#Or just to fuck with people because they *saw* Robin go under the cloak but now they're just gone???? Where'd they go????

[puppetmaster13u]

more art for @phoenixcatch7 's Possessed Doll Au I just wanted to sketch him with his stomach hatch open. Who knows what he's doin

[volvolts]

no worries about the rambling! honestly this is super interesting to me as the OP (i have no idea how to find any of the outside materials and try to read about stuff on the wiki a lot instead lol)

after a while of thinking i was starting to think that hunter's backstory was tailored solely for him and i feel like belos probably put a lot of investment into grooming hunter into being his obedient pawn which is also why he probably thought hunter would last the longest. and because hunter was so young, belos had no choice but to claim him as a family member. i dont remember if in the beginning of season 2 hunter being his nephew is open knowledge. the coven scouts didn't even know the golden guard was just a kid

i know all the grimwalkers look different every time theyre made, hence the cloak and mask in case they need to be replaced. i feel like they would look similar to each other, most of them probably having light blonde hair or a hooked nose and all of them would have magenta eyes. i feel like if people never saw the previous golden guard they wouldn't think something was fishy when they see hunter but since darius likely did he was able to piece together that something weird was going on.

one thing that is kind of unrelated i also thought about were how the golden guards ever figured it out. i feel like before belos became emperor it was easier to dispose of them but now that he's a part of a community it would be harder to cover his tracks. would a coven scout have a conversation with the gg about how he likes crows the best and then next week gg says he doesn't remember this convo and he always liked robins? would the gg go to his room and find wood sculptures hidden under the floorboards that he knew for a fact he did not make? would belos had forgotten what information he's told his golden guards and when?

as for before then i feel like unless belos is constantly fucking up all the time or just committing a bajillion atrocities to a point each grimwalker couldn't take it anymore having piles upon piles of bodies is a bit excessive lol. there's only so much of his brother he has to make a grimwalker if we assume he can't salvage them for parts after death

but also thank you for this info and also thank you for everyone putting their insight into this. i had no intention for this to be a criticism on the show it was just a thought i had when i was thinking about it for too long when i was considering how it would "realistically" work plus the identity crisis existential horror aspect is also interesting to me just in general

ok so one thing i cant stop thinking about is that i think that belos should have less grimwalker corspes

not because of downplaying his evilness like even killing one is bad but like. the logistics?? how many grimwalkers did he go through? how many of them with wildly different personalities? appearances? hunter is shown walking around the castle without his garb and the other coven heads KNOW what he looks like. the last golden guard was darius' mentor. was that in secret and he was killed when belos found out or did he allow that?

morever did all of them think they were belos' nephew? hunter was pretty open telling luz about this fact so did every single one say the same thing? they were ALL named hunter after a while so did no one stop to think about that?

[evandarya]

Are you still taking prompts? If so, please consider the following. Danny gets summoned to Gothem by a cult who planned to sacrifice one of the batfam to him. What they were not expecting was for the Ghost King to appear, laying on the ground, curled up under a very warm looking blanket, 80% asleep as he mumbles, "where the fuck am I? Why would you summon me so late at night??"

That's hilarious.

***

Tim hates cultists. They are in the top five of people he hates, beating out door to door evangelists by a slim margin. They were still under people who park their shopping cart diagonally across the aisle. The only reason they are lower on the list is because most cultists didn't learn how to tie a proper knot, but if he can't get free before the high summoner finishes his chant, cultist are going to find themselves moving up on his shit list.

The markings on the floor around Tim started to glow a vivid, toxic green. Freezing wind whipped in a frigid tornado and Tim shivered despite the insulation his Red Robin suit provided. Small ice crystals formed as the humidity in the air froze, the tiny snowflakes getting caught up in the wind, swirling and condensing I center of the circle. Right in front of Tim, and there was nothing he could do to stop whatever the cultists we're summoning from coming. Tim squeezed his eyes tight as a bright flash of white light illuminated the room. Everything stood still. The snowflakes hung in the air like crystals on a wire. At the center of the circle, arms reach from where Tim sat was a soft looking blanket.

The cultists shifted and whispered among themselves. Tim heard bits of hushed conversation, "Where's the ghost king?" "Did you do the spell right?" "Maybe he didn't like the sacrifice?"

Tim was only half listening, because the dark blue, star dotted blanket was moving. First, a gloved hand pushed out from the blanket and shifted it until Tim could see snow white hair, blue skin, and one eye, cracked open just enough for Tim to see the unusual tint of green. The green eyed man, boy? Creature? Looked at him intensely. Tim felt as if his very soul was being weighed.

Whatever this person saw in him must have satisfied him because he turned his attention to the cultists.

"You have a lot of nerve," He said sitting up and singling out the cult leader. "Summoning me this early in the morning to-- where even am I?" He asked, turning back to Tim.

"Gotham city." Tim said.

The beings eyes widened slightly and he turned back to the cult leader. "You summed me to fricking New Jersey in the middle of the night? You had better have a damned good reason."

The cult leader straighted under the attention and addressed the being. "I summoned you, Ghost King. I offer you the vigilante Red Robin as a sacrifice if you will assist in helping me to spread our message of redemption to the world."

The Ghost King floated up from where he had been sitting on the ground and hovered in the air, starry blanket draped over his shoulders like a cloak. "You summoned me to New Jersey," the ghost started, slowly, dangerously. "in the middle of the night during finals week to offer me a sacrifice that isn't yours to offer so I can help you take over the world?" As the ghost spoke the wind started picking up and the temperature dropped. Ice started to crawl across the floor in fractals. The lights flashed and sputtered and the shadows seemed to come alive. An eerie static could be heard , and the very air felt oppressive.

The cult leader was trying to stutter apologies or reasonings, but the ghost wasn't listening. He was advancing slowly, the lines of the sigil on the ground hissed and sputtered as the ghost crossed over them, their magic was as useful as a spiders web at containing the being. The ghost reached the cult leader who fell to his knees, begging and pleading. The being looked down at him, head tilted to the side.

"Boo!"

The cult leader screamed and fell to the ground. All the other cultists took that as their cue to scream and run for the exits.

The ghost didn't chase them, he just watched as they scattered like roaches. Once they were gone he turned his full attention onto him. Tim felt a thrill jolt down his spine as those unusual green eyes stared him down. "Let me help you out of that." He said, floating back over to him. Tim didn't flinch, but he held very still as the ghost phased the ropes off his wrists. "I'm sorry you got roped into my business, Robin, was it?"

"Red Robin." Tim said, stretching his arms out from where they had been stuck behind his back.

"I'm Phantom." The ghost said, offering Tim a hand up, which he accepted. "Is there anywhere around here a ghost can get a cup of coffee? I have a long day." Phantom said. Tim smiled at him.

"I think I know a place."

[fandomwriterstuff]

Rewind

Rick Flag x you

Rated T

~6.5k words (I could not turn it into chapters, it didn't work out right)

Warnings: canon typical violence

I highly recommend listening to this song because it is very epic and I listened to it while I wrote the dramatic end scene.

You were a petty thief, a modern Robin Hood; you stole from the one percent to gave to the needy. And you know what? More often than not, the one percenters never even noticed. And every time you got caught you used your powers to get out of the situation. However, you knew a day was coming when you wouldn’t be able to get out of a nasty situation. A feeling of dread was filling up your nightmares and seeping into your waking life. You were filled with anxiety that your next job would be your last. Of course, it was never an issue with your powers. That is, until it became an issue.

You were doing a job in Gotham, a shitty city if you did say so yourself. Nothing like the country home you grew up in. You knew the ins and outs of the city bank. You knew the guard schedules, you knew the camera angles, you knew the passcodes, you knew which day your target would be inside. Bruce Wayne. Local billionaire who wasted his time and money hosting galas for the rich and famous. You loathed the idea of him. He wouldn’t notice a couple million getting lost in the shuffle. You knew everything that Gotham City Bank had to offer. But what you didn’t know would get you caught and sent to a metahuman prison. What you didn’t know was why you’d been feeling the dread of this job creep up on you for weeks. You had a bad feeling about it, more than the rest. So when you walked in, in disguise, you thought nothing of the exhaustion and weakness that filled your body.

You’d barely slept the night before, so it was normal. And this wasn’t a cash job, it was all wire transfers. But Wayne had to be there for the biometrics to work. Unfortunately, he knew all about your little job. He knew and he had you caught. You were confused, at first, when all you saw when you walked in was an empty bank. It was just the tellers looking at you nervously, but there was a swish behind you and you whipped around, military training coming back to you from your brief time in the army as you took a fighting stance to see… the Batman?

“The Masked Marauder,” he mocked you in his autotuned voice. You scoffed, two could play at that game. You were posing as a man today, trying to throw the trail off of yourself. You turned on your voice modulator and laughed haughtily at him.

“The Batman. Fancy seeing you here,” you were unsure as to how Batman was involved with Wayne Enterprises, but you had no doubt he was there for you.

“Feeling a little weak yet? I can see you straining,” you were on guard as he approached you, coming close enough that you could see the stubble on his chin. If you could turn him around so you were closer to the doors you could use your powers to get out of there and make a quick escape. It was easier to change your own position with your powers and not an entire scene, but you could do it if need be.

But he was onto something. You did feel weak. You were tired, your limbs heavy.

“What did you do to me?” You asked, shifting on your feet but trying to keep the charade up. You were masked and cloaked, but he had a nerve-wracking effect on you.

“It’s new technology. Power blockers at every entrance. You’re powerless inside this place,” at his words you backed up, falling weakly towards the ground as your powers were seeping out of you. You tried to use them to get out of this situation, breath shaking and palms sweaty as the seriousness of the situation dawned on you. You were well and truly screwed.

It was only moments before the GCPD came and fixed you with a power-blocking collar, chaining you up in an armored vehicle and sending you on a long trip to Louisiana. You had no next of kin to notify, no friends to take care of your apartment. You were alone.

Belle Reve was a hell of a place. You were brought in under the cover of nightfall and were only given a brief explanation of the situation. You were in a metahuman prison. You had less rights than normal humans. You were being tried for multiple robberies and the associated injuries that people had gained when fighting back against you. You’d never killed anyone, not since the army, but it didn’t matter. The crimes had stacked up. You were looking at forty years in this place.

When they threw you into the cell you were going to stay in, you were relieved to see there was only one bed and it wasn’t occupied. Solitude, at least, was your friend. You could think. You’d have thought it would be less time in prison since you hadn’t killed anybody, but it didn’t seem like it mattered. You shrugged to yourself. It’s not that you had issues killing people, you were in a special metahuman unit in the army before you became the Masked Marauder. You had a different codename then, but working with them had made you a little crazy. You had to see your close friends and colleagues treated with less respect than dirt because of their metahuman status, and you had to see most of them killed in action. You barely made it out, and you came out with a raging hard on for disrespecting authority figures.

You were only in Belle Reve for six days before you met Harley Quinn.

“Live fast, die hard, baby. You gotta do what you gotta do,” was something you heard a lot out of her smirking mouth. If you were in another life, you’d have been instantly attracted to the beautiful blonde, but you had enough crazy in you to not want any more on your plate. Despite the lack of romance between the two of you, you still got close. “As thick as thieves,” Harley would say with a wry twist to her mouth. She loved puns.

“Chronos?” You whipped your head around at the sound of your military nickname. “What the fuck are you doing here you little slut?” Your eyes widened as you recognized one of your previous teammates. Another bad egg, turned away from the army and towards a life of crime.

“Who’s Chronos?” Harley frowned next to you at the lunch table you were at, she hated not knowing things.

“That’s what they used to call me,” you whispered, standing and facing the other woman. You were small in stature, and the Amazon-like woman towered over you.

“Annie,” you knew she hated being called by her real name. She was one of the cocky ones, thinking metahumans were better than regular old humans.

“You’re wrong,” another voice called. “Chronos is a dude,” that came from Blackguard, a weirdo that you were avoiding. You avoided most people, really.

“Chronos is not a dude,” Annie growled, suddenly looking at the smaller man. “You calling me a liar?”

“I think it’s time for us to get out of here,” Harley dug her fingers into your bicep and pulled you towards the rec yard.

“What’s up with you? You normally love people watching the fights,” you wondered, concerned when Harley passed her favorite guard without saying hi. (It was Colonel Flag, the fucking hottest guard at Belle Reve who you’d definitely formed a crush on. You couldn’t help it, he was compassionate and he didn’t spit on you or throw you around or humiliate you like the other guards.)

“You didn’t tell me you had a super secret past with a cool nickname,” she whisper-shouted when you got to a bench and she could slap you on the arm.

“It didn’t come up,” you shrugged sheepishly.

“What does Chronos even mean?” She asked and you were going to explain, but Colonel Flag sat down at the bench across from you with a warm smile.

“Harley, Y/N, just the two people I wanted to talk to,” he then raised an eyebrow at the bruising grip Harley had on your arm. She let go and he frowned at the angry half moon marks her nails had left there.

“Not now, Ricky,” Harley pouted. “Y/N’s been holding out on me! She has a cool secret life and never told me about it!”

“I doubt you ever asked,” he followed up in a deadpan way and you stifled a chuckle. It was true. She could be forgetful and also unobservant. She didn’t exactly ask you about your life a lot. You thought it might be an act, she did have a PhD, after all.

“She even has a cool nickname. What does Chronos even mean?” She asked again, but side-eyed Colonel Flag when he narrowed his eyes at you.

“Chronos? I thought they called you the Masked Marauder. You’re in here for theft.”

“They must not tell you all the deets,” you raised your eyebrows at the man. “Before I was a criminal I was a part of an elite army group of metahumans. But that went to shit and I’m considered a war criminal in several countries. Never got the pardon for working as a part of the US military because they wanted to keep my unit under wraps,” you frowned. You couldn’t ever leave the country because of it.

“Well you’re not going to like the proposal I have for you, then,” he looked like he was regretting coming over to you and you threw a smile on your face.

“What do you need, Colonel?” You asked, tilting your head, but Harley was bouncing up and down in her seat.

“Oh! Task Force X? Is it a new mission?” She looked so excited you nearly didn’t listen to her words. But you did.

“Task Force X?” You asked him, narrowing his eyes. Maybe that’s why he was so nice to you all this time. He was buttering you up. “I don’t think so. I’m not dying today.”

“You get ten years off of your sentence for every mission you do-” You cut him off.

“You had me at ‘ten years off of your sentence.’ Say no more. I’m in,” you grinned, shark-like, at him. He had the wherewithal to not look confused at your sudden change of heart.

“It’s always fun, like weeding out the weak!” Harley exclaimed as you were ushered out of the briefing with Amanda Waller, a woman who terrified you and chilled you to your core. You felt okay though because Rick was going to be your commanding officer. It had been three weeks since your conversation with him outside in the rec area. Three weeks and your relationship had shifted just enough to make you feel safe in his capable hands. If it wasn’t the genuine human respect he gave you, or the dirty looks and reprimands he gave the guards who manhandled and mistreated you, it was the lingering fingers brushing against your back when he led you places and the warm smile he had just for you.

“Flag,” you smiled softly as you passed him on the plane.

“Chronos,” he smiled back. You knew it was commonplace to call each other by their names (Bloodsport, Blackguard, Chronos, etc), but you felt a twinge of fear. This was your first time using that codename on a real life mission since you left the army. But, when Rick came up with a fancy electronic screwdriver and unhooked your power-dampening collar, you felt such a high. You were ecstatic, your limbs felt light, you felt like you could go a million rounds against Mayweather, you wanted to fuck-

“Am I missing something? Isn’t Chronos a dude?” Blackguard asked, again, and you scowled.

“Chronos is a myth, man. This is clearly just someone with the same name, right?” Boomer nodded towards you and you gave him a tight grin. But before you could respond, Rick did.

“She’s definitely Chronos, and you better hope her powers aren’t mythical,” you grinned at that. He had your back. However, you weren’t sure if you’d be able to save them all if it all went to shit. For several reasons.

You hadn’t used your powers since arriving at Belle Reve, so you didn’t know if you were at 100%

You only had certain amount of power over large situations, so you’d likely only be able to save yourself and a few others

You didn’t care enough about these fuckers and they didn’t care about you. Your priority was to get out alive with Rick and Harley

That’s when Harley made her first appearance to the team. She was apparently good friends with Boomer and you mentally added him to your list to keep alive.

After you set off, things happened quickly for you. You made eye contact with Rick (yes, you were mentally calling him Rick now, because you wanted to fucking date the shit out of him), and made small talk with Harley as Blackguard freaked out about Weasel. But when you dropped and made your way to shore, you stuck close to Rick. He had your back and you had his.

As it turned out, Blackguard had set you all up, giving your location to the enemy and getting his face blown off for his efforts. You watched as your elite team of killers was picked off one by one. Harley had run off and you were panicking that you didn’t have an eye on her. You needed her to get out of this alive.

“Follow me!” Rick shouted, nodding his head towards his intended destination - the forest.

“But Harley and Boomer are-” you shut your mouth as Mongal’s actions finally took their toll on Boomer. But maybe you could fix it, if you could use your powers-

“No, we have to get out of here, or we’re next,” Rick grasped at your arm and dragged you into a full out sprint towards the forest, gunshots echoing behind you. You slapped his hand away once you were deep in the forest, though the sky was darkening you cut your eyes to his.

“Harley is all I have,” you spat.

“She’s my friend too, you know,” he frowned. You’d never used that tone on him before. “She can handle herself,” as much as you were loath to admit it, he was right. She was crazy but she could get out of nearly any situation. You sighed and bent over, hands on your knees as you calmed your breathing.

“I’m sorry for snapping,” you muttered, but you gasped when a sudden pain shot through your right bicep.

“That was a warning shot,” you heard a voice call out in accented English.

“A warning shot?” Rick shouted as he crossed over to you, pulling you close to him and inspecting the wound. It went straight through, but it was bleeding badly. “Warning shots are supposed to be in the ground, not at people,” he spat, considering running but you were in too much pain and losing too much blood. “Don’t use your powers in front of them,” his lips brushed against your ear and you nodded imperceptibly. You wouldn’t want to show your hand.

“Take the colonel,” a woman’s voice called and you glanced at him, wide eyed as they dragged him off of you.

“Hey, hey!” He shouted, reaching out as you fell to your knees, putting pressure on your wound. If you could stifle the bleeding until they left you alone you could use your powers to fix it.

“Leave the girl,” the voice passed by you and you stared at Rick, panicking but unable to stop them as three men held him back and dragged him away. You couldn’t help but think this was the worst case scenario. The enemy was taking your leader but you had lost too much blood to put up a fight.

As the rest of the enemies passed you, you sat back on your heels, but one of them roughly bumped into you, making you lose your grip on your arm. The blood flow was back at full force and the world turned black around the edges. You were alone. You put your left hand face up in front of you, and your right hand an inch above it face down. Your hands were parallel to each other and you tried to gather your strength to use your powers, but you couldn’t. You hadn’t used them in so long and you had lost a lot of blood. The last thought you had before you lost consciousness was of Rick’s panicking face.

You awoke to gentle hands cleaning your wound with what you assumed was water and opened your eyes when you felt a tight bandage wrapping around your arm. It was a young girl, younger than you.

“Good morning, sleeping beauty,” she smiled softly.

“She’s awake?” A gruff voice came from behind you and you craned your neck to see a team of people behind you.

“Let’s get going then” another man said. “You patched her up, she can go on her own from here.”

“Who are you?” You asked the girl.

“We’re the Suicide Squad,” the dark skinned man growled. “Here to collect our Colonel.”

“No,” you sat up, quietly thanking the girl for patching you up. “I’m a part of the Suicide Squad,” you squinted in the early morning darkness. Was that… DuBois?

“Bloodsport?” You asked cautiously. Were these all other prisoners from Belle Reve?

“Who are you?” The guy in red and white asked you… Was that Peacemaker?

“They call me Chronos, but you might know me as the Masked Marauder,” you spoke cautiously.

“The thief? Why would they have a thief on a mission like this?” Peacemaker asked and you shrugged.

“My powers are useful for other things.”

“Chronos is a myth though, right?” A smaller man walked over to you, in a suit you didn’t recognize.

You shook your head. But that wasn’t the point, you had picked up on something DuBois had said.

“You’re looking for the Colonel?” You stood and approached the group, which apparently included a shark man.

“Yup, Colonel Flag was taken by enemies and is alive at their camp. He is our first mission,” DuBois spoke and you nodded.

“I’m coming with you. Colonel Flag helped me get out of the bloodbath at the beach. The enemy camp people shot me and took him away,” you frowned at the thought and the girl - Ratcatcher 2, she had specified - gasped.

“Why didn’t they take you, too?” She asked.

“I think they knew I wasn’t important. They noticed immediately that Flag was a military officer and took him away.” Likely to be tortured, you thought to yourself but didn’t say aloud.

“Well, let’s get going then,” Peacemaker said brightly and the group of you made your way to the enemy camp. You were lost in your thoughts on the way there. You weren’t sure whether or not you would kill anybody. Maybe hurt them or knock them out. You hadn’t killed since your time with the military. But they’d taken Rick and left you for dead. So you had very little qualms hurting them.

Turns out, it didn’t matter. Bloodsport and Peacemaker made what was almost a competition out of who could kill the most people in the sneakiest ways, but it got bloodier and bloodier as the rest of you approached the glowing tent. You heard laughter and glanced in, borrowed gun pointed in as you parted the flaps of the tent. But you immediately put your gun down. Rick was shirtless and all patched up, laughing with a woman who you’d seen the dark of the night before. You couldn’t help the rising feeling of jealousy, you’d never have that with Rick. The easy jokes, the equal ground. You were a prisoner, and you would likely die as one. But you couldn’t help the breathy “Rick,” that came out of your mouth when you realized that he was okay, and he wasn’t being tortured by enemies. He snapped his head over to you and stood.

“You’re okay,” he made his way over to you in three long strides, as if he couldn’t wait to be near you, and your heart swelled at the thought.

“So are you,” you whispered, and took a moment to look him over and let your body sag a little. You’d been so worked up that you had barely felt the pain of your wound.

“I didn’t know you were important to each other, I wouldn’t have let them shoot you,” the woman sort of apologized with a half smile and stood. “Let me get you something for the pain.”

It was then that she noticed the very silent camp, commented on it, and that’s when you looked down at your feet. Whoops, you’d let Bloodsport and Peacemaker kill an entire camp of rebels. People who were technically on your side. Waller had given you bad information.

Rick brushed a hand down your good arm and gently held you, pressing his thumb into your elbow as if making sure you were okay, that your pulse was strong.

“I was so worried,” he muttered, and you were sure only you heard it.

“So was I,” you looked up into his eyes, and if there wasn’t an audience, you would have kissed him then and there. Alas, you had another mission. Well, two. The first was to get the Thinker. The second one was to get Harley, and that was a plan you were ready for. You were down to clown, as Harley might say. As long as you had Rick by your side, you could do anything you set your minds to.

The Thinker would be frequenting one of his favorite bars, and as you left the shark dude in the bus you felt yourself relaxing a little upon entry. You knew bars. You knew how to blend in. You glanced over your shoulder, you couldn’t say the same for your teammates. So, you slinked away and found your way to the bar. The leader of the rebel camp provided you with a pair of stretchy black skinny jeans and a MCR band t-shirt. You’d fought harder battles in more confined clothing, so this wasn’t too bad.

“Una cerveza, por favor,” you spoke fluently. You grew up in the country, but your family was affluent and taught you several languages so that you could travel safely and easily.

The bartender smiled and grabbed you a bottle, and you watched the team gather around a table. They stuck out horribly, and you shook your head. Maybe with a few drinks in them they would loosen up, you watched as Peacemaker ordered drinks and nursed your own. You used to like drinking with friends, but other than Rick (and the missing Harley) you didn’t consider these people your friends. You had a tentative relationship with the Ratcatcher 2, and you were beginning to begrudgingly like Bloodsport. But, Polka-Dot Man freaked you out, Nanaue had the English understanding of a kindergartener, and Peacemaker was a dick.

“You going to join the team?” You failed to notice Rick coming over to you, and rolled your eyes, taking a sip as you mulled over your answer.

“Only if they start looking more interesting. You look like a bunch of tourists. I’d like to gather intel,” you scrunched up your nose at Rick and sipped at your beer.

“Yeah, you really look like you’re gathering intel, darlin’,” it was Rick’s turn to roll his eyes. “Sitting here, sipping on a beer and staring at us.”

You scoffed. How dare he call you out. But it was true, you were busy judging the team to actually get any good information.

“Fine, I’ll join you,” you swigged the last of your beer and glanced at the bartender. “¡Uno más!” You exclaimed, and the man smiled at you before grabbing you another ice cold bottle.

“You speak Spanish?” Rick raised an eyebrow at you.

“I speak a lot of languages,” you shrugged and took a swig of the drink before making your way to the now empty table. It seemed like your compatriots decided to go dancing. That left you with Rick.

“Oh yeah, and how did you come to know so many?” He seemed genuinely interested, though you were hesitant to talk about your past.

“My parents were diplomats and wanted me to be able to travel with them, so they had me learn Spanish, French, German, and Russian by the best tutors money could offer,” you shrugged, sort of stilted, at his curious glance.

“And I thought you were a thief because you were poor,” he shook his head with a smile. “Waller has very little info on you so I wasn’t sure.”

“My parents were cruel, and utilized their money to help bad people get into power,” you looked down at your lap. “I resent the things they taught me. And I tried my best to right the wrongs that people like them did.”

Rick sobered up and placed a hand on your arm.

“I’m sorry, Y/N,” he frowned and brushed his thumb over your skin. “I knew a little bit about your thievery and who you robbed and why, but it makes sense now. You were trying to help. I get it,” he sighed and took a sip of his drink while you downed yours. You hated talking about your family. You wanted to move on to something else. Anything else.

“I don’t want to talk about me anymore,” you sighed, brushing your hair out of your face and looking up into those beautiful eyes.

“What would you like to talk about then?” he whispered, not willing to break the reverie you were in. You were close, closer than you should be.

“I want to talk about you, Colonel,” you smirked and placed a delicate hand on his thigh. He dragged his eyes from that hand slowly up to your face.

“What do you wanna know, beautiful?” He smirked and blinked those pretty eyes at you. You’d both had too much to drink. It was a little scary making the first move, but you found him incredibly attractive and you were 99% sure he returned your feelings.

“I want to know,” you leaned in close, your lips brushing against his ear. “What those lips would feel like against mine,” you wondered aloud, and his sharp inhale was all you had to go on before a gentle hand was turning your face to his. The kiss was gentle, tentative even, but that’s not what you wanted. You wanted everything that Rick Flag could give you and you tightened your grip on his thigh, hoping to convey your thoughts, when everything went to shit. Peacemaker jerked Rick away from you and Cleo pulled you towards a darkened corner of the room.

“They’re asking for IDs,” she hissed, pulling you towards where you saw Abner had the Thinker.

“But what about-” she shushed you as you glanced back, making strained eye contact with Rick. Maybe you could use your powers to get out of this. But… You looked at the Thinker. This was the mission. You looked back at Rick. Would you get your brains blown out to save him?

You made your way to the exit, finding your way to the van and getting out of there. You were only vaguely paying attention while you were in pursuit of the truck holding your … friends? You panicked for a moment when it crashed, and when you pulled to a stop you sprinted out of the van and over to the fiery wreckage, thoughts racing about what could have happened to Rick when he, Bloodsport, and Peacemaker burst through the doors like some sort of boy band.

You couldn’t care less though as you threw yourself into his surprised arms and pressed your lips to his.

“That was stressful and I didn’t like it,” you muttered against his lips, barely noticing Bloodsport rolling his eyes.

“I don’t know,” Rick smiled and pulled away to look down at you. “This is pretty nice.”

You scoffed and grabbed at his hand, not willing to let go just yet, and dragged him to your vehicle.

“Shut it,” you muttered as you all gathered. All he responded with was a light chuckle.

Your next mission was saving Harley, but as it turned out, she was no damsel. You were on your way into the place she was being held when she walked down the street towards you.

“Hey, guys! Whatcha doin?” She was smiling brightly and you rolled your eyes at the situation before hugging her.

“We’re here to save you, obviously,” you muttered and she looked from you over your shoulder to Rick.

“You came back for me?” She whispered and Rick came over to you, Bloodsport rolling his eyes in the background.

“Yeah, it was a really good plan, too,” Rick muttered, but still hugged back when Harley threw herself into his arms.

“Well I can go back in and let you save me,” she offered and you couldn’t help but laugh.

“Not necessary, Harley. Now that we have you we can get back to the mission,” you patted her on the back and nodded to the rest of your team.

Now, you could say that you acted heroically and saved the day, but you and your ragtag team… You were amateur heroes. It was a shitshow. You were setting up explosives with Nanaue when you had that bad feeling again. The one you had when you were going into that bank in Gotham. Maybe it was your intuition, but you knew some shit was about to go down.

“Keep at it!” You shouted at the King Shark and raced your way down the stairs to where Peacemaker and Rick were headed. If you remembered their part of the plan correctly, they were with the Thinker, but something went wrong when you were about halfway down.

“Fuck!” You shouted as you heard a great BOOM. They’d set off the explosives too early. Maybe you should have stayed… You looked up at the dust coming down from above. Your brain was telling you to get out before the building collapsed on you, but your gut was telling you to make it to Rick.

“Fuckfuckfuck,” you chanted as you raced down the stairwell, crumbling concrete raining down as you danced around to avoid it. Your stomach cramped in warning, and you crouched into a ball as the floor beneath you gave out and you fell several floors. When your falling came to a halt you took stock. There was rubble above you, but not crushing you. Your breathing was heavy and your heart raced as you clawed your way towards the fluorescent lighting. You grunted and groaned as your fingernails cracked and your fingers bloodied, but you were not about to die here.

You crawled out into the open and peered through the dark, dusty hallway. You didn’t see anybody, but you heard a scuffle and made your way towards the grunting and smashing sounds. The alarm bells started going off in your brain again, and you started running. Your feet pounded against the jagged edges of concrete on the ground but you didn’t stop. You whipped your pistol out when you came to the source of the sounds, but you froze.

Your eyes took in the scene very quickly, and you knew there was a decision to be made. You saw Cleo’s figure in the dark corner, eyes shining in the dusty haze. The others hadn’t seen her yet. At first glance, Rick was atop Peacemaker, and your initial thought was that he was winning this fight. But his eyes, wide and shocked, locked onto yours for merely a moment before he collapsed forward, a dead weight, and all of your breath left your body.

You also saw Peacemaker’s eyes shoot to a computer chip that had scattered across the floor right before you came in. Right before they shot over to you.

But you knew this: Peacemaker didn’t know who you were. He had no clue what you were capable of. He roughly pushed Rick’s body off of himself, but you were faster.

You put your hands in front of you, parallel to each other, and green mist started swirling around between them. You hadn’t had to use your powers to alter a scene this big or intense before, usually just using them on your own body, but you could do this. For Rick.

Suddenly everything slowed down, Peacemaker was still lying on the ground, Rick was face-first in the rubble, and Cleo was crouched in the dark, hand reaching out to the chip.

But you were alive as your powers raced through you. You had seen yourself in a mirror once as you used your powers, and you could imagine how you looked to them. Glowing green veins covered your skin as you altered the fabric of the universe itself. A wind picked up in the room, swirling in tandem with the green mist in your hands. You only needed a few moments. You didn’t need to go back and stop the fight, you just had to stop Peacemaker. You contorted your fingers and molded the green mist to your liking before throwing your arms wide, the green mist expanding to encapsulate yourself and the two men. You didn’t need to include Cleo, she wasn’t involved. The wind whipped around, the green mist blinding everyone but you, and things started to go into motion.

It would all happen very quickly for everyone involved. Just a rewind. But for you, you had to painstakingly watch as Rick’s body rose above Peacemaker, and you had to watch as the ceramic in his heart was drawn out. You had handcrafted this reality and you were forced to watch as your handiwork took place. But you had gotten to the moment you needed. They were near the end of the fight, Peacemaker had slammed Rick into a wall, and with a wave of your hand, the mist disappeared and everything was clear.

“Wait, what?” Peacemaker shot his eyes over to you, but he was too slow in his understanding. You had already whipped your pistol out of its holster and shot him twice in the throat. He grasped at his, trying to stifle the bleeding and crumpling to the ground, but your eyes were focused on Rick. A very shocked, but very alive Rick.

“What did you do?” He asked, and you weren’t sure if that was disgust or wonder in his voice, so you turned, walked slowly over to Cleo (who had witnessed the whole thing through a haze of green), and picked up the chip.

“I believe you were looking for this?” You asked, holding it out in front of yourself to him. He gulped, walking over to you, but your strength was draining from with a display of your powers. When he pulled the chip out of your hand and tucked it into your utility belt, you wavered, edges of your vision darkening as you slowly knelt to the ground.

“What are you doing, we need to get out of here?” Cleo shouted at you, but you waved her off.

“I just need to sit for a moment,” but your voice came out as a hoarse whisper.

“No you don’t,” Rick hauled you up by your armpits and lifted you into his arms, princess-style. “Let’s get out of here,” he muttered and followed Cleo out of the rubble and into the daylight. You squinted, the bright sun blinding you after being underground for so long.

“Shit,” you muttered, shoving your face into Rick’s neck to avoid the light.

“So,” he sounded very casual and you tensed up. “I really thought you weren’t going to use your rewind powers at all, what happened to make you use them?” You bit your lip, not sure what to say.

“Peacemaker killed you,” Cleo answered for you and Rick stopped walking. You winced and looked up at his face.

“I panicked,” you whispered, not sure how he was going to react. But when he turned his head to face you, it was as if he was looking at you for the first time.

“You saved my life?” He asked and it was your turn to gulp.

Okay, so maybe you had feelings for Rick. You knew that. He was a hot piece of ass, and he was kind, and he respected you. And you kissed at the bar and after the van chase. So he definitely knew you liked him. But did he know your feelings were deep enough to save his life and endanger your own in the process? Well… Now he did.

“Yeah, well, I didn’t want to lose you to that prick,” you tried to shrug it off, but Rick gently let your legs fall and your feet touch the ground. You weren’t sure what was happening until he reached out and pulled you into the warmest, most all-encompassing hug you had ever experienced.

“Thank you, Y/N,” he whispered into your hair, and you let yourself sigh and sink into the hug.

“Yeah well now you owe me one,” you muttered jokingly, trying to slightly ease the seriousness of the situation. He squeezed you tightly once more before pulling away and smirking.

“Anything you want, you can have,” he smiled that sunlight-bright smile at you and you blinked at him once before returning his smile.

“You can take me on a date once I’m out of prison, how does that sound?” You asked and his smile widened.

“I can do that.”

“That might be a lot sooner than you think,” Bloodsport had walked over to you and (you assumed) Cleo had explained everything to him. You blinked.

What did he mean by that?

Apparently he meant he was going to threaten Waller and keep the information hostage. It wasn’t exactly what Rick wanted, but he got out with his life, and you didn’t have to go back to prison. You were thinking about it as you settled into your new apartment, only two weeks after fighting Starro and killing Peacemaker, your first kill in years.

You were sitting on your comfy couch watching reruns of Adventure Time when Rick called you.

“Hey,” you answered warmly, and smiled at his voice when he responded.

���Hey, yourself. What’s up?” You drew a blanket over your lap and muted the TV.

“Just relaxing. What’s up with you?”

“I was thinking, how about I take you on that date tonight? I’ll pick you up at seven?” If your instincts were correct, and they usually were, he was nervous about it. He was unsure you would actually want him, considering how sheltered and uneven your relationship had been before. You were quick to dispel that.

“That sounds lovely, Rick,” you couldn’t help but bite your lip in anticipation when he hung up a few minutes later. You also couldn’t help the excited squeal you let out and the little dance you did. Things were finally falling into place.

[imonthinice]

The Criminal Psychology Majors, Jason Todd x Fem!Reader Part 21/?

Word Count: 1.5k

Author's Note: Y/N - Your name

Hello! I'm back! Time for drama!

Idk if this is coming out at the right time, I deadass forgot what day it is and ughughughyh

Warnings: Swearing, Discussion of Mental Illness (undiagnosed), Injury Description, Taunting, Attempted Gaslighting, Attempted Manipulation, Kidnapping, No beta bitch we die like Jason Todd (I've missed saying that<3)

(Part 1) (Part 2) (Part 3) (Part 4) (Part 5) (Part 6) (Part 7) (Part 8) (Part 9) (Part 10) (Part 11) (Part 12) (Part 13) (Part 14) (Part 15) (Part 16) (Part 17) (Part 18) (Part 19) (Part 20) (Part 21)

Jason was stumbling over his words after telling Y/N that days were blurring together. When a decently loud crash was heard from the lower level of the Wayne Manor. Jason perked up, getting up and trying to stop Y/N from following him down the stairs.

Which was too late. When they turned to go down the hallway, they were both whacked off the back of their heads. Knocking the two of them out almost instantly. Y/N took a few seconds to catch up to Jason in being out, catching a glimpse of the fight going on down the hall. She thought it was Stephanie trying her best to fight off her attacker. But soon enough her vision blurred and blacked.

She fumbled herself awake in the room. She couldn't even take away anything from the room, it was just sawing and turning colours in front of her. She didn't notice anything in the room, the lights were blinding, she didn't even know if it was lighting.

"You're awake," she said.

And then it clicked. That was Aria's voice.

----------------------------------------

Days before the kidnapping of the Waynes.

Aria sat in her office. Clutching the book her twin gave her for Christmas. It was a journal, with details talking about the schedules of the Waynes. If only Y/N had known that the journal she lovingly gave her sister would end up the way it would.

She had doodles, floor plans, schedules. Everything. She wrote it all down from extensive stalking of the Waynes. She was not going to fail at kidnapping the Waynes. She was going to do it, get the ransom from Bruce, and possibly meet heroes. She was going to fight everyone to death who tried to rescue them.

She knew the morning after a Wayne Gala that the entire family would be off-guard. She knew they owned weapons from the fact of the attacks from September. So she had to catch them fully off-guard to pull off their plan.

She looked at her mask. She knew her sister had seen the mask, the cloak. She was still considering off-handedly that she should revamp it all, make it so her sister couldn't call her out. Maybe add a voice changer? She really didn't know.

If it came down to it, if she had the time, she would do it. If not, she would just hope that her sister didn't recognise anything. Crazy? Yes, she was. The brightest lightbulb in the box? Not a chance.

She went over her plans again, adding them to the massive board she already had of the Waynes. The red lines linking all of them, the paparazzi photos. She didn't realise she was that crazy. She didn't realise that she was that much of a cliche.

She thought this was normal. She thought this obsession was okay. She looked at the photos on the wall and the red lines thinking that this was perfect.

She didn't think her sister would even be bad at her for this. She thought her sister would understand, she would get it. She would forgive her and move on. She would understand her need to get close and with the vigilantes and the heroes. She would understand the need to befriend the villains and crooks.

She would. Aria swore she would.

She heard of the Wayne Gala occurring in a few days. She would prepare her weapons when she found out. Shine her scythe. Polish her guns. Polish her daggers. Clean her cloak. Only touch her mask with gloves on. Hour barely appeared in the sight of the vigilantes. They knew she was planning something.

She hoped that fact would make them come for her further.

"Ma'am?" one of her goblins asked.

"Yes. What do you want."

"Lexcorp is hiring," they shook.

"And? Relevance."

"Alter ego, ma'am."

"Noted."

"Ma'am?"

"Get... out!" she screeched.

"Yes ma'am," they said as they hurriedly closed her door.

Yelling was normal for the army she led. She would yell at them at any moment. For no reason.

She thought this was normal, too. She didn't realise people didn't yell at each other for no reason. She was raised to be yelled at. Y/N and Aria were always yelled at.

Y/N used the yelling to turn herself for the better. She thought of it as good parenting that she wouldn't replicate, ever, but she understood it.

Aria had a god complex. She only felt like she was worth it for 30 minutes of the day. And those 30 minutes were thrown into her work as Hour. She refused to work unless she was feeling her best, but if she was planning on kidnapping the Waynes, she'd have to learn to fake it.

Fake it all, fake nothing, fake everything. She was going to do what she wanted, maybe she'd extend those few and fatal 30 minutes of power into hours, into days. She didn't want to feel like this anymore.

She thought about how she was going to kidnap her own sister, her own flesh and blood, and possibly hurt her.

She pushed those thoughts away.

She refused to acknowledge the pain she was going to cause. She hoped there was none.

Y/N would understand, right?

---------------------------------------------

Aria groaned, getting up in her childhood room, the one she shared with Y/N. She blinked and tried to cling to her sleep, but to no avail. She was visiting their parents.

She looked over to Y/N's side. Her favourite colour painted the walls she had, all the woods matched. It looked far less messy than Aria's side. She figured it was because she was mentally ill, but not Y/N. But then she thought she wasn't mentally ill, and that Y/N was. Aria couldn't be mentally ill, she was doing the right thing.

The thought still pained her. In a few days, she'd be putting out a ransom for her sister in the news. She'd be threatening her life. She'd be putting her under stress and their parents under stress. If she was caught-

No, she thought. No chance.

----------------------------------------

Present-day.

"Aria?" Y/N questioned, basically in disbelief.

"Shut up!" Aria boomed back at her, "You," she said, lifting up Y/N's head with her long claws. "You are my prized possession."

"Prized," she echoed back.

"Don't worry, love," she said. Y/N winced, she knew her sister called her that. She didn't want to think this was her sister. "You will be just fine. If your parents pay up, that is."

"My parents don't-"

"Did I say you could speak?!"

She shut up. Fuck, she thought. Fuck this. Fuck you. I know that's you, Aria. If you can hear me, I hope you rot.

She didn't even know if that was how she felt. Her brain was spinning, like someone put her on a merry-go-round and left her there, to pick up the pieces. She didn't know how to pick up the pieces of her broken heart. She didn't want this to be her sister, her flesh and blood, the person she shared a womb, a room, parents, cousins, aunts, uncles- she didn't want it to be true!

"Maybe you want to know why I'm doing this," Aria asked the air while pulling Y/N's head up again. "Well, love.

"This is what happens when you date a rich man.

"This is what happens when you flip off the press.

"This is what happens when you find yourself wrapped up in the mess known as the Justice League Association, do you know who they are?

"Of course you don't. They're Batman, The Flash, Green Arrow, Superman, Green Lantern, Martian Manhunter, Wonder Woman, Black Canary, Aquaman and more.

"And their proteges, oh my God! Their proteges! You have Nightwing, Red Hood, Red Robin, Robin, Batgirl, Spoiler, Orphan.

"And then Kid Flash and Impulse.

"Arrowette and Speedy.

"Superboy, Supergirl.

"Miss Martian.

"Wondergirl and Artemis.

"Aqualad.

"These people, my dear. These people are my nemeses. And I want them gone!" she maniacally laughed, "Dead! All of them!"

"You're... You're Insane!"

"So be it!" she yelled back, striking Y/N's face with her claws. The blood running down her cheek along with her tears. "If I'm insane, then at least I get paid!"

She laughed and left the room.

And there Y/N was, alone in a room where she couldn't even make out details, with blood running down her face. While she was aware that her attacker may even be her little sister. She was terrified. Petrified. Scared.

She wondered where the Waynes were, maybe they were all together? So that she could use them for ransom, maybe she couldn't use Y/N for ransom, so she was left alone in the room.

She wanted to know if they were all safe. Jason and she had only been dating for 6 months, but she did care- love- every member of the Wayne family so much. And she knew that most of the kids struggled with mental illnesses.

She knew them being alone would be detrimental to their mental health.

She also knew that she had no way, no way, of getting to any of them.

[anothertimdrakestan]

Light Of My Life Pt.2 Jason Todd x Reader

Words: 2.5k

Requested? Yes! From a lovely returning anon!

“I’m the anon who requested the avenger reader and ......... *chefs kiss* *chefs kiss* *chefs kiss* It’s so good! i love the readers powers and how they get sparky when they’re happy! I always thought that captain America and tony stark and Natasha and everyone else would be protective of the reader so I wonder what would happen if she introduced Jason to the avengers? Do you think they’d find out that he was red hood? (And they’d keep it a secret but maybe then they’d be REALLY protective)”

LINK TO PROMPTS  -> REQUESTS ARE STILL OPEN!

HI AGAIN IM SO GLAD YOU’RE BACK LOVE!!! We been knew I love me a good protective family and Jason sooooo my beautiful anon you did it again! Chef’s kisses right back at you angel <333 Because you liked the happy sparks let me show you what happens when all the emotions come out to play.... mwahahahaha CHECK OUT PT 1 HERE!

“Fuck no.” 

You rolled your eyes at your boyfriend as he pouted. “Hey I met your family you have to meet mine!” you chided, Jason had been reluctant to meet the other Avengers. The last time he’d ever met one besides you was as Robin pre-death when Stark came to visit Bruce Wayne and Iron Man visited Batman. The two never really got along and since Jason idolized Bruce he hadn’t been the kindest to Stark. 

You’d only recently learned this when you told the other Avengers why you always wanted to be in Gotham. Cap was happy you’d found a friend, he understood the necessity of having a person you can talk to and rely on, and he missed his person so he wished you the best. To say Stark was pissed was an understatement. Not only was he secretly rooting for you and Spidey to get together but he always got a bad taste in his mouth thinking about the Wayne family. “No” was his only reply and you had to give him the “even though you’re my father figure and my boss you don’t control my personal life” speech which ended in a hug and some cursing under his breath. To your surprise Peter was equally upset and said next time you went to Gotham he needed to meet this elusive, powerless, gun wielding, Jason.

And just like that here you were in Gotham, wrapping in your boyfriend’s arms, trying to convince him to come meet the “A-list” as he called them. “You’re going Jay. Maybe you can bring Tim he loves the Avengers he’d die to meet them!” you cooed, knowing Jason would agree because he never wanted to tell you no. Jason knew how excited you were, he could feel the light shocks that danced on your skin as he held you. Begrudgingly he agreed. You had decided it would be better to meet as your human personas rather than stir up the media with an Avengers visit to Gotham. 

“Hey gorgeous” Jason grinned as you gave him a spin in one of your favorite outfits, beyond excited to introduce him to the people who were your family you rushed over to him. As you toyed with his t-shirt collar you admired his appearance, Jason was fashionable in the lowkey, vibey kind of fashion, it was perfect, and undeniably attractive. You could tell he was trying to hide his nerves, he gripped your hand tighter than normal and fidgeted slightly, he knew these people were your home and you could tell he wanted to make a good impression even if he wouldn’t admit it.

You’d invited them to your now shared apartment with Jason. The two of you had spent a while cleaning and prepping for guests and the apartment was spotless. Getting the text from Stark that him, Peter, and Natasha were headed up and you saw the three of them cloaked in jackets and hats entering the main lobby. Giving Jason’s hand a squeeze you gave him a quick peck on the cheek and a reassuring looking. Jason leaning into your embrace whispered “it’ll go fine” and you couldn’t tell if he was saying it to himself or you. Almost on cue there was a loud knock and before you could get to the door Tony burst in with Natasha and Peter following. “WHERE IS HE!” Tony yelled and you rushed over grinning. “Shut up Stark behave yourself!” he brought you into a quick hug before looking at Jason. “Hello Todd” he said, Jason looked a little shocked that Tony had either remembered from those years ago or had done his research. Jason stuck out a hand feigning confidence and Tony took it strongly. 

Inviting everyone in you all sat cooly around the living room. As you talked with Natasha about recent events and living in Gotham you noticed that Jason looked afraid to touch you, sitting rigid next to you. Glancing over you saw him getting death stares from Peter and Tony anytime he moved a muscle. “The two of you stop it!” you chided, grabbing Jason’s hand and realizing it was slightly shaking. “I expect it from Mr. Father Figure but really Parker?” you quipped as he shrugged in agreement. 

You could feel your aura radiate with annoyance and Peter and Tony looked taken aback. “Hey Sparky- Y/N it’s fine” Jason looked embarrassed at his use of one of his many nicknames. “Dude you use electric puns too!” Peter looked excited as he told Jason about some of his favorites. As the two bonded you groaned when Peter said “DUDE LIGHTNING MCQUEEN IS SUCH A GOOD ONE!” and went in for a high five over your embarrassment. Tony broke the bro-moment, “So Jason Todd, second Robin, heard you died. Haven’t seen you in a bit do you prefer Todd or Hood?” Jason gulped, straightening up as he squeezed your hand. “Um, Todd is fine, yeah I did and it was really hard but I have Y/N and she’s really been amazing and also yes I was Robin when I saw you a long time ago and you totally already know that but yeah” he took in a deep breath as Tony processed his answers. Turning to you he asked “and he’s nice to you? Good friend? Good lover? No ring yet right? I learned the hard way waiting too long isn’t great but you better not rush this kid” you rolled your eyes hearing the same line of questioning as always. “Tony shut the hell up” Natasha interrupted. “Look, Jason’s whole body is angled to Y/N, he’s holding her hand through the sparks and probably shocks, he hasn’t gotten angry at your dumb overprotective dad moments, and everytime one of them looks at the other they calm down a little more. They’re in love Tony leave them be.” Tony starred in silence before standing up, drawing in a breath you could feel Jason tense. “Alright then I approve. Let’s get this party started! You guys got booze?” 

A couple drinks in an everyone was best friends with everyone. You and Peter weren’t of age yet so you both skipped but Tony was definitely nicer a couple drinks in, and Jason was a lot less tense even though he wasn’t drinking, determined to stay sober to answer any questions he was asked. Peter still looked like he didn’t trust Jason but you couldn’t help but grin as you watched the only father figure you’d ever had bond with your boyfriend. You finally felt like you had a family, it was perfect. 

Perfect until Peter Parker got attacked. 

As you frantically zapped through light posts you heard Jason on his bike behind you. Tony and Natasha didn’t want to alert the press with two of the most prominent Avengers being seen in Gotham and after a couple drinks they decided to let you and Jason take the lead. So as Red Hood and Y/H/N took to the Gotham streets after Clayface who had engulfed a terrified Peter Parker, Black Widow and Iron Man watched from above. 

You zapped in front of Clayface, your skin practically sizzling. “you!” ZAP “are!” ZAP “interrupting!” ZAP “my!” ZAP “DAY!!!” you screeched, letting out all the anger and stress pent up from the day. Unfortunately, your electricity didn’t have much effect on a giant piece of dirt, so you went for keeping it’s attention while Jason fiddled with some explosives. 

You zapped around the scene, being careful not to let Clayface get a hand on you for fear of him trying to engulf you too. You could barely hear Jason, cursing yourself for leaving you comm somewhere in the apartment but you could make out “Y/H/N it’s ready but Peter’s in there!” from Jason. “Shit alright I’m going in I guess!” you called, unsure if your powers would even work inside of Clayface. With a deep breath you ran straight ahead, preparing for whatever came next when a figure shoved you out of the way. Instinctively you shot into a lamp post for safety when you saw Red Hood press the button for the explosives and dive into Clayface. Once you realized he just sacrificed his life for yours appeared on the pavement screaming for Jason. Lightning cracked above you as you cried out amid the explosion. At the peak of the explosion everything you felt was too much, needing to know if Jason was okay and it Peter was still alive you felt stuck to the ground. Letting out a guttural scream you gave up trying to hold everything in. The lightning dissipated as you felt your energy connect to every current in Gotham. As the smoke cleared you saw a pile of Clay and no Red Hood and your heart snapped in half. Sinking to your knees you felt the power of every light in Gotham and it was too much. As your tears poured you needed the pain to stop, it had to stop, you’d lost everything. 

And then it did. No more sparks, no more current, no more emotion, no more pain. 

Your eyes fell out of focus as you stared ahead. You didn’t see two figures emerged from behind the corner of a building. Your eyes were blurry and you felt numb, unable to recognize the voice of Jason as he called out for you. Everything was quiet and muted, no buzzing from the streetlights or vibrations from cell towers, you felt disconnected, lost. Slowly blinking, thoughts of your past boyfriend jolted through you so quickly you couldn’t comprehend the fact that he was right in front of you. His voice sounded like a faint whisper calling for you. A different reality almost. You felt yourself get lifted into the air, off the ground and into someone’s embrace. 

This embrace carried you home. Home. That was your apartment. With Jason. But he was gone and someone had brought you home, setting you softly on the couch.

“What the fuck happened to Y/N” Jason pleaded Tony who looked just as confused. “I think she’s in shock, maybe she didn’t have her comm in and didn’t hear the plan for rescuing Peter then dealing with Clayface?” Tony whispered as he looked at you as you stared at a wall, tears slowly cascading down your cheeks. Natasha squatted next to you, waving a hand in front of your face. “She’s in shock but we need to shock her out of it, anyone got a spark?” Tony quickly reprogrammed part of his suit to deliver a fair amount of voltage into your body. Taking a deep breath Jason just wanted to hold your hand but he knew that was not going to be safe until you woke up. As everyone stood back Tony counted down “One, Two - ”

Suddenly you felt the connection again, it jolted through you and danced on your skin, you felt the humming of the fan in your apartment. Your apartment, you were home. Home. Home is with Jason, and you could feel him next to you. Jason, was, home. Safe.

“JASON YOU IDIOT WHAT WERE YOU THINKING YOU FUCKING DIED AGAIN!” you bolted up and began wailing on his chest, shocking everyone around you at your burst of, well, energy. Without thinking Jason just pulled you into his chest, swaying slightly back and forth you melted into his grip. “Y/N baby Stark thought your comm was on like mine and we thought you knew the plan, you were making a good diversion and everything” Jason explained. “Then Parker and I come out after the big boom and you’re like completely zoned out. Like even the sky was clear, and your eyes didn’t have the little sparkle they always have, we thought you’d lost it or something” he rambled as you finally put the pieces together. Glancing up at him you whispered “so you’re okay?” and he nodded, giving you a reassuring smile. “You can’t get rid of me that easily Sparky” you found comfort in the nickname that was slowly growing on you. 

After a cup of tea and some relaxation you were feeling a lot better. Peter was impressed at how quickly Jason thought on his feet and that he’d put himself in danger to save him and was a lot happier with your relationship. You’d told him about Tim and how well the two nerds would get along so he tagged along with Stark who was out meeting Bruce and trying to explain why there had been an explosion and Avenger sighting in his city, and Natasha used her expertise to know it was time for you and Jason to have some alone time, so she headed out as well. 

Now you were resting in Jason’s arms as he toyed with your hair. Breaking the silence you admitted “I think I severed my powers when I thought you died” and Jason looked up, his face asking you for more. Delving into some of your own truths you admitted “I always knew my powers were emotion driven. Like our kiss that one night. And I knew there was a reason that I have to keep some energy inside and reign it in, but now I know that releasing it all doesn’t explode, it makes me implode on myself. Like the energy I use is raw emotion and when I thought you were gone it hurt too much and I cut it off” you sighed, enjoying the feeling of letting it off your chest. You could’ve sworn Jason slyly wiped a tear away before pulling you in close as he too sighed. “I think you’re right Y/N but that means your powers are more interesting than we ever knew. And I know what it feels like to lose everything, and I’ll spend the rest of my life apologizing for ever being the reason you felt the loss. It kills me to think of you in such pain you couldn’t feel it anymore. Because you are the strongest person I know and I know how painful it must’ve been. I’m so sorry. And I love you” 

The big eight letters. They felt right. Raising your head to his you took his lips in yours, trying to convey the same words right back at him. In the moment of pure love you felt warmth envelop your entire body, unable to contain the joy. Mid-kiss you let a grin slip onto your face and you pulled away. “Jason Todd I love YOU!” you moved to throw your arms around him and as you outstretched your fingers you released some of your love into the air and suddenly everything in the room when black. 

“Y/N you just shorted out the apartment building. But I love you too” You were kind of glad the lights were now off because Jason couldn’t see the furious blush that developed on your cheeks. Flopping down on to him you mused “Too many emotions for one day, I feel pretty shorted out too” and Jason hummed in agreement. As the two of your drifted off into sleep you heard him mumble:

“You better get control of these emotions I can’t be telling you I love you then having you break my toaster. I need my waffles you know” and you groaned. 

“I’ll put that on the list of things to worry about. Right beneath the end of the world so pretty high up there” 

“Thanks I appreciate it. Good night my lovely bolt of lightning”

“Goodnight you sappy fuck”

[hornedbooty]

https://archiveofourown.org/works/20642462

got inspired! wrote some wuhluhwuhs. you can read it on ao3 or here under the read more!

-

Keyleth was the worst choice for a lookout.

She was perfectly fine to come on a shopping trip, with Vex. She was totally set to hang out, with Vex. In fact, when she had been hanging out in the garden and trying to save a wilted rosemary bush in the measly collection she had there in Greyskull Keep and Vex had walked up with a glint in her eyes, she was totally on board. She would always be on board for Vex.

But usually it was Vax or Scanlan pulling off some heist or gathering information. Not to say that people couldn’t branch out, she’s seen Scanlan lift some heavy shit. And Vax can be charming. Very charming! Super charming.

Keyleth had just been expecting a really nice day out with Vex. She had been picturing roaming through shops, watching Vex card through the fancy clothes while she banters with the shopkeep, pretending she was busy with the first glittery thing she saw so she didn’t watch her friend any longer than the usual few seconds. Keyleth had a routine, she had a semi-plan set up! She was a woman with a mission!

Nothing ever went to plan for them, though, Which she should’ve expected.

Instead, Vex had taken her by the hand, said some very important things that she definitely did not hear clear enough, and now they were totally doing something illegal. Keyleth had been standing outside the opening to the office for a good few minutes now, only hearing a faint click or a small whir from inside occasionally. A footstep echoed, and she jumped, peering in the direction she thought it came from. Waiting a few seconds, she sighed in relief when no one came up. 

“Keyleth, darling?” said Vex from deep inside the darkened room, and the druid poked her head inside.

“Yeah, what’s up?” 

“Nothing, I’m doing well. Just wanted to hear your pretty voice.” 

Keyleth felt her cheeks immediately flare red and she awkwardly scooted back out of the doorway, pressing herself flat against the rocky stone wall. “Okay! Neat! Cool.” she squeaked back, hearing a laugh from Vex inside. Keyleth tried to frown against the smile growing on her face before adding on, “Just call if you need me!”

“Will do.” Vex replied, and Keyleth wiped at her cheeks with the palm of her hand. Stupid face, she got red so quickly. 

A clatter in the darkened corridor right outside the door, and close to her, which sent Keyleth into a panic. She fumbled with her staff before veering to the direction of the sound, squinting to make out a shape. A small black shape moved just a bit, and she braced herself to call for Vex. 

Instead of a big angry human person, out of the shadows came a small, young cat. It mewed, swishing its calico tail and watching her with big orange eyes. Keyleth blinked, then smiled as she relaxed against the stone. Just a tiny cat.

She went back to watching both sides of the corridor, one hand on her staff and the other playing with the fringe of a cloak she borrowed from Vex.

The hood had enough room to encompass her antlers, and it made her whole visage way more mysterious than the usual very recognizable clothes she wore on missions. It also made it seem like she had horns! Which was kind of neat.

Maybe she should get one for herself. They were really useful. Or she could just ask Vex for this one. Smiling to herself, Keyleth brought the fabric up to her cheek, thumb running against the thread. 

She glanced back over to where the cat had been, now gone and probably stalking around a different alleyway. Watching the end of the alley, which led to the street, Keyleth continued to survey the space around her. 

A barely audible yowl pricked her ears, and her head swiveled to the end of the alley again. A few beats passed, and she saw the same cat from earlier streaking past, a flash of orange and black accompanied by the sound of jeering from farther down.

Keyleth didn’t even hesitate to bolt through the open door. She narrowly missed an askew table, and hip checked the other doorway deeper in. She found Vex fiddling with a safe, the floorboards removed and placed to the side in an even pile. If she wasn’t in such a hurry, Keyleth would spend a few minutes being absolutely charmed by the messy braided bun Vex had put her hair into.

“Someone’s coming.” Keyleth hissed quietly. Vex cursed under her breath and hastily grabbed a few bundles of paper. She helped her put the floorboards back in place, which only looked a little loose. Considering the hurry they were in, it was a wonderful job. 

The papers in the bag at Vex’s side, Keyleth stood from the floor. The voices could now be barely heard from how deep they were into the room. Quickly, she helped Vex stand up and pulled her along into a corner she’d noticed when running through.

“Fuck. Shit. They’re right outside, aren’t they? How are we going to do this?” Vex muttered under her breath, eyes darting across the room. Keyleth gulped, and fumbled for Vex’s hand. If it wasn’t for the situation, she could’ve mistaken the sudden flush across the ranger’s face for something else, but she wasn’t focused on that.

“Wait right by the door. I’ll dart out, lead them deeper into the alley, then wildshape into something and catch up with you. Okay?” Keyleth glared into Vex’s gaze, holding it. Vex opened her mouth to protest, she could see it in her eyes, but Keyleth felt a sudden burst of resolve in her chest. 

“No.” Her fingers tightened around Vex’s, and the other’s eyes widened, stunned. The retort died on her lips. Keyleth mustered up a smile, her heart thundering and aware her fingers were probably very clammy. Oh dear. “We’re doing this. It’s happening. Come on.”

Keeping the grip, Keyleth pulled her along and towards the door. The lack of resistance made her feel a little more confident about this, because holy fuck this was crazy, what was she doing, she couldn’t sneak for anything, w-

They had reached the door, and she was shocked back to the present by Vex pulling on her hand. She turned back to look at her, about to argue her point again even if she was really not sure she could pull this off. Keyleth only saw the look of unsure steeliness in Vex’s eyes for a moment before she felt her gloved hand on her jaw, turning her face so Vex could plant a kiss on her cheek. It was hasty, hurried, and the corner of her lips pressed just barely against Keyleth’s, and the druid very quickly short-circuited. 

“Be careful, Keyleth. I won’t be able to live with myself if I have to watch you get dragged away in chains or something. Really, it’s my fault I brought you with me.”

Keyleth had to blink a few times to regain any ability to say anything that wasn’t packed with stuttering. “I-I will. Yeah. Don’t worry. I’ll meet you back at Greyskull, okay? Just keep running when you get the cue. And the cue is when they’re coming after me. You be. You be careful too.” She offered another weak smile, which Vex returned. She let go of Vex’s hand, and they shared one last long look before Keyleth gripped the door handle. 

She threw it open, and wasted no time. In a flash, she was out of the door. With a sharp right and her hood thrown up over her head and antlers, Keyleth was taking off as fast as she could. She’d felt her arm brush with someone else’s and, on the way out, heard a loud gruff shout of orders. Through the roaring of adrenaline in her ears, she could barely make out maybe three or four sets of heavy footsteps. Ahead, the alley ended in an almost complete stop. There were small gaps that were the spaces between the assorted buildings. If she wanted, a mouse could easily run between those. Or an air escape, with a hawk or robin that could fly right above their heads. 

A sharp, familiar thwip flew by her ear, followed by a prick of pain. Keyleth’s hand moved up, and she felt a small trickle of blood as she watched an unfamiliar arrow embed itself in the wall ahead. Well. A mouse was totally out of the question then. She would be stuck in a gap if hit with one of those . But with a bird, she risked the chance of going down in midair.

By now Vex should be out of sight and at least on the way to Greyskull. So this was up to her. With a deep breath, she risked a glance behind her. Like she thought, there were three men, weapons drawn and a single bow at the ready. 

The end of the alley was coming fast, and in quick impulsiveness, Keyleth threw her hand behind her, aimed at the archer. A sunbeam shot out of her palm, and hit the man’s bow spot on. He cried out in half-pain, half-surprise as the simple wood disintegrated in his palm. The other men almost skidded to a stop too, as a look of realization crept onto their faces. Their heads whipped back to Keyleth, but in that split second her form had collapsed into a simple golden hawk. She had used her momentum and the rest of the space between herself and the wall to soar upwards. With a few flaps of her wings, she was high above the buildings and looking down. 

Her plan was to fly back to Greyskull Keep, like they had planned. A glance down, however, changed her plans. She could see a Vex-like figure still lingering at the mouth of the alley. Quickly she descended, the soldiers still clustered at the end of the alley trying to figure out where she had gone. Apparently they hadn’t seen the giant hawk.

She flew down low, gliding on the wind. Vex was still peering down the alley, and she glanced towards Keyleth, then did a double take. With a laugh, Keyleth shifted back mid-flight, hand outstretched where her wing had been and grabbing onto Vex’s free hand. There was a shout from the soldiers, but it didn’t matter. Keyleth was pulling Vex again again, the two of them twisting and ducking into whatever streets and alleys had an entrance and exit. Her heart was thundering in her chest, an uncontrollable grin stretching across her face.

“I thought we agreed on Greyskull!” Keyleth shot a look back at Vex, who was visibly dumbfounded and ecstatic. There was a warm, intense look in her eyes that sent a shiver down Keyleth’s spine, and she quickly looked ahead again.

“I know, but there was a lot more guards than I expected and I didn’t want to leave you in case something did go wrong, darling. It looks like you didn’t need any help at all after all.” Vex said back.

Keyleth quickly pulled the two of them into another alley, this one shadowed and allowing them to huddle in the darkness. Panting, she grinned.

“Yeah! That went way better than I was expecting, honestly! Did you-did you see the sunbeam? I hit him square on!” she said giddily, nerves buzzing still. Vex nodded, laughing. 

“I did, that was.. amazing, Keyleth, really.” 

There wasn’t much room in the alley she had pulled her into, so Keyleth could feel Vex’s breathing shakily fall back down. She couldn’t stop grinning, or laughing. Vex held a finger to her lips, shushing her. The laughter died down a little, but only because Keyleth had found something else to focus on.

Vex was disheveled, from the running and ducking and the wind that had been billowing around them. Her braided bun had fallen into disarray, and wisps of hair framed the corners of her sharp jawline. Her eyes were drawn to Vex’s lip, crested with slight callouses from the rough travels but still soft. Keyleth glanced back up at Vex, quiet now. Her heart was still thumping, like a stick against the drum playing in her head. 

Vex was gazing back at her, and her hand slowly fell from her mouth. Keyleth’s face was burning again, but she didn’t raise a hand to hide it. 

“You know,” Keyleth said, voice soft. The air felt sharp, and quiet. “We definitely lost them back there. We could leave.”

They could just pull away and walk back to Greyskull, and let the moment pass by. They could. But a part of Keyleth didn’t want them to. 

Vex seemed to consider that, gaze moving down just the slightest bit, her smooth skin flushed. “We could.” she said simply, looking back up at Keyleth.

“We could.” she repeated back, their gazes locked again. Her breath stuttered as Vex’s sleeve brushed against her arm. 

Vex moved to pull Keyleth’s hood down, untangling it from her antlers and adjusting it around her neck. Her fingers lingered at the crest of her neck, and Keyleth could feel the pads of her fingers just barely press against her skin. She let out a long, shuddering breath, and moved a hand to grasp at Vex’s wrist.

Vex looked back up at her again, eyes shining. Her face was so close, and she could feel her breath against her lips. Her palm pushed against Keyleth’s cheek. Vex’s nose was just against the tip of Keyleth’s, and she didn’t move any further. For the first time, Vex’s eyes shone with uncertainty. She had never seen the half-elf so nervous before.

Vex’s mouth opened to say something, but Keyleth never got to hear it. She moved forward just a bit and captured Vex’s lips in her own, a soft chaste press before she pulled back.

Vex stared up at her with an intensity that certainly wasn’t there a few seconds ago. Keyleth laughed, and Vex grinned before taking Keyleth’s face in her hands to kiss her harder.

It took them a while to get back to Greyskull Keep.

[thewritingstar]

The Assassin Code

A KiriBaku Multi Chap Au

Summary:  Bakugou is known by many names. he's a hunter, a killer a top paid assassin and his new task is to kill the beast that lurks in the kingdom of Ekon. What happens when a paid assassin realizes that maybe he is not hunting a beast but a hot and thoughtful man?

I’m really proud of this first chapter so I hope you all enjoy! Its already up on A03 and that link is on another post. 

Chapter One: The Journey Begins.

--------

Bakugo entered the gates of the temple, he knew why he was here, he always did. He became a known name, well if you knew who to ask, doing the dirty work for the lords and ladies across kingdoms and digging into the riches they provided for his services. He was a master of weapons, a cunning foe like a fox, and an expert at manipulation, maybe that's why assassination came so easy. He had blocked his emotion years ago, watching your parents die at the hands of a dictator really messes you up and he vowed to kill the blood of the corrupted.

He had shut himself off from the world, only emerging from the shadows to strike a sword or arrows into his prey. Like a plague, he spread and killed silently and was gone without a trace. He was known across the lands, but was never seen.

He was escorted towards the throne room where his client would be. Taking the time to gather information he looked around the hallways he traveled. Golden portraits of the king's face line the halls and his family was everywhere too. One of the faces he hated was plaster on the wall. The prince of this castle was none other than a duo haired boy who expressed nothing but a scowl and rumor had that he had gone missing months ago. “Probably someone who could ruin his name.” Bakugou thought as he glared at the pictures, only someone of extreme high status would parade their face around.

Bakugou hated all royalty, that was just his nature. But they were rich and paid to have him take care of things so as long as he could get a paycheck, the crowns were no threat. He had done it all. Kill kings, murder mages and suffocate sirens. It didn’t matter to him, the only rule was they had to be evil, no innocent person would be slayed, that was the assassin code. But royalty was different. He knew the man who he was about to see was a crook as well so in no time he would probably be paid to take him down too and move the throne line faster. That's how it worked, like a network of webs, Bakugo was the spider and no one knew he that all the spun silk lead to him. He wasn’t the only assassin, just one of the best.

He went by many names, no matter where he went, he was always referred as something new. The Killer, The Crimson Blade, The Hunter, Lord Explosion Murder, he liked that one the best. In fact no one knew his real name and he was going to keep it like that. A dark hood swallowed his body as his deadly ruby red eyes were the only seen feature. The ones that held emptiness as his victims fell to his leather boots. He carried his sword on his hip and a bow under his cape. Weapons were hidden everywhere but he is also skilled in magic.

Finally he reached the throne room, a guard opened it and Bakugos patience was already wearing thin. The door closed and he was left standing in front of the king. King Endeavor of the Ignatius Empire. He knew he possessed the power to wield fire but he wasn’t intimidated in the slightest, he had fought many foes and won every time, a little bit of flame wouldn’t scare him.

“You must be Red Shadow.” The king stated and Bakugou held back an eye roll. He learned the hard way to keep quiet and take the task, ask only the important questions and get out. He nodded and the king lead them to a table and chairs. He would keep his temper in check for now and release his fury on the prey.

Bakugo sat and set his sword on the table letting the king know that he was prepared. It was crafted out of the toughest steel and the jewels that forged into the handle were made from the drops of blood from the man who killed his parents. It was a reminder; Bakugou always won.

A map made of dusty partridge was set in front of him. “The village is called Ekon, north of the banished woods is where you will find the man to kill.” Endeavor pointed and Bakugou thought it was the shittiest map ever made.

“Guilty?” Bakugou asked, he needed to know if the person he would kill would actually be evil or if it was a petty argument he had no time for.

“Extremely. You see the king and queen here had a son once-” Bakugou raised his hand.

“I don’t kill children.” He stopped him.

“Well luckily he is a man now. Well more a monster. You see he was born with a quality as one would say. Razor sharp teeth those of a man eating shark that taint the seas. Bloody claws that scratch at the throats of its victims, he is no child, hell he killed his own parents.” The king spat.

Bakugou straighten his back, his eyes held a deadly glare. Kill his own parents? “Why do you want him dead?”

“There have been rumors that he has sent his men to disrupt kingdoms and as a large one myself, I’d rather keep my village safe and peaceful for the time.” The king shrugged, his crown was made of heavy gold and had multiple rare jewels so he knew this would pay well. The thought came clear as a small velvet sack was laid in front of him.

Bakugo stared at it. “Please open it. I'm hiring the best and I want the job done right.” He opened it and smirked wildly but the king couldn’t see it. It would probably pay off half of the villages debt but he gladly collected it.

“Anything else?” Bakugou asked as he stood and secured the payment in his hidden bag.

“Don’t die.” Endeavor said and Bakugou let out a scoff.

Red eyes glared at the kings. Die? Did this fucker think that some beast could take me?

“I lost a group of my best guards to him. That's why you are here and I expect that iron claw to be on this table once you’re done. No time limit, just get it done.”

“No time limit?” That was a first. Usually he had a deadline but he would be quick anyways. In and out was the best way to do it.

“That kingdom is far, i’d rather have the job be done properly or not at all.” The king shrugged.

“And what if i just run off with the pay?”

The king laughed and looked back at the cloaked man. “I have more money than the three surrounding places combined, there is always someone better, so I'll just kill you.”

“Like hell you will.” Bakugou spat and when the king turned back, he was gone.

--

The velvet paycheck dropped onto the table with a thud. Huffing Bakugou removed his dark cloak and realized that he was sweating immensely. “Stupid fucking cape, can’t fucking breathe in this shit.” He complained and tossed it to the floor.

“Here.” A bowl of what seemed like stew was placed in front of him. He looked up to see Denki.

“Why are you here?” Bakugou grumbled.

“Because I can be dumb ass. Also I robbed Endeavor.” Denki smirked. He placed a dusty sack of jewels next to Bakugou's. “Belonged to the prince but since he's gone missing, no one was keeping guard of his room,quite the mistake on their part.” The blonde thief smirked as he ran a hand through his hair, dusting over his black strands that represented his electric charge.

Denki was one of Bakugou few thieving companions, if you can even call him that. After almost getting his weapons stolen and Denki almost dying at his sword, the pair had become an acceptable duo to take from the rich, like robin hood but with more blood and torture.

Denki, like Bakugou witnessed the death of his mother. He was born as a slave to a rich family in another land but after they killed his mother, he used his magic of electricity and light forming to steal and murder the family. After that he lived village to village until Bakugou and him set up camp in a scheduled part of the woods. A place hard to reach and out of sight, perfect for a pair of bandits. Although those weren’t the only two in the gang. Now he spent his time as a bandit, he didn’t kill often but was no wimp when it came to blood.

Sero was a master of the deadly art of torture. He used his magic of possession to hold the whips and chains that would be used to torture his prey, bad people to pay the price. However he only came by rarely as he was sought out publicly by many royals. He time was spent in dungeons, destroying the corpses of those imprisoned. Dirty work belonged on the hands of someone in the shadows. Someone who couldn’t get caught.

Lastly was the mage named Mina. Her specialty lied in her used of potions and deadly substances. She worked mostly with Denki as she could ease a guard to sleep with spells or even transform the moats surrounding a castle into poison water, not to mention the acid and spite that leaked from her fingers, gloves were a caution but she was a silent killer. She was a traveler, always leaving to find supply and had the connections in underground bandit ring.

Together they all traveled to do the dirty work of others. Outside of their ‘work’ they were quite interesting people but kept to the shadows and themselves for safety, even they didn’t know who the others were fully and that's how it would stay. They all were given other names,

“You robbed him while I was there?” Bakugou snapped. It was a careless move but Denki craved for the adrenaline rush. Like an electric eel, he was on the move for the next kill.

“Kinda. Before you arrived. Just in case.” Bakugou rolled his eyes and scarfed down the food in front of him. “I’m not dumb enough to do it afterwards.”

Denki saw the velvet bag and the duty map next to it. Picking it up he examined the trail.

“I assume you are going to be on killing leave?” Denki asked and he was met with a nod. “I adjusted your dagger. When you push the button venom will leak. Easy kill.”

“I heard a conversation, a group of nobles are coming in a few days. Perfect time to rob.” Bakugou told him and Denki nodded.

“Ekon?” Denki flicked the page.

“You heard of it?” Bakugou asked. Denki nodded.

“Guy who rules it is called the Red Riot, heard tales of his hardening magic, practically invincible. If he's the one you’re after you might want to stop at Frops, maybe one of her potions could stop him.”

“I don’t need your help Sparks.” He growled but made a mental note.

“Yeah, yeah I know. Gotta run, thanks for the tip.”

The blonde assassin huffed as Denki left as silently as he came, probably going to the pub for a drink, he didn’t know and didn’t care.

He got up and made his plan to pack, soon an iron claw would sit on the kings table and he would go to the next mission. It was a routine he had been doing since he was a boy, one he knew that would end his life but death had ceased to get its hands on the former assassin.

---- It was safer to travel at nightfall. Bakugou decided not to bring anyone from his gang of bandits. Sometimes he would on bigger projects but this was just one man, or beast for that matter. Plus he was easily annoyed with any company and preferred the silently whispers of the wind. Based on the map, Bakugou made the decision to travel all throughout the night until he reached the town one over from his designated area. A village that was known as Wild Lily Musk. The name came from the overwhelming aroma of the bog that was covered in beautiful yet deadly water lilies that emitted a potent gas.

Hours had past as his legs burned from walking so far. The woods were full of spiny plants and although he could mange in the dark, his calves were scrapped a little. Luckily he didn’t encounter any low life thieves who would try to steal his goods and no animals tried to take him down as a meal.

The cold air of the night fell off of him as he removed his cape before entering the small inn. It was quiet and the only person there was an employee. He recognized the woman sitting at the desk trying to stay awake as her eyes tried to doze off. The bell chimed and the frog like eyes of the woman blinked before she stood and smiled.

“Ribbit. Bakugou. Ribbit.” The woman spoke or croaked. Bakugou was not the friendliest, quite the opposite actually. Even in his daily form, he had the glare of a demon. He hated the noise that came from people and only restored to interacting when he had too. He had exceptions but even then it was half-assed kindness.

“Froppy.” He huffed. The first time he had encounters the Frog Mage, he was trapped in the dreaded bog. She had helped him and in return he hunted down the man who stole from her family, since then they had a mutual relationship, he stayed at the inn for free and he did their dirty work for no pay. It was rare but useful. She didn’t know he was an assassin, and it was going to stay like that.

“Ribbit. Room 3. Ribbit.” She croaked. She passed him the key and he placed a emerald on the desk. “Ribbit, you don’t-”

“Take the damn thing. I don’t have time for payback.” He snatched the key and made his way up the creaky stairs.

“There's fresh muffins in the kitchen. Ribbit.” She called as she examined the precious jewel closely. It was an expensive payment, one that would pay for the inns doors for a few months, Bakugou knew that.

“Whatever” He yawned but they both knew he would take a few before he left in the morning.

The inn was damp and musty. The view from the window was bare and boring and since it was dark and he wanted people to mind their own fucking business, he kept the burlap curtains closed. The scent in the air loomed from the deadly bog, everyone in the town had developed a mutation, giving them the qualities of the swamp inhabitants. The Frog Mage was just one of the many who was granted that look, luckily Bakugou wasn’t staying long so the air wouldn’t taint his blood stream.

Flopping onto the bed, he took out the scrolls that had Ekon knowledge on it. He had stolen it from the records of the library but that didn’t matter, no one had even touched them.

“What the fuck?” Bakugou examined the first scroll. Written on the parchment was a poem, no a tale of what he assumed was about the child.

. A child born with the strength of a thousand knights. Armored from head to toe. Sharp like a sword and swift as the streams, he was a deadly creation. The darkness covered the kingdom as blood from the beloved king and queen spilled from the child's iron claws. Locked away in the tower he stayed, ruling with fear and a deadly glare. He stayed there, never to be seen. A child turned to beast. .

“So the flame brain was right?” Bakugou huffed and read more about the history before shutting his eyes knowing he had to get up and travel some more before the sun rose. After a few grueling minutes of little information, he threw the scrolls on the bedside table and let sleep take over for a few hours.

Before the sun could casts its golden rays onto the village of Wild Lily Musk, Bakugou was already up and heading down stairs. The frog mage was asleep in the chair so he gave a firm knock on the desk.

“Ahh-oh Bakugou. Ribbit.” Froppy croaked. The key was given back.

“I need a potion, something I can use to immobilize someone. The dumb ass blonde said you got something so make it quick.” He stated. She blinked and tilted her head.

“Hmmm, Ribbit. Let me go get it.” She disappeared behind the door and he could hear the clinking of glasses and bottles as she shuffled through the mess. He leaned against the inns lobby desk and looked at the pictures on the wall. His frown never left as his eyes traced over the many photos. It was the frog mages family and even a few friends, none of which he knew nor cared.

He turned back and snatched the potion out of her hand before putting it into his woven bag. “This better work.” He growled and she blinked again before handing him a muffin.

“It does. Ribbit. Just don’t spill it on you or you will be stopped too. Ribbit. Lasts an hour. Ribbit.” She said and the little bell jingled as he disappeared into the night. ---- Daylight arrived as Bakugou reached the town of Ekon. A small village that looked to have no inhabits.

“What the fuck?” He questioned as he looked inside the window of a nearby shop. Dusty coated every aspect and it seems like the town had been abandoned for months. Usually a town even as small of this was bustling with noise but everything was quiet almost as if sound was illegal.

He continued looking through the stores and worn down homes, even breaking in and taking some supplies along the way. In the center of town was a statue. Crafted from iron was a sculpture of a man and woman. Dead flowers rotted beneath it as ivy and weeds crept up the metallic sides. Bakugou pulled of some weeds to reveal a plague.

. For the king and queen of Ekon .

“What is this, a grave?” He asked but kept walking. In the distance he saw the castle and decide to get a move on so he could kill his prey. A shiver ran up his spine as he climbed up the hill side through the thick trees, he couldn’t risk getting spotted. He was a professional after all.

As he neared the castles wall the smell of rust and sulfur filled his nose and he almost gagged. He covered his mouth with his cloaked hand and coughed loudly as his lungs became full of the scent. He paused and leaned against a thick oak tree, taking a moment to establish a plan to get inside and catch his breath.

“Window there, there and there. Easy.” He smirked and resumed his walking. Small twigs snapped under his leather boots and the sun has become soaked up into the dark fabric making him sweat more than he already was. He didn’t see any guards as he came closer and wondered if anyone was here at all. Suddenly his vision blurred as he was whisked into the sky.

“What the fuck!” He yelled as rope rubbed against his ankle. His body began tied up into a next and struggled to break free. He felt like a mouse just caught in a trap. “Shit” He cursed knowing that being caught was the last thing he needed. Hopefully they wouldn’t know who he was. He needed a plan fast.

“Are you alright?” A voice came from below. He couldn’t see as his cloak had covered his eyes and his hands were pushed to his sides. He tried to wiggle free again but it only seemed to tighten his position and burn the rope further into his skin.

“I’m fine.” He growled but felt his body lowering to the ground, his back hit the moss floor of the forest and he finally could take his dreaded cloak off.

As his vision cleared he came face to face with a hand that offered to help him up. Grunted he pushed it away and stood up on his own, dusting off the dead leaves and chunks of bark caught onto the fabric of his pants. “I said I was fine.” He snapped and pulled his sword out and aimed it at the face of the mysterious man.

A man his age stood with his arms up and oddly a smile. One that had sharp fangs. Bakugou looked him over. Broad shoulders and lots of muscle like him. He wore only a vest so Bakugou averted his eyes so he wasn’t staring at the mans bare abs. He would be lying if he didn’t think he was attractive but he just glared at him.

“I know but it's better to get help plus that is one hard trapped to get out of. Anyways you seemed lost, please follow me and lets treat that wound of yours.” He pointed to Bakugou's leg where a deep red gash was. The firm rope had torn his flesh and the pain just got to him. He winced as he looked down and gritted his teeth.

“Nah I don’t need help, especially from someone with such shitty hair.” He nodded and the man rolled his eyes and let out a laugh. A strange feeling swept through him as he heard the laugh, there was something about this man that intrigued him but he was on a mission.

“You’re funny. Come let's go.” he walked past Bakugou, not bothering to care about the sword pointed at his face. “Oh and I don't think you should insult the man who just saved your cute ass.” He winked and Bakugou's blood ran hot as he followed him.

"So whats your name?" The red haired man asked. He skillfully guided them through the woods and to the clearing of the cobblestone path.

Bakugou debated on telling him. Maybe it would be best to get close into the castle so he could have easy access to the beast. Plus no one knew his real name anyways. "Bakugou." He spat and kept his small dagger out just in case the man pulled any funny business. they stopped at the giant oak door, the one that would lead him inside his enemy's home.

"A cute name for a cute man.' he heard him flirt and the tips of his ears matched the color of his eyes.

"Yeah and what about yours?" Bakugou asked. The man turned and leaned against the door flexing his muscles slightly and Bakugou noticed.

"Names Red Riot but you," he looked Bakugou up and down. "Can call me Kirishima." He smirked and opened the door.

Bakugou stopped in his tracks and gulped. "Fuck" He whispered as he followed the man he was suppose to kill into his domain.

---

I hope you enjoyed!

[yasha-pick-me-up]

we get a few years (and then it wants us back) ch 2

And I’m back on my bullshit! Here’s the ao3 link! shoutout to @minky-for-short and @mollymauk-teafleak who were both endlessly lovely and helpful with this. Enjoy! And if you do like it, please send me an ask or leave a comment! They really encourage me to keep writing, so I can put out more stuff for you guys!

Vax was floating when he opened his eyes. When he looked down, at first it seemed that he was lying in an endless black ocean, buoyed up by rolling waves, but in the next instant he realized it was actually glossy black feathers. The same moment that he came to that conclusion, a voice spoke, echoing all around him, though he couldn’t see the source.

“Vax’ildan…”

It was a woman’s voice, simultaneously unfamiliar and achingly soothing.

“Hello?” he was surprised to find that his voice was working. It echoed too.

He nearly jumped out of his skin when he saw the woman standing in front him where a second before there had only been darkness. She seemed to be cloaked in the raven feathers that surrounded them, as though they were clinging to her skin. Covering her face was a porcelain mask, fixed with a blank stare as she looked at him.

“Vax’ildan,” she said again, sighing his name. “You’ve come so far…”

Somehow he knew her name, most likely something that had stayed in his mind from years before, when he was a student. “You’re the Raven Queen,” he said, getting unsteadily to his feet, dipping his head. He’d never had much to do with the gods before, but surely it couldn’t hurt to show deference to the goddess of death.

“Yes,” she said, looking down at him. “I’ve been watching you for a long time.”

That should have worried Vax, sent a chill down his spine and set him on edge. It didn’t.

“Why?” he asked, noting how the feathers had come up to cover him as well, soft against his skin.

The mask tilted to the side, eyes boring into him. “Why?” she asked. “I have to admit you fascinate me. I’ve rarely known someone so young, so close to death so often. You’ve always been running toward death, Vax’ildan. And here you are. Sooner than I’d hoped. But here you are.”

That sent chills down his spine, as he suddenly realized he hadn’t breathed in all this time. That he didn’t need to.

“Am I dead?” he asked, trying to keep his voice steady. “Is that why you’re here?”

Though the expression on the mask didn’t change, she seemed thoughtful, as though she was mulling things over.

“You’re…not dead yet,” she spoke eventually. “Though you’re well on your way. The poison’s in your heart, Vax’ildan.”

Fear clutched at his chest then as faces flickered through his mind. Shaun. Rosie. Robin. Vex. Gods, Vex. His hands started to shake.

“What do you want me to do?” he demanded, and the Raven Queen seemed surprised for the first time.

“Do?” she asked. “I’m afraid I don’t understand.”

“Do,” he repeated. “To not be dead. I can’t be dead. I’ve got a family.”

Her voice was dry. “Many of the dead have families, dear one. That isn’t unique.”

‘But…But,” Vax struggled for words, desperate to make her see. “You said that I’m special. That you watch me. Wouldn’t you rather do it with me still alive? So you can keep watching whatever ridiculous shit I do?”

That idea actually seemed to amuse her. “I would enjoy that very much,” she admitted, and his heart jumped into his throat. “However,” she added, and it sunk back down again. “I’m not in the business of reversing death myself. Death is the natural end to life, Vax’ildan.”

“Please,” he said, and let his voice shake this time. “I can’t die. It’s not fucking fair.” When she still seemed unmoved, he fell to his knees, relieved that the feathers under him didn’t cave in and swallow him whole. “I’m not dead yet. I’m not.”

She looked away from him, and in that moment he could hear voices, so faint and so far above him that he almost couldn’t make out the words. But he knew the voices.

One was Vex’s, tight with tears, pleading. The other belonged to Shaun, all the music and the life gone out of it, leaving behind heartbreak like Vax had never heard in his husband’s voice. He could almost feel their hands in his, both of them trying so hard to pull him back to them. He closed his eyes as his throat burned, though no tears came rolling down his cheeks. Of course not. Dead people didn’t cry.

“Please,” he said again, barely above a whisper. “I have to go back. They need me. I need them.”

The Raven Queen sighed heavily, looking back to him again. She shook her head, almost as though she were exasperated. Vax braced himself.

“Go,” she said, and fuck him, all he could do was blink and say, “What?”

She chuckled then, and it was surprisingly light. “Go, Vax’ildan. Back to your family. Go…do ridiculous shit.”

He swayed on his feet when he got back up. “And…that’s it?” he asked curiously.

He could hear the smile in her voice when she spoke again. “I’ll watch over you, dear one. Just remember me from time to time.”

“I can do that,” he nodded. “I promise.”

“Good,” she murmured, and bone white hands came up to pull her mask down. Vax couldn’t help a gasp at the sight of her. Long dark hair tumbled down her shoulders, framing her pale face. Her wide eyes, the irises shockingly scarlet, merely stared at him, seeming to drink in the sight of him standing there before her. She was beautiful, but looked so, so sad.

And then she moved, cupping his face in her hands. He couldn’t help flinching. Her skin was like ice. But she didn’t look perturbed. In fact, a faint smile played across her lips.

“Goodbye, Vax’ildan,” she murmured. “I’m sure I’ll see you again.”

He started to speak, uneasy about that, opening his mouth to say so, but she shook her head. “Close your eyes,” she whispered, and leaned in, pressing her lips to his forehead. Vax closed his eyes tightly, until he felt her hands and lips fade in to nothingness, leaving him behind. But then, he felt the weight of more hands pressing into his, both pairs achingly familiar, pulling him up, up, up, even as he kept his eyes tightly closed.

When he opened his eyes again, he was lying in a hospital bed. And then he was upright, gasping for breath, his lungs burning as though he’d been underwater for too long, eyes streaming as he tried to take breath.

“Vax!”

There were voices around him, clamoring, someone calling for a doctor, but they all pounded together in his head, his body weak where he’d felt perfectly healthy a minute before. His head throbbed and spun, and then large, gentle hands were easing him back down onto the pillow.

“Shh, my bird. It’s okay, you’re safe with us.”

Of all the reactions Vax had expected to have to blinking and seeing his husband’s face above his, yelping and flinching away hadn’t been even a thought. But he did, jerking back so hard he hit someone on his other side. Because he was suddenly remembering Hotis, wearing Shaun’s face, looming over him. Shaun’s eyes smoldering with hatred. Shaun’s lips curled into a snarl. Shaun’s hand plunging the knife into his side.

Shaun’s face falling in confusion when Vax pulled away from him. Vax’s heart sinking.

“I’m sorry,” he tried to say, but the words only came out as a single hoarse croak.

“Asshole,” came Vex’s voice from behind him, and he looked at her because that was easier, and because she was smiling through her tears.

Vax swallowed before he spoke again, determined to make himself heard this time. “Sorry.”

“You should be sorry,” Vex nodded firmly, pursing her lips. “I mean, shit, I think I can stop chasing you from danger every five minutes now you’re a responsible husband and father, but no. You pull this shit. I’d kick your ass if you hadn’t just been attacked.”

“Okay,” Vax groaned, holding up his hands weakly. “Sorry, Stubby. It was an accident.”

Shaun spoke up again, though Vax noticed he kept his distance. “I don’t really understand what happened,” he admitted. “Pike said…you were attacked by a rakshasa? Why would one have even come into the hospital in the first place?”

Vax stared at his hands, folding them on his chest carefully before he spoke. “He, ah…he came after me…because I killed him before. A long time ago.”

Vex’s face twisted in confusion, and Vax sighed, remembering that she hadn't been with him when he killed Hotis the first time. "Sorry," he mumbled again. He was starting to hate the feeling of that word, but he couldn't seem to stop saying it, couldn't stop thinking it, not with Shaun's sad eyes on him.

Pike came in at that moment, her footsteps brisk and her eyes bright. "Vax!" she beamed. "Glad to see that you're awake!"

"Thanks to you," he chuckled, wincing when it turned into a cough instead. "Gods, this sucks."

Pike nodded, moving to check his vitals. "Your body was hanging onto that poison, string bean, it took forever to pump it all out of your system. The doctor wants to keep you here overnight for observation at least, and then we'll see how you're looking tomorrow. But for now, you should just try to rest."

"Easier said than done," Vax groaned, leaning back and closing his eyes, jumping a little when he heard Shaun's voice.

"Can I stay?" he was asking. "Will they let me? And the kids?"

Vex piped up quickly. "They can come home with us if they need to, it's absolutely no problem."

"No," Vax blinked his eyes open again. "I want them here with me." He looked back at Pike pleadingly. "I need to be able to see them."

She reached over, patting his hand gently with hers, warm against his skin. "I'm sure we can bend the rules just this once," she winked. "I'll go talk to the doctors."

“Thank you, Pickle,” he murmured, stopping her. “Seriously. You were amazing, and you saved my ass.”

“Don’t worry about it,” she smiled, tilting her head. “I’m just glad I was there. Now let me go bribe the doctors into putting your kids up for the night.” And then she was gone, with one more brilliant smile before she left.

Vex squeezed Vax’s shoulder gently, standing and bending down to kiss his forehead. “I’ll go get your little monsters; Grog took them down to the cafeteria.”

“Thanks, Vex,” he murmured, mustering up a smile just for her, waiting until she had left the room before he let it drop again. And then he and Shaun were alone.

“I should have asked if you wanted me to stay,” Shaun said, cheeks flushed. “I don’t have to, you must be so tired, I can just let you rest…”

“Shaun,” Vax sighed, moving over carefully in his bed, trying not to tug on his IV. “Come lie down with me?”

Shaun looked surprised, but eased himself into the bed carefully, reaching out for Vax’s hand. “I’m here,” he murmured when Vax took his hand and moved closer, pressing himself into Shaun’s chest. He breathed in the scent of his cologne, something rich and warm, making him think of home, of their bed, of their life. Hotis hadn’t smelled like that, even when he was disguised, Vax realized. The thought made him tighten. He was a fucking idiot.

“I should have known.” He seemed as surprised as Shaun was that he’d spoken aloud. Shaun propped himself up on one arm, forehead wrinkled in confusion.

“Darling?”

Vax groaned, scrubbing a hand across his face, eyes closing again. "Hotis," he admitted, voice quiet. "When he came here...he looked like you. Rakshasas can disguise themselves."

He didn't have to look to hear the pain in Shaun's voice. "He...He attacked you as me?"

Vax nodded, biting on his lip as the tears that had refused to make themselves known before threatened to fall. "I kissed him," he murmured, face twisting at the memory. "I should have known...I fucking should have known it wasn't you. You would have never left the kids alone in the middle of the night. But he was just...just standing there, and I was just thinking about you, and i missed you, and..."

Shaun's hands were covering his, bringing them to his lips to kiss over Vax's knuckles gently. "Please don't feel guilty, my love. Nothing that happened tonight was your fault."

Vax gave a little half-sob at that, hands shaking. "But he kept saying that...that I'd hurt you? That I'd broken your heart and caused you so much pain, and..." He gasped a little, eyes flying open. "It was worse than when he stabbed me with that godsdamned poison dagger."

Something in Vax's chest seemed to burst at that, and suddenly he was sobbing into Shaun's chest, hands clutching tightly at Shaun's shirt, his hands, his hair, fluttering uncertainly as though of their own accord, feeding off of his anxiety and the ache in his chest, sending him spiraling further and further into replays of what had happened. Shaun's hand thrusting a knife into his side, and looking pleased about it. His shoulders shook hard, and that just made everything hurt worse, making his head spin and the wound in his side throb.

But then Shaun's arms were there, holding him as tightly as he dared, and so was his voice, low and murmuring to him, even though Vax couldn't catch the words, the rumble of his chest was soothing. And there he stayed, holding him and talking, until Vax's vision cleared and he could breathe again, still trembling in Shaun's arms.

"Sorry," he gasped out, for what must have been that fiftieth time that evening. Evening? Morning? He didn't have a clue what time it was.

"Never be sorry for that, my bird," Shaun said softly, kissing his forehead. "I'm here for you. And... I’m so sorry that this happened. I'm so sorry that he used me to hurt you, but I promise, he'll never come near you again."

"He was going to go to our house," Vax recalled, panic kicking at his chest. "He was going to hurt you, and the kids...He would have, if Pike hadn't been there. He would've killed me."

Shaun kissed his head again. "My love, do you think I would ever let anyone hurt our babies?"

"No," Vax admitted, resting heavily against him. "I just...I hate this. It isn’t fucking fair, Shaun, I can’t let you all get hurt for my shitty mistakes.”

Shaun rocked him gently. "Nobody's hurt us, Vax. Nobody's going to hurt us."

Vax nodded. "I'll keep you all safe," he promised firmly, and felt more than saw Shaun's smile.

"Just rest now," he murmured into Vax's hair. "Don't worry about anything, just let your body heal."

Vax closed his eyes again, burrowing down into his husband's chest, clinging to him even as sleep overtook his heavy, exhausted body. He didn't even wake up when Rosie and Robin came back in, carrying a tower of packaged cupcakes that Uncle Grog had promised would make their daddy feel better. He didn’t wake up when Pike got the kids settled in for the night, once they’d carefully leaned over the bed to kiss Shaun goodnight.

Vax slept. And Shaun stayed awake, holding him close and stroking his hair. But his golden eyes stayed wide open, flickering toward every movement, every noise in the corridor outside.

All night he stayed awake. And he kept watch over his family.

[ivedonestranger]

Chapters: 2/? Fandom: Teen Titans (Animated Series) Rating: Mature Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Dick Grayson/Raven Characters: Raven (DCU), Robin (DCU), Victor Stone, Garfield Logan, Koriand'r (DCU) Additional Tags: Action/Adventure, Magic, robrae - Freeform, Angst, Humor Series: Part 2 of Candy Series Summary:

Who would have thought a choice could lead to so much pain?

--------------------------

FF.net: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13299019/2/Raven-s-Wish

AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19022185/chapters/46219351

-------------------------

The evening was warm but not in an uncomfortable sense. It was just a few notches below muggy, which felt comfortable with just the right amount of breeze. The raging heat of summer would descend on Jump City shortly, but for now, Raven was enjoying it. It was better than the tower right now. She had another minor bout of whatever was plaguing her and Robin was being overprotective. Raven grimaced at the memory of them raising their voices over the disagreement of her going out on patrol. She, of course, won the argument but her love was not happy.

Since the level of crime from super villains had dropped considerably with interest moving to other portions of the country, the Titans had gone from double patrols to single patrols allowing for a mixture of being approachable by the citizens and also for more coverage. Back at base, Cyborg was on camera duty but silent in her ear.

Raven floated down the dark streets wrapped in the shadows of her cloak with the orange street lights catching the gem on her forehead once in a while. All that was left on the street were the young men and women on dates hurrying their way home and the criminal nightlife coming to the surface. Of course, the low criminal lives were staying in the shadow. She had already seen a few people wearing gang colors see her floating down the sidewalk, turn pale, and disappear quickly back into the alleys.

The story of what she had done to Doctor Light many years ago had permeated through Jump City, which made ordinary people unsure about her and the non-super powered criminals scared witless. Even now she could sense the fear from a few of the guys standing on street corners trying not to look like the pimps they were. T street was the home of much of the city's scum preying on the poor who could not move to better places. Their very own Gotham Wards. This is where she had decided to patrol.

“Almost like you’re looking for a fight,” Cyborg had commented when she handed in her itinerary for patrol.

“They deserve protection like anyone else in Jump City,” Raven answered evenly as she opened a portal to make her way to the city.

“Sure it is,” he waved her off as he had started the cameras. “just try not to beat them too senseless.”

One rather horribly dressed man with white, sallow skin had not seen her coming down the street and was yanking a scantily clad girl with too much makeup around. Raven narrowed her eyes as the other pimps were smart enough to clear the road. She alighted right beside him.

“Listen here, you dumb whore, when I tell you to----” he noted that the girl’s eyes had gone wide and whatever color that had been in her face was now gone. He turned to see the cloak there, and his face broke into a sneer.

“What do you fucking want?” he growled at her, shoving the woman aside.

A smirk crossed Raven’s face, hidden in the shadows of her cloak. This moron had no clue who she was. Raven turned to the girl who had taken three steps away from them.

“Go home,” her voice came out laced with magic and power. The girl did not even argue or look back at the man who tried to stop her. She had already been fleeing down the road.

"Who the hell do you think you are messin' with my product," he growled shoving at her. Raven let him touch her cloak and gave to the push. It would have been so easy to snap that arm.

“Is that how you treat women?” Raven asked with a growl letting the anger she had been keeping down come to the surface.

"I can treat them any way I want to ‘cause that's how it works out here," he said again. His tone had changed, which meant he noted her voice was that of a woman.

'Go ahead, get cocky,' Raven thought to herself darkly. 'Give me another reason to beat you to a pulp.'

“What are you doing out here so late, sweetie?” he said reaching out to tug down her hood but Raven moved her head slightly, making him miss. “You looking for a new pimp to help you get some cash?”

“Lassiter!” screamed a male voice from down the street. “What the hell are you doing?”

Lassiter turned to gesture to the mystic Titan who still had not moved.

“Got a new bitch here thinking she can tell me what to do.”

“You FUCKING moron!” the man yelled back. “That’s Raven!”

“Raven?” Lassiter asked with a shrug. “Who cares what her name is?”

“Raven of the Titans you ass-hat. Run before she rips your arms off!”

Lassiter's head snapped back at the name of her team, and she could see the realization sinking in of the situation he was actually in. He moved, but only a step when Raven unleashed her soul self, the black tendrils exploding out from under her cloak tangling him up and slamming him on the ground. It picked him up again and slammed him against the alley wall before letting him fall to the ground.

“I have a particularly nasty dislike for people in your line of work,” Raven seethed.

The pimp crawled back through the alley desperately trying to put distance between himself and the dark sorceress that was hovering closer, her white eyes burning brilliantly in the blackness of her hood.

“Pppp..p…...ppleaseee,” he whined.

"You've got a choice," Raven growled at him. "You walk right now to the JCPD and confess your sins to them, or I shall drag you to the pits of hell where you can meet true monsters."

“I’ll do anything!” he pleaded sense the oozing presence of her demon half.

“You better because I know what you smell like. I’ll find you if you fail your end of the bargain.”

Without any other comment, the man went sprinting down the alley vanishing. She set herself back down and allowed the power around her to dissipate. She felt in a better mood and doubted the criminal would actually turn himself in.

Looking about, she found that she had gone quite a distance down the alley and into a little culdesac of doors and backways, a hidden neighborhood made up of the buildings around. Not usually a safe place for an average person unless you knew what you were doing. She could see the closed stands and the signs that life did live here away from the bustle of the main streets. A few homeless shacks had sprung up, and there was a burning barrel deeper in the catacombs of alleyways.

“That was quite an amazing display of control,” a soft voice spoke to her from her right.

Raven's head snapped around to see a decently dressed man in a gray button-up, brown slacks and a teacup with saucer in his hands. She detected the scent of a strong cinnamon tea coming from his cup. He was sitting on the back steps, the light shining out from his home illuminating the darkness. Raven could make out the tight dark curls of his head and distinctly middle eastern voice.

“That anger though, it must get the better of you sometimes," he continued taking a sip and seemingly ignoring the fact that a sorceress was standing in front of him.

A pang of irritation shot through her. This was the first time that anyone normal human had not even flinched or showed no emotion of the fact of what she was and what she was capable of doing.

“Tea?” he offered. “Might want to talk about that anger?”

Raven gave a growl in response and floated on and up, leaving the man where he sat. She glanced down and found that he had not even bothered to look up and watch her go. He had simply gone back to his tea and the little book that sat on his lap.

Landing on the 9 story building and finally being out of the stench of the alley, she basked in the moonlight and breeze that blew over the rooftop. Of course, there were taller buildings, but they formed a tunnel allowing the breeze to cleanse her pallet. Who the hell was he? Why did his presence throw her off so much?

She wanted to resist the urge to peer over and look again. Raven did not want to look like she was the one bitten by curiosity. It was the tinkling laugh that reached her ears. So familiar that it brought a light blush to her cheeks. Floating over to the edge, Raven leaned over just enough to see down and saw her.

Her pink hair was done up like two horns, the purple dress, the black choker around the lovely gray throat. How could she ever miss the familiar profile of Jinx?

"Miss Jinx," the man said, standing and putting the book in his pocket. "Hopefully you did not come to any harm?"

"Sorry I'm late, Mister al-Salehi," she said, extending her hand. He took it, gave it a shake, and then kissed the top of it. Raven felt a flare of jealousy but repressed it. She had no room to go down any of the feelings she had for Jinx. Robin, of course, knew all about it as they sat down in their first week and talked extensively of the pinkette and Raven's relationship with her. Robin was such a wonderful man who listened with no judgment. He knew she was bisexual and had feelings for the hex witch at one point. Robin was her love now, but sometimes the strange ache would sneak up when she wasn't paying attention.

“Please come in, my dear, we have a lot to cover,”

Criminal mischief. Jinx was back in town and planning illegal activities.

“Raven to Cyborg,”

"Wha…! Oh! Raven. What's up?" Cyborg came back, confused.

Raven narrowed her eyes though he was not there to see it. “You were asleep, weren’t you?”

“No comment. What’s up, girl?”

“Jinx.”

“What about her?”

“She’s back in Jump City. I stumbled on to a criminal meet up with someone in an alley.”

"Tracking your location…. You're near Seven Devils Alley. Not a great place to be Raven. Got a lot of magic users who are known to live there."

“It’s quiet at the moment. If she’s in town, Her team has got to be here. HIVE might be planning something here.”

Cyborg hesitated, and Raven huffed with impatience.

“What?”

“Didn’t she like...go straight or mercenary or something?”

"Mercenaries are criminals too, Cyborg," Raven growled.

“So, what’s the plan then?”

"I can't get in right now without a plan, I think we need to get this place set up for stakeout. We might be able to stop them before it starts."

With that, she flew up into the night sky and made her way back to her patrol route, trying not to think of the blueberry scent that haunted her dreams.

[my-one-love-is-music]

It Takes Two Ch. 20

Also on AO3!

Tim blinked his eyes open and blinked a second time. The room in front of him was bleary and he struggled to focus. He brought a hand up to his eyes and rubbed at the crusty sleep clinging to the corners, trying to clear it away as he rolled onto his back on the bed.

He felt like he’d barely gotten any sleep and was exhausted, his mind struggling to wake up and start functioning as his body demanded more rest from him. He rolled his head to the side and found Jason’s side of the bed empty.

Tim sighed and pushed himself up. The muscles under his skin pulled uncomfortably like he’d had a strenuous workout the day before. He frowned and flung the covers to the side, getting to his feet. He stretched his arms over his head and twisted his back, trying to loosen up.

He felt some of his muscles stretch and relax, losing the tension that had built while sleeping, but a lingering discomfort settled under his skin. It was almost like the days before someone knew they were going to be sick with a nasty bug. He could feel his body had contracted something and Tim knew he wasn’t prepared for whatever was coming.

He could only hope that it would be delayed a few days to give him time to wrap up as much of this case as possible. They knew where the scientist was. Now they just needed to get to him and get the tech to reverse the process that had connected him and Jason. Once that was done, they would focus on dismantling the rest of the operation by gathering enough evidence to put everyone involved behind bars. The government wouldn’t want any bad press that involved human experimentation. If they got rid of the people who’d compromise them with their activities, that was even better.

Tim walked down the hall to the kitchen and found Jason sitting at the table with a mug in his hands. He could see the edge of a teabag inside.

“Have you had breakfast yet?” Tim asked.

He shook his head and took another sip from his mug.

Tim sighed and made a beeline for his coffeepot. He readied the grounds and left it to brew while he retrieved his laptop from the table in the living room.

He grinned when he saw the new files that had been sent to him from Barbara. There were extensive satellite images of the concrete base the van had driven to. The bordering security didn’t seem like much. There wasn’t a visible fence, but that didn’t mean there weren’t sensors. They’d need to do a trace of that when they reached the outskirts.

Patrols were likely to surround the area and the wide spaces surrounding the stone building could prove to be a problem when they needed to get inside. The best course of action would be going in from the top once they scoped everything out. A small jet or plane with a cloaking device would be enough to get them in unseen.

“Look at this,” he said, setting the computer in front of Jason as he grabbed a mug to pour his coffee into.

Jason hummed, and Tim heard the faint click of the keys as he moved through the files. “You want to scope this out tonight?” he asked.

“That’s probably best,” Tim said, taking the seat in front of him. “The intel Babs gave us are good, but we should go check out the place before heading in for infiltration.”

Jason nodded. “Take the bike out to scour the perimeter and then come back later by air?”

Tim nodded. “That’s what I was thinking. As long as they don’t have any security a hundred feet out form the building, we should be able to get in and out without issue.”

“Sounds good to me.”

Tim pulled his computer back to him and started to memorize the layout and the data. He’d get the blueprints in his wrist computer later to reference when they made it to the building.

“Do you think we should worry about the delivery drivers when we make the break-in?” he asked.

Jason shrugged. “Would it do much good?” he asked. “Even if they got the hell out of dodge, the government contacts could track them down. We can only hope they don’t think any of their workers had anything to do with it. And if we get enough people, we won’t have to worry about it.”

Tim nodded. “Okay.”

They drank from their mugs silently, neither of them making a move to get up and make breakfast.

~~

Tim scratched absentmindedly at his shoulder, keeping one arm wrapped tightly around Jason’s stomach as he drove Tim’s bike through the streets of Gotham. The discomfort from that morning was still lingering under his skin. He tried to ignore it, but it was almost like the more he tried not to focus on it, the worse it got.

He’d discreetly taken a couple of aspirin when Jason was out of the room, hoping the meds would do something to ease the discomfort if it was sickness, but there hadn’t been any noticeable change in him.

A scream pierced the air and Tim immediately tightened his hold on Jason as he gunned it, swerving around the corner to the next street. They screeched to a halt in front of an alley where two teenagers with bats had cornered a woman against the wall.

“No, please,” she said, clutching her purse to her chest.

“Surely you have some spare change to help two boys in need,” one of them grinned, tapping the metal bat against the side of his shoe.

Tim didn’t waste a second. He jumped from the back of the bike as Jason put the kickstand down and landed on the shoulders of the second kid, taking him to the ground. Tim rolled with the impact, jumping to his feet as the kid struggled to get up.

The woman shrieked and ran for the sidewalk.

“Hey!” the first boy said, but Jason appeared in front his face, knocking him back a step. He growled and swung his bat, but Jason dodged easily.

The guy Tim was fighting finally got back to his feet and charged at him, bat raised over his head. Tim pulled out his bo and extended it with a flick of his wrist. He slammed the end of it into the kid’s forehead. His head snapped back, and he stumbled, grunting as pain exploded in the front of his skull.

Tim grinned and lazily twirled the bo in his hand, happy that the discomfort under his skin had dulled and wasn’t as noticeable anymore. He readied his bo as the boy straightened and found his balance to rush at him again.

Tim used his extended reach and let it crack against the side of his head, sending him sprawling on the ground. He didn’t make another move, head lolling to the side in a puddle of dirty water. He turned to check on Jason’s progress and watched in slow motion as the bat slipped under Jason’s reach and slammed into Jason’s side.

Tim gasped, pain exploding in his side before expanding throughout his whole body. He hunched over, knees buckling as he slammed into the ground. He coughed, trying to dislodge the heavy ball of anxiety and pain that wrapped around his stomach and threatened to turn it inside out.

His vision wavered, and he fought to suck in deep breaths through his nose. He couldn’t hear anything over his own desperate breaths and the rushing of blood in his ears. He flinched when hands wrapped around his arms, burning the nerves under his skin.

He whimpered and tried to pull away.

“What the hell, Red?” Jason asked, lifting him so their eyes would meet.

Tim tried to pull away, fighting to catch his breath even when every part of him was screaming in agony. His mind clouded with pain. He wanted it to end. He wanted it to stop. He didn’t care how, he just wanted it over.

“Fuck,” Jason cursed in front of him.

Tim fought to wriggle out of his grasp and free himself from the fire under his skin.

“This is Red Hood. I need a pick up for Red Robin immediately. Red Robin is down. Get your asses here now.”

Tim writhed when Jason tightened his grip on his arm and pulled him to his feet. He tried to claw at Jason’s hand and get his fingers to uncurl, but they remained tight. His skin pulsed under the grip in time with his too fast heartbeat.

Jason got an arm under his legs and lifted him from his feet. He whimpered, even the gentle pressure under his back and legs seemingly too much. There was no relief. The all-consuming pain the only thing surrounding him. He couldn’t take it. He wouldn’t survive this.

A screech of tires barely registered over the torrent of pain and his desperate thoughts.

A bleary black form came into view before Tim was being passed into someone else’s arms, causing him to writhe and buck violently. The grip tightened and he practically sobbed, clawing at the person’s chest, his fingers moving uselessly against it.

“Red Robin, calm down,” a deep voice growled above him.

Even through the haze of pain engulfing him, he finally understood that it was Bruce above him. He was moved again, set down on the leather seat of the car as Bruce let him go. The relief was only slight, the urge to claw out of his skin strong and all-consuming.

The interior was cool, the air conditioning biting into his heated skin. The smell of leather and oil was familiar, wrapping around him as the acid ate under his skin and made it difficult to sit still or find comfort.

He was hardly coherent during the drive, fighting not to become drowned by pain and anguish and the never-ending mantra in his head desperately screaming for all of this to stop. He wanted to be put out of his misery. He wanted to be safe and happy. He wanted to feel nothing because everything else was too much.

Tim shifted as the Batmobile decelerated, trying not to feel the burn of fire on his skin. He whimpered when hands grabbed him again and lifted him from the seat, carrying him across to the medical bed they had set up.

Alfred was already rummaging through the supplies, pulling out a needle and a small bottle. He fought to press himself to the opposite side of the bed. The needle would hurt. It would cause him more pain. He didn’t want anymore pain.

“Calm down, Master Timothy,” Alfred said, voice gentle as he stepped closer. “It’s merely something to ease the pain.”

Tim nodded, arm shaking as he extended it across the covers. The logical part of his mind knew it would help to make things better, but the rest of his mind that was laced with so much pain and torment was screaming at him to retreat and find some other way to relieve it.

He closed his eyes as Alfred’s aged fingers wrapped around his arm to keep him steady. He inserted the needle under his skin and Tim bit his lip, biting down hard to keep from crying out or jerking away.

He didn’t notice when the needle was withdrawn, a cool breeze sweeping up his arm and bringing down the heat that had been consuming him. His breathing slowed, muscles relaxing now that the tension was finally allowed to leave his body.

“Are you alright, Master Timothy?” Alfred asked.

He nodded, head rubbing languidly against the sheet underneath him.

“What happened?” Bruce asked, stepping into view.

Tim swallowed, letting out a shaky sigh. “Help me sit up and I’ll explain everything,” he whispered, throat feeling raw even though he was pretty sure he hadn’t screamed.

Alfred helped him sit up and Bruce propped the bed up, giving Tim a pillow to lean back against. He swallowed, fighting to get his thoughts in order.

“Okay,” he said, taking a deep breath. “I’ve been…getting worse,” he admitted, voice soft.

“What exactly does that entail?” Bruce asked.

“My pain and emotions have been getting stronger. I’ve taken on more of Jason’s pain and his feelings. And I’m sure the opposite is happening to him where he’s losing feeling. Last night I got hit in the head with the end of a rifle. It didn’t affect Jason at all. And tonight, when Jason was hit with a baseball bat, he didn’t even flinch while I collapsed.”

“Has there been anything else?” Bruce asked.

Tim hesitated for a second, but Bruce crossed his arms.

“This morning when I woke up there was this sense of discomfort lingering under my skin. It wasn’t quite painful, but it was definitely uncomfortable.”

Bruce sighed. “Why didn’t you tell us this was happening?”

Tim frowned, anger sparking in his gut. He sat up and gripped the sheets in his hands. “Maybe because if I had you would’ve locked me away and kept me off the case when I know more about what’s going on than you do.”

Bruce stilled, and Tim’s eyes roved over him. “You’re right. That’s exactly what I would’ve done and it’s not what you deserve. I’m sorry.”

Tim blinked and relaxed, surprised that Bruce actually apologized and admitted he was out of line. “I…thank you.”

“We need to get a strike team on this. I’m calling in the rest of Gotham’s vigilantes.”

“We found a base on the outskirts of Gotham,” Tim explained. “One of their vans drove back there and Oracle found the place had electric and sewage lines that could serve to maintain a large number of people. Jason and I were going to scope things out tonight, but obviously we didn’t get that far.”

Bruce nodded. “Do you have your files?”

Tim undid the latches on his gauntlet and passed it over to Bruce to look through his wrist computer. “Everything you need to know is on there.”

He nodded and strode over to the Computer, plugging a USB cable into Tim’s gauntlet for a file download. Tim watched him work for a minute before he turned his attention to Jason who was standing several feet from his bed and had been quiet since they got to the Cave.

“Jason?” he murmured softly.

Jason’s head jerked, and he looked over at him.

“Are you okay?”

Jason reached up and undid the latches of his helmet, pulling it off and setting it at the foot of the bed. Tim tried not to feel worried about how hollow his eyes looked.

“I think I should be the one asking you that,” he said, sounding empty.

“Yeah, but this is affecting you too.”

“You’re the one who’s being crippled by pain,” Jason muttered. “And I didn’t even notice.”

Tim stared down at his knees. “How could you when your feelings were slowly disappearing?”

“I still should have…I could have…”

“There’s nothing you could’ve done to stop it,” Tim said. “The only thing that matters is ending this now.”

“I still should’ve noticed,” Jason muttered.

Tim reached out and caught his hand where Jason had moved next to his bed. “I don’t blame you, if that’s what you’re worried about. I shouldn’t have kept it hidden. Not when I knew what was happening. It’s my fault.”

Jason grumbled something under his breath.

“How about we just agree that it’s Robert Anderson’s fault,” Tim said. “He was the one who did this to us with the help of the government.”

Jason nodded. “Are you going to be okay sitting this one out?”

Tim grimaced. And then shifted when he felt a phantom discomfort sweep over his skin. “I’m going to have to, aren’t I? I’m too much of a liability in the field without painkillers and they won’t last long enough for the duration of the mission. And we don’t need to have a weakness out there for Anderson to exploit.”

Jason nodded. “But I’m sure you’re going to take care of everything on this end.”

Tim grinned. “You better believe it.” He took a breath, smile faltering as heat started to spread over his skin. He fought to keep his smile in place. “I’m going to be the annoying voice in your ear directing your every movement.”

“I’m looking forward to it,” Jason said, offering the first smile that Tim had seen in…he wasn’t sure how long. So much had been going on that had kept his attention. No wonder the two of them were falling in different directions.

Tim shifted and swallowed, trying to ignore the discomfort that was returning. It was stronger than it had been when he’d woken up that morning which was worrying since neither him or Jason had been hit with any sort of attack.

“Tim?” Jason asked.

“I don’t…I think…”

“What is it?” he asked. “Alfred?” Jason called for the butler, a hint of desperation sinking into his voice.

“What’s going on?” Alfred asked, kind voice hardly breaking through Tim’s rising panic.

Tim squeezed Jason’s hand, clenching his teeth against the wave of fire spreading through his veins.

“Tim?!” Jason asked, voice conveying more emotion than it had all day.

“Something’s wrong,” he forced out against the wave of pain that clouded his mind. “The pain’s back.”

“That’s not possible,” Alfred said. “The dose of pain killers I gave you…”

Tim shuddered and curled in on himself, trying to keep his breathing steady as everything inside of him seized and clenched. His stomach nearly turned inside out, and the next wave of pain was dizzying and nauseating.

“Get him another dose,” Jason said.

“His system might not be able to-“

“Alfred, please,” Tim said, nearly whimpering in discomfort.

“Okay, okay,” he said, rushing to the cabinet.

Tim had never seen him look so frazzled or frantic. They could usually rely on Alfred to be the rock when things got bad and used his confidence to keep the rest of them calm.

He could only hope things wouldn’t get any worse.

If you enjoy my work, please reblog or consider buying me a ko-fi!

[wearingheels-kickingass]

Powerful

Outlaw Queen AU. King Leopold dies soon after his marriage to Regina. The kingdom becomes unsettled as rumors about the Queen surface and soon there is only one way to ensure the monarchy won't be overthrown. There must be a new King.

Chapter 5

Read the rest of the story here. 

. . . 

The next two days passed much the same.

Between meetings and fittings and going over the kingdom’s tenuous finances, Robin spent any unfettered moment he had thinking about Regina. They hadn’t spoken about their honeymoon since he brought it up the other night and he had been hoping to the Gods that she hadn’t changed her mind.

When Robin woke the following morning, he found a brand new fur cloak hanging in his armoire and his finest riding clothes laid out next to it. He didn’t need his valet to tell him something big was happening today. The cloak settled heavily over him as if a tidal wave was being draped over his shoulders. As his valet fussed, Robin gazed past the man into the mirror. He couldn’t help but notice that for the first time since arriving, he looked like a king.

When he finally arrived in the Grand Hall, it seemed as though he should have been awake earlier. Regina and Snow were already mounted on their horses, looking more regal than he’d ever seen them. They were both wearing elegant gowns, Regina in violet and Snow in pink, their skirts meticulously draped over their saddles. Knights began to converge around them, some on foot and others on horses, looking so imposing that even Robin felt unwelcome.

“Good morning, sire.” Robin turned to see Lord Grey approaching, carrying a ledger in one hand and a pocket watch in the other. “I’m sorry about all this. I had initially planned for the ride through to be after your coronation but the Council changed their mind.”

“Ride through?”

“Yes, we thought it might be a good demonstration of stability to have you ride through some of the closer towns in the kingdom. The people want to meet their new ruler. It shouldn’t take more than a few hours. You’ll be back before dinner.”

Robin looked over the sea of metal caps before him. “The knights will guide us?”

The councilman nodded. “Of course, sire. Usually there wouldn’t be so many of them, but...conditions have changed. But no matter, don’t bother yourself with that. Just enjoy the people. Show them that their royal family is united.”

Well how the fuck am I supposed to do that?, Robin thought, but all he did was nod and promise his best efforts.  

“If you leave now,” Lord Grey said, opening his pocket watch and glancing at it with a furrowed brow, “You might just be able to stay on schedule.”

“If there’s anyone to blame if we don’t, it’s me. I’m sorry if I was late.”

“You are a very different man than our King Leopold, aren’t you?”

Robin frowned. “Why do you say that?”

Lord Grey gave him a tight smile. “He never apologized.”

Robin didn’t have time to respond before his horse was brought before him and he was hurried off to join Regina and Snow at the front gates.

“Good morning, Robin!” Snow called, shifting excitedly on her saddle. One of her maids promptly scurried over to readjust her petticoat.

“Good morning, Snow,” Robin replied. “You both look lovely.”

Snow grinned and thanked him. “Are you excited to see the kingdom?”

Robin had to admit that he actually was excited for this. Finally, a chance to spend a few hours away from the palace, out under the open sky; and if he had to smile and wave while he did it, then so be it. Although he knew he had spent parts of his childhood in Leopold’s kingdom before his father’s mansion was built, he hardly remembered any of it. At the very least, he would be able to look into the faces of the people who he would all too soon be presiding over.

“I am, rather. How are you this morning, Regina?” One look at her and Robin realizes he didn’t even have to ask the question. She was looking with wide, fixed eyes at the front gates as if they were the jaws of a monster getting ready to swallow her whole.

He lowered his voice and called her name low enough so hopefully not the entire caravan can hear him. “Regina? Are you alright?”

“Yes, I’m fine,” she said without turning her head. Then, softer, “Everything will be fine.”

Before he had a chance to say anything else, the gates were opened. Across the drawbridge Robin could see a throng of people had already gathered to meet them. Or rather, meet the three dozen or so knights surrounding them while they strain their necks to see the royals behind them. As they reached the crowd, Robin could hear people shouting Snow’s name and waving to her. The young princess greeted it all with a dignified smile. As they got closer to town, the crowd continued to grow.

“Long live the king!”

“All hail King Robin!”

“Our new king--!”

“--May he live long and well!”

All of the voices began to blend together as they weaved through the streets. Robin attempted a look of stoic contentedness and sat as tall as he could, but he kept his eyes on Regina. He hadn’t heard anyone say her name. In fact, he could see the crowd shying away from her. Men took steps back and bowed their heads, mothers turned their children’s faces away when their queen passed. Row after row of houses, hundreds of people screamed their loyalty to their crown and country, but never to their queen.

Robin’s heart broke for her. Even if it was silent, there was no way she wasn’t feeling the distaste being projected at her from every angle. Why did the Council think this was a good idea? No matter their reasoning, Robin doubted she was given a choice. It made him wonder. Was she given a choice to become queen? Or was she, like him, thrown to the mercy of other people’s intentions? Robin watched for an hour as his soon-to-be subjects ignored his soon-to-be wife. When he saw a woman in the masses silently praying as Regina rode by, he decided he couldn’t watch it anymore. Short of screaming at everyone to stop, however, Robin had no clue what to do. He wracked his brain, but nothing came. The noise of the crowd seemed to crescendo, closing in on him. Robin couldn’t leave her isolated a moment longer. He looked to his left to see eyes downcast as Regina passed, then to his right, where his gaze fixed on an elderly couple holding hands, smiling and waving at Snow with the hands not clutched together.

Robin smiled. He steered his horse a few feet closer to Regina’s until they were riding as close as they could without jostling each other.

“Regina,” he said, “May I have your hand?”

Her eyes met his and lost the steely, numb quality they had been wearing ever since they left the palace. “What?”

“Will you give me your hand?”

He was right here, right next to her, and he had a sudden desperate urge to let her know that he stood by her. Too many people were determined to ignore her, but Robin had barely stopped thinking about her since the moment they had met. Regina was looking at him like he was asking her to jump off a cliff. Robin gazed at her, pleading with his eyes. She was just as drained as he had assumed because she finally loosened the unrelenting grip she had on her reins and took his hand. He wished neither of them had riding gloves on so that he could feel the soft press of her skin against his, but when he lifted his eyes to meet hers he found her smiling. It was a tight, nervous smile, but a smile nonetheless. Her gaze was no longer empty, her beautiful dark chocolate orbs were brimming with something like gratitude. Robin couldn’t pull his eyes from hers, but if he had, he would have seen the townspeople staring in awe. Jaws began to drop, shouts of devotion turning into frantic, curious whispers. The hush that went over the crowd was immediate, but the inside of Robin’s mind was loud. Regina’s was the only gaze he felt, the only one that mattered. He couldn’t help but smile back.

“She’s cast a spell on our new king!”

The declaration rung out over the crowd as clear as if the Gods had announced it themselves. The accusation came from a woman at the front of the crowd, unremarkable except for the raging hatred in her eyes.

The woman pointed at the royal family, stepping forward from the droves. “She has him bewitched!”

And in an instant, heaven descended into hell.

Shouting began to ricochet through the street.

“Our queen is a witch!”

“She must burn!”

“No one is safe!”

“Save the princess--”

The crowd began encroaching on the caravan. Knights drew their swords, those on horses tightening their formation around the royals.

“Regina!” Robin heard Snow shout over the noise. It was as if someone had sent a curse through the minds of the people, the change had been so sudden. Hysteria empowered them. The screaming grew louder and Robin watched as the violence began. The knights had no qualms about bloodshed. Screams of anger mixed with screams of pain as their swords came down on those who lead the charge. Red stains spread across tunics and dresses, but the knights were outnumbered. Robin took out his sword just as a man reached towards Regina, taking a fist full of her gown.

“Rocinante!” Regina yelled, but there was nowhere for her steed to go. The man began pulling her down but Robin took the flat side of his sword and brought it down as hard as he could against the man’s forearm. The man howled in pain and let go, but there were more hands to replace his.

Robin heard Snow screaming as Regina started to slip from her horse. Regina’s gown had dark patches now from the knights slicing through the flesh of those who dared to touch her. These people were going to kill her, in all their ignorance and misguided fury, they would kill their own queen with their bare hands. Robin had to get Regina and Snow to safety and he had to do it now.

He was so overwhelmed, his mind a cacophony of thoughts trying to become ideas. There was a knight on a horse in front of him and Robin shouted at him to turn around.

“Take the princess and ride back to the palace as fast as you can!”

The knight nodded and moved as quickly as he could towards Snow, plucking her from her mount.

Robin shouted down to the other knights on their feet. “Make a path for him!”

Using their shields, the knights began carving a trail through the crowd. Once his horse had a path, the knight sped through it, uncaring whether his horse trampled over those who were too slow or too determined to move. Robin didn’t have time to spare. Regina was desperately clinging to her horse’s neck, her gown torn and bloody. A woman from the crowd lunged past the knights and grabbed onto Regina’s arm. Regina shook the woman off, but then a man’s meaty fist shot out and yanked on Regina’s hair. She cried out and loosened her grip, just for a moment, but it was enough that Robin knew in another second, she would be lost to the mercy of the crowd.

Robin didn’t think, he simply acted. He swung his sword at the man, once, then twice, and in a flash of red the man was on the ground, blood pouring from his face and chest. His actions stunned the crowd just long enough for him to take Regina by the waist and pull her to him.

He lowered his mouth to her ear. “Hold onto me.” Once he was sure she was stable in his lap, he urged his horse until he faced the same gap in the crowd Snow had gone through. People were grabbing at him now, too, but thankfully his horse wasn’t too keen on the crowd either. His mount sped towards the opening, with the knights following behind them. Robin rode as fast as he could. He didn’t even stop when the screams of the masses were behind them, or when they sped too fast even for the knights to keep up. Robin rode with Regina clutching to him, his own nerves too frayed to feel the silent sobs wracking his fiancé’s body. He rode until the gates of the palace were closed behind them.

. . .

The courtyard was empty when they arrived.

“Regina,” he said, a hand moving to cup her jaw. “Are you alright? Are you hurt?”

Her eyes were red from crying, tears still leaking streaming down her face. “I’m fine. I’m okay. They only really got a hold of my dress.”

Robin dismounted. Without hesitation he took her gently by the waist and began to lift her down. He felt her tense under his touch and he stilled.

"I can get off of a horse myself,” she said softly.

"I've no lack of confidence in your abilities milady, but you've had a quite a shock. I only mean to help." Still, he lifted his hands off of her. He watched her dismount then take the reigns with shaking hands. She stood there for a moment, looking at anything but him. Robin sensed the leftover panic in her, the stifled fear and disbelief.

“Regina?”

Her eyes finally met his and she crumbled. The tears flowed freely, now, and she fell into his arms.

“I didn’t kill Leopold, Robin,” she cried against his chest. “I didn’t touch him. I never wanted to touch him. I didn’t--I didn’t--”. The words died in her throat as the sobs wracked her body.

“Gods, I’m so sorry, Regina. I’m so sorry.”

Robin wrapped his arms around her, cursing himself for believing for even one second that Regina could have done the atrocious thing she was being accused of. They stayed this way, wrapped up in each other, until they were torn apart by a flurry of servants coming to clean the blood and tears away.

[valiantvigilant]

Come Home, Please (Jason Todd x Reader)

I decided to start off my first imagine on here with a Jason x Reader because who doesn’t love Jason? I’m kinda nervous about posting my work considering I haven’t posted any of my writing since my edgy middle school days lmao. Hopefully, it’s gotten better! Well, here goes nothing!

____ It was going to storm in Gotham tonight, per the usual. However, the rain hadn’t started to fall yet. Only the thunder and lightning crackle above, and at any given moment, the sky’s water works could begin. (Y/N) was doing patrol alone tonight. As (Y/H/N) (your hero name) you have saved many people in Gotham. Many villains feared an encounter with you almost as much as they feared The Bat, your mentor. You were his second protégé, after Dick Grayson. You didn’t have the greatest life before Bruce took you in. Your parents died when you were young, and having to make due for yourself on the streets of Gotham isn’t a child’s ideal lifestyle. However, Bruce found you and took you in. You had just saved a lady from being robbed when your 12 year old self beat the living shit of the criminal. And thats when Bats came and your life just went up from there. Not too long after he had brought you in from your grimy life on the streets, he had scooped up him. Jason Todd. He became Robin and you were (Y/H/N.) The three of you worked like a well oiled machine. All of that changed when he died. When your best friend, your other half, the love of your life, died. That was a long time ago. Your Jaybird was dead and that was that. You…never really healed from that. It scarred you. Oh, how you wanted to kill Joker. There isn’t a day that goes by that you don’t want to kill him and send his rancid soul to the pits of hell for what he did to Jason. You two were ever so in love. No one had ever seen two people more fit for each other than (Y/N) (L/N) and Jason Todd. Everyone knew just by the looks you two gave each other that you two were going to last a lifetime. But sometimes in life, things change. Jason Todd, was supposed to be dead. He has been for five long years. Until recently that is. You remembered when you walked down the steps to the Batcave and you saw Bruce hunched over the computer, his forehead resting against his hands that were folded in front of him. You swiftly made your way to his side, placing the mugs of hot chocolate you had brought down for the both of you, down. “Bruce, is everything alright?” You asked, worry evident in your voice. He looked up at you, his cowl was down, revealing tired blue eyes. Those eyes only flicked up to the computer screen in which you saw it. All of the evidence that proved Jason Todd was alive and was now going by Red Hood. Your (e/c) hues widened as you scanned every bit of information on that screen. You clenched your jaw and took a seat, your body shaking with anger and shock. No, no, no. This can’t be real! This cannot be true! He was dead. Gone. You felt his corpse and how cold to the touch his skin was. That body was bloody and broken. It couldn’t possibly be him. Could it? After a bit of denial and a few hours of viewing the facts over and over, you came to except it. The fact that your once dead boyfriend, the man who plagued your dreams at night and your thoughts in the day was alive! He didn’t even say anything to you… You listened calmly as Bruce explained everything. Though, nothing in the explanation was a good enough excuse for Jason not to see you. You had shed tears for him, worked yourself to become stronger so you didn’t lose anyone else, in honor of him. You even used his mask as part of your uniform. Everything you did since he died was in memory of the man you loved. You decided to confront him yourself a couple months after the incident between him and Bruce. You had clung on to a bit of hope that he would confront you at some point, but it never happened. So you decided to take matters into your own hands, keeping Bruce’s warning in mind as your ran the rooftops of Gotham. “He isn’t the same man you remember Y/N. He is…different. Stay alert.” And here you were, typing away at your hologlove (The computer built into the wrists of Batman’s suit and Robin’s as well. It’s in Young Justice if you’ve ever seen it lol) You had gotten a few tips from people in Crime Alley were The Red Hood just might be, and now you had a lock on his location. Smirking, you followed the red dot on the screen that was Jason. Eventually you finally caught up with him. He hasn’t lost his swiftness, that’s for sure. You closed out the computer on your wrist once you made it to the same rooftop as him. You were fast and stealthy. You his behind the roof door of the building and you watched as he loaded the guns he uses for weapons. You put your hand on your hip, double checking that (w/o/c) (wepon of choice) is still strapped to your hip. You took a deep breath and closed your eyes for a moment. This was it. You would be reacquainted with the man who still has your heart. Opening your masked eyes you peek your head out one more time and see that he isn’t standing there anymore. You’re about to pull up your hologlove when you sense him. Behind you! Your instincts screamed and you flipped out of the way just as bullets came spitting at you. You tugged the hood of your cloak further over your head so it shielded your face as you dodged and got a good distance away. “Who the hell are you?!” He demanded, stepping into the moonlight to face your cloaked figure. “I know you’ve been following me. What do you want?” His voice was full of bitterness and scorn. He had gotten a hell of a lot taller than you remember. His voice was rougher and his face was covered by that red helmet. You longed to see those seafoam green eyes of his under there. “You have ten seconds before I start shooting again and blow your fucking brains out!” Your lips curl into a smug smile and a laugh escapes you. Faster than he could process, you reach down to the straps on your calves and pull out the pair of escrima sticks that Dick had made for you. (W/o/c) would give it away who you were, so you decided to use these. Jason was fast, but not fast enough. He shot at you once more, but you were faster. You quickly knocked the guns out of his hands and sent them skidding across the rooftop. He let out a growl before sliding out a knife. “I’m going to ask you again, who are you?!” “I’m surprised you haven’t notice by now Jason,” you replied. He gripped his knife tighter. “You’ve gotten stronger, faster, smarter. But so have I.” Your voice was a low snarl, and you felt your anger and hurt start to fill your gut. You yanked your hood down and revealed your face. Rage was etched into your features and you were pretty sure your knuckles were white with how hard you were gripping the escrima sticks. “(Y-Y/N)?” He questioned. “Who else would be able to disarm you that quick?” You snap back, meaning for it to be a joke, but it sure as hell didn’t sound like one. “Nice mask (n/n),” he said slyly, putting his knife away. You take a few steps towards him and rip it off, showing your blazing (e/c) eyes. He got captivated in them, just as he did the moment he met you. The pools of (e/c) were enough to calm his racing heart. Partially. You were angry. You were beyond angry. You were seething. Perhaps he should have visited you. Said something to you…but why should he? He thought to himself, you kept Joker alive. You didn’t do anything to avenge him! (Or so he believed.) “You can have it back,” you snarl, throwing the mask at him and it flutters to the ground. “Did Bruce send you after me? I thought for sure you would be with Golden Boy if you did come.” “I came on my own accord Jaybird.” He felt his stomach drop as you said this. He normally hated when anyone besided you and Roy called him that. All the times that you said it with love and care in your voice raced through his mind. Now, you said it with clear agitation. “Why?” He says, his voice came out…softer than he imagined. He cursed himself for it. “Why? I came out here to find you, so I can finally see you after thinking you were dead. And, all you can ask me is why?! Why do you think I came to find you Jason? So I can fight you?” You say the last two lines with sarcasm dripping off each syllable. He stays quiet. “I thought you were gone…and now Bruce tells me you are alive. I had to find out for myself if it was true.” “Well sweetheart, as you can see, I’m alive. Fucked up from the Lazarus Pit, but alive!” He replied with an equal amount of sarcasm. You had gotten your anger towards him under control and you were ready to talk to him about why you really came here. Putting your escrima sticks away, you began to speak again. “I know you are different now Jay, but-” “Different?” He said, laughing coldly. “I’m beyond different (Y/N). I’ve decided that just putting the scum you and Bruce capture, in jail, isn’t enough. My little experience taught me that. The only way is to terminate them.” “That isn’t right and you know it,” you respond sternly. “Don’t you see what happens when you keep them alive?! You kept him alive. You and Bruce. And look what happened (Y/N) I was killed.“ Jason spat out. “I thought if not him, than you would do it. That you would kill Joker. He took me from you (Y/N). Me. And you didn’t do a fucking thing about it!” “Don’t you dare say that,” you replied, in a low growl. “I was going to do it. I had him on the brink of death, but Dick and Bruce had to pull me off him. But with the adrenaline, rage and tears, I slipped from their grip before they had to get Clark to hold me back. So don’t you fucking dare say that I never did anything about it. I almost lost myself because he took you from me.” Tears were forming in your eyes now as you stood before your once dead lover. You took a deep breath to get your emotions in control before you said something you would regret. “I’m not asking you to kill Penguin, or Scarecrow, or Riddler, or any of those other bastards. This is Joker, (Y/N). He has done the worst out of all of them, he is lower than a pile of shit on the food chain. He is unexplainably dispicable and you choose to keep him alive, even after he took me from you. Clearly I didn’t mean enough to you!” “You won’t ever get it, will you?” You retort, your voice getting bolder. “I love you Jason. I always have and always will. But I can’t kill him. The hatred for Joker will always linger, but I learned to rid it from my heart because I won’t allow myself to be corrupted by him. I won’t let that son of a bitch get to me anymore. For a long while, he had a hold of my mind and I don’t even think he realized it! But the past two and a half years…I learned to let go of my poison because I had to go back to what I was trained to do. Saving people. I couldn’t save you Jason…and I’m sorry. I am so, so sorry. I took that, the pain and tears, he blood and sweat that came with losing you and I made myself stronger. So I could do better and save more lives. For you. So don’t you say I didn’t do anything, that you weren’t in my heart, or that I didn’t care. Because everything I’ve ever done since you’ve been gone, was done with you in my mind. You are in my daydreams and my night-thinking. You will always be in my heart because that’s what I chose to keep there, not the toxins that Joker had implanted.” You were breathing heavily after your speech as you reached down and picked up his old mask, pocketing it. Then, you walked towards him and he shrunk back a bit. Jason wasn’t quite sure what he was feeling. The bitterness he felt had melted away at your words. You had always had that effect on him. Your very presence was enough to sooth his aching soul. He felt a lump form in his throat as you walked closer and he slid back a bit. Your words had struck something in him and he realized that he wanted you. That he needed you. He wanted to be enveloped by your arms and never leave them. He felt like…like such a child in this moment. He had just yelled at his love, the girl he had loved practically all his life and surprisingly she still hasn’t given up on him. If he were you, he would have left a long time ago. You were just a few inches from him now, and you reached up to his helmet and put your hands to it and pulled it off, revealing his face. His eyes however, were concealed by another mask. You internally rolled your eyes at this. Only Jason would be that extra that he needed a mask under his mask. He had a white tuft of hair that was part of his bangs. You could only assume that the Pit left him with that trauma streak. Your slim fingers took hold of the corner of the domino mask and peeled it off, finally showing you the brilliant shade of seafoam green that were his eyes. You put a hand to his cheek, and gave him a warm smile. That’s what broke him. He scooped you up in his arms and held you tightly, breathing in your scent. Oh God, how he missed you. His heart yearned for you and here you were, back in his arms where you belonged. He felt his eyes well up with tears and yours did the same. This time, you let them fall as you clung to each other. You felt your shoulder become damp and you tangled a hand in his hair. You pulled back slightly and he turned, trying to wipe the tears from his face so you wouldn’t see them. “Jason,” you began. “Will you come home? Please?” He took a deep breath and nodded as he cupped your face in his large hands. You let a few more salty pearls escape and he wiped them away. Furthermore, just like how it was five years ago, he pressed his lips to yours. It seemed ethereal. For this, this hadn’t happened in what felt like a millenium. You supposed, things like that, will never change. ____ Well, that’s the end of my first imagine on here! I’m really excited to write more of these, so please, send in requests!! Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed!

[ironbloodaika]

What are your top 10 superheroines and why?

I normally don’t do Top 10′s since I suck at narrowing things down, but I just can’t say no to you. XD I’ll give this a shot. These lovely ladies won’t be in any individual order of preference. I’ll just summarize what I like both about their looks and characters.

Harley Quinn: In recent years Harley’s proven to be a hero in her own right, thanks to shaking off the grip of the Joker’s influence. Harley’s a very sweet and fun character, bringing a lot of joy and color into otherwise dark stories, but not without some craziness to make her out of place in the setting. Her outfits and personality are adorable and she’s very affectionate to those she loves, plus she’s one of those characters who’s had a WIDE range of costumes, but each works since Harley’s traits are so defined, you never have difficulty picking her from a crowd.

Batgirl: Another lovely lady from Gotham’s night life I was introduced to by the Batman Animated Series. I was especially a fan of her depiction in the final seasons were she became more of a main part of the team (being voiced by the ever awesome Tara Strong didn’t hurt). XD She kicks in all her finery, heels and red hair blazing. I liked how she had her own relationship with Batman as opposed to the Robin’s as she herself joined the fight against crime instead of being recruited. She listened to Batman because of his experience and training, but wasn’t beholden to him either, but never let anything like ego get in the way of saving the day or from speaking her mind and using her skills. Also LOVED how in SBFF she was a total fangirl for Batman...the Frank Miller-esque Batman. The difference in design is hilarious!

Wonder Woman: A character I really didn’t get to know until the Justice League cartoon, since the Super Friends version was rather bland in character. She really earned her spot among the Trinity. She’s not just gorgeous with a body that shows quite a bit of muscle, but she’s also able to go toe-to-toe with people in Superman’s league and doesn’t have any issue getting her hands dirty or fighting dirty if the situation calls for it. I also liked a trait in the comics that, sadly, hasn’t been as well depicted in the cartoons, is her compassion. She’s someone who’s just as willing to offer someone a helping hand as she is willing to lay down a smackdown. She manages to walk the line of a kick-ass warrior and someone who favors peace without breaking stride.

Supergirl: Another I owe to the DCAU. I liked her style and design and the friendship she had with Barbara and the family she made with Superman and the Kents. And I’m kinda cheating with combining her with the SBFF version too, but I liked her muscles and curves. :3 So hot! But back to personality I liked how she both wanted to be her own hero and not just be seen as Superman’s cousin, but was also proud to be a part of the family and wore his hero crest with pride.

Raven: I didn’t notice her at first when the show first started (my eyes were first drawn to Starfire) but as time went on I saw her as more than just a ‘goth’ character I starting to see more of in fiction. Unlike a lot of goth characters at the time, Raven was never really a bitch or jerk to the team. She was a little guarded and quiet, but she still considered them friends and had no issue being friends with them. There’s a very nice bit of subtle changes to her design as the series goes on, with her wearing her hood up less and less when hanging with her friends outside of battles. She becomes more open with them, smiling and laughing with their shenanigans (most of the time). And as TTG showed us QUITE a bit, she’s got a LOT to like under that cloak. :3

Starfire: She was the first I noticed mostly through her looks. While her outfit wasn’t as revealing as her comics outfit, it was still a huge shock to someone used to Supergirl and Batgirl’s style of dress. That said I learned to see more to the character than looks and really enjoyed how sweet and emotional she was. She wasn’t a push over by any means, she was just someone who truly and honestly loved her friends and would do anything to help them out or keep them happy. That sorta genuine affection is rare and pretty adorable. She’s the kind of person we all wish we had in life. Also I found her attitude towards love, sex, and relationships (in the early comics at least before the reboot) to be pretty mature and showing she clearly understands the concepts which a lot of people have a hard time grasping (even helping out Raven understanding her own feelings ont he subject).

Empowered: An original hero of @adamwarrencomics creations, I discovered her from some art I came across on Deviantart. I gotta be honest, when I first saw the previews and read the book summary, I bought the first issue thinking it was just gonna be some light fan-service and parody. Thankfully I was wrong about that. The shallow bit that is. While the story doesn’t shy away from EMP, her body, or her relationship with her boyfriend time and again, it never does it in a way you could call crude or exploitative. It all flows naturally with the narrative that follows her life as a hero, both in the field and at home. You really feel for the girl and her struggle to be a hero and the constant shit her so-called “co-workers” and even random civvies give her. You just wanna give her a hug. But not because she’s gorgeous or anything, but because you honestly believe in her. You know she can be a kick-ass superhero and know she can prove those jack-asses wrong. And with every issue you see her overcoming each obstructed in her way and becoming more and more self-assured and effective as a hero. It also helps when you see she’s one of the few heroes without any showboating tendencies. She helps others from a desire to genuinely help and do good. 

Artemis: Husky voice, blonde hair, tan skin, pony-tail, muscles, and abs you could grate cheese on. :3 Pure 10 out of 10 on the looks scale. :3 Now for character I like Artemis cause she’s very different from other superheroines in that she’s much more in your face and not one to take shit from people. Now to some people that means to be an asshole or be the only one making decisions, but for her it just means not letting others speak for her and to let other walk over her. A lot of people seemed to not like her for that reason (despite praising guy characters for literally the same thing) but I really liked it. Tough girls kick ass. And when you know about her history, her attitude makes sense. When you’re raised by a mentally, physically, and verbally abusive asshole who wants to mold you into a side-kick for his merc business, you’d want to stick it to the guy by doing good and making your atoner mom proud. With that sorta determination, you’re not gonna take any new-gal hazing. XD But that said, she was also nice and considered the others her friends, even if it was rough goings at first, to the point she was willing to reveal VERY personal information to them, rather than be blackmailed. VERY nice change of pace from the standard tropes in fiction.

Huntress: Another hard-nosed hottie with a thing for arrows, I was introduced to her with Justice League Unlimited. I really felt for the character. The daughter of a mob boss who was murdered along with her mother in front of her by one of their subordinates. It’s not hard to see her trying to get her revenge on the SOB, even if it means getting kicked out of the Justice League and taking on Black Canary and Green Arrow to do it. While she does eventually make the right call, I honestly found myself rooting for her at times because you really felt for her. But at least she got a nice relationship with The Question out of all of it and it was one of the most adorable pairings in the entire show. She was willing to kick some MAJOR ass to keep him safe and it took Superman to reign her in from straight up killing people. Not in the comics I think. Also, them legs and that AB WINDOW. What is it with girls with arrows and having killer abs? XD

Uravity/Froppy: Bit of a tie since I like them both. Froppy is adorable and is blunt and honest without being a bitch, a trap that befalls most characters. She’s sweet to her friends and is willing to put her life on the life for them no questions asked. She was seconds away from a literal Touch of Death, but spent what would have been her last moments trying to get her friend away from getting crushed to death. Also if her and Attea have taught me anything, frog-girls are fucking adorable. Dem legs and dat ass. :3 As for Uravity she is SUCH a breath of fresh air for anime female leads. She’s not a Tsundere Bitch to the lead and is nothing but a compassionate and supporting friend to Deku, even after just meeting him once. She feels guilty that her goals for being a hero aren’t as altruistic as the others, but are still noble in that she hopes to get enough money to give her parents an easy life after a life time of back-breaking labor. She’s just a very supportive character always pushing herself to get better and really showing some great character in doing so. Plus who doesn’t love that adorable blush of hers and that bit of thickness on her. :3 Very nice. XD

[makeup-wonder-woman]

A Soulmate to Remember chap 3

Hey! Guess who made it to 100 followers! I’ll now be taking requests! So why don’t you hit me up and I’ll see what I can do!

Chapter 1  Chapter 2

Tags: @welcometothecity, @miss-nerdalots

TW: blood mention? 

word count: 1,600

Chapter 3

You had actually forgotten for a split second that someone was holding yo and your arms were wrapped extremely tight around them. Then you realized that none other than Batman was holding you, and you got really self-conscious.

 "Are you alright Miss?"

  You nodded and he gave line back into his grappling hook that had made the two of you soar up into the tree. You heard two other lines descend with you and once your feet hit the ground you released him with a quiet,"Sorry."

  The two other thumps revealed themselves to be none other than Nightwing and Red Hood. Batman turned to them,"Is Batmom and Red Robin on their way home?"

"Yep," Nighwing replied,"Agent A picked them up right after we got the call."

 "Good, Nightwing you and I are going in," You watched as Batman removed his cape and placed it around your shoulders, pulling a separate hood up and putting it over your head,"Red Hood, stay here with her."

  Red Hood's body languages changed,"What-"

  Batman turned to him,"No arguments, we need to get this situation resolved as quickly as possible, and quietly. So stay. Here."

 Batman turned without a word and disappeared into the forest. Nightwing turned to the hooded man with a shrug,"Sorry man. Maybe next time," and leapt after Batman.

 Red Hood stared at you. You stared back. Then, you sat down on the ground, pulling Batman's cape closer to you. You guess it was his way of giving you better cover, as the lights that your Aunt had set up on the patio cast plenty of light that penetrated far into the foliage. You looked back at the house, and saw the flashing of police lights in the front and you bit your lip.

Red Hood sighed and decided to settle into a position of leaning up against the tree next to you. You felt his eyes on you and you turned to him,"You sure you're okay, Miss?" He asked you, his face turning back to the house. You coughed, holy crap- no, no, no, it's a common phrase. He'd expect some sort of response- so you nodded when he turned to face you,”You're quiet aren't you?"

  You nodded again, and then Red Hood glanced away. You felt your ankle start to sting, by shook it off, after all you had probably just gotten a thorn in it or something.

 Suddenly the side window was thrown open and you saw my mother being leaned out of it by someone with a grasp on her hair and a gun to her head. A man peered out, screaming down to the cops,"Not one of you better come in here or I'll blow her brains out- you hear me?!"

  You immediately jumped up and you were going to run to her, but Red Hood grabbed onto you and quickly put you in a hold with his arms going under your armpits and holding you close to him. He hissed at you,"What are you doing red? Do you wanna die?"

You struggled against him hissing,"That's my Mom, you jackass! Let me go!"

 He tensed and then tightened his hold and somewhat gently got you sitting on the ground,"You are not going in there."

"Why not?"

"Because I refuse to let my soul mate be stupid and get herself killed!"

  You froze and blinked,"Really..."  You stopped struggling and Red Hood let you sit up, your hand found its way to your ankle,"I didn't think that..."

   Your mother let out a shriek as the masked man thrusted her back into the upstairs living area and slammed the window shut. You flinched away, and Red Hood knelt down and put his hand on your shoulder,"Hey, It'll be okay, Batman and Nightwing have it under control."

You looked at him, suddenly very tired and feeling very small,"Are... Are you sure?"

  He chuckled, a low raspy sound that made you feel slightly better,"Take a look."

   You turned back to the house and the lights had gone dark, but only your uncle's house,"How did-" You stopped as the window shattered and a man fell from it onto the overhanging that covered the porch. You gasped and stood, but froze when it was not anyone you knew personally. But, it was the man that had almost taken your pearls. The man glanced behind him in terror and turned to the trees, and locked eyes with you. He flinched and seemed to make his way to escape, climbing down onto the deck of the porch. 

  Red Hood was still looking at the window, more concerned with the figures and shaped that you could barely make out if you squinted. You watched the man on the deck but he froze and you saw the gun go up. Red Hood noticed then and went to grab you,"Get down-"

 The shot rang out, the bullet whizzed through the air, and before you had realized it. It sliced pasted the skin in your leg, leaving a trail of red as it grazed you. You let out a scream, and Red Hood brought you down to the ground. The man laughed," Just wait there for me baby, I got a surprise for you~"

 The pain didn't hit you until after Red Hood was lifting your right leg up to prop it on the tree trunk and grabbing the cloak to press into it. He took your hand and pressed it in,"Press that in-now!"

You did as you were told, tears streaming down your face but biting your lip to keep yourself quiet. Red Hood was still in the shadows, but with the man fast approaching and his soul mate down, you were sure he'd be pretty pissed. The man had this evil grin on his face as he neared the gate. Red Hood turned away from you but You reached up and grabbed his hand,"Please, Don't leave me..."

 Red Hood's head snapped back over to you,"Close your eyes. Don't open them until I say."

  You nodded, trusting him, even if we didn't fully know each other yet. So, you shut your eyes. There was a small click, and Red Hood leaned over you, his breath felt warm against you cheek and he gave you a soft kiss,"I'll never leave you. I'll be right back. Keep your eyes closed and that pressure tight."

You nodded, and tightened the pressure on your leg, letting out a whimper. There was a similar click and footsteps as Red Hood walked away from you.

 The voice of the man broke the silence first,"Who the hell are you?"

 "Someone who doesn't like bastards who fucking pick on people weaker than them."

 The gun went off and you flinched away, fearing your soul mate would be gone before you even really knew him. But, surprisingly, there was a gasp of surprise before flesh hitting flesh and screams of pain. You flinched away again, trying to do what he said, keep your eyes closed and pressure on, and the fight was over faster than you thought it would be.

  Footsteps approached you and you went deathly still. Red Hood kneeled by your side and softly said,"You can open your eyes now."

 You did, then smiled up at him,"Thank you."

"How is your leg?"

"It hurts. Really bad."

  "Yeah, I've been grazed too, but I think your’s is pretty fucking deep, but I feel your pain."

  You snickered at the strange response (possibly some shock or blood loss) as Red Hood pressed the side of his helmet,"Yo, Bats, got one in the back for you. Can't stay, but I left him tied. Found my Soul mate and she's hurt and I'm taking her to the cave." With that he helped you stand and said,"I've got a bike not too far from here. I'll get you to the cave. Get you patched up."

  You thought about your mom, but then looked down at his gentle, yet firm grim on the cape that was trying to keep the life blood in you and nodded,"Okay."

  He helped you limp to his motorcycle, hidden deep enough in the woods by the stores at the other end of the clearing to stop any drunks from finding it. He pulled the hood off of it and handed it to you,"Here."

  You blinked at him, almost stupidly, and asked,"What about you?"

 Red Hood patted the metal hood he wore,"This'll be good enough for me."

   You reached up to my bun, fully prepared to untangle the mess, when he stopped you, “Trust me that thing is big enough, and we don’t have time. Sitting on the floor of some patch of woods isn’t good for any wound. Just slip it on and let’s go.”

You rolled my eyes and muttered, “You are being so pushy right now.”

His only response was to turn on the bike, help you with the helmet’s strap. He had been correct, while the bun and rose definitely helped to fill the helmet, it was still kinda floppy on your head. As he finished you glanced into the weird bug-like eyes of his mask, “Is it a bad time to say I’ve never been a passenger on a motorcycle?”

Red Hood snorted, “Lets keep it simple, I’ll tell you were to put your feet when you get on, and when we take a corner try not to shift your weight, or lean, and look over my right shoulder. Got it?”

You nodded,"Got it!"

You climbed on after him and wrapped my arms around him, he quickly repositioned my legs and raved the engine, “Hold on tight,” he yelled over it before he sped away.

Thank you for reading! Please reblog, leave some love, send in a request! Let me know if you want to be tagged, Love you! 

[tumblunni]

MORE PERSONASONA THOUGHTS

Actually maybe it could be cool to imagine a design for a phantom thief whose mask is like a full face-covering thing? Like a faceless mask. or a mask with a buncha eye symbols on it. OR maybe the persona has that aesthetic, I dunno??? One of the beta protag designs in the artbook has a mask like that, but with a smiley face covering it. That + an all-concealing cloak = a pretty damn cool aesthetic! Even if it didnt fit the protagonist its a shame that they didnt give it to another character, so I might try and make something with a similar appeal.

MORE POTENTIAL THINGS THAT SHOULD BE PERSONAS

Bunnies of myth! There’s the Jackalope (a bunny with horns), the Wolpertinger (a bunny with horns AND wings) and Al-mi’raq (a bunny with only one horn, also said to be one of a kind and incredibly powerful despite being regular bunny sized) And there’s apparantly quite a few other tales of powerful horned rabbits from all different countries and time periods! O_O I was totally under the impression that the Jackalope was just made up in semi-modern cryptid legends, and didnt really count as a proper mythological creature. Rasselbock is the german name, and that sounds really awesome! Also there’s apparantly a hella mysterious recurring symbol of three hares attatched at the ears in an eternal circle, which has appeared in multiple cultures across the world and nobody knows its meaning.

Okay I LEGITIMATELY DID NOT KNOW that Puck from A Midsummer Night’s Dream is given neutral pronouns in the original form of the play! O_O I mean, the pop culture version is always male, and in school when we read it the character was taught to us as male! I feel totally destroyed that I missed a chance to learn about LGBT characters in history during my school years... Holy shit I REALLY wanna pick Puck now! I always love trickster figures!!

okay i really do not know much at all about folk heroes/classical literature heroes but I do know one from my country at least! Taliesin (tally-essin) was a kind of robin hood esque figure who gets all the same ‘did he actually exist? is he a myth? did a real man exist but was exaggerated in myth?’ stuff. He was a super magical poet bard dude who was magically blessed with the most witty tongue in all of existance because he stole a potion of super knowledge from a witch as a child. It also made him super beautiful cos the witch’s son was super ugly, I always felt REALLy sorry for the poor witch’s son cos seriously she made this potion for him and some random kid stole it and then he’s never mentioned again except to say that ‘he was so ugly that everyone who saw him died, so he made a career as a warrior’. Poor guy. Man, I actually like Morfran a lot better, can I make him a persona? He’s not really a hero or anything, he only gets like two sentences in someone else’s story but I just wanna give him a hug. It also always bugged me that the description of his ‘ugliness’ mentioned how his skin was ‘so black he was like a human crow’ like seriously screw u ancient mythological racisms... ANYWAY thats the only celtic mythology character that’s interesting that hasnt already appeared as a persona, lol. Tho since most of the personas that’ve appeared have been the scottish and irish versions, Finn MacCool was the equivelant to Taliesin. (Same origin story and everything!) The disadvantage is that his name sounds like a shitpost. Also incidentally its really fuckin sad that the only canonical depictions of LGBT characters in welsh myth are all like.. Problematic As Fuck Negative Depictions. I used to like the character Math Ap Mathonwy but then I read the story where he punishes the villains by turning them into a pig and a sow and making them rape each other and get pregnant... as punishment... its so fucked up.. And they’re like the only gay characters ever, and they’re also incestuous brothers, and just... so fucked up... The bad side of getting a mythology Special Interest as a kid: pretty much every mythology has at least one horrible sex story in it!

I’m really interested in learning more about Tu’er Shen! He’s apparantly a chinese deity of gay blessings, the spirit of a mortal man who was executed for loving other men and reincarnated as the form of a magical rabbit spirit. I hope he ended up finding true love in the spirit world... :( Seriously, even friggin mythological figures are dying from hate crimes. I don’t think people were very optimistic when they created this story, its horrible to know that society still hasnt progressed far enough that this bullshit has stopped happening! Cmon, seriously!! Please say the future is gonna be safe, someday! I can just imagine Tu’er Shen looking down on us and still crying.

Huh! Persona 5′s homophobia also manifesting in a weird unintentional way! They mention how one of the ways everyone attempted to get the sun god Ameratsu to open up her door was ‘someone doing a lewd dance’, and there’s a joke about Ryuji being that person. But I had NO IDEA that originally the person who did that was Ame No Uzume, another female deity! And it seems pretty damn ‘LGBT themes in mythology’, i mean the dialogue is Ame No Uzume saying ‘come and admire how perfect I am’ *points at crotch* I mean they probably couldnt mention all the explicit details in this random cameo mention in a persona game, but seriously would it have been so hard to just say it was ameratsu and ame no uzume? I suppose maybe since its a japanese game there was the assumption everyone would know the myth tho, so its more of a failure of the dubbing.

And then there’s a lot of themes of androgeny and gender-changing in Hindu and various african mythologies, but I feel like I’d have to do a lot more research into those cultures to depict them accurately. Its a damn shame that barely any european cultures had that level of respect for LGBT people so long ago, yet we like to act like we’re the height of progress and assume every other culture followed along the same historical template as us... I’m really interested in learning more about Dahomey mythology, wikipedia says that they have a genderless creator deity who split into two male and female twins, which then combined again into a different bigender deity. (Nana Buluku, Mawu, Lisa and Mawu-Lisa) And apparantly in zimbabwe there’s a shona deity called Mwari who is also genderless. I really don’t know anything about these cultures though, and there’s no way I’m gonna be drawing dumb anime versions of people’s important mythological figures based on just a wikipedia crawl! But at least this has inspired me to wanna go learn more. Also it just makes me feel a lot happier about myself to know that its not like there’s zero genderless people in all of mythology, just because my country has always been hella bigoted ^_^ But man, wikipedia’s list of LGBT figures in mythology is really REALLY focused on only depictions of sex, and it counts all the super negative stereotypes and shit of villainous rapist gay folks and people being ‘punished’ by being turned into another gender. And then any sort of positive interpretation is all THIS IS TOTALLY JUST AN INTERPRETATION HERE IS ALL THE EVIDENCE FOR IT BEING WRONG, YOU CANT IMPOSE MODERN IDEALS ON MYTHOLOGY NOBODY WAS EVER GAY BEFORE THE WORD EXISTED IN ENGLISH SO yeah its really demotivating to me to continue reading this and just Yikes with a capital Yikes. I’m gonna try and find if there’s more sources online about LGBT mythology education written by actual LGBT scholars...