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achliegh · 3 years ago

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Golden

Yeehaw Leo… it's all because this song came on one day (I don’t even really listen to country anymore so it really is fate). Leo is based off that song, each chapter is going to be based off a yeehaw song too.

Characters belong to @lumosinlove

Beta: @the-most-slyterin-hufflepuff & @punkkkboi

TW/CW: Smut, terrible yeehaw sayings and jokes, injuries, mentions of past death, minor character death, underage drinking, mentions of past arrests, cringe

Chapter Songs (listening in order is recommended):

Chapter 5:

Redneck Woman

Red Solo Cup

Eloise smiles as Leo continues to ramble on about these boys who have clearly stolen his heart. She sips her black coffee and sets it down on the counter she is leaning against. Walking over to her offspring, that is a total of two inches taller than her, she kisses his cheek causing him to stop mid sentence.

“Was I rambling too much?” The red appearing on his cheeks made her smile, ruffling his hair that is in need of his yearly head shave. He swats her hand away. “I know it's long but because someone told me how to keep my hair healthy.” Looks pointedly at her as she snorts. “I only cut my hair once a year and it's a full shave.” He sticks out his tongue.

“Who even raised you to be so disrespectful?” She dramatically puts her hand on her chest, then tightens the ties on her robe. Giving him a motherly smile she thanks him as he puts some toad in a hole on a plate for her. “I don’t have my hearing friend in to help me listen to you,” She makes a gesture like she is swooning with her hand on her forehead and her hand fanning herself. “ GuSh, about your hockey boys. But, it is very sweet.”

“I really like them Mama… I think you and Daddy would too.” He focuses on his toast as he takes a bite and brushes the crumbs onto the floor, much to Eloise’s annoyance. She knows this is a sign of him wanting to trust his emotions but doesn’t want to jinx himself.

“Come here, let's get all the motherly squishing done before Clay and… what was his name? Rex?” She pulls him into a tight hug and crushes him in her arms with her old lady strength. He relaxes completely into her and hugs back just as tight but making sure not to hurt her. He makes sure to have his head on her right shoulder so she can hear him.

“Reg, his name is Regulus but we call him Reg. I think you should try and adopt him like you did with Clay. Pseudo Mother is just your personality now that you are so old.” He squeaks and gets out of her death grip hug as she pokes his ribs. “RUDE!”

She is still cackling as Clayton bursts through the door announcing his entrance, running into the kitchen.

“I smell food!” He hops on the counter and begins earring Leo’s breakfast. She pats his knee with a happy yet defeated look on her face. She has told him so many times not to climb on the counters that cost more than some people's entire house. “Mm! Ma, meet Reg.” He gestures to a boy who looks like he feels entirely out of place, she was going to tell Clay off for talking with his mouth full but she has a new mission now.

Protect this kid.

After making a mess and eating, Clay and Leo go out to load the trailer and Horses up for the drive to Texas where the rest of their team already is. Eloise has started on the dishes and looks over to Reg and nods him over.

“You know how to rinse dishes?”

“No Ma’am.” She smiles at him and pushes the faucet to face the sink in front of him.

“No need to call me Ma’am, call me Eloise. Now, you just run the dish under the hot warmer and get all the suds off. Make sure I don't miss any food or spots because I am just a helpless old lady at the end of the day.” She gets a small smile to form at his lips as she shows him exactly how to rinse. An easy task, but one that he was never taught. That triggers something in her head that makes her think he was told he only has one purpose in life. No one only has a single purpose in life. “Who are your parents Reg?” She notices him tense at the question and immediately regrets asking.

“Orion and Walburga Black.” Simple and straightforward answer. He doesn’t want to talk about them. She nods and hums in acknowledgement. Passing the last few dishes in silence, she drains the sink and turns to look at him.

“So, what did Marigold and Bluebell tell you to convince you to come with them this summer?” She smiles at him as his whole demeanor changes. He smiles that same small smile but he visibly relaxes.

“First off, Marigold… Bluebell? What the fuck kinda names are those.” Eloise laughs in surprise. “Second, we watched tiktoks half drunk together for two hours while the rest of the team socialized.” She nods her head, that does sound like what those two would do. “And Third, I have been needing to get away from my brother and his boyfriend so they can boink in peace and not have to worry about me hearing.” He looks at her and his smile drops off his face. “Sorry, Leo told me you were laid back and I thought it would be alright to share this type of stuff with-”

“Reg I think you are a wonderful man who is going to keep those two pea-brains in line while on the road. Maybe loosen up a little yourself.” She smiles. “Is it alright if I give you physical affection? I tend to be a touchy person and not realize it.” He pauses for a moment and then nods, she pats his cheek and smiles as the other two walk back into the kitchen.

Reg is still a little stunned when Clay throws his arm around his shoulder and jostles him around.

After kisses and hugs goodbye Leo hops into the driver's seat, Clay in the passenger and Reg in the middle seat of the back. Reg has barely seen a truck in his life but this vehicle was fucking huge. Giant. Thicc some might say. The first few hours of driving was a podcast that Clay was in the middle of listening to when he picked up Reg. Once that ended Reg descended into music hell.

He has come to the conclusion that most country songs are about the three G’s.

Guns, God, Goodies (meaning like titties)

He was absolutely taken aback by how Leo was screaming, we can’t call it singing its terrible, these songs that are the complete opposite of him. Clayton at least liked goodies. There was one song that will probably stick with Reg his entire life. Redneck Woman by Gretchen Wilson.

Holy shit. When that song came on it was like Leo and Clay were having a contest of who could sing it the loudest. So, Reg decided that for his first check in with the team. Which Sirius was making him do because he is paranoid. Reg decided he would turn around in his seat and film a video of him painfully smiling and giving a thumbs up to the camera as Leo and Clay scream at each other.

“I’M A REDNECK WOMAN AIN’T NO HIGH PRICE GAL!”

Clay sees Reg recording and flips off the camera still singing. An hour later they pull up to this massive ranch style AirBnB with stables and all. It must have cost a fortune. Reg hops out of the truck and feels out of place, Yeehaws everywhere. Okay, there were like three of them and this giant man with long hair and a braided beard, covered in tattoos just reading a book on the front porch.

“That's our tattoo artist, he travels with us because he is the only person Leo and I trust to tattoo us. You’d like him, his name is Hagrid. But, no time to chit chat! We need to teach you some of the basics, we’ve got a rodeo in two nights. I am competing on Leroy and Peanut is just here for fun. How about we teach you how to care for them a bit?” Clay smiles at him and Reg remembers he is with people who want to be friends with him… for him. Not because of hockey or his family, not because his brother made them. Just for him. Reg went willingly with Clay to watch Leo as he led the horses one by one out into a pen for them to roam around in for a bit.

Clay went into more detail about how they care for them and what he thinks Reg can do. It was night already so they decided to go inside, Leo asked around to see what people were hungry for and made almost anything after someone had got groceries.

“I didn’t know you could cook.” Reg was sitting across the island from Leo as he finished up the food, having watched him make the entire meal.

“Mama taught me how to cook when I was younger, it was the one thing I did that wouldn’t get me in trouble with the law.” He rolls his eyes at the thought of the sheriff and Reg decides not to press. “What do you want to do tomorrow while Clay practices?”

They got wasted. Mostly on jello shots, Leo taught Reg the trick: rim job, blow job, swallow. Leo had promised the boys he would call them, he didn’t want to do it drunk but he misses them like crazy. Drunk or not he was going to call them. So, there he is sitting on the balcony out of his bedroom waiting for them to answer. Finn picks up first, shirtless and sweating.

“Okay Finn, I love this” Gesturing in a circle at Finn who just smiles out of breath and wipes his face with a towel. “But I need you to calm down, because I’m a little tipsy and that means I’m very horny.” He smiles when Finn laughs.

“Well I’m glad to know that even on truth serum you find me attractive.” Finn sets his phone down but props it up on some books as he finishes his warm down stretches from his run he just came back from.

Then Logan picks up, in Leo’s T shirt he left for him last time. It was baggy on him and his hair was messed up from sleeping. The side of his face is a little red and there are lines from his pillow squished into his face. He sleepily smiles at the camera.

“Hi Leo.” Leo groans in response and leans his head back.

“You two are gonna be the death of me. Fucking Christ.” He signs and looks at Logan who is suddenly bright red but smiling back. “You’re beautiful Sweet Pea.”

“Really?” Logan looks at him with such big unbelieving eyes that it breaks Leo’s heart.

“Mhm you and Finn make my little heart do a pitter-patter every time I think of y’all.” Being drunk Leo’s accent is incredibly thick.

“You sound like a true southern man there, Le. How is Texas?” Finn is sitting on the ground criss cross with his hands resting on his knees. Logan has laid back down and snuggled up with his blanket on his side. “You’ve been there a day right?”

“Yes sir! I have been here for a full 27 hours now and I can say, it ain’t no Louisiana but it’ll do.” He shows off his chipped tooth and hears a trilling sound on his railing and looks over to see a mama opossum with her babies hanging on her back. He smiles and flips the camera. “Look at This Little Mama!” He reaches his hand out and she looks at it suspicious. Logan told Leo to stop and Finn said no, but he knows what he’s doing.

To their surprise, the mama just lets Leo pet her under her chin and Finn takes so many pictures. The opossum lets Leo pet her babies with his finger and he pats her head on last time before he goes inside to flop on his bed.

“So, We’ve been thinking” Leo lifts his phone to be above his face as he slowly starts dozing off. “We want to come out.” Leo’s eyes snap open and he drops the phone on his face, rolling over to his stomach he wiggles his nose as he processes what Finn just said.

“Wait, like all three of us or just your two?”

“Well, we thought we would leave that up to you…”

“I think to start, it would be safest for all of us, if you two came out together first. We can talk about me coming out when I’m done traveling this summer, okay?” They all smile at each other nervously and Finn notices a couple of watery sniffles from Logan, they were going to talk to Dumo and Sirius tomorrow. Maybe then they can talk more.

“Leo, do you want to move in… in the fall? Winter? I mean you don’t have too but I would like it and I bet Logan would too. We miss you.” Finn has his fingers crossed where the others can’t see.

Silence.

“I would love to, let me give you my Mama’s number. She will be so glad to get me out of the house the rest of the year.” He laughs a little, they fall into a comfortable silence and Leo drifts off, fully dressed in his boots and everything. Clutching his phone like he never has.

Finn knocks on the Dumias door the next day. Nervous about this talk they are going to have with the other French speaking people. Finn can’t speak French so he hopes they don’t start speaking it because he will just up and leave. Logan opens the door and Finn can’t help the soppy smile that crosses his face when he sees Logan in his sweatshirt. He wondered where it went. Logan and Him walk into the dinning room where Sirius and Dumo are talking about new plays they want to practice. They look up when they enter the room and stand across from them.

“Dumo, Sirius I need you to mind your fucking business.”

“What he means to say is why did you tell Leo that he hurt Logan?” Finn translated.

“I was the one that hurt Leo! Leo did nothing and you guys fucking made him doubt us even more!” Logan crossed his arms and Finn rested a hand on his shoulder and squeezed.

“What? That's why you were so sad? Because of something you did… Logan, I know we sound like broken records at this point but please start talking to us.” Dumo looks at him with a slightly frustrated look in his eyes but also worry. It makes Logan’s skin crawl.

“I think you meant well with the shovel talk, but Logan was the one who broke things off with Leo before it even started. He told Leo we didn’t want him and all this other shit that was Logan being… scared.” Finn feels Logan take his hand and interlock their fingers. He looks at the smaller man and squeezes his hand as a way to say, I’m here.

Dumo and Sirius didn’t get another word in before Logan was dragging Finn out the door. Staying at his apartment for a few days. Lo already has some clothes there and… they had to film something special.

Rodeo the next day went well. The after party was even better.

They were in a large steel building with everyone, concrete floors covered in dirt with people swinging dancing their hearts out. Leo was drinking and Clay was drinking, they somehow managed to lose clay about twenty minutes ago. Reg was getting a facetime from Sirius and answered it so Sirius doesn’t worry, the music is so loud that he can barely hear him until a less background heavy song comes on and Leo is humming it while drinking out of his red solo cup.

“Reg where are you!?” Sirius was yelling because it was so loud and Remus was in the background trying not to laugh.

“I’m at an after party! Are you with the team?” Sirius nods and flips the camera to show everyone and Leo’s eye catches his boys.

“FINN! LOGAN!” He yells super loud so everyone turns to face sirius’ phone. “IF YOU WERE HERE RIGHT NOW I WOULD TOTALLY SUCK YOUR DICKS IN THE BATHROOM! AT THE SAM- CLAY!” Leo sees Clay in the ocean of people and scurries off before finishing his sentence. Reg looks back at his phone and shrugs. Finn and Logan are bright red and getting chirped to hell for sure but the music is so loud that he can’t hear them.

“I’ll call you when I get back to the BnB!” Sirius nods and hangs up. Wrestling two drunk idiots into an uber is fine but getting them out was like untangling headphones that you left in your pocket for three years.

Just legs everywhere.

Hands? Don’t know how to use them.

Braincell? Reg has it.

At some point Clayton started crying because a guy he thinks he has a crush on has a girlfriend and he isn’t Leo so he can’t convince two people to love him. Very dramatic. Leo thinks he lost his phone, even though he gave it to Reg at the beginning of the night, and he is worried someone will find it and steal his nudes for their own. Reg doesn’t even know how to respond to that.

Waking up the next morning. Leo has a mild headache, but nothing that will stop him from driving. It was going to be a good day. Especially when Leo got his phone back and saw a tiktok notification from Finn and Logan.

They came out last night.

Time to wreak havoc.

#leo knut #logan tremblay #finn o'hara #james potter #thomas walker #Clayton Bruss #o'knutzy #o’knutzy #lumosinlove #sweater weather #coast to coast

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aroaceslytherin · 4 years ago

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A03 AU HP Fanfic (Finally Here!)

Chapter 1: Karma Killed Her (https://archiveofourown.org/works/31582727/chapters/78143753) (mention of abuse and homophobia, some transphobia)

QUITE LONG

1953 Walburga winced as the maids pulled tighter on her corset. Her nails dug into her palms. Her arms hanging loosely at her sides. Today was her wedding day. Yesterday was the day she had been practicing her posture. Her mother hit her quite a number of times whilst screaming; ‘Upright! Left, right, forward, back. Let him lead! Your wedding must be perfect or else it will surely lead you to a life of solitude!’ For as long as Walburga could remember, she had been a little unsteady on her feet. She would chase her brothers down the hall and clip a corner to close which resulted in bruises on her shoulders, falling on her arse and limping for a week, or that one time she stained her mothers floorboards with a broken nose. That was a day she would never forget. FLASHBACK She could already hear the furious steps of her mother’s heels as they climbed the winding stairs of their manor. “CAMELIA WALBURGA BLACK!” Walburga groaned internally as the witches mended her nose. “Mother, I have told you. I cannot help it that I stumble!” Irma growled, hitting her daughter over the head with her palm. “You need to listen to the etiquette teachers! Practice makes perfect after all, and you are to be the perfect heiress someday! We already have your husband chosen, and I am not having you ruin anything with your clumsy nature! I will see to it you go twice every-day from here on out!” Walburga opened her mouth to protest. Her mother clamped her mouth shut, pushing the medi-witches out of the washroom. “Enough, ladies!” She knelt in front of Walburga, tilting her daughter’s head up so grey eyes met hers. “You are growing up, dear. I cannot have you muddying up your dresses anymore as you chase your brothers ‘round this house! It is unladylike! You are soon to be eleven! Tis’ time you act like a grown woman!” Irma pulled her daughter up and shoved her to the door. “Dinner is downstairs getting cold, I suggest you eat before you get none. AND CLEAN UP YOUR BLOOD BEFORE BED OR YOU GO HUNGRY FOR A WEEK!” END FLASHBACK Walburga tousled her curls through her fingers and admired her dress in the floor-length mirror before she headed out of her bedroom and into the halls. Her heels tapped softly on the hardwood floor as she made her way downstairs. She tripped once she got to the bottom. Though not over herself. “ALPHARD!” She screamed, picking up the two-year-old dressed in a black ruffled dress. She hoisted her on her hip, supporting her with one hand under the baby's bum. Walburga stormed through the house looking for her younger brother just shy of one year. She found him outside in the greenhouse, taking a drag. She groaned, shifting the squirmy brat to her other side.

“Alphard Roland Black!” She yelled through gritted teeth, pushing through the greenhouse doors.

He hadn’t noticed her until she grabbed the cigarette from his mouth and threw it on the ground, stomping on it with her heeled boot; putting it out.

“Fuck’s sake, what?!” Alphard yelled, hands to the side. Walburga thrust the baby into his arms. He took her with a groan of protest and disgust. “I don’t want this.”

“You are on baby duty!” Walburga huffed, crossing her arms and scowling at him. “We expected you to be keeping these kids from being in our way, and you are out here smoking fags?!”

“Why are we doing this? They are Cygnus’ after all! Besides, this whole cousin marrying cousin thing is absurd!” He waved his hand in a circle, rolling his sharp grey eyes.

“Mother is against people knowing he had kids out of wedlock and in his teens. Why are you so against everything she teaches?”

“So is Cygnus!”

“NOT!” Walburga screamed. “He merely broke one rule, you go against everything!” She swiped her hand through the air firmly to signify her point.

“WALBURGA!” Their mother screamed from the porch. “Get back in this house this instant!”

Walburga poked her brother in the chest with her sharp nail painted black. "Watch the brats or I will have your head.” She growled as she hiked up her dress with a huff before heading back to her mother. “Heaven forbid my kids act like him.” She murmured under her breath.

Upon approaching her mother, Irma cast cleaning charms on her then pushed her inside. “I thought I told you to stop going after Alphard, you are twenty-five for crying out loud.”

“He was smoking again and was not watching Bellatrix like you asked. I tripped over her.” She felt her mother’s grip tighten on her shoulder at the mention of her brother with cigarettes again. Walburga shrugged her off and headed to the front parlour with a huff.

***

Hours later everything had gone well. Walburga was proud of herself she had not made a fool of herself as the new Lady Black. There was laughter and chatter between the whole of the Pureblood society and, as suspected, no mud-bloods, half-bloods, or traitors had attended.

Walburga greeted everyone by name; to be polite. She danced gracefully this time (as the bruises, cuts, and welts from her mother had reminded her) with the various partners she had taken up as they moved throughout the ballroom. She felt confident, proud, and more-so like a lady than she had when she woke up that morning.

Walburga jumped in her skin when her brother surprisingly came out of nowhere then grabbed her by the wrist.

Alphard spun his sister into his embrace. She grimaced at his breath.

“You smell like you had gone and drunk all of our liquor." She took his hand and placed a hand on his shoulder as they began to waltz. "Where are the children, brother mine?”

“Sleeping, darling. Don’t you worry.” He smirked that notorious Black lineage smile that most everyone in their family wore proudly. “Congratulations, sis.” He kissed her on the cheek, spinning her twice before dipping her. “I am afraid I may have to leave permanently.”

“What?!” She hissed quietly, pulling herself up before darting her grey eyes around the vast room to make sure no one around her heard. “You cannot! Must you?”

Alphard brought the rhythm back before they tripped over each other. “I cannot handle mother any longer. You ratted me out, it was worse than last. I am an outcast here and you know it.”

“Who will help with Bella and Andie?” Walburga asked, politely declining another dance as her brother spun her again.

“Mother said you are to take them until he is of age. By then, though, he may just not be a suitable father.” Alphard bowed to her as the next symphony started. He grabbed her two hands in his, pulling her to him before kissing her forehead. “I love you.” Alphard handed her off to the male that had asked her for her hand last time before fleeing and never looking back.

____________

As the evening drew on, Walburga grew tired and tipsy. Several people had left or retired to the hallway to have a proper chat. As she danced with Orion, she noticed William Lestrange and her mother talking in a corner.

“Pass me to him, please. I need to get closer to my mother.”

Orion obeyed and took the next lady into his arms. Walburga heard her congratulate him as she moved through the sea of people before landing in the arms of a man that was close to her mother.

“...such a beautiful bride. People will talk for years to come. You must be satisfied.”

Walburga’s heart filled with warmth. She worked hard for tonight and was glad she could stay focused on being poised and graceful all night; careful to not trip during the dances. Walburga focused her grey eyes on her mother to listen on what she was going to say. She waited all night to hear a good thing from the person who gave her life. All she wanted was approval. To make her mother proud by being the best lady. It seemed all throughout childhood her mother nagged on her for not being the best. Finally she could be accepted!

“That girl is a lost cause!” Her mother bit out at William. Irma’s face twisted into a sneer as she gripped her wine glass tight. “No grace, frighteningly terrifying, always muddying her dresses and chasing after her brothers! I should curse her to having a son just like Alphard with mannerisms like her so she at least knows the pain I went through! Months of work and she still can’t sit upright, walk poised, or stand with dignity! Forgets proper etiquette and table manners! Was troublesome until she went off to Hogwarts, I was glad to be rid of her! Now she’s off troubling someone else and for that I couldn’t be happier!”

Walburga felt like someone had just stabbed her in the heart.

William bowed down and kissed Irma’s hand. “I am all the more impressed by what you have achieved.”

Her mother smiled sweetly. “Thank you dear, I do what I can. No matter how ungrateful that little brat can be.” Irma ended bitterly.

Walburga thought that her mother. No, Irma. Had always put family first, no matter what.

Toujor Pur, after all.

It was like something had lifted and now all that stood before her was a wicked bitter hag full of jealousy.

I don't need her after all.

“I’m sorry.” She whispered to the man, biting back her tears as she let go. “Thank you, but I-I can’t, can’t be here right now.” She hiked up her dress and fled the ballroom. Toujour Por meant something to her.

I will teach the true meaning behind being pure, keeping the family pure, having magic coursing in our veins, Dark Arts, and family first always- no matter what! None of this behaviour my mother engages in any longer!

***

A few years later Walburga fell pregnant. All she wished for was to give her husband a healthy son to be their heir to stop the gossip, ridicule, and outcasting on how people noticed how hard it was on her. How they thought she actually could not fit the role. Her wishes had not come true. Her first pregnancy had been twin girls; Syfrin Ophelia - later to be Sirius Orion - and Rosier Azalea II. However, she had some faith to her first born...

Walburga held her daughters close to her as Orion stood beside her. "No heir, yet, Camelia."

"Syfrin is a boy."

"That is clearly a girl. Well, Camelia?" Orion started, taking their first-born in his arms. "What odd things run in our family?"

Walburga smiled. "I am not sure, why?"

Within two years, she had two more kids. One boy; Alastair Rigel, later to become Alice Fleur. One girl; Regina Adelene, later to be Regulus Arcturus. All four of them tested her nerves just as much as the first four. She never got a full night’s rest again, but she never lost her patience.

Syfrin/Sirius was lively, clumsy, challenging, and loud like Bellatrix, Rosier, and Alastair/Alice where as Regina/Regulus was patient, quiet, obedient, and carefree like Andromeda, Pandora, and Narcissa.

It was too much; her brothers drank themselves to death, Alphard disowned for being gay, Cygnus only having kids because of their family and then her having to adopt them. People within their circle ridiculed them because there were no boys and that Cygnus murdered Druella just hours after Pandora and Narcissa’s birth. They then ridiculed her for having no suitable heir and taking in his daughters.

As her children grew, she repeated ‘Toujour Pur’ and provided constant reminders that muggles were mud-bloods and they were to stay away from them for they were filthy. Walburga would tell them the world was hurtful and cruel. That family came first always.

Her first-born never seemed to understand. They pestered and tested Walburga with inappropriate questions. They seemed unable to sit in a chair right, refused to sit up straight or hold a fork correctly and ate everything with their hands. No matter what Walburga did; this kid was just as clumsy as she used to be. They were a challenge.

She would never hit, she would never yell. Before she lost her temper, she would walk away then come back and talk to her kids about the problem and what she expected. She promised herself she would never become her mother. She would cry herself to sleep at night thinking Syfrin/Sirius would never pick up on her teachings. She was afraid Regulus would follow in their footsteps even though he was currently following hers. Her adopted daughters also did better than Sirius.

*1971

Walburga was glad when she sent Sirius and Rosier off to Hogwarts. Their prefects could finally show them the right way. Andromeda, Bellatrix, Narcissa, and Pandora would be there for a few years and they would listen to them. When the first owls arrived from Bellatrix, that is when Walburga knew something was up.

Orion stood beside her, sipping his wine. Watching as she picked up the letter. Her hands shook as she looked at Bellatrix's handwriting.

Everything she had built, everything she had taught him… it all went up in ashes.

Walburga slammed the letter down as she stormed off to the kitchen.

“Not a word.” She said sternly at the cooks as she approached the cupboards and retrieved the plates. She took them to the cellar where she smashed them against the grey brick wall until there weren’t any left. As she looked at the damage, she sank to her knees and screamed with tears streaming down her face.

Walburga wanted to die, or even murder her daughters when they were born. All they had done since they conceived them was make her life burdensome and painful. Ever since the day they were born, they were a traitors to the bloodline. She was ashamed they were even hers. They had sorted her son and only chance of a good male heir into Gryffindor.

Walburga saw it was coming.

She had one chance left to make things right; Regina.

Her youngest. Obedient, calm, collected, and poised. Never clumsy, boisterous, or rude. A proud Slytherin. Top marks in Dark Arts. She even became a Death Eater after Bellatrix. She understood it was pro-muggle activism keeping knowledge from proper witches and wizards and supported it. Regina never disappointed her even though she was not a suitable heir. She could give a suitable heir, though. Walburga still worried when she hung with her sisters and continued to look up to them.

*1976 September

It was another Summer with the kids home from Hogwarts. Walburga dreaded going to the ball with her dysfunctional family but she couldn’t afford to stay away.

Where Regina/Regulus accepted dance requests and focused on finding a suitable heir, Sirius had not and smoked cigarettes in a corner.

Regina/Regulus had worn a black sparkling ball gown despite the arguing that had followed when Walburga presented it to her; "Why won't you wear this dress?" Walburga asked, hands on her hips as she stood in the middle of Regina's room. Regina/Regulus shrugged. "I do not feel comfortable with them, mother." Walburga folded her arms. "I have come to terms that you are not a suitable heir but that you can give me one, and now you are telling me you would rather wear a suit over a dress? Do not tell me you are like your sister and want to be a man!" Regina/Regulus hung her head, toying with the tulle fabric of the ball gowns skirt. In the end, Walburga won. Whereas Sirius wore a suit with a leather jacket. Which had also ended in a fight. She wasn’t even trying to look for a dance partner or suitable future husband. People made jokes that she was a wizard interested in wizards or even a witch interested in witches. *sometimes they could not tell which gender Sirius wanted to be* Walburga knew who her friends were though; mudbloods and traitors. She didn’t even try to keep his interests or relations with all those harlots and men a secret. For reasons unknown to her, she had recently just stopped doing that in the past year.

I need answers.

Because of her children, Walburga was an outcast. No one talked to her. It forced her to interact with the only people she could; her brothers and her husband. That is where she currently stood, with her family, waving away her brother’s smoke clouds as she tried her hardest to ignore the nausea that clawed at her throat as her husband and brother just kept drinking.

She knew the three of them were trying to forget about Syfrin/Sirius.

Alphard, however, was not. He was proud of Sirius for being himself and acting like him; looking up to the "cool" Uncle.

Walburga had hated her brother ever since the day she had dug into him before he had left her house…

FLASHBACK 1961

Walburga was holding two month old Regina/Regulus as she stormed downstairs to the servants’ quarters where her brother slept in the extra room spending his days drowning in whiskey, smoke, and stupid muggle painting.

“I will not have my children raised around a smoker! What is all this?!” She gestured to his canvases and paintings, kicking one down and stomping on it. “I want you out of this house by sundown! You don’t belong here anymore, you fag! My son does not need this kind of influence! He will marry a weathful, beautiful, young dame and give us wonderful heirs for years to come! In order for that, you must leave!”

“I will still be at the dances and family gatherings as mother insisted when she disowned me and sent me to you, but fine! I’ll leave this bloody house for all I fucking care! Have fun raising eight kids on your own!”

END FLASHBACK

When Alphard glanced at Sirius, it ignited something in Walburga. She grabbed him by the collar and dragged him off to a nearby powder room. She threw out the girls giggling inside and locked them out before putting up a silencing charm and glared at her brother.

“Have you been seeing my daughter!?” Walburga seethed, crossing her arms.

Alphard took another drag.

She pulled it from his hand, throwing it in the ashtray before pushing her brother toward the counter with her hands around his neck.

He winced as she pushed him further into the countertop; the smooth edges pushing painfully against his spine. Alphard watched her eyes turn almost black. There was no more grey colouring or happiness in Walburga. She had turned cold, like their mother. There was no turning back from that for a Black…

Once you go black, you never go back.

“I will ask again.” She growled. “Have�� you… been… visiting… my… child?!”

“They have been coming to me.” Alphard choked out. His throat was on fire and his wrists were hurting from squeezing the counter. “They had questions.” He choked out. “I answered.” She squeezed tighter. His vision blurred. “Stop!”

Orion ran in and yanked her backwards. “Honey, stop!” He yelled, squeezing his hands into her shoulders. “You are going to kill somebody!”

Walburga shoved Orion away. “What do you fucking care?! You are just drinking away your life with my brother, ignoring your children like always! I’m stuck taking care of eight kids, one of which wants nothing to do with our family and our traditions!” She grabbed her husband’s wrists, her voice gone dark as she spoke her next words. “You do anything you can to stop her from burrowing further into this rabbit hole of hers!”

“You have been making him hurt your son already! He has bruises, scars, and told me a complete list of spells yo-”

“SHUT UP!” Walburga screamed, slapping her brother. “YOU did this to her! I told you to stay away from her, no matter how persistent she got!”

“He is fifteen!” Alphard argued.

“AND DOING EVERYTHING YOU AND CYGNUS DID WHEN YOU TWO WERE YOUNGER!” Walburga screamed even louder. Alphard was right… Walburga was too far gone now. “She is a disgrace. An outcast, a traitor, a freak! I should have just killed all of them.” She glared at her husband. “I am taking the children home.”

*nine at night*

Walburga was quiet the rest of the evening as she dragged her children home.

Sirius was laughing, Regina was glaring at him, and Bellatrix was complaining.

Why is this my life?

Once they got home Regina/Regulus went up to bed, the girls went outside to giggle about boys. Walburga grabbed her wand and aimed it at Sirius’ back.

Petrificus Totalus!

“You are the worst thing that has ever happened in my life!” She circled her then gripped her chin and tilted it up so their grey eyes met. “Your father has done enough, it’s my turn! I cannot save it any longer, I-” she swallowed thickly.

Say it, you cannot stand loving someone like this anymore. He is not your son. Never has been. Sirius stared at her as she tripped over her words.

Her leather jacket angered her, the long hair she insisted on wearing as a boy, his tattoos she knew she had *very unladylike*, her piercings, her “friends”, her choice in being Sirius over Syfrin, ending up in Gryffindor and being portrayed as a boy by the castle, teachers, and students. She slapped Sirius after letting go of their face.

“I hate you.” She spit it out; literally.

Walburga grabbed the broom from the kitchen and went back to the entrance between kitchen and living room. Her heart pounded, ached in her chest, she did not want to do this to her baby but she had hurt her. She needed to be shown not from her father how much pain she put to her mother, but by Walburga herself… the person she hurt.

“I hate you.” She repeated, tears stinging her eyes.

She could not take it anymore. Sixteen years of humiliation, pain, disobedience, talking back, shouting, screaming, yelling, smashed family heirlooms and antiques, broken books, smashed walls, knives through the tables and walls, fork marks in the table. Walburga’s blood ran cold as she brought the broom up and brought it down hard on her child.

Sirius fell to her knees, biting her tongue to keep from screaming out. Walburga picked her up from under her armpits and brought the broom down on her back once more. “I hate you, you are a disgrace!”

“A faggot like your bastard Uncle!” The broom came down on Sirius' shoulder blade with a deafening crack.

“Hanging out with Mudbloods!” Walburga swung the broom again.

“How dare the fates let you become a bloody Gryffindor! You can have suitable heirs as a girl!” She hit Sirius with the broom three more times with the last sentence.

Again and again, the broom came down on her child. With every hit, Sirius winced. Sirius had disrespected her with everything she was. Walburga had done her best to never hit or yell. She now had enough and could not take it anymore. She poured all her anger and disappointment out on her child. The one person who should have been her heir!

“I hate you! Is that through your skull yet?!” She screamed, pointing her wand at Sirius. “Crucio!” Sirius arched her back, screaming vociferously. Walburga could feel the strength grow within her as she punished her kid.

She struck again… her neck, her hands. Walburga smiled as she watched Syfrin draw away from the sting as she trembled. Walburga could only guess it was from the crying.

She grabbed his long curly hair and pulled her head back to meet her dark eyes. “I… hate… you…” Walburga seethed.

Sirius squeezed her eyes shut, warm tears trailing down her face.

Walburga smiled the Black lineage smile as she threw her forwards at the coffee table.

Sirius' body landed on the top of the table with a hard thud and a pained moan.

“For so long I have had to deal with you… keep up with you… I had your father do my dirty work because I could not go through with it but I have had quite enough! You simply could not have told how much I hated you through your father, but you figured out how much he hated you. It is my turn. You needed to see how much I truly detested you and I did it all in one go.”

Images of all the times Syfrin acted out, disobeyed, stumbled, fallen, talked back. It fuelled her anger. Syfrin deserve no one… not those friends… not her sisters… nor whoever she was seeing.

“You deserve no one!” She continued beating and cursing at her child until she was tired. Walburga had been waiting to punish them. Now that she was finally doing it, she felt like she couldn’t stop.

Walburga watched her daughter turned potential heir turned to a disgrace weep on the table. Blood seeped through her clothing and onto the floor.

I’ll deal with that later.

Her long hair had become plastered to her sweaty tear-stained face. For the first time in sixteen years, Walburga felt content.

“You can drown in your misery for all I care. Just get up to bed before your father gets home or you will deal with him as well. Might as well stay there so he can do more damage anyway, you deserve it.”

She leant over Sirius as the front door opened.

“Too late.”

Walburga gripped her daughter's hair, pulling at the nape of her neck.

“Did I say you are a faggot? I found letters from your so-called friend. Everything you are doing and have done is amoral! You have always been an outcast, a blood traitor, and disowned. You haven’t been my son for years.”

She looked up to find Orion looming over them. He had heard everything she just said.

Sirius whined as she tried moving away but Walburga pulled her up by her elbows and held her back against her own body. “I’m going to enjoy watching your drunk father do the same things I just did to you.” She growled into Sirius' ear.

*eleven thirty*

Sirius climbed the stairs in weak agony.

His parents were downstairs cleaning up the blood, the evidence, and the smashed plates from earlier.

His sisters had gone up to bed through the basement cellar to avoid the scenery of him getting beaten.

He stood on shaking legs in front of the bathroom mirror, locked inside until he left.

Sirius inspected himself; his left eye was purple and swollen, his lips had cuts and dried blood, some blood was still coming out of his mouth, his hands were bleeding, his back was killing him.

His father had beat him harder than he had in the past. Sirius had two assumptions; he was drunker than usual… or, since his mother had not given his father any instructions, then he had done what he wanted to do.

Sirius hung his head and gripped the porcelain sink as more tears escaped his body. How he even deserved this he hadn’t known. Who was he to stop himself from being clumsy, gay, a boy ninety percent of the time, or uninterested in dark magic?! It was who he was!

Without even looking up, he brought his fist up and smashed the mirror to bits. He spun on his heels and punched the wall above the toilet paper holder; leaving a vast hole in the plaster and wallpaper. It left him feeling elated.

He took out his pocket knife from his slacks and added a few more cuts to his wrists before pocketing it again. Sirius became nauseous and threw himself over the toilet where he threw up blood, his dinner, and some bile. He growled as he flushed it down.

About twenty minutes later, he went to his youngest siblings room. He knocked on the door as he entered. Regulus ran up to their brother and wrapped their arms tightly around his middle. Sirius hugged Regulus tight, kissing their head.

“I love you.” Sirius whispered.

“I love you, too.” Regulus replied. “But you can’t leave.”

“I have to! Did you not hear what was going on downstairs?!” Sirius yelled, gesturing to the staircase outside the room leading to the living room he just left. “Do you not see the condition my body is in?!” He gestured to himself.

“YOU FUCKING PROMISED! YOU WERE THERE TO PROTECT ME!” Regulus had hot tears stinging their grey eyes. “You should not have come in. You should have just left!”

“I wanted to say something before I left.”

“Bullshit.” Regulus growled, grabbing a photo album and throwing it at Sirius’ head. Sirius ducked. “You promised! All you do is hurt us!”

Sirius squeezed his eyes shut. “It's not me.” He choked out, the last thing he wanted was for his brother to hate him.

“NO!” Regulus yelled, punching the wall beside Sirius’ head, baring their teeth. “If you want to leave, then leave!” They whispered through their teeth. Regulus' body shook with adrenaline.

Sirius watched Regulus’ cheeks turn from pink to a burning red. Their sad grey eyes were like daggers to his heart, much more so than his mothers. He had been close to his brother. Sirius shoved Regulus away, causing the youngest heir to stumble back.

“FINE!” Sirius growled through clenched teeth. “I thought I could protect you and get you to follow me.”

“They need me!” Regulus whispered, grey eyes searching the grey carpet below them.

“You do not have to do this. Just tell them.” Sirius pleaded. Regulus glared up at him. Sirius nodded. “Alright. Do not tell me I didn’t try. I love you.” He turned out into the hallway and headed to his room as his heart shattered. No one in this house loved him anymore, so he would just go to someone who did.

“I love you. I’m sorry.” Regulus whispered after him.

Sirius heard them.

***midnight***

Walburga sat happily at the table in the sitting room. Humming, she stirred her tea with a small silver spoon and ignored the loud noises from upstairs. Walburga didn’t care about what was going on. If there was damage, she would have someone fix it later. She knew Saiph would outlash at his punishments. Someone trampled down the stairs. Bumping against something every few moments.

“I’m leaving,” Sirius barked, “And you will not be seeing me anymore. I will not be coming back.”

“I would not want you back anyway.”

Walburga didn’t bother getting up. She sat and watched her son/daughter as he stormed out the front doors. With the slam of the front door, everything felt lighter. It should not have felt nice but it had. Sirius was a Gryffindor, he always had been. He never fit in with their Slytherin house, their Dark Arts, the Death Eaters. That was Regina's job.

Walburga was confused when she heard someone else come running. She stood and entered the living room. “Regina.” She said calmly. Regulus stopped in his tracks, looking up at his mother. “She disappointed us. You know that, right?”

Regulus nodded. “But-”

“You will not disappoint us too, Regina. Got it?” Walburga warned.

“Yes, Ma’am.” Regulus/Regina answered sadly. Walburga didn’t catch her tone as she was too busy pulling out her wand and changing the wards.

“She is an ungrateful brat. I did my best, she still had not listened. Then Hogwarts went and sorted her into the wrong house!” She whirled on Regina, taking wide steps until she gripped her chin, locking their eyes together. “You are still focused on finding a suitable heir, yes?”

Regulus/Regina nodded. Though she was just fourteen, she knew how important marrying wealthy pure-blood men was to her mother. She just could not help how he felt towards a certain someone at Hogwarts or how he felt to his own body. She needed to be on her mother’s good side, no matter how hard it got at times. She could have her fun without her finding out, do her duties as a Death Eater on the side, and still have everything be completely alright when she graduates.

Right?

“I know how much it means to you that this family stays together, but unfortunately Syfrin had other plans.” Walburga would see to it that she would not suffer from her older sisters. She would be seen as the one and only suitable heiress of the House of Black who would hopefully bring up suitable heirs in the future.

Regulus followed her to the tapestry and watched as she pointed her wand at Sirius' name; in which the tapestry and every pure-blood paper had re-wrote istelf to suit who Sirius was when he changed who he was in the family. Regulus intended to do that someday as he watched an intense beam come from Walburga's wand.

With satisfaction, Walburga watched the name of what she thought to be her last rotten spawn become burnt off the family tree.

**1977**

Walburga took a trip to Hogsmeade a week after the kids had gone back to school. She did her best to keep herself out of sight from prying eyes as people would surely talk. She had just wanted to see if she could spot Regulus having a bit of enjoyment for once before she headed to Knockturn Alley to find the ingredients she needed to ward the house from Boggarts and Dementors once again.

She had found Regina/Regulus just moments before she turned toward the alley.

Her blood boiled.

She was with her brother, laughing at whatever Potter was saying! Walburga pulled her hands into fists, her nails digging into her palms.

How dare she!

Yet she could not do anything for fear of exposing herself.

Moving on from her disgrace of children, she turned toward Knockturn Alley and right into ‘Cobb & Webb’s’ where she had bumped into…

“Peter?” She questioned. His blue eyes darted around the alley.

What is a sixteen year old doing down here? Isn’t this one of Sirius’ friends?

“Why are you here?”

“I, uh, I’m…” he stuttered. “Sirius doesn’t know.”

“Death Eater, are you?” Walburga thought aloud. Peter nodded.

Why in the whole bloody world did Syfrin become friends with the shyest, drawn-back people? SHE SHOULD HAVE BEEN A SLYTHERIN! At least she would have proper friends that…

Walburga stopped herself and looked at the timid Pettigrew with a sinister smile. She pulled them off to the side and sat him on a bench.

“What are they having you do?”

*1978*

When Regina/Regulus was eighteen, the house became empty and quiet.

Walburga had not heard from her baby in weeks.

She had gotten no letters from her about how Hogwarts was going.

No letters from the Death Eater headquarters.

Walburga had waited for Regina to return for months but she knew by now that she was dead.

The tapestry gave it away.

Regina had been a good girl, she did not deserve the cold hands of death.

*1981*

Now here Walburga was, getting ready for the trial of her firstborn.

She had not seen Syfrin in five years. Walburga refused to attend her wedding to Remus Lupin; the monster, the tainted half-blood. He was just another faggot to deal with. She hated that Sirius had the ability to conceive and bear a daughter with that monster. It left a bitter taste in her mouth that he had even considered the blood-traitor and the mudblood half-blood girl as the child’s Uncle and Aunt alongside her brother. She destroyed Sirius' room when Regulus had become a Godfather to those two’s tainted spawn.

Walburga sensed deep inside she was not getting the full story… that someone was lying to her. If she found out that one of her children lied to her, they would feel her wrath. She could handle punishing Syfrin again, but punishing Regina or Narcissa would crush her spirit even more than it had five years ago when she hurt her eldest son. Narcissa and Regina were the ones who followed their footsteps religiously. Cygnus and some boy named Tom had caused Bellatrix to become too far gone. Andromeda went and married a mudblood Hufflepuff; getting herself disowned.

Entering the courtroom, Walburga sat in the front row. She needed to see everything. A sinister smile crept onto her face as she muttered spells that made them not hear Sirius' cries, as well as whatever she said turn to lies. They deserved this. She had murdered her friends in cold blood and that monster of a husband hated them. Peter was out of the picture, her friends were dead, Remus was hated, outcast, and alone. As soon as Sirius was behind bars in Azkaban,

Walburga was free.

Two Aurors dragged Syfrin/Sirius into the courtroom.

It had only been a few months since she had been arrested and time was not nice to her. Walburga could tell she had not slept, that she had been crying and inflicting pain on himself. It made Walburga happy.

If you had just been in Slytherin, none of this would be happening.

Sirius struggled against the restraints, growling menacingly at the Aurors as they struggled to get him in more restraints. He screamed as they threw Crucio spells at him. “I did not do it! It was not me! Are any of you daft bastards listening to me?! You are all full of bullshit and this is fucking… you all need to burn in fucking hell!”

I used to wash your mouth out with soap for that mouth of yours. Can’t believe someone actually kisses your ashtray, liquor filled, vile mouth and those kids of yours are not terrified of their so called parent; a drunk, smoke and drug addicted, vile parent.

Walburga sat there smirking, her eyes trained on her screaming traitor daughter.

Her cries fell on mute ears.

No one was listening.

She put this on himself.

The more she struggled, the happier Walburga was.

He abandoned his families, his brothers, his friends, lovers, and more.

There truly was no one on her side…

There never had been.

The Wizengamont found Sirius guilty and he was dragged out of the courtroom screaming vile curses and laughing maniacally.

Even if you had complied nicely in a calm manner… impossible in this family… they still would have hauled you off. Glad to be rid of you.

Walburga was still smiling as she got home.

It was unsettlingly quiet with all her children gone, her husband, heiress, and brother dead, and her other brother living off on his own. She put her veiled hat down on her bed.

From the corner of her eyes, she saw something that made her skin crawl.

It could not be real…She despised her! Everything about her mother made her skin crawl and her blood boil.

I refused to turn into her! I did everything in my power to be different!

She turned slowly towards the mirror on her vanity dresser pushed toward the far end of the room.

“No.” She whispered.

She approached the mirror slowly, locking eyes with her own reflection. “No.” She repeated, shaking her head. “No, no, no, no!” She was smiling back at herself with the same malicious smile her mother had when she had beaten her. The smile she knew was plastered on her face when she beat her first-born. She screamed as she punched the mirror; shards of glass rained down on her, the vanity, and the green carpet below.

Walburga found herself on her knees screaming through her tears. She blindly reached for her wand, finding it on her vanity in a pile of glass. She let the shards cut her as she picked up her wand and herself then stormed off to Sirius’ room.

She kicked his door open then stood staring at his destroyed Gryffindor decorated room for a moment. Walburga could feel the tears flowing down her cheeks as she ripped photos of Sirius’ friends and himself off the walls…

“TRAITOR!” She screamed.

She tore posters and banners down, destroyed his bed further and wiped all the makeup and ink pots off his vanity. She ripped his clothes from his closet, wanting to burn the dresses he had stolen from his sisters.

“Faggot.” She growled, storming off to Regulus' bedroom.

Her heart shattered when she opened the door to her youngests' room. There was nothing out of place in the room and everything was neatly in its place, yet there was a weird feeling emitting off the walls of the room. Regulus had kept everything straight and tidy, but something still felt off. Walburga tore through the room as the front doors slammed open. Walburga looked up from where she knelt on her daughter's floor.

“Dementors.” She whispered to herself. Walburga shook her head and continued searching through her child's clothes, journals, and closet. She pried open a hide-away door that hadn’t been shut all the way.

“Lumos.”

Her heart broke.

“Alphard!” She growled.

She stood up from the small painting room Regina/Regulus had made, coming face to face with a painting that was full of emotion. It was gold, green, silver, and orange with streaks of black weaving through the colours.

“No.” She whispered, thinking back to her daughter smiling at James in the pub.

She backed up into her hanging suits. A Gryffindor tie fell from one of the hangers. ‘J.P’ was embroidered on the bottom. She picked it up in shaking hands as she bit her bottom lip. Tears threatened to spill. She could hear the Dementors and Death Eaters below tear through her house but she did not care anymore.

Walburga let the tie slip from her hands as she exited the closet and fell to Regulus’ bed in body wracking sobs.

“When did this happen?” She asked herself as her muscles tensed and her body became numb.

No one heard from Walburga Black after the trial.

Dementors and Death Eaters raiding her house for the locket was all over the newspapers.

They had killed her…

Karma killed her.

***

read here

Feel free to comment your thoughts or questions! I am sorry if it does not make a lot of sense or things are confusing, I just wrote what felt right. Hopefully future chapters will help connect some puzzles.

(Updates might be slow and out of place... bear with me, I work an overnight job)

Next up? Lyall Lupin and Hope Howell.

#marauders era #walburga black #sirius black #sirius azkaban #sirius x lupin #regulus black #remus x sirius

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lifeofkaze · 4 years ago

Text

An Art of Balance #10

Warning: very small mention of food

Word Count: ~ 2.900

______________________________________________________________

Chapter 10: A Change of Plans

Losing their first match against Ravenclaw had been a heavy blow to her ambitions, but Lizzie was glad everything seemed to go back to the way it was supposed to be, nonetheless.

Penny and Skye had decided to act as if the incident with the spilled love potion had never happened. They were on speaking terms again, although they limited conversations to superficial topics like Quidditch, homework or the weather.

Lizzie and Skye going from fighting to being close again was not a great surprise for the rest of their friends. They had all known the two girls long enough to not question how their friendship worked. They couldn’t have explained it anyway. It just did.

Their performance during practise had improved almost instantly after the match. Although neither girl cared to admit it, both took losing very personal. If they wanted to retain even the slightest chance at claiming the Cup once more, crushing their next opponent was vital. Both Lizzie and Skye were determined to make sure Slytherin would have a much harder time than Ravenclaw had had.

Even though the team had gotten back to being their usual fun bunch, Lizzie took great care to steer clear of Everett as best as she could. Neither of them had mentioned what had happened at the post-match party and Lizzie very much intended to keep it that way.

Still, she had noticed his eyes trailing her and could feel his gaze on her back when she sat in the Common Room with her friends. Lizzie had caught Orion watching Everett with an indeterminable look more than once, while the other boy tried to ignore him as best as he could.

Winter had started to hit the Hogwarts Grounds in earnest by the middle of November. Although no snow had fallen so far, the air was freezingly cold, sending biting gusts of wind howling through the open archways and cracks in the walls of the castle.

The windows of Hagrid’s hut were covered in frostwork so thick it was impossible to see outside. Lizzie was glad for the roaring fire Hagrid had stoked up before leaving for the Forbidden Forest. It was heating up the whole room to a degree that she was enjoying the cold air brushing her face as the door opened and Charlie came stomping inside. He was rubbing his palms against each other and went straight for the hearth to thaw his freezing fingers.

Lizzie was busy cutting up the heap of feed piled on the table. Charlie gazed at the fairy that was comfortably perched on her shoulder. It was dangling its little feet while happily buzzing into the girl’s ear. It was the one that had befriended Lizzie when she had tried to convince the fairy population to resettle in the Forbidden Forest. From time to time, some of them came back to the pumpkin patch, however. They loved to admire their reflections in the windowpanes of Hagrid’s hut.

When the fairy caught him looking, it suddenly started shrieking, baring its tiny fangs at him. Caught by surprise, Lizzie dropped her knife and covered her ears with a pained expression.

“Stop scaring her!” she shouted at Charlie over the screeching. She hurriedly offered the little creature a fingertip full of food, which the fairy gladly accepted. It fluttered onto Lizzie’s head and started munching away.

“Scaring her?” Charlie lifted his eyebrows. “I just looked at her.”

“I guess, she got offended by that hat of yours.” She pointed her knife at the crimson Gryffindor hat he was wearing, the colour clashing horribly with his ginger hair.

Charlie looked at her with a hurt expression. “You sound just like Andre.”

He tore himself away from the fire and came over to the table. Noticing the wary look the fairy gave him, he quickly removed his hat and stuffed it into his pocket before sitting down. He grabbed another knife and started working himself.

“Speaking of Andre, did you know he got himself a date?” Charlie mentioned casually. He smirked when he saw Lizzie’s head shoot up. This girl was too curious for her own good.

“No way!” She pushed her utensils to the side with a determined motion, suddenly all-ears. Even the fairy seemed to lean forward eagerly. “Give me the details, Weasley!”

Charlie put his knife down as well, spreading his fingers on the table. He lowered his voice conspiratorially.

“Her name is Claire Masters and she’s a fourth-year Ravenclaw, as far as I know. He always gets super nervous when he sees her walking by.” His brow furrowed. “I practically had to force him to tell me; he was very tight-lipped about the whole thing.”

Lizzie smirked wistfully. “No wonder; we literally crashed his last date.”

Charlie’s ears darkened a shade. “It wasn’t my fault I tripped over her bag and landed on their table.”

Lizzie guffawed at the memory, Charlie joining in her laughter. Trying to compose herself again, she sat up straight.

“And you really don’t know anything more? Like when or where he’s taking her?”

Charlie thought about it for a moment, frowning as he raked his memories. He tended to tune out of conversations if they didn’t involve any kind of dragon. His face brightened suddenly as he remembered.

“He is taking her to the Weird Sisters concert at The Three Broomsticks next weekend. He wants me to come as moral support, despite what happened last time. Do you want to come as well? Would save me from being the third wheel all the time.”

Lizzie hated to dampen Charlie’s enthusiasm but she shook her head apologetically. “I promised to go with the girls. And you and me appearing with Andre and a date would look an awful lot like a double-date.”

“But it wouldn’t be,” he insisted. “We’re just giving my best friend a bit of a heads up; step in if things get awkward. You can meet your friends there.”

Lizzie had picked up her knife again, toying with the handle. “I don’t know. Things have just gotten back to normal between Skye and me. You know her; ditching her for a player of another team doesn’t sound like something she’d appreciate.”

Charlies expression turned serious. “Don’t let them take our friendship away, remember? This is no one’s business but your own.”

Hanging her head in mock exasperation, Lizzie gave in to him. “Alright, fine. I’ll go with you. Under one condition,” she added quickly and held her finger up. “You tell Andre I’ll be wearing my own clothes. He seems nervous enough as it is. I don’t want him to go into another styling frenzy.”

Of course, Andre did go into a styling frenzy. Despite Lizzie’s particular wish to wear an outfit of her own choice, he had started drafting as soon he’d heard she would be coming as well.

He had been hounding Lizzie the whole week, waving fabric samples in her face and holding colour charts to her hair when he thought she wasn’t looking. To Professor Flitwick’s amusement, he had even bewitched a measuring tape to follow her around when she had refused to cooperate.

Eventually, Lizzie had given in to his persistence. Although she would have loved to be dressed after her own mind just one time, if concentrating on a new design helped Andre calm his nerves, she would simply have to indulge him.

She was having dinner with her friends when she spotted him walking over from the Ravenclaw table. With a little yelp she ducked behind Penny, but it was already too late. Andre had spotted her and approached them, a slight bounce to his step.

Peeking out from behind Penny’s slender shoulders, Lizzie shot him a threatening look.

“I swear, if you come at me with that measuring tape again, I’m going to strangle you with it,” she warned Andre before he had even opened his mouth. He looked taken aback.

“I just wanted to let you know that I have put something together for you. You can stop by the Transfiguration classroom later, if you want to see?” he replied almost sheepishly.

Lizzie immediately regretted her sharp tone. Andre always got overly excited when creating outfits for his friends, irrelevant whether they wanted him to or not. And admittedly, although his designs tended to be slightly over the top , they never failed to make his models look downright fabulous.

Out of the corner of her eye Lizzie saw Skye furrow her brow. It reminded her painfully that she had yet to tell her friends about her slight change of plans.

“What are you making her an outfit for?”

Andre looked surprised. “For the Weird Sisters concert of course. If Lizzie and Charlie are coming along on my date, I need to be able to let me be seen with them.” He spotted Lizzie frantically motioning for him to be silent too late.

Penny looked from Andre to Lizzie and back again, confusion visible on her face. “I thought you were going with us.”

“I was,” Lizzie replied sheepishly. “But Andre asked us to go with him and his date and- “

“So you’re dumping your friends for a date with Weasley and didn’t even think to tell us?” Skye’s narrowed eyes were flashing.

“I think you have some things to talk about, I’d better get going.” Andre mouthed a silent ‘sorry’ and hurried back to the Ravenclaw table. Skye watched him sitting down opposite Rath and gave the blond girl a hard stare just for the sake of it. Then she turned back to Lizzie.

“What was that about, Jameson?”

Lizzie avoided her eyes, sheepishly playing with her napkin. “I may have forgotten to tell you. I promised Charlie I’d go with him so he wouldn’t be third-wheeling on Andre’s date.”

Penny’s eyes went wide. “So you really are Charlie Weasley’s date?” She exchanged knowing looks with Tonks.

“She had better not tell you that, because I’m going to beat some bloody sense back into her if she starts dating the Gryffindor Seeker,” Skye interfered sharply. Lizzie wasn’t entirely sure she was joking.

She pinched the bridge of her nose. That was exactly why she had avoided telling them. She wasn’t in the mood for the drama.

Lizzie gave Penny at pointed look. “First of all, I am not going on a date with Charlie. We are going as friends because Andre needs our support; so for Merlin’s sake, stop grinning like a Cheshire Cat!” Penny pressed her lips together but it was evident she was fighting to contain her grin.

“Secondly,” and her attention shifted to Skye, who was still glaring at her, “don’t talk about Charlie like that. I told you time and time again, he is my friend. I don’t care which House he belongs to or which team he is playing for. If I want to spend time with him, you are sure as hell not going to stop me!”

“Hear, hear,” Tonks chimed in, her cheeks filled to the brim with pie.

Her sudden interjection relieved the tension into a burst of laughter, even Skye was joining in. Perhaps she was sick of fighting on all fronts for the time being.

“And you know,” Lizzie continued “it doesn’t mean we can’t meet up at The Three Broomsticks once we get there. Charlie and I have to help Hagrid before we can go anyway; I’ll walk to Hogsmeade with him and Andre and once we’re there, everyone is going to have a good time.”

Penny shrugged. “Sounds good to me.”

She nudged Skye, who still didn’t seem entirely convinced. “Come on, I thought you and Lizzie were done fighting for the year.”

Despite herself, a small smile appeared on Skye’s face at her words.

They sat in silence for a bit when a thought crossed Lizzie’s mind. Her eyes flickered from Rowan to Orion in a furtive movement.

“What about you guys; you are going as well, aren’t you?” she asked in a pointedly nonchalant tone.

McNully and Orion looked up from their plates and exchanged a glance.

“I don’t know yet,” McNully mused. “I got asked, but I’m only 24 % sure I should actually go.” His eyes flitted towards the Ravenclaw table for a moment. “64 % of the activities at such events involve dancing, which I surprisingly can’t enjoy properly.”

“Only because you can’t dance, doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy music and good company,” Lizzie answered incredulously. “Especially, if a certain someone explicitly asked you.”

Although she had a fair point, McNully chose to ignore her arguments. Instead he jerked his head in Orion’s direction. “It’s not like I’m the only one not going, though.”

Orion merely shrugged. “He is right, I do not plan on going either. I don’t find a large number of people being crammed into a small space particularly enjoyable.”

His gaze drifted to the candles floating above their heads, casting their soft glow over the mass of students gathered at their tables. “So many different energies in one place unsettle me,” he added airily.

Skye snorted into her cup and Lizzie elbowed her into the side. She was suppressing a grin of her own at Orion’s detached manner, however.

“How boring,” she pouted, hidden laughter ringing in her voice, “Myron and the others have been planning this gig for ages, it’s going be a lot of fun!”

Neither Orion nor McNully looked particularly enthusiastic to discuss matters further, so Lizzie decided to let the topic rest. For now.

When the group had finished their meal and was headed back to the Common Room, Rowan caught Lizzie’s sleeve, subtly holding her back. She waved to the others to go ahead, sitting down next to her friend again.

Rowan looked at her earnestly. “Do you really think you can persuade Orion to come with us?”

Lizzie wasn’t as sure as she made herself out to be, but nodded anyway. She had never been one to give up easily. “I think so. It will take a bit of convincing but I’m positive I can get him to give in.”

Rowan’s cheeks turned darker. “If he agrees, do you think you could help me getting a little closer to him?”

It was exactly what Lizzie had had in mind. A group of friends enjoying good music; a few drinks and plenty of opportunities to separate from the group; getting lost in the crowd without it being overly suspicious. It was the perfect opportunity for them to loosen up and get to know each other better. She almost felt excited herself.

She linked her arm with Rowan as they were strolling towards the exit of the Great Hall, a mischievous smile playing about her lips. “Don’t you worry, I’ve got you covered.”

Orion and the others were already back in the Common Room, lounging in their usual spot next to the great fireplace. He and McNully were engaged in a game of chess, while the girls were talking in hushed voices to each other about Lizzie’s change of plans.

McNully’s rook had just beaten his bishop off the board in a particularly violent way, when Skye huffed audibly, sitting up from the yellow couch she had been sprawling upon.

“I don’t care, I still don’t like Jameson going out with the best player of another team. I mean, where are her loyalties?”

“You heard her, Skye”, Orion responded without taking his eyes off the board. He motioned his complaining pawn to move forward, into the path of McNully’s queen. “She and Charlie Weasley are going as friends and that is the truth we need to accept.”

Being completely honest with himself, however, he had to admit that Skye had a point. Charlie Weasley was Gryffindor’s greatest asset. He didn’t know much about his and Lizzie’s friendship, but the thought of them showing up together made him feel uneasy.

He tried to balance his feeling of restlessness by taking out another one of McNully’s white pawns, foolishly allowing his commentator friend to position his queen in front of Orion’s king.

“Checkmate, buddy,” McNully announced with a ring of surprise to his voice. “What a blunder! You made it really easy.”

Orion’s eyes wandered over the assortment of black and white pieces. He was trying to focus on the mistake he had made, but his mind was on anything but the game.

Skye came over and sat between them, picking up the black queen and spun her around between her fingers.

“Tell you what, we have to do something about this. I say, we all go, keep an eye on things; make sure Weasley doesn’t do anything stupid.”

McNully set the board for a second match. “I highly doubt Lizzie would approve being chaperoned,” he retorted sceptically.

Skye dismissed his concern with a flick of her wrist. “I don’t care about her approval. This is for the team. Now, are you in or what?”

Orion gave an exhausted sigh. Much like Lizzie, Skye wasn’t one to let things go once she had set her mind to it.

“Will you give it a rest if we agree to come?”

“Probably.”

He made eye contact with McNully for a moment, who gave him the tiniest shrug.

He closed his eyes, breathing out slowly. He could already feel his calm slip at the thought of being stuck in such a crowd.

“Alright, we’re in.”

Skye lifted herself off the ground and placed the chess piece back on the board.

“Smashing.”

#art of balance #lizzie jameson #orion x mc #orion amari #orion amari x mc #andre egwu #charlie weasley #skye parkin #murphy mcnully #penny haywood #rowan khanna #quidditch #quidditch squad #the quidditch squad #L writes #hphm #hogwarts mystery

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wallyaxiom · 4 years ago

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𝚆𝙰𝙻𝚃𝙼𝙴𝙼𝙴: 𝙵𝙰𝚅𝙾𝚁𝙸𝚃𝙴 𝙲𝙷𝙰𝚁𝙰𝙲𝚃𝙴𝚁 𝚂𝙾𝙼𝙴𝙾𝙽𝙴 𝙴𝙻𝚂𝙴 𝙿𝙻𝙰𝚈𝚂

hey besties it’s me coming to do the waltmeme thing. I couldn’t just pick one character to call my favorite. it also felt unfair to do that as well when there’s so many amazing characters here. so grab a snack, put on your favorite tangled song in my honor and buckle up as i go through the list of my fave characters here at walt each person plays. present gen only. sorry to my next gen faves. maybe one day i’ll write a list for you. or not. i’ll keep you on your toes.

𝕔𝕒𝕤𝕤𝕒𝕟𝕕𝕣𝕒 𝕛𝕒𝕘𝕖𝕣

cassandra is a character i love so much. tangled is a movie that means everything to me. kiara is the person who understands my tangled feels. the way you play cassandra...like how you said i have a grasp on reagan, you have such a perfect grasp on who cassandra is as a character. her voice is so clear. you understand who the character is and have transformed her into something more than what was given in the bio i wrote and also in the show that’s used for inspo. she’s a spectacular character and i love her so much. it’s an honor to be one half of elssandra but also cassunzel. she’s such an amazing character. you should be so proud of what you’ve brought to life, kiara.

𝕝𝕚𝕘𝕙𝕥𝕟𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕞𝕔𝕢𝕦𝕖𝕖𝕟

listen i told you every day how much i love monty. i literally scream it to you in your living room sometimes. i’ve seen every iteration of monty but i think this one is my favorite. i didn’t even know lightning’s real name was montgomery that was all you. so much of yourself is in monty. it reminds me of myself with wally and i think that’s the biggest reason why i love monty is because he’s bits and pieces of you and i love you very much. as much as i love cocky era lightning i love dad lightning even more. i wish i had a dad like him i’m not gonna lie but we’re not gonna unpack that on the man lmfao. i’m glad i’m more enveloped in his story now because he’s such a good character dude. like such a good written and played character. he’s second in my heart to sulley but is inching closer to number one by the day.

𝕗𝕣𝕒𝕟𝕔𝕖𝕤𝕔𝕠 𝕓𝕖𝕣𝕟𝕠𝕦𝕝𝕝𝕚

fran !!! my bestie !!! my fave !!! i would die for them !!! like bee, i love talking to you about fran and all the tomfoolery they get into. you’ve played them for so long and each time you transform them into something better than the last. they age like a fine wine. in the past almost two years i’ve been able to be part of their story more & i’m so happy for that opportunity. you’ve put so much love, care and devotion into fran. you’ve added so much to their story. like they’re so fleshed out, how does your beautiful brain come up with all this backstory ??? lemme know i need some of those brain cells. they’re amazing. you’re amazing. i want fran to buy me and island and make me pasta but i’ll just them do that for caspian the favorite child.

𝕠𝕣𝕚𝕠𝕟 𝕓𝕒𝕣𝕥𝕙𝕠𝕝𝕠𝕞𝕖𝕨

hands down i had to put orion my future father in law. i’ve had the honor of watching you develop orion into something incredible over these past six years. ( holy cow !!! six ??? insane. ily ). he was a big bad, misunderstood boy and you’ve humanized orion. you’ve brought life into him and created such a beautifully crafted character. he has a heart now. perhaps a tiny one but it’s there. the backstory you’ve created for him and the future he has - all stunning and wonderful. i love this man. he deserves so much after the shit he’s been through. i’ve had the privilege of being in his orbit for a bit when i played logan. I still get to watch him and enjoy the light chaos he brings. i’m ready for the new era of casino owner orion and what trouble he’ll bring now.

𝕤𝕙𝕒𝕘𝕘𝕪 𝕣𝕠𝕘𝕖𝕣𝕤

the boy !!! the legend !!! i love shaggy so much. first of all, the future you planned for him. how dare you ?? do you like to see me cry ?? is that it ??? i’m glad he hit his happy arc now because WOW. pain. shaggy is just a nice guy, man. he’s so nice to everyone he meets. i want to be friends with shaggy and scoob. i love mystery inc. i can’t imagine anyone else playing shaggy but you. to me, you are him. he’s the heart of the group. it’s not mystery inc without him. therefore, you’re the heart also. it’s not the same without you.

𝕤𝕒𝕕𝕚𝕖 𝕥𝕖𝕒𝕘𝕦𝕖

i could easily write an essay about how i love all your characters and how you play them all so well but i had to give this spot to sadie. the teagues are my og loves. every time i see sadie the part of my brain where logan resides lights up. she’s such a good character. she’s a little devil and it’s exactly what we need. we need someone to stir up the pot and throw eggs at kids. sadie is a product of her environment. she’s so tough and had to be so young. no one her age should have to grow up so fast the way she did. i would like to wrap sadie in a blanket give her some coco with bat marshmallows and tell her to take a break. hug her. maybe give her some therapy to. i love her. you’ve brought her to life in such an amazing way. i hope her brothers join her soon so we can have that sibling goodness.

𝕟𝕒𝕝𝕒 𝕠𝕞𝕚𝕥𝕒

i was tempted to put ian here because ian lightfoot is joel and we already know how much i love al and wendy but i decided to show the og love so i put nala. from the get go you knew who nala was going to be and where you wanted to go with her. you always bring so much to your characters. you develop them in ways that amazes me each time. go bestie go you’re so talented. i love how devoted she. how fierce she is but also the vulnerability you bring to her. she was thrown into a world at a young age fighting a war she wasn’t meant to and THAT’S a lot on someone. and we see that. i love the way you play her and i’m so happy you decided to take her up. sorry you have to deal with simba tho. pour one out.

𝕘𝕖𝕠𝕣𝕘𝕖𝕥𝕥𝕖 𝕗𝕠𝕩𝕨𝕠𝕣𝕥𝕙

everyone and their grandmother knows the oliver and co cast means everything to me. i’m so glad that you decided to join them ! you’re a wonderful addition. i love miss george. she’s fabulous in every sense of the word. sharpay evans is shaking in her lil boots. i just love divas. i love them. i am one. she’s perfect. and we know that’s not easy for her. i know your beautiful mind works wonders so i know there’s a lot of growing that georgette will be going through in the future and i’m excited for it. prayer circle for a jenny and oliver.

𝕥𝕙𝕒𝕔𝕜𝕖𝕣𝕪 𝕓𝕚𝕟𝕩

when you auditioned for thackery you already had an idea of where you wanted to take him and how you wanted to add to his character while staying true to the bio. that is the kind of stuff i like to see. this man has seen some shit and also has been through some shit. i do hope one day his soul can be at ease. he needs a long cat nap. you care a lot for thackery and it’s lovely to see. he may be a hamilton hoe but we have to respect the drip & love him for it anyways.

𝕥𝕚𝕞𝕠𝕥𝕙𝕪 𝕝𝕚𝕘𝕙𝕥𝕪𝕖𝕒𝕣

timmy boy deserves a hug. a hug and a nice space movie to take the edge off. you always put so much of your heart and yourself into your characters. you care so much for them and that’s evident in buzz. he’s goofy, he’s cool and he’s just so wonderful. i’m excited to see where buzz will go from here and how he’ll develop over time. i’m hoping some happiness. maybe some resolution with woodrow just to spice things up. that metal arm is still cool too.

𝕕𝕒𝕡𝕙𝕟𝕖 𝕓𝕝𝕒𝕜𝕖

hey bestie !!! wow !!! daphne ??? gives me so much pain. I am so glad to be going on this angst journey of mystery inc and fred/daph with you. your love for her and the gang makes my heart so happy. i will happily spend hours talking about them and sending tiktoks to each other that remind us of them. you went beyond the assignment. you were just born to play daphne. you write her so well and understand her past the bio, past the inspirations of the live actions and mystery inc. you get her. you see her. she’s in good hands. i’m ready for all the pain she’s about to cause me.

𝕡𝕖𝕟𝕖𝕝𝕠𝕡𝕖 𝕙𝕒𝕚𝕟𝕝𝕚𝕟𝕖

i love penelope. i really do. i am penelope’s number one stan. it was discussed before but it’s so easy to play miss piggy as unlikeable since she is such a brash character but you bring so much light and love to penny. it’s hard not to be in love with her and want her to succeed in everything she does. she’s the miss piggy we all grew up with but she’s also special because you’ve added your own personal touches to her. she’s an amazing character. i would punch anyone who’s wronged penelope. i’m excited for the layers to start peeling back and we see more of penny - especially her badass ways. i just love the way you play her and i love penelope hainline okay. i lovoe divas as stated above what can i say.

𝕒𝕦𝕣𝕠𝕣𝕒 𝕔𝕒𝕡𝕦𝕝𝕖𝕥

ANNIE !!!! WOW AURORA ??? genuinely she is the love of my life. I love her so, so much. she’s so sweet and wonderful and deserve to be tucked in ??? read a bed time story ??? and not be cursed ??? why’d i do that. she deserves the world and so do you. in the short amount of time you’ve had her you’ve added so much depth to her story. which is not always easy the first few months you have a character but you’ve put in a lot of love into aurora already. you understood the assignment and & went beyond. i’m so excited to see where she goes on her journey and what will happen when he hopefully get a maleficent one day. also is it an aurora shoutout without me saying philip loves her ??? bc he does.

#waltmeme #me: already has two mascots why not throw in a third ???#take a shot everytime i say wonderful amazing andexcited

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official-weasley · 4 years ago

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The Irreplaceable Charlie Weasley: Pt. 3, Ch. 5

PART 3: THE YEAR OF QUIDDITCH & MAGICAL CREATURES Chapter 5 - Telling Charlie

Nova

I rushed down the stairs as fast as I could as I didn't want Bill questioning me about Penny any longer! As much as I felt my cheeks go red, it would be a miracle if he doesn't realize what is going on with Penny at this point.

She didn't even admit to me that she has a crush on Bill and I already have to do damage control!

I was running to the Quidditch pitch as fast as I could, hoping Charlie didn't already finish and leave for breakfast; I really wanted to catch him alone.

As I was getting closer, my confidence started to shrink. Bill's words were quite encouraging and I am so glad I've decided to talk to him and ask him for advice but it didn't make the matter any easier for I had to do the talking to Charlie part alone.

I ran to the Gryffindor tent and listened for voices. I couldn't hear anything but then I heard a whistle coming from the pitch. They just finished!

I took a deep breath and blinked a couple of times. I hope Charlie won't notice I was crying.

“Nova! You're alright!” He spotted me immediately. He dropped his broom and ran to me. He squeezed me in a hug so tight that he could give Molly a run for her Galleons. He kept me in a tight hug as his teammates passed us, giggling.

“Where have you been?” He pushed me away and poked me in my shoulder. “I was worried sick! I thought you got hurt at the tryouts so I went to the Hospital Wing but you weren't there. I went to the Courtyard in case you were drawing there. I rushed to the Owlery but was only greeted by Pip. Library...empty, well except for Penny. Went to Hagrid's, you weren't there either. Not down by the Black Lake.” He stopped for a second. “But I still waited there for a while just to be sure the Giant Squid didn't take you. And I ended up sitting next to Tonks in the Great Hall and she said she hasn't seen you either. Neither has Bill. So...” He frowned. “Where...have...you...been?” Poking a finger in my shoulder with every word.

It was for moments like this that I cried in the Owlery this morning. Just imagining doing something that would tear our friendship apart and not seeing his worried freckled face made me want to be fed to the Giant Squid.

“I'm sorry I disappeared like that. I was in my dormitory the whole day.” I scratched the back of my head.

“Tonks was right. Should've asked Tulip.” He had a bewildered expression on his face. I think he was thinking just how many times Tonks has been right or given good advice this year.

“But why were you in your dormitory? Did the tryouts go so badly?” His worried face made me want to just lie that I didn't make the Team but I had to focus! I had to tell him.

“No, the tryouts weren't so bad.” I started slowly. “And I kind of hid from you.” My cheeks started to burn.

“From me?” He looked confused.

“Well, let's just say that the tryouts didn't go as we daydreamed about all Summer. I didn't become a Chaser.” I bit my lip, stopping myself from saying anything else. Why was it so hard to tell him!

He looked me deep in my eyes and I could see he was going through several scenarios of what could have happened differently than what we talked about during the Summer.

“Oh...” Was all he said. He gestured to follow him, grabbing my hand and we went up the stairs to one of the stands and sat down.

“You became a Seeker for Ravenclaw, didn't you?” He asked softly.

My eyes started to water but I blinked the tears away. I didn't want to cry in front of him. I nodded, looking down at my lap.

He gently lifted my chin with his finger and looked me in the eyes.

“And you thought that I was going to be mad?” I nodded quickly, trying to avoid his gaze.

“Why?” He asked with a rather confused voice. “You know I will support you no matter what you do! I just wanted you to be on the Team, no matter which position they assigned you!” Now he looked mad. Well, more disappointed than mad.

“I can't believe you would think that I would be mad at you for working hard and getting on the Ravenclaw Quidditch Team.” He frowned at me. Now, he was mad.

“Yes I knew you would be happy for me but Char, we are both Seekers, we will have to compete against each other. Fly around and chase each other after the Snitch!” I tried to explain my worries, which to be perfectly honest, seemed like nonsense to me now.

“So we chase after the same ball. So what! It's one game per year and you have to admit it's going to be fun competing against each other!” He put his arm around my shoulder and squeezed it, a smirk on his face.

“And besides, imagine the look on your face when I snatch the Snitch right in front of your nose!” He grinned at me.

“Not before I do the same to you! You have some competition now, Weasley!” I ruffled his hair.

“See,” he grinned, “that wasn't so bad was it?”

“Oh, stop it! Your reaction could've gone in a totally different direction.” I poked him in the ribs.

“Really? You really think I would be mad at you?” He winked at me. “We talked this over. We leave our friendship in the tents. At least Madam Hooch is going to be happy when the Seekers don't try and kill each other for once.” I giggled.

“Now,” he turned to me rather hastily, “tell me how in the bloody hell did you go from trying out for a Chaser to becoming the Ravenclaw Seeker!” His eyes were glowing. I could tell he couldn't wait to hear about my tryouts since yesterday.

I told him all about it. About Skye and Orion and Andre's rage and how everything went awry in a second and how before I knew it Orion was asking me if I was going to be able to compete against him.

Charlie laughed a couple of times as I was describing our Friendly as if telling an unbelievable story. I was relieved that I didn't lose my best friend and mad at myself for thinking that something like this could break our friendship.

Charlie, of course, couldn't hide how proud he was of me and said that Ravenclaw might actually have a chance to be second this year.

“Second? What do you mean second?! We're going to beat your arses, Weasley!” We both started laughing.

“Oh, this is going to be so much fun!” Charlie clapped excitedly. “And we can compare the strategies that we learn during our practice matches and during Summer we can practice catching the Snitch together!”

“I think our Captains are not going to be happy about that.” I chuckled.

“Eh, I don't care, we can say we were doing it to beat the Slytherins and Hufflepuffs.” We both laughed again.

“Nova?” His face turned serious.

“Uh-huh?”

“Promise me you will never overthink our friendship like this again, okay? I was really worried when I couldn't find you yesterday.” He said with a sad expression on his face.

“I promise.” I smiled at him, my cheeks pink.

“Alright then! What do you say I get changed and we get some breakfast. I'm starving!” I chuckled and we went back down to the tents.

We hurried to the Great Hall as we only had half an hour to catch breakfast. On our way there we already went through several scenarios of how he catches the Snitch, how I catch it instead, and how awesome it will be to be on the Quidditch pitch together, even if on the opposite team.

“Look who made up.” Bill grinned as we sat down next to him. At first, Charlie looked confused but then he knew exactly what I have done before talking to him.

“Did you go to Bill for some brotherly advice?” He mocked me.

“Well, thank Merlin I did because if it wasn't for him, I would hide from you forever!” We all laughed.

Tonks, Tulip, and to my surprise, even Penny joined us. Penny asked me about the tryouts to distract herself from looking at Bill as soon as they sat down. I told them all about it and just as I was finishing the story, an owl dropped a long package right in front of us.

I recognized it at once!

“Waffle, what did you bring me?” I petted him on his head and he hooted happily.

“Well, open it!” Tonks thought we were observing the package for way too long.

I tore the paper and revealed a brand new broom. Charlie, Penny, and Bill gasped.

“Is that the Comet 260?” Asked Bill, finally closing his mouth.

“It is!” Charlie said excitedly.

“Who is it from?” Penny started to look for a card.

“There you go, Nova.” Tulip who was also searching for the card handed it to me.

A big grin appeared on my face as I read aloud.

Dear pumpkin,

a little birdie told me that you've made it on the Ravenclaw Quidditch Team. I can't express in words how proud mum and I are of you! Here is a little present for you. Now, beat Gryffindor for me, will you! Mum would be so jealous if you do!

Love and lots of hugs,

Dad

“Hey!” Charlie acted offended when I read that Ravenclaw should beat Gryffindor.

“A little present, huh?” Chuckled Tonks.

“Bill, were you the little birdie again?” I looked at him, smiling.

“Not this time no. However, I do wonder who was so quick to tell your parents?” He narrowed his eyes, thinking.

“That would be me, Mr. Weasley.” We all turned around to see Professor Flitwick standing behind us.

“Professor, you?” I asked in shock. “But why?”

“Mr. Amari told me that you were the only one who didn't bring your own broom to the tryouts. As I taught your father and he was as excellent at Charms as he was at Quidditch and a proud Ravenclaw too,” Flitwick beamed, “I took the liberty to write to your parents, telling them to send you your broom. I had no idea they were going to buy you a new one.” He clapped excitedly.

“I didn't own one, Professor.” I said.

“That would explain it. Congratulations on making the Team Miss Blackwood.” He grinned at me. Then he turned to Charlie. “To you as well Mr. Weasley. Even though I am sorry to say that you have picked an unfortunate year to join as my Ravenclaws will beat Gryffindor for sure!” A proud smirk on his face. “Go, team!” He swung his arm into the air and walked away, leaving Charlie with an open mouth.

“Who would've thought that our Heads of House were such big Quidditch enthusiasts.” We all laughed as we remembered Professor McGonagall last Summer when Charlie tried out for the Gryffindor Seeker position and she was more than happy when he made the Team.

—

Winter was approaching fast and so did our first trip to Hogsmeade. We were all so excited that I really can't tell who wanted to go more.

Tonks, Tulip, and Jae couldn't wait to go to Zonko's Joke shop. Charlie and I couldn't wait to try Madam Rosmerta's Butterbeer as it was rumored to be one of the best and Penny couldn't wait to buy some sweets.

Overall, I knew we were all just waiting to spend some quality time together as we were so busy with school that we have barely seen each other. Tulip and I made a pact to only talk to each other in our dormitory to have time for other friends. Charlie and I were busy with Quidditch as we both had practice two to three times per week. Penny spent most of her time in the Library and already started to nag us about exams.

Tonks, Tulip, and Jae were Merlin knows where most of the time and the free time we did have, we visited Hagrid, or I drew or we were down by the Lake. Which didn't mean hanging out at all as our noses were in books or writing essays for classes, or reciting potion ingredients or translating runes.

Penny was handling her crush on Bill very well lately. She rarely excused herself anymore when he sat down next to us in the Great Hall or joined us by the Lake. She turned less pink and she even helped Bill with his Potions homework once. Bill was happy to see Penny was talking to him again and I wondered if he ever got around to talk to her about why she was avoiding him.

With all the work our professors gave us you can imagine how happy we were when we read about the first trip to Hogsmeade announcement!

I woke up on a Saturday the Hogsmeade trip was scheduled and I shrieked as I saw that it was snowing. That, of course, woke Tulip up, who sat up so abruptly that Dennis jumped out of the bed and hid under it.

“What is going on?” She rubbed her eyes.

“Tulip, look! It's snowing! And we're going to Hogsmeade today!” That was all I had to say and she was wide awake. We got dressed and took our hats, scarves, and gloves with us.

We were surprised to see Tonks fully awake when we sat down at our usual spot in the Great Hall. I guess all you need to do to wake her up is allow her to go to Hogsmeade. As we ate breakfast, we were making a plan to have a snowball fight by the Lake on our way back to the Castle.

Just walking there was beautiful and I was grateful that I put on the jumper Molly gave me for Christmas in my First Year as it was freezing. Once we arrived Jae, Tonks and Tulip ran to find Zonko's at once. Bill, Penny, Charlie, and I were standing in front of Three Broomsticks, ready to go inside.

“Nova, could I talk to you for a mo?” Penny grabbed my hand, stopping me from going inside. Charlie and Bill looked at us.

“We'll join you in a second. Order two Butterbeers for us, will you!” I said and allowed Penny to drag me away.

We started walking down the street and she linked our arms.

“Penny, are you okay? What do you have to talk to me about?” I looked at her. Her face was so red that I didn't know was it from the cold or was she blushing.

“Listen, Nova. I know we didn't have that much time to talk in private these past few months.” I nodded as I agreed with her. I was busy with Quidditch and Advanced Transfiguration and she was busy hiding from Bill and studying in the Library.

“I know! I am so jealous of Tonks and Tulip as they always find the time to be together. I feel like I haven't seen you all year. I miss you, Penny.” I couldn't deny it.

“I miss you too and I've been meaning to talk to you about something and I feel bad and I hope you don't think I'm avoiding you or something.” She wasn't making much sense until it dawned on me.

“Is this about your crush on Bill?” I mocked her.

“Shhh!” She put her finger on my mouth. “How do you know I have a crush on Bill?” She whispered and looked around if anyone heard that.

“Oh, c'mon Penny, it's super obvious!” I giggled.

“Does everybody know?” She lowered her head.

“I think, Penny, and I mean no offense when I say this, that you are the only one thinking about crushes. So no, I was the only one who noticed and even I wouldn't if we weren't alone that day at breakfast when you blushed when I mentioned him.” I reassured her.

“Oh, good.” She nodded. “Because I wanted to let you know that it's not a big deal, I will get over it and nobody else needs to know, promise!” She pointed her finger at my face. I giggled.

“I promise, Penny. I was thinking about talking to you about it, you know, to see if you wanted to get it off your chest but you have been in the Library hiding so much that I really didn't get a chance to do so.” I smiled at her.

“Was it that obvious?” She frowned.

“Again, only to me.” I reassured her again. “Tonks and Tulip are too busy planning pranks with Jae, Bill is too busy being a Prefect, studying for O.W.L.s and his Career Advice Meeting and Charlie is so oblivious to these things that I think not only would he not notice if a girl had a crush on him and wouldn't believe a girl even if she told him straight to his face. But I am also pretty sure he wouldn't even know if he had a crush on a girl either.” I chuckled.

“Well, that certainly puts me in a better mood. I am getting a hang of myself around Bill.” She said proudly.

“I have noticed. Well done!” I tried keeping a straight face as I didn't see this as a problem.

“And thank you for wanting to talk to me about it. I just really didn't want to make a big deal out of it.” She blushed, playing with her braid.

“It's not, Penny. So you have a crush. It can happen to anybody and besides, Bill is kind of cute, I guess.” It was hard to imagine Bill as anything else but a friend, especially after the talk we had in the Owlery, I began to think of him more like an older brother.

“I know it's not. I just didn't want anyone to find out. I wasn't going to act on it. I'm too young for that and Bill probably likes someone else anyway.” She looked at me hopefully.

“Oh, don't look at me! I wouldn't know anything about that. We don't talk about these sort of things.” We stopped in front of Three Broomsticks.

“Ready to go inside?” I smiled gently.

“Yes, I want to try the Butterbeer already!” She hugged me and we joined Bill and Charlie.

I have only had Butterbeer once before but I can tell you Madam Rosmerta makes the best one as we were already ordering another round.

Penny started a conversation about O.W.L.s with Bill. I really didn't want to think about my Fifth Year yet so I turned to Charlie and we started to discuss our first Quidditch match that was happening right after the holidays. It was the first game of the season and we were playing against Hufflepuff.

After about half an hour Tulip, Tonks and Jae joined us. Their hands were so full of stuff that Charlie joked if Bilton was left with an empty shop. As Bill decided to head back early and check on the Gryffindors that stayed behind, Charlie, Penny, and I decided to get some sweets from Honeydukes. They had so much candy to choose from that I got a little bit of everything.

Now as our hands were as full as Tonks, Tulip, and Jae's before, we were ready to head back to the Castle. We decided to skip the snowball fight as we were all freezing and we didn't want to lose all our stuff in the snow.

The next morning at breakfast both Charlie and I got the same letter from our mums. My mum wrote to me that she arranged with Molly to spend Christmas with them and Molly wrote to Charlie that he and Bill have to come home for Christmas this year and that he needn't worry as I was joining them as well.

I was happy to spend Christmas with the Weasleys even though I couldn't help but feel sad that my dad couldn't get time off work again. I was relieved, however, when I found out that we would have one more Hogsmeade trip before the holidays, as I had to go Christmas shopping for quite a lot of people this year!

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inspirationdivine · 4 years ago

Text

Curtain Call || Lydia, Orion, Winston, Luce, Athena

Timing: Current Parties: @inspirationdivine @3starsquinn @danetobelieve @divineluce @athenaquinn Summary: After being forced to leave town by Kaden, Lydia prepares for her next steps. Others have different ideas. Warnings: Drug manipulation (leanan sidhe kiss), references to abuse, gore tw, minor vomit tw (mentions)

Now that her arm was healing and her wing was taped together, walking was almost bearable. Lydia was also running high on painkillers, so her entire body felt like it was wrapped in cotton gauze, numb to both the outside world and the inside one. Her phone buzzed in her pocket, and with a wince, she pulled it out. It was Deirdre, calling again. It was practically muscle memory at this point to tap decline and put it away again, as it had been for the dozens of calls she’d gotten from the Banshee. It must have been the mushrooms or something. Deirdre was ever so susceptible to them. Lydia pursed her lips, before looking at Rio. “I can’t stress enough how grateful I am for all of your help. My, uh, my friend will be here in an hour. You don’t mind waiting that little bit longer, do you?” She looked around at the crowded evening streets from the passenger side of her car. “You probably need to eat, right?” She asked him.

Orion knew nothing about this friend of Lydia’s, but figured that waiting around until they got here wouldn’t kill him. For now, Rio was pretty sure that Lydia was safe from the hunter at least. That wouldn’t stop them from coming after her again, but Lydia must have felt safe with the friend who should be coming to get her or she wouldn’t have reached out to them in the first place. Rio wasn’t sure how long it had been since Lydia had first contacted him but he knew that he hadn’t gotten any sleep. He had pulled enough all nighters in the Scribrary to know how to function with little to no sleep, but that didn’t stop his stomach from growling. “It’s fine. I’m happy to stick around.” Rio smiled at the woman and leaned his head against the car window. “It’s not a big deal, I’m not that hungry. I can wait.” He was lying obviously, his stomach growling enough proof of that. But right now his only concern was making sure that she got away from here safely. He could worry about eating later.

Winston had not been having a good time since dealing with Bloody Mary and the Sandman; Orion had gone missing and it had been a rough ride to track him down (which Winston wouldn’t normally do with their boyfriend because CREEPY but these were unprecedented times). To make matters worse Todd had fallen off the surface of the Earth. He’d cut Winston off. Winston wasn’t sure what they had done to receive this sort of treatment, but there it was. It had been hard. Picking between going after Todd and going after Rio, but Winston hadn’t really had to think that much about the choice, it had sort of come naturally and Winston was sure that they had made the right call. They were weighed down with all manner of magical gadgetry as they followed the blinking light on their screen. “I don’t think they’re too far from here,” they whispered as they crept forward, knowing that Rio couldn’t be that much further away. Thank God for technomancy.

Of all the people Luce had expected to go up against Lydia with, Athena and Winston were pretty far at the bottom of her list. In fact, they were probably at the bottom. But, when she’d gotten the message from Athena, telling her about the situation, Luce had been only too willing to help. Help. That was… one way of describing what she was hoping to do. Murder, that was another word for it. A more accurate one. Fingers curling around the iron spear that she’d brought with her, Luce followed closely behind Winston. Who would have thought the neighbor kid would be leading the charge to fuck up a lady. “Mhm.” Luce nodded, the familiar grip of Lydia’s magic creeping up on her as she tried to figure out how to word things. She knew about Lydia, knew about her home and what she could do to people. But when Athena had told her about the situation, it had circumvented the fae magic that bound her to her promise. If the others already knew about Lydia , then it didn’t matter. “What’s our game plan, once we get there? I’ve got this,” She held the spear up, “But I can’t exactly just light up a bitch without there being some fall out.”

She knew this had to be done. Whatever came of all of it, Lydia couldn’t go on living. Not because of who she was, not because of what she’d done to Ariana and now, according to Winston, possibly to her brother. Athena couldn’t help but let the iron in her blood concentrate periodically to her fingertips, her lips in a firm line. She had a couple more knives on her body than usual, because whatever was going to happen, she couldn’t leave room for anything to go wrong. She was glad that she’d asked Luce to come along - working to take down that Cù-sìth those months ago had solidified Athena’s already present respect for the woman. “I think we should avoid the fire for now - we don’t want to draw attention to ourselves. She’s lived a super-duper fucking long time,” she knew her words were biting and she didn’t care, “and that means she’s got to have ways of getting out of tricky situations. So I say we go in there, make sure my brother - make sure Ri’s all safe, and kill her. Plain and simple.” Even though she had to admit to herself that it was anything but.

“If you’re sure,” Lydia said softly. He was perfectly tolerable as far as humans went, and she’d rather keep the promises in her back pocket and keep her slate as clean as she could, at least in the eyes of those she still loved back in White Crest. She shifted, looking over the bandage on her arm to see if it needed changing. Nothing. When Lydia looked out the window, surveying the people on the road, she spotted someone she couldn’t believe was here. Lucinda Vural. Lydia looked out the right side of her window, clucking her tongue in frustration at the sight of traffic all around them. There was no easy way to drive out of here. The last thing she wanted was for Luce to find her smeared in her own blood and weak, for another way to be hurt by the Vurals. Being in a car in the vicinity of a fire spellcaster also frightened her. “We should go for a walk. Quickly, Rio. I’m so sorry.”

“A walk? What about your friend?” Orion found himself asking, but that didn’t seem to bother Lydia much. She was already climbing out of the car in a hurry. Rio only let himself rest for another second, letting out a held breath and staring up at the roof of the car before following her out of the car. She seemed shaken. Was the hunter back around? Was that what she had been freaking out about? Immediately, Rio began looking around the place, spotting a familiar face from a block or two over. “Luce?” Rio asked aloud, glancing over at Lydia. Could that be who she had spotted? Luce was scary but she wasn’t exactly a hunter. “Last time I saw her she punched me in the face.” Rio touched at the spot on his face on reflex, a ghost pain reminding him of how strong one of her punches could be when she was mad. But the memories dissipated quickly when the traffic broke, revealing two more faces with Luce that had previously been blocked by a car. “What the-” Rio froze in place, no longer walking alongside Lydia but instead trying to figure out why Winston and Athena were together. And here of all places. “I know them.” Rio was ready to wave before he hesitated. Lydia was a fae, and whatever trauma Athena was going through at the moment, she was a warden. She hadn’t been the hunter that had attacked Lydia, but she might be just as dangerous. “What is going on?” He turned on Lydia.

Luce wasn’t alone. That was worse, somehow. Perhaps her and Winston were on an out of town shopping trip for some reason, with the blonde girl Lydia didn’t recognise, but this was the wrong area to go for extended shop options. “I don’t know. Really, Rio, I have no idea why they’re here, but I don’t want to wait to find out if it’s a coincidence.” Lydia replied in hushed tones, already anxiously moving. “Let’s go.” She had no idea why any of them were here, but Lydia had seen at least a few times the kind of power Winston held. She also knew she had talked Todd through leaving Winston, although nothing should have connected her to that from their perspective.

She was seething. She could see her brother and she saw him look over. Athena had half a mind to run over right then, but she knew that she had to be careful. If not for her own life, for the lives of Luce, Winston, and her brother. She couldn’t let them die. Her skin was crawling and she wanted nothing more than to be away from Lydia, but she had to remind herself that she would be soon. “I - I don’t know why my brother - why he’s not…” Why he’s not coming over here. Though he sometimes had things planned far in advance but there was something about the whole situation that didn’t sit quite right with her, though the idea of her brother being around a murderous fae in the first place was more than enough to set her off. “We’ve got to act soon, but we also have to make sure she doesn’t hurt my brother - hurt Ri - in retaliation.” Her fingers found one of the knives pressed flush against her hip, letting the cool iron of it match the concentrated iron under her skin. “I think your spear will come in handy,” she whispered to Luce. “I don’t really care, as long as she suffers.”

Swallowing, Winston did their best to take in the entire situation. They knew that this was complex but right now the only priority that there was was to get Orion out of here without getting him hurt. Something that was easier said than done. “I’m sorry but I don’t really care about hurting Lydia, all I care is about getting Rio out of this. I don’t know why he’s playing along but…” Winston wasn’t sure that they really cared enough to explain their thought process. Tracking Rio had not been so difficult but the question of why he was willingly assisting Lydia remained. It was a promise bind situation was all that Winston could think. “I will concentrate on making sure Rio doesn’t get hurt,” Winston had designed tech specifically for a situation like this but like most of the tech that they came up with it hadn’t exactly been field tested until now, “but the faster we can do this… well the better.”

Wait, Rio was Athena’s brother? What fucking apples and what fucking trees... Luce shook her head-- now wasn’t the time to think about that. The two of them clearly had higher stakes in this than her. Athena and Winston wanted to make sure Rio was safe. Which was fair. But, that didn’t help the fact that he was definitely with Lydia. Letting out a sigh, Luce glanced around the busy roads. There was a lot of fucking traffic, a lot more innocent people than she could reasonably risk with her flames. Fire had a way of getting out of hand and this wasn’t the place for it right now. “Listen, the longer we stand here, the worse this is going to go. That bitch,” Luce growled, “Will do whatever it takes to get away. You two, find a way to cut her off, stop her from getting away. Try to get Rio away from her.” She said and shook her head, thinking of the way August had bent to her will. If he’d been kissed by her, Luce had no idea if it’d even be possible to get Rio back. “In the meantime,” Gripping the spear tightly in her hand, Luce watched for traffic and began to cross the road. The iron in her hands heated under her skin, her blood boiling. “Hey, Lydia. Long time no see.”

“Does Luce have a spear?” Orion asked incredulously, eyes growing wide as he remembered the damage she had done without any weapon at all the last time the two had run into each other. They did need to go, but Rio didn’t exactly want to. Something was happening. Rio found himself glancing back and forth between the three and Lydia. Something wasn’t adding up, but Rio knew enough about Athena and Luce to know that violence was definitely on their minds. Lydia was too injured to get away from any of them right now, especially a hunter. Counting on that, Rio slid in front of Lydia, blocking Luce’s path to her as she crossed the street. “Oh uh. Hey guys. What’s up?” He tried smiling, giving a small wave before tucking his hand behind his head and scratching at his neck nervously. He was so confused. He glanced at the three, eyes finally landing on Winston and staying there, the smile disappearing from his face as their eyes locked and Rio tried to figure out why they were here with the other two. “Funny running into you here, yeah?”

Lydia’s gaze flicked around, eyes narrowing. There was a tall department store not thirty feet away, with a flat roof, which meant there was likely rooftop access. Three blocks away, there was a safe loft where she could wait out her connection. Just fifty more minutes. Lucinda walked up close as Lydia took a nervous step back. Fucking Vurals. “That’s an iron spear,” she pointed out, her hand trembling. Rio knew these people. Shit. Maybe they really were here for Rio. But the steely stare of Lucinda told her that Rio was not the main concern. Lydia stood a little taller, her whole body aching. Her thigh buzzed again. “Did I not pay you enough for your magic, Winston? Did I not look after your human sacrifice well enough, Lucinda? I don’t even know who you are, another spellcaster, no doubt. If this is what Kaden Langley’s grace looks like, it’s not very impressive.” Lydia’s voice wobbled with nerves, even as her tone chilled like ice. “You would protect me, no matter what, wouldn’t you, Rio? You promised. I wish I didn’t have to do this, but they’re here to hurt me.”

“She’s hurt him and my-” Ariana. “Another good friend. She needs to suffer.” Athena nodded. “You can concentrate to make sure he doesn’t get hurt. He can’t.” I can’t live with myself if he did. I knew he was going to get in trouble with a fae one day. She couldn’t blame him though, not when there was a potential that he might not make it out of this alive. “We’ll make this efficient. That, among many other things, is something I can excel at.” She nodded at Luce and followed her across the road, hoping that the traffic would dissipate soon enough. She didn’t need innocent lives being lost, at least not as much as she could avoid. “Not so funny.” Athena’s eyes narrowed in response to her brother. “You -” her eyes widened, praying for him to somehow hear her thoughts. Not that such a thing was possible, but when they’d been children it had almost felt like it was. She hardened her gaze as it shifted over to where Lydia sat, her skin crawling. Not a spellcaster, she wanted to say. Wanted to hiss, even. She had no issues with spellcasters, but she was not one. Not at all. “Doesn’t matter who I am. I know enough about who you are.” Kaden has nothing to do with this. At least not the most significant part. As she turned to watch the exchange between her brother and Lydia, she couldn’t help but reach for her dagger again, though she didn’t remove it. You promised. “You didn’t.” Turning to look directly at her brother, Athena shook her head, doing her best to keep her breathing even. No.

That confirmed it. Promise bound. Great. Rio was too good for this world truly. Of course he was going to make a promise that he would be forced to keep. “Lydia, you definitely pay very well, I would’ve loved to have just worked for you, but you took Todd and now you’ve taken someone even more important and wrapped him up in a promise that he shouldn’t have to keep. I’m not going to make him break it, because that will hurt him more than I can allow, but I won’t let you keep doing this.” Winston fished into their pocket, pulling a number of tiny metal balls of twine from their pocket before tossing them through the air. The balls of twine sprouted tiny wire legs and began to scuttle towards Rio. They were made from iron. Everything had a hint of iron nowadays. Better for dealing with fae. “I’m really sorry Rio,” Winston watched as the wires of the twine reached out and began to wrap themselves around Rio’s feet. Hopefully this didn’t hurt them too much. Winston wasn’t sure if them preventing Rio from completing the promise would hurt Rio as well, they hoped not. But right now they had to deal with Lydia. She couldn’t go on.

When Rio stepped into her path, Luce had the uncomfortable flashback to the last time they’d run into each other. She’d been wrong then, yeah. And, as she heard Athena and Winston talk, as they pieced together the puzzle that she really didn’t care about, she had a feeling that she was going to be in the wrong again. But, it didn’t matter. Rio wouldn’t be hurt. Not in any real way compared to what she was going to do to Lydia. As Winston apologized, as they let loose their latest techno-magical marvel, she watched the way it curled around his legs. Probably not enough to stop him, but if she gave him a little help... Luce curled her free hand into a fist. “Sorry, Rio.” She said apologetically and punched the kid square in the face once more before quickly sidestepping him to face Lydia. Holding the short spear out to block the woman’s path, she offered a tight lipped smile. “I’d say you did your job too well, Lydia.” She said as she pressed forward. It was too open here, too many eyes. If they could just get away from the street. “Why don’t we have a nice little chat about just how good you are at what you do, huh?” Luce said, the threat of violence mounting with every step she took towards the Fae woman.

Everything happened quickly. Orion’s first instinct was to deny Lydia’s claims. He wouldn’t have promised her anything. “No- That can’t be… I didn’t-” But he kept trailing off. Back then, he hadn’t known she was a fae. She was a woman attacked by a monster in town and Rio was a hunter that had helped her. He had promised not to harm her. To protect her even. “Oh my god.” He had been so stupid. And now, everything made sense. Athena was helping Ariana look for the Fae that had killed her friend. Turned out, Rio had known her all along. His voice caught in his throat. He wanted to yell at Lydia, or to yell at the group but what was the point? This was all his fault. He had saved a monster, and now he had been trapped in her net. “Please don’t make me do that.” Rio finally spoke, begging Lydia to let him free. To stop him. The group caught on quickly, wires wrapping around Rio’s leg in an attempt by Winston to lock him into place, and seconds later another punch to the face by Luce threw him off balance. At least she apologized this time around. But as much as Rio wanted to fight against it and stay rooted in place, he felt his body moving on it’s own. “Crap. No, no, no.” He said to himself as he grabbed at the wires and began ripping them away from his legs. Don’t do this. He kept telling himself, forcing himself to stop. But he had promise bound himself to a freaking fae. “Stop me!” He yelled at the group. But he had already ripped most of the wires free and was reaching towards Luce to stop her from hurting Lydia.

If the blonde girl was going to act vague and detached, Lydia was going to dismiss her as entirely uninteresting. Luce and Winston were the clear threats here. “T-” Lydia frowned. They oughtn’t have been able to know about that. The detachment had been seamless, Todd’s last close connections hurt but not suspicious. In a year, no one would be able to find a single reference to DJ Dayze, but the transition had only barely started. No matter now, Todd would rot in that home of hers until she sent someone to pull him out, but she tucked that thought away. Apparently this human hunter was even more valuable than Todd. A bargaining chip. Lydia jumped back as Winston threw their gizmos on the floor, but the twine only went for Rio, not for her. Lydia’s mouth filled with saliva as her heart began to race, adrenaline numbing the searing pain in her back and arms. Luce aimed the spear she had once stolen from a red cap at Lydia, and Lydia swallowed. “I don’t want to make him fight you. If you all backed off, he would be home in a couple hours and no one would have any more issues. But that isn’t going to happen, is it?” The blonde girl’s hand twitched to something at her side, so Lydia’s did the same, slowly backing away from Lucinda’s spear. At the same moment that Rio stopped to reach for it, Lydia grabbed her own dagger and pushed it into his hand. “Your choice. Have fun.” Lydia spun and spat on a passer by, yelling for him to protect her too. She bolted down the street, licking her hand and spreading her toxin onto every human she could touch, leaving a wall of human shields in her wake. The department store would let her disappear, if she could reach it. Lydia’s phone buzzed again, as Lydia screeched in frustration. Surely Deirdre knew she would be busy?

The fae was hardly paying attention to her, but that suited Athena just fine. She relished when those who she hunted underestimated her. It just made their deaths all the more pleasurable in the end. She knew that she couldn’t let her guard down, not even for a moment. She winced briefly at Winston and Luce’s actions, but she felt her whole body tense up at her brother’s pleading. There was no work-around right now - who knew what sort of promises he’d been exactly manipulated into, and she couldn’t risk any further harm coming to him. She couldn’t lose him. Wouldn’t lose him. Except Lydia wasn’t going to go down easy. “I do not believe you.” She replied, simply, gaze focused. Focused on Lydia before it moved to her brother, and the dagger than Lydia had placed in his hand. “Ri, no.” She hissed, as Lydia spat on someone else and began to run away. “I - we can’t let her get away.” Athena began to move in the direction where Lydia had gone - dagger now removed and clearly visible. “We also can’t - the humans need to get out of this as unharmed as possible.” She moved toward her brother for just a moment, wondering if there was a way to get the dagger out of his hands. If she could be quick and swift enough to do so. She knew how he moved, usually.

Winston had seen this fae affect so many people. She had killed Ariana’s friend. She had taken Todd. She was doing all of this to Rio and now she was bringing in people who had absolutely nothing to do with it and bringing them into it all. Winston swallowed before watching Rio tear through the wire that was wrapping up his body. They really hadn’t wanted to hurt their but there wasn’t really much choice here. Willing the wires to unravel and then tighten around him, Winston fought back against Rio’s frankly incredible strength. Something that Winston would’ve normally marvelled at. Hurling more balls of twine his way, they watched as Lydia tried to make her exit. Reaching out with their mind Winston tried to sense the wires that would inevitably run through all of the streets and lanes. Unfortunately this wasn’t as densely populated an area as they would’ve normally liked and therefore there was not as much around them that they would be able to use. But they would make do. “I can only do so much with these balls of twine but I’ll try and stop Lydia from getting too far.” Winston watched as she darted through the crowd, there was a telephone line hanging overhead and Winston snapped the wire with their mind, causing the copper wire to lash downwards and wrap around Lydia’s leg. “Get the dagger off of Rio and we can deal with him once Lydia’s dealt with…” Winston was concerned however, they didn’t really want to substantially hurt their boyfriend but they were beginning to wonder if they didn’t have much other choice.

In an instant, the tension that had existed between them had exploded into motion, with action and reaction. Rio was tearing at the wires, now armed, Athena grasping the dagger, Lydia taking off through the crowd, setting up a wall of human shields between her and them. Luce gritted her teeth as one of the entranced bystanders positioned himself firmly between her and Lydia, his hands raising to block her. Hand to hand wasn’t her best skill, and neither was taking down people in a way that wouldn’t hurt them badly. Anger burning under her skin, Luce tried to focus on the sensation she’d had that night, when she’d willed the magic to crackle and explode into something more than just flame. Lightning, electricity, sharp and precise and deadly. She wanted it, needed it now more than ever. But, when she brought her hands up, outstretched and reaching for Lydia, a burst of blue flames were conjured instead. The flames caught on the clothes of the people around her, not caring who or what they consumed. And neither did the bystanders between them. They continued to block her path, even as the fire crawled along their bodies. “Fuck.” She swore before focusing her magic, pouring energy into killing the flames, smothering them. “Shit, shit, shit!” She swore.

Through her perforated ear, Lydia did not hear the overhead cable snap until it cracked around her ankle. Lydia toppled, screaming like she was being burned again as she caught her weight with just one arm. Unsuspecting humans moved close to help her out of misguided kindness, but the cable had split her skin where it had lashed her first and they were hesitant to reach out. Frightened of an electric shock. Lydia grabbed one passerby, smearing her spit on him until it numbed his fear. “Get it off me!” She shrieked. His hands frantically scrabbled at the cable, as she grabbed three others, including a teenager, to pry the cable off her leg. Winston wanted her dead, but they wouldn’t electrocute her with humans at stake, right? Lydia looked up as a couple humans screamed, staring in wide eyed horror at the fire melting clothes in the crowd. They didn’t falter as their skin burned, even if they yelled in pain. That was the point of the kiss, after all, that they would set themselves on fire to keep Lydia safe. The entrancing sight was extinguished just as quickly, and the copper wire was pried from her legs. “Help me up,” she snarled, and two arms picked her up from the waist. Dizzy with the ache of a dozen injuries, Lydia forced herself to turn on her heel and run again, pushing people out of the way as she went.

Orion didn’t want the knife that Lydia passed off to him, but he couldn’t seem to let it go. He had to protect Lydia. Even if his brain was telling him to stop, he had to protect her. His family had been warning him their entire lives not to fall into the trap, but here he was. As his grip tightened on the knife, Rio found himself gritting his teeth. It seemed like the only physical thing he could do to restrain himself. His muscles ached as he was forced to move forward despite trying so desperately to hold himself back. He could see the three around them, Luce moving towards Lydia, Winston trying to work their magic and Athena ready to pounce at Rio at any moment. All his mind could think about was how to stop all three of them from getting to Lydia. Luce and Winston both had dangerous magic and Athena had always been stronger than Rio had. It seemed like more of a losing battle, and while that’s exactly in actuality, the reality was that he had no choice but to try. He needed to stop Luce, she was closest. But before he could move, Athena leapt at him. He had grown up fighting her his entire life, but had never once won a battle. He had never wanted to fight her, but they had known all the same moves. They had grown up memorizing each other’s moves. But Rio was different than he had been before. He had been learning moves from someone else now. He slid past her arm, grabbing onto her wrist and twisting it behind her, finally pulling her entire arm behind her back in order to pin her. With his free hand he held the knife up, begging himself internally not to use it. He was forced to protect Lydia, but that didn’t mean he’d have to kill anyone. He just needed to fulfill his promise. If he slowed them down, that was protecting her. “I’m sorry.” Rio muttered, voice shaking in anticipation, “Oh god, I’m so sorry.” He tried to drive the point home before he braced his free hand on the other side of her arm and snapped them against each other, stomach flipping at the sound of bones cracking. “Please stop me.” Rio reminded her before discarding her and taking off for the other two.

There was almost too much happening at once - though Athena knew that she ought to have expected such. Given everything she knew about Lydia, she’d never expected this to be easy, but the very fact that this fae was so willing to take down innocent civilians just made her all the more reprehensible. She watched Winston and Luce work their magicks, though she couldn’t help but wince as Luce’s aim missed - though it was through no fault of her own - and hit a person rather than Lydia. She didn’t have too much time to focus, though - because she could see her brother move, the knife still far too shiny in his hands, looking incredibly out of place. It didn’t suit him, and not for the first time, she just wanted to make things better. Wanted to take on whatever he was feeling, even if she was furious that he’d managed to get himself into this, that he’d managed to get promise-bound to one of the most vile fae she had ever encountered. She leapt at him for a moment, but before she knew what was happening she could feel his hand grab her wrist and twist it behind her back and she didn’t change her expression, ignoring the slight pain that shot through her body. He was stronger, now, somehow, and she found herself admiring this fact for a split second before she heard his voice shaking - and she didn’t cry - their parents had taught them to avoid that, because in the end it could be used as a distraction - but she wanted to, wanted to take away all the terror that was in his voice. She watched him raise the knife up for a moment and her eyes widened. She’d seen him in their kitchen. She knew what he could do, but she hoped that something, somehow would allow him not to use that. He lowered his other arm until both were on the side of her arm - her non-dominant one, she noted, before she heard the snap and bit down on her lip hard -- too hard -- so that she wouldn’t scream. “It’s fine. You’re safe. It’s -” she felt herself sinking down onto the ground, looking over towards where Winston and Luce were. Ignoring whatever her brother was doing. “Corner Lydia. I can - I can do this, we just need to get her somewhere and…” she scrunched up her face. “It’s fine. I’m fine.”

Winston heard the dull crunch of bones and swallowed feeling slightly queasy. But they had to overcome this. They had to stop Lydia. People were going to help Todd, they were going to help everyone that was under her control and now it was Winston’s responsibility to help deal with this. She had been abusing her abilities for too long and people were getting hurt. Concern flashed across Winston’s face and they dashed onwards. Their lungs burning in protest at this much exercise and sweat speckling their brow. They’d never gotten the hang of running. They honestly weren’t entirely sure how people did it to keep fit and despite every occasion in which they had been forced to sprint away from something trying to kill them they were never going to get used to this. But they didn’t have time to reach for their inhaler right now. They knew that Athena was right, they couldn’t wait for her on this though the injury that she had just sustained looked painful. Swallowing nervously, Winston pushed through the people around them. They were slowing them down and Winston couldn’t afford the delay. Reaching out with their magic once more, Winston grasped the wires everywhere and quickly began to force them to snap taught. The metal rose from walls, concrete and even street lights like thin snakes, wrapping around the civilians and pulling them out of the way. “We need to corner her!” It was an unfamiliar town for all of them, but Winston had technology on their side -- as always-- and was quickly able to pull up a street layout. “Luce, force her to go left.” The amount of will that they were exerting on keeping everything in place was … significant and they weren’t sure how long they could keep this up. They needed to end this and fast.

Luce winced as she heard the snapping of bone, heard Rio apologize, but didn’t hear the slightest sound from Athena. Well. Good thing she wasn’t on the girl’s shit list, because fuck. The Murder Siblings were scarier than she’d clocked them. Nodding at Athena’s shout, she continued to charge after Lydia but the fact remained-- her magic wasn’t of any use right now, not when there were too many innocent bystanders who would get caught in the literal line of fire. But, Winston was on top of that-- they always were. More cables shot from the ground, like tendrils, and grabbed at the enraptured pedestrians, restraining them. Not for the first time, Luce was grateful for their abilities, both of the magical and problem solving variety. They’d managed to create a narrow pathway through the bodies, straight towards Lydia. “Got it!” Luce yelled as she ran through the crowd. While Winston might have stopped them from being able to bar the path, Luce gritted her teeth as the people thrashed and kicked and hit, the blows landing against her as she ran. Nails scratched at her skin, drawing blood, and she felt one of the hands yank against the choker around her neck. The material closed around her neck and she let out a strangled snarl before incinerating the thin ribbon with a burst of flame. “You can’t fucking run from us, bitch!” She yelled as she sprinted towards Lydia and threw the iron spear, aiming for the space in front of her. The iron spear skewered the side of a plastic newspaper stand box, effectively barring Lydia’s path.

Her Aos Sí preferred to practice chasing than being chased. They didn’t focus on it, considering it beneath themselves to spend more time thinking about Hunters than was utterly necessary, but one thing they had always stressed was that looking behind you would only slow you down. Lydia’s mouth filled with saliva even as she gasped for breath, and the more she ran, the less fussy she was as to who she spit on. Children were no longer off limits as she yelled for them to protect her. The whistling in one ear only grew louder the harder she had to breath, each step searingly painful with every injury from the last few days. Lydia was dizzy from it all, dizzy because her left ear didn’t work thanks to Regan’s temper tantrum. She couldn’t ignore her pain like Deirdre, or disguise it like Felix, or heal like Remmy, and she was beginning to slow, grabbing a random human for support so that she didn’t lose her balance. Lydia couldn’t hear what was happening behind her, couldn’t hear Luce’s scream or Winston’s yells, or that her human shield had a highway right through it. It sounded like she was winning, even as she stumbled, clutching her side, her breathe laborious and agonising.

Lydia didn’t hear anything at all until a spear shot past her, punching through the newspaper stand and quivering. She turned right, staring at Luce for only a split second before spitting on a burly man and pushing him towards Luce. “RIO!” She screamed, “PROTECT ME!” Lydia turned on her heel and ducked through a back alley, which in turn twisted right, into a space full of dumpsters and a large garage for some kind of delivery van. Lydia skidded to a stop, wincing as she almost tripped over her own feet again. All the buildings joined together. Lydia jogged over to peer around a drain pipe, where she could get through to the other street… if there hadn’t been a fence in the way. “No-” Lydia breathed, spinning around. “There has to be-” There was a five storey building to her right, with a large fire escape down the side. “Thank god,” Lydia said, dropping the glamour on her wings and running over to it, launching herself into flight. Lightning speared through her back, Lydia screamed as she crumbled to the ground, her knee skidding through a week old abandoned ready meal from McDonalds. Kaden Langley had shredded her wing - without it, she could not reach.

There wasn’t a lot of time to figure out a plan, and Orion couldn’t think of anything that wasn’t messy. Physically compelled to help this woman who had hurt Ariana and murdered one of her friends. Forced against his will to fight against his own friends and sister. How did Rio complete his promise without hurting the ones that he loved? He caught up to Winston quickly, diving into them and causing them both to crash against the ground. Rio rolled away from them quickly and pushed back up onto his feet. “You have to stop me” Rio told Winston. Rio brandished the knife again, the thing burning against his palm. “No, no, no” Rio fought against himself. He couldn’t hurt Winston. Not anymore than he already had. Not with this stupid knife. Rio was frantic. He didn’t know how to stop himself. He glanced behind him to see Luce still hot on Lydia’s trail. “Damn it!” Rio called it, spinning from Winston. He needed to slow Luce down. But he didn’t want to hurt her. Unfortunately, as was the case with Athena, he didn’t think that was possible at the moment. He repositioned the knife in his hand, “I’m sorry” he mumbled his apologies to Luce before aiming and hurling the thing at her, aiming for her leg. Enough to slow her down, not to permanently injure her. “Knock me out. Please, god Winston. I can’t stop.” He turned to face Winston again, pleading with them before his body would force him to fight them.

Shoving her way past the people who were trying to stop her from reaching Lydia, Luce made her way towards the woman. She needed to do this, needed to end this. In the time that she’d been gone, the coven, her mother, her sisters, they’d been in danger. And she’d had no way of knowing, because she’d been to fucking cowardly to face the shit that was happening here in White Crest. But, she wasn’t going to run away. Not from this, not from Lydia and the threat she held towards her and everyone else she cared about. Not when the woman had the power to bend anyone she wanted to her will. Luce remembered just what Lydia had done to August, had seen the way she’d forced him to promise away his magic, had watched as he’d broken his own bones. As Lydia ran in the opposite direction of the spear, Luce paused to wrench it free from the newspaper box. But, in that small window of time, she heard Rio swear and then felt the tip of a knife plunge into the back of her leg, just below the edge of her shorts. “Fuck!” She swore, the word coming out in a strangle gasp of pain. Glancing over her shoulder, she saw Rio staring at Winston, begging them. She swallowed. Winston… they had to take care of this. Grasping the knife in her leg, Luce let out a hiss of pain before yanking it out. “FUCK!” Blood rolled freely down her skin, covering her tattoos in a slick sheen of red. “Lydia, you bitch!” She snarled, knife held tightly in her grasp as she continued after the woman, forcing herself into a limping jog.

It was becoming increasingly clear that if they all didn’t finish this off soon, Lydia might actually get away with everything. Athena squeezed her eyes shut for another moment, concentrating all of her focus on the task at hand. Her arm hurt like nothing she had ever truly experienced before, and yet she knew that she couldn’t focus on that right now. That was for later, and whatever pain she had to work through would be worth it. Not to mention, her divinely given abilities (no matter what had happened with her parents, she still couldn’t shake those words, shake that belief entirely - and now was certainly not the time to be focusing on that most of all. She was grateful for all that Luce and Winston were doing - and impressed as well, if she let herself pause to process that for any length of time. She’d express her gratitude later, once this was all done. She stood up, finally, legs far more shaky than she wished for them to be, and concentrated on the despicable, terrible, crawling feeling of a fae being nearby. Lydia had taken off, and Athena made her way after her, after Luce - she spotted her brother throw something at Luce and she winced, only for a moment, but Luce kept moving and she just had to hope and trust that Winston could control her brother.

Winston had been holding back a little bit. It was Rio. There wasn’t a single person in their life that meant half as much as he did right now and Winston hadn’t been able to hurt them. But their hesitance had gotten Luce hurt and as they watched the knife sail end over end through the air, Winston swallowed sadly and shook their head. “Okay… Rio ... I’m sorry.” Tears balanced in their eye as they reached into their pocket and fished out the taser they had originally designed to kill mime dopplegangers. A few adjustments had been easy enough and it worked to stun, incapacitate and kill. Flicking the settings around, Winston feinted left before bringing the taser right. They watched the two long pins of a vey heavily modified cattle prod connect with Rio’s side before they sent a long and what would undoubtedly be a painful blast of electricity through Orion. Enough volts to really do something too. They just hoped that it wasn’t too much. Orion’s body crumpled in Winston’s arms and they gently set them down, leaning them against a wall before hurtling after Luce. Sweat glistened on their forehead but there was no choice but to get her. This had to stop. They couldn’t let anyone else get hurt by this monster.

“No, no, no,” Lydia gasped, eyes flicking around the space. None of the fire escapes were lower, walls looming around her like a cage, the stench of rotting food and human waste filling her lungs. This couldn’t be it. There had to be some door that was unlocked, some window she could squeeze through, but she was hardly the first person to look for a way into the ground floor back here. Lydia slammed her shoulder into a door and screamed as it only rattled. If her arm wasn’t broken, if her other wasn’t burned, if her wings- Lydia’s mind kept slipping back to Deirdre, to the buzzing of her phone. It wasn’t about Texas, or Morgan, or the squished hedgehog she’d found on the side of the road. It hadn’t been, for the past two dozen calls. Lydia stepped back, her breathing shallow, eyes flicking from shuttered window to shuttered window. She should have picked up hours ago. There was nowhere she wanted to be more than in Deirdre’s arms right now. The iron spear, the copper wires, Lydia looked down at her bleeding ankle and whimpered. There had to be more than this. If she ran back through the crowd, she could push people into Winston. Twist Luce’s own mind against her with the saliva in her mouth.

There had to be more, but Deirdre had been calling. Perhaps it would have happened in Lydia’s living room, with the fire lit, a bottle of glass in her belly. Maybe she wouldn’t have felt the poison shutting down her brain. Or perhaps Deirdre would have slit her throat, and would have held Lydia in her warm arms as Lydia’s own heat spilled out of her in just a few short seconds. Deirdre had been calling. Because she had promised that Lydia would not die a bad death. Lydia could barely hear what was happening in the street back there, but she had seconds, and nowhere to go.

Lydia didn’t even realise she was reaching for her phone before she’d even decided. She was still looking around as her thumb tapped the screen. Deirdre was on speeddial, but that didn’t mean she would pick up fast. Lydia could hear only her heartbeat faster that the dial tone. Buzz, thumpthumpthum, buzz- “I rel-” but the voice on the other line wasn’t Deirdre’s at all. It took another precious second to place the panicked tones, for Lydia to recognise Morgan’s voice. Lydia almost sobbed at the sudden relief of it, hearing it for the first time since Morgan had told her goodbye on that awful day. Lydia caught words and snippets, barely able to piece the words together. There wasn’t time. “Deirdr- Morgan, DEIRDRE, NOW!” Lydia yelled, stifling a pitiful sound against her lip. She could barely make out what Morgan said as Lydia scrabbled to hide behind an air vent, leaning her head against the cool metal. “I relinquish you,” she breathed, the single most important thing Deirdre needed to know. The red thread that bound them together dropped away and Lydia sobbed for its disappearance. She couldn’t hear anyone nearby, so she hurriedly tripped over her words, trying to whisper what she needed Deirdre (and Morgan, by extension) to hear. “I love you, you’re the best fae in that town, no matter what anyone says, you’re like a sister to-”

Rage mixed with adrenaline and the heady combination urged Luce’s legs forward, even as pain radiated up her leg with every step she took. She trailed after Lydia, the spear heavy in her left hand, the knife bloody in her right. Fire burned within her, the magic begging to be released. But she couldn’t, not now. Not yet. Luce limped towards the alleyway that Lydia had run down, the spear point dragging against the asphalt as she rounded the corner. Looking around, Luce’s gaze fell on the woman screaming into her phone, clutching it like it was a lifeline. Without a word, Luce raised her hand and hurled the knife back at Lydia, sending it flying towards her. It missed, bouncing off the side of the building behind the Fae woman, but that wasn’t the point. She didn’t care if it landed because the second it had left her finger tips, the witch had thrown herself forward, spear raised and ready. Luce lunged forward, using momentum and anger to carry her. The speartip pierced through the flesh of Lydia’s shoulder, but Luce continued onwards, a ragged shout ripping through her throat as she forced the spear through the woman’s shoulder and pinned her to the wall of the alleyway. Staggering backwards, arms shaking from the effort, Luce glared at the woman. She said nothing, because there was nothing left for her to say. She was going to die here, die gasping and bleeding and in so much pain. And with her would die the threat that Lydia posed to Bea, to Nell, to her mother, to all of White Crest.

Athena continued to follow Luce and Lydia closely. She found the two of them turning down an alleyway, and straightened her posture, slipping another one of her knives out from its hiding space and she watched, a smirk crossing her face, as Luce threw her knife at Lydia. Lydia whimpering into the phone. Athena walked up towards where Lydia was, turning her head curiously as she had those many days of dissections during her biology classes in high school. She wouldn’t go that far, now - that would be too much and might make police do more investigative work than would be good for anyone involved, but she wanted Lydia to hurt. “You know, I don’t think calling for help is going to do you much good.” She hummed to herself before she moved a few steps closer and took one first cut against Lydia’s shoulder blade. “That must burn, mustn't it? Though I believe in balance so…” She flipped the knife in her hand, grateful that the satisfaction of hurting someone like Lydia did at least something to lessen the searing pain in her broken arm. “I’ll go for the other one, too. Not the heart yet, though I am curious about if someone who has behaved in the way that you have even has one to speak of.” Athena held her knife close to Lydia’s jawline. “Don’t try to move. I’m quick on my feet, and it seems as though she is too,” she glanced over to Luce. “I’ve got more where this one came from.”

As usual Winston was the last to arrive. It didn’t really matter, they were still pretty concerned for Rio and would’ve much rather been checking on him. However, he was tough, whether or not he admitted it, the poor guy had been through more then many had and still managed to retain his kindness and compassion which was honestly no small feat. Yet despite all of that Winston knew that they had to stop Lydia once and for all. Their life wouldn’t be okay until then. She’d interfered too much. With Todd, with Rio, in their own life, it was all… concerning. Swallowing, Winston rounded the corner to see Lydia pinned painfully in place. She looked… well almost pathetic frankly. Pinned to a wall, helpless, covered in wounds and hurting. Winston couldn’t say anything, there was nothing to say, all they could do was watch with an almost morbid curiosity.

Like everything else, Lydia did not hear Luce approaching in the same way she could not hear what, if anything, Deirdre was saying in reply, the last words she might ever hear, stolen from her because of a scream. She gasped as the knife whipped past her face, stumbling back. The phone slipped out of her hands, the one good thing she could have accomplished done. The spear pierced through her shoulder, sizzling and searing her flesh as it went under her collarbone, and hit against her shoulder blade. Lydia screamed as it caught there, scraping against the bone as Luce drove it even further forward. The bone cracked and wrenched her shoulder down as the spear pushed it out of place, driving through her back and piercing the metal vent behind her. Lydia shrieked as her legs gave out and the burning iron ate at her flesh. Every thrash of her limbs spilled fresh blood down her clothes until she managed to get her legs under her again, supporting just enough weight that the spear wasn’t pressing quite so hard against her clavicle. She tried to grab the spear with her hand, only for blisters to grow and burst, pus leaking out of her hand. Lydia’s glamour fell, skin glowing, damaged wing on show, her ears extended. Her irises looked even more iridescently blue while bloodshot and tearstained. Lydia stared at Athena in confusion.

“No- please-” Lydia whimpered, “I haven’t done anything to you I haven-AAAGH!” Lydia screamed at the simple iron cut on her other side, crushing part of the vent as she jerked from the pain, almost passing out. But that would have been too kind, the sharp agony forcing her awake, sobbing disgustingly as Athena held the knife to her chin, and her flesh began to blister too, the rancid smell of overcooked barbeque cloying her senses. From the corner of her eye, she saw Winston approach too. “I’ll give you Todd back!” She cried, “I’ll relinquish him, you won’t know the difference, but you have to let me go. Please, Winston, I can’t- I’ll let him go!” Whatever brief acceptance of death there had been in the quiet was gone now as Lydia rabidly tried to pull any threads of fae promise to work in her favour. She looked back to the glimmer of satisfaction in Athena’s eyes, and realised how close they were. “Please, just let me go,” she whimpered, filling her mouth with toxic saliva. “Please, please, you don’t have to do this,” Lydia reared her head back slightly then spat in Athena’s face, watching the glob of spit run down Athena’s cheek. Maybe this wasn’t it after all, hope flickering like a candle in a storm. “Help me leave, please!”

Winston swallowed at the mention of Todd. He was their friend. He had been their friend for more time then Winston had known about all of this and although there was literally no proof that knowing Winston had anything to do with Todd becoming involved with Lydia, Winston couldn’t help but feel profoundly responsible for everything that had happened to him. Swallowing, Winston considered everything, but they doubted that either Luce or Athena would let anything happen and Winston was pretty sure that the promise would’ve been broken by her death. “I’m sorry Lydia, but it’s not really my choice, I know you took him and I know you think he’s yours to return, but Todd doesn’t belong to anyone and that sort of thinking, treating humans as if they belong to someone-- as if they’re objects to be traded and bargained with … that’s too dangerous to be…” they couldn’t say it. They might be a killer now. They might be responsible for deaths and they might’ve done wrong but Winston couldn’t admit to it. “It’s out of my hands.” They looked at Athena and Luce, wondering what would happen next.

Luce turned her back on Lydia, limping away from the scene as Winston and Athena closed in. She braced herself against the wall at the edge of the alley while the blood continued to drip down her leg. She was weaponless now and her fire wouldn’t do much to stop anyone who was caught in Lydia’s thrall. But, she had to do something to make sure people couldn’t just stop them. This needed to end. Lydia needed to die. And she’d done her part, she’d helped get Athena where she needed her to be. Luce gritted her teeth as she listened to the screaming, the begging, the pleading. In those moments, she could almost forget what Lydia was capable of. Almost. But, she could never forget what she’d seen that day in the woman’s mansion. With a stubborn determination, Luce knocked over a large stack of empty plastic crates, hoping they’d block the alley from the people who were no doubt clawing at their wire confines. “I don’t know how long we have here.” Luce called over her shoulder as she leaned heavily against the wall, pressing her hand against the wound on her leg in an attempt to stop the bleeding.

She could hear Lydia screaming, and it did little else other than further spark her curiosity. Athena figured that perhaps she ought to have flinched more than she did at the scream, but she’d watched countless operations that her father had performed, and so the screaming of a fae did little to cause a reaction. Instead, it felt good, right, and although she didn’t like to think about what similarities she held to her father (not now, not now - not when she still couldn’t help but hear her parents’ words, sometimes), she did know that she felt this way; that this much was true. Winston had arrived now, without her brother, and she didn’t want to focus on whatever was going on with Ri, right now - because hyperfocus on her brother and whatever he was going through was only going to serve to distract her, and that would increase the likelihood of failing at what she’d set out to do.

If she were someone kinder, gentler (more like her brother, she thought) then Lydia’s pleading might have done more to work its way into her heart. Athena had long ago shut herself off from feeling anything when she hunted. It didn’t do her any good, and it was part of why she was so often very successful. Shutting out everything else permitted her to be single minded, and all of a sudden she felt something wet against her cheek and her hand flew up to touch it, fingers brushing along her cheek. Well, Lydia may have been cunning in many other ways, but still had yet to figure out that Athena was a warden. “That kind of thing doesn’t work on me.” She giggled, and the sound was off, she knew that much, but everything was all happening so fast and she heard - noted - Luce’s words - they were in public and though Lydia now very much looked as inhuman as she was, it didn’t mean that people wouldn’t come running and wouldn’t come wondering about all the screaming. She shook her head. “No, you made a terrible, horrible, very bad mistake.” She ran her knife along Lydia’s jaw then. She wanted her to suffer - for what she was but now, moreover, for all the harm that she’d caused. For what she’d made Ri do, for what she’d made Ariana do, for the fact that she surpassed the normal vileness of Leanan-Sidhe and kept humans in her basement.

Her arm still hurt - she did her best to not focus on that either, even though it meant that she couldn’t quite do her normal handiwork. So one-handed it would have to be. Athena took her knife again, though its color was stained darker from her handiwork thus far. She hated how public their location was, despite being off to the side in an alleyway. It meant that she probably couldn’t let Lydia suffer as painful of a death as she would have wished for her to. “Are you afraid?” Her lips fell into a small smile, eyes staring straight at Lydia. She was severely injured - had been, to a point it seemed before everyone present had gotten ahold of her. Her knife sliced through Lydia’s clothing, cutting into her skin just below her heart. Not straight to the heart, that would have been too much of a mercy. Athena had memorized the most effective ways to kill, and though she’d granted her parents that to a degree, she couldn’t bring herself to, now. “She’s almost gone.” She murmured, her voice halfway vacant, not fully present. She’d checked out towards the end sometimes during her father’s surgeries in their home. “It won’t be long now, I don’t think.” Voice monotone, she turned to look at Winston. “I did what I had to do.”

What Winston saw in that moment would stain their memory forever. Like a black spot in their mind it would continue to haunt their dreams. The way that Athena worked, the efficiency of the knife and the way that it cut through Lydia was the stuff of nightmares. But what would really bother them was how they hadn’t intervened. After all, she’d deserved it. She’d hurt so many people, she deserved this pain. She deserved to feel some of the torment that she had made so many other people feel. Though in their heart of hearts Winston was sure that wasn’t true; they knew better then to allow someone else to suffer and they would regret this for the rest of their life. Once it was all over, and Lydia lay their suffering, Winston … swallowed. Shaking themselves out of their daze, Winston scooped up the abandoned spear that Luce had left behind and tentatively held it for a moment. “I’m sorry I didn’t do this sooner…” was all they could manage to say. Their voice was barely a whisper. Their fingers tensed around the shaft of the spear before they drove it through Lydia’s heart. Blood sprayed out of the wound covering Winston’s hands, but they didn’t care. They might not have done the right thing earlier but it wasn’t too late to try and make things better. “It’s time to go.” They couldn’t make eye contact with Athena, they couldn’t look at Luce, they just had to get out of here and find Todd and make sure Rio was okay.

Lydia had heard the dying thoughts and fears of nearly fifty humans, she had thought she knew what it was to fear death. She had felt with startling clarity what it was to have the last tendrils of your life gently coaxed out of you after years of suffering. Nothing that prepared her for this, as Athena dragged the burning hot blade along her jaw, cutting through the burns to make fresh ones. With every cut, Athena tore apart every thread of Lydia’s sense of self, her voice hoarse as she wailed and wept. Eventually, even her begging was reduced to unintelligible gibberish, but for Athena, even that wasn’t enough. Perhaps the only mercy Regan had left her was that Lydia could not completely make out Athena’s last taunts over the pounding of her heart as Athena scraped her blade against the ridges of Lydia’s sternum, burning flesh and bone alike.

Every scream should have been wrung out of her, but Athena managed to tear one more out of her wretched lungs as Athena drove her knife between Lydia’s ribs. Her diaphragm and lungs bubbled and blistered under the harsh heat of the cold iron. Her vision still did not blacken, the very pain of dying keeping her awake. Like a tease, Death did not offer any reprieve quite yet as Lydia began to slowly choke on the trickle of blood that seeped into her lungs. She sobbed and tried to call Athena back to end it, not to leave her here like a bug pinned in a museum, but Athena did not turn back. Lydia saw Winston approach, but did not really see them at all, not even as they pulled the spear out of her shoulder. She did not hear their whispered apology, nor could she understand their expression, but she barely made a sound as they shattered her sternum. Her heart convulsed around the spear once, twice, and came to a final, shuddering halt.

There was a scream and then there was silence. Luce looked back down the alley, eyes going first to Athena, who had a ghost of a smile on her face, then to Winston, their hands covered in blood. And then to Lydia. Or rather, the body that had once been her. Remorse wasn’t a thing that she felt, not for the Fae woman. But, this was dirty work, hard work. And Winston had been the one to finish it. They shouldn’t have had to do that. Forcing herself into motion, Luce braced herself against the side of the wall as she made her way back to where Lydia’s body lay. “Hey,” She said quietly as she rested her clean hand on Winston’s shoulder, “We did what we had to do. For all the people she’s hurt, and for the lives she would have taken. We did what we had to.” Whatever it takes. The mantra returned to her mind and Luce sighed. But when would that end?

“You guys should go ahead. Get Rio, get him out of here. I’ll… clean this up.” Luce said with a nod, gesturing to the crumpled heap of Lydia’s body. Grasping the spear, she pulled it free from the corpse. It slid free with a sticking, wet noise and the body slumped over on the alley way. With an impassive gaze, Luce stared down at the body before her. She’d done what was right. She’d done what she had to. She did what she needed to make sure that the people she cared for were safe. Lydia would never hurt anyone again, she’d never bend them to her will. This was the right thing.

A circle of blue flame sprang to life around the body. Luce watched the tongues dance as she urged them higher, to burn hotter, to close in. The flames obeyed and she watched as flesh and blood, cloth and wing, give way to the fire. A thick acrid scent filled the air and Luce stepped back, her eyes watering from the intensity. It was the easiest way, the simplest solution. But, it was messy. She didn’t want Athena or Winston to see this, didn’t want them to see the way the flesh melted from the bone as the fire consumed it all. Didn’t want to have them watch the way the woman’s wings began to slowly crumble under the heat. Gritting her teeth, Luce fed more magic to the flames and watched Lydia burn.

Winston swallowed dryly at Luce’s words as they made their way out of the alley, they knew that they had done what they had to do, but in the last year it had simply felt like they had been doing what they had had to do. They had lost so much doing what they had had to do. They had seen friends die. They had seen friends hurt. They had been hurt and they had killed. Was it two times? Three times? How had they lost count? Lydia, August, cultists, vampires. What counted as killing and what didn’t? Where was the line? Where could Winston truly say that they were able to accept what they had done. When were they going to be honest and say that they’d let this go too far. Having power … as cliche as it was meant there was responsibility … they should be better than this. The lump in their throat wouldn’t go and the blood on their hands wouldn’t stop glistening. Winston knew that Luce was right. They needed to go. “At what point do we start taking responsibility for the things we’ve done, irrespective of why we’ve done it?” Winston didn’t need an answer, after all there probably wasn’t one. Heading away from the alley, they moved back to Rio and wrapped an arm tightly under his armpit, struggling to haul him to his feet they began to head away from this, away from the now charred corpse of Lydia, away from the acrid smell of burning flesh that hung in the air.

Orion wasn’t sure how long they had been out, only that he finally began to stir back to consciousness by being pulled onto his feet. It took a moment for Rio to adjust to the shifting before he finally jolted, stumbling forward and almost falling out of Winston’s grasp entirely. They caught him, but the sudden movement stirred a sinking migraine that had already been looming. “Wha-” He couldn’t exactly form coherent words or sentences at first. The first thing Rio was truly able to focus on was the burning pain in his side. He grabbed at it, more pain prickling up his skin as he let the memories slowly come back to him. As he began to remember what had led to him waking up here, he realized that he didn’t have the words to say, even if he could manage to speak them. How could he have been so stupid? How many people had he hurt, either directly or indirectly, by helping that woman? He wanted to cry. To scream and curse and punch the ground. But all of those actions were pointless. He couldn’t take back what he had done. He certainly couldn’t punch the pain away. “I’m going to be sick” was the first sentence he managed, breaking away from Winston’s grasp and falling against the grass. Catching himself on his palms and knees, Rio lost the little food and water he had in him. Was this caused by his guilt? The increasingly strong smell that he couldn’t ignore anymore? Maybe it was punishment for failing to complete his promise. Was trying enough? Or was he stuck with whatever consequences came from breaking a fae promise? If it was, Rio deserved whatever it had in store for him. “I’m sorry. God, I’m so sorry. I don’t- I can’t believe-” At a loss for words again, Rio stopped trying. He just wanted to go home.

Winston had finished off the job, and Athena’s lips twisted around for a moment, unsure of what to make of that. It was a final mercy, and Lydia didn’t deserve that, but it was final, which meant there was no chance of her coming back. Rio. Luce’s words cut through to her and she nodded, she had to find her brother. She grabbed a handkerchief out of her pocket, running it along the blade, moving as she’d been taught, not thinking about it - and she followed Winston out of the alleyway as the smell of burning flesh cut through the air. It was no use to focus on that right now - it was better to think of it as nothing more than when one of the kids on the soccer team had found a dead squirrel in the summer heat. That was all this was, and any other thought wouldn’t do anybody any good. In fact, recalling that particular memory was too kind for what Lydia had done.

She spotted her brother, but before she could reach out to him, Winston had grabbed ahold of him - which was probably better, because now that she didn’t have Lydia’s body, Lydia’s death, the feeling of the knife cutting into flesh to focus on, she could feel the pain shoot up her arm, bruising where Rio had grabbed it and snapped it. Athena shook her head. She’d get to the hospital whenever they got back to White Crest. “You don’t need to say sorry.” She said, walking over to where her brother and Winston were. “That wasn’t you, back there.” Athena wasn’t quite sure how much of whatever she was saying was getting through to her brother; she only knew that she hated seeing him like this. It was only more proof that what she’d done to Lydia was all worth it. “You’re fine. You’re safe. She’s not going to hurt you or anyone else ever again.” She tucked away the knife, a small giggle threatening to escape from her lips - perhaps from some combination of relief and desperate, still-present worry for her brother, she wasn’t sure. It didn’t make it, and instead Athena knelt next to her brother for a moment, brushed a strand of hair away from his forehead, as gently as she could. “Everything’s alright now. I -” she looked up at Winston, looked over toward the alleyway, “we all dealt with it. Everything’s okay. I won’t let anyone try to hurt you ever again.” Another pause. “We won’t. You are stronger than you think. I’ve got proof of that. Now, I think we should get out of here, yeah?”

#para #chatzy #rio #luce #athena #winston #drug manipulation tw #vomit tw #spoilers in dash reacts pls <3 #abuse tw mentions

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capaldifiction · 5 years ago

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Our Chaotic Life (Part 2) - Lewis Capaldi x Reader

Well I told myself this series would be individuals scenes per part and I’d keep them relatively short. Yeah I already broke that on part 2. If you’ve read my other stuff you’ve probably noticed I tend to write long fics so hopefully this was just expected lol Hope you all enjoy part 2!

Paring: Lewis Capaldi x Comedian Reader

Word Count: 2,938

Description: Based on the request: “Lewis and the reader are kinda like a power couple of sorts? Idk it sounds cheesy but maybe she’s like a comedian or something and they are kinda infamous for their TikToks and Instagram Lives and stuff of that sort? Maybe it’s just a compilation of them just being effin adorable?“

In this part Lewis and Y/N go on a date.

Warnings: Some swearing (this is just going to be on every fic tbh)

PART 1

Y/N looks herself over in the mirror for what felt like the hundredth time in the last hour. Everything she put on she hated.

After meeting at the venue, her and Lewis had their first ‘date’ that night after their gigs. The audience had liked both their sets, and they’d gone out for drinks to celebrate. Since then they’d managed to find time for two more dates during the day.

What she wasn’t prepared for was how much she liked him increasing after each date. What had started as a joke, seemed like it was turning into something else. But they’d only had drinks and two lunch dates so far. When he’d called to ask her on another, and she suggested meeting up later for dinner instead, she hadn’t fully thought that through.

Staring at her open wardrobe in front of her, she sighed. The drinks were just that, drinks after a gig. She wore what she’d been wearing all day. And the lunch dates she’d figured were casual, they were just meeting up for lunch and it wasn’t that serious yet. Still just joking about marriage.

But something about getting dinner together, after three dates she genuinely enjoyed, felt like she had to put more effort into how she looked. But how much effort? He didn’t seem the type to dress up too much, but what if he did and she under-dressed? Or she went for it and he showed up in a t-shirt and jeans?

Swearing at the clothes in front of her she finally grabbed something off the hanger and convinced herself it was good enough. As she ran her brush through her hair, she practiced a few lines for her next set in the mirror in attempt to calm herself down.

So far everything with Lewis had been light. Everything was joking around and having a good time, getting to know one another while slagging each other off. Somewhere in there she realized how much she was actually enjoying being around him. And part of her wanted it to be deeper.

Her door bell rings, pulling her from her thoughts as she grabs her things and heads toward the door. Swinging it open reveals Lewis standing on her doorstep with flowers in hand.

“I, thought maybe you'd like flowers?” he asks hesitantly offering them toward her. “If not I’ll chuck them in the bush and we can pretend this part never happened.”

“How uncharacteristically sweet of you,” she teases but accepts them from him. “Come on in, I’ll find something to put them in.”

Following her into her apartment, he looks around the room as she rummages through a drawer in the kitchen. “Nice place,” he comments as he looks at pictures hanging on the wall.

“Thanks,” she shouts back, finally finding something suitable and filling it with water. “Where’d you want to go to eat?”

“Uh, I heard about an Italian place nearby maybe?” he offers as he goes to stand in the entryway of her kitchen.

“Works for me,” she answers, finally setting the vase of flowers on her window sill.

As she turns back toward him, Lewis clears his throat, “You look, really nice by the way.”

Stepping closer to him, she reaches up to lightly squeeze one of his blushing cheeks, “You look pretty handsome yourself, I thought you only owned hoodies.”

“Thought I’d make an effort to look a bit nicer for you tonight,” he teases back as they head out the door toward his car.

The dinner went well, though the wine might have helped calm her down a bit. Being around him was comfortable. He had that ease about him. At some point during the dinner she’d suggested seeing a movie, and that’s how they ended up at some action movie she wasn’t sure either of them were really all that into.

Admittedly she spent more time during the movie overthinking about what him holding her hand meant, than actually paying attention to the plot line.

Heading out to the parking lot they joked about the movie lightheartedly before growing silent as they reached his car. Neither seemingly ready to head back home.

“There’s this place not too far we could go hang out,” she suggests.

“Sure that works for me,” he nods and they get into the car, “So where is this place?”

“Ok this is going to sound sketchy, but just trust me,” she clarifies as she puts the location on the GPS in his phone. “It’s just a field past some wooded areas I used to go hang out at as a teenager.”

“Is that where you’re going to harvest my organs?” he asked with a raised eyebrow as he glances at the GPS.

“If that was the plan I’d not have gone on this many dates with you Lewis, too many witnesses and too much work,” she jokes.

“That wasn’t a no,” he responds as he follows the directions to the location.

“You’re supposed to be my betrothed, and you don’t trust me?” She says in a mock sad voice.

Somehow between the movie theater parking lot and their destination, she found her hand resting on his leg. Neither seemingly wanting to move it, she contented herself with rubbing small circles on his thigh as he drove and they chatted about nothing in particular.

She’d found a pair of discarded sunglasses and put them on at some point, ignoring the fact it was far too dark to see efficiently with them.

“We make sacrifices for the sake of good sunglasses,” he joked nodding approvingly at her choice. “Fuck the sun, look class all the time.”

As they finally reached the place, she shifted the sunglasses up to her forehead and directed him to parked in the center of the field, “Want to get out and stargaze?”

He shrugs, “Sure, I’ll get some music playing.”

Y/N gets out of the car, leaving the sunglasses on the dash, and walks to the front of his car and crawls up on the hood. Behind her Lewis rolls the windows down, and gets out closing the door before reaching through the window to select a radio station and turn the car off.

“Oh, none of your music to play?” she questions as he crawls up on the hood next to her.

“Unfortunately, I don't have my own radio station or record at this point darling,” he responds lightly flicking her forehead.

“Yet,” she comments, laying back to look at the sky.

“Oh?” he comments, laying back beside her. “You believe in me huh?”

“I don’t marry losers Lewis,” she says with a wink toward him, a smile spreading across his face. “Seriously though, you’ve got a great voice, you keep pushing and you’ll make it.”

“Glad you think so,” he replies before they go silent.

After a few minutes of looking up at the stars in the sky, they start telling each other various stories from their childhoods and teen years. At some point she’d found herself flush up against his body, with his arm around her as her head rested on his shoulder.

“How’d you get into comedy?” he asked as he pushed some loose hair from her face.

“When you’re a sarcastic smart-ass you either need to learn to suppress it or harness it,” she says with a grin. “I chose the later.”

“This sounds like a ‘with great power comes great responsibility’ moment,” he chuckles.

“Nah fuck that, it’s a super villain story,” she adds. “But nah.. that’s true, but I just found I liked making people laugh. I can’t say I just discovered a talent and wanted to run with it. I just enjoyed the laughs and smiles on faces. When I was young I just liked the attention, the older I got, I liked being able to just say something that could bring someone’s spirits up. And comedy seemed like something that used what I’m good at, to bring some happiness to peoples lives even if it was just for a half hour set. Sometimes we all just need a moment to forget about all the shit going on in our lives and just laugh. Not much of an origin story, class clown realized she liked making people happy.”

“I think that was the most sincere thing I’ve heard you say since I’ve met you,” he murmurs, holding her closer to his body. “I feel the same way. I love music, and it’s the only thing I could see myself doing because it’s how I enjoy spending my time. But my favorite part is when people tell me after a show how much something I wrote helped them, or just made them happy. People just coming out to listen to me. There’s something fantastic in doing what you love and getting to make a few people happy along the way.”

They sit in silence for a few minutes before Y/N lifts their joined hands to motion vaguely at the sky, “Just noticed Orion is right there.”

“You ever do this sort of thing before?” he asks as he tears his gaze from the sky to look toward her.

“Are you asking if I’ve ever looked at the stars before or if I’ve brought someone else here before?” she says in a teasing tone. “Jealousy I detect?”

“Maybe,” he chuckles. “I suppose both to answer your question.”

“I’ve always come out here alone,” she admits looking toward his face. “At night to just relax, and during the day sometimes to write. It’s removed enough from everything to just be alone to the world, but close enough that as a teen I could be back before anyone noticed I was gone.”

“Who’d have imagined, you’d be a cheeky one like that.”

“I’m certain I’m not alone on it.”

“In sneaking out to look at the stars yes, in sneaking out being places you shouldn’t be at 2 AM, no.”

“Look at this bad boy we have here,” she laughs.

“The absolute worst,” he replies, propping himself up on his elbow to look at her better. “I.. I’ve been really enjoying our time together.”

“Me too,” she says softly, her eyes locked onto his before flickering down his lips and back up.

Leaning down, he captures her lips in a kiss as she releases his hand to tangle her fingers in his long hair. Pulling him closer, within seconds he’s over top of her as their lips move urgently.

Pelvis to pelvis, with both her hands in his hair, and both his on either side of her head, they finally break apart to take a breath, a laugh passing between the two of them.

Her eyes flicker away from his for a moment, “Shooting star,” she whispers quietly, her arms wrapping around his shoulders.

His head turns to look up at the sky, the light from the stars reflecting off the blue of his eyes as she finds herself unable to look away from him. “You make a wish?” he asks as he looks back down to her.

“Maybe I did,” she says softly before pulling him back down by his shoulders so his forehead is pressed to hers, his hair making a curtain around their faces. “What about you?”

“I’m pretty happy with the present moment,” he admits before pressing his lips to hers once again.

“You going to get out to give me a proper goodbye?” she teases standing in front of the driver side door after their drive back to her place.

“Of course,” he answers, getting out to pull her into an embrace. She settles into him immediately before turning her face up toward his to receive a soft kiss.

“I could get used to this,” she murmurs against the fabric of his shirt, a happy laugh coming from him.

“Well you’re going to have to if you stick to your word,” he teases.

“How far’s your drive?” she asks as her arms squeeze him tighter, not wanting to let go just yet.

“Well,” he mutters, sounding unsure about answering. “It’s about an hour.”

“An hour!?” she exclaims, pulling back from him to look at the sheepish look on his face. “You’re shittin’ me right?”

“It’s alright, not that bad,” he shrugs.

“Why didn’t you tell me before? I wouldn’t have suggested the movie or the field, you could have gone home hours ago. It’s like…” she lets go of him to pull her phone out and look at the time. “Lewis it’s 1 AM.”

“We’d just been having lunch dates so it wasn’t a big deal,” he says. “Had plenty of time to get back. You wanted dinner tonight so I was fine with doing the drive late.”

“But we could have come back hours ago so you wouldn’t be this late,” she argues.

“I didn't want to go then,” he answers simply. “I wanted to watch the movie with you, I wanted to go out to the field. I don’t mind getting back late.”

“Lewis that’s stupid, you should have said something,” she huffs before looking toward her house. “Alright turn your car off and get your ass inside, you’re staying here tonight.”

“I- wait what?” he asks astonished. “Staying with you?”

“I’m not letting you drive an hour back home this late, I have a spare bedroom you can you take,” she answers heading toward the door.

“Oh, ok,” he replies still sounding surprised. Getting into his car quickly, he shuts it off then slams the door shut to head into her apartment.

After he makes it through the door, she locks it behind him and beckons him in toward the spare room. Flipping the light on she rummages through the closet to pull out a towel for him. “I don’t think I have anything that’ll be your size, but if you want to shower and at least wash your shirt or something the washer is in the closet in the hall.”

“I usually just sleep in my pants, rest of my clothes should be fine for tomorrow,” he replies, running his hand through his hair awkwardly.

“Bathroom is at the end of the hall on the left, my room on the right. You know where the kitchen is,” she rattles off as she heads back toward the door of the room. “I’ll see you in the morning.”

Quickly shutting the bedroom door behind her, she rushes to her bedroom to get changed, her heart beating rapidly in her chest. She knew if she’d stayed a second longer in there she’d have just had him get in her bed. And she wasn’t sure if they were there yet. Maybe they were. Maybe they weren’t. Being rejected wasn’t how she wanted to end what had been a good night.

After getting changed, she cracked her door open in case he needed her, and flipped her lights off before crawling into bed.

It was odd she realized. It wasn’t like this was the only time she’d ever brought a man here. But it was definitely the first that she’d made one spend the night in her spare bedroom. Though she’d known most of them longer than she’d known Lewis. Yet… could she say she had the same butterflies he had her feeling? Probably not.

Frustrated, she hugged her pillow to her chest and closed her eyes in an attempt to sleep.

After a few minutes, she hears the door to spare bedroom open, and footsteps coming down the hall. He reached the bathroom, obviously trying to be quiet, but knocked something over in the process as she hears a curse come from the room.

Laughing under her breath she opens her eyes to stare at the blank ceiling above her. After what felt like an eternity, which in reality was probably only five minutes, the bathroom door swings back open, spilling the light into the entrance of her bedroom.

“Lewis?” she calls out before she can stop herself, mentally cursing as she sees him hesitantly lean into the room.

“Everything ok?” he asks.

“No, get in here,” she hisses, sitting up to look at him.

“Wait what?” he hesitates, most of his body still behind the door.

She sighs and runs her hands over her face, “I want you to come sleep in my bed with me Lewis, if that’s not something you want, you can just go back to the other bedroom and we’ll pretend this didn’t happen.”

“I, uh, I don’t mind,” he answers letting go of the door. “But I’m already in my pants, if that’s a problem.”

“Nah, just don’t try anything, I’m tired,” she jokes as she slides back under the sheets.

Stepping into the room, he closes the door behind him before heading over to the other side of the bed and sliding in next to her.

Almost immediately she leans into his chest, and he wraps his arms around her. Laying her head against him she sighs happily as he chuckles.

“Just wanted a little cuddle huh?” he asks as he settles in.

“Mhm,” she hums back. “I’m not sick of you yet.”

“Are we… serious?” he asks gently as he rests his head on hers.

“I’d say betrothed is serious,” she jokes.

“Yeah I know, but that’s been a joke,” he insists. “I just… want to know if this is serious for you.”

“Is it serious for you?”

“Yes.”

“And it’s serious for me, you’re mine then,” she mumbles, feeling the sleep already starting to take over as she enjoys his warmth.

“I guess so,” he says lifting his head to press a kiss to her forehead. “Sweet dreams hun.”

-----

PART 1

Masterlist

Request List

#lewis capaldi #lewis capaldi x reader #lewiscapaldi #lewis capaldi imagines #divinely uninspired to a hellish extent #our chaotic life #fanfiction #celebrity imagines #someone you loved

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ajnerdess · 4 years ago

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From Afar (Charles x reader fluff)

So I had that idea of a full length story about Charles being in love with the reader but the reader is in a relationship with Javier and then Charles gets closer to them when Javier is in Guarma and then things go from there but I sadly don’t have time to write a full length story so instead I’m probably just going to do a series of oneshots/drabbles that involve either a reader x Charles and the reader x Javier instead.

This is one of them. I had this idea of Charles basically realizing he has feelings for the reader when he sees she’s considerate and kind towards him and ultimately a good person but he knows she’s in love with Javier. So consider this fluff and a little big of angst I guess. Trigger warning for racism (cos you know, Micah is the ultimate douchebag).....

You watched as Charles chopped some wood for fires across from where you sat. Javier had gone out with Bill and Mary-Beth to rob a stagecoach and everyone else in camp was busy. You had wanted to get closer to Charles, with him being one of the newest members of the gang and by far the quietest, you feared he felt less welcomed to the group and you wanted to make him feel more at home.

But Charles was a tough man to decipher. He was quiet, reserved. Kind, but mysterious and you had witnessed enough interactions between him and Uncle to know he didn’t suffer fools, no matter how good their intentions were.

You watched as Micah sauntered over to him, rolling your eyes at the mere appearance of your least favourite member of camp. Wherever Micah was, trouble followed.

“Hey redskin, fetch me something to eat” Micah called to him.

Charles turned, pausing as he stopped chopping wood to look down. “Excuse me?”

Micah went right up to the quiet yet imposing man, clearly not fearing Charles’ strength.

“I said, fetch me something to eat, redskin.”

You winced, hating that Micah called Charles that. Before you could interfere, Charles simply grabbed Micah by his shoulders and threw him to the ground with a growl.

“Eat that” he told the camp bully.

You couldn’t help but grin as Charles went back to his chores.

You decided to take the plunge and talk to Charles, but before you got to him, you smirked down at Micah.

“Serves you right, maybe now you’ll learn to talk to people with respect.”

Micah got to his feet, sneering at you as he did so.

“We can’t all be darkie lovers y/n. I’ll leave that to you” Micah spat at you.

“The sooner you realise Charles, Javier and Lenny are ten times the men you are Micah the better, now leave Charles alone, he doesn’t want to suffer fools like you” you told Micah as he walked away.

Walking over to Charles, you waved as you approached. He was already staring at you, probably having heard your entire exchange with Micah.

“Hello Charles, are you alright?”

He nodded once. “I’m fine miss, are you alright?”

“Oh yes, I’m fine. Sorry about Micah.”

Charles shook his head. “You were right. Man’s a fool. Don’t know what Dutch sees in him.”

You chuckled softly in agreement. “I couldn’t agree more. Listen, I was wondering if you were going hunting today? I’d like to join you on your next trip, I was wondering if you could teach me how to hunt, I want to be more useful around camp. Don’t worry if it’s too much bother, I wouldn’t want to be a burden on you.”

Charles put his hatchet down. “Are you free now?”

You nodded.

“Then let’s go now” he replied, leading the way to your horses. You followed, almost having to run to catch up with his quick strides.

“Are you sure you don’t mind?”

He shrugged as he mounted his horse Taima. “Why would I mind?”

You mounted your own horse, your white Arabian named Orion, named after a star in the sky that was part of your favourite constellation.

“You always hunt solo, I wouldn’t want to bother you.”

He rubbed Taima’s neck gently as he shook his head. “You don’t bother me. Come on, let’s go.”

The ride through to the hunting plains was quiet. Charles was obviously never going to be particularly talkative, but at least he was willing to spend time in your company, which was more than could be said for the rest of his comrades who he seemed to avoid like the plague for most part, safe for a few, Arthur being the main exception.

When you arrived at a particularly open spot Charles signalled for you both to stop. In the distance were deer, grazing peacefully. You sucked in a breath. You had thought of the first thing you could bond with Charles over, but now you almost regretted it, knowing you would have to kill something. Killing murderers and rapists and bad men was one thing, but shooting down an innocent animal, that was something else entirely.

Charles took his bow from his saddlebags and walked to you, handing you the bow and arrow. You shot him a wide-eyed look, you didn’t know how to shoot a bow and arrow.

You could have sworn you saw him smile faintly at your cluelessness. He stood behind you before helping you aim the bow and arrow.

“Just like aiming a gun, strong arm, one leg in-front of the other, take aim, pull the arrow back, breathe out and then shoot” he told you, standing next to you as he touched your elbow to help you aim. His face was close to yours. You sucked in a breath as you pulled the arrow back, aiming at one of the deer and then you let the arrow loose, closing your eyes as you did so.

Your arrow struck the deer and you stared over at your shot in disbelief.

“Good job, come on, let’s take it back to camp” Charles told you with a smile.

As you approached the deer however, you felt your heart jump to your throat. Your shot had hit the deer, but not killed it and now it was laying there, feebly kicking and crying out as it bled out.

You dropped to your knees as your hands reach out to comfort the poor animal. “Oh god no, Charles help, it’s in pain, I ruined it, oh please, help it Charles, please” you cried out as tears fell.

Charles studied you for a moment before taking his knife out and killing the deer swiftly. You lamented the deer’s death as you cried over it for a moment before you realised Charles was staring at you. You quickly wiped your tears away and shook your head.

“I’m sorry, I’m being silly, I know it’s nature but, it’s just sad” you whispered.

“My mother used to say having compassion for the animals we share this world with is a good thing, it separates the good people from the bad. We must take from this world what we need, but acknowledging it is important, and we must keep balance” Charles told you.

You smiled at him. He had rarely spoken that much, and he had never opened up to you about his family or culture.

“Thank you Charles. Thank you. I think you and your mother’s culture is very beautiful, how you see the world is very beautiful.”

He nodded once before lifting the deer and taking it to Taima, securing it on her hide. You both rode back to camp, and when you returned, your lover Javier had returned from his robbery.

Before you went to check on him, you went to Charles as he stepped down from Taima. You touched his arm gently. “Thank you Charles, for today. Sorry I ruined the trip with my terrible aim, and inability to not cry at any slightly sad situation.”

Charles chuckled gently. “It’s fine y/n. I’m glad you joined me.”

Javier called your name.

“Go see if Javier is ok, I’ll see you around camp later” Charles told you.

You nodded, rubbing his arm once more before going to Javier.

Three days later

As you sat at the table in camp reading, you were silently joined by another presence. Charles. He quietly sharpened his knife as you read before you felt compelled to speak.

“How are you keeping Charles?”

He looked up at you. Since your hunting trip, Charles made more of a conscious effort to smile at you each time he saw you. Today was no exception. “I am well miss, what are you reading?”

You blushed. “Oh, it’s silly really, I feel embarrassed about it now.”

He looked at you questioningly.

“Well, it’s a book on native American culture. I wanted to learn more about it.”

Charles looked down at the book before he set his knife down. “You could have just asked me if you wanted to know anything in particular.”

You grinned. “I could have, yes. But see the thing is, I wanted to learn more about your culture so I could have a conversation with you about it. I thought that it must be hard to be the only true native American in the gang. You have nobody to talk to about it, I just, wanted you to have someone to talk to about it, so you didn’t feel alone. Oh goodness, now that i think about it, it probably comes across as pretty patronising. I meant no offence Charles, I just, don’t want you feeling alone here.”

Charles paused before smiling thoughtfully at you. “You are a very kind soul miss, Javier, he’s a lucky man.”

Before you could reply, he stood up and walked away. Leaving you blushing as you thought on his words.

#charles smith #rdr #rdr2 #fanfiction #my writing #fluff #angst #red dead redemption 2 #Red Dead Redemption

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minervahopebeyond · 4 years ago

Text

Blood Daffodils.

Hi!! I’m so glad I got to update, I have to prepare midterms this week but I promise to try to update as soon as I can (mostly because I know that it’s horrible to wait to know what the fuck is going to happen next). Please let me know what you thought of this one!! ✨ I’m really nervous because it took a lot of work and rewrites 💕Ps: I’ve checked but sorry if you find any errors in this one.

Chapter 12: The aftermath.

The water was so cold that he felt his skin burn as soon as he jumped in, maybe this wasn’t a good idea.

He was already in, though, and he needed that sword. Draco swam, diving into the chilling waters, he was having troubles seeing clearly, so he casted a wordless lumos while he still was underwater. The blond boy attempted to take the sword by the grip, extending his arm to grab it. Come on.

A slender hand closed its long fingers around his wrist. The daffodils reacted almost instantly, cutting him, warning him that they needed to get out of there. The panic was spreading through him like a wave, touching every single fiber in his body. It’s a trap. No, fuck no.

Afraid to look up, still holding his breath, Draco gathered the courage to lift his eyes. As soon as he saw her, as their eyes met, something in his breathing changed...

“You have been running away from me, boy”

Somehow, being under water didn’t seem to affect her at all. Her voice was as enchanting as he remembered, hearing her was like hearing the perfect melody on a piano and wanting, needing to play it over and over again. His heart pumped a little slower at the sound of her voice and Draco was just happy that he had, at least, some strength to free himself from her hand.

He swam up as fast as he could, knowing full well that he was leaving the sword behind him. Just the surface, he just needed to reach to it. At the same time, he was trying to picture the cute little boy in Madam Malkin’s; it was so hard to focus... When he got to the surface he took a breath from fresh air and yelled as he waved his wand.

“Expecto Patronum!”

What came out of the wand wasn’t a lion, he was too distracted for that. The ball of silver was floating and Draco couldn’t be any more thankful. He called the only person who would understand what was happening.

“Weasley! Help!! I-“

Those were the only words that he got to pronounce because he was being sunken back in the lake, being pulled by his ankle with such force that it was unavoidable.

He allowed himself to look at her, the fabric of the white transparent dress floating around her, her silky long black hair framing her beautiful features as she drag Draco into the depth of the lake. When he stopped struggling she took his face in her hands and muttered something that he couldn’t understand.

Suddenly, they weren’t under water. He felt like he was, because the cold was the same, but around him... There wasn’t anything, not water, not air, no stars, no earth... just darkness and nothingness.

“You can’t get out of here unless I allow it.” She stated, standing a few meters away from him.

“Is this the other side?” He asked, fearing that his soul had crossed the veil without realizing it. Her melodic laughter filled the silence.

“No, boy. You still have time. Is that why you keep running away?”

“Maybe...”

“Foolish, I just wanted to talk. You were so polite and kind when we met the first time, I thought that you liked my presence.”

And Draco thought that lying was the most logical option, to say that yes, he loved her and all the things she had in her realm, but he didn’t find it in him to say any of those things.

“I apologize, your highness.” Was the only thing that came out instead.

“There is no need for such formalities. I’ll just cut to the chase, your friends are coming.” Thank fuck.“You have something that belongs to me, I want it back.”

Draco frowned, his heart pounding against his chest.

“Yo-you made a deal! You can’t take James away-“

“Do you always jump to conclusions? I will not take James Fleamont Potter back with me, nor do I wish to take you sooner to the other side.” The flowers seemed to relax at her clarification. “It is not a soul. I can not tell you what it is, there are rules that forbid me to speak of it. But I want it back, I was young and reckless when I made it and I wish to have it back.”

“And I have to find this...? Even if I don’t know what it is or how does it look like?” He tried not to offend her but it sounded ridiculous.

“The only thing I can say is that you actually have two things that belong to me. One you can keep, I do not care for it, the other one is the one I want.”

He felt the change of temperature, like a distant sensation that was surrounding his body. He looked around, still nothingness.

“Your redhead friend does not like me very much, he is threatening me, saying that I should let you alone or else.” She said smoothly, chuckling as she mentioned Weasley. “Do you promise to find it?” Draco nodded.

“I’ll do my best.”

She walked to where he was, putting a hand on his forehead.

“I know, you are an awfully committed soul.” She said and pushed him back, the ‘nothingness floor’ disappeared under him and he was falling into the darkness.

He could hear their voices, like they were muffled. His head was killing him and his eyes were heavy, he tried to opened them but failed. There was pressure in his chest...

“Come on, Draco!!” He heard Granger scream. “One, two, three, four..”

“Kid, please wake up.”

“Enervate! Enervate, you stupid ferret!”

“Ron you are not helping!!” Her voice achieved a high pitch tone that Draco had never heard before. Then, he felt someone open his mouth and pinch his nose. Air was being blowed into his mouth repeatedly... when the press in his chest started again, he coughed.

“Oh thank god.” Granger breathed out in relief.

Draco was coughing, the cold water coming out from his lungs with the daffodils included. He tried to formulate the words in between the coughs.

“The...sword-“

“Ferret?”

“She- Her “ The petals wouldn’t stop coming out. “Is in the lake- I - I have to get it.” He said and pushed himself up, or at least he tried to... His legs failed him and he was caught by someone. The cheap cologne filled his nostrils... Potter.

“You are not going anywhere”

“The sword of Gryffindor... In the lake... I have to...”

I have to get it.

His eyes were heavy again, Draco wanted to remain awake... He tried to, with all his strength to walk again.

Everything went black.

—————————

"Harry, you need to go to sleep." He raised his eyes when he heard the voice of his father.

He needed for Malfoy to wake up, actually. In just a couple of hours it would be a whole day since the boy passed out. They had casted the heating charms as soon as Ron got him out of the lake and throwed him in hot water when they got to the house... His temperature seemed to rise, which was a good thing because he was so cold... But the truth was that, now, the coldness was replaced with a fever. It worried him, Hermione said that it was normal, with the temperature that he had to endure it would be worrisome for him not to get sick.

“I’m fine.” He replied as he moved on the chair, trying to be more comfortable.

His father sighed and closed the door again, he could hear him talking with Padfoot outside, complaining about the situation. They should mind their own business. After what the horcrux said to Sirius when he was trying to destroy it...

‘I know you, Sirius Orion Black. Your soul is the darkest. Neglected by your parents who always liked your brother better. Disowned by your family because of a love that was never requited... You never were his first choice, were you? Even now, he is only with you because his true love isn’t here. He feels pity for you, just like the Potters did. They never loved you, not truly, Euphemia just put up with you because of his son-‘

And Sirius brandished the sword, breaking the locket. After the horcrux was destroyed he said: ‘That’s a lie, I was Euphemia’s favorite’ While that made Harry like his grandmother a whole lot, he couldn’t shake the feeling that they should talk if the man still thought that his dad was only with him because his mother wasn’t around.

He turned to look at the blond boy again, and reached to move his hair out of his face before checking his temperature. Still high, fuck.

“You have no idea of how angry I am. None. I swear.” Harry said with an exasperated tone. “But... It will be worst if you don’t wake up. Is... Is She keeping you there? Ron told us, he screamed bloody murder when the patronus came to get him, woke us all up.” He took a deep breath and got up from the chair to sit at the bed, next to the boy, to be closer to him. He grabbed the boy’s hand and started to trace the line on his palm. “Why didn’t you tell me, Draco...? I keep trying to understand why did you lie about the cottage, and I find no explanation, you know? Because there is none, you should have told us.” Harry felt the tears start to course down his cheeks, his glasses were starting to get tarnished from the crying so he took them off. “ I’m not useless. I can help you, I swear... I- I know I haven’t been much help with all this except for maybe distracting you, but I’m trying.”

He felt so helpless. He loved this boy so much that his body physically ached when they were not together and Draco didn’t even consider him to tell him his problems. ‘He would have told Nott’ The toxic little voice in his head kept on whispering, making him feel madder and madder by the minute.

“I care about you.” The words left his lips, his voice so thin and weak. “I know that we are not supposed to talk about our feelings or whatever but I do. And I don’t want you to die,much less before we get our time together... I’m babbling, I know. You hate when I do that.”

“Harry...” Draco’s voice sounded rough and tired, he widened his eyes.

“Draco?” The dark haired boy moved to check his temperature again, the fever was increasing. Fuck. The other boy opened his eyes, they seemed lost, even when they found Harry’s green ones.

“I- I’m sorry.”

“Don’t talk, please. I’m going to call someone, see if we can give you pepper-up again-“

“I’m sorry for maki- making fun of you.” He was gone in his own thoughts... Harry knew that because his eyes couldn’t focus and his voice was all sleepy. He felt like his heart was being squeezed just from the sight. Why did this felt like a goodbye? “I saw your mother... Lily is nice... Maybe we can be friends after-“

The blond boy’s rant was cut short by Harry’s screaming, asking for someone to come quick. He saw his mother, the boy saw his mother and Death all in the same day and now his fever was higher... This felt like a goodbye because- No. He wasn’t going to think about that. Not now, they still have time.

The door opened and everyone entered the room. It was normal now, after what happened they were all equally worried. Originally, they were going to take turns to look after Malfoy, but since Harry refused to leave his side, it didn’t work out.

“Ferret! You are awake!” Ron exclaimed with happiness, the dark haired boy let out a sob as more tears came out of his eyes.

“He is not, I think he is hallucinating or talking in his sleep... I don’t think he will remember what he is saying. He just apologized to me, for everything, he said he saw my mom-“ His voice came out strangled, talking through the lump in the back of his throat was getting painful. “I can’t be here if he is saying goodbye. I can’t- give him something, please. His fever-“

Suddenly he was being pulled out of the room in Padfoot’s arms, the man said that he couldn’t be there for a goodbye either and that just made Harry cry even harder because it felt too real and he wanted for all to be just a bad dream.

His godfather pour him a glass of water and put it in the little table next to them. Not that he could drink anything right now but it was a thoughtful gesture. They sat on the couch, hugging each other while they listened to the other three argue up there about what could be the best thing to give to the boy. It was too much.

“How did you do it?” Harry asked with a thin voice. Sirius didn’t respond, maybe he was waiting for a him to clarify what he meant. “How did you live fourteen years of your life without him? I can’t even picture myself existing if he doesn’t call me Potter or Scarhead once a day. I can’t imagine not hearing his voice, I-“

“It’s the pain.” Padfoot answered with a calm voice as he brushed his fingers through Harry’s hair, trying to sooth him. “The pain reminds you that you are alive and you keep living because it’s what they would have wanted. In my case, knowing that I had to get to you eventually was a big help... focusing on other things.”

“I don’t want to focus on other things. It’s hard enough knowing that he is going to marry someone else and I’m going to die alone, because I don’t want anyone else. But... but I thought that maybe i could still be in his life, you know? Being his friend... I’ll put up with Nott, I don’t care.” He looked away, embarrassed because he was about to confess something that he had never told anyone, something that made him feel like the worst person ever. “And... maybe with time I could be something more... I wouldn’t mind keeping it a secret-“

“Oh, Prongslet, no. You don’t want to be-“

“Don’t lecture me, Padfoot. Wouldn’t you have done the same if dad offered? Even if he was married and had a family.” Sirius sighed, a sad look on his eyes.

“Yes.” His godfather replied and Harry was glad to hear it.

At least he wasn’t the only one.

—————-

Harry woke up in his own bed, alone. He remembered talking with Padfoot on the couch, he didn’t remember falling asleep... Just drinking water... Oh. Sneaky little bastard.

“Good morning.” Was this..? Was he still dreaming?

He turned around and there he was, looking all gorgeous. He had one of Ron’s sweaters on, maybe he was still cold, but he didn’t looked sick at all. Harry felt like a weight on his chest had been lifted.

“Before you say anything, I’m going to talk because every single person in this house has already lectured me.” Malfoy said before taking a sit on his bed and grabbing Harry’s hand. It was warm... but the right amount, no fever, no freezing water temperature, alive and well. He locked his green eyes in his stormy grey ones, encouraging for him to go on. “I didn’t tell you about the cottage because I was afraid that She was looking for your father or for me, and I didn’t want to worry you. I went looking for the sword because I saw your mother’s patronus, given the fact that I’ve been seeing Death I thought it could be her so I followed. We are not sure that it was her now, or Death trying to pull me closer... It doesn’t matter though. I’m sorry, okay? For everything. For not telling you, for going there alone, for making you cry, I’m sorry.”

“Can you kiss me?” Is the only thing that Harry could reply after his monologue. He tugged Draco’s hand and guided him close, he needed to feel like everything was real.

And when Malfoy kissed him, he felt like everything was alright again, like the day before was just this nightmare and the blond boy just came to wake him up, like he always did.

“I have this vague memory that I’ve already told you this... But I’m sorry about mocking you about your parents... For both of them. They are great and you are just like them... That’s a good thing. And what it’s not like them, it’s like Sirius and that’s amazing too.”

Harry blushed as a soft smile appeared on his lips. How could this boy make him be even more in love with him? How? It wasn’t normal, this amount of love for a single person wasn’t natural.

“I-“ ‘I love you, so much that you can do with me what you want, okay? I’m going to be happy being whatever it is that you want me to be: your friend, your lover, your partner, your husband. Just ask for it and I’ll do it.’ It was in moments like this when he understood why he was supposed to be in slytherin. The words died in his throat, there was no way he could say that to Malfoy’s face. He lacked the courage, it just wasn’t in him.

“You... what?” The grey eyed boy was looking at him, expectant, like if whatever Harry was about to say was the most important thing ever.

“I like you. I really really like you.” He said and his face was blushed crimson red. But the smile in Draco’s face was blinding, so it was worth the embarrassment. The blond boy leaned and planted a soft kiss on his lips again and another one on his nose, playfully.

“I really like you too. Really” He said and then he pushed some of Harry’s hair off his face. “Do you forgive me? I mean- you don’t have to. I know I was a terrible person for a long time but-“

“I do.” He said calmly as he offered a smile to the boy. “I think I forgave you a long time ago but thank you for apologizing. It means a lot.”

And he kissed Draco again, smiling in between the kisses and feeling utterly happy the whole time.

He is here, he is here and he is safe and healthy and we have time.

#drarry #fanfic #fanfiction #prongsfoot

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ashes-and-ashes · 5 years ago

Note

9. “Watch it.”

“Are you sure you want to do this?”

Remus just gives him a tight smile. He’s changed out of his typical baggy sweatshirts, wearing a perfectly fitting black sweater and he looks so good that Sirius’ heart aches.

They’re at the front of Grimmauld Place, staring up at the house. Sirius eyes the carved gargoyles, the heavy stone and the leased windows and winces.

“Look,” he says. “It’s fine. We can go right now. Fuck my parents.”

“I’d rather fuck you,” Remus replies, “But I mean sure. You’re all Blacks right?”

Sirius hits him on the shoulder, the tension in his chest loosening, just a bit. He lets out a shaking breath, staring at the heavy door, the elaborate metal door knocker inches from his nose.

It had all started with the letter, dropped into his toast at breakfast last week. He had fished it out, still talking to James, slit it open with his knife and unfolded the paper.

His heart had stopped the minute he saw the crest, smack in the middle of the page. You are required for dinner next weekend. Saturday, 7 o’clock.

And the unspoken worded, drifting at the end of the letter. If you don’t come, we’ll take it out on Regulus.

There had been a fight in the common room that night, James and Peter yelling at Sirius.

“You can’t go!” James said. “Jesus Christ, are you mental? They want you to go home for dinner? Next thing you know, you’ll be knocked out with the Mark on your arm!”

“The Mark has to be freely given, otherwise He can’t use it to control you, you moron.”

Peter shook his head. “You can’t go! They’ll hurt you.”

“They’ll hurt Reg even worse.”

“They’ll hurt Reg regardless,” James cut in. His face was anguished, twisted and distraught. “Don’t you see? If you go, they’ll torture him infront of you to make you take the Mark.”

“You don’t know that - “

Remus stood up. “I’ll go with him.”

“No.”

Remus stared Sirius down. “Yes. They won’t torture anyone if someone is witnessing.”

“You dumbass,” Sirius spat, fear replacing anger in his chest. “You’re a fucking werewolf. You’re good as dead the second you step foot in the house.”

“I’m not going to waltz in and say, ‘Hello, I’m a werewolf,’ am I?”

“He’s right,” James cut in. “Someone should go, but not you Re. You’re a halfblood and a halfbreed - you’re fucked. I’ll go - “

“You can’t.” Remus’ voice was calm. “Both of you are banned, remember? Sirius told the story last Christmas.”

“No,” Sirius said again. “No. You can’t come.”

Remus just stared at him. “Watch me.”

It had taken the better part of 4 hours to convince Sirius. He hated himself for it, that weakness, hated how selfish he was for allowing Remus to step foot in the Manor. He let out a long breath, fingers hovering over the door knocker.

“Do you want me to?” Remus whispers. Sirius swallows hard, then nods. Remus reaches forwards, lifts the metal handle and then lets it drop with a clang.

The door opens at once - Sirius looks down, his stomach twisting at the sight of Kreacher, in a bow so low that his nose touched the carpet. “This way, please,” he croaks, and Remus and Sirius follow him down the hallway, through the winding corridors and then finally into the dining room.

Sirius hated the dining room, all high ceilings and wooden walls and a huge metal chandlier dripping with jewels. The table was huge, oak and iron, set four five, wine glasses and plates and more cutlery then there should be.

Sirius swallows back the bitter taste in his mouth as he saw who was sitting at those plates. His father, in dress robes of charcoal grey, his mother in a gown of emerald silk. Reg was there too, hair neatly combed, seated across from Walburga and -

Bastards, Sirius thinks. What bastards. Because Orion sat at the head of the table, Walburga and Regulus on opposite sides of the table, which meant that he either had to sit next to his mother who tortured him or his brother who hated him.

He stares at the table, heart pounding so hard that it hurt, and he thought he might have toppled over if not for the sudden press of Remus’ finger, right across the throbbing in his wrist. He calmly headed towards Walburga, gracefully sliding into the chair next to her, and Sirius let out a small sigh of relief.

He remembers the last time he had come, bringing James and Peter with him. They had been rude - their hatred of Sirius’ family was so obvious it hurt, the dinner ending with a minor explosion and a basket of burnt roles. Remus was perfect though, his face completely blank, hands folded over his lap as he stared directly at Orion. There was a hint of a challenge in his eyes, his voice like steel as he says, “Thank you for inviting me to your home, Mr. Black.”

Orion merely inclines his head. Sirius catches the flash of interest in his mother’s eye - she obviously had not been expecting Remus to make the first move. She merely smooths down her skirt, twisting in her chair to face Remus. “Of course. We are...honoured to have you.”

Remus smiles, reaches for his glass of water. He takes a sip, eyes meeting Sirius’, a silent message of support. We’ll be fine.

Walburga turns towards Sirius now, the facade of a perfect hostess cracking away. She merely stared at him, like one would stare at a pebble on the sidewalk, blank and empty and entirely without feeling. “Sirius.”

Sirius presses his hand against his stomach, wills his voice not to shake. It comes out cold, flat and slightly strained. “Mother.”

“You didn’t even bother to greet your father and I.”

“Apologies. Father. Mother.”

Orion scowls. “Must you always be this obnoxious?”

“Only when I feel like it.”

Walburga sighs, turning to face Remus. “You must excuse him,” she says, giving a small laugh that Sirius had never, not once, heard her use before. “He has some...authority issues.”

Remus merely nods, his face still so carefully blank. Walburga scans his face, then turns away. “Where’s that useless elf,” she mutters. “Kreacher!”

The doors swing open, revealing Kreacher. Bowls of soup lie one his forearms; he places one in front of each member and then swiftly departs. Walburga picks up her spoon. “It’s pea,” she says, before taking a sip.

Remus follows suit. The table is eerily silent for a moment - Sirius remembers those long dinners, hours going by without a single word spoken. He winces, looks down at his soup - he knows the green was meant to be a jibe, a subltle mocking of his pride in Gryffindor House. He takes a sip - it’s good, but flat, lacking love and warmth and care.

Remus sets his spoon down. “It’s delicious,” he says. “Family recipe?”

Walburga laughs. “Oh, no. Sirius has always loved pea soup.”

“He loved the colour green, when he was younger,” Orion adds. Sirius clenches his teeth, anger rising up inside of him. Remus kicks him under the table.

“Of course,” he says smoothly, shooting Sirius an evil stare. “It’s fantastic.”

“Where do you come from?” Walburga asks. “I don’t recognize the name ‘Lupin.’”

Bitch, Sirius wants to hiss. It hadn’t even been 5 minutes and she was already trying to pry, trying to see if Remus was worth her time. He grips the table, hard; Regulus sets his spoon down, giving Sirius a wary glance.

Remus just nods. “My mother came from America.”

Orion looks up. “America?”

“New York. The wizarding community is rather different over there. We were quite an established family.”

Sirius quickly looks down into his soup. Remus wasn’t lying - Hope Lupin had come from America, as the daughter of one of the largest shipping companies in New York. He had conveniently left out the part about her being a muggle, of course.

Walburga gave another laugh. Sirius could practically see her mind whirling, assessing and calculating as she smiles at Remus. “Oh Sirius,” she says. “You should have told me about your new friends. I’m glad to see you finally making a correct choice in your relationships.”

“If that’s a dig at Peter and James,” Sirius says tightly, “Then you can shove it.”

“Watch it,” Regulus murmurs, a warning bell. Sirius ignores him, eyes fixed on Remus. “They’re my best friends, Mother. I’m not going to drop them.”

“Perhaps if you reconsidered your actions - “

Remus interrupts , before Sirius could tell her to go to hell. “Have you ever been to America, Mrs. Black?”

“No.”

“It’s a beautiful place.”

Orion takes a sip of water, clears his throat. “What is your father’s name, Remus?”

“Lyall.”

“Oh!” Walburga’s head shoots up. “You don’t happen to mean Lyall Lupin? The great werewolf activist?”

“Yes,” Remus says tightly. “That’s the one.”

His face is blank but Sirius can see the tension underneath, the electric current of barely-controlled rage. He reaches over the table, brushes Remus’ pinky with his, feels Remus’ shudder.

Walburga exchanged glances with her husband. “Oh yes! We went to one of us conferences, a while ago. He was quite big on limiting werewolf rights if I remember correctly. As he should. Disgusting creatures.”

“Monsters,” Remus says quietly. Sirius’ heart breaks.

“Yes. Quite. We went out - remember that Sirius? It was the night you broke you arm.”

“How clumsy,” Orion laughs. “Falling down the stairs and all.”

He didn’t. It was another jibe, another carefully placed barb meant to wound him. He broke his arm alright, a cold winters night in the middle of January but he certainly didn’t get it from falling down the stairs. He meets Walburga’s eyes and knows instantly that she remembers - the screaming, the yelling, the snap of his arm in two.

Sirius gets up abruptly, chucking his napkin into his soup. “I need some air,” he mutters abruptly.

“Sirius - “ his father calls, but Sirius ignores him. He storms out of the dining room, slamming the door behind him.

To be continued....?

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ashdoesfandomarchieved · 4 years ago

Note

Valentines Day shenanigans with the ship of your choice? Or maybe board game/poker night with the main four?

(Direct sequel of midnight revelations)

It starts like this:

Mariner is teaching Tendi poker. Or well, Mariner is teaching Tendi her version of poker which involves no pants—for some reason—, various pointy objects that Sam is keeping his distance from and an abundance of multi-language profanity that is rather impressive for two women outside of the linguistics department.

Really though, Sam is impressed

Tendi, who has absolutely no poker face, is somehow winning and Mariner is somewhere between proud mom friend™ and shoving her throwing stars at the first person who pokes fun at her losing streak. Somewhere in all of this, Mariner runs out of credits and contraband, so with a sigh and a characteristic half-smirk, she tosses her last chip on the table.

“I’m going all in.”

“Your all in would be scarier if it literally wasn’t your last credit,” Sam remarks sarcastically from where he’s nursing a beer.

Mariner flips him the bird. “Whaddya you got for me, D’Vana?”

Tendi, trying to hold back her shit-eating grin and failing—again no poker face—shoves her huge pile of chips into the center of the table.

“Oh, I’m all in, baby.”

“Good,” Mariner grins back.

“Good,” Tendi replies, crossing her arms.

“Fine.”

“I’m glad you went all in.”

“So am I.”

“Please stop flirting and finish the game,” Sam mutters, rolling his eyes.

Mariner doesn’t flip him the bird this time but gives him a side-eye that would have been its usual level of pee-your-pants-terrifying if not for the light blush that dusts her cheeks.

Tendi giggles. “Wanna raise the stakes?”

“Have you met me?”

“That’s fair,” both Tendi and Sam say in the same voice. Mariner rolls her eyes but can’t suppress her smug grin.

“Loser has to ask out the next person who enters the room,” Tendi says, dramatically steepling her hands in front of her face.

Mariner snorts. Loudly. “What are we, fucking twelve?”

“You got a better idea?” Tendi taunts.

“Actually,” Mariner lets a smirk crawl across her face. “As long as we’re going with sleepover levels of dares…loser has to get the next person who walks through that door to date them for three weeks without cracking.”

Tendi cackles, throwing down her cards.

“Full house,” Sam absentmindedly notes. “Not bad, Tendi.”

“Yeah, not bad,” Mariner says, revealing her hand to be royal fucking flush. “Enjoy that date, D’Vana.”

Sam chokes on his drink, while Tendi groans. Mariner laughs psychotically. “Work on that poker face, baby girl. You’ll get it eventually.”

“Ugh, you were just letting me win.”

“Maybe,” Mariner grins innocently. Tendi scowls at her. “Oh, come on,” she laughs. “Whoever comes through that door next can’t be that bad.”

This was the exact moment that Sam realizes that the universe has a sense of humor, because Brad fucking Boimler walks through the door.

Tendi turns a little blue around the cheeks—the Orion equivalent to blushing, Sam guesses—and smiles at him, waving.

“Fuck,” Mariner hisses. “Abort mission!”

Sam and Tendi frown at her. “What?”

“D’Vana, you cannot date Boimler,” Mariner whispers furiously.

“That was the deal!” Tendi hisses back, throwing her hands up in the air.

“Babe I love you, but you can’t fuck with him like that.”

“And it’s okay to fuck with other people?”

“Yes!”

Sam slaps a hand to his face. “You fuck with Boimler every day of the week, Mariner.”

“That’s different!”

“How?” Tendi demands.

Mariner—the woman who had been promoted and demoted so many times that her file was longer than a goddamn Britannica, jumped head first into anything that remotely whispered of danger, fought with the Captain daily, snarked at superior officers, gave zero fucks about Starfleet protocol, and had probably, at some point, flipped off the devil—is rendered completely speechless.

Sam begins to rapidly connect some dots.

“It’s only for three weeks,” Tendi continues. “And Brad’s kinda cute, in like, an intense I have crippling anxiety way.”

“Brad?” Mariner repeats, looking horrified. “You call him Brad?”

“Yes?” Boimler says, coming up behind her. Mariner lets out an uncharacteristic shriek and jumps about a foot in the air.

“Dude what the fuck.”

Boimler looks very very confused. “What?”

“What?” Mariner repeats loudly, eyes widening.

“Brad, wanna go out?” Tendi chirps, smiling innocently at him.

Aw, and now Sam has two adorable friends who are blushing, well, adorably at each other and one friend who is having a complete mental breakdown in the background.

“What, really? I would love to—why aren’t you guys wearing any pants?” Boimler asks, exasperated.

Tendi lets out a snicker. “Mariner.”

Boimler gives Mariner an unimpressed look. Mariner tries to glare back, but it’s weak for her standards.

“I actually just finished my shift,” he says, turning back to Tendi. “Do you want to hang out?”

While Tendi cheers enthusiastically, Sam discreetly eyes his other friend. Mariner is kind of hyperventilating in the background, hands twitching toward the half-filled bottle of vodka she and Tendi had been chugging earlier. Sam carefully inches it away, unsure if she’s going to chug the rest of it or attack someone with it.

She makes a wounded noise at Tendi, who grabs Boimler by the arm and drags him out of the room, unreservedly talking a mile a minute about something that Sam’s already lost track of.

“What the fuck just happened.”

“I think Tendi asked Boimler on a date,” Sam replies, calmly. Mariner whips her head around and stares at him. The look behind her eyes is deranged.

“We have to break them up.”

Sun, moon and stars, the next three weeks were going to be a Mariner sized nightmare.

“I don’t get it, she’s completely out of his league—”

“Not true.”

“—they have nothing in common—”

“Sometimes opposites attract.”

“—and she’s just stringing him along! She’s going to dump him in two weeks!”

Sam sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose. They were about a week into Mariner’s dare and he already was ready to throw Mariner, Tendi and Boimler—poor, clueless Boimler—out of an airlock. Mariner had already tried to break the two up somewhere around two dozen times and had only succeeded in bringing them closer together.

This of course made Mariner even more determined to sabotage her friends.

“It’s not the end of the world, Mariner.”

“Of course, it is!” she hisses at him. “They break up and then I have to deal with Boimler being sad forever while also not shit-talking my best friend and not letting him know that I was the person who set them up!”

“Or they have an amicable break up and go back to being friends. Dude, they haven’t even progressed past basic hand holding. I don’t think it’s going to be a huge heart wrenching dumping.”

Boimler and Tendi enter the room, holding hands. “I feel like you’re the only one who understands me, sometimes,” Boimler says.

Mariner’s eye twitches.

“What should I get Brad for Valentines Day?” Tendi asks five days later, apropos to nothing. Mariner sits up so fast that she hits her head on the top of her bunk.

“WHAT.”

Tendi frowns over at her, looking up from her data padd. “Valentines Day? It’s a Terra Prime holiday that humans generally celebrate yearly around the Terra season of—”

“I KNOW WHAT VALENTINES DAY IS.”

Sam winces, along with the few unfortunate ensigns who happen to be in the cabin, at the volume. “You and Boimler are celebrating Valentines Day?” he weakly asks.

Tendi grins, her tongue sticking out between her teeth adorably. “He told me about it last night and asked if we could exchange gifts!”

There’s a dull thunk as Mariner repeatedly hits her head against the wall.

“Do we need to talk about this?” Sam asks, watching Mariner chug half her weight in alcohol at the bar.

“My liver, my rules.”

“Not your alcoholic diet,” Sam sighs, taking a seat and signaling to the barman. “Although I would lay off the tequila if you want to be functional tomorrow morning.”

Mariner scowls and raises the bottle to her lips again.

“I’m talking about your feelings for Boimler.”

Mariner chokes. “My fucking what.”

Sam rolls his eyes. He had hoped—for about a millisecond—that when Tendi had joined their group that someone else would finally, perhaps, have some braincells to go around, but no, it seems that Sam Rutherford is the only rational fucking person in their dysfunctional foursome.

“Don’t be the idiot you pretend to be,” he replies, calmly taking a sip of his own drink.

Mariner narrows her eyes at him. “I don’t have feelings for—”

“I’m not an idiot either, Mariner.”

“Look,” she snaps, “I’m vaguely attracted to almost everyone, it’s just who I am. I do not have feelings for Boimler, I’m just aware that he’s. Aesthetically pleasing and nice to be around.”

“Then stop acting like a crazy person whenever he tries to date anyone,” Sam snaps back. “If you’re not interested, then you need to back off.”

Mariner is quiet for a long moment. “Do you think he and D’Vana—”

“I think they enjoy each other’s company and that they’re both kind of lonely,” Sam replies, before she can finish. “If you want to know more, talk to Tendi.”

His friend nods, soberly. Sam feels kind of bad for snapping at her, but also knows that she appreciates his honesty.

“There’s worse things then falling for Boimler,” he says, nudging her encouragingly. “Even if he is a complete spaz.”

This coaxes a weak grin out of her. “He is so fucking awkward.”

“You should tell him.”

“That he’s awkward? I have, he got all fussed up and started—”

“That you like him,” Sam specifies, grinning.

Mariner, seemingly forgetting that she had just been denying her crush on their friend, protests, “He’s dating Tendi, dumbass, I’m not going to—”

“Hey, trust me on this one,” Sam says. “Just follow your instincts.”

“My instincts are telling me to desert him on an alien planet before I become too attached.”

“Follow my instincts.”

To absolutely no one’s surprise, Mariner does not, in fact, follow Sam’s instincts.

He isn’t there for what happens next, but hears about it from an amused Tendi who swings up into his bunk that evening to give him the lowdown.

“So, Beckett has a crush on Brad,” she says, hugging his pillow to her midsection.

Sam puts down his data padd and watches Tendi very carefully. “Oh?”

“Yep. She cornered him in the cafeteria, told him his eyes were pretty and that she liked him and then left, screeching something about sitcom-b plots and Starfleet alumni. I think she has inside jokes with herself? I’m not sure what that was about.”

Sam can’t suppress the laugh that bubbles out of him. “God, she’s crazy. Are you okay?”

Tendi frowns, confused, at him. “Why wouldn’t I be okay?”

“Your best friend has a crush on your boyfriend?”

“My—my what? Wait, oh nine hells YOU GUYS THINK BRAD AND I ARE DATING?”

Sam has a sudden moment of clarity where he realizes that he does not, in fact, have all the braincells in their group.

“You aren’t?” he dumbly asks.

Tendi starts laughing. She laughs so hard she almost falls out of his bunk—he thankfully catches her in time, but it’s a close one. “Rutherford. Sam,” she wipes a tear away from her eyes. “I’m aromatic, you absolute complete dumbass.”

“You are?” Probably not the best reaction to his friend coming out, but Sam hardly has time to apologize, before Tendi is laughing at him again.

“Brad—well, I probably shouldn’t tell you, it’s his thing—but he kind of understands where I’m coming from. We were having friend dates.”

“But…Valentines Day,” he stresses.

Tendi rolls her eyes. “I asked Brad about Terra traditions and holidays and he gave me a fucking history lecture it was so boring. I did like the idea of Valentines Day and asked if I could partake in it with him. He suggested gift giving.”

Sam stares at her. “I am a dumbass.”

“You are,” she agrees. “But I need your dumbass brain to help me get Brad and Beckett together.”

“Oh, so you do have all the braincells,” he says, grinning.

Tendi’s smile is sharp. “I have no idea what you’re on about, but yes. Yes I do.”

Getting Mariner and Boimler together is way easier said than done. Mariner is avoiding everyone like a goddamn plague and Boimler is fluctuating between literally vibrating with anxiety and being depressed as shit.

“Well they definitely don’t have the braincells,” Sam says, after another failed attempt to trap the two of them in a room together.

“You need to stop talking about braincells,” Tendi sighs. “Why don’t we just tell them that they like each other?”

“We can’t do that!”

“Why?”

“It’s too easy that way!”

Tendi stares at him.

Sam stares back.

“I’m telling Brad that Beckett has squishy feelings for him,” she deadpans. “And you’re going to try to catch Beckett and tell him that I don’t have squishy feelings for him. And then we’re going to lock them in a goddamn turbolift until they get their freak on.”

Tendi either has all of the braincells or none of them.

Their plan surprisingly takes a whole lot less subterfuge than Sam was expecting and a lot more—well—emotions. He did manage to find Mariner and after guiltily admitting that he may have been a bit wrong about the nature of Boimler and Tendi’s relationship, she was off in a shot, shrieking some nonsense about “third-act bullshit” and how she didn’t sign up to be the “pawn in a romantic subplot.”

Mariner might, actually, be certifiably crazy.

Brad hears about one of the turbolifts breaking from another ensign in his department. He and Tendi subtly high-five.

Six hours later—“if there was ever a time for buffer time, that time is now, Tendi”—a grinning Mariner and a mildly disheveled, exit the turbolift.

It ends like this:

Tendi is attempting to teach Sam poker. Well. It’s not actual poker, more like a hybrid of Mariner’s version of poker and a card game from Tendi’s home world, but it’s close enough and they’re having fun, so it really doesn’t matter.

Mariner is drunk as fuck, alternating between casually hitting on a flustered Boimler and insulting the shit out of anyone who even looks in their direction.

Tendi lays down her cards. Straight flush. Sam moans in despair. Boimler lets out a shriek of stop doing that we’re in public you moron and Mariner cackles in that unhinged way of hers.

None of them have the braincells.

#star trek lower decks #sam rutherford #d'vana tendi #beckett mariner #brad boimler #star trek fanfiction #prompts #prompt response

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letsbenditlikebennett · 4 years ago

Text

The Killer in Me || Ariana & Athena

TIMING: Evening of July 12th SUMMARY: Ariana and Athena go to Red Dragon for dinner. Some very truthful conversations happen and incorrect conclusions are drawn. PARTIES: @athenaquinn & @letsbenditlikebennett

Initially, Ariana had been worried she freaked Athena out with all the werewolf and hunter stuff. If it had been too much for her, Ari could hardly fault her. She was born into this and lately some of it was starting to feel like too much for her. Most mornings, it was easier to get up and face the day again, but every so often, a dream of Celeste would slip in and just make her want to cling to her blanket for the remainder of the day. Athena had become somewhat of a bright spot in the midst of the grief that kept trying to creep up from below the surface. The kids at camp were great and so filled with energy, but seeing Athena every day brought a certain amount of excitement. She was positive they’d been flirting, even when chatting online, but getting to see Athena with the kids often left her speechless with admiration. They all seemed to look up to her and how could they not? It was enchanting to watch and it only made her more eager for their night out together. She was pretty positive it was a date which only made her more excited. She’d even put some extra effort into curling her hair and even shot Blanche a photo of her outfit to make sure she wasn’t totally clashing. Normally, she didn’t mind too much, she could always attribute mismatching clothing to being colorblind, but she wanted to look nice tonight. This would be their first actual date and she wanted to impress. With confirmation from Blanche that her outfit was in fact worthy of a few fire emojis, she made her way to the Red Dragon to meet Athena. She spotted her from across the dining room and of course her hair was perfectly in place. She smiled and waved as she approached, taking the seat across from her. “Hey,” she said, smile beaming, “You look amazing. If you ever decide to share your hair care secrets, I’m 100% calling first dibs.”

She’d liked the time she spent with Ariana and she’d liked getting to know her. There was rarely a time when Athena felt as though she’d been equally matched in her soccer playing, and she thought that she’d found that with Ariana. So of course she had to go and be a werewolf. The reveal had been like a punch in the gut, and the fact that Athena didn’t want to kill her left her feeling the need to put even more hours into training and into solo runs. Ariana had told her so much all at once and had it only been everything other than the fact that she was a werewolf, Athena would have managed. If she allowed herself to think about it for more than a few seconds, she would have acknowledged that Ariana was pretty attractive too, and that her admission of liking Athena wasn’t as alarming as she knew her parents would have wished for it to be. Then Orion had gotten on her case about everything and that made Athena’s blood boil. Which meant that she was absolutely going to tell Ariana that they were both hunters. She didn’t know why she felt like she owed the girl honesty, but she did - and she was angry at her brother, which meant that if she had to lose a friend, she would mess things up for him as well. After all, she was a warden and he was a beast hunter. Ariana deserved to know that. Even if her brother wouldn’t even hurt a fly. So she’d dressed up nicely for the dinner - pulled her hair into a half ponytail, thrown on a purple dress and a nice pair of flats. She arrived early and grabbed a table, and was just paging through the menu when she spotted Ariana arriving and grinned. “Hey! You look great too.” I should just get this over with. Either version of this. “Thought I’d wear a dress that matched your hair, since not all of us can pull off the colored hair look.” She motioned for Ariana to sit down. “So, what are you thinking of ordering?”

There was no hiding the beaming look on Ariana’s face as Athena told her she looked great. Then Athena’s dress intentionally matched her hair which only somehow made her smile even wider. She wasn’t even sure how that was possible, but it left her with a floating feeling. A certain lightness she hadn’t ever remembered feeling before. It was a huge contrast to how the heaviness of loss that seemed to paint her day to day life since she’d lost Celeste. She quickly shook the thought. Tonight wasn’t about that. It was about spending time with a girl she admired and getting to know her better. She took the seat across from Athena and responded, “Thank you. I have to say, I did the whole hair and dress matching thing. It’s totally a look.” One that made them look cute… together. She could totally get behind that. At the mention of food, she realized she didn’t do her usual glance at the menu online before arriving, but she usually went for something with red meat no matter the establishment. Unless it was Veggie Tables or she was sharing with Layla. She glanced down at her menu and asked, “What do you recommend? I usually go for some sort of beef stir fry, but I’d love to hear what your favorites are.” She’d take note of them for the future. Maybe one of these days she could surprise her with a nice lunch or something. She worked so hard and did so much for others, it only seemed right someone should look out for her every once and awhile, too. She took in the atmosphere and appetizing smells of the restaurant. “It smells great in here. I can see why it’s one of your favorite spots. Definitely good for scheduled relaxation.” She said the last part somewhat teasingly before adding, “I’m really glad we’re doing this though. We haven’t really gotten the chance to hang out one on one since our run and I know everything I told you was a lot to unpack. I’m happy I didn’t totally scare you off or anything.”

If Ariana had only told her that she like-liked her, all of this would have been far easier. However, she’d told Athena that she was a werewolf and now Athena had to deal with that. Which was hard - admittedly even harder than when her parents had asked her to kill a former teacher. She could see the teacher’s body on the floor, feel her blood against her lips when her father had stepped in instead. She could see Ariana there, if she closed her eyes. Some twisted combination of that night and her and Rio’s eighteenth birthday. Athena shook her head, forcing herself out of the thoughts as she flashed Ariana another smile. “I dig it too, it’s a good look.” Maybe it was a mistake, but she didn’t want Ariana to go running before she had the chance to tell her everything. In a little while. At the other girl’s question Athena gave pause. “Well, the potstickers are famous for a reason. We could do chicken for that. My Little and I share them sometimes on study nights.” She thumbed through the menu, “any lo mein is good, but if you want a good stir fry I do know some folks who like the beef. I have to admit, they make a killer spicy green beans as far as sides go. Feel free to order anything you want, I’m paying, and it’s worth trying a few things. I sometimes do the sesame chicken. That is excellent, especially when I mix the spicy green beans in.” Despite everything, she had to grin at Ariana’s comment, “what better place, right?” She flipped her menu shut. “You know, I should probably start expecting things like this more often, given that I’m from this town. I am truly sorry about your sister - we don’t have to talk about it, but if - well, if there’s anything I can do to help honor her, let me know.” Not that you’ll want that after what I’m going to tell you, probably. It was the polite thing to offer, though. Fit very well with her ‘tutorial-perfect hair’ and practiced smile. “Don’t worry, takes a lot more than that to scare me off.” The waiter appeared by their table just then and Athena glanced over to Ariana. “Ready to order?”

As far as Ariana was concerned, it was a good sign that Athena liked matching with her. It gave her hope that maybe she found someone that she liked and was actually able to accept what she was. Not that she had really told any past crushes about what she was. Athena was different. For one, she somehow already knew about the supernatural. Not the most shocking thing for someone growing up in White Crest. Before moving here, there was no one she could have possibly told she was a werewolf without thinking she was insane. It was kind of freeing to like someone she could actually be herself around. She just smiled and agreed the look really did work for both of them. She listened closely as Athena told her all her favorites on the menu. Everything sounded delicious. “We could totally share the postickers. I like chicken, too,” she suggested and added, “Maybe some of those spicy green beans, too?” She found she was pretty hungry and everything Athena mentioned sounded delicious. The atmosphere was relaxing, too. Despite the hint of nerves that came with a first proper date, she found she was feeling more and more at ease. She rested her arms on the table and grinned, “No better place and no better company.” When the server came over, she asked for a Thai iced tea and some potstickers and green beans to share to start. Once he walked away, her full attention returned to Athena. “I don’t think anyone could ever expect half the stuff White Crest throws at them. Like even being in the know my whole life, there are some truly crazy things here… like the mimes. I still don’t get the mimes.” Her tone was a bit joking, trying to keep things light. Plus, the mimes were pretty ridiculous even if they were dangerous. The mention of Celeste caused her to look down at her hands momentarily. While it was easier to get through each day, it still felt like a huge piece of her was missing and she doubted that would ever truly go away. “Maybe one day we can do that. I have a little memorial tree for her-- I go and talk to her sometimes. Can’t really do anything to properly honor her since I can’t really tell everyone about it. I don’t know, I just… I keep trying to be someone she’d be proud of to honor her. Keep her alive in a way, I guess.” She stopped herself from going on about it too much. She didn’t quite feel like crying when they were supposed to be having a nice time together, “I do appreciate the offer. It’s incredibly sweet of you.” She contemplated reaching out to touch Athena’s hand, but she didn’t want to push or make her uncomfortable in any way.

I should have invited her to another run, just made this over and done with. The thoughts wouldn’t stop racing through Athena’s head. Coupled with the thoughts of what her parents would do if they knew that she was out to dinner with a werewolf. That she’d likely flirted online - halfway, but she hadn’t pulled away, and that would have perhaps been the worst part of it all. “I find chicken to be highly versatile when it comes to cooking. Yes, we can share both of those.” She wasn’t entirely sure how much she’d be eating anyhow - or when it was best to tell Ariana about her and her brother. He didn’t care about her anyhow, no matter how much she loved him. No matter what she did to keep him safe. She was born to help better the world and she was supposed to help keep her brother safe. He didn’t want that though, and she squeezed one of her hands into a fist, doing her best to regulate her breathing. If he didn’t want her to protect him, then she wouldn’t claim anything after she told Ariana what they were. Even if under most normal circumstances she would have thrown out a comment about how her brother shouldn’t have even counted as a hunter. “No better of anything.” Lips curved into a smile. With the server’s arrival she ordered a Thai iced tea as well - why not, after all? It’d give her something else to focus on, and she had to appreciate the fusion of cuisines that the Red Dragon had. “Nobody gets the mimes. Trust me. Lived here my whole life and I don’t get it.” Maybe bringing up the whole dead sister wasn’t the best way to go, but Athena had rarely been good at true sympathy, even if she did feel sick at the idea of another hunter dying. Even though she’d known other hunters who had died, it never felt any easier. “I think working to keep her alive in your own way is well worth it. The tree idea is nice - gives back to the world too, in a way,” just as she did, even if she adopted you - adopted a werewolf. She looked over to Ariana. “Thank you. I just figured it was the good thing to do.” I could even take some droplets of silver and put them in your food. You still could just deal with this without telling her. So why did Athena feel some sort of obligation to out herself? Luckily, the waiter arrived back with their teas just then and Athena grabbed hers and took a quick sip of it before placing it on the table. The waiter asked if they were ready to order and Athena gave a small shrug, before asking for the sesame chicken before she let Ariana order and sat back in her chair. “I’m super sorry if I’ve asked you this before - but do you think you’re in White Crest for the long haul? I know you’ve moved around some before now - but do you think you’ll stick around here?”

Ariana found that things with Athena just felt natural. As different as they were as people, they shared a lot of hobbies. It was a balance that she found made being with Athena so easy. It had taken the other girl a bit to process everything Ariana had told her, but she could hardly fault her for that. It was a lot. Most days, it still felt like too much for her to truly wrap her head around. Now that they’d both had some time and talked some more, everything just felt right. “I get that,” she answered truthfully, “Chicken pretty much tastes like how you season it. Makes it easy to pair with well.. Anything.” She smiled, thinking over a few different chicken dishes she could make for Athena. She made really good Tennessee Hot Chicken and it was something that made her still feel somewhat connected to where she came from. She couldn’t help the playful smirk on her lips as Athena agreed there was indeed no better company or anything else. It quickly delved into head shaking when they spoke mimes. Stupid croissant tasting jerks. “I hate mimes,” she stated plainly. “I thought they were cool and mysterious at first. Quickly learned otherwise when my mime twin tried to kill me.” And turned into a werewolf… but that was a bit too crazy of a story. Athena had seemed to be warming up to the whole werewolf thing. Didn’t need to make it even crazier. She nodded along. Keeping Celeste alive in the same small ways she tried to keep her parents alive. “I think so, too. Carrying her close to me even when she can’t be here just feels…as right as her being gone can feel.” When Athena asked if she intended in town, she nodded her head yes. Celeste had stayed her with her and fought on her behalf so they could finally have a longstanding home. Plus, her ashes were spread here. She couldn’t imagine leaving now. Between Celeste’s resting place and the pack she’d made, she couldn’t leave now. “Yeah, definitely here for the long haul. I’ve always wanted to be able to settle somewhere.” She just wished it was with Celeste. She sipped at her iced tea and asked, “What about you? Planning on going away for med school or staying local?”

“Yep. Plus, it’s in so many different cuisines. Chicken Tikka Masala is a favorite of mine.” Athena gave another small shrug. Let her gaze fall on Ariana’s lips for a moment and she bit her own before she grabbed her tea and took a small sip. If it had only been that Ariana thought she was hot, Athena would have been more than happy to deal with that. Heck, she’d flirted online, even if unintentionally at first. “You had one of those too? Gee, I’m super lucky I didn’t. I think that was when I literally lost my voice though.” She made a face. “Yeah, I mean, one of them also might have flirted with me, which, weird, but I’m not a fan. Of the mimes.” For all of everything else, there was at least one thing - besides soccer - that the two could connect on. Clearly caring deeply for a sibling, albeit in different ways. “That makes sense. I am glad you are able to keep her close by.” Here for the long haul unless something happens to you. She pushed the thought out of her mind for now. Whatever was going to happen tonight, she had to be level-headed and level-minded. “Settling is nice, but so’s travel. I mean, I’ve never even been outside of Maine.” She fiddled with the cross on her necklace. “Hm?” She blinked a few times. “I’m not sure. I mean, I’d like to do Harvard or Johns Hopkins but I’ll see.” See what my parents want, what is best for the greater good. “Sometimes I think I might have a good reason to stay here.” She let her lips curve into a conspiratorial smile. “I’ve still got another year until I’d be going, so I guess we’ll see! Are you excited to start your trade school program?”

It was hard for Ariana to ignore the small flutter in her chest when she realized Athena was staring at her lips. That was supposed to be a good sign, right? All of this was still pretty foreign to Ariana. She’d never really gotten a chance to stay somewhere long enough to develop an actual relationship with anyone with all the moving around. She decided not to dwell too much on it. Athena knew how she felt, if she wanted to act on that, she could. Ariana didn’t want to do anything to make her uncomfortable, especially considering what Orion had told her about their parents. At the mention of a mime flirting with her, Ariana cocked an eyebrow and smirked. “Do I need to fight another mime? Because I’ll totally fight another mime,” she joked, “You’re way too cool to date a mime.” Not really wanting to talk more about Celeste, she nodded and glossed over the statement. It wasn’t that she wanted to forget Celeste, but right now, it still stung too much. Instead she focused on Athena’s own musings about staying and traveling. At the mention of never leaving Maine, Ariana gasped and said, “You haven’t been outside of Maine? You definitely have to do some traveling then.” She smiled and went one, “As a permanent way of life, it can get exhausting-- not having roots or somewhere to really call home, but it’s awesome to see the world.” She paused briefly, wondering if she should really extend the invitation on such a personal trip, but it’d be nice to have her there. “I was actually planning on doing a little road trip to Tennessee toward the end of the summer. Smoky Mountain area. It’s where Celeste and I were originally from.” She’d save the sniffing out other wolves and potentially finding some living family parts. “Harvard or Johns Hopkins? Both awesome medical programs, right? I’m sure you have the GPA for it. You should do a tour of them both or something. See which one feels right,” she encouraged even if it meant she’d be further away for medical school. Following her dreams seemed much more important than proximity. “Is that so,” she asked, not quite sure what to make of Athena’s grin even if she was mirroring it herself. “I’m pretty excited about the trade school program. I’ve actually been helping build the cabin I’ll be living in every day after camp. It’ll be cool to learn new techniques and get creative with it though. There’s no shortage of property damage in White Crest so I think I’ll be set job wise.”

“Gee, no. Not worth it.” Athena gave a half-hearted shrug. “She’s mostly left me alone and fighting mimes? So not worth it. There are far better ways to spend one’s time.” She let out a light giggle at Ariana’s next remark. “Thanks, same goes for you. The whole being way too cool to date a mime. Besides, talk about boring. Personally, I like to be able to have some level of verbal conversation with anyone who I go on a date with.” She gave a small shrug at Ariana’s query about never having been outside of Maine. “I mean, it is a big state. My family’s here, so no - I’ve never been anywhere else. I guess sometimes I’m curious, but I’m so used to where I’ve grown up, so it’s not so bad. Someday maybe I’ll go somewhere else.” I should just tell her and get it over with, she thought to herself, but then Ariana was telling her even more about her past and a vacation she had planned for later this summer, if my parents don’t find out about you first, “oh yeah? That seems like a nice sort of thing to have planned. Have you ever been back before now, or will this be the first time?” Tucking a strand of hair behind her ear she nodded. “I’ll see about touring them - and yes! They are two of the best in the entire country. Not that the one here is bad, but I don’t know, it’d be nice to go somewhere with a name attached to it.” Convincing her parents would be a whole other thing. Being away in medical school meant not being in town to do what she was born to do. The very reason she’d invited Ariana out, anyhow. “It is so.” She grinned, nodding along, “oh, absolutely. This town does seem to invite not only property damage but creative property damage.” The waiter arrived with their appetizers just then and Athena spooned a few of the green beans onto her plate before grabbing a potsticker. “Try it,” she motioned toward Ariana with a chopstick. “Tell me what you think.”

Fighting mimes was actually kind of fun, but Ariana wasn’t going to touch on that. Definitely wasn’t going to say they tasted like croissants. “You’re probably right,” she agreed. Outside of Ulfric, she wasn’t sure many would actually appreciate the anecdotal tale of turning a mime into a late night snack. “It is a lot more fun when you can talk to your date,” she added with a wink and smirk curling up on her lips. “Maine is a big state. Don’t get me wrong, I’m totally ready to stay put for a long time, but there are some truly beautiful places throughout the country and I’m sure beyond.” Her own planned road trip was a bit hard to explain, but she answered, “Yeah, I’m excited for it. It’ll be nice to see where I came from. You’re welcome to come along if you’d like. I was probably going to camp though. Not sure if that’s your thing.” As the food arrived, she took a moment to appreciate the different aromas. A comforting savory smell with spice and herbs peeking through. She reached her chopsticks out for a potsticker. She blew on it before taking a bite. She let out a small “mmm” to indicate it was in fact delicious. After trying the green beans, she replied, “Yes, this is definitely all delicious. I can see why you enjoy this place so much.”

She did her best to not focus on the wink or the smirk that covered Ariana’s face. Athena wasn’t quite ready to process whatever those might mean; not right now, at least. Or acknowledge and process. “Yes, talking is quite essential in order for me to enjoy my time out with someone.” She gave a small nod, “Oh, I bet. I mean, I was and am a bit of a whiz at some geography, so I’m aware of the extraordinary world out there.” Then Ariana was inviting her on this road trip and Athena raised her eyebrows, doing her best to remain calm. “You’re really nice to offer! However, my parents can be…” particular. Not willing to let me go anywhere with a werewolf. Not letting me go out of town with a girl, either, possibly. Picky. “Strict,” she answered. “I’m actually pretty handy in the outdoors, even if camping’s not super my thing.” She didn’t know when she was going to tell her. Maybe once the rest of the food came. She could feel the pressure of her silver rings against her fingers. Could feel them calling to her, could almost hear her mother at their most recent training. “Can’t go wrong with this kinda thing, I think. Plus, they’re good at knowing my allergies and since I don’t have the peanut one going for me, it’s easier to avoid in this sort of food.” She took another small bite of the potsticker and flashed Ariana a smile.

Ariana nodded in agreement. The whole silent thing with mimes was weird. Yeah, it was supposed to be a performance, but the mimes in town… well, she didn’t think it was a performance for them. It’s just what they were. She took a few more bites from the green beans on her plate. The spice on them was nice and balanced-- it wasn’t overbearing by any means. She found she quite enjoyed them even though she was eager for her beef lo mein. After making a vegan lunch for herself and Layla, she found she was missing the meat. It was nice enjoying one of Athena’s favorites though and she found things were flowing easily. They always seemed to talk without much difficulty. Well, aside from that one time she told her about being a werewolf and her sister being a dead hunter. Given, that was a lot. She frowned slightly, but respected the thing with her parents. She’d gotten as much from Rio. “I totally get that. I’ll get some awesome Smoky Mountain view pictures to send your way then,” she responded calmly. It was probably for the better. If anyone were going to join her, it should probably be another wolf. She joked, “Of course you’re handy in the outdoors. Is there anything you’re not good at?” Having lots of allergy friendly options was always a plus. Ariana was personally always looking for places that had good meat and vegan options. “I get you, it’s good to have a place where you have good options that won’t you know… set off an allergic reaction.” As the waiter brought the food over, Ariana took in a deep inhale. That smelled delicious and looked so as well. She was ready to ravenously dig in, but refrained from letting her wolf-like appetite totally take over. She took her first bite and gave an approving nod. “Okay, definitely taking any future restaurant recommendations you have because this is fire.”

“You’d better.” Athena raised an eyebrow. “I know my Little’s planning to study abroad next year and she says she’ll send me postcards. If I can’t go somewhere, a photo or a postcard’s the next best thing!” She was being overly enthusiastic. Somehow, it felt different than usual. “I don’t know, maybe? I’m not the best at art. But I still help with my sorority’s banners for Rush and we do have the best ones on the row, so…” she shrugged. “When my brother and I were little, I used to figure out some of his Boy Scout activities and show him how to do them, so….” She trailed off, cutting into another green bean and taking a careful bite. “Always a plus in my book. I’d like to, you know, not die.” Especially not from some allergies. Completely avoidable so long as she took proper care of herself. Glancing up, she saw the food arriving. Giving a nod of thanks to the waiter she served herself a bit of chicken and some rice - and couldn’t help but smile at Ariana’s reaction. “Well, I do know my way around town.” Rio’s going to mess this up for me anyhow so I might as well do this. Besides, I shouldn’t care, I shouldn’t feel remorse for telling a werewolf that I am a hunter. “By the way,” her lips curved up into only half a smile. “Did my brother ever happen to mention that he’s a beast hunter?” She dropped her fork onto her plate, raising an eyebrow. “Only he got those genes. I’m not,” even though I’ve killed more wolves, different shapeshifters, and other beings then he has, “I’m a warden.” She stabbed her piece of chicken with her fork, taking a small bite. “Figured you should know, given,” she nodded between the two of them, “all of this.”

“I’ll for sure be taking a lot of photos so I can manage that,” Ariana replied excitedly. She couldn’t wait to be camping in the mountains she was born in. Connecting to a part of her past that was once too dangerous to explore. It all made her giddy and it showed. At the mention of not being the best at art, she laughed. “Being not the best at art and terrible at art are two totally different things.” She was decent enough at sketching, but being colorblind didn’t lend much help to other forms of art. Then again, Ulf specialized in blank ink work and his art was dope as fuck. She listened to Athena talk about her outdoors experience and the like as she shovelled lo mein into her mouth. She’d been about to respond when Athena asked her next question. Did she know Rio was a beast hunter? What? Her fork dropped, clanking against her plate. Her face went pale and she struggled to find her words. Then Athena said she was a warden. Slightly better for her current predicament, but Rio was a beast hunter? He killed werewolves and she thought they were for real friends? She suddenly felt very sick. “I--,” she started. What the fuck she was supposed to say? “He, You’re-- What? He never said anything. We’ve talked about all this stuff and he never even--” She swallowed back a lump in her throat and placed clenched fists in her lap. “So you hate werewolves then,” she said plainly. Either they did or they didn’t. She needed to know.

“Good. That’s good.” Athena replied. “Well, hey, you know, I call it like I see it. I wasn’t lying about you rocking your hair the way you do, or the fact of how I matched my dress to your hair.” She heard Ariana’s fork clink against her plate and something in her - small, miniscule, hardly noticeable - felt tight. Like maybe she shouldn’t have done this. Not because of her brother. He’d made her mad enough - but for Ariana. She had considered the other girl a friend, and she hadn’t stopped the flirting or whatever had been going on. “He doesn’t exactly advertise it. He’s interested in it.” None of that was false, but she didn’t have the heart right now to outwardly deny any of this. It wasn’t like Rio wouldn’t have painted her in the worst light possible. Even if some of what he said held certain truths to it. “I don’t hate you.” Athena pushed her plate to the side. “It’s complicated.” Fiddled with her rings, a couple on each hand. Rings that would easily burn Ariana if she so chose. She held her hands back, dropped them into her lap. “Fae? Not a fan of those.” Though she’d been raised to find all supernatural beings abhorrent, fae would always be top of the list. At least no other being made her feel physically uncomfortable. She was grateful for her abilities - always would be, but it did make fae even less appealing than they already were. She could hear her mother’s voice again - ask her to come outside, just get it over with Athena. No pet names. All formal. “I just figured I should be honest with you. I’m sorry my brother hasn’t been.” Glad he didn’t get to you first.

It was hard to feel that same joy over matching each other when her head was spinning too fast for her to come to terms with. Ariana could feel her heart beating faster yet somehow her chest felt tight. The air in the restaurant suddenly seemed thick. She had unknowingly befriended someone who wanted to hunt her and had let herself have a crush on someone who would hurt Deirdre without second thought. At least with Kaden, she had known where they stood from the moment they met and Celeste had somehow mended the gap there. She wanted to have that same ability-- to bridge the hunter world and supernatural world so there was less death all around, but she felt blindsided. She’d trusted both of them and she felt so stupid for it. She shifted uncomfortably in her seat, unable to really hide her emotions. “He’s interested in it…” She trailed off, her voice had still been quiet but she imagined Athena could hear her. Did that mean he planned on hunting her? Oh god, he knew Layla. Did he plan on hurting Layla? The thought made her fists instinctively want to punch anything, but they were still at their table. God, was this over yet? She wanted more than anything to leave. Athena was still being nice enough to her, but the mention of hating fae still made her stomach do summersaults. While she had some potentially fae related concerns, she doubted they were all bad. She loved Deirdre and Kaden was dating a fae? They didn’t deserve to die on that basis alone. “I’m glad you don’t hate me.” It rang hollow. At least that meant one of them didn’t want to kill her. “Not a fan of fae, got it.” She’d have to make sure she and Deirdre never met. It was good Athena had been honest with her, but it still left her feeling sick and wanting to run out of the restaurant. Run to anywhere but here. Her voice was monotonous as she replied, “Thank you for telling me.” I can’t believe he didn’t. I can’t believe I stayed with them and he never even mentioned it. Oh no, what if he’s the one who picked up our bounty? It would have been so easy. I told him everything.

“I mean, he reads a ton, so I figure?” Athena shrugged. “He’s big into research.” She pushed a piece of chicken around on her plate. No longer hungry. No longer certain exactly what she was feeling. The girl in front of her was not human. She was precisely the sort of person - the sort of being - who Athena killed. Yet she’d never tried to hurt her. It still wasn’t right, though. “I won’t - I do not hate you.” Even if you are everything I am supposed to hate. “I have had far too much trouble with fae.” This wasn’t the point right now. “I figured I should.” The chicken was getting cold. She didn’t care. She could feel her mother’s gaze on her - impossible, because they weren’t near Harris Island. Yet somehow, her mother was there - or her thoughts were; every word she’d spoken about werewolves running through Athena’s mind. They are all vermin. We kill them, Athena, you know this. She knew over a dozen ways to do it, too. She looked over to Ariana - felt her throat go dry. “I suppose I can answer a question or two if you want.” She grabbed her fork, turning it in and between her fingers. She needed to hold onto something. To quell her gut instinct. The very fact that Ariana knew what she was was dangerous. Even if she seemed far less of a threat than Deirdre. She might know someone else. This wasn’t like Winston. They were human. Ariana was not, even if she looked it sometimes.

“Right, yeah, he does have all those books,” Ariana nodded. The plate in front of her still had entirely too much food and she felt sick. She’d given a beast hunter everything he needed to know to pick up her bounty. If it was him, all of it was her fault. But he’d been surprised. Then she remembered he also acted surprised when she told him she was a werewolf. It wouldn’t have been a surprise. He could have sensed her just like Celeste and Kaden had. Her stomach lurched again. Rio was supposed to be her friend and here she was being completely blindsided. She contemplated picking up her fork again to try and keep up the illusion of dinner, but even the smell was becoming too much. The air was starting to feel too thick. She longed to be back out in the fresh air with the trail home flying beneath her feet. “I don’t hate you either.” She just wasn’t who Ariana thought she was, but at least she was honest. Her attitude on fae wasn’t all that comforting, though. She loved Deirdre. Though remembering her last encounter with Lydia. No, she thought, you don’t even know what she is. You just need to see Ace again. At the mention of questions, she somehow blanked. She usually had a million questions, but right now, Ariana was sure she didn’t want to know the answers. Her mind was already reeling. “Could that be a standing offer? I’m kind of drawing a blank right now.”

“Well, he’s a nerd.” Athena shrugged. Somehow speaking ill of her brother even if she was mad at him felt wrong. Even if she hadn’t said anything other than the truth. Ariana was permitted to make her own conclusions. If her brother had gotten to Ariana first he would have painted her in a far crueler light. She was being honest - and wasn’t that just what her brother always asked of her? She found that she wasn’t hungry anymore. Apparently inviting people to The Red Dragon spelled disaster on some level. First with Winston and now with Ariana - though at least the latter- at least the present situation was one she’d brought on herself. “Good. You - you do still look good. Your hair, I mean.” I’m going to have to shower and throw out whatever I’m wearing - like before, after the run. In case mom somehow can pick up that I’ve been spending too much time around a werewolf. Willingly. “Yeah.” She bit her lip. “Besides, there’s some things that should be discussed in private.” Part of her thoughts crossed to how easy it still might be to get the other girl alone. “Or, you know, at least not in the middle of a restaurant.” You shouldn’t offer this to anyone, much less a wolf. “I mean, it’s not like we’re not going to not see one another. I’d like it if you didn’t drop out of that. Plus, not really sure how we’d explain that, since we’ve been having a great time and the kids love you.” She raised an eyebrow - a small smile beginning on her lips though not present as it had been in the beginning of their dinner.

The comment on Rio being a nerd didn’t bring Ariana any comfort. She knew he was estranged from his family, which could mean a good many things, but it didn’t sit well that he’d kept so much from her. Clearly, she knew nothing about either of them and she just laid her own story out bare for them. At least Athena had been honest. She didn’t like what she did, but some degree of trust had been maintained. “Right,” she said hoarsely. Her hand slowly rose to touch the ends of her own hair. Athena still thought she looked good and she wasn’t sure what to say. She couldn’t see it anymore. Not knowing she was an active hunter. They could be friendly, but she couldn’t see herself with someone who believed in killing others she cared for. “Yeah,” she choked out, “Yours too.” The air only seemed to get thicker and thicker and her palms were sweaty in her lap now. She just couldn’t shake away the anger that Rio hadn’t told her about all of this. She’d been open with him from the get go and something didn’t feel right. “That’s true.” Ariana, you have to use your words. None seemed to come. As she spoke of camp, she assured, “Oh yeah, I love the kids-- I wouldn’t quit camp just because of this. You were honest with me-- that’s…” More than she could say about Rio. The thought that maybe she’d just given out the information that was needed to kill her and Celeste wouldn’t go away. “Rio not telling me isn’t sitting right with me. He’s--” She swallowed back the sob in her throat. “I should go. I’m sorry, I’m just not feeling so good now. It’s not-- It’s not you, okay? Thank you for telling me, really.” She gathered up her bag and tried to remember to take deep breaths like Celeste had always reminded her.

It would have figured that the first time she found someone who seemed to truly care for her - well, outside of Winston, that was - that person had to go and be not human. Athena brushed her own hair to the side just as Ariana did. Why did this feel weird? She wasn’t supposed to feel remorse for anyone other than human beings or human beings with extra abilities - who were still technically human. “Thank you.” She’d known that there would be a shift, but instead of being afraid of her she was nearly silent and Athena felt a new sort of weird feeling. “The kids love you too.” She said. That much was completely honest. Ariana had a certain sort of magnetism with the. Even Sasha had grown incredibly fond of her. “I think honesty is good to attempt when possible.” When useful. “That makes sense. He just doesn’t like to talk about it, so I guess that’s why. Though he should’ve, if you two are hanging out so much.” Ariana stood up and Athena bit her lip. Why do I want to comfort her? Her hand found the knife again and she held it tight. This would be better to use. “You’re welcome.” She watched Ariana leaving. Called the waiter over and asked for the check. Spun the dull knife around in between her fingers before stabbing it into the chicken. She wasn’t hungry for leftovers anyways.

#the killer in me #athena #wickedswriting #everything is fine #nothing to see here

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