#I’ll gun everyone down in this hellhole

[virgothozul]

I-

hum.

[luci-in-trenchcoats]

Thunder In Our Hearts (Part 1)

Summary: While attempting to break out of the facility she’s been trapped in, the reader discovers Soldier Boy, knowing he’s her only way out alive. After an explosive escape, the pair strike a deal. He kills who she wants, she finds the location of who he wants dead while helping him get used to the modern world. But the pair have more in common than they’d like to admit and forced proximity has a way of making even assholes seem like they aren’t the bad guy...

Masterlist

Pairing: Soldier Boy x reader

Word Count: 2,600ish

Warnings: language, nudity, violence, drug/abuse mentions, male masturbation 

A/N: There will be spoilers for Season 3 of The Boys in this one. It picks up about a week after the end of Season 3. Not sure how long this series will go but I hope I get some mileage out of this one!…

_______

Your heart was in your throat as you shoved open the black door, quickly slamming it behind you. Sweat ran down your face as you took in the space. It was a dim room, no lights on aside from those coming from some kind of chamber in the center. Fuck, you needed a weapon and now.

You jogged over to it, looking through the top window, eyes going wide.

Was that a naked fucking Soldier Boy?

The alarm blaring overhead made it hard to concentrate but even with the mask on his face, you were pretty sure that was him. But if he was in here, then that meant the news was very clearly not telling the truth about him. You heard another siren sound off, that combined with your need for a way out and him probably not being a crazed killer was good enough for you.

You ran to the end of the chamber and hit the green button, pulling open the door, the padded table he was laid on extending out to the room. The second he was close enough, you ripped off his mask, just in time to see the door fly open.

“Hands up!” shouted one of the men dressed in black, pointing a very large gun at you, more of them spilling in the room. “Hands-”

“Code red! Code red!” another voice rang out as Soldier Boy sat upright. All of their weapons turned on him and you hit the ground, shots ringing out quickly. It didn’t take long for it to go quiet aside from the alarms. Risking a glance up, you saw Soldier Boy standing over you, a question in his eyes.

“I let you out. You owe me a way out of this hellhole.” He didn’t say anything, instead went to one of the guards and took off his pants and boots, shoving them on hastily. You stood upright, Soldier Boy narrowing his eyes at you. “What?”

“Get in the box.” You shook your head but he picked you up like nothing, tossing you inside. He slammed the table tray back in and locked the door, ignoring your fists pounding on the glass. “Not my fault if you don’t survive this.”

His bare muscular chest began to glow and you watched him walk out of the room. There were gunshots and alarms, voices yelling. Without warning, the chamber was thrown off its stand and went straight through an observation window and what you guessed was a wall.

And another wall. 

And another.

When you finally stopped moving, your eyes flashed open to see night sky and burning rubble. Everything ached but then again, it’d been doing that before you got hurtled through the fucking building. He’d brought the whole place down with that blast of his, killing everyone inside.

Aside from the fact you were trapped, your escape plan was turning out better than you could have hoped for.

You kicked on the door to the chamber for a minute with your bare feet, stopping when you realized it was useless. When a knock came on the glass, you jumped, staring up at Soldier Boy.

“I got you out of the building. We’re even,” he said with a slight smirk. 

“Let me out of here and then we’re even.” His face soured, eyes roaming over your body. “Put your dick near anything of mine and I’ll rip it off, supe or no supe.”

“How old are you?” You raised an eyebrow and he rolled his eyes. “Are you from the present day or not?”

“I’m not a hundred if that’s what you’re asking, Grandpa,” you growled. “Let me-”

“If I let you out, you help me find someone. After that happens, you and me can part ways. Deal?”

“Why does it matter how old I am?” 

“Because if you don’t know how to survive in this world, then I would have let you walk away. But you can help me so you’re stuck with me. I think you know what I’m capable of. So do we have a deal or do you want to suffocate in that thing?”

“If you kill who I want you to, first, then I’ll help find this person,” you said. His eyes were cold but he opened the chamber, allowing you to climb out. He yanked you to your feet, his gaze as hard as his grip. “Buddy if you’re gonna kill me get it over with. Otherwise let’s get the hell out of here.”

With that he released you, spinning around and hoisting you up on his back.

“What the-”

“Unless your little feet can handle all the debris, you’re along for the ride,” he said, walking for a treeline.

“Just get us to a car and I’ll take care of the rest.”

Three hours later you were pulling the stolen car under a tree, Soldier Boy popping up from where he’d been asleep in the back. You opened the door, grumbling when he didn’t even ask before picking you up again. He carried you over to the little cabin nearby, tucked away far back from the road in the woods.

“Nice house,” he scoffed. You rolled your eyes and pushed open the heavy door, hitting the light switch. You gave him a big ass smile when he saw it actually was nicely renovated on the inside, Soldier Boy brushing past you.

“There’s two bedrooms and a bathroom down that hall. You’ll take the smaller room,” you said, locking the door shut and turning on the heat. He chuckled and turned around, crossing his arms.

“This little badass act, while adorable-” 

“You were saying?” you said, Soldier Boy cut off when you grabbed his crotch and squeezed. Hard. “What about my badass act?”

He growled, eye twitching.

“That’s what I thought.” You released him, trying to step past when he pushed you back against the door, picking you straight up, holding you by your arms.

“I don’t need this shit, right now. Make yourself useful and find me some goddamn clothes,” he said. You kicked him in the nuts, a flash of annoyance on his face but he didn’t move an inch. “Bitch, don’t test me.”

“Bitch, the world doesn’t revolve around you. You want clothes? Get them your damn self. This is my safehouse. I let you out and we made a deal. We are partners right now whether you like it or not.” You shoved on his chest and he dropped you, not saying a word when you went straight into the bathroom and slammed the door shut. 

Of course this was your luck. You make your way out only to be stuck with a piece of shit asshole supe in your safe space. With a sigh you looked in the mirror, immediately closing your eyes. 

You could deal with him tomorrow.

Tonight, you just wanted a shower and something to eat.

“Here,” you said two hours later, dropping a bag of clothes on the end of the couch where Soldier Boy was sat in his bath towel still. “What the fuck are you watching?”

“A classic,” he said. You shook your head at his shitty movie, his acting downright awful in it. “You ever see it?”

“Pretty sure my dad was obsessed with them,” you said, dropping a different bag on the kitchen table. “I got food. One time only cause I need a favor from you.”

“Of course she does,” he said. He grinned when you took off your shirt. He immediately dropped his towel and you groaned. “Don’t worry. I’ll get you nice and wet first. I like my ladies to have a good time.”

“I don’t want your dick, dick. I need a stitch on my back.” You turned around and pointed at the bandage hiding a gash between your shoulder blades. “You can stitch right?”

“I saw my mother stitch plenty of times.” 

“Dear god help me,” you mumbled. “Eat first while it’s hot. I can handle a few more minutes like this.” 

You dumped the food on the table, neither one of you caring much about manners. It’d been a long time since you’d had something hot to eat and if you were to guess based on how he was shoveling food down, he was pretty hungry himself. He quickly spotted the whiskey on the kitchen counter and took a big swig of it before handing it to you.

You knew you drank too much but your body hurt and he was about to be shoving a needle through your skin like a caveman. When you finally pulled off the bottle, you shivered, taking a large bite of a burger.

“At least you know how to drink,” he said, letting out a burp. “You got any drugs around here?”

“Nothing besides some pain killers,” you said, nodding back at a cabinet. He got up and took the bottle out when your stomach finally felt full, rolling his eyes at it. “I don’t exactly sit around getting high in my free time.”

“You should. You’re wound up so tight surprised whatever dick gets shoved up there doesn’t snap right off.” 

“God, you’re insufferable. Can you just stitch my back so we can both go to fucking bed? We’ll hit the grocery store and I’ll find you some weed tomorrow, got it?” You stood up and reached into the same cabinet he’d been in, pulling out the red bag. After a moment and Soldier Boy drinking down a third of the bottle, you had your bandage off and the needle ready to go.

You held it out to him and turned around, closing your eyes when he took it from you.

“Just space it evenly and remember to tie it at the end,” you said. “Like your mom did.”

He slipped the needle through the skin and you were grateful the alcohol had dulled the sensation somewhat. 

“We were rich,” he said quietly. “We had maids. I don’t think my mother sewed after she met my father when she was a teenager.”

“Did you see the maids do it?” you asked, wincing at the pull of skin.

“As a boy before I was sent off to boarding school. My father didn’t care for me very much.”

“Mine was a piece of shit too.” He deftly tied off the thread with a gentler touch than you were expecting, his long fingers tracing over the scars on your back.

“What a shame to mark up a beautiful woman like this,” he said. But it didn’t sound scummy. He seemed genuinely saddened about it.

“My experience with men in general, my dad, my commanding officers, the people at that place, tends to end up the same way. If you ever lay a hand on me again without permission, deal or no deal, you better kill me because I’ll be adding your name to the list, got it?” You felt him wipe over the gash and place a bandage on it, handing you back your shirt. You looked over your shoulder, Soldier Boy tossing the needle in the trash.

“What’s your name?” he asked. 

“Y/N.”

“I’m Ben,” he said softly. “And I might be a son of a bitch and I might want my way and I’ve slept with more women than I can count. But I don’t hurt women like that so there’s not gonna be a problem. Got it?”

“You used to beat on your team. All of your team,” you said. He lifted his chin and wrinkled his nose. “Everyone is beneath you in your eyes. Everyone except your dear old dead daddy who is never going to love you so you might as well accept it and move on.”

He chuckled, running his hand through his fluffy strands. “You got a lot of fucking nerve speaking to me like that knowing I could kill you in less than a second.”

“Isn’t it nice to have an honest to god conversation for once though? And a bit of advice? Let go of your failure of a father. The sooner you do, the sooner you can move on with your life.” You gathered up the trash and threw it in the bin, Soldier Boy catching your bicep when you headed for the bedrooms. You turned your head up to meet his green eyes, his jaw clenched.

“For the record, you’re just as fucked up as I am. I saw what you did to those guards in the hallway.”

“I never said I wasn’t. I just don’t wear a fucking costume and run around pretending I’m better than everyone else for my asshole father’s approval. We’re never good enough to them. So just forget him.” You stared at his hand, fingers slowly releasing you. “Goodnight.”

“Y/N,” he said when you got to the bedroom door. You sighed, turning to look back at him. “Don’t ever play Russian music around me.”

“Why?”

“Just…don’t. Safer that way.”

“Whatever,” you said, shutting the door behind you and finally falling into bed.

“Soldier Boy,” you said the next day around lunch when you’d gotten back from the store. “Soldier Boy! Ben! I’m back!” 

The house was quiet and you went out the back door, immediately frowning at him from where he sat on the patio chair. Naked. Jerking off.

“The fuck is wrong with you?” you asked, Soldier Boy giving you a glance over his shoulder. “Is that my fucking lube?”

“Technically it was in my room so I think it’s my lube,” he said with a cheeky smile. “It’s not like anyone’s around. Last time I did it outside-”

“There are wipes on the counter. Just clean up after yourself and keep you and your dick to your room from now on okay?” you asked. 

“Alright. You sure you don’t want to have sex?” You sighed, Soldier Boy shrugging. “I’m always down for-”

“When you’re done, get dressed. I have a name on my list I want you to deal with by the end of today.”

He stood up, still stroking himself, and aimed off the edge of the small porch, body tensing as he came. 

“You are disgusting,” you said. 

“You don’t come for forty years and tell me how much pent up need to come you got,” he said. He maybe had a slight point but he could go about it a much better way. “Hey, did you find my suit and shield by the way?”

“There’s an extra set at a collector’s house. It’s past where we need to go and no, we are not killing the man to get it. He should be at work so we can just steal it.” 

“I don’t know where you got this idea from but I don’t kill innocent people for fun. I’m not a bad guy.” He stared you down, letting the words soak in. “Suit first, then we’ll go deal with the first person on your list.”

“Why suit first?”

“Don’t you want your dad to have the full experience of seeing his favorite superhero in the flesh before that supe kills him?” He patted your cheek with his clean hand and smirked. “I can read you like a book, kiddo. Some of those scars are old. I know who gave them to you. So. Suit first?”

“...Suit first.”

_______

A/N: Read Part 2 here!

[muffindaddystyles]

Will mafia!h and Y/N will have babies? 🥺💓

IM SO SORRY TO TELL YOU THIS BESTIE BUT.... </3

39. " I'm not saying a goodbye."

It was raining. Skies a gloomy shade of cinereal. Harry’s sleek car came to a screeching halt infront of the vast threshold of his home -- his grin pearlish, eyes twinkling a spark as he gets out of the car not caring to close the door behind. He greets his staff and strides two steps together with a gorgeous bunch of his lovie’s favourite flowers now dewy with raindrops and his nose twitched upon sniffing the vanilla-y smell while passing the kitchen and with his beam never vanishing he leaned into the doorframe asking the people inside, “’Ave y'seen Y/N?” Only for them to shake their heads in uncertainty.

She hasn’t showed herself downstairs since morning and even though it’s very odd of her not to chirp around the mansion nobody went to knock at her door to inquire, they think she deserves privacy.

This time they should have because when Harry barged inside their room it was caliginous with curtains shut and lights dimmed to zero.

“Lovie?” His cheery voice clamoured against the walls, a sour feeling he couldn’t be aware of pinches him in throat as he bobbed his head around to look for her and it perked up when a shadow falls on his feet.

“Baby?” His smile quirked back onto his confused features and he narrowed his eyelids to take in her presence through the darkness of wardrobe, “Harry.” A shaky whisper floated towards him and before that sweet call she was falling against his chest.

“Y/N ... baby —-,” His stumped chuckle halted, his brain numbed for a moment when his fingertips brushed up her back to push her closer to him and they trembled as they collected the wetness there. His heart bleaks a stinging pain into it’s cords, his breath shuddered coldly, flowers falling sadly beside their feet and his eyes earths with tears of panic, angst and torment.

His fingertips coating in his love's thick blood.

“I –- ‘m .. you –.. you’re h-hu —- hurt,” He stammered through a whimper hand wrapping around the dagger whose half end’s stabbed into Y/N's spine, her weak frail body unresponsive though she could listen to him.

“Who did this to you! Who did this to you!?” His screams and cries startled everyone downstairs and they rushed up to see what’s happening, to be shocked by their sights of Y/N limp in Harry’s embrace.

He turned his neck to shout at them, “I need a hand t’help me!!” His eyes bloodshot and Niall his best-man scurried over to them as Harry carried Y/N and laid her on her tummy on the bed, he slips onto his knees putting his chin on the mattress to look in her hazy painful eyes -- tears caged in them but never flowing down.

“Harry ...” She mumbled grittily in agony lifting her shaky fingers to pet his face and like an affection starved kitten Harry doesn’t let her tire herself and gets closer to her himself, “Niall bring the first aid, it’s under the sink.” He commands him not letting his eyes drift from over her angelic face.

“You’re okay baby. You’re okay, I know how to stitch up knife wounds.” He sniffled sucking in a breath trying to be brave for her and she just smiled gorgeously, lips blue and cheeks draining out of her usual berry stain.

“Jesus. Harry she’s been stabbed thrice, those fuckers,” Niall’s words wavered in fear and sympathy for Y/N. He squeezed Harry’s shoulder as Harry sobbed upon hearing that, “No –-... no, no! It’s still okay yeah poppet? I’m g’na get y'alright.” He wanted to covers his eyes to block the hurting groans Y/N elicited and he cradled her soft face in his warm palms in comparison to her temperature, touching their temples to pray together.

“Harry li .. listen to —- to me,” She gasps eyes flittering over his shoulder towards Bambi and Thumper the two dogs that had gotten overly fond of her, Harry’s blurry gaze follows her enfeebled gesture for them to come near her.

They whined and howled sadly flopping beside Harry and Harry hiccupped into his elbow shaking his head when Y/N put her hand under their ears in effort to scratch them but wasn’t able to unfortunately, “Hi babies. You’re gonna look after dad after ‘m gone?” Everyone cried at that watching her soul leave their dull lives that watered colourful upon her arrival.

“Don’t say that! Don’t y'dare say that!” Harry sobbed rushing to hug her tightly, the front of his shirt loathing crimson and she hissed looping her arm against his neck when Niall pulled the dagger out from her lower spine gradually and slowly not to hurt her.

“’M so sorry baby, sorry for being the reason of y’pain.” His tears dampened her already sweaty crook of neck, “Pr – promise me t-that that you’ll have some —.. someone who lov‐-.. loves –--,” She whimpered. Her body jerked into him with a force and she pushed him weakly away to stitch her lips tenderly against his's.

“Tell me bubby. Ha—- have I loved y'enough?” She cooed into their kiss and Harry bolted his eyes shut, poisonous sobs wrecking out of his chest.

“Tell me before, I go ...” Her heartbeat started dropping insanely, her lips wobbled, toes curling with life excavating out of her, “Y'have. Y'have don’t go baby, I’m not saying a goodbye!” He cried showering her in kisses for the one last time and pets her hair, eyes closed praying she takes him with herself because he'd never recover from the pain of loosing the only person he loved more than himself, the person who made hum love himself.

“I love you ..” She whispered, her loving kind eyes locked against his’s and the pool of honey around her rims expanded, her lips parted around the gasping breaths and Harry begged and pleaded — a side of him no-one has ever witnessed as he twisted in anguish considering himself the unluckiest man on the earth for letting his lover go like this, in the worst possible way.

“I love you, I thought I’d never be capable of, y'made me worthy darling. I'll always love you baby....” He shrieked into her chest heaving her up gently to embrace her properly and even though he knew she was no more with him, he fooled himself into thinking so.

If it was possible he’d have clawed his ribs to pluck out his heart in return of hers and he felt like the sun and earth had crashed vanishing away the time spaces as he sat there crying and crying mourning the loss of his lovie that could never be healed by anything in this whole word.

He keeps on holding her, rocking back and forth as he lulls her to slumber of death.

It hurts. It hurts so bad.

His heart weeps.

His soul aches.

When rain stopped and that tranquil silence doomed over them, rage filled his every pore and vein.

He knew who did this. Harry has played dirty but he has never played unfair. It was this gang of companies who sabotaged and destructed the orphanages at the property which belonged to his mother (but the papers weren’t clear) to build restaurants and apartments there so Harry took revenge by burning acres of their illegal drug running underground factory and rebuilt the orphanages and took Y/N to one of their charity events.

She was the happiest he had ever seen her.

It’s like a gun barrel clicked in. A firecracker catching the fuse of ashe to burst everything into flames as Harry laid her with ever most tenderness and kissed her temple, her lifeless eyelids and her chapped lips.

Cleaned the streak of blood with his sleeve and didn’t wipe his tears away bashing out of the room, everyone stepped away as Niall lunged infront of him to stop him before he goes to cause damage to himself more than to them for being in such a vulnerable and weak state.

“Step away.” He growled angrily, gaze fiery and dangerous.

“No.” Niall sighed.

“I wouldn’t get her buried in sucha cold blood. She didn’t deserved this, hell nobody does.” Harry kissed his teeth together gripping at his hair ruthlessly, cheeks dry with tears, his limbs trembling, his head spinning.

“Anyone who wouldn’t follow my orders gets their kneecaps blow-off.” He grunted -- nostrils flaring and saying this he went away, snatching his guns from the console and ordered his men to find the security guards that had their duties at the main gates.

In just a day he hunted each of those monsters down like a hungry wolf and gave them such punished, tortured deaths that each one fell in Harry’s feet for his mercy but his heart was turned into a stone already because the only warmth it had there was because of one person and that person’s gone leaving him to survive in this hellhole alone while he dragged these bastards to the depths of firepits.

Once, coming back home to her. To his sunshine, to his soul and life, to his reasons of getting up every morning so he would get to spend time with her —- he broke down. Into shattered bits and pieces of remorse, guilt and sadness feeling himself so small and hurtable as he cried to himself all alone in their garden with no-one to console him where he’ll come to meet her daily.

He wants to rip his skin apart and set it on fire for his beating heart to stop, for it stop feeling.

He feels sick. Fainting, in urgency and desperation to hold his baby and never let go.

To lay down with her under the soil if that's possible.

his only reason to live.

His only beloved.

.

The wind giggles through pink leaves of cherry blossom tree, lush grass resting peacefully and Harry smiles to himself treading towards his two most favourite people in the world.

The spring being their heartiest month.

“Azalea! What y’chattering ‘bout t'mum?” He asks and nods proudly when his lil boy stands up from his cross position on the ground from beside his mother and brushes the grassy spikes from his cherry printed shorts with his little pudgy hands.

“My first day at school dada!” The four years old squeals and Harry scoops him up in his arms, kissing his cheek again amount less times, “Is that so, huh! huh!” He tickles his little bun.

Y/N was right. Isn’t she always. Harry chuckles. Even if she’s gone he still feels loved from her, she’s in the rains, in the sweaters he wears when he feels shallow, in the scent of his pillows, she’s in the vanilla smell of their favourite cupcakes – she’s in his dreams and that name of their son, Azalea.

She always wanted to name their first born Azalea, a blooming flower that happens to be a vibrant pink, a gift of spring, are floriferous in sunshine and she'd always say that Harry would be their sun.

Their ever source of happiness.

Azalea was three days old when his mother died and Harry took him home even though not sure of his own decision but something in those little eyes that matches his mommy made Harry’s heart attract towards him so much he brought him without another thought.

A home he built with Y/N. The curtains of the mansion still remains pushed back wide, flower vases on every furniture, not a day goes by when anyone doesn’t misses her and the ducklings has grown so much that Y/N would have been spinning in happiness around.

Nothing has changed, life’s fleeting for everyone except for Harry. He counts each day and night that goes without her beside him in his sleep, in the little picnics with Azalea and Niall, in the story reading at nights with his baby, in kitchen to watch the winters first rain prattling against that one window that’s old enough to carry the remains of his ancestors, she’s never there to share a noodle pot with him while he sits and eat alone, never there to patch his favourite socks back, to kiss his forehead whenever he leaves home, to call him sweet names and to laugh with him on his silly jokes, to do thumb fights, to get angry with him whenever he refuses to layer himself in cold.

Never.

Never physically. But, she’s always there in his heart, her presence lurks around him and he could feel the warmth of her wrapping around him whenever he falls asleep watching telly.

“What did y'learn today bubba?” He asks Azalea and grins cheekily when Azalea babbles, “Colours!”

“That’s fuckin’ amazin'!” At that a huge gush of breeze hits him in face a tiny branch of the tree they’re standing under falls on his head.

“Kay' kay fine! No cursing.” He squeaks in defence pouting down at the grave of his lovie and his face splits into a grin when his hair glittered up with cherry blossom leaves.

“We miss you very much,” His voice heavy and sad. He gulps chokingly and blinks away the glossiness, stroking a thumb up Azalea cheek who’s sitting in Harry’s lap.

Every evening they come to meet Y/N, the hole in his heart couldn’t fill up of her void but the soothing feeling of relief that she’s in their garden and nearer to him has lessened the grief.

“G’na meet you tomorrow, our baby’s mighty hungry.” He chuckles hearing the grumbling noises coming from Azalea’s belly.

“You’re so cheeky baby.” His eyes glimmers and he feels himself swooning into breeze, “How’s it going in heaven?” He asks airily tracing his initials beside her beautiful name engraved at the tombstone and it’s like she’s scolding him when he gets a nip on his pointy finger.

“Azalea kiss mommy a goodbye.” Harry breaks into laughter when Azalea bobs his head and almost tumbles of his daddy’s lap in the effort to reach the tombstone.

“Goodbye beautiful.” Harry whispers kissing the top of her tombstone and his heart bursts into lilacs when once again he’s showered into petal like leaves.

“I love you too, baby.” Finally he has accepted to say goodbyes.

[goodnightmemes]

DEXTER SEASON TWO SENTENCE STARTERS (PART TWO)

Lines taken from 2x07-2x12 of the show Dexter. Feel free to change pronouns or edit in any way to better fit your needs. Here is part one.

❛ I thrive on chaos. But this is good, too. ❜

❛ I had to do a little creative problem-solving at someone else's expense. ❜

❛ Pardon my tits. ❜

❛ Are you trying to fuck her or set her on fire? ❜

❛ Sometimes the truth speaks from a peaceful place. It's taken me a long time to find that place, but I think I have, and it's telling me you're not the right one for me. I'm so sorry. ❜

❛ Is that what I am? Clean? 'cause I don't feel that way at all. ❜

❛ No, I won't do that. I won't let you turn me into you. ❜

❛ Hope you don't expect me to comment on that so you can record it on your hidden tape recorder. I wasn't born yesterday. ❜

❛ Your past is a bigger mystery than fucking Jimmy Hoffa. ❜

❛ No matter what you try, no matter when, no matter how hard you work, I'll always be a step ahead of you for one simple reason. I own you. ❜

❛ When I'm alone and it's quiet, I get scared shitless, like I start hearing what's really going on inside. ❜

❛ 'Cause when you're around, I kind of feel like I can deal with anything, you know? ❜

❛ I've always worked best in the shadows, and that's where I have to stay. ❜

❛ You can't go back. You know that. ❜

❛ You are not allowed to talk about anyone I date as long as you're seeing little Miss "pardon my tits." ❜

❛ She is obviously a vampire. A gross english-titty vampire. ❜

❛ Can't change who I am. I'm crass and dirty, and...I have a very filthy mind. ❜

❛ Jesus Christ. They sell anyone a gun in Florida, won't they? ❜

❛ That man. He wasn't trying to rob you. He was trying to kill you. ❜

❛ Nothing you could do,___, would scare me. ❜

❛ Whatever comes, we'll get through this together. I'm not leaving your side. ❜

❛ I need to embrace who I am, who I've always been. ❜

❛ It's like I've been living underwater, holding my breath, and now I can finally breathe. ❜

❛ ___ almost had me believing it was possible to change, to become something else, as if that ever really happens. I've always known what I am. ❜

❛ I'm finding it's best to accept things you can't change, you know? ❜

❛ Is this the monster that you keep telling me about? ❜

❛ Trust me, when you meet the monster, you'll know. ❜

❛ Nice. My subconscious isn't even bothering with symbolism. ❜

❛ I feel...such regret, which is rare for me. But not that I don't mess up. I do...just never so stupendously. ❜

❛ If they're looking for proof, they won't find it. Not here at least. ❜

❛ Then maybe you should come with us, because who knows what secrets will come ❜ pouring out of me once the drinks start flowing. ❜

❛ I'm done with it and you. Did I not make that clear last night? ❜

❛ Those friends of yours, they didn't even know you. They just see the mask, but I see it all. ❜

❛ Can't live with her. Can't kill her. ❜

❛ Fuck! I'm talking about my feelings. What the fuck is your problem? ❜

❛ I've always sensed there was something... off about him. Like he's hiding in plain sight. ❜

❛ If you got in the middle of this and you got hurt… ❜

❛ The only way I can help you is if you turn yourself in. ❜

❛ Don't you disappear on me. ❜

❛ I want you to know that you meant a lot to me, more than you know, and... I just want to thank you for that. ❜

❛ If I never see her again, it'll be too soon. ❜

❛ Sleep would be nice, but there's too much to do. ❜

❛ Okay, I may be sleeping with him, but it doesn't mean he tells me shit or listens to me about anything, so stop asking! ❜

❛ That's right, motherfucker! It's over. ❜

❛ I knew there was something with you. But this shit? ❜

❛ What can I say? You were right about me. I never held it against you. I don't now. ❜

❛ It's a graze wound. Minor tissue abrasion. No hemorrhage along the bullet track. Sorry. I think I'm gonna live. ❜

❛ If you're not gonna let me go, then kill me now. Just get it over with. ❜

❛ You're a killer. I catch killers. ❜

❛ So it's okay to take a life as long as you get a paycheck for it? ❜

❛ Either kill me or set me free. ❜

❛ Taking a life is one thing, but the care and feeding of it is another. ❜

❛ I'm generally confused most of the time. ❜

❛ You ever care about anyone? Then you shouldn't have to ask. 'Cause when you care about someone, you do what you have to do. ❜

❛ I remember when life was easy, when the only question I worried about was "who's next?" Now it's: "How can I dodge my protective detail? "What should I do with my hostage?" These are not easy questions. ❜

❛ It's not about what I think. It's all about the evidence. ❜

❛ Hair-pulling may not be manly, but it's very effective. ❜

❛ If he wanted me dead, I'd be dead by now. ❜

❛ You are the only one I can count on, jackass. ❜

❛ It puts a pit in my stomach that I can only interpret as... sadness. ❜

❛ You working on an exit strategy? I'm afraid that's not gonna happen. ❜

❛ How come there's never a circus when you need one? ❜

❛ What was that shit last night? Some kind of fucking scare tactic? ❜

❛ Don't test me. I could have killed you. I didn't. ❜

❛ You're actually angry. I've never seen you angry. This is good. ❜

❛ I should warn you. You can't play on my feelings. I don't have any. ❜

❛ It's a tough job. It can wear on even the best of us. ❜

❛ I yell a lot...and bitch and complain, and I keep expecting people to guess what I want, but I never really say it. ❜

❛ And that was exciting, you know? The not knowing. What might happen, what could be. It was all possibility. ❜

❛ Your life is going to rest in the hands of the criminal justice system you put all your faith in. I wish you the best of luck. ❜

❛ You need help. Let me help you. ❜

❛ You don't have to do this! You don't have to kill this man! ❜

❛ Sorry it had to go down like this. But there really was no other way. ❜

❛ Stay away. Just stay away from me. ❜

❛ Did you happen to be stuffing a human leg into a garbage bag at that point? ❜

❛ There's that anger again. You got to let that out. ❜

❛ You're spinning. Let me help you. It's only a matter of time before you'll hurt someone else. ❜

❛ Take responsibility for who you are. ❜

❛ Why can't you just let me go? ❜

❛ If I got to choose a person... A real person... to be like, out of anyone, it'd be you. ❜

❛ Who joined who in the shower this morning? ❜

❛ For such a neat monster, I'm making an awfully big mess. ❜

❛ Maybe this is how evil works. Destroying everything it touches. ❜

❛ I've been held prisoner in a cabin for two fucking days. Fucking hellhole. ❜

❛ After everything we've been through lately, I just want... to be together with you guys. ❜

❛ You told me to take responsibility for what I am. You were right. ❜

❛ I can't live in this house of cards anymore, waiting for it all to fall down. I need to do something, you know? ❜

❛ If I do this, I need a day to get my affairs in order. ❜

❛ Mention that when they interview you for the story of my life. ❜

❛ Don't leave me in this cage, anything could happen. ❜

❛ I lie to everyone I know... except my victims right before I kill them. It's hard to establish much of a rapport there. ❜

❛ Sorry about the cage. ❜

❛ I've always been curious to try. Do you have any weed? ❜

❛ Love's a battlefield. Or in your case, a restraining order. ❜

❛ When a pretty girl smiles and bats her eyelashes, we're powerless to resist. ❜

❛ I met with a lawyer yesterday. He helped me prepare a living trust that gives you control of all my assets in the event of my death or... certain other situations. ❜

❛ God. Go away. This is creepy. ❜

❛ I'm free tonight, you wanna stop by? We'll have beer, a couple of steaks? I wanna talk to you about something. ❜

❛ I just need you to know that... you and the kids are very important to me. No matter what happens, I want you to always know that. ❜

❛ I know I've been taking things slow with us, but it's not because I don't have feelings for you. It's more like I have too many feelings, and I just wanna make sure to get it right. ❜

❛ I want you gone. Tonight. ❜

❛ I've spent a lifetime keeping up my guard, watching my back, wearing my mask. Relief was never in sight until now. ❜

❛ Lately, I was starting to feel like I had my head pretty far up my ass. ❜

❛ You decide who you are, who you want to be...and you hold onto that and ride it out. ❜

❛ I need some help! Just open the door! I'm being held captive. ❜

❛ Damn, it's good to see another face. I never thought I would. ❜

❛ When something beyond reason happens, it turns skeptics into believers. ❜

❛ If you believe that God makes miracles, you have to wonder if Satan has a few up his sleeve. ❜

❛ I can't exactly feel their pain, but I can appreciate it. ❜

❛ I kinda forgot who I was. I got it straight now. ❜

❛ The term is homicidal maniac. Not that I'm judging. ❜

❛ A public place. You thought I was gonna...That I would slip my needle into your neck? ❜

❛ You're afraid of me now, aren't you? ❜

❛ You're emotionally color-blind. You use the right words, you pantomime the right behavior, but feelings never come to pass. ❜

❛ You know the dictionary definition of emotions: longing, joy, sorrow...You have no idea of what any of those things actually feel like. ❜

❛ I created a monster of my own. ❜

❛ What did you do to make her so pathetically crazy for you? Does your dick dance? ❜

❛ What're we doing home in the middle of the day? She asked, hoping for sex. ❜

❛ Why? Why do I have to make up my mind? ❜

❛ I've never put much weight onto the idea of a higher power. But if I didn't know better, I'd have to believe that some force out there wants me to keep doing what I'm doing. ❜

❛ As it turns out, nobody mourns the wicked. ❜

❛ Am I evil? Am I good? I'm done asking those questions. I don't have the answers. ❜

[hurricaneonanesthesia]

Childhood Friends to Lovers, Phoenix x Reader

Warnings: gun violence, blood, slightly canon divergent

Word Count: 2k

Genre: fluff, childhood friends to lovers.

Pairing(s): Phoenix x GN!Reader

Since I’m a fat simp for Phoenix and I’m addicted to Valorant, take this. Please help I’ve been sucked into this hellhole and I can’t get out. Originally this was intended to be just general relationship headcanons but it turned into childhood friends to lovers LMFAO. Lore hunting is so much fun and I had a great time digging through videos and the Valorant wiki for info LMAO, ngl I wanna do this again 😌 Lmk what other characters you guys would like or send a request in!

Side note: Some of the info I have in here may or may not be correct so please take everything with a grain of salt. This also might be a bit OOC but you guys can decide.

~Admin Hurricane

Fic Under the Cut!

As Kids

You first met Phoenix in elementary school (or primary school whatever you wanna call it) after you moved to the UK. 

The two of you became quick friends and he quickly helped you become acquainted with everyone there.

With his charming attitude and bright personality, the two of you became the best of friends, like two peas in a pod. 

The two of you are rarely seen apart, friends and family tease the two of you saying that you’d be a cute couple. 

Unfortunately, the two of you went your separate ways after you finished middle school. Though this didn’t stop Phoenix from seeing you practically all the time, randomly popping into your class or home. 

As Teens

Going to different schools was especially hard on Phoenix, one cause he could barely see his best friend anymore, coupled with the fact that the two of you were fairly busy. 

The two of you were on two completely different tracks especially with Phoenix attending a prestigious performing arts school in London. It seemed like he was worlds away from you.

But he’d always bounce back to chill with you. He’s your goofy friend who’s always there for you no matter what. 

The first time Phoenix realized he liked you was when he came back home on break from school and you threw a surprise welcome back party for him. He’s always prepared for hugs from you but the one you gave him back then really caught him off guard sending the two of you tumbling to the ground.

You were talking about how much you missed him and was catching him up to speed on what had happened in the past semester that he was gone but all that he could focus on was you and how your features had changed. You definitely glowed up, not to say you weren’t already good-looking before.

Shit

He’d had crushes before, to which you had teased him relentlessly for, but this was different. You were different. You were his best friend, he couldn’t just up and admit that he had been secretly harboring feelings for you for the past few years that he had known you.

For the rest of the night, he plays it off as if nothing happened, but he can’t ever look at you the same again.

The First Light

The occurrence of the First Light had sent the entire world into a state of shock and chaos. During this time Radiants began emerging all around the world, the Kingdom also making huge scientific advancements harnessing radianite to power and supply much of the Earth with energy. 

It was also during this time that for the first time, Phoenix shut you out. He’d always let you in on everything that was going on with him, but at this time he cut off ties and communications with you completely.

You were hurt of course, but you went over to his house and kicked the door to his room down to confront him. 

You pushed the door open frantically, a panicked expression on your face. “Phoenix!” you called, before spotting him in the middle of the smoky room, steam rising from him. “Hey hey,” you murmured crouching down to his level trying to get a look at his face as you grasped his shoulders, “Look at me.”

“Get away from me,” he whispered in a strained voice, looking over at you, pain in his eyes. “I-...I’ll hurt you,” he said pushing you away. You felt a rush of anger as you grasped his broad shoulders once more shaking him out of his stupor. “Snap out of it idiot!” you yelled at him, “What happened? Why did you cut me off, didn’t we tell each other we would always know what was going on with the other? That we’d always be there for each other? Why did you suddenly cut me off?” you demanded from him. He was silent, caught off guard by your sudden outburst. 

“Please...tell me,” you gazed at him, hurt reflected in your eyes. You brushed a hand against his cheek, cupping it. The two of you had always been fairly touchy-feely as kids, but this moment only made you realize how much you missed that. When had you drifted so far apart from him? 

He finally caved upon seeing your expression, sighing softly, “I really can’t say no to you huh?” You finally cracked a smile, snorting softly, “Well tell me first.” He held his hand out, grimacing slightly, “Promise me you won’t freak out?” You deadpanned, “Phoenix the world’s been thrown into a state of chaos I don’t think anything can phase me anymore.” 

He let out a breath, almost as if bracing himself before snapping his fingers and summoning a fireball perfectly controlled at his fingertips. Your eyes widened at the sight, but as promised you didn’t freak out too much. Grasping his shoulder you looked him dead in the eyes and in the most serious voice you could muster you said, “Dude, think of how much fun we could have with this.” Phoenix burst out laughing falling over, “That’s your response?” 

“Hey, I’m trying to lighten the mood here!”

He was your rock, and you were his. 

It was like nothing had happened, like before you had found out he received powers from radianite, which was still absolutely mind-boggling to you.

“Hey Phoenix, reckon you can shoot a flamethrower out your mouth like Charizard?”

“Wait I’ve never thought of doing that.”

You nearly had a heart attack when he told you that he accidentally set his performing arts school on fire because he couldn’t control his powers.

“Guess my career went up in flames yeah?”

“Stop it.”

But from this, you received a lovely slap to the face by reality and had the revelation that you indeed could not imagine life without Phoenix, and no, you didn’t want him to cut you out like that again. Oh shit, when did you start thinking like this?

Goddammit, you had fallen for him. Hard. 

But who wouldn’t like him? He was charming and good-looking to boot. Him cutting you out only made you come to the understanding that without him you felt as though a piece of you was just….missing. 

You tried quashing down your rampant emotions, but every now and then you couldn’t help but just stare at him.

The two of you made a promise after that to never keep each other out again.

Courting You and His Confession

Phoenix is fairly obvious in his attempts to try and court you. He’s known you for so long so he knows exactly which buttons to push to fluster you.

Unless you’re an agent as well, he tries his best to keep you out of his line of work. 

Some people at the VP thought that you and him were already together and don’t question your relationship.

He finally confessed during a duo mission with the two of you. It was just meant to be a short scouting mission to check on the radianite shipments at one of the VP’s warehouses but had ended up with the two of you on the receiving end of an ambush by Mirror Earth’s agents. 

You clutched your shoulder in pain, trying to staunch the blood that flowed through. “Dammit,” you cursed under your breath. “Hold on a little longer okay?” the strain was evident in Phoenix’s voice as he watched your flank. “Sage and the others are on their way with backup.” You nodded gritting your teeth, focused on preventing any more blood loss. Unlike Phoenix, you didn’t have any radiant powers to heal yourself, instead opting to familiarize yourself with the weaponry and gadgets the VP offered. Looking over, your gaze was trained on Phoenix, his expression grim. “Why did you jump in front of me?” he questioned you.

You laughed softly, grimacing a little at the wave of pain that washed over you, “I guess I wanted to look out for you y’know? We’ve always been there for each other.” His frown deepened, “I can heal myself with my fire. On the other hand, you can’t. You need to be more careful.” You huffed in irritation looking away, “I can handle myself just fine thank you very much.”

“That doesn’t matter!” his voice rose, as he tore his eyes away, “You could have died!”

“I’m not a kid!” you protested back, “I can keep myself safe!”

“Well, clearly that’s not true! Who’s the one with a bullet wound right now?”

“So? I patched it up, Sage can just remove and heal me when she gets here.”

“That’s not the point! The point I’m making is that you could have easily died!”

“Why are you getting so worked up over this? It’s not even that big of a deal!”

“‘Cause I love you.” His words sent you into a shock, so much so that you barely noticed the bullets whizzing past your head. Phoenix tugged you out of harm's way, sending some of his own bullets back. “I care for you too,” you said brushing off his words, not believing what he had said. After taking care of the hostile, Phoenix gently cupped your face, forcing you to look at him, “I really mean it,” he murmured, “ I really do love you, I have since we were kids.” You pushed him away, unsure of the emotions that were swirling around inside you, “Why are you saying this now?” He paused, for once his expression wavering, “I want to protect you, and seeing what you did...it made me realize that I could have lost you if that bullet hit somewhere else. I don’t want that. You catch my drift?” 

You nodded, the pain in your shoulder momentarily forgotten, “I...I feel the same way,” you mumbled, your cheeks tinted pink. He stared at you in disbelief as if he couldn’t comprehend what he had just heard. He was about to speak up but was abruptly cut off by Brimstone, “If you two lovebirds are done discussing your personal matters with each other, would you kindly be able to send me your coords so I can drop off the backup you requested.” 

Needless to say, Brim wasn’t too happy when the two of you got back. He had suspected something was going on with the two of you but had never pressed the issue because nothing had happened.

As long as the two of you refrained from PDA and promised to not let personal feelings interfere with missions again he wouldn’t oppose anything, to which you guys had agreed. (ik on the wiki it says that fraternization is prohibited but this is my fanfic so I can do whatever the hell I want hehe >:) )

“So I guess we’re together now?”

“Yeah.”

As Your BF

His attitude with you wouldn’t differ much from before, if anything he’s a bit more thoughtful in his gestures towards you. 

His romantic playlist would definitely be 10 different Bruno Mars tracks blasting at all times. 

Steal his jacket! He finds it cute when you put it on, and finds comfort in knowing that you’re finally his.

When the two of you have free time, he enjoys putting on a movie for you guys to watch. Snuggle up to him and watch him melt! 

The other agents are overall very supportive of you two! Score 1 for Jett’s OTP board. Brim might be a bit iffy but he’ll let it slide, after all, you guys are some of his best agents. 

Cypher is surprisingly a knowledgeable source on relationships and offers you advice whenever you’re confused about anything.

Phoenix doesn’t get jealous very easily, if anything he’ll see it as a competition which he’ll always win

Cocky bastard, always making off-hand remarks to try and throw you off, but when you do it back, he turns into a mess.

Overall, a very supportive bf, and will always be there for you through thick and thin no matter what.

I didn’t make this longer than I should have whaaat???? No definitely not :)

Want more of my writing? Be sure to check out my masterlist :)

If you wanna request something, don’t be afraid to send something my way! Thanks for reading and have a lovely day!

Wanna know what else I’ll write for? Here you go! Just be sure to read the requesting rules before you send anything in.

[ariverrunsviolet]

Hostage Situation (Bucky Barnes imagine)

Summary: A surprise attack has left you captured and under interrogation by an unknown enemy. Only one thing brings you comfort; a certain soldier is out there looking for you.

Gif @ gifbuckybarnes

Pairing: Bucky x Reader Timeline: Post The Falcon and The Winter Soldier Reader is a fellow Avenger that has teamed up with Sam and Bucky. Warnings: Violence, sexual assault, language Words:  2158

Songs I listed to while writing this: Opus by Hoity-Toity, Next Contestant by Nickelback, Protecting Me by Aly & AJ Let me know what you guys think! I have ideas for a part two *Please don't repost this anywhere! Especially without my permission!*

“You’re a stubborn one, ain’t ya?”

You managed to pool a mouthful of spit and blood and hocked it in the direction of your captor. Your breathing was heavier than normal after their relentless interrogation efforts. Time was lost to you; it could have been 12 hours or a whole week since you had been separated from the group and captured.

It had been a surprise attack; Torres’ intel didn’t account for the blitz that struck and took you away from Sam and Bucky.  It had all happened so fast—the smoke bombs, a harsh tase to your back, and you woke up here. In this hellhole.

The greasy interrogator lit a freshly drawn cigarette between his fingers and took a deep inhale, blowing the smoke out in your face. “How much longer do you think you can hold out love?”

You refused to look him in the eye as he took another puff. With a screech of his chair and a few steps forward, he yanked the back of your hair and made you face him. As you gasped in surprise, he plunged his mouth into yours and exhaled again. He planted himself firmly against your mouth and nose; you couldn’t release his breath at all. The smoke burned your nose, throat, and lungs as you choked on it.

He finally, finally, pulled away and you struggled to breathe as tears streamed out of your good eye—the other was swollen shut—and down your bruised face.

“I can hold out as long as you, darlin’. Trust me, I’m enjoyin’ myself.” He said, eyeing your uniform. He unsheathed a dagger from his belt and did a quick and clean slice up the center of the clothing, leaving you exposed in just your bra. With your hands chained to the seat behind you, there was nothing you could do to cover yourself.

You kept up your stone-faced resolve. It was an intimidation tactic, and you wouldn’t give him the pleasure of watching you squirm.

“Yeah…Yeah, I think I’ve found some more to enjoy.” The dozen lackeys spread throughout the big, empty room either snickered or stayed eerily quiet.

Before you could manage to spit at him in disgust a second time, you heard a clutter of noises down the hall. They were stifled through the thick walls, but consistent and growing closer.

For the first time in what felt like an eternity, a warmth of relief spread through your stomach and you managed a small smirk.

“The hell is going on out there?” One of his henchmen by the door grunted as he pulled out his gun.

“Don’t ask me you moron, go check on it!” The lead interrogator barked. The one by the door nodded to the man next to him and they entered a code into the keypad. With a hiss, the door slid open, and the two rounded the corner to search.

As the door slid back to a close, the leader of the group finally seemed to register the look on your face. “And what the fuck has you looking so giddy?”

“The last mistake you’ll ever make.” You rasped out, giving a full bloody smile, counting down in your head.

By the time you reached down to one, there was a slam against the door to the room, a large, rounded dent showing in the thick metal. The pounding continued, each time adding a newer, thicker bulge to the door. It only took a few more punches until the door flew into room, knocking down one of the men.

And there he was in the doorway, with his shining arm and clear blue eyes. There was just a moment as he locked his gaze with yours and you saw wave after wave of relief, rage, and an assessment of the room all come through his face in that brief second.

The lead interrogator started screaming for his men to attack, but they were already at a critical disadvantage. Bucky was on a warpath, and everyone else in the room was just fodder when it came to his end goal: you.

One of the men dangerously close to the avenging soldier stuck his assault weapon right in Bucky’s face. Gripping the front of the gun, the ringing of bullets stopped at his vibranium palm and jammed the front of the weapon. Yanking it out of the henchmen’s grip, Bucky swung out with it and clocked the aggravator clean across the face, knocking him out cold. These weren’t super soldiers they were dealing with; just sneaky men with big guns and smoke bombs trying to play in the big leagues.

And Bucky was tearing through them like tissue paper. You couldn’t help but feel growing satisfaction; the only thing that would’ve made it better was being free to do it all yourself.

As you watched him move through the room, calculating, quick, and aggressive, the average eye could assume The Winter Soldier was active again. He was snapping guns in half like they were twigs, flipping through the air, and throwing men into each other so hard that they crashed into the wall and laid dazed on the ground. All of this while deathly silent and his eyes glazed over in a look of duty and fury.

Except when he sparingly glanced back at you. Quick looks, making sure you were still there. In those quick, apologetic glances, you could see what he was saying. ‘I’ll be there in a second, hold on.’

He was taking care of the last of the lackies when you felt a hand grip your chin and cold metal shove into your temple. You could feel the slight shaking coming off the leader, as he whistled loudly to get Bucky’s attention.

After an effective punch to the solar plexus of the last of the henchmen, Bucky spun around and set his sights on the handgun rammed into your face. His muscles tensed and for a second, you saw terror flit through his blue orbs before rounding back to steely resolve and rising to meet the gaze of the man that held you captive.

“Drop your weapon.” A demand, with a wall of threatening anger standing tall behind his words.

“Not a chance, Barnes.” The man squeezed your face, making you hiss in response. Bucky’s fists tightened. “If you come any closer, her brain turns into confetti.”

“You do that, and nothing will stop me from breaking every one of your bones into splinters with my bare hands.” Even though you were currently held at gunpoint, Bucky’s threat made you go cold, and a shiver ran up your spine. You didn’t have to be close to the super soldier to know he sincerely meant every word coming out of his mouth.

“You won’t risk it. Not on her life.” His finger hovered over the trigger. “I know that arm comes off your body. Remove it.” Bucky didn’t move a muscle until the man jammed the gun hard into your face, making you wince and causing a quiet cry to escape your throat. “Now!”

Bucky’s resolve broke for an instant, his face panicked until he locked eyes with you. You tried to make it as apparent as you could with just your facial expressions; you had a last-ditch effort ready. Your pupils flicked down to the man’s hand holding your jaw, and you gave a slight and quick head tilt back and looked to Bucky’s face to see if he knew what you were plotting. He understood you like no one else, and with a hesitant, affirmative nod from him, you moved with haste.

Your teeth gnashed down into the man’s hand as you shoved your feet into the floor and launched your chair backwards into the goon behind you. Natasha had taught you this move way back when. The man yelped in surprise and started shooting wildly. You fell to the floor as you watched Bucky cover himself with his arm as a shield, the bullets showering off his vibranium buffer as he surged forward.

You couldn’t see what happened after Bucky had rushed past your line of sight, but the noises you heard told you that he was giving a thorough, yet justified, beating to the man that had haggled with your life.

Even though you were sure Bucky could go at it all day, it wasn’t long until you felt his arms around you, gently pulling your form and the chair upright. He twisted his metal fingers into your shackles, attempting to safely free you, all the while saying “It’s alright. I’m here, you’re safe.” You guessed he was reassuring himself as much as he was reassuring you.

You wanted to jokingly ask “What took you so long?” But you knew he was probably internally beating himself up, asking the same question. Instead, you settled on a quiet but sincere “my hero.”

Your bindings fell to the floor in a flurry of metal clangs and even after singlehandedly dismantling an entire room of kidnappers, Bucky was unprepared for the way your arms whipped up and around his neck, pulling him down to you. His arms instinctively enveloped you, and you knew, you were certain, that you could never feel safer than you did in that moment.

He breathed in all of you, and briefly closed his eyes, relaxing into your hold like warm putty. Both of you needed this more than the other realized.

You pulled away briefly, feeling tears run down your face in warm streaks again, this time in relief. His thumb gently padded them away, careful to avoid your bruised eye, and then rested on your lips. You had no idea how long your eyes were locked into each other until you heard a groaning behind Bucky.

Your stomach, currently swirling with relief and pulsing with adrenaline, felt a hot stab of anger strike through you as you made your way to the man angrily grunting on the floor; Bucky hovered protectively behind you as you moved.

The man’s left arm had been dislocated, and you saw some of his teeth sprinkled on the floor around his face. Your arms stiffened with growing fury as you remembered all of the hell he had gleefully put you through—all of the pain, and embarrassment. You started to reflexively pull your torn clothes around your torso until you felt the warmth of Bucky’s leather jacket cover you. It smelled of pine, and fire, and gunpowder, and just—him. It made you tingle from head to toe as your arms found their way into the sleeves—well, one of the sleeves. Your left harm hung out the gaping hole that was normally meant for Bucky’s vibranium extremity as you zipped up the front.

“We gotta get moving. There are probably more coming that’ll be here any second.” He looked back over his shoulder to the open doorway as he debriefed you, his hand lightly tugging at yours.

“Just give me a second.” You squeezed his hand in response and knelt to fully tower over the shell of a man that had once joyfully taken part in torturing you.

It looked like he was about to say something, probably snarky and condescending, but you beat him to the punch with a swift uppercut into his solar plexus, like Bucky taught you. All of the air left his lungs in a pained shout and he curled into a fetal position, wrapping his one good arm around himself and groaning.

You stood quickly and turned to Bucky, who nodded approvingly and looked impressed, but not surprised, at your aim and the power of your strike. “Okay, I’m good to go now…” your voice faded; the adrenaline flushed out of your system like water running from a faucet. The strong wall that you had put up to survive the interrogation began to dissolve, and it suddenly took everything you had to stay standing, or even keep your eyes open. Your knees gave way and Bucky’s arms were around you in an instant, breaking your fall.

“Hey, (Y/N).” He carefully tapped your cheek a few times trying to rouse you. “Hey, c’mon, stay with me. Please. (Y/N)!”

“Mmmm so sleepy…” you mumbled. “Quick nap, then I’ll be…” you trailed off unwillingly from the dizziness and heard him curse as he hastily called into his earpiece for Sam, demanding he fly his ass and shield down to our location, pronto. His arms swiftly and surely lifted you up into his chest.

‘Thank you for finding me…Bucky’ You would have sworn on your life, in that moment, that you had only thought those words. You had no strength remaining at this point, and darkness was closing in around you. But you must have either said it out loud, or you and Bucky truly had an impenetrable connection. Because he gave your form a light squeeze and the last thing you heard was him mumble assuredly.

“Always.”

[7soulstars]

so glad you opened requests again! can I request an avengers x reader who has huge white wings ,but doesn't know how to fly ..maybe they found her in a hydra base locked in a cage, scarred and frightened and they took her in. thank you 💞

 Hey Darling! Thank you sooo much for sending in a request and for being so patient! I really love this idea and I'll try my best to give it justice it deserves. I really hope you enjoy it ! Love you !

Alate

...............

Pairing: Avengers x Avenger! Reader

Warnings: Reader is traumatised, ANGSTY AF, Overprotective Bucky, OOC Stephen, Avenger Loki (I just love him OKAY !), Floof

Summary: “Man must rise above the Earth—to the top of the atmosphere and beyond—for only thus will he fully understand the world in which he lives.”– Socrates

...............

Alate; having wings or lifted up in flight.

Soaring she moved like the wind would. As if even the winged gods and angels followed her path. Legs dangling she watched the lit up city beneath her, recalling her past.

It had been a regular enough mission. Ambush, Steal Information and destroy base. Natasha, Scott, Steve, Wanda, Loki and Tony moved as the rest directed them through the ear piece in their ear. Scott had managed to break in first through the main door of the warehouse with Wanda following suit. Loki got Tony and Steve in through the back and Nat, well, she slithered in from the top. Then came the problem. The files weren't in the fucking warehouse but at least 30 Hydra Agents were. But then again it never was a big deal when you had even half a handful of superheroes and a villian turned vigilante inside together. 10 minutes and half were either dead or barely alive. Just when they were about to leave Tony noticed the basement. Scott was made to go first since he wouldn't be noticed by anyone. And he definately did not expect to see what he saw.

"I don't like this. Nope."

"What the hell are you talking about Lang ?"

"Get in here !"

"No you tell us what is going on !"

"THEY'VE KEPT THIS GIRL PRISIONER AND HER STATE DOES NOT LOOK GOOD. WE DON'T HAVE TIME FOR BULLSHIT ONE OF YOU GET HER OUT !"

"...........Stark blast the door open..........."

"Don't have to say more Capsicle"

There was a boom and the lead door fell open, almost squashing Scott who yelled a 'watch it' before sizing up.

What they saw was what Peter would say ‘Does not pass the vibe check’

It was a metal box. Only the front covered with bulletproof glass, that was covered with perspiration and probably high amounts of dust. Chains made of lead bound her limbs. Her mouth was muzzled, hair matted, bruises and cuts everywhere, cloth covered something protruding from her back and it looked like it hurt. She cowered into a corner of the box, glaring at the newcomers, visibly terrified as her body trembled.

“What kind of -”

“Sick bastard ? Demon Spawn ?”, Tony continued for Natasha.

“We need to get her out of here”, Loki said grimacing at the way she was being treated.

“She won’t come with us voluntarily.....When, Pietro and I were being controlled by Hydra....We complied so we were never tied down like that.....But the stronger, dangerous ones are.....abused.....Brainwashing probably didn’t work on her....so they may have subdued her and she probably won’t react well to us....”, Wanda said. She felt sick to her stomach at the girl’s state. Old memories came rushing through.

Nat agreed, trying to figure out how to get the other out. They all stood there silently wracking their brains as Bucky and Sam who had stood guarding the outside came in because the others were taking too long.

“ We need to leave they probably called for back-”, Bucky stopped to look in the direction of the cell, “Y/N ??”, he looked shocked as he moved to touch the glass seperating the two. The girl desperately tried to shuffle near to him, struggling with the chains holding her in place. It almost looked like he had forgotten about anyone or anything as he tried to break the glass holding her in. Loki helped in a way too. He somehow unlocked all the chains and the muzzle with his magic. The cloth from her back came loose and there was a bright light blinding everyone for a second. They were wings.....The whitest anyone had ever seen.

The ride in the quinjet was a rather troublesome one. Y/N would hiss at anyone who even tried to mildly interact with her, flinching everytime someone moved and clinging onto Bucky’s arm as she buried her head into his chest. Everthing scared her. The machines, the people, every single thing.

Bucky looked at her in pity.He was angry that he could never get her out of that hellhole. He was angry at himself. You see, Y/N was kidnapped and brought in by Hydra at the mere age of 10. She met Bucky for the first time at the mere age of 16. 

She was one of those who didn’t listen. One of those cases where a brainwashed Soldat was thrown into their cell to discipline them. But she was also one of them whom he refused to bring himself to harm even in that state. She had helped him once. When he was badly injured as he was thrown into her cell . She had looked past her fear and wrapped a scrapped part of her dust ridden gown around his hand. That was the last he had seen of her. He had thought they got rid of her.

Nat had tried. To make the girl at least glance at her. She finally succeeded on offering her food. It made Nat feel a weird kind of warmth something she hadn’t felt ever. 

By the time they reached headquarters Y/N had familiarised herself or at least tried to with everyone. Wanda had helped her in and out of the shower. Nat had brought her clothes. Loki kept apparating and magic-ing stuff to amuse her. Satisfied with a smug look on his face when she let out a soft gasp of excitement. 

Next part was the difficult bit. Equipment everywhere. It recalled the girl of enough horridness. Steve had hesitated and asked if a full health checkup was necessary immediately and it turned out that it was. But Bruce was gentle. At that moment Y/N wondered if such gentleness had ever existed and if it did, why hadn’t she gotten a nibble of it.

Tony had stopped Peter and Thor from attacking the girl with their golden retriever personalities as he constanly kept inquiring to F.R.I.D.A.Y about her origin. Scott and Sam had bickered making Y/N giggle as she sat by Loki and Bucky. For the first time in her life she felt at peace.

Stephen Strange met Y/N a month after her rescue all after winning a bickering contest with Tony when the rest of the Avengers suggested it in the first place saying that ‘It’s not only unfair to him considering his position in the team but he can also help her.’ 

See the thing is that Y/N didn’t know her true potential and the irony is that even with wings she had no idea how the fuck to fly. 

Stephen liked her. Wong did too. She was quiet and spoke only when necessary but there was kindness and fascination in her eyes. She had tried her hand in sorcery and she was learning. Fast though not as fast as Stephen it was surprising. 

Her wings were heavy It was understandable why she didn’t try flying. But Stephen tried. Oh how he did and though embarassingly for him he had also asked the others for assistance but it never seemed to work. 

Y/N had felt what the meaning of being called an Avenger for the very first time and that it was filled with loss and pain. She had looked around her as she threw the magical golden whip at the enemy. Nat was limping. Steve struggled. Peter was down on his knees. A pack of little screams had alerted her as she looked to see a set of civilians at whom guns were being cocked at. She had leapt. Without thing of the consequences as Bucky had yelled a painful no. She lept right in front of the group,Her wings shielding them when she heard the shots go off. She waited for the pain but she felt nothing but little jerks. The battle had turned silent. Everyone had stopped to look and take in what had had happened. Her wings had ricochetted evey single bullet. Hitting them backing into the ones who had fired them in the first place. And for the first time that she had flapped them she felt herself lift off the ground as the shone a blinding white.

Y/N recalls Sundays. The days when everyone sat together at Stark Towers as they lean on Y/N’s wings watching movies peacefully with occasional perks of laughter.

Shimmering gold and green flashed beside her as she sat recalling on top of the building. A hand placing a book by Socrates in her hand. “They’re waiting and I’m tired of being pestered. Come on, let’s go”,he snarked earning a giggle.

She finally knew what the quote meant. She was lucky to be Alate.

--The End --

Finally done! I am so sorry for delaying all the requests I’m really going through a very important and stressful phase of my life. (One which practically determines my future). Thank you so much for being patient and I really hope you will enjoy this fic! Feedback is appreciated and please like, reblog and comment if you like my work to support me! I have made changes in my fic request list so do check it out! Please do not plagarise my work!

~Love, Hri

[a-edgar-allan-hoe]

The Last Chthonian

Bucky x Reader, Sam x Reader, Zemo x Reader

Part 11

A/N: Part 11 is finally finished lovelies! Let me know if you would like to be added to the tag list! 🖤🔮🖤

Summary: Imagine being Hekate, the Greek goddess of magic and witchcraft, the night and the moon, doorways and crossroads, creatures of the night, and ghosts and necromancy. You stumbled upon Earth many centuries ago and since then have resided on the foreign planet. During the recent years you created an alias for yourself to hide your true identity, and after the war against Thanos you chose to live out your days in the Scottish countryside, until a certain trio appear at your doorstep one day.

Warnings: language, violence, and blood

It felt as if time was slowing down as Sam’s phone kept vibrating, everyone’s eyes trained on him awaiting to hear who was on the other line. Zemo had sat back down beside you and you leaned into him to keep up your act, and as you glanced at his profile, you saw that he was deep in thought, probably running the scenario through his head.

“Answer it. On speaker.” Selby ordered as she had stood up, staring at Sam in the eye while she pointed at him. She was really starting to get on your nerves now and you wanted nothing more than to get out of there.

You locked eyes with Sam as he grabbed his phone out of his pocket and answered it. “Hello?”

“Hey, um, we need to talk about this situation. It’s been drivin’ me nuts.” You heard Sarah’s voice on the other line.

Shit. You were fucked.

Licking your lips, you used your telepathic abilities to tap into Zemo and Bucky’s brain, your eyes following Selby as she started to stroll around the room.

“Hey guys.”

You watched how Zemo and Bucky’s eyes shifted to you when hearing your voice, only to see you looking to the floor without ever opening your mouth.

“Relax, it’s me. Don’t look at me and act like nothing is happening.” You gave them a cautionary look. “I’m sorry to have to get into your heads, but we are in deep shit and this isn’t going to end well. Just think about what you want to say and we can communicate from there.”

“You’re....you’re in our heads?” You heard Zemo’s thoughts.

“Yes, I already said that.”

“So.....how are we supposed to get out of this one?” Bucky asked.

“Well at this rate, There is no other way than to fight our way out. We’re about to have a large bounty on our heads.”

“Y/n is right.” Zemo added. “We must be prepared.”

“You got any plans Zemo?” You asked him.

“Just make it out alive.”

You nodded your head slightly, signaling that you were prepared for what was about to happen next. Selby had crossed behind the sofa you and Zemo sat on, dragging her fingers through the top of the back part of the sofa. You could’ve sworn you felt her wretched fingers graze over your bare shoulder and through your hair as she passed by, making you straighten up in repulsion and clutch the seat of the couch with balled fists, accidentally brushing the side of your exposed thigh against Zemo’s in the process. Zemo side glanced at you after feeling your thigh brush against his, seeing you shift in your seat with an uncomfortable look hidden on your face. And from the way Selby had now crossed over to his side of the Sofa, he knew what had happened to upset you. Sam and Bucky saw the whole thing, the way she laid her fingers on you made their skin crawl, they clenched their fists as they were more than ready to get you out of this hellhole and to a safer place.

“What situation exactly are you talkin’ about?” Sam cleared his throat as he planned out what to say while trying to stay in character.

“Are you high? You know what situation, it’s the only situation me and you have.” You could hear the irritation in Sarah’s voice as you studied the faces of everyone around you, honing in on their vital signs to where you could almost see their heart beat, blood flow, and rise in body temperature. Their bodies released an odor that you were all too familiar with, that near acidic smell, adrenaline. You saw it pump through their veins as the guards hovered their fingers over the triggers of their guns. They were already starting to have doubts about the four of you.

“What situation, Sarah? Say it.”

“The damn boat. And watch your tone. Okay? I let you slide at the bank.”

“The bank.” Sam scoffed before chuckling lightly. “Yeah. Laundered so much. Yeah, they’ll come around.”

“If that was the case, then why’d they dog you out, Big Time?”

As every exchange between Sam and Sarah went by, the more your hands itched to grab your dagger as you waited for the precise moment to strike. You could practically hear your heartbeat and the clock on the wall drowning out the sound of everything else in the room, the clicking of the hand second by second, as if taunting you about the little amount of time you had left.

“Yeah, you damn right I’m Big Time. You’ll see when I have that banker killed.” Sam stared straight ahead. You could already tell from his face that he was not at all confident about how this was going to go down.

“Cass! What’d I tell you about the Cheerios? I don’t have time for this! Sam, I’m sorry. I’ll call you back.”

Fuck.

“Sam?” Selby looked at the four of you. “Who’s Sam? Kill them!”

Bang! There was the sound of a gunshot and shattered glass, and the next thing you knew, Selby was shot in front of you, her coat now spreading with blood from the wound in her chest as she fell to the floor dead, right when you were about to run your dagger through her yourself. You couldn’t find sight of who the shooter was as one of the security sent a dead center shot towards Zemo’s head. You widened your eyes and shot your arm out in front of Zemo’s face, the bullet bouncing off your metal cuff with a sizzling sound and falling to the floor in a crumbled ball. Thank the gods for Olympian steel. Zemo and the security guard gave you a surprised look from how you just deflected the shot, giving you the chance to slip up the slit of your dress to grab your dagger. You threw your dagger at the guard, watching it fly through the air before hitting him straight in the chest, making him fall over.

You and Zemo jumped up from the couch as two more guards shot at you in the process, more bullets falling to the floor as you deflected them all. Zemo grabbed the gun of one of them before hitting him in the head with it, knocking him out cold. You charged at the other one, pulling your sword out from your back before raising it above you and bringing it down in a diagonal motion, slicing the guard across the chest. You winced as some of the blood had splattered on your face, causing you to wipe it off with the back of your hand. Bucky and Sam had taken care of the other two before going off to the other side of the room. You shoved your sword down on the floor so that it stood upright before kneeling over to take your heels off. Sam, Bucky, and Zemo stared at you in shock from what you did as you headed over to them barefoot with your sword in one hand, stopping to stoop over one of the dead guards to pull your dagger out of his chest before giving it a flick to get rid of the blood.

“What the hell was that? You had a sword with you this whole time?” Sam hissed.

“Never mind that. We have bigger problems. They’re going to pin this on us.” You breathed out as you slipped your sword back on your back and your dagger back on the strap on your thigh.

“We have a real problem now, so leave your weapons and follow my lead.” Zemo sighed before heading out as you followed him.

You heard the sound of everyone’s phone notification going off, telling them of Shelby’s death and the bounty on your heads.

“This is not good.” Zemo mentioned as he glanced at everyone, some who now had their eyes following you.

Bullets went flying over your head as people approached you with their guns out, shooting at you.

“Shit!” Sam shouted as he and the others ducked.

“More guns?” You rolled your eyes. Using your powers, your eyes returned to their natural Olympian color before glowing a bright violet as you created a shield in front of you to protect you and the three, the bullets disintegrating when coming into contact with your shield. Your eyes widened as you looked down at your hands in horror and saw how they were starting to change to an unnatural death like color, slowly starting to spread up your arms in a vein like manner while your hands had become almost claw like with sharp pointed nails. Oh no. This was not good, you didn’t need the others seeing this. Cursing under your breath with a flick of your wrist, you used your powers to throw the attackers into a nearby wall before letting your shield disappear. You glanced down at your hands with a bit of relief as you saw them return to their natural skin tone. This was definitely not good and you needed to get it sorted out before they found out.

“Let’s go!” You told them as you started to run, down the crime ridden street, not even caring that you weren’t wearing any shoes but cursing under your breath for your choice of not wearing a bra because of the damned dress, making you press your arm over them to hold them in place.

“I can’t run in these heels!” You heard Sam say as he struggled to keep up.

Your heart was pounding as you ran from the people after your heads, the sound of gunshots echoing in the streets. Making sure to stay in front of Bucky, Sam, and Zemo, you used a combination of defense and offense, lighting up the streets in flashes of violet as you blocked off the bullets and threw bolts of energy through your attackers. All the while being cautious of maintaining your appearance. As you came to a small clearing, you found yourself surrounded before more gunshots were heard, but this time they were directed at your attackers, the bullets coming from one of the windows of the buildings.

“You seem to have a guardian angel.” Zemo spoke up as he looked around with a gun in his hand after shooting one of the attackers himself.

“Well, this is too perfect.” You heard a woman approach with a gun pointed at Zemo, using one of her hands to drop her hood. “Drop it, Zemo.”

“Sharon?” You caught your breath as you furrowed your brows at her, surprised to see her. You never had the chance to meet her but you were wondering what she was doing here.

“You cost me everything.” Sharon spoke as she stopped with her gun still pointed at Zemo.

“Sharon, wait.” Sam stepped in front to try to explain everything. “Someone recreated the super-soldier serum and Zemo had a lead.”

“That explains why you guys are here. And Selby’s dead.”

“So what are you doing here?” Bucky asked her.

“I stole Steve’s shield, remember? I also took the wings for your ass, so that you could save his ass from his ass.” You watched from the side with a raised brow as Sharon pointed at all three of them. “I didn’t have the Avengers to back me up. So I’m off the grid in Madripoor.”

“Don’t blow smoke. I was on the run, too.” Sam tried to reason.

“Was. Is. Big difference. I don’t speak to my family anymore. I can’t. My own father doesn’t know where I am.” Sharon remarked before looking over at you, squinting her eyes as she tried to figure out where she saw you. “Sorry, you’re y/n right? You worked with Thor? What do you have to do with all this?”

“Sam needed my help, Sharon.” You explained. “We could use yours, it would mean a lot.”

Sharon thought it over, looking between you and the others.

“Please.” Bucky added.

“This isn’t over.” Sharon let out a sigh. “I have a place in High Town. You’ll be safe there for a while.”

“Looks like breaking all those laws is treating you well.” Sam noted as he took in the interior of the building once you all stepped in after the car ride there.

Your gut was telling you there was something fishy about Sharon that you just couldn’t pinpoint just yet, but you wanted to trust her. You raised a brow at the artwork that was displayed. So Sharon was selling stolen artwork now? You didn’t pay much mind to the details of the area as you followed Sharon through. You were much too focused on washing the blood and makeup off your face as well as changing into something more comfortable. But the one thing you couldn’t get your mind off of was what happened earlier when you were using your powers. It was definitely not a good sign and you were scared of the answers you would get once you searched deeper into it.

“I thought if I had to hustle, might as well enjoy the life of a real hustler. You know how much I’ll get for a real Monet?” Sharon mentioned as she turned to Sam.

“Deactivate your hustle mode. You sell fake Monets.”

“No. She means real.” Zemo affirmed after he had taken a look around. “This gallery is specialized in stolen artwork. Monet. Van Gogh. Classics.”

“It’s true.” Bucky added to Zemo’s comment. “You know, half the artwork in museums like the Louvre is fake. Real stuff sits in places like this.”

“Okay, guys, I see what you’re doing. You’re more worldly than good old Sam.” Sam was on his phone, obviously trying to search up to confirm what they said was true.

“Yeah. What’s Google say?”

“No shit.”

“You guys need to change. I’m hosting clients in an hour.” Sharon suggested once you had entered her living area.

“Hey Sharon.” You faced her. “Where’s your bathroom?”

“Down the hall on the left.”

“Thanks.” You gave her a kind smile before heading to it and locking the door behind you. The men’s eyes followed you as you went into the bathroom, they had noticed how quiet you were on the ride here and how you seemed to be deep in thought, and they were wondering what had happened to have you upset like this. Was it the whole situation with Selby? Were you enraged at them for putting you into this mess?

You had turned on the faucet in the bathroom, letting the water run for a bit as you stared down at your hands once more, as if you were afraid they’d return to that same appearance of death, resembling hands that might have belonged to a demon or an animal. You cursed under your breath as you washed the blood off your face, chest, and arms. As if you didn’t have enough to stress over already. Reaching your hand into your dress pocket, you pulled out your bag that you had shrunk to make it easier to bring along, returning it to it’s normal size so you could pull out a fresh pair of clothes. You changed into your Smashing Pumpkins shirt, a pair of jeans and your docs, throwing on a black leather jacket on top before putting your old attire and sword away. You decided to keep your dagger on you, strapping it to the back of your waist through the slot you had on your belt to help conceal it. As you rummaged through your bag, you grabbed your bracers and strapped them on your arms, concealing them underneath your jacket. At this point you needed to be prepared. Once you were done you returned your bag to a miniature size with a spell, slipping it in your jacket pocket before walking out of the bathroom. You had put on your brave face so questions wouldn’t arise about your behavior as you went to return to where the others were gathered.

“What’d I miss?” You asked as you approached them, politely declining the glass of liquor Sharon offered you.

“Nothing important.” Bucky answered your question. “You didn’t miss much.”

“Yeah?” You raised a brow amusingly as you crossed your arms. “Sounded like bickering to me. You three always have a bone to pick with each other. I could hear you from inside the bathroom..........I’m kidding, relax. Just trying to lighten up the mood.”

“Sharon might be able to find out how to locate our lead.” Zemo caught you up with everything that happened while you were cleaning up in the bathroom.

“Well,” Sharon noted as she got up from the sofa. “I sell to some pretty connected people. Lay low, blend in, enjoy the party. Try to stay outta trouble. I’ll see what I can find.”

“Trouble.” Zemo added with a smirk.

“Thank Sharon.” You smiled at her, silently dreading having to go to yet another party. It wasn’t that you didn’t like parties, you weren’t a fan of crowds. And if you were being honest, you wanted nothing more than to eat an entire cheese pizza all by yourself and crash out on the floor at this point. You were exhausted to say the least, and starving. Using your powers had strangely drained some energy out of you and you didn’t know what the cause could be. This had never happened to you before.

Loud bass music filled your ears, making the ground beneath you vibrate with each beat as you arrived at the party downstairs with the others, the dim lights flashing against your face as you followed behind Sam towards the bar. You asked the bartender for a glass of cold water and sat on the barstool, watching people dance in close proximities of each other, your mind still fantasizing about the cheesiest pizza you could be having right now, causing your stomach to grumble.

“I can see you two aren’t a fan of parties.” Sam smirked as he looked at the bored expressions on you and Bucky’s faces. “Mr. I-Only-Listen-To-40s-Music and Ms. I-Only-Listen-To-Beethoven.”

“Beethoven was a genius.” You remarked. “Also, classical music is not the only thing I listen to. I listen to other stuff as well.”

“Yeah, like rock. And about that. I can’t believe you did acid.” Sam quipped as Zemo and Bucky’s eyes were on you now, curious to hear your response.

“Oh for fucks sake Sam. This was back in the 60s. Give me a break. Shit didn’t work anyways.”

“Wait. How the hell, do you take acid and it has no effect on you?”

“Well it’s the same thing as not being able to get drunk Sam. Now stop interrogating me.” You explained before setting your glass of water down on the counter. “Give me a minute guys. I gotta make a phone call.”

You pulled your phone out of your pocket, trying to head outside to where it was much quieter as you searched for the nearest pizza place. Your head was starting to throb from the lack of nutrition and the loud music and bright lights definitely wasn’t helping. You were going to have a damn cheese pizza and no one was going to stop you. Before you could even reach the entrance you felt a pair of strong arms grab your jacket, pulling you into the empty hallway nearby. You dropped your phone out of panic, your self defense mode kicking in as you grabbed the bulky arm of your unknown attacker and twisted it behind his back before shoving him against the wall of the hallway, creating a crack from the impact. The large man grunted from the force you exerted as you pulled out your dagger, setting the sharp blade against his throat, his face hidden from your view due the shadow cast over him.

“You better start talking asshole. You have picked the wrong time to fuck with me.” You growled between gritted teeth, shoving him against the wall again to get him to talk. “Answer me you shit!”

“Easy kid.” The man spoke with a gruff voice, grunting from your tight hold on him. “Is this how you treat an old friend?”

The grip you had on the man loosened, your hand that held your dagger to his throat dropping down to your side as you stared at the back of the man’s head like a deer in headlights. You recognized that voice.

“Logan?”

Tag List: @girl-obsessed-with-things @aerynchromie @sunshinepower17 @viviace @kakimakiloh @thebivirgin @gambitsqueen @gambitsqueen @spookycereal-s @lulu-yuming @mochminnie @Gabitanaka47 @s00nhi @vanteguccir @tomhollandsslilslut @dracoxxyoflam @suchababie @uhhhcrypticbastard @on-my-way-to-erebor @thewinterrbucky @mylifeispainandiloveit @fillechatoyante @padmoonyfeorge @montypythonsholysnail @pollynx @aziraslowlylosestheirshit

[whump-ventures]

October 7, orange! -vic

Thank you @wildfaewhump

"Locked in by a teammate because they were paid to" from the whump scenario ask game.

CW: implied character death

~~~

“Is that everyone?”

“Yes.”

“And the charges?”

“Set. We’re the last two, they’re just waiting for us before we burn this godforsaken hellhole to the ground.”

He nods, feeling a shiver of anticipation run down his spine. He has one shot at this, and if he pulls it off, he’ll be rich. “I’ll take point.”

She nods her agreement, and he quickly moves ahead, jogging down the row of dark cells, past the bodies of guards that they killed on their way in. She keeps pace right at his shoulder, moving quickly and quietly with her hand on her gun. Their footsteps echo loudly in the now-silent cell, the alarms shut off by their teammates and the long hall only lit by the emergency lights that glow a foreboding red.

Right as they pass the last cell, he acts.

She doesn’t see him moving until it’s too late, until he has a strong grip on her arm twisting the gun out of her hand so it clatters to the floor and he can kick it far away. She lets out a cry of surprise as he shoves her back into a cell, kicking her hard in her shin to make her lose balance. He releases her as she falls, grabbing the heavy door of the cell and slamming it shut, using a key from a fallen guard to lock it as she springs back to her feet. Her fist connects with the unyielding metal as the lock clicks.

“Hey, let me out! What the hell do you think you’re doing!”

He ignores her questions, watching her ruin her hands banging and pulling on the cell doors, nearly frantic in her attempts. A smile crosses his face as she continues to snarl and yell. “Nothing personal.” He says calmly over her yelling. “You're just worth quite a lot dead. If it’s any condolence, when those charges go off, it’ll be quick.”

He turns his back and starts up the stairs, into the world aboveground. Her yells continue until they vanish in the background.

A few minutes later, the charges go off.

[beckettj]

The Huntsman

I daresay my muse for this fic has finally returned to me. It’s been hiding for a month or so but I think we’re finally back in business, meaning updates should start becoming more frequent!

Seven chapters are currently posted on AO3 and I’ll add the first chapter to this post.

Summary:  Born in a dystopian future ruled by machines, Killian Jones is a soldier in the human Resistance fighting to reclaim the world. In the past, Emma Swan is a student waitress, blissfully unaware of the coming war, and the key role that she plays in it. When the Huntsman - a cyborg assassin - is sent back in time to kill her before she can provide the hope that the future of humanity relies on, Killian travels back in time after it to protect her.

Chapter One: Combat

Resistance Headquarters, 2029

“We move out in T-minus sixty minutes! Prepare yourselves for the final battle, for tonight we finally take back our world from the machines! After tonight, we shall no longer live in fear of be hunted. We shall no longer be forced to hide ourselves away underground like rats to survive. Tomorrow, we will rebuild our world and our lives, but tonight; we fight for them!”

Sergeant Killian Jones watched from afar as Major General David Nolan rallied the troops that made up his unit. The soldiers around him cheered in response, banging against the damp metal walls which enforced the underground tunnels they all referred to as home. They were living conditions which elder members of the Resistance regularly bemoaned, torturing themselves with stories of their grand and luxurious homes before the world had fallen apart. Killian had never known such grandeur. To him, the quarters of the Resistance was luxury compared to some of the hellholes he had previously endured.

Killian turned away from Nolan and his unit in frustration. His former unit had been assigned to the assault on Dark-Knight’s central core. The ultimate assault. The one which would finally take down the rule of the machines. His own unit were sidelined, assigned an assault on a simple work camp, far away from the big fight.

He ran his thumb over the aged picture in his hand. The color was faded, the corners turning in on themselves and beginning to tear away. Despite the damage, it was in good condition given its age. He had taken good care of it. The photograph had become one of Killian’s most precious belongings; just like his brother’s ring, it went everywhere with him. He didn’t even know the woman in the photograph, at least not personally. Everyone knew of the woman who had come to be fondly referred to as the Mother of the Resistance. She had died, before he had even been born, but she was remembered a hero. Without her, the Resistance would never have come together. Without her, the dystopian world would have been one without hope.

Many a night, he had spent staring into her green eyes, eyes which weren’t looking into the lens. It was a candid shot, one taken when she was staring into the distance, appearing deep in thought. Killian had always sensed a hint of sadness in the eyes he so regularly found himself list in, occupying many sleepless nights wondering what she was thinking of in that moment. Even resigning himself to the fact that he would never know, Killian could never bring himself to part with the photograph.

Carefully, he returned the photograph to his inner pocket then grabbed his gun off the floor beside him. A new determination surged through him as he pushed himself onto his feet. The Mother of the Resistance had been a woman of action. Everything she had accomplished with her life had led up to the upcoming Final Battle. He refused to sit on the side lines for it. He stalked over to Nolan who was helping to hand out plasma ammunition to those in his unit who needed extra. Killian reached out to take the one in Nolan’s hand but the Major General caught sight of him, pulling his hand back before Killian could get hold of the ammunition.

“Jones. This isn’t your unit anymore,” Nolan reminded him, as if Killian could forget that. He’d transferred units over two years ago. “Not your mission.”

“I want in,” Killian requested, his determination clear in his tone. “The fight is in New York. Not here.”

“It’s not my call,” Nolan sighed regrettably, an understanding look on his face. He knew Killian. The younger man had been a teenager when he had first joined his unit. David had watched him grow from a teenager angry at the world into a young man who used his experiences to shape himself into the skilled solider which earned him his position in the General’s Tech-Com unit. Killian wasn’t one to back down from a fight and David wasn’t surprised to find him frustrated at being left out of the main assault. “You’ll have to take it up with the General.”

Questioning the General’s decision was not a typical occurrence amongst members of the Resistance. The General was a living legend. She had built the Resistance up from nothing, encouraging survivors of the nuclear blasts to rise up against the machines. She had provided hope for the future when the human race had needed it most. Somehow, she seemed to know everything she needed to know about the machines and key moments in the fight against them. There were whispers amongst the Resistance that she was some kind of prophet. Everything she ever said would happen had come to pass. She had certainly earned the right not to have her decisions questioned.

Killian, however, had never been too good with authority and he wasn’t prepared to miss out on the biggest fight in Resistance history. His own relationship with the General was a different one to that of his peers. She had once saved his life back when he was a teenager, taking him under her wing and becoming a mentor figure in his life when he needed it most. Over the years, he had come to know her well and, despite her possessing the highest rank in the Resistance, he wasn’t afraid to question her.

He knew exactly where she was. It was well known that the General had a few words to say before the units dispersed for the Final Battle. He marched down the narrow corridor, happening across the General at a junction where two tunnels met.

“Ma’am,” he greeted her with a respectful nod, one she returned with a small smile before she turned and started heading for the briefing room. Killian followed after her. “Request to join Major General Nolan’s one-hundred-and-thirty-second unit on the New York offensive.”

The General didn’t even take a moment to consider his request. “No can do. I need you with me, Jones,” she turned his request down without a second thought.

“This is the complete destruction of Dark-Knight that we’re talking about here, Ma’am,” Killian felt the need to remind her. Weirdly and extremely frustratingly, she didn’t seem to appreciate that fact. “I need to see it succeed.”

“The New York units will succeed. The machines will fall tonight.” General Swan assured him. Her confidence was so high it sounded like she was talking in facts. “I can assure you, Jones, you won’t be doing nothing. The assault here in Maine is just as important. More so, I’d argue.”

Killian stared at her, momentarily questioning just how terrible the Resistance’s luck was for their General to lose her mind on the eve of the final battle. “How the bloody hell can anything be more important than destroying Dark-Knight’s central core?” He challenged her, all formalities disintegrating in his growing frustration.

The General stopped in her tracks in the narrow corridor, turning to face him. She wasn’t a stranger to his frustrated outbursts but she didn’t need it to be overheard by any of the soldiers who had already gathered within the briefing room.

At her sudden half Killian appeared to catch himself and sighed, “I just can’t understand why you’re leading an assault on a work camp tonight of all nights. Shouldn’t we be focusing all our forces on the central core in New York?”

“Because that work camp is camouflage,” the General revealed. “Dark-Knight thinks it is a step ahead of us. It has a contingency plan. A final weapon. One it will deploy when it realises that it has lost. The weapon is its final chance to ensure its survival. It’s a deadly weapon which could destroy everything the Resistance has fought so hard for. We have to take it tonight or the victory in New York will be for nothing.”

The General sure did have a knack for motivational speeches. “Then we take it,” Killian agreed, accepting his role in her plan. Major General Nolan and his unit would be leaving for New York without him. His place was in Maine. “And we ensure the world is rid of Dark-Knight once and for all.”

His resolute statement was received with an absent-minded nod from the General. “I’ve never had the chance to thank you, Jones, for everything,” she told him.

“Me?” Killian scoffed, shaking his head. “You’re the one who should – and will – be on the receiving end of all the appreciation. You inspired hope in the darkest of times and tonight, you’ll lead us to victory. Because of you, we all have a future.”

The General dropped her head, breaking eye contact with him.

“I don’t know about you but I sure as hell am going to use mine to honor the loss of all those I lost along the way,” Killian told her, subconsciously running his thumb over his brother’s ring. “To get through the cold nights, Liam and I use to come up with plans which seemed unfathomable at the time. Our father always told us about a lake house his grandparents once owned. He described this amazing feeling he used to get out on the lake. Liam and I used to talk about experiencing that feeling. So once this is done, and Dark-Knight is a thing of history, I’m finding myself a lake house and a boat, even if I have to build both from scratch.”

He gave her plenty to respond to, even the chance for her to dive into her own plans for the world after the defeat of the machines, but the General had no response. They fell into a strange, sudden silence, bringing Killian’s attention to the noise resounding out from the briefing room at the end of the corridor. During the time in which they’d been talking, the large open area had quickly been filled by Resistance members, eager to hear from the General.

In her own time, the General picked up on the buzz of anticipation radiating out of the briefing room. Absent-mindedly, she glanced down the corridor at the gathered crowd. Or rather, Killian noticed, she looked past them. It was like she wasn’t quite in the moment. Her thoughts were clearly elsewhere. She turned back to him, her blue eyes meeting his blue ones. “Before this all goes down, Killian, I need you to know, if there were any other way, I would have taken it,” she spoke, heavy with regret.

The moment the words came out of the General’s mouth, she was able to recompose herself. In an instant, she radiated that familiar confidence once more, carrying herself with purpose as she ventured down the corridor to address the gathered crowd. Killian remained stood in place, staring after her, perplexed and concerned by her words which hung ominously in the air.

A hushed silence fell among the gathered crowd when the General stepped out into the view of the Resistance fighters. All eyes were on her immediately.

“Our fight against the machines has raged on for over thirty years now. Tonight, we put an end to it!” Her opening statement earned loud cheers from the crowd. When she continued, her tone was heavily solemn. “When I look around this room, I see all the sacrifices that we have experienced, or made ourselves, to get this far. Sacrifices that we have made so that our own children and future generations will not have to experience the world that we have. So that they can have freedom and happiness. But the events of tonight and the sacrifices which fuelled them will never be forgotten. We will be remembered for refusing to back down! For rising up! And for taking back the world they tried to take from us! They failed to wipe us out! We will wipe them out!”

--

Dark-Knight Facility, Maine, 2029

Killian stood in the middle of the impromptu battle ground which was the courtyard of the Dark-Knight’s Maine work camp. Plasma shots rang out around him as he and some of his fellow soldiers held their positions of cover behind a dropped Hunter Guard. The large metal aerial autonomous machine had been blown out of the sky by the Resistance when they had first charged upon the Dark-Knight facility. Flames crept out of the destroyed machine and Killian could feel the heat radiating off the metal.

Finger hovering over the trigger of his gun, Killian briefly glanced over the immobilised Hunter Guard, laying out fire in the general direction of the enemy machines to cover himself, as he reconned the force they were up against. He dropped back down behind the Hunter Guard to report back to the soldiers around him.

“The General was right,” Killian told them, though that wasn’t new information. She had never steered them wrong before. “This isn’t just a work camp. It’s too heavily defended.”

From his rough estimations and the little he had seen, the two opposing sides appeared to boast similar numbers. In his brutally honest assessment, Killian could tell they were on the back foot. It was much easier to pierce human flesh than the metal exoskeleton casings of the various models of machines they were up against. The machines were pulling out all the stops to defend the enclosed final weapon, calling on the very early models of killing machines to protect their building. The machines had positioned themselves in a line, forming a blockade between the building and the Resistance fighters, slowing advancing and fanning out to put pressure on the soldiers.

A blue light pulsed out from the Dark-Knight facility, flooding the dimly lit battle ground with bright, almost blinding light.

“The final weapon!” Killian heard the General call out, though he couldn’t possibly see where she was. “They’re using it. We have to get to it!”

As the light died down, Killian heard a shout of pain, closely followed by a thud from the other side of the Hunter Guard. Calling out for some cover fire, he poked his head over the top of the defeated aerial machine once again.

“Smee,” Killian muttered to himself, instantly recognising the man. Resistance living conditions were small and cramped, consisting of a bed and, for the lucky few, some kind of storage unit. Walls between beds were few and far between – a luxury for higher-ranking members of the Resistance – and Killian would argue he knew his neighbor far too well.

Said neighbor lay on the dusty ground, a few feet on the opposite side of the Hunter Guard which Killian had dropped back down behind. Smee was alive, conscious but withering in pain as he grasped his right shoulder. Getting hit with a plasma ray burned.

“Maintain cover fire!” Killian ordered the soldiers around him. Smee was a sitting duck lying out there and he wasn’t going to let him die without trying to help. “Whale!” Killian called out, his eyes falling on the Resistance medic not too far behind him. The older man looked up at him and Killian beckoned him over. “Man down over this HG,” he filled him in quickly before addressing the small group of soldiers pinned behind the Hunter Guard with him. “Cover us, we’re going round. Starkey! Mullins! Flank us!”

The four emerged from behind the Hunter Guard. Killian charged towards Smee, Whale hot on his heels whilst shots rang out all around them.

“I can’t treat him here,” Whale told Killian as they reached Smee. “It’s too exposed.”

A fully operational Hunter Guard dived down out of the night sky, appearing from nowhere, reigning fire down on the soldiers providing their cover fire. “Shit!” Killian exclaimed as their cover’s attention understandably turned onto the machine above their heads. If they were exposed before, they were sitting targets with the latest development. “We need to move,” Killian agreed with Whale, firing his own gun at the approaching machines firing upon them.

In a surprising show of adrenaline, Whale pulled Smee to his feet in one movement, taking the injured man’s weight against his free shoulder as he fired his gun in his other hand.

“Starkey, help Whale!” Killian ordered, the soldier responding immediately, helping Smee whilst continuing to shoot back. Killian’s eyes darted around for much needed cover, falling on the work camp’s outhouse. He ran to it immediately, blasting the lock to pieces with a shot from his plasma gun which allowed him to kick the door open with ease.

Mullins darted inside first, his gun at the ready as the interior lights flickered on. Killian turned, pressing his back up against the wall of the outhouse and laying down cover fire as Whale, Smee and Starkey hurried over as fast as they could manage. Only once the three had gotten through the door did Killian slip in after them, slamming the door forcibly shut behind him.

Killian held the door in place, not daring to barricade it until the received the shout, “Clear!” from Mullins. The moment it came, the nearest table to him was pulled right across the door, holding it shut.

“That isn’t going to last long,” Killian pointed out to them as he turned around. “We need-”

He trailed off, staring in horror at the sight which befell him. In front of him was a metal table, surrounded by various high-tech operating equipment. On the table lay the remains of a body. At first, Killian had mistaken it for a Huntsman – one of the latest models of machines Dark-Knight had developed, and by far the most dangerous. The Huntsman was a machine, microprocessor controlled just like the rest, except it’s endoskeleton was covered in real tissue. On the outside, a Huntsman looked human. The perfect infiltration machine. The perfect killing machine. The body on the table was cut open in many areas, revealing what looked to be the same hyper-alloy combat chassis synonymous with a Huntsman. Upon closer inspection there was an obvious difference. The chest area was cut open and the metal surgically implanted in the body encased a still, lifeless heart. Huntsmen – and all Dark-Knight machines – did not have hearts.

The body on the table was human.

Killian hurried to the screen beside the operating table, pulling up details of the planned operation. “Augmentation,” he muttered as his eyes scanned over the plans on the screen. “The next step in the evolution of Dark-Knight’s machines. Take prisoners, place a chip in their head and turn them into the ultimate infiltration machine.”

Thud.

The door shuddered as it just about managed to withstand the blast of a machine’s gun. The sudden noise brought the Resistance soldiers’ attention back to their more pressing issue at the time.

“That door is not going to hold much longer,” Killian commented warningly.

“This door’s jammed,” Starkey added from his failed attempts to pull open what looked to be a back door to the outhouse building.

“Scavenge what you can from that pile of spare parts,” Killian instructed Mullins and Starkey, pointing to a heap of machine parts in the corner of the room. Even from the other side of the room, he could spot some weapons in amongst the pile. “They must work if they were going to use them.”

Thud.

The door looked close to caving.

“You should have just left me,” Smee muttered as Whale hurriedly worked away at his shoulder, placing a pack on it.

“Never going to happen, mate,” Killian responded as he took up position at the door, bracing himself for its imminent destruction. “Until this war is over, you’re stuck with me. Like it or not.”

Thud.

The blast impacted against the door, blowing a large hole in it. Killian found himself face to face with a machine, staring into its lifeless bright red eyes. Killian’s lone shot did very little to indent the machine’s exoskeleton as, as the machine raised its own gun, Killian stood his ground, accepting the inevitable result and defiantly staring down the barrel of its gun.

He waited, expecting to hear the sound of the click of a trigger before the end. Instead, there was a whirr of machinery, the haunting red eyes disintegrated and the machine collapsed to the floor. Killian had to do a double take as all the machines gathered behind it endured the same fate.

“New York unit reporting in.” Killian recognised Major General Nolan’s voice over the comms. “Dark-Knight’s central core has been taken. I repeat, Dark-Knight’s central core has been destroyed.”

Killian stepped over the lifeless exoskeleton of the machine which had been moments from killing him. He could hardly believe what he was seeing or hearing. The machines had ruled the world for more than thirty years and, suddenly, almost unceremoniously, they were gone. Victory was a weird feeling in the circumstances. It felt almost dream-like and he had a feeling it would take a bit of time to sink in.

Emerging back out into the fresh air, Killian’s eyes fell on the Dark-Knight facility building from which the blue pulsing light had erupted from only a few minutes ago. “What the bloody hell was that light?” Killian questioned. For a final weapon, it had appeared to be pretty damn useless, not that he was complaining.

“The final weapon,” the General reiterated again, letting out a resigned sigh, as she made her presence known from behind him. “They used it just in time. This is far from over.”

[nothing-but-dreamy]

ON THE EDGE ~ Pt. 2

Characters: Gavin Reed x fem!Reader; Connor; Hank Anderson;

Warnings: cursing

Words: 2.643

Two days later, yn was back in the DPD. After a quick talk with Gavin and greeting Hank and Connor on her way, she sat in the glass office of Fowler. She was always good with her Captain. There was barely a problem between them. And yet, she was nervous in the way Captain Fowler skimmed through her file. His serious expression made it impossible for her to read him. She could feel Gavin's eyes burning on her back. Beside herself, he was the next in the row of the most nervous people.

"It's good to have you back, yn.", Fowler said and gained her attention back.

"Thanks, Sir. I'm also happy to be back. I've missed this beautiful hellhole."

"I have all the results and I have to admit, everything looks pretty perfect. The test results of your shooting training are amazing and the doc report gives you a go. Then, there's nothing else for me to do than to give you your weapon and badge back. Welcome home.", Fowler said proudly and handed her the mentioned things.

"Thank you, Sir.", yn stood up and took her gun, she had missed the feeling of the typical weight, and the badge. The shiny golden badge was her pride and joy. A sign of her hard work.

As yn took the badge, Fowler held the other side in his hand and waited for yn to look at him, "But, keep it slow. Get to know the new cases. There are some. And look after yourself."

"Of course, Sir.", yn promised and then, she took the badge into her hand. Finally, she was back in the game. Yn left the office and stepped into the middle of the room to raise her badge in the air like a trophy. Everyone was clapping and cheering with applause.

**

Like Captain Fowler had advised, yn took it slow. She returned to her desk opposite Gavin’s. Her desk. The small island in the middle of the DPD where she had her place among all the tough guys. The day after she got her badge back, she sat at her desk, studying some file about a Red Ice case as someone placed something in front of her. It was a small flower pot with a smiling face on it. A small green plant grew out of it.

Yn smiled broadly as she saw this small gift and looked up to see Connor standing next to her desk with a soft smile, “What’s that?”, she asked.

“I saw it this morning on my way to work and thought about you. The smile matches yours. It’s a small welcome back gift.”, Connor explained proudly.

“Oh, thank you. That’s so cute of you! I really like that. This desk missed something green and joyful.”, yn said and took the small flower pot carefully in her hands to take a closer look. Proudly, she raised the plant up to show it to Gavin, “Look, Gavin, what I’ve just got! Isn’t that cute?”

Gavin looked at her sparkling eyes and the broad smile but all he could do was to shoot her a small acknowledging nod, “Yeah, wonderful. I’ll get some coffee.”, he said and stood up.

Yn looked surprised at Gavin who just walked away with a sullen expression. She frowned, wondering at what it was that seemed to have bugged him this time. But then, she just shrugged her shoulders and turned back to Connor who was happy to see her smiling about his gift.

On his way to the kitchen, Gavin threw the greeting card into the next trash bin. Gavin had brought it the day before as he thought it would be a nice idea to give her something for her return but unfortunately, he had no better idea than this card. Since he had entered the DPD, he had searched for the right moment to give her the card. He even had written something in it, it was a quote from one of her most favourite movies. And then, the android had thwarted his plans. There was no way his silly card could keep up with the small plant Connor had given her.

The longer the coffee needed to be done, the more anger rose inside of him. Gavin clenched his fists until his knuckles turned white. He had been cool with the android because he had to but this move brought his anger against Connor back. As the coffee was done, Gavin took the cup, turned around and walked through the kitchen. On his way, a young officer bumped into him and let his files fall because of the impact.

“Watch it, stupid prick!”, Gavin grunted angrily.

“S-sorry, Detective.”, the officer said, totally scared and gathered the papers from the ground with shaking hands. Gavin glared at him angrily before he left the kitchen.

“Was that really necessary? You frightened him to death.”, yn asked, crossed her arms and watched her partner sitting down.

“Yes! Now, he knows where his place is!”, Gavin grunted angrily.

Yn looked at him with raised brows. Most of the time, such an outburst was triggered by other things than just a newby who ran into him, “Wow, you’re in a bad mood. What’s the matter?”

“Nothing. Everything’s fucking wonderful! If my mood is bothering you then, why don’t you go somewhere else? No, wait. I'll go. I need some air anyway!”, Gavin said with a fiery glance, stood up, grabbed his jacket and left the DPD without another word.

Shocked and slightly taken aback, yn looked after Gavin.

*

Yn studied some of Gavin’s open files to get back on track with the work. There was one case of prostitution but it was nothing too severe. It was just a girl who tried to come buy in these tough times with all the unemployment. She would be still there later. There was one file that caught yn’s attention. It was a statement from a junky who had snitched on his dealer to get off the hook. As yn read the statement, the name of the dealer: Joseph ‘the Joker’ was so stupid and silly that it burnt itself into her mind.

But the name rang something in the back of her head. Yn searched on her desk, plastered with different files, to find the one case file she had read half an hour before. As she skimmed through the papers, she found the same name, Joseph ‘the Joker’, mentioned again. It was an older statement but yn was sure that these cases had a connection.

“Gavin, where the hell are you?”, yn cursed annoyed. For hours, her partner was MIA. She had tried to call him several times but he never answered. All the messages she sent stayed unanswered. But yn needed someone to talk about the discovery she had made and to get a second thought about it. She let her eyes roam through the office randomly until her eyes landed on the other side of the room. She spotted one very helpful person for such a case.

“Hank, can you look at something?”

“Of course. What is it?”, Hank asked interested. Connor also stood up from his seat and joined them.

Yn sat on top of the free desk with the files in her hand. She gnawed on her lower lip. Somehow, it felt like betrayal that she was discussing this with Hank and Connor instead of Gavin but as she looked back, his desk was still abandoned, “I have three different files. A bunch of different statements. But in all statements, the same name gets mentioned. It’s a Red Ice dealer. I guess it’s just a small-time villain but… something tells me there might be more. Could you check that?”

Hank looked behind her at the abandoned desk and was annoyed that Gavin went away and let yn alone where she was just back after the long enforced break, “Sure, kiddo. Let me see what you have.”

Thirty minutes later, Hank looked up from the files, “You know what, you’re right. This Joseph is some dealer but his district seems to be very small. And I don't think he's the type of guy who's able to 'play' boss. He gets his stuff from someone. Wait a moment, I might have a statement about this guy, too."

"Does Gavin know about the connection?", Connor asked but as yn was about to answer, a loud voice caught all their attention. It was the hooker yn had seen in one of the other case files. Chris walked beside her to bring the woman in chains into a cell.

Yn jumped from Hank's desk as she saw Gavin walking right behind the couple, aiming for his desk. First, yn was mad, he had gone far too long without a word, then she saw his face and hurried over to him, "What the hell happened to you?", she asked, concerned and surprised as she saw the bloody lip and the red color on his cheek, maybe from a slap. Yn guided his chin more into the light to have a better look at his face.

Gavin moved his head out of her grip, "It's nothing. This hooker was a bit … rough as I tried to arrest her."

"You bastard! You tricked me! First, all flirty and then- bang! Some silver!", the prostitute yelled. Chris struggled to keep hold of her as she was about to jump at Gavin.

"Chris, lock her up for fuck saken! And throw the key away!", Gavin yelled and finally, Chris moved her through the DPD. Gavin slumped down on his chair, taking a file to note something.

Yn stood next to his desk with crossed arms, tapping with one foot, "So, wanna talk about this?"

"About what? That I do my job?", Gavin asked and looked up. He saw her glance and felt guilty but then, his eyes landed on Connor and the former anger was back.

"We're partners! You could have answered a call or at least, one fucking message-"

Gavin shot up and stared down at yn who didn't seem to be impressed at all. That was something he liked on her the most, that she never backed off of him, "Sorry, mom! I was busy, okay? Now, excuse me, I have some paperwork to do."

Once again, yn was surprised about this kind of outburst. She stared after him. A sad feeling spreaded through her. During her recovery, all she wanted was to go back to Gavin. To work with him. Now, as she was back, he seemed to be on the edge all the time. She wasn’t sure if it was her fault, that it was still because of the shooting or … if there was something else that Gavin bothered.

"Yn?", a soft, smooth voice pulled her out of her thoughts. Connor stood next to her and offered her a bunch of case files, "Your files. Hank added his one. Is everything alright?", he asked as he saw her glance.

"Yeah, yeah, everything's fucking wonderful. Thanks for the files...and for the help.", yn said and went back to her own desk.

Gavin left the cell area and watched the interaction between yn and Connor. Ice cold anger and fiery rage shot through his veins again. But he knew, he was his own worst enemy. Like always.

As Gavin saw yn sitting at her desk, studying some files, he felt like shit for treating her like this. Of all the people, yn was the last one who deserved his temper tantrums just because he couldn't be honest about his...

He had two options: one, he could tell her the truth or two, he would pull himself together. At the moment, option two was the only thing Gavin had. So, he had to make up for his latest behavior as best as he could.

Yn studied the file Hank had given her. She read the second statement from a guy who said 'Joseph the Joker is ticking drugs in Liberty park' and so on. Obviously, the junky had been on drugs as he had made his statement because yn had to read the same paragraph for the third time to understand what the guy wanted to say. She just started the fourth try as a cup of coffee appeared slowly in her field of view. A well known, tanned hand shoved the cup in front of her.

Without a word, Gavin walked to his own desk to sit down opposite of her. He had seen her observing glance and the one raised brow but she stayed silent. He knew her well enough to know that she tried to ignore him as a punishment. So, he did something he barely does, "I'm sorry for yelling at you. And I'm sorry for not answering the calls and messages. And for...leaving you alone.", Gavin said softly.

Slowly, and somehow disbelieving, yn raised her head to look at her partner. She blinked several times. A soft, lopsided smirk played on Gavin's lips and his green eyes, rimmed by dark shadows, were looking hopefully at her. Yn leant back in her chair and crossed her arms, "Alright, who are you and where's my partner?"

"I'm serious!", Gavin said but still with a smile.

"Me too! Gavin Reed never apologizes. What did he say once? Oh, yeah: "Apologies are for chickens…". And I have seen enough movies to know what is going on. So, tell me, alien from outer space, where's my partner?"

"Okay, I get it. You're mad.", he said and leant back.

"Yes, I'm mad. Just like that, you storm out of here without a word to do- what? Arresting this hooker? I read her file. There's nothing important in her case. Is it because of me? Did I do something wrong? Because, somehow I get the feeling that all this bad-vibe-thing from you is related to me."

Gavin felt how all the color drained slowly from his face. He feared she would notice something but not that fast, "No! No, it was not because of you. Look, this...girl was getting on my nerves, okay? Yes, the case is simple and I guess we let her go anyway but…", Gavin stopped and waited. He didn't need to wait long to get the reaction he hoped for. The sign that she was distracted with his lame excuse.

"But, what?", yn asked impatiently.

"During the last weeks, I tried to arrest her three or four times and each time, she escaped-"

"Oh, bloody hell! It's an ego thing? Seriously?", yn asked and started to laugh.

Gavin raised his shoulders as an apology. Glad that his trick had worked out.

"You will never change, I guess.", yn said, still grinning as she looked down at the file again, "Thanks for the coffee, idiot."

"Always, shorty.", Gavin answered and grinned as he saw her face.

"Don't call me that!", yn said serious.

"Stop calling me 'idiot', then.", Gavin fired back.

"Nope. It suits you perfectly."

"Then, you have your answer.", Gavin grinned. They touched their cups with each other to seal this mini fight as over.

"How's she doing that?", Connor asked as he watched yn and Gavin talking about something before they touched their cups in a silly way. In one moment they were fighting and in the other they seemed to be fine again.

"Who is doing what?", Hank asked, slightly confused, what Connor was talking about.

"Yn and how she's acting with Reed. How long are they partners?"

"Two years, maybe a bit longer. But don't get tricked. They weren't always like this.", Hank said but he raised his hands as he already saw the next question in the android's face, "I will tell you the stories one day but not now. Come on, we have work to do."

[katsubuns]

Chapter 4

Bakugou x Reader

Masterlist in bio; warnings in Masterlist; chapter specific warnings - blood, guns, description of wounds, creepy masks, mentions of weed, alcohol... let me know if I forgot anything

Hello babies 💖 I’m back with the new chapter and this time the voting results were pretty clear... Let’s hope you made the right choice for once 😩 Also this chapter is the longest thing I’ve ever written my brain is fried holy shit.

(a/n: to vote, click the link at the end of the chapter which will take you to the survey)

//

You took a deep breath - what should you do?

You knew that no matter what you would choose, it would be dangerous. But you thought that going outside with Eijirou and Katsuki to check the cars would be the safest option. Not just because it would leave you in the company of the strongest and the smartest in the group, but also because Katsuki was your boyfriend and you felt a lot better having him by your side.

"I'll go check out the cars," you said, giving your friends the answer they were waiting for.

Everyone nodded, and for a moment, it was silent. You were all standing in the dimly lit living room, too anxious to go ahead with what you had planned to do. You knew that there was a chance not all of you would make it back, and it frightened you.

It was Shoto who broke the silence first. "Alright, let's get going. No point in just standing around." You could tell that out of everyone, he seemed the one most calm. Or at least that's what it looked like from the outside. You could imagine that inside of him, there was a torrent of emotions. He had just lost his girlfriend, after all.

He turned on the torch on his phone and started walking out of the room, followed by Hanta, who illuminated the area with his own phone. As a group, you had decided to save your phones' batteries and only use them as a source of light if absolutely necessary. You couldn't really go outside with candles considering how stormy it was, so you had to use your phones.

Unsurprisingly, the moment you left the building to walk to the cars, the icy wind almost pushed you back inside. It was ferocious, hitting your exposed face like a whip. "The weather has really taken a turn for the worse," you stated.

"Yeah, like having a killer after us wasn't bad enough already," Eiji pouted.

You grimaced. "Thanks for reminding me, just before going out into the dark."

"Don't worry, babe. I'll protect you," Katsuki reassured you, leading you down the path towards the cars.

His presence definitely helped calm you down, but the eeriness of being surrounded by a legion of trees was too strong. Especially when you thought about the killer that was on the loose. They could be lurking in the trees at this very moment, watching you, getting ready to attack - and you would have no idea.

You shone the light of your phone towards the ground, trying to create enough light so you wouldn't accidentally stumble over some loose rocks. Getting injured was the last thing you needed right now.

It was only a short walk to the cars, but it felt like a five-mile hike, considering you were emotionally and physically exhausted from hours of shock and terror. The fear inside you provided you with enough adrenaline to keep you going, but you could feel yourself growing tired. You had a look at the time on your phone and realised that it was almost midnight.

You hadn't noticed just how much time had passed already. It had felt as though two hours had passed at most, the shock of it all clearly changed your perception of time.

Part of you was glad about that, though. The quicker time passed, the sooner the sun would rise. And once the sun was back where it belonged, maybe you could end this nightmare. Walk away from this hellhole and never look back. And who knew? Maybe once the sun had risen, your friends would come back too.

Maybe by sunrise, everything would be okay again.

You decided that each of you would inspect one of the three cars you had parked down the path leading to the cabin. Your first instinct was to unlock the car you were supposed to check out. Everything inside looked normal, and you quickly tried to start the engine. You could hear the motor stutter, trying to ignite the engine but something wasn't quite right. You didn't know the first thing when it came to cars, but you did know that it wasn't working.

Frustrated you clenched your hands to fists and punched the steering wheel, accidentally triggering the horn of the car. The loud noise made you jump, and you let out a small shriek. You quickly shook off the scare you had given yourself and got out of the car. You decided to lock it despite it not working quite right.

Next, you inspected the tyres, one by one, but the result was the same - slashed. All four of them were deflated, and you knew that you wouldn't be able to go anywhere with these even if the engine was working. You walked around to the front of the car and checked the hood.

Shoto's car, which was the one you were checking over, was a relatively new model, one of those hybrid city cars. So when you tried to lift the hood, and it worked without any resistance, you knew that it had been tampered with.

While you were by no means a mechanic, you knew that newer cars had a button inside the vehicle that let you open the hood. It didn't open unless you pressed that button, but the car had been locked when you arrived, and none of the windows were broken. You moved your light from left to right, trying to find out how the hood was able to be lifted. And then you saw it. A big dent, most likely caused by a crowbar or something similarly long and sturdy.

Your immediate thought was to look at the ground around you, maybe they had dropped it, and you could use it as a weapon. You knew that it was wishful thinking, but it was worth a try. So you crouched down, shining your light around you in hopes of finding something metallic.

It was then that you realised you were inspecting the car closest to the woods. You looked up and saw nothing but darkness in front of you. In fact, it was so dark that you could barely make out the shapes of the trees and bushes. Everything was black, and the occasional glimmer of moonshine did nothing to help. If anything, all it highlighted was the fog that was so thick, it could have hidden anything even without it being as dark as it was.

You knew that dense fog and ferocious winds usually didn't co-exist - unless you were far up in the mountains like you were at this very moment. Yet another grim reminder of the predicament you were in. As if you didn't already know how far away from civilisation this place was.

A shudder went through your spine at the thought of what could be lurking inside the fog. So you decided to give up your search and instead return to the two guys standing by the other cars. You were bummed out that you couldn't find the crowbar they used to pry the hood open, but you were hoping that either Katsuki or Eiji had some good news instead.

Just after you turned around, you heard rustling behind you, followed by the cracking of a few branches. You tried to calm yourself down, reasoning with yourself that it was just an animal, that there was nothing to fear. Instead of running towards the guys as you definitely should have, you decided to slightly turn back around, shining your light into the bushes.

You had known that there was a possibility that the source of the noise wasn't a wild animal, but when that possibility became a reality, you froze on the spot. You stared at the bushes, and something was staring back at you. No, not something - more like someone.

Their face was hidden behind a mask, and you were once again reminded of how much you hated them. You disliked masks because you couldn't see what was behind them. Being unable to read the face of the person you were looking at was something deeply unsettling to you. And looking at the person in the bushes right now, proved to you once more that masks were the stuff of nightmares.

It wasn't one of those Halloween ones, not a clown one either. It wasn't anything you would see in your typical horror movie like that dude from Scream or the one with the hockey mask… what was his name again? You couldn't think straight.

All you could see was the grotesque face of a demon you knew from Japanese folklore. It was one of those masks they used in Noh theatres. You had never liked going to these traditional plays and hated when people wore them at festivals. Not just because they scared you, but also because your country's folktales could be quite gruesome and you were never much of a fan of those growing up.

You knew that this was it. You were face to face with the killer, and even though Katsuki and Eiji were close by, you knew that you wouldn't be able to escape the clutches of this monster.

Half expecting to meet your maker then and there, you closed your eyes. But there was no impact, no pain. The killer just stood there, not moving a muscle. You could see that they were holding something shiny, was that a knife?

You slowly backed away, unsure as to why they weren't attacking you. Walking backwards in the dark was more challenging than you thought, especially with the danger staring right at you. You were glad when your back collided with that of your boyfriend, the latter letting out a confused grunt.

"K-katsuki… I think the killer is…" was all you could say. To give your confusing statement more context, you pointed to where the killer was lurking in the dark. The only thing visible was the red demon mask staring right at you.

Your boyfriend pushed you behind him to shield you. You clutched his shirt, peeking at the killer from behind Katsuki's back. You could see the masked person lift one arm and even in the dark, you could tell that they were holding a gun. To say you were terrified was an understatement.

"Eiji," Katsuki suddenly said. "You there?"

"Right behind you, buddy."

Your boyfriend nodded. "Alright, on the count of three, grab y/n and run."

"What are you planning?" Eiji asked, confused.

Katsuki clicked his tongue. "Stop asking questions, I'll slow them down so you can make it back inside."

You let go of him and lightly punched him in the back. "You're stupid if you think I'll leave you behind."

"I don't want anything to happen to you," he said. "Please escape, I'll catch up to you."

You shook your head. "Not happening."

But it seemed as though the killer's patience had run thin and he stopped Katsuki's plan before you could set it in motion. Just before you could even hear the gunshot, you made the most reckless decision you had ever made.

With all the strength you could muster, you pushed Katsuki to the side, out of the bullet's way. Instead, it was you who was now in the firing line. You knew that the bullet would have hit Katsuki straight in his chest, so you didn't regret when the bullet hit you instead.

For Katsuki it would have meant almost certain death. But the way you were positioned when the bullet made its way to you resulted in a non-lethal shot. It hurt like hell, and the force of it pushed you down onto the cold hard ground, but the bullet merely hit your arm, nothing you wouldn't recover from.

"You idiot," Katsuki cried out. "Are you okay?"

But you didn't answer him. Instead, you were looking at the killer, expecting them to shoot again. But they didn’t. Instead, they were just standing there, and if you had been any closer to them, you would have seen their body shake. To your surprise, they lowered their gun and turned around, taking off into the dark forest before being swallowed up whole by the thick fog.

"They ran away!" Eiji yelled, almost stupid enough to run after them.

Katsuki grabbed his best friend's arm and held him back. "Don't be stupid, they have a gun. We need to get y/n back inside."

Your boyfriend crouched down next to you, carefully lifting you up into his arms. You could see the worry on his face, and you didn't like that at all. "I'm fine," you promised. "Stop making that face."

"You're not fine, baby. You got hit with a bullet. I… I'm sorry, I couldn't protect you."

You shook your head. "If I didn't take this bullet then you'd be dead right now. So cheer up, will you? I'll be just fine."

You could see him grit his teeth and knew immediately that he blamed himself for your injury. If he hadn't been in the firing line, then you wouldn't have had to jump in to save him. "It's not your fault," you reassured him.

He just clicked his tongue and set in motion, carefully carrying you back to the house. Eiji was walking behind you, too shocked to even think straight. When you walked inside, you saw that the electricity still wasn't back on. You groaned, your arm now hurting more than you thought it would.

Katsuki carried you into the living room and placed you onto the sofa. You could see many more candles placed around the room than before you left and quickly realised that your other friends were back already.

"Oh my god! What happened?" Mina screeched, rushing towards you. "We heard a gunshot and immediately ran back to the house."

Eiji walked towards Mina and kissed the top of her head. "I'm so glad you're alright," he whispered. "So I take it the generator was a no?"

Denki sighed. "Yep, completely busted. It was fine when we saw it on our walk earlier, but it looked like someone smashed it since. We thought we could maybe fix it, but turns out it isn't as easy as they make it look in Dead By Daylight."

You couldn't help but laugh a little, followed by a loud groan. Katsuki looked down at you. "Stay still, babe. It will just hurt more if you move around."

"No luck in the basement either then, I take it?" Eiji asked Shoto and Hanta.

Hanta shook his head. "No, the fuse box was smashed too. There were cables all over the place and some plastic on the floor. No chance we can fix that."

"Yeah, they did a thorough job at making sure we'd be without electricity. There were a bunch of candles down there, though. So we brought them up here and lit them. Still not great but better than nothing."

Mina let herself fall down onto the sofa beside you. "What about the cars?"

"None of them turn on," Eiji said. "They broke the hoods and tampered with the engines. Tyres have been slashed too. Katsuki and I have an id-"

"Shut up, dude," Katsuki suddenly interrupted his best friend.

The latter just looked at him, dumbfounded. "Why can't we tell them?"

"We have no idea if they're listening to our conversations. We can't risk that. Let's just keep it to ourselves like we discussed."

Denki raised his eyebrows. "That's pretty suspicious, Katsuki. Don't you trust us?"

"Have you already forgotten that the electricity went out immediately after we figured out that the killer left the floor plan as some sort of trap? They're either listening to us or…" Katsuki trailed off towards the end. "Anyway, rule number one - never reveal your full hand to your opponent."

"I'm pretty sure rule number one is to never split up, and we messed that one up already," Hanta quipped.

Katsuki just rolled his eyes and moved to open the zipper of your coat. "I'll need to take a look at your arm, babe. Can you move it out of the sleeve?"

You nodded and sat up a little, trying to remove your coat without moving your body too much. Unsurprisingly, freeing your healthy arm wasn't as problematic as the wounded one. When you tried to remove your right sleeve, you couldn't help but wince. Katsuki helped you as much as he could, but you could tell that he was trembling. You wondered what was going on inside his head. He never really showed what he was thinking.

"If it's too painful then I can try to cut the sleeve," he said, looking around. "We don't have scissors, but I can use this butter knife. Just takes a bit longer."

You shook your head. "It's fine. I think if you pull on the sleeve, it will come off." Katsuki did as you said, and with one swift motion, he removed the garment from your wounded limp."

"How did this happen anyway?" Mina asked.

You tried to remember the details, and you suddenly realised how odd the situation had been. "It was weird, really," you said. "I was inspecting Shoto's car, which was the one closest to the woods. I was just about to walk back to the guys when I heard rustling in the bushes. A moment later, I was looking straight at the killer."

"Oh my god," Mina gasped. "Did you see their face? Was it a really disfigured creepy guy?"

You rolled your eyes. "You're watching too many horror movies. And no… I didn't see their face. They were wearing a mask."

"What kind of mask?" Shoto asked.

You tilted your head, just about to speak up when a sharp pain made you cry out. "Sorry," Katsuki quickly said, pressing a clean tissue he had had in his pockets onto your wound. "Didn't mean to hurt you, but I need to clean the wound."

"How bad is it?" You heard Hanta ask.

Katsuki took a deep breath, clearly somewhat relieved. "It's only a graze wound," he said. "The bullet didn't enter y/n's arm, and her coat was there to soften the blow." He lifted the tissue and inspected the wound further. "It stopped bleeding already, and I don't think this needs stitches either. You were super lucky," he continued, now looking at you. "It will definitely be painful for a while, and we need to properly clean it to avoid an infection, but you'll be just fine."

"Thanks," you said, smiling at him. "I suppose none of us brought a first aid kit?"

A collective mumble went through the room, and you quickly confirmed that that was indeed the case. "It's okay," Katsuki said, unbuttoning his flannel shirt, leaving him in just his t-shirt. He took one of the butter knives and tried to cut into the fabric. Once he created a little cut, he put the knife away and used his hands to tear the garment in half. He repeated the step several times until he was left with different sized patches and strings of fabric. "It's not the best, but it will do for now," Katsuki said as he placed a patch of cloth on your wound before wrapping your arm in the makeshift bandage.

He looked at you, concerned. "How does it feel? Is it too tight? I can loosen it a bit."

"No, it's fine. It doesn't even hurt that much," you promised.

You could tell that he wasn't entirely convinced, but he nodded, tidying up the mess he had made out of his shirt.

"So the mask..." Shoto spoke up, reminding you that you had never answered his question.

You tilted your head a little and nodded. "Yeah, it was weird. It looked like one of those demon masks from folklore stories. The ones they use in Noh theatres."

"An Oni mask?" Shoto asked.

You nodded. "Yeah, it had horns and fangs… and it was painted red. That really stood out in the dark," you recalled. "It was super creepy."

"Aren't Oni masks a symbol of protection now? Like to ward off evil spirits?" Mina asked. "Doesn't make sense for a killer to wear those."

Eiji nodded. "Yeah, but we saw it too. It was definitely one of those."

"It wasn't an Oni mask," Katsuki suddenly said. "I mean, it was a demon mask, yes. But it was a Hannya one, to be precise."

"What's the difference?" You asked.

Katsuki leaned back in his seat a little and looked up at the dark ceiling. "Traditionally, Oni masks represent demons in general, mostly male demons, actually. Hannya is a specific type of demon. A demon lady, if you will. They represent jealousy."

"So the killer is a woman?" Hanta sounded as surprised as the rest of you felt.

Katsuki shook his head. "Not necessarily. Hannya masks are popular in Noh theatre which is pretty male-dominated," he explained. "In fact, women weren't allowed to practise Noh at all through pretty much all of history. So it is pretty common for men to wear this mask. Besides, from what I could see, the killer was of a male built. Quite tall and broad, but it was too dark, I could be mistaken."

"No, that's what I saw too," Eiji confirmed.

You nodded. "Same. I'm pretty sure we're dealing with a stronger than average person," you said, pausing for a moment. "I can't stop thinking about what you said, though, Katsuki. The meaning of the Hannya mask, I mean."

"I don't think it's that important, to be honest. They probably just picked a mask that looked creepy," Denki said.

Mina groaned. "But what if it isn't just a coincidence? Jealousy is usually pretty personal. Maybe the killer knows us, after all."

"Yeah, but admitting to yourself that you are jealous and then embracing it like that isn't something just anyone would do. People killing out of jealousy usually try to mask their intentions behind something else. Because jealousy is considered an ugly trait," Shoto weighed in.

Katsuki pinched the bridge of his nose. "I think apart from the mask there's something else far more important," he said. "They ran away after they injured y/n."

"Wait… what?" Shoto asked, surprised.

You nodded. "Katsuki is right, that was another weird thing. I first encountered them on my own, and they didn't draw their weapon. They were just standing there, watching me. They even let me back away from them without moving a muscle. It wasn't until I reached Katsuki and Eiji that they raised their weapon. Actually, it was after Katsuki pulled me behind him."

"Yeah, now that you say that, it was kinda strange," Eiji agreed. "They shot after Katsuki told us to run away. And they knew where they were aiming at too. If y/n hadn't pushed Katsuki out of the way… they would have definitely shot him straight in the chest."

You could feel Katsuki shudder beside you. The thought of almost dying still fresh on his mind. "The moment y/n sank to the floor, they lowered their weapon. They took off into the woods pretty much straight after. Almost as though they didn't want to harm her."

"What does that mean?" Mina asked. "So the killer knows us after all? And wants to kill everyone but her? I don't understand."

"Me neither," Katsuki admitted. "It might just have been a coincidence, but it's strange." He could feel you grow uneasy next to him and moved a little closer to your side.

"So," Shoto said. "To summarise - the killer may or may not be someone we know... Someone who might act out of jealousy and potentially wants to kill all of us except for y/n."

It made your head spin. This was all way too much and didn't make any sense. Why would anyone want to kill your friends but not you? And out of jealousy? These twelve people here were the only friends you had, so who could possibly be behind this other than some random lunatic?

"I literally don't know anyone other than you guys. I have no idea who could be behind this."

Mina gasped. "Maybe one of us is the killer."

"Don't be stupid," Katsuki said. "We've been together this entire time. None of us had the opportunity for any of those murders."

Shoto nodded. "Yeah, but maybe one of us works with the killer. Maybe they hired a hitman to take us all out except for them and y/n."

"Are you insane?" You asked him.

He just shrugged his shoulders. "We can't rule anything out at this point. Maybe you are the one who hired someone to kill us, y/n. Which is why they didn't shoot you and ran away when they accidentally hit you."

You widened your eyes in shock. "W-what? No! Why would you even say that?"

"Yeah, Shoto, what the fuck? Y/n would never do something like that," Mina protested.

Hanta raised his eyebrows. "Exactly. Also, by that logic, we're all suddenly suspicious."

"Honestly, Katsuki is the only one with a motive, and he's pretty suspicious anyway," Denki blurted out.

Katsuki growled. "Why the fuck am I suddenly suspicious? And what motive could that possibly be?"

"Dunno, dude. But lately, you rarely tag along to things, and you always seem like you dislike us all. Maybe you want y/n all to yourself."

Your boyfriend scoffed. "If I didn't like you then I wouldn't have stuck around you guys for all these years. Besides, y/n and I are in a relationship… Why would I have to kill my friends to be with her? Make that make sense."

Denki shrugged his shoulders. "Well, either way, you being so calm this entire time and acting like you're a detective is super suspicious."

"You think I've been calm? I'm terrified on the inside, but someone here needs to keep a level head. When that fucker shot y/n, I was about ready to go berserk. But that wouldn't help anyone now, would it?" Katsuki was clearly done with Denki's accusations, but the latter wasn't quite finished.

"Yeah, but how could you so calmly assess the bodies and look around to investigate? Even when you were tending to y/n's wound, you were calm and collected."

Katsuki sighed. "Again, I'm anything but calm, dunce face. One of the first things I learned at vet school was to stay calm in overwhelming situations, so I guess I just adopted that into my day to day life."

"Why would you learn something like that at vet school?" Hanta now chimed in.

You didn't understand why they were suddenly interrogating your boyfriend like this.

The blonde man glared across the room to where his friend was sitting. "I have to perform surgery on animals almost every day. I can't lose my cool or get emotional when I'm working. Getting worked up when seeing an injured puppy won't save its life. That's why we learn to stay calm. And it applies to pretty much any situation. If you break out into a frenzy, then you're more likely to fuck up."

Denki raised his eyebrows. "I wish you would have been like that during high school. You had the shortest fuse ever."

"Well, people grow up. Try it sometime. Might do you some good."

For some reason, Hanta still wasn't convinced of Katsuki's innocence. "I'm not accusing you of anything, bro. But you have an answer to almost anything. It's weird. I knew you were smart, but your brain holds too much power, it's scary."

Katsuki was just about to protest when Eiji chuckled. "Don't you remember what a shut-in Katsuki was in college? He pretty much only left our dorm room to go to lectures or the library. Boy didn't go to a single party unless y/n was there."

You could tell that your boyfriend had enough of the teasing and interrogating and you couldn't blame him. There was a killer on the loose, and instead of trying to figure out what was going on, everyone was suddenly starting to turn against each other.

You wondered how it could have come to this. You thought back to how you had all met each other and wondered if anyone in the group was screwed up enough to do this to the rest of you.

You had known Mina pretty much your entire life. Your parents had been friends, so they had introduced you two when you were babies. You had been inseparable since. When you entered high school, you had met Eiji and Hanta. The four of you became best friends pretty quickly and decided to go to college together. That's where you met the rest of your group.

Izuku and Katsuki had grown up together, similarly to you and Mina. They met Denki, Ochako and Shoto in high school and ended up at the same college as you and your friends.

By mere coincidence, Katsuki and Eiji had ended up as roommates, as had Denki and Hanta. That's how the six of you had formed a bond and became a squad as Mina liked to call your group.

You and Ochako took a few classes together because you both studied Japanese. You because you dreamt of becoming a writer, Ochako because she wanted to become a teacher. You were paired for course work in your first semester and ended up becoming friends.

Ochako lived in a shared apartment off-campus with Momo, Tsu and Kyoka. Which was how they got introduced into the extended group. Izuku and Ochako had been in love with each other since high school but had never quite managed to take their relationship to the next level.

Izuku was roommates with Tenya, and because the green-haired boy was close to Ochako, the two of them had ended up as part of your group too.

Lastly, there was Shoto. He was friends with Izuku since high school, so it was only natural to add him to the group too. He and Momo had fallen in love quite quickly and had dated ever since.

You still remembered that Shoto had been the only one with a roommate that wasn't part of your group. You struggled to remember his name… Hisashi? Hira- No… It was on the tip of your tongue, but you couldn't quite recall it. You already knew that it would be driving you crazy until you eventually remembered.

You had always thought the guy was a bit weird. Super quiet and always looking tired. Shoto had once said that he was convinced he never slept at all. He had taken a lot of the same courses as you and after graduation actually ended up working at the same company as you. The fact that you were colleagues made it even worse that you couldn't recall his name.

You remembered Mina teasing you that he had a crush on you all throughout college and only ended up at the same company so he could continue stalking you. It was just a joke, but it made you uncomfortable either way.

A loud slap made you break out of your little bubble. You looked up and tried to find the source of the noise. It had been caused by Mina, her hand still raised. You followed her gaze and saw Denki holding his cheek. "What the fuck was that for?"

Mina was fuming. "You literally just admitted that the website was ' kinda creepy', but you ended up booking the cabin anyway."

He what? You cursed yourself for spacing out like that. This definitely wasn't the time for you to reminisce about your college times. "I spaced out a bit," you admitted. "What happened?"

"Mister 'I'll-accuse-Katsuki-of-being-the-bad-guy-while-I'm-actually-the-most-suspicious-one-here' just admitted that the website he found the cabin on wasn't as 'legit' looking as he first said it was," Mina explained.

"What the fuck?" You said, looking at Denki.

The latter just scratched his head. "Look, the website was just fine… I guess now that I think about it more, there was just one weird thing."

"And what would that be?" Katsuki asked.

Denki gulped. "Well… on the landing page, there were two buttons for booking the cabin. One said 'prey' the other said 'hunters'."

"Oh my god, Denki! And you didn't question that at all?" Eiji barked.

The latter just shrugged his shoulders. "I thought because this is deep in the mountains, the hunter button was for everyone who comes here to hunt wild animals. You know, because they need a licence. So I thought their booking would be slightly different."

"And the word 'prey' didn't alarm you at all, huh?" Katsuki asked.

"Honestly, I just thought it was a joke. Like 'if you're not a hunter than you're just prey'," Denki explained.

Katsuki rubbed his temples. "That's neither funny nor does it make any sense."

"So basically, it looks like whoever built this house, rents it out to people who act as the prey and someone who acts as the hunter? Like we try to survive this while being hunted down by some lunatic?" Shoto said. "That's fucked up. I wonder if anyone was ever dumb enough to book this cabin as prey. But then again… they would have probably read the fucking small print and realised that this was one big game."

You couldn't help but sob loudly. This whole situation got messier with every second that was passing. You just wanted to go home and wake up from this nightmare.

"I'm sorry, guys," Denki said, looking down. "I would have never thought this would even be a thing, you know? Like there was a waiver form I had to sign and everything. So I assumed it was all normal."

"A waiver form?" You asked. "Like as in, we can't make any claims if something were to happen to us?"

Denki looked to the side. "I dunno… I didn't really read it. It was a lot of text, and I thought those forms are usually there to protect the buyer, so I just signed it."

"No, you dimwit. Those are there to protect the one selling the goods or service," Katsuki snarled. "You really are the dumbest person I have ever met. How do you even manage to breathe without assistance?"

Denki pouted. "I said, I'm sorry. What else do you want me to do?"

Eiji sighed. "Well, no use in being sorry now. It is what it is, and if we ever make it out of here, you will have to live with this guilt, dude. For now, we need to calm down. If all of this is true, then at least we somewhat know what we're up against now."

"Something still doesn't make sense, though," Katsuki said. "If this person is just some random lunatic acting out their sick hunting fantasies, then why did they spare y/n's life? That wasn't a coincidence. I could sense their hesitation."

Mina tilted her head. "If not even we knew about this whole hunter and prey thing, then nobody we personally know could have known about this. Besides, I didn't tell anyone where we were going."

Going around the room, everyone agreed that they didn't tell anyone else about the upcoming trip. "Maybe one of the other guys told someone?" You suggested.

"I doubt it," Shoto said. "It was kind of short notice, and none of us really knew anything about this place."

"Yeah, the only one who knew was Denki," Eiji agreed. "You sure you didn't tell anyone?"

Denki thought hard. "Hanta and I might have talked about it in front of that janitor in Hanta's club," he said. "What's his name again?"

"Oh, you mean Mineta?" Hanta asked. "All we talked about was that we were making a trip. We didn't say much else. Besides, that guy is pocket-sized. There's no way it could be him if the killer is tall and broad."

Mina sighed. "So we're back at square one?"

"I guess I might have told one more person…" Denki admitted. "I kinda told my dealer about this whole thing."

You gasped. "Your dealer?"

"Yeah… I thought it would be nice to have some weed for the weekend, we haven't done that as a group in ages."

Katsuki clicked his tongue. "That's because we're not in college anymore, you idiot."

Denki ignored Katsuki's comment and continued. "I know this guy who grows his own plants, so I hit him up. We talked a bit, and I may or may not have told him about the hunter and prey joke."

"Again, that wasn't a joke," Shoto said. "Besides, do you always tell random drug dealers about your weekend plans?"

Denki scoffed. "Of course, not. We all know him, actually. Remember your college roommate, Shoto? Hitoshi? He's my guy. But he's cool, he couldn't possibly be behind this."

Hitoshi. Yes. That was the name you couldn't remember earlier. But now that you did and you added one plus one together, it just made you that much more uneasy.

Mina squeaked. "Hitoshi? As in Shinso Hitoshi? The guy that had a crush on y/n during all of college and then ended up working at the same company as her? Are you crazy? That guy is creepy as hell."

"He's not creepy at all!" Denki defended Hitoshi. "He's actually pretty chill if you get to know him. He even asked about you guys. Was wondering who would be joining the trip. I was about to invite him but realised there weren't enough beds."

Shoto buried his face in his hands. "That guy was always kinda jealous that we didn't include him in our group. And Mina is right, he did have the biggest crush on y/n. He had sketches of her and stuff like that."

"Excuse me, what?" You said while choking on air. "Why did you never mention that before?"

"Because, believe it or not, it was pretty obvious that Katsuki liked you even back in college. He wasn't as calm as he is now. If he had known that Hitoshi had this creepy crush on you, then he would have most likely beat the shit out of him," Shoto explained.

You looked at Katsuki and could see his eyebrow twitching. "Really? You already liked me back then?"

"That's not important right now."

You shook your head. "It is. I want to know."

Katsuki sighed. "Fine. Yes, I liked you then, and I love you now. So what? Point is, Shoto is right. I would have most definitely beat him up. So I guess thanks for keeping me out of trouble, or whatever."

Shoto simply nodded, acknowledging Katsuki's gratitude. "Either way, with this new information we can add him to the list of suspects," Shoto said. "The only suspect, really."

You couldn't believe any of this. It was way too much information all at once. So Hitoshi really did like you? And it wasn't just one of Mina's stupid jokes? Also, Katsuki had liked you all this time? If you had known, then you could have been with him way sooner. You knew that that wasn't important right now, but you couldn't help yourself. It was so weird to hear that two men had had a crush on you and you had been utterly oblivious to it.

"That info broke y/n," Mina said. "Girl, I kept telling you that you were popular in college. Tenya had a crush on you too. Pretty sure he still has…" she trailed off a little. “Well, had... I guess."

You widened your eyes. "No way! S-stop talking bullshit."

"Oh, he most definitely liked you, babe," Katsuki agreed with Mina. "Never noticed how he looked at you? And he always tried to reassure you too. Like earlier when you found the meat hook, and he said not to wo-" Katsuki suddenly stopped himself.

"Katsuki? What's up?" You asked.

He swallowed hard. "Tenya told you not to worry about the meat hook because this is a popular hunting area… When we asked how he knew about that, he said that Denki had mentioned it before. He seemed pretty awkward about it."

"Now that you mention it, that was kinda weird," Denki agreed.

Eiji scoffed. "How would he have known about the true purpose of this place? None of us knew."

"I mean, he was one of the designated drivers. So he had the address. He might have googled it ahead of the trip. You know that he always liked to plan things," Shoto said.

You felt like throwing up again. "Guys, stop. We all saw Tenya on that hook… He got killed just like the rest of our friends. He clearly isn't the suspect here."

"Yeah, but did we really see that it was him, though? It could have been another body with his clothes on. Or maybe it was just a doll," Hanta threw in.

You shook your head. "I… I'm pretty sure I saw him twitch. That definitely was a real person. And he had Tenya's stature too, not just the clothes and glasses," you said. "Please… let's focus on something that actually makes sens-" you interrupted yourself with a wince.

"You okay?" Katsuki immediately asked you.

You shook your head. "No, my arm kinda hurts again."

You moved a little to give Katsuki a better view, and he could see that the wound had started bleeding again. "Don't freak out, but there's fresh blood. I guess just drying it and using some makeshift bandages didn't do enough to take care of it."

He looked around the room and sighed. "I'll need to get some water and clean towels. Some paper towels too." He was about to get up when you held him back.

"No… Please, I don't want you to leave."

Shoto stood up from his chair and walked towards the office that led through the hallway to the kitchen. "I'm pretty sure there were towels in the kitchen. I'll get those and a bowl of water."

Hanta sighed. "I'll come with you, don't go alone, that's suicide."

"I'll come too," Denki said.

Before you could protest any further, the three men had left to go to the kitchen. You were shaking in fear and pain and were too scared to even speak up. The four of you were quiet, listening to every little noise. But there was nothing out of the ordinary.

Katsuki leaned down towards you, and his breath tickled your ear. "Don't worry, baby. If this killer really is someone who wants to spare you, then they won't harm the guys right now. They're trying to get something to help you, after all."

He was most likely right, but that didn't make it any less scary. Was there really someone out there willing to kill just to have you to themselves? You couldn't quite believe that to be the case. But then you thought back to the mask they were wearing. The Hannya mask - a symbol of jealousy. It all made sense somehow. You still had so many questions, though, and you felt like you would never find answers to most of them.

Luckily, it didn't take long for the guys to return. They handed Katsuki what he had been after, and your boyfriend hurried to unwrap and clean your wound. You couldn't help but feel as though something had happened in the kitchen that the three men weren't telling you about.

"Did something happen?" You asked.

Your friends just looked at each other for a moment. "Y-yeah we realised that the alcohol we brought with us was still in the fridge, so we brought it with us," Hanta said. "I think we could all do with a little drink."

As if to prove a point, he opened the bottle. Even in the dim light, you could tell that is hand was shaking. "Guys, seriously," you said, more firm this time. "What happened?"

They shared another glance before Shoto finally caved with a loud sigh. "When we looked out of the window… the meat hook…" he stopped for a second to take a deep breath like he was mentally preparing himself for something. "Tenya wasn't there anymore."

Everyone looked at him, then to the other two men and back. "What the fuck?" Mina gasped.

"The light the killer hard turned on earlier was gone now, so we couldn't see much… But there definitely wasn't anything hanging from that hook," Hanta confirmed taking a big swig from the bottle he was holding.

You watched your friends pass around the alcohol they had brought from the kitchen. Mina and Eiji were sharing a bottle of what looked like Whiskey with Denki. You knew that Mina hated any alcoholic drink that didn't taste of tropical paradise, so you were surprised to see her taking a big sip.

Hanta and Shoto had a bottle each. You didn't know what exactly it was, but you could only assume that it was something strong. Hanta was holding the bottle out to you, telling you to share it with Katsuki.

"I'm not drinking anything," Katsuki said. "I don't think I have to tell you that this is a stupid idea. We need to have a clear head."

"We just have a little bit," Denki said. "To take the edge off."

Hanta was still holding the bottle out to you. "Take this, I'll share the other one with Shoto. If you don't, then I might drink it all myself," he joked.

You would have lied if you said that you weren't desperate for a drink. Not just to 'take the edge off' as Denki had called it, but also to help numb the pain in your arm.

At the same time, however, you knew that drinking was a bad idea right now, even if it was just a little bit. You thought that maybe none of you should drink anything, but you couldn't really tell your friends what to do either.

You looked at the bottle in front of you, what should you do?

**

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[theladyofdeath]

In the Bleak Midwinter {18}

A Throne of Glass Period AU: 1920s.

Summary: 2 years after Arobynn Hammel is killed by Rowan Whitethorn, Maeve has returned from Eyllwe with a vengeance. Meanwhile, Rowan is getting married, Lorcan is a father, and Lysandra is finally ready to give her heart away. There’s been peace in The Cadre’s Orynth for 2 years, but peace never lasts.

A/N: Oooooooooh boy.

All characters belong to SJM. I am no more than a fan with a plot.

**Warning: mature content - language, alcohol use, drug use, sex, murders and shit.

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The Cadre - 1920s AU {TOG}

In the Bleak Midwinter {The Cadre, Part 2}

Rowan rode in the back of the car, right next to Cairn. He hated it, knowing full well he wanted to lash out and kill Cairn on the spot, but also knowing it would bring harm to Aelin. 

For the entirety of the ride, Rowan didn’t say a word, no matter how bad he wanted to. Cairn kept looking at him, tauntingly.

“Where’s my wife?” Rowan asked, quietly.

Cairn spun Rowan’s pistol around his finger, having already stripped him of his weapons. 

“Don’t make me ask again,” Rowan asked, in a deadly calm. 

“She’s alive,” Cairn answered, simply. 

“And unharmed?” Rowan asked, staring at his gun in Cairn’s massive, scarred hand. 

Cairn met Rowan’s gaze. “She was when I left, but that was a few hours ago. A lot can happen in the span of a few hours.” 

Rowan’s shoulders tensed, but he didn’t push. He was caught somewhere between wanting to grab his gun back from Cairn and putting a bullet through his head and saying fuck the consequences or sitting still, complying to the demands he was given, and probably getting shot by the end of the night.

At least, if Rowan got shot, his family would be safe. 

At least, that was the theory. 

Rowan opened his mouth to make a retort, but Cairn cut him off. “Say one more thing, and I’ll kill you with your own fucking gun. How tragic would that be?” 

Rowan’s lips snapped shut, but the look in his eyes was worth a thousand words. 

He hated this, every moment of it. Although grateful Lucy was home with Lorcan, Maeve still had his wife, his unborn child, and every chance he had to kill one of Maeve’s men and he couldn’t, didn’t, it drove him mad. 

They eventually pulled up to a home, quite a ways from Orynth’s border. They must not have cared that Rowan was seeing it now.

Considering he wouldn’t be leaving it alive to retell the tale. 

Rowan didn’t put up a fight as Cairn opened the door, ordering him out. In fact, he was quite cordial as he followed Maeve’s first in command into the old manor. Rowan didn’t know what he had been expecting, considering the landscaping wasn’t in horrible condition, but to find every piece of furniture covered in white sheets as if the owner was on an extended-holiday was not it. 

He tried not to look too intrigued, though, as he followed Cairn through the hallways, then through the door that led down to the kitchens. 

It was freezing, and the entire place was covered in webs as if no one had bothered to dust down there in a while. Rowan tried to keep his eyes open, trying to look for any sign that Aelin had been through there, but he was only met with a stone floor, and stone walls. They walked past the kitchen, further down the hall, where no windows let in any sort of light.

Candelabras lined the walls, though, which only made Rowan nauseous as he was reminded of some sort of medieval dungeon. 

When they came to the end of the hall, and Rowan’s heart was nearly ready to beat through his chest, they halted in front of a closed door.

Cairn knocked on it, twice, and they waited.

For a moment, nothing happened, but then it swung open, and Rowan followed Cairn inside. 

Maeve was lounging behind a massive oak desk, completely unphased by the arrival of her nephew. Instead of surprise, she was smiling at him as he entered, her eyes lit with something that made Rowan’s nausea grow worse.

“Hello, nephew,” Maeve crooned. “It’s been a while. How have you been?”

Rowan said nothing. His lips remained closed as he stared, waiting. 

“I have to admit that I feel…” she paused, trying to decide on the perfect word. “Exhilarated. I’ve been trying for this victory for so long that I almost thought it was nothing more than a dream.” 

“You haven’t won yet,” Rowan said, simply.

Maeve snorted. “I beg to differ. The second I got Aelin Galathynius into my company - spoiled little bitch, she is - I knew I had you wrapped around my finger.”

Rowan lifted his chin.

“You are mine now, nephew,” she crooned. “You will die.”

“Where is she?” Rowan breathed. 

“Here,” Maeve answered, her voice light, which only pissed Rowan off more. 

“I want to see her,” Rowan replied, keeping his voice as calm as possible. 

“That’s not possible,” Maeve replied, without any hesitation. 

“Surely if you’re going to kill me, you’re not so cruel that I can’t say goodbye,” Rowan responded. 

“And how do you know that I’m not so cruel?” Maeve asked, humored. 

Rowan’s jaw was rigid, and for a moment, he said nothing. He stared at his aunt, at the woman he had known his whole life, at the woman he’d used to live with, used to work for, and wondered how the fuck they got to where they were now. 

He blamed it all on Arobynn Hammel. 

In one fluid motion, Rowan reached down into his boot and pulled out a small, handmade bomb that Vaughan himself had constructed, He held it close to him, his fingers hovering near the pin that held it all together. 

Everyone in the room froze, Maeve’s haughty smile finally fading away. 

“I will cooperate, under one condition,” Rowan said, slowly. “Aelin goes home. Today. Now. Safely. You can take me, have me, kill me, but my wife goes free.” 

Maeve’s eyes narrowed. “And if I say no? She’s in this building, you set that off, she dies, too.”

“So do you,” Rowan responded. “And all your men.” 

“You’re bluffing,” Maeve spat.

Rowan’s grin was one to behold. “Would you like to test that theory?” 

Maeve watched him, carefully. “Vaughan made that.”

“Yes.”

Her grin reappeared, and she shook her head, slowly. “You forget that I know you all. Very, very well.” 

Rowan said nothing, unsure of where she was going, but not liking it, not one bit.

“I’ve seen many of Vaughan’s creations through the years,” Maeve went on, leaning back in her chair. “Both those that he has made to actually take lives, and those he’s made to use as a pawn.”

Rowan stayed perfectly still, perfectly calm. “Don’t test me, Maeve.”

“Don’t lie to me, nephew,” she spat. 

The second Rowan moved, the butt of his own handgun hit him in the back of the head.

He remembered nothing after that for a long, long while.

~~~~~

“You let her take him?” Lysandra’s voice boomed through the manor.

“We had no choice,” Gavriel replied, his voice low. “What Rowan wants to do, he does, it doesn’t matter what we thought-.”

“He’s in Maeve’s hellhole!” Lysandra shouted. “She’s going to kill him!” 

Aedion was standing just behind her, softly rubbing her lower back. She stepped away, not wanting comfort. 

“We’re going to work out a plan,” Gavriel followed.

“A plan,” Lysandra repeated, mockingly. “Why does that not sound promising?” 

“Way to put your faith in us,” Gavriel growled. “I understand you’re worried-.”

“Worried?” Lysandra interrupted, laughing humorlessly. They thought she’d say something else, thought she would blow up, thought she would tear them all to shreds, but she didn’t.

She just shook her head and turned her back to all of them, then walked away. 

“She’s right.” Lorcan’s voice came quietly from the corner where Lucy was sound asleep on his shoulder. “We let him go, and we shouldn’t have.”

Gavriel said nothing. Instead, he took a cigarette out of his jacket pocket, put it between his lips, and lit the tip. 

“We don’t even know where Maeve is holding them,” Fenrys said, leaning back in a chair in the dining room, his hat over his face. 

No one bothered to correct him. 

He was right. 

“Would you like to know what I think?” Natalia asked. 

All at once, they answered, “No.” 

With a scowl, she hurried out, following Lysandra. 

“I’ll go meet with Rhoe and the others,” Aedion announced. “See what we can find out. I’ll come back in a few hours to tell you what I know.”

Gavriel nodded, and Aedion was gone to tell Lysandra goodbye. 

“And what do we do?” Lorcan asked, quietly. “While we wait?”

Lorcan, Fenrys, Gavriel, and Vaughan all looked at one another, realizing that it was the first time they had ever been without Rowan, since he had been their leader. Gavriel hated to admit that he felt like he felt when they had lost Rowan’s father. But, they wouldn’t vote on a new leader, not yet.

Rowan’s fight was not finished. 

It wouldn’t be finished. 

He was going to escape, going to live, going to beat this shit. 

“We…” Gavriel began, then shook his head, taking another drag from his cigarette. After blowing out a long breath, and a puff of smoke, he continued. “Vaughan and I will go talk to our guys on the police force. Lor, you and Fen go back to the tracks and see if you can find any signs, or tracks, follow them. As soon as you have a decent lead, come back here. We’ll all meet up in a few hours and take it from there.”

There was a moment of silence, but then Fenrys asked, still beneath his hat, “And if we’re too late?” 

The room fell silent. 

It was a risk. Every moment they spent looking and finding nothing was a risk. 

A risk they had no choice but to take. 

Gavriel just shook his head. “We won’t be.”

It was a promise he couldn’t keep, but he would try to keep it if it was the last thing he did. 

He wouldn’t say the words, wouldn’t bury Rowan, who was like a younger brother to him.

The words would not fall from his lips, not if Gavriel could help it. And yet, the words wouldn’t stop replaying through his mind as he stood from the dining room table, reloaded his gun, and left the manor with Vaughan.

In the bleak midwinter.

~~~~~

Aelin had been crying for hours.

At least, it felt like hours, but she had no way of knowing how much time had truly passed. 

The moment the door to her prison opened and Rowan was tossed inside, bloody and unconscious, she had lost it.

For a while, she had tried to wake him up, to no avail. Then, once she made sure he was breathing, she just waited.

And the waiting was agonizing. 

Leaning against the wall, in the dreadful silence, she watched Rowan’s chest rise and fall. Slowly, shakily. 

His lip had been cut, his eye bruised, as if knocking him out hadn’t been good enough, the assholes under Maeve’s command had to leave their mark, too. 

Feeling completely exhausted, she crawled over to Rowan and laid down beside him on the cold, hard floor. Rowan didn’t move as Aelin laid her head on his chest, and draped an arm across his waist. 

A tear slid down her cheek, onto his jacket.

“Please wake up,” she whispered, pleaded, begged. “We need to get out of here, Ro. You, me, the baby….we need to get out of here.” 

Nothing.

She grasped the fabric of his jacket, clinging to it with all that she had. At least Lucy was safe. At least, she hoped so. When Rowan woke up, Aelin would ask.

And Rowan would wake up.

Because, if he didn’t…

No.

The thought was too excruciating.

“Ro, Ro, please, wake up,” she whispered, although she was so tired that she could hardly keep her eyes open. “I love you, sweetheart, and I need you to wake up. We can get out of this, baby, but I can’t do it alone, okay?”

She could hear his heart beating beneath her ear, through the layers that covered his chest. 

When she received no indication of Rowan waking up, a sob tore through Aelin’s body. She closed her eyes, taking in his scent, memorizing everything she could about her husband.

If this would be their last moment alive, she would take in everything she could, hoping it went with her to the afterlife. She hated it, though. Hated that this is what she would bring into the afterlife with her.

Memories of lying together on the floor, blood streaked across Rowan’s face, him unresponsive. Aelin must have fallen asleep, and it’s exactly what she dreamt about.

Rowan, unconscious, dying, and her soon after. Then, the three of them - Rowan, her, and their daughter - walking into the afterlife. 

Their daughter looked just like her father.

Silver hair, green eyes, sun-kissed skin. She was beautiful. The most beautiful. Aelin couldn’t believe how much love she had for the little girl. 

But then she woke up, her eyes shooting open. 

A hand had moved to her lower back, and when she lifted herself up, she saw Rowan’s eyes watching her. He was exhausted, she could tell, in pain.

But he was awake. 

“Rowan.” Her voice was part whisper, part sob, part disbelief. She cupped his face as she kissed him, carefully. “I was so afraid, so worried you were….”

Her words trailed off, unable to say any of what she was actually thinking. 

“I’m okay,” Rowan said, his voice raspy, tired. He reached up with a shaky hand to brush a loose strand of hair out of her face. “I’m going to get  you out of here.”

“What-.”

“I’m going to make a deal.”

“No,” Aelin breathed. “No, unless it includes you and me walking out of these doors, together.”

Rowan eyed her for a moment, his gaze soft, before he said, “We both know that won’t happen. But, I’m going to get you out of here, Aelin. You, and the baby.”

Aelin shook her head, knowing what he was going to say next.

“I’m going to have to give myself to Maeve, Aelin, but you and the baby will be free.” 

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

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[thebookwormfairy]

Captain The Retired Police Dog Part 6 (Final)

BookwormFairy: Sorry for taking so long, but I'm here with the final part of Captain the Retired Police Dog. I just wanted to thank everyone who've read, like, reblogged, commented, and wrote their own stuff with Captain. When I first started this I had no idea how big ot would get. I will be doing more stuff with Captain, but this is the end of this story. Thank y'all so much for accepting both me and Captain into the fandom.

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

The rest of the trip was like a dream for Marinette

Every chance they got Marinette and Damian would spend time with eachother

And after Ace met Captain she would come along on all of their outings as well

Damian would take Marinette every where in Gotham

From the fashion district to the zoo Damian made sure Marinette didn't miss out on anything

They couldn't explain it, but something just clicked with them

It was like they were meant to be

Damian even met Marinette's parents

Kinda

He video chatted with them and was actually invited over during the summer

Which he whole heartedly accepted but warned the bakers that his family might "unexpectedly" show up with him.

Only to be told that they would be more then happy to meet them as well

Basically Damian took up all of Marinette's free time

Though sometimes, much to Damian's annoyance, the other batboys would come and "kidnap" Marinette and Captain and take them back to the manor.

Marinette didn't mind it so much, except when they didn't even wait for her to get back to the hotel

When the class was done touring Luxcorp, Jason rode up on his motorcycle and took Marinette and Captain

Jason picking up Marinette and grabbing Captain's leash: Hey French people I'm taking her and her dog. Bye

Ms. Bustier: Are you okay with that Marinette?

Marinette: Yeah I know him

Ms. Bustier: Okay have fun

Jason was less then impressed with the teacher's response but took the duo anyway

Another time Tim hacked into the schedule and change the bus route to drop Marinette off at Wayne Tower

Then Dick feeling left out did the responsible (and legal) way and called Marinette's parents to get their permission to take Marinette back to the manor.

Damian was not impressed with his brothers

Neither was Bruce

On the outside at least

On the inside he was so happy to see Marinette and Captain again

Captain wasn't sure how to respond to these strange new people in his and his girl's lives

After a couple of days they did grow on him

But he still didn't let Jason pet him

Mostly because Captain found the older boy's attempts hilarious

And his girl seemed to blossom in this new pack

Captain could see that the spark that he brought back into his girl's eye turn into a whole galaxy

She was almost always smiling and laughing now

To top it all off Alix and Kim finally pulled up their big kid briches and tried to reconnect with Marinette

At first Marinette was very weary of them

And Captain out right growled at them

But slowly they were able to earn Marinette's trust back

Not enough to be able to come on Marinette's adventures with her, but enough so that Marinette would seek them out when stuck with the class

And they would seek her out

Not even Lila could bring her down

And she tried

On this trip alone Lila has stolen several of Marinette's projects, tried to get her sent home with no success, has tried to get Captain detained, and has even tried to lock Marinette in several closets throughout the city, but Marinette somehow always got out.

All in all Lila was harmless

Until the last night of the trip when Lila went too far

Damian had tagged along with the class on their finally outing in Gotham

They went to a teens club somewhere near crime alley

Which is why Damian was with them

They made sure to leave the dogs with Alfred so he could take them back to the manor.

The night was going great

Marinette spent the night dancing with Damian, Alix, and Kim

But mostly Damian

Everything was perfect

So of course Lila had to open her big fat mouth

Lila: Oh yeah I've helped super heroes all over the world. I've even helped Batman put away a few rogues.

Villian kid (Edwin) near by: Oh really who?

Lila: You know all the big guys the Riddler, the Penguin, Two-Face,

Edwin: Hm, the Riddler.....

Lila: Yeah he's not so tough.

Lila continue to bad mouth the Riddler as Edwin called his dad to tell him all about this little, french goody goody who helped but him in Jail.

Riddler over the phone: What an interesting development, I wonder if she would like to play a game? *evil laugh*

Marinette slow dancing with Damian: This has been a great night

Damian: I have to agree with you there Angel. *Damian nuzzles Marinette's hair* I don't know what I'm going to do when you leave.

Marinette: I don't either, but I know I never want this to end.

Damian: Even with my annoying brothers

Marinette: Partially because of your annoying brothers. You know I'm an only child, but I always wished I had siblings, so they're like the brothers I never had.

Damian chuckling: don't let them hear you say that. You'll never get rid of them.

Marinette: Who said I would want to. Especially with how close Captain, Ace, and Titus has become. We'll have to fly out to eachother just so they can see eachother again.

Damian smirking: oh most definitely we be terrible pet owners if we didn't

Marinette catching on: You are so right. You'll be coming to Paris during the summer so I guess I'll be coming back to Gotham during the winter.

Damian pulling Marinette closer even though it didn't seem possible: That's not soon enough.

Alix: Hey love birds you do realize that the slow song ended 2 songs ago right?

Damian glared at the pink hair girl as Marinette backed up slightly blushing

Kim: I don't think they did Alix. How cute?

Damian: Yeah yeah let's go get something to drink.

As the small group made their way towards the bar

But before they could reach it chaos erupted in the club

Teenagers were running towards the exit trying to get away from something the group couldn't see

Somehow in the made dash out Marinette was separated from Alix, Kim, and Damian as they got pushed out of the club, but Marinette was pushed further in the club and gets corralled by a group of minions dressed in green

She scanned around the group of teens that were left seeing that all her classmates made it out except for Lila who was standing in the front of the group, but was trying to get behind the frightened teens

Marinette ended up standing next to her facing on of the famous rogues of Gotham the Riddler

Riddler: Hello kitties so sorry to interrupt your night out, but I heard one of you tattletells are the reason I was thrown back in that hellhole we call a prison so I'll give the little pest a chance to step up and we'll play a little game if they win you will all be let go and the pest will die, if they lose, well you all die. Either way that person dies so come on speak up or should I just kill everybody right now.

Lila without a second thought: It was her Marinette!

Marinette: What?!?!

Lila: Yeah it is all her she was the one who was bad mouthing you.

Marinette whispering to Lila: I knew you were mean Lila, but this is just pure evil

Lila smirking at Marinette: Why so shocked Dupen-Cheng? I know you, you wouldn't put innocent lives in danger so there's no way you'll deny it and this way I can get rid of you for good.

Marinette continued to glare at the evil girl as she was pulled up towards the Riddler

Riddler: Well aren't you a little cutie. Is what the loud mouth said true are you to person who helped put me in jail?

Marinette through clenched teeth: Yes

Riddler: Well here's the game goody goody I'm going to tell you a riddle and if you answer correctly we're going to play a game of Russian rullet *Riddler holds up an old revolver* you might get killed, you might not, but if you get on wrong then you get shot with this *Riddler holds up a newer hand gun* instant death. Are you ready?

Marinette trying to hide her fear: Yes

Riddler: Oh what a brave little girl. What is full of holes. But still holds water?

Marinette a little surprised by how easy the riddle was: A spongue

Riddler holding the old gun to Marinette's forehead: Correct

Riddler pulls the trigger as Marinette flinches but only a click is heard

Riddler: Well you live for another riddle. What can you break without picking it up or touching it?

Marinette: A promise

Riddler : Correct again

Riddler repeated the process and got the same result

This process continued for another 10 minutes and both Marinette and the Riddler were starting to get annoyed

Marinette because the riddles were to easy and Riddler because she wasn't dead yet

It should be impossible for her to be still alive

The gun did not have this many rounds

Riddler growling: Okay, Jim and Kate go to the zoo and get eaten by the sea lions but nobody freaks out, why?

Marinette rolling her eyes: Now you just stealing riddles from TheOdd1sout. They're both fish.

As Marinette answers she hears a loud crashing sound

Riddler and his goons look up at the noice and Marinette takes the opportunity to escape

She swiftly pulls Riddler's belt off him causing his pants to fall

She then uses the belt to knock both the guns out of his hands the wrapping the belt around of one of his hands flips over his shoulder grabs his other arm and tie them behind his back using the belt

To add insult to injury she kicks him in the back of his knees bringing him completely down

As Marinette looks up she sees the goons being tied up by Batman and his sidekicks all with shocked looks on their faces

In fact everybody was completely shocked by what Marinette just did

Though unnoticed by her Robin's shocked faced soon turned into a lovesick smile

That's his girl

Batman walking up to Marinette: Good job civilian, we'll take it from here, there are some people waiting outside for you.

Marinette: Thank you Batman

Marinette and the rest of the captured teenagers ran out of the club as soon as possible

They were so busy trying to get away from the trauma they just experienced nobody notice Robin slipping away trying to meet his Angel up front

As Marinette made it out she was bombarded by police officers and camera flashes from reporters

Gordan: Okay boys break it up I'll take this one

Gordon wrapped his arm around the young girl who reminded him of his daughter

Gordon: I know you've been through a lot tonight but can you please tell me what happened?

Marinette nodded her head going over everything that happened including what Lila said to her

Gordon was shocked by what Marinette told him both about how she took down the Riddler and how Lila basically tried to kill her

Gordon: Okay thank you, you go over to your friends while me and my officers gather more information.

Gordon pointed her towards Alix and Kim

As she runs towards her friends she was engulfed in a group hug

Marinette pulling back from the hug: Are you guys okay? You're not hurt are you? Where's Damian? Is he okay?

Kim chuckling: Classic Marinette worrying about others instead of her self

Alix: We're fine Marinette. We got out pretty quickly but we got separated from Damian in the mad rush

Marinette got a worried look on her face as she started twisting around searching for the man she loved

Damian bursting through the crowd: ANGEL!

Marinette running towards Damian: DAMI!

The young lovers ran to eachother embracing eachother in a long hug

Marinette buried her head in his chest letting out a sob as everything caught up with her.

Damian burying his face in her hair: Shh Angel everything's okay now. I'm so sorry I couldn't be there for you. I should have never let go of you

Marinette sniffling into Damian's chest: It's not your fault Damian you had no control of our separation

Damian: I still should have tried harder to stay with you.

The two stayed together refusing to let eachother go afraid that if they did so the other would be lost

They stood there for 30 minutes just hugging eachother as Kim and Alix joined them trying to cheer Marinette up

Gordon walking up to the small group: Several other people collaborated with your story. Ms. Rossi will be takened to the French embassy to be held until your classes flight back to Paris tomorrow we just need to know if you want to press charges?

Damian angry: Of course she'll want to press charges! That girl tried to have her killed!

Marinette softly: I'll handle this Damian. *Marinette turns around to face Comissioner Gordon with Damian's arms still wrapped around her* I would like to press charges Mr. Gordon this has gone on too long, I would also like to look into getting a restraining order on her.

Gordon: of course, we'll make sure that Paris police force understand what happened and your request.

Marinette: Thank you

Ms. Bustier yelling: Okay everybody time to head back to the hotel.

Gordon: Wait one moment Miss but Ms. Rossi is going to be retained at the French embassy for attempted manslaughter of Ms. Dupen-Cheng

Alya: What? Is that what Marinette told you? You shouldn't listen to her she's nothing but a liar.

Gordon: Actually we're doing that not only on Ms. Dupen-Cheng's testimony of events but several other witnesses who heard and saw Ms. Rossi threaten and admit she was trying to get Marinette killed and we also have video from the security cameras showing the same thing. Boys take her away!

Lila most certainly did not go quietly she was yelling all the way to the police cruiser threatening that as soon as she was back in Paris she will be Akumatize and finish the job that Riddler couldn't

Marinette watched terrified as Lila was taken away knowing very well that she would keep her promise if given the chance

Damian tightened his hold on Marinette trying to comfort her: Dont worry Angel I won't let her do anything to you

Marinette pressed herself to Damian trying to get as much comfort from him as possible.

Ms. Bustier grabbing Marinette's arm: Come on Marinette it's time to go.

Marinette looked over at her classmates seeing the murderous glares directed towards her from some of Lila's more dedicated followers

Marinette: I don't want to go back to the hotel Ms. Bustier

Ms. Bustier sighing: Please don't be difficult Marinette. You've already caused enough trouble tonight just get on the bus before you ruin the night for everybody else

Damian: EXCUSE ME! ARE YOU-

Marinette: I'VE CAUSED ENOUGH PROBLEMS?!?!? ALL I'VE BEEN TRYING TO DO IS NOT CAUSE PROBLEMS!! AND IT'S NEVER ENOUGH! WELL I'M TIRED OF BEING YOUR PERFECT EXAMPLE! DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH PRESSURE THAT PUTS ON MY SHOULDERS! IT'S YOUR JOB TO TEACH YOUR STUDENTS TO BE BETTER PEOPLE NOT MINE! AS SOON AS WE'RE BACK IN PARIS I'M DONE! I'M TRANSFERING FROM YOU CLASS HELL I'M GOING TO TRANSFER TO A DIFFERENT SCHOOL IF I CAN BECAUSE I AM SO DONE! I'M DONE WITH THE BULLYING, I'M DONE WITH THE PRESSURE, AND MOST OF ALL I'M DONE WITH YOUR PACIFIST BULLSHIT!

Marinette was huffing from her outburst finally letting everything out after such a long time.

Marinette could her some clapping throughout the crowd but ignored it turning her attention to Damian.

Marinette: Do you mind if I stay at the Manor tonight?

Damian: Of course Marinette let me call Alfred to come get us and I'll escort you to your hotel room so you can gather your stuff

Marinette: Thank you

After a couple of minutes not only did Alfred show up, but so does Tim, Jason, and Dick

All ready to to kick ass and take names of anybody who even dare look at her the wrong way.

When they got to the hotel they surrounded her like a wall blocking her from reporters and classmates

Marinette gathered her stuff as fast as she could thanking herself for being smart and packing ahead of time

Once they got back to the Manor Captain tackled Marinette

Licking and cuddling into her trying to comfort his girl

He couldn't believe he let her be put in so much danger

He should have never let her out of his sight while is such a dangerous city

Captain let out a whimper trying to convey how sorry he was

Marinette: It's okay Captain I'm fine, I'm safe and everything is going to be fine better than before even.

Captain still stayed close to her side

Titus and Ace did also sensing the distress rolling of the girl followed her

As Marinette slipped into the bathroom she was finally able to comfort and thank Tikki for saving her life by using her power to make sure the bullet never got shot

And also promised to slip some cookies to her as soon as she could

After getting a good hug from each of the Wayne's and Marinette grabbing some cookies for Tikki she made her way to her guest room just wanting this night to be over.

When the Batfam was sure Marinette was in for the night they made their way down to the batcave to discuss what happened

Damian: Father if you think I'm going to let Marinette out of my sight after what happened tonight you're crazy

Bruce: Think this through Damian smothering isn't going to make her any safer it's just going to make her resent you.

Jason: I dont like it anymore than you do Demon Spawn but he's right. You can't hover over Marinette her whole life, but we do need to look into what's going on in Paris more.

Dick: You're right Jason, Rossi was saying something about being Akumatized and killing Marinette that can't be good.

Bruce: Your right Dick. So when Damian goes to Paris in a couple of weeks we'll come along and assess the situation and see if we need to step in

Damian: If Marinette gets even a scratch on her I'm going to do more than just step in I'm going to find whoever responsible and dual them to the pain

Tim: Did you just quote Princess Bride

Damian: I watched it with Marinette a couple of days ago

The rest of the batfam: Awwww

Dick, Jason, and Tim giving Brice a weird look

Bruce: Don't judge me

Marinette tried her best to fall asleep that night cuddling up to Captain but she jus couldn't

When the clock showed it was 1am Marinette decided to seek out Damian

Marinette: Captain? *perked up and looked at his girl* Can you please help me find Damian?

Captain jumped off the bed and headed to the door

Before Marinette opened the door she turned towards Tikki

Marinette: Tikki I'm going to go see if I can sleep with Damian do you want to come with or stay here?

Tikki: I'll stay here Marinette. I don't want you stressing about keeping me hidden tonight

Marinette: Okay Tikki good night.

Marinette followed Captain down a couple of doors before they stopped in front of the door

Marinette knocked on the door and after a couple of minutes Damian opened the door looking a little ruffled from sleep

Marinette: Sorry to wake you Damian, but can I please sleep with you tonight

Damian: Of course Angel come on

Damian and Marinette settled into Damian's bed seeming to fit together perfectly as Marinette rested her head on Damian's chest and he wraps his arms around her keeping her close

Captain made himself comfortable next to Titus but also lays across the young couple's legs

The next day Lila was sent on a later flight back the Fance to a town outside of Paris so that she wouldn't be akumatized by Hawkmoth and she can face the consequences of her crimes

Marinette shared a long goodbye with the Wayne's in the airport

They were nice enough to upgrade Marinette's seat to first class and even got Captain a seat so he didn't have to stay in the cargo hold

And as Marinette said her goodbyes to the people who've became her second (or third is you count Jagged, Penny, and Clara) family Captain was saying goodbye to Titus and Ace

Captain: I'm going to miss you guys so much you have become my pack and I wish I could take you with me

Titus: And I wish you could stay, I love you

Titus gave Captain a big lick to the side of his face

Captain: Thanks Titus, I... love you too

Titus: I'm going to cry

Ace giggling: Thanks for that Titus

Ace nuzzling Captain's neck: I love you Captain I wish we can stay together.

Captain nuzzling her back: I wish I could to your my mate and I hate to be away from you for so long, but my girl needs me, but I heard our humans talking and they do plan to visit eachother again so we will be together again. One day permanently I can tell.

As the girl and her dog boarded the plane they may be leaving their loves behind today but it won't be forever

Thanks to this trip Marinette is a stronger person, and Captain learned to be a little softer

As Kim pass he tried to give Captain a pat on the head only for Captain to give him a little growl before he could

Like I said he learned to be a LITTLE softer

Bonus

2 weeks after returning from Paris Marinette recieved a very interesting call from Damian

Damian: Hey Angel weird question but is Captain fixed

Marinette: Oh no, after everything that happened to him it just seemed cruel to do that to him too. Why?

Damian: Because Ace is pregnant Captain is the only one who could be the father

Marinette shocked: What?

Marinette looking at Captain: You little hound dog.

Captain: What?

@felicityroth @northernbluetongue @mystery-5-5 @sidefrienda @tbehartoo @hypnosharkrebeldreamer @sonif50 @t-nikki10 @dawnwave16

[hongism]

mists of celeste ➻ eleven

➻ pairing: ??? x fem reader ➻ genre: space au, pirate au, space pirate!ateez, angst, eventual smut ➻ Word Count: 4.3k ➻ Rating: M ➻ Warnings: language, violence, guns and weaponry, blood, future warnings tba ➻ summary: Sneaking aboard the ship of a renowned space pirate may not have been the best idea, but you’ll have to make do with what fate has handed to you

⇐ previous | next ⇒

mists of celeste act two ➻ part one

​​

You find yourself, yet again, perched on the bridge of The Horizon, arms crossed over your chest as you look out into the black space before you. Typically it would be void of any occupants; however, that is not the case now. A planet looms before you, vast and emerald green all over. From the distance you’re at, it looks almost uninhabitable but you know that can’t be true seeing as that’s where Hongjoong is steering the ship.

You let your arms fall by your side, and a small sigh escapes your lips. A bit of time has passed since San gave you the papers back, but you can’t tell the exact amount of time thanks to being in space all the time. You sleep when everyone else sleeps, wake up when everyone else wakes up, and generally follow the same routine that they do. You do exercise much more caution than they do as you’re still trying to figure things out. San has made things easier for you, as well as Jongho, those two being the crew members you talk to the most on the ship. Yeosang makes his presence known from time to time – a little too known for your liking considering your last interaction with him involved his hand around your throat – but the blonde sticks to Wooyoung’s side like glue ninety percent of the time so you don’t have to be blessed by his presence often.

Yunho comes in and out of your daily routine in that every time he shows up in your path, you make a sharp turn and head in the opposite direction. It is mostly due to the fact that you can’t fucking apologize to save your own damn life, but also just a lingering awkwardness on your end from all but accusing him of stealing the papers that San delivered to you minutes later. Awkward. Awkward. And that’s what is keeping you from approaching him and even attempting an apology. You keep telling yourself that you will apologize eventually, and you’ll try to make things right, but the timing just doesn’t feel right yet. That’s the reason. Absolutely. It’s not because your ego is getting in the way.

You purse your lips as you think about that situation yet again. It’s a frequent thought for you, especially considering that there is next to nothing to do on this damn ship besides wander around or look out into space like you’re doing now. You don’t understand how they can do this so often. A small part of you is starting to feel that fabled “spaceman’s anxiety” – the sensation of being cooped up with nowhere to go except out into space. It’s very aptly named in the very least, but you wish Hongjoong would just get to Aegos already so you can put your feet on solid ground again.

“Y/N.” Speaking of the devil, Hongjoong calls out to you from his place in the pilot’s chair. You turn away from the broad window into space to look at the captain. He doesn’t look back at you; instead, he’s focused on keeping the ship on its steady path to the planet ahead. You walk closer to his slightly elevated chair, taking the empty place beside Seonghwa. You mimic his pose and fold your hands behind your back before answering Hongjoong.

“You called?”

“We’ll be landing on Aegos before nightfall. You’ll be coming with us to the capital Echidna. I have a few business inquiries to make with some partners there. You, Seonghwa, and San will all be accompanying me to Echidna; however, you and San will be conducting a separate mission from Seonghwa and myself.” Hongjoong nods in Seonghwa’s direction.

“Yes, Captain.” The lieutenant bows slightly at the waist before turning to you. “Have you ever been to Aegos, Y/N?”

“No, I don’t think I have.”

“Prepare for intense storms. Echidna has a storm guard dome over the city, but Hongjoong will be landing the ship at the docking station. It’s a ways away from the city so we’ll need to ride the train to get to the city. Once we’re there, I’ll arrange some reservations for a hotel for the night, then we will head for a bar called the Jaded Hornet. I’ll tell you and San more once we’re closer to landing, and Hongjoong will conduct a debrief as well. You should go change if you need to and get your gun just in case. We shouldn’t need to kill anyone, but drunk pirates and mercenaries never mix well.”

“Yea, okay.” You nod along to Seonghwa’s explanation. He offers a small smile in conclusion, and you step away from the captain and lieutenant. You start the short walk to your room without any trouble, but you move slower than usual.

The med bay isn’t far from your room, and you could stop to apologize to Yunho before going to your room. Or after. Either one would work. Still, hesitation fills your body. You have the opportunity to fix things and make them right, but you cannot bring yourself to do it. You know that you’re stubborn to a fault. That’s certainly a large reason for your hesitation because your pride is getting in the way, but something else is holding you back.

You’ve been thinking over things for a while, in all honesty, waiting for an opportunity to get away from the ship and crew. You have what you wanted, you have the papers, you could just leave without any trouble. Now, Hongjoong has presented an opportunity to do just that. If you stop on Aegos for a whole day or more, you would have a chance to escape. You could take the papers and run then. No need to apologize or get attached to anyone. If you just disappeared, you wouldn’t have to worry about Yunho or anyone else. It’s a temptation that entices you for certain.

All of a sudden, you run face-first into what you think is a wall. Just from the sheer size of the thing you hit, it feels like a wall. As you stumble back and fall on your ass though, you realize that it’s not a wall and in fact a person instead. A searing pain spreads across your ass when you hit the floor. In your bewilderment, you look up at the person you ran into and find that you’ve never seen this man in your life.

He’s impossibly tall with broad shoulders spread wide and bears dirty blonde hair that is shaved close on the sides. His hair is long on the top though, a floppy mop over his head, and you almost imagine how soft it would be to the touch. There is heat in his eyes though, a red hue to his irises that betrays what he is. You glance over the Berserker in attempts to figure out who the hell he is and why you haven’t seen him sooner. He returns the gaze with one of his own, but his expression is blank and empty as he looks down at you. You don’t move. The floor isn’t comfortable in the slightest yet this Berserker has you glued to the spot with the empty stare he’s sending your way. You wait, expecting him to reach down and extend a hand to help you up. Still, that stare persists, and he doesn’t move.

You pull yourself together and stand up, unable to look into the Berserker’s eyes as you drag a hand over your now sore tailbone.

“I-I, uh, I’m sorry for ru-unning into you,” you stutter out.

“It’s fine.” His tone is icy almost, icy in a way that tells you it’s not actually fine. “Watch where you’re going.”

You dare to glance up at his face, finding that same blank expression across his features. It remains steady and even, and that causes your stomach to twist and turn as you look over it. There is something strange about the way he remains so emotionless. You can’t figure it out or read him in the slightest, which you are used to doing normally. Having that ability taken away from you is disconcerting, to say the least. In your haze of confusion, you do recall that there are eight members of the crew, and you’ve met all except for one. It’s strange that you haven’t even seen him during your time on the ship, but you’ve heard Seonghwa and Yeosang mentioning his name in passing from time to time – Mingi.

“A-Are you Mingi?” You ask with a hesitant tone.

“Yes,” he answers within an instant. “Why?”

You aren’t expecting to be questioned in return for your inquiry. It catches you off-guard, and you stand across from him with a stuttering jaw for a few moments.

“I-I, uh, well I’m – I’m the newest member of the crew? If you’ve heard?”

“Of course I’ve heard.”

“Oh,” you exhale. You can’t tell whether he’s intending to be flat and rude with you or if that’s just the way he is as a person.

“I know who you are. And I don’t need you to explain it.”

It’s most likely the latter, now that you think about it. There is an underlying harshness to his tone that bridges the flatness. You open your mouth to respond, but Mingi pushes his way past you. His shoulder knocks against yours as he moves, and he hits you with such force that you take a few steps back.

“Don’t get in my way again,” he says as he passes you. You glance up at his face as he speaks, but he isn’t looking at you in return. “You’ll regret it if you do.”

You turn to look over your shoulder and watch him move, the threat in his words causing your blood to run cold. Once he disappears from sight, you look forward again, eyes trained on the spot where he was just standing. In all honesty, part of you isn’t shocked by his behavior. He’s a Berserker, and he certainly behaves like all the Berserkers you’ve encountered in the past with their harshness and underlying aggression. Nonetheless, something is different about Mingi. Almost as though he’s reining something in and keeping it from slipping out. You don’t ever want to see what that is, however, and it’s that resolve that causes you to quicken your steps and hurry to get to your room. The sooner you get your papers and leave this hellhole of a ship, the better.

Your room is dark when you step in, and you don’t bother hitting the light switch as you grab your long and sweeping jacket off the foot of the bed. Before you shrug it over your shoulders, you dig into the small table beside your bed and collect the yellowing papers that hide within the drawer. Your fingers dance over the lettering on the front for a moment. It’s your ticket out, your ticket to freedom and release from the guilt that eats away at your insides.

You tuck the papers into your chest band with haste. The temptation of freedom outweighs any guilt you could have about leaving this ship and crew in the dust. Just as you’re thinking that, your earpiece crackles to life and Hongjoong’s voice carries over the speaker.

“Everyone to the bridge for debriefing.”

You tug your jacket over your shoulders, making sure that the papers are securely in place before you fasten the buttons of the jacket across your chest. The last thing you want is to lose the papers again, especially because there is no guarantee that San will be the one to find them again. You duck out of your room, sliding the door shut behind you, and when you turn around, you run face-first into yet another person.

“Woah!” The person says as you collide. His hands fly to your shoulders and hold you in place as he struggles to maintain his balance. “Damn, I nearly knocked you down. I’m sorry.”

Your eyes find Yunho’s, and he smiles back at you without a care in the world. This is certainly not how you wanted this to go, in fact, you had somewhat resolved to leave with apologizing at all. Yet here you are, inches away from him and suddenly thrust into an awkward situation with no escape.

“I-I, uh, I’m sorry,” you say as you push away from him. Yunho laughs in response and releases your shoulders. He brings a hand to his hair, combing through the locks that are now peach-colored. In your avoidance of him, you must’ve missed the change entirely. It looks almost too good against the light tan of his skin, and you blink furiously to block that thought from intruding too much on your mind.

“No, no! You’re fine. I should’ve been more careful of where I was walking. I got lost in thought and didn’t see you leave your room.”

You respond with a weak and shaky smile, chest constricting almost painfully as he continues to grin down at you without hesitation.

“Are you heading to the bridge too?”

“Yea, I am,” you mutter.

“I’ll walk up with you!” Yunho’s voice is bright and cheery, warm to a fault, and you can’t understand how he’s so gentle with you given your last interaction. You don’t respond as Yunho begins to lead the way to the bridge. Instead, you fall into step with him silently, glancing over at him out the corner of your eye. He’s quiet but not in a concerning way; rather, he hums to himself as the two of you walk. It isn’t until you reach the end of the corridor that you open your mouth to say something.

“I, uh, I’m sorry for snapping at you about my papers,” you say under your breath. It’s still loud enough for Yunho to hear though. He turns to you, smile remaining on his lips, and a light laugh escapes him.

“Are you still caught up on that?” He asks. A few strands of peachy orange hair fall over his forehead as he tilts his chin. “I’ve heard worse honestly. Had worse fights with other members of the crew too, to be honest. But that doesn’t really matter. Did you find the papers?”

“I did,” you mutter with a small nod.

“That’s really good! I’m glad to hear it. From the way you were talking about it, it sounded as though it was something important to you. Did finding it put you more at ease?”

The question is a bit confusing to you, and you can’t understand why Yunho is asking it or why he wants to know that of all things. If you were in his position, you would be asking about the contents of the papers or trying to pry further into the reasons for needing them so badly. Yet, Yunho doesn’t seem to care about that at all.

“It did, yes.”

“Again, I’m glad.” Yunho’s smile persists, and confusion continues to swirl in your gut. You don’t understand him one bit. He shouldn’t be happy for you, and it’s pointless for him to be anyways because those papers are what is going to make you leave. But then again, he may not care about that either.

“I… thank you,” you manage to say through the confusion.

“Of course. If you’re going to be here a long time, I want to at least make you feel welcome and happy to be here.” Yunho’s words cause guilt to twinge in your gut. This is why you were trying to avoid an apology, because now that he’s being warm and kind to you, you feel even worse about planning to disappear soon. You can only offer a smile and a nod in reply, but that doesn’t seem to bother Yunho one bit. “It will probably be hard for you to be on a ship full of men and testosterone. Not to mention we’re all criminals of the government. But if you do need anything, my door is always open. Not just as a doctor. Although as a doctor, I can provide some relief for other… frustrations you might have.”

You choke on your saliva as Yunho speaks, his boldness causing your eyes to bulge and your heart rate to spike in an instant. You can feel the heat of his stare on your face as you reach up to cover your gaping mouth.

“Don’t look so embarrassed,” Yunho chuckles. “It’ll make me act up.” He manages to slide another remark in that has you nearly sputtering. Yunho laughs it off though, the sound warm against your ears, and despite your embarrassment, you find yourself smiling as well.

“T-Thank you,” you say under your breath. Part of you does feel guilty for looping Yunho in with the rest of the crew, labeling him as an awful criminal who can’t be trusted, when Yunho’s only crime seems to be his audacity. You want to believe that Yunho is trustworthy and genuine, but the feel of the papers against your skin reminds you that you can’t afford that luxury.

The two of you step onto the bridge to find everyone there already. You notice that Mingi is there as well, standing beside the pilot’s chair with his back so rigid and straight that it hurts to look at. You move to where San is standing, and Yunho follows you without further comment. It’s the first time you’ve seen every crew member present, since Mingi is there. Yeosang stands across from you, his dark eyes meeting yours, and you exchange small nods. Your gaze slips down to the man at his side, dark-haired Wooyoung with the metal collar bound around his neck. A bandage stretches over his nose, evidence of where you hit him and how hard. You hadn’t meant to break his nose completely, but apparently that’s what you managed to do regardless. Yet another thing to feel guilty about.

“We’ve landed on Aegos,” Hongjoong announces, bringing your attention off Wooyoung and onto the captain. “Seonghwa and I will be conducting business in Echidna. San and Y/N will be coming along as well to collect supplies and information. We have a lead and it’s pretty strong this time, so I’ll need the two of you to come along for that.”

San nods, obviously understanding what Hongjoong is talking about, but you’re slower to do the same. You have no clue what Hongjoong is talking about or what kind of information he’s wanting you to collect, but everyone else seems to know. It feels awkward to ask for clarification when everyone else doesn’t need it, so you keep your mouth shut and mimic San’s nod.

“I’ll provide further information for the two of you when we’re in Echidna,” Hongjoong says, glancing over at where you and San are standing. His piercing gaze shifts to the opposite side of the room and lands on Wooyoung. “I want Wooyoung to come along too.”

Yeosang’s lips part, brows furrowing together in an instant. It’s a sudden rage that coats his features, and he steps towards Hongjoong’s chair. Mingi responds immediately. He moves with haste towards Yeosang, and the shorter blonde’s rage dissipates when the Berserker gets closer. The captain redirects his glare to Yeosang. It shuts the man up before he even says anything, and Yeosang hangs his head rather than speaking up. You feel the tension spike. No one says anything for a moment.

Then, Wooyoung steps forward with a small nod.  If you had blinked, you would’ve missed it, but Wooyoung catches Yeosang by the wrist and closes his fingers around the place where the brand is. The touch seems to placate Yeosang, and he steps back into his original place when Wooyoung moves.

Your eyes meet Wooyoung’s for half a second. The two of you look away at the same time, both facing Hongjoong instead of each other. You can’t keep your eyes from shifting back to look at the bandage over his nose, the faint bruises across his skin, and your knuckles tingle as you remember hitting him. You felt bad about punching him when you thought he was a slave aboard the ship, but since Yeosang dispelled that thought, you imagine the guilt would dwindle away. Still, it hasn’t, and it lingers every time you look at the collared man.

“He hasn’t been a slave for a very long time. That doesn’t mean those scars have fully healed though.”

That statement from Yeosang is was causes the guilt to remain. You’ve really started off on the wrong foot with quite a few members of the crew though. You attempted to kill Seonghwa when first boarding the ship, tried to shoot Hongjoong in the med bay, broke Wooyoung’s nose, fought with Yeosang during your first mission, and snapped at Yunho when you couldn’t find your papers. You’ve managed to cross five of eight crew members, perhaps six if you count running into Mingi in the hallway. In a short amount of time, that’s a hefty feat, and you do feel guilty about being so troublesome.

You’ll be leaving in no time though. Don’t worry about it. You won’t ever see these people again. It’s useless to worry about nothing.

Those thoughts are enough to remind yourself that it won’t matter in the long run if you get away in Echidna like you plan to.

“You’re all dismissed,” Hongjoong says, cutting through the silence with his domineering tone.

“Of course I get left with damn Berserkers,” Yeosang grumbles as he pulls away from Wooyoung. Jongho falls into step with him, walking off the bridge with the blonde, and Mingi follows behind in silence. You glance over at Yunho. He sends a reassuring smile your way before leaving as well, and all of a sudden, you’re left with the other crew members who are going down to Aegos.

Hongjoong rises from his chair and turns to where Seonghwa is standing on his right.

“Stay here a moment. The rest of you can go to the airlock and wait there for us. Tune to the fifth channel on your headsets. We’ll be right there.”

You follow San off the bridge, rushing to catch up with him as he walks, and fiddle with your wristband in search of the fifth channel. You can hear Wooyoung’s shoes scuffing against the floor behind you as you walk in step with San. It feels awkward to walk in front of him like this without saying anything at all, but you have no idea how to start a conversation with the man after snapping his nose.

“Are things always so quiet?” You mutter to San. The man glances over at you.

“Hm? What do you mean?”

“It’s awkward to be in so much silence like this,” you say as though it’s obvious. San shrugs then a laugh overtakes him.

“I didn’t pin you as someone who can’t stand silence. You’re pretty quiet yourself.”

“It’s just because I don’t know you all well. I can’t be outgoing and friendly with you all if I can’t trust you.”

“Well, it seems like you have issues trusting people’s intentions in general. You acted as though I was going to kill you when I tried taking you to Yunho. I mean, I understand it and think it’s fair. I’m the same as you, so I can recognize it in you since I see it in myself. Still, you ought to have a bit more trust and faith in us. Just because we have the label of being a criminal doesn’t mean that we are bad people.”

You purse your lips at San’s words. You know he’s right, and he knows it too based upon that cocky little grin on his lips as he looks over at you. He nudges you in the side with his elbow.

“Is that chatty enough for you?”

“That’ll do just fine for now, I guess,” you laugh in response. The airlock looms before you, and you stop beside it. San does as well, turning to look back at Wooyoung.

“You’re awfully quiet for once,” he says to the other man. Wooyoung’s eyes go wide as you look over at him as well. “Is something on your mind?”

Wooyoung shakes his head fervently. His gaze keeps shifting over to you, eyes flitting around in a way that exposes his nervousness. It causes guilt to eat at your stomach even more.

“I’m sorry for – uh, you know, breaking your nose,” you apologize. “I shouldn’t have lashed out like that.” It’s awkward, and San only makes it worse by laughing. Wooyoung shakes his head a few times.

“No, I-I deserved it honestly.” Even though Wooyoung says that, you still feel guilty, especially seeing the bruising on his skin up close. “I shouldn’t have hit you with a tranquilizer shot either, so we can call it even. One punch for one tranquilizer shot?” His tone turns light and cheery as he speaks to you. It helps ease some of your guilty and worry, but the way he winces when he tries to smile almost erases all of that.

“Um, can I ask something?” You say, looking over to San as you speak. “What kind of intel are we supposed to be gathering? Hongjoong didn’t really explain much so I’m assuming that means everyone else knows.”

“Of course we do,” Wooyoung cuts in. His prior nervousness seems to disappear, replaced by a dimpled smile and bright eyes. “It’s all Hongjoong has been looking for. It’s been years of searching, but he’s never stopped since becoming the Captain of The Horizon.”

“And that is…?”

Before Wooyoung has the chance to answer your question, someone else does. It’s the platinum-haired captain himself, walking up behind Wooyoung and placing a firm hand on the man’s shoulder as he steps forward.

“I’m hunting down the last five sirens in the universe. And you’re going to help me do it.”

✧✧✧

a/n: here we are!! part one of act two!! i’m so excited to delve into the arc for this act and reveal more, but let me know what you think about this part 👀 it’s not super duper eventful but i hope it’s not too much of an info dump

taglist: @faeriewoobin @sugarrimajins​ @atinyinwonderland​ @2504-life @lil7bluedragon @sparklychangbin​ @jeong-uwu​ @jeonartemis​ @anothershorthuman​ @xxbluestrifexx​ @saturatedsan​ @haotheheckk​

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

[greytoiletpaper]

Out on Allen Street, it’s 7 in the Morning

Set in the same-ish street-siblings universe as First Contact by @cryptids-and-muses and @a-sketchy-character @streetsiblings (they’re still awesome). I present to you... Angst.

Drizzle | AO3 

Chapter 2: Deluge

Felipe Garzonas falls.

Jason cannot find it in himself to care. The man was human garbage at best-

A shriek of anguish rents the air, a woman's, while the stalking man pounces on her and bays with his manic glee.

-and they were just going to let him go? No dice. Jason did not push him off the edge, but it’s still satisfying enough for him to know the man is gone now.

It is here, on this rooftop, that Jason understands that the horrors of the world can never be contained, only controlled. In what ways, he isn’t sure yet, but when he thinks of killing, all he can imagine is a figure adorned in a red helmet, ruthless and proud.

When Bruce takes Jason away from the scene, long crimson snakes flow off Garzonas’ body with the deluge, painting the face of Gotham.

Cass believes Jay when he says he didn’t kill Garzonas. He can lie like the best of them, but he can never hide anything from her. Bruce still doesn’t believe him even when she says as much.

“You’re a danger to yourself and the people around you,” Bruce is saying. Cold is the only way that Cass can describe his body.

For as long as she has been with Bruce, Cass has not thought of David. But looking at him now, a small, insidious part of the man that projects the urge to control (something she had only seen from David) starts to slip through. She is so thrown about what to think that she almost misses him firing Jay as Robin.

“No.”

“But Cass-.”

“No.”

Jason resists the urge to groan at his sister. Above them, the three names of his potential mothers are displayed clearly and brightly.

“I get why you don’t want me to. But think of what will happen if we manage to bring one! We could- we could-.”

“My brother,” Cass says, with finality. She gestures to the names (although ‘Sandra Wu-san’ in particular catches both their eyes). “Not theirs.”

Cass makes that stance she always does when she wants him to stop, her back hunched and her eyes pleading. He hates it when she does that, which is why he bites back a sigh.

“Fine. I’ll leave it alone,” Cass has been trying harder to get her smile right. Her effort shows when she gives him a mega-watt grin when he relents.

“My family, love,” She says as she hugs him before leading him away to raid the freezer for Neapolitan.

Later that night, Jason leaves his copy of Huckleberry Finn on her nightstand. He has to make sure that she doesn't think he'd left her behind when he goes. As Jason leaves the window wide open, his sole companion is the rain for the first time in years.

Gotham feels it as it happens. As the madman clubs her boy over and over with his crowbar. She feels every bruise, every bone that fractures, every act of pure, unadulterated cruelty inflicted on Jason.

Her eldest cradles the body, surrounded by a field of debris and smoke left in the wake of the monster that is the Joker. She washes the blood away with her tears.

When Cassandra wakes to see her brother’s prized possession on her nightstand, she instantly knows and never lets it go, even as the sky opens up in time with her tears.

--

As the casket lowers into the earth, she absently notes no rain, not a cloud in sight. Somehow, in the void that is the Jason-shaped hole in her heart, she realises he would have hated it.

“I think… I want to have my burial when it rains. Gives a whole ‘nother meaning to bleary doesn’t it?” Jason had confessed that once, a slight chuckle drawing from his chest. It fades as fast as it came. He looked away, then. “I don’t think I’d rest in peace without it.”

Cassandra fills the silence with the hymns of her tears – droplets staining the well-loved pages of the last piece of her brother – and hopes that it will be enough.

In her mind, her efforts are for naught when they devolve into wails as the first shovelfuls of dirt encase the ebony coffin.

--

The first thing she sees when she enters the cave is- is the atrocious thing. All the noise in the cave seems to phase out. The squeaking of the bats. The banter between Dick and Babs. The low murmurs of Bruce and Alfred in the corner. All she can focus on is the caricature of her brother in full view of everyone in the Batcave. She looks at it, and the world becomes a sea of pink and brown and white. The uniform he died in still bloody and ragged; all her thoughts a cacophony of wailing; iron on her tongue; roaring in her ears; she feels nothing in her but pain.

Jason Peter Todd

A Good Soldier

She hates it. Hates it with a passion because Jason was so much more than a soldier. He was her Jay, her brother, everything; all she has left of him is a small paperback and this disgusting mockery of his memory.

But he’s Batman, and he grabs her by the arms and pins her, even as her legs kick out viciously. She headbutts him and manages to push him off, nailing him square in the jaw with her knee as she flips back.

“Cassandra-.” Batman starts.

“Mine,” She snarls, eyes blazing and her hand pushing Bruce away from her. Even with the pads of his armour, she knows it hurts. She turns to leave.

“Not Robin. My Jay. My Brother. My Jason.”

Standing in Jason’s room, Cassandra closes the window he left open. She notices a picture frame on his nightstand. It’s of them, Huckleberry Finn spread between their legs and their foreheads pressed together.

Cass curls into a ball and clutches his treasures to her chest, sobbing because there is no rain to fill the vacuum she’s found herself in.

--

Far, far away, a man between worlds shatters the dimensions. The ripple disturbs Gotham, but she cannot deny her love of the results.

Gotham watches as her prodigal son begins his dramatic return; rising from below to walk above once again.

--

“So, is it really true that you took down Troia when you were only thirteen? All on your own?” The new Robin, Tim, is okay. Really. Cassandra just can’t look him at and see someone else in the uniform. When she doesn’t answer, the boy seems to fidget nervously. She doesn’t even know what his eyes look like.

“I–I guess, since I’m here to be Batman’s new Robin, I was hoping I could be the Robin to –.”

Cassandra doesn’t even let the boy finish before she leaves.

--

Jason wakes up drowning. It’s not water that enters his lungs, but an unnatural, sickly green liquid that vexes and rots and makes his body feel like he’s on fire. Nandra Parbat is where he is when he’s calmed down from being dipped into the Lazarus Pit, trapped in a fortress of assassins that want to mould a Bat into one of them. It’s an entirely different League.

This time, Cass is not here to keep them away.

--

When she meets Steph, Cassandra is enamoured because the girl smiles and laughs (except she still isn’t the same, no one is), almost just like Jason. But there are slight differences between the girl and her brother. Her hugs are great, but they don’t feel right. She smells like lavender instead of the rain. Despite how much the girl likes to joke with her, not one of them manages to draw out her smile.

Cassandra holds onto the girl like a lifeline anyway.

What bone she can throw, Steph has an uncanny knack of finding things that others take ages to locate, which is helpful enough for right now since Tim is still missing. It doesn’t help when Steph reads that Tim is in a warehouse with none other than The Joker.

--

He’s practising his aim when she comes in, almost plucking the gun out of his hand. Jason grips the girl’s arm and flings her over his back. Rose Wilson, a wolfish grin plastered on her face and snowy hair fanning under them, doesn’t even look fazed.

“Wow Jace, if you wanted to pin me you could have just asked,” His only friend in this place is what keeps him sane; when the Joker of his nightmares haunts the edges of his mind, she is there to let him know it isn’t real. Despite how different they are, she’s a breath of fresh air in this hellhole they’re in. He should probably tell her how he feels.

“You’re such a fucking chicken-shit,” Is what comes out of his mouth instead. Rose only smirks at him, silver mane and eyes with almost the same mischief his sister had.

“Your aim still sucks balls by the way.”

He growls, raising his arm to let his gun do the barking.

--

Ranting and raving greet her as she sneaks in through a window, a litany of nonsense and stammers echoing around the warehouse. She drops from the catwalk as silently as she can, but the madman obviously still hears her as his head bends at an impossible angle to look right at her.

“Oh. Look who showed for quality time with Uncle Jay!” She doesn’t mean to, but Cassandra flinches, and the Joker’s twisted grin shifts. Big mistake. “Oh? Did I say something wrong?”

“No,” It takes every inch of willpower in her not to rasp the words, but Joker sees through it regardless.

“What? Don’t like my name?” The Joker pouts, but it looks more like a sneer. “It’s just me yaknow? Your Uncle Jay.”

Another flinch, and the Joker steps closer, a snake in the reeds.

“Mister Jay,” He’s stalking closer now; her body won’t move. “JayJay.”

“Jaybird,”

“Jay,” She is so still as the Joker seems to tower over her, his sick grin crueller and sharper (David flashes in her mind) than any other time she has ever seen it. Poison flows from his mouth like saliva as he croons.

“That’s what you called him, isn’t it? When he was still here, your precious Robin. Not this -,” He gestures to Tim, who is wide-eyed and struggling. “-phoney replacement. Want me to-? Let me tell-.” The Joker stops, frowning at the ground before continuing, his voice aberrantly low. “When I beat him over and over with that crowbar – pink with blood and brown with dirt over the white of his skin –, do you want to know what he was saying?

“The only thing that came out of that pretty little mouth of his was how sorry he was that he was for leaving ‘Cass’ behind.” The madman leers at her. “Was that you? Cass? I gotta tell you, the whole apology shtick got really boring after a while, but…

“I’ll tell you one thing. Something you can keep between just you and your Uncle Jay,” He leans in close to her ear. “I think that our Jay is almost just like me now!”

The madman cackles, his eyes sick and twisted, and his body is nothing but mania. Something in Cassandra, strained and twisted for the past three years, finally snaps.

She strikes him, harsher than she’s struck anyone ever before. So severely, she can feel his ribcage snap. His flesh becomes mince under her fists. He stumbles and contorts as she overwhelms him with every piece of her fury. The gale-force that is Cassandra Todd blows through the Joker, who laughs and laughs and laughs.

The monster scrambles for his gun, suddenly slick and focused. Cassandra snaps off the comic ‘Pow!’ that sticks out of the muzzle when he fires it at her. She backhands his face with the full force of her knuckles, knocking him down, and all he does is chortle. The Joker’s body twists and squirms as he is pinned in place. She raises the broken end of the comic and skewers his leg into the ground.

The Joker’s mouth froths. His eyes are bloodshot as he becomes more depraved and maunders yet, he’s still fucking laughing. Laughing as his spittle flecks onto every surface around them when he thrashes. Laughing even as she clenches the sides of his head and pulls. Laughing even as they both feel his flesh strain and shear as she tries to tear it off. The part of her that has so vehemently denied killing now cries for bloodlust. For this is justice, this is vengeance, this is for her, Jay. Cassandra, with all her might, prepares to wrench off the monster’s head and-.

And Batman pushes her off him. Batman blocks her assault on his body when Cassandra rebalances herself. Batman protects the god damn fucking Joker. She roars with her rage, her grief, and doesn’t even feel the sedative that Tim plunges into her side until it’s too late.

Glaring at Bruce, at Batman, all she sees from his body is fear and concern and all the latter is directed at the death-worshipping monster he cradles in his arms. Absently, before it all goes to black, she thinks she should leave. Leave without Batgirl, without Jason, without everything she has ever cared for.

She does, and like her brother, the tears of Gotham are the only family she has left.

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