#John Constantine is just confused how exactly he ended up here

[radiance1]

When Danny was told Vlad was coming over, he didn't care, much. After all, being told that he's lost all romantic interest in his mother, is trying to keep thoughts of murdering his father to just thoughts, and genuinely trying to be better than he was before.

Danny decided to give him at least a portion of leeway. You know, to see if he's holding up to his word.

But this, this is not it.

He dragged Vlad out of the room, shooting out an excuse that he just needed Vlad's help with something and just wanted to talk for a bit. Then brought him down to his level-via pulling on his collar- with a scowl.

"You trade my mother for that thing!?"

The thing in question, was some British guy by the name of John Constantine. Who smelled like smoke, alcohol and genuinely seemed to be questioning how exactly he ended up in this situation.

Vlad, to Danny's displeasure and increasing horror.

Is smitten.

Why did it seem that when Vlad turned good his intelligence just seemed to take a nosedive. Enough so that he settled for that and he is happy he isn't going after his mom but, like.

C'mon dude.

You can do better.

[corkinavoid]

DPxDC When You Are Suddenly Dating a Princess

This prompt is a variation of good!GIW AU (read here), but that's an excuse because I just wanted badass Jasmine Fenton and her good boy Jason Todd.

"Jason?"

The voice catches him off-guard. Not because he doesn't know it, no, quite on the opposite - he knows that voice very well, he's just heard it this morning when his beautiful girlfriend kissed him on the cheek and left for work.

It's just that he didn't expect to hear it at a closed auction full of magic artifacts, two states away from Gotham, and in a room full of rich-ass people from all around the world.

He turns around.

Jazz is looking at him with an expression of pleasant surprise, black off-shoulder silk dress with teal accents draping her figure all the way down to the floor - it's kind of reminiscent of Greek togas, with high waist and lots of folds on the skirt. It also makes his girlfriend look even taller than she is, which, Jason is fairly certain, was intentional.

She is also wearing a necklace on her neck, and just by one look at it, Jason knows that it costs at least five times more than the apartment they live in.

"Jazz?" He breathes out, astonished, but then catches himself and puts on a smile, "You look stunning." This is not the time to argue or ask questions; he is on a mission. And it's a time sensitive one, so no matter how curious he is, it can wait till later. They do live together, after all.

"Thank you," the girl smiles, and then briefly turns her head to a tall man in a very expensive dark blue suit standing beside her, "If you excuse me," she nods with an apologetic smile in the corner of her lips, and the man smiles back and takes a step away. Meanwhile, Jazz approaches Jason and casually places a hand on his elbow.

"Mind telling me what are you doing here?" She questions, and, wait, that was supposed to be his line! Jason blinks and shakes his head, snapping out of his stupor.

He can't exactly say, 'Constantine asked Batman for a favor because he knows the man is rich as fuck, so now Jason has to either buy or steal an ancient dagger for some bullshit magic ritual because he was the only one free tonight and John really needs that dagger and that ritual and Bruce owes him a favor, unfortunately'. Jazz doesn't know he is a vigilante/crime lord in redemption. She might suspect he is - that girl is perceptive on par with mind readers - but Jason never straightforwardly told her, and she never brought it up herself.

So, instead, he goes, "Sightseeing."

Jazz raises one eyebrow and pointedly looks around the dimly lit room full of magic users, rich collectors, socialites, and other shady individuals. Jason keeps smiling. Eventually, the redhead sighs and looks away, taking a step forward and guiding him through the auction at a leisurely pace.

"Looking for anything in particular?" She tries again, and Jason debates if he should answer her. On one hand, his head is buzzing with thousands of questions, starting with 'how did you even make it here when your shift at Arkham ended two hours ago' and finishing with 'to which group of shady individuals do you belong'. On the other hand, she clearly does belong here if her confident posture and outfit are taken into account.

And she is his girlfriend. Has been one for two years now. Maybe it's time to share some secrets.

"An obsidian knife with an owl on the handle," he finally says, and Jazz hums.

"A Tecpatl?" She clarifies, and Jason doesn't even feel that surprised by her sudden knowledge of Aztec culture. He nods. Jazz gives him a thoughtful glance, "And how important is it for you to have it?"

"To the point where I'm prepared to steal it if I have to," he laughs, but judging by the look on Jazz's face, she gets that he is only half-joking. She narrows her eyes at him:

"Is it for you, or for your, um, friends on the orbit?" She asks, briefly glancing up to the ceiling, and Jason feels very confused for a second there.

But then it hits him: she is talking about the Watchtower. She is implying the League.

Jason doesn't hold back a quiet curse, "Damn it, I should have hidden the guns better, shouldn't I?"

Jazz laughs softly, but it's a warm, affectionate laugh, "Well, yes, but you also shouldn't leave bloody bandages in the bathroom. And your helmet on the kitchen counter," she tells him, amusement lacing her voice, and Jason rubs his face with his free hand.

"Fuck," he mutters. And then, "Sorry."

Jazz waves her hand it the air, brushing his apology off, "Don't worry. I'm not in a place to blame you for having secrets, am I?" She muses, and, okay, fair. But before Jason can try to make her elaborate on the topic, she returns to her previous question, "So is it for a friend?"

The knife, right. Jason makes an annoyed face, scrunching his nose.

"Yeah. Bruce owes someone a favor, but he couldn't make it. Other stuff came up," he huffs. 'Other stuff' in question includes some off-world mission, so he really couldn't make it, but that doesn't make Jason any less mad about it.

"Let me guess, that 'someone' smells of cigarettes and liquor, has a British accent, and wears a trench coat," Jazz deadpans, and Jason stares at her with wide eyes.

"How- Are you sure you're not secretly a mind reader?" He asks. He knows for sure that Jazz doesn't have a meta-gene, but maybe she is a magic user? That would explain why and how she is even at the auction. Yet, the redhead laughs.

"No, sorry. Just met him a few times," she winces like she can smell the phantom smell of tobacco even when the mage is not here, "Can't say I like him, but asking someone to fetch him a Tecpatl seems like his style."

That only makes Jason even more inclined to believe his girlfriend is actually a magic user. But he doesn't get to ask because Jazz suddenly looks him in the face.

"Consider yourself in luck, by the way," she grins, "You won't have to steal it."

[part 2 ->]

[twainxavier]

JOHN CONSTANTINE MEETS DBD TELL ME ABOUT IT BESTIE

Hey bestie!

Okay, so basically it's just this funny little thing of John spotting the boys whilst they're on a case and tailing them confused why two ghosts from different decades are hanging out together doing magic stuff like he does. I haven't worked out how it's going to end yet but it's basically just like a funny "Well I guess these are my ghost kids now" vibe basically XD

Okay, as for a snippet, here's one of my favourite moments so far:

After a few more random loops, it would seem that the two ghosts found what they were looking for, as they sped up their pace and started practically running. It was getting far more difficult to tail them, certainly without getting noticed. Thankfully, John wasn't an amature. He went a different route to the two ghosts that would still end up in the same area they were headed to, and once again thanked his knowledge of London when the two ghosts appeared again. Clearly they'd found what they were looking for as they began frantically searching around the little alleyway. John watched from a safe distance down a connected alleyway, thankfully hidden by the shit lighting. The 80s ghost was pulling a bunch of random stuff out of a backpack that probably shouldn't have been able to fit that much crap in it. So the ghosts had a pocket universe, interesting. The smartly dressed ghost started skimming through a book the other ghost had handed to him, which John recognised as arcane of some variety. They were still searching around, tapping bricks and listening to walls, when suddenly the 80s ghost yells out to the other. “I've got it, mate!” He then pulled a brick out of the wall and reached into the cavity. John frowned and leaned a little closer, curious to get a better look at whatever it was the two of them had been looking for. He watched as the ghost pulled a small baby doll out of the wall, small enough to fit in the palm of a hand. It reeked of evil. Even at this distance John could sense it, so strong it almost made him back off. The well dressed ghost flinched a little but then held out his gloved palm to take the cursed thing. “Right, let us put a stop to this, Charles.” The moment the object was in his hand, the ghost began reciting a spell that John was pretty sure he recognised. In fact, on closer inspection, he was pretty sure he had a copy of that book the ghost was reading from. The creepy little doll burned up in the ghost's hand, and he dropped it to the floor, watching it burn. “Well there we go, mate. Another case closed.” The 80s ghost grinned as he spoke, and then went over to pat his friend on the shoulder. “Indeed,” the other ghost responded. “And one less creepy baby doll in the world.” The 80s ghost laughed at that, and they turned and left the way they arrived. John followed again, even more curious about what exactly these two ghosts were up to. They were doing good, no doubt about that, but it didn't make John any less curious. Usually he was very in the know about these sorts of things, he wasn't sure how these two managed to slip past his radar. He continued to follow, until eventually the pair turned down an alleyway and walked straight through a wall. “Bugger.”

Okay so maybe it's more than just a moment but I love this whole scene sooooo yeah XD Thank you for letting me talk about this fic! I really need to get back in the saddle and keep writing <3

[prismuffin]

Back again with a question that lives rent free in my head!!

How do you think; Superman, Batman, Hal Jordan, the flash, and John Constantine react to someone just handing them an unconscious reader?

Basically, the "Here take this".

Ex: Someone puts a unconscious reader into Batman's lap while he's at his computer. Then Batman just stares at the person with a face that screams, 'what am I suppose to do????'.

- Crow

KNFSKNFKLSFN You know I got you Crow- anyway I think that-

Superman would be confused as he takes your unconscious form in his arms. His eyebrows are furrowed as he stares at your chest, focusing on your heartbeat and letting out a slight sigh of relief as he hears the steady rhythm. He'd hold you bridal style as he walked around, just having casual conversations with you resting in his arms. He didn't even think of setting you down until Barry asked why he was still holding you.

Batman would most likely be working when someone just dropped you in his arms with a "here take this real quick". He'd be very confused as the person just walked away nonchalantly. He'd look down at you in his arms, eyes scanning over you to see if you were hurt at all. Seeing the steady rise and fall of your chest, he just deduced you were asleep. He can't be away from his computer for too long so he'd just set you down on a couch in his office, glancing over at you every now and then as he went to back to work.

Hal would most likely try and chase after the person that gave you to him like he doesn't wanna get stuck with this what the hell??? After attempting to give you back to them he'd sigh heavily before looking down at you and wondering if you were even alive. He tried to put you down but you were clinging onto his shirt so he had to carry you around. He had a big pout on his face as he tried to ignore the looks he was getting from people (*cough* Batman *cough*) as he walked around with you in his arms. After a while he gets tired of the stares and tries to wake you up

Barry would just be like "hold this? oh ok" :)...OMG ARE YOU DEAD???- After figuring out you were alive he'd be relieved but like wow- were you knocked out or something cause you are not waking up. He'd set you down somewhere comfortable and then would sit right by you, just watching over you until you wake up so he can be sure that you're really ok since he got practically no explanation of what happened to you.

John would immediately try and hand you back to whoever gave you to him but somehow he ends up failing. He'd probably use his powers on you to see what exactly made you unconscious. After finding out that you weren't harmed at all he'd just sigh and then immediately try and wake you up. His face says it all- he is so done with this shit like why aren't you waking up??? He's gonna have to carry you around isn't he? Sighhhhh welp, guess this is his life now. The second he sees anyone else (that he trusts with you) he's handing you off to them cause he does not want to be bothered.

( I should just rewatch Justice League Dark because omg I forgot abt how hot I found John??? )

———

Directory

[zeestarfishalien]

Part 7: Leaves a Debt

TW for use of cigarettes I think.

First | Previous | Next

Taking a long drag on his cigarette and slowly exhaling as he stares fixedly at the open coffin and the being within, Constantine finally says, “ghost. That’s a ghost baby.”

“Well, not so fast." Captain Marvel holds up a hand to slow Constantine's roll.

“Huh?” He physically jerks back in affronted confusion, flicking ashes from his cigarette in the process.

Zatanna cuts in, “don’t jump to conclusions.”

“I’m jumpin’, I’ve jumped. I’ve landed. It’s a ghost,” Constantine insists, almost like it's some sort of competition.

Jason wasn’t sure how exactly they ended up here. Zatanna took one look at the being within the coffin and promptly dialed up both Constantine and Captain Marvel, saying nothing but, “You guys need to see this.”

Now the three are standing around the open coffin arguing and pointing about the thing inside. They look like a young teen with some major radioactive glowing going on, like those cats that scientists gave jellyfish glow genetics to. Beyond the seeming age, the kid doesn’t appear much in the way of human, human adjacent, but not human. They’re a little on the thin side but not too bad considering. They’re a spirit…of some kind. Which kind seems to be the topic up for debate.

What Jason would like to know is, what is up with these emotions radiating from the being? They're overjoyed and it kinda seems like it's because they can see/sense him. It feels directed at him somehow.

Jason blinks and realizes he’s a lot closer to the open coffin than before. The magic users are still busy arguing with each other and so Jason takes the chance to approach.

He’s careful not to touch the edges of the coffin, he still remembers the nasty little shock it gave him. Feeling for a pulse is the instinctual thing to do despite it being rather illogical. He’s seen weirder.

“You won’t find anything.”

The voice makes him jump. Captain Marvel is looking at him now, having edged out of the battle of wits.

“Whether or not they’re a regular ghost, a concept spirit, or some hybrid of those or something else, they won’t have a pulse. They aren’t ‘living’ entities per se. You can feel the energy pulsing from him though. Spirits don’t have a heart, but instead a core. Even non-magical people can feel it in a way.” He shrugs as he watches the resting spirit.

Jason watches him carefully. “Why aren’t they moving or waking up?”

Captain Marvel shrugs again. Something about the move is wrong, other. But then again, the hero has never quite looked ‘human’ to Jason.

“Could be a curse or something preventing them from waking. Or it might revolve around power levels. It sounds like they’ve been trying to call you for a while.” At Jason’s guilty look, Captain Marvel backtracks, “oh but don’t worry about that too much. Time for spirits is wonky and this one hasn’t been in any danger beyond being stuck here as far as we can tell.”

"They look like a kid,” he points out.

"Oh yeah, that happens sometimes. Could be a mental age thing or just a preference. It can be hard, but you can't trust looks with the supernatural."

"Yeah..." Jason acknowledges distractedly.

"Guys, guys," Dick cuts in between Constantine and Zatanna's arguing. "As riveting as this debate is, it is nearing dawn. We need to get outta here before someone decides to call in the cops."

“I’m tellin’ ya. It’s a ghost,” Constantine insists, not quite able to let someone else have the last word. Zatanna looks ready to fire back with some profound argument, Jason is sure, but Captain Marvel catches her eye and shakes his head.

She sighs but gets to work refilling the hole in the ground. Captain Marvel turns once more to Jason.

“Do you have somewhere you want to hold them? It’s probably best not to go too far from the cemetery.”

“They’ll heal best near death energy,” John cuts in unprompted. There’s a cigarette in his mouth and a lighter in his hands as he moves to stand with them all around the wacky glowing coffin on the ground.

Jason is sure they all make quite the scene but that’s neither here nor there.

“I have a small emergency base near here,” Damian offers. “It’s across the street, underground. You may use that if you are lacking accommodations.”

“Right. Take this then, put it on the ground and stand back.” Constantine chucks a small drawstring bag at Damian after finishing his impromptu instructions.

“Tt…I don’t take orders from some half-baked n…” Dick cuts him off.

“Thank you, we appreciate not having to lug this coffin around.” He strategically places his hands on Damian’s shoulders in order to gently guide him away and keep him from insulting the sad trench-coat man.

“Thanks Lil’ D,” Jason placates. “I appreciate the offer. I don’t have anything nearby.” His attempt at defusing works seeing as Damian collects whatever wounded sensibilities he had and leaves with Dick.

The sound of light footsteps and something in the corner of his eye is all the warning Jason gets before Cass brushes his arm. He leans into the touch, an encouragement. She leans into him as well. Jason knows it’s her way of showing her support and it’s a comforting gesture.

~*~

Having what amounts to a corpse on the dining room table is a very weird thing to get used to.

Technically Damian must have planned to use this dining table for spreading out clues and information. This isn't exactly a full on apartment or house, just a nest in the basement of one of the buildings. It connects directly to the sewer maintenance tunnels, because of course it does.

Back to the corpse...

Comatose spirit?

Not something in their contingencies (it will be from now on). Is it weird that Jason is kinda becoming accustomed to a lifeless body just chilling on the table?

Okay, clearly the answer to that is yes, but when you've spent four...almost five days living in the same small living space as the un-moving glowstick, you see if you don't get used to it.

The table thing is necessary and Jason isn't about to leave them fully unattended. (he maybe kinda sorta feels more comfortable sleeping near them. Not that he'll ever admit it) He still goes out on his nightly work, but he spends his off time here to keep half an eye on Glowstick McGee and the various runes and artifacts the three magic users finally agreed upon.

They said, "something something, energy...something, feeding...channeling it to them." Jason tried to pay attention, but they were kind of all talking over each other and all he knows is that this will keep the spirit alive...or well, existing.

And...it should help them get better, hopefully wake up, but possibly just maintain them while Constantine, Zatanna, or Captain Marvel figure out a way to suss out the problem.

Something catches his eye. A flicker in the shadows... No, must be the lighting. Glowpaint Ghost sometimes throws the shadows off. Jason turns to leave the room only to nearly run over Spooky.

In the flesh. Or shadows?

Jason may or may not have let out an undignified scream.

Spooky is just sitting there, watching Jason have his little freak out moment like he's been here the whole time. Jason didn't think they could leave the cemetery. They certainly couldn't seem to last time.

"What are you doing here?"

Spooky, as expected of a dog, doesn't answer. Their gaze flicks past Jason, to the comatose spirit. Jason supposes their presence is answer enough. Somehow Spooky can follow this spirit or Jason, or both?

It doesn't matter, because Spooky is okay. Jason had kinda been worried about them.

He pulls out his phone to dial up Zatanna.

First | Previous | Next

I have no excuses, neither will I apologize. Red Dead Redemption 2 has ate my right up and refuses spit me back out. My brother bought it for me on like...Sunday? Monday? Idk but it has taken over practically my whole life. I legit just didn't have enough time in the day to write more than a few sentences or paragraphs a day. Luckily rainycat from Batpham server gave me some of their writing juice. From there it's just been a few days wait bc brain funk. Gotta love brain funk. References to Shane and Ryan from Buzzfeed Unsolved (this episode) and the book Maniac McGee (mainly the title as inspiration for Jason in dubbing Danny Glowstick McGee)

Hopefully the tag list is still tagging everyone, I had to remove the links bc my laptop wigs out and won't let me even save the draft or post or anything

[Tag List] @emergentpanda-blog @my-perfect-storybook-love @gunebugfic @thegatorsgoose @thewondersoflebanon @bobred18 @d4ydr34min9 @ver-444 @redafi @echoednonny @greenmuffinofdoom @mentalcarebear @fisticuffsatapplebees @vythika96 @writer-extraodinaire @meira-3919 @yjfk @oddlydrawnpuppets @crystalqueertea @lazy-bouqet @darkthunder1589 @mnemovoid @keimiwolf @aarinisreading @love-has-no-labels @terzatheunderscorerima @idkmrpianoman @mur-ururu @chip-thief @kawaiikenna

@rangerhorsetug @treepainting @thatonegirl10 @demiourgias @spooky-fm @antagonisticly @fluffy23sblog @manglethemingle @kyrianclawraith @layyeschips @shepardking @asphyxia778 @ballzfrog @fluffen-spooky @drowningroane @deathsdaisy @malaayna @mistyaltair @potatoeofwisdom @heartsong18 @nixthenerd @icedbluesoul @the-church-grimm @overtherose @sara0055 @banishedthumbs @tired-yet-awaken

@dannyphantomphan @nonbinary-disaster @depressed-bitchy-demon @8-29pm @addie-lover-of-stories @lifefilledwithstories @apointlessbox @skulld3mort-1fan @katgirl05 @spookytragedyshark @mandyne-1001 @ascetic-orange @booklover9114 @qualifiedpasta @mouzerequis @fleeting-mists @gin2212 @rollthatcritical @kaitouhime @itsloveleo @litlecameron @phantom-dc @hippityhoppity-iownyourbones @pastalavistamf @kokoroluna @legowerewolf @riasthelustful @agreatcheesecakestudentstuff @mysterimax

[benjaminthewolf]

John Constantine (DC) Lol

Sorry for not uploading earlier, I got way too absorbed in my work back there. Anyway, here ya go! 

Also, I think this might be one of the first times I’ve written m/f vore, so, hey, that’s cool!

****

     “Crap, this isn’t good…” Dinah Lance murmured out through her teeth as both she and Zatanna continued to sprint a ways away from the approaching trio of constantly advancing demons hurtling themselves through the air, practically shoving their bodies forwards on towards them. 

     The two retreating heroines had been left definitively stuck within the winding pathways of the alleys for a nice couple of hours at this point, an utterly horrible prospect considering their mission had originally been a sneak mission, and were now positively desperate to be able to throw their pursuers off before they inevitably ran out of steam. Both of them, in this state, were unable to fully rationalize just how the plan had gone so wrong, but now was not the time to slow their pace down and consider it. Now was the time to escape.

     Dashing their way as such ‘round the left corner in a T-intersection of alleyways, and at a distance where it would be quite hard for the demons to tell which one they had went around (since the only light that anybody was to receive at this stage in the chase was, indeed, the silver, beaming rays coming down from the moon), it would soon come to be that a third person was to join them; a person who, under normal circumstances, would have never accepted this role. For a combination of reasons that was ostensibly hidden away from his teammates, for the moment being,  however, he had deduced that taking part in this would be the most straightforward and least risky means to his desired end, and as a result, snapping into formation with the womans’ strides, came the one and only, infamous, rules and limits-less detective John Constantine.

     “Goddammit! I knew I shouldn’t’ve agreed to team up with such a showboat during a sneak mission!” he spitefully spat out towards Zatanna.

     “HEY!” Zatanna instantly snapped back, not exactly willing to waste any more of her precious breath for anything more of a rebuttal. 

     “NOW IS NOT THE TIME FOR INSULTS, NOW IS THE TIME FOR ESCAPING!” Dinah swiftly instructed her teammates, in utter opposition to Zatanna’s breath preservation. “BUT I HONESTLY HAVE NO IDEA JUST HOW MUCH LONGER I CAN KEEP THIS UP!”

     In response to this statement,  John would take a second in order to think out loud for just a moment. “Running’s becoming a non-option, huh?”

     Immediately within the next few seconds, all the two women were able to discern was a scathing-type noise, the sound of something grinding itself against the rough and cobbled floor. As it would turn out, as they forced a glance over their shoulder whilst rushing their ways on by, the source of that same noise would, indeed, be revealed as the rather blackened shoes of the excessively aggressive detective. The two dashing heroines barely even had any time to stop before the man, seemingly holding some sort of device towards the sky, forcefully spewed out a roar.

     “THEN OUR ONLY REMAINING OPTION IS TO HIDE!”

     And, just like that, in less than an instant after the fact, something upon the device’s surface was emphatically pressed down, sending a bright green ray of light out onto the exceedingly confused women. Before either of them even had a chance to rationalize what was going on, John Constantine placed the device back into his pocket, went right on back to sprinting, and, bending his way down just a little, managed to snatch up the two still rather befuddled women who had been shrunken down to mouse-size via the magic in the device.

     “The Demons don’t know we’re a group for right now, and that means if I can manage to hide you two, we should still be able to recuperate!” he immediately began to explain. “And don’t ask me where I got the shrinking device from!”

     Neither Dinah nor Zatanna dared speak a word as the only somewhat inane, scampering detective, attempted to speak once more.  

     “So you’re just gonna have to bear with me for this one, alright?”

     Still completely and utterly whiplashed due to the speed at which everything had been happening, only Dinah had managed to somewhat fully process the situation, reasoning to herself that John’s plan did indeed make sense, and that when the detective had his mind set on a means, he was going to follow through with that means to its definitive, desired end. Thus, Dinah knew that, if only for the moment, she could trust him. She wasn’t entirely sure about what Zatanna was thinking, and yet she still knew implicitly that her endorsing her trust to the detective would cause him to hide both of them right away, and thus, wasted no time in this endeavor before Zatanna was able to say something to jeopardize it.

     “Just…do what you need to do to get us hidden, alright?” she ended up saying.

     John, now knowing he was in the clear to do this, gave a swift nod of his head. There then went by a couple of seconds of waiting, which did indeed confuse Dinah a little, considering the previous instantaneous motions the man had been previously taking in order to shrink the women down as fast as he could physically manage. It was to be made somewhat understandable in her mind, however, when the man at last decided to bring the two closer to his face, and finally, open his maw.

     Immediately shoving the two into his maw, Constantine snapped the area shut, in order to fully ensconce the two heroines within. 

     “Urngh…” Zatanna finally spoke up whilst slowly peeling her head of of the goopy, salivating floor of the tongue, being careful not to bonk her head upon the hard palate above.. “I know that he’s trying to protect us and all, but why did he have to put us here?”

     “Where else was he supposed to put us? His pockets? The most obvious place to look if you were an enemy searching for your targets? A simple pat-down would be all you’d need to that end!” Dinah swiftly rebutted whilst keeping her body lying flat on the tongue, sprawling herself out in order to be as comfortable as she could manage.

     “...but…” Zatanna attempted to argue back. “...but all the enemy would need to do now is get John to talk, and-WOAH!”

     Instantly upon sensing Zatanna’s question, John opened back up his maw, causing several tendrils of saliva to break apart due to the stretching. The chilling, cool breeze of the outside night air fervently pushed against the warmth inside the maw, causing Zatanna to shudder a little. John’s slick, slippery tongue, gently as it possibly could given the circumstances, pushed the two heroines to the side near his teeth in order to use it for speech. Promptly slipping into each of the stretchy, cushiony pockets of the cheeks, as to avoid getting accidentally ground up by said teeth, Zatanna and Dinah were thus given no choice but to listen to John for the moment.

     “...you’re right, and that’s why I need you to cast some sort of acid resistance spell, and a spell that will allow you two to need…at least, less oxygen while you’re down there!” he called forth to the two women inside his maw.

     “...what? Acid resistance? What do you-ooooooooooooooooooooooh.” Zatanna cried out before finally figuring out what John meant moments later.

     “Of course I can!” she finally perked up again soon after. “Right away!”

     The resulting verbal incantation that gushed forth from the woman’s voice box could only sound like gibberish to its two observers, however, they were both aware that it was but merely backwards sentences. Once Zatanna had finished, and given an affirmative: “All done!”John swiftly attempted to move the women into the middle of his maw once more, starting with Zatanna, causing Dinah to understand what was going on and move onto the tongue area herself. Once they were both secure, John firmly closed his maw, and wasted basically no time in lifting it up towards the rough ridges at the roof, before the back of the muscle sloped down, and he promptly opened up his gullet, the gaping, blackened drop laying situated just below the dangling sack that was the swaying uvula.

     Dinah, knowing she had to act fast, naturally dove in towards the drop first, practically plunging herself into its form, causing John to somewhat jerk forwards from the bodily surprise, which of course, made him immediately swallow. Though the currently much larger detective on the outside wasn’t exactly pleased by Dinah’s course of action, he wasn’t exactly going to comment on it either, and thus, merely began to focus on getting Zatanna downwards as well instead of dwelling on the moment.

     Zatanna began to slowly slide down closer and closer towards the natural valve. She, unlike Dinah, wasn’t particularly enthusiastic about going down there, and yet, she didn’t protest, as it was indeed, currency necessary. 

     Thus, once John, through his still-sprinting breaths, managed to swallow once more, Zatanna at last joined with her fellow heroine inside of John’s esophagus.

     Now that the man on the outside knew that his teammates were just about as safe as they could be for the moment, he was therefore able to finally end his former bout of speedy sprint, since he recognized that, if any of the demons were to catch sight of him, and saw him running like that, they would instantly know something was up, and the entire operation would be sabotaged. Thus, John attempted to regain as much composure as he could muster as he propped himself up against the alley wall next to a dumpster. He could tell that Dinah had made it past his collarbone at this point, and was going to land in his stomach soon, while the slight throat bulge that Zatanna was making in his throat was still somewhat visible from the outside. Gently placing a finger over it as it continued traveling downwards, the sorcerer woman on the inside was able to feel the slight pressure, causing her to internally recognize that the detective had to have stopped his momentum by now.

     Naturally, as the man’s throbbing heart rate was still yet to fully calm down, Zatnna had been able to pick it up much faster than would be normally possible. Thus, she wouldn’t exactly be able to tell, especially when paired with the deep squelching noises that came with each tight squeeze and shove from the slimy esophageal walls around her, when she was close to the stomach until she picked up its ambient gurgling. For the moment being though, the sorcerer knew that she and Dinah were hidden away from the reaches of the demons, and, per John’s plan, since there hadn’t been any prior indication to them that John was a part of their team, that meant that there was practically no way for the two heroines to be found by them, and that meant as such that they were now able to buy enough time to recuperate. 

     Eventually, after quite a relative while of the rhythmic shoving sensation, Zatanna was indeed able to sense the crescendoing gurgles and groans emulating from the organ deep within. Knowing that Dinah was already in there and that she had been silent thus far, Zatanna knew as a result that both of her spells had worked perfectly. Thus, once she finally made it to the lower esophageal sphincter, simply closing her eyes and allowing John’s body to do the rest as she was pushed through its form, the sorcerer woman eventually made a splash landing into a harmless pool of constantly sloshing liquids below. Opening up one eye, and her previous convictions were confirmed. Dinah was laying silently up against the walls, seemingly extremely contented for the moment, as she gently nuzzled up into its slightly churning being, listening to the ambiance booming all around her. Zatanna, not exactly wanting to bother her fellow heroine, simply shrugged her shoulders, as she, too, began to settle down for the moment. Shuffling about for a bit in order to get into a comfortable position, Zatanna  leaned into the pillowy, goopy walls inside of John Constantine’s stomach, and promptly gave the squishy walls a few pats. The natural warmth of the organ only aided in calming the two down, as the watery substance inside of the gut continued swirling about around them. Zatanna was barely even able to sense herself closing her eyes at this point, before her world finally went dark. It would thus only take a few more minutes, before both she and, indeed, Dinah, had soundly fallen asleep.

     John on the outside, who still hadn’t seen any sign of the demons, was somewhat able to tell this, the rather heavy sensation of having two people laying inside of his guts made him rather mindful of their presence, causing him to give himself a casual reminder not to make sudden movements. Thus, as the silver moon only continued shining down upon the man, Constantine in turn, continued to maintain his watch. Eventually however, taking a couple of steps forward, Constantine had indeed deduced that the demons were nowhere near, and deeper into the winding maze of the city’s darkened alleyways, he therefore went, exceedingly determined as always to keep the mission going, as he knew, as firmly as a brute fact, that if he did not succeed in this mission, he would never complete his final vision. He just simply was required to keep going, and that is, indeed, what he did.

[the-witchhunter]

Danny watched as a blond man walked out of the... maintenance closet? At least that’s what the plaque on the door said. 

He didn’t recognize him. That’s not that unusual, he can’t be expected to remember every single person, but Danny is certain that he has never seen him before. The man looked around for a second, seeming almost confused before shrugging and walking up to the counter and ordering Nasty Deluxe combo. The accent sounded British, and Danny was sure he had never met this man before.

So why was he giving Danny a weird feeling?

It was something dark, oppressive, and almost oily. It lingered after the man got to close. Whoever this man was, he wasn’t a ghost, but Danny wasn’t sure if he was entirely human. 

Then the Brit looked right at Danny. The man grabbed his tray and strolled over to Danny’s table and stood there for a moment.

“Mind if I sit here?”

“I’m actually waiting on some friends.” Danny lied.

“Then let me keep you company until they get here.” The man grinned as he sat down.

“I’m sorry, have we met before?”

“I don’t believe so spooks. I think I would have remembered a fellow like you. Here, my card.” The man pulled a business card out from his rumpled trench coat and slid it across the table. Danny cautiously took it.

“John Constantine, Occult detective, master of the dark arts, and... petty dabbler?”

“That’s me, but you can call me John, mister?”

“Danny, just Danny.”

“Well Mr. Just-Danny. Mind telling me why you were staring me down?”

“I was-”

“Don’t lie now, you’re not good at it, and you weren’t exactly subtle mate. So take it from the top.”

“I really wasn’t!”

“Let me give you some advice. Never play poker, you don’t have a knack for bluffing.”

“Okay, fine. I was looking at you, so what?”

“I want to know why.”

“You came out of a maintenance closet.”

“Ah, fair enough.” The man sat in silence for a minute before taking a bite of his burger. “Not nearly as bad as I thought it would be.” he mused.

“Why would it be bad?”

“Danny, the place is called Nasty burger, that doesn’t exactly instill confidence,”

“Yet you still ordered.”

“That I did.” The silence stretched on for a moment as the two sat there, munching their burgers and staring at each other. Danny knew the other man still wanted something from him. There was a look in his eyes, like a man concentrating on a jigsaw puzzle. Danny didn’t like the way he could tell when he managed to make a couple pieces fit.

“Why do you feel like that?” Danny asked, surprising himself.

“Like what?”

“Weird.” John cocked his eyebrow. “Like a dark cloud. Something that clings to you and sets my teeth on edge.”

“Hmmm, well, that could be a couple of things. Maybe it’s the demon blood in my veins.”

“You’re part demon?”

“No.”

“But you said-”

“More like a transfusion. Just something that keeps my healthy in my old age. So yes, it could be that, or, more likely it has to do with all the charms and wards on me and the fact you’re dead.”

“I’m not--” 

“Can it. We’ve already been through all this, you’re a shite liar.”

“... how did you know?” 

“You’re not the first ghost I’ve met, maybe the first one that’s still walking around living, but not my first ghost.”

“Why are you here?”

“Took a wrong turn and ended up here.”

“Yeah right.”

“Believe what you like, but you mind telling me what’s going on around here? This whole place feels like playing with a Ouija board in a cemetery, and that probably means it’s about to be my problem.”

“Why would that be your problem?”

“You read the card.”

“Because you’re an occult detective?”

“Because I’m a petty dabbler, with a habit of walking right in the middle of huge messes in need of a bit of cleaning.”

“You think you can fix things?”

“Depends on what needs fixed.” John looked up and cursed. ‘Can we talk about this elsewhere? My ex just walked in.” Danny looked around confused. The only new person in the store was...

“Johnny! Is that you? I haven’t seen you since college! When we went ghost hunting with Vladdie in that haunted house?” Danny stared on in horror as the man if front of him slumped forward and sighed,

“Hi Jacky. It’s been a while.”

Short DPXDC Prompts #719

Constantine opens a door in the House of Mystery and walks into a Nasty Burger

[alonyne]

So I had some shower thoughts and ima write them out bc they made me giggle

DC x Danny Phantom crossover btw

—

So.

Maybeee it wasn’t smart of the Justice League to mess with Dr. Fate’s stuff.

To be fair, how were they supposed to know it would summon a ghost? It’s not like they had a manual or some shit for all things magical.

At least not the ones present anyway.

Flash was getting off track, it’s not like that mattered at the moment. What took precedence was the seemingly floating ghost child in the watchtower, looking more confused at the device that summoned him than the people that did the summoning.

“Sooo, what is this thing anyways?” The Ghost Child, as Flash had officially elected to call him until otherwise, slowly floated over a large circular stone, carved with a language Flash didn’t feel was familiar.

“We’re…not exactly sure,” Superman said, warily. “Who are you?” He questioned. “Do you know why it summoned you here?”

The Ghost Child was quiet for a moment while he inspected the Dr. Fates magical rock before finally responding. “Well, your little summoning pebble here says it wishes to summon the ‘Ghost King’ so I guess that’s why I’m here.” The kid gave a noncommittal shrug before turning forward to look at the rest of the league.

Barry could feel his eyebrows furrow in confusion. Ghost King? He looked around and it seemed no one else had heard of a Ghost King before. However, before he could get a question out, Batman beat him to it.

“And you’re this supposed ‘Ghost King?’” He gave the Ghost Child a suspicious glare.

He had to give props to this ‘Ghost King’ kid. He could hold his own against Batman’s glares pretty damn well.

“Yes.” The kid gave them smile that felt a little too sinister. “Or sometimes I go by, ‘Ruler of the Infinite Realms,’ or even ‘Leader of the Undead.’ You know how finicky names can be,” he shrugged. “Everybody’s got something different, but I just prefer Phantom.”

The room seemed to pause with this information.

So, not only did they mess with something they didn’t understand, they somehow managed to summon some fucking “Ghost King” who’s alias was, “Ruler of the Infinite Realms.” Like that wasn’t concerning at all.

It was Green Arrow who finally decided to break the heavy silence.

“You know, maybe we should call Constantine. He’d probably know what we should do from here.”

Flash whipped out his phone, “That sounds like a good plan. Hold on, let me call him.” He quickly sped through his contacts till he found Constantine and let the loud phone call sound reverberate through out the room. Barry, and the rest of the team for that matter, all stared impatiently at the screen while waiting for Constantine to answer, which thankfully, didn’t take to long.

“What the fuck did you want at this time of day, wanker,” Constantine voice was grumpy and rough, clearly having been woken up from his sleep.

“Shit, sorry,” Flash rubbed his neck nervously, “We kinda forgot about the timezone difference. Anyways, we have a situation over here at the Watchtower. The other Leaguers and I think we just summoned the uh…the ‘Ghost King.’” Flash quickly looked up at Phantom at the mention of his name and saw the intrigued look on his face.

“…What the fuck did you just say?” Barry could feel John’s ire through the phone, but before he could respond, Phantom spoke up instead.

“Hello, John Constantine.” Phantom’s voice seemed to echo unnaturally through out the room, causing everyone to tense and stare at Phantom in surprise.

There was only silence on the receiving end of Flash’s phone. Practically everyone was staring down Phantom when he bursted out in giggles.

“HA, you should see the look on your faces…fucking priceless. Anyways,” Phantom giggled again, “I only knew his name because I can see his contact name from here.”

Everyone in the room let out a silent breath of relief, but Constantine was still silent over the phone.

“Hey? You good buddy?” Flash asked, worriedly. But Flash doesn’t get a response, instead, Constantine hung up the phone.

More silence spreads throughout the room, but Phantom breaks it quickly.

“Well that’s a bummer. Why’d he hang up?” He looked expectantly at Flash.

Barry gave him a quick shrug, “Hell, if I know.”

—

Anyways i thought it would jusf be funny if danny freaked everyone the fuck out by saying johns full name like hes all knowing or some shit when in reality he can just see his fucking contact name LMAOO sorry jf jts not very coherent btw i dont write much and its also practically 5 am here and im tired LNFNFDN

[ogravensimp]

She is a Constantine

The one day this shitty hotel decided to have an out of order elevator', Zed cursed as she looked up to only see a beige trenchcoat coat fluttering like a flag as it raced up the far too many flights this overpriced building had installed.

"John! Aren't you just being paranoid?" Zed shouted after the man in front of her as she attempted to keep up with him, as well, also trying to get answers out of him—which is a hard enough task as it is when she actually has his attention.

They were supposed to focus on purging some low-level demons set loose when a couple of civilians somehow managed to dig up the original copy of the highly dangerous, "Grimorium Verum". Well, they managed to get the book, but they also attracted the attention of John's good ol' friend, Papa Midnite; who has been giving them quite a hard time but John managed to knock him out.

Zed believed that they did quite well against him but somehow he said something before he fell that set John running without a word back to the hotel room they rented.

"John!", she called out once again as they finally reached the floor they were staying on, but she only saw the tail of his trenchcoat as he took a sharp turn around the corner, "seriously, you are being very-"

She cut herself off when she also reached the room they were staying in, only to find the door thrown off the hinges,"-...paranoid."

John was already inside, his back to her as he worryingly looked around at the ransacked room that had been perfectly fine when they left. Zed knew it wasn't the mess that had him anxious, it was the lack of a certain half-demon whom they had left watching some pony cartoon on the now overturned couch. The show was even still playing, but not even a tuft of the girl's purplish hair to be found.

"I should have known he'd just trace the magic back here, how could I just live her alone with the one thing Papa Midnite will kill for!" While it seemed John was talking to her, Zed knew he was actually berating himself, "Fuck, if he touched even a hair on her head I swear-"

"John," Zed softly approached him, wanting to calm the magician before he jumps so far to a conclusion that she or common sense won't be able to reach him anymore, "Papa hates your guts, yes but you and I know he'll never kill a child."

"What about his goons? Midnite distracted us and sent them here and I'm sure his goons would do anything not to fail him. ", John retorted as he began to scratch his hair with enough force it's as if he actually wanted to rip it out.

"She might still be here."

John finally turned to face her and Zed could now fully see the panic on his face. To a normal person, John looked irritated at most but Zed has been around him long enough to start to see the cracks in his poker face of sarcasm, "Look around Zed! If she was here, I'd fucking sense her!"

Zed felt a bit offended at his outburst, she didn't even know John had left the grimoire here! She thought the whole reason Papa was hexing them to next week was to get it off John but this seemed to be another of Constantine's genius plans gone wrong.

Putting her hands on her hips, she stood her ground, "And who's fault is that John? How could you just leave one of the most sacred dark-magic books with a child who thinks a show on the magic of friendship is the pique of entertainment?!"

John was never one to admit he was too blame chose to fight back, "I didn't know! I'm not fucking omnipresent! That's why I put up the bloody wards!"

"And look what good those did," Zed huffed as she folded her hands, "now they have the grimoire and have done god knows what with Raven."

"um..."

"Think I don't know that Zed because newsflash, I do!"

"Well, how do you plan to fix it!"

"...actually..."

John moved towards what was left of his books on the table and picked up a piece of chalk, "I don't know, fuck, I can try to trace her magic. She has a naturally high amount of it, it'll be easy to find."

Zed followed after him, her anger now replaced with worry, "Maybe if I'm near something of her's I can get a vision, where's that teddy of her's that she's always with? The one that Nun made?"

A small pair of hands held out the purple bear in question, "here you go Zed."

Zed accepted it gratefully, "Thank you, Raven."

And then there was silence in the room.

Zed looked at the doll in her hand and then at the small face looking up at her and then back at the doll, then back at the face and this charade continued for a while till she shouted, "Raven!", causing the little girl in question to giggle.

This sound alerted John who looked up from the symbols he had already begun drawing on the floor. Before Zed could even move, John had rushed past her in a beige coloured blur and had the half-demon up in his arms in a well-deserved hugged.

"Oh my sweet blackbird, I'm so glad your ok,", John yelled while he spun Raven around and pressed warm kisses to her small cheek causing more giggles to escape Raven's throat.

This was an odd scene for Zed who was quite used to the silent little girl who hexes old ladies that try to pinch her cheek or pat her head.

In fact, the first time Raven allowed physical contact with Zed was when she held her hand in a crowded street one time, and while Zed knew it was only so the tiny demon wouldn't get lost in the much taller crowd, she still felt like some chosen saviour.

So Zed just really couldn't help the tinge of jealousy she felt knowing that John is an exception to this 'no-touch' rule whenever he pleases while she can only relish in the crumbs.

Raven must have sensed her feelings cause she turned to her and smiled— an expression Zed felt fit her angelic features more than the usual deadpan expression.

Giving a soft smile back herself, she placed a hand on the girl's soft face(which fortunately went unhexed), in a tender gesture and asked, "Rae you gave us a heart attack, where were you?"

The dark-haired girl just tilted her in confusion before replying with a simple, "the closet." and pointed in the direction of said object.

Both Zed and John looked at the small cabinet that she was implying and couldn't help but be entertained as it was such a childish yet genius choice of hiding.

But the entertainment didn't last long as they realized something would have had to cause her to go into hiding.

Setting her down on the table, John and Zed immediately began to check her pallid skin for any injuries and to their relief, there was nothing major. The only damage to her delicate skin was a bruise on her knee but that was enough for John to demand a full breakdown of what exactly happened so he can know how many bones of Midnite he needs to break.

After 10 minutes, Zed and John had the full story of what happened while Raven nibbled on a chocolate bar she rightfully earned.

"So let me get this straight, you sensed about four guys approaching here and before they arrive, you grabbed Mr Teddy here, ran into the cabinet and stayed there till you heard us arguing, and you only bruised your knee cause you bumped yourself when crawling in?" John confirmed.

"Yep."

"You should've grabbed a phone and called us or something,", Zed muttered as she rubbed a chocolate stain off the girl's chubby cheek, "what if they saw you? Next time teleport to me and John immediately, got it."

Looking down, Raven softly replied, "Yes Zed."

"Oi, lay off her," John joked as he placed a big hand on her head, lightly messing up her dark-purple locks much to Zed's annoyance cause she is the one that combs her hair out every morning but before she can complain, John sighs, "Shit, Midnite still has the Grimoire, just great."

Zed was going to sigh with him when Raven let out a sheepish, "well...", reaching for the toy that Zed had been holding onto, she wrapped her hands around it and after some muttering, a ray of purple surrounded its form and it transformed into the exact tome that John and Zed had worked so hard to find and keep safe, "...I had been practising glamour spells before the guys arrived and thought this would be a great time to test it and I guess it worked."

Her wide violet eyes looked up at them as if looking for praise and they really did want to give it to her but they were just so shocked by her to speak.

John was the first to react and a wide grin broke out on his face, "You are a Constantine!"

He relaunched his attack of hugs and kisses to Raven's temple, this time Raven acted annoyed and tried to push him away but her blooming blush and the sound of a few lamps exploding betrayed her and showed her real emotions.

Zed still only looked at the book in her hand, remembering how it had felt and weighed the exact same you'd expect a knit teddy bear too. She just couldn't wrap her head around how such a young girl was already so talented with magic that it would put some adults to shame but before she could stay on the topic the sounds of Raven's voice brought her back.

"Ew, let go of me!" She whined as she used her small hand to try and push John's face away but that would not deter him and instead, he laid a lick to her palm which only infuriated her more as the window near them cracked, "GROSS!"

Zed couldn't help the laugh that escaped her. Those two were really something. Dropping the book on the table, she went to go save her little Raven away by pulling her away before she ends up blasting John through a room— so maybe she's actually saving John.

As for her previous question, the answer was simple:

She's a Constantine.

____________________________________

"Now, what's the meaning of this?" Papa Midnite's voice was deep and loud to achieve its purpose in causing shivers to run down his lackey's spine as he held up a purple, knitted bear with different sized buttons for eyes.

One of them managed to gain some confidence and he dropped to the floor at Midnite's feet to plead for himself and his brethren, "Papa, I swear, it was definitely the book you asked for, we don't know what happened!"

Papa growled, "I know that, I'm wondering how all you managed to get tricked. Not even by Constantine himself but by a child!"

"But there was no kid there we checked everywhere, honest Papa!"

Midnite just sighed as he fell back onto his seta, rubbing the bridge between his nose as he contemplated whether to get better men or if he simply was the only one capable of doing things right around here.

As he grumbled, the purple toy in his hands caught his eyes.

He thought it was just the supernatural world being bored when he heard that the John Constantine adopted a little girl but this doll proved the rumours through.

If this child was also as terrifying as the rumours say, it was best Papa met her soon before another card to Constatine's deck is added in which he cannot compete with.

part 2 soon? probably but only cause I wanna right midnite & raven interaction

[shenanigans-and-imagines]

Hold Me Close

John Constantine x Original Female Character, Angst/Hurt Comfort

A/N: So this little bit of self-indulgence turned into a thing, because it's me and of course it did. I'm still in the early stages of developing Evie and her relationships, so please let me know what you think.

Warning: Mentions of child neglect, lots of crying

Summary: After an emotionally draining day, Evie finds herself with some unexpected company.

Word Count: 2.6K

The Waverider was completely silent, a rarity on the best of days, and a blessed relief to Evie.

She sat in the kitchen, holding a warm cup of tea in her hands. She hadn't taken a single sip in the fifteen minutes since she made it.

All the emotions of the day were simmering to the surface. A tightness clung to her throat making it hard for her to breath. She needed to cry. She needed to sleep. She needed to scream. She needed so many things, all she could do was sit and stare into nothing.

"Are you ever going to drink that?"

Evie blinked. Looking up, she finally noticed John leaning against the doorway, fully dressed in his usual white shirt and tie.

"John? What time is it? Shouldn't you be asleep?"

"I could ask you the same thing."

She wanted to say something smart. On any other day she might have, but she was just too tired to be clever. Instead, she raised her mug to her lips and finally took a sip.

It was warm and did its job, loosening the lump in her throat, but it did little to help with the one in her chest.

"Need something stronger?" John suggested.

She shook her head. "This is about as strong as I can handle right now."

"Fair enough."

She expected that to be the end of it. But he surprised her, walking into the kitchen and pouring himself a drink.

"What are you doing?"

He shrugged. "Well, you know what they say, misery loves company."

"And what have you got to be miserable about?"

He gave her a cynical smile. "Oh don't you worry love, I’ll think of something."

He took a seat beside her and raised his glass in a toast.

Evie obliged, clicking her mug against the tumbler before drinking.

They sat in silence for a moment. It was comfortable, but there were questions hanging in the air that needed to be addressed.

"What are you doing here, John?"

"I told you."

She shot him a skeptical look.

He let out a sigh. "I don't sleep most nights. I saw you in here and..." He met her eyes, his expression softening. "I saw the look on your face when you saw your mum."

The tightness came back in her throat. Quickly, she turned back to her tea and took a long swig. All it did was stall the inevitable.

"How much did Michael tell you?" she asked, with a twist in her stomach.

"Not much," he admitted. "Just that his dad died before he knew him, didn't talk to his mum and that his sister was about the only parent he ever really had."

Evie huffed out a short laugh. It certainly sounded like the description Michael would give, and a more accurate one than she was willing to admit before.

"I take it there's a bit more to it than that," he continued.

She nodded. "Just a bit."

She took a drink, once again assuming a natural end to the conversation.

"You're just going to leave me with that?" he asked.

Her brow furrowed. "Why do you want to know?"

"You seem to know most everything about me, whether I like it or not,” he answered, casually. “I like to work on an even playing field."

Evie considered him for a moment. It seemed like a reasonable answer. Still she couldn't help but feel her problems were childish compared to his. There was a reason she kept them to herself. Nobody actually wanted to know.

She turned her head away, her fingers rubbing absentmindedly against the mug. If she kept her mouth shut for just a few moments, he'd forget the whole thing.

She could feel the pressure building behind her eyes. Her grip tightened. She willed herself to breathe.

"Evelyn..."

She stopped.

Looking down, she finally noticed rough fingers pressed gently around her wrist. She followed the line connecting the fingers to a hand, then to an arm, moving her gaze ever up until she dared a glance at the man they were attached to.

John’s expression was not soft, but his eyes held something she had not seen in a long time; a need to understand. How could she say no to that?

“My dad died when I was eight,” she began, swallowing the roughness of her voice. “My mum took it really hard. She might as well have been dead that first year. I’m not sure she even left her bed. Gran watched after her and didn’t want me or Michael causing trouble.

“Eventually though Mum was able to leave the house and Gran even got her a job at a pub not far from where we lived. But, it didn’t last long. Mum just...wasn’t there anymore. She’d forget to go into work or mess up orders or any number of other things until eventually they had to let her go. She didn’t work after that. Dad’s life insurance kept us afloat and Gran helped so, it wasn’t like we were starving. Even so, she would still...forget. By the time I was ten I was cooking most of the meals and made sure to stop by the shop on my way home from school, that sort of thing. And Mum would just...drift. It was like living with a ghost.”

Evie paused, giving herself a moment to collect her thoughts.

“I can remember my dad, before he died. I can see his face. I remember bedtime stories and how he called me his little Evie Rose. But, for whatever reason, any time I try to remember what my mum was like, I draw a blank. Every memory I have of her is as this...corpse. It was easy for me to believe she was always like that. I convinced myself she couldn’t help it. She didn’t choose not to be there. She was trying and I just needed to pick up where she couldn’t. That was my job.”

Her throat tightened. She sucked in a breath and let it out with a slow quaver.

“But seeing her today, before...everything. She was real. She was real and alive and...there.”

Warm tears spilled down her face. She wiped them away, trying and failing to keep them in check.

“I know grief affects people differently. I know it does. I can’t imagine losing the love of my life like that. But I was her child. Michael was just three years old. We were alive and scared and confused, and we needed her. I needed my Mom and she wouldn’t…”

There was no stopping the tears now. Anger and resentment and grief twenty six years in the making poured out of her. It burned her skin, even if she tried to hide it, ever aware of the man watching her in careful silence.

“I spent so long telling myself it wasn’t her fault. I blamed myself for not doing better by her. But she never cared. I know she was grieving, but at some point she decided her grief was more important than her own children.”

She stopped, forcing herself to fill her lungs with much needed air.

“And I would get so angry. I used to think Michael was just being selfish, that he only cared about himself. But he knew. He knew what she was doing was wrong. He just wanted me to see it too. God, I said so many awful things.”

Guilt weighed in her stomach as she pushed away her straggling tears. She could still feel the prickling behind her eyes, but she didn’t want to spill any more than she had. She had no right to them.

“I’m just a horrible mess of a person.”

A scoff came at her side.

She turned, to see John shaking his head.

“Something funny?”

“Aye, everything,” he said, sardonically. “Trust a Catholic to come to that conclusion.”

“Excuse me?”

“Oh c’mon Evie, you’re not a horrible anything. You looked after your brother and your mum when no one else would. When you should have given up on her is a matter for yourself to deal with, but you’re not a bad person for holding out hope. As for Michael, I have a feeling he’s not as resentful as you think he is. Besides, he definitely had some of it coming.”

Evie couldn’t think of what to say, but the corner of her lip did quirk up, just a little. Still, guilt lingered and exhaustion was now taking the place of her anger. The prickling was back, reminding her of the tears still left to shed.

“Now, how about that drink,” John said.

Evie let out a long sigh, rubbing her hand across her face. "Not a bad idea. Honestly, what I could really go for is someone to just hold me for two or three...hours." She tried to make it sound like a joke, but the strain on her voice made her attempt at laughter come off as forced and awkward.

The look on John's face only made her feel worse. He had been uncharacteristically kind to her already. Now, she just made an embarrassing situation down right uncomfortable.

“I’m sorry I laid this all on you,” she said. “I should just go to bed.”

She stood quickly, not even bothering to grab her mug as she headed towards the exit.

She barely made it two steps when a hand grasped at her own.

“Wait.”

She turned.

He was still sitting. His eyes focused on their intertwined fingers. The expression on his face was unreadable. For a moment, she thought he’d let go and forget the whole thing. But then, he came to a decision.

Standing, he took a step toward her, never dropping his grip for a moment. He watched her, carefully checking she had no objections to how close he was.

Her stillness was his answer.

Reaching out his free hand, he cradled her head and guided her to him.

For a moment, neither of them knew what to do.

His hand slipped from hers, but found no place to land, as if he wasn't sure where exactly to touch her. All the same, the intent was felt.

Taking initiative, she leaned into him, resting her head against his shoulder as she wrapped her arms around him.

His clothes still held the scent of detergent with just a bit the tobacco smoke she secretly loved. She let herself breathe it in, enjoying the warmth against her cheek and the firmness of his body.

Slowly his hands found purpose. One wrapped tight around her waist while the other curled gently in her hair.

For a while, they just stood there, neither of them daring to break the quiet calm that had settled in the air.

"It's alright Eves," John whispered into her ear. "I've got you, love. It's alright."

It was only then Evie realized she was crying again. The tears and emotions leaked out of her, spilling over the side like an over filled sink. She was starting to shake, trying and failing to keep her breath in check all the while John held on, pressing her even closer into him.

"You're alright," he promised. "I've got you, Eves. You're alright."

The tears weren’t as violent as before. This was catharsis. The last breath of emotional release she needed. So, she let herself feel.

She cried for her brother. She cried for her father. She cried for what might have been and what was. All of it came out in gentle sobs made bearable by the man who wouldn’t let go.

She wasn’t sure how long she stood there, but after a while she had nothing more to give. Her breath returned to something manageable. Her heart, no longer quiet as heavy. Still, she couldn’t pull away from John just yet. She was too tired and he felt too good. She could see herself closing her eyes and staying right there until her legs gave out.

“Not that I’ve got anywhere to be,” he said, gently. “But were you serious about the two to three hours thing?”

She laughed, a real one this time; short, but bright and welcome.

“No,” she assured. “I wouldn’t do that to your reputation.”

He didn’t say anything back, but she took the hint.

With a great effort, she pulled herself from him, leaving her skin colder for it. Now that she had a proper view, a sudden spike of embarrassment shot through her.

“Oh, I’m so sorry,” she said, immediately reaching to brush away the obvious stain on his shirt.

John looked down as if just noticing himself.

“Oh believe me, I’ve been covered in worse. Besides, holy woman’s oughta be good for something.”

“I’m not that holy,” she said, with not as much annoyance as that sentence usually carried.

“But you are good,” he countered. “You can’t be anything else.”

Again, something was missing from this usual exchange. The irony had somehow disappeared. The way he was looking at her now, she could believe he meant them.

Then, something happened. His expression became pensive. His eyes shifted away as he took a small step back, putting some visible distance between them.

“You should get some sleep,” he said, his tone now back to its usual guarded self.

Her brow creased in confusion. “You sure you don’t want company?”

“I think if this whole exercise has taught us anything it’s that you need to stop worrying about other people all the time.”

His tone was curt, but there was something performative in it, making it land awkwardly on its intended audience.

All the same, Evie knew rejection when she heard it and felt the intended hurt in her chest.

Apparently it showed on her face as John gave a long sigh. “Look just, get some rest and you can worry about me tomorrow, yeah?”

She nodded, but she couldn’t bring herself to leave just yet. She didn’t know what she had done to make John’s mood shift so abruptly, but she needed to fix it. He had helped her, after all. It didn’t feel right to end the night like this.

With cautious determination, she took a step forward, effectively closing the gap he had created.

John appeared frozen in place, his brow creased in confusion.

Taking the opportunity, she stood on her toes and pressed her lips to his cheek. She was met with rough stubble and the smell of whiskey, a combination she was surprised to find she liked. But couldn’t appreciate it as John turned his head, meeting her eyes.

“Now, why would you do something like that?”

Evie swallowed, a sudden dryness coming to her throat. His lips were much closer to hers than she anticipated.

“I just wanted to say, thank you,” she said, softly. “You’re a good man, John Constantine.”

He looked down at her, his throat and lip tightening as he shook his head. “No, I’m not.”

She smiled knowingly. “Yes you are.”

She kissed his cheek again, this time lingering just a moment as if touch would convey the truth of her statement more than her words could.

“Goodnight, John,” she whispered.

To her surprise, he didn’t push her away. His eyes lingered, floating between her eyes and lips and back again.

She held her breath, wondering if he would lean down and feel her lips for himself. She wondered if she would let him.

But he hesitated. A breath was drawn in and his gaze settled on her eyes.

“Sweet dreams, Evie.”

She nodded, feeling the moment slip away as quickly as it had come.

She settled back down on two solid feet, turned and walked back to her room without looking back. Only when the door closed did she allow herself to linger on the burning of her lips and the hard thumping in her chest.

She didn’t know what truly happened between her and John, but there was no use denying it. Something was different and time would only tell what that meant.

[singledarkshade]

Scarred By Time

Author’s Note: I'm procrastinating writing something else so I ended up picking this up once more. Another chapter will hopefully appear at some point. Hope you enjoy. Part One can be found here.                                ********************************************* Part Two The building sitting at the edge of the city loomed above them as they walked towards it from the parking lot.

Everyone had heard of TM Consultancy these days. It was a think tank which had a reputation for creative brilliant solutions to problems most people would dismiss as unsolvable. They had appeared from nowhere about two years ago and quickly built their reputation.

Sara Lance looked at the three people standing with her at the entrance, Ray Palmer, Nate Heywood and Zari Tomaz, three people who didn’t normally work together. She knew them through some mutual friends and the bar she hung out at some weekends.

“What do a scientist, a historian, a hacker and a martial arts instructor have in common?” Sara asked thoughtfully.

Ray grinned at her, “I think we’re about to find out.”

Sara watched the main doors open before them. Swapping confused glances, they walked in and looked around the spacious comfortable almost empty reception area.

“Good morning,” the woman who stood waiting for them said as they moved closer, she had long chestnut brown hair with storm-grey eyes. Her face had a pleasant but neutral expression while she held a tablet in her hand, “Miss Lance, Dr Palmer, Mr Heywood and Miss Tomaz, it is a pleasure to meet you. Dr Hunter is waiting for you. Please follow me.”

They stared when she turned and walked through the wall behind her. Looking at one another again, they shrugged and followed the woman. All cried out in surprise and pain when they walked into a solid barrier.

“Gideon,” a man’s annoyed voice came making them turn to see Rip Hunter, owner of TM Consultancy standing inside an elevator. He was tall, with sandy hair, neatly trimmed beard, intense green eyes and was dressed head to toe in black, the only part of his body uncovered was his face despite the fact it was the middle of summer but the thing that especially caught Sara’s attention were the leather gloves he wore.

The woman reappeared asking innocently, “Yes?”

“Stop it,” he stated before turning to them, “My apologies, she has currently developed a rather childish sense of humour since her recent upgrade.”

Sara could see the others as bemused as she was, “What?”

“Gideon is the AI who runs the building,” Hunter explained, obviously trying not to laugh as Gideon crossed her eyes and stuck her tongue out at him before disappearing back through the wall once more, “Follow me and we can discuss why I’ve asked you here.”

“Thank you for coming,” Hunter said as they filed into an office decorated in neutral colours with a long dark wooden desk in the middle and the sun shining through the wall of windows, “I’m sure you’re all busy so I’m not going to waste too much of your time. The reason I asked you here is to offer you a job.”

“What?” Sara spoke up.

He gave a slight smile, “All four of you have very specific skills which would be useful in order for us to expand our business.”

“What work exactly?” Ray asked thoughtfully.

“We find solutions for problems that others can’t,” Hunter replied, “Each of you have the skills I am looking for to expand the team.”

Sara frowned before challenging, “Considering my skills, what job do you expect me to do?”

“You’re a leader, Miss Lance,” he said, “I want you to manage this team.”

“What wages and perks are you offering?” Zari asked, “Because we all currently have pretty good jobs.”

Hunter smiled slightly again, Sara wondered if he knew how to smile properly, before he told them, “Gideon has emailed you a copy of your contract as well as details of all monetary compensation.”

“And you can’t give us any specific details of what we’ll actually be doing?” Nate demanded.

Hunter mused for a moment before nodding, “I’ll send you some write-ups of our previous cases, but there is information that you will not be privy to unless you are working for us. I will say that your days won’t ever be able to be called boring.”

With that the meeting was over.

 Rip stood in his office watching from the window the people, he had hopefully just hired, leave the property to consider his offer, stunned that he’d made it to this stage. ‘Time’ had confirmed that all those that were needed would be in the right place when required and Rip had been concerned that something would go wrong. It had been a long five years, three of which he’d spent alone and two more building up a business so that he had a way to bring the team together.

“I still do not believe that hiring them is a good idea,” Gideon’s voice made him turn to find her standing at his side.

“We need Sara to recant her wish now John and Mick have managed to capture the Djinn,” Rip reminded her, “But in order for her to do that then she must know about the fact she made it. If she’s working here, then we can ease her into the information. The other three will help with finding the information to convince her it’s real and not some kind of joke.”

Gideon rested her hand on his shoulder, the sensors in his clothes letting him feel her touch, “Then we need to get back to work.”

“Yes, we do.”

“Although,” Gideon noted, “You have not yet eaten this morning.”

Rip rolled his eyes, “I will get something just now.”

Gideon nodded, “Excellent. I will have something waiting for you in the dining room. I’ll meet you there.”

With that she disappeared, and Rip looked out the window once more at the four people walking away.

Part of him hoped this worked but he also knew if it did, then he would leave Gideon again.

And he hated that thought.

                                 *********************************************

 Gideon had been watching her Captain carefully over the past few weeks since he’d made the decision to contact the Legends in this version of the world. John had managed to track down the Djinn who had tricked Sara into making the wish that created this reality, trap it and it was currently being stored in the Waverider under several layers of security both technological and magical.

Although she knew that this was what Rip had been working towards for many years, she feared him succeeding because Gideon would lose him once more.

She never used her hologram and turned her cameras off whenever he was in the shower or changing because Gideon knew Rip hated anyone, even her, seeing the scars that covered every part of his body.

The reminder that to give the Legends time to defeat Mallus after they had blundered in without a proper plan, he had been ripped apart by the energy from the time core.

“Gideon,” he called, letting her know he was dressed.

Turning her camera and hologram back on, Gideon smiled to find him dressed and heading out the room.

“Yes?” she asked as she followed him to the elevator.

“Have we received a reply from anyone yet?” he waited as Gideon sent the elevator down to the sixth floor so he could have breakfast.

Gideon shook her head, “I’m afraid not, Rip. However, it has only been a few days and the remuneration package you are providing may be giving them pause.”

“Should I have offered more?” Rip frowned concerned.

“From what Mr Constantine has said,” Gideon noted as they walked the corridor to the dining room, “You may have offered them too much.”

Rip rolled his eyes, “Money has never been something that has meant much to me, not since I was a child, and I stole whatever I could get my hands on. The Waverider always provided what I required. I probably should have had Mr Rory work out those details.”

“His economic knowledge is quite surprising,” Gideon noted.

Gideon gently touched his hand and Rip took a hold of it. She was relieved he had agreed to let her put the sensors in his clothing, Rip needed physical contact of some kind and would never accept it from Mr Constantine or Mr Rory.

Gideon knew from when Rip and Miranda had been together how much just a simple touch of his hand or kiss on his cheek from his wife, comforted and made him smile.

Rip turned to her and rested his other hand on her cheek, “I’m fine, Gideon.”

“I’m not,” she whispered, leaning into his touch, “Because the closer we get to fixing the mess Miss Lance made with her wish, the day I lose you again draws ever nearer.”

Sighing, Rip shook his head, “I’ve been dead a long time, Gideon. It’s just going to take this time.”

“Captain…”

“I’m at peace with my decision,” Rip told her, “I only wish it didn’t mean leaving you once more.”

Gideon closed her eyes and turned her face to press a soft kiss to his palm, “We have time before that moment comes, Rip and I will treasure each moment.”

 “Have you found anything, Mr Constantine?”

Swearing John jumped, “Make a noise, Gideon before you appear.”

“I am constantly monitoring all parts of this facility,” Gideon noted with a roll of her eyes, “I am always here.”

Shaking his head and muttering under his breath, John pulled over the book so she could see it properly.

“I think I can summon the corporeal version of ‘Time’,” John told her, “But what do we do then? We can’t threaten him to keep Rip alive after we’ve fixed things.”

“I am aware of this, Mr Constantine,” Gideon replied sharply, “However, I will not allow Rip to die again without trying something to save him. This way we have a chance to find out what we can do.”

John shook his head, “I know, Gideon. Look,” he closed the book, “I need to collect some stuff to do the summoning so I will start gathering them up. And we can work on what we offer.”

She nodded, “Thank you.”

“He’s my friend too,” John reminded her, “And I won’t let him go without a fight.”

Gideon gave him a soft smile before she tilted her head, “The Legends have replied to the job offers. I will leave you to work while I report this to Captain Hunter.”

As Gideon disappeared again, John mused over everything. It was only a few hours after he’d been resuscitated into this world that Gideon asked him to find a way to help her save Rip after he saved the world.

He knew Rip and Gideon were close, but the past few years a lot of the time John could see how close they truly were. Gideon had implanted every piece of clothing Rip wore with sensors allowing her to physically interact with him. John had been a bit weirded out by it at first but realised after a while that it was good for Rip.

John smiled slightly, thinking back to anytime he saw Rip and Miranda together. How she would always place a hand on his arm, or lean into him to look at something, she’d brush a kiss to his cheek whenever she left the room or would simply sit on Rip’s lap without even acknowledging him.

It always made Rip smile and relax, Gideon knew this too so, as always, was looking out for her Captain.

                                 *********************************************

 Sara stood with her arms folded as she stood just outside the TM Consultancy building.

“You know,” Zari said as she walked up to Sara’s side, “We only get paid if we go inside and work.”

Shrugging Sara asked, “Don’t you think this is a little odd?”

“A little,” Zari agreed, “I nearly passed out when I saw the salary we were being offered. Not to mention the bonuses for completed jobs.”

Sara nodded, “I know what you mean. It…” she hesitated, trying to find the words, “The job is amazing and so much better than the one I was doing but there is just something odd about it and Hunter.”

“His dress sense screams that,” Zari laughed, “Do you think he knows the all black outfit makes him look like a stick-insect?”

Sara chuckled, “It’s the fact every part of him was covered other than his face I found odd.”

Zari shrugged, “Maybe he just doesn’t like the cold.”

“We’re in the middle of summer,” Sara sighed, “Never mind. We’re due in ten minutes and I don’t want to be late on my first day.”

They started towards the gates and Sara mused over everything. There was something strange about this entire thing and she intended to find out what reason this guy had for hiring them. The money he offered them all was incredible, far more than she expected ever to earn with her qualifications.

Reaching the reception, they found Ray and Nate were already there, sitting on the plush couch just to one side of the desk.

“We were told to wait,” Nate told her, “I don’t think the computer likes us much.”

Sara and Zari took a seat as Zari asked, “Why?”

“Just the look she gave me,” Nate replied.

Ray shook his head, “You’re imagining things. She was very pleasant, and this time didn’t make us run into a wall.”

Zari chuckled, “Come on, that was a little funny. And the fact she’s an AI with a sense of humour, this job won’t be boring.”

“Boring is something I’m not expecting,” Sara mused.

 “Are you ready for this, Captain?” Gideon asked softly as he stood in his office watching the video screen showing the four people waiting in reception.

Rip shook his head, “Honestly, no.”

Placing her hand on his back, Gideon whispered, “You don’t have to do this.”

Turning Rip took her hand, “I do. This world isn’t real. It is missing those who will step in and save it from dangers that normal people cannot.”

“Why is there no other way?” Gideon asked.

Sliding his arms around her, Rip drew her in for a hug, “Because there isn’t. Sara recants her wish, the world goes back to how it was…”

“And I lose you again,” Gideon sighed, her head resting against his shoulder, “Only this time it will be forever.”

Rip closed his eyes before he reminded her, “I made my choice, Gideon. I never wanted to leave you and I don’t but…”

“But?” she pulled back and looked at him with large eyes.

He let out a slow breath, “I can’t be selfish, Gideon as much as I want to. The world is wrong, and I made a deal to fix it. I made a promise.”

“You are far too honourable sometimes, Captain.”

Rip sighed, “You are probably the only one who has ever thought that.” He gave her a smile and rested his hand on her shoulder, “Let’s go meet our new employees.”

“I hope you ensure to remind them that I don’t take orders from them,” Gideon told him, turning on her heel towards the elevator.

Rip smiled and followed her.

 The ding of the elevator made Sara jump to her feet along with the other three.

“Good morning,” Hunter greeted them, wearing basically the same outfit as he had been on the day he’d ‘interviewed’ them, except his polo neck was blue not black, “I’m glad you all decided to take up my offer.”

“Well,” Sara spoke for the group, “It was a hard offer to say no to.”

He gave a slight smile and handed Gideon who was waiting at his side the tablet he had been holding. Sara stared, feeling the others stunned looks as well, when the AI took it.

“How did you do that?” Ray demanded.

Hunter glanced at Gideon before replying, “Executive level clearance.” He turned and headed to the elevator frowning as he turned back to find them staring at him, “Please join me and we can start the tour.”

Sara took the lead and walked into the elevator with the other three joining after a moment.

“Before I show you your offices,” Hunter said as the doors closed, “I want to confirm to you the areas that are off-limits no matter what. These are the top two floors which house the apartments used by myself, Mr Rory and Mr Constantine. None of us will be happy if you wander into our private rooms. Secondly is the basement.”

“Keeping the bodies down there?” Zari asked with a chuckle.

Hunter gave her one of his slight smiles before replying, “Just filled with so much junk it’s dangerous and I don’t want any of you to get lost down there, it could take days to find you.”

                                 *********************************************

 John went through his checklist for the summoning spell. It had taken him a month to get everything together with Gideon constantly checking on him.

He had avoided the Legends since Rip had brought them in, it was just weird that they didn’t know him, and he knew Mick was also avoiding being around them. The former thief and Bounty Hunter had taken to working in a Think Tank, amazingly becoming their security expert with enthusiasm. When they’d joined Rip and started creating the business, Gideon had gone about reorganising the building so that it worked both for their business but also for a place for the three of them to live.

“Please tell me you’re ready, Mr Constantine,” Gideon’s exasperated voice preceded her hologram appearing.

John smiled to himself at her irritation, “I take it one of our new recruits has annoyed you.”

“Mr Heywood insists on calling me ‘computer’,” she snapped, “Honestly it is only due my promise to Captain Hunter that I have not retaliated.”

“Sorry, Gideon,” he sighed, “I’ll talk to him. Because the last thing we need is Rip to deck him for disrespecting you.”

A sweet smile touched her lips and John, not for the first time since he’d been woken in this new world, realised how little he’d understood just how self-aware and ‘human’ Gideon was.

“Before that though,” John pulled out the spell book, “Lock the door and we can try the spell.”

Gideon nodded and John heard the click of the lock as he pulled out everything he required for the summoning.

“Okay,” he took a breath, “Are we ready?”

“Whenever you are.”

John started the summoning spell, feeling the enormous power he was bringing into the room but it wasn’t the first time he’d interacted with something powerful and held his nerve.

Finally a man stood in front of him, or it looked like the shape of a man but John couldn’t quite see the features or anything other than a slightly grey shape.

“Not many people are brave, or powerful enough, to summon me,” the voice echoed off every corner of the room meaning John was in no doubt this was ‘Time’, “Why have you done this?”

“Rip Hunter,” John said, “I want to know what is needed so that he will survive once he gets the wish recanted.”

‘Time’ tilted its head, “Rip Hunter is dead. I was only able to return him to life because of the wish. He knows this.”

“He does,” John replied, “But he deserves something more than to die again once he fixes things for you.”

“He does,” ‘Time’ agreed, “But I could only give him life in exchange for another.”

“Then take mine,” Gideon spoke suddenly.

John spun to her, “What? No?”

“You are an AI,” ‘Time’ mused, “Offering your basic immortal life for a human?”

“For him,” Gideon replied, “Yes.”

‘Time’ moved to her, “Do you understand what you are offering?”

“I do,” Gideon nodded, “And I want to ensure if I do this then he is completely whole once more.”

“Gideon,” John snapped, “Rip would never agree…”

“Your offer is accepted,” ‘Time’ interrupted John.

John frowned, “No, wait.”

“The offer was made without guile,” ‘Time’ told him, “Without deceit. It was given freely and has been accepted.”

With that said ‘Time’ disappeared.

John spun to Gideon, “Rip will never agree to this.”

“He does not need to know until after Miss Lance has recanted her wish,” Gideon told him.

“And you think I’m not going to tell him?”

Gideon nodded, “I know you will not.”

Bright light filled the room and John blinked.

Looking around he frowned, before checking the book, “It didn’t work, did it?”

“No, Mr Constantine,” Gideon replied, “What you intended did not happen.”

Sighing John said, “I’m sorry, Gideon. I know how disappointed you must be. I can try again.”

Gideon gave him a sad smile, “It took you almost two years to track down that spell. It is doubtful you will be able to find another in time.”

John sighed as Gideon disappeared and he began to tidy up, disappointed that he’d failed.

[fortheloveoffanfic]

Heaven, Hell and You

John Constantine x OFC (Valarie Moore) 

Masterlist  Chapter 1

Warnings- Violence, biblical references (sort of, I think)

Chapter 2

Humming under her breath, Valerie strolled through the little convenience store in the city. She still donned her uniform, light blue scrubs and white shoes, though thankfully, she was only half as tired as usual. Even better was the fact after her shift gone by, Valerie would have the next twenty four hours off and wouldn't have to see the hospital, and by extension, the ICU for the next day or so. It was her one day off for the week and she was determined to make the most of it. The most beginning with unwinding in a warm bath and a glass of wine. 

The shopping basket was hooked in her crooked elbow as she slowly walked to the liquor aisle, slowing down even further as she passed shelves lined with different kinds of pasta on her way. Maybe she could make herself dinner too, instead of ordering takeout. For a minute, Valerie seriously considered it, but then, remembering how long it might take and how much she'd anticipated doing absolutely nothing, she decided that it could be an activity for some other night and that pizza would do just fine. Once again, she began, head down, cast towards the beat up tiled floor, not even noticing that she was walking straight into someone.

"Shit," she swore, coming into contact with a man's chest, consequently stumbling backwards, "Sorry," Valerie huffed a quiet, breathless chuckle upon noticing how strikingly handsome he was; sharp bone structure, pale skin and raven  hair.

"Its my fault," he dismissed, not even bothering with returning her shy smile. Instead, he shoved one hand into the pocket of his black trench and readjusted his hold on his half filled basket, "Sorry about that," he nodded politely, proceeding to furrow his brows in what she perceived to be confusion. "Do I know you?"

Equally confused, Valerie's lips quivered with questions unspoken, and eventually, she found herself tucking a soft brunette lock behind her ear, the little diamond stud on her earlobe twinkling teasingly, “I don’t think so,” she licked her pink, bare lips, “Maybe I just have one of those faces,” Valerie giggled quietly, though, she could tell by the man’s stare that he wasn’t buying it for a second. It was slightly unnerving, the way he was looking at her, like he actually believed that they knew each other.

“Maybe,” he scoffed, apparently only agreeing cause he really couldn’t place her, “Sorry,” he cleared his throat quietly.

He seemed to shake off whatever he was feeling, moving to go around her before she could even dismiss his apology and assure him that it was all good. As Mr. Tall, dark and mysterious, went about his way, Valerie turned around, sparing him one last glance, trying to ignore the disappointment in their conversation being over. She didn’t really get out a lot, discounting work, and her flirting skills were very rusty, but that didn’t mean that she didn’t know a hot guy when she saw one, and she’d just spoken to one, barely. 

When he didn’t look back, either pretending to not see her or just ignoring her completely, Valerie sighed heavily, continuing towards the limited liquor selection without another look back hoping to eventually dust off her disappointment that he hadn’t shown much interest in her.

2 Weeks Later John usually preferred to drink alone, at his loft, sometimes in front of the television, sometimes while he worked. Needless to say, John didn’t ordinarily visit bars and pubs, but alas, Angela had called earlier that day wanting help with a case, and seeing that she was one of his only friends, he didn’t really think it right to refuse her. So there he was, at some no name, low lit place in the city, nursing a glass of whiskey straightening up when he saw her come through the doors of the place. “Hey,” she smiled softly, still in her work clothes, holster peeking out from beneath her blazer, file in hand, “You got started without me,” she nodded to the glass on the table as she sat on the opposing chair. 

“You took too long,” he huffed, bringing the glass to his lips. The air around them stank of cigarettes, which wasn’t exactly ideal considering that, quitting had been hard, and even a year later, the smell alone still tempted him sometimes. Reaching into his pocket, he dug around for the pack of nicotine gum that he had taken to carrying around, shoving a stick into his mouth before talking again. “That the case?”

“Yeah,” she nodded, handing over the manila folder, “Why don’t you look it over while I go get a drink?” 

Wordlessly, John took it, letting it lay open on the table before him, slowly sipping his drink as his weary eyes scanned the pages, looking for anything that would prove inhumanity. There were definitely some things that looked ritualistic, and John could certainly see why Angela had grown some suspicions; the Latin scrawling and the way the bodies had been mutilated pointed to something supernatural. But John could also easily see the human factors, the little details that showed him the killer was actually human; there were slight discrepancies in the incantations printed in blood on the walls and the marks were hardly drawn with fluidity. “Your guy, whoever he is, is human,” John eventually determined, sliding the folder back towards Angela. 

Slumping her shoulders, she took a swing of her beer, running a hand through her hair with a defeated sigh, “Seriously? I just thought….”

“I can see why,” he nodded, “But here,” he hit one of the pictures with the pad of his fingers, “And here,” he tapped another spot, “These translations don’t make sense. It’s definitely Satanic worship, but not by a half breed.”

“Great,” She groaned, “Now its back to the drawing board I guess…” John didn’t really hear the rest of Angela’s sentence, for when he looked up, he was greeted by a familiar face. It was the girl from his dreams again, and of course, the same one he’d met at the convenience store just about two weeks ago.

Since then, he hadn’t been able to get her out of his head, his troubling dreams had only grown more  lucid, and once or twice, he’d even found himself unable to determine if he was actually dreaming until he’d wake up, most times with his heart ready to burst from his chest and his mind a mess. At first, he’d tried to convince himself that meeting her had been a dream too, but now, seeing her walking into the bar, flanked by about four other people, John knew that it was real. She, whoever she was, was real.

And she was absolutely stunning in person, far better than what his mind had managed to conjure up. It wasn’t hard to think that she wasn’t real, John never thought that it was possible for a human to look so……..remarkably flawless. Could humans even be made that perfect? Part of him longed to know her; know who she was, what she was like, why she’d dominated his dreams for months before they’d even crossed paths. But another, though weaker, part urged John to keep his distance, to stay away from her; those dreams had to mean something, and above everything, they meant that she was trouble. 

Still, John found himself, sitting in a wooden chair that didn’t really do anything for his back, staring at the girl he’d been losing sleep over as she stood at the bar, getting drinks while her friends claimed a table. She wasn’t wearing scrubs that night, instead, she’d switched them out for a little black dress that ended above her knees, boasting her very nice legs, with capped sleeves and tiny red polka dots about the entire thing. Though his eyes stayed on her, she didn’t look his way for a second, too busy trying to wave over the buzzing bartender. 

“Are you even listening to me?” Angela snapped her fingers in front of John’s face, rousing his attention. Meeting her frown, John finished off his drink, not really able to lie and say he had been, considering she was very likely to question him on it, knowing full and well that he wouldn’t have an answer. “What are you looking at?” Angela turned in her chair, trying to see what, or rather who, he was seeing. 

“Doesn’t matter,” he huffed gruffly, rolling his whiskey orbs and twirling the empty glass in his hands, “I’m gonna get another drink.”

“Feel free to flirt while you’re at it,” she teased lightly, and he largely ignored her, not even turning Angela’s way as he headed towards the bar. 

He’d had every intention of ignoring her, just like he had when she’d turned around to give him one final glance back at the store, but by some unfortunate coincidence, the only empty spot left at the bar just happened to be right next to where she was standing. Slipping in, John maintained his silence, not even looking at the woman as he leaned on the lip of the varnished, wooden bar top, drumming his fingers impatiently. She didn’t seem to notice him at first, though, all she had to do was turn to the side to  before her eyes lit up in recognition, “It’s you,” she gasped, taking a tentative step back.

Clearing his throat quietly, John didn’t bother to force a smile, smiling wasn’t really his thing anyway, “It is,” he nodded, “Funny seeing you here,” even if he had absolutely no interest in smiling with her, that didn’t mean he was particularly opposed to seeing her smile.

But, alas, she didn’t. John couldn’t blame her though, passing jokes weren’t really his area of expertise, and she just scrunched her face, “Is it though? I mean, its downtown L.A, you probably see the same person three times a week, it’s just, you almost knocked me over, so you actually remember.”

Rolling his eyes again, John shook his head, avoiding her pretty dark gaze. She had nice eyes. No, nice might have been an understatement, she had gorgeous eyes, so dark and bottomless, almost completely black. If given the opportunity, John thought that he wouldn't mind getting lost in them. Maybe that was why he’d been avoiding them so much, because he wanted to mind, because getting lost in her eyes meant he’d have to get to know her, and getting to know her meant letting her in. And his life wasn’t one that allowed for that sort of thing. Besides, he didn’t even know her name. 

“You walked into me,” he argued half heartedly, hoping the bartender would make his way to their end soon. The longer he stayed, the more they’d talked, and the more they talked, the more he’d want to know.

“If I remember correctly, I believe you said that it was your fault,” she quipped, a teasing glimmer in her dark pools, and a smirk up turning her lips.

Huffing a chuckle, John sighed in relief when the bartender drew nearer, “I was being polite, don’t make me regret it.”

“What a gentleman,” the woman taunted sarcastically, no malice in her tone, though, it was laced with subtle intrigue, and before John knew it, she was offering her petite hand, “I’m Valerie, Valerie Moore.”

Reluctantly, John  took her hand, enclosing it in his larger, calloused one, “John Constantine.” As hard as he tried, it was difficult to pretend that her touch didn’t have an effect on him. Her, Valerie’s, hands were so soft, and John felt like just the slightest haste could hurt them. He could see why she was in the medical field though, he could tell by the scrubs she’d been wearing, with the hospital’s name etched on the breast pocket, her hands felt healing. It was hard to describe how, but quickly, John had imagined that anyone graced by Valerie’s touch would feel better about anything in seconds, he knew he did.

Scrunching her face, Valerie giggled as she reclaimed her hand, and by just her relaxed demeanor, so different from how flustered she’d been at the store, it was obvious that she’d probably been drinking even before getting to the bar, “Like the Roman Emperor?”

Snorting, John squinted his eyes, “What?” He fought a smile, caught off guard by the fact.

Glancing down at their feet, her pale cheeks took on a rosy hue, accentuating her thick dark lashes, “It’s nothing,” she mumbled, her giddy giggles softer, “My dad’s a history teacher and sometimes I just-”

“Hey,” a matronly woman, no doubt years older than Valerie interrupted, gently laying a ring adorned hand on her girl’s bare shoulder. Maybe she was her mother, though it didn’t quite seem like it, surely though, she was someone that cared enough to come check in when Valerie was caught in conversation with a lanky stranger, “Everything okay hun?” The short, plump women looked between them, and it was only then that John realized just how close they’d been standing.

“Huh?” Valerie cast her wide innocent eyes towards her friend, “Yeah, I’m fine Martha, I was talking John’s ear off over here,” her blush deepened. She was so, painfully innocent John thought, girls in L.A weren’t usually like that, so blushy and reserved. 

Nodding slowly, Martha gave John a cautious once over, as if determining whether or not he was worth her friend’s company or not, “Okay,” her tone held a skepticism and when the bartender placed a some beers near where they were standing, Martha took a few, only leaving behind one for Valerie, “Well, I’ll leave you two to it, but everyone’s right over there. Right Val?”

“Yeah,” she nodded astutely, “I’ll be right over, thanks Martha.” When the older woman was out of earshot, Valerie turned back to him, offering a shy smile and quick blinks. After, she took a quick, tentative sip of her beer, before speaking again, “Sorry about that, Martha’s just…..protective.”

“It’s okay,” John inhaled deeply, vaguely aware of Angela casting him an intrigued stare from their table. He knew she wasn’t jealous or anything of the sort; they’d tried the whole dating thing for a short stint, after he’d started cleaning himself up and she’d had time to properly grieve for her sister, but in the end, had decided that they were much better off as friends. “I should let you get to it,” he got his drink, another finger of whiskey, “Be careful, okay?” John didn’t know why he’d let himself say it, but the urge might have nagged him otherwise. He just couldn’t shake the feeling that Valerie might be in actual danger. 

“Um,” stunned, Valerie straightened her back, swallowing thickly, “Yeah okay. It was nice to meet you John,” and before he could return her words, just after her smile faltered, she was turning on the flat heel of her black ballet pump and hurrying off towards the group she’d arrived with, and unlike that night in the store, she didn’t look back.

It was late when Valerie and her friends from the hospital had finally decided to leave the bar, nearly stumbling out onto the sidewalk. “You sure you’re good to drive Val?” Damien, one of the other Nurse practitioners, probed before he could start walking in the direction of his own car.

“Yeah,” already, she was rummaging through her little purse for her keys. Of course, she wasn’t exactly sober, but Valerie didn’t live too far away from the place they’d chosen, it was just about a fifteen minute to her place. “I got this,” she laughed giddily, trying to suppress a stumble as she moved away from the group. The rest of goodbyes were exchanged with an air of skepticism, and her friends seemed reluctant to let her leave, but Valerie was a bit past noticing their worry, eventually shaking them off, slowly staggering towards her car, parked all the way at the top of the street. 

Everything was fine, at least for a while until the night chill broke through her thin coat and at some point, the path in front of her started to seem bleary. Worse yet, she was pretty sure that there was someone following her, keeping close the shadows, several feet behind her, their identity shrouded. Unnerved, she sped up, clutching her keys tightly, the metal cool in her palms. Heavy, shallow breaths were hard to contain, and that was when it happened, sending the iciest chill up her spine.

“Precious little Valerie shouldn’t be walking alone. Bad things happen when pretty girls walk alone….” The ragged, hoarse voice seemed closer than it ever had, and then, out from the shadows, merely two or three feet in front of her, was a boy, no older than sixteen, his skin hard and yellow, and his eyes unfocused and glassy. 

Half a panicked scream left her quivering lips and Valerie could feel her heart trying to break through her ribs and leap right out of her chest. In an instant the boy…..or whatever was left of his apparently decaying form lunged for her, barely phased when she swung her bag offensively, hitting him square in the jaw. “What the fuck?” She breathed, too frightened to scream as she stumbled, falling back into the damp sidewalk.

Wildly, she kicked him in the face, not caring if her attempts of fighting back were barely buying her time. It couldn’t end that way; she was too young. “Let go of me!” She violently wiggled her leg out of his grasp, scrambling up and trying to run towards her car, her left shoe slipping off in the process, nearly causing her to slip on the slippery concrete. 

For a split second, Valerie thought that she might have escaped her nasty faith, but nothing was as unforgiving as whatever was after her. Enraged, it’s high pitch, demented shrill rang out ear piercingly, “No!” It reached for the back of her dress, “Valerie comes with me!”

It was over. It had to be, the teenager from hell had caught her. He was stronger than her, or so she thought, and he was about to drag her to whatever hole he’d crawled out from. But then unthinkable happened, all in a blur; a familiar form leaping out of alongside the darkened store fronts, formerly protected by the darkness, was now fighting her battle for her. And much more efficiently too. In what seemed to be an instant, though might have just been minutes sped up by her adrenaline fueled mind, John ‘not the Roman emperor’ Constantine, had the kid pinned down,  splashing what Valerie could only presume to be water, or maybe clear liquor on his face. Really, she didn’t know, but she could tell that it had been enough to weaken him enough, so John could subsequently start reading from a little black book. “Close your eyes,” he growled, taking a minute from his words.

“What?” Confused and scared, it was safe to say that Valerie was having a hard time processing even the simplest instructions.

Taking another quick, very reluctant break, John, more annoyed than ever, simply spat, “Your eyes, close them!”

Without any other reasonable explanation besides not wanting him, or anyone else to viciously attack her, Valerie shut her eyes tight. Her other senses kicked in, working in overdrive, trying to piece together what was going on, though all she could comprehend were John’s continued prayers and then, after a few minutes, a body tackling her, once again knocking to the floor again. It wasn’t the boy though, no, he had smelt disgustingly of sulfur, but this person gave off another aroma; soap, cologne and whiskey. Cracking one eye open, Valerie sighed in relief once her suspicions were confirmed; it was John. 

His face hovered less than an inch over hers, lips so close that it would take barely any effort to lean up and kiss him. Their breaths were shared and Valerie could feel John’s hard chest pressing on her breasts, his weight heavy on hers, though, she didn’t think she wanted him to move anyway. His presence and their proximity was so consuming that she hadn’t even noticed the shattered glass surrounding them, pieces caught in her hair, though his larger body shielding her from the worst of it. “You-”

She didn’t get to finish, for the minute that John realized that he was lingering, holding her down for longer than he needed to, he struggled into a standing position, offering his hand to help Valerie do the same. “You need to come with me,” was all he chucked out when they’d just started grasping their bearings, his fingers enclosed around her upper arm, trying to pull her along.

Though, now sobered by her near heart stopping experience, Valerie fought his grip, almost yelping when she saw the boy laying on the ground, looking far different from how he’d been when he attacked her, and the glass from one of the store fronts completely shattered, “What the fuck is going on?” Her hair was wet from some puddle or the other, her clothes were soaked through too and one side of her shoes was still missing. And that was just the physical damage. What was going on in her head was something entirely different. 

“I can explain this when you’re safe,” he urged her along, not even phased by her fighting.

Trying to yank her arm away, Valerie refused to give in so easily, “And I’m safe with you? I barely know you. And we can’t just leave that kid on the sidewalk.”

“He wasn’t the one that almost died back there,” his low, gruff voice dripped with annoyance, and Valerie could tell that he really just wanted her to shut up. But how could she with all that was going on?

“What was that back there? What the hell was wrong with that kid? Are you a priest, why were you saying Saint Michael’s prayer?” The questions just tumbled out of her mouth, right as she’d finally wrenched herself from John’s grip.

Finally, realizing that she was too stubborn for them to make it to his car, John slumped his shoulders, begrudgingly giving in. Why’d he have to want to save her so bad? “You speak Latin?”

“What?” She scoffed, folding her arms, “I don’t, and if you’re not going to answer my questions, then I’m going back to my car.” 

Turning on her heel, Valerie had just started walking again, when John halted her with a series of brief explanations, “That was a possession, and then an exorcism. That kid was possessed and no, I’m not a priest.” When she turned back to him, he slipped his hands into the pockets of his black slacks, “Now lets try this again, do you speak Latin? And don’t lie to me.”

“I don’t,” now traded places, with Valerie being the annoyed one, she spoke through gritted teeth, “Why’s that so important to you anyway?”

“You ask so many questions,” he rolled his eyes, “And its important because that’s the only way you would have understood a word of that prayer. Unless you’re a really devout Catholic.”

Taken aback, Valerie’s eyes widened, jaw hanging slack, “I’m not,” she gasped, she couldn’t even remember the last time she’d set foot in a church or even prayed. “You…..I….you were…...that was Latin?”

“Well it wasn’t exactly English,” John joked, dry and humorless, only frowning when he noticed her trouble, “But you didn’t know that.” All she managed was a slight shake of her head. “Did you understand what he was saying?”

It couldn’t be. “Yeah,” nothing followed the breathy peep, as Valerie was too busy getting lost in a swirling pool of despair. A demon possessed kid knew her name, tried to kidnap her, and now she could speak dead languages? Maybe she should have just stayed home that night. “What’s…..I don’t understand.”

“Neither do I,” John grabbed her shoulders, probably thinking it would ground her, Valerie knew the little trick well, it was something she did when patients started freaking out, something about having someone’s comforting touch was centering. “But I might be able to help you, I just need you to trust me, okay?”

Trust him? A man she didn’t know? A man who could probably want her dead, just like some apparent demon.

But his eyes were so sincere, and beneath his cynicism and sarcastic quips, it actually seemed like he cared.

It wasn’t something her father would approve of, and Martha would definitely give her a lecture or two on her naivety, but there she was, thinking that maybe John was exactly who he said he was; someone that could help.

“Okay,” Valerie relented, finally letting John urge her to his car, going wherever he’d take her just so she could have some answers.

*****

Tagging- @harrisongslimited @magnificentclodpiebanana @keandrews @greenmanalishi  @rdjloverxxx @danceoftwowolves  @planetkt @wheretheriversrunintothesea  @luxx-aeterna

[weevil-wallflower]

Robotnik: Into the multiverse (part 1/?)

Word count: 12,395

A/N: a little-big story that was the result of a little roleplay me and my friends did. For some context btw, I’m going to mention who played which characters:

My characters: Zinnia Frost, Theodore Collins, Tweety & Dr Ivo Robotnik (aka Robotnik #2, who’s from another universe). @jimbotnik: Emil Sobel, Agent Stone, Dozy & Dr Robotnik (aka Robotnik #1, who’s from this universe). @blood-on-my-paws: Zonic the Zone Cop, an alternate version of Sonic. @stuffedfoxwiththewifipassword: John Constantine and Liam Constantine.

Have fun reading this convoluted mess of a story uwu. And yes, it loosely follows the movie-verse.

After Robotnik successfully made it into this universe, it took him barely an hour to locate Zinnia and his other self, along with a few unpleasant individuals. Instead of contacting them outright however, he first set up a base deep in the woods up in mountains a few miles from Zinnia’s house.

The mess that he’ll later find himself into, started with a series of text messages:

Dr Ivo Robotnik To: The Imposter So Zinnia is your assistant. It seems I’ve crossed into another universe. A minor setback but it can be easily corrected.

Dr Robotnik To: Fraudulent Idiot Precisely! You just toddle back into your universe before you ruin everything for me.

Zonic the Zone Cop To: Everyone How the FUCK did two Robotniks end up in the same universe?!

Dr Frost To: Everyone I’m sorry, what? OwO And who are you?!

Zonic the Zone Cop To: Everyone I’m a zone cop, and I have to get these guys back to their worlds...

Dr Robotnik To: Everyone Nice, TWO hedgehogs...

Zonic the Zone Cop To: Everyone I don’t get paid enough for this

Dr Ivo Robotnik To: The Imposter Wait, you have your assistant but I don’t?! That’s unacceptable! I’m taking yours! She’s mine now!

Dr Robotnik To: Fraudulent Idiot Just go ahead and try. Your head will be on a pike in my personal surveillance room if you go anywhere near her. She's MINE.

Dr Ivo Robotnik To: The Imposter I always like a good challenge.

Dr Robotnik To: Fraudulent Idiot Have you ever tracked another man on foot through the moonlit forest, each breath burning your lungs, adrenaline racing as you close in? Have you ever been transfixed by the light of pure, primal terror in your victim's eyes? By the hitch of their breath as the knife goes in, the one shortly followed by a scream louder than they've ever produced? Have you ever truly relished the way that their cries for mercy and their begging give way to bestial vocalizations of fatal agony?

Dr Robotnik To: Fraudulent Idiot I look forward to meeting you.

Dr Ivo Robotnik To: The Imposter That’s quite a reply. I think you should relax. You don’t need to prove anything. We both know that I am the better one of the two of us.

Dr Frost To: Dr Robotnik #2 So, there’s two of you now? OwO So different dimensions do exist! I’ve always been fascinated by this.

Dr Ivo Robotnik To: Zinnia Yes, unfortunately there is two of me. Although, you don’t exist in my universe anymore... But that can be easily rectified!

Dr Frost To: Dr Robotnik #2 How exactly? OwO

Dr Ivo Robotnik To: Zinnia You’ll come with me back to my universe, of course!

Dr Frost To: Dr Robotnik #2 Ummm, no. Thank you for asking though.

Dr Ivo Robotnik To: Zinnia That wasn’t a question

Zonic the Zone Cop To: Robotnik #02 and Zinnia Do not steal people from their universes!

Zonic the Zone Cop To: Robotnik #02 If you don’t stop I’m going to arrest you

Dr Ivo Robotnik To: Hedgehog cop Oh great. Another hedgehog. Just what I needed. It seems you can’t leave me alone even in another dimension! But don’t worry, I’ll deal with you later.

Zonic the Zone Cop To: Robotnik #02 I’m trying to protect the dimensions, that’s why!

Dr Ivo Robotnik To: Hedgehog cop Not for long.

Zonic the Zone Cop To: Robotnik #02 I’m... I’m not gonna argue with you. But if you don’t go back to your world, I’ll take you back there

Dr Ivo Robotnik To: Hedgehog cop You’re more than welcome to try.

Dr Frost To: Dr Robotnik #1 The other you wants to take me back to his universe. But I don’t wanna go QwQ

Dr Robotnik To: Dr Zinnia I can see that. This sad imitation of me doesn't seem to realize that I can read his messages... It looks like he takes a lot of things for granted, actually. I'm on my way to your home, and I'm sending a fleet of drones and ground cover ahead of me. Hide someplace secure, and use your boyfriend as a distraction.

Dr Frost To: Dr Robotnik #1 If Teddy found out there’s more of you, he’s going to have a breakdown. He already doesn’t like you 😞

Dr Robotnik To: Dr Zinnia TO HELL WITH HIM, THEN! I WON'T LET MY DOPPELGANGER STEAL YOU!!!!!!!!!

Dr Frost To: Dr Robotnik #1 I don’t want to get stolen either QwQ

Dr Robotnik To: Fraudulent Idiot You're outclassed, you lack passion, and you're not exactly playing in your home court, either. You're unworthy of my violent tendencies.

Dr Ivo Robotnik To: The Imposter Bold of you to assume I’m not always prepared.

John To: Zinna Oi, just saw Robotnik at the cafe and he didn't yell "GO BACK TO BRITIAN, LIMEY TWINK" is he alright?

Dr Frost To: John Yeah, that must be the Robotnik from another universe.

John To: Zinna ...May I have his phone number?

John To: Other Robotnik I'm John Constantine. I heard you're another Robotnik, eh?

Dr Ivo Robotnik To: Constantine That’s classified.

Dr Ivo Robotnik To: The Imposter So I see you have your assistant’s house surrounded by drones. What makes her so special that you’re willing to go out of your way to defend her, I wonder.

Dr Robotnik To: Fraudulent Idiot Come try to find out. Oh, and don't mind the whiny, poorly dressed British man. He hates fun.

Agent Stone To: Dr Robotnik Doctor! I just spotted the blue hedgehog in the compound! He was wearing an ugly helmet. I'm not sure what that's all about...

Dr Robotnik To: Agent Stone Did you catch him? Is THAT why you're bothering me?! I'M VERY BUSY RIGHT NOW!!!

Agent Stone To: Dr Robotnik Sorry, Doctor. 😔

Dr Frost To: Dr Robotnik #1 Uhhh, I saw you outside my house just now. Or was it the other you? OwO

Dr Robotnik To: Dr Zinnia I'll prove it's me! Now open up! [sends a picture of his ungloved hand, showing the fucked-up finger that Tweety gave him]

Dr Frost To: Dr Robotnik #1 Oh okay, it really is you. Can’t be too sure now that there’s another one of you.

“Okay, so my agents and my machines are staked out in all of the houses in your immediate area, and all of the entryways into the subdivision are being watched. No one is coming anywhere near you without my knowledge!” Robotnik now stood in Zinnia’s living room after he proved to her that he was their Robotnik by showing her his scarred finger that her parrot gave him. Agent Stone was there as well, standing to the side, waiting for the doctor to give him further orders. 

Emil glared at him, standing at a safe distance so he won’t end up doing something he’ll regret. “The only reason I haven't kicked your ass by now is because Zinnia hates violence. You're on thin ice, Ivo!” His growl turned into a shout when the scientist picked up Dozy. “PUT MY CAT DOWN!!”

“No. He likes me. See?” He held the cat closer as if to prove his point.

Zinnia on the other hand, looked on in mild confusion before speaking up. “Okay...does this mean I won’t be going to work? Can I go anywhere at all...?”

Robotnik’s response was quick and firm. “Unless you're accompanied by me, you're not allowed to leave the house. It's for your own good!”

A feeling other than confusion washed over her. Was it worry? Fear? It was difficult to tell. “But I’m sure I’ll be fine here on my own. There’s all your agents and drones watching.”

"Zinnia, this is for your own good! Don't you want to stay in this universe with your stupid boyfriend? The other Robotnik is inferior to me, but that doesn't mean he's completely stupid...” He trailed off, while still cuddling Dozy. Said cat didn’t care what was going on. As long as he was given affection, he was content.

“Of course I want to stay here! I don’t wanna lose Teddy and my friends. And for what it’s worth, I don’t wanna lose you...” There was anxiety in her quiet voice now that she finally registered the gravity of the situation at hand.

Hearing her say that, Robotnik was overcome with a feeling he didn’t really understood. But it wasn’t a bad feeling. Quite the opposite actually. It was pleasant enough to make him put the cat down, go over to where Zinnia stood, hesitate a bit before enveloping her in a hug in spite of Emil glaring at him.

The young woman didn’t hesitate though. She instantly wrapped her arms around his waist to hug him back. She needed all the comfort she could get. “I don’t understand why he’s so interested in me...” she whispered in despair.

“AHA! FOUND YOU!” What appeared to be a blue, mobian hedgehog, suddenly appeared in Zinnia’s living room, all his attention focused on Robotnik. The hedgehog was wearing some sort of red helmet and armour. It was Zonic the Zone Cop; an inter-dimensional counterpart of Sonic.

The scientist instantly pulled out his pistol. “Ohh you sure did!” He shoved Zinnia behind him and opened fire.

“Oh my God!” The young woman gasped and quickly moved away to stand next to Emil.

“MY CHILDREN! ATTACK THAT MOBIAN!!” Apparently, a pistol wasn’t enough because with a command using his gloves, Robotnik summoned all his drones that were guarding Zinnia’s suburb, into her home in order to catch the hedgehog.

Emil on the other hand, didn’t look amused one bit. “Do you really have to call them your children?”

“What the hell is going on?!” Theodore, Zinnia’s boyfriend, stood in the open doorway, observing at the chaos. His face twisted in anger and disbelief. He never expected to see his girlfriend’s employer in her home, along with his drones, trying to capture what looked like a blue, humanoid hedgehog. ‘I just wanted a relaxing evening with Zinnia...’ 

Zinnia did not waste a single second and ran into her boyfriend’s arms, clinging to him tightly. “I don’t know!” Her voice shook with distress as he wrapped his arms around her and caressed her back to sooth her. Before he could say anything else, Emil yelled out.

“WE NEED TO GO, NOW!!” He scooped up Dozy while frantically looking around for Tweety. “Where's the bird?!” He’d decided that they must leave for their own good lest they were caught in the crossfire.

Zinnia pulled away from her boyfriend and called out to the bird. “Tweety, over here!” Seconds later, the bird flew over from wherever he happened to be perched at that moment and gracefully landed on her shoulder. And with that, her, Theodore, Emil, Dozy and Tweety were all out of the still open front door.

But before they could go farther than the walkway, a car pulled in front of her house. And inside, was Robotnik. “Your saviour is here! Get in if you want to escape.” He called out to them, a bit too enthusiastically, through the lowered side window.

“What the fuck?!” Emil exclaimed. He couldn’t believe his eyes as. There was another Robotnik!?

“Oh no! It’s him...” Zinnia whispered in fright and clung to Theodore’s arm, pressing her body as close to his as possible. She did not like the way he was looking at her, his intense dark eyes boring into her. If she’s learned anything from their Robotnik, is that he’s unpredictable. His inter-dimensional counterpart may be just as unpredictable as him, if not more. Not to mention, she knows the Robotnik of this universe. The new one however, she knew nothing about.

Theodore was just as shocked as Emil, if not more. “Zinnia what...why are there two of them??” He questioned incredulously. Judging by her reaction, it seemed she knew who he was. But who, exactly? ‘Did that crazy employer of hers clone himself or something?’

“That’s a long story...” She murmured a reply back, never taking her eyes off the other Robotnik. The man who threatened- no, promised to take her away just hours prior. And unfortunately for them, their Robotnik had dedicated all his firepower into catching Zonic, effectively leaving them helpless. Something which the inter-dimensional Robotnik had decided to use to his full advantage.

Even Zinnia’s parrot, Tweety, looked surprised upon seeing the same man that was still in the house. ‘Unless he can teleport...’ His crest was raised in attention as he observed the scientist. No...It was not the same person. He looked identical but the bird could sense that he was different.

Back inside the house, Stone had unholstered his handgun and was firing shot after shot at the hedgehog. One of those shots successfully hit his intended target, causing Zonic to be shot on his side and fall back with a pained grunt

He stood back up, not expecting the aggressive attack in the first place. “Good Chaos, I was just going to give you a warning!” Unfortunately, unlike his other self, Zonic did not possess super speed, due to which he tried and failed to dodge the other bullets. “STOP!”

“FINALLY!” Robotnik shouted in triumph. “Agent Stone, you dependable little fool...” He grabbed Zonic by the arm and roughly hauled him to his feet. “Agent Stone! Cuff him and search him for anything that even looks like a weapon.”

“NO.” Zonic shouted in protest, despite the immense pain he was in. “OH MY CHAOS I’M JUST TRYING TO PROTECT YOUR WORLDS” He tried to escape from the house but the front entrance was guarded by the drones. “Where’s my team when I need them?!”

Zinnia shot a worried look back at the chaos occurring in her house then directed her attention at her friend. “Emil, what do we do?”

“You listen to me, of course!” The other Robotnik called out to them, sounding so sure of himself.

“The last thing we need is another Ivo in our lives...” Emil moved to stand between him and Zinnia.

“I’m trying to help you, you idiot!” The doppelganger just barely stopped himself from letting out an impatient snarl. “But by all means, if you want to stay here and get killed in the crossfire, be my guest.”

Emil weighed their options. The certainly did not have to leave with Robotnik. They could leave in his car, which was right there- “They shot up my fucking car...” He clenched his fists in anger. This felt planned. “Whichever one of them did this is dead. Wait... it's... I don't hear anymore gunfire...”

“Do...do we leave with him...?” Zinnia asked, looking from Robotnik to her house and then towards Emil, uncertain of what to do.

“I don't think we should. I don't trust this one any more than the other...Let's just go back in the house for now.” Emil said, turning to face the house, to which Zinnia replied with a small “Okay...”

The Robotnik in the car inwardly cursed, seeing as they were about to go inside, and quickly stepped out of his car and made his way over to them.

Emil was ready for that as he was quick to face him. “Time to see if this one's any stronger than the real Ivo.” He grabbed a roll of quarters from his pocket and clenched his fist around it. “COME ON! LET'S SEE WHAT YOU GOT!”

Robotnik #2 didn’t appear to be threatened one bit. Instead, he looked mildly irritated as he spoke in a deadpan voice. “If I was here to fight, you’d be dead by now.”

“Then why are you here?” Zinnia timidly spoke up despite her apprehension.

His attention switched from Emil to Zinnia. “Oh, I figured you all could use a little help to escape from my other, more volatile self.” He shrugged “innocently” and grinned down at her. It was meant to be disarming but to her it felt anything but that, causing her to unconsciously squish herself even closer to Theodore if that was even possible. His hands on her waist automatically drew her close, molding her body against his.

Robotnik stood in front of them, mesmerised by Zinnia, seeing her in the flesh after so long...It really was her. The same brown hair framing her beautiful face. The same fresh olive skin...Even the same voice. And those eyes...the very brown eyes he gazed into as he witnessed the life from them leave...His Zinnia was gone from his life, leaving a void no one could fill...Until he found her here...His fingers itched to reach out to her, brush through her silky hair, caress her soft skin. It had been far too long since he’d last had his hands on her. He comforted himself with the knowledge that he’d never have to wait this long again.

He was snapped out of his thoughts when as he noticed the pale, green-eyed man next to her draw her closer. So, this was the “poorly dressed British man” as his counterpart had put it. Robotnik’s laser focus now set on Theodore, observing him with narrowed eyes. He must be her boyfriend. Jealousy reared its ugly head but at the same time, he was gratified to know that this universe’s Robotnik and Zinnia are not together which meant he won’t have to worry about competing with his other self. After all, it’s not like he would care if his doppelganger took away the woman he does not even love.

“We already know how to deal with him. You, on the other hand? You're not one of us. Why are you even here?” Emil questioned further, pulling Robotnik out of his thoughts, to which he answered in a monotone voice, keeping a straight face, “There was a minor miscalculation in my latest experiment which transported me to this universe.” That was of course, a lie. He was not going to tell them that he had mastered inter-dimensional travel. He’s here for one thing and one thing only. And this is his only chance because Zinnia only exists in this certain universe besides his, out of many others.

“And LET me guess--you're either unable or unwilling to go back.” Emil crossed his arms, only to notice that his cat had wandered off. “WAIT! DOZY, GET BACK HERE!!”

Robotnik #2 took full advantage of that. He quickly snatched up the cat and held a knife to his throat. “That’s it! I don’t have time for this! Now you’ll all come with me! Or the cat dies!!” 

Emil saw red. “You son of a bitch...” He seethed as if he was off his meds. He looked at Zinnia and Theo.

“No, stop!” The young woman was quick to speak up. She could not let Dozy get hurt! He was just an innocent cat. “Don’t hurt him! We’ll come with you...”

“Oh, and the boyfriend stays.” Robotnik nodded his head at Theodore. That was jealousy speaking. He simply could not imagine his Zinnia being with someone else. Especially this someone. He remembered all too well how her boyfriend almost murdered her. Oh, how much he wanted to kill Theodore where he stood. But that would only upset her and make him look worse in her eyes. She already looked scared enough. Hence, it was better if the boyfriend stayed behind. That Emil guy, though? Well, he needed something to use as leverage against her if he ends up killing the cat.

Theodore obviously did not like his demand. “What?! No—” He was quick to protest but Zinnia cut him off. 

“—Theodore please!” She stared up at him pleadingly, silently begging him to do as the other Robotnik said.

Theodore internally seethed, his jaw clenching and his grip on her waist momentarily became tight enough to hurt. ‘Are they seriously going to listen to that madman because of a cat?’ His grip on Zinnia softened when he glanced down at her, genuine distress in her face. ‘Well, at least right now, it’s only the cat he’s threatening.’ He couldn’t care less what happens to the cat but who’s to say he won’t turn on any one of them afterwards?

So, Theodore nodded and, even though it pained him to do so, released his grip on his girlfriend, allowing her to step away. Emil grabbed Zinnia's hand and held it tightly for both her and his comfort. “I'll protect you, Zinny. I got your back.”

“Take care of her.” Theodore looked at him seriously. Emil nodded gravely as a reply.

“So we go then... Don’t worry, Theo. I’ll be okay...” The young woman’s doe eyes looked lovingly into his.

“Okay...I—” He was interrupted by Robotnik’s impatient growl.

“Come on! Enough of the niceties! Let’s move!” He hated the way the couple stared at one another. But even more than that, he hated how frightened Zinnia appeared. He knew his methods weren’t...conventional. Something a little like guilt tugged at his insides and he mentally swatted it away. He’d gone too far, was in too deep to be having regrets. He’d long since accepted that this was the only way.

Emil slowly approached this other Robotnik with Zinnia's hand in his, all the while keeping wary eyes trained on him.

“Get in. Now!” The doctor pressed the knife closer to Dozy to force them to move faster.

“Okay, okay! We’re going!” Zinnia scrambled to get in the car’s back seat, pulling Emil along with her.

“We're following orders. Now give me the cat.” Emil demanded once they were settled in the car.

“Not until we get to our destination. Now shut up!” Robotnik #2 yelled as he hopped in the front and carelessly deposited Dozy in the passenger seat.

Back inside the house, Zonic was cuffed and was barely able to stand upright due to the gunshot wounds he’d sustained, which were still bleeding. But he still put up a brave face. “No one’s going to listen to me, but for the sake of the balance of the multiverse, please go back to your worlds.” Stone did not like the way he spoke, however.

“Don't speak to the doctor. You don't have the privilege.” The agent kicked Zonic back into his knees.

“Excuse you, I’m an elite zone cop.” Zonic still spoke, a little too confidently for someone who was bleeding from several gunshot wounds.

“Should I kill him, doctor?” The agent asked all too eagerly.

“No, he's already been bound and incapacitated. Let's...” Robotnik paused and looked around the living room. “Where's Zinnia?”

“... WAIT DON’T GO WITH HIM! STOP!” Zonic mustered enough strength to  shout when he looked outside the still open front door to see Emil and Zinnia entering the other Robotnik’s car.

Zonic wasn’t the only one who noticed as Robotnik bellowed out, “ZINNIA! This is Emil's doing... Agent Stone! Take the blue rat back to the compound!” He ordered before marching out the front door. The doctor decided he would deal with the hedgehog later. Right now, stopping the inter-dimensional Robotnik was his priority.

The blue hedgehog coughed up blood, the crimson liquid staining his face. “F-fuck, stop! Your universes are in danger! Am I speaking Greek here?!” He choked out.

“I don’t care about the universes!” Outside, Robotnik #2 yelled back to Zonic before he turned his and looked over his shoulder at Zinnia sitting in the back. “I have everything I need now...” His voice had dropped to a low, sensual octave, the tone sending gooseflesh rippling along Zinnia’s arms and caused her to look away.

Agent Stone exited the house as well, dragging Zonic back to his SUV. “Just cooperate, and the doctor might be a little merciful with you...” He trailed off as their Robotnik fired at the other Robotnik, aiming for his head.

“Well don’t say I didn’t warn y- WHAT THE FUCK!?” Zonic let out a surprised shout as he witnessed that.

The bullet, however, missed the other doctor by inches. He cursed and hit the gas, driving off.

“You idiots will destroy your own worlds and timelines!” The hedgehog cop exclaimed. Despite being fatally injured and captured by the enemy, he cared more about the balance of the universe.

“TIME ISN'T LINEAR, YOU MORON!” Robotnik shouted back and sprinted towards his vehicle. He shoved Agent Stone aside and got in the Suburban.

“Excuse me, who is the universe expert in here? I am! I- you know what? Fuck this shit...” Seeing as no one was listening to anything he said, poor Zonic decided to just give up for now.

“Hey!” Theodore ran up to Robotnik before he could drive off. “If you’re done arguing with a blue hedgehog, you’ll notice that Zinnia and Emil have been abducted!”

“GET IN! You and Agent Stone are my gunmen!!! Get the rat into the car so I can follow them!!”

“Fine. Hand me a gun then...”

The two men did as instructed and soon, they're racing after the other Robotnik's vehicle. “AIM FOR THE TIRES!!” Their Robotnik yelled at his ‘gunmen’.

“Yes, thank you for stating the obvious.” Theodore said in a deadpan voice before he took aim through the vehicle’s window and fired the handgun.

At the very back of the Suburban, Zonic sat, mumbles a song, delirious due to blood loss before wondering out loud, “Am I dead yet?”

“Not until the doctor decides to kill you!” Agent Stone answered as a matter of fact while grinning as he opened fire as well. The hedgehog simply hummed in response.

“Damnit!” The other Robotnik swerved the car as the bullets miss by the tyres inches. “He’s not giving up, is he?”

Zinnia didn’t say anything as she got out her phone and proceeded to text her boss aka their Robotnik:

Dr Frost To: Dr Robotnik #1 I have been kidnapped. In broad daylight. I’m scared QwQ

Dr Robotnik To: Dr Zinnia I'm close behind him and I'm not alone. I have a lot in store for that sad, pathetic imitation of me...

Dr Frost To: Dr Robotnik #1 I’d appreciate it if there’s no bloodshed QwQ

Dr Robotnik To: Dr Zinnia Then politely ask him to pull over, and make sure you're buckled in since he'll invariably say no.

Dr Frost To: Dr Robotnik #1 If he’s anything like you, convincing him will be difficult OwO

Dr Robotnik To: Dr Zinnia Just try it anyway before he runs himself into a ravine!!!

Zinnia decided to take her boss’s advice and spoke up, voice a little wobbly. “Stop! You’ll end up hurting all of us!”

Robotnik #2 shouted back, enraged. “And lose you after I just got you?! Never!”

“What??” The young woman mumbled, wide-eyed and stunned to silence. She was both frightened and confused. She didn’t know what exactly he wanted from her. But judging be his behaviour towards her...she was afraid to ask...

Next to her, Emil listened in as he begun praying under his breath in mangled Hebrew, barely being able to keep himself under control.

Back in the Suburban, Robotnik #1 was seething in rage at the other Robotnik’s audacity to abduct Emil and Zinnia. He decided to text his double himself seeing as he probably did not listen to anything Zinnia had to say:

Dr Robotnik To: Fraudulent Idiot You have NO IDEA how badly you've fucked up...

Dr Ivo Robotnik To: The Imposter Hm, by taking Zinnia? She’s just your assistant. I’m sure you can get another one.

His idiotic imitation thinks that he doesn’t care about Zinnia. But little does he know... “KEEP FIRING!! HE'S TOO STUPID TO KNOW HE'S OUTCLASSED!!!” He bellowed out to Theodore and Stone before texting him again:

Dr Robotnik To: Fraudulent Idiot You might have a better idea than I thought. What's the matter? Did something happen to your Zinnia?

Dr Ivo Robotnik To: The Imposter I lost her... But now I have a chance to get her back. And I’m not giving up!

Dr Robotnik To: Fraudulent Idiot Ohhh... You happened to her, didn't you? You killed her!

Dr Ivo Robotnik To: The Imposter IT WAS NEVER MY INTENTION TO!!! I loved her...

“They’re getting away!” Theodore interrupted his texting spree. A subtle hint of panic could be detected in his voice.

Robotnik floored it, the vehicle speeding up even more. “KEEP SHOOTING! I'll crash into it before I let him take them to his hell-dimension!!”

At the same moment, the other Robotnik took a sharp turn to throw them off. It caused Zinnia to jerk to the side and collide into Emil. “Just stop already! This is crazy...”

That turned out successful. Robotnik #1 barely avoided rolling the car as he swerved “You bastard...” he swore before he continued the messages to try and ‘reason’ with him aka taunt him. He does appear to be getting steadily more and more unhinged. If he can get him to stop...

Dr Robotnik To: Fraudulent Idiot Was it your reckless driving that killed her? Your fits of rage? Your utter hatred for the world and everyone within it? Tell me

Dr Ivo Robotnik To: The Imposter It’s none of your business! And don’t act like you care about her!!!

Dr Robotnik To: Fraudulent Idiot Did you hit her too hard? Did you shake her until her neck snapped? Were you paranoid? Jealous? You just couldn't stand to let her out of your sight... Death was her only relief from your suffocating grasp, and oh, how dearly you must have made her pay for that bitter end...

Dr Ivo Robotnik To: The Imposter I... I never hurt her! I could never... IT WAS AN ACCUDENT!!!

The messages almost triggered a very unpleasant memory, causing the inter-dimensional Robotnik to get distressed. He barely managed to stop from colliding into another car.

“Oh my God!” Came Zinnia’s frightened cry from the back of the car. She tightly wrapped her arms around Emil held on to him for dear life.

Their Robotnik was quick to notice as he sped after his counterpart. “He's becoming distraught... Don't give up yet!!” His messages were working...

Dr Robotnik To: Fraudulent Idiot It's never an accident. Not with you, and not with me. You know that, Ivo. Did she have time to beg for mercy? To scream, even?

Dr Ivo Robotnik To: The Imposter I loved her...

Dr Robotnik To: Fraudulent Idiot No. You thought that you owned her. She was simply yours. You barely understand what it means to love someone! The closest you can manage is unmitigated obsession.

Dr Ivo Robotnik To: The Imposter So you know how I felt. Still feel... I made a mistake, I’ll admit that. But now I have a chance to start over!

Dr Robotnik To: Fraudulent Idiot Listen to yourself! You think that she's replaceable. The woman that you've taken against her will is just a replacement part to you, isn't she? Any attempt that you make to start over will be forced at best. She'll wish that she could meet the same end as "your" Zinnia. She might even bring about her own end to escape your pathetic, crazed desperation.

The final message was the last straw. It triggered a flashback of his Zinnia dying:

=========== le flashback ===========

In San Francisco, what appeared to be a normal was interrupted by a shocking scene: an anthropomorphic blue hedgehog was running through the city at breathtaking speed while a flying machine called the Eggpod piloted by a moustached scientist dressed gave chase and fired explosive energy blasts at said hedgehog. Despite the Eggpod matching Sonic’s super speed, most of its lasers missed due to the hedgehog’s agility and instead caused immense destruction around the city. The lasers tore apart roads, blew up cars, killed and injured several innocent bystanders. Robotnik was unconcerned about all of that. That is, until one of the energy blasts struck a building a certain someone happened to be standing next to.

Zinnia had followed Robotnik to San Francisco, hoping to stop him from doing something he may come to regret. She had foolishly hoped she could stop him from putting anyone’s life at risk, including his own. But she was a bit too late. The fight, or the high-speed chase, had already begun. And Robotnik...was too far gone in his obsession and madness. He didn’t care about anything else other than capturing the hedgehog. Didn’t care who’s blood he had to spill as long as he successfully captures the hedgehog. The doctor didn’t take anyone into consideration. Not even Zinnia when she tried to knock some sense into him earlier. And that was his biggest mistake.

Zinnia stood next to the building as she looked up towards the sky, trying to catch a glimpse of the red blur that was the Eggpod. By the time she noticed one laser blast coming towards her direction, it was too late. The laser struck the building above her and the impact brought part of the structure directly down on her. The young woman had only enough time to take one retreating step before she was crushed under it. It all happened so fast.

The manic grin on Robotnik’s face was replaced by shock. At once, he stopped chasing Sonic and steered his Eggpod to where Zinnia stood earlier and brought it to a stop near the collapsed building. He hopped out and sprinted closer towards the destruction, trying to find Zinnia. When the dust cleared, he saw her lying on her back, among the wreckage, her lower half crushed under heavy rubble including an enormous metal beam. 

Zinnia whimpered in agony. Her face contorted in a grimace of pain and her breaths coming in little gasps. Her glasses laid off in the distance, the lenses broken. Everything looked blurry as if she was looking through a fogged window. She was trapped, in pain and was unable to see her surroundings well. All those feelings mixed up and panic swelled within her. Near hyperventilating, she tried to draw in deep breaths but instead, tears started spilling from her eyes and a choked sob tore from her throat. It hurt to simply breathe. Every breath she inhaled sent excruciating pain flaring through her entire body.

Her hands shook as she moved them lower and futilely tried to remove the structures pinning her to the ground. But they were too heavy. They didn’t move an inch. The simple movement caused her chest to heave in exertion and more pain flared up in her body.

“Zinnia!” Someone was calling for her. Her head weakly lolled to the side and she saw a red, blurry figure running towards her. Only when he came within three feet of her, she recognised who it was. 

“Oh no, Zinnia! No, no, no...” Robotnik got to work and managed to remove most of the debris but no matter how much he tried, he was unable to move the large metal beam. Not that it would have helped. Her lower half, including her lower spine, was already crushed. She was already losing the feelings in her legs.

“Ivo...I’m so sorry... the baby...” Zinnia weakly mumbled out while Robotnik was frantically removing the debris, immediately catching his attention.

“You’re sorry?!” He asked in disbelief as he kneeled down next to her. “Sugar plum, you don’t have anything to be sorry for!” Even while she was lying there, barely able to breath, all she cared about was the baby. He remembered how joyful she was when she discovered she was pregnant... He had never felt the need for children. But seeing her so happy like that made him happy...

The young woman shook her head in despair. “I-I lost...lost our b-baby!” she sobbed, as her hand unconsciously reached down to her belly but instead landed on the metal beam she was crushed under. She couldn’t even touch her belly. It brought even more tears to her voice.

“No, no! This is not your fault.” Robotnik reached over and held her hand. His larger one completely engulfing hers as he gave a gentle squeeze. “Don’t cry please, save your strength.”

But it was useless. What strength she previously had; it was no more. The pain in her body slowly turned to numbness. Her breathing slowed down. She only had enough strength to weakly whisper out one last sentence. “I-I... I love you...”

“And I love you! I’m so sorry! This is all my fault. I’m—”

—But alas, it was at that moment that Zinnia took her last breath and the light left her dark brown eyes, leaving then to stare vacantly up at the sky.

“—sorry... Please...forgive me.” A choked sob tore from his throat when he noticed she wasn’t breathing. “Zinnia? Zinnia...? Zinnia, please! Don’t-Don’t leave me! I’m sorry, I’m so sorry!”

She was his wife! He was supposed to protect her! But instead, he brought upon her horrifying death. He killed her... And in spite of having all this immense wealth and power in his possession, he could not save the woman he loved. Still loves... He remembered how she cried and pleaded with him to not go after the hedgehog. How she clung to him and begged him to not go down that road. But he just brushed her aside. How could be do that? How could he stare into her tearful eyes and push her away as if she was nothing. He was so consumed by his madness and greed for more, he didn’t realise he already had the greatest gift anyone could ever have: Love. If only he’d listened to her in the first place. This would not have happened. Despite what many people believed, both him and Zinnia were so happy together. He was even starting to change for the better all because of her. And he was finally going to have something he never had but always wanted; A family. But he destroyed it before it could even have a chance to grow. He let his greed control him. And it cost him his sugar plum...He remembered how that name came about. She loves...loved plums...These thoughts and regrets were raging in his mind now. The loss he had just suffered by his own hand no less, brought upon the most overwhelming feeling of self-hatred. The likes of which he had never felt before. 

Robotnik could not tolerate to look in her blank eyes anymore. It felt as though they stared right into his wretched soul. The doctor’s hand shook as he raised it to gently close her eyes. Now if it wasn’t for the blood slowly trickling out of her nose and mouth, one would mistake her to be peacefully asleep. Oh, how he wished that was the case. He wished he could wake up and find out it was all a horrible nightmare. But alas, it was not. Now, he could do nothing but kiss her cold lips one last time, lay his head on her lifeless body and weep. He was useless.

========== flashback end ==========

So caught up he was in this horrendous memory, he didn’t notice the car to slow down and swerve until it was too late.

“If you two don't disable that fucking car he's--fuck!!”  Robotnik #1 was not just seething with rage anymore. An intense fear was crawling through him as well. The fear of not being able to stop his other self in time.

But just at that moment, Theodore was able to shoot one of the tyres. “I think I hit it...”

“God damnit! No!” The other Robotnik bellowed out in frustration as the tyres screeched and his car came to a jerking stop.

“IT'S OVER YOU SON OF A BITCH!!” Their Robotnik screeched to a halt a few feet away and he wasted no time in jumping out of the car, and sprinting toward the imposter's car.

“Oh, thank God...” Zinnia on the other hand, tried to calm her nerves as she slowly stepped out of the car, only to be grabbed by said imposter.

“Let us leave and no one needs to get hurt!” The other Robotnik snarled as he pulled Zinnia closer with both arms around her body, gripping her tightly but not enough to be painful. That however did nothing to ease the young woman’s fears. She was practically trembling.

Fortunately, Emil came to her rescue. With his face a mask of cold, focused rage, he struck Robotnik's double with a rabbit punch. The force staggered him back, making him let go of Zinnia. “No... No!” Then he remembered his gloves. Assuming both him and his counterpart had identical technology. It was worth a try... He punched a few buttons on his glove with practised ease and successfully activated the drones, commanding them to fire at the others, except Zinnia, of course.

But sadly, she still got shot in the side as she ran away. Her body seized under the white hot pain she felt, causing her to fall with a pained scream. 

Robotnik #1 tackled his doppelganger in spite of the sudden hail of bullets, and he laid into him with his fists. Zinnia's scream only stoked the rage and hatred in his eyes...

“THEO! Go grab her! I'll draw them to me!” Stone started providing cover fire the same time as Theodore bellowed out Zinnia’s name and sprinted towards where she had fallen and now laid on the road, unable to move due to the immense pain she felt in her waist’s left side.

Theodore quickly kneeled down next to her and put pressure on her wound. “Hey, I got you.”

“Oh God... it hurts...” She barely managed to speak, her eyes screwed shut and face scrunched up in pain.

“Hey, it’ll be okay. I need you to breath” her boyfriend cradled her close and kept pressure on her wound.

“Stop touching me...” She whimpered and tried to blindly push away his hands as the pressure aggravated her pain.

“Zinnia, I need to make sure you don’t bleed out. Take deep breaths.”

Back with the two Robotnik’s, the fistfight came to an end because the second Robotnik had managed to get out his taser and fired it at the first Robotnik, successfully incapacitating him and pushed him away, “GET OFF ME!”

But he wasn’t out of the water yet. Emil strode closer, his eyes as crazed as Ivo's as he stomped on the imposter's chest with all his strength which definitely fractured a rib or two. He grunted in pain before grabbing Emil’s leg, and managed to throw him off his feet and stood up.

Agent Stone noticed and took aim at the other Robotnik and nicked him in the leg, causing him to lose his footing. He looked back, enraged and directed a drone to shoot at Stone, who promptly took cover behind the car.

While the others were distracted, the other Robotnik took it as an opportunity to escape. He limped towards an abandoned car, probably left behind in a panic by a terrified civilian, hopped in and drove off. ‘Today didn’t go as planned. But I will not give up...’  While racing away in the car, he was torn up between wanting to go back and make sure Zinnia was alright, to help her but he knew if he didn’t escape now, he would never get another chance. He never expected his other self to care this much about her, to be this passionate when it came to protecting her considering she happened to be in a relationship with a man who’s not him. But it may work in his favour. Knowing this, he hoped his other self would do everything in his power to make sure she would be fine.  

Meanwhile, their Robotnik was still on the ground, barely able to breathe but he tried to struggle to his feet anyway. He was helped up to his feet by Emil, who brought him closer to Zinnia. The misty air was condensing into a soft drizzle. “Did he hit any organs? Is she gonna be alright?!” Emil frantically questioned.

“No, nothing vital. But we need to have the wound treated...” Theodore answered, worry evident in his voice.

“We... Oh Jesus... Uhh, we have a hospital wing back at the compound. I think it might be the closest place.”

“Good idea... we should move.” Honestly, the compound was the last place he wanted Zinnia to be, but looking at the condition she was in, Theodore was quick to agree.

Robotnik fell to his knees next to Zinnia, opposite of Theo. He was as pale as a burial shroud. “Zinnia...” 

“H-hey...” The young woman managed to give Robotnik a smile despite her pain when she saw how worried he looked. “I-I’ll be fine...“

Robotnik started to say something to Agent Stone, but he couldn’t get the words out. He started sobbing, and he was mortified that he could not make it stop. Seeing Zinnia like that, he was overwhelmed with a sense of helplessness.

Zinnia’s eyebrows knitted together in a little worried frown. “Don’t c-cry! It wasn’t your fault!” She tried to reassure him but to avail.

“Uhh, do you... I can help you carry her if you need...” Emil asked Theodore before staring at Robotnik. In shock at the sobbing mess he’d become. “Ah Christ, Ivo!”

“No, it’s alright. I got her.” Theodore stood with Zinnia in his arms, wincing at the pained gasp she let out.

“Y-yeah, you l-look after Rob...” Zinnia told Emil, breathing heavily. “I-I’m starting to feel sick...” Nausea was creeping in.

Emil assured her while removing Dozy from the car. “Don't worry, I'll keep an eye on him. Stone, can you drive us?”

Agent Stone looked the SUV over for damage before answering. “I should be able to, yeah.”

“Emil... take Tweety with you too, p-please...” Zinnia requested when she noticed him getting Dozy. The poor parrot was still in the car, probably in shock after the crazy car ride.

“C'mon buddy. You can sit with me n' Dozy...” Emil cautiously held out his forearm to the cockatoo who hesitated before perching on Emil’s arm. The bird was very worried about Zinnia. She sounded like she was in distress and he could detect the smell of blood...

“Alright... let’s leave. Quickly now! The bleeding is getting worse.” Theodore hurried over to the SUV with Zinnia in his arms. He settled them both in, with her lying on his lap, making sure she was as comfortable as possible. He noticed her bleeding had gotten worse. The entire left side of her black shirt now completely soaked in her blood. He quickly removed his jacket and pressed it to her wound, causing her face to contort in pain. Hopefully, it will help slow down the bleeding.

Robotnik was very quiet as he got inside the SUV after Theo and Zinnia. He sat as near to them as possible.

“Alright, I think everyone's accounted for, right?” Emil closed the door after climbing in the front seat next to Agent Stone, who immediately had to give Dozy ear scritches before driving away.

The car ride was quiet for a while until Zonic, who had been in the back the entire time, started messing around with his communicator, trying to make any contact with his team while mumbling to himself. “Fucking idiots. This is so bad. Destroying your own universes like this... ughh.”

“Shut up back there! What are you doing?” Agent Stone called out from the front before turning to look at the man next to him. “Emil--”

“I got it...” Emil climbed out of his seat and into the very back where Zonic was and reached over. “Just gimme that... whatever that is. I don't wanna hurt you, but I will. I've had an EXTREMELY long day.”

Despite his still untreated wounds, the hedgehog oozed confidence and lazily looked at Emil. “Talking to me?” Or perhaps it was the blood loss.

Emil grabbed him by the wrist. “No, asshole! The blue alien midget behind you! Why the fuck didn't you take this off him, Stone?!” He yelled at the Agent as he tried to grab the communicator.

“Good Chaos, just take it, don’t break it! I never thought I would miss being alone in an office...” Zonic managed to send one message before Emil snatched it away. “... welp, you can take it now. And I’m a multiverse guardian, also known as a zone cop, thank you very much.”

“Pfft, whatever, space-pig. I fuckin hate cops... You're lucky Ivo wants you alive!” Emil just scoffed before returning to his seat.

“I’d rather be dead.” The hedgehog replied in a serious tone.

The silence was broken once again, by Zinnia this time. “A-Are we...t-there yet? I’m n-not feeling...so good...” She mumbled, starting to feel weaker.

“WHY AREN'T YOU DRIVING FASTER?! STEP ON IT!!” Robotnik was quick to shout at Stone. Seeing Zinnia like that...he felt so helpless...

“Hey, stay awake. We’ll be there soon, okay?” Theodore gently held her limp hand. “I’m here.”

“I feel so tired...” she just whispered in response, her eyes starting to close on their own. 

“Zinnia, no! Try to stay awake for a little longer, please.” Her boyfriend urged her.

At the same time, Robotnik was also quick to keep her from closing her eyes as he practically yelled. “NO! You can't close your eyes! Look at your boyfriend or something!”

“Hmm...” Zinnia opened her eyes weakly. “But I just want to sleep...”  The blood loss was making her feel weak and faint. But they could not let her fall asleep. Because if they did, she may never wake up...

“I know. Please stay awake for a little longer. You can sleep all you want after we get there.” Theodore squeezed her hand, trying to get her to stay awake.

“Okay guys, we're almost to the parking garage! A team of medics will be there to get her to the hospital wing.” Stone informed them as he drove past the compound gates.

“Good, we’re here...I just...wanna sleep...” Zinnia faintly mumbled.

“DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT! YOU'RE STAYING AWAKE UNTIL I SAY YOU CAN FALL ASLEEP!!” Robotnik wasted no time in jumping out of the car and screamed at the nearest emt. “GET HER INTO THE HOSPITAL! QUIT STANDING AROUND!!”

Theodore was quick to exit next, carrying Zinnia in his arms and followed Robotnik towards one of the awaiting emt’s. Agent Stone must’ve called ahead and informed them of the situation.

<->-<->-<->-<->-<->

As soon as other Robotnik retreated to his hidden base and treated his injuries, he messaged his inter-dimensional counterpart. As much as he loathed to talk to him, he had to find out if Zinnia was alright. It was unlikely he would get a clear answer from him but he was desperate...:

Dr Ivo Robotnik To: The Imposter How is she? Tell me she’s okay!

Dr Robotnik To: Fraudulent Idiot Well, considering the fact that you shot her while she fled terrified from you, what do you think?

Dr Ivo Robotnik To: The Imposter This would not have happened if you hadn’t intervened! Everything was fine until you showed up! Why could you not have let me taken her? You don’t even love her like I do!

Dr Robotnik To: Fraudulent Idiot You're right. I don't love her like you do. Maybe that's why she wanted me to protect her from you. Nothing was fine. Even you, in your delusional state, must acknowledge that she had to be threatened and coerced into entering that car with you. What would you even do if you'd gotten away with her? Please, enlighten me as to how you'd force her to love you!

Dr Ivo Robotnik To: The Imposter Please... Just tell me if she’s alive or not. Nothing else matters to me more than knowing whether she’s okay.

Dr Robotnik To: Fraudulent Idiot You're an idiot. She'd say the same thing if she could.

Dr Ivo Robotnik To: The Imposter “If she could”??? Is she..

Dr Robotnik [message left on read]

Back at the compound, Robotnik had moved to Zinnia’s hospital room soon after her gunshot wound was treated. He brought his work with him as well. He was not letting her out of his sight until he knows that the other Robotnik is either dead or never coming back.

Theodore sat on the hospital bed, holding Zinnia close to him while she slept and gave Robotnik a strange look. “What are you still doing here?”

Robotnik was furiously typing away at a portable workstation as he answered. “What does it look like I'm doing? I'm trying to work! There's a lot to do before that idiot shows up again. He's been texting me non-stop... I made it sound like she's dead.” He paused to look up at Theo and smiled grimly. “If I didn't know any better, I'd say he's a little unstable!”

The other man appeared a bit uncertain. “You made it sound like she’s dead...? If he’s anything like you, I don’t think that will be enough to deter him. What does he want with her anyway?”

The scientist scoffed. “He loves her, allegedly. He did something to his universe's Zinnia, and now he wants ours. He thinks that he loves her, but this is how he goes about it...” He shook his head. “If there's anything I know about myself, it's that I wouldn't know love if it slapped me in the face. I'd never pretend to know...” He fell quiet and stopped typing for a moment. Then, he went back to work.

Unaware to either of them, Zinnia was awake and was listening to their conversation. She pretended to be asleep for a little longer, lying on the bed with her body tucked against Theodore’s, trying to get the raging emotions within her to calm down.

“Do you? Love her, I mean?” Since they were speaking, Theodore took it as an opportunity to probe further.

Robotnik gave Theo a deadpan expression. “If I loved her, then she'd be about as miserable as Liz, if not more. I'm sure you've heard about what I did to her. Emil isn't a discreet person.” His answer only managed to baffle the other man even more, causing him to shake his head in confusion.

“Then why do you care about her so much?” During the time Theodore has known Robotnik, he has seen the scientist to show genuine concern for only a select few people. Zinnia being one of them.

Robotnik’s gaze shifted from Theodore to Zinnia as he looked at her sadly. “I respect her. I want her to be safe and happy. I don't want to push her away like I've done with everyone else in my life.” What Robotnik didn’t realise however, was that is exactly what love is. Zinnia on the other hand, did as she silently listened to what he said. She couldn’t help but feel content at what she heard. 

Theodore just nodded silently and decided not to inquire further.

After a few minutes of silence, Zinnia decided she was unable to fall back to sleep, despite the fatigue she felt in her entire body. She groaned and rolls to her back, immediately regretting it as pain flares up in her waist. “Ugh, what time is it?”

“Zinnia!” Robotnik's out of his seat and by her side immediately. “Stop moving around so much. A bullet tore through your body just a few hours ago! You're a doctor--tell her to stop!”

“He’s right, Zinnia. You need to be on bed rest for a few more days.” Theodore gently held her shoulder to stop her from moving too much.”

“I wanna go home...” Zinnia whispered, feeling overwhelmed, before bursting into tears, cuddling close to Theodore.

“Hey, Zinnia...” He softly whispered and gently held her closer. “It’ll be alright.”

Robotnik just watched silently from his seat by the bed and hoped she’ll be alright soon.

<->-<->-<->-<->-<->

The next day, Zinnia had not one but two unexpected visitors.

The door to the hospital room burst open and there stood John Constantine, “ZINNA HOLY FUCK!!!!!! LOOK AT MY SON!!!” He held up a little boy high in his hands in an imitation of Lion king.

The young woman was resting on her bed and was startled a bit due to John’s loud entry before she looked at the baby in wonder. “Oh my God, so cute! What’s his name?”

“Liam Mary Constantine...” John replied proudly.

Robotnik took that moment to enter the room as well, yelling at John all the while. “GET OUT OF HERE!! Can't you see she's recovering from a bullet wound?!” He noticed the baby in the other man’s hands. “Will you PLEASE remove that infant from the premises!”

“Can I hold him?” Zinnia reached out her hands towards John before looking at Robotnik with her wide, doe eyes. “He’s just a baby.”

“Be gentle, Zinna...” John ignored Robotnik and handed over little Liam to Zinnia.

“Of course!” The young woman held the baby close as she cooed. “Aww he’s so cute!” That unfortunately, prompted Robotnik to let out another outburst.

“Don't let it touch you! A newborn's immune system is weak so that child is a walking disease vector. ZINNIA'S BOYFRIEND! SAY SOMETHING!!”

“What?? It’s fine!” Theodore just gave Robotnik an amused look.

“Liam was born a few days ago, Robotnik, he's perfectly fine!!!” John shot back, smiling proudly.

The scientist growled in frustration before redirecting his attention towards Zinnia. “Fine! Just don't rupture your stitches!” Zinnia however, didn’t seem to pay attention to him as she cuddled the baby close. She noticed something very interesting. Little Liam had one blue eye and one dark brown eye. “Oohhh heterochromia! That’s neat!”

“Heh...Are you alright? What happened???” John worriedly questioned, causing Zinnia to stop smiling and turn gloomy all of a sudden. She looked to her boyfriend and he answered for her. “She got shot in an incident regarding the other Robotnik.”

“The coward fled. He couldn't bear to witness the consequences of his actions...” Robotnik seethed.

“A part of me thinks he’ll be back. After all, from what I’ve seen, you’re not one to give up easily...” Theodore shot the scientist a serious look.

“Oh bollocks. Sorry luv. Can I getcha anythin'?” John asked Zinnia, expressing his sympathy.

“Nothing really... I just want to go home...” Robotnik was quick to disagree with what she said.

“You're not safe there! He knows where you live!!”

“...I could kill 'im if ya need....” John offered, which Zinnia was highly against.

“...John please... I don’t want any bloodshed.” 

“Alrigh'...” The mage sat down on a spare chair. “So...What are we gonna do? The bastard hurt my friend, he's gonna pay.”

Robotnik spoke in a grumbling voice. “Why don't you just call him and set him on fire?”

“I would, but since your the same person I'd need his DNA so I don't set you on fire. Lock of hair, fingerprint...”

“No, no. Please, no setting anyone on fire!” Zinnia frantically shook her head.

“Alright. C-can I have my son back...??”

“Oh,” The young woman noticed she still had Liam in her arms. “Of course!” She gently handed him over to John before turning her attention towards Robotnik, her expression determined. “Oh and just so you know, if I’m staying here, so is Teddy.”

“Hm? Oh, right. The boyfriend, of course he can stay here.” The doctor was surprisingly quick to agree.

“I have a name, you know.” Theodore shot him an annoyed look, while in the background, John was talking to Liam using a baby voice. “Hello little hellion. Who’s daddy's little hellion??”

“Of course you do! Anyway,” Robotnik turned towards John. “I'm sure whoever have birth to that child would like to see him, right? I'll have one of my agents show you out.”

“Bloody rude.” John grumbled but agreed to being escorted out, waving them goodbye.

Zinnia waved back before asking Robotnik a question that had been in her mind for a while. “Hey, I just remembered, what happened to that blue hedgehog?”

“Oh, well, he's under surveillance by Agents Sobel and Stone. We need him alive right now, I'm sure he's fine.”

“Last time I saw him, he was hurt pretty badly...” She remembered how he had suffered gunshot wounds, much like her.

“I have some vet technicians working on him. He'll be fine...” The scientist clenched his fist. “He'd better be, for their sake.”

“So... why do you want him alive?”

“The off-brand me has the ability to travel between dimensions, and so does the hedgehog. I'm going to track that bastard down and strangle him with my bare hands...”

“Okay...” The young woman hesitated a bit. “Do you know why the off-brand you was after me specifically?” She already knew but wanted to see what he’ll say.

“He's under the impression that he's going to make you love him. That alone is proof that his intellect is crippled compared to mine.”

“What... but why?...” Zinnia appeared to be deep in thought. “He and the me from that universe were together?”

“So he says.” Robotnik shrugged. “Honestly? I can't imagine any version of you who's stupid enough to fall in love with me. Maybe he’s making it up because he fell for you when he saw you.”

“Hmm...I don’t think he is. He wouldn’t have risked his life like that for something made up.” She suddenly looked at him with a teasing smile. “Are you saying that I’m smart?”

He smirked, feeling so much affection for her at that moment that he didn’t know what to do except pinch her cheek. “What if he made it all up on the spot when he first saw you? And of course you're smart! I don't hire idiots!!”

She giggled while lightly batting his hand away. “I doubt that. Why would anyone make something like that up. And mayhaps I’m not as smart as you say I am, considering I do...love you. Not like that, but as a friend...I do.”

Meanwhile, Theodore was silently watching their exchange with a raised eyebrow, his expression unreadable.

Robotnik was genuinely taken aback by what Zinnia said, and it showed. He literally had no idea how to handle that unknown emotion he was feeling. He hugged her briefly before he stood up and returned to his workstation. “I should let you get done rest. You've had a long day.”

Her smile fades a bit as she looked at him worriedly. “Hey, I’m sorry if I made you uncomfortable...”

“I'm... I'm not uncomfortable! I just have to ensure that the knockoff version of me doesn't hijack my machines again!”

“Oh! Right, he was able to take control over your drones. Same technology probably...” Zinnia appeared to be deep in thought. “I do wonder, what exactly happened to this other version of me. He told me that I don’t exist in that universe anymore...”

“I have a few ideas as to what happened, and all of them are his doing. I know myself, and by extension I know him better than he knows himself. That man is adrift in a sea of self-delusion.” He scoffed.

“But you’re not like that... Something terrible must’ve happened for him to become this desperate...” She sighed. “So anyway, I guess I should move my stuff to my old room here. The stuff which is back at my house...”

“Not until you're recovered! Or maybe Theo can do it. It's not like he's going to be abducted!”

“Yeah, I can bring all your stuff here. No worries” Theodore readily agreed.

“Oh, and you think I can maybe... get a room with a window this time?” Zinnia asked Robotnik a bit timidly, not knowing how he would react. “My previous one doesn’t have one and it can be a bit suffocating sometimes.”

“Of course you can! And it won't just be a studio apartment, either. I'll make sure that it's nice and homey for you!” The scientist was smiling, overjoyed at the thought of having Zinnia live under his roof again.

“Really?” The young woman smiled brightly. “That would be great, if it’s not too much trouble of course!”

“Of course it isn't! You can even let Theo live with you! And... that fucking bird...”

“Oh yeah! I think he’s with Emil right now. And... I get that you still have a grudge against him. I’m sorry once again that he bit you. But look on the bright side, now we have something we can use to differentiate between you and your other self!” She giggled.

<->-<->-<->-<->-<->

The next day, Zinnia was visited by Agent Stone. She got up from her bed to greet him. After doing so, he asked about Robotnik. “Has anyone seen the doctor? I don't think he's eaten in the past 24 hours and that's upsetting...”

“He hasn’t?? He’s been so worried about me lately. I feel kinda bad. Her boss was so busy looking after her, he neglected to take care of himself.

“Right--that other doctor shot you! Are you feeling better? ... Do you think there's another Agent Stone?”

“I’m much better. It still hurts a bit but other than that, I’m okay. Hmm I don’t know actually. There could be a possibility if there’s another me.” She answered.

“Two doctors... Imagine...” Stone looked lost in his thoughts all of a sudden, which caused Zinnia to give him a deadpan look.

“Stone... please stop.”

“Sorry! I wouldn't leave this dimension anyway, not since I'm finally allowed to talk to my daughter! She's a freshman at UC Berkeley!” Agent Stone said with pride in his voice.

Upon hearing that, Zinnia perked up looked at him curiously. “Oh really? I didn’t know you had kids. What’s her name?”

“Just the one. Her name is Sina Contreras. She, well, she took her mother's name. And that's fine!” He took an old photo out of his wallet. “She's grown so much since I took this picture of her...”

The young woman smiled brightly as she took a look at the photo. “Oh, she’s adorable!”

“She really is! And she lets me call her every week now. I finally was able to give her all of the letters I'd written to her all these years--”

“Agent Stone! What are you doing in here?! You're supposed to be guarding that blue rat!!” Robotnik barged into the room.

“That’s great! I’m so happy for you--” Zinnia’s attention turned towards her boss. “Oh hey, he was telling me that you haven’t eaten anything in a while.”

“Sorry, doctor! I'll just leave now...” And with that, Agent Stone left the room.

“Please do. And I've eaten! See all of those bottles over there?!” The scientist pointed to a bunch of empty Soylent bottles on his desk that he had set up in her room.

“What?? That’s not real food! I can cook something for you if you want.” She offered.

“YOU CAN'T LEAVE YOUR BED! What if you tear your stitches? What if you fall?! You!” He pointed at Theo as soon as he entered the room. “Tell her! You're the one who's her boyfriend!”

Said boyfriend sighed in mild exasperation. “Don’t you think you’re being a bit too overprotective?”

“Yeah...like there’s no need for all the cushion mats and stuff.” Zinnia gestured around her room. Earlier, Robotnik had ordered his custodians to put down cushioned mats on the floor and padding on all the corners, as if he was having the room baby-proofed.

“Of course not! She can do whatever the hell she wants! If "Doctor Theodore" says it's alright, you can run around as much as you want!” The scientist threw up his hands and walked out of the room, only to poke his head back in a minute later. “Just don't leave the compound yet, not until I'm standing over my dead lookalike with his blood dripping from my hands.” Then finally, he left, leaving Zinnia to stare after him with wide eyes.

The silence was broken by Theodore. “Well, that was...something.”

A few hours later, after everything had finally calmed down, Zinnia received a text message while she was laying in bed and just passing time on her phone. It was from the other Robotnik:

Dr Ivo Robotnik To: Zinnia Zinnia, you’re alive! That bastard made me think you were dead! But you got shot... I’m so sorry.

Dr Frost To: Dr Robotnik #2 It’s fine... I’m better now. But how did you find out...?

Dr Ivo Robotnik To: Zinnia I saw you... with that infant... You have no idea how good it felt to see you in person yesterday, after so long...

Dr Frost To: Dr Robotnik #2 Listen, I understand it was very difficult to lose your Zinnia but you have to understand that I’m not her.

Dr Ivo Robotnik To: Zinnia But you can be her. No, you are her.

Dr Frost To: Dr Robotnik #2 I’m not! I don’t belong in your universe. My home is here.

Dr Ivo Robotnik To: Zinnia Here with that uptight British man who clearly doesn’t deserve you? With my other extremely more volatile self?! None of those people deserve you! I expect you to trust me and know that I know what’s best. I can look after you better than they can! That’s what I’m trying to do!

Dr Frost [left on read, feeling very scared indeed]

Dr Frost To: Dr Robotnik #1 He knows I’m alive. And that I’m here in your compound. I’m scared QwQ

Robotnik was in a room nearby, about to have a quick nap, but the moment he read Zinnia's text he was off the couch and back by her side in an instant. “He's insane if he thinks that he's going to bypass all of my automated defence systems! All of my private agents have been informed of the situation and if they see anyone who looks even a little like me then they're instructed to detain him if he can't supply them with the right passphrase. I'm going to issue your boyfriend a sidearm of his own in case I'm not here, okay? That lunatic will never get his hands on you!”

The young woman sighed sadly and nodded while sporting a very depressed expression. “So we just...wait now? I’m scared...”

"Hey..." Robotnik sat down on the bed next to her and took her hand. "We won't have to wait very long. I'm sure he has some idiotic plan to invade my compound, and he's a very rash and impatient man from what I've seen. When he finally shows his face and tries to use my own creations against me, we'll detain him and humanely dispose of him." he gave Theo a wink over Zinnia's head, and he didn't even attempt to hide the excitement he felt about the opportunity to kill his inferior self.

Zinnia looked up, still with that gloomy expression when she felt her hand being held by a larger one. She first thought it was Theodore but the feel of the glove suggested otherwise. She didn’t expect Robotnik to show this much affection towards her but then again, he’s been overly affectionate ever since she was abducted by him. She shuddered to think about the messages he sent her. She cleared her throat nervously and unconsciously squeezed his hand before speaking up. “You’re right. He has been... but he’s still basically you. He knows everything that you do. The odds right now... aren’t looking good.”

Theodore raised an eyebrow and gave the scientist an amused look but otherwise stayed silent and listened to whatever he had to say.

"He's in enemy territory though, and he knows that you don't want to leave with him. And what I've gleaned from taking with him makes me suspect that your interdimensional counterpart's demise might have been his fault. He probably lost his temper, or he treated her like an object even more than he does now... I know him better than he knows himself. Whatever his upbringing was, I can only assume that it wasn't quite like mine." His expression was grim. He didn't look at either of them. "Unlike him, I know what I am and what I'm capable of. I don't deny my true self."

“But...you don’t treat me badly,” Zinnia mumbled with a far-off in her eyes. “You both are identical...and yet different. I wonder exactly what lead him to become like this...”

Off in the distance, deep in the woods up in the mountains a few miles from Zinnia’s house was the other Robotnik. He had set up a temporary base, hidden within the mountains. Not many people travelled this far and even if some did, all they would see would be trees and land due to his cloaking device. And if for some reason they were to venture closer, his security drones would dispose of them.

The scientist himself was currently recovering from the injuries he had sustained during his fight with his other self and that strange Emil person. He has him to thank for his fractured ribs. While he recovered, he had successfully gained access into the other Robotnik’s security cameras. All his worries and rage dissipated, a soft smile replacing his frown as soon as he saw Zinnia in a hospital room, looking a bit weak and pale but alive. She was holding an infant. That image almost brought tears to his eyes as he was reminded of his late Zinnia who was expecting a child of their own. If he hadn’t screwed everything over, his Zinnia would be alive right now, along with their child. In fact, the child would be three years of age now...But he still has another chance to not only have Zinnia back but their child as well. 

’So that bastard lied to me.’ His mind went to that moment when his other self made him believe that she died. Considering he and Zinnia aren’t together in this universe, he was not expecting the response the other one showed when he abducted her. And he loathed to admit that he was unprepared for it. Looks like he’d have to hop back to his universe and get everything he needed to prepare himself for the next time. Because there will be a next time. He will never give up until he has her.

===to be continued? OwO===

[thebisexualdogdad]

Frat boys and first dates

Co written with @inhumanshadows

Even though Nate Heywood is known around school for being a total party boy he is actually really smart he is the rare breed of frat boy that actually studies and cares about his grades. 

Ray Palmer got into college on a full academic scholarship and is at the top of his class heading towards being next year's graduating valedictorian. 

Ray spent most of his time between 3 places, his best friend Nora's dorm, the school's physics lab and the library where he was now. 

"Mind if we share this table?" Nate asked him taking Ray out of his focus on the books surrounding him. 

"Oh uh sure," Ray mumbled cleaning up some of his books of the desk to make more space for him, "Aren't you in the biggest fraternity on campus? Why are you here?”

“Physics work and a paper that’s kicking my ass," Nate groans. 

"I can help you if you want... Physics is sort of my specialty," Ray offered. 

“Dude at this point I’ll take whatever help I can get," Nate replied.

True to his word, Ray actually helped Nate understand the work better than his professor.

“Bro if I pass this class I’ll take you on a date!” Nate says before running off back to the frat house excited to actually turn a paper in on time.

Ray blushed at his remark, he had been secretly crushing on Nate since freshman year but never thought he would notice him.

Ray thinks Nate is joking and doesn’t bring it up the next time he sees Nate to help him study.

Then the study session after that Nate holds his paper with an A written on it in front of Ray's face, "so when are you available for that date?"

Ray looks like a deer caught in headlights, “Pardon?”

“For the date remember? I said if you can get me to pass physics I’d take you on a date. I may be a frat boy but I’m a man of my world Ray.”

Ray panics and runs out of the library, Nate chasing after him nearly catching up a few buildings over.

"Ray what's going on?" He shouts. 

Ray keeps running and ducks into a crowd where he finally loses Nate then runs to his best friends room.

“Nora! Help!” he says out of breath. 

"What's wrong? Did you set another fire in the lab?" She chuckles. 

"Worse... Nate asked me on a date," Ray mumbles. 

"But... Isn't that what you wanted?" She asks confused. 

"In my dreams yes but in reality this has got to be some sort of frat prank right?" 

“Back up sir panic. What happened exactly?”

Ray then explains everything as Nora nods.

“Sounds to me like he means it. But if it is a prank... I’ll break his kneecaps,” she assures Ray. 

Nate gives him some time and a few days later shows up at Ray's dorm.

"Care to help me understand what happened the other day?" Nate questions. 

“Well you see....” Ray starts to explain but can't find the words. 

Cue Nora who jumped in to try to save him, “Ray thought you were joking cause he’s had a crush on you for years. He’s wanted a date with you but when the time came he chickened out and-“

“Okay Nora! Thank you!” Ray blurts out. 

"Why would you be afraid of going on a date with me?" Nate asks. 

"Because you're this popular frat guy and i thought you asking me out was a joke," Ray says low. 

"Ray I really like you and I promise that is no joke," Nate says taking Ray's hand, "so please go out on a date with me." 

"Okay," Ray smiles squeezing Nate's hand. 

Ray and Nate end up going on a date to a bar near campus that students frequented and Ray was nervous the entire time because it was his first real date.

Nate can see the nerves and holds Ray's hand through the date. “Focus on me Ray.”

They talk and drink and Ray is having the time of his life. 

Ray gets a text from Nora in the middle of the date to check up on him and Ray drinks a little more than he can handle so the text back is a scrambled.

Nate can see Ray’s had a bit too much so he pays and is now slowly walking Ray out.

Ray is a sweet drunk and mutters, “you’re so cute!” which makes Nate smile. 

Nate notices Ray's phone has been buzzing non stop for the last few minutes so he fishes it out of his pocket and see's Nora's name lighting up. 

"Hello Ray?" Nora says in a panic. 

"It's Nate," he responds. 

"Is Ray okay? I got a text from him that made absolutely no sense." 

"He’s fine but a little tipsy, can I bring him to your room? I know his roommate John Constantine very well and I don't want to leave him alone while John party's all weekend," Nate says. 

Nora agrees and is there to let then into the dorm building so Ray can sleep it off in her room and after Nate leaves Ray can't stop babbling about how sweet Nate is.

She puts him on her bed with a trash can and some water nearby.

The next morning she wakes up to Ray vomiting his guts out.

“Have a nice date party boy?” Nora teases.

"What happened?" He asks in a haze. 

"You can't handle your booze that's what happened," Nora laughs. 

"Oh god this is so embarrassing Nate must think I'm so lame," he sighs. 

"Just call him nerd," Nora says handing him some aspirin. 

Once his hangover subsides Ray musters up the courage to call Nate and thank him for bringing him to Nora's.

“No problem. I wasn’t gonna leave you there wasted and I’m glad Nora called when she did. Didn’t think you’d take too well to waking up at the frat,” he chuckles. 

"I don't really drink so i guess i never learned my tolerance limits," Ray says awkwardly. 

"Never feel like you have to drink around me when you don't want to.... It is a shame i didn't get to kiss you though," Nate says boldly. 

Nate can hear a crash and a laugh faintly on the other side of the line.

“Everything Okay buddy?” he asks. 

“Yup… Nora just dropped something.... So... you were gonna kiss me?” 

“I still can if you come let me in the building.”

Ray looks out his window to see Nate standing outside who waves up at him. 

Ray hurries downstairs and let's him in, showing him up to his dorm. 

"I definitely don't miss these tiny ass dorms," Nate says all cheery while Ray is a mess because he wants to kiss Nate so bad but is afraid of being too forward 

“Ray? Ray?” Nate says bringing him out of his own head. 

Ray blinks at Nate, “What?"

“You spaced out... kinda cute," Nate smiles. 

"Oh..  Sorry," Ray blushes.

"Come sit on the bed," Nate tells him. 

Ray awkwardly takes a seat next to Nate who puts his hand on Ray's knee. 

"I know this is all new for you so we can go as slow as you want," Nate says. 

"... What if i don't want slow?" Ray mutters. 

“Then we can go as fast as you-“ Nate’s cut off as Ray leans in and kisses him, soft yet full of passion. 

When Ray pulls away Nate is slow to open his eyes. 

"Well that was worth the wait and since we're not taking this slow do you want to be my boyfriend?" Nate says biting his lip. 

“Yes!” Ray jumps on top of Nate, straddling him.

 "Woah there," Nate laughs, "how far are we taking this exactly?" 

"I'm not ready for you know... Sex but we can make out until my roommate gets back," Ray says running his hand through Nate's hair. 

"I'll be going now, bye boys," says Nora who was hiding in the bathroom where Ray totally forgot she was during that whole conversation. 

She bolts back to her room where Ava is writing an essay that's not due for another month, “Where’s the fire Darhk?”

“I don’t wanna talk about it," Nora says trying to forget the sounds Ray was making as he kissed Nate. 

Meanwhile back in Ray's dorm he and Nate are blissfully making out on Ray's bed until John returned a few hours later. 

[thelittleredheadedmusician]

Rats!

Rating: G 1,701 words Gen AO3

For @radioactivepigeons who loves Babs being Oracle, Dick Grayson, and rats, written as celebration for her paper! I hope you like it!

Babs glared at her screen. The motion detectors were going crazy in the West Wing, second floor of the Gotham Natural History Museum. The hall where the collection of precious stones and gems was on display behind thick panes of pelxiglas with thick locks and liberal alarms. The problem was the security cameras showed no one there. The footage wasn’t looped or old, she’d already checked, and yet nothing. But the motion detectors going off? In only the West Wing on the second floor? It was almost an annoyance more than anything.

No alarms had been tripped. There was a possibility of malfunction. Except Babs had already piggy-backed into the system and looked for anything out of the ordinary. There was nothing. The motion detectors were genuinely going off, registering actual movement. Except, it made no sense the pattern that they were flashing. She couldn’t trace any path or direction; they were just alerting at random.

Oracle had notified Gotham’s resident vigilantes of the oddity happening at the museum. Since no alarms were tripped, the police hadn’t been called. Babs didn’t think they’d be much use anyway.

Nightwing was the one who answered her request to check it out, slipping into the museum unnoticed except on her screens. “Oracle?” his voice came through her speakers. “I’m here but it looks like all the gems are in their places and the only break-in tonight is mine.”

“Thank you, Detective Wonder, I couldn’t see that myself,” she let a note of dry teasing slip into her voice.

Dick turned to smile at the closest security camera, “Happy to help!”

Smartass. At least it was a good one.

“You’re my hands and feet, Nightwing. So, get to gumshoeing before I boot you for one of my Batgirls.” It was only half a threat and they both knew it.

“Point taken,” Dick laughed. He began a slow trek through the space, looking for anything out of the ordinary and more importantly, anything missing. As he walked, Babs watched the screen showing the motion detectors. If anything, this little exercise was making it all more confusing instead of clearing it up. The sensors registered Dick’s steady and methodical progress and yet still were blinking seemingly at random. So, they were definitely registering movement. But of what?

“Nightwing, is there anything to your left right now? Anywhere to your left, low high?” Babs frowned at the steady blinking of the sensor right next to Dick’s current position and the video feed that showed empty air.

“No. Should there be?”

“According to the security system? Yes,” she sighed. Babs was good at puzzles, genuinely enjoyed them too. Twisting the information this way and that until a pattern appeared. Organizing and sorting until she had exactly what she needed. Taking something apart to see if she could determine how it worked and then put it back together once more. Looking at angles and theories and data. Taking it all in and making something new.

But this? This was chaos. Chaos that was giving her a bit of a headache with the insistent flashing. Not to mention the frustration that was building somewhere between her throat and her chest. In her jaw and her hands.

“O?” Dick said, spinning in a slow circle. “I know this is gonna sound crazy but, do you think this might be something… paranormal? Supernatural?”

Dropping her head into her hands knocked Babs’s glasses askew. “It does sound crazy,” she grumbled. “Except,” she sighed and sat up, “this is Gotham and our line of work so…”

Her fingers darted back to her keyboard, ready to pull up Zatanna or Raven’s contacts. Failing that – and god forbid – she was owed favors from Jason Blood and John Constantine so one of them could figure it out and Babs could wipe her hands of it. Just, she’d probably make Dick stick around to keep an eye on the gems if that was the case.

The call to Zatanna just began ringing through when a flash of white darted across the screen by Dick’s feet. Babs hung up on the mistress of magic and switched back to Dick’s comm. “Nightwing, what was that?”

“Not sure,” and he sure sounded it as he got down on his hands and knees. Dick reached into the shadows and Babs lost sight of what was happening. “Aha!” came his exclamation a few seconds later.

Dick stood again with something clutched between his hands. It was white and grey and wiggling slightly. “Is that… a rat?”

“A rat I know!” Dick sounded downright pleased. Babs hoped that meant he would hurry up and get to the explanation. “Oracle, say hi to Impulse!” he held the rat up to the camera.

“Unless something happened that no one told me about – and that is highly unlikely – that is not Impulse. Impulse is either a five-foot three teenaged ball of hyperactivity or a chaotic eight-year-old. Not a rat.”

Dick was petting the rat and making kissy faces at it. Normally Babs liked his kissy faces but her patience was just about gone. “The rat was named for the former. By the Flash. My Flash. This is his roommate’s rat.”

“Well, Zookeeper Wonder, I’m going to take your word for it but if I call the Pied Piper and you turn out to be wrong, I am sending the recording of this conversation to everyone in my contacts.” Babs trusted Dick; she wouldn’t have been that extreme if she didn’t. Also, it wasn’t really going to be everyone. Just a few key members of the family, Justice League, Birds, and Titans. They would take care of spreading it to everyone else.

The call to one Hartley Rathaway’s personal cell connected and Babs switched on her voice modulator. It wasn’t worth it when running comms, they all knew who she was anyway, but the Pied Piper was a little outside her normal sphere of influence.

“Hello?” was the hesitant voice on the other end.

“Hello Piper, this is Oracle,” Babs said smoothly, watching Dick play with the rat and making her smile.

There was an audible gulp. “How can I help you?”

“You wouldn’t by chance own a rat named Impulse who is currently running around the second floor, West Wing, of the Gotham Natural History Museum?”

A pause. Babs waited.

“Uh, yeah actually? How’d you know?”

“Nightwing is currently giving it scritches.”

The soft sounds of cursing made her smile. Sometimes her job was just fun and even with the headaches she had to admit that. “That would explain a lot. Uh, I am not trying to rob the place if that makes you feel better? I got wind of some of the Rogues going out of town for a heist and thought I could stop them. Think of the rats as my field troops?”

“Ah, so you are the reason the motion detectors have been going nuts.”

“Sorry?”

“No worries. Just, for future reference, a courtesy call would be lovely and the local rodents and birds would certainly be happy to assist in such matters.” Babs smirked at her own joke.

“Right. Of course. Sorry,” there was a distinct wince in his tone.

She almost felt bad, but her scary reputation was more helpful than not. “I’m assuming you’re still in the area and the Rogues have yet to make a move?”

There was a pause, as though he was trying to figure out how to answer in a manner that wouldn’t incur her wrath. Or Batman’s. Ha, as though Babs was going to tell him any of this. No, what Bruce didn’t know didn’t hurt him and if he asked, she’d tell him she and Nightwing sorted it out and instruct Dick to do the same. And for her, he would. Granted, Mr. Rathaway on the other end of the line was unaware of all this.

“Piper?” she prompted. There were other things Babs had to do tonight and while her annoyance had waned and changed into amusement, she still wanted to wrap this up soon.

“Right. Sorry. I’m in Gotham? Fire escape on the building on the other side of the back alley to be exact.”

“Excellent. Do you have a shortwave comm?”

There was a breath of a laugh. Babs smiled; she’d known it was a dumb question too. Wally had a tendency to forget things here and there, which Babs had managed to get her hands on. She knew Piper’s tech and knew it was good. “Yeah. I do.”

“Switch to local channel eight, I’ll have Nightwing do the same and send him out to you. Not that I don’t trust you or your methods, but he is on the scene.”

“No it’s fine, I get it. And I appreciate it.”

Babs grinned. As they talked she had taken the liberty of hacking into one of the cameras on the museum’s rear and used it to locate Piper. Crouched on the lowest platform of the fire escape, a glint of silver that must be his flute in his lap. She could see his face from this angle, the hand he used to hold his phone to his ear pushing the dark green hood back just enough.

“Excellent. Thank you so much, your cooperation is appreciated and let me know if there’s anything I can assist you with tonight. I’m on channel one.”

“No problem. And, uh, thank you.” He seemed a little dumbfounded, eyes going wide on her screen.

“Oh, one more favor,” Babs said before she hung up and switched back to Dick. He didn’t seem to mind being left hanging this long so far anyway, combination of being used to it and distracted by Piper’s rats. “If you could call off your, ah, foot soldiers? I have nothing against rats, but I was this close to calling an exorcist. They’re doing murder on the motion sensors.”

He chuckled softly, just a hint of embarrassed. “Consider them gone.”

Without further ado, Babs hung up and sent Dick to meet him. Thank god it wasn’t a ghost. Magic users just mucked up the security systems for weeks after and she didn’t have the mental energy for all the footage that would need erasing.

[toomanystoriessolittletime]

Bless me father

Summary: You really needed to get laid. It’s been a long two years. And when the hot stranger walked through the door of your favorite pub and said all the right things, you were sure you made the right descision when you took him home for that night. That was until you saw him 2 weeks later. In the church. Baptizing your friends child.

Words: 4.852 (holy crap)

Pairing: Priest!?John Constantine / F!Reader

warnings: Smut (and a very questionable plot)

A/N: I can’t believe I wrote this. I started this a month ago. Aparently this happens when I listen to too much Hozier and watch that certain episode of Fleabag to often (check Season 2 out). This also started out as something entire differently. But to quote @fanficsrusz (who wanted to be tagged so there you go) We’re going to hell anyway so... enjoy?

„Oh my god.“ You whispered. Looking at your sister, who was sitting beside you.

“What?” She leant to you to whisper back.

“The guy I told you about… From the pub…”

“Can we talk about him, when we’re not in a church at a baptism?”

“It’s him.” You looked at her with big eyes.

“Who?” She asked giving you the side eye.

You gestured towards the man who was holding the baby that was about to be baptized.

“I slept with the fucking priest.”

1 week earlier

 It had been one of these days. You know days when you woke up to get to work and had a mood that could only get better instead of worse.

It started with the coffee machine at home being broken. Then your car wouldn’t start, so you had to take the bus to get to work, which resulted in you being 30 minutes late. Thankfully your boss didn’t mind, it had been the first time. But when you got to your desk and saw the amount of work that waited for you, you wanted to scream. Instead you rolled your eyes and got to work.

10 hours later, the only thing that could lift your mood was a beer at your favourite pub.

They knew you there. You basically spend most of your free time there. Not as a crazy drunk person. But you enjoyed your occasional beer. And the company.

  “There you are. I was wondering if you would get here today.” Alex, the owner of the pub, said as you sat down in front of him. He looked like your godfather. But younger. And more Swedish.

Your beer was standing in front of you only seconds later. You took a big sip.

“Jesus this day sucked.” You sighed, losing your coat, putting it on the seat next to you.

“Wanna talk about it?” Alex looked at you.

“It’s just one of these days…” You knew exactly why you were in such a shitty mood. Alex looked at you calmly.

“It’s been 2 years on the day, hasn’t it?” He asked. You nodded, picking up your beer and emptying it.

“You need to get over it.”

“You don’t just get over your husband dying in a car crash.” You looked at Alex, who was sighing.

“I know. But he wouldn’t want you to be miserable. He’d say you need to get laid. It’s been 2 years Sweetheart.” Alex winked at you, which made you chuckle. Yes. That sounded like Jake. And Alex would know. He was his best friend.

“And how do I get laid? It’s not like there’s a line somewhere.”

The door of the pub opened, and your head turned in the direction, to see who entered. Good thing you already drank your beer. There was no other words as to describe him as sex on legs.

Completely dressed in black, he looked through the room and slowly made his way to the opposite end of the bar you were sitting in. He had short dark hair, no beard, which brought out his perfect cheekbones. Alex chuckled beside you. You closed your mouth which apparently had opened and coughed looking at him.

“Maybe he can get you laid.” He whispered grinning, walking down the bar to take his order.

“Oh my god shut up.” You called after him, which made him laugh loudly. The hot stranger looked at you, his eyebrows raised, before his attention was on Alex to order.

  Another beer was placed in front of you a couple of minutes later.

“I need to get up early tomorrow. No more beer for me. But I’ll take a tea.” You told Alex.

“It’s not from me.” You looked at him, and he nodded in the direction down the bar.

“Oh come on. Stop messing with me.”

“I’m not. He told me to get you your favourite. Because you looked like hell.”

“You’re kidding.”

He shook his head.

“I’m not.” He held his hands up innocently. You looked at him, and came to the conclusion, that he was not messing with you. You got up, took the beer and walked over to hot guy.

“Are you always randomly offending people, or am I the exception?” You asked, standing beside him. He turned in his seat to look at you. His brown eyes taking you in. Damn.

“It wasn’t my intention to offend you. I merely wanted to improve your day.”

“By saying I look like hell?”

“By inviting you for a drink, so you wouldn’t think about what is on your mind.”

“Right.” You looked confused at him, there was a hint of a smile on his lips.

“If you want talk about it…”

“Why would I talk about my issues with a complete stranger?”

“People say I’m a good listener.”

“What people?”

“People.” He shrugged his shoulders. Alex apparently had served him his drink. Scotch.

You still looked at him confused, as he picked up his glass and brought it to his lips. You breathed in deep, as you saw his jawline work. Jesus fucking Christ…

“Tea?” Alex stood beside you, trying to hide his grin.

“Thanks.” You took it and sat down beside hot stranger guy who looked at you.

“I’m John by the way.”

“Y/N.”

“So what is on your mind?”

“Just a shitty day I guess.”

“Talk about shitty days.” He shook his head, breathing out loudly.

“Oh?” You asked.

“First day at the new job. Not exactly happy how it went.” He explained.

“Wanna talk about it? People say I’m a good listener.” You smirked at him. He laughed, holding his hand in front of his mouth. That was cute.

“Not much to talk about. I took over the job that had been done by someone else for almost 20 years and everything is a mess. It will take me forever to sort it out.”

“Sounds complicated.”

“It is complicated. Thank you. The first one who finally understands me.” He genuinely smiled.

“You are very welcome.” You winked at him and you could swear you saw him blush, but he hid his face in his hands very quickly.

You looked across the room to spot Alex who was giving you two thumbs. You rolled your eyes and put you attention back to John.

“So what about you?” He asked you.

“What about me?”

“Why did you have a shitty day?” He put his head on one of his hands, turning his whole attention to you.

“Oh… Just… Work stuff. And a broken coffee machine in the morning. And… then my car wouldn’t start. Shit I forgot about that.”

“Good thing it’s Friday. Or do you need your car tomorrow?”

“Nope. I’m planning on staying in bed the whole weekend.” You nibbled innocently on your tea and John coughed, having just drank from his scotch.

You put your hand on his back, rubbing it gently.

“You okay?” You asked him. He nodded.

“Thank you.”

  “So, if you just started working here, have you seen any of the sights?” You asked him, having talked for about an hour about what came to your minds.

“I actually grew up here.”

“You did?”

“In the orphanage on the other side of town.”

“Oh. I’m so sorry. What happened? If you don’t mind me asking.”

“It’s been 40 years, I think I can tell you, that my parents died in a car crash, when I was 4 years old.”

“Must have been hard to grow up there.”

“It was.” He looked at your hand, which was laying on his. You didn’t even notice that you put it there. He turned his hand, enwinding your fingers with his, drawing small circles on the back of your hand. You closed your eyes, breathing in deep, before you opened them again to look at him. The look he gave you, with his slightly parted lips, eyes as dark as chocolate, made you shiver.

“We’re closing.” Alex shouted and you blinked a couple of times, before you turned your head. There were only 4 people left, including the two of you.

“Put it on my tab?” You asked Alex.

“Sure thing. What about you?” He looked at John, who still had the same expression on his face. He searched for a couple of notes, and handed him over to Alex.

“That’s 20 to much.”

“Keep it.” He finally looked at Alex, smiling gently.

“Well thank you. Please come back as often as you like.” Alex smiled. John nodded.

“Do you need a lift home?” Alex asked you.

You looked from him to John.

“I think I’m good Alex. Thanks.”

“Well then. See you tomorrow.” Alex handed you your coat. John stood and held it out for you, helping you put it on.

“Thanks.” You knotted the belt of you coat, looking up at John. He really was tall. You didn’t notice it all the time you were sitting beside him.

“Can I give you a lift home?” He asked, putting his jacket on.

“That would be great, yes.” You smiled up at him, already going to the door.

As soon as the cold night air hit you, you were wide awake. Were you about to invite a complete stranger into your home? Well not complete stranger. You liked him. He wasn’t wrong when he told you, that he was a good listener.

The door behind you opened, and John stepped out, a cigarette in his mouth, lightening it on his way over to you. What was it about good looking men and cigarettes?

“Where’s your car?” You ask.

“I don’t have a car.” He came to stand in front of you and nodded his head to your right, where a motorcycle was standing.

“I’ve never rode a motorcycle.” You confessed.

“Well another first time.” He whispered, putting the hair, that had fallen into your face, behind your ear, softly touching your ear, caressing you cheek.

“Another first time?” You asked hoarsely, your hand hesitantly wandering up his chest. He was so close.

“First time at the new job. First time at the pub. First time meeting you. First time…” He turned his head, to push the smoke out of his lungs, throwing the cigarette away. You could feel his heart beating, beneath your fingers.

“First time?” You asked shakily.

“We shouldn’t do this.” He whispered as he bend down to kiss your lips. His soft lips lay firm on yours, his arms coming around you, to put you flush against his chest. Your hands wandered into his neck, up in his hair, making him open his mouth, where your tongue found his. He bit lightly into your lip as you parted for some air. Apparently you needed air to survive. A weird concept when you knew you could be kissing him instead.

He looked down at you. You could see the passion in his eyes. But there was something else in it. Confusion? Regret? You weren’t sure.

“Let’s get you home.” He again whispered and helped you sit on his motorcycle, putting the helmet on your head, before he himself sat in front of you, grabbing you hands, crossing them around his waist. You clanged to his back.

“Where to?” He asked. You gave him your address, offering directions.

“No need. I know exactly where to go.” He winked at you, as he put his helmet on and started the engine.

  You barely made it through the door of your house, as John picked you up, pinning you with your back on the door, kissing you demanding. Your legs came around his hips, as his hand wandered up your thigh, his other hand next to your head on the wall. You whimpered, as he began to roll his hips, making you feel just how aroused he was.

“We shouldn’t do this.” He whispered again, his tongue drawing a line down your throat, kissing your neck.

“You... You keep saying that… But you’re doing it anyway.” You stuttered, drawing your head back to rest at the door behind you. He pushed you further up, his hand wandering from your thigh up to you cleavage. He opened the first buttons of you blouse, before he quickly shoved it open, buttons flying everywhere. His tongue dipped between you still clothed breasts, before he put the cup of your bra down, and gently sucked on your nipple, before he bit in it, making you cry out loud.

“Keep doing that, and I’m going to…” You started to say, as his lips closed around your other bud, sucking hard, his tongue flicking around it.

“Oh god…” You cried out, your whole body shaking. He stopped what he was doing, looking at you.

“Did you just..?” He raised an eyebrow. You grabbed him by his shirt, and kissed him hard.

“Yes I did just cum John. And you haven’t even touched me anywhere near to where I want you to touch me.” Growling he pushed you off the door.

“Bedroom.” There was no question in his voice. You put your feet down on the ground, suddenly feeling very confident, as you removed your blouse and opened your bra, never leaving his eyes, as you let them both fall to the ground. His eyes taking you in. You turned around, walking up the stairs to your bedroom. It wasn’t long until you felt two arms around your waist, his head coming to rest on your shoulder before he picked you up again, tossing you on your bed shrieking. You turned, resting your weight on your arms as you looked up at him. The only light in the room was the moonlight that came through the windows, accenting his figure even more. He wasn’t just hot. He was beautiful.

“You’re wearing entirely to many clothes, John.” You said, wetting your lips, as you looked up at him. You pushed yourself up, to knee on the bed and began to open his shirt. One button after the next, before you slowly pushed it down his shoulders. Kissing his collarbones, your hands rested on his chest. You let your tongue wander down, nibbling on his nipple. You looked up at him, his eyes watching your every move.

You kissed yourself down his stomach, dipping your tongue into his bellybutton, before your hand began to rub him through his pants. He was impressive to say the least. He moaned, as you slowly worked your hand up and down. You could see his jaw tense, he closed his eyes, surely enjoying what you were doing. You were about to open his belt, when you felt his hands on yours.

“Lay back, legs up.” He whispered demanding.

  You bit your lip, as you let yourself fall down into your bed. He grabbed your legs, slowly dragging down your pants and panties in one go. He tossed them behind him, kissing your ankle, as he slowly kneeled down, spreading your legs on his way down. You suddenly felt very exposed, laying like this in front of him, and tried to close your legs, as you felt his lips on your inner thigh. You looked down at him, as his head lay in front of you, just looking at your core.

You were about to ask, what he was doing, when he gently pushed himself up and his lips lightly sucked on your outer lips. You let your head fall back in the sheets, moaning deeply. It had been more than 2 years since anyone than you had even touched you.

Sucking and licking his way up he closed his lips around your clit and flicked his lips over it. Your hands flew into his hair to hold him there. You could feel him smiling, as he licked himself down to your opening, shoving his tongue into you. You couldn’t look away from his eyes, that were intensely looking at you, as he began to eat you out. You were breathing heavy, when you felt two of his fingers pushing into you, his tongue working on your clit. Your hips started to move to get him deeper ,when his fingers brushed over a particular spot inside you, that had you nearly screaming.

“There it is...” He himself nearly moaned. He put all his attention to this spot, while you grabbed the sheets beside you.

“Fuck. I’m gonna...” You moaned.

“Come” He murmured, sucking hardly on your clit. You came, your whole body shaking, breathing heavy, rolling your hips, as he fingerfucked you through your orgasm. You were pretty sure you saw stars at some point.

He pulled his fingers out of you, putting them in his mouth before he leant down to you, kissing you, tasting yourself. Your hands crossed behind his neck, making their way down his strong back, your fingers sneaking in his pants, lightly scratching his ass.

He growled, reaching for your hands.

“Hands up. And leave them there.”

“Yes Sir.” You groaned, putting your hands above your head, resting them on your pillow. Who would have thought you like being manhandled?

He opened his belt, pulling it out of it’s loops in one movement, throwing it on the ground. You bit your lip. The anticipation was nearly killing you.

He opened the buttons of his pants, letting them drop to the ground. Apparently he wasn’t a big fan of underwear. Crawling on top of you, you suppressed the urge to put your arms around him. He kissed himself up from your hips, leaving a line to your breasts, up to you neck, before his lips were on yours. You could feel him at you entrance, rolling your hips to get some kind of friction. He bit in your earlobe and sucked on the skin behind you ear. Your hands came to rest on his back, lightly scratching his skin, as he looked at you.

“Didn’t I say to leave your hands up?” He asked, moving his tip up and down your slit, making you moan.

“I never said I would.” You rolled your hips, his tip slightly sinking into you. He smirked before he pushed forward and thrusted his length into you. You closed your eyes, opening your mouth but no sound came out of it. You felt so full.

“Open your eyes.” He whispered, his left arm sneaking behind your back, lifting you up slightly. You opened your eyes, breathing in deep as he began to slowly move inside you. Unintentionally you clenched your muscles, making him moan.

“God you’re tight.”

“It’s been some time.” You groaned, rolling your hips to meet his movements.

“For me too.” He grabbed your leg, putting it over his shoulder, fastening his pace.

“I find that hard to believe.” You shuddered, as he brushed against that spot again.

“Hmmm... Harder” You moaned, your hands wandering down to touch yourself.

He started to thrust harder into you, grabbing your other leg, putting it on his shoulder too. He was so deep inside of you, you would be sore for days. His hand came down, to where you were touching yourself, moving your hand faster, as he quickened his movements.

Your whole body shook as you came within seconds, hissing he pulled out of you to come on your stomach. You were both breathing heavy as he leaned down to kiss you, before he let himself fall on his back next to you. Neither of you moved or said anything for a couple minutes, both of you trying to control your breathing. When you began to shiver, this time from the cold, you got up to the ensuite to pee and clean yourself a little. Walking back you saw him looking at you, so you extra swayed your hips. As you climbed back into your bed, warm arms came around you to pull you on his chest. You put the blanket above both of you and fell asleep within the next minutes, listening to his heartbeat.

  …..

  Your sister looked at you with big eyes, before she straightened up in her seat, eying the priest. There was no doubt. It was John, that was wearing a beige robe, taking about how blessed this child is, now that it is about to be baptized and become a child of god.

“I mean he is hot. You didn’t lie there.” Your sister said, turning her head to you.

“He still is a priest. A catholic priest. Who is supposed to live in celibate.”

“From what you’ve told me, I don’t think he lives in celibate.” She whispered, wiggling her eyebrows. The priest looked through the crowd and was startled for a second, as he spotted you. You were still trying to wrap your head around the fact that you had the best sex of your life with a catholic priest, so you didn’t really pay attention to what he was saying.

  You were standing outside together with your sister, when you shivered. Your sister looked behind you, and then back to you.

“I’ll leave you to it then.” She kissed your cheek. “Don’t blame yourself. He should have told you. Also. He’s really really hot.”

“Not helpful.” You whispered back as she smiled.

“Father.” She greeted him and left you standing with him.

  Shaking your head you exhaled and turned around.

“Can I do something for you, Father?” You raised your eyebrow and John looked down at you. He had lost his robe somewhere on the way and was only wearing his black pants and dress shirt. And his clerical collar. You crossed your arms in front of you. Waiting for him to say something.

“I should have told you.”

“No shit.” You hissed. A couple of heads turned towards you and you nodded smiling at them until they turned away from you.

“Would it have mattered if I told you?” He asked. You thought about that. Would it? You took to long to answer, and saw him nodding his head, a little smirk on his face.

“I can’t talk about that on the baptism of my friends baby.”

“Then come see me later. I’ll be here.” He gestured to the church.

“ I’m sure you will.”  You said and left him standing.

  “Oh please. Don’t tell me you would have said no, if he had told you. You merely regret the lost opportunity of moaning Father when he made you come.” Your sister said.

“Rude.” You punched her arm, drinking your second glass of prosecco. You had left the party after the baptism rather shortly. Your sister following you. Now you were sitting on her balcony, looking down the street.

“What did he say after I left?” She asked.

“He wants to talk. I should come see him at the church.”

“What are you doing here then?”

“Trying to talk myself out of going there, because I don’t think I’ll be able to keep my hands to myself, if he’s standing in front of me.”

Your sister shrugged her shoulders. “We’re all going to hell anyway. If you get all hot and bothered because you get laid by a priest, who cares? We’re atheists anyway.”

“How are we related?” You asked her and shook your head laughing, emptying your glass.

“Okay I’m going.”

  He was standing outside of the church, when you exited your car. The sun just started to go down, leaving a pink light to illuminate everything. He spotted you right away and walked towards you, putting his cigarette out, which he had been smoking.

  “You have some explaining to do.” You told him. He nodded.

“Let’s get inside. I have to get my stuff.”

“Okay.”

You walked behind him into the church. You shouldn’t be thinking about how his naked skin under your fingers felt. Or how he tasted, but you couldn’t help yourself. Stopping in the middle of the aisle you looked up to the big cross hanging in front of you.

You never had been raised religious. Your parents didn’t believe in it, and neither did you. Still, it felt weird. Having thoughts like these in a church. The house of god. Where people came to pray.

“If it would make you feel better, I could take your confession.” John was standing at the altar, waiting for you.

“I’m not catholic. And I don’t think you taking my confession would help me ease my thoughts. Shouldn’t you be confessing? Or punishing yourself? You didn’t just break you celibate, you lied. You drank. Aren’t these all things, you’re supposed to not be doing? Stop smiling at me you idiot.”

“I’m sorry. And yes. Yes you’re right. I did break all the rules to have you but I don’t regret it.”

“No?”

He walked towards you and your breath hitched, when he stopped right in front of you. You could feel his warmth and smell his scent.

“Let me take your confession.” He whispered into your ear and you swallowed. Where you about to have kinky sex in a church? He tilted his head, towards the confessional and started walking towards it, disappearing on the left side. Headshaking you followed him, sitting down on the right side, closing the curtain. There was little coming from the other side where John was sitting.

“So what should I confess to you now?” You asked, crossing your legs.

“That’s not how it works. You say Bless me father for I have sinned and then you tell me when your last confession was.”

“But I’m not catholic.”

“Humour me.”

“You just want me to address you as father because you like hearing it, don’t you?” And deep inside you, you did too. You were met with silence on the other side

Ah fuck it.

“Bless me father for I have sinned. I’ve never confessed, so it’s been a little more than 32 years.”

“What do you have to confess?”

“Apart from sleeping with a catholic priest who is sitting next to me?” She quirked her eyebrow. You could hear him chuckle.

“Yes. Apart from that.”

You sighed.

“Well I’m not exactly familiar with your rules. But... I guess it’s safe to say I use God’s name in every way not appropriate. Let’s see... I once lied to my mom about going to a slumber party with my best friend, when I really went to sleep with my boyfriend.  Oh I stole a bathrobe at a hotel once. I’m good at this.” You laughed a little.

“This is not supposed to be fun.”

“Well maybe you should confess your sins then.” You suggested.

“You’re no priest.”

“And I’m not catholic and yet her I sit, confessing my sins to you.” You were met with silence again.

After a couple minutes you were pretty sure, that he wouldn’t talk, so you stood, walking out of the confessional, when a hand grabbed your wrist, and he pulled you back, closing the door behind you, pushing you down on his lap. His lips were on yours, as his hands wandered under your dress up your thigh. Your hands were in his hair. You couldn’t believe this was happening. He rubbed you over the thin fabric of your panties, before he pulled it to the side and shoved his finger deep inside of you. You bit your lip to stop yourself from moaning. Arching your back, your hands came to his shoulders, lifting you up and down, as you rode his finger. He added two more and you positively lost your mind. Until he firmly grabbed you hip, keeping you still, stopping all his movements, with his fingers buried deep inside of you.

You looked down at him.

“You want me to confess my sins?” He asked you, slowly moving his fingers inside of you. You bit your lip and nodded.

“I came here to take care of something, but on my first night here I met you.” His thumb came up to your clit, beginning to slowly draw circles, while his fingers still moved within you. You whimpered.

“And instead of focusing on my task here, all I can think about is the various places I want to fuck you in.” He began to move faster.

“It’s difficult as it is, trying to play the priest, but you...” He shook his head. “You I haven’t counted in.”

It took a while until the information he just gave you, processed in your brain.

“You’re not a priest?” You asked.

“I didn’t say that.” He smirked.

You crossed your arms around his neck, as you felt your orgasm approach fast.

“John...” You breathed as you came, tugging on his hair, as you rode down your high.

You barely heard his zipper, before he replaced his fingers inside you with his cock.

“Oh god.” You moaned quietly.

“Again with the blasphemy.” He chuckled, grabbing your legs, to put them behind his back, picking you up and pressing you against the wall. He started to push into you faster and harder.

“Bloody Hell John” You moaned, as you felt his finger rubbing your clit. You were about to come again.

“That’s where we’re all going anyway honey.” He groaned in your ear, as he spilled inside of you, taking you over the edge with him.