#Moon panicking and probably scared that he IS a monster like people say

[moonbeamsung]

Bad Dracula

I have no intention of scaring you, baby~

member: jaemin

au: vampire!jaemin x gn!reader, supernatural au

word count: 2.1k

genre: fluff, a little angst, slightly suggestive

warnings: mentions of blood, kissing, implied strict parenting

recommended song: bad dracula by red velvet

author’s note: Based on the song above. This was so much fun to write and I thought it fit well with the time of year, so enjoy!

The dance floor in the large ballroom pulses with energy and vibrations from the DJ booth at the far end of it. It’s packed, so much so that all the people, all the shuffling pairs of shoes, threaten to overflow from the carefully manicured tiles on the ground and into the remainder of the space. This poses a problem considering there isn’t much, due to the dozens upon dozens of fancily decorated round tables scattered throughout the brightly lit chamber, some empty as their occupants sway to the beat of the music and others full with those still finishing their exquisitely prepared meals.

Dancing close to the edge of the massive crowd, you catch sight of the moon’s reflection on the polished floor, oddly clear. A strange feeling starts to overtake you as you continue to gaze at it, physically compelling you to raise your eyes. When you do, there’s a devilishly handsome stranger you’ve never seen before leaning against the wall, directly across from you. The moonlight spilling in through the glass casts a haunting shadow on his chiseled features, but your heart stops when the sliver of a fang peeks out from between his lips, gleaming a blinding white.

How no one else notices him, you’re not sure. What you do know, however, is that he’s definitely bad news.

...Right?

Your gut pinches at the thought, the silent signal begging you to correct your instant judgement based solely on his appearance. How could you possibly be wrong, though? He’s a vampire, for goodness’ sake! You’ve been lectured and warned enough times to remember that they’re always up to no good.

The inner dilemma going on in your mind causes you to stare blankly, zoned out and unaware that your focus is drilling into the boy. Amused, he waits for you to realize this.

Eyes blown wide with surprise, you whirl around to weave in and out of the throng of people, making your way to the center of the crowd in a pathetic attempt to undo what just happened. Attention trained on the ground, a pair of shiny black dress shoes come into your line of sight.

There’s that feeling again. You don’t want to, you fight the urge this time, but trying to resist the supernatural pull makes your head ache. Bracing yourself, you unwillingly lift your eyes again, tracing the length of his figure from the hem of his dress pants all the way up to the lapel of his suit. The wine-colored ensemble seems fitting, considering the craving vampires instinctively harbor for a similarly colored substance.

His looks are even more striking up close. The allure he possesses is something otherworldly, and he has to repeat himself for you to realize he’s speaking to you. “My name is Jaemin, and you are...?” He questions, the lilt of his voice silky and seductive. Stammering a somewhat coherent response, you freeze when his cold fingers grasp your wrist, lifting it to his lips and pressing a kiss to your trembling knuckles.

“Shall we dance?” It’s a statement, not a request, and not wanting to cause a scene, you make no attempts to protest. You get lost in the way his arms feel wrapped around you, every so often being twirled by the graceful movements of his hand.

Your eyes lock with his and they put you in an inescapable trance, casting a spell on your mind until the moment that he breaks the contact, glancing almost worriedly at something over your shoulder. He returns his gaze to yours as quickly as he removed it, and the enrapturing haze settles in around you once more.

For the final minute of your dance, he brings you closer than you’ve ever been to him before, head resting firmly against his chest. A triumphant feeling of rebellion bubbles up inside of you knowing that you’d be in big trouble if your parents could see you right now, in the arms of an enchanting vampire. The mere act of associating with one would be enough for them to explode with fury, so going even further than that would surely elicit a wrath of pure, unadulterated rage.

The song ends, its slow tempo coming to a stop before being replaced by a much peppier tune.

Most of your fright forgotten for the time being, you’re more curious than anything else when he begins to drag you away from the center of the ballroom, pulling you with urgency and a force that completely contrasts with the gentleness of his touches as you danced together. Stepping out from the crowd, he leads you around to the other side of the wide marble staircase, ducking to stand behind a pristine white column that extends all the way up to the heightened ceiling. It dawns on you now that he could actually be dangerous, and all the fear comes flooding back to you.

Jaemin sees it too, the way your pupils dilate to indicate your terror of the situation you’ve gotten yourself into, your terror of him. You’re about to cry out when he stops you by covering your mouth with his hand, the low temperature of his skin startling you even more, and you wince.

“Sorry, sorry!” He whispers hastily, panicked. You take notice of the instant change in his demeanor but it does nothing to calm you down. “It’s alright, don’t freak out, okay?”

“I’m not gonna hurt you,” he breathes, finally providing you with some sort of relief. You relax a little under his hold, still cautious but deciding to give him a chance. Slowly, he removes his palm from your lips, allowing you to speak.

“What do you want with me, then?”

Glancing around with that same look of anxiousness on his face, he leans in, murmuring into your ear with every word.

“Well, I’m sure you’ve noticed by now, but I’m a vampire. I come from a whole family of them. My parents brought me here tonight to... uh, well, you’ve heard the stories. They want me to find someone with the best blood to drink.”

Come to think of it, you do recall seeing a carriage parked outside, black as night and delicately carved like it came from the darkest depths of the underworld. Must’ve been his, you realize.

“And that’s me because...?” You interrupt his explanation, causing him to wave a hand in the air, exasperated.

“Let me finish, okay? The thing is, vampires drink blood but it’s not the only thing we need to survive. In fact, we don’t even need it. Over time we’ve found ways to get the same nutrients in other ways and from other things. Some of us still do it for tradition’s sake. And my family is all about preserving history.”

Inhaling sharply, he continues. “But I... I can’t do it. Not only does it feel morally wrong, but I get sick just thinking about it. On nights like this, I just have to find a way to lie about finding some.”

“That’s,” he leans back to point a finger at you, “where you come in, angel. We just have to make it look like I took some of your blood, and that will be enough to satisfy my parents for a while.”

Too stunned to speak, you gape at Jaemin, leaving him waiting for your answer, wondering whether you’ll commit or not.

“Wow.”

“I understand if you don’t want to help, I can always find someone—”

“You are nothing like who I thought you were.”

Jaemin’s pale skin flushes with a color you’re not sure even exists before he beams at you. A few minutes ago, you would never have guessed the mysterious man leaning against the wall could smile this brightly. “Not all of us are bloodthirsty monsters.”

“I’m sorry I was afraid of you,” you tell him, looking down at the floor with a guilty expression.

“It’s not your fault, you had every right to be.”

“...Hold on, what was all that out there?” You accuse, brows raised in slight suspicion and a hip tilted to the side as you await an explanation.

“What do you mean, ‘all that?’”

“I mean the dance! I mean the way you introduced yourself, the way you spoke, everything... You were so cold, so intimidating. But you’re acting so different now.”

“All to put on a show for my parents, sweetheart.”

Blushing like mad, you shake your head as you remember the reason why you’re back here with him in the first place. “I’ll do it,” you say, heart fluttering at the way his eyes light up with gratitude.

“Really? You will? Thank you! Thank you so much...” he trails off, and you find the excitement in his voice adorable.

“So, how do we do this?” You ponder for a moment, tapping your shoe against the floor before an idea comes to you. “You don’t mind ketchup, do you?”

Jaemin knows what you’re getting at, nodding. “I don’t have a problem with it, so that should work fine.”

“But... how close are they going to look? Would a bite mark make it more realistic?”

Considering your words, Jaemin’s tongue darts out to lick at one of his sharp fangs, the action drawing your gaze down to them.

“You’re probably right...”

Closing your eyes and straightening your posture, you tilt your head to one side, exposing your neck. “Go ahead, I don’t mind.”

Here goes nothing, Jaemin thinks to himself. Only he doesn’t aim for your neck.

When you feel his lips on yours you’re startled to say the least, but just like when he danced with you, you don’t pull away. The kiss is a delicious secret, only for the two of you to know about and no one else. Instead of ice his hands are like fire on your skin, and the sleeves of his satin suit jacket feel heavenly against your arms as they cling to his shoulders for dear life. It’s so intense, so heated and passionate a kiss that you feel yourself back up against the pillar you’ve been hiding behind all this time.

Not wanting anyone to get suspicious about what’s taking so long, Jaemin reluctantly separates his lips from yours and drags them across your skin, down past your jaw to halt at your neck. The magic bestowed upon all vampires gives him the power to temporarily restrict the ability of his fangs to take blood, rendering them harmless. Once he’s done this, he sinks them into the spot above your collarbone just far enough to leave an impression, eliciting a small whine from your lips but nothing more.

“That wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be,” you pant, taking heavy breaths in through your nose and out through your mouth while you wait to regain the strength you lost in the moment. It’s funny, you think. He didn’t take any of your blood, so why do you feel so dizzy?

Jaemin chuckles, brushing your hair out of your face since it had become slightly tousled during the kiss. His eyes widen in sudden realization and he snaps his fingers, “The ketchup!”

“Right!” You exclaim, hurriedly running over to the nearest deserted table and grabbing a single packet.

Tearing the corner, you squeeze a small dot of the condiment onto your finger before smearing it onto the skin below his lips, making it look as if it’s dripping from the edge of his mouth. Jaemin takes it from you and does the same, the red smudge complimenting the bite mark he left on your neck quite nicely, if he says so himself.

Leading you back around the staircase, Jaemin shares a second dance with you in the middle of the ballroom, and this time you’re both more comfortable with each other. From across the room, his parents’ enhanced senses of sight allow them to see your stained skin, humming in approval at their son’s apparent obedience.

“Will I see you again?” You ask in a soft voice, wavering at the possibility of losing the new friend, and maybe something more, you’ve made tonight.

“I don’t know, my dear,” Jaemin admits. “But I’ll try.”

Smiling lovingly up at him, you sigh, the three words you so desperately want to utter on the very tip of your tongue, but you feel it’s a little too soon. One day, you tell yourself.

Hidden amongst the crowd, he ducks down a little to steal a final kiss before a tall figure that’s probably his mother whisks him away and into the distance. You exchange longing glances before he’s forced to turn around, walking completely out of sight.

Taking long strides at an inhuman pace between both of his parents, Jaemin grins to himself, thinking of you and how amazing you looked tonight in that elegant outfit of yours.

From beside him, his father sniffs the air, pale nose wrinkling in distaste.

“Is that ketchup?!”

[fatefulfaerie]

Yearning (All I Want For Christmas Is You)

Day 3 of the 12 days of Christmas prompts orchestrated by @zelink-prompts

Incarnation: Twilight Princess post-Ganondorf

Zelda always loved the Hylia’s Day ball as a child. The joyous occasion was met with festive decorations that adorned the ballroom with hues of red and green. She remembered smiles and laughter, times with her mother and father that were now just melancholy memories.

Now, all grown up, her perspective inching further and further away from romanticizing the holiday that was really no different from any other day, she anticipated it with little excitement.

Her dress, which felt as if it were being tied securely around her very lungs, nearly breaking her ribs and flattering her chest a bit more than she was used to, was a dark green. It fell down to the floor elegantly and, since she was now Queen, showed more skin than perhaps the dress of a princess. The green velvet dress had sleeves that dangled off her shoulders and a heavy petticoat underneath that rounded out the skirt.

Zelda placed her hands on her hips as one last pull of the corset strings cemented her into a perfect figure. She was glad she could breathe, but in the mirror she couldn’t help but be worried about the amount of her breasts that could be seen. The entire kingdom knew that she hadn’t yet found a King Consort to measure up to her high standards, and thus every male had his gaze upon her.

And yet all she wanted for Hylia’s Day was the one man who gave her those expectations in the first place, who stole her heart and yet disappeared without even knowing. She supposed in this coming year, she should give up the hope of his return, give up the warmth of her feelings and marry the best suitor in line, to produce heirs and become just another Queen with just another arranged marriage.

“How does that feel, Your Majesty?”

Zelda had lost herself in her reflection, tipping her head, still mesmerized by the bottom of the dress and imagining it gliding across the floor as she danced with the man who saved her kingdom.

“Hm?” She hummed before registering the question in her mind, her head realigning to sit on her shoulders evenly. “Quite satisfactory. Thank you.”

“I take it you have quite a bit of suitors coming tonight,” the handmaiden commented as she carefully placed an ornate crown upon Zelda’s head. 

“I do,” Zelda said, her fingers finicking with the skirt of her dress, a habit she had ever since she was a child.

“I guarantee they’ll fancy you in this dress,” the handmaiden continued as she made small, minute adjustments to Zelda’s updo, to Zelda’s makeup. “Is there a suitor whom you particularly fancy?”

Zelda thought upon her answer, staring at her sad blue eyes in the mirror.

“No,” she lied quietly. “Not yet.”

“Well, you never know what this day will bring,” the handmaiden said. “Hylia’s Day is a magical time.”

“Of course,” Zelda said with a small and forced smile.

“Is there anything else you need of me, Your Majesty?” The handmaiden said with a step back.

“No, thank you,” Zelda said as she turned away from the mirror, facing her handmaiden with elegantly clasped hands. “That will be all.”

The handmaiden bowed and departed to the servant’s quarters to enjoy her night off, Zelda wishing she could follow.

——————————————————————————————————

She felt alone in a crowded room of dignitaries, of suitors, of court members and distinguished soldiers. Even when someone asked her to dance she felt alone, that dangerous hole in her heart eroding at her and telling her that with Link nowhere to be found, she would be pining for him until her dying days.

It took a couple hours until she could saunter to the outside balcony without being stopped by another suitor vying for her attention. Hands on the railing, she basked in the cool night air as she closed her eyes, reveling in her temporary freedom.

Her thoughts strayed to Link, as they often did, the last time she saw him becoming smaller against the horizon, the feelings she had that she never had the courage to voice. And, of course, the distance that came after that made her heart grow even fonder of this man of her dreams.

“Perhaps it is time to let you go,” she said to the open night sky. “Three months is a long time to be gone.” She laughed to herself. “You would probably think I’m crazy for my feelings. You were part of my life for such a short time and yet…”

She sighed, hanging her head.

“I just want you back.”

“Your Majesty?” She heard someone inquire somewhere in the ballroom.

“Not even five minutes to myself,” Zelda grumbled to herself, turning around to see not a suitor but one of her servants, carrying a tray with a folded note.

“Thank you,” Zelda said as she took it, the servant bowing and returning to other duties.

The Queen had no idea what matter could be so pressing for her to receive a correspondence during the Hylia’s Day ball, but she figured she would humor that distraction.

Meet me in the west courtyard at your earliest convenience. I assure you it will be safe, but I suggest you bring a guard nonetheless.

She tried not to hope that her mysterious correspondent was Link, but by the time she reached the courtyard, she was convinced it had to be. She didn’t bring a guard because of that. The swordsman who saved Hyrule surely would still be courageous in protecting its Queen.

——————————————————————————————————

Her heart pounded in her chest as soon as she recognized his silhouette. There was no doubt it was him, Zelda having near-memorized the way he stood for her own dreams and fantasies.

Link had, however, positioned himself beyond the reach of the moonlight, standing deliberately in the shadows. Zelda steeled her excitement at the fact that he was alive when she saw his hesitation.

“Link?” She asked as she walked forward cautiously. She watched as he knelt almost immediately.

“I must apologize, Your Highness,” he said, his very voice making Zelda swoon, her cheeks blushing pink. “I no longer am of any use to you.”

“Link, what…” Zelda said with a step forward. “What are you talking about? Where have you been?”

His head remained bowed and his figure remained shrouded in shadow. Zelda’s concern grew by the second and yet at the same time, her relief that he was here was contradicting it.

“A distant village to the south heard of my battles in Hyrule,” Link said quietly and submissively, Zelda’s blue eyes already sinking at the sadness in his voice. “They travelled to Ordon to ask for my assistance defeating a monster that was terrorizing their village, killing innocent people. I left immediately, travelled back with them, and faced the monster. The battle was difficult. I was cocky, over-confident fighting a monster even though I had never seen anything like it. I defeated it eventually, but…not before the monster…robbed me…of my arm…cutting it clean off. These past couple months have been a great deal of recovery, but I’ve also been avoiding facing you, telling you that…you can no longer depend on me to be the hero. I am deeply sorry, Your Highness. I come to you ashamed that someone you depend on for the safety of your Kingdom has betrayed you in such a way, is now so…useless…”

Zelda had shed tears but she didn’t care to wipe them, rushing forward and kneeling in front of him.

“Link,” she said, placing a hand on either of his shoulders. “You aren’t just a soldier to me. That is not all you are worth. Hey! Look at me!”

His blue eyes seemed scared to meet hers until they finally did, Link taking a shaky breath.

“I am so glad you are okay,” Zelda said before insisting. “You. Not your ability to fight. You are worth so much more to me.”

“Yeah right,” Link figuring she was just saying that to be nice.

Zelda was almost angry at his lack of self-worth, for brow furrowing before she captured his lips with his, so suddenly that he didn’t even know it was coming.

Link pushed her off as soon as he could, searching her for why a person of her status would do such a thing, whether or not this was one of his dreams where she actually likes him back. Zelda placed a hand on his cheek.

“I love you for who you are,” Zelda said. “Not what you did or used to be able to do for Hyrule. I don’t love the chosen hero, I love Link. I love you…and I’m so relieved that you are back.”

Link still look absolutely shocked, Zelda worrying he didn’t return her feelings before he surged forward much like she had, only this kiss continued as they pleased.

“I love you, too,” he whispered against her lips. “From the very second I met you, I knew the meaning of love. I’m not sure how that’s possible but…it’s true.”

Zelda couldn’t help but smile.

“I feel the same.” She said, their foreheads touching. “All I wanted for Hylia’s Day was you.”

Link chuckled.

“I didn’t plan to come back on the day of the ball,” Link said. “But you look as beautiful as I remember, even more so in that dress. In the moonlight you look like Hylia herself.”

“Pale and ghostlike?” Zelda jived.

“Transcendently gorgeous,” Link corrected.

Zelda chuckled.

“You know,” she said standing up, backing away, and excitedly positioning her arms, ready to dance. “I’ve danced with every one of my suitors except you.”

“As much as I’d like to be,” Link said, standing up and stepping into the moon light. He was just as charmingly handsome as Zelda remembered. “I’m not one of your suitors.”

“Oh?” Zelda asked as they stepped into each other, Zelda taking his hand with hers and placing her other hand on his armless shoulder. “And why is that?”

“There must be some rule,” Link argued softly, the two starting to waltz in circles. 

“Rules can be changed,” Zelda said. “Remember you are dancing with a Queen.”

Link froze immediately.

“I…I-I am?”

He looked absolutely panicked.

“You didn’t know that?” Zelda asked with a smile.

“I…I don’t know, I…” Link looked for more words. “I don’t know I guess I didn’t even think you would…I-I mean of course you would rise to Queen, I…”

Zelda giggled, and her smile accentuated by the moonlight made Link’s blush.

“I supposed I should have assumed,” he said, prompting her to continue dancing in circles.

“Are you,” Link cleared his throat. “A-already in line to marry someone then? Because if I’m getting in the way of that, I really don’t need to stick around. I just want you to be happy.”

“Link,” Zelda said with shakes of her head an an elegant smile. She kissed him again. “You make me happy. Happier than I’ve ever felt. You. No one else. Those other suitors never had a chance with you in my heart. I never chose any of them.”

Link chuckled nervously.

“Good, that’s…that’s good,” Link said before laughing again, a sound much more hearty and warm, his eyes locked in hers. “I’m happy, too”

[jess-the-vampire]

Sky And The Forces Of The Multiverse, Chapter 47

Previous / Next:

-

"So what do you think angel?".

Sky motioned to the platters of food that were nearly finished, having prepped the chefs and even helped out with, lexi adding final touches wherever she wanted, much to the chef's dismay. Angel of course seemed super tired and still stressed, as if thinking any small thing could ruin the whole entire night and mess things up with the king of spider monsters.

His dad wasn't cruel, he was no toffee or shastacan.

But the disappointment was enough to scare him.

He never used to care about this before, but now...it was always on his mind, taking over it. He nervously looked over what they had prepared, his father was coming in a few minutes, he wasn't dressed because they had been occupied with getting the dining hall ready and checking and changing the dinner options...5 times, they had wasted so much time and angel still wasn't sure they got things right.

"I...I'm not sure...maybe-".

"Angel...we don't have much time left, we spent hours getting stuff ready...we gotta get you changed...we're going to have to go with this...", she wasn't saying it to be mean, but angel didn't have time to be picky right now, especially if he wanted to have anything ready at all for his father. She patted his back to reassure him and ask if there was anything else he wanted to add to the meal his father would like.

But he only shook his head, disappointed but knowing she was right and they had to get moving.

"Let's go get changed...", his voice sounded defeated as he waved to marco before heading his way out, followed by sky who also waved to the demon queen, "Just don't be long, we'll be calling everyone to dinner very soon, remember he's not the only new guest we have here tonight". They gave her a knowing look and sky felt a fit in her stomach at remembering her grandma was finally coming over.

"I'm surprised you're so calm", he mumbled to the butterfly princess.

"Hmm?".

Angel turned to face her, "Your grandma is coming over and you're acting like it's not a big deal at all, you're not panicking over food, what you're going to wear...you're the complete opposite of me...". Sky was actually nervous even if he didn't think she looked it, but at the same time this event wasn't exactly about impressing her or proving anything to her so she had little reason to freak...as much.

There were other reasons to worry about her grandma that involved stuff outside of sky herself.

Whatever was really happening was more between her grandma...and her mom, less so about sky, her own mom had way more of a reason to be packing just as bad as angel was at the moment. Her grandma could be soft and sweet but also strict and scary if she wanted to be, not to mention pretty overbearing, she seemed to think at times she knew better then others.

Which of course, did not work for the current queen at all.

She had been trying to keep her mom out of her work for as long as she could, and now she was coming and there was nothing more she could do to convince the former queen to turn back to her retirement. She was coming and it would take more then usual to get her to turn back and away from the mess she had come to help try and fix where her daughter had failed.

Moon had gotten involved with sky being queen...a little, but her main focus was usually on her own daughter, after all...her daughter was meant to be the one teaching sky in the first place. So if she had to butt in and do star's job for her that wasn't good on star herself, though sky would argue this made moon look just as bad when it came to teaching star in the first place.

Anyways, she hated to even be involved during their bickering with stuff like this, she was lucky so far her life involved a lot less of it then she could've had. Being involved in the drama of two adults is a lot like being involved in the drama of two annoying teenagers, and sky had the urge to ask landon to borrow some of his headphones just to be safe.

"Well...guess i don't stress as much about making a good impression...most of the time, even when people were treating me like garbage i never really put on a fake persona and look to impress them so i guess it's just something i don't do", sky shrugged and tugged the prince along further, "But i mean, you got it way worse then me right now so that also probably makes a difference...".

"This feels like something a child would do after breaking one of their parent's things...doesn't it?".

"I guess you can say that yeah".

He hid his face within his hands, red, "You must think i seem like a real fool right now, you keep trying to reassure me and i keep freaking out about it and i just can't help it..." and that's when sky held out her hand, him taking it...still embarrassed. "It's fine, i'm not making fun of you for it...i get it, this whole thing is kinda important to you...you're going to be ok".

"I need to breathe more often...".

"It's still a learning process, you'll get used to it...hopefully, c'mon let's just get you dressed before you melt into the floor", she tugged him along as they made it to her room, which of course, was very much guarded still, angel awkwardly sat on the bed as sky headed inside her own wardrobe. "I'm assuming you're personally not into dresses so we'll rule that out for now, besides, i don't think any of my dresses will work with your back legs anyway".

Angel touched one of them in response.

"Good call".

"Now what i DO have is some stuff i was going to give to judas for his coronation, i started working on clothes ideas and these are mostly scrapped...i haven't had a ton of time to work on them exactly...but i nearly forgot i had been working on a few things for him...so maybe you can wear one...if you want to that is...if not i got other stuff in here...".

"Such as?".

She walked out holding a leather jacket and jeans.

"I mean, look, i dunno what exactly is your style outside of fancy stuff...but you could try...?", angel stared at the clothing with uncertainty, he still clearly didn't know what he wanted to do with his appearance and he had little time to think about it. Sky placed the clothes on the bed, "Hey...look...you can do whatever you wanna do...just make sure it's something you want to do...".

He took a minute to really think about it, nodding his head as he softly spoke.

"Well...leather might not really be me...but...you...have any sweaters in there? That might be more my speed...but...i'll wear a shirt under it and um...I'm ok wearing one of jude's jackets...", something about how he said it made sky smile, he seemed actually happy with his own choice. A choice made by him for him and not to please his father or anyone in particular.

"Sounds good, i can find that for you, you can shower real quick and we'll be good to go".

"What about you?".

She turned to face him, "I'll be fine as is...promise, you just need to worry about yourself and what you wanna say when your dad finally arrives, that's WAY more of a concern. You can think about it more in the shower and everything...". Angel glanced at the clothes and drawings sky and sunny had been working on earlier, clearly being reminded of the upcoming plans.

But he didn't say anything, instead sky fetched what he needed and he was quickly shoved into the closest nearby royal bathroom. What emerged soon later as a fresher smelling prince of the Arachmen, wearing a collared shift with a sweater and jacket overtop, he still had some nice shows and pants on but he seemed quite comfortable, his hair tired back behind him but a lot looser then it used to.

"How do i look?", he held out his arms and spun around to show the princess all of his angels, just to make sure he wasn't missing anything.

"Like a goober".

"What?".

"You look great, trust me, but tell me how you feel about it?".

He looked down at himself, adjusting his sweater, "Well...i feel...warm...and...comfortable".

"Perfect".

"You really seem to care about...me liking this stuff...don't you?", she shrugged as she brushed his sweater to make sure there weren't any loose hairs on him, "Well i mean, as someone who got annoyed at my parents telling me not to wear my hat for fun events, i'm not the person that's gonna force you one way or another...i just want you to like...be comfortable being yourself...and being that way to other people".

He softened at that as they made their way to the dining hall, to meet up with everyone. Most of everyone did seem to be there, though the most notable absent ones were judas, landon, celeste, her other mom, and...mason? She saw Queen Lucitor dressed up nearby in a rather radiant looking dress before approaching, still tugging angel along, guess angel wasn't the only one who decided to dress up real quick before dinner.

"Hey...where's-?".

"Judas? Off taking some time for himself still...hopefully he'll rejoin us soon, he's being kept company by katrina right now actually, she called in a bit ago. As for mason, he's still with fae and janna, they'll be a little late to eat, and well...landon and celeste are apparently visiting luna right now...so i'm not sure how long they'll be there but sadly we don't have time to retrieve them all...we'll just have to check in on them at dinner".

"Wait...visiting luna? Why in the heck would either of those grumps even want to be in the same room as her right now?", but she didn't have the time to question it, as here came her mom, in a rather nice golden dress and fixing her crown as she ran past her own daughter and into the dining room, the heavily armed guards quick to get out of her way.

"Guess Grandma's here...".

And sure enough, as sky turned around, followed by a few more guards came a new flowing figure with silvery hair tied back in a braid, wearing a blue gown with a cape, and with diamond marks that matched her heavy makeup. Angel was stuck in place, unable to move, and sky followed, stiff as a board upon her arrival, now wishing she had changed her clothing.

"Hello Skyler".

And before sky could say more she noticed another figure approaching and if the situation didn't make it obvious enough, the spider legs did. King Amir ArachFord striding his way next to the former queen, standing in place, looking rather nice all things considered, guards nearby holding gifts for most likely his wife as he looked at the group who had been waiting for their arrival.

Angel looked like he might actually have fainted.

"Hello Angelus.".

"Hello...fath...dad".

This was going to one hell of an awkward evening.

-

"We outta do this with fae more often...", janna smirked, way too pleased with herself as the mole man trembled in his seat just looking at fae. Ever since the girl had come into the room everything had gone from bad to worse, the lights broke, his chair broke, a rock fell from the ceiling and hit him on the head, he fell over a dozen times, it was eerie to say the least.

Something about the little girl was off, and yet somehow, the other small demon in the room seemed so unfazed, sitting and cheering her on.

In fact everyone was unfazed but him.

The downside to working with her was well, she was a wild card, there was a high chance something bad to could happen to any of them, though the difference was he was alone, they were not. Fae didn't want to accidentally hurt mason but she wanted his companionship in this situation, she would've felt way more uncomfortable without a face she was used to helping her out.

She had never considered her cruse to be much more then an annoyance at least, burden at worst, being asked to put it to use had been an...interesting idea she never considered before. Though she did feel a little uneasy interrogating anyone, she wasn't exactly sure about this guy much and even with her abilities and protection...who knows what her powers might do.

Might make things worse.

But janna seemed confident, jackie writing in her notepad as janna lured around their prisoner.

"You really voluntarily decided to work for a criminal? I mean i get the appeal and everything but you made a bad choice in working with the one who nearly hurt my kid", nearby jackie sighed and shook her head, janna never changed did she? "I mean, sure she's super scary and everything, but you didn't even think to turn her into us? Woulda saved us a lot of work".

"Look, i had no idea she was a criminal, i told you, our kingdom barely knew about all of this...ok? She showed up, needed a place to stay, i had that old chamber and she stayed...that was it".

"You knew she was doing bad stuff though", Jackie added, "Otherwise you wouldn't have reacted the way you did in the bar when the queens and king confronted you, you keep denying you knew the full extent but you clearly knew something more you haven't told us about...there's no way you didn't know something, she had a child locked up down there for hours...and you ran from us when we tried to arrest you...".

"Well i-".

"If you are as innocent as you claim you're certainly not making yourself out to look that way to any extent, you're better off confessing the truth then risk us going any further to scare it out of you...there's no point in defending this person so much". She sent him a cold glare that challenged those of even moon's as the man shook a little as a result.

" You have no idea how scared i was...how much she made me fear for my life, that she would never leave me be and would destroy me if i said or did anything, i meant no harm to anyone, but i had to worry for my own safety lest it have happened to anyone else i had known in my home". Jackie kept writing in her pad, "Sir, we are not trying to pretend you weren't afraid...but you could leave, you should've told someone".

"And what? Risk being killed? Even now if i say anything more i risk them bursting in here and destroying me, you lot can't protect me, you couldn't even protect your own castle. I'm better off shutting my trap and keeping quiet about what's going on then risking my own life. Even if...you have dangerous children around to scare info out of me...at least dying to her might be...less painful then whatever that magical horror might do", she didn't seem as sure on that last part but he shut his mouth tight.

Janna didn't seem to enjoy that, she didn't felt they were getting rather close on the whole matter, they'd been in here for hours at this point and had only gotten just a little of what they were looking for, and they needed so much more. They could already feel themselves getting hungry and they couldn't stay much longer, but they didn't want to leave like this, without what she had been looking for since the moment she entered this room.

He had to know something more that he wasn't sharing, he couldn't be this out of the dark like angel was.

Janna stood in front of him now, face in his face, she was good at scaring people in her kingdom but he wasn't from her kingdom...so it was unlikely he knew who he was messing with. She couldn't exactly hurt him, jackie was in the room after all and so were two kids, but she had a thing for mindgames and of course...hypnotism. So maybe she needed to try something else to get it out of him.

"Janna?".

"Hmm?".

"I don't like that look on your face, i know what it means", and indeed jackie had remembered it since they were really young kids, it was the kinda face that told her to be very mindful of janna's next few actions, otherwise she might get into a mess herself. It was also the face she tended to make before marco got themselves in a whole heck of trouble from her.

"What does it mean?", the man asked, a slight tinge of nervousness in his voice.

This of course, immediately made janna very happy, she might of finally had something.

"Oh well, you won't have to worry about that, not unless you talk to us", she drummed her fingernails on the table between them, "I mean, you don't wanna ask questions you don't want the answers to after all". He didn't want to show he was worried, but janna could sense it on him, so distracted he didn't notice fae's bad luck triggering a glass of water nearby to shatter, scaring jackie and the kids.

"You're bluffing".

"I'm one of the queens of mewni, if i want to make a threat, don't assume it always means i'm just bluffing, you'd be surprised the kinda people i've been able to crack...much tougher then you".

He appeared as if he wanted to say something in response to that but chose to keep his mouth shut instead. Janna seemed pleased at that response, though maybe she would've liked for him to challenge her, would be a perfect way to start scaring him. Jackie tugged on janna's shoulder, pulling her back, "Trust me when i say, she doesn't really tend to bluff...but she is also right...you might be better off admitting what you have on you...".

"I...I stated my reasons...i can't".

"Sir, this is to help protect tons of people, if you tell us what you know many people can rest well at night, we understand you are fearful, so are we...but this is important and you need to be brave for them", he paused a moment, thinking on her words, but he still shook his head. "Sorry, no can do...if i have to live in this prison for the rest of my life, i'll take that over meeting a gruesome fate".

He just wasn't going to budge, and they were just going to have to change tactics.

Janna looked to Jackie, still grinning and clearly asking permission for her to go wild on the man before them, and jackie...as reluctant as she was...knew she just wasn't going to be winning this one.

"Look, i'm not ok with you doing stuff like that, but as long as not actual physical harm comes to him, then it's worth a shot i guess...but i am taking the kids outside, they really should eat something and i don't think they should be apart of this if we're about to make things get a whole lot worse, and i definitely don't want whatever you do affecting them...so...fine". Her reply seemed to make janna even more excited, and the man more confused, clearly expecting violence to have been what janna was talking about.

"We're leaving?", mason asked, stretching his wings.

"Yeah, we're not going to stick around for this mess, trust me, you don't want to...", she left her notepad out for janna, her look stern. "Write anything of importance, don't lose it, and don't go too far...i mean, i know you won't make any promises for sure but i still at the very least want to make sure i say that.". She moved fae away from the scene, and gathered her sword nearby.

"So did i do a good job with this or-?".

"Fae, you did well, but you're still a kid, you need a break...time to let janna take over for a bit ok?", she headed them out of the heavily guarded and locked door as janna rubbed her hands together, mason spotted the man sweating as the door shut behind them. "Is janna gonna do what the crazy mask person did to Loki? take over his mind and make him speak?", it was odd for him to come out with it like that but he wasn't stupid.

"Kinda...yeah, but not exactly, she's not using magic".

"It's a lot like magic though, magic for the mind".

"I guess if you really think about it, it is a little like magic for the mind, but just remember not to mess with the minds of others for bad purposes, janna is doing it to help us out, and no damage should come to the man...but never use it to harm anyone ok?", sheesh, jackie didn't have any kids and yet she was so...mom-like, patting the two on the shoulder as they nodded.

"Miss Jackie?".

"Hmm?"

"Are you upset about...miss luna?".

This seemed to make her stop in her tracks, blinking at mason curiously, "Well um...i can't say i'm not, i mean she was my top student and imagining her as being an enemy this entire time is well...not quite...what i wanted to happen. Putting your trust in someone only for them to be arrested rarely leaves you with any sort of good feeling, but why are you asking?".

"Cause everyone seems to be really upset about luna, including both my brothers...", his wings feel to the floor, "Judas was pretty close to her and landon...well actually landon kinda doesn't like her but having her here still makes him upset...and you were one of the people who hadn't said much about her since she got here...so...i wanted to know".

"I guess considering she was my student...i probably should've had more to say about all of this...truth be told, i just decided maybe i should stay out of it. It seems like whatever is happening, it's something that more involves the queen and you kids then me, so i just do my job and keep to that, i don't add my own thoughts unless i'm usually asked when it comes to this".

"Why not?".

"Because usually it's not my place, some things you gotta stay out of, i'll be here to help you all whenever you need me, but i won't intrude on your personal feelings and drama like that...not unless you want me too, you guys are going through enough to also include me within all of that. You don't have to worry about me with all of this, ok? Worry about you".

"But i want to, besides, i don't want you to feel upset and left out too~".

She affectionately pet his head, fixing up his hat, "Thanks mason, it's nice of you to care about me, it is genuinely sweet of you." She fixed herself up and took fae's hand, "Hopefully whatever is going on with luna gets sorted out, i'm sure i'll be updated on her as time goes on...since her parents seem to be...unavailable, I'll kinda have to be in charge of her throughout this".

"So...you're kinda gonna be treated like her mom?".

"Basically".

If only she knew.

"Anyways, we'll come back for janna, after you both eat and get whatever else you need, you're been in there long enough anyways".

"Oh yeah, it's dinner time isn't it?", he'd been in there so long he hadn't been keeping track of the time at all, no wonder he was getting so hungry, his family had to have been already eating by this point. "Yeah, though just be careful when we get there, we have guests tonight, we don't want to be impolite or anything...after we eat i'll personally drop fae back to her home...honestly i'm surprised your parents are so...lenient".

"if it makes money, they don't care if i have to do out for a bit", she shrugged and said nothing more.

"You know, you might be unlucky, but people should treat you a little better...being unlucky isn't your fault", she didn't respond again to what she said but jackie swore she at least saw her eye move to look at her a bit, "You're more then just your luck, you're a very charming girl from what i can tell, you're honest, you're helpful, and you clearly care about your family to be trying to help them".

"It's fine, i don't mind being alone and everything, more time to...think and everything", mason stuck his head out to look at her but she still didn't look at either of them, "Mason's my only real friend, everyone is always turned away. Bad Luck, either i lose to them to it or they decided they no longer want to deal with it, it's something i'm just used to".

"Well that doesn't seem fair, friends should stick by through all the trouble you go through, you clearly mean no harm to any of them".

"But i can't blame them either, even now i have to warn people when i first meet them to stay away from me, just in case they might get hurt, mason only hangs with me because he's...not scared of me, he doesn't care...but other people do...i mean, i told him to stay away the first time i met him because i didn't want to be in trouble if he got hurt hanging around me".

"You really feel like this all the time?", now the woman looked extremely concerned, more like a mom then she had expected to be over this small child. "That sounds really awful fae, i'm so sorry you have to go through that at your age...you shouldn't have to be scared about hurting your friends at your age, you should be making friends and spending time with them whenever you can".

"Easier said then done", she mumbled.

"Well, now that i'm here in mewni, i'll see if i can help you make some friends, i train all kinds of knights of many different ages here, they're unafraid of any danger and maybe they're a good fit for you! They probably won't mind your bad luck at all". She seemed rather doubtful of any of that but it was the nicest thing anyone had said to her in a good while that didn't come from mason.

"If you say so".

It probably wasn't the exact answer jackie wanted to hear, but not the worst kind either, at least fae seemed midely interested. "Hey, if anything, back there was a pretty good audition for you, you know how to be intimidating and you're already good with horses, i'd say it might be a match made for you, but don't pressure yourself, it's ok if you don't want to".

Fae nodded.

"You don't have to invite me to all your royal meals or whatever, i'm not exactly royalty...", but she quickly felt mason's wing pull her into a side hug, "Doesn't mean we can't invite you, you're friends of royalty, so that's just as cool and just as much of a reason for you to eat with us". She let out a smile, not a big smile, but a genuine smile that only made mason more happy.

"Just make sure to be on your best behavior, with moon there and king arachford, we're in for one heck of a night", she informed as they made their way to the door, being let in by guards to see everyone else already seated. Mason already noticing his missing brothers right away, but not saying anything in case that might of been out of line, though star was quick to notice her wife's absense.

"Is janna still working?".

"Yeah, she had a few other methods she wanted to try out, she should be here soon, i took the kids though", mason and fae heading to open seats for them, the woman looking between everyone. "I really hope i didn't walk in on anything, i know we're rather late but things took a lot longer then we were expecting and he was rather hard to break somehow".

"Even with fae AND Janna?".

"Well considering we just now got here, what else do you think happened? If it had been that easy we would've been done hours ago, but while fae did scare him, he apparently is way more scared of...Her, threats against his life it seems, and as far as i can tell he's never seen their face, so janna's going to try a new tactic and you'll have to meet up with her after dinner depending how it goes".

Star wasn't used to Janna not being able to scare the living daylights out of anyone before, she just hoped her mom nearby wasn't taking it as another sign of imcompintence on her or janna's part. Jackie took her seat after saying hello to the former queen and helped herself as more food was being set out, mason looking over to sky as if asking why his brothers weren't here.

She mouthed to him from across the table that it was a long story.

She really wanted to go find judas, he had to be hungry as well at this point, but she knew he needed his space right now either, it just was on her mind right now. She was worried in what state she might find him in the next time she saw him, sure he'd dealt with a lot before but this whole thing broke down most of his world, there was no coming back from that easily.

She just didn't want him to be alone through it either.

But she had to just wait it out, through dinner, and well...there was plenty to distract her if she wanted to be distracted. Her grandmother had wasted no time in getting into her reasons for being here, as anyone would expect of her. Star of course being incredibly nervous the entire time, worried just what her mother might point out and fuss over and make things worse.

Star loved her mom, she was helpful and not always such a pain.

But she could feel the disappointment in her voice. She had never had so much trouble with anything in a long time, she could usually handle threats like this and yet this one seemed to doop her at every level, it didn't look good on any queen but especially not her. Moon couldn't complain too badly, she herself had been involved with scary threats and hadn't always known what to do.

But that didn't mean she didn't need help.

It became very clear she needed to get involved, whether star liked it or not, maybe having her there might ponder different results. She was already talking about their plan and discussing what she did and didn't like, clearly the idea of using a royal celebration as a trap was not exactly her favorite idea in the world, even if it had a decent chance of actually working.

But that didn't surprise Star, at all.

Of course Star wasn't the only one at the table with parental issues that were on the rise, Angel and his father had been silent all dinner so far, most of the conversation being had by the two butterflies. They both had mostly just sat and ate, though Sky swore the king had been eyeing her a few times, probably wondering exactly how their friendship had been progressing considering sky was indeed sitting next to angel.

Nora however, was trying to be as cheery as possible, even though she also seemed worried for judas. She clearly sensed the tension in the room and was trying to be as cheery as sunny was, but even sunny was talking more to galexia and was staying out of the argument. Marco and Tom were keeping to themsleves as well, it seemed moon brought a new atmosphere then it was before now.

One that kept everyone quiet.

Sky wanted angel to just talk to his dad but that wasn't something she could just make him do, it was one of those things that had to naturally happen and right now was far from natural, as sad as it was. She did feel they wanted to talk though, but maybe more in private, where there weren't so many people around to listen in or make things more uncomfortable then they already were.

They just kept...looking at each other.

She could only imagine what was going through their heads, the king had barely left his kingdom in what must've felt like forever for him and now he was dropped in the middle of his wife being revived, his son dealing with his issues, and moon overall. This could've been a happier meeting if things were just a little less tense right now for him and everyone else.

"It's good to see you sir".

That's when the king turned to Sunny, who was waving to him, he waved back smally.

Remembering the small girl who had spent time with his wife in what felt like so long ago, he didn't seem to know what he wanted to say though, but he coughed into his hand to not be impolite. "Well, i appreciate being invited, having globgor take over the kingdom for a little...it's nice, i was really happy to come over and...not have to deal with too much at the moment".

Angel sunk more into his seat.

"Well we're happy to see you too ! It's nice having new people come over for dinner! You look good!",

Leave it to sunny to know how to talk to people and make them feel super welcome, even in the most awkward of circumstances. He looked over his old suit and nodded, "Thank you, it belonged to my father, i wanted to look my best...for Arana, i didn't want her to wake and see me look like such a mess, though...i'm sure i will when she wakes up...i ugly cry".

"She's going to be so happy to see you and angel!".

"Yes...", he glanced over to his son, who wasn't making eye contact with him still, "I'm sure she will. though she has so much to catch up on, being in this state for so long...and she might not even completely be herself after she wakes...her mind...damaged, there's going to be so much work to do...but we'll try and manage the best we can...hopefully".

"I semi met her...in her mind", sky mumbled, "I mean i wasn't intended to do that, mom just wasn't good at making a barrier around her to warn me before i got sucked in, she seems...well...she seems like she's still really lovely, i know i never was close with her throughout everything, but...i hope when she gets up to get to know her a bit better".

He was smiling, feeling more comfortable among everyone in the room, even if the queens weren't paying attention, even tom and marco looked pretty happy.

Angel was still quiet though.

He was having a hard time breaking his silence to just talk and speak up, even though he had to, he needed to. But sky put a hand on his shoulder, "Hey, if you want to talk to him after dinner...it's ok, like don't force it or anything...or you might say something you might regret. No one is judging if you don't want to get into it at the table with a bunch of weirdos...".

He nodded, appreciative.

"You cooked a wonderful meal for my arrival, i really do appreciate the effort, though you didn't have to make any of my favorite dishes", and that resulted in sunny glancing to angel himself, smiling, "Hey, if it wasn't for your son, we might of had a harder time preparing for you, he knows what you like and what would mean a lot to you, he really valued making this dinner".

Angel blushed deeply at the comment, he shouldn't be so embarrassed about that, it just felt weird still to be...complimented...and to his father too.

His father seemed really touched at the thought, and that only made angel more flustered, this whole thing was going better then he expected.

"I'm sad to see young prince lucitor isn't here, i would've liked to see him again after the last time at the trial, but i assume with everything going on he probably has other responsibilities at hand", tom and marco looked at each other and sky readjusted herself in her seat, "Well uh...something like that, you're not completely wrong, you might see him later though".

"I also have no idea if i've said this before, but i want to thank you too princess", sky froze in her seat, the man folding his arms on the table. "You put yourself on the line for my son and you did help him get free of all of this...that was not something you had to do for him or my family, especially considering everything you had been put through, i really can't thank you enough".

"I mean, i mostly just winged it, i barely knew what i was doing but...thank you, you're super welcome", He then turned to angel, and nodded, "I must admit...i missed having you home, it's been a lot lonelier then before, you look...good. It's really nice to see you with good friends and having a good time, i wouldn't want you to be dealing with...our kingdom".

"How bad is it?", nora meekly asked.

"Let's just say going out right now is not a great option, not to say our people had no reason to be mad, but i feel they have gone too far. I think they really feared four our livelihoods after that trail, not just with the butterfly family, but if the person angel had betrayed would come back and kill us all as some form of retribution. I think you can say for sure angel isn't...popular there".

Angel was about to sink even further in his seat as his father talked more.

"However, they seem to have a soft spot for what sky, nora, and judas did...they've never seen our kingdom be so...defended before like that, the spiderbites especially. So perhaps something about your friendships do regress some of the anger." Nora blushed red as she instinctively grabbed her hair, "It's no problem at all, i just wanted to help...her and...".

He smiled gently at her, "Not once in our kingdom have we gotten so close with the others like that, i think while the people are mad they can't deny they really are impressed angel somehow managed to get the spiderbites to be on decent terms with us". Angel felt an ease of tension and anxiety, sitting a bit more up back in his seat, did he actually do something...right? And people liked it?

Sensing angel feeling a little better at the words sky interjected.

"Yeah, angel's been doing pretty great recently, i mean, don't get me wrong, he's pushed my buttons quite a few times and everything, but he's been pretty helpful and making a lot of progress. Like i really appreciated his help when i went through the castle to save one of my friends, he had my back the entire time...even though he didn't have to".

Angel was definitely less anxious, but now he and nora both were blushing at being praised so much.

"Angel was really involved during the underworld castle incident?", guess the man wasn't aware of his son being involved in it at all, and sky patted the spider next to her on the back. "Oh yeah he was, i mean at first i came in to save him, but then he stuck with me the entire time even though he was scared, it was honestly pretty cool of him to do".

Angel's father actually seemed to be rather impressed, not expecting these kinds of actions from his son before this point, angel had done very irrational things before this point but nothing noble and brave like this. Though the man did seem still upset about what happened before he did seem impressed about what he was seeing now, and angel felt he could breathe again.

"I-".

"It's ok angelus, we'll talk more about everything later...we have a lot of catching up to do".

Angel nodded in agreement, and the table felt slightly more at ease, not that the argument up front had stopped anytime soon. The women hadn't been paying any attention to the nice moment at all, star was still debating her mom on all her ideas and moon was very much still telling star off for not getting her involved sooner to clean up this mess.

This was the kinda thing that made sky hate family reunions, did all famlies have to fight like a bunch of idiots when eating dinner together?, Cause even judas's family did that at times and he got annoyed about it.

The sooner they got out of here the better.

Even the Lucitors were getting tired of it, Marco quickly standing up, actually starling the butterflies from their talk. They looked over to their husband and sighed, "I'm going to look for landon and celeste, maybe judas...if they don't want dinner we can bring it to them later. But we'll be having dessert soon and they still haven't shown up, so i'm going to check on them".

In the back of sky's mind though, she was sure it was half actually that, and half not wanting to be here and hear the adults argue.

But Tom stood up to, "Actually i'd like to join you, we might be able to save time by spreading out, they're my kids too.". Tom taking their partner's hand and kissing their cheek as they headed out with a wave to the kids in the room. They were smart on finding a way out of this situation, that was for sure, even angel and his father were looking for an excuse out but that wouldn't do.

They needed some permission, especially since this wasn't their castle and they were here as star's guests basically.

"-I'm just saying star, you should've taken these precautions after what happened with toffee, i know you're struggling hard here but this is all too much and it's gone on for too long and has gone too far. It's time you let someone else take the reigns, i have more military experience, so i should be able to help with some of my ideas, then we might be able to work further on this".

"Mom, we have a plan!".

"Star, plans aren't 100% You know that. There's so much you might have not even considered, and even if it did work, things can go wrong, what if they escape?", of course moon probably didn't know it but her words were beating sky down just a little. It had been her plan for the most part and she knew it wasn't even a great plan but gee, thanks grandma.

But she had a point, this was a serious situation, they couldn't afford to have a plan with possible holes or cracks in it either. Ddi they want to capture the criminal or lose another time? Sky felt herself mindlessly start playing with her food, her mind wandering during their argument. Angel mumbling under his breath, "i mean, i thought it was a pretty smart idea".

If judas couldn't be here, she was glad angel and nora were.

"Well then we'll make it work! It's a good idea mom, we need to lure them, that's the only way we're going to get anywhere!", star was determined on this one, she had to fight her mom on it, otherwise they might not get another chance. Not to say her mom's plans couldn't work, but the sooner they did this the better and who knew if they'd get as good an opportunity later.

"Star, i understand, but it's dangerous, imagine how many people will be there, in the line of fire too! Safety is important here, and if things go poorly we have a high chance someone won't make it", even though his name hadn't been mentioned at all, angel knew she was talking specifically about him. His heard his father grunt across from him, before finally getting the ladies's attention.

"I do have to agree about safety, this is a young prince's coronation after all, you are inviting an enemy onto troubled grounds. Luring them is a smart move but perhaps moon needs to modify the plan however she can", the thing was, they all agreed the plan would need to be worked on anyway, they knew it, but obviously star didn't want moon to be the person in charge of it either.

"Look, i know you don't want me here but i promise star, this won't be as bad as you think, the more minds the better to work on this. Soon enough we'll be able to breathe again and i can go back to resting, we're just going to have to work together and no amount of yelling at me is going to be making me go back into retirement", the queen sat back in her chair and star let out a huff of defeat.

"Fine".

"Since meteora is back i'll be talking to her later, i want to catch up on anything i've missed recently, because judging by all the faces at this table, i have missed quite a few details it seems", she glanced at sunny and galeixa, then to fae. Guess when it came down to it, they probably would be minor details to any average mewman hearing about all the crazy stuff going on with the criminal.

She smiled at the spider king, fixing her dress, "Sorry, i know we were talking awhile over there, nearly forgot we had a guest over your highness, as soon as we finish eating we'll take you to visit your darling arana, she should still be resting right star?". Star still looked rather mad as she leaned against her seat, but she complied to her mom's question, "Well yeah...but like...no promises what'll happen when she wakes...the spiderbites are sure she'll have memory issues no matter what".

"She will", nora mumbled, "Memories can be healed but...having us heal all of them...was unlikely with how quickly we figured out what was happening...but...maybe over time, things might work...at the very least...she's not near death now...", it was a plus, they could give her that. She wouldn't be the same as she was but she wouldn't be too gone either.

"You...think...she'll remember me?", the king muttered softly, a hint of sadness in his voice.

"I'm sure she will, her family seems to mean everything for her", she didn't honestly know at the end of the day, but she had to hope at least, she had been in her mind,

The door opened, and three figures entered, tom and marco back surprisingly quickly, but with a guest at hand. Judas was standing behind them, he didn't look great but he didn't look awful either. He must've been hungry though, as he didn't even look at anyone as he sat down to eat in silence. Even the spider king didn't get a look, the man shocked at the teen's demeanor.

He had never seen prince judas so...rough before.

Judas was usually a happy individual, making jokes and helping everyone around him. Now he looked to be too inside his mind to really focus on anyone in particular, he just wanted to get something in his stomach and head out to be back in isolation as soon as possible. Angel and Nora also looked deeply troubled, both wanting to reach out to the boy who was ignoring them.

Tom and Marco whispered to sky as they passed by, "We found him in a hallway nearby, he just wants to eat, give him his space...landon and celeste are still with luna". That didn't make sky feel any better though, judas seemed to have silenced everyone, even queen moon seemed a little stunned. She wasn't around that much but she knew enough to know this didn't sit right with her.

This was the prince who was supposed to be king soon, and not only that, but whose coronation was the center of their plan.

And here he was, looking like a depressed mess.

How were they supposed to casually have a conversation with judas like this?

Well to put it lightly, they didn't, the room was silent until judas finished eating and excused himself to go and sleep. His parents didn't even protest it at all, letting him leave the room before standing up a few moments later to drag landon and celeste over here. Both of them clearly having waited till they knew judas was a little whiles away before heading out as to not bother him.

It felt like without judas some soul had been ripped from everyone.

Even Sunny.

It said a lot when even she said nothing to him.

Judas came over to get some food and left without so much as a word, not to his friends, his family, anyone, it was the worst anyone had even seen him in a good while and it left everyone with a sense of dread and sadness.

It took a minute for anyone to even talk at dessert, and the one to actually break wasn't the person anyone had been expecting to speak first at all. A small cough coming from next to mason, Fae shoving chocolate cake into her mouth as she spoke. "Y'know, mason is super happy and everything and everyone talks about how cute he is, but honestly judging by how you all are, it seems judas is the one that usually makes everyone super happy when he enters the room...no offense mase".

"It's ok, i'm not mad".

No one argued against that, judas was pretty much a friend to anyone.

He really knew how to make everyone feel better about themselves, and be someone's shoulder to lean on, and stand up for everyone if he could. In some ways he was the life of the group, he kept everyone going even when they were breaking down. Sky bit at her lip, "I know we got stuff to do but...next chance we get...after he has some time...we should all be there for him...do something nice".

"I agree", they all looked to King Amir, who eyes his son, "He's a good kid, and he's done a lot for us as well, i would be happy to contribute if you wish to have my help. I would love to pay you all back as much as i can after everything you've done". Even though neither of them were in the room, tom and marco would be extremely grateful for the kindness once they heard about this.

Everyone cleaned up quick, most of them heading out to their room to sleep protected, though the spider monsters parted off to speak, moon and star were off to deal with their issues with janna included, and sky almost was out herself when marco quickly came running back. They seemed relieved to see her, panting, they looked a little panicked and that immediately didn't sit well with sky.

"Landon and celeste...they're not with luna?".

"They aren't?".

"And luna isn't in her room either!".

-

"Dad...there's a lot i want to say".

"I know, it's been on my mind since the trial, a lot has been on my mind, it's...really had me thinking", they closed the door behind them, angel taking a seat in the vacant room as guards blocked the door for them. "Don't assume i'm not mad, i am...even if i understand why, but i also could tell you were terrified...and...i can't be mad at you for something like that either", he paused for a moment, his ears twitching.

"I...haven't...been a great dad...have i?".

Angel didn't answer, but that was all he needed.

"Angelus, you disobeyed me horribly and put everyone at risk...but it's not just your fault...it's mine, i'm your father...i should've been keeping a better eye on you, should've been helping you deal with these issues and feelings and stopped comparing you to judas and sky and...it's clear i did hurt you. If i had done something sooner maybe i could've prevented something bad from happening, prevented you or anyone from getting hurt...i never really thought as hard as i should about the things you were going through...i expected you to just...be this or that, and all that seemed to do was turn you against me".

"But i didn't listen to you...you know that, i constantly skipped lessons and went out when you didn't want me too and even got myself hurt multiple times as a result...i would've protested anyway", he still felt guilty, if he had listened none of this would've happened in the first place. But his father went on, "Maybe, but that didn't mean i shouldn't have tried harder...i've been so overcome with grief...i've neglected you a bit...no...a lot. Ever since you stayed here i've had so much time to think to myself and...i screwed up, i know i did.".

Angel wanted to protest but he actually couldn't deny any of the words his father had been saying, his throat tightening. "Arana never would've wanted me to neglect you that way, not even for her...this entire situation was just as hard for you and...i didn't handle it in the ways i should have. No way that a dad should have, and i feel i should apologize to you directly, for any hurt i may of caused, we should've been dealing with this situation together...not apart...and i'm sorry".

Angel felt tears starting to wallop, as much ashe tried to hold them back, he then laughed a little in pain.

"I...Is it bad if i say i didn't expect you to come here and tell me you're sorry?", his voice felt cracky and he quickly cleared his throat, "I expected you to be upset with me...not want me to come back home, i was preparing to hear bad news even if sky was sure things might be different". His father didn't seem surprised by his words, he had probably been just as prepared for angel to lash out at him for leaving him.

And he wouldn't have been mad at him at all.

"I...reconsidered a lot, while we were separated...i'm not shocked at all you feel that way...you probably felt...i didn't care about you...thought of you as just an heir...and not my son, and...that was wrong of me to do...".

"And the people?".

"I want you back home angel, whether they do or not, you're still my only son, and you should still be allowed to come home and make a name for yourself, have a fresh start".

He stretched out his legs, all of them, his mind still processing his father's words. "How can i be sure things will be different? I don't want to go back there and have everything be the same, go back to being hated or alone...i'm worried things won't change for sure...i know i have changed, but that doesn't mean everyone else feels the same way".

"I know. i won't force it if you want to stay, i know you like it here".

Those words made angel feel more comforted, his father really was hearing him out, it was baffling. "Yeah, well, here is where my friends are and everything, i mean the citizens don't like me either but...at least i have friends". He tapped his fingers, his eyes closing, "But that doesn't mean i don't want to go back, if i could...i want both...i do want to be home...but i think this is also my home...".

"I understand, and i won't keep you from it...but if you want to go home, i think we can manage something...eventually", he paused, taking a seat next to his son and wrapping his cape around them both. "I think for now you will have to stay here, if even just to keep an eye on your mother, and until things are fully good back home...but I'll make sure to send you anything you want from home to make you more comfortable here...".

"I hope when i go back home, things will be a lot easier...i want to make things easier...to help, the kingdom, it deserves so much that i haven't given it", the king nodding, "I think you'll do great things...someday, we both have some learning to do...as kings and leaders. We...made a lot of mistakes...and it's going to take time to heal from them, but...i think we can".

"I...was willing to accept you didn't believe in me but...i like hearing it anyway", and angel shifted as his father hugged him, patting his bad and it seemed the man was even crying into his son's shoulder. "I...missed you...so much, more then i ever thought i could...it was alone without either of you...i want both of you back. I want something with you...i just...".

Angel's arms wrapping around him, enjoying the hug back.

"Thanks dad".

BOOM

The noise made angel's stomach drop.

Their nice moment interrupted by more noise coming from outside, angel getting up to check out the windows right away. The room they were in had a nice view of the courtyard of the castle and there he finally got view of what made the noise that drove him to panic. It seems somehow luna had gotten herself out of her room, and she was just...standing there...she wasn't trying to escape or fight or anything, but celeste was screaming at her, storm clouds starting to appear close by.

The booming of their thunder so loud it was impossible to miss.

Angel seemed really puzzled, what had been going on that he wasn't aware of this time?

But on closer inspection he could see sky down there, with judas's parents, trying to resolve the scene at hand before things go so much worse. Amir stood up to see what his son was looking at and then angel remembered his father didn't know about the uh...multiverse situation and seeing celeste accidentally perform magic was bound to be a bad idea, the boy quickly pushing his father away much top his confusion, "Incident in the courtyard...we outta get going".

Amir seemed skeptical that his son wasn't hiding something from him but followed angel regardless, just in case it was too dangerous for him to look.

And by the time they headed lower they found tom taking luna away back to her room and celeste and landon in marco's grasp, a tired sky nearby and nodding to angel, a sign they needed to talk later so she could explain further. "Sorry sir, seems we had a situation, er...the prisoner broke out and these two were um...handling it, you might of heard my son landon using magic a bit...i promise no one is hurt".

"Your fire powers can be that loud?", the king turned to the demon, who didn't respond, his face embarrassed and mad, but at least the king seemed to be buying the excuse.

"You'd be surprised", marco said with a cheeky smile, "We're one scary dimension for a reason after all".

"Well in that case, i'm glad you handled it, i got worried for a moment, the noise startled me and i thought something bad had happened".

"No no sir, it's alright, promise, landon will just be more careful next time".

It was a smart cover up, even if the idea of fire sounding a lot like thunder was a bit odd. The king just shrugged, and noticed the young prince and princess looking at each other, coughing to excuse himself. "Well angelus, i'm going to see your mother...you can come and join me later...alright?". Angel smiled back, "Thanks, i'll see you later", before his father left with guards right behind him.

Marco nodding their head to head to the nearby closet, the kids still in his clutches.

"What happeend?".

Sky snorted, "Celeste tried to challenge luna to a duel, that's what, not that it worked, luna didn't even fight, she just...stood there". Celeste grumbling under her breath, "I wanted her to face me for betraying us how she did...that's it...she said yes, we were only supposed to be out for a few minutes, but then she didn't...do anything, she stood there...she made me feel like a fool".

"She stood there?".

Landon shrugged, "I guess she changed her mind about the duel...", though it seemed there was more to it and under his mom's watchful eye he confessed. "I'm sorry i was hoping they'd reconcile or something, i wasn't trying to get anyone to start a fight or anything, i couldn't even convince her not to, she and luna pushed me back from it all...ok?".

At first marco wasn't sure whether to believe that but celeste added on.

"He's right...he...wanted me to go and get along and i just...look...i'm just angry ok? I just want her to apologize or something or just feel bad...i hate her stupid smug looking face and how she is to everyone...i'm so sick of it". She looked like she might break into tears, "I didn't mean to worry anyone or anything i just...i'm so tired of being walked over...".

"Celeste...hey...it's ok", Marco sighed, "Look, i know i'm not really your parent here but...maybe you need to talk to some adults about...your anger...like tom...if it's really taking over your life like this you need to seek some help". She sniffled and they pet her hair, "You should not have done any of that, ok? But it's ok, we'll deal with it from there...and get this sorted out".

"Did luna say much about what went on down there?".

Marco shook their head, "We'll talk about it later, i'll take landon and celeste with me...you both are expected to go see arana so you should head there, guarded of course, perhaps you can sort some stuff out on the way in terms of our next steps...but for now i'll see you both later...and take good care of each other. Oh, and make it back to sleep soon, ok?".

They both nodded, heading on their way to see arana, watching celeste and landon be wandered off like naughty children.

"Those two...every time"., sky shook her head, "Celeste needs help, i just hope she can get some...this all hasn't been much better on her". Angel's ears twitching, "We're losing people...aren't we? Judas, luna, celeste...we're falling apart a little...and right before we're supposed to react a plan too, what happens if we can't get everything ready or fall apart before this?".

"I don't know.".

That was the honest truth, she didn't know, it was all out of her control, but if things didn't get better there was no way they'd get this plan to even work. They'd be doomed before the plan even started. How much longer before she and angel cracked? Nora? Even sunny or lexi? She felt a bit of unease, she was now the leader or this group and said group was now falling apart.

"I'm going to keep up together...we have some healing to do...but i think we can do it...but...first...we should go see your mother, we can deal with it later...when it's a good time to do so", angel nodded to her, "Judas...helped me, a lot, and i want to return the favor to him. I...I don't know how exactly i can do that for what's going on but...i'm willing to try".

"You don't have to y'know?".

"He's my friend, and so are you".

She appreciated that, "It's not going to be simple sadly, the arm thing has been apart of his life for years, he's not going to be over it so quickly. It's kinda a lot to process...i mean, he had so many nightmares as a kid because of it, it ruined his life...he might feel like...it's all his fault for what happened and not...y'know, that it isn't his fault that no one knew".

"Yeah...i'm sure it will be".

They were contemplating what they could do and what might help as they made to what was now arana's own private room near the wing, upon special request by her husband to keep any onlookers from bothering her. Honestly, sky was happy not to have to keep going into that wing, some privacy was nice, the door opened for them and the guards standing outside.

"You're here!", the king was delighted to see them, still holding his wife's hand, "I wasn't sure how long it might take for you to join me, but i'm happy you're here, come, sit with me...she's moving...". He nodded to seats nearby, the teens making themselves comfortable. "When i see the Spiderbites i'm going to owe them so much for this, i never thought i'd even see her so...lively again".

"Well they're stuck here with us. so you'll get a chance i'm sure".

He was still occupied with his wife though, "I...have so much i want to tell her, but...i can't, not right away anyways...she's going to need time when she wakes up, her mind was so...damaged...but i promise once i can i'll make sure she knows everything she can and i'll make sure we celebrate her recovery. I could not have asked for a more...wonderful gift".

"In all fairness...it was partially dumb luck".

"You call it dumb luck, i call it fate", he pet the queen's hair gently, "You will always be welcome in my kingdom, princess".

"Well right now i can't even go within a few feet of your kingdom but thanks a lot, maybe we'll get to hang out...after everything rests." Her attention drawn to angel, "Besides, he still owes me a hangout to make up for the mess he put me through, so we'll try and get that done first before we make too many promises right now". she bumped angel next to her, who coughed.

"Oh yeah, right...thanks for reminding me again, all of this distracted me a bit".

"Whatever, as long as it's nothing crazy...the party is gonna be crazy as is...", she grumbled, her voice filled with dread.

"Perhaps you can accompany my son for jude's coronation...", the king piped up, looking between the two, "i assume you were planning to do that anyway, but I think he could use the company...he hasn't been allowed to really go to a party like this in years, and it might help to have someone around to well...watch over him and get him back into the swing of things".

Sky never considered this was angel's first party in a long time, maybe that's another reason he was nervous.

"Yeah sure...of course...as long as he doesn't go wild", she was joking of course but who could say for sure angel wasn't secretly a party animal now for all she knew. Angel laughed and in the moment things seemed easygoing and rather nice for all the stress of earlier, it had been such a long time since the entire arachford family had even been in the same room together.

Much less happy together.

Angel felt finally as if the butterflies had left his stomach fully, his stress about his dad gone.

But then a noise caught the attention of the group, interrupting the moment for them. Their first instinct was to turn to look at the queen, and sure enough, the noises were coming from her directly, she was stirring and it no one has seen her making noises like this in a while, especially with how silent these days she had been. It was a small breathe, then a whimper, then it almost sounded as if she was trying to speak some words, not that they could tell what the words actually were.

Then movement, the queen was stirring even more, startling everyone in the room further, the grip on the king's hand tightening. His mood was shifted, as if worried something was wrong for a moment, only for her legs to start moving as well. Her eyes started shifting around the room, her ears wiggling before she turned her head to face the group.

This was the most movement she had done in awhile and it had caught them entirely off guard.

"A-arana?".

She jolted again, her face shifting a bit more as she looked over the faces of her guests with a softness they hadn't seen in a long time.

"Angel?".

[themarveledwriter]

By the Light of the Moon~Part 2

Story Summery: Y/n is a vampire hasn’t told anyone about herself, her family, her history. She hasn’t even told her boyfriend. What happens when her secret is revealed in a violent manner.

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x Vampire!Reader

Words: 3.5k

Warnings: Angst, Sadness, Sorta asshole Steve (but his hearts in the right place), Cursing.

A/N: Here is the second part! Next part should be up soon! Not beta read.

She was gone. 

Just gone.

The window completely shattered, she didn’t even slow down. 

Everyone was stunned, Bucky wasn’t sure what to do. He knew he couldn’t go after her, she ran across the walkway and out the door before Bucky could even blink. 

Steve came out of it the fastest, “FRIDAY lock down the building.” This made me swing around to look at him, furious with what he was doing. 

“Are you still trying to stop her!? She doesn’t want to be here Steve! You pushed her to the edge and now she is gone!” Bucky says while walking towards Steve, shoving him with his last word. 

“Captain Rogers, Y/n is no longer in the building.” The AI says. 

Steve turned away from Bucky, “How did she get out?” 

“She exited from the roof.” Bucky was the one to talk this time, “What? How did she exit from the roof?” “She jumped.” Klaus said before the AI. Both Bucky and Steve turn around to Klaus, “What do you mean she jumped? This building is 93 stories!” Bucky said, panicked.

Klaus smirked, “She’s an original vampire. She could jump off a cliff and be fine, in fact she has.”

This confused Bucky, “Original vampire?”

Klaus tilted his head, and the smirk fell from his lips. “She really didn’t tell you anything did she?” Resulting in Bucky shaking his head. 

“Well, is there somewhere we can sit? It is a long story.”

Steve takes the lead on this, feeling more comfortable with having a purpose. “We can go to the common room. FRIDAY call the team down there.” Steve turns to Bucky, “I think this is something everyone should know.”

~

~

~

The entire team is already in the common room by the time Bucky, Steve and Klaus get down there. 

When the elevator doors open everyone stands up, Sam being the first to talk.

“Who is this? Where is Y/n?”

Steve goes to answer but Klaus talks first, “I’m Klaus Mikaelson, Y/n is my sister. She’s gone.”

This time it’s Natasha’s turn to talk, “What do you mean she’s gone?” She says, worried for her friend. 

Klaus steps forward, taking an empty chair, but no one else sits down. 

“Well? Go on, sit. It’s a rather long story and I doubt you’ll want to stand the whole time.” Everyone slowly takes their seats, Bucky sitting next to Sam who lays a comforting hand on his shoulder. Him and Bucky may have their differences but Sam can tell when his friend is hurting. 

“Alright, lets begin.” Klaus says with a smirk.

“So, as you all learned earlier, my sister is a vampire. What you didn’t know is that she is one of the first vampires in existence, along with me and our siblings. See, my mother was a witch, a powerful witch though not as powerful as her sister. My mother was barren, and made a deal with my Aunt Dahlia to be able to have children, she just had to give her first born to Dahlia. So she gave up my sister Freya and told her husband she had died from the plague. My mother had another child named Finn before they came to the New World in the 10th century when my mother was pregnant with my brother Elijah. They settled in a village where everyone was healthy and happy, we didn’t know that they were all werewolves till later, though we lived with them peacefully for years.”

 Klaus stops at this, taking a breath before continuing. “I was born next, but I was born out of an affair between my mother and another villager. I wouldn’t know that until after I became a vampire. Kol came next, and then Rebecka. Lastly my mother fell pregnant with twins, Henrik and Y/n.” 

Sam talks before Klaus can continue, “Y/n has a twin?”

Klaus looks down with a sad expression on his face.

“Not anymore… I was incredibly close to Henrik and Y/n, closer than to anyone else in my family. They were the youngest out of all of us and I was always more protective of them.” Klaus looks up at the group. “Henrik and Y/n were only 13 at this time… After we had discovered the people who lived around us became beasts on the night of a full moon, I became curious. I had planned to sneak out and watch them transform, which was forbidden, and when Henrik found out he wanted to come as well. Of course, Y/n being his twin came too. One of the wolves lost control, mauling Henrik. Y/n almost died as well, but was able to run from the wolf that was attacking her. Henrik died that night, from my ignorance and stupidity. It was also the night our mother decided to turn us into vampires.”

Now it was Bucky’s turn to speak up, “But Y/n doesn’t look like she is 13, how old was she when she turned?”

Klaus looked at him, “Our mother performed a ritual on all of us, including Y/n, to make us stronger. She wanted to protect us. My mother's witch friend Ayana refused to do the spell, but she did make it so that Y/n would continue to age until her 18th birthday.”

“The spell made us powerful. It made us fast, strong, it gave us fangs to rival the wolves, but it also turned nature against us. The sun burned us, the neighbors that had once welcomed us into their homes could now keep us out, the flowers at the base of the tree that was used in the spell burned us and prevented compulsion,” Klaus turns to Bucky. “That’s the ‘protection’ that Y/n mentioned earlier. Do you have a bracelet or necklace that she gave you?”

Bucky was already fidgeting with the necklace Y/n had given him for their one year anniversary. It was a habit he formed after she gave it to him. A pendant with his star on it, on the back engraved in her handwriting is “You are my hero”. She said it was to remind him that his arm didn’t make him a monster. 

“Yeah, this one.” Bucky says, not letting go of the necklace.

Klaus holds out his hand, “Can I see it?” 

Bucky is hesitant, but ultimately agrees. Standing up and handing the pendant to Klaus, who’s skin starts smoking the second it touches his skin. 

“Woah, what the hell?” Bucky says, taking back the necklace. 

Klaus smirks, “Like I said, vervain burns… The only thing that can kill us is a stake made from the tree that gave us life. The white oak… Like I said, werewolf venom won’t kill original vampires. I just had no desire for my sister to be in pain until it burned out of her system. I also haven’t seen her in years, I missed her.”

“When we became vampires, Y/n was the last to turn. She was so so young and killed the person that our parents used to complete the transition. She hated herself for so long after, and has always struggled with her bloodlust… When I killed my first human not long after my transition we learned that I was part werewolf. A hybrid, but my mother suppressed my wolf side. It was only recently that I was able to unlock it, which is why I can heal a werewolf bite. A normal vampire would die from a bite without my blood.”

Steve took this time to ask Klaus, “Y/n was drinking Bucky’s blood. Is he going to turn into a vampire?” This made Klaus chuckle, “No. You would have to die with vampire blood in your system and then drink human blood to complete the transition. But vampire blood also has healing qualities, if given to a human with a fatal injury they will heal within minutes.”

Klaus stood up, “I’m going to find my sisters storage unit, is there a room I can stay in tonight?”

Tony tells him where he can stay for the night, but when he turns to leave, Bucky runs after him. 

“Wait! Are we not going to look for Y/n?”

Klaus turns around, a small smile on his face. “It’s nice to know my sister has someone who cares so strongly for her, but looking for her right now is useless. If she doesn’t want to be found, she won’t be. I just hope what happened earlier doesn’t push her over the edge. She has gotten better at controlling her bloodlust but when she’s incredibly emotional she tends to struggle. We will know by morning.” This concerned Bucky. “What happens if she loses control?”

Klaus frowns at this, “Well, she will probably kill some people. That’ll cause her to have really bad guilt. If that happens I will need your help to make sure she doesn’t flip her switch.”

“What do you mean flip her switch?

“Oh I forgot about that. Vampires have this… ability. Our emotions are heightened, if the guilt or sadness gets too bad, we can turn off our humanity. It’s like this switch that we can flip. It’s incredibly hard to get someone who’s flipped their switch to turn it back on. We can’t let Y/n do that.”

That scares Bucky, “Has she done that before?”

Klaus nods, “She was the first one to do so… I feel like I should let her tell you the whole story but basically what happened was she accidentally killed someone she cared very much about. I believe that was why she was so scared when she fed from you. That person was her main form of sustenance but they were attacked by a hunter, she was severely weakened with vervain and he was seriously injured. She couldn’t control her bloodlust and he ended up dying.” This broke Bucky’s heart. He never wanted to see Y/n in pain. 

“She couldn’t take the pain and the guilt. It was killing her. She wanted to die but couldn’t find a way. She somehow found out she could turn it all off. It took me decades to get her to turn it back on. She left a string of bodies from New Orleans to Los Angeles. When she turned it back on she had all that guilt as well. Everytime she has turned it off it has always been worse when she turns it back on.

Bucky felt more comfortable now. It helped him to have orders, a mission. While Klaus isn’t technically in charge of him, he knew Y/n better than Bucky. Bucky could do what Klaus asked, or at least try. He wouldn’t lose Y/n.

“I am going to find Y/n’s storage unit. You wouldn’t happen to know where it is by any chance?” 

Bucky knew she had a storage unit near the tower, but he had never been to it. 

“I think it’s at Manhattan Mini Storage, it’s near Hell’s Kitchen.”

Klaus nods, “Alright, I’ll be back tonight.” 

He walks onto the elevator, leaving Bucky standing in the hallway.

~ ~ ~

Bucky was sitting in your room, it was almost bare because you have been slowly sneaking your stuff into Bucky’s room. 

But it still smells like you. 

He couldn’t believe he never noticed anything. Now that he knows he realizes there were many strange things that he always ignored. 

That ring you claimed you hated but would never take off. The time you lost it and refused to leave the tower, not even going into the common room. The fact you wouldn’t go into someone’s house before being invited in. You wouldn’t even go into Bucky’s room before he told you you could. 

He always thought it was because you didn’t want to spend that much time with him, that it was too personal. You had already been spending time with each other for a few weeks prior and he thought he had crossed a line. 

Apparently not. 

~Flashback~

Bucky had just arrived at the compound after his time in Wakanda. He was a lot more confident knowing the Soldier could no longer be triggered, but he still wouldn’t be the first to approach someone. 

Y/n watched him around the compound, fascinated by the other man out of time. Her and Steve had been friends for years, and she had helped him and Sam in Romania. 

When he arrived at the compound, she was one of the only people to truly try and make him feel welcome. No one was out right rude to him, but they weren’t exactly welcoming.  Only Steve, Y/n and Nat would ask him to join them for supper or training. 

But Y/n went above and beyond for him. 

She would leave food by his door when he didn’t eat with the team. She defended him when Tony would say something.

The thing he appreciated most was the time she helped him through a panic attack.

It was when he was on trial, there was no way he would be convicted with all the Avengers behind him, but it still took a toll on his mental state. 

People were able to find his files, and after the public found out how many people he killed a lot rallied against him. Calling for the death penalty.

Tony had a party after the trial was over. Inviting all the New York socialites and having Bucky as the “guest of honor” to prove that he was one of the good guys now. But all he could hear the entire night was people saying how they couldn’t believe Tony let the man who killed his parents on the team. A monster.

He was pushed close to the edge when a drunk man started asking him all these questions and accusing him of things he never did. 

He was pushed over the edge when he started talking about his family. Claiming his ma and sisters would hate him for the monster he became. He was hyperventilating and about to lash out. Looking around for Steve or someone who could help him. 

That’s when Y/n swooped in like a guardian angel. 

The media loved Y/n, she was always helping people. Visiting children's hospitals and helping the homeless. 

Which is why they didn’t care when she threw the man across the room. 

She walked right between Bucky and the drunk man, telling him to back off. Bucky couldn’t understand much of what she was saying, he was too busy trying to not shut down, but the last thing he heard was the man call him a monster before Y/n had shoved him so hard he flew across the room. 

She had always claimed she was a mutant. That was why she was so strong and fast, why she healed faster than him or Steve. 

Next thing he knew she was leading him out of the party, arms linked. 

He was gasping for breath at this point, not really noticing she was moving him until his back hit the couch. They were in a smaller common room at the tower, used as a sort of library. Bucky knew this was Y/n’s favorite room in the tower because there were days he wouldn't see her until she emerged from the library at midnight, walking into the kitchen wrapped in a fluffy blanket looking incredibly relaxed.

Not that he was looking for you. 

“-ucky. You are okay. Match my breathing okay? You are just fine.” You were pressing his hand to her chest, her hand on top of his. 

It's the first time they touched.

Well not the first time, they’ve trained together. Brushed shoulders in passing. 

But she was purposely touching him, comforting him. 

His breathing slowed down, and he was shocked when your arms were suddenly around his shoulders.

“I’m so so sorry he said those things to you.” 

Your voice sounded watery, which made him push on your shoulders to see your face. Which made you panic. 

“I-I’m so sorry Bucky. I know you don’t like to be touched. I should have asked before I hugged you. I was just so mad that he said those things to you!” You were aggressively wiping the tears from your face. “He had no right! He doesn’t know what you went through and the fact that he was accusing you of things you never even did! I’m so-” Bucky was smiling at this point. 

“Doll, you’re rambling.”

That shut you up really quick. 

A small smile slowly appeared on your face, confusing Bucky.

“Doll? You called me doll?”

“Uh… Yeah, I guess I did.” Your smile grew larger. “And don’t feel bad for hugging me.”

“Really?”

“Yeah I… I liked it.”

“Then why did you push me away?” Y/n says, tilting her head to one side. Making Bucky think of a confused puppy.

“I heard you crying doll. You should never cry over me.” At this she threw herself at him, wrapping her arms tightly around him, snuggling her face into his neck. “Everyone needs someone to cry over them sometimes.”

~End Flashback~

When Bucky came out of his mind, the sun was already rising. He quickly wiped away the tears that had fallen down his cheeks. 

He didn’t realize so much time had passed, and couldn’t help but wonder where Y/n was. 

Was she even in New York still?

Bucky laid back, grabbing one of Y/n’s pillows and hugging it to his body, breathing deeply. 

He was dozing off, comforted by the smell of you, when FRIDAY jolted him awake.

“Sergeant Barnes, Mr. Mikaelson is back and requesting your presence in the kitchen. The rest of the Avengers are already on their way.”

Bucky jumped up quickly, needing to know if Klaus found anything, when he your favorite of his hoodies in your closet. He quickly grabs it and throws it on, comforted by the fact it smelled like you. 

He made his way down to the kitchen as fast as he could, practically running once the elevator stopped.

When he made his way into the kitchen he noticed the rest of the Avengers were already there. Klaus was standing at the island with a canvas bag sitting in front of him. 

Steve was the first to speak, “Why’d you call us all down here? Have you heard anything?” 

Klaus looks at him, and then at Bucky. “I went to my sister’s storage unit. While I was there I got a call from my sister Freya-”

Natasha cuts him off. “I thought you said your mom gave her to your aunt in the 10th century?”

Klaus smirks, “You pay attention, nice. Incredibly long story short, my aunt discovered how to practically make herself and Freya immortal by sleeping for 100 years and then living and aging for only a year.”

“Anyway, Freya called me. She said that there were some ‘animal attacks’ on the outskirts of the town. I’m going there tonight, James is coming with me.” 

Klaus started gathering the bag, but Steve puts his hand over it, stopping him. 

“Bucky isn’t going anywhere with you, how do we know we can trust you.” Bucky was about to object, but Klaus started first. His face blank.

This is my sister!” Klaus says, getting angry as he said it. 

“I would not do anything to risk her. I agree, you don’t know me and have no clue if you can trust me, but I will help my sister no matter what. I need James to help me with that.”

“Why does Bucky need t-”

Steve is suddenly pushed against the wall, Klaus baring his fangs at him. 

“He may be the only one who can keep her from losing her humanity. He is coming with me.

Steve goes to object, but Bucky stops him. “Steve, that’s my girl. I am going with him.”

“Buck-”

“Stop. You are the one that pushed her over the edge. I will not lose her”

He turns back to Klaus, who looks overly smug.

“Is there anything you need before we go?”

Klaus nods at this, “I need a cooler, and you should pack for at least a week… Maybe longer. We will also need a car.” He says, looking at Tony.

Tony speaks for the first time, telling FRIDAY to ready a car and make sure it has a cooler in it. 

“Why do you need a cooler?”

Klaus walks back over to the canvas bag on the counter, unzipping it. 

“Well, I went and collected some things from Y/n’s storage unit. Let’s just say, it’s a tad perishable.”

With that he turns the bag over, ten blood bags spilling out.

“What the hell is that!?” Clint says, “Well, I know what they are… I’m in the medbay enough to know that, but why do you have them?”

Klaus looks at him, “Take a wild guess.”

He looks at Bucky, “She’s feeding on people, we need to get her back on blood bags as soon as possible. She may not be a ripper but she is in such an emotional state that we don’t need to risk her seriously hurting someone.” He finishes with a pointed look at Steve. 

“Sir, the car is prepped.”

Klaus looks at Bucky. 

“Go pack, we have a long drive ahead of us.”

Taglist (Open):

@tranquility-or-chaos​ @21st-century-daydreamer​ @winterboobear11​ @theycallmemrsbarnes​ @notawritergettingtherethough​

[skzsauce01]

42nd Moon Pt 8

Description: By some stroke of luck, you get off the waitlist of your biology class. You’d never have guessed you’d find your soulmate there, let alone that he already has a girlfriend… Or that he comes from a fraternity of werewolves.

Warning: death

Word count: 2.5k

Pairing: werewolf!Hyunjin x fem!reader, werewolf!Jisung x fem!reader

Chapter List

“It’s rare to see you alone these days.”

You turn away from the ocean to see Jisung stepping out of the boat. Levanter, the cruise ship the wolves all booked tickets for to celebrate Chan’s Ph.D. and the 00’s bachelors, hooted quietly above you two.

“Well she needs a maternal figure,” you reply, turning back to the rails as Jisung drapes a jacket over you. “The first few years are the most important to a child’s development.

Jisung lets out a low hum and looks at the night sky. It looks like rain. “It’s the twentieth moon, tonight, isn’t it.”

“I try not to keep count.”

“Sorry.”

A comfortable silence falls upon you two. Jisung turns his head slightly to look at you as you keep gazing at the sky.

“Do you think she’s up there?” you wonder.

“Who?”

You pull up your sleeve.

Jisung bites his lip. “I think so.”

“Want me to deliver any messages?”

“Y/N…” he warns.

“Well?” 

He turns around and leans back with a sigh. “Maybe… that I’m sorry.”

“For what?”

“For not saving her in time.”

You raise a brow but don’t press further. “I’m sure she never blamed you.”

“How do you know that?”

“You’re soulmates,” you answer. “A perfectly compatible pair. You don’t seem like the type who would blame her if your roles were reversed, so she wouldn’t either.”

He frowns, not entirely convinced. He gnaws on his cheek for a moment before saying, “Then help me apologize for one more thing.”

You tilt your head.

“For loving someone else.”

You remember your conversation at Jolly Land. You scoff humorously and roll your eyes. “It’s been years and you still haven’t asked her out or told anyone who it is. I’m starting to doubt if there’s actually someone.”

“I’m pretty sure the boys already know.”

“Oh really? Then who is it?”

He blinks at you thrice.

“Y--”

“Jisung! Y/N! Time to assign rooms!” someone calls from the inside.

Jisung gives you a sheepish smile and turns towards the voice.

Because all the other girls in your group were adamant about spending their night on a cruise ship with their significant other, you end up having to room with your own soulmate. Thankfully, Chan got you a room with separate beds. 

The arrangement turns out favorable. As Hyunjin is reading to his daughter a bedtime story, a knock sounds at the door, beckoning for the male.

“Hyunjin?” It’s Jisung. “I need to see you for a minute.”

You look at each other, wondering what could be wrong.

“I got it,” you tell him, taking the picture book from his hands.

Hyunjin thanks you and exits the room.

Jisung’s one minute turns into eighteen. By the time Hyunjin returns, the toddler is already asleep. 

“Welcome back-- What happened?” you ask in a hushed tone, referring to a small scratch on his cheek.

“I, uh, tripped,” he blushes. More like threatened.

You open an antiseptic wipe pack and hold it up to him.

“Thanks,” he whispers, not moving.

You don’t move either.

“Oh!” he realizes, taking the wipe from your hands and going to find a mirror himself.

Before he makes it to the restroom, he pauses in his step and does an about-face. 

“Y/N,” he begins.

“Yes?”

“Is it weird? Sharing a room with me, I mean. I can go outside. Or something. If you want.”

“No, it’s fine,” you shake your head. “I’ve shared rooms with Jisung before, so it’s nothing new.”

“Oh. Jisung, huh?”

You nod. “I’m going to bed now if that’s okay.”

“Yeah. Just turn off the lights; I can see in the dark.”

That night, a storm rages outside. Hyunjin is glad you insisted on bringing speakers to play white noise for his daughter. However, he himself cannot seem to fall asleep. He sits up with a sigh and looks over to your unconscious form. 

Do you always curl up like that when you sleep? Hyunjin almost feels bad for the blankets. And are you… are you shaking?

Hyunjin gets out of bed and walks to your side.

“Y/N?”

You let out a scared whimper, still asleep. A nightmare, he concludes.

“Y/N, are you okay?” he asks again, reaching to brush some hair out of your face.

You quickly grab his hand and hold it close to you. He can definitely feel you shaking now, but it subsides the longer you have his hand in your possession. 

Hyunjin silently screams in the dark in panic. What should he do? The threat Jisung gave him to “stay off your bed” stings his cheek. At the same time, he isn’t going to pull his hand back and leave you shivering alone. 

Out of options, he sits awkwardly by your side with his arm stretched towards you.

You rub your face against his palm, sending heat across his entire being. It’s suffocating, but he doesn’t mind one bit. It has been a long time since he felt this, he realizes sadly to himself. He lifts up the wrist that glows weakly of his soulmark. Will he ever again after two years?

“Jiii…” he hears you mutter. 

“What?” he whispers.

You don’t reply and instead snuggle closer to him.

Ji? As in Jisung or Jin, like Hyunjin? 

Hyunjin frowns. Is he even allowed to hope for the latter after all he has put you through? 

Still, he can’t help but wish.

The next morning, you apologize profusely for making him put up with you all night. He waves you off, but you can see the circles under his eyes. Thus, you take his daughter out for breakfast and leave him to catch some shut-eye.

The rain is getting worse, but you find that she is sufficiently distracted in the daycare center, so you leave her there with some apple sauce before going to find your own breakfast. 

Once inside the dining hall, you immediately get an eerie feeling. The place is less staffed than yesterday, you realize as you pick up a plate, but people do tend to skip breakfast. Still, you fidget with the plate uneasily, sliding it from your left hand to your right. You spy some toast and are about to walk to it when suddenly, a hand grabs you by the shoulder. 

“Y/N.”

You let out a small yelp and whip around only to see Jisung looking back at you.

“Sorry, did I scare you?” he laughs nervously while scratching the back of his head.

“It’s fine,” you assure. “Good morning.”

“How’d you sleep?” he asks, grabbing a plate and following you.

“Well.”

He leans towards you as the two of you wait in line. “Did Hyunjin, um, try anything?”

You aren’t really sure what he is referring to, so you shake your head. “I was having nightmares and kept him up all night though.”

His brows are now etched with a different kind of worry. “Are you alright?”

“Yeah, these things happen,” you shrug. “I just feel bad for Hyunjin. He’s sleeping in the room now; I should probably pack some food for him.”

Jisung disregards the second half of your statement. “Do you want to talk about them? You always say that makes things feel better.”

“Just nonsense,” you laugh lightly, putting two portions of toast on your plate. “There was a giant squid monster who kidnapped the baby. I tried to save her, but it took her underwater. I jumped in and couldn’t see or hear anything. I just felt… stuck?”

Jisung nods knowingly. “It’s probably because of the storm last night.”

You place a few more things with your toasts. “It doesn’t seem to be letting up either.”

“Do you want to switch rooms with Jeongin and room with me tonight? You can snuggle up with my fur if that’ll help you feel better,” he offers. 

You pour a cup of tea as Jisung gets his coffee. The two of you sit at a table. 

“I think I’ll be fine tonight,” you decline. “Anyway, you have yet to finish your answer from last night.”

He raises a questioning eyebrow.

“You were about to tell me about this quote-and-quote crush you’ve been having for years.”

“She’s real!” Jisung objects to your tone.

You laugh at his pout. “Who is it? Maybe I can help you talk to her. Since I’m a girl too, it’ll be an easier segway.”

“She’s-- she’s…”

Jisung pushes some food around on his plate.

“You!”

You look up to where the voice came from to see Felix and Chan walking in, bobbing their entire bodies to music.

“I see me in you! Neowa isseul ttae nan al su isseo!”

Jisung shrugs apologetically. “Maybe later?”

You frown. “You said the boys know anyway.”

“Well, uh, I never told them; I think they just figured it out,” he shrugs.

“So I’m just dense.”

“Yep!” says a Jeongin who slides into a chair next to you.

“What?”

“Oh sorry,” he smiles cheekily. “What were you guys talking about?”

You raise a brow at Jisung as he diverts the conversation elsewhere.

The rest of breakfast is rather uneventful. Well, Felix did accidentally flip his plate over onto Seungmin, but that isn’t too extraordinary. 

You excuse yourself early to deliver Hyunjin breakfast. On the way, you stop by the daycare and find Hyunjin’s daughter playing with an interactive book. You smile contently and continue on your way. 

Once you’ve arrived at your destination, you quietly ease the door open. You find your soulmate still sleeping, so you slowly set down the food when--

BANG!

The first thing Hyunjin sees when he jolts awake is you, wide-eyed and hands sticky from spilled juice. All is still for five seconds after the shock. Then the alarm starts blaring through the halls.

The noise snaps you back into reality. Once it does, there’s only one thing on your mind. You toss down what you are holding and bolt out the door for the daycare room. 

“Y/N!” Hyunjin calls after you, but you are already gone.

As predicted, the daycare center is in pandemonium. Out of the handful of children, you immediately spot the one you’re looking for, crying and trembling.

“Shh, shh, shh. It’s okay; it’s okay,” you coo as you pick her up into your arms.

You make your way through a panicking mob to the deck where the lifeboats are. By the time you are there, you can already feel the ship leaning towards one side. The rain is still as relentless as ever, beating down on you so hard, you can barely open your eyes.

“Women and children first!” yells a uniformed man. “Row away from the ship as soon as possible once your boat has been lowered!”

Hyunjin has finally found you as you are dashing towards a lowering boat with his child outstretched in front of you, begging people to let the toddler on.

“Y/N! Slow down!” he yells. 

But it is too late.

Because of the rain, your feet slide out from under you. Your body continues towards the edge of the ship, and your head meets the metal railing. Just then, another wave lurches the boat, sending your limp body flying overboard.

“No!” he cries as he takes on the same dangerous feat of sprinting across the deck. He makes it to the rails and dives in after you. He reemerges as a wolf and realizes a new problem now: you are no longer holding onto his daughter. In fact, at least ten meters lie between the two of you, and the distance is only growing. There is no way he can go after you both.

He looks to his right to his helpless child. He looks to his left to your unconscious form. Who does he choose? How can he choose?

As he extends his left paw forward, something soars overhead and lands in the water in front of him. A mess of silver resurfaces, and Hyunjin knows what to do. He switches paws and swims and swims and swims until his daughter is between his jaws.

“You howling idiots!” 

Minho’s exasperation falls on deaf ears as Jisung drags you onto the lifeboat, panting and coughing out seawater. Behind him, Hyunjin follows with his daughter whom he hands to Seungmin.

As much as Jisung wants to collapse onto the floor and stay there for ten hours, he can’t. He flings you onto the ground and begins resuscitation. 

“Come on, Y/N,” he mutters. He checks your chest. No breaths. “Come on, please,” he begs, “I can’t do this again.”

Not again.

He is fifteen. There were two ice cream cones in his hands as he approached the pool. He smiled slyly, knowing his soulmate arrived before him. 

“Come out now, wherever you are! I know you’re here! My wrist is itching. Come help me with these cones so I can get to it.”

When no response came, he frowned and walked to the edge of the pool, calling her name. Suddenly, the itching turns into a sharp, searing pain.

Two ice cream cones were left forgotten on the concrete that day.

You look just like her; hair slightly frizzing from the moisture, lips parted though no air escapes between them. Not responding no matter how Jisung pumped at your ribcage.

“Please… Y/N, please…” he cries.

“Jisung…” Minho places a hand on his shoulder after the tenth minute. “It’s too--”

“No!” he screams, slapping his friend away. “I’m not letting this happen again!” 

Pump. Pump.

Nothing.

Pump.

… Pump…

“Mr. Han Jisung? I’m Doctor Kim.”

Pump. Pump.

“It’s too late, Son. She’s gone.”

Pump. Pump.

“12:27 pm.”

Pump. Pump

Nothing.

“No-oo...t” He lowers his head helplessly onto your chest, fist pounding on your body in agony. “A-again…” 

“Please… Not yet, Y/N… Please, I’d do anything. Just please, wake up…” And then to the sky. “What do You want? First my soulmate and now her too? Wasn’t the first time enough? Just take me instead and get it over with! Take me instead! Please, just--!”

Maybe he finally hit just the right spot or maybe all his earlier effort finally paid off, but as his fist comes down one more time, water shoots out of your mouth. A gasp is heard from the entire boat. With newfound energy, Jisung gets back into CPR position. A few more compressions later, and you turn to your side, coughing and drawing in short breaths.

“Y/N!” Jisung wails, scooping you into his arms.

You wrap your arms around him weakly to comfort him through your coughs.

“Thank you…” he cries softly into your neck. “Thank you for coming back… Oh, thank you.”

Hyunjin stares at the two of you with a pang in his heart. He rubs his soulmark gingerly as he watches Jisung entangle his fingers in your hair. He watches as you drop your head on Jisung’s shoulder and as he encircles his arms tighter around you, flushing your entirety against him.

To his right, he hears his baby cry and Seungmin breathing a sigh of relief. The child is placed into his hold and he rocks her mindlessly. 

He’s made a mistake. A ten-kilogram mistake that’s taking your place in his arms right now. You would have never guilted him to have a child. You would have never left him. You are so perfect for him, and now he’s going to lose you, if not already.

~ ad.gold

[stetervault]

Steter fics from 2019/any Steter fics you feel like reccing

2019 Steter fics, let’s see… Here’s a bunch of random ones I’ve enjoyed over the past year:

Where I Want to Be by Tahlruil

Peter wasn’t exactly surprised when he ‘woke up’ in hell.

He’d known his wounds were fatal as soon as he’d gotten them. In truth he’d never expected to still be standing after his quest for revenge had been completed. What mattered was taking the Argent family down with him and making sure they died before he did. Peter had saved Kate and Gerard for last; they had looked into his eyes as they bled out. They had known that he was the instrument of their family’s doom and he couldn’t ask for more than that.

You Are A Call To Motion by neglectedtuesday

Here at Hale Industries ® we don’t believe in limiting one’s pleasure. That’s why we’re dedicated to bringing our clientele the best in Jackbot technology. Whether you’re a busy dom in need of a service sub or a baby boy desperate for an Alien Daddy, Hale Industries ® has the perfect bot for you. Built to your specifications, our customer service team is devoted to building a bot that will never fail to meet your needs. And if you discover something new you want to try, you can subscribe to our monthly upgrade packages in order to add or remove kinks at your leisure.

Hale Industries ® - The Only Limits Are The Ones We Place On Ourselves.

Here Begins the Land of Phantoms by Triangulum

Stiles is four and scared of the dark. There are things in the shadows of his room, whispering to him, showing him terrible, violent things.

There’s something in the basement, too. He can feel it while he’s sitting on the old, worn sofa, its presence curling around the edges of the room. He thinks he can see something sometimes, a mass shimmering in the corner, but he always looks away. He doesn’t want to know.

Or

Peter is a demon that lives in the Stilinskis’ basement.

From Ashes Rebuilt by ambersagen

“You shouldn’t be alive,” Stiles finally admitted. He sounded sorry, smelled like anxiety and hunched in on himself as he fell back from Peter to land in the dented chair. “I heard the doctors telling your niece. She wasn’t quiet about it, and no one cares if I’m around anyway so I heard the whole thing, about your burns. I snuck in to see you.”

“Like a sideshow freak,” Peter sneered, starting to understand.

“Like a miracle,” Stiles corrected.

MCSZ-LW by Bunnywest

Mayor Whittemore gives John his widest politician’s smile. “It’s one of the best- a Halebot. You work so hard for the city, and with Claudia gone five years now, we thought you’d appreciate some company. A service bot is perfect. I mean, you deserve more than the standard gift certificate. “

“Would have preferred the gift card,” John huffs under his breath, but he plasters on a smile and makes all the right noises, because this is an elected position, and as jackbots go, Halebots really are the best. He just doesn’t know quite what he’s going to do with it.

Baby Whisperer by twothumbsandnostakeincanon (somanyofthekids)

“What. Is that.”

Scott looked up at him, apprehensive.

“Her name’s Lily.”

Stiles stared at the fuzzy head peeking out of the papoose.

“Her. Her name. That is a real live human baby. Oh my God-”

“Actually I don’t know if she’s human?” Scott said with a confused frown. “Becca didn’t say.”

“Who the fuck is Becca?!”

Care for Me, As I’ve Never Known by lavenderlotion

“Why…why did you offer me the bite?” Stiles asked quietly, the cover of night and the hum of the Jeep’s engine giving him courage he wouldn’t usually have.

Peter hummed thoughtfully, taking a turn smoothly. “That is quite the question you’re asking. I’m not sure the answer is one you would be happy to hear.”

A Love for Millennia (a story never told) by OneSmartChicken

Stiles had to go into the woods that night. It didn’t make sense. She was lured by the sense of adventure, but there was a more that dragged at her.

Or: Stiles is the only one to realize she and Peter are soulmates. She doesn’t mention it.

Wind Chimes by wynnebat

“Why are you here?” Peter asks, his brow furrowing in confusion. “I can understand curiosity, but Stiles, you have visited me nearly every day for years. It can’t be that simple.”

Stiles shrugs. It’s both simple and not. For him, who grew up with the wind, who is inseparable from it in the best of ways, it is absurdly simple. For Peter, who doesn’t trust the wind as Stiles does, it may not be. “The wind says you’re mine. That’s all I need.”

Robber Foxes (Have No Fears) by RayShippouUchiha (WIP)

In the end all Stiles really has left is his dad, a lonely house, the key and deed to the loft, and a chest filled up with emptiness.

A void, yawning right behind his sternum.

That and the laughter of a fox trapped right beneath his skin, echoing in the hollows of his skull, whispering behind his teeth.

Stiles should have known it wasn’t over.

Magic stains everything it touches after all.

Keep You (Safe) Within my Shadow by lavenderlotion

Stiles has never been scared of the dark. The shadows are his friends.

Into Eden by GracieBirdie

Stiles deciding to bring home the stray alpha he’d hit with his jeep probably made him certifiable, if it hadn’t turned out Peter was as crazy as he was.

Trust in the End by ShebaRen, Tahlruil

Stiles had always kind of assumed that the end of the world was going to be full of fire and panicking people. Nuclear warfare had pretty much been his guess as to how it would all go, but he could be flexible on that. His only certainty was that it would be man-made, because people always messed things up.

He hadn’t expected the end to be full of snow and freezing cold. He hadn’t expected to be so alone while it was happening, hadn’t thought he would be making a trek from California all the way up to - if his maps and bearings were right - Washington State. He definitely hadn’t expected for it all to happen while his parents were away on a trip for their second honeymoon.

Thankfully he’d fallen in with a wolf who had saved his life and then hung around like a bad penny afterward.

Making Marks by Udunie

Stiles woke to his phone ringing at four in the afternoon, because apparently, he’d never even heard of a healthy sleep schedule before, and also; hated himself.

He blindly found it in the pocket of his jeans thrown haphazardly to the floor, and blinked at it for a few seconds before picking it up.

“‘Sup, Lyds?” he asked, just because he knew she hated the nickname, and she did wake him up.

“I’m killing Jackson,” she announced with unusual honesty. To be fair, any kind of honesty was unusual from her, considering her and Stiles only reconnected recently - and it wasn’t like they were too close in high school either.

“Congratulations?”

You Just Got Ghosted! by Ragga

“What’s your name, angel?” little Stiles murmured even as his eyes fell closed, quickly losing his battle against sleep.

Stiles smiled. It was a little sad but also heavy with the knowledge that what he was doing was the right thing—heavy with the knowledge he didn’t deserve the moniker bestowed upon him.

“You can call me Mietek.”

Or the one where there’s time travel, feels abound, two Stiles in one timeline, and one of them stuck somewhere between the planes of existence. Yet a ghost can still manage to save the day and get the girl. Or the wolf. Manly wolf. Because Peter.

Toothed Morality (Send Me Flowers) by rightsidethru

“The world is a dark place, moje kochanie; it is one filled with monsters, always ready to gobble you whole. Be wary of the promises they give: seal every vow with blood and bone and Name. A True Name, one that will bind them to their word.”

“But how will I know that they’re telling the truth, Matka? Couldn’t they lie…?”

“You’ll know, mały płomień.”

Everyone is King When There’s No One Left to Pawn by Bittah_Wizard

The AU where Stiles is an old trickster—just not the one you’re thinking of.

Beefcake Mountain by twothumbsandnostakeincanon (somanyofthekids)

Shortly after moving back to Beacon Hills, the left hand of the Hale Pack opened a text from a mysterious number.

“Is there a mirror in your pants? Because I can see myself in them.”

What the f—

Wild Creatures by neglectedtuesday

The treaty is signed while Stiles is being laced into his wedding corset. Ink splatters parchment as a maid pulls the ribbons, tighter and tighter. Stiles’ breath and future are taken away, all to save a village. He is a sacrifice more than a bride. The maid assists in fixing a choker around Stiles throat. Her hands are cold despite the roaring fire in the grate. The choker is a string of blood red rubies, they reflect the firelight with a wet shine like an open wound.

First to Know by Twisted_Mind

They fold to their knees in the vee of his legs. His hands cradle their cheek and the back of their neck, and they lean into the touch, eyes closing. “It’s mine.”

“What’s yours, darling?”

They drag in a shaky breath, and look up into the face of the man they love. “The magic. It’s mine. My spark did this.”

Chances by SpookyMiscreant

Supernaturals have soulmarks, everyone knew that, but it was ignorant to think that supernaturals only fell in love with supernaturals. It wasn’t necessarily rare for humans to have marks, but not common either. Supernatural kids all anxiously await the full moon after their fifth birthday, but human kids let the full moon pass without much anticipation.Stiles’ mother had made him stay up that night in his underwear as she searched him with a flashlight, intent to see if he was supernatural like his father. The inherent problem here was that Stiles was then and always will be covered head to toe in moles, freckles, and birthmarks.

walk walk (fashion baby) by rightsidethru

Derek shrugged a shoulder and moved the chopsticks through the broth. “Cora’s decided that she wants to transfer out to Berkley, and Uncle Peter has decided to relocate here again. Unfortunately, his reputation is preceding him and not even the three grand we’re offering for the photoshoot is enough to get a model to stay.”

At hearing the amount of money that Derek was actually offering to pay someone for one temporary job, Stiles choked on his noodles and began wheezing for breath as he went into a coughing fit. “Three? Three grand? Three thousand dollars??”

Three thousand dollars would be enough to pay for his rent for the next few months. Or—pay for the upcoming month and give Stiles a chance to buy some of the more advanced books on magical theory that Elder Potter was willing to let Stiles borrow but not keep. Being able to buy his own copies… Stiles’ fingers twitched in almost immediate booklust.

“I’ll do it,” Stiles announced.

Cause I Want You (all to myself) by LadySlytherin

Stiles has an odd habit of licking Peter, seemingly at random and without much thought. Peter takes a lot longer than he should to figure out why.

or

Six Times Stiles Stilinski Licked Peter Hale…and one time Peter licked Stiles instead.

If I Could Kiss You Again by Triangulum

“Summer plans?” Peter asks, eyes on where Isaac is now trying to inch along the ceiling beam toward the wall where he can slide down a pipe.

“Leaving for Stanford in September. Saving the world and working in between now and then,” Stiles says. “Why, gonna miss me?”

“Considering I’ll be left alone with Derek? Yes,” Peter says.

“You’ll have Cora,” Stiles says. “And Isaac will be here to make up a few high school credits.”

There’s a shriek and a thud as Isaac loses his grip, falling on top of Erica and Boyd, sending them all to the ground in a heap.

“Yes,” Peter says flatly. “Thank god for that.”

OR

Five times Stiles kisses Peter and one time Peter kisses him.

Orbital Distance by neglectedtuesday

Artemis, the capital city of the Moon, where movies are born and stars are made. The crown jewel of American cinema and simultaneously Hollywood’s biggest rival. The money may be dollars, it may be counted as the 51st state but the studios run this city, making cinema and waging war. No real bloodshed but equally cutthroat in its own way. Peter has devoured article after article about the industry, from in-depth journalism to gossip rags, desperate for every detail, every scandal, every glorious moon moment.

Hooverville by twothumbsandnostakeincanon (somanyofthekids)

Town to town, train to train, tent to tent.

By 1932, the dust had begun to blow and the jobs were gone.

Anonymity was a byproduct of looking for work, which made it both necessary and convenient.

Stiles had enough secrets of his own to know to look the other way when he saw something that shouldn’t be possible.

The ghost of a tail giving enough balance to disembark a moving train.

Near silent Latin whispered on the edge of a tent encampment.

A flash of burning eyes.

He had more than enough to worry about without adding the oddities of others, and besides- having unusually sharp teeth certainly didn’t make a man worse than the ones running from the wife and kids they couldn’t feed.

So Stiles kept his observations to himself. He kept his everything to himself.

Until he met a man. One with eyes so blue they seemed to glow- and then they did.

Stiles tried to look away, but for the first time he was stopped.

“Don’t be like that sweetheart. Aren’t you curious?”

Rhythm of the War Drums by HyperLittleNori (Shiguresan)

The foreboding song of the drums rumbled through the stands above, made his heart, his blood pound with their increasing rhythm. He’d seen this so many times now, heard the sickening, morbid excitement of the rabble. He readied himself for the carnage, but even nearly a year after he’d first stood in this spot, it still filled him with dread.

As always, he watched the sandy arena through the barred steel gates. They vibrated with the movement, with the almost deafening sounds of the crowd and the drums. A sea of guards stood at his back, but they were not there for him…

Two Worlds Collided by Bittah_Wizard

It was always meant to be Stiles and Peter.

Always.

A Stranger Comes to Town by Bunnywest, DiscontentedWinter, Twisted_Mind

Peter claps his hands together once. “Right! Let’s start getting to know each other, shall we? We can all take turns introducing ourselves, and explaining who we are as writers. I’ll go first.” He stays standing, and spreads his arms wide for a moment. “As I hope you all know, I’m bestselling author Peter Hale. If there’s been a terrible mistake and you didn’t mean to be here, this is your chance to run.”

He gives another charming smile to the tittering biddies on his right. He sketches a dramatic little bow, and then goes on. “Twice a year, I come out here to teach The Masterclass on writing, providing new talent,” he winks at the MFA-wannabes on the left, tucking his hands in his pockets, “with a safe environment to share your work and equip yourselves with the tools for success. I’m looking forward to getting to know you all this weekend.”

Keep You Like An Oath by Green

After 7 years in prison, Peter has important matters to attend to — and at the top of his list is the young mate he left behind, unclaimed for their own protection. But, for all his good intentions, Stiles has always needed him — now more than ever.

Too Much Of A Good Thing by GracieBirdie

Stiles can’t just leave Boyd and Erica chained up in a hunter’s basement, and if the only person willing to listen to him when he asks for help is a formerly dead psychopath? Well, Stiles supposes he could do worse. But of course nothing in Stiles’ life is ever just that simple…

All The Things We’d Do by GracieBirdie

Stiles’ time travel spell doesn’t work out quite right but he figures he should make the best of it, starting with Laura Hale.

The Promises Of Yesterday, The Pledges Of Tomorrow by ShippersList

Stiles is a kid with serious concentration issues and definitely not a guide—let alone a guide strong enough to calm down a feral Sentinel wolf. It’s just not possible.

Thighs Verse by Bunnywest

I’ll give you what you need, pretty boy. And you can call me Sir.

The hairs on the back of Stiles’s neck prickle at that, and his dick throbs. He clicks on the profile and the picture that pops up is UN-FUCKING-FAIR. Jesus Christ on a bicycle, nobody should look like that. The man’s staring into the camera, a smile that’s almost a sneer on his face. And what a face it is. Intense blue eyes, cheekbones like cut glass, and a strong jawline covered in the perfect amount of stubble. His neck, what Stiles can see of it, is thickly muscled, and Stiles can see the beginnings of a tattoo that travels down. There’s the tiniest scattering of grey at his temples, and Stiles breathes out, “Oh yes, Sir,” as he drinks in the details on the profile.

Or, the one in which Stiles experiments with Grindr, and finds his Sir.

The Boy Sleuth by Shey

Stiles is eight when he discovers a box of his mom’s old Nancy Drew Mysteries in the back of the guest bedroom closet.

Magnificent Mischief by twothumbsandnostakeincanon (somanyofthekids)

“Marvelous Miss and the Magnificent Mischief!” the carnival barker shouted just outside the corridor with all the food tents. “Come see Miss Paige do amazing tricks with her talking raven! He not only speaks, but he jokes! He teases! He philosophizes!”

Escaping by Green

“We have to go. Now, Peter.”

Peter’s holding his apartment door open, standing in shock, looking at Stiles. “What? How do you even know where I live?”

The Chasm and the Clash by twothumbsandnostakeincanon (somanyofthekids)

Stiles has dreams of the Alpha after he dies. It makes no sense. He didn’t know Peter before… did he?

Did Peter know him?

And why does his head hurt so much?

[casper-writes-stuff]

North Side of the Trees Part One

ao3 link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22900057/chapters/54735148

Summary:  Virgil gets caught in the thrall of a Will-o'-the-wisp and finds himself in the territory of a lamia- a half snake half human creature, and is a little freaked but a lot gay and Jesus how is this his life?

This has been in the works for. So long. Too long, honestly. But the first part is done! I'm pretty excited about that, actually and I'm even more excited to get part two out once it's finished.

Enjoy!!!

Virgil doesn’t really know what happened after he’d entered the forest. He remembers seeing a wispy light off in the distance and despite knowing it was a Will-o'-the-wisp it was almost as if he’d been possessed by the urge to follow it.

Will-o'-the-wisp’s typically lead you somewhere you wouldn’t be seen again. Most assumed that meant death, Virgil was inclined to agree. Not like he was able to stop though, even as he kept tripping over roots and stumbling over fallen branches. His trance like focus on following the wisp never broke, his gaze never wavered from the ghost-like fire that was always several feet in front of him.

He didn’t come back to himself until it dissipated, seemingly scared off by something Virgil couldn’t see because as soon as he was aware of his surroundings he was kind of panicking.

“Hoooly shit,” he cursed, looking around the dense forest, an area he’d never been before because it wasn’t within the designated safety borders and Virgil was never really fond of the forest anyway.

Virgil was honestly so busy panicking he didn’t see the glowing yellow eyes in the trees, didn’t notice the movement of a thick tail loosening from a thick branch until there was suddenly a cacophony of crunching leaves and a thud on the ground in front of him.

He snapped his head up, hands pulling away from yanking at his hair to ground him while he breathed in through his nose and out through his mouth in calculated measures.

Except he wasn’t really breathing very evenly now, if at all, what with looking at a fucking half snake dude laying in the ground, arms crossed as he used them to prop himself up.

“What?” Virgil asked, letting out a disbelieving laugh because lamias were typically women, at least from the rare sightings humans had seen of them and also because lamias had never willingly showed themselves to a human before and he was a little worried about what that meant for his safety.

The lamia started speaking, and Virgil flinched back as pain threatened to split his skull in two at the sounds coming from the snake man’s throat. He stopped speaking, frowning for a moment before sighing.

“Want…” he started, a strange accent thick in the word, “want keep you?”

...What?

Virgil stared at the lamia, utterly perplexed that he was trying to talk to him in broken english. How the hell was he supposed to react to this?

Snake man huffed, pushing himself up until he was eye level with Virgil, making the slit pupils and scales decorating his face so much more detailed and…

Jesus Christ, Virgil was not gay for a snake, nope this was not happening.

“Want keep you. You dumb?”

Virgil snorted out another laugh, trying to keep it stifled because if he was attracted to a snake then yeah, he’d say he’s pretty fucking dumb.

“That’s… up for debate at the moment. Um… you. You want to keep me?” he asked, taking a step back when the lamia grew closer to him.

The movement made him narrow his eyes, and the next thing Virgil knew he was wrapping himself around him and he was suddenly encased in snake.

Virgil went red faced, letting out a small squeak because wow he was not expecting to be in this situation today. Granted, he hadn’t been expecting to meet a lamia ever, and yet here he was.

“You followed wisp. Found me. I want keep you, make safe,” he kept speaking, a forked tongue slipping out between his words.

Oh God, his pupils got big all of a sudden, was that a bad thing?

The lamia leaned forward suddenly, burying his face in Virgil’s neck and tongue ghosting over his neck, forcing another startled squeak from his throat.

“Smell good. Taste good. Look good. Let me keep you.”

Virgil found himself asking once again how the fuck he was supposed to react to this. A lamia found him attractive apparently? A monster… who’s kind had been typically caught eating men wanted to keep him, and apparently make sure he was safe?

What. What the fuck was his life right now?

“Okay well you suddenly got so much more personal than I have let even my last boyfriend get so maybe-” he cleared his throat, trying to ignore his burning face as he gently pushed the lamia’s face away from his neck, “maybe back up a little bit, dude.”

Snake man seemed to pout, but he at least followed Virgil’s guidance away from his neck.

“And also why? Like you’re cute, I can not deny that,” Virgil continued, trying not to get distracted by the pretty pink that dusted the lamia’s face at that, “but humans have found lamia’s eating men before and I gotta be a little worried about my safety here.”

Snake man shook his head, seeming irritated by Virgil’s words and wow, he could not help his concern for his well-being spiking at that.

“Only women and only human men who threaten safety. Still dangerous here, but I keep safe.”

Ah, well okay that was a little less worrying?

“And you are pretty. Prettiest human I’ve seen. Let me…” the lamia eyed his neck again, his tongue slipping out as he breathed deeply, “let me keep you.”

“You are really insistent on that, aren’t you?” Virgil asked, rubbing at his neck as his eyes dropped to the tail wrapped around his legs up to his waist.

His scales were a pretty shade of yellow, with paler patches littering his tail in random shapes, sizes, and placements. Virgil used his free hand to stroke over the skin, now distracted with the way the muscle seemed to contract under his touch.

The lamia hissed, and Virgil’s eyes snapped up to his face again to see a flustered expression.

“Oh uh… sorry, man,” he said, pulling his hand away.

Snake man shook his head, taking a moment to seemingly recover before he spoke up.

“Name? Need name to keep you.”

Virgil bit his lip, glancing around the forest as he thought.

That… would be interesting, but he wasn’t sure how he felt being ‘kept’ by a lamia when he had a life back in town. It wasn’t much of one, and he struggled to make ends meet more often than not, but he wasn’t sure how well he’d take to being away from people.

“Flattering offer, but I can’t really say it’s all that tempting outside of the pretty snake man offering it,” he said, looking at the lamia.

He frowned, leaning away from Virgil for a second as he thought.

“You keep me?”

Virgil spluttered, blinking rapidly as he jerked back the best he could wrapped up in lamia tail.

“What? Dude no, you’d literally be killed if someone found you and I’m not about to let that be on my conscience.”

He huffed, crossing his arms over his chest as his pout returned.

This lamia really needed to stop being cute so Virgil could stop dealing with the crisis of wanting to kiss him.

“Then stay with me,” he said, getting closer to Virgil’s face again, reaching a hand up to run it through his hair, a soft gasp escaping him and his other hand joining the first.

Was he… being petted by a snake?

“You haven’t really done much to sweeten the deal, snake man,” Virgil said, a little amused by his excitement over his hair.

The lamia paused, shifting his attention from Virgil’s hair to his face, though his hands remained buried in the strands.

“What?” he asked, making Virgil raise an eyebrow.

“Not sure what you’re asking, dude. ‘What’ is the vaguest possible question.”

“What did you call me?”

Well his english seemed to be getting better, at least?

“Snake man? I don’t exactly know your name,” Virgil answered, shoving his hands in his hoodie pocket so he didn’t do something dumb, like pet the guy’s tail again.

He hummed, going back to playing with Virgil’s hair.

“My language hurts you, name would be bad to say.”

Virgil thought at that, trying to keep his mind focused and not melt when the snake started digging his nails into his scalp, scratching the skin in a pleasant way.

“Can you like… translate your name to english? Since you seem to be able to speak it.”

The lamia paused at that, tilting his head and looking up at the treetops for a moment.

“Deceit. Closest word.”

Virgil nodded, gently pulling Deceit’s hands from his hair.

“Well it’s nice to meet you, Deceit, but I should really get home. It’s getting pretty late, and I’ve really gotta figure out how to get home because I’m honestly lost as fuck.”

Deceit frowned, looking at Virgil’s face in consideration.

“Stay with me for night. I will get you home tomorrow if promise to visit.”

Virgil weighed his options, letting out a sigh because his choice was honestly very small.

Either he got lost in a forest full of magical creatures that want to kill, eat, or keep him with malicious intent, or he stay the night with the lamia who had proven to at least not want to hurt him on purpose and go back home tomorrow so he can figure out how to work visiting said lamia into his not so busy schedule.

“Yeah, alright. I can agree to that.”

Deceit grew visibly excited for a moment before he cleared his throat and schooled his expression into a more muted eager one.

“Perfect. Will lead you to nest, meet pests who like visits.”

Virgil watched as Deceit’s expression grew into fond irritation at the mention of the ‘pests’ and he had to assume he probably meant friends. He could relate to that, Remy was the most annoying fucker in town but Virgil would honestly kill for him.

“Alright, Dee. Can’t really walk with you wrapped around me though.”

Deceit grew red, Virgil letting out an amused laugh as he uncoiled himself from around his legs.

“Sorry. Let’s go, before moon rise.”

Virgil shrugged, and gestured for Deceit to lead the way.

[rex101111]

Izuocha Week 2020 Day 3-Silent Night!

Hey! Who asked for a Werewolf X Hunter AU!? Nobody? Well too bad you’re getting one anyway!

Much longer than the last two, I blame the fact that I never have much of a chance to write AUs like this so I was relishing the opportunity to do so.

Also, Eri is here, because of course she is. Enjoy!

The thing that was strangest to Ochako was how quiet it was.

She was in a forest in the middle of the night, she should be hearing creatures skittering about, owls screeching, leaves falling, something, but there was not a single sound to be heard. She knew what that meant, it meant that there was something else in that forest that every other animal did not want finding them, it meant that something was dangerous, it meant that bring her rifle along was actually a good idea.

Going out this late, on a full moon, was not a good idea though, she knew that too, but her coffers were growing empty too fast for her comfort, so she needed to do something to line her pockets before she ran out of money for food, much less any to send to her parents.

She wasn't even out to find the kind of trouble her rifle was usually for, she'd be happy to find a sleeping deer, anything she could skin and chop to sell back in town to give her a few days of breathing room to plan for a bigger pay day.

Unfortunately, it seemed the only thing she found tonight was very awake, and would probably take more than a shot or two.

She slowed her breathing, straining her ears to hear anything, a twig snapping under a padded foot, claws dragging across bark, anything to give that split second she would need to whirl on her target and keep her neck from getting ripped open.

She stepped softly, every inch of ground around her with the potential to hold a landmine, ready to end her life. Not with a boom, but with a roar.

She froze, there, right there, a low, guttural sound of something with sharp teeth and little patience for trespassers. She lifted her sights to point at a dark void between the trees. She placed her finger on the trigger, muscle tensing under her skin.

"Wait!"

Every nerve in her body screamed at her, pleading with her to empty her magazine into the darkness until silence returned, but something in that voice, the one sending her that desperate plea, stayed her hand and stopped her trigger finger.

There was fear there, some sort of deep terror that felt altogether too human for a silver bullet.

She spent what felt like hours staring into the dark, the sound of footsteps slowly making their way closer to her, she refused to let her gun drop down, even as her limbs began to protest from holding the same position for too long.

Soon a figure emerged from the gloom, the sight of the hunched form nearly enough to make her heart drop through the floor. The monster stood on two clawed feet, covered entirely in dark moss green fur, it's fangs and claws shining in the moon light.

It's eyes-his eyes, were a brighter shade of green, shimmering with worry and fear.

A werewolf.

Afraid of her, a hunter barely two thirds his size and probably not even a third his weight, if she wasn't so concentrated on keeping her aim steady she'd feel flattered.

And that wasn't even the oddest thing, that honor would go to the little girl shivering behind his left leg. White hair, red eyes, dressed in rags and looking scared for her life. But the fear wasn't for the monster, no, that girl was afraid of Ochako, of this strange person who was still pointing a gun at her.

Slowly, the hunter lowered her weapon, cleared her throat, and tried a weary smile, "hey sweetheart, it's okay." She put the gun on her back, displaying her empty hands to the frightened child, "nobody is gonna get hurt…" she turned her eyes to the werewolf, who hadn't made a sound since his earlier plea, "…right?"

His eyes roamed her form quickly, his eyes taking in every detail of her attire, from the bag on her back to the bandolier filled with extra bullets across her chest. The intensity sent a shiver down her spine, like his eyes ripped right through her and down a few miles behind her to see the path she took to get here.

Soon the intensity in his gaze lessoned somewhat, though it hardly left, and he let out a breath, his eyes darting back and forth, "…yeah." He placed a protective hand on the girl, who gripped at his fur like a lifeline, both of them searching the trees for shadows, "…are you alone?"

She considered lying, saying that she was part of a group in order to dissuade him from trying anything violent, but again that girl came into her sight again, her eyes shimmering with tears, form shaking in fear, but still hanging on to the werewolf like he was the only person she could trust.

She knew werewolves could be reasoned with, talked to, that's what made the feral ones such a terror, but a werewolf caring for a child like that? This was not your average man-wolf, something in his gaze was gentle, smart yet unsure.

She wasn't sure why, but she ignored every instinct she had and shook her head, "no, just me…" She looked behind them and swept her eyes around the trees looking for whatever they were afraid of, finding nothing, "…you running from someone?"

A tense moment passed where the werewolf's eyes sharpened, Ochako having to forcibly keep herself from reaching for the knife hidden on her belt line as he looked for…something, some sign that she was part of whatever he and the girl were trying to avoid, before he sighed, his eyes turning…panicked, as if he was realizing how deep in the water he was, "there were…these men, hurting her."

The girl sniffed and placed her forehead on the back of his leg, but kept quiet like before.

"Badly I-" He let out a harsh breath between his fangs, Ochako just noticing the very faint red stains on some of them, "I had to do something, get her away from them but I-" He gulped, his arm raising to grip at a nearby tree to support his weight, a patch of his fur near his shoulder glistening slightly in the moon light, he was hurt, "I don't know if there's anyone else around, too dangerous for her here."

The girl hiccupped and looked up at Ochako, eyes leaking, "help him! Please!" She tugged at his fur, and pointed to that patch of fur that started dripping blood on the grass, "he's hurt!"

"Forget about me!" He shouted of a sudden, pushing the girl from behind his leg and towards Ochako, who was still trying to figure out what in the ever loving hell was going on, "please, get her out of here, there's a town nearby right?"

Ochako, flat footed, gaped for a second before she took a few careful steps towards the girl, who rushed back to the man, and soon she decided to flow with the situation and hope it might start making sense, "yes, a few miles back, if I hurry I should be able to get her to my house in an hour…what about you?"

He took a knee and placed his hands on the girl's shoulders, holding her firmly, ignoring Ochako for the moment, "please Eri I can't keep you safe in the woods." He placed her face between his clawed hands with a measure of gentleness that caught Ochako completely off guard, "she can get you to a town where people can help, you need to go."

"But-!" Eri pleaded helplessly, tears falling freely now, "but you're hurt!"

"I'll be fine," he said to her, but his eyes went to Ochako, as if to answer her question from before, "what matters is getting her somewhere safe," his eyes narrowed, though this time she found her spine straightening at the sight of them, "can you do that?"

With courage she didn't feel at all, she walked forward resolutely, putting her hand on Eri's shoulder gently, "she'll be okay, leave her to me." She smiled in a way she thought she never would at a werewolf, earning her a look of surprise from him, "trust me."

Trust in a hunter must have been as hard for him to give as it was for her to ask, but his eyes filled with gratitude, and some amount of awe that colored her cheeks as he smiled gently at her, as gently as one could with a maw filled with razor sharp teeth anyway, "thank you."

"Izuku…" Eri pleaded one more time, fingers bunching up the fur of his chest, "please…"

"It's okay Eri…" He soothed quietly, moving his claws through her white hair slowly, "just focus, alright? Focus on following this hunter, get help, tell her about the men who did this to you." Eri grabbed at her forearms when he said this, and Ochako could feel a pit in her stomach, "everything is going to be alright, I promise."

With one last miserable hiccup, Eri turned around and buried her head in Ochako's legs, hugging her desperately.

Izuku rose to full height, and turned to walk back into the dark, and for some reason that sat wrong with Ochako, that he would risk himself like this for a helpless child only to slink off to bleed in the woods all by himself, "wait!" She called out, her voice mirroring his desperation from before, "I live by myself, I can hide you in the roof if I need to, you're too hurt to go off like this!"

"I need to make sure there isn't anyone else from that group hurting her." He kept his back to them but didn't move further away, "…thank you for the offer though, it's been a while since anyone's been this nice to me."

He continued to walk, determined to make sure Eri was safe, so Ochako decided to offer one last kindness before she legged it back to town with Eri in toe, "Ochako Uraraka, look for me in UA town in the morning, or as soon as you can, you are not bleeding out in the woods if I can help it, understand?"

He turned to look behind him, mouth agape, before he nodded dumbly, "y-yes, got it."

They stared at each other for a long, silent moment, the woods still quiet around them, something warm settling in Ochako's stomach as Izuku offered her one last smile before rushing off into the forest, his footfalls weakening as he went further away.

"C'mon sweetheart." She muttered to Eri as she gathered the girl in her arms and turned to return home, "let's get you out of here."

"Thank you." The girl mumbled into her shoulder as she hugged Ochako's neck, still crying a little, "thank you for helping us."

Ochako was about to wave it off, helping a little girl was common practice for most people, but something in her voice stopped her, something like disbelief at being helped, like the girl didn't consider herself worth the trouble.

"You're welcome." She replied instead, hugging the girl close as she made her way back where she came, for the first time noticing something fluffy rubbing her stomach.

Looking over the little girl's head showed what it was, a short, scruffy tail hanging from a little over Eri's beltline.

Ochako held back a groan as she gathered the tail in her hand as gently as she could, went looking for money in the woods and now she came out with something far too precious for her to handle.

She walked on with steady steps, hoping the woods remained as quiet as they were so far.

-_-

She spent most of the next morning equal parts freaking out and trying to make Eri breakfast.

Part of her freaking out was her trying to figure out what she could even give Eri, considering her...lupine qualities. Qualities that were more easily readable in the light than they were in the dead of night.

She had slightly sharper nails, like the beginning of a pup's paws, her hair was a lot scruffier than at first glance and it seemed to poof out whenever she was surprised, her pupils were narrow, not like a full werewolf but just enough to notice if you stared at her nose to nose. When she gave Eri a simple sandwich with sausage she saw that even her teeth were just a bit sharper than they should be. Even her face had some wolfish shapes too it, the roundness of her nose, the angle of her chin, the more she looked the more she wondered how she missed it the night before.

Combined with the tail, it was all beginning to give Ochako a stomachache.

She wasn't a werewolf, or at the very least not any werewolf Ochako heard of, she seemed like some mix between a child and a puppy, her true being, whatever it was, peeking out from between where the two halves met.

Whatever she was, Ochako knew it wouldn't matter to any of the other townsfolk, all they would see is sharp teeth and a tail and drag Eri off to be skinned and stuffed, and odd as it was to say about a child she had only known for a few spare hours, but Ochako would shoot up the entire county before she let that happen.

Not that Ochako could keep her here, she could barely afford this rickety roof over her head as it was, along with her sending money to her folks and keeping herself fed and clothed, how much did she have to spare to care for this little girl-wolf-whoever she was?

She wasn't going to toss her out either, Ochako resolved to simply tough it out, like she's done her entire life since her parent's company went bankrupt, push through this and figure out what to do. She had no earthly idea how she might manage that, but she was just going to have to try her best and figure it out.

With any luck, she might be able to convince some of her friends to help with this, provided they don't freak out for long enough to let her explain.

And they might even help find Izuku, where ever he was.

What time she had left after panicking and making Eri food she spent looking out her window to see if anyone was coming, she was starting to contemplate going into the woods and looking for any clues she could use to find him, or at least find out more about the men who were hurt Eri so she could put a bullet or two in them for the trouble they caused.

The girl refused to speak of them, every time Ochako tried to broach the subject the girl went impossibly paler and hid in her long hair. So going out herself was looking like the only way she would get any answers.

But that would involve leaving Eri alone, and doing that left a rotten taste in her mouth, all the more because she knew she would eventually have to if she wanted any money to buy food and keep the place.

But leaving Izuku alone seemed just as rotten, after seeing him willing to throw himself away like that for a child she couldn't very well just let him bleed out there, she owed him proper medical care at the absolute minimum.

As she scratched her head trying to figure out what to do, there was a knock on the door.

Both she and Eri looked at each other in mixed alarm and hope, the hunter grabbing her rifle and motioning for Eri to go hide behind her ratty couch in the tiny living room as she slowly made her way to the door, more knocks sounding from it.

"Hello? Anyone home?"

As soon as she was next to the door, Ochako called out in a deep voice, "yeah?" She grabbed her rifle tightly, ready to strike at a moment's notice, "who are you looking for?"

"Ochako Uraraka?" The voice called out again, soft and timid, barely reaching past the door, "I was told she lived here?"

Ochako thought he sounded familiar, but like hell was she going to get Eri any closer to potential danger just to be sure, she took half a step away from the door to aim her barrel at the middle, "and who told you that?"

"Iida Tenya of the hunter's guild."

That made enough sense, but she wanted to be absolutely sure, "and why are you looking for her?"

A soft chuckle tickled the air before he answered, "I met her in the woods last night, she helped me when she had every reason to shoot me dead and I want to thank her properly."

With a sigh of relief, Ochako lowered her gun and opened the door, and there on her welcome mat stood a young man about her age, with wild green her and soft green eyes, dressed messily and with a tired smile.

"Izuku?" In her relief she flung her arms around him without thinking, squeezing him in a hug, "I was so worried!"

"I'm okay! Sorry for worri-" He trailed off when he noticed their positions, Ochako quickly following him as she jumped a whole foot away with an awkward chuckle forced out of her throat, which Izuku mirrored, "did you get back alright? Both of you?"

She knew who he meant so she cleared her throat and invited him in, ignoring the heat in her cheeks for the moment, closing the door behind them as she called out, "Eri! He came back!"

The sound of small feet shuffling about filled the small apartment before Eri appeared around the corner, launching herself at Izuku without a word and clinging to him without a care, Ochako sitting in a chair as she watched him slowly calm the poor girl down.

After he managed she put some food in front of him and refused to hear a word before he finished cleaning his plate, and judging by the way he, pardon the pun, wolfed it down he sorely needed it.

Once he put his dish away he sat across from her and Eri at the table, wringing his fingers, "I'm guessing you probably want a better explanation, right?"

Ochako rubbed her forehead and sighed, "just…some basic stuff; for instance, do you know the people who were…hurting Eri?"

"No." He shook his head, "they had these weird…plague doctor masks on, never saw anything like that before, maybe they're a cult?"

"Knowing my luck they just might be." She sighed again and shook her head before she went on, "were there any more of them after we split up last night?"

"None that I could find," His brow furrowed, "though I saw some carriage tracks on the opposite side of the forest, so who knows."  

Thinking back on that night, with the mysterious villains and silent shadows, Ochako leapt to her feet when she remembered how badly he was hurt, "your wound! Did you get it fixed up?"

Izuku's eyes widened, as if he didn't expect her to worry as much as she did before he raised his hands to calm her, "y-yeah, I went to a nurse this morning to get patched up." He opened the buttons holding his shirt closed, laying bare the wound from the night before, properly bandaged.

Consequently, he also bared to her a lot more toned muscle then his thin stature would imply, his chest flat and stomach defined like that of someone who trained his whole life to keep in top shape.

Ochako felt more than a little silly, staring at him like she was, feeling her heart beat pick up slightly at the sight like she was some little girl with a crush, so she cleared her throat to hid her blush and nodded stiffly, "good, good, I'm glad you're better." She waited for him to close his shirt back up so she could think properly before she went on, "so, those tracks, did you see them lead anywhere?"

He shook his head, "too dark, I followed them for a mile or two before my wound hurt too much to keep running." He scratched his head in frustration, "they seemed to go on a long while though, for all I knew they could have come from the opposite side of the country."  

Ochako took a deep breath to swallow the lump in her throat, one thing at a time, possible country wide cults would wait until she wasn't completely in the dark about her new housemates, "Eri…is she a werewolf?"

Izuku was quiet for a moment, looking at Eri as if asking for permission to speak, she nodded faintly and he looked back at the hunter, "no, I'm sure of it."

"Oh yeah?" She laughed a little, frustrated that she barely got any information about this mess, "and how long were you a werewolf to be so sure?"

"Long enough."

The way he said it gave her pause, as if she pressed on a raw nerve without looking, she sighed again and walked around the subject to continue asking, "do you know what she is then?"

Izuku's face scrunched up in embarrassment, "no idea."

"Of course not…"

She rubbed her forehead before she heard a light sniffling coming from the girl's direction, "sorry…" She mumbled miserably, "you two going through so much trouble for…just for me…"

"You're not trouble, Eri." Izuku soothed again, patting the little girl on the head, "me and Ochako want to help you…" He looked at her quizzically, "…right?"

She blinked at him for a moment, looking between him and Eri, whose eyes were beginning to water slightly, she sighed good naturedly, "of course, though that depends."

Izuku raised an eyebrow, "depends on what?"

"You two aren't going to eat me in the middle of night, are you?" They looked at her with some mild horror, before she smiled uneasily and put her hands up to calm them, "relax! It was a bad joke! A bad joke!" They both sighed tiredly, though Izuku did it with a smile, "I do Eri, I want to help you too, you deserve to live life without looking over your shoulder, and Izuku and I are going to make sure of that."

Eri blushed at that hiding her face in her arms and hair as Izuku laughed warmly and pat her on the head again.

Looking at the two of them, filling her small ramshackle home with laughter, Ochako thought back to last night, and how utterly quiet the woods were. As she did, she realized she recognized that silence back then, it was the silence that accompanied her every night as she slept on her own, reaching her bed at a time where everyone else was already fast asleep.

That sort of quiet was lonely; it was a void you felt because you knew it needed to be filled with something. It seemed her own life had a void in it she didn't know she had to fill, or even how.

When Izuku looked back at her, smile worried but trusting, she began to think that maybe she might be able to figure that out by the time this whole ordeal was finished.

Maybe, by the time Eri was safe and Izuku could relax, she would never again have to sleep in a silent night.

[kyleknight]

Shapeshifters

October Writing Challenge Day 4 part 2 project: bts shapeshifting light weapons au content: eventual ot7, fantasy, shapeshifting weapons sorta like soul eater, parallel worlds I guess?  warnings: mild fighting against monsters  an: ok so this is stuff that Ive already written for this au but Im planning on writing more so I wanted to have this stuff posted already bc it explains the world pretty well.

The stars overhead are a little too bright. A little too big, too close. If Hoseok looks up at the sky long enough, he can actually pick out sharp pointed edges to them. He tries not to look at them and pretends the natural light illuminating his path is moonlight instead of starlight.

Namjoon is leading him along the path at a brisk pace— not quite a run, but it’s fast enough that Hoseok feels a little less panicked about… well… everything. There’s not enough cover out here and Hoseok is terrified of seeing another one of those giant creatures. 

He spots the building, standing in a small clearing. It’s a nice change from the seemingly endless twisted trees on one side of the path and the barren field on the other. 

“What’s that?” he asks Namjoon. It’s a question he’s been asking a lot in the past hour or so. 

“The house? It’s safe,” Namjoon answers. “My friends are in there.”

“They’re like you?” Hoseok says.

Namjoon doesn’t respond until they reach the building. He ignores the door and goes to a boarded up window instead, knocking rapidly on it. “It’s me! Open up!”

A brief moment later, a board covering one of the windows slides and moves out of the window. It’s barely enough space for a person to squeeze through.

“Come on,” Namjoon says. “It’s safe in here.” He glances backwards, and Hoseok does as well. He can’t see anything, but those things from earlier came out of nowhere. Hoseok turns back and climbs through the opening. 

He finds himself in a large room that’s got building materials piled up against the walls but is otherwise empty. Well, empty except for another guy holding the board that must have been blocking the entrance. Hoseok eyes him carefully and moves aside as Namjoon gets inside. The guy then wedges the board back into place.

Hoseok glances around the dark room. There are no light fixtures on the ceiling and no other sources of light save for the starlight sneaking in through cracks in the boards. He feels marginally safer, though. As long as nothing scary is going to jump out at him like earlier.

“Hoseok-ssi,” Namjoon says, “This is Jungkook. One of my friends. And… where’s Jimin and Taehyung?”

“They went out,” Jungkook says. “There was a pack of Shadows that was getting close, so they went to drive them back.”

Namjoon looks worried. “How long ago was that?”

“Not long,” Jungkook says. “But they’re careful. I’ve been watching through the windows just in case Taehyung-ah puts up a firework.” He looks curiously at Hoseok. “So who’s this?”

Namjoon gestures towards the far wall. “Let’s talk in the inside room. It’s complicated.”

Hoseok’s eyes start to adjust as Namjoon guides him through the dark building. It’s a bit like an old farmhouse, he thinks. The first two rooms are sparse, mostly full of wooden supplies and tools, separated by heavy doors. The third room feels much more lived in: resembling a kitchen and more familial storage area. From there, a narrow stairwell leads up to a room with beds, couches, clothes and sheets hung from the wooden rafters above. The thing Hoseok likes more about this room is the larger spaces in between the boards, allowing more starlight to pass through to illuminate the room. 

Namjoon leads Hoseok to a couch with two blankets thrown across it. Hoseok takes one and wraps it around himself. He’s not too cold with his jacket and layers, but the lack of any kind of external warmth here is unnerving enough to send more chills than usual through him. 

Hoseok has so many questions, things he’s still rattled by, but for now, he’s just relieved to be inside. 

“I have more things to explain to you, Hoseok-ssi,” Namjoon says. “But first, I need to tell— Jungkook. Hoseok-ssi is a handler. He’s not from here. He’s from another world, I think.”

Jungkook’s eyes are wide. “Really? Where did you find him?”

“When I was in town,” Namjoon says. “There was a light from the river. I went to go check on it and he was there. There were a few Shadows already on him, so I went to help him out. He brought the light out of me without me even realizing it. We destroyed the Shadows.”

Hoseok watches Jungkook’s reactions. Namjoon’s explanations from earlier didn’t really explain much, but he’s had a little bit of time to try and process them. People here can turn into weapons. Light is dangerous. Hoseok is special, because of what he did when he was holding Namjoon-turned-into-a-bow. Namjoon can turn into a bow and shoot arrows made of soft white light. 

“You’re both magic weapons then?” Hoseok says.

Namjoon nods. “Jungkook is a pistol. And you saw what I am. And what I can do, when the conditions are right. Doing that can destroy the Shadows, but it’s also dangerous because it can attract more attention if you’re careless about it.”

Hoseok pulls the blanket closer around himself. “And that goes for all types of light? Fire too?”

Namjoon’s face turns more serious. “Yeah. It’s… that’s sort of how all the handlers disappeared here. After the sun disappeared and the moon went dark, they couldn’t stand it. They tried to survive with fire and other types of light, but the Shadows got too strong. I’ve never even met one before, not until you.”

Hoseok looks from Namjoon to Jungkook, who is standing near the window, looking outside. He feels so out of his depth. He’s so scared and he just wants to go home. Namjoon is kind and definitely pretty resourceful, but he already told Hoseok he doesn’t understand how he made it to this world. He’s not going to have any suggestions for how to send Hoseok back. And, considering all of their problems with the terrifying Shadows, it feels like it would be selfish to ask. 

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Yoongi should have just stayed inside today. 

He tries to rationalize how it’s not his fault that someone was dumb enough to set off some kind of bright ass firecracker at the shore of the creepiest, darkest lake around. Probably some idiots testing out their light instead of keeping their heads down and not causing trouble. You know, like a rational person. 

Unfortunately, Yoongi can hear the person screaming even from his little fishing hut. If he squints, he can almost make out the small gang of Shadows chasing the guy. He frowns and tries to look for the person’s friend and finds nobody. What the hell? Who just leaves their friend to get hunted down by the Shadows just to save their own skin? They’ve got to be close, to set off light of that magnitude. What a fucking shitty ass betrayal.

Yoongi sighs heavily, shuts the door behind him, and throws himself into a full sprint. The guy is running around aimlessly, the Shadows following him out of curiosity more than anything. That’s good for now but eventually he’ll get tired and the Shadows will get him. Yoongi has to slow down as he gets closer, but he quickly sees an opportunity.

“Change!” he yells, running for the guy. “I’ll help you push them back!”

“Ahhh!” the guy screams. “Help me!” Instead of turning into whatever form he has, he just runs for Yoongi with open arms. 

Good grief. Yoongi isn’t exactly comfortable in his sword form, but what the hell ever. He’d rather not be swung around by a panicking fool, but he’s more concerned about the four Shadows than he is about being dropped. 

He changes and even has the decency to land himself in the guy’s right hand. 

“Ahhh!” the guy screams again, dropping Yoongi just as he expected. “What’s this! What’s this!”

“Don’t drop me!” Yoongi yells. He’s a nice guy, okay, and he doesn’t normally yell at strangers, but this is kind of a dire situation. “Pick me up! Scare them off!”

“Ahhh!” The guy won’t stop screaming, but he picks Yoongi up again and holds him in a position so unbalanced that Yoongi is sure he’s going to be dropped again. The Shadows slow down to a stop, uncomfortably close but not close enough to be in range of Yoongi’s blade. They’re bigger than the usual Shadow that Yoongi encounters. Very bad.

“Quit panicking!” Yoongi says. “They’ve stopped, now swing me around a bit. Act threatening!”

Unfortunately, this guy is incapable of getting himself together. It’s like he’s never dealt with a Shadow before. He goes, “Ahhh!” again and swings Yoongi in the most wobbly manner ever. Yoongi actually feels a bit sick from the motion. One of the Shadows moves back a bit, though.

“Do that again,” Yoongi grits out. “But please, just try to get yourself together. It’s fine, I’m not gonna let you die. It’s going to be okay.” 

“Oh god, oh god, oh god,” the guy says. He’s shaking, but he adjusts his hold on Yoongi and yells again as he slashes the air in front of him wildly. This time, two of the Shadows back off and the smaller of the two runs in the opposite direction. The two that are closest to Yoongi and his unfortunate partner aren’t convinced by the show. One lumbers closer.

“Fuck,” Yoongi mutters. That light display earlier was pretty impressive. It makes sense that these Shadows wouldn’t be easily scared off. 

“One more time,” Yoongi says. “You can do this. Come on!”

“Ahh!” the guy screams, but this time it’s in a wild desperation. He brings Yoongi back with more force to prepare for another swing, and something resonates within Yoongi. His heart beats harder, louder. His mind feels at peace. The guy swings him and the brightest light Yoongi has ever seen in his life pours out of his blade. He feels the light slice through the Shadows, including the one that had turned and run. The light pierces through the dark lakeshore all around them and eliminates every shred of darkness. 

Then, as quickly as it came, the light is gone. The Shadows are gone. Yoongi is in his human form on his hands and knees, shaking. What just happened?

“What the fuck did you do?” he gasps. He looks back at the guy, who looks just as panicked as when Yoongi showed up. 

“C-can you tell me where I am?” the guy says, sounding like he’s about to start crying. “I’m so scared, and confused. I was just at the train station, it was morning, and then all of a sudden I’m here and it’s night— oh god, what if I’m on drugs. Someone roofied me. Oh god, I want to snap out of this. Can you find me a hospital? My phone is dead.”

Okay, this guy is nuts. Yoongi groans and rubs at his forehead as he makes his way to his feet. “Come on, we need to get to some shelter before more Shadows show up. You can stay with me until your friend shows up again.”

“My friend?” the guy says. “I’m not— who are you talking about?”

“Whoever was with you to make that light earlier,” Yoongi says. “You’re traveling with someone, right?”

“I’m not here with anyone,” the guy says. “I don’t think so anyway… there were a lot of people at the station, but there was nobody when I ended up here. I wasn’t traveling with anyone. I just ended up here alone. Until you showed up.”

Yoongi shoots the guy with a skeptical look. “So what, you made that light by yourself?” He didn’t realize that was possible. But that’s not the important thing here. “Are you insane? Were you trying to draw the attention of the Shadows? You know you could have gotten yourself killed!”

“I don’t know what’s going on!” the guy says desperately. “This place is so scary, and those monsters started chasing after me, and you turned into a sword! I don’t understand how any of this is happening! I feel like I’m in a movie, and I want to go home!”

Okay, this guy is more nuts than Yoongi initially thought. But between dealing with crazy and dealing with more Shadows, Yoongi would take crazy any day. He sighs, rubs at his eyes, and motions for the guy to follow him.

“You can find your way home after we wait out the Shadows that are bound to come after that light,” he says. “I’m not staying out here any longer. Come on. My place is just over there.”

“Thank you,” the guy says, sounding more subdued. “I’m sorry, I’m just so confused. Thank you for helping me. I don’t know what would have happened if you didn’t show up.” 

Yoongi is pretty sure they’re both aware of what would have happened if he didn’t show up to help.

“My name is Kim Seokjin.”

“Min Yoongi,” Yoongi says. 

“Thank you, Min Yoongi-ssi.”

“Mm-hm.”

Seokjin doesn’t say anything else during the short walk to Yoongi’s place. Yoongi makes sure to shut the door firmly behind him— normally it’s not a problem, the Shadows don’t bother with this place because it’s so dark already. But he can’t be too sure now, after that impossible light Seokjin somehow pulled out of Yoongi.

That’s… that’s something that confuses Yoongi more than anything. He doesn’t know Seokjin. There’s no way there could be enough of a bond between two strangers to draw out that much light. Killing Shadows is next to impossible, and somehow Seokjin did it without Yoongi even realizing it was happening. Yoongi doesn’t even know what kind of light he can produce; he’s never managed anything more than a soft glow in the past. 

Yoongi takes out a spare mat so he and Seokjin can sit on the floor, as far from the door as possible without being on Yoongi’s bed. He’s not that hospitable. Seokjin is looking around a bit uncomfortably.

“Do you have a lamp or a candle?” he says. “I’m sorry, if you prefer the dark, we can stay like this, but I’d rather be able to see your face. I’m still a little— I’m very spooked from those things.”

Yoongi blinks slowly at him. “A candle,” he says slowly. “Like… those things that people used to light on fire.”

“Yes?” Seokjin says. “Um. But, like I said, it’s okay—”

“You’re really not from around here, aren’t you?” Yoongi says. “That, or you have an actual death wish, which I can’t believe, because of how you reacted to the Shadows.” This is so confusing. This guy is acting like he has no idea how the world works. Children know that light is dangerous and how to avoid making it, even before they learn how to speak full sentences. What’s with this guy? How did he end up at the lake in this state?

“Um,” Seokjin says. He pulls his coat closer to his body. That’s another strange thing. He’s dressed in the strangest style Yoongi’s ever seen. He said something about a train. Yoongi knows trains haven’t run since shortly after the sun went dark. They were magnets for Shadow attacks. Even running without lights, the fires in the furnaces would attract dozens of Shadows, who would swarm the engines and tear through the people inside. 

“I’m sorry,” Seokjin says. “If you don’t have anything like that… I didn’t mean to… I’ll just wait until morning and I’ll go and try to find my way home.”

“Morning,” Yoongi repeats. “Seokjin… I don’t know where you’re from, but in this world, there’s no morning.”

Seokjin goes still. “In this world? What are you talking about?”

Yoongi has a suspicion. It’s crazy and impossible, but so is a stranger pulling light like that out of Yoongi with no warning. “Seokjin, can you describe the place where you’re from?”

“It’s… it’s Seoul. I mean, originally I’m from Gwacheon. But I moved to Seoul to train to be an idol. Seoul is a big city. The biggest in Korea. There’s so many people, so much to do. It’s nice, but I miss home sometimes. Gwacheon has some of the most beautiful parks—”

“And you have the sun,” Yoongi interrupts. 

Seokjin nods. “Of course we have the sun. I think the world would freeze into a ball of ice without it.”

Yoongi lets out a shaky breath. “Seokjin, we don’t have the sun here. Wherever you’re from, I can say for sure it’s not here. I don’t know how you got here, but you probably need to learn some things about this place if you don’t want to run into more Shadows and get yourself killed.”

[call-me-amissa]

The train that rides through nowhere

It was pitch dark outside. The only proof i had that we were still moving, heading somewhere, was the sounds of the train and small bumps in the tracks. It used to be funny, interesting, the thought of riding through the darkest sides of the underworld, through lost forests and wandering souls.

It is terrifiying.

No ghostly hand touched the cracked glass of the windows, but the chilly wind coming though the invisible cracks was nothing short of it.

I found myself wishing for the lights of a city in the distance, but I knew they'd never come. Not as long as we were here.

And there was no getting out of here until we solved this.

The dark void outside was almost as silent as the inside. No one was uttering a word and all the phones seemed to have died. The only thing that I could hear were the sounds of the train and my own swallowing as we all stared at each other.

There is a beast among us. That's what the note had said, what all the screens on phones and laptops all of us had been holding had shown before they all just died off.

I couldn't help but wonder what kind of beast this was about. If it was even true. A part of me wanted to believe it was some sick prank someone was playing on us, but I somehow knew it was true. There was no getting to any station - or any type of light aside from the artificial white light bulbs in the old train.

Was the beast in here, or out there? Was it causing this, or merely a victim, as the rest of us?

But most importantly, what kind of beast was it?

Suddenly, someone broke the silence. It was a scawny teenage boy, just a couple of years younger than me by the looks of him, with his headphones around his neck and one dark earing in his left ear. "So what, we're all gonna look at each other until this ^beast^ gets to us?" He didn't sound scared, but it was obvious that he was. I think we all were.

The beast might have been too.

"This has got to be a joke." Said the woman two seats away from him. She sounded convinced. "Why are you looking at me like that? The train's going to reach a station sooner or later "

I didn't agree with her, at all, but I shut up.

"No, it's not." Answered the old man on the seat next to mine. I looked at him a little bit closer. It must have been a trick my eyes were playing, prompted by the whole situation, but he looked on the brink of death. His skin was almost as white as his unkept beard and hair, his eyes proeminently red. I stopped looking at him.

No one dared say a word after the old man. It had sounded too much like an omen, a threat, to add anything else.

There was six of us in the wagon. The emo teenage boy, the woman in the business suit and the old man, all who had spoken. And three of us who had prefered to keep our fears and dreads for ourselves - me, a man probably in his thirties who looked like he was pretending none of this was happening, fidgeting with his irresponsive phone, and a little girl on the seat next to him, who must have been his daughter. She looked like the cutest thing on earth, just like all little girls do before their bones grow all twisted. I envied her a little bit, but I envy all kids. I'm not much older than any of them, but to them it must look like the whole world. I know it did to me.

Maybe she was the so called beast, a scary monster in a pretty package, ready to tear us all to shreds.

Or maybe it was someone else.

Maybe it was her father, hiding behind the mask of confusion, waiting for the moment to strike. Using the mask of a caring father now taking the little girl on his lap to convince us we weren't in danger, like any prey animal.

I couldn't help but imagine that whatever I was doing, annalizing them one by one, must have been what they were doing too. I wondered what they thought about me. There wasn't much to see, besides a plain face and clothes i'd put on in a hurry. My bag was bulky, filled with changes of clothes I thought I'd need. I won't need them, if we were never getting out of here. I had black combat boots on, which I used to think made me look bad ass, but in the face of whatever this was, i just felt small. Inconsequential. Why was I in this wagon?

Why were any of us here?

When I looked at her, the woman in the business suit already had her sight set on me. Her eyes were thin slits, like she didn't like was she was seeing. What was she seeing? Had she done something horrible to be here?

Had they all?

I may have, but that didn't make any of us beasts, right?

There must be a true threat here, not just other people, minding their own business, going about their day, trying to travel somehwere.

Getting stuck inside this black void that seems to never end.

Looking out the mirror was pointless, all there was to see was pitch black and the cracks in the glass. Sometimes, if the train hit a bump in the road, the light from one of the bulbs would reflect in a crack, and it would seem like there was something there.

There was nothing.

Just the six of us.

The old man next to me was starting to downright creep me out, but i was too paralyzed with fear to move to another seat. What if when I moved, something - someone - would strike. I wouldn't risk it. I didn't move one finger, but I set my eyes on the emo boy's boots. It struck me how similar to mine they were, down to the metalic studs along the sides of the sole. I found myself wondering if we had anything else in common.

Maybe I had something else in common with everyone in this wagon. Maybe that's why we were stuck here. Maybe if we figured it out, we could reach a station.

Or maybe i was just grasping for straws and we were all going to starve in a train wagon heading nowhere.

Suddenly, the boy got up. "If ya'll aren't going to try anything, I will" he announced, heading to the wagon door. I didn't dare move to see if he managed to jog it open, not with the old man next to me, not when I was starting to fear even touching him.

"The door can't be locked" said the woman, who had turned around from her seat and now was standing up to walk to him. To help him wedge the door open.

I didn't know why i hadn't thought of that. Maybe it was because I just imagined it wouldn't work and dismissed it?

Maybe the way out of here wasn't physical.

I pushed that thought right out of my head as soon as I had it. The only nonphysical way of getting out of anywhere was death, and that option didn't sit well with me. Not when it seemed like it was sitting right next to me.

The little girl started to stir, asking her dad how long was this trip going to take and I sourly remembered my own parents giving me the same answer as him on long car trips, "Just a little bit more, honey."

His voice didn't sound threatening. It sounded fatherly and soothing and suddenly I couldn't imagine why I'd even considered him to be the beast. The little girl was leaning on him now, almost asleep on his lap. She couldn't be a threat either. As scary as horror movies made children, there was nothing more to them than fiction.

But didn't this whole situation look like fiction?

The boy and the woman were still trying, in vain, to open the door. I wondered what they thought they'd do if it did open. It's not like we could just walk out into the void, wandering around in the darkness and hoping we'd find our way home somehow. Even the blind need directions, if not maps, and we didn't even have Hansel and Gretel's breadcrumbs. Not like we would have seen them if we did.

I had no idea how long we'd been riding this train, but one moment, it felt like it had been forever. The next? A blink of an eye. The next? Like this would never end. The next? Like it had already.

And it kept on going.

It would have kept on going, I guess, I hope not though, because that's truly terrifying, if I didn't start feeling sorry. It hadn't been a feeling, really, just a flying thought that escaped me as soon as I caught it.

I just have a feeling that that's when the silver of a new moon had shown up in the sky. For a moment, i hadn't even realised it was not supposed to be there. That it hadn't been there mere moments ago. Now it looked like it always had, and always will.

I didn't want to open my mouth to announce it, for fear it might disappear the second I said the words out loud, so I just kept looking at it.

There was nothing else out there, except the small silver of the moon, looking like freshly cut thin piece of nail. If the moon was there, the sun must be too, right? The rest of the world too. That's how everything worked, after all: sun, moon, earth, the rest of the universe. And very small, inside all of it, us.

Was this the universe messing with us?

It felt like hours had passed, or maybe minutes, and still there was no sign of a beast.

Maybe we were all already dead. Maybe we had seen the message too late, and it had killed us, and this was the railroad to the actual Underworld.

But then why was the moon here?

I remembered i had been thinking of something when it showed up, but that thought had flown away long ago.

Why was I even on this train? Where had I been going?

Was I running towards something? From something?

The boy and the woman finally gave up on the door and came back to their seats, and it hit me.

I was running. Away. Far. Why? I couldn't remember as I looked at the two of them, both beat and hopeless. Were they running too?

I looked back at the little girl next, sleeping on top of her father. His stare was right ahead, not meeting any of ours'. My eyes were drawn back to the emo boy when he stomped one of his feet clad in almost the same boots as me. He sounded and looked downright panicked. It struck me that i was very calm as he spoke, "We can't be stuck here. My brother and sister are waiting for me at the end of the line. We can't be stuck here!" He almost yelled, but the woman in the suit placed a calming hand on his shoulder and he shut up.

He had a brother and a sister.

It baffled me how I had forgotten that. I had a brother too. I had been living with him, and then I left. I looked out then window, trying to remember more. What I saw, around the moon that now looked a little bit more real, were stars. Actual stars that lit the night sky. Not much, not enough to make sense of whatever was around us, but it was something.

Impulsively, I pointed towards the glass, to the stars and the moon, "Do you see that?"

I looked at every each one of my travel companions and was met only with confusion. "See what? There's been nothing out there since forever" said the man holding his sleeping daughter.

"The moon and the stars have always been there," answered the boy. "Everything else, though, not so much."

I shut up, figuring there was something more here than any of us could understand. Were we the only ones seeing those things? Maybe it was because we were starting to remember. Did anyone else remember anything? I didn't want to ask, so I shut up. I tried to remember more.

I had been mad. We had both been mad. What was it about? A lot of things, from dropping the other's toothbrush to the floor by mistake, to nor trusting one another's advice anymore.

There was a lot there, with a deep rooth. And we'd never talked about it.

This morning, I'd decided I'd just go. Living with my brother had been a bad idea to begin with. I would go back to our parents', find something else to do.

I got on the train just as the sun was going down, and sat among these same people that were around me now.

I was looking at my nails while thinking about this, figuring out more, and something outside caught the corner of my eye. It was a light. A streetlight, followed by many more, bordeing a road meant for cars that was following the train tracks.

Suddenly, outside wasn't so dark anymore and somehow, that made me decided that if i ever got off this train, I'd go back.

I'd apologise. What kind of sense was it making, to stay mad at him when I was still heading into nowhere, even with the road running parallel to the tracks now. I closed my eyes, trying to imagine his face when he'd see me at the door, when only a few hours ago - maybe days? Months? Years? - I'd left and told him exactly what I thought about him.

Smug. He would be extremely smug. And maybe a little concerned about my mental wellbeing, as I wasn't one to apologise easily and oftenly.

When i opened them, I was sitting in an empty train wagon that looked exactly the same as before, only there was light outside. The sun was somewhere above the train, as i couldn't see it through any of the windows, but it was out there, basking the green fields and country houses we passed in its light and warmth.

A moment later, a trai station came into view. I didn't even think before grabbing my bag and running outside. As far as I could observe, the train had been wholly empty.

I caught the next ride back home.

To this day, I don't know what happened to the other people who were in that wagon with me, or if they had even been real.

Maybe I'd fallen asleep.

I hope I fell asleep. I want to have dreamt all of that, but I have a feeling that is entirely not the case.

[hopiewrites]

Runaways - BNHA

pairing - dabi x reader

ongoing series, chapter 3

word count -  6,978

chapters 1 & 2 up now!

-> back to masterlist

03

“ bone deep “

His flames were the hottest she’d ever felt.

Glowing and gold and beautiful, it incinerated everything it touched; it stole life and made it anew, clutching onto it’s fragile form and never letting go. She could feel it’s radiation, pulsing and alive against her skin as the fire swallowed her whole, scorching her bones through her skin and sapping away every bit of life that was left in her body. There was nothing like watching the sparks fly, glittering against the black sky of night, like stars as it flickered in the wind, never dying, never dying.

Her body was limp among the smoke, smoldering along with the wildflowers in her backyard. Her eyes were open, yet unseeing - all she could do was feel - and yet even to the edge of death, the image of that man followed her. He who hovered over her, that old, hauntingly familiar face scrunched in distaste at the corpse that lie below him, smothered by his own flames. She could only hope that his expression would fade from her view as he walked away, could only wish he’d leave her with only her thoughts to die with.

On her skin was a cold numbness that soothed her, her fingertips caressing the dirt as she grasped the ground in an effort to stay awake. Everything was a shimmering gold, metallic and effervescent as it danced along the length of her body; it never wavered, not even in the oncoming storm that hovered dangerously above, the promise of destruction coloring the clouds obsidian. It’s sparks never died - they only flew back into the fire from which they came - to be born again, thriving off the force of her own stolen life.

If you squinted, it was almost like fireflies that swarmed her body. Not really, but, one could always dream. There is nothing magical about burning to ashes; there is no beauty to be found amongst the remains of a life unlived; there isn’t anything here, really, except her steadily shallowing breath, and the emptiness of her chest as she tried to cry, to scream, to do anything but sit there and burn.

But she couldn’t even make herself close her eyes, for gods sake.

She could hear the chirping of the cicadas and the howl of the wolves over the cremation of her own body that distant summer night.

-

Looking in the dusty bathroom mirror, (Y/N) searched her own skin for the missing parts of herself, as if her soul had been tucked away within her bones.

She felt emptied out, gutted like a fish hung out to dry. Partly because of the dissociation, partly because of that hellish nightmare that crept into her quiet sleep. (Y/N) hadn’t had that particular nightmare in months, maybe even a year, and her brain chooses to thrust it on her when she least expects it. Just when she thought she’d gotten away, that monster of a man seems to follow her wherever she goes.

There is no escaping the past, is there?

At the base of (Y/N)’s skull is a headache in full bloom, flourishing off of the woman’s empty stomach and tense muscles, petals big and colorful as they pushed against the sockets of her eyes. She splashed her face with cold water, washing dried blood off her lips, silent as she watched the crimson swirl itself to pink as it disappeared down the drain.

From the looks of it, this whole building was once a nice little hotel, quaint and homey, the old rugs and what little furniture was left reeked of the early seventies. (Y/N) couldn’t stop herself from wondering what happened to the place, for it to be abandoned, left for dead by even the government who could’ve knocked it down to make something a little more alive - but judging all the other buildings that seemed to line the streets, this place wasn’t the only one kicked to the curb. Despite this whole area looking like it’s been scraped off the bottom of a dumpster, there were still a few people who lived in the buildings. Probably people much like herself, who had nowhere else to go.

Shitty buildings in a shitty part of town. The woman’s surprised that they even have things like water and electricity, honestly. Who here even pays for that stuff? Well, these are a bunch of villains she’s thinking about, so they probably have a good number of fake identities and stolen money to live off of.

Though, she’s not any better than them, in that aspect.

She walked out of the bathroom, and back into her own room. Everything was painted in the colors of dusk, muted tones of gold and orange stretched themselves across the surface of the walls in a fleeting embrace of day’s last light as the sun set behind the sparse clouds. She got very few hours of rest, thanks to that rather unpleasant night terror, but even still she couldn’t even begin to feel the gravity of sleep weight itself down on her; instead, there was an unsettling tingle under her skin, burning and itching with the phantom touch of her own fears.

Plucking a pack of cigarettes from her bag, she began her way through the building and into the city streets. The doors creaked open, swinging loosely behind her as she took a stick from the pack and lit it. The cold air bit her cheeks and nose raw, tinged pink with winter’s kiss.

The melting snow donned twilights colors with fleeting hands as the sky slowly turned dark, the ink of night bleeding into the vibrancy of the sun. (Y/N) leaned on the side of the building, inhaling deep, feeling the bitter sting of nicotine prod her lungs and soothe her body, if only for a moment.

(Y/N) basked in the feeling of a drug induced calm, leaning her head back against the bricks, exhaling slow and steady. She glared at nothing in particular, too busy hating the aftertaste of smoke that stuck to her tongue to really think about anything.

More than anything, she was tired; so, so tired, mentally and physically, yet her body kept going, as if she’d die the moment she stopped moving. Everything seemed to come and go in blurs of black and gray, her brain never seemed to truly process things anymore, too high on anxiety and too deprived of sleep to see anything for how it truly is.

(Y/N) doesn't trust herself anymore. Not her eyes, her ears, her tongue, her heart. She is running only on the need to survive, and has been for awhile, now; a long, long while. Behind her dry eyes is years worth of suppressed emotions, tangled together and unfathomable, lying dormant in her being like a monster in waiting. Sometimes it’s all (Y/N) can do to open her eyes, to exist, because the energy it takes to keep the mess within her head at bay is all that she has, most days. Sometimes it’s all she can do to breathe, to twitch her fingers to make sure she’s still alive.

The woman doesn’t really know what’s wrong with her. She doesn’t know why she is the way she is, or how to change it, because this overwhelming, irritated anxiety is all that she’s ever known.

She’s never really been given the chance to feel anything other than this.

(Y/N) breathed in, and out, and in, and out. Despite the nicotine soothing her muscles, the acid that was ever present within her chest still reigned superior, curdling her lungs to nothing more than mush that lie in her ribcage, pathetic and useless as she prayed for air. She wanted to breathe again, more than anything. She wanted to feel the cold air slide down her scratchy throat, she wanted to do more than hyperventilate as she panicked over things she couldn’t control.

Half finished with the cigarette, she put it out on the back of her hand, hissing at the sting through clenched teeth. (Y/N) glanced around, trying to earn her bearings, trying to ground herself while she stood suspended in a past she barely remembered. She looked up subconsciously, looking for the embers of a golden fire never to be put out, but only saw the moon.

It was nestled between two clouds, just peeking over the tops of the buildings that stood tall in front of her. Round, and full, and steady it was, glowing soft and mellow and warm, a dim reflection of the sun and it’s brilliance. (Y/N) looked for stars, and saw none.

For a moment, (Y/N) wondered if the moon felt as lonely as she did.

-

After walking a few blocks around the area, taking in the meek scenery and teaching herself how to breathe again, (Y/N) ended up back down in the bar, finding an odd comfort in it's mountain honey glow. There was only one other person here, that being Spinner, a man with scales for skin whom the woman had come to know quite well within the last few days of her official membership of the League.

Well, he talked and talked and talked, while (Y/N) listened because she really didn't have anything better to do. Mostly he rambled about his apparent idol, Stain, answering questions she didn't even ask in the first place. He would repeat himself a lot, almost like he couldn’t hear himself speak. Spinner seemed a little out of his head, a little crazy, every time he talked to her, but (Y/N) said nothing about it. 

This is just the situation she happened to be in at the moment. Though, Spinner did jump over the counter to pour them both some tequila, which took away some of (Y/N)'s dismay. 

"Say, Spinner?"

The muscles under her skin tingled pleasantly, the alcohol humming a tune that lulled her senses to a bottomless sleep. Said man had offered plenty of times to answer any of her questions about Stain, which kind of made her feel like he was one of those pushy bible camp volunteers, but (Y/N) never had any interest in Stain quite honestly. The fact that he is very much a serial killer, and very much alive and out there, is enough to scare (Y/N) away from anything that has to do with him.

But tonight, with a bottle of tequila half empty in front of her, she found herself thinking about the oddest things; like how she felt like hugging someone, or how she could always see her nose but her eyes automatically tuned it out of her peripheral vision.

Or, for example, how (Y/N) suddenly felt the need to share her entire life story with someone she doesn't even know, just because he asked how she was when she first walked in.

Though, even in her drunken, flushed state, she wasn't going to do that - so she just settled on asking a few harmless questions that's been bouncing around in her skull for the past few days.

"Oh- yeah?" Spinner said, throwing a shot back before turning to look at the female that sat beside him, long magenta hair pushed back from his reptilian face.

(Y/N) hummed, crossing her arms on the counter top and resting her head there, peering up at him with a glassy expression.

"I know how much you idolize Stain and all that, but is there any other reason you do the things you do?" She slurred, tapping her forearm with the pads of her fingers rhythmically.

It was something (Y/N) has been wondering for as long as she's known who all these people are. She's only met a few, some of which were just petty thugs you'd run into in back alleyways, while others were similar to Spinner; those who seem to have some kind of purpose, some kind of drive that makes them do whatever it is they do as members of the League.

Or, people like Magne, a lady who, from as far as (Y/N) could tell, didn't give a damn about anybody else and lived just about as free as she could, being a wanted criminal and all that. Just from the few runs ins she's had with the woman, (Y/N) felt like it'd do her good to hurry and get on Magne's good side, but she was too scared to even begin to approach her - because in the end, she is here, just like everybody else.

And that meant she was a murderer, just like everybody else.

Of course, (Y/N) felt absolutely terrified every moment she spent around any of them, but she also didn't have much of a choice but to act friendly and be apart of what it is they've all established.

Fake it till you make it, right?

(Y/N) stared up at Spinner, awaiting his response as she held back the urge to sneeze.

His face twisted into something sinister, scales shifting as he grinned, showing off his sharpened teeth.

"I like to watch people seethe in pain, staring at me with those tearful eyes as I rip their life away from them. That's the only other reason."

She sneezed, startled into horrified laughter at his reply, which, thankfully, Spinner took as a shared understanding of his sadistic ways rather than absolute terror - he himself chuckling before refilling (Y/N)'s shot glass.

He didn't know that (Y/N) isn't a killer, like himself. He didn't know of how she's just a runaway that was backed into a corner and forced to join their gang because of her quirk.

Spinner only knows what he's been told by Shigaraki, which was that (Y/N) is a newly curated member of the League of Villains, and to be treated as such. Shigaraki nor Kurogiri mentioned how she is now being cultivated into the perfect weapon, how she is slowly being groomed and manipulated into a tool for them to use and use and use until she breaks.

That was their plans, anyway.

Not that they mentioned that to (Y/N) herself, either. To (Y/N), she is playing the part until she can find another place that'll feed her, home her.

(Y/N) wants shelter and food. Shigaraki wants a quirk that will take down the number one hero himself. And unfortunately enough for her, (Y/N) might just have exactly what Shigaraki wants.

"I think…" (Y/N) started, stretching her arms out and placing her forehead flat against the cool, dark marble of the counter top. "I think that me and you.. Are different, Spinner."

His cackling softened to a sigh, rolling his neck and popping his knuckles as he slapped the spot between (Y/N)'s shoulder blades so hard her torso jerked forwards on the table.

"I don't think so, (Y/N). You and I are both here, aren't we? That goes to show just how similar the both of us are."

Whether he was wrong or right, at one point, (Y/N) knew the answer; she really, truly did. But right now, up to her neck in alcohol and the high it brings with it, she didn't know anything at all.

-

Hours passed by in dreary blurs, and now (Y/N) was all alone, slouched over the bar staring at the empty bottle that sat in front of her. There was nothing going on in her mind right now, really; only the fact that her body feels hot and heavy, almost numb, as if she’d fall to a puddle on the floor the moment she as much as tried to stand - if she tried to do anything. The last time her muscles have moved from this spot was right when Spinner declared that he was going hero hunting, eyes alight with bloodlust and something (Y/N) couldn’t quite name as he barely held back a manic grin; though, (Y/N) barely heard what he was saying, because she flung herself to him in a half-hearted hug, patting his back before slinking back towards her stool. The man stood stiff as a statue through the whole ordeal, hand half-way to pulling his sword with a bewildered expression donning his face. He didn’t even reply to her slurred “be safe”, but that was probably because it was incomprehensible to anyone but herself.

Needless to say, the young woman was going to hate herself for that when she finally sobers up. That is, if she remembers the exchange at all.

(Y/N) just feels so alone - and, while usually she would enjoy the feeling of solitude, right now it feels more suffocating, more cynical. She is so sad, and so tired, and so unbearably lonely; she would give anything to be back in her girlfriends - or rather, ex girlfriends arms, cuddled up and close and content. In this moment, (Y/N) craves human touch more than anything in the world.

Normally, she’d avoid any and all physical contact like the plague; but at this point, she’s this close to just going outside and finding a raccoon to snuggle with.

From behind her, the door creaked open, then shut harshly.

“Huh. look what we have here.”

She heard him. Of course she heard him, though, (Y/N) didn’t have the willpower to greet him or respond, so she sat in silence. There was a shuffling noise, then the sound of boots hitting the wooden floor, tired and heavy. When he finally rounded the counter, not even sparing a glance towards her, his tall frame came into her cloudy view.

White dotted the black of his hoodie along with his hair, snowflakes lingering from the apparent flurry outside. His back was to her as he grabbed a can of something from a cabinet. (Y/N) stared, not really on purpose, but because he was the only thing worth staring at. She found herself drawn to his hands in particular, the marred purple of his scars peeking out from the sleeves edge; (Y/N) couldn’t help herself from wondering where scars like those come from, how they came to be.

Dabi finally turned to face her, sauntering back towards the counter from the other side, popping the can open and gulping for a second, then settling his empty gaze on the woman sprawled in front of him. It took her a moment to look up towards him, glassy eyes trailing up his form slowly. Her gaze ran over his chin, where just a smudge of red lipstick laid on his cupids bow. She must have lingered, because she was still looking at his lips when he spoke again.

“You look wasted.”

“Mhm.” She hummed, not hearing what he said in the slightest. (Y/N) tilted her head up to look at Dabi clearly. His features looked more relaxed than usual, his signature scowl softened out to a resting frown; the parts of his face that weren’t absolutely wrecked almost glowed, still pale and flushed from the cold wind outside.

His mouth quirked up just slightly as he cackled lowly, leaning against the counter on his forearms with an eyebrow raised. “You really are hammered, aren’t you?”

Because (Y/N) sat there, body flushed and eyes cloudy, looking so small and pitiful, Dabi couldn’t really bring himself to kick her while she’s down.

That’s not to say that he’s never done that to someone, though. His whole being is centered around rubbing salt in wounds. He just couldn’t be bothered. Not now, anyway.

Dabi did notice how the woman kept inching her hands closer to his own. He noticed how her eyes seemed to linger on his lips, and he noticed how her body trembled. He recognized the desperate need for another’s touch, no matter who it was that touched her; the need for the kind of warmth a blanket or alcohol or even your own hands could never provide.

“Don’t look at me like that, dollface. It’ll get you nowhere.”

(Y/N) smiled sheepishly, her cheeks pulling cutely while smushed against her bicep. “What you mean..?”

Dabi sighed heavily, shifting slightly to take another sip of his beer. He said nothing else for awhile, staring blankly at (Y/N) who stared at him with the fucking stars in her eyes. Hell, he wouldn’t be surprised if the whole universe managed to fit in there. He had planned to grab his beer and promptly go back to his shitty little room in that shitty little hotel; he wanted to fuck around on his phone until his eyes couldn’t stay open, because gods know that Dabi is never able to go to sleep of his own volition. The last thing he wanted to do is have a staring contest with a woman he cared nothing about.

So, why is he still here?

He didn’t know, to be honest. He didn’t really care, anyways; Dabi does what Dabi wants, when Dabi wants. So if he, for some ungodly reason wants to stand here all night doing absolutely nothing, then he will.

“Can I touch you…?”

Admittedly, he wasn’t expecting that - which is why his eyes widened as he reeled for a moment - but his expression settled itself down into a small smirk.

“Fuck, I mean, sure. Go for it.”

He expected this to be an open invitation for a fuck, which he wasn’t past taking up, even in her drunken state. He expected her to crawl over the counter and to stand between her open knees, for her to claw at the front of his hoodie, maybe run her hands through his hair as she kissed him. Even if he had just come back from one of his own affairs, he wasn’t going to decline. 

Anything to keep his mind from digging up the graves of his past, of his failures. Tonight is a bad night for Dabi. He feels reckless and violent and ready to take the world in his hands and crush it - and maybe, maybe crushing the world wouldn’t be so bad, but right now, he is distracted.

And a distraction is all Dabi needs, at the moment. 

Even if that distraction comes in the form of a conversation without words, but with hands, with lips, with eyes.

He expected quite literally anything and everything but the woman to grab the both of his hands and tug the cuffs of his shirt up, to take her fingers and trace over the edges of his scars with the pads of her fingers. Gentle, feather-light touches brushed his skin, sending tingles up his spine. For a moment he gawked at her flushed expression, then followed her line of sight to where her hands met his own.

There were tiny scars that littered her skin, discolored flesh stretching over knuckles and dipping into the crevices of her palm. On the back of her hand was a picture that couldn’t be put together, an abstract story the color of skin left unfinished. Her hands were so, so cold against his own, the heat of his quirk never truly dormant within him - he is a fire forever lit in the form of a human body.

Electric blue burned through her skin, but (Y/N) was too distracted with the palm of Dabi’s hand to care. The feeling of his scars was rough and patchy and exactly like she thought they’d be - while his skin was smooth and a bit dry under her shaky touch; he didn’t seem to mind that too much, though.

And it was like that for awhile; just the two of them, bathed in a fake golden light, wrapped up in an oddly warm silence that only (Y/N) allowed herself to settle into. Dabi stood stiff as a statue, letting the drunken woman do as she pleased. He should've walked away by now, but he didn’t.

He should've pushed her off him, but he didn't.

(Y/N)'s slow motions stilled, her palm resting in his, fire clashing with ice, desire intertwining with hesitancy as she laced her fingers through his. Those dreary eyes of hers trailing up to his blank face, squeezing his hand lightly as she blinked slowly.

"Your hands are so pretty…"

Dabi barked out a laugh, sharp and sudden, genuinely finding amusement in this odd experience. The taller male leaned forwards to be eye level with the woman, stretching their interlocked hands out straight to the side of them, shoving the empty tequila bottle a ways down the counter. His face was maybe five inches from her own when he said, voice low and gravelly, "you're so fucking weird, you know that, (Y/N)?"

Said female grinned in response, big and goofy and saccharin. She fumbled a bit on the stool, bringing her legs underneath her so she could push herself closer to Dabi's face, eyes glossing over his cheekbones, then settling on his ear. It was only silence for a minute. (Y/N) looked and looked and looked at him, so transparent yet so unreadable to Dabi.

One minute, he thought he knew exactly what she was going to do, reading her like an open book, then the next she goes and does anything but what he expected.

People like that annoy Dabi to no end.

(Y/N)'s head tilts forward, eyelids as heavy as lead, dropping slowly and all at once. She finds the crook of Dabi's neck and rests there as if she were meant to. Her breath ghosted along his skin, lips pressing softly against the area below his ear. Her hand crept up the length of his arm, while using her other hand to squeeze at his own lightly once again. Finally, the tips of her fingers fondled the lobe of his ear tenderly, feeling the chunk missing from his flesh as if she'd done it her whole life.

Dabi shivered, unsure of how to react. He hasn't felt something so gentle, so light in a very, very long time. (Y/N) touched him as if he were glass, delicate and beautiful and everything he wasn't; everything he'd never be.

Dabi wanted to pull away. He wanted to shove her off of him and to shout at her for touching him like this, for making his legs feel wobbly, for stealing his breath away as if it was the only thing she's ever wanted to do - but, his body wouldn't listen to his mind, his bones looking for a home within this drunk woman's embrace, all too hopeless, all to hopeful for him to make any sense of.

She made Dabi feel fragile, and he hated it more than almost anything.

He couldn't make himself pull away. In fact, he leaned into it, holding back the low groan that threatened to bubble up his throat.

Her mouth was parted, breathing softly, shallowly as she said, "you've never said my name before."

Dabi gulped, feeling her tongue brush over her parted lips all too intensely. He felt her fingers run down his scarred neck, sneaking down just slightly under the neck of his hoodie to find rest on the dip of his collarbone.

"So warm… even in winter."

(Y/N) wasn't doing any of this on purpose. She was drunk, sad, and touch starved. Honestly anyone could've walked in here and she'd cling to them, probably even try with that bastard Shigaraki.

That's what Dabi told himself, anyway. He couldn't care less about who this chick decided to throw herself at. He just had bad timing, is all.

Yeah, definitely bad timing.

His fingers were absolutely not comfortable in her gentle grasp, and his other hand was absolutely not resting on her hip that was peeking over the bar’s edge. Dabi absolutely did not squeeze her hand in his.

He didn't want any part of what was happening.

But he stood still as (Y/N) pulled her head away from his neck, her face just a breath away from his own as her hand untucked itself from his hoodie, thumb wiping at his top lip with a smile so small and bashful Dabi would have mistaken it for a trick of the light.

The woman held up her thumb, showing off the waxy red lipstick that now stained it.

"I didn't think you'd be one to wear lipstick, Dabi."

And now, all was still. Everything stopped spinning, Dabi’s heart stopped beating, his lungs stopped breathing. This was the moment he realized; that for a second, or maybe even a minute, he forgot himself. Dabi had lost himself within the hands of a woman so cold. He had let her take him away from himself.

Here within the mountain honey light of this underground bar, this woman in front of him looked like snow. She looked raw and untouched and glowing.

And now, in this moment frozen in time, Dabi realized hadn’t felt so angry in a long, long time. Something deep in him wanted nothing more than to burn this woman up from the inside out.

He tried to respond, to say anything back to her, but his voice caught in his throat midway; so he settled on a cold glare, finally snapping out of the trance he was in.

The earth began to spin again.

Dabi tsked as he ripped his hand from (Y/N)’s, trading the odd comfort for the cool can of his once forgotten beer. He stood straight again, guard back up, even higher than it was before. He snarled at her flushed, dumbfounded expression, hands reaching out to him with grabby motions.

What is she, a toddler?

"I’m not here to babysit. You should probably go home now, if you don't wanna embarrass yourself in front of the boss," he paused, downing his beer and throwing it into the trash can, "cause I really doubt he'd be as forgiving as I am."

Dabi began making his way for the door, hands tucked deep into the front pocket of his hoodie. "Not that I care, anyways." He added as an afterthought.

"Wait-" (Y/N) whined, quickly plopping back down in her stool and twisting around to watch the males retreating back, "don't leave, Dabi…"

As annoying as she was right now, he turned on his heels, right at the doorway to shoot one last nasty look at her before he left.

Don't leave, Dabi…

How many times has he heard that, by passed hookups and people who thought they meant something to him? By his old friends, by his family?

How many times has he walked away, before he himself could be walked away from?

(Y/N) annoyed him more than anything else right now. Hell, he isn't too far away from saying fuck it and just burning her to ashes for making him feel so many things at once. She doesn't know him. She doesn't know what he's capable of.

"Go freeze to death, for all I care." Is the last thing he said to her before flinging open the door, climbing up some stairs to step out into the moonlit streets of Hosu.

The flurry from earlier had passed, clouds giving way to the moon and all her stars. Dabi didn't bother admiring the clear sky, instead he bit the inside of his cheek, fists clenching and teeth gritting as he walked the short distance to the hotel just a building over.

He meant what he said to her, he really did. That's probably why he doesn't linger on the thought of (Y/N), or how crestfallen her expression was; he didn't think about the brush of her lips on his neck and how he wanted to do nothing but beat her senseless for looking at him as if she knows him.

He didn't stare up at his ceiling, fuming over the fact that (Y/N)'s gentle touch against his scars reminded him so much of how his mother used to tend to his wounds, how she used to hug him and wrap him in bandages with eyes so soft, so soft; how his mother used to look at him before her love ran thin, before his father beat every bit of love from her body. 

Because he really, truly, didn't care about (Y/N) or anything she does with herself.

Dabi merely remembered things he wished he could forget.

-

When (Y/N) woke up, she felt like a dumpster fire personified. She groaned, swallowing down the scratchy feeling in her throat. She looked to the side, seeing Kurogiri hovering by her slouched form, hand placed gently on her shoulder as he shook her softly from her sleep.

She squinted for a moment, then registered the sound of a particularly amused Shigaraki a few places behind her. "Is she awake yet?" He asked, to which Kurogiri nodded.

The villain helped (Y/N) set up straight with steady hands, one perched on her shoulder while the other supported her back. "Are you alright, (Y/N)?"

And although his voice was it's regular whisky tones, it rang in her ears like sirens. She groaned again.

Shigaraki laughed bitterly, sat on a stool a few seats down from her own, face bare of the mask it typically adorned. His head rested on his fist, a taunting smirk pulling at his features. "You do know you're going to be trained tomorrow, right? And you're here, what, getting wasted?"

If she was in any other state of mind, (Y/N) would’ve taken notice to the fact that Shigaraki talked to her like a dog being scolded, but she didn’t; nor right now, anyway.

Kurogiri's hands dropped from their places on her skin, fetching her a glass of water.

"It's kind of pathetic, don't you think?"

In any other instance, (Y/N) probably would have just walked away and left, but right now, feeling like her heads about to split open and her stomachs about to crawl itself up her throat, she nods her head in shame. Because he's right - she is very much pathetic.

"Look! She even agrees with me!" Shigaraki cackles, genuinely finding amusement in her awful state. All the while, Kurogiri appears from the other side of the counter, telling her to drink the full cup of water and take the pills he set beside it.

The woman rolled the crick out of her neck, rubbing at her tender shoulders and sending a glare towards Shigaraki, who simply smirked back annoyingly. "Shut it, crusty."

If she wasn't in so much pain, (Y/N) probably - no, scratch that - definitely wouldn't have said that, but, oh well.

"What'd you say to me, bitch?"

Instead of replying, she settled for shooting him the bird while downing her water. Faintly, she could hear Kurogiri mumble something under his breath, but she didn't bother asking him to speak up.

"You'll start training your quirk tomorrow, (Y/N). Do you think you'll be able to show us what you can do with it?"

Because there were no windows, it was hard to tell what time it was, or how long she'd slept for. Hell, she doesn't even remember anything after her first four shots with Spinner; so it was hard to think about literally anything other than how much fucking pain she was in. But (Y/N) knew that this was going to come eventually, having agreed to whatever it is they forced her into. She only hopes she doesn't disappoint them enough for them to decide to kick her back to the curb.

So, keeping that in mind she nodded, voice fissured and thin no matter how many times she cleared her throat. "Yeah. But, who am I gonna be using it on, exact-" she coughed for a few seconds, "exactly? I can't really fight, like… at all. So don't throw me out into some place and expect me to know what to do or how to do it."

"Oh, no, I think you've misunderstood," Kurogiri started, taking her empty glass and cleaning it down. "You'll be using your quirk on members of the league, so we can get an evaluation on what exactly it is that your quirk does."

‘Oh hell no. These bitches gonna kill me.’

She was about to voice those thoughts, but she let him continue.

"While myself and Shigaraki will keep a watch on the members and yourself to observe effects and the drawbacks of your quirk. It will all be handled effectively and efficiently, I assure you."

Well, that makes more sense. She doesn't really want to do that, though; not really, because she's scared. So, so scared of what they'll think, how they'll react. (Y/N)'s scared of being rejected by them, and whatever that means - whether that be being kicked out, being beaten, being killed - she didn't know; because they're villains. There is literally nothing keeping them from harming her. But then again, from what they've been saying, that isn't really in their best interest, seeing as it's her quirk that they want so desperately on their side.

On the other hand, she's scared of being accepted. Does it mean she's a villain, officially? Does it mean that she's safe to live where they've provided for however long she needs, until she finds somewhere safer, somewhere better, as long as she does what they want her to?

(Y/N) didn't know. She didn't want to be discarded, but she didn't want to be welcomed.

"There is nothing to be concerned about, (Y/N). After we assess your quirk, you can begin training your physical body. Everything will come together in due time."

-

When (Y/N) sees the sky again, it is big and bright and clearer than she's seen in weeks, the suns pale winter glow glaring down at her as if she is nothing but a pile of snow to melt. (Y/N) is currently walking back to the little place she's staying, a bag of fast food snug in her left hand as she eats on some fries out of it with her right.

Well, she will go back to that hole in the wall, run down, shitty hotel sometime today. But right now, (Y/N)'s just walking around, enjoying the sounds of the city and the absence of snow fall. She could very well be thinking about how she's going to use her quirk tomorrow, or just who she's going to be using it on, or could even be out and buying herself some better shoes that would protect her feet from the cold better, but she isn't. (Y/N) just wants to eat her french fries and disassociate in peace, goddamnit, is that really too much to ask?

In conclusion, she's pushing all critical thoughts aside in favor of making friends with the crows on the roadside because, you know, why not?

(Y/N) stands on the sidewalk, throwing fries to the crows at her feet. Now that she's settled at a table under the patio of some random cafe, presumably closed, there's a whole flock of them hopping around her.

Her lips tug up, heart warming at the birds. Aside from looking the harbinger of death itself, they're kind of cute, in a way. Happily prancing around her ankles, stumbling over each other for the little bits of food (Y/N) can offer. It makes (Y/N), in a strange way, feel full.

Like maybe there is something she's good for, after all; even if it's only for feeding the birds most tend to avoid and overlook.

Suddenly, one of the smaller birds flew onto the table, hopping over to (Y/N), waiting for its turn. She gave it a fry, then another one, then another one.

'She must be hungry. Poor baby.'

(Y/N) gave it the last of her fries, opening her hands to signal that it was all gone. It didn't leave though - it stayed, just inches away from the edge of the table, watching. Waiting to receive something (Y/N) couldn't give.

It had a pink zip tie around its ankle, (Y/N) noticed. Must've got stuck while it was rummaging through the trash.

"There's no more. You can go home now, shoo. All gone."

It stayed, even as the others slowly scampered off into the city.

"Well, I'm leaving now, kay?"

It followed, even as she walked around corners and buildings and back again. It hopped around mounds of melting snow and over the dead rat that lied at the street drain, following (Y/N)'s footsteps like a lost puppy, all the way back to that shitty hotel she was staying at. The abandoned, dusty, nasty hotel.

'Love this for me.'

(Y/N) turned around at the doors, and there the crow was, with a tilted head and a gleam in its eyes. She sighed.

"I don't think you're allowed to come in."

And the little shit just stood there, looking - as if it saw something she couldn't. It irked her.

"Well, either you go or I accidentally hold the door open for you and you accidentally get in. So, what is it, little bird?"

The woman stretched her arm out behind her, pushing open the swinging door that let out a loud groan in protest - and, finally, the crow stepped away, turned around and took flight, disappearing into the cityscape with only a full belly and pink zip tie to its name.

(Y/N) entered the hotel with a shrug of her shoulders.

-

Settled on a powerline just a few streets away, the crow was suspended above the streets. Trash tumbled along the pavement, a few plastic bags floating in the wind, a car speeding down the roads every now and then. For the most part, it was lifeless.

As for the crow, it was watching. Waiting to see it again.

Waiting to see her again.

[neonbluewaves]

Neon’s family background 

The Last Howl - Act 1

The house of Prieto, a powerful wealthy pure-blood wizard family that’s found south of Extremadura. Their sigil a black dog on a red field makes others tremble in fear when they see it. The family traces back to middle ages, and it’s said they have muslim ancestry and magic from the early muslim conquests that got to Spain. Known and recognized for their dark mahogany hair and reddish eyes, they’re mostly known for their cursed lineage. Nobody truly knows how this happened, or even if it’s true, but so far it’s all been proved ‘correctly’. It is said one of the first Prietos made a deal with the devil, hungry for power and riches, and in exchange, a curse fell upon their blood, with every generation, the eldest sibling would be granted the form of a big black dog, only to use it to guard the gates of hell from being found.

But it seems siblings would kill one another, murder parents, children, and so it was theorized that the power drove one insane enough to murder your own flesh and blood. Many times members went from being many siblings to one left to restore the family.

 Rocio Prieto is the eldest sibling of the six children of Desiderio Prieto and Miriam Tenorio y Prieto, had to become the matriarc of the family when “the curse” struck once again. Her siblings, in order from older to younger were Isabel Inmaculada Prieto, Marcelo Alfonso Prieto, Teodoro Joaquin Prieto, Leoba Aurora Prieto and Santiago Prieto, who looked more like his mother than his father. It was at his birth she died of complications, and Desiderio wanted to hate the child, but he had her eyes so he didn’t have the heart to, and instead, he became his favourite. Their father wasn’t the only one though, he seemed to be everyone’s favourite, he was quite the spoiled child. Rocio, being the eldest, was to marry into another noble house, and Isabel, the second a lesser noble, while Marcelo, the oldest male, would inheirt the house, the county and keep the name of the family alive. For some reason, when Leoba became 14 years old she started to retreat, become more closed, barely would go out. It complicated matters for Desiderio, what man would want such quiet wife? She was almost a hermit. Teodoro would be fine doing whatever he wanted, he didn’t pay much attention to him, as he doted on Santi, who would have his own lands, and would get to choose whoever he wanted to marry, of that Desiderio was sure. His favourite child would get only the best.

 Unbeknownst to him, Rocio liked to play a game called bend the rules, her favourite thing to do was scape to the muggle town near them and spend time. The rule was not to mix with muggles, so she simply observed them. And she would walk around, and ride her horse along the outskirts. But bend something too much and it’ll break, and that’s what happened, for one day she tripped, and instead of falling face-first to the floor, she hit something softer. A man’s chest. Quite handsome, Gonzalo was a muggle orphan that worked as a farmer. She tried to avoid him, but destiny kept putting them in the way of the other, and soon enough they had fallen in love. 

As this was taking place, Desiderio was looking for suitors for his daughters and sons, and on one fine evening he invited some to a dinner party at their manor. Isabel instantly liked a young wizard from the north, with whom she spent the whole night, while Rocio danced from suitor to suitor, uninterested as all she wanted was the muggle boy.

Isabel asked her father to marry her to the wizard, and he accepted. But as things would have it, one day Isabel caught Rocio sneaking out, and saw her sister with the muggle. It was shameful and wrong, and it’d taint the family name.  As she went to tell her father, overheard a conversation between her father and the wizard’s father, and they agreed they would marry him with Rocio, not Isabel, as his son had fallen for Rocio, not her. She was furious that her sister was taking him, that she was stepping on the family name by involving herself with a muggle, she hated her. And as her father left with the other wizard. She went to Mareclo. Someone needed to put some sense into Rocio, if it couldn’t be father it would be her and their siblings.

At first Marcelo didn’t believe it, why would their sister, who was the most powerful of the family, mix with a dirty muggle? They fought. They yelled, and Isabel swore she would kill Rocio before letting her be the downfall of the family. Both Marcelo, and Santi, who overheard this, thought of this as the rage of the moment.

How wrong they were.

Isabel waited for her father at his studio, where she found his newly redacted will, and curiosity killed the cat, or in this case, the dog, because the moment she read that Rocio was to inheirt so much stuff, including THE family spellbook, the one that should go to the male heir, something in her snapped. Rocio, who was such a disgrace was to get the most out of all the siblings? SHE was to get the legacy the family had been given? The power everyone feared?

Rocio came into the room and all hell broke lose. There was yelling, reprimanding, Isabel was going to tel father everything, starting with the muggle boy, and Rocio panicked, because she knew what would happen, father would kill him, and then... what would he do to a blood traitor like her? Probably kill her too. Rocio pleaded and begged, but Isabel could only see red. She was tired of being overlooked by everyone, and when she raised her wand she cast the curse. Avada kedabra. But it didn’t hit Rocio like she hoped, no. Standing in between her and Rocio stood their little brother Santi, who fell facefirst to the floor with an awful sound, and then Rocio was cradling his brother, crying out for him. 

And then father appeared, as if called by the yelling of his daughter. And the look of sheer rage he had in his eyes when he looked at Isabel was enough for her to run away, run as fast as she could. She didn’t even leave their lands before her father caught her, and Marcelo was soon there too, trying to get father to understand, there was an argument, they yelled, Desiderio threatened to kill him too, and Marcelo wouldn’t let his sister die, no matter the weight of her sin, so he took out his wand, a curse in mind, the one FATHER himself had written on the family spellbook, and in a flick of the wrist, the three of them were on the ground, as dead as little Santi was.

 Leoba had her own problems going on. As she had an affliction not many had. She had been bitten by a werewolf at the age of fourteen. She didn’t know what to do, she was scared, her father would kill her for sure. A werewolf. A monster. Her father was ruthless when it came to such things, he had killed that same werewolf that had infected her, and she had lied to him, saying that no, she hadn’t been bitten, but her face was scarred for life. Luck came to her in the form of an elderly witch who brew wolfsbane potion at a high price, luckily for Leoba, she was a rich girl who could afford it. Every full moon, she’d retreat into a shed they had and suffer alone her transformations, as she slowly retreated herself in isolation. But what do you know, a young wizard had fallen for her and started to court her those last days before the worst happened. The elder witch died of age, and there was no finished potion. Leoba tried to finish it, and by the time the full moon hit she had a potion. Except Leoba was never good at potions, and it didn’t work. She awoke the next morning covered in blood of muggles and wizards alike. The body closest to her that of the boy that had fallen for her. She was terrified and disgusted with herself, she couldn’t face her family anymore. So she fled without saying goodbye, and not knowing that while she ran from her loved ones, they were killing each other.

 Rocio buried his family with Gonzalo by her side, and when she stopped looking for Leoba and Teodoro herself, she paid people to look for them, but she never found them.

Peace fell upon the Prieto land once again, and she had three beautiful children, two of which gave her beautiful grandchildren.... But of course, peace can only last so long when a whole family is cursed

[thetokenmuggle]

Of Mars and Jupiter

Sailor Moon Au 

Epilogue: Mars

“You have to be kidding me,” Tyler hissed, stopping mid-step when he saw who M was talking to. “Really?” he ranted turning to look at Minah and Jane. “Are you two seeing this?” he huffed.

“Yes, I can see my incredibly handsome boyfriend standing next to Daniel who has no memories of his past life and is probably just here to see how his cousin’s first day is,” Jane said. “Seriously Ty just leave him be,” she sighed.

“You can’t prove that,” Tyler huffed. “But i can, I am just going to say hi,” he said eyes narrowing at the boy who conveniently decided to look over just at that moment. Daehyung or Daniel as he is trying to push blinked owlishly before raising an eyebrow and leaning in to whisper something to M who started to laugh like the wish-washy traitor he tends to be.

With one last huff, Tyler stalked forward. From behind him, he could hear Jane groan but he was not going to be stopped. Daehyung could not be trusted under any circumstance and he was determined to prove it. He coughed getting M and his friend’s attention. “Hello M,” Tyler said simply, not friendly, he didn’t deserve friendly yet, not if all it took was a few words of assurance and bam lets accept these people who tried to kill his girlfriend and her sailor guardians (and if you count the silver millennium actually succeeded in doing so.)

“Hi Tyler?” he said, a questioning look was sent to someone over Tyler’s shoulder. He’d assume it was Jane but who knows maybe it was one of the others. “How was your first day of your senior year?” he asked politely.

“Fine nothing interesting happened,” he lied, eyeing Daehyung to gauge a reaction. The boy in question snorted causing Tyler to glare at him. “Is there something funny? He snapped.

“Oh no there is literally nothing funny about school,” Daehyung said in mock seriousness. “Education is very serious,” he said. “I take it you are a friend of M’s girlfriend?” he asked curiously.

“Friend is being generous,” Jane piped up from behind him, Minah stood behind her arms crossed and eyes narrowed. Tyler hummed it was nice to have someone on his side even if she said was fine them being back the way Minah was behaving suggested she trusted Daehyung as much as he did.

“And how did you know i was Jane’s friend?” Tyler said pointedly bringing the attention back to him.

Daehyung starred at him tilting his head. “M told me?” he said simply “Is that a problem?” he questions looking at Tyler curiously.

“Of Course he did,” Tyler brustled, M was pretty flip-floppy when it came to what side he was on. Sure he was brainwashed last time but M didn’t seem like the type to handle peer pressure well, he wasn’t strong like Tyler was the only member of the scouts with a decent taste and he had to remind them that. “And no,” Tyler shrugged nonchalantly. “Why would it be?” he questioned raising an eyebrow, a silent challenge to Daehyung.

“I don’t know,” Daehyung shrugged lightly, “I just assumed i had somehow offended you since you keep glaring at me,” he said raising an eyebrow. “But maybe you are a fan of mine and can’t believe i am here in person,” he said smugly. “Or perhaps, you are trying to figure out your sexuality and trying to assert yourself as the alpha male?” he said tilting his head appraising Tyler. Behind Tyler, he could hear Jane snicker. “Or maybe you are just your run of the mill homophobe which is a shame,” he said with a shrug.

“What the hell are you talking about?” Tyler huffed. “I don’t even know you and my sexuality is fine -” he said as Daniel rolled his eyes. “Not that there is anything wrong with - I just have a girlfriend,” he said reaching out and grabbing Minah who let an affronted “What?!”

“See,” Tyler said. Everyone in their little group looked at him like he had gone insane. Daehyung looked confused by the whole situation. Tyler was about to ask what was so confusing about him having a girlfriend when a brunette girl came barreling towards him.

“Tyler,” Maude exclaimed. “I was hoping to find you, I was thinking that you could show me around town,” she said.

“I don’t think his girlfriend would like that,” Daehyung said with a confused look on his face. “Unless I misunderstood how straight relationships work,” he said looking between Tyler, Maude and Minah.

“His girlfriend?” Maude questioned before looking at Minah, her face twisting into one of disgust. “With that leech,’ she said with a roll of her eyes. “You have to be kidding,” she said laughing haughtily.

“Excuse me,” Minah snapped. “Who the hell -” she began ranting. Tyler hummed it was nice to have two girls fighting over him, he was going to enjoy this experience when he by chance noticed a dark look on Daehyung’s face, a look he was all too familiar with.

“Who the hell is that?” He snapped eyes narrowing. “What is that thing doing around my sweet Emmy,” he ranted.

Epilogue: Jupiter.

To say Lucas had been distracted all day would be an understatement. He had been a ball of energy ever since M had told them that Eunha (and Daehyung by default because of course, they would still be together, Lucas couldn’t be lucky enough to have a Eunha full and Daehyung free existence) had been found. He was excited to meet Emily for the first time, to see if she kept any of the same characteristics of Eunha or was she completely different and just had the same face. He had hoped she was the same just without the evil, not that he believed she was evil before, he knew she was good deep down, even under the negaverses control she was still the most humane out of the four.

He did spend the majority of their walk to school trying to figure out how to reintroduce himself to her, maybe he could somehow get her to his basketball practice and show off his skills while looking in his ‘fan clubs’ opinion at his hottest (in his humble opinion he was always hot,) but fate had other plans and instead a 5ft something came running into him. He was not one to question its intention but maybe they could have gave him a better moment, one where she wasn’t desperately trying to get away from him while looking at him like he was a complete stranger.

It seemed like his plan for getting to know Emily kept having wrenches thrown in it whether it be befriending Mimi or ugly ice cream monsters who attacked her for defending said undeserving friend. Seeing her hurt was enough for him to no longer care about the perfect meeting at this point he had to be apart of her life because if she was anything like M was, she was going to be a monster magnet and he was not letting her die this time.

So that is why he restlessly starred ahead of him, leg bouncing as he watched the clock slowly tick towards the end of the day. He bit his lip wishing the bell would hurry up and ring, he had things to do. He was going to find her, check to see if she was okay after said ice cream monster attack and then charm her into at least being friends.

As soon as the bell rang he leapt to his feet, haphazardly shoving things into his backpack and struggling to zip it up before racing out of the door. He raced down to the courtyard, eyes darting for the first sign of Emily, or any sophomore for that matter. He managed to find one, Soomin, a sweet overly excited girl who happened to have arms linked with Mimi which was good news for Lucas. Looking at the direction they came from he spotted Emily hanging back a frown on her face, his eyes narrowed as he pondered whether threatening a bunch of sophomores was appropriate behaviour for a hero. He reasoned that he was defending someone from evil and that would surely be considered good.

Getting to Emily wasn’t too hard, either she was walking really slow or her tiny legs could barely move ahead - he didn’t really understand the life of short people. Either way, he managed to appear beside her rather easily. “Hello,” he said with a wave. Emily jumped up, a hand quickly covering her heart. Lucas grinned at her. “Sorry for scaring you,” he said apologetically.

“Oh it’s okay,” Emily said looking down, avoiding eye contact with him. “Can i help you with anything?” she muttered.

“Actually,” he said slowly causing Emily to look up panicked. Lucas grinned at the sudden eye contact. “I was actually coming to check on you,” he said. “You know after today?” he said.

Emily’s eyes widened in recognition. “Oh my god,” she muttered.

“Yeah Ice Cream monsters right?” Lucas said scratching the back of his neck. “Not something you expect to see on your first day huh,” he said as Emily’s eyes narrowed. She reached out grabbing him and pulling him towards an empty classroom. Lucas looked at her in shock, well this was escalating quicker then he expected.

“You remember that too?” she whispered softly. Lucas’s eyes widened as he realized no one remembered that apart from the other scouts, or no one should remember that. He looked at her curiously, usually, after a monster attacks everyone just goes on as nothing happened, no memories of what had happened at all yet here Emily was remembering. “Because everyone else thinks i am kinda nuts right now,” she said, a hint of hopefulness shining in her eyes.

“Yes, I remember,” he admitted. Emily looked at him trying to figure out if he was being honest or just trying to trick her obviously finding whatever she needed because moments later he was pulled into a hug. He stiffened surprised by her actions.

Emily pulled away face red. “I am sorry, I shouldn’t have - it’s just my cousin is very affectionate so he is fine with - i shouldn’t have hugged you -” she muttered.

Lucas laughed causing her to frown. “No don’t apologise,” he said quickly, “ I don’t mind you hugging me i was just surprised,” he said with a grin. “Are you okay?” he asked looking at her carefully. “Because i saw that thing attack you,” he continued.

“Oh yeah i guess,” she said, “I just felt a little tired and had a headache-” she added. “But why does no one else remember? And who were those people? You saw them too right? Because when i bought up with my friends - well if they are still my friends -” she continued as Lucas’s eyes narrowed in anger. Maybe he could talk Minah or Jane into threatening a bunch of sophomore girls. It was what they deserved.

“Well i don’t know why no one remembers,” he sighed. “Maybe it’s because we are more intelligent than them,” he said, trying not to coo at the small smile that made its way onto Emily’s face. He had a feeling the reason she remembered was because of who she was in the past but that would mean Enzo should remember what happened too and he was acting fine last time Lucas had seen him. “And you mean the Sailor Scouts? Yeah they are kinda like these mythical heroes, you know the game Sailor V is meant to be based on them,” he said nodding. How Minah became the inspiration for the best selling video game he would never know.

“The green one, I can’t really remember, but I think he saved my life,” she said brows furrowed. Lucas tried not to beam at her remembering him even just slightly.

“Well that is a good thing, it would be a shame if such a pretty girl died because of such an ugly creature,” Lucas grinned at the way Emily flushed.

“Shut up,” she muttered, shoving him slightly,

“And since your friends are being lame,” He said. “I could be your new friend,” he offered. “Unless of course you want to be more than friends,” he winked at her.

Emily sputtered, “I don’t even know your name,” she pointed out. “And are you like this with all your friends?” she asked raising an eyebrow.

“You don’t,” Lucas pouted. “Well it’s Lucas and your name is -” he said pretending not to know her name. “Eunha perhaps?” he said cheekily, eyeing her carefully to see if there was even the slightest hint of recognition, he was sadly disappointed when she just frowned.

“Eunha?” she repeated nose scrunching up. “Do i look like a Eunha?” she questioned, tilting her said to the side. “No, you were right it does start with E, it’s just Emily, plain and kinda boring,” said with a pout.

“I think it’s pretty,” Lucas said sweetly. “And now that we know each other… friends?” he said holding his hand out for her to shake.

Emily looked at his hand for a second before shaking it. “Friends,” she smiled. “We should get going, my cousin is waiting and knowing him ..” she trailed off with a laugh. “It's just best for the school that he isn’t kept waiting too long,” she laughed.

“Well let's get going then,” he said. “Unless you want to stay alone in an empty classroom,” he said wiggling his eyebrows. Emily rolled her eyes, quickly growing immune to his flirting much to his disappointment.

Lucas didn’t expect an angry Daehyung charging towards him as soon as they got out of the gate. “Emily,” Daniel said through gritted teeth. “What are you doing with a boy?” he asked laser-focused on Lucas.

“What’s wrong with that?” Tyler asked from behind him.

“Are you two friends?” Daniel asked quickly looking between himself and Tyler. “Oh you are that’s even worse,” he muttered. “Em i am not sure if this is the type of person you want to be hanging around, his friend has two girlfriends and he is so shameless like the girls know each other and all,” Daniel said shaking his head. “So naturally if they are friends then this guy is also bad so,” he shrugged.

“Let’s go,” he said to Emily who looked apologetically at Lucas mouthing a talk tomorrow to him.

[maedarakat]

Nyctus

Summary: When Tuff starts losing vision in his good eye, one rider in particular reaches out to him. 

——

She was watching him again, seemingly unable to help herself.

Tuffnut tried not to notice, but honestly, she wasn’t even trying to not get caught. He knew why too - the morning sparring session had been a disaster. Usually he was the first to charge in, eager for combat and later on, the bruise competition he and Ruff would have in their hut. 

Snotlout had done him a solid on the last part - he was sure to win the categories of “darkest” and “widest”. To be fair, the dark haired boy hadn’t known why Tuff was such a reluctant fighter that morning, nor had he bothered to find out. Always eager to impress, Snot had knocked Tuff on his ass before he could even get in a hit, and waled on him solidly until Astrid shouted for a time out. 

His vision had only gotten worse from there on out.

He was sure there’d been a concerned look, but not completely confident; the faces of all his friends were featureless blurs now. And that was with his good eye. For a few years now, the other eye had been there as a mere socket warmer - rendered completely useless after Gruff threw that rock at him when they were kids. 

Tuff squinted down at his plate, deciding to try and focus only on the dinner they were eating. Ruffnut nudged him lightly with her elbow as he poked unidentifiable piles with his fork. He supposed he could always sniff, but that was probably too weird.

“That’s cooked pole beans and kale, from Leg’s garden, and that’s mashed potatoes, and there’s more fish and biscuits on the platter in front of you,” she supplied, of course having more than an inkling of what was going on with him. 

And it’s not that he wasn’t grateful; she’d just unfortunately said all that a bit too loud. 

The other voices stopped chatting over needed supplies from Berk and Tuff felt them staring. 

He froze, panicking inwardly, not ready to admit this was happening to anyone. It had been a day, maybe he’d just ... gotten one too many bugs in his eyes? Scratched a cornea? Rubbed some sleep sand out too hard? 

Tuff swallowed and put the fork in his mouth, trying to act as though nothing in the world was odd - just the normal weird guy, eating his normal dinner. Wait, had he  just ... stuffed a completely empty fork into his mouth? Maybe they hadn’t noticed. Maybe he should keep it in his mouth so they wouldn’t see it was empty. 

.... Fuck. 

Flustered but still trying to play it off, he sheepishly took out the fork, stabbed something randomly on his plate and brought ... an entire fork-impaled biscuit to his lips.

This was a catastrophe. He wanted to cry and run away, but the terror that he’d run into the doorframe or trip over a chair kept him firmly rooted in place. Defeated, he put the fork down and hunched over in his seat, trembling.

Ruff’s head turned to face the others, and he knew she was glaring.

The chatter started up again, tense but flooding Tuff’s system with relief; nobody was drawing attention to what just happened. So long as it didn’t affect them or annoy them, he supposed they could ignore it, but Astrid’s voice remained silent. 

Her face was two colors, firelight and shadows drawing a blurry caricature that his memory filled out far better than his eyes could. Robin’s egg blue for her eyes, hair the color of barley sheaths in the sunlight, lips that grinned sharply, sweetly ...

Scared of what he had to lose, Tuff spent the remainder of dinner with his eyes closed, trying to make it his choice not to see, instead of the grim new reality. His chest started to hurt from pent up sobs and he squeezed Ruffnut’s hand under the table, needing to go back to their hut. 

She squeezed back and muttered something in his ear. There was nothing between him and the doorway, she’d told him, and she’d be out right afterwards to help him the rest of the way. His sister was trying to spare his dignity, though his own terror was swiftly gaining size. 

Blindness, as he understood it, meant darkness, or at least lack of light. He’d be trapped in his head with his own personal monsters and demons and trolls forever. He’d forget what his family or friends or even a friendly face looked like. He’d never know whether it was morning or night - Gods - he could never fight or fly or take long walks on his own or play pranks or see his sister’s face when he Loki’d her —

Tuff managed to get outside, but he didn’t wait, shaking hard. He kept walking, completely forgetting there was a rope bridge ahead until the ground unexpectedly moved beneath his feet. 

He reached out wildly to steady himself as the bridge swayed and nearly fell over the side, but hands grabbed his shoulders to steady and calm him. 

“It’s okay, shh, shh,” came the response to his panicked gasps. “I’ve got you. Let’s just head back to your hut, okay Tuff?”

Tuff nodded, recognizing Astrid’s voice but unable to stop hitching. He could barely keep from breaking down in front of her, only he was too close to the Clubhouse and he didn’t need everyone on the Edge to see him freaking out. She took his hands and turned, placing them on her shoulders, then started leading him.

Astrid moved at a reasonable pace, and Tuff didn’t stumble behind her at all as they moved. 

The night sky was out, with no moon, and there was no light left on in the Twins’ hut, not even a candle. Tuff wasn’t even sure if they had candles; Hiccup had confiscated most of them for some reason or other.

Astrid found one, lighting it and setting it on his dresser, next to his grandfather’s skull and dried orange flowers. She sat down on the bed next to him as he turned his eyes toward the flame. 

Tuff liked fire; he always had. It was a source of light that his mind couldn’t make terrifying, no matter how hard it tried. The candle flame was a soft soothing ball of yellow and white, and the panic started to recede a little. 

He was still shaking, and he knew Astrid could feel it, but she took his hand in hers and held it. She said nothing - no promises it was going to be okay, no asking if he was alright to be left alone now, no pointless reassurances. 

Astrid was letting him know it was okay to be scared around her.

The relief and comfort he felt from that was what finally wrenched the gates to his heart open and he shuddered, feeling tears begin to fall freely. 

He allowed the storm to rage throughout his body, sobbing fitfully as grief, terror and shame each battled for a piece of him to hurt anew. Astrid put her arms around him and laid them back on the bed, just holding him through it. He buried his face in her shoulder, allowing himself to be comforted.

It was a while before he finally calmed, wild pain giving way to exhausted resignation. Astrid was still holding him, somehow keeping the darkness of the room at bay more than the candle. 

Ruff must have dropped by at some point, though if she’d heard him, she would never mention if she had. Only two other people in his life had made him feel this loved and protected - his mother and Ruff, and now Astrid was the third. 

Tuff wondered quietly how and why, then belatedly remembered that of all the maladies that could be affecting him, Astrid was keenly and personally familiar with this one.

“... how did you ...” Loki, his voice was a wreck. Tuff swallowed and tried again. “How did you not freak out when you lost your sight?”

“I did freak out,” Astrid admitted quietly, resting her cheek against his hair. She had removed his helmet at some point; Tuff wasn’t sure exactly when. “Hiccup and Toothless were next to me, but they slept through it. I guess nothing’s louder than a snoring Night Fury.”

Tuff felt immediately upset on her behalf, that she’d gone through something like this all by herself. His arms wrapped around her, squeezing her in a hug. “I’m sorry I was useless then too.”

“What? Tuff, you and Ruff were the only ones even trying. Everyone else was either treating me like I was made of porcelain, or trying to repair me.  You guys still treated me like I was ... me. You tried to figure out ways for me to live my life as normally as possible - even if they were unorthodox. I even heard you ran straight off a cliff for my sake while testing Ruff’s ‘seeing-eye-viking’ method. That was sweet. A little weird, but very sweet.”

Tuff smiled and curled closer to her. “It’s ... I just ... my right eye has been a goner since I was nine. So I half knew what you were going through. Waking up with it like that after Gruff threw that rock was awful, and scary, but at least I had my other eye. You didn’t have either one, and that must have been terrifying. I had to do something for you.”

“You did. And wait, so Gruffnut did that?” Astrid’s question was snarled more than asked. 

“Yeah. Mom brought it up with the Elders and Aunt Hazel, but they told her she didn’t have enough proof for compensation. Gruff did say he was really sorry though, so I forgave him.”

“Tuff,” Astrid sighed sharply, but she didn’t press the issue. She just hugged him tighter and tucked his head beneath her chin. He knew without even looking up that her lips were pressed in a tight line of anger and she was concocting various ways to make his scheming cousin suffer horribly. 

It was pointless - Gruffnut probably didn’t even remember the incident - but Tuff didn’t exactly feel an overwhelming need to stop her.

“... you were awesome, you know,” Tuff said instead. “No matter what, you didn’t let anything or anyone stop you from doing what you were going to do. I’m honestly surprised you let Hiccup keep that foot he tried to put down.”

Astrid snorted. “Me too,” she muttered. 

“And I’m ... I wish I was that brave. And confident. I’m not sure what I’m going to do if it gets any worse. I can at least see shadows and forms and some colors, but - but only if they’re really bright.” 

Astrid trailed her fingers across his cheek and pulled back just enough to look at him. “You’ve got this, Tuff. You’ve got me, and Ruff, and all of us. No matter if you wake up tomorrow and can’t see a thing, you can rely on us and you can learn new ways to rely on yourself.” 

He must have showed doubt, for she lifted his chin and kissed his cheek, then his forehead. It sent little shivers from the back of his neck all the way down his back as he leaned into her touch, craving more. 

“I’m one of the most stubborn Vikings I know, and I still learned how. You’re open-minded, and clever and creative - you’ll probably figure out something that nobody’s even thought of.” 

Astrid’s fingers combed through his hair, lulling him into a more relaxed state. Tuff wanted her to never stop, feeling his eyes prick with tears all over again, but this time from need.  

“Will you ... will you sleep in our hut? I’m ... I know Ruff will be here later, but ... “

Tuff struggled, not knowing if it was alright to ask this much, if he even deserved to ask at all. Astrid’s reply was another tight hug. 

“I’ll stay tonight. Let’s just get more comfortable first.” 

They dressed down for bed - Astrid having to help him undo his boots when he couldn’t make out all the snaps and buckles. It may have been exhaustion and stress more than not being able to see, but she helped him regardless. She also made him take off his tunic in order to put salve on his slowly purpling chest and ribs. 

Tuff quietly reminded himself to thank Snotlout for every bruised area of skin he’d caused Astrid’s fingers to brush across. 

This was Valhalla - or possibly better. 

She cupped his face gently after she was done, thumbing salve over his split lip, and then - after a long moment, kissing him. 

Tuff’s heart practically did flips in his chest, and his mind rummaged frantically through countless thoughts and words to try and make sense of this. 

Astrid had once asked whether he didn’t want to meet a beautiful Viking woman one day and marry her. He’d laughed - of course he’d laughed - to drown out the unbearable ache in his chest that was loudly insisting he already had met her. 

Tuff had ignored it, but it had never gone away. It showed no signs of going away now, or any time in the near future. 

Astrid crawled onto his bed and pulled him to lay next to her, drawing a blanket over them both. Heart still hammering, he nestled back into her arms and closed his eyes.

Finally, for once in his life, the darkness didn’t seem even half as terrifying as it had before.

[lurafita]

Petvengers Chapter 4

Read chapter 1 here: Chappy 1

Read chapter 2 here: Chappy 2

Read chapter 3 here: Chappy 3

 Bruce/Hulk

If anyone were ever to ask Peter, what it had been like the very first time he met Dr. Bruce Banner face to face, he would tell them that he was the embodiment of sophisticated professionalism, and not at all embarrassing.

If they were to ask anyone else that had been present at the time, however, they would tell a quite different story.

 - (about 2 years ago) -

“I'm really not sure about this, Tony.”

Bruce said, as he was led through the halls of the tower's common floor, by the far too excited engineer.

Tony just grinned.

“Relax, Brucie Bear. I'm telling you, you are going to love the kid. Fair warning though, he can talk. Like, boy, can he talk. If he starts rambling, don't try to get a word in edgewise, just let him get it all out. He will run out of oxygen at some point, and that's when you seize the opportunity to get the conversation back on track. Because, believe me, Pete will somehow manage to totally derail the topic. Like yesterday, when he came over after school, he started out telling me about his and his friend Ted's AP chemistry project, and suddenly we are in a deep, philosophical discussion about the representation of real life issues in children's cartoons. By the way, you should absolutely watch more cartoons in your free time. Some are surprisingly deep. Did you know that Sailor Moon was way ahead of the curve on LGBTQ relationships? And considering the time period in which it first aired, that's saying a lot. And Captain Planet was actually taking on AIDS hysteria in 1992. Not to mention the fact that in Steven Universe, child heroes have to deal with trauma, instead of things just getting swept under the table. Really, this stuff is more educational than you might think.”

Bruce side eyed his friend.

“So the kid goes off on a tangent suddenly and just keeps going, huh? Completely disregarding the topic you were just talking about right before, huh? Wonder where he gets this from. This sounds in no way familiar. At all.”

Tony either didn't catch the sarcasm, or ignored it, and nodded.

“Beats me. Can't be his aunt, that woman is scarily on point. She never let's you forget, or talk your way around anything. She is just like Pepper in that regard. I think its the Italian blood in May.”

Before the billionaire had the chance to get lost in that particular line of thought, Bruce cut in.

“Look, Tony, I'm not worried about whether or not I will like Peter. From all the proud dad raving you have been doing since I got back, I already know that he is a great kid.”

 (“Excuse you! I do not rave! Least of all proud dad like!”)

“I'm far more concerned about the kind of impact standing in a room with the man who turns into a giant, green rage monster at the drop of a hat, will have on a 15 year old. I'm really not looking forward to watching the kid run away in a panic.”

Tony scoffed.

“Oh please. If you turned Hulk at 'the drop of a hat', my tower would have crumbled years ago. Also, the kid is a superhero. He fought a maniac with alien weapons and a metallic bird suit. I'm gonna eat my 1.500,00 $ Italian leather shoes, if the Hulk scares Pete even a tiny, little bit.”

Bruce would have balked at the money that Tony spent on footwear, but at this moment, the two men stepped right into the living room. They were greeted by the sight of Steve, Bucky, Natasha, Colonel Rhodes, and one brown haired teenager. Which might have been a normal enough scene, if said teenager wasn't sitting cross legged on the ceiling, clutching a bag of marshmallows to his chest and alternating between stuffing one into his mouth, and trying to convince both Steve and Bucky that it counted as a healthy snack, since it was blackberry flavored.

And even though Bruce wasn't 'that kind of Doctor' he couldn't help but clear his throat.

“Actually, since the manufacturers have most likely resorted to using artificial flavors and food coloring, you probably have about the same health benefits from those, as if you just ate the sugar straight out of the container.”

Everyone turned to look at the two newcomers, and as the adults all smiled and stepped forward to welcome their friend, a wide eyed Peter lost his grip on both the bag of marshmallows and the ceiling, and fell to the ground in a heap. Before anyone could start panicking though, he was back up and with a kind of chocked off, high pitched scream/gasp, pointed his finger right at Bruce, and exclaimed “Don't move!” Then he ran out of the room.

And while Bruce had mentally prepared himself for just such a reaction, it still left him feeling rather disheartened. A quick glance around at the other people in the room showed three very confused Avengers (they had evidently not expected that reaction out of the boy), one Air force Colonel who was trying very hard not to laugh, and a grinning Tony Stark.

“So, should I be getting you some water to wash your ridiculously expensive shoes down with?”

Bruce asked the billionaire with a dispassionate sigh, but Tony was completely unconcerned.

“Just wait for it.”

They didn't need to wait even a second more after Tony had spoken, as Peter came running back into the room, arms overloaded with books, stacks of papers, and what looked like posters, which he all dumped onto the nearby couch table. Then the teen was suddenly right in front of Bruce and vigorously shaking his hand.

“Oh my god, Dr Banner, this is such an honor. You are like my favorite scientist ever! (Tony's indignant “Hey!” went ignored) I have read every one of your published papers and my friend may have hacked into your old university and found some of your papers that you didn’t publish, and now I realize that that’s not something I should tell you probably, please don’t sue us, but can you please sign everything I own and oh my god I’m shaking your hand and I’m never gonna wash that again ever. And can I get a photo, oh my god Ned is gonna be sooooo jealous!”

All the while Peter had been holding his phone in his other hand, blindly dialed a number and waited for the other person to take the call. Then he pressed the phone excitedly to his ear.

“Ned! Ned! You will never believe who I'm talking to right now! Think of the greatest scientist you know!... Okay, the greatest scientist you know who is currently alive... EXACTLY! (Once again, Tony's “It's like I'm invisible”, was ignored) Dude, I'm looking right at him. I'M SHAKING HIS HAND! … No, I'm not being a creepy fanboy... No, I have not yet let go of his hand...”

Rhodey laughed, Tony was jealously grumbling under his breath, Steve fondly shook his head, Bucky smirked, Natasha examined the impressive pile of things the teenager had brought for Bruce to sign, Peter continued shaking the scientists hand, while staring at him with awe-filled eyes and all but screaming into his phone, and Bruce... Bruce smiled.

 - (back to the present) -

It was one of the rare, lazy, late afternoons on a weekday, that found most of the Avengers hanging out on the newly built terrace behind the tower. The strangling hold that the high temperatures of summer had held over New York city for the last few days, was finally ebbing away and Peter had seized the opportunity to take Hope for an extended walk. (Steve had declined Peter's invitation to tag along. Colonel, Bucky and him had risen early as ever, and already run a few miles) He had also somehow managed to ensnare Bruce in a discussion about something that had gone over the collective heads of everyone around (Tony was still stuck in a board meeting that Pepper had dragged him to), and the dark haired scientist had seemingly unwittingly followed the teen and dog out of the tower.

The two super soldiers had curled up together in the porch swing, Bucky carefully keeping track of Arthur's progress, as the little raccoon tried scaling the garden table that held the snack food. Steve with a sketch pad in his lap, drawing the image of Eames the cockatoo, hopping around said table while chanting “Posh tosser, bloody wanker”, and occasionally dropping down a blueberry to Colonel, who was happily waving his tail at the treats.

Sam, for some reason, found his bird's antics endlessly funny, and was filming the whole thing with his phone.

Clint and Laura had spread a brightly colored blanket over the grass and were having a picnic with Nathaniel and Lila, while Natasha was showing Cooper some easy self-defense moves a few feet away.

When Hope's familiar barking and running feet were heard, the assembled group knew that Bruce and Peter had gotten back from their walk. The over eager Pitbull ran out on the terrace, greeting everyone in turn with happy licks and a wagging tail (he jumped first into the laps of the two super soldiers, let himself be scratched behind the ears, then ran right at Sam, nearly forcing the man to lose the grip on his phone when he licked him right across the face, then launched his furry body onto the blanket with Laura, Clint, Lila and Nathaniel, and patiently waited until all had pet him at least once, and finally trotted over to Cooper and Natasha to join in on their play fight.)

This had been expected.

What was not expected was watching Peter come walking out to the terrace, carrying a huge tortoise (about 25 to 30 inches in length), and grinning widely when setting the reptile down on the grass. Bruce was following close behind the teen, his face a curious mix of shell shocked and confused.

Peter straightened up from his crouch and addressed everyone, while Colonel and Arthur (who was riding on the dogs back), came over to examine the new, slowly moving animal.

“Everyone, meet Bruce's new friend, Speedy Gonzales!"

“She is a 33 year old Sulcata Tortoise. Sulcata Tortoises can live up to 70 years and above, and weigh up to 120 pounds. Speedy isn't that big yet, though. She did grow a bit too big for her previous owner, and the guy was too cheap to invest in a bigger terrarium, because she needs hot temperatures to stay healthy. She will be okay to roam freely during the summer, but we will have to turn one of the guest rooms into a heated enclosure for her when it gets colder.”

The still completely baffled looking Dr. Banner turned to face his friends and coworkers (the Barton's and Natasha had come closer to inspect the newest addition to their home).

“...I don't even know how that happened. … We were talking about the latest research on cross-species genetic transfers, and all of a sudden I'm standing in an animal shelter and signing adoption papers for a tortoise. … I didn't even know shelters had tortoises...”

Sam, Bucky and Steve, who had already been victims of Peter's crusade against a pet-less existence, held up their glasses in a silent salute to the doctor. Natasha proudly nodded at Peter's accomplishment, and he respectfully bowed to his Sensei. Eames had landed on Speedy's massive back, and was seemingly taunting Arthur from his perch. The little raccoon shot the bird a nasty look, and climbed up into Lila's embrace. Cooper and Clint both seemed fascinated with the size of the tortoise, while Hope jumped between the father and son to get back rubs. Nathaniel laughed happily as his mother helped him feed a banana to the reptile.

Speedy Gonzales brought honor to her species, by patiently tolerating the chaos all around her, and chomping down on the yellow fruit.

-

 Bonus: The Hulk!

"Uff!"

Spiderman shook himself free of the last remaining dust particles from the pile of debris he had dug himself out of, only a few minutes ago. All around him were the webbed up enormous bodies of the mutated rats. Some of them were twitching against their spidery cocoon, trying to get out of their bindings. Peter had done his best not to kill any of them, knowing that the animals had been victims of the illegal experimentation of the deranged Professor Stollack.

It wasn't everyday that a hoard of wild, three feet tall, rabid rats tried to take over Brooklyn. The whole team had been called in for some extreme pest control.

While Black Widow and Captain America had gone in search of the perpetrator behind this particular madness, Iron Man, Hulk, Falcon, Hawkeye, Thor, the Winter Soldier, Antman, the Wasp and Spiderman had taken to the streets and taken care of the mutated and very dangerous vermin.

Peter really felt sorry for the rats. While they weren't exactly among his favorite animals, they weren't evil. No animal was. And they didn't deserve to be experimented on and used like this, for one madman's twisted plans. He really hoped they could be returned to their original forms, and not have to be mercy killed.

/"Widow and me have taken the Professor and his underlings into custody. Everyone alright? Status report!"/ Came the Captain's voice over the comms that kept the team connected during battles.

/"I'm good, so is Feather-head."/ It was impossible to miss the smirk in Bucky's voice.

/"You won't be good for much longer if you keep it up with the nicknames, Frosty."/ As long as those two still argued, they were okay.

/"I'm fine, though Legolas might need to be checked for rabies. One of those things got a bite out of him."/ Peter would be way more worried, if Tony wasn't laughing as he said it.

/"My pants, guys, don't worry. No skin was breached. Mighty Mouse over there tore a fucking hole in my pants."/ Came Clint's answer.

/"His ass region, to be more specific. If anyone was wondering, Robin Hood is wearing Paw Patrol undies today."/

/"Look, Nathaniel likes the show, okay? How about we move things along?"/

/"Paw Patrol is cool. Call me when you watch it! I will bring Cassie!"/ Scott's joyful voice sounded.

/"Cassie only watches to keep you company, you know? By the way, Antman and I are both fine."/ Trust The Wasp to keep things under control.

/"I do not know this 'Paw Patrol', but I will gladly join you and your son for a viewing, if it is impressive enough for you to decorate yourself with."/ Fighting alongside the God of Thunder would never be not cool.

/"I'm okay, and I'm totally joining you for Paw Patrol. Got a bunch of the rats webbed up. Maybe Bruce can find a way to turn them back to normal. You know, once he has turned back to normal."/ Peter finally chimed in.

/"Speaking of, does anyone have eyes on the Hulk?"/ It was sadly impossible to equip the green guy with an earwig.

Spidey took a careful look around himself.

/"He was with me for most of the fight... Wait! I see him!"/

He had spotted the big guy a little ways away from his position, seemingly crouched over something. The part-time Avenger and full-time vigilante quickly swung his way to the Hulk.

/"Just... be careful, Spidey."/ Steve's cautious warning almost made Peter roll his eyes. He knew the team worried about his easy and unconcerned interactions with Hulk, and he couldn't really fault them. After all, the Hulk was the embodiment of Dr. Banner's uncontrolled anger, and was therefore, dangerous. But Peter's Spidey-sense never went off when he was around the big guy, or rather, it never went off because of the big guy, so Peter didn't worry. He knew though, that Tony was probably already on his way to them, just in case.

He landed beside the hulking giant.

"Hey buddy! You okay? Something wrong?"

The Hulk looked at him, and then slowly turned, so that Peter was able to see what was before him. The teenaged vigilante paled behind the mask.

On the ground before them laid the remains of what must have been a carton box. One of the pieces was large enough to read the handwritten 'Free to a good home', scribbled on it. Some of the carton pieces were drenched in red. And tiny bones could be seen among them.

Hulk's grumbling voice thankfully pulled him away from the grizzly scene.

"The evil mice were eating them... Hulk was too late to save the others."

Then Hulk turned further, and revealed a small, softly mewling kitten in his palm. The giant, green hand, made the little kitten look even tinier than it probably was. And Peter's heart just melted.

"I'm really sorry, bud, but you managed to safe this one! That's great! You are a hero! Do you mind if I took it for a minute? Make sure it isn't hurt anywhere?"

The Hulk grunted his agreement, and with a gentleness few would ever associate with the big guy, handed the little kitten over. Neither of the two turned around when Iron Man landed just a couple of steps behind them.

"Hey there, big guy. Spidey. You both good? You know, because you might want to let the team know that you are both good. So that the team doesn't worry."

Instead of answering his adoptive father, Peter addressed Hulk.

"She looks fine to me. But we might want to let a doctor check up on her. Just to make sure nothing is broken."

He placed the little kitten carefully back into his green friend's big hand, and the little fluff ball immediately curled up and started purring. Peter pat Hulk's shoulder in congratulation.

"She likes you!"

Iron Man had come closer.

 "Is that a cat?"

Hulk smiled.

"Hulk likes her, too. She is tiny... Like Bug-boy. Hulk likes Bug-boy."

"You know, big guy, I don't even mind you calling me that. I like you, too."

 "No, seriously, where did the cat come from?"

"Puny Banner is a doctor."

"Well, I was thinking more along the line of a veterinarian, but Bruce should be able to tell if anything was wrong with her. Especially with the equipment at the tower. And if all else fails, there is still Helen. She is the best doctor ever."

 "Okay, one, Bruce would throw in that he is 'not that kind of doctor', right about now. And two, what is the deal with the cat?"

Hulk grunted.

"Hulk will go now. So that puny Banner can take care of her. Bug-boy tell puny Banner that Hulk is keeping her."

Peter nodded enthusiastically.

"Great! What do you want to name her?"

 "Am I invisible to you people? What the hell is the deal with the cat?"

Hulk looked down at the purring kitten in his palm, a thoughtful look on his face.

"Little Smash."

Peter grinned.

"That's a great name!"

 "Seriously, am I invisible? Did I die without noticing and am roaming the streets as a ghost now? Were those rats magic? Is this a curse?"

When the Hulk shrank back into his other half, Bruce found himself even more confused than he usually was after a transformation. Beside him, Peter, in his Spiderman suit, was trying to calm down a comically panicking Tony, who was still in his Iron Man armor, and apparently convinced that he had been turned into an astral projection of himself.

He was standing in the middle of a street in Brooklyn (in only his thankfully very stretchy pants), there were big, twitching web cocoons some feet away from them on the ground, and in his hands was a sleeping little kitten, purring up a storm.

Peter paused long enough from reassuring Tony that he was, indeed, both visible and audible, and definitely not a ghost, to quickly address the confused Bruce.

"That's Little Smash! She is Hulk's! He said to take good care of her! Oh, and she might need an x-ray."

Then he was back at pointedly not ignoring Tony.

Bruce looked down at the sleeping kitten in his hands and sighed.

Oh well,... at least she was cute.

[miscellaneousmoontoffee]

MoonToffee A monster in Paris AU

The full timeline and some notes ( contains swearing and gets kinda lazy towards the end! ) (( another note Chauncey although mentioned sometimes doesn’t come up much in the AU cause there wasn’t much need, so sorry pig-goat lovers! ))

Characters

- Moon = Lucille - Toffee = Francoeur ( both monsters toffee's just a lot more cunning but I think in this AU he's going to be a lot more open and slightly naive because of the circumstances ) - River = Raoul / Emile ( Raoul's place in the story-ish and Emile's more cautious behavior but without his romance of Maud. ) - Mina = Victor ( the antagonist that's pretty full of themselves and could potentially/go mad, I think they fit each other pretty well ) - No one = Maud ( since river is going to be following after Raoul in terms of loving Moon/Lucille there is no need for a Maud plus no one really fits her much anyway ) - Count Mildrew = Albert ( both background characters and kinda up their respective asses ) - A solarian soldier = Pate ( Pate is the inspector/right hand man of Victor btw ) - Comet = Carlotta ( both the main female leads mum/mother figure ) - Chauncey = Charles ( Chauncey in this AU of course still belongs to moon but she tells him to keep an eye on the river, plus she lets him hang out with the professor cause they both have fun together, aka the prof needed a smart animal companion (( mad scientist aesthetic man )) and Chauncey wanted more food than moon gave him )

Loose plot

- River wakes up daydreaming about being together with moon then is like oh i forgot something ( you can choose what he forgot ) so he goes downstairs. - his dad is like "hey son can you help me run some errands?" obviously this was not a question so river hops in his dad's car and they drive off to do the thing. - his dad drops him off at the lab to deliver some eggs and says he needs to go do some other task and that hes gonna go and he will pick him up when hes done, and River is like "dad I’m just giving some dude eggs i can go with ya" - so his dad goes well actually the guy is out of the country and hes sure they dude wouldn't mind if river went in and looked around, wink wink nudge nudge. - river gets the message and his dad drives away. - He goes in and is like okay I'm glad I went to do chores today this is awesome, and then a pig starts chewing on his trousers and hes like " Chauncey?? what are you doing, does moon know you're here?!?" and Chauncey says nothing cause he's a pig but he tries to push river to the exit but river doesn’t pick up on this hint. - so river goes "Oooh do you wanna explore with me little buddy?" and Chauncey is like 'no leave' but river goes into the lab anyway. - the look around for a bit and river starts drawing stuff that looks cool ( the drawing is bad but he wants to  remember what stuff looks like ) -he finds some potions and is like "ooh I wonder what they do???" so tests one out on a seed that says "instant growth potion " on a label. - it of course grows and he's like wow but walks back to see it better and knocks some potions over. - Chauncey goes to try and stop the potions but steps on a lizards tail and it gets scared and runs under where the potions are falling ( river of course doesn't notice this ) - crash, boom, smoke! - river gets up and sees the shadow of a lizard man and is like " AHHHHHHH AHHHHH AHHHHHHHHHH!!!!" so it runs away so river draws it before he forgets then runs out to the front to get home, not caring that his dad said he would pick him up he's not waiting for that thing to get him! - unfortunately he drops a handkerchief which crudely had his name stitched into it and leaves back to his house. - A couple of days pass and the lizard monster starts showing up in the papers. - an investigation is started over the mysterious explosion at the lab and the new monster that appeared the very same night. - the cheif investigator tells mina loveberry 'bout this and she's like "yes, now is my chance to rise to the top!" - they look around and find River's handkerchief.

- Cut to moon, and her club is looking for a new act/singer and it's not going well. - so one of the waiters, a real smug bastard, is auditioning and it's just him singing badly about how amazing he is and telling her that she's welcome for the free performance of a god. - and she's like "yeah... no thanks I don't really think the club is really the right fit for you." - so hes like " FINE I'M TOO TALENTED FOR THIS LITTLE CLUB I'LL GO FORM MY OWN CLUB! ( *bender voice* with blackjack and hookers! ) - so she's like " yep you are way too good for us, I worry if you joined I would be out of a job. goodbye now! " - Cue Mildrew seeing toffee and freaking out trying to go back in but still being really vain ( ' PLEASE LET ME IN I'LL EVEN SIGN YOU AN AUTOGRAPH!!! ' ) - It doesn't work out so he jumps a nearby fence and books it. - Toffee is like what is that awful ringing noise is it this? and then proceeds to ring the doorbell a million times just too ' make sure it's this '. - So Moon opens the finally all like " YES Mildrew what is it- of holy fudging schnitzels " - she accidentally hits it with the door and is apologizing profusely as she goes to help the ' person ' up. - sees its the lizard person and freaks out, bolts and locks the door. - hears it singing a sad song ( more bitter about the people than the original though ) and is like oh it can talk???? also it has a godly voice???? - she gets an umbrella and tentatively opens the door and apologizes and welcomes this creature in out the rain. - he is suspicious but goes in anyway because its better than freezing to death in the rain - so she awkwardly starts conversation " Soo I'm sorry about hitting you with the door and leaving like that, I just got a bit.... panicked. but might as well start with names, mines moon " - and he just kinda sits there and she picks up that ‘oops he doesn't have one’ so she looks around and is like I have to call him something. - then she looks at a box of toffees a fan had given her and is like " Since you don't seem to have a name would you like me to call you toffee? I'm not the best with names but I need to call you something. " - so he goes ok, and she says that if he wants to stay in Paris he should probably have a disguise.

-cut back to river and someone knocks on his door. - he goes and opens it and it reveals officers who see his drawing of the monster in the lab on his wall and he is arrested. - they bring him to mina, and he starts pleading not to go to prison and that it was all an accident. - ( they also brought Chauncey who was staying with River) - he panicking blames the pig and chauncy narrows his eyes as this will be remembered for later.... - Mina tells him not to worry and that by creating a monster he has actually helped her in one of her secret projects and she gives him a badge of honor. - River leaves and then is like "now that I have this badge I have the confidence to go to one of moons shows and maybe I can try and woo her with my badge!" - so he goes to see her and due to the fact that Mildread is still pissed at moon he gives river the best seats in the house cause he is bad at revenge, so river thinks its his lucky day! - he sees the show and was hypnotized by moons song so he decides to push his luck by going to talk to her back stage. - during the time river was being arrested moon got to see a lot of what Toffee could do and who he is;

. he has a pretty wry sense of humor . he is rather naive in the way of society and social cues . he's also really smart and a quick learner . she also gives him his disguise ( his hair isn't a wig ) . he is pretty fuckin' strong . really stubborn . takes a while for him to trust her but when he does he's pretty clingy . he is vain about his hair and constantly brushes it to lay flat, it always curls at the ends anyway. . he REALLY likes suits. and is rather cuddly.

- so the performance is about to start but he doesn't want to leave her side and sit with the band so cue the scene in the movie. - they actually perform and they end up dancing together on stage, and she refuses to admit to her self that her face felt a little warm when he looked at her with such a loving look while dancing. - back to after the performance and river comes over nervously to congratulate her for the awesome performance, and goes to shake toffee's hands when he spots his tail. - he shrieks and moon puts her hand over his mouth and drags him and toffee back to her dressing room. - she tries to tell him that she knows he's the monster and he's not awful at all. - but river starts freaking out so she slaps him and tells him to get a grip man! - he calms down a little but is still like how are you so calm - so moon tells him why toffee is not dangerous and he calms down properly. - unfortunately for them Mildrew overhears and he now has a better idea for revenge against moon...

- the police arrive soon moon leaves to greet them and try to distract them, while river has to hide toffee. - so Moon goes to the door and is like " oh Mina I wasn't expecting you, what are you doing here? " - And Mina's like " sorry mud sister but this is serious business, where are you hiding it? " - and Moons like fuck she already knows its here somewhere. so she plays dumb " hiding what? I don't have anything to hide. " ( as she sweats bullets ) - and Mina already knowing that moons lying just barges through with the inspector and the 'troops' - Mina instantly tries to go to moons dressing room but moon cuts her off " okay Mina I'm sorry but if you go in there we can't  be mud sisters it's a blatant breach of my privacy. " - and Mina calls her bluff and goes in anyway. - Moon is like fuck everything's over they found him... crud. - so when she goes in to make her last stand she is surprised that they are nowhere to be found, and so is Mina. ( surprised that is ) - the inspector comes in and says they haven't found anything so Mina stands silently for a while then goes and pleads to moon to be mud sisters again. - moon still a bit high on adrenaline from then panic says yes just to get her out of the room and they leave after arresting Mildrew for basically pissing Mina off. - moon sighs and says that they can come out and the cost is clear after Mina and the others leave. - she then gets spooked as toffee pops out of her piano, so she lends him a hand and then checks to make sure nothing's broken in her piano. ( storing lizard men in your pianos isn’t a good for pianos kids ) - river then falls down the chimney coughing from all the soot and toffee warily gives him a hand up. ( the start of a beautiful friendship! )

- the next day Mina opens the Montmartre Funicular ( its a escalator/elevator thing on a hill I think ) - the trio ( plus Chauncey ) planned last night that they are going to fake toffee's death on the opening day so people won't look for him and he can live a normal life. - so Mina introduces moon who is going to sing for the opening. - so halfway through singing river loudly shouts " oh my god it's the monster oooh nooo! " - so the crowd starts panicking and Mina is like ' It’s my time to shine! ' - then Toffee hops down and picks up moon bridal style and roars viciously - and moon is all like " oh noooo it's got me, whatever shall I do? " - one of the 'soldiers' tries to shoot toffee but Mina tells him not to as he could hit her blood sister. - then she remembers that river had conveniently given some ' anti monster grenade ' earlier so she throws it and smoke spreads everywhere. - when the smoke clears the monster is gone and the crowd rejoices their savior (the crowd lead by river and moon of course ) - but then Mina spots a scarf caught in the trapdoor and opens it to reveal toffee.

- moon freaks out so her and river shout at toffee to run, as they themselves make a break for it. - river had conveniently brought his dads car/van to get there ( with his dad's permission of course ) so they hopped in and booked it as toffee went the other way so there would be less people chasing him. - luckily Chauncey had already been waiting in the car so they didn't need to wait for him to get in. - so they speed down the street narrowly avoiding obstacles, one of which ended up making river loose his ' fashionable ' straw coat to a horse. - unfortunately for them a hook ends up grabbing their car and they look up and who is it other than Mina and an exhausted looking soldier peddling their FREAKING AIRSHIP LIKE MINA YOU REALLY DIDN'T NEED A WHOLE FUC- - so moon has to climb out and try and get rid of it cause river is driving. - unfortunately for her it's way to heavy and she almost ends up falling off several times, but fortunately ( finally something good for these poor characters ) toffee was making his getaway very near to them so he hopped down on the cars bonnet to help moon pull off the hook. - but because things can never be easy it doesn't work and Mina ends up lifting the car off the ground. ( also moon falls back onto toffee's chest, cue blushy blushy BS when they think back on this at a later date,a scenario which I have obviously not written ) - so they are currently panicking as moon and toffee precariously make their way back inside the van so when they inevitably fall they won’t be as injured. - so Mina drops them in to the seine to try and drown toffee, currently forgetting that her mud sister ( however traitorous she may be ) was in there. - luckily when they start sinking river's father had been planning a boating trip so he had oars in the back. - they paddle to the Eiffel tower before they drown and make it, only loosing River's dad's car along the way. which in the end maybe worse than drowning in the long run. ( for River at least )

- river mourns the car and they make their way up the tower unsure what to really do now other than try and get as far away from Mina as possible. - Mina shoots the airship and she lands on the Eiffel tower, the soldier only just making it out alive by jumping into the seine. - the trio reaches the top when toffee starts to feel weak and moon notices that a lot of his scales are falling off, and she gets worried but slings his arm over her shoulder and asks river to help her carry him to the top. - they are almost at the top when they are stopped when moon placed toffee down for a bit to rest her arms and she hears a gun click. - Mina demands they hand over the monster and toffee makes a run for it up a ladder to the very top of the tower, so Mina brushes harshly past moon to run after toffee. - unfortunately for moon she was standing too close to an edge and got pushed over but managed to grab the edge. - so river goes to try and help moon but somehow also falls over, hanging only onto a spare belt he tried to lower down. ( hey it’s always handy to have a spare belt y’know? ) - luckily they forgot Chauncey was there because he was trailing behind them the whole way up the tower, so he pulls them both up and moon rushes for the ladder after hugging River and Chauncey. - River goes up too but a bit slower and more careful, after almost falling to his death he didn’t really wanna take another chance after all. - Moon goes up there only to see toffee get shot by Mina and fall to a lower level. - before Mina can look over and make sure he's dead the police inspector comes over and arrests her after the ‘soldier’ who was peddling the airship called the other police officers to arrest Mina for leaving him for dead. - moon vaguely sees this but doesn't stick around long, she rushes back down past river (who had only just gotten up here) to find where toffee fell. - she only found his clothes and no body. - It doesn't really register that he could have escaped because of the shock so she just cries - river finds her and comforts her and she brings the clothes back to her dressing room as to not forget him.

- the next day she realizes she has to perform but she is still overcome by grief, so she picks up his scarf to at least wear if she has to perform when she feels wiggling. - she carefully unwinds the scarf and inside there is a lizard. a lizard missing its middle finger. - overwhelmed by joy she tells river and him and Chauncey go to get a potion that will turn him back to his bipedal form permanently. - so he turns back and after hugging him really hard and him apologizing ( what for though? upsetting her? IDK ask him ) she asks if he wants to go sing with her and he says yes. - they perform and at the almost end of the dance she kisses him, just a light peck but a kiss none the less. - river is semi-heart broken yet had kind of seen it coming for a while now. - and toffee goes beet red as the crowd whistles. - while her mum squeals that her baby had finally found a partner! - END

Notes + extras

- Moon cuts off toffees finger when she was cooking with him at one point but then constantly apologizes for it later, he of course forgives her but she does it anyway and he likes making little jokes and jabs at her about it. - Although when we first see River it looks like he's bad with the cold due to the amount of clothes he's wearing, he is actually really good with the cold and was constantly almost overheating but wanted to impress moon with clothing items that his friends told him were cool. of course they weren't very cool all in one outfit. - when toffee first transformed he got his hair, he doesn't know where from but he thinks there may have been some hair on the floor when he got hit by the potion. - Moon takes star's role as Mina's mud sister since star isn't here in this AU. - cause river was distracted when he was watching moon performance before he knew toffee he didn't see the way they ( moon + toffee ) looked at each other but looking back he can definitely see 'it'.  ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) - due to the potion making toffee human it also increased his regenerative ability from being a lizard to new heights ( for example, if an ant were human sized it would have super strength ) (( no this doesn’t really come into play into the story )) - after the kiss on stage Toffee and moon share another kiss in her dressing room ( nothing like that get your mind out of the gutter! ) - Chauncey was staying with River before he got arrested because when he left the lab scared he brought him so he wouldn't get hurt but then was too shy to give him back to Moon. - Mina calls the police her ' troops ' in reference to the solarian warriors. possibly why no one wants her as mayor...