#TUMBLR USER (SLAMS FIST INTO WALL)

[polandspringz]

Summary:

Across the ballroom. The golden lights reflecting off the polished floor. Through dancing legs and over the heads of demons milling about, he stood against one of the columns. If he craned his head back and looked to the ceiling, below the chandeliers he would see the draperies curving between the pillars. Everything had been made perfect for today.

A short fic inspired by Cody Fry's "I Hear a Symphony"

Story will be posted below for tumblr users to help with the reach, so reblog if you like, but also please post comments to the story on AO3! It’s much appreciated. Thank you.

I used to hear a simple song

Across the ballroom. The golden lights reflecting off the polished floor. Through dancing legs and over the heads of demons milling about, he stood against one of the columns. If he craned his head back and looked to the ceiling, below the chandeliers he would see the draperies curving between the pillars. Everything had been made perfect for today.

That was until you came along

A song comes to an end. The dancers bow to one another and part. As the orchestra raises their arms to begin the next piece, those on the dance floor mingle and change. A path clears straight ahead. He happens to glance across the room.

Now in its place is something new

The dark yellow taffeta was hiked up in your hands, the hem a bit too long to let you move freely. You were frozen like a mouse in the kitchen, eyes locked with his. Not in the spotlight of the dance floor, but everything faded away from his vision except for you standing framed between the small window created for just a moment.

The shadows of the back of the ballroom blurred behind you, and before he could step forward or mouth a word to you, the people came to life again as the music began to sing. You were swallowed up before his eyes, pushed behind the motion of people, swallowed by the shadows. He surged forward, his foot moving before he realized and his whole body suddenly jolted as he remembered his place, his duty. But then he saw the faintest trail of gold dusting between the bodies of the people and his heart hurt and his mind was in a panic.

He began to run. You ran too.

I hear it when I look at you

 **

With simple songs, I wanted more

Heads turned as he ran out of the room. Barbatos knew that rumors and murmurs would make it back to Diavolo if he hadn’t caught sight of him fleeing already-

“Barbatos!” The prince called out. Barbatos slowed and hesitantly stood in place as he turned towards the throne where Diavolo sat with Lucifer standing at his side, “What’s got you in a rush?”

Barbatos bowed deeply and tightened his hands into fists, the adrenaline in his body ready to knock him over if he didn’t move move move-

“I’m sorry, Milord. I have to go.”

“Go? Go where? Is something wrong?”

“No, I apologize… It’s…”

“Raise your head, Barbatos” Diavolo motioned, “There is no need for formalities between friends.”

Barbatos straightened, and desperately confessed, “I’m sorry, I must go to them.”

“Them?” Lucifer was taken aback, “Why? Is something wrong-”

“Lucifer,” Diavolo held up his hand, eyes never wavering from the butler who was almost shaking where he stood, “I understand, Barbatos. You may go-”

His foot skidded against the floor-

“-but,” Barbatos froze, “Remember your place.”

His golden eyes burned with cold, an emotionless, commanding aura as he pressed his lips into a thin line. Lucifer looked to the prince confused, but Barbatos understood, and dropped to one knee, bowing his head once more.

“I thank you Milord. I promise to return shortly.”

“Take your time. Have fun! Don’t be so uptight on my account,” Diavolo called after him as the butler rushed to his feet and tried not to trip as he hurried the rest of the way out of the room. Even as he fled, he felt Diavolo’s gaze following him, ready to strike him down at any moment.

“Why did you let him go? If you wanted him to stay-”

“Lucifer, I think you of all people should understand,” Diavolo folded his hands and watched the rest of the ballroom as the dancers met and began to waltz, “After all, didn’t you and Barbatos have a conversation before about love and loyalty?”

Perfection is so quick to bore

You were pulled along by a string. The whole night it had been slack, you had followed its curves and weaves through the party as it was knotted along the floor. But the moment you locked eyes, the thread had tightened, and your chest had seized up when the crowds blocked your view of him. You ran through the dark hallways, rushing past the maze of columns and doors that lined the castle corridors. You flew down staircases and tripped over yourself, hurrying to the outside-

You are my beautiful, by far

Barbatos shoved open the great door of the east corridor, the dark blue night sky blurring to black as his vision adjusted at the warm golden light of the castle bled into the artificial stars’ light. For a second, his feet slowed as he stepped off of the polished floor onto the stone perron outside of the castle. He rested his hands on the sculpted railings that encircled the walkways, glancing from the sky and then down to the bottom of the grand steps that led through the gardens up to doors.

Where were you? Where had you gone?

He began to move again, ready to run back inside and across to the west corridor when he heard another door slam open. He rounded the building, rushing to the front entrance where the railings parted and the grand stairs formed. The lights of the open palace doors bathed the perron in that golden light, and the two of you looked between the carriages at the base to the sky and the stone walls, before landing on each other and stopping.

He smiled. You smiled.

Our flaws are who we really are

You dropped the fabric you had bunched up in your hands, and glided towards him. You looked gilded in the light, molten gold moving towards him as your hands reached up and formed out of the liquid that moved through the air to meet his. The string was still taught, but you hesitated when he lifted his gloved hands to yours, unsure of how to fit together, glancing at him nervously. It was painful without him, and you could see he was torn too.

You bowed your head, “Is this okay? Is it alright?”

Your hands remained where they were- hovering, untouching- but you moved forward to rest your head to his chest. The string still was tugging at you, pulling your heart out of you and telling you to be closer, but you didn’t know how.

“It’s…” he felt conflicted. He knew he could never give you everything you wanted, and knew even more that there was a chance it could all be ripped away from him one day. That you would be ripped away from him if it ever got in the way of his loyalty to Diavolo.

Still-

He let his fingers entwine with yours. 

“It’s alright,” he tucked his face against your hair, “It’s always going to be alright. I’ll make sure of it.”

With one hand wrapped around your waist and the other holding your hand tight, the two of you swayed for a minute. It was quiet outside, the sound of the orchestra only barely finding its way through the open doors and windows from the upstairs ballroom to where you two stood.

Tears stained your face when you looked up at him again. He looked solemn and sad too. You both knew it wouldn’t last, but-

“Can we dance? I haven’t gotten to dance with anyone yet tonight.”

“Is that why I didn’t see you on the dance floor? I would have thought any of the brothers would have been falling over themselves to get a chance with you.”

“They were, but I turned them all down. I wasn’t feeling up to it then.”

“Oh? The night is almost over. You saved your last dance for me?”

With your hand in his, you separated a bit, pulling back just enough to give room for the two of you to move, but his arm remained steady around your waist.

“It’s my first dance of the night. Who knows, maybe I’ll be feeling up to more after this.”

“You better not let me catch you dancing with other lovers,” Barbatos smirked, “Or I’ll be wounded.”

“Who said I would dance with others? We can dance the whole night away together.”

Your free hand slid over his suit, moving from his shoulder up to cup his jaw, the slightest pressure you gave as it moved making him shiver, his eyes shutting when your cold hand touched his skin.

“Would you be up to that?” He whispered, feeling weak, “Again there are so many others who can offer you more than I can-”

“Stop that,” you said, pulling his cheek lightly, “The entire night my heart has ached because I wasn’t with you. And just now-”

You squeezed his hand.

“-it stopped when you did this. Even if others could give me riches or praise, there’s no one who can stop this feeling in my chest except for you. Now, open your eyes.”

He did slowly. He was not used to letting his guard down, showing his weakness and insecurities in front of others, but his chest hurt too, but it was worse when he was around you. It made him nauseous and sick, like he was full of too much sugar and it was all caught in his throat. You watched as his thick lashes parted and his green eyes flickered with nervousness and doubt. Having none of that, you leaned forward and kissed him on the cheek, brushing your thumb over the spot and up over the bone beneath his eye as he looked at you with awe.

“Did that help? Did it do the trick?”

The music through the halls was growing louder. The crescendo of the song had begun to build and swell, and there was enough space on the perron for the two of you to-

“It did. Thank you,” he pulled you forward, making you trip as you fell into his chest, pulling you closer towards the center of the doorway. He chuckled as he caught you, taking the first step as he started to guide you through the motions.

“Now shall we?”

You followed his lead.

**

I used to hear a simple song

The gold twirled around you as the two of you moved-

That was until you came along

You danced with death, sometimes your shoes scraped the edge of the top step, and any false move would send the two of you plummeting-

You took my broken melody

He didn’t care. He knew that even in death, he would be safe if he was with you. He had put aside everything for others his entire life, let them decide his fate.

If his last moments were in your embrace, then it was worth it. If this is what fate and the hands of time decided for him, then he would die happy, never the need to reset time if changing it meant this moment had to disappear.

“I can be… selfish just this once, can’t I?” he asked softly.

“Of course you can.”

And now, I hear a symphony

Your world spun as he held your arm over your head, letting you fly away from him for a moment, just enough that your fingers parted for a moment. You were left holding his glove.

“Barbatos?”

He looked towards you across your arm’s length, and with tears in his eyes, he laughed brightly. And before you could catch his breath, he rushed you, grabbing your hand and spinning you back to him so he could hold and cherish you, kissing you deeply before he sobbed against your neck, holding you tight and never letting go.

And now, I hear

A symphony

**

“So this is why you had some of the orchestra members move so suddenly,” Lucifer said as he stepped next to Diavolo, watching through the open doors as the ever stoic Barbatos wept and laughed in the embrace of the human, the tears streaming down his face broken by the smile lines and harmony that escaped him with every gasp.

Diavolo stood on the red carpet that reached the threshold of the door, standing in the middle of the room so he was far enough back that he wouldn’t interrupt their time together. He had some of the musicians break away from the orchestra and stand on either side of the room, just inside the doors so they could play and not be seen, giving more life to the happy couple that fell over one another with joy.

“Even if it wounds me,” Diavolo confessed, “I have no right to intrude on their happiness. He was the one they chose, afterall. I learned from my mistake with you.”

Lucifer wanted to say something, but the words died on his lips when he saw Diavolo’s empty eyes, and the way his hands tightened around his wrists folded behind his back.

“I can only give them this much,” Diavolo said, “I cannot promise anything else.”

“We are demons,” Lucifer muttered, “no one should expect anything good from us. I’m sure they understand full well the miracle it is that you let them have this little moment thus far.”

He looked away as the two lovebirds pulled apart and fell into another heap of laughter, wiping one another’s tears away as they got ready to flee down the steps. Diavolo kept watching though, watching as his right hand man disappeared into the night with the golden leaf that always seemed to blow just out of his reach.

“It has nothing to do with me,” Diavolo shut his eyes and frowned, “I suspect even if I hadn’t done this much, they would have found each other anyway.”

[eryiss]

Request: The Training Retreat

Summary: With the Grand Magic Games fast approaching, Freed suggested that he, Laxus, Lucy and Natsu train together for a week. In the isolation of a forest, the two couples get closer and unlikely friendships are made as their magic improves. [Fraxus and Nalu Oneshot]

This was based of a request by tumblr user @allnalufraxus, who asked for something with both Fraxus and Nalu. This took a lot longer than it should have, but I'm quite happy with the result. This is also the first time I've properly written Lucy and Natsu, so please forgive any OOC behaviour.

You can read this on FanFiction, Archive of our Own, or under the cut. Hope you enjoy it ^.^

The Training Retreat

If you were to ask Laxus what he expected his week to entail, it wouldn't be this.

He found himself standing at the kitchen of an old cabin in the middle of a forest, chopping carrots beside Lucy Heartfilia of all people. The two weren't exactly the most friendly of members in Fairy Tail with one another and their interactions had mainly been born more of politeness and obligation rather than out of actual fondness to each other. And yet there they were, cooking side by side in relative comfort.

They both looked out at the large window, to a small clearing in the forest. Bost Freed and Natsu were outside, engaged in a fight that seemed heated and vicious. The view was slightly distorted by Freed's runes, but it was clear that they were both giving it their all.

Laxus felt a small swell of pride run through him.

The entire thing had been Freed's idea. The Grand Magic Games were coming up fast, and there had been a rumour that all four of them would be participating. Training was an obvious necessity, and Freed had been the one to propose that the four of them have a short retreat where they would train intensively with one another. He had justified it by saying that being less familiar with each other's fighting style would help them deal with unforeseen foes, as well as bringing them closer which would help them if they were placed on a team together.

Freed had approached Natsu before he had Laxus, and the Fire mage had jumped at the chance. Almost everything had been organised before either Laxus or Lucy knew about it, no doubt so that neither could stop their plans with any objections they may have.

"I had no idea you could cook," Lucy commented as she took a pot of boiling water off the heat.

"Most people don't," Laxus shrugged. "I learned when I was travelling, needed something to do and eating out wasn't an option since I had no money. Got a cook book, started to do some recipes and found out I liked it."

"Well that cottage pie thing you made last night was amazing," Lucy grinned, carefully pouring the chopped vegetables into the pot. "D'you cook often?"

"When I can, I try to," Laxus placed the knife down, stepping back to allow Lucy access to a cutlery draw. "Freed's a pretty good chef as well, so we always eat well. He does most of it on the missions since he knows how to work with an open fire better than I do, so whenever we're at home I'm usually the one making food."

Lucy chuckled, and Laxus quirked an eyebrow at her un confusion.

"Sorry," She smiled. "It's just weird, you know, to think of you two being so domestic. I kinda think of you as actions heroes, funny to think of you scheduling meals."

"Well, if you wanna know a secret, we also do laundry," Laxus said with a small grin, and Lucy laughed. "We sometimes even polish our silverware."

Over the few days that they had been in the cabin, Lucy and Laxus had gravitated towards each other in a small way. There was something of a friendship forming between them, and Laxus found himself happy about it. He was still not comfortable with his new place in the guild – years of antisocial behaviour had left an impact on him – but had found he enjoyed having platonic relationships with people outside of the Raijinshuu.

"And you're one to talk," Laxus continued. "You dating Dragneel. There was a theory going around when he was younger that the only feelings he had were being hungry and being angry."

Again, Lucy laughed. "He's not that bad."

As if to disprove her point, Natsu screamed 'I'll kick your ass' as he charged at Freed with a raised fist.

"That's not helping my point," Lucy said after a moment, and Laxus smirked. "But he's actually a lot more emotionally intelligent than people give him credit for. He can actually be really sweet when he wants to be."

Laxus didn't doubt it, Natsu was definitely an emotional person, so it made sense. Still, it wasn't an easy task to envision the brat being romantic.

"Give me an example," Laxus challenged, slowly adding the chopped mutton to the pot of vegetable.

"Well, okay, a couple of weeks ago!" Lucy said, smiling. "I got home from a pretty bad mission with Erza late in the night, and I was exhausted and starving, and he was in my apartment waiting for me having cooked us both a curry and some rice. Then he ran a bath for me once I'd eaten and let me read to him until we fell asleep. It was a nice night, actually."

It did indeed sound like a nice night, and undoubtedly more thoughtful than Laxus would have expected from the other Dragon Slayer. But still, in some twisted way, he saw the younger man as something of a younger brother. And what is a pseudo-older brother for if not for teasing.

"How did he get into your apartment?" He smirked. "And if it's anything other than breaking in, I'll give you two thousand jewels right now."

Lucy was silent for a moment.

"I said he was more thoughtful than people give him credit for. I didn't say he was a completely different man."

Laxus laughed, placing the stew he was making back onto the heat. He reached up to the crockery cupboard and started to set the table. Lucy had pulled out the remainder of the cutlery and began placing it down beside the plates. It was a small thing, but Laxus was thankful. Even in such an inconsequential action, they were working well as a team. It was a lot better than what Laxus had expected when Freed informed him about their retreat.

Both of them quickly looked from the table and towards the open when a sudden rush of orange spurted up. It was clearly Natsu's fire, and Lucy frowned as she watched as the flames in the area cordoned off by Freed's runes died down.

"I thought they weren't using their magic?" She questioned, watching as Natsu's charged forward with his fists alight. Laxus walked beside Lucy to watch.

As he did, runes plastered themselves over Natsu and he fell to his knees. "It was. They're just fucking idiots, apparently."

The two mages watched their respective lovers through the windows for a little while longer. Natsu managed either to overcome Freed's runes, or just ignore them, and charged at Freed again. Freed used some quick walls of runes to protect himself from the attacks, before slamming the sole of his boot into Natsu's stomach. He piled another rune onto the man's chest, and the dragon slayer was shouting in pain again.

"Freed can be pretty vicious when he wants to be," Lucy commented. "More scrappy than I thought"

"Suppose you've only seen him when he's had time to plan out a fight, huh," Laxus frowned a little. "When he's on a mission and there's impromptu fights, he's always like this. He's just as good without his magic as he is with it."

Lucy looked up to the blonde with a teasing grin. "It's cute how proud you are of him."

Laxus didn't say anything, but his cheeks reddened. "Fuck off."

Lucy laughed again, leaning on the counter to better watch the fight happening between the two men. It was oddly mesmerising to watch; despite his desires to fight almost every member of the guild, Natsu rarely managed to actually have full on fights. Well, he did, but those fights were often in apocalyptic moments, and appreciating his fighting style wasn't an option when that was happening. It was fun to see him go all out on a foe who wasn't an actual danger, and Lucy was going to make the most of it.

Even visually, the fight was beautiful. The combination of Natsu's flickering flames and Freed's shimmering runes was oddly entrancing. Almost hypnotic. But, as they watched the two men get more and more heated, Lucy noticed something.

"Why doesn't Freed use his sword like a… sword?" She asked, frowning.

"He tries not to when he can avoid it," Laxus explained. "It's mainly used to channelling his runes, it makes his casting quicker and spells more detailed. Don't exactly know how, but he seems sure it helps. And if he can fight with his fists, he'd rather do that. Stabbing someone is pretty…"

"Permanent?" Lucy offered, and Laxus nodded.

"He used to use it more liberally but changed after the harvest festival. Something of an atonement I think," Laxus shrugged. "Speaking off, I haven't thanked you for using that spirit to grow out his hair. It was good of ya, after all we did."

"That's no problem," Lucy smiled, almost mischievously. "You like guys with long hair huh?"

Was she teasing him? That wasn't something he had expected to happen. But he could deal with that too.

"Yeah," He agreed. "Gives he something to hold onto when I fuck him."

Lucy's reaction was fucking hilarious. There was a moment of disbelief where she slowly turned towards him, an expression of shock, small amount of horror and a hint of respect on her face. Laxus cocked an eyebrow at her, silently challenging her to bite back, because he had more than enough ammunition to tease her right back. She decided not to say anything.

"It was a nice attempt, but there's something you don't know," Laxus continued, smiling. "I've been a dick longer than you've been breathing."

"No arguing there," Lucy replied, seemingly having recovered. Laxus let her have it. "Should we stop them?"

At Lucy's question, they both looked out of the window. Natsu no longer had any runes on him and had punched Freed with enough force to send him flying into the back of his own runic walls. The resounding thud of Freed hitting his magic, a clearly painful act, made Lucy wince, but Laxus didn't seem bothered by it.

"They can handle themselves," He went back to dressing the table. "You wanna put some salt in the stew?"

Lucy watched as Freed stood up, wearing a determined grin not unlike Natsu's. "Sure."

~~~

When Natsu awoke the next morning, his limbs were tangled up with Lucy's. The cabin had only king-sized beds, but the lovers had somehow managed to curl up against one another in the centre, with their covers thrown to the floor. This always happened when they shared a bed; Natsu was warm naturally and apparently hugging him was like hugging a heater, so Lucy had stated. It apparently made summer unbearable.

The dragon slayer carefully removed himself from his girlfriend, holding a snort when Lucy let out an undignified snore. That was something he would have to bring up later; hopefully in front of Freed and Laxus, just to make it more embarrassing.

He grinned at the thought and left the bed.

After going through his usual routine of stretching, cracking his back and lighting his hands for a quick second, Natsu threw on his clothes from the day prior and left the bedroom. The hallway of the cabin was still dark – which made sense as it must have been about six in the morning – but he managed to make his way to the kitchen without bumping into anything.

He got himself a glass of water and leant on the back of the counter. He had always woken up early, there was probably a reason for it but Natsu didn't care enough to figure it out. He liked the mornings, it was relaxing. People assumed he didn't like the quiet, but he did. Just in moderation.

As he drank the water, he frowned. Every few seconds there was a sound of something being hit. A dull, repetitive sound.

Alarmed, he turned to the window and readied his magic, but calmed when he saw the source of the sounds. It was Freed, standing outside of the cabin with a large axe in his hand, which he slammed down into a chunk of wood. The dragon slayer frowned a little, he hadnt expected anyone else to be awake this early in the morning, let alone doing something so physical. He placed the empty glass on the counter and walked to the kitchen door, not caring for his coat.

"Morning Freed," He greeted, voice chipper but still tainted by sleep. Freed snapped his head around and replied with a polite smile.

"Natsu," He greeted. "I didn't wake you up, did I?"

"Nah," Natsu assured him, walking to Freed as he raised the axe again. He placed his hands behind his neck, watching as another log was cut. "I always wake up this time, didn't expect to see anyone else. You normally cut wood this early?"

"No. After our fight yesterday I crashed early," Freed confessed, moving the cut logs into a basket. It was half full. "As such, I woke up early and thought that I might as well do something productive. Laxus said that it seemed as though storms would be hitting us soon, so we'll probably want fire wood, so this made sense."

Natsu nodded, sitting on the grass and looking up at the sky. Clouds were forming, so it probably would start raining pretty soon, so getting firewood was a good idea. Not that Natsu was worried about being cold.

"Y'know, I sometimes forget, but you're a badass," Natsu commented with a grin, and Freed glanced towards him. "I guess I always forget because when I wanna fight someone in your team, I default to Laxus, but you're really fucking strong. Haven't had an actual stalemate for a while."

"I'm glad I could be a challenge to you," Freed smiled, bringing the axe down on the wood again. "And I agree, it was nice to spar with someone I'm not familiar with."

"We should do it again some time," Natsu suggested, grinning. "Then I can learn how to kick your ass faster."

"You're implying that you won," Freed looked back at him, posture almost challenging. "The only reason you lasted so long was because I showed mercy. I could have crushed you by increasing the influence of gravity with a literal click of my fingers."

"And I could have burned off your nuts, try fighting after that," Natsu grinned, unaffected by the threat.

"Well, if that's the case we should fight again some time, but with less restrictions than we had before," Freed offered. "Make it a real challenge."

Natsu grinned wide and made a note to remember the offer; he was never going to turn down an opportunity to spar with someone when he didn't need to wear down their will. Honestly, he shouldn't have to bother people that much to train with them. They were in a damn guild; they should want to improve how they fought and increase their magical skills. How was Natsu the only one who saw it like that?

The dragon-slayer leant back on the cold grass, looking up to the still visible stars. He knew some of the constellations now, thanks to Lucy teaching them to him. It was nice to look up at the stars while he could, it made him feel close to his girlfriend, weirdly.

With Lucy in his mind, Natsu clicked his fingers.

"Hey Freed, you like to read right?" He asked, and he heard Freed's movement stop.

"I do," Freed nodded. "Why?"

"Well, I don't know if you know this or not, but Lucy really likes to write. And she's been writing this novel for like, years and she's finished the draft. And she wanted me to read it, so I did and it's really good, and I told her that but she's still putting off sending it to a publisher," Natsu explained, hands moving around as he did.

"That's understandable, it can be a nerve-wracking experience."

"Yeah, I get that, but it is really good. So I was thinking that maybe you could read it," Natsu sat up again, grinning enthusiastically at his idea. "Then you'd see how great it is and you could tell her. She knows you've got good taste and you won't just say it because you have to. Maybe it'll give her a confidence boost."

"I'll certainly offer when we get back to Magnolia," Freed assured him, and Natsu brightened further.

The dragon slayer grinned and leant back against the grass again, letting the wind slowly cool him as the sun started to rise. After all the fighting of the day prior, it was nice to have a moment to calm down and look at the sky. And Freed was a pretty calming presence, when he wasn't making everyone fight each other through the town. Maybe they could be friends; someone who could calm him and nearly beat the shit out of him was something Natsu was always looking for.

Although, despite knowing each other for years, he didn't know much about Freed as an actual person. In the past, he had been standoffish to the point where even Natsu had given up trying to be friends with him. But now he was more open, and this was a good enough time to try and get to know him.

"How did you and Laxus get together?" He asked. Better to dive right in. If Freed didn't want to say, he wouldn't.

"We just sort of… did," Freed replied, looking deep in thought. "We have always been close, and after Laxus returned from his exile, we got closer. One night we kissed, we talked, and the next day we had our first date. And now we're here. How about you and Lucy?"

"I realised I liked her, then I asked her out and she said yes," Natsu shrugged. "Why make it complicated."

"That's an admirable attitude to have," Freed smiled a little. "It turns out Laxus and I had feelings for each other long before we kissed, so perhaps if either of us had that attitude then we would have gotten together quicker."

"Maybe, but I sometimes think I rush into things, y'know," Natsu shrugged. "I charge in, don't think things through. Wanna change that, be a better boyfriend."

"Well, your 'charge in and to hell with the consequences' attitude has saved a lot of people a lot of times," Freed said, placing the axe down and sitting on the log he had been chopping wood on. "And I wouldn't worry about your relationship. You're very open about who you are as a person, and Lucy is a smart woman. She would have known what she was getting into, and I expect she rather likes it."

Natsu tilted his head in thought but smiled. "Thanks Freed. Oh, and Laxus just woke up."

"You can tell?" Freed asked, placing the chopped firewood into the basket.

"Well, heard a thud and then a load of cussing. So either he stubbed his toe and it hurt, or he just moves around in bed and tells side-dressers to fuck off in his sleep," Natsu grinned, jumping up with too much energy for the time of day that it was.

"I wouldn't put it past him," Freed laughed. "But if he is awake, I expect he'll still be tired enough that we can convince him to make us breakfast without him putting up a fuss."

"You're devious, Justine. I like it," Natsu laughed, putting his hands behind his neck again as he walked to the cabin.

"I'm glad," Freed smirked. "Because you'll see just how devious I can be when I pound your ass into the ground next time we fight."

Natsu grinned. "Looking forward to it!"

~~~

"We should do this again some time," Lucy smiled.

The four mages were standing outside of Magnolia train station, having just returned from their training retreat. Natsu was leaning across her shoulders, partly to be closer to her and partly because the motion-sickness still was leaving him queasy. Laxus also seemed affected by the journey, though to a lesser extent. He was refusing to maintain eye contact with anyone and kept wincing when he moved his head too fast.

"We should," Freed smiled, raising his bandaged broken arm. "Though hopefully with better results."

"Sorry about him," Lucy laughed. "He goes all out."

"I knew what I was getting myself into," Freed laughed, smiling good naturedly. "And I like to think I gave as good as I got, even if all his bones remain intact."

"You did," Natsu groaned, looking up to reveal the bruise on his jaw. "You've got a good right hook, anyone ever told you that."

"It has come up, hasn't it Laxus?" Freed smirked, looking to his boyfriend with a glint in his eye.

"Once or twice," Laxus muttered, having been on the receiving end of Freed's punches whenever they sparred together. "But yeah, this was good. Nice to spar with someone I'm not used to. Especially you, Blondie. That whips a pain in the ass, you could beat half the assholes we'll be fighting without your spirits."

"Thanks. I doubt they'd want that, but that's a good compliment coming from you," Lucy smiled, before looking to Freed. "I can bring the manuscript over to the guild tomorrow, if you still want to read it."

"I'd love to," Freed nodded. "From what I've heard, its rather good."

"He's biased," Lucy laughed off the compliment, but Natsu frowned.

"Doesn't mean I'm not right," Natsu shouted, but covered his mouth a moment later as vomit threatened to leave him. He continued to speak through his hands, which muffled his words. "You'll see. It's great."

"Well, you can make up your own mind," Lucy said, pushing Natsu away. "We should get home before he pukes. I don't think Aquarius will appreciate being summoned to clean it off the sidewalk. Again."

"Of course," Freed nodded a little. "I look forward to reading your manuscript, and to doing something like this again if we ever get the time."

"Me too," Lucy smiled. "See you both soon."

"We shall," Freed agreed, and Laxus made a small noise in place of a goodbye.

The two men watched as the younger couple began to walk towards Lucy's apartment, Natsu swaying slightly as he tried to walk without Lucy's assistance. Freed didn't say anything, knowing Laxus was just as bad as the other dragon-slayer was – albeit hiding it better – and would need some time to recover.

After a few moments, they began to walk to their shared house in silence. It was a nice moment, the two of them appreciated silence between each other, and Freed allowed a small smile to grace his features. It had been a nice week, actually.

"So," Laxus said after a while. "You and Natsu have some weird rivalry going now. Didn't expect that to happen."

"Me neither, but he is good to train with," Freed laughed.

"Say that again when he's beating down your door in the middle of the night because he wants to fight," Laxus chuckled, and Freed smiled.

"I'll set up runes to stop me from hearing it," Freed grinned. "And as you find it so funny, I'll make sure the runes don't affect you. Just so you have something to laugh at when you wake up."

Laxus chuckled, wrapping an arm around Freed's shoulders.

"And speaking of things that I didn't expect to happen, you and Lucy have something of a friendship forming," Freed continued, and Laxus shrugged. "It's nice you're starting to make friends with other kids your age."

"Fuck off," Laxus laughed, nudging Freed with a grin.

"And such language. Maybe she's a bad influence," Freed smirked.

"You know that sounding like my grandfather ain't exactly a turn on," Laxus deadpanned.

Freed didn't reply, instead laughed and leaned further into his boyfriend. Laxus grinned, tightened his grip on Freed, and continued to walk with a smile on his face. This had been a good week.

[teawithkpop]

[M] - PhysCom - Bonus Chapter

pt 1 - pt 2 - pt 3 - bc 1 - pt 4 - pt 5 - pt 6

Pairing: BTS - OT7 x Reader

Rating: Mature [18+]

Length: 2.6k words

Genre: PhysCom AU - smut with dashes of angst, and a shitload of romance and complicated feelings,, uhuhu (porn with plot??)

Warnings: swearing, mentions of birth control, mentions of sexual acts

here’s a little something to tide you guys over until pt 4 is ready~! (feat. the troublesome 95 liners lol) This chapter takes place right after Jimin and Taehyung were sent to their rooms in pt 3. I’m posting it on tumblr first, and AO3 later tonight ^^ also, this chapter has not been beta read, so it’s a nice surprise and a thank you to all my lovely beta readers as well, hehe~ hope you enjoy!

“This is all your fucking fault!” Jimin seethes, his cheeks still fiery red from being reprimanded.

Taehyung’s surprised and a little miffed at how angry Jimin is. Usually it takes a lot more to get the boy so riled up, but for some reason he’s all in knots from only some mild teasing at dinner.

“My fault?” He growses, his brow creasing as he rubs his sore shoulder from where Jimin pushed him into the table. “How is it my fault that you’re terrible at expressing your feelings?”

“Forget my feelings! What about hers?” Jimin’s face is twisted in barely contained rage as he whips around on the stairs to glare at Taehyung. “Did you even consider how she must feel after all this?”

Taehyung’s eyes widen. Of course he considers your feelings. That’s why he’d suggested that Jimin should tell you how he feels about you. The boy has been denying his crush on you for the last three months. Taehyung was just trying to help.

Okay, help and tease Jimin. Just a little.

Taehyung purses his lips, not about to veer off topic when clearly Jimin needs to explore this area of his heart. “You’re deflecting, Jiminie.”

“I am not fucking deflecting…” Jimin grumbles, trudging up the last few steps before storming off in the direction of his room. He throws a hesitant gaze down the hallway that leads to your room, but he keeps moving.

Taehyung notices and huffs at Jimin’s avoidance of the topic. He’s starting to get annoyed at being blamed for this tantrum, when it’s obviously Jimin’s own fault that he’s so emotionally constipated. “Well, then what the fuck is your problem, huh?”

Jimin is silent.

“You obviously like her, so why don’t you do something about it?”

Jimin wants to list, in great detail, all the reasons why he won’t do something about it. For one, there are boundaries, which you’ve made clear since you started working with them, and he’s already tested them once. The only thing he would hate more than keeping his feelings bottled up is breaking your trust. Secondly, because of your position in the house, there’s a weird… power dynamic. One that he doesn’t want to use to take advantage of you, even unintentionally.

Thirdly, for all he knows, you don’t have any feelings for him at all outside of your business with him, and all those nights you’ve spent acting like a doting girlfriend to him in the bedroom, experimenting and playing with him and giving him unimaginable pleasure… maybe it’s all been just that - an act. The fear of rejection from every possible angle has his confidence hitting rock bottom.

And now, after what you’ve confided in him? He can’t fathom burdening you with anything else, you have enough on your plate. But he knows voicing all this won’t do any good, not when Taehyung’s mind is set on something like it is now.

Taehyung can see that the boy’s neck is red, and he’s clearly embarrassed about something. Or maybe ashamed? He’s hard to read sometimes, like earlier when he walked in on you and Taehyung kissing-

Oh… wait a second.

Is this because Taehyung kissed you first? Before Jimin got a chance?

A goofy grin comes across Taheyung’s face. “Oh, I see what’s going on. You’re jealous, aren’t you?” Jimin’s shoulders visibly tense. That has to be it. Taehyung giggles gleefully and pokes him in the ribs. “She can still like you even though she kissed me, you know.“

“Shut up.” Jimin mutters, clenching his fists in an attempt to squeeze the anger out before it boils over him. “You don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about.”

“Oh, I think I know pretty well.” Taehyung continues, confident that he’s found the root of Jimin’s problem and determined to dig deeper in order to remove it. After all, what are friends for if not to be the laxative to one’s emotional constipation? “You just don’t want to admit it, do you?”

Jimin’s pulse is pounding in his ears. One more word out of this boy’s mouth tonight, and he is going to lose it. It was bad enough at dinner when he kept taunting Jimin, threatening to eat you out in front of everyone - “I bet her other lips taste even better…” Now he thinks this is all about being jealous over a stupid kiss? Can’t he understand that there are much more serious issues at play here?

Seeing you break at dinner broke something inside him, too. Something that was long waiting to snap. Now, like a chemical reaction, that break is releasing all of his anger, at the world, at himself, at Taehyung…

“Come on, Jiminie. You’re jealous.” Taehyung thinks maybe a little more teasing is in order. Jimin clearly needs a push to admit what’s bothering him. “What would have happened this afternoon if you hadn’t walked in on us, hm? I wonder…”

Jimin counts to ten, tries to tune out the words. “Taehyung. Stop it.”

“I would’ve kissed her some more, slipped my tongue into her mouth… dragged it down her neck as I laid her out on that bed.” Taehyung’s voice drops lower as he himself begins imagining what could have been. “Doesn’t that make you jealous? I would have showed her such a good time. Would’ve eaten that pussy the way she deserves…”

“Shut up. Stop talking.” Jimin says through clenched teeth, his knuckles turning white as he remembers the crestfallen look of resignation on your face earlier in the day as you explained your… predicament to him. He thinks he can never look at you the same way again, overwhelmed with guilt at what was done to you. In a way, it was done for his own benefit, and he hates himself for it. Hates that he’s been conditioned to take advantage of you.

Tae continues with a chuckle, unaware of Jimin’s internal struggle and thinking he’s making good progress. Once Jimin admits his feelings, then they can start to move forward. “Mm… I’d make her scream for me, Jiminie. Make her toes curl and her cheeks all red… I’d make her cum on my tongue, over and over-”

“She CAN’T!” Jimin’s fist slams into the wall with a loud crack, leaving a dent there. He can’t take it anymore, can’t stand Taehyung unwittingly mocking your problem, it’s too cruel in his eyes, too much sick irony for him to stand, and the truth comes tumbling out before he can stop it. “She… she can’t cum, Tae.”

Jimin breathes heavily, his chest heaving from revealing your secret. He didn’t mean to… it just came out. He leans against the wall for support, his head hung with guilt.

Taehyung blinks. “She… can’t?”

Jimin shakes his head.

“But… she has-”

“They were fake. For us,” Jimin runs a hand through his hair. “For our… fucking pleasure.” He spits out the words bitterly, his lip trembling as he sinks down against the wall.

Taehyung is shocked. You never came with them? Not once?

Well that has got to change.

“She told you this?” Taehyung asks carefully, wanting to get all the facts before deciding anything.

Jimin nods forlornly, drawing his knees up to his chest. “It’s some type of birth control. She said there’s a way to turn it off, but only for emergencies.” His eyes are glassy as he looks up at Taehyung and all of his worries come tumbling out. “I don’t think I can have sex with her again, Tae. Not if she… she can’t…” His voice trails off as tears form in his eyes.

It finally dawns on Taehyung why Jimin had been acting so strangely. Why he wouldn’t fuck you at dinner.

God, he feels like a jerk now.

“Hey…” He kneels down and puts a hand on Jimin’s shoulder, offering the distraught boy some comfort, though he himself is plagued with foreboding at this new revelation, too. “Hey, it’s okay. We can make this right, don’t worry.”

“How? How can this ever be right, Tae? It’s wrong. It’s so wrong.” Jimin tries not to burst into tears, the thought of your body being affected so adversely just so they can dump their loads inside you. It has him feeling sick. “What else is she hiding? What else did they do to her…?” His voice grows quiet, horrified at the unknown possibilities.

Taehyung has somewhat of an idea what else you may be keeping from them. You’d skirted around the harsh facts, sure, but you’d told him enough about your training days for him to know it wasn’t a cake walk.

He remembers one particular evening when you’d let slip about the… exercises you’d had to do. Grueling practice that would allow your body to stretch and bend and choke to do whatever it is that your potential masters could ever want from you.

But sitting here and speculating about what’s already been done won’t help anything. What he and Jimin need is a plan of action. A set of steps to follow, a… a guide.

Holy shit. Could it really be that easy?

“Jimin.” Taehyung gets his attention, and when the boy meets his eyes, he smiles. “What’s the best way to win a game?”

Jimin blinks at him, confused by the change in topic. “Depends on the game.”

Tae laughs. “No, no. To win a game, any game, you need to know the rules like you know the back of your hand.” He stands and helps Jimin up as well, splaying his hand out in front of the other boy’s face as if to demonstrate. “Then, you just need a winning strategy.”

“I don’t understand.” Jimin says, pushing Taehyung’s hand aside with a worried frown.

“Don’t you remember when she first came here? We got a manual, like a user’s guide.” He pats Jimin on the back, and hurries down the hall towards the study.

Jimin tries to keep up with his long strides, confusion still creasing his brow. None of them had touched that manual since they got it. “Yeah, but how will a manual help? Her job is… pretty straightforward.”

Taehyung shakes his head, clasping the door handle and pulling the heavy oak door open. “The instructions for operation are simple, sure. But you know what else you can find in user guides?”

Jimin blows a puff of air, getting tired of Taehyung’s cryptic logic and mixed metaphors. “What, Tae?”

“Troubleshooting.” He grins deviously and heads inside, making his way over to the uppermost drawer of the file cabinet against the wall. “Like perhaps, emergency procedures?”

Namjoon keeps every piece of reference material they might need - from paperwork to take out menus - meticulously organized here in this room, despite the often chaotic state of own living space. Sure enough, the PhysCom manual is filed right where it should be: under ‘P’, and the date of around six months ago.

Taehyung finds a thick stack of papers in the file, containing a copy of the PhysCom contract agreement, transcripts from the members’ personal interviews, and many other goodies that might come in handy. Besides that, there’s the manual itself, a much slimmer read, bound together with a rather wry title, Physical Companions - The Ins and Outs of Your Personal Pleasure Provider.

He snorts a laugh at the ridiculous verbiage, and flips open to the index, skimming his finger along the subjects, seemingly in order of necessity. Nourishment, Hydration, Cleaning and Care, Contraceptives… Bingo.

“Hmm… here we go.” He turns to the correct page and skims the sea of text. “Aha!” His finger points out an italicized passage in the middle of the page, with a helpful diagram beside it.

The Opticon Miracle Implant has been used effectively in 99.97% of PhysComs across the world. The technology is ideal for Physical Companions, but there is still a very slim chance that side effects may occur - please see page 106 for a full list of side effects.

In the unlikely event that your PhysCom reacts poorly to the Opticon Miracle Implant, follow the guide below to shut off the device, and then administer first aid to your PhysCom until paramedics can arrive. To shut off the Opticon Miracle Implant, simply access the Settings in your PhysCom’s ComGear and select ‘Health and Safety’. Next-

A grin slowly spreads across Taehyung’s face as he reads the absurdly simple instructions. “I think we just found our winning strategy.”

“What’s a ComGear?” Jimin asks, looking over the passage as well.

“It’s her phone thingy. The one in her belt.” Taehyung says, proud to remember the answer from when you’d first mentioned it. “We could get in there, no problem, as long as there’s no password for it.”

Jimin still looks unconvinced as he skims over the text. “But we can’t just shut it off. It’s her… birth control. She can’t have sex without it, she could get… you know, pregnant.” He looks slightly uncomfortable at discussing the topic at length.

“Hm. You’re right.” Tae deflates, setting down the manual. Maybe this wasn’t as simple as he’d hoped. “Then how can we-”

“Wait!” Jimin’s eyes light up for a moment. “Condoms?”

Tae wobbles his hand back and forth in the air. “Not foolproof. And she’d probably notice.”

“Damn.” Jimin returns to the drawing board, humming as he tries to think up a solution. What if they turn it off just for a while? Just long enough to make you cum… “Wait, isn’t it her day off soon?”

Taehyung whips out his phone and checks his reminders. Yup. It sure is soon. “The day after tomorrow.”

Jimin’s eyes are full of hope. “Can we do it then? After hours tomorrow she won’t be getting fucked, so… no need for birth control, right?”

“It’s the perfect opportunity.” Taehyung nods enthusiastically, and then chuckles, nudging Jimin teasingly. “What a nice way to spend a day off, huh? Getting head from Park Jimin? It’s every girl’s dream.”

Jimin’s cheeks flush. “Wait, what? M-me?”

“Yes, you! Don’t you see?” Tae hooks his arm around Jimin’s shoulder conspiratorially. “This is the perfect chance for you to confess to her.”

Jimin looks down at the decorative carpet. “I don’t know…”

Taehyung pokes his cheek. “Hey. Imagine being the first guy to make her cum in who knows how long.” He gives him an easy smile, as if this was all said and done already. “There’s no way she won’t feel something for you after that.”

Jimin chews it over. It seems… a little sneaky. Like he would be pushing feelings into you, with his tongue. But… he doesn’t have a lot of other options right now, and god damn it, he wants you to cum if it’s the last thing he does.

“Okay,” He looks to Taehyung with determination sparkling in his eyes. “I’m in.”

Taehyung claps him on the back, giving a cheer of victory. “There’s my fearless Jiminie!” He crows, rubbing a noogie to the Jimin’s head, much to Jimin’s protest.

Jimin chuckles and pushes Tae’s arm away, shrugging off the younger boy’s excessive affection. “But we’re going to need a distraction to get into the ComGear without her noticing, right?”

Taehyung thinks for a minute, then that devious smile returns. “Leave the distraction to me.” He pets Jimin’s cheek. “You just focus on getting that tongue ready to taste the sweetest nectar it’s ever experienced.”

Jimin is about to argue, but in the end, he doesn’t question him. Taehyung has gotten them this far, hopefully he can pull off this plan, and nothing will go wrong. Hopefully.

“So what do we do now?” Jimin asks, revved up and ready to take action.

Taehyung grins, quickly putting the papers back into the file, but leaving the manual out to take with him. “Now, we get some beauty sleep, like our lovely PhysCom is probably doing.” He shuts the drawer and guides Jimin to the doors. “And tomorrow night, the game begins.”

[deejadabbles]

Spells of Defiance (Atem x Reader x Yugi) Chapter 1

One: Atem

One //// Two //// Three //// Four //// Five //// Six //// Seven //// [Eight coming soon]  

Summary: The Circle of Magicians protects the world from rogue, murderous fey. The police who keep bloodsuckers and flesh-eaters in check. You've hunted vampires for years, earning a reputation as one of the best magicians in that field; but what happens when an encounter with a particular vampire makes your already fragile loyalties split?

Supernatural/Demon Hunter AU. Vampire!Atem x Reader x Incubus!Yugi (yes, a polyamorous relationship). Warnings for cursing, vulgar language, violence, and some sexual themes.

This is a fic I’ve already posted this on my AO3 but I wanted to spread the Yu-gi-oh x Reader love here on tumblr.

A.N: For those of you who are new to this story, I want to mention that I took commonplace supernatural/fey lore and mixed it with my own ideas. I also took some inspiration from the original Yu-gi-oh series, like calling magic users "magicians" instead of witches or sorcerers. Hope you guys enjoy the ride~

Warehouses and abandoned buildings. Why was it always one of the two? Honestly neither were all that abundant in terms of being empty and isolated enough to be a useful hidey hole, but this one had managed to find one worthy of a Batman villain. Boarded up windows, isolated from the brunt of the nearby city, and not queued for any restoration projects. Good. That meant you could let loose without worry for innocent bystanders.

The creature screeched as you threw him to the ground, sputtering and hissing at your feet, but stunned all the same. The ones who trained you to fight these creatures knew what they were doing when they branded your right palm with the magician's enchanted seal. It helped channel your magic and you called up a flame bright, hot, and particularly threatening to the fanged thing before you.

"Let's try that again," you asked evenly, despite the thundering of your heart and heat of adrenaline that a fight always gave you. "I'm going to ask a question about your boss and you're going to answer me. Simple as that."

Apparently recovered from your last attack, your target snapped his head back up at you, fangs bared, hissing, eyes bulging, and body taught for an attack. You were ready when he leaped and you threw your fire spell at his airborne form. The screech of pain didn't surprise you, what did was the fact that the beast endured the pain enough to charge through the flames and closer to you! A reflexive dodge wasn't quite enough this time and you felt the vampire's fangs sink in deep and hot into the flesh of your right wrist.

You stifled the shout of pain as both of you stumbled to the ground, him pinning you down with one hand on your throat, the other on the arm he was clamped to. Another surprise came in the form of white-hot pain searing through the flesh of your hand. That wasn't right. Vampire bites didn't cause such pain. You looked over to see the enchanted seal on your hand pulsating in time with the stabs of agony.

'What the-' Just as quickly as the thought came you shook it from your mind. 'Focus, damn it!'

Though the seal was there to help you channel your magic, it was not completely necessary and you charged another spell into your left hand. Fire crackled on your fist as you drove it into the vampire's temple. It reared back with another hissing wail and a second punch, this time to the gut, caused him to fly back and crash into one of the half-rotted walls.

Pain still throbbed in your right arm as you stood and you chanced a glance at the wound. As expected the fang wounds were healing instantly, the vampire's toxin doing its job. Still, the fact that your magician's seal hurt at all was cause for concern.

No time to think about it now, however. Your eyes snapped back to the vampire. He was poising himself on all fours, a malicious brand of mirth in his eyes as his tongue lapped at the smear of blood on the corner of his mouth.

"Hmm, you taste good, little magician. I gonna enjoy sucking you dry." His voice was like nails dragging across metal, just an add-on to make your skin crawl all the more.

Then he was leaping at you again, but your willingness to play the fighting game was gone with his last attack. Time to end this. He closed in, likely thinking himself victorious, but you pulled your dagger out in a flash. The silver blade slashed across his face, gouging and burning deep. The pain made him fall to your feet and you could actually hear the sizzling of his skin.

"Fire and silver, a blood-sucker's biggest weaknesses. Honestly, it's almost unfair how much advantage I have over you, vampire. Now," you grabbed him by the collar, his twig-like frame making it easy to hoist him up into the air, "unless you want me to start making fancy burn marks on your skin with my silver friend here, you're going to come with me quietly. Then, you're going to tell the Circle of Magicians all you know about Marik."

He struggled against your grip, his strength returning, though all you had to do to make him wilt was hold the flat of the silver blade dangerously close to his face. "If I talk, the Vampire King will kill me! Besides, if he doesn't get to me first, the Circle will kill me anyway! They burn any rogue fey they come across."

"True," you conceded, "they don't take kindly to human killers like you. But, if you came with me, I can promise a quick death." For dramatic effect, you quirked an eyebrow at him, "Will Marik give you the same if I throw you back to him?"

The vamp was sweating now, eyes darting all around, feet weakly kicking in a fit. Then, his posture stiffened, "I have a better idea."

Much like he had with the fire, he took the pain of the silver and kicked you hard in the gut. You dropped him reflexively and he took the chance to run at one of the boarded up windows. What was he- it was three in the afternoon!

"Stop! The sun-"

Too late, he crashed through the wood and into open sunlit air. It didn't take long for the sun to ignite his body in flames. He was just dust by the time you got to the window and looked at the ground below. You cursed under your breath, slamming your fist into the frame of the window. He was your only lead in this case and chose suicide by sunlight over facing Marik's wrath. The Council was not going to be happy about this.

Teleportation spells had never been your forte, but you were desperate to get back to the Sanctuary, take a long scalding shower, and dive into your next possible lead, given that your last had just thrown himself into the sun.

The Sanctuary was the headquarters for the Circle of Magicians. It was a sprawling structure, only two stories high but crossed enough square feet to be considered quite an impressive castle. Well, a human realtor might throw it in that or the mansion category if they even knew about the place. Enchantments assured that no one besides a magician with a palm seal, or a visitor escorted by one could enter the Sanctuary grounds. Why they called it that name was beyond you, the place was a haven for no one, truly.

The other magicians paid you and your bloodied clothes no mind as you walked the halls, knowing that unless you were collapsing on the floor from injuries, there was little cause for worry. Life in the Circle did that to a person. Made one desensitized to blood and gore, or just about everything horrifying really. One does not sling spells and hunt demons for a living without such a particular defense mechanism.

Still, the idea of rinsing off the blood was a heavenly concept. Luckily most of it wasn't your own, but vampire blood had a particular stench to it. You turned the water on hot and had just removed your jacket and shirt when the door to the showers was thrown open. A familiar voice practically shouted your name as a brunette rounded the corner of your stall.

"Mana, what is it, what's wrong?"

"We have to go, now! They got tired of waiting and they moved his hearing up- they're putting him on trial now!"

Ice filled your veins in an instant. "What?!" How could they possibly-

"Hurry! You're the only one interested in proving he's innocent!"

Mana took the liberty of shutting off the shower head as you threw your shirt back on. Somehow, taking off a wet, putrid garment only to put it back on was more uncomfortable than having it on originally, but that was only a passing thought as you bolted out of the door with your fellow magician.

To most, the idea that a member of the Circle was concerned with the innocence of a fey was laughable. The Circle and its members hunted fey who stepped out of line and when one was accused of crossing that line, there was usually evidence enough not to question it. Or so they liked to say.

This time there was evidence, however. The problem was that you were the only one who knew about this particular man's innocence and the Council seemed disinterested with your testimony.

You had been tracking the vampire cult ruled the mysterious Marik for a while and had busted several of the follower's hideouts. They were human killers and were trialed as such, but then, you had found him. He got to the abandoned house before you, already disposed of two cultists and had a third by the throat when you burst in. At first, he had asked you to leave the situation to him, much to your annoyance. Of course, when back up in the form of nearly a dozen vamps showed up to kill their intruders, he was all too happy to accept your help. Honestly, you would have been in bad shape if it wasn't for him watching your back as well.

It was a short battle, but he proved himself worthy of your alliance in those moments- but then your own backup had come. Seeing a vampire covered in blood had been all that the other magicians needed to pin him down and place a binding spell on him, so that he could be carried back to the Sanctuary and put on trial with Marik's followers. Mana was right to say you seemed to be the only one who gave a damn about his innocence.

The doors to the trial hall came into view, but so too did the last person you wanted to see right now. The built blonde was leaning against the wooden doors and he smirked that condescending, almost sickening smirk when he turned his shaded eyes toward your thundering feet.

"Well well, come to watch the show?"

"Out of my way, Keith," you didn't bother hiding the hiss in your tone, wanting every ounce of intimidation you could muster.

His smirk only lengthened. "Aw, are you mad that your pet's being put down? Seriously, why do you give a damn if they put the cross to him? He's a vamp, a pretty old one from what they can tell, too. Probably killed plenty of people in his day."

"He's innocent, the Council needs to hear what she has to say!" Mana pipped up, actually daring to step between you and Keith to glare up at the man. For such a small girl, she could glare like a champ.

"The Council don't give a damn. We found him at the cult house, he's a vampire, pretty obvious he's following Marik."

You let out a growl and started to push past the blonde, "I don't have time for this, out of my way!"

Even if you hadn't hated Keith to the bone since you trained together as kids, you still would have acted on instinct when he grabbed hold of your arm. Fire was called to the seal on your palm and you turned into the force he pulled you back with; using the momentum to ram the heel of your hand into his gut. The contact was brief, but your fire spell had enough to work with and his jacket quickly caught fire. He'd survive, but the profanity-ridden distraction was enough for you to push open the doors to the trial room.

They gave a resounding crash from the force you used, effectively drawing everyone's attention as you entered and threw the doors shut behind you. The Council was a gray-haired, wrinkled lot, who all donned the same robes as they sat on their chairs, raised high on a platform so that the one on trial felt small beneath them. Of course, even with the trouble he was in, you doubted this vampire ever felt small beneath anyone.

And oh had they tried.

Not only was he bound by the usual enchanted chains, but a binding circle glowed on the floor around him, something that was usually reserved for the most dangerous fey. You were surprised that he could move at all, but he still turned his head at your arrival and locked eyes with you. Even under threat of death, Atem's eyes looked so calm.

You couldn't get lost in those eyes now and you gave yourself a mental shake before you could. That's when you noticed a third precaution the Council had taken to keep Atem in line. A muzzle of all things. The fact that he had yet to fight back against any of his magician captors meant nothing apparently.

"What do you think you're doing?!" shouted one of the council mages.

You met his glare head-on, approaching the center of the room to stand beside Atem as you spoke. "I'm here to give my testimony to the Council. I stand by my initial report that the one on trial is innocent."

Silence for just a second, then some whispers, and finally: "Yes yes, we know what your report said. However, since you have yet to bring us a live member of Marik's cult to confirm that this man is not also a member, we must take action."

"Hold a moment," drawled a third voice, looking at you with a somehow lazy interest. "Wasn't she just on a mission to capture a solo agent of the cult? Were you successful in capturing it?"

Shame boiled up from your gut. The feeling was not unfamiliar, however, the feeling not being a result of the Council's disappointment was. You didn't care about your failure in their eyes. No, you were ashamed because you had failed the vampire beside you.

"No. When I apprehended him, he committed suicide by sunlight rather than betray his master."

The second who had spoken clicked her tongue. "I see. And do you have any other proof, besides your word, that the vampire is innocent?"

Again shame reared inside your chest. You could feel Atem's eyes looking at you out of their corners. Would you see disappointment there if you glanced back? Instead, you kept your eyes locked on the magicians before you.

"No. But my word should be enough. What reason would I have to lie?"

The one with lazy interest shrugged, "You would not be the first magician to cover for a criminal fey."

"But he isn't a criminal!" You tempered the volume of your voice in an instant, knowing that yelling would not make them hear your plea any better. To show composure, you took in a deep breath. "Our duty is to protect everyone from rogue, murderous fey. That protection doesn't end at humans, we're supposed to protect other fey as well. Force a truth potion down my throat to prove I'm not lying if you want. The vampire known as Atem is innocent."

The Council fell to whispering between one another again and in that reprieve, you noticed Atem shift beside you. Finally, you looked at him again, just a slight turn of your head. The muzzle prevented him from speaking, but he didn't need words, his eyes said all they needed to. The potent emotion behind them actually caught you off guard. Damn, you had only known him a few days but somehow, his eyes had this strange effect on you. Feelings that were foreign to you stirred and you clenched your jaw as if that would keep them at bay. He seemed so...thankful. You just hoped it was enough.

A councilman spoke your name and the two of you turned your attention back to them. "We have taken your testimony under great consideration. However, the other vampire we caught the day Atem was apprehended gave his own testimony. He insists that this vampire is also a follower of Marik's cult. We must be thorough in our purging of this threat. The vampire on trial will be executed in forty hours."

"No!"

Your exclamation was lost as the councilman clapped his hands and a boom echoed out from them like thunder; their version of a gavel. One by one the members rose from their seats and Atem was suddenly tugging at his chains.

"Best not fight, vampire," said another councilwoman, her tone cold as she waved her hand, casting a spell.

The marks on the chains glowed and Atem could only give a closed-mouthed shout of pain as he was brought to his knees. The light of the binding circle around him rose, making a transparent cocoon to further encage him.

No, no! This was cruel. This was wrong! They didn't give a damn about justice!

"Stop! You don't have to hurt him!"

The one who was so disinterested during the trial still sounded quite bored as he said, "Remove her, please, before she does something else foolish."

You had barely even registered the magicians who had been standing guard by the door, but now they closed in on you. You couldn't strike them like you had Keith, especially not with your superiors right there. They dragged you out with minimal force, but you could still hear Atem's struggles as they closed the doors behind you.

You had never been placed in security details, your gift for fire spells usually landed you on hunting missions for vampires and other fey weak to the element. Still, you knew the prison wing of the Sanctuary well, and it was not unusual to see you there. You used that to your advantage, leaning up against the wall by the door that led to the wing, waiting for the late shift to start. This time period would ensure the most privacy, the least likely for anyone to overhear what you had to say to Atem.

Finally, you heard footsteps and you knew the inspection crew was done making their daily rounds in the cells. Still wary that they might bar you from entering the wing, you took a step back, hoping to go less noticed by the group. The doors opened and the crew stepped out, barely taking notice to you as they continued down the hall, likely on their way to get something to eat. Only one gave you more than a passing glance.

Mahad was head of security at the Sanctuary and, though fair, was one of the more likely magicians to shoo you away, knowing exactly why you were there. He paused in his steps for a second, his blue eyes locking firm on your own. Then, he only sighed and gave you a very pointed look that conveyed a very firm order of: 'don't do anything you'll regret', before he continued on his way as well.

Even if you had planned some rule breaking plot, you knew there was little chance of executing it now. If his guards found Atem's cell empty, he would waste no time in telling the Council who he saw. He was a fair, good man, but ultimately a follower of the Circle's law.

The mark on your right hand allowed you to enter the prison wing without question after you pressed it to the flat surface where a handle would normally be on the door. The cells had a low occupant rate, like usual, but they had still shoved Atem deep within the prison; isolated even from the few other prisoners. The hallway was dark and you couldn't see Atem even as the silver-coated bars of his cell came into view.

He must have smelled your scent on their air, however, because even though he stood in the center of the cell, his back turned to the bars, he addressed you the moment you reached them. "You shouldn't have come."

"It's not against regulations for me to visit the cells."

Atem sighed before finally turning towards you. "I don't want you to get into any more trouble because of me."

You only shrugged. "I just...I needed to see you after all that. I'm pissed that they made a show out of your trial. We only take precautions like that with high-level fey and you've shown no violent tendencies since they arrested you. A muzzle for god sakes!"

The scarlet eyed vampire managed a smirk before his eyes glanced over your new, clean clothes. "You made quite the entrance. Fierce and bloodstained. You looked like Sekhmet incarnate."

His tone said that he was saying the last bit to himself, almost absentmindedly, but you found your curiosity piqued. "Sekhmet, that's the Egyptian goddess of war, right?"

Atem nodded. "In a way. She is a warrior goddess, but, also the goddess of healing. Strength and gentleness intertwined perfectly."

Something in his eyes said that the hearing was not the first time the comparison of you to a goddess came to his mind. Again, unfamiliar feelings bubbled up and you swallowed hard, throwing a very firm lock on the sensation. Still, him speaking of ancient gods of the sands said a lot. Hunt vampires long enough and you get pretty good at telling whether one was turned in the last few decades, centuries, or even farther back. Everything about Atem spoke of an old world neglected by time. His skin, though pale from centuries or more of having to avoid the sun, seemed to have once had a richer complexion. His clothes, though not unusual to the modern eye, had a timelessness to them. Plain cotton shirt, dark pants, and metal jewelry that looked forged by rough hands instead of a factory's machine. Had he possibly come from the time of Sekhmet and pharaohs?

"Thank you."

His words brought you out of your musings, and you had to blink a few times to realize what he'd said. "Why are you thanking me? Nothing I did seemed to make a difference."

Instead of a smirk, he actually gave you a smile, a soft, genuine smile. He stepped closer to the bars, close enough to stay just out of reach of the silver's burning effect. "Still. You did not give up on helping me. If I'm honest, I would have never suspected anyone in the Circle would care for a vampire at all. Yet, here you are, defying your leaders and putting your reputation on the line, for me. A creature you've been taught to kill first and ask questions of later."

And there it was. What most fey thought of your kind. Magicians were the worst of police, the kind who kept peace by any means necessary and told the very people they clenched their fists around that it was for their own good. You had been born into that life, spending your whole youth under the Circle and training to serve them. Even with either constant teachings that magicians did what they had to in order to keep the peace, you saw their prejudices and their cruelty for what it really was. Did you really deserve a thank you for being slightly less brutal than that?

"The Council is wrong," you whispered and if it weren't for the stone silence of the prison wing, he might not have even heard you.

"That may be, but you've done all you can, and I thank you for that."

Lies. There was more you could do and...and that defeated, resolute tone of his last words made your next decision firm. There was more you could do. You had thought about it every moment since the end of his sentencing. It was the only way and it didn't even seem that hard of a choice. You weren't going to let them kill Atem.

You almost acted on the thought now, but caught yourself quickly. You had to be patient. You had over a day to plan, and there were more opportune times than now to execute said plan. Besides, you figured that if you brought it up now, Atem would just deny your help and stubbornly stay in his cell. Await death rather than risk your safety like some damn chivalrous knight. Maybe when he spent all whole night in the cell as a condemned man, he'd be more willing to let you help him escape.

Again you were brought out of your musings when Atem called your name.

"May I ask one more favor of you?" he asked with some small hesitance. "There is someone very important to me, he is likely already frantic that he hasn't heard from me these past few days. Tomorrow, could you go to him and tell him what happened? Tell him how sorry I am that I let myself get caught up in this- that I let my need for revenge bring me here." Heavy emotion had marred his speech and Atem had to draw in a breath to steady himself. "I just want him to know that I didn't abandon him... And how sorry I am."

"What's his name?" you asked, the gentleness in your voice surprising even yourself.

"Yugi. He owns a magic shop in Domino. He is...very special to me. What I regret the most about all of this, is not being able to see him again."

You chose your reply carefully, you didn't want him to catch on to the plan brewing in your mind yet. You couldn't let him know how determined you were to make sure he saw this person again. Not yet.

"Don't worry, Atem. Yugi will know exactly how you feel." You needed another topic, so he couldn't analyze your words too much. Your eyes scanned the small cell and finally took notice to something odd. "They didn't give you any blood to drink?"

"No. I was assuming they would wait until hours before my execution to feed me. A last meal of sorts."

"Idiots. If they starve you too long you'll go into a blood-rage and they'll actually need that magic muzzle."

You had seen enough vampires in blood-rages over the years. It was a gory affair that should be avoided at all costs. Even a vampire as peaceful as Atem would turn into little more than a rabid animal when starved; the bloodlust overriding any sense of humanity.

Not only was that something to be avoided, but he would be weak as a sick child by tomorrow.

The bars of the cell were wide enough for you to get your hand through, so, you pushed back the left sleeve of your shirt. He must not have suspected you to offer, because shock flashed in his eyes when you slipped your hand passed the bars and bore your wrist to him.

"Here," you had to clear your throat, the words having come out as little more than a whisper for some reason. "You need to eat, take some of my blood."

Shocked turned into something hard and almost pained as he took your hand and pushed it back towards the silver bars. "No. You've done more than enough for me as it is, I won't take your blood too." He flinched in pain as the silver burned him, his fangs flashing in reaction.

"It's alright, Atem." You pressed closer to the bars, pushing him back out of the silver's reach, but did not withdraw your hand from his grip. "I need you at full strength and it's not as if I don't know what I'm doing. I trust you, I know you won't take too much. Besides," a playful grin lifted your lips as you waved your right palm at him, the seal there visible even in the dim light, "it isn't like I'm helpless to stop you."

Honestly, all you really needed to do if your blood tasted too good, was jerk him hard enough to slam him against the bars and he'd let go of you on reflex from the burning if nothing else. You decided to keep that thought to yourself though.

Those eyes of his burned into yours, a silent way of asking if you were absolutely sure. When you answered back with unwavering certainty in your own gaze, his shoulders finally relaxed just a bit and he closed his eyes with a sigh.

He turned your hand so the inside of your wrist faced him and he lifted it slowly, as if giving you even more time to change your mind before the skin met his mouth. You took in a slow breath as his lips parted, revealing long, thin fangs just a second before they bit down. The slight sting was nothing, quickly being replaced with the curative lacing his fangs that numbed any piercing sensation, as well as the feeling of blood passing through the wound.

Even if vampire bites did hurt longer than that split second, Atem had a special kind of gentleness about him. He held your arm in a firm grip so that the instinct to pull away would not tear the punctures any larger, and you blushed when you realized that his thumb was running soothing circles along your forearm just below the bite.

You knew that some vampires survived by making pacts with humans or other fey, offering some kind of service in exchange for letting them drink small amounts of said partner's blood to survive. You had assumed Atem was one who chose animal blood over a human or fey host, but the way he handled you with such care made you reconsider that assumption.

Finally, cold air hit your wrist as he pulled back. Though, even more heat rose in your cheeks when you felt his tongue dart out to collect any blood that spilled before his curative healed the wound. The hand that had run so gently over your arm moved to cover the place he bit, though there wasn't even a scar or sign of wound at all now. When he looked up at you, the hands cupped over yours tightened just a bit.

"Your face is flushed- do you feel alright?"

In his worry, Atem tried to step closer to you, but the bars ensured his distance. You were quick to alleviate the guilt and shame taking his features.

"I'm fine, Atem. Not even light-headed." You paused a moment, making sure he didn't need any more reassurance, then asked, "Think it'll be enough to get you through the night?"

"Yes, more than enough." His mouth opened to say something else, but he must have thought better of it, because instead he only said, "Thank you. Now please, go get something to eat, it will prevent any fatigue or dizziness."

You actually scoffed at that, "I know how to handle blood loss, Atem." Indeed, the aftermath of a particularly nasty fight with a murderous werewolf came flooding back to you.

"Still, I've kept you down here too long. Get some rest and...again, thank you."

[shazyloren]

Praise The Deity

Summary:  Jon's new neighbour may just be the most sexually active person alive, which would be okay, if he hadn't had four hours sleep in four days hearing it. He's not happy, but there might be something he can do to punish her...

Notes: As you know, I am taking part in a challenge on tumblr by user @jonerysfics and @mhysaofdragons in which for seven days from Valentines day I am uploading a new one shot. The prompts have been provided and the stories have all been written and I gotta say you're in for a lot of Jonerys content.So Day 2, 15th February, which is when I'm uploading this, the prompt I chose was 'Hot Neighbour'. This is the story I came up with a while ago and was on my poll to do i had after the room. But it's hear and... it's hot.I really hope you enjoy, please leave kudos and comments if you do, it will mean the world!

Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17798669

---

That’s the fourth fucking man this week and it’s only Wednesday morning , he thinks as he throws the pillow over his head and prays to a deity that it’ll stop sooner rather than later.

He knows it’s useless in praying, he may as well be asking for Dragons to exist or for himself to suddenly be deaf and not have to hear a single thing. He didn’t have a problem with anyone getting their funk on, like do as you please. But his new neighbour was taking the piss.

His older neighbour had died after a particularly bad case of heroin addiction, and it was an awful thing to see them spiral out of control, but at least the man hadn’t been shouting that he was gonna edjaculate all over someone’s face every night.

It infuriated Jon.

People had no class these days, and it was easily shown.

He had only briefly seen the neighbour once, a small blonde girl who looked as if she’d murder anyone who looked at her incorrectly. But clearly he’d misjudged her to be a sex mad lunatic instead, unsure if he’d rather she’d just be a murderer.

‘God you’re so big’

That’s the last straw then, he doesn’t care if she’s in the middle of her greatest orgasm of all time, he was putting his clothes on and he was going over there and giving her a piece of his mind.

Chucking his bed pillow back onto the small and indented bed, careful not to accidently put his scrubs for work on instead, he throws a pair of jogging bottom and a thin grey shirt on in the dark. His eyes roll over the alarm clock.

3:47am.

Unacceptable, he had to be at work in less than two hours and he’d had about four hours of sleep in as many days. It wasn’t good, he’s had more sleep than this when he was on call during his first days at the hospital.

Sliding his feet into his grey slippers and feeling around for the light switch he flipped it and waited for his eyes to get used to the light. As he began to move again, he began walking into the kitchen to get a glass of water first off, he drank the glass in one gulp.

‘Oh god, I’m gonna cum, yes, oh baby’

He hated how thin the walls were, almost like rice paper and definitely more than happy to let him hear the ridiculous noises next door. He’s already complained about it to his brother on the phone, but the response he got was less than helpful and made him shudder to think.

Go join in , that had been his advice.

Jon had not had sex in the best part of two years, his job at the hospital had been his main focus and when he wasn't there, saving people’s lives, he was generally sleeping to catch up with the long hours he was doing. Well, until recently that was.

Right, that’s it, I’m going over.

Jon, with a fervour and resonance inside him, marches over to his front door and unlocks it with haste. As he opens the door, he hears them ‘finish’ for want for a better phrase. Jon slams the door behind him, key in his pocket so he could get back in and turns to face the door next to his. Someone down the hall, pokes their head out of the door, clearly having heard all what’s gone on.

He pulls his hand back and with a seething anger within him, slams his fist down three times on the door, loud and clear.

There’s a yelp and a shuffling behind the door, a prolonged silence follows which gives Jon the chance to calm himself down and remember to remain calm about the situation. Five minutes of sleep is all he’d had, if the woman knew, she’d be reasonable, surely.

The door opens in one long swing and standing there is not the woman he’d seen, but a man of similar height and build to Jon, a beard too. He’s wearing his jeans but not much else and his face is smug as if he knows why Jon is here.

“Can I help you?” The man puffs his chest out, two could play that game.

“Get your shit and get out” Jon snuffs, his anger rising. The man looks disgusted but when Jon glares daggers at him, he holds his hands up and takes a step back. “Go on, get out of here!”

The man scurries then and runs off to somewhere he doesn’t know. There’s a hushed discussion and an incredulous shout but sooner than Jon imagined, the same man came back into the room with his shirt on and darted past Jon out of the door. He watches him leave and then, his attention is drawn elsewhere

“Who the hell are you?” Now all he has to deal with is this fiery blonde he’d only seen once, who had just entered her hallway with a red, silk robe on and nothing else. She was short, but beautiful, and yet she was glaring at Jon like she wanted to take a spoon and scoop his eyeballs out for stepping foot into her home.

“Your neighbour, I think you forgot you had some” He comments offhandedly. “I don’t care if you’re having fun, making money or whatever the hell you’re doing with all these men at all hours in the morning-” He started, her face looking offended at the mere mention of her being a prostitute. “-but I am a nurse at St. Maegor’s Hospital and I have had five minutes of sleep tonight, and thirty the night before, and almost an hour the night before that because of your fucking antics! I have to be up in two hours, reckon you can keep quiet long enough for me to sleep?”

There was almost a flush of embarrassment that swept across her face, but it was only there for the smallest of moments. Jon noticed her eyes were purple, a colour he’d hardly ever saw in people. Her hair was also a really white shade of blonde, almost silvery in appearance.

“Tell me, neighbour, does me having lots of sex make you angry, because you’re not having any?” She asked, stepping closer to him, making him slightly uncomfortable.

This bitch, honestly.

“I’m angry alright, angry that you can’t keep your legs closed at three in the morning” He retorts, his words sizzling on the air. To his surprise she doesn’t yell or curse, she just laughs, a wicked glance in her eye.

“Keeping the legs closed is for boring people, sex is fun” She teased, her eyes assessing him, as if he was meat. Jon did not like that feeling. “You should try it some time”

“I save people, I have a fifteen hour shift tomorrow, I don’t need sex or anything else so trivial, I need sleep” He hammered his point home emphatically yet the power in the conversation shifted. She walked a couple of steps closer to him. “What are you doing?”

“Neighbour, wouldn’t you like to know what you’re missing out on?” She winked for all intents and purposes, Jon couldn’t believe how forward she was being, and he knew that he needed to get out of the apartment or things would get dangerous.

“No I don’t, just keep the noise down” He cut her off, a scathing remark as he left and marched over to her door, pulling it back and storming out of the room. The door closed behind him and he sighed in relief as the cool air blew over his face. Shaking his head from the strange confrontation, he unlocked his own door and stumbled his way through to his bedroom.

I fucking swear to god if she doesn’t let me sleep I’m going over there and gagging her with duct tape .

--

Jon’s shift at work was busy, so much so he didn’t end up getting home until 11pm. When he walked up the outdoor stairs to his floor, he saw the woman he so very much did not want to see, outside her door, looking miserable.

“Waiting for a customer?” Jon chortled.

“Very funny, arsehole” She snapped back to him, wrapping her cardigan around her tighter. “If you must know I’m locked out”

“Can’t say I feel sorry for you” He shrugged and opened his own door. “Let me know if you need water, I’ll be sure to bring it out to you in a dog bowl”

“You know what, Jerk, I’m sorry that you haven’t gotten any sleep because your horny for sex and all, but don’t fucking be a prick! You’re not the only person with a life here, you know?”

Jon didn’t care for anything the woman was saying. When you’ve had six hours sleep in four days you tend to not overly care at all.

Fucking everyone else can be quiet in the early hours in the morning, so you should too.

“You’d know about it, if I was horny for you” Jon smirked before slamming the door on her and throwing his keys into the bowl by the door.

He goes to making dinner and decides on something simple like Stir Fry. He slices peppers and onions and grabs bean sprouts from the tray in the fridge. He creates his own sauce and fries the chicken off first. The smell is incredible, and he’s definitely hungry when he hears his stomach rumble.

He soon realises however, he’s made far too much. Why did my father raise me to be a nice person? He thinks to himself and so, reluctantly, he sees if the woman is still there, waiting for the super to let her in. He opens the door, and she is in fact still there.

“What do you want?” She grumbled, her face a little pale from the cold and her body shaking.

“I was gonna make amends, but I’m not so sure now. I don’t think I should be letting someone freeze to death outside our apartments. Come on, I’m made too much dinner, do you want some?” He asks nicely, trying not to moan about the night before.

“What is it?” She asks.

“Chicken Stir Fry”

Is she going to come in or not?

“Fine, but only because it smells delicious” Jon, showing the women through the door and to his living room, brought her a bowl and poured the remaining into it. He then grabs his own from the kitchen and comes to sit back down with her.

He flicks the TV on.

“Fucking never anything on at this time of night” Jon grumbles.

“Are you serious?” She screws her face up. “Gay Paranormal Historian Truckers is on Channel Five at midnight and it’s the greatest thing since the invention of the wheel”

“What on earth is that show about?” Jon screws his knows up.

“Gay Historians Loras Tyrell and Renly Baratheon hunt ghosts in their large truck. Gay Paranormal Historian Truckers, duh” She shovels food in her mouth and Jon doesn’t know why the events that have occurred have led to this, but he’s annoyed.

Still, he flips over to Channel Five anyways.

‘Jesus, Loras, it’s behind you while you’re driving!’ One guy says to the other. ‘The fucking ghost of Henry VIII!’

‘Tell him we didn’t kill Jane Seymour!’ The other one replies. ‘Tell him we did kill Anne of Cleaves, spiritually, that was his least favourite wife!’

‘Loras we’re gonna drive off the road, ain’t no time for telling fibs!’

Suddenly, the girl next to him was howling with laughter as the two truckers on the screen manage to avoid a huge dip in the road and regain control of the truck.

Jon didn’t understand the appeal of the show, but after a 15 hour shift, he didn't care. It was entertainment nonetheless.

“I just realised I don’t know your name” She says out of the blue.

“Jon” He sighs, not wanting to be known as the jerk neighbour. “I’m surprised I don’t know yours given the thin walls”

“Oh I never give out my real name to strangers. It’s always Katy or Bethany or Sally” She laughed, a half snort which he had to admit was odd coming out of her mouth. “But it’s Daenerys, or Dany for short actually”

“Strange name” He commented.

“Strange gal” She pointed to herself.

“That I will agree on” He nodded.

“Shove off” She cheekily smiled.

What the hell is going on? Jon finds himself thinking. One moment he’s banging on this woman’s door cus she’s shagging loudly the next she’s in his living room and he’s cracking jokes with her.

“I didn’t mean for you to lose sleep” She admitted. “I respect you for having the balls to come over and yell at me”

“Well, I didn’t want to do it, but you left me with no choice” He shrugged. “I’m a senior Nurse, we’re responsible for people’s health. If I make one incorrect diagnosis, or administer the wrong drug, the results are damaging. Sleep means I’m focused”

“And I’m sorry” She puts a hand on his knew so he knows it’s genuine. “I’ve been through a rough patch and well there’s no excuse but I’m not generally like that”

“It’s fine, I don’t need to know. Like I said, I don’t care who you’re sleeping with just, be respectful of your neighbours”

She nodded, there’s a brief silence as they watch the show.

“You’ve been nice to me, maybe you should’ve been the one in my bed instead. Mother would definitely approve of you”

“Pfft, you wish” He jokes.

There’s a small nod between the two of them before they burst into laughter. Jon feels pleased about the outcome of this chat, and he had to admit, the show was quite entertaining in the end. He looked at the clock and saw it read half twelve, he really needed to be going to sleep, so he could be up at 5:30 for work.

“You can stay on the sofa if you want” He offered. “It’ll be too cold now out there”

“Thank you, I appreciate it” She smiled, picking up both bowls and taking them through to the kitchen, he guessed to save him doing it as he was going to the trouble of letting her stay over.

Jon switched the TV off and tidied up a little, a weird feeling on the air as he realised he’d be able to sleep without trouble that night, but also with the girl who had been the source of his troubles a room away. But as he got a blanket out of a cupboard, and placed it on the sofa for her.

It would’ve been fine if she hadn’t mentioned me being in her bed.

“So, there you go” He put his hands in his pockets and fumbled a bit. When she nodded he started to walk away, this uneasy feeling in his chest.

“Jon?” He hears behind her, almost seductive in tone but curious too. Jon curses himself that he turned around in that moment, but he did and she was looking at him like a woman hadn’t in a very long time.

“Yes, Dany?” He’s tired, but he knows what she’s going to ask. And if he’s honest with himself, he wants her too.

“Can I join you?”

There was a moment, where everything that had happened between the two of them in the past twenty four hours was a complete mess, forgotten, remembered, infuriating, calming. And stupidly, or not stupidly, his reply was sure.

“I think that can be arranged”

--

Her panties were still on but he didn’t let that stop him, nosing them out of the way and tonguing her sex, making low, growling noises in his throat like a big cat purring with pleasure while it devoured its prey. She was small, and sensitive and everything his sex drive was missing.

He teased her like there was no tomorrow, he wanted to make her suffer for the things she’d done with the others. He was slow in his licks, teasing in the flicker of his tongue. He wanted her to feel frustration and the overwhelming sensation of being so close to the edge.

He would take it away when she was close, he would hold that power over her. It was the wildness of it that got him going: the primal lust, the sheer needs of two people in heat, quickly finding ways to express their sacred hunger to each other in animal passion.

He was someone who had gone so long, finding the drive deep within and exposing it. She was in the thick of it, feeling no control over her hormones. It didn’t matter to either of them, they both had to do this.

Fuck, she tastes good.

“Mmm” It’s her first loud moan of the night and Jon wonders if his mind is going to have flashbacks, but somehow, hearing the girl come undone from his doing made the sound sweeter. “Yes, Jon, eat it”

A muffled response is what he gave her. “Say please”

This was a problem for them both, he could tell. This was a huge problem, and his assault on her cunt  wasn't about to make it any better. Her mouth was dry, but the words came out clear enough:

“Yes, please, Jon. Eat my pussy.” She opens her legs further, his fingers now holding her underwear to one side so he can fully eat this five course meal in front of him.

His eyes glance upwards and sees her, head back, hands on her breasts, squeezing her nipples tightly. Her skin is so smooth all over her, not just her legs and butt, she was an ongoing miracle of skin and lust and he wanted to bath in her every desire.

“I’m going to make you come so good, naughty neighbour” He growls almost, not recognising his own voice. She responds viscerally by leaning into his hand and mouth, wanting the ending he teased her about.

His tongue doesn’t need to work too much magic, midway through his assault on her cunt, she begins panting heavily and seconds after, gushes all over his mouth and hand. He’s shocked. “Ohhhh”

“Did you just have an orgasm, after hearing me talk about giving you an orgasm?” All she can do is sob in reply and Jon suddenly feels glad that he had the balls to go over to her apartment last night. “I think you just came ’cause I’m fingering your sweet pussy and talking dirty to you – you know why?”

“W-why?” She pants as Jon doesn’t stop, but increases his tempo.

“Because you’re so nuts for this. Aren’t you, baby girl? I can feel that hot little pussy clenching around my tongue every time I move a muscle or say a word – ohhhh, yeah. Yeah, arch your back so I can look at you going nice and tight around my fingers. You gonna do that around my cock?”

The noise that escapes his companions mouth is enough to categorise this night as the best he’s had in months. She’s giving in more, wanting more and he’s ready to give more.

Come for me, Dany.

She did, and it was glorious.

Jon licked as much of it up as he possibly could before the frenzy that was the removal of their remaining clothes. Jon’s cock sprang free and he swore he’d never been harder than the sight of this complicated and feisty woman writhing in ecstasy in front of him.

Seeing her in his bed, lying there breathless, she was the most beautiful creature he’d ever laid eyes upon, and for a moment, he wished he could keep her. But it was just sex, and so he’d make it the best sex the world had ever known.

“Daenerys, I give you permission to be as vocal as you wish from now on, because I am going to blow your mind in a few minutes and I want to hear how much you enjoy the ride.” He taunts her almost, a promise he was determined to keep. “We’ll see how those other men did a bad job  when I’m done”

“I want that” She hisses.

“Excuse me?” Jon’s cock was ready to enter her, his hands pushing her legs wide with authority and strength. She was still teasing her own nipples.

“Yes, please, I would like that” She moans.

“Better” And with that, he pushed his head inside her and went for the first thrust. The sensation was overwhelming, and in some way surreal. Despite her many male partners the past week, she felt tighter than he’d ever imagined. The way he felt inside her, as if he was meant to be inside her.

“Oh, Jon” She sighed, unprepared for the depth and pace he was going to give her. He was going to fuck her with the unchained, debauched craving of a man condemned to die at dawn, or at least one who had to get up early for work.

Jon had experience lust before, he’d had his fair share of uneventful evenings and decided to pick up a girl, he knew what good sex was and how to please a girl, but as he thrusted into this magnificent fair woman underneath him, as he watched her face contort with the throes of pleasure, he didn’t understand lust completely until now.

Jon goes deep inside her, as far as he can, until his stomach is touching hers, her legs spread as far as humanly possible. He slowly pulls out inch by inch and watches as she becomes hungrier to be whole again.

“Very good” He coos as she moans and thrashes beneath him. “You ready?”

She only mumble in reply, a small smirk on his face as he pushes into her with speed and back out again just as fast. For want of a better word, she screams to high hell. “Ohhhhh god!”

Pulling up a leg to sit on his shoulder, he holds it there with one hand, his other, he uses his thumb to circle her clit while he thrusts his hips quicker than ever. She’s slick and wet, oh how wet she actually is.

“You’re a bad girl, making me lose sleep, you know that” He growls with each thrust into her moist cunt. She’s crying in pleasure, tears running down her face. “Tell me, tell me how bad you are, Daenerys”

“So bad, so very bad ohhhh” She moans and groans and each syllable that comes out of her mouth is a motivator to thrust harder. “Punish me, do it Jon”

So, egged on by the girl under him, Jon slaps her pussy while he’s inside her and watches her come undone beneath him. She loves it, she’s a filthy whore for him and they both know it. He wants to fuck her pussy all night, he could do, to punish her for her bad behaviour. He slaps her there again. “Smack those pretty tits for me”

She does as she’s told and suddenly, this primal and controlling part of Jon, who’s hair was starting to get soaked from the heat the two of them were creating, erupted. “Again?” She asks after rubbing the place her titties were now red. “You want me to keep going?”

“Again, you naughty girl” He commands and she does, wincing as she does. The next once she lands, he also slaps her pussy at the same time, making her writhe in painful pleasure once again.

She’s getting wetter and it’s at this moment he knows she’s not lasting long. He lands five sharp slaps on her cunt in a row and watches for her reaction. “You gonna come for me again, neighbour?” She nods desperately. “Do you want to come?” Again she nods. “Of course you want to, you filthy whore”

He is both ecstatic and flabbergasted by how much of a needy, wanton slut he somehow has turned her into, who even after two shuddering orgasms, wants to experience a lot more, who craves another release.

She looks as if she needs to speak to him, but the power of words had once again deserted her. The pleasure was climbing, spiralling high and fast, taking them both by storm. Unable to hold back, he leaned forward and hands slipped to her tits. She clutched at him and he at her; sensation gathered there, in the very centre of her body and on his dick, the place he possessed so fully. Had she surrendered? He wondered as she screams louder and louder.

He watched as she closed her eyes and flung her head back. Release was close for them both. He could feel it coming, shivering throughout her body as she begins to tighten around him. He feels himself losing control as she shivers around his cock, gushing as she did. He kissed the arch of her throat.

"Dany" he said, his tone almost raw. "Oh gods, Dany"

Her nails bit into his shoulders as he pushed up into her for the last few thrusts. The walls of her channel contracted around him again, again and again and again, sending spasms of release hurtling through them both.

“Fuck” She whispers, as he creams inside her and they lay there in what was now the aftermath of their crazy sex.

He doesn’t move for a while, a bold and disgusting thought of making sure his swimmers punish her for the time she kept him awake passing through like a fleeting memory. He pulls out and instantly they both ache for one another again. His seed leaks out of her yet she is so immobile, frozen with sweat and disbelief at the orgasm they both had.

“So” He starts. “Are you gonna keep me awake again?”

“No, Sir” She sighs all flustered.

“Sir?” He grimaced slightly. “You make me feel old”

“Shut up, idiot” She gently smacked his arm, her chest rising and falling. She turns on her side, his cums still glistening in her cunt. “So” She then mimics him. “Round two?”

Well shit.

[numinex919]

After Crait - Chapter 3

Thank you once again to @raven-maiden​ for vetting the art for this chapter and assuring me it was fine (but then it is Adam ;) ). I’d also like to thank @greyforceuser for prompting me to post the link to this series on AO3 . . .

https://archiveofourown.org/works/14553561/chapters/33627462

Once again, I hope you enjoy. This scene is um NSFW. If smut offends you, then please keep scrolling and enjoy the other awesome Reylo stuff on Tumblr. :)

It’s been three days.

Ben tightens his lips and quickens his pace along the Finalizer’s corridor, as though he can outrun his thoughts and emotions.

It’s been three days.

And he can’t gain control over this—this obsession with a scavenger, a nobody, a—

Desert flowers, hot spice, silky skin, power and strength, softness and Light.

A wave of stomach-plummeting, breath-stealing need washes over him. It’s so overwhelming he starts to pant as his body hardens and rippling energy surges through him, lighting up every sense and nerve ending.

He’s peripherally aware that he’s come to a sudden stop in the middle of the corridor, forcing the two First Order officers behind him to baulk and sidle around him as fast as they can, lest they become the object of whatever has stilled him.

They needn’t worry that they carry enough importance to chase away the cause of his sudden halt.

That girl.

Nothing else, unfortunately, has such a claim.

She’s why he can’t focus properly on the interminable task of running the First Order and the galaxy. Why he can’t sleep, even though he’s exhausted beyond words.

Why he wakes constantly from feverish dreams of her touching his naked body with inquisitive fingers, even as her presence calms his fractured mind, and soothes his wounded soul.

He isn’t sure what is worse, the unbidden thoughts of quenching this insatiable lust between them, or the gut-wrenching rage and fear that Rey will seek to assuage her own newly-woken appetites with someone else.

Both send his mind spiraling like an out of control Tie fighter.

Mine! He screams it silently into the cosmos, willing the Force to hear and understand that she belongs to him and only him.

He shakes his head, clenching his hands into fists so tight the leather of his gloves bites into the skin.

I will not let this control me.

He resumes stalking along the hallway, but his hand itches unbearably for the feel of his ‘saber, the satisfying impact of it cleaving through the walls around him.

As though he can cut out this newfound want, destroy it by laying waste to his surroundings. Yet he knows very well that this won’t work.

No matter how much rage he vents, it isn’t taking away the moments when she sneaks into his mind and his breath hitches and he remembers her mouth on his, her hands on him, her shy thoughts of what she wants from him.

The soothing feel of her nearby when the Force opens the bond between them.

Where the fuck is she? It’s been three days and Force knows she’s been on his mind enough for a thousand moments of connection to occur.

Because isn’t this how it works? They think of each other, directly or even indirectly and the bond opens up, connecting them.

He stops again as a fresh thought slams into him like a stampeding Bantha.

Is she—is she blocking him?

He turns, slashing a hand through the air. No! She doesn’t have that level of training.

The reassurance feels empty. She’s so very powerful in the Force, and who knows what Skywalker taught her?

Fresh rage whips through him like a solar storm and the urge to slash and cleave burns yet again. His lightsaber springs to his hand—ignites—hissing and spitting, attuned to his out-of-control thoughts.

He adjusts his grip and a sudden memory flashes across his consciousness.

Rey adjusting her grip on his ‘saber as Snoke taunts her. Her emotions snapping through the Force, and all he can think of is how stunning she is with his weapon snarling in her grip, painting her face with red—the colour of power, blood . . . lust.

His body clenches and his breath catches again. So awesome to behold, he hadn’t even minded that his Kyber crystal had answered to her call.

A faint noise wrenches him from his thoughts. He focuses on his surroundings and realises he’s come to a stop outside his quarters. He flicks his ‘saber off and reattaches it to his belt.

There are people watching. First Order personnel and a squad of stormtroopers have all come to a halt, like nervous game, waiting for the predator’s next move.

Without deigning to glance around, he punches the entry code and strides into the privacy of his rooms.

Closing his eyes, he takes a few deep breaths, struggling to calm the swirling emotions without using his ‘sabre. He’s already done thousands of credits worth of damage in the last few days, no need to add to the cost. The destruction doesn’t help any more anyway.

Sweat slides between his shoulder blades and prickles along his forehead. He strips off his gloves and jacket, undershirt, boots—suddenly he’s ripping his clothes off like a madman.

He stands naked and panting, a glance down assures him he’s not imaging the jutting thrust of his body.

The ‘fresher. Perhaps cold water over his heated flesh will help? He’s aware of the sweat drying uncomfortably on his skin.

Ignoring the stiff heaviness between his thighs, he stalks into the ‘fresher unit. Grabbing some cleansing gel from the dispenser, he lathers it and struggles to keep his mind empty of thought. The familiar, rhythmic task of cleansing his body helps.

Until he comes to the most intimate part of him, which even the calmest thoughts have failed to make subside.

Gritting his teeth, he perfunctorily rubs his soap-slippery grip over the thick length. The contact makes him hiss in a breath between parted lips as he almost doubles over, his gut clenching, blood hot in his veins.

Rey slides into his mind and suddenly the touch is hers and the soapy gel is desert flowers and it’s so good, that slow stroke, right to the tip, over it, then back down, all the way.

Fuck. Another hissing breath whistles out of him. His spine arches, the back of his head slams into the wall of the ‘fresher. A moan chokes out of him as he thrusts into the slippery grip and Rey fills his awareness completely.

The overwhelming sensation of touching his body this way makes him half-crazed as he continues to imagine it’s Rey’s small palm riding the steel-covered silk of his erection.

The twin weights beneath tighten and he can sense the seed ready to shoot from him. Logically he knows what is about to happen, but it has never happened before, so now he is running off instinct too.

Blood roars in his ears and he sucks in a breath. So close. He can feel it, rising in him, pulling at him in the same way the Light pulls at his soul, but this is far more primal, earthy. Real.

He opens his eyes. He wants to watch, though he knows he’ll see his own fingers, rather than the one he wants.

His gaze flicks to his busy hand. He is briefly surprised at how angry red the tip of his shaft is against the paleness of his clenching fingers. Grunts are wrenched from his lungs as he works himself.

He is right on the edge, about to slip off when something tugs at his awareness. He shoots a glance up.

For a stunned moment, as his body hangs in the space between what feels like the most sublime death and cresting ecstasy, he is certain he is imagining Rey, standing in front of him.

“Rey.” He barks her name on the back of a guttural snarl. His culmination roars through him and creamy seed spills from him. He sucks in a shuddering breath. Never losing eye contact.

And he realises then in a blinding flash that he wouldn’t imagine her expression.

Her mouth is hanging open, eyes wide and fixed on his body with a mixture of shock, embarrassment and the faintest hint of arousal.

She is holding a data file, as though about to put it down on something in front of her. After the first split second she jerks, as though recalled to her surroundings by something or someone else.

His breath is sawing in his throat, his body is strangely limp, yet his brain manages to finally process the fact that the Force has chosen to open the bond between them.

Rey has actually just witnessed him stroking his body to completion as her name is wrenched from between his clenched teeth.

In all of his imaginings, and he has imagined plenty of moments in which they are connected once again by the Force, this situation has never crossed his mind.

He’s so undone he can’t even raise the energy to cover himself. Humiliation fights its way through the satiation filling his body and he prays that rage will follow and save him from the emotion and the heat he can feel touching his cheeks.

Instead, shock forces a choked sound from his throat as he suddenly senses another presence within the Force, intimately familiar and standing right next to Rey.

Is that his . . . is that his mother?

* * * Hux turns away from the Finalizer’s surveillance monitors and he can’t contain the twitch to his lips as satisfaction fills him, heating his blood and putting a spring in his step.

Ren’s behaviour in the corridor smacks of insanity . . . Stopping and gazing into nothing as though seeing something no one else can. Igniting his primitive weapon as though he’ll carve his way into his private quarters instead of using the door like a rational person. One would never guess he ruled a galaxy.

Ren had proven a surprisingly adept leader, managing the business of the First Order well enough. Albeit without the harsh retribution Hux couldn’t help but feel was useful in keeping certain elements in line.

He’d admit he underestimated the gravitas the black-clad Force-user possessed as he strode into a room full of nervous system representatives.

Ren used far more diplomacy than Hux thought necessary, but he had to admit one savage glance from that scarred visage was enough to send the most insubordinate former senator scurrying for cover.

Thankfully the out-of-control behaviour he’d exhibited in the appalling defeat on Crait hadn’t reared its head again. At least when the Supreme Leader was in company.

The hallways, control and training rooms of the Finalizer were a different matter—especially in the last few days. But that was par for the course.

At least Ren had remade some of the ground lost in the encounter on the salt planet, despite the stories painting Skywalker as some kind of mythic hero.

The Resistance might have escaped, but their numbers were negligible and he was confident that scum would be scoured from the galaxy soon enough.

While Ren appeared disinterested in ensuring the Resistance was wiped out absolutely, Hux had made his first order of business to discover the whereabouts of those Silurian rodents.

He suspected they were hiding somewhere in the Outer Rim systems and had deployed spies throughout that area of the galaxy. Sooner or later intel would become available and the First Order would sweep in with merciless efficiency.

He’d allowed himself one minor distraction from eradicating that filth—demanding the live capture of the pilot known as Poe Dameron. Hux had a personal score to settle there and when he was done, the Resistance scum wouldn’t even recognise his own name.

Of course Ren must remain in the dark as to the Resistance’s whereabouts. Despite his apparent dismissal of them, it wouldn’t do to risk a repeat of Crait.

His insane behaviour onboard the Finalizer was useful, though Hux couldn’t decide whether the current Supreme Leader should be condemned as a madman or tried for his treasonous act of killing Supreme Leader Snoke.

In some ways, it was unfortunate that Ren would eventually outlast his usefulness, but he was a danger to the continued might of the First Order, and to Hux’s own ambitions.

Soon enough there would be a new Supreme Leader and then the entire galaxy would quake at the sound of one name only.

[50funny]

Mage: Chapter 54- Something Fishy Afoot

Part 1-An Entrance in Every Town

A cold sharp breeze came flying through the empty city streets, sending shivers down Liz, Bip and Alex spines. They stood outside a small rundown looking shack. Liz looked over her shoulder making sure that no one was sneaking up on them in the darkness.

“why would they build this place in such a bad part of town, this place gives me the creeps,”

“That’s just because its night time, don’t be such a wuss. Come on let's get a move on,” Alex said as he walked off towards the rundown building

Liz and Bip followed Alex up the rickety staircase, the floorboards letting out loud squeaks under there feet. They reached the front door. Alex raised his fist to the door and lightly tapped it against it sending it creaking quietly open. Alex pushed the door the rest of the way open and walked inside the building followed behind by Liz and Bip. The room inside was dimly lit and just as run down the outside of the building. It was quite and seemed completely devoid of any life.

“Ahh… Hello?” Liz said loudly.

“Guess no one’s home,” replied Bip.

Without warning a young lady popped up from behind the counter running along the back wall.

“Huh… what, who’s there,” the lady said in a groggy voice as she rubbed her eyes.

“Ummm… hi, We’re Mage’s with the guild and are looking for some information?” Alex said as he approached the counter.

The Lady looked up to the group seeming to fill back up with energy as their eyes made contact.

“Oh, You’re Alex, Liz, and Bip, right? It’s great to see you again,” she said in a cheery voice.

Alex and Liz turned to look at each other in confusion for a second before turning back to look at the women, scanning her face to try and remember where they could have met her before. Liz walked forward to join Alex in front of the counter.

“Sorry miss but have we met before?”

“Hehe… not surprised you don’t remember me… I’m not particularly memorable after all. I'm Mia, I met you at the Guild building when you first started your Guild test.”

“Oh yeah I remember you now,” Liz replied as it clicked.

“Why are you all the way out here?” asked Alex.

“What do you mean? All the guild building locations are linked to this building. Now you said you needed some information?”

Liz, Alex, and Bip all approached the counter.

“Yeah, we were looking to see if any jobs have been posted from steel lake city? It’ll be something about dealing with a curse or something,” Alex said as he leaned onto the counter.

Mia raised her hand to her chin and began to scratch as she looked down to the ground in thought. “Hmm, I don’t think I’ve seen anything like that come through recently, though I don’t have access to the files so I couldn’t say for sure,” Mia replied, looking back up to the group.

“And who does have access to the files then?” Asked Liz.

“Only the guild leaders can, I think some of them are in at the moment, here follow me.”

Mia turned and walked to the edge of the counter and pulled up a small hatch and walked out into the main area. She walked over to a door in the back corner followed behind by the rest # of the group. She grabbed the handle and pushed the door open filling the room with a blinding light.

Part 2- Familiar Faces

Liz, Alex, and Bip covered their eyes as the light filled the room, as the sound of hundreds of people chatting boisterously and having a good time entered their ears. They looked up into the room to see the guildhall with mages sitting around at every table drinking and partying.

“They should be in here somewhere, come on follow me,” Mia said as she walked into the hall.

The group followed Mia into the hall, looking around at all the sights around them.

“It didn’t seem this busy last time,” said Bip.

“You where here on a weekday, the weekends are a whole different story,”

The group turned to walk up the staircase leading to the second level. It was a lot less populated then the lower levels and the groups sitting around seemed much more reserved.

“Oi shorty, over here,” Came a familiar voice from the corner of the room.

Alex, Liz, and Bip looked to where the voice had come from to see a table surrounded by four people. Three female figures sat facing away from them with a large tan man staring back at them holding an enormous half-full pint of beer in his hand. Alex scanned the man's face before realizing who it was.

“4? That was your name right?” Alex said as he walked over to the table.

“That’s the name kid.”

The three women turned around revealing the familiar faces of 8, 2 and 5 all grinning back at them.

“You should have told us you where all coming, we would have saved a seat for you,” said 2 as she turned around.

The rest of the group made their way towards the table.

“How have you guys been… it’s been ages, heard you got into some trouble in Sol Dantol?” asked 5.

“Ha… as if we would ever get into trouble,” Bip replied sarcastically.

“So what are you guys here for?” 8 asked as she leaned in to take a sip from the cup in front of her.

“We wanted some information on a job that’s supposedly been posted from the Steal lake city, something about a curse?” Liz chimed in.

8, 5 and 2 all looked at each other for a moment, uncertain of what to make of the group's question.

“Doesn’t ring any bells, let me check the archives fo…” 2 said before being cut off.

“I'll tell you… but first,” 4 said as he slammed his arm down on the table, holding his hand up towards Alex and smiling a cheeky smile. “How bout you go me in an arm wrestle, you did pretty well last time and I wanna see just how much strength you’ve gained on your little adventure.”

Alex and 4 glared each other off, a serious ora overtaking the both of them. 5 swiftly raised her hand up before sending it flying forwards into 4 head, launching his head slamming down violently into the table.

“You idiot… since when do we make someone win an arm wrestle for information?” 5 scolded.

“Ow… what the hell, that hurt.”

“It doesn’t look like any jobs like that have been posted,” said 2, drawing the group's attention back to her.

She looked down at her phone intently and scrolled down the screen. She looked back up to the group.

“Are you sure that a job like that’s been posted?” she continued.

“That’s what we’re trying to figure out,” said Liz.

“Is it possible someone’s already taken the job?” Alex asked.

2 shook her head as she looked back down to her phone and continued to search.

“Even if a job's been completed it would still appear in the archives, if it’s not here then it’s never come through the guild.”

Liz and Alex turned to look at each other, giving each other a look of an acknowledgment as their suspicions where confirmed. 2 looked back up to the group.

“What’s all this about anyway? Whys this job so important?” asked 8.

Alex and Liz continued to look at each other for a moment before uncomfortably shifting their gaze to 8.

“Ahhh… well…” Alex muttered as he rubbed the back of his head awkwardly.

“Let me guess… it’s best for us if we don’t know right? I swear you’re exactly like you’re father,” 2 said.

Alex tried to hold back, letting out the slightest of grins.

“Anyway… we should get going, now, we’ve got stuff to do,” Alex said, returning to his serious disposition.

Alex turned and walked off back the way they had come. Liz glanced back as Alex walked off before turning back to the guild leaders in front of her. She raised her hand up and waved slightly.

“Guess that my cue to leave, it’s been great catching up with you all,” Liz said before lowering her hand and following off in Alex steps.

Part 3- Long Walk Home

Liz, Bip, and Alex walked down the now completely dark and devoid of life streets. Alex's mouth began to peel open widely as his eyes closed. He raised his hand up covering his mouth as he continued to yawn.

“Damn… I don’t think I’ve ever seen you tired late at night,” Teased Liz.

“Shut up, it’s been a long day ok,” Alex mumbled through his yawn.

“It was nice to catch up with all those guys from the guild, it’s easy to forget how out of the loop we’ve been doing our own stuff the past through months,” Bip added.

The group continued to walk down the street in silence. Liz turned to look at Alex.

“So what do you think… you know, about this whole curse thing?”

Alex looked away in thought for a second.

“I don’t know, something’s going on here but I don’t think it’s a curse. All I know for sure is that someone wants to cover something up by pretending to be hiring mages to sort it out.”

“So what do you wanna do? We could always just ignore it and go back to searching through the rubble of the building.”

They walked a few steps in silence before Alex cracked a slight smile.

“Ha… as if, I’m invested now,” Alex replied.

Liz returned a similar smile back at him.

“That’s what I thought. so what now, where do we go from here.”

“Well first we should get back to the dojo and get some sleep,” Alex replied stifling another yawn. “Then in the morning, we should go find that man that guy at the cleanup site mentioned who’s kid was taken. I got a feeling he’ll be able to help us out.”

Liz lifted her arms up above her head as she followed in Alex lead and let out a yawn.

“Sleep huh… sound like a plan to me.”

The grouped walked off through the darkness, ready for a long night's rest.

________________________________________________________________

Thank you for reading chapter 54 of mage. If you like what you see consider checking out my AO3 at this link https://archiveofourown.org/users/50Funny to see all new chapters 3 days early. If you feel so inclined please consider following my tumblr for all updates and other tid bits. Until next time , have a good day.

[juniperhillpatient]

Be Careful who you make friends with on Tumblr ~Creepypasta~

Listen to it with creepy sound effects and images included HERE 

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

  The last time I used Tumblr I was a sophomore in high school and Tumblr was my escape from the world in which I was a socially anxious, overweight girl with freckles and oversized glasses. On the blue screen with a username of my choice I could be as loud and crass as I wanted. I could talk about horror movies, metal music, and serial killers with those who shared my passion for the bizarre and terrible, without the sideways glances that said: “What a creep she is, she wastes her life daydreaming of death.”  

I deleted the app and never looked back when I began dating a cheerleader and was accepted into a semi cool group of friends early in eleventh grade.

        Four years of college later I was living in Columbus working at the Center for Science and Industry. The catch was that the job was in the gift shop, as a cashier. My relationships with my coworkers didn’t extend beyond a friendly nod or wave, except perhaps Sarah who worked in public outreach and sometimes at lunch with me.

        I knew what everyone back home in Cincinnati would say if they knew where I had ended up. I could hear the echo of my relatives and high school friends saying “Olivia dear we did warn you a degree in liberal arts wouldn’t get you very far.”

Stubborn as always, I had added on my Facebook page that I worked at Cosi, but not which department. It was a vague, half lie. I hoped people pictured me living in a nice apartment with lots of friends having wine tastings and talking about how posh we all were for working at such a prestigious institute.

        I lived in a studio apartment. The electric and water were turned off on a regular basis. I’d be damned if anyone at home ever found out the truth of my pathetic existence.  

If I had to see my high school girlfriend Karen’s coy look of faux sympathy as she listened to me talk about my electric being shut off, I would hope for her fancy stereo to fall in the bath with her as she sat sipping her expensive wine. If I had to witness the slow shaking of my parent’s heads, I might just go insane and rip their lungs out.  

        It was as I lay on my tiny mattress without a frame listening to the scurrying of rats in the walls that I opened my lap top and typed in Tumblr.Com. I wanted back into the community of weirdos on the blue website often referred to by its tired users as a hellsite because of the millions of bots, viruses, and uneducated opinions that populated the forums.

        I recreated my blog with the same username I had used in high school, liv-firefly. After following several blogs, I settled to scrolling my dash and reblogging facts about Ted Bundy and images of my favorite scream queens from eighties slashers. I was excited when the notification popped up that someone had followed me.

My heart sank when I checked the blog’s username. It was just a bunch of random numbers and letters. A bot, most likely, I thought. Still, half hopeful that I might make a friend, I clicked on their blog.

        As the site redirected, I jumped a little when sound began blasting. I hurried to turn down my volume, cringing as I remembered that some people set up their themes to play music when you clicked their blog. Well, I thought, at least that’s a good indication they aren’t a bot.

        The music itself sounded nothing like anything I had ever heard before. It wasn’t a genre I could place. In fact, it was more like an uncomfortable buzzing sound. I supposed it was probably some weird indie shit the user was into. Once my volume was down to only one notch, I began scrolling the blog.

        The user had a title, but no bio. The title read “Leviticus 17:7.” I opened a new tab and copy and pasted their title into the search bar. My heart jumped as the screen of my computer went completely black. Words appeared in blood red across the screen, and the strange buzzing from the blog began playing at full volume.

“And they shall no more offer their sacrifices unto devils, after whom they have gone a whoring. This shall be a statute forever unto them throughout their generations.”

As fast as the screen had turned black, it lit up and switched to a normal screen, websites focused on bible verses showing up as search results in one tab and the blog I was looking at in the other. The sound was back to a low volume.

I clicked back over to the blog, thinking that this must be some sort of set up they had with their blog so when you copy and pasted their title, the screen went black and the bible verse popped up. I smirked.

“Clever,” I muttered aloud. Their blog was mostly black and white pictures of cemeteries, strange symbols, and images of dead girls.

        There was an image of a girl hanging from a noose, a girl dead in an alley, a girl’s body left behind in a forest to rot. I reblogged a few of the unsettling images. It was sort of odd that I didn’t recognize any of the girls from movies, and the user didn’t use tags to identify them. I had seen more gore flicks than I could count, so it seemed logical I would recognize at least a few. Still, I didn’t think much of it. Maybe the user was into indie movies which not many people had seen.

        I fell asleep with the blog open and when I woke up the next morning the odd, buzzing music was still playing, soft and low. I shut my lap top, but the buzzing didn’t stop. Annoyed, I headed to the kitchen to start some coffee, rubbing my eyes. Maybe the sound was stuck in my head from having it play all night.         I sipped my coffee and the sound didn’t go away. Irritated, I went to the bathroom and grabbed two aspirin which I swallowed with a glass of water before hurrying to get dressed and leave for work. On the drive to work I played my radio loud, but it didn’t drown out the buzzing in my head.

        It was like my mind was filled with hornets, hornets that couldn’t be still. I went through my day being as polite to customers as I could despite my pounding head.

        “But they honored this coupon last time,” insisted an old woman with a creaking voice, holding up a crumpled coupon from five years ago which she wanted to use to buy a pack of gun that was only a dollar seventy-five to begin with.

        “Yes ma’am,” I said. “That would be because last time you hadn’t used it before. Unfortunately, you can’t use the same coupon twice.” I was working to keep my voice steady all while I fantasized about wrapping my fingers around her ugly, wrinkled, neck. Her gray eyes were filled with the kind of rage only a baby boomer whose coupon couldn’t be honored was capable of.

        “I would like to speak to your manager,” she snarled. I sighed.

        “Ma’am any supervisor I send you to will tell you the same thing.”

        “This is ridiculous!” she trilled. “I’ve been coming here for twenty-five years!” Here’s hoping you don’t live another twenty-five, I thought.

        “Again, I apologize for any misunderstanding,” I said in my most calm customer service voice. “Other people are waiting in line, so I’m going to have to ask that you either purchase something or leave.”         Snarling and grunting, the old woman limped away, leaning against a hooked cane. I entertained the satisfying image of her stumbling and tripping onto her cane so that the hooked end was slammed down her throat and crashed into her skull. She left the store still mumbling curses to herself.

        When I got home to my apartment I made myself some ramen noodles and poured myself a cheap glass of wine. So, I thought, this is what I’ve come to. Headaches, crappy dinners, and hours of scrolling Tumblr.

        I lay down in bed and opened Tumblr. The buzzing in my head hadn’t stopped so I felt silly for returning to the site that had caused it. Still, I was hopeful that I might make some friends to make my pathetic life a little less lonely.

        I glanced at my follow count and was a little disheartened to see that I still had only one follower. I looked at my notifications and was surprised to see that I had a message. It was from my solitary follower, the blog with a username made up of random numbers and letters.

        I clicked the message. They had sent me a post. I clicked the post and it took me to their blog. I froze.

        The post was an image of my face. I was laying on my side staring at the camera. My heartbeat accelerated as I stared at the image, realizing that it had been taken by the webcam on my lap top.

        I jumped when my phone buzzed, slamming my laptop. Picking my phone up, I saw that the caller ID read “Mom.” I groaned before swiping my finger across the screen to answer. In the moment between speaking and swiping across the phone, I realized that the room was silent. The buzzing was gone.

        “Hello?” I said.

        “Hi Olivia,” she said in her best ‘not mad, just disappointed’ mom voice.         “Hi mom,” I said.  

        “Olivia dear, I called Cosi and asked about you.”

        “Did you?” I grumbled.

        “Sweetheart, why didn’t you tell us you worked in the gift shop?” I cursed in my mind. I could just see her shaking her head.

        “I don’t know, Mom,” I said.  

        I wondered how she found out, but answered my own question before wondering for long. She could be quite convincing when she used her sweetest mom voice. It was a soft, worried tone which was only ever heard by people she wanted something from and never by me.

        After hanging up with her I felt the tears coming. I punched the wall, causing my fist to ache. I flopped down on my bed and let the anguish of the past couple months out in a sob. My shitty apartment, my shitty job, the angry customers, my mom’s disappointment, my creepy Tumblr stalker, it was all crashing down on me at once.

        I cried myself to sleep and when I woke up my phone was buzzing. I glanced down to see that it was Karen. I stared at the vibrating phone for several seconds before answering. Karen hadn’t called me in years. Our parents were good friends so it was impossible to avoid each other altogether after our messy high school breakup, but calling each other on the phone to chat?

I glanced at the red numbers on my alarm clock. It was three in the morning. She wasn’t calling to chat.

        I swiped my finger across the phone. “Hello?” I asked, groggy.

        “Liv?” Karen’s voice broke. I sat up straight, suddenly wide awake.

        “Karen, what’s wrong?” I asked.

        “Liv, I thought I should be the one to tell you,” she said. “Last night there was a break in at your parents’ place.”

        “A break in?” I asked, panicking. “What happened? Are they okay?”

        “Liv…” she trailed off, her voice heavy with tears.

        “Karen tell me what happened!” I yelled into the phone, my heart pounding.

        “Liv, they’re gone. I’m so sorry.”

        “No,” I said. “What do you mean they’re gone? They can’t be. What happened?”

        “You don’t need to know the details sweetie,” she said, her voice filled with the rich girl snobbery and grating pity she had always aired so well.    

        “Karen tell me what the hell happened to my parents!” I said.  

        “Liv…It’s horrible. Someone ripped their lungs out. The police aren’t releasing details yet, but I’m the one who…” she began to cry softly, and I hated her. I hated her for being allowed to cry, for feeling sorry for herself, for telling me this horrible news. It wasn’t logical, but I needed somewhere to direct the fury and horror surging through my blood. “Liv, I found them. It was so horrible.” I didn’t know what to say. I couldn’t move, couldn’t speak. This had to be a dream, some horrible nightmare. “The police will probably call you in a few hours,” Karen said. “I just wanted you to hear it from a familiar voice first.” She paused. “Liv sweetie, do you want to talk?”

        “No,” I managed through thick lungs. “I just…I need to process this.”

        “Okay,” Karen said. “I’ll call you tonight.” She hung up the phone and I was left sitting there with the phone with no one on the other end against my ear, staring into the shadows of my dark apartment.

        The next night after talking to the police and concerned relatives on the phone all day I lay back in bed staring at the ceiling. Their lungs had been ripped out. That’s all I could keep thinking. That was the very thing I had wished upon them in my private moment of annoyance. I tried to shake away the horrible feeling that this was somehow my fault, chanting phrases like ‘survivor’s guilt’ and ‘shock’ to myself but I couldn’t shake the awful clenching feeling in the pit of my stomach.

        I opened Tumblr to scroll and the first image I came across was of a blonde girl dead in her bathtub, her skin raw and bloody. It was a post from the creepy user who had sent me the picture of myself. Not wanting to see anymore death or gore for the night, I closed the lap top.

        After calling off work for bereavement I made the two-hour commute home. During the drive, I kept imagining that I heard that awful buzzing from my creepy Tumblr stalker’s blog. When I finally arrived in town I decided to stop by Karen’s house.

        I regretted my immediate feelings of anger towards her. After all, she had been trying to be kind by calling me before the police did. Besides, I could only imagine how horrible it must have been for her to find them like that.

        Pulling into Karen’s driveway, I felt sick imagining the scene she must have walked in on. How must it look when someone’s lung were ripped out? Who could do such a thing?

        I made my way to the front door and knocked. No answer. I knocked again. Still no answer. I knocked louder. Nothing.

        I turned the knob and gave the door a small push. It opened and I walked into Karen’s hallway. I felt a familiar flicker of resentment towards the expensive paintings hanging on her walls, the fancy woodwork of her stairs, the smell of flowers from outside rather than rat shit and Frebreze like my apartment.

        “Karen?” I called. No answer. I made my way up the stairs. “Karen, are you home?” I called.

        As I reached the top of the stairs I heard running water coming from the bathroom. So, she was running herself a bath, as she so often did. I smiled a little, remembering what her shampoo commercial hair looked like against her bare shoulders, and what her soft, perfect skin had looked like naked. There was a reason I’d fallen for her in high school. Watching her prancing around with the cheerleading squad, I had not been sure if I wanted to have her, or be her. Maybe both.

        “Karen?” I called, knocking on the bathroom door. There was nothing. No answer. I felt my heartbeat racing. Was something wrong? I began pounding on the door.

        When I still didn’t get an answer, I turned the knob. It wasn’t locked. I took a deep breath, and pushed the door opened.

        It took a moment for me to realize that the sound piercing the air was my own, anguished scream. I fell to my knees, my mouth wide but no sound escaping anymore. The water was running.

        In the bathtub, lay Karen. Her perfect skin was raw and bloody, ripped form her body to reveal muscle and bone. Her stereo was in the tub with her, still plugged into the wall. I stumbled backwards, the rational part of my brain realizing that if I stepped into the flooded bathroom I was liable to meet the same fate as Karen.

        Sobbing, I fell backwards into my hands. Her pink lips were open just a little and her wide blue eyes were bloodshot and stared emptily up at the ceiling. Bile rose in my throat tasting of sickness.

        Somehow, in my shock and horror I realized what I had to do. I pulled out my phone and dialed nine-one-one. I explained to the operator what I had walked in on, and gave Karen’s address through my sobs. She stayed on the phone with me as she sent dispatch over. There wasn’t much to say, but she did her best to keep me calm.  

        When the paramedics arrived, they wrapped a blanket around me even though I wasn’t cold and walked me outside. I was hyperventilating, unable to breath. I didn’t say it, but all I could think was that this was the second time a horrible wish I’d made in a moment of anger had come true. What was happening to me? Was I doing this? If so, how was I doing this?

        A burly officer in his fifties was kind enough to drop me off at my hotel. I wished I could stay at my childhood home instead, but it was of course part of a police investigation. I checked in at the front desk and took the elevator up to my room.

        Once in my room, I collapsed into the bed feeling sick with horror and guilt. I jumped when my phone began vibrating in the bed beside me. I picked it up and saw that an unknown number wanted to facetime. I had no desire to be on camera or speak to anyone, so I threw the phone across the room.

        It hit the wall with a crash, and the screen broke. I didn’t care. It was the least of my worries. As soon as it stopped ringing, it started again. I climbed out of bed and walked across the room to pick it up. It was an unknown number again, requesting to facetime.

        I swiped my finger across, planning to tell whoever it was that I couldn’t talk right now.

        When I saw the image on the other end my heart dropped into my stomach. It was the old lady from the gift shop whose coupon wouldn’t work. She was being videotaped from the side as she walked across her kitchen, leaning against her hooked cane.

        With a surge of horror, I remembered the dark fantasy I had entertained when I watched her leaving the store. I knew what was going to happen next, and some part of me knew there was nothing I could do about it.

        “Look out!” I screamed. Nothing. The old woman didn’t even look up. “Please,” I whispered as a sob welled in my throat. “Please don’t hurt her, I didn’t mean it. I didn’t mean it. I didn’t mean it.” I repeated the words as if whoever was on the other end videotaping the old woman would care, as if they had compassion.

        The old woman slipped. I screamed as she fell forward, the cane twisting in her hand. The hooked end slammed into her mouth and blood poured from her wrinkled lips as she fell forward. The cane crashed through the back of her head and I heard the crack of her skull. Red and pink ooze formed around the black cane staining her greying hair.

        The screen went black. I stared at it, my hands shaking uncontrollably. I shook the phone to no avail. I threw it at the wall and it fell to the ground with a dull thud.

        “No!” I screamed into the empty hotel room. “This isn’t fair,” I sobbed. “This isn’t what I wanted. I didn’t mean it!”

        As I fell to the ground, shaking, an awful realization hit me. This wasn’t going to end. This would continue happening. Whatever force was doing this would not give up.

        “Then take me,” I whispered, wondering if I was going insane or speaking to some unspeakable evil which could hear me no matter how softly I spoke. Perhaps it could even hear my thoughts. “Don’t take anyone else,” I said. “Take me. Tear me apart. Claw me to bits. Rip my heart out!” I let out a shaky laugh that was more of a sob. “I don’t want anyone else to get hurt. It ends with me.”

        A soft buzzing sound filled the room.

[phanarchy-blog]

Always

Words: 2,886

Warnings: angst, aggression

Dan and Phil have been raising their daughter Emmy Louise perfectly well for a few years now, but then she’s thrown into the spotlight. What will happen when Dan and Phil can’t agree on how to protect her?

Part 4 of a series which starts with The End of All Things! Can be read separately but for the full experience, follow the link above!

Dan gazed fondly as Emmy ran up to Phil and lifted her arms up high.

“You can say it. Use your words,” Phil said gently, putting the wooden spoon down and stepping away from the sauce pot on the stove.

“Up!” Emmy cheered in a small voice. Phil smiled at her and lifted her to his waist, resting her on his cocked-out hip and letting her look into the spaghetti sauce. He kept a hesitant watch, being sure no bubbles popped at her.

“Remember Emmy,” Dan called from his seat at the table. “After dinner it’s play time, and then we’ll tuck you into bed. Then if you need something you have to go to daddy because I’ll be working, okay?”

Emmy took a second to process it all, and then nodded. “Okay, Dad.” Dan grinned widely. She’d only just learned how to put together sentences, and even though it was a short one, he couldn’t imagine being more proud.

Phil lifted Emmy off his hip and set her down on the floor. “Now run along and play, this is almost done.” Emmy ran off, and Phil smiled at Dan, “How did I get so lucky?”

“Well, she’s half you,” Dan replied.

“Yeah, she’s also half you,” he said. “Which is a good thing. I just realized that made it sound like that’d make her worse, but I think that’s why she’s so great.”

Dan stood up and crossed the room to meet his husband, wrapping his arms around his waist and pulling him close. “You know, I’m pretty lucky myself.” He kissed him softly, letting himself feel it in his chest.

Dan closed his copy of “House at Pooh Corner” and peeked above it to see Emmy had fallen fast asleep. Phil looked down at his watch.

“Time for your live show?” he asked.

“Yeah, I’ll be cutting it close,” Dan replied. “I’ll meet you in bed in an hour.” Dan winked, only half joking.

They took turn kissing Emmy on the head, and grasped hands as they left her room, holding on for as long as they could while parting directions.

Dan entered the office and, browser already open to YouNow, hit the “Go Live” button.

“Hi guys!” he chuckled. “‘You look like shit’ someone says.” He laughs again. “I do look like shit! Thanks for pointing it out chat! I’ve just had a long day. Parent life, you know. But she’s asleep now, so shhh..” he raised one finger to his lips hushing the computer, which was of course silent anyway.

Dan watched as chat exploded. He expected it, of course. Any time he mentioned Phil, or Emmy. Frustratingly enough, it was as if the relationship between the three of them were what people cared about more than anything. As if their actual accomplishments were meaningless because they had love. Some days he appreciated it, other days like today, it was a bit annoying. He had plenty of experience hiding that though.

“No, I’m not going to get Emmy,” he said as he continued scrolling. “She needs sleep. Trying to get her on a consistent schedule, of course. Don’t want her ending up like me. And Phil needs his shower, so no him for now either, I’m afraid. You’ll have to deal with just me. On my live show.”

He tapped his lip with his thumb, wondering what else he could talk about. He realized at that moment that he didn’t do much apart from care for Emmy Louise anymore. Not that he was a particularly active person before, but he made videos more often back when she was a baby and he didn’t worry about her running into shot while filming, and needing to start over.

“No, I haven’t seen the newest Game of Thrones episode,” he answered, still mindlessly reading the screen, answering any questions he could find that didn’t center on his daughter or husband. “I could tell you all about Baby Einstein though.” He laughed. Truth be told, he actually enjoyed watching it with her.

Just then, Dan heard little footsteps coming up behind him. And crying.

“Dad dad dad dad,” Emmy said, hiccuping as she cried. Dan turned to find Emmy sobbing behind him, blanky in hand and sucking her thumb with tears streaming down her face. He immediately got out of his chair and knelt down in front of her.

“What happened?” he asked and opened his arms wide. She threw herself into them and buried her head in his neck.

“Bad dream,” she mumbled, sniffling hard.

“It’s okay sweetie, they’re not real.” He picked her up and sat with her in his chair, her back facing the camera, so at the very least she wasn’t totally exposed. He pulled her back a bit to look her in the eyes. He wiped the thick mop of wavy brown hair from her face and looked into her blue eyes. “You know what grandma told me about bad dreams? She said once you tell someone about them, they don’t come back anymore. So you’re safe with me now. You can fall back asleep here.” He pushed her head gently back onto his shoulder, and leaned back in his chair. “But Dad’s still working, so I’m gonna talk to these guys too,” he said. “Sorry about this,” he said, shaking his head and rolling his eyes, but also smiling. “Realities of parenthood.” He rocked her back to sleep.

“Dan, have you seen Tumblr yet this morning?” Phil asked, sipping his coffee slowly. Dan sighed from the other side of the sofa. “Of course,” he said. He peeked behind his laptop screen. Emmy was there on the floor, playing with her blocks. Dan knew he had to be careful about what to say around her.

“I’m sorry,” Phil said. “I thought she’d be asleep longer. I wouldn’t have showered if I knew she’d have a nightmare.”

“Phil, that’s alright. I just worry, you know?” He kept scrolling through the website, and of course their tags were full of their daughter’s face. He reached his hand up to stroke over his face, contemplating what to do next.

Most of the pictures and comments were nice, sure. Some of them, not so much. One troublesome user had already turned Emmy’s sobbing face into a reaction meme. He’d found it being used a couple times outside of the fandom. People who didn’t even know who they were or where it came from were now spreading her image like wild fire.

“She didn’t ask for this,” Dan said quietly.

“I know, Dan.” Phil reached for his husband’s hand, and looked at him with the deepest level of concern Dan had ever seen on him.

“We have to do something,” Dan said. Phil squeezed his hand in reply.

Hours passed, and once they had successfully dropped Emmy Louise off with her god mother Louise, they were ready to have this conversation uninhibited.

“Phil, we can’t subject her to this,” Dan started. “I don’t know how we thought we could avoid it, but it’s starting way earlier than I would have expected. She’s a baby still, really.”

“I know Dan, but I don’t know how to avoid it any better than we have been. For the most part, things have been good. I think it’ll all blow over. Give it a week or two,” Phil said.

“Yeah, this will blow over, but what about next time?” Dan was beginning to raise his voice at Phil, the anxiety of it all causing him to feel angry with Phil for not being just as upset as he was. “Will she deal with this shit her whole life?”

“No, of course not,” Phil said automatically.

“What do you mean, ‘Of course not’? How can you possibly guarantee that?”

Dan stood up from where he was sitting across from Phil. He began to pace, and ran his fingers through his hair, puffing the front up into a quiff.

“Dan, calm down. We’ll figure something out,” Phil attempted to reassure him.

“What if she’s picked on in school because of us?” Dan asked. He stopped and looked Phil directly in the eye. “For having two dads who are practically famous for being two nerds on the internet.”

“If she’s picked on, she’ll grow into a very strong little girl. That happens sometimes, Dan. We can’t prevent anything bad from ever happening to her,” Phil said. His voice was firm now. He was getting mad now too, because for some reason, everything Dan said sounded like placing blame on him.

“Shouldn’t we at least fucking try? Damn, I know you had friends in school, and that got you through it, but I was picked on, and I went through school alone. I hated myself. I don’t ever want Emmy to go through that.”

Phil stood right in front of Dan and, without realizing it, puffed his chest out. “Neither do I, so what do you suggest we do about it?!” Phil shouted.

“I think we should stop,” Dan said resolutely. Phil stopped in his tracks. Dan was motionless. He let it sink in. “I think we should quit.”

“What?” he yelled, totally shocked. “No way in hell! Quit YouTube over some trolls posting pictures? When has that ever stopped us before?!” Phil threw his arms up in the air. 

“Phil, this is our daughter!” Dan screamed. “Don’t you get that?! It’s not about us anymore!” Dan turned and kicked the coffee table. His foot collided with it with a loud bang. Pain shot up through his leg, but he was too angry to let it show. Instead, it just made him want to hit more things. He clenched his fists by his sides.

Phil slammed his hand against the wall, desperate to get the upper hand in the conversation somehow. “Yeah, and what will that show her? That you should run and hide from the things we’re afraid of? Is that what we should teach her?”

“It would show her that we love her, and that we’re good fathers,” he spat.

“Oh, so if I disagree I’m not a good father. Is that what this is?” Phil accused. “I don’t love her?”

Dan quieted at that. “That’s not what I said, Phil.”

“It’s not what you said, but it’s what you meant. How dare you,” Phil said. “How fucking dare you.” His voice was low, husky. He stomped out of the room and up the stairs, into their shared bedroom. Dan followed behind him.

“What are you doing?” he asked, nervously.

“Packing,” Phil said. He threw a handful of shirts from the closet into his luggage, hangers and all. Dan stood completely still, watching his every movement.

“Where are you going?” he asked.

“My parents,” he said simply. He turned to the drawers and pulled out a few pairs of jeans. Now Dan was angry again.

“Oh sure, so it’s not okay to run and hide to protect our daughter from potential crazy people, but it’s okay to run and hide at mummy’s and daddy’s because you can’t get through an argument with your husband? Great message, Phil.” The sarcasm was dripping from his voice. Behind it all, Dan wished for nothing more than for Phil to put the clothes down. To talk to him.

“What can I say?” Phil said. “I’m not a good father, so what do I know?”

The words hit Dan like a freight train and he understood. He knew the line had been crossed and there was no easy way to come back from it.

Phil was shuffling down the stairs, Dan trailing him.

“Phil, don’t,” he said.

“Really, Phil, stop.”

Phil’s hand turned the knob.

“Fucking, really Phil,” and the door slammed in Dan’s face.

“Fine then! Go!” Dan waited to hear the door knob turn again, but instead he heard Phil’s pounding footsteps and the wheels of his truck fading into the distance. 

Dan turned his back to the door, and slunk into a puddle on the floor, head in his hands and sobbing.

Just before 8 o’clock, Louise rang and Dan buzzed her in. Phil was still gone, and Dan had no idea what he was going to say to Emmy.

Louise brought Emmy inside and she ran to Dan and quickly grasped onto his leg. He bent down to grab her and brought her up to his level. He smiled widely at her, overcompensating. He brought her in tightly for a hug.

Behind her head, Louise gave Dan a knowing look. He shook his head at her. The air in the room was thick with the question.

“Where’s Daddy?” Emmy asked happily.

“Daddy’s gone to visit Grandma and Grandpa Lester for a bit. But he told me to tell you he loves you so much and to give you a kiss from him!” Emmy puckered her lips like a fish and Dan kissed them, sending her into a fit of giggles. He bounced her a few times before setting her down. “Almost bed time, sweetie. Play for now while I talk to Aunt Louise.”

“Anything?” she asked, glancing at the young girl behind Dan, worried what this all means for her.

“Not a word,” Dan said. He began to wring his hands nervously. Louise pulled him into a hug.

“He’ll come back,” she whispered to him. She backed away and nodded at him. “I’m going to head out so you can put her to sleep, and call Phil, okay?” She said the last part cheerily, to keep up appearances for Emmy.

Is this what their future would be like?

Emmy had fallen asleep two hours ago, and Dan still hadn’t called Phil. What could he say? That he was sorry? That he was a jackass? That everything would work out, he just knew it? How could he tell Phil that things would work out when he felt like they were all falling apart?

Dan put on Spotify low over the speakers in the bedroom. He wanted the music to distract him as much as it could. Of course, the universe was not so kind. When the universe wants something, it makes it happen. That’s what it felt like when the first song began to play. A beautiful acoustic riff drifted into the room.

When the world gets too heavy put it on my back,

I’ll be your levy. You are taking me apart,

like bad glue on a get well card.

Dan was crying again already.

It was always you falling for me,

now there’s always time, calling for me.

I’m the light blinking at the end of the road.

Blink back to let me know.

Dan laid down on his bed. It felt empty without the weight of his husband on the opposite side. He let his tears drip down the sides of his cheeks as the music washed over him.

Oh the castle’s under siege,

but the sign outside says “Leave me alone”.

Dan heard the patter of little feet outside his door, and the thought of it threw him into sobs.

Blink back to let me know. (It was always you.)

Blink back to let me know. (It was always you.)

The door creaked open slowly, and there she was. He couldn’t hide from her this time. Emmy ran in and climbed up into the bed.

“I miss Daddy too,” she said. She hugged her dad and rubbed his arm.

Dan cried harder and gently brushed her hair from her face. He patted her head.

“Let’s call him,” Dan said. He reached for his phone and dialed. Each each ring the knot in his chest grew tighter, unsure of what he would say. It was late now. Would Phil even pick up?

Phil’s voice came across the voice mail, in a cheerful tone that spread warmth to Dan’s heart while also mocking him.

“Phil, Emmy needs you tonight.” He sniffled. “I really need you tonight.” His voice broke and he began choking back tears through the phone. He hung up. Dan laid down again in the bed and pulled Emmy close to his chest.

“Let’s go back to sleep, honey.” Dan forced a smile. “We’ll see Daddy again soon.”

Dan woke to the rustle of the covers as Phil climbed in behind him. He rolled over gently, so as not to wake Emmy.

“Phil?” he whispered.

“Yeah?” Phil said.

“I’m so sorry.”

“I know Dan, me too.” He pulled his shirt over his head and crawled in further underneath the blankets, facing his husband.

“We don’t have to quit YouTube, I was overreacting,” Dan said as he curled into Phil’s chest.

“You were scared and confused. I should have understood where you were coming from before. We really should do our best to protect her,” Phil said as he wrapped his hand around Dan’s side. Dan nodded his head.

“But it’s been done before. She can live happily with us doing our jobs too,” Dan reminded him, still half to encourage himself.

“Tomorrow we’ll do more research on how best to go about raising a child in the spotlight like this,” Phil said. Dan nodded again, feeling a lot better now they had a plan. Silence fell over the bedroom as they drifted towards sleep in each others’ arms. Just before Phil fell asleep he heard-

“Phil?”

“Hmmm?”

“I love you. Always.”

Thoughts? Comments? Reactions? I love feedback!

[50funny]

Mage- Chapter 59: A New Threat Emerging

Part 1- A Troubling Sign

Liz turned to see Alex cradling Bip In his arms. Her eyes widened with concern before she ran over to her friend's side. Bip laid in Alex's arms completely motionless with his eyes closed.

“Oh god… is he ok?”

“Don’t worry, he’s just asleep, guess that attack drained the last of his energy.”

Alex gently placed Bip on the ground before standing back up and looking at the locked shipping container.

“Come on… let's get this over with so we can all get some rest.”

Alex walked over to the shipping container that the man had been defending. He looked down at the lock on the front of the container before raising his leg up and slamming his foot down on it breaking the lock. Liz walked over to Alex’s side as he reached out to grab the handles of the container. The sun began to rise over the steel lake basking the pair in a dim orange light. With a power full pull, the doors of the container came swinging open filling the inside with light. Liz looked on in horror as sore what was inside. The container was packed full of malnourished children packed in tight. The children looked up, their eyes struggled to adjust to the light.

“Huh, who’s there?” said one of the children.

“Are you here to help us?” asked another.

“Just please don’t hurt us.”

The children continued to murmur in confusion as the pair looked on in horror.

“Th… there’s so many. Why would someone do this,” Liz said.

“I have no idea, maybe that guy left some clues around here somewhere,” Alex said as he stepped forward into the container. “Listen up, you’re all free to go. Go find your parents and tell them everything that happened.”

The children looked amongst themselves confused for a moment, unsure whether to belive the strange man or not. One of the children at the front of the container slowly pulled himself from the ground and began to shuffle forward past Alex and out of the container. He covered his eyes from the now fully risen sun as they continued to adjust to the light. He removes his hand from his face to look at the light blue morning sky, his mouth widening in awe and wonder. The boy ran off towards the entrance of the facility. As the boy ran more and more kids stood up and looked out at the sky before running off. Soon the container was left completely lifeless. Alex stepped into the container and looked around intently at every nook and cranny. He walked up to one of the metal walls and took a close look at it.

“Doesn’t seem weird,” Alex said before turning to look at Liz. He raised his fist up and placed it next to the container wall. “Just a normal shipping container.”

He knocked his hand against the wall leading to an unusual silence. He turned to look at the wall once again.

“Huh… what the hell.”

Alex once again knocked against the wall with more force than the first time leading to no noise whatsoever. He looked at it, puzzled before pulling his leg back and slamming it full force into the wall once again leading to not the slightest sound.

“That’s strange,” said Liz as she joined Alex's side.

“Guess we know why we couldn’t hear the kids inside,” Alex replied as he continued to punch the wall to no results.

Liz turned her head to look into the corner of the container, noticing a small metal pyramid in the corner. She looked up and around noticing another one of the pyramids in each of the other corners. She walked over to one of the pyramids and reached out her hand to pick it up. The pyramid seemed to struggle against her as she pulled as though it was magnetically stuck to the wall. After a strong pull, the pyramid detached from the wall. Without warning, there was a sudden banging sound from behind her. She turned to see Alex continuing to bang on the wall.

“Huh?” Alex exclaimed.

“Guess these little things we’re blocking out all the sound,” Liz said as she walked back to Alex holding the object towards him.

Alex looked at the object closely, unsure of what to make of it.

“Any idea what it is?”

“No clue, but whatever it is it’s not using any magic.”

“Wait what? How could it do something like that and not be using any magic?”

“I’m not sure, we should hang on to it and see if one of the guild leaders has any answers,” Alex said as he stroked his chin. He turned to look around the rest of the container. “In any case looks like there’s nothing else here, Let head back.”

Alex and Liz walked out of the container. Liz looked down to see Bip curled up behind the door snoring soundly to himself as they left. She smiled as she looked at him before bending over and picking him up. As she picked him up she noticed a small note stuck to the side of the front of the door.

“Huh? What’s this.”

She pulled the note off the door as she stood back up. Her eyes filled with horror as she read the note, her heartbeat growing more rapid and breath becoming short. Alex looked over his shoulder to see Liz staring dead-eyed at the note.

“Huh… what’s that,” Alex said as he approached Liz.

He grabbed the sheet out of Liz's hands and began to read.

“It’s some sort of shipping information. Guess these kids were headed to someplace called Marathol, never heard of it before.”

“It’s a city,” Liz murmured under her breath drawing Alex’s attention to her. “It’s one of the biggest and oldest city’s… In Lemia.”

Alex was suddenly hit with the same wave of horror that had struck Liz.

“Wait… you mean that those kids were going to be shipped off to Lemia, but why… who would want a bunch of kid with magical potential, and in Lemia of all places

“I Don’t know… But I've got a bad feeling…” Liz said, clenching her fist as she turned to look at Alex. “Something big is coming.”

Part 2- A Call To Arms

Liz and Alex walked down the bustling streets, forcefully dragging their exhausted body’s forward.

“S..so tired,” Liz croaked.

“I’m so glad this is over, I’m ready to sleep for a week,” Alex replied as he struggled to keep his eyes open.

The pair reached The Tarken Dojo where they had been staying. As they approached the front door they noticed Tobin standing at the front door with a large briefcase locking the door. He picked up the briefcase and turned around, noticing the pair out of the corner of his eye as they reached him.

“Oh hey you guys, where have you been?”

“Just had some business to attend to, been up all night so thought we’d come back here for some rest,” said Liz.

“Oh, well sorry but you’re gonna have to find a hotel. I’m going to Capital City for a while so I’m closing the dojo.

“Arrgh are you serious… I’m so tired,” Alex whined

“Capital City? Why are you going there?”

Tobin looked at Liz with confusion. “Huh? You mean you didn’t here? I guess that makes sense, after all, you two aren’t to easy to track down,” Tobin said as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a letter. “This came in the mail yesterday.”

Tobin handed the note to Liz. Liz looked down and scanned the note over.

“Attention, this is a call to arms for all guild members. All members who are currently not involved in active jobs are to come to the main guild building in the capital city for an emergency meeting. The meeting will be held on the eleventh of November, any members who fail to arrive in time without an adequate reason will face a suspension or even cancelation of there membership.”

“Sounds pretty serious,” Alex added.

“That not even the most of it. I called up some of my friends in other guilds and found out we’re not the only guild that received these letters. Apparently, both the Cleaners Guild and The Black Dagger have been sent them as well.”

“Holy crap… what would someone want with so many mages?” Asked Liz.

“No clue, as far as I know, nothing like this has ever happened before, whatever the case is it looks like something big is on the horizon.”

There was silence amongst the group as they all thought about the implication of what was happening.

“You guys didn’t get a letter but I’m sure that it would be appreciated if you came, why not tag along with me, might make the trip a bit more fun,” said Tobin.

“Huh, oh yeah sounds like a plan to me,” Liz replied with a smile.

“Great, well let get a move on then, don’t wanna be late,” Tobin said as he began to walk off.

“Sure thing,” Liz said before turning to look at Alex as he drifted off to sleep. She nudged him back to life. “Come on we can sleep on the bus.”

Liz ran off after Tobin leaving Alex behind.

“Huh what… hey, wait up… cant we just have a quick nap first.” ________________________________________________________________ Thank you for reading chapter 59 of mage. If you like what you see consider checking out my AO3 at this link https://archiveofourown.org/users/50Funny to see all new chapters 3 days early. If you feel so inclined please consider following my tumblr for all updates and other tid bits. Until next time , have a good one.

[50funny]

Mage: Chapter 49 – Time Running Out

Written By 50Funny

Part 1- Preparing The Troops

General Barker sat behind his desk, in the dimly lit tent tapping his finger against it. His watch let out a slight beeping. He let out a long disappointed sigh as he reached down and stopped the alarm. The General closed his eye for a brief moment before standing up and walking towards the exit of the tent. He walked out into the blinding sunlight and looked across the base to see a line of people dressed in regular civilian clothes in contrast to the soldiers all around them. General Barker walked over to the group drawing their attention to him before stopping in front of them.

“Alright… I won't waste your time. You all know why you’re here so there’s no need to go over it again,” General Barker said in an authoritative tone.

General Barker scanned the line up of mages Before stopping on Es standing with his hand raised.

“Sorry but I’ve gotta say are all these novices really necessary. I work best alone, all these dead weights are just gonna get in my way,” Es said.

“Es was it. We work as a team here. If you wanna do this by yourself you can do it somewhere else,"

General Barker said before turning to the rest of the group. “We will be moving out now, make your way to the helicopter pad and ready yourself to…”

“Excuse me, sir,” came a voice from behind the General, interrupting him.  

General Barker turned around, his eyes widening at what he sore.

Part 2- Last-Minute Rush

Liz, Alex, and Bip ran down the corridors of the building, now devoid of all life. They all let out loud huffs and gasps as they ran down the seemingly endless hallways. They stopped as they reached a door with a sign on it reading Staircase. 

“Crap…” Alex panted. “ Not another one, how long can this go on for.”

“Why did they have to cut off all the elevator,” Bip gasped.

“ Not long now,” Liz said in a similarly exhausted voice as she raised her hand to point at the small label attached next to the door.

Alex and Bip looked across to the label that said Floor 350 to top. Liz reached out her hand and turned the handle before pushing the door open and walking through.

“Come on, let's not stop.”

Alex and Bip continued to pant for a few moments before forcing themselves to continue after Liz up the stairs.

“So what’s the plan if we cant find a way to escape the city up here?” asked Bip.

“Not much point thinking about that, don’t think there’s gonna be much time for a plan B here,” Liz replied as they continued up the stair.

Part 3- Rooftop Duel

Liz, Bip, and Alex came to a holt at the top of the steep artificially lit stairway. They took a second to catch their breath at the top, kneeling over and panting heavily. Liz stood back up, taking in one final deep breath before reaching out her hand to the door handle.

“This is it, hope you’re ready,” Liz said, smiling cheekily at Alex.

“Ready as ill ever be,” Alex replied, returning Liz grin.

Liz slowly turned the handle of the door before swinging it open and running out into the bright sunlit rooftop followed behind by Alex and Liz. The roof was wide open, flat and near completely void of any life except for an unfamiliar male figure facing away from them and the mask women. They stood next to another strange black rift that appeared to pull the walls of reality apart. The woman turned her head noticing the new company that had joined them. She quickly jumped into action preparing herself for a fight.

“Sir get out of here now, I'll cover you,” She said as she moved to stand in front of the man.

Without turning around, the man walked forward and into the portal and disappeared into the nothingness. Alex and Liz took up a fighting stance and faced off against the figure on the other side of the roof.

“I don’t see a helicopter up here,” Liz said.

“Looks like that portal thing is our only way out of here,” Alex replied. “Let's not waste any time fighting her and just focus on getting through that.”

“Are you sure that’s a good idea? I mean we don’t know what on the other side or even how those things work?”

“yeah but it’s better than the alternative.”

Liz nodded in reply. The pair of them both turn back to there opponent. There was a brief moment of silence as the tension grew between them. After a few second the strange woman launched herself forwards at full speed towards Liz with her fist cocked back behind her head. Liz raised her arms in front of her and focused all her energy into them. The assailant's fist made contact with Liz's arm, doing little to hurt her. Without warning, Alex came from the side with his fist cocked back. He launched it into the women with all his strength sending her flying across the roof.

“Come on let get a move on,” Alex said, a sense of urgency overcoming him.

Alex, Liz, and Bip all ran towards the portal as fast as they could manage. The women looked up from across the roof to see the group fast approaching the portal. She raised her hand towards them as she pulled herself off the ground. As the group ran they felt the floor giving way underneath them. Liz looked down just in time to see a second rip appearing underneath their feet . in an instant there surrounding changed entirely. They fell from a few meters off the roof, crashing down with a loud crash in a big pile. They pulled themselves up, still somewhat dazed and confused from the sudden change in locations. They pulled themselves off the ground, starting to feel the strain of all their time in the city compounding on top of them. Liz looked across the roof to see their assailant standing ready for another attack across from them. Liz clenched her fist tightly as her blood started to boil. A faint sound began to emanate from further out into the city. The stranger turned to look out over the city to see several distant helicopters making a line directly towards them, each with a large roaring stream of fire pouring out and into the city below.

“Oh how sad, looks like we’re out of time,” The woman said sarcastically as she turned once again to look at Liz and Alex. “Guess I’m gonna have to run again but I promise we’ll finish this next time.”

The assailant quickly turned and ran at full speed towards the portal.

“Oh no you don’t,” growled Liz.

Liz ran towards the assailant, willing her aching body to move forward faster and faster. The assailant turned around to see Liz fast approaching. She was quickly tackled to the ground and pinned down by Liz mere meters before the portal. Liz began to pummel the assailant mercilessly, slamming her fists into her over and over again giving her no chance to counter-attack. Alex and Bip watched on as splatters of blood began to shoot out and cover the ground.

“Alex… what’s she doing,” Bip said, his voice laced with concern.

Liz continued to pummel the assailant before stopping and taking a series of deep breaths before. The women layed on the ground covered in blood and still dazed from the unrelenting assault. Liz reached her arm behind her and began to form a sharpened icicle in her hand. As soon as it was fully formed she quickly stabbed the icicle down towards the women.

“Liz!” Alex yelled across at her.

Liz stopped in her tracks and turned to face Alex, surprise spreading across her face. The stranger took the opportunity to violently shove Liz off of her and stand back up. She ran as fast as she could manage towards the portal. Liz quickly chased after her as she passed through the portal. As Liz reached the portal it closed right in front of her.

“Damn it!” Liz yelled in frustration as she turned to face Alex and Bip. “ Why’d you distract me… I could have finished this.”

“If you had killed her the portal would of closed anyway,” Alex replied.

Liz looked off to the side, realizing what she was about to do.

“Anyway… it doesn’t matter anymore…” Alex continued as he turned to look out at the helicopters as they drew closer. 

“We’ve got bigger problems now.”

________________________________________________________________

 Thank you for reading chapter 49 of mage. If you like what you see consider checking out my AO3 at this link https://archiveofourown.org/users/50Funny to see all new chapters 3 days early. sorry this wasnt up earlyier i thought i did yesterday but guess i forgot. If you feel so inclined please consider following my tumblr for all updates and other tid bits. Until next week, have a good day.

[50funny]

Mage: Chapter 43- Back Into The Fray

Written By 50Funny

Part 1- Back Into The Fray

Liz, Alex, Bip, Tom, Calem, and Edgar all stood around the doors leading back out onto the street. Emily and Brett stood behind them as Brett peered through the crack in the door scanning for any signs of the creatures. He closed the door fully and turned around to face the rest of the group.

“Looks like it’s clear,” Ryan said.

“Finally… we’ve lost half the day just waiting already,” Emily said in an exasperated tone.

Brett slyly stepped across to the parting group. Liz turned to look at Brett who now stood directly beside her.

“Hey… I got you guys this,” Brett whispered as he raised a rolled-up paper scroll. “ It’s a map of the area, figured it might help you get around a bit easier.”

Liz smiled at Brett as she took the map out of his hands.

“Thanks,” Liz whispered back.

Emily turned around to the rest of the group.

“Well guess this is it. Good luck on the rest of your journey,” Emily said as she gestured towards the door.

Ryan opened the door widely being sure to keep an eye out for any of the monsters. The group began to walk out of the building, feeling the cold early breeze against there skin. Brett waved merely at the group as they walked out onto the street.

“Bye good luck!” Brett yelled.

“Shhh… do you want to bring more of those creatures out,” Ryan scolded as he closed the door leaving the group by themselves?

Part 2- The Long Track Ahead

A brief silence came over the group as they waited for someone to speak up with what to do next. Liz unrolled the map that she had been given and scanned it intently.

“Looks like the Ora building is that way,” Liz said, raising to point further down the street.

“Let me have a look at that,” Tom replied as he reached out to take the map away from Liz.

Tom began to scan the map even more intently then Liz had.

“Looks like we’ve still got a pretty long track ahead of us. Come on let's get a move on, we’re burning daylight.”

Tom walked off down the street still looking down at the map followed behind by the rest of the group.

Part 3- An Unnerving Message

Calem’s broom slammed against the side of one of the creature's head sending blood and viscera shooting everywhere and causing its lifeless body to fly off towards the side. Liz stabbed her icicle down into the head of one of the creatures laying on the ground. She turned her head to look down the tight confined, more suburban street that the rest of the group walked down. Liz wiped the sweat forming across her brow away as she walked on after the rest of the group.

“How much further can this place possibly be,” Liz complained.

“At least there’s not too many of those things around,” Edgar muttered.  

Tom continued to scan the map in his hands as he strolled down the street. He tilted his head up to look at the sky as the sun continued to drop.

“We’ve still got a way to go before we get there. We should probably find somewhere to hold out till morning,”

Calem leaned against a nearby broken down car and let out a long sigh.

“Thank god, I'm about ready for a rest,” Calem said.

Calem looked down to the ground as he heard a strange shifting noise at his feet. Without warning a hand came out from under the car and tightly grasped his ankle. Calem let out a long scream drawing the rest of the group's attention to him. Edgar looked over to see one of the creatures biting into Calem’s leg. In an instant, Edgar ran to his companion's side. He swiftly raised his leg before slamming it down into the creature's head, squishing it beneath his boot. Calem continued to scream as he fell. Edgar grabbed him before he hit the ground, cradling him in his arms.

“Calem!” Edgar shouted as Calem continued to breathe heavily and groan in pain.

“Arghh god that stings,” Calem groaned between clenched teeth.

Tom raised his finger to his lips and let out a sharp breath of air between his teeth, demanding the pair to silence.

“Keep it down you to, do you want to draw all those things out,” Tom ordered sternly as he walked towards the pair.

“What the hell are you talking about. Calem’s hurt, we need to get him some sort of medical attention or something. Don’t go telling me to be quiet.”

“He’ll be fine, we just need to get him inside. But if you go stirring up a horde then we’ll all be goners,” Tom continued to scold before raising his hand and pointing further down the street to a nearby building. “look we can spend the night there while we wait for Calem to heal.”

The rest of the group looked down the street to the building Tom pointed at. Without warning, a pair of creatures appeared from the nearby ally and began making their way towards the group. Another small group emerged from the opposite ally followed by an onslaught of creature pouring out of every nook and cranny of the street. 

“Crap, we gotta get a move on now,” Alex panicked.

“Go, that building is the best bet,” Tom reiterated as he began to run towards the building.

Liz, Alex, and Bip quickly followed in Tom’s footsteps and began to make their way towards the building. Edgar lifted Calem and ran after the rest of the group. Liz took a lead of the group, slamming aside the creature that now blocked there a path to make way or the rest of her companions. She got to the door and reached out her hand to the handle, twisting it to no avail. The rest of the group caught up with Liz.

“It’s locked, let’s try a different building,” Liz said as she turned to face Tom.

“No need,” Tom replied as he reached out to a small metal keypad on the side of the door.

He quickly tapped in a few buttons on the keypad. Once he taped the last digit a quiet clicking sound came from the handle. Liz once again turned the handle, pushing it open to reveal a steep staircase behind it. Tom quickly ran into the building and up the staircase. Liz entered the building and held the door open as the rest of the group made their way through. She quickly slammed the door shut as the creatures grew closer. The sounds of the monsters scratching and bashing against the door in a vain attempt to get at the group. Liz turned her head just in time to see Tom opening a door to one of the rooms connected to the staircase. Liz and the rest of the group walked up and into the room. Inside was a small apartment with a kitchen connected to a lounge room and several doors leading off to other rooms. Tom looked erratically around the room lifting up and looking behind everything in the room. Edgar walked over the couch and gently placed Calem down on it.

“What the hell are you doing?” Liz asked.

Tom continued to frantically ran around the room ignoring Liz's question. Alex walked over to the kitchen counter and looked down at the picture sitting on it. He lifted the picture, his eyes widening slightly as he looked at it. Liz raised her hand to her chin as she began to think about what had just happened.

“Wait a second… how did you know the code to get into this place?”

Tom stopped looking around and stood completely still. He began to breathe heavily as he clenched his fists tightly.

“Liz… look at this,” Alex said as he walked over to Liz holding the picture up to her.

Liz took the picture out of his hands and looked down at it. Inside the intricately carved frame was a picture of Tom and a women with their arms wrapped around each other's shoulders and a young girl standing in front of them.

“This is your apartment?” Liz said.

Tom turned around to face the pair who stared back at him acquisitional.

“I needed to see if they were ok… I knew if they were still alive they would be held up here. Captain Barker told me it was a bad idea… but I didn’t listen to him,” admitted Tom.

“So this entire time you’ve been leading us in completely the wrong direction? How much time have we wasted on this side quest of yours,” Alex growled?

“Not completely in the wrong direction… just a slight detour.”

Edgar stood up from his friend who now laid completely still on the couch. He stomped over to Tom and stood to loom above him, malice filling his eyes. He cocked his fist back and in an instant sent it flying towards Tom. His fist made contact with Tom’s right arm sending him flying across the room and slamming into the wall.

“You bastard! If you hadn’t lead us here Calem wouldn’t have been hurt… if he dies ill rip your head off!” 

Tom pulled himself up off the ground, cradling his throbbing side. He looked across to Edgar who continued to stare him down while taking heavy breaths.

“There’s a med-pack in the bathroom, as long as the wound doesn’t get infected he should be fine,” Tom said calmly.

Edgar clenched his fist tightly before storming off out of the room. The radio strapped to Tom’s belt began to let out a static sound. He quickly unclipped the radio and raised it to his mouth and pressed down the button.

“Hello is anyone there?”

The radio continued to let out static.

“Guess there’s still too much interferes,” Liz chimed in.

“Captain young… do you copy,” came The general's voice cutting through the static. “Crap… listen if you ca…. ear me headquarters ha…. Three Eleven…. Get bac…..” 

The radio suddenly cut out leaving the group once again in silence.

“Three Eleven again... what could that mean?” Questioned Liz.

“I told you its broken code,” Tom said as he put the radio back and began to walk off, an ora of disappointment overcoming him. “I’m going to bed, there's a spare room next to the bathroom,” he continued as he walked out of the room.

Alex and Liz looked to each other, unsure of what to do. The pair walked off into the next room in complete silence, the uncertainty of what was to come weighing heavily on the pair.

________________________________________________________________

  Thank you for reading chapter 43 of mage. If you like what you see consider checking out my AO3 at this link https://archiveofourown.org/users/50Funny to see all new chapters 3 days early. If you feel so inclined please consider following my tumblr for all updates and other tid bits. Until next week, have a good day.

[50funny]

Mage: Chapter 40- Debrief

Written By 50Funny

Part 1- Debrief

Alex slowly stumbled his way into the briefing room, stretching his arms out behind his back and letting out a loud long yawn as he did. Bip followed on behind him, a fed-up expression sunken deep into his face. They reached the large circular table in the middle of the room. Alex pulled out one of the chairs next to where Liz was sitting, filling the room with a loud screeching sound as the legs dragged against the floor. He lazily slumped down in the chair.

“Nice of you to finally join us,” General Barker growled

At the front of the table sat General Barker with captain young standing ready behind him. Opposite Alex and Liz sat Calem and Edgar.

“Right now that we’re all here, let's begin,” said Captain young, turning his head to look at Liz. “What were your findings in Checkpoint one A.”

Liz turned her head to return captain young’s gaze.

“Well when we got there the entire place was completely overrun and everyone inside was long dead. It looked like there had been quite a lot of fighting there. The fence facing the city had been completely knocked over on one side and there was a large hole in the other fence which I guess is how they were all getting through,” Liz explained.

“We patched up the fence and eliminated the creatures inside,” Alex chimed in.

“Right, sounds pretty much exactly like what we were expecting, good job,” General Barker said as he turned his head to look at the other pair. “what about you tw…”

“Actually, that’s not it,” Liz said, interrupting The General.

General barker turned back to face Alex and Liz.

“Well then please enlighten us,” General barker said, clearly not too pleased being interrupted.

“While we were trying to put the fence back up, there was someone in the city trying to shoot us,” explained Alex.

Captain Young leaned in closer to the group, his mouth widening slightly in shock.

“Shooting you? You mean someone is still alive in the city… How is that even possible.”

“It would seem like it. Though, lucky for us his aim was a little off,” Liz chuckled.

“Hmmmm, This is definitely concerning, we should send a recon team into the city aspa,” General Barker muttered to himself

“Actually, we have some information that might enlighten things a little more,” Calem chimed in.

Calem lent to one side and reached his hand deep into his pocket. He wiggled his hand around for a moment before pulling out a small square plastic case with a DVD inside. He slid the DVD case across the table to the General.

“When we got there everyone inside the camp was dead… well technically dead I guess. The fence was completely intact though,” continued Calem.

“if the fence wasn’t broken how did everyone die?” Captain young questioned to himself.

General Barker reached out to grab the case.

“We found that in Marleths lab… that should answer all your questions.”

General Barker looked intently over the case before passing it behind him to Captain Young. Captain young grabbed the case from him and pulled it open with a click. He pulled the DVD out of the case as he walked over to the Tv and slotted the DVD into it. He pressed a button on the side of the Tv causing it to suddenly flash to life filling the room with light. A small loading symbol spun around in the bottom right-hand corner of the screen.

­Part 2- Data Log Entry Twenty Three

Suddenly an image of a man in a white lab coat appeared leaning over the camera. The man stood back from the camera revealing the face of an elderly with few tufts of grey hair coming from his otherwise balled head. He healed his glasses in one hand as he rubs the lenses clean with a rag.

“Datalog, entry number twenty-three,” the man said as he raised his glasses to his eye to make sure they were clean. He placed the glasses onto his head. “I am Marloth, for the last few weeks I have been working for the government in order to help them figure out the secret behind necromancy. For the longest time, I thought it was an impossible task, however, last night I had something of a breakthrough."

Marleth jumped slightly as gunfire and yelling began to fill the air from outside.

“Argh… and let me tell you it was made all the harder with all the noise going on all the time!” Marleth yelled towards the door in the back corner of the room. he let out a long breath as he regained his composure. He turned and walked into the back corner of the room off the screen. “Now my breakthrough came… thanks to my little friend here.”

Marleth came walking back into the view of the camera, dragging a wheeled table with a white blanket covering it as he did. Underneath the sheet on the table was a large lump the seemed to shift around and was letting out a low pitched growl. Marleth grabbed the cover and pulled it off with a degree of showmanship revealing one of the decaying creatures strapped down tight. As the creature noticed Marleth, its growling became louder as it in vainly tried to get at him.

“The commanding officer here finally sore reason and let me have a live subject… isn't he wonderful. I looked him over, scanning for any sort of strange magical residue and well… no luck. I did notice something strange, however.”

Marleth reached out and pushed the creature's head out of the way as it tried to bite him. He pulled the creature's hair away from its neck to reveal a strange tattoo of a skull in a triangle made out of daggers.

“I noticed this symbol here and decided to focus my detection on it, and just as I was about to give up I found it, the faintest trace of magical residue. I studied it closely, trying to reverse engineer it and well…”

Marleth walked back to stand in front of the camera.

“You are looking at the first person ever recorded to discover the secret behind necromancy.” Said Marleth, a proud smile stretching across his lips.

“We need more ammo,” came a loud shout from outside.

Marleths smile faded as he closed his eyes and let out a long irritated breath. He regained his composure, reopening his eyes to look directly into the camera.

“Now my theory is that the tattoo acts as a booster. Whatever magic was used most likely couldn’t cover the entire city so the first to be infected were given these marks to, widening the reach of the spell by around three kilometers. Anyway, I traveled up the watchtower and scanned the city for a similar magical residue, and after a little bit of searching noticed the extremely faint residue of a similar spell emanating from the ora headquarters, some office building deep in the city.”

Alex and Liz turned to look at each other with a knowing stare.

A loud explosion sound came from just outside the door in the video, causing Marleth to jump out of his skin. As the sound died down Marleth clenched his fist tightly as his face scrunched up in anger.

“Honestly!” Marleth yelled as he stomped his way over to the door in the back corner. “How the hell do you lot expect me to work under theseonditions!”

Without warning the door came flying off its hinges, slamming against the far wall. Marleth looked on in shock as a man dressed in all black carrying a small silenced pistol walked into the room. The man turned his head to look at Marleth.

“W… who the hell are you!” Marleth demanded.

Without a moment's hesitation, the man raised his gun to Marleth. He pulled the trigger sending a bullet flying into Marleths chest, knocking him down to the ground out of the view of the camera. Marleth groaned and breathed heavily as the man approached him, aimed his gun down and shot him again silencing him once and for all. The man stood in the silence looking around the room for a moment before turning around and walking back out of the room.

Part 3- The Next Mission

Captain Young turned his head to look over at Liz and Alex.

“I think we’ve found your assailant,”

General barker scratched his chin as he thought on the video. He turned around in his chair to once again face the group

“The Ora headquarters sounds like that’s where whoever is responsible for this whole mess is camped up,” General Barker said as he pulled himself out of his chair. “ You’ve all proven yourselves so far, but for your next mission we’ll be taking the training wheels off. You’ll all be being sent into the heart of the city to secure that tower and put an end to this once and for all.”

The general began to walk towards the exit followed behind by Captain young.

“You’re all dismissed, you’ll need your rest,” The General said. 

The group began to stand up behind him as he exited the room. 

“You’ll need it for what’s coming next.”

________________________________________________________________ Thank you for reading chapter 40 of mage. If you like what you see consider checking out my AO3 at this link https://archiveofourown.org/users/50Funny to see all new chapters 3 days early. If you feel so inclined please consider following my tumblr for all updates and other tid bits. Until next week, have a good day

[50funny]

Mage: Chapter 35- Break Out (Part 5)

Written By 50Funny

Part 1- Interrogation

Alex walked over to the broken off door lying on the ground. He knelt over, reached his arms out to grab the door and pulled it aside to reveal Tony underneath. Tony began to pull himself up out of the rubble to a standing position. 

“You ok man?” Asked Alex.

Without a word, Tony began to walk across to the room to Liz who sat nursing her damaged hands. She looked up to Tony as he reached her side.

“What the hell was that?… How did you cast magic like that? I’ve never seen anything like that in my entire life,” Tony exclaimed.

Liz shied her gaze away from Tony nervously.

“Oh umm… well, I don’t really know, it’s just something I can do I guess,” Liz quietly stammered.

“You don’t know… come on you gotta teach me some of that,” Tony continued to pester.

Tony felt a firm hand rest on his shoulder. He turned around to see Alex standing behind him.

“Come on Tony leave her be… she needs some peace and quite to heal up,”

“Heal up?” questioned Tony as he turned to look at Liz.

He focused on Liz’s hands, noticing the extreme burning running up them.

“Holy crap are you ok?” 

Tony knelt down and held his hands over Liz’s. A green glow began to emanate from his hands as he began to heal them.

“Yeah… I’m fine, just a little sore I guess,” Liz replied trying to keep her spirits up.

Alex looked on as Liz and Tony focused on healing. He turned his gaze to look at Mr. Morhan still cowering in the corner across the room. Alex stared him down with an unflinching gaze as he strode menacingly across to him. He reached out his hand and grabbed Mr Morhan by his collar. 

“Arhh… p…please don’t hurt me,” Mr Morhan stammered.

“Alright it’s time I got some answer’s… you’re gonna answer my questions or I’ll make you regret it,” Alex threatened. “What did you do to my father.”

Mr. Morhan looked on at Alex, a growing confusion coming over him.

“Your father… I don’t even know who your fath…” replied Mr. Morhan before being cut off.

He let out a long pained scream as Alex slammed his foot down on to his knee. A loud cracking sound echoed throughout the room as his leg was left bending the wrong way. Mr. Morhan began to whimper as the pain slowly began to die down. 

“Don’t bull shit me! I know that he disappeared while investigating something that you and that buddy Lance of yours were involved in.”

Charles glanced away from Alex as he thought about his words.

“Me and Lance?” he questioned quietly to himself.

“Now you better start talking unless you wanna lose the other leg,” ordered Alex.

“No please don’t. I have no idea what happened to your father, I’ve never even met the guy.”

Alex placed his leg on Mr. Morhan’s other knee and pushed down. He began to whimper as panic started to overcome him once again.

“n…no please stop just listen to me. I don’t know anything… but I know who might, and I can even help you find them.”

Alex stared daggers into Mr. Morhan as he slowly removed his boot from his leg.

“Start talking, now,” Demanded Alex. 

“Attention, ten minutes until self-distrust,” blared out the mechanical female voice.

“In a moment, first, how about we make a deal huh?”

“A deal!” Alex yelled angrily as he once again placed his boot on Charles's leg. 

“Hear me out….” Mr. Morhan calmly said. “Without that door in place, this room won’t be spared from the coming explosion. If I tell you what you want to know you have to promise that you won’t let any harm come to me.”

Alex grunted as he slowly began to put more pressure onto Mr. Morhan’s leg. He felt an unexpected touch on his shoulder, turning around to see Liz standing behind her being propped up by Tony.

“Alex, come on. We don’t really have any other options here,” Liz calmly stated.

Alex looked back to Mr. Morhan and began to clench his fists tightly. After a brief moment, he loosened his fists and let go of Mr. Morhan letting him fall to the ground. He landed on the ground with a thud letting out a brief pained grunt.

“Fine, tell us everything you know and I won’t hurt you,” Alex said, his eyes shut as he reconsidered his decision. 

“Ha…good choice.”

“Start talking!” Alex demanded.

“hmm… very well… but to understand, I must first tell you a story, and to tell that story… I’ll have to go all the way back to the beginning…”

Part 2- The Origins Of Magic

“A long time ago, before Lemia split from the mainland before history was first recorded, the world was a very different place. In this world, there were two classes of beings. The first of these beings were the magical creatures, beasts, and animals who could manipulate the magical energy flowing through them to do incredible things, and the other, the non-magical creatures who lacked the abilities of their counterparts. Of these classes of beings, there were two who sat atop their respective food chains. For the magical creatures, there were the Elarans, peaceful beings whose mastery over magic and supreme intelligence allowed them to form great cities in the treetops. On the other side were the humans. They had incredible imaginations and with their intelligence and determination, they were able to spread across the land and make their dreams a reality. As years moved on, the humans began to grow jealous of the Elaran's magical ability. While they were able to become the dominant species of the planet, they knew that if they wanted, the Elaran's could easily wipe them out in an instant. Their jealousy continued to grow and fester into all-out hatred. It’s not known exactly how humanity first gained the powers of magic. Some say that a hunter found a dyeing Elaran and in a fit of rage cut out his heart and ate it taking his powers with him. Others say the first mage was the child of and Elaran and a human who fell in love and would meet in secret. Whatever the case was soon humanity had unlocked their magical ability’s and they started to spread throughout their race. With their newfound powers, the Elarans no longer had an advantage over humans. Their years of pent up aggression overflowed until they declared war against the Elarans. The peaceful Elarans stood no chance against the overwhelming numbers of the Humans and were soon brought to extinction. With their one rival destroyed you would think it would usher in a new era of peace, however it was quite the opposite. With no rival to fuel their desire for conquest, the humans began infighting and slaughtering each other in ever-increasingly brutal way. They used their new powers to burn forests and crumble mountains for their ever-growing plague on the land to spread. They whipped out thousands of unique and beautiful species off the map in the march of progress. A group of powerful magic users looked on at the destruction caused by humanity and realized that they could not be trusted with magic. They sore humanity for what it truly was deep down, a disgusting, destructive abomination that needed to be destroyed for the good of the world. These magic-users denounced their humanity, instead taking up the mantle of the fallen and proclaiming themselves the true heirs of the Elarans. These new Elarans formed a cult known as the Elaran society with the sole goal of destroying the human blight upon the world.”

Part 3- Answers

Liz stood leaning up against the wall, listening intently to Mr. Morhan's story.

“Wow…that’s just… wow,” Liz stammered.

Alex stroked his chin as he thought about what had been said.

“So I take it that you and Lance were members of the Elaran society and that that was what my dad was investigating before he disappeared,” said Alex.

“It would certainly seem that way,” replied Mr. Morhan 

Alex reached out his arm once again grabbing Mr. Morhans collar and pulling him up.

“Alright so then who do I have to beat up to find out what happened to my dad?” Alex demanded.

“Ahh… Niske… our headquarters are there disguised as the office building for some tech company. If anyone would know what happened to your father it would be our leader, cobalt,” Mr. Morhan panicked.

“But why would you tell us this? Why would you sell them out so easily?” added Tony.

Mr. Morhan looked across to Tony, an evil grin spreading across his face.

“It doesn’t matter whether you know or not, if you choose to go there then that place will certainly be your grave.”

Alex let go of Mr. Morhan, sending him once again crashing down to the ground with a loud thud. He turned around and began to storm out of the room brimming with determination. Charles sat up to look across at Alex.

“What… where are you going? You promised that you would take me to safety if I helped you,” Mr. Morhan said confused. 

“I said I wouldn’t harm you, not that id help you escape. You can rot here for all I care,” Alex said as he continued his walk out of the room.

Bip, Liz, and Tony followed in Alex lead out of the room. Charles looked on in horror as he was left behind. Without any warning, he suddenly began to let out a psychopathic laugh.

“Haha… fine leave me here, if you go to Niske it’ll be your grave," 

Charles continued to cackle as the group left the room, leaving him to his fate.

________________________________________________________________

Thank you for reading chapter 35 of mage, sorry i didnt get around to this yesterday, completly forgot what day it was haha. If you like what you see consider checking out my AO3 at this link https://archiveofourown.org/users/50Funny to see all new chapters 3 days early. If you feel so inclined please consider following my tumblr for all updates and other tid bits. Until next week, have a good day

[50funny]

Mage: Chapter 21- Brother And Sister

Part 1- Bontan Village

The small rickety bus pulled to a screeching halt as it reached its destination. The doors of the bus began to creak open with a mechanical whirring. Liz, Alex, and Bip walked down the stair, taking a large step down to the ground.

“Argh. Buses suck,” Liz complained.

“Quit your whining. It’s not our fault that no trains come out this far,” Alex replied.

The bus doors slammed shut before it began to roll off, leaving a plume of black smoke behind it. Liz turned around to look past where the bus had once sat. Her eyes widened as they focused on the new sight in front of her. A grassy path led towards the large mountain marked by a series of wooden structures. The town was packed with a large crowd of people and the air filled with the sound of shop tender going about their trade. Liz began to step towards the town followed shortly behind by her companions.

“Wow. This place is pretty packed for somewhere so out of the way,”

“Yeah, the shops are always pretty packed,” Alex said.

“The lakes around here are the only place you can find the Bontan Cod so lots of fishermen come here every day,” Bip explained.

“Come on. It's still a bit of a hike to the residential area,” Alex stated.

Alex continued his stride down the path towards the mountain followed shortly behind by Liz and Bip.

Part 2- Home Coming

Liz, Alex, and Bip walked up the long wooden staircase towards Alex’s small cottage home. The group reached the door atop the stairs. Alex curled his hand into a fist and reached out it out, loudly knocking on the door.

“It’s so good to be home,” Alex sighed in relief.

“I just hope Maria is in,” Bip replied.

Alex quickly turned his head to face Bip, Panic suddenly beginning to swirl in his eyes.

“Huh?” Alex panicked.

“Oh no you didn’t forget about Aunt Maria did you.”

“Who’s Aunt Maria?” Asked Liz.

The door began to slowly creek open. The group turned to face the house. Behind the door stood a tall red-haired middle-aged woman holding a broom and wearing a yellow apron. Alex grabbed the back of his head nervously as the women stared him down.

“Uhh… hey Aunt Maria… Long-time no see,” Alex awkwardly stammered. “So how have things be…”

Alex's words were suddenly cut off as the lady violently slammed the broom down on his head, sending him crashing to the floor.

“What the hell are you doing back here!” Maria yelled.

Alex looked back up from the ground.

“I… I came back for a visi…” Alex said before being cut off again as Maria trod on his head.

“You leave us for nearly a year without so much as a letter and you don’t even think to call when you're coming home! If I had known you were coming I would have cleaned the house and gotten your rooms ready!”

Maria removed her foot from Alex's head as she turned to face Bip.

“Ahhh Bip so good to see you. How have you been?” Maria asked her tone suddenly changing.

“I’m good. It's good to see you to Aunt Maria,” Bip replied with a clear lack of concern for his friend.

“Oh, and who’s this? Did this oaf actually manage to find himself a special lady friend?” Maria continued, her gaze shifting to Liz.

“Oh ah… nothing like that… I'm just a friend,” Liz stammered, taken aback by the unprovoked attack.

Alex began to slowly raise himself up from the ground.

“Alex?” came a quite high pitched voice from inside the house.

Alex looked up to see a young girl standing in the hallway leading towards the door.

“Oh. Hey, Emily. How are yo…” Alex said.

“Alex!” Emily interrupted.

The young girl began running at full speed towards Alex. As she grew closer, she jumped at him latching on tightly sending the pair barrelling down the stairway landing on the ground with a loud thud. Emily continued to hug Alex tightly on the ground.

“It’s so good to see you. I’ve missed you so much,” Emily said.

“haha, its good to see you to Emily,” Alex replied, smiling softly.

Emily sat up on Alex pinning him down to the ground. She stared down at him, a disapproving scowl appearing on her face.

“You said you would be back soon,” Emily pouted “What took you so long.”

Part 3- Brother And Sister

Emily clutched the small guild medallion in her hands tightly. Her eyes filled up with amazement as she looked down at the memento.

“Wow,” Emily exclaimed. “So this is what you’ve been doing all this time.”

“Yep. Pretty cool right,” Alex replied.

“So what does it actually mean. Are you going to  travel the world, fighting bad guys and righting wrongs in the name of justice?”

“Uhh. Yeah something like that haha,” Alex stammered.

Alex and Emily continued to catch up with each other as Liz and Bip sat opposite them watching on. Liz looked around the small living room scanning the bookshelves and benchtops.

“Hey, Bip. Where are all the pictures of Harry,” Liz asked? “I’ve been wondering what exactly Alex dad looked like.”

Bip quickly turned to face Liz, a slightly awkward smile stretching across his face.

“Oh… ah well,” Bip stuttered.

“huh… I'm pooped.  Your room is all ready for you Liz. Upstairs first door on the left you can't miss it, ” Maria said as she entered the room.

“Hey that’s my room,” said Alex.

“You can sleep on the couch. Serves you right for showing up out of the blue. Besides, I’ve been working my ass off all day and I still need to do the cooking and the washing so have a little respect would ya,” Maria ranted.

Maria walked up to the table the group sat around. She pulled out one of the chairs from under the table before lazily slumping down on it.

“Umm excuse me, Maria,” Liz butted in.

Maria turned to face Liz her expression quickly shifting to a welcoming smile.

“Please call me Aunty,” Maria said.

“Oh umm, ok, Aunty. If you’d like id be more then happy to help out,” replied Liz.

“Oh no, i couldn't. Thank you for the offer but I couldn’t. you’re a guest here.”

“It's fine really. I'm more than happy to do the washing for you,” Liz insisted.

Maria placed her fingers to her chin and thought for a moment. She pushed herself up and out of her seat.

“Well. I mean if you insist,” Maria said as she walked out of the room, gesturing for Liz to follow. “Come on. I'll show you where the machine is.”

Part 4- Dinner Time

Liz stood in the small fenced off backyard, lit by the light orange glow of the sun setting behind the mountain. She reached into the washing basket, pulling out one final piece of clothing before pegging it on the line above her. Liz looked out over the beautiful forestry scenery.

“Liz!” Called Maria from the house. “Dinner’s ready .”

Liz turned around and began to stroll towards the house. She walked into the dining room to see Maria, Emily, Alex, and Bip all sitting around the table with a plate of delicious-looking food placed in front of each.  Liz walked up to the table and took her seat.

“Wow this looks great,” Liz exclaimed.

“Please feel free to tuck in,” Maria replied.

Liz looked down to her plate, grabbed her fork and began to prod her food. Liz raised her fork to her mouth and began to chew.

“mmm, it delicious. Great work Aunty,” Liz sputtered through her full mouth.

“Actually it was Alex who made it,” Bip chimed in.

Liz eyes suddenly widened and jaw dropped as she slowly turned her head to face Bip.

“What? I must have misheard you,”

“Nope, you heard me right. Alex cooked all this,” Bip reiterated.

Liz looked back down to her plate, the surprise continued to set in.

“You’ve got to be kidding me. It actually tastes good. There's nothing wrong with it at all,”

“Hey what the hells that meant to mean!” Alex yelled, “I'll have you know I'm a great chef!”

“Hehe,” Emily chuckled at Alex outburst. “He used to eat so much when he was younger that Aunty got sick of it and made him start cooking his own meals. She used to say if you know how to eat you should know how to cook.”

“Yes well despite the boy's obvious shortcomings. Even I must admit that his cooking skills really are something to behold,”  Maria added.

“Hey what the hell do you mean by shortcomings!” Alex ranted.

“Hehe, your funny Alex,” giggled Emily.

“Who’s being funny! Why is everyone always so mean to me!”

Part 5- After Dark.

Liz slowly opened up the squeaky wooden door of her bedroom to make as little noise as possible. She quietly tiptoed her way into the dark, moonlit hallway. She looked across to the bookshelf placed up against the wall opposite her room. She walked across to the bookshelf and began to carefully scan the spines of each book. Liz turned around to face the staircase heading downstairs. She carefully began to tiptoe her way down the creaky stairs to the first floor. She turned to face the door to ger left, barely visible in the darkness. She reached out to grab the door handle, slowly turning it and pushing the door open. She looked around the room, Carefully scanning over every nook and cranny. Without warning, the lights of the room came flickering on. Liz quickly turned around in shock. Sitting on the bed was Emily, looking back at Liz, groggily rubbing her eyes.

“Liz? Are you lost?” Emily said.

“Oh, Emily. Sorry I didn’t realize that this was your room,” replied Liz apologetically.

“That’s ok. Can I help you with anything? Have you lost something?”

“Umm well, not exactly. You see I was actually looking for a picture of your dad. I've been curious to see what he looked like.

Emily's eyebrows began to angle in confusion.

“My… Dad?”

A wave of horror suddenly overcame Liz as she heard Emily's next words.

“But I never knew my father?”

________________________________________________________________

Thank you for reading chapter 21 of mage. If you like what you see consider checking out my AO3 at this link https://archiveofourown.org/users/50Funny to see all new chapters 3 days early. If you feel so inclined please consider following my tumblr for all updates and other tid bits. Until next week, have a good day.