#and a clark that’ll always wait for him

[atomicowboy]

okay FINE i’ll draw them

[madelynraemunson]

CALL ME WHAT YOU WANT 𓆩♡𓆪

(Book #1 of the Hellfire Gentlemen’s Club series)

strip club owner!eddie x fem!exotic dancer!hargrove!reader

𝐌𝐎𝐃𝐄𝐑𝐍 𝐀𝐔 18+ MDNI

Chapter 019: The Piggyback

If you had the chance to do it over again with Eddie — and DO IT RIGHT — would you?

↳ chapters: 001, 002*, 003** , 004**, 005 , 006 , 007* , 008**, 009, 010, 011, 012* , 013**, 014** , 015, 016**, 017, 018, 019, 020* * = somewhat smut , ** = smut

CW: hospital setting, dialogue heavy, uncertainty, fluff, talks of blood/broken bones/etc., car accident implications

word count: 2.5k words

“I’ll pick up these broken pieces ‘til I’m bleeding, if that’ll make it right.”

♡

Hawkins Memorial Hospital reeks of bleach wipes and bitter tears.

“Eddie…” Dustin wails. “No no no, noooo. Eddie…”

You’re sitting on the floor of the nurses station with Robin, Steve, and Nancy while the ‘kiddos’ occupy the waiting chairs. Surely, it's got to be unsanitary, but contracting germs off the floor of the ICU were the least of your concerns.

Your eyes follow Wayne as he helplessly wheels around, talking to anyone who would lend him an ear... anyone who would possibly know anything about his nephew’s condition.

“And my nephew — Eddie — he's self-employed,” Wayne continues to tell them.

Wheeling…wheeling…wheeling…

“But the Program he’s with allows him to go through Scott Clarke. You know Scott Clarke Insurance? It’s S-c-o-t-t, C-l-a-r-k-e… I’m through them too…”

But the able-bodied personnel are too fast for old Wayne, walking at a speed about 5mph while his frail fingers can only allow him up to 2 and a half. Just like the liters of oxygen he is on.

“Does he have a case manager assigned to him yet?” Wayne wonders. “If so I would like their name, please.”

Eventually Wayne’s voice fades the further away he gets. And just so you don't wallow in your misery, you go to your phone to see if anyone else has been reaching out to you for updates.

Justice (Hellfire)

Omg just heard the news! Hey girlie, is Eddie ok??? Can we come see him yet??

Just as you expected. Annoyed, you respond.

Girl fuck you

Suddenly a hand squeezes your kneecap. You didn't realize how aggressively you were tapping your feet until Max stops you.

“Doing okay, sis?”

“Yeah I'm just...” you sigh. “…going through all the emotions I guess. And in a fucked up way, I'm kinda convinced this is all my fault."

“You're a dumbass," she scowls at you. "How could you have possibly seen this coming? This was not in anyone’s control."

“I broke the rule,” is all you say. “We never go to bed angry.”

The odds have always been against you. You would think you knew that by now. It was probably why you spent all morning beating yourself up; because you knew that if you did, there's a huge possibility that Eddie would pull through. The Universe is twisted like that.

Suddenly, a pair of white coats are seen coming out of Eddie's room. Everybody in the party immediately stands, like it's some formation exercise at a bootcamp of sorts. Wayne eventually circles back as well, gazing up at Dr. Owens with hopeful eyes.

“Eddie is going to be okay,” Owens concludes. “You can all breathe now.”

The room fills with bone-weary, but nonetheless celebratory cheers. Owens and Eddie's nurse, Nurse Patty allows everybody to hug one another in relief. Eddie's doctor goes to speak again when the clamor dies down.

“But he did have to undergo emergency surgery,” Dr. Owens adds. “And he lost a lot of blood, so we have him on additional transfusions, as well as an antibiotic for an infection caused by his wounds. The plan for him is to recover, hopefully get him up with therapy when the time is right, and then he can get out of here.”

“Can we see him?” your voice cracks.

“That is up to him," the doctor responds. "But for now, what the young man told me is that he wants chocolate pudding... and to see his Uncle and girlfriend."

You and Wayne waste no time. Unlocking the brakes of his wheelchair, you lug Eddie's uncle into ICU room #010, unsure of what is to greet you behind the curtains.

The room is littered with juice and jello, laced by an overpowering bleach-esque fragrance that most likely was there to mask the innate smell of blood and other bodily fluids.

Beep, beep, beep, goes the familiar IV machine. And funny enough, Eddie has his TV on, blasting South Park on full volume, exactly the way it normally would be playing at the Harrington-Munson estate.

"…tell everyone the truth about whose fault this is! I didn't do anything!" ... "...you KNEW about the prank, you could've stopped it at any time, but you didn't say a word. SILENCE IS VIOLENCE!"

And there is Eddie, dressed in a mesh-fabric gauze bandana, a worn-out beige hospital gown, with matching grippy socks. His entire lower lip is busted, left arm in a cast, both of his heels elevated with blood-saturated pillows. And his hair... you didn't even want to think about the matting. But that is ground to be covered much later.

When Eddie sees the two of you, he only utters one sentence:

“Does this mean I finally get that motorcycle?”

“You fucking idiot!” you wail going in to hug him.

Eddie chuckles solemnly as you completely fall into his embrace, soaking his gown with your salty tears.

"I thought we lost you, Eddie,” you whisper in his ear as you sniff your tears away. "I wouldn't be able to live with myself if we did...knowing what I said."

He strokes your hair. "You have every right to be mad at me. I've been such a shitty boyfriend to you."

“I second that,” Wayne huffs, crossing his arms. “The idiot part, I mean… but I’m glad you’re okay, son.”

“Tell me something I don’t know, Wayne,” Eddie grumbles. “I knew those Eddie Stops would catch up to me one day.”

Eventually, the rest of the party spills in, starting with the batallion of younger Hellfire boys who were inconsolable all morning, absolutely petrified of losing their role-model.

"Jesus,” Dustin breathes. “We thought you were a-goner!”

"Hey guys, good to see ya," Eddie grins, soaking up every bit of attention from his little minions as they all pile on top of him. Suddenly, he flinches. "Hey hey hey, watch my IVs! I've got an important med running through that piggyback."

"Right, sorry," they all utter in unison as they separate themselves from him.

Steve is next in line to give Eddie a hug, followed by Robin, and Nancy, and soon Jonathan. Chrissy and Argyle are the next people to trail in, with Henry and Nina at their tail. Then, the Corroded Coffin boys soon after.

"Eddie, oh my god!" Chrissy cries. "Don't you ever scare any of us like that again!"

"Good to see ya, Chris," Eddie smiles, giving her a one-armed hug. "Hey Neens! Creel! Villalobos. Boys.”

"So not cool man," Argyle shakes his head. "So not cool. We were worried sick for you."

As you all iron out the details, it is discovered that Eddie got into the accident shortly after leaving your place. He, in fact did, pull an Eddie Stop, failing to see the car coming at him from his left side, which then resulted in him getting T-boned. The other driver was okay. In fact, he was the one who called the ambulance for him.

"How much longer until you're discharged?" Nancy asks.

"I'm not too sure," Eddie sighs. "Hopefully in a few weeks."

He fails to sit up completely, wincing once again when his pain drags him down. Everybody nearly rushes to his aid, tenderly lowering Eddie back onto the bed while encouraging him to take it easy.

"Don't even worry about it, Eds," Lucas assures him. "We can hold down the fort."

"Oh that's reassuring," Eddie mutters sarcastically, shaking his head in discontent.

"What'd you say?"

"Nothing!"

---

You decide to stay with Eddie for the afternoon while everyone else goes home. A couple others stay behind as well, so you all take turns alternating, helping the nurses with their care and making sure Eddie isn't alone when a specialist from his team comes to see him.

But for now, it's just you and him, cuddled up in his rather stiff hospital bed, watching TV to pass time by.

"It feels weird sitting in place for once," he comments. "My body isn't used to laying down for a long period of time."

"Constantly in fight or flight, huh?" you tut. "Always on the go..."

Eddie whistles. "God, you have no idea..."

"Nah, I do," you insist, grabbing his hand to kiss it. "Our flights just look a lil different is all."

Suddenly, your phone rings again, causing both you and Eddie to jolt in shock. This time, it's your FaceTime ringtone... and on the other line, is Kassidy, quite possibly accompanied by the other Hellfire Girls.

"Jesus H. Christ," you mumble. "They've been spamming me all morning. Probably just wanna know how you're doing."

"Answer it," Eddie encourages you sharply. His tone is rather gruff, and urgent. "I need to talk to them."

Because you're nice enough to allow the girls the luxury of knowing their lord and savior is alive, you answer the call and hand your phone to Eddie. There's a slight pause before the call is connected.

"Hi," is all Eddie says.

"Eddie! OMG!" the girls squeal through the other line, of course all while failing to acknowledge you — the person whose number they called in the first place. "Are you okay?!"

"Yes girls, I'm fine..." he sighs. "How's Hellfire? Everyone holding down the fort?"

"Of course, just like we do best," Kassidy responds. "We just miss you, Eddie. What happened?"

"Got T-boned."

"OMG, whose fault was it?"

"Mine," he seems relatively short with them.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm in a little bit of pain. But I got some pain meds to help me."

"Thank God!"

Meanwhile, on the other side of the hospital walls, Nina and Chrissy stare at each other in bewilderment, a look that is naturally followed by one of disgust.

"Oh I know damn well..." Nina shakes her head.

"Stupid ass bitches," Chrissy adds.

Being the nosy girls they are, Nina and Chrissy crane their heads over into the room, eavesdropping on the FaceTime conversation between Eddie and the Hellfire Girls.

"Oh Eddie," Emmy pouts. "We're so glad that you're doing okay."

"Yeah, Eddie!" Lady chirps. "When do you think you'll be released?"

"Hopefully I'll be out in about two weeks," Eddie responds. "But I'll stay at home for a bit before coming back. You won't even know I'm gone."

The girls cheer obnoxiously on the other line. You try to act indifferent towards everything for Eddie's sake, but it's hard for you to feign something that so evidently isn't true.

Eddie senses it. And what he says next to the girls takes you by surprise.

"...But," Eddie says. "In that same amount of time, I expect your lockers to be cleared... as well as your side of the dressing room."

There's a brief silence while the girls try to piece together what Eddie means by that. Because surely it doesn't mean what they initially thought it meant.

"Why? Are we getting moved?"

"No, you're all getting terminated."

So it was exactly what they thought it meant.

"Wh-what? Why?!"

"What do you mean why?" Eddie demands.

He begins to list off everything they have done wrong, all of which they pretended to be oblivious about until now.

"The final straw is calling my girlfriend's phone, non-stop, knowing that's the only way to get through to me," Eddie goes on. "And not even acknowledging her! And even if you did, you all have some damn nerve considering what you guys did at Hellfire."

"You don't even have proof of us damaging her property though!" Justice argues. "So for all we know, you're just accusing us of things, Eddie."

"That's funny," you speak up. "Who said anything about property damage?"

Caught in their own trap.

The MAIN reason Eddie couldn't fire the Hellfire Girls when they put sugar in your gas tank was because you didn't have any proof that they did it, therefore it wouldn't hold up well if the girls decided to sue for wrongful termination. Again, lots of legalities to come in to play.

The girls were smart though. Choosing to wreck your car because they knew it was parked in the security camera's blindspot. Essentially, after the damage was done, it would be your word against theirs. And there was only so much that Eddie could do with the "subtle jabs". But now that you have a confession, Eddie can work off of that.

"But Eddie!" Justice whines. "This is so unfair. We've known you, and been at Hellfire longer than she has."

"Two weeks," Eddie reiterates, still firm on his decision. "That's enough time for you ladies to figure out the next step. I wish you the best of luck."

The ending of the FaceTime call wasn't a pretty one. It mainly consisted of denying and bargaining, all of which Eddie did not have the energy to be receptive to.

You and Eddie continue to hash it out with the girls over the phone, all while Nina and Chrissy were twerking in celebration because it meant more money for them during tip outs. And most importantly, celebrating you getting the justice you deserve...along with the possibility of you coming back.

"That was something I should've done way long ago," Eddie sighs as he hands you your phone back. "I hate dealing with legal shit."

"I'm sorry that they ended up being horrible," you frown.

"And I'm sorry that they ended up being horrible to you," Eddie counters. "I really wish I could've done more for you. But up until now my hands were tied legally, honey. And financially."

"It was a sticky situation," you mutter. "But...I knew you had a favorite."

He kisses your forehead once more and you lean into him again, resting your head against his chest and wrapping your leg around his torso.

"Ow, ow, OW!" Eddie yelps.

"Sorry!"

You asunder again.

"You think you're gonna find enough dancers in time?" you ask him.

"We'll be okay four dancers short," Eddie assures you. "And besides, more tips for the other ladies when it comes down to tip-outs. They did Hellfire a favor."

Exactly what Chrissy and Nina were thinking.

"Speaking of Hellfire..." Eddie quips. "Does this mean you're coming back?"

"Only if I'm still welcome."

"Of course you are, babe," Eddie chuckles. "Everyone there loves you."

Your heart flutters at the forsaken "L" word, uttered with so much certainty and fondness.

"...including me," Eddie adds. "I love you, man."

You bite your lip to contain your excitement as you blush, giving Eddie a light punch across his chest.

"I love you too...man."

And as a way to poke fun at you, Eddie flashes you a "surf's up" sign with his non-crippled fingers. He puts on his most pretentious California accent possible, one he learned how to do from Argyle.

"Righteous...man."

And before it could get any more intimate, Chrissy makes her way into the room, reaching into her tote bag to give you something she's been holding onto since she arrived.

You watch as she unveils a familiar velvet garment — your cloak. She gives you a courtly bow as she hands it back over to you, symbolizing an end to your very brief retirement from Hellfire, and a permanent seat at The Party's table.

"You know Hargrove, I believe..." says Chrissy. "...that this is for you."

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[paladin-of-nerd-fandom65]

Thanks for the answers :D can’t wait for your questions! lol

1: if the duo was not best friends/starburst duo in a AU, who would they be best friends/starburst duo with?

2: I know Chris’s archenemy is general zod, since they are “father & son” but why is Jake’s nemesis is victor zassz? Why him specifically out of both Batman’s & Nightwings rogue gallery?

3: you know about the sinister sons from modern comics, which is the evil versions of the super sons, who are the evil versions of the starburst duo?

4: if they can get rid of one supervillain, besides zod & zassz of course, who would it be?

5: what’s something they find overrated? Like something popular like stranger things on Netflix for example.

6: what’s something they find underrated?

You’re most welcome. So here, have some more answer lol XD @pin-crusher2000

1) Recently both @confusedhummingbird @spider-jaysart and I have been formulating an idea for a new character to act as a Wonder family member akin to Diana with Bruce and Clark, a character that’s a third POV and brings a more excited and passionate side to the Duo’s dynamic, someone to compliment them on adventures

Hence I shall take this questions as an opportunity to introduce a new character I can further develop in future posts.

Jake’s other best friend if not for Chris Kent would be named Penelope Haney Troy, a clone daughter of Donna Troy aka Troia created by Project Cadmus. She’s the lively, no nonsense, and adventurous type of girl about Jake’s age who’s always there to bring some comfort and fun to his life as he does for her. Her hero codename would be Hoplite with her main teacher being Cassie Sandsmark, similar to how Jake’s main teacher is Tim Drake

Basically think of her as the Donna to Jake’s Dick; platonic best friends, Wonder Twins

Then there’s Chris, for his best friend besides Jake, without doubt that’ll be Thara.

Oh yeah and these are in addition to a classmate Chris knows well back at school and Jasper Logan for Jake as well respectively for other best friends

2) Well that sort of relationship between Zsasz and Jake happens after a particularly difficult and cruel case involving some street orphans who are mercilessly taken by Zsasz, put into a gladiator type tournament where whoever survives then faces (and inevitably loses to) him. When Jake manages to find the location of this wicked scheme, Zsasz had him captured and personally taken into a duel against him, stripped of his powers, most of his equipment and even his own boots for this match. Had Jake won, the surviving children go free so the brave young hero takes that challenge. It was far from an easy fight as Zsasz was armed with both a butcher knife and a familiar rusty crowbar. The beat down Jake endured during this battle left him scarred both physically and emotionally while Zsasz was utterly remorseless in his work. Thus, Jake has deemed Zsasz his personal archenemy ever since

For more information on that, check out my fic ‘Broken Wings’

On a meta level, I just felt like Zsasz compliments Jake in that sort of ‘person driven by their commitment to their own’ archetype and give it a unique dark twist to it as Jake can attest to. Plus, since the original version of that arc (which btw introduced the world to Colin Wilkes) has its protagonist regularly nowadays have arch-nemeses linked to the League of Shadows in one form or another more often, that left Zsasz up for grabs thus Jake can fulfill that role

3) Oh I have a good passing knowledge of that book (mainly for the fact it’s further taking name of Chris Kent or rather Lor Zod in general further though the mud but I digress);

Now if there’s any sort of evil or at least anti hero mainline universe counterpart to the Starburst Duo, I would cast them being like a bastard preteen son of Blackfire and the aforementioned Vla-Blo (the young bully Kryptonian who was locked in the Phantom Zone by an ancestor of Chris and had the goal of humiliating the House of Zod for this perceived injustice) who both antagonize our main heroes in many fields with the notion in their minds of proving themselves superior to them, though often to failing results.

At least that’s what I can think of for this moment if anything comes up, I’ll let you know ;-)

4) Probably Mongul, a lot of it due to a time when he’s revealed as a mysterious business partner for Blockbuster regarding trading with for some reversed engineered fear toxin and the brawl that ensued between them and the Warlord tyrant was nothing short of brutal and devastating*, even if they stopped that shipped of fear toxin getting to Mongul’s hands.

*Just picture that what the Duo, also Corvus/Jasper Logan and Hoplite/Penelope Troy went through here with Mongul was akin to what happened with Mark Grayson aka Invincible and his friends when they faced Battle Beast for the first time.

5) Definitely the MCU as a general whole, Family Guy and about a few pro wrestlers they can name off the top of their heads….surprisingly not John Cena. More likely Randy Orton, Seth Rollins, The USOs and definitely The Rock. Heck Dwayne Johnson both in wrestling and especially as a film actor, they can’t stand people who claim he’s the best…or rather fittingly The Great One. It internally the Duo out hearing about him in school all the time.

6) Easily the Monsterverse movies, Hell’s Kitchen, We Bare Bears, and during the Halloween season Hellraiser (that’s if Chris and Jake are feeling brave enough to watch through it’s more gruesome moments lol)

[battleforoclarious]

Homecoming Hero

It is high noon and the Sun from on high is shimmering through the city. The wind has quieted down after a strong gale blowing in the morning. It is now calm and settled. The Pearson International Airport has the status of postmodernity. Glass walls facade the building in emerald blue and it is beautifully built

INT. TORONTO PEARSON INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT. TORONTO. CANADA. USAA. DAY

YOUNG ADULT CLARKSON comes out of airport custom in his military camo. Through the door - his mother - BETH - is waiting to pick him up. He comes out - and she sees him

BETH

CLARK!

He gives a childlike smile as he sees her. He PACES to her. As he DROPS his bags - they come into an embrace

BETH (CONTINUOUS)

How did it go?

YOUNG ADULT CLARKSON

It went just fine

BETH

I’m proud of you - son. You did good there

YOUNG ADULT CLARKSON

Just trying my best - mom

BETH

You’re much like your father - you know that

YOUNG ADULT CLARKSON looks at her and smiles again

BETH (CONTINUOUS)

He would be proud of the man you’ve become

As they walk to the parking lot

YOUNG ADULT CLARKSON

You think he is looking down on us right now

She smiles at him - and then

BETH

Always. He’s always here with us (POINTING TO HIS HEART). Let me take that from you

As she tries to take his bag for him. But he refuses

YOUNG ADULT CLARKSON

It’s okay - mom. I got it

BETH

We're gonna have your favourite tonight - spaghetti with meatballs

YOUNG ADULT CLARKSON

That’ll be great - mom. I’ll love that

As they get to the parking lot - BETH unlocks the car and OPENS the trunk. YOUNG ADULT CLARKSON PLACES the bag inside and CLOSES the trunk. YOUNG ADULT CLARKSON and BETH go around and get into the car. They drive off

[malethoughts]

Hot Steamy Quotes From Movies

Here are Steamy  Movies quotes from films that’ll depart you looking more. Now the best element left is your boyfriend using it on you, so send him these proper now!

“In the what-I-wait-for department, you’re it baby.” — Dr. Bill Capa (Bruce Willis), Color of the Night

“You’re really wearing that dress like you’re doing it a favor.” — Jacob Palmer (Ryan Gosling), Crazy Stupid Love

“I thought about what you would look like having an orgasm.” — Graham Dalton (James Spader), Sex, Lies & Videotape

“Ned: “Maybe you shouldn’t dress like that.”Matty: “This is a blouse and a skirt. I don’t know what you’re talking about.”Ned: “You shouldn’t wear that body.”– Body Heat

“Making love to you is like riding a horse.” — Michael Pappas (Peter Gallagher), Summer Lovers

“She was Lo — plain Lo — in the morning, standing four-feet-ten in one sock. She was Lola in slacks, she was Dolly at school. She was Dolores on the dotted line. But in my arms, she was always Lolita. Light of my life, fire of my loins. My sin. My soul.” — Humbert (Jeremy Irons), Lolita

Yes, Mr. Sims, there’s only two syllables in this whole wide world worth hearing: pussy.” — Scent of a Woman

“Sex was a game to her. She got off on the control. She always used to tell me it had to be her way.” — Jeffrey Roston (Frank Langella), Body of Evidence

“You should be kissed — and often — and by someone who knows how.” — Rhett Butler (Clark Gable), Gone with the Wind

“Get your a** on the bed and prepare for the f*** of your life.” — Sebastian Valmont (Ryan Phillippe), Cruel Intentions

“I have crossed oceans of time to find you.” – Dracula (Gary Oldman), Dracula

“You will never age for me, nor fade, nor die.” — Will Shakespeare (Joseph Fiennes), Shakespeare in Love

“I thought about what you would look like having an orgasm.” — Sex, Lies & Videotape

“I wanna be on you.” — Ron Burgundy (Will Ferrell), Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy

“No measure of time with you will be long enough. But we’ll start with forever.” — Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson), The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1

“Shall we shag now or shag later? Yeah, baby, yeah!” — Austin Powers (Mike Myers), Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery

“Tell me… tell me you want me.” — David McCall (Mark Wahlberg), Fear

“So, it’s not gonna be easy. It’s gonna be really hard. We’re gonna have to work at this every day, but I want to do that because I want you. I want all of you, forever — you and me, every day.” — Noah Calhoun (Ryan Gosling), The Notebook

“What do you say we blow this joint and then each other?” — Josh Randall (Josh Gad), Love & Other Drugs

“Your eyes are amazing, do you know that? You should never shut them, not even at night.”  — Unfaithful

“Nobody puts Baby in a corner.” – Johnny Castle (Patrick Swayze), Dirty Dancing

“I would rather have had one breath of her hair, one kiss from her mouth, one touch of her hand than eternity without it.” — Seth (Nicolas Cage), City of Angels

“You must forgive my lips… they find pleasure in the most unusual places.” — Max Skinner (Russell Crowe), A Good Year

“Did anyone ever tell you you have very sensual lips?” — Chris Wilton (Jonathan Rhys Meyers), Match Point

[seancekitsch]

I was Never Young: A Klaus x Reader fic

Anyways uhhh heres my fic based on the Klaus spin off series!! I made sure not to really spoil anything in the series if u guys haven't finished it yet but it does take place after the series events. there's no smut which is weird for me bc i usually write just smut but like yolo this is where it went.

Klaus had been through the ringer. Los Angeles seems to just be more of the same, so why even leave home? Right, he’d been kicked out and cut off. Well, at least one of those problems has disappeared, he thinks as he pats the ugly little satchel full of money at the side of his hip.

He meanders down the street, no real direction or motive as he shuffles down. The diazepine is starting to wear off, and he’s going to need something to dull the corners of his mind in about an hour. A neon green sign draws his eyes, looks as sick as he’s about to be.

‘Cobra’s’ the sign says, and this one is probably as good as any.

The bar has exactly six people inside of it, he realizes as he pushes the door open. It’s hazy, full of the stale and welcoming scent of menthol tobacco. Perfect, Klaus thinks.

The bartender is a stern looking man, like he used to be a wrestler. Maybe this is what Luther or Diego will look like in thirty years if they don’t eat their wheaties.

There are two other men sitting in a booth by the corner, deep in conversation with one another. They’re boring suits, no one that Klaus could have for company. He’s just looking for someone alive to have a conversation with while he numbs himself. Someone alive, he clarifies to himself. His last friend left for heaven’s greener pastures, which he’s happy for him, but maybe the guy could have stuck around on this plane of existence for a weekend longer.

There’s a couple at the end of the bar that looks like they're on a date. In the middle of the day? Wonder if their spouses know they aren't at work. Klaus laughs out loud, poor bastards.

And then there's you, with your mixed drink, absentmindedly swirling it with your little stirrer. You seem like a safe bet, so his feet drag him over to sit down at the middle of the bar near you. He more or less throws himself into the chair, his feet immediately feeling the relief. He’s still clammy and feverish in the come down, his stomach hurts, but that’s nothing a little booze and sugar can’t help.

You notice the guy as soon as he walks in. Of course you do. After a few years, you start to recognize people even if you don’t know them. You don’t recognize him. He looks paranoid, fresh off a set and worried about what a job will do, for and to him. Poor thing. Probably one of those River Phoenix types. Young, pretty, and overwhelmed.  In teen mags one day, in the obituaries the next. All preventable, hundreds of people that could step in if money meant more than the people around you.

“Hey,” the guy next to you greets you, his voice uneven, watery and cautious. His hands shake a little as he pulls a stack of cash out of his threadbare satchel, pulling a few bills from the rubberband holding it together and flattening them out against the bar.

“Hey, yourself. You new here?” He looks surprised as the words leave your lips, but is interrupted by the bartender approaching.

“Yeah, whatever that special is for today, that’ll do,” he orders like he doesn't really know what to do at the bar. He turns back to you, looking ever so boyish and lost with his big green eyes.

“How did you-?”

“How did I know you're new here?” You throw the rest of your drink back, carelessly placing it at the far end of the bar from you, “Because you don't look absolutely beaten down. I mean, you look a little twitchy, but you look fresh.”

Fresh? That’s not at all how Klaus would describe his look, having not slept in days and having been using an extreme amount of controlled substances, even for his standards.

The bartender slides a glass towards him, and he scrambles to catch it. There’s a total of two umbrellas, a flamingo stirrer, and two straws in it. In all, garish and hard to look at. The bartender takes the money, and they nod at each other.

“You look kinda young to be here,” with that remark, Klaus takes a long sip of the fruity cocktail he ordered, a sickening blue color so intense you bet it could substitute as hair dye.

“You do too,” you quip. You’d been working in this town for a few years now, on and off movie sets and bartending clubs with live acts. This boy? He looked fresh. Like he’s just been taken for his first ride. He looked rough and unused to it.

“How old are you?” he asks,  he can’t place your age or accent. You look just as young as him, if not younger. You sound southern- Boston- Chicago- western and somewhere European he can’t place. Is that what Hollywood does to people's speech patterns? Is that gonna happen to him? But you seem to be as much an anomaly here as he does.

“How old are you?” you mimic back.

Klaus stares in awe as you rest your elbow against the bar, making sure he sees that as you snap your fingers, a cigarette materializes between them. You quickly shift the rolled tobacco to rest between your index and middle finger, ready to place it against your lips.

“Listen, I’m old enough.” That's all you have to say about that.

“Yeah,” he agrees, “Sometimes I think I was never young.”

You exhale sharply through your nose, the hint of a laugh.

“Yeah, alright.” You fish around in your jacket pocket for the lighter and ask, “Do you wanna get out of here? Only smoking bar in town, but it ain’t got hotdogs.”

Hotdogs, Klaus thinks, He remembers having sausage back home, but he’s never had a hotdog.

“Why are you lookin’ at me like that? You never been to a baseball game or something?”

He shook his head, no. Klaus hadn’t ever seen a baseball game. He knew the history of it, the impact it had on American society. All from a very clinical and academic standpoint. Sports weren’t really his thing.

“Nah, I always preferred activities with a bit more... uh, substance.” He laughs at his own joke, whether you get it or not really doesn’t matter.

“Right, right. So River, what’s your real name?” You talk with the cigarette but between your teeth, lighting it quickly, before the lighter in your hand vanishes from sight.

“It’s….. uh, It’s Klaus.”

You give him your name, and he repeats it, tests the name out on his tongue.

You take a deep inhale, blowing the smoke out of the corner of your mouth.

“So Klaus, wanna buy us some hotdogs?”

You leave as soon as he finishes his drink, and he talks in a way that he thinks might be too much. But you listen. You’re the first living person that’s actually listened to what he had to say since he got here. He asks about you, your story, but he doesn’t get as much as he wants. You like your smoking, you’re a special effects designer, you dropped out of high school to come out here, and you fucking love Alonzo’s hotdogs.

“Hey ‘Lonzo!” you shout, interrupting Klaus mis sentence, raising both arms above your head, the baggy sleeves of your jacket falling closer to your elbows.

“How’s my kid doin?” The man shouts back. A tall man, with heavy brows and a mustache. “And who’s this?”

“My friend Klaus here just directed a movie! With Vivian Clarke, and the kid’s never had a hotdog! Can you believe it!” Your footfalls come quicker, starting to jog as you clear the end of the block, Klaus starts to shuffle quicker to catch up. When he gets to see the man up close. clear chocolate brown eyes greet him. He looks pretty trustworthy, Klaus thinks, Like Santa Claus, or John Stamos. Basically, like anyone but Dad or Viv.

Alonzo asks all about Klaus’ recent accomplishment, not exactly something he wants to talk about, but he likes that Alonzo is genuinely curious and polite. The only thing you say is “extra relish, on both. Big shot director pays.” during the conversation, focusing more on finishing your cigarette and stubbing it out with the toe of your boot. Klaus looks down and the cigarette butt leaves no trace on the concrete.

“So back there,” he says as you wait for your dogs to be handed over, “That cigarette business, are you a magician?”

“Nah,” you say, not fully meeting his gaze, “I’m a Libra.”

You nod at the guy as he finally pulls the dogs over the edge of the cart he operates. Extra relish, just like you asked. When he places the hotdog in Klaus’ hands, the redhead’s eyes go wide. Guess he wasn’t kidding about never having relish, you think.

“Huh,” he starts, dumbfounded by the hunk of grease and meat and relish in his hands, “I’m a Libra too, actually.”

“Guess that’s something about balance or something,” you say, effectively ending the conversation again by opening your mouth as wide as you can to accommodate the sheer mass of one of Alonzo’s hotdogs.

He looks at the meal, his first and probably only for today, and then takes your lead, opening his mouth as wide as he can before finally chomping down on a huge bite of it. The bite is… heavenly. Pickled vegetables and chutneys exploding on his tastebuds, the coolness of it contrasting with the fresh off the grill meat. No offense to mom or Pogo, but none of their cooking could ever hold a candle to this street hotdog.

“Good, yeah?” Your voice, distorted by a mouth full of food, breaks his almost nirvana like trance.

“So good,” he tries to say, mouth just as full as yours. He finishes chewing, swallows with a huge gulp.

“You got any more food spots to show me?”

[daemoninwhiteround2]

Dark Dick keeping Jason as his milk cow/human cattle? Any AU!

It's mostly the way the hybrid struggles and fights against his handlers that has Dick bidding on him. He's always gone after spirited partners: he loves the back and forth of banter, and more than one fight has transitioned into something more horizontal.

(Or against a wall or over a desk or...)

He hadn't wanted to be here. Although Bruce has introduced a lot of reforms, auctions don't tend to be the best place to find spirited hybrids. Most here have had at least one owner and so have been thoroughly broken to whatever their tastes were. Ideally, Dick would've liked to grab something wild-caught, but the situation at the Manor had become untenable. Hybrids really only produce enough milk for one human, and poor Clark was getting so stressed over his inability to feed both Bruce and Dick that his supply was drying up (and there was no way that Dick would've asked Damian to share. Tim, maybe, but Conner gave Dick 'too young' feeling). So here Dick is.

He'll have to do something nice for Bruce, he muses as he raises his bid. The cow on stage is thick in all the right ways, hefty chest and thighs, and he tosses his head like he's trying to get people with his shorn horns. If he's been owned before whoever it was hasn't dimmed his fire in the slightest.

Dick grins. A passing servant flinches away and he represses the urge to laugh.

He thinks the first thing he'll do is refuse to milk the hybrid until they beg for it. Maybe slip milk enhancements into his food so his tits swell up real big real fast. A brand, definitely, that goes without saying, though he hasn't designed his own and really doesn't want to see the Wayne brand on his cow, so that'll have to wait until he can think of something. What else... A nice collar. Something that stops him from hunching over, something that forces him to stand up straight and show off his chest.

He's pondering piercings as the auctioneer announces that he's won. The hybrid swings around and glares at Dick, strong enough to strip paint from the wall.

Dick's grin darkens. He can't wait to have that spitfire crying for his touch.

[slytherinbarnes]

Sub Rosa [100]

xvi. the last war

Pairing: Bellamy Blake x reader

Word Count: 8.3k

Warnings: violence, fighting, death, blood, angst, language, anxiety.

Summary: the last war is here, can you stop it before it’s too late?

a/n: 100!!!! I WROTE 100 CHAPTERS!!! YOU READ 100 CHAPTERS!!!! WE DID IT!!!! HOW ARE WE FEELING!!!! PLEASE CHECK THE END FOR MORE NOTES!!!! 

previous chapter // season masterlist // series masterlist

The tension in the elevator is heavy as you and Clarke slip into Wanheda and Wanlida mode.

It’s hard to believe that you’ve always been so eager to distance yourself from Wanlida, but in the last few years, you’ve found yourself welcoming her with open arms. And it’s a far cry from doing better for Monty, and trying to create lasting peace, but with your niece lying limply in a chair, left alone, you don't care about any of that. You’re willing to kill anyone that gets in your way, do better be damned, because no one messes with your family. 

Bellamy, Levitt, and Octavia hang back a little, noting the anger in yours and Clarke’s expressions, none of them wanting to get in your way and risk your wrath. As the elevator lifts to level 2, Octavia leans forward to pass you her gun, giving you two weapons to work with. Levitt watches the exchange and then says, “The Shepherd’s unit will be with him guarding the door.”

“Too bad for them.”

Clarke lifts her jacket and pulls two grenades from her pockets, taken from the fallen victims of Sheidheda, and as soon as Levitt sees them, he looks at her with disappointment. “Grenades? So more killing, that’s the answer?”

Clarke doesn't turn to face him, just squares up and readies for the door to open. You spare him a quick glance over your shoulder, expression hard when you counter, “It’s what we do.”

You lock eyes with Bellamy before turning back to the front, and he offers you a nod of approval, agreeing with what you and Clarke are about to do. You nod back, wishing there was time for the two of you to have more of a proper reunion, to talk about everything that’s happened in the last few days, but there isn’t time right now. Earlier today you had too much time on your hands, leaving you anxious and waiting, and now you don’t have enough of it, causing you to leave so much with Bellamy unresolved. You shake your head to clear your thoughts, pushing them aside for later. Right now, as the elevator stops on the second level, you have more important things on your mind. 

Justice.

Clarke steps out of the elevator first, turning to make sure you’re following, and when she sees that you are, she continues towards the Stone Room. You lift your two pistols, hearing the others step out of the elevator behind you, all of you watching as Clarke throws both grenades down the hall, right outside the Stone Room. As the two of you round the corner, side by side, you step through the smoke from the explosions, shooting anyone that moves or turns towards you. 

You take out disciple after disciple with ease, the two of you killing them before most of them can even lift their weapons. When you round the last corner, you both pause in front of the door, turning to look at the others. Octavia is leaning down to grab a sword, Levitt is looking around with distress, and Bellamy is holding a gun in his hand, his back to you, already covering your backs. Clarke glances at Octavia and Levitt and says, “Cover us.”

They both nod, moving into position as Clarke turns to look at you. You lift your hand, hovering it over the button to the door, looking at her closely. “You ready?”

She nods, “Stronger together.”

And then you hit the button, quickly getting back into position as the door slides open, revealing the Stone Room, drowning in the light. Your weapons lower as your eyes land on the Anomaly Stone, now a large, glowing ball of white light, no one else in the room around you. As you stare at the stone, you can feel the crushing weight of disappointment, and you whisper, “We’re too late.”

Clarke turns towards you, distress crossing her features for half a second before it settles into determination. “Maybe not.”

You give her a look, already aware of what she’s thinking, but Levitt shakes his head, not understanding. “What do you mean?”

“She wants to go in after him.”

Bellamy steps towards the two of you, his tone skeptical. “Clarke, you have no idea what you could face when you step in there.”

You already know there’s no way you’re going to change her mind, which is why you add, “At least let us go with you.”

“No. I have to do this.” She gives you a serious look, adding, “Alone.”

You sigh, looking at her, thinking of the grief she’s going to carry if she can't avenge Madi, and you understand it. It's the same grief you carried when you thought Bellamy was dead or when you thought you lost Clarke to Josephine. Which is why you nod at her, relenting, allowing her to do what she needs to do. “Fine. But we’re waiting just outside the door. We’ll keep the halls clear for you.”

She reaches out and pulls you into a hug, whispering into the crook of your neck, “Thank you, la lune.”

You pull away and smile at her, any anger you had for her gone now that Bellamy is alive and well, and your focus instead on avenging Madi. “I love you, my shining star. Be careful.”

“I will.”

She starts to step towards the bright light, before pausing and turning to face Bellamy, her face pulled into one of regret. “I’m sorry for shooting you, Bellamy, and I’m really glad you’re okay.”

Bellamy nods, smiling at her a little, before motioning towards the light. “Go get that son of a bitch, and make him pay for what he did to our family.”

Clarke nods and gives you one last look before turning and walking towards the stone, reaching out to touch the bright light, which quickly consumes her. Once she’s gone, you turn to face the others. “We can’t let anyone get close.”

Everyone agrees and you all file into the hall again, looking around. They all turn to you, looking for your direction, and you motion towards the fallen disciples. “Levitt, Octavia, gather all the weapons.”

They start to move down the hall, grabbing anything that might be useful to the rest of you, and you turn to look at Bellamy, pointing to a long table at the other end of the hall. “Let’s use that to make a barrier.”

“Good idea.”

The two of you jog down the hall and grab the table, carrying it back to the other end and tipping it on its side, making a makeshift shield large enough for the four of you to duck behind. As soon as you get it set up, Octavia and Levitt come back with an armful of weapons each, discarding them behind your shield in case you need them. And then the four of you take up your positions behind it, getting comfortable as you wait. Octavia braces her back against the table legs, and Levitt settles in beside her. You and Bellamy move to lean against the wall, sitting in a position that’ll allow you to duck behind the shield if you need it. 

The four of you sit in silence before Bellamy makes a small sound, reaching into his pockets as he moves. You turn towards him, curious, watching as he pulls a knife and a holster from his pocket. “Almost forgot to give this to you.”

“My knife!” You take it from him with a wide smile, immediately moving to put the holster on. “Where’d you get it?”

“When I was escaping from my hospital room, I went through the cabinets to find some clothes. That was tucked in the back, along with your old clothes.”

“I didn't think I'd ever get it back.” You pull the knife from the holster, eyeing the notches on the handle as you do. Thirteen in total, missing the two disciples you killed with it when you tried to escape. You run your fingers over the lines and mutter, “It’s missing two.”

Octavia digs around the pile of weapons before producing a knife, which she leans forward to hand you. You take it with a smile of thanks, already beginning to add the two additional tallymarks when Levitt gets an idea. He runs his fingers through the ash on the wall behind you and Bellamy, courtesy of one of the grenades, before he moves back towards Octavia. “Can’t go to war without your war paint.”

He starts to smudge the ash over her face, using it to draw the same warpaint she wore when she fought in the Final Conclave. You and Bellamy watch the pair, feeling a little awkward by the intimacy of the moment, but it reminds you so much of Orlando painting symbols on your face the night before you jumped to Bardo. Which makes you think of Gabriel, dead, his body still stuck in a partially collapsed bunker. You look at Levitt and ask, “Can I ask you something?”

He nods, and you slide your knife back into its holster just as he finishes with Octavia’s make up, turning to face you fully. “If Clarke takes the test and we pass, will Gabriel transcend too? Even though he’s dead?”

“No. Shepherd's passage, ‘Book of Bardo’, Chapter 1, Verse 6. ‘Death is the end, my friend. Only the living shall transcend.’”

You sigh, and Bellamy looks at you in confusion, reaching out to touch your arm. “Wait, Gabriel’s dead?”

You turn to face him, completely forgetting that he has no idea what all of you have gone through since leaving him on Sanctum. “Sheidheda showed up to kill Madi, and he stabbed Gabriel. He probably would have lived, but Sheidheda was about to kill me when Gabriel jumped in and saved my life. Sheidheda killed him after that.”

You leave out the potential love confession, not even sure that’s what it was, and Bellamy gives you a look of sympathy as he reaches up to touch your cheek. “I was wondering whose blood that was.”

You feel tears start to well up in your eyes, suddenly overwhelmed with unprocessed emotions. You got Bellamy back, despite the odds, but you still lost Gabriel and Madi. Before that, you lost Diyoza, and your mom, and Kane, and so many others. The loss hangs over you, heavy, weighing down on you, and Bellamy can sense your impending breakdown. He abruptly stands, holding out his hand to you, and you take it as he glances over at Levitt. “Are there medical supplies nearby? Her bandages need to be changed.”

Levitt nods, pointing down the hall. “Should be some down there, last door on the right.”

Bellamy nods in thanks and wraps his arm around you, turning you away from the pair as he starts to lead you down the hall. You feel tears falling down your face as you softly cry, unable to do much more than follow Bellamy to one of the medical rooms. He leads you inside and takes you over to the inspection chair, putting his hands beneath your arms to lift you and set you onto the cool leather. He leans down a little, getting eye level with you, before lifting his hands to your cheeks, wiping away your rapidly falling tears. “I’m so sorry about Gabriel, natshana.”

You nod, sure that he must be confused, unaware that the two of you became like family. “There’s so much I need to tell you, Bellamy. I spent five years trying to get you back, with Hope, Echo, and Gabriel at my side.”

He looks at you with complete shock. “Five years?”

You nod in confirmation and he shakes his head in confusion. “How? Where?”

“Skyring. The disciples call it Penance. The time dilation there is fast, a few days here is years on Skyring and minutes on Sanctum. We came after you as soon as the disciples knocked you out, but we got trapped there.”

Your lip starts to quiver as you remember the devastation you felt upon realizing you were stuck there. “I thought about you everyday, and when I finally made it to Bardo, they told me you died in an explosion. I never thought I'd see you again.”

Your voice cracks on the last sentence, bringing tears to Bellamy’s eyes, and he reaches out to pull you in for a hug, one of his hands going to the back of your head to hold you in place as you cry in his arms. All the while, he whispers in your ear, “It’s okay, I’m here, and I’m not going anywhere.”

After a moment, he pulls back, looking at you with sympathy. “I can't imagine what you’ve been through, but it’s over now, and I’m not going anywhere. You’re stuck with me.”

“Forever?” 

He reaches into his pocket, pulling something out and holding it out to you in his open palm. You look down at his hand, your eyes falling on your ring as he whispers, “Forever.”

You smile and take the ring, sliding it onto your left hand, where it belongs. And even though everyone you love is still in danger, possibly on the edge of extinction, for one, blissfully happy second, everything is okay. Bellamy leans forward and pulls you in for a kiss, stretching the moment from one happy second to five, electricity zipping across your skin as you kiss your fiance for the first time in five years. It’s the best kiss the two of you have ever shared, and it leaves you breathless and lightheaded. Bellamy pulls away, and the two of you sit looking at each other, the air in the room charged with tension. And something about the moment, your closeness to war, to extinction, the fact that you’ve been apart for so long, it gets to you both. You see Bellamy’s gaze drop to your lips before his eyes find yours again, and in a flash, you’re both pulling each other closer. 

He crashes his lips onto yours, his hands lifting to your face to hold you in place. Your hands reach out for him, searching for skin to touch, frustrated when you find none because of his long sleeves. You slide your hand up his shirt as he slides his tongue into your mouth, and as your tongues move together, you hastily undo the small buttons on Bellamy’s shirt, pushing your hands against his skin as soon as you get his shirt open. You move your hands along his stomach, reveling in the feel of him, this sensation you haven’t experienced in five years, and you swear you feel like you’re going to explode. But as your hands move up to his chest, they graze across a bandage, and you pull your hand away, instantly knowing what it is. 

You and Bellamy break apart before you look at him with sadness, your eyes dropping back down to his open shirt. There, taped across his chest, is a bandage, no larger than your palm. As you sit staring at it, aware of what’s beneath the cotton square, Bellamy whispers, “The bullet barely missed my heart. A few inches to the right, and I would have been dead as soon as it hit me. But you saved me.”

You look up at him in confusion, shaking your head. “Me? I didn’t do anything. I left you there when I shouldn’t have. I should have fought Clarke harder and gotten back to you. Maybe then I could have saved you and Madi.”

“Or maybe Cadogan would have killed you the second he saw you. Besides, you did save me. I saw you push Clarke’s hand away. That was just enough for the bullet to miss my heart.”

“Oh, Bellamy…” You trail off, feeling full of regret, wishing you did more than just push your twin’s arm away. You meet his eyes and whisper, “Does it hurt?”

“Not really. Bardo tech got me to 90% within a few hours, and I woke up feeling fine. Then I heard one of the doctors mention Madi, and I snuck out pretty soon after that. I was only there for a few minutes before you guys showed up. I was still trying to figure out what to do, but I knew I couldn’t leave her there alone.”

“I don’t even know how you can look at me after what I did.”

Bellamy shakes his head, giving you a serious look. “I did worse than you did, la lune. I watched them torture Clarke and send Octavia away. I betrayed you and stopped fighting for you.” He shakes his head again, his thoughts overwhelming him. “I know that what I saw on Etherea was real, but Cadogan cannot be the one to take the test. You were right. Doing the right thing the wrong way is not the right thing. I should have never trusted him.”

“You didn't-”

You’re cut off by a yell of surprise from Octavia down the hall, and you and Bellamy exchange a worried look before you take off running from the room. Bellamy haphazardly buttons his shirt back up as you pull out your knife, and with his shirt in place again, Bellamy grabs his gun. As the two of you round the corner, you lift your weapons towards the disciples that stand near the new couple, and they each lift a gun towards you, the four of you standing frozen in shock as you take each other in. 

“Bellamy?” Raven and Echo both lower their weapons, staring at Bellamy as if they’ve seen a ghost, and it takes you a second to remember that they are. Because the last anyone else heard, Bellamy was dead. You both lower your weapons seconds before they run over to him, pulling him into a hug at the same time, laughing in surprise. Bellamy hugs them back with a smile on his face, savoring the reunion between himself and part of his Spacekru family. When they all break apart they look at him in disbelief, Raven asking the question on both hers and Echo’s mind. “How are you here?”

“It’s a long story, but how are you here?”

Raven counters, “It’s a long story.”

Echo looks over at you, her expression dropping slightly as she says, “Octavia told us about Madi.”

And just like that, any joy you temporarily possessed is now gone, again reminded of the situation you're in and the danger all of you face. “What are you doing here?”

“We came to kill Cadogan.”

You nod back towards the Stone Room, “Clarke’s taking care of it.”

Levitt looks at them with worry. “You said you brought an army.”

Raven turns to look at him, nodding at him once. “Wonkru is here to distract the disciples so we could sneak inside.”

But the worry on Levitt’s face doesn't fade. “The disciples don't know that. If Clarke can't stop the test to determine whether or not the human race deserves to transcend, while what's left of the human race is fighting a war…”

He trails off, waiting for all of you to catch on to what he means, and as soon as you do, your anxiety levels rise, suddenly realizing you might be closer to extinction than you originally thought. “We have to stop the war.”

Everyone nods in agreement, turning to head back towards the oxygen farm, Octavia and Levitt in the lead. Raven and Echo follow right behind, and you and Bellamy move to follow them before you suddenly stop, remembering Clarke inside of the Stone Room. Clarke, who will be vulnerable and unprotected if you all leave. Bellamy turns to you when you stop, his expression scrunched with concern. “What? What is it?”

“I can’t leave Clarke.”

“Then we’ll both stay here.”

And as much as you don't want him to leave your side, you know they need him on the battlefield. Because if anyone can give a speech so inspiring that it stops a war, it’s Bellamy. You’ve seen him rally less than 100 exhausted delinquents and prepare them for a war, and you’ve seen him inspire a small group ready to fly into space to avoid a death wave. People will follow him, your fiance with the big heart, and you know he’s better suited out there than he is in here with you. 

You shake your head, lifting your hand to his cheek. “No. If anyone can stop this war, it’s you Bellamy Blake.”

“I don't want to lose you. Not again.”

You smile at him, tears in your eyes. “You won't. Because no matter what, you’re stuck with me. No matter what, you can always find me in the stars.”

Bellamy pulls you in for a kiss, desperate and full of love, and you kiss him back just as urgently, praying that the moment never ends. But it does, and you both pull away, looking at each other with heartbreak, knowing that you’re needed in two different places. Bellamy runs his hands from your shoulders, down your arms, linking your hands together. He squeezes once before he whispers, “I love you.”

“I love you more than the stars.”

He fights back a fresh wave of tears, backing away from you slowly, your hands breaking apart. “Stay out of trouble.”

“Go save our asses.” The two of you smile at each other before he turns and jogs down the hall, following the path the others took. He stops when he reaches the end, turning to look at you one last time before he disappears from sight, leaving you to stop a war and possibly save all of you from extinction. You turn and grab a pistol from the pile of weapons before you head to the Stone Room, pushing the button for the door so that you can wait inside. 

The room is empty when you arrive, looking exactly the same as last time, and you push the button to close the door behind you, not wanting to get caught off guard by anyone. You stare at the glowing white light for a second before leaning back against the wall, sliding down it until you're sitting on the floor. You lean your head back and do the thing you dread the most: you wait. 

Luckily for you, you don't have to wait long before there’s a flash of white near the Anomaly Stone. You stand and turn towards it, watching as Cadogan’s dead body appears at the base of the stone, multiple bullet wounds in his chest, blood seeping out onto the floor around him. You feel a rush of relief that he’s dead, that he has paid for what he did to Madi, Bellamy, you, and countless others, but that relief is short lived. Because a moment later the Anomaly flashes again and Clarke steps out of the light, turning to look down at Cadogan’s dead body with shock. 

As she looks up again, her eyes meet yours, but her face is devoid of the happiness she should feel. Instead, she looks upset, her expression anguished. “What have I done?”

You step closer to her, reaching out to take her hand as she looks away from you. “Did you take the test? Tell me what happened.”

“I failed.” You swear you feel all the air leave your body in one quick rush, the reality of what her words mean hitting you hard. She squeezes your hand and looks up at you, tears in her eyes. “It should have been you, la lune, not me. Our whole lives, everyone always looked to me, chose me to be the twin that lived on the outside, but it should have been you. It should have always been you.”

You look at her in shock, your mind buzzing with all the information she’s just given you. But you force it all away and focus on the pressing situation, the one that matters the most right now. “So that's it? We're wiped out?”

She nods her head, and you ask, “Well, can we change their minds?”

“I don't know.” She squeezes your hand and then drops it, already turning towards the door. “I need to be with Madi, there's not much time.”

You turn to follow her, calling out to her quickly retreating figure, “Clarke, wait!”

As you reach the door, the Anomaly Stone behind you turns bright red, pulsing with an almost angry, vibrating sound. You pause and turn to look at it, watching it closely. Despite your better judgement, you walk closer to it, closing the space between you and the bright red ball. As you look at it, you start to wonder: can you stop this? Can you change their minds?

You take a deep breath, lifting your hand as you mutter to yourself, “I am war, rage singing beneath my skin, running into battle and wearing Death like a crown. I am the moon, loss tied to my ankles like chains, trying to pull me down, but still I rise. I am fire, wild and untameable, spitting flames when I walk, unapologetic as I burn down the world around me.”

And then you touch the stone.

Everything around you grows so bright that you can do nothing more than close your eyes against it, the low vibration growing louder as something happens around you. You keep your eyes closed until you hear the sound fade, and only then do you slowly pull open your eyes. Your gaze immediately lands on a wall of trees, surrounding you on all sides, and you turn around, trying to figure out where you are. When you do, your eyes land on a large hunk of metal, three levels tall, scorched and damaged from its descent. 

“The dropship.” You let out a breathy laugh of surprise. “No way.”

You jump when a voice behind you calls out, “Took a beating on the way down, didn't she?”

“Dad.” You spin around, your eyes landing on your dad standing in the middle of the clearing, looking at you closely. You close the space between you, jumping into his arms and wrapping him up in a hug, squeezing him tight as you laugh. “Dad! What are you doing here?”

He doesn't answer, just hugs you back weakly before setting you back on the ground. You step back and look at him in confusion, taking in his blank expression, no sign of his usual affection for you. The pieces fall into place as you look at him, realizing that he’s not your father at all. “You’re not him.”

“No, I'm not. This is who you chose.”

You shake your head in confusion, “I don’t understand.”

“We often take the form of your greatest teacher, your greatest failure, or your greatest love.” You step back, putting more distance between you and the imposter dad. He tips his head to the side slightly, studying you. “Why are you here? The test is over. As you know, your twin failed.”

You glare at the man, your anger rising as you think of everything Clarke has sacrificed. Not just for you, but for your people too. “How could she have failed? Clarke sacrificed everything for us, so that we didn't have to. She gave up her soul so we could keep ours!”

“She committed atrocities.”

You counter, “She did what she thought was right. She was trying to save us.”

“She doomed you.” Your dad shakes his head, starting to turn away from you as he mutters, “I'm sorry.”

You yell back, “Are you?”

He turns back to face you, and you continue on, “Because to me, it looks like you don't feel anything. We’ve made mistakes, but we were just trying to survive! And everything we’ve done, all the bullshit we went through, we did it to save our people, to save the human race. Everything we did brought us here, to this moment, and I’m not saying we’re ready now, but at least let us live. Let us keep trying to do better, because we will. We have.” 

“You say you have, yet even now you are poised and on the brink of self-extermination. Look.” He motions to your left, and you turn to look, suddenly away from the dropship and back in the oxygen farm. To your left stands Wonkru, crouching behind barriers and shields, and to your right are the disciples, looking frightened and worried. “You say you're trying to do better, but all I see are two tribes of frightened creatures willing to kill the other to save themselves.”

You shake your head, your brows pulling together as you look between the two groups, frozen in a state of nonviolence. “But they're not fighting or killing each other. It was just a distraction, this proves nothing.”

“They will fight, la lune, like they always do.”

You snap, “You can't possibly know that.”

Your dad motions to your left, to a person in the trees, crouching with a weapon in their hand. As you look their way, you see that it’s Sheidheda, and he has a smile on his face, ready to stir up some chaos. You look at him in fear and try to move closer to him, yelling, “Stop!”

Your dad grabs your arm, pulling you to a standstill. “They can't see or hear you. You can’t stop this, no one can.”

And just as he says, you can't stop him. You can only stand and watch in horror as Sheidheda pulls the trigger, firing a few rounds at the disciples across the field. They look ready to retaliate, and Wonkru looks ready to fight, but Indra manages to keep them restrained, seconds before a figure dressed in all white bursts onto the field. For one agonizing second you think it’s Bellamy, but then you realize that it’s Levitt, and Bellamy is waiting in the trees with Octavia and Raven and Echo. As soon as Levitt is on the field, everyone pauses, listening to him as he yells, “Wait, wait, wait! Listen to me, this is not the Last War. We don't achieve transcendence through violence, Cadogan was wrong. We're being tested right now, all of us!”

You turn to look at your dad, raising one of your brows. “You were saying?”

But he just motions back to the scene in front of you. Levitt is urging everyone to put down their weapons, and people start to respond, lowering their guns and swords, until Sheidheda grows restless and sends another round of bullets towards the disciples. Levitt gets caught in the crossfire, and you watch in horror as he falls to the ground, blood already staining his clothes, and the disciples take the attack on Levitt as an attack on themselves. They return fire, prompting Wonkru to do the same, and before you know it, you have a war on your hands. People on either side are being taken down, hitting the ground, and you catch a glimpse of Octavia and Echo running to grab Levitt before you turn to face your father. “This still proves nothing. The actions of one man should not define our entire species! Those people are scared, and half of them spent their entire lives thinking that they needed to defeat you in a war.”

“Don't you see? Despite the beauty that humans are capable of, you can't break free from the cycle of violence. They trained for a war, because they wanted a war.”

“No one wants a war.”

Your dad shrugs, “This is who you are, and that's why you failed the test.”

You shake your head, thinking of the peace you lived in your lifetime. The peace on Bardo, the peace on Sanctum. You know that peace is possible, that all of you can change, and you turn to look at your dad with desperation. “No. That can’t be it.”

“It's time for us to go, la lune. The end of the human race is here.”

And as you start to turn away, devastated that you couldn't change their minds, you hear Octavia yell, “Indra! Indra, hold your fire!”

You pull your dad to a stop, “Wait!”

Both of you turn back to the battlefield, watching as Indra yells to Wonkru, “Hold your fire!”

Wonkru stops firing their weapons, and in return, the disciples stop firing theirs. You watch on with hope, thinking that maybe, they can still turn this around. Maybe, you can still avoid extinction. But then Sheidheda jumps out of the trees, stepping into a circle of warriors. “Indra is not in command here! I am, and I say jus drein, jus daun!”

He starts to repeat the phrase over and over, and you feel your hope being crushed once again as people start to join him, chanting the phrase and intending to continue the war. But Indra, who has clearly had enough of the Dark Commander at this point, snatches one of the sonic cannons from an Eligius prisoner, turns it on Sheidheda and blasts him to pieces before you can even respond. You feel relief course through you as he disappears, Gabriel’s death now avenged, and as you stare at the group around you, you see none other than your fiance running onto the battlefield, his voice loud as he yells, “Enough!”

Everyone turns to face him, watching him stride out into the center of the field with Octavia at his side, and he looks between both groups with disappointment. “What the hell are we doing here? You swore an oath to fight for all mankind. Well, look around you! We are mankind!”

Octavia, remembering her position as the former leader of Wonkru, turns to face her people, adding, “We are one crew! If I kill you, I kill myself. If we keep killing each other, there won't be anyone left to save!”

She looks to Indra, her teacher, her mentor, resignation in her voice. “Our fight is over, Indra!”

Indra stares back at her former second, giving her a long look before she mutters, “I hope you know what you're doing.”

She drops her weapon, and all around her, the others do the same, until no one on the Wonkru side is armed. You watch on with pride as Bellamy turns to face the disciples, determined to stop this war, right here, right now. “We're unarmed! I know you're afraid to walk away from everything you've spent your lives training for, but I believe transcendence is within reach! But if we fight this war, we’ll never deserve to see it, and we’ll never deserve to survive.”

You can see some of the disciples starting to lower their weapons, as Wonkru nods along in agreement. You smile at your fiance, whispering to yourself, “He’s reaching them.”

Octavia reaches out and takes her brother’s hand before she finishes up their speech. “I've been to war, and let me tell you the only way to win... is not to fight.”

She pulls out her sword and stabs it into the dirt, and Bellamy pulls the gun from his waistband and drops it on the ground. The Blake siblings stand together, united as they should be, unarmed and facing an army. The disciples look lost and confused, everyone exchanging looks, trying to figure out what they should do. Someone calls out, “Sir, what are our orders?”

Their leader looks around at his army and then back to the Blake siblings, before he disconnects his weapon from his suit and drops it to the ground, muttering, “For all mankind.”

All around him, other disciples do the same, dropping their weapons and repeating the mantra, until two armies stand united, at peace, despite the odds. You turn to look at your father with hope, gesturing to the scene beside you. “I told you, we can change. We just need more time.”

He looks at you long and hard, before tuning his gaze back to the siblings. You follow his line of sight, wondering what he sees, shocked to see the pair beginning to glow. You start to jog towards them, surprised, but a second later they disappear, leaving two beings of light in their wake. You whisper with shock, “Transcendence.”

You turn back to face your father, only to find that he’s already gone. All around you are flashes of gold, and you turn back to the field, watching as the disciples and Wonkru start to glow, leaving behind a gold stand in. You turn in a circle, amazed to see everyone transcending, and as you spin, the trees around you transform. Suddenly, you’re back at the dropship, your mind remembering your forgotten niece and twin, somewhere inside Bardo. 

You run towards the dropship, yanking the makeshift door aside to step inside, suddenly back in the Stone Room on Bardo. Without hesitation, you take off running, tearing down the halls and back towards M-Cap, reaching the door with an audible sigh of relief. You push the button to open the door and Clarke turns at the sound, a figure of light stretched in front of her, Madi already gone. “My shining star.”

And as the words leave your mouth and you start to cross the room, you realize that the dull ache in your shoulder, present since Sheidheda stabbed you, disappears. You look down at your shoulder in shock, your eyes landing on the light that is starting to radiate off of you, and as you look up at your twin with excitement, you fade away, melting into the light and becoming one with the rest of humanity.

-

You open your eyes to find yourself in Shallow Valley.

You sit up quickly, looking around in confusion, surprised to see that you’re in the house you saved for you and Bellamy. Stars stretch across the sky above your head, visible to you through the window, though they aren’t as breathtaking as usual. You shake your head, remembering the valley that was destroyed by McCreary, meaning whatever is happening right now is not normal. You turn and slide out of the bed, listening for the laughter and yelling outside, and you walk tentatively to the door, pushing it open to peek out into the night. There’s no one in the village from what you can tell, but the laughter sounds close so you decide to follow it. 

The voices lead you through the trees, and you look down to watch your step, remembering how bad some of the tree roots were in this part of the woods. You’re surprised to see your bare feet walking through the forest, none of the usual pain coming along with it. Though confused, you push on, following the laughter through the woods, catching glimpses of a fire as you move, until you suddenly burst through the treeline and see all of your friends gathered near the lake that you, Clarke, and Madi would swim in. 

They all look up as you approach, calling your name, and you smile back at them, walking towards the water where they’re waiting. As you move, you see a streak of something barreling towards you, and a second later a body collides with your own. You look down to see a head of dark hair, and Madi pulls away to look up at you, smiling as she does, “Ani!”

You laugh in disbelief and hug her back, but something about it feels off, wrong. You’re excited to see her, happy that she’s okay, but it doesn’t feel right to you. You shake your head, trying to push the thought away as Bellamy steps along the edge of the lake, towards you, smiling as he nears closer. “My love.”

The words don't light you up the way they normally would, and his kiss doesn’t either. Everything about it feels flat and unusual, and you hate it. You have no idea what’s going on, but you hate it. 

You look around for Clarke, sure that she’ll know what’s going on, but you see no sign of your blonde haired twin. You look back at Bellamy in confusion, “Where's Clarke?”

“Everyone’s been showing up one at a time. If she transcended after you, she should be here soon.”

“Transcendence.” You nod, remembering the events leading up to this moment. You have only just transcended, but you can already tell that none of this feels right. The fire next to you brings you no warmth, the joy you should be feeling isn’t there, and you can’t feel the sensations of the ground beneath your feet. The stars are dull and lifeless, the laughter sounds forced and unusual, and the affection that you normally feel for Bellamy and Madi and the others isn’t there. You know what it should feel like, you know how you should be acting, but none of this is the way it’s supposed to be. You look around again, seeing if anyone else feels the same, pausing when you catch sight of a glint of metal through trees. “What was that?”

Bellamy looks back quickly before turning to you. “What?”

You shake your head and lock eyes with him, forcing a smile to your face as you do. “Nothing. Uh, I’m gonna go say hey to the others and then I’ll come find you, okay?”

He nods and steps away from you. “Okay.”

But instead of wandering over to the rest of your friends, you slip back into the trees, moving through the dark woods, towards the metal you caught sight of earlier. Weirdly enough, as you grow closer, you can see that it’s part of Arkadia, situated all the way out in Shallow Valley, far from where Alpha Station crash landed to the ground. You step inside of the building, heading to the door at the end of the hall, voices drifting from behind it. 

Your feet thud softly on the metal floors, but they don't shock you with cold the way they normally would. You reach the door and push it open slowly, your eyes landing on a large round table in the center of the room. Situated around it are seven different people, talking quietly, their backs to you, but at the sound of your entrance they all turn towards you. You’re shocked to see your mother, Kane, and Jaha, along with a few other familiar council members. You feel a rush of excitement and you start to cross the room towards your mom, a smile on your face, but you hesitate when she doesn't smile back at you, your mind remembering that your mother is dead.

It takes a second for you to realize that this is not your mom, Kane, Jaha, or the rest of the council. It’s the species that created the stones, appearing in front of you in a way that makes sense to your brain. For some reason, your mind chose the Council and the Chancellor. 

The seven people in the room take a seat in tandem, looking towards you expectantly. “What can we do for you, Miss Griffin?”

You ask the question weighing heaviest on your mind. “Where’s Clarke?”

“Right now, she’s on Sanctum. Though I doubt she’ll be there long.”

You pull a face as you stare at Jaha, the one who answered your question. “Sanctum? What’s she doing there? When is she coming here?”

This time, it’s Kane that answers. “She’s not.”

“What?”

“Clarke isn’t transcending.” You stare at your mother in shock, sure that you must be imagining things. She shrugs as she looks at you. “How fitting that one twin saved the human race, while the other condemned it.”

You shake your head, looking between everyone on the council. “I don’t understand, I thought you changed your mind.”

“We did. For everyone but her.”

“Why?”

“Her actions must have a cost, Miss Griffin.” You look at Jaha, your expression indicating that you need some clarification, so he adds, “She is the only test subject from any species anywhere in the Universe since the dawn of time who committed murder during a test.”

“So she can never transcend? She has to live out the rest of her days alone?”

“She found Picasso.”

You glare at Kane, both of you knowing damn well that though Picasso is lovely, she is not a replacement for real human interaction. You look between them all, your mind making a decision before you can even process it. “I want to go back.”

“Okay.”

You look at Jaha in confusion, expecting him to fight you on this. “Okay? That’s it?”

“Transcendence is a choice, Miss Griffin. It always has been.”

“Then I choose to go back.”

Kane gives you a long look. “You do understand that if you leave us, you may never return.”

“Yes.”

“You will bleed and live and die as a human.”

“I know.”

Jaha holds out his hands, shrugging. “Then you may return. Though I suspect the others may want to join you.”

“If Madi comes back, will she be okay?”

“Yes. We will restore her health.”

You nod, “And that’s it then? Those of us that choose to return, we’re the last of the human race?”

“In a manner of speaking, yes.”

You shake your head, looking at your mother. “What does that mean?”

“Those of you that leave now can never transcend again, but your offspring will be given a choice: transcend or remain human. If they join us, they will be eternal. If they choose to stay, they will live and die, just as you do. There will be limitations, of course, so that the human species will be unable to repopulate the way you once did, but your lives will remain mostly the same, untouched by the rest of us.”

You nod, processing the information, sure that it’s something you can live with. “Fine. I’d like to tell my friends first.”

Kane motions towards the door. “You will find us when you're ready.”

You look them all over one last time before you turn towards the door and leave, heading back to the lake to tell your friends that you plan to leave and return to Clarke. Madi and Bellamy are the first to join you, and the others quickly follow suit. Word begins to spread through Wonkru, the Bardoans, the Eligius prisoners, and the Sanctumites, and before you know it, you have a couple hundred people that decide to go back with you. 

The alien species drops all of you back on Earth, near a large lake, leaving you to figure out how to get everyone back to their respective homes. You’re in the process of leading them all back to the bunker and the stone when you hear a dog bark growing steadily louder. You turn to look at Bellamy and Madi with a smile. “Stay here with the others. I’ll go find her.”

They both nod, just as Picasso breaks through the treeline and comes barreling towards all of you, making a beeline for Madi, laying down at your niece’s feet as soon as she reaches her. You smile at them before taking the path Picasso did to reach you, backtracking towards Clarke’s frantic voice, calling out for the dog. You walk up a small, rocky hill, searching for your twin, and you know you’re close when you hear her broken whisper. “I don't want to be alone.”

You round a curve of trees, Clarke now coming into view, her back to you. You call out, “You're not alone.”

She turns around in shock, her expression surprised as she looks at you, a smile breaking out on her face, tears rising to her eyes. “La lune?”

You nod and your face splits into a grin, and the two of you run towards each other, colliding in a fierce hug. She holds you tight, laughing with happiness, and you do the same, this hug feeling right, the way that it should. Clarke breaks the hug to look at you in alarm. “Wait, what about Bellamy and Madi? And the others?”

You take her hand, leading her towards them. “They understood why I needed to come back.”

You see panic cross her features, and she shakes her head. “No, la lune, I would never want you to leave them behind! Even if it meant I was alone.”

“Hey, stop worrying.” You squeeze her hand, the two of you now reaching the bottom of the hill, coming around the corner and into view of the others. But Clarke doesn't see them, not yet, because her eyes are still locked on you, looking panicked. “La lune, I-”

You cut her off, saying, “We couldn't possibly leave you alone. Not after everything you’ve done for us.”

“We?” She looks at you in confusion, and you just smile, nodding towards the group standing nearby. Her eyes go wide as she turns to see the large group of people from multiple different planets, Madi and Bellamy and your friends standing at the front. At the sight of Madi, Clarke turns to flash you a smile before dropping your hand and taking off running, and the two of them collide in a hug so hard that Clarke falls backwards into the sand around the lake. 

You walk towards them, Bellamy pulling you in for a kiss when you get close enough, and you smile into it, reveling in the feel of him and the kiss. Transcendence might be nice in a lot of ways, like joining a conscious collective and getting to live forever, but transcending also meant losing all the things that made you human. Nothing would ever feel quite right, look quite right. Emotions would never be quite complete, you would never feel truly whole. And coming back to Earth means that one day you’ll die, and you’ll be able to feel pain again, but that’s part of being human. Life is messy and complicated, but it’s wonderful too. And feeling things like pain reminds you that you’re alive and that you can feel joy and love and sadness and anger. It means that you get to truly live, experience the good and the bad, no matter what. 

Bellamy pulls away from you with a smile, the two of you enjoying your time back on Earth already, and he turns to greet your approaching twin. They hug each other, breaking apart so that Clarke can greet the rest of your friends too. You stand watching, a smile on your face, realizing that you and your family have been given a second chance. You get the chance to prove yourself, prove to Monty and the Universe that you can do better. Prove to Jasper that human beings aren’t the problem, and that there is a light at the end of the tunnel.

There, on a beach on a regrown Earth, after journeying through the stars and back again, you get a second chance at life.

-

the epilogue

[bigfootwrites]

{escort fic}

This idea has been in my head for a while. People on the server seem to like it. I’ve gone back and forth on whether this is ooc or not but nobody has mentioned that it is so I’m gonna roll with it. It’s just a concept idea but if people are interested I’m happy to turn it into a full fic so please do let me know. Can also be read on ao3.

@today-in-fic @mypanicface  @improlificinsarcasm  @baronessblixen @foxscully @gillywitch @arboreta @agirlcallednarelle @starbuckthirteen @clarke-oswald

- - - 

He should go out and meet somebody. Get to know them, fall in love with them, build a relationship with them. Yet, relationships took time, he had been down this road multiple times and each one had ended just as badly as badly as the other, this recent relationship taking it to the next level.

He was divorced from somebody he once worshipped and the custody of their child on the line.

He wasn’t going to make a habit out of this. His hand and porn usually did the job but it didn’t always fill the void, fill that sense of loneliness that has been there since he was twelve. Sometimes he just wanted physical human companionship, sometimes he just wanted that too much.

Yet still even after swiping a leaflet that fell out of a magazine at the Lone Gunmen’s for an escort agency it took him a week to build up the courage to call them.

He chooses something called “A Girlfriend Experience”, picks someone somewhere within his age-range and tries not to feel guilty about the whole thing.

.:.:.:.:.:.

She was running late.

Tardiness never felt like an option with her yet Emily had refused to go to bed even after Dana told her she had to go to work. It had ended with Dana a few minutes behind and Emily asleep in her bed.

But it was time to push that life aside for now, to enter this restaurant as Danielle and Danielle doesn’t have a child named Emily or a pile of textbooks to study through.

The restaurant her client had chosen was nice enough; one of those business-y type places that not many wealthy people touched but it was still classy enough to be considered decent to use.

It was rare that she would be fed- food wasn’t often part of the price, after all, it was an extra expense. Besides, most of the men she had encountered just wanted a suck and a fuck and maybe the odd therapy session. Maybe around three of her requests were for this Girlfriend Experience and it wasn’t like she was rolling in requests that much anyway.

Dana had realised quickly the types of women men went for: blonde, tall, boobs. Short redheads who just about fitted into a B-cup never made the cut that often.

Yet, for whatever reason, she had be chosen. From the emails sent this man seemed nice enough of course from the stories she would hear that wasn’t something concrete to go off. People could carefully choose the words they typed, could portray themselves in a certain way online. The same could be said for in person interactions too but people were more likely to slip up during those.

For now, Dana is tucked away, she dons Danielle and approaches able 25 where her companion for the night waits for her.

When she gets there, it’s a gentle tap on the arm, a smile, and a simple “Hi, Mulder.”

.:.:.:.:.:.:.

Mulder’s heart stops in his chest as he stares at her, struck with the thought of how breath-taking she is.

He wouldn’t say little redheads was his ‘type’ but as he was going through the countless lists of girls he hadn’t wanted somebody his type, he wanted no reminder of Diana and so he had chosen her; Danielle, 5’3, 26 years old and the complete opposite to Diana.

He hadn’t seen her face before, for whatever reason she had kept it off the page, Mulder hadn’t been expecting much in terms of looks because of it yet he can’t keep his eyes off her.

He realises she’s said his name and almost comically stumbles his way to standing up, bashing a leg against the table making the cutlery jump and a brief amount of pain to ripple length ways across his right tigh.

“Danielle,” he says wincing through the pain. Her professional name knowing full well it wasn’t her real name. He might be new to this escort world but 1-800 numbers and taught him enough about fake names, maybe he should have considered using one.

She looks to be smiling at his clumsiness, fighting it back, trying to hide it.

A shaky start Mulder thinks, as he pulls out her chair yet she’s sitting down before he gets a chance to show how much of a gentleman he is.

He’s looking through the drinks menu when he realises she’s staring at him, drinking him in. It makes him feel self-conscious.

“What’s wrong?” he asks.

Danielle seems to have realised what she was doing, she quickly looks away from him.

“You’re just…different to who I usually meet with,” she says.

Mulder smiles wryly and cocks his head.

“Is that good or bad?” he asks unsure himself.

“That’s good,” she tells him. “Usually I get the…older men and they definitely don’t go out of their way to buy me food.” She lifts her head up and smiles waiting for his reply.

He has none other than how strange he must seem to her right now, how sad. He also tries not to feel jealous at the thought of her with other men. It’s a thought that comes out of nowhere, a thought he has no right in occupying.

“So do you come here often?” she’s asking.

The answer to was that no. It was a drive away from his apartment, away from any potential sightings of colleagues or people he sees on a daily basis.

“Never,” he says realising this could be chaotic.

But she’s laughing and it’s one of the nicest sounds his eyes have ever heard.

“I hope you didn’t come here just to try and impress me.”

“Try?” he counters. “So I take it you’re not so easily impressed?”

She shrugs. “I’ve been told as much.”

Mulder leans in, surprised at how comfortable he feels around her, how at ease he is.

“Well tell me,” he says. “Are you impressed?”

She looks around the establishment, pretending to think.

“Hmm…I think you could have done better.”

“Okay,” Mulder says leaning back and giving the room a once around himself. He would say he’s done pretty well but she’s laughing again, giggling actually, and the restaurant doesn’t matter.

They order food, not that he’s particularly hungry anymore, but for some reason he doesn’t want this to end. Spending $300 a night to talk seems better than spending $300 on an apology.

“So,” Mulder begins. “What do you do aside from…this.”

He wonders about the answer he will receive. She’s lied about her name, will she lie about this or will to follow the truth as much as she can, altering things here and there. He wonders how much of her true name is in her fake name.

“Well…through the day I study mostly,” she says and this perks his interest.

“What do you study?”

“Uh…” He sees she’s searching for an answer and it breaks his heart to know that he isn’t getting the truth though he had expected her to be a bit more prepared for these questions.

“Chemistry,” she finally says. “I wanted to be a scientist.” She says it almost shyly, tucking her head in and refusing to look at him. He amends his previous thought, perhaps there is a truth after all.

“Wanted?” Mulder asks. “Is that still not possible?”

“Well…I guess so. I’m just worried about somebody hiding out about…this.” She purses her lips and shrugs.

Mulder wonder if he’ll get to ask why she does this but then wonders if that’ll be rude to ask anyway even if did get the chance.

“Well, let me pose you a question,” he says just as their food arrives. “Do you believe in the existence of extraterrestrials?”

He watches as she processes his question, her eyebrows knitting together as she attempts to formulate an answer and Mulder is curious as to what that answer is.

“Logically, I would have to say no,” she says slowly. “Given the distances needed to travel from the far reaches of space, the energy requirements would exceed the spacecraft’s capabilities.”

Mulder finds himself impressed with her, the certainty in her answer, he wonders if he’s getting a glimpse of a real person beneath the professionalism, other character.

“Okay, conventional wisdom,” he says, he expected it. “But when convention and science fail us, should we not start looking to the fantastic as answers?”

He thinks he’s caught her, she takes a while to answer, thinking it over through mouthfuls of salads. Mulder is too preoccupied with her mind to worry about the food that goes cold beneath him.

She swallows her food, sitting back in her seat and Mulder waits for the mental foreplay.

“That’s only if convention and science actually fail us.”

He thinks he’s in love.

.:.:.:.:.:.:.

There’s an easiness Dana feels around Mulder. He’s nothing like her previous clients who see nothing beyond her sexual capabilities. Mulder seems to be interested in her mind, in her and she worries she might have revealed too much of herself to him but it’s rare she finds somebody to match her intellect, her classmates can’t keep up with her, her professors shut her down in order to give other members of the class a chance. She feels intellectually frustrated at times.

“Why do you ask all this?” she inquires.

Mulder shrugs. “Oh, it’s just a hobby.”

“Talking about extraterrestrials is a hobby?”

He looks away and mumbles something she doesn’t quite catch.

“What was what?” she asks.

“I look for them.”

It’s endearing, how different he is from anyone else she’s ever met.

“Do you think you’ll ever find them?” It’s not to jest or to make fun of him.

“I’d like to,” Mulder says with an essence of hopefulness in his voice.

.:.:.:.:.:.:.

He makes the decision that he won’t fuck her.

He’ll pay $300 as a fee to access her amazing mind if he must.

They go away from the talk of aliens, something for which Mulder was glad. He has his own secrets locked away and if they continued on the subject anymore, he was worried they would tumble out of his mouth and he’d reveal how spooky he really was. They talk of other stuff, he throws conspiracy theories at her that he barely believes in himself just to hear her debunk them with finesse. She was the one who was right and he was wrong and Mulder is completely okay with that.

He stops when he reaches her hotel, this is the end of one of the best nights of his life. He’ll go home, think of her, perhaps rub one off to the thought of her, and that will be that. He’ll bin that leaflet and they’ll never talk again.

But she’s stopping when she realises he isn’t beside her anymore and turns with a puzzled look on her face.

“Tonight was great, Danielle,” he tells her. “I really enjoyed it.”

Her face almost seems to fall when she realises what he’s doing but she picks herself back up again, nodding.

“Well,” she says walking back towards him. “If we’re not doing that anymore at least let me give you this.”

Her lips touch his and fireworks go off behind him. Mulder feels as though he’s experiencing his first kiss all over again, new and exciting, and a fear that he’s doing something he’s not meant to do.

It doesn’t take long before he’s kissing her back, his tongue trying to gain access to her mouth and to her own tongue. She grants him permission, thank god, and he almost melts inside her mouth.

They fall against a wall, his head collides with the brick but he doesn’t care, there is nothing else on his mind other than the want to pick her up. He’s bent at an awkward angle because even in heels her forehead just about reaches his chin. He’s unsure what to do with his hands, on her hips, on her waist. She seems to become annoyed at his indecisiveness and takes his hands in her own, placing them against her ass all the while not breaking the kiss.

He grows impossibly hard as his senses go into overdrive. He wants her so bad when he said he wouldn’t.

“Danielle…” he moans coming up for air.

“Dana,” he hears her say and at first he’s confused wondering what she’s talking about. “Call me Dana.”

The penny drops. Her name!

“Dana.”

She’s back on him, kissing him harder this time and Mulder was kidding himself before; he’s going to make love to her.

[alyssawritesssfics]

Hounded [8] 8. Day Trip

Pairings: Bellamy x OC // Kane x daughter!OC

Word Count: 4.5k

Warnings: violence, mentions of blood, character death (canon), series spoilers

Summary: Athena, in an attempt to avoid her father, searches for a lost bunker with Bellamy. In a search for supplies, they end up finding a newfound appreciation for each other.

Author’s Note: Hii, here is chapter/episode eight! I had SO much fun writing this one. It’s a big one, most of it Athena & Bellamy. I planned to have Athena talk with Kane, but it just didn’t fit into this chapter. I hope you enjoy it! Please remember to note and reblog! It really helps me see interest and therefore update the story more often. Thank you!

Tag List: @topazy​ @no-damsel​ (DM or send an ask to be added)

previous chapter // series masterlist

The rest of the day was spent recovering from the storm. Finn was healing slowly but surely, and the Grounder was still tied up on the top level of the dropship. I'd hardly seen Octavia, and I didn't blame her for avoiding me; part of me wished I could avoid me too.

I sat in my tent the following day, waiting for Clarke's meeting with the council to finish. We would soon know how long until the Ark would reach the ground, more importantly, how long we had left before we had proper defences against the Grounders. Until we had guns, the Grounders would always have the upper hand.

"Athena, are you in there?"

I stood from my cot, pulling open the flap of the tent. "How did the meeting go?"

Clarke shrugged. "There's an emergency depot not too far from here. Your father mentioned it would have supplies and could provide shelter for us while we wait on them to get down here."

I could feel my body tense up at the mention of my father. "That'll be good. I have a feeling we'll need to move there sooner rather than later." Stepping out of the tent, I allowed Clarke to lead me towards the dropship.

"The council set up meeting times for the rest of the day," Clarke started. "For us all to talk to our families."

I took a deep breath. "That'll be good."

Clarke stepped in front of me. "Are you okay?"

"Sorry," I spoke, rubbing my eyes. "I've just gotten so used to life down here, you know? Without the Ark. Not having to worry about my father."

Clarke nodded. "I know what you mean."

"Right," I couldn't help but frown. "Did you talk to your mom at all last night?"

"You mean, about her turning my father in?" Clarke asked, each word laced with venom. Then, she let out a small sigh. "Yeah, I told her I knew."

"What did she have to say for herself?"

Clarke shook her head. "I didn't really give her a chance to explain. I mean, what is there to explain? Nothing she could possibly say would make any of this better. She's the reason my father is dead. I don't think I can forgive her for that. Does that make me a terrible person?"

I shook my head. "It makes you human."

"Being human sucks."

I looked up at the sky, taking a deep breath. "Forgiveness has never really been my strong suit, so I'm probably the worst person to give you advice anyway."

Clarke frowned. "Well, I can help you avoid having to talk to your parents."

My eyes met Clarke's, a small smile forming across my face. "What do you have in mind?"

Clarke turned around, continuing towards the dropship. "The depot. I figure you can lead the search for it. Scope it out, see if there's anything of use there. See if it can actually be used as shelter."

"I can do that," I responded. "When do we leave?"

We entered the dropship, spotting Bellamy and Octavia standing next to the ladder.

"Whatever twisted connection you think you have with that animal, forget it. You don't get to see him. End of discussion." Bellamy turned to leave.

"Why do you even care?" Octavia pressed. "If I ruined your life, you should want me to go up there. Maybe you'll get lucky and he'll kill me. Problem solved."

Bellamy looked back at her. "You know I didn't mean that."

"Bellamy," Clarke spoke up.

"The answer is still no, Clarke." He responded, now facing us. "I'm not talking to Jaha."

Clarke shook her head. "That's not why I'm here."

"What, then?"

"The Ark found some records that show an old supply depot not too far from here."

My eyes darted to Clarke. "Clarke, what are you-"

"What kind of supplies?" Bellamy asked.

"The kind that might give us a chance to live through the winter." Clarke responded. "I have to stay behind to organize visits, but I'm sending Athena and she could use some back up."

I folded my arms across my chest. "You're kidding, right?"

"Why are you asking me?"

Clarke smirked. "You want to avoid Jaha right?"

Bellamy scoffed. "Alright, I'll go."

"I thought so." Clarke said, handing me a map. "I've marked the coordinates on this map. Be careful out there, alright?"

Before I could object, Clarke had left the dropship. I turned back to Bellamy, my arms still placed tightly across my chest. "Meet me at the gate in ten minutes, or I will leave without you."

Bellamy smirked. "Someone is bossy today."

"I mean it, Bellamy," I spoke, turning to leave.

I stopped at my tent to grab my pack before heading to the gate. By the time I made it there, Bellamy was stuffing packages upon packages of nuts into his pack.

"That's a lot of rations," I mumbled. "You do realize this is a day trip, right?"

"A lot can happen in a day."

I rolled my eyes, signalling for Jasper to open the gate.

...

We had been walking for over an hour, only ever discussing the directions Clarke had given us. While the silence had left little room for a Grounder to sneak up on us, I was growing tired and needed a distraction.

"You know, the first dropship will be down soon," I spoke, earning a side-glance. "Pretty sure you can't avoid Jaha forever."

Bellamy scoffed. "I can try."

"Maybe he'll be lenient?" I suggested, eating some nuts from my packet. "You know, he's forgiving the rest of our crimes. Why not yours too?"

"I shot the man, Athena. He's not just going to forgive and forget."

"At least you didn't kill him."

"Has terrible aim ever in the history of law been a good defence?" He sighed. "Your honour, I concede that I shot the man, but he didn't die! No harm, no foul?"

I rolled my eyes. "I'm not saying you'll get off with no punishment. I'm just saying, maybe he'll opt for some time in lock-up? We don't really have to worry about wasting oxygen anymore."

Bellamy stopped, staring at the ground. "What if they find out about the radio? I mean, someone is bound to tell them. I shot the Chancellor, and then I destroyed the radio, causing three hundred innocent people to die up there."

"So it does bother you?"

He turned around, looking me dead in the eye. "Of course it bothers me, Athena." Bellamy turned back around, continuing through the forest.

"Why do you always act like you don't give a shit, then?" I asked. "I mean, why do you keep pretending like nothing matters to you?"

"I don't pretend like nothing else matters."

"You're right," I responded. "You couldn't pretend that Octavia doesn't matter to you no matter how hard you try."

Bellamy shook his head. "You have no idea."

"Octavia used to talk about you all the time," I started, smiling to myself. "Her big brother. Her greatest protector. You gave up everything to protect her."

"What's your point?"

"I'm just trying to understand how the person I heard about for eight months is the same guy I'm talking to right now." I shrugged.

Bellamy scoffed. "No matter what Octavia has told you, you'll never understand what we went through up there. What I went through. Your father would take over if anything happened to Jaha, right? That would make you Wells 2.0."

"Bellamy-"

"You will never understand, Athena. You will never know what I had to go through to keep her safe. What I had to see my mother go through." He paused, steadying his breathing. "Octavia spent sixteen years under the floor. Sixteen years confined to our tiny dorm. She was a prisoner from the day she was born and all I wanted was to protect her, or at the very least, be with her one last time before radiation killed her." He stopped, looking around. "But, it didn't."

"So you destroyed the radio because you were afraid she'd be alone? After they came down here and executed you."

"That was part of it." Bellamy nodded. "Is it so wrong just to not want to die?"

I shook my head, feeling a pang in my heart. "I don't think so."

"If I had known what would happen," Bellamy closed his eyes. "I wouldn't have destroyed the radio. I swear."

I stared at Bellamy for a moment, taking in a side of him I hadn't seen since the night in the cave. He was vulnerable. Maybe I was an idiot, but I couldn't help but believe him. Feel sorry for him even.

Clearing my throat, I pushed past him, looking down the hill we'd now approached. "The depot is supposed to be around here somewhere. There's got to be a door underneath all of this brush."

"Let's just split up, cover more ground." He sighed, beginning down the hill. "Stay within shouting distance, alright?"

I nodded, slowly making my way down the hill behind him. Broken branches from the trees surrounding us were scattered along the grass messily, having been tossed around by the storm most likely.

It didn't take long for me to find a metal door hidden under a large branch. "Bellamy, I think I found it!"

Bellamy rushed over, helping me move the branch. He tugged on the handle, to no avail. "It's rusted shut. Here, watch your foot."

I stepped back as Bellamy pulled out his hatched, bashing it against the edges of the door a few times. Putting the hatchet back on his belt, he signalled for my help. After a few tugs, the door swung open.

"Woah," I gasped, peering down the stairs. "Here, take this," I said, handing him one of two flashlights before descending into the bunker.

Bellamy followed behind. "Do you really think this place hasn't been touched since before the war?"

"A girl can dream."

We continued through the bunker, coming across another set of stairs. My light shone over a skeleton, leaning up against the bannister.

"A hell of a place to die," Bellamy commented.

"So much for living down here. This place is disgusting." I said, looking around the spider-web infested room. "Damn it."

Bellamy sighed. "Anything left down here is ruined."

I soon noticed a shelf, shining my light against it. "Hey, I found some blankets!"

"Excited about a couple of blankets?" Bellamy grumbled.

"It's something, at least," I responded, rolling my eyes. "We might not be able to live down here, but at least these will help us stay warm. Even if it is just a little bit."

"How about a canteen? Or a medkit? Or a decent freaking tent?" Bellamy snapped, kicking a barrel in front of him.

I spun around, noticing the contents of the barrel spilling out onto the floor. "Holy shit," I mumbled, rushing over.

Bellamy smiled, kneeling down next to it. "I'll be damned."

Two guns laid on the floor, surrounded by grease.

"Do you think they'll still work?" I asked, picking one up.

"I guess we'll find out," Bellamy responded, looking around. "Help me with the rest of the barrels. Maybe there's more guns, some ammo."

We headed around the room, kicking over every barrel insight. In total, we came up with fifty guns, but only enough ammo to fill half of them twice.

"This changes everything. No more running from spears." Bellamy spoke, a glimmer in his eyes. "Ready to be a badass, Athena?"

I bit my lip. "I know we need these, but I don't know how I feel about bringing them back to camp. We do have murderers among us."

"Who could've killed us by now with anything else lying around camp." Bellamy pointed out. "I know what you mean, but trust me, those killers are focused on the Grounders. Not any of us."

"You're right," I confessed.

"We're lucky these guns were packed in grease. The fact that they survived means we're not sitting ducks anymore." Bellamy grabbed a sheet from the shelf, drawing a target on it with some dust. "You need to learn how to do this."

I nodded, lifting the gun and pointing it at the sheet. "So I just hold it on my shoulder?"

"Just a little higher," He spoke, standing behind me. He placed one hand on the gun and another on my upper arm. I could feel his warm breath on my ear, jagged with each inhale and exhale. "Uh, yeah, that's good." He spoke, moving away. "Here, watch and learn."

I stepped back, watching him pick up another gun. He aimed it at the target, pulling the trigger. The gun clicked, nothing coming out. "Still watching," I spoke, smirking.

He shook his head, turning to me with a smile. "My bullets are duds. Try yours."

I stepped back into place, aiming the gun and pulling the trigger. A bullet flew out of the gun, shooting through the sheet. "That was amazing!" I spoke, smiling ear to ear. I turned to look at Bellamy, my face now pale. "Am I horrible for feeling that?"

He shook his head again, still smiling. "Try again."

"We shouldn't waste the ammunition."

"You need to practice."

"We need to talk about how we're going to keep these guns around camp," I started. "Where we're going to keep them, who has access to them." Bellamy rolled his eyes, opening a pack of nuts and eating a small handful. "You left Miller in charge of the Grounder," I continued. "You must trust him."

Bellamy nodded. "You should keep him close. The others listen to him."

I raised an eyebrow. "Bellamy, what's going on? You've been acting weird all day and you took a shit-ton of rations-" I stopped, my eyes widening. "You're planning on running. That's why you agreed to come today. You were gonna load up on supplies and just take off?"

"I don't have a choice, Athena." Bellamy sighed. "The Ark will be down here soon. You said maybe they'd just lock me up, but there's no way I'm giving Jaha the satisfaction."

"What about Octavia?" I asked. "You can't just leave her."

"Octavia hates me. She'll be fine."

"Octavia is upset, but she'll get over it. She loves you." I spoke, stepping closer. "Please, Bellamy. Don't do this."

Bellamy stared at me for a moment, his eyes softening. "Come with me."

I stared back, my heart stopping for a moment. "What?"

"Screw everyone else," Bellamy responded. "Let's just go."

"Bellamy-"

"Clarke knows where the depot is." Bellamy started. "We can take a gun, some ammo, and go somewhere else."

"We can't just abandon our people. Your people, as you've said over and over again since we got down here." I spoke, stepping back.

Bellamy rolled his eyes. "Keep practicing. I need some air."

"Bellamy, wait!"

"Don't worry, Athena." He spoke, walking away. "I won't leave just yet."

As his silhouette disappeared, I felt my heart sink into my stomach. Come with me. He asked me to come with him, and for just a moment, I thought about it. Could we find a place where the Grounders would never find us? Would the others manage on their own until the Ark came down? Leaving them to fight without my help just didn't sit right with me.

I placed my gun on the shelf, grabbing a few more nuts. Then suddenly, I heard a familiar voice.

"You've always been just like your father, you know?"

I turned around, the room having morphed into my bedroom on the Ark. Standing in front of me was my mother, as clear as ever.

"Mom?" I gasped, rushing over and throwing my arms around her.

"My sweet baby," She spoke, giving me one of her tightest hugs. "I've missed you so much."

I opened my mouth to respond, reality slowly sinking in. Looking up at my mother, I frowned. "You're not really here, are you?"

"I'm afraid not," She confessed.

"How is this possible?" I asked, stepping away.

My mother turned away, looking around the room before sitting down on my bed. "I'm thinking 'why' is more important."

I frowned. "Because I need you."

"What for, Sweetheart?" She asked, patting the bed next to her.

I sat down next to her, feeling her arm wrap around my back. "I don't know what to do. I'm so scared, Mom. All of the time. I don't know what I'm doing. I don't know how to keep us all safe. I don't think I can."

"Are you trying your best?" I nodded. "That's all you can do." She said, pausing for a moment. "But, you can't run away, baby. You're better than that."

I pulled myself away, standing in front of her. "You don't understand what it's like down here."

"Of course I do," She said, smiling. "I'm you, remember?"

"Right," I frowned. "So I guess you're my conscience?"

"I'm whatever you need me to be."

I let out a huff, shaking my head. "That's not really helpful, you know?"

"Would you prefer to speak with your father instead?" She asked, letting out a small chuckle.

"That's not funny," I hissed. "And for the record, I'm nothing like him."

"Are you sure about that?" I raised my eyebrow at her. "Here you are, worrying about the safety of your people. Having to make the hard decisions to keep them alive, a burden he's carried since before you were born."

"Dad has never had trouble making the hard decisions."

"Athena-"

"If you're going to try and defend him, just save it. He let them lock me up." I spoke, tears forming in my eyes. "Aside from our family, Jaha and Jesse's family, nobody else knew what I did. He's the second in command! He could've talked to Jaha, asked him to let it go, but he didn't. He's never stood up for me, not once in my entire life. He knew they were sending us down here, and he did nothing to stop it. He sent me, his own daughter, down here to die."

My mother frowned, her eyes shifting to the floor. "You know none of that was within his power. He loves you, more than anything."

"Now I know for sure you're not real," I scoffed. "You'd never lie to me."

"Too bad I couldn't say the same for you."

Her words hit me like a punch to the gut. "I never told you I was sorry. For what I did. Stealing your keycard. I know you could've lost everything."

"But you did it anyway, all to save someone you loved. Look where that got you; locked up and sent down here to die."

"You're saying Dad did the right thing?" I rolled my eyes.

"Not everything is black and white, Athena." She started. "Sometimes you have no other choice. Being a leader is doing what's right for your people, not what's right for you or one other person. Your father knows that, and so do you."

I shook my head, a tear falling down my cheek. "I'm not ready to forgive him."

"Whatever," My mother spoke, her voice suddenly changing. "Crazy bitch."

"Mom?" I asked, feeling a hard smack against the back of my head.

Then, everything went black.

...

I woke up on the cold ground of the bunker, my head throbbing. Sitting up, I looked around the room, noticing Bellamy's pack still sat on the ground where he left it. Whoever knocked me out, it definitely hadn't been him.

"What am I supposed to do?" It was Bellamy's voice.

I pulled myself off the ground, grabbing my gun and running out of the bunker.

"Do you think you deserve to be free of your pain? Do you deserve that gift?" I recognized the voice as Dax, one of the murderers of our camp. "Because you're going to get it."

I hid behind a tree, poking my head out, struggling to see in the darkness. Dax stood over Bellamy, holding one of the guns we'd found. Bellamy lifted his hand, his eyebrows furrowing.

"Nothing personal," Dax said. Then, he pulled the trigger, nothing coming out.

"Put the gun down, Dax," I spoke, stepping out from behind the tree with my gun aimed at him.

Dax spun around, shaking his head. "You should've stayed in the bunker, Athena. I tried not to kill you, but here you are, and Shumway said no witnesses."

"What is he talking about?" I asked, my eyes shifting to Bellamy for a moment.

"Shumway set it up. He gave me the gun to shoot the Chancellor."

I froze for a moment, Dax taking the chance to move closer. "Walk away now, and I won't kill you. This is your last chance."

"I can't do that, Dax."

He nodded. "Your choice."

I pulled the trigger before he could, this time my gun being the one to jam. He was quick to pull the trigger next, and I dove behind the tree just in time.

"No!" Bellamy yelled, tackling Dax.

I could hear them struggling behind me as I remained behind the tree, reloading my gun. Stepping out, I fired again and again and again, nothing coming out. I watched Dax climb on top of Bellamy once more, pushing the gun hard against Bellamy's throat. Giving up, I ran towards.

"Get the hell off of him!" I yelled, swinging the gun at him.

Dax dodged me, hitting me in the stomach with his gun, causing me to fall to the floor. I clutched my stomach, gasping for air, Dax's eyes still on me. With no time to waste, Bellamy grabbed a discarded bullet, stabbing Dax in the neck with it.

Blood spilled from Dax's mouth as he fell backwards, slowly bleeding out. Finally, he stopped moving.

I crawled over to the tree, leaning myself up against it as Bellamy rushed over, still struggling to catch his breath. He placed his hand on my knee, leaning himself against the tree as well.

"It's okay," I spoke, slowly catching my breath. "You're okay."

"No, I'm not." He choked out, tears forming in his eyes. "My mother... If she knew what I've done, who I am. She raised me to be better. To be good. And all I do is hurt people."

"Bellamy-"

"I'm a monster."

"Hey, you saved my life today. You've saved my life twice now." I spoke, grabbing his hand. "You may be a total ass half the time but... I need you. We all need you. None of us would've survived this place if it wasn't for you."

He shook his head. "They have you. And Clarke."

"We couldn't have kept everyone alive without you by our sides," I confessed. "You want forgiveness, fine, I'll give that to you. You're forgiven, okay? But you can't run, Bellamy. You have to face it."

"Like you faced your father?" He asked, catching me off guard. "Come on, Athena. I know you only came here today to avoid talking to him."

I sighed. "You're right. I don't want to face my father. I don't want to face any of it. I would love to run away and start a life far away from everyone else, far away from all the death and destruction, but we don't have a choice."

"Jaha will kill me when he comes down."

"I won't let that happen," I spoke. "We'll figure something out."

Bellamy nodded. "Can we figure it out later?"

I nodded, leaning my head back against the tree and letting go of his hand. "Whenever you're ready."

...

We returned to camp later that night, pushing our way through a crowd surrounding the dropship. Miller had just informed the camp that the Grounder had gotten free, nowhere to be found.

"What if he brings other grounders back?" Jasper asked.

"He'll kill us all!" Another delinquent spoke.

"Or worse."

"Let the grounders come," Bellamy spoke, us both reaching the front of the crowd. "We've been afraid of them for far too long, and why? Because of their knives and spears. I don't know about you, but I'm tired of being afraid."

Bellamy and I both dropped the sacks we'd made of sheets, them falling open to reveal guns. Clarke eyed them in amazement as everyone cheered around us.

"What about the bunker?" She asked.

I shook my head. "We can't live down there, but we did find blankets."

Clarke nodded, raising her voice. "These are weapons, not toys, alright? We have to be prepared to give them up to the guard when they get down here."

"But for now, they'll keep us safe," I added, earning a small smile.

"There are plenty more back at the depot that we couldn't carry," Bellamy spoke. "Tomorrow we start training, and if the grounders come, we're going to be ready to fight."

Everyone dispersed, Monty and Jasper carrying the guns to the dropship for storage overnight. Clarke placed her hand on my arm, grabbing my attention.

"I got you a meeting with Jaha," Clarke said. "He's waiting."

I smiled. "Thank you."

"What do you need to talk to him about anyway?"

"It's not for me," I responded, my eyes landing on Bellamy. "He was going to leave, you know?"

Clarke's eyes widened, her face turning red. "Are you kidding me?"

I shook my head. "I convinced him to talk to Jaha. Promised I'd do it with him. He's just scared, Clarke."

Her face softened and she nodded. "I get it."

I watched as Bellamy marched over, his eyes shifting nervously around camp. "Are we doing this?"

"Jaha is waiting. Are you ready?"

Bellamy huffed. "No, but let's get this over with."

The two of us headed to the tent, Bellamy gesturing for me to enter first. I pushed the flap aside, quickly spotting Jaha's face on the monitor in front of us. Bellamy took a deep breath, sitting down first and putting on his headset. I did the same.

"Mr. Blake," Jaha spoke. "I've been wanting to talk to you for some time now."

"Before you do, there's something I'd like to say." I started, glancing at Bellamy before looking back at Jaha. "When you sent us down here, you sent us to die, but miraculously, most of us are still alive. In large part, that is because of him, because of Bellamy. He's one of us, and he deserves to be pardoned of his crimes just like the rest of us."

Jaha scoffed. "Athena, I appreciate your point of view, but it's not that simple."

"It is if you want to know who on the Ark wants you dead."

I watched as Jaha contemplated Bellamy's offer. Finally, he responded. "Bellamy Blake, you are pardoned for your crimes."

Bellamy let out a sigh of relief, and I couldn't help but do the same. I placed my hand on his, squeezing it slightly and earning a small smile from him.

"Thank you," Bellamy spoke.

Jaha nodded. "Now, tell me who gave you the gun."

~

next chapter

[davidmann95]

Comics this week (4/14/2021)?

Anonymous said: This weeks comics?

deathchrist2000 said: Thoughts on this week's comics?

Got mine a day late this week due to a traffic jam on the highway I take to my LCS yesterday, but worth the wait in the end.

Proctor Valley Road #2: So after trying some naturalism on for size with the first issue Morrison just went fuck it and went back to writing dialogue the way they always write dialogue, huh? Not a complaint other than being a bit jarring, it was just striking. Anyway it’s still Morrison having a hoot and Franquiz is still an outstanding talent I’m glad I’m finally being properly introduced to, so this is still good.

Home #1: Serious disappointment. I was hoping ‘detained asylum seekers mixed with superpowers’ would be a narrative handled with care that’d potentially tap into something interesting, but aside from the horror that inevitably comes from tapping into this subject matter with any degree of authenticity this feels really amateurish top to bottom. Even Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou’s lettering feels notably weaker than usual.

Home Sick Pilots #5: This is wholly a ‘I vibe with it but have no idea what’s going on or who any of these people are anymore’ book at this point, think I’ll be switching to trades.

The Picture of Everything Else #3: I still have the last story in Paper Menagerie to get to, but after that I’m finally sitting down and rereading The Picture of Dorian Gray so that I can fully appreciate this book, because this is simply spectacular work.

Rorschach #7: Huh. Well, so far I’m still largely continuing to enjoy it, though this isn’t doing anything at all to alleviate the accusations of poor taste that have hung over it since the first issue.

Wonder Woman #771: Continuing to be a pleasant surprise, and I’m glad we’ll be getting back to Olympian stuff in July so we can see how this team handles more traditional Wonder Woman elements - I suspect that’ll be when we’ll be able to fully tell how well this is going to hold up for the long haul.

Superman #30: A really good start to the run proper! While it didn’t go and outright blow me away - with the exception of the double-pager of Clark and Jon flying through space, which packed more emotion into their relationship than the entirety of the Rebirth era - there’s a density of concept and storytelling here that’s far too rare for modern superhero storytelling in general and especially for the mainline Superman titles. You’ve got space adventure and a giant monster and alien mythology and courtly drama and family stuff, and while it’s a bit weird seeing him work with the main cast now that I permanently associate him with the House of El cast, Godlewski is equally adept at every angle of that visually. The Tales of Metropolis backup’s a letdown, but in spite of that I think we’re in for a really good time. Looking forward to the other end in Action in a couple weeks.

The Joker #2: I guess this issue was technically mostly table-setting, but it sure didn’t play like it and I continue to be shocked this is working as well as it is - even Joker’s actual scene is as close as he’s come to being amusing in a (non-Tom King) regular Batman comic in the last decade; my only real complaint is the inevitable awkwardness of trying to clean up some continuity leftovers from the last Batgirl book, and that’s only so much Tynion’s fault. The Punchline backup isn’t as impressive, but at least now we’ve got Orca the Whale Woman in the mix, and that can’t do help but improve things.

Also I want someone to say “but Jim, you can’t kill the Joker...or else the toxin in his heart will turn YOU into the NEW Joker!”

Batman: Urban Legends #2: Wish Zdarsky hadn’t talked about that one scene on War Rocket Ajax, because that was one of the best Batman moments in a good long while. Good good shit. The backup stories all perfectly worth reading too, but the lead’s the lead and it definitely got us closer to what you basically want out of this team handling these characters.

Daredevil #29: This is probably about as ‘classic’ as this run has felt thus far, but this is the best possible version of that so it’s hardly a complaint. And fascinated to see what Elektra’s up to.

Spider-Man: Spider’s Shadow #1: Oh I am so very in for this horror show.

Non-Stop Spider-Man #2: Ehhh, the storytelling is still on-point but it doesn’t feel like there’s much of anything under the hood here. Maybe I’ll check it out of the library sometime but I don’t think I’m onboard for it as an ongoing.

Power Pack #5: A lovely end to a lovely mini.

Iron Man #8: Solid but frankly I’m borderline on dropping this if only because I’m more than ready to see what this has in mind once it gets past the Korvac of it all. If Cantwell ever does a Frog Man book though I’m there through thick and thin.

Guardians of the Galaxy #13: Suffers badly from being an artistic transition from Juann Cabal to nearly anyone who isn’t Juann Cabal, but Juan Frigeri does perfectly fine for himself and Ewing’s firing on all cylinders putting over the new concept and tone as this converts for the time being to something closer to a straight-take superhero book. And those last few pages? Gold standard.

[battleforoclarious]

Homecoming Hero

It is high noon and the Sun from on high is shimmering through the city. The wind has quieted down after a strong gale blowing in the morning. It is now calm and settled. The Pearson International Airport has the status of postmodernity. Glass walls facade the building in emerald blue and it is beautifully built.

Clarkson comes out of airport custom in his military camo. Through the door, his mother, Beth, is waiting to pick him up. He comes out, and she sees him, “Clark!”, shouts his mother. He gives a childlike smile as he sees her. He paces to her. As he drops his bags, they come into an embrace. “How did it go?”, asks Beth. “It went just fine”, says Clarkson. “I’m proud of you, son. You did good there”, says Beth. “Just trying my best, mom”, responds Clarkson. “You’re much like your father, you know that”, says Beth. Clarkson looks at her and smiles again. “He would be proud of the man you’ve become”, says Beth. As they walk to the parking lot, “You think he is looking down on us right now”, asks Clarkson. She smiles at him, and then, “Always. He’s always here with us”, she says, pointing to his heart. “Let me take that from you”, as she tries to take his bag for him. But he refuses. “It’s okay, mom. I got it”, he says. “We're gonna have your favourite tonight, spaghetti with meatballs”, she says. “That’ll be great, mom. I’ll love that”, he says to her. As they get to the parking lot, Beth unlocks the car and opens the trunk. Clarkson places the bag inside and closes the trunk. Clarkson and Beth go around and get into the car. They drive off.

[iggy-of-fans]

Of Being a Ladybug part 2

So, Paris is about 6 hours ahead of Metropolis . So if Marinette sent the message at say… 8 pm, and Jagged got it at 9 because he was at dinner, then getting lawyers straightened out and all that ...say Marinette starts school at 10 am, then it would be approximately 4am in Metropolis. It would be a 7 hour flight, meaning she'd leave at noon on Monday, and arrive at 2am on Tuesday. 

The cons of being a reporter. 

TUESDAY 2AM Paris 

Lois was as excited as she was exhausted. Paris! She'd always wanted to go to Paris. As her taxi drove her past the Louvre and she could see the Eiffel tower in the distance, she couldn't help but remember the call she received yesterday. 

"I know it's early, Lois, but I have a job for you in Paris" Bruce said from the other line. 

"I'm listening." 

"The satellites from the Tower have been picking up irregularities. Burning buildings, the Eiffel Tower toppled or completely missing, then the next pass everything is normal. Hal even claims he saw a giant baby on cams once. I've gone over all the pictures of the last year, a couple of weeks ago there… I can't explain it. I'll send you the images and we'll try to find a believable cover story for going in the middle of the school year like this"

"I understand, thank you Bruce. I'll book the earliest flight I can." Burning buildings? The Eiffel tower toppled? Nothing had been said in the news. If something on a grand scale like that were happening, they would already know. 

"Thank you, Lois. I will of course pay for your accommodations while there," Bruce offered. A consolation for sending her around the globe for film effects. 

She barely got a "thank you" out, before he hung up. She flopped back onto the bed, Clark raising an eyebrow at her. Of course he'd heard both sides of the conversation, so he obviously had his own opinion to share. 

"Well? What do you think?" she asked him. If Clark gave it some weight, she might take it more seriously. 

"A video was sent by the Mayor of Paris about a year ago, asking for help because his city was being overrun by stone monsters and their only hope lay with a couple of kids. I watched it and it looked like some cheap special effects and deleted it like the other publicity stunts people pull. Diana was the one to notice the inconsistencies with the Eiffel tower, and she swears she saw a couple kids flying on rooftops. It's why Bruce started investigating. But he has no reason to be in Paris at all, since Wayne Enterprises doesn't have an hq there, and he wants to save that excuse for if there IS any trouble. Anyways, try to enjoy your little vacation while you're there" Clark smiled. 

"... Does Bruce know the mayor called for Justice League intervention?" Lois asked slowly. This… Was… Not… happening. 

"No? I mean, just some publicity stunts, Lois. We get 20 of them a day" Clark dismissed. Lois was beyond words so she got up and started packing, and turned on her civilian phone to call for a flight. Before she could get dialing she got a call incoming. 

"Penny? Is everything okay? WHAT? YES! Of course I do! That's huge! Yes, let me just call my boss…. Oh? Oh wow! Thank you! Yes, I'll see you tonight… Or I guess tomorrow for you…yes. I understand. Thank you" Lois couldn't believe her luck. She grabbed her JL phone and called Bruce. 

"Bruce! I've got a cover! I've been asked by an old college friend to interview her client and a few others on Parisian TV. Yes, totally legit, she just called me… Penny Rolling. Yes, yes Bruce! I will keep my eyes open. Did you know the Mayor tried to call for JL intervention a year ago? No? Clark told me there was a video but thought it was a publicity stunt. Maybe try to find it and give me a heads up… okay… Thank you Bruce. That'll be perfect! I'll get to the bottom of this… Okay, thank you."

Finally done with the update she rushed to call the airline. 

" NOON?!"

Before she could take in the breathtaking view any longer, the cab stopped. Lois paid the fare and stepped out and looked up. It was a beautiful hotel, owned by Mayor Bourgeois. The cabbie was loading her bags onto a trolley with a Bellhop waiting stoically by the doors. Just as Lois went to inquire about Penny, the door opened and out she came. 

"You cut your hair!" Lois exclaimed, giving her friend a hug and a LA Bise. 

"You, my beautiful ginger, are late! Had you arrived a few hours earlier you would have had quite the show!" Penny said with a smile. She'd always been jealous of Lois's hair. 

"It's Paris, Penny. How exciting could it possibly be?" Lois asked jokingly, wondering just what her visit here would truly reveal. 

I was going to end it here, but I believe I owe you all an action scene 😉 

MONDAY 10AM PARIS

Ladybug flew over buildings in the direction of the explosions. She really wished she'd had a chance to see the classroom before leaving to see if she would have to once again go up against Alya. Or Lila. 

Maybe if she was lucky it would be another unfortunate soul altogether. One she hopefully didn't know personally. Because it was starting to really take a toll on Ladybug, every time she came face to face with a friend or loved one. 

Before she was ready she was at the scene. And she was shocked. The Akuma of the day was a barely visible outline of a woman. She had a flowy garment on and only became visible when she touched a person. The person would immediately admit to bad deeds, anything from finishing the ice cream container to more horrible crimes. 

Ladybug watched as a couple hid behind a vehicle to escape the fate, only for the akuma to lift and throw the car, one handed, into another vehicle, creating another explosion. The akuma drifted ghost like towards the couple and became fully corporeal as she touched them, first the man ("I tapped your phone! I hated how much time you spent always going out!" he blurted out) then the woman ("I  can't stand being with you!" she screamed back). Ladybug swallowed. This was not good. A non corporeal being with the strength of ten men and the ability to… Spill secrets? Ladybug wasn't sure, but didn't want to get too close before she had the full story. She went to grab her yo-yo to call Chat, only for him to pop up, baton swinging. 

"What have we here? Another scary movie victim?" Chat asked, drawing all eyes to them. Ladybug wanted to scream. Or toss him off the building. Once! Just. ONCE! 

"I… am Guilty Conscience. That voice that should tell you not to do bad… It Is too quiet in most people's heads. So therefore I shall make you scream your misdeeds to the world. No longer shall there be hiding behind white lies for innocence" the ghost whispered, yet to Ladybug she may as well have screamed. 

"Che, you're out of your league! I have a picture perfect record!" Chat smirked, ever brash and fearless. Without a second thought, he jumped off the building towards the ghostly form. And just as Ladybug predicted, went right through her. She did not become solid upon contact with a human unless she so chose to. Great… 

"Chat! Fall back, we need a plan!" Ladybug called, stepping back from the roof and readying her yo-yo. 

"Just lucky charm her and we can go out for coffee!" Chat yelled back, swinging his baton uselessly through GC. Ladybug shook her head. She was almost 90% sure they'd need more backup. 

"Lucky Charm!" she cried, throwing her yo-yo high. Down fell a teapot. Back up it is, she sighed. 

"Chat! Fall back, I'm going for backup!" she called out again. 

"Awe, but M'lady, I thought I was the only one you needed in your life!" she was sure he thought he sounded charming. She cringed. 

"Not now Chat. I'll be back in a while, keep her from following me but keep your distance. No need to waste your energy for now." 

Had she looked down, or paid more attention to her surroundings, she may have seen Lila hiding in an alley not far from the akuma. She may have noticed her trying to follow her. She may even have taken another route to get where she was going. Later she would regret not being more vigilant. 

To be Continued...

Looks like me tag list is officially full. I'll try to send the rest in the comments!

@sidd-hit-my-butt-ham @kuroko26 @northernbluetongue @zelladane @chez-pezeater @luciferge @vixen-uchiha @bluerosette23 @mochinek0 @krunchy-tuna @treebrosha @geekydragonyt @vivilakitty @sassy-spocko @bluefiredemon-blog @mindfulmagics @thornangelic727 @sidefrienda @xxmadamjinxx @thepeacetea @pandocatxd @whomthefyck @lamestplaceintheworld @miraculous-ninja @mikantsume @unabashedbookworm @kandi-pie @2sunchild2 @redsparrow12 @shamefullove @cadencehood @thatonechickathottopic @yin-390 @tazanna-blythe @bb-basbusa @zazzlejazzle @fanfictionaddict13 @royalchaoticfangirl @god-is-dead-and-so-am-i @worlds-tiniest-spook-pastry @slytherinsheashire @imanerddealwith @tinybrie @angelisalise @graduatedmelon @trickstermiraculous @ayuchan07 @thatrandomfandomsgirl @sweatyruinsstudentbored @chloe-bourgeois-is-big-gay

[retromotherfuckers]

STAINED RED

(bellamy blake x reader)

Warnings: angsty as hell, canon death, lowkey panic attack, emotional breakdown, sadness, lots of mentions of blood, idek what to call the ending

Pairing: Bellamy x Collins!Reader

Word Count: 2k ~roughly~

A/N: I asked myself if I should make the first Bellamy one-shot that I post angsty. Then I remembered that I don’t know how to write happy stuff so in honor of Season 7 starting in one hour - even though I can’t watch it - here’s some sad shit.

\|/|\|/

Finn giving himself up to the grounders was the dumbest and smartest thing you had ever witnessed. Stupid; now you and Clarke have to deal with the aftermath and the fact that the commander's soldiers were stringing your brother up like an animal. And wise because he knew there was nothing anybody could do otherwise to sanctify an alliance with Lexa. As you and the aforementioned blonde watched Finn get chained to a pole, you connected eyes, and agreed wordlessly that you would do anything you could to make his death painless and short.

The two of you broke away from your lineup of people and headed to go into Lexa's barricade, Bellamy followed when he noticed and the man asked what the hell you were doing. Clarke quickly explained - and lied - that they were going to just talk to the commander as a last resort when Raven stopped you and grabbed your hand, catching all the other two's attention. 

Eyes dancing in the moonlight, you eyed Raven as she pulled out a small and makeshift metal dagger and placed it softy in your hand, sliding it up your sleeve. "If she won't let him go," The tan skinned girl started ominously and determined. "Kill her."

You knew that if either of you even attempted to hurt Lexa, you and Clarke would probably be dead in, at the most, minutes. Unless they decided to make it slow - which was probably what they would do.

It's not that you didn't care whether or not if Finn dies, you did. He was your twin brother, you cared with everything you had. When he told you that he decided to turn himself in you slapped him upside the head and told him he was crazy. When you watched him get dragged away from you, you wanted to sob, especially seeing Raven and Clarke's reactions. And now, seeing him like that - terrified, wanting to live, regretting his choice, - you almost talked yourself out of it going along with your plan.

But you and him both understood that if your people don't align with the grounders, that they would all be dead by morning.

You and Clarke over me.

Instead of telling Raven, 'no,' like you should've, you shook your head up and down in agreement, giving the girl a sense of false hope that she didn't deserve the burden of having it dragged through the mud.

Before anything else could happen, Bellamy pulled you aside, delaying your brother's death by only moments. "What else is there to say, Y/N?"

"I don't know. Neither does Clarke but we'll figure it out."

There was no way you were going to tell him what you and the blonde were up to, you knew he would tell you not to let his death be on your conscience. You could practically hear the words coming out of his mouth and maybe you or Clarke will be the one to end it, but it was his choices that got him strung up in the first place. Since their first battle with the grounders at the dropship just a few weeks ago, your brother had never been the same. Then he found out the girl he was in love with went missing and you didn't even recognize him anymore.

He was beginning to scare you.

Or that was all a bunch of bullshit that you were telling to make yourself feel better and add some extra insentive to actually go through with it, you didn’t actually know for sure.

At your words, Bellamy hugged you quickly with some assurance that he'll still be there no matter what happened. It's like he was reading your mind, which sometimes you believed he could actually do. Nodding, you pulled back, sticking to silence as the best answer and he opened the gate or you and Clarke to pass.

Both of you made your way through the path of incredibly intimidating grounder soldiers and went to the entrance of the commander's tent. There stood Indra, a woman that you actually kind of admired - her loyalty to Lexa was something you had never witnessed in anyone that wasn't related.

"Let us through," Clarke spoke, you standing in front of her and stepping into the warrior's spear, daring her to move it.

“Let them pass.”

At the commander's order, Indra reluctantly - but instantly - removed the spear from your abdomen and you let out a breath of relief. As you and Clarke approached Lexa, they made quick eye contact, knowing what they needed to do, deciding that the blonde would do most of the talking. 

“You plead for nothing,” Lexa said, her bravado never failing her. “You cannot stop this.”

"No, only you can. Show our people how powerful you are, show them you can be merciful. Show them you're not a savage," Clarke tried, a last ditch effort to save her lover's life - something you and her didn't exactly agree on but not something to hold against her.

“We are what we are.”

Clarke started begging the woman, trying to get her to see reason or even switch her out for Finn, trade her life for his. And as Lexa predictably denied, and practically put his upcoming death on her head, you jumped in not allowing this conversation to get any worse.

If that’s even possible.

With a stone cold face and no emotion in your voice, you spoke. "Can we at least say goodbye?" The commander just nodded at you as an answer.

You let Clarke go first, something in her eyes was pleading you to not make her be the one to do it and you shook your head with a yes, waiting to the side patiently as she held and cried for your brother. You gave them the privacy of not listening in, though it was painfully hard not to. Only when you saw her kiss him and stumble away, her knees giving out as sobs took over her body, did you advance towards your flesh and blood.

Stepping up to Finn, a grave expression written on your features, you immediately pulled him in for a hug, finally realizing the gravity of this situation. You two didn't even need to exchange words to know how the other felt or what they wanted to say.

All your older twin brother could even mutter was, "I'll be okay, Don't worry." He could almost tell what she was going to do but it was confirmed when he glanced to her hand and saw a shiny metal knife, just barely making contact with his shirt. You let out a shaky breath and hesitated.

Choking out an, "I love you," you let only a few tears fall from your eyes to your cheek, and squeezed your brother in an even tighter embrace. "I'm sorry." That's all you could say, that'll you knew to say that could even remotely make him feel any safer. 

You felt him nod, and you guessed that was his acceptance and signal, telling you he was ready for you to follow through with your plan. You felt the knife break through his skin as you pushed it deeper into his heart, killing him instantly. You almost expected him to say something while you still held his, now limp, body in your hands, already regretting accepting the responsibility for this.

But instead of letting any more salt flow from your tear ducts, you took a deep breath, gathered your bearings and stepped away from Finn, haunted. 

\|/|\|/

You couldn't stop staring at the blood. His blood stained on your shirt and hands. You sat away from the commander and Clarke who negotiated an alliance, not having spoken since you plunged a dagger in your own twin's heart. You didn't hear anyone come in, you didn't hear Abby and Kane arguing, nor did you hear Clarke agreeing to all the terms Lexa set. You didn't even hear them leave.

You couldn’t bring yourself to care.

Your brother was dead and you’re the only one to blame.

When it finally occurred to you that you can wash the physical blood off but it'll always be her fault, your hands started shaking, your chest tightened and the ringing in your ears became deafening. Maybe if you had just killed Lexa like Raven suggested, they would've gotten him out. You should've done something, anything else, it didn't matter what.

Then you remembered when Kane tried to say something of comfort to you. Clearly, you didn't respond, but you did recall him putting a small wet rag next to you so you could wipe the blood away. Sure enough, when you looked to your left, finally breaking out of your trance - only to start panicking even more - you grabbed the piece of cloth and started viciously scrubbing your hands.

You didn't care that your skin was turning red and getting chapped underneath the crimson liquid, probably to crack and create more of your own. You didn't care that the tent had become empty aside from you. All you could focus on was the blood and the fact that the air seemed to be pulled out of it like an airlock on the Ark and sobs overtook your body as you tried to scratch the red off. 

It was then that you felt someone take hold of your hands, making you quickly glance up to see Bellamy's mouth moving but you couldn't hear any words come out. The room was becoming smaller and smaller and you tried to rip your hands away to keep scratching the disappearing liquid off. Everything will be fine once it’s gone. It wasn't until right now that you realized you were speaking, words tumbling from your lips without your control, over and over again.

“I have to get it off. I have to get it off."

Suddenly, sound started filtering into your ears as Bellamy forced you to connect eyes by putting his hands on your cheeks and pulling your face up. "It's gone! You got it off, alright?" You only responded with the shake of your head, a frantic expression glued on and you still couldn't inhale or exhale correctly, breaking the eye contact. "Look at me, Y/N/N, breathe. It's okay."

Tears were uncontrollably falling down your face and you couldn't catch your breath. "I-I can't-I-I killed him -I-"

"Don't talk, just breathe. It'll be okay."

If you weren’t completely trapped in your own head, you would've been able to focus on the caring tone the man you loved used. You might've even conceded right then and there, but you were so wrapped up in remembering the knife piercing through your brother's heart at your own hand.

“I-I'm a monster," You stuttered out, bringing your hands to your head, trying to push your own head in. "God, it hurts-"

“They would've tortured him, you know that." You heard Bellamy say, his own voice a little louder than before but it was breaking too, though you still couldn't bring yourself to believe him. You could tell he meant the words he was saying but they just sounded like lies to you. The man could tell that that no more words were going help you calm down and as he stared into your absolutely devastated eyes that weren't returning his gaze and his heart broke at the sight. He just decided to pull you in for a tight embrace, your face was immediately buried into his chest, your tears soaked his shirt and he wrapped his arms around you. "You saved him from so much pain. You're not a monster, I promise."

Why does he keep lying to me?

His warmth was both appreciated and unwanted, you didn't deserve this. You're a cold blooded killer, you don't deserve comfort. You didn't have the physical nor mental strength to push him off and selfishly let yourself be held and loved even though you deprived Finn of ever feeling that again. The thoughts running through your head make your cries pick up once more, and you just needed the debilitating pain to be gone. 

Your voice was begging, pleading, broken. “I can’t take it! M-Make it stop, Bell, please.”

\|/|\|/

[sheepyships-archive]

The Lover’s Case

summary: a collection of headcanons for an au created including eli clark as a private detective and me as his badass partner, and how we work together and begin to simp for one another.

genre: fluff, light crack?? angst/comfort sprinkled in at the end

warnings: cops, gore(??)/murder scene mentions, violence and nightmares, angst/panicking but it’s fixed with comfort!

a/n: an au idea i suddenly had at like 10 pm and continued to write till 12:44 am, private detective!eli clark x rebel to-be partner!me au owns my heart so i decided to write headcanons for it because i was thinking about him and was in a shitty mood before bed, so... headcanon time!!!

-eli’s a private detective(in his recluse outfit ofc because i am truly a simp for that fit) and works on his own or strictly with other detectives

-(he doesn’t trust the police because where it’s set in this au, they’re known for fucking with evidence when it’s fitting for them, and also fuck cops in general so he’s a mainly lone private detective)

-i’m a well-known rebellious citizen that enjoys snooping around and looking into crime that goes on, even going to the scene of the crime when no one is around to get a closer look and come up with my own theories

-listen i don’t want to go to college and have one job for the rest of my life, that applies in this au too

-even though i could get into trouble for snooping too far in and not being a certified detective, fuck you and fuck off my life my rules

-we are the bad girl x good guy aesthetic, i have a motorcycle and have a lot of grunge outfits and he looks put together and calm

-but don’t be fooled! we are both also badass of course.

-i lowkey and unofficially become his partner in the cases he takes after we bump into each other at one of the crime scenes(a m//rder scene to be exact) he was going to inspect, and he found me examining it

-when he starts to scold me for how much danger i could be getting into(with the police or the culprit) i only argue back with him, and give him my own ideas i have about what could’ve happened because i don’t let bitches scold me

-even though i can be stupid and overthink, a lot, among other things. listen i may be stupid,

-anyways! while some of the ideas i spouted are... definitely outlandish(on purpose because i’m not serious half the time), some of them make a lot of sense and he didn’t even think that they could be connected to the case

-after first he’s hesitant to work with me, but i annoy him into letting me help and he begrudgingly agrees to work with me

-“but only this once. you aren’t even a certified detective...” “HELL YEAH LET’S FUCKING GO!”

-eli talking to his owl after that interaction: “brooke rose have i made a mistake?”

-but after i help him a bit more with the case(and give a lot of my attention to brooke rose as i help him), he’s able to figure out the case and solve it, taking the right steps to have the culprit arrested!

-case complete! but something still feels... missing, at least for eli.

-he realizes the potential i have in solving cases than the whole police force in the town or any other detective he worked with

-after a few days of thinking it over, he decides to make me his partner, and he goes to my house one night and gives me the offer, which goes a little like this:

-he steps up to the door of the apartment that i live in, he was able to sneak in somehow, but that’s not important

-when he knocks on my door, he has brooke rose on his shoulder, knowing that’ll show he’s there in a more casual and calm sense

-when i open the door i’m only in a baggy sweater and shorts, and he’s like 😳 because he’s thinking, ‘oh wait she’s kinda cute..’

-and he’d only seen me in a black leather jacket, a long band t-shirt and skinny jeans, so this is new

-eli unlocked my night fit. i unlocked eli’s attraction to me. ✌️😌

-i lean against the doorframe and cross my arms, looking up at him with a smug grin,

-“aww, hey owl detective! i wasn’t expecting to see you so soon, do you need somethin’?” “you... could say that, how would you feel about being my partner, [insert my last name because fuck you i ain’t risking that]?”

-so after that, he takes me under his wing

-that’s funny haha wing joke because he still has brooke rose his owl hehe

-m’kay shut up katlin you aren’t funny just write the headcanons.

-remember when i said i have a motorcycle in this au? that’s boutta come back up now

-we definitely ride together in my motorcycle, he used to have to walk or run around everywhere, but after meeting me, not anymore!

-having him sit behind me with his arms tightly wrapped around my waist is a must since he doesn’t know how to ride a motorcycle and we don’t want him to fall off, y’know?

-“are you enjoying yourself, eli?!” “HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO TELL YOU THAT I AM ALWAYS AFRAID WHENEVER I RIDE WITH YOU!?!” “...i’ll take that as your doing splendid!”

-i don’t even ride that fast, he’s just not used to it since he’s used to traveling around town by foot

-i hold my arm out for eli to grab onto so he doesn’t stumble and fall onto the ground, giggling when he “glares” at me, but we continue on with our business!

-yeah the motorcycle stuff is self-indulgent because i want this to happen

-as time goes on and we become closer by working on more cases together, or hanging out a bit outside of work, we become much closer! with us becoming closer we also begin to harbor

-well, y’know, romantic feelings towards each other

-for how we officially get together, i have it all planned out.

-it’s one night after one we are taking a vacation off of working on the cases, because of one we were working on for awhile was finally solved

-it was a longer, more draining one, with us continuously getting stuck, being stopped and questioned by the police(who repeatedly threatened to arrest us, especially me(and eli too, even though he was literally a private detective)), kept losing the culprit and getting into danger with the culprit sending their henchmen after us, etc. just very draining and stressful for the two of us.

-one night, eli has a nightmare back to one of the nights where we were being followed by the henchmen of the culprit while riding home on the motorcycle

-in real life, we were able to escape from them by going down a deserted road and losing them before heading to eli’s house to hideout at, which was closest at the time

-but in his nightmare, we heard a pop noise and one of the motorcycle’s tires deflating and we’re forced to pull over

-before we can run or hide, we are ambushed are being separated from each other when they grab me and drag me away, i struggle and yell at them and eli is pinned down onto the ground, on of the assailants elbows digging into his back while they held his arms behind him

-eli can only watch hopelessly as i’m dragged off, screaming for me, and at our captors to at least let me go and take him instead

-before more can happen in the nightmare, eli pulls himself out of it in cold sweat, shooting up off his bed and breathing in and out heavily, he sighs and stands up off his bed

-brooke rose can tell he’s uneasy and flies over to comfort him, he starts to pace around his home, fiddling with the things he owns, getting water(even if he wasn’t thirsty), etc. he was nervous, and this wasn’t like him

-then, some scary thoughts start to form in his mind, making his original nervousness increase tenfold and become full on panicking

-was katlin alright? was she sleeping peacefully at her home? what if the culprit’s henchmen were still after us? or after her specifically?

-oh fuck.

-this made him panic and he quickly flew up from whatever he was doing before to go get dressed in his usual attire, putting the bandages around his eyes before running over to my place, brooke rose flying behind him

-as he’s running, he doesn’t even realize that he’s started crying under the bandages, his focus on getting to my place and making sure i’m safe

-when he arrives, he almost runs into the door, but is able to stop in time and starts to knock on it

-the loud, obnoxious knocking wakes me up and i grumble before walking over to the door and opening it while rubbing my eyes

-“it’s four in the fucking morning, who is-“

-as i look up to see eli, and see how his panting and obviously distressed, my irritated and tired mood completely switches to a concerned one

-“wh- eli? are you okay? what’s going on?” “i just- i had- i had to make sure that..”

-he isn’t able to make a coherent response and just let’s a sob fall from his lips, nearly collapsing onto his knees in front of me

-i’m of course freaking out too, the usually calm and collected eli is now a sobbing mess at my door, and i have no clue why, so i begin to panic as well

-i place my hands on each of his shoulders and pull him closer into a firm hug, wrapping my arms around his neck and pull his head into my shoulder

-eli almost immediately accepts it, wrapping both arms around me and clinging onto my baggy pajama sweater, sobbing into my shoulder

-“let’s get you inside, okay? i can make you some hot chocolate or something to eat?”

-he nods and i lead him into my house, sitting him down on the couch before disappearing off to my kitchen only to return minutes later with hot chocolate and some snacks, setting them down onto the table in front of the couch

-“i know you probably expect a meal and stuff, but i live alone and don’t have many guests over, so this is all i really got.” “there’s no need for anything fancy, katlin.. thank you.”

-as he starts to slowly eat and drink, we sit there in awkward silence for awhile, neither of us super tired now

-“so, umm.. what was it that you had to make sure of, eli?”

-he freezes for a moment when he remembers the nightmare he had, he sighs and rests back on the couch fully

-“i... wanted to check on you, to make sure you were okay. i had a nightmare back to the night when we were being followed and had to hide at my house, and... and-“

-his admission makes me flush somewhat and become warm, i turn to him as he attempts to stutter out an answer, taking his hands and squeezing them

-“don’t continue if you don’t feel like you’re able to right now, i’m here and i’m safe.”

-eli turns to me, i smile even though he can’t see it and gently wipe his cheeks that were damp from his tears with my sleeve, he relaxes and scoots closer

-he feels me gently run my hand along his bandages and he tenses up as a frown forms on his features, slowly reaching up to grab my wrists, making me freeze up completely

-“m-may i?” “do it, move my bandages..”

-when i do move the bandages down to rest around his neck, i see his blank, distant, grayish blue eyes, he sighs and takes my hands into his

-“i didn’t know how you would react, but.. now is a better time than ever.” he says with a sigh, as if everything is finally being lifted from his shoulders as he continues, “i... i’m blind. it’s part of the reason why i worked alone for awhile, i didn’t want others to find out and think i’m useless, even though i’m not.”

-i’m taken aback by his confession, at first i’m angry at whoever made him feel this way, but brush it off and focus on him again, now smiling and holding his face with my hands and press my forehead into his

-“i’m glad you can recognize your own strengths, because you are so strong, and brave, eli. you’ve gone through so much bullshit with so many people in this goddamn town, and you continue to prove that you can be trusted, and are capable of doing great things! maybe those bitches will never understand my thinking, but i believe you are just.. so amazing, and inspiring, for everyone around you!”

-eli has to bite back a sob when he hears me pour my heart out to him about how i feel, biting his lip and smiling, he shuts his eyes and starts to tear up and cry again, but now out of happiness as he presses his forehead into mine in return

-“i... i love you, fuck, i love you.” he murmurs as the realization of his feelings hit him like a train, he places both hands on my sides, starting to move closer to me and pull me closer to his form

-i open my eyes wide and look up at him, seeing him crying. my gaze softens on him with love and i smile once more, gently wiping his tears away as some small tears form in my eyes, “i love you too, you have no idea..”

-eli smiles and moves his head back for a moment, he reaches up slowly and feels around my face with his fingers, making me giggle in confusion until his thumb touches my lip, and realization hits me almost immediately.

-“are you gonna..?” “i want to, but only if you’ll let me.”

-when he feels me nod, he leans closer as his eyes close, but he stops when his lips are just grazing mine and he freezes up for a second, but then he leans in further and kisses me gently, holding my chin in between his fingers now

-i close my eyes and place my hands on the back of his neck, melting into the kiss and moving my hands up behind his head to run them through his hair before we pull back after a moment, i smile.

-when i start to yawn, i look up at the clock nearby and am shocked at the fact that an hour and a half has already passed, but am nonetheless happy that i spent that time with eli.

-“it’s already five thirty? christ... eli, do you wanna just wanna stay here with me? it’s almost morning, and it’d be rude of me to kick you out after, well, y’know..” “i would enjoy that greatly.”

-we end up falling asleep in my bed, facing each other with our arms wrapped around one another, my head resting in the crook of his neck, right under his head while he rests his on top of mine

-we both sleep peacefully from then on.

-so... we’re basically detective partners but also in love, i do not do not make the rules

[milarvela]

How Do You Solve a Problem Like Barrowman? + A Response to Nerdrotic

I like this video. A few thoughts:

What stopped two grown women from telling Clarke that it’s quite enough of that demonstration, end it now? They weren’t new to show business, young, inexperienced etc. Seems to me they were getting uncomfortable with Noel’s inability to stop before it got embarrassing, rather than being affected by bad memories or whatever.

If you talk about alleged harassment from 2004 in 2021, shouldn’t you at least have an excuse for why it took so long to come forward? Were you in coma all that time? Aren’t you ashamed of letting this man continue to harass others because you waited so long before speaking about it? What sort of person unashamedly talks about something like that as if nobody else matters? Shouldn’t you instead be quiet and grateful that nobody found out that you were harassed but didn’t say anything? I don’t understand how these people think.

Who was the assistant director complained to? What’s their name? Why is it okay to name Noel Clarke but not the higher-ups who failed at doing their duty properly?

Same goes for that supervisor type.  

That David and his impeccable behaviour helped rein things in to a certain extent makes it sound like it was Christopher Eccleston who caused most of the trouble during s1. Or were there other changes too except his leaving? Weird, because I had the impression that Christopher wasn’t happy with the goings-on on the set, while David laughed along and even sang about John’s willy-waving later.

That neither of them has as far as I know said a word in defense of Noel/John is quite something. Nor have they spoken against them. Silence from the companions too. Basically the only conclusion from this is that they’re all fearing for their own careers. And nobody’s apparently even asking them to comment on this? How nice and considerate of the media to leave them be. The Guardian tried to get comments from Coduri and Badland, as if that fan event was the main thing in this saga and those two the biggest enablers or something.

Eve Myles? I don’t remember even hearing her name before last week but apparently she is famous for not realising that John Barrowman was assaulting her that one time with his penis. Lol, I guess she’s remarkably stupid or there’s some major patronising happening. Could be both.

Nobody’s hopefully saying that touching random co-workers with a penis is an okay thing to do. But if she didn’t complain, why is it now a big deal? I don’t know if she’s made a statement about it but I imagine it’d be pretty difficult. Either she’s going to sound like she thinks what John did was cool and that’ll get her hate or she’s going to say it wasn’t cool and she’s that coward who failed to report the incident.

BTW, whatever happened to Russell T Davies? He said he never saw John’s penis and that’s all there is to it? Why, everybody’s so accommodating and kind and understanding of his pain due to this terrible neglect. Apparently it would’ve been quite a sight. So very inconsiderate of Barrowman to leave the showrunner out of the fun.

Seriously though, I think it gets hopelessly hilarious, this detailed, belated  outrage for what Barrowman did. Yes, it’s terribly pathetic and attention-seeking and juvenile (which he wasn’t), and the joke or whatever must have gotten old fast. But they all knew about it at the time. Now it’s all pretense and hypocrisy or silence from those who were there. Except this Julie Gardner who, if not lying, acted exactly how one should after receiving a complaint.

That it didn’t end there wasn’t her fault unless she got more complaints and did nothing about those. She’s not responsible for John’s behaviour elsewhere later. Honestly, there must be some fancy name for this willy-waving compulsion. Can’t Barrowman get some shrink tell everybody about it or possibly just claim mental health issues? That should get him sympathy these days and it might not even be that far fetched. Lol, he could even come out as nonbinary to confirm that.

Can’t help thinking though that he must have gotten more than the pleasure of making people laugh out of it. If not sexual then some other kind of satisfaction. Like maybe seeing the alarm in the eyes of some young woman. Mean streak.

Eh, that celebrity show (I always thought those were for has-beens and wannabes) article could just be promotion.

David Tennant isn’t saying anything even as they refuse to release a thing with him in it. Why? All he has to do is to make a “it was all in good fun but maybe a bit foolish and thoughtless” statement and add something about how fans needn’t be punished because of whatever else is happening. But no. What a coward. Well, I guess he got paid and the rest doesn’t matter. Which is fine. Maybe he should donate the money to a fitting cause now that his colleague has been exposed. Nevermind that he had nothing against working with said colleague until what must have been quite recently. All the time knowing what he did/does.

Generally speaking, I think it’s a remarkably bad idea to remove or not show finished stuff regardless what the people involved may have done. Way too complicated to ever be fair or consistent about these things. Utter idiocy. And some fans get carried away with their defending of and excuses for their favourites.

Couldn’t it be okay to admit that if somebody fucked up, it really was a fuckup but still be a fan?

I suspect the BBC may just be looking for reasons to cancel Doctor Who. I mean reasons other than waning popularity. And these kind of scandals don’t really make the franchise stronger. I guess Mr Tardis is a dedicated fan and needs to be positive about it. So fair enough. That teaser trailer certainly would be welcome, I agree. Although not everybody interested in the Clarke/Barrowman situation cares about the show.

I’d love to know the number of people who’ve been driven out of showbusiness because of unsafety. That all these allegations come, like in some big cases before, years after harassment/whatever started suggests very few are concerned about their safety as long as they are promised rewards for tolerating all sorts.

Safeguarding seems to be a fashionable word. Just give everybody bodycams. Brains could be useful too. At least teach everybody what to do/say when someone is harassing them. And stop with the victim-playing years after something allegedly happened. Or have a good excuse for the delay. Not getting what you expected and feeling disappointed afterwards isn’t enough.

People will want to defend their favourites. It’s kind of fun seeing how far they will go with it. There are nuances sometimes but it’s best to be an honest fan or move on.

As for Nerdrotic and his fellow whiners, eh, if they and their audience shouldn’t be allowed in a workplace (okay, I’m not sure if Tardis really meant it what with that voice he did) for not condemning the likes of Noel/John, surely the same goes for the people who worked with those two and allowed them to do what they did?  

Don’t know why he’s still demanding apologies from Barrowman. He’s done that and even acknowledged this current outrage caused by his “tomfoolery”. Poor fucker has had nobody accusing him of anything, so I guess he needs to apologise to those who were never there and had no opportunity to witness his willy-waving. So funny. Maybe he should make a video where he demonstrates how it happened. Might prove more profitable than some audio thingy with David the coward.