#RATTLES THE BARS OF MY CAGE AND SNARLS
Explore tagged Tumblr posts
sunriseverse · 1 year ago
Text
my neverending pile of to be read novels vs me finding out there’s a tomb raiding baihe.
1 note · View note
winterdesu · 17 days ago
Text
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
took yakumo out for food today
30 notes · View notes
honeyed-latte · 11 months ago
Text
Nothing was more erotic to me then the split second in httyd2 when Toothless is facing off with the Alpha and Hiccup stands up in his saddle and puts his hand on Toothless's head.
Like Mr. Chief, sir, please do that to my lower back while you're pushing me into the bed
Tumblr media
6 notes · View notes
dreamcrow · 2 years ago
Text
Tumblr media
this fic is going to be pretty alright if writing it doesn't make me actually stupid, i think
3 notes · View notes
holmesillustrations · 3 months ago
Text
Tumblr media Tumblr media
Dogs Bracket is here! It turns out a lot of these dogs are horses, but there was exactly 32, which is perfect for our purposes 🐶🐴🦁
Currently on Semifinals
Most of us are i think familiar enough with the stories that this wont be a surprise, but just in case i do want to warn that a few of these illustrations feature violence against or by the animals in question, i'll tag those specifically when we get to their polls as 'animal violence'
Full list of competitors under cut:
(Illustrations in blue were already out, those in green have been newly eliminated)
[Colliers Cover Illustration] Missing Three-quarter, FD Steele
"On the ledge of rock above this strange couple stood three noble buzzards" Study in Scarlet, Charles Doyle
"He laid his hand upon the glossy neck." Silver Blaze, Sidney Paget
"Close to the door of the cage lay Mrs. Ronder, with the creature squatting and snarling above her." Veiled Lodger, FD Steele
"Silver Blaze" Silver Blaze, Sidney Paget
"Phosphorous!" I said. Hound of the Baskervilles, Sidney Paget
"THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES." Hound of the Baskervilles, Sidney Paget
"There's our man, Watson! Come along." Hound of the Baskervilles, Sidney Paget
"The carriage rattled past." Missing Three-quarter, Sidney Paget
"There in the centre lay the unhappy maid where she had fallen" Hound of the Baskervilles, Sidney Paget
"THE DRIVER POINTED WITH HIS WHIP—'BASKERVILLE HALL,' SAID HE" Hound of the Baskervilles, Sidney Paget
"I SAW HIS EYES FIX THEMSELVES OVER MY SHOULDER." Hound of the Baskervilles, Sidney Paget
"Holmes crouched behind the bush with the dog as the carriage approached." Shoscombe Old Place, FD Steele
"Running up, I blew its brains out." Copper Beeches, Sidney Paget
"Holmes gazed at it and then passed on." Abbey Grange, Sidney Paget
[Mycroft's brougham] Final Problem, Harry C. Edwards
[Woman with horse] Shoscombe Old Place, FD Steele
"As I slipped the bars it bounded out, and was on me in an instant." Veiled Lodger, FD Steele
"The dog sniffed round for an instant, and then with a shrill whine of excitement started off down the street." Missing Three-quarter, Sidney Paget
"Dog and man were rolling on the ground together, the one roaring in rage, the other screaming in a strange shrill falsetto of terror." Creeping Man, HK Elcock
"Holmes darted forward and barred their way." Lady Frances Carfax, Alec Ball
"They bundled him into a cab that was beside the kerb" Red Circle, HM Brock
[The professor and his dog] Creeping Man, FD Steele
"Holmes emptied five barrels of his revolver into the creature's flank." Hound of the Baskervilles, Sidney Paget
"We got off, paid our fare." Speckled Band, Sidney Paget
"We were to go to the theatre… suddenly he darted away into the fog." Bruce-Partington Plans, FD Steele
[MacPherson's Dog on the beach] Lion's Mane, FD Steele
"THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES." [Frontispiece] Hound of the Baskervilles, Sidney Paget
"How far to Wallington?" Cardboard Box, Sidney Paget
""Too late, Watson; too late!" cried Holmes" Solitary Cyclist, Sidney Paget
[Lion] Veiled Lodger, FD Steele
"At the same moment Holmes stepped out and released the spaniel." Shoscombe Old Place, Frank Wiles
Full graphic with nothing greyed out:
Tumblr media
And finally, i wanted to include every animal illustration, but i did leave out the two from Blue Carbuncle with dead geese, those are not dogs they are ingredience.
Edit: I realised i completely messed up the order of polls in the original bracket, all fine for round 1's results but would have caused problems for round 2. The current one is correct, but obviously had to be shuffled around a lot, so the numbers by each one show their order from round 1 for future reference, sorry bout that!
85 notes · View notes
24-05txt · 12 days ago
Note
OH MY GOD
THE ZOMBIE AU
*Snarls ferally, but respectively*
MORE
*rattles the bars of my cage... Also respectfully*
So like..... 👀 I JUST WANT MORE. OMG PLEASE, THATS TOO GOOD 😭❤️❤️❤️
THANK U TGANK U THANK U i also want more fr.
Also you can rattle disrespectfully idm
IM GLAD U LIKED IT THO !! I'm always thinkin of AUs but so rarely do they spawn an actual creation like that journal entry
Tumblr media
Uhmmm a lot of my thoughts on this got lost to the sauce in the big ghoap server, but here are some things I remember/just came up with:
- Ghost totally eats people too. He's not infected he's just a freak and a ride or die. If Soap is eating human flesh he is too. If he could get bit without compromising his ability to care for Soap by God he would be bit by now. Unfortunately he needs the fine motor control so he'll just keep LARPing as a zombie instead.
- Soap isn't dead TECHNICALLY. His heart stopped and restarted at some point but he does breathe and bleed and eat. I haven't decided exactly how the zombies work but if you've ever read the contaminated series by Em Garner, I'm thinkin it's something like that.
- that being said Soap can also talk. Not very WELL he doesn't have a great grasp of words anymore or very precise control of his lips/tongue but he CAN. Can also clearly still understand some things but draws complete blanks on others. Yes he knows what formation he's being asked to fall into but no he doesn't know how to hold that gun (not that anyone would want to hand him a gun)
- one more note about the zombies: Soap isn't the only "nonviolent" one (He's plenty violent just not without reason) but he is part of the minority and my boy is HUNGRY. Most other zombies have the hunger and VERY little else so they're just hangry and they can't eat ANYTHING because suddenly they can't keep anything down except raw meat and while that isn't limited to humans it definitely doesn't exclude them lol. Soap got to keep a fair amount of his auuhh (forgetting the word I want to use so—) cognition(?). He recognizes that he's hungry but doesn't lose control of himself about it yk.
- Ghost did not actually break out of quarantine, Gaz let him out & Price knows it, but can't blame him. Soap was looking real rough because he was starving, Ghost was only barely eating and so when Ghost started working at the door Gaz was like "Man. The degree to which this sucks is untenable. Yall may be batshit but you are my team" and he just opened the door. And they ARE team and so Ghost obv didn't kill HIM for food. And Soap wasn't going to either bc that's Gaz. Gaz is friend, not food.
- Price, as much as he can logically be like "Gaz disobeyed a direct order and put us all in danger. Ghost has lost his mind and Soap could snap at any moment" he doesn't have the heart to actually DO anything those are his boys!!! Not like anyone's keeping a super close eye on them anyway bc who has the time to give the stinkeye to a single task force when the world's on fucking fire. AND WHOS GONNA TATTLE ON THE GUY WITH A PET ZOMBIE?? NOT ME!! Live ur best life man.
Ran out of thoughts ty for asking I super appreciate it <3
19 notes · View notes
impulsivefanwriter · 1 year ago
Text
Lava Fall (Remastered)
A ninjago fic snippet based on SPBNR by @kittydemon9000 rewritten in honour of the 2-year anniversary of the discord server! This one is to all the wonderful memories and friends made in that amazing group. Here's to many more years of great times and creative ideas!
————
————
Being kidnapped isn’t an everyday occurrence, but in Shogun’s line of occupation, it may as well be with how often it seems to happen.
Heck, his little brother has the worst luck out of all of them— though his sister seems to come a close second.
So it’s to no real surprise (at least, to him) that Shogun currently finds himself in a rather… precarious position. 
As in a “tied to a chain, dangling over lava just like Nya back in the Fire Temple” kind of precarious position.
Yeah. Just an average Friday evening.
Below him stands the gloating four-armed warlord himself, a positively pompously smug grin stretched across his features. Two hands rest on his hips, and two stay crossed before him.
“I asked you to join me, yet you refuse. You’re as stubborn as my buttface of a brother.”
Despite the childish insults, Shogun knows better than to underestimate this world’s Garmadon. Instead, he levels the villain with a burning glare. “Let me go, or face the consequences.”
Garmadon smiles— a cruel, wretched thing, honestly— and places two hands on a lever. “Let you go? That can be arranged.”
Lava gurgles under him, seeming to draw closer lava surrounding Lloyd’s cage, lapping at the metal floor and splashing against the bars. The Fangblade plummets as Kai lunges forward, not for the weapon, but for his little brother, too late, he’s too late, too unworthy, too much of a failure—
Shogun’s face is the definition of a furious snarl, but before he can spit out a barrage of insults so stinging it would melt Garmadon’s helmet, one of the doors to the cavern bursts open with an explosion. Shapes burst through the  smoke, and Ninja Force come raining in.
“Smith!” Lloyd not his Lloyd but still neither should be near a volcano not after— shouts, green hood pulled over his face and missile launcher— WHO GAVE THIS KID A MISSILE LAUNCHER— propped over his shoulder. “Hold on!”
Garmadon’s army pours into the room, narwhal spears and pufferfish flails at the ready. Cyan leaps forward with her trident raised above her head. She brings it down in an arc with a furious war cry, melted tip scrapping against a lobster-themed shield with an unpleasant screech. Behind her, Black follows with a swing of his hammer, slamming the shield away and sending it spinning into the lava pit below. The metal hisses as it dissolves into a glob of orange spittle and vanishes. 
Red charges in after his sister, twin katanas reflecting the glow of the lava so bright they almost appear alight with flames. He disarms one unprepared General with a move that makes Shogun proud— looks like he was paying attention in weapon training after all— and spins to hit a second, sparks flying as metal contacts metal. Shogun squints. For a split second, he thought he saw the base embers of Spinjitzu, but if there were any, they quickly fade into the chaos of the fight.
A flash catches his attention, and Shogun turns his head in time to catch a whiff of ozone and charred fish. A General runs wailing from the room, smoke trailing after them like a scarf. A (fearfully) screaming Blue snaps his wrist again, and his flail strikes out like lightning. Next to him, White makes perfect precision strikes with his bow, quips of “Nice Shot!” and “Good Aim!” in an impression of that announcer in that sports video game Smith played with the others falling from his lips. 
“We’re coming!” Green yells, scrambling down the path his team clears toward his father. Whenever a General crosses his line of sight, the missile launcher clicks in warning. The more foolish Generals find themselves knocked aside in explosions that rattle the volcano, sending Smith spinning on his chain like an angry disco ball.
His vision blurs for a minute from the motion, and he tries not to hurl into the lava below. Instead, he focuses on the sounds of metal clashing, the shouts of combat, and the pounding slam of explosions and hammers-that-really-shouldn’t-be-rattling-the-volcano-this-much.
A feeling surfaces in his gut, clawing steadily upwards and wrapping icy fingers around his heart. It’s a feeling that ties lead to his feet, that grips his hair and yanks his head back, that throws him forward onto his knees like a spiked heel to his back.
It’s a feeling of helplessness.
Stupid, consuming helplessness.
He hates it.
His friends, his family, are fighting below, and he can’t do anything. 
When Shogun stops spinning, the feeling only worsens, climbing up the inside of his throat with a thick glob of sticky horror.
Cyan’s disarmed, her trident slowly sinking as it melts away in the lava. Her fists, blood staining her knuckles, collide with any General near her. 
CRACK, a General’s jellyfish helmet shattering into glass shards. 
CRACK, the jaw of a crab General breaking. 
CRACK, Cyan’s hand against metal-plated armour. 
She drops back with a wounded howl that’s his SISTER who just got hurt, and he can’t help her. Her brothers are there in an instance, one slamming the General with the butt-end of a katana and the other lighting them up like a firework with a missile. The General flies out of the room as if fired by their boss. 
A screech drags Shogun’s horrified gaze away from the three siblings and to a squirming Blue held by the back of the gi like a kitten. The orca-themed General sneers, spinning the lightning ninja around. Before they can toss him into a wall, a bright flash fills the chamber. Some kind of force smashes the General into the wall instead. Blue goes sailing out of their grip—
And over the railing of the pathway.
Shogun’s heart stops.
Before the half-formed wail of his brother’s name can burst from his mouth, however, a streak dives under the railing and over the cliff edge. Black snatches Blue’s wrist and digs his other hand into the craggy rock wall, praying for a handhold. 
... ... ...
Through some miracle, he finds one. He clings there, holding Blue against the wall as the pair dangles over lava. 
A General reaches over the railing with a spear aimed at Black’s hand below them, but an arrow knocks the spear from their hand. White bodyslams them out of the way and helps Black and Blue up in a lull of combat.
More Generals pour into the cavern as alarms wail, nearly spilling others into the lava pit below. The Ninjaforce tense, adjusting grips on whatever weapons they have remaining.
But before the fight can break out anew, Garmadon gives a pointed cough that seems to echo louder along the rock walls.
Shogun jerks as he’s lowered on the chain a smidge.
Silence falls.
“So—” Garmadon stretches the word out, savouring the attention as his fingers tap the lever with casual slowness. “You surrender, or he drops.”
Six faces pale beneath hooded masks.
Green swallows. “You wouldn’t. You spent all this energy to catch him. You won’t drop him.”
There’s an edge of pleading to his voice, a desperate hope that some tiny part of Garmadon wouldn’t do it. That his father isn’t that despicable. That Green by association isn’t that despicable.
Garmadon rolls his eyes. “Ugh, you goody-two-shoes are all the same. You sound like my whiny butt-faced brother. “Don’t do this, Garmadon!” “You’re better than this, Garmadon!” I am better. I’m stronger. I’m gonna rule Ninjago City! I thought I could use Shogun on my side to do it, but if he’s just gonna stand in my way—“
The chain drops another few centimetres. 
“—then I’m more than ready to drop him.”
Shogun has enough.
Smith has enough.
Kai has enough.
Burning fury, hotter than a thousand suns, roars through his gut. It melts the  frozen helplessness clamped around his heart, burns away the sticky glob of horror in his throat, and spits out of his mouth in a jet of orange flames. “Do it, coward.”
A thicker silence follows the last syllable. The Ninja Force and generals alike look on with horror, the former with fear for their friend, the latter recognizing a phrase that would immediately get any of them fired if they dared utter it.
Even Garmadon blinks, stunned. 
Then his cruel smirk returns. “So be it. If you’re not for me, you’re against me. Our dance was fun, Shogun. Too bad you won’t be sticking around for an encore.”
He yanks the lever back with two hands.
Someone screams.
The tether keeping Shogun chained goes slack as he plummets, the string holding him helpless severed in a single move. As he falls, lava fast approaching, his expression betrays no fear.
He keeps his burning gaze drilled into Garmadon’s the whole way down.
—————————
Lloyd doesn’t know what to do.
Smith had casually dropped into their lives one seemingly uneventful day, and he’d stuck to them ever since. He’d been the best addition to their friend group they could’ve ever hoped for.
And now he’s been dropped, literally, back out of their lives.
“SMITH!”
The scream comes from six people at once, six ninjas scrambling to the railing and stare at the lava’s centre where the melting chain vanishes below the bubbling orange surface. 
Logically, Smith’s buoyancy should mean he’d float. Yet the chain plating drags him down below the spitting lava in a heartbeat, gone from view.
A mercy on their eyes, to avoid seeing the flesh melt from his bones.
Kai drops to his knees, katanas clattering to the ground. “He… he can’t be gone.” His voice is hollow, a snuffed candle. It reminds Lloyd of how lost Shogun sounded earlier. “He can’t be.”
“…Sensors indicate 0% chance of survival…” Comes Zane’s voice, grief-struck cold and crackling with static. “I— I wish it was /j instead of /srs.”
An expression steeped in horror and guilt washes across Nya’s face. “The last thing I ever said to him—“
Cole stands silent, his watering eyes speaking volumes to the turmoil rumbling inside. Jay crashes into his side, shaking as he hiccups and gasps for air.
And Lloyd… Lloyd can’t think. Can’t see. Can’t feel.
Smith is gone.
And it’s his father’s fault.
Lloyd growls, slowly turning to face Garmadon with eyes blazing green. He flexes his hands unconsciously, nails sharpening into claws as green and gold scales march over his skin. 
He throws himself forward with a wild roar, claws aiming for Garmadon’s throat. The move catches even the warlord off-guard, his Generals too surprised to react.
But before Lloyd can attack his father, before he can hurtle the anguished insult burning on his tongue, the lava pit behind him explodes.
Everyone, ninja and Generals alike, scramble back as the geyser of lava swallows the remains of the dangling metal chain whole. The spray spits and sizzles as it hits the surrounding rock. A wave of heat radiates out. 
No one, not even Kai himself, notices that a couple drops land on his skin without burning him.
The air punches from Lloyd’s lungs.
Striding out of the lava, completely fine as if he’d merely taken a plunge in the pond in the park, is Smith.
What. The. Duck.
Lava dripping from his fingers, Smith climbs up the rocky cliffs and pulls himself over the railing. He shakes himself off, flicking a glob of drying lava from his shoulder with utmost casualness. Droplets of lava hit the grated floor.
There isn’t a scratch on him. No burns, no cuts, not even his clothes look singed. The only change, honestly, is that his stormy expression somehow manages to look even more murderous. 
He raised his hand toward Garmadon.
His fist erupts into flames.
WHAT. THE. DUCK.
“So—“ Smith draws out the word as if it’s an inside joke between him and the warlord. “You asked me to join you. I refused. I asked you to let me go. I’d count that as refusing.”
The flame grows brighter, flaring higher. His eyes glow like a hearth.
“So I say it’s time for that encore.”
196 notes · View notes
violettduchess · 1 year ago
Text
Tumblr media
A/N: I was really surprised and happy to see people liked Silvio's Pirate AU for @cy-inky's 1 week challenge. I had so much fun writing it, I decided to make a part 2. Here it is! (You do need to read part one to follow this, its not a stand alone fic)
WC: 1.1 k
Tumblr media
Silvio’s thumb runs over your chin, his head is cocked to one side as he searches your face, his blue eyes alight like the seas during a summer storm.
“Seems like you gotta convince me…..Captain.”
You slap his hand away, the sound like a pistol shot in the confines of his small rented room.
“What the fuck,” he snarls, jerking away from you, sudden anger raising the color in his cheeks. 
It was perhaps a tad excessive but if you had allowed this man to touch you like that, had lost yourself in the familiar feel of his fingers on your skin, the shifting ocean of his eyes, you know it would have ended with you in his bed and an empty room in the morning, sheets twisted with the agony of abandonment, the air thick with disappointment.
No, it’s a dance you have done far too many times with Captain Silvio Ricci. Your heart is best kept locked in a steel cage, away from his grasp.
“The only convincing you need, jackass, is one look at the map and the knowledge of what kind of bounty is waiting for anyone who can follow it.” Your voice crackles with irritation, at the way his touch is still haunting your skin.
He crosses the small room in several paces, yanking open the drawer of his shoddy wooden nightstand and pulls out a flask. He petulantly takes a long pull before wiping his mouth and regarding you with narrowed eyes.
“I ain’t lettin’ you anywhere near my ship until I see the map.”
“I’m not showing it to you until you guarantee me and my crew passage on your ship.” The waters around Alexandrite are notoriously dangerous. So much so that no ship has ever traveled there and returned whole. 
No ship except his.
“The whole fucking crew? No way. I gotta watch out for my own. You and no one else.”
You shift your weight, annoyance tap-dancing across your expression. “Your boat is big enough.”
He shakes his head, his gold earring swinging in time to his stubbornness. “Uh uh. Your crew don’t know my ship. And I ain’t gonna take on the chore of babysittin’ people who have only ever sailed on your dingy.”
His jab at the size of your ship has always been one of his favorite things to provoke you with. 
You exhale through gritted teeth. “Fine. Just me.” 
There it is. That easy, irritatingly sexy grin that sends your heart rattling the bars of its cage and has other much neglected parts of you screaming for attention. 
“Well now ya just gotta show me the map and we’re good.” He leans back on the bed, resting his weight on one hand. Another familiar sight, echoing countless forgone nights spent in his cabin, in your cabin, in dockside inns like this one.
You clear your throat even though it’s dry as a bone.
“I’ll bring it to your ship in the morning. Along with a trunk of my belongings. We sail at dawn.”
Turning on heel, you can hear his voice rising as you leave. “Whaddaya mean we sail at dawn? I’m the captain! I say when we sail, you-” The closing door cuts off the rest of his words and now you’re the one grinning as you bound down the wooden steps, away from his room.
Tumblr media
Sunrise at sea is never disappointing. You lean your arms on the wooden railing of The Sea Bitch, Silvio’s ship, watching as the wind puffs out the mainsail, urging you away from port and toward the distant, dangerous waters of Alexandrite. The sky can’t seem to decide which color to wear so she wears them all: pale pink, rich apricot, deep orange, soft lavender, arresting gold.
The crew watched you board. Some grinned knowingly, others were openly warm and welcoming, happy to see you again. But there were some crew members who quickly averted their eyes, only mumbling a welcome because you are a captain in your own right. You wonder what stories Silvio has spun behind your back, what tall tales he created to justify your absence. 
“You said one fuckin’ trunk. What you had my crew hauling wasn’t a trunk but a goddamned wardrobe.” His voice cuts through the peaceful scene, his jewelry jangling as he comes to a stop beside you, clutching the railing with his strong hands. The early sunlight winks off the deep blue stones of his many rings. One in particular catches your attention. A braided band of gold and platinum on the middle finger of his left hand. It’s easily outshined by the gaudiness of his other rings but you would know it anywhere. After all, you gave it to him one idyllic moonlit night forever ago.
The sight of it has you jerk away from him, forcing your gaze out across the water, gleaming in the early morning light. Why the hell is he still wearing it? And the moment you have the thought, your brain begins pointing a finger at you, shaking its head. Hypocrite. What is the delicate chain you wear around your ankle, hidden in your black Cavalier boot that no one ever sees but you? The silver one dotted with tiny, twinkling blue sapphires that he fastened himself with those long, nimble fingers.
“So where’d you put it? Are you kicking poor Carlo out of his quarters?” The first mate is such a polite man he probably would not mind. In fact he would probably insist it was an honor. 
Silvio turns his head and there is trouble in the glint of his blue, blue eyes, in the flash of his white teeth.
“I ain’t puttin’ out any of my crew. You’re sleepin’ in my cabin where I can keep an eye on ya.”
Shock and anger have turned your blood to lava and your reaction is just as explosive. “The fuck I am!”
He is utterly unmoved by your outburst, simply shrugging a shoulder. “I didn’t say ya gotta be in my bed. I got a couch in there.” His head tilts and his grin slides into place. “Unless, of course, ya change your mind and then I’ll consider sharin’.”
And with that he walks away and you wonder as your fingers curl into your palms if he knows how dangerously close he is to you running him through with your rapier.
Risking your ship suddenly seems a much more palatable option than spending another minute with him. You turn your gaze towards the port which is already only a smudge in the distance.
Too late now. 
You sigh, turning back to the ocean and bracing yourself on the railing.
You’ve made your bed and you have to lie in it.
But you’ll be damned if it includes Captain Silvio Ricci ever again.
Tumblr media
Taglist: @alexxavicry @queengiuliettafirstlady @rhodolitesrose @bellerose-arcana @ikemen-writer @thewitchofbooks @aria-chikage @redheadkittys @tele86 @dear-mrs-otome @firestar-otomeobsessed @curious-skybunny @rhodoliteschaos @kpop-and-otome @writingwhimsey @silver-dahlia @wendolrea @otomefoxystar @mxrmaid-poet @nightfoxqueen @myonlyjknight @queen-dahlia @scorchieart @nightghoul381 @bubblexly
90 notes · View notes
snkts · 1 month ago
Note
🛏️ - A dream that made your character want to go back to sleep so they could continue the dream 😈
He is running.
To where, from what, he does not know - but he is running far, and running fast. There is no end in sight. No walls. No bars. No chains. Just an eternal forest. Trees stretch giant and looming around him. The stars stretch over the forest, poking through the canopy, an endless sea of black covered with crystals like fresh-spilled sugar. It's reflected almost perfectly in the fresh snow that is dusting the ground, falling until it crunches under his feet. It all melts into a blur past him because he is running. He is running.
He is running...
But he is not running alone.
The stars gleam in the air around him, reflected in the dark eyes of his family. His pack. They flow out of the trees and run with him, and they are alive and happy and free. He glances to the side and sees lolling tongues and pricked ears. They brace their paws on the ground and lunge.
He is no longer running, because he is swarmed by his pack. They yip and bark joyfully, pushing wet tongues and cold noses against his face and he has to push them aside just for the space to breathe. He is laughing. He turns and buries his face in the closest ruff he can find, inhaling the scent of the wild. Their teeth scrape playfully at his skin, and they are running again, and he climbs to his feet and runs too. The oldest among them throws her head back to howl, and the rest of the pack joins in. He breathes in deep, fills his lungs-
"Hey, wild man!" A sudden voice startles him awake. He blinks in the low light of the early dawn, sniffs to clear his nose. The shackles rattle as he sits up. Another kick from the stage hand and the cart rocks. He blinks again, bleary.
"Y'know what time it is?" The stage hand flashes a gap-toothed grin. "That's right - it's almost showtime!"
...
No. He didn't want to. He was tired. He didn't want to be seen. (Wanted to go back to that dream, back to his pack, his family-)
His nerves light up in blue-white agony and he jolts upright with a startled snarl.
"That's more like it!" The stagehand crows. Through blurred eyes, he sees the stagehand leaning on some sort of box. He knew that box. He hated that box.
"Hey, Mitchel - boss said not to break his new toy! We want our beastie on his feet for the show!" Another voice. The stagehand rolls his eyes and groans.
"Always spoilin' my fun..." The stagehand mutters and walks off.
He watches the stagehand go and slowly, gingerly, crouches back down, bunching into the corner of the cage. The bars are cold. The floor is coated in a spiderweb of wires and metal and he does not understand. He is tired, but his heart is racing, keeping him up when all he wants to do is sleep. To be with his pack again, even in dreams. He cannot sleep. All he can do is crouch and wait for the spectators to arrive, wait for whatever the Ringmaster has planned.
And even though he can see the trees through the bars, the forest has never been so far away.
2 notes · View notes
braveclementine · 4 months ago
Text
Middle
Warnings: 18+readersonly, mentions of rape/sexual harassment/sexual assault, lots of angst both past and present
Copyright: I do not own any Marvel characters or locations. However, I do own my OCs, which consist of Penny Fury, Elizabeth Nelson, Elijah Chan, Katya Venice, Violetta Moscow, Lan Le, Josh, Trang Tien, Ahni Jallow, Mai Ito, and Ghaida Kashual as well as other OCs that will come up throughout the story.
Sorry the memories are so long, but most of this is the real background I had set up for my character when I was writing the Frozaline comic- with some obvious differences for this particular book. 
👨‍🔬🪖 Ŝ丅๏𝔯Ⓨ ☁️❄️
Clint ran from the room then and Natasha rose, almost as though she was going to go after him. Heimdall however said, "He'll be right back." 
Elizabeth's memories showed nothing super exciting after that. Mostly school and getting ready to go back to Siberia. There were also some memories with her dad, in the suburb that they lived in now. Playing baseball and stuff like that. Her father looked older once again, this time in his late forties or so. His black hair was almost all gone, turning gray. 
Clint came back, holding something tightly in his hand as he sat back down. Penny looked over and saw that it was the sling ring and he was smiling slightly. 
Then, it turned where Elizabeth was thirteen or fourteen-ish and she was in a cage full of others. Bucky was fighting them and two of them took him down, punching his face in. Elizabeth was trying to fight off one of the others as well, but the man had her held up by her throat against the cage bars. 
Bucky growled, kicking them off and grabbing the other soldier away from Elizabeth, slamming him into the ground. 
"Enough!" Pierce called out and they stopped fighting. The doctors came to analyze them. And that was when the fight broke out, them killing the doctor. 
"Get me out of here." Pierce ordered Bucky and Bucky grabbed his shoulder, marching him to the door. Until Elizabeth let out a cry, two of the soldiers taking her down. Bucky shoved Pierce through the door, running back, fighting his way through them to get to her. 
"Sebastian!" Elizabeth shouted, reaching out as the man punched her across the face. Bucky grabbed her arm, yanking her into him and running for the exit. The door slammed shut behind them and he marched away with her, Elizabeth shaking as he did so. 
And now she was sitting in a room, with Rumlow and Pierce standing in it as well. Bucky was restrained in his chair and Elizabeth was trying to read from a piece of paper in a shaking voice. " Желание.  Ржавый.  Семнадцать.  Р-Pассвет-" 
*SMACK*
As Elizabeth stuttered over the fourth word in Bucky's trigger words, Rumlow slapped her across the face and she fell out of her chair onto the floor. 
"It's ' Рассвет'." Rumlow snarled. "How can you be so stupid?" 
Elizabeth pushed herself off the floor, shaking. "I- I'm sorry sir." 
"Rumlow." Pierce said, sternly. "Please." He walked over and knelt in front of Elizabeth. "It's alright honey. He was wrong to hit you. You have been doing well with the words." 
"She can't even get through all of them." Rumlow threw his hands up. "And you want her to replace me as the handler for the asset?" 
"She will get there." Pierce said. "And her and the asset have a special connection that the asset hasn't formed with anyone else here. Nor will he kill her, like the past couple of handlers. We have time. Try again E." 
"I- I can't." Elizabeth said, shaking her head. "It hurts him." 
" Желание, Ржавый, Семнадцать, Рассвет, Печь, Девять, Добросердечный, Возвращение на Родину, Один, Товарный вагон" Rumlow rattled off and Bucky started screaming half way through them. Elizabeth pushed her hands over her ears, squeezing her eyes shut again. 
Bucky stopped screaming and said, " Я жду приказов" 
Rumlow and Piece exchanged a look. Pierce looked disappointed, "Brock, this is not conducive. The whole point of their symbiotic relationship is they protect each other." 
"Then let's prove it." Rumlow smirked. "Soldat, punish her." 
"NO!" Bucky shouted, leaping up from the couch. Steve and Sam each pulled him down gently, holding him in their arms. 
Bucky stalked towards Elizabeth who didn't move, only staring up at him in sadness. His fist came down and hit her across the face. Once, twice, three times. Finally, Elizabeth cried out, "Sebastian!" 
Bucky's fist froze in the air, his entire body still. He breathed in heavily, his blue eyes on her brown ones. "Sebastian come back." Elizabeth whispered. 
"Soldat, punish her." Rumlow growled. 
Bucky's fist came down again, but this time punching into the stone. Then he stood up, turning on Rumlow with angry eyes. Rumlow took a few steps back as Bucky stormed towards him, "Soldat, it was just a test-" 
Bucky slammed Rumlow up against the wall, "Test me any way you want. But you never, ever put her in harms way, ever again." Bucky snarled and then dropped Rumlow on the ground. He turned, coming back to Elizabeth and lifting her into his arms like she weighed nothing, storming from the room. 
"Sebastian?" Elizabeth questioned, putting a hand against his cheek. 
He didn't answer, carrying her into another room that they hadn't seen before. It seemed to be a med center of some sort and he grabbed something from a freezer. He cracked it, putting it against her face. "I'm sorry." 
Elizabeth shook her head, "It wasn't you. It was them. And those words. I won't use them against you Seb, I just won't. I can't." 
Bucky kissed the top of her head. "I know." 
It shifted again. Elizabeth was still in HYDRA, but Bucky was nowhere to be seen. Lucinda was talking to Pierce and was saying, "-part Asgardian. A race of Gods and Goddesses. They live for thousands of years." 
"And she has this gene?" Pierce was questioning. Elizabeth was reading a book, a stuffed dog in her lap now. 
"Apparently from her mothers' side." Lucinda agreed. 
"So it's genetic?" Pierce nodded. "Mating her with the asset would create a potential super race." 
"Of super soldiers." Lucinda nodded. "I'm suspecting that her period of having children is longer than most women as well, considering they live longer." 
"How old is she then?" Pierce asked. 
"She ages slowly." Lucinda said. "I would say based on my soulmates age and stories he says, she would technically be around thirty." 
Pierce whistled lowly. "And she only looks fourteen. The asset is near immortal too with the serum we created. And of course, added to with Stark's formula. They may end up being the last race on Earth after their children come around." 
"We must wait though." Lucinda said sharply. "My daughter still acts younger in some ways. She is not ready." 
"No." Pierce agreed. "But we should start her towards being so. She dresses like a little kid still. It is not attractive towards the asset." 
"I will see what we can do." Lucinda nodded. 
The next memory showed a very stark contrast of Elizabeth. Her long brown hair was now curled in a fashion that wouldn't have stood out in Steve and Bucky's time. She was wearing a dark blue dress that matched Bucky's eyes, along with a neckerchief. It was complete with black polished shoes and white stockings as well. 
"Sebastian!" Elizabeth sang as she came into the room. Bucky was laying on his bed, tossing something into the air and catching it. He looked over at her as she came in and the object in the air crashed down on his face as he missed it. 
"Seb!" Elizabeth yelped, "Are you okay?" 
Bucky had sat up, rubbing his cheek, his eyes scanning her up and down. "Y-Yeah fine, doll." 
Elizabeth tilted her head to the side, "Doll?" 
"I- it slipped." Bucky said, standing up quickly. "Sorry." 
"I like it." Elizabeth said happily, "Anyways, Seb, let's go!" 
"Where?" Bucky let her drag him along, unable to take his eyes off of her. 
"Outside! We're allowed outside!" Her eyes glowed with excitement. "But only for a little while." 
Bucky went with her and the guards opened the doors. The forest was snowy and so was the path. Elizabeth smiled, lifting a hand up to catch the snowflakes while Bucky blinked at the glaring sun. 
"C'mon doll." Bucky suddenly said, rearranging his hold on her hand. The two of them walked through the forest. Elizabeth looking at everything, smiling brightly. But Bucky only had eyes for her and soon enough, he was even smiling softly too. 
Elizabeth started to sing some song in Russian. Penny couldn't keep up with it as the girl skipped through the forest, Bucky running after her. She lost herself in the melody, the song lifting her spirits. As they reached the end, which was at a cliff, Bucky suddenly wrapped his arm around her waist and picked up the lines. 
Penny had never heard Bucky sing before, ever. His voice was rich, deep, and in the Russian language, it was lovely. She looked over now and saw tears falling from his eyes while both Steve and Sam seemed a little awed by Bucky's singing. 
The memory faded though and when the next one came up, Elizabeth was in some sort of museum. She was clearly with her class and Penny could pick out a young Ghaida and Trang. Ghaida was by herself and Trang was chatting wildly with a Hispanic girl. Elizabeth trailed behind last. 
"The World War II exhibit. You have ten minutes to look around." The tour guide called out and the other kids dispersed. 
Elizabeth wandered around, looking at the different planes and stuff. She stopped in front of Steve Rogers and started reading. Then the screen changed, pulling up Bucky's picture. She gasped and then looked around conspicuously. She stepped forwards, pausing it and reading everything about it, before going back to Steves'. 
Her lips moved and then she was hurrying away from them, over to the brochures. She scanned them, flipping through them, before shoving one up her long sleeves. 
"No, no, no what are you doing?" Bucky moaned, putting his hands over his face. "Why Elizabeth?" 
"Sebastian." Elizabeth hissed as she crept up behind him. Bucky turned and saw her there. 
"What's up do-" 
She grabbed his arm, dragging him away. She kept glancing around, dragging him down an abandoned hallway, then through a door, and down into a restricted part of the base. 
"What are we doing?" Bucky asked. 
Elizabeth pulled out the brochure and whispered, "Your name is Bucky." 
"What?" Bucky asked, taking the brochure from her. He read through it, frowning, scanning bits and then looked up at her. "Where did you get this?" 
"My class went on a field trip." She murmured. "Bu-" 
"No." Bucky hissed, dragging her further down the tunnel. "Are you insane? Why did you bring this here?" 
"Because you needed to know-" 
"Elly," Bucky said sternly. "Listen to me. If you get caught with this-" 
"But I didn't-" 
"We have to destroy it." Bucky said, looking around wildly. "Damnit." 
"Buck-" 
"Don't." Bucky pinched her lips with his fingers. "Never, ever use this name. It's to much of a risk. If someone overheard you-" 
"Like me." 
Both of them spun around to see Rumlow standing there. Even Penny hadn't seen him and it gave her a heart attack. 
Rumlow started forwards, grabbing Elizabeth's shirt collar. "You stupid, stupid girl. You could have ruine-" 
Bucky grabbed Rumlow around the neck. "Let. Her. Go." 
"You're out of line Soldat." Rumlow snarled, but let Elizabeth go anyways. Bucky released him. 
"I told her to find it." Bucky lied. "I was already remembering." 
Rumlow chuckled, "Protective as always Soldat. Give me that." 
Bucky handed over the brochure. Rumlow flicked it open and snorted. "God. Hopeless. Let's go. You-" He yanked Elizabeth in front of him and took out his gun. "Any funny business behind me Soldat and I'll shoot her in the back." 
The memory faded and it came to Elizabeth crawling through a vent. It was dead silent wherever she was as she crawled to the edge of it. The sound of a whip suddenly cut through the air and a cry fell from Bucky's lips somewhere below her. 
"Shit." Bucky whispered. "Not this." 
"Buck?" Steve asked softly. 
Bucky sunk to the floor, putting his back against the couch and covered his face with his hands. "Not this." Penny wanted to comfort him, but Steve and Sam sunk to the floor with him and Clint hugged him from behind. 
Elizabeth peered out the vent and what was on scene made Penny's blood boil. Bucky was completely naked, his arms chained behind his back. He had a collar around his neck, which was leashed to a metal pole in the middle of the room. He was on his knees, sitting on his side. His head was hanging down, his brown hair curtained around his face. 
Pierce was in the room, only wearing jeans and a belt. He had a whip in his hand and continued to bring it down on Bucky's shoulders. 
Then, Pierce dropped the whip just as Elizabeth started to open the vent. Pierce cupped Bucky's jaw, bringing it towards him. "You're such a good boy for me James." 
Steve suddenly stood straight up, looking like he wanted to murder someone. Penny felt exactly the same way. She remembered her father always having this man over for dinner, someone her father had trusted and called friend. She glanced over and saw that her father was glaring at the memory, also looking like he wanted to kill someone. 
Penny wished they were all still alive: Pierce, Rumlow, Jackson, Sharon, just so she could kill them with her bare hands. She wished she had gotten a go at any of them.
Elizabeth climbed out of the vent, landing on the balcony above. She looked furious, glaring at the scene. She crouched down, looking through the bars as Pierce kissed Bucky on the lips and whispered. "Good boy." 
Then Pierce stood up and exited the room, leaving Bucky there. 
Elizabeth went to leap over the banister, but hands grabbed her and she crashed to the floor. Rumlow hoisted her up, slamming her against the wall. Unlike the other times though, he didn't look furious. In fact, he was grinning now. 
"It arouses you, doesn't it?" Rumlow smirked. 
Elizabeth didn't move, just glaring at him, clearly trained not to hit him or fight back. 
"Seeing him all submissive?" Rumlow asked, purring against her ear. "Want to feel it?" 
Rumlow pushed her skirt up and she glared at him, "Don't touch me." 
"You can't stop me." Rumlow chuckled, "Unless you want him to get a little punishment from me too." 
Elizabeth yelped, pushing up on her tip toes, a look of pain coming over her face, "Ow!" 
"Oh stop, it doesn't hurt that bad." Rumlow sighed. 
"No! Ow! Stop! That hurts!" Elizabeth cried out. 
Penny could feel Rhodey's muscle flexing around her, clearly wanting to murder him too. Penny was shaking and she could feel Natasha's anger. Actually, she could feel all of her soulmates anger through the bonds and the rest of the anger on the air. It was livid. 
Suddenly, Rumlow was thrown backwards and a metal arm pushed Elizabeth away as well. Bucky stood there, the leash torn in half, his eyes glaringly angry. "She. Said. Stop." 
"Soldat!" Pierces' voice called angrily from the other room. 
"Masters calling." Rumlow sneered. 
Bucky didn't answer, turning. He wrapped his metal arm around Elizabeth's waist, dropping into the other room. The metal pole was bent, but not broken, the second half of the leash still there. And the chains that had kept Bucky's arms behind his back were twisted pieces of metal. 
Pierce glared at Bucky as he set Elizabeth on her feet, "I told you to stay." 
"I- I called for him." Elizabeth lied. "Rumlow was-" 
"He was touching her." Bucky growled. "She's mine. He doesn't get to touch her." 
Elizabeth blushed darkly. 
Pierce sighed, "Then it's excusable. You're both dismissed." 
They went together and Bucky put clothes on in his room. 
"How did you know to come?" Elizabeth asked softly, taking a bandage and wrapping Bucky's wrist where he was bleeding from breaking out of the chain. 
"I heard you." Bucky whispered. "You were in pain." 
"I didn't like it. It hurt." Elizabeth whispered. 
"I know." Bucky whispered. 
Elizabeth knelt down, resting her head against his knee while he sat on the bed. "Are you okay?" 
Bucky reached down, picking her up lightly, pulling her into him as he laid down on the bed. The two of them cuddled into each other. "Yes. You're here." 
The next memory was Elizabeth walking, hesitating before opening a door. 
Like the other scene, this one made Penny's blood boil. 
Pierce was sitting in his chair at the head of the table, his legs wide apart. Bucky was sitting between them, his head resting on Pierce's left leg. His wrists and ankles were chained and he had a collar around his neck again. Pierce was stroking his long hair. 
"Ah good." Pierce said, holding out an arm and Elizabeth approached silently. Pierce wrapped the arm around her, pulling her onto his right leg. 
"Is she for sale?" One of the men immediately asked with a smirk. Bucky growled and Pierce laughed at that. 
"Careful, gentlemen, the dog is quite protective of the kitty cat." Pierce smirked. "And, vice versa. Best not to say anything unkind about one in front of the other." 
The rest of the men around the table smirked. Penny felt pity towards Elizabeth, who was clearly uncomfortable where she was. She was also wearing more revealing clothes than any of the previous times. She too, had a collar around her neck, though thinner than Bucky's. 
Penny gave a start as suddenly, Natasha started to cry. Natasha got up and threw herself into Bucky's arms. "I'm so sorry James." 
Bucky hugged her back tightly. Penny glanced over and saw her father had tears in his eyes. God that was affecting all of them. She looked and saw Elijah was pacing in the back of the room, clearly thinking. Wanda had tears streaming down her face, even as she continued to show Elizabeth's memories. 
Rhodey pulled her in tighter and she settled on his lap, hugging him back as tightly as possible. 
It faded and now Elizabeth was in a cage. It was small, barely able to hold her. She was sitting with her back against the bars and her feet pressed up against the other side, her knees bent. She was wearing the collar, the end of the leash connected to the bars above. 
The scene shifted and it was a bigger cage now, enough for her to lay down in. But she was sitting down, a muzzle over her mouth. Tears leaked from her eyes. Footsteps sounded across the dark room and she shifted until she was in the back corner near the wall. But it was just Bucky. 
He knelt by the cage as she came over to him. "Hey d oll." Bucky whispered sadly, reaching through and cupping her face. "Where's the door." 
Unable to talk, she pointed upwards. Bucky stood up, opening the door and hopping into the cage with her. He bent down, carefully undoing the muzzle. Then, laying down, pulled her on top of him. "There you go sweetheart." 
The memory shifted and it was Bucky and Pierce again. This time, Pierce actually had Bucky pressed to the floor and was raping him. Bucky kept his eyes squeezed, his teeth gritted, but no sounds of pain came from him. 
Elizabeth was stone faced this time, hiding. 
Pierce pulled away and Bucky collapsed on the floor. 
"String him up." Pierce commanded in a bored voice. The guards moved forwards, lifting Bucky up, his hands above him in chains. Bucky however, mostly slumped, only the low height of the chains keeping him from hanging completely. 
Pierce went for the whip and Elizabeth sprang, kicking him across the face. Pierce grunted, falling backwards. The guards yelled out, but Elizabeth shoved a knife through one of their necks and then snapped the neck of the second one. She continued to fight with them until one remained, which she continued to stab repeatedly, even after he was dead, screaming. 
She stood up, looking just slightly unhinged. Pierce had backed away, holding his jaw with one hand, a gun in the other. She stalked towards him, knife in her hand. 
"He's mine." Elizabeth snarled. "You hurt him."
Pierce chuckled coldly. "Yours huh? Has he ever fucked you? Shown you any pleasure? He barely even touches you E. He looks at you like a little sister he has to protect. But me? Oh no E. He's not yours and he's never been yours. He's been mine since the beginning. And he will always be mine. Just like you will be." 
Like a wild cat, Elizabeth snarled and leapt at Pierce, but he shot her dead center in the chest. It just a dart though, with sleeping solution and she out like a light. 
But the memory continued from there and she pushed herself up off the floor. Bucky was out of the chains, his eyes dead and unseeing. He picked her up, but not in the gentle way he usually did. He did it from behind, grabbing her right arm, slamming her down on the table, keeping her right arm out. 
"Seb?" Elizabeth whispered. 
"He can't hear you." Pierce said, walking in front of her and Elizabeth looked up at him. "He's wearing headphones. In which he can hear only the orders given to us." 
Elizabeth struggled and Bucky pressed down harder. 
"You've cost me a lot of good men and if it wasn't for your future value, well I'd probably just kill you right here and now." Pierce sighed. "To bad you're such a pretty little thing. And quite frankly, we'd probably lose the soldier too. So, since you've cost me men, it's going to cost you something. How about. . . an arm?" 
"NO!" Bucky gasped in horror from the floor. Penny finally felt the tears that she had been desperately trying to hold back form. But she knew Elizabeth had never had a metal arm. Maybe it was just a threat. 
Penny turned away and heard Elizabeth's screams instead as her arm was taken from her. The memory went black. 
The next memories were fuzzy, probably from no memory of them, even as they were happening. And then there was screaming, "MY DAUGHTER! WHAT DID YOU DO TO MY DAUGHTER?" 
There was a ringing noise accompanied by Pierce shouting back, "SHE KILLED MY MEN!" 
"I DON'T CARE IF SHE KILLED YOU! SHE'S DYING!" Lucinda was hysterical and the vision cleared enough to see her mom sobbing over her. "SHE'S DYING!" 
"Lucy-" 
Lucinda turned around, slapping Pierce across the face. And then, she screamed the one thing that Penny never thought her mother would ever scream, "SEBASTIAN! Someone get me Sebastian!" 
A doctor ran from the room as Elizabeth gasped, looking around, trying to breathe. The bleeding from her arm had stopped, but the heart monitor was unsteady. "M-mom." 
"Sweetheart, I'm so sorry." Lucinda sobbed. "I'm so sorry, I should've been here." 
"She cared." Penny whispered aloud. Rhodey squeezed her tightly. 
"She always cared." Ghaida responded softly. "She did love Elizabeth. She thought they were creating a new world. And she just wanted Elizabeth to thrive. She thought that by putting her daughter with the best chance at survival, Elizabeth would make it. That her and James would be the King and Queen of this new world. She never wanted Elizabeth hurt or tortured. She did love her. Some might say, too much." 
Bucky burst into the room, his eyes tinged red. He had clearly been crying. "Save her." Lucinda choked out. "Please." 
Bucky looked horrified as Elizabeth's searched his and then started to flutter. 
"Stay with me doll." Bucky said, ripping out the wires and needles that were connected to her and then pulled her into his arms. He raced from the room and the jolts brought sharper focus into the memory. "You have to stay with me. You have to stay with me doll. I need you to stay with me." 
"Seb. . ." Elizabeth whispered. 
Bucky burst into  a room which was full of cryo chambers. All of the super soldiers were in there, but there was an empty one down near the end. Bucky opened it up and placed Elizabeth inside. 
"Elly." Bucky whispered, cupping her face. "I'm so so sorry. I couldn't stop them. I couldn't stop me." His voice cracked. "And I'm sorry I have to put you in here. But it's the only way doll. I can't live without you." 
"Seb. . . it okay." Elizabeth whispered. Bucky kissed her forehead, hesitated, and then kissed her on the lips, before pulling away. "I love you." He whispered, and then slammed the door closed. He fell to his knees in front of the case as it started to fill with the preserving fluid and then the memory faded. 
"Buck." Steve whispered softly as he had gotten up off the floor, pacing back and forth. 
"She could've died because of me." Bucky panted. "Oh God." 
"She's alive because of you." Pietro said fiercely. "The others all freaked out. You saved her." 
"You can't stop the words, bubs." Tony said softly, getting up too and touching Bucky's arm. "You saved her. They tried to kill her. There's a difference." 
Bucky buried his head into Tony's shoulder and the billionaire gently pulled him down to the floor to sit with them as well. 
The next memory fizzled until it was Elizabeth, sitting up. She had a silver metal arm on her right side now. It was complete with a red star as well. 
"How does it feel?" An African, female doctor suddenly walked through the door, making T'Challa, Shuri, and even Okoye all gasp. 
"Fine." Elizabeth whispered as her mother came into the room too. "It doesn't hurt at all." 
"Good." The doctor nodded. 
"Where's Sebastian?" Elizabeth asked quietly. 
Her mother sighed, "He's. . . he's in cryo right now sweetheart. He uh, here." 
Her mom handed her a new bunny stuffed animal, with white fur and a small flower crown. A little note was attached to it. Elizabeth took it gently, holding it tightly. 
"Now, we have features to this one. I made it as high tech as possible." The doctor continued, addressing Lucinda. "It's lightweight. She'll never be able to tell the difference between her flesh and metal arm. It will be more powerful though, she might notice if she's stronger there. And of course, indestructible, being made of Vibranium. The high tech wiring will prevent it from making any mechanical noises. It will also feel just like a flesh arm, even have the squishiness to it that a normal arm does. And-" 
The doctor stepped forwards, tapping the red star and it shimmered, becoming a normal arm. "Voila. Now, I lock it and. . . there. You'll never tell the difference." 
"Thank you." Lucinda said. "How much-" 
The doctor smiled mysteriously. "Don't worry about that Pierce is paying me in other ways." 
"Well, I will let you get back to Wakanda then." Lucinda said with a small smile. 
"Hail HYDRA." The doctor nodded. 
"Hail HYDRA." Lucinda nodded and the doctor left. "Fuck HYDRA." Lucinda growled and then sighed, pulling out a pill. "Here E." 
Elizabeth took the pill and everything went black. 
There were more memories of her just being at school and moving through the day. Always seemingly alone. Never making friends. Never searching out friends. There was also a flurry of Gymnastics memories, what seemed like hundreds and hundreds of meets and competitions. 
Finally, it settled back to Bucky and her. Bucky was kneeling in front of her, resting his head on her knees. She was stroking his hair. "Am I triggering anything?" Elizabeth asked softly, hesitantly. "I don't want to hurt you." 
"Your fingers feel good Doll." Bucky whispered. "You're perfect." 
Elizabeth smiled at that and then softened. "I try. And only for you." 
The memory shifted to them dancing. Classical music was playing in the background and the lights were out so that it was hard to make out their shapes. But they were ballroom dancing, both of them smiling as they did this one little thing. 
The memory shifted once more. Lucinda was in front of Elizabeth and Bucky and both of them were wearing faces of identical shock. 
"Sebastian is coming home with us?" Elizabeth asked. 
"For a month." Lucinda nodded. "He has a mission in Ohio and I figure he might as well stay with us." 
Elizabeth's face lit up. Bucky on the other hand, seemed rather down about the whole thing. 
"E," Her mother said, "Go ahead and get your things you want to bring back. I need to talk to The. . . Seb for a second." 
It was clear that her mother was trying to appease her with the Bucky name thing. 
The memory cleared once more and now, Elizabeth was sitting a table, eating hot dogs with the family. Two young boys, perhaps both around ten or so, were eating at one end of the table. Pierce was sitting next to the reddish-brown haired boy, talking to him kindly. Paul was at the head of the table, his hair pepper coloured in a mix of black, gray, and white. 
Lucinda sat next to Paul and Bucky sat next to Elizabeth. Bucky looked extremely nervous and so did Lucinda. 
"Nice to finally meet you, Sebastian." Paul greeted him. "Elizabeth's told me so much about you." 
Bucky and Elizabeth both looked at him in equal shock. 
"Elizabeth, ah yes." Bucky stammered. "Sorry, I call her Elly." 
"Ah another nickname of yours." Her father said fondly. "Yes, we rarely ever call her Elizabeth to begin with. Everyone just calls her E." 
"I see." Bucky murmured. Lucinda and Pierce both looked tense now. 
The boys eventually scampered off and Elizabeth finished eating too. "Can Sebastian and I go out into the backyard?" Elizabeth asked. 
"Of course." Paul said, "If that's alright with your mother and Mr. Pierce?" 
"Sure." Lucinda said lightly. 
Elizabeth got up and went into the backyard. The two of them walked in silence and once they rounded out by the playset, she seemed to have a panic attack. 
"Hey." Bucky said, catching her as she fell to her knees, gasping for air. "Hey it's okay. Elly." 
"I forgot my own name." She gasped out. "I forgot my own name." 
"It's okay." Bucky whispered, cuddling her. "Elly. Elizabeth. It's okay. You're okay. You know it now. I'll remember it for you." 
"I can't remember yours." Elizabeth suddenly sobbed. "I know I learned it and they made me forget it." 
"Hey." Bucky cupped her face, wiping away her tears. "Look at me Elly. It doesn't matter. You are the only one here who treats me like I'm actually worth something. Like I'm a person. As long as you don't call me 'Soldat' or 'the Asset', I don't care what name you call me Elly." 
The memory faded and disappeared into them sitting at the dining room table again. The atmosphere was different now. Paul was frowning, looking at Lucinda, then Pierce, then Bucky, and then his daughter. "Married?" 
"I think it would work, Paul." Lucinda said softly. "E is. . . well aging slowly and Sebastian doesn't age much either." 
Paul sat back. Elizabeth looked like she was trying not to smile, but Bucky wasn't smiling at all. "You don't look happy about it." Paul spoke directly to Bucky. 
Bucky hesitated and then said, "It's just. . . while this bonding would be optimal, I have just never loved her like that." 
Elizabeth's face fell and she looked down at her lap, hiding her face. Paul glanced at her and then at Bucky who looked at the table instead. Elizabeth slid off her chair and headed out into the backyard, leaving the scene behind. 
Bucky came and found her a few hours later behind the playset. "E-" 
She wiped her eyes. "What?" 
"Are you really that upset about what I said?" He sighed. "I thought you knew?" 
She shook her head, "I thought- I thought you loved me." 
"I'm sorry. I just. . . don't." Bucky said flatly. Penny could tell he was lying. 
Elizabeth stood up, grabbing the front of his shirt. But not angrily, more just desperately. And she spoke to his chest as she cried, "Why? What didn't I do right? What can I do?" 
Bucky closed his eyes towards the sky, looking heartbroken. But when he came back, he put on a face of anger and shoved her away- still gently. "Don't guilt me. It's not like it's a choice, E." She flinched as he called her what she hated most. "So don't guilt me like they do." 
He stalked away, shoulders tense. Elizabeth slowly lowered herself to her knees, sobbing. 
Days passed and Elizabeth spent most of them in her room, surrounded by the stuffed animals that Bucky had given her. Her father spent a lot of time with her in silence. 
But the memory shifted and she was outside with Pierce. "I'm sorry honey." Pierce said, pulling her into a hug. "I know you loved him." 
"I thought he loved me." Elizabeth sighed as he released her. She knelt down by a bush that was sprouting blueberries, picking them. 
"He does." Pierce said, a smile creeping on his face, "He just thinks that his little show will protect you. Thinks loving you will hurt you." 
"He hurt me!" Elizabeth said angrily. "I don't care about anything or anyone else. Nothing but him could've hurt me." 
"I know." Pierce sighed. "You want to test my theory?" 
Elizabeth looked confused, "How?" 
Pierce knelt, grabbing her face so her lips became pouty, pushing something between them. Elizabeth struggled in his grasp and then Pierce released her, running away. 
Elizabeth convulsed on the ground and it was only seconds later that Bucky was running and skidding in the grass to come next to her. He pulled her into his arms, performing a perfect Heimlich maneuver so that the fruit came out of her. It started fading black as Bucky performed CPR after that, Lucinda and Paul running across the grass towards them. 
As Elizabeth's vision started to clear up, Bucky's terrified face was above her. "D-doll?" 
"Seb." She coughed, rolling into him. 
"I've got you." He whispered, picking her up and carrying her towards the house. He carried her up to the bedroom, setting her on the bed. 
"You lied. Why?" Elizabeth coughed. 
Bucky hung his head. "I'm trying to protect you. If they thought I loved you, they could use you against me." 
"You said- you said. . . you said I was one of them." Elizabeth said, clenching her fists tightly. "You said-" 
"I know." Bucky whispered. "I know I said that. I'm sorry. I was trying to hurt you. Push you away. Stop you from caring about me. I would rather that you hate me and be safe than love me and be hurt." 
"I don't! I love you!" Elizabeth shouted. "You're the only thing I care about!" 
Bucky nodded, pulling her into his arms. "I know. You're the same thing for me." 
The vision faded and now Elizabeth was creeping around her house in the middle of the night. Going down into the basement. She pushed open a metal door and padded down the hallway which took her to a secret laboratory. Pushing open a door found Bucky in there, fast asleep. She closed the door behind her. 
She climbed up on the bed, curling next to him. Bucky grumbled, rolling over and slowly opening his eyes. "What ya doing doll?" 
"Couldn't sleep." Elizabeth mumbled. "Needed you." 
The memories continued, mostly them outside in the backyard. They had lots of trees in the backyard with apples, pears, peaches, and plums. Cherry trees too. It was adorable, watching Bucky lift Elizabeth up to grab apples that were high up. 
Then it changed. They were behind the playset again. Bucky had his back to the wooden structure, holding Elizabeth in his arms. She was reading a book and he was looking up at the sky. 
"Hey doll?" He asked softly. 
"Yeah?" 
"I got something for you on my mission." 
"Oh?" She lowered her book and he held his hand out in a fist. He slowly opened it to reveal a silver ring with a dark blue gemstone on it. He picked up her left hand and slid it on her ring finger. He pulled her back into him. 
"I know that whatever this is they want us to do, I loved you without them. No one made me fall in love with you doll. No trigger words, no commands. It was all you. So I'm making this relationship on my terms. No one elses. They may make me propose later or not at all so I'm doing it when I want to." 
Elizabeth turned to face him, smiling. "Seb. . ." 
"Be mine?" Bucky whispered, cupping her cheek. 
"Always." Elizabeth whispered and the two of them kissed so sweetly, Penny had to look away. 
That was the love that Elizabeth had spoken so passionately about on Penny's first day here. That love that didn't exist because a soulmate bond told you to love them. That love didn't exist because it was required in someone's life. 
It was love that you made on your own terms. The love that she felt with Violetta and Rhodey and Elijah. And yes, she felt it with Steve and Bucky and Tony and Thor. But not because she was soulmated to them. Because she wanted to be in love with them. On her terms. 
She leaned up and kissed Rhodey's cheek. "I love you." 
"I love you too." Rhodey whispered against her hair. He tightened his arms around her. 
But the happy ending didn't last forever. The next memory was immediately back in the Siberia base. Elizabeth's arms were above her head, chained. Rumlow and Jackson were punching her, hitting her. Blood dripped from her nose. 
"This isn't fun." Jackson complained, wiping blood from his knuckles. "We've done this a hundred times before." 
"It's not supposed to be fun." Rumlow growled, fist flying into Elizabeth's cheek again. She made no sounds, barely flinched. She just had dull eyes. 
"She doesn't even react anymore, now that she has trigger words." Jackson groaned. 
"I like the trigger words." Brock grinned then, grabbing Elizabeth's jaw. "We can get away with more now." 
"Like what?" Jackson rolled his eyes. 
Brock tilted Elizabeth's face upwards and then leaned in and kissed her on the lips. He got no reaction from her. 
"Like that." Brock smirked. 
Jackson came forwards then, clearly not bored anymore. They were joined by a third brother, who Penny had never seen before. Didn't even know existed. 
The third one ripped off her shirt, revealing her naked chest while Jackson started to pull down her jeans. Elizabeth's eyes flickered, starting to fill with panic. 
"Well look at those peaches." The third drawled, grasping them and Elizabeth jerked just a little in the chains. "Aww look at that, she's coming back." 
He dropped to his knees, pushing her curls apart. "Might have to shave this though." 
"S-" Elizabeth whimpered then. 
"What sweetheart? If you ask nicely I might even make it enjoyable." The third brother said. 
"Sebastian." Elizabeth whispered. 
"He's not here right now, remember?" Brock grinned. "Well, physically, but he's the soldier right now. The one you just lost a fight against. Or maybe he punched you a little to hard and now your brain is addled." 
The third brother started to circle her nub with his finger and she tried jumping away, but Jackson caged her in. Her panic mounted and she squeezed her eyes shut, "SEBASTIAN!" 
"He's not magic sweetheart." Brock chuckled. "He can't just show up when you-" 
Suddenly, Brock went flying as he was hit from behind with a steel pipe. He crashed against the floor, cursing. Jackson immediately backed up, but the third brother wasn't lucky enough. Bucky caught him around the throat with his metal hand, eyes flaring. 
Penny had never once been scared of Bucky. Ever. Not even hearing all the things he'd done as the Winter Soldier or seeing him kill in Elizabeth's  memories. But now, seeing him in this memory, looking deranged, she would've ran if she had been in the room. 
"I thought." Bucky's voice was dangerously low. "I made it clear. That she's mine." 
"Okay, Soldat, put him down." Brock ordered. 
"Use his trigger words." Jackson said, looking terrified. 
"He's still in soldier mode." Rumlow said, gritting his teeth. "But he's not listening to my orders." 
Elizabeth's lips curled into a smile. 
"Tell him to put our brother down." Jackson snapped, approaching Elizabeth. 
Elizabeth looked at him coldly. "I will never. Give him an order." 
"Don't go near her." Bucky growled and Jackson stopped and then sprinted away, out of the room. 
"Put him down or I'll shoot." Rumlow said, pointing his gun at Bucky's forehead. 
Bucky raised his hand and then crushed the third brother's throat so hard his head popped off. Rumlow shot, but missed as Bucky ducked and then tackled Brock. His fists became blurs as he punched Rumlow's face in. 
The doors slammed open, soldiers filling the room with body armor and guns. "Sebastian!" Elizabeth screamed. 
Bucky flung a knife, killing the first and started to take them down immediately, on a rampage. His fighting was flawless and he didn't get hit once. 
The chains jolted and Elizabeth struggled as she was lifted off the ground. "Seb! Help!" 
Bucky turned from killing the soldiers. He ran across the room, launching himself off of a wall, and grabbed the chains, ripping them from the machine. He landed with Elizabeth curled protectively in his arms and stood up, walking out without another word. 
"Mine." He growled. 
The memory changed again, this time Elizabeth heading into Bucky's room, looking sad. "Hey." 
"Hey doll." Bucky said gently, taking her into his arms. 
"I'm glad they didn't put you in yet." Elizabeth sighed. "I wanted to see you." 
"Me too." Bucky whispered. He smiled a little. "I have another one for you." 
Elizabeth smiled too as he handed over a Penguin Pillow pet. "I love you." 
"I love you too." He said, leaning forwards, kissing her on the lips. 
"I- I did want to share something cool with you." Elizabeth admitted, reaching into her pocket and pulling out a magazine cover. "It's just some new technology. This dude- he's an engineer or something. He created his flying robot suit. It's pretty cool. They're calling him Iron Man." 
Bucky chuckled, looking at it. "Pretty cool doll." 
"Tony Stark." Elizabeth sighed, smiling a little. "Must be smart." 
Bucky was still looking at the magazine, flipping it open. Elizabeth closed her eyes and leaned against him. Or at least, until he started seeming to have a panic attack, dropping the magazine. Elizabeth jolted. "Seb?" 
"Oh God." Bucky gasped, falling to his knees, looking distraught. "No, no no no." 
"Sebastian? Seb what's wrong? What happened?" Elizabeth asked, picking up the magazine in confusion, while also trying to calm Bucky down. 
"I killed him." Bucky gasped, tears streaming down his face. "I killed Howard Stark. No. No no no no." 
"Howard. . ." Elizabeth murmured in confusion, flipping through the magazine. Then she tossed it to the side and pulled Bucky into her arms. "Hey, it's okay. It wasn't you, it was the soldier. Seb, it's alright." 
"What is going on in here?" Lucinda's voice came into the room. "What did you do E?" 
"I- I was just showing him the technology section." Elizabeth's voice quavered in fear. "And he. . . I don't know." 
Lucinda picked up the magazine and sighed as Bucky calmed down, sinking in Elizabeth's arms. "Damnit. E, you know you're not supposed to bring things like this down here." 
"I- I just thought. . ." Elizabeth faltered under her mothers' gaze. "I'm sorry." 
Lucinda nodded. "I know. You didn't mean any harm in it. But you know better than this." 
The vision disappeared and reappeared. This time, Elizabeth was wearing a dress for a party and Bucky was wearing a tux. 
Elizabeth seemed put out about something and Bucky was in Winter Soldier mode. 
"Sebastian?" Elizabeth asked and Bucky slowed and looked at her. He frowned a little, "You never call me that after you've been triggered." 
Elizabeth hesitated and then whispered, "The words never worked Seb. I just pretended." 
Bucky looked around and then continued on this path, clearly more interested in the mission than whatever she was trying to say. Elizabeth looked over the balcony where a party was taking place. 
"Seb-" 
Bucky pushed her against a wall. "Elly, shh. We need to focus on the mission. I get it, it's your first, but you need to be quiet." 
He released her and opened the window. 
"The mission?" Elizabeth asked hotly. "Enough about the missions! Let's run away! Let's leave HYDRA Seb! Please! You're going on and on about the mission but aren't there more important things? What about- what about me?" 
Bucky turned and glared at her. "Elly, enough. The mission." Bucky climbed out the window. 
Elizabeth didn't move, staring at the window. Then she turned and walked away from it. 
"Fine." She snarled to herself. "Let's see how this mission goes then. I'm tired of this. I'm tired of killing and surviving. We could just go live a happy life, but does he want to? NO!" 
She stormed down the ballroom stairs and searched, before making a beeline for a target. "Can't kill a target if there isn't one." She muttered to herself. 
She ran at the woman in red and then pushed her out of the way as the gunshot rang out, hitting Elizabeth squarely in the chest. 
Bucky let out a strangled noise then and there. Steve had pretty much pulled Bucky into his lap to comfort him, with Sam practically laying in Bucky's lap. Clint and Natasha were still with them as well. 
The next memory was of Elizabeth laying in a hospital bed, but not one in a HYDRA facility. Lucinda sat next to the bed. She smiled sadly when she saw her daughter. Elizabeth had bandages around her chest and also around her head. 
"Hey." Lucinda whispered. "How are you feeling?" 
"It hurts to breathe." Elizabeth coughed. "What happened to my head?" 
Lucinda hesitated and then said, "They're some burns. You. . . probably aren't going to remember the accident. But that's okay." Lucinda gently unwrapped the bandages and Penny saw the burns there. 
"Those aren't burns." Bucky snarled. "They used the mind wipe on her." 
"Do you remember Sebastian at all?" Lucinda asked softly. 
Elizabeth looked confused, "Who is Sebastian?" 
"No one sweetheart, no one." Lucinda said and took a pill, putting it against Elizabeth's tongue, "You'll never remember him again." 
And everything went black.
4 notes · View notes
deadgirlwalking91 · 5 months ago
Note
*snarling and frothing and rattling and biting the bars of my cage*
"When perchance, might one expect an update for Thank You For the Venom?" He asked calmly.
Anon, your timing is impeccable. New chapter was posted seconds ago. Hope you have as much fun reading it as I did writing it! <3
4 notes · View notes
wrathandbones · 2 years ago
Text
[rattling the bars of my cage, snarling, biting my own fists] im normal and can be trusted around posts about sam's pseudo oedipus complex towards dean
7 notes · View notes
bubmyg · 2 years ago
Note
twitter(.)com/yoongiified/status/1664256593465057282
snarling barking whimpering rattling and climbing the bars of my cage. also thinking abt how everyone learned what athletic tape was during this
3 notes · View notes
blnk338 · 2 years ago
Note
SNARLING. RAVING. BARKING. FROTHING AT THE MOUTH. DERANGED. GROWLING. HOWLING. RATTLING THE BARS OF MY CAGE LIKE IM RABID. I AM DYINGGGG
this is literally my favorite kind of ask thanks anon
2 notes · View notes
projectorpheus · 2 years ago
Text
Tumblr media
HALIMEDE ⋅𖥔⋅ 33, M ⋅𖥔⋅ ESPIONAGE
trigger warning: gore
They say you were born on an auspicious night, solar flare across the skies and landing within the cosmos the moment you took your first breath. They took your greatness as a matter of certainty ; of inevitability — after all, how could the heir of Ishikawa Industries be anything less than a dark electric current; as if time could bend and light could cut a gash through air — creating you. They pitted you against the very two you called family, sticking you into a cage, deprived of familial love; of compassion; of anything that could resemble a home. Rattled the steel bars; conjugated blood to freedom. Watched as you circled each other, cold sinking in the marrow of your bones, the very warmth that would have been your savior nestled within the arms you were destined to dismember.
But perhaps as with all those stuck within a cage, you began to grow comfortable. Cruelty felt familiar on your tongue — while the rest of the world starved, at least blood had a taste. It wasn't until Fenrir left that you remembered your confines. You were forced to remember; watching him dislocate himself limb by limb to leave through the gaps between steel bars. Your longtime opponent, mutilating himself to gain the chance to surrender. They opened the doors then; set upon your head a crown of crimson blood. BUT IT NEVER FIT RIGHT, DID IT? Always too large, falling down onto your neck like a collar that only tightened as you moved. The very crown that you had coveted your entire life was nothing more than another shackle.
You knew it, then — you had too much vanity to use your own blood to pave the way like your childhood friend, but you could make yourself smaller. You could make yourself shrink, emptying your demeanor of grace; of aptitude; of all the makings of an heir that had been instilled within you. The crown fell to your feet. And when you stepped out, what was it that you felt? Was it freedom — the glittering possibility that you had once been too afraid to dream of? Every night, you rob the very audience that once watched as you snarled and clawed at your friends. Every morning, you settle back into the carefree mirage you have curated for yourself. The cage is gone — BUT ARE YOU TRULY FREE?
DYNAMICS
PERDITA & VOSTOK  ⋅𖥔⋅ THIS TREACHEROUS SOFTNESS OF YOU WHICH ALWAYS TURNS TO HATRED
TITANS. They were a family closer to you than your own. PERDITA — the other face of your same coin; FENRIR as the copper that held you three together. Solid, unyielding. The peacemaker; the one who held you back when her folly had you close to snapping; the laughter that stitched wounds of inherited grief. In the back of your mind, you knew that their survival meant your destruction, set against each other in this endless game of chess that had started long before you were born. Yet you wished time could slow, shielding the three of you from a fate that had been etched in your bloodlines. So when Fenrir left, you weren't sure if your anger should have been directed at him — or yourself. Him, for breaking the delicate trust within your trio. Or yourself — FOR BELIEVING SUCH A THING AS FRIENDSHIP COULD SURVIVE IN YOUR WORLD. You hated him. But the one you despised more was VOSTOK. Thinking he could embed himself into your home with nothing more than a few well-placed words. Thinking he honestly deserved to take Fenrir's place. For now, you simply watch as he plays his little games. When he crosses the line, you won't hesitate to show him the true definition of power.
ATLAS  ⋅𖥔⋅ AND YET IT DISTURBS ME TO LEARN I HAVE HURT SOMEONE UNINTENTIONALLY. I WANT ALL MY HURTS TO BE INTENTIONAL
Again and again, they push you. They speak of greatness — of change. You know better than most the unyielding nature of this world. You know that the end has already been decided; that no one can win in this game against greed. You've tried your best to deter them; to laugh at their hope. The yard is littered with the corpses of dead angels and you force the blinds open; tell them their lungs can't handle the stench of rotted divinity. This — this is the only way you can show them mercy.
NAIAD  ⋅𖥔⋅ YOU SHOULDN’T LOOK AT ME LIKE THAT. LIKE ONE OF THOSE / SAINTS
What started as a reckless pastime became a myth spoken on their tongue. Endless stories that all begin and end with your name. You never fail to marvel at the way they so seamlessly paint your face onto statues of heroism; of benevolence; of sanctity. You know you are nothing but a tool for their disposal. You aren't entranced by the way they flutter about around you when you're aboveground, praising you with empty sweet nothings to win your favor. You wonder if their followers will still think them a god after you cut off their tongue.
TAKEN BY EMMA ⋅𖥔⋅ ALEXANDER YOSHII
1 note · View note
katoobee · 7 days ago
Text
rattles bars of my cage snarling
Tumblr media
37 notes · View notes