#I’m never drawing him mad like that again ion like it

[kindercelery]

[blackfemmecharacterdependency]

12. On Your Side

Decided to publish what I had worked on before my hiatus, mainly for Tina and nem, as a Xmas thing. Ion celebrate that shit, happy holidays or whatever. I was hoping to have completed the story by now, but with my break for mental health, I guess it's either pushed back or gonna be abandoned. Will know in a couple of weeks or so what, if anything I intend to do with it. Its an Apex centered chapter. I'm still on hiatus. You can leave a review if you want to, but don't message me about Simon or this story. Thanks.

*The Grace St. Catherine Playlist, featuring songs used in chapter and songs that inspired the chapter*

“Even through the darkest phase

Be it thick or thin

Always someone marches brave

Here beneath my skin…” Grace let the music play in the background as she tried to do all of the things suggested to her by her “spiritual advisor,” Sunny, whenever she moved into the place. She was doing more drawing - mostly sketches of carnage and rage. She was journaling a lot, mostly in the form of a narrative told by a hypothetical fictional character, because admitting to the things that she was doing on paper was a huge no-no, so she simply projected her life through her journaling character, The Saint, whom would never be referred to by name in any of the entries. In this particular one, The Saint was contemplating calling The Shadow. What would the conversation even be like? He would tell her how bad she was for being mad at him. She would tell him that she only hurt bad people, but he hurt a friend… he hurt her. That was different. So different. But she MISSED him.

She had began to sketch him. She was more of a doodler/drew cartoons and comics on her phone and stuff… but she was shut up in this place for hours at a time and hadn’t really used a pencil and a sketch book seriously in a while. Then, it got away from her. After a few days, she had almost filled up a sketch book with drawings of Simon. She winced when she thought of his name. She had been avoiding speaking it and thinking it. “And constant craving has always been…” She stared at the phone, then changed the track. The last thing she needed was to think about craving, of all things…

Now, that the phone was in her hand, she glanced around, feeling that paranoia that she had since she left home. Nobody was watching her here, but she felt obligated to check, anyway, and upon verifying what she already knew - that nobody was fucking watching her - she went to visit his social media. Private? Since when? She checked another. Same thing. A third, same fucking thing! “UGH!!!” She threw her phone onto the couch and went to go chop wood. She didn’t really like to chop wood, but it did make her feel better to swing a tool and see destruction come out of it.

“Old wounds

Old fights

Another day goes by

I'm not playing by the rules

They can't take me for no fool…” Her phone continued singing as she went outside.

.

Jalicia Barrett was not the same type of watch as Grace was. She obviously wasn’t as upscale as Grace, so she wound up having much to do that was necessary, unlike Grace’s schedule of playing a typical woman. Now, to say that Jalicia was typical would be a stretch of the imagination, as Simon knew that none of Grace’s people were that and she had possibly an unreasonable amount of tiger items, but she was closer to an average person than Grace was.

She went to Seattle University, but hadn't selected a major. She was still doing general studies after taking a few years to get her GED (She began trying at 16 and only successfully received it less than a year ago), so.. a freshman in college, which wasn't bad. She was 19. She worked on campus and seemed to have other odd jobs, like being a delivery driver or personal cab, and stuff at that Infinity Foundation place.

She didn’t have rich parents. From what Simon was able to find, she was never reunited with them, whoever they were. If they had lived in Seattle when she was taken, there was nothing on file to indicate that she was reported missing. Of course… he didn’t know what her real name was. The name Jalicia Barrett only became a name for her in the year after Grace left the mental institution. He knew that was likely connected.

Maybe… she wound up in the system after Grace touched base with them? At any rate… whoever the girl who was brought into trafficking had been, she was now Jalicia Barrett, a girl who began existing when she was 13 or 14 and obviously probably didn’t know her DOB either, as it was on record as the day that her name was given, her documents were created all around the same time, so she had to either have been a baby whenever she was taken, or simply never knew her personal information like birth date and full name.

BUT, she did have prints on file, so she probably had birth records that could be matched to them somewhere. He didn’t know if he wanted to get into that… or if she hadn’t done so herself and simply decided that life was easier being the person that she knew herself to be now. He certainly couldn’t imagine separating from his loved ones and then not finding them for a decade or so and then just… trying to pretend that they were family after all or something. She had the family she wanted… Well… she lost one. He felt bad for her. It wasn’t the same, but whenever he lost Grace, he felt like his world collapsed. To even pretend to understand how this woman must feel losing her life partner after years of being together, he wouldn’t insult her like that. Instead, he looked into the details surrounding that. Whatever happened to that investigation?

He’d provided an alibi for them and the police never spoke with him again. He’d done his best playing ignorant and pretending that everything was casual. Whenever they asked him about Heath, he said that he didn’t know Heath. “I’ve only met him once and he didn’t show up to the gathering… Is he alright?” They didn’t answer, just wished him a good day.

Now, he was looking through their paperwork and he was sure that he might find something interesting, if not useful. Simon had no idea what he was looking for with these other people. Something that led him back to Grace’s trail, and he had to figure out how they worked to even presume that…

Here’s the thing… Simon wasn’t going to write himself off as wrong or going too far. For crying out loud, the things that these people did, and they felt justified in their reasonings, so he wasn’t going to allow himself to feel bad. Grace might need him, and Xander was keeping her away from him. He cursed himself over that gun, though. However, IF she would have just let him explain that he only had it to keep Xander from getting it! He didn’t know what to think when he holstered it, but it wasn’t for her! Why would he hurt her? He scanned through paperwork, trying to take his mind off of Grace’s lack of faith in him and then, he was sure that he found what he needed. If not; he’d found something interesting. “Huh.”

.

Grace called Sunny for more tips. She was doing everything that she told her to, and reading all these books and articles, ordering all sorts of holistic woo woo shit, and trying SO HARD just to not lose it out there… Sunny was always a mood lifter for her though. They would talk for however long, laugh, joke, sometimes get entirely too serious and cry… they hadn’t done this in a long time, but Grace had been calling her more frequently lately and, well… it was necessary for her to be available.

“It’s like… I don’t want to use this word lightly, and I especially can’t tell Xan, but I feel like I’m like… addicted… Does that sound stupid?”

“Xander doesn’t own the word addicted, Grace. He’s struggled with a few drugs over the years, but one of the reasons is because he’s sick. Some people can try things and never really become addicted to them because those things didn’t appeal to them in that way. This dude appealed to you in a way that your body wasn’t used to. He got into your mind, and most likely changed the chemical balance. Affected your hormones and shit, only to find that he wasn’t what you thought and now your chemicals gotta try to balance back out without his influence, so no, it doesn’t sound stupid. Perhaps melodramatic, but I don’t know. You could be addicted to the way that he made you feel. Going through dick withdrawals is a struggle that people don’t give enough credence, too.”

Grace snorted. “I’m… not… going through that. We weren’t like that. I don’t even know if he ever was into me that way? It was like… I don’t know… I never got the feeling that he desired me physically.”

“What feeling did you get?”

“For the most part, that he wanted me around. I don’t know why. He never seemed to be asking anything of me but to let him be near me. He was very good about not entering my personal space, and even when I got comfortable, he still never made any move on me or anything like that. He just seemed to like to be… present.”

“Okay, but what would he be doing when he was present?”

“Sometimes nothing, really. Just looking at me, or listening to me. Sometimes, we were doing our own thing - me reading a book. Him playing video games or writing, or… Idk, working on a cosplay outfit.”

“Girl, on what?”

“He’s a fantasy fanboy before he’s a fantasy writer, so he you know… makes cosplay costumes and stuff for conventions. Whenever he’s not scheduled to be on a panel at one… This is something that I’ve observed, not something that he’s said. He… doesn’t talk about himself a lot. Not at all, come to think about it.”

“Xander makes him out to be a literal serial killer.”

“Xander hates him. What about 808? What does she say? Xan seems to think that he “got to her” or played some kind of mind games or something?”

“Well… she didn’t say anything to me about him, except that he was very talkative and apparently worships you. She was pretty thrown off guard at how comfortable he seemed with being caught and held hostage. She said that he is either the most nonchalant person ever or the craziest fucking person that she’s ever drawn a weapon on, because he acted like they were buddies just chitchatting, and we all know that he knows what we do to people.” Grace didn’t reply. Sunny offered, “Well, whenever I think about the shit that I went through with Xander and how we always seem to find each other in the dark, it's usually in terms of No Angel.”

Grace said, “Beyonce’s No Angel?”

“”Is… Is there another one? Because, if there’s anything AND a Beyonce song, just go ahead and assume that I am only speaking of the Beyonce option.” Grace laughed. Sunny recited, “ I love you even more than who I thought you were before.” Grace held her breath, unsure of what to say to this. Sunny continued, “All I mean to say is that sometimes people aren’t who we initially thought. Sometimes they’re worse. Sometimes they are seriously fucked up. Sometimes, they’re absolute trash… But… you might still love their ass.”

“Damn, Sis… Is this how you feel about Xan? Because those are some hard descriptions.”

“No. Xander is definitely a hot mess, but I was absolutely describing your… thing… over there. Jimony?”

“Simon,” Grace said, trying not to laugh.

“Right. I knew it had “mon” in it.”

.

Jalicia didn’t know what it was about that station that made her put it on all of the time, but her streaming service generally stayed on an old r&b from the 60s and 70s station, and sometimes 80s and 90s, whenever she was at work. She had a journal with a tiger on the front that she was writing down poetry in, but she could never think of titles for any of her work, and she didn’t feel like she was that artistically creative, so she’d title everything, “(Song Title) Plays in the Background,” whether or not the song had any bearing on the poem. Today’s? Let’s Groove Plays in the Background.

Work was a little bit overwhelming, these days, but only because of the things that had nothing to do with it. The fact that she wouldn’t just receive flowers sometimes and have her coworkers wonder why her boyfriend was this thoughtful, but they never saw him. Or the days where she would pout about being broke and having to pack a stupid sandwich and he would insist on having something sent to her at lunchtime, if he didn’t just make her a different, more fulfilling lunch instead. The way that she would get a text whenever he went on his own lunch break, and it would just be some hilarious video or a new thing that they just HAD to buy. Work was overwhelming, because what she had leaned on every shift was the fact that he’d interrupt it with something nice and that she would leave there and get to see him every day.

Now, she was listening to Earth Wind & Fire, in a gray pantsuit and fooling around on her computer while she waited for something to do. She heard the tone of the doorway and she got up to see if somebody needed help. It was a college bookstore and she was often far overdressed, but all she had aside from her typical attire were the pantsuits she wore when she had to do something other than be casual - like functions and interviews or whatever, so that was what she wore to work.

The O. He looked at her like they were friends or something. A polite smile and warmth in his eyes. She stared him down and reached for her phone. “Hi. Can I just have a moment?” He asked. She texted: The O is here and hit “send” to 747. “It won’t take long, I just wanted to give you something.” The O reached into his bag and Jalicia had already identified four common objects in her immediate surroundings that she would definitely use as a weapon against him if he tried something slick. He handed her an envelope, one of the big yellow ones and she frowned.

“I’m not taking whatever that is. For all I know it’s got anthrax in it.”

He laughed and opened it himself, pulled out the paperwork and handed it to her. “I figured out a better method of tracking people down than Heath had the resources for. I know that Xander is trying his hardest, God help him, but he’s not much on a computer and some of these things are hard to find.” She took the pages and glanced through them. Simon helped her find a certain page, “I’ve guessed that you maybe didn’t know much about this part of the situation that you all walked into. The… X, I suppose you’d call him, was very paranoid that he might be on your list and he hired protection.” He pointed out a few key lines that he had highlighted. “Professional protection, and yet when the time came to protect him, Heath wasn’t shot in the arm, or hell, if they didn’t want him to escape, the leg is an option as well.”

“They killed Heath on purpose,” She said, the wind knocked out of her as she did. She tried to take a seat, but just fell back onto a table and leaned against it, knocking down several books.

“They wanted to send a message and since you all slacked up since then, I’m sure that they think that they did.” She started crying angrily and wiped her face. “Flip to the next page.” Her hands were shaking and she wasn’t sure of what she might see, but she flipped to the next page anyway. “That’s your shooter. Since he was on the job, he confessed to being the one who fired and because Heath was breaking an entering and had no family to intercede for an investigation… the cops seem to be fine with what happened to him, despite the fact that our laws state that a person may not use more force than is necessary given the situation.” She shut her eyes and squeezed out tears, her fists tightly holding onto the phot0 of the man. “Next page are his personal details. Do with it whatever you think is best. I just thought that you would want to know.”

She shivered and cried, “This doesn’t mean that I owe you anything. I didn’t ask you for this and I don’t feel indebted to you for it.”

“Jalicia… I’m on your side. Whatever side Grace is on, that’s where I am. I did this because I want to help.”

“Well… This is the most help you’re getting from me - Xander’s on his way.”

“Then, I’ll be on my way.” He had that polite smile again and she was almost terrified how easily it came to him. He left quite a few minutes before Xander arrived.

She instantly fell apart as soon as she saw him, handing him the papers and explaining to him what he was looking at. She left work and was going to call Grace, but Xander snatched her phone while he was driving. “No, what if he. like, cloned your phone or something?”

“What? This ain’t Person of Interest, Boy. What the fuck are you talking about, Bro? He’s rich but it’s not like he’s Lex Luthor.”

“We can’t chance it. He’d do anything to find out where she is.”

“Give me yours, then.”

“Just hold off. I need to check this dude out. For all we know, Simon is just blowing smoke up our asses to get us to lead him to Grace.”

“The fact that you think it’s more likely that he falsified a bunch of police documents than that he simply sneaked them away is making me wonder about you .”

“I let him get too close to her before, and I’m not doing that again.”

Jalicia snatched her phone back from him and they wrestled for it but, he eventually heard Grace on speaker.

“What is happening on that end?” She asked, laughing a little bit nervously.

“We need to talk about Simon,” Jalicia said.

“I disagree with that sentiment!” Xander said in the background.

There was a pause. Grace was panicking a little bit. Did they know that she was trying to check his pages? That she was trying to see if she could make a temporary account just to try to get to them? How would they know that, Girl?

Jalicia added, “It’s about Heath.” Xander turned red in the face and he shook his head and tried to breathe. “Oh, fuck you, Xan. You left him there to die. The least you could do is chill out while I speak to Grace about this.”

“Whoa… That’s not extremely fair. The Apex protocol is that if somebody is hit, we leave and regroup. We go in with the expectation that if we’re hit, we would slow everyone down and jeopardize everything. So, Xander and I both left him,” Grace said the last statement laced with sadness and guilt.

“He pulled you out and sped away,” Jalicia said.

Xander scoffed and then burst into tears, “I’m glad that you’re telling us how you really feel.” His voice was surprisingly calm, but the ladies knew that hurt him more than anything ever had in this world.

“Tell me what you need to say,” Grace said.

“Simon found Heath’s killer.”

“Simon found a person he alleges is Heath’s killer.”

“He had all of the paperwork to corroborate it. More than Heath has ever collected on any X.”

“He had paperwork on a man who works in security who may have shot Heath dead, but as far as we know is not a bad person. He probably was just on a security job. Somebody broke into the house he was guarding and he shot!”

“WHY DID HE SHOOT HIM IN THE HEAD???” Jalicia squealed. “I’ve been over this myself, before Simon EVER said anything about it, but WHY didn’t they shoot him to survive and answer questions about what is one of the most infamous string of serial murders to ever hit the city? Why would he risk his job to kill someone that way in security, if there wasn’t a reason that Heath needed to be dead?”

“You… you think that the security dude is old Apex?”

“I think that at best, the security dude wanted to kill a person that he didn’t HAVE to kill and he used Heath as a perfect excuse, making him a shitty person, in my opinion, and at worst, he didn’t want us saying anything to anybody, because he knew why we were there!”

“But, we did release what we had on the X. The information is out there now. Nothing was done about it,” Grace added.

“Precisely! Just as nothing was done about this trigger happy buttfuck, even though our laws state that you’re not supposed to kill motherfuckers if you don’t have to!” Jalicia said. She looked at Xander, poked him in the arm and reminded him, “You were the first one to claim you’ll avenge him”

“And you told me to go fuck myself.”

“Emotions were definitely running high, but if you’re looking for the chance to make good on your word, you’ll have to suck it up and just live with the fact that Simon gave us this, like I have to live with the fact that Heath is never fucking coming home!” She got louder than she intended. Xander wiped his tears with the back of his hand, but more just poured out. He nodded, but he was still extremely upset.

“Send me what Simon sent you. I’ll let you know what I decide from there.”

“Thank you, Grace.”

Grace sighed, paused, then said, “Heath would have wanted us to get out, but even if you had driven away and left us all, we wouldn’t have faulted you… That’s the protocol. Heath knew that…”

“Does that make it easier for you?”

“No. But, we shouldn’t make it harder on each other, either…” Jalicia sighed, rolled her eyes and let more tears fall. “I’m sorry, Jalicia. Heath was the first person in the warehouse that I ever cared about. I would trade myself for him, if I could.”

“He’d never let you,” she hung up and reached out for Xander. He accepted her hand. “I was mean to you…”

“You were honest. It just fucking hurts. Heath was the backbone of this family, and everyday he isn’t here, I lose more and more respect and control. He kept me grounded.”

“Doesn’t Sunny do that too?”

“That’s not the same thing.”

“Maybe you don’t let it be. Maybe the reason Heath was your rock was because you thought that you only needed one. That’s what I did, too. I didn’t even realize how much of my life revolved around him until I was just spinning in space, with nothing to pull me back. Why do you think I moved in with your ass?”

“To split rent.”

She gave a resigned shrug, but shook her head, “I thought that it would make things better, if even just to put me in a spot where I could just not think about it and not be alone. I figured I wouldn’t get over it, but that at least I would logically be able to grant myself some peace because you’re there too, and that there would be some type of comfort. Not emotionally. That’s gonna take more time than I even believe that I have left in this world. But… at least I wanted that solid ground to stand on, to be able to say, Heath would want his two favorite people to lean on each other and find some strength in his absence.” Xander sniffled. She finished, “But it didn’t matter, and I don’t even know what to do, because I thought that being around you would guarantee some balance, even if it didn’t truly help… I still have all of my grief, and I’m..” she whimpered, “So tired. And empty. And distant. My closest living friend is sitting right next to me, and I have been so alone…”

Xander pulled the van over, unlatched his seatbelt and hugged her. She wasn’t done. She was so focused on her train of thought that she hadn’t even actually noticed that Xander was hugging her. “Heath was always in my life. Before any other human that I can remember. Like, logically, I know that Grace took care of Todd and Heath took care of me… but… I don’t even remember anybody else until maybe I was 5 or 6. I know he wasn’t the only person around, but in my mind, he was. I have NO frame of reference that doesn’t involve him. He was…” She finally realized both that Xander was already holding her and that she was crying again.

She remembered something. She was 4 or 5, her brain was never good at that part. She wasn’t in school or anything. All of her special days were simply moments and occurrences. This particular occurrence. A boy with light hair, getting hurt really bad by the stewards. Heath covered her eyes and started talking about flowers. He found a new book about them. He’d help her try to read later. The noise of the boy being beaten up was in the background, but at the time, she was too young to pay any attention to it and listen to Heath. So, she listened to Heath and the beating was background noise filtered out. Afterwards, he took her to the side of the building and let her pick flowers for their new friend. The new boy was mean. He was mean to Heath and Grace had to help Heath. Then, he was nice. She looked at Xander’s face and saw that same boy, just as hurt and just as angry as the first day she recalled a memory of him.

“He wasn’t always in mine… but he was the first person who was ever just nice to me for no reason other than to be nice,” Xander said. “There’s nothing that I want more than to punish a person who would take him away from us, but to have Simon, SIMON, give us that…” He was red in the face and shaking his head. “He’s using it to get to Grace, and I just didn’t want to give him that kind of power.”

“Then why didn’t you just say, ‘Hey, lets not tell her where we got the information?’ If you had just sent it to her with X confirmed, instead of fighting me in traffic…”

“You didn’t give me a chance!”

“I just… This ONE thing, then maybe I can move on.” He nodded and buckled back in. “I’ll get to work on the logistics. In case Grace gives us the go ahead, I want to be ready to move as soon as possible.”

.

Simon pulled his hair up into a high ponytail. He was going to try to get it into a bun, but it had been getting longer and thicker, and while he’d normally just pull the top part into a pony and let the rest hang, but it was windy and he was going to be pretty active, so high ponytail, it was. He had been checking out the X that he gave Jalicia, to see if they were going to make a move on him. He wasn’t positive of the typical turnaround time on an X, so he simply went to watch every night. He wasn’t going to do the car. Dude was in security. He’d probably make him.

Instead, he parked around the block and went to a big tree across the street from the X’s home to post up. He had binoculars and an awkwardly applied hunting tree seat. It wasn’t made for him to be up this high, but he situated it only to have a seat that wasn’t tree bark. He spent the time that he wasn’t watching the house on social media, checking out Sunetra’s pages… which… apparently she went by “Sunny…” which… Simon noted to himself that he had seen a little sun tattoo on Xander, and whenever he came across Sunny’s very tasteful artistic nudes, he saw that she had a little tattoo, as well, on her chest, of an “X.”

Her photos were really nice and she seemed to… possibly be a stripper? He checked a few of her posts and captions. She hashtagged #burlesque in some of them, so maybe not a stripper, but something risque. She was in the fine arts program in college, for dance and had many posts from the Infinity Foundation of her doing dance workshops, yoga, and stuff. She had a lot of witchy posts, too. Simon rolled his eyes, but kept scrolling. Several of her posts were really funny. He noticed a yoga and meditation program that she would be doing at a community center and saved the post.

He watched the X for about a week and a half when he saw the van pull up. In the dark, he couldn’t tell who people were, but two had gotten out and through the binoculars, he could tell that Xander was one and the other was Jalicia. He checked the van. That was an unfamiliar one behind the wheel, but he presumed that it was Sunny or 808, and that he simply couldn’t see them... There was a loud noise and screaming in the house. He turned to see that Jalicia had a knife to a woman’s throat while Xander was escorting the X out, with his hands up. He got him to the van, injected something into his neck and tossed him in. Jalicia unhanded the woman, but appeared to take a bag along with her and the woman ran next door.

Jalicia had taken all the phones with her. The woman had to run next door to call the police. Simon realized that she was probably doing that, and he got out of the tree to get back to his car. If he hurried, he might be able to catch the van!

He went the direction that they had, and when he came to what he thought might be them, he put on a mask of his own, but it was a medical mask, just because that was… possibly not as weird as if he wore like a clown mask or something. They had NOT handled that in the way that he expected. Something told him that they either were rushing or desperate. He wondered why.

But, whenever they pulled the van into an old train station, he parked behind the building and got out of his car. This is fucked up. This is fucked up. This is fucked up. This is fucked up. This is fucked up. This is fucked up. This is fucked up. This is fucked up.  

He could hear their voices, and he followed the sound of them, but didn’t come from the shadows of the building. They were dragging the bag into a field that Simon knew that he had passed several times in his life, but never paid much attention to. Nobody really did. Was this where they buried them? He wondered. He only saw Jalicia and Xander, pulling the body bag with one hand and carrying shovels in their free hands. Where was the driver? He went around the other side of the building and the van was pulling off. Where were THEY going? He couldn’t start his car. Jalicia and Xander weren’t far enough away to not hear him. He groaned and went to look back towards the field. He couldn’t see anything beyond the tall grass, but he used his phone to try to record where they were… maybe he could find it in the daytime. Besides, they were now far enough away that he could start his car without alerting him. He felt like he had enough.

Simon drove home, wary of a van behind him for a portion of the way. He took some loops and turnarounds that he wouldn’t usually take before he was comfortable that they weren’t following him and it wasn’t the van… but after he got home, he noticed at the bottom of the hill a van, and it looked like the van that they used. It looked like the van that he was nervous might be following him. But. There was no way that the van had found him after those turns. Was it one of them, just letting him know that they knew he had followed them?

He rushed inside and looked out of the curtains. They were there for a moment. They turned the van off and he took a deep gulp and reached for one of his guns. They got out of the van and stood, staring up at the house. DEFINITELY APEX. This is fucked up.This is fucked up.This is fucked up.This is fucked up.This is fucked up.This is fucked up.This is fucked up.This is fucked up.This is fucked up.This is fucked up.This is fucked up.This is fucked up.This is fucked up.This is fucked up.

They stared, wearing a gold mask, a tam hat, and the all black outfit that he had gotten used to, but then not seen for a while. “Grace!” He said. He put his gun down and rushed out of his door. “Grace?” He called, but she rushed back into the van, tossed something out, and peeled off. “Grace…” He ran down the hill and out to the road. She was gone… He looked down to see what she had thrown down on her way off. It was a Stop sign with a red squiggly line underneath the word “Stop.” He picked it up, roared and began to smash it against the pavement, before flinging it into the middle of the road and going back into his house. He called Jalicia and she looked at her phone, not recognizing the number, so she answered it. “Hello?”

“Was that Grace?” a voice asked.

“What?”

“The person who just followed me home and told me to stop. Was that Grace?”

“No,” was all that she said. He hung up. She put her phone away.

“Who’s that?” Xander wondered.

“Non issue,” she said. It wasn’t a complete lie, and there was no way that she was about to ruin their night with… whatever that had been about. She and Xander were still digging when their third came walking up, her gold mask on her face and a shovel in hand. “Girl, where did you rush off to?”

“I knew he was gonna still be alive,” she said and pulled up the mask onto her head. Sunny. “Had to make a stop,” she said with a shrug. She and Jalicia stared at each other a moment, and Xander kept digging, oblivious to the exchange of them questioning each other with their eyes. It was short lived, because Grace was connecting for the video call. “Hey, Girl, Hey!” Sunny cheered.

“Bitch, I’m so mad that I’m not there right now.”

“Be mad at Jimona,” Sunny said.

“Simon!” Grace said, laughing. Then, more solemnly, said, “Draw a squiggle right across his face, for me.”

“Sure will,” Sunny said, pulling her knife out. “What are you listening to, Woman?”

Grace checked the info on her streaming, “Hurts by Emeli Sande.”

“That’s dope. Send me the link to that.”

.

Simon was at the apartment now, crying and sitting in front of the cameras. He wondered if she would return with them, but looking at the feeds he had placed to check the outside of their homes, he noted that the three entered Xander and Jalicia’s home at 3:47 am… and that… wasn’t Grace. It was the woman that he had initially identified as, “One who looks like Grace.” It was Sunny… He flared his nostrils and set an alert to remind him about the yoga and meditation at the community center.

His phone began to ring while it was in his hands. It was a private number. For a moment, he let his heart accelerate. “Hello?” He answered.

Silence. He sighed and almost hung up, but… he felt something. His tears stopped, he sat up erect and waited. She was silent, still. He was afraid to break it, but more afraid of her losing whatever nerve she had at the moment and hanging up. So, he dared to speak. He kept his voice soft and low. Gentle, like he knew she would remember him being. “Hey…” He said. He heard her sniffle and it tore at his heart. “Hey,” he managed to say even softer. “Are you okay?” She sniffled again. “Tell me what I can do to make you okay?”

“Why did you do that, Simon? Why did you?”

“I wanted to be close to you. I wanted to know you. I wanted you… I didn’t know what to do. I was desperate. I am desperate. Please, tell me where you are…”

“You let Xander catch you.” There was the longest pause since the conversation started. Eventually, she spoke again. “I feel like the kids walked in on me doing something dirty…”

“I feel like it’s none of ‘the kids’ damn business what we do.”

“They can’t see stuff like that. They can’t see me being followed and watched, obsessively. They can’t just move on from that. You have no idea the kind of people who… Why did you have a gun?”

“Because, I had just been attacked by somebody that I know is a murderer and I was on edge…” They were quiet again. “I can keep them out of sight from now on. I can keep them away from you, at all times…”

“If I come back into town, my crew is gonna get… difficult. It won’t be safe for you.”

“I can’t prove myself to them? To you? Did you see what I found for them? For Heath? For Jalicia?... For you?”

“Yeah. Yeah, Jalicia told me right away…”

“You sound like you’re smiling,” he observed, daring to smile, himself.

“I can’t help it… but… we can’t… do this, Simon.”

“Don’t…”

“We’re both in really weird places and us coming together isn’t good… for either of us, I think…”

“Please…”

“We shouldn’t be together, see each other, anything. You should… get on with your life.”

“No!”

“Bye, Simon.”

“NO!!” She hung up. He bit into his lip so hard that he drew blood, trying to keep his composure. He couldn’t even go to the gun range right now! But.. He could… go back to that field. He knew where it was. He knew where the bodies were now… he… was running out of patience, but he reminded himself that it wasn’t her fault. The longer they kept her away from him, the more confused she would be. She just needed to understand that he was on her side. If she couldn’t… she would have to learn that there were consequences for going against him.

13. A Shot in the Dark Pt 1

[fangzeronos]

Pining Ch. 9

Ch. 1/ Ch. 2/ Ch. 3/ Ch. 4/ Ch. 5/ Ch. 6/ Ch. 7/ Ch. 8

As the Castle of Lions blasted out of the teludav at Olkarion, Keith ran and hopped into the Red Lion’s cockpit. “Hey, girl. Ready to do this?” he asked, grabbing the controls. “Let’s go.” He took off out of the bay and caught up to Shiro and the others, narrowing his eyes. “Shiro?”

  “Let’s take out some of these fighters and then we’ll deal with the Cruisers,” Shiro said. He spun Black and fired at the fighters, taking some out and looking over as Hunk and Pidge sailed through some, Hunk blasting them with his cannon. “Nice shooting, Hunk!”

 “Thanks!” Hunk said with a grin. “We need to hurry. We don’t know how long Lotor’s going to stay here.”

 “Then let’s form Voltron!” Shiro yelled.

 As the five Lions got into formation and connected, Keith smirked. “I forgot how good this feels,” he said, looking around. “Shiro?” “Give us the sword, Keith!” Shiro said, flying forward and seeing Pidge blast some fighters back.

 “Forming Sword!” Keith slammed the Bayard into the port and twisted, the sword forming in Voltron’s hands. He struck out and cut fighters out of the air, twisting around and using the sword to block a shot. “We need to take out the Cruisers.”

 “Pidge, the shield!” Shiro said. “Lance, freeze the ion cannons as we get closer!”

 “Got it!” the Green and Blue Paladins said as they formed the shield and ice cannon, blocking and firing at the same time. Voltron flew forward, cutting through one of the cruisers and twisting to strike a second one.

 “Allura, we’re ready to head in,” Shiro said.

 “Copy that. I’m on my way,” Allura said, taking off out of the bridge with Ezor and Krolia on her heels. The three women jumped into the shuttle and took off for Olkarion, heading for the surface of the planet.

 “Separate,” Shiro said, flying forward and releasing Voltron, the Black Lion heading for the surface. “When we get there, we’ll have more ground troops to take out. Focus on them, but clear a path and keep the Olkari safe.”

 “Copy,” Keith said, flying down and dodging a fighter. He twisted and formed his Jawblade, lashing out and cutting down fighters. He dove down and landed, batting a fighter out of the sky before he took off out of Red and headed for the main building. “Shiro, I’m going inside. Allura, you three can track my signal, right?” “Yes, Keith. Where are you going?” Allura asked.

 “I’m going to break Lotor’s neck,” Keith said. “For Acxa, for Romelle, for the Alteans he killed, for what he’s done to everyone. He deserves to suffer.” He lashed out and cut down a sentry that tried to shoot him, throwing his blade and forming a sword out of his Bayard and grabbing his other blade, taking off up the stairs.

 Allura landed the shuttle on the roof, running out ahead of Ezor and Krolia. She pulled the door open, letting the other two women in before she made her way in behind them. “We need to stop him,” she said. “We can’t let the Coalition fall.”

Krolia nodded. “Keith, where are you?” she asked as she tapped her ear.

 “Making my way up the staircase,” Keith said. “I’m on the second floor. Three minutes and I’ll be there.” He kept climbing, sighing as he did. He took a breath and sighed, huffing as he made his way up. He made his way up, kicking in the last door and drawing his swords. “Lotor.”

 “You again,” Lotor sighed, shaking his head and standing up. “What are you going to do, boy? Be pathetic and get shot again? Don’t you learn from your mistakes?” “Not all the time,” Keith said. “But I’m getting better at it. You, however, screwed with the wrong person close to me. It’s the second time the Galra have done that. I’m going to make sure you never hurt anyone again.”

 Lotor laughed. “Sure you will,” he said, leaping up and launching for Keith, hitting him in the stomach before dropping back. “You couldn’t fight me in the Roshax Outpost, you can’t stop me here.”

 Keith narrowed his eyes, flinging his blade and cutting Lotor’s shoulder, the blade pinning into the wall. He rushed and met Lotor in the middle of the room, Keith dropping his Bayard and catching it with his other hand before he rammed it into Lotor’s side, his yell filling the room. “Still think I can’t stop you?” he snarled.

 Lotor growled, lashing out and cutting Keith’s cheek, ripping the Bayard from his side and throwing it down. “You really don’t want to do this.”

 “Oh…Oh I think I do,” Keith said, wiping the blood off of his cheek and grinning as he did. “You’ve pissed me off.” He rushed for Lotor, flipping and kicking him in the back before he lashed up and wrapped his leg around Lotor’s head and dragged him down, picking his Bayard up as he did. “Stay down, asshole.” He stood up and panted, looking down at Lotor. “It’s over.”

 “No. No, this is never over!” Lotor snarled, lashing up and slugging Keith in the balls, hopping up and kneeing him in the face before he heard the other door get shot open. He twisted and grabbed Keith’s throat, his claws set to puncture his neck.

 Krolia walked in, narrowing her eyes. “Let him go, you son of a bitch,” she growled, holding her gun up and pointing it at Lotor’s head. “You’ve got one chance and then I blow your brains out.”

 Lotor laughed, shaking his head. “You’ll have to kill me then,” he said, tightening his grip around Keith’s throat and pricking his skin. “Because I will not stop until you’re all dead.”

 Ezor, having snuck around the other side, lashed out and broke Lotor’s arm, pushing Keith toward Krolia and Allura. She backed up, trying to get out of the way before Lotor twisted around and stabbed her in the stomach with a knife, ripping it out of her and dropping her to the ground. “You can join Zarkon in Hell,” she said, pressing her hands to her stomach.

 Allura lashed out with her Bayard and caught Lotor’s arm, snapping it backward and breaking it before she whipped him around the neck and pulled him to the ground. “You’re reign’s over, Lotor. The Empire is fallen. There is nothing else to do,” she said. “It is time to give this up.”

 Lotor growled, his struggles stopping before Keith lashed out and stabbed him repeatedly in the shoulders and broke his leg.

 “You don’t deserve to live,” Keith said, kneeling down in front of Lotor. “But, I’ve learned that killing a tyrant isn’t the answer. You get to live with what you’ve done to people you were supposed to trust, you son of a bitch.” He stood up and kicked Lotor in the head, knocking him out and sheathing his blade and setting his Bayard on his hip again.

 Allura put her hand on Keith’s arm. “Are you alright?”

“I’ll be fine,” Keith said. “It’s just a scratch, it’ll fade. Right now, we need to lock this bastard up for good. Shackles, muzzle, rope to hang himself with…”

Krolia knelt beside Ezor, ripping her own bodysuit and pressing it to the stab wound. “Hey, listen to me. You’re going to be alright,” she said. “We’ll get you patched up and you’ll be flipping around and having fun in no time, ok? Besides, Acxa’s going to need her friend.”

Ezor nodded softly, whimpering a bit and leaning into Krolia as she was lifted up. “I know,” she said, her arms falling into her lap.

Allura and Keith dragged Lotor up. “We’ll take him back in the shuttle. You get back to Red and meet us in the Castle,” she said. “Shiro, we’re returning to the Castle. The fight’s over.”

“Works for me, Allura. The Fighters are retreating, and the Cruisers are limping away,” Shiro said. “We’ll see you back in the Castle.”

 Keith threw Lotor to the floor of the ship, Krolia laying Ezor on the bench before she stood behind Allura in the shuttle. “I’ll see you back in the Castle,” he said, turning and walking out. He climbed down the side of the building and hopped back in Red, taking off.

 After returning to the Castle and locking Lotor away, Keith sat in front of Acxa’s pod, his hands shaking softly as he looked up at the sleeping and healing woman he loved.

 “I know you’re mad at me for leaving you there for three weeks, Acxa, and you’ve got every right to hate me and walk out if you think you should,” he said. “I can apologize and give every excuse possible, but it doesn’t stop what happened from being in your mind when you wake up. If you want to leave, I’ll understand. It’ll hurt like hell to lose you, but I’ll understand. If you want to try again and can find it inside yourself to forgive me, I’ll make this up to you somehow.” He got up and put his hand on the glass, sighing softly. “I love you, Acxa, and that’s not going to change. I hope you know that.”

 He walked out and headed for his room, sighing as he laid back. He closed his eyes and let his mind wander, hoping for a decent sleep. As he drifted off, his mind wandered.

 “Keith,” Acxa said, reaching up and putting her hand on his cheek. “I love you, and nothing’s going to change that. I know how important this mission is to you, but you need to slow down. You’re going all the time, and we need you here. Can’t Kolivan send someone else?”

 “Daddy, don’t go!” his daughter said, hugging his neck. “We don’t want you to go!” She pouted and curled up against her father, sniffling as she did. “Don’t leave us again, Daddy.”

 Keith sighed softly, knowing Acxa was right. He nodded softly, kissing his daughter’s forehead. “Ok. I’ll stay. I’ll contact him and have him send Narya in my place. It’s only a recon,” he said, smiling softly. He leaned up and kissed Acxa softly, nipping her lip. “I love you, baby. And I’m sorry I haven’t been here to show that.”

 “I love you too,” Acxa said, kissing him back. “Krolia, go play with Yorak.”

 “Ok, Mommy,” Krolia said, kissing Keith’s cheek and jumping down before she ran to play with her twin brother. “Yorak, Daddy’s staying!” Keith smiled as he heard his son’s cheer of joy, shaking his head softly.

 “Trust me, my love, I’ll give you something better to worry about then that mission tonight,” Acxa said as she wrapped her arms around her husband before nipping his ear, making him shudder. “Besides, I’ve been working on a new tongue twister.”

 “Oh, sounds like fun,” Keith smirked, pinching Acxa’s hip and kissing her again.

 Keith sat up a few hours later, shaking his head softly. “Dreams again,” he said, rubbing his eyes. He yawned and stood up, grabbing his clothes and heading for his shower. He stood under the water and rubbed his eyes, sighing as he did. “Wonder what the dream was all about.” He ran his hands through his hair and shut off the water, getting out and drying off before walking back into his room and dressing. He walked out and headed for the bridge seeing Krolia and Ezor beside Acxa’s pod. “You alright, Ezor?”

 Ezor smiled and nodded. “It’ll take more then a stab to the belly to take me down. I’m a stubborn girl,” she said with a grin.

 “Good point,” Keith said with a teasing smirk.

 Krolia looked over as Keith walked in and she smiled softly. “Glad you’re here, Keith,” she said. “I was scanning Acxa to make sure she was alright, and I found something.”

 “What?” Keith asked, looking at his mother before she handed him a tablet. He looked over the information and felt his eyes get wide. “She’s what?”

 Krolia smiled and nodded. “If my assumptions are correct, it happened just after we broke you out from Trag’s Cruiser,” she said. “The first time you needed the healing pod.”

 Keith’s knees gave out, the young man dropping to the ground in front of the healing pod, blinking as he looked over the tablet again. “Shit. I…wow,” he said, running his hand in his hair and smiling as he did. “Wow…” He laughed, shaking his head. “Wow…”

 “Keith?” Shiro asked, walking over and kneeling beside his longtime friend. “What’s wrong?”

 “Nothing, Shiro. Nothing’s wrong,” Keith said, smiling as he handed Shiro the tablet. He stood up and looked at Acxa, putting his hand on the glass. “Acxa, you’ve got another reason to wake up soon.”

 Shiro looked at the tablet and smiled. “Congratulations, man,” he said, patting Keith’s shoulder. “I get to be an uncle.”

 “And I’m a grandma,” Krolia said with a grin.

 “I’m going to be a dad,” Keith said, wiping his eyes. “Wow…”

 Two days later, the pod opened and Acxa slid down and huffed as she landed on her ass. “Ow…” she muttered, rubbing her head softly. She looked around and saw she was on the bridge of the Castle of Lions, biting her lip softly. “I knew he wouldn’t be here…not after what I said to him…”

 “You think snapping at me is going to make me leave you?” Keith asked, getting up and walking around from behind the pod. “Acxa…you had every right to be angry at me. I left you there for three weeks, being tortured and assaulted in some of the worst possible ways. I hate myself for not finding you sooner, and you’ve got every right to hate me right now.”

 Acxa sighed softly, wrapping her arms around herself softly as she looked at Keith. She was silent for what felt like an eternity before she started to talk. “Why’d you take the shot for Zethrid?” she asked.

 Keith walked over, tucking the tablet into his pocket before he reached out and put his hands on Acxa’s arms, rubbing softly. “Because no matter what you’ve done in the past, I know that deep down you’re not a killer,” he whispered. “If you had to kill in the past, that’s blood on Lotor’s hands, not yours. I…I took the bullet because I didn’t want to lose you to that.”

 Acxa bit her lip, wrapping her arms around Keith and shaking softly. “I thought I’d lost you,” she said, tears falling down her cheeks softly. “You were bleeding out, I couldn’t hardly stop it. When you got shot…I was horrified with myself. I thought I’d killed you.” Keith tightened his arms around Acxa, kissing her shoulder. “I’m ok, baby,” he whispered. “I’m too stubborn to die, you know that by now.” He smiled and put his hand on her cheek, kissing her softly. “I love you too damn much to leave you.” Acxa kissed Keith back, nodding softly. “I love you too,” she whispered. She rubbed her arms softly, biting her lip. “I need a shower. Getting cleaned up when Pidge brought me back doesn’t help the bad feeling inside from everything they forced me to do.” She gave Keith’s hands a squeeze, watching his eyes. “You’re hiding something. You’ve got a look in your eyes that’s hiding something, Keith. What is it?”

 Keith smiled. “Let’s head to my room so you don’t fall over when I tell you,” he said, taking her hand and leading her out of the bridge. Acxa intertwined their fingers and Keith gave her hand a squeeze.

 After sitting on his bed with Acxa, he pulled out the tablet from his pocket and opened up the medical records, including the most recent scan from an hour before she woke up. He handed the tablet over, watching Acxa’s eyes get wide with each line and graphic she read. She blinked, the tablet sliding out of her hand and onto the floor.

 “I’m pregnant?” Acxa asked, looking at Keith. “But…how? I know I was strung up and used as a sex doll, but—”

 “It’s nobody’s from the Empire,” Keith said, taking Acxa’s hands. “Remember when you, Krolia, and Ezor blew up Trag’s cruiser after he beat the hell out of me with that whip? How when I woke up, we had sex in the shower?”

 Acxa blinked again before she pounced and kissed Keith, wrapping her arms around his neck as she pinned him to the bed. “I love you,” she said.

 “I love you,” Keith said, kissing Acxa again and nipping her lip. “Thought you were going to get cleaned up?”

 Acxa frowned and nodded, sitting up and grinding her hips against Keith’s as she slid off of him. “Too bad. You’re going to miss all of this in the shower,” she said, turning and sauntering off to the shower as she pulled off her top and tossed it down, making a show of pushing the pants off and giving Keith a view of her ass. “I’ll just have to entertain myself in there. Damn shame. Your fingers are better than mine.”

 Keith cocked an eyebrow, his cock jumping in his pants at the thought of hearing or watching Acxa fucking herself in the shower. “You evil bitch,” he laughed, getting up and chasing after her, tossing his shirt on the floor. “You’re going to be the death of me.”

[leven-green-blog]

With notes and drawings of chemical combinations jotting on his arm, engulfing it like he was inked- others would see this as madness but to him, it was his passion, the drive to make new combinations and a variety of smells. Slowly he began to write them down in the new abandoned housing he had taken up as his own- for both him and his best friend CC to assure they had something.. A quiet place to do the things they were driven to do- but something their parents never wanted for them, the curse was real for the two.

“Can you hand me the black marker CC?”

“Leven, are you going to write all over this house?”

“Perhaps, it's fine, I’ll get a new notebook soon.”

She rolled her eyes and looked at the eye patch that was laying on the table, then slowly to him, he was dressed far different than normal attire that she saw when he was around his father, it was always the stuffy and what seemed like clothes that suffocated even the strongest of souls. Now he wore a sleeveless T-shirt that had marker stains all over it already, the once grey was now a combination of colors. His focus was intent on the configurations and pondering on how to break down the herbs without destroying the original structure.

“Leven, is that the peacebloom and briar?”

“Ya, but from what I’m seeing the briar is going to make it a bit more on the toxic side.”

A hum escaped her as he would growl some, flipping through some books he had managed to salvage, the charred pages were very carefully handled. Not wanting to mess anything up, if he did then he’d lose all one had worked so very hard for as a child- always wanting to define and break down the structure carefully. Though just as he flipped the book a grunt was given, rubbing his temples in frustration, his bi-colored eyes scanned the page, the dragon teeth plant… this scared him a lot- he wanted to try and avoid anything to do with this deadly plant.

“Dragon's teeth?”

“Ya… A deadly little herb that…”

“Leven, deep breath, tell me the composition.”

Taking in a deep breath he calmed himself and would look to his own notes- trying to forget how he had even found this out in the first place, it alone made him very sick to the stomach.

“The compounds are called Cardiac glycosides.. The Digoxin and Digitron… Ingestion of these compounds can and will cause- Nausea… Vomiting, diarrhoea….”Pausing he looked away and put the book down, knowing the rest by heart.” Irregular heartbeat. It disables the cell sodium-potassium ion pumps, leading to increased cell sodium, and calcium ion... Ion concentration. Slowing the heart rate which can lead to a heart attack and guarantees death of the person who had ingested it.”

He was shaking, and hung his head lowly, the only reason he knew such things is that was what his first pet had thought it was okay to eat, while he wasn’t looking and talking to his other friends- the puppy had gotten into his bag and had thought they looked like food, red lettuce, and ingested it… He still blamed himself for such things- even though he knew it wasn’t .. well it was for not watching her carefully.

“Its.. not something to play with lightly, and it's the reason my father is so against it now, the reason he burned down the old clubhouse we had... Everything I had in it.. Years of research and books…”

“Leven, it was an accident, and happened 5 years ago, we were silly teens.”

“Ya, but what if it was someone... A human that did it... A child?”

“It wasn’t though, yes it's sad about the puppy but still, it wasn’t a person.”

Nodding he would just continue jotting down more notes along the boards within the building they had assured to keep secretive again, hoping nothing would be ruined this round, Cc’s books lined the floor near the wall, they planned to fix it up some soon, but not knowing how much time they had, he peered through the boarded window to the dusky and eerie forest of duskwood, it was a scary place at times, the animals around were large and dangerous, not to mention the spiders- though he planned to try and catch one and look into the venom. Perhaps even some of the bear's fur, see how things grew around here, he was always so curious about these things, and always- there were always living organisms on animals that inhabited the woods.

“We better head back, don’t need the guards getting in trouble for losing us again.”

“Right, right let’s go.”

Cc had closed her book, not really wanting to leave, they finally had someplace to hide out, to be able to be free from everything, as the two cleaned up they left the place, both looking back and frowning, this was a safe haven…. But for how long?

[sleemo]

Exclusive excerpt: Boba Fett rides again in 'Star Wars' short story

Not many in the Star Wars galaxy have the cool factor of Boba Fett. His Western gunfighter look and mysterious aura, like an armored Clint Eastwood, hooked writer Paul Dini from the start.

"The narrow, T-shaped visor gives him a look of constant scrutiny, as if he's always sizing up a target just before he draws on him," Dini says of the infamous bounty hunter he writes about in the new 40th-anniversary anthology book Star Wars: From a Certain Point of View (Del Rey, out Oct. 3).

"You're always guessing who he really is under the helmet, simply a hired gun for the highest price, or is there something more to him? What's going on inside his head? Do we even want to know?"

It's those questions Dini, a lifelong Star Wars fan, loved exploring doing the Fett tale "Added Muscle" for From a Certain Point of View, featuring 40 tales by 40 different writers. The collection is filled with iconic moments starring sideline players who drift in and out of the original 1977 Star Wars. You can read an exclusive excerpt from Dini's story below or listen to the audio version read by Mad Men's Jon Hamm.

"As Don Draper, Jon excelled at playing a character who was ruthless, cunning, and yet undeniably charismatic. There's a lot of that in Fett," Dini says.

Fett technically first appeared in 1980's The Empire Strikes Back but was later digitally inserted by George Lucas into the 1997 special edition of the original Star Wars.

"Added Muscle" is a "wink to that," Dini says, a day in the life of the galactic bounty hunter that happens to be the same day Luke Skywalker joins forces with Obi-Wan Kenobi.

"Boba is stopping over on Tatooine when he's called on by his old associate Jabba the Hutt to help collect a debt. Naturally this is the money owed to Jabba by Han Solo. The story is a monologue going through Fett's head while he backs up Jabba and stares down Han and Chewie."

Fett shares similarities with another fan-favorite supporting character Dini knows well: Harley Quinn, whom Dini and Bruce Timm introduced in a 1992 episode of Batman: The Animated Series. "They were both later additions to ongoing pop culture mythologies, yet they each wound up fitting seamlessly into their respective universes," the writer says. "They were also wild cards, not heroes, but maybe not entirely villains either. It's a lot of fun to identify with a character who lives by their own rules."

Read an exclusive excerpt from Paul Dini's "Added Muscle" short story in Star Wars: From a Certain Point of View:

Jabba had said to meet him at Docking Bay 94. Told me it was a collection job and he needed some insurance. One look at the duds he dragged along confirmed this. Not a pro in the lot. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t enjoy the whispers of surprise when I walked onto the scene. That’s right, boys. Fett’s here. Do me a favor and fall to the side after you’re hit. I really don’t want to trip over your idiot corpses once the shooting starts. Sorry, if the shooting starts. No reason to get ex­cited yet.

Okay, Wook. There are two ways this is going down. One, we have a nice little chat, Jabba gets his money from Solo, and we all leave happy. Two, someone gets anxious, zip zip, Jabba’s rid of one deadbeat, and I get a new scalp for my collection. No guesses which one I prefer.

Originally, I wasn’t supposed to be a part of this. That’s what I get, I guess, sticking around Tatooine to snag some Imperial coin. I was supposed to be off this dust ball yesterday, but I picked up trooper buzz that Vader was looking for a couple of runaway droids. Figured I’d collect the bounty and square myself with the headman at the same time. He’s still got a mad on over those rebel spies I crisped on Coruscant. Idiots came at me with ion disruptors. What, they thought I wouldn’t carry a weapon accelerator? Flash, boom, three tiny ash piles. Tried to collect and Lord “No Disintegrations!” refused to pay without bodies. My word���s not good enough, apparently. Reckoned I’d make up the loss by finding his droids and holding out for twice the reward.

No go on that. Trailed one until its footprints were wiped out by a Jawa sandcrawler. Followed those treads a way until I found someone had wiped out the Jawas, too. “Someone” meaning amateurs trying to fake a Tusken raid. Probably stormtroopers, judging by the random blast shots. Some might call them precise. Me, I say they can’t hit the butt end of a bantha. At least they had brains enough to take out ev­eryone who had seen the droids. Hard luck on the sizzled hicks I found at that torched moisture farm. Had a look-see and discovered there were three settlers living there, not two. Betting the third ran with the droids. I’ll hunt around after I’m done here. Vader may triple the bounty if I bring him the fugitive along with the droids. Yeah, I know, intact corpse, “no disintegrations.”

Till then, here I stand, adding some credibility to the collection of bums and bugs Jabba calls muscle. Figures he’d want us to shake down Solo, the biggest loser in the galaxy. I could just pop him for target practice, but I never work for free.

[saintjojis]

The Draw

ANONYMOUS ASKED:

Hi! Can I ask for a BTS fic with JungKook when he joins a dance academy and the reader is already one of their top dancers and he starts to fall for her? They end up being asked to do a partner dance for a competition and before they perform it on stage JungKook confesses? Thank you so much! I LOVE your blog❤️💕🌸

Genre: Dance Prodigy!Jungkook, Fluffy Angst

Word Count: 1,662

 Jungkook was hailed as a prodigy his entire life. He had a good voice, he was a good dancer, charismatic and charming. He could be the perfect star. So, it came as no surprise that he’d want to pursue the arts. He had no problem getting accepted into a prestigious dance academy, and just like that he was closer to achieving his dreams.

On the first day there, the newcomers had to show what they were made of. He didn’t fail to impress all but one. He was good for a new comer, but the mysterious girl didn’t seem impressed. Her expression impossible to read, nevertheless, she shot Jungkook a smile. Soon after, formal introductions were made. From the beginners to the intermediates, to the top dancers; here he found out her name and who she was.

“(Y/n), leader of the advanced dancers. Welcome to Joffrey Academy of Dance”

After introductions and a quick rundown  of the curriculum, everyone was sent to their respective teachers and groups. It came as a pleasant surprise for Jungkook to see (y/n) in his group, she would be assisting his teacher certain days and he wasn’t complaining. She always kept a stern look on her face, professional, calm and collected. When she danced her mien changed, she conveyed the mood of the dance through her varying expressions. She made everything look effortless and perfect. She oozed confidence, and Jungkook couldn’t get her off his mind. Just everything about her screamed flawless.

He tried his best, he gave his all, but she never seemed fazed or impressed which only frustrated him more and more. Everyone could see how good he was, why couldn’t she even give him another smile? Had she done it to be polite? Why was he stressing about her anyway? There were plenty of other girls that’d bend to his will, he didn’t need (y/n). So, why was she on his mind? Jungkook was determined to get her attention, at least once. He started practicing any chance he got. Soon whenever he was needed he could be found in whatever practice room was free.

Be it fate or be it some divine sign, one day while looking for a place to practice he found her in one of the rooms. He stood in the doorway hidden from view, and just watched her. The finesse in everything she did made her look like an angel, so effortless that she made it look like magic. She was almost too good to be real. He tried to take a closer look, only to stumble into the room. She looked at him, but said nothing. Jungkook’s cheeks flushed red as he looked at her. He got up as quickly as possible.

“Sorry, I was looking for somewhere to practice.” He hoped she wouldn’t notice that he’d been watching her.

“You can practice here, I was about to leave anyway.”  Her voice was a sweet melody to Jungkook. He felt both relief and embarrassment, he didn’t mean to just kick her out in middle of her practice.

“You don’t have to leave, I can just find somewhere else to practice, I mean it’s not-“

“You need to practice more than I do. By the way you should go over the moves from Monday’s lesson, you’re still a little stiff.” She cut him off, but as soon as she finished talking she packed up her things and left. Leaving Jungkook alone.

“Still a little stiff,” He muttered “I’m not fucking stiff.”

He went over the moves anyway. Maybe (y/n) was a little right. Just a little. He went over the whole lesson plus everything he’d learned as many times as he could in that afternoon. He couldn’t get the image of her out of his head, her voice, just everything about her. Jungkook wondered how she could dance so rigorously without even breaking a sweat. On his way back to his dorm, he thought about how good his name would sound if she said it. He could guess it was such a sweet sound. Maybe if he ran into her more, she’d eventually say his name.

 The weeks went by, and Jungkook had yet to impress (y/n). He was still invisible to her. Until, dance season was nearing. Tensions were at an all time high, everyone was feeling the stress of the competition on landing good parts. It was no struggle for (y/n) to get something good, but he could tell she too was stressing out about everything. Nothing had been announced yet, but everyone knew it’d be a showcase of the new talents as well as a farewell to those who will be leaving. The weeks leading up to it were hectic, everyone rushed to practice rooms after lessons, which meant more awkward encounters with (y/n). She offered to help him with whatever he was struggling with, but Jungkook’s pride made him deny the help every time.

One Monday, four weeks before the showcase, Jungkook’s teacher began assigning dances to the class. Some were group dances, other solos. One was a couples dance. Jungkook desperately hoped he’d get either a solo or a group dance, he couldn’t do a couples dance. There was no way. But the universe is cold and unforgiving, and he wound up getting the couples dance; with none other than (y/n). How ironic. He pleaded with his teacher to make a change, he couldn’t do it, especially not with her. However, his teacher refused, “You can’t? If you can’t then you can finish this semester and not come back the next.  That’s up to you, though.” Basically, a friendly ‘no pressure’ which just had him fuming. From here until the showcase he’d be seeing (y/n) every day, for hours on end. He had to put whatever was happening inside his head aside and focus. This was be all end all of his place in the academy. The first day of their practice was ultimately the most awkward. His movements were still stiff and awkward, he was overthinking his movements; which only made things harder for himself. Soon, (y/n) noticed why he was dancing like his limbs were made of stone.

“You need to stop thinking about it so much, Jungkook. Just listen to the music and lose yourself in it. Your movements will flow better, just don’t think” Just don’t think, easier said than done. He tried, he really did, but he was still intimidated by her. She could feel him tense up whenever they touched, she stopped the music.

“What’s wrong with you today? You dance great every other day! Why are you so tense now? Have you never danced with a girl? You can’t keep dancing like this, it can end you.” She ask, half mad half disappointed.

“So what if I’ve never danced with a girl! It’s not like I’ll always dance with a partner!” If she wanted to make him mad, she was succeeding. He couldn’t believe that she’d even be mad, it wasn’t easy and she treated it like it was the simplest thing.

“You know, maybe we should call it off for today. I’ll make arrangements tomorrow to get you a dance that’s more up to your skill. I can tell this isn’t for you.”

‘This isn’t for you’? Really? Was she really doubting his skills? That was it, they were getting this dance done by the end of the day. She was gathering her things and getting ready to leave when Jungkook turned the music back on. This caught (y/n) by surprise, what was he playing at now. She looked at him, he stared back expectantly. She made his way over to him, and they began the routine again. This time, it went over perfect. By the end of it, (y/n) was impressed by the change of character.

“What changed, shy boy? If you can keep this up everyday, we’ll make a good impression on everyone. Maybe you’ll move to the next course sooner.” (Y/n)’s tone was different, she sounded pleased.

“Yeah, maybe.” Jungkook said, quietly.

 The weeks flew by in a daze. Practice with (y/n) had gotten progressively better after the first day. It wasn’t as weird as he’d been expecting. They grew close in the few weeks leading up to the showcase, and soon, it was already the night they’d been preparing for. (Y/n) didn’t seem stressed at all, Jungkook on the other hand was really feeling the pressure. Before he knew it they had to begin preparing for their performance. She noticed him standing there all tensed up, with a look on his face like he’d just seen a ghost.

“You okay there? We’ll do fine, yeah?” Her voice was warm and reassuring, but he couldn’t shake off the nervousness. An impulse of stupidity came over him, and his mouth moved faster than his mind.

“(Y/n), I really, really like you. I hadn’t told you because I was kind of intimidated, but I really do like you. I think you’re beautiful and fun and smart. I’ve thought so ever since I saw you and-“

In that moment, everything was too real for (y/n). This explained his shyness to touch her, the loving gazes he gave her when they danced. Every unscripted touch and look suddenly made sense. Her heart felt like it was going to beat out of her chest.

“I like you too, shy boy. But we’ve got something to do.”

Without any words, they made their way to the stage. It was the perfect stage, every move was hit perfectly, every look they gave each other only further solidified the mood they’d set. It was electric, and everyone felt it. By the end of it, they’d captivated the audience. They received a standing ovation from the crowd. As soon as they made it backstage, Jungkook pulled her into him by the waist and kissed her softly. (Y/n) put her arms around his neck and kissed him back.

Maybe couple’s dances were Jungkook’s thing.