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opposums-love-arson · 1 year ago

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Scream Queen Book 1: Conventional Final Girl

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Stu Macher x Reader x Billy Loomis

Okay so basically let's just cut to the chase, the main character "(y/n)" is Sidney Prescott's little stepsister, yeah? Well, what happens when she takes Sid's place as the final girl? A whole lot. Disclaimer: All rights reserved to the copy righted owners of the Scream franchise. The only creative input I had in this fan fiction was the part of (y/n), almost everything else can be found in the movie. Follows the movie very closely. I mean the actual movie, not the script. Obviously switching out some parts to fit the narrative. It takes a couple of chapters to really get it kicking but I promise it gets good. *NO SMUT* these are still high school students and I do not want to overtly sexualize KIDS! And if you make the argument of "I'm not a kid" I'm 18 been there, done that, don't try it.

"Hello, who is it?" I asked into the large telephone.

"No one in particular..." Sounds like another one of the boys' prank calls.

"Okay Mr. No one in particular, any reason for the call?"

"No reason in particular, just wanted to talk."

"Hmm okay then talk," I said as I swiveled around in my chair.

"What's your favorite scary movie?" The raspy but oddly pitched voice asked.

"Oh I've got plenty but you might want to sit down, it'll take a while."

"I've got time."

"Ya know, stuff like Halloween, Friday the 13th, Texas Chainsaw. Then there's creature features like The Thing. B-horror like Slumber Part Massacre or Sleepaway Camp." I finally finish my rambling when I hear my step sister and her boyfriend in the other room.

"Do you really like scary movies?"

"Oh yeah definitely but I think it's mainly because of my step sister's friends?"

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah, I mean I always liked horror but they really got me into it. Especially our friends Randy, Billy and Stu, they're crazy about that stuff!" I said as I flopped down onto my bed.

"What's a pretty girl like you doing with all those guys?"

"They're not a lot of guys, if anything it equals out our group," I said, completely avoiding the whole 'pretty girl' thing... that was kind of weird.

Hearing a knock at my door completely startled me.

"Oh um hey I have to go but feel free to call me back anytime," I whisper into the phone quickly placing it back on the body.

It was obvious the person on the line was saying something before I hung up but I didn't bother to listen

In popped Neil's head from the other side of the door. "Hey kiddo who ya talking to?" He said as he looked around. "Hm? Oh no one, what's up Neil?" I asked, now back in my desk chair. Neil was a good guy, I'm glad he and my mom started dating, they actually just got engaged! I think I was more excited about it than my step sister, Sindey, she's still grieving. "Just got done talking to your sister, I'm going to hit the sack, remember I'm not back until sunday. Cash on the table and call if you need anything," He said waiting for me to say something. "Alright got it Neil, have fun at the expo!" I waved him off before he closed the door.

My mom and I didn't move to Woodsoro until she really started dating Neil. It's always just been her and I for as long as I can remember, but it feels good to be part of a complete family again. I missed our old home at first with all my friends and family but Sid quickly took me under her wing. I met all of her friends including Stu, Tatum, Randy and Sid's boyfriend Billy. I'll admit it was weird at first because they just saw me as the little step sister but once Randy and I went on a ranting debate about which was the real pioneer of Slasher; Texas Chainsaw or Black Christmas, it got a lot easier. Even though Stu and Billy were pretty cute I'll never be used to Stu's wild energy, nor Billy's slightly shady behavior.

The next morning didn't go quite as expected... There were reporters, cameras, and news vans posted up all around school. Sid and I were freaked the moment we got off the bus. She was looking around bewildered by everything going on until we spotted one woman in particular, Gale Weathers. To say the least, Weathers was a total bitch towards Sid's mom's name.

"Can you believe this shit?!" We heard a voice pop up from behind us. Sid totally jumped.

"Tatum, what is going on?" Sidney asks, waving her arm out to the school.

"Yeah, since when was Woodsboro flooded with reporters?" I looked over at Tatum, crossing my arms over my chest.

"You don't know?" Tatum asked both of us, a hint of amusement on her face.

"No," Sid and I said in unison, still confused.

"Casey Becker and Steve Orth were killed last night," She said with a harsh but light tone just above a whisper.

"What?! No way!" Sid softly exclaimed.

I was too shocked to say a single word so I just listened.

"And we're not just talking killed, we're talking splatter movie killed. Ripped open, from end to end," Tatum talked about it with entertaining ease, like it was just gossip.

I think I'm going to be sick.

"Casey Becker, she sits next to me in English," Sid said looking over at her best friend.

I think you mean sat, Sid. I thought.

"Not anymore," Said Tatum with a wobble of her head.

She went on saying, "It's so sad, her mom and dad found her hanging from a tree. Her insides on the outside." Shoving her hands near her stomach.

"Oh my god," Sid said as she reached for the back of her neck, probably to feel the goosebumps that appeared.

"Do they know who did it?" I finally asked, feeling the urge to know.

The two looked over at me with Tatum saying, "Fucking clueless, I mean they're interogating the entire school? Teacher, students, janitors."

"They think someone at school did it?" Sid asked

"They don't know, I mean Dewy was saying this is the worst crime he's seen in years. Even worse than-" Tatum paused when I nudged her side, "Well, it's bad." She finished.

The bell signaling the start of the first period rang.

"C'mon Sid, we gotta get to class..." I said as I lightly grabbed her hand, giving it a slight reassuring squeeze.

"Yeah, alright..." She responded, removing her hand from mine. She's just going through a lot right now.

Sitting through the first period is weird when you have a seat that was right behind a dead person. Not Casey Becker but Steve Orth. He'd ask me for a pencil or notes every day because he forgot his. Claimed it was because of football practice. Soon enough the five minute bell for next class rang. A class that didn't have any dead students.

Walking to my locker to rotate my books I was blocked by none other than Stu Macher.

"Hey, (y/n)," He drawled out my name with a big smile, "Whatcha up to?"

"Getting my books Stu, same thing you should be doing."

"C'mon, you're not still upset with me, are you?" He asked with a fake pout

"Yeah actually I am Stu!" I shouted in a whisper

"I couldn't help myself, I mean look at you?" He said as he squished my face.

Swatting his hand away I said, "That's no excuse!"

"You can be such a prude," he said as he leaned his head on my locker.

"No, it's called being a good friend with a balanced moral compass that can see when her friend's boyfriend is about to cheat with her." I huffed as I slammed my locker door.

"C'mon, (y/n)! You can't stay pissed forever! You'll come around eventually!" Stu shouted after me.

"Like hell I will!" I shouted back. No matter how abundantly clear my feelings for him are, I would never do that behind Tatum's back.

#scream fanfic #ghostface x reader #stu x reader #billy x reader #scream 1996 #billy loomis #stu macher x reader #billy loomis x reader #scream x reader #scream x yn

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comfort-writing · 2 years ago

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Crayons & Cassettes

Chapter 1: The First Day of Kindergarten

You are a kindergarten teacher. Eddie’s daughter, Sage, is in your class. She bonds with you instantly, and Eddie is trying not to do the same.

warnings: this fic will be 18+ in later chapters, so minors DNI! In this chapter, it is mentioned that rumors about Eddie that still linger. no use of y/n. nothing else I can think of for this chapter because it’s really just an introductory one, but please let me know if I missed anything!

a/n: let me know in the comments or my asks if you want to be added to the tag list! requests are open!

word count: 3k

Chapter 1 || 2 || 3 || 4 || 5 || 6 || 7 || 8 || 9 || 10 || 11 || 12 || 13 || 14 (coming soon!)

Trying to shove tiny feet into tiny shoes at 6:30 in the morning was no easy task, especially when the owner of said tiny feet was fighting with all the strength in her five-year-old body to keep said feet out of said shoes.

“Please, Sage. I’ll do anything you want, just please let me put your shoes on.” pleaded an exhausted Eddie. They were already running late, which meant that he would get dirty looks from the other parents, well, dirtier than what he was already expecting. It was Sage’s first day of kindergarten, which he felt bittersweet about. She’d been attending preschool in previous years, so the transition wouldn’t be as difficult for her as it may be for other children, but she didn’t always do well around new people. She was like her dad in that way- she could be shy at first (which deviated from his own standoffishness), but once she warmed up, she was a sweet and bubbly kid.

Sage put her resistance on hold, “Anything?” She asked, raising an eyebrow. Eddie knew that look: mischievous and calculating. It scared him a little to see that she was so much like himself, but it also made him a little proud. “Yes, baby. Just put your shoes on and we’ll do anything you want after school.” Sage thought for a moment, then made intense eye contact with Eddie, “Ice cream. And breakfast for dinner.” She bargained. Eddie chuckled and nodded, “Sounds good to me. We got a deal?” He asked, dropping the small shoe he was holding and sticking out his hand. She nodded and shook it, then stuck her foot out for him, beaming at the fact that she would get her two favorite things later that day. Little did she know that he had already planned on those things happening.

He sighed and thanked her, slipping on her glittery pink sneakers and tying them before picking her up off of the couch and setting her on his hip as he grabbed what they’d need for the day. Sage’s brand new Care Bears backpack- check. Keys- check. Wallet- check. Care Bears lunch box- check.

“Alright, ready to go?” He asked her. Sage nodded warily and Eddie walked out the door, kicking it closed behind them before walking to his beat up van, sliding open the back passenger door and setting Sage in her booster seat. He placed her bags on the floor by her feet and helped her buckle her seat belt. She looked up at him, “Dad?” She asked in a whisper “Yes, baby?” He responded absentmindedly. “Do you think my teacher will like me?” She asked anxiously. That made Eddie pause. He looked at her very seriously, grabbing her tiny hands in his own, “She is going to love you, kiddo. You’re freakin’ metal.” He said, leaning down and kissing her forehead. She nodded, “Metal.”

Your classroom was perfect. You’d decided on a rainbow theme for the year, wanting the classroom environment to be welcoming, colorful, and engaging to the 26 five-year-olds that would arrive within the next hour. Your lesson plans were perfect too. You were quite proud of yourself. Moving to a completely new state after teaching in another for a few years made for somewhat of a culture shock. Learning all of the new standards and adapting your previous lesson plans to fit them, along with having to write completely new lessons that fit your school’s specific curriculum was difficult, but not impossible. It was done. Everything was perfect. You were ready.

You’d moved to Hawkins, Indiana at the very end of the summer. You grew up in another small, southern town, so the small town environment wasn’t exactly new to you. It just meant you had to find your footing here. Declare yourself as a character amongst the established ones. You had been able to meet a few of the other teachers, and they all seemed nice enough, but they were all much older than you were. You graduated college only three years prior, and it seemed like half of your coworkers were on the brink of forgetting what college they went to. You needed to find friends your own age, and quick, because being a teacher can be stressful. Having friends around who you can vent to is key to keeping yourself sane.

You looked in the mirror on the inside of your classroom closet door, adjusting your hair for a moment. It was tied up with a clip, messily, but purposefully and cutely so. You pushed a strand behind your ear and made sure you didn’t have lipstick on your teeth. You decided to wear a light green dress and white sneakers- cute, stylish, and comfortable enough to chase around several very energetic children. You knew that the first day of kindergarten was always one in which you met the parents, and while they’d mainly be focused on their children, you knew there was a large possibility of photos being taken. You wanted to make a great first impression, and if your were immortalized in a Polaroid or two, you’d like to look nice. Above you, the school bell rang, signaling to the children that they could start making their way to class. You smiled and walked over to the door of your class, opening it up for the parents to bring their kids in.

Parents and students began trickling into the classroom. You shook their hands and introduced yourself to each one, smiling genuinely and directing the parents to where their child’s desk and cubby were located. On the first day, you always let parents stay for a while, and even held a carpet story time/coloring session in order to make the transition easier for both parties. You noted that a few kids were crying, which gave you a good indication of what kids would continue to be criers throughout the year. You didn’t judge, you just liked to know what was up.

You were crouching down to take a picture with one of your new students when a man who looked very out of place in your rainbow classroom walked in, a small girl hiding behind his pant leg. You smiled up at him, holding up one finger apologetically, signaling that you’d be with him in a moment. You looked up at the mom who’d just taken your picture, “Would you like me to take a picture of the two of you?” You asked. The woman nodded, so you stood and swapped positions with her. You wound the film on her disposable camera, “Say cheese!” You encouraged, which drew a confused face from the small boy, as he’d somehow never heard the phrase before. You snapped the picture without realizing the face he’d made and smiled, handing the camera back to the also oblivious mother and she walked her son to his desk.

You then turned your attention to the man standing in the doorway. You smiled and stuck out your hand, introducing yourself. “Eddie Munson.” He said softly. His hands were warm, but you noted the rings he wore made them feel colder. Eddie was an attractive guy, you wouldn’t lie to yourself about it. His hair was long, dark, and curly. He wore a leather jacket and a denim vest on top of it. He definitely had the whole rockstar look down, which looked a bit funny when surrounded by rainbows. There was also his daughter, who looked like a pink glitter bomb had exploded over her, as was typical for girls her age. You didn’t linger on his touch like you may have liked to, as you had to introduce yourself to someone more important. You bent and stood on your knees, peeking around Mr. Munson’s knees, “And who is this pretty princess?” You asked, hoping that calling her a princess would help her warm up to you.

You were right. The small girl poked her head out from behind the man’s knees. You saw that she got her looks from her dad; she had brown, curly hair that was currently tied back in a high ponytail, coupled with bright brown eyes and a small smattering of the lightest freckles across her nose. She spoke, barely above a whisper, “I’m Sage.” You smiled encouragingly, “That’s such a pretty name. Did you know Sage is a type of plant? And a color?” You gasped, piquing her interest, “Oh my goodness! It’s the color of my dress!” You said, feigning surprise, as if you were just discovering that fact for the first time. “And guess what?” You whispered. Sage was entranced, gaining the courage to move out from behind her dad and listen to the ‘secret’ you were entrusting her with. “It’s my favorite color.” You smiled softly, making eye contact with the small girl. It made her feel special. She smiled up at her dad, who was watching the interaction intently. “You want to find your desk and set your stuff down, Sage?” You asked her. She nodded fervently, excited to get the day started.

You stood back up to your fill height and led the two to Sage’s desk. “So, Mr. Munson, you are welcome to through story time and coloring. I try to allow time for the parents to stay for a while to help their kids adjust to the new environment.” You told him as Sage was putting her lunch box into her desk. The man seemed to shift uncomfortably, “Ah- I don’t know. Are you sure?” He asked you. You nodded, “Yeah, of course. Every parent is welcome to stay through that time. If Sage doesn’t do well around new people or in a new place, it can help her out a lot.” You assured him. He seemed to think for a moment before nodding, making his decision.

Little did you know, the reason so many people were watching the interaction carefully was because, despite being a good dad who provided for his daughter, the rumor mill still swirled around the Munson family. He didn’t want his daughter to have to deal with the same problems he did, so he was apprehensive about staying, but you seemed to believe it would benefit her if he was there, so he would stay.

Another parent walked through the door, so you excused yourself to go greet them the same way. After your kindergarteners we’re all there, the bell rang, signaling the beginning of class. You smiled wide, walking to the front of the classroom. “Good morning, everyone! I hope we’re all excited to get started with our day! Today, we are going to…”

After successfully driving Sage to school, and luckily arriving around the time he’d originally intended to somehow, he guided his small daughter through the halls of the school. At the end of the kindergarten hall was Sage’s classroom for the year. He bent down to her level, “You ready? Or do you want to take a minute?” He asked her. He knew that sometimes she had to prepare herself to go into a new situation. He was the same way; needing to take a few breaths or psych himself up for whatever he would encounter. Sage thought for a moment, “I’m ready.” She said, looking determined. He nodded, holding her hand and guiding her to the classroom.

That’s when he spotted you. You had the biggest and most genuine smile on your face as you took a photo with another student. He saw the way you acknowledged him right when he walked into the door, making him feel seen, but still kept your focus on the people you were with, most likely doing the same for them. It was a small gesture, sure, and it may have gone unnoticed by anyone else, but he really didn’t know what to think about all of this. He didn’t recognize you, even though you seemed to be around the same age, so that meant you likely hadn’t heard the nasty rumors that still lingered around him like a rain cloud, even into adulthood. He was drinking in the small kindnesses you showed him in the following interactions.

You reached out and shook his hand, introducing yourself to him. He didn’t know why, but it surprised him that you introduced yourself with your first and last name to him. It made you seem more approachable. He spoke his own name as calmly as he could, internally struggling not to stumble over it. When you bent down to introduce yourself to his daughter, he watched as you related to her immediately, over something as silly as a color. But she opened up quickly to you, which was so incredibly rare for her. He truly couldn’t grasp what it was about you, but he basked in your presence and he didn’t want to leave. Not for Sage’s sake, but for his own. It was no secret to himself that he found you attractive- you were pretty, new to their small town, and he didn’t see a ring- but there was something else he couldn’t place. He obviously couldn’t do anything about it in the moment, so he shifted his attention back to his daughter, helping her prep for her first day.

Once you wrapped the story up, you had the students start on a coloring page that correlated with the story. This was the time for parents to start trickling out. Eddie watched as other parents left. He looked to Sage, “Listen kiddo, I’ve got to go to work, but I’ll pick you up later, okay?” He told her. During pre-k, they’d gotten pretty good at the whole ‘dad’s going to be gone for a few hours but you will be ok’ exchange. Sage nodded, “Okay. Don’t forget about the ice cream and breakfast.” She said, scribbling with a red crayon and not paying him much attention. He ruffled her hair and kissed the top of her head before standing up and heading towards the door.

Before he could leave, you grabbed a piece of paper off of the desk, “Oh, Mr. Munson-“ you whispered, as the students were quietly working as the parents slowly left, “Here is my newsletter for the month. It basically covers everything we’ll be doing in class, and what you can be doing to help supplement Sage’s learning at home. I usually mail these out to the parents, but the front office said your address changed recently?” Eddie took the newsletter and nodded, “Ah- thank you. Yeah, we moved into a new house last week. It was after I registered her, so I’ll have to get that changed. Do you need me to write my address down before I leave?” He asked. “Well, if you would, that would be very helpful, but if Sage will get upset if you’re here longer, I can just wait until you update your information with the office.” You told him quietly. Eddie shook his head, “Nah, Sage is a trooper. She knows the drill.” He said, proud of his daughter.

You smiled softly, a smile that made his knees feel a little weak, and grabbed a pen and a notepad off of your desk, handing it to him. “If you could write down your new address, as well as your phone number, that would be great.” You told him. He had to fight the urge to make a joke about hitting on him in front of the kids. Years ago, that would have been the first thing he said to you, and he wouldn’t have thought twice. But now, his number one concern was his daughter, and doing anything that may end up being detrimental to her, like flirting with her teacher, was off his radar. He scribbled out the information before handing the paper back to you, “Thank you. Just make sure you update this with the office as soon as possible. Hopefully you’ll only hear from me about once or twice a month, as I do the newsletter and a call home for an update. But keep an eye on the events section of the newsletter-“ you said, pointing it out, “-it will have important dates like any parent/teacher conferences and the kid’s Christmas recital on there. And please, don’t hesitate to reach out if you ever have any questions or concerns. My information is down at the bottom. I’ve got an answering machine, so leave a voicemail if I don’t pick up; I should give you a call back within 24 hours.” You informed him quietly, finishing up with a soft smile.

Eddie nodded, taking in all the information you were giving him. It felt like a lot, but he knew that most of the important stuff would be in the paper you gave him. “Thank you. I’ve still got a little more time before work so I think I’ll go to the office now.. where is it again?” He asked, feeling more lost than he should. This is where he went to elementary school, but it had been so long since he’d been in the building it felt a little foreign to him. You smiled and opened the door, pointing him in the right direction through the halls. He thanked you once more, then started off thought the school as you shut the door.

You and Eddie were both left the same thought:

This isn’t good.

#eddie munson x reader #eddie munson x y/n #eddie munson #dad!eddie munson #singledad!eddie Munson #dad!eddie Munson x reader #teacher!reader #singledad!eddie Munson x reader #stranger things #fanfic #I kinda ignore canon events sorry #I just want Eddie to be happy is that so wrong

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iphoenixrising · 26 days ago

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(6am / Prime Girl back with a hit of randomness hehe)

hi babe!! It’s been a long time since I’ve been around ;; I’m sorry about that! I saw your recent post about some health and family things that have been happening, and I am absolutely heartbroken for you. I really really hope that you’re doing well, and that you and kiddo’s year will be able to finish off well!!!<3 ;;

I’m actually back around bc I thought about you when I was driving home from work today and!!! I just really really wanted to come and tell you how much I look up to you as an author and how much you’ve inspired me even after these years since I first found your beautiful works ><

the way you write about emotion and intimacy and how it interweaves in so many different ways is something I think about every time I write something - I always think about the emotions you made me feel with your writing and how wonderful your works are I also post fics on AO3 now, but it’s particularly my ABO fic I wanted to mention to you because I’ve had multiple comments being like ‘I didn’t like abo before this’ or ‘some other fics I read were weird but this one made me give the genre a chance’ and in my head I’m always like OMG THATS HOW I WAS WITH WINTER BABE!! it makes me so SO incredibly happy and I’m always thinking about and am so grateful that you and your wonderful works literally changed not just the genre for me forever and made me ADORE the concept, but showed me that it can relate to love and yearning and intimacy in such incredible ways ㅠㅠ (I also get tons of comments abt people begging for mercy bc they cry every chapter but that’s not the point LOL)

Thank you so so much for being such an amazing author that not only produces beautiful works, but that has always interacted with me so kindly ㅠㅠ I was going through a lot of things when I was reading your works and they always brought me so much comfort (they still do btw!) and really showed me a way of writing that let me escape from my world for a bit and would have me in tears at 6am ><

Anyways, my life is surprisingly busy nowadays and I know yours is too, but I just wanted you to know that this blog will always hold such a special place in my heart and you inspire me always!!! much much love to you and to kiddo! I am seriously wishing you guys all the best, and I’ll try to be around a little sooner than this next time! 🥺

(p.s. IM SO SO SO SO INCREDIBLY HAPPY YOU LIKED THE CEO TIM PROMPT I WAS GIGGLING KICKING MY FEET ECSTATIC THAT YOU ENJOYED MY TAKE ON IT KDNDKDNSKSNKDNDKSMSKSJSK AND YOUR THOUGHTS???? JUST ABSOLUTELY AMAZING AS ALWAYS???? YOUR BRAIN IS AMAZING ISTG I WAS DEAD AND IM JUST SO HAPPY YOU LIKED IT ><)

BABE. Babe <3 I'm so happy to hear you're writing things and it helps you with everyday life. Oh I'm just so, so happy for you. I've missed you as well and everyone else in the Tim Drake fandom, but the fact you're putting works out on Ao3?? You're writing wonderful things?? You're making people cry because you've pulled them out of themselves to feel things?? This is wonderful babe! This is the best news EVER! I'm so proud of you I can't even stand it. Writing is so hard and it can hurt so much to put things out there to people, and you are so, so brave and amazing to find your way. I'm thankful you've found the strength within yourself to do daring things.

Babe. Congratulation.

Send me links, I beg! I beg. I will read ALL THE THINGS AOB.

I still read the fuck out of fanfics but I've moved into BL (my fandom blog is a mess because I love too many of them) instead of DC, but releasing my fics back into the wild might have spurned something, might have brought back the muse a bit, so I might try to give it another go! I've got some very important chapters to things I promised people and maybe it's time I keep those promises. (Because @satire-please deserve a final ending to Dr!Tim).

I even went on the Capes and Coffee Discord just to talk out some ideas and that's a pretty big step to be honest.

But, even tho life is busy and you're moving into new, exciting things and people are rightfully in love with your fics and your brain, I will always have a spot for you here. You can always come back to me and read or talk out ideas or tell me how life is going. I adore you and hope only great things in your journey <3

(YOUR IDEAS ALWAYS INSPIRE I SWEAR I LOVE THEM ALL SO MUCH BECAUSE THIS THING WAS EASY TO WRITE AT THE TIME AND I STILL FEEL LIKE I COULD FLESH IT OUT MORE SOME DAY)

#winter answers #prime girl #is one of the best babes #writing #ao3 #aob fics #babe is doing things!#we love this

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paikothecateater · 3 months ago

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Chapter #1

Denmark's mornings always started much earlier than the others'. He got up everyday at 6:00am sharp. No alarm clock though, just his own instincts. He sits up in his bed feeling a bit groggy. He lazily picks up his phone to check the time. Sure enough, 6:00am. Denmark sighs, he might as well get up and get his day started.

He stumbles into the bathroom to get ready for the day, once he looks presentable, he heads downstairs to make breakfast.

"AHH! Iceland, you scared the life out of me. I almost just ended your life."

"oh... Uh... Yep... Sorry."

"what are you doing up so early? You usually wake up around 8:00. There's no way you got enough sleep."

"didn't sleep."

Oh, what? Poor kid. Why didn't you sleep? "

Iceland rubs his eyes.

"Norway kept kicking me every time I even got close to dozing off. I got maybe five minutes of sleep before I had a nightmare, so I just thought it's not my night. I got up and sat down here."

"that just sucks. You can go take a nap in my room if you want."

"no no, I'm fine. Thanks."

"let me at least make you some breakfast."

"mmh..."

Denmark looked over at Iceland and he felt a faint sense of worry. Iceland was a lot more quiet than usual, and as far as Denmark knew, nightmares were a rare occurrence with Iceland.

"you wanna talk about the nightmare you had?"

"it wasn't exactly a nightmare... Just... Weird..."

"ah well, you get the occasional weird dream or two when you live in all this chaos. What kind of weird?"

"I can't... Really describe it? I was lost, but I also like... Knew where I was?"

Denmark was going to ask for more information when the sound of someone else walking down the stairs caught his attention.

"what's going on?"

"oh! Suu! You're also up early."

"got up to use the bathroom, but couldn't find my glasses."

Denmark puts an overly enthusiastic arm around Sweden, who in turn gave him a withering look.

"they're here..."

Sweden turns to Iceland and takes his glasses, quickly putting them on.

"thanks, Ice. You okay?"

"yup... Just dandy..."

Sweden crosses over to him, putting an arm over his shoulder. He kneels on his knees to be at eye level with him.

"you don't look okay. What's going on?"

"Just didn't get much sleep..."

Sweden sighs.

"alright, if you say so..."

He pulls out a chair and sits next to Iceland. Denmark turns back to face the counter.

"not going back to bed, Suu?"

"no, it's probably a good thing I woke up so early."

Denmark slides both of them a cup of coffee.

Iceland immediately starts drinking his coffee, burning his tongue in the process, but he could hardly care less.

"slow down there, kid. Don't wanna singe your throat, do you?"

"sorry."

He puts the cup down, wiping his mouth with his sleeve.

Denmark sighs, but turns back to the counter anyway.

"you two got plans today?"

Sweden looks up.

"not really. Though, Finland was planning on taking hana for a walk, thought I'd take Sealand and ladonia because they like getting to play with her."

Denmark nods as if he'd been listening, then turns to Iceland.

"any plans?"

"I was probably gonna go for a walk too..."

"good idea. You need to get out of the house more, kiddo, you're so pale, I can see through you."

Sweden scoffs at Denmark's attempt at humour, but pipes up nonetheless.

"you can join us if you want."

Iceland shifts awkwardly.

"nah, it's fine. I'll probably just get in your way, plus, I'm meeting a friend."

"oh? Which friend?"

"Latvia."

"oh, is he the speccy loser's friend?"

"you mean Estonia? I think he's his brother, but yeah."

"oh whatever. Just hope he's not as creepy as his brother."

"he's not."

Iceland gets up and walks upstairs to his and Norway's bedroom.

Sweden turns to stare at Denmark, whose back was still turned.

"you know what's wrong with him?"

"he didn't get much sleep."

"is that really all he told you?"

"yeah, just said that Norway was kicking him too much and he was having nightmares and stuff."

"mm..."

Iceland, now dressed and ready to go, tiptoes down the stairs as to not wake up Norway or Finland.

"heading out already?"

"oh uh... Yeah..."

"don't you wanna wait for a bit?"

"nope..."

Denmark sighs, but hands him his backpack regardless.

Iceland says a quick thanks before rushing to the door, however, Denmark blocks the door.

"you don't think you're forgetting something?"

Iceland sighs and opens his arms for a hug. Denmark squeezes him in a massive bear hug. Iceland pretends to dislike it, but once he's sure his face is concealed by Denmark's shoulder, he smiles.

"bye..."

Iceland walks out the door and begins heading for his and Latvia's agreed meeting spot.

#aph nordics #aph iceland #aph norway #aph denmark #aph sweden #aph finland #hws iceland #hws norway #hws sweden #hws finland #hws denmark

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writerofadream · 10 months ago

Text

Fairytale Ending? ⛓

TDI!Duncan x Juvie Bestfriend! Reader ⛓

Chapter One: And we're back welcome to another season I'm your host-

[In the new intro you and Duncan are passed out on a desk while there’s a whiteboard full of potential baby names that Izzy brainstormed]

As the bus pulled to a screeching stop, Duncan stepped out first. “Man, I missed the smell of the city.” He took a big breath in. You stepped out after him, your baby hump beginning to look noticeable.

“You know, what do you think the chances of this season affecting the baby?” He turned to look at you, concerned. “I think she’ll be fine, sweetheart.” You smiled, he was very overprotective about the child.

“Hey mami! How’s the baby doing?” Izzy, now deemed E-Scope came up to you feeling ever rambunctious as she gave you a hug. “She’s doing fine, kiddo. Kicking more every day.” You smiled at the younger girl.

“Aw, I’m so happy for you guys.” Bridgette came up squeezing Duncan’s shoulder and giving you a kiss on the cheek. A small smile appeared on your face at the girl’s appearance.

Duncan smiled as Geoff ruffled his hair. The older boy wrapped his arms around your waist, feeling his daughter kick, and attacked your neck with kisses, before he snuggled his chin into the crook of your neck.

“I am not going to wait here for much longer.” Heather complained. “Little miss-rich is going to give up a million big ones?” You laughed in disbelief, causing Duncan to smile.

Sooner rather than later Chris pulled up in a log bus, he gave you a sly wink. “How’s my favorite baby mama?” He asked. “I’m this close to getting a restraining order.” You grumbled stepping onto the bus, ignoring the small growl that fell out of Duncan’s mouth as he glared at Chris.

“I’m renting this thing by the hour. All aboard!” Chris began driving as Izzy stayed behind.

You watched Owen call out to her causing her to howl like Tarzan.

A smile fell on your face once you felt Duncan get a hand on your thigh, you laid your head against his shoulder, closing your eyes as the bus gently swayed. “You’ll be here for the next six weeks.” Chris explained as the bus drove through different movie sets.

“In ten weeks my kid is gonna be born.” Duncan laughed excitedly. Trent clasped his shoulder giving it a small squeeze. “You deserve it my man.”

The fans were eating this crap up.

—

|Trending on X right now|

#AHHHHSHE’SPREGGERS

#dadduncanisthebestduncan

#shemakeshimsomuchbetter<3

#ilovethemsomuchit’swild

#THEYMARRIEDAHHHH

—

You stared at the camera in the makeup room. “He wants to give us mini statues of him if we win. He is literally giving whoever wins the exact same thing I got as my wedding present.” You grumbled rolling your eyes.

—

As the entire set thumped from the apparent monster on set, Duncan wrapped a protective arm around you, shielding you from whatever danger there was. You leaned into his embrace, shutting your eyes tight as you wrapped your arms around your stomach.

“Today’s genre… the monster movie!” Chris chuckled evilly as the monster roared in the background.

DJ passed out beside you. You gulped as you felt another kick from the girl in your stomach. “For your first challenge, everyone must get from here to the cast trailers while our state of the art monster trys to stop you.” Chris ordered.

“Now… action!”

You raised an eyebrow. “That means go.” You all began shoving each other out of the way, and you protected your stomach. Heather accidentally elbowed your stomach and you quickly headbutted her in annoyance.

“Is the baby okay, are you okay?” Duncan yelled over the commotion worry in his eyes. You smiled, and nodded.

You were all running and Duncan and you abruptly stopped when you saw the two blondes making out. “Kids these days.” You sighed, shaking your head as Bridgette flipped you off.

Duncan laughed, twirling you, before dipping you close to the ground laying a kiss on your lips.

—

Duncan was carrying you bridal style as you were being chased by a bear. “Are you sure I’m not too heavy?” You fret. Duncan scoffed.

“Honey, you were eighty pounds when you got pregnant, now you're ninety. We carried double that when we were only twelve.” He laughed. You blushed, and hid in his arms.

Duncan slid on his knees, narrowly avoiding the monster’s grasp, but the monster caught Gwen and Trent instead.

“You notice how everyone sorta coupled up?” Duncan asked absentmindedly as he hid behind a cardboard car, not even panting. “Mm, no idea why.” You twisted the ring on your finger subconsciously.

Duncan smiled at the nervous habit you had picked up, and he set a kiss on your lips.

Suddenly you watched a scaly green finger tap his shoulder. He turned around to see the monster and your eyes widened. “You better not drop me, Chef.” You grumbled as the monster scooped you both up. Duncan groaned. “We were so close.” He yelled over the wind.

Finally you made it over to the bouncy castle and the monster dropped Duncan, but set you down carefully so the baby wouldn’t be harmed.

“How are you his favorite?” Duncan laughed turning on his side in the rubber castle to stare at his beautiful wife. “Because I’m the only one nice to him.” You returned with a cheeky smile. “How are you not terrified of him?” Gwen asked, jumping beside you.

You shrugged. “I’ve seen a lot of scary things in my lifetime. Very few things scare me.” You laughed squeezing Duncan’s hand. He was your life, your support system.

Trent shook his head exasperated. “That’s amazing my dude.” Geoff laughed, giving you a fist bump causing you to smile. “She’s amaze balls!” Izzy lightly fell over your legs, careful to avoid your stomach. You chuckled as you watched your husband ruffle the hair of the girl you both thought of as a daughter.

The day passed extremely quickly. It started off with Duncan talking about your new life in New York causing the boys to freak with excitement.

“I own a bar, and it’s called ‘Total Drama Bar’ right now. I got one of my brother’s handles but it’s great. Free drinks on me whenever this is all over. We have this awesome apartment right above it and you can hear all this great music, Trent. I love living there and I’m so happy and amazed how she got all of this for us.”

Duncan explained to Trent, DJ, and Geoff who whooped at the promise of free alcohol.

You told the girls a similar story.

“Guys, I love my new job, the half-way house holds all these unique girls and their stories. Gwen, one day you have to visit so you can hear some of them for your book. Lindsay, you'd love our street. It's got these amazing stores. Courtney the school nearby, I was wondering if you’ve heard of it-”

Everyone was talking about their lives and what had happened after the last season had ended.

Soon, it was night and Duncan had dragged you in the corner of the bouncy house and laid down, nearly begging to cuddle. “I love you mi vida, more and more every day.” He kissed the top of your head and you smiled. Everyone had quickly fallen asleep, but not Duncan.

He was obsessed with the way you looked. He loves talking to you, he loves loving you.

Man, he was obsessed with you.

—

You screamed at the foghorn and your hands flew over your ears. Too familiar, way way too familiar. But before you could go into a full panic attack, Duncan was in front of you, whispering his assurances that you were far away from that awful place.

He slowly took your hands off your ears and kissed the top of them before scooping you up in a hug. Suddenly Owen had popped the bouncy house and you scrambled outside. But you noticed a certain redhead was missing. More panic flew at you. “Where’s Izzy?” You hissed your heart beating in a way that you knew was not good for the baby. Duncan had his arms wrapped around you, squeezing tightly enough to replace a weighted blanket.

Izzy suddenly appeared. “I had a date with the monster, he does not take no for an answer.” She winked suggestively and you nearly smacked her over the head. You scooped her in a hug, and in that moment Izzy knew you were her family. Through and through.

Chris came out of his trailer and laughed at the chaos around him. “Can’t believe ya’ll survived. Guess I lost the bet.” He didn’t sound too disappointed.

“Luckily, your next challenge is an award.” Chris began to explain the reward’s and the rules but your heart was still beating so quickly. It had to slow down or something was going to happen to the baby. Duncan was whispering in your ear.

“I love you, you are safe, you are around family, you are my life, and I’d give up anything to make you happy and feel comforted.” He repeated the mantra and slowly but surely your heart rate went down to a normal pace.

—

You watched Owen eat tons of food in mere seconds. Your husband was fascinated but you were, in simple terms, disgusted.

“It’s truly shocking that you are not experiencing cravings. It must be a side effect of your anorexia.” Courtney had been documenting your pregnancy since you had announced it.

“I love you girly, but do me a favor and don’t talk about it.” You muttered absentmindedly staring as Owen consumed unholy amounts of food.

“Owen, that was fake food.” Chris explained after the boy ate everything. “Oh…” Then he burped out a key. “Wait, do I win?” Owen asked and Chris stared at him for a moment before giving up. “Yeah. Sure, whatever. God I should’ve just been a doctor.”

—

The boys had won… but lost.

Because the winner was an idiot. The prize was the choice between a smashed camper or a good one. But Owen chose the smashed one causing the boys to groan, yell, and scream curses. The girls cheered and did a big group hug in happiness.

—

“DAMN IT.” You yelled as the monster smashed the other trailer.

—

After the Chef had repaired your trailer you were finally allowed to go in. Unsurprisingly the girls quickly started arguing. Honestly Chris needed to do you a favor and just stop inviting Heather. It would make all of this so much easier.

Maybe you could ask…

You stepped out of the cabin after Bridgette and you had drawn straws and were sleeping together. You got bottom bunk because you didn’t want to accidentally fall and hurt the baby, which she understood.

After the girls had fallen asleep you had gotten a text.

–

Mi amor <3: i miss you

Me: i know :(. Why do we keep coming back on this show

Mi amor <3: because we want our future kids to think we were hip

Me: … pls tell me u didnt just say ‘hip’

Mi amor <3: I did Mrs. Tarun.

Me: OH GOD I FEEL LIKE IM YOUR MOTHER

Mi amor <3: …oh goody…

Mi amor <3: i love you, sm more then youll ever know, imma attack you with love in the mornin since chris locked every exit out of this darn thing

Me: ‘darn thing’ oh god we’re old

Mi amor <3: 😭

–

“This is your five a.m wakeup call-” The foghorn was not as loud this time, but still loud. Before you could stop yourself you screamed “KILL YOURSELF ASSHOLE.” and the rest of the girls loudly agreed while groaning.

“It was a joke, you can sleep… for now.”

You quickly passed out once more.

“What does tomorrow hold in store for our beloved married couple, and the rest of our crew. Find out next time on…

TOTAL

DRAMA

ACTION!”

---

tagged: @lostsomewhereinthegarden

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just-dino-maggie · 2 years ago

Text

Just Friends Part 3

Part 1 Part 2

Thank you again to both of the people who requested this story! This is the final chapter I hope you enjoy.

After sophomore year of high school my years were measured by summer. I never thought it would be my favorite season. Growing up I hated the heat. Winter was my favorite season by far. Even now I love winter. Hockey season, hot chocolate and winter wonderlands. What isn’t there to love? But it all pales in comparison to the Hughes lake house. The roaring bonfires only eclipsed by the laughter.

Last summer I barely spent any time there. I was avoiding the one and only Trevor Zegras so I stayed away from the lake house. This year we became friends again. We text all the time and I even went to his games when he came to town.

As I walk into the lake house I know it’s going to be the best year yet. I’m the first one the get here because I live so close so I grab my favorite guest room. I run upstairs to put my clothes away in dressers and get the bathroom set up with my things. Suddenly I hear Jack enter the house.

“Honey I’m home.” He calls out in an old timey accent.

I chuckle to myself, “Just a minute sweetheart, I have to get myself all dolled up for the guests!” I yell back trying not to laugh as I finish unpacking.

Right when I’m done I run down the stairs. I practically tackle Quinn in a hug. He’s probably my favorite Hughes brother but I would never say it out loud.

“Hey kiddo.” He says returning my hug. I squeeze him tighter, “Hey quinner.”

“No hug for your husband?” Jack sighs dramatically. I chuckle and give him a hug. He messes up my hair.

I look around for Luke but he’s not here, “Where’s the baby?

“He’s coming up in a few days, apparently he has some obligations.” Jack rolls his eyes as he says the word obligations. It makes me smile, I always forget how sassy he is. “Trevor is coming today but all the other guys are coming in two days, is that okay?”

I smile despite my butterflies, “Yeah it’s fine, I told you that we’re cool.”

“If you say so. We are going to get unpacked then go out on the boat. Do you want us to get you when we’re done?”

I shake my head, “Nah I’m okay for today. I think I’m just going to hang out in the hot tub. Can you get me when you guys get back?”

“No problem Y/n/n” Quinn adds in. The both of them head to their respective rooms to get unpacked.

I run to my room and pull open my drawers. I brought three different bathing suits but my favorite is the white bikini with navy blue trim. I throw it on and grab a towel. I make my way outside and toss the towel next to the hot tub. I don’t have a lot of traditions but my favorite is that I have to jump into the lake first every year.

It used to be a competition between Trevor and I. Whoever got to the lake house and jumped into the lake first won. Sometimes we even did it together. I didn’t ask him about it this year.

I look out on the beautiful lake. It stuns me every year. How can I live near something so beautiful and choose college over this. I get a running start and dive into the water. The cold surrounds me. It’s oddly comforting. I take my time, treading water and enjoying the atmosphere.

After a little while I hear someone call my name. When I turn around it’s a familiar blue eyed boy, “Y/n, I can’t believe you still always beat me!”

I can’t help but smile, “At least you except your defeats with grace.”

“That’s it!” He says in a joking manner. I watch him at he kicks off his shoes and takes off his shirt. My face immediately turns red but I don’t look away. Trevor has always been attractive but shirtless Trevor is something else entirely. His hands go to the waistband of his pants and I turn around immediately. I can feel myself blush even more deeply.

He cries out like crazy person and dives into the water. When he comes up he’s next to me. I turn toward him and chuckle as he wipes his eyes, “You have no shame, do you?”

“What is there to be ashamed of, it’s not like you saw anything.” He wiggles his eyesbrows at me and I can’t help but laugh.

I put my hand on his sholder to steady myself, “Do you want to go to the hot tub?”

He doesn’t even respond he just races out of the lake. He runs to the hot tub before I can even get out of the cold water. His boxer briefs are stuck to him because of the water. I sheild my eyes but I’ve already seen a little too much. His backside is perfect. I’m his friend so I shouldn’t know that. Maybe it okay that I know it but I shouldn’t be this affected by it.

I make my way over to the hot tub and I try to collect myself. It’s not really working. He’s watching me as I walk up like a lion watching its prey. The whole “collecting myself” thing goes out the window. I walk a little faster trying to get under the water, to hide myself again. It does nothing to help my current state. The small hot tub keeps me too close to Trevor for my liking and the heat is making it all more surreal.

“You look really beautiful.” Trevor says leaning closer to me.

I smile despite myself and fidget with my hands. “Thank you Trevor, you don’t have to say that.”

“I’m not saying it because I have to, I’m saying it because it’s true.”

I’m unsure what to say. For years I would have never guessed Trevor would be seriously flirting with me. Now it seems almost commonplace. “Oh, you look pretty too.”

He laughs, I can’t help but look up. He’s stunning when he laughs. “Why thank you Y/n, you sure know how to make a guy feel special.” We sit in silence for a moment and he brings himself closer to me. He places his hands on the edge of the hot tub caging me between his arms. “I think we are finally there.”

“Where?” I ask breathless.

He smiles, “The part where I get to love you.” My breath hitches and I can’t get a single word out no matter how hard I try. “Y/n I want you, do you want me too? Is it too late?”

“You didn’t want me before.” I said, my voice breaking.

He runs his hand through his hair, “I know. I was so stupid back then. I couldn’t see how amazing you are. The year you were gone was torture. Seeing you again at Alex’s, it was like I saw you for the first time. Right then I knew I couldn’t live without you. I want you, not just as a friend… I want everything.”

“Okay.” I say softly. I can barely even hear myself. I waited years for something like this and it’s happening. My body is is reacting to him being so close and my heart is bursting from his confession. It’s taking everything in me not to reach out and grab him.

It’s him who grabs me by the hips, pulling back so that I’m straddling him. “Okay?” He searches my eyes, “You want this?”

“Yes.” I say breathlessly, “Please. I’ve only ever wanted you.”

His lips collide with mine. He’s griping my hips so hard I’m sure it will leave a mark. My hands are tangling themselves in his hair. I’ve been waiting for years for this moment and the anticipation was nothing compared to the feeling of his lips on mine. All the tension has lead to this moment and we are taking it out on each other.

Soon enough we are consumed by one another. I’m realizing that we are simultaneously wearing too much and not nearly enough. I’m entranced by him. But I’m quickly pulled out of the trance by the sounds of a boat pulling up to the house.

I pull back and put myself across from him. It puts some much needed space between us before Jack and Quinn see us. I look at Trevor and he’s flushed, his lips are slightly swollen, and his hair is a mess. By the way he looks I’m sure I’m probably a mess as well.

“I don’t think I want them to know yet. I want this to be something that just ours for a little bit.” Trevor nods in agreement so I continue, “maybe I should get out of here, if they see us both like this they’ll know for sure.”

Trevor smirks, “that’s true.” He looks toward my towel. “I should probably be the one who goes inside.”

“Why?” I furrow my eyebrows. Deep down I’m afraid he’s regretting it.

He blushes, genuinely blushes. “Um I’m in my boxers, my clothes are scattered everywhere, and I have a hard on. I should probably take the towel and grab my clothes.”

I’m not sure how to respond to something like that so I just nod. After that blunt observation I avert my eyes. He jumps out of the hot tub. I can hear him grab the towel and quickly grab his clothes before the Hughes’ get off the boat.

When I look up he’s running back over to me with his clothes under his arm and the towel wrapped around his waist. I turn to face him. He stops in front of me and places a soft kiss on my lips. “Meet me in my room tonight?”

“Okay” I say with a smile. I watch him as a he runs off into the house. Suddenly, everything feels perfect.

#trevor zegras #trevor zegras imagine #quinn hughes #jack hughes #luke hughes #hughes brothers #alex turcotte #usntdp #hughes family #anahiem ducks #umich hockey

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gingerlurk · 5 months ago

Text

Binding | Part II

Din Djarin x f!Reader

A Lovers' Crest one-shot (in three parts). Complete on A03.

Prev | Next

Here's the LC Masterlist.

Summary: Lost and alone in a dark cave, you need to figure out what happened to the Mandalorian.

Word count: 6.5k

Warnings: 18+ MDNI, established relationship, characters in peril, mind control, evil droid, being restrained, canon-typical violence. Also, lots of action, characters in peril, lots of peril, sorry. Please let me know if there's more to add I am rusty.

A/N: This story won't make much sense if you haven't read Lovers' Crest. Or even if you have, it may still be nonsense. I'm not sure. I really put all the characters through it here. The next chapter is well cosy though, I promise.

With a pained gasp and a flailing of limbs, you break the surface of putrid water.

Breathless and sputtering, you struggle to keep your head above the stinky pool you’d plummeted backwards into right after Din’s helmet had disappeared from view. You twist and thrash around for a bit before realising you’re unhurt, just treading water in total darkness.

It still takes several deep breaths before there’s enough air in your lungs to call out.

‘Din?’ You shout, craning to look back up. Back to where you had fallen from. ‘Din? Grogu?’

No answer. You jab at the light strapped to your arm, it buzzes a few times before fizzling out to nothing. But it had flashed just enough for you to spot a bit of rock poking out of the water. Strike out in that direction, kicking until you can smack a hand onto it.

Feeling about, you find the rock is quite large. Haul yourself out of the wretched water and sit, elbows on knees and panting. You look up again.

‘Din?’ you call, pushing down panic. Nothing. ‘Grogu?’

At that, a beam of light appears up above. The faint nervous trills and grunts of the child echo down to where you’re perched. You’d estimate it to be a ten metre drop.

‘Grogu? Hey, kiddo? Are you okay? Where’s Din?’

The pod drifts out into the open air and descends to you. The kid is now chittering with insistence as he comes level with where you sit, blinding you with his lamp. You shield your eyes to see him and take in the wide-eyed worry.

‘Hey baby,’ you gesture him closer and dig into the side of his pod for your little field tool kit. ‘It’ll be okay. Sit tight.’

Tugging the device off your arm, you motion for him to direct the light so you can see your work. You’re focusing hard on practical steps. Rather than the primal dread crawling up your spine. Steps like ‘need light fixed’. And not, Where’s Din? Where is he? Where did he go? Where– No, need light fixed.

Step one. Fix light.

A bit of fiddling and it blinks back at full force. You huff an exhale and point it around you and the child, who’s still murmuring and anxious.

This rock is indeed a small island in the middle of a vast underground lake. It must be one of the spots where the aquifer breaches the rock layer. You direct the beam up the sheer cliff. Next practical step is ‘need back up there’.

‘Okay Grogu, bud,’ you lay what you hope is a reassuring hand on the child. ‘Think you can manage a miracle?’ He’s squeezing his eyes shut and focusing before you finish the sentence. You manage a half smile, ‘Nice.’

Closing your eyes too, you try to channel energy toward his efforts, feeling, as always, that vast and intimidating power that lives on your periphery. It stirs, begins to move. Within yourself it is a fuzzy and flickering thing. When you see it in Grogu, it’s like looking into a sun.

Next thing you know, you are weightless. The sharp rocks that were digging into your legs drop away as you begin to float. You fight vertigo and fear, trying not to grip Grogu too tight. He raises you and the pod, depositing your feet right back on the spot where that creature had smacked into you.

Shining a light around the carnage, you will yourself to contemplate the next task. Find out what happened to Din.

‘Alright bud,’ you say, still with a hand on Grogu, ‘can you show me?’

He ‘wahs’ a little before raising a claw to clasp one of your fingers.

The vision sweeps across your mind’s eye. Din, on his knees, leaning over the edge to look down at you, raising a forearm to engage his whipcord. Behind him, a long, segmented mechanical... thing snakes across the ground. Toward him. It snaps a clamp over his ankles and drags him backwards. Back... that way... you turn and walk in the direction the vision showed.

Come to a dead end.

With shaking hands, you reach out to feel about the rocky wall. Nothing. It’s just a rocky wall.

‘Fuck.’

But Grogu saw him pulled this way, so there must be something. You decide to give this a go yourself, unwilling to ask more of the child. He’s already looking drained after the ambush of monster bugs and saving your ass. He needs his strength. And all of you are a long way yet from being out of danger.

Turning your inner eye to the energy dwelling within, you bid it to approach. It’s already uncoiled and slides into your senses. Changes the shape of the universe as you funnel the power of the Force down into understanding this cave wall.

And it becomes crystal clear. Not a wall. A hard light shield masking a weapons-grade bunker. A heavy door sealed shut via an… an access panel right… over there…

Trailing a hand along the illusion, gritty rock becomes smooth and glossy under your fingers. Opening your eyes to look, your lamplight shows you’re still just touching a natural feature. But the modular beeping and responsive hum under your palm indicates it’s a piece of tech.

Okay, now… How do I… On instinct, you press your whole hand flat to the panel – jump in surprise as it activates.

Well, that was easy.

It cycles loud. You push Grogu’s pod and back away with it to take cover behind a large granite pillar – watch a surreal process of the barrier grinding open to reveal a dim light just beyond its threshold.

Those hideous bugs would have drowned out the noise of the door opening. And you were a touch too distracted by being hurled off a cliff in any case.

But whatever that snaking thing was, it dragged Din in there.

You force yourself to wait a good thirty seconds and, when nothing appears and no movement can be seen, edge out to approach with cautious steps. The child follows close behind, quiet – just the hum of his pod echoing behind you.

A narrow corridor opens into a true nightmare and you have to work to beat back a rising hysteria. A cavernous space made difficult to comprehend by the chaotic array of items, paraphernalia, and junk scattered around and piled high. You spy everything from broken pieces of armour through to what looks to be a speeder’s engine mount.

Bones too. A lot of them.

With an arm up to keep Grogu back a ways, you continue to cast around, searching the place for any sign of--

Your sweep halts and blood freezes in your veins. A sight that is familiar and frightening all at once.

The angular chrome catches the beam of your torch. High arches you would know by touch glimmer in the low light. The dark T-visor stares, reflecting your wide-eyed horror.

But there’s no reaction to your gasp of shock. None at all. The Mandalorian’s helmet doesn’t move an inch.

Because it’s not Din.

It sits alone, still and silent, on a small mountain of discarded tech.

No life in there.

You take a trembling step toward it.

‘Now, now—'

A reverberating drone peels across the silence.

‘You wouldn’t be thinking of stealing from me, would you?’

Nothing about the voice makes sense save for the language you recognise. It’s ungodly. The sound of it grates on your ears like a corrosion – words being pushed through mechanical parts. It’s coming from all around you, disembodied and loud.

‘Because that wouldn’t make you a very worthy guest, now would it?’

Unable to place its source, you take another step – fingers desperate to make contact with the beskar piece.

‘Ah, ah, ah!’ clicks the noise in a mocking admonishment.

Another step, just a few more before you can lay hands on--

‘Wow,’ comes the staccato. ‘So rude. I think I need to have my new toy deal with you.’

From a darkened passage on the other side of the space, a new sound emerges. This one you know. Know it as well as you know the helmet just beyond arm’s reach. It sends a cascade of gooseflesh over you.

The clinking, steady footfalls of Din Djarin grow louder until he emerges from the darkness. There’s not even a shred of relief felt on seeing him. Something is badly wrong.

He’s not in there. Not at home. A blank, glassy-eyed expression tracks the room and peels over you and Grogu like you’re just features of the bunker wall.

And, somehow even worse, he walks right by the pile of junk on which his helm rests, no inkling there at all that it’s his sacred property. He comes to a stop in front of you. In the dim light, you can make out a blinking chip-like array at his left temple. Angry red lines radiate out from the attachment. The eye there is bloodshot and weeping.

It’s horrifying.

‘Grogu,’ you whisper, sights fixed on your vacant partner. ‘Go.’

The baby whines at the instruction and you wave toward the way out.

‘Go, go! Get Gaius. Get--’

He hasn’t moved yet when the grisly robotic voice clicks an indifferent, ‘Kill them, if you please.’ Din moves into motion so swift you shout in alarm.

His arm is up and bringing a savage swing down toward Grogu’s head that you only just manage to intercept, twisting into his elbow and throwing your whole weight into diverting the blow. It’s what it takes, his raw strength such that you have to body his entire limb just to counter.

It happens twice more, him swinging with vambraced arms as you lurch and throw yourself between him and the child. Grogu seems to be frozen in fear, staring up at his father with a trembling disbelief.

‘Grogu!’ you try again, caging Din’s wrist with both forearms to direct it into open air, rather than the hovering pod. ‘Go! ’

He still doesn’t move, paralysed.

Just as you drive a desperate shoulder into the possessed man’s fist, you twist flush to Din’s chest, lean into his cuirass and use the purchase to lift a foot and kick the baby’s pod away.

It does the job – Grogu whirrs out of reach and flops back with a grunt. But before you can move, a huge arm locks across your throat. It compresses your airway with a discompassionate ease.

Blind terror rips a strangled scream from you before losing breath. Gods it hurts. An instant burning. You claw and wheeze. Drown in the horror that this is how it ends, so sudden and so random. It crawls in your heart and you sob. Not Din... please not by him... It’s sapping strength as oxygen becomes an unknown to you. Arms drop and flail at the armour-clad tower behind you.

Futile. This is it.

But the muscles holding you firm ease. Just a little. Just enough so can you gasp air and drop weight to your knees to get free of the chokehold. You make a half-roll and leap to your feet to look back at him, hands to your throbbing – but open – throat.

He’s frozen, stock still. And you see it. You see him. His eyes are alight with horror, with fear and panic. Dark irises track over you, stare at where you grip your neck. He starts to spasm and shudder, like something is fighting to burst out of him. He whimpers your name and then—

‘Run,’ he gasps. A plea through shredded vocal chords, ‘Run!’

His eyes go blank again as you pivot on the spot, set your sights on Grogu’s pod that is now – mercifully – racing away, and bolt. Through ringing ears, you hear the voice crackle in delight, ‘Oh she’s fun! Secure the female alive. Kill the small thing.’

You can’t handle this alone. You don’t know what to do. Din groans and snarls behind you, in a war with himself and the alien tech trying to hold him in thrall. He fights it long enough for you to get a decent lead, then he’s chasing you down. Thundering boots send hammers of black dread to beat against your spine.

As you run, you manage to make three observations. One, he hasn’t used any of his own equipped weapons yet. Two, his attacks were clumsy – nothing like his usual precise and practiced brutality. Three, he’s gaining on you.

This last observation comes as you breach the cave opening into the white hot light of the surface. Your feet kick up dust that cakes on the soaked fabric of your pants. It swirls in the billowing tempest wrought by the Mandalorian closing the distance between you.

Time slows.

The first thing that happens is a hand landing hard on your shoulder. The other reaches to hug your ribs firm. You’re pulled into him and forced forward at the same time, held in an embrace of violent control. The ground rushes up to meet you. Like a ragdoll, you’re twisted side-on to slam into it, so hard the momentum of your legs carry on in a disorienting cartwheel over yourself.

You’re winded so full-bodily you can only go limp, try to brace your arms but it’s no use.

Shoved over, face and torso into the dirt, you’re helpless as he throws his full weight on top of you. Just trying to catch your breath – everything burning, throat, lungs, limbs. There’s nothing you can do against being straddled by him as his grip shifts on your body.

He takes your upper arms and – with a vicious yank – the ground tips away as you’re hauled up into a vicelike hold, pulled flush to hard beskar chest yet again.

Sagging in his merciless restraint, there’s just enough mental will left to observe that Grogu is nowhere to be seen. The barren terrain around you is quiet.

He got away… at least he got away…

Your captor comes to the same conclusion with a grunt of frustration.

He turns in a full circle, evidently unclear where to go in the hunt for his assigned target.

Huh, you think. He doesn’t know which way his ship is? That’s interesting.

After twisting and turning about, jerking you to and fro, he stops – seems locked by indecision, unable to fulfil one of the directives issued by that voice back in the cave.

‘You may as well just take me back,’ you say, sounding raspy – feeling the effort burn your throat. ‘You won’t find him.’

Wind and dust float around the two of you as he remains still, incapable of choosing a path forward. You’re craning your neck, pressing it into his shoulder to look up at him, when you see the chip at his temple blink a harsh blue light.

Orders coming in?

Your guess is confirmed when – with another frustrated snarl – he begins to move.

Back toward the opening of the cave.

You let yourself feel some kind of relief that Grogu has escaped – mostly so you don’t slip into hysterical terror.

He drags you into the dark and, as you struggle and plead to no avail, back into the hoard of horrors.

‘Chain her,’ the alien speech greets you, and you’re pulled to a wall dripping with cables and restraints. Arms are tugged behind your back for loops to be coiled around and around, secured – tight – until you’re bound against the solid surface.

The whole time Din does this – winding chains with clumsy hands – you’re murmuring to him, trying to get through. Din? Din – you’re in there, I know you’re in there. C’mon, Din. It’s me, it’s me. Din!

But you get nothing, and your arms are locked behind you so tightly, you begin to worry about circulation. Then he steps back. Goes still.

You have no idea what to do. Bide for time?

It’s all you have.

‘So,’ you start, speaking into the void. Have to clear your throat a few times, wincing. ‘What are you? One of those kid-enslaving droids?’

A long pause like it's considering whether or not to engage.

‘Technically…’ it grates. ‘I’m supposed to be. Up there.’

Another pause. Then talkativeness seems to win out.

‘But it’s just been so boring since the change,’ it reverberates and grinds. ‘I’m not even needed, really. Here is much more fun. Do you know how many like you I’ve rustled out of these caves?’

You could take a guess, looking at the huge amount of pillaged equipment and torn clothing piled and scattered about.

‘They just. Keep. Coming!’ it crumbles on. ‘And they. Never. Leave!’

Nauseated, weary, you let slip a morose conclusion, ‘You’re a monster,’ you say.

‘Hah! Yep.’

‘Why do you do this?’ you ask. Not really wanting to know, but trying to keep it talking – afraid of what comes next.

‘It’s fun. Watch this,’ it says. ‘Go stand over there.’

That blue light emits from Din’s temple again and he responds in an instant, turning away from you and walking to a random point in the room. It blinks off again when he stops moving.

Huh, you think again. Interesting.

‘But it wears off, yeah?’ you say. ‘He’ll be able to break out eventually, has done it once already – right Din?’ You look over to him. Get nothing in response. Direct your attention back to empty air. ‘So what then?’

‘Oh, no no no,’ it belches. ‘Nooo this is a modified device of my making. Once that pesky little breakdown starts it’ll ffzzzzz,’ it makes a horrible sound like a wet blender on turbo, ‘Scramble ‘em up real good.’

You swallow acid, feel the horror swell hot within you. Wrench on the bindings so hard your muscles scream.

‘Fuck you,’ you spit. It bursts out – you’re trying to convert fear into anger. Trying to muster something to get you and Din out of this. ‘Fucking, fuck, I am going to fuck. You. Up--’

‘Hah!’ it cranks. ‘My, my, I’ve had some feisty ones in my time but you – you take the crown.’

You brace a foot on the wall and try to—ugh, it’s too tight—try to twist side-on to get some slack in the chains. Fuck, owww, it has more effect on your shoulder joints than anything else. Pins and needles fizz in your hands.

‘And now,’ says the droid, projecting a low menace that vibrates the air. ‘Now it’s your turn.’

You freeze. No.

No, no, no no no no!

Your renewed struggles echo loud, bouncing around the place along with your cries of distress.

‘Go over there, pick it up,’ it intones.

Din’s movement summons your attention, pausing your desperate efforts. He strides to a wide bench littered with debris and tools, with weapons and circuitry – ignores it all to pick up a singular object.

A twin to the one clamped to his temple.

‘Put it on her,’ comes the command from all around.

Din turns with the thing in hand. He takes steps toward you.

‘No,’ shaking your head. ‘Don’t, don’t.’

As he gets closer, you can see little tendril-like appendages unfurl from a blinking body pinched between his fingers – they sway in the air, seeking flesh to latch onto.

Recoiling, you shrink against the wall. Try with all your might to get away from it.

‘Din, Din!’ you’re shouting, on the verge of screaming. ‘Fight it! Fight it, please.’

Muscles shriek in protest and your hands feel like they are going to explode, but you just thrash harder, mind blank with terror. He holds the thing out in front of him as he walks. Your head jerks back, smacks into the hard wall and your vision swims.

Groggy, disoriented, you sag in defeat and muster everything left into one final plea. A final beseeching of his name.

‘Din!’ It’s a cry of pure fear.

His steps halt. Almost within arm’s reach of you, he stops like an invisible wall has blocked his path. He lurches like half of him wants to carry forward but the other keeps him locked in place. The device in his hand continues to sway and seek, but it’s not getting any closer.

Working to calm yourself. Not sure what to do or say, lost and fretting over the thing blinking by his eye, you just ramble, ‘It’s me, it’s me. Please. It’s me, and I need you.’

Maybe- maybe if you can get him to free you, you can get that thing off before it kills him.

‘Please, I need you t—'

Din convulses. He shudders all over.

Hot dread washes over you as he takes another small step forward. No, gods, please!

But a grunt of pure grit coming from deep down bursts forth and he staggers back.

He twists from you in a clumsy pivot, almost falls to his knees but stays upright to lunge away. With an arcing arm, he hurls the device to the other side of the space. It hits a wall and clatters into a pile of litter.

A half a second to feel relief when--

‘Ugh,’ the droid hacks. Oh no, fuck, in the last few moments of panic – you’d actually forgotten about it. You stare at Din in desperation. Tears spring in your eyes. ‘Never had one go so quick,’ it goes on. ‘How annoying. Oh well, say goodbye to your--'

‘Now Grogu!’ Gaius’ voice.

From the shadows, the kid is a blur through the air. He leaps a massive distance across the bunker to land on Din’s twitching shoulder. Clamps a clawed little hand to the atrocity latched to his father’s head. With a pained ‘hhhhheh’, he channels his Force energy. You feel it flutter and writhe in your consciousness – a duel unfolding between it and the horror tech.

Din lets loose a torn scream – face a rictus of agony. But Grogu doesn’t let up. His energy growing and expanding, radiating in waves around the room. You watch, transfixed, beset with fear and hope.

The binding gives a violent whir and, at a final shout of pain from the towering figure, it detaches – the tendril-like appendages lifting from the skin of the temple. It wriggles in Grogu’s grasp like a caught insect.

The Mandalorian jolts and stumbles back a few steps. The child tumbles off his shoulder and into his arms, dropping the device. It clatters to the ground, where a huge boot is rising to slam down onto it. Din cradles his son as he grinds his heel before kicking the crushed object away and falling to his knees with a pained heave of breath. He takes a moment to tilt his head back in surrender, and relief.

Over the speaker, the voice that had been commanding this entire horrorshow clacks a sudden string of static.

‘Wait!’ it shrieks. ‘Wait, wait, wait, what are you—Who? No, no you, you can’t, you can’t. S-stop. Stop!’ It devolves into a kind of nonsense circuitry as the sound of metal crunching and mechanical joints being ripped apart echoes off the cave walls. With a final, khirrrrr… the place is quiet again.

From the direction that a possessed Din had first marched out of the dark, Gaius shuffles. Eyes glassy, expression blank. For a fearful second, you worry they’ve been put into binding too, but there’s nothing at their temple. Face clear, but in shock.

They’re holding the head of a droid in one hand and a phase driver in the other – look between the two items for a moment before jamming the tool into one of its eye sockets and giving it an angry twist. They drop the lot and slump against the wall.

‘My whole life,’ they gasp. ‘Been wanting to do that to one of those things.’

You’re taking that in when hands are on you. You jump with fright. But it’s Din. He’s put Grogu down and is by your side, releasing the chains on your arms. That dexterous precision is back, you can feel seeking fingers moving over your limbs, checking and testing for injury at the same time as he releases the locks. You try to make eye contact, but he won’t look at you.

The second your arms are free, while rubbing blood back into them, you dash to the junk pile to retrieve the helmet, stride back to him.

‘Din?’ you ask, searching his face, needing to confirm he’s still in there. ‘Hey, please look at me.’

His eyes shift to yours.

Seeing what you need to see, you give a sigh of relief and lift the helmet to gently lower it over his head. A desolate expression settles on his features, gaze dropping to stare into nothing as the helm goes back in place. You run each hand along the sharp arches on either side, look straight into the visor.

‘It’s alright,’ you say. ‘We’re alright.’

No response.

But you can’t linger in front on him. Have to trust that he is gathering himself behind the safety of the beskar.

You cross the cavern to where the droid’s head had rolled to a clanking stop. Pick it up and tug the driver out to peer inside it. Tilting it to and fro for a minute, you close one eye, hold it close – spot just what you were looking for. Sticking the tool in a pocket, you keep hold of the head and pace to where Din had hurled the grotesque little device. The one that had been intended for you. Shove down fear to lift it with ginger fingers, observing the thing’s chip for a moment.

‘Thought so,’ you say.

‘What’re you—’ Gaius starts, straightening up and getting closer. But you just move past them, on a warpath of your own now.

Heading into the dark, it’s only a few steps before a circular control room opens up. Banks of panels and stacks of camera screens line the space. You scan them. See footage of the tunnels you’d come through, the cliff edge where you’d fought the bugs, and the cavern – where you are pained to see that Din hasn’t moved an inch, though Grogu is at his feet, looking up.

The headless part of your tormenter remains in place, sitting in the middle of the surveillance set-up, plugged into multiple ports with various coupling appendages branching out from its chassis.

You move toward it, intent on your plan. Gaius has followed and gives a cry of alarm as you plant the thing’s head back onto its body, yank the phase driver out and start to affix the neck with angry little twists.

‘Wh-!’ they exclaim in horror. ‘What’re you d—’

‘Don’t worry,’ you say, not looking up. ‘You’ve fried its mobility array. It can’t move. But…’ with a violent stab of the hand tool into the top of the unit, you drag the whole back half of the cranium down.

‘It’s still networked this way,’ you go on. ‘With the system, and these things.’ You lift the binding monstrosity. Gaius recoils at it, watches with naked disgust as you hold it in the light of the monitor screens.

There’s a little port on the wide desk that houses the device perfectly. When you drop it onto the glowing surface and slap a button, an exploded diagram of the chip is projected in a holo floating in front of you. You point. The component is clear as day.

‘What am I looking at?’ they ask.

‘Data stream,’ you say, shift your direction to a similar looking shape inside the droid. ‘Connected to this. That’s how it could make commands by just saying shit.’

Technically, it didn’t need to say anything at all – could just transmit orders in an instant – but this fucker liked to showboat apparently.

‘Incredible,’ Gaius stares at you with awe. You turn away, land eyes back on the screen that is recording the cavern. See that Din is no longer where you left him. It’s a brief spark of panic when you can’t locate him on the monitor, but it drops when you hear footsteps approaching. He emerges into the room a moment later, the child on his heels.

He looks around, but doesn’t speak.

‘Just in time,’ you say. ‘I’m gonna fry all the droids. Shut ‘em down.’

‘You- you can do that?’ Gaius asks. ‘You’re going to do that?’

You just shrug.

It’s a few more steps. Jamming the phase driver into the droid’s screw plate, you wedge it tight so it destabilises the override.

Then you step to a keyboard and begin punching in a program you’d created during the trip to this cursed planet.

‘Will it hurt it?’ they ask.

‘Uh, yeah,’ you say, finishing up the last few lines of code. ‘In a manner of speaking.’

‘Good.’ Gaius and Din are a chorus, spitting the word out in unison.

With a final adjustment, you set the program running. The droid’s coupler arms begin to twirl and tool in the inputs. It’s an awful sound, like it's protesting with all its will against carrying out the commands you’d dumped into it. But it’s helpless and – as you all watch – red alerts begin to blink on, a few, then a few more, then more, then the whole bank is alight.

The room pulses a deep bloody colour and you fiddle with dials under the monitors. They cut to various feeds inside the factory and you get to view in glorious fuzzy resolution droids all over the place begin to spasm and drop.

‘Look,’ you say, pointing to a stream showing a set up similar to the one you stand in. Another insect-like droid – your original target, up on the factory’s command floor – whirrs in confusion. All of its alarms are chiming as well and, after a moment, the screen whites out as sparks and flames consume it.

You flick a few levers and the red alarms wink out, the room fades back into a mute grey. It’s silent for a long beat, until Gaius speaks up.

‘Now what?’ they ask, sounding a bit dazed.

In answer, you spin the dials again, find a feed of some kind of production line – where kids are stumbling backwards, dropping tools, leaning into each other. Touching disbelieving fingers to the sides of their heads. Looking all around.

‘Gaius,’ you say, stepping close. ‘The binding won’t work without the droids. The kids are free. Your sister’s free. We just need to find her.’

They stare at you, eyes filling with tears, before pulling you into a tight hug. You let them, looking over a shoulder at the Mandalorian, who’s still and watchful.

‘I can’t believe you did all this.’ Gentle sobs into your ear.

You lift shoulders and drop them again, ease out of the embrace after a moment.

It had always been the plan.

From the very moment you’d learned this tech existed, you’d been hellbent on destroying it. Rescue the sister, but end all this as well.

You’d needed to improvise, sure. But it had always been the plan. It’s why you took the job.

At what cost though, you’ll need to figure out later.

You move in front of Din, take his hands in yours and look into the centre of his T visor again.

‘C’mon,’ you say. The dark visage is on you, and you imagine a pained expression behind it – teeth clenched and eyes swimming with remorse and anxiety. ‘Let’s finish this.’

He squeezes your hands tight.

‘We’ll finish this,’ you continue, letting go and readying a weapon. ‘And then we can go home.’

He nods, draws a blaster, and follows you without hesitation.

There were no contingencies. No back-ups. No failsafes. The hubris of this tyrannical regime was such that all you needed to do was walk to the front gates and open them up.

So you get to stand and watch as crowds of children, youth, young ones, stagger out of the gaping maw of the facility, rubbing at their eyes and peering around. Get to watch a similar cohort of adults gathering at the threshold, moving into a kind of organised thrum to corral the children in and start to sort out who’s who.

Blankets appear, trays of food and hydration, little field med stations are whipped up in short order.

It’s so organised, it seems premeditated. Like something had been planned this whole time. Like they’d never really given up and, taking this boon, were ready to move and bring these kids into a safe haven.

You watch from a distance, and feel warm.

They also seem ready – as you observe a rank of the adults quietly emerge from the crowd, armed and in formation – to take the fight to the faceless cohort responsible for all the suffering they’d endured.

You see Din move toward the group, making motions to the gigantic building at your back and activating his vambrace to show the holo map of the facility. Pointing and gesturing to indicate the best approach.

Taking action, it’s where he finds comfort.

Cracking knuckles and adjusting each wrist bracer, you wait until it’s time to fall in and aid their endeavour. Because yes, you are going to finish this. Fully. The scramble you’d left running in the system to wipe all data related to binding was the penultimate step.

This last thing, taking down those who created it, is the least you could do.

Then you can leave this place and never look back.

Gaius appears at your side, a girl on their hip with arms wrapped all together. Her temple’s already been patched up and she chews away on a sweetbar. You try to make eye contact with her, give a wave. But she’s shy, and turns away, burying her face against her older sibling’s neck.

‘Gods,’ Gaius mutters. ‘You’ve gotten heavy.’

They give you a lopsided smile, which you force yourself to return.

‘Still can’t believe you did all this,’ they say. ‘You… are a miracle. And I’m sorry that-- I got there as fast as I could…’

You kick a stone to skitter along the dust. ‘We even now?’ you say, give up a sardonic brow.

‘Hah,’ with a long exhale and a disbelieving shake of the head. ‘I will never not be in your debt. But, we probably won’t be crossing paths again, will we?’

You nod, look out across the landscape.

‘Hell,’ they continue. ‘Running into you at that hub probably used up all the luck in the galaxy.’

A beat more of contemplation. The squad is moving toward you, Mandalorian in the lead. You shift your stance.

‘Tell you what,’ Gaius says. ‘My ship is still at that hub. Bay lease is good for another couple months. You can have it. Sell it. I um, don’t think I’ll be needin’ it anymore.’

You’re speechless, raise a hand on reflex to accept the keycode they tug from a pocket and drop into your palm.

‘Okay…’ you say, too stunned to argue. The irony of it almost making you laugh. Or scream. But you give yourself and shake and ask, ‘You gonna stay here for good?’

‘Think so. Lot needs doin’, but,’ they smile. ‘I’m ready to work.’

Din has come flush to you now, and you turn with him. Ready to follow. But you look back for a moment, a thought occurring.

‘You know,’ you say. ‘That droid down in the caves and the one up on the command floor are toast; but the hardware’d still be good on the rest. You folks could reprogram them? Get their help?’

‘Mm,’ they respond, ‘maybe.’

‘Okay,’ you say, satisfied to have planted the seed, letting it go. ‘Take care, Gaius.’

With a final nod, they hoist the kid up a little higher and move off, toward the bustling reunion efforts.

Later, back on the Razor Crest with streaks of hyperspace flying past, you tilt the controls to standby, flick off all the diagnostic dials, and stand from the pilot chair. Din has already unbuckled and ducked out of the cockpit, the waves of brooding energy flowing off the beskar telling you to give him space.

So you sit down on the floor and engage Grogu in a game of Force catch, the little silver ball whizzing back and forth between you.

Though you’re both quiet, pensive. Shared thoughts drift on the air, united in a preoccupation with the third member of the crew, somewhere deeper in the hull. More than once, Grogu glances to the door with a little ‘ doo’, but there’s no movement beyond.

You chew on thoughts of how you’ll help Din process what happened. How you’ll apologise for putting him through all that. Try to frame it in your mind for when you are back home on Navarro.

Praying he’ll be okay.

The kid gives a diminutive little yawn. Fatigue pricks at the sides of your mind too. Raising Grogu back up into his pod, he starts to nod off. You leave him there to doze and curl up in the flight chair the Mandalorian had vacated. Let your eyes drift shut and hope there’s no nightmares awaiting you.

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Planet scale says what? No sorry, yes. It’s just one gigantic factory. What’s your point? And did I spiral on the morality of killing droids? Also yes.

Thank youuuuu for reading x

#din djarin x you #din djarin x reader #the mandalorian x you #the mandalorian x reader #the mandalorian #din djarin #din djarin/reader #din djarin/you #the mandaloria/reader #din djarin x f!reader #the mandalorian x f!reader

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goldenavenger02 · 9 months ago

Text

Chapter 3: Recovery Is a Violent Beast

Lloyd woke up the next afternoon.

No one had been expecting it; if they had, they would have waited with baited breath as the small monitor proudly displayed how many times his heart beat instead of going to The Crossroads to stock up on food, supplies and whatever happened to catch one of the new trainees' eye.

Instead, when his bright green eyes slowly opened with a mild, pained groan, the only person who heard it was Kai.

Kai, who was sitting alone in the medbay while Zane continued his research, with one hand around Lloyd’s left hand and the other scrolling through Chirp until he nearly dropped his phone when he heard the groan escape Lloyd’s lips.

“Hey, bud,” He let out a breath of relief, pocketing his phone before wrapping his other hand around Lloyd’s, “how’re you feeling?”

Kai wasn’t sure what he was expecting to happen, but it wasn’t Lloyd’s eyes filling with tears while he brought in a long, sniffly inhale.

“Whoa, whoa, kiddo, it’s okay,” He stood up to get closer, using one of his hands to run through Lloyd’s thin strands of hair while keeping the other firmly grasped around his hand, “don’t try and talk if it hurts, we’ve got you.”

“I-I’m sorry,” Lloyd finally choked out, his voice shuddering as he spoke, “I’m s-so sorry.”

“Sorry about-” Kai started to ask, only for him to remember the mild disagreement that had upset him the day before, but had been completely forgotten after his and Nya’s conversation in the bathroom, “oh, Lloyd…I’m not mad about that anymore.”

“But-”

“I’m so glad you’re okay,” Kai cut him off, bringing his hand down from his hair to wipe the tears off of his face, “you being okay is so much more important to me than any sort of argument, you got that?”

Lloyd nodded, his eyes already starting to flutter shut again.

“Go back to sleep. We can talk more in a bit, promise.”

The pain medication that was flowing through the IV in his other hand meant that he had very little pushback or protest from Lloyd, who let his eyes close and stayed close.

Kai, on the other hand, gently pulled his hand out from under Lloyd’s head, because he knew that drooling was inevitable and it was the last thing he wanted on his bare hand.

…

He woke up in small increments at first, never really staying awake for more then ten minutes at a time.

Then it was fifteen, then twenty, and soon enough, a few hours.

On one hand, Kai knew that was good. Lloyd was getting stronger, he was pulling through and the pain was lessening. On the other hand, with the slow return of his strength was the rapid return of his insistence that he was completely fine.

“I can smell it from here,” Lloyd sighed while pulling apart the plain toast that had been brought down to him, “and it smells really, really good.”

The smell of dinner was filling the entire monastery to the point where Kai’s stomach was growling, but Zane had insisted that Lloyd needed to eat gently between the painkillers and just how close the dagger had gotten to his stomach.

“Well, pretend that your toast is the same food.” Kai suggested, trying not to look at Lloyd’s sad, puppy dog eyes that had always been his downfall.

“Toast isn’t the same thing as Zane’s teriyaki beef and you know it.”

“That’s why I said pretend, you little snot.”

“Oh, that’s just so much better than you calling me “boogers”.” Lloyd grumbled as he continued to pull the crust off of his toast before asking, “can I have a popsicle?”

“You really shouldn’t.”

“Oh, come on! It’s frozen juice. Please?”

Kai looked up from his phone to get met with the “someone kicked my puppy” eyes that Lloyd had been famous for long before he had become the green ninja and groaned, “fine, but you better eat all of that toast and it better stay down.”

…

“Stop yanking!” Wyldfyre shouted from where she was sitting on the floor outside of the medbay while Kai slowly ran the comb through her tangled ends.

“I’m not yanking,” Kai tried to keep his voice steady as he gently worked the comb through the large tangle in the middle of her hair, “but you have a lot of tangles and it’s only gonna take one too many people noticing before we have to deal with Ninjago Social Services, so just let me do this.”

“Fine,” Wyldfyre scowled but continued to sit still even when Kai picked up the detangler and sprayed it on her ends, adding even more to the strong scent of coconut in the air before switching to the hairbrush, “have you ever done this before? Because you are still pulling my hair.”

Kai had to refrain from saying “you should have seen when Lloyd let me take a brush to his hair for the first time because if you think this is bad, brushing a tangled bowl cut is ten times worse” and settled on, “that’s just what the brush feels like. But I’ve almost got all the knots out.”

“Finally! I hate sitting still.”

“Do you want me to style it?” Kai asked as he brought the brush through the sections he had separated, relieved when he felt zero knots snag on the brush.

“Style it?” Wyldfyre repeated slowly, a familiar signal that the words were unfamiliar in her mouth.

“Yeah, put it up so it doesn’t get tangled so easily. Like Nya’s and Sora’s ponytails.”

“I do not want my hair to look like theirs.” She shook her head, merging all of the sections of her hair into one.

“Nah, I’ll give you the hairstyle of a warrior.” Kai insisted, which got her to stop moving so he could work his fingers through it before deciding on simply pulling back her overgrown bangs into a hair tie, letting the rest of her hair stay loose.

“Are you almost done? I’ve been here forever.” Wyldfyre whined but stayed still as Kai finished tightening the hair tie so it wouldn’t fall out before turning on his phone camera and handing it to her.

“Why don’t you take a look?”

He watched as she held the camera up to her face before turning her head so she could see the side of her hair, but stayed silent the whole time she examined the bright red strands only to get the air knocked out of him as she hugged him tightly.

“I love it!”

“I’m glad you do, kid.”

“Kai?” Nya’s voice floated towards his ears, which made him look up from the tight hug he was still engulfed in, “I love the new look, Wyldfyre.”

“Thanks!” She said, bouncing to her feet and leaving Kai to push himself up from the floor, only for his cheeks to flush red as she added, “Kai styled it for me!”

“He did a great job,” She nodded, waiting until Wyldfyre left to go show the others before offering her hand out to Kai, which he gratefully took to pull himself off of the floor, “I need you to do me a favor.”

“Do you want me to do your hair too?” He smiled, ruffling a hand over her head where her ponytail was coming loose, making her laugh as she pulled away, “I can give you bangs again.”

“Absolutely not! You know Cole used to call it my “wack-ass bob”, right?”

“How did you ever think you and him were meant to be together?”

“Like you’ve made better dating decisions,” she retorted with a smile, her hand going to her pocket where everyone knew she kept her yang medallion, “anyway, Lloyd’s hair is bad.”

“Like the gremlin’s hair I just brushed bad,” Kai asked, already gathering up the hair care products he had just used on Wyldfyre, “or tangled bowl cut bad?”

“Bad enough that he’s trying to brush it, and considering he’s not even supposed to be sitting up without assistance-”

“Yeah, I’m on it,” Kai assured her before he made his way inside of the automatic doors just as another failed attempt of Lloyd trying to lift his arms above his head resulted in a loud hiss of pain, “don’t you know that I’m the resident hairdresser around here?”

“Nya told you?”

“Oh please, I felt those tangles days ago,” Kai lied through his teeth as he adjusted the pillows behind Lloyd’s back that allowed him to sit up, “now, let go of that brush and let me deal with this.”

“Alright, alright, just don’t yank.”

“I just brushed through Wyldfyre’s hair-,” Kai started as he spritzed some of the coconut scented detangler on Lloyd’s head, only to get cut off.

“How on earth did you manage that?”

“Because I’m her favorite, remember?” Kai retorted, slowly bringing the comb down through Lloyd’s hair and gently working it through the snags, “my point is, this is a piece of cake compared to the knots that were in her hair.”

“I can believe it.” Lloyd’s laugh sounded a bit forced to Kai which is how he found himself asking.

“How’re you holding up?”

“Ready to get back on my feet.”

“Baby steps, Lloyd,” Kai clicked his tongue as he worked the comb through a particularly bad tangle that made Lloyd pull in a sharp breath, “how about we start with lifting your arms above your head?”

The annoyed huff of breath that escaped him was the same one he had let out all those years ago when he still wore a black hoodie with badly painted bones on it.

…

“Did you know that The Crossroads has continued with our merch sales?” Zane questioned as he walked into Lloyd’s bedroom.

For everyone’s sanity, Lloyd had finally been moved to his own room after days of insistence that bordered on whining, even though Kai nearly got smacked in the head for insinuating it.

“Not surprising, given just how awesome we are,” Kai responded as he looked up from his phone, “we do transcend generations, after all.”

“Why do you ask?” Lloyd responded, putting down the lesson book that definitely did not have a Starfarer comic resting inside of it.

‘Some things never change.’

But Zane didn’t get to respond because that was when Arin ran past him, holding a stuffed version of himself as well as Sora, Lloyd and Riyu in his arms with an excited squeal.

“Lloyd, we’re plushies! This is the best day of my life!”

“That’s awesome, Arin, but I-”

“Do you want the stuffed Riyu?” Arin cut him off, holding the plushie out to Lloyd before adding in a sing-song tone, “they’re weighted.”

Kai knew fully well that if Lloyd was somehow able to deny Arin’s starstruck eyes, a weighted plushie would be damn near impossible for him to give up on.

“Sure,” Lloyd nodded, gently taking the stuffed dragon and setting it beside him on the bed, “thank you, Arin.”

Kai was glad to know some things never changed.

…

“Are you okay, Kai?” Sora’s voice was quiet as she approached him in the courtyard.

“I’m working on it,” Kai let himself move slowly throughout his forms, the tension in his shoulders lessening as he let his stress slowly make its way out of his system, “did you need something?”

“It’s…” she started, but Kai could see her apprehension when he opened his eyes, “nothing, forget about it.”

“Why don’t you join me?” Kai suggested, only continuing when she raised her eyebrow but remained silent, “moving through forms, it helps with worry.”

Sora didn’t protest as she stood still for a moment with her eyes fixated on Kai before holding her arms out and starting to copy his movements.

“What’re you worried about?” Kai asked softly after a few minutes, seeing her muscles tense from the question, “you don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to, but from experience, talking about it can help more than moving through forms.”

Sora stayed silent.

“I’m worried about Lloyd,” Kai admitted, “I feel like I’m constantly worried about him, but this last week…it brought back some really bad memories,” He kept moving as he spoke to keep his heart from racing, “how much do you know about the prophecy?”

“What prophecy?”

“”One ninja will rise above the others and become the green ninja. The ninja destined to defeat the dark lord”,” Kai recited from memory, “when we first started training, there were four of us. Zane, Jay, Cole and myself. Nya wasn’t a ninja and Lloyd was just a bratty kid but I accidentally took Master Wu’s bag instead of my own on a mission and that scroll was in it.”

“We all got really excited, treating it as a “who’s the best” contest and it got to everyone’s head, my head especially. But we didn’t realize that the golden weapons determined who the green ninja was, that it wasn’t in Master Wu’s hands.”

“So, if Lloyd was just a kid, how did you find out?”

“It’s a long story, Serpentine and kidnappings and Master Wu even going so far as to track down Lord Garmadon for his help,” he could tell by Sora’s face that she knew some things about the resurrected version of Lloyd’s father, more than likely from Arin rather then Lloyd, “he was different back then. But I had to make a choice. Save the fangblade to keep Pythor from unleashing The Great Devourer, or save Lloyd’s life. That’s how I found out what my destiny was, that I wasn’t supposed to become the green ninja, but that I was supposed to protect him.”

“That’s why you get so frazzled when something happens to Lloyd?”

“It’s part of it,” Kai nodded, “but after his father died, I promised him that I’d look out for him.”

“That’s nice.”

“He got possessed by a ghost the same day.”

“Damn.”

“Yeah, he’s got some really shitty luck,” Kai agreed, noticing that Sora had stopped moving through her forms at some point during his very long explanation, “what about you?”

“It’s just these stupid powers,” Sora sighed, sitting down on the stone floor, “I want to use them to protect people but they flicker out and…” she sniffled, wiping her face on her sleeve, “then I can’t do anything.”

“Your powers are not what make you powerful, Sora. Do you know how many times the others and I have lost our powers?”

“No…”

“A lot,” he stopped to sit beside her and rested his hand on her metal shoulder, “but we persevered and got through it. Sometimes by using a new technique, or going back to our weapons training rather than relying on our elemental powers. Even just knowing that true elemental power is never really lost and that it always finds its way back.”

“Can you…” she trailed off, kicking at one of the stones with her foot, “can you teach me some of that?”

“Of course,” Kai nodded, looking up to see an all too familiar set of green eyes staring at him from the now open doorway, “but if you’ll excuse me, I need to give your master a verbal ass whooping.”

Kai heard Sora laugh as he stood up, but he was just doing his best to keep himself calm so he didn’t feel like he had to move in forms for the rest of the day, all while standing in Lloyd’s bedroom to keep the young master in check.

When he got to the hallway, he wasn’t surprised to see Lloyd leaning heavily on the wall with overexertion clear on his face despite the smile.

“What the hell are you doing?”

“I just wanted to know how training was going,” Lloyd shrugged, “you’re good with them, you know.”

“I have experience when it comes to kids, especially kids who don’t do what they’re told,” Kai used as his explanation while he grabbed Lloyd’s wrist, “any particular names ring a bell?”

“I’m not a kid any more.”

“Well, then you should know how to behave.”

“Zane said I could get up today, hothead.”

“With assistance, for short periods of time. You’ve already worked through any of that pent up energy with how much you’re leaning on the wall,” Kai asserted his point as he led Lloyd down the hall towards his bedroom, “and unless you got in contact with that one elemental master-”

“Mr. Pale?”

“-then you are on a one way trip back to bedrest in the medbay,” Kai insisted, opening the door to Lloyd’s room and letting go of his wrist so he could lay down, “now stay put.”

“I’m gonna tell Nya how mean you’re being.”

“She’s gonna be on my side with this one, demon spawn,” Kai shrugged as he grabbed the green blanket off of the end of the bed and pulled it over Lloyd’s legs before looking back up at an absolutely miserable face, “Look, I hate sitting around and doing nothing just as much as the next person, but you’ll only make yourself worse if you push yourself too hard.”

“I know,” Lloyd sighed, laying back on the pillows, “I just feel like I should be doing something.”

“Tell you what,” Kai sighed as he sat on the end of Lloyd’s bed, “why don’t we do some light lesson planning? I can tell you how far Nya, Zane and I have gotten with the kids, and we can talk about what they need to work on.”

“That sounds good.”

“Good, because I didn’t have a plan b,” Kai grinned as he stood to go get the empty lesson books out of the library but stopped when he saw Lloyd frowning at his blanket, “and once you’re up to it, we can teach them about the destructive power of rumors.”

Lloyd’s laugh was so infectious that it followed Kai through the hallway.

…

“After examining the components of the blade, I first thought it was a new variation of vengestone…”

Kai knew he was supposed to be listening. Knowing what kind of arsenal that Ras’ army was carrying was going to be vital in their fight against them when they reemerged.

But, he couldn’t take his eyes off Lloyd; he was wearing the white robes again and holding Master Wu’s bo staff in his hand as he stood against the wall, a quiet observer to the team meeting around the table.

Any quick glance in his direction would be convincing that he was fully recovered, but a closer look would reveal just how much he was using the bo staff for support and the shine of sweat gathering around his temple.

“-can enhance instincts as well as natural senses- Kai?”

“Hmm?”

“Are you even paying attention?”

“Sorry, sis,” Kai apologized, getting an eye roll in response, “can we take five?”

“Fine.” Nya sighed as she ran a hand over her face, muttering something about Kai’s inability to listen to anything other than bad pop music while walking away.

But he ignored the long string of muttering and walked over to Lloyd before saying one word.

“Busted.”

“I know.”

“Come on, let’s get you sitting down,” Kai sighed as he led Lloyd to one of the chairs before reaching over and untying the green headband around his forehead, letting his hair fall loose, “when was the last time you drank something?”

“Don’t know.”

“First master, it’s like you want to go back to the med bay,” Kai pinched the bridge of his nose and pulled in a deep breath to try and calm his pounding heart, “look, stay here. Use your earpiece if you need something. I’ll go get you a water bottle.”

Lloyd’s nod followed by him squeezing his eyes shut, presumably to keep the world from spinning, was enough confirmation for Kai to use the elevator to get to the kitchen.

On his way back, however, planning some sort of lecture about Lloyd keeping water with him, that was when he heard a voice come through his ear.

“Hey, Kai?”

“What’s up, squirt?” Kai asked, hitting the down button with his elbow since he had one hand wrapped around the cold water from the fridge and the other on his communicator.

“Thank you.”

…

“You’re not gonna need stitches,” Zane determined at last after examining the cut on Arin’s cheek from his katana, “Kai, you can relax.”

“Seriously, Kai,” Arin insisted from where he sat on the exam bed, “this isn’t the worst I’ve gotten hurt by a long shot and we don’t even have to bring out the needles this time!”

‘But it could have been so, so much worse. I’ve been doing this for so long and he still got hurt under my watch.’

Riyu nuzzled against his leg to get his attention, seemingly doing his best to break through the anxious thoughts, which he could admit had ebbed away after giving the young dragon some well deserved scratches around the scales.

Only for the thoughts to come back full force when the automatic doors slid open and Lloyd rushed toward them faster than Nya could keep up behind him due to the sheer determination in his steps.

“Nya told me what happened,” Lloyd insisted as he gently held Arin’s chin in his hand and examined the wound, “are you okay? Do you need stitches? Pain scale, one to ten.”

“Lloyd-”

“Now, Arin.”

Kai always forgot just how scary Lloyd could be until he was reminded by his actions.

“It’s a two and no, Zane said I don’t need stitches,” Arin insisted, taking both of Lloyd’s hands in his own, “I’m okay, promise.”

“Thank the master.” Lloyd muttered under his breath as Nya finally grabbed his arm and forced him to sit down in one of the chairs.

He didn’t speak again until Kai looked over at him, and given how much he was panting, he knew that it had taken all of his strength for him to get down there but when he did, it was only four words.

“I get it now.”

#ninjago #lego ninjago #whump #angst #my writing #fic #lloyd garmadon #ninjago kai #ninjago nya #ninjago lloyd #ninjago zane #ninjago arin #sora ninjago #ninjago wyldfyre #ninjago riyu

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chidoroki · 1 year ago

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182 Days of TPN - Day 176

Chapter 176: "We're Home!"

The long awaited hug! It's so heartwarming it almost makes you forget about Emma tossing her weapon aside, which later becomes an unfortunate consequence, but we'll worry about that later and do our best to focus on these precious kid's happy faces.

I'm pretty glad their reunion is one of the only things to get animated from this chapter.

Of course one of the downsides to the anime not including everything is us missing out on Phil's reaction to seeing everyone else. The rest of the kids just sorta show up all in one place in the second season but the manga makes the many reunions feel more personal, especially with him learning that Norman was never killed.

Phil reflects on how hard the past couple years have been for him while keeping the farm's secret and feeling isolated from the other children due to knowing it and if there's anyone who can understand his pain, it's Ray, as he suffered the same cruel experience so the fact the two of them can share this hug (and head pat) is so sweet, it can bring me to tears. These boys deserved so much better! No more sadness allowed for either of them til the end of time!

I'm very happy Sherry get her own moment with Norman too. Their friendship is so adorable. She's undoubtedly his biggest fan.

Look how relieved and happy Isabella is to finally be done with all the lying and fighting. That smile of hers is so pretty, she wants nothing more than to care for her children like a real mother should and damn it y'all, I wish she could've got that chance alongside all the other moms and sisters!

This quote (that continues into the panels after this page) is probably my favorite from Emma. I know I've said it a lot, about how amazing Emma is to be so optimistic while being surrounded by this world's many various threats that constantly want her dead, but finally being able to see her achieve all her goals while staying true to herself is something I'll always be proud of her for. No matter all the difficulties she faced, whether it was losing someone dear to her, sustaining serious injuries or making life changing decisions, she kept on fighting to secure a better future for her family. Of course she had some moments of weakness to process everything going on around her and to keep her emotions in check, but not once did she ever quit pursuing that bright dream of hers.

The children have all fought through so much together and had their own personal struggles, so seeing them all smile and break out into tears is definitely one of the best moments of the series. They all deserve this victory and a moment to be excited about their freedom.

Sigh, rest in peace to all those we lost along the way! I may not remember all their names aside from Yuugo, Lucas, Conny, Olivia & Michelle, but having Emma think of everyone again proves just how important they all were to to, even if we, as readers, didn't get to see them often enough throughout the story.

Yeah, that brief moment the kiddos had to relax? All gone, thanks to this bastard! If anyone desired to know which character I hate most, it's this damn demon. I don't wanna talk about it but the reason is literally unavoidable in this chapter and to this day I'm still crushed that it happens.

Glad you finally realized your own mistake, honey, but ya gotta be quicker than that! These poor children though, living just a normal life at the orphanage one moment and then running scared for their lives because of this demon the next.

I'm so damn proud that Ray managed to stay alert despite all the reunions and how his protective nature gets kicked into high gear to try and stop that bastard from harming Emma and the girl she's rushing to save.

The look on Ray's face (& everyone else's) makes me wanna scream. I don't wanna imagine this scene getting animated (& I'm so incredibly thankful it wasn't) but I can just hear the couple of shots Ray fired off, the complete silence that follows as the kids stand by completely speechless due to the sight in front of them as an occasional drop of blood drips off the demon's claw as Emma slowly looks up and... aahhh fuck.

The way I fell in love with this woman just a handful of chapters ago to now be on the verge of losing her, just.. FUCK! I hate it. I hate it. I hate it. I hate it. I hate it. I will always hate it. I will always hate this demon. I will always hate how this chapter was released on Mother's Day. The timing could not have been any worse and I'll never not be completely devastated by this moment!

Favorite panel/moment:

I desperately need some happiness right now and this panel is the perfect way to achieve it. Writing out the next chapter is absolutely gonna put me through emotional hell. again.

#the promised neverland #tpn manga #182daysoftpn #chidoroki used chatter

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an-epic-complex-deep-existence · 5 months ago

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You've existed today. Congrats.

Sup guys, gals and nonbinary pals! Feel free to call me KogetaiKid, Kogetai or Kiddo!!!

MAIN BLOG

MY DEVIANTART MY YOUTUBE

-she/her; possibly a celibate pansexual

-Time Zone: PST/PDT

-minor.

-Diagnosed Neurodivergent (Got that autism ✨D R I P ✨)

-Interacial

-Nihilist

-Psychology nerd

-Very cynical

-No DNI, but will block anyone who makes me feel uncomfortable.

-I post exclusively original art

-Self taught artist/writer (currently working (and possibly failing) on multiple projects)

SOME OC REFERENCES

(Not like anyone will care, but good to have them anyways)

D!0X!D3: TR!0X!D3 and X3’3N (Prologue-Chapter 3) Web Hell: Enera (Modern Utopia) IMLS Chronicles: Darla My Snowy Orphanage: Main Characters

WEBCOMIC STAND

D!0X!D3: Prologue 1 D!0X!D3: Prologue 2 D!0X!D3: Prologue 3 D!0X!D3: Prolouge 4 D!0X!D3: Prologue 5 D!0X!D3: Abandonment; Part 1 D!0X!D3: Abandonment; Part 2 ILMS: Just Like Mel; Part 1 ILMS: Just Like Mel; Part 2

Epiccc Storiez!!

ILMS Chronicles: Yahaira's story ILMS Chronicles: 4/22/** ILMS Chronicles: Out In Nature Accidental ILMS Lore ILMS Chronicles: Watching the Sunset

WRITING (Also EPICCC!!!!)

Sunrise Heights An Insect Before Its Death Contemplation Compilation

epicness gaLORE

Epicland Studies #1: Universal Ketakomian Beliefs

*Y don’t ‘cha see what ur gonna see in the future? (READ PROJECT DESC)*

EPIC CLUB (Main Project)

(TLDR: Some alien lore shit that involves goofy ahh aliens, goofy ahh adventures and trying to avoid nihilism)

No one knows how they've got here, but they have. In the middle of the universe in the andromeda galaxy, in a planet called Epicland. exist the color spirits to fight evil and bring colors to the world. Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, purple and gray. (Andris, Lorgzee, Kedmile, Yodion, Imimika, Sotti, Zaxregea, and Enieu) One day, the red spirit wanted to become human-like. What happens next

…

Gray skin, red eyes, what the hell am I...?

Andris, now a nine year old girl named Melody Conway, nothing much to say about her. Unless she was able to meet up again with someone, who might've been, a secret true sister...

DIOX!D3 (On hiatus; pronounced "Dioxide”):

D!0X!D3 (pronounced “Dioxide”): ANARCHY AGAINST CONTROL. On an alien planet called Epicland, and abandoned child called Melanie gets adopted into an anarchist society called Syr-Ko’s Children Anarchist Society! (SKCAS for short). No adults allowed, you get kicked out when you’re 30. In this society, children run the game, with a plan to eliminate the ones who control us and make their world r0b0t!c. You’d wonder to yourself:

WH0’S THAT L!TTL3 R0B0T FR3!ND 0F Y0URS, K!DS?!

I Love My Sister Chronicles (Secondary Project)

(This is honestly more like a saga...)

Dreams are weird, especially when two simple hours could sometimes feel like an entire lifetime. April 22, 20**: A girl named Yahaira falls victim to this unfortunate phenomenon, thus creating me, us, everyone. In my early years, I always wanted a sister, but the never happened. My mom always says she wanted two girls. I tell her she ended up with me instead; an amalgamate of what could've been her two girls.

As I entered my teenage years I noticed something very off about the world, so very unreal, and I start to become lucid in this dream world.

I remember that I'm someone's little sister. Melody's little sister, Yahaira. I'm now piecing together the complicated puzzle of who I was, who Melody was, and what happened before I entered this dream. The first and most important thing I keep in mind:

I LOVE MY SISTER

(Coming "Soon")

WEB HELL (TW: Dark humor)

8/5/2255 - The World Covered in Screens.

“WELCOME TO MODERN UTOPIA! THE MOST GYATT OHIO MEGATRONIC THEY/THEM UWU PLACE IN DA WORLD!!!!!!!! MY NAME IS FINLEY (they/them, if u m!$g3ñd3r u a h8 cr!mer)”

“T0DAY, HERE ARE [[10!]] REASONS Y U LOVE MORDEN UTOPIA!!!! :):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):)(( “

…

In this world, you only have an illusion of humanity. You only have an illusion of decision, an illusion of freedom, an illusion of bargaining, an illusion of friends, an illusion of creativity, diluted by algorithm. You can’t escape, there’s no need to escape. YOU LOVE IT HERE…

VQ895

Welcome to LABORATORY! Here, many fusions of multiple organisms for all over galaxies called hybrids live. To these hybrids, Laboratory is the entire world for them, but to a hybrid named Vertā Quantin (half Artificially Made Human, half Wolfcat) unveils this lie. But it could it be…

SHE WAS NOT THE ONLY ONE?!

One-off projects (coming soon):

My Snowy Orphanage: A VHS horror about a group of cartoon kids teaching children to kill.

A Very Necessary Story On A Very Lonely Kid: Born 4/23/1999. A young boy named Brayden Mendez. No friends, no sibling, Brayden hasn’t meet anyone besides his parents until kindergarten. Isolated from humanity, he’s left to rot in his loneliness until he finally breaks.

And even his afterlife doesn’t spark a friend.

The Last Feeling Child: In present day time, a young teenage girl named Esme Adler, mourns over the past she’s never experienced. A past before phones, IPads and immorality.

There's a few more in the making, but this is how far I'll take you for now...

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some-one56 · 10 months ago

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A Dream is Not A Wish

Chapter Five~Once Upon My Dreams

Virgil sighed deeply once the group arrived in Wonderland. "Well this ought to be fun," he muttered sarcastically as he walked out of the portal.

Janus stopped next to Virgil, crossing his arms as he scanned the area. They appeared to have landed in the Red Queen's kingdom. "This definitely won't go wrong," he muttered with an equal amount of sarcasm.

Patton helped Remus through the portal. "We need to find some actual clothes for Remus too. You think we'll be able to get him something?"

"We'll find something here," Virgil said, walking down the path, toward the castle. "The portal seems to appear close to the person we're looking for so...Logan should be close by."

The four stuck together as they walked down the path of rose bushes. The Red Queen's castle was getting closer as they kept walking.

Virgil was about to say something, but he froze when he felt a pair of eyes staring him down. He stopped walking.

Patton turned to Virgil. "Kiddo..? What is it?"

"We're being watched," Virgil quietly hissed, his eyes darting around.

Janus looked at Virgil, noticing how serious his tone was. "Alright. How about we head to the castle to get some clothes for Remus, and we can look for Logan on the way?"

Virgil was still looking around, trying to find who was watching them, but he nodded at Janus's suggestion. "Yeah...Let's hurry."

Remus clung to Janus as he tried to speed walk to the castle. Janus held him close, helping him every step of the way.

Patton glanced around some of the rose bushes, noticing red paint covering some of the white roses. However, it didn't look exactly like red paint...

"I think these were painted in blood..." Patton whispered to the group, going over to a rose bush.

Virgil's eyes widen. "Holy shit, you're right... This is insane.."

"Yeah..it is," Janus mumbles. "Let's keep going."

They made their way into the castle. Surprisingly, there weren't any guards around to kick them out.

"I can make him some clothes," Patton said suddenly, grinning. "There's a lot of fabric here, I can whip something up!"

"I didn't know you could make clothes," Virgil said with a raised brow.

"Well I used to not be able to, but I can now! I guess since I'm technically Cinderella now," Patton said with a shrug.

"Well, if you can find the materials, go for it," Janus said. "Just try to be quick with whatever you do."

"If you and Virgil wanna go look for Logan, Remus and I can stay back to make his clothes," Patton said to Janus.

Janus nodded. "That works. Just..both of you, be careful."

Remus smirked, giving Janus a salute. He grabbed Patton by the arm, quickly running off to find materials.

Virgil sighed, rolling his eyes. "Alright then.."

Janus sighed, pulling Virgil out of the castle. "You think they're gonna get caught?"

"Probably-" Virgil was cut off when he looked ahead. His eyes widened, and he pulled Janus down, hiding behind a large bush.

"What the fuck are you doing?!" Janus asked in alarm.

Virgil shushed him, even paler than before. "I saw her."

"Who?!" Janus whisper shouted.

"The Evil Queen! She- she's here!" Virgil whispered frantically. "It must be midnight.."

"What are you talking about???" Janus asked, narrowing his eyes at Virgil.

Virgil peeked out from behind the bush, seeing the Evil Queen looking around the area. She had a basket of six bright red apples. "Shit."

"Virgil, you've got to start explaining things," Janus said, trying to get Virgil's attention again.

"I'll explain later, just...Don't make any noise."

Janus peeked out from behind the bush as well, seeing the Evil Queen. "What is she doing?"

"Looking for us," Virgil muttered back. He continued to spy on her, frowning when he saw her take an apple, placing it on a table. And then, she walked off.

"So, don't eat that," Janus quickly says, coming out of hiding.

Virgil goes over to the apple, examining it. "Yeah, no kidding.."

"So..she got here through the portal too?" Janus asked, watching Virgil.

Virgil nodded. "..What if this isn't a poisoned apple though?"

"We aren't testing it out," Janus said sternly. "You of all people should know that."

"I know, but.." Virgil had this strange urge to eat the apple. It was like some..pull. "I haven't eaten anything all day and I can't trust the other food here."

"And you can trust that?" Janus asked, narrowing his eyes. "What's going on with you?"

"I- I don't know!" Virgil said quickly, trying to throw the apple away, but he just couldn't bring himself to. "Just..one bite.." he muttered, leaning in to bite the apple.

"Virgil, wh- what are you doing?!" Janus exclaimed, reaching over to try and pry the apple away from Virgil.

But before he could, Logan tackled Virgil to the ground, chucking the apple far away.

Virgil suddenly snapped out of it, eyes wide. "Logan?!"

Logan pulled Virgil to his feet, smiling softly. "Hello Virgil, Janus," he said softly.

Virgil grinned, pulling Logan into a hug. "You have no idea how thankful I was for you to do that- you saved me, Lo."

Logan hugged Virgil back, slightly surprised. "Well, I'd rather you not be dead."

Janus smiled. "Good to have you with us, Logan."

"Where are the others? Are they here too?" Logan suddenly asked, letting Virgil go.

"We have Patton and Remus with us. They're in the Red Queen's castle. Pat's making clothes for Remus right now," Virgil explained.

Logan's eyes shot wide. "They have to get out of there. Now."

"Why?? The Queen of Hearts isn't scary. She's just a spoiled brat," Janus said, crossing his arms.

Logan shook his head. "She's different in this story. She's a cold-blooded murderous woman. The second she sees you with me, she's going to want to behead us all."

"Terrific," Janus mumbled, sighing. "So she's insane?"

"They're all insane here," Logan said, glancing back toward the castle. "C'mon, we have to go get them out of there.

"I don't think so," a female voice said behind the trio.

Virgil spun around, his eyes widening as he saw the Evil Queen had returned.

"Hello there, Virgil," she smirked, taking a step closer. Logan and Janus pulled Virgil back, staying close to him.

"Oh, there's no need to be afraid," she chuckles. "You won't find your friends in that castle."

Janus growled. "What did you do."

The Evil Queen chuckled. "I may have teamed up with another Queen."

The Queen of Hearts appeared at her side. She had a cage with both Remus and Patton inside of it. "Look at them. Their heads would look so nice in my throne room."

"They really would, dear," the Evil Queen grinned.

Virgil paled even more. "Shit," he whispered, glancing at Patton and Remus.

Patton was trembling violently, and Remus was holding him close, trying to calm him down.

"Let them go," Logan said, glaring at both of the Queens. "They have done nothing to you."

"Oh, we know," the Evil Queen smirked. "We simply just want you all dead~"

Janus glanced back at the portal, his eyes widening when it began to turn green. "Guys. Look," he whispered to Virgil and Logan.

Both Virgil and Logan looked at the portal, also confused and worried.

The Queens noticed this, and stared at the portal. "What the.." the Evil Queen muttered.

While everyone wasn't paying attention, Patton and Remus's cage slowly unlocked, as if by magic.

Patton and Remus were suddenly shoved out of the cage, both tumbling to the ground.

A dark chuckle echoed throughout the area as the portal glowed a brighter green.

And then, Virgil's eyes widened when he realized he was being pulled into the portal. He yelped as he fell all the way through it.

Janus and Logan were also sucked through the portal. Lastly, Patton and Remus were as well.

~¤~

Logan winced once he hit the cold stone floor. "If we're being taken through portals, could we at least have a nice landing?!?"

Virgil got up, brushing himself off. He looked around, narrowing his eyes. "Maybe we're in Sleeping Beauty. We need to find Roman."

The group all nodded, beginning to search the rooms within the castle. So far, they couldn't find their friend.

"Shit, what if he's already asleep???" Virgil muttered, going through each room.

"Maybe it hasn't yet, just deep breaths Virgil," Janus said softly, glancing up at a staircase. "He's definitely up there."

Virgil sped up the stairs, seeing that they led to a single bedroom. He flung open the bedroom door, absolutely relieved to see Roman staring back at him with wide eyes.

"Oh my god- Virgil?!?" Roman asked, running over to him. Virgil hugged him tightly, grinning.

"Thank god you're okay," Virgil whispered, holding Roman close.

The rest of the group ran into the room, also relieved when they saw Roman.

"You have no idea how happy I am that you guys are here," Roman said, letting go of Virgil. "Look out the window."

Janus moved to the window, peering out of it. "There's a wall of briars surrounding the whole castle.."

Roman nodded. "Maleficent wanted to make sure we couldn't leave once you all got here," he sighed.

"Do you know when the curse is supposed to take affect?" Logan asked Roman gently.

Roman hesitantly shook his head no. "No.. I can't stop it, but surely true love's kiss isn't the only way to stop it.."

"We need to leave through the portal," Patton quickly said. "Maybe the curse won't affect Roman once we're out of this story.."

"The portal's gone," Logan sighed. "It disappeared after we got here."

"So we're stuck here?!" Roman asked, his fear growing. He began to pace around the room again.

"We'll find a way out," Janus said, leaning against the wall.

"What if we can't go home? Thomas.." Roman muttered, hugging himself tightly. "We have to get back to save him.."

"We might have to defeat the Dream Keeper to do that," Patton said shakily, helping Remus sit on the bed. Luckily, Remus now had actual clothes on.

"What time is it here?" Janus asked, checking his nails.

"It's like..2 in the morning," Roman said hesitantly.

"Well, we should probably all get some rest. It's been a long day, and if we want strength to fight Maleficent, those Queen bitches and the Dream Keeper, we need rest."

"Go ahead," Roman said, sitting at the vanity in the corner. "I'm not sleeping for as long as I can. Too risky."

Virgil sighed softly, sitting next to Roman. "Then I'm styling up with you." He looked at the others. "The rest of you, go to sleep for a bit."

"Are you sure?" Logan asked.

Virgil nodded softly.

The four all nodded, getting comfortable around the room. One by one, they fell asleep.

Roman sighed, blowing out the candle that illuminated the room. He stared at his reflection in the vanity mirror, his face stained with dried tears.

Virgil gently puts a hand on his shoulder. "Everything is gonna be okay, Ro.."

Roman looked down, taking a shaky sigh. "I would love to believe that, Virge.."

"Then why don't you?"

"Ever since I got here, I've become less optimistic."

~¤~

Taglist: @samders-sides @thegirlthatdoesntofficiallyexist

Prologue - 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 6 - 7

#logansanders #pattonsanders #remussanders #romansanders #virgilsanders #janussanders #the little mermaid #thomassanders #beauty and the beast #sleeping beauty #cinderella #alice in wonderland #snow white

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thefamilyeldritchabomination · 1 year ago

Text

Chapter Seventeen: Eve of the War Pt. 6

“....I have no actual commentary for that one at all…” Greed was mortified upon learning just how fragile and dangerous Central was now.

“That’s horrible! We can’t have Central being destroyed!” Edward was horrified at the possible outcome.

“It doesn’t affect you Elric, you and your weird metal brother live in the rural parts, you both should be fine.” Envy said after gulping down their first load of food.

“Envy that’s not the point, there are other people living here that won’t have a place to go to if something happens here along with our government possibly collapsing since that’s where it's stationed.” Edward decided to play nice and break down how this is a bad thing.

“Like I said, it’ll be fine and not our problem. Besides, anarchy is good for you and you humans should be able to thrive off it like Dolly’s horrible feral humans back at home.” Envy smirked as they loaded up their next plate.

“Brother, I don’t want to live like a feral person..” Alphonse was clearly going to have nightmares after this session.

“Al, don’t worry, we’re not going to be feral and it won’t fall into anarchy.” Edward tried to reassure poor Alphonse at the terrifying possibility of a societal collapse.

“Anarchy isn’t all that bad, that was how things were back in the day. Folks were a lot nicer back then and less power hungry before the monarchy arrived. Plus my family isn’t always feral, they only get that way when political figures are brought up in conversation or in person.” Dolly decided to try and reassure that anarchy isn’t some horrible boogeyman.

“Well at least you’re a nice anarchist…I cannot believe that came out of my mouth just now.” Greed was wishing this assassination plan wasn’t too much of a nightmare cluster to deal with.

“Plus kids, the fuhrer is murdering innocent people without justification! Down with the Fuhrer kiddo!” Ernest threw in that verbal live grenade into the topic.

Lust decided at that moment to faceplant into the table out of sheer embarrassment of this conversation and where it’s being taken to. It was even more embarrassing that it was in a restaurant of all places. There was no doubt in Lust’s mind that the entire group would be kicked out of the restaurant any moment now given how out of control things had gotten in a short timespan. Dolly was on the same boat as she decided to get Ernest into the backpack with Dorian, there was simply no way they would be allowed to stay in this fine restaurant after how loud everyone was being about homicide and assassination plans. Likewise, Greed was preparing to be kicked out as he stuffed his pockets with as much food as possible to smuggle out in case it happened. Envy, oh Envy, sat there thinking they were untouchable and unremovable. Sure enough, someone from the staff approached their table with a grim look on his face.

“I’m sorry to inform everyone, but due to complaints from the other guests about your ‘conversation’, we would like to ask for you all to pay and leave our restaurant at once.” The waiter said sternly as he placed the bill on the table, wanting this group to be gone from this establishment.

“Do we at least get carry out boxes?” Envy sharply asked as they wished Gluttony had come along just for situations like that one.

“We will provide some take out boxes, in the meantime, we will expect the bill to be paid once I am back with the boxes.” The Waiter turned briskly away from the table of loud weirdos, leaving Envy a chance to display more of their horrific decision making skills in action.

“Excellent, Dolly, teleport our asses out of here before the waiter comes back.” Envy whispered through their rock munching teeth, not willing to pay up. “...Envy I have a five person limit ..plus we don’t dine and dash here.” Dolly looked at Envy with a less than amused expression.

“Damn it Envy, I will not dine and dash out in public.” Lust was ready to make herself a pair of Envy skin boots after this. “Fine, do it the embarrassing way then.” Envy pouted and slouched in their seat like a child being told no to having candy for dinner.

“I figured this would happen and this pains me so much, I’ll part with some of my cash to pay up for the bill. We’ll continue this discussion outside of the building elsewhere, perhaps your apartment?” Greed begrudgingly took out his Wallet, figuring Envy would’ve attempted a dine and dash on them.

“Damn Envy, you got Greed to even pay up…” Ernest was astonished that someone named Greed wasn’t being greedy about the money.

“That’s because I’m amazing at everything I do. Also fine, we can take it to the apartment, we can torture the Face Fur more in that respect.” Envy said in a haughty tone.

“Hey Mr. Markoh, you’ve been awfully quiet during this conversation..” Dolly finally noticed the horrible stone of people was silent.

“Oh sorry about that, I had to help the others get the yellowjackets under control. They’ve been a horrible menace inside of here since Dorian ate their nest.” Timmy the Talking stone was not a happy meat colored stone of forlorn.

“...Dorian is the one that made the stone, right?” Edward was looking bewildered at how everything just derailed into being kicked out of the restaurant.

“Yes, Dorian’s body acted like an athanor and managed to incubate a perfected Philosopher’s Stone, though this one has a lot of cheek and is incredibly insensitive towards homunculi in general.” Lust narrowed her eyes at the rude stone on the table.

“Can I also ask why he ate yellowjackets?” Edward was looking at the stone in horror of what poor Markoh was being put through.

“Oh Dorian ate a nest for a rocket launching at this Hohenheim guy after he briefly kidnapped me.” Dolly casually explained as Edward got a similar look to Envy’s expression upon hearing karmic justice was delivered upon the worst father ever.

“....Details now I need to hear everything about how that bastard suffered.” Edward was determined to hear more about this, Alphonse looking embarrassed being around his older brother at this point.

“Brother please don’t do this now, the waiter is almost back with the carryout boxes and it’s already more embarrassing than before.” Alphonse pleaded to his smaller older brother who wasn’t gonna back down on hearing a delicious good story.

“Why should she tell you anything you little rat? I’m already barely tolerating your presence at this point, I may just break out of this and slam your face into the boiling stock right now.” Envy hissed through their teeth, getting in front of Dolly to keep her out of the Elrics’ view.

“Envy, shut up, the waiter is coming now and if you pull anything, I’m going to come after you with something worse than that damned lamppost you’re fixated on.” Lust put her foot down as she glared at the eldest homunculi at the table.

Envy shut their little mouth up immediately as they sulked in their spot as the waiter placed the carry out boxes for the group. It was clear that the story would be told after leaving the restaurant much to Envy’s disdain and the fact Lust had the gull to threaten them with something worse than the lamppost was downright insulting. With the carry out boxes filled up and ready, the group left the restaurant immediately for the apartment complex. That bitterness crept back into Envy’s deranged heart as Dolly reccounted the yellowjacket event to their much despised younger brothers. It was their favorite story and Envy had wanted to keep it solely for themself rather than share it. Envy, simply put, hated that they had to share the same hatred for their father with the younger siblings. The bitterness started fading the moment Envy felt a hand carefully hold their own hand. Dolly had noticed Envy was drifting off into their own headspace and decided to carefully bring them back to reality.

“You alright there, Envy?” Dolly asked in a hush whisper, keeping Envy in line and from blowing this already unsteady alliance.

“I’ll be fine once everything is over Dolly.” Envy breathed in a little bit, knowing they won’t have to see the Elrics ever again after Dante was gone.

“Alright, but we’re talking after the meeting is over.” Dolly simply said, there was no ifs, ands, or buts about the situation.

“You know me all too well at this point Fairytale.” Envy whispered as they relented to having a private conversation about what happened in the restaurant.

“That I do, Wayfarer. We should at this time prepare for a three way Banshee screech once we’re back at the apartment.” Dolly clearly wasn’t looking forward to Freddy’s reaction to bringing Ernest before him.

“Hey, that's going to be the highlight of my evening.” Envy snickered a bit at the thought of Freddy suffering even more by this.

“I should’ve seen that one coming.” Dolly rolled her eyes a bit at the response.

“That you should’ve, but that just means it’s a possibility that I will have my glorious day of seeing the Face Fur being shoved off a roof.” Envy’s usual horrid gremlin smile had returned at the hope of seeing the horrible Face Fur being shoved off a roof.

“I hate to interrupt your conversation, but we’re back at the apartments now. I’m already having a headache from everything, so I’ll be going in to give Freddy the heads up about Ernest being here.” Lust was about done with this evening and needing to not add more to her already throbbing headache.

#Fullmetal Alchemist #FMA 03 #Fan Fiction #FMA Fan Ficton #Writing #The Wayfarer #Envy the Jealous #Envy #Lust the Lascivious #Lust #Greed the Avaricious #Greed #Edward Elric #Alphonse Elric #The Elric brothers #OCs #Homunculus #Homunculi

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spacecadet-ticklesinspace · 2 years ago

Text

Christmas Sniffles: Chapter 3

Summary: Right around the holidays, Peter 1 gets sick.

Never was MJ so glad to have an extra day off around the holidays. She now had an extra day to prep the Christmas cookies she had promised to bring to Peter 2's church when they went caroling tomorrow and now had an extra day to take care of Peter 1. She had been awakened by her husband kissing her forehead before he left to go to Otto's lab to help the older scientist wrap up a few things before being free for the holidays.

However, with Peter 2 gone, MJ had to juggle both the role of chef and caretaker. Thankfully the youngest seemed content to quietly watch Christmas movies and while cuddling with May Bear. During one of MJ's breaks, the two watched the newer Grinch movie and Peter 1 started giggling.

The older woman smiled. "The Grinch is pretty good huh?"

"Y-yeah. Hehe reminds me ohof Dr. Strange."

MJ giggled as she stroked Peter 1's hair. Thankfully, he seemed a little cooler and even had a thin layer of sweat on his forehead. However, his cough was most concerning. It was harsh and rattling.

Another timer sounded from the kitchen. As MJ hurried to the kitchen to check the next batch of cookies, there was a knock on the door.

She quickly opened it. "Oh! Hi Harry! Come on in."

Harry stepped inside, but before he could respond, a timer went off in the kitchen.

"Shoot! I'll be right back. Make yourself at home Harry!"

MJ hurried into the kitchen, leaving Harry alone in the entry way.

"Hi Harry," a voice called out.

The older man left his packages on the entry way table and stepped into the living room. He grinned when he found Peter 1 on the couch. "Hey Pete. How's it going?"

One coughed in response.

"Oh, that doesn't sound good."

The youngest Peter shrank into his shoulders. "Sorry."

"No need to apologize Pete. It happens to the best of us." Harry placed the back of his head on Peter 1's forehead

One pulled away. "I got a cold."

"I noticed. You gonna be okay?"

One nodded. "Yeah I'm good."

Harry moved to sit on the floor. "But?"

". . . I feel like I'm being a burden to MJ and Peter 2."

The older Harry gently nudged his shoulder. "Hey, that's no way to talk about yourself. MJ and Peter love you."

"I know . . ." Peter 1's voice was barely above a whisper. "I just feel like I'm causing them a lot of extra trouble."

"You can't help when you get sick Pete." The older man rubbed his arm. "It just happens."

The youngest Peter hid his face in the top of his bear's head. "But I mess everything up."

The older man's shoulders drooped. He carefully slid One's beloved bear out of his face. "Why do you think that Peter?"

The boy looked away. "I can't be left alone."

"That happens when you're sick. It's just your brain looking for extra comfort and reassurance."

"But everytime one of them leaves the room, I panic. It's like I can't let them leave my sight."

Harry gently ruffled One's curls. "You've lost a lot of people there Pete. It's easy to get scared you'll loose more."

The youngest Peter quickly scrubbed his eyes. "You've lost a lot of people too."

The older man moved One's hand away. "Let's not compare apples with oranges kiddo. Yeah I've lost people and yeah it hurt like crap. But that doesn't mean your trials are any less important than mine."

Peter 1 remained quiet.

"Did something else happen?"

" . . . I had a nightmare. . . Two kicked me out---cause I was sick."

"Pete, he would never do that. He loves you too much to do that."

Peter 1 looked up. "Y-you think so?"

Harry nodded. "I know so. They're both crazy about you."

While he still looked doubtful, a small smile crept across One's face. "Thanks."

"Course buddy." A light clicked on in Harry's head. "You know what will cheer you up? A visit from Santa Clause."

"What?"

The older man pulled away and hurried over to the packages he had brought in. "You're usually supposed to wait until Christmas day to open Santa's presents, but since he gave me these two a little early, I think it would be okay to open them now."

One's brows furrowed as Harry came back to his spot next to the couch. "You didn't have to get me anything."

"But I didn't! These both are from Santa. He just dropped them off at my house so they could be wrapped and delivered."

The youngest Peter cocked his head at the older man.

Harry set his two packages next to him. "Now, one thing you have to know about Santa's gift is they become more 'practical' the older you get. So your first gift was practical and I, of course, wrapped it practically."

Harry lifted up a blue Christmas bag covered with giant snowflakes and a half ton of glitter. He gave it to the youngest Peter who hesitantly opened it. He pulled out a brown box and read the words across the top. "Stuture replacement kits?"

"Like I said, practical. If you're anything like your brother, you'll want to have those."

This made the youngest Peter chuckle. "Thahank yohou Harryhy."

"Uh, not me. It was Santa."

"Thank yohou Santaha."

The older man winked. "I'll relay the message. And now that we have the practical gift out of the way, Santa has a semi-practical gift to give you too."

The next present Peter 1 was given was wrapped in a simple gold paper with a blue ribbon on top.

The blush on Peter 1's face darkened. He felt a little embarrassed to be receiving so much attention. "Thank you."

"Now as you can see, I have wrapped this one semi-practically. The paper still gives you a chance to tear into it."

After a little more prompting, One carefully opened the gift. Inside was a small gray Stegasorus plush.

"This guy is great." Harry tapped the plushie's nose. "Not only can he cuddle, but if you heat up the pad in his middle, you have a heated cuddle toy."

One squeezed the stegasorus with one arm. "Thank you Santa."

The grin on Harry's own face grew as he ruffled One's curls. "You're welcome Uno."

"Ihi thought you weheren't Santa?"

"Oops! I spilled the beans," Harry teased.

The cutest giggle came out of the youngest's mouth when Harry tapped his nose. "Nohow I know whyhy Two says you're soho cute."

Peter 1 rolled his eyes. "Not cute."

"Ihi beg toho differ."

"Can I give you yours now?"

The older man started. "You got me something?"

The youngest Peter pointed. "It's in the green bag under the tree."

Harry stepped over to the tree to retrieve the bag.

"It's not much, but I hope you like it."

The older man waited until he was next to Peter again before opening his gift. From the bag, he pulled out a small wooden frame. Inside the frame was a picture of Harry and the Three Peters after a recent movie night at Two's house. Harry and Peter were making silly faces at the camera while Peter 3 was layed across their laps. One of Three's hands was keeping his head propped up while the other was being pushed by Peter who was pushing it off his sides while laughing next to Harry.

It was one of Harry's favorite photos from that evening. He had finally felt like he was accepted into the group after everything that had happened. It meant even more that Peter 1 had taken time to frame it for him . . . It made his heart swell.

"D-do you like it?"

"I don't like it bud." Harry looked up at Peter 1. "I love it."

"Really?"

"Honestly Pete." Harry wrapped the youngest in a hug. "This means so much to me."

After a brief hesitation, One tightly returned the hug. "You're a part of our family too Harry. I wanted you to see that."

The older man let out a playful huff. "Is it your goal to make me cry today?"

One pulled away. "Not intentionally."

Harry ruffled One's curls. "Ihi know. You're just too sweet sometimes." Another thought crossed Harry's mind. "Hey, before MJ gets back, wanna go see the snow?"

The youngest's eyes widened. "It's snowing?"

"Yeah! Wanna go see?"

Peter 1 eagerly nodded. He hurried to stand.

"Hold on. I know you're excited, but you can't go out in juhust your jammies." The older man stood and walked over to the entryway. "Where's your coat and boots?"

"I can get---."

Harry motioned to where he was. "Already here Pete."

Peter 1 huffed and pointed out the desired belongings and, with a little help from Harry, was soon bundled up. For an added layer of warmth, a hat and gloves were added before a blanket was tossed around his shoulders.

Once bundled up, Peter 1 eagerly stood before promptly toppling to one side.

"Wow!" Harry caught him. "Little dizzy?"

"A little. The fever makes me loopy."

The older man carefully wrapped the youngest's arm around him. "Here, lean on me."

"Okay."

Together, the duo made their way outside. Outside, the snow lightly fell to the ground and dusted the ground in a layer of white.

Peter 1 shivered, but eagerly held out one of his hands to watch the small flakes coat his glove. He pushed out a little farther to try to catch some more.

Harry shifted his hold. "Hold on kid."

He helped Peter 1 down the steps so he could stand in the walkway and let the flakes coat his hair and face. He looked so young and innocent with his flushed cheeks and messy curls.

"You know, I'm not one for magic, but the snow really makes Christmas seem pretty special," the older man replied.

"It does." The youngest Peter wiggled free of Harry's hold.

"Wow! Where are you---."

Peter 1 plopped into the snow. He flopped backwards into a giggly mess.

Harry squatted next time the giggling teen. "What are you doing?"

"Mahaking aha snohow ahangel!"

Harry chuckled. "Yohou're mihissing the angehel part."

Peter 1 stuck out his arms and started moving them up and down. However, his wings looked less like wings and more like messy snow swirls. His legs were less cooperative, leaving him with lopsided trenches. When Harry helped to pull him up, One's angel looked more like an odd alien character than the intended angelic figure.

"Nihice job kid. Ihit looks awesome."

The youngest Peter shivered. "Th-thanks."

"Peter?" A voice called. "Harry?"

The duo turned to see Peter 2 walking up the driveway.

One waved. "Hi Two."

The oldest Peter stepped forward. "What are you doing out here?"

"Seeing the snowflakes," Harry replied.

"And making snow angels."

"Ihi see that." Peter 2 brushed a few flakes out of One's hair. "Looks like you're having fun."

The moment was broken by a cough from Peter 1.

"And I think that's the cue to head back inside." The oldest Peter scooped the youngest into his arms.

"Aww, but we were having so much fun," Harry teased. However, he scooted closer to wrap the blanket tighter around Peter 1.

"I can do it."

"Last time I let you do it, you nearly toppled into the carpet." The oldest Peter nodded toward the house before heading inside.

Peter 1 pouted a little on the way in.

"I'll make it up to you with hot chocolate," Two promised.

The small trio made their way back in to find MJ coming down the stairs.

"There you are!" MJ exclaimed. "I stepped away for two seconds!"

Harry helped Peter 2 set One on the couch. "We went out to see the snow."

"Ah, I see."

"But we were only out for a minute!"

Meanwhile, the oldest Peter slipped off Peter 1's coat and boots. "Seems like they had a good time."

"Did he get too cold?" MJ asked.

Two smiled. "Nothing a change of clothes can't fix."

Harry started. "Did I mess up?"

"No! You didn't mess up!" MJ stepped forward. "That was really sweet of you."

"But he got cold."

"Being out for short periods is good when you're sick Harry." Peter 2 stepped back over to the entry way to put One's jacket and boots away. "Though I'm not sure about the snow angel."

"You mean the snow creature?" Harry teased.

"Hey!" The youngest Peter whined.

"It still looked cool Pete, but call it what it it is."

One smirked. "I was aiming for biblical accuracy." Another coughing fit broke him off.

Peter 2 stepped back over to his youngest brother. "It was great to see you Harry, but I need to take care of him real quick."

"Yeah you do that." The taller man watched in concern. "Let me know if you need anything."

The oldest Peter smiled at his friend. "We will, I promise."

Peter 2 wrapped his arm around Peter 1 and headed toward stairs.

"Bye Harry." One gave him a hug. "Thanks again."

Harry returned the hug. "Thank you too kiddo. You get better okay?"

"I will, I promise," Peter 1 let go and allowed Two to help him upstairs. "Love you."

Harry couldn't hide the smile on his face. "Love you too kid."

Once the two Peters were gone, a hand gently squeezed his shoulder. "You really are fond of him aren't you?"

Harry turned to MJ. "Aren't we all?"

"You could say that." The smaller woman hugged her friend. "I'm so glad you're back."

After a moment of hesitation, Harry returned the hug. "Me too."

He hadn't realized how much he needed that hug.

When MJ pulled away, she looked up at him. "Can you stay tonight? We're going to be decorating for the holidays and would love to have you here with us."

"I'd love too, but my dad wants me to help him decorate our tree."

"Your dad bought a tree?"

Harry grinned. "Yeah, a real one. We even picked out some ornaments together."

MJ smiled softly. "Oh Harry, that's awesome."

Harry blushed as he pulled away. "Ehe, fihirst time fohor everything I guehess."

"Oh! Before you go, I need to give you something!"

MJ hurried over to the tree and came back over with a Santa Clause gift bag. She handed it to the older man. "It's not much, but I hope you enjoy."

Harry smiled as he took the bag. "Thank you so much." He grabbed two packages behind him on the entry way table. "And these are for you and Peter. The last one is for Three."

"Thank you Harry. That's so sweet."

"You're welcome. Now, I unfortunately have to get going, but I'll see you again tomorrow."

The taller man gave MJ a kiss on the head before heading out the door. He paused on the porch . . . had he just done that? He hadn't gotten that close to Peter and MJ since the betrayal.

When he turned back to apologize, MJ waved goodbye. "You're a still a part of this family Harry. Have a great night."

Harry stared at the closed door. His heart filled with warmth and wholeness as he stepped away from the porch.

#whumpee peter 1 #care givers peter 2 and 3 #harry osborn #mj #sam raimi

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hallowedfate · 2 years ago

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Chapter One— The Hunter's Code

Lighting crashed as the tall dark figure returned from a mission, a fierce storm raged around them. The wind whipped through their pale blue hair and rain soaked through their clothes. Water dripping into their face, streaming off from their hat. They struggled against the elements as they made their way back to the old abandoned shack they called home. Which was falling apart but still served as a home for them and their daughter, Naomi.

As they stepped inside, water dripped from their coat onto the wooden floorboards. Alex sighed as took their dark hat off and shook the rain off their hair. Hanging up their soaked hat and trenchcoat as they looked around the dimly lit room. Only a small lamp on the nightstand cast a soft glow around the space. They unlaced their muddy boots and kicked them off, quietly walking to their room.

Alex sat in their room, the soft plush of their bed sinking as their weight was applied. They let out another soft sigh, closing their crimson colored eyes before turning over to their bedside table. The only few things accompanying it was an old, nearly burnt out oil lamp, and an even older leader-bound book. They reached a hand out to the book and gripped it gently, sitting up and setting it in their lap. Flipping through the pages of the old book. Thunder rumbled in the distance, punctuating the silence of the night.

The book was one of many that Alex had collected over the years, each one containing information on a different creature of the night. The pages were worn, the ink slightly faded, stained with whatever oil, grease and water that plagued the whole book. As they read, quietly to themselves, their focus was broken by the voice of a soft little girl.

"Daddy, daddy! Guess what?" Naomi exclaimed, bursting into the room with excitement.

Alex looked up from their book, smiling at their daughter. "What is it, kiddo?"

"You have a new mission!" Naomi exclaimed, her eyes sparkling with excitement.

Alex raised an eyebrow. "Oh really? And what is it?"

Naomi grinned. "Here!" The little girl said with excitement, running over to her dad with a small wax sealed letter. The red wax was stamped into the figure of a raven, the symbol of their guilds clergy.

As the grown adult opened the letter and read it through fully, a soft smile grew on their daughters face. Excited to hear what her dad was ready to take out next.

Alex chuckled. "Sounds like fun."

Naomi nodded eagerly. "I know, I know. But what is it?" She asked.

"It's a request from a very wealthy merchant, apparently, the church in their village is being bothered by the undead. Can you believe it?" Alex asked as they smiled, their daughter nearly jumping in excitement.

"Are you gonna kill a vampire? Or a ghoul? Oh maybe a witch!" The little blonde girl gleemed with joy, her twin tails bouncing as she moved around. Then her soft blue eyes opened widely, she then turned to her dad.

"Daddy, stay here, okay?" Before Alex could even speak, she ran off to her room. Earning another chuckle.

Alex let out a deep sigh and closed the book. They were exhausted, and they could feel the fatigue weighing heavily on their shoulders. They leaned back against the wall near their bed and closed their eyes for a moment, trying to find the energy to continue reading.

Just then, Naomi burst back into the room, holding a small necklace in her hand. "Daddy, look what I made!" she exclaimed, holding it out for the to see.

Alex took the necklace and examined it closely. It was made of twine, with a small jar at the center, sealed with wax. Inside the jar was a clove of garlic.

"This is a protective bottle, Daddy," Naomi explained, excitement evident in her voice. "I read about it in one of your books. It's supposed to ward off vampires and keep us safe. I made it myself!"

Alex smiled at their daughter's enthusiasm. "That's very thoughtful of you, Naomi," they said, placing the necklace around his neck. "But we still have to be careful. Vampires are dangerous creatures, and we need to make sure we're fully prepared before we face one."

Naomi nodded solemnly. "I know, Daddy. But I just wanted to make sure you had something to keep you safe."

Alex pulled their daughter into a tight hug, feeling a surge of love and gratitude. Despite the danger that surrounded them, they knew that with Naomi by their side, they could face anything. Before breaking off the hug, the gave her a gentle kiss on her cheek, earning a soft giggle from her.

Alex ruffled their daughter's hair. "You're getting to be quite the little hunter, aren't you?"

Naomi beamed with pride. "Yep! And I'm gonna be the best hunter ever, just like you!"

Alex smiled, their heart swelling with love for their daughter. "I have no doubt you will be, kiddo. Now go get ready for bed, I'll start cooking dinner soon."

Naomi nodded and ran off to her room, As she got dressed for bed, she couldn't help but think about the necklace and how it could protect them from vampires.

Meanwhile, Alex continued to read through the book, taking notes on the vampire they were tasked to eliminate. The storm outside continued to rage on, with flashes of lightning illuminating the room. Eventually they got up from their bed and walked over to their tall bookshelf, filled to the brim with many bindings of stories, information and navigation. Pulling out one for the village requested.

Alex found the book on the requested village, Riverwood and began flipping through the pages. The village was small, with only a few dozen homes and a central square. Located on the northern side of the region, meaning they'd have to travel a few days to get there. The main focus of the village was the large stone church, which had been there for centuries. It was said that the church had been built to ward off evil spirits that plagued the area.

The church had a tall steeple that reached towards the sky, with large stained glass windows depicting religious scenes. The churchyard was surrounded by a low stone wall, and a gate that was always kept locked. Beyond the church, there were fields of crops and small farms. The villagers were known for their hospitality, and were always willing to lend a helping hand to those in need.

As Alex read on, they learned that there were also abandoned ruins nearby that were said to be haunted by the spirits of those who had died there. The ruins were once a grand castle, but had fallen into disrepair over the years. Many had tried to explore the ruins, but had been scared off by strange noises and unexplained occurrences.

Alex took note of these ruins, figuring that they would have to venture into those ruins to find the vampire they were seeking. But they knew to explore and ask for more information before jumping to conclusions. They walked back over to their bed, keeping the book open on the page of the village. Then they walked out of their room, crossing the small living area into the kitchen. The room was tiny and cramped, but Alex had managed to make the most of it.

Grabbing a few potatoes from a sack on the floor as they passed by. They started peeling the potatoes, their mind still focused on the task at hand. As they worked, they thought about the ruins and the vampire that awaited them. They couldn't afford to underestimate the creature, but they also couldn't let fear cloud their judgment.

The storm outside continued to rage on, the sound of rain tapping against the windows filling the room. Alex took comfort in the familiar sounds of cooking - the sizzling of oil in the pan, the chopping of vegetables, the clinking of utensils against pots and pans. It was a small reminder of the simple joys of life that they often took for granted in the midst of their dangerous work.

As they finished peeling the potatoes and started cutting them into small cubes, They pulled out a pot and started filling it with water to boil. As they waited for the water to heat up, they started chopping up some vegetables and meat to add to the pot.

Alex loved cooking, it was one of the few things that brought them peace in a chaotic world. As they cooked, they hummed a soft tune to themselves, lost in thought. The storm outside had started to die down, the rain now just a light drizzle tapping against the window. Their thoughts were broken once more when they heard the sound of Naomi running down the hallway. "Dinner ready yet, Daddy?" she asked eagerly.

"No sweetheart, not yet, can you go set the table for me?" Alex asked softly, their daughter nodded, running off to the small cabinet they called a closet. It wasn't even big enough to be a pantry, just enough to fit a table cloth, some dishes and utensils.

After adding the vegetables and meat, Alex pulled out a small jar of spices from the cabinet above and added a pinch of this and a dash of that, carefully measuring out the ingredients. They knew that cooking was a science, and a slight variation in ingredients could make all the difference. However they didn't have much to work with.

As the stew simmered on the stove, filling the small shack with a delicious aroma, Alex couldn't help but smile. They knew that despite the dangers of their job, they were lucky to have a home and a family to come back to. Leaving the stew alone for a moment, they went back to their room to retrieve the notes they had taken on the vampire they were hunting. They walked over to their bed, picking up up their notes on the vampire. Stacking the books on top of each other without closing them. With a quick glance, they confirmed that they had everything they needed to know about the creature, from its weaknesses to its strengths.

Alex carefully carried the notes to the kitchen, taking care not to set them too close to the pot, in fear that the hot liquid would spill all over them as they went. Satisfied, Alex headed back to the old iron stove and stirred the stew. They added the potatoes to the pot and stirred them in, the aroma of the simmering stew growing stronger. As they waited for the stew to finish cooking,

It wasn't long before Naomi came bounding into the room, "Daddy, is dinner almost ready? I finished setting up the table." she asked eagerly.

Alex chuckled. "Almost, kiddo. But it's not quite done yet."

Naomi pouted, "Aww, I'm hungry now! Can't we just eat it as it is?"

Alex shook their head. "No, we have to let it simmer for a little longer. It'll taste much better that way. Why don't you go wash your hands and I'll show you notes on the village I have to go to You can help me plan for my next mission."

Naomi's face lit up, "Really? Can I help plan with you?"

"Of course, you can. We're a team, remember?" Alex said, ruffling her hair affectionately.

Naomi nodded eagerly and ran off to wash her hands. Alex smiled to themselves, feeling grateful for their daughter's enthusiasm and support, for their daughter and the warmth of their home. They grabbed their notes and a pencil and headed back to the kitchen table, ready to start planning their next adventure together. Once they placed their items down, they returned to the stove.

Alex couldn't help but think about the abandoned ruins they had read about. As they stirred the stew, they wondered what kind of creatures might be lurking in the shadows of the ruins. "I'll have to invest in some new weapons soon, maybe a crossbow with my longsword?" Alex mused out loud.

Naomi's eyes widened. "Can I come with you, Daddy?" she asked, her excitement evident in her voice.

Alex hesitated for a moment, considering the danger that lay ahead. "I'm sorry, kiddo," Alex said gently. "But it's too dangerous for you to come with me. Maybe when you're older and more experienced, we can go on a mission together. It's important that you stay here and take care of the house while I'm gone," Alex replied, trying to sound as reassuring as possible.

Naomi's face fell, but she nodded in understanding. "Okay, Daddy. But promise me you'll come back safe and sound," she said, giving Alex's leg a tight hug. They couldn't help but smile and gently pat her head, waving her off a few moments later to go sit down.

With a deep breath, Alex turned off the stove and poured the stew into a bowl. They took a spoon and tasted it, savoring the warmth and flavor. They knew that Naomi was going to love it, and they couldn't wait to see the look on her face when she took the first bite.

After placing a new bowl on the table, Alex turned to see Naomi already sitting in her chair, her legs dangling off the seat. "Smells yummy, Daddy!" she exclaimed, rubbing her hands together in anticipation.

Alex smiled, feeling a wave of love for their daughter. "It's hot, so be careful. I'll get you some bread to go with it," they said, reaching for the loaf on the counter. Something they stole just a day ago from another mission.

Naomi nodded eagerly, her eyes fixed on the bowl. As Alex sliced the bread and placed it on a plate, they couldn't help but think about the danger that lay ahead in the abandoned ruins. They knew they had to be careful and plan their next move. But for now, they were grateful for this moment with their daughter and the warmth of the stew on a cold, stormy night.

Alex served up dinner, a simple meal of warm stew, potatoes and vegetables. Chattering about the mission, Naomi eagerly dug into her meal, her eyes lighting up as she tasted the delicious flavors.

"This is so good, Daddy!" she exclaimed, taking another spoonful. "But you know what would make it even better? If we added some garlic to it! Garlic can kill vampires, you know."

Alex couldn't help but chuckle at Naomi's innocent suggestion. "Thanks for the tip, kiddo. I'll keep that in mind next time."

Naomi couldn't help but think about how their dad was going to defeat the vampire. "Maybe you can hit it with a really big stick!" she exclaimed, waving her spoon in the air for emphasis.

Alex chuckled. "Well, that might not be the best idea. But I'll figure something out."

"But what if you smack it realllyyyyy hard with a super huge stick!" Naomi suggested with a laugh.

Alex shook their head, smiling. "I don't think that would work either, kiddo. Vampires are tough creatures. But I appreciate the enthusiasm and creativity."

Naomi grinned, taking another spoonful of stew. "Well, maybe you could put garlic on the stick, or holy water!" she said, excitedly.

Alex raised an eyebrow. "That's actually not a bad idea. Garlic and holy water are both known to weaken vampires. I'll have to keep that in mind."

"Seeeeee! I told you I could help." Naomi said proudly.

Alex smiled. "Of course, kiddo. Now finish up dinner, it's past your bedtime."

After dinner, Alex tucked Naomi into bed and kissed her forehead. "I have something important to tell you kiddo."

Naomi's eyes widened as she looked up at her dad. "What is it, Daddy?" she asked, curious.

"I have to go away for a few days on a mission. But don't worry, there's plenty of food here for you and you'll be just fine on your own," Alex explained.

Naomi's face fell slightly, but she understood that her dad had an important job to do. "Okay, Daddy. But please come back soon," she said, her voice slightly trembling. "But what if a monster gets me when you're not here?" She asked fearfully.

"It's never happened before has it?"

"No.."

"See, my point kiddo."

Alex smiled reassuringly. "I'll be back before you know it. Goodnight dear, Sleep tight, kiddo," they said softly. With one last hug, Alex quietly slipped out of Naomi's room before turning off the lamp and closing the door.

Alex then returned to their own bed, bringing their many notes with them. Studying them for a few seconds before setting them down, and starting to quickly packed their bag, making sure to bring along all necessary equipment for the mission. As they moved about the small shack, their demeanor changed. The warmth and affection they had shown earlier disappeared, replaced by a cold and calculating personality. They were all business now, focused solely on the task at hand. The storm outside had picked up again, the wind howling through the cracks in the walls, The rain pounding against the roof of the shack.

As they finished packing, Alex turned to Naomi's room one last time. In a silent way of reminding themselves on why to return alive, nodding to themselves gently. Alex grabbed their still wet jacket and hat, covering themselves before they left the shack, stepping out into the raging storm. The wind whipped around them, rain pelting down hard against their coat. But they were used to this, having been on countless missions before. They looked at their small map before heading towards the village, determined to find the vampire and eliminate it.

As they walked, their thoughts were solely on the mission. The warmth of the shack and their family seemed like a distant memory now. They couldn't afford to let their guard down, not even for a moment.

Finally arriving at the village that morning, Alex immediately went to work, asking around for information on the vampire. Alex approached a common villager who was sweeping the front of their small cottage. "Excuse me, do you have a moment to talk about the vampire that's been sighted in this area?" Alex asked in a direct manner.

The villager paused their sweeping and looked up at Alex, sizing them up before responding. "Aye, I've heard talk of such a creature. It's said to lurk in the ruins outside the village," the villager replied.

Alex nodded, taking notes as the villager continued to speak. "Have you seen anything out of the ordinary around here lately?" Alex asked.

The villager shook their head. "Nay, I haven't seen anything myself. But I've heard tell of missing livestock and strange noises coming from the ruins at night," the villager said.

"Thank you for your time," Alex said, before moving on to speak with other villagers.

Alex continued to ask around about the vampire, gathering as much information as possible. They spoke to a young woman who was tending to her garden, who told them about the disappearances of several travelers on the road outside of the village.

Next, they approached a group of older men sitting outside of a tavern. They spoke in hushed tones about a strange figure that they had seen lurking in the shadows at night, and how they had heard rumors of a cursed tomb nearby. Alex noted to ignore the cursed tomb rumors, as nothing of it was mentioned until now.

As Alex made their way through the village, they caught sight of a group of knights in the distance. Approaching them, Alex could see the stern look on their faces and the glint of their armor in the dim light.

"Excuse me, sirs," Alex said, approaching them cautiously. "I'm searching for information about a vampire that may be in the area. Have you heard anything?"

The knights exchanged a look before one of them spoke up. "We've heard rumors, yes. But we've yet to confirm any sightings or attacks. We've been patrolling the area, but we haven't come across anything out of the ordinary."

Alex nodded, taking note of their response. "Thank you, sirs. I appreciate your time."

As they turned to leave, one of the knights called out. "Be careful out there, traveler. The night is dark and full of terrors."

Alex made their way to the church, a towering structure that dominated the village center. As they entered the holy building, they felt a sense of reverence wash over them. They walked up to the altar where a man in a white robe turned to face them. "Greetings, my child. What brings you to our church today?" he asked.

"I am searching for information about a vampire," Alex said, their voice stern and business-like.

The man's expression shifted, his brows furrowing. "A vampire, you say? That is a dangerous creature to be hunting."

Alex remained unfazed. "I am aware of the danger, but it is my duty to protect this village and its people."

The man regarded Alex with a stern expression. "Vampires are an abomination in the eyes of the Lord," he said in a deep voice. "We must do all we can to rid the world of these foul creatures."

Alex nodded in agreement with a bored expression. "Do you have any information that could help me track down this particular vampire?" they asked.

The man thought for a moment, then spoke in a hushed tone. "There have been rumors of a powerful vampire who resides in a nearby castle. Some say that he is in league with the devil himself, and that he cannot be killed by normal means."

Alex rolled their eyes in annoyance, talk of God and the church always made them sick, but they remained determined. "Thank you for your help, sir," they said before leaving the church.

Alex finished their conversation with the priest, feeling a mixture of relief and skepticism. They knew that they couldn't rely solely on the information they received and that they would have to see for themselves.

As Alex listened to each person, their cold and blunt personality became more and more evident. They didn't waste time on pleasantries or small talk, cutting right to the heart of the matter. The weather outside had picked up once again, the wind howling and the rain pouring down in sheets. But Alex paid it no mind, their focus solely on the task at hand. With a determined expression on their face, Alex began the trek towards the ruins.

As they walked, the wind began to pick up, making the journey more difficult. Alex's coat flapped wildly around them, and they pulled their hat down a bit to shield their face from the biting cold. Despite the harsh conditions, Alex refused to slow down. They were too close to their goal to be deterred by a little bad weather.

Finally, after what felt like hours of walking, Alex reached the outskirts of the ruins. They paused for a moment, taking in the eerie atmosphere of the abandoned buildings. The air was thick with a sense of foreboding. But they didn't let their fear get the best of them. Steeling themselves, Alex took a deep breath and stepped into the area of the ruins, ready to face whatever lay ahead.

As Alex walked towards the ruins, the landscape changed. The ground grew muddier, and the air became colder and wetter. The ruins themselves were imposing and eerie, with crumbling walls and broken columns that hinted at a grander past.

The ruins were surrounded by a dense forest, and the trees seemed to close in on Alex, casting strange shadows that made it difficult to see. Despite the chill and the dampness, there was a stillness in the air that was almost oppressive. It felt as if the ruins were holding their breath, waiting for something.

As Alex approached the entrance, they could see that the door was partially ajar, and there was a musty smell coming from within. The ruins were dark, but Alex could just make out the outline of a long hallway stretching ahead of them. The silence was broken only by the sound of water dripping from the ceiling, and the occasional rustle of a small animal scurrying across the floor.

Alex felt a chill run down their spine, but they didn't let it bother them. They knew that they were getting closer to their target, but they couldn't shake the feeling that they were being watched. The ruins felt like a place where secrets were kept, and the air was thick with mystery and danger. They kept their guard up, waiting to be attacked at any minute as they kept walking through the old buildings.

As Alex made their way deeper into the ruins, they suddenly heard a haunting sounds of fast footsteps in the distance. The sound was airy, like the creature was just barely touching the ground, drawing them closer to its source. As they turned a corner, they found a ghoul balancing on some rubble, he then sat down, turning to the hunter with a smirk.

"Hello there, pretty boy," The demon greeted Alex, twirling a strand of his hair with a gloved hand. "What brings you to these ruins? Looking for something? Or someone?" He paused, studying Alex's face with his piercing red eyes. "Or maybe you're just lost."

Alex frowned, unamused by the mocking tone. "I'm here on a mission," they said curtly, keeping their voice low. "I don't have time for your games."

The ghoul chuckled, his wings fluttering behind him. "Oh, but games are what make life interesting, don't you think?" He continued, staring down at Alex.

Alex asked bluntly. "Are you a danger to the people?"

Sage chuckled. "Me? A danger? Please, all I do is play harmless pranks on the nuns. Nothing that would hurt anyone. And besides, I can help you find the vampire."

Alex narrowed their eyes at him, skeptical of his intentions. "What exactly do you gain from playing tricks on nuns, demon?" they asked, crossing their arms.

Sage shrugged, his wings fluttering behind him. "Just a little harmless fun. It's not like I'm hurting anyone," he said with a grin.

Alex wasn't convinced, but they couldn't deny that the ghoul might be of some use in finding the vampire. "Fine," they said begrudgingly. "But don't think I'm letting my guard down around you."

The ghoul laughed, twirling his hair slightly. "Oh, hunter, you wound me. I'm just here to help," he said with a sly smile.

Alex raised an eyebrow skeptically. "Why would you want to help?"

The ghoul shrugged. "Boredom!"

Alex rolled their eyes, motioning for the demon to follow them. Despite their reservations, Alex couldn't deny that having creature's help could be beneficial. "Alright, but no funny business," they warned.

He grinned. "Wouldn't dream of it."

As they continued walking, the ghoul couldn't help but make small talk with Alex. "So, what's your name? You never told me," he said with a mischievous grin.

"Crimson," they responded, trying to remain focused on the task at hand, not giving out their legal name but their given name. One only used during work.

The demon nodded, "Ah, Crimson, I like that name but I have a small feeling you're lying to me. However it's easy to remember. Do you like my name? I'm Sage, by the way."

Alex didn't respond, simply nodding and continuing to walk. Sage persisted, "You know, I've been around here for a while now, I know this area like the back of my hand. Maybe I could help you find what you're looking for. I'm quite good at tracking."

Alex finally spoke up, "We're looking for a vampire, Sage. It's not a game or a prank. It's dangerous, and we need to take it seriously."

Despite this, Sage couldn't resist trying to make small talk a few more times, until Alex finally snapped at him to focus on the mission at hand.

As Sage and Alex continue their conversation, there is a feeling of being watched that lingers in the air. The trees rustle and the wind howls, but it's not just nature. Every now and then, a branch snaps or a twig crunches in the distance, sending shivers down their spines.

As they walk deeper into the ruins, the sense of being watched only grows stronger. Sage continues to chatter on, seemingly oblivious to the unease in the air, but Alex is on high alert. They can't shake the feeling that something dangerous is lurking in the shadows, watching their every move.

Alex quickly reached out and grabbed Sage's arm, pulling him to a stop. "Shut up for a few moments." Alex whispered, their eyes scanning the darkness around them. Sage rolled their eyes in slight amusement.

"What scared the vampire is gonna get you? Oooo I'm so scared—" Sage was cut off by Alex slapping their hand over his mouth.

Suddenly, the silence was shattered by the sound of rustling leaves, followed by the sight of a dark figure emerging from the shadows. It was the vampire they had been hunting, and it had been stalking them.

Without warning, the vampire launched itself at Alex with blinding speed, its fangs bared and ready to strike. Alex raised their longsword in defense, the sharp blade glinting in the moonlight. As the undead went to bite them, Alex stuck their sword in front of them. Causing the vampire to bite the blade, hissing came from the beast.

The two clashed, the sound of metal against flesh echoing through the ruins. Blood sprayed as the vampire slashed at Alex with its sharp claws, but Alex fought back fiercely, their own attacks precise and deadly. Attacking like a well strung puppet dancing to it's masters commands.

The battle was brutal and unforgiving, both combatants fighting with all their might. Sage watched in surprise as the vampire began to gain the upper hand for a few seconds, tearing into Alex's clothes, just barely scratching their flesh.

But just when it seemed all was lost, Alex struck the final blow, plunging their longsword deep into the vampire's chest. The creature let out a guttural scream before collapsing to the ground, its body twitching as it bled out. Alex quickly took their sword out of its chest and slashed at its neck, making sure the creature was dead.

Alex breathed heavily, before turning to Sage, who was looking at them with an amused expression. "What's so funny?" Alex asked, their sword still gripped tightly in their hand.

"I found the vampire." Sage said in a smartass tone, pointing to the corpse. Alex sighed in annoyance.

"More like I found the vampire, jackass." Alex commented.

Sage chuckled. "You're quite the fighter, aren't you? It's almost entertaining to watch."

Alex's expression hardened. "This is no laughing matter. That vampire was dangerous and could have killed us both."

Sage shrugged. "I know, I know. But you have to admit, it was kind of exciting. And besides, we both made it out alive, didn't we? Well, you did, I'm already dead so it doesn't matter to me."

Alex couldn't help but feel annoyed by Sage's nonchalant attitude towards the situation. "This is not a game, Sage. People's lives are at stake."

Sage's expression softened for a few moments before the smile returned. "I know, I'm sorry. I understand the seriousness of the situation."

Alex nodded, slightly appeased by Sage's offer. "Fine. But from now on, take this seriously. Lives are on the line."

Sage gave them a mock salute. "Yes, sir! I'll be on my best behavior."

Alex rolled their eyes again and quickly cracked their sword to the side, the blood from the vampire splattering onto the floor. Cleaning the blade as the hunter scowled slightly in disgust.

Together, the two hurried out of the ruins, the duo parting ways.

As Alex approached the doorstep of their beat up home, they could hear the faint sound of Naomi giggling from inside. The sound was like music to their ears after three days of traveling and fighting. Alex's hand shook slightly as they reached out to open the door.

As soon as they stepped inside, Naomi came running towards them with open arms, shouting "Daddy!" Alex scooped her up into their arms, feeling her warm embrace and taking in the familiar scent of their home.

"How was your mission, Daddy?" Naomi asked, looking up at them with big bright eyes.

"It was long and tiring, but I got the job done, no more evil vampires bothering the village." Alex replied with a tired smile.

Naomi nodded understandingly, and then added, "I missed you so much."

Alex's heart swelled with warmth at Naomi's words. They realized how much they had missed her too. They hugged her tightly, feeling grateful for their safe return home.

As they settled back into their home routine, Alex felt the warmth of their family personality returning. The memories of their dangerous mission slowly faded away, replaced by the comfort and joy of their peaceful home.

As they lay in bed that night, Alex felt grateful for their family and the love they shared. They knew they had to repeat the same process once again, but they also knew that their family would always be their safe haven, a place to return to and find comfort in. Soon they closed their eyes, drifting off into much needed slumber.

The next morning, Alex heard a knock from the front door as they were cooking breakfast. Alex wiped their hands on a ragged cloth before heading to the door. As they opened it, they saw Sage standing outside, holding a small bag.

"Good morning, my dear friend! I hope I'm not interrupting anything," Sage said with a grin as he entered the house without waiting for an invitation.

Alex felt slightly annoyed at Sage's intrusion, but they didn't want to be rude while their daughter was around. They gestured for Sage to sit at the table while they finished making breakfast. Naomi looked up at Sage with curiosity in her eyes, and Sage smiled back at her.

"What's in the bag, Sage?" Alex asked as they set the breakfast on the table.

"Just a few trinkets I found on my travels. I thought you and Naomi might enjoy them," Sage replied, pulling out a few small crystals and handing them to Naomi.

Alex immediately froze up, grabbing the cold ghoul and dragging him to the next room.

"How the hell do you know about her? She doesn't leave this house, how did you even find me??" Alex questioned with venom dripping from their voice.

"I followed you home last night dummy! What else?"

Alex then rolled their eyes and let go of Sage, pushing him out of the room before smiling softly at their daughter, seeing her unphased by the ghoul in front of her.

Naomi's eyes lit up with excitement as she examined the crystals in her small hands. But even more so she was excited to see a real ghoul at her kitchen table.

"Thank you, Sage. That's very thoughtful of you," Alex said, their annoyance dissipating slightly.

Sage grinned widely, "Anything for my friends!"

As they ate breakfast, Sage made himself comfortable in their home. He chatted with Naomi, showing her a few tricks with his snake and telling her some funny stories. Alex kept a watchful eye on the two of them, but smiled seeing Naomi so happy.

Naomi ran up to Alex, hugging him tightly. "Daddy, who is this man?" she asked, eyeing Sage. Alex shot Sage a look, to which he just shrugged.

"You didn't bother introducing yourself, whatever. This is Sage, a friend of mine," Alex said, tousling Naomi's hair. "He's a bit of a troublemaker, so watch out."

Sage laughed. "Hey, I'm not that bad," he protested, but the mischievous glint in his eyes suggested otherwise.

Alex couldn't help but feel grateful for the unexpected company. It was rare for them to have visitors, and even rarer for them to let their guard down and enjoy himself. For once, they could forget about the dangers and uncertainties of their world and just enjoy the moment.

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