#I’m gald I have found someone like you to talk to

[maymaylyn]

hi

Sorry that I was stupid when y'all were talking about alcohol

love u pookie hope ur well

Don’t ever apologize for that. I thought it was cute and honestly I’m very happy that you don’t drink. I wish hadn’t started at all, so I’m glad that you don’t pookie.

Thinking the best of you💖💖💖💖

[kresnikcest]

OWG2 - His Scar

Short story from the Official World Guidance. Like always, machine translation, but thanks again to @lastthroes for looking over it in... May. of last year. Yeah I totally forgot about this one, but I really liked it!

Notes:

Rideaux is just kinda rude all the time but English isn't as efficient with conveying formality/politeness registers :(

onzoushi is an old term for “the son of a distinguished family" or "the son of a noble”, because Julius is the son of the CEO. I would probably localise it as "the heir" (of Spirius or the Kresnik clan or the Bakur family) but Rideaux uses it as a vocative term and English kinda lacks in words for that. So I went for a royalty thing instead and just had him be "your Highness" sarcastically.

This is set in Primia 4293, so one year after the pasta thing. Julius is 16, Rideaux is 17.

* = I can't quite figure this sentence out but I just made a guess...

The idea of a "time at which you become aware of things around you" is ridiculous. Humans are already aware of everything around them from the moment of their birth.

Most people just can’t remember it.

My proof of that? I’m proof, myself. I remember everything since the moment I was born.

I didn’t care for the treasured platinum watch I was born with, but the ticking of its gears was proof that I was alive.

The funny thing is, the real proof that I was alive, my heart, was defective and fragile.

I remember the look on my parents' faces back then when they found out. I remember it very clearly, they looked like they’d been told the worst of jokes.

The "slapstick comedy" that followed was what society would call "the time at which you become aware of things around you"... Eh, ten years later, that story isn't worth a single Gald.

My point is, "the time at which you become aware of things around you" is just a way to say you have a bad memory.

Or perhaps I'm the one who’s special? Unfortunately, someone else is already proof of that. Julius Wi Bakur-- Oops, isn't he Will Kresnik now? He gets mad if you call him by his old name, so I get it wrong on purpose.

I remember his case, it seems he and that silver pocketwatch of his were welcomed with open arms by his father.

In addition to being a direct descendant of the ancient Kresnik line, he’s also the son of the powerful family that leads the Spirius Corporation. Not only that, he possesses a powerful Chromatus, so he’s an heir with high expectations.

I sound jealous? Ha, like I’d ever admit to that! That’s--

Bang!

"Found you, Rideaux. We have a mission."

Suddenly, there’s a kick to my back from the sole of a shoe, right against my new tailored suit!

There is only one person is stupid enough to treat me like this.

"Don't mess around like that, Julius! Do you know how much this suit cost?"

"Do I know?” he asks flatly. “I know you have a bad taste in fashion."

At least it’s better-looking than those fake glasses you wear that hide what you really think! You just suddenly started wearing them for some reason. Are you worried about that horrible expression in your eyes? Hmph, don’t tell me you met a girl?

"It's a two-person mission. Hurry up and get ready."

Tch, he has this attitude despite being a year younger than me. He's always been like this. Know-it-all bastard.

"Wow, am I babysitting the prince of Spirius today?"

"I'm the one babysitting you, the seventeen year old who won't calm down."

Look who’s talking! What happened to the guy who, until last year, was just like me?

"I don't want to be bossed around by the prince. "Back then" I killed 150 more people than*--"

"How many times do I have to tell you until you'll understand? Don't call me that,” he interrupts in a cold voice.

Oh, how long has it been since you last spoke like that? It sends chills down my spine. Good.

"My bad, your Highness~!" I say, draping my arm around his shoulder overly familiarly and giving him a special smile.

But Julius only pulls and turns away to face the newly-installed communication terminal instead.

"... The Fractured Dimension is No. F41BF. Here are the details."

He starts reading out the data displayed on it. The glare of light on his glasses hides his expression.

Hey, you can’t possibly be ignoring me! How disappointing. Do you want to be a good little boy now? If this were the you from just a while ago... Whatever. It's a win for the me of the present. It'll make it easier to do this damned job.

"Depth: 209. Deviation: 0.05. The rift is located in Trigleph."

"209 with a deviation of 0.05? That’s gonna be annoying."

These values are provided by Spirius Corporation's prided spacetime radar, Kudlak's Claw. To put it kindly, the smaller the deviation, the more similar it is to the Prime Dimension, and the harder it is to find the Divergence Catalyst. In addition, the high depth indicates that only certain people can enter it. People like us.

I close my eyes, and search for the spacetime coordinates in my mind. It's a feeling only those who have a Chromatus can understand, but it's like extending your mind out like a tentacle and connecting to the Fractured Dimension's entry point. Or like catching a fish on a hook. Hehe, fishing is a boring hobby, though I've never tried it.

Okay, I've got it! 

Suddenly, Julius, in level 2 Chromatus, disappears without another word. He really isn’t a team player, is he? No wonder he has no friends.

I spit at the place where he just stood, then leap into the target dimension.

.

A silver-haired woman peers past the big shopping bag of tomatoes and pasta in her arms, clearly cautious of something. Her face has been casually covered up by a hat and scarf, and she’s conscious of anyone following her. However, her ability is still that of an amateur.

It’s my second day in this Fractured Dimension. I've been searching repeatedly for information, and on the outskirts of downtown Trigleph, I’ve found the possible host of the Divergence Catalyst.

Claudia Il Kresnik. A woman who has already died in the Prime Dimension.

Even though she’s dressed plainly, she’s very beautiful. I’m guessing she’s around thirty... three? I'm quite confident in that estimate. I'm pretty confident in guessing women's ages. Maybe I should verify that before destroying this world.

Regardless, it seems like I found the Catalyst before Julius did.

It might be called a two-person mission, but we’ve always operated like this. Teamwork? Don’t make me laugh. Just thinking of working alongside someone as unsociable as him makes me feel sick.

Spirius' goal is for us to compete and strive to be stronger than the other. If they didn't plan on that, I don’t think they would have put the two of us together, when we’re so incompatible.

The most important thing for the both of us is to show proof of "one’s usefulness". It is, quite literally, a matter of life and death. 

Claudia finishes her shopping and heads for the slums. I follow at a distance. Any closer, and I’ll be able to tell if she’s the Divergence Catalyst, but in such a crowded place, “disposing” of her might be surprisingly difficult. The last time I went on a rampage with Julius, we went all out until it drew the attention of the military itself. It was fun, but--

Still walking, the woman enters a crumbled ruin of an apartment building.

I follow her stealthily, hiding my presence. At first glance, it seems like there’s no one else here. But, once up the stairs, I can hear a strange humming of song. Damn, someone else is here. How annoying.

Claudia, who has been frowning, suddenly stops in her tracks at the sound and gives a joyful smile, before quickening her pace up the stairs.

She knocks at the door of Room 302 in an odd pattern, possibly as a signal to the person inside the room. The humming stops. I need to act now, it’ll be annoying to deal with more people. In a single move, I draw a surgical knife and close the distance between us.

At the same moment that Claudia sees me and her face freezes in fear, the door opens. A kid, with the same silver hair as her, peeks his face out of the door. I think he’s about the same age as I was when I had my aspyrix surgery…? It doesn’t matter.

"Mommy?"

At that very moment, the Divergence Catalyst in the child shows itself.

"Oh, so you’re the one?" I say.

"Ludger, run!" the woman screams.

She draws a knife and stabs towards me. For an amateur, she’s quite fast. I back away a step.

"I won't let you have him! He's... He's just a child!"

Claudia pushes the child behind her, protecting him, glaring at me with burning eyes. Ah right, that’s what the eyes of a parent should look like, no? As a reward, I kick her in the stomach. She screams in pain.

"Mom!"

The mother falls to the ground, curling into herself and holding her stomach, and this time, it’s the boy who protects his mother. Good, it's almost like they’re following a script. Mother and son will be skewered through together. It’s just a shame I won’t be able to know if my age estimates were right. My Level 2 Chromatus activates–

A sword presses at my throat.

"Stop it, Rideaux."

Julius stands behind me, a daunting presence, cold as steel.

"...Stealing my win, your Highness?"

Julius says nothing.

"Mom, hold on!"

The kid takes the opportunity to try and hide his mother, who’s crouched on the floor of the room. The voice of one who won't give up, and the desperate look on his face fill me with an overwhelming, irrational anger.

"Oh no you don’t!"

Minding the blade to my neck, I turn and jab my elbow into Julius' face.

"Gah!"

My blood splatters into the air, along with Julius' horrible glasses. Serves him right!

With Julius dealt with, I draw my surgical knives on Claudia.

"You'll regret that, you damn brat!"

In a screech of metal, my surgical knives are cut in halves with just one strike of Julius' sword. The severed ends fly into the air. What?! Julius’ Chromatus--

"Level 3?!"

Slam! The kid pushes his mother into the room and closes the door.

"I won't let you..."

Julius' dark eyes pierce through me, eyes that I remember fondly, tinged with despair. Yes, just like that! 

"You were the one who said it. ‘Everything will be destroyed anyway, so we have the freedom to do anything we want.’ Right? " I say cheerfully.

His eyes grow darker. That's right, don't forget, those are your-- those are the eyes of the Kresnik clan!

"Ahahaha! You should enjoy yourself, your Highness! Why don’t we get the two of them together and start with the mother, then save the boy for last--"

Julius punches me and my cheek explodes with pain. Ow! 

That’s good, though, isn’t it…? This is how it's supposed to be, don't you understand, Julius?

Julius punches me again.

You, who should have everything, have the same eyes that I do.

Julius punches me again.

How happy this makes me… Well, you'll never know, but…

Julius punches me again.

… Aren't you going overboard? My aspyrixis organs are rather delicate...

Julius punches me again.

Oh well… If I die, they'll just make you the "bridge" instead...

In my fading consciousness, I hear him saying something.

"I know. That's why... for Ludger... I will..."

Then there is the sound of the door being kicked in.

.

When I come to and open my eyes, it’s raining.

In the ruin of the apartment building's hallway corridor, the rain blows in from the broken window, and Julius' glasses that I'd knocked off of him are wet on the floor next to me. I myself am drenched, in either blood or rain. It doesn’t matter which. My body moves sluggishly.

I lay there, unsightly spread-eagle. Bruises, lacerations, and fractured bones. I’m ragged, but seemingly alive. However, just like the Prime Dimension and a Fractured one, it’s hard to tell the difference between the living world and the dead.

"We have confirmed the destruction of the target Fractured Dimension. Please submit your report by tomorrow."

A response from headquarters? I can only turn my head slightly. There, standing with a communication device, is Julius.

Destruction complete, huh? Of course. In a case like that, it's basically impossible to fail.

And yet, the left side of Julius' forehead, around his eyebrow, has been sliced deep. A stream of blood runs all the way to his chest, dyeing it red. The guy who beat me up couldn’t handle those lousy amateurs?!

"You've got to be kidding me!" I want to yell, but then I notice his cheeks are wet with something that isn't blood.

"I... no matter how many times... for you..."

There is only the sound of rain. Then, Julius looks up to the sky, and with a sad, shaking voice, murmurs like a prayer:

"But, I don't want anyone else to know what I did... Please forgive... your liar of a brother."

No way!

What the hell do you want forgiveness for?! We’re the ones forced to carry the burden of this godforsaken destiny, we're the ones who are forced to use this cursed power, we’re the ones who should be getting an apology!

But, Julius' eyes are already fixated on something different than mine.

"Hahaha... in the end... even you..."

As I sneer at him, something lukewarm trails down my cheek. I don’t know if it's rain or blood. I raise my injured arm, and smash his fallen glasses to pieces.

.

The following is an data excerpt from the Department of Dimensional Affairs:

Fractured Dimension No. F41BF

Specifications: Depth=209   Deviation=0.05   Rift=Trigleph

Destroyed in the year Primia 4293.

Agents in charge: Julius Will Kresnik/Rideaux Zek Rugievit

Divergence Catalyst: Claudia Il Kresnik (33 years old, female)

Reported by: Julius Will Kresnik

[bruh--wtf]

The Message

Thomas x Reader

The Death Cure - I am writing for all three movies I suggest reading the first two parts of the series first. I know, it's long, but I'm having fun writing these.

Summary: The gladers need to get Minho back. And they're going through with Thomas's plan to take down WCKD. Things aren't at all simple.

Part 20

Main Masterlist

Previous Next

Maze Runner Masterlist

You all tried your best to blend into the shadows. But that's hard when security is patrolling every street and half the walls are made of glass.

"They definitely upped security. I'm guessing you shanks have something to do with that," Gally suggests.

You all started running towards a shorter wall and Gally and Thomas help Newt hop it first. Then you. You grabbed Newt's hand, him helping you up. He wavered a little bit, and you looked down at his arm.

"You sure you're-"

"Yes! I'm fine!" He says. You look at him surprised by how angry he sounded. You look down to see Thomas hopping up without Gally's help. Then Gally climbs up.

Walking on the outskirts of the wall, you all eventually made it to the top of a building.

"There it is," Gally says. "If WCKD's got Minho, that's where they're keeping him." You look over at the bright blue building.

Gally pulls out something and mounts it on the pole. "Laurence has been trying to find a way in for years. Place is crawling with soldiers. Surveillance everywhere. Scanners on every floor."

You all lean on the bars, looking over at the building. Your head was going to be killing you by the time you got back to the others. But now, it wasn't that bad.

"Sounds like a fortress," you say. "I thought you said you had a way in, Gally."

"I might." You turn to look at him and so does Thomas.

"You might? The hell do you mean might?" Gally steps back.

"Take a look," Gally says. Thomas walks over and looks through the telescope. He lets out a breath. "I said I had a way in. I didn't say you were gonna like it."

Back with the others, Thomas shakes his head. "No, there's gotta be another way in."

"Like what? You've seen the building. She is our only way in," Gally says. You were standing next to Newt, thinking.

"You really think she's gonna want to help us?"

"I don't plan on asking her permission," Gally says.

"Am I missing something here? This is the same girl who betrayed us, correct?" Brenda asks, looking at you. You nod, and let out a breath.

"Yup, the one and only," you say, leaning your elbows on the table. She looks at Thomas.

"What's goin on?" Brenda asks. Thomas doesn't say anything.

"What, are you afraid your little girlfriend's gonna get hurt?" Newt asks. You look at him. He looked annoyed. "Hmm? This has never been just about rescuing Minho, has it?"

Thomas turns to Newt. "Newt, what are you talking about?"

"Teresa! She's the only reason Minho is even missing in the first place, and now we finally have the chance to get him back and what? You don't want to because of her?" Newt started getting in Thomas's face, pushing him back towards the wall. "Because deep down inside you still care about her, admit it."

"Newt, I don't-" Newt cuts him off, shoving him up against the wall.

"Don't lie to me! Dont. Lie. To me." Then he steps back. He looked at Thomas like he was surprised by what he had just done. You stared at Newt. No matter what, in the galde and out here, Newt was always the mediator. Alby and you could both let your emotions get the best of you sometimes, and he was the clear head. You'd never seen Newt that mad at someone else before. Especially a glader. Newt looks back at all of you.

"I'm sorry." He walks off. After a minute, you follow him. You go and sit on the ledge next to him.

"Are you okay? Tell me the truth, Newt," you say, looking at him. He looks over at you and lets out a breath. He glances behind you and you see Thomas coming over. He looks back at Thomas.

"Sorry about that. Back there." You continued to look at Newt. "Guess I can't hide this anymore." He rolls up his sleeve revealing a crank scratch. Your mouth falls open and you look up at him.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Thomas asks.

"Didn't think it would make any difference. All I know is that WCKD must have put me in that maze for a reason. Maybe it was just so they could tell the difference between immunes like you and people like me," Newt says to Thomas.

You lick your lips. "We can still fix it, Newt," you say. He shakes his head.

"Did I ever tell you about when I broke my leg?" He asks Thomas. "I know you know it happened, but you don't know how," he says to you. "It was way back in the maze. I'd just come up from the box. Like all the others. Didn't know where I was, didn't know who I was, you know. You know even with all my memories gone I could still feel that something was missing. You know?" You watch him and nod slightly. "I felt empty. I just... I couldn't hack that. Couldn't take it. So one morning I got up early. Snuck out into the maze. I went and I found the tallest wall I could. And I climbed up there and... I jumped off it."

You gape at Newt. You never knew that. "Of course I got completely tangled up in the ivy. Snapped my leg in three different places. Like a proper shank. Landed hard on the floor. I thought that was it." He pauses. "Then Minho found me. Somehow. Carried me back to the glade. Never told anyone what really happened. He saved me, gave me a second chance." You watch as Newt looks at Thomas. "Now he needs us, so if there is even the slightest chance that we can save him? We can get him out of there, then we have to take that. No matter what the cost."

"Okay, I hear you," Thomas says. Newt nods and looks back down at his arm. You kept looking at him, and after a moment you leaned on him, putting your head on his shoulder as you all looked up at the wall.

That night you all came up with a plan. And soon it was happening.

You watched from a distance as Thomas tricked Teresa into following him. "Thomas!" She calls. Just then he rounds the corner, and that's where you and Galy were. You all run quickly to your hiding places. You didn't know why you were there. You didn't need to be. And you kind of hated it. But Thomas asked you to. God, what is wrong with you? Where Teresa comes and looks around, Thomas comes out of his.

"Thomas."

"Hey, Teresa."

"You shouldn't be here. If Janson finds out you're here-"

"I'm not here to stay. It's just, uh, had to see you," he says, walking up to her. "I have to ask you something. Do you regret it? What you did to us?"

"Sometimes," she says. "But I did what I thought was right. I'd do it again." Thomas nods slightly.

"Got it," he says. He nods at Gally who comes out behind her and grabs her. You watch him drag her and Thomas goes over to you. He looked sad, but he nodded towards Gally. "Come on," he says. You nod following them as you all made it back.

Gally unhoods her and she stares at him. She looks at Thomas, who was sitting a little further away from her. You and Newt were sitting down next to him. Frypan standing behind you.

"Gally?" She sounded surprised. You didn't blame her.

"Here's how this is going to go. We're gonna ask you some questions, and you're gonna tell us exactly what we need to know. Start off simple," Gally says and grabs a chair. "Where's Minho?" She looks at Thomas.

"You guys don't seriously think that-" Gally slams the chair down, sitting on it backwards, so he was still facing her.

"Don't look at him. Why are you looking at him? Look at me," Gally says. "He's not gonna help you." Thomas looks up and over at her. You turned to look at Gally and Teresa again. "Now we know that you have him in the building. Where?" She pauses for a second before looking at Gally again.

"He's with the others in holding. Sub level three."

"How many others?" Newt asks. Teresa hesitates, avoiding looking at Newt.

"Twenty eight," she says shakily. Gally looks back at Brenda who nods.

"I can make that work." She was playing cards with Jorge.

"No, no you guys don't understand. The whole level's restricted. You can't get in without a thumbprint ID." You nod along with her words, drawing her attention back over to you and Thomas.

"That's why you're coming with us," you say when she's done.

"Well, I don't know. We don't necessarily need her. Right?" He stands up, walking to the table. "Not all of her." He grabs a knife. "We just need her finger."

"Gally, back off," Thomas says.

"What are you squeamish? I guarantee you she's done a lot worse to Minho," he says.

"I said, back off," Thomas says, grabbing the knife.

"Won't make a difference. Do whatever you want to me. You still won't get through the front door. The sensors will pick you up as soon-"

"We know. We're tagged. Property of WCKD," Thomas says and walks over to her. He crouches down next to her. "You're gonna help us with that too."

You sat there with Teresa behind you. The guys wanted to go first. Make sure she didn't kill them before letting you go. Gally could probably care less, but the others insisted. You watched looked over at Thomas and the others.

"Try to relax." You scoff slightly.

"You're behind me with a knife. I'll try my best," you say sarcastically. She lets out a breath, and presses the knife to your neck. You close your eyes, taking a sharp breath.

"I was hoping I'd see you again, you know," she says quietly. You chuckle slightly.

"Oh yeah? Can't say the same," you say.

"I was hoping because I wanted to tell you..." she pauses, taking the knife away and starting to try and clean it a little bit. "Jack is doing great." You quickly turn your head to face her. You wince, and hold a hand up to your neck.

"Shit." You stand up, looking at her. She sighs, sitting there.

"He's eleven now. We've been working with him. He's not being tested on. He's shaping up to be a very smart boy," she says. You continued to stare at her.

"Working with him?" Your little brother... was working with WCKD. Well, shit. Thomas comes over.

"What's going on?"

"I thought you'd be happy to hear that he's okay," Teresa says. You roll your eyes.

"Yeah, I'm enthused," you say, sarcasm still in your voice. You turn your back on her, walking away. Thomas was up after you anyways. You go over and sit next to Gally.

"What was that about?" Frypan asks. You crossed your arms, looking down. You didn't answer him. You were thinking. The little boy from your dreams... the boy who once was the reason you were alive... he was being trained by the people trying to kill you.

Not long after, Newt hands you guys clothes. You take yours, going to go change. When you get back, you see Thomas and Teresa standing and Gally walking up to them.

"Everything okay over here?" He asks. Thomas nods.

"Yeah, we're done," Thomas says and turns away. You were close enough that you saw Teresa's hand move towards the tray that had her knives on it. You grab her wrist.

"Careful there. Wouldn't want you to get hurt," you say. She looks at you. You nod at Gally. The others go to change and you were stuck with Teresa.

"Jack talks about you," she says. You don't look at her but she knew you were listening. "He always asks when he can see you. How you are. If you'll be back soon. He keeps saying that you promised that you'd-" you stand up, kicking her legs out from underneath her.

"Shut the hell up," you say. She managed to not hit her head and land pretty much okay. She looked unscathed. That was your goal. Can't have her looking damaged. She stares up at you and glances behind you. You turn and see the guys coming back.

"What the hell was that?" Gally asks. You roll your eyes.

"Doesn't matter. Lets just do this, yeah?" You say, walking past them. Not even glancing back at Teresa.

[yume-x-hanabi]

Echoing Song ~Kresnik Fragments~ (4th Night)

This is a translation of the fourth short story from the Tales of Xillia 2 Official World Guidance book. Prepare tissues.

--

The World Riding On A See-Saw

“Aah! I’m against tomatoes!” Elle’s tantrum could be heard all throughout the vegetable corner.

“They’re not just tomatoes, they’re cherry tomatoes. Aren’t they cute? You should try them at least once.”

“Boo! I won’t get tricked by a cute name!”

“Hey! Stop yelling, it’s embarrassing!”

Ludger and Elle both turned to me at the same time. “You’re the loudest one here.”

A nearby client snorted. My cheeks turned red. “You’re the ones who’re making me raise my voice!”

“Meow...” Rollo seemed to sigh in his carrier.

It had been a while since Spirius gave us a break. I was dragged on grocery shopping with Ludger and Elle.

Ludger looked like he was having fun as he pushed the cart around. Didn’t he have anything better to do on his rare holidays? … Well, not like I’m one to talk.

Setting foot in Trigleph’s giant supermarket was a shocking experience. A staggering amount of food was lined up in this stupidly huge building, in which more than ten times the total population of Nia Khera came and went to do their shopping. And perhaps the most incredible was that the food was replenished as soon as it was sold.

I had no idea there was such a world outside of Rieze Maxia… No, it was more that I had severed my ties to that world when I received my mission, because everything about the food lined up here—its production, export, sale—was based on devices using spyrix technology.

“Why do you hate tomatoes so much?” Ludger asked Elle.

“Because they’re all squishy and mushy.”

“But you like eggs, don’t you? Aren’t they squishy and mushy as well?”

They continued their chit-chat, ignoring how I was lost in thought. It was hard to believe this was an agent who destroyed worlds.

“Don’t compare eggs and tomatoes! It’s an affront to eggs!”

Elle tried to sound mature—and where did she learn that kind of expression anyway?—but the effect was a bit lost with her brown pigtails bouncing.

“Do you even know what an affront is?”

“I-I know! It’s when you make fun of someone.”

“Hmm. If you say so.”

“Hey! That’s an affront to me!”

Oh, so she understood after all. When you thought she was just trying to have the last word, it turned out she actually got the essential part down.

Ludger and Elle’s argument eventually settled on the decision to make rice omelette for dinner. In other words, Elle won. She marched toward the egg’s aisle with a triumphant look on her face.

“How soft.”

“Hm? Oh, she wants the sauce to be demi-glace. Instead of the usual, she asked me to cover the rice with a soft, fluffy omelet, like a bride’s lacy dress. She saw it on TV, apparently.”

“Not the food. You.”

Ludger’s eyes clouded from my brusque words. “That’s not true,” he answered bitterly.

I suddenly felt like water filled my lungs. …Ah, right. There was no way he was soft.

After all, you deceived me, killed my sister, and destroyed my world. What’s the point of acting humble now? It’s not like I’d ever forgive you. You, whose job is to destroy other people’s worlds. I’ll never forgive—

“Ludger! I found cheap eggs!”

The icy tension between Ludger and I was broken by Elle’s innocent voice. She was running toward us holding a pack of eggs.

“Look! It’s only 20 gald for a pack of six!”

“Don’t run! It’s dangerous.”

Just when Ludger yelled that, Elle ran into a cart pushed by a middle-aged woman.

“Elle!!” I screamed.

Packs of food and vegetables fell on the floor in slow-motion.

 Fortunately, Elle’s only injuries were slightly scrapped knees. However, Ludger was forced to pay for the food that was ruined due to her carelessness.

“You’re really stupid!” I told Elle. Relief turned my worry into anger.

We were sitting on a bench on the place in front of the supermarket. Elle’s clothes were sticky with egg yolk, and she looked dejected. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine. At least you didn’t get hurt,” Ludger replied, wiping her shirt with a towel. He was being soft again.

Dude, that’s not how… Wait, why am I feeling so shaken?

“But you learned a lesson, didn’t you? Be more aware of your surroundings next time.”

“…Okay.”

I gasped.

Sparks ignited through my head. This was just like… just like the words of my sister when she protected me from Exodus fifteen years ago.

“You learned a lesson, didn’t you? You have to be more careful, Milla.”

“But… Muzét… Your eyes…”

Stop! Is this a joke!? It’s just eggs! Muzét lost her light because of that injury! That’s why she started hating me and she…

She…

“Unfortunately, the omelette will have to wait. …I’m broke.”

“You need to work, right? I’ll help!”

Like mirrors, the two smiled at each other.

“It’s not funny! Think of how it’d feel to be destroyed for some omelette!” Before I knew it, I had started screaming. “Destroying worlds! That’s what you mean by ‘work’!!”

“W-What’s wrong, Milla?” Elle asked in a shaky voice.

When I came to my senses, I was running through the streets aimlessly. There was nowhere I could go in this spyrix-infested world. My chest felt like it was going to burst open, but I couldn’t stop running.

 I knew what they were going through. I didn’t want to understand, but I did.

I kept screaming in my mind, and after running around for a while, I ended up at the park in front of Ludger’s apartment building. There was a long shadow basked in sunset. It looked silly, trembling along my unsteady breathing.

“Well, of course. It’s my shadow after all.”

I felt so tired… I sat down on a see-saw.

“In the end, there’s nowhere I can go…”

I sat alone in a city of steel and stone and spyrix.

An unknown city. Unknown people. An unknown world. The only thing that felt real was the warmth of my knees as I hugged them to my chest.

The shadow at my feet smiled faintly. “Haven’t you always been alone?” it said.

Back in Nia Khera, I knew the believers’ faces, but not their names. I didn’t know anything—not the meaning of my mission nor the true shape of the world. I didn’t know anything, did I?

“…No!”

I had a sister. A kind sister.

The shadow swayed eerily and whispered. “But that Muzét died because of you.”

No!

“Because you betrayed her.”

No!

“You killed her.”

No!

“She died hating you.”

No, no, no!!

I gasped. The shadow swirled and from its center came out my sister’s silhouette. I held my breath. Blood oozed from her mouth. A lance was sticking out from her chest and she glared at me, screaming…

“Milla!”

Something warm appeared by my side suddenly and called my name.

I raised my head and saw my red-eyed reflection in wide turquoise eyes. Elle’s face was so close I was startled. She looked like she wanted to say something but didn’t know how to word it. What a silly face. Heh heh heh… It’s funny how her feelings showed on her face, clear as day.

The moment I let out a breath, Elle jumped into my arms and hugged me. Just like that time when my world shattered.

“Don’t worry me like that! I thought you disappeared for good!”

Why was she angry? It didn’t make any sense. But…

“…I’m sorry.” I found myself apologizing, though I did not know what for.

The piece of board holding me and Elle creaked and lifted us in the air.

“Uwah!” Elle squealed excitedly, clinging to me.

On the other side of the see-saw were Ludger and Rollo. He looked like he wanted to say something but didn’t know how to word it. Pfft, peas in a pod, those two.

“Milla, the see-saw!” Elle adjusted her posture in my lap and rocked her body.

How complacent. The shadow sneered again. Playing with those who robbed you of—Yes, you’re right. I know that, painfully. But… Still…

“You know, that’s the first time I ride a see-saw!” Elle exclaimed.

My reflection in her turquoise eyes smiled.

I started rocking the see-saw vigorously, stomping on the shadow with all my force.

“Me too, actually!”

The world swayed, Elle laughed.

Ludger started humming a funny song following the rhythm of the see-saw going up and down. Elle joined him. How carefree, Mr. world-destroying agent. But that song felt nostalgic, as though I had heard it before… Should I start humming too? Only if I feel like it.

Ludger and Rollo. Elle and I. Back and forth. Up and down. The “world” riding on a see-saw in the corner of a city colored in dusk did indeed seem balanced.

 Extract from Spirius Corporation archives

Name: Ludger Will Kresnik

Address: Frères Apartments, Room 302, Trigleph

Date of birth: Primia 4285

Home situation: Foundling. Deposited at Zorya General Hospital, Trigleph. Family register and parents’ names unknown. Raised in Rodo Private Orphanage. Adopted in Primia 4290. Dependent of Julius Will Kresnik (foster brother).

Information compiled by: Julius Will Kresnik, Examiner

* P.S.: Evidence of tampering with the above data was found. Permission to investigate granted.

Signed, Vera Lou Leshy CEO’s Secretary

[randomnameless]

I was checking the other wiki for more info on FE16′s unused content 

(is it me or the other wiki isn’t edited as easily as a snapchat selfie?)

We missed the best battalion in the game :’(

OTOH, if we’re supposed to think those battalions are random mercenaries chilling around waiting to be hired, i’d feel bad about a battallion of random crazed villagers chilling around, just waiting to be hired but apparently they cannot be healed...

From the unused map sprite, even if it doesn’t match the character’s sprite, Rhea bleaches her hair when she cosplays as Seiros, and we were robbed of the “two eyed Dimitri” map sprite.

I’ve finally found the beta “Felix’n’Annette were supposed to fight against Dimitri” convos, idk what was the beta AM, but here it seems as if Felix’n’Annette are fighting alongside Cornelia and the randoms Faerghusians in Firdhiad. Maybe they defected when Dimitri wanted to go to Enbarr, then Flèche happened, Dimitri returns home and has to fight against them? idk.

More interesting though, is the cut “trading” activity, where, apparently, we would have been able to send merchants somewhere to get rare and endemic products.

It’s interesting because it has some flavor text about the destinations!

Brigid A group of islands with abundant nature, floating in Western Fódlan. They lack in production of arms and goods, but they are excellent hunters and fishers, and are well-known for their unique cuisine.

They were unlucky in Civ and didn’t start near a mine of iron or copper? If only we could have more Brigid dishes, i’d be a happy nerd

Land of Albinea A vast land located Nothwest of Fódlan. They require a variety of resources for development. There are lots of famous foods that take advantage rich nature in the area. 

Albinea doesn’t have a lot of ressources for development (TFW no iron/copper) but apparently they have a lot of “famous food”. I think Albinean moose is used in some dishes?

Derdriu, The Aquatic Capital The capital of the Regan Dukedom, and the central part of the Alliance Territory. There are a lot of factories there, and they leverage the port to produce and export goods to build their wealth.

Look at those merchant republics exporting goods and developing factories, then what, they developed tariffs? Sleazy merchants. OTOH, from this description alone, I have the feeling the Alliance’s nobility desperatly tries to assert its authority through “ancient noble blood” and what not, because if someone is rich enough to have 70% of the factories used, and controls the trade, even if Count Gloucester recalls how Gloucester the Elite was the dudest bro in the world, rich merchants won’t give a fig about him.

Fort Merceus A fortified city, and the capital of the County of Bergliez. Extremely rich in agriculture and fishing thanks to the blessing of the fertile Gronder Field and Airmid River.

The Empire seized every fertile land in Fodlan? I remember a raunchy novel implying Cichol blessed the fields of Gronder (bla bla earth dragon magic?) but with the river + those magical fields, the Empire’s supposed to be self-sufficient, at least when food is concerned. It contrasts with the Kingdom where recolts aren’t that rad, some are forced to turn into Dagdas and Ingrid’s family deals with bad recolts.

Arianrhod, The Fortress City A fortress Kingdom city on the border with the Empire. They put a lot of effort into military preparation, but it's said that they have a surplus of equipment and due to their non-agressive defense policy.

TFW everyone works their butts to build a super fortress city but then your local nobles say it must be used to strengthen a “non-agressive defense policy” :’(. OTOH, Arianrhod being a non-agressive defensive “fortress city” near the border with the Empire means that, at least during the first part of the game, the Kingdom and the Empire weren’t at each other’s throats.

Almyra The great country to the East that has long been at war with Fódlan. The throttle on trade was loosened when the former king began his reign, and they now export many goods.

Wow, interesting bits here! Who is the former king this is talking about? Claude’s Almyrian Grandpapa? Of course greedy merchants from the alliance try to make some business (tm) and Almyra even exports goods! Maybe the pals raiding every wednesday are just a faction who doesn’t want to negociate/trade with their neighbours and only want to fight’n’feast, idk. Making peace through trade though, i’ve read it somewhere but i can’t remember where are they trading coal and steel?

Sreng Region A desolate region where the Sreng people live. It's said that Zoltan, the master swordsmith, once lived there, so there may be valuable weapons waiting to be discovered.

Alright who is Zoltan because we find his weapons in the game. Still sad that there’s nothing about the Sreng people, but talks about a swordsmith in a region where Birdie is sighted in the game makes me think a bit, maybe Zoltan is one of Macuil’s alias, like Cichol and Seteth, or Rhea and Seiros? “There may be valuable weapons waiting to be discovered” TFW you’re a thief trying to discover magic weapons in a desert but get attacked by a talking magic beast :’(

Fhirdiad, The Kingdom Capital The capital of the Kingdom located in Northwestern Fódlan. The study of magic is popular, and the people are said to be skilled at crafts, but the surrounding lands are barren.

Look the Fhirdiad magic school of sorcery gets a mention! It makes me wonder why Fhirdiaid pushes for magic studies but the Empire is supposed to have the most magic oriented army in the continent... Contrast with Bergliez again, the Kingdom’s lands are barren. And yet they still manage to have cheese. Fhirdiad randoms are supposed to be skilled at crafts, what, Cordelia asked them to craft spare parts for her Titanuses and the randoms obliged, not knowing what it would be used for? Or because they don’t have natural ressources, they had to craft a lot of things to compensate for the shitty climate and barren lands?

Morfess, City of Sorcery A desert city located far to the Southeast of Fódlan. The climate is rough, but the study of magic is popular, and it's said that their skill at weapons forging is also high.

Okay I'm pretty sure Morfis/Morfess specialities being “magic + weapons forging” was, in this version of the game, the devs trying to tell us that Macuil used to be there. Climate is rough, dude loves deserts. But as @damoselcastel​ pointed out, maybe Morfess/Morfis developed its own branch of magic and also uses it to forge weapons. TFW the only things we get from Morfis are a battalion of mole people looking mages and plums. Yes, plums.

County of Gloucester A territory of the widest plains in the Alliance territory. Agriculture and cattle-breeding are prosperous, and it's said that County Gloucester himself uses them to develop new foods.

Oh, so next to the economic mess/Fodlan’s version of Amsterdam in Derdriu, Count Gloucester rules over a pretty rural area of the Alliance? He develops new foods, like what? He tries to create fusion food? Now I imagine all kind of jokes made at Count Gloucester’s expense with various sheeps, when the Riegans just need to develop 3 more technologies to fully enter to the industrial revolution era. No wonder why he’s so salty :).

OTOH, again, more worldbuilding : apparently only the Kingdom wasn’t blessed with fertile fields? It sucks for them.

Enbarr, The Imperial Capital Capital of the Adrestian Empire that has a long history. More people there than any other city in Fódlan, and it also has a huge market that sells mostly food.

Compared to the description of the other capitals, this one feels flat. So, Enbarr is old and it has more people in its walls than in any other city in Fodlan. Market sells a lot of food. Enbarr dictates food prices in the continent or what? Or maybe the huge food market is like, the biggest food market in Fodlan where food from every part of the Empire is sold (it manages to enter Enbarr thanks to the canal?). I’m kind of disappointed, otoh, Ferdie reading an agricultural treaty gives him a new light, if food/agriculture is so important in the Empire.

now the million gald question : is Enbarr exporting food to the Kingdom who’s in need or not

County of Varley This area is lacking in water sources, which is rare within the Empire. It's said that they forge precious weapons and armor using the minerals taken from the Ogma mountains.

hahaha what kind of minerals taken from the Ogma mountains are we talking about crest stones or nabatean bones i mean

Fascinating to note, again, that the Empire is the bestest place to be in Fodlan because bar Varley, every area isn’t “lacking in water sources”. So maybe we have a lot of swamps in Adrestia, but at least there are no deserts. With water, you can grow stuff, so it’s a huge bonus for agricultural development. then why are the adrestians so nostalgic about a time where they controled a frozen wasteland and want to reconquer that frozen wasteland, like, it has nothing of interest no natural ressources nothing so why

If only Bernie could forge us something OP...

Kupala This area is just a part of the Alliance's Territory of Margrave Edmund , but it's an autonomous region where the mountain people life. They produce weapons and armor, made with precious minerals.

Those tidbits were in the game before the DLC, so at that time we didn’t know was Kupala before Nemesis’s party. Interesting to note that this is an autonomous region in the Alliance, and not a part of the Alliance like any other territory (Leonie’s village). Maybe the Alliance thought it was too much of a hassle to keep an effective control over those parts of the mountains, for little benefit. Why needing to crush them when we can trade with them?

Territory of Margrave Edmund The region is almost entirely made up of coastal area or islands, and trade with far-off areas is thriving. You may be able to get something rare. 

Or maybe the Territory of Margrave Edmund is just some sort of puzzle, when the Lords needed to give him a territory because he’s a noble they thought about the most difficult, shitty place to administrate and thought about this place, islands, coasts and mountains. Totally not a difficult mess to send knights to keep order of something. Coasts + islands = pirates? But apparently, in the general Alliance trend, Edmund managed to trade with “far-off areas” instead of maintaining a military rule/dominion, and apparently, it works so well that he sometimes manages to get something rare!

Land of Dagda A vast land far west of Fódlan. Their weapons crafted with unique skill are well known. They are hungry for meat that you can only get in Fódlan.

Meat for weapons seems a good trade - I mean Dagdians weapons are supposed to be unique but also well-known. It’s such a shame we never see anything like that in the game :) IIRC Shamir doesn’t have a special Dadgdian pref bow and i hope they’re not talking about the fetters of dromi :’(

why did they cut those worldbuilding parts???

[kaiser-dracon]

Chapter XLIII: Destiny - sneak peek

“Those who can not abandon anything will accomplish nothing.”

-King Claudius Asgard-

Velvet raised her head. The clouds parted to reveal the moon, streaming down upon them brightly in a silver hue, calm and serene. “It’s no longer red.”

“The scarlet night’s over,” Eizen said, bending down on one knee near Velvet and Avernus. “I feel a shift in the earthpulse. It appears that waking up the Empyreans has averted the rumbling activities of the volcano. The mountain will not erupt. At least not for a few hundred years.”

Eizen slowly pulled Avernus off Velvet’s lap with Rokurou joining him to help with the carry. “I guess whatever Avernus and Lailah did, had worked in our favor. Isn’t that right, Lailah?” Rokurou said as he and Eizen each held each of Avernus’ shoulders, ready to take him back to Van Eltia.

“Yes. The four Empyreans pushed Innominat away from the earthpulses. His domain is no longer affecting the mind of malakhim or humans.” Lailah informed, her eyes followed Avernus’ unconscious face that was heartbreakingly sleeping like an innocent child. Velvet caught an alarming feel of concern in Lailah’s benevolent eyes. 

“Lailah.” Velvet called, and the fire malak turned to her. “Thank you. If it hadn’t been for you, I don’t think we could’ve awakened the four Empyreans. We’re in your debt.”

“I did what I had to do.” Lailah nodded. “I’m happy that I could help you and Avernus, Velvet-san.”

Magilou slid closer to Lailah, making herself visible to the lord of calamity. “Aren’t you forgetting someone, Velvet?”

“You’re right. Thank you-”

Magilou quickly interrupted Velvet. “I’m not like Lailah that a mere “thank you” satisfy me. I only accept gifts or gald in tens of thousands.”

Velvet groaned in annoyance. “Forget it. I take it back.”

Laphicet joined them and moved beside Lailah. “What was that illusory arte, Magilou?”

“My personal affair that I had prepared for the old man.” Magilou giggled in pride. “It was to remind him how breaking someone’s heart feels. In other words: Payback.”

“That man was Claudin, am I right?”

“He was. Melchior loved him so much that he made an oath a hundred years ago to accompany him and see his vision through. Claudin’s death hit him hard. Very hard.” Magilou sneered, locking her arms behind her head, staring into the horizon with wicked satisfaction. “That was also his downfall. Hypocrisy at its finest.”

“What about Avernus? I sensed a lot of malakhim souls and consciousnesses rushing to him. Wasn’t that dangerous?” Laphicet wondered.

“Those souls you felt, Laphicet, were the wills of malaks who were suppressed and consumed by Innominat,” Lailah answered. “Wills to live and wills to push on. Avernus gave his body as a vessel to outweigh the Melchior’s magic of suppression.” Her face went pale for a second as she remembered something, a vision of someone, quietly resting under an apple tree in the Avalon. Lailah quickly switched her thoughts back. “Sometimes, little guidance can help lost souls. That’s what shepherds are for, and that’s what Avernus is for…”

“I bet malaks love an evil shepherd who gives them the freedom to express their emotions more than a benevolent one who binds them in prison. Did you know all of that from before?” Magilou asked, bringing her back to the matter.

Lailah quickly glanced at Velvet with a sense of guilt before returning her attention to Magilou. “No, I heard whispers of another malak, guiding me. For the souls, and even for getting back the sword.”

Velvet’s eyes suddenly glimmered in recognition. “Seres.”

Lailah nodded. “Yes. I think that was how she introduced herself.”

Velvet smiled. The reincarnation of her sister would not leave her side. Not till the end. “She is determined to see this through. As would I.”

Eizen glanced over Avernus’ head as he and Rokurou carried him on their shoulders. “Do you know anything about Avalon, Lailah? Was that real?” 

Avalon. The mysterious island, hidden among worlds, where orchards of apple trees laden with glowing fruits and the grass was a soft green lawn. Filled with such peace as no men nor malak will never know on earth.  That would be Eizen's next destination after they dealt with Artorius and Innominat.

“I-I have no idea, I’m sorry,” Lailah answered. In her honesty, she was telling them the truth, but not the whole truth, and Velvet already knew. “All I know is that it is somehow connected to both our world and the seraphim world.”

“You mean the progenitor malakhim?” Eleanor asked.

“We’re the same race. Those who were determined to follow their prime lords, the Empyreans, are called malakhims, which means “Holy Servants”.”

Laphicet gave Lailah a surprised and innocent look. “W-We are the servants?!”

An irritating hum from Eizen followed Laphicet’s sentence. “We are servants of no one, Laphicet. Especially not the shepherds and not the Empyreans.”

“Eizen is right. No one, not even malaks, has to be chained and used as tools.” Eleanor expressed.

“The first malakhim followed the Empyreans out of their own free will. In the case of Innominat, no one knows. But he has no more control of the minds of most malakhim and humans. His domain is failing.” Lailah answered.

“About Innominat, Phi. You are connected to him. What is he doing right now?” Velvet asked. 

Laphicet closed his eyes and took a deep breath, tapping into the earthpulses. “The Empyreans drove him away from the earthpulse. His body has escaped to the sky above the Empyrean’s throne. Artorius is with him too.”

“If that’s the case, what Lailah said is true. Humanity’s amplified resonances will diminish, and a lot of malakhim will regain their free will,” Magilou deducted. “The exorcist will likely lose a good number of their forces.”

“What about you, Eleanor? Have you lost your resonance?” Rokurou asked.

Eleanor cocked her head and shot a glance at everyone as they traversed the snowing road. “Sorry to disappoint, but I can still see you. Evil daemons, malakhims, witches, ladies of the lakes, and rogue shepherds alike.”

Lailah clapped her hands and beamed. “I knew it, Eleanor-san! Avernus told me that you are naturally strong!”

Lailah’s sweet and delicate compliment made Eleanor blushed. “Thank you, you’re so kind, the lady of the lake.”

Lailah hadn’t got used to her title, and soon she joined Eleanor in having rosy cheeks. Laphicet paced to Lailah’s side in excitement. “I like it a lot. It suits you, Lailah!”

“I-It does?”

Magilou stroked her chin. Thoughts of endless possibilities of how she can use the lady of the lake’s power stormed her mind. “So, Lailah, what can you do with those powers?”

“I can only assist the shepherd. Anything more, it has to be decided by Avernus.” Lailah lowered her head in shame. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t worry, Lailah. When your big brother wakes up, we will-” Before Magilou could finish her sentence, Velvet smacked her head. Her jester hat nearly fell off, and she stumbled forward. “Hey!”

“Leave Lailah out of it.” Velvet frowned at the witch. “It is up to me if I need any more power to deal with Artorius, not you.”

“Ah, you are no fun. Can’t you understand?! You have the power of four gods under your fingertips and claws! You can order your faithful Shadow to snap his finger and erase everything from existence!”

“For now, let us worry about getting back to Van Eltia. Then we’ll decide on what to do with the powers.” 

The team hiked their way back from the mountain and back to Hellawes. In the port, Benwick and the rest of the crew were anxiously waiting for them.

“Welcome back! I take it you defeated the legates.”Benwick greeted them, and his eyes instantly fell upon Avernus. “I guess he did something stupid again?”

Velvet waved her hand. “What’s new? But we got the legates. That leaves Artorius and Innominat.”

“Report, Benwick. How do you feel? Is everyone back to normal?” Eizen asked.

Benwick bobbed his head, sticking his chest out in salutation.“Aye, aye! We’re better than ever. It seems whatever tugged at our minds has already disappeared. We’re ready and able for your orders.”

“We need to have a plan before rushing into the final battle. Avernus needs to wake up too.”Velvet suggested. Suddenly, two new colorful Normins grabbed her attention as they were sitting beside Grimoirh on the deck. “Who’re those?”

“They came here looking for the shepherd, talking about paying their tributes before going on their ways and finding their missing friend,” Benwick answered.

Velvet climbed the stairs and marched toward the Normins. “What do you want?”

Grimorih beckoned to the green and red normin behind her, and they joined her. “They are Normin Heerow and Normin Krimson. They’ve come here to meet the Shepherd or precisely, the son of Claudin.”

Velvet scowled, making the small Normins flinch for a moment in fear. “What do you want with Avernus? And what’s your business with him?”

The green one gathered enough courage to bow slightly. “G-greetings lord of calamity. We have previously traveled the world alongside King Claudius and Artorius. We just came here to see Claudin’s son.”

“You’ve traveled with Artorius?” Velvet asked, turning to Grimoirh. 

“Might as well let them speak,” Girmoirh suggested.

Velvet crossed her arms. “Fine, but you need to talk before I let you see Avernus.”

Seeing no choice but to go through with the interrogation, the green one began the tale of King Claudin; how he found Artorius as an orphan, raising and training him under his wings to become his most beloved disciple. Then, how things turned to the worst, and Claudin had to sacrifice himself to save Artorius’ life in Lothringen. 

Most of this information was nothing new to them. But the story of Artorius sparked her interest. “Another death on his hand.” Velvet blamed Artorius for the death of Claudin too. 

The red Normin shook his head. “Artorius didn’t do anything wrong. There was no other way Claudin could have saved the boy, and he had already stretched that oath to its limits.”

Velvet was still not satisfied. Even though Avernus didn’t know his father, Velvet felt that Avernus losing his father was also Artorius’ fault.“Why did he sacrifice his life? Why was Artorius so important?”

“Claudin believed in the purity of Artorius’s spirit. He entrusted his hopes and the future of the world to his disciple!”

“But he had a son back in the far continent.” Velvet said.

Krimson lowered his head in sorrow. “He didn’t know. If he did…” He paused before raising his head again. “But it’s not the only sad thing. After that, Artorius kept blaming and blaming himself for the death of Claudin. He tried to do everything he could to live up to Claudin’s ideals, with no one else to help him. He traveled the world, teaching folks about malakhim and daemons, and how important it is to have a pure heart. But people had lived in peace so long, and they didn’t care for his stories. And in the end, the four Empyreans drifted into slumber.”

“He blamed himself again, I presume?” Magilou joined them, standing beside Velvet.

“Yes. And he left us, journeying to the east, all by his lonesome.” 

Magilou looked at Velvet, and they shared the same assumption. “Eastgand… Which means.”

“Aball.” Velvet completed her sentence. “Benwick said you want to join your friend. Did they go to Eastgand?”

“Yes. He took off a few days ago, but we heard the news about Claudin’s son and decided to come and find you.” Krimson answered, waiting for Velvet’s permission.

“We’ll take you to Aball. I have some business there too.” Velvet said, waving her hand afterward as soon as she saw Eizen and Rokurou coming out of the crew quarters. “You can go and see Avernus.” Velvet raised a scolding finger, frowning. “But try anything funny, or be a nuisance around him, and I will throw you out into the sea to be shark bait.”

[raiswriting]

muse

request: art major!reader w law major!doyoung pls :cc bullet note format if u can!!!

a/n: he’s a year older than you but it doesn’t matter that much

warning: a few swear words oopsie

genre: fluffy college!au

pairing: doyoung x reader

summary: ummm basically just how you and doyoung meet and get to know each other

word count: 5.1k (oops)

lets GOOOOOOOO

okay so basically college has been a JOURNEY

people ALWAYS had some shit to say as soon as they found out you were an art major

it was usually “what are you going to do with that” “do you know how unsteady that career path is”

liKE I GET IT

do they really think they’re telling you something new????

oh I’m sorry your majoring in business Susan™ and you decide to throw away your passions just because some high school counselor told you that you wouldn’t be able to support yourself but IM going to make my passion a career

lol sorry I have a lot of feelings

now onto how you met your mans doyoung

your freshman and sophomore years, you had only seen him in passing

tbh you barely recognized him when you saw him more than once

you knew him as “that one dude that i always see in the dining hall wearing suits”

then junior year you got a job at the convenience store on campus (lets get this BREAD)

pls tell me it isn’t some weird niche thing that only my school has

aNyWHO he started coming in around 2 am right before closing

and ALWAYS picked up 3 coffees all of which had double shots of espresso

this happened about 2 or 3 times a week

(which is very unhealthy guys gals and nonbinary pals pls try to drink cold water instead, it helps wake me up or green tea)

so despite seeing him so often at work, he began to appear less and less everywhere else

were you lowkey kinda sad about it???

mAYhaPS

that was until winter quarter started

you needed an elective class, SO you figured ‘eh why not take philosophy’ you had heard around that the professor is really chill and overall the class wasn’t supposed to be that bad

WELL GUESS AGAIN

 because that really nice professor that everyone loved isn’t the one teaching the class this quarter

but hey you figured let’s go into this with an open mind and hope for the best

well on day one of this class (which is a 9 am by the way) guess who struts through the door

mister “that one guy i’d always see wearing a suit” who became mister “that one dude who always buys too much coffee at 3 am”

the man… the myth…… the legend………….MISTER KIM DOYOUNG

yep and ya boi decided to sit 2 seats down from you, it was too far to say hi or anything (esp bc you had never really spoken to him before) but like he was also just close enough for it to be awkward

so class went by normally you found out that the new professor wasn’t THAT bad but there was definitely gonna be a lot of work involved

so yeah life carries on as normal

you still see him all the time at the convenience store

one night it had been a particularly rough shift

your alarm didn’t go off, so you were running late, it had started to rain on your walk to work, and when you finally got there your manager apparently had someone piss in his cheerios because he had S U C H an attitude because you were

 TWO

MINUTES

LATE

you were sat behind the counter after what felt like hours of sweeping and mopping the floors

that’s when he walked in

you didn’t even lift your head to greet him as “hi, welcome” crawled itself out of your mouth

you did however notice when he sat his 3 cans of coffee in front of you

“hey your y/n right?”

 “that’s what it says on my nametag”

“haha yeah it does. i think i have you in my philosophy class”

when you finally met his eyes, you felt a little bad

you had kinda been giving him the cold shoulder for something that wasn’t his fault

 you gave him a little smile

“yeah i am. doyoung right?”

he nodded slightly

the air was a little awkward and silent as you scanned his coffees

as you handed him the receipt he asked “hey do you maybe want to study together sometime. i mean our test is in like two weeks and it’s a quarter of our grade so like if you were free we could hang out and get some work done?”

dUDE you froze

here he was standing right in front of you; messy hair, sweatpants, a sweatshirt repping your school logo and looking very nervous (but very attractive lmao)

i guess your reply took a little too long because he quickly started to back peddle

“i mean if you prefer to study alone that’s cool. i just always see you during lecture and you look like you understand the material and sometimes i get a little lost in terminology but if you don’t want to that’s fine too.”

you quickly snapped out of your haze

 “no, no. i would love to study with you. here let me give you my number so we can meet up. most of my classes are in the morning so any time after like noon should be fine.”

 you grabbed his receipt back and quickly scribbled your number on it before handing it back

“just text me when you want to get together”

 okay honestly you had never been one to give out your phone number just like that and you didn’t really like studying with people

but something about him made it so hard to say no

you just had this urge to get to know him

so when he texted you a few days later asking if you were free to study that night

of course you said yes

and it went pretty smoothly

he has a much better understanding of the material than he let on at first

he even ended up helping you understand a few things

you got together w few times over the next couple of weeks

each time you met you got to know each other more and more

yall quickly became friends

well yall became friends after the first night studying because lets be real it was awKWARD

like neither of you felt particularly comfortable yet because this was the first time you had actually hung out with each other despite knowing of each other’s existence for two years

oh yeah that’s something you found out after getting to know one another

 he had always seen you around campus and wanted to get to know you but never did because he thought it’d freak you out having a random stranger coming up to you like

‘hey I know you don’t know me but I see you all the time. let’s be friends.’

which isn’t THAT crazy but to each their own

okay but let’s jump to the time 2 days before your exam

you guys agreed to meet up at the library and the plan was to study for A WHILE just to make sure you were prepared ya know?

so like you get there and he was already sitting in a room waiting

 when you open the door he gets up to hug you

which he hasn’t ever done before

and like tbh he was really warm and smelled really nice like it his cologne wasn’t too strong, and it smelt sweet but also very inviting which isn’t really a scent but like do you get me? and he gave a really tight hug like the type that you didn’t want to let go of it felt as though you could stay there forever (this is also where you lowkey start having feelings for him but shhh because you don’t realize it yet)

so back the point

obvi you start studying and besides the hug nothing was really that different

you got through the material, quizzed each other, talked a bit

ya know the usual

time flew by and the next thing you know it’s 12:30 am and the library would be closing at 1 so you decide to wrap it up

“alright doyoung i’ll see you in class. get some rest before the test okay?”

 “yeah yeah i will” he rolled his eyes a little bit

 “seriously dude. i know you. go straight to sleep when you get back to your place”

he worried you sometimes. He really wanted to do well and the applications for law school were opening up soon, so he’s been kinda stressed no matter how much he tried to hide it and this test coming up isn’t helping

“i will. i promise.”

he walked you out of the library and you two would usually part ways and walk alone to your apartments

before you could turn and say goodbye doyoung was already speaking

“hey it’s a lot darker out here than usual”

you looked up at the pitch-black sky

“yeah I guess it is, oh well at least I have my pep-“

 “what? you have your pepper spray right?”

“no i forgot that i let my roommate borrow it. she’s going to a sorority thing and won’t be back until like 3 or 4. it’s fine though my apartment is only like a 10-minute walk. goodnight do”

“wait y/n. i’ll walk you back. it’s way too late and too dark for you to go home”

“no i couldn’t ask you to do that. you’re law and society class is at 8 am tomorrow so you need to get some sleep.”

 “well i won’t be able to sleep anyway if I’m staying up worried about you. so lead the way.”

despite the cold fall air, your face felt hot

like you know that it’s normal for friends to be worried about each other but that didn’t make doyoung saying it any less charming

the walk back was nerve wracking

you guys normally don’t hang out outside of the context of studying

so like this was weird, nice but weird

and once you go to your door there was a cast of silence

doyoung was just looking at you

normally it would make you kinda uncomfy/insecure but right now you were calm

there was something about looking into his eyes

the brown was so warm and inviting

after a few seconds of the comfortable silence, he finally looked away

and I awkwardly cleared my throat “thank you for walking me home doyoung”

 “of course, i’m just gald to know you got here safely”

“so um, i was gonna wish you luck just in case we don’t see each other before the test but i mean judging from our study session you won’t need it though.”

he giggled and i swear someone could have mopped up your heart because it was in a puddle on the floor

“shut up y/n. thank you though. i always appreciate your kind words. do you want to meet for lunch after the exam? i usually have a lab afterwards but it got cancelled so if you’re free we should meet up.” asjdjjklcbclkNCKDLSNCOS

“yeah i am free. i guess i’ll see you then.”

 he took a few steps back “yeah i guess you will. goodnight y/n”

“goodnight doyoung. actually get some sleep tonight, yeah?”

you could see his shoulders shake with laughter as he walked down the steps

to say you were smitten would be an UNDERSTATEMENT

the smile that showed up didn’t leave even after you fell asleep

when you get to class on that friday morning, doyoung is already sitting in his usual seat

the bags that usually take their place beneath his eyes are barely visible today

hopefully he took your advice and actually went to sleep

after the test you both got some burgers for lunch and just talked it had nothing to do with the test which was nice

i guess y’all make a great pair because once the scores came out, both of you got A’s

after that studying together became a routine

every tuesday, thursday and saturday leading up to the next test,  you guys would review or sometimes just hang out

it was a mutual decision to help each other study

even if you didn’t share the class, one would be there to quiz and make sure the other focused (most of the time it worked, other times you’d be the reason they got distracted and vice versa)

the two of you would go out for lunch on those days instead

as the quarter drew to a close and the break got nearer and nearer as did finals week

you and doyoung tried to keep up with your study schedule but it was getting harder

you had artwork due

you were particularly stressed over a sculpture that was assigned

your teacher gave you those choice of clay or marbleas a medium and clearly you chose clay

you were going to do marble but then you remembered the other 3 tests you need to prepare for and a portfolio that had to fit the theme of mythology

so basically you had a lot of art to produce and NO INSPIRATION like none, zero, zip, zilch, nada

you sat in the room you had reserved in the arts building

a pile of clay sat atop a slab of rock, a blank page of a sketchbook sat next to that

scrolling through pinterest had stopped working long ago and at this point you were losing hope

ring, ring, ring

doyoung’s name popped up on your screen

it was odd because you two usually texted for everything

“hey, do what’s up?”

“hi y/n i was just wondering if you wanted to grab some fro-yo. i just got out of another test and could use some company”

“ahh, doyoung i’m sorry but i’m stuck doing work. do you remember that mythology sculpture i told you about? well, it’s due next Wednesday and i haven’t even started on it yet”

his voice sounded so concerned “is everything okay? how are you doing?”

“i’m doing okay, just tired. i’ve been trying so hard but can’t find any inspiration” you sighed into the phone, looking out the window of your room

“what room are you in?”

“room 247 in building B. why?”

“just sit tight.”

the call ended before you could ask any more questions

okay when i tell yall it was less than five minutes and he was walking through the door just know that what i really mean is he rAN FROM THE OTHER SIDE OF CAMPUS TO COME COMFORT YOU

so yeah, he got there huffin and puffin, ready to blow your house down (with love)

“doyoung, what are you doing here?”

“well you were upset.” his tone was so matter-of-fact, and his eyes were so wide and innocent

honestly he looked so cute but like you were still very confused

what was he doing there?????

yeah you were upset but you also didn’t want to worry him

he casually walked over to a seat beside a window and pulled something out of his backpack

as he got closer and reached his hand out for you to take it, you noticed it was a sandwich

“it’s ham and cheese. light mayo, no lettuce or tomato”

when your eyes looked up at him he wouldn’t make eye contact

“you said this is the only way you take your sandwiches”

yALL 

you only told him this once in passing because he was eating a sandwich with mayo

but pls tell you are putting the pieces together

he stopped to get you food and made it across campus in 5 minutes

the walk alONE SHOULD HAVE TAKEN 10 MINUTES

HE STOPPED AND GOT YOU FOOD TO MAKE SURE YOU WEREN’T SKIPPING ANY MEALS

MARRY THID MANFSJDLFG

alrighty anywho

obviously you took the sandwich and spent 5 minutes thanking him for getting it for you

he sat back down in his seat near the window as you guys chatted for a bit

the conversation slowed slightly and you were able to just look at him

the light was bouncing off his face perfectly

his eyes looked like freshly brewed coffee. they were warm and inviting

his smile somehow managed to outshine the light pouring in

there he was

in all of his glory

your muse

your inspiration

his expression shifted to one of confusion

“y/n, why are you looking at me like that”

he could be your subject for not only the sculpture but also the portfolio as well

“okay this may be an odd favor and you can feel free to say no”

your leg couldn’t stop bouncing up and down and you thought your hands might catch a cramp from all the wringing they were doing

“don’t be silly. what is it?”

“well, i was thinking maybe you could be the model for my sculpture.”

 “of course i will but i thought it was supposed to be about mythology and i’m no greek god”

he chuckled a little bit

“shut up do. are you kidding me? your shoulders are like a mile wide. you have a great jawline and that smile? you’d have all the mortal girls falling for you i mean i did. that sounds like god-material to me”

he threw his head back laughing

mostly to hide the huge blush creeping up his cheeks

“okay, okay. i’ll pose for you. what do i have to do?”

“just sit still so that i can take some measurements of your face and then i’ll take some photos for reference afterwards.”

doyoung did as he was told for the most part

he sat there patiently

he kept peeking at your sketchbook as you laid out the rough ideas for a few of your other pieces

tbh you hadn’t even noticed

you were in the ZONE, you hadn’t been this inspired in a while and you wanted to take full advantage of it

you also hadn’t noticed the ,,,, um,,,, lack of space,,,,,, between the two of you

well doyoung had, to say the least

he sat there desperately hoping and praying that you wouldn’t notice how sharply he would breathe in everytime your hands touched his face to move its position

or that you couldn’t notice how much his hands were shaking and how he was constantly wiping them on his pants because they were very sweaty

finally, you had all the information you needed

as you stepped back and over to your chair in front of the clay, doyoung could finally breath

“doyoung, do you have any other classes today? i don’t want to keep you here if you have plans. you can go i can work off of the reference pictures”

he very vigorously shook his head

“no no, i’m free for the day.”

“okay. you should probably go get something to eat while get this started. this will probably be a long process.”

“yeah sure. do you want me to grab you anything while I’m gone?”

“nope i’m good. i already had the sandwich you brought me.”

“okay then i’ll be right back”

after he left it easy to feel the emptiness of the room

even though you were enveloped in your work it was still noticeable

the absence of his presence was palpable

the lack of it was almost suffocating

while you were worked on getting the basic shape and structure you found yourself unsettled

unable to get back into the ‘zone’ you found yourself in before

still, you pushed through the weird shift in the air, but it wasn’t long before doyoung came back with a bag of food

“hey doyoung.”

he glanced over at your pile of clay

“whoa. you made a lot of progress. okay i know you said that you didn’t want anything to eat but i brought burgers and some chips and stuff just in case.

“doyoung, you really didn’t have to. i would have been fine.”

he rolled his eyes but didn’t reply. he simply sat back in his chair and ate some of the fries that came with his burger

the hours seemed to fly by once doyoung returned

it also helped that you played music on the speaker that you brought

before you knew it, it was 5 pm and the sun was setting

you leaned back from your chair to stretch before standing and taking a good look at the sculpture

after about 4 hours of work, you were almost done

of course there were still things that needed to be touched up, like the hair and the eyes

you had decided on a pose of doyoung looking up and off into the distance

you turned and washed your hands in the sink at the back of the room

“here’s your burger if you want it. it might be a little cold, but it doesn’t have any mustard, lettuce, tomato, or pickle. that’s how you like it right?”

YALL HE DID IT AGAIN

HE REALLY JUST OUT HERE BEIN A WHOLE SWEETHEART

“yeah, how’d you know?”

“remember we met up for dinner before a study session a few weeks ago? that’s how you ordered your burger and you told me about how dill pickles were the bane of your existence”

 “which they are” you chuckled “but i can’t believe you remembered that”

“of course, i did. i remember everything you tell me”

your heart melted for like the fiFTH TIME TODAY

you smiled and blushed before grabbing the wrapped burger from his hands

you guys sat and ate in comfortable silence

once you had finished you turned to him

“if you’re ready to leave you can. i just have a few things to add but it’ll be okay if you aren’t here. i’m just about out of daylight anyway.”

he playfully cocked his head to the side and crossed his arms

“y/n. i have a feeling you’re trying to get rid of me”

“maybe i am doyoung. whatcha gonna do about it?”

“cry.”

you both busted up laughing

once you had calmed down you looked at him

“seriously do. if you wanna go study or sleep or something go ahead”

he stood up and began to walk closer to you

“oh stop that. y/n it isn’t a burden for me to stay here with you. i’m honored that you would choose me to be the subject of your work and i love spending my time with you”

at this point he was standing right in front of you. looking down into your eyes.

there was no hiding the redness flushing your skin

after a few moments of silence, you looked back down at your hands

he speaks again as if you two hadn’t spent the past minute just staring into each other’s eyes

“so what next? are you gonna keep sculpting me or are you gonna draw and paint a bit?”

“ummm ,,, i kinda want to just finish the sculpture so that i don’t have to worry about it ya know?”

“yeah. where is the light switch?”

“right by the corner near the door”

as he flipped on the switch and light once again flooded the room

you were able to get a good look at the sculpture

despite it not being finished, you were still incredibly happy and proud of it

you sat back down in front of it ready to finish the work

it only took another hour or two to finish once you really got back into it

you spent the bulk of the time adding in all the little details

and you also decided last minute to add a wreath atop his head and the top of a toga

you took a final step back before sighing in relief

you were finished

you almost wanted to cry

while you were staring at the piece doyoung got up to stand behind you and look at it as well

“wow y/n. it’s beautiful.”

“well it’s you so i hope it is.”

LOOK AT YOU. BEING BOLD. OKAAYYYY

before he could say anything else, you walked back to the sink and while washing your hands, asked his help to put it in another room to dry for a few days before it goes into the kiln

“it’ll take a while to dry so i’m going to leave it here and head to bed”

“okay well i can walk you back to your apartment”

“alrighty”

okay so you grabbed all your stuff (with his help because doyoung is too nice to just walk beside you as you try carry 4 different bags filled with art supplies)

the walk back was kind of uneventful

you invited him in to drop all your things off before he headed out, not until you thanked him for spending the day with you and being your subject

okay so 2 weeks pass

you and doyoung meet up a few times because you need him to model a few poses for your portfolio

but FINALLY you finished your portfolio and sculpture and turned it all in

since then you have been relaxing, getting ready for winter break

well “relaxing” is a loose term

tbh you had been kinda stressed over the scores you were going to get on the artwork

and today, the day before the quarter ends, your professor would be handing back your portfolio & sculpture with a score

you decided to text doyoung after getting dismissed from class

y/n: “hey i get the score for my art project back today. do you want to meet up and we can find out together?”

doyoung: “oh my gosh yes. but are you sure you want me to be there?”

y/n: “of course do. you were such a big part of this, i couldn’t leave you out of it. besides you haven’t seen the finished portfolio���

doyoung: “okay. same art room as last time?”

y/n: “yep. i’ll see you in 20”

you were nervous. as you waited in the room, your legs couldn’t stay still so you decided to pace in hopes of calming yourself down

or at least having something to do

when he walked into the room, your eyes met

there was no hiding the frantic look in them either

“hey y/n. do you have it?”

you pulled a card from inside the front of your portfolio and set it down on the table

doyoung’s voice was soft and calming as he walked up to you

“can i look at it?”

he picked up the large folder

in a large gold print:

PROMETHEUS, he dies everyday but wouldn’t wish for any other way to spend eternity

“you chose me to represent Prometheus? what’s his story”

you began to recount the tale as doyoung slowly flipped through pages of your artwork

·         “well he was the youngest of the titans, which were the creators of greek gods. it was said that he was also the kindest. when he looked upon the earth and saw how the humans were struggling, Prometheus felt pity and decided to give them a gift. he gave them a divine secret of the gods. he gave them fire. he did this despite knowing that Zeus would punish him if he found out. which he did. the other titans and gods were furious, so they tied him to a rock near the sea. every day an eagle would come and rip out prometheus’ liver and he would die. every night it would grow back bringing him back to life. this torturous routine goes on every day and night and according to the myth it continues until this day, as it will forever.”

as you finished the story doyoung closed the folder

all he said was “wow”

it made you nervous. “so ,,,,, do you like it?”

“y/n. this is beyond words. this is amazing. and you chose me?”

“well yeah i mean. you two just seemed to fit each other. you are the kindest person i know. you’re very generous too. so really it wouldn’t have worked if i had chosen anyone else or any other myth.”

he said nothing. just set down your work and hugged you.

you embraced each other. sharing this moment.

“y/n no matter the score on the other side of that car, just know that your work is beyond incredible. not just because it’s of me”

you both laughed before he continued

“seriously. you are an amazing artist. your art moves people. it makes me feel emotions that i haven’t felt in a while. it takes me on a journey.”

he pulled back and gave you one last smile before grabbing the card off of the table

“on 3”

“….1”

“….2”

“….3!”

a 97 was written in bright red marker

“oh my gosh y/n”

you two jumped back into each other’s arms

the smile on your face was ear to ear. there was no way it was going to fade any time soon

“I knew you could do it.”

“not without you i couldn’t have,” you say leaning back slightly, your arms still around his neck

he rolls his eyes at you

“seriously doyoung. if you hadn’t come by that day i don’t know what i would have done. you were my muse”

his arms were wrapped tightly around your waist

your eyes would have met if his weren’t staring at your lips right now

“y/n.” he whispered

“doyoung?”

“can i kiss you?”

“absolutely”

FUCKING FINALLY

ahem sorry I got a little excited for you

it was great. what can i say

it was everything you expected to be

before you thought that the whole “fireworks” thing was just movies overexaggerating

 but NOW you can attest to that

the kiss with doyoung had so much built up tension and caring and passion and just wowza

when you finally pulled apart

both of you were slightly out of breath

doyoung still had this cute, dumb smile plastered on his face

he gave you a few more pecks

which of course made you have a big dumb smile plastered on your face

you actually pulled apart and out of his arms this time and took a look at the score card

beneath your score the professor left a little note

“i hope you don’t mind but i emailed the art gallery about your work. they have a small exhibition open if you’d like to showcase your art. here’s the email: ­­­­­­_______. please consider it. you have serious talent.”

“an art gallery doyoung. an exhibition in an art gallery.”

tears fell down your face

this was an amazing opportunity

a dream came true

“i can come over tonight and we can email them.”

you just nodded your head

tbh you were still in shock

this was a huge opportunity

“so y/n. i know there is a lot going on right now but I can’t wait. will you be my girl/boy-friend?

“doyoung of course. can you help me take this stuff back to my apartment then if you want we can go grab something to eat?”

he nodded happily and grabbed the sculpture

THE END

goodness gracious that took a while

I hope you enjoyed reading this 5 thousand-word trainwreck

I know some of the stuff about creating sculptures isn’t accurate, but I need to make it work with the timeline I had in my head

I hope it didn’t bother anyone too much

but yeah

thanks for reading

also I didn’t proofread this so hopefully there aren’t many mistakes

if there are just message me and I’ll fix them

also also here’s a sequel type thing that doesn’t have to be seen as a sequel umm it isn’t as good as this one but here ya go

·         

[theincaprincess]

For a hero’s strength is measured by his heart *part 15*

My darlings I finally got the idea for the next part of Loki!! I hope you enjoy this part and I am so gald that yous have sticking by me, while I have been like a ship out in the middle of the sea whtout a sail.

@amyf20 @blankdblank @moonfaery @full-of-choices @the-human-cloud @ceruleanrainblues @markusstraya @johnlockismyonlytruelove  @kimanne723 @killedinamascarade @bilesxbilinskixlahey @meyoko10 @southsidesarcasticwriter @tolkienprincess @starlightintherain89 @fuer-immer-jetzt

Catch up here 

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10 Part 11 Part 12 Part 13 Part 14

Word count 1,197

Walking the halls of the palace Loki looked for Heimdall, checking each and every room for him but not finding him anywhere, huffing to himself Loki walked to the gardens where he started to pace back and forth trying to think about what was wrong with you, and why everyone was walking on eggshells around him, smirking to himself when he worked out the perfect idea.

Opening your eyes you took in the sight of a person you thought you would never see in Asgard or on another planet for that matter, sitting yourself up in the bed you reached for the glass of water and took a sip, turning your eyes back to the person you spoke "Steve, how did you get here?" 

"Thor came down and got me, he thought you would like to see the friendly face" he said with a soft smile. 

"It's nice to see someone else and not the same painful eyes of Thor" you spoke letting out a little cough. 

"Painful? Why what happened? Thor said you and Loki are fine now?" Steve spoke as he came closer and rubbed your back. 

"Oh we are, but... wait he didn't tell you anything?" You asked a little confused. 

"Thor said you just wanted to see a friendly face, and you were getting there" Steve said as he sat back in he chair looking over you trying to see anything that could be wrong. 

Leaning back on the bed you moved your hair out of your face and let out a small sigh "Steve you have to promise not to overreact" you said turning your eyes to him and getting a nod from him, taking a deep breath you started speaking "Thor said I died on the table four times and they nearly couldn't bring me back" finishing your sentence you looked at Steve and saw his eyes filling with tears before you could say anything more you felt his strong arms around you, hugging him back you two sat there for a while not speaking just hugging each other. 

After a while Steve pulled back from you and wiped his eyes and face, looking his watch beeping his face twisted with a sad smile "I have to go (y/n), when do you think you can return to the team?" 

"I hope soon Steve, as soon as these doctors give me and Loki the all clear, we will return" you said with a small smile as one of the nurses came in "time to sleep again" you said as you both watched the nurse inject you with the sleeping drug, feeling your eyelids getting heavy you reached out for Steves' hand, and felt him take it. 

Hearing the heavy breaths Steve turned to the nurse "is she fully asleep?" He asked getting a nod he placed your hand back next to your body and tapped it gently, leaning over you he left a soft kiss on your forehead and left the room, walking down the hall he entered a room and felt his emotions about to tip of the edge, his breathing got fast, balling his fists up he tried to control himself, but before he could he let out a loud scream, making everyone in earshot turn out of confusion the only thing that could be seen was the faint glow of green coming from under the door in which Steve Rogers entered but it wasn't Steve in the room it was Loki, and he was fuming that you had almost died to protect him, he should have protected you, and why did Thor not tell him, shaking from the anger building Loki left the room and headed to the palace to have a chit with his brother. 

....

Sitting in the throne room Thor was trying to make a plan on how to tell Loki what had happened to you, he could see his brother trying to put the pieces together and if he didn't find out soon he knew Loki's anger would get the better of him, and no one could talk to him in that state he always let his emotions get the better of him. 

Standing Thor made his way over to the table refilling his glass of mead, and taking one of the chicken legs bring it to his mouth Thor turned as the doors flew open and a very angry Loki stood there staring at him with the fury of a thousands suns, opening his mouth the chicken leg fall to the floor as Thor raised his hand in defensive.

"Brother, if I am correct, I know this is about (y/n), I was just trying to find the perfect time to tell you" Thor spoke as he slowly walked backward towards Mjolnir.

"And when would that have been brother? A year from now? Two? Or how about when she is no longer alive because of her mortal state?" Loki hissed full of anger, the thought of losing you to old age was killing him, but knowing he could have lost you sooner without knowing was the knife in his heart that did the most damage, looking from Thor to the floor for a split second gave Thor his chance.

"I'm sorry brother" Thor said as he threw Mjolnir at Loki hitting square in the chest sending him to the floor. 

"Get you stupid hammer off me" Loki coughed out trying to remove it himself, to no success.

"This is the only way I can have a conversation with you, without you trying to kill me brother" Thor said as he sat a few feet away from his struggling sibling.

Loki's anger started to subside, turning he looked to Thor who was watching him with the look of expecting anything, after he stopped struggling and let his arms and head fall to the floor "will you please remove this" Loki asked again.

"Remember when Father use to tell us about our three times great grandfather and his......"

"What does that have to do with this Thor?" Loki asked impatiently. 

"If you let me finish brother" Thor said before speaking again, "as I was saying our three times great grandfather wife, she was midgardian."

"Yes I know the story, he loved her more than life itself and he found the fruit that turned her immortal by her choice and they...." Loki stopped talking and looked at his brother in shock.

"Heimdall is searching all the nine realms for the fruit Loki, but it has to be her choice" standing Thor lifted his hammer off Loki, holding a hand out to his brother "I was going to tell you after and if he found it."

Taking Thor's hand Loki stood and brushed himself down, nodding his head he walked to the table and filled another glass of mead up, picking it up he picked up Thor's glasses and handed it to his brother "here's hoping he finds it" Loki said as he downed the drink, watching Thor down his own "now all I have to do is talk to (y/n) about it" Loki muttered, as Thor nodded picking up the jug and refilling their glasses.

Part 16 

[ariestaurus21]

Ohhhhh fine, two can play *that* game: Steve fumbles for the phone, takes the call even though it's an unfamiliar number. "McGarrett." There's a pause on the other end, long enough that he almost ends the call, his thumb hovering over the red button. Then a shaky breath, a muffled sob, and Mary's voice. "Steve?"

Steve fumbles for the phone, takes the call even though it’s an unfamiliar number. “McGarrett.”

There’s a pause on the other end, long enough that he almost ends the call, his thumb hovering over the red button. Then a shaky breath, a muffled sob, and Mary’s voice. “Steve?”  

He’s suddenly completely, totally wide awake. “Mare? What’s wrong?”

“I…”

“Mary, where are you? Where are you calling me from?” he asks, tossing the covers back and sitting up on the side of his bed. He glances at the clock on his bedside table. It’s 4:12 A.M.: the middle of the night in L.A., pretty damn close to it in Hawaii too. If she’s calling in the middle of the night, in tears, there’s a problem.

“Mary? Mary you there?” he calls out, when the only thing on the line is uneven breathing.

“It’s gone,” she whispers.

“Gone? What’s gone, Mary, what’s happening?” he asks again, heart hammering in his chest. Every instinct in his body is telling him to go to her, to protect her, that something’s gone horribly wrong but she’s thousands of miles and half an ocean away. There’s nothing he can do but speak on the phone but she’s not answering him… “Please, Mary, tell me what’s wrong!”

“Th.. There was…. a, a… A fire, Steve, there was a fire! The house… Aunt Deb’s house, the house she left us it’s gone! It’s all gone!” she wails and she’s coughing and there’s a clatter on the line and the sounds grow distant, like she dropped the phone.

“Mary! MARY! Hello? HELLO? MARY-ANNE!” He’s on his his feet, shouting into the phone, panic making his throat tight, sending his already wildly beating heart into overdrive.

“Hello?”  

The sudden, unknown voice in his ear almost makes him drop the phone. “Hello? Who’s this? Where’s my sister?”

“This is Captain Rob Malone, LAFD. Your sister’s fine. She’s with our paramedics, receiving oxygen at the moment. She inhaled a bit of smoke, but she’s doing all right.”

“What about her daughter? My niece? Joan? Listen Captain, she wasn’t alone in the house, she has a three-year-old daughter! My niece!”

“Relax, sir, we know, we know. Your niece is okay, sir. Joan is fine. Your sister got her out, managed to protect her from the smoke too. She’s all right.”

Steve closes his eyes, lets his head drop back and exhales in weak-kneed relief. “Oh thank god.” Tears sting at his eyes and he presses a hand over them. He abruptly sits back onto the bed, drawing in a shaky breath. His family’s okay.  

“Good, okay, thank you, Captain. I… Can I speak to my sister again?”

“Yeah, sure, let me put her back on the phone.”

“Steve…”

“Mary… I’m so gald you and Joanie are okay.”

“Everything’s gone, Steve…” Mary says, sniffling.

“I know, but you two are okay. That’s what counts.”

“I don’t even know where we’re gonna sleep, tonight! I don’t even have my purse, my phone… I don’t even have clothes for Joan!”

Steve grabs his tablet from the nightstand and opens the browser, looking up the flights out of Honolulu to LA. “Look, I’ll be on the next flight out. I’ll be in LA in about… seven hours. I’ll book a room for the three of us at the… what was that hotel near the house?”

“The Holiday Inn. On, on Orion?”

“Yeah. I’ll pay with my credit card, call the front desk, explain about the fire, they’ll let you in the room. You can wait for me there.

“Steve, I don’t have cash for a cab…Oh, ok, the guys from the emergency crew tell me they’ll have someone from the Red Cross with the essentials for Joan, and they’ll drop me at the hotel.”

“Once I’m there, we’ll figure the rest out, the insurance and all that, get you on your feet, okay?”

“Okay.”

“You’ll be ok, Mare,” he says gently, while he finishes booking his plane ticket.

“Thanks for coming to the rescue, big brother.”

“Any time. Now, I gotta pack. My fight leaves in 95 minutes and I gotta get Eddie taken care of and call Danny. Leave a message on my cell with the room number so I can call you when I land, okay?”

“Yeah. Yeah, okay.”

“Mary, I’ll see you in a little bit, okay?”

“Okay, yeah.”

“Can you put Captain Malone back on the phone for a minute please?”

“Yeah. Bye. And… Thanks.”

“Yeah.”

“Sir? This is Captain Malone.”

“Captain. I’m Lieutenant Commander Steve McGarrett. I’m with the Five-0 Task Force in Hawaii. I’’ll be on the next flight out to LA. In the meantime I’m making a reservation for my sister and her daughter at the Holiday inn on Orion. Is there any way you can make sure she gets there?”

“Yeah. Is there anyone in the area I can contact for her in the mean time?”

“Yeah, not in the immediate area, but if you could contact Chin Ho Kelly, from the State task force in San Fransisco, I’ll tell him what happened, so if you could coordinate with him to make sure Mary’s taken care of… He can be there before I can.”

“Sure thing. Text the number to this phone. I’ll reach out.”

“Thank you, sir. And thank you for making sure my sister and her daughter were safe and able to reach me.”

“Part of the job, Commander.”

He calls Danny next and once Danny’s done grumbling about the hour and Steve has a chance to explain why he’s calling, Danny’s all business. He’ll take care of Eddie, inform the Governor, whatever. It takes a weight off Steve’s mind.

The next twenty minutes pass in a blur of packing and online hotel reservations, phone calls to Chin, the hotel, to his buddy in stationed in Miramar who owns some rental property somewhere in Cali (he can’t recall if it’s in San Diego or LA) and he’s ready to go.

He’s just about to punch in his alarm code when a car pulls into his driveway. He frowns, wondering who the hell is showing up at his house at ten to five AM. He’s quick to recognize the Camaro’s throaty rumble and Danny’s steps on the front porch.

“Ready, babe?” Danny calls out as he walks in the door

“Danny, what… what are you doing here?” Steve asks, a bit lost.

“What do you mean what? Who the hell did you expect to take you to the airport? I said I was coming. Here I am.”

“You said…” Steve trails off, clearly having missed something somewhere.

“Yeah, I said. I guess it didn’t register. You thought I’d let you leave your truck in long term parking or pay for a cab? Clearly you think I’m a shmuck. I am not a shmuck. You? You’re a putz. Besides, I got a bag of stuff for Joanie in the trunk. Toys and plushies and clothes Charlie’s outgrown. Don’t worry it’s all gender neutral for the clothes and girls can play with trucks too.”

“I… Thank you, Danny. I don’t know what to say.”

“You already said it, babe. We help family when they’re in need and you’re family. You know that so stop acting like a dope. Now come on, you gonna miss your flight. Your sister’s waiting.”

*-+*-+*-+*

He’s halfway unsurprised to see Chin waiting for him at the gate, his gold California State Task Force shining on his belt. Steve’s unbelievably glad to see him, knew that he’d take care of Mary while he flew in from Hawaii, with San Francisco being only about an hour’s flight from LA.

“Chin, my man,” he says, grabbing his friend in a crushing hug.

“McGarrett. It’s been way too long,” Chin says against his shoulder, his wide grin evident from his tone alone.

“Thanks for coming.”

“Ohana, Steve, you know that,” Chin says, when they pull apart. “I got one word for you brah: Mexico. So this? Don’t even mention it. Abby’s with Mary and Joan.”

Okay, so maybe Chin’s got a point there, but when he called, it wasn’t about asking a favour in return for what he and the rest of the team did when Sarah was kidnapped.  Not that he’s not grateful that Chin not only answered the phone in the middle of the night but managed to commandeer a plane or a helicopter or whatever and get to Mary in under two hours.  And speaking of Sarah… “Abby came? What about Sarah?” Steve asks.

Chin’s smile doesn’t fade. “With Abby’s mother. She charmed her grandmother as fast as she did me.”

Steve laughs and he can’t help but smile widely. “She’s a charmer.”

“That she is. Abby’s with Mary and Joan at the hotel. We’ll join them for breakfast as soon as we get out of here.

“Then let’s get going.”

The rest of the day flies by but the memory of Mary crashing into him, crumbling into his arms, warm and safe, Joanie, small and secure between them will stay etched in his memory forever. His sister and niece, his family, safe and close, is something he decides he wants, needs even. He doesn’t want to let them go.

Not anymore.

There are calls to the insurance company, shopping trips for clothes and other necessities and when the day ends, they’re sitting side by side on a hotel bed, watching Joanie sleep the peaceful, deep sleep of the innocent.

“She’s so… It’s like nothing’s happened. I mean, people say kids are resilient but…” Mary says, her head against his shoulder.

“They are. I mean, look at us. We turned out okay, in the end,” Steve says, watching his niece sleep, the old, stuffed monkey he found in the bag of toys Danny sent clutched in her arms, snuggled close to her face. He suspects it once belonged to Grace.

Mary lifts her head and gives him an incredulous look, her eyebrows reaching her bangs. “Seriously? You’re being serious right now?”

“Okay, maybe it took a while, but look at us now. We’re good, no?”

“Oh, you mean me, single neurotic mom and you, single cop nutjob? We’re good?”

“You’ve been spending too much time talking with Danny Williams, is what.”

“Yeah, maybe but he’s got you pegged, he really does.”

“Does he, now.”

“Yeah. You really are a big mushy marshmallow inside. You’re mellowing in your old age.”

“Yeah, maybe I am getting… old,” Steve says quietly. These days, he feels pretty old. It’s not for nothing he’s been letting the kids out more with Danny, letting him take the lead, staying behind to run things from HQ while they chase the bad guys around the islands.

“Hey, I didn’t mean it like that, bro. C’mon. Don’t get all gloomy. You’re not that old.”

He draws in a deep breath and heaves out a sigh. Now’s as good a time as any to bring up what’s been on his mind since he’s laid eyes on his sister and his niece this morning.

“Well, I’m not getting any younger, that’s for sure. So, once the insurance investigator’s done with the investigation, it’s gonna be, what, two to three months before you have a place to live?”

“Yeah, about. You were there when we spoke to him. In the meantime, they’ll pay for a hotel for the next couple weeks and then an apartment I can rent till the house gets rebuilt so long as the fire wasn’t caused by negligence, which it wasn’t. You know all this, like I said, you were there. Why are you bringing this up if you already know?”

He draws in a deep breath and sets his elbows on his knees, turning his head to look at her. “Mary, I want you to come live in Hawaii, with me. Share the house. Use the insurance money to, I dunno, start a trust fund for Joan, instead of rebuilding the house here. Dad’s house is half yours, so why don’t you come and life there?”

Mary just blinks at him for a few seconds.

“This a joke?” she asks, with a faint chuckle. “You’re joking, right?”

“I’m serious, Mare. Move back home. With me.”

“Steve. I have a job here. I need that job to feed my daughter. I can’t move back to Hawaii.”

“Yes you can. I… Look… have a job for you, with Five-0. We’re growing. We have an admin position available, almost like the job you have here. I’d like you to take it. It’s… It’s not a hand out, Mare. It isn’t. I need someone I can trust and I’d love to have you close and…  Joanie could go to the same school as Charlie… ” he says, heart hammering in his chest, suddenly nervous, afraid he won’t be able to convince her.  

“That’s a private school Steve, I can’t afford that!”

“With the insurance payout, you could, instead of using it to rebuild the house. And I can… I want to help pay for it. I… I want to help you raise her, Mary,” he says in a rush.  He’s afraid she’ll say no, because deep down, now that he’s let himself want this, he knows it’ll break his heart not to have his family with him. He’s let himself imagine this, just for one single day and it’s insane how much he wants it. He wants to be Uncle Steve full-time. He wants to be more than a video chat uncle. He wants to teach Joanie to swim. He wants to babysit on weekends when his sister has a date. He wants to have Charlie over for playdates with Joan, watch them play with Eddie on the beach behind the house.

He wants the house full of noise when he wakes up in the morning.

“Look… Mare, you two are the only family I have. I have the money and it’s not like I can’t afford it, and since I won’t ever have any children of my own…” There. He’s said it. He’d let the cat out of the bag.  

“What? What are you talking about? Wait a minute! Are you sick? Is this, is this the radiation poisoning? You’re sick, aren’t you! That’s why you want me to come to Oahu with you!”

“Shhh! You’ll wake Joan!” he snaps, putting a finger to his lips. “And no, no! No, I’m not sick!” Not yet, he doesn’t say. Steve blows out a long breath, shaking his head. “Look… I’m not sick I promise you, all right? The only thing the radiation poisoning has to do with this is… I’m, God, this is embarrassing. I’m sterile, okay? I’m shooting blanks,” he growls, feeling his cheeks flame. “I won’t ever be able to have kids of my own. That’s all.”

“Oh. Oh my God, that’s why you broke up with Lynn!” Mary hisses, her eyes going wide.

Steve exhales and nods, dropping his gaze to the floor. “She wants kids and… I can’t give her any. So… It became a point of contention. We couldn’t figure out our way past it. We broke up.”

“Hello! Steve! Adoption! I did it!” Mary says, pointing a finger back and forth between herself and her daughter.

“Wasn’t that simple an answer for us, Mary. Adopting when you’re over 40 and when you have a dangerous job like mine and with the prospect of declining health, plus it takes a while to get a child in Hawaii. Not so easy. It takes less time if you’re willing to adopt an older child but… Lynn is a child psychologist. She knows a lot about the trauma adopted kids can come with, if they’re a little older and… she didn’t want that. Didn’t want to… y’know… take the job home. But I want kids too… So we started fighting about it and… We broke it off.”

Mary shakes her head and sighs, draping an arm over his shoulders. “Why didn’t you say something? Huh? Why did it take my house burning down for you to ask me to come live with you? Or just maybe just move back to Hawaii? Wo Fat’s been dead, what, three, four years? It’s been safe for me to come back for a while now.”

“You really gotta ask that?”

Mary growls out a frustrated sigh. “You didn’t want to ask. Because you’re a stupid McGarrett man who keeps everything inside. Like dad did.” She heaves a dramatic sigh. “God. Men.”

“Yeah, there’s that. But… You think it’s easy to talk about this? You think I wanna talk about never having kids? About… maybe getting sick and… dying before Joanie graduates? I just… I want you close, Mary. Okay? Please?” he says, and yeah, maybe he’s getting a little choked up. “Besides, I didn’t want to ask you to sell Aunt Deb’s house. Now…”

“It’s just a house, Steve. You said so, remember? You said the only thing that matters is that we’re okay, me and Joan. Oh’ana.”

Steve nods. He get out from under her arm and gathers her close, hugging her tightly to his chest. She huddles against his side, like they did, that Thanksgiving a few years ago, when they found out Deb was sick, but this time, he’s the one with tears running down his face. Giving voice to his fears is… a whole new kind of terrifying.

Admitting he wants Mary and Joan close because he needs to see them live their lives, watch Joanie grow up while he can is… He doesn’t even have a word for the emotion it triggers inside him. But he wants them there. Close.  

“What happens when I get a boyfriend?” Mary says after a few minutes of silence.

“You put a sock on the doorknob and I go hang out at Danny’s for the night,” Steve says, his tone perfectly deadpan, despite the edge of emotion still discernable in it.

Mary bursts out laughing, slapping his chest with the back of her hand “Geez you’re such a moron! I’m serious!”

Steve inhales and thinks. “I could… We could put an addition on the house. Turn the garage into a guesthouse, for me. You and Joanie can have the big house. And I could build a new garage where the shed is, and put a small shed–”

“Under those big trees where the hedge ends, by Mrs. Kekoa’s house!”

“Yeah.”

“Okay.”

“Okay?”

“I’ll move back home with you. God. I’m thirty-eight and I’m moving back home to live with my bachelor brother. This is gonna ruin my social life, you know that?”

“Nah. What’s gonna ruin your social life is the number of guns your bachelor brother owns,” Steve says seriously.

“Oh my God, you actually would wait up for me with a shotgun wouldn’t you!”

“I don’t keep the shotgun at home. I have a sweet grenade launcher though,” he replies, only half joking.

Mary bursts out laughing, clapping a hand over her mouth for fear of waking her daughter. “Seriously though, Joan can’t get to all that stuff, right?” she asks.

“No. It’s in a safe in the cubby under the stairs. It’s a fingerprint lock. I’ll add another lock to the cubby itself, just to be sure.”

“Okay.”

They stay huddled together hanging on to each other in silence. Steve doesn’t want to let go, and despite knowing Mary’s the one going through a tragedy, he’s the one with the lump in his throat and tears burning in his eyes. He hasn’t felt this close to crying in… decades.

Oh, he’s shed tears over the years. He let a couple sobs escape when he killed Wo Fat, but he was drugged out of his mind that day, so confused he had trouble remembering what year it was. Now, though, he knows. He knows exactly what year it is, how old he is, how long it’s been since the liver transplant, how long it might be till he needs a kidney transplant because most liver transplant recipients do, eventually, need a kidney because the anti-rejection meds protect the graft but destroy their kidneys, how long he has till the complications from the radiation poisoning become a reality and he gets thyroid cancer or leukemia or lymphoma.  

He’ll be sick before he’s fifty.

He’ll likely be dead before he’s sixty.

He closes his eyes and swallows around the lump in his throat, tightening his arms around his sister. She leans against him, resting her head against his chest so he let his own head drop forward till his forehead is pressed into her hair. The position is uncomfortable, his neck stretched too far forward, the muscles pulling. He doesn’t care.

He feels the first big, fat tears overflow from his eyes and drip into Mary’s hair at the same time his frame is shaken by a hiccupping, choked sob.

Mary wriggles out of his arm and looks up at him, lifting his chin up with a soft, gentle hand. At least, that’s what he imagines, because he keeps his own eyes tightly shut, as unstoppable tears keep flowing down his face.

“Oh, Stevie,” she says quietly before engulfing him in a tight, tight hug. “Don’t… Don’t cry. You’re gonna make me cry.”

She must have moved, knelt on the bed by his side because his head is on her shoulder and it’s impossible if she’s sitting by his side and it’s ridiculous that’s he’s thinking about this when he’s crying.

“Shhh, it’s okay, Stevie. We’ll be all right. It’s gonna be okay.”

“I’m scared, Mary,” he whispers against her neck. “I’m… I’m really scared. I d… I don’t… I don’t want to be dead in ten years. I want… to grow old. I want kids… of my own, I want… I want a life, Mare… I don’t…”

“I know. I know. Shh… It’s okay. It’s okay to be scared.”

He wants to stop, because this isn’t him, but he just… Can’t. The only thing he can do, for a little while, is let himself cry. Maybe it’s relief, he thinks. Mary said yes. He won’t have to face that big, quiet house anymore, ever again. He won’t be alone. He’ll have Mary-Anne and Joanie with him. He feels a bit guilty though, about losing it. How did he, the tough-ass Navy SEAL, end up bawling in his sister’s arms, when she’s the one who just lost everything?  

“M’ sorry. You… I’m the one who should be… Comforting you, not… Not the other way around.”

“Heh, since when do we ever do things the right way, huh? It’s a family tradition, right?”

It startles a watery laugh out of him. “Right… M’ sorry.”

“Oh, stop apologizing or I’ll kick your ass.”

It startles a chuckle out of him. “You could try.”

“Steve. I’m here, okay? I’m coming home. We’re coming home with you. We’ll be okay. All of us. Okay?”

Steve nods, separating himself physically from his sister and wiping a few stray tears from his face. “Yeah. We’ll be okay.”

“So, you wanna call Danny, tell him the good news?”

Steve smiles, hugely. “Yeah.” He extricates his phone from his pocket, unlocks the screen and tosses it to his sister. “Call him. Tell him the good news.”

“You don’t want to tell your BFF I’m moving back home?”

He gives Mary a tired smile, watery. “I think I need a minute. I’m getting emotional in my old age.”

Marry gives him a serious look. “This means a lot to you, huh?”

Steve swallows back a rush of emotion past the still-present lump in his throat. “Yeah. I, uh… I’ve… never really lived alone and, despite being single for most of my adult life, I don’t like being alone. And family is really important to me. We spent so many years apart, Mare… I don’t want to waste any more time. If you find someone, then great. We’ll do the addition. If I do, then we’ll do a bigger one, or expand the second floor, or…”

“Okay, okay. I get it. Ohana, like the kama’aina do it, the whole extended family thing.”

“Yeah.”

“I’m not so sure about you being my boss though.”

“I’m a good boss, ask anyone on the team!”

“Yeah, benevolent dictator much?”

“That was a joke!”

“Not from the way Danny tells it.”

“Danny Williams is not a reliable source where my leadership skills are concerned.”

“Well, remember I have baby pictures of you, so.”

“You wouldn’t dare.”

“Don’t be dictator and you won’t have to find out.”

“Seriously, Mary, you can’t do that.”

“I won’t, unless I have to.”

“Mary. Seriously.”

“I’m serious.”

“You… But.. Mary! I’m your boss!”

“Technically, you’re my brother first. And there’s no rules about sisters embarrassing their brothers, so, I’m sending that picture of you with Santa to Danny.”

He knows exactly what picture she’s talking about. It’s the one with mom and dad where he’s nine months old, wearing nothing but a diaper and a Santa hat. The one she sent him a week ago, that he still has on his phone. The phone he gave to Mary a couple minutes ago.

“Mary, don’t”

“But you look so cute in that picture!”

“MARY!”

FIN

[eripsime]

OK PEOPLE LISTEN UP!!! I was wandering in a bookstore and I found this French manga edition of ASiP. It is a BBC-approved adaptation of the TV series, which means that everything in it can be considered official and canon. I quickly flicked through it and found the Angelo restaurant scene, which you can see above. The translation choices were SO Johnlock-oriented that I had to take pictures and share them with the world. Let me tell you that the written down version is even gayer than the actual TV series (apart from the pink gay light on Sherlock's face, you can't beat that). Here are the main differences: 1) The word "date" ("for you and for your date"; "I'm not his date") is translated by an equivalent of "boyfriend" in French. Cute. 2) In the show, after Angelo brings the candle, John says: "People don't have arch-enemies. In real life. There are no arch-enemies in real life, it doesn't happen." This is how the dialogue plays in the manga: John: Your arch-enemy... He advised me not to hang out with you if I wanted to have a normal life. Sherlock: Really? That's lame [there is an ambiguity there: we don't know if Sherlock is talking about Mycroft's advice or about the idea of "a normal life"] 3) Actually the rest of the dialogue is just as incriminating (scratch that - it's WAY MORE incriminating), so I will just translate it all and let you see for yourselves: Sherlock: So who do they hang out with, then, people with a normal life? John: Their friends? They befriend someone else, then fall in love, or not, with that person... Be it a girl or a boy... Sherlock: I already told you so, but this is of no interest to me. John: So you don't have a girlfriend then? Sherlock: Girlfriend? No chance. It is not my cup of tea. John: Oh. Oh, right... What about a boyfriend? [Sherlock looks at him without answering] John: I'm not the type of man who's got preconceived ideas/prejudice, you know, but- Sherlock: Neither am I. John: So you have a boyfriend. Sherlock: No! John: Alright, I understand better now. You're like me. Unattached. Good. [A beat] Sherlock: John... You should know, I consider myself married to my work. I'm glad that I've started to live with you, but... I... that is... John: You think I'm flirting with you, right? Don't be mistaken. I'm just saying, whatever your inclinations are, it won't bother me. Sherlock: Oh, okay... Thank you. Soooooo... I'm sure I don't need to point out how much more obvious than the original dialogue this is, but I'm going to anyway. First of all, John doesn't talk about "people they don't like". He just talks about friends, and about the eventuality of THESE FRIENDS BECOMING LOVERS. WHATEVER THEIR GENDER IS. Oh, and just to be a tad more on-the-nose, the whole thing is discussed IN THE SINGULAR. Like, John is talking about A friend whom he could fall in love with. And he specifies that this friend could be either male or female. Then, we've got the "no chance" that's added when Sherlock answers John's question about a girlfriend. Just to make it perfectly clear that Sherlock is as gay as they come. And "not really my area" is changed to "not my cup of tea", which brings TPLoSH to mind, of course. But then, the movie is not famous at all in France, so idk if the change is really significant. Instead of John's line: "Which is fine, by the way", he says that he's not the kind to have "préjugés". In French, the word means "prejudice", as well as "preconceived ideas/stereotypical views". So the first meaning would be that he is not prejudiced, i.e. he has nothing against gay people. However, his remark is followed by a "but", just before Sherlock interrupts him. That's weird, because we know that John is fine with gay people: his sister is a lesbian, and he himself is bi. So this works in favour of an understanding of the line as: "I don't have stereotypical views, but..." That would imply that John thinks Sherlock is gay, because Sherlock looks the part. How interesting, right? And then we have Sherlock interrupting John by saying: "Neither am I". It is rather more telling than the "I know it's fine" that we get in the original dialogue, because instead of being defensive, Sherlock is being OPEN and even ENCOURAGING. I just love that in this moment, Sherlock feels the need to interrupt John, not just to defend himself and his sexual orientation, but to reassure John that he isn't prejudiced either, that John can trust him with the truth about who he really is. Next, we get this intriguing change: "while I'm flattered by your interest" becomes "I'm gald that I've started to live with you". I don't really know what to make of this, but I thought it was interesting to point it out. And lastly, we get the very upfront conclusion to the dialogue: "Whatever your inclinations are, it won't bother me". It just makes it reaaaally obvious what they're talking about, whereas the original dialogue treats us with the much more laconic: "I'm just saying, it's all fine". Once again here, John offers reassurance and acceptance in a more explicit way, rather than sounding a bit ill at ease with the topic at hand like in the original dialogue, which had a more comical tone to it. He wants to make sure Sherlock knows that being gay will never be a problem in John's opinion. This is just so lovely and touching, and Sherlock's "thank you" takes a lot more meaning in this context. Ok, I think that's all! I'm sorry if you thought those differences were boring and not very telling, but I really felt like it was worth sharing. I'm tagging a few TJLC-ers out of the top of my head, please bring it to the attention of those I forgot if you think this will be of interest to them! @inevitably-johnlocked @skulls-and-tea @marcelock @the-7-percent-solution @hudders-and-hiddles @loudest-subtext-in-tv @teaandforeshadowing

[childesballs]

Could I get sormik with 34 o///////o

(Writing Prompts)

I am sorry I took so so long to get this done, but this did turn out to be a little over 1k... not exactly a drabble. Oops. Oh well.

34.“If you keep looking at me like that we won’t make it to a bed.”

The streets of Marlind weren’t quite what Sorey remembered, but nonetheless he had little difficulty navigating towards the sanctuary. Lailah hadn’t told him why they were meeting here, but when could he ever refuse a request from her?

“Lai—” He pushed through the doors only to find the seraph buzzing around another seraph. Despite his expert control over all forms of wind, Sorey had lost every breath.

Straightened silver hair pulled into a side ponytail fell down bare arms. A sleeveless gray crop top failed to hide even a single line of a well defined, puffed out, chest. The flowy, tapered hem drew attention from his midriff to the perfect curve of hips that were now extenuated in tight fitting black jeans.

Sorey hadn’t noticed the three inch gold accented black heels aiding the appearance of other assets.

“Oh wonderful timing!” Lailah clapped her hands as she approached Sorey.

“You, uh, need me for… something?” He tried to stay focused on her, but he’s eyes wanted to stick elsewhere.

“Yes yes. See, Edna, Rose and I have this fashion line that’s taken off quite well.” She paused to walk him over to a table that held an array of camera equipment. “Zaveid, so graciously informed me this morning that he was too ‘busy’ to resume his role as photographer.”

Sorey took a few seconds to forcibly stare at the table.

“And you want me to take pictures of…”

“Rose was certain you wouldn’t mind.” Lailah tried to hide her chuckle.

“He doesn’t know the full scope of this does he?” Mikleo interjected. That got Sorey once again looking towards Mikleo.

“That’s not important.” Lailah’s assurance felt too enthusiastic.

“Well it can’t be that hard.” Sorey knew he was lying to himself.

“Is that an acceptance?” She trembled like someone waiting on the best news of their life. He could only nod, and then second guess himself when he noticed Mikleo’s flushed expression.

A forty minutes of photography crash course and test photos for the sake of him learning, and he was finally able to focus on getting quality images. Mikleo remained absolutely flawless the entire time, and shifted into every position Lailah requested with ease.

Every outfit change, from long fluttering tops paired with pants and skirts, to eloquent dresses, all came with a handful of awkward photos that exposed where Sorey’s attention had been.

“Alright, that finishes us here,” Sorey sighed with relief. “Everything at the inn should be set up already.”

“Wait, there’s more?” Sorey wasn’t sure how much longer he could last. Mikleo was good at this job. Too good at giving those tantalizing and smoldering looks at a hunk of plastic.

“Only a few more. We need a different… aesthetic for those.” Sorey wasn’t sure why Mikleo had eye rolled at ‘aesthetic’ but he chose not to question it.

Lailah lead the way to furthest back room of the inn. Inside hadn’t been the typical interior Sorey expected. Blackout curtains covered the window, and the bedsheets were soft, silky, and vibrantly colored.

In the midst of setting up lighting gear, Sorey caught sight of Mikleo being handed a pile of clothes. A rather small pile in Sorey’s mind but once again he held his questions in. He didn’t really understand all this fashion stuff and found it easier to simply follow instructions.

A few moments later and Sorey dropped the camera. He had been busy fussing with a stand, and turned to ask Lailah for help only to be met with the sight of Mikleo, hair freed from any restraint, clad in nothing but a pair of white panties and thigh high stockings.

“That’s twenty-thousand gald you dropped.” Lailah commented. Sorey’s heart that had stopped beating sprang back to life as he frantically scooped the camera up and prayed to every Empyrean that had ever or would ever exist.

“We’re good.” Sorey huffed when everything functioned normally.

“Will this be too much for you?” her hands covered her face, but didn’t hide her amusement.

“I-I said I’d do this… I just… might need a minute. To, uh, focus.”

“C’mon. You’ve seen me in less.” Mikleo’s face had gone beet red.

“Oh my.” Lailah gasped.

“You know we’re married!”

“Yes yes, but to hear you say something like that.”

Mikleo sighed largely as he threw himself onto the bed. One leg curled over the other while both hands came up to lay in his hair. Half-lidded eyes found Sorey, who wasn’t sure he could do this now.

“Let’s be quick about this?” his voice was low. Sorey slapped his cheeks before moving around the room along with Lailah to find the best angle.

Sorey’s only hope was to focus on the preview image. Looking at the real thing was eating at him more and more with each second.

They gotten through two outfits and countless photos that not even Sorey could deny were looking more and more suggestive, despite there being more fabric.

“Mikleo…” Lailah chimed in the middle of a pose change.

“Yes?”

“Should I have Sorey wait in the hallway for a few minutes?”

Mikleo’s hands shot down to cover his arousal while his eyes avoided both of them.

“Hang on Lailah.” Sorey handed her the camera and went to sit on the edge of the bed. That definitely wasn’t helping and he could see that in Mikleo’s face. Two hundred years of marriage had taught Sorey a thing or two that could help though.

“That building we passed on the way here, with the intricate carvings. You’re totally wrong about the inspiration.” Mikleo stared at him blankly for some long moments. His mouth moved silently for even longer, and then he sprang up.

“What are you even talking about? I helped build that and you think you can tell me I’m wrong?”

“Yup totally wrong. But I’m not gonna listen to any counters until we’re done here.” With that Sorey went back to his spot next to Lailah, and Mikleo huffed as he flopped back into position. How that had worked she would never understand, but she was thankful.

Only twenty minutes later, they were finished, and Lailah was all too quick to snatch the camera and run. The door clicked and in the same moment Sorey found himself pinned against it with Mikleo back in the white panties and stockings.

“Sorey…” Mikleo was already unbuttoning Sorey’s shirt.

“If you keep looking at me like that we won’t make it to a bed.”

“But it’s right—”

“And you’re right here.” Sorey wouldn’t have a chance to argue further, nor would they hit the bed until much later.

[darkhymns-fic]

The meaning of passive-aggression

Yuna only wanted a bit of fun with Aegis after an exciting conversation she had with Vicious - or so she said.

But Aegis had never been good at detecting lies.

Fandom: Tales of Crestoria Characters/Pairing: Aegis Alver/Yuna Azetta, Vicious Rating: T Mirror Link: AO3 Notes: Based on that one skit about tying up Aegis. You know the one.

--

There was nothing more suspicious than seeing two troublemakers huddled in a shadowy corner of the inn’s main room, going into fits of giggling, their grins stretching from ear to ear. Like children reveling in their latest crime of stealing the last chocolate cake slice, or thieves that prided themselves on their petty crime of snatching a few gald from an old lady that passed by.

It only got more obnoxious when they wouldn’t leave said corner for around ten minutes.

“Are you two ill?” Aegis asked of the pair, going to them. “The innkeeper here keeps giving us looks because of…whatever this is. Have you forgotten that we’re supposed to be undercover?”

Yuna was covering her mouth with just her fingertips, barely hiding away the smile. She seemed absolutely tickled about something and whenever Aegis saw such an expression on her face, he knew it had to be bad news. Maybe he should check his pack later, and see if she hadn’t put something incriminating in it like last time…

“Oh Aegrouch, don’t be jealous now. We are just ‘avin a, how do you say… a little bit of girl talk!”

“…You don’t say.” Aegis narrowed his eyes at the slouched form of a certain Great Transgressor. His grin matched that of Yuna’s, even as he had to bend down his long legs to whisper effectively with Yuna just before. “Yeah, learn to mind your own business, knighty boy!”

To that, Aegis just rolled his eyes. “Whatever. Kanata and Misella have already gone to their rooms, so I’ll just be going to mine. Have fun looking as suspicious as possible then.”

“Heh, you know it!” Vicious flashed another sharp-tooted grin at the ex-knight, and once again, Aegis had no idea what to make of this man, except that he was most likely deranged in the head. He tried to ignore the strange flutter in his chest. It had just been a very long day.

“If you are so curious, per’aps you would like to join in on our little discussion.” Yuna winked as she spoke, her voice like liquid that probably would have melted any other soul if Aegis’ will wasn’t made of steel, as he knew it was.

“Going from experience, I’m quite sure that the less I know, the better. So, goodnight.”

Aegis wasn’t going to linger, especially in this ramshackle lobby of the inn, which strangely looked like every other inn lobby they had been visiting for the past few weeks. But true to his word, he didn’t stay, walking up the stairs, remembering to feed little Meakyu before going to sleep for the night.

He only barely noticed the mischievous tinge to both Yuna and Vicious’ grins as he turned away, but to be fair, that wasn’t exactly out of the norm. This only emboldened him to check his vest pockets in the morning and get rid of any tufts of grass stuffed inside. The joke was certainly getting old.

--

“Hey, I told ya I’d kill to see you try that, right?”

“Must everything be so violent with you? Maybe Aegrouch is right, you truly are a barbarian…”

Aegis thought he was dreaming it up. Not exactly the first time he had nightmares about the very people he was traveling with after all! Perhaps it was just Vicious finally coming upstairs to get to bed, even though he couldn’t recall ever actually seeing the man sleep. And still, why was he hearing Yuna at all…?

Bleary-eyed, and a bit grumpy, (trying to feed Meakyu had taken the better part of an hour as the small creature kept avoiding him in fear…) Aegis finally sat up, groaning in annoyance. “I’ve barely slept for more than an hour. Can you two please-?”

Then he felt himself pulled back, the back of his skull smacking roughly against the headboard of the bed.

Hearing Vicious’ voice again made him think that he was definitely stuck in some sort of nightmare.

“Huh, didn’t actually mean to do that. These thread things are temperamental.”

“You would blame them for your oafishness?” A sharp tsk of the tongue. “Mon amie, you are much too violent.”

“I didn’t think he’d get up that quickly! It’s his fault!”

Aegis was sleepy, a tad bit famished, (Meakyu also ate his food) and now his head was aching after being so roughly pulled by…something!

He tried to move his arms, then found that he couldn’t. Not at all!?

They were pressed to his sides, due to the binding around him, the material much stronger than it seemed at first glance. It looked like thread that had been dipped in red paint, but as he struggled, he could feel it nearly bite into him from their tension. “Gah! W-w-what is this?!”

And only then did he finally turn to his left, seeing both Yuna and Vicious standing by his bedside. In Yuna’s right hand, he could see her kunai held deftly by her fingers. The red string dangled from the very end of the weapons.

Wait, her kunai? That meant-

“You’re using your blood sin on me? Are you insane?!” And oh, he wished his voice hadn’t cracked just then.

She coyly tapped the kunai’s sharp tip against her lips, concern in her eyes. “Oui, juzt a little experiment. But you are not being a very promising subject for it…”

“I told you, I could have just knocked him out like that!” Vicious clenched one hand and slammed it into the open palm of another. The motion of it somehow made Aegis get pulled forward, smacking his nose straight into Vicious’ arm – and only now did he notice the Great Transgressor held one end of that curious red string material too, complete with Yuna’s very weapon. “You never let me try out my ideas!”

“Oui, because if I let you, you would just give this poor boy a concussion. That iz not what we want.”

“You sure about that?”

“Can someone tell me what the hell is going on?!” Aegis once again tried to wriggle his way out of the strings, but to no avail at all. He was shivering, the blankets he had tucked around himself now in a messy pile at the foot of his bed. Though his legs were free, he was still half-submerged in fatigue to do much of anything else with them except shift them around. And to think he had slept through…through whatever they had been doing to him!

“Just what is this? Is…is this a hostage situation?” He grew quiet, his voice barely above a whisper. “Are…are you traitors!?”

Yuna smiled and nodded. “Zat is true. There iz big money on your head!”

“Yeah! What she said.” Vicious pointed a thumb at her, trying so hard to hold back laughter that he nearly doubled over. “Gonna get a lifetime booze supply out of ya!”

“…You are just both making fun of me again, aren’t you?”

Yuna nodded once more. “I would think you would see through my lies by now, Aegrouch.”

Aegis very, very deeply frowned, but that was literally all he was capable of doing right now. Dressed in his underclothes, which consisted of just a threadbare shirt and his loose boxers (knight-certified, of course), he felt all sorts of vulnerable, especially when underneath the leering gazes of a lying journalist and raucous criminal that still never learned how to wear a shirt himself. If this had been a few weeks earlier, Aegis would have felt completely mortified. Currently, he was just very tired.

He sighed. “I would prefer it if you didn’t rope me into your strange games… Stop that!”

He could already see Vicious laughing, pulling at the ‘rope’ that was bound so very tightly around Aegis’ arms and torso. “Aw, come on! I didn’t make you say it.”

“That’s not the issue, also you are cutting off the circulation to my shoulder!”

“Circu-what now?”

“Az I said before,” Yuna interrupted before the two could get lost in their own arguments. “Vicious and I just wanted to try a little experiment with you. We were having a bet, you zee. Knights like you are so stiff, a bit of a bore…”

“I am not boring!” Aegis couldn’t help but feel a bit defensive.

“I’m not done, but yes, such a bore! Vicious here thought you would be impossible to loosen up, but me… I have much more faith in you.” She winked, leaning forward, the hem of her robe reaching to the wooden floorboards. It also gave him more of a view than he was comfortable with.

“And how exactly does tying me up make me less boring?”

“Ah Agerouch, hav you never heard the term about opposites attracting? It’s not just to do with people…” She straightened again, and held up her kunai where the ring of it looped that curious red string. “But you woke up before we were complete with it… I had many kinbaku patterns I wanted to try on you.”

Aegis had to pause on that, just for a moment. He had to sift through numerous ledgers in his brain to finally settle on the very meaning of that word.

“I’m sorry, did you just say-” he started, only for Vicious to groan in frustration, interrupting him completely.

“Ugh, stop it with your damn French junk! I already said we should tie back his arms and see how far they go before they pop. Can’t get less boring than that!”

Aegis stared open-mouthed, while Yuna merely shook her head like a scolding teacher. “Non, that would be very bad now, wouldn’t it? Not everyone grows back their arms such az you.”

“Well, maybe if he tried!” Vicious then cackled wickedly, hopping onto Aegis’ bed while still wearing his shoes, still dragging the dirt from the 10-mile trek today. (No!!) “Also! I said first thing we should wrap this junk around his throat, then he’d be knocked out like a light! I know this stuff!”

“That would- that would literally kill me!” Aegis shouted. They must have made a racket by this point, so how had no one come by to his room already? He knew Misella didn’t care but he had at least hoped for Kanata…

“I must agree with Aegrouch. It would very likely kill him.” She clasped her hands together, placing her cheek over them, all while still holding one of the kunais with no fear to their sharpness. “And it would be truly terrible, it would!”

“I cannot tell if you are being sarcastic or not,” Aegis said, in half-defeat. “I do not think I want to know the true answer.”

With Vicious practically standing over him, grinning that terribly sharp grin of his, (and why did he have too stand that way? So much so that his marked abdomen was too close for comfort…at least Aegisthought) there was not much Aegis could do when he was essentially being tied up like a cooked turkey. And he didn’t appreciate the way Vicious seemed like he was about to salivate on him at any given moment. He didn’t handle the kunai he held with any grace like Yuna, looking dangerously close to dropping it straight on Aegis’ head at any second.

“Hm, we could try tying up his tongue!” Vicious helpfully suggested, looking particularly excited on that idea. “Especially if he’s gonna whine so much.”

At that, Yuna motioned with her right hand. Aegis only saw the red string wrapped around her ring finger before the shape of the kunai flew across his face. The weapon sang through the air, the tip nearly grazing his cheek before she caught it and quickly hid it in her overflowing sleeve.

“Hey!” Vicious shouted, and though he was addressing it to Yuna, he was closest to Aegis. So it sounded like he was screaming just exactly into his ear instead. “I was using that dumb thing.”

“Je suis désolé, Vicious. But, clearly, this is too much for you. Kinbaku is not the same as going, as you say, full guns blazing? It requires much more thinking then per’aps you are used to.”

“Ughhh, this is sounding less fun by the minute. I think you tricked me!”

“Does no one care how I feel about this?” Aegis asked, then closed his eyes. “No, of course not. Or I would not be here in the first place.”

Vicious placed a bent arm atop on Aegis’ head, leaning on him as he sighed so very deeply. “I care about you shutting up right now.”

“Duly noted.”

“I could very well go with my first plan, Vicious, and tie you and Aegis together instead.” She smiled, though the leer in her eyes was much more obvious now. “A bit of jealousy that you are not getting the same experience?”

“Hey, told you I ain’t care about what a ham feels like!” Aegis had to think about that turn of phrase, even as Vicious continued. “You and Kanata are way too obsessed about tying me up here.”

“Wh-What does Kanata have to do with this?” Was this his idea? And he had thought the young man to at least have some integrity.

Yuna shrugged. “Now it’s getting to be less fun. And usually we work together so very well.”

Vicious finally stepped off the bed, (while leaving dirty footprints behind!) hands folded behind his head. “Alright. Then I’m out. Gotta say, this just ain’t as exciting as I was hoping for it to be.”

Oh… Were they already going to be done humiliating him like this? Was it truly over? Aegis couldn’t begin to believe his luck.

“Oh Vicious, after all we been through?” Yuna was overdramatic in her disappointment, her hand placed on her forehead in mock despair, her body looking ready to sway right to the ground. Had she been takin acting lessons as well from Penelope? “We were two peas in a pod, and yet you abandon me…”

Vicious waved her off, stepping around her form with all the stealth of a hidden snake in the grass. “Maybe I need to be more drunk for this to be fun… So I’m going downstairs to do just that. Also I expected knighty here to scream a bit more. But all he does is bitch and moan.”

“You are incredibly awful,” Aegis intoned.

“And? What’s your point?”

Yuna moved from her ‘despaired woman’ position to resume her natural stance, looking suddenly so chipper again as she waved at the Great Transgressor. “Please be sure to drink yourself to death again!”

“No promises!”

Again?? But Aegis tried to show himself mercy by not thinking too hard on that.

Vicious shut the door then, and Aegis could only imagine he would go to the kitchen, terrorize the bartender for a little bit before stealing the alcohol from the kegs. His sole hope was that the proprietor would be too terrified later to make them pay for the expenses…

And yet Yuna hadn’t moved. In fact, she just continued standing by Aegis’ bed, smiling so pleasantly.

“Um.” Aegis shifted. Though his legs were still free, the red string continued to bite into his shirt, which was very uncomfortable. “Are we not done with this, or….?”

Ah, first mistake. He shouldn’t have made it a question.

Yuna continued to smile, but her eyes held something else in their depts, and she did so while holding up one kunai. The energy from that blood sin was similar to his own, and he could feel it heat up the air between them. “Aegrouch, but I haven’t even begun to have my fun yet.”

“You and I most likely have very different definitions of that word.”

Yuna stuck out her tongue at him then, showing off her pattern of guilt for the ex-knight to see. “Oui, your idea of fun is making up a grocery list for our next shopping trip, non?”

“You know how important it is that we have supplies! How many times must I explain this to all of you?” He paused. “Also, making lists just happen to be very meditative for me.”

Yuna nodded, but did so as if she would fall asleep at any moment. “See, now zis is why I wanted to do this! Per’aps I could instill a different level of fun for you? It will be for sure to get ‘ze blood pumping as you say!”

“I don’t like the mention of blood here…”

Yuna didn’t listen to his concerns. She held up both weapons suddenly, and the strings unraveled from his body – but they hovered around him, like sharp lines of color that cut straight through the air.

“Besides, without Vicious to interrupt, this will be much more pleasant, don’t you think?”

Aegis tried to react quickly. He shifted from the bed, the brand on his chest burning so brightly, it shone through his shirt. “I won’t let you-!”

But before he could even let another word pass through his lips, he was wrapped up, contained, bound again. The strings from Yuna’s kunais slipped around him like quick-moving snakes, even the very air they traveled through seemed to hiss at their travel. It triggered a memory of when he had seen her control these very strings to dig into the earth with the force of steel, rooting objects from their very foundation.

These strings could cut him up, could break him bit by bit, if she so desired. And he waited for that to happen, awed by their motion.

One slipped around his left thigh, while another wrapped around his chest like a circlet, doing so twice before traveling down to his arms. This time, they were pulled back, just slightly away from his body, and held together with the binding.

The act felt as if it was happening both too fast and too slow, all at once. Aegis found himself staring as the red string weaved themselves into knots, couldn’t move a leg before it was already bound up, limiting himself of all movement and freedom. His arms were pulled in closer to his back, and there was the sensation of the strands moving over his skin, forming knots that seemed impossible to pull apart.

He couldn’t follow their travel for much of it, many of it out of his sight. Aegis tried to struggle once more, and that was when he felt a hot breath just at his neck, saw that mark of guilt, printed black against the pink of her tongue.

“Se détendre, Aegis.” The smile was still on her face, but it held less of the bite than he had expected. “We don’t need to put on a show now.”

This only confused him more, from what had already been a very confusing night all around.

Why was she acting this way with him? Why would she?

He was still, so very still as the strings enveloped him in intimate ways, when he saw Yuna’s fingers move along the air, as if pressing against the invisible keys of an instrument. “Yuna,” he said, finally remembering to use her name. “Are you-”

“And done!” she said so quickly, leaving his neck and sporting another of her knowing smiles. The softness of her voice before had now completely vanished. She then gently placed her weapons on the bed, admiring her handiwork on Aegis. “All wrapped up and as lovely as any present.”

Aegis halted, feeling the binds pressed against his shirt, against his skin. He couldn’t see himself as well as Yuna could see him right now, but he stretched his back just a bit and it –

It was the very the limitation of it. The containment. The suspension, his arms still locked together tight, out of his very sight. If the knots there were more woven tightly, if there were dozens and dozens of them, he wouldn’t have been able to tell, at least not by much. He wasn’t experienced enough to understand it through touch alone.

But through it all, the way he felt, it wasn’t something that tightened or pulled at a nerve. It didn’t threaten to lock the flow of blood or make his muscles ache.

The binds moved with him, just enough. Working with him, almost.

“So…does it hurt?”

Aegis opened his mouth to confirm just that, because hadn’t it just did before? With the thread so tight that, if it truly had been wrapped around his throat like Vicious joked about, he’d have choked?

But he paused, focused on the feeling in his fingers – and his fingers could still bend and feel, despite their current position. The binds were around his wrist, around his thighs, and over his torso. The strings splayed out around him like floral patterns once he, looping underneath each other to create imagery that he hadn’t ever considered.

“I…suppose not…” And he didn’t understand that. Just earlier, the binds had squeezed him much too tightly.

Yuna placed a hand on her chest, and sighed. “Good. It iz not supposed to. Well, unless you would like it to.” She winked. “But I wanted to make your experience a more pleasurable one this time. It feels like a big hug, does it not?”

“I wouldn’t go that far,” Aegis pouted. “But it is rather nice that it doesn’t feel like my arms are being pulled from their sockets.”

“Ah, magnifique then!” Though she no longer held her weapons, he still saw the string around her fingers, still trailing from her hands, connected to the patterns that decorated his chest, his thighs, and perhaps his back, if he could hazard a guess. It moved along with her, and he felt that gentle motion, nearly in sync with her own. “I always wanted to dress you up as such. Getting the braided pattern down your spine was a bit tricky.”

Aegis flushed, embarrassed at the affair, while also slightly intrigued. “Please do not treat me as your doll.”

“Oh? Even after I gave you such a pretty bow…” She giggled, and only then did the threads started to tickle, only then did he see the end of one looping down to brush against his cheek. He almost didn’t want to know just how extravagant she had made this so-called bow on him.

“You…you humiliate me enough during the day!” he shot back, the calming sensation from before already evaporating. “I demand you untie me.”

“Ah, but do you really mean such a thing? My dear Embroiling Deceit… she would just like to have your way with you.” Yuna tapped a finger against her chin, her gaze thoughtful and so very concerned, (oh of course she was) as she turned to the wall. “I’d assume you would appreciate the fine arts such as zis. My very own chef-d'œuvre, yet you would rather see it scattered and become utter chaos?”

“What are you talking about? You’re the one that assaulted me in my sleep-”

The kunais laid out on the bed snapped right back into the air, their blades catching the moonlight streaming in from the window. They rushed straight down, past his still head to imbed themselves into the wood of his headboard.

There was the sudden sharp clunk of the wood. It was loud, as loud as gunshots. But it was only the blades, their edges humming as they vibrated in the wood from the force of their plunge.

He blinked, and Yuna was over him then, smiling that same smile.

Her hands were placed against the bed, looking over him like he was something just so very interesting that she had found on the ground. “Aw, if only I had brought my enpicturator along… What a fun sight for me.”

His heart fluttered for the second time that night, yet the binds around his wrist didn’t tighten, even in his initial struggle.

“I…I don’t understand you!” The words came out louder than he meant to. Just a small crease on Yuna’s forehead, but he noted it. He kept pushing.

“What exactly do you even want with me?!” Her twin ponytails brushed against the bed on either side of him, tickled his sides cheeks just a bit, the way the threads had earlier. The red of the material seemed to illuminate within the dimness of the room. They matched the very shade of her elaborate hair pins, and, were they loosened? Just a bit? “Why pick me for such a so-called experiment? Just to torture me? That’s all any of you ever do!”

“Oh Aegrouch, you are just so fun to play with.” She sighed, and her breath hit his skin, sent nerves springing to life after being put to sleep from the binds. “Must you keep saying such cruel ‘zings to me?”

He narrowed his eyes, but failed at hiding away the color he felt rise to his cheeks.

“…I told you that won’t work on me.” Even on the battlefield, she liked to mess with him. More than even Vicious would.

Then so close, once again. She stuck out her tongue playfully, her very guilt branded on her with the brief flicker of flame.

Too close. Not unless she was about to-

Yuna looked down, and it was then he felt a fingertip against his chest, making him wince. Not from pain.

She pressed against that very guilt of his, hidden beneath his shirt, despite its lightness. It felt too much, too overwhelming for a moment. She hadn’t seen how it happened, how it came to be. She could not know. After all, hers had come from the ire of misguided and petty people. A true failure of the vision orb system.

Not like his own, so rightly deserved.

“Yet zis seems to work on you?” She tilted her head, tracing that guilt over him, too accurate in her patterns. “Maybe I should do something else with it then. Unless you truly would not want to.”

Aegis had his answer ready, floating within his head all this time, even as she bounded him up in strangely gentle ways. He tried to speak, but the words would not come.

Instead, he said, “You don’t even like me, I thought.”

She winked. “Aegrouch, I thought you would know my lies by now.” Leaning in, near his neck. “But you don’t know me so well, do you?”

The feel of her tongue was warm and sharp, and the Stain over his heart only continued to burn. Yet…not painful, and still he was bound and kept still, instead of being scattered to pieces as he had so often felt.

“I will help keep you together,” she breathed into his ear. “If you will humor me, for a little while.”

Perhaps she still kept lying, even long after the night drew out, when the shape of her own Guilt was imprinted into his head, into his very own mouth. The threads kept him from being shattered from his own misgivings, while her tongue continued to do carve meaning into him, down to his chest where the light of his guilt never dimmed – but he would not ask why she chose him to assuage her own guilt.

Maybe it was better to not know the answer.

[michiopa]

Persepolis Rising thoughts WITH HELLA SPOILERS FOR THE ENTIRE BOOK 

OKAY HERE WE GO

ROCI CREW THOUGHTS

i wish so much that naomi and holden could have actually retired and been happy, if anyone deserves it it’s those two

Captain Bobbie Draper is everything i didn’t realize i wanted until holden was talking about it. I’m really gald she did get a ship in the end, even if it wasn’t the Roci

Amos’ singular chapter was so good, one of my faves tbh. The fight with him and bobbie was good and the fact that she WINS was perfect.

I cannot WAIT to see how his dynamic with Bobbie evolves, the fact that she will actually make him deal with his shit where no one else ever really has is just perfect

I do wish the writers would spend more time with alex and his emotions. i did like how they acknowledged that he held the crew together in a way

alright it’s gotta be talked about

Clarissa

i saw her death coming but that didn’t make it hurt less. I wish she would have died, not better because her death had the weight an impact it should have, but i wish amos could have been with her, that more of her family could have been with her.

speaking of clarissa and amos holy SHIT i wasn’t expecting their relationship to be exactly what i wanted but it happened

the fact that of all the crew it was naomi, the one clarissa nearly killed, that was with her when she died fucking BROKE me

Other characters

the fact that chrisjen is still alive and kicking was very important and such a nice surprise. I really want her to live through the series if only out of spite

i loved all the brief mentions of past characters, it was nice getting confirmations that they are okay

WHERE IS FILIP NAGATA. WHAT HAPPENED TO HIM

It’s been so long since i read CB that i don’t remember a lot of the protomolecule stuff but BOI. duarte might be the WORST but he needs to stop fucking around with this stuff. I genuinely wonder if we’re going to see the beings that killed the creators of the protomolecule

Structural stuff 

not going to lie reading this book felt like watching a disaster in slow motion, and that’s not a knock on the writing. it was that feeling of helplessness, knowing everything is going to go wrong but not being able to look away. i’ve never really had a book make me feel like that before

this one was absolutely a step up in quality again, not that i didn’t like BA but it was weak and PR imo was much better (still not the strongest book but that’s just because it was setting up the final arc of the series)

I made a post about it earlier but god acting like duarte’s theory about ideaolgically conquering a place would mean more stability is like, THE most obvious thing to any first year poli sci student. literally was a question on my intro politics class test in college. OF COURSE soft power is more effective if it can be pulled off, it doesn’t take a political genius to see that. it’s like boiling a frog, it won’t jump out if it doesn’t realize it’s dying.

THE QUOTES I LOVED

There were kids old enough to vote now who’d never known what it meant to have only one sun. She didn’t know what Earth or Mars or Sol would be to them.

I need a POV from a kid like this. Singh was one thing, but he still remembered Sol. 

The vast alien intelligence that had engineered the ring gates and the massive ruins in the systems beyond them had found ways to manipulate distance , but the speed of light was the speed of light , and seemed like it always would be .

one of those, idk it’s just neat quotes. 

Anytime a few like - minded people could put together the resources for a colony and the fees for passage through the ring gates , the seeds of a new society could be sown out there among the stars .

i just love this one too, so hopeful BEFORE EVERYTHING GOES TO SHIT

In Holden’s experience , humanity’s drive out into the universe was maybe one part hunger for adventure and exploration to two parts just wanting to get the hell away from each other .

#mood

Alex , the best friend she’d ever had , and the person she’d realized recently she had every intention of growing old with , in spite of never having seen him naked.

this was honestly so important to me? like it’s clear they love each other but not really in a romantic way and as someone who is somewhere on the aro spectrum this meant so much.

The images from the seedpods could be the encrypted records of the fallen civilization that had built miracles they were still only beginning to understand . Or they could be the spores of whatever had killed them . Or they could be lava lamps . Who fucking knew ?

drummer’s humor is so on point i love it

In the dream , she knew all of that . But what she felt was relief . Saba was dead , and so he was safe now . Nothing bad could happen to him anymore . She couldn’t fail him or abandon him or feel the weight of his disappointment.

this CRUSHED ME 

In his opinion , faith was generally for people who were bad at math .

Singh’s one (1) funny line

“ There has to be a way to come to a final decision . ” 

“ No , there doesn’t . Every time someone starts talking about final anythings in politics , that means the atrocities are warming up . Humanity has done amazing things by just muddling through , arguing and complaining and fighting and negotiating . It’s messy and undignified , but it’s when we’re at our best , because everyone gets to have a voice in it . Even if everyone else is trying to shout it down . Whenever there’s just one voice that matters , something terrible comes out of it . ”

god this was one of the most impactful lines in the book. but then, that’s just jim holden. i love him

If she died here , would Saba see it ? Would the official Laconian newsfeeds be how they said goodbye ?

i nearly cried at this. drummer and her love for saba was so good, reminded me a lot of chrisjen and her husband tbh

It was always strange to remember that she knew things that other people didn’t . Not just about power - and signal - routing protocols . What it was like to murder someone who’d only ever been kind to you . How it felt when the people you’d dedicated your life to killing took you in as family . Even though she knew better , she always defaulted to the idea that her life wasn’t singular . That whatever she’d done must not have been that odd , because after all , she’d done it .

so this is where i started crying and pretty much just didn’t stop for the rest of the book. clarissa means so much to me

Some sins carried their own punishment . Sometimes redemption meant carrying the past with you forever . She’d gotten used to that over the years , but it was still pretty fucking inconvenient .

This is tied with holden’s thing for the best line in the book, so good

“ It’s the reward of old age , ” Avasarala said . “ You live long enough , and you can watch everything you worked for become irrelevant . ”

just a g8 chrisjen line

[tmariea]

Words in Iron, ch 1

Fairies AU

Since this is the start of this AU which I’ve been talking for a while, I figured why not do it for Sormik Week Day 1 - Beginnings

Sorey has been dreaming of exploring the barrows since he was a kid, lured by myths of grand tombs and relics, and warned away by his Grandfather's stories of the Fair Folk. He never could have expected those stories to have some truth, or where they would lead him. No matter what, Sorey is about to be in over his head.

Read on AO3

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Also, much thanks to @soymilkheaven, who is probably responsible for at least half the plot of this thing, and truly who I feel has at least some ownership of it, too.

“Sorey,” Alisha said, a hint of both anxiety and warning in her voice.  “Are you sure this is a good idea?”

Sorey twisted on his heels so he could see her standing behind him, but did not straighten from his crouch.  At his feet was a hole in the ground, barely visible amongst the tangle of tree roots around it.  But it was the most thrilling hole in the ground in his life.  “Come on, Alisha.  I’ve been dreaming about exploring the barrows since I was a kid, and I know you have been too.”

She averted her eyes to gaze up the gentle slope of the hill, which was dotted with unnatural mounds of varying sizes.  The barrow on top of which they stood was the smallest of the lot, barely distinguishable from the natural terrain.  That was likely why the small copse of hawthorn trees had been permitted to grow there in the first place.  “Those were childish fantasies, play pretend,” she replied, crossing one arm over her body to hold tight to her other elbow.  A nervous posture.  “I never thought we would actually do it.”

True, the barrows had always been a place of fantasy, firmly rooted in childhood dreams of grand and courtly processions, bringing valiant kings and heroes of old to their final resting places.  And, on particular foggy mornings when the light was just right, it was almost possible to imagine the fairies of Gramps’ stories peering out of the mists before vanishing away.

Those stories were, in part, why Sorey was not allowed to visit the barrows nearly as often as he would like.  “That’s Fair Folk territory,” Gramps had said many times over, usually with a pause for a drag on his pipe.  “You don’t want to wander there too long, lest you find yourself in the Fairy Realm with no way home.”  Now that he was older and not so susceptible to fairy tales, Sorey had filed these kinds of tidbits alongside Gramps’ similar warnings, like don’t follow the will-o-the-wisp lights in the forest at night – common sense wrapped in mystical packaging.  Don’t walk into the woods in the dark, don’t wander off somewhere you could get lost.  The fairies were just there to get the little kids to listen.

Besides, the allure of the place to him had never been in magical creatures.  No, he was fascinated with the barrows because people didn’t just put kings in the ground.  They built them tombs, made offerings to keep them fed and rich in the afterlife.  What relics lay at rest under these mounds of earth?  Would there be actual tombs, ruins even?  Burial practice could tell a lot about a culture, and very little was known about the time period when the barrows had been built.  There had been almost no investigation done on them either, so all the treasure and knowledge which could lay within remained silent and unseen.

Which is why, on his way to Ladylake that morning to meet up with Alisha, Sorey had pulled his car off the road in the little section of dirt allotted for parking to view the ‘historic landmark.’  On foot, he bypassed the tourist information sign, and the coin-operated binoculars where vaguely interested tourists could pay one gald for a closer look at the grass-covered mounds.  Those binoculars didn’t cut it for Sorey.

Instead, he had hiked out amongst the barrows.  At the center, they were tall, taller than him, and packed so close together that the sides of one would jostle with another for space.  He liked to start there, and then move down the hill, following the mounds out towards the edges, where they became shorter and more spread apart.  From his position on the hill, he could just see the outline of Ladylake out on the water, could imagine courtly processions with their precious burden and offerings for the dead working their way across the long bridge and up to where he stood.

Sometimes, a small walk was enough to sate his fantasies, but that morning, he had walked all the way out to the edge, to the barrow amongst the trees where he and Alisha currently stood.  He’d sat at the crest for a short pause and a snack, which is how he had managed to spot an unusually dark spot between the hawthorn roots.  He’d investigated just enough to confirm that it seemed to be a hole into the barrow before rushing down to the city and bringing Alisha back up to revel in his discovery.

And yet, currently, she seemed more interested in caution than reveling.

“Come on, where’s your adventuring spirit?”  Sorey asked.

“I’m up for adventure – if you want to go exploring the temple ruins near Elysia, or Lefay, I’m all there.  But we don’t know how far down that goes, or what’s down there.”

“Oh,” He said, and sat down in the grass so he could shrug off his backpack and rummage unhindered.  He pulled out a chunky flashlight and waved it triumphantly in the air.  “If that’s the only problem, then let’s take a look.”

“I can’t even believe you were willing to jump into an unidentified hole without looking in the first place.”

“Too excited, I guess,” he said.  He rubbed at the back of his neck with his free hand, but it seemed more like a reflex motion; his attention was still solidly fixed on what might be their entrance into legend.  “Guess it’s a good thing you’re here, then.”

“Yes, I suppose it is.”  Alisha sighed and crouched down next to him.  “We should probably go explore your barrow, then, while I’m still around to reign you in.”

“Alisha!” Sorey exclaimed, and then tackled her with a hug that threatened to topple them both to the ground.  He managed to at least look sheepish when he let go, and dutifully brushed the rumples out of the shoulders of her shirt.  Then, unable to concentrate on much else for long, he turned back to the hole and pointed the flashlight down.  From what he could see, it looked like any ordinary hole in the dirt, and the bottom was visible.  He wasn’t able to judge the distance with perfect accuracy, but it wouldn’t be an unreasonable depth to jump.

“Okay, now that doesn’t look too bad, now does it?”

Alisha craned over the side of the hole to peer down as well.  “No, it doesn’t.”

“Awesome!  Let’s go.”  Sorey reached into his bag again, and this time pulled out a length of rope.  He moved toward one of the sturdier-looking Hawthorne trees and tied it around the base of the trunk.

“Do you really have a flashlight and rope just on you at all times?  Not that it’s all that surprising.”

“Ah, no.  They were in my car.  Emergency kit and all that.  I’m not that much of a nerd.”

“If you say so.”

Sorey checked over his knot and gave the rope a tug rather than replying to that comment.  It held well, so he began to lower himself into the hole.  It was a tight squeeze, and he was right about the drop not being too long, but they would need the rope on the way back up.  Once on the ground, he smiled up at Alisha and motioned for her to toss down the flashlight and join him.  She let it drop, and he caught it with only minor fumbling before flipping it on to look around.

The space was not large, and he had to duck so he wouldn’t hit his head.  He probably had plenty of dirt in his hair already, and more shifted and fell as Alisha climbed down.  Sorey moved close to the edge of the space to make room, and shone his flashlight on the walls.  At first, it seemed as there was nothing preventing the whole barrow from coming down on their heads; he could see no traces of beams or other man-made supports.  He reached a hand to brush his fingertips across the dirt, and found instead a fine mesh of roots.

“It doesn’t look like there’s anything down here, Sorey,” Alisha said, practically in his ear dues to the confines of the space.  “How is it staying up?”

“Here, take a look.”  Sorey shuffled to the side so that she could touch the wall as well.  “I think this is from the Hawthornes.”

“So this is all natural, then.  Was this space washed away by the spring rains?”

“The hole we came through, maybe.  But I don’t think this space could be natural; it’s far too regular.”  He paced around Alisha in a right circle, examining the perfect curve of the walls.  “Water doesn’t flow that way, and roots don’t grow like that either.”

“There are shapes which show up over and over again in nature, though, like Fibonacci spirals.  Besides, how would humans from thousands of years ago have an effect on the way that the tree roots are growing now?”

“What, so are you saying that someone has done this recently?”

“That’s a possibility.  The one thing we haven’t considered yet is that perhaps there could be some validity to your grandfather’s stories.”

Sorey raised an eyebrow, which he doubted was visible in the low light.  “Fairies?”

“I don’t know!  I’m just talking through all of the possible theories.  Nothing else seems quite right, so why not.”

“What little information exists on the barrows suggests that they were built by the Tuatha de Danann as part of their burial practices.”

“Sorey,” Alisha heaved a sigh, “The Tuatha de Danann are a type of fairy.  And this does not look like a tomb.”

“In the mythological accounts, they are, yes.  But historical accounts speak of them as the original peoples of this land before new settlers came across the sea.  You are right about the tomb thing, though.”  Disappointment swam in Sorey’s stomach.  Despite the fact that they were standing in a hole of mysterious origin under the barrows, they were still standing in a hole.  Exhaustion fizzled unexpectedly just behind the disappointment, and he plopped down to the dirt.

“Are you alright?” Alisha asked.

“Fine.  It just… isn’t what I expected.”

She crouched down and then sat back on her knees to join him.  “That’s going to be a part of doing any kind of archaeology work, though, isn’t it?”

Sorey pouted, and then conceded.  “Yes, it is.”  He knew that if some day he became a legitimate archaeologist he would have to get used to disappointing digs.  It was just harder to face up to it when what he had hoped to find was so wrapped up in his childhood fantasies.

“It’s not all bad,” she continued.  “You’re still under a barrow.  We only ever dreamed of doing that.  Besides, it would be foolish to base all of our conclusions on one example.  There’s no guarantee that the rest of the barrows are empty.  This is a rather small one after all; perhaps it was never finished.”

“Yeah, you’re right!  There could be other explanations.  What, though?”

Both of them lapsed into silence as they considered the new mystery.  Sorey idly flicked the flashlight across the walls while he thought, watching the faint shine of the light on the pale roots.  After a few passes, his eyes landed on a discrepancy, a spot where there were no pale roots at all.  “What’s that?”

“What’s what?”

He pointed the flashlight directly at the spot.  He expected the light to land on a dull, rootless patch of dirt.  Instead, it shone into darkness, much further and deeper than an unusual bit of wall.  “Is that a tunnel?”  He didn’t wait for a reply before moving forward to touch the edges of the darker spot.  As he thought, it was an opening.

“Sorey, I know what you’re thinking, and it’s an even worse idea than coming down here in the first place.  What if some animal lives down there?  Maybe that’s how this hole was made.”

“Was this here the whole time?” He asked, entirely bypassing Alisha’s concern.  He wasn’t sure he had seen it on his first inspection of the space.

“It must have been.  And no, we should not go down it.”

“Oh come on, weren’t you the one who said we shouldn’t base our conclusions on just one barrow?  Unless I’ve gotten completely turned around, I think this leads uphill, toward the bigger ones!”  The tunnel was not large, but this did not stop Sorey from sticking his head in.  He would fit if he crawled.

“We really shouldn’t,” Alisha said.  Yet, when he looked over his shoulder, she was hovering just behind him.  It was hard to tell in the light of the flashlight, but her eyes seemed to contain a hint of curiosity and excitement.

Sorey grinned and dropped fully to his hands and knees.  The shaft of the flashlight pressed awkwardly into his palm, but they certainly needed the light.  He crawled into the hole, confident that Alisha would follow.  After about a hundred or so feet, he did look back just to check, and there she was, looking partly exasperated but also interested.

They crawled for a while without changes, long enough that Sorey was starting to feel confident about his theory of the tunnel being a passage linking barrows.  He wondered if perhaps the one they had entered through had been connected to the others but never filled.

It was difficult to tell distances well since they were crawling instead of walking, but Sorey thought they should be coming up under the center of the next barrow when the passage started to change.  It was subtle at first, with the floor slightly sloping down and the ceiling slightly up, opening it out inch by inch.  It wasn’t enough to make it worth standing up yet, but Sorey’s heart beat faster anyway.  An animal wouldn’t widen the passage like that.

Only a few feet beyond he noticed the change in slope in the tunnel, the flashlight passed across something on the wall that caught his eye.  Sorey stopped and shone the light at it; in the better light he could see it was a dull stone set into the dirt of the wall, and carved with a curving pattern.  “Alisha, look at this,” he said, and shifted as best as he could to the side so they could both see.  “That is definitely not natural.”

She reached out a hand to brush the edges of the pattern with her fingertips, as if she couldn’t completely believe it was real.  “No, that isn’t.”

“That means there were people here!  There was something here!”

“Someone at least.  We don’t know what it means though.”

Sorey tilted his head and examined the pattern further.  It had soft edges, and maybe looked a bit like an abstract cloud.  But he doubted the answer was as simple as ‘a cloud.’  It revealed no further secrets to him.  “No, we don’t.  But there could be more carvings further in!  Maybe there will be a clue about this one.”

He maneuvered around so he was facing forward again, and kept crawling.  More similar stones dotted the passage at regular intervals, for long enough that he was sure they had to be under the largest, most central barrows by now.  No two stones were exactly the same, and none of them gave any clues to the rest, as he had hoped.  This didn’t dampen Sorey’s spirits any.  He was thrumming with energy; it was a mystery, a discovery, and he and Alisha had made it!  He would have to convince his university to make an expedition, come back with proper tools and research materials.

Sorey was daydreaming about leading the expedition, about discovering what these patterns meant when he caught a flash of light in front of him.  His eyes went wide and he passed his flashlight back and forth, wondering if it had reflected off something in the dark.  But no, the light remained steady.  It was impossible.  There was no way light could reach all the way down into the barrows, unless another hole had opened up.  Yet, when he clicked off the flashlight, the light was still there.  It was faint and far away, but Sorey could feel his heart beating quickly again.

By now, the tunnel was high enough to stand, and so he did, and started walking toward it, his steps growing faster until he was almost running.  He knew that was a stupid thing to do, but it didn’t stop him.  He skidded to a halt as he reached the source of the light, unable to believe his eyes.  The tunnel opened out into a courtyard, surrounded by stone walls and paved with rough cobbles.  They had been tossed up and grown over by copious amounts of moss and creeping vines.  Arched windows set high into the walls let light stream down in shafts that illuminated lazily shifting particles of dust.  Across the open space were more dark tunnels, leading off in different directions.

“No way,” Sorey breathed, “There are no windows in the sides of the barrows.”  He stepped out onto the cobbles, feeling the uneven texture of them under his shoes, and then turned back to see what Alisha would think.

She wasn’t there.

“Alisha?” he asked the empty space.  His breath caused tiny motes of dust to swirl in the otherwise undisturbed dust in the air.  He could swear she had been just behind him, but perhaps she had stopped to examine one of the later carvings.  He walked back into the tunnel, and started to work his way back, accompanied by no sounds other than the tap of his shoes on the cobbles.

Wait, cobbles?  Sorey could swear there had been dirt on the floor just outside of the courtyard, but it was possible he had missed that detail in the dark and his excitement.  He kept walking, in increasing anxiety, and started calling her name.  It echoed back to him off of the stone walls.  The walls had been dirt.  He knew that for certain.  They had been packed dirt, not this grey stone cut into sharp angles at the ceiling and floor, and decorated at waist-height with a continuous line of similar             swirls to the patterns they had found before.  And yet, he had only taken one step out of the tunnel, turned around and walked back in, so there was no way he had gotten lost.

Sorey broke into a run, and called Alisha’s name again.  Impossible, all of it.  He was starting to get scared.

He didn’t stop until his breath was coming hard and his shoe nearly caught on a crack in the floor.  He paused with a hand to his chest, feeling the frantic beating of his heart.

Then it came to him.  He was dreaming.  That was it, the only way to explain Alisha’s disappearance along with the strange, shifting tunnels.  He remembered slumping down against the wall in that first barrow when they found nothing there, swamped by exhaustion and disappointment.  He must have fallen asleep there, back next to Alisha, back where they both were safe.  And his mind was handing him a fantasy where he had discovered a whole set of ruins beneath the barrows.

Some part of his mind wondered where he had seen those swirling patterns.  He certainly didn’t remember them before.  Sorey reached out a hand to feel the smooth edges of the carvings on the walls, and started walking slowly again.  Now that he had a handle on the situation, he was curious just where his imagination would take him.

It didn’t take long before his tunnel ended abruptly, opening into another well-lit courtyard.  This one was larger than the first, and the ceiling swooped up a full two stories.  Decorative columns and arches lined the walls on both levels, with some on the ground floor cradling yet other doorways, whereas some had more carvings.  Some of the columns had started to crumble away.  The faint sound of running water met his ears, and he found its source in a large pool across the courtyard, fed by trickling streams of water down the mossy walls and through shallow cracks in the floor.  It looked impossibly clear.

Sorey stepped out with the intention of exploring, but he stopped in his tracks.  Somehow, he hadn’t noticed that he was not the only one in the courtyard.  The other person had their back to him, but it was obviously not Alisha.  This person looked to be nearly his height, and had a ponytail of long white and blue hair.  Dreaming, he repeated to himself again, because he had never met anyone with hair like that before.

He took another step forward, towards this stranger.  They must have heard him, because they turned to face him, ponytail swinging with the motion.  The person appeared to be male, but with a slender waist accentuated by his fitted white and turquoise tunic.  Sorey’s eyes traced up the patterns on the front of it, past his confidently-held shoulders, up past shapely lips parted in surprise, and finally met a pair of violet eyes.  Sorey drew in a sharp breath, and took another step forward.  He hardly knew what to think about the appearance of this person in his dream, but his mind supplied one word: beautiful.

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[arcanisluna]

Chapter Summary: Leaving Ladylake, a million things happen. Links: Fanfiction.net | Ao3 Content Warnings: None

"I wonder if they found the note."

The grass was trampled under my feet as I walked through the plains, obviously not following the road. There had been a few Hellions around, which I avoided fighting as I had no idea on how to fight and I didn't want to kill them. And I still had to get to the Spiritcrest, right? That was what the boy had said. Continuing forward on this adventure was difficult. I wasn't used to walking all the time and constantly had to sit down after a while to take a breather and stop my legs from aching before I continued forward. It was a process, and I had been a homebody until now so I was very... unused to so much activity. I didn't even have an exact time! But that wasn't the problem.

I'd meet travellers on the road, point them in the direction of Ladylake if they were headed there and then hear in an inn out of the way that the travellers never made it there. Bandits were attacking them, and it left a sour taste in my mouth. I wondered exactly what type of bandits were attacking them. Perhaps they were desperate for food or gald. And I wondered why I wasn't being attacked too. Saying my goodbyes to the innkeeper I had come across, I left the inn that I'd been staying in last night and headed back on the road. Having to work in exchange for room and board for a night had been a bit of a task but... At least they were nice.

That had been... two days. So if I was looking back at Ladylake, I wouldn't see it anymore. Marlind wasn't too far from here, but it would be in the throes of a plague caused by malevolence. I'd rushed on ahead without any form of idea of where to go except for the Spiritcrest. From what I could recall, Eizen was on that mountain... but as a dragon. There was something else, too. Something I knew I was forgetting. I didn't know exactly what it was, but I just knew something important was slipping my mind. Regardless, the bridge was still up. That meant that it was too early for it to collapse. But the rain was endless. I was soaked upon my arrival to the area, and shielded my eyes against it as I looked towards the sky. Different, I supposed, but I couldn't do much of anything.

Spiritcrest, Spiritcrest. What awaited me at you? Nothing but death at the moment. Nothing but death- but I couldn't divert from my path just yet. There was a little pathway before I was able to reach the bridge, so I turned up that path and headed up the sloping hill. As I did so, I noticed something falling from the sky. As if thrown, and it turned out not to be something but someone. Their body hit the ground and they came to a stop at my feet. Long, white hair with green ends covered their back, and they wore black pants with turquoise designs. The oddest part yet was the belts on their wrists and the solitary glove on their left hand. With a frown, I shook the person who had fallen.

Stupid me. A fall from that height meant they were dead, right?

"What am I doing...?" I murmured to myself. "They're dead. That fall was from a very high height and..." I sighed, deciding to push the body over to get a better look. A male, and a young one. And then it hit me, and I smacked my forehead with a groan. This was before Sorey scaled the Spiritcrest and met Zaveid for the first time, so obviously something had happened prior to their meeting! It just so happened that this was what happened instead. Something important. He was the something important I was forgetting about! Zaveid the Hellion Hunter!

"Gods above and below, what the hell..." I sat back, staring at the sky for a few moments. I didn't have much in the ways of items but... I hadn't used any of them since starting my adventure. I had to shuffle through various items in my bag before grabbing a blue bottle with a label on it. I couldn't exactly decipher what it said, and quietly wished I had an interpreter for Glenwood Script with me. But I uncorked it and heaved a heavy sigh before moving back over to the unconscious Zaveid and pressing the bottle to his lips. The clear liquid slowly left the bottle, and in moments his eyes fluttered open. I removed the now empty-bottle, re-corked it and put it in my bag while muttering to myself about how idiotic this seemed as I noticed him sitting up slowly.

"Try not to take a giant fall like that again, I don't have a lot of these and I'm not around enough to play babysitter." I said, standing up and dusting myself off. I didn't know how many Dezel had given me but... I probably didn't have much in the way of Life Bottles, if that's what I used. Those seemed really expensive and rare.

"You're not here for the dragon are ya, kid?" Zaveid's voice broke through my voice and I glanced at him. He'd stood up during the time I was examining the contents of my bag while deep in thought, and towered over me in height. With a short, non-committal shrug, I waved a hand.

"Does it look like I can fight a dragon? I was just told to come here, and then I met you when you landed on the ground like you did. Thought you were dead until I realized nope, very much alive." I closed my bag and turned to him. "Well, no. It's more like a little kid told me to come here because a couple of people lived here. Eizen and Edna. Heard of them?"

His body tensed. I noticed his gaze wasn't even on me now, instead away as if I'd said something unintentional. But this was what I was sent here for. Something at the Spiritcrest, and I would have to find out exactly what the kid had wanted me to do. But... if anything, the hellion that was usually here was guarding the place and I couldn't have Zaveid kill it too soon. That would set everything awry.

The path of Tales of Zestiria was never very straight-forward, but this was something that had Sorey first meeting Zaveid. The fight with the hellion blocking the way.

It was an uncomfortable silence, regardless. For a few minutes, there was nothing. The wind seemed a little colder, even. Then-

"They're up on the mountaintop. Why?" His tone was sharp and bitter.

"Again, little kid sent me up here. 'Bout this tall, wearing a robe.. And had a strange device in his hands. He said that Eizen was an old friend of his-" Like that, I was cut off with Siegfried in my face.

"Not another word." Very out of character for him, but perhaps I'd hit a sore spot for him. That was alright, he didn't have to answer me. "Listen, kid. I don't know who you are, or where you're from but don't bother with either of those people. And don't talk about them around me. Got it?"

"...Y-yes sir." I found myself saying, shrinking away. Old habits died hard, and I was trying to make myself smaller. Tears prickled at the edges of my eyes, and I heard footsteps as the ringing in my ears grew louder and louder. A constant noise. A constant reminder. I was never free from the past, I was never free from what chained me.

I looked up, and he was gone.

"Deliver medicine across to Marlind?" I asked, with a slight frown. The rain hadn't washed away the bridge yet, but the guy had just thrust the package at me and told me to deliver it to Marlind. The epidemic town, where a plague ran free... that was caused by malevolence.

"Of course! Are you stupid and hardheaded?! Get going!" He shoved me away from him, and I stepped back, finding myself breathing heavier than usual. Rude. Rude and... cruel. I took in a deep breath and turned to the bridge. This wasn't going to be too hard. Get it to Marlind and then come back before the bridge went out of service. That was easy enough for me to do. Delivery sidequest and all, and then no reward. It was fine, really. It was alright. It was...

"Wh-what-"

Halfway across the bridge, I heard footsteps behind me. A knight, lance beared. The bridge underneath my feet started to crack. He'd seen something I hadn't, and had charged in to protect me. But, it was too late for that. As soon as he reached me, the bridge broke and the two of us got thrown into the river. The current was fast, and I couldn't keep my head above the water long enough to take a breath of air. I was drowning, I was actually drowning.

They say death by drowning is the worst, and I had to agree with that. I choked, and filled my lungs with more water. I couldn't breathe, I couldn't breathe. Everything was going so, so wrong. The light dimmed around me, and I heard a splash and a hand reach out to grab me before the entire world went dark. And, for a while, I dreamed.

I dreamed of home. Of my life before this. Dreamed of sleeping, dreamed of cooking... Dreamed of going outside and taking walks when I couldn't bear seeing the same four walls any more. But, as I headed to the kitchen for something to eat, I jolted awake with a gasp for air before turning over and coughing. My lungs were clear but burning for air, and I was gasping for a good few minutes before my breathing straightened itself out and I found myself in a bed. A warm, comfortable bed. The oil lamp was still burning, which meant that it still had enough to keep the flame up. In the bed next to mine was the knight, though his dark hair was splayed all over the pillow. I could tell from the tunic and helmet in the chair next to the bed, and the lance. He'd been the one coming to my rescue... I swallowed hard and was about to get out of bed when the door opened and a few people filed in. Immediately, I was on guard and went for the daggers Rose had given me- only to realize they weren't there. They were with my bag along with my bracelet and jacket on the chair near my bed.

"You're the only one awake." One of them said with a smug grin. "Guess you'll be givin' us a payment for rescuin' ya. C'mere, girl." He started forward, but I went for my daggers and grabbed them as I tumbled out of the bed. The blanket had, mercifully, not been tangled up with my legs. Rose hadn't taught me how to use them, so I was running blind here. I didn't ask for them to save me-!

"Didn't I tell ya not to bother our guests?" A rough female voice asked. "Move it or I'll kick yer asses!"

"We only answer to the boss, not his side girl!" One of the men said.

"Oh? An' I guess the boss will be happy t'hear that you were tryin' to assault our guests fer rescuin' them. Don't forget it was the boss who saved 'em. We may be bandits, but we ain't gonna assault an' harrass the people we save. The boss will be pissed. Now get the fuck outta here." A female with her blonde hair in a pixie cut walked in. She was wearing a cloth around her breasts, and a pair of pants but not much else. Her body was scarred, but muscular, and she didn't seem too fussed about shooing the rest of the bandits out. With a sigh, she shut the door but I still remained on guard. When she saw this, she raised her hand up as if in surrender. "Ain't gonna hurt ya. Put those away an' I'll tell ya where both ya and the knight boy there ended up."

"...Mm..." The boy in the bed groaned and woke up. "Wh—what happened...?" He sat up, and both the bandit and the boy looked at each other. She sighed, and gestured for me to put the daggers away. I reluctantly did so, frowning as we both were ushered out of the room and to another, much grander room. It was a nice house, I'd give them that, but it felt... out of place. Like we were being sent towards our doom. At the table was a man, about mid-thirties, sitting in the chair with a goblet in his hand. A silver one, not gold like I'd expected.

If I recalled correct, malevolence showed itself as little purplish-black specks, but there was none here that I could see. Or I was blind towards it, either or. He glanced at us, grey eyes narrowing just a bit before he sat straight in the chair and set his goblet down.

"So, the princess and her knight awaken. I thought that Princess Alisha carried a spear. It seems that I was wrong." He said. He'd... mistaken me for Alisha? How? I tugged at my hair slightly, seeing the black colour as it always was. That was when he burst out laughing and I froze before looking at him. Laughing now? Why? His red hair, long and messy, moved back as he laughed heartily. As if this was the funniest thing in the world. "I'm kiddin', lady. I know Alisha's a platinum blonde and can defend herself. I ain't as stupid as I look. So, can I have the names of the kids that I saved?"

Wait... He was the one who saved us? Bandits... actually stuck their necks out for people in danger? I had to rethink about what I'd heard about them, then. With a slight nod, I obliged.

"Melanie."

"..." The boy seemed a bit awkward. "Why should I tell a bandit?"

"Because he saved yer worthless hide, you Hyland freak!" The girl with the pixie cut exclaimed. The man shook his head and the girl nearly avoided getting hit with his dagger that he'd thrown at her out of nowhere.

"Enough, Ryda. We are not like the Evergreen Bandits. You would do well to remember that." His voice carried authority, and Ryda backed away while muttering under her breath. This was a weird dynamic, and perhaps normal for them... but back home, he would've gotten arrested for attempted murder. Not here, though. Not here. "Now, knight, please tell me your name. I want to know who I've saved."

"Fine." He muttered. "It's Aevar Wraith."

The man seemed a bit thoughtful at that. "Wraith, huh? Know a Maribelle Wraith?" He asked, curiosity in his voice.

"...That's my mother." Aevar said with a frown. "How do you-"

"Maribelle's my sister. Haven't heard from her in years, an' now her son's a Hyland Knight. Guess she really did flee from him.." The man looked thoughtful for a moment longer. "Name's Arvald Chester. Leader of the Hyland Bandits, and yer uncle. You an' Melanie were lucky I was out huntin' when I was, else you two might've never seen the light of day again. Speakin' of-" Arvald got up out of his chair and gestured to the window. The sun was, slowly but surely, rising. It cast a light on the man, who I could see wore the pelt of an animal, perhaps a bear, around his waist with trousers and a white long-sleeved shirt. There was a belt around the pelt with multiple sheaths for multiple daggers. But he was strong, extremely strong, as shown with how the tension around his sleeves were near to bursting with how big his muscles were. He was a bear of a man, and had a matching red beard to his hair. How had I not noticed this before, and only noticed his eyes?

Aevar stood quiet, his head turned away. As if he didn't believe this. I couldn't blame him. His uncle was a bandit, but he had morals... though his lackeys didn't seem to have any of those morals he did. With a shaky breath, the knight spoke.

"Why did you save us?"

"Because you two would've drowned. Ain't like us to just leave travellers for dead." Arvald shrugged and sat back down, putting his feet on the table after picking up his goblet. "We tend to only strike merchants that've been price gougin' as they think the higher prices will give them more money to line their pockets with. Only a few merchants, like the Sparrowfeathers, are exempt. Some travellers think the same, so we have to teach 'em a lesson. But that's it. We ain't murderers or anythin' of the sort."

"Good-willed bandits. I've literally met good-willed bandits." I said without thinking. Voicing my thoughts aloud, as it were. Arvald laughed at that.

"So, where're you two headed?" He asked, taking a long swig from the goblet.

"I need to get back to Ladylake and report." Aevar responded.

"...I'm going to Marlind to drop off some medicine."

Arvald sat upright at that, goblet hitting the table. "Why the hell are ya goin' to a plague town, kid? Even if it's medicine, if you catch it-"

"I have a strong immune system, I'll be alright." I said in response, looking away.

"Hmph. Well, ya ain't goin' alone. Ryda, yer in charge 'til I come back. Aevar, are ya just gonna let her go alone? Ain't very knightly of ya."

"I wasn't going to-" Aevar was cut off as Arvald laughed and stood up, walking over to us.

"Get yer things together, you two. We're goin' to Marlind."

During the course of the two days that it took to get to Marlind from the bandit hideout, Arvald had taken me under his wing and taught me how to use the daggers I had. I could see the hellions, and apparently so could Arvald and Aevar. We wore them down and then fled as to not bloody our hands. People with resonance enough to see Seraphim and Hellions were far and few inbetween, and so running across two in one go was extremely rare. But there were things that could happen like that, and I counted my lucky stars that I didn't have to go about this alone. Aevar and Arvald took shifts, saying that I should sleep at night and keep up my strength for the morrow. They were used to this kind of thing and me, being a newbie traveller, wasn't. But that was fine with me. At least I'd be able to help while we were walking to Marlind.

When we came across the town, it was bad. There was purplish-black particles everywhere and there was a haze hanging over the city that seemed suffocating. But I had to deliver the medicine, I just had to do that job. The sanctuary wasn't too far, but I noticed something near the tree as the three of us headed in that direction. Four figures with one sitting down at the base of the Great Tree. Instead of continuing on towards the sanctuary, I diverted and headed for them. As they came into view, I noticed that Sorey was there... And Mikleo. Alisha and Lailah, too, but I hadn't actually met them properly. So that would mean that Edna had left-

Which meant, by the fact of Sorey being here before me, I'd missed them meeting Atakk in the museum and their encounter with the woman who was trying to sell books to get gald for something nice in her life for once. I'd missed a good chunk of the Marlind excursion, and that was something.

"Lady Alisha!" Aevar exclaimed, running ahead to her. He'd been outfitted with travelling clothes instead of his usual knight outfit, but he wore the gauntlets and the greaves for fighting instead of the spear he was carrying around. So she didn't recognize him at first before her face broke out in a smile as she heard his voice.

"Sir Aevar! -And who are they?" Alisha asked, gesturing at me and Arvald.

"Hey! It's you again!" Sorey got back up on his feet and walked over. "Haven't seen you since Ladylake! Didn't think we'd meet up here..." He rubbed the back of his head. Sorey was really a kind person to have remembered me from then, even though he'd been through so much already.

"Yeah. Looks like our paths keep crossing regardless of circumstances." I looked over the others. Aevar and Alisha were in conversation while Arvald examined Mikleo, who was a bit put out by the action. Lailah stood there, hands clasped in front of her, with a small smile on her face as if this was perfectly normal. Then again, it probably was. "That reminds me, I've forgotten to introduce myself after this time. I'm-"

"Melanie, right? The girl who helped us get into the Sanctuary said your name." Sorey responded.

"Yep. That's me." I gave a small smile to him. "So, uh, not to cut this short but-"

"Please, cut it short." A deadpan female voice said. "I don't think I can take this sappiness much longer."

Everyone looked at the girl who had come up with her parasol closed and pointed towards the ground. With her was Atakk, the normin from the museum. Edna, the Earth Seraph who was now Lailah's sublord. So they'd met Zaveid... Her outfit wasn't the same I was used to in the game, however. Instead of the usual dress, she wore a short black jacket, what I assumed was a white tunic with an orange undershirt and black shorts. Her glove and boots remained the same, but her hair wasn't in its usual ponytail. Then again, her outfit was more practical than Lailah's in many regards. She was an up-close fighter unlike the Fire Seraph...

And it was probably a choice for travelling, too. After all, the Seraphim would probably want to walk along with Sorey as well..

"Welcome back, Edna- Oh, and Atakk too!" Sorey seemed pleased to see the normin. As I expected, the conversation about Atakk helping with the arrow shot against the Drake to bring it down happened as Arvald tapped my shoulder.

"I'll take the medicine to the sanctuary." He said, holding his hand out. "You an' Aevar help 'em out while I'm gone, alright?"

"Alright." I agreed, handing over the medicine that was still in its bag. Once the conversation was done, they headed to Neif's house which was the best place for this attack to start. Standing with Alisha, Lailah and Edna, we watched as Sorey armatized with Mikleo and readied an arrow. Atakk, at Lailah's command, helped amplify the power and the arrow flew from the bow to the Drake, hitting it and causing to fall into the clearing nearby. I pulled out my daggers, and Aevar readied himself for a fight. We charged in, ready for combat as no one would see us fighting what was essentially air to others. Our participation in the battle wasn't contested, either. It was like they'd accepted we were helping regardless of our ability to purify malevolence.

"Sorey!" Mikleo called out from the Armatization. The drake swiped at him, and he dodged around. I attacked from a flank, stabbing it with my daggers before pulling back. Lailah cast a fire spell, it exploding all around the drake. Edna, too, cast a spell that sent it staggering down as she did so. It swiped its tail at Aevar and I, and we dodged and rolled out of the way. Alisha wasn't lucky enough, however, and got hit in the side. It sent her flying and rolling to a stop. Lailah ran over to her to heal her wounds, leaving us to continue the fight.

Sorey dodged another attack, the armatization coming undone so they could fight together without it. Though a choice I had made myself once upon a time while playing the game, it wasn't one I would encourage as it boosted their power. As soon as I took my eyes off of the drake, my fate was sealed and its tail hit me, sending me flying. I hit the ground, feeling the pain as I smacked into the dirt, and groaned as I opened my bag and grabbed a gel to pop into my mouth. I was fine, this wasn't going to take me down. The pain was irrelevant to the task.

But damn it, it hurt like hell.

I charged back in, stabbing and weaving as Sorey sliced and Mikleo cast spells. Edna reluctantly teamed up with Aevar and the two of them combined magic and his punches to cause a bit more damage. The drake was about to attack again when three daggers came flying at it as well as an explosion and Alisha returning to the fray. Arvald had joined us in the battle, his delivery done. I didn't know how much time had passed, but his presence was welcome. After that, it was easy to overpower the drake and confuse it, giving Sorey enough time to purify the malevolence and shift its form back to its original one.

The drake shrank, the flames of purification burning away the malevolence it had. In its place was a seraph with striking blonde hair and very intricate robes. The Guardian Seraph of this place, whose name was Rohan.

[darkhymns-fic]

Beginner’s Luck

Zelos takes his friends out for a night at the casino. Things go as well as you expect.

Fandom: Tales of Symphonia Characters: Lloyd Irving, Colette Brunel, Zelos Wilder, Genis Sage Rating: G Mirror Links: AO3, FF.net Notes: Written after playing TOS on steam - the casino minigames in paticular. My boyfriend was doing good as Lloyd with the blackjack game, and the image of Lloyd playing it was too fun. Also I'll make something nice for Zelos someday, promise.

“Now watch, my hunnies, as I clear this place out!”

It was unclear as to who Zelos was ultimately talking to. The only girl in the group was Colette, who was busy being entranced by the fancy displays in the casino. Lloyd was there too, also more enraptured than his country-living brain could handle. Genis, the only one unfortunate enough to fully pay attention to the Tethe’allan Chosen, just sighed.

“So you’re gonna hit on every girl to the point that they leave?”

Zelos glared at the kid with a sneer. “Ha, very funny, brat. But hey, I’m feeling pretty generous, so I’m gonna show you uncivilized barbarians a few tricks to racking up the cash here.”

Lloyd seemed to have finally heard Zelos’ voice. “Can you stop it with the barbarian crap?”

“This place is so bright!” Colette commented, lost in her own world. “But, um, are we allowed to be here? The sign said only people who are 21 can enter…”

“Angel cakes, you worry too much. With me around, you guys are basically getting a free pass!”

“Is Regal even okay with this?” Genis asked aloud.

He, of course, received no answer. With a flourish, Zelos tried to get his under-aged friends to explore the entirety of the casino. There were these giant machines to the right, where the middle of them would spin a fantastic array of colors and shapes. A few people kept pulling at a lever, holding plastic cups in their hands. To the left was a table, where a device called a ‘Roulette’ by Zelos was also spinning frantically to a random number. At each corner were the casino employees – young women dressed in a black leotard and bunny ears that Colette found to be so cute.

“So, these are games?” Lloyd asked, looking around as much as possible and barely understanding any of it.

“That’s right, my slow friend. Altamira has the best night life around. Guys and gals who don’t know what to do with their money and looking for some high thrills come here!” Zelos flicked back his red hair, posing for his oh so lucky companions. “I’m practically a shark around these parts, you know. Chips just fall into my lap like no problem!”

Colette blinked in wonder. “Wow, Zelos. You don’t seem to have sharp teeth like a shark though!”

“Nah, but he certainly has the face of one,” Genis replied with perfect understanding.

Zelos nearly stumbled. “Kid, don’t kill my groove.”

“What’s that?” Lloyd pointed to one table, where a blonde-haired employee was shuffling some cards, almost too quick for the eye to follow.

“Blackjack. Usually, that stuff’s too easy, but I guess I’ll show you how it works!”

“Oh! Is it like Go Fish?” Colette clapped her hands. “I love that game!”

“Nah, this is a bit more advanced than that…”

“Oh my! Chosen One!” The bunny employee smiled prettily. “Will you be playing a game with us today?”

Zelos, with a swagger in his step, leaned forward on the table. His smile was a practiced gleam. “Sure thing! I’m feeling pretty lucky. Know what I mean?”

“Haha, perhaps you truly are lucky,” the girl purred, then placed the cards on the table. “Only one way to find out!”

“So, you free tonight or-?”

“Please pick a card from the deck, sir!”

Genis snickered. “Still a charmer.”

Zelos chose to ignore the kid. “Got this in the bag.” He sat on the stool, cooly putting down one chip on the table. “Ready when you are, babe.”

Lloyd raised an eyebrow. “What? You’re just betting one chip?”

“Bud, these things cost like 500 Gald a chip. Cut me a break here.”

The dealer placed the chip in the center, then proceeded to cut the cards with deft precision. “I hope you will go easy on me, Chosen,” she said graciously.

“Well, can’t make any promises. Gotta look good in front of my loyal fans!”

Genis and Lloyd looked thoroughly unimpressed at that, but Colette seemed excited. She clapped her hands. “I know you can do it, Zelos!”

Another swift card shuffle, then the dealer placed the deck at an even distance from both her and Zelos. She dealt him a card, then she dealt herself one.

Lloyd was already getting bored and was looking back at the spinning machines. Genis was openly judging, and Colette was awestruck.

The dealer smiled at Zelos’ card. “Not a bad start!”

Zelos crossed his leg with confidence. “Yeah, I’m just a natural at this.”

“You only have a 4,” Genis uttered.

He was dealt another card, then the dealer dealt her own, but this one face-down. “What would you like to do now, Chosen?”

Genis was staring at the two cards. “Yeah, I don’t think-“

“Staying with my hand, baby!”

“What? You only have a sum of 12!” The boy was glaring at the Chosen openly. “The heck are you doing?”

“Look, brat, trust me. No matter what I do, I’m winning this thing.” Zelos shrugged, then laughed as he leaned back dangerously on his stool. “Ya think they would ever make the beautiful Chosen here lose?”

“Dealer wins! Player loses!”

“Wait, wha-” Zelos slipped his butt right off the stool and onto the floor, neatly hitting his forehead on the table edge. His two cards were no match for the perfect 21 sum of the dealer’s.

Hearing the guy’s cry of dismay, Lloyd turned back to him with full attention. “Oh, are you already done?”

The dealer took the single chip with a bright smile. “Thank you so much for playing! Would you like another game?”

Zelos rubbed a hand against the forming bruise, though there wasn’t much he could do to nurse his pride back. “Hey, uh, babe, whatever happened to the other girl that was here actually? I think her name was Sarah-”

“Oh, yes, she got fired!” The dealer nodded quite enthusiastically about it. “She kept giving freebies to the players!”

“Oh…” Zelos turned around. “Well, this place blows. Let’s go!”

“Yeah, guess your luck’s ran out, huh?”

“Kid, one more word out of you, and I swear that you’re getting a wedgie.”

Colette was still looking at the cards. “Hm, this actually looks a bit easier than Go Fish. Can I try?”

Lloyd was suddenly much more interested. “Hey, yeah, I wanna see!”

The dealer tilted her head questioningly. “Do you have a license? I’m sorry but only adults are allowed to play.”

“Oh, that’s right…” Colette then held up one of the same plastic cups other casino-goers were carrying, this one filled about half-way with chips. “Do you know who I can give this too, then?”

“…Colette, how did you get one of those?” Genis asked.

“I tripped over someone… and then suddenly I had this! I tried to find them, but they already left, I think.”

“Are you saying you just used your item thief move on somebody by accident?”

“I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to!”

“Hey, that’s okay,” Lloyd reassured. “Also, we got free chips!”

“Lloyd!” Genis glared at him. “What about that whole ‘lying is the first step to the path of thievery’ thing you keep saying?”

“Oh! Uhh…” Lloyd clearly struggled with this, but then he smiled at Genis. “But Colette didn’t lie! So it’s okay!”

“Do you even seriously understand what you’re saying here?”

“Maybe there’s a lost and found somewhere?” Colette mused aloud.

The dealer eyed the chips and then with a gracious smile, beckoned Colette near. “Oh, well if you already have some chips, it would be unfair to not let you use them! Would you like to play, miss?”

Colette was smiling back, Lloyd was excited, and Zelos was still being grumpy about his loss. Genis felt like the only person here with any common sense. “Okay, so you won’t let Zelos win, but you’re okay with letting us play even though we’re not-”

“Please place your bets!”

“Oh! Okay!” Colette gingerly took out five chips and gave them to the dealer. “Um, is this fine?”

“That is perfect, miss!” She took the chips, then cut the cards in order to start the game.

“Colette, do you know how to play?” Genis asked her. He was sure that Zelos didn’t even explain to them how the game worked…

“Mm, I just have to reach 21, right? Or close to it before she does?” Colette nodded. “Yeah, it sounds really simple!”

Lloyd looked nervous. “Wait, so you have to count?”

Once Colette was dealt her two cards, she thought carefully on her next move. “Umm, another one, please!”

“Man, I don’t think I can follow this…”

“You are such a hick, bud! It’s just simple mathematics!”

“Yeah, didn’t you lose just now?”

“…Both you and Genis are being really unnecessarily cruel to me.”

“Wow, these Jack cards are so pretty!” Colette held one up to Genis. “They look like you and the Professor almost!”

Her hand was pretty good, actually. She was already at a value of 20. Zelos was impressed. “Whoa, angel. Think you might win this thing.”

“This is really exciting!” Colette waited patiently as the dealer drew a card, this one also having a nicely drawn picture on it. “Oh, that looks like me!”

“Um…” Genis eyed the dealer’s smile. “That’s not good, Colette. She just took away half of your bet.”

Lloyd was undeterred. “That’s okay! You can still win this!”

Colette opted to stay with her hand, and the dealer drew another card.

“Hey, Lloyd! That looks like you!” she commented happily.

Zelos sighed. “That’s…an instant blackjack.”

Lloyd looked confused. “For Colette?”

“No! For the dealer, dumbass!”

The dealer took away the remaining chips and cards. “Dealer wins! Thanks so much for playing! Would you like another game?”

“That was fun! It’s too bad I lost though…”

“I wanna try next!” Lloyd announced.

“Guys, we’ve already been here for a while,” Genis tried to reason.

“And we could just get our money back if we refund these chips,” Zelos added.

“These aren’t even our chips to begin with!”

But Lloyd and Colette seemed to ignore the argument behind them, both focused on the game. The dealer was only too happy to oblige. “Welcome, young man! You’re most welcome to try a game!”

Lloyd took a handful of chips from Colette’s cups and clumsily dumped it on the table. “I bet this much!”

Colette’s eyes widened. “Wow, is ten chips too much though?”

“Nah, I think I get how this game works!” Lloyd was already seated on the stool in the middle, excitedly gesturing for Colette to sit next to him. “If I lose, we can just switch off or something!”

“That is a very sound strategy, sir! One way to keep your luck fresh!” The dealer shuffled her cards to the eyes of excited country kids, while half-elf and noble playboy verbally duked it out.

“Why’d you even drag us out here? We already see you fail with women on a daily basis!”

“Ha! I’m not even going to take offense to that! I know you’re just jealous that I can talk to any woman on this planet and the next, while you’re still having trouble giving actual rocks to little rosebud.”

“You shut up! We’ll see how much you’re laughing when I tell Sheena what you’ve been-!”

“Player has 21! Player wins!”

Genis and Zelos stared at each other in silence before turning back to the blackjack table. There was Lloyd with a new pile of chips and Colette cheering on his success.

“You won, Lloyd! You’re so cool!”

“Man, that was really easy!” Lloyd scratched the back of his head, laughing.

“Very good! Would you like to play again?” the dealer offered. “Maybe you can win even more!”

With his now twenty-chip pile, Lloyd visibly pondered on that. “Hmm… what do you think, Colette?”

Colette’s feet swung from her stool, also thinking deeply. “It was really fun seeing you play. Maybe one more!”

Lloyd smiled. “Yeah, one more!” He turned back to the dealer. “I wanna play again!”

Genis was still behind them, boggling at how Lloyd had managed to win.

“Tch, just beginner’s luck,” Zelos said. “Next game, he’s gonna lose. Guaranteed!”

Honestly, Genis had just wanted to go to the theater tonight…

“Hit me!”

The dealer dealt Lloyd a card.

“Hit me!”

She dealt him another one.

“Umm… hit me!”

“Lloyd, are you even adding what you have?” Genis asked, entirely seriously, and still entirely confused.

“Yeah, yeah! No problem!” His friend barely paid him any attention, eyes on the cards.

“But you already have 19! You’re going to lose-“

“Instant blackjack!”

Genis stood there, stunned as Lloyd got that strange swordsman card from the deck, granting him the win.

Colette was clapping, eyes bright with wonder. “You’re winning a lot! You must be really lucky!”

“Perhaps the real luck is you, miss.” The dealer gave Lloyd his won chips, her smile on Colette. “Many of our customers like to have a beautiful lady next to them, believing they give them luck.”

“Hey, yeah! You’re the real lucky one, Colette!” said Lloyd, already accepting the narrative. He wrapped an arm around Colette’s shoulder, both of them laughing as he pushed forward another large set of chips. “Play again!”

Zelos had the same stunned expression as Genis, watching this country hick clean house right before his eyes. “I can’t believe what finally gets these two together is through gambling. Of all things.”

“Who cares about that?!” Genis shouted. “This is so stupid! This shouldn’t even be possible!”

“For once, brat, I’m agreeing with you.”

Both Lloyd and Colette leaned in close to the card deck. “Hit me!”

Third card dealt.

“Hit me!”

Fourth card dealt.

“Hit me!”

“A lucky ace!” The dealer smiled, though if one looked at it closely, it seemed strained. “Player wins! …Again!”

“Whoo!” Lloyd pumped his fists in the air, then grabbed Colette in a hug. “This is the best game!”

Genis was ready to tear his hair out by the roots.

“Lloyd never even passed math! How the heck is he winning at a game where you have to count correctly?”

It had been three hours and Lloyd showed no sign of stopping.

“Hit me!” Third card dealt. “Hit me!” Fourth card dealt. “Stay!”

“Dealer has busted. Player wins!”

Zelos and Genis were just sitting on the floor, watching morosely as the simple country boy from Iselia gathered more chips by the minute. Genis couldn’t even begin to fathom how much his friend had won. But at least Lloyd and Colette seemed happy about it.

“Sooo…” Zelos said, leaning his back against the wall of the casino. “Does Lloyd have a gambling problem now?”

Genis scowled. “If he does, then it’s your fault, you know.”

“How was I supposed to know that the guy who’s a fashion disaster is a natural cardshark?”

“You don’t even know what that means!”

“Hit me!” Lloyd was now standing up, fists clenched, eyes on the prize. “Hit me again!”

“Player wins!” the dealer announced, her throat sounding a little raw from all the won games. “Well, sir, you are certainly on a roll tonight.”

Genis watched in growing disappointment. “He’s… not gonna stop anytime soon, is he?”

Zelos shrugged. “Well, little miss angel there certainly ain’t helping.”

Sure enough, Colette was cheering Lloyd on, one hand placed delicately at his shoulder, sometimes interjecting when he should have another card or not. Apparently, her advice was sound, because the dealer pushed forward more chips to join their several small piles.

Genis needed to end this somehow. He stood up. “I’m getting my sister.”

Zelos’ eyes shifted around nervously. “Uh, sure you need to be bringing out the big guns already? I mean, a little gambling now and then never hurt anybody.”

“Zelos, is this the first time you’ve ever even met Lloyd? He doesn’t know the meaning of self-control!”

“So he blows away a couple hundred Gald. It’s a good learning experience- AHH!”

The redhead jumped to his feet, just barely dodging a stray fireball. Genis held out his kendama, his face leaving no room for excuses.

“And you’re coming along for insurance. No way I’m letting you off the hook for starting this whole thing.”

“The hell, kid!? You trying to burn this place down- WHOA!” Zelos dodged again. The fireball dissipated before it could hit the walls of the casino. The patrons never even noticed the brief flash of magic, too immersed in their games.

“You think a genius mage like me would let my magic get out of control? Now hurry up!”

Taking Zelos hostage, Genis marched them both to the front of the casino, hoping to find Raine at the theatre. That was his initial plan until…

“Guys! Glad you’re here.”

Sheena waved them down, standing by the slot machines, looking highly relieved.

“Oh, hey, Sheena. Have you seen my sister actually?” Genis asked, still keeping one eye on Zelos who kept looking for ways to escape.

Sheena gestured behind her. “Yeah, I was coming over to tell you…”

Raine was right there! She had her eyes on the slot machine, though Genis barely paid attention to that detail. “Sis! Hey!” He also didn’t pay attention to how she didn’t turn around to greet him. “Sis, I – we have a problem.”

Raine wasn’t listening. She calmly inserted another chip into the machine and pulled the lever. Blinking lights and colors emitted from its display. The presentation was dazzling, framing her otherwise calm and still figure.

“Um, sis?”

“Not now, Genis,” she finally spoke. Her voice was hovering between the space of teaching mode and sleepiness. “I’m in the zone.”

She inserted another chip, pulled the lever again, and watched the patterns align. Peppy music blared from the machine, though Raine showed little to no reaction to it.

Sheena, who was standing next to her, shrugged. “She’s been like this all night. Once she hit Paradise Mode, she just won’t stop.”

“Oh well,” Zelos interjected. “If the lovely Professor here can also see the beauty in such games, I don’t see why we should-”

Genis smacked the base of his kendama against the Chosen’s side.

“Ow! What the hell!?”

“I’m not dealing with two gambling addicts! She probably heard you were coming here with Lloyd and Colette and look what happened.”

Sheena narrowed her eyes. “Two gambling addicts?” She focused those fierce eyes on Zelos. “What did you do now?”

Zelos gave a long-suffering sigh, nursing his bruise. “Must a guy be punished just for having fun?”

Genis, ignoring the tirade from Sheena that was about to come, was already frantically trying to come up with another solution. Unfortunately, his sister was a lost cause. Who else could they turn to?

Then he knew. The best way to treat a condition was to always get right down to the source…

“Hit me!” Lloyd shouted. His booming voice had become part of the atmosphere in this place. A small crowd had gathered around the table, the other casino-goers curious as to how this young man in the garish red jacket was raking in such a large winning. The game required some skill, but luck played such a huge part. Surely his own would run out?

“Perhaps he’s counting cards,” one aristocrat lady whispered over to her husband. “That would be against the rules, would it not? Just as his choice of clothing should be.”

“It doesn’t seem as if he is doing so,” he whispered back. “Though maybe the girl with him might be able to see into the deck…”

But no one knew for sure, least of all Lloyd and Colette. They were both still riding high on this game of chance.

The dealer dealt the boy a card, then herself one, further busting her hand. “Well! Player wins again!”

“Lloyd, you’ve won so much!” Colette’s face was beaming, seeing all those pretty chips that were now nearly as high as Lloyd’s shoulder!

“Yeah, I know!” Lloyd couldn’t stop grinning, seeing no need to end the game. “Okay, another-!”

“Excuse me.”

The calm tone cut through the ruckus of yammering crowds easily, and even silenced Lloyd’s loud voice in less than a second.

Stumbling, both Lloyd and Colette turned around to find Regal standing behind them. Though he wore his prison clothes, he held his presence as well as his name implied. To his side was Genis and Zelos, the latter looking like he would rather be anywhere but here.

“Oh, hey, Regal!” Lloyd greeted happily. “I was just playing a game! It’s really fun!”

“Yeah! Lloyd is so good at it!” Colette joined in, as oblivious as Lloyd to their predicament. “Are you going to play, too?”

Regal didn’t answer them. His serious gaze was riveted to the blackjack dealer behind them, who was already sweating nervously.

“A-ah! Mr. Bryant! Um, what a pleasure to see you here!”

The President didn’t look so pleased himself. “Miss Taria. Must we go over the employee handbook regarding children participating in these games?”

With a seething Regal standing before him, and a teary-eyed dealer behind him, Lloyd looked back at his piles of chips.

“Wait, does that mean I don’t get to keep these?!”

Getting Raine to stop playing was a different matter entirely.

“Unfortunately, Genis, as she is an adult, there is not much I can do to make her stop.” Regal looked quite saddened by this, seeing the studious professor so entranced by the slot machine.

Sheena considered. “We could just, I dunno, blow that thing up.”

“I would like to avoid property damages if possible.”

“Sis, please!” Genis was tugging at Raine’s coat, which got him nowhere. “Are you listening to us? Do you even remember us?”

Regal said, in a deeply troubled voice, “My casino games have been known to be very addictive. I apologize.”

Lloyd was seated at a nearby table in what was basically a time-out, along with Colette. All their previous chips had been taken away, returned to the casino. “Still don’t see why I can’t play…”

“Hey, can’t have you young’uns ruin it for the rest of us, you know,” Zelos told him, as if the boy was desperate to hear his opinion.

Then, surreptitiously, the Chosen looked all around him. Their friends were still too busy pleading with Raine to hear what he would say next.

“Say, uh, Lloyd, what’s your secret?”

Lloyd had to take a moment. “What?”

“Like, you had some kind of lucky charm on you, right? There’s no way you actually did all that winning on your own. You carve a bunch of worthless crap, so you must have made one of those charms for yourself.”

“…Yeah, I’m done talking with you.”

Genis was still pleading with a zoned-out Raine. “I’ll let you cook anything you want for as long as you want! Just stop playing please!”

“Shh…” Raine hushed, patting her brother’s head absently, eyes still latched onto the slot machine’s spinning colors. “I’m gonna suck this place dry.”

Regal raised an eyebrow. “Excuse me?”

“Lloyd, bud, my man. Just give me a hint to what you did, and I’ll leave you alone forever.”

“Seriously, can you go away already?”

Colette, seated next to Lloyd, looked at Zelos with some pity. “Sorry, Zelos. We’d help you out if we knew for sure!”

That’s when the playboy Chosen suddenly remembered the dealer’s words, like a fragile whisper in the wind…

“Many of our customers like to have a beautiful lady next to them…”

“It’s you!”

“Huh?”

Zelos grabbed Colette’s hand, dragging her to his side. “My sweet little angel~ How about you and I get to know each other over a round of blackjack?”

“…Huh?”

Zelos wasn’t really paying attention to her, and was thinking about how best to get back his reputation. Sure, he’s had some hot ladies next to him before, but Colette, being as pure as she was, must have been a special case.

Lloyd stood up at the first sign of Zelos’ intrusion. “Hey, what are you doing?”

“Bud, you had your chance.”

Colette blinked owlishly. “I’m very confused…”

It was that moment that changed everything.

Genis, having watched his two closest friends get swallowed by the terrible disease that was gambling, and who was now watching that same sickness take over his only family in the world, felt himself changed. He knew that this would not be a one-time thing. Not with these kinds of addictions. He knew that both Lloyd and Colette would seek other ways to place bets, and that Raine might actually let them get away with it (or join in their efforts). All because Zelos had wanted to show off to everybody that he could barely play some dumb cards.

It was that moment that Genis made his decision.

He was going to freaking kill Zelos.

And now he heard Zelos trying to get them back into that vile pastime.

“This is your fault!”

Everyone in a near vicinity froze – even Raine, who had her hand on the lever, stopped to look at her brother. Her eyes became less cloudy, more focused. Lloyd forgot his anger for a moment to see his best friend’s face turn red with fury. Immediately, he guided Colette back to his side, and several meters away from Zelos. Both Sheena and Regal had the wisdom to stand a few feet back.

Only Zelos didn’t heed the warning.

“Look, brat, was I talking to you-”

His next words were swallowed by a vast amount of fire.

Presea was the only one to give Zelos any sympathy afterwards.

“It is very fortunate of you that Genis’ spell only made contact with most of your hair. If your skin had been targeted, you would have suffered from severe third-degree burns.”

She deftly applied the combover over his scalp, where half of his hair had been singed away.

“And your hair should return to its normal length within two to three months, depending on your diet and physical activity.”

The Chosen was more or less sober about the whole affair. “I have to pay for the damages to Regal’s casinos.”

“That is perfectly acceptable, given your responsibility for much of the situation.”

Zelos hoped his own luck would come back to him someday.