#This is ancient and it was meant to be crack but it makes me hurt jm sorry

[the-heaminator]

Equinox

I wrote this 2 and a half years ago and haven't touched it since, reading it makes me hurt inside. At this point I had only read ff net fics from the early 2010s I'm sorry

It was the monthly meeting of the magic trio, everything was in order. Romania was being the master of chaos he is, England was annoyed and Norway was just trying not to get cursed or hexed.

This time they were trying out the gender swap spell, they had been looking forward to it for a while and now that they had the chance to actually complete the spell they were excited, the equinox was upon them.so why the hell not. They had almost set it up, the pentacle was perfect, there were the right herbs and candles, all that needed to be done was the incantation when there was a loud knock on the door. A knock so loud, that it could be heard from all the way down in the basement.

The Englishman was obviously pissed off, so he went upstairs, along with the small bundle of chaos that is Romania to give whoever disturbed them a piece of his mind and received an unexpected surprise, the surprise that Denmark, Prussia and for some reason Hungary were there.

"Why are you here, we have things to be doing," England said, annoyed

"That's exactly why the awesome us are here, to stop you and Norway being such stick-in-the-muds."

"What in bloody hell about Romania then, he is the master of chaos so I don't think you need to do anything to him."

"We do not, but he is nearly as awesome as we are so he will have some fun with the awesome us."

"Romania is not awesome," Hungary said flatly

"Well, neither are you, frying pan," Romania said to Hungary

England yelled for Norway to come up and when the Norwegian came up grumbling and swearing and immediately put on a blank face as soon as he saw the other three.

"Why are you here?" He said rather exasperated "We were in the middle of something."

"Comeee on Norge, let us stay for a bit, we won't annoy you." Denmark did puppy dog eyes and he could tell that they worked on England by the way he looked away.

"Ja, we will just be here until you are done!" Prussia also attempted the puppy dog eyes, but failed miserably and looked like he would stab you in the stomach with a spork

"No, you guys will stay out until we are done, please and thank you," England said dismissively

"OH NO, YOU DON'T," Hungary said, she had her own agenda to be doing right now and she didn't need any more setbacks than they have already. "WE WILL COME IN AND THERE IS NOTHING YOU CAN DO TO STOP US."

The magic trio all swallowed and allowed them in, and explicitly told them not to annoy them. Obviously, Prussia and Denmark didn't listen and brought out some alcohol.

You see, this was all a ploy for Hungary to get blackmail material, Prussia and Denmark to get drunk as hell and for them to loosen up their uptight friends.

"Why do you have alcohol?" England asked, eyes narrowing.

"We were here to help you guys loosen up, but apparently you are too busy doing boring stuff to have fun with us!" Prussia said, pouting much like a child.

"Yes but why exactly, whenever you do something remotely nice, it usually means there is some sort of ulterior motive involved."

"I swear this time there isn't,you haven't hung out with us in a while and we want to make sure you are alright." Prussia said with utmost sincerity.

England and Norway were very good at not doing stupid things when people told them to (or so the others thought) so they went back down into the basement Both angrily mumbling something. Romania however stayed up and scrutinised the 3 and asked, "Really, why are you here?"

Gilbert and Mathias both actually wanted to help loosen up their rather uptight friends, and Vlad knew that, he was honestly more worried about Hungary. 

Because it was Hungary. Enough said.

[jjkamochoso]

It's me again lol!! What about jjk men taking the reader on an aquarium date or like a museum date! ^_^

UR MIND >>>>>>> SO ADORABLE

Also I’m now including Ino because I can’t believe I’ve been forgetting to add my pookie in these

Enjoy and thanks for the request!!! <3

JJK Men Taking You on a Date to the Aquarium/Museum

Fluff

JJK men x gn!reader

Warnings: none

Yuji:

“That fish looks like you.”

Your eyes fell to where Yuji’s finger was pointing. There was a huge fish with big, bulging eyes swimming in circles in the aquarium exhibit in front of you.

“Oh, really, does it?” You were thoroughly amused at your boyfriend’s antics, his grin widening as you played along. “This one is a spitting image of you.”

Yuji caught a glimpse of the fish you were pointing at and turned away from you, making you frown. Did you inadvertently hurt his feelings? The fish wasn’t *that* ugly. Besides, you both were joking around, but you never meant to go too far and make him sad. You tentatively put a hand on his back to get his attention.

“Yuji, I didn’t—”

He faced you again, this time sporting a quintessential fish face with his cheeks sucked in and lips protruding in a pout. You immediately started cracking up, and since laughter is contagious, especially among you two, so did he.

“There’s lots of cute fish here, but you were the cutest,” you finally said, making him blush. He grasped your hand tightly and you set off for another exhibit.

Megumi:

When Megumi asked you on a date to an art museum, you were elated. A quiet, calm activity like this was perfect for the both of you so you could enjoy each other’s company without many other people observing you. You walked side by side with the boy as you meandered through the exhibit that was showcasing artwork of animals in ancient civilizations. You stopped in front of a particularly cute sculpture of a dog, cooing softly.

“Megumi, look how adorable,” you said, and he nodded in agreement.

“Reminds me of my own,” he mused, referring to his divine dogs (you thought it was precious how close he was to his shikigami).

“Maybe we can bribe the curator with Gojo’s money to take it home with us.”

Megumi shot you a look. “Are you serious? I don’t think you can just take art like that.”

A few seconds passed.

“Can you?”

“I don’t know,” you said, “I was joking.”

Megumi was quiet as usual but the air about him seemed almost contemplative. After a few more seconds, he shook his head and shoved his hands in his pockets. “Gojo would probably break it anyway.”

“Wait, were you actually considering trying to buy it?” you questioned.

“Maybe.” The black haired boy shrugged, moving on to the next sculpture.

“Fushiguro the art collector, huh? Who would’ve thought you were so extravagant. Gojo’s spending habits must have rubbed off on you,” you teased, making him huff.

“Shut up,” he said, no bite to his tone whatsoever as you just giggled, cuddling up to his side as you continued on with your date.

Yuta:

“It’s like getting a million little kisses. I’m so in love with this creature.”

"Am I… jealous of a starfish?”

You were currently holding a starfish in your hands, its suction cups sticking to your skin, leaving behind a tickling sensation that you couldn’t get enough of. Your boyfriend, on the other hand, wasn’t a fan of your kissing analogy and was doing his best not to pout over something so silly.

“Yuta, come closer! It’s too cute not to hold.”

He couldn’t deny he was curious to see what the hype was about. People had flocked over to this exhibit in droves and you guys had waited in line to hold a sea star for an ungodly amount of time—he wasn’t going to miss out now. The handler put one in his hands too and he immediately understood what you meant earlier.

“They are really cute. I see what you meant by the whole kissing thing, that’s amazing,” he said, his voice laced with wonder and amusement as he watched the sea creature grip onto his skin. He then looked up and locked eyes with you, both of your irises alight with love.

“But I still prefer yours.”

Inumaki:

There’s plenty of fish in the sea but you’re the only one for me.

You raised an eyebrow at the words on the phone screen shoved in front of your face while you were watching some fish swim by in the aquarium tank. Toge, meanwhile, was dying laughing at his lame pick up line written in his notes app. Seeing his reaction made your lips quirk up into a mischievous grin as something came to mind. You pulled out your own phone and hurriedly began typing, thrusting it toward him when you were done.

I cod-nt imagine my life without you, Toge. You’re a reel catch.

You couldn’t help the laugh that escaped your throat when you saw the grimace he wore.

“Fish flakes,” he said, putting his head in his hands and stifling giggles.

“My line was that bad, huh?” you asked, nudging him softly.

“Salmon,” he agreed, but the loving look he held in his eyes when they met yours again showed he was anything but bothered.

“You’re of-fish-ally the cutest boy I’ve ever seen,” you told him while ruffling his hair playfully, earning a loud groan from the blonde. He quickly typed out another sentence.

I’m so glad we go to the same school.

Noritoshi:

You were pleasantly surprised when Noritoshi asked you on a date to the aquarium. You figured he would’ve deemed it too childish or an experience not scholarly enough but you were wrong, now feeling the pull of his hand as he excitedly walked you around, pointing things out and chatting about things he had just learned.

“…and I just read that most fish don’t have eyelashes. Did you see that too?”

“Except for sharks,” you replied, a gentle smiling resting on your face.

“Exactly.”

Noritoshi took a deep breath as you led him to a bench to sit down and watch the jellyfish float around.

“I’m sorry for getting too passionate. I just feel like I can be myself here. There’s less… pressure, if that makes sense. Like I can learn things just to know them, not to impress anyone or get a good grade on something. It’s… nice.”

“You don’t have to apologize, I know what you mean,” you said, laying a comforting hand on his leg. Noritoshi rested his hand on top of yours and gave it a light squeeze, observing the entrancing dance of the jellyfish.

“They look so free,” he muttered. “I wonder what that feels like.”

Your head was now lovingly balanced against his shoulder as you squeezed his hand back.

“I promise you that one day you’ll know.”

Todo:

“Y/n! You have to watch this!”

You were happy to accompany Aoi to the local science museum for a date. You two were having a fun time exploring and trying out all the different experiments the museum had to offer. You weren’t sure what to expect when Aoi called you over to the experiment he had just done since you were enthralled in a presentation about lightning. You were confused when Aoi put his hand on a big ball, but all of a sudden, the hair in his bun became even spikier than normal.

“Static electricity!” he exclaimed, sporting a huge grin. Seeing how happy all of this made your boyfriend had you smiling from ear to ear as well. When he eventually took his hand off the orb, his hair didn’t quite go back into place.

“C’mere,” you giggled, gesturing to his hair, “I’ll fix it for you.”

“Thank you, my love,” he said, leaning over to where you could reach him. You combed the strands back into place and gave him a kiss on the cheek when you were done.

“You’re having a fun time today, right?” Aoi asked you, a rare moment of vulnerability from the muscular man.

“Of course, Aoi. Thank you for inviting me here.”

“No problem,” he replied, his cocky demeanor back as he winked at you. “Now, if you’re interested, there’s a presentation on superconductors in a few minutes. Do you want to see it?”

It always surprised you when you remembered just how smart your sometimes air-headed boyfriend really was.

Gojo:

When you invited Satoru to the science museum, he was extremely excited. Not because of the science aspect, no, but because he loved to eat the packs of freeze dried ice cream you can buy from the gift shop. You were busy reading a giant wall panel about physics when you felt the thunk of a head resting on your back and heard a sigh of exasperation.

“Are you finished yet? This is boring,” Satoru said, mumbling into your shirt.

“I’m trying to learn, Satoru. It wouldn’t kill you to learn something either. You’re a teacher, aren’t you supposed to have a thirst for knowledge?”

“I have a thirst for soda,” came a muffled reply from behind you. You rolled your eyes, going back to reading. Satoru kept fidgeting and you found yourself getting frustrated at his lack of focus.

“Since you know so much, why don’t you tell me about relativity and quantum mechanics?”

“Quantum mechanics studies the world by looking at just a few small particles like photons and electrons. Relativity is the theory of gravitation that Einstein proposed around the same time as quantum mechanics. General relativity studies the construct of space-time and gravity, while special relativity studies special conditions and scenarios, such as length contraction, which is where an object is moving near the speed of light and its length actually shortens. See, I already know this stuff, so can we pleeeease go to the gift shop now?” Satoru whined, throwing his head back in an exaggerated display of boredom. Your mind was still reeling over the fact that your boyfriend was… ridiculously good at science and never bothered to tell you?!

“I… yeah,” you said, completely dumbfounded. Satoru ignored the confusion in your voice as he cheered, grabbing your hand and leading you to the gift shop.

Geto:

You and Suguru were taking your time walking through the museum he chose for your date. It was nice to walk with him, holding hands and enjoying deep conversations about the pieces that were showcased in each exhibit. You came up to a bench in front of a particularly large infographic and took a seat, your lover sitting next to you. After he knew you were finished reading, he asked you the few little words he assumed would set you off on a passionate tangent (he was right).

“So, y/n, what are your thoughts on this topic?”

As you began to analyze everything you just learned, Suguru watched you intently, but not in a negative manner; he was just so genuinely interested in what you had to say that it was like the whole world around him disappeared every time you opened your mouth. He nodded along, hearing you bring up things he hadn’t even considered yet.

“I’m lucky to have a partner who’s so intelligent,” Suguru cooed, his thumb ghosting over your jawline, initiating this romantic moment like you two were the only people in the building. To him, you were the only people that mattered anyway, so what was the point in hiding how he truly felt?

Nanami:

“C’mon Kento, it’s not as scary as you think it is. They’re completely harmless.”

You were currently trying to get your boyfriend to pet the stingrays but he was not having any part of it. The color had drained from Kento’s face when you submerged your hand in the clear water, feeling the smooth surface of the rays under your fingertips. The blonde man wasn’t afraid, per se, but he didn’t think it was the wisest decision to be touching such a dangerous animal.

“Y/n, I just don’t think it’s a good idea. What if you provoke them?”

You were about to laugh when you saw he was genuinely distressed. Frowning, you stood up and tried to dry your wet hand the best you could before reaching out to him.

“Kento, honey, it’s alright. They have to be really angry to sting people. I promise you’ll be alright if you try it.”

Kento relented and leaned over the touch tank, hesitantly placing his hand in the water next to yours. When a ray swam under him, the rubbery texture gracing his skin, he immediately tensed up. Your unoccupied hand landed on his arm as encouragement and it seemed to help him relax a bit. A few more stingrays came over to him and Kento finally calmed down, smiling as he greeted his new friends.

Ino:

“Babe, look, that’s literally us.”

Ino caught your attention away from a particularly interesting exhibit about seaweed as he pointed to a diagram that displayed two fish with their mouths on each other.

“Ino, that’s very sweet, but I think they’re fighting.”

Your boyfriend leaned closer to read the tiny print, his hands in his pockets in a display of nonchalance that you always found supremely attractive.

“Oh, you’re right! They try to flip each other over like that. It’s like the Spider-Man kiss but more badass.”

You shook your head, lightly chuckling as you linked your arm in his and continued walking through the aquarium. All of a sudden, you gasped and tapped Ino’s arm excitedly.

“Oh my god! This is literally us!”

Ino’s eyes went wide and his smile grew bigger. You were showing him to a video that displayed otters holding hands as they drifted in the water.

“Yeah,” he said dreamily, resting his chin on the top of your head as you watched the animals on the screen, “it is.”

Choso:

You were sitting in a dark room of the planetarium, looking up at a projected sky full of stars with your handsome boyfriend. Choso had his arm wrapped tightly around your body, hand resting on your waist as your head was nestled against his shoulder. You sat there quietly, enjoying the peacefulness of the exhibit. The sight of the stars above you changed into a slow spinning view of the earth and you gasped lightly.

“Woah, look at how beautiful our world is.” You didn’t hear him reply, which was unusual, so you lowered your eyes from the spectacular scene above to look at the man next to you.

“You’re my world,” he stated bluntly, unrelenting gaze boring into your own. “You’re the brightest star in the galaxy of my life.”

“You’re so cheesy,” you said, trying not to show how flustered you got over his beautiful words. He just drew you in closer, adamant to never let you go.

Toji:

“How does this piece make you feel?”

“Like I’ve been here for hours and I’m hungry.”

Toji wasn’t the biggest fan of the art museum you dragged him to but you were glad he allowed you to take him here in the first place. It meant a lot to you that he would willingly go somewhere like this that completely disinterested him, but he would go to the ends of the earth to please you.

“There’s a cafe around here if you wanna go eat,” you said, paying him no mind as you studied the painting that grabbed your attention.

Toji scoffed. “And leave you here by yourself? No way.”

Your focus was now broken, instead trying to stifle a laugh at his overprotective behavior. “The art isn’t going to kidnap me, you know.”

“I know,” he grumbled, folding his arms across his chest, “but some dude might see a smart, attractive person like you by yourself and think he has a chance.”

“And I need my big, hot, uninterested-in-art boyfriend to keep an eye out for me?”

“Exactly.” Toji smirked at you while you rolled your eyes playfully.

“I appreciate that. I’ll finish up here and we’ll head to the cafe together then?”

“Sounds good to me.”

You went back to your contemplative state while Toji’s eyes wandered the room. He would never tell you this, but he found many of the pieces actually interesting and hoped you would take him along to more places like this in the future.

[aestheticaltcow]

Wedding of the Year

Sierra and Carmy are getting married, and you and Richie play important roles in the ceremony. Of course, the two of you will find some time for some fun.

MDNI 18+

Previous Part

The Bear Masterlist

“It’s so pretty! He has surprisingly good taste,” you gushed as Sierra showed you the shiny platinum emerald-cut moissanite ring with small pearl details on both sides, creating a unique yet classic three-stone ring.

“I don’t think he picked it out himself, but I do love it- and him.” she smiled as she ran her thumb across the stones. “And now you have something to fidget with.” you cracked, elbowing her before you hopped down from the low brick wall the two of you had been sitting on during her lunch break from the hospital. Sierra rolled her eyes, “Downside, Dr. Dunlap is being a booty hole about me ‘being engaged to her ex’, like girl- he never even referred to you as his girlfriend. Pull the stick out of your butt, and let me be happy and in love.” 

You shrugged, “Well, I should probably get back to work. See you tomorrow night for dinner with your fiance.” you teased slightly. Sierra laughed and nodded, “Hey, Y/N, just to let you know… Richie is gonna be there. If we do a traditional wedding, Carmy wants him to be his best man… obviously you’re my maid of honor. It’s not gonna be like weird or anything, right?” 

You shook your head, “Sierra, I couldn’t care less about what that man thinks of me. He called me a whore like six months ago; it’s ancient fuckin’ history.”

Sierra shot you a concerned look. The shitty part about being twins was the fact she always knew when you were lying, even if you didn’t know it yourself. It had hurt when Richie called you out six months ago, and you’d be lying if you said it wasn’t something you’d thought about periodically here and there, but you’d do anything to make Sierra happy. She was your big sister- by 17 minutes- after all, and if that meant dealing with Richie for a few hours every so often, all be it.

~

Richie was frustrated about needing to go to your apartment that evening. Since he confronted you, he’s successfully avoided you like the plague, but when Carmy told him he proposed to Sierra, and she’d said ‘yes’, he knew he’d have to deal with you again at one point. “Let’s get this over with…” Richie mumbled to himself as he knocked on the door to your apartment. When you opened the door, you stood in awkward silence before moving to the side to allow Richie into your place. 

“Sorry about the mess.” you half-heartedly apologized as Richie removed his jacket and threw it on a small kitchen table separating the main room of your apartment and the open kitchen area. You crossed your arms over your chest as Richie looked around your apartment, “You have a Master’s degree?” he asked aloud as you moved toward your well-loved red couch. You nodded, “I’m working on my PhD in microbiology. I teach at The University of Chicago.” 

“That’s pretty badass… women in STEM and shit…” Richie awkwardly stammered as he noticed the pictures on the walls. He assumed some were science-related as they were rounded images of what he imagined were cells or something. He smiled when he noticed a picture of you and Sierra from what he presumed was high school or college graduation.

“Thanks. I’ve been told it’s impressive- but I’m also just a slut.” you rolled your eyes and moved to sit on the couch. You brought a box up from under the coffee table and waited for Richie to sit beside you.

“For what it counts- I’m sorry for calling you a slut. I have a daughter, and I-” You cut Richie off with a blunt scoff. “Fuck off with the pseudo feminism Richard. Let’s just go through these pictures and be pleasant for the sake of Sierra and Carmy.” 

Richie sighed, “Okay.”

Neither of you was sure how you’d gotten into this predicament. You’d gone from being at each other’s throats and looking through Sierra-provided/approved photos for some wedding slideshow to Richie being in your throat. Now you were laid back on the couch while Richie ran his tongue through your velvety folds. You pulled at the little hair he had as one of his slender fingers slipped inside of you, brushing places you could only dream of getting by yourself. You mewled at the sensation, bucking your hips against his mouth, desperate for more. Richie suckled at your clit, savoring the taste of your fluids. 

“F-fuck!” you exhaled as your legs shook as your orgasm had finally peaked. Richie hummed against your upper thigh before gently biting the sensitive skin just hard enough to leave a slight bruise. With that, Richie sat on your couch as you panted, attempting to catch your breath. He chuckled as he ran his hands over his mouth, wiping away the evidence of what he’d done. You moved to sit up and looked over at Richie, lustfully ready for round two, especially after noticing the lump in his boxer briefs. “Let’s go back to my room?” you whispered as you moved to rest your hand on his thigh.

Richie wanted to say ‘yes’, but when he looked at the clock, he remembered the babysitter was only booked until 10:30. He groaned and placed his hand over yours, “I want to, I really fuckin’ want to, but I gotta get home to my kid.” 

You frowned but nodded reluctantly, “It's okay.” 

~

Richie wanted you. He watched as you stood in a circle with some of the other bride’s maids; he breathed deeply as you brought your vape to your lips. Seeing your lips wrap around anything was getting him hot. “You okay there, Richie?” Pete bantered as he stood before Richie with one hand in his pocket and a cocktail in the other. Richie tilted his head to the side and waved off the man so he could continue staring at you, “Go for it.” Pete commented as he looked over his shoulder to see Richie had been starring at you. “You and Carmy could be brother-in-laws.”

You were talking to a group of your and Sierra’s high school friends when you felt a hand on your lower back. “Hey,” Richie greeted you warmly. You smiled in his direction and noticed one of your friends nudge the other before walking away. “Scarin’ my friends away old man.” you playfully teased as you turned to face Richie. 

“You look pretty…my kid is at her Mom’s place.” 

You clicked your tongue, “I don’t know Richie. Turns out Carmy has some REALLY hot friends… you’re not my only option.” 

Richie chuckled as he looked around the room, “Baby girl… they won’t fuck you right. Don’t you want a real man?” 

You felt your cheeks heat up as Richie’s hand got closer to your ass cheek, “You’re not wearin’ panties…” Richie mumbled into your ear. You playfully hit his chest, “Wouldn’t you like to know.” you teased. 

“Prove me wrong, Y/N.”

You looked around the room and ensured your parents were occupied before looping your finger around Richie’s belt, “Meet me in the bathroom…”

~

“Fuck your-” Richie grunted as he continued to thrust his hip into you, “your pussy’s fuckin’ perfect.” you met his compliment with soft mewls as your head bumped against the wall of the bathroom stall. Your dress was hiked up above your hips. Richie squeezed your thigh, pulling it up over his hips as he fucked you against the wall. You sank your nails into his neck as you felt the knot in your stomach tighten. “Feel good, baby? Cum on my fuckin’ cock.” 

“Mmm, yes, Daddy.” you whimpered as his thrusts started to get sloppier and shorter—the bathroom filled with the sounds of slapping skin and both of your moans. “I’m gonna cum- uh fuckfuckfuck!”

You stood in front of the bathroom mirror fixing your lipstick as Richie zipped his pants and wiped his brow. “Wanna come over tonight?” he asked as you moved to fix your hair, you shrugged. Richie groaned, “Y/N, come on.” he stepped forward and wrapped his arms around the bottom of your stomach and leaned against your back resting his chin on your shoulder. “How bout I take you out for dinner some time?” he offered moving to kiss your jaw. You giggled and put your hands over his, “When?” you quiered putting your head back against his shoulder as he moved to pepper soft open mouth kisses on your neck. 

“Whenever you’re free.” 

[writemekpop]

Lost Cause | Jung Jaehyun

Summary: You decide to give your ex Jaehyun a second chance. Is there time to rescue your relationship?

Genre: Angst, ex boyfriend AU

Word Count: 1k

As soon as you walked into the little Italian place, you spotted Jaehyun. 

He was stunning in his simple black suit, shadows falling under his glorious cheekbones. A flood of emotions – desire, hurt, anxiety – rushed through you when you saw him. 

“Uh… hi,” you said, sitting opposite to him. 

Jaehyun held out a glass. “Bailey’s still your favourite?”

To be honest, you’d stopped drinking Bailey’s two years ago – after you broke up with Jaehyun. 

“Sure,” you shrugged. 

Jaehyun tried to hand you the drink, but his hand shook so much it spilled on his sleeve. 

“Damn it,” he cursed. “Honestly, I’m… super nervous. It’s not every day you go on a first date with your ex.” 

“I’m nervous too,” you said, and you both chuckled, relaxing a little. 

Jaehyun grinned. “Why don’t we just pretend it really is a first date?” He held out his hand. “Hi. I’m Jaehyun. Nice to meet you.” “Hi, Jaebeom, is it?” you said, making Jaehyun laugh. “You look great.” 

“You too,” Jaehyun said, taking your hand in his and tracing your palm lines with his finger. Your heart began to race at the touch, familiar yet unfamiliar.  

“You know, I’m a model.” Jaehyun said. “We have this saying that the perfect face doesn’t exist. But, uh, clearly, the people who came up with that have never met you.” You fought a smile. “Well, I am a biology lecturer,” you added. “And evolutionarily speaking, we are hardwired to desire taller and stronger people. So, the girls must be all over you.” Jaehyun grinned. “Although, you know, evolution is only one theory. I think we have to consider creation, too.”

You snorted. 

“What?” Jaehyun said, removing his hand from yours.  

“Nothing,” you said, smoothing your dress. “I just forgot that you believe in wacko theories like that.” 

Jaehyun stared at you. “Excuse me?” 

You sighed. “No, look, I don’t have a problem with it. It’s cute.” 

“Oh, please,” Jaehyun said. “By cute, you mean that your boyfriend is dumb, but you don’t care because I’m pretty?” 

“I never said you were dumb!” you exclaimed. 

Jaehyun rolled his eyes. “I know why you didn’t invite me to those conferences. You didn’t want your fancy university friends to realise you had a stupid boyfriend.” He sniffed. “Well, you should feel lucky to get a guy like me.”

You rolled your eyes, lying back in your chair. “This again! You think I’m some ugly nerd who doesn’t deserve a boyfriend as gorgeous as you.” Jaehyun frowned. “That’s not fair.”

You shook your head. “You know what I always thought? If there are so many girls throwing themselves at you, why don’t you just sleep with one of them?” You laughed. “Oh wait. You did. You slept with your agent, for crying out loud.” Jaehyun pushed out his chair. “What was I meant to do? I had a girlfriend who was so busy with work I knew her Whatsapp profile picture better than her!”  

“At least I have a career!” you huffed. “All your little ‘modelling’ gigs got us was red letters from the bank!” 

Jaehyun rubbed his eyes. “What is happening to us?” You fell into your chair. “I’m sorry, Jaehyun. It was stupid of me to think that we could get back together.”

You sat in exhausted silence until the next round of drinks came.

“It wasn’t stupid.” Jaehyun said, taking your hand. “You were the love of my life.” You felt a twinge in your chest, pain or love or both. “You were mine, too,” you admitted.

You leaned forward and kissed Jaehyun, your hand gripping his hair, throwing yourself into it completely. 

The kiss wasn’t bad. It was gentle. Jaehyun’s lips were soft. But something, some spark was missing. It was like both of you were playing along without really feeling anything. You slowly pulled away. 

“That was…” Jaehyun started. 

“Awful,” you finished, cracking a smile. 

“Terrible,” Jaehyun agreed, with a chuckle. “Maybe it’s too late for us to start again. We’re… ancient history.” 

Although his words hurt, you knew they were true. “Well, will you share this drink with an old friend?” you asked, lifting your glass. 

Jaehyun raised his glass as well. “To old friends.”

“To old friends,” you said.   

—

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[mrsbrookemunson]

I have a Sebastian Sallow request for you!!! Reader and Sebastian are the top two duelers at Hogwarts, and they’re each others enemies. They always bicker and try to one up each other. Everyone is sure they hate each other. But then comes the last championship day of duels, and in the duel before she’s supposed to fight Sebastian, she gets really hurt and Sebastian panics and rushes her to the hospital wing. They realize they actually like each other and perhaps some love confessions??

You're a real one for this - aka one of my favorite writers 💕 I changed up the request a little to make it more angsty—I still hope you like it 🥹 Also - hey guys! I am new in the Hogwarts Legacy writing community, but I've been known for my James Potter and Remus Lupin fics - along with some other fan favorites.

Warnings: *Not Proofread*, Canon violence (blood, injury, fighting), insecurities, slight dark!seb in this, mentions of gameplay (slight spoiler warning), fem!reader, she/her pronouns, "MC' insert, heavy angst in the beginning and a bittersweet ending (can be left up to interpretation) This is like a complete alternative of what happened in the game. Be warned *insert evil smile*.

Word Count: 2343

Darkness.

That's all she saw in that moment. She could hear her own heartbeat, the blood rushing through her veins, her own slow, shaky, weak breaths as the pain of breathing soon subsided into numbness.

Where did it all go wrong?

The image of his eyes nearly black as the night sky, and that haunting smirk on his face that she grew so fond over.

Fond. Now that was one way to describe. No - she didn't hate him, but he hated her. Her feelings were quite the opposite, that soon behind each bicker and snicker grew a warmth in her chest - a fire that she learned to contain within herself, it would've only been a matter of time till she burnt herself.

Was it love?

It felt like life threw her warnings left, right, and center - that love only causes pain. She didn't think the pain would be so bad to the point where it led to her death. Though, as she slowly accepted the darkness behind her eyelids, she thought... maybe death wouldn't be so bad if it meant escaping the reality of heartbreak. Until she was drawn back out again.

Where did it all go so wrong?

They've been together through so much. He was the only person - besides Professor Fig - who she thought listened to her.

Oh how he listened to her...

"Let me see if I've got this straight. You have Ranrok and Rookwood after you because of something you found at Gringotts - where you ended up via a portkey. You can see traces of ancient magic that you think Ranrok is trying to harness. And now you've been witnessing memories left by 'keepers'? Oh! And this house belonged to a Hogwarts professor - who was one of these 'non-quidditch' keepers - hundreds of years ago." He shifted on his feet. "If I didn't know you - " His smile, it could send her over a million times. " - I'd think you were pulling my leg."

In that moment she couldn't believe her ears - had there really been someone in her life that truly listened to her?

"You're not listening to me!"

"Why would I listen to someone so ignorant?"

She cursed at herself, hearing the slight crack in her voice, and from her vision becoming blurry with tears. "Maybe your uncle was right... you don't know when to stop."

"Oh, I do know when to stop."

It felt like it only got worse after that. He was always disagreeing and trying to start arguments with her. Not thinking before acting. Who once always listened to her soon became a brick wall. Maybe she should've voiced her worries, maybe then she would've been able to salvage the already broken pieces of their friendship.

But, she didn't.

Instead, she chose to turn her back on him and walk away. She chose to avoid him - to ignore him. The number of letters that he sent increased every day when she simply tucked them away without reading them. Her stomach twisted and turned doing so - but it was better than the outcome that most-likely would've happened if she chose to stay.

And when the year ended, winning the battle against Ranrok, losing Professor Fig, she had the slightest sliver of hope that he would've spoken to her - grieved for her - oddly enough, she wanted him to yell at her for being stupid enough to go into such a war without his help. But, he didn't - and she felt foolish for thinking he would.

Would they ever speak again?

"MC, Mister Sallow - up onto the dueling platform," Professor Hecat instructed.

She swore she heard him grumble something under his breath. She noticed how Sebastian's physique changed over the summer after their fifth year. He became taller, his voice got deeper, his eyes became darker, and his skin got paler. Merlin, he looked sickly.

She glanced at him, cautiously before stepping up onto the platform.

She lost. He laughed. How cruel.

"She thinks just because she won a battle against Ranrok, she's the best dueler at the school."

It spread like wildfire.

Lucan was all over it. It seemed as though the two best duelers competing against each other was his way of keeping students engaged in his little 'unsanctioned' club.

It became much bigger than that.

Darkness.

"MC?" she heard a voice call out. "MC?! Wake up!"

"What have you done?"

Time slipped away from her. Seventh year came around, and no progress was made between her and the boy she desired in a way that was almost like a lucid dream. He was right there, she could touch him, feel him if she wanted to - but she knew, if she gave in - she'd wake up.

She didn't want to wake up.

Her own body didn't listen and her eyes cracked open. It was too bright to truly process her surroundings and the pain came back as if she was hit by a train. Her head hurt and it became hard to breathe again.

Why couldn't she breathe?!

Sobs escaped her when she felt something sticky on her hands. She looked down and saw blood soaking through her dueling clothes. She started to hyperventilate.

Hands came to grasp her face and she was met with brown eyes. Not the dark - nearly black - she found herself getting used to. No. Brown. Brown like honey, golden like the sun, melted chocolate she wanted to drown - merlin they were beautiful. Such eyes didn't deserve to hold tears nor look so broken, they deserved to be crinkled by smiling and closed by laughing too hard.

"S-Sebastian?" she called out in a rasp.

He shushed her and ran a hand down her head to soothe her wild, untamed hair. His eyes then widened when he pulled his hand away abruptly to glance down at his fingertips. That's when tears began to fall down his rosy, freckled cheeks. "It'll be okay, we're getting you help, okay?"

She couldn't quite understand him, like she was underwater. She felt dizzy and her eyes were getting heavy again.

"No - no - no, don't close your eyes." He patted her face. "Please, don't close your eyes. I need you to stay awake... help is on their way," he paused. "Stay awake from me."

Her eyebrows furrowed. "Why would I do anything for you anymore?" she whispered.

His face contorted into one that expressed such hurt. "Wh - what?"

"After everything... why do you even care? You hate me."

His eyes widen. "H - Hate you? I never said - "

"Don't lie to me..." she cried. "You - you did this, didn't you?" She grew angry. "And to think I would've given you the world if you had just listened to me!" She struggled to raise her voice causing her to violently cough. "To think I loved you..." Her head rolled and he instinctively readjusted to keep her head steady.

"MC? MC?!" He shook her as he cried. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry - you're right - it's all my fault - "

"Step aside! Let us through!" Professor Sharp shouted over all the students panicked filled voices.

Professor Weasley, and Professor Hecat followed him.

Sebastian held onto her tight and attempted to wake her up once more. He pressed his fingers to her wrist, but couldn't find anything. Panic struck him like lightning, he leaned down to press his ear to her chest. Her heartbeat barely there. He watched as her skin was losing its color and he suddenly felt sick.

What had he done?

A couple days had passed and MC had not woken up, yet. But, she was alive... surrounded by gifts and 'get well soon' cards. Sebastian hadn't left her side and practically begged the professors to induce a punishment after she had woken. In this moment, he felt the need to be by her side.

The guilt was eating at him alive, already have gotten a lectured from the professors, Ominis, Natty, Poppy, Imelda - Hell, even Lucan was scolding him, adding the point that his club is ruined because of his actions. He couldn't stop thinking about what she said before she knocked out.

She loved him...

That thought sent butterflies throughout his whole body. And Merlin, he wishes she'd wake so he could say it back a million times over between apologies. Loved... Did she still love him? That dawned on him. He gripped her hand tightly in his as the fear crept in - this could be the last chance he has to ever act of feelings rather than insecurities.

When did it all go so wrong? he wondered.

"I love you too," he whispered to her in the dark infirmary. "I've loved you since you beat me in that duel to be honest." He chuckled, dryly. "My new charge." He smiled fondly over the memory. "That day we fought that troll, I must admit I was a little jealous. I wanted to prove to you that I could be your... 'knight in shining armor' as awful as that sounds..." He frowned. "But, you didn't need me. You never needed me." He shook his head. "You are stronger than you know." Tears began to flood his eyes. "I'm sorry I hurt you - I hurt you more times than I can count and - " He swallowed. "It will haunt me everyday pass death. Every time I close my eyes, it's a replay of what I did, a neverending nightmare where I see my reflection of who I've truly become. To the point i can't sleep or eat." He weeped. "Everyone was right. I don't know when to stop. And because of that I lose everyone around me... Maybe my uncle was right about me. Maybe I should just leave and never return." He raised her hand and gently kissed her knuckles. "As much as I'd miss Ominis, and Anne, and you - I'd probably be for the best... I'm just a disaster waiting to happen."

MC began to stir on the bed, her eyes fluttering open to meet his. "I did need you, you know," she whispered. "I needed you when it came to Ranrok, and when I lost Professor Fig - you were the only person I truly wanted to be there with me, but you weren't. And part of that is my fault... for so long - I just wanted you, it didn't matter what you had done, but I knew if I went to you my love for you would only grow and I knew that wasn't in the cards for us. You wanted so badly to save Anne, I knew I couldn't fit in there and it would've been selfish fo me to."

"I would've preferred you to be selfish rather than you shut me out."

"I never did such a thing! I tried talking to you but you'd never listen to me."

"Because i was angry - I was angry at where my life had become and who I was becoming and I knew if I opened my mouth I'd ruin everything between us."

"There was nothing between us!"

"I wanted there to be!"

"Well, I guess it didn't matter because look where we are now!"

He pulled his hand away to drag it over his face, using both hands to rub at his eyes. "What went so wrong between us?" he questioned, defeated.

They sat there in silence. It wasn't uncomfortable - but tensions were high. Thoughts coursing through both of their minds at a frantic, overwhelming pace.

MC closed her eyes to try and steady herself mentally. She sighed, "Sebastian I - "

"I want us to start over again, from the very beginning."

She looked rather surprised to hear him blurt out such a thought. "And what? Forget everything that's we've been through together?"

"No, but... we can at least try to move on." He sounded so hopeful. "At least give me a chance."

She laid back in her bed and observed him in silence. The way his eyes were practically pleading her to say yes, to give him relief of what she could tell had been weighing him down for the last two years.

"We'll get it right this time, I promise," he begged and reached out to grab her hand again. His dark circles became more prominent as they were glazed with tears. The moonlight seeping through the windows made him look like a crestfallen angel. "Please."

Her heart squeezed at the sound and sight. With hesitation she spoke, "My name is MC, I started in Hogwarts as a fifth year and crazily enough I can see traces of ancient magic and am known as the 'Hero of Hogwarts' because I defeated Ranrok and ultimately ended the Goblin War."

His smile left her breathless. Weak, yet so powerful. His shoulders lowered drastically with a shaky exhale. "That is a lot to take in... but I wouldn't mind listening to you talk for hours on hand if that's what if takes for you to tell me everything I missed."

"Quite the commitment you're willing to make..." she paused. "And your name is?"

He smiled a little wider. "Sebastian Sallow - and as a note - I am known for committing to something till the end. I don't easily give up."

She returned the smile. "Good to know."

"And to add onto that - I'd wait for you as long as the Earth spins until you are ready to accept me once again as who I once was."

She gave him a rather mocked look of suspicion. "You won't go changing on me, will you?"

He shook his head, hastily. "Never, this - what you see right here - this is what you're getting, nothing else."

She was crying along with him at this moment - but more in relief that she didn't have to carry the burden of her true feelings any long. And she knew - deep down - it would take time, step-by-step opening herself up to him as he would to her. But, she'll consider it yet another quest that she couldn't wait to finish, knowing it'll lead to the next part of their lives together. So, with a soft grin -

"How can I refuse?"

The end.

Should I make a part two - almost like an epilogue?

If you'd like to be part of my Sebastian Sallow taglist let me know!

| Requests Open |

[magicalqueennightmare]

Little Witch (Pt 3/5)

Klaus Mikaelson x Reader

When you get your memories back you're determined to face this enemy alone. The Mikaelsons however refuse to accept that and set out to prove your innocence to Klaus

After you'd left the Mikaelson compound you'd ended up wandering to one of the many cemeteries around New Orleans. You'd never had any business in this certain cemetery but it had drawn you there, your magic bubbling under the surface of your skin as if it was trying to lead you in the direction you needed to go in. 

The barrier in your head was still very much a tangible thing and it made you question everything about yourself. You were a strong witch, you'd taken the brunt of a spell meant to rip Hope out of Hayley's womb and hadn't let a sob escape your lips regardless of the pain. You'd gone toe to toe with ancient witches and managed to still be standing yet someone was tearing your mind to shreds from the inside out.

When Hayley called and asked to meet you'd gladly agreed. She hadn't spoken to you in days and you wanted her to get whatever she needed off her chest. You hoped maybe Elijah and Rebekah got her to see logic but there was only one way to find out. 

You walked into Marcel's bar and Hayley sat at the bar alone. You both shared a favorite drink and two sat in front of her. When you took up a barstool leaving one between you she slid a drink down. “I believe you and Elijah” she spoke quietly. 

You turned to look at her and she was facing you, the emotions in her eyes matched the ones you felt “You do?” You asked in disbelief and she nodded “I was just so hurt when we found you two. Not only because I love Elijah but because you're my best friend. It just didn't make sense no matter how much I thought it over. You've gone to literal war for my daughter. You love her the same as if she was yours. Hell you came here when I was pregnant just from me calling and asking for help. You're not the type of person to hurt someone you care about”

You blinked a few times to not let your emotions overwhelm you “Thank you. I'm still not sure what happened. Davina and Kol are on their way back and Freya is coming back too. I'm hoping with the three of us we can crack the barrier in my memories. If we can safely then that means we can get Elijah's memories back too and we'll know who did this”

She nodded slowly “What are you gonna do about Klaus?” You shrugged “You know him as well as I do. He's hurt and angry. He thinks two of the most important people in his life chose each other over him. I don't know how to make him see the truth without having my memories back, without having whoever did this on their knees begging for their lives as proof”

She reached for your arm and pulled you onto the stool next to her and wrapped an arm around your shoulders “Know that as far as you and I go? We're good. I love you, Hope loves you” 

You reached into your pocket and held out the necklace you'd been carrying for days “This is for Hope. It was my grandmother's. I got the antique store to chase it down. She originally wanted my dad to give it to me one day but my mother killed him when I was so young he never got the chance. It got lost for fifty or so years. I'll never have children of my own but like you said i love her just the same. Maybe if something happens to me this will help her know just how special she is to all of us”

Hayley turned the small pendant over in her hand then looked back at you “Promise me one thing?” You nodded “Of course” she half smiled “You'll survive this to give it to her yourself” you laughed lightly and held out a hand “Deal” she shook it then said “I'm holding you to it”

“I have to do what?” You asked Freya hoping you'd misheard her. “You have to lay back and let us in your mind. Davina and I will astral project in and then we break down that barrier from the inside”

You knew your eyes were probably comically large. While you trusted the two women in front of you, the idea of them being in your head, your memories freaked you out a bit. “What will you two see exactly?” 

A smirk that favored Klaus slipped onto Freya's face “Don't worry darling, I'll make sure to steer clear of anything x-rated between you and Nik” Davina nodded in agreement “Our goal will be the barrier so that's where we'll land for lack of better phrasing”

Your eyes darted towards Rebekah who stood off to the side and she gave you a nod “I'll be here to watch over your bodies and wake you should it seem like things are going bad” you took a deep breath then nodded “Let's do it”

—------------------

You laid down on the couch as Freya said and closed your eyes. The weight of the barrier was making your head throb but she had told you to concentrate on nothing but that blank space in your memory.

You could hear her voice, the spell falling from her lips. You had the sudden feeling of falling, your vision bursting with white light despite your eyes being closed tightly. About the time it registered that you couldn't hear the spell anymore you felt a hand on your arm “Wake up” 

You slowly opened your eyes or so you thought. Instead of the room you'd been in the walls were a pale blue, a long hall stretching in both directions. You slowly got to your feet facing Freya and Davina who both gave you a smile “concentrate. Which way do we need to go?”

You forced yourself to try to remember what had happened then a pain shot through the right side of your body. You motioned right before walking in that direction.

—-----------------

“How do we know we found it?” You asked after you'd passed probably two dozen white doors. Some held whispers of long ago, your grandmother's voice drifting through.

The farther you got down the hall different voices began to drift through the doors. You could hear Rebekah's voice the first time you'd met her long ago. Then Hayley's laughter, the shrill sound of Hope's cries when she was a newborn. Memories of the family you'd been born with and the one you chose fought for your attention. 

“I think we did” Davina whispered and you looked up to see the end of the hall. The bright blue and white were replaced by a dark shadow. It seemed as if it was simply a ledge falling off into an abyss should you not turn around now.

There was something familiar about the magic behind it. You took a step forward and the moment your fingertips hit the shadow a burst went through you. Voices, leading you to the cemetery. Elijah, refusing to let you go alone.

You stumbled back and Freya caught you before you hit the floor “What was it?” You were breathless as you said “My magic did this. Someone siphoned me to use it against me, against Elijah”

She looked from you to the shadow, a dark cloud passing through her eyes “Let's rip it down and find out who” 

—-----------------

Freya had already explained that once the barrier fell it would knock her and Davina out of your head and could possibly throw your body from the shock but it was worth it.

You took a step forward and felt each of them place a hand on your shoulder before you touched the barrier again. This time their power helped to focus yours. Slowly the shadow began to crack, small blossoms of light bleeding through then it was like an atomic burst. Your vision went white as you were tossed backwards.

—-------------

You gasped, sitting up where you were now on the floor. Davina, Freya and Rebekah were all standing around you with concern written on their faces “Did it work?”

Memories were blaring into your mind. The voices that led you to the cemetery, how Elijah had refused to let you go alone even when you'd promised to catch up should he want to go home to Hayley. The siphoner that was in the cemetery flashed through your head,the way she begged your forgiveness citing she had no choice then the person behind it all “I thought that bitch was long dead. Explains how someone could use my magic against me”

You hadn't realized you'd been rambling until Rebekah questioned who. You pushed yourself to your feet, meeting their eyes one by one “My mother”

Rebekah's eyes were wide, “What now?” You wiped your hands down your jeans feeling the dirt there from your memories, how you'd fought against the siphoner and how you'd tried to shield Elijah from the magic. 

You faced Rebekah and gave her a small smile “I'm going to go give Elijah his memories back then I'm going to go find my bitch of a mother and turn her inside out. Good news is this is no threat against your family or Hope. That bitch just wants me dead, she has for about two hundred years give or take”

“If it's a threat against you it is against family” Rebekah argued but you shook your head, already determined to do this alone. “I can do this alone” “But you don't have to” Freya pushed and you shook your head again “I need to go see Elijah. The faster he has his memories back the better”

You started to walk out then stopped to face the three women “Thank you for helping me” then looked at the two blondes “Klaus doesn't need to know what I'm doing or who I'm against. Not until either I kill her or we kill each other” “So lie to him?” Rebekah asked and you shrugged “Not lying if he doesn't care to ask” and with that you walked out. You knew who you were up against now, you could make a plan and even better you now knew how to free Elijah's memories as well. 

You were going to enjoy seeing her on her knees begging for mercy that would never come. She'd tried to destroy you. She almost cost your friendship with Hayley and Elijah and ripped the man you loved away from you. She'd pay for it all and you'd make sure she wouldn't be capable of being a threat ever again.

“What does he need to do?” Hayley asked after you'd explained how you could get Elijah his memories back. You motioned to the couch “Preferably lay down and I'll sit on the floor in front of the couch because if what happened with me is any indication I ended up on the floor”

She glanced towards the stairs and you knew it was because Hope was asleep having just laid down for a nap about ten minutes before you called. “It shouldn't be loud enough to wake her but with her witch side that alone may stir her”

She shared a look with Elijah and he nodded before walking over to lay down on the couch. You gave her a slight smile then walked over to the couch and kneeled down next to it facing Elijah. “Close your eyes and just trust me ok?” “Of course” was the reply he gave before he closed his eyes. You glanced back at Hayley “Just stand back in case it tosses me” she nodded, taking another step backwards.

You reached up to place the first two fingers of each hand on Elijah's temples then closed your eyes as well. Now that you knew what you were looking for, that it was your magic, this process should be easier on him than it was on you.

You didn't even have to fall into his mind. You could feel the barrier the moment you concentrated and focused on it. A slight burst happened as you fell backwards and Elijah sat up straight. 

He took a deep breath, staring at you with wide eyes. “Do you remember everything now?” He nodded and you smiled “Good” 

You got to your feet and nodded to Hayley “We both remember now” she started to take a step towards you but Hope's voice cut through calling for her mom. You looked at the stairs and Hayley smiled “You should go up. She misses you” you shook your head despite your heart aching to see the child that you'd fought for. “If something happens to me her last memory is the day I took her to the park, we made Klaus go on the slide with her and then we got her ice cream. I don't want her last memory of me being a quick hello then me leaving”

“What do you mean?” Hayley asked but Elijah answered for you “Her mother has been hunting her for years. She killed her father when she was young and means to kill her but not before stealing her magic for herself” you tilted your head towards him before saying “And if she wants it then I plan to make her come and get it herself. No siphoner and no one else being pulled into the crosshairs this is me and her”

“You can't mean to face her alone! She got inside your head and Elijah's! She's strong” Hayley argued but before you could respond Hope called out again. You looked towards the stairs then back at Hayley “Go to Hope. I promise you i will do everything I can to make it back”

—--------------

You watched Hayley walk to the stairs and started to walk out the house when Elijah called your name. You stood with your hand on the doorknob and looked back at him “You're not telling Niklaus and plan to ward it where Freya and Davina can't get into the cemetery to assist you” it wasn't a question but a statement. You hadn't realized he'd seen that while your mind was connected to him. 

“I can't let anyone else I care about be hurt by her. She almost destroyed your relationship with Hayley, my friendship with Hayley and she may have ruined my relationship with Klaus. Please Elijah, let me do this my way”

He shook his head  “You are a part of this family. None of us want to lose you. We simply need to make Niklaus see the truth” 

You glanced towards the stairs knowing if you saw Hope you'd lose any resolve you were holding onto to face this alone “Please Elijah. I've got to go” he let out a breath that was more of a sigh “When you find her you let us help you” you knew he could very well stop you from leaving if he wanted so you nodded “Deal”

Elijah knew you well enough to know when you were lying. He was on his feet by the time Hayley made it downstairs with Hope on her hip. “Where did she go?” She asked and he held her gaze, knowing she could see the answer in his eyes “I'm going to find Freya and Rebekah. I'll let you know how it goes” he kissed her on the lips, the first one they'd shared in days then left a kiss on Hope's forehead.

—---------------

Klaus was in his art studio, a half drank bottle of top shelf bourbon sat in front of him as he stared at the canvas you and Hope had painted so long ago. Flowers and butterflies decorated the pink background. It stood out amongst his work, brightness in all the darkness. 

His heart ached to see you, transgressions he could forgive. Had it been anyone other than his brother he would've simply killed them and that would've been that. 

He leaned his head back against the couch about the time he heard the front door slam open followed by all four of his siblings screaming variations of his name.  He downed the rest of the bourbon that was in his glass before standing. If Rebekah and Elijah had summoned Kol and Freya back to New Orleans this must be their stand against him. 

—------------

Elijah stood at the base of the stairs with Kol standing next to him and both men were flanked by Rebekah and Freya. “Dear brother, come to relish in your conquest of stealing my little witch?”

Before Elijah could open his mouth Kol shook his head “Come off it Nik. That girl loves you. She's went to hell and back for this family, for your daughter” Klaus spun to meet Kol “Don't tell me you plan to have her next”

Rebekah looked at Freya “Just show him! It's the only way to shut him up and prove to him that he's in the wrong” 

Klaus narrowed his eyes at his older sister “Come to play have we?” She shook her head “No. I came home to help her. She figured out who's after her but you're not going to believe words. You'll believe seeing the memories yourself” before he could ask she touched two fingers to his temple and two to Elijah's.

His vision went white then Klaus was on the sidewalk, seeing you and Elijah walk out of the antique shop. You tucked a small velvet bag into your purse then slipped your arm back through Elijah's before he nodded at your purse  “That's going to mean a lot to Hayley and Niklaus both” you smiled “I hope they like it. It's taken me about seventy years to chase it down”

The two of you walked past him and he cursed Freya for trapping him in this vision but then you doubled over in pain. He moved on instinct alone to grab you but of course he couldn't. Elijah helped to steady you and Klaus could see the worry on his brother's face “Perhaps you and Hayley should go out on a different night?” 

You straightened up and he knew instantly something was wrong. Your eyes weren't focused on Elijah or the people milling around the two of you “Go home Elijah, I'll catch up” you muttered pulling away from Elijah as you turned and started walking towards one of the many cemeteries around New Orleans. 

“Where are you going?” Elijah questioned falling in step behind you. Klaus followed the two of you into the gates of the cemetery and felt something was off right before you hit your knees again. Elijah yelled your name but when you looked up at him your eyes weren't their usual hue but a milky white “Elijah, it hurts” the broken sound of your voice twisted his heart then he heard another voice.

A woman walked into his view, she had a scar across her face and nothing but hate in her eyes as she looked at you. He saw pain ripple through Elijah holding him in place as the woman walked over to where you were on your knees and grabbed your hair roughly “My dear daughter. It's taken me so long to track you down and away from your hybrid too. Now how should I ensure your hybrid removes his protection from you? ”

You whimpered slightly both from pain and being helpless. He could feel his anger boiling inside of him watching you be abused. You were his strong little witch, able to withstand so much yet this woman had you immobile on your knees. Elijah managed to choke out your name and to ask who the woman was. “My mother” your voice was barely a whisper. 

—-----------

The vision shifted again and this time you and Elijah were walking into the compound but neither of you were speaking and your movements were robotic almost. He watched the two of you walk up the stairs and didn't need to follow to know the truth. Your mother had done this, the milky white of your eyes meant she'd had a siphoner. The way you and Elijah were acting as if you were simply puppets. He'd let someone hurt his little witch and his brother and allowed his own insecurities and pride to come before two of the most important people to him.

Klaus stumbled back from Freya feeling tears stinging his eyes and an anger boiling deep inside of him. “Where is she?” He asked, looking between his siblings. He needed to see you, beg forgiveness and hope you have it in your heart to give it to him. All this time he'd thought you'd betrayed him while he was in fact the one that betrayed you. 

“She's gone off to find her mother and face her alone. She feels she isn't part of this family and therefore not worth us fighting for” Freya answered and he shook his head “Spread out and find her. Her mother doesn't make it out of New Orleans”

@snowtargaryen @benbarnesprettygurl @svtbpbts @secretdreamlandmentality

[callmekenya]

Pairings: Mal Bertha x m!y/n

Warnings: None

_________________________________________

As the room fell silent, Y/n's eyes locked onto Audrey's peaceful face, her chest rising and falling with each gentle breath. He sat beside her, his fingers intertwining with hers, his lips brushing against her knuckles in a soft kiss. The tender gesture sent a pang of guilt through Mal's chest, but she pushed it aside, knowing that Y/n still cared deeply for Audrey.

"I'm so sorry, Audrey," Y/n whispered, his voice cracking with emotion. "I never meant for things to go this far."

Mal stepped forward, her eyes meeting Y/n's. "We know you didn't mean to hurt anyone, Y/n," she said softly. "But we need to focus on getting Audrey back now."

Ben nodded in agreement. "I'll send for Hades right away. He's the only one who can help us revive Audrey."

Uma spoke up from the corner of the room. "Harry, Gil, and I will head back to the Isle and make sure everything is okay there."

Celia nodded in agreement. "We'll make sure everything is taken care of while you're dealing with this."

Mal turned to her friends and former rivals. "I'm sorry for lying to all of you. I know I wasn't honest about my intentions—"

"No need to apologize, Mal," Uma interrupted with a warm smile. "We understand why you did what you did. You were trying to do what was right in your own way."

The group shared a moment of understanding before the royal guards returned with Hades by their side.

"Ah, my dear daughter," Hades said as he approached Mal and the others gathered around Audrey's bed.

“Dad," Mal replied softly.

Hades' gaze fell upon Audrey's still form before he reached out and placed a hand on her forehead.

As he began to chant in an ancient language, a warm glow emanated from his hand and enveloped Audrey's body. Slowly but surely, color began to return to her cheeks, and her eyelids fluttered open.

Audrey sat up with a gasp, looking around at the faces surrounding her in confusion.

"Tell me it was all, just a bad dream." she asked weakly.

Y/n sadly smiled and shaked his head, giving her the response to her question.

Audrey tears began streaming down her face as she apologized profusely for everything she had done while under the curse's influence.

“I've owned you an apology...for a very long time now.”

Mal stepped forward and wrapped an arm around Audrey's shoulders comfortingly as they both apologized back-and-forth like old friends reuniting after years apart.

Leah joined them soon after as well apologizing too

Hades watched this exchange unfold before speaking up once more.

"You know it is quite interesting how quickly everyone forgives those who are deemed 'good' when they do something wrong yet those who are considered 'villains' are forever judged harshly"

The room fell silent once more as everyone reflected on Hades' words.

Mal's eyes met her father's, a hint of understanding in her gaze. "You're right, Dad. It's not fair to judge someone based on their past actions or the label society gives them."

Audrey nodded vigorously, still sniffling. "I was so consumed by the curse, I didn't know what I was doing. I'm so sorry for hurting all of you."

Y/n squeezed her hand reassuringly. "We forgive you, Audrey. We know it wasn't entirely your fault."

Hades' expression softened, his voice taking on a gentle tone. "I'm glad to see that forgiveness is possible here. Perhaps it's time for me to work on my own...reputation."

Mal smiled weakly at her father before turning to the group. "We've got a lot to catch up on and discuss. But for now, let's just be grateful that Audrey is back with us."

The room erupted into a mix of relieved laughter and tears as everyone hugged and congratulated each other.

As they celebrated Audrey's return, Uma approached Mal with a curious expression.

"Hey, Mal? Can I ask you something?"

"Shoot," Mal replied, still grinning from ear to ear.

"So, what now, the isle needs a new protector."

Mal hesitated for a moment before glancing at Y/n and Audrey, who were chatting quietly in the corner.

"I think...you would make a great leader to the Isle.” she said finally. "There's still so much work to be done here and there, and I want us to help each other make things right between our worlds."

Uma nodded enthusiastically. "That's awesome! We'll miss you back on the Isle, but we'll support you no matter what."

As the celebration continued, Mal couldn't help but feel a sense of hope and belonging among her friends and loved ones. She knew that there would be challenges ahead, but with Y/n by her side she felt ready to face whatever came next.

[nightcolorz]

here for the armand writing tips 🙏🏽

I love u sm anon ur so iconic for this bless u 🙌🙌 I love that u saw me publicly slut shaming @butchybats + extending an invite for him to hmu so that I can info dump about armand and u were like omg I can not pass up this opportunity. Ur so real and this made my day. My bad if this is unhelpful or incoherent lmaoo I am just raw dogging this educational experience. For me writing armand has always come very naturally so this is the first time I’m thinking about this in a way I could explain to other ppl. I hope u get smth out of whatever tangent I’m about to embark on and I sincerely thank u bcus I love this and I love talking about army u r indulging tf out of me in the absolute best way. Also quick disclaimer I am going off of book armand, so tho this may be helpful to show fans (esp cuz show armand doesn’t rlly have an established personality yet) it may not specifically apply. Anyways

I understand why Armand would feel like a difficult character to write bcus part of his whole deal is that he is very strange and unknowable. No one knows what Armand’s deal is, nor does he, so how r u as the writer meant to figure that shit out. He is like a void of a person basically (affectionate). He is barely capable of conscious self reflection, most characters don’t rlly know what to make of him and those that claim to r often wrong. So I get it, feels intimidating. But for me breaking down Armand to his essentials puts it into perspective a bit. 

Armand doesn’t really know how to be a person, he is only a Thing when other people are there to give him something to work off of. So he’s a different character depending on who he is interacting with. Armand with Daniel is very different then Armand with Louis, Armand with Lestat is a whole different beast, etc. He is always playing a sort of role, with Daniel he is the boss slash master vampire commanding the mortal. With Louis he is an ancient with the answers Louis has been looking for. But the performance is often cracked, unveiled whether intentionally or not, especially by those Armand loves, so what is beneath that? Well. Kind of a child. Think of a kid in their dad’s shoes. Now imagine the kid is putting on a very deep voice and standing up all straight and professional. Then he trips, and suddenly he starts crying and screaming and yelling for mommy cuz he hurt his knee. That’s Armand, when u get down to it. Like a scary man in a suit who is secretly a little boy on stilts. But wait! There’s more.

Armand is not only an actor, he is also not a very good actor. He’s like those myths about faes replacing human children, very uncanny valley, not rlly a person. So in any given situation, armand is going to be just a little bit off. Just a little odd, a tad wrong. Think of a scenario (it can be sexual you awful heathen, or it could be like, guy is in the grocery store. Or smth) now think of something that would be a little off putting and strange to do in this situation. Chances r this would be in character for armand. I always think of him as something who doesn’t know what it means to be a person, yet is always trying to learn and understand and to pretend, but never really succeeds.

Armand also has conflicting facets of his identity that come into play in different ways and inform how he interacts with different characters. Amadeo is the beginnings of the person that was never able to completely form and grow. So Amadeo is like the normal bits of Armand, the human teenager who’s playful and funny and empathetic, a bit rude, kind of weird but he means well, likes technology. Gives Lestat a light punch on the shoulder when he ruffles his hair, etc. Amadeo rarely plays into sex for Armand, sex is very clinical for him—he approaches sex like an alien. But Amadeo is still there and when Armand is happy or care free some of the unsettlingly oddness goes away, and he seems sort of like a mortal teenager for a moment. The innocence and the moments of childishness are when Armand is most sincere. Though this is fleeting, and he often behaves cold and distant and inhuman. What I like to remember when I write Armand is that he is not unfeeling, tho he pretends to be. He acts unfeeling but it’s a mask, beneath the mask his unfiltered self is extremely feeling and emotional and sensitive. He’s as much of a cry baby as Lestat, he’s just better at hiding it. 

Andrei is also there, but he is much subtler, and he’s more so the embodied longing in armand that never really goes away. There is a need for answers and for knowledge and for guidance in armand always, and that’s Andrei, searching for his God or his family or his home or his culture, that were taken from him and never adequately replaced. Armand clings to purposes and things and people because he never learned how to fill that void left by the loss Andrei experienced, and then again Amadeo experienced due to Marius and the cult. He is the culmination of so many years of a child’s growth being repeatedly stunted by adults with selfish purposes, a child who keeps getting beaten down or molded into smth different by ppl who want to make him into smth new, until he ends up a creature without a concept of who he is at all. So he’s fractured almost, not rlly with a consistent identity since he was never permitted to grow one. Just a culmination of a bunch of identities he took on throughout the years. Im sure this sounds complicated, but the great thing about being a writer with a character like this is he may be a void, but he is also a canvas. Armand is so multifaceted that u could do sm with him and it wouldn’t be ooc

So in simpler terms, a good rule of thumb when writing armand, is to think of him as a guy who is a ball of extreme feeling and pain and joy and emotion that is being masked by a cold demeanor, that is often slightly off, a little wrong, cuz it’s first untrue. He is always trying to find a purpose to fill the void that he is, and he never rlly does for very long. 

So when it comes to portraying this? Lol uhhhh. There are some many layers of armand that exist and it’s up to you to decide which ones u want to portray in ur scenario. Say for example, ur writing a fic where armand and Lestat argue. You have to evaluate Lestat’s affect on armand, his closeness with him, the context, etc, and decide what parts of armand would slip out. If I was writing a fic like this I would think ok. So Lestat is like a trigger button for armand, they hate each other but they love each other, is a lot of big emotions and passion, and Lestat also reminds armand of the most vulnerable parts of himself that he is trying to keep under wraps. So Lestat and armand arguing? Likely armand is going to be cold and distant, but not for long, bcus quickly Lestat will get under his skin and cause him to revert to unmasked emotion ball screaming crying. How about, uh, Daniel and armand go on a fluffy date devils minion era. I’d write armand as odd, strange even, curious and excited but sort of cold and distant in a confusing way. Little slips of sincere childlike joy and emotion come out but they r brief. 

I hope this is making sense lmao.

It’s much easier when writing armand, esp if it’s smth ur not confident in, to write from someone else’s pov. Armand’s pov is a tough one, even for me. It’s not that his language or sentences r strange, it’s just that the way he thinks of the world and himself is so specific and unique that u gotta think a lot to replicate it. 

Armand, especially pre TVA, is nearly incapable of self reflection. He is so dissociated from his own experiences he sees his memories and life in fragments rather then events leading into each other that inform a larger context and “theme”. For example, in devils minion he explains to Daniel that he couldn’t explain what a time of his life “was like” because he can’t conceptualize concepts like that, tho he could tell Daniel if it rained on a specific date, cuz that is smth concrete to him. he just couldn’t identify what smth is like bcus he doesn’t reflect on his emotions and his experiences in a way that would allow him to make a judgement like that. 

He just goes through life and doesn’t look back. This is a hard pov to write from cuz these r basic capabilities a first person narrator must have for a story to make sense lmfao! Armand couldn’t say, “the day was a bad one bcus this happened and I was sad.” Especially not “this experience affected me this way and now I this this and this.” However, if u want to write from Armand’s pov u can integrate these ideas into it while retaining this part of Armand’s character. 

Tho armand can not self reflect, and his way of thinking and experiencing is a very bare bones simplistic way (think of armand saying “my soul hurt” in TVA narration then not explaining lmfao, that’s the extent of his self awareness and abilities to identify his emotions) u can convey complex ideas  through his simplistic approach. Through context clues, symbolism (armand loves symbolism), and word choice + description, it’s cool and possible to convey armand having a moment etc without using ur first person tools to have him self reflect. For example, if I were to write from Armand’s pov were he is having like, a traumatic flashback, instead of writing “the moment forced me to remember insert traumatic time here and my heart raced as it came back to me suddenly, and I felt like I was back there” or whatever, I’d write “flashes of red appaeared b4 my vision like many stabbing knives, and it felt as if I was engulfed in an ocean of red suddenly, unable to escape the waves, the blood, those voices of many pasts” whatever yada yada. Cuz red armand considers synopsis with pain and trauma (he tends to see it b4 his eyes when he’s in pain synesthesia king) ocean reminds him of dying of starvation in the brothel as a kid (he described it as the only thing he payed attention to as he died, the lapping sounds of the water). Past, etc. bad example I hope u get it 😭

U just gotta rlly think for armand pov lol. So if ur nervy about writing armand anyway I recommend starting or practicing with writing from someone else’s perspective about him. Daniel is a very good character to do this with, bcus his perception of armand is relatively accurate and he is a very bluntly descriptive and self reflective character who understands himself and others very well. Lestat is also very self reflective and his perception of armand is pretty easy to write imo lol. If u just write some shit like “armand was beautifully broken, like a discarded doll in an antique shop, and I wished sadly that he’d allow me to repair him.” Then you’ve got it down pretty well lmfao.

When it comes to more specific less big picture stuff, like how to write armand talking or what does armand fuck like Ryan save me from this hell, I recommend reading his scenes a Shit Ton until it’s rlly burned into ur brain like me. I don’t know if I can adequately explain how armand talks, it’s very blunt—he’s very blunt but simultaneously very flowery. Remember he is a guy who is trying to be distant, and doesn’t rlly understand how being normal works, but he also has a vibrant inner life and a shit ton of emotion waiting to boil over beneath the surface. Yah. Lmfao. 

I’m sorry this was so weird and confusing, I hope it was interesting or helpful lol. I’m so tired lmfao.sorry it turned in to meta 😭 It was hard trying to come up with advice for a prompt so non specific but I had a hella great time and ily for this anon. If anyone wants to ask me more specific questions about writing armand I would be so happy. Xoxoxo love y’all sm loool 

[passivenovember]

He’s drowning on dry land, barefoot on his bedroom floor. 

Panic crowds his lungs like saltwater, knowing flaps half-mast overhead, the lazy, bored eye of some ancient, smug, terrible God. 

A breath too late, Steve’s choked down to the very root of himself. His insides seize and squeeze into each other, organs shuddering to a stop and puckering as if tasting something sour for the first time.

Billy takes a deep breath and says, “I think,” like it’s all he’s been able to do for months. He hasn’t slept. Ate. Billy scrubs at his nose and tries again. “I think. There’s something wrong with me,” he says. 

Steve, in an instant, boils down to his baser instincts. He’s a caveman discovering fire.

Words might as well be alphabet soup spilled and doughy across the floor. Billy’s articulation falls flat as canned letters Steve imagines crouching to reach on the carpet, fake tomato paste under his fingernails as he works to arrange consonants and vowels into something that makes sense.

All he knows is the animal. 

The strawberry flush on Billy’s cheeks, his eyes downcast so the shadow of his lashes reaches like spider legs yearning to catch whatever else aims to fall from his lips.

The smell of him. 

Steve could wrap himself in it. Thick, woodsy. The coppery tinge of sweat beneath it all--

Fear.

Billy’s afraid and Steve’s brain latches onto the fact. Turns it over in his hands, fingertips tracing the sanded edge of something that used to be sharp enough to draw blood. They’ve done this enough times that everything is smooth, now. Formless. Even panic.

Steve swallows. Tries to ask what he means. 

What’s wrong. 

Wrong, like tugging on a pair of pants that used to fit. Wrong, like an incorrect namesake. Wrong, like Steve sitting near someone else, anyone who’s not Billy--

“I just,” Billy says, and Steve wishes he wouldn’t keep pausing like that. It’s wrong, too.

Like pain.

Like shadow monsters and flowers with teeth. Like the two of them, standing on opposite sides of a door, each speaking panicked over the other. 

“I just feel--”

“I could call Owens,” Steve says. It falls from his mouth like old pudding. Splats on the ground between them. 

Billy’s eyes are big. Blue and round, like the globe covered in an endless sea. Like polished marbles. He blinks, says, “I don’t--”

“--I don’t want to lose you--”

“--that’s not what I meant--”

“--why did you say it like that, then?” Steve leans forward, burning. In the pinpoint of his stomach, smoldering, with confusion. Hurt. “Why would you lead with that if you didn’t mean--”

“All that stuff is over,” Billy says. 

Doesn’t sound like he believes it. 

Still, he inflates himself to Steve’s height and holds his ground. Licks his lips. “I’m sorry I scared you.” Billy’s eyes search Steve’s face, losing some of their frantic edge. Billy blinks, his breath warm and sweet in the air between them. “What’d you mean when you said that?”

“Said what?”

“Y’know,” Billy says bluntly, “You said you can’t. Lose me, what did you mean when you said--”

“I meant that,” Steve snaps, feeling his words roll like loose marbles over the carpet. “I meant it. I always mean it.”

Billy and Steve. They’re smooth, these days. Nameless and shapeless as God, but just as strong. And true.

Steve expects that to be enough. 

Wants it to be enough, but then--

“You don’t even know why I’m scared,” Billy snips, and it lights a fire in Steve’s belly.

“You didn’t say you were scared,” Steve tells him, “Said you felt wrong.”

“Something is wrong.”

“Well,” Steve says dryly, “I can’t read your mind. What the fuck is wrong with you?”

Billy stares at him for a minute and then frowns. “I thought you could read my mind.”

“I can’t.”

“I can read yours,” Billy tells him.

Steve stretches his legs, neck cracking loudly. “Okay, then you know what I meant when I said I can’t lose you.”

Billy sits up taller than the Empire State Building, like a-ha! Like, “You didn’t say that before. You said you don’t want to lose me, not that you can’t--”

Steve wants to grab fistfuls of his own hair and pluck it out, “You’re the one who said your thing first. We were sitting here and then you said that thing and you said it out of nowhere, all ominous. Like you were standing in shadow, and I was outside, playing in the sprinklers, or something--”

“You didn’t let me finish, Harrington.”

“I feel like you’re trying to spin me in circles,” Steve says, the ghost of a smile tugging at his lips, “You want me to admit something.”

“I’m just pointing out the flaw in your language--”

“Okay, this. This valedictorian bullshit? It’s not gonna work.”

Billy breaks out into a warm, golden smile, and Steve thinks he’s awful. Irritatingly awful douchebag fucker, and just. The best thing that ever happened.

Billy clears his throat, says, “I think something’s wrong with me because I’ve never wanted to stick my name on someone before, you know?”

Steve nods, not knowing. 

Billy looks at him. Through him and at him again when Billy’s sock foot nudges him playfully. “We were sitting here, though.”

“What does that mean?”

“Who the fuck cares what it means,” Billy says lightly, “I was sitting here with you, just now, and you sniffed and I could hear all the snot in your face, like, rattle up into your brain and I thought I wanna tack my name on him. Like, write my initials on a fruit sticker and put it on your nose.”

Steve starts drowning again. He’s pushed off dry land, flailing toward a rushing river, drowning or preparing to drown.

“And that’s,” He says, mouth dry enough to suck up the ocean, ‘That’s bad?”

“Not bad,” Billy determines. “Wrong.”

And maybe Steve was lying, before, about not being able to read Billy’s mind. Because he gets it, what it means, and doesn’t have to have it spelled out for him. 

It’s only wrong if Billy’s standing out there alone. 

If the waves are crashing around him. 

If Steve’s not wrapped in a life vest, dragging another on a rope behind him as he swims easily through the surf to get to Billy and take him to dry land. 

“When I said I don’t want to lose you. Before, when I said don’t, I really meant can’t.”

Billy blinks at him, “Yeah?”

“Yeah,” Steve admits, and it’s easy. Easier still to take Billy’s hand and say, “I stuck my name on you forever ago, I just. Always thought you were mine.”

They’ve never talked about it, so Billy says, “I get that,” Fingers squeezing Steve tight, “That’s how I feel, too.”

[daitranscripts]

Cole Cutscene: What Pride Had Wrought

Died and Then Didn't

Cole Masterpost Related Quest: What Pride Had Wrought

The PC finds Cole on the ramparts at night.

Cole: Corypheus died, and then he didn’t. That’s why he always felt wrong, like he didn’t fit inside himself. He wears another man’s life. I thought dying was forever.

Dialogue options:

General: It’s confusing. PC: It’s hard for any of us to make sense of. Corypheus is using ancient magic. ㅤㅤ ㅤ

General: You and me both. PC: So did I. Corypheus seems to break a lot of rules. ㅤㅤ ㅤ

General: We’ll kill him. PC: We’ll make it forever. We’re working on a plan to kill Corypheus permanently.

Cole (have not found amulet for Cole): We still need the amulet, the one Solas talked about. I can’t fight Corypheus without it. I won’t. Cole (amulet found, personal quest not completed): We still need to get the amulet working. I won’t face Corypheus without it. I can’t.

Cole: But is it him? Is he real? If a man can be dead and then not…

Cole (personal quest completed): Could I have saved the real Cole? Cole (personal quest not completed): There was a young man. He died alone. I didn’t know how to help. Could I have saved him?

Dialogue options:

General: You did all you could. PC: What happened to him wasn’t your fault. ㅤㅤ ㅤ

General: I don’t know. PC: I have no idea. I’m sorry. I hardly understand any of this myself. ㅤㅤ ㅤ

General: No. PC: Corypheus is using his connection to the blight to make himself immortal. You couldn’t do that.

Choice dependent dialogue:

Cole became more human[1]

Cole becomes more spirit [2]

Cole’s quest not completed [3]

1 - Cole became more human: Cole: His hands were bruised from beating on the wall. It was dark like the cabinet where he hid to escape his father. His belly hurt like knives, throat cracked dry. He was alone. I pushed through and held his hand. It was all I could do. He said, “Thank you.” Cole: Thank you. Scene ends.

2 - Cole becomes more spirit: Cole: It gnawed at me, hooks in the hollows, pain of not knowing like the knot in his belly. But that is a hurt, and hurts can heal. I can heal.

Cole: Forget. PC: Cole? Cole, are you… Cole: You may still use that name, if you like. I am here to help you. Scene ends.

3 - Cole’s quest not completed: Cole: I get heavy when I think of him. It pushes me down, holds me here. It would hurt less to forget.

Dialogue options:

General: Then do that. [4]

General: You need to remember. [5]

4 - General: Then do that. PC: If it helps you, Cole, let it go. Cole: Forget. Forget! PC: Cole? Cole: It’s still here. I’m still here. For a while, anyway. Scene ends.

5 - General: You need to remember. PC: That feeling is part of what makes you who you are. Don’t forget that. Cole: Heels of the hands brushed from beating on the wall. Dark like the cabinet where I hid from Father before the bad day. I will remember. Scene ends.

If the PC speaks to Cole again Cole: He meant to watch forever. He called himself Sorrow.

[edupunkn00b]

Progression, Chapter 8: You've Created a Monster

Photo by edupunkn00b

Prev - You've Created a Monster - Masterpost - [ AO3 ]

Last night's incident at the bar had consequences that no-one could escape. Written for @imnotgrimimjustagrumpyreaper's @dukeceit-week-2024, final day: Free Day. "Free" day. WC: 1190

Wet and heavy, the air outside the bar stank of rotting vegetables and piss, old paint and sweat. Fear. He shivered, sweat cooling his skin too, too quickly, even in the stuffy, muggy night. 

He almost asked to go back inside, to return to the soft lights and the loud music. To return to Jannie and Lucas’ watchful gazes. Did they see him leave? Would they be worried? 

He almost asked to go back inside, but before he could even surface the thought, Bryan urged him around the corner and into the alley, voice sweet and brushed with just a hint of heat. His lips were soft and the hand on the small of his back was warm and gentle.

Until it wasn’t.

The Muse cracked open his eyes, squinting against the cold glare of his buzzy overhead light. It hummed and crackled, some ancient thing that didn’t fritz right out under the strangling weight of his room's new shield.

Sighing, he rubbed his cheek against the carpet. It was now stiff, without the same drag and bounce it had had before Papa Bear and Virge renovated. The fresh glue stank, burning his nose and his throat.

Maybe that’s what he’d smelled. Not last night’s bar. Not last night’s—

The floor jolted beneath him, the little thud that meant the elevator had stopped on his floor. The Muse grinned. Someone was coming!

“Jannie!” The Muse cheered, racing to the door as it began to open. “Jannie, Jannie, Jannie, Jannie, Jannie, Jan—”

Papa Bear’s head stuck through and he frowned. “Sorry, Kiddo.” The cheer in his voice was thin and brittle, too high and too chilly to be real. If The Muse pushed at it, it would shatter under his hands like the old plastic cabinets had. Papa Bear raised the tray he carried and curled up his lips into something like a smile. “Just me and some dinner for you while Virge converts your stove to work in the EMF.”

His voice was rough, like he’d been shouting. Or crying. The Muse flipped backwards on a nearby chair and hung his head over the seat, watching him as he walked on the ceiling. He’d never been able to easily read Papa Bear. Not without touching him, at least, and today—tonight?—Papa Bear wore a long-sleeved hoodie, all drawn up and covered like he was cold.

A bead of sweat trailed down his temple.

He couldn’t easily read him—not without pushing, not without being noticed, and he was trying so hard to never do that, no matter how much he needed it sometimes. But he could usually make Papa Bear laugh. When he wasn’t scaring him or grossing him out, anyway. 

“Guess Jannie’s too busy bom-chicka-waow-waow , with the hubby, huh?” He grinned, waiting for a laugh or a grimace. Usually his innuendos about Papa Bear’s little brother got a bit of both.

Not today, though. “Something like that.” Papa Bear’s mouth trembled and he turned to set down the tray, a wave of grief and loss knocking Remus to the floor.

“Oh, fuck, Papa Bear…” He scrambled to his feet and moved close. “Lucas isn’t… hurt, is he?”

“No, um… Lucas is fine, Kiddo. Everything’s okay.” Papa Bear smiled through his lie. “I… I should go… I left Virge without another set of hands in the lab, um… Eat up, Re. You’re getting too skinny.” He smiled again, lips curled up softly, but cheeks pale and eyes red-rimmed. “I’ll make you anything you want, I promise.”

He squeezed his shoulder, grip firm but not very steady. It was only then that The Muse noticed his gloves. “Yeah—yeah, Papa Bear. I’ll eat this time. I…” Another wave of sadness oozed off of him, cold and sticky. Syrup left to dry or those cold compresses he’d stick on his bruises when the ice burned.

The Muse poked at the edges of Papa Bear’s hurt, feeling for the source of the thudding, throbbing ache around them. Papa Bear shrank back and shook his head, wincing, so he stopped. Tried to, at least.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered.

“It’s okay, Re,” he murmured, but didn’t move closer. “I know it’s not your fault.” His arms twitched, almost like wanted to hug him. The Muse stepped closer, unable to hold back the itchy little whine at the back of his throat. A big Papa Bear hug would feel so fucking good right now. 

But instead of moving toward him, arms open, Papa Bear shuffled backwards and palmed open the door with the new controls. “I—I—I gotta go, Kiddo,” he said, not meeting his eyes. He slipped through the door, pulling it closed behind him. “I’m sorry,” he mouthed from the other side of the door. 

“Papa Bear, wait, what hap—” The Muse rushed to the door and slammed his hand on the controls. It wouldn’t respond. He tried again, slower this time, fingers carefully spread over the surface. Nothing. 

“I’m sorry, Kiddo.” Papa Bear’s voice spilled from a little vent next to the door. “That won’t work anymore. I’ll see you tomorrow, okay?”

He pressed to the window. “Papa Bear? I—I’m sorry! Please come back! Papa Bear?”

Papa Bear’s shoulders shook as he rushed toward the elevator and disappeared. “Papa Bear?” he cried one more time, banging on the door. The elevator doors swished shut and the hallway was again bathed in darkness.

Braced against the door, one hand stretched and hopelessly tapping the door controls, he watched the hallway shadows a long, long time. The lights above the elevator dimmed and brightened almost imperceptibly, silently and dutifully marking each floor change as the elevator moved in its shaft. The lights never heralded Papa Bear’s return.

Or anyone's.

By now they would’ve told Ro what happened at the bar. But maybe… maybe Ro would still visit? Not come inside, that was too, well, it wasn’t safe not alone. they both knew that. But Ro still might come and sit outside the door like he used to, close enough to see him through the window. Close enough to imagine they still breathed the same air. Close enough for Ro to show off a new flower or dazzling lights.

He’d bragged he could make fireworks the last time they’d talked. The Muse laughed. Maybe he could show off what he could do, too.

The Muse closed his eyes and straightened, hands outstretched in front of him.

Scarred and shaking, he saw nothing but empty hands and his empty room.

He tried again, picturing the sparks of heat and light, the singe as the fireworks spread and scattered over his hands. But no matter how clear the picture was in his mind, the static pushed back against it, forcing it all back into his head. He tried again. And again. Fireworks, flowers, a fucking rock.  

Nothing worked.

He shook his head, pounding behind his eyes as his Illusions stuttered against his skull, echoing back to him instead of pouring out into the world, into his palms, alive and real. His room wasn’t supposed to do that. He had to tell Jannie.

The Muse pushed at the static surrounding his room, the new, ever-present buzz of the shield pressing against him like a soap bubble. Was it louder now? He slammed his fists against it, scratching, clawing, poking against the deafening darkness. -”Jannie?-“ he screamed against the bubble. -“Jannie, can you hear me? Jannie? Jannie?! JANNIE!!”-

[idiotwithanipad]

Breaking Down Ancient Walls

(Set after @shebeafancyflapjack 's fic Sleepover. Also with elements from her fic Exile)

The soldier had boiled his last pan. Cracked whatever shell of self control he had left. Robin knew that Cap could be rude and patronising at times, but he never thought he'd stoop so low; brushing off Amy's loss as though it were a mere fork in the road to slip around and avoid. Berating Silver when she wasn't even in the room to stand up for herself.

Prodding his little insults and condescending remarks behind her back, like a coward.

Listening to the fancy pants warble on as though everyone would agree with him, Robin began to see Cap in himself. In that moment, anyway. He'd been rude. Angry. Condescending and downright spiteful to her. His good friend who really meant no harm in anything she did.

The sincere hurt and horror in her eyes in that moment was something he didn't think he'd ever be able to forget. If he could open up his skull and pour bleach onto his ancient brain to rid himself of it... He wouldn't. He didn't want to forget it, because he wanted to remember never to treat her that way again.

"Take it easy, yeah? Just take it easy, mate" Julian soothed, surprisingly softly as he rubbed between Robin's tense shoulder blades. The caveman ran his musty fingers through his mane, exhaling sharply like an angry bull.

"I mess up. I mess up big bad.." He berated himself, screwing his eyes shut.

Julian nodded and pinched his lips together. Quite frankly, the MP didn't quite know what to say; all he knew was that he never wanted to get on Robin's bad side.

"I broke promise to Mary. I make Moonah Girl go away. Would never do that. Never!" Robin fretted, palms pressed firmly against his throbbing temples.

"She's a good girl really. I'm sure once she gets a good long sleep in she'll be right at rain in no time" Pat assured, stepping away from the still dumbstruck Captain and sitting down on the bed. Robin shook his head.

"No. It not about her sleepy. It about promise!" Robin barked, a crack in his voice.

"I promise to Mary that I not tell Moonah Girl what happen! For her sake. But I mess up! I tell Moonah Girl and make me sound like big hero... But not in good way"

A wave of realisation hit him. Hard.

"It what Stompy call-..Gas-life?. Gaslike?... "

"Gaslighting" Julian finished.

Robin nodded solemnly.

"Mary be knocking me on head if she here right now. Stompy be pulling on beard if she here right now. I'm not good friend..." Robin dropped back onto the bed beside Pat, his back stiff and rigid, shoulders trembling and knuckles cracking against his knees.

"No no, mate~" Pat shook his head and his brow creased in pity as he reached forward to pet Robin's arm.

"I shut away last 'fing of Mary I got left- make her cry- let her down.." Robin's voice trembled. His whole body trembled as he fought back hot tears. A vein in his neck popped and his shoulders seared with pain. Each individual tuft of fur on the caveman's shift seemed to slowly stand on end and they sounded like they were- buzzing?...

With a loud 'crack' the lightbuld overhead broke open and fizzled out, sending shards of glowing hot glass slicing through the bedsheets and curtains. Everyone in the Hingham Suite yelped in surprise, the whole house became shrouded in darkness as room by room, each lightbuld, each TV, each telephone blew and sparked and smoked and died.

"Heavens! Well, there goes my Luther marathon later on!" Fanny chided with an irritated flourish of her arms.

"I don't ask for much, you know, Robi-"

Fanny stopped dead in her tracks, pursing her lips and clasping her hands respectfully at her stomach, bowing her head in shame. Robin's face lie down in his palms, leant forward and trembling, his head practically between his knees, his feet tucked in tight. Sobbing.

--

"Where be Amy?" Mary hustled over to Annie who approached casually from behind.

The Puritan pointed in the direction of the thick evergreens behind her, a pleased grin on her face.

"She be over yonder. She hath found herself a clearing surrounded by oak and spruce. She do plan to conjour a home there for Lord Humphrey and herself for when he reaches this land. Once she gets in enough practice, o'course"

Mary smiled. At last, the dark girl made herself bright again.

"Spendids. But my love, we needs her, urgents" Mary said, a tone of haste in her voice as she clutched onto Annie's wrist.

Annie made the connection quickly, her eyes darting from Mary's to the waterfall over her shoulder.

"What's 'appened?"

"I did see Robin lose himself and cry. Rights in fronts of t'others. This may be our only chance to slips our ways into his noggin' and speaks to him"

Annie's eyes brightened, bringing her free hand to Mary's shoulder. They had to be fast.

The two women gathered their skirts and jogged through the trees to reach Amy.

"Little'eeeen?" Mary cooed, her voice bouncing with each time her foot struck the ground.

Amy sat, rock in her lap, legs crossed under her. Her eyes focused hard on the grass before her, her lid twitching occasionally. The shiny blue pebble and black glittering stick beside her were reminders not to give up hope of conjouring just yet. If she could conjour something that couldn't be found in nature, like the pebble and stick, then she could conjour a building. Right? If she got good enough? She had forever after all.

"C'mon you mother fuckin', ball bustin', gut punching-"

Amy's mumbling rant of concentration was interrupted as she heard the two women scrambling up behind her like headless chickens.

"Little Amy! Little Amy! We needs your projections!" Mary panted, leaning her hands on her thighs.

"Woah, woah, what's taken the skin off YOUR sack?" Amy asked, wide eyed, already gathering herself from the grass and clutching the rock to her stomach as she rose.

"There be a window of opportunity, girl. Time to make a visit to Robin at last. He sleeps now" Annie deflated, mopping her brow with her apron.

It was a pin drop moment for Amy. Silver had assured her that vengeance was unnecessary, that she didn't care anymore. But Amy cared. She hadn't let it go yet. She wouldn't let it go until she was satisfied.

"Right now?" Amy blinked, wanting a definite answer.

"Right nows. Come, girl, come forth" Mary hurried, beckoning for Amy to follow as she took off in a brisk waddle back towards the trees. Annie followed soon after, watching over her boulder to make sure Amy followed.

She did. A determines frown knitting into her thickened brows.

--

The house was dark. Damp. It hadn't looked this way for a good long while. Cobwebs and bust strung from each surface and candlestick. Tapestries and dusty rugs folded and left to mould on the floorboards. The walls were old, dark. No longer the fresh white that had been painted over them as of late. Why was it this way?

Come to think of it... The place was completely empty. Robin didn't like it empty. Empty means alone. And alone is bad. The fireplace in the Lobby was unlit and dusty. Cobwebs hung from it like Gothic streamers, floating and swaying gently in the cold breeze as it blew through in a long, lementing howl.

Robin caught eye on two chairs. Old chairs. Intricate detailing carved into them. Familiar.

He sat in one of them. Uncomfortable. Solid. Old. Alone.

It seemed like the house was a personification of himself. It would always end up empty, cold, alone and unloved. The house was like his brain; vast, large, full of memories. But none of that mattered if there was nobody inside to share them with.

Robin breathed out. Much to his surprise, a cloud of steam exited his lips. In fact, everything seemed to devolve and change around him, all the surfaces crushing over with glistening ice and frost. It creaked and squeaked as it solidified and encapsulated everything beneath it. His head switched from side to side as he pushed himself up from the chair.

"Sit down"

Robin whipped his head in the direction of the voice, but nobody was there. His jaw set. His eyes peeled for any movement. His nostrils flared for any scent. Cigarettes. Sugar. Cheap red velvet body mist. Her.

"Stompy?... That you?"

The mist leaving his lips was more like a continuous flowing vapour now. No longer the subtle whisp of warmth from just now. The place even had icicles hanging from above. Some tiny. Some lengthy. Some like fully formed stalagmites descending from the ceiling.

With the tickling sensation of someone trailing their finger up the back of his neck, Robin swirled around to face the chairs again. A figure sat, cross legged, in the chair opposite the one he got up from.

He jumped back, almost sliding on the ice and doing the splits.

"Forgotten how creepy I look in the dark already?...Thanks a lot, dick..." Amy rolled her eyes. Digging a cigarette from her pocket and striking her Zippo. The orange flame illuminating her displeased face.

For a brief second, Robin grinned, delighted and in awe. How was she back? She's gone, she went up to the stars? Scabby basement guy say so.

"I'd wipe that grin off your face if I were you. I didn't come here to have a laugh, mate"

Robin's face cracked and his grin faltered. He blinked.

"How you come back? You go up to stars. We not see you in while now. Head say-"

"Don't you say his name" Amy spat, pointing her cigarette in his direction, her eyes pinned angrily on the chair opposite hers.

Robin sucked in a breath and stepped closer. Daring.

"But- how you here?" He pressed, stepping closer to the chair.

"Same as you can blow the power, I can come into people's dreams. I can control them" Amy dumped ash down onto the floor with a flick. Somehow, it didn't melt the frost, it just froze over as well.

Robin stood in silence, processing it all. Amy's eyes finally glided over to him, those blue eyes anything but happy to see him.

"Sit the fuck down"

She was serious. He could tell. She wasn't even this angry when he'd wake her up in the morning, jumping on her and tickling his grubby fingers into her ribs.

"What happen-?"

"I said sit down"

Like a naughty boy sent to the headmaster's office, he gingerly stepped around the corner of the chair and sank down onto it slowly. His eyes fixed hard on her as she took another drag of the nicotine stick.

"Wanna fill me in on anything I missed? Any- events?" Amy asked, but something in her voice and the way she scoweled at him made it seem like she already knew everything, she was simply biding her time, waiting for the moment when he would try to slip around his actions with a cheeky lie.

He broke eye contact and gave a limp shrug.

"There must be something. I've been gone for three months. You lot can't go a week without one of you fucking up somehow" Amy spoke, calmly, sinisterly.

Again, another halfhearted shrug.

"Really?... Well, how's Silv?"

His heart stopped. Oh no.

"She asleep" He replied quickly.

"I gathered that. How's she been? Gotten over it yet? She was always quite sentimental" Amy added, matter of fact.

Robin rubbed his knuckles up and down his furs. He was cracking. She could tell.

"She sad. Cry big long time"

Getting closer. Maybe she should play at him a little bit? He still had a heart. He must have a least one string left in it to tug at?

"Same. I almost ripped all the skin on my arm off because I wanted to come back so bad. Oh well, at least she still has you and Kitty. You two won't let her down. Will you, Robin?"

...

"Will you, Robin?..."

The caveman couldn't look at her anymore, he was ashamed. He shook his head.

"Don't ignore me, Robin" A small growl rippled in Amy's voice.

The caveman pushed himself up from the chair and turned to walk away through the wall behind him.

"I said DON'T ignore me"

Amy was right in front of him now, he caught on, walking chest first into her face.

He jolted back.

"... Okay..." He yielded.

"I- lost temper-.."

Amy blinked.

"How? What happened?"

"Moonah Girl get so sad without you that she start to talk to Head bit. Then Body bit. Walk straight past me and ignore me" He admitted.

"And then?" Amy tilted her head.

Robin's nostrils flared and his lip trembled.

"I get angry. Tell her she silly little girl. She treat Body bit like a toy, great big teddy bear. But- she stop talk to me and I feel-"

"Left out? " Amy finished.

Robin looked terrible. His eyes widened and he winced at the monotone drone in Amy's voice. Somehow her monotone was worse than her anger.

"So that was it, was it?" Amy's hand threw the cigarette to the frozen floor.

"You were jealous and you just couldn't lose a fight?"

"Was just- Mary make me promise to take care of Moonah Girl till she go up to the stars. But Body bit keep 'finking she was you!" The savage defended, flourishing his mits to the edgy teen.

"Then you should've stepped up... "Amy Grit her teeth, stepping closer to him, her eyes burning with rage.

"If you wanted to help her you should've helped her. This is all on you. If you had just been there for her, she wouldn't have to have you shouting at her like a fucking five year old" Amy sneered.

"Was a misTAKE!" Robin blurted, stamping his foot.

"Don't fucking shout at me, scumfuck!" Amy growled back, pointing her finger under his chin.

The two former friends stood, almost chest to chest, glaring each other down. Amy's face was stony and solid, but her heart cracked. She didn't want to have an exchange like this with him, but Robin had placed himself up on a high horse. And she hated that attitude.

You can either be the person groveling at the rocks or the person on the high horse. But Amy took it upon herself to be the person who knocks the horse over, sending the high and mighty to crumble down to grovel like the rest.

Would that make her the one on the high horse? Was she going too far? Had she become everything she hated in her former mother like she'd feared?

She shouldn't have come here. She should've just left Robin alone. Followed Silver's advice and just let it slip. He was probably thinking up an apology before she even got to him. And now she'd wrecked him.

Tears sprang to Amy's eyes.

"Did you even care about Silver and me at all? Kitty? Elysabeth?"

Robin's eyes set on her.

"How you know abou-"

"Or were we just a means to an end? A way for you to get over your guilt and move on? Were we all just little ways for you to prove to yourself that you weren't a terrible guy? Just tell me the truth"

Had that been the way he'd come across? The girls were just a way for him to start over and repent? A second chance, maybe?

Amy felt like she had been winded as the caveman stepped forward, flinging his arms around her in a crushing embrace. Her tears slipped and fell into his furs and she held her breath.

"Didn't mean for any of it. Didn't want hurt any of you. 'Specially you girls. Was just- I felt like I not needed no more"

Amy could kick herself in her fucking throat. He'd felt unwanted? Unneeded? Out of date and washed up? Was all of this because he liked to feel needed?

This was all just a misunderstanding. Amy wept. Surprisingly, Robin pulled back slightly and glanced down at her. He was about to reach a hand up to wipe her tear, but she pulled away weakly.

"The way you treated Silver was fucked up and you know it." Amy looked over at him in sadness and guilt.

"Just please- don't do that again. I don't wanna see my best friends at each others throats"

Robin nodded, already looking ready to wipe the past clean and start over.

"Just promise me something, Robin?" She didn't look like the Amy he knew. She looked vulnerable and puppy eyed, strangely cute in a sinister way.

"What? What me promise?" He asked, stepping closer, looking for any way to earn forgiveness.

"Don't be afraid to care"

Robin blinked.

"Silver will forgive you, I know it. Fuck the Tory off for those three days and go talk to her, go for a walk, chase squirrels I dunno, just- don't leave her alone and come back moping when she loses interest, yeah?"

She was right; Julian was constantly there. Those three days wouldn't be a total loss would it?

"If you keep shutting yourself off from her, you'll cut yourself off from Mary too. Mary would want you to care"

"'Kay. I promise, Stompy. Won't break"

Amy nodded, rubbing her cuff under her eye to get rid of the tear streaks.

"We all love you, Robin, just in case you forgot that. You fucking moron" Amy managed a chuckle, behind her sobs. He exhaled and gave a nod, the corner of his mouth twitching into a tiny smile.

"I want you to be there for her when she wakes up. If Humphrey's body is there just talk softly to him, he can feel vocal vibrations so long as they're above waist height. He won't think you're a threat then"

The room around them started to tremble and fade. The ice turning to powder and evaporating.

Robin glanced down at the boards beneath his furry boots as though preparing for them to split and swallow him up.

Amy let her eyes go of kilter briefly, still disheartened.

"Please promise me, Robin... "

He nodded.

"I promise. Moonah Girl get big apothecary-"

"Apology"

"Apology- when she wake up. Won't let her cry no more. 'Less she need to..."

Amy gave a soft smile finally. That was all she wanted to hear. The room faded and rattled into blackness as the caveman's subconscious fluttered away. The sun must be coming up. Only Amy's voice remained.

"Don't be afraid to care, Robin. Don't shut yourself away and you won't get hurt"

[hbyrde36]

Chapter 15!

Steve Harrington: Vampire Hunter

ao3 link

Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4

Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8

Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12

Chapter 13 Chapter 14

Whoever was at Steve’s front door was persistent. They rang the bell over and over again as he rushed around, shoving his legs into a pair of sweatpants so he wouldn’t have to greet whoever it was in his underwear. He wasn’t expecting anyone this morning. Robin hadn’t texted and Wayne wasn’t due to pick him up for hours.

He padded barefoot to the door and was so annoyed by the constant buzzing that the second he reached it he threw it open wide. He couldn’t have been more surprised to find Jane, the scary young girl from Henry Creel's house standing on his doorstep.

“What, uh, can I, um, do for you, Jane?” Steve stuttered, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

She didn’t say a word in reply, just smiled and raised her hand palm-up in front of her face and made a little oh with her lips. Steve had a fraction of a second to notice the black powdery substance she was holding before she was suddenly blowing it right in his face. 

Whatever that stuff was, whatever she had done to him, the effect was immediate. The world around Steve swam and he felt himself begin to fall. He waited for the pain to hit him but it never came, blackness overtook him before he ever hit the floor. 

Steve came-to in a dark room with a dirt floor. It was cold enough to make him shiver and wish he had thought to throw on a t-shirt before answering his front door. In his defense he hadn’t expected to be abducted today. It smelled damp and musty and the word cellar came quickly to mind. He could feel that he wasn’t alone, that he was being watched, but he hadn’t turned his head yet to confirm who it was and so far had been careful to only open his eyes a crack.  He kept his breath even as he took stock of himself. 

He’d been knocked out plenty of times before, and in a few different ways, but the weird thing about this time was, he remembered everything and he felt…fine. 

It was no different than waking up from a nap. Nothing hurt, and he wondered if he had ever even hit the ground or if Jane had floated him away once he passed out like she had done with the objects in Creel’s house. There was also no fuzziness to his thoughts like there usually was when he got hit too hard in the head. He had the hysterical thought that he wished more bad guys would use the stuff she had.  

He finally opened his eyes and turned over. In the low light of a few candles he could see Jane sitting on top of a box no more than a few feet away. 

No, not a box. A coffin. 

Right, so it was still daylight outside. The question was, who was in the coffin? Henry didn’t seem to need to hide from the sun nor did Steve think a man like that would lower himself to rest in a place like this. 

Only one way to find out.

Steve cleared his throat. “Who’s in the box?”

“Oh, so I see you’re done pretending to be asleep now.” Jane said.

Steve sat up, still a little amazed at how good he felt. 

He decided to act dumb, though it was only partly an act because he really didn’t know what the hell was going on. “All this wasn’t necessary, I told Henry I would think about his offer and I meant it, but I haven’t decided yet. He promised me time, so what’s with the kidnapping routine?”

Jane grimaced at the mention of the ancient vampire’s name. “I am no longer on Henry’s side, although he does not know that yet. I don’t know if you’ve met my friend Angela.” She said, patting the box beneath her. “She’s promised to free me and my sister from him. We had a plan, but neither of us expected him to get his hands on a real live necromancer, so we had to improvise. When I met you yesterday at the house I knew I had to stop you from joining him.”

Okay. He didn’t really understand what she meant, or what made him so special, but he couldn't worry about that now. His top priority was to get the hell out of there before Angela woke. She was old and powerful and would likely rise before sunset. He didn’t know what time it was now, he didn’t know how long he’d been out of it, he just knew he needed to hurry. 

He didn’t want to hurt Jane if he could avoid it. Maybe she could be reasoned with.

“I haven’t agreed to help him yet.” Steve repeated, glad that he was telling the truth and hoping the sincerity carried through in his voice. “What if I promise not to help him, will you let me go then?”

Jane sighed as if she suspected this conversation was coming, but wasn’t looking forward to it. “I’m sorry, but It’s more complicated than that now I'm afraid. We can’t have you helping your Master of the City either. Angela must kill him and rise to the position herself to have any hope of defeating Henry.”

Steve knew what was coming next. Jane would ask for his cooperation to put Angela in charge, which he was never going to do. He felt for Jane, in a way. If she really was doing all this to gain her and her sisters freedom, he could almost understand. Though, even the bad guys had families sometimes and he couldn’t afford to assume anything about this girl just because she loved her sister. 

But, maybe he could try to convince her that Angela couldn’t be trusted. 

“Jane, I know you don’t know me, and I don’t know much about your situation, but I have met Angela and I can assure she is not your friend. If Henry is bad, then she is worse. She…”

Jane cut him off. “You have no idea what you’re talking about. She is my friend! She promised!”

“Angela and her people have murdered innocents, Jane. Did you know that? Did she tell you what she did to them? Her and her friends attacked me and an older man, unprovoked. She almost killed us. And when we did manage to get the upper hand she was going to let us kill one of her friends. She didn’t care what happened to him.” 

“You’re making that up. You're trying to trick me!” She shouted

"No honey, I swear I’m not. I also swear that if you let me go I will do everything in my power to help you and your sister. It’s part of my job, to help people who are in trouble with vampires. Please, just let me go before she wakes, we can both go. I’ll keep you safe.”

Jane threw her hands over her ears and screamed wordlessly, trying to drown out what he was saying. As she did, things began to explode all around them. Glass mason jars, tins of screws, and barrels full of liquid. 

She hopped down off the coffin and stood glaring down at him with eyes simmering with fear and anger. “She warned me you would do this! She told me not to talk to you alone but you woke too early! She will be up soon and you will see. You will have to join us or die. There is no other choice. Anything else puts Kali at risk, so you better start preparing yourself for whatever fate you choose.”

Jane walked off to the other end of the space and sat down…on the bottom step. He hadn’t noticed it before but there were three short steps that led to a set of metal doors, only the barest hint of outdoor light visible around the edges. She had closed her eyes and seemed to be meditating.  

Steve wracked his brain for what to do. He was pretty sure he could overpower the girl physically, but Jane was a witch and he didn’t know the limits of what she could do. He had his own power he could try to tap into, but if he did that she would probably sense it and he would lose any element of surprise. 

There was one thing he could do. The one bit of magic he could do better than anyone else, it was as easy as breathing and required only the smallest amount of his power. He dug his fingers into the dirt floor and could sense the bodies that lay beneath it. He didn’t know if they were more of Angela's victims or if the house that stood above them had once belonged to a serial killer, but there were several sets of bones under this ground and one of them lay right under Jane’s feet.

He pushed his fingers further into the earth and called to the bones, releasing only the barest hint of his power. The zombie didn’t need to look good, it just needed to rise and do his bidding. In his mind he whispered to the dead man what he wanted him to do, along with an apology for using his earthly body this way. 

The zombie was ready, itching to burst towards the surface but Steve held him fast, told him to wait, wait for just one more minute.

Steve got to his feet and slowly approached the girl, better to be as close to the doors as possible before he gave away his advantage. 

Her eyes shot open at his movement. “What are you doing?” She asked, and she sounded appalled as if stunned he would move from his spot without permission. If she had really expected him to stay put maybe she should have tied him down. She wasn't very good at this. Maybe it was her first kidnapping. 

“You looked upset, I just wanted to make sure you were okay.” He lied. 

She tilted her head staring at him with furrowed brows. 

A few more steps and he’d be right in front of her, it was time. He let go of the metaphorical leash he was holding and instantly a bony hand broke through the packed dirt and grabbed on hard and fast to her ankle. 

Jane cried out and tried to wrench her leg from its grip. Steve dodged around her, praying that the door wasn’t somehow locked from the outside. It wasn’t, but there was a chain wrapped around the pull handles secured with a padlock. It was old and rusted, Steve yanked on it but the links didn’t break. He scanned the room sure there would be something around to help him break through, and he was right. There was a shovel with a metal head leaning against the wall only a few feet away. 

He lunged for it as he listened to Jane continue to struggle with his zombie. It had now completely escaped its shallow grave and had its arms locked around her waist. She was screaming in terror. He wondered why she wasn’t using her powers. Maybe all she had was telekinesis or maybe wrestling with an animated dead body that was nothing more than bones and bits of flesh was just frightening enough to make her forget about everything else.

He hit the chain with the head of the shovel as hard as he could. Three or four good whacks and the links snapped. He started to unwind the remaining length of chain from the door when the lid to Angelas coffin popped open with a crash. He’d hoped she would go for Jane first, to help free her from the zombie but of course she didn’t. She went right for Steve. He tossed the chain aside and quickly snapped the shovel handle in half over his leg. He may not have shoes or a shirt, but now he had two wooden stakes. It was better than nothing.

Angela grabbed Steve by the throat and slammed him into the steps, hissing in his face. His back hit the edge of one of the wooden planks and it hurt like a motherfucker but he managed to hold on to his only weapons. He jammed one of the bits of wood into her side, digging it in as deep as he could. It wasn’t a killing blow, but that wasn’t the goal here. He just needed to distract her long enough to get the doors open. The daylight would do the rest. 

She reared back, shrieking in pain and yelling at Jane to help her. Steve scrambled backwards up the final step and rammed his shoulder into the center of the double doors pushing them open and sending sunlight cascading into his end of the cellar. 

Angela shrieked again and threw herself further back into the shadows of the opposite end of the cellar.

Steve struggled to his feet, back aching and more than one splinter in the bottom of his foot, but he did it and ran out into the backyard of a small house. Autumn leaves crunched under his feet and the sound echoed behind him. He looked back over his shoulder to find Jane standing a few feet outside of the cellar watching his escape. He expected her to at least run after him, or worse, but she just stood there and shouted to him. 

“The black powder is deadly.” It was enough to slow him down, to give him pause. He turned to face her from twenty feet away. “There is no antidote, but I know a spell that will heal you. Otherwise, you’ll die within hours. Stay, agree to bond with Angela and I’ll save your life.”  

Steve wasn’t buying it, he felt fine. She was just trying to scare him into turning back. He was bathed in sunlight, Angela couldn’t get to him, and Jane seemed reluctant to leave her. 

He wouldn’t fall for it. He turned his back on her and ran.

Steve had been walking on the side of the road for only about ten minutes when a car pulled up beside him. He’d started out running, and kept it up until he could no longer see the abandoned house and he was sure that Jane wasn’t going to give chase, but his feet were getting torn up in the process and eventually he’d been forced to slow down.

“You look like you could use a ride.” A familiar female voice called out to him through the open car window.  

He stooped down to peer at the driver and sure enough, it was Nancy. He wasn’t in any position to refuse the help so he got in the car, albeit a little reluctantly. 

What was she doing out here? 

Wherever here was.

She looked him up and down before pulling the car back onto the road. “Are you okay? Do you need a doctor?” She asked. 

Apart from the pain in his back and his scratched up feet he was fine. Well that, and there was a tightness to his chest that was new, but that was probably from the running. “How did you know I was out here, Nance?”

“How do you know I wasn't just out for a drive and got lucky?”

He stared at her in silence, unblinking. 

She glanced between him and the road a few times and let out a long breath. 

“Fine. I saw the girl take you from your house. I followed you here. I swear I was going to come to the rescue, I just wanted to see what…”

“What the fuck Nance you followed me here? How did you see her take me, were you staking out my fucking house?”

“Yes! Alright? Yes, I've been watching you. I’m sorry. Look, I took the contract and I know you were hesitant to help me outright so I thought…”

“Stop!” Steve shouted. The whole thing was giving him a throbbing headache. “Just…stop talking and take me home.”

 “Are you sure it’s safe for you to go home right now?”

She had a point. 

He wasn’t sure why that hadn’t occurred to him yet. He felt tired and a little foggy. It was probably the fading adrenaline. Oh well, whatever he decided to do would be none of her business after the stunt she’d just pulled. 

“Just drive.” He said, turning to look out the window. They made the rest of the long drive in complete silence.

He slammed the passenger door of Nancy’s rent-a-car and stood in his front yard watching until she had driven out of sight. He knew he should get inside and pack and bag. Call Robin or Wayne to pick him up. He could easily stay with one of them for a few days until he figured out what to do. He was so tired though. He stumbled his way over to his front porch steps and sat down. He’d just rest for a minute, catch his breath, then he’d go inside and take care of things. 

Distantly he heard the door to the house open behind him, and felt footsteps as someone walked across the porch. He tensed, not sure he was up to fighting anyone else off right now 

“Steve?” 

It was Robin. Relief flooded through him and he wanted so badly to turn and look at her, but his body wouldn’t cooperate and his head felt like it weighed a hundred pounds. He tried to say her name but something caught in his throat and he began to cough uncontrollably. Something hot and sticky dribbled down his chin. 

Robin came bounding around the side of him so she could see his face. She gasped and fell to her knees next to him. His vision blurred and he saw only red as she took his head in her hands. She was screaming his name and he wanted to respond to her, he really did but he was so tired. He couldn’t even sit up anymore. He slid sideways and landed in her lap. He closed his eyes and realized how quiet it had gotten. He couldn’t hear Robin anymore, just the rush of blood in his ears until he drifted away, and then that was gone too.

Steve woke up and had no idea where he was. It was becoming the theme of his life at this point and one he was desperate to stop. He was lying on his back in an unfamiliar king sized bed made up with black silk sheets and far too many pillows. 

He stared at the ceiling and tried to think. What was the last thing he remembered? He wasn’t sure, but something about the ceiling and what he could see of the walls was familiar. He shook the feeling off and tried to concentrate. He remembered the doorbell ringing, and Jane standing on his doorstep. It all came rushing back, the cellar, Angela, Nancy, her dropping him off at home. Robin. 

“Robin.” He tried to sit up, gasping her name. 

Suddenly someone was at his side, supporting his back and stroking his hair. 

“Hey, hey, hush. Take it easy, sweetheart. Robin’s just fine, she’s in the other room resting, it’s been a long night.”

Steve looked up and met Eddie’s deep brown eyes with his own. He looked nervous, scared even. He ran the vampire's words over again in his head. A long night? The last Steve knew was the middle of the day. What the hell happened?

He pushed away from the other man and tried to sit up on his own, happy to find that he could. In fact, the longer he was awake the better he felt, which he had a feeling should not have been the case.

Eddie scooted away from him too, widening the distance between them. Steve was pretty sure that was a first. 

He cleared his throat and wrapped his arms around himself to keep them from shaking. 

“Why am I here, Eddie?”

“Robin brought you to me.”

Steve didn’t like the way he said her name like it was common to his tongue, like he knew her. He’d managed to shield Robin from this part of his life for so long, and now here she was in the thick of it. She knew of Eddie of course but Steve had never intended for them to meet. It was enough that he let her around Dustin. He was safe, but Eddie…

“Don’t look at me like that, Steve.”

“Like what?”

“As if I'd hurt her.”

Steve ignored the pain in the vampire’s voice and asked the next logical question.

“Why would she bring me…” He trailed off looking again at the familiar fixtures on the walls. He had been here before, but the room had looked a lot different then. Billy’s coffin room. Now it looked more like a very large master bedroom. There was even a bathroom built into one corner of the room now. ”Here?”

Eddie hesitated, eyes guarded. “You were dying, Steve. Do you not remember?”

He did then, it was all coming back to him in snippets. Sitting down on the front step because he’d gotten tired, coughing and watching blood droplets splatter the white concrete, Robin looking horrified as he collapsed into her, red seeping into his eyes as he passed out. 

“I remember.” He muttered. He'd been so sure he was a goner but it had all happened so fast he hadn’t even had time to be afraid. Fear gripped him now though as he realized what may have been done to save his life. 

“Eddie. How is it that I'm sitting here, now, alive?”

The vampire heaved a great sigh. Steve felt a prickling of pain in his wrist. He looked down and found it wrapped in gauze. He already knew the answer but he needed Eddie to say it. 

To admit to what he’d done. 

Again.

“I think you already know.” Eddie admitted, weakly.

“Say it.”

“The third mark.”

Steve shook his head, he almost couldn’t believe it though the evidence was right in front of him. “You bit me. You fucking fed from me.”

“I had to.” 

“You son of a bitch.”

“I saved your life.”

“You drank my blood while I was unconscious.”

“Yes. I did. And I'd do it again.”

Steve sucked in a breath ready to tear into Eddie for what he'd done, but then the door sprang open and Robin came tumbling into the room. She jumped right up onto the bed and threw her arms around him.  

“Oh my god, Steve! You’re alright! I really thought this was it, that I'd never see you again!” He hugged her back and settled for glaring at Eddie over her shoulder for now. 

Robin sobbed into his chest as she began to ramble. “I’m sorry Steve, I’m so sorry. I didn’t know what had happened to you, and I was going to take you to the hospital but I thought, what if they got it wrong, what if it wasn’t a medical thing at all. I didn’t know what to do but I knew Eddie had saved you before so I thought… I'm sorry, Steve, I was just so scared and I didn't want to lose you.” She sniffled and her body shook as she ran out of words. Steve rocked them back and forth as he rubbed her back. 

He wasn’t happy that she’d brought him here but he couldn't be mad at her when he was the one who almost died in her lap.

“It’s okay, Rob, it’s okay. I’m not mad at you.” He pulled back, smiling at her as he wiped the tears from her face. “Can you wait for me outside? I need to talk to Eddie alone. I’ll only be a few minutes.”

Robin glanced nervously from him, to the vampire, and back again, looking like she wanted to say something but ultimately held her tongue. She nodded and left in a hurry, though he was sure she wouldn’t go too far. 

Steve rounded on Eddie the second the door closed. “I can’t blame her for bringing me here, I know she couldn't stand to see me like that and would do anything to save me, but you KNEW how I felt about this! You knew I would have refused if I could have and still, you did it anyway!” He was shouting at the top of his lungs by the end of his speech, chest heaving. 

Eddie remained calm in the face of his anger. It was infuriating.

“Is it not possible, Steve, for you to believe that maybe I also couldn’t stand to see you like that? That I couldn't stand the thought of losing you either?” The vampire said softly.

“Fuck you.” Steve spat. “Don't try to turn this into something it’s not. You want me because of what I can do for you, the power I can give you. You never gave a shit about me, if you did you would have respected my wishes.” 

“Let you die, you mean? Steve, please listen to me, I..”

“No! Shut up, I don't want to hear any more. Just tell me what this means, what new fun surprises I have to look forward to and then I'm leaving.”

Eddie laid back against the sheets staring up at the ceiling as he answered. “More of the same. We’ll be able to speak to each other seamlessly mind-to-mind now when we’re close if we choose, and we’ll be able to share minds and bodies as we did with the snake with a greater ease as well. You are very hard to kill now. No poison, venom, or illness can touch you. You’ll still age, but much slower. You’ll be able to keep me out much more easily too, if you wish.” 

“Well thank god for small blessings.” Steve hopped off the bed and walked straight for the door without looking back. He felt great, better than he had in days, physically at least. 

“Wait,” Eddie said as he zipped to his side and tried to grab his arm.

Steve side-stepped him easily, moving quicker than he ever had in his life as he felt Eddie's presence move towards him as if in slow motion.

He opened the door and only then turned around to face the vampire one last time.

“Stay the fuck away from me, Eddie. I mean it.”

The ride home in Robin’s car was tense. He wasn’t mad at her, exactly, but he was mad, and she knew it. He was stoic as he told her about Jane and Angela. He then also had to tell her about his meeting with Henry Creel because her first question had been, who the fuck is Jane? 

She didn’t say anything throughout, just listened, and when she did finally speak it wan’t about anything he had just told her. 

“Steve, I know you're mad at Eddie, and that you hate him for what he did, what he’s done, but I think you should give him a break.”

“Rob, don’t.” He said, a note of warning in his voice. 

“I think he’s in love with you.”

“Bullshit!” He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. She was his friend! She was supposed to be on his side!

"Steve, you didn’t see what I saw. The way he looked at you, how scared he was.”

“He drank my blood, Robin. That’s not my idea of love.”

“No, but maybe it is his.”

“I’m done talking about this. I hate him, I’ll never forgive him for this. I told him no, in no uncertain terms. He betrayed the small amount of trust that lived between us. I’m done.”

They pulled up to his house and Steve got out of the car quickly. Robin made like she would follow but he put his hand out to stop her, speaking through the open door.

“Listen, I said I wasn’t mad at you, and I meant that. I love you, but I need a little time to wallow, okay? I promise I won’t stay here. I'll call Wayne to come pick me up. I can stay with him for a few days at least. We have work later tonight anyway, and…”

“Work?! Steve, you can’t be serious! I’m sure your Dad is pissed you missed last night but-”

“This isn’t about him, Robin, not this time. I need something that’s mine, just mine. Something that is the same now as it was before Eddie.”

“Okay, I guess I can understand that. Be careful, and at least text me every few days so I know you're still alive.” She said. 

He shook his head at her and smiled despite himself. He leaned back into the car and smacked a kiss on her forehead. “I will text you every day, every hour if it makes you feel better.”

She snorted. “You know, it actually would, but I won't hold you to that. I love you, Dingus”

“I love you too, Robs.”

Steve’s stomach was in knots.

He’d been so sure he was doing the right thing when he made the call, but now, sitting in the truck next to Wayne on their way to the office he was filled with dread. A sinking feeling deep in his gut.

He felt sick.

He felt guilty, and he was pissed off because it was bullshit. Eddie had betrayed him first, and the more he’d thought about it the angrier he’d become until finally, he’d decided. 

He’d decided this was his best chance at getting his life back. At getting back to normal. 

Henry could do it. He was more than strong enough to get rid of Eddie, and Angela, and then Steve could put this whole thing behind him. He worried for Dustin, but Owens and Henry both assured him that they would keep an eye on the kid and that none of the other vampires would be hurt, even those who might stand against them in Eddie’s defense. 

Not that it would come to that, anyway. Steve had truly given Eddie up. He’d told them his daytime resting place and described the underground of the theater in stark detail,  even going so far as to tell them about the route through the sewer though it was likely closed off now.

He’d told them about the new vampires, and how Eddie could now call werewolves to his aid. He told them anything and everything he could think of to make it as easy as possible, including the fact that he now bore Eddie’s third mark, unsure of how much new power that had granted the vampire.

Henry had expressed concern at the news. “Mr. Harrington, I would be remiss if I didn't tell you. With the third mark…you do realize you may die with him, don’t you? Are you sure you wish to go through with this?”

“I’m sure.” He’d said quickly. He was just grateful that this was all they wanted from him, for now. He'd given Eddie up, but that didn’t mean he wanted to watch. 

Reluctantly, he’d also told them about Jane and her alliance with Angela, and hoped Henry would be merciful.

Wayne seemed to know he was struggling with something, and remained quiet as Steve’s thoughts continued to swirl. 

Doubts were suddenly creeping in, and he wondered why something as powerful as the oldest living vampire had needed his help for this. Surely he could have taken Eddie from one of his businesses, they were public enough. Though, Henry had seemed to have a great respect for human life, so perhaps he was waiting until dawn to limit the number of innocent bystanders. 

In addition to all the information Steve had shared, Henry also asked Steve to support him and his platform once he rose to power. He figured he was in it now, for better or for worse, and there was nothing he could do but agree. 

Steve’s phone began to ring loudly, pulling him from his thoughts. It was a blocked number and he almost didn’t answer it but in the end his curiosity, and Wayne’s glare at the noisy piece of technology, won out.

“Hello?”

“Necromancer?”

“Jane? What…”

“I’m sorry to call you like this.” She interrupted, speaking quickly before he could ask what she wanted. “I’m sorry about everything, Steve. You have no reason to trust me but I need you to listen to me now. It seems we have both made terrible mistakes and put out faith in the wrong people. I’m calling to see if you would be willing to help me fix the mess we’ve made?”

Steve sucked in a harsh breath as his heart sank. “What do you mean?”

“I overheard Henry and Owens talking. I know you gave your master up to them, and that you told them what I did.”

“Jane, I…”

“It’s okay, Steve. It’s not the first time I've been caught...misbehaving. I’ve been punished and managed to convince Henry that I'm remorseful. There’s more.” She paused and took a deep breath before continuing. “Henry and Angela are working together. They always have been. I didn’t know. I swear I didn't know. I thought Angela was my friend. I don’t know what has happened between you and your Eddie to make you hate him so, but you have to warn him. We have to find a way to stop this or a lot of innocent people are going to die.”

“What do you mean, what’s going to happen?

“He’s going to sneak in tomorrow morning to kill Eddie and take control of the city, which you already know. What he didn’t tell you is that when the sun sets he’s going to force every vampire in the city to attack humans, with orders for maximum bloodshed.”

Oh God.

How could he have gotten it so wrong?

“Tomorrow?” Steve gulped. “But that’s Halloween. The streets will be full of families, kids.”

“I think that’s the point.” She said softly.

Fuck.

“What do we do? What can we do?”

“Warn Eddie, move him, try and come up with a plan. Do whatever you can and I will do the same from this end of things.  Henry thinks I'm on his side again for now which may give us the upper hand.” 

“What about your sister?” Steve asked.

“I can’t condemn so many others to death to save the life of one.” 

“My offer still stands Jane, if we survive this, I will help you get your sister back if I can.”

“I’m sorry I didn't trust you before, Necromancer.”

Steve’s breath caught in his throat. He knew exactly how she felt. “It’s okay, it can be hard to know who to trust sometimes. If anyone can understand that, I do. How do I reach you once I'm with Eddie?”

“I’ll find you when I can. Good luck.” She hung up before he could say the same.

Steve threw the phone to the floor and slammed his fist into the dashboard with a curse, tears stinging the corners of his eyes. 

“What is it, son?” Wayne asked, his own face pinched with worry. 

Steve dropped his head into his hands. “I fucked up, Wayne. I fucked up so bad and now people are going to die and it’s all my fault.”

Chapter 16

Thank you @penny00dreadful 😘

[amiharana]

NOO IM CRYINg i found these bittersweet prompts AND?? 9 AND 10 GOODBYE that's basically canon revalink and im so sad now

user crow cryiling wants me to die y'all

9. “We won’t grow old together, will we?”  “No, but we made memories that’ll outlive even us.”

for the longest fucking time, i've been wanting to write a fic where revalink is some level of established before the calamity, and they talk right before link is about to leave to go fight ganon at the castle. there are so many different ways i could write it go down but for this prompt... while everyone else is hopeful that they'll be able to beat calamity ganon, revali and link are much more perceptive of their fates. the calamity ganon is a beast unlike any other monsters they've faced together, it's a pure incarnation of an ancient evil that not even the heroes of the past have ever conquered. the other champions haven't gained full control of their beasts yet. zelda's powers have still not awakened. hell, link still has yet to tap into the full potential of the master sword. they were never going to have enough time, this battle was never meant to be won by them; it was never meant to be.

after daruk is finished delegating tasks to the other champions at mount lanayru, link turns to face revali and they both already know. this is it, this the end for them now.

link barely takes one step towards revali before the rito strides forward and wraps the little hylian tightly in his wings. link can barely take one breath before his vision is full of navy blue, his skin smothered in a warmth he's never going to be able to feel again, and the emotions he vowed to never show swell in his chest and rise from his ribcage up his throat, until link is choking back tears into revali's neck.

"it's alright, little jewel," revali murmurs into his hair, still holding him tightly. "we did what we could."

"i know," link whispers, blinded by his own tears and navy blue feathers. "i know. i'm still scared."

"the hylian champion and the wielder of the sword who seals the darkness? scared?" revali tries to tease, but even his voice betrays him. he's just as terrified as link is, with the barest tremble in his feathers.

link breathes in deeply, shutting his eyes and trying to will his tears away. "i wish we had more time," he mumbles into revali's neck. then, he looks up at his lover, with the same wide blue-eyed gaze for the last time. "we won't grow old together, will we?"

"no," revali replies softly, cupping link's face, "but we made memories that'll outlive even us." he presses their foreheads together shutting his eyes, and link holds revali's face in both hands to press a soft kiss to the middle of his beak.

"i love you," link whispers, voice cracking. "i love you so fucking much. i wanted everything with you after this."

"i as well," revali says, brushing link's cheek with a gentle thumb. "in another life, i hope the goddesses will be kinder to us. i'll meet you there in our next life and we can do everything we always wanted, alright? for now... fight that old beast like hell for me, darling." "as if i'd go down without a fight," link mutters, jaw tightening. "even if it kills me, i'll make sure it'll hurt him a hundred times harder."

footsteps approach and revali looks up to meet eyes with zelda, who wears a remorseful expression. he takes a breath and gives her a nod, before slowly, painfully, beginning to let go of link.

"it's time for you to take-off, songbird," revali murmurs. "give him everything you've got. and when you're ready to return, your heart will know where to find me."

link sniffles and pulls away, wiping his eyes with his sleeve. "he won't know what hit him," he says shakily. "til the next time, 'vali. i'll see you there."

"don't be late," revali replies softly, gaze ever so endeared upon link. "i'll be waiting for you, my love."

(they're right; the champions fall within their beasts, and as revali finally collapses to the ground from windblight's attacks, he faces hyrule castle swarmed in horrid, pulsing malice.

"return to me safely, songbird," he whispers and shuts his eyes, taking his final breath. revali can only hope that link will.)

10. “You’re only a memory to me now, but you’re my most cherished memory.”

for this one, i'm imagining link returning to vah medoh after he clears his final divine beast, the night before he plans to fight calamity ganon. i've always leaned towards the idea that link doesn't recall all of his memories and the memories you receive in-game are only flickers of a past link doesn't ever really get to remember so...

he doesn't remember what he had with revali pre-calamity per se, but he's the only ghost of the past that gets more than just flickers of memories. there was more to it than this, link knows it in his soul. it's been bothering him since impa first mentioned the divine beasts, since he saw the floating mechanical bird in the distance, since he stepped into rito village and laid his eyes on the landing... ever since he finally met revali atop vah medoh. link needs to know if there was more than just the facade that revali is playing.

"you're here again?" comes revali's voice when the warp finishes solidifying link's body. the little hylian looks up and the rito's ghostly green figure stands a couple feet in front of him upon the cold rock of the rito pillar, his arms crossed and his brows eternally furrowed into an expression of irritation. "don't you have better things to do rather than loitering around medoh? perhaps, oh i don't know, defeating calamity ganon once and for all?"

"i will," link replies, his voice soft and nearly carried away by the night wind. "tomorrow, i'm going to hyrule castle and i'm going to beat him."

revali stares incredulously at link for a few moments, searching his face as though he told a joke of some kind, before he relaxes. "well," revali says, looking away. "it's about time."

link stares at him, watching the way the ghostly green flames flicker around revali's body. "will you still be here when i defeat him?" he whispers, almost hoping that revali wouldn't hear him.

and he almost thinks he doesn't until revali turns to look back at him. he's silent for a couple moments just staring at link until he speaks. "i don't know," revali says finally. "our spirits have been chained to the divine beasts for a century, because we haven't fulfilled our role in assisting you defeat ganon. if you truly plan on fighting him tomorrow... our roles will have been finally fulfilled. i don't know if our spirits will remain here any longer."

"oh," link says and a freezing unease fills his gut. "oh. okay."

revali searches his face again. "why would you want us to stay?"

"well, i mean," link starts. "it's— i wouldn't actually care for anyone else to stay but you." he averts his eyes and swallows. "everyone else... i only remember a few things about them, nothing solid. i sometimes feel like those memories don't even belong to me. but with you..."

link looks up and meets revali's gaze. "every day since i've woken up, i always felt like there was something missing. and even after i relearned how to fight and speak and traveled to try to remember all those things, it still felt like something was missing. until i tried to remember you and— and it felt right, like you were all the missing puzzle pieces this entire time. there had to have been more, right?"

"there wasn't," revali replies stiffly. "we were champions, you were the hero, and there was nothing more."

"oh come on," link says, breathless and almost irritated. "there had to have been more than you just being an asshole to me all the time. please don't lie. you wouldn't have done that to me back then, would you?" and that's what gets the rito.

"don't do this," revali whispers, his arms dropping to his sides. his voice breaks and something in link tells him to reach out to hold the rito in his arms, to hug him tight and never let go again. "we can't do this. you can't try to remember me now, what we had, it's not worth it to put yourself through this pain. i'll only be a memory you can never recreate."

“you’re only a memory to me now," link says, resolve returning to his voice, "but you’re my most cherished memory. you're the only one i can remember like this, revali, you're the only memories i have. so please tell me; did you love me back then?”

the rito is silent for a while, but he eventually responds. "i did," revali whispers, staring mournfully, regretfully. "i'm sorry."

"don't be," link replies, taking a step towards him. "i think i loved you too. i wish i could remember."

"it would be better if you didn't," revali says and looks away. it stops link in his tracks, his heart pounding and his confidence crumbling.

"if you don't stay after i beat ganon," the little hylian whispers, staring at the ground and clenching his fists, "then i want you to know... i would have liked to make more memories with you. i would have liked to see where we would have ended up together. if we had more time together..."

he looks up at revali, who has since returned his gaze back onto link with an unreadable look in his eyes. "i'm sorry for coming back to torment you like this," link says instead. "you should be allowed to rest after waiting for me to free you after all these years. after i defeat ganon, i hope your spirit will rest well. goodbye, revali. i'll avenge you well." then, he turns and runs, jumping off the edge of the rock pillar unfolding the paraglider to glide back down to the village.

and revali lets him go, watching after link as he leaves again, every step translating into a piercing pain in his own ghostly chest. "i would have liked that too, snowdrop," revali whispers, placing a hand over his heart. for the first time in a hundred years, he feels it, that overwhelming feeling that threatens to spill from his eyes and shake his soul so deeply he shatters into a thousand pieces, lost and never to be whole again. "i would have, too..."

[cosmossoleil]

This is just a blurb I wrote a while ago, I liked the idea of ancient magic from the game and who better to suddenly gain access to this magic then the heirs of the most ancient and noble house of black?

He couldn’t think.

Regulus couldn’t breathe.

Not when his older brother is laying in a bloody mess and convulsing on the floor. His body shaking, littered in bruises and cuts from the curses that their mother shot at him back to back, no doubt.

He looks to be on the brink of death with how shallow his breathing looks.

He knew of Sirius’s plan to run away.

Sirius should have been at the Potter’s already at this point.

Why was he still here?

“Why don’t you go back to your room Regulus. We have no need to hurt our new heir if you know better.”

She only uses that tone with him because she expects him to listen.

The smell of copper invading his senses and the sight he was met with when first entering the room had sent his blood boiling.

“Hurt me?” He mutters softly in disbelief, his hand curling tightly around his wand as his hair hides his eyes.

“Hurt…Me?!” He grits out as he finally looks up at her, The floor begins to rumble, he can hear dishes and items made of glass and ceramic decorations clattering off their surfaces and crashing to the ground in the distance.

His usual silver eyes now shine with a new bright bluish glow emitting from them, magic now flowing freely surrounding him in bright blue winds, twirling and intertwining with him as it sparks and cracks with immense power.

It makes her and their father take a step back in. He could have sworn, for just a moment he sees fear flash in their eyes.

Then they were blank.

These.

Fuckers.

“YOU WILL NEVER HURT US AGAIN!” He screams out, pure rage and anger that has been building up for years and years, the pain and grief he had felt of losing everything because of them.

The pain that he had suffered, the pain that Sirius had suffered.

Regulus was not going to let them get away with it.

Not again.

ItwastheirfaultItwastheirfaultitwasalltheirfault-

The next few moments before Regulus comes to, are a blur.

It felt like hours had passed like time was suddenly coursing through sticky syrup, but in reality it only could have been a few minutes at most.

If you asked him what had happened, he wouldn’t be able to answer you.

All he felt, was Anger, satisfaction and power.

Immense power.

They were nowhere to be seen.

Or heard.

They existed one moment, then they were gone the next.

The only thing left, was there wands that had fallen where they used to stand just a moment ago.

He didn’t know what this meant at all.

But he can think about it another time.

He turns to see his brother, still laying their unconscious, still breathing shallowly.

Sirius was his main priority.

He needed a healer.

Luckily, he knew where to find one.

[samsbigkill]

Gold

summary: the curse is lifted characters: the saint (he/she/they/it/ze/xe/sie/etc.), others warnings: mentions of death, the divider is a gif i don't know if that's a problem or not

It was so painful.

Killing mother.

The dream.

Seeing a window into timelines fractured by my reckless actions, held together by the strings of fate left by those with so much more impact.

I lay here at the starting point of my last journey. The dream has become a part of me, now an echo cursed to remember forever. I know that there was some truth to it, divine or more common I do not know, but.

"It hurt to live, and now that it is over it hurts all the more."

The impression of those words fell gently on my mind, from where they came I am sure.

I lay here, now, and I can hear the snowstorm approaching. The end of this sorrowful existence is forever out of my reach. All hope is forever lost.

And yet, if I listen closer, I can hear the sound of gold.

...Gold.

The pure euphoric sound that filled the void. An assurance that it would all be okay, that it would all end. I was sure it had been stolen from me. Why can I hear it now?

I open my eyes.

Open? Opened? If I were an echo, my eyes would never be closed; suspended forever in constant knowledge of the land I left behind.

I look around, slowly

Getting up, which would be even harder. Suspended in animation forever, and yet, and yet I could move!

I turn my head towards the sound

My thoughts race and shatter, I can hardly keep up! Not an echo, not destroyed, my body is mangled how I don't know but I have a body!

And I see gold!

I ran, quick but not too much. As a child slows down for her much smaller friend, a brother speeds up to catch his elder sister, a fish who befriended an ancient stops so the little one can catch up; friend and family and predator and prey in harmony and we run together.

The gold is leaving this earth. It is saying its last goodbye. And I will see it off.

I run, and the ground cracks beneath my feet, but I do not fall. I hear crumbling behind me, but I am safe, even without the half-powers in my dream.

I pass a group of scavengers, bandaging the insignificant wounds of the brave few who touched the gold and were burnt. I pass the lizards, who are in equal parts afraid and aware. I pass the snow and it does not touch me, the gold carefully separating to cover me as it slowly makes its way upwards.

Climbing through the small, unmarked pipes, running through the sparse plants, I make my way to the summit.

And there I see it.

The great sea.

"I am sorry,"

I feel the impression on my mind. It is not words, not quite a feeling, but I understand.

"A long time ago," The impression begins, in a way, "I was the Guardian of these lands. I provided my children the life they desired, and bade them rest when they wished."

"They are long gone now, and those who took their place slowly began to see what I thought was my protection was in fact a curse."

"I was unaware, perhaps I simply wished to ignore it, but over the ages I could not help but feel their pain. Then I met you, a beautiful speck in this world."

"I gave you the dream so you could see what I did, you lived the dream and showed me what the world meant to you. Love and hope and kindness, even in fear."

"I cannot stay on this world. I will search for those who require my assistance, and give them just that, leaving when they do."

"There are so few who wish to return to these lands, little speck," The impression was like a whisper, "But I implore you to stay for those who do."

I want to say something, in this moment. I want to impress something on it as it did to me. What would I say?

You are forgiven, thank you, and goodbye?

I can only hope, as the void sea continues its way upward, leaving those who wish to live anew and cradling those who wish to join it, that if it can feel like us, it would be happy.