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naominotaisho · 1 year ago

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Shōsetsu InuYasha:

Translation By: Patches

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Chapter 11: Soul Transfer 1 When Sakasagami no Yura had struck her with that inferno, Kagome was so terrified that she couldn’t move. All she could do was crouch on the ground, wrap the cloak that Inuyasha had lent her around herself, and curl in on herself while she tried to withstand the heat of the flames. (Am I finally going to die now? I’ll never see Mama, Jii-chan, or Souta again…) But after a few dozen seconds had passed, Kagome began to think it strange. The flames were burning brightly around her, but Kagome had no sensation of her body being burned.

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Inuyasha’s clothing was like some sort of ultra-high performance fireproof outfit. She wondered how much time had passed. When the flames subsided and she tentatively peeked her head out from other the cloak, Kagome realized that Inuyasha’s cloak really had protected her. The ground around her had changed color due to being burned at a high temperature, and there was no trace of any of the grass and trees that had been growing there, yet Kagome herself was unharmed. Not even a single burn. Thanks to Inuyasha’s fire rat cloak…! (Inuyasha… That’s right, what happened to Inuyasha?!) When Kagome looked out into the valley, she was appalled at what she saw. Yura’s nest had fallen to pieces, with skull-laden bundles of hair streaming out in all directions. In the midst of this, she could see even at this distance that Inuyasha had been injured. Yura had him cornered and was taunting him. (I want to go and help him!) she thought, but all her ideas felt futile. (But… if there is something I can do, I want to help Inuyasha!) Something that Kagome could do. That would be shooting arrows, and seeing things that other people couldn’t see. In this situation, there had to be some way to make use of that, right…?

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At that moment, there was a glimmer of light at the edge of her vision. “…?!" When she looked again, one of the skulls atop Yura’s nest was glowing. (The main line of the hair that Yura controls… The light looks the same…) She tried staring at it harder. The light became steadily clearer. Ah… it wasn’t the skull that was glowing. She was able to see that there was something glowing inside of it. (Here I go.) Kagome resolved herself. The place where the glowing thing was was awfully high up. On top of that, the only way up would be to climb the skull-laden bundles of hair. She was scared just imagining it. Her legs were frozen. Even so, she’d still thought to herself, ‘here I go’. Right now, this was all she could do. She couldn’t stand forcing Inuyasha to have to face hardship all by himself.

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2 (Why?! She should have been burned to death by my “Onibigushi”, so why is that woman unharmed?!) Yura was confused. Regardless of how much spiritual power she had, she wasn’t an oni or a powerful youkai. She was just an ordinary human, so why?! Even so, right now that woman was currently making her way up the hair on Yura’s nest. Why? Could she have seen it? No, that wasn’t possible. Even so, she had to stop her. Right now. “Die!" Using her red comb, Yura broke off a piece from a nearby bundle of hair. The bundles of hair the woman was clinging to undulated, and she let out a terrified shriek. (All right, I’ll make you fall with the next one). When Yura attempted to dissipate the bundle of hair again, "What’re you doing looking away from me?!”

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Inuyasha suddenly came and slashed her across the back. Not wanting to miss the opportunitiy, he’d drawn out Benigasumi, which had been lodged in his hand. How dare a mere hanyou use her precious Benigasumi! With a darkly swelling anger, she shouted, “You be quiet!" Yura manipulated her hair and flung Inuyasha against the rocks. Naturally she retrieved Benigasumi right away. "Hmph.” Thanks to having delivered a powerful blow, Inuyasha gained a fearless smile. “Cutting or stabbing you does no good, but now you’re strangely in a hurry. Is there something bad where that woman’s going?” Bingo. But she wouldn’t let him see her distress. She’d deal with the hanyou later, but she had to kill the woman first. That’s what Yura had decided.

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3 The bundles of hair from Yura’s nest were frighteningly difficult to climb. The surface was oddly slippery, and trembled and swayed each time Kagome applied her weight. Not to mention there were skulls strewn about. There was a pungent stench that was a mixture of blood, dirt, and rotting flesh… Thorough all that, Kagome continued to climb while encouraging herself. (All right, just a little further to the glowing skull…) When she thought that, suddenly one of the strands of hair began swaying completely differently from before. Violently, as if trying to throw Kagome off. “Eek!" She desperately clung to the bundle of hair, and somehow managed not to fall. Her chest was pounding, and it felt like all the blood had drained from her body. (Has Yura discovered me?!) When she turned around, she saw both Yura and Inuyasha looking her way, talking about something.

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“Inuyasha!!” Kagome called to him in a loud voice, pointing up towards the glowing skull. “That skull… there’s something in that skull!!” “Tch!" Yura clicked her tongue and leapt into the air. "Wait, Yura! You’re not getting away!" Inuyasha ripped apart the bundles of hair binding him with his strength alone, and lept high in the air after her. (I’ve gotta hurry and get to that skull.) Kagome desperately tried to clamber up the hair, but she wasn’t able to. Yura had leapt to the nest above Kagome, and shouted, "Kushi no Ori!(1)” and lifted her left hand high above her head. Following the movement of Yura’s hand, all of the bundles of hair began to move. They seemed to be haphazardly going this way and that, but they lifted up all at once, stretching high into the air. Almost like they were coming together to form some kind of warped Christmas tree. (1) “Comb Cage”, but like with “Kushi no Kago”, is written as “Hair Cage”.

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It was decorated with skulls in place of a star, bells, and tinsel, so it was a rather creepy tree. The writhing, growing bundles of hair wrapped around Inuyasha’s body as he charged at Yura, dragging him inside. Kagome was also dragged inside the writhing bundle of hair against her will. “….!” The inside of Yura’s nest-turned-tree was hollow. The long, overlapping hairs wiggled with a light rustle. The scent of blood, dirt, and decay was even stronger here. It felt like being in the belly of a beast. The hair that Kagome was just barely clining to gave a large jolt, and Kagome’s hand began to slip, threatening to drop her. “Ugh!" She frantically stretched out her hand, trying to grab onto the hair. Her right hand touched something solid, so she grabbed onto that. Thank goodness, she thought… but when she looked up, Kagome saw that she’d stuck her fingers in the eye socket of a skull. "Eeeew! I touched it!”

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She instinctively shuddered. “If you don’t like it, then let it go." Yura came rushing from above her at a violent speed. "You’ll be in the same state soon enough!" Yura threw her sword at Kagome with a whizz. ”…!“ It was impossible to dodge. It landed a direct hit on Kagome’s right upper arm. Kagome cried out as an indescribable pain and shock ran through her. (My arm….!) Her arm had been cut off! Ahh, my arm! My arm! "Yes!" Yura’s voice faded into the distance as Kagome fell. Down, down, down, into the cavern within the tree made over multitudes of overlapping hairs. But her fall suddenly halted. It was Yura. The hairs she was manipulating wrapped around Kagome’s arms and lifted her up. ”…?!“ Before she realized it, Yura’s questioning face was in front of her.

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“Just what are you? Why aren’t you injured?” “Huh?" When she was told this, she looked with a gasp and saw that her right arm was not cut. It was still stuck to her shoulder just as it always had been ever since she was born. (I’m not cut…?) It still hurt, though. But it wasn’t pain from a cut, it was pain from being struck by the sword. She’d probably be nursing a big blue bruise there in a while. (Is it thanks to this cloak that I wasn’t cut?) Kagome examined the crimson cloak wrapped snugly around her. Inuyasha had said that it was stronger than basic armor. Just like back in the flames, she was sure that it was this cloak that had protected her this time as well. "It’s strange. Your body is that of a mere human as far as I can see…" Yura, not knowing about the power of the cloak, observed Kagome with a tilted head. But, it seemed that she felt it was useless to just think about it. "If the sword won’t work, let’s see if this will!” Shuun! Yura moved the fingers of her left hand, and a strand of hair wrapped around Kagome’s neck. It was very thin, but also a ridiculously strong hair. It was the same hair that had taken those soldier’s heads, arms, and legs in a single instant.

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The hair that had killed those sparrows in flight. That was the hair that was currently around Kagome’s neck. Yura tightened the hair. A sharp pain ran through her neck as blood began to spurt out. (She’s gonna kill me! No! I don’t want to die! No… no… Help me!!) “Hijin Kessou!!” Inuyasha’s voice came suddenly. Crescent-shaped blades made of blood came flying in with a roar, cutting off Yura’s left arm at the elbow. At the same time, the hair broke away from Kagome’s neck. “Impossible!" Yura’s eyes went wide, unable to believe what happened. When Kagome looked up, she could see Inuyasha’s figure from between the overlapping bundles of hair. "Inuyasha…" When Kagome called out to him, her voice was small and hoarse. She… made it out alive. When she thought that, her body’s strength was sapped, and felt like her energy had gone somewhere far away. "Don’t pass out! I’m not gonna look after you!”

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Inuyasha leapt down and firmly grabbed Kagome’s hand. Contrary to his blunt words, his hand wrapped around Kagome’s firmly and warmly. (Inuyasha’s hand… is so warm…) It wasn’t just her hand, but like he’d wrapped her fearfully trembling heart in warmth. Kagome put all her strength into her own hand, gripping Inuyasha’s hand back firmly. Rumble rumble. Something that sounded like a seismic roar reverberated, and Yura’s nest began to sway. “Wh, what is it?!” “Yura’s nest is collapsing!" The overlapping bundles of hair trembled, and the skulls chattered their teeth as the nest suddenly began to collapse. Caught in the middle of it, Kagome and Inuyasha fell as well. All while firmly holding each other’s hands… "Heh, looks like with both her arms gone, she can’t hold up the hair anymore,” Inuyasha said while falling.

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“She was stubborn, but this is it for her.” But it wasn’t over yet. Benigasumi came flying through the air with a whizz, stabbing into the pit of Inuyasha’s stomach. Firmly gripping the handle was Yura’s severed right hand. Another spurt of blood erupted from Inuyasha’s already blood-stained white kimono. 4 The two of them hit the ground along with the skulls. “Dammit!" Inuyasha made his annoyance clear as he got up. Right next to him, the woman who had fallen with him appeared to be looking around searching for something while her face was marred with the pain from the fall. There was nothing but skulls surrounding them. The skulls with which Yura had formed her nest. The pitiful people whom Yura had killed… "Where are you, Yura!” Inuyasha yelled angrily.

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“You’re a fool, Inuyasha,” Yura’s voice came in return. “….!" When he looked, he saw Yura standing atop a mountain of densely-packed skulls. "You thought I couldn’t do anything with my arms cut off?" Benigasumi withdrew itself from Inuyasha’s stomach and floated next to a smugly smiling Yura, awaiting its next order. Inuyasha couldn’t believe it. (Both arms are cut off, there’s a hole in her chest… With so much damage she can still control the hair? And she’s still alive?!) As if to answer his question, Yura said, "I’m immortal!" Triumphantly, Yura thrust Benigasumi at Inuyasha again. The cold blade shone in the moonlight, and the oni sword steadily approached him. However, suddenly, the sword stopped in the air. ”…?!“

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Yura looked like she’d received a severe shock, her eyes wide and her body rigid. (What happened…?!) Looking around, he noticed that the woman wearing the fire rat cloak was holding one of the skulls. With a serious expression, she was trying to stab an arrow into it. (Did she find that skull she mentioned before?!) “The hairs coming out of this skull are attached to Yura’s hands!" Whether she was talking to Inuyasha or herself, she continued to intently stab the arrowhead into the skull. With a crack, a small crack appeared in the skull’s crown. "Ugh!" Yura let out a muffled groan. Yura’s previous triumphant expression now gave way to intense anger. "I’ll kill that woman!" She recalled Benigasumi from where it hung in the air pointed at Inuyasha. Now she flew straight at the woman. "Look out!" The woman was too absorbed with stabbing the arrow to notice.

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Benigasumi’s sharp, cold blade was headed straight for her head. Right then, the arrow completely pierced the skull. The skull split in two with a loud shatter. Inside the skull was a comb. The tiny comb was a transparent white, likely made of bone. “A comb!!" Inuyasha’s eyes widened. The arrow had split that comb in half. Paaaaan…! At that moment, a dim light burst out. A gasp came from Yura’s throat. The oni woman who had boasted of being immortal was floating in the air stiff and wide-eyed. And then… Benigasumi fell to the ground with a clatter. Like a candle going out, Yura’s figure vanished. All that was left was her black leather kimono and red ribbon flapping in the wind.

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5 Kagome sat in dazed disbelief for quite a while. The terrifying oni woman was no more. She was gone for good. “That damned Yura… she transferred her soul into that comb,” Inuyasha said. “That’s why no matter how much I cut or stabbed her, it didn’t do anything.” “Inuyasha!" Kagome returned to her senses and came running to Inuyasha. "Inuyasha, you’re… horribly injured." Inuyasha’s white kimono was completely red. She wondered just how many cut’s he’d received. She hadn’t realized it was this bad until now. "It’s all because you lent me your robe…" Inuyasha had to have known that back when he lent her his fire rat cloak back at the well shrine. Giving away his cloak meant that he would get injured.

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He knew that, and yet Inuyasha had turned over his cloak to Kagome. He’d been concerned for her safety. “Thank you for this…" Kagome gently took off the fire rat cloak and returned it to Inuyasha. "Yeah." Inuyasha was as blunt as ever. "Hey… we need to get you patched up.” “This is nothing. More importantly, where’s the Shikon no Tama?!” “Oh…" Kagome spotted it next to Yura’s kimono. She knew its light by now. "Got it." She retrieved the charm bag from between the kimono and sash. From within it, she held the tiny shard in the palm of her hand. (Collecting the rest of them… I wonder just how many there are…) Just a little earlier, it had felt hopeless. A bit overwhelming. (But I think we’ll be okay) Kagome thought.

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(If I’m with Inuyasha, I’ll be okay.) She had no basis for that, but that’s what Kagome thought. She remembered when they were bounding across forests and fields chasing after Shibugarasu while she rode on Inuyasha’s back. That she was oddly unafraid. (Back then, I thought it was because I was desperate. But that probably wasn’t the case…) She wasn’t afraid because she was with Inuyasha. That had to be it… Lost in her thoughts, she turned around with a gasp when she heard Inuyasha say, “Let’s go, Kagome.” “Eh…?" She looked at him blankly while Inuyasha scowled awkwardly. "What?” “You called me Kagome… It’s the first time you’ve said my name…” “So what?" Inuyasha scowled further. "Don’t you think that means we’re getting along better?”

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When Kagome leaned in to examine his face, Inuyasha turned his head to look away in a huff. “Keh. Don’t get too excited. Who’d get along with a stupid woman like you?" Even though his words were harsh, this time she was able to smile when she heard them. "What? We’re safe because of me!" Kagome gave him a slap on the back, and Inuyasha’s face contorted with a gasp as he fell over onto the ground. "Wait, what’s this about?! If it hurts, you need to tell me!” “Shaddup." Kagome looked on in amazement at Inuyasha’s unrelenting stubbornness. Can’t be helped. He really was violent, selfish, mean, quick to anger, and refused to listen to others. "But we’ll be okay,” she whispered to herself, smiling. And things would be okay. As long as she was with Inuyasha. END

#inuyasha #novelization #shosetsu inuyasha #chapter 11

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mdzs-owns-my-ass-i-guess · 2 years ago

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@jiaoji

🫂💘👁 (hug, a arrow heart and an eye)

It has always been like this - every time Lan Wangji sees Wei Wuxian, it feels like his heart has been struck for the millionth time. He can almost feel it, the sharp, unforgiving arrow of love piercing through his heart in one fell swoop, stabbing through the walls he's built around himself and through the softest, most vulnerable parts of him.

And all that when Wei Ying does nothing but look at him with those beautiful, storm-grey eyes, those eyes that the sun reflects into like diamonds and that the moon shines through like silver. Those eyes that shine with curiosity, mischievousness and wit, with love, with courage - with life.

Lan Zhan could spend the rest of his life staring into Wei Ying's eyes, reading his thoughts and emotions, working to evoke the best ones, the happiest ones - through gifts, through words, through actions of any and all kinds.

He watches Wei Ying, sometimes. Watches him closely, like one would look at a very intricate painting or a fascinating play. He watches Wei Ying playing with the bunnies, or teaching the juniors, drafting inventions, reading, painting.

Now is one of those moments. Wei Ying is working on something, talisman paper burning with various characters on it as he takes notes. He wears concentration on his face, eyes narrowed as another talisman turns to ashes, and quickly jots something down in his notebook. Every now and then he bites at his lower lip, or chews on the end of the brush, deep in thought, doodling on the side of his pages as he seems to be considering various ideas.

He looks adorable, and Lan Zhan can't help coming up behind him and enveloping him in a hug. He jumps a bit at the sudden sensation, but melts into it with a curious smile.

"Lan Zhan? Everything okay?"

"Mn." and he burrows his head in-between Wei Ying's neck and shoulder. "Love you."

"I love you too, Lan Zhan." and he cranes his neck a bit to leave a little kiss to Lan Zhan's lips. "Now let me work, okay?"

"Okay."

Soon, Wei Ying feels Lan Zhan relaxing against his back, his breath coming in slow and even. He's fallen asleep.

The knowledge has Wei Ying's chest bloom with warmth and love, and he abandons his work to lean against Lan Zhan himself and join him in the dream world.

#mdzs #mo dao zu shi #wangxian #writing attempts

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barry-j-blupjeans · 4 years ago

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What about 70 from the dialogue prompts w Taako + one of his friends (you pick!!),,,I always love a rare Taako Sincerity Moment <3

70. "I like that about you."

((prompts here - still accepting!!))

Taako and Lup were fighting, which was never good. Granted, Merle had never seen them have a legitimate fight in the past five years he's known 'em, but the vibes they're giving out... not good. Merle had to pry the story out of Barry, who had been the only one with them when it all went down. He explained it in a quiet voice as Merle gave him a final once-over from the injuries he had gained on the mission. The healing potions seemed to have worked well.

"I think Taako, uh, Taako just wanted to leave me behind?" Barry said. "I was pretty concussed at the time, I'm not gonna lie. But, uh. But I was very low on hitpoints, Taako wanted to just head back 'cus we weren't exactly winning the fight we were in, and- and Lup didn't wanna do that."

"Hm," Merle said. "How do you feel about all that?"

"How do I feel?" Barry repeated and at Merle's confirmation, he went on. "I'm, uh. I mean, I'm a little hurt, but I get it, y'know? The cycle's almost over, I woulda been back next month. Probably."

"Probably," Merle agreed. "You glad Lup got you out?"

"Yeah," Barry said. "I mean, uhm. Only Magnus and you have really died before. I don't know if I... If I ever wanna do that. I wanna know in like... a morbid way, kinda? Like I wanna know what it feels like. But not like that."

"I getcha," Merle said. "Any consultation, poison is not the way to go! That sucked!"

Merle had been struck by a poisoned arrow with about three months left to the third cycle. It hadn't been great. Barry cracked a small smile.

"I'll take your word for it," he said. "I'm gonna go, uh. Get back to the lab. At least we got the Light, right?"

"True that!" Merle said.

The mood over dinner was killer. Merle kind of felt like the tension between Lup and Taako could power its own magic flying boat-ship. Taako stabbed into his food like a madman. Lup was just... not eating.

"So, uh," Merle said. "Good grub, good grub. Anyone seen anything interesting lately? Any cool bugs? A neat plant?"

Silence.

"Well, I saw this awesome berry bush a bit away from the ship!" Merle said. "I showed it to Lucretia so she could draw it. Wasn't it cool, Luce?"

"Uh," Lucretia said, looking very much like she didn't want to say anything about the berry bush. "It was very... green. The berries were very, uh. Berry-like."

"No offense," Merle joked, patting Barry's arm. Barry looked incredibly uncomfortable but offered Merle a smile. "Anyone else? Capt'n?"

Another silence. Davenport, awkward and glancing nervously between everyone, opened his mouth to speak, but-

"I saw my brother almost leave behind our crewmate to die," Lup put in loudly.

"Oh fuck off," Taako said, pushing his plate away. "He woulda been back anyway!"

"But you didn't even try to help him-"

"Have you met me, Lup? Have you met yourself? When did you start trying to help folks?"

"When I started fucking caring about them!" Lup said, standing up. "And when I started not being emotionally constipated like some people here-"

"Lup," Davenport said, standing up. "Taako. I think it'd be best to take a second-"

"Oh, I'm the bad guy here?" Taako snapped. "I don't dive recklessly even further into a battle to try to save someone who'd be fine anyway!"

"It wasn't reckless, dumbass, what's reckless the behavior that started the fight in the first place-"

"Who fucking cares," Taako said, standing up. He rolled his eyes so hard that Merle thought they were just gonna pop out of his head. "I'm going to my bunk, I don't wanna- I'm not gonna sit here and deal with whatever shit you've got going on."

"Yeah, sure, run away!" Lup said, despite the fact that she was going towards the kitchen to escape the conversation as well. She slammed the door behind her. A few seconds of silence passed and another door slammed as well, further away.

The tension was different now, but somehow just as uncomfortable.

Merle decided, of his own free will and without consulting anyone, that he was gonna go talk to Taako. His bunk, which he shared with Lup, was at the end of the hallway. Merle figured that he could at least get in with the pretense of needing to get some things for Lup to sleep in the common area.

He knocked.

"We're closed!" Taako called back.

"I don't think we live in a store, kid," Merle said.

"Don't care!" Taako said. "We're closed!"

"I'm coming in," Merle said. When tried to open the door, it didn't budge. Time to break out his lie. "Lup needs her shit if she's gonna sleep on the couch. At least let me get her a blanket."

Taako didn't respond. After a moment, Merle heard the creak of bedsprings and the shuffle of cloth. Then, Taako was at the door, shoving a blanket and a pillow towards Merle. He almost had gotten the door closed before Merle could even blink, but Merle managed to wedge a pillow between the door and the doorframe just in time.

"You're not here for Lup's shit," Taako accused.

"I'm not," Merle agreed, very casually walking through the gap that was left. He had to squeeze a bit, but Taako just scoffed instead of trying to shut the door on him. "Can we talk?"

"We don't have anything to talk about," Taako said, sitting on the edge of his bed. Merle deposited the blanket and pillow near the door.

He didn't come in here very often- he didn't have any reason to. The room was a mess, but Merle had an inkling that it had some sort of organization to it. Lup's bed was made. Taako's looked like a tornado had gone through. Without asking permission, Merle sat next to him and Taako made a noise of disgust.

"I wanna ask you somethin'," Merle said.

"Did Lup send you?" Taako asked drily. "Or Davenport? Like- what is this?"

"Nah, I came by myself," Merle said. "Actually, I think Dav would suggest the opposite of talking to you right now."

"Leaving me alone, great, you should listen to him."

"Nah," Merle said again. "I have a question. Wanna hear it?"

Taako groaned but seemed to understand that he probably couldn't get Merle to leave. That was good because Merle had run out of lies on why he needed to be here.

"Shoot," Taako said, putting his face in his hands.

"Who's your favorite person, besides Lup?" Taako peaked up from his hands and gave Merle a hard stare. Merle shrugged, raising his hands defensively. "Just askin', man! Doesn't have to be anyone on the crew. They don't even have to be on this plane, or alive, or anything. But tell me someone, besides Lup, who you really like."

Taako was silent, putting his head back in his hands completely. Merle kicked his legs, his feet not quite reaching the ground, as he waited. It took long enough that Merle began to worry that Taako wouldn't answer at all, but finally, he answered with,

"My auntie."

"Ooh, yeah?" Merle said. "Why d'you like her so much?"

"I don't know!" Taako said defensively, throwing his hands up. "Why did you care so much!"

"Just curious!" Merle said. "What's she like? Did she ever give you any good gifts? I had an aunt, once, but she called me a loser."

"You are a loser," Taako muttered. "She was... smart."

"A good quality," Merle said. "Was that her one personality trait? Smart?"

"No," Taako bit out. "She could cook really well. She taught Lup and me, but I'm better at it."

"I believe ya," Merle said.

"Lup can bake better, I guess," Taako said, quietly, like that had been a secret. "Auntie taught us Goblin and how to sow, even though she liked knitting better. She always had knitting needles in her hair, I think to keep it up 'cus when she was knitting, her hair was always down. And she gave us our first spellbook and she didn't get mad when I set her bed on fire by accident."

"No joke?" Merle asked. "I woulda been at least a little mad."

"She was kind," Taako said. "And so fuckin' funny. She didn't care if we swore, like some of our cousins did. And she- she got it when we told her that life was tough. She didn't make fun of us or dismiss us or say that we were too young to know."

"Really smart, then," Merle said. "What happened to her?"

Taako's posture sort of sagged- more than it already was. He sighed.

"Got really sick," he admitted. "She set us up with some shit we would need and let us know when we had to go. No bullshit or coddling or anything, just told us what was happening and that we needed to go."

"Did you want to go?" Merle asked. "That seems like it was a pretty good setup you had going."

"'Course I didn't wanna go," Taako scoffed. "We didn't, at first. But, uh. Lup and Auntie convinced me to leave. She wasn't able to do much for us anymore. Sucks to see someone you care about getting hurt, anyway."

"So you had to go," Merle said. "Not just smart, then. Wise. Knew what'd be best for ya."

"Yeah," Taako said. "It's whatever, Merle, it happened ages ago. Why do you care?"

"'Cus you care," Merle said, nudging him in the side a little too hard. Taako grunted and looked towards him finally.

"You're full of bullshit sometimes, y'know?"

"You'd rather see someone come back fresh than have to live with a lotta pain," Merle said, patting his leg. "I like that about you, Taako. It's a good thing, don't look so upset. I just wanna let you know that while some people would want you to leave them if they're suffering, some others might not. Better to ask, yeah?"

"Oh, yeah, sure, next time I'll ask Barry if he'd rather get stabbed to death before I leave," Taako said sarcastically.

"Just think about it," Merle said, hopping off the bed and heading towards the door. "Might not be the smartest thing to do, but it'd be pretty wise."

He picked up the blanket and pillow, eyes barely peeking out from the pile in his arms.

"Can ya open the door?" Merle asked and Taako sighed, crossing the room to open the door for him. However, he stopped with his hand on the door handle and said, without looking at Merle again,

"Leave Lup's stuff."

Merle shrugged and dropped them. Taako opened the door, letting him out. On his way back up to the common area, he passed Lup sitting against the wall closest to the Starblaster's entrance, tossing a few magical balls of light between her fingers.

"Hiya," Merle said, sliding down next to her. He thumped to the floor and Lup winced, one of the lights extinguishing.

"I'm not really in the mood, Merle," she said.

"That's fine, that's fine," Merle said, waving away her concern. "I just got a question for ya."

#merle highchurch #taako #lup #barry bluejeans #taz stolen century #mine #ise cube writing #asks #anon #thank u anon :D!

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oblivions-dawn · 3 years ago

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ℭ𝔥𝔞𝔭𝔱𝔢𝔯 𝔛ℑ - 𝔗𝔥𝔢 𝔐𝔬𝔱𝔥 𝔓𝔯𝔦𝔢𝔰𝔱

ɢᴇɴʀᴇ: ғᴀɴᴛᴀsʏ/ᴀᴄᴛɪᴏɴ/ᴀᴅᴠᴇɴᴛᴜʀᴇ/ʟɢʙᴛǫ+/sʟᴏᴡ ʙᴜʀɴ ᴘᴀɪʀɪɴɢ: ᴠɪɢᴅɪs [ғᴇᴍᴀʟᴇ ᴅʀᴀɢᴏɴʙᴏʀɴ ᴏᴄ]/sᴇʀᴀɴᴀ ʀᴀᴛɪɴɢ: ᴇ ᴡᴀʀɴɪɴɢs: ɴᴜᴅɪᴛʏ ᴍᴇɴᴛɪᴏɴ, ʙʟᴏᴏᴅ, ɢᴏʀᴇ, ᴘᴛsᴅ

ʟɪɴᴋ: ᴘᴇᴛʀɪᴄʜᴏʀ, ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ xɪ

ᴘʀᴇᴠɪᴇᴡ:

Serana, whose eyes pierced the darkness better than most mortals, peered over Vigdis’ shoulder. They were crouched atop an old, ruined staircase. Hints of ancient stone pathway embedded in the overgrown grass weaved to a bridge that crossed over a strong stream, where a vampire stood guard. Past the bridge was the fort itself, crumbled away from the merciless passage of time and merely a glimpse of the grandeur it once was.

The arrow flew forward—the unexpected snap of the string made Serana jolt—and sailed across the empty space until it struck its intended target. Her dark eyebrows shot up as the vampire fell and Vigdis quickly descended the steps to press on. Serana followed close behind, and as they passed over the body to cross the bridge, Serana was shocked to see the arrow dug deep into the side of its neck.

Vigdis loosed another arrow, which pierced a thrall lookout on the fort’s walls. They collapsed silently, their absence unnoticed. Serana’s mouth was agape with astonishment—she had watched the hunter kill animals before, but this was different. The redhead’s temper and stature didn’t match this stealthy approach; yet every movement seemed second nature to her. The shadows themselves cloaked her like black wings, her prey never aware of their demise until it was far too late.

No, Serana realised. Her method was just like her: quiet, and ruthless.

They peeked into the fort—and were met with a massive bonfire. Serana counted no less than three men, all humans. Vigdis shot another arrow, but it didn’t hit any of the three men that Serana saw. Instead, it found its mark in another vampire, who had stood on the second floor of a crippled tower, and dropped to the ground with a thud. This drew the attention of the men, who armed themselves and were now on guard for intruders.

“Why did you do that?” Serana hissed. “Now they know we’re here!”

Vigdis’ icy eyes glared over her shoulder. She put away her bow and unsheathed her dagger as she crept towards the closest man, whilst Serana begrudgingly decided to stay in place. Once he was in reach, Vigdis smashed a freckled hand over his mouth and dragged him to the ground. He struggled hard against her—until she stabbed the blade deep into his jugular. Blood sputtered from his wound and onto her hand. He laid on the ground, lifeless, and Vigdis shifted to her next victim.

Unfortunately, he sensed something was wrong, and turned just as she went to grab him. She jabbed the dagger into his inner thigh and dragged it down, then gave it a twist before she ripped it out. He opened his mouth to scream, but she cut his neck so he gurgled and choked on the sound.

Vigdis whipped around as the third man attacked her with unbridled fury. Serana’s breath hitched as the two fell to the ground in their struggle to kill the other. Serana thrust out her open palm—and an ice shard punctured the side of his head. He went limp.

Serana rushed over just as Vigdis shoved him off of her, her freckled face twisted with disgust. Before the vampire could open her mouth, the hunter stood up. For a moment, Serana glanced over her body and face, thoroughly covered in blood.

“I had that,” Vigdis muttered with a glare.

“You’re welcome,” Serana replied coolly.

#The Threads of Blood: Petrichor #Senu's Writing #Skyrim #Skyrim fanfiction #Dragonborn x Serana #Serana x Dragonborn #Vigdis #Serana Volkihar #Serana

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darckcarnival · 2 years ago

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Get To Know The Mun!

> BASICS! ♡

NAME: Spoop, Splat, D, Darck (peeps usually call my my main muses names except Spoop, I am the spoopiest.)

PRONOUNS: Any! I merely exist.

ZODIAC SIGN: Sagittarius/Capricorn

TAKEN OR SINGLE: Single but married to food.

> THREE FACTS! ♡

Have been writing since the 90's when I was a wee child. Did silly little roleplaying on mIRC, on some forums, and deviant art back in the day there after. Then became a fanfic writer for a while, followed by poems which I was quite good at back in the day. Then began making lyrics- figured nah, not for me. And flipped full circle back into roleplaying once more with some drabbles and maybe a one shot fic here and there. Have been writing ever since! So I have a LOT of history under my belt. And many of my muses have the same type of dedication and time behind them. Gotta put as much love into your character and writing, as if they were your own family. Make them feel alive.

Most art I do is either writing, 3D model modification items, or just with a mouse and keyboard art. I have been practicing more with a gifted tablet and pen, which has allowed me to do more detailed and serious mod work, such as mods for RE4 classic! But I am much better at texture, 3D, or coloring and shading. But heres the fun fact: i learned all my 3D and texture work skills through Second Life before anything else. And it's actually, funny enough, helped me bring muses to life as well as follow up on how to mod other games and go hog wild.

Been struck by lightning twice, fell down two different cliffs, hit by a semi truck, shot with a carbon arrow in the chest, stabbed, shot by bullet, and so on- and yet here I stand. Most of these events were completely accidental as well, and I walked away from. Honestly? I'm just a walking glitch in the matrix of the world, considering I also glitch every single god damn game I touch. THIS IS NOT A JOKE, NO MATTER HOW NEW IT IS, I BREAK IT.

> EXPERIENCE! ♡

PLATFORMS USED: AIM, Yahoo Messenger, DA chat, so many FORUM's back in the day. Skype, Discord, Tumblr.

PLOTTING / WINGING IT / MEMES: Geez, I can roll with just about anything. Plotting? Hell yeah count me in! Plots may not always follow the idea one hundred percent, but it absolutely makes for longer events and threads easily. Winging it? I do that all the damn time and can create so many unexpected events, as well as sudden character development. Twists and turns that just wing a rough idea into something wild. As for Memes and asks? Oh those can still form some really good interactions, character developments or knowledge acquiring moments. Sometimes these are one offs or long drabbles- but they can form into something longer and more serious. However, while I am down for all of the above-- I also have bad ADHD and writing can be hard, so it could take a while.

> MUSE PREFERENCE! ♡

GENDER: I can write just about any gender character, manage things in between or none. However I am more comfortable with female centric style muses. And yet, you put large men in my hands, and watch them go hog fucking wild. And don't even get be started on Robots or Monsters.

MULTI OR SINGLE: I have done both, but usually prefer single muse blogs. And yet I absolutely love my megaman multimuse to death! All my robot children and heathens there, so much work in my own verse there. So many thoughts. But multimuse blogs can still be difficult to keep organized with so much going on in the braincell, and with life being as it is, need to take breaks from it.

LEAST FAVOURITE FACECLAIM(S): Not sure what this means for least favorite here, does it mean people, or genre? I really don't mind one way or another. Especially when it comes to OC's, it's hard to find anyone who fits just right for people. And honestly I do not mind one way or another for people. If it fits someones muse, that's fine by me.

> FLUFF / ANGST / SMUT! ♡

FLUFF: THE GOOD SHIT HELL YEAH. I'm down for fluff so long as it isn't like... Hollow and forced. Fluff can be used as a great comfort option,. be it platonic, familial, friendly, or even romantic. Fluff can be used in so very many ways, and it's always an option withy me. But this can also turn into angst easily with my cursed hands, you have been warned. As well as comedic timing, since Darck needs to make a laugh to make herself comfortable. Darck has... problems.

ANGST: My bread and butter this one, much to the dismay of many of my friends who write with me. The muse on this blog is made of angst and pain and terrible events that have formed her into who she is. Angst can become violence, woe, heavy conversation, as well as venting- it's such a key part of development. There is a saying I quite enjoy: Muses are like geodes. Shiny, pretty, and in order to see what they are really made of, you must break them. I do admit however that I have a limit of how far I can go to a degree, with real life being a thing, but honestly? It takes a whole fucking lot to get there. And also maybe write angst too much and tragedy. Give this muse some better days.

SMUT: As much as I have enjoyed smut in the past, I haven't written such in a very long time, and am very careful of whom I write such with. Turns out I really good at smut according to others. And hey fun fact: People used to straight up pay me to write them smut of their characters and others of their choice. Haven't had that going in years but, it was a thing. However these days, writing smut with my muses needs to be more than just the event. It can be an opening for vulnerability, letting someone get close enough and trust them enough, that no one else really gets. Quiet and heavy conversations, the emotions involved. But if I ever do write it again, both my self and my partner need to be comfortable with writing such a thing. However if I ever did smut in a private drabble or fanfic, then all bets are off, because that's different. But far more rare.

Tagged by: @valour-bound

Tagging: You see this? IM TAGGING YOU. Do it.

#Out Of Coffins :: OOC #Mun Speaking Hours!#(( get to know the mun a little i guess ))#(( here is your local cryptid ))

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wolfish-trickster · 4 years ago

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I HATE YOUR FICS.YOU WRITE LOKI AS SOME SWEET UWU BABY WHO DID NOTHING WRONG. HE TRIED TO KILL THOR! HE TRIED TO KILL HIS DAD AND MOM! HE TRIED TO DESTROY EARTH! HE TOOK OVER ASGUARD! HE DOESNT HAVE HEART ONLY BLACK WHOLE IN HIS CHEST! HE'S EVIL AN DEAD ANYWAYS. HE WAS NEVER A GOOD PERSON! GO LIVE IN YOUR LIES BUT DON'T WRITE LOKI SOFT!!!!!!!!!!!

All caps huh? This will be fun...

I love arguing with people especially when I know I'm right.

First: I never said he did nothing wrong. All I ever said was I understand why he did what he did. He did a lot of wrong things, but so did the 'heroes' aka Avengers. Bruce is out of control everytime he hulks out, Tony was selling bombs and explosives, Steve fought in WW2 where he wasn't exactly a gentle fighter, Clint shoots arrows (and he never misses his targets), Thor tried to commit a genocide on Jotunheim all because he got called princess and Natasha literally set a hospital on fire. None of them are saint. All of them killed. But all of them were forgiven because they are the heroes™. Loki wasn't because he's the scapegoat of the MCU. Plus it's canon he was mindcontrolled when he invaded Earth but I'll get to it later.

Second: When exactly did he try to kill Thor? If you're gonna tell me that horrible snake story I'm gonna yeet you out of the window because that's the most ooc thing for Loki to do. In 2011 he tried to fight Thor on the bridge, but not to the point of killing him. His emotions were a mess, he was a mess, he was crying the whole time. To top it all off he was willing to kill his entire race (Jotuns) in order to be the 'worthy son' in Odin's eyes. The next time that comes to my mind is when they're on the Avengers tower and Loki stabs him with that teeny tiny push dagger that's practically a toothpick to Thor. He could've used any other knife but he chose the smallest he had instead.

(Plus notice how small part of the blade is bloody meaning Loki struck it deep enough to cause pain but no serious damage, but then again that could be just the lighting of the scene)

Third: He never tried to kill his dad. He lead Laufey to him when he was in Odinsleep but he killed his own biological dad so Odin could see him as worthy son. That's all he ever wanted from him. And for Frigga: yes, he did tell Kurse to take the stairs to the left (or right I can't remember which one atm) but did he know Frigga will be there? I don't think so. Frigga died protecting Jane, not because Loki send the monster after her. Besides, he was raging when he found out she died, that's not a propriate reaction for someone who tried to 'kill his mom'.

Fourth: He never said he wants to destroy Earth. He only ever said he wants to rule us. That's a difference. Plus it's canon the mind stone in his scepter was influencing him too and on top of that The Other was threatening to kill him (torturing him even) if he fails.

Fifth: He didn't take over Asgard. With Thor in exile and Odin in Odinsleep Loki was next in line, Frigga gave him the Gungnir (that big golden spear) and made him king in deleted scene. He never took the throne, he accepted it. He even said so himself:

Sixth: About the heart thing: he does have one. He can't just have empty chest cavity now, can he? How else would all the blood get pumped into different parts of his body?

Seventh: He's evil? Bitch where? When he saved Thor and Warriors 3/4 from Jotunheim in first Thor movie? When he saved Jane when he didn't have to and could escape in TDW? When he saved Thor in the same movie? When he returned to Asgard with that bigass ship for everyone to escape in in Ragnarok? (I don't like that movie that much but at least they got something of Loki's character correct)

He was a good person. He still is, he just has very tall walls around him and acts cold to protect himself. And you can bet your ass I'm going to write soft Loki as much as I can because that's how I like to write him. Everyone gets soft from moment to moment, even such a hurt and complex character like Loki. He deserves some softness in his life.

#ask #not so nice one #but defending Loki was fun #in defense of Loki #meta kind of?

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carelesscreativity · 4 years ago

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Crink Angst Ending ft. Bad Sans Poly

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(SFW, Angst)

Each strike was precise. Cross' brow was furrowed in concentration as he deflected arrow after arrow. Despite his best efforts, they were still pushing him back towards the snowy trees. He wasn't sure how he'd ended up facing Dream, but he didn't really have the option to complain. Blue wasn't too much of a fight for him and it was better than the third party. Cross' back hit the trunk of the tree and Dream cornered him.

It was supposed to be a simple mission. Go in, spread a little chaos and then leave, but the Star Sanses must've had this AU on lock because they'd arrived much faster than the Bad Sanses had anticipated. They were still in Snowdin, having not even reached Waterfall yet. They could only fight them as they waited for the backup (Error and Nightmare) to arrive. A blaster activated, startling both Dream and Cross. The overpowered, somewhat purple beam of light that decimated the ground between them was clearly Dust's, but it had carried something over. Someone over.

Cross felt his body freeze up as he saw Ink, the artist stumbling to his feet with a small laugh as the incinerated parts of his body began to bubble back. He glanced to the side and met Cross' wide eyes. His eyes shifted shapes to a yellow star and a pink heart. He turned to Dream with a smile, summoning his paintbrush. "Mind if we switch?" Dream scoffed and went to go apprehend Dust. That left Cross alone with Ink.

Ink's smile faltered as Dream disappeared and he turned to Cross, his eyelights changing to a yellow star and a blue raindrop. There was silence between them for what felt like an uncomfortably long time. Neither of them moved before Ink made the first move. "C..." He managed quietly. Cross stopped him, saying that he shouldn't call him that anymore. His blade shook slightly as he pointed it at him before lowering it. He stood up straight and moved away from the tree, starting to stride past Ink. He jumped as his shirt was snagged and he froze. He wouldn't look back.

"Ink, please." He said, his firm voice only having the tiniest hint of a waver. "We... can't go back." When there was no answer and Ink had yet to let go of him, Cross finally turned to face him. "You made your choice and I made mine." Ink released the shirt as Cross turned around. Cross couldn't help but pause upon seeing Ink. He'd never seen the carefree guardian look like that. Both eyelights were blue and his shoulders were sunken as he stared at him. "Ink..." Cross' voice was little more strangled than he would've liked. "Please... don't look like that."

"Look like what?" Ink asked. His voice was a little strained as well, his eyelights finally moving away from Cross to look at the ground. Though the shapes did change every time he blinked, they continued to remain that dreary blue. "Is it bad? I'm not sure what I look like right now, but I can only assume it's not good." Cross watched in confusion and then dismay as Ink's sockets watered. He'd never seen Ink cry either. He blinked as another blast rocked the town and the snow from the tree he'd been under fell, some landing on Ink. He didn't seem to notice or if he did, he wasn't showing it.

It was a pitiful sight, Ink seemingly struggling not to cry as his body began to shiver from being covered in snow. The other had long let his oversized paintbrush drop to his side. Cross felt his soul squeeze. Ink seemed confused at himself and it struck Cross that maybe Ink had never felt this intensely before. He watched as those blue eyes made their way up to meet his again and the next blink brought that one heart-shaped eyelight again. It sent a pang through his chest.

He gulped and looked back, knowing that he could potentially be in quite a bit of trouble for being seen with the enemy like this. Ink finally spoke. "We were here before. I-It was a really long time ago, so I don't expect you to remember. I took you here and we spent our time in Waterfall, among the echo flowers. You pushed me into the river when I annoyed you..." He gave a weak laugh. "I-I'm not sure how I remember that... M-Maybe it's written on my scarf??" He began to pull the fabric up, his hands shaking.

Cross was paused. He did remember that. Ink had popped up out of the river with such a loud, boisterous laugh that it had startled him. His soul ached again. Ink was still searching his scarf, weakly pulling the fabric and searching. He was becoming more and more confused and distraught trying to find it. His eyelights were shooting through so many shapes per second. Cross finally stabbed his blade into the ground and moved back towards him, unable to keep seeing Ink like this. Ink seemed startled, dropping his scarf and taking a step back.

Warmth suddenly enveloped him and Ink had to take moment to process that he was being hugged. Hugs were always so strange to Ink. He paused before slowly wrapping his arms around Cross in response. Another blast shook the ground and for a moment, Cross felt Ink press into him as he startled. It was just like how he remembered. He finally pulled back a little, looking down at Ink. The other wouldn't look up, even when Cross said his name. Finally, the soldier reached down and lifted his chin.

He paused. Translucent tears streamed down Ink's cheeks, only flashes of rainbow seen in the clear liquid. Cross' eyes were wide and he cupped Ink's cheek, using his thumb to try and wipe them away. "I-It's wet?" Ink asked after a moment, furrowing his brow. Cross' soul sank and he told Ink quietly that he was crying. "A-Am I??" Ink seemed genuinely surprised and reached up, wiping at his own cheeks. "That means sadness, doesn't it? I'm sad?" Cross knew Ink had a lot of trouble distinguishing that. He asked what he thought he felt. Ink furrowed his brow.

"My chest is heavy inside. Everything feels too tight and I think I'm shaking a lot. I... I think it's painful?" He really didn't seem like he was sure. "It happens when I look at you. And think of you." Cross stared at him in quiet dismay. "I-I think I miss you. I miss you a lot." Ink's bluntness never failed to take Cross back, but this time, all he felt was another pang. He pulled Ink close again and the other seemed to accept, hugging him back. "I asked Dream what it was and he said I was experiencing grief. But that's when someone dies, isn't it?"

Cross had started instinctively rubbing Ink's back without realizing, saying quietly that that wasn't always the case. Ink fell quiet and Cross could practically feel him trying to make sense of that. "Would it make you feel better to know that I miss you too?" Cross' voice was quiet and he felt Ink's grip on him slightly tighten after a moment as he nodded. Cross kept glancing around for any hints of the Bad Guys or the Stars. He didn't want either of them in trouble for this. "We can't go back, Ink. We made our choices."

"I-I know that... I was just wondering why I felt like this... Why I'm grieving even though you aren't dead." Ink's voice was weak and confused. "It's odd. Usually, I'm excited to feel new things, but this... I don't like this..." Cross nodded. He understood that it was difficult for Ink to get. Being soulless while experiencing nostalgia and grief couldn't have been fun. He continued to rub his back. He moved them back into the tree line to keep them hidden, dissipating his knife from where it had been stuck in the ground in the clearing.

Ink clung to him the entire time. "Cross?" The soldier looked down at Ink in surprise, knowing it must be important if Ink was using his full name. "Can I have one more kiss?" Cross froze and stared down at him with wide eyes. Ink stared back up at him. "That's all I'm asking for. Nothing more. I just... want something. Like when you comforted me when I was injured. It made me feel good." Cross remembered. The small kisses he would give Ink as he healed him. The way Ink would fluster without realizing. The thought almost brought a smile back to his face. Almost.

"One more." He said quietly. Ink blinked and looked up at him with wide eyes. He hadn't been expecting Cross to agree. At the very least, he'd just expected him to say no. Ink pressed against him and Cross leaned down, gently pressing their teeth together. It was soft, tender and exactly how Ink remembered it. His body filled with warmth from the area where his soul would have been. He habitually wrapped his arms up around Cross' neck and he felt the other's hands rest on his hips in response. He didn't know why, but his sockets suddenly burned and he had to pull away as he screwed them shut.

Cross pulled Ink back into the hug and watched as a cascade of tears erupted down Ink's face and he inhaled shakily. "I-I don't... What's...?" He hiccuped and Cross understood. He lowered them both to the ground on their knees and Ink leaned against him, still trying to pull together enough of a sentence to ask what was happening to him.

"Ink." The artist looked up at Cross with wide, teary eyes as the soldier spoke and Cross sighed. "Just relax yourself and cry." Cry? Hadn't Ink already been crying? He furrowed his brow, but did as Cross said, relaxing himself. However, the second he did so, a sob tore itself from his throat. While he was startled, he couldn't stop himself and Ink quickly became overwhelmed, starting to cry. His sobs even sounded confused. He was trying to stop them, but Cross placed a hand on his back, telling him to just let it out.

Ink stopped trying to contain it and buried himself against Cross, hiccuping. Cross noticed a dark figure out of the corner of his eye and he glanced over. Nightmare watched them quietly. Cross' body tensed a little, but this was a FAR better alternative than any of the others finding him like this. Nightmare seemed docile and Cross could tell he was sensing their emotions. The king had never felt pain and sorrow from Ink before. He'd never felt anything this strong from Ink before. Still, the darker gestured to Ink with a raised brow.

Cross mouthed that he needed a few minutes. That Ink had been experiencing grief without even realizing what it was. He paused before managing to mouth that he felt this was them saying their final goodbyes. Nightmare nodded, keeping quiet. Cross was relieved. If anyone would understand, it was Nightmare. He would know that this wasn't Cross betraying them. He was devoted to them, but Nightmare knew he wouldn't be able to let Ink suffer like that by himself. Nightmare signed for Cross to come back once he was ready.

Cross relaxed and nodded. The entire time, Ink had been sobbing into his chest, his mind a whirlwind as he tried to process what he was feeling. Nightmare disappeared and Cross returned to rubbing Ink's back and comforting him again. He moved to lean back against a tree, pulling the other with him. He couldn't stay like this forever. They couldn't stay like this forever. But he wanted to be there for Ink now. Like he had been then.

One final bit of time together. Then maybe they could both let go.

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ao3komorii · 5 years ago

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About Time (Timeskip Dimitri/Reader)

Decided to start transferring my works over, starting with my oldest oneshot from ao3 with Dimitri! It’s technically Dimileth since I like the Dimitri pairing from Byleth’s position, but it’s fully in 2nd person and I don’t use any names for Reader or anything.

This oneshot was entirely born from having a thought of “what if Dimitri accidentally saw Byleth’s boobs and then freaked out.” Also, this one is set after Dimitri comes out of his emo phase, but before the final battle in the BL route. Just a note, there is sex at the end. Enjoy :)

----

You did not find yourself in over your head much anymore these days, but you also had a talent for finding new trouble.

You had been backed into a corner by multiple soldiers, and a horrible giant beast. The beast’s jaw opened slowly, revealing its gleaming teeth, dripping with a black substance as the soldiers by its side advanced, lances drawn and all pointed towards you. The Sword of the Creator at your side was growing weary, and you knew that it would not be enough to defeat the enemies in front of you.

You knew that your former students were on the battlefield somewhere, but you couldn’t see them beyond the great beast that caged you in by the wall. Either way, this was too dangerous a situation for them anyways. You could only hope they would stay away. Use the chance to escape while this creature feasted on your flesh and gnawed on your bones. You didn’t want to die, but you would not allow yourself to be the cause of any of your students’ deaths. It would break you. If anyone had to die, it should be you.

You held up your sword, ready to fight back, but the onslaught still overwhelmed you. You were able to quickly take out a few soldiers with the last remaining swipe of your mythic sword’s power before their lances got too close to you. You had no time to bask in your small victory as your sword refused to spring into action after your first swipe, only functioning as an average sword, and a dull one at that, as it lost all its power. And with its elongation use now locked away from you, you would only be able to defend yourself from close range.

This immediately proved deadly for you, as you swerved to avoid the creature’s teeth, but found yourself on the receiving end of an enemy’s lance as it sunk in and out of your shoulder. You screamed with pain and shock as you sunk down to your knees, dropping your sword to press a hand over your wound. It hurt so badly, and you looked up as a shadow loomed over you to see the monster and remaining soldiers all radiating with the satisfaction that they were about to snuff your life out. You couldn’t even gather the strength to pick your sword back up, the pain in your shoulder was too great. Even moving your hand sent unbearable jolts of pain up and down your arm. You could do nothing but watch, eyes drawn to the lance of the soldier that had stabbed you, what must be your blood dripping off the tip and onto the ground.

You felt all hope leave your mind as the abomination’s jaw opened wide, preparing to blast you with fire. Too weary to continue looking up, you turned your head down in defeat, hoping that your death would at least come fast. You heard a loud shout, but it was not enough to keep you from falling on your side, no strength left in your body to allow you to remain up. Your eyes slid closed, and death felt imminent.

You felt like you were fading, and the sounds around you faded along with your hazy consciousness. There were sounds of screams and horrible growls, but you didn’t know what they meant, and couldn’t really rationalize anything but the extreme pain you felt. There was so much screaming and so much pain. It was hard to even think at all.

“Professor!”

A voice broke through your haze at about the same time you felt the pain lessen by a small fraction. You heard your name called, with more insistency, and you felt annoyed. You just wanted the pain to end so you could sleep. The pain was so great that in that moment you didn’t mind dying if it would end the pain.

“If she falls unconscious, we won’t be able to save her!” You heard a soft-voiced woman assert.

“Professor!” the calls of your name and title got louder, and more insistent, and your forehead felt wet as one voice rang out louder than the rest. “Please, Professor, I can’t lose you too...”

The pain lessened a little more, becoming less all-encompassing, and you allowed your eyes to open. You found your vision blurry until a warmth took over the feeling of pain in your shoulder. A call of your name focused your attention directly above you.

Dimitri was crying. It was the first thing that struck you as you gazed up at him, tears freely flowing from his uncovered eye. His eye lit up when you looked at him, and you felt the world beneath you shift.

“Dimitri!” an airy voice angrily broke the quiet. “Don’t move!”

You were confused, and moved your head, unintentionally shifting your shoulder and sending a wave of pain through it as you went limp against Dimitri’s lap, where you found yourself realizing that your head was resting in. You closed your eyes tightly in response to the return of extreme pain, much worse than you had ever felt before.

“Professor, not you too! You must not move!” the woman insisted.

Your mind felt clearer once the pain faded again to a dull ache and the warm feeling took over. You realized at once who that voice was, and you opened your eyes to look at Mercedes, who was by your injured shoulder sending healing magic into the wound. That explained the familiar feeling that you couldn’t place. She met your gaze, unable to form her usual smile as she turned back to focusing on your wound. That confused you, and you turned your head ever so slightly to look at your injury without agitating it again.

You understood Mercedes’ current urgency. Your shoulder looked horrible. There was a large rip in the shoulder of your cloak, likely ripped further by Mercedes in an effort to get better access to the wound. There was so much blood, it matted the ripped fabric around your wound to your skin, making the area feel sticky.

Most worrying was the blood nearest to the wound, if it was even your blood, was bleeding an oily black. Mercedes wiped a hand over the wound, clearing it to reveal a patch of gray skin surrounding the stab wound.

“What is that?” Came Ashe’s panicked voice.

“The enemy’s lance was poisoned, clearly,” Felix stated with a short glance behind him.

You looked beyond where you were to realize that the area behind where you lay was covered in the bodies of the enemies that had just been closing in on you. The great beast was killed with no mercy, some of its limbs meters away from its actual body. You couldn’t stand to look at what was done to the Imperial soldiers; some with deep slashes, charred, or with arrows sticking out of their heads. It looked horrible, but not unusual for the battles you regularly faced.

“But poison couldn’t work this fast!” Annette protested.

“I’ve heard of weapons being enchanted with poison before,” Ashe explained.

“Enchanted with poison...” Dimitri echoed, expression tense. “What does it look like to you, Mercedes?”

Mercedes looked up from your wound to meet Dimitri’s eyes, but quickly looked back down. “Her wound isn’t responding to my magic. If we don’t do something, I fear she may die.”

Mercedes looked sad and scared, but Dimitri’s growl brought your attention back to him in an instant.

“There has to be something we can do to save her!” His desperate gaze morphed into one of hatred, one you thought you had seen the last of after Rodrigue’s death. “Tell me who I must kill and I will do it.”

“Spoken like a boar,” Felix interjected. “You think she has the time for you to go on a murderous rampage?”

“Felix...” Ingrid protested lowly and sadly.

“Then what would you have me do, Felix?” Dimitri replied, anger clear in his voice. “She is dying, you can’t expect us to do nothing!”

“I expect you not to-” Felix started.

“Stop it!” Annette cried. “You guys need to listen to Mercie!”

Mercedes nodded toward her best friend as Felix and Dimitri reluctantly went quiet. “There is one way to save her, but we will need everyone’s help.”

“Me and Mercie came up with a plan!” Annette smiled softly at Mercedes, expression belying a reluctant confidence. “Healing magic can’t touch it, but regular magic should be able to negate its effects enough for healing to work on it again!”

“And the only magic strong enough to fend off this dark poison is Annie’s fire,” Mercedes explained. “Annie will burn off the infection, and then I will heal the wound.”

“You want to burn her?” Sylvain implored, shocked. “I know she’s tough, but...”

“We don’t have the time to think of any other solution,” Ingrid said sadly, gesturing towards you. “Grey is spreading down her arm.”

Everyone’s eyes shot over to your arm, and you lazily swept your gaze over as well to see that the grey skin tone had travelled down your arm, halfway towards your elbow. The grey patches looked rough, and unlike any affliction you had ever seen before. You wondered if the Imperial army had been exploring darker methods to kill than simple weaponry and monsters. It didn’t surprise you, but you should have seen it coming.

“What do we do...?” Ashe asked quietly, as if he wasn’t ready to hear the answer.

“You all must hold her down while Annette burns the infection away,” Mercedes answered. “It will be very painful, but if she moves, she could get hurt, so you must keep her still.”

Dimitri looked torn as he brushed some stray hairs from your face. Even through the excruciating pain, the gesture embarrassed you. Dimitri looked to be mentally weighing options as a stray tear slipped from his chin to drop on your neck. The tear was a momentary relief, a distraction, but Mercedes couldn’t keep you from feeling all the pain in your shoulder, her healing magic seemingly less and less effective by the second as the pain began to grow stronger.

“Professor,” Dimitri said, trying but failing to keep emotion out of his voice. “What do you want us to do?”

You didn’t trust your ability to talk at the moment, and so you kept eye contact with him and nodded the best you could, which ended up being two slow rises and falls of your head. You could only hope that he understood what you were trying to say. He stared at you for a few seconds before he broke eye contact.

“Dedue, Felix, take her legs,” he instructed, and the two men moved quickly towards your lower half. “Ingrid, Sylvain, take an arm each.”

The four requested students each their place at one of your limbs, and Dimitri slowly let you out of his lap, your head now resting on the ground as he made his way over to Annette and Mercedes by your injured shoulder. “I will ensure she does not move her shoulders.”

“Um...” Ashe spoke up hesitantly. “It’s not much, but I brought along a book I’ve been reading, and she might need something to bite down on, so she doesn’t bite off her tongue.”

He offered the book to Dimitri, who accepted it gratefully, and with no choice, you bit down on it when Dimitri brought it to your mouth. You would have been embarrassed if you weren’t so anxious about the somehow worse pain to come. At Dimitri’s signal, your legs and arms were restrained, ensuring that you could not move them at all. When he checked that everyone had a secure hold on you, Dimitri put one hand on your uninjured shoulder, and one on your upper chest, just above your breasts. His head was just above yours, his long hair tickling your cheeks.

“Just keep looking at me,” he whispered, voice then rising in volume. “Annette, now.”

Annette didn’t reply, but she didn’t have to. Seconds after Dimitri’s words, you felt the worst pain you have ever felt in your entire life, putting the extreme pain from before to shame. You wanted to scream, but you knew you shouldn’t, even in your haze of pain. You just bit down on the book as hard as you could to compensate. Someone held one of your hands and you squeezed their hand as hard as you could, which must have been painful, but they didn’t pull away or let go of your hand.

A whisper of your name had you looking back up to Dimitri’s face. He looked fairly upset, but the intense levels of pain you were experiencing kept you from being able to reassure him. He smiled, a clearly forced smile, but didn’t look away from you at all, which gave you no insight into how it was going with your shoulder aside from the momentous pain, which was so hot that it now felt cold. The pain was so white hot that you had to close your eyes, teeth digging into the book’s cover.

“You’ll be alright, professor,” Dimitri said quietly. “We can’t lose you.”

You knew that your students would be destroyed if you died here. You knew that they would all fall apart. So you endured the pain quietly, you had no other choice. You couldn’t leave them alone after all you had all been through. You tried to stay still, but suddenly the brutal pain increased tenfold. You screamed around the book, trying to thrash your limbs, but your students remained steadfast, restricting your movement.

“Annette!” Dimitri barked, taking his gaze from you but not his hands, which kept you pressed down.

“I’m sorry, it’s... it’s fighting against my magic! Professor, I’m so sorry!” she replied tearfully.

“We have to keep going, Annie,” Mercedes’ voice broke through the panic. “She has no chance if we don’t keep trying!”

With that, the incredible pain returned, and you once again regained the unpleasant taste of the book cover in your mouth as your teeth sank into the dents you had made previously. Everyone was so quiet while Annette and Mercedes worked that you could hear everyone’s breathing, and Dimitri sounded close to hyperventilating with how heavy his breaths sounded. You looked up at him, but he was looking over at your injury, not at you. He looked like he was about to cry again, and it being due to your strategic negligence was weighing on you at the moment.

He wouldn’t look at you and looked openly panicked. You thought he would eventually feel your eyes on him, but he didn’t. He just continued to stare at the work being done on your shoulder, which you couldn’t see yourself because Mercedes and Annette blocked your sight of it entirely. You were getting used to the horrific pain at this point, so you managed to remain still. Maybe Sothis helped with your pain tolerance, since you knew that even with the pain levels you had experienced in your life, an average person could not possibly remain as still as you were able to during this kind of a procedure.

“Mercie!” Annette cried.

At once, the burning started to fade, as the familiar feeling of Mercedes’ magic took over, engulfing your shoulder in a light so bright that you turned your head away from it and closed your eyes. There were gasps and murmured words all around you and all at once you had a range of movement in your limbs again as everyone released their tight holds on you. Dimitri, however, kept his hands where they were, and you assumed he would wait until he knew that you would be okay.

Annette and Mercedes finally backed up from your sider, allowing you a glance at your shoulder. There was nothing, not even a scratch, or the third-degree burns you were expecting from the fire magic. The grey patches of skin had receded entirely with Annette’s eradication of the strange poison magic. You were in awe of Mercedes’ magic, but you were far from the only one who was.

“Remind me not to get too far away from you on the battlefield, Mercedes!” Sylvain joked.

Sylvain’s words brought Dimitri out of his stupor and he finally released his hold on you as you reached a hand up to remove the now soggy and dented book from your mouth. You weren’t sure what to do with it since Ashe would clearly not want it back now.

You sat up as everyone else began standing up, your muscles screaming in protest. From the pain that riddled your shoulder from all that had been done to it to the soreness in your limbs from being held down by people who put all of their strength into keeping you still, you were in pain, but not deathly pain. You waved off the chorus of worried voices asking if you were okay; you were just sore, not dying!

Ignoring their protests, you slowly stood up, only for an arm to slide around your waist. Ready to scold Sylvain for choosing now of all times to flirt, you looked over to see a stubborn Dimitri gazing back at you, frowning with concern. It wasn’t like he had no caring before you were able to bring him out of his ten-year thirst for revenge, but he almost went overboard with how much he showed that everyone mattered to him now. And with that knowledge, you knew you weren’t about to win whatever argument he was about to start about your safety.

“Be careful, Professor!” he chided, refusing to let go of your waist even as were found you were able to stand properly. Not without soreness, but properly enough. “You can ride back to the monastery with me.”

You could walk just fine... probably. Your hesitation to accept must have shown on your face, because it started another bickering war.

“She’s fine without you being a mother hen,” Felix stated dryly.

“Felix!” Dimitri admonished, not removing his hold on you. “She was barely alive moments ago, and you want her to walk all the way back to the monastery?”

“In case you haven’t noticed, her shoulder is fine. Do you think she wants you to baby her when she spent months trying to get you to behave like a person and not an animal?” Felix retorted.

You would rather try to walk, to help preserve your pride, but you didn’t have the chance to speak up before the two started fighting. You weren’t sure how to break up this fight before it got worse, but luckily it was resolved for you.

“And you two think arguing about this is going to make her feel better?” Ingrid said angrily, making her way over to you. “She will ride back with me.”

Felix scoffed and turned away, while Dimitri went silent, allowing Ingrid to put your arm around her neck as she led you over to her waiting pegasus. You would have time to thank everyone for their help later. The whole experience and then the arguing had tired you out, and you just wanted to rest. So you got on the pegasus ahead of Ingrid and allowed her to take you back to the monastery, where you could get some sleep and recover.

You were pushing yourself too hard and you knew it. You were still unhappy with how you had fared in the battle with Imperial troops a week before.

And here you were, a few days later, training in the rain in the forest just outside the monastery. You had been swarmed by the students worrying about you, and your sword hand was itching to get back into practice. Nobody would agree to train with you due to your being in recovery, and Dimitri had insisted that you rest immediately, somehow even more protective of you than he had been when you were actually injured. You understood their worry, but it was getting tiring being told to rest, so you went to practice outside of the monastery to avoid everyone’s worry.

Just your luck that it was raining, but there were battles still to be fought, so you couldn’t slack on your training. You were going stir crazy, and so you found a dead tree and began practice. The dead tree was considerably more dead looking several hours later, now bearing many stabs and slashes across it. You finally took a break and sat against the tree, surrounded by bark that littered the ground around you, dislodged from your training.

You swiped a hand under your bangs with disgust. You hadn’t realized how sweaty you had gotten, but it felt nice to do some solo training the way you used to before you became a teacher. You were tired but felt assured that you were maintaining your sword skills even after sustaining such an injury. The rain was pouring even harder now, though you hadn’t noticed until you took a break. It must have been evening now, but with the harsh weather, it was hard for you to tell at all. The rain didn’t bother you, so you continued to lean against the tree, clothes totally soaked, but feeling at peace in that moment.

You knew you couldn’t stay out there forever, and so you finally sheathed your sword and stood up. Casting one last glance at the dead and beaten tree, you set back off towards the monastery. Nobody else was outside due to the awful rain, and even the merchants had temporarily closed shop. The gatekeeper, determined to do his job regardless of weather, was just under the archway and greeted you with surprise, noting your soaking wet form. You gave him a smile and reassured him that you were alright, and then continued on your way back to your room to rest for the night.

Your route back to your room took you through the entryway where you were greeted by various students and members of the church alike, who all noticed your current condition. You walked by them with a smile, brushing off their questions, until you passed by Dedue, who was just outside the dining hall. Or you tried to, as he casually stepped in your way, causing you to stop short to avoid bumping into him. You looked up at him, confused.

“Professor,” he greeted. “Are you alright?”

You nodded, not sure where this was going as you went to go into the dining hall, and he moved to block your way again. “His Highness has been looking for you.”

“...why?” you asked. You had seen Dimitri earlier, so what had happened in the past few hours that he needed you for?

“No one has been able to find you for the past eight hours,” Dedue answered. “His Highness is worried.”

Past eight hours? It had only been a few hours... at least, that was what you had thought. You had been told before that you got really focused when you trained, but you didn’t think you had taken four hours, let alone double that time!

You thanked Dedue for the information, and he only moved out of your way when you agreed that you would go meet Dimitri immediately outside your room, where Dedue told you the king had decided to wait for your return. Heaving a mental sigh, you crossed through the crowd of people getting a late dinner and made your way to your room. Just getting to the block of rooms, you noticed the broad figure with unruly blonde hair right where Dedue said he would be. Looking at his figure, you remembered your initial shock at his transformation, but it had been overpowered at the time with relief that he was still alive after five years of war. As if he could hear your footsteps over the sound of the rain, he turned his head to face you as you made your way over to him.

“Professor... where were you?” he asked, and you couldn’t think of what to reply, so he pressed onward. “You think me reckless, but you go out to train in the pouring rain when you are not yet fully recovered?”

You were surprised; how did he know? You must have looked startled because his serious expression melted away with a genuine laugh as he reached a hand out to brush along your hair, or so you thought. He brought his hand away from your hair to show you and you stared at the twig that he held in his hand, the bark of the twig rotten and dead, much like the tree it had come from.

“I can’t think of any other activities you would do in the rain with your sword at your side and end up with this twig in your hair,” he remarked. “You know, it usually is the professor that lectures their students about working too hard.”

“You haven’t been my student in a long time,” you mused.

“You may not be officially our professor, but we all rely on you for so much,” he replied thoughtfully. “You cannot expect us to not worry when our professor works herself to the point where she is liable to pass out from exhaustion in the woods without telling anyone where she has gone.”

You immediately felt sheepish. He really had you there. You wouldn’t be able to face them if you had been abducted or killed when you had told nobody where you were going or what you were doing.

“Please don’t look like that,” he implored you. “I am not mad. We just don’t want anything to happen to our favorite professor.”

It seemed like they would all keep calling you professor, even though you were all equals now. You had some really stubborn former students, you mused with a smile. Dimitri then reluctantly allowed you off the hook so you could get some rest. You both said your goodnights as you went into your room and Dimitri left for his. As you stripped yourself of your heavy, wet cloak and armor and climbed into your bed, you resolved to be a little less reckless with your training. You also wondered how long you could keep such a promise in times such as this.

It was hot. So hot. It was all that consumed your mind and body. Suddenly you realized that you had woken up. And you were only wearing a top and shorts, but you were burning up. With a groan, you assessed the situation. You felt sluggish, and so, so warm. Your throat felt sore and sitting up in your bed made you feel nauseous, so you quickly laid back down. You had to face facts; you were clearly sick.

You knew it had to be the rain. You were outside in the rain for eight hours and overexerted yourself. The combination was a bad idea, but unfortunately you did not see it like that at the time, so here you were. Sick and feeling miserable, unable to get out of bed for fear of throwing up. You didn’t even know what time it was, but you knew that being awake was doing you no favors. You didn’t feel like being awake in this state anyways, so you had only one choice. Gardening and tea parties would have to wait until you didn’t feel like you had just drank poison.

The feverish heat you felt kept you from sleeping however, which made you even more miserable. Feverish and now irritated that you couldn’t get to sleep, you decided to just remove your top and chest wrappings, your shorts taken off as well for good measure. You had never slept in just your underwear at the monastery before for fear of someone barging in your room without knocking, but at this point you didn’t care. Seteth’s lectures about propriety be damned. You just wanted to be less overwhelmingly warm, and so you laid back down in just your underwear, not bothering to put the blanket back on and curling up in the hopes that sleep would finally come.

“I’ve had that one before! Remember when we had that visiting professor at the sorcery school? I think she made these for us!” Annette exclaimed excitedly.

Mercedes nodded as she flipped the page of the new sweets book they had purchased at the market, and they both stared curiously at the next page.

“Ooh, I always wanted to make some of those!” Annette said, pointing at the colorful pastries that were illustrated on the page.

“Me too, Annie! We really should make some to share with everyone,” Mercedes replied.

Their excited chatter was interrupted as Dimitri strode by their table in the dining room for what Annette estimated was likely the fifteenth time that day. He had hardly eaten what would be considered a basic nutritional amount of dinner before he resumed his cycles around the monastery.

“Dimitri!” Annette called out to him as he was about to pass them to leave the dining hall, and he stopped in front of them. “ Mercie and I were thinking of making some sweets and having a little party with everyone!”

Dimitri seemed distracted as he responded. “Oh, Annette... that would be...”

“Are you alright, Dimitri?” Mercedes interjected. “You look like you have something on your mind.”

“Oh...” Dimitri replied stiffly, coming out of his thoughts for a moment. “Has the professor been by here?”

“No,” Mercedes shook her head. “I haven’t seen her all day.”

“Is she okay? Do you want us to help look for her?” Annette pressed, sweets book all but forgotten in worry.

“She should be fine...” Dimitri trailed off. “Sorry for bothering you both, your idea sounds wonderful.”

And before either woman could protest, Dimitri exited the dining hall in a hurry, not even glancing behind him, cape fluttering with his movement. Mercedes and Annette could only watch in a haze of confusion and concern, their questions unanswered.

If you were out training in secret again after overworking yourself in the rain the previous day... no, Dimitri dismissed the thought. He had already looked in the forest and located the tree that you had cut to ribbons the day before. You could have gone farther into the forest, but he thought that unlikely as well. You had seemed regretful when the two of you had spoken at your door the night before, and he thought it unlikely that you would immediately break a promise to him, especially after he had told you how much you and your health mattered to all of them.

It occurred to him just then that he had neglected to check your room. It should have been the first place he checked, but it had slipped his mind. He would have to go check now. You may have decided to relax in your room for the day, and then he would have been worrying for nothing. Although he knew that you had a healthy appetite, but nobody had seen you in the dining hall at all, which was very strange.

There was nobody at the dorms, or if they were, they must have been inside their rooms. Dimitri was able to arrive at your door with no hassle, but he couldn’t hear any sounds from inside. He knocked politely, but to no response at all.

“Professor?” he called out as he knocked again, louder this time.

There was still no reply, which vexed him. If you didn’t want to see anyone, you would have replied to inform him of that. Which left only one thought running wild in his mind; you must have gone out to train and been injured. Or been injured yesterday and were now in too bad or a state to even talk. Once the thought entered his mind, he was consumed with worry. Reaching out and finding the door locked, he did not spare any thought before he slammed his shoulder into the door, bursting open the lock. Without a moment to spare, he thrust open the door and rushed into your room.

“Professor-” Dimitri exclaimed, but his eye widened in shock as he took in the scene in front of him.

The room looked fairly normal , a similar state of cleanliness to what it had been the last time he had visited you here for tea. Your blanket was half draped on the end of the bed and half on the floor, but none of your sparse belongings were out of place. ��

Dimitri found you immediately, and his cheeks immediately felt hot. You did not appear to be injured, and he was easily able to discern this because of your lack of clothes. You were curled up on your bed... in only your smallclothes. Dimitri’s mind went blank as his focus was drawn to your bare breasts. He didn’t know what to do, and he felt like he couldn’t breathe. He knew what breasts looked like, but he couldn’t remember seeing any bare but yours at this exact moment. He was transfixed, even though every instinct of his was telling him he had to look away, to protect your modesty.

And then you moaned and brought him out of his stupor. Now that he thought about it, you did not look very well. Still unsure if he was making the right decision, he closed the door behind him before making his way over to you. He removed a glove and placed his hand on your forehead, having his suspicions confirmed. You were burning up, clearly sick from training in the rain for so long the day before. He presumed that you had not left your room the entire day, which did not seem good, considering you must have spent the entire day unconscious and fevered.

He wanted to cover you up, for the sake of his waning composure, but you didn’t have the time for that and he didn’t want to overheat you further. He would have to try to disregard his embarrassment for the moment, because you needed his help, and he didn’t know how to explain to one of the women around the monastery that he had busted down your door and found you nearly naked. And you would never forgive him if he had others see you compromised like this. It was already bad enough that he had seen you like this.

He quietly left your room, glancing around to confirm that nobody was around to see him coming and going from your room so late. It was a cold night, but it did nothing to calm him down at all. Your body was beautiful, and he couldn’t get it out of his mind as he fetched a small bucket of water and a cloth before returning to your room. He mentally braced himself before opening the door to find you in pretty much the same position you had been in, laying on your back.

Prioritizing his worry for you over his shyness, he closed the door gently behind him and walked over to your bedside. He carefully wet the cloth, wringing some of the excess water out before moving your bangs to the side and placing the cloth on your forehead. You exhaled loudly but evenly in your sleep, which he took to be a positive sign.

He ended up not getting a lot of sleep that night. He stayed in your room for quite a while into the early hours of the morning, dunking the cloth in the cold water again whenever it began to be overcome by your body temperature. He never felt his lack of sleep at all, practice, he assumed, from all of his sleepless nights spent longing for revenge. He had never slept as well as he had since he had allowed himself to be free of the burdens of his dead loved ones. Not free from his obligations to them, but now he would channel his resolve into freeing Fódlan from Edelgard’s tyranny as opposed to the mindless bloodshed that he had surrounded himself with for the majority of the past five years.

You were such a comfort to him, one he thought he had lost a long time ago. You had supported him and been by his side, and he was too consumed to appreciate it until after he lost Rodrigue. He wouldn’t make the same mistake again. Not with you and all of his former classmates and friends surrounding him. They did not want him to be consumed and lost to revenge, and now he understood that the dead did not want that either. But he was not free from the choices he knew he would have to make soon, it was something that weighed on his mind. He did not want to kill his stepsister, but as he went to wet the cloth again, he was glad you would be with him when he made that decision. He needed your support, and he resolved to support you as well as he could, especially given your recent hobby of being reckless with your own health and safety.

Feeling your forehead, he was relieved to discover that your fever had finally broken. You may not have been fully healthy again, but if you were at least a normal temperature now, then he knew that he had done his job. You were still nearly naked though, and he would likely be an unwelcome sight when you woke up, and so he took the cloth and bucket and stood up. Better that you did not know he had been here; it would spare at least you of the embarrassment. But as he quickly fixed the lock back into place before opening the door and closing it behind him, he knew it would be a difficult feat to erase the sight of your uncovered body from his mind any time soon. You were so pretty, and it was all he could think about the entire way back to his room.

You woke up slowly, eyes still closed but aware that you were now awake. Your middle of the night wakeup felt almost like a dream compared to how you felt now. You felt somewhat bad still, your throat not fully better and limbs still feeling a bit heavy, but the incredible fever you had felt earlier had all but faded. You must have really been doing poorly, because a glance outside the window told you that it was morning.

You supposed that you might as well get up; there was no way to assuage worry except going to interact with everyone. You would feel better eventually. You knew that the students would worry about you. Getting up and checking with your calendar, you discovered that you had spent an entire day and night in bed.

You slowly put your clothing back on, happy to discover that it had dried all the way, pretty much a given as it had lain in a heap for over a full day on your floor. You probably looked awful after your high fever, so you headed out of your room and towards the bathhouse to freshen yourself up. Just as you went to enter, Ingrid was leaving, her hair obviously wet, and you exchanged smiles as you passed by each other.

The bathhouse was almost completely empty, save a few women, but none of your students. It made sense that there weren’t a lot of people up this early in the morning. There had just been a big battle, and there were still more to come. Everyone worked so hard, so you felt that they more than deserved to sleep in if they wanted to. But you were more than happy to finally be free from your bed, and so you stripped down and got into the water in just your towel.

You took your time to wash your hair and body, happy to not feel gross for the first time in a while. Only after scrubbing yourself to your utmost satisfaction did you relent and get redressed, leaving the bathhouse behind and feeling fully refreshed. Stifling a yawn, you decided to head over to the dining hall as your stomach yearned for food after so long without.

“Good morning, Professor,” Mercedes greeted you as you both entered the dining hall together. “Did you also hear that they would be including sugar scones in today’s breakfast menu?”

You hadn’t heard anything about menus at all, but any food sounded good to you at this point. You couldn’t remember if you had eaten sugar scones before, but they sounded like something you would like. You and Mercedes walked up to the front of the hall together, both accepting a plate of assorted muffins and colorful scones that were sparkling with sugar.

“Oh, I just love these!” Mercedes spoke cheerily as the two of you found a free section of table and sat down across from each other. “Have you had sugar scones before, Professor?”

You shook your head no and she giggled. “Well, I would recommend spreading some Albenian berry jam on them,” she informed you happily, gesturing to the small dish of red jelly that was situated in the middle of your plate. “These are one of Annie’s favorites, so I thought she would be here by now…”

As if on cue, Annette burst through the doorway to the dining hall, almost tripping as she skidded to a stop just in time to turn and rush towards the dining hall staff for her tray of breakfast sweets. She waved happily at you and Mercedes as she passed you to get to the front. The two of you watched, amused, as Annette was scolded by the head chef for running in the dining hall. She sheepishly apologized and received her tray of sweets, which brought a smile back onto her face as she turned and made her way over to you, taking a seat next to Mercedes.

“Sorry I’m late! I thought scone day was tomorrow!” Annette explained as she took in the sight of her breakfast tray.

“You’re so forgetful, Annie,” Mercedes teased with a smile.

“Well at least I got here in time!” Annette huffed, wasting no time in smearing jam all over one of her scones and taking a big bite out of it.

“That is true,” Mercedes agreed, before turning her head to look at you. “Do you like them, Professor?”

You had tried a bite while they were talking, spreading the jam like Mercedes had suggested, and found that you did like them. You must have missed it when these had been served in the dining hall before. You had eaten an entire scone by the time Mercedes had asked the question, and you were interrupted before you could answer her.

“Mind if I join you ladies?” Sylvain asked from behind you.

“Of course, Sylvain,” Mercedes replied, and he slid in right next to you with his own plate of food that he placed down in front of himself.

“I feel like I missed seeing your pretty face around here the past few days,” Sylvain said, popping an entire scone in his mouth as he looked over at you.

“You never change, do you?” Ingrid said wearingly as she sat down on your other side. “You think that she hasn’t had enough of your behavior already?”

“Ingrid…” Sylvain groaned. “She got a hole cut out of her not that long ago, I just want to make sure she’s okay.”

“And you thought your flirting would heal her wounds?” Felix raised an eyebrow as he sat down next to Mercedes. “You delusions never end.”

“Hey, why is everyone turning on me?” Sylvain complained, and you laughed. “Not you too, Professor! You wound me!”

Now Annette and Mercedes laughed, while Felix rolled his eyes and Ingrid smiled and shook her head. You all ate your breakfast while chatting, slowly adding Ashe and Dedue to your midst. Even when Dedue didn’t appear to be coming to sit with your group, Annette called his name and beckoned him over to join your table, while Ashe was convinced as soon as he saw your group all together. It was very lively, and almost made you forget that there was a war looming over you all. But just because you would soon have to kill or be killed yet again did not mean that you couldn’t enjoy the company of your lively house members.

“Hey, shouldn’t Dimitri be up by now?” Annette wondered out loud.

“That’s true,” Ingrid agreed. “He’s never been one to sleep in.”

“I can go and check his room,” Dedue volunteered. “If he is not there, then he may-”

“No need!” Annette replied. “I see him now! Dimitri, over here!”

The tall blonde king had just walked into the dining hall, and looked your way at Annette’s call, noticing your entire group all sitting together and walking over to approach you all. Before anyone could stop him or insist that he didn’t have to, Dedue was up from his seat to grab Dimitri a plate of breakfast from the cooks at the front. Some other people stopped Dimitri to talk quickly or greet him, and so he arrived at your table just as Dedue had brought back a plate for him, which he accepted gratefully, knowing better than to try to dissuade his friend from performing errands without being asked by this point. He sat down next to Dedue, and Annette got up to bring over some tea to share with everyone. It was the most cheerful that you all had been during this time of war, and you could not recall a time when you had been happier.

You talked with Ingrid about how her pegasus was doing, and she happily invited you to come flying with her if you would like, to which Mercedes and Annette chimed in that they would love to fly with her as well. Meanwhile, Sylvain on your other side informed you that his horse was available for riding lessons as well, to which Ashe mentioned that he wanted to improve his riding skills, and Sylvain looked marginally defeated. You were having so much fun talking with everyone that you didn’t notice anything amiss with Dimitri at all.

“Are you ill, Your Highness?” Dedue said, with no intentions of being discreet with his volume management. “You have not touched your food.”

Everyone paused their conversations to stare at the king, who had been staring at his plate until Dedue had spoken up to him. He looked up at the sudden silence, surprised to see everyone’s eyes on him. He gave Dedue a small smile, assuring him that he was alright, which Dedue reluctantly accepted, but it was not good enough for Ingrid.

“You don’t look very well, Dimitri,” she insisted, leaning forward a bit to get a better look at him. “Have you been sleeping alright?”

He looked over, meeting your eyes for a very brief moment before immediately looking at Ingrid, ignoring your confused stare. “I am fine,” he said reassuringly, shaking his head with a laugh when Ingrid gave him a hard look. “Really, Ingrid. I am alright.”

“If you don’t sleep, you’re just making it easier for the enemy to cut you down,” Felix said sharply.

“I bought some tea at the market that is supposed to help with sleeping problems if you would like to try some,” Mercedes offered.

“I promise you all that I am alright,” Dimitri insisted with a smile.

Sensing that a change of mood was in order, you offered the last remaining thing on your plate, a Dagda fruit muffin, to Sylvain. You found that you did not like Dadga fruit tea, and so you figured that it would be better to give it to someone who would appreciate it more. And it didn’t hurt as a conversation swap either.

“You don’t want it, Professor?” he asked, blinking at you, surprised.

You shook your head, holding the plate a little closer to him, and he shrugged, grinning at you. “Who am I to refuse you? Thanks for the muffin.”

Sylvain ate the muffin in a few bites as Dimitri finally began to pick at his own tray. You tried again to catch his eye, but he was determined to stare down at his plate. Conversation began to pick up again as Annette started to tell a story from back when they were all students. The conversation took a nostalgic turn as everyone then began sharing stories from their school lives five years prior.

“Not to be rude, but I thought you hated us at first!” Annette told you, blushing slightly with embarrassment.

“I must confess that I felt the same at the start,” Ashe agreed, quickly adding, “but we couldn’t be where we are now without you.”

“I do remember calling you beautiful and you just stared at me... I thought you didn’t hear me for a second,” Sylvain recalled.

“How is that any different from now?” Felix sneered.

“That is true,” Mercedes agreed. “Just the other day I saw a village girl just turn around and leave without saying anything.”

“Mercedes!” Sylvain’s jaw went slack. “You saw that?”

“I see your success rate hasn’t changed,” Felix scoffed.

Sylvain really had no comeback for that, and you were far from the only one at the table to laugh at his plight. Giggling, you locked eyes with Annette, who you noticed had also finished her plate. Nodding at each other, you both got up from the table to take your empty plates back.

“I feel like I’ve got my muffin fix for a while!” she joked as you handed your empty plates to the dining hall staff.

“What are your plans for the day?” you asked her, and she smiled.

“Don’t tell Mercie, but she was talking about how she missed these sweet ginger cakes we had when we were younger, and I was going to make some to surprise her with!” she whispered excitedly.

You were glad that Annette was such an endless supply of joy and kindness. You knew how much everyone appreciated any distractions from the mounting scale of war you were faced with, and so you also would have to do your best to keep a happy demeanor about yourself. Annette’s eyes drifted from yours as you both got back to the table as she stared ahead.

“Hey, where did Dimitri go?” she asked.

You looked over to where Annette had her eyes set and noticed that your table was missing its blonde king. You both must have looked incredibly confused, because Dedue decided to put you out of your misery.

“His Highness… had something to attend to.” Even Dedue sounded puzzled.

“Yeah, he just said that he had forgotten to do something and left…” Ingrid added, her eyebrows drawn together.

“Maybe he just had a bad reaction to the muffins?” Sylvain suggested, but one look at Dimitri’s plate told you that he hadn’t eaten a single thing from his plate.

He was acting weird, but he didn’t seem to be sliding back into his darkness again. Even so, you would have to check on him later, just to make sure. You had abandoned him for five years, even if it wasn’t by choice, and you would never leave his side again until the day came when he no longer needed you. You wouldn’t lose him again, not when everyone, when Faerghus, needed him.

Dimitri walked briskly to the cathedral, taking up his usual spot in front of the rubble that had once been a proud altar. He knew that he was clearly acting off, and his friends would eventually come and make sure he was okay. And he knew that he was not doing well, but it was not the type of problem that he imagined that they thought that he was dealing with. He had never dealt with anything like this before, and he didn’t know what to do. And so, he stared at the rubble, but too lost in thoughts to take in the scenery.

He couldn’t sleep at all the night before, and he didn’t know how he would get any sleep tonight. Seeing your mostly nude body had awoken within him feelings that he had kept himself from feeling for so long. He had been so focused on revenge for the entirety of his developing years that he had never allowed himself to think of romance as more than a faraway concept. He had sheltered himself for so long, and now the reality of his situation was hitting him with the full force that it would have had he allowed himself when he was a teenager. Instead, he was an adult man who was only now realizing the depths that his feelings could reach. He loved you, and it scared him.

He knew that he couldn’t avoid you forever. You had a war to win, and he couldn’t avoid his closest ally, even if he happened to just discover his feelings for you. He wanted desperately to be near you, but even with your widening range of emotions, he had seen no indication that you had any romantic feelings towards him. And besides, you would never talk to him again if you found out that he had stayed in your room while you were not fully dressed, even if it was to help you recover from your fever. He would live with his shame and hide his feelings, and would channel his energy into the war. Although that still didn’t resolve how he was going to sleep tonight, since he knew that every time he closed his eyes that night he would see your perfect breasts or your kind smile.

He had spent the last few hours of the night after he had returned to his room staring out of his window into the night sky. He had wrestled with his longing to go back there and tell you how he felt, kiss you… but you were sick. You needed rest. And you certainly did not need to have to deal with this new revelation of his. He relied on you for so much that he would crumble without your support, and so he just had to accept that your support would never be that of a wife’s to him.

He felt like a preteen boy. He couldn’t even stand to meet eyes with you in the dining hall earlier. He was so focused on staring at his plate that he could barely hear what anyone else had said. He had met your eyes for only half a second and even that was too much for him in his current state. You had looked worried for him, worries that he didn’t feel that he could assuage. He would have to keep his distance from you until he could resolve this within himself.

He must have been lost in thought for a while because eventually, he realized that Dedue was by his side. He gave Dedue a nod and then turned back to face the rubble, but a call of his title had him looking back to his stoic friend.

“Is everything alright, Your Highness?” Dedue asked simply.

“I…” Dimitri was not sure what to say.

“When I pledged myself to you, I intended to ensure that no harm came to you,” Dedue explained. “If anyone has been upsetting you, or you are suffering a cursed ailment, you need only to tell me and I will scourge whoever dared to curse you.”

Dimitri could never have a normal conversation with him during this war, could he? There were so many threats to his life, he was willing to admit, but Dedue never ceased to worry, even when everything was stable for the moment. He knew that Dedue cared about him, but he always thought the worst of things when it concerned his king.

“I have no injuries or curses, my friend,” he told Dedue who looked entirely unconvinced.

“If it is something that you feel that you cannot tell the others…” Dedue’s offer was implied. He was concerned, that much Dimitri could tell easily.

“For now, it is something that I must handle on my own,” Dimitri said, not meeting his friend’s eyes.

It took some convincing, but Dedue finally relented in his insistence that he walk the king back to his room, despite the fact that they were on entirely different floors. He also rebuffed Dedue’s offer to stand guard outside his room the entire night to defend him from attackers. Dedue had finally, reluctantly relented and allowed Dimitri to finally return to his room alone. He was careful to check that he hadn’t been followed; Dedue had done it before, after all. But he saw no signs of anyone following him and arrived on the second floor of the dormitories, not meeting anyone on the way down the hall and to his room.

It was early in the night, he discovered as he returned to his room. It was earlier than he usually went to sleep, but being awake for closing in on thirty or so hours was wearing on him. With getting some rest potentially in sight, he sat on his bed and began the painstaking process of removing his armor. He let out a tired sigh as his leg armor came off, and he carefully placed it aside before repeating the process on his upper armor, removing his cape and furs as well when he had taken his armor off. He was left in just his long black undershirt and black pants, which was all he wore when he slept these days. Although he did recall that he had previously pushed himself to the point of collapse when in his full armor before, and waking up from that had never felt pleasant on his body. But given his state of mind at the time, he simply got up and continued to do the work he felt needed to be done; being sore never kept him from the slaughter. But as he was now, he appreciated that he could take his armor off at the end of the day and rest. He never knew how nice it would feel to let down his last layer of defense and truly be himself around his friends with nothing to hide. Well, he thought, nothing to hide but his attraction to you that refused to wane.

He would try to sleep; at least now he was in his room, where he was not likely to run into you. His onset affection for you was so strong that he didn’t think it would go away, and he did not know if that was a good thing or not. He took off his shoes, setting them down before laying down on his bed and closing his eyes in the hope that sleep would find him.

You had spent your day talking to the other occupants of the monastery, doing your best to confirm that everyone was doing alright. You knew that this war weighed on everyone’s souls, and if you could do anything to help, you would. And so, you did some light training with Felix, went to the marketplace with Ashe, and ended up helping Annette do some baking for Mercedes, which did not result in any kitchen disasters for once, which was a relief. You had seen Dimitri in the cathedral earlier, in that same place he had always gone before he had broken free of his darkness. You decided to give him some space, but when you passed by the cathedral again later in the evening, he was no longer in his usual spot in front of the rubble.

Whatever was wrong with him, you wanted to give him time. You really did. But if he was sinking back into his inner darkness, then you couldn’t stand by and let it happen again. You walked around the monastery grounds but were unable to find him. As a last ditch effort, you decided to head to the second floor of the dormitories to check and see if he was in his room. You passed various people as they headed to their own rooms to retire for the night, smiling as Flayn excitedly wished you a good night as you passed by her. Finally, you arrived at what you recalled to be Dimitri’s bedroom door.

You raised a hand and lightly knocked on the door. No answer. Maybe he had gone for a late night walk and you had just missed him on your walk around the monastery. You knocked one more time, slightly louder, but still got no response. You couldn’t hear any sounds from at all from the other side of the door. Having no choice, you reluctantly decided to leave and head back to your own room. You could talk with Dimitri the next time you saw him, you reassured yourself. And so, you began to retreat the way that you had come, off to get some sleep and hopefully wake up fully free from your sickness.

“Professor…”

It was so quiet that you almost didn’t detect it, but you supposed your sensitivity on the battlefield allowed you to pick up the muted whisper of your old title. You turned your head back, not sure what to expect, but found Dimitri in only pants and a long-sleeved shirt, both in black, staring at you from just outside his room. He met your gaze with a look of surprise on his face, almost as if he had not expected you to hear him or turn back to look. You made your way back over to him, and he opened his door wider and gestured for you to accompany him inside.

He walked all the way to his window before turning only his head back to face you. His expression was unreadable, but yours certainly wasn’t, and he immediately saw the worry on your face.

“Are you okay?” you asked quietly. You knew that you couldn’t make him talk if he didn’t want to but you needed him to know that you were here for him.

“You never let up, do you?” he asked, and you vaguely recalled him saying something like that to you in the past. Before you could reply, he continued. “I could not be who I am today without your help.”

Why was he saying that now, and then why did he look so troubled? You didn’t understand where he was going with this, and were about to tell him so.

“I could not stand to lose you,” he spoke slowly, finally turning around fully and stepping slightly closer to you. “But I fear that I may if I tell you what is on my mind.”

“That is not possible,” you countered, staring him down sternly.

Dimitri only grew a small sad smile at your words. He looked to be waging a mental war on himself, but you bridged the gap that was still between you and forced him to look at you in the eyes. You looked at him with all the seriousness you could manage in an attempt to convey to him that you would listen to anything that he had to say. He broke eye contact with you almost immediately, staring at the floor as he spoke quietly.

“You had a fever,” he explained. “Nobody had seen you the day after you were out in the rain. I went to check on you, and you were not answering your door and I…”

Your eyes went wide in surprise. That night, you were…

“I am so sorry, Professor!” he spoke, sounding upset as he hung his head in shame. “I saw you in a state that only your husband should see you in and I-”

His rambling cut off and you looked at him, trying desperately to have him meet your eyes, but he continued to look at the floor, so you took a second to reevaluate these new revelations. Dimitri had not fully explained, but from what you had pieced together, he had been worried about you and came into your room, which must have been after you had stripped down to only your underwear, based on Dimitri’s odd husband comment. You felt a rush of embarrassment that he had seen you like that, but you found that you were more bothered that he had seen you looking so weak rather than the fact that he had seen you nearly naked. But you also found that you didn’t really mind that it was him that had seen you that way.

“I… I did not leave you be. I could not. I stayed with you and kept a cold cloth on your forehead until your fever broke. I should have left, but I could not just leave you like that,” Dimitri spoke up again.

He was so earnest that it was cute. Apologizing for seeing you nearly nude was one thing, but you stifled a laugh as he was for some reason apologizing for staying with you and taking care of you while you were sick. He was fiercely intelligent, brave in the face of the hardships of war, but looking at him now, he looked like an awkward teenager trapped in the body of a grown man. You could no longer help yourself, and you let out a quiet giggle.

“Professor?” Dimitri uttered as he looked at you in shock and you laughed at his expression.

“You’re so cute,” you told him, and watched as your words sent a pink flush to his cheeks as he stared at you in disbelief.

You knew that you should do something to put him out of his misery, but you weren’t sure what. You reached a hand up to cup one of his cheeks, and he looked at you unsteadily, closing his eye as he leaned into your touch. You weren’t sure why you had decided to reach out for him physically, but staring at his handsome face, so close to your own, you felt the most comfortable and safe you had ever felt. You closed your eyes too to bask in the moment, but then he said your name, not your title, but your actual name. You opened your eyes again and the two of you stared at each other and he raised his own hand to cover yours that was still on his cheek. He had an urgency in his eyes that you could not place.

“I need to kiss you,” he said, not breaking eye contact, unwavering under your surprised look.

You really shouldn’t have been as surprised as you were, given how physically close the two of you were now, and how emotionally close you had been to each other for so long, but you hadn’t had the time to think that this was even a possibility. Overpowering all of your mind was the sense that this was all that you wanted in this moment. He was different than he had been when you had reunited with him, but he had broken free of his darkness, and had become the kind, strong leader that his people needed. That you all needed. He was your dearest friend, but right now you wanted him to kiss you more than anything, and so you nodded.

He didn’t waste any more than a few seconds before bending down and connecting your lips as your eyes slid closed as the same time. You adjusted your chin so you would be better locked together as your other hand weakly grasped at the material of his shirt, just above his chest. The kiss felt so effortless, as you both adjusted to the other’s rhythm and Dimitri’s other hand came up to rest on the back of your head, keeping you close together.

The kiss stayed simple, but it was making you feel lightheaded with the intensity that you were both putting into it. You pulled away, not confident in your ability to breathe at the moment and he followed, gently steering you back until the back of your knees hit his bed and you allowed him to push you back down onto it.

You found yourself laying on your back as Dimitri hovered over you, his legs on either side of you. He was upright with his knees pressed against your upper thighs, looking at you with want but unsure of how to proceed. While he sat there in a daze, you shrugged your coat off and gently removed your gauntlets, letting it all fall down in a heap by the bedside, and as you did, you noticed a pile of Dimitri’s own clothing and armor only a few feet away.

When you looked back up, you noticed that Dimitri had been following you with his gaze, but he still looked unsure. You had no idea what was going on in his head or what had happened to his confidence, but you decided that you would have to make it abundantly clear that you would like this to continue. And so, you lifted your torso up from the bed and wriggled out of your shirt, throwing everything that covered your upper body onto the floor and watching Dimitri’s eye widen and cheeks turned red as he once again took in the sight of your bare breasts. You were just happy that you were conscious this time so you could enjoy his very honest reaction.

He was still staring, this time he had switched back to look you in the eyes and you couldn’t help but tease him. “Dimitri, your shirt…”

He finally relaxed a bit and smiled so sweetly down at you. “I suppose I should make it even.”

You had never seen him shirtless before, but the scars on his body told you what he could never bring himself to about what had happened to him over the past ten years. He gave you no explanation, and did not give you the time to fully examine all of his scars as he lowered his head down and kissed you again, feeding in your boldness as he supported himself with one hand, bringing his other hand up to feel one breast. The shock of his sudden movements had you moaning in surprise, and the kiss transitioned further as you both allowed your tongues to meet as well.

You cradled his head in your hands, bringing one hand through his hair, so much longer than it had been five years earlier. Finding yourself wanting to be even closer to him, you brought one leg out from under him and wrapped it around his hip. The position allowed you to grind up against him, and he met your hips excitedly as you kissed and you felt a shiver go down your spine as you realized how much he wanted this, your hips so close together that you could not miss how hard he had become in such little time. The friction was exactly where you wanted it, but it began to not feel like anywhere close to enough.

He pulled back from you by a few centimeters, nose still touching yours, and his hand that was not supporting his weight drifted from your breast to brush a hand through your hair. “I love you,” he said sincerely, chuckling as you looked up at him in shock. “You did not think I loved you?”

He seemed amused by your lack of response, and in truth you did not know, you had been so happy to be like this with him that you hadn’t even considered the feelings that were obviously involved. But you could not deny how happy those words made you, and he leaned down to kiss you again as a smile lit up your face. He gave you a few short kisses before he disengaged himself from you, sitting at the side of the bed, and you hastened to join him. He looked over as you hesitantly placed your head on his shoulder, and he readily accepted the contact.

“I did not think that I would ever feel like this… that I deserved to feel this way with you. I escaped the darkness that I had been trapped in, but I know there are those who will never forgive me for the sins I have committed. But you stuck by my side when I treated you so poorly. I don’t deserve you… any of you,” he said, staring at the wall but wrapping an arm around your naked back.

“You are indispensable to me,” he said as he leaned over to kiss your hair. “I knew that I would not be here without you, but I did not realize my feelings until that night.”

You knew which night he meant, but you had taken even longer than him to discover your own feelings, but you knew now. You loved him, and there was no going back now, even if you wanted to. Which, sitting side by side in this moment, you knew that you only wanted to experience even more with this man who was so dear to you.

“I wanted to wait until after the war, until we had peace. But after that night, I could not look back at you without seeing your bare form. It is shameful, but I cannot hold back any longer, especially now that I know it is mutual,” he explained, adjusting the both of you so that you were facing each other. “I want to be with you.”

He was looking at you expectantly, but kindly. You realized that he needed you to also affirm that this was real, that you loved him as well. He believed in you, but you knew that you should put the poor boy out of his misery. You leaned in to kiss him and he reciprocated happily, pulling back after a few seconds, eyes fluttering open to look at Dimitri, who looked so content in that moment.

“I love you,” you told him, truly meaning it. “I want to be with you.”

Dimitri looked so happy, but with a glance downwards, you saw that he was no less hard. It looked rather painful, and couldn’t be comfortable for him. You were not as subtle as you thought you had been, and he caught your glance downwards on his form.

“I… it is okay, I would never pressure you. You do not have to worry about me,” he said quickly, face flushing pink.

He was about to get up and put some distance between you, but you would not let that happen. You stood up with him and spoke his name softly as you slipped your hands into the sides of your shorts, pulling them down along with your tights and slipping out of them and your boots. It was not a particularly graceful or sexy stripping of your last articles of clothing, but it got the job done. You crossed the room to where he was standing and he allowed you to begin the process of removing the clothes covering his lower half.

“If this is what you really want,” his growled words sent your cheeks aflame. “I will not hold back, my love.”

He helped you by kicking his pants and underwear off, and as soon as you were both fully naked, he picked you up, his hands grasping your thighs to support you. You hastily wrapped your legs and arms around him so you wouldn’t fall, and he grinned at you as he placed you down on the bed, following you down so he could kiss you again. Dimitri kissed you for only a moment longer as you desperately tried to keep up with his pace. You were so ready for what was to come, and you pulled back from the kiss and gazed up at him with longing.

Dimitri swallowed as he looked down at you, and you spread your legs as he reached down to his achingly hard cock. You were embarrassed to discover that you were easily wet enough from just kisses and simple groping that Dimitri was able to rub himself against you before he began to slide himself inside with ease. You let out a breathy moan as you tried not to squirm at the foreign feeling. Dimitri’s eyes closed as he dropped down to rest his head on your shoulder, his deep groan right by your ear as he pushed further inside you. Finally, your hips fully met as he was seated fully within you, and you knew that you had never felt anything like this before. You knew what sex was, your father had been too awkward to give you the talk himself and had a female village chief explain to it to you after you had saved their village, so you knew the basics. But no explanation could match up with how good it felt to be so intimate with the man you loved.

You felt his breath tickle your ear as he pulled himself back up, his eyes half lidded. “You feel so good… forgive me, but it is hard for me to focus on anything else.”

You felt the same way, but you didn’t have the patience for him to wait and adjust to this feeling, so you decided to force the issue by squeezing your inner muscles and watching as he shuddered, eye fluttering closed for a moment with a groan. He opened his eye to glare halfheartedly at you, obviously too pleased at the moment for you to believe that he was actually angry with you.

“You are so impatient,” he teased, but complied with your wishes as he pulled ever so slightly out of you before canting his hips back into yours.

He didn’t waste a second in continuing the movement, and his gentle rocking was driving you crazy. You were completely naked, and it had been a cold month, but you were so, so warm. There was a pleasant burn that was slowly ebbing away to just feel good in a way that you had never felt before. Evidently this was new to Dimitri as well, because he was in no better of a state than you were, panting against your skin as he leaned down to kiss at your neck. You were content to lay like that, your arms around his neck and feeling his hair tickle your face, but a well-timed thrust had you unexpectedly crying out with the sudden spike of pleasure.

Dimitri couldn’t suppress his own groan as he was able to reach deeper within you. And when you rolled your hips up to meet him, he almost stopped his momentum to bask in how good it felt. He once again palmed your breasts and stifled your moan as he kissed you again. He closed his eye as he kissed you because he feared that if he was to keep it open and take in the way you looked right now, this would end far sooner than he wanted. You were so beautiful like this, and his heart stuttered with every sound that left your mouth.

He wanted this to last, but he could no longer be satisfied with the current pace. He began to pull out more swiftly and push back in with a new speed and intensity. He felt pride surge up in him as you squirmed and broke the kiss to let out another cute cry. Your next cry was of his name, which set his pace on fire as you both rapidly tried to meet your ends as you both connected in a desperate clashing of tongues, both groping at any inch of the other’s skin that you could reach.

“I fear this will not last much longer, beloved,” Dimitri panted. “But we have so much more time ahead of us.”

You weren’t fully sure what he meant by that, but at this point you were so close to reaching your peak that you could do no more than moan and grasp weakly onto his neck and back, tangling one hand in his hair. You closed your eyes tightly as Dimitri held you as close to him as he could, his chest brushing against yours in tandem with his thrusting. It only took a bit more of his harsh, fast pace before you lost yourself in pleasure. Dimitri continued to move, prolonging your orgasm as you moaned and squeezed around him. He could only hold out for so long and he was finally pushed over the edge with a strained groan of your name. The two of you stayed joined for a moment before Dimitri gently moved off of you, giving you a shy smile. You went to get up with him, but he stopped you with a hand on your arm and you obeyed, laying back down, but looked at him quizzically.

“You may not want to get up. We have made quite a mess,” Dimitri said reluctantly.

He wasn’t making eye contact anymore, and you followed his gaze downwards on your body. Oh. Without the feeling to distract you, you realized just how gross you were feeling… down there. You closed your legs tightly in embarrassment, and in the hopes that you wouldn’t ruin Dimitri’s sheets. Feeling an onset of bashfulness, you also brought an arm up to cover as much of your chest as you could; despite what you had just done with him, the reality of the situation was catching up to you.

Dimitri laughed at your sudden shyness. “I will go fetch something to clean you up with,” he explained, beginning to dress himself to his first layer of clothing, foregoing his armor.

He bent down to kiss one of your flushed cheeks, and then he was gone out the door. Once the door had been closed and you were alone, you felt all of your remaining composure slip away. You and Dimitri had… you had no idea how he was so much more composed than you were, easily leaving the room to bring back something to clean you up. You felt too embarrassed to leave this room for a month, let alone right after you had been so intimate for the first time. You did not even know what to say to Dimitri when he got back, but you would dare to hope he had meant what he said, implying that he wanted to do this again. That he loved you. But for now, all you could do was wait for him to return.

Dimitri kept a relatively quick pace to fetch a cloth, although for a much different reason than the previous time. He still had a hard time believing that had just happened, that you and he were… he loved you, and he would not deny it even if being open about it was so new for him. Smiling to himself, he wistfully hoped that you would agree to spend the night in his room. He would not force you, but he could not deny that the idea of waking up and seeing your beautiful face first thing in the morning set his heart aflutter.

Dimitri had gotten to the middle of the hallway before he noticed someone waving at him just past his room, standing at the end of the hallway. Sylvain grinned at him as Dimitri walked past his own room to meet his friend just outside the redhead’s room.

“Late night walk, Your Highness?” Sylvain quipped, eyes briefly darting down to the towel in Dimitri’s grasp.

Dimitri was silent for a moment too long, wondering what to respond, and Sylvain laughed awkwardly, running a hand through his hair. “Just one thing though, you might want to noise-proof your room.”

“Sylvain!” Dimitri admonished, shocked.

“Hey!” Sylvain waved his hands in a defensive manner. “It wasn’t me! But, uh, Felix was just here complaining that you and the Professor were interrupting his sleep…”

Dimitri was not sure what to say to that, and immediately felt bad because he was sure that you would be embarrassed if you knew that you two had been heard. Dimitri turned a hard gaze to Sylvain; his childhood friend had not been known to be the most trustworthy with gossip, but Sylvain immediately knew what Dimitri was thinking, and what he was likely about to say.

“I wasn’t going to tell anyone, relax!” Sylvain stated quickly. “Just be careful, ladies don’t really like having an audience.”

Dimitri scoffed, but smiled at his friend. “I will keep that in mind, Sylvain.”

Relieved that Dimitri was not mad at him, he clasped one of his friend’s shoulders. “I won’t keep you from her, but I just wanted to say that I’m happy for you. You deserve to be happy, Dimitri. Just don’t let her get away!” he joked.

Both men having said their piece, turned to go to their respective rooms. Dimitri could only hope that you hadn’t heard any of their conversation. The last thing he wanted to do was scare you away or make you uncomfortable. But as he opened the door, he found you still on his bed, shutting the door behind him without looking back because he could not stand to look away from the smile you gave him upon seeing him return.

It hadn’t been long, but you felt happiness surge up in you at the sight of him. He briskly made his way over to you and handed you the towel he had brought, to your great relief. It would be too embarrassing to have him clean you, and so you accepted the towel gratefully, cleaning yourself as he turned his back to give you some privacy. You made quick work of cleaning yourself, feeling less of a mess immediately, other than your hair still being slightly matted to your forehead with sweat. You wanted to savor this moment, but you also wanted to know if he had really meant what he had said earlier.

Dimitri, not noticing the shift in your mood, leaned down onto the bed just as you sat up so he could give you a light kiss. He looked so happy when he pulled away from you, his smile unwavering. It was only then that he noticed how strained your small smile was. “My love…?”

“…you said we would have more time,” you said quietly, and his brows drew together in confusion, before nodding affirmatively.

“You have not figured it out yet?” Dimitri teased, reaching down to hold your hand. “I would hope that this was not the only time we would be together like this.”

You were still confused, and he noticed immediately. “I do not mean only in a carnal sense. This is a rather unusual setting, but I have no regrets. I want to marry you.”

Oh... You stared at him in shock. You weren’t sure what you were expecting him to say, only just nervous that he would tell you to leave, that this was a one-time thing. But he had gone in the farthest direction possible from what you had feared. You found that you really wanted this, you wanted to marry him, wanted to stay by his side forever. None of your thoughts made it to your face, your expression blank as you stared at him. Dimitri didn’t seem to understand what you were thinking, and got a little anxious himself.

“If you do not want to, of course…” he muttered. “I do not have a ring, yet I decided to ask this of you. I understand if you do not want this with me.”

He had seemingly already decided his fate, and you smiled softly at him. “I accept.”

“You… you do?” he sounded surprised, and you weren’t quite sure why. He was a wonderful man, and you loved him so much. He was a fool to think anything otherwise. Especially after what you had just done together, and all you both had been through.

He had finally seemed to get the message, and practically lunged towards you, connecting your lips together in a rough kiss. This war would end, you knew, and then the two of you could build a peaceful world together. You looked forward to that, but you knew that you would have Dimitri at your side for anything that came your way, and that gave you all the confidence you could ever need.

#reader insert #xreader #fire emblem #fire emblem 3h #fire emblem three houses #dimileth #dimitri x reader #fe3h x reader #fire emblem three houses x reader #dimitri alexandre blaiddyd #smut at the end #smut

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lord-of-the-hobbits · 3 years ago

Text

You Shall Not Pass! (Artwork by Rinat Sait)

" 'Look ahead!' called Gandalf. 'The Bridge is near. It is dangerous and narrow.'

Suddenly Frodo saw before him a black chasm. At the end of the hall the floor vanished and fell to an unknown depth. The outer door could only be reached by a slender bridge of stone, without kerb or rail, that spanned the chasm with one curving spring of fifty feet. It was an ancient defence of the Dwarves against any enemy that might capture the First Hall and the outer passages. They could only pass across it in single file. At the brink Gandalf halted and the others came up in a pack behind.

'Lead the way, Gimli!' he said. 'Pippin and Merry next. Straight on and up the stair beyond the door! '

Arrows fell among them. One struck Frodo and sprang back. Another pierced Gandalf's hat and stuck there like a black feather. Frodo looked behind. Beyond the fire he saw swarming black figures: there seemed to be hundreds of orcs. They brandished spears and scimitars which shone red as blood in the firelight. Doom, doom rolled the drum-beats, growing louder and louder, doom, doom.

Legolas turned and set an arrow to the string, though it was a long shot for his small bow. He drew, but his hand fell, and the arrow slipped to the ground. He gave a cry of dismay and fear. Two great trolls appeared; they bore great slabs of stone, and flung them down to serve as gangways over the fire. But it was not the trolls that had filled the Elf with terror. The ranks of the orcs had opened, and they crowded away, as if they themselves were afraid. Something was coming up behind them. What it was could not be seen: it was like a great shadow, in the middle of which was a dark form, of man-shape maybe, yet greater; and a power and terror seemed to be in it and to go before it.

It came to the edge of the fire and the light faded as if a cloud had bent over it. Then with a rush it leaped across the fissure. The flames roared up to greet it, and wreathed about it; and a black smoke swirled in the air. Its streaming mane kindled, and blazed behind it. In its right hand was a blade like a stabbing tongue of fire; in its left it held a whip of many thongs.

'Ai! ai!' wailed Legolas. 'A Balrog! A Balrog is come! '

Gimli stared with wide eyes. 'Durin's Bane!' he cried, and letting his axe fall he covered his face.

'A Balrog,' muttered Gandalf. 'Now I understand.' He faltered and leaned heavily on his staff. 'What an evil fortune! And I am already weary.'

The dark figure streaming with fire raced towards them. The orcs yelled and poured over the stone gangways. Then Boromir raised his horn and blew. Loud the challenge rang and bellowed, like the shout of many throats under the cavernous roof. For a moment the orcs quailed and the fiery shadow halted. Then the echoes died as suddenly as a flame blown out by a dark wind, and the enemy advanced again.

'Over the bridge!' cried Gandalf, recalling his strength. 'Fly! This is a foe beyond any of you. I must hold the narrow way. Fly!' Aragorn and Boromir did not heed the command, but still held their ground, side by side, behind Gandalf at the far end of the bridge. The others halted just within the doorway at the hall's end, and turned, unable to leave their leader to face the enemy alone.

The Balrog reached the bridge. Gandalf stood in the middle of the span, leaning on the staff in his left hand, but in his other hand Glamdring gleamed, cold and white. His enemy halted again, facing him, and the shadow about it reached out like two vast wings. It raised the whip, and the thongs whined and cracked. Fire came from its nostrils. But Gandalf stood firm.

'You cannot pass,' he said. The orcs stood still, and a dead silence fell. 'I am a servant of the Secret Fire, wielder of the flame of Anor. You cannot pass. The dark fire will not avail you, flame of Udûn. Go back to the Shadow! You cannot pass.'

The Balrog made no answer. The fire in it seemed to die, but the darkness grew. It stepped forward slowly on to the bridge, and suddenly it drew itself up to a great height, and its wings were spread from wall to wall; but still Gandalf could be seen, glimmering in the gloom; he seemed small, and altogether alone: grey and bent, like a wizened tree before the onset of a storm.

From out of the shadow a red sword leaped flaming.

Glamdring glittered white in answer.

There was a ringing clash and a stab of white fire. The Balrog fell back and its sword flew up in molten fragments. The wizard swayed on the bridge, stepped back a pace, and then again stood still.

'You cannot pass!' he said.

With a bound the Balrog leaped full upon the bridge. Its whip whirled and hissed.

'He cannot stand alone!' cried Aragorn suddenly and ran back along the bridge. 'Elendil!' he shouted. 'I am with you, Gandalf! '

'Gondor!' cried Boromir and leaped after him.

At that moment Gandalf lifted his staff, and crying aloud he smote the bridge before him. The staff broke asunder and fell from his hand. A blinding sheet of white flame sprang up. The bridge cracked. Right at the Balrog's feet it broke, and the stone upon which it stood crashed into the gulf, while the rest remained, poised, quivering like a tongue of rock thrust out into emptiness.

With a terrible cry the Balrog fell forward, and its shadow plunged down and vanished. But even as it fell it swung its whip, and the thongs lashed and curled about the wizard's knees, dragging him to the brink. He staggered and fell, grasped vainly at the stone, and slid into the abyss. 'Fly, you fools!' he cried, and was gone.

The fires went out, and blank darkness fell. The Company stood rooted with horror staring into the pit. Even as Aragorn and Boromir came flying back, the rest of the bridge cracked and fell. With a cry Aragorn roused them.

'Come! I will lead you now!' he called. 'We must obey his last command. Follow me!'

They stumbled wildly up the great stairs beyond the door. Aragorn leading, Boromir at the rear. At the top was a wide echoing passage. Along this they fled. Frodo heard Sam at his side weeping, and then he found that he himself was weeping as he ran. Doom, doom, doom the drum-beats rolled behind, mournful now and slow; doom!"

The Fellowship of the Ring, LoTR Book 2, Ch 5, The Bridge of Khazad-dûm

#lotr #lord of the rings #lotr fandom #jrrt #gandalf #balrog

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little-diable · 5 years ago

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Darkness of the night - The Witcher (smut)

Request by anon: Can I request a Geralt (Witcher) x reader imagine? Maybe Jaskier gets hurt and Geralt asks the reader, an old friend, for help? Thank youuu I love your imagines so much

My first ever Geralt imagine, I’m excited, hope you guys like it. Enjoy my loves. xxx

Geralt had never thought, that he’d ever have to seek out her help for something like this. Jaskier had been struck by a poisoned arrow, the wooden weapon was still sticking to his shoulder as Geralt dragged him through the dark forest.

“I’m going to die”, an overdramatic sigh spilled from Jaskiers lips, “leave me here witcher, so I shall die in lordliness”, the bards legs gave out, stumbling right down the muddy ground, back pressed against the cold grass. “Who’ll ever live, to sing about my tragic death Witcher? How shall I die, knowing that I’ll be long forgotten, not here to write down the paths you’ll take, fighting for your life?”, he kept on blabbing, meaningless, drowsy words formed on his tongue.

No words made it past the Witchers lips, eyes set on the trail ahead, he couldn’t focus on the wailing bard, mind set on the route he’d take to her house, hoping that she wouldn’t stab him down before he’d get a chance to explain their misery. “Where are you taking my wounded body?”, Jaskier hissed every now and then, feeling the infernal poison spreading through every vessel.

The Witcher came to a sudden halt, eyes focused on her wooden house, smoke poured out of her chimney, her faint shadow danced through the living room, a room he had been in too many times to count. “Who is-”, Jaskiers eyes rolled into his head, stumbling into the Witchers back, he was unconscious ere the Witcher could have caught his frame.

His big hands pounded against her wooden door, the loud noise echoed through her home, ripping her out of her thoughts, eyebrows raised, hand wrapped around her silvery blade. “Who’s there?”, her voice brought a smile onto his lips, even in unfortunate moments like this she’d always bring a bit of light into his own, haunting darkness.

“It’s me, I need your help.”, his eyes met hers, she was leaning against the doorframe, a grey dress wrapped around her frame, (y/h/c) hair pulled up, wrapped in a strip of linen. “Come on in”, she bit down on her lip, trying to stop her smile from spreading, she had missed him, couldn’t even remember the last time she had crossed paths with the man she had fallen in love with many moons ago.

The Witcher wrapped his arms around Jaskiers frame, placing him down on her kitchen table, knocking over a few vessels as he did so. “He's been struck by a poisoned arrow, I can’t help him, without getting wounded by it”, a deep sigh spilled from his lips, if there was one thing Geralt couldn’t deal with, it was feeling helpless. “Step back”, she needed enough room to work around the strangers wounded body, trying to forget about the tingling on her limbs, the way Geralts scent engulfed her.

His bright eyes were set on her every movement, watching her mix and crush a few herbs, pouring liquids together, doing everything in her might, to save his companion. “And now we wait”, (y/n) sighed, stepping back from Jaskiers body, praying that she had done enough to save his weak frame. Wordlessly she interlaced her fingers with Geralts, she squeezed his skin, as if she was promising him that everything would be alright.

(Y/n) made her way out of the room, pulling the Witcher outside, settling on the steps that led to her door. “So, tell me, Witcher, who is that?”, she tiled her head sideways, taking in every inch of his handsome features. Ere she could stop herself she wrapped her fingers around his hair, admiring the white strands, lord, she had missed him. “He’s a bard, won’t leave me alone, as much as I try to get rid of him.”, her chuckle echoed through the night, nevertheless she could tell that he genuinely cared for the man.

Her eyes wandered up to the night sky, admiring the many twinkling stars, unconsciously creeping closer to his big frame. (Y/n) didn’t feel his eyes on her features, her thoughts were racing, taking her back to all the times she had wanted to press her lips against his, oh, how lovely it would feel to kiss the one true man she had been in love with ever since. Geralt placed his hand on her cheek, calloused fingers traced her skin, (y/n)s eyes fluttered close, relishing in the warmth, that radiated off him.

Ere she could have process what he was doing, the Witcher had pulled her against his chest, lips dancing across hers, moving in synch with hers, like he had dreamt about for years. Sparks shot up her spine, her whole body felt like it was on fire, drowning in his embrace, in his touch, melting against his skin. “Geralt”, (y/n) mumbled, hands fisting the black fabric of his linen shirt, (y/e/c) eyes hooked on his, too many things she wanted to say to him came crashing through her mind, leaving no words on her lips, too focused on him to form any functioning sentences.

He pulled her into his lap, arms wrapped around his neck, lips meeting once again, getting pulled deeper into their emotions, drunk on each others taste. Geralt placed his forehead against hers, thumb moving across her lower lip, “I’ve dreamt about this for many nights”, she mumbled, staring right at him, hot breath fanning across his skin, “so have I”, his eyebrows were furrowed together. Geralt wasn’t one for voicing out his feelings, emotions he kept hidden away from curious eyes, but it felt oh so easy, oh so simple around her.

(Y/n)s fingers pulled on the lacing of his shirt, hands exploring his skin, the prominent muscles, she couldn’t let go of him just yet, there were too many things she needed to say, things she needed to do, to let her mind rest. The Witchers big hands followed her movement, down her sides, resting on her thighs, pulling her closer to the centre of his leather trousers. His fingers felt cold against her burning skin, finding their trail up to her clenching heat, exploring the sweetness of her dripping folds, an animalistic growl rumbled through him.

She unlaced his trousers, grasping his length, fingers wrapped around his massive girth, dancing up and down the hot, velvety skin, exploring his body further with every movement of hers. “(Y/n)”, he sucked on her lower lip, teeth grazing her skin, “please”, her desperate whimper rang in his ears, made him groan in relief as he lined up his tip to her heat, pulling her down his length. (Y/n)s head fell back, her moan rumbled through the air, engulfed by the darkness of the night, stretched around his member, circling her hips with his help.

The Witchers hands were placed on her hips, grasping the fabric of her dress, stabilizing her trembling form, admiring her features as she moved up and down his length, still placed in his lap. “Geralt”, (y/n) pressed her forehead against his, eyes closed, moans falling from her lips. His hips met hers, jerking upwards to bury himself deeper into her hot walls, engulfed by her tightness, growling her name as she tried to pick up the speed of her movement.

Both were tumbling and stumbling up the edge, ready to fall apart in each other embraces, coaxing new sounds out of the others body with every movement. (Y/n) called his name one last time, sucking on the spot where his neck meets his strong shoulders, giving into the heavenly feeling. The Witcher followed shortly after, giving into her tightness, the heat she provided him with, filling her up with his release.

Both sighed in relief, he pulled her off his length, placed her on his knees, lacing up his trousers with his strong hands, eyes hooked on hers. (Y/n) settled back into his chest, kissing his shoulders as her eyes fluttered close.

#The witcher #the Witcher smut #the Witcher imagine #the Witcher x reader #Geralt smut #Geralt imagine #Geralt x reader #Jaskier #henry cavill #Henry Cavill smut #Henry Cavill imagine #Geralt of rivia #Geralt of rivia imagine

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rheawritessometimes · 4 years ago

Text

Simple Promise

{ Childe x GN!Reader }

{ Summary } You broke one of Childe's bones and feel a little bad about it. Series Masterlist

{ Warnings } Swearing, Violence, Injury, Physical Intimacy.

{ Notes } The first part of Let's Make a Deal with minor edits. I dislike the later parts of the series so I decided to rewrite the whole thing. Masterlist

{ Word Count } 2,759

{ Prev || Next }

Meeting Childe at the Golden House every week had been your routine for a few months now. After you had defeated him the first time, he begged you to spar with him again at the first opportunity. You agreed to his request after being unable to resist his puppy dog eyes. And the entire week he spent pestering you about it.

The whole fiasco with Osial had been put behind the both of you almost immediately after the god returned to the bottom of the sea. It was probably true that you were too quick to forgive Childe, but he was just so charming. The fact he frequently paid for your meals after sparring sessions or whenever the both of you had free time also helped him remain in your good graces. On a few occasions, you had been out eating with friends or on your own and found he had picked up your tab.

Since Liyue hadn’t been destroyed and you got free food out of it, you weren’t all too upset about the situation with Childe. The Snezhnayan was actually pretty easy to get along with when Fatui matters weren’t involved, or at least when those Fatui matters didn’t conflict with your own interests. He made you laugh too, so you supposed you could tolerate the once-weekly sparring sessions with him, even if he was a bit rough. You supposed the fact he was pretty cute didn’t hurt either.

Childe called it sparing, but normal people didn’t spar with actual weapons and fight like they were going to kill their partner. At first, you had tried to convince him it would be much better and safer for the both of you to use practice weapons instead of sharpened blades and arrows. He was quick to decline, saying something about both of you being competent enough not to get seriously hurt.

You thought about refuting that on the basis that he had yet to beat you even once but he always brushed you off. Childe never even gave any reasoning as to why he insisted on using real weapons and you suspected that he was just being stubborn.

Even so, each week you made your way to the Golden House to meet Childe for your sparring session. You’d never gotten there before him and wondered if he intentionally came early. You wouldn’t be surprised if that was the case, he probably paced the room plotting his seemingly unobtainable victory.

Childe would have made for quite a formidable opponent if he wasn’t so careless in battle. His combat experience and weapon mastery alone were impressive and the addition of a Hydro Vision and Delusion made a fight with him all the more fierce. But his lack of strategic ability and defensive technique made sparring sessions between you and him fairly one-sided. Childe might have been careless because it wasn’t a real fight, but somehow you doubted that. He seemed the type to always give it his all, which could have been his problem since his loss usually came due to exhaustion. Maybe if he didn’t spend so much energy trying to show off he’d actually be a proper challenge.

“You’re finally here,” Childe exclaimed dramatically, voice echoing off the walls, “I thought you might have gotten lost on the way or something. Was starting to worry I’d need to go out and rescue you.”

“I’m fifteen minutes early, Childe. How long have you been waiting?” you asked dryly, raising your eyebrow questioningly. You took a moment to shrug your adventuring pack off your shoulders and drop it near the door. You rolled your shoulders, relieved to be free of the weight.

“Ahah, anyways, we should get started. I have some business to attend to today,” he responded, indiscreetly ignoring your question. It shouldn’t have come as a surprise that he didn’t wait for your response before sending an arrow flying in your direction, but you were a little annoyed he hadn’t even waited until you were paying attention. Usually, he was more considerate than this.

Materializing your sword out of reflex, you raised the blade to block the arrow flying in your direction. The arrow bounced off the metal with a weak dink, clattering to the ground. If you’d reacted a moment later it would have pierced you.

Childe was smiling despite the dirty look you shot at him, irritated by the cheap shot. His grin only widened as he took aim again and you silently promised that he would face your wrath shortly. Someone needed to wipe that cocky grin off his face, after all.

Advancing towards him, you swatted the arrow flying your way with your sword. A bow would be less effective at close range, so you intended to close the distance. The redhead laughed, a hint of nervousness creeping into the sound at the pace of your advance. Or perhaps it was the building rage in your eyes.

The bow dematerialized, freeing Childe’s hands for his signature dual Hydro-blades in anticipation of close combat. Once in range, he immediately swiped at you with a blade in a predictable motion. You stepped back out of the way, quickly bringing up your sword to parry the next slash coming from the opposite blade. His movements were rash and you were beginning to think he would never learn anything from these weekly training sessions.

Childe seemed encouraged by you backing away, a smug look crossing his face. You furrowed your brows, surely he wasn’t so thoughtless. He insists on using real weapons, shoots at you before you’re ready, and now he has the audacity to get cocky. The audacity to get cocky even though you evading his attacks was draining more of his energy than yours.

Annoyed by Childe’s ego, you raise your blade to swing down at him and he catches your sword on crossed hydro-blades. He lets out a little huff of air, not expecting you to strike with such force, but his arms hold steady. You swiftly draw your blade back to slash at him again. Thorough training has you swiping at him with practiced ease while Childe is forced to switch to the defensive.

It gives you a sort of satisfaction to see his expression change to one of worry, it was your first time seeing such a look on him. You had no intention of actually hurting him, but it was nice to scare him a little. Maybe after this, he’d take the dangers of sparing with actual weapons a little more seriously. But probably not.

Quick, relentless strikes have Childe growing tired as he continues to evade your blade. You’re trying not to smirk as you move him around the arena, watching his chest begin to heave as breathing becomes labored.

Your intention was only to scare him when you struck his side with the flat of your blade. Of course, it wasn’t nearly as dangerous as using the sharpened edge but the sound of a soft crack barely loud enough to reach your ears made your blood run cold the same as if you’d sliced him open. A look of surprise crosses your face when he lets out a pained grunt, what had happened finally being processed in your mind.

On instinct you step forward, reaching out to Childe as your sword clatters to the ground before dematerializing. You were internally relieved to see his hydro-blades dissipate too, it would have been terribly unsportsmanly of him to stab you now. But even without being stabbed, you pause at the realization that you’re not sure what to do.

Childe’s hand moves to the side of his chest as he coughs a few times, face scrunching up in pain. A flood of panic washes over you at the sound as your thoughts race. The cracking sound suggested you’d at least broken one of his ribs and if his coughing meant a lung had been pierced, well the outcome could be very unpleasant.

“Fuck, that hurts,” he huffed out before he attempted to gingerly sit down, right in the middle of the Golden House. Childe winced at the movement, but he managed to settle, leaning back on his arms for support. His breathing was heavy from the strain of sparing and you felt extremely guilty, broken ribs had a tendency to hurt terribly and pain would flare up with every breath. But he didn’t seem to be struggling for air, so you assumed his lungs were intact.

“Let me get something to ease the pain,” you said hastily, jogging towards the door to grab your bag. Your thoughts were still a bit scattered but since Childe wasn’t actively dying you were a bit relieved. After a moment of thinking, you decided the best course of action was to numb him up before bringing him to Bubu Pharmacy to get some proper help.

“Aw, are you worried about me?” he cooed teasingly, maintaining that signature annoying grin despite the pain he must have been in. It was easy to ignore him as you rummaged through your bag for something useful.

It crossed your mind that it would be exceedingly difficult to get him all the way back to Liyue if you gave him anything too strong. That limited your options rather greatly, considering your lacking medical knowledge and limited variety of resources left you with fewer options than you would have liked already. He probably could make it back without any anesthetic but it would be slow and you’d feel terrible for it.

Even with your lack of selection, you were thankful to have some knowledge and materials for this sort of thing, adventuring made you better at improvising and you learned a lot along the way. Taking everything into consideration, you decided it would be best to go with something topical. You could make a salve to numb up the area and then hopefully drag him to Bubu Pharmacy.

“I’m sorry, Childe,” you apologized, “I didn’t mean to hurt you. Not that badly, at least.”

“Oh don’t worry about it, this isn’t the first time I’ve broken my ribs. Probably won’t be the last, either,” he replied with a laugh, which caused him to wince. You only frowned at him as you pulled out some plants to grind up. A rock would have worked, but you kept a mortar and pestle for this kind of thing after realizing you’d be doing field medicine often.

You were soon mashing some leaves and a few petals into a paste, with some water Childe so graciously provided. Having a Hydro user around was rather convenient, you were almost jealous of all the practical uses a Hydro Vision had.

“Whatcha makin’?” Childe asks after a short period of silence, leaning over to get a closer look. You wonder if he’s actually curious or if he just can’t tolerate the quiet. It seemed the two of you were always talking when you were together, save for when your sparing got too intense to spare the breath.

“A salve to numb you up so I can drag you to Bubu Pharmacy,” you responded, most of your focus on getting the paste to the right consistency.

“What? No, I can’t go. I’ve got work to do,” he argued, moving to stand up now that he was aware of your intentions. You were quick to grab his wrist to prevent him from getting up, looking away from your work to frown at him. Childe paused, waiting for your explanation.

“You have at least one broken rib, whatever you need to do can wait,” you told him sternly, maintaining eye contact. He turned his gaze away from you to hum in contemplation. He knew well enough that giving injuries time to heal was important, but so was his job.

“Fine, I guess it can wait until later,” he relented, leaning back into a comfortable position once more. Childe had a feeling that if he had insisted on skipping out on the doctor’s visit you would have actually dragged him there.

“Can you take off your shirt?” you asked, trying to sound as casual and not awkward as possible once you were satisfied with the consistency of the paste. You would have offered to allow him to apply it himself but you figured it would be less painful this way, plus you’d need to bandage his chest afterward, so it didn’t make much of a difference.

“Oh my, you’re not usually this bold,” he teased, reaching to begin undoing the clasps holding his jacket together. His remark made you decide against offering your assistance despite the awareness that even just wriggling out of the jacket probably hurt. It’s okay to be a little petty sometimes. As a treat.

Once his torso was bare you shifted your position to be a bit closer and examined his side. There was already the beginning of bruising, but it would get much darker by tomorrow. You ignored the scars and old bruising that was present, very aware of the fact the redhead would tease you for staring if you looked any longer.

“I promise I’ll be gentle,” you assured, “But it’ll probably hurt a little.”

Childe just hummed, waving off your warning, so you gathered some of the salve on your fingers. You wished you’d had gloves that weren’t absorbent with you so your hands wouldn’t grow numb later, but there was no helping it now.

It was a quick process of spreading the paste over his ribs, but his eyes remained on you the entire time. You couldn’t be sure if he was just interested in what you were doing, but it surprised you that he remained entirely silent. His steady gaze did make you feel a bit awkward, though.

“It’ll take a little while to numb up. I’m going to bandage your chest for support. This will hurt more than applying the salve,” you informed him, dragging your pack towards you to dig out a roll of bandages.

“Don’t worry, I’m pretty tough,” he laughed in response, and you could only smile and shake your head at him. You had faith in his strength, but that didn’t stop the guilt you felt over being responsible for his pain. It did make you feel better when he started reminiscing on past injuries he’d sustained in battle once you began bandaging him. How he could look back on them so fondly was a mystery to you.

At first, you were mindful to touch him as little as possible while you were wrapping the bandages. They needed to be a little tight to provide support but you tried to ensure they put as little pressure on his ribs as possible. Unfortunately, your fingers started to grow numb and you hadn’t realized you’d been bandaging too tightly until Childe let out a soft grunt of pain.

“Fuck, sorry,” you apologized, quickly unraveling the last section of bandaging to rewrap it more loosely.

“Don’t worry about it,” he said, thinking for a moment before adding, “But, if you want to make it up to me, a kiss would make me feel better.”

Pausing in your ministrations, you looked up to see a cheeky grin on his face. You raised a brow, giving him an entirely unimpressed expression. It wasn’t entirely uncommon for him to flirt like this, trying to get a reaction out of you. But as you reached one hand up to gently grab his chin, it was his turn to become flustered.

Leaning up, you pressed a chaste kiss to his cheek before moving away and releasing your hold on him. You patted his cheek twice, giving him an amused grin.

“You’re welcome.”

“Hey! That doesn’t count!” Childe immediately whined, pouting at you. You could only laugh at his playful antics as you finally finished wrapping his chest.

“You’re cruel, you know that?” the Snezhnayan grumbled, eyebrows still furrowed as he continued to pout. He really did seem like a spoiled kid at this moment and you laughed again, causing his frown to deepen.

You knew his demeanor was all theatrical, but as you stared at his expression you found yourself leaning towards him again. You gently pressed your lips to his, smiling into the kiss when his hands eagerly flew up to your face. You indulged in the kiss for a few more moments, smirking when he followed you as you pulled away. Putting a hand on his shoulder, you halted his attempt to continue.

“You can have another kiss once you get checked out at Bubu Pharmacy.”

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kookie-doughs · 4 years ago

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Y/N L/N AND THE HALFBLOODS

Percy Jackson X Reader -Y/N L/N met Percy Jackson and everything was now ruined.

CHAPTER 8: I Really Hate Water

The next few days I settled into a routine that felt almost normal, if you don't count the fact that I was getting lessons from satyrs, nymphs, and a centaur. Each morning I took Ancient Greek from Annabeth and sometimes Luke, and we talked about the gods and goddesses in the present tense, which was kind of weird. I discovered Annabeth was right about my dyslexia: Ancient Greek wasn't that hard for me to read. At least, no harder than English. After a couple of mornings, I could stumble through a few lines of Homer without too much headache. The rest of the day, I'd rotate through outdoor activities, looking for something I was good at. I had struck around with Percy the whole time unless it was dinner time or night where I spent with Luke. Chiron tried to teach Percy and I archery, and we found out pretty quick he wasn't any good with a bow and arrow. He didn't complain, even when he had to desnag a stray arrow out of his tail. It was hilarious. While I on the other hand, could compete against Merida and Hawkeye with wining in favor of me. Foot racing? He sucked. The wood-nymph instructors and I left him in the dust. I told him not to worry about it. They'd had centuries of practice running away from lovesick gods. But I guess, it was a little humiliating to be slower than a tree. And wrestling? Forget it. Every time he got on the mat, Clarisse would pulverize him. Luckily I took some martial arts class back then and stood some chance against her. "There's more where that came from, punk," she'd mumble. The only thing he really excelled at was canoeing, and that wasn't the kind of heroic skill people expected to see from the kid who had beaten the Minotaur I guess. But hey, He's better at canoeing than me. I don't even know how I drowned all the time. Percy had to save me a couple of times. I knew the senior campers and counselors were watching us, trying to decide who our Olympian parent was, but they weren't having an easy time of it. I was as strong as the Ares kids, or as good at archery as the Apollo kids. I have Hephaestus's skill with metalwork, luckily I didn't have Dionysus's way with vine plants. Luke told me Percy might be a child of Hermes, a kind of jack-of-all-trades, master of none. But I got the feeling he was just trying to make him feel better. He really didn't know what to make of me either. Despite all that, I liked camp. I got used to the morning fog over the beach, the smell of hot strawberry fields in the afternoon, even the weird noises of monsters in the woods at night. I would eat dinner with cabin eleven, scrape part of my meal into the fire, and try to feel some connection to my real parent. Nothing came. I tried not to think too much about my mom and dad, but I kept wondering: if gods and monsters were real, if all this magical stuff was possible, surely there was some way to save them, to bring them back.... Even D/N would do...

I started to understand Luke's bitterness and how he seemed to resent his father, Hermes. So okay, maybe gods had important things to do. But couldn't they call once in a while, or thunder, or something? Dionysus could make Diet Coke appear out of thin air. Why couldn't my parent, whoever they were, make a phone appear? Thursday afternoon, three days after we'd arrived at Camp Half-Blood, I had my first sword-fighting lesson. Everybody from cabin eleven gathered in the big circular arena, where Luke would be our instructor. We started with basic stabbing and slashing, using some straw-stuffed dummies in Greek armor. I did okay. At least, I understood what I was supposed to do and my reflexes were good. The problem was, I couldn't find a blade that felt right in my hands. Either they were too heavy, or too light, or too long. Luke tried his best to fix me up, but he agreed that none of the practice blades seemed to work for me. We moved on to dueling in pairs. Luke announced he would be Percy's partner, since this was his first time. And then my turn after his, so I had to train with another kid from the cabin. "Good luck," one of the campers told us. "Luke's the best swordsman in the last three hundred years." "Maybe he'll go easy on me," Percy said. The camper snorted. By the time he called a break, I was soaked in sweat. Everybody swarmed the drinks cooler. Luke poured ice water on his head, which looked like such a good idea. I turned to talk to Percy and he had done the same. "Okay, everybody circle up!" Luke ordered. "If Percy doesn't mind, I want to give you a little demo." I wanted to try going against Luke as well. I wasn't confident with my skills. The Hermes guys gathered around. They were suppressing smiles. I figured they'd been in his shoes before and couldn't wait to see how Luke used Percy for a punching bag. He told everybody he was going to demonstrate a disarming technique: how to twist the enemy's blade with the flat of your own sword so that he had no choice but to drop his weapon. "This is difficult," he stressed. "I've had it used against me. No laughing at Percy, now. Most swordsmen have to work years to master this technique." He demonstrated the move on me in slow motion. Sure enough, the sword clattered out of his hand. "Now in real time," he said, after Percy had retrieved his weapon. "We keep sparring until one of us pulls it off. Ready, Percy?" He nodded, and Luke came after him. After a while of clashing, Percy tried the disarming maneuver. His blade hit the base of Luke's and he twisted. Clang. Luke's sword rattled against the stones. The tip of Percy's blade was an inch from his undefended chest. The other campers were silent. He lowered his sword. "Um, sorry." For a moment, Luke was too stunned to speak. I had a huge grin on my face. I had no idea why, but I was proud. I was so close on giving him an encore and all that. "Sorry?" Luke's scarred face broke into a grin. "By the gods, Percy, why are you sorry? Show me that again!" I didn't want to. The short burst of manic energy had completely abandoned me. But Luke insisted. This time, there was no contest. The moment our swords connected, Luke hit my hilt and sent my weapon skidding across the floor. After a long pause, somebody in the audience said, "Beginner's luck?" Luke wiped the sweat off his brow. He appraised at me with an entirely new interest. "Maybe," he said. "But I wonder what Percy could do with a balanced sword... ." My time with Luke wasn't as amazing as Percy's was but I wasn't that bad. Friday afternoon, I was sitting with Grover and Percy at the lake, resting from a near-death experience on the climbing wall. Grover had scampered to the top like a mountain goat, but the lava had almost gotten me. Percy and I's shirts had smoking holes in it. The hairs had been singed off our forearms. We sat on the pier, watching the naiads do underwater basket-weaving, I was resting my back on Percy's since I felt like any moment they'd drown me. Percy then ask Grover how his conversation had gone with Mr. D. His face turned a sickly shade of yellow. "Fine," he said. "Just great." "So your career's still on track?" He glanced at me nervously. "Chiron t-told you I want a searcher's license?" "Well... no." I had no idea what a searcher's license was, but it didn't seem like the right time to ask. "He just said you had big plans, you know... and that you needed credit for completing a keeper's assignment. So did you get it?" Percy said. Grover looked down at the naiads. "Mr. D suspended judgment. He said I hadn't failed or succeeded with you yet, so our fates were still tied together. If you got a quest and I went along to protect you, and we both came back alive, then maybe he'd consider the job complete." "Well, that's not so bad, right?" "Blaa-ha-ha! He might as well have transferred me to stable-cleaning duty. The chances of you getting a quest... and even if you did, why would you want me along?" "Of course I'd want you along!" Grover stared glumly into the water. "Basket-weaving... Must be nice to have a useful skill." I tried to reassure him that he had lots of talents, but that just made him look more miserable. Percy and him talked about canoeing and swordplay for a while, then debated the pros and cons of the different gods. Finally, I asked him about the four empty cabins. "Number eight, the silver one, belongs to Artemis," he said. "She vowed to be a maiden forever. So of course, no kids. The cabin is, you know, honorary. If she didn't have one, she'd be mad." "Yeah, okay. But the other three, the ones at the end. Are those the Big Three?" Grover tensed. We were getting close to a touchy subject. "No. One of them, number two, is Hera's," he said. "That's another honorary thing. She's the goddess of marriage, so of course she wouldn't go around having affairs with mortals. That's her husband's job. When we say the Big Three, we mean the three powerful brothers, the sons of Kronos." "Zeus, Poseidon, Hades." "Right. You know. After the great battle with the Titans, they took over the world from their dad and drew lots to decide who got what." "Zeus got the sky," I remembered. "Poseidon the sea, Hades the Underworld." "Uh-huh." "But Hades doesn't have a cabin here." "No. He doesn't have a throne on Olympus, either. He sort of does his own thing down in the Underworld. If he did have a cabin here..." Grover shuddered. "Well, it wouldn't be pleasant. Let's leave it at that." "Why though? What would children of Hades do then? How would they fend themselves?" "I-I don't know... Its not my idea not adding Hades!" He shrieked as if he was at fault and felt guilty. "But Zeus and Poseidon—they both had, like, a bazillion kids in the myths. Why are their cabins empty?" Percy changed the subject. Grover shifted his hooves uncomfortably. "About sixty years ago, after World War II, the Big Three agreed they wouldn't sire any more heroes. Their children were just too powerful. They were affecting the course of human events too much, causing too much carnage. World War II, you know, that was basically a fight between the sons of Zeus and Poseidon on one side, and the sons of Hades on the other. The winning side, Zeus and Poseidon, made Hades swear an oath with them: no more affairs with mortal women. They all swore on the River Styx." Thunder boomed.. . . . . .. I said, "That's the most serious oath you can make." Grover nodded. "And the brothers kept their word—no kids?" Grover's face darkened. "Seventeen years ago, Zeus fell off the wagon. There was this TV starlet with a big fluffy eighties hairdo—he just couldn't help himself. When their child was born, a little girl named Thalia... well, the River Styx is serious about promises. Zeus himself got off easy because he's immortal, but he brought a terrible fate on his daughter." "But that isn't fair.' It wasn't the little girl's fault." Grover hesitated. "Percy, children of the Big Three have powers greater than other half-bloods. They have a strong aura, a scent that attracts monsters. When Hades found out about the girl, he wasn't too happy about Zeus breaking his oath. Hades let the worst monsters out of Tartarus to torment Thalia. A satyr was assigned to be her keeper when she was twelve, but there was nothing he could do. He tried to escort her here with a couple of other half-bloods she'd befriended. They almost made it. They got all the way to the top of that hill." He pointed across the valley, to the pine tree where we'd fought the minotaur. "All three Kindly Ones were after them, along with a horde of hellhounds. They were about to be overrun when Thalia told her satyr to take the other two half-bloods to safety while she held off the monsters. She was wounded and tired, and she didn't want to live like a hunted animal. The satyr didn't want to leave her, but he couldn't change her mind, and he had to protect the others. So Thalia made her final stand alone, at the top of that hill. As she died, Zeus took pity on her. He turned her into that pine tree. Her spirit still helps protect the borders of the valley. That's why the hill is called Half-Blood Hill." I stared at the pine in the distance. The story made me feel hollow, and guilty too. A girl my age had sacrificed herself to save her friends. She had faced a whole army of monsters. "Grover," Percy said, "have heroes really gone on quests to the Underworld?" "Sometimes," he said. "Orpheus. Hercules. Houdini." "And have they ever returned somebody from the dead?" "No. Never. Orpheus came close... . Percy, you're not seriously thinking—" "No," Percy said. "I was just wondering. So... a satyr is always assigned to guard a demigod?" I looked over to him warily. "Not always. We go undercover to a lot of schools. We try to sniff out the half-bloods who have the makings of great heroes. If we find one with a very strong aura, like a child of the Big Three, we alert Chiron. He tries to keep an eye on them, since they could cause really huge problems." "And you found me. Chiron said you thought I might be something special." Grover looked as if I'd just led him into a trap. "I didn't... Oh, listen, don't think like that. If you were—you know—you'd never ever be allowed a quest, and I'd never get my license. You're probably a child of Hermes. Or maybe even one of the minor gods, like Nemesis, the god of revenge. Don't worry, okay?" I got the idea he was reassuring himself more than us. "What about me?" They looked at me. "Chiron said you didn't know I was a half-blood..." "We didn't. When you didn't forget who... Mrs Dodds was. We thought you just saw through the mist. Then when I saw you with Percy that night... and your parents aware of me and the camp. I assumed you were... a half-blood." "How about now? What do I smell like?" He looked at me gingerly then at Percy, "Nothing. You smell too human. Even for a very minor god. That's why there are plenty of satyrs then are confused as to why there's a human here. That night after dinner, there was a lot more excitement than usual. At last, it was time for capture the flag. When the plates were cleared away, the horn sounded and we all stood at our tables. Campers yelled and cheered as Annabeth and two of her siblings ran into the pavilion carrying a silk banner. It was about ten feet long, glistening gray, with a painting of a barn owl above an olive tree. From the opposite side of the pavilion, Clarisse and her buddies ran in with another banner, of identical size, but gaudy red, painted with a bloody spear and a boar's head. I turned to Luke and yelled over the noise, "Those are the flags?" "Yeah." "Ares and Athena always lead the teams?" "Not always," he said. "But often." "So, if another cabin captures one, what do you do— repaint the flag?" He grinned. "You'll see. First we have to get one." "Whose side are we on?" He gave me a sly look, as if he knew something I didn't. "We've made a temporary alliance with Athena. Tonight, we get the flag from Ares. And Percy's going to help." The teams were announced. Athena had made an alliance with Apollo and Hermes, the two biggest cabins. Apparently, privileges had been traded—shower times, chore schedules, the best slots for activities—in order to win support. Ares had allied themselves with everybody else: Dionysus, Demeter, Aphrodite, and Hephaestus. From what I'd seen, Dionysus's kids were actually good athletes, but there were only two of them. Demeter's kids had the edge with nature skills and outdoor stuff but they weren't very aggressive. Aphrodite's sons and daughters I wasn't too worried about. They mostly sat out every activity and checked their reflections in the lake and did their hair and gossiped. Hephaestus's kids weren't pretty, and there were only four of them, but they were big and burly from working in the metal shop all day. They might be a problem. That, of course, left Ares's cabin: a dozen of the biggest, ugliest, meanest kids on Long Island, or anywhere else on the planet. Chiron hammered his hoof on the marble. "Heroes!" he announced. "You know the rules. The creek is the boundary line. The entire forest is fair game. All magic items are allowed. The banner must be prominently displayed, and have no more than two guards. Prisoners may be disarmed, but may not be bound or gagged. No killing or maiming is allowed. I will serve as referee and battlefield medic. Arm yourselves!" He spread his hands, and the tables were suddenly covered with equipment: helmets, bronze swords, spears, oxide shields coated in metal. "Whoa," I said. "We're really supposed to use these?" Luke looked at me and laughed. "Unless you want to get skewered by your friends in cabin five. Here—Chiron thought these would fit. Do you want to be border patrol with Percy or come with me?" I smiled at him, "Tempting offer but I think I'll stay with Percy." "Your lost." He smirked then ruffled my hair. I went over to Percy who was holding a shield was the size of an NBA backboard, with a big caduceus in the middle. Our helmet, like all the helmets on Athena's side, had a blue horsehair plume on top. Ares and their allies had red plumes. "Looking at real good." I laughed. He frowned at me. "Like you look that different." "I am sporting this helmet just fine excuse you." I said picking up a dagger from the table. Annabeth yelled, "Blue team, forward!" We cheered and shook our swords and followed her down the path to the south woods. The red team yelled taunts at us as they headed off toward the north. Percy and I managed to catch up with Annabeth without him tripping over my equipment. "Hey." She kept marching. "So what's the plan?" Percy asked. "Got any magic items you can loan me?" Her hand drifted toward her pocket, as if she were afraid I'd stolen something. "Just watch Clarisse's spear," she said. "You don't want that thing touching you. Otherwise, don't worry. We'll take the banner from Ares. Has Luke given you your job?" "Border patrol, whatever that means." "It's easy. Stand by the creek, keep the reds away. Leave the rest to me. Athena always has a plan." She pushed ahead, leaving me in the dust. "Okay," he mumbled. "Glad you wanted me on your team." "I don't want to be near the creek." I said anxiously. "Maybe I should just go with Luke..." Percy then took my hand. "Since when have I ever let you drown? Don't worry. I'll be there for you." He smiled. With a pout and a worried look I stuck out my pinky said, "Promise me." "I swear I will never let you drown. I will save you with all I can." He swore connecting our pinkies. "Everyone knows pinky promises are better than Styx." We laughed and made our way to our station not letting go of each other's hands. It was a warm, sticky night. The woods were dark, with fireflies popping in and out of view. Annabeth stationed us next to a little creek that gurgled over some rocks, then she and the rest of the team scattered into the trees. The bronze sword, like all the swords I'd tried so far, seemed balanced wrong. The leather grip pulled on my hand like a bowling ball. There was no way anybody would actually attack me, would they? I mean, Olympus had to have liability issues, right? Far away, the horn blew. I heard whoops and yells in the woods, the clanking of metal, kids fighting. A blue-plumed ally from Apollo raced past me like a deer, leaped through the creek, and disappeared into enemy territory. I lied down on the ground. "This is so boring." "Stand up, who knows when an enemy will show up." He scolded pulling me up. "I don't know... I think I'd rather shrivel and die." I shrugged. "Plus I know I got a knight in shining helmet to save me." "I mean yeah of course you do." "Luke's like few meters away after all." I smirked. He turned to me with a frown and a 'not funny' face. Which made me laugh. Then I heard a sound that sent a chill up my spine, a low canine growl, somewhere close by. I stood up and Percy pulled me behind him as he raised his shield instinctively; I had the feeling something was stalking me. Then the growling stopped. I felt the presence retreating. On the other side of the creek, the underbrush exploded. Five Ares warriors came yelling and screaming out of the dark. "Cream the punk!" Clarisse screamed. Her ugly pig eyes glared through the slits of her helmet. She brandished a five-foot-long spear, its barbed metal tip flickering with red light. Her siblings had only the standard-issue bronze swords—not that that made me feel any better. They charged across the stream. There was no help in sight. I could run and leave Percy. Or I could defend myself against half the Ares cabin with no more than 9 inch dagger and Percy Jackson. I managed to sidestep the first kid's swing, but these guys were not as stupid the Minotaur. They surrounded me and Percy, while Clarisse thrust at us with her spear. Percy's shield deflected the point. My hair stood on end. "Electricity. Her stupid spear was electric." Percy groaned and I pulled him back. Another Ares guy slammed me in the chest with the butt of his sword and I hit the dirt. They could've kicked me into jelly, but they were too busy laughing. "Y/N!!" Percy yelled but he had a sword pointed at his throat. "Give her a haircut," Clarisse said. "Grab her hair." I managed to get to my feet. I raised my dagger, but Clarisse slammed it aside with her spear as sparks flew. Now my arm numb. "Oh, wow," Clarisse said. "I'm scared of this guy. Really scared." "The flag is that way, let her go!" Percy told her. "Yeah," one of her siblings said. "But see, we don't care about the flag. We care about a guys who made our cabin look stupid." "You do that without my help," I told them. It probably wasn't the smartest thing to say. Someone took a hold of Percy so the sword was no longer pointed at him. Two of them came at me. I backed up toward the creek, tried to raise arm, but Clarisse was too fast. Her spear stuck me straight in the ribs. If I hadn't been wearing an armored breastplate, I would've been shish-ke-babbed. As it was, the electric point just about shocked my teeth out of my mouth. One of her cabinmates slashed his sword across my arm, leaving a good-size cut. Seeing my own blood made me dizzy—warm and cold at the same time. "No maiming," I managed to say. "Oops," the guy said. "Guess I lost my dessert privilege." "Y/N!! I will kill you all!!" He was thrashing around. "Let her go! She can't swim!!" "It's fun seeing your girlfriend suffer ain't it?" Clarisse laughed. The guy finally pushed me into the creek and I landed with a splash. They all laughed. I figured as soon as they were through being amused, I would die. I was sinking. I couldn't breathe. The water was pulling me for what felt like 10 meters deep. Blood were coming out at every wound I had. I was loosing consciousness. Help me. Please... -With Percy- Clarisse and her cabinmates came into the creek to get you, but you weren't there. "Hey, she's missing?" One of the cabinmate said. "What? It's like 3 meters deep. She's just there." Clarisse scoffed. "I's telling you she's can't swim! Water pulls her down! I will kill you if she doesn't survive!" Percy managed to get power from somewhere and got out of the hold. He knew what to do. I swung the flat of my sword against the first guy's head and knocked his helmet clean off. I hit him so hard I could see his eyes vibrating as he crumpled into the water. Then he jumped down. Hoping to see you somewhere. Muttering your name over and over in hopes to catch you. Save us He heard from his right. When he turned he finally saw you at the bottom. He swam with all could and got a hold of you. To haul you up. Finally surfacing, Percy panted and laid you of the ground. Pumping your chest. When the water finally came out of your mouth. Percy turned to glare at the people. Ugly Number Two and Ugly Number Three came at me. He slammed one in the face with his shield and used his sword to shear off the other guy's horsehair plume. Both of them backed up quick. Ugly Number Four didn't look really anxious to attack, but Clarisse kept coming, the point of her spear crackling with energy. As soon as she thrust, he caught the shaft between the edge of my shield and my sword, and I snapped it like a twig. "Ah!" she screamed. "You idiot! You corpse-breath worm!" She probably would've said worse, but Percy smacked her between the eyes with his sword-butt and sent her stumbling backward out of the creek. -Back to you- Coughing myself awake. Water came out of my mouth. "Percy..." I called. He turned so fast that I was surprised his neck didn't snap. "Y/N!" He ran to me and pulled me in a hug. I couldn't move, I felt tired and weak. "I want to sleep." I could feel my wounds stinging. Cold air hitting it. I felt sore despite barely moving. Then I heard yelling, elated screams, we both turned and I saw Luke racing toward the boundary line with the red team's banner lifted high. He was flanked by a couple of Hermes guys covering his retreat, and a few Apollos behind them, fighting off the Hephaestus kids. The Ares folks got up, and Clarisse muttered a dazed curse. "A trick!" she shouted. "It was a trick." They staggered after Luke, but it was too late. Everybody converged on the creek as Luke ran across into friendly territory. Our side exploded into cheers. The red banner shimmered and turned to silver. The boar and spear were replaced with a huge caduceus, the symbol of cabin eleven. Everybody on the blue team picked up Luke and started carrying him around on their shoulders. Chiron cantered out from the woods and blew the horn. The game was over. We'd won. Percy carried me still with an angry expression and tense body. I wanted to reassure him but I knew it wouldn't work. Luke looked over and saw us. I could see his sudden shift of emotion. He wanted to approach but he was surrounded by every cabin. We then heard Annabeth's voice, right next to us in the creek, said, "Not bad, hero." I wanted to turn to see her but I couldn't. I could barely keep my eyes open. "Where the heck did you learn to fight like that?" she asked. The air shimmered, and she materialized, holding a Yankees baseball cap as if she'd just taken it off her head. She was now in front of us. I felt Percy tense up once more. "You set us up, You put us here because you knew Clarisse would come after me, while you sent Luke around the flank. You had it all figured out." Annabeth shrugged. "I told you. Athena always, always has a plan." "Because of you, Y/N is like this." The venom in his voice were obvious. "I came as fast as I could. I was about to jump in, but..." She shrugged. "You didn't need help." "I didn't. But Y/N did! And what did you do?! She could've died!" Percy was shaking. I could feel it. "Calm..." I managed to whimper. "What's that?" Annabeth pointed at Percy's neck. "A sword cut, obviously." "No. It was a sword cut. Look at it." The blood was gone. Where the huge cut had been, there was a long white scratch, and even that was fading. As I watched, it turned into a small scar, and disappeared. "I—I don't get it," Percy said. Annabeth was thinking hard. I could almost see the gears turning. She looked down at our feet, then at Clarisse's broken spear, and said, "Step out of the water, Percy." "What—" "Just do it." He came out of the creek and immediately I could feel myself better. Percy almost fell over, but I managed to hold him. "I got you." I panted. "Oh, Styx," she cursed. "This is not good. I didn't want... I assumed it would be Zeus... ." Before I could ask what she meant, I heard that canine growl again, but much closer than before. A howl ripped through the forest. The campers' cheering died instantly. Chiron shouted something in Ancient Greek, which I would realize, only later, I had understood perfectly: "Stand ready! My bow!" Annabeth drew her sword. I drew my dagger and pushed Percy behind me. There on the rocks just above us was a black hound the size of a rhino, with lava-red eyes and fangs like daggers. It was looking straight at me. Nobody moved except Annabeth, who yelled, "Percy, Y/N, run!" She tried to step in front of me, but the hound was too fast. It leaped over her—an enormous shadow with teeth—and just as it hit me, I was pushed aside as Percy stumbled backward and its razor-sharp claws ripping through his armor, there was a cascade of thwacking sounds, like forty pieces of paper being ripped one after the other. "Stop that!!" I screamed and somehow managed to grab her. She turned to me sharply and stared me down. As if she was waiting for the perfect opportunity to jump me. It approached me and settled down at my feet, sitting down as if she was an obedient dog. She watched as I catch my breath. From the hounds neck sprouted a cluster of arrows. The monster fell dead at my feet. By some miracle, I was still alive, and wasn't even hurt. I instantly turned to look uat Percy. His chest wet, and I knew it was badly cut. Another second, and the monster would've turned him into a hundred pounds of delicatessen meat. Chiron trotted up next to us, a bow in his hand, his face grim. "Di immortales!" Annabeth said. "That's a hellhound from the Fields of Punishment. They don't... they're not supposed to... How did..." "Someone summoned it," Chiron said. "Someone inside the camp." Luke came over, the banner in his hand forgotten, his moment of glory gone. Clarisse yelled, "It's all Y/N's fault! Y/N summoned it!" "Be quiet, child," Chiron told her. We watched the body of the hellhound melt into shadow, soaking into the ground until it disappeared. "You're wounded," Annabeth told Percy. "Quick, Percy, get in the water." "I'm okay." "No, you're not, Y/N get him to the water," she said. "Chiron, watch this." "No... She doesn't do well in water..." Percy choked. I carefully swung his arm around my shoulders and without thinking twice, I stepped back into the creek, the whole camp gathering around us. Instantly, I felt weak. I could feel the pulling me down. Some of the campers gasped. Percy who could barely stand few minutes ago got a hold of me. I could feel my consciousness loosing once again. "Look, I—I don't know why," Percy said, trying to apologize. "I'm sorry... But I need to get out of here. Y/N---" But they weren't watching Percy's wounds heal. They were staring at something above our head. "Percy," Annabeth said, pointing. "Um..." By the time I looked up, the sign was already fading, but I could still make out the hologram of green light, spinning and gleaming. A three-tipped spear: a trident. "Your father," Annabeth murmured. "This is really not good." "It is determined," Chiron announced. All around us, campers started kneeling, even the Ares cabin, though they didn't look happy about it. "My father?" Percy asked, completely bewildered. "Poseidon," said Chiron. "Earth shaker, Storm bringer, Father of Horses. Hail, Perseus Jackson, Son of the Sea God." Percy looked down at me. I wasn't sure what but I had the feeling it was somewhere along the lines, 'I am the reason you drown every time you step on water.' "You're claimed..." I managed to squeak. Percy stepped out of the water. "Congratulations." I smiled weakly.

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UwU Here's another chapter I am sorry for some holes in the story -kookie-doughs

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@gayer-than-the-gayest-gay @the-natureofme @booknerd-3000

#Percy Jackson #Percy Jackson X Reader #Percy Jackson X Y/N #percy jackon and the olympians #pjo #luke castellan #Luke castellan x reader #Y/N L/N #Y/N L/N and the halfbloods #X Reader #Lightning thief #Book 1 #Chapter 8 #Fanfiction #fanfictions

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