#THERE IS NO SKY THERE IS NO SUN AND NOTHINGS STILL AMD THINGS THEY COME THAT SCREECH AND HOWL WITH RISLW INSANEAND GIVE YO YOU THE KISS OF

[art-o-gant]

THE AFTERLIFE IS FULL OF DEATH

[maybe-its-micheal]

Like an Orange Spark...

/rp /dsmp

Ghostbur watched as Dream, Tommy, and Techno talked. He was sure he had just known what they were discussing, but now the context seemed to slip through his fingers... he was used to the feeling, though, and shrugged it off. He tried for a few minutes to pay attention, but kept forgetting what everyone was talking about, amd decided to do something else. He turned his back to them, and let his eyes wonder across the snowy landscape.

It was really was a lovely day, the leaves of the spruce trees swayed slightly in the chill breeze, leaving shadows dancing on the ground. A few small bushes peaked up over the snow, dotted with red berries, and the sun sat in the center of the cloudless sky. Ghostbur heard a slight rustle from a near by bush, and spotted a hint of blue from behind it.

"Listen, Techno, you owe me. Im calling in that fav-"

"Friend!" Ghostbur yelled, interrupting whatever it was Dream was on about.

Techno's expression, a mix between anger and concern, shifted to pity as he looked over at the ghost. It was odd seeing the man who he'd once fought alongside like this... he was a capable leader, and a dangerous enemy. But that was in another life...

Tommy was tense, and flinched as Dream snapped his head around to glare at Ghostbur. He grumbled something under his breath before turning back to Technoblade. "Look. I dont want to make this a big thing-" Techno put a hand up to interrupt as he gave Dream a serious look. He turned to Ghostbur, handing him a lead.

"Hey, Ghostbur. Me and Tommy need to talk to Dream, but I saw a patch of blue flowers on the other side of the village. How about you take Friend and see if you can find them?" He asked.

"Ok!" He responded excitedly. Blue was his favorite, he was always looking for more. "You guys have fun!"

He tied the lead to Friend and ran his grey fingers through the soft wool. He turned to go, hearing a few hushed sentences as he walked off.

"He shouldn't have to watch something like this," Technoblade whispered.

Dream scoffed. "Not like he'd remember anyway. But now that he's gone, I want Tommy to..."

And the voices trailed off. Wilbur decided to fill the quiet by talking to friend- that always cheered him up! "Today I've been spending lots of time with Technoblade!" he told the sheep. "We brewed a whole bunch of invisibility potions together, it was lovely. You know, I think they may be his favorite kind of potion, he kept going on about how much he wanted to share them with Tommy." He gave a slight chuckle, then stopped walking. He turned around to look back at the group. "Technoblade seems to really like Tommy. I cant imagine why..." he said with a jokey smile, eyes fixed on Tommy. He was a bit hunched over, still looking at the ground. Every so often he looked up, nervously glancing to Dream with big, glossy eyes, and then looking back down. Ghostbur frowned. "Maybe that was a bit mean to say. I was only joking," he clarified to Friend. "Tommy isn't all bad."

Ghostbur turned back around and kept walking. On his way to the village he got to thinking about Tommy... he could be really annoying, there's no denying that, but he also had a lot of good qualities. He remembered when they were first making L'manburg together; those were good times. Tommy had been very brave, then, and determined too. No matter how grim a situation looked he never seemed to be afraid of Dream, he just kept going. Maybe he was just a naive child, but in the end... the details were fuzzy, but Ghostbur was sure that in the end it was Tommy who did something to secure the future of their nation.

In the quiet he couldn't help but overhear some of the conversation taking place back over the hill. Their voices were getting louder, maybe they were all excited about something. A smile dawned on Ghostbur's face- maybe they'd sent him away because they're planning a surprise party! He stopped walking again, and did his best to listen.

"I am not handing him over to-" Techno's voice yelled.

"... control over... give it to me! Him. Give him to me!" Dream responded.

"You've done enough dam..."

"... never should have trusted..."

"I dont want to kill you."

It was hard to keep track of who was saying what, but it didn't sound much like party planning. Ghostbur went back to walking- he could see the wooden roofs of buildings in the distance, which meant he was getting close to the village.

In all the yelling he wondered why he couldn't hear Tommy's voice. Maybe he just hadn't listened hard enough- that was probably it. Being quiet is quite unlike Tommy, Wilbur thought.

"Come on, Techno... favor... my..."

"I dont want... can't betray him agai..."

"...Im sorry."

"Theseus."

Theseus... he wasn't sure why, but that name lit something up in the back of his mind. It was only there for a moment, like a flickering spark. A memory. Phil had told him and Techno about Theseus when they were kids... it was a bedtime story, he thought. He pinched the bridge of his nose, and shut his eyes, trying to focus on it, and see if he could get the spark to come back. Friend looked at him with a tilted head and bah'ed, as if to ask why they stopped walking.

"... can make a deal..."

"Hand him over... want..."

"I'll never fall for..."

"He's just a kid, Dream. He..."

Wilbur could see the spark in his mind- a little glowing dot of orange bouncing around in an infinite void of grey and blue darkness. Then, all at once, the spark lit up, erupting into a flame that filled his entire mind. Ghostbur jumped backwards with surprise, falling into the snow.

His mind took him back to another time; another life, when he was another person. The war was still going on, the first one with Tommy, Tubbo and Fundy. Eret had already betrayed them.

In his mind, he saw Wilbur- himself- no, Wilbur- standing on the banks of a lake back in Dream SMP territory. An oak path stretched over the water like a bridge, and Dream stood to one side, Tommy on the other. They both held a bow and a few arrows.

Fundy and Tubbo were there with him, and so were George and Sapnap. Everyone was deadly silent, except for Wilbur. He was counting, loud and clear, his voice echoing over the scene.

"...in it for me..."

"...give you... ever want..."

"Fine, its a deal."

"...I'm sorry, Tommy..."

"... Theseus... cliff... the person he took refuge f..."

"...faster."

"... seen it coming."

The talk was drowning out the memory... the firelight was flickering, and peices of the scene were covered with grey darkness and splotches of blue again. Ghostbur was desperate to hold on, he held his head in his hands and pushed his eyes shut tight. "No no no no no," he muttered to himself, hoping for it to stay just a few moments longer. Through the fading light he heard his past self reach the number 10 amd stop counting... Tommy and Dream turned around to face eachother.

"Please, Techno, I dont want to go," Ghostbur heard from back in reality. Tommy's voice was breaking through his memory... it was all falling apart.

"Come on, Tommy. Take off the armor, don't make me do this the hard way," Dream replied.

"I dont want to, Techno. Hes going to kill me, please!"

"I'm not going to kill you if you cooperate. Hurry up," Dream barked.

The memory was almost gone. There was no more Fundy, or Sapnap, or oak path. It was only water as a heap of bubbles disturbed the surface. When they cleared Ghostbur could see Tommy struggling in the water. He was about to reach the air again, but then-

An arrow plunged itself through Tommy's heart, killing him instantly, and it all came flooding back.

He was snapped back to present day, and running back to the three. Friend was left behind in the snow. Dream shot Tommy. That was the memory, how Tommy lost his second life. Dream shot him. "You BASTARD!' He shouted at the top of his lungs as he sprinted back the way he came. "You fucking BASTARD!"

Then the darkness started to come back... Ghostbur balled his hand into a fist. Dream let out a yell... and it all went grey.

Next thing he knew, he was seated with Technoblade in the house. He looked around. "Oooh! You're brewing! Are you making invisibility? Thats your favorite potion," he told the pig. Techno looked up.

"No, its... harming." He replied. "I thought- you know since you're undead it would work kind of like skeletons and zombies."

"Aww, it's for me? Thanks! But why would I need to heal?" He paused, feeling a bit cold. There was a draft- maybe a window was opened upstairs.

"Because-" Techno stopped and looked at the ghost. "Do you not remember?"

Ghostbur paused. "Hmmm... well I know Dream came to visit. And then... something about an arrow? No, that wasn't it... I guess I dont really remember. What happened?"

Technoblade sighed, and set the potion down. "Nothing big. Im just glad youre ok."

Ghostbur laughed, "well yeah! It's not like I could die again!" That draft was getting big- he looked down.

"Oh." He said. There was a massive hole in his yellow sweater, but the grey akin underneath was left unharmed. "How did..?"

"Dont worry about it. Phil is already working on making you a new one, too, by the way. It'll be blue."

Ghostbur gasped. "Oh my god!" He exclaimed with a smile, "thats my favorite color!"

Technoblade chuckled. "I know, Ghostbur. I know."

"I should tell Tommy," the ghost decided. "Where is he?"

Techno's face fell. "He... had to leave."

Ghostbur shrugged. "I don't remember that, when?"

"Just a few minutes ago... he went with Dream."

Ghostbur smiled pleasantly. "Thats nice, they really are such good friends."

"Yeah..." Technoblade replied. "Friends."

[razorblade180]

interdimensional Dads 4

Jaune:Who’s Next?

Jaune:Pick a number from one to a thousand.

Jaune:Since you married Yang it’s either 69

Jaune:Or 420, but because it you I’m gonna with 7

Jaune:Purple gets to go.

Jaune:....Oh did you- oh I see. That’s stupid. I like how he got the answer but it’s stupid.

Jaune:Hate to break it to you all but I can already tell that I’m probably the least interesting here. My Remnant doesn’t have anything crazy going on.

Jaune: Lucky you. We just wanna relax.

Jaune:Hehe, anyways I started dating Blake when we were at Beacon. Well I guess technically we didn’t date but we went on a lot of dates because we liked similar things. Music, tea, some books.

Jaune:Filth!

Jaune:*red* It’s been called that, yes. It’s something nice to bond over.

Jaune:Bond over, or bind over?

Jaune:I’m surprised you didn’t say bondage over.

Jaune:So scandalous. How grown of you.

Jaune:What would your dear parents think? Oh the shock!

Jaune:Why am I the one getting picked on!? You guys would literally find a similar interest in it!

Jaune:We know, it’s just funny seeing you red. Please continue.

Jaune:I can’t imagine the trip around the world was dramatically different. Reuniting with Blake was super comforting. We finally started officially dating after she scared me half to death at Argus. After beating Salem I decided to go with her back home after visiting my folks. Her parents were stunned to see yet another blonde-

Jaune:Sun or Yang?

Jaune:Both...you see, they new Sun for obvious reasons. Yang was a little more....how to put it?

Jaune:....She was in love with her too, wasn’t she?

A strange feeling of guilt and sadness filled the air.

Jaune:Yang and Blake were always pretty close, more so than with me in certain aspects. They were partners so of course it would be like amd with all the stuff that happened between them since Beacon, Yang falling in love with her was so easy to see. It wasn’t like it was one sided either, but those aspects, the knitty gritty hardships they shared? Sometimes sharing all that history makes it hard to have a normal relationship. So Yang took it pretty rough when we officially got together.

Jaune:That must’ve been a rough pill to swallow.

Jaune:It definitely was awkward at first l and a little bit of animosity. But eventually overtime it got better, until it didn’t... Blake and I had a kid. Our quiet little Lucas. Yang never out right said anything but having him and seeing us, me have a life with Blake brought sadness along with whatever happiness she did have for us. So she barely visits; she’s still kind when does though but it’s hard not to see that she would rather be somewhere else.

Jaune:Damn that’s....that’s rough. I couldn’t imagine my life without Yang. She’s practically my best friend at this point; always there to pick me up.

Jaune:Yeah she’s been a real life saver for me too.

Jaune:She’s my wife so it goes without saying that a world where she doesn’t want to be around me or Blake for that matter is pretty crazy. Do you at least have Ruby, Weiss, Ren and Nora?

Jaune:Yeah they’re around doing their own thing and we take turns visiting. Ruby tried to act like a bridge between us and Yang and it works for the most part. It’s rough but not as rough as it sounds. But any who, I guess I should talk about Lucas now.

Jaune:Before that, I couldn’t help but notice that you sound a little more...proper than the rest of us.

Jaune:*red* I’m always running into some important faunus that meets with Blake about equal rights stuff. It’s very weird being the only human around sometimes so I try extra hard not to say anything dumb. Don’t you have to meet with wealthy people a bunch?

Jaune:Yeah. They no better than to give me a hard time, or Weiss will kill them. They are very aware of the name ice queen.

Jaune:Ah.....Weiss. *smiles*

Jaune:So joe is your kid? I bet he’s as driven as his mother!

Jaune:*puts head on table* That boy has zero motivation! If you don’t bother him then he’ll lay around all day and sleep like a....well like a cat!

Jaune:Yikes...

Jaune:To be fair, I understand why. His semblance shows him various glimpses of the future that he’s never been able to complete control. Sometimes it activates without warning so it’s not uncommon for him to know something coming up. Poor guy can’t even finish a book sometimes without seeing his future self reading the ending.

Jaune:No wonder he has not motivation. The spice of life is being spoiled for him!

Jaune:Lucas is such a bright kid, a little bit awkward at times but he’s kind too. It’s a real bummer to see him in this constant slump. It’s not small things that get spot either. There are times he’s seen accidents happen and could do nothing to stop it, or the vision was so vague he didn’t know what was going on until it was too late. The world becomes pretty anxiety inducing if all you see is potential accidents.

Jaune:Potential?

Jaune:Yeah, it’s possible to avoid his visions. They aren’t set in stone by any means. He’s seen me beat him up in sparring and then didn’t show up. He’s walked out into the ocean before out of nowhere and speared a barracuda that he says “would’ve been bothersome later.” A family went swimming later on in that area. Still wish he went outside just to smell the roses though.

Jaune:Sounds frustrating, I feel for him. I don’t think my mind could function.

Jaune: I don’t think his is if he’s becoming a shut in. Maybe therapy or something? What does Blake think about all of this?

Jaune:Blake can convince him more than I can to move around more consistently. She’s always checking in out of nowhere and making sure both of us are doing well. This girl video chatted one time just to see if anything done anything fun, then forced us to find something fun to do if we haven’t. She knows if we’re left alone then we start stewing in our own thoughts way too much.

Jaune:That’s actually really sweet.

Jaune:I know! I can’t believe that’s my wife! We call her to make sure she takes a break from work or else she’ll work through lunch. We are basically tripping and picking each other up, it’s such a weird mess hehehe. That’s family though. It gets a little tense but nothing we can’t handle. Especially Lucas, I got a feeling his slump is about to turn into a rollercoaster.

Jaune:What makes you say that?

Jaune:Well....

xxxx

On a sunny day in menagerie a beautiful young girl looks up at the sky with complete serenity and wonder. It’s so blue, so simple, yet so fulfilling.

“You ever look at the sky and just wish you could touch it?” Her gaze drops to in front of her to see a very unamused Lucas.

“No, no I don’t.”

“That’s too bad. Are you more of a deep blue see guy or...”

“What are you doing?”

“Trying to know my bodyguard.”

“Still not your bodyguard.” He groaned. “Can you focus on not moving. I have three shots at this.”

“I bet you’ll get it right first try, no pressure.”

Lucas’s eye twitched as the girl gave him a big smile in her frayed harness, fifty feet from the ground. The boy angled his feet on the unsecured steel beam just enough to distribute his weight evenly.

“You and I have very different viewpoints on tense situations...” He slowly leaned forward with his hands stretched out. “Grab my hands at the same time.”

“Is it bad I wanna know what happens if I don’t?”

Her question was meant with stressful silence and anxious looks that only made her smile. “Just kidding, I can’t grab your hands at the same time when they’re trembling. Lighten up a little.”

“You do know this is your life right now?”

“Yeah I know. Hey, you single?”

That came out of nowhere. He folded his ears, flustered and confused. “What does that have to do with-”

The girl suddenly grabbed his hands. “Boom, you stopped trembling. That’s what I call team-” the harness snapped. The feeling of complete weightlessness took her for a moment before gravity came to pull her down. It was in that second Lucas yanked her close, her body in his arms.

He slowly slid backwards onto sturdy ground and then felt a strong breeze that was more than enough to sever the beam from the rest. The girl gasped.

“The workers!”

“Don’t worry.” He looked over the edge to see all of them far away and the beam falling right into their massive pile of dirt he told them to put down. Lucas let out a long sigh before looking at the girl.

She raised her eyebrow. “You haven’t answered my question yet.”

He groaned again. Go for a walk they said. It would do you some good they said. Now I’m dealing with this.

“I’m single.”

“Cool, I’m not.” She giggled.

“.....” He slowly nodded. “I should drop you.”

“But you won’t.”

“Sadly....”

Part 3

[feeling-uncomfy]

This is for u @trademarked-but-not-really do with it what you will :D

There is a blood warning, just a heads up!

Also, Hawks platonically calling Tokoyami baby bird gives me serotonin —

"Goodbye, sir." Tokoyami waved from the front door of Hawks's agency. The sun was setting slowly, the sky was a warm orange colour. Hawks grinned and shot a feather to bump his interns shoulder, hands occupied. "Dont forget to text when you get back to the dorms, okay?" Tokoyami let's out a huff but nods and walks out of the building. Hawks sighs, another day done.

The other sidekicks left in an orderly fashion, each getting the paperwork finished relatively easily, so Hawks was left alone after a half hour. He sighed and looked down at the paperwork left unfinished.

It was his, so Hawks had no excuse to not have it done. Plus, the commission had been on his ass recently regarding his lack of monthly check-ins, which annoyed the winged hero. Why should he still have to answer to them? Hawks huffed and sat down, prepared to sit there and get it done.

Until there was a loud bang at the door.

Hawks sprang up. He had just closed up, why was someone there? He left his office and walked down the hall. He was about to tell whoever was there to piss off, but what he was met with made him freeze.

"Tokoyami?! What—?" Hawks walked up to the door, where Tokoyami was hunched heavily over it, clearly trembling. He didnt look up when Hawks approached, which worried him. "Kid? What's going on?"

Hawks opened the glass door, and Tokoyami fell through. Hawks let out a shout of alarm and picked his intern up, and set him on his feet. "Kid...?" Tokoyami still hadn't responded, his hands were clamped down on his beak, shielding it. Hawks couldn't help the confused expression rise on his face.

"What happened? Answer me, kiddo." He went to touch Tokoyami's beak, but the teen jerked out of his grip, and swayed dangerously on his feet. Hawks stared. It was like he couldn't stand straight.

"What happened? Answer me, kiddo." He went to touch Tokoyami's beak, but the teen jerked out of his grip, and swayed dangerously on his feet. Hawks stared. It was like he couldn't stand straight.

"Kid, I need to see your face, can you do that?" Hawks asked softly, moving closer. Tokoyami let out a pained noise in the back of his throat, but moved one hand. Hawks inhaled sharply. There was blood coating his hand, and it looked like the flow hadn't stopped.

Hawks was immediately put on edge. "Tokoyami, who did this." His voice had lost all hospitality, and Tokoyami scrunched up, clearly taken aback by the dramatic change. Hawks asked again, more urgently this time. Tokoyami couldn't get the words out.

"Did— didnt know what to—" Tokoyami shut his eyes tight again, his whole body tensed as another load of pain shot through his head. It was enough to make him stumble again. Hawks caught him easily, and moved him to the couch. Hawks didnt like how slurred and messed up his interns speech had become.

"Right, stay here, I'll go get you a first aid kit, okay? We'll fix this." Tokoyami didnt react. Hawks got worried. "Kid? Open your eyes, kid" Tokoyami's eyes opened slowly. They were glazed over and lidded. Hawks cussed. "Okay, okay. I'll be right back. Try stay awake for me." Tokoyami's eyes shut.

Shit. Did Hawks need to go to the hospital? Maybe? He should ask Eraserhead? No, the last time he asked about bird related things, Eraser said 'Hawks you're supposed to be the bird expert here.' and hung up on him. So no homeroom teacher. Maybe Dark Shadow would come out and give him answers.

Speak of the devil, Dark Shadow came round the corner. He didnt say anything, but turned and went back the way he came. Confused, Hawks followed. Tokoyami had moved from the couch to the ground. Hard, judging by the fact that the tremors had gotten worse.

"Fuck! Okay, I'm back, come on, up you come." Hakws gently moved Tokoyami to the couch again and opened the first aid kit. Tokoyami sank boneless into the plush couch, and his eyes shut again. Hawks slowly moved to peel his interns hands away from his face.

They didnt budge at first. "Come on kiddo, this'll make it hurt less, promise." Hawks coaxed gently. Tokoyami shuddered as both hands were placed on his lap. Hawks stared at the mess. It was hard to see where the blood was coming from, but there seemed to be a nasty gash across somewhere.

Hawks decided to ease his kid into it by starting at his hands. "Do you know what happened?" Hawks asked gently, pulling out a cleaning kit and wiping the red off Tokoyami's hands. His intern tried once again to get the words out, but it came out garbled and wrong. Dark Shadow came out, resting on Tokoyami's shoulder. "He cant talk properly." The shadow explained quietly, and Hawks nodded, shoving his anger down.

"Can you tell me what happened then? I really need answers here." Hawks was only partially frustrated at the lack of answers he was getting. Dark Shadow grew considerably in size. "Some asshole who doesn't like people with animal type quirks jumped us." Tokoyami's hands started shaking violently as Hawks shot up, wings flaring out.

"Are you fucking kidding me—?!" Hawks yelled. The first aid fell to the ground with a clang, and Dark Shadow flared up more. Hawks took a breath, calming himself. He picked the kit back up and silently cleaned the rest of Tokoyami's blood off of his hands. Tokoyami's hands still shook on Hawks's grip, he realised.

They came to the beak. "How much does it hurt? On a scale of one to ten." Hawks tried to gauge the reaction of the teen, reaching out. Tokoyami shifted back, shrugging. Dark Shadow answered before Tokoyami had a chance to. "He wants to tell you it's not that bad, but it hurts a lot. A solid nine point five." Hawks bit his tongue to stop himself from yelling again.

Tokoyami looked betrayed, but nodded in confirmation. Hawks exhaled slowly. "Okay, we'll I'm gonna give you something for the pain, and then I'll treat you. That sound good?" Tokoyami looked uncertainly over at the meds. More specifically, the needle. It took Hawks a second to realise why.

"...You dont like needles?"

A teen shook his head. That's all Hawks needs. He sits quietly, thinking. How was Hawks supposed to do this? Tokoyami starts opening his beak, but immediately makes a noise of pain and closes it. Dark Shadow doesnt translate.

Tokoyami tried again, slower and much more muffled than usual. "You... dont have to worry... I can—" He cuts himself off with a wince of pain, hand flying up to his beak again. Hawks takes his hand away, gripping tight. "Its okay, dont push yourself."

Hawks looks around for a distraction. If he can manage to get Tokoyami's mind off of the needle situation, Hawks might be able to inject him without a problem. He's used those drugs on his sidekicks and himself before, and they work fast, and are completely safe, a bonus. Plus, considering how small his intern is, Tokoyami should be put straight out, the stuff is strong.

Hawks's eyes land on the T.V. and he grins. He turns it on and flicks through the channels. Someone catches his attention. "Hey, isnt that Eraserhead?" He stops on a talk show. There, in all his glory, is the class 1A homeroom teacher. "He doesn't look very happy." Hawks laughs. Tokoyami is staring, seemingly occupied.

Hawks let's him watch for a little longer, setting up the needle. Dark Shadow noticed, but said nothing and continued to watch. Eventually, Hawks finally deemed Tokoyami distracted enough and quickly injected the needle into his interns arm. Tokoyami visible jolted, but the drugs worked fast and Tokoyami fell quiet, and slumped against the couch after a minute.

Hawks sighed. "Sorry kid..." Hawks turned him over, and got to work quietly. Tokoyami's beak was fragile, so Hawks had to work gently. He wiped a considerable amount of blood away and saw it. He wasnt surprised that it hurt. There was a large gash sliced over the right side of his kids beak. It was a messy cut, so obviously Tokoyami had either been moving or the person had shaky hands. Or both.

Either way, Hawks wasnt letting them away with this. He was gonna hunt the fucker down himself if that's what it took. He cleaned it up and was going to bandage it when Tokoyami's hand shot out and gripped Hawks's arm tight. Tokoyami's eyes were barely open and it looked like he was completely out of it.

Hawks chucked. "Alright bud, go back to sleep—" Tokoyami cut him off. "Hawkszzzz. There'sss dis guy. Dis guy and he keepssssss..." he trailed off, mumbling nonsense. Hawks stopped. A guy? He must really be out of it. Tokoyami continued. "He keepsss followin' me! Amd I dont know why... hess freaky dough. I domf like it."

Well, now Hawks was concerned. Before he could ask any questions, Tokoyami had gone slack again, his breathing evened out. Hawks didnt think much of it, and just bandaged him up. Hawks sat back with a sigh, looking at his work. Tokoyami was oddly calm, Dark Shadow no where in sight.

Hawks turned off the T.V and got up. He'd have to call Eraserhead once he was finished up with his interview, and judging by the yelling he heard, it wasnt going very well. Hawks looked down at the sleeping teen. He couldn't leave him on the couch, but he didnt want to risk injuring him further by moving him and fucking dropping him, which, knowing Hawks's luck, was a very real possibility.

Hawks decided it would be safer to just grab a blanket and wrap his intern in it. At least he'd be comfy, right? Hawks grabbed the fluffy one he'd seen the kid eye after a rough patrol. Hawks manoeuvred the kid and wrapped him into a mini burrito. Hawks smiled and decided fuck it, the kid was up, might as well move him. He carefully walked down the hall towards the elevator.

He asked himself where he would put the kid. The simple answer was to put him in Hawks's room, but his office was all the way down at the bottom floor. Would Tokoyami be able to handle the elevator if the drugs are still in his system when he woke up? Hawks sighed and brought the paperwork with him, playing the safe game.

Hawks sets his kid in his bed, and does the rest of his work quietly, feathers keeping a close watch on his kid as he sleeps without a problem. Hawks finishes his work and sits back, eyes closing. He drifts off, his feathers still active.

The next morning, his feathers woke him. Tokoyami is moving. Hawks groans and stands up, stretching and walking to his room. Tokoyami is sitting up, hands touching his beak with obvious confusion.

Hawks laughs and pushes his intern back down on the bed. "Go back to sleep, baby bird. It's still early." Tokoyami nods and curls up, still feeling exhausted. Hawks sits himself on the edge of the bed, watching his intern as his chest rises and falls. Hawks gets bored after a while, leaving as his phone buzzes.

Erasurehead? This should be fun. Hawks leaves and puts it on speaker. The angered shout that greets him tells Hawks everything.

"Hawks! You are aware of what a curfew is, correct?" Aziawa yells. He's in class as they speak. The rest of the class is confused. Bakugo rolls his eyes and Mina pokes at Asui and whispers something.

Aziawa continues without a pause. "Because I know damn well that Tokoyami wouldn't break curfew, so where is he? I swear if you tell me he's in hospital again." At this Hawks winced as the class perks up on the other end of the line. "Again?" Midoryia turns to Todoroki, who shrugs.

Hawks laughs. "Well, you'll be glad to know we didnt have to bring him this time, but—" Aziawa cuts him off. "Then why isn't he in class?!" Hawks sighs. "Some guy jumped him on his way to the train station, okay? They hit him hard, too."

The class grows nervous as Aziawa stays silent. Whatever Hawks had said must have either shocked him or caught him off guard. "Are you serious? Why—?" Hawks answers with a shrug. "Dark Shadow said something about animal-based quirks."

"Really? Just because of his appearance—" the class falls quiet again. Kirishima shakes Denki's shoulder. "They cant attack someone like that, right? Just because of his face?" Kirishima whispers, and Denki shrugs. Shouji's fists clench. He's delt with more than enough of those types of people in his life. Iida was chopping angrily, and Bakugo looked pissed.

Aziawa is still ranting. He's gotten so angry he couldn't hold his phone, in fear of breaking it. So it went on speaker as he went on a tangent. Hawks finds a good place to cut in. His voice rings loudly in the class.

"Hey, I'm just as angry at you. But the kid is trying to sleep. Maybe keep it down?" Hawks chuckles darkly. "Not like he'll be able to voice his complaints, though."

Aziawa immediately regrets it, but he asks why. "The motherfucker slashed his beak. It'll probably scar, it was deep." Hawks peeked into the room. Tokoyami was still asleep, turned away from the door. Hawks closed the door softly and tuned back into the conversation. Aziawa was yelling. There were other voices yelling, as well.

Aziawa's voice rang clear. "Sorry, Hawks. Gonna have to cut this short. Bring him back around when he wakes up, Recovery Girl will help him. Bakugo! Dont you dare—! Fuck!" The line went dead.

Hawks laughed. Looks like the class knew. He turned to go down the hallway, but stopped when something pulled at his jacket. He turned to see Tokoyami standing, albeit wobbly. The blanket Hawks had wrapped around him hung on his shoulders, and Tokoyami's body disappeared under it.

Hawks smiled softly. "Hey there, baby bird. What's going on?" Hawks moved to support him as the teen almost went down. Slowly, they moved to the kitchen. With Dark Shadow's help, Tokoyami sat on the counter, still wrapped in the blanket. Dark Shadow faced Hawks. "He's wondering how to eat. We're hungry."

Hawks blinked. "I hadn't thought about that...." He trailed off. "We'll ask Recovery Girl when we see her. You wanna go now or do you wanna wait?" Tokoyami shrugged. Hawks shook his head. "Well, let's re-bandage your beak first, then we'll go, sound good?"

Tokoyami nodded and moved to stand. It took a minute, but they got there. Hawks took off the bandages. The wound looked as ugly as ever. "Hey, what did the guy look like?" Tokoyami thought about it. He turned towards the T.V and his face dropped. He pointed at the screen.

Hawks looked. Someone had been murdered late last night. Ouch, it looked brutal. There was something familiar about the wounds though...

"That looks like..." Hawks stared at the wound he was cleaning. "Oh. Holy shit." Hawks snapped his head up, looking for confirmation. Tokoyami nodded, a little too hard, and hissed in pain. Hawks steadied him. "Wait. If the wound is so similar, then..." He turned the volume up.

"The only suspects we have at the moment are the league of villains, and that's because of the dust left behind. Also scorch marks left on the victim's back..."

Hawks's phone lit up as a message came through. He checked it. It was from an unknown number, which meant it was from Dabi.

"You're welcome." Was all it said.

Hawks typed out his reply. He asked why the fuck he would do something like that. Dabi responded with: 'Dude was on our hit list anyways. He should learn to think twice before slicing a league member so close to Shigaraki.'

This left Hawks confused. Dark Shadow said that the guy didnt like people with animal-based quirks, so it would have to be their driver, but the last part....

Oh well. He's dead now. That's all that matters.

He took Tokoyami to Recovery Girl, and she did all she could. Within a week it had scarred, much to Tokoyami's annoyance. He could talk properly, which was okay. Before he got used to it though, he had a lisp. Hawks thought it was adorable. A lisp plus head tilts?? Hawks's intern was the cutest, no doubt.

Hawks grinned as Tokoyami waved goodbye two weeks later. "Make sure you get home this time, okay?" Tokoyami sighed and flipped Hawks off, being the last person to leave.

Hawks laughed. Hopefully this time there would be no unexpected attacks on his intern. Hawks walked to his office and stared at the pile of paperwork left unfinished.

"Son of a bitch—"

This ended on a funny note, though I wanted to make a point on quirk discrimination. With everything that's happening in America right now, its important to say

Black lives matter. They have mattered all along, and they will always matter.

But I do hope you enjoyed! If you wanna see anything else, just ask! I'm always open to suggestions :D

[adulttrio-imagines]

Hey, you did a couple of headcanons of the adult trio amd how much they would care/react to their s/o leaving them. Could you please do a scenario where Hisoka see’s her for the first time post breakup? Like he wasn’t actively looking for her, but now that she’s here, might as well have some fun, right? Bonus points if she’s also a hunter. I love you and your writing this blog is a blessing. Keep up the great work!

“I wouldn’t have expected you to be here of all places, love.”

Fate is a funny thing. You remember thinking briefly. For just a moment, you could have sworn feeling time spinning to a stop as you became distinctly aware of the salt from the sea, the lightness of the breeze, the itch of the rough wood scratching against your bare thighs. Circumstances far beyond your control often came back in circles, perhaps to remind you of your own failings. As if you were nothing more than a balloon, floating blissfully in the sky, before the sudden uptake in pressure crushes you and send you tumbling to the ground.

It is impossible to hide the horror that creeps up your skin and burrows deep into your temples when you hear the low tone of his voice drag itself across your ear. Frozen in your seat, you could only struggle to calm your breaths as he crept up from behind like a thief in the night, casually leaning against the back of the bench as the overwhelming scent of his sickening sweet perfume flooded your senses, allowing panic to creep in.

He grabs a fistful for your hair in his clawed hands, absentmindedly running his fingers through them, slowly inhaling the fresh scent of your shampoo before tossing it away. “It’s been far too long, don’t you say?”

You visibly stiffen, and you can tell he’s smiling, even without looking. You hadn’t expected to see him here, of all places. A quiet little beach town, secluded from major cities and surrounded by thick lush forest and mangroves. Cold sweat brews at the crown of your head, and you twist your hands into the fabric of your clothes to hide the shaking. You had hid your channels, you were so sure you did. Weeks of planning in an effort to erase your existence didn’t come easy, but you thought you succeeded, and had finally won, running away to hide here, undisturbed, away from the hunters, the mafia, and most importantly, from him.

“I can’t say it’s nice to see you again.” Somehow, you find your voice. It’s hoarse from shock, but stronger than how you actually feel. Staring out into the ocean envelops you with a sense of confidence you haven’t had in a long time. You don’t bother turning to face him, even when he leans in close enough that his nose brushes against your ear and his breath is hot down your neck. His nen hasn’t changed a bit, and it swirls around you like poisoned tendrils, crooning veiled threats in your ear. He’s itching for a fight, impatiently shifting from foot to foot as he leans into your ear.

“That makes one of us.” You feel his eyes eating you up, as his nen strokes the curves of your ankles and slowly make their way up to your knees. Even dressed in simple, loose fitting clothes does he leer strangle the breath out of your lungs, and you’re briefly thrown back in time, a cloud of poison squeezing you like rotten fruit as you struggle against his violent choke, squashing out every last bit of fight you had in you.

Your eyes are watering, why is everything getting so dark? It’s hard to breathe, you can’t-

“You’re disgusting.” You motion to move away but he grabs you by the arm, and pulls you back down.

“That’s a terrible thing to say, darling. After how you left me, you can’t expect me to just let you go just like that-“

“Don’t you dare touch me.” The fragile sense of control you have desperately tried to maintain snaps in two. And your own nen explodes in such force that surprises even you, the air itself shimmering from the heat, and a sick sense of pleasure croons within you when shock briefly flashed across his face.

“So, so touchy.” He tuts, regaining composure immediately and withdraws his hand, but remains where he stood, “you still make it very difficult for me to love you.”

You scoff.

“Why is what I do, never enough to satisfy you?”

He smiles, play cards disappearing into thin air. “You’re just impossible for me to love.”

You finally turn to face him, and he looks the same, as if time has stopped flowing for him (it has for a long time). You decide he’s a little less boyish, the broadness of his shoulders better filling out his chest, the blue hair he sports reminds you of the rippling waves at sea and you hate that he now represents another thing you’ve grown to love. But the cruel mocking in his eyes and the way his lips curl haven’t changed since the day you met him.

“If you truly wanted me, you would have found me years ago. Now,” your own nen flares dangerously, slick and potent with rage, and you feel disgust rise in you as sick pleasure twists the handsome features of his face, “What do you want from me?”

He eyes you with an unreadable gaze, and turns to the ocean, letting loose an uncharacteristic sigh, as if you’re overreacting, as if every word, every hit, every warped action he did that corrupted your very sense of self meant nothing (it doesn’t to him).

“I just want to talk.” He finally says, pulling out a worn deck of cards, lazily shuffling through them in easy repetitive motions. You smother the urge to knock them out of his hands.

“Tell me the truth.”

“I am. I’m just here to talk.”

“I don’t have anything to say to you.” There’s nothing left to say.

He peers curiously at you, yellow eyes glinting under the earning morning sun as he places the cards down on his lap.

“Do you hate me?”

“Yes.” And of course you do, you do, you do. You hate him so much that it breaks you in two and burns everything around you to ash.

His draws a queen of hearts from the deck, absentmindedly twirling it between fingers. “Why do you lie to yourself?”

“It’s the truth. If you can’t accept that it’s not my problem.” To your amazement, your feet don’t shake when you stand up.

“If I can do this,” you remember thinking when you ran away, “I can do anything.”

He doesn’t stop you this time, you follow his gaze and look at the sky. It’s so blue, so vast, so bright, looking at it makes the aching hurt in your chest bloom with such vigor that your vision blurs.

“I really did l-.”

“Stop.” You hold his gaze, a strange coolness wets your cheeks. You’ve decided you didn’t want to hear this. You didn’t want to know this, didn’t want to process this, for hearing his words, hearing him say what you desperately wanted to hear all those years ago would unravel every single thread you’ve sewn to mend the fractured pieces of your sanity back together. Piece by wretched piece, you strung them all back together, even when the needles pierced your skin and your blood stains everything a deep red. At the end of it all, there was no meaning in forcing yourself to hold on to the broken fragments of your relationship

He reaches out to hold your hands, but you hastily bring them behind your back. You don’t need his comfort. You didn’t it then, you don’t need them now.

Instead, you force yourself to look him in the eye. They hold the same exact shade of gold that you love. You loved him, you loved him so much that every gentle touch, every soft smile, every shared joke, every time his lips brush against yours brings back unsaid memories of haunting violence laced with bitter words and stinging slaps that remind you of haunting nights where painful shrieks pool at the base of your throat and you would faint from the exhaustion of it all, burning yourself alive in an attempt to keep up with him.

Until you eventually arose from the ashes, struggling for breath, and flew far, far away to where he could never hurt you again.

And even now, even when you finally face him as an equal (it��s a lie, he sold his humanity a long time ago), you cannot find it in yourself to spill those hurtful words you wanted to all those years ago.

And for years, it was only silence.

He could have found you if he wanted, but he didn’t. Like everything else, you just weren’t worth his time.

You look at the sky again, the salt from the sea mingling with the sweetness of chopped coconuts as the laughter of children fills you with so much warmth that you actually smile when you look at him.

He hasn’t changed at all. From his elaborate clothes, to the painted highlights of his cheeks, while time stood still for him, it continued to flow for you, building you walls and your strength, so that you could now see him for what he always was.

“I’m a different person now, and I won’t play your games anymore.”

Bonus:

You can see the brief flash of confusion in his eyes as opens his mouth to challenge your words, but as if on cue, a high voice sounds.

“Mama! Mama!” Down from the beach, a chubby toddler with wavy tresses bounces up to the both of you, wide smile from ear to ear, proudly showing off a collection of shells in their bucket. Their cheeks are full and pink from the sun, the freckles climbing their shoulder a beautiful shade of brown as they stumbled clumsily on stubby feet. They stop short upon realizing your company, quickly scrambling to hide behind you as they peek up at the strange man.

You scoop them into your arms before Hisoka could react, protectively shielding them from him. His eyes flit between the both of you, and you see them narrow when they land on your child, who can only curiously return his gaze with bright amber eyes.

“Mama?” You feel your child’s hands curl hesitantly around your shirt, confused by the tension stretched taut between the both of you. Before you could answer, Hisoka cuts you off.

“Is this what you want?” He asks, getting to his feet.

“Yes, it is.” You didn’t even realize you had been holding your breath until he turns away, a shadow of a smile dancing on his lips.

“How cruel.”

[pogaytosalad]

Heres a wip of a sequel.

Dmviolence, by jade

Hello, if youre hearing this, it probably means im dead. Either that, or im alive and just got tired of keeping this hidden. You might remember my voice from a previous recording about a takeover in sector ⬽:➻, in which id helped prevent total annihilation of the sector. At the time i was unnamed, however now you may call me Kalton. After the takeover i resigned and moved to a job at a dmv. This planet was, for some reason, in one of the most tactically advantageous locations in the galaxy. And for some reason the higher ups dedicated the whole damn planet to dmvs. Dont ask why. Now, onto the story.

I woke up, and i put on my emerald green contact lenses. Just like any other day. I put on a basic white t-shirt and a leather bomber jacket along with a pair of jean shorts. If you cant tell by now, im gay.

I live in a small apartment. By small apartment i mean a bedroom, a bathroom and a kitchen all crammed into 2 rooms. I hopped out the bedroom window onto my motorcycle. It was a diamond white motorcycle with deep red stripes along the sides and the handlebars. My pride and joy. I put on my jet black helmet and took off towards my job at the, you guessed it, dmv.

Chapter 2

I pulled up in the parking lot and took off my helmet, my blue hair a total rats nest. The doors were push doors, yet i somehow ALWAYS pulled first. I entered the dmv and went to my station. A few hours passed by and no one had come in yet, which was unusual. So naturally i decided to sit down on the floor, put in my earbuds, and enjoyed some heavy metal. A few more hours passed by, and usually by now i wouldve been yelled at by my boss. This struck me as odd so i stood up. I really wish i hadnt stood up. The place had been completely destroyed. There were drop pods crashed in through the roof and they all had the ERGON logo on them. Ergon was a multi trillion dollar pencil manufacturing company with its own military. They had previously tried to take over sector ⬽:➻ when i had been working there. I was not looking forwards to what was about to happen.

Quickly, i ducked back onto the floor before anyone saw me. There were 4 riot soldiers holding this building. This was gonna be fun. The riot soldiers are your stereotypical riot gear and police baton soldiers. But these guys had laser batons and the riot gear gave them heightened strength and speed. They also had some, dare I say, shitty energy pistols. I crawled over to one of the soldiers who wasnt being watched and broke their neck. Carefully I took the baton and the pistol. Slowly crawled my way back to my station and checked the shot count in the pistol. I had 6 shots, just enough to take care of the remaining three soldiers. I stood up quickly and shot each soldier twice in the head. First shot to open the riot helmet, second shot to kill. I vaulted over the counter and grabbed the three pistols. These things were so stupid. You couldnt even remove the clips. Once you ran out of shots, the pistol was useless. Nonetheless, i didnt have any choice. I had a laser baton and 18 total shots in 3 pistols.

Upon leaving the building, my motorcycle was one of the few things to survive. It had alot of scratches and damage, but it still worked. The helmet was shattered however. I mounted the motorcycle and took off towards the next closest dmv. Maybe id find some better gear there.

Chapter 3

Pulling up next to the second dmv i immediately noticed 3 things. 1: there was blood everywhere. 2: there were 25 soldiers here. And 3: they all had energy weapons. The reason these things are relevant is because energy weapons dont cause bloodshed. This was the result of something else. Something new i hadnt dealt with yet.

I drove up and ran over 5 of the soldiers. This was probably an incredibly bad idea, seeing as i had 18 shots, enough for 9 kills, and there were 20 soldiers left. Every single soldier turned to me and i, being the absolute genius that i am, welded the front of one of the pistols shut with the laser baton, shot it off, and threw it into thei crowd of soldiers. It exploded, releasing a shockwave of energy and disabling the soldiers. I then used the baton to cut through the riot gear and kill the soldiers. I felt like a badass. That is until a mechanical looking wolf jumped at me and started trying to rip my face off.

The wolf was a frostwolf, except it had been placed into a mechanical frame and its teeth and claws had been replaced with lasers. I tried to bash it off of me with the baton but it just bit it in two. This gave me just enough time to grab an energy pistol and shoot the wolf. It kept trying to kill me amd i wasted a whole clip on it until suddenly, the dog started to levitate in the air and got thrown aside into a wall. I got up and was instantly frozen in place. Thats when.. she walked up.

Chapter 4

The she i am reffering to is ebony. A goth/punk wannabe with light blue tear shaped eyes and black hair with purple streaks. Shes a bitch whos mind got too powerful and now she can move things without touching them. Shes been chasing me for months. Not in a murderous way. Shes just obsessed with me. Ive tried to tell her im gay but she wont listen. And now im at her mercy.

She walked up to me and kissed me on the cheek. I hated it. She looked as if she was contemplating whether or not to free me when a pod came down from the sky and crushed her. Thank god. But i honestly wouldve rathered suffered at her hand than deal with what i had to deal with next...

Out of the pod came the warden. The goddamn warden from sector ⬽:➻. Last id seen him hed been in the same situation as ebony. Crushed to death under a pod. But this time, instead of being on my side, he was here to kill me. He was huge. Like seriously huge. He was at least 8 feet tall and shaped like gaston. Whos gaston? Nobody knows these days. But its basically a way to say "extremely buff and wide". Back to the story. The warden wasnt looking very good, considering the rotten skin, obviously quickly patched together face, and muscles hanging loose out of his skin. His rotting ruined body was held together by an exoskeleton of chromium-tungsten alloy. Nothing i had was gonna cut through that. I was gonna have to get creative here..

The warden had 2 weapons, both of them were his fists. Huge gauntlets that were each about the size of a cow. Definitely bigger than his previous set. They were a golden green metal i couldnt identify. But i didnt want to get hit with one to try and find out. I ran. I ran as fast i could run into the dmv and hid. I could hear the wardens footsteps. It was as if a small earthquake happened each time he took a step.

I peeked over the desk i was hiding behind and saw him punch through the 2 desks opposite to me. It took no effort and i couldve sworn i saw him smile. Obviously i didnt. Cause he didnt have a mouth anymore. But if he did, he definitely wouldve smiled. I took a shot to get his attention and ran off towards the wall. The warden was definitely faster than i expected.

Luckily i managed to dodge the blow by a centimeter. The metal smelled of decaying flesh and popcorn. The wardens blow punched a huge hole in the wall. I hope you see where im going with this.

I ran off to another wall and we repeated this same process a number of times until the building was barely still up. I ran out the doors and threw the baton at the last of the supports, cutting through it and causing the building to collapse in on the warden. He wasnt getting out of that. I decided to search the rubble to see if i could find anything worth taking. I found a new baton, a flame rifle and a few more energy pistols.

The flame rifle was a very interesting design. The sides were painted jet black with flame decals scattered about. You could feel the heat on the inside and it made the gun warm to the touch. Comfortable to hold. Other than that though, it looked like an old fashioned 8.59mm sniper rifle. It had 4 shots remaining, so id have to use it sparingly.

I grabbed some scrap materials out of the rubble to make a holster for it and put it on my back.

The energy pistols just dangled from a keychain. The baton was simply turned off and placed through a hole in the back pockets of my shorts. I ran to my motorcycle and drove off, i needed to find out more. I had questions, and i had a sneaking suspicion that i knew where to find the answers.

I drove off again, i was dirty and there was blood on me and my bike. I probably looked like a serial killer. But i knew that if anyone was still alive, itd be jayden. They were.. well. They were a vampire. They lived in a swampland area and wore sparkly rainbow shirts and a huge sunhat. The sunhat allowed them to go outside in the sun, and they only drank coconut water. They also had a crazy amount of weaponry and used to work at ergon, before being fired for stealing weaponry. By the way, if you havent noticed by now, im using they/them to refer to jayden. Jayden doesnt have a gender. Jayden.. is kind of my crush. It probably has something to do with the fact that theyre the only person on this planet who talks to me. Other than ebony.. but ebony is... not my type i guess. Anyways, back to jayden. Jayden was on the roof of their swamp shack drinking coconut water out of a wine glass. I yelled up at them and they fell off the roof onto my back. I guess i cushioned their fall. Jayden immediately said "What do you need dear" without waiting for me to stand up, and shattered the wine glass. I informed them of the situation and asked the questions i had. Things like "what are the ergon soldiers defences like on their ships" and "how did they reanimate the warden" they had answers.

Jayden told me about the new security measures that had been put in place since id last been on an ergon ship. There was now a code for each teleportation pod and the gaurds had doubled. As for the warden, it turns out jayden was actually the first test run in reanimation sciences, and couldnt answer me because they had been unconcious in a lab when the warden was reanimated. That explained the vampire undead thing. Jayden invited me into the shack where they pulled a nail out of the floorboards and it turned into a ramp to the basement. Down in the basement? Thats where jayden kept their weapons they stole. And boy oh boy were there some interesting ones.

One that immediately caught my attention was the big rocket launcher. It had 3 barrels and each was a different colour, indicating a different effect. One was red, one was yellow, and one was green. The red barrel fired a normal explosive rocket, the yellow barrel fired an electromagnetic pulse rocket, and the green barrel fired an acidic explosive. And the launcher shrunk down to the size of an energy pistol when a button was pressed. It gathered up dirt and dust and garbage around it from the back to quickly convert into ammo but the only downside is that it would be difficult to use more than once in an area.

Jayden picked out an old shotgun. At first i didnt understand why, but then they loaded the clip. The clip was a huge drum that loaded in the bottom of the barrel. The drum was see through and inside you could see sawblades lined up side by side. When they pumped the shotgun a blade got lifted into a slot between the 2 shotgun barrels and started glowing red. When the trigger was pulled, the blade spun at high speeds and fired out of the slot, spinning along the ground like a wheel. It could cut through anything a baton could cut through and seemed to almost follow its target. The gun itself looked like an DP-12, except behind the pump, a large clear drum full of sawblades was in place. The blade sat between the barrels in place of the iron sights and got heated up by an electrical circut.

I also took a laser sword instead of my baton, it was just like the one that [3825968] had, except this one was about an inch longer. The final weapon i took was an acid thrower. It was basically just a watergun with acid in it. Ive always been partial to acidic weapons. If youve heard my other story, youd know why..

Jayden also took a submachine gun that fired freezing rounds. The rounds were essentially glorified waterballoons with liquid nitrogen in them. Though the rounds were bullet sized, enough shots from it would certainly freeze you in place. The freeze gun was about the size of the average human head, and was painted navy blue with blue saphire stripes placed along it. We both left the shack, me with my sword and jayden with a wine glass. We were ready to kick ass and put a stop to this.

We left and immediately both got flung into some trees. Guess who it was. It was ebony. Her body had been found and reanimated. I was starting to see a pattern. And now we had to fight the telekinetic who could kill us with a wave of her hand.

She was levitating. Her eyes were glowing red and her hair was floating in the air. She had a smile of someone about to rip your arms off and beat you with them. I tried to take a shot at her but my hand got knocked aside by an invisible force. So i tried the next best thing. Seduction. Fake seduction. Hopefully the whole dying and coming back from the dead thing didnt make her stop being weirdly obsessed with me.

While i faked surrender and complimented ebony and attempted to seduce her, jayden took aim of their ice gun and shot a burst at ebonys right arm. The arm froze in place and shattered. Hopefully that would lower the strength of her telekinetic abilities. It did. But only by about half. Which meant jayden got thrown into the air as i tried to discreetly unholster my acid gun. It wasnt discreet enough and the gun was knocked from my hand.

The gun flew forwards and the impact of hitting the ground set it off for a second, just enough to spray an acidic burn through her arm. Incapacitating her. Jayden ended up sneaking up behind her and impaling her through the skull with the shattered end of their wine glass. Finally ebony was dead for good.

The acid gun was busted, so we had to leave it behind. We got onto my motorcycle and took off towards my apartment building. We would need food if we were going to be traveling. An apartment complex would probably be full of foods, and alot of dead people who wouldnt care if we took some stuff.

[jinxthequeergirl]

Promise I'm Not Slipping Away (pt.3)

Poe Dameron x Solo! reader

Summary: the pilot and storm trooper take you hostage but during uour escape things quickly fail.

Warning: swearing, viloence

I HAVE MIXED EMOTIONS ABOUT THIS!

I was also in a piss mood somewhere in the middle so its super bad but enjoy!

~~~~~

"This is...this is real clever of you boys." You stated sarcastically as the storm trooper, who after a touching moment between the two men, poe had named Finn, finished cuffing your arm which now had you attached to poe.

"C'mon, supreme leader, taking me in was your first mistake." Poe stated smoothly with a grin. You scowled as finn yanked poes free arm pulling you both into the corridor outside of the room.

"Just shut up and follow us." Finn said sharply as he placed his helmet back on his head.

"Yhea got that." You replied back annoyed. You would've slipped away by now. But you didn't, not that you didn't want you, because you really did want to take both of these idiots out a while ago. But any time you attempted you felt something awful grip your gut. It only stopped when you did, not only that but you could tell that even if Finn wasn't trusting in himself to actually shoot you down you could sense poe was. He was, although slightly uncertain about it, he still had enough certainty to do it. So you followed.

You where silent and looked back at the control station above hoping someone above would catch wind of you. Luckily for you Hux was on post and looking down. "Now what is she doing down there?" He asked himself. You tripped slightly and poe moved his arm pulling you up. That was all he needed to know you weren't following along willingly.

"Someone stop that pilot!" He yelled and almost instantly the alarms went off and a squad of troops moved quickly after the three of you.

"Shit!" You heard poe mutter before he harshly pulled you along to a ship. He pulled you up the ramp and finn stayed behind you pushing you in. "Stop it! Stop it!" You hissed eventually the ramp shut and you where being pulled to the cockpit and sat you in the passenger seat. "Finn man the guns!"

Finn was quick to find it and get settled. You moved your arm in an attempt to free it but the ship was already taking off. "It's too late! They already know you have me! They aren't going to let us go!" Poe looked at you with a smirk and before you knew it the ship jerked forward fast and zipped out of the bay.

As the ship jerked forward you did too looking at him with a scowl. "Alright finn! Get ready they'll be hot on our tail...right about.... Now!" As he said that two red beams shot past the ship.

You could hear finn shout excitedly from where he sat and poe turned the ship suddenly causing you to slide right next to him.

"Ready finn!?"

"Rea-" before the rest of the word left his mouth something hit the ship with a solid slam and the lights turned red. "What the fuck was that!?" You asked.

Poe didn't answer and only hit a series of buttons. "Ok...change of plans...switching gears." You watched him as he moved his hands dragging your arm with his still attached.

"HANG ON!" You gripped the side of his seat as he drove the ship forward and flipped upside down so you now ended up behind the last two tie-fighters. "Finn, buddy? You in a better position?"

"Yea!'

"Then go!" With two of them where shot down, the last one menover  so it just missed it and shot at one of the engines.

"Finn! Now!" With that it was shot down amd you went flying through space again only to start malfunctioning. "Oh stars,oh stars! We're going to die!" The last thing you remember from the ship was watching the bright yellow sands of Jakku come into view before you crashed.

The sun was hot. But you really didn't expect anything less when you woke up facing the sky with nothing but pain overcoming your entire being. You groaned and moved your hands to rub your eyes but your wrist was caught.

You turned your head and caught the glint of the sun reflecting back into your eyes from the restrains that still connected you and the pilot, who laid motionless on the ground on the other end of the restraints.

"Shit..." You pushed yourself upright and pulled your arms shaking him in an attempt to wake him. "C'mon get up! I'm not frying alive out here!" He groaned as you continued to do so.

"What!?" He finally asked annoyed. "Get up.we need to get off this damn planet."

You said rising to your feet pulling his arm. He huffed and followed suit quickly, and following behind you as you picked through the pile of metal that was the ship. "Here." You handed him a blaster and waved your hand over the restraints so that they clicked free and fell to the ground.

"Whats this for?"

"Well i am expecting you to safely lead me across this hell planet." You said pulling off layers of your clothes and rolling your sleeves.

"Wait, wait, wait wheres finn?" You stopped and looked around. "Who's to say? The wreckage goes back for miles maybe he fell out way back...maybe he already left. Which would be a great idea! This land is filled with scavengers, ruthless scavengers."

He sighed and looked torn. You pushed your hair back and patted his shoulder. "I'm sure he's alright...you did a really good thing getting him out of there...now lets go." You said that softly before walking past him in the opposite direction he faced.

You heard him let out a deep breath before he turned and followed you. "If we wanna get off this planet we need to keep heading that way." He said pointing far off in the distance. "Thats where you found me last night...that where my ship will be. We get there and I do a few repairs on it we'll be off."

You nodded and stepped aside letting him take lead.

The sun was now some what low by the time the both of you saw the little town off in the distance. "Think we'll make it by sun down?" You asked as you continued to walk.

"We should...hey why haven't you run away by now? Found your own way back? You following me just means your still my prisoners."

You shrugged and stopped to face him. Searching for an explanation. "I..." You trailed off seeing something behind him.

"You what?" He pushed but you where so focused on the the group that made there way towards the both of you, blasters ready in hand. "Shit get down!" You grabbed his shoulders and tackled him to the ground, crashing on top of him as they began to fire.

You grabbed the blaster you had given him earlier and shot back.

You rolled off of him and continued to shoot. "Start running i'll cover you!"

"Are you crazy!?"

"Go!" You snapped rising to your knees, you stopped a blaster beam mid air and forced it back at the attackers. Poe stood up and started running towards the town.

You pushed your hand out to them and they fell back giving you enough time to turn and run.

"What are they!?"

"I told you scavengers! They tend to attack and strip any one and any thing of something they can sell off!"

He grabbed your arm and pulled you behind a small hut so you could catch your breath.

"Well we made it.." He said. You looked up at the small scattered houses that the farther you looked the closer and more crowded they got.

"Finally..."

You set up a small camp right next to poe's x-wing. You sat by the fire as he worked away on the ship.

You stared into the fire and got lost in deep thought.

"Your grandfather would be proud."

You scoffed at the thought, but mainly yourself. You knew full well why you hadn't killed poe when you should have, why you hadn't run away from him and waited for your brother, even hux to come find you.

And though you obviously wheren't resisting the pull. You hated it, but you also hated not feeling it.

"You look conflicted." You snapped from your thoughts when you heard poes voice.

"What?...OH! uh..no im..im fine!" He didn't look convinced but sat down across from you. "We should be ready to go early afternoon tomorrow.."

"Great!" You said rolling your sleeves down now that it had gotten somewhat chilly do to the lack of the beating sun.

"And...uh thanks for..ya know saving my tail back there." Before you could respond he was already laying back in the sand ready to sleep.

You sighed and did the same thing and slowly dozed off.

By morning you found that sleeping in the sands of jakku wasn't necessarily the most comfortable pf terrains to fall asleep on especially with it's increasing temperatures as soon as the sun began to rise.

"Finally awake i see!" Poe shot sarcastically to you. "Oh ha very funny fly boy!"

"Well if it means anything i got a head start and she's already to go!"

You made your way over to him. "So we can leave this awful planet finally!"

"And go back to the resistance base." He said. You said nothing in turn to that going back to your thoughts from the night before.

"Well if you are ready then lets go!" The ride to the base was somewhat quiet and when you arrived you felt extremely unnerved by a strong presents that only grew as you followed poe through the base.

"General organa!"

"Commander Dameron! It's good to have you back!"

"Thank you general but i have news i brought someone who i think might help."

Poe gestured to you and both general organa and poe looked at you.

You could hear her let out a soft breath and You stood in the door way eyes glued to the ground as she walked over to you. She stood there in front of you, saying nothing, making no movement for a while. Then quietly she reached up to your chin and lifted your head so that you where looking at her.

"You've got my eye's...." She said softly with a light smile. "And your tall now...you get that from your dad....you both do." You gave her the same light smile in return.

Soon enough her arms where around you hugging you tightly it took you by surprise but you slowly returned the gesture and wrapped your arms around her burying your face in the crook of her neck.

"I'm sorry..." You mumbled.

"I know...I know you are...it's not your fault."

.

.

.

.

Tagging!

@theamazingprincessofgifs​​ @stella-nebella​​ @leilei-draws​​ @captainlarsonn​​ @taina-eny​​ @angelcvsmic​​ @creativelyquestioninglife​

[sunnylildragun]

Made to bee?

Taiyang Xiao Long was happy. Really, he was. But there was this unsettling tightness in his chest that wouldn't leave him alone...

It's not that Taiyang Xiao Long doesn't like Blake Belladonna. It's just that... it's all very familiar. Blake is a good girl. Blake is different. Blake came back. But still, she left Yang, and broke his daughter to the core in a time of need. He does not dislike her. He just sees a lot more of Raven in her than he would like.

He tries to tell himself that no, Blake won't make the same mistakes as Raven. No, she won't leave Yang again. Not after everything they went through. Hell, they killed a man when they were only nineteen. They helped defeat Salem. They went through much more to strengthen their bond than Raven and himself ever did. Taiyang and Raven were young and raw when they decided to marry each other. Yang and Blake are different.

Still, when he got the golden and purple invitation, he couldn't help but feel his heart sink. A wave of memories ran wild in his mind. Blake is different. Blake won't hurt her. Blake won't leave her. Not like what Raven did to us. Not like what Raven did to me. That's what he told himself in his mind, but his heart was held in its place by his stomach.

He tries to smile when the fiancees come over. He makes them lunch, they share stories, Yang tells him about how Weiss and Sun are going crazy with the preparations of the wedding. Blake looks at Yang lovingly as she talks, with a smile. Nothing changed. Nothing changed between them, Blake looks at her with as much love as the day Taiyang met up with the group in Vacuo. He noticed that day, and he notices now.

They love each other. He knows that. He loves them. But somehow, this feels different. This is scary for him. And Blake catches up on that while Yang is doing the dishes, jamming to some band's song- Nevermore?- and starts conversation.

"You know..." The woman says. "Ten years ago, I vowed to not break my promise to her. That I wouldn't leave." She smiles at him sadly, amber meeting blue. "I'm not her. I'm not Raven. I love your daughter more than I think I could ever love anybody. She's everything to me, Tai."

"I... know." Taiyang smiles back at her, and a more upbeat song about gardens of ecstasy start playing at the kitchen. "I just..." a sigh. This was hard. "Don't worry about it. You make her happy. That's all that matters."

It leaves his mouth as if it settled something. It was more like he was trying to convince himself. Blake nods, but he sees her jaw tighten, as if her demons are earing at her, all at once. He ears go down, making her look defeated. Thoseears never lied... Taiyang didn't mean to do that to her. He didn't mean to feel this way either. Gods, it was so hard. Why was it so hard? He said it himself, all that matters is that Blake makes Yang happy. Then why was it this damn hard.

Not many days after the two women visited, Yang called him. Apparently, Blake was overworking, and she only did that when she was overthinking. It only started after their day at Taiyang's house, and Yang wanted to know why. It was not accusatory. She just wanted to know what happened.

"I-I..." his voice caught in his throat. "We... uh... talked."

"About what, dad?"

"She told me she would never leave you. That she loves you, but..." Taiyang was crying by this point. "I could only think of Raven, Yang..."

Silence. One or two moments of silence passed.

"She proposed to me, dad. I don't think she would do that if her plan was to leave." Yang's voice was low, a mix of tears, and anger. "She's not like mom. We both have known that for far too long."

And that was the last time father amd daughter talked for the following moth before the wedding. Every single time Blake was on the news, giving a speech as the ambassador of Faunus Rights, he felt his heart clench. She looked tired. So, so tired. And every single time there was a comment about Yang's new mission going less flawlessly than the past ones, the guilt filled him.

According to Ruby, who kept in touch with both of them, they didn't seem to be upset with each other, but she had found them having more moments of comforting each other than she had seen in some time. Ruby gently implied that he fucked up. He knew he did, oh gods, he knew he did.

And that's why he feels like he does not deserve to be on the first row, with Ruby and Qrow to his left and Kali Belladonna to his right. The ceremony iz held in Menagerie, and Ghira would be the one to marry them. It is the tradition of menagerian marriages, the chieftain to celebrate the ceremony. He has a spark in his eyes as he talks about the two young women kneeled facing each other. How they click. How their souls belong to each other. How this was always meant to be. It is beautiful. The Belladonna man had a way with words, just like his daughter, and pours every bit of emotion into the speech.

Then, it's time for their vows.

"Blake Belladonna. Remember when I said you were a lost cause?"

"How to forget?" Blake's sarcastic remark makes everyone, including Taiyang himself, to laugh.

"Well, I was wrong. You are a cause worth fighting for, Blake. I love you with every inch of my being and every beat of my heart. I don't know who I would be without you. You may still think that there are things that were your fault," Yang emphasizes that by clenching Blake's hang with her prosthetic lightly, "but they aren't. It all made me grow, made me become who I am today. I am stronger now, Blake. Although I would enjoy feeling you with both hands, I would do it all over again for you. And it's because I love you so much that, under this sky of sun, I give my body for you to have, my heart for you to cherish, and my soul for you to love." Yang puts a golden ring in form of dragon, which has eyes shining with gold, on Blake's finger. They share an aura bond. He can tell that the ring is sealed by Yang's aura.

That makes tears come to Blake's eyes, and she smiles at Yang, a smile so big that reaches her eyes and lit her face up. "I am so grateful for that night you interrupted me while I was reading. Yang Xiao Long, even as we are away, I still feel like my heart is with you. You are the like that makes the shadows of my past cease, that chases the demons of my mind stop torturing me. When I'm not with you, I feel that I cannot shine, and I can't leave you, my sunshine. I fall in love with you every single day, and I know that I'll never stop falling for you, even when death comes. And it's because I love you so much, that under all the pieces of the shattered moon I vow you my body for you to have, my heart for you to cherish, and my soul for you to love." Blake kisses Yang's left hand and puts there the black ring in form of a panther, which has eyes shining in a purple light.

With that, Ghira tells the brides may kiss, his eyes teary. As they do, Taiyang wipes his tears. Somehow, his doubts disappeared as Blake said her vows. Oh, he doesn't believe for so long he doubted this beautiful, loving woman. Blake loves Yang, Blake will never leave her. And now he doesn't need convincing, his heart just believes it. The pair gets up and looks at him, as he is not the only one clapping.

Taiyang doesn't know what he is doing until he has both in a tight hug. The crowd gasps, and so do Blake and Yang, but then they wrap him in a hug as well. He cries in their shoulders, soaking Yang's blue smoking and Blake's uncovered shoulder, since her yellow dress' straps fell off her shoulders.

"I'm sorry, girls. I'm so, so sorry." He pulls away, putting his hands on each of the girls' soulder. He smiles at Yang, whose tears are cascading down her face, and whose smile lights up her whole face. Then, Taiyang looks Blake in the eyes, those golden pools shining with tears and care. "I am specially sorry to you, Blake. I don't know what was in my head. Guess I lost the majority of my brain cells with Raven, huh?"

The girls remain silent for a while, and then laugh. It's okay. They're all okay. And from now on, Taiyang Xiao Long knows they belong nowhere but with each other. Their souls are bonded together, as they are bound to be.

[crypterion-moon]

The Vestiges of humanity

Summary: There’s a world where everything looks normal on the outside but it hides horrors amd mysteries beyond human capabilities. This earth teams with ordinary humans, protected by superpowered heroes. But there are those who will discover the truth on the shadowy corners just out of reach, and ascend.

Kon loves Tim, there’s no doubt about it, but the passage of time has not been kind to their relationship and Tim has at last made his decision. It’s time Kon knew the truth.

When Kon comes home, he is usually greeted by a clingy Tim. And he loves every second of it. Tim hated it when he left for something as massive as a mass monster take down, after spending most of the day nursing Kon back to health the last time he got called on one like this. Thankfully, today, he manages to get away with a few scrapes and that’s it. Tim would be pleased but today Tim wasn’t at the door. Tim rarely attended now, preferring to work behind the scene the way Bab's keeps tabs on Gotham. It was like she had eyes all over Gotham and Kon found that Tim was just as skilled as she was. But he missed having his boyfriend out on the field with him but Tim seemed so reluctant to go out, nearly shaking at the thought of it. Like he was sure something would go wrong if he was there. No amount of reassurance would convince him otherwise, though it was strange, like with everything else, Kon accepted it graciously and Tim made his appreciation apparent.

“Tim?” he called out, kicking off his shoes, Tim hated it when he trecked dirt into the apartment, he was beyond a clean freak, like dirt and mud terrified him. It was kind of amusing to see a grown man like him scolding Kon while furiously scrubbing away at the floors and walls like a madwoman in pink gloves. Right now, he needed a shower after that literal monster bash, he'd cleared off most of the slime but he’s pretty sure he smells like a trainwreck and Tim would tell him for sure. But first-

“Tim, I’m home.”

He better not be in one of his bad moods, Kon thought, whether it be a failed case or a mission gone wrong or just lack of coffee, once it starts, it’s nearly the hardest thing to deal with, making Tim come out of his downs was nearly as bad as beating down an alien army invasion. It had been getting a bit worse lately. Tim had been down in the dumps more oft. More distant, gazing out over the sky and city, transfixed and sad. He'd come back down though, nearly after a few hours and apologize to Kon repeatedly. Kon had chalked it up to his broken childhood and his time at the Waynes, though he's not sure what they did, it seemed to have affected him psychologically, but Tim always said they were kind, kinder than anyone he'd asked help from before, then fell silent after that. Unnerving, and he had his suspicions but Kon was sure he'd come clean eventually.

He stepped past the kitchen and into the second hallway.Sometimes, Tim would be trying to cook, unsuccessfuly, somehow it always resulted in some kind of unidentifiable pile of goo. It took a whole load of willpower for Kon not to crack a smile much less laugh while Tim pouted at his latest culinary failure. In all honesty, Kon was no better, so if they didn’t have one of Alfred’s special drop-offs, they’d order take out. Tim could eat a horse that’s for sure which shocked and awed Kon to no end with how Tiny Tim could keep his name. Speaking of which, he'd barely heard from the old man recently, something about having to tend to his family, not that he had ever seen them. Gotham was a strange place and everytime he'd tried to ask Dick about it, he'd grit his teeth and say it wasn't anything he needed to know. Kon was sure he was lying because he was raised by Alfred with the Waynes in Gotham but he seemed intent on keeping quiet about it.

“Tim?”

Where is he? This places wasn’t huge, not like the Wayne manor or the Tower, Tim must have surely heard him. Kon was almost sure Tim isn’t listening then, he already has a list of things prepared to make Tim feel better, including the most indulgent coffee he knows how to make and marshmallows, probably his tenth cup in a day but Kon wasn't about to question his tolerance. But he’s searched nearly every room now, their bedroom, the bathroom and the little office Tim had carved out for himself to work in. There weren’t that many places to hide so where could he be? He couldn’t have gone out could he? Kon tries to call his boyfriend’s cell. It rings from the bedroom, the same generic ringtone modified ‘to parody his life’ as Tim described it.

He didn’t take his phone, that’s odd. There’s a heavy feeling now, Kon could feel it setting in his stomach. His mind began to run through all the possibilites in his head the way Tim always does. Tim and his uncanny ability to project ahead, always steps ahead. The first thing that popped into his mind then was, someone had broken in. He’s scared for Tim. He shouldn't be Tim can take care of himself but he's more fragile than Kon at the same time.

“Tim, Tim, where are you?” he called out repeatedly, “Tim?”

The phone was still ringing, his call hadn’t been disconnected yet even though, the phone usually auto disconnects a few seconds after an attempt, but he doesn’t care about that. The sound of Tim’s phone itself was holding him together as he went over every nook and cranny even impossible spaces he knew Tim would find away to squeeze into, he doesn’t notice as it changes slowly, distorts. Until he finally did and it’s glaring now. It’l like someone made a music box out of the ringtone and then ran it over and over again until it broke and rusted over, the noise was now terrifying. Something that sounded like a groan could be heard between the twisted notes. He disconnected but it didn’t stop, so Kon rushed into the bedroom, find the phone and make it stop, make it stop, the parody was turning into a nightmare.

He stopped in his tracks, just in the doorway. Tim is there, standing on the other side of the room, on the other side of the bed, his back was turned to Kon. Looking out of the window. Tim wasn’t there a minute ago, Kon checked.

“Hey Kon.” His voice made him real, made him there even if it made no sense at all, and that was all Kon cared about for the moment.

“Tim, my god I thought…”

“I’m sorry, I heard you but I…” Tim turned around, he looked so sad, his eyes blue, so blue, more than any other time Kon had the pleasure of staring into. Tim looked away for a moment then turned back to Kon.

“I wasn’t ready.”

“What’s wrong, Tim, tell me what’s bothering you, you can tell me anything.”

"Can I Kon?"

"Of course you can, you need to get whatever it is off your chest to feel better."

Tim smiled, but it was a sad one, “You always make me feel better, but I can’t make you feel better.”

“No, that’s not true, just seeing you makes my whole world light up. I can spend a whole week fighting slimes aliens, covered to toe in crap but just hearing your voice makes me feel I can keep going, even if it’s you scolding me for trekking dirt into our apartment again.”

Tim chuckled a little, but it’s enough to make Kon grin. He reached out, Tim would probably kill him later but he wanted nothing more than to hold Tim, feel him in his arms. Tim’s smile drops.

“I can’t Kon, today is the last,” Tim said, the sun setting behind him, it would be beautiful if only Tim could smile.

“Sorry about the ringtone, I fixed it so it would remind me.”

“Remind you of what?”

“Of today.”

“What’s going on, Tim?” Kon swallowed the lump in his throat, something feels wrong, so, so wrong.

“I wanted to tell you sooner, I wanted it to last longer, to be human again.”

Kon is stunned, the words coming out of his mouth made no sense, even though they were English, the meaning behind them was jumbled and out of context, and quite frankly it was freaking him out. Tim was the one who moved closer, around the bed to face Kon.

“I never was what you thought I was, Kon, maybe at one point I, but that…was a long time ago. Today, is the last day I get to enjoy that with you.”

“What are you talking about?”

“After tonight, I’ll be gone, you won’t see me ever again, and you never will want to, you shouldn’t.”

It was like a gut-punch, like Tim’s gut-punches but worse because he felt it in his mind, his words, his heart. But it made no sense, Tim, the logical one was making no sense.

“Tim…” Kon would’ve reached out, he was so close but Tim got to him first, wrapping his arms around him suddenly, embracing Kon like his life depended on it. Holding him in a dying man’s grip.

“I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry,” Tim whispered feverishly until his voice was so low no human would’ve heard the next words he was saying, and those words frightened Kon so much he nearly threw Tim to the ground. Instead, he gets his hands on Tim’s arms and held him back, to stare into his eyes. He doesn’t believe it. Not one second of it.

“It’s already coming to an end isn’t it?”

“Tim…”

"Cover your ears, Kon."

The man he loves took a step back, takes another and another, his arm is still outstretched brushing along Kon’s as he moved away, until he’s so far back the already dimming sun could barely reach him. Those blue eyes were shining, shining so brightly. Tim, Tim, Ti- Uro- Tima-sh….

Tim stopped him, “Don't say, don't say that name, please.” Blue tears falling, "Please Kon, look away."

He doesn't instead, he watched the man before him fall apart, literally. What should’ve been his silhouette expands and writhes, he could still see Tim’s face. Those sad, sad eyes, crying out a siren song, dying bird, leading trails of screams that should never be followed, one that should never be seen or mentioned. The bounadaries of his mind creaked and groaned like a dam against the unending black around him, the whispers that echoed around like a chant.

<i>Let the sleeper awaken, and eternity take place...return, return, return, tear the veil...Sleep unto death...death unto eternity, no witness, out of sight...don't listen...cover your eyes, ears...look away...look away...</i>

"LOOK AWAY!"

Those words came out in an inhuman shriek that in all of his years of fighting monsters, nothing was more terrifying, like claws and nails raking across iron and rust and glass, loud and piercing, and Kon was forced to screw his eyes shut, the terror now bending his mind like a reed. But shutting his eyes didn't make it any less, as the sounds that reached his ears now had no substance to it, nothing solid to ground or makes sense to them, he tried to cover his ears to no avail and he cursed his superhuman hearing. Only Tim's voice carried him through, what humanity was left in it.

“Thank you, for letting me come back down, to be human even just a lttle while, I’ll never forget you,” Tim’s voice…was changed, “One day, I will carve your name and you will forever remain.”

He struggled with the last human words he could muster, “I love you.”

He shouldn't be able to see with his eyes shut tight, but he could. So many eyes, so many many eyes, yet none of them were looking straight at him, they looked outward and at nothing and everything. The deafening beating of a heart echoed around Kon and the all consuming darkness, he realized was not night, it was just, dark. Gotham is a dark, dark place.

He wanted to curl up, and shut down, but the words, Tim’s voice came together in a twisted melody, that horrible horrible distorted ringtone was going again, adding fuel to the nightmare. When he finally opened his eyes, the lights had flickered on and it was eight in the evening, Tim's phone still ringing with that dumb sounding jingle he'd loved so much.

[iamjjmmma]

“Number All My Bones: There and Back Again” Part 1, Chapter 2

Beginning: https://bit.ly/2NtGPgu

Previous: https://bit.ly/2GMt4Zx

Next: https://bit.ly/2H5dDej

A month earlier, he was alright.

We were all alright.

Our house is right on the corner of a monster-only neighborhood, arranged by someone who would be one of my closest friends. But for now, she was hidden and tucked away. Our house is a pretty little thing, one that I don’t think I could dream up in the underground. It has the same type of red etched onto it that you’d look at it and it’d remind you of faded ruby. It has a few windows in the front, and if you could climb up there, you’d see right into our rooms.

You’d see mine, which is impeccable except for what could only be described as a hot mess sitting on my desk. But if you’d look inside my hot mess, you’d find a beautiful little mixture of classifications here, potential experiments there, and half of the desk covered in lesson plans to engage the thermal physics class at the university.

Right to the left, you’d see Papyrus’ room, which is redder than the walls of the house but having a happy little streak of orange all over the baseboards. Despite him being fifteen, you can see a fifty-dollar electric guitar hanging on one side of the wall and a hodgepodge of action figures on the other. His bed, like mine, is impeccable.

To his left, you’d see Sans’ less-than-impeccable room. You’d look in the door and find a trombone and a fifty-dollar telescope. There’s almost always a pile of trash in the corner. But what you can’t see is the ceiling, which looks like the Sistine Chapel of planetariums, all of the stars arranged in what would be the actual configuration in the sky.

Our living room is nothing special, but it’s what Papyrus ran into, sneakers a’blazin’, and it’s the place where I worked on the couch, coaxing a theory out of my brain about a new method of spectroscopy.

“Dad! Dad!”

“What is it? I’m almost finished with my work.” I finished a few sentences, keen on finishing a few more sentences right after those, and I pressed so hard the graphite had bent slightly to the side by the time I was finished.

“It’s four o’clock! We need to go now, don’t we?”

If it was just Sans and I, he’d remind me, and he’d get ready while I lagged on about five minutes behind him. But this was Papyrus, and with Papyrus, when it was four o’clock, it was four o’clock. When Papyrus started shaking me just a little, just a little, I laughed and exclaimed a few “Alright, alright!”s before I headed my way to the car.

We’re not far from a city that they call Boston, and locals tend to boast about some of the scenic drives around there. But driving next to Mount Ebott is one of the most beautiful things I’ve gotten out of life here. It’s filled with gentle hills here and there with Mount Ebott smiling down on them, knowing that she’s bigger, taller, a mix of menacing and protective. The Japanese dogwoods and towering, spindly red oaks’ shadows cover up the road, although it lets the sun come in the car at some points and turns the car into a spotty, almost epileptic flash of light and dark. Flowers poke out of the grounds and out of bushes, flowers that Sans has hated since he came up here, but Papyrus always seems to take a liking to. Lilacs that tend to attract mothers, tucking little flowerets into their babies’ carriages. The pink rhododendrons that hurt Sans’ eyes, that hurt mine, but still draw me in the more I try to look away. The roses, artificially planted but still there, still there, poking out and saying hello in every color, every language, each color a different one.

This is where we live. Maybe it really would be a paradise in a different world.

But a sharp turn to the right, and a honk from a human driver later, and we’re at the elementary school, reaching so high that I can’t see the sunlight. I went to the left, found a parking spot more towards the back, and I couldn’t help but smile to myself knowing that I would get to spend time with Papyrus a little longer than usual. It was walks like that where I could look at his eyes, looking at his own type of wonder and delight.

I smiled a toothless smile at Papyrus, letting him slam the door for me. He laughed in his contagious glee, almost snatching my keys before I could lock the door. I punched him playfully, and he laughed all the harder. Fatherhood allows me to be young again like that.

I wish I could say that the schools here were just as palatial as the drive. But when we went here, we were introduced to the concept of these being places controlled by the government, which bristled with me, but didn’t chafe with me quite yet. But this particular school gives me the willies, and each turn of a corner makes me wonder how children can stay here forty hours a week.

The cameras.

The cameras may be what’s doing it. A quick glance on the side will reveal three little letters: “A”, “M”, and “D”, three letters that almost elicit a punch to somewhere, if not the camera itself. Those three little letters stand for Anti-Monster Department, which is just as pleasant as it sounds. At first, I thought it was a scapegoat for everything we couldn’t do, but further research proved that those were all lies, that it was the one who was really initiating it all.

The monsters that can’t participate in the same classes as humans can. Blame it on the AMD, I used to say. The AMD’s causing it with its legislation, I say now.

The monsters that walk home without an occupation when their human peers aren’t quite as adept. Blame it on the AMD, I used to say. The AMD’s causing it with its legislation, I say now.

The monsters that come to the hospitals, battered here and there. Blame it on the AMD, I used to say.

Blame it on the AMD, I say now.

Papyrus taps me on the shoulder, and I know. He doesn’t like me to dwell on anything this negative, and neither do I want to, deep down. So I turn away, looking back a little first, and then head to the library. The signs say the library’s supposed to be nice and quiet, but except on occasions where he’s in his room, my oldest never really is quiet.

Neither are the two around him, either. There’s one to his left whose name is Chara, rolling his eyes and trying to get the whole of them to study. But on his right, there’s someone new, someone I haven’t ever seen before. Huh. Must be a new student.

This is one of his tutoring sessions, and even when both he and I know he’s fully capable of getting home on his own, it still brings a hefty smile to my face to see Papyrus’ light up. And both Sans and I know that for a fact. I walk up to him, the mold from the forgotten school vents blowing into my face, while Papyrus starts shifting around the library, going off to the fiction section whereas I would be combing the science section. He tells another joke, no doubt on what they’re studying… “guys, we gotta go back to studyin’, otherwise, we’ll be a lot more DENSE…”.

I tap his shoulder, and the corners of his smile retreat back to where they were, but the smile is still there. “Sorry. Gotta go back home.” He tapped my shoulder right back. “Dadster here says I gotta go.”

“Awww!” says the kid to the right, and I try to look at her, but she reminds me of the times before I was steeped in work, so I look back at Sans, the floor, Sans again. “But we’ve just started-”

Sans chuckles. “Kiddo, it’s been an hour.” He heaves off of the bean bag chair, and I walk over to Papyrus, steeped in some sort of mystery novel that’s sucking him in so that his nose is just barely hovering off of the page.

“Paps.”

Nothing.

“Papyrus.”

Still nothing.

It comes with the territory, the doctor said even after reviewing my qualifications. Kids on the spectrum tend not to reply, the doctor said. Touching them isn’t a good idea, either, the doctor says. So getting his attention is about as hard as making flerovium, which is about as hard as herding a cat lady’s entire colony.

But after a few minutes- he tells me he finished the chapter- we all pile into the minivan, Sans still in tow, and head home. Papyrus pops in Led Zeppelin, played obsessively. But it’s not because it’s the type of music that he likes. It’s the type of music I like, which is why he plays it over and over again.

The recorders just start to set in in the first minute of the song when Sans, forever condemned to the back seat because of his height, starts to talk.

“Dad?”

“Yes, son?” I have to turn down the music, Papyrus almost protesting.

“You know the new girl that I was tutoring today, right?”

“Yes; continue.”

“She asked me somethin’ even I can’t answer. An’ because you’re a fancy-pants scientist with a fancy-pants degree, I thought you could.”

“Alright.” I sat up taller in my seat.

“She asked if.. well, I don’t know how to… if… if scientists think it’s okay to kill people in comas.”

What?

I try to pull over, but it ends up more as a swerve, and a black car that’s been riding our tail this whole time honks as it blows right by us. Papyrus shouts as we head into the parking lane, the car jolting forward slightly. A month on the surface means that I’m not very well acquainted with “driving” yet.

“What did you say, son?!” My heart’s still going faster than the car ever went.

“Dad, I asked if comatose-”

“Nono. I know what you said. It’s just that-”

Euthanization? Euthanization? I’ve never talked to them about this before. Besides, why would the girl sitting next to him… a girl only about ten years old… ask something like that? What happened to her? What could have possibly made her ask this? How could she possibly get an answer?

I took a breath.

How could I possibly give an answer?

“Alright, son. Who is this girl who asked this? And why did she ask this? What happened with her? Do you know?”

“Her name’s Betty-she’s been in the school for a month or two- and she knows a lot, and- Dad, I- Dad, please, I don’t know, I-”

Betty, huh?

I take a breath. Another. Another. One question is all he can take. All I can take.

“What was her SOUL color?”

If she was purple, that may be able to explain it. Perseverance SOULs are much more inquisitive than the average SOUL, and were in fact the majority of the lineup of those who want to take the job I have at the university. If it were yellow, then that would explain it also. Justice SOULs are keen to achieve virtually whatever social goal they need, and if this “Betty” had a Justice SOUL, that may have explained it.

But it was what he said that made everything go to shambles. That made everything crumble into bits, that started the fire that wouldn’t stop, that never stops.

“No, Dad. It’s-”

He has to take a breath, too. A deep one.

“It’s pink.”

[langsty-langst-lance]

I really really like the "Lance knows he's not getting out alive so he sends Blue away amd no one realizes until they're back at the castle" stories. Would it be too much trouble to to request a fic where the team finds (touch starved possibly?) Lance on some random planet after he's been missing for so long??

So I wrote this out and I was like halfway and tumblr glitched and it didn’t save 😭😭 oh well here we go again. Maybe it’ll be better this time.

XXXXXX

“Watch out!” Pidge yelled as they hurtled down to the planet that was mostly water and tiny bits of land dotted here and there.

It was too late. A rock of some sorts had hit Blue hard. Lance yelped as he went flying out of his seat. He struggled to grab something and pull him back to his chair but never got the chance. His lion lurched through the air hitting something else.

Lance didn’t know something was wrong until he realized he was falling through the air, the ocean right beneath him. He hit it hard with a splash and he couldn’t help but realize that it felt as if he might as well have hit concrete. His whole body stung the way it does when you do a belly flop but 1000 times worse.

Lance thrashed in the water as he struggled to figure out which way was up. He finally came up gasping for air only to find the tail of Blue sinking down into the ocean.

He desperately attempted to call out to Blue and Pidge but only coughed up water instead. He looked around horrified trying to find a place to hold on to or float or anything. His eyes finally rested on a small patch of land.

It wasn’t until then that Lance noticed the water around him turning a dark red. He suddenly felt his side sting more than the rest of his body. He concluded that he must have gotten hit with debris on his was out of the lion or when he hit the water. Whatever it was, it had caused a decent amount of damage.

Lance took a deep breath in an attempt to catch his breath and control the pain. He used all the strength left in him to swim to the tiny piece of land. By the time he got there he was exhausted. He could only barely crawl up the bank just enough to get out of the water before his arms gave out and he sprawled face first into the sand.

The sun beamed down on Lance. His whole body hurt. His right side was in pain and stung from the ocean water getting into the wound and his legs and wrists felt like jelly and he was sure a couple bones were broken from the fall.

Everything around him spun and he bit his lip in a desperate attempt to hold down the bile that was trying to make its way up his throat. He couldn’t throw up now, it would make nothing better.

Lance glanced down at the sand around him that was starting to turn red from the pool of blood that was coming out of his wound. He had to get something to try to keep the blood in.

After a quick glance around he managed to find some long plants that reminded him of seaweed not too far away. Lance forced himself to crawl over to it.

He groaned in pain as he wrapped the seaweed substance around his wound. It hurt like hell the entire time but this was the only way he was going to kind of stop the bleeding as much as possible.

The stinging and throbbing from the wound hurt so badly Lance managed to make himself pass out from the pain.

When Lance awoke he wasn’t sure how much time had passed. A couple minutes? A couple hours? A couple days? The sun looked in the same place but it was an alien planet which meant time worked differently.

The waves had come up far enough to lick his feet in anticipation. “Pidge?” He asked out loud. His voice was raspy and sore as if he had swallowed gallons of salt water. Lance concentrated hard, trying to get a connection with his lion. “Blue… Blue take Pidge. Grab the stuff for the ship and take Pidge.” Lance could feel the faintest growl of protest. “Blue, please… I’m- I’m not gunna- please, just- get her home,” Lance pleaded helplessly. He knew what was going to happen. His head pounded, his whole body hurt and everything around him was spinning. He had lost too much blood and he was sure the wound was infected by now. Once he fell asleep there would be no waking up again.

Lance fought to get through to Blue, to command her to go back with Pidge. She could be hurt or passed out. She needed to get back, she needed to get into a pod. “Please…”

Lance watched as the ocean rose and fell, the smell of salt water filling his nose along with the stench of his blood. Listening to the crashing of the waves helped him calm down. It reminded him of Earth. If he was going to die, he was glad it was going to be back home or at least somewhere that reminded him of home. At least he would be comforted by the ocean.

The last thing Lance managed to see was a large nose coming out of the water with a splash. Then, his connection with blue, along with the rest of the world, faded away.

The next time Lance woke up he was shocked he had woken up at all. The sun was still shining brightly but it had moved positions in the sky. Lance could’ve sworn he had heard the faintest yells. They were coming from the right of him, right? He couldn’t move his head to find out. Not without vomiting at least.

He closed his eyes and listened intently. He could’ve sworn there was something- someone- yelling. “…ance… Lance!”

Lance groaned in response. He felt something shifting the sand around him. A blurry face came into view, blocking the sun.

“Lance, Lance are you okay?” The voice asked. Lance merely moaned is response. “Shit. You’re bleeding. Okay, c’mon, Lance, hang in there. I’m going to pick you up, hold on.”

Lance didn’t have time to process the words as his body was lifted from the sand. Lance groaned as his body protested the movement. Once he was held comfortably in the arms he was finally able to register what was happening. There was something cold on his back. It was holding him up. It felt nice against his hot, sun-cracked skin. The other hand was hooked under his knees to keep him stable.

He could faintly hear his name being called again. He slowly moved his head to look up at the still slightly blurred face. He could make out a mouth moving beneath a black helmet.

“Sh-Shi…ro-“ Lance mumbled.

“Shhh, don’t talk, save your energy. We’re going to get you back to the castle, just hang on, okay?” Shiros said comfortingly. Lance nodded meekly.

As Shiro walked back to the ship through the sand, Lance could feel every movement. Every step sent jolts of pain through his body. Still, Lance was thankful Shiro was there. He wasn’t quite sure how long he had been alone but he was thankful to now have someone with him. Even though he had spent most of his time passed out he had felt so alone the entire time. Now with Shiros arms wrapped around him he felt safe and touched, even if one arm was metal.

Shiro took him back to his lion but Lance had already passed out again by the time they had gotten into it. He didn’t wake up again until he came stumbling out of the cryopod, his body good as new but his mind still needing some more repair.

XXXXXXX

Sooooo I don’t know if this is what you wanted. Bc I got half way through for the second time only to realize that maybe you meant Lance being captured???? But my mind had automatically gone to hurt!lance and dying!lance sooo says a lot about me lmao. Anyways, hope you enjoy! You were my first submission !! 😊😊

[link-the-feral-anon]

How Many Rings Does It Take? Four, apparently.

Warnings: Little Kids Who Like To Collect Blackmail for Uncle Pat. Also, AP classes ment. Toothrotting fluff amd zombies as well.

Roman was the star everything. Quarterback, pitcher, point guard, hell, he was even the lead in the school play. …s. So, it was kind of hard for Virgil to believe they were still friends. He blamed it on the fact that he played goalie. Him and Patton? That made sense. He and Pat had gymnastics together. (He also stayed after for Pat’s cheer practice with his twin). They had four classes together. AP Chem, AP Physics, AP Math and Art. He and Logan? Again, this made sense. For one, they lived together and were brothers, twin brothers. For two, they were both on the Academic Decathlon as well as chess club. And they had two classes together and lunch. AP Bio and Creative Writing. But he and Roman? They had One (1) class together. That’s it. Just gym. … and hockey practice. And yet? That wonderful, beautiful man still hung out with him. Sometimes he wondered if it was just for the homework help, but then they’d all go out for pizza and arcade games, Princey’s arm around him, placing kisses to his temple whenever either of them won a game. It was one of these special nights when he first asked him. Granted Lo and Pat weren’t there because this was a team celebration. They had just won the state championship. It was a really close game. If he, Virgil, Anxiety as the team and his friends lovingly called him, hadn’t blocked that last shot, then it wouldn’t have gone into sudden death and Roman wouldn’t have been able to set up that winning shot. He was the MVP of the night and Roman /would not/ let him forget it.

“Verge. Verge, baby.” He said, tugging on the other’s sleeve like a child.

“Hold on.” He chuckled as he shot another zombie. “Gimme a sec or I’ll get my brains eaten.”

“We can’t have that! Not our master strategist!” One of their teammates, Mark he thought, shouted as he was dragged away by his art student boyfriend. “Jacob, slow down!” He laughed.

He finally finished the game and ended up on the leaderboard. “What should I put for a three letter name? My initials? Anx?” He asked, not completely turning to his own boyfriend just yet.

“You should put ‘Yes’.”

“Wha- yes? Why would I-” His eyes widened when he looked over, and then down, at him. “Ro..”

“Anxi. Will you marry me?” He asked, pulling his most Charming Grin. Virgil lips quirked up as he typed in three letters. He doubted anyone would ever top his score, honestly.  

“Ask me again when have a real ring, instead of one you got for 10 tickets at Chuck E Cheese.” He grinned. Roman pulled his famous faux offended gasp.

“Okay. One, it was 25 tickets, thank you very much. Two, this is not some garden variety Chuck E. Cheese. This is a homegrown gem! One of a kind place locally owned! And, three, alright.” The Charming Grin was back, “I will.”

“Good.”

“Great.”

It was a couple years later and Virgil still couldn’t believe Roman still.. Loved him. Yeah. Yeah, they loved each other. He was at home, er, in his dorm room, drawing, when his phone buzzed. He glanced at it, brow furrowed.

Princey<3 <3: 11:23 >Anxiiiiiii< 11:23 >I looooofe youuuiiuuu<

… what the hell? Was- Was he drunk?

Me: 11: 24 >Babe.. Are you drunk?<

Princey <3 <3:

11:26 >nooooo< 11:26 >okau< 11:27 >mabye a littlr< 11:28 >hsy< 11:28 >hey*< 11:28 >marry me.<

He couldn’t help but laugh at the picture Roman attached to the demand. It was a picture of Mrs. Little’s wedding ring. Still on her hand, too.

Me: 11:28 >Okay. But you have to get me a real ring first.< 11:28 >And come on, Princey, make it romantic.< 11:29 >Oh, and two more things.< 11:29 >Make sure you aren’t drunk,< 11:29 >And make sure we’re in the same country, okay?<

There were a lot of things Virgil couldn’t believe in his life.

Logan and Pat’s wedding was not one of them. Roman catching the bouquet was not one of them. The ring with the moonstone in the middle, surrounded by jet and spinel and hematite that formed mini, glittering night sky with a full moon on his finger was not (well, the ring itself was not) one of them. Though, the little diamonds thay dotted the sea of black and dark blue were a nice reminder of one of the many things he couldn’t believe. Like…  Roman asking him, once again, to marry him, the day before Virgil himself was going to ask, and having to repeat himself about five times before shouting

“VIRGIL CAN YOU HEAR ME?! I’M ASKING YOU TO MARRY ME BECAUSE I CAN’T WAIT UNTIL OUR ANNIVERSARY DINNER!” Poor guy damn near jumped out of his skin. The song had just ended, so he heard his lover /loud/ and /clear/.

He pulled an earbud out, grinning softly, “Sorry, whawasthat? Didn’t quite hear you, Princey.”

He squinted and repeated himself, again, but this time he didn’t yell. “I said, will you marry me? I can’t wait until our anniversary dinner to ask.” He open the little velvet box, revealing the ring that was now placed proudly on his finger.

“Can you do me a favor and reach behind that pillow there?” Roman raised an eyebrow and pointed at the couch pillow just behind him, “Yeah, yeah. That one. Just- I think I lost something down there, I’ll answer in a minute this is more important, thank you.” His smile got wider and wider as Roman reached down and picked up the little box. He looked up at Virgil’s shit-eating grin shellshocked. “Well… Open it.” The look on Roman’s face made the aggravating shopping and designing for the ring worth it. One of the many things he did not expect, was how well the rings matched. His beautiful moon and stars and Roman’s gorgeous, if he did say so himself, sun.

Today, he smiled as Roman showed off their son as well as his ring and how it sparkled in the midday sun.

“Look, see. See how this gorgeous Scapolite gem is set in the middle as these diamond studded gold pieces are looped around it, causing a tiny gemstone sun? My husband, over on the bench there? He’s with the Peter’s best friend Missy? We’re babysitting them for the week. Anyways, he’s a big shot designer and he designed it himself.” He could hear him bragging about /him/ now.

“How did you know Mr. Roman was the one?” The little kid next to him asked.

“Oh, well, Missy. I didn’t. See, it’s not really something you know.”

“Oh… Well, how did you know you loved him?”

“…” He took in a breath, thinking about it. “This is going to sound extremely cliché and Roman is never to hear that I said this.” They nodded eagerly. He sighed dreamily. “I had a really bad panic attack and he followed me. He calmed me down and sang to me, really, it was what he always did when this happened. Absolutely nothing was different about it, but..” His gaze went back to Roman, had turned to wave at him, smiling that gorgeous, sunshaming smile of his. He waved back. “Suddenly, it felt like… He was a sun in my dark world.”

“Is that why his ring looks like the sun?”

“It is.” A few moments of silence passed.

“You were right.”

“About?”

“That was really cliché and you’re a total sap.”

“I didn’t say that last-”

“Still true.”

He stuck his tongue out in response. Later that night, Peter and Missy would tell each other the meaning of the rings, they had planned this, and come to the same conclusion.

Peter’s dads were total saps and they were definitely telling Uncle Pat.

For the tsficexchange! I got @princeyandanxiety !! Obviously I went with Prinxiety. I figured you’d prefer that, Bells. ((But do tell me if I was wrong))

[shotgunsandstars]

They Were Giants 3: A Stranger Calling

This chapter is written on commission for rampakslue amd Anglophilicsins. If you’d like to commission something you can find information about it here

If you read and/or enjoy this fanfic a reblog would be very appreciated so other people can learn about this fic as well.

AO3 mirror

Desmond was waiting for him when he left Aquilae. Malik felt heavier as he left the crumbling city and found Desmond sitting at a fire his all his armor still on, nervously watching the city with difficulty thanks to how purely black it was out here without the stars and no lights for dozens of miles. When Desmond saw him he leapt to his feet. “Malik! You’re back. How did it go? Did you take care of those other priests?” Desmond asked.

Malik wasn’t really listening. He just put the naked godkiller sword into Desmond’s hands, picked up his gear, and didn’t stop walking. He was headed north west, out of the land of no stars, towards the Belt of Aquila that surrounded the Eagle at the furthest north western edge of the sky. Desmond scrambled to kick the fire out and followed after Malik. His plate jingled as he jogged to catch up and tried to talk to Malik. Malik didn’t answer him once.

He honestly wasn’t really with Desmond. He was still back in Aquilae, looking down at Tarazed before stabbing his sword straight through his chest and how hot the sword had become. Too hot to hold. Altair had been so pleased but Malik had shown him the same attention he now showed Desmond. That had annoyed him and he’d vanished in a flash of fire. All he could think about was what Tarazed had said as his last words. That there was something wrong with Altair.

It wasn’t so out of character for Altair as Tarazed made it sound. He’d also acted cold and calculated with Aquilae the first time Malik had entered Eagle. He’d been so ready to burst into flames and throw them either back into the sky or deep into the earth when they’d all come one at a time to inspect Altair’s new priest. It was how he was protective of Malik before Malik could protect himself. Tarazed’s priests had been a real and significant threat to Malik’s existence and not something Altair would have tolerated. In turn Tarazed, who would go out with the express purpose of finding priests to bring back to Eagle to murder Malik, could not be tolerated. Neither things that so fully threatened Malik’s life were allowed to continue existing as far as Altair was concerned. It made sense that he’d ordered Malik to kill him, since he couldn’t do it himself, so that Malik would stay safe.

He came to the conclusion that what had happened last night wasn’t as wildly out of character as it had seemed in the moment as the sun was starting to rise. They’d made good time but they should really be stopping to rest for the day. He looked over his shoulder and saw Desmond some fifty feet behind him, dragging his feet tiredly. “Oh, I’m sorry, Desmond,” Malik said once he was in ear shot. He forgot Desmond had been on a strictly nocturnal schedule for only about seven nights and followed after Malik in full plate. They also hadn’t stopped since they’d left Aquilea and Malik forgot that mortals were significantly more delicate than Malik was. Barely more than a week ago Malik had had nearly all the bones in his body broken and he was as right as rain. Humans didn’t come back from that. They usually died.

“It’s fine,” Desmond sighed. “But… are we stopping for the day?”

“Yes. We are,” Malik assured him.

“Oh good,” Desmond groaned and immediately flopped down on the ground.

Malik chuckled and left him to take off his plate before it got too warm and went to find both food and some firewood to cook it if needed. At the very least he wanted some fire to heat water for tea. He didn’t find anything out here in the brush but he saw old signs of antelope which was something. He did find some good dried out saplings from when life used to grow more here when Aquilae had tended the land. He returned to Desmond who’d removed his shiny plate armor and numerous padding and was sitting in only the thinnest of clothes, using a cloth to wipe the surface of the breast plate clean of dirt. Malik put the little branches in a pile and snapped his fingers. Fire erupted from nothing. He pulled a small kettle out from his gear and poured some of his canteen into it. He set it to hover over the cracking fire and laid out his bedroll. Desmond had since done the same.

Malik did the same as Desmond and removed his armor, neatly laying it down on the ground and checking all the ties, buckles, and talismans carefully to make sure they were secure. He also checked the plates that made the armor up and that they were unblemished. His water was starting to boil by the time he was done and Malik put it down next to him and opened the top. He put a rolled up tea bomb into the kettle. It was only a little bigger than the biggest knuckle of his thumb but immediately burst as it hit the water and quickly stained it amber. As Malik was putting the lid back on the kettle he thought to himself that it reminded him of Altair’s eyes.

Malik watched Desmond clean his armor and didn’t offer to help. He’d done so at first but now knew Desmond preferred to do it by hand.

Out of his armor Desmond looked much smaller than Malik was used to. The plate and padding added significant mass to him. Not that Desmond was weak by any means. He was a smith and used to carrying around heavy ingots or tools and smacking metal into shape but only his arms were big and had any muscle definition. Everywhere else was soft. Malik couldn’t help but think that if Tarazed had gone so far with two priests because Aquilae was dead what would the other gods do now that there were two dead Eagle gods? As it was neither he nor Altair were on good terms with the northern gods. Alshain especially had secluded herself and didn’t even come out of the sky for festivals celebrated in her honor. Tso Ke and Tseen Foo equally resented Malik for very different reasons.

In the north east they called him Mountain Breaker to this day because he’d shattered the mountain that had had a huge carving of an effigy of Tso Ke that overlooked the city that bore his name. It had caused an avalanche that had consumed the entire city. Tso Ke had promised Malik would regret it when he’d seen the destruction. On the other side of the country Tseen Foo had branded Malik Firestorm and still deeply resented him for the Red Lash he’d inflicted upon the north west where he’d burned down a hundred miles of old pine forests and the city of Tseen Foo during the Eagle War. It was called the Red Lash because the sky had been red for days as the fire blazed until all that remained was ash that had been washed away by a later rain, revealing the red earth characteristic of the north west. Even fifty years later the Red Lash had not recovered and it had crippled the land’s timber production which in turn strangled the rest of Eagle’s ability to get large quantities of lumber.

Both of Alshain’s neighbors had every reason to hate Malik and now even more that he’d killed their brother. They’d been wary and afraid when he’d just killed Aquilae. But a Cardinal Star? This would breed anger.

A young smith without real combat training would be slaughtered in moments. It made Malik’s stomach roll. “Hey, Malik,” Desmond said.

“Hmm?”

“Your tea is going to get cold if you just leave it there,” Desmond said. He was laying on his bedroll now and eating some of his rations.

“Oh, right,” Malik said and poured himself a cup of the deeply amber tea. The cup was one of the ones his father had made him. It had a chip in the top but Malik liked it like that. It, unlike Malik, aged, and reminded him of actual passing of time. He added a little sugar to his tea and sipped it.

“So… You killed those priests?” Desmond asked him slowly.

“I did,” Malik said.

“The Eagle looked different last night,” Desmond ventured.

“I also killed Tarazed. With that very sword you’re carrying for me.” Desmond swallowed.

“So… now what?”

“Now I’m taking you home, where you belong,” Malik said and took a sip of his tea.

“What!” Desmond sat up quickly. “If I go back you’ll have to carry the evil sword yourself, Malik,” he said.

“That is something I must live with. What I do not have to live with is your life on my hands.”

“What?” Desmond didn’t get it. Malik told him that since he’d killed a Cardinal Star the others would probably be angry. He didn’t want Desmond to get mixed up in such things. “That’s… fair I guess. But I could still help you.”

“Desmond, it’s safer and better for me and you if you were home.”

Desmond sighed and thumped down on his bedroll. “I guess,” he looked at Malik across the fire, not lifting his head. “I just liked traveling with you. Even if the pace was horrid. I’ve never left that stretch of river before now. Thought I was going to live and die knowing only that river. I got to see a lot of Eagle with you. You see a lot of things with a priest.”

Malik’s face softened. “Yes. I know. But it is better for you if you were home. We’ll stop at Altair at the very least before then so you can see the capital. Altair is a beautiful city.”

“Is it as big as Osetalla?”

“Bigger,” Malik said. “It is the largest city in all of Eagle. The last compass… city,” he ended slowly, sadly.

“You destroyed the others,” Desmond said. It wasn’t accusatory. It was simply a question and a statement.

“I did,” Malik said. “And a lot of other things too. Let’s not speak of it.”

“Of course. I can only imagine it’s horrible to think of,” Desmond said.

Malik had another cup of tea and emptied the spent tea bomb with a bit of magic, throwing it into the fire. There it didn’t burst into flames but rather rolled and sparked, dancing across the top of the flame and rolled back into a tight little tea ball once it was dry. Desmond had seen him do that several times now but still looked amazed when he did it. Malik got a lot of use out of his tea like that which was good because since the Eagle War the land it used to be grown had been partially destroyed. Most of the tea had once been grown in the northern mountains, especially around Alshain and Tso Ke but Malik had ripped up a lot of the land there to make a point. It was coming back but fifty years was only one human life time. It would take more time yet for all the things Malik had broken to come back to their old strength.

He tucked the tea ball into his pack and snuffed out the fire. Then he laid down with a yawn. The sun was fairly high in the morning sky by now and after a long walk all night Malik was exhausted, Desmond even more so. Malik was still getting situated and when he looked over saw that Desmond was already asleep, the flap of his bedroll draped across his head and eyes to block out the sunlight. Malik did the same and mercifully slept without dreaming.

—

They’d arrived at dawn and in the imperfect early morning light the city was soft and backlit by a pink and yellow sunrise. Malik had not been exaggerating when he’d told Desmond Altair was a big city. It stretched to the horizon in both directions in the middle of a huge lake that was fed by the rivers from all over Eagle. Altair came into view a few hours before they were actually close enough to see it in full as a smudge in the distance before it blossomed like the flower it was with the passing of time and distance. Desmond just stopped and stared once they got closer to the shore. Osetalla was a large city in the land of Bezek and had swelled in size after the city of Bezek had been raised but it had nothing on Altair. It was truly massive and was the largest city Malik had ever heard of. Maybe the city that surrounded the grand temple of Sirius far to the east of Rigel would be bigger but there were only a handful of stars brighter in the sky than Altair. His city, by definition, was greater than others. Even before the Compass Cities had been destroyed none of them had stood up against Altair’s magnificence.

Buildings rose up from the raised and levied island like neatly coordinated boxes, each of them made of gleaming white, yellow, and pink sand stone bricks and painted in stunning murals. Some buildings coordinated their paintings and showed larger scenes that splashed across entire streets. Even at a distance you could make out some of the scenes. In the middle, barely visible at this distance beyond all the buildings, was the tip of the huge tower that sat in the middle of Altair’s temple.

He looked at Desmond and the boy was just staring open mouthed at the city. Malik chuckled. “Cmon,” he said.

“H-how do we get across,” Desmond squeaked.

“Well, normal people pay a toll and take a ferry of some sort. I really don’t like boats,” Malik said and stepped down the shore.

It took more than a simple hand wave for this. Stars, and thus Malik’s, heart of magic lay in fire. Their magic was icy so they had to keep themselves aflame to not be killed by the very nature of their freezing existence. So fire, explosions, and destruction came easily with magic because fire was, at its most basic state, something that ate, consumed, and destroyed. In opposition it meant water and liquid were much more difficult to deal with. Malik usually just didn’t deal with them because it took a few extra seconds of concentration and took a little more magic. But he really did hate boats. They always made him seasick and it was undignified for the priest of Altair to get seasick and throw up on a ferry to or from his star’s city. He much preferred to walk.

Malik drew a mark in the air, leaving a trail of shining fire light in its wake and it burst when he completed it and Malik’s boots felt a bit warm. “Desmond, c’mon,” he beckoned to the boy still on the shore. “Unless you want to take the ferry?” Desmond quickly came down to the edge of the shore. “This will make your boots hot, so don’t freak out,” Malik said and drew the same mark in the air.

Desmond still jumped a little. “What did you do?”

“You’ll see,” was all Malik said and took a step into the water. As he did the water shot away from where his boots touched. He walked into the lake and the water crawled away from where he walked creating a wall on all sides of him and a few feet around him in all directions. The wall was over his head when he looked back to check on Desmond. He could see Desmond through the wall of water and he was still standing on the shore. “Hurry up,” Malik called and laughed when Desmond started. “The magic doesn’t last forever.”

He waited just to make sure Desmond followed. He stepped tentatively into the water. Then, with greater confidence as water rose up around him strode towards Malik. Their columns of air met. “This is amazing,” Desmond said, eyes so wide they looked like the moon. “I didn’t know you could do this.”

“I did tell you names like Godkiller were my least interesting names, didn’t I?” Malik asked him and continued on towards the city. Desmond followed after.

The island was a mile and a half from the shore and as they got near it the land mass rose up in front of them like a massive wall. Desmond had his neck craned back to look up at it as they came up against the slick algae covered mass. The city soared a good two hundred feet above them. Malik put his hand against the rock and gave it a little push. The entire face shifted and with a great grinding sound Malik pulled a stairway out of the very island. The steps themselves were dry for the most part, at the very least were free of slick algae. Desmond stared at that too. Then Malik started up the stairs and Desmond followed.

At least for a little bit. Desmond got tired from the stairs fairly quickly. “Malik,” he said when Malik stopped because Desmond hadn’t anticipated how tiring the stairs would be.

“Hmm?”

“Is this… just what life is like with you? You just don’t think about doing impossible things all the time? You didn’t… really talk a lot or do this much on the way to Aquilae, which I understand and all. But is this normal with you?”

“That’s a silly question,” Malik said. “Of course it is. I use magic all the time. Going from your town to Aquilae I was— anxious. Anxiety does not mix well with magic. I thought something bad was going to go down in Aquilae; and I was right. But the danger is over now too so there’s no reason for me to feel anxious.”

“So you just do ridiculous and impossible things all the time then?”

“I have told you; I’m not just Godkiller or Firestorm or Orphaner. Before the Eagle War… it was different. You grew up after it, you can’t really understand. Now are you ready? The mark is going to wear off fairly soon and I don’t fancy getting caught in the wave.”

“Right. Of course,” Desmond got to his feet with a grunt and got to the top of the stair well without having to stop again.

A few people had gathered by the edge of the stairwell, confused as to what was happening and how a staircase had appeared when there hadn’t been one there before. Then they saw Malik and all their questions were answered in a single moment.

Unlike elsewhere in Eagle the citizens of Altair didn’t look away from Malik or steal glances or directly move away from him as quickly as possible. Here the horrors of the Eagle War were only nightmare stories happening to people far away from themselves. They weren’t afraid of Malik and in Altair his older names were still more common to hear than the ones he’d earned during the Eagle War. They nodded politely to him when he and Desmond stepped onto the street but did walk away. They weren’t drawn to his spectacle of existing for so long anymore. If he wanted them to actually be amazed by him he had to do something amazing. Some children did linger and gasped when he tapped the top stair with his foot and the entire staircase went back into the island.

“Keep up now, Altair is an easy place to get lost in,” Malik told Desmond who nodded dumbly. Desmond followed after him but was openly staring at everything around them.

The smaller buildings didn’t have grand murals like the larger ones but were still decorated with brightly colored paint of flowers or fish or animals. They complimented the fact that most of the buildings had little plots out front of either grass filled with flowers or had been turned into gardens. Most buildings also had porches and people used the space as gathering areas to see friends or watch people walk the streets. The streets themselves were neatly ordered paving stones made of white granite with sidewalks of painted limestone. Of course the paint on the sidewalk was worn away in places but it was part of a festival every year for people to paint the sidewalks in front of their homes with things they wished to forget or forgive over the year so that foot traffic and rain would erode it from both the sidewalk and their minds. The deeper they got into the city the more magnificent the murals became. Those on the edges of the city often depicted basic landscapes or animals that could be seen easily from afar but deeper in the city the buildings had people painted on them or magnificently detailed landscapes. Some buildings, trying to one up their neighbors, commissioned murals done entirely in mosaic.

Desmond kept close to Malik. Osetalla had been Desmond’s first real venture in lots of people in one place but Altair was a teeming throng of people that moved about back and forth across the streets with ease. It was also loud as merchants called out wares or animals brayed from both pulling carts and from their stock holds. Deeper in the city the streets and sidewalks were filled with people with the city guard walking amid them in their deep red livery making sure things stayed orderly. The town Desmond had grown up in had been about two hundred or so people. Altair contained several tens of thousands of people and they all had places to go and things to do and you better not get in their way.

None of them got in Malik’s way. There was about a foot air bubble around him on all sides from people keeping a respectful distance from him so they didn’t bother him. The fact that he had a tall man in full western style plate armor didn’t even factor into it.

Eventually they made it to the temple and the crowds thinned. The temple complex itself was massive and made up of several domed buildings and nine minarets. The tallest minaret was perched atop the large central building in the middle of the complex and topped with a magnificent golden star many times larger than a man. Once the temple of Altair had also served as the palace of the king that ruled over Eagle by a perceived divine right. That had been put to an end when Malik had come to Eagle. Altair had literally kicked the ‘divine king’ out of his own palace and told them it would once more be his temple and that it would be home of his priest. Malik had been mortified at the time but now knew it was just Altair showing off to Malik and hoping Malik approved. Now the king lived in another palace across the city but had since dropped saying they were ‘divine’ since Malik was around to tell them to fuck off.

If the city of Altair was an exhibition in showing off the temple complex was then on a completely other level. Every inch was covered in mosaics made of both perfectly polished tile and gemstones and what wasn’t covered in mosaic was exquisite carvings of plants and animals painted in perfect, true to life, colors. Long ago one of Altair’s first priests had been a craftsman before Altair had found them and made the entire temple himself in Altair’s honor. It, of course, had sparked the first Eagle War with his siblings being too jealous of the beautiful temple and had found their own priests to worship them and because they naturally bickered anyway they used their priests as an extension of their own infighting. That had been the last time all gods of Eagle had had priests at the same time. It had been far before Malik’s time.

Desmond looked up at the huge temple in open wonder. “What is this? Is this the palace I’ve heard about?” he asked.

“Hmm? No. This is where I live,” Malik said.

Desmond looked at him so fast he nearly gave himself whip lash. “You live here?” he demanded.

“Yes, of course. This is the temple to Altair, in his city. Of course I live here,” Malik said. “C’mon now, we can rest here a bit before we continue on to your town.”

Desmond was still in shock but followed after Malik. The great courtyard that welcomed them led up to a set of perfect pink marble stairs into the largest building. Malik walked into the building and Desmond clanged behind him in his plate armor. Inside the biggest building it was mostly empty on the inside with a huge antechamber held up by columns of ancient tree trunks brought in from the north west and painted in the colors of dusk and dawn with thick gold bands wrapped around each one. At the back of the hall was a throne that had been there since the temple had been created as a place for Altair and had been later used by the king. Now it was the backdrop of an altar where a collection of people dressed in white and gold robes where kneeling in front of, praying. Altair’s clerics.

Malik gave them only a passing notice. Honestly he wanted to lay down in his bed for a little while and eat some real food. He hadn’t been back in Altair in weeks since Bezek had come to him on his little excursion to get away from these clerics.

The clerics heard the both of them and Desmond at least knew better than to ask things even though Malik was sure the boy was bursting with questions. As they walked past finally one of the clerics tried to stop them as they tried to make it back into the temple proper. “You there, you can’t- Oh. Malik,” they said.

Malik stopped only briefly. “Did you need something?”

The cleric got to their feet. The others lifted their heads to watch. “You were gone for some time and another star… well it, how to say-

“Yes, I made Tarazed go nova. Don’t wanna talk about it.”

“O-oh! Of course. Of course,” they swallowed and nervously adjusted their high collar. Malik saw fear in their eyes. “Ah… who is this? Is this the paladin we’ve heard about?”

“Paladin?” Desmond was as confused as Malik.

“This is Desmond, my sword bearer. We’ll be staying a few days, no more, and then I am taking him home.”

“Ah. I see. Well, everything was left for you.”

“Good. We’ll talk later, I am in need of a wash.”

“Oh! Of course. How thoughtless of me, you must be exhausted from your journey here. Don’t allow me to keep you any longer,” and the cleric bowed deeply to Malik and stepped away.

Desmond followed Malik when he started walking again. “Who was that?” Desmond whispered once they were away.

“An annoyance,” Malik rolled his eyes. Desmond didn’t ask anymore. Malik showed him to a cleric’s cell he could call his own and then went to his own quarters at the back of the temple that overlooked a vast and beautiful garden. There gardeners were gently tending to the flowers there in the midmorning light.

Malik entered the apartment that had once been the rooms of a king and before that other priests. It was huge and decadent made of perfectly smooth and light pine wood and covered in elegant paintings and wall scrolling. A pair of huge windows overlooked the garden and the floor was wood so shiny Malik could see his face in it. He’d lived here for the entire time he’d been in Eagle and it had taken him years to get used to the size of just how huge it was even now. The main sitting room was as large as his childhood home and his bedroom was nearly as big. There was also a library and an office and a training room and a bath with a pool so large he could actually swim in it. Ornate and perfectly placed pieces of art dotted the walls and potted plants hung from elaborate wrought iron hooks and were filled with flowering hanging vines.

Malik went to his bedroom and removed his armor and clothing all the way down. He was covered in dirt and sweat and smelled like an armpit. At the very least he hung up the armor and left the cloth in a basket he’d leave out front his door for washing. He just wanted to wash all this disgusting road dirt off himself and maybe wash off the feeling of regret that he had stabbed Tarazed. At least Altair hadn’t asked him to stab Alshain. He wasn’t sure if he could have actually done that.

Normally you were supposed to wash your body before getting into a bath tub but Malik really didn’t give a fuck today. He walked right into it with a pleased grin. Thanks partially to magic and partially to just genius engineering the bathing pool in the priest’s apartment always circulated perfectly warm water. Running water had since spread all across Eagle and Malik loved every moment of it. So much better than back in Rigel where he’d grown up where they didn’t have running water. Malik sunk down to his eyeballs into the pool and the water around him turned grey from the dirt. The flow of water pushed it away eventually and Malik grabbed soap to wash his hair and body. He ended up sitting on a seat that lined the edge of the pool feeling relaxed and good. He did doze off a little since it was very late for him with the sun almost at its apex.

When he woke he pulled himself out of the pool and dried himself off with a hand motion. His bed beckoned him and he crawled into it and promptly fell asleep.

He woke a bit after dusk and stretched before laying heavily back down on the bed. He looked up at the ceiling and wondered why the hell he’d woken up by himself. It took him several minutes to realize that this usually happened now but it hadn’t always been like this. Time moved faster the older you got and things that seemed to have just happened had been going on for a while. It used to be when he was in the city Altair would come down and Malik would often find him having crawled into his bed during the day.

Malik pushed himself up on one elbow. “Altair,” he said. “Altair, come here.” He waited but as time stretched on Altair didn’t come. “Really?” Malik asked, looking up at the ceiling which was painted with an elaborate mural of the Eagle constellation. “I know you’re awake, come here.” Malik waited some more but still Altair didn’t come. Malik lay back in the bed, annoyed, for several minutes before his stomach demanded he get up. He rolled out of bed and got dressed in some common clothes, one shoulder and part of his arm exposed from the how large the neck of the shirt was.

Once he was dressed he left his room and went to find Desmond. He found the kid in his cell, polishing his armor. Malik knocked and opened the door to see him doing that, “Hey,” he said. “Hungry?”

“Yes!” that was a trick question. Desmond was a tall kid, big too, he was always hungry. He put his armor away and jumped to his feet, following after Malik.

Malik showed him to one of the smaller buildings in the temple complex and the cook there bowed when they saw Malik. They’d just finished dinner for those who lived during the day but had breakfast ready for them in no time of well stuffed camdari shells of fragrant fruit paste and sweet raw quail yolk on top. The camdari shells crunched when you bit into them and Desmond only ate it because Malik did. They didn’t have camdari in the west, they only lived in the lake around Altair. Here it was local fare to have stuffed camdari for breakfast since they basically kept forever and were cheap to get but tasted great.

When breakfast was over Malik said, “We aren’t going to stay long. A day or so.”

“Just a day?” Desmond asked, deflated.

“Afraid so,” Malik nodded. “I’m sure your father misses you by now and you left with only telling your neighbors.” Desmond sighed. “I’ll have one of the clerics show you around Altair at least so-

Malik didn’t even flinch at the woosh of flame that sprang up in the building. Instead he just turned and looked at Altair, then looked down. “You burned another ring in a lesser house, Altair,” he scolded him.

Altair looked down as well at the wooden floor. “Oh. My mistake,” he said and delicately took a step away from the singed floor boards.

“I called you this morning. Where were you?” Malik asked him.

“You called me?” Altair asked. “I didn’t hear you.”

“Yes. I did. Where were you?”

Altair looked very confused. Then he looked even more confused. Tarazed’s last words echoed in the back of his head as he said, “I don’t remember.” Then he shrugged. “No matter. Did you need something? I heard you say my name.”

Malik gave him a look, “I was speaking of the city.”

“Oh,” Altair frowned.

Malik slid out of his chair. “But since you’re here you might as well stay. One of your clerics is going to show Desmond around. I could use the company before we leave again.”

“Alright,” Altair nodded.

Desmond followed Malik out of the lesser house and he took Desmond to where the clerics were doing post dawn prayer. It was a simple matter of getting someone to show Desmond around the city. The head cleric looked like they wanted to speak to Malik but with Altair around they were all cowed and reserved. Malik was glad Altair was there. He really didn’t want to speak with these clerics. It was all ceremony with them. They just didn’t get it that Altair hated ceremony. He didn’t want ceremony.

Malik went back to his quarters but didn’t go into them. Instead he walked out into the garden. Altair followed him and when he found a place to sit Malik just made the grass grow thicker so he didn’t have to sit on the dirt. Malik sighed contently as he leaned back on his elbows. “Feels like we haven’t done this for some time,” he said as Altair joined him.

“Done what?” Altair asked.

“Just been here,” he laid back. Between Malik hating staying in one place for long and Altair deciding he needed to go somewhere Malik rarely just stayed in the temple. Above the stars of Eagle twinkled, the shape of the wings filled in with a thousand lesser stars and nebula. There were two stars missing now. Altair didn’t say anything to him and just lay next to him. “Are you upset with me?” Malik asked him.

“What?” Altair asked.

“Are you angry with me?” Malik looked at him.

Altair looked very confused. “No. Why would you think that?”

“You never just come see me anymore,” Malik said. “Used to be you’d just come and spend the day with me, regardless of where I’d lay my head. Or you’d walk with me in the night. Have I done something?”

“What? No!” Altair pushed himself up some. “You haven’t angered me at all. Do I come across as such?”

“The last time you spent so much time away from me you were angry at me about Deneb,” he said. “Remember when you wouldn’t kiss me for a few decades?”

Altair’s face dropped a little. “Have I been so negligent?” he asked, more than a little stricken.

“Not as much,” Malik assured him. “I just miss you.”

Altair frowned at him. “Why didn’t you say something sooner?”

“It just occurred to me that you aren’t with me all the time anymore,” he tugged a little on Altair’s deep red sleeve. “Happened so slowly I didn’t even notice. Where do you go at night?”

Altair stared at him. “Nowhere. I just…” he shrugged. “I have no good excuse for why I do not spend time with you.”

“Are you bored of me?” Malik asked.

“What! No. Never,” Altair said fiercely and to Malik’s great surprise Altair kissed him firmly. So hard it was more like smashing their faces together, pressing Malik’s nose down. Altair didn’t want Malik to get it into his head that Altair did not feel for him. It made him feel a bit better honestly. “You are mine. Only mine and I love you dearly,” Altair said, holding Malik’s face in both hands. “Do not ever think anything other than that,” he said firmly.

Malik smiled a little. “Alright,” he said. He reached up to touch Altair’s face and he kissed Malik again. This one wasn’t so fierce and was sweet and kind. When they parted he said, “I still miss you, though. We’re leaving tomorrow. I want you to come with us.”

“Us? Who’s us?”

“That boy who made my sword. I’m taking him home to his father now.”

“Ah,” Altair nodded. He was hesitant than he nodded, “Yes. I’ll do that. I’ll come with you. It has been a while,” he admitted.

“Good,” Malik said. “I missed you.”

“I’m sorry for that,” Altair said. “That was not… my intention.” Malik just nodded and smiled again when Altair kissed him.

—

The next night Malik met a very exhausted Desmond in front of the temple. He’d stayed up half the day to see Altair when more people were about and was tired from not as much rest as he was used to. He was in his full armor again, the last of the sun’s afterglow making it sort of sparkle and the eagle motifs burned the color of the sunset. Altair had gone off and said he’d rejoin the two when they left the city. He wasn’t interested in having to walk through the city if he couldn’t help it.

“You ready to go home?” he asked Desmond.

“No,” Desmond sighed. “The city is… amazing. Like nothing I’ve ever seen,” he lamented. “I wish I didn’t have to leave.”

“Heh. Yes. Though I’m sure your father will be happy to see you’ve returned home safe.”

“I suppose,” then Desmond realized something. “Where’s the sword?

“I left it in my quarters,” Malik said and started off, his talismans jingling as he walked. “I don’t have need of it now.”

“Oh… do you still think it’s evil?”

“It killed a god, Desmond. It is an evil thing. I don’t need to carry it with me everywhere.”

“I’m sorry,” Desmond said.

“It isn’t your fault. You didn’t know what it was. You couldn’t even feel its energy. There is no reason to be sorry.”

“You’re very understanding, Malik,” Desmond said.

Malik glanced up at the Eagle in the sky. “I find it better to be understanding than to act rashly or to blame people for things they have no control over. So I prefer understanding and acceptance.” Malik didn’t say that it also made it easier to not feel so guilty for the things he’d done this way. It was easy to let guilt consume you. It was harder but better to face it with understanding and acceptance. That he’d done horrible things. He didn’t let it consume him. It would have been easy to do so. There was so much blood on Malik’s hands. He decided accepting it was better way to handle it.

They made it out of Altair with only minor distractions from Desmond. Where they went Malik would sometimes hear a muttered ‘paladin’. He didn’t stop to correct them. Like before they walked along the bottom of the lake with some mark magic and ended up on the western shore.

“So, where is he?” Desmond asked Malik.

“He’ll show up. He wants us to be away from the city before that happens,” Malik said and just started walking.

“Why doesn’t Altair want to be seen? Surely if people saw him walking about so many misgivings from the Eagle War would be forgiven. At least by the people,” Desmond said. “Just so they knew he wasn’t angry with us.”

Malik looked at Desmond as they walked. “It isn’t my place to tell Altair what to do, or yours.”

“I know. But why doesn’t he?”

“He doesn’t like being seen. He’s odd like that. Bezek enjoys walking the fields so people know the harvests will be good. Altair’s not like that. He’s private.”

“Oh.”

They walked in silence but Malik still thought about what he’d said. Altair hadn’t always been that way. He’d once accompanied Malik everywhere. No one recognized him of course because he so rarely came down from the sky before. He did his best to remember the past century. When he’d first arrived in Eagle Altair had rarely been up in the sky and as the decades passed he’d spent more and more time there. Now he spent most of his time there and only rarely came down to the earth.

Around midnight when they stopped to rest and eat Altair appeared in a tower of flame. At first Malik thought it was someone else. Like Thailmain or Tseen Foo since he was dressed head to toe in black with a deep hood. Thailmain always dressed in black and indigo the rare times he came to the ground. He was the only one who didn’t care that Malik had destroyed his city. He wasn’t interested in the goings on of Eagle. “Sorry I came so late,” Altair’s voice came from the hood and that was how Malik knew it was him. Malik frowned.

“What was the issue?” Malik asked him.

“Nothing,” Altair said and joined them around the little fire, mainly to help Desmond see in the dark. Even in the light Altair looked like the void shaped like a man. There wasn’t even a drop of color or light on him and Malik had trouble seeing the top of his face.

He pulled Altair’s hood back some so he could see him better. For a second he swore Altair looked angry, pupils hissing white before it was gone. “What are you wearing?”

Altair looked down like to make sure he was dressed. “Clothes?” he asked.

Across the fire Desmond was just watching, slowly eating his meal. “You almost done, Desmond?” Malik asked him. Desmond nodded, mouth full but hands empty. “Alright. Let’s be off then,” Malik said and got up. He kicked the fire and it snuffed out, scattering apart in an instant with more force than his boot could muster. Desmond’s armor clinked as he got to his feet and picked up his things.

It was dark now without the fire, the moon only a fat wax crescent, and Altair’s form looked darker still when he stood up next to Malik. “Malik if you keep making that face it’s going to get stuck like that,” Altair said and put his hands on Malik’s face, using his thumbs to smooth out Malik’s frown and furrowed eyebrows. He hadn’t even realized he’d been frowning.

“And what if I want wrinkles?” Malik asked him but didn’t push Altair’s hands away.

Altair cocked his head to the side, “I don’t know why you’d want to look old,” he said.

Malik rolled his eyes and just started walking. Altair kept pace with him and Desmond followed behind in the darkness. “After this do you need me to go anywhere?” Malik asked him.

“No,” Altair said. “Why?”

“Because I think I will stay in the city a while. I want you to stay with me as well.”

Altair didn’t say anything for a few minutes. “Is this about last night?” he asked, at last, his voice coming out of the man shaped darkness that Malik knew too well to be afraid of.

“Yes,” Malik said and reached out to grab Altair’s hand. “I miss you.”

That eased whatever worry was in Altair’s chest because he leaned over and kissed Malik on the cheek. “Alright.”

They talked some as they walked but of nothing of import. Desmond mostly asked them questions about the city and what it was like and who lived there and how it sustained itself out in the middle of the lake. Malik answered as best he could but it wasn’t really something he knew a lot about. He was literally at the top of the pyramid as far as class was concerned. He didn’t even bother to think about how things were dealt with below him. It was classist but Malik had once been nothing from another town who didn’t appreciate him and had earned the affection of a literal god. Why the hell would he worry about how a city was supplied anymore?

As the sun started to rise Malik heard Desmond’s yawns become more frequent. Not nearly as wide as Altair’s. “You’re so dramatic,” he scolded the both of them.

“The sun is up, I'm tired,” Altair said as the stars started to dim overhead.

Malik rolled his eyes. “We're almost to a town.”

“Good, then I don't need to stay,” and before Malik could say anything Altair disappeared in a gout of fire. Malik glared at the singe mark on the ground.

“He always do that?” Desmond asked.

“What? Act like a baby about the sun? Yes,” Malik huffed. “We are almost someplace we can rest so let's get going and we can sleep in a bed tonight.”

“Okay,” Desmond said and followed Malik. “Malik, can I ask… what's it like?”

“What's what like?”

“Having the attention of a God?”

“Sometimes it's very annoying,” Malik huffed.

“You don't mean that.”

“Sometimes I do. But it's nice, I suppose. I never want for anything. Even if Altair didn't exist I'd always have what I needed because of my power. It is nice having a city to call my own.”

“I hope this isn't too intrusive but… where are you from, Malik? You don't look anything like the people of Eagle save for your darker complexion shared by us.”

“I come from a very far away place, Desmond. Out beyond the Cloud Rift where each town worships its own star and each town is part of its own chain so we looked like constellations strung across the land when you looked at a map.”

“Wow, that sounds so different,” he frowned a little. “I can't imagine a land like that,” he admitted. “It's too much. That there is a place not watched over by the Eagle and our nine gods… well, seven now I guess,” he frowned. “I know there are other gods but I was taught they were dangerous, violent, horrible things. That only because of the Cloud Rift created by the Eagle are we kept safe and secluded from them.”

Yes, Malik had been hearing that teaching slowly emerge over the past hundred years. It troubled him that it coincided with Altair becoming more and more distant from him. “They are dangerous,” Malik said. “But gods are not violent towards humans. We are too insignificant to them. They enjoy when we are violent because they are by nature and that's why we sacrifice to them. Or rather, why men do.” Women didn't have to give blood to the gods. They gave blood once a month. That was their sacrifice while men had to prove themselves that they could give blood of equal worth to them.

“Hmmm,” Desmond said and had much to think about. They finished the way to the town to Desmond's pensive silence. Malik purchased them a pair of rooms and dinner at the local inn, or rather a breakfast they ate as dinner. The innkeeper was very polite and tried not to take Malik’s money until he insisted. He took it then because good manners was well and good but you didn’t want to actually anger the priest.

After dinner Malik retired early though Desmond stayed awake to speak to the inn keeper and others who were too nervous to speak to Malik. How funny that they were more comfortable talking to a young man in full plate than they were speaking to Malik with his more light weight armor that looked more like clothes than actual armor. Malik just made himself some tea before sleep and slept deeply into the day, keeping the shutters and curtains closed tightly against the brightness of the sun outside.

When Malik slept he dreamed of the sun. The sun sat in a blue sky full of clouds. Twilight came and darkness crept across the sky but the sun remained where it was in the dark sky with the moon as company. There were no stars and it was just those two points of greater light in the sky. He watched the sun crack like a pane of glass and shatter into a thousand different little diamonds.

He woke up and the sun was setting. He blinked from his pillow and yawned widely. The dream was already slipping away. All he remembered was that he dreamed of the sun.  It was an odd dream. It wasn’t like he didn’t see the sun anymore. He yawned again and stretched his arms above him. He heard things going on below on the street and pushed himself up to lean on the sill. He pushed the shutter open and looked down onto the street. Desmond was down there in his padding he wore under his armor, dragging a man along by the scruff. There were some people gathered around the entrance of the inn speaking in hushed tones of concern.

“Oi!” Malik called out to him.

Desmond turned and looked up. “Oh, Malik. Sorry for waking you,” Desmond called back up to him.

“What’re you doing?” Malik pushed himself further out the window. The setting sun made the shadows long.

Desmond looked down at the man. He wasn’t struggling. “Local was getting out of hand. Guess you didn’t hear him. Bit too much ale.”

Malik cocked his head at Desmond. “Where you taking him?”

“Back to where he comes from,” was all Desmond said.

“Mmm.” Malik pulled himself the rest of the way out of the window and there were a few startled yelps when Malik jumped out of the window and landed lightly on the ground just under it. He made a surprising appearance still dressed for bed and having jumped out of the window. Malik gave the man in Desmond’s hand a second look. He had a beautiful shiner on the left side of his face and was unconscious. The inn keeper was there and Malik turned to him. “That true?” he asked them.

“Lester’s known to cause a ruckus,” the innkeeper nodded. “Better to just get him drunk enough so he passes out from the drink than argue with him.”

“And what happened now?”

“He was drunk, causing a scene with my maid when the young paladin came downstairs to see what was going on. He tried to peacefully get Lester to leave and… well, he didn’t right like that. There was an altercation.”

“Did that altercation involve Lester getting punched?”

“He deserved it, Malik,” Desmond said from where he was still standing in his armor padding.

Malik ignored him. “Yes. It did,” the innkeeper said.

“This happens often?”

“Yes.”

“Lester’s a drunk? Known problem?” The innkeeper hesitated. “You can tell me. I’m a priest.”

“He is a problem. Can’t keep a job, lives out in a hovel outside of town. Any money he does get he comes and spends in my inn on drink. Dunno how he gets the money. Suspect he plays a highwayman during the day. Don’t ask,” they shrugged. “He used to be a nice fellow. Just snapped a few years ago and became a drunk. Not sure why.”

Malik frowned and turned away. He walked over to Desmond and crouched in front of Lester. “Let him go,” he said.

“Malik I was protecting myself-

“I know. I’m not angry with you. Now let him go.”

Desmond frowned but obeyed. Malik caught him by the face with two hands. “Wake up,” he said. Lester woke with a start and immediately went swinging. Malik just glanced at his hand and it and his entire body froze. “Hello Lester,” he said.

“The fuck you?” Lester asked.

“My name’s Malik. I’m the priest of Eagle. I heard you’ve been causing some trouble for your town and neighbors. That true?”

“S’what?” Lester slurred a little.

Malik gave him a little tap on the cheek. “Speak right,” he said firmly. “And know who you speak to.”

Lester’s eyes cleared of alcohol. He blinked and looked up at Malik. “Priest,” he said with complete clarity.

“Yes, I am,” Malik stood up, keeping his hands on either side of Lester’s head. Lester moved to his knees, head tipped up to Malik. “Now Lester. The innkeeper has told me you’ve been very bad lately, causing trouble, robbing from people. That true?”

“N-no-

“Do not lie to me,” Malik said sweetly, his hands warming dangerously.

“… Yeah. I been robbin’,” he said.

“Well you’re going to stop. You’re going to stop drinking too. This town doesn’t need you as a problem. Whatever happened to you years ago to make you like this I am sorry for. It must have been something terrible and you surely didn’t deserve it. But this behavior is unacceptable in this town, in Bezek, and in Eagle.” He lifted one hand off Lester’s face and drew a mark on his forehead in the shape of a stylized eye. Lester’s eyes watered as it burned his skin with a warm glow. “If I see you disrupting this place again, bothering the maid in the inn, out robbing or drinking too much this will know. You think the black eye the paladin gave you hurts now? The mark will make sure you stay on the straight. Do we have an accord?”

“Y-yes priest,” he stammered.

“Good,” Malik said. “I’m glad.” Malik released his face and Lester scrambled away, touching his forehead. There was no physical mark, his forehead was totally smooth. Instead his fingers passed across the mark drawn in light. “Desmond, go back inside. We’re going to be leaving after breakfast and I don’t want to take too long.”

“Yes, Malik,” Desmond said. He still sent a dirty look at Lester before going back into the inn. The sun had finished setting by now and the world was a collection of shadows and darkness at the edges.

Malik went over to the innkeeper again. “He shouldn’t be a bother now. I do apologize for the trouble he’s caused.”

“It- it- thank you kindly, priest,” they said.

Malik just smiled a little. “Desmond and I will require a meal before we leave. I’m going to get dressed and would like it to be ready.”

“Of course!”

Malik walked past and into the inn. The rest of the early evening patrons all looked like they’d hastily returned to their seats and were doing their best to not stare at Malik. He ignored them and went upstairs to the room he’d rented. He finished getting dressed and when he came back downstairs he found Desmond still in his armor padding surrounded by people who were asking him about what Malik had done. Malik cleared his throat loudly and everyone darted away. He and Desmond found a seat and food was brought immediately.

“You do that normally?” Desmond asked him.

“When I have to,” Malik said, eating without pause.

“So you’ve done it before?”

“Mhm. It’s not Eagle magic. Not really at least. I just adapted Eagle style magic for my purposes.”

“What do you mean it’s not Eagle magic?”

“Well; it’s a curse,” Malik said candidly. “Not big on curses in Eagle. It’s more a town chain thing. My brother told me about curses. They’re not quite magic so alchemists could use them.”

“Oh… what’s an alchemist?”

“Like a cleric or paladin,” was Malik’s explanation. Desmond looked thoughtful. “That it?” he asked when Desmond didn’t ask anymore.

“Yes? Was I supposed to ask something else?”

“Most people are surprised I have a brother and ask.”

“You’ve been in Eagle a long time Malik,” Desmond said. “I’m not going to ask you about your dead brother, that seems insensitive.”

Malik chuckled. “Smart boy,” Malik agreed.

They finished their breakfast and Desmond went to go put on his armor and get his things. Malik followed suit and gathered up his pack and things. He had to wait for Desmond outside in the early evening. As he did he looked up and east a bit to see the Eagle in the sky. It looked like a crippled bird and Malik frowned. Desmond appeared before he could dwell too much. “All set?” Malik asked him.

“Yes,” Desmond nodded. “Where’s… uh, our friend?” Malik smiled a little. Desmond didn’t want to speak Altair’s name so he wouldn’t feel uncomfortable.

“He’ll join us once we leave the town,” Malik assured him. He glanced back at Eagle and saw Altair still up in the heavens. Desmond followed Malik out of the town.

“Malik,” Desmond said once they were out of the town and alone on the road. Malik grunted to show he was listening. “What was Bezek like? Before I mean?”

“I prefer not to talk about it,” Malik said.

“Right, of course. Sorry,” Desmond stammered. Then he ventured again, “Why?”

“Why what?”

“Why did you do it?”

Malik looked at him, “You will not like the answer. You sure you want it?”

“Yes,” Desmond said. “Everyone always talks about it. Even in my hometown people wonder about it. There was never an Eagle War like that one.”

“And there won’t be again,” Malik said firmly. Desmond nodded. ��I did it because Altair told me to,” he said. Desmond’s pace slowed a little but Malik didn’t wait for him. If the kid needed a moment to work through that he could do it alone. As he thought Desmond didn’t like the answer.

As they walked Altair joined them and made up to pace with Malik. “Morning,” he said in greeting. He was in deep reds today, so bruised and dark they were practically purple. There was a fine pattern in the fabric made of gold and light that draped low over part of his chest showing off his collar and left shoulder under which he wore a black and grey patterned shirt. He wore a kufi that was pitch black with little red triangles along the bottom and Malik considered that an improvement over the hood.

“You look nice this morning,” Malik said.

Altair’s pretty amber eyes brightened a little, shifting to more gold a moment, and he smiled. “You think so?”

“Yes. Very northern of you. You visiting your sister before you came or something?” He of course meant Alshain. Before the Eagle War she and Altair had been very close. It was as close to what stars could get to to twins.

“Hmm? No. I haven’t seen her in some decades,” Altair said, he didn’t even sound sad about it. The slight smile Malik wore dropped.

“Maybe we should visit her when we’re done here,” Malik said.

Altair grimaced, “Let’s not.” Malik didn’t say anything to that and eventually Desmond caught up with them again. He was still curious about things around Eagle and Malik was a perfect resource.

They walked all night and in the morning Altair left them and Malik found them another town to sleep in for the day. The next evening was less adventurous than the previous but when Malik woke up the next morning he found Desmond was gone. His things were still in the room but the armor was gone. Malik didn’t bother with his own armor and just wore more comfortable clothes to go look for him.

He found Desmond down the block helping with some sort of disagreement of some sort. He just stood there in his big armor, arms folded. No one noticed Malik approach and he looked rather unassuming outside of his own armor and lacking any signifiers that he was a priest unless you knew what he looked like. The two people in the argument were doing so over the ownership of a litter of puppies. The bitch belonged to one and the male, belonging to the other party, had gotten her pregnant on accident but the person wanted ownership of some of the puppies since they were good sheep dog stock.

Desmond listened to both of them for a few more minutes before lifting his gauntlet covered hand. They quieted immediately. “Finus has to pay for the upkeep of the puppies since Jaren is the one keeping them and making sure they’re healthy. Since he’s paying for their food and any calls to the veterinarian in the town over he gets two of them when they’re old enough to be separated from their mother.”

“That isn’t-

“Would you rather I side more with Jaren on this one?” Desmond asked him. “You could get nothing since you didn’t control your dog and if anything you should have to pay for them anyway for inconveniencing Jaren so much getting his best dog pregnant during the busy season for him and good sheep dogs are not cheap to buy or breed. Now you can take the offer or fuck off. Makes no difference to me,” Desmond said firmly.

Finus looked at Jaren, frowned, and muddled it over. “Fine,” he huffed. He extended a hand.

“Knew we could have an understanding,” Jaren said and shook it firmly. “I’ll send you any bills.” Finus grimaced but didn’t disagree. The two men walked off.

“That was interesting,” Malik said and Desmond, bulky armor and all, jumped and spun towards Malik. “What was that about?”

“They were arguing in the street and someone came inside and got me. Said it wasn’t important enough to bother a priest over but a paladin could weigh in.” Then, suddenly shy, he said, “I don’t think I’m one of those really.”

“Altair isn’t… really a paladin sort of star,” Malik said apologetically. “He has clerics but he isn’t really into the whole organized religion thing. He enjoys worship but on a more personal basis.”

“I figured that since he’s so secluded. But I… well I wasn’t going to say no when people needed some help before the argument grew into an actual fight.”

“Of course,” Malik said nicely. “You did good,” he patted Desmond’s big shoulder. “Let’s go get some breakfast and get out of here. Hmm?” Desmond nodded and followed Malik back to the inn. They ate, Malik changed into his armor, and they left the town. That night Altair came in deep pinks and indigo in a southern style of loose and billowing clothes that covered every inch of skin including the top of his head with a loose hood held in place with a gleaming headband across his forehead made of starlight.

They found a new town before morning came. “I should-

“Stay, please,” Malik said when Altair acted like he was going to leave already. “It’s dark yet, you aren’t even tired.”

Altair pulled a face but nodded. Despite being so early some things were open already and people were moving to go about this business and start their work for the day. Malik felt a little bad waking the inn keeper so early. If you could call it an inn really. There wasn’t even a tavern attached. It was literally just the biggest building in the town and rented out spare rooms to tired travelers. He had Desmond get the rooms since he knew Altair would draw attention. This far west and north no one wore loose southern clothing and most wore three quarter sleeves with shirts that buttoned along the side of the chest. Left for women, right for men. They were closer to Desmond’s home town now and would arrive at it in another night or so. This town marked where the river ended in a large, deep, lake. Not as big as the lake surrounding the city of Altair, but it was plenty big.

Desmond came back, his face rosy and flustered from something or another. “Everything go alright?” he asked Desmond.

“Huh? Oh, yeah, went fine,” Desmond nodded. “My accent surprised them, that’s all.”

“Why would it? You’re from Bezek,” Malik said, confused. Desmond grimaced and glanced at Altair who wasn’t paying him any mind. “Oh,” Malik said knowingly with a nod. They hadn’t expected a ‘paladin’ to sound like one of their own.

“They were really nice,” Desmond continued. “Surprised we were stopping here when there’s a city so close. Just round the lake bend she said.”

“Because this lazy one here doesn’t walk in the daylight,” Malik said. Desmond’s eyes got huge when Malik roughly grabbed Altair under his chin by both cheeks with one hand and gave his head a soft shake.

“Ah! Malik,” Altair huffed, yanking his face out of Malik’s hold. “You’re so rude.”

“You’ll forgive me,” was all Malik said.

“And I can’t help I have trouble staying awake in the light. I’ve literally had that sleep cycle for tens of thousands of years,” he rolled his eyes. “You thought becoming nocturnal was difficult,” he scoffed.

“C’mon, Desmond got us a place to sleep.” Altair ‘hmmd’ and followed after him. There was no one in sight when they walked to a side door and were greeted by a short hallway with doors.

Desmond showed them to one, gave Malik the key and he opened it. “I uh… only got two rooms.”

“That’s fine,” Malik said. Altair gave a noise of protest when Malik shoved him into the room and closed the door with a solid click. Malik held the door knob even as he felt Altair try to turn it. “You didn’t give them all my cash did you?”

“No,” Desmond said. “They gave me a deal,” he flushed, “Since I’m from Bezek. I didn’t have the heart to tell them that that I’m from the north side of the river.” That made Malik chuckle.

“This is a strange river,” Malik agreed. It made the border between Bezek and Tseen Foo and was often both the provinces and neither of them. Most other provinces had less easily distinguished borders but the divide in their people was greater. Where Bezek and Tseen Foo met the border divide was very clear cut but the people were nearly identical. Malik held his hand out palm up. Desmond dropped his change into it. Unlike back where he’d been born where the coins were round the coins in Eagle were all different shapes so you could tell what you held by feel alone in your pocket. “And it was just that they thought you were from Bezek?”

Desmond grimaced, knowing he’d been caught in the lie, and in a low tone said, “They said they’d feel bad if they charged a paladin full price. I… didn’t tell them otherwise.”

“I’m glad you were truthful with me.”

“I don’t like lying but—“ he looked at the door. Altair had given up trying to open the door and had gone off to investigate the room. “They’re just stories you know.” He shrugged. “I’m gonna settle in. The owner said we were welcome to join them for breakfast down in the dining room in an hour.”

“We’ll be there,” Malik said. Desmond nodded and awkwardly retreated to his room next door. Malik opened the door to Altair lounging on the bed, entertaining himself with magic, bored already. “I left you alone for less than five minutes,” Malik huffed.

“Felt like forever,” Altair said.

Malik went over to the bed and took a knee on it. “You’re one to talk when you spend so much time away from me.”

“I do?” Altair seemed confused. His brows drew down over his eyes. “Do I?” he asked Malik.

Something is wrong with him. Malik couldn’t help but think Tarazed’s madness filled last words. “No,” he lied. “I just am needy is all,” Malik leaned down and kissed him. Despite not being cold yet it still warmed him from the inside out like Malik had just taken a shot of strong alcohol that didn’t burn his throat. “Breakfast is in an hour, I’m going to take a bath.”

“Is that an open invitation or are you just telling me?” Altair asked, eyeing him.

“I dunno. Have you been ignoring me or not?” Malik asked and left him there. Malik went to the bathroom down the hall and drew himself a bath of cold water, turning it hot with a bit of simple magic. He was soaking in the water when the door opened a little and a pair of amber eyes peered in through the crack. Malik acted like he didn’t see him. He looked up, not moving his head when a pair of arms came around his shoulders and down the front of his chest. Altair’s long sleeves pooled in the water turning dark in the water, the dark color running up his arms turning the sunset pink almost the color of blood.

“Malik, you know I love you, right?” Altair said.

When you feel like it, Malik thought but didn’t dare say it. “Yes,” Malik said.

“Good,” Altair said moving his hands down Malik’s torso. For a split second his hands were unkind, the perfectly manicured nails digging into his stomach. It was so brief Malik was sure he’d imagined it because Altair nuzzled his neck and pressed a kiss against his jaw. Altair eventually joined him in the tub.

They were in there until there was a knock on the door. “Malik? You in there?” Desmond called.

“Yes, what is it?” he called back.

“‘Breakfast is ready.”

“Mmm. Be down in a moment,” Malik said and heard Desmond walk away. “You going to join us for breakfast sleepy head?” he teased Altair who was already dozing against his chest.

“If it means I have to get up from here, no,” Altair said, as cranky as a child.

Malik chuckled. “Well I’m hungry. So get up, I want to go have dinner.” He pushed Altair off him despite him complaining and whining. Malik wasn’t impressed by that and got out of the bath. He snapped his fingers and dried the water off his body and ran a hand through his hair to give a bit more attention to drying it so it didn’t get all frizzy and puffy. He gathered up his clothes, pulling on the long undershirt and left the bathroom back to his room. He dressed casually and went downstairs to the dining room where Desmond was already there with the tired from waking so early in the morning family of the boarding house owner. He sat down next to Desmond.

“He’s not joining us?” Desmond asked him.

“No. You know how moody he gets in the morning,” Malik rolled his eyes a little.

“I guess,” Desmond grinned a little. The table was fairly quiet for breakfast. The children of the owner stared at Malik and Desmond the entire time but had probably been told very sternly to not ask questions or bother the priest and ‘paladin’ during breakfast. Malik was just happy to have some quiet honestly.

Towards the end of the meal the teenage daughter looked towards the door and her eyes got wide. She dropped her fork with a clatter on the plate, mouth falling open. Malik looked where she was staring. “Oh my!” the lady of the house cried.

“Really?” Malik asked Altair, unamused. Altair was standing in the doorway, naked as could be, too lazy to even have magicked himself dry and simply was allowing his natural heat to evaporate the water from his skin. It caused his body to steam a little.

“What?”

“Put on some damn clothes, Altair!”

Altair looked down at his nakedness. “Oh. Knew I forgot something. Ah well,” he didn’t do it anyway. The man had covered his daughter’s eyes by now. Not that Malik exactly blamed her. Altair was a perfect male specimen.

“Altair, put on some clothes before you make everyone uncomfortable.”

“So?” he asked. “I’m Altair, I can do whatever I want. Besides, this is probably the most exciting thing that’s happened here in a while,” he said with an infuriating smirk.

Before Malik could do anything Desmond got up from the table. He grabbed the edge of the table cloth and Malik was actually impressed when with a sharp yank he pulled the cloth out from under all the tableware without disturbing a single glass. He walked over to Altair and wrapped it around his waist. “Your holiness, it’s improper for young people to see a man like this.”

“Well, luckily for them I’m not really a man,” Altair said. Then he realized what had just happened and gave Desmond a scrutinized, puzzled, look.

Malik had his face in his hand at this point. He sighed and pulled it away and down his face. “I apologize,” he said. “I assure you he’s usually much more… grand than this juvenile behavior.”

“That- that’s-“ they finally seemed to get it. The lady promptly fainted and Malik caught her.

“Desmond, be a good lad and take him out of here, please,” Malik said.

“Malik I don’t-

“Just figure it out,” Malik groaned.

“Uh—“ Desmond swallowed. “If you could stop inconveniencing your priest that’d be great. We just wanted dinner.”

“Whatever,” Altair said and walked out of the room. Desmond glanced at Malik before following after Altair nervously.

Malik still had his arms full of the lady of the house. “I really apologize,” he said sincerely to the man.

“That was really him?”

“That really was Altair, head god of Eagle, yes,” Malik said. “Oh for fuck’s sake,” Malik groaned when he fainted too. “And what about you three? You going to faint too?” he asked the children. There were two teenagers, a boy and girl a few years apart in age, and a younger boy.

The little boy shook his head, not quite knowing how to react to two fainted parents but looked about to cry because he didn’t know what to do. “He doesn’t always walk around without clothes on?” the girl asked.

“No.”

“Too bad,” she said. That surprised Malik so much he almost let go of her mother when he laughed.

“And you?” he asked the teenage boy.

“I think I like men now.”

“He has that effect, yes,” Malik couldn’t help but agree. He hadn’t really liked men before Altair either. “Why don’t you help me get your folks somewhere comfortable hmm?” He nodded and got up to help Malik. Once both parents had been placed somewhere comfortable Malik left the children to deal with them. He just said they’d be staying the day and leaving at sunset and not to worry about dinner.

Malik found Altair already passed out on his bed still wearing the tablecloth and Desmond had obviously retreated to his own room by now. Malik went over to the bed and got in but didn’t lay down. Instead he grabbed Altair’s face in both hands and played with his cheeks until he woke up. Which he did with an annoyed whining sound.

“What?” Altair whined, batting at Malik a little.

“You are so annoying,” Malik said.

Altair opened one eye. “I should smite you for that.”

“No you won’t,” Malik gave him a look. “Why did you do that downstairs?”

“Because I could,” Altair finally pushed Malik’s hands away. “Now come to bed. I’m tired,” he yawned widely.

“Why must you be so difficult, Altair?”

“I’m not. I just don’t care. There’s a difference,” Altair grumbled and snuggled back into the pillow. Malik huffed at him and took off some of his clothes. He joined Altair in the bed and Altair snuggled against him.

“You made that young man gay you know,” he said idly.

“Wouldn’t be the first young man I’ve done that to,” Altair said, eyes half open. Malik felt himself flush. No it wouldn’t be since he’d done the same thing to Malik. Jerk. “Now shush, the sun is well up and it’s late. Go to sleep,” he put a finger gently on Malik’s lips. Malik rolled his eyes and wasn’t surprised when Altair fell asleep immediately. Malik fell asleep shortly after.

At sunset they set out. They probably wouldn’t reach Desmond’s home that day but definitely the next. Desmond didn’t seem pleased about it. No, Malik supposed not. When he got home it’d be the end of his adventure.

When they stopped for the midnight meal Altair didn't join them by the fire right away. Instead he stood out in the darkness looking up but at nothing Malik could see. Malik started a pot of tea while Desmond went off to find a rabbit burrow or something because he was tired of cold food during the midnight meal. Altair came back before Desmond and sat next to Malik, leaning against him while Malik waited for his tea to steep and was rummaging in his pack for his rations.

When Desmond came back with a rabbit Altair sat up and watched him. He had a strange look in his amber eyes. Desmond took off some of his armor, mainly the chest plate and the gauntlets before skinning and gutting the animal. Then he looked around for a stick before Malik just used a bit of magic to make it slowly spin in place above the fire to cook. “Good job,” Malik said.

Desmond shrugged, “Was tired of jerky and hardtack,” he said.

“Heh, yeah,” Malik agreed.

“Where did you get that armor?” Altair asked him suddenly.

“Hmm? My father made it. It's his finest work. Really pulled out all the stops for it,” Desmond said proudly.

“Not the sword I had him make?”

“... He didn't make it. I made it. He didn't know how to work the metal but I did.”

“So that's why it took so long,” Altair said. He was still staring at Desmond and the kid was starting to fidget from the scrutiny. “So you stole your father's prized armor and went with Malik to Aquilae. Doesn't sound like the thing a good son does.”

“Altair,” Malik scolded him.

“No, it's okay,” Desmond said. “But well… this is my armor. My father made it for me. I figured if I was going to go on an adventure with Altair's priest out into the dark of night I should be dressed for it.” He patted the pieces on the ground and it clattered a little.

“Why'd your father make you something you'd never actually wear? Especially shaped like that?” Altair asked. Malik was confused by that.

“They were my favorite story growing up,” Desmond said shyly. “He made it when I was thirteen, supposedly for ‘when I was older’ but there's no use for this armor.”

“What story?” Malik asked.

“You don't know?” Desmond asked.

“I'm a transplant here. I don't know all the songs and stories of Eagle there are,” Malik said. “Just as you wouldn't if you went to live in the town chains for years.”

“It’s in the style of paladin armor. A very, very, long time ago, back when Eagle Wars were a bit more common there were a group of people in Eagle,” Altair said. “They were known as the Convocation.”

“I swear you people take your bird shit too seriously,” Malik huffed.

Altair gave him a stern look. “This is new to you?”

“Oh stars no,” Malik said. “I'm just saying is all. I don’t really know a lot about the paladins. The clerics speak of them sometimes but I always got the feeling it wasn’t something they wished to talk about.”

“They were knights,” Desmond said. “And star champions. Not like priests are though. They weren't chosen by the stars. But they satisfied their—” he realized what he'd been about to say and who was sitting across from him at the fire.

“You can say it. The Convocation satisfied our vanity,” Altair said. “None of us were under any impressions that they didn't start off as a means to stroke our egos to improve things in Eagle or gain favors.”

“Oh… well, with them around there weren't as many Eagle Wars because they fought each other instead. Sometimes they killed each other and it was entertaining. They also tried to make Eagle a better place. They fell out of favor a few hundred years ago but we still talk about them all the time in Tseen Foo since there was a very famous one from there, legendary even. His name was Rami and they say he could walk on water and planted ten thousand pine trees that make up the Green Trim. He was a great warrior and fought in a lot of mock wars for Tseen Foo. He never lost a single fight. Well except one,” Desmond frowned a little. “But all the provinces have paladin stories. There were a lot.”

“Any for you?” Malik asked Altair.

“For my entertainment? Yes.” Altair was practically dismissive of them. “I had a hundred. They weren't like clerics or alchemists. They didn't pretend to know the stars. They knew what we were and appeased us the way we wanted.”

“So why did your father make you armor you'd never wear if paladins are all gone?” Malik asked Desmond.

He was more than a little flustered about the question. “I just… Rami is an old hero but people still tell his stories. I liked his stories. I always said when I was a grown up I wanted to be like Rami. That's obviously impossible since the paladins are all gone but I was too little to understand that. My father made this anyway to show off and as a present, though he never intended me to wear it. It's supposed to look like Rami’s armor from the stories.” He looked at Altair but Altair didn't say anything.

“That… is such a strange thing to me,” Malik said. “And nice that your father would encourage your interests. Mine didn't understand mine.”

“No?” Desmond asked, seemingly anything to not talk about himself anymore.

“He was a potter. It was a big thing in my home town. It sat near a huge clay deposit that made very fine ceramic. I don't have very artistic hands. They hold a sword better than work a wheel. Doesn't matter now,” he shrugged. “Now let's have that rabbit. Smells good. Looks done.”

“Oh, yeah sure,” Desmond said and Malik deposited the rabbit down somewhere where Desmond could cut it better.

Between the two of them they ate it without hassle. Altair just leaned against Malik, watching Desmond the entire time. It made Desmond uncomfortable and shy away from Altair's eyes. He didn't say anything, he just looked at Desmond. When they finished Malik rerolled his tea ball and they picked up their camp. Desmond put on his armor awkwardly and Malik pushed Altair off him so he could get his things together. They got up and Desmond followed after Malik.

They stopped for the day along the river but not at a town. Altair was complaining too much about the amount of people so it was probably for the best. They ate dinner but before they'd finished Altair was already curled up next to Malik. Malik got him to wake up long enough to crawl into the same bedroll as him (Malik had specifically brought a larger than normal one this trip in case of this very reason) and Altair tucked himself under Malik's arm.

When Malik woke the next evening the sun had already set but Altair was gone. He woke up and saw both he and Desmond were already awake. Altair was standing, facing the afterglow of the sun in his red and orange thobe. Desmond was sitting at the fresh fire warming water for tea. He looked visibly upset and upon closer inspection Malik saw he was shaking.

Malik climbed out of his bedroll and went over to the young man. “Hey, everything alright?” he asked.

That made Desmond jump. “Huh?”

“You look upset. Are you okay?”

Desmond looked at him, then at Altair who was further away from them, back facing them. His silhouette cast a long shadow across their camp. Desmond leaned over to him to tell him softly, “He's mean, you know.”

Malik scowled. “What did he say?”

“Why the paladins fell out,” Desmond said. “They… they had too much hubris and thought they were too close to the gods. And they didn't fall out of favor. They just killed each other out of vanity.” He cast his eyes down. What a thing to hear about people who were looked up to as heroes. Especially Desmond who had such hero worship for his provinces paladin, Rami. “He said I should remember that before I go around pretending.”

“He did now?” Malik asked him, angry. He couldn't believe Altair! Desmond, like most people, loved Altair, despite what he'd had Malik do to their country. Despite the last Eagle War Altair was still the most worshiped, the god who received the most gifts, the one who was most loved. And he'd just said such horrible things to a boy who loved him.

Malik got up, patting Desmond on the knee as he went. He went over to Altair and grabbed his hand. “Good morning,” he said pleasantly. “It's a lovely sunset.”

“It is,” Altair said and looked at him. “You are more so.”

Malik wasn't going to let him get away with being cute after being an asshole. He did appreciate the cuteness though. “Yes, I am. Will you walk with me?”

“Of course,” Altair said. They walked towards where the sun had set.

Malik didn't say anything until they were well out of Desmond’s earshot. Then he stopped and turned Altair to face him. “What is the matter with you?” he demanded.

“What?” Altair seemed genuinely surprised.

“Why did you say those things to Desmond? You didn't have to be cruel to him.”

“I just told him the truth of things-

“Don't you know it is always a bad idea to tell mortals the truth of things?” Malik asked him harshly. Like when he’d told Desmond about why he’d destroyed the compass cities. Altair tried to pull his hand out of Malik's grip but Malik wouldn't let him. “Desmond is one of yours,” he went on. “He loves you Altair, you are his star. More so than Tseen Foo.”

“He acts like something he isn't,” Altair growled back.

“He's a boy, Altair. A boy traveling with a god and his priest like something out of old stories told in Alshain and Aquilae.” He tugged on Altair's hand roughly when Altair looked away, trying to get out of the blame. “Desmond has never called himself a paladin. Only everyone else has. He knows he isn't one. This is an adventure to him. You need not be so cruel to tell him how his heroes died or make yourself look like such a villain.”

“Even when I am?”

That made Malik angry. “You are not! You are the head god of Eagle. You are the furthest thing from the villain. You don't need to act like you are!”

“Why do you care so much, Malik? He's a stranger.”

Malik looked at Altair, shocked he’d say such a thing. His shock gave way to hopelessness. “Because that's what made you chose me in the first place. Because I cared for a stranger who fell out of the sky without any clothes and didn't even know his name. You chose me because I show compassion even to those I do not know.” He released Altair's hand. “If you speak like this than it is you who is a stranger to me, Altair, not Desmond.” He walked away from Altair and Altair did not follow him. His chest hurt, heart feeling heavy. When had Altair become so horrible and neglectful of everyone? He squeezed his eyes shut for a moment as Tarazed’s warning echoed in his mind. Something was wrong with him. And just what was Malik supposed to do about it?

—

They arrived at Desmond's home town just before sunrise. A few of the fisherman, always early risers, saw them first and rushed over. They spoke to Desmond with wonder and pride and told him his father was angry and worried he'd left. Malik figured as much would be true.

The smithy was on the other side of the town and had a water wheel attached in order to work the great billows without too much labor. Along the way they were stopped seemingly every ten feet by someone of the town. It was like they knew Desmond had come home and they had all heard the rumors of a so called paladin. A paladin come again, and from their town no less! They were very excited and eager to ask Desmond about where he'd been and what he'd been doing. It usually took a minute or so for them to look past Desmond's mirrored breast plate to Malik standing just behind him in his lacquered armor, ochre cape over one shoulder. And then their eyes would travel to Altair standing next to him dressed splendidly in clothes Tseen Foo lumberjacks wore of reds and greens and heavy boots with spikes in the toe to help them climb the great conifers of the North West, the clothes more finely made than any they’d seen before. They usually stopped their talk then and humbly moved along, eyes down and bowed respectfully to Altair and his priest. It still took them well past sunrise to make it across the small town. Malik quite enjoyed himself and Desmond just humbly tried to explain that he wasn't a paladin and there wasn't need for this sort of fuss. It didn't help.

Finally they arrived at the smithy. Malik could tell Altair was annoyed he was being kept up so late but Malik saw he was also staying on purpose to prove Malik wrong about what he'd said the other night. Malik appreciated his stubbornness.

Desmond pulled a set of well made keys out of his bag and unlocked the building. “I don't know if you want to come in-

“Yes, of course. So I can tell your father what a fine young man he has,” Malik said. Desmond smiled uneasily. He opened the door to the shop.

“He's probably still asleep. He never wakes up early anymore,” Desmond said and went behind the counter. Altair walked around the shop, looking at everything and admiring the work, as if to assure himself that it was good that he'd selected Desmond's family to make that evil sword. Desmond took off some of his armor and set it on the counter. “Uhm… I could get us some tea while we wait for him to wake up if you wanted.”

“I think that would be a fine idea. And Altair can nap,” he smirked when Altair gave him a dirty look.

“Alright I'll go start some you can come through the back-

The door opened. “What's all this racket? Can't you see we ain't open?” Desmond father, William, asked. Malik could tell he was very hung over; maybe even still drunk from the night before. He hardly noticed Malik and Altair and just saw Desmond. “You! You got a lot of nerve coming back here you little thief,” he snarled at Desmond. Malik's hand drifted to down to his dagger at his waist. “Leave without warning, took the priest sword and the armor. Look at cha. Pretending like always. Get inside. Now.”

“Dad I was-

“You back talking me?” William practically yelled.

“No, dad, I was just-

“In the house. Now. I'll deal with you in private. And you,” he waved a drunken finger at both Malik and Altair accusingly. “Get off my property before I call the guard. We ain't open!”

The door slammed shut once Desmond had passed over the threshold. Malik looked at Altair who looked back. “Charming,” Malik said. Altair scoffed.

They waited a minute, just to see if Desmond would tell his father they were there and the door would be opened with an apology. Instead they heard William yelling at Desmond. What exactly was lost through the wall and distance but the intent was clear. William was furious and sounded violent. Malik looked at Altair and he was staring at the door and his eyes slowly turned searing yellow white in anger. Malik took his hand off his dagger. This would be interesting. Malik was looking forward to it honestly.

Altair went over to the door. It was locked but Altair just blew it open with a bit of magic and it crashed against the opposite side of the wall. Malik followed after him and it wasn’t hard to find the father and son. William was not a small man, even taller than Desmond and twice as wide thanks to working in the smithy his entire life. He had Desmond in a painful looking headlock while he yelled at him. He stopped when he saw Altair. “I told you to get out. You aren’t allowed on my private prop-

Altair had had quite enough of this. Malik folded his arms to enjoy what was going on when Altair used a little magic to lift William up off the ground like Altair had his hand around his throat. Desmond was released and he dropped to his knees, gasping as he could finally breathe normally. Altair’s pretty human form melted away as he walked over to William and was replaced by something vaguely human shaped made of fire and left charred footprints on the wooden floor. “How dare you,” Altair’s voice sounded like a roaring fire. “How dare you speak to my paladin like this. How dare you lay your filthy mortal hands on the boy who made my priest’s sword when you and your father failed for fifty years. You must think very highly of yourself when you and your father failed me so much when I blessed you with the privilege to forge a legendary weapon. Then to treat the boy who did what you could not as you do. How dare you have so much hubris. I should burn out your eyes for this. I should turn you to char for your failure. I should leave you for sky burial in Tso Ke.

Malik went over to Desmond and helped him up while Altair lectured his father. Desmond stared, wide eyed at Altair’s fiery star form. Altair looked over at the both of them. “Are you alright, Desmond?” he asked him.

“Ah— yes, you’re holiness,” Desmond stammered. “He didn’t harm me.”

Altair’s white eyes narrowed and he looked back up at William who was struggling against an invisible hand around his throat that was burning the shape of fingers into his flesh like a brand. He dropped William and the big man crashed onto the ground, gasping and crying from the pain of having the skin of his throat burned and charred. “You don’t deserve the things you’ve been given in blessing. May you forever have misfortune knowing you pissed off Altair of Eagle you pathetic, mortal, waste,” Altair said. Then he looked at Malik and that was all the acknowledgement Malik needed. He pushed Desmond away from the man towards where the bedrooms were.

“Malik-

“Get the rest of your things,” Malik said.

“What? I thought Altair didn’t like me?”

“He’s a fickle thing. Now go along. We’ll be going back to Altair now.”

Desmond was in shock but did obey. Malik looked back at Altair where he was standing over William who was moaning in pain of his burned throat. He was still in his flame form, crackling gentle in the still air. Desmond didn’t have a lot and came back with a bag. He was staring at the image of Altair standing over his father and Malik had to push him along to the exit. Malik picked up Desmond’s other bag, shoving the gauntlets into it so he could keep Desmond moving out. Altair followed eventually.

“You didn’t kill him, did you?” Malik asked in his native tongue so Desmond couldn’t understand them.

“No,” Altair said in the same tongue, layered with the sound of flame. “Not that I did not consider it for how he disgusts me.”

Desmond was very much lost and confused and didn’t know what was going on. “What?” he asked.

“Let’s find somewhere to spend the day,” Malik said in a way Desmond could understand. “I’m tired.”

“Are we really going back to Altair?” Desmond asked.

“Yes,” Malik said. “I’m sure the clerics will be thrilled.” Desmond looked very concerned. Malik just acted like nothing had happened. As far as he was concerned Desmond was an orphan like so many orphans Malik had made fifty years ago. Malik had made many friends with orphans and personally helped build orphanages in places after he’d ruined the cities so there would be a slightly lesser amount of unhappiness in the world after he’d burned it to the ground. “Now where is a good place to stay in this town, Desmond? An inn?”

“Y-yes. There’s an inn,” Desmond said.

“Well lead the way,” Malik motioned. Desmond nodded mutely and walked off, still stupefied. Malik looked at Altair who was still all fire. “I’m glad you’re not really a stranger, Altair,” he told him and leaned over, kissing his flaming lips. They didn’t burn Malik. During it Altair shed his fiery form for one of flesh and blood. He smiled at Altair held his hand before following after Desmond to where they could get some food and shut eye.

If you read and/or enjoy this fanfic a reblog would be very appreciated so other people can learn about this fic as well.

[captusmomentum]

AMD: Midnight Paranoia Club Part 1

Decided to make an executive choice given the way I think/write, in general and re: A Mirror Darkly. Since I come up w/ things wildly out of order I’m going to write and post those as they come then take the scenes I have and hammer them into chapters as I complete the needed content then post those in order. I figure that’ll keep things fresh enough. 

So starting that off with much longer than anticipated scene from Uthvir’s perspective! like seriously I’m still technically writing it and it’s WAY long than I’d thought and not even done like YIKES.

prayer circle I didn’t fuck up Uthvir wildly

Tace and Inanallas are mine, Thenvunin (mentioned) and Uthvir are @feynites!

Aprox place in AMD timeline: post-expedition to the Temple of Andruil (working title) where Uthvir was rescued from statis and Inanallas fucked up on a cosmic level. A solid amount of time past the start of the fic.

PART 2 HERE

The temple had been fire and blood but it had been real fire and real blood—real wind on their face and blissfully cold solid armor on their body as they’d finally, finally moved after millennia. Those first moments of consciousness were an unholy barrage of sensory overload as they came screeching back into existence. Fear crashing back into them with all the force of a tidal wave on the ship of a ship. It had become so much More and they had not been of one mind for so long they thought they would break in pieces from the strain of it all.

They’d attacked wildly the first thing they saw, Fear’s howling wasn’t what started it but certainly made it more visceral, necessary. They don’t remember seeing much past wide, terrified eyes in a pale marked face before they lunged. It had not been a hard fight, they didn’t know if that was because the other was pathetic or unwilling, knowing their victim now they’d say it was a little of column A and a little of column B.  

Their first clear thought came when Thenvunin bore down on them. He was instantly recognizable, long hair shining in the midday sun, handsome face contorted in an expression of outrage and determination, a sight they had seen many times on many a varied field of confrontation. It takes a few moments after that for them to finally hear him, like they’ve been too close to an explosion and their senses were only then recovering.

They do not know what to make of the rest of everything now that that’s all done. Past that it’s a shit show. They are happy that the Evanuris are all trapped in some pit somewhere but it seems like the rest of the world, as usual, has been irrevocably fucked because of them. Still, post apocalyptic nightmare or no, they can move and talk and eat and do whatever they want and go wherever they want so it’s heavenly to them.

They’ve been given a meager apartment of their own near Thenvunin’s own equally unimpressive apartment, a fact that is not lost on them. They do not mind it too much, they were not close with any of their peers in truth and even fewer of them can they even pretend to tolerate now, Thenvunin at least was a well known entity, familiar and easily handled. It was better than Curiosity who would use the closeness to wheedle into their life and pluck out what information she could or being completely surrounded by the unknown. Still Thenvunin could be tiring to say the least.

The taller man did not question them too much once it became clear that the answers would be hard won and deeply horrifying. He was too inelegant in such conversation to navigate those kinds of treacherous waters to attempt generally and Uthvir was deeply happy for it. They did not want to talk about it. They did not mind for the most part coming over to Thenvunin’s, there was not much for them to do at the moment past acclimate to the new era, which was anything from dull to so overwhelming they and Fear would be worked up into such a state they would not leave the apartment for days, instead pacing its length fully armored.

They were personally not bothered by the size of their own lodgings, they had had nothing grand in Elvhenan nor had cared to, but it was a massive step down for Thenvunin they knew. If it troubled him greatly he hid it well, past the complaints about the lack of garden for the birds, it was finely decorated as expected from him and there seemed to be enough ridiculous trends to keep him partially occupied. But they did not miss the looks he shot them, the way he treated them like glass or a wounded animal, the concern and sympathy.

They chafed under it, knowing that when they saw him they also risked that hovering worry was sometimes too much for them to tolerate. So then they walked. They had routes, the ones they’d learned while first being settled into this place. They did not deviate from their routes, Fear had too many good points on the dangers of deviation from the path for them to even consider it. It was too early for that, every time they stepped out into this hellhole was a victory at this point, better not to rush.

Tonight was one of those nights, They could not bear their apartment, could not bear Thenvunin and couldn’t find any way to settle— so they walked. Tonight they walked to a convenience store not too far away to pick up some dinner. The last vestiges of twilight clung to the sky, their nerves were already skyrocketing to near crazed from the encroaching darkness. It had been made expressly clear to them that armor was no longer acceptable dress and wearing it would gain unwanted attention and possible interaction with the law, They wanted neither so here they were, in the flimsy clothes these creatures wore, made even worse by the fact is was summer and Antiva City had the gall to be actually hot, wanting to scream at the vulnerability, shove all the passersby aside and find the nearest defendable spot to hide in.

They did not do any of that, instead they counted breaths, chewed at their lip and dug their claws into their palms as they went. They moved even faster then their already brusk pace had been once the convenience store was in sight, anything was better than being out in the open. The light inside was that sickly yellow these sorts of places seemed to have, the majority of the interior was obscured by rows upon rows what these people called food. They walked in and began to weave through the store, weighing choices as they made their way to the premade meals in the chilled section.

It was when they came nearer to the alcohol section, a set of glass doors perpendicular to the wall of open shelving they’d been aiming for, they recognized two figures. The diminutive form of the elf they’d bloodied at the temple and the odd emaciated shemlan who was constantly covered in bruises caused by an unseen hand. It was hard to tell if they were planning to make a night of it or just popping out to get something since the elf, Inan—Inan’len? Inan’Bel? Inanbel’len? Eyes-something who cares— was dressed in intensely baggy and patterned pants and what seemed to be a very fancy bathrobe while their companion was dressed casually but in a much more cohesive manner which could have been what was considered fashion now or just knowing how to put on a shirt and pants. They hate to at admit it but coming across familiar faces makes them almost instantly more relaxed.

As if to live up to their name Inan-whatever notices them first and triple takes up at them from their squatting position, the other one’s attention is drawn by what could best be described as the intense spasm of the head and neck their friend just did, spots Uthvir and grins. He leans on the door to the alcohol display languidly as he turns to better face them.

“Hey Spikey, crazy seeing you here.”

They grunt. They’re still not as good as they want with the language but they gather his meaning well enough from tone at least. The other one gets up with impressively little grace, and they’re given their first good chance to look at them without two black eyes. The younger elf’s face is still somewhat discolored from the beating they’d given it, they’re surprised by that for a split second, but remember that healing magic is practically useless here and they are very, very pale— marks stay in skin like that for months sometimes years— it does not mean they’re still injured, specially since there is no more swelling. It does certainly add to their look of a haggard waif though, that seems to be what they go for since they always look like they’re dressed in rags and stolen things.

There is a brief awkward moment that hangs there hideously between them that the shemlen laps up every second of. Then the little one finally speaks.

“Picking up dinner?”

“Yes. And you? Picking up the festivities for the night?”

They grin and laugh a little.

“Sort of. We know basically what we want but the real question is how much, since it—y’know depends on what we wanna do.”

They’ll admit, they’re mildly curious. What do people like them get up to.

“Oh? And what are the things you want to do?”

“Well, we can’t decide if we want to just go back to my place and drink or if we want to go out into the woods and drink. My place means more drinking but less fun breaking up and the woods means less drinking but more magic stuff.”

They’re about to ask why on earth would they want to go out into the wilderness in the middle of the night and wreck havoc on pointless shit when that urge is redirected almost instinctually by their eye as a hunter. The two of them are haggard with deep bruise like circles under their eyes from lack of sleep, they look exhausted run down but wild and wired, caught on the knife edge of no discernible name. They radiate something Uthvir will not name —cannot name or face— that they know too well is burrowed deep in them as well. They don’t ask.

They consider it idly, going with them to the woods just to avoid their empty apartment but Fear rears up immediately. It is right too— too dangerous, too dark, too early to trust in too new and potentially disastrous a scene.

“If you want you can come with us back to my place. You can pick something up here or get something at my place, I’ve got plenty to eat.”

Now this they do consider. This is a much more manageable concept. They already know they can decimate them in a fight if needed, they can pick out their own food and drink here to ensure its as safe as possible and they do know with reasonable confidence where they live compared to the other. This can work.

They grin toothily, a display of their fangs more than anything. They note with amusement it does not seem to phase either of them. They get the sense very little scares them anymore, and if it does that are too far gone to even react. Another note of similarity they cannot decide if they dare to acknowledge.

“How kind. It’s gracious of you invite me after our disastrous first meeting.”

They shrug. “It was an understandable ass-kicking. And I have a very beatable ass so—” Their expression is the picture of nonchalance.

That startles a short bark of a laugh out of them.

“Then I suppose we have a plan!”