился." (You did good, Johanna.)

Your handler glanced you neck to toe, scanning your body for any visible injury but you had none, although you were covered in blood. This blood, however, didn't belong to you, but rather belonged to a Romanian woman, a really important woman, who had to be taken out, because she knew a lot of HYDRA secrets.

"Не моя кровь, Vasili." (It's not my blood, Vasili.)

You threw out your arms towards him, looking straight ahead, your eyes fixed on the concrete gray wall in front of your eyes. He looked up at you differently, the blues in his eyes twinkling as he patted on his knees, "Садись, милый." (Sit, my dear.)

Your eyes flicked from his blue ones down to his lap, and slowly, yet like a good, obedient student, you lowered yourself onto his lap. Vasili's intense studying of your face, and then slightly lower than that, until his eyes were travelling all over your body, although your lip quivered once in a while, but you didn't protest.

He eyed the dark marks that adorned the side of your neck, as they disappeared into your body beyond his visibility. He lifted his palm, using his index finger to trail over one of the marks as he spoke, "Johanna, вы знаете, что символизируют эти знаки?" ( Do you know what are these marks symbolic of?)

You bit down on your lip, and tried to think but all you felt was a gruelling pain at the back of your head; it made you shake your head. Vasili smiled crooked, his eyes glinting underneath the bulb that illuminated the room as his hands held you tight against his lap.

"Вы были наказаны за то, что влюбились в свою миссию." (You were punished for falling in love with your mission.)

The more you tried to think on his words, the worse your head revolted against it. It was like they didn't want you to think, or remember this mission Vasili was talking to you about.

"Слушай, дорогая, я должен быть твоим всем, ты должен поклоняться мне, и я всегда буду заботиться о тебе." (Listen darling, I should be your everything, you should worship me and I will always take care of you.)

Vasili's fingers then flew to your tunic, his fingers latched to the buttons on your chest as he started unbuttoning it, one by one. When he reached the third button from the top, there was a clatter outside the metal room, and then a thumping against the door.

"Чего ты хочешь ?" (What do you want?)

He snapped towards the door, his fingers now having moved away from your chest, but he still held you close, his fingers now stroking the side of your hips. A man stepped in, meeting Vasili's blue eyes for a split second and then immediately lowered it, without even placing it on you once.

"Вы должны кое-что увидеть." ( There is something you must see.)

Upon hearing the HYDRA guard's words, your handler turned towards you, as his hand that was on your waist now moved upwards to cup your cheek and pull your mouth dangerously close to his as he smiled evilly.

"Садись в ванну и жди меня там, мой солдат." (Get into the bathtub and wait for me there, my soldier.)

You nodded, and lifted yourself up from his lap, and Vasili stood up, and without addressing you again, he left your cell, and the door slammed shut behind you, leaving you alone with a tiny bed in one corner and a large bathtub in another. Remembering your handler's words, with slow steps, you found yourself at the bathtub, drawing yourself a warm bath.

Meanwhile, Vasili watched the footage on the holographic screen in front of him. Of course, Johanna had lied to them all, the girl in the video only proved it. The resemblance she had to her mother was uncanny. The same hair and face, except the eyes and the ability and speed, no wonder a result of the Winter Soldier's serum running through her veins. She was lovely; and Vasili wanted nothing more to have her here, so he could now experiment on her.

"Johanna ничего не помнит, и так остается. Если кто-то, я имею в виду, кто-то пытается заставить ее вспомнить..." (Johanna remembers nothing and this is how it stays. If anyone, I mean, anyone tries to make her remember..)

His words of warning were enough to instill a deep rooted fear inside all those who were present in that hall. They all nodded and watched the handler leave, an evil smile planted against his face. The footage had brought out a jovial mood in the man; he whistled to himself, a merry little tune as his footsteps rang through the dinghy hallway of the underground base in Hungary until his most favourite soldier's cell was in sight. Two guards stood by her door, and he motioned towards them to unlock the door and let him in.

The minute he stepped in, his eyes were greeted by a beautiful site of her, her clothes strewn all over the floor, her beautiful, naked back glistening underneath the flickering lightbulb overhead.

"Как прекрасно," he strolled towards you, and you craned your neck submissively, so he could brush his fingers against the side of your neck before he got into the bathtub with you. This was almost a routine; every time you came back from a mission. Your glassy, stone like orbs remained fixed on the wall, as Vasili took off his clothes and let them fall against yours, and stepped into the bathtub with you, pulling you against him. He cupped his palm and poured the water over your back, drawing designs on your moist back with it. You sighed, rolling your neck as his hands ran across the line of your shoulders, caressing your back.

"Солдат, у меня для тебя миссия." (Soldier, I have a mission for you.)

Your eyes lifted themselves off the ripples forming on the surface of water, and you turned your neck sideways, although you couldn't see your handler's face, "Куда мне теперь идти?" (Where do I have to go?)

"Америка.. Нью-Йорк." (America.. New York.)

Permanent Bucky Barnes Taglist:

@really-dont-forget-it @thepeakygurl @all-art-is-quite-useless @baumarvel @janajjj @chipilerendi @nyotamalfoy @skittychat @allidoiswritewritewrite @jessyballet @x0xchristine @evansgirl7 @laisbeltrans @thegayseance

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[emile-hides]

Birthday Gift

Part three of my Found Family Overwatch self-insert series. This time staring @r1pwitch, with a special guest appearance by @syalin-deerfox

Part 1

Part 2

In which the family is all together for a birthday party

Cross fell back onto the couch, letting out an exhausted huff and they slunk into the soft cushions.

“Oh no, you are NOT done.” I turned to them, holding handfuls of torn apart wrapping paper, confetti and glitter filled my hair as I glared down at them.

“Aw come on, just a little break,” they said, voice squeaky, “I’ve been emptying balloons for hours now!”

I couldn’t help but chuckle as I threw a wad of sparkly unicorn paper at them. The blocked their face and laughed like a mouse.

The house was a wreck, as three year old’s birthday parties tend to leave homes. Ari, the birthday girl, was currently sitting on the stairs with her old brother, Jojo (7), playing with her new toys.

A knock to the door drew my attention away from cleaning. I glanced at Cross, expecting them to offer to get it, only to see them inhaling yet another balloon.

“I’ll get it.” I chuckled a bit at them, stuffing the torn up wrapping paper in a trash bag before making my way to the door. Did someone leave something?

Outside my door stood a bounty hunter, short but efficient, with a bow across his back and a longhorn skull as a helmet, green tufts of hair poked out to barely cover his eyes. To a wanted man, he was intimidating, he meant life behind bars, if you were lucky. Though to me, he was

“Zayne!” I cheered, more than a little excited to see my best friend. I jumped a bit to hug him, just to pause, my excitment waning as I noticed something in his arms.

“Uh... Who’s... kid is that...?” I asked, a small girl with racoon ears and a tail clung tightly to Zayne’s side, avoiding eye contact.

“Uhm.... yours?” Zayne said with a smile and a tone to indicate that was meant to be funny, but not exactly a joke.

“A trash can?!” I tried not to raise my voice as I paced around my living room. Zayne nodded, sipping his tea on the couch beside Cross.

“I couldn’t believe it either. I was chasing down my arch rival,” some archer he fancied with a massive bounty. Zayne says they’re rivals, but the way he talks about him, they sound more like lovers, “when I stumbled upon her...”

I glanced down at the child, who’d been sitting quietly with Ari on the confetti covered floor.

“She got a name?” Cross asked the smart questions yet again.

“Not that she’s told me.” Zayne shrugged, “I figured you two have taken in two random street rats, what’s a third?”

“A lot. A third’s a lot.” I muttered, scratching the back of my neck as I glanced down at the kids. Ari was doing her best to get the anxious little Racoon girl to play with her.

She came from Busan, Korea... I didn’t like Korea very much. They’d gotten too comfortable with younger soldiers over there. Orphans were typically raised to join the military. Even if she wasn’t Korean by blood, if we took her back, that’s certainly where she’d end up.

I nodded, patted my cheeks, and knelt down to the little girl.

“Hello, my name’s Emile. You already know my friend, Zayne, and that there’s Cross,” I started introducing each of us slowly, “This is my daughter, Ari, and my son, Jojo.”

The girl glanced around at everyone, then gave a shy wave, holding onto the sleeve of her shirt.

“Do you have a name, sweetie?” I asked gently.

She shifted, a soft M sound escaped her lips.

“M?” I repeated, encouragingly.

“M...moss...” She mumbled out, glancing up at me, “Moss..”

“Moss? Well it’s very nice to meet you, Moss.” I smiled, sitting cross legged next to her, “Can you tell me about your family, Moss? Your mommy or daddy?”

Moss shifted a bit, looking down at the ground as she shifted her weight from one foot to the other. She then gripped her sleeve, slowly pulling it up.

“wow!” Ari leaned over Moss, staring at her arm, “You’ve got a lot of owies, Moss!”

A deep, overwhelming sadness filled my heart at the truth my daughter spoke. Moss’ arms were covered in bruises, old indications of cigarette burns, blueish-black marks showing where they’d been forcefully grabbed, held tight, dragged, and hit. It all made me feel sick.

I clenched my fist, then took Moss’ sleeve, gently covering her arm, “Thankyou, Moss. You’re a very brave little girl.” I pat her head, then looked to Ari, “Ari, sweetie, why don’t you show Moss all the new toys you got for your birthday? And share them, okay?”

“Okay, Daddy!” Ari saluted and giggled, then excitedly took Moss’ hand, dragging her upstairs, Jojo following close behind.

Zayne got up, grabbing his bow from the side of the couch, “I’ll find her parents.”

“You don’t have to-” I started.

“I’ll find them.” Zayne spoke in a tone, making it obvious he wasn’t finding them for our sake.

I nodded, then glanced to Cross, “You ready for number three?”

They stared at me blankly, then took another shot of helium, “I don’t really have a say in the matter, but of course.” They squeaked.

Zayne didn’t get to stay long. He was hot on the trail of the “rival” of his, and had to get moving before the trail went cold. Of course that didn’t stop them from taking multiple pictures of the snow covered village.

After he’d gone, Cross got out of cleaning by offering to make dinner, which isn’t really an offer, as I would burn the house down attempting to cook.

I stood alone in the living room for a moment, sweeping confetti. I stared at our wall of family photos. Pictures of the Shimbali brothers and sisters, Mondatta the day I was blessed with meeting him, Cross and I in front of the house, Ari’s many baby photos, Brother Zenyatta and Genji the day of Genji’s surgery, a full photo of the then full family, Cross, Ari, Jojo, and I. It’d need to be updated with Moss.

A ruckus caught my attention, Ari came barreling down the stairs, toy airplane in hand, Moss and Jojo in line behind her with their own little planes. They all made flying sounds as they zoomed around the living room.

A warmth filled my heart as I knelt to the ground, “All suspended aircraft, please begin your decent. Dad’s loving embrace airstrips are clear for landing.” I spoke in a radio announcer voice, holding my arms open.

Ari slammed into my chest like a bullet train, Jojo excitedly slung his arms around my neck, jumping up and hanging from me. Moss hesitated, holding onto her sleeves as she stared at me.

I smiled at her and extended a hand, “It’s okay, it’s just a hug, I promise..”

She shifted, then slowly walked closer. I hugged them, my three wonderful kids, tight in my arms. It was warm, and safe. I felt like I could hold them forever, so nothing could ever hurt them, so they’d never know the danger of the world around them.

But dinner was ready, so I had to let them go.

As I watched them race into the kitchen to get to their seats, I found myself left with a smile, and a few tears.

I can’t wait to see them grow up, I thought.

I can’t wait to see the amazing people they become.

I’m so happy I can be a part of their lives, see them grow and change.

I can’t imagine what I could have done to deserve such a gift.

The gift of three amazing, brilliant, wonderful kids.

[patchwork-panda]

If A Moment Is All We Are (25/?)

AO3 link: HERE

A note: 

There's a lot of music that I think would be EXCELLENT in parts in this arc so I'm including the links here first (if you want to have them loaded up and ready)  Where to start and stop will be indicated with asterisks (* for start, * for stop)

Music 1 (*): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4nESyjxjIM&t=2626s&ab_channel=MobaSavage<br />

Music 2 (**): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4nESyjxjIM&t=3224s&ab_channel=MobaSavage<br /> Music 3 (***): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eDuTS0V_qGg&t=193s&ab_channel=MobaSavage<br /> Music 4 (*): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HtUi8o_wAc0&ab_channel=MusicLover

Akutagawa...

I took a small, shaky step back.

“W-what are you doing here?” I managed to ask.

I hadn’t seen him in the vision. How was this happening?

“The President of this company owes us a very large debt,” Akutagawa answered, surprising me.

He let out a soft, quiet cough.

“A very large debt that he hasn’t been paying back as of late.”

He took a step forward and I took another one back.

So it was true. That money in that account really was being set aside for the Port Mafia...

“I’m here,” Akutagawa continued, “to collect. And I was instructed to take the thief with me if I found him.”

His cold gray eyes settled on me.

“I assume it’s not you.”

I felt my lips twitching upwards in a nervous smile.

“So does that mean you’re going to let me go?”

Akutagawa’s eyes narrowed.

* Two solid black tendrils slowly rose from the back of his coat and I had a split second to run before they shot out towards me.

One hit the ground where my foot had been just a second earlier, carving a tiny crater into the concrete and sending chunks of rubble into the air. I dove behind a nearby compact car just in time to avoid the second and threw my arms over my head as it punched a hole through two of the windows, shattering the glass. Sparkling, green-tinted shards rained down all around me like snow, the car alarm blaring painfully in my ears.

Guess that was a “no...”

Glass cascaded off my shoulders as I moved, my elbows scuffed up and my ears ringing from the wailing of the alarm. Getting into a half-crouch, I whipped my head around to spot the next attack. Surprisingly, none came, but before I could look for a way to escape, something dark glimmered at the edge of my vision—something huge...

I looked up.

High above the car, pulsating with crackles of blood-red electricity, was an enormous black scythe. Without warning, it dropped down like a massive guillotine and I threw myself out of the way as it sliced through the car behind me.

I hit the ground hard, my body smacking painfully against the concrete, but before I could fully push myself back up onto my elbows, I thought I heard a dull creaking and groaning over the wailing of the car alarm. Glancing over my shoulder, I saw the black blade in the middle of the car shuddering like a live creature, molding itself into something new before my eyes.

“Rashoumon...”

With a sound like a massive tearing of fabric, the blade split in two down the middle, transforming into a pair of black claws. As each of them bit into one side of the car with a solid metallic crunch, I scrambled to my feet.

“Murakumo.”

I raced away, making a break for the next car—for the next hiding place—as a metallic shriek echoed throughout the half-empty garage and Akutagawa tore the car behind me in two. Ducking down behind a small, gray compact, I got up on my knees and put my fingers against the door, peering through the windows at the man in black. Cold sweat ran down my back as I watched Akutagawa pry yet another car apart with his Ability and fling the pieces to opposite corners of the garage.

“Come out, Prophet,” he called, stepping through the space he’d just cleared, his living cloak billowing behind him as he moved.

One of the mangled cars behind him suddenly exploded, but Akutagawa barely flinched as he continued forward.

“You’re just delaying the inevitable.”

I watched, trembling with fear as he walked down the center aisle of the garage: a pitch-black silhouette etched in stark relief against a backdrop of dancing orange and yellow flames. Two black claws re-emerged from the back of his long coat and floated up, high above his head, poised and ready to strike at the merest hint of a movement...

I ducked back down behind the car again as Akutagawa spoke, his cold voice ringing throughout the room.

“You should give up now while I’m still in a good mood.”

I heard a sharp, metallic crunch and glanced to my left, where one large black claw had wrapped itself around the back end of the car I was hiding behind. There was another crunch, and I snapped my head to the right to see the other black claw sinking into the front of the car. The car alarm blared to life as I bolted for another hiding place, sprinting as fast as I could as Akutagawa lifted the car high into the air and threw it aside.

There was another horrible crunching noise; I saw the car being slammed into a nearby row of vehicles, pushing them all together like the folds of an accordion and compacting them against the wall. I dropped to a crouch behind a large SUV and tried to catch my breath as another round of explosions shook the basement.

This was Akutagawa in a good mood?!

Suddenly, black claws crashed down on top of the SUV. I let out a shriek and took off running again as they flattened the vehicle from above and shoved it through an empty section of parking lot, the metal screeching against the concrete like a dying animal. I managed to hurl myself behind a large van just as the SUV slammed against a wall far away with an echoing crash.

“I’ll say it again,” Akutagawa called out, sounding more irritated this time. “Come quietly and I’ll make sure you get to the Boss in one piece.”

“How generous of you,” I gasped under my breath.

Huddled against the side of the SUV, chest heaving with exertion, I pulled out my cell phone, which had miraculously stayed in my pocket, and flipped it open.

I had to call someone. Preferably somebody who had combat experience or had fought Akutagawa before. There was no way I could take him on my own and if I wanted to avoid being captured by the Port Mafia this time, I needed help.

I could feel my hands shaking as I pulled up the address book and I cursed when I accidentally dropped the phone by mistake.

Dazai’s phone number glowed up at me from the floor.

“Shit.”

A familiar, inhuman shriek filled the room and I snatched my phone off the ground, clutching it to my chest. My eyes darted about for the dragon-headed beast with the blood-red jaws—the monster Akutagawa had sicced on me the first time, the monster that was sure to come screaming around the corner any moment now.

“Rashoumon!”

I braced myself.

“Kumo no Ito!”

‘Spider Threads?’

I heard a creaking sound above me and looked up to see what looked like a black cage made out of thick, crackling wires crashing down from the ceiling above.

I dove out of the way, somehow avoiding being caught inside. But I still wasn’t quick enough...

One of the black wires sliced into the side of my ankle on its way down and I cried out in pain as my shoulder collided with the concrete below. My phone was still squeezed tightly in my hands and as I groaned and sat up to look at my bloody ankle, I heard the dial tone, followed by a click. The voice that called out was fuzzy with static—had I actually called Dazai or someone else...?

“Hello?”

“It’s Kyou! I need help!” I shouted into the receiver, not caring who was on the other end, “I’m downtown—basement level five—”

My eyes went wide as I saw reflection of the cage reforming above my head.

“SHIT!!”

Tucking my phone to my chest, I rolled to the side as the cage plunged down towards me once again. I felt one of the black tendrils nicking the side of my cheek and part of my ear as it came down but I didn’t stop rolling until my back collided painfully with the hubcap of a car in the next space over.

Breathless and dizzy, I staggered to my feet, grabbing the side mirror of the car for support. Blood streamed down the left side of my face, mixing in with the sweat and spattering my phone with thick, red droplets.

The call seemed to have ended but before I could hit redial, the cage retracted from the ground with an audible crunch of concrete against spikes.

The black tendrils withdrew, condensing back into that blob-like mess of shadow streaked with red. A familiar triangular head began to take shape, clouds of darkness condensing into spikes around a wide, angular mouth...

Fear, pure and undiluted, coursed through my veins as Akutagawa reappeared from around the side of the gray compact. He raised one pale hand and extended his fingers outward, towards me.

“Rashoumon.”

Clutching my phone in my hand, I turned and ran for my life.

“Agito.”

There was a deafening roar. I sprinted forward, weaving around cars, motorcycles and other obstacles, blood soaking wetly into my shirt and the back of one of my socks. I couldn’t outrun him—I knew that, but I also knew that his orders were to bring me in alive and as long as I took advantage of that, I might be able to make it out in one piece.

Maybe.

Car alarms erupted all around me, a cacophony of squeals and whoops that were abruptly silenced by the crashing of metal, Rashoumon’s otherworldly howls echoing in my ears as it tore through each and every obstacle between it and me. I ran for the wall of pillars on the far side of the garage, for the exit sign I could now see glowing high above in the corner. I could feel Rashoumon bearing down on me, coming closer with every screeching crunch, every flipped car...

I glanced over my shoulder to see scarlet-lined jaws stretched wide, a gaping maw filled with rows and rows of needle-sharp teeth—

Something caught against the toe of my shoe. For one brief, horrifying second, I was airborne...

My cell phone flew out of my hand.

“No...!”

It arced through the air, the thin, rectangular device rotating end over end in slow motion... flying further away from my outstretched fingers with each individual flip...

“Kyou—” a voice shouted frantically from the other line, voice muffled with static, “Hang on, I’m—”

Wind rushed through my hair from overhead. Rashoumon surged forward, clipping the ends of my bangs.

And with one devastating roar of wind and sound, it devoured my phone.

A single thought echoed in my head as I hit the ground.

Backup would not come in time.

Wincing, I looked up in time to see Rashoumon sailing over my head. It collided with the ceiling near the flashing green exit sign with a thunderous crash, sending chunks of rubble the size of boulders falling all around. A cloud of dust blew towards me from the corner of the garage and I shielded my eyes, coughing as it passed. When I opened my eyes again, I could no longer see the bright green light.

Rashoumon had destroyed that part of the garage, breaking a hole open between this level of the basement parking structure and the one above it, burying the door behind a wall of broken concrete and shattered pipes.

There was a dull creak and I glanced up at the hole in the ceiling to see the wheels of a large black car sliding through the jagged opening. There was another long, shuddering creak, followed by a distant rumble and the rest of the concrete around the car crumbled, letting it through. It smashed against the wall of rubble with a resounding crash and instantly burst into flame. **

I was trapped.

“There’s no escape.”

Akutagawa was close. I could hear it.

Hissing in pain, I struggled to my feet once more and limped for the nearest hiding place I could see—one of a row of concrete pillars on my side of the garage. I tucked myself behind the nearest one, the concrete cold and dusty against my back as Akutagawa spoke again.

“There is only capture... or death.”

I gritted my teeth, every cut and bruise on my body making itself felt as I peered around the edge of the pillar at my opponent.

There had to be a third option—had to be! I couldn’t afford to think otherwise.

A sharp, acrid smell filled my nostrils as I stared at the man in the middle of the clearing, the monster tethered to his cloak swiveling its massive head around the room, searching for its prey: me.

As it turned in my direction, I stepped back behind the pillar again and tried to quell the panic rising in my chest.

Okay, stop.

Breathe...

Think... what would your mentors do in this kind of situation? What would Kunikida do?

I frowned as I realized Kunikida’s Ability would let him generate weapons. I’d seen him go toe-to-toe with Akutagawa already the day he’d rescued me. If he were here instead of me, he could make as many guns, grenades or tasers as there were pages in his notebook—something I couldn’t do.

I took another shuddering breath in and leaned back against the pillar, flinching when I felt the cut Rashoumon had slashed against the top part of my head when it had passed over me. Blood slowly trickled down my scalp.

If I couldn’t do what Kunikida could do, then...

I bit my lip.

What would Dazai do?

The sharp, pungent smell suddenly intensified and I pinched my nose shut with my fingers and turned away as my eyes began to sting from the fumes. But as I stepped off to the side, I heard a quiet splash and looked down to see what I’d stepped in. It was a puddle of some kind, a puddle of clear, foul-smelling liquid—one with an oily, rainbow-hued film floating across its surface.

I let out a tiny gasp.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4nESyjxjIM&t=3224s&ab_channel=MobaSavage

** Gasoline.

“Come out,” Akutagawa repeated, a note of irritation slipping into his voice, “and I’ll make sure someone delivers a message to the Agency for you. That way they’ll know not to come looking for you.”

Gasoline... There was gasoline everywhere, all throughout this garage. Akutagawa must have ripped apart half of the vehicles in here to get to me, tearing through enough of the gas tanks to allow pools of gasoline to gather on the floor. Somewhere out there was a pool big enough to set ablaze.

I just needed a lighter...

And then I saw it.

Gleaming behind the windshield of a nearby black van, perched neatly on top of the dashboard next to a half-empty pack of cigarettes... was a small, orange plastic lighter. And to my immediate right, a piece of rubble the size of a brick.

I felt my pulse begin to race.

“Clock’s ticking, Prophet,” Akutagawa snapped. “I’m losing my patience.”

Dazai was crafty. Dazai was insane... But Dazai could walk away from an encounter like this without so much as a single scratch.

I stared at the lighter in the window.

Akutagawa’s Ability manifested in the form of his coat. If I could set the coat on fire, would he still be able to use Rashoumon?

“I’m going to count to three. If you don’t come out of there by the time I’m done, I’m taking your leg.”

If I wanted to walk out of here alive, then I would have to do something just as underhanded as Dazai would.

“Three... Two...”

I was going to have to burn that cursed black coat off Akutagawa’s back.

“One...”

I felt a rumble. A piece of concrete broke away from the edge of the hole in the ceiling and as it crashed down into the pile of debris, Rashoumon looked away.

It was my only chance.

Snatching the brick-sized piece of rubble off the ground, I pelted towards the black van and hurled the rubble with all my might into the windshield. The car alarm blared to life as the windshield smashed into a spiderweb of shards and I plunged my fist through the newly opened hole, grabbing the lighter just as Akutagawa sent his monster charging after me.

“Rashoumon! Gokumon Agito!”

I wrenched my hand back out of the wreckage, broken shards of glass slashing deep, jagged cuts into my jacket sleeve and arm, and ran back into the center of the garage—towards the biggest pool of gasoline I could find.

I was in luck.

As Rashoumon zigzagged towards me through the parking structure, I saw the flickering of electricity, where one of the fancy hybrid cars Akutagawa had wrecked was lying on its side with some of the circuitry exposed. It was lying directly above a virtual lake of gasoline.

I dashed towards it, Akutagawa’s monster hot on my heels.

“Fool!” Akutagawa spat. “You think you can outrun me?”

I didn’t bother to answer. Instead I vaulted over the hood of the sparking car and kept running. Ripping off a piece from the end of my shirt, I came to a stop several meters before President Tanaka’s car, turning around just as Rashoumon ripped through the front end of the sparking car like it was made of wet cardboard. I somehow managed to dodge the attack, but not completely—Rashoumon still took a chunk out of my right shoulder and a scream ripped out of my throat as I felt it gouge deeply into my flesh.

Blood poured from the wound, drenching the front and back of my jacket. My shoulder pulsed with pain and when I reached up with my left hand to staunch the flow of blood, I could feel the bone underneath. Gritting my teeth, I struggled to remain standing as Akutagawa appeared at last, his face contorted with cold fury.

“You must really want to be torn apart,” the dark-haired young man whispered, walking forward through the piles of debris.

I watched, heart pounding as he stepped into the middle of the pool of gas, right beside the sparking car, undisguised annoyance written all over his pale, bloodless face.

“But it looks like I won’t have to.”

His gray eyes narrowed as he spotted the enormous piles of wreckage and debris behind me, momentarily staring beyond me at the wall of flame ringing the edges of the parking garage.

“You’ve got nowhere left to run.”

“No...” I breathed, ignoring the ache in my shoulder as I wrapped the piece of torn cloth over the lighter. “I’m done running.”

I flicked my thumb over the silvery wheel of the lighter and a single tongue of blue and yellow flame sprang to life in my hand. It spread to the cloth.

“And you’re the one who’s got nowhere left to go.”

I hurled the burning lighter at the sparking car.

Akutagawa’s eyes widened.

“Sh—”

He didn’t get to finish his sentence. **

Flame met spark and in the blink of an eye, Akutagawa disappeared, engulfed by the ball of heat, light and flame that suddenly erupted from the sparking car. His scream of rage echoed in my ears as a massive shock wave, generated by the mushrooming explosion, knocked me off my feet and launched me backwards through the air...

Heat seared my arms, legs and face. Wind rushed through my hair and clothes as I flew, pushed back by the powerful force of the explosion I’d caused. I wrenched my eyes shut against the blast, trying to shield my face even though I could tell from the dull aches and stings that the exposed parts of my shins and even the tip of my nose had already been burned.

Without warning, I slammed into something solid—no, something hard and metallic that completely buckled under my weight with a hollow, ringing crunch—a dull ache of a sound that shuddered through my entire body like a physical wave.

“Aagh—!”

Blood and spittle flew from my open mouth, my eyes wide with shock as all the air was forced out of my lungs at once. I saw more blood and bits of shattered glass flying away from me, past my face, like glimmering droplets of ruby and diamond, sparkling and twinkling from the light of the inferno just ahead. My head settled back against a bed of shattered glass and torn-up leather and I finally registered that I had been thrown into and halfway through somebody’s car—and with such force that the passenger door had crumpled in with me.

For a moment, I lay there, completely breathless and unmoving, watching blearily through half-lidded eyes as the wreckage of the sparking car burned before me. Thick black fumes choked the air, floating up towards the ceiling from the blaze. In the flat fluorescent lighting of the parking garage, the wreck seemed to glow like a miniature sun—no, a funeral pyre, I realized abruptly.

I’d burned Akutagawa alive...

As I lifted my head a little to stare out at the lake of gasoline—the lake that was now burning in the middle of the underground parking garage like a sea of flame, I felt something between my shoulder blades snap. The pain that followed a heartbeat later was unbearable.

“Hh...!”

White-hot knives pierced through my shoulders, midsection and back. My mouth was already open but I couldn’t scream—there was no air in my lungs and even if I wanted to cry or shout out or something, I knew instinctively that if I did, the pain would only intensify. So I lay there, whimpering softly, tears gathering in the corners of my eyes, with the upper half of my body resting on a warped car door and my legs dangling uselessly outside the vehicle.

My phone had been destroyed. Akutagawa was probably dead. The car bomber I’d caught earlier... I let my eyes drift towards the side of the garage that I had come in from. Relief flooded through my body as I realized it had been practically untouched. In trying to intimidate and capture me, Akutagawa had focused his efforts on tearing apart the far end of the garage, leaving the bomber handcuffed safely to a section of pipe near the elevators at the front of the chamber.

I took a single, shallow breath in, wincing when it came with another sharp stab of pain. The air rattled noisily as it settled into my collapsed lungs and as I stared blankly up at the ceiling, I realized I knew whose car this was.

It was a black BMW with tinted windows. One of the newer, fancier models that didn’t have a traditional key and keyhole but instead required the driver to push the ignition button while the key was inside the car.

This... was the car President Tanaka and his driver were going to get into.

This was the car with the bomb underneath it.

And I’d just spotted the tell-tale glint of the key inside the open glove compartment.

I couldn’t stay here.

Groaning, I tried to prop myself up on my arm and push myself out of the vehicle. But while my arm wasn’t sticking out at any wrong angle, I knew when I tried to put my weight on it and promptly collapsed that it was definitely broken.

I closed my eyes and let out a sigh that sounded more like an agonized wheeze.

All I could do now was pray that whoever had been on the other end of the line would be coming for me... and that they would come before an errant spark landed on this car and sent me into the stratosphere.

“Rashoumon...”

That single word was all the warning I got before two lines of black came streaking towards me from the blaze. I gasped, my head snapping back painfully as the black ribbons wrapped themselves around my neck and tightened, pushing me back down into the broken seats.

“Tenma Tengai.”

No...!

I clawed at the ribbons with my left hand, pushing myself up with my right so I could try to get some air.

He’d survived? How?!

I watched, gasping and writhing in pain as Akutagawa, the man attached to the ribbons, slowly emerged from the clouds of smoke and flame. His black coat was completely gone—replaced by ribbons of black and red that criss-crossed over his entire body and wrapped around him like an exoskeleton. Strips of black cloth bound his hair and face, making him look something like a cross between a ninja and a mummy. They covered everything except his eyes, which burned with an intensity not unlike that of the blaze he’d just escaped...

No, not a mummy...

As he marched towards me from the middle of the garage, I could see two angular horns protruding from the top part of his head—ribbons of cloth twisted into shape by what had to be his Ability.  

He looked like a demon walking out of Hell...

His entire ensemble glowed red with some kind of mysterious power. I struggled to sit up some more, to make use of the stabbing pain in my ribs to try to stay awake, I understood immediately what had happened.

So that was it...

The true nature of Rashoumon was cloth; that’s why the attacks were always coming out of his coat. Akutagawa’s Ability was one that could turn the very clothes on his body into blades and send them flying at an enemy.

How versatile...

“I’m not sure whether to call you ‘brilliant’ or ‘an idiot,’” he said.

I let out another shallow gasp as Akutagawa’s grip around my neck tightened.

“Thinking to burn my coat so that I can’t attack with my Ability was pretty smart,” Akutagawa acknowledged, stopping just before the toes of my singed shoes. “But then again, not factoring in that you yourself would be caught up in the explosion you created...”

Piercing gray eyes glared down at me as I twisted about, trying in vain to free myself.

“...that was stupid.”

This was it. I was going to be captured. Akutagawa was going to keep choking me until I passed out. Then, he was going to take my mangled, unconscious body back to the Port Mafia headquarters, back to his boss, where they’d do who-knew-what else to me for who-knew-what reason...

I never got to tell Kunikida-san how I feel...

I won’t see him, Kirako-san, Yosano-sensei, Ranpo-san or any of the others ever again... and even if I did, I might end up having to fight them instead...

Tears leaked out of the corners of my eyes and I took in another labored, shuddering gasp.

I should’ve told Dazai I was going to be here. I should’ve told him the truth... that I forgive him, that I…

Gritting my teeth, I squeezed my eyes shut. I felt the side of my cheek stinging dully as a tear dripped down the side of my face.

Why hadn’t I said anything?! Why??

“Why...?” I found myself whispering.

“Why?” Akutagawa repeated, sounding surprised. “Your Ability grants you precognitive visions. You honestly can’t think of a single reason the Port Mafia would want to make use of an Ability like yours?”

He scoffed.

“Unbelievable.”

I was fading. My body was losing strength. My legs kicked out reflexively and a violent spasm tore through my arm; it smacked painfully against the steering wheel, instantly producing a sensation like an electric shock that ran down the length of my body.

The steering wheel...

Wait a second...!

The keys were still in the glove compartment. From what I’d seen in my vision, it seemed the bomb was supposed to go off when the driver turned on the ignition and took his finger off the button. And since Akutagawa and I hadn’t been blown to bits yet... the bomb was still active.

Sorry, Kunikida-san, Dazai-san...

Gingerly, I reached up for the ignition button.

Thank you both... for everything...

I heard a click. The button sank down under my fingers and I held my breath.

But this is the only way...

Noticing my movements at last, Akutagawa frowned. His voice dropped in volume.

“What are you doing?”

“Ending this,” I gasped.

I coughed and struggled to prop myself up against the steering wheel. My arm was going numb.

“It sounds like you know what my power is,” I croaked, “Well, you don’t know everything.”

Despite the aches and pains, I smiled, an expression that was more like a grimace of pain than an actual grin.

“I’m here,” I whispered, “because I had a vision... You see... the person you came to collect from? He was supposed to get into this car. Right about now, in fact. But he’s not here right now... and he wasn’t supposed to make it out. Wanna know why?”

Akutagawa’s eyes narrowed and I felt my grin widen.

“Because there’s a bomb under this car. The keys are in the glove compartment and the gas tank is full.”

With a considerable amount of effort, I tilted my head to the side, towards the depressed ignition button.

“And it’s set to blow the moment I take my hand off this button.”

Upon hearing my words, Akutagawa flinched. He didn’t take the ribbons off of my neck but I felt them loosen just so and I sucked in what little air I could and let out a quiet laugh.

“Your money’s gone, Akutagawa-san. I couldn’t tell you where it went, even if I wanted to. But I can tell you this.”

I felt my smile wobble.

“I’d rather die than be captured by the likes of you. And if I’m going down... I’m taking you with me.”

For a moment, we were both quiet. I could only hear the dull roar of the flames dying down around us in this scorched concrete wasteland of a parking structure. And then I heard a cough—no, not a cough, a scoff.

The ribbons loosened just a little bit further around my neck and as the spots in front of my eyes faded, I could see Akutagawa standing there, a weak breeze blowing through his hair, his face colder and more impassive than ever. He spat out a single word.

“Pathetic.”

Huh?

“The boss’s orders to me were very specific,” he stated. “He said I was to bring you back if I believed your Ability would be useful to us. Well...”

The ribbons fell away from my neck entirely and I collapsed with one shoulder against the steering wheel, coughing and gasping to bring as much air into my lungs as I could possibly stand. I had to struggle to keep my fingers pressed against the ignition, not wanting to let go unless it meant I’d be blowing Akutagawa up along with myself.

“I no longer believe it is. Or rather...”

The ribbon-like armor around his body vanished and he was standing before me in that black long coat and white cravat once more.

“It’s more accurate to say that I don’t think you would be useful to us.”

He stuck his hands in his pockets and turned away.

“When they told me an Ability User who could see the future had appeared once more, I was set on capturing them at all costs,” he said, walking away. “I thought, perhaps, this was the second coming of Oda-san. After all, we learned several years ago that two people with similar Abilities can exist at one time. Why couldn’t his Ability reappear now, after his death?”

Oda-san? Who was that?

“But you’re nothing like that man.” Akutagawa sounded disgusted. “Oda-san took out an entire battalion of soldiers before his demise. He would not be so willing to give his life over a battle as trivial as this. He did not fear death or slaughter.”

He stopped walking away and turned to give me one final, cold glance.

“But he also did not seek them out.”

I could hear his footsteps echoing away from me. Only when they faded away entirely did I dare breathe again.

I’d done it...? Had I just won?

I heard another crack and felt another sudden, sharp stab of pain in my ribs as yet more bones splintered inside my torso and I let out a pained, hacking cough. At least my back wasn’t broken—the searing pain all up and down my entire body assured me of this.

I felt my fingers, growing damp from sweat, slipping down a little against the ignition and with a heavy groan, I forced more of my weight onto it.

I had to hang on. Now that Akutagawa was gone, I could feel an odd sense of hope. My attacker had just abandoned me to bleed out and die here on my own. Perhaps if I just hung on long enough, someone would come...!

But who...?

Time slowly began to pass. Spots reappeared before my eyes. Red and black and yellow and green. I tried to shake my head to clear my vision but the spots barely faded from view. Now that the danger had finally passed, the adrenaline was wearing off. It was only a matter of time before I passed out and let go of the ignition button.

And when that time came, I would be blown into the next life.

I shifted again, hoping the old strategy of using pain to shock myself awake would work once again. Sadly, the pain felt duller, the effect lessened and I slumped against the smashed in car door as I felt my body giving out at long last.

No good. I couldn’t wait here any longer.

I was actually going to die...

A soft crunching sound reached my ears. Someone had crushed a piece of glass nearby. As I strained to listen for more, there was another crunch, coming from somewhere much closer than before.

The car door behind me suddenly opened.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eDuTS0V_qGg&t=193s&ab_channel=MobaSavage

*** Warm fingers pressed over mine, keeping the button for the ignition pushed in and as I craned my neck up to see who my rescuer was, I saw an upside-down face—the handsome face of a man with shaggy brown hair and intelligent brown eyes. Bandages were swathed around his neck.

Dazai.

“Yo!” he chirped, grinning toothily at me. “Your knight in shining armor is here.”

“Dazai-san?” I whispered as he reached over and accessed the glove compartment. “What are you doing here?”

“Oh my goodness, really?” Dazai sighed.

He reached into the glove compartment and retrieved the keys.

“You called me. Remember?”

“That was you?” I asked, wincing a little as I accidentally moved my neck to look at him. “The person I dialed while Akutagawa was attacking me was you?”

“Correct~!” Dazai sang.

“But you were in Nagano,” I stammered, “How did you get here so fast?”

“Well, I was planning to stop by Matsushiro Castle on my way back,” Dazai drawled, “Maybe get my cute case partner a nice little souvenir but then I realized I had the best souvenir in my pocket the whole time!”

He held something up in front of my face and I had to blink a trickle of blood out of my eyes to see that he was holding up a USB drive.

“I found CORVID,” he said simply. “And I got them to give back the money.”

I stared at it for a second. Then, I let out an incredulous laugh.

“And here I thought you were going to say something lame like, ‘the best souvenir was Dazai-san the whole time,’” I chuckled, flinching a little when I felt my ribs cracking again.

“Oho...”

Dazai leaned in then, so that his nose was barely two centimeters from my own.

“So does that mean you see me as a prize worth attaining, Kyou-chan? If that’s the case, you know the way to my heart.”

Taking the USB drive away, he dangled the keys before my eyes.

“You know what I’m talking about,” he whispered, his voice dropping low. “I take your hand in mine, off of that flimsy ignition button and we can be together forever in the afterlife.”

He shook the keys so that they jangled noisily and flashed in the light.

“What do you think?” he whispered, eyes darkening until they looked as black as coals. His voice took on a supplicating tone.

“Come away with me?”

I bit my lip.

If my arms weren’t broken, I swear, I would’ve slapped him in the face...

My eyes narrowed.

“Fuck off, Dazai.”

Dazai sighed. Heavily. Then he shrugged and tossed the keys over his shoulder and out of the car. Only then did he take his hand off of mine.

No keys—no ignition—no explosion.

I relaxed.

“Yeah, you’re right,” he admitted, pulling me from the wreck at last as I gritted my teeth to keep from screaming. Even though I was a hair away from passing out, I could still see that my clothes were singed and my body bloodied, battered and bruised.

“Not romantic enough,” he decided, nodding a little, more to himself than anyone else. “I should at least take you out on a proper date first, if we’re going to be committing a lovers’ suicide—”

“Dazai-san.”

He stopped talking as he heard the seriousness of my tone.

“Before he left,” I mumbled, “Akutagawa-san mentioned something about people with the same Ability. He mentioned someone named... Oda-san.”

Dazai twitched. He stopped dragging me away from the car.

I groaned as he placed me flat against the concrete, then picked me up beneath the arms and gently laid my head into his lap.

His coffee-brown eyes suddenly looked somber as they stared into mine from above.

“Do you... Do you know who he’s talking about? I mean...”

I wet my lips, which suddenly felt as cracked and dry as my voice.

“You did seem to know Akutagawa-san from somewhere before, after all...”

“Oda-san... huh...”

As the name of that mysterious man crossed his lips, Dazai’s expression became unexpectedly wistful, his eyes now staring beyond me, at something far, far away. He smiled softly.

“That’s not a name I’ve heard in a long time,” he said quietly. “I’m surprised that Akutagawa remembered it.”

“So you know who he is?” I pressed. “Can you tell me about him?”

“I could,” Dazai mused, tapping his chin. “I wouldn’t mind telling you what I know about the man named Oda-san...”

His gentle smile became a smirk.

“So long as we’re talking about him over coffee.”

*** I closed my eyes and sighed again.

“Again with the jokes. Thanks but no thanks, Dazai.”

I mustered a glare.

“Shimeko-san at the Cafe told me about your tab. I’m not paying for you.”

Dazai laughed.

“Oh, so you knew about that,” he chuckled. “Oh well.”

As I lay there thinking about the mysterious “Oda-san,” I began to realize just how heavy and leaden my limbs were starting to become. Dazai’s lap felt oddly warm and comforting beneath my head and I could feel oblivion tugging at the corners of my vision. Closing my eyes, I shifted a little so that I was more comfortable and I let my bangs fall across my face as I began to drift away.

“Rest, Kyou-chan. The car will be here soon.”

The last thing I felt before I floated off into blissful, dream-like darkness was Dazai’s large bandaged hands smoothing back my bangs.

“You did it.”

[goldeneyedgirl]

Fic-Mas Day 12: The Unexpected Second Life of Mary Alice Brandon

... And we’re done. Last day. Is anyone as shocked as I am that I made a daily post without missing any? Twelve days absolutely flew by. I hope you all found something to read that you enjoyed, and I am genuinely sorry that I didn’t get enough time to yell ‘Surprise! New STL chapter!’ 

So, today I bring you something from my very earliest Twilight fic writing efforts. Tomorrow, there shall be a nice linked round-up of all the fics I posted because I am super sleepy. 

(Okay, so this is actually samples from each of the 4 fics in the series - Magnolia, Hush Hush, Beautiful & Strange, and Wonderland. This was one of my first Twilight fics, and my attempt to writing Alice and Jasper in the place of Bella and Edward. I didn’t just want to name swap, I wanted to tell their version of the story - I know what happens in canon, let’s try something new.

So, Magnolia corresponds to Twilight in that Alice moves to Forks when her mother remarries, meets the Cullens, and gets involved with Jasper. Hush Hush is a mix of the end of Twilight and New Moon; The Beautiful and the Strange and Wonderland don’t really fit into Eclipse or Breaking Dawn at all; because Alice is a lot different to Bella, and because I haven’t written as much of either of them - just a few important scenes that I wanted to include.

This was started, like, 5 years ago, so it is a little wonky. I still love them, mostly because I managed to capture an Alice voice I liked. Like Hybrid and Memento Mori, Magnolia!Alice has a very distinctive voice. This is old enough that I’m quite nervous posting it, but I want to.

Also, you technically get four fics at once, because it’s Christmas Eve Eve and I feel like it.)

Magnolia

The vision was soupy. Moving through the forest leaves brushing across my face. It was dark, I could barely see a foot in front of me.

Flashes of rust-coloured snow.

And Jasper, crouched and looking like a stranger – feral and single-minded, his golden eyes blackened, the circles underneath his eyes angry, making him look inhuman.

And then he lunged, with impossible speed and agility. I wanted to scream.

The buck he was aiming for crumbled to the side with a great bellow, Jasper’s teeth sinking into its throat, his hands crushing its massive throat. Blood spilled past his throat, rivers of it that seemed to pulse as it spilt. The animal moaned one last time as it sunk into its death.

He finally rose, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. The raw, gaping wound on the buck’s throat, its dull eyes. Jasper’s satisfied look, the blood smeared across his jaw.

I opened my eyes and screamed.

--

I never spoke of what I really saw the night of the crash. I woke up to a patchy vision with a southern accent calling out to me, “Hold on, darlin’.” I woke up, and looked to my left, to see the man that was my father, had been my father, was slumped in the seat beside me. He was staring blankly at me, his eyes wide.

His jugular had been completely severed by a piece of glass, cutting half-way through his neck. There was nothing but sinew, blood and death. His hand was thrown across the console as if he had been reaching for me in that moment.

I sat in the middle of that clearing for hours, feeling the cold seep into my clothes, just thinking about the blood. The blood of the animals from my vision, the blood of Michael Brandon, seeping into the seats of his car, into his teenage daughter’s skirt.

I could even taste it.

I didn’t really notice time passing, the air getting colder.

It wasn’t until an enormous russet wolf stepped into the clearing that I realised how late it was, how long I had been in the forest.

He was as large as my shoulder, all rippling muscle and golden eyes, staring at me and approaching slowly.

“Oh god,” I stammered, leaping to my feet and clutching my satchel.

-- Jasper appeared in the glade suddenly, and for a second, I saw my vision overlay reality, and I just wanted to scream.

“Thanks Seth,” Jasper nodded at the wolf as he approached me. “Alice, your mother called Esme. You went missing and everyone is worried.”

I dropped back to the boulder where I had taken up my vigil. It was too much. I just needed... I didn’t even know what I needed. I looked down, at my muddy sneakers, at the beetle making its way up the boulder.

“Alice, are you okay?” Jasper said urgently, moving towards me.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” I asked suddenly, meeting his dark-golden eyes.

“Tell you what?” Jasper looked confused.

“What you are,” I said simply.          

Jasper physically recoiled at my words.

“The eyes, the never eating at lunch, why you never touch me…” I shook my head. “By themselves, those are just quirks. Understandable, from a foster kid. Together… I knew something was up, I should have listened to my visions.”

“We don’t feed on humans,” Jasper replied softly. “We only feed on wild animals. I would never hurt you, Alice.” A small smile ghosted across his face. “And you don’t smell good, anyway.” At my affronted look, he chuckled. “Your medications. They pollute the blood. I-I… I was grateful when I found out. That I could be around you without temptation. Well,” he amended, “without the temptation of your blood. You are very much a temptress in other ways, Alice.”

I let out a laugh-sob. “A vampire.”

“Yes, ma’am,” he drawled in his Texan accent that always made my knees weak. He came closer,

By the time we headed back to the house, it was dark, and my cardigan wasn’t keeping out much of the cold. Jasper was keeping a very obvious distance between us, and I wasn’t sure whether I wanted him to stay away from me, or hold my hand.

“You told her!” Rosalie was yelling before we were even in the house, moving so from where she was pacing in the sitting room to standing in front of me with a murderous expression in less than a second. I flinched, backing up against Jasper, as he gently pulled me against his side.

No one should be able to move that fast.

“She had a vision, Rosalie,” Jasper sounded irritated, but the expression on his face was utterly foreign, a threat and a warning in a dark glare. “It was inevitable.”

“Not if you had left her alone!” Rosalie picked up a china ornament of some sort and threw it. I flinched as it smashed on the wall behind me and pressed closer to Jasper. I heard a strange rumbling and my eyes nearly bugged out; Jasper was growling. At Rosalie.

“Rosalie, enough,” Esme said sharply from behind us, and bestowed a smile on me. “Alice, sweetheart, come and have something to drink whilst everyone gets all the yelling over with.”

I adored the Cullen’s kitchen �� all grey and white and brass. Beautiful hand-painted tiles over the apparently unused stove that told a story about a boy and a girl on a farm throughout the four seasons.

Esme pushed the kitchen door closed as I heard the raised voices.

“Sit. You gave everyone a scare, disappearing like that,” she said as she went to the fridge.

“I just needed somewhere to think,” I said, as I watched Esme move around the kitchen. “Why do you keep food if you don’t eat it?”

Esme looked up from where she was slicing a tomato. “We have friends who do eat, and grocery shopping makes us appear more normal. We donate a lot of the canned and packaged foods to charities out of state, though.”

I nodded and looked towards the kitchen door as there was more sudden yelling.

“Rosalie’s bark is much worse than her bite,” Esme said; she’d worked quickly – she was already setting in front of me a glass of lemonade and a sandwich. “She loves her family fiercely, and she wants to protect them from danger. But in Rosalie’s view, everyone outside of the family is a danger.”

I smiled my thanks at Esme and took a bite of the sandwich. After a moment, I looked back up.

“Why’s she freaking out? From what I’ve seen, I don’t have much of a defence against any of you.”

Esme came over and sat opposite me. “Does that scare you?”

“Rosalie scares me. What I saw Jasper do to that deer scares me. But I’m used to having no way to protect myself,” I said, taking another bite of my sandwich.

“Oh, Alice,” Esme sounded so sympathetic. “Sweetheart…”

“Jasper’s told you about me, I guess?” I asked softly.

“A little. I think maybe Emmett might have been his sounding board – Carlisle and I have parts of the story, and despite what you might think, Emmett is exceptionally good at both keeping a secret and blocking out Edward,” Esme replied. “We know that you have extensive memory loss and were hospitalised for your visions. Jasper went to Carlisle for information on that, to see if he could help you.”

I flushed and took a long drink to avoid replying. The sound of something heavy shattering made me choke on the lemonade and splash it down my front.

“Another opportunity to redecorate,” Esme reassured me. “They should calm down soon.”

I nodded. Before I could say anything else, the kitchen door burst open, to reveal Rosalie and Jasper tumbling into the room; the other Cullens following at a more human pace.

Esme stood up warily, and I wondered briefly if Rosalie was going to try and hurt me. But I’d see that decision, wouldn’t I?

She was staring at me with such rage and hate that I wanted to leave. Instead, I finished my sandwich, trying to calm myself down – though, they could all probably hear my heart pounding.

“You know you have to die, right?” Rosalie hissed at me.

I looked up. “That’s pretty inevitable for most people,” I replied evenly.

“You know about us,” she spat. Jasper let out a warning growl, standing behind my chair. I could hear the wood creaking under his grip.

“Enough, Rosalie,” Carlisle said, looking frustrated. “Nothing is going to happen to you, Alice.”

I nodded, without making eye-contact. That’s what Mom said when she sent me to the hospital. What the doctors said when they told me about the ECT. It’s just another well-meaning lie.

Rosalie was pacing in the kitchen, Jasper was glaring at her, and the rest of them were just watching me stare at the dregs of my lemonade until the vision flashed across my mind and I scowled at Rosalie.

“You aren’t subtle, are you?” I said. “Of all the choices, you went with that one?”

Rosalie hissed at me, as everyone focused back on me.

“What did you see?” Carlisle asked.

“Rosalie planning on choking the life out of me. I’ve seen people who’ve been strangled, it’s a nasty way to go. Plus, we live in Forks and I’m on a whole pharmacy worth of drugs and I have known mental issues. There are dozens of ways you could dispose of me that wouldn’t implicate an outside party and wouldn’t be horrible from my end.”

“Rosalie,” Esme said, her tone reminding me of Matron. “You are not going to harm Alice in any way. Understand?”

“I didn’t see that – in your head,” Edward said suddenly, taking a seat at the table. “It was...”

“They aren’t linear. Kind of like… riddles, with clues that only make sense to me,” I said, twisting a strange of hair around my finger. “And… it’s not just what I see. I could smell Rosalie’s perfume, feel the rain on my face.”

“Fascinating,” Edward breathed.

I smiled and reached for my lemonade. “I don’t always understand them myself,” I said. “It’s weird.”

That was always the one thing that bugged me about the accident. Had I known? I knew that I had always had some kind of foresight, from Mom and Cynthia. Had I just not managed to change that future? Had I not been able to work out what the vision meant until it was too late?

Hush Hush

Of all the things I’ve achieved in my life, this had to be the most satisfying.

By a long shot.

I mean, I had no memories from before I was thirteen, and I was a thoroughly average high school student, so there wasn’t a ton of competition for that title.

If there were two things in this world that I loved beyond explanation, it was my boyfriend and really fast cars.

Problem: I didn’t own a car, and said boyfriend was rather old-fashioned and restrained.  

So my current situation was one of my greatest achievements: I had managed to sweet talk my Civil War-era boyfriend into the backseat of a shiny Maserati convertible.  

Of course, the car was still parked in the Cullen’s ridiculously huge garage – I wasn’t entirely sure whose car it was, and I didn’t need Jasper taking the time to think our planned activities through and come up with a dozen reasons why we couldn’t do them in the time it took to take the car and drive it somewhere we wouldn’t be caught.  

My stepsister, Ellie, had already proved that the Forks police had a no-tolerance policy for teenagers in the backseats of cars. My mom and Ellie’s dad had not been pleased when the cops delivered Ellie home.

I attributed some of the success to my outfit; I had picked it out with some kind of debauchery in mind. Honestly, I had only been hoping for a few scorching kisses in his study. I hadn’t expected this level of reaction. Apparently, the combination of a short skirt and thigh-high socks that left a slim band of bare skin had been a winner – my high-heeled mary janes had been chosen to give me a few extra inches of height. And I was in love with my new shirt – I had liked the bows on both shoulders; Jasper had evidently liked the low V-neck.

Either way, that had lead to our current situation – us pawing each other in the back seat of a very expensive car, me in his lap with my arms around his neck, him with one hand on my leg, stroking the skin left bare by my socks, and one cupping my cheek.

His gaze kept dipping to the small amount of cleavage I had managed to produce, thanks to a well-padded bra, which assured me that I would be basking in this particular success until I finally had to go home, or until one of the other Cullens’ caught us.

What happened next was completely my fault. No one else thinks so, mostly because they think I’m the adorably naïve human girl, who is ranked somewhere between ‘bunny’ and ‘kitten’ on the innocence scale. I had suitably shocked Emmett on several occasions with the filthiness of both my vocabulary and mind, but they still hadn’t caught on.

I had also had a long chat with Jasper about what was and wasn’t okay. He wasn’t comfortable touching me much, terrified he’d hurt me accidently or lose control. There had also been an awkward conversation about vampires and instincts that pretty much boiled down to the fact he really, really wanted to sleep with me, but I wouldn’t survive the experience.

I’d observed that he might have outgrown his teenage years before the wheel had been invented (I’d gotten a dirty look for that one), but I was fully entrenched in the teenage years, and despite what modern media continued to say, that hormones and sex-drives weren’t the sole property of boys, and I definitely wanted him to man-handle me. That most of my aspirations for the coming year involved his mouth and hands.

If he could have blushed, I’m sure he would have been luminous red. I know I was blushing, even as the words came out of my mouth.

I know Edward was probably wheezing with laughter somewhere in the house.

After a long and drawn-out negotiation, sex was off the table, at least until he was sure he could keep himself under control and not hurt or bite me accidentally. Anything else was up for debate as needed, though he retained the right to remove himself from the situation if it became too ‘tempting’.

Pretty sure that ‘massive drama queen’ is an added requirement of being a vampire.

The first two weeks, he would pull himself away from me after a few quick kisses, which was maddening at best.  Rosalie had finally pulled me aside and given me her version of a pep-talk: we were both insane, I was going to get killed, but give him time to work out his boundaries. Patience, young grasshopper.

I had stood in the hall looking confused for several seconds, since the only things Rosalie normally said to me could qualify as ‘terrifying threats’ on a good day.

Then, the next time I visited, she bought a copy of Cosmo and read aloud from several of its articles. Emmett had been intrigued, and enthusiastically debated the merits of all the, uh, suggestions; Bella had been curious, Edward had been horrified, Esme had been amused and a touch embarrassed and Jasper had been frozen with mortification.

I had been about ten levels more mortified than Esme at first, thinking this was Rosalie’s version of punishing me for, well, being me and human – the list of my indiscretions was endless as far as Rose was considered - before I decided to simply own it, and debated with her about the magazine’s suggestions, and the flexibility of the human body.

Carlisle came home to Emmett wheezing with laughter, Edward sitting stiffly at the piano, Rosalie smirking behind her magazine, with Bella trying subtly to read over her shoulder, Esme trying her hardest not to giggle, and Jasper dragging me out of the house, telling everyone Rosalie and I were terrible influences on everyone. But I got felt up before he took me home, so I considered it a victory.

What I’m trying to say is that we had boundaries, we knew the boundaries and we respected those boundaries. Clothes stayed on, hands stayed on neutral flesh only, and we generally stayed away from any beds, couches or places that could be repurposed as such.

So when I pulled away, breathing hard, and said, “Wait,” I knew I was playing with fire. I had straightened up, and swung one of my legs over his, straddling his lap. I had put one of his hands on my hip, and the other at my waist. The whole time, he looked at me with dark eyes, looking amused, and then down my top again.

According to Emmett, Jasper hadn’t seen a naked woman since the literal 1800s, let alone boobs. I was really doing my civic duty – and it wasn’t like I had much to boast about in that area.

Knowing that it was absolutely in our no-go zone, I took my top off, and pressed myself back against him. He was looking at me, startled and wide-eyed. “Alice…” his voice was rough, his hands resting very carefully on my skirt-clad hips.

I giggled, kissing the side of his mouth. “You kept sneaking peeks. Figured you had earned a look.” And then I kissed him, hard, to silence him.

He was very tentative, putting his hands back at my waist, and groaning a little when he touched my bare skin. I must admit, I sighed a little as he slid his hands up my torso, and pressed closer.  When his hand gently cupped my breast over my bra, I moaned into his mouth and rolled my hips against him, rather desperately.  I could feel that as much as I might be behaving badly, he wanted it as much as I did. I even remember thinking, ‘God, how can you be this controlled?’

It happened in a split second, one of his arms snaking around my waist, the growl in his chest, how black his eyes were when I knew he’d been hunting only a few days ago.

Don’t get me wrong, I am not and have never been afraid of Jasper, or any of the Cullens. Well, I have been afraid of Rosalie, but that’s mostly her glowing personality, and not the fact she’s a vampire.

I wasn’t afraid then. I just suddenly knew that this wasn’t going to end with me putting my shirt back on and giggling stupidly as he took me home.  That this was going to end with Jasper being deeply unhappy with himself.

He flipped me – in one moment, I was flat on my back, him on top of me, my knees on either side of his hips, his mouth on mine and both hands cupping my face. Then he moved one arm to wrap around my waist, and pain flooded my right side. I gasped, the pain turning my vision white for a second.

He was off me in a second, across the room, and I was still seeing stars – I knew he had picked up when my emotions turned from, uh, happy to ohgodfuckshitpain. It was a pain I was familiar with, even if my panicked, dazed mind was going, ‘broken spine. You earned that one, girlie.’ Apparently my conscience sounded like that one nurse from the hospital.

“Jas,” I hissed, trying to get my vision to clear. I blinked hard and he was gone. “Jasper.”

A second later, Jasper was back with Bella. A good choice. Bella wouldn’t judge or criticize us, she would just help.

Jasper looked panicked. I would have laughed at his expression, if I wasn’t lying in the back of what I assumed was Rosalie’s car, topless, with broken ribs. I was also trying to push back flashbacks from the car accident, which was making my vision swim.

“Alice, you need to tell me where it hurts,” Bella’s voice was soft, kind, as she hovered over me.

“Ribs. Right,” I managed. Bella nodded, and opened the door of the car.

“Can you sit up?” she asked.

“I can try,” I managed.

“Slowly, carefully and if it’s too much, you can stop, okay? We just need to get you out of the car,” Bella said and I was intensely grateful for her presence. Jasper hadn’t moved or said anything, just kept looking at me with the saddest eyes I had ever seen.

I took a deep breath, and attempted to pull myself into a sitting position, blackness creeping in the corners of my vision. I was shivering quite badly, and for a moment my vision swum and I felt myself sway. And then soft hands steadied me. Bella.

“It’s okay, you’re up. Halfway there,” she said. “Jasper, where’s her shirt?”

Jasper reached into the front seat, and silently handed it over.  Bella gave him an indecipherable look and attempted to get the shirt back on me. I couldn’t get it on. I was in too much pain, and couldn’t lift my arm up.

“That’s okay,” Bella soothed. “You can borrow a shirt. I’ll go and find you one – Jasper, sit with her. Carlisle should be home soon, and we can get her fixed up.”

Jasper crouched in front of me, looking heartbroken. I offered him a weak smile, which he didn’t return. He could barely meet my gaze and I honestly hated myself at that moment.

Bella came back, clutching a flannel button down, and with Edward, Rose and Emmett in tow.

I would have preferred to be in another car accident.

“Having some wholesome fun out here, kids?” Emmett was grinning like a mad man.

“Shut up, Emmett,” Jasper said quietly, standing up.

Edward crouched in front of me. “Alice?” he said kindly.

“I think I’ve cracked some of my ribs,” I said quietly, as if I were a child telling someone a secret.

“No, tell the truth, Alice,” Rosalie spoke up, her arms crossed over her chest. “You think Jasper broke your ribcage.”

“Don’t, Rose,” Emmett said to her. “Look at them, it’s like kicking a puppy.”

Rose growled under her breath.

Bella was very carefully helping me into the shirt that was at least two sizes too big, but buttoned up the front. Jasper was hovering, and all I really wanted was him to look at me, and talk to me.  

“Let’s get you into the house,” Edward said, still holding my other hand. “Jasper, you’ll have to carry her.”

Jasper looked alarmed. “I-”

“If you say you can’t, I will punch you,” Rosalie said crossly. “You can, and you will.”

I smiled weakly. “The things I do to get your to put your hands on me,” I joked, and Emmett guffawed in the background. “I’m going to be fine. I’ve broken my ribs before.”

“See?” Rosalie turned away. “Carlisle will be home soon, and we can work out a cover story before we take her to hospital.”

Jasper met my gaze as he bent down, and I sent all my thoughts of love, trust and reassurance at him.

He kissed the top of my head gently and gathered me up.

Carlisle and Esme got home fifteen minutes later; I was on the couch with several ancient ice-packs pressed to my side, with Bella, Edward and Jasper hovering, Emmett making tasteless jokes from the chair, and Rosalie glaring at us and muttering about steam-cleaning the inside of her car.

“What happened?” were Carlisle’s first words, drowning out Esme’s gasp. He was beside me in a second.

“Would you believe me if I said I fell down the stairs?” I said.

“Perhaps, if you hadn’t started that sentence with the phrase ‘would you believe me’,” Carlisle said.

“I hurt her,” Jasper said abruptly.

“Two or three fractured ribs,” Edward said, “maybe broken, on the right side.”

“Ah,” Carlisle said. “Maybe I examine them, Alice?”

“Go nuts,” I said, as Carlisle lifted my shirt, and began moving the ice packs away.

“Oh, sweetheart,” Esme breathed as they glimpsed my side. I knew from experience that my side would be many fantastic shades of blue and purple, but for people whose skin was harder than concrete, who couldn’t bruise or bleed, I’m sure it looked horrific. The ice packs had eased some of the general pain, and some of the swelling.

I could feel Jasper’s mortification and shame bleeding out of him, and reached for his hand.

“Those are some very impressive bruises,” Carlisle said simply. “You’ve definitely done some kind of damage, but we’ll need to take an x-ray to be sure.”

“What are you going to say when you take her in?” Rosalie spoke up. “Sorry, my pseudo-son got a little handsy and crushed this girl’s ribcage?”

“Rosalie!” Esme scolded.

“No, we need a cover story,” Carlisle said, looking down at me.

God, for people that have lived longer than the television had been invented, they really weren’t good at this.

“I fell down the stairs,” I said simply.

“Doing cartwheels or something,” Bella said slowly.

“And I landed funny,” I said. “It doesn’t have to be a fancy story. Just dumb teenager stuff.”

//

“A coven in Alaska are threatening our cousins in Denali,” Carlisle said gently. “The new coven is a group of eight, three of them newborns. They’ve already attacked once, and Eleazer wants us to visit, as a show of force.”

“Okay,” I said slowly.

“We’ll be leaving for a few weeks,” Jasper said to me.

“All of you?” I said, my eyes wide.

//

I was sitting on the back porch, watching the Cullens pack the cars, with a pout on my face. I’d blown off school to see them off – something I would no doubt pay for when I got home tonight.

Bella took a seat next to me. “We’re not going to be gone long,” she offered kindly.

“It’s going to be weeks,” I said miserably.

Rose looked at me, rolled her eyes and tossed me something shiny. I fumbled but managed to catch them – keys on a freaking expensive designer keychain. Keys to her BMW.

“I’ll be back for that, at least,” were her parting words.

I smiled. It was a huge gesture from her, but she wouldn’t want that acknowledged. She had an image to maintain, after all.

Jasper came out of the house, and pulled me into a hug. I sighed.

“We’ll be back,” he said, as he pressed a kiss to my head. “As soon as Eleazer is certain of their safety, we’ll be back.”

“Do you all have to go?” I said, slightly whiny. Some of us are still legitimate teenagers, after all.

“A show of numbers will help deter the nomads. I have the fighting experience, and a gift. Bella and Edward’s gifts, too, will be useful,” he tilted my head up.

“Not thrilled about the idea of gang warfare,” I scowled and he chuckled.

“Gang warfare?”

“I’m from California,” I said, but managed to mangle my accents and it came out like my old Mississippi drawl that made Jasper start snickering.

“We are going to be fine,” he reassured me. “Are you?”

I shrugged. “I’m a survivor,” I said.

“Hurry the hell up, Jasper!” Rosalie bellowed from one of the cars.

“She’s such a delicate flower,” I deadpanned, and Jasper was shaking from the effort of trying not to laugh.  

“I love you,” he said.

“I love you too. Call me?” I sighed, pulling away. “Or email. I don’t want everyone listening in on me bitching about high school. Didn’t you say the sisters were from, like, twelfth-century Russia? Oh god, you’re going to be shut into some ridiculous ski lodge with beautiful blonde Russians in Alaska,” I moaned.

“I can assure you, the appeal of Tanya and her sisters fades once you hear their, ah, stories,” Jasper made a face. “I will be hanging around the Denali house, sending you dozens upon dozens of messages, waiting for the appropriate time to call and irritating Edward with my constant thoughts of you.”

Rose was now pressing the horn in an obnoxious pattern of sounds.

“Rosalie is going to spontaneously combust if you don’t leave now,” I said. “Kiss for the road?”

Jasper smiled and me, and pulled me back to him. “If the lady so wishes.”

//

“You take the pills, or you go to a hospital in Seattle, Alice,” Mom said flatly, holding out two pills and a glass of water. “I can have you there first thing tomorrow, if that’s what you choose. But those are your only options.”

//

The little white pills took only two days to drag me under.

It was like I was half-asleep all the time, and just going through the motions. My life revolved around how soon I could crawl back into my bed.

The nightmares didn’t really leave me, either – they simply turned soupy and surreal, and I no longer had the energy to scream. I would drag myself out of bed at the last minute, pull on whatever clothes came to hand, and pick at my toast in the car. At school, I drifted from class to class, until it was time to go home. Ellie was under strict orders to drive me to and from school for the time being, which made life easier. When I got home, I would simply shower and crawl into bed. Mom would usually wake me after dinner, with something to eat, before I went back to sleep.

My homework was ignored and my classwork was neglected badly. I pretty much quit dance classes, and had handed over Rose’s keys without resistance. The hard-won weight I had gained since I arrived in Forks slipped away. I had no interest in food or drawing or shopping.

Mom was happy, though. She didn’t seem to care that I was in danger of failing entirely, or that sleep was my focus. Weekends were the worst – I’d drag myself down for breakfast at noon, sleep until dinner and then go straight back to bed. Just showering and changing burnt away any dregs of energy I had left.

Mom had won the war, and I was medicated into oblivion. She didn’t care that I was still having nightmares, that I wanted to scream but couldn’t – she was sleeping through the night again.

Jasper was calling and messaging me regularly. It was exhausting to reply and pretend everything was fine. I wanted nothing more than for him to come home and be here, to beg him to come home to me. But I couldn’t do it. I knew he worried about me normally, being a totally ordinary, squishy little human, let alone with all my issues and problems. I didn’t want to validate all those fears by asking him to help me. I needed to be able to be without him. And he’d been gone for ages – they had to be getting ready to come home soon.  

I remember rolling over and finding Cyn and Ellie in my room; Ellie sitting on my desk chair backwards, Cyn lying next to me on the bed. I’d be having a nice dream for once, of Jasper and I, back at the Cullen house. Late afternoon sunlight was spilling through the windows, as Cyn and Ellie watched me.

“What’s up?” I yawned, burying my face back into my pillow.

“Just came to see if you were okay,” Ellie said evenly.

“You were crying,” Cyn said in a small voice. “You were calling out for Jasper Hale, and we didn’t want Mom to hear.”

I opened one eye at nodded at the pillow in Cyn’s lap. “You were going to smother me?” I slurred.

“We told you that you were dreaming and you stopped calling out,” Ellie said. “You look like shit.”

“It’s like 4pm. Can you guys let me sleep?” I huffed, burying myself under my quilt.

“Mom and Craig are fighting,” Cyn said. “About you.”

I blinked and sat up, groggy and miserable. “What did I do now?”

“Dad wants you to rejoin the land of the living or go to the hospital in Seattle,” Ellie said, picking up a china rabbit from my desk and inspecting it. “He thinks that this sleeping all the time is creepy as hell. I agree, for the record.”

“Mom thinks you just need some time to get used to the medicine,” Cyn said, stretching out on my bed, so our hair blended on the pillow.

I noticed after that, Cyn and Ellie were suddenly more helpful. Ellie started doing my laundry for me, clean clothing appearing folded in my bedroom every so often. Cyn would bring me up a drink every now and then – sometimes I would wake up to find her reading or playing on her phone next to me.

“Jasper called,” she told me one afternoon, sliding off the bed.

“I’ll call him back after dinner,” I said, flopping.

“I told him you were sleeping,” she said, looking guilty.

“You answered my phone?” I said, annoyed.

“He rang like five times,” Cyn said. “He said you haven’t called him back. He was making sure you’re okay. Which you aren’t.” And with that, she flounced out of the room.

The Beautiful & The Strange

I hissed as I caught my finger, a small cut opening on my finger.

And then I looked up to realise Jasper had crossed the room instantly, his eyes darkening and focused on the bead of blood welling on my finger tip.

Other than the obvious ‘time of the month’, when I made myself scarce, and the incident with James at the ballet school, I was careful not to bleed around the Cullens. They all said there was really no human equivalent of bloodlust for humans (though that question had sparked a frankly disturbing debate about the psychology of psychopaths and serial killers), and I believed them. I couldn’t imagine any sensation or thing that would inspire any member of this family to commit a murder. I couldn’t think of a thing that would drive me to kill someone I loved, either. Whatever bloodlust felt like, it was far out of my realm of understanding.

And now I was standing in my boyfriend’s study with my hand mid-air, a cut on my finger, and Jasper’s focus one hundred percent on that innocent drop of blood.

I won’t lie and say I wasn’t nervous. But I was more nervous that I wasn’t nervous, if that makes sense. He was tempted; his darkening eyes told me that. And if he truly wanted it, I would be exsanguinated and cold on the floor in seconds. No one was going to debate how deadly or effective a killer Jas was.

Instead, biting my lip, I watched as he gently took my wrist, as if I were made of porcelain, and pull my hand towards him, as the blood ran down my finger.

“Don’t,” I said softly, almost hoping it wouldn’t break the spell. He looked up at me. “I don’t want this to make it harder for you.”

He chuckled darkly and met my gaze as his lips wrapped around my finger. My mouth dropped open in surprise… and, um, something else a moment later, as his tongue lapped at the cut.

There wasn’t enough blood from that tiny cut to change his eye colour or even offer any satisfaction. It would only exasperate the burn in his throat, the tiniest taste of what he had been trying so hard to resist for so long. But as much as I tried to focus on the horrible ramifications of what had just transpired, I was losing the battle with the awareness that his tongue on my finger seemed to be connected to all of my extremities with a live wire.

I was suddenly terribly aware of how loud my breathing was, and how warm I was, and how Jasper was looking at me like a tiger might look at a bunny rabbit.

He released my hand and I pulled it away – the blood already clotting – and grabbed the front of his shirt, pulling him towards me hard, as I stood on my tip-toes, tugging him down to my level. Momentum and Jasper trying not to crush me meant that we ended up pressed against the wall, my hands tangled in his hair, legs around his waist, and his hands supporting my thighs. It was only my regular need for oxygen that pulled us apart, only for him to pull me into another kiss.

And these were kisses. Not the kind that a high school boyfriend gave a high school girlfriend. These were nothing like what we’d had before, and I’d been very – very – happy with our previous efforts.

These were deep and passionate, and definitely the precursor to something big. I was intensely away of his hands on my thighs, and how warm I felt, and how I didn’t feel like I was close enough to him, even though his belt buckle was going to leave an indentation in my skin.

And, frankly, he couldn’t deny that I was having the same effect on him. I could feel him hard against me through his jeans, and for a dazed second, I wondered if it would really be such a bad idea, if we could just get to the couch… He could take whatever he wanted from me and I would be a willing participant. My hips rocked against him as if they had a mind of their own and I felt like I couldn’t catch my breath.

Jasper’s lips pulled away from mine, only to graze my cheek and jaw before taking up residence against my throat, licking and sucking, his teeth gently grazing the skin and I was vaguely aware that at any second, he could rip open that thin layer of skin and drain me dry – it was so much more important to focus on the fact that it felt like my whole body was throbbing in time with Jasper’s gentle sucking.

But before I could open my mouth and suggest that he just… help himself to whatever he wanted with my enthusiastic consent, there was a thump at the door and Edward stormed in, glaring at us.

Jasper pulled away only enough to twist around to growl slightly at the intruder, whilst I was suddenly aware of the position we’d been caught in.

“You need to stop now, Jasper,” Edward said in an even voice that was tinged slightly with irritation. “You’re influencing her, and you might hurt her.”

Jasper glared at him, and then turned to face me. I smiled at him, suddenly shy, and Edward let out a huff of air.

“Are you alright, Alice?” he asked, offering me a smile that was more of a grimace as Jasper finally put me on the ground, and seemed to truly realise what had just transpired between us, jerking away from me abruptly with a look of shame flashing across his face.

“I…” he just stared at me in horror.

I looked up at him, and then over at Edward. “Thank you. I know that probably wasn’t much fun to have to hear,” and then thought at him, ‘Jas and I need to talk. That was unexpected and a little messed up and he hates himself right now. Doesn’t like to be human.’

The irritation left his face and he shook his head, turning to leave. “It’s a small price to pay to make sure you’re okay,” he said, closing the door behind us.

Jasper was pacing, and refusing to look me in the eye. I could see the tension in every line of his body.

“Are you okay?” I asked gently, padding over to him, wrapping my arms around his waist from behind, making him freeze on the spot, but he didn’t say anything. “You didn’t do anything wrong,” I continued. “I would have said somet…”

“No, you wouldn’t have,” Jasper said coldly. “I was influencing you. I wanted it, so I made you want it. I wanted your blood, and I wanted your body, and I was going to take it and make you think it you wanted it too.”

I huffed and pulled away to face him, entangling his fingers in mine. “I think you are being a drama queen,” I said sweetly, and he scowled at me, trying to pull away until I started to pout, and then he gave up. “You probably were projecting. But don’t think for a minute that you were forcing me or coercing me into something I don’t want, too. I have dedicated a lot of hours into picturing that scenario – ask Edward, he’s probably overheard more than he wanted to.  

“And you, amazingly enough, are a vampire. You want blood. I cut myself. It was enough to trigger bloodlust and regular lust. Besides, when was the last time you even had sex?”

Jasper glared at me.

“I assume it was before the invention of the wheel?” I smirked and that cracked his façade.

“Don’t sass me, darlin’,” he murmured, pulling his hands from mine, to tuck a strand of hair behind my ear. I grinned, before I stepped forward and wrapped my arms around his waist.

“I’m sorry we can’t have sex,” I said to him with a soft sigh. “I’m sorry I’m stupid and human and breakable and I don’t want to be changed straight away. I wish I was like Bella and wanted to be changed as soon as possible, but I’m not. I just can’t.”

“Woah,” Jasper said, pulling me back, staring at me with surprise. “Alice, you don’t ever have to apologise for any of those things.  You deserve to have any life you want, and you shouldn’t ever feel that living your human life is wrong in any way.

“Darlin, you do not owe me or anyone else your humanity. You do not have to sacrifice your life to keep me or anyone else in this family with you. I should be apologising to you for not being able to give you a normal, human life. For being this… monster who cannot distinguish between bloodlust and physical lust…”

I shook my head as he trailed off. “I want so many things, and I think they’re impossible,” I whispered, and he reached out to trace my cheek.

“And I thought that after all the things I’d done and seen,” he said in a rough voice, “that all those things that I never admitted I wanted were impossible. And then a tiny girl in pink bounded up to me at a wedding, with the biggest blue eyes, and asked me my name. Now? I don’t think anything is really impossible.”

I smiled at him. “Don’t hate yourself,” I repeated. “I love you, and I know you, and I know that you would never force me to do anything I was uncomfortable with. Know that I’m pretty sure all those thoughts and feelings I’ve been inspiring in you, you inspire in me, too.”

Wonderland

It was quite strange to be in a house with more than a dozen vampires. It was the most uncomfortable I had ever been in the Cullen household – even though the Cullens had very carefully kept me to another section of the house. I hadn’t laid eyes on any of these ‘friends’ yet, but I was intensely aware of them. It was a very strange feeling.

Esme had, of course, fixed me an enormous dinner (for someone who hadn’t eaten in eighty years, Esme was a flawless cook. She claimed she practiced feeding the wolves) before Jasper marched me upstairs to go to bed.

“We don’t sleep. You do,” he said at my complaints.

“I’m fine,” I said, spinning around and out of his grasp. “I’d like to meet your friends.”

“And you will,” Jasper lunged suddenly, caught me around the waist and scooped me up like a bride. “Tomorrow morning, over breakfast. After at least eight hours sleep.”

“Ugh, that’s so boring,” I complained, enjoying the feeling of being cradled against him, and thanked whoever gave me the visions that I hadn’t worn tights today – this was one of the rare occasions I had managed to get Jasper to put his hands on me.

Bella saw Jasper carrying me up the stairs and snorted with laughter.

“It will give us a chance to tell everyone about you,” Jasper said quietly. “Prepare them.”

“I’m pretty sure they would have smelt the human girl as soon as they hit the property line,” I said.

“Your visions, Alice.”

“Fine,” I huffed and then frowned in confusion as we walked past Jasper’s study. “Where am I staying?” I had slept on the couch in Jasper’s study a few times, and had expected to do so again. Knowing the sole purpose of beds in this household, I actually preferred a couch or chair.

There was a small doorway at the other end of the hall, underneath the stairs.

“Esme and I agreed that you needed some place to sleep, properly,” Jasper said, setting me on my feet and motioning to the door.

I pushed open the door and stared. It was a small room, with a huge window overlooking the forest. A bed sat in the middle of the room, made up with pretty blue floral bedding. Pretty sketches and watercolours of dancers and flowers were dotted around the room. A blue chair was in one corner, with a small writing desk and a narrow wardrobe.

“You didn’t buy all this for me,” I stammered.

“No,” Jasper smiled. “Old pieces we weren’t using. “Esme wanted you to be comfortable when you’re with us.”

I shook my head, smiling. “She already cooks for me and takes me shopping. She didn’t need to do this.”

“She wanted to. I wanted to,” Jasper reached out and cupped my cheek. “I want you to feel at home.”

“You’re here. How else would it feel?” I said softly, feeling my cheeks warm.

Twenty minutes later (ten of them filled with scorching kisses that I wish, wish, wish had gone further), I was in my pyjamas, tucked into my new bed.

I did end up sleeping deeply - though, I suspect, not without some emotional encouragement.

[whispersafterdusk]

The Master’s Apprentice - ch 17

Kestrel didn't seem especially bothered by the falling rocks but Varea turned toward them each time as though she expected an attack, and each time she fell for it Kestrel punished her with a spell.  Onmund made certain each target was off to Varea's side or at her back, trying to give Kestrel enough openings so those spells could connect but also with a mind to keep Varea from seeing the rocks falling free seemingly on their own.  He knew that this couldn't last forever but with each one he yanked loose he hoped it would spur a new idea, or something.

...or at least, a different idea.  He'd already had an idea but it was an even worse idea than rushing out onto a stormy sea. ((Continued below cut))

Onmund had a clear view of the mountain and cliffs around him and he could easily track the aerial movements of Kestrel and Varea as they battled overhead.  It wasn't hard to see that Varea used the same wards Onmund had been taught at the College -- they were much more powerful than what a typical mage could summon because she was empowered but they were the same wards with the same weaknesses that Kestrel had so bluntly demonstrated to him over a year ago.  The wards were strong enough to mostly hold up under Kestrel's assault providing she attacked from the front and Varea was making sure Kestrel could not easily flank her (when she wasn't turning herself toward the noise of clattering rocks, anyway).

What that meant was Onmund could try and position himself at her back and attack her where she had no visible protections, and if she turned to attack him then that left her open to Kestrel's considerably more punishing spells.

The problem was he doubted he could survive long, even with his knowledge of Kestrel's wards - the crown was clearly empowering Varea and, if she was an actual Thalmor to begin with, then she was likely a skilled mage even on her own. It would probably take only one spell from Varea to destroy him and then there was no telling at this distance if Varea had other protective measures on her person.  He wasn't confident enough to believe the wards were all she had, not while she wore that damned crown; he would have to take a risk, wait for the moment where Varea would have her back to him and then he could strike, and then come what may afterward...assuming he could hit her.  

 She's likely to kill me...but maybe she won't - maybe Kestrel can get her in time.  And I won't have much longer before someone notices me here anyway.  I would rather have the opening blow and upper hand, even if it's barely more than a breath's worth of time.

It was crazy.  It was suicidal.

But then, so was running out onto a stormy sea on a narrow ice bridge with a monster on his heels.  And he'd already survived a fall that would have killed him if he hadn't been as quick and as clever as he'd been in that moment.

Quick.  Clever.  He didn't have to kill Varea - he only needed to survive.  This wasn't a question of strength or skill level, it was a question of who could outsmart who. He had to survive just long enough for Kestrel to win -- it was a comforting thought, in a way.

He dropped down onto his haunches and took a deep, steadying breath, then filled himself with some of the absurd amounts of ambient magicka in the air; still holding his breath he stood and clambered onto the statue's arm.  Neither mage had noticed him yet and, with an exhale that hissed through now-gritted teeth Onmund threw a bolt of lightning into the sky.

Varea was a quick-moving target, difficult to track and even harder to look at with the crown's influence clawing at him and he only managed to clip her; she arched her back as the lightning skimmed across her shoulders, then spun and Onmund locked gazes with her - in the split instant that he could stand to look at her he could see a parade of emotions flit across the beastly woman's face: pain, shock, confusion, and then sheer rage.

"YOU."

Onmund looked away, reeling from her gaze -- he'd hoped the distance would help with the crown's pull but even here it was strong and he knew he couldn't risk looking at her for too long; it wasn't that he feared she could take control of him as she had the others but he worried that fighting the crown's influence would fatally distract him at the wrong moment.  Of course, being restricted to quick glances could prove equally as deadly but--

At a wordless shriek from above he forced himself to look up again; Varea was diving toward him with her hands outstretched and Onmund hesitated as the crown's pull momentarily scattered his thoughts and muffled his instinct - should he shield and try to take the hit or should he move?  It was answered for him by Kestrel as she launched a firebolt into Varea's side that sent the woman into a spin to crash into the ground in front of the statue's arm below and about fifteen feet away from where Onmund perched.

Kestrel's voice was unmistakable. "What are you doing?!"

"Helping.  ...I think," Onmund answered, glancing up to where Kestrel stared at him in a mix of surprise and fear.  

Suddenly Varea was clawing up the stone toward him; his small lapse in attention led to her managing to impale one of her talon-like fingers through the fabric of his pantsleg.  Onmund kicked his leg back to free it before she could grab his ankle and immediately lost his footing, falling backward to land mostly upside down in the snow where he'd been crouched only moments earlier.  He let his legs slip to the side and righted himself as Varea came over the arm; in a panic (she'd moved much quicker than he could have anticipated) he scrabbled in the snow and haphazardly sent some of the nearby loose rocks flying into her face.   They bounced harmlessly off her ward but it slowed her down and gave him a few precious seconds to get his feet back under him.  This close the crown's magic was like standing inside a massive fire; it pulled at his mind and left a searing feeling across his face and hands as he lifted them up to defend himself.

He was rocked back on his heels and his ward torn to shreds under the purple-white lightning Varea lobbed at him -- in the same breath Kestrel dropped down to slam boots-first into the woman's back and Onmund was fairly certain if she hadn't he would be dead right now.   Varea's shriek of pain cut through his head like a knife and he still felt the crown's influence quite clearly.

Damned thing...

Before he realized he was moving he was suddenly on Varea too, struggling to find a handhold on the crown on her head.  The obsidian cut his fingers and burned his fingertips; before he could get a grip and tear it free he was abruptly flying backwards as Varea erupted upward.

"I've had enough!"

The air became thick and simultaneously too hot and too cold to inhale and as Onmund struggled to sit up and draw breath he was slammed back into the ground hard enough to feel several pops in his chest; there was a flash of white-blue and a deafening blast, and then he could feel the ground beneath him rumbling.  A pair of hands seized him - one to his robes and the other a handful of his hood - and the world went dark blue for so brief an instant he thought he'd imagined it through the hazy afterimages of Varea's spell, but...no, Kestrel held him and he wasn't on the ground by the statue's arm anymore.  They'd somehow moved far to the south and were standing - well, Kestrel was standing and he was awkwardly dangling from her grasp - on a narrow peak jutting from the mountain.  

His chest and his ears were in pure agony and to his horror he realized he couldn't hear a damn thing.  Kestrel hefted him up and set his boots on the ground then held him a moment longer for him to catch his balance; her attention was not on him however, and when Onmund looked to the north where they'd just been his eyes widened at the sight of the cliffs cracking and crumbling apart.  It was incredibly unnerving to watch the mountain come apart in total silence; Onmund hugged his arms to himself and wrapped himself in restorative magics -- he swayed in place as his ribs snapped back to where they belonged and with a pair of pops his hearing came back.

"How...how do we kill her?"  He could barely hear himself now over the roar of the mountain falling to pieces; a sizeable landslide was rushing toward them and growing in size.  It was a very small comfort that there wasn't a village or otherwise any other sort of settled area in its path that he could think of but even then--

"Have you gone insane?" Kestrel shouted at him.  "Why are you here?"

"I came to help-"

"You CAN'T help!" she roared into his face.  "I can't protect myself AND you!  Do you truly want to die here?"

"I-"  Any response he had (and he wasn't sure he had one because he definitely agreed that he was likely going to get himself killed here) was blasted out of him as Kestrel slapped him across the face then seized him by the neck of his robes and lifted him up to the tips of his toes, nose to nose with her.

"Get back there and STAY there until I say otherwise."

Between the roaring earth, the ground shaking, and the actual fear he felt at seeing Kestrel this angry at him all Onmund could do was nod.   Kestrel let him drop to the ground and then, to his surprise, shoved him backward; a chill of alarm raced up his spine as he fell and then kept falling -- in a fraction of a breath he watched the sky above him disappear into a ring-shaped hole in...well, the sky, and then he slammed into the ground hard enough to blast the air out of him.

Gone was the roar of the landslide, the whistling of the wind, and the innate sense he'd had of the ambient magicka that had been in that pass; his ears were met with the sound of shouting men, the ringing of steel and the shriek of something...unnatural.

"Hey- YOU!"

Onmund rolled to his side and then up onto his knees right as a man clad in the armor of a Winterhold guard grabbed him by the elbow and yanked him to his feet.

"YOU, mage!  Didn't you-"

It took Onmund a moment to recognize the voice -- this was the guard who had tried to stop them before.  Blearily he peered between the slits of the guard's helm.  "-yes, that was us.  My master is taking care of the one responsible for this mess."

"-then what can you do about THIS mess?" the guard went on, roughly hauling Onmund around to face him toward the College.

In the sky around the College were winged dots - some sort of...flying humanoids.  He swore he'd seen pictures of those things before but couldn't name them at the moment: winged, vaguely female, taloned feet and arms fused with the wing membranes.  There had to be at least two dozen circling and either diving at the gathered guards below or hurling lightning to try and scatter them.  The ground was littered with dead imps, dead flyers, and of course...dead guards.  There were only so many protectors of such a small town and whatever was going on in the College was quickly whittling them down.

I never should have left... he found himself thinking.  No wonder Kestrel had been so...so mad at him.  If he'd been here rather than-

But, Quaranir had said...

Wait.  Why should he care what Quaranir said?  Why would he think Kestrel would need Onmund's help?  A mere apprentice?  Well, probably more than a mere apprentice at this point, but even then - what had Quaranir thought Onmund could do that Kestrel couldn't?

Kestrel was his master, not Quaranir.  Onmund had no idea what Quaranir thought he was capable of but if he really, truly meant that Onmund needed to go help Kestrel then he'd just have to come tell him, directly, himself.  No guess work, no subtle hints.

Onmund shook himself out of that train of thought and again looked up toward the winged creatures.  They weren't flying so close together that he could arc a bolt of lightning between several of them at once but they moved much slower than Varea did -- they made for much easier targets.  With a grunt the mage got his feet back under him and shrugged off the guard's arm; his first spell made the guard beside him flinch but it sent one of the flying creatures careening to the ground where two guards quickly fell upon it with their swords.

"More of that, mage!"

"We'll see how long I last," Onmund muttered under his breath.   Without the ambient magicka to draw on his exhaustion was heavy and his reserves fairly limited -- he would need a way to get back inside the College to put a stop to whatever was summoning these things as he could only stand and fight for so long.

"Stay with me," he told the guard at his side.  "I will cover us as best as I can but I need to get back over into the College itself."

Onmund didn't need to see the guard's face to imagine the man's expression.  "In there?  With the bridge destroyed?"

"I'll...figure it out," he replied after a pause.  

Rather than elaborate further (as he didn't have much of a plan yet) Onmund sent another bolt of lightning into the sky, blasting a hole through the wing of one of the creatures.

[alindakb]

Letters to my Parents - Wednesday 1 January 1992 - by Alinda

Wednesday 1 January 1992

Dear mom and dad,

Merry Christmas and a happy New Year!

It’s cold here now, with all the snow we’ve been having. The lake is frozen solid. The dormitory, classrooms, library and the great hall all have roaring fires, warming the rooms, but the corridors have become icy. Only professor Snape refuses to light a fire in his classroom, he says it will interfere with the potion making. So it’s freezing cold during potions lessons. Our breath rises in mist before us during that class.

I stayed at Hogwarts during the holidays. I didn’t feel like going back to Privet Drive, knowing I wouldn’t get any of the food anyway. And Ron and his brothers also stayed, so that was fun. Their mom and dad went to visit his brother Charlie in Romania.

Before the holidays Malfoy made it his mission to point out that I wasn’t going home because my family didn’t want me. I don’t think he knows how right he is. All his jokes about it hurt. He kept bragging about how he was going to spend Christmas with his mom and dad, who loved him more than anything. And that he would get all the presents he wants and have lots of pudding and things like that.

Malfoy has also started to insult Ron and his family and just a couple of days before the holidays Ron dived at Malfoy when he was being mean again. Unlucky for him, Snape just came up the stairs and took five points from Gryffindor. Ron promised he would get Malfoy one day and I told Ron that I hated them both, Malfoy and Snape. Hagrid was there and he took us to the Great Hall to cheer us up. It looked spectacular with all the Christmas decoration. Festoons of holly and mistletoe hung all around the walls, and there were twelve Christmas trees with icicles and candles. I was glad I was spending the holiday here instead of at Privet Drive, it was so much cosier here at Hogwarts.

Before Hermione and Neville left for the holidays we’ve been searching for information on Nicolas Flamel in the library. You remember the name Hagrid dropped when we talked about what Fluffy is hiding. Well, he seems impossible to find. We’ve been through hundreds of books, but we can’t find him anywhere. He isn’t in Great Wizards of the Twentieth Century or in Notable Magical Names of Our Time. But we have to find him; it’s the only way to discover what Snape is trying to steal.

Only when the holidays had started, I and Ron kind of forgot all about Flamel, because we were having so much fun. We spend a lot of time next to one of the fires in the Great Hall, eating anything we could spear on a toasting fork. We started plotting ways of getting Malfoy expelled. That was so much fun to talk about, even though the plans would never work. I didn’t mind going to the dungeons at night during the holidays, because I was the only Slytherin still at the castle. So I had the entire common room for myself and could take long baths without being afraid of getting beaten up. My longs don’t hurt that much anymore and the bruises have all healed.

Ron also taught me wizard chess. It’s the same as normal Muggle chess except that the figures are alive. It felt like I was directing troops in battle. Ron his chessmen listened to him and did what he wanted, but the pieces I had borrowed from Seamus Finnigan didn’t trust me and kept shouting bits of advice at me, which was very confusing. Image a general giving his man orders and them all ignoring him and telling him how to do its job. It would be chaos, just like my chess game.

And you know what the best part of the holidays was? No, well I will tell you. I got presents. I never got presents at Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia. The presents were sitting at the foot of my bed when I woke up Christmas morning. I didn’t waste any time and started unwrapping them straight away. Hagrid had given me a wooden flute which sounded a bit like an owl. Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia had sent me a note with a fifty-penny piece, useless as normal. Another parcel contained a thick, hand knitted sweater in emerald green and a large box of homemade fudge. Later that day I learned from Ron and his brothers Fred and George that the sweater was made by their mother. I’ve sent her a thank you note to tell her I really like it. It’s soft and warm and in the colours of my house, so that’s perfect.

I had two more presents. One was from Hermione, a large box of Chocolate Frogs including a note that she hoped they had cards that I didn’t have yet for my collection. And then there was a parcel with a shining, silvery cloth which feels like water is woven into the material. I threw the cloak around me and when I looked down at my body I noticed I was invisible. So I ran to the mirror to check and I really was invisible, and when I pulled the cloak over my head my reflection completely vanished. When I got back to my bed I saw the note that came with the cloak. The note said that you, dad, had left this in the giver's possession before you died and that it was time that it was returned to me. It also instructed me to use it well. There was no signature. It made me feel very strange. I don’t know who sent the cloak and it was hard to imagine that it had once belonged to you, dad. I don’t own anything that had belonged to you, and now I was holding a cloak that you had held when you were still alive. I cried a little about that, missing both of you. It made me jealous of Malfoy, he was at home with his parents, enjoying their company and I was all alone. I put the cloak away and I haven’t told anyone about it. I don’t want to share it with anyone yet. It’s just between you and me, dad.

The rest of the day I spend with Ron, Fred and George. Christmas dinner was amazing. There were a hundred fat, roast turkeys, mountains of roast and boiled potatoes, platters of chipolatas, tureens of buttered peas, silver boats of thick, rich gravy and cranberry sauce and stacks of wizard crackers every few feet along the table. The crackers were really cool; they went off with big blasts and colourful smoke. I got a pack of non-explodable, luminous balloons, a Grow-Your-Own-Warts kit and my own set of wizard chess from the crackers.

After the feast, we had a snowball fight on the grounds and then the Weasleys took me to the Gryffindor common room. The fat lady did protest a little on letting me in, but she caved after some flattery of the twins. The Gryffindor common room is very cosy filled with squashy armchairs. It is decorated in the colours red and gold and on top of the fireplace mantle is a portrait of a lion. The room has a lot of windows that look out onto the grounds of the school. Ron and I set by the fire and I broke in my new chess set by losing to Ron. His brother Percy tried to help me, but I don’t think he’s as good as he thinks.

When I was back at my own dormitory I had to take out the invisibility cloak and try it again. I still can’t believe it had been yours, dad. And it made me feel so free. I can go wherever I want with this cloak, hide from Nott, Crabbe and Goyle when they want to beat me up again. And Filch won’t be able to see me. I went out that night, wandering the dark corridors. And I know mom, I shouldn’t break the rules, but it was fun. First I just wandered and then it came to me. I could go to the restricted section in the library to see if I could find Flamel in one of the books there.

The restricted section of the library is scary. It really gave me the creeps. The books there are old and most of them have titles in languages I don’t know. There was even a book that looked like it had a massive blood stain on it. And it sounded as if a faint whispering was coming from the books, as though they knew I was there. But I was determent and decided to take a book from the bottom shelf. It was a very heavy black and silver volume and when I opened it a piercing, bloodcurdling shriek split the silence. The book was screaming at me. I snapped it shut, but the screaming didn’t stop. I ran from the library, passing Filch in the doorway. When I stopped running I didn’t really know where I was, but Filch had managed to catch up with me and he was talking with Professor Snape and they were coming my way in the narrow corridor. I backed up as quietly as I could and was very happy when a door to my left was ajar so I could hide in that room. I was very relieved when they passed the door without noticing me.

Once they had passed I took in the room that I was hiding in. It was an unused classroom with a magnificent mirror, as high as the ceiling and an ornate gold frame. And when I looked into it, I could see myself even though I was wearing the invisibility cloak, and there you were, standing right beside me. I checked the room, but I was alone, but you were there in the mirror. I had never seen a picture of you, so I didn’t recognize you straight away, but when I realized who you where I cried. Mom, you were so beautiful, wild dark red hair and the same eyes as mine. And you cried with me. And dad, you look so much like me. I know people keep saying it to me who much I look like you, but I didn’t know they were right. And there were more people in the mirror, all looking a little like me, all of our family. And you all smiled and waved at me. I wanted to reach through the glass and reach all of you, be with all of you. I stood there for a long time until I heard some noise in the distance and made my way back to the Slytherin dungeon.

I went back to the mirror the next night. I hadn’t been able to stop thinking about it all day. Ron asked me what was wrong, but I couldn’t tell him. This was my secret, my family, my cloak. And I had been afraid I wouldn’t be able to find the room again. I wandered around for what felt like hours before I found the suit of armour outside of the classroom with the mirror. And you were still there, beaming at me.

The next day I stayed in the Slytherin common room, avoiding Ron because all I could think about was going back to the mirror at night. I set down on the floor in front of the mirror and planned to stay all night. But I wasn’t alone in the room. Headmaster Dumbledore was sitting on one of the desks by the wall. I hadn’t noticed him at all when I came in. He sat down next to me on the floor and told me all about the mirror of Erised. That it shows us what we want, that it shows our deepest, most desperate desire of our hearts. And then he told me that many men have wasted away before it, entranced by what they have seen, or been driven mad, not knowing if what it shows is real or even possible. The mirror was moved after that and I promised the headmaster that I wouldn’t go looking for it. He told me it does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live. Before I left I asked headmaster Dumbledore what he sees in the mirror and he said he sees himself holding a pair of thick, woollen socks. That it was because everyone always gave him books and all he wanted was to get some nice socks. I don’t think that was a trued full answer, but then again, it is quite personal what the mirror shows, and the headmaster probably didn’t want me to know.

I haven’t used my cloak again after that and kept my promise not to go looking for the mirror. I sometimes wish I can forget what I saw because I keep thinking of you mom and dad. And I’ve started to have nightmares. You both keep disappearing in a flash of green light in my dream, while a high voice cackles with laughter. I wish Hermione was back already so I can talk to her about it, see what she thinks. And I’m afraid if the nightmares continue when the other boys come back that they will use it against me. I don’t want them to know I have nightmares about you. Malfoy already loves to remind me all the time that I have no family, and this will only make it worse.

I’m off to the Great Hall now to have lunch with Ron and then we are going flying on Fred and George their brooms, they told us yesterday that we could. I’m looking forward at being in the air again. It’s wonderful and now there will be no teacher to tell me to stay closer to the ground and stop spinning around. I will have to see about buying my own broom for next year when we are allowed to have our own brooms at school, so I can go flying in my free time.

Love you both,

Your Harry James Potter.

[alucardinium]

        On the fourth day of Christmas my true love sent to me:         Four cheap shots, Three pints of Wassail, Two children fighting and                    Some cold sleepy cuddles  

Words: 1,397

Prompt: Snowball fights

Warnings: Gen / Swearing

The cold burned his hand, but the satisfaction that rushed through him after the snow left his hand was euphoric. Melting the chill from his hand. This was oh so worth it.

With a soft splat, Alucard stopped walking. Sypha still chatting happily and marching onwards. Not noticing that her compatriots stopped following.

The snow fell off of Alucard's hair where it’d hit and disappeared under his collar. Trevor snickered as he walked past Alucard who’d tensed even further.

Sauntering past Alucard with a badly concealed grin Trevor contemplated if he gave Alucard a shove if he’d lose his hand or not.

He glanced over to gauge his chance of a sharp word or smack to find Alucard staring straight at him. His eyes were just a little to the left of his normal gold and Trevor saw the hit coming before Alucard moved.

It didn’t stop Trevor from hitting the ground with an angry shout. Alucard snatching his whip from his side, hissing at the burn it must have given him and wrapping it quickly around Trevor's hands and feet.

“Get the hell off me!” Trevor shouted as he tried to roll only to have his whip tightened around his limbs.

“Whoa! Alucard stop!” Sypha shouted from some distance away, running to the scene.

With a final tug that had Trevor tied like a pig on the ground did Alucard get off of Trevor who growled.

Sypha slid to a stop huffing like she was about to lose a lung, “What’re you doing?” She asked.

Alucard didn't reply but grabbed the back of Trevor’s cloak, startling Trevor with his sheer strength as he dangled a few feet off the ground.

Trevor watched Sypha’s confused look bloom into a mask of pure horror and with renewed vigour, Trevor struggled in the half-vampires grip.

The scream that came from his throat was far too high pitch, completely broken. He couldn’t replicate it if he tried

If Trevor had been struggling before he was thrashing now as Alucard shoved fist fulls of snow down the back of his shirt.

“Alucard! Oh my god stop!” Sypha stepped forward and tugged at Alucard's hand.

“Turnabout is fair play,” Alucard said calmly as he pushed down another fist full of the frozen snow, his nails dragging along Trevor’s skin which only made Trevor more nervous.

“I hit you with one snowball you cocksucker,” Trevor screamed slipping one foot free from his whip and kicking as hard as he could directly into Alucard‘s chest.

Dropped with a groan into the snow Sypha made fast work of his whip and with quick hands, Trevor whipped off his coat and pulled his many layers off his chest to free the snow. The cold hit his bare chest in a tooth-grinding intensity.

Standing up with a huff, in a circle of his wet, cold clothes Trevor glared bloody murder at Alucard who was wiping his hands clean of the remaining snow. Sypha hovering around Trevor who was beat red wether from the indignation or the cold nobody was sure.

“You picked the wrong fucking fight.” Trevor growled low and crouched down low to retrieve his cloak and throw it over his shoulders after a solid shake to get the snow off of it. Not that it could be that cold after what Alucard put him through.

“You were the one who started it. I just finished it.” Alucard sniffed and turned to continue walking.

“What possessed you to hit him with a snowball,” Sypha hissed in Trevor's ear.

“Cause he’s a fucking prick, that's why,” Trevor growled low as he set his sights on the floaty golden hair.

He bent low grabbing two fistfuls of snow; the cold wearing off on him now that just about every part of him was freezing.

“Trevor, you idiot what’re you—“ Sypha whispered but shut up at his stubborn glare.

Taking a running start and keeping low Trevor caught up with Alucard and launched himself at the dhampir.

Had he not already been humiliated today he’d never be degrading himself like this, but with no pride left today he wrapped his legs around Alucard to hold on as he assaulted Alucard‘s hair with his hands rubbing the snow viciously into the thick locks.

“What’re you!” Alucard tried to spin to see, but Trevor grinned with a little too much vindication as his work finished and he laced the perfect hair with snow. Holding on for dear life as Alucard attempted to shake him off, dodging the occasional fist that flew at his head.

“Get fucked.” Trevor breathed and let go, taking Alucard‘s cloak with him unbalancing the asshole enough he couldn’t dodge when Trevor threw the handle of his whip directly into his face leaving a bright red circle.

Alucard rounded on him and hissed looking thoroughly pissed off now. A small part of Trevor’s head called him an absolute fucking idiot for pissing off the one thing he needed that could also easily kill him, but a larger portion cried with delight.

Kicking his feet hard Trevor launched more snow at Alucard who tried to dodge but was blinking off the handle to the face. Enough snow crashed into Alucard that Trevor could call it a successful attack.

“Did you just rip Alucard‘s jacket!” Sypha called as she stomped over, Trevor ignored her in favour of dancing around the hits he and Alucard were coming to.

The giant spear of ice that nearly cut off his arm was the wake-up call he’d pissed off Sypha too.

“If you don’t both stop right now, I will freeze you both solid.” Sypha stepped between them hands up and pointed at them both.

“You wouldn’t,” Alucard growled back, and she left his body frozen from the waist down. “You would.” He conceded and picked at the ice encasing his feet.

Sypha levelled a stare at Trevor who held up his hands, dropping snow he still held.

“You are both children, I never signed up to be a nanny so, if I see another piece of this godforsaken snow even touch your hand Belmont I will first freeze them off and then I will walk.”

“I was not the—“

“You were not the only one, but somehow I trust Alucard more than you. The deal now is you will fix Alucard‘s jacket, Alucard will find something to dry your clothes and I will sit down and make myself something to drink.”

“I don‘t even know how to fucking sew!” Trevor cried in protest

“I agree, I would rather he not—“

“I don’t care. Sort yourselves out.” Sypha shouted at Alucard who recoiled and frowned. With a deep breath, Sypha dropped her hands, and the ice melted straight into water.

With a deep burning hatred, Trevor picked up the thoroughly ripped and trashed coat and glared at it like its owner was still wearing it.

Grabbing Sypha’s mending kit she threw in his direction Trevor thumped down in the cold, crossing his legs and still missing most of his clothes as Alucard went about picking them up and giving them a disgusted look.

As he grumbled under his breath trying to sew the fancy coat back together did Trevor feel a flash of cold splatter against his neck. Going ramrod straight and spinning with the promise of death in his eyes he met Alucard’s stare head-on.

Dropping the needle and coat and reaching for the nearest lump of snow Trevor saw his life before his eyes as a spike of solid ice lanced out of the snow he was going for.

“Belmont if you so much as look at snow now, I will make it certain you won’t be able to carry your line on. Try focusing on threading the needle.” Sypha growled at him with her back turned to him as she worked at starting a non-magical fire.

“But—“ Trevor cried out to which he had to leap out of the way as another massive icicle formed between the cross in his legs, impaling Alucard‘s jacket.

“Oh, and you’ll have to fix that now,” He could feel the smirk in her voice and with a low growl of frustration Trevor snatched the jacket back and tucked his head low shoulders slumped low. Defeated by Sypha while Alucard got away.

Fucking typical.

[bitsymegan]

Waking in Bannic

I just had too keep going. I just had to trust I’d be okay. So when I fell to the ground, I didn’t really know what to expect, except that I’d be alright. I had to trust that, I had too. The moment I said I would be okay, I fell down and slipped into darkness.

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

Relax, Ailith.

I opened my eyes slowly, and watched as my faint surroundings formed from the blurry colors into shapes I could somewhat make out. But to see something besides white was pretty great. I gathered that I was just in a small room, but it was strangely tall. It was all the same wood, a light grey I could barely call brown, but it had the feel of an old cabin lived in many years by a close family.

“Ailith,”

“Ailith…”

I groggily turned my head toward the voice, and met the eyes of a large woman. She was all bundled up in layers of clothes and had big curly hair, adding to her already cuddly atmosphere. Her eyebrows were thick and expressive, well, all her features were thick and expressive. I watched her mouth move, but struggled to understand what she was saying, distracted by her strange, square pupils.

“Oh, Good! How are you holding up?” She came closer to my face and raised her thick eyebrows. I couldn’t quite match her excitement in my groggy state.

I was still trying to form the words to ask where I was.

“Um… Im alright.” It was clear I hadn’t used my voice in a while. “Where…where are we?”

“Bannic, just a small village in these mountains.” She grabbed a piece of wet cloth, “I’m Granity, by the way,” Granity gave me a big wide smile. “Okay, so, You’ve been here for two weeks now. You’ve been coming in and out, but you’ve been doing pretty well.” she was talking quickly while she arranged my surroundings, “You got some special forces on your side, little miss. Now, how are you feeling?”

“Um… warmer, still kind of-” She laid the cloth on my head, the heat of it consumed all my immediate thoughts, I couldn’t help but fully experience it before I finished my sentence. “…kind of chilly.”

“Well, you’re really lucky we found you, you were under almost a foot of snow! Lucky your shield was sticking out of the ground, and it glew! What an interesting little enchantment…”

Granity went on about how her brother unburied me and brought me here, she said they went through my things to find out who I was, because they didn’t know if I would wake up, she said she hoped it was alright that she did that, I nodded.

“So, What were you doing out there?”

“Going East,” I mumbled.

“Well, you couldn’t go around the mountains?” She giggled sweetly, drawing a circle with her finger.

I made no effort to tell her why, I honestly didn’t know either. But whatever the voice says, and here I am.

“Well, wherever you’re going, there should be no reason to stay here any longer.”

Yes, time to go. I began to sit up.

“No No! Not just yet.” She gently pushed me back to the bed.

“Wha..Why…?”

“You need something to protect you from these mountains! Did you really think you were going back out in that cold unprepared?”

I slumped into the bed and huffed under my breath. She was right. I needed to recoup.

“I’ll be right back.” She grabbed my hand gently, it was warm, so nice and so warm…

“Stay here!” She stood up, her body rising much higher than I had imagined her height being, and as she began to make her way out. I then understood why her eyes were so strange and square. As she exited the room, I saw her legs were covered in thick fur, bent at a strange angle, and her giant hooves creaking the wood floor beneath her.

I layed, staring blankly at the door she left through, trying to process with my weak and unclear thoughts what I just saw. I matched her bulky stature and strong appearance to a mountain goat, and concluded this was a Satyr village.

I turned my aching body on my back and surprised myself by crying a bit. I had passed out in the perfect place, just where someone would find me, and would bring me to a place where I could be brought back to health.

 Thank you. I whispered to the voice through gracious tears.

You knew I’d be there for you.

I calmed down after a while and dried my wet tears with the edge of the blanket by my face and fell asleep again.

Waking up later, I had felt much better and decided to try walking again. I had to put too much effort into pulling my feet out from under the covers onto the ice-cold stone floor in order to truly realize that I was still absolutely freezing. I reached for the blanket and pulled it off the bed and over my shoulders. Why was I still so cold?!

I noticed my dress was across the room, folded up nicely by my sword and shield and I… was just wearing my underskirts.

I ignored the thought of how that went down and I slipped into my dress quickly as I could. The sooner I got them on the warmer I’d be. I assumed the Granity washed the dress in hot water, it was still warm on my skin. That feeling of violation was instantly forgiven.

Granity walked in, holding a small bag.

“I looked for something warm for you, but I couldn’t find anything that would fit you, but, I do have some coins,” She handed me the bag. “There is enough in here to buy yourself something extra toasty and to buy enough food to get you out of the mountains, if you just keep going straight east, you will be out of here in two or three days, we are pretty close to the edge of this terrain.”

   “Thank you.” I smiled, pulling my thin little coat over myself.

   “The store is two buildings down, go there and straight there.” She bent down to my height. “People don’t take too kindly to Listeners here, so you need to be careful.”

   She put her massive hands gently over my shoulders, but they were more around my entire core, the fact that she could crush me right now reminded me that while I knew to be careful, it was more important than ever that I don’t get on a Satyr’s bad side.

   ¨I will be, thank you for everything, Granity- and thank your brother for me too, I wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for him.¨

   She smiled and wrapped her arms around me, I was buried in her furry scarf.

   ¨Thank you, Ailith, from both of us.¨ She pulled me away and gave me a long look.

¨You’ve changed everything for me and Valor.¨ She looked down. ¨It’s all for the better, but… it´s dangerous here now. Especially for you.¨

I nodded and made my way out her cozy cottage.

   The second my foot hit the world outside, the cold froze me, the snow blinded me, and the wind nearly knocked me off my feet into the side of the door. I gasped at the shock it all, I heard Granity laugh behind me at my surprise. I would have laughed too but I had to keep walking in this blizzard.

It was an eternity away, and through the fast think snow coming down I saw this entire village was propped up on tall stilts over the snow, I walked, well, sort of ran- straight across the rope bridges and the boardwalks to get to the store. The door slammed behind me from the wind causing me to jump. I shook the snow off like a dog and took in the store. It had the same coziness the other house had, only this one was full of blankets, clothes, capes, and boots. It was quiet, except for two satyr men in the corner talking quite passionately about something.

“Can I help you. Miss?” I turned to another large Satyr man, he had very dramatic horns, his most prominent feature that stood out to me, minus the legs. He wore a gruff face with a big plastered smile hiding behind a thick beard. He was accompanied by a general kind of ticked-off atmosphere.

   “Yes! I’m looking for something warm.”

   ” Hm…” He sized me down. “I think I can do that for you.”

   “Wonderful!”

   “Our capes for the kids are all over here,” He guided me toward a small pile of folded fur. “This is probably the only section of clothes that will fit you,” He did one huff of a chuckle under his breath, “I suggest a thick one, like this one,” He rummaged through the pile and pulled out a cape that was very furry on the shoulders,with a thick warm drape on it and the inside of it was completely lined with fur. I would bake in it. It was perfect.

“I’ll take it! How much?” I pulled out the money Granity gave me.

He looked off to the side, slightly snarling his nose. “It’s… on the house,”  and he dropped it in my arms, the weight coming down from the hight he dropped it nearly buckled my knees.

“Oh no no no!! I,-”

“I… insist, mam, Granity gave that money to you, I can get it back to her for you, just… take the cape, you’ll need it,”

I sighed with a grateful smile. “Thank you so much, sir. I-”

A sudden loud crash came from behind us, a satyr man flew over a display onto another satyr, they were on the floor and were suddenly brawling aggressively with their horns and fists. My mind went to my sword, but then I imagined trying to fight one of these massive creatures with something I only just recently acquired.

I shuffled as quickly as I could away from the sudden mess that erupted, the fighting satyrs, caught up in their fight, had rolled the battle over toward us, the store clerk jumped out of the way, picking me up with him effortlessly, making me feel even more like a flimsy little doll with my limbs flailing.

“Crazy!” The grey saytr said, “You’re not one of us!”

“Who is it to-” The other brown one dodged a punch, “-to decide that??”

“The town leaders ordered the extinction of any form of evil change!” The grey satyr quoted a law.

They both somehow got up off the ground and were now trying to shove each other down again, their hooves smashed the floor, they were so massive, it was like watching two storms battle for the sky, I backed against the wall, tripping on fallen displays as they rolled the battle around the room.

“Any form of evil change!” The brown satyr said, emphasizing the evil. “This ‘insanity’ you-” He threw a punch, it landed successfully on the grey’s jaw, my jaw dropped just thinking about what the power of that single blow would do to my own jaw. “This insanity you call it, it’s good!”

“Your insanity says we leave our ways! That we leave our home in these mountains!”

They had their fists clasped trying to shove the other down now, their impressive hooves slipped, but caught them as they pushed harder on each other. They stared each other down furiously, talking low now. The deep power of their voices created a hollow feeling in my stomach, “What this voice says, is that there id so much more out there than what anything here has to offer us!!” Just the mention of the voice gave that brown satyr strength, and he knocked his opponent to the ground, and the brown Satyr smashed his hoof into the grey chest powerfully, knocking the wind out him.

“Here in these mountains we are happy! We are safe! Does your voice tell you that, Valor??” The grey said when the life returned to his lungs.

“No, it says that we need to enter the world-,” the brown one leaned down with his hoof still pinning other satyr, “…And that we will  only stay here hungry, and we will all one day disappear without a trace to the cold.”

Then the grey satyr rolled over the brown, now pinning the brown one down. The grey got in the Brown’s face. I could barely make out his hissing whisper, “This voice had driven you mad, we can’t have this…” He slowly pulled a long blade out from his cape, it appeared the other didn’t notice.

“He’s got a knife!!” I screamed, “He’s got a-” the store clerk yanked my sword from my sheath and threw it off to the side. Before I could respond he swiped his arm in front of me, holding me against him, and held his hand over my mouth, covering my whole face in a brawny grip, my heart beat from fast to faster, knowing I could break at his will.

“Finish him off, Marku!!” The store clerk said to they grey satyr, “Do it! For the people!” The passion in his voice boomed from his chest, vibrating against my back. I could only struggle and let out opposing muffled, weak screams. The store clerk so quickly sickened me, but his iron grip on my little human body and his clasp on my face would never allow for me to escape.  

The brown satyr grabbed a pan from a knocked over shelf, I thought he would try to bang it against the grey satyr’s head, but it probably wouldn’t have done much, taking into account the satyrs had massive horns over their heads, so the brown satyr shoved the handle through the grey’s mouth and up through his head, and he limped, dead, and slid off the victorious brown satyr. My struggling stopped abruptly, my mind processing what I had just witnessed through the store clerks fingers. The brown satyr got up quickly, and looked at the mess he had made, breathing heavy. He sounded like a horse, his breaths were so powerful. He turned toward the store clerk, who was a completely different man now, The brown satyr gave him a stare that burned with anger. I didn’t quite find relief in his vicious stare, but I hoped for the best assuming he was on my side.

Then the brown satyr ran toward our direction.

The store clerk lost his grip on me in an attempt to jump out of the way from the brown satyr’s beeline, but the satyr was quick and kicked a fallen display over, tripped the both of us, and also knocked over a small hanging display with heavy capes on it, which fell on me and buried me under them, yet another obstacle to get out of here as quick as I could. I popped my head out of the pile to get a view of the situation when I saw the store clerk was in close proximity of the dead grey satyr’s knife, he took the liberty of grabbing it and pointed it at the brown satyr. The store clerk stood up and stared at him, then me, then back at him. I had no idea what he had in mind but I couldn’t get untangled from the heavy capes fast enough. I was almost out when the clerk swiftly yanked the capes off of me and grabbed me by my wrist. His angry grip caused me to whimper. The clerk was sweating and shaking, but his grip did not loosen.

“Valor, you know who this is?” He had wild eyes and pointed the knife accusatory at me.

The brown satyr, Valor, nodded slowly. He acknowledged that the clerk was on top right now, standing cautiously, thinking the situation though.

“I think she wants you to let her go,” Valor lifted his chin in my direction as I desperately attempting to yank my hand away.

The store clerk looked me and pulled me against him and held the blade to my neck, it shook in his fear. My stomach dropped to a new level of fear.

“She’s the listener,” I heard the clerk swallow nervously, ”She’s the reason all this is happening, and ever since you read her cursed journal you’ve been acting like a madman! Now, I don’t wanna…” He hovered the knife shakingly across my neck to signify cutting my throat, I pulled my head back as far away it as I could, I was breathing heavier than he was now, shoving myself away from the knife with all the little strength I had compared to these large creatures. His voice was still shaky, but his anger was alarmingly quick to replace his fear. “…But if I have too, to make you stop acting like…like a lunatic! …I will, I swear I WILL!” His voice turned from a low mutter to a harsh yell so suddenly I started tearing up.

“Stop!” Valor demanded, “Just let her go… It’s not her fault she came around here.”

“Oh, really? I’ve heard of these listeners before, Valor, they have plenty reason to pop up ‘randomly’ and spread their idea through a town! And the weak minded people like you, they are the ones that fall for it! And then you know what listeners do? They claim the ‘voice’ told them to go kill that whole village or destroy that entire town! They are bad news, Valor, and the second I heard one was town I knew it would bring trouble.” The rage the clerk had for me caused him to hold me so tight he nearly crushed me, and I could sense the cold metal near my neck with a little too much detail, everything in my being begging to escape this horrible mess.

“She’s never killed anyone before,” he looked at me, asking, “…right?”

I shook my head violently No.

“Of course she would lie to you! She wants you to believe her!! To help her go kill all the other people who aren’t listeners!” The clerk nicked my neck a little on accident, and I startled myself with my sharp yelp..

This might be it.

I…I never thought that before. This is how all those other listeners go, people kill them because they are scared, because we are telling them to do things differently, we are telling them they are wrong. They think we kill, they think we all hate them… all the people not like us. I never felt like the dark listeners would lead to my demise, but here I am, Valor and I here are just like any other Listener, but because the dark listeners killed, we are the lunatic monsters to him. The thoughts hollowed me out more than I ever thought was possible.

“Valor, I’m gonna kill her, and you are next, I…we, satyrs, all of us!!!…are going to get rid of every last bit of your insanity!!” He yelled it like an angry wolf barks, the sound so loud it was like static in my ears, hurting my head.

I was screaming now, pulling away and struggling for my life, I couldn’t see through my tears, The clerk went on and on about Listeners… but my screams… My screams weren’t mine. They were more desperate than I ever heard from me.

And then… The clerk stopped. The sudden ending of the cayos cleared my mind. The blade fell. I stood… alive. I was breathing, breathing heavy, but the clerk, he slumped down to the ground beside me. He was… not breathing at all.

My sword was through his neck.

Valor stared down at the dead satyr.

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

“I’m sorry that happened to you,” Valor pulled the thick coat that he took from the store over my shoulders.

“Dear, I’m so sorry, I thought Huog was safe, I wouldn’t have sent you there if I had known…”

We were at Granity’s house again. It turned out she was Valor’s sister, she was also a new listener.

I couldn’t say anything. I just ran my finger across the fresh scar on my neck. We had cleaned my sword and gotten out of the building, doing our best to take care of the bodies… but Valor had explained that the Satyr people would know it was because of Listeners this happened. And they would be looking for us soon. It wasn’t over.

“It’s going to be really hard getting out of this place. There are walls built all the way around the town, there are just two ways out of this place, and they know we are trying to get out of town, so they will be waiting for us.”

“Then let’s get going,”

“Good Idea.”

“I’m Ailith.” I said, realizing I hadn’t officially introduced myself to him.

“I know, everyone was talking about you.”

[day-en-las-nubes]

My mom’s stern words echoed in my brain like a broken record. Maybe I should’ve listened to her and stayed until the end of our Family Thanksgiving dinner. Maybe I could’ve managed to smile one more time at my aunt’s observations about my weight or the envious resting bitch face of my cousin. Perhaps I could have endured another one of my stepdad’s inappropriate jokes. I had been so sure I had had enough when I had walked through my family’s door into the wintry night. But now, in the middle of nowhere, with the thick snow falling steadily against my windshield, I wasn’t so sure.

I took a deep breath as my car fishtailed left and right. The light of another vehicle flashing behind me in the distance started to close in.

Oh great! A psycho tailing me in this super narrow road is exactly what I need!

I turned my caution lights on, I was not going to speed up and end up crashing against one of the dark trees next to the road. I glued my eyes on the snow covered road ahead of me, pushing the strangers presence out of my mind if only for a second.

“Call out my name” by the Weeknd came on the radio, stirring with it forbidden thoughts of my painful breakup with my ex only about a month prior. I reached to change the radio station, my eyes drifting to the dashboard for a split second. Upon looking up a deer had come out of nowhere and before I could as much as make a move I had hit it with the front of my car. I instinctively slammed the breaks and my car started spinning uncontrollably, derailing from the country road and hitting several trees in the process.

I kept my hands frozen on the wheel, watching terrified everything around me spin. The thought that I was about to die racing inside my head, random regrets popping simultaneously as I sat inside the spinning old Jeep, hopeless in the dark of that November night.

I realized I was holding my breath when my car had come to a stop.

“Are you okay?”- A man knocked on my window, making me jump. I pressed my foot against the gas but my car didn’t move an inch. “You are pretty deep in the snow, I doubt you’ll be able to pull out.” He said, but by now I was too scared, too regretful and feeling too pathetic to acknowledge him. I put my car in reverse and heard the strained sound of the engine, still no movement. I searched inside my purse and retrieved my cellphone. No signal. I glanced at the tall figure standing next to me, a shiver ran down my spine. “Suit yourself!” He said and started to walk away. I kept my eye on him though the review mirror, he was the same person that had been several feet away behind me on the road.

He started his car and began to back away, suddenly the panic of being left all there by myself outweighed my reservations towards that stranger. I opened the door and ran outside, I noticed a dull ache in my back as I stood up. I yelled for him to come back but he kept backing up.

I ran closer, waving my arms around and he finally stopped. I went over to his window and leaned in.

“Are you hurt?” He asked while lowering his window. My heart skipped a beat when I saw his huge green eyes. I was definitely not expecting this person to be quite this attractive.

“I think I’m ok” I shifted slightly uncomfortable.” I’m very sorry for having been so rude.”

“It’s understandable” He smiled and I felt disarmed. ”Would you like a ride?” He asked lifting an eyebrow.

“Y-Yes please.” I said and walked over to the passenger seat. He leaned over and opened it for me from where he was. I thanked him as I slid next to him.

“Don’t mention it” He said flatly. “I was heading into town, back to my motel.” He trailed off without taking his eyes off the road. “Can I drop you off anywhere”? He asked as I took in his exquisite cologne. It had like a lavender and oaky scent, surely expensive.

“I was actually going to drive through the night to make it home. I live about four hours from here” I explained as I stared at his long fingers resting on the steering wheel. ”You can drop me off at any gas station though.”

“You are not really asking me to leave you stranded it at 1 in the morning in some random place, right?” He looked at my possessively.

“I don’t want to impose” I replied fidgeting with my fingers.

“Why don’t I take you to my motel, you can spend the night there and get some rest. Tomorrow morning you can call to have your car towed.” He suggested combing his dark hair with his fingers. He had something so distinguished about him, I couldn’t put my finger on it. Maybe it was his gorgeous cheekbones or those very full lips. I found myself wondering what tricks he had up his sleeve.  It had been so long since I had felt completely full filled and considering that I had such a scare only moments before I felt different, daring somehow.  I could’ve died a boring, cheated and unsatisfied twenty five year old.

How sad is that?!

“Sounds perfect” I told him and he half smiled at me. He wet his lips and I found myself entirely too enthralled by this.

“Do you mind if I grab a smoke?” He asked and I shook my head. He reached over to the glove compartment and opened it. He brushed my breasts with his arm as he pulled the greenish box out of it. He placed a cigarette in his lips and lit it. ”Would you like one” He offered making smoke rings playfully and I declined. My skin still tingling where his arm had been.

“What brings you to these parts?” I asked him forcing myself to look away.

“My family own a business here. My father insisted upon my assistance to the firm’s thanksgiving dinner” He winced.

“What’s wrong?” I asked when he stopped on the side on the road.

“I believe I’ve gotten us lost… “ he pulled his cell out of his black pants pocket. ”We should’ve been at my motel by now.”

“Can you GPS it?”

“It’s stuck at loading….” He added shrugging and I caught a whiff of alcohol on his breath.

“Have you been drinking?” I attempted to conceal my nerves.

“Of course I have little miss or how else do you suppose I get through those awful business meetings?” He laughed and gave me one of those looks that would make anyone blush. “Im getting so sleepy!” He said tilting his head back.

“I could drive…” I offered even though I knew with my sense of direction I would end up getting us even more lost or worse.

“After what you’ve been through I don’t think it’s a great idea.” He rubbed the back of his neck.

“And driving under the influence is?!-I snapped at him. He let out a laugh.

“You look hot when you are not pretending to be this innocent little thing” He retorted.

“Thanks?” I crossed my arms strangely aroused and annoyed by this bluntness.

“When was the last time someone showed you a good time?” He asked mockingly.

“I am not talking about my personal life with you!”

“Who said anything about talking?” He chuckled mischievously.  He ran his sexual green eyes over my face attentively, like studying me. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to upset you, it’s just that..I’ve been wondering…” He kept looking at me, his lips parted.

“What’s that?” I started to have trouble breathing with his intensity.

“What your lips taste like” He whispered and I felt a twinge of desire within me. The way he was just staring made me feel so wanted, so beautiful even. “Ive had too much to drink…” He started to turn away but I grabbed his chin and planted a peck on his warm lips. He looked at me surprised.

Life was too short and that total stranger was impossibly handsome. We were alone, on the side of some country road and I wanted his hands on me.

I caressed his smooth chin with the tips of my fingers while his breath fanned my mouth ever so slightly. His eye lids were half opened, his pupils like lasers pointed at mine.

“So”? I asked gaspingly.

“Definitely too good for just one taste” He uttered and I bit his lower lip. He tasted sweet and delicious.

The man suctioned my lips masterfully, his tongue gliding in and out of my mouth firmly but also tenderly.

My lips made their way to his soft neck, as I left small bites alongside it.

He moaned when my hand slid inside his shirt. His skin was muscular but soft. My fingers glided over the bulges of his abdomen.

“What’s your name?” He asked breathlessly.

“Sofia” I said and a smile spread across his face.

“My name is Bill” He pushed my coat off my shoulders and licked my collar bone as he lowered my sleeves.  The hair on my skin stood up as the anticipation continued building up when his mouth got closer and closer to my breasts.

I clenched my fist in his silky hair when his teeth bit playfully my nipples. His tongue circling them subtly first, then introducing them in his mouth and sucking on them mercilessly.

The vibrations between my legs becoming almost unbearable with the activities his lips were carrying in my chest.

I placed my hands in his belt and untied it as fast as I could. I lowered the zipper of his pants and reached inside.  He froze as my fingers curled around the massiveness of him.

He looked at me wild now, his hair disheveled and his rosy lips swollen. He grabbed me by the hip and lifted me as if I were a feather. He placed me on his lap and lifted my dress. With a finger he moved my panties to one side. The contact of his finger tip while he did this sending powerful waves of electricity to my whole body.

I propped myself up on my knees, and as I was ready to descend on him  the flash light outside the window sent me crawling back to my seat and Bill fixing himself up.

“Need any assistance folks” The cop said as Bill lowered the window. “Let me escort you back to the city, yes?”

Bill threw a frustrated and perverse look my way before answering him.

“Sure officer”

[long-roads-travelled]

Chapter 5

I woke up to Deklan moving around, grumbling quietly under my breath. Sleepy and hardly aware of what I was doing, I wiggled further into him and tightened my hold around his waist.

“Oh, sorry, did I wake ya?” Dek asked, his voice lower than usual and raspy. I sighed and relaxed at the sound.

“Yeah. ‘S fine,” I mumbled. Realizing what I was doing, I rubbed my eye and hesitantly sat up, starting to get off of his lap. He grabbed my arm gently and pulled me back down.

“You can stay here an’ doze if you want,” he murmured, squeezing my bicep before opening his arms. I slumped against him after thinking about it, knowing he probably needed the cuddling more than I do after last night.

I yawned as I put my legs over the arm of the sofa-chair, crossing my arms and looking out the window. It was snowing again. White mounds were covering the ground, the only contrast being the gray and brown trees that circled the cabin, and I could make out a red stag with a decently-sized rack wandering amongst them for a second before it slipped out of sight.

The two of us sat in a comfortable silence for maybe fifteen minutes, but I interrupted it. “How’re you feeling, Dek? Last night seemed pretty rough,” I said with a gentle voice, tilting my head to fix my eyes on his face.

“Uhm,” he hesitated, “I guess I don’t feel that much better…” Dek mumbled, his ears pinned back now.

“That’s okay.” I moved to be sitting on the arm of the chair instead of his lap. “How’re your bruises?”

“Still sore. Ozzy took the ice pack before he left, since it was warm.”

“Want me to get it?”

“If ya wouldn’t mind,” Dek sighed, scratching just behind his ears.

“Of course not.” I smiled at him and squeezed his shoulder. Getting off of my perch, I went to the icebox, my hooves thunking against the floor.

I opened the top and dug for the ice pack, grunting softly since I had to lean over the edge, as it was all the way at the bottom for some reason. The buzzard—Sterrin, we’ve named him—flew in from the other room and landed on the top of a cabinet, a dead mouse in his talons. I paid him no mind. I eventually found the ice pack, standing up and closing the top before heading back over to Dek.

“Here,” I hummed, giving it to him, getting a small nod in return before he tied it over the large bruise on his chest with a series of quiet grunts.

I watched him, sighing to myself. Deklan was so much more fragile than he looked, I knew now, and it was mildly distressing. He curled up and rubbed his eyes, then yawned with a tiny squeak that made me smile ever so slightly.

“Wanna try to go kayaking?” I asked. He needed to distract himself, so I figured this would be better than moping around all day.

“Oh, sure,” he murmured before putting his legs down again and getting up.

“I still have a coat of yours.” I went to grab it from the coat rack, hearing him follow me. I then gave it to him and sighed. “I’ll be right back, I have to put on some proper clothes.”

“‘Kay.” Dek nodded, staying where he was whilst I went off to my room.

I shut my bedroom door as noiselessly as possible, standing there for a moment. I thought to myself, wondering what kind of other things he could be hiding from me. There was no way Duana was the sole reason why he decided to get shitfaced… Was King Kazimir part of it too? He did seem pretty heavily spooked by that gargantuan stallion. I think most of us beys would be, though. His reaction seemed different, like his fear stemmed from something else about Kazimir.

I shook my head; I could think about this more later. I went to my dresser and pulled out pants and a white button-up that was thicker than it looked, then put a black sweater on over it. The leg wraps went on last. I made my way back out to Deklan, a kind smile on my face.

“Ready now, Con?”

“Yeah, you?”

“Yeah, let’s get going,” Dek hummed. It seemed like he suddenly felt better, but I knew that wasn’t really the case.

I followed him outside, then trotted up to walk beside him. The snowfall had finally stopped, leaving everything covered in about a foot of the stuff, meaning we had to trudge through it. Otherwise, the weather was perfect, although I wasn’t sure we’d be able to go kayaking as planned. We’d probably find something else to do.

The walk to the riverbank where our kayaks were didn’t take long. We maneuvered down the incline carefully, slipping in parts, and got down safely.

“Yep. It’s frozen,” I sighed, walking up to the ice. I stomped on it to see how thick it was. “Goes down far, too.”

“Ah, damn,” Deklan grunted. I heard him walk up behind me.

“Well, we could—” I began before I was promptly nudged onto the ice. Startled, I threw my arms out and waved my tail wildly to keep balance, my hooves slipping. I heard Dek laughing from the bank. “You— You gobshite!” I shouted, squealing at the end, and it only made him laugh harder.

I lost the battle to balance myself and fell on my back. The shock made me groan, and I just laid there for a minute. From what it sounded like, Dek was at the point of keeling over from hiw hard he was cackling at my buffoonery. What a prick I’ve decided to befriend.

“Woah, uh, Connie,” Dek’s laugh dissipated into concern. “There’s a massive crack under ya.”

“Wha?” I sat up and looked around myself. There was indeed a huge crack in the ice. My ears went down, tail flicking as I tried to think of how to get off the ice before it split and sent me into the freezing water below.

“Here, I’ll come to you.”

“No, you stay where you are. You’ll crack it more,” I ordered him as I carefully got onto my knees. Hopefully my pants would have enough friction here. Slowly, I inched my way back to the beach, having Dek hold out a branch so he could pull me the rest of the way.

Dek started giggling again as I managed to stand, his annoyingly charming grin spreading across his face. “That was the best thing I’ve ever witnessed.”

“Yeah fuck you,” I grumbled, gently punching his arm when I walked past him.

“How’s your arse?”

“Sore. I better not catch you making ass-fucking jokes with Ozzy.”

Dek cackled at that and shrugged. “No promises, Roy.”

“Don’t call me that. That sounds weird.” I began climbing up the slope with him in tow behind me.

“Yeah, it does. Oops,” Dek chuckled.

I got to the top of the slope and grunted, rubbing my behind. I didn’t really care if Dek noticed. We were close enough friends that it didn’t matter. I turned around, catching him staring at me as if he was in a daze, all while he was still just on the edge of the hill.

“Hey, I know I’ve got a fantastic rump, but c’mon,” I teased, making him snap out of it. He cleared his throat and quickly got up, obviously quite flustered now.

“Uhm, sorry. I’ve got no excuse,” he muttered.

“It’s fine, man. No worries,” I assured him, beginning to walk back up to the path.

“Alright.” Dek brushed his wavy blond hair out of his eyes as he walked beside me. “So. What’re we doing now?”

“Well, Ossian’s over at Old Man Sean’s to help take care of the chickens and herds, so we could go there,” I suggested, looking up at him to see what he thought.

“Mm, I’m up for it.” Deklan nodded in compliance, putting his hands in his pants pockets. That’s when I noticed he wasn’t wearing gloves. There wasn’t much I could do about it, so I left him be.

We walked through the unbearably deep snow towards the outskirts of town, the two of us mostly quiet. It was a comfortable quiet, though. The grayed bark of the trees was a stark contrast against the bright snow. The tops of bare shrubs poked out, like they were trying to get a breath of air. The snow gradually started to get shallower.

“Hey, Conroy?” Dek asked, his voice soft.

I perked my ears; he almost never called me by my actual name unless he was deep in thought or nervous. “Yes?” I looked at him, tapping the back of his thigh with my tail.

“Uhm…” he paused, biting his lip. “Do you ever wonder if it’s, uh, any better in Rosnya?”

“Oh.” I furrowed my brows as I thought about that question. “I dunno. We never really hear about Rosnya unless there’s been conflict. So, I guess it’s possible.”

“Oh. Okay.”

“Any other reasons…?”

“No, nothing else. Just wondering,” Dek replied swiftly. I knew he was lying now.

I simply rose my brow and looked ahead again. I figured if there was another reason, it was personal, so I wouldn’t press him to tell me what it was yet.

——————

We finally started coming up on Sean’s farm. I could see three figures on the front porch, but I was still too far to see who they were. Deklan hollered a greeting, waving at them. The figures turned; it was Sean and August, but the third I didn’t recognize.

Dek and I walked up to the step, and he started talking to them, once again back to his usual self. I studied the stranger, noticing he had white brindling on one side of his body. Looking more, I saw the bisected hooves. A moose-bey in Cothary? Weird, I thought to myself, and even weirder that he’s a chimera.

The stranger introduced himself to us as Doyle Gaughran. He caught my eye and turned his head towards me. Straight away I saw that his eyes were different colors too, and the dark ruddy-brown hair became blonde around the middle.

“Hello?” he waved his hand and snapped in my face, snapping me out of it.

“Oh, sorry,” I squeaked. “Just kinda… fascinated, I guess.”

“Get it all the time. It’s rude to stare,” he growled at me in mild annoyance. I just flattened my ears, looking off to the side.

I couldn’t help but realize the feeling of familiarity that was brought up by Doyle. He wasn’t my father, I knew that for sure, but… I don’t know. I think I’m being weird. I sighed and excused myself from the conversation, going around to the back of the house to find Ossian.

Sure enough, I found him in the chicken pen, but he had Officer Fallon with him. I rolled my eyes. Ossian turned around, a grin breaking onto his face as he waved at me. “Hey, Connie! Deklan with ya?”

“He’s talking with Sean and those other two,” I called back, trotting over to them.

“Ah.” Ossian came to the fence when I did. “Well, I’ve gotten to talk to Fallon some. He’s nicer than you make him out to be.”

“Yeah, whatever,” I sighed, leaning against the fence.

“I’m flattered,” Fallon chuckled, in the middle of swapping the straw bedding in the coop. “Why don’t you like me, Conroy?”

“I’ve never really trusted the military,” I murmured, adjusting my beanie. “It’s a long story.”

“Ah, well, that’s alright. I’m not that upset,” he shrugged. “I don’t much like it myself.”

“Well, I’m glad we could agree on something,” I sighed, rubbing under my beanie when my scalp itched. “I guess I’ll go handle the livestock.”

[arrow-guy]

Take it Slow

Original request from a darling anon: hey erin!!! if it's okay, do you think you could write me a christmas fic with Pietro? maybe the team is having a snowball fight and he's using his powers to win and he shows off so much he ends up accidentally hurting her and he's so horrified and angry at himself, and he basically refuses to leave her side from then on, taking care of her and carrying her everywhere and bringing her hot chocolate and going completely overboard with presents and ends up confessing he's in love with her?

A/N: First off, I want to apologize for how long it’s taken me to get this done. Second, I’m sorry about how much it changed from your request, the direction I went in just felt a little more natural. Regardless, I hope you like it!!

Pairing: PietroxReader

Word Count: 3027

Warnings: None

“What are the rules?”

“What do you mean? We’re super heroes about to duke it out in a snowball fight,” Tony scoffs. “There’s no such thing as rules in an Avengers snowball right.”

“Of course not.” I roll my eyes and cross my arms over my heavily layered chest.

“I don’t know why you bothered wearing such a huge jacket (Y/N), you’re just gonna get sweaty and end up taking it off.” Clint comments.

“I don’t care to freeze my ass off, Barton.” I shoot back.

Clint shrugs. “Suit yourself.”

“I will, thank you.” I turn back to Tony, eyebrows raised. “So, rules?”

Tony rolls his eyes. “Fine, rules are, there are no rules. Got it?” Clint lets out a snort and I punch him in the arm, admittedly harder than I should have. “Rogers and I will be team captains. If anyone has a problem with it, take out your anger during the snowball fight, I don’t know.”

“Get on with it, Stark!” Natasha calls, her tone impatient.

“Alright, alright.” Tony scowls at her. “Cap, you get first pick.”

--

The division of the teams didn’t take too long.

Wanda, Clint, Sam, Bucky and I are on Steve’s team while Rhodey, Pietro, Bruce, Scott and Nat are on Tony’s.

We stand in rows, each team standing opposite each other across the field, ready to pelt each other with snowballs.

I’m not entirely sure who started it but, in the blink of an eye, snowballs started hurtling through the air.

I stand frozen for a moment, watching the mayhem that sprang to life only moments before, only snapping out of the trans when a snowball is sent whizzing by my ear, missing my head by mere millimeters.

I whip my head up, eyes darting around in search of whoever threw the snowball, only to find a slightly guilty looking Scott. I lift my eyebrows at him and his eyes go wide. He turns to run as I stoop down to scoop up some snow, packing it into a hard ball.

Before he can take off running, I hurl the snowball at him and it hits him square in the back of his neck. A hefty shiver runs down his spine before he runs off to join the throng of his teammates, trying to hide behind Natasha.

Wanda has a massive pile of snowballs next to her which just keeps growing as she’s using her powers to pack the frozen water into spheres. Meanwhile, Clint is taking from Wanda’s snowball pyramid and chucking them at anyone he can see. When he takes a shot at Natasha, she grabs Scott and manages to use him as a human shield before pushing him aside and throwing several snowballs in quick succession at Clint who manages to dodge every single one.

I try my best to hit the opposing team, but I only manage to hit Scott three more times and Bruce twice. Tony and Rhodey are tag teaming Steve and Bucky, all four of them taking the game way too seriously.

“Lookin’ real serious there, (Y/N).” Sam comments, flinging a snowball at Pietro who simply sidesteps it.

“Well, that tends to happen when I’m trying not to get pegged by a snowball while a bead of sweat is just rolling down my back.” I hurl another snowball in Pietro’s direction and miss him completely. Pietro snickers and speeds off down the field. “I hate snowball fights.”

“Really?” Sam asks sarcastically. “I couldn’t tell.”

I throw another snowball at Pietro as he runs past again, only to miss. “Would you just sit still!” I screech.

He skids to a halt beside me. “Absolutely not, printsessa.” He whispers in my ear before chuckling and racing off again.

I let out a frustrated yell and shuck off my parka before shoving my sleeves up past my elbows.

As I bend over to scoop up more snow, someone pulls the collar of my shirt away from the back of my neck and drops a handful of snow down my shirt. I straighten immediately and let out a shriek of surprise, whipping my head around in search of the culprit.

About three feet away, Pietro stands doubled over in laughter, hands on his knees. His eyes are squeezed shut and it looks like he’s trying to catch his breath. Glaring at him, I pack the snow in my hands down into a solid sphere and hurl it at him. The ball hits him right in the face and he looks up at me, eyes wide with surprise. I smirk at him, already shaping another snowball.

When he braces to take off again, I throw the snowball and it him square in the nose. He coughs and splutters, brushing snow off his face and shaking his head to get the chunks of snow out of his hair.

“Did you just...” He stares at me, surprised.

“What’re you gonna do about it, Maximoff?” I taunt.

He smirks at me and starts scooping up a massive amount of snow and shaping it into a ball. He lifts the massive snowball above his head and my eyes go wide. I scramble to run away, my feet slipping on the packed snow beneath them. When I manage to find my footing, I take off, trying to get away from Pietro before he can throw the snowball. Sadly, I can’t escape my fate and the snowball hits me in the back of the head, neck and between my shoulderblades.

The force of the impact from the snowball throws me forward onto the ground. I can’t get my hands under myself before I fall and I hit my head on a rock that was hidden underneath the snow.

I try to push myself up and only succeed in rolling over onto my back. Pietro slides to a stop next to me on his knees, worry etched into his features. He scoops me up in his arms and holds me close to his chest.

“Told you we should've had rules.” I mutter, letting my head fall against his chest.

As he walks, my eyelids grow heavy and my vision grows dark before consciousness fades completely.

--

Pietro walks quickly toward the facility, hoping to get (Y/N) somewhere warm so he can better assess the situation. Before he can get very far, a strong hand is placed on his chest, stopping him.

“What happened?” Asks Steve.

“I was showing off and took it too far. I hit her with a massive snowball and she fell. I think she may have hit her head on something.” Pietro babbles out. “She might have a concussion, but I am not sure.”

“Alright, let’s get her inside. Wanda,” He calls, catching the young woman’s attention. “Stop all the snowballs, Barton and Lang seem to be having too much fun.”

She smirks at him and flicks her wrist, catching all the snowballs in midair in a field of shimmering red energy. Steve nods to her before taking (Y/N) from Pietro and carrying her into the facility. Pietro trails along behind the taller man, fighting the urge to take (Y/N) back from him and rush her to the infirmary, but he knows that jostling her could make the possible concussion worse.

He anxiously paces around the perimeter of the room as (Y/N) gets looked over. As soon as the tech leaves her side, he drags a chair over and plops down beside her, gently taking her hand in his and rubbing circles on the back of it in an attempt to soothe himself.

He sits there, watching over her, for three hours before his head falls to the mattress of her hospital bed and he falls asleep.

--

I wake with a headache pounding at the front of my skull and an ache running down my spine and spreading out from there. I squeeze my eyes shut and groan softly as I try to shift myself into a sitting position.

“(Y/N), stop, you have to rest.” Pietro says softly from somewhere beside me before gentle hands push me back down to the mattress.

“Okay, but I can’t lay down for the rest of my life.” I open my eyes, squinting against the bright lights of the med  bay, before looking over at him and frowning deeply. “I just want to sit up.”

His brow furrows before he stands up and rushes around the room, grabbing pillows from other beds. He helps me sit up and quickly stuffs the pillows he stole from around the room behind my back to keep me upright. I glare at him non- threateningly wiggling around in an attempt to get comfortable.

“Are you feeling alright?” He asks, plopping back down in his chair, hands fidgeting in his lap.

“I’m a little sore but, altogether, not terrible. What happened?”

He scratches the back of his neck awkwardly. “You managed to hit me with a couple of snowballs and I took my retaliation a little too far and hit you with a massive snowball in the back. You fell and hit your head on something and passed out soon after.”

“Oh,”

“You have a minor concussion, thankfully, so you can’t do anything strenuous for a while, meaning you’re not going to be working for the rest of the week.”

“What?!” I hiss. “I’m too close to finishing with those files we were able to lift from the mission last week, I can’t be on bedrest for the rest of the week!”

He holds up his hands in surrender. “I don’t make the rules, (Y/N), I merely enforce them. That is why I will be helping you while you recover.”

I groan and roll my eyes. “Great, that’s exactly what I need. A nanny.” I shuffle around on the bed again, causing Pietro to look at me nervously. “Look, I’m fine. You can keep helping Steve with the training. You don’t have to hang around.”

“I’m afraid I’ll have to decline. The doctor made me promise to keep an eye on you while you healed. You are stuck with me I’m afraid.”

“Fantastic.”

--

“You do know I can walk on my own, right?” I fold my arms across my chest and hunch forward. “I'm not an invalid, it's just a concussion.”

“We cannot be too cautious.” He pushes the wheelchair I’m seated in a little faster down the hallway.

“Says you,” I grumble. “It’s not like I’m going to go off and immediately try to run a marathon. I just want to be able to do things for myself.”

“I know.” He murmurs. “I’ll try to give you as much space as I can, but I will not let you out of my sight.” I groan in frustration and scrub a hand down my face. “I know you’ll try to push yourself too hard if I leave you alone and I can’t trust you and your workaholic nature enough to leave you alone for too long.”

“Fine,” I huff. “But you’re sleeping on the couch, no acceptions.”

Pietro nods. “Alright,”

He stops in front of my door and I reach out and open it before pulling myself out of the wheelchair and slamming the door behind me and locking it.

“(Y/N)!” Pietro cries. “What do you think you are doing?!”

“Sorry, but I need some privacy. Come back when F.R.I.D.A.Y. says you can.”

“(Y/N), come on, I’m only trying to help.” He says, his voice muffled by the door.

“F.R.I.D.A.Y., please silence the room.”

“Of course.” All noise from the outside disappears and I carefully lay down on my bed, propping myself up with several pillows. “When shall I let him in, ma’am?”

“After I’ve been asleep for an hour.”

“I’ll be sure to do so.”

“Before I doze off, how’s he doin out there?”

“He yelled until you got to your bed, but now he’s just sitting with his back against the door,”

“Okay,” I shuffle around under the covers before settling my head back against the headboard. “Remember, one hour.”

“I’d remind you that it is impossible for me to forget, but I figure that the point is moot. Have a good rest, ma’am.”

--

“You look like a kicked puppy there, Maximoff.” Sam observes, leaning on the wall beside Pietro.

He sighs and pulls his knees up to his chest. “I realize that, but (Y/N) refuses to let me keep an eye on her.”

“Did she lock you out?” Pietro nods, resting his chin on his knees. Sam throws his head back and laughs. “That is hilarious. What’d you do?”

“I may have taken my role as caretaker a little too far.” He says, pointing to the abandoned wheelchair a couple of feet away. “It pissed her off a little, I guess.”

“You guess?” Pietro shrugs. “Incredible.” Sam shakes his head. “She’ll come around man, you just gotta tell her why you’re acting so overprotective, y’now?”

“I… what?”

“Tell her how you feel dumbass.”

“I don’t know if that is the best course of action,” Pietro says. The door behind his back gives way and swings open. He flounders for a moment, arms flailing, before his back hits the floor.

“Doesn’t matter, looks like you’ve got the opening you need.” Sam smirks and pushes off the wall. “Good luck, kid.”

Pietro scowls at Sam’s back as he watches him walk away.

“Is this you telling me I can go in, F.R.I.D.A.Y.?”

“I was instructed to allow you in after she had been asleep for an hour.”

“A simple yes would have worked great in that situation.” He mutters, picking himself up from off the floor.

“I will be sure to remember that for next time.”

Pietro walks further into the room to find (Y/N) propped up against her headboard, sleeping peacefully. He almost hates to do it, but he gently shakes her shoulder in an attempt to wake her.

(Y/N)’s eyelids flutter as she’s roused from her nap. Squinting against the light from the hallway, she pushes her hair out of her face and looks around. When her eyes land on Pietro, she blinks a few times and yawns before combing a hand through her hair.

“Has it really been an hour already?” Her voice is gravelly from sleep and Pietro smiles at the sound of it.

“It has, though it feels as if it’s been longer than that.”

“Why?”

“You locked me outside, remember?” Pietro sits on the edge of her mattress. “I think time passes more slowly when you’re sitting on the floor outside of someone’s door.”

“Right… sorry about that. I just really needed some time to myself.”

“(Y/N)-”

“It’s not that I don’t appreciate what you’re trying to do, because I definitely appreciate it, but I can’t have you here, at my side, one hundred percent of the time. As much as I hate to admit it, I’m a really private person and having you constantly hovering and fussing over me is kind of annoying.”

“I’m sorry, I never wanted to make you uncomfortable.”

“I know that. Believe me, I do. I know you feel responsible for what happened, but all this mother hen nonsense is ridiculous.”

“It is my fault that you hit your head though. I do feel responsible and I want to take care of you, but it's not just because I caused your concussion!”

“Oh? Then why are you so overprotective of me?” She asks, folding her arms over my chest.

“Because I like you, (Y/N).” He pushes himself off of the bed and combs his hands through his hair. “It's as if the day you walked through the door the world got a little brighter for me and I wanted to protect that.”

--

“What?” I ask, completely dumbfounded.

“I have crush on you, alright?” He says, turning back to me with an almost desperate look in his eye. “I never planned on telling you like this, or at all if I'm trying to be honest, but then the snowball fight happened and I just-what are you doing?”

I halt my movements and scowl at him. I had gotten my legs swung over the side of the bed before he had even noticed.

“I'm getting out of bed so I can hug you, dumbass.” I push myself up from the bed, only to have Pietro scoop me up bridal style and lay me back down.

“You have to rest, doctors orders.”

I roll my eyes and push him away before getting out of bed a second time. He backs away from me, shoulders dropping.

“You're an idiot, you know that right?” It's more of a statement than a question.

“Well, seeing as I have been reminded of the fact multiple times today, I would say that I do.”

“Good.” I nod. “Here's the deal, Pietro. I'm tired, I have a killer headache and I like you too.”

“Well you've got a concussion so-wait, what?”

“You heard me.”

“I think I am going to have to ask you to repeat that, because I could have sworn I heard you say that you like me too.”

Shaking my head I pull him closer by the collar of his shirt. “You're lucky you're cute, Maximoff.”

He lifts his eyebrows at me almost in a silent dare to do something about it. I smirk at him and press a quick kiss to his lips and patting him on the cheek.

“I-I-”

“I'm going to go back to sleep, if you want to join me and make sure I don't do anything too stupid, you're welcome to. But if you try to baby me, you're back out in the hall, understand?”

He nods and picks me up again before settling on the bed with me. I lean back against the headboard and Pietro rests his head on my stomach, arms looped around my middle. He sighs contently and rubs small circles into my sides.

--

Sam watches silently from the hallway as Pietro and (Y/N) fall asleep together, a small smile on his face.

“Finally.”

Thank you guys so much for reading! If you liked the piece please reply to the post or shoot me an ask! Feedback would be greatly appreciated!!!

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