#and all the betrayals that sophie and the rest had to face

[clarissaweasley-10]

Dynasty by Miia is so KOTLC coded..re-blo if you agree

[thebrotherssalvatore321]

Keeping Secrets Ch. 51

Keeping Secrets Masterlist

A/N: According to the TVD universe timeline I’ve been using, Hayley was pregnant with Hope for like, a year and a half or some crazy crap. So just so you guys know in this story, Baby M. was conceived in late March, putting Katie’s due date in late December or early January.

Late October (The day after Rebekah left)

Katie, sleeping with her back to Klaus’s chest, was woken up by the feel of him slipping his fingertips lightly up her bare arm, skipping over the strap of her pajama top as he moved them over her shoulder and across her chest. Curious about what he’d do next she kept her eyes closed, pretending to still be asleep. He traced back over his previous path then down her side and over her thigh that he gently gripped. The touch sent a tingle throughout her body, but she tried her best to hide her reaction.

Since that didn’t wake her he slowly moved his hand up and under her pajama shorts and she almost had to bite her lip to hide her reaction to his teasing. He knew she was awake, not from her relaxed face or slow even breathing, but from the beat of her heart, that skipped at his tempting touches. With his hand now on her hip he pulled her closer then went back to lightly slipping his fingertips over her smooth exposed skin. When he moved his hand back to her chest and pressed his palm to it, his fingertips touching the hollow of her neck, her heart skipped again and he couldn’t hold back his chuckle. “You are an amazing actress, Little Phoenix, but the beating of your heart betrays you.”

She smiled, but didn’t open her eyes. “I’ll work in it.”

“Why do you attempt to fool me?” he asked, letting his eyes skim her face.

“Because I’m afraid if I open my eyes you’ll stop touching me like that.” she answered then opened her eyes to see him studying her face. “I missed you.” he placed the backs of his fingers on her cheek and stroked it with his thumb. “When those witches took you I…” she narrowed her eyes and shook her head, “I hated not being able to help you, not knowing where you were or what they were doing to you. How did they manage to take you down anyway?”

“While Elijah was saving you from that burning house, Sophie Deveraux stabbed me with Papa Tunde’s blade. I passed out and woke up in the sanatorium.” He answered then dropped his hand to rest on the side of her neck.

“Well, the next time I see her I’m going to bust one of Bonnie’s magic muting bombs in her face and break her neck.” Katie said through gritted teeth.

“I would pay to see that, Little Phoenix, however someone beat you to the punch.” He told her getting a curious look from her. “Sophie is dead, Elijah didn’t tell you?” he asked and she shook her head no.

“So what happened to you, at the sanatorium?” Katie asked, getting back on topic.

“Genevieve shackled me to a chair, took the blade out, kept me weak and linked my mind to Rebekah’s. While we were linked Genevieve forced Rebekah to take a walk down memory lane revealing her betrayal.” he answered.

“Why? What did Genevieve get out of it?” Katie asked with a frown.

“Revenge against Rebekah.” Klaus answered.

Katie gave him a confused shake of her head. “I know Rebekah used her to bring your father here, but that doesn’t seem reason enough to completely wreck someone’s family.”

“When Genevieve found out exactly who she brought to town and that Mikael would kill me she threatened to come to me and beg for forgiveness for what she had unknowingly done. Rebekah could not let that happen, so she infected Genevieve and her nosey little friend with Spanish influenza and had them locked in quarantine until they died.”

“Do you happen to know the name of the friend?” Katie asked curiously.

“Clara I think.” He answered, “Why?”

“Things are making so much more sense now.” Katie said with a look around and a shake of her head. “In 1919 Celeste was using Clara’s body. Both Celeste and Genevieve were victims of Mikaelson mistakes and Bastianna went along with everything because she was mad at Father K. and Marcel for screwing up the harvest ritual.”

To change the subject Klaus slipped his hand over her growing stomach and asked, “How is our little princess?”

“I haven’t felt her move in a while. I’m worried.” Katie admitted as she slipped her hand over his and looked down at her dark blue pajama tank top covered stomach.

“Her heartbeat is as strong as ever.” He told her as he brushed his thumb back and forth over her stomach. “We can find a doctor in town to take you to if you need more reassurance.”

She was about to take him up on the offer when the baby kicked hard, making their hands move. “Nope, I think I know what the problem was.” Katie told him as she gave his shoulder a push then moved to straddle him.

“Yeah?” he asked, placing his hands on her hips as she settled into his lap.

“She, like her mother, simply missed you.” She was about to lean in and kiss him when her phone on the bedside table chimed so she leaned over and grabbed it.

“If that is Nate I’m going to get jealous.” He told her with a bit of a smirk.

“It’s Hayley.” She replied as she opened the text. “Did you know the crescent wolves have been cursed to only be human on the full moon?” she asked and he shook his head no. “Elijah told me about it and Hayley came to me the day before yesterday asking for information in exchange for helping keep the peace between us and the wolves. Turns out Celeste cursed them while hopping a ride in a Deveraux witch’s body.” Klaus slipped his hands up her sides as she read the text, going back to caressing her like he had been before they started talking. “According to this message Hayley got to Celeste before Elijah killed her and got what she needed to cure her people.” Katie texted back, “Awesome.” and a smiley face emoji then put her phone away. “On the subject of Nate, who’s not gay just so you know,” Klaus gave her an I-knew-it look. “Oh don’t look at me like that. Straight or not he’s not interested in me like that. Besides, I doubt I’ll be talking to him anytime soon considering he’s been banished from the quarter. It seems it’s not meant for me to have friends here.”

“Why not get Bonnie to make a daylight ring for Josh?” Klaus asked. “He’s completely loyal to Marcel and you’ve expressed the desire for his friendship in the past.”

“Bonnie doesn’t make those rings for just anyone. She didn’t even want to make one for me, but Damon and Elena talked her into it and I had to promise that I wouldn’t feed on people before I could have it.” she said with a shake of her head. “And I kept that promise up until I stopped clinging so tightly to a relationship that was doomed from the beginning.”

“So that’s why your compulsion sucked when we first met.” He said with a small smile at the memory of the guy that Klaus almost killed at homecoming.

“Pretty much.” She nodded. “And after getting compelled by Elijah I have to wonder if all compulsion feels that invasive and violating or just what he compelled me to do.”

“You’re livid with him for that, aren't you?” he asked, seeing a spark in her eyes.

“Livid is an understatement.” she answered with a nod as she dropped her eyes to his shirt covered chest. “That slap was not satisfying enough.” She looked into his eyes. “I’m guessing you’re mad at him for defending Rebekah.”

“As well as a plethora of other things.” He replied then slipped his hand over her cheek and pulled her down for a slow, sweet kiss. “Less discussion.” He whispered then started kissing his way to her neck, pulling a sigh from her when he grazed his teeth over the sensitive skin. “Show me how much you missed me.” he whispered then kissed her earlobe as he threaded his fingers through her long, wavy auburn locks at the nape of her neck. She pulled back and looked him in the eyes as she grabbed the hem of the grey wife beater he’d worn to sleep and pulled it over his head. His hands settled on her sides as she tossed the shirt aside then turned her eyes to his torso, slipping her fingertips over his shoulders, his collarbones, down his chest, over his perfectly toned abs and around to hold his sides. She leaned forward and kissed his chest slowly working her way up to his neck where she nibbled, pulling a sigh from him as his hands lightly squeezed her hips.

She kissed just below his ear before she whispered, “Tá tú gan locht.” “You are perfect.” Her words, spoken seductively in her native tongue, made a toe curling groan slip from his lips and he wanted to take her right then, but after two nights without her, he wanted to make the moment last. So she kissed down to his chest, "tá tú dathúil." "You are handsome." she kissed over to one of his nipples and swirled her tongue around it making him sigh and back to the nape of her neck, his fingers tangled in her hair. "Tá tú blasta..." "You are delicious..." she pulled back and looked into his lust veiled eyes, “and...Kingdom or no kingdom…'' She moved to sit on her knees beside him, "village or no village," removed the blankets from his lap then slipped her fingertips up his inner thigh stopping at the line of his boxers then leaned up and caught his lips in a kiss that quickly heated up. When it finally broke she opened her eyes, her bright greens meeting his steel blues, "beidh tú i mo rí go deo." "you will forever be my king."

A gasp left his lips as he whooshed to his knees, one hand still on the back of her neck and the other pressed to her lower back, holding her as close to him as her belly would allow. Her hands pressed into his back as he caught her lips with his. Every ounce of passion, how much what she said meant to him washing over her like a tidal wave. As his tongue found hers her hands slipped down to his lower back, lightly scratching him as she moved her hands to hold his sides, steadying herself. He broke the kiss and cupped her cheek in his large hand as he looked into her equally lust clouded eyes. “Tá tú, mo bhanríon, ar meisciúil.” “You, my queen, are intoxicating.” She’d known he could understand her when she spoke Irish, but she didn’t know he could speak it and doing so caused an overwhelming amount of love and desire to wash over her.

A smile spread over her lips before she bit her bottom one and let it slip between her teeth. “Say that again.”

“Tá tú meisciúil.” “You’re intoxicating.” He repeated as he brushed his thumb over her cheek.

“The other part.” She told him with a smirk.

“Mo bhanríon.” “My Queen.” He picked up her left hand from his side and looked down at the tiara on her finger, sat it and her other hand on his shoulders then grabbed her butt with one hand and her back with the other, picking her up. A laugh left her lips as she wrapped her legs around him and he laid her back cutting off her laugh with his lips on hers.

TVDTVDTVD

Katie stood in the kitchen making a late breakfast when Elijah walked in. “Where is Niklaus this morning?” he asked as he leaned on the frame of the archway that led into the room.

“His studio.” She answered flatly, not looking up from the banana she was slicing. She was hoping he’d go away in pursuit of Klaus, but instead he walked over to stand beside her, leaning his hip on the edge of the counter.

“I owe you an apology.” He told her as he set his hand on the bar next to the cutting board.

She flipped the knife around in her hand, slammed it down into the back of his hand. He looked at his hand and the knife that she still held onto then back at her. She looked into his brown eyes with a glare that he was unfortunately getting used to being aimed at him. “I am getting, so sick of your apologies.” She told him through gritted teeth. “Thanks to you, in the back of my head I am still unwillingly coming up with ways to excuse what Rebekah has done.”

“You are the one person he listens to. I needed you to talk him down.” Elijah reasoned.

“Playing mediator was not my job or my wish at that moment.” She argued angrily as she jerked the blade out of his hand and tossed it into the sink. “He looked like death warmed over and all I wanted was to be there for him, however he needed me. Rather that was simply nursing him back to health or talking him out of killing his sister.”

“You made it perfectly clear you had no intentions of that.” Elijah pointed out.

“I was angry with her and pissed at you for stabbing him!” She yelled at him, but she stopped, closed her eyes and placed her hands on the bar as she took a deep breath then let it out. “I said things I didn’t mean. If you seriously think I’d ever really want him to kill her,” she looked back up at him, “for him to live, knowing that he was the one that took her from this world…then you really don’t know me at all.”

“Yes, well, you were not the only one who was angry.” He pulled the handkerchief out of his pocket and wiped the blood from his hand where she had stabbed him.

“Oh I’m aware.” She used her hand to scrape the banana slices off of the cutting board into a bowl of honey nut cheerios. “Klaus and Rebekah aren’t the only ones who inherited the Mikaelson temper. You, in your anger, kicked a friend of mine out of this house.”

“You made a friend amongst the riffraff. Why does that not surprise me?” he asked, his air of superiority pissing her off.

She grabbed the jug of milk out of the fridge and took the cap off. “Just because they were loyal to Marcel and Klaus does not make them unworthy of being in the presence of the holier-than-thou Elijah Mikaelson.” She poured some milk in her bowl then capped it and looked at Elijah. “My friend's name is Nate and he is welcome here anytime I damn well please.” She grabbed her bowl of cereal and took a bite.

“If I find out he has less than honorable intentions for you I will put an end to them.” Elijah warned her.

“I’ve come to expect no less from you.” she replied and started to walk off.

“Katie.” She turned back to him with a sigh and an eye roll. He walked over to her, placed his fingertips on her cheek then looked into her eyes. “You are free of my compulsion.”

She blinked out of the compulsive state then took his hand off her face. “Thank you. Now, if you ever compel me again, you can expect more than a slap to the face and a knife through your hand.”

TVDTVDTVD

Later that evening Elijah led Katie to the court yard where Nate stood near the fountain. “He asked to speak to you.” Elijah told her as they walked down the stairs.

“Nate, what are you doing here? Elijah could have killed you.” Katie asked as she walked over to him and the other two vampires.

“I don’t want to leave the quarter. It’s my home.” Nate answered. “Most of the others are across the river following Diego, but I have a different leader in mind.” He made a motion at her with his hand.

“Me?” Katie asked with raised brows and a disbelieving tone. “You’ve got to be kidding.”

“Hear me out.” He told her defensively. “I understand that you have Klaus and Elijah, but they can’t always be with you. You’ve complained in the past about not being about to go out and about without one of them with you to make sure the witches leave you be. You need a body guard since your dad left. Besides, I kind of thought we had become friends and I don’t leave my friends even when an original tells me to.” He glanced at Elijah who was standing behind Katie then back at her.

“Don’t you have friends amongst the people that you’re leaving behind for me?” Katie asked with a narrow eyed head shake.

“Not really, no.” he answered as he tucked his hands into his pockets. “I’ve lived here for five years. Only a year of that has been spent with Marcel and his people and the whole time I was with them I never felt like I was one of them. You’re the first friend I’ve had here.” He finished with a shrug.

“Then how did you get a daylight ring so fast?” Katie asked.

“I was a vampire before I moved here. Not all witches hate vampires, as you well know.” He pointed out with a motion to the daylight ring she still wore. “If I have to follow a leader to live in this city then I choose you.” he told her with a shrug.

“I say he can stay.” Klaus’s voice hit their ears and they both looked at him as he walked down the stairs to stand beside Elijah. “Though, I’m not sure my opinion is the one that matters at the moment.”

“I would like him to stay here and be able to come and go as he pleases.” Katie said with a look at Elijah.

Elijah frowned in thought and crossed his arms over his chest. After a few seconds that felt like minutes he gave Katie a nod then looked at Nate. “Do not make me regret letting you stay.” Nate gave him a nod.

A Week Later

Katie sat at a chair at the hair salon in the quarter, the hairdresser cutting her long hair that hadn’t been cut in over a year, back into the style Katie preferred which was shoulder length with layers and side bangs. Nate sat in a chair outside keeping an eye on every person that entered the salon while pretending to read a newspaper.

“You know,” Genevieve said as she sat down in the empty chair next to Katie that wasn’t being used by a hairdresser, “You may have Klaus wrapped around your finger, but I’ll have that little knot untied in no time.”

“Excuse me?” Katie asked with raised brows as she looked at Genevieve out of the corners of her eyes, not able to turn her head for fear of messing up her stylist.

Genevieve propped her elbow up on the armrest of the chair. “Once he sees how powerful I am and that I can offer him things you could never dream of, he’ll realize you are nothing more than a has been.”

“You’re forgetting two little problems with your theory.” Katie pointed out, turning her head while her stylist sprayed her hair with water, to give Genevieve a glare. “I’m pregnant with his daughter, and he loves me. He’d never leave me for an overconfident little witch bitch like you.”

Genevieve looked at her painted red nails and shrugged. “We’ll see about that.” she gave Katie a confident smirk as she stood and walked away.

Not two seconds later Nate sat down beside her. “I tried to stop her, but she did that stupid thing witches do where they make it feel like your head’s going to explode.” He told her with a rub of his temples.

“It’s fine.” She told him with a shake of her head.

“Are you gonna tell Klaus?” he asked, sounding worried.

“That a witch got past you or that said witch is out to snatch him away from me?” she asked with a look at him before the stylist asked her to look straight ahead. So she did.

“Um���both?” he answered though it sounded more like a question.

“I have to warn him that she’s after him, even though she could try as hard as she wanted to and she’d never come between us.” she answered. “Don’t worry about Klaus. Unless you do something incredibly stupid like side with our enemies, you’re safe.”

Present Time

Elijah stood in the doorway of Katie’s recording studio watching her where she sat on the couch in the control room, practicing guitar that she’d been getting lessons to play. She’s also been getting lessons on recording and writing music. “What is that you’re playing?” he asked curiously.

“You mean other than a guitar?” she asked then looked away from her fingers on the guitar strings to give him a smile that let him know she was joking with him. He gave her a small, fleeting smile back as he walked in and sat down in the chair at the control table, facing her. “It’s a song of mine, ‘Lonely’.” She answered.

“May I hear it?” he asked hopefully.

“Mmmm…I don’t know…” she answered with a draw. “It’s kind of depressing and I’m not that good yet.” She reasoned with a motion to the guitar.

“I promise not to judge.” He told her with a serious look then gave her a small smile.

“Fine…” she sighed then turned her attention to her guitar and started playing a slow, melancholy tune and sang. “I’m slowly killing myself. Trying so hard at the back of the shelf. It’s just the same every day. I’m writing these songs that will never get played. I get told what’s wrong and what’s right. I don’t have a fantastic life. Everyone’s dying so I keep on trying to make ‘em proud before they’re gone. Can’t someone help me, please, someone help me. I don’t care, anyone or anything ‘cause I’m so sick of being so lonely.” She finished at what she had learned to play then looked at Elijah to see him frowning. “It sucks, I know…” she sighed and set the guitar on the couch beside her.

“No, it was good.” Elijah countered still with a frown on his face. “When did you write it?”

“The end of sophomore year, right after Elena’s parents died. Why?” she asked with a frown.

“Because what I just heard was a literal cry for help.” He told her, sounding really worried.

“Let me guess you thought I’d been feeling neglected by Klaus and lonely because he’s been…entertaining, Genevieve.” She said with a smirk that told him he was being ridiculous. He just nodded. “I knew what I was getting into when we started this whole thing. He’s not neglecting me. I still get just as much time with him as I always did. She gets his days, I get his nights and after Klaus’s wolf relatives and the crescent wolves have moonlight rings on their fingers…she gets dropped on her bony little ass.”

“You are aware that in order to keep up the charade Klaus will eventually be required to give her some of your nights, right?” Elijah pointed out.

“I’m aware.” Katie nodded.

“She will grow suspicious if she even so much as suspects that you and Klaus are still together.” He reminded her.

“And have I not played my part perfectly?” Katie asked, getting irritated with him.

“You have, which is what confuses me.” he told her with a frown. “How are you okay with him indulging her?”

“Because I know where his heart truly lies and that everything that happens between them means absolutely nothing to him and everything to her.” Katie argued.

“How can you so callously crush someone’s heart when yours has been broken so many times?” Elijah asked.

“Because after torturing him and Rebekah, threatening to take Klaus from me and therefore break up yet another part of his family she deserves to get dropped on her ass.” Katie answered then decided to change the subject a bit. “So how’s it going with your end of things?”

“I have gotten the new faction leaders to agree to a meeting this afternoon.” He answered. “Would you like to join me in leading it?” he asked, catching Katie a little off guard. “Diego and Hayley respect you.”

“Yes, but Genevieve will be there representing the witches. Witches, who I need not remind you, I have a special hatred of. Putting the two of us in one room together will be like putting two angry vipers in a tank and watching them fight to the death. It will be counter productive to the mission.” Katie pointed out.

“Yes, you are probably right about that.” he agreed.

“Is she gone yet?” Katie asked, missing the enhanced hearing she once had as a vampire.

Elijah listened for a moment. “No. She and Niklaus are talking, but it’s nothing of import. Would you like me to interrupt and urge her to leave?”

“Yes, please.” Katie told him with a thankful look.

TVDTVDTVD

That afternoon, while Elijah and Genevieve were at the summit, Katie and Klaus had lunch together. “So, how are things with Genevieve?” Katie asked before she took a bite of her b.l.t. sandwich.

“I believe she has grown suspicious.” He answered making Katie give him a curious look. “I noticed a willows hoop dream catcher, adorned with the bones and feet of a chicken, on a shelf in our quarters.”

“She’s spying on you.” Katie observed getting a look from Klaus that asked how she knew about the witch’s use of dream catcher spy glasses. “Fiona’s mother used them all the time to keep tabs on my father. That way she wouldn’t get caught healing my back.”

Klaus looked at her with sadness in his eyes and she knew it was because he too knew what it felt like to have his flesh split open with tiny strips of leather. He took a deep breath, then let it out and took a bite of his lunch. “Yes, she is spying on me. So we can no longer sleep in our quarters.”

“Because if you move or destroy the dream catcher it will only further her suspicions.” Katie sighed.

“And I’m afraid her suspicion stems from the fact that she and I have been taking it too slow. My actions do not match my reputation.” He added. “It is time I took the next step with her…”

“Well,” Katie paused to swallow the food in her mouth then continued, “we knew this was going to happen sooner or later.” she pushed her empty plate away and took a drink of water from the clear wine glass.

“I can not tell if you are hiding your resentment with indifference or if you truly do not care rather or not I sleep with Genevieve.” He observed.

“Klaus…” she sighed as she stood from the chair and walked around the table to lean her butt against it as she looked down at him, “I truly don’t care if you have sex with her. If you’re comfortable using it as a tool of manipulation then so am I.” she assured him. “All of this…Elijah working to unite the factions, us empowering the werewolves and manipulating Genevieve into doing so…it’s all to achieve one main goal.” She placed her hand on his cheek. “Create a safe environment for our daughter with you and the werewolves at the top of the totem pole. It will take time, but I have all faith that we can make it happen.” He scooted his chair back and grabbed her hips as she slid to stand in front of him. “I’ve asked you before and I have to ask again…are you comfortable using sex to manipulate her?”

“It’s nothing I haven’t done a thousand times before.” He answered as he slipped a hand over her stomach. “It’s easy when she means absolutely nothing to me.” she gave him a look that asked him to give her a straight answer. “Yes, I am comfortable with it.”

“Then we have nothing to worry about.” She told him then leaned down and pressed her lips to his. “Though I worry a little,” she made a pinching gesture with her thumb and pointer finger, “that she will be better than me, all things considered.” Her eyes glanced down at her massive stomach.

“You needn’t worry about that.” Klaus assured her as he stood up and looked down at her.

“But I do.” She replied as she slid her hands up his chest. “I can hardly breath these days much less satisfy you…” her eyes slipped from his to look at her hands on his chest. “Besides, you clearly have a thing for redheads considering I found a painting you made of a very beautiful woman with long, wavy, red locks in the attic.”

“How do you know it’s one of mine?” Klaus asked with a tilt of his head.

“Because I’ve watched you paint enough to know your brushstrokes when I see them.” Katie answered.

“I’ll admit to having a predilection for red hair.” he told her before he pecked her on the end of her nose, “However, you…are the red head I crave every second I am away from you.” he leaned down and caught her lips in a long, slow, sweet kiss.

When it broke she looked into his blue eyes. “I love you, Big Bad Wolf.” He just smiled and slipped his thumb over her cheekbone. “So…how’s Father Kieran?”

“His lucidity is slowly deteriorating.” Klaus answered. “I’ve heard talk of him being replaced as the leader of the human faction.”

“By who?” Katie asked with a frown.

“Francesca Correa.” He answered. “She is the city’s leading philanthropist.”

“So she’s a do-gooder like Father K.?” Katie asked curiously.

“She also owns the biggest casino in the city and is the matriarch to a rather sizable drug trafficking empire.” He added.

“Okay…definitely not a do-gooder.” Katie drawled. “Have you spoken to Cami?” Klaus just shook his head as his cell phone dinged in his back pocket.

“The summit is over. No doubt Genevieve will be here soon.” He told her.

“I will be so glad when this is all done and she is banned from this house.” Katie sighed.

“That makes two of us.” Klaus told her then pecked her on the lips. “Until then we all have our parts to play.”

Katie simply blew air between her lips as she led her head fall forward to rest on his chest. Knowing what she was feeling he pressed a kiss to the top of her head.

TVDTVDTVD

With Nate at her side Katie looked through maternity dresses on a rack in the local maternity boutique. “So why are you going to this party?” Nate asked as he looked through a rack then held up a black dress and she shook her head no.

“Because it’s partially my responsibility to help Klaus and Elijah make this place safe for my child to grow up in.” She answered and he held up another dress. “Ooh, I like that one.” She took it from him when he held it out to her and draped it over her arm. “And you wonder why I thought you were gay when we first met.” She commented with a playful smile.

“Hey, a guy doesn’t have to be gay to know what will look good on a woman.” He defended.

“Oh I’m aware.” she replied with a laugh.

“For curiosity’s sake why did you think I was gay?” he asked as he held up another dress that she liked and tossed it over her arm.

“You’re pretty for a guy.” She answered and he gave her a “get serious” look. “And I mean that in a very…Jensen Ackles kind of way.”

“Thanks…I think.” He told her as he held up another dress and she shook her head.

“You’re welcome.” She told him then looked at her arm to see that she had way too many dresses stacked on it. “I’m going to go try these on.” After waiting for what felt like forever for her to be done she stepped out of the dressing room in a dark blue form fitting dress that stopped just above her knees with a deep v cowl neckline and long sleeves. “Be honest, what do you think? Is it too plain?”

“I think if you wear that dress every male at the party as well as some females might have heart attacks.” He answered.

“Is that a good thing?” Katie asked with an unsure look down at the generous amount of cleavage that the dress revealed.

“Yes.” He answered. “And no, it’s not too plain.”

“It doesn’t look like I’m trying way too hard to be sexy when in reality I look like a blue whale?” she asked self-consciously.

“No.” he answered. “If your goal is to make Klaus remember what he left for a shapeless bean pole with no personality setting other than bitch, then this is your dress.”

“What would I do without you?” Katie asked fondly.

“You would be a hopeless mess too scared to leave the compound.” He answered, then smiled and shook his head. “Na, you’d be just fine, friendless, but fine. Now go change, I still need to buy something to wear to this fancy pants shindig.”

She ducked back behind the curtain of the changing room. “You’re coming tonight?” she asked knowing that parties weren’t usually his thing.

“You think I’m going to let you walk into a room of witches, werewolves and vampires without a bodyguard?” he asked as if her question was silly. “No. I’m your self appointed friend date.”

Katie just laughed to herself at his silly over protectiveness. “You know both Elijah and Klaus will be there right? Neither of them will let anything happen to me.”

“Yes, but Elijah will most likely be working the floor ensuring that everyone gets along with each other and Klaus will have his head up Genevieve’s butt.” He pointed out.

“Okay, fine, you can be my friend date.” She told him as she pulled her maternity shirt over her head then stepped out of the booth and shrugged her jacket on.

TVDTVDTVD

Loud dance music floated upstairs from the party that was kicking off downstairs and into the bedroom that was attached to the nursery where Katie stood at a vanity fastening a shimmering bracelet around her wrist. When it was secured she took off the necklace Klaus had given her and added some small shimmering beads to the chain dressing it up to match the form flattering dress. Klaus let himself in and quietly closed the door. Katie turned to see him dressed in a black suit with a black dress shirt and a black and gold printed tie. “Hello handsome.” Katie greeted with an appreciative tone that suggested if she had it her way they wouldn’t leave the bedroom at all tonight.

Klaus growled, low and deep, as he sat his hands on her waist then slid them down to her hips and caught her lips with his. “Was it your intention, when you chose that dress, to torture me all night?”

Katie laughed and he noticed a devious tone in it. “I chose it to show Genevieve that regardless of what she thinks even eight months pregnant I’m still sexier than she’ll ever be. Torturing you and making you think only of me all night was just a happy side note.”

He gave her an impressed look with his lust filled eyes. “You haven’t peeked at the nursery have you?” he asked considering he knew it was tempting to do so, but he hadn’t finished it yet and didn’t want her to see it until he was done.

“I promised you I wouldn’t.” she told him with an eye roll and he gave her a look that told her to be honest. “No, I haven’t peeked at your unfinished project.”

“And you remember your role for tonight?” he asked, getting back to business.

“Yep, hang out with Nate, look defeated when I see you with Genevieve, help keep an eye out for tension and if need be distract Genevieve catty, immature banter while you’re talking to Jackson who is the alpha of one of the two branches of crescent wolves.” She answered then slid her hands over the smooth skin of his neck.

He smiled down at her but it faded when an uncomfortable look flashed across her face and she placed her hand on her stomach. “What’s wrong?” he asked, suddenly concerned.

“It’s nothing.” She assured him with a shake of her head as her face relaxed.

“Katie.” He drawled in a warning tone.

“Klaus.” She mimicked back. “It’s just Braxton hicks.”

“You’re sure?” he asked with wide worried eyes.

“I’m sure.” She assured him then dropped her hand from her loosening stomach. “I know what contractions feel like. I’ll tell you when I start feeling the real thing.” He breathed out a heavy breath and rested his forehead on hers. “I know you grow more anxious the closer we get to the due date…” she sighed as she grabbed his hands off of her hips and threaded their fingers together as she looked into his steel blue eyes. “But we’ll be okay.”

It was rare for him to let her see him vulnerable, but every time he did it just reminded her how much he cared for her and trusted her. Eventually, as the music outside grew louder, Klaus let go of her hands and pecked her on the lips. “Let’s get this show on the road shall we?” he asked as he held his hand out to the door for her to go first.

TVDTVDTVD

Katie and Nate were sitting at a table munching on some hors d’oeuvres when Genevieve and the three harvest girls walked in from one entrance. At the same time, a group of people led by two rustically handsome men, one with long blond hair and the other with shorter, but still long brown hair, came in from the second. “I’m guessing those guys are the crescent wolves?” Katie asked Nate.

“Yep. Something tells me it’s only a matter of time before this party gets interesting.” He answered then noticed her plate was empty so he grabbed his then motioned to hers, “you done with that?” she gave him a nod so he went to pass the plates off to a waiter. While he was gone she watched Elijah join the party and Katie was going to go talk to him and compliment him on his party planning skills, but another woman beat her to it and started flirting with him. “Feeling jealous?” Nate asked as he joined her at the tall table and handed her a champagne flute of sparkling white grape juice.

“What?” she asked looking away from the woman and Elijah, to a smirking Nate. “Why would I be jealous?”

“Um, probably because you two were a thing once upon a time.” He answered getting a frown from Katie considering she never told him about her past with Elijah. “It’s kind of public knowledge that you were soul bound to him and the link only broke because your soul shattered. The recovery from which led to you being able to get knocked up by Klaus when you were still a vampire.”

“My life’s story is public knowledge?” she asked with raised brows and he nodded. “Wow, that sucks. But to answer your question, no I’m not jealous. I’m curious.” She told him with a sigh then looked to see that Elijah was elsewhere, but the woman still stood at the table choosing desserts.

“You’re curious?” he asked disbelievingly.

“Last I heard he was dating Hayley. So when I see him flirting with whoever that chick is, yeah I get a touch curious.” She defended.

“That chick is Francesca Correa.” Nate informed her with a smirk.

“Would it completely and totally annoy you if I asked you to be nosey and tell me what Elijah and Diego are talking about?” Katie asked with a nod of her head at the two men.

“Not at all, I love being nosey.” He told her with an interested smirk then noticed her giving him a look. “What, guys can be nosey too.”

“I knew there was a reason I like you.” she told him with a laugh that he playfully shushed.

“Elijah is telling Diego to be polite and welcoming to the wolves, but they killed Diego’s family and would have killed him too had Marcel not saved him.” Nate told her while continuing to listen then Katie watched as Elijah said something to Diego and walked away.

“What did Elijah say back?” Katie asked, but when she looked at Nate she saw that he was looking off to the side and up. She followed his gaze and realized he’d noticed Klaus and Genevieve standing on the upper balcony talking.

“Elijah used fancy words to tell him to suck it up and Genevieve just called you a walking incubator with trashy taste in fashion.” He answered. The insult didn’t bother her, it wasn’t anything she hadn’t heard a thousand times before in her life. What bothered her was when Klaus placed his hand on Genevieve’s shoulder and said something to make her smile before he kissed her.

It wasn’t passionate or even a lingering kiss, but it was still a kiss and the first time Katie had actually seen them together. “If you squeeze that glass any harder it’s going to break and slice your hand open. I don’t need to tell you how bad that would be given the amount of vampires in the building.” Katie tore her eyes off of Genevieve, who’d seen her giving them a glare that if looks could kill would have Genevieve coughing up blood, then set her flute of juice on the table. She flexed her fingers and took a deep breath. “You okay?”

“Yeah.” She answered. He ducked into her line of vision and raised his brows at her. “No, but…I have to be.” She told him with a sigh. “Otherwise I’m not and I can’t deal with that right now.”

“Well, I would offer you a drink, but…” he motioned to her stomach.

“Yeah, trust me, if I wasn’t pregnant I would have found my way to the nearest container of bourbon and drank half of it already.” She told him with an aggravated look then picked up her glass and downed it.

“You know they say the last month of pregnancy is all hormones and mood swings. So, just, keep that in mind.” He told her in an attempt to make her feel like less of a crazy person and she gave him a thankful look.

An hour later, Nate had left her to dance with a witch that had been eyeing him all night. So Katie stood at the table by herself watching him dance with the witch and Elijah dance with Hayley. She was supposed to be keeping an eye out for fighting or tension, but so far the entire party had been going according to plan. So when Jackson, the rustically handsome brunette werewolf, interrupted Elijah and Hayley and Hayley started dancing with him, Katie left the table she’d been hanging out at to go to Elijah. “Save me from my boredom?” she asked with her hand held out to him.

“Gladly.” He took it and gave her a spin before she placed her other hand on his shoulder and he wrapped his arm around her waist.

“Did she just ditch you?” Katie asked with a glance at Hayley.

“She just informed me that she and Jackson were betrothed right after their birth and considering she is eight weeks pregnant with his child they are going through with the ceremony.” He told her with a displeased look.

“But Jackson and the other crescents haven’t even been cured for a full month.” Katie thought out loud. “So that means…” she couldn’t make herself finish her sentence. It meant that Hayley has slept with Jackson while being courted by Elijah. “I warned her-”

“It’s fine.” He cut her off.

“She cheated on you. That’s not okay in my book.” Katie argued with a frown and a glare at Hayley who saw and averted her eyes in shame.

“They got caught up during a full moon and sparks flew.” He defended Hayley. “I can’t say I do not know the feeling.” She knew from the look in his chocolate browns that he was talking about the sparks that once flew between the two of them. “I just did not feel it with her.”

“What about Francesca Correa?” Katie asked and he narrowed his eyes and shook his head not knowing what she was talking about. “I saw you two flirting earlier.”

“She flirted first and I flattered her because she is the new head of the human faction.” He explained.

“Either way, she has a thing for you.” Katie told him noticing Francesca gave Katie the stink eye. “She doesn’t like that I’m dancing with you.”

“Well, you are incredibly threatening to the entire female population in that dress.” He replied purposely making it a point to not look any lower down than her eyes.

“I’ll take that as a compliment.” She told him before he gave her another twirl making her smile.

TVDTVDTVD

Katie was dancing with Nate when a confrontation between the blond werewolf guy, who’s name she’d learned was Oliver, and Diego broke out. As soon as Diego threw Oliver into a glass table, shattering it, Nate whooshed Katie up to the second floor away from the fight. Soon after, Elijah pinned Oliver’s head down on a table while Jackson held Diego against one of the wooden columns with a stake on his chest. “This ends now. I won’t ask again.” Elijah told Oliver.

“Oh we’ll end it alright.” Jackson said, making Elijah look over his shoulder to see that he had Diego pinned down.

“So end it.” Katie spoke up as she left Nate and started walking down the stairs and into the middle of the courtyard. “Kill each other. Get it all over with.”

When she walked past Klaus where he had been talking to Francesca she heard her ask him, “Shouldn’t you intervene or something?”

“Why would I? This party just got interesting.” Klaus replied. “Besides, I want to know what’s going to come out of that talented little mouth of hers.”

Katie ignored him and kept her eyes on Elijah and Jackson. “Except that it won’t be over. It will just be one more hate crime to add to the long list. Let’s take a look at the “crimes” each of the factions shall we?” She air quoted the word crimes as she looked at Jackson and Oliver. “The werewolves have a natural and uncontrollable tendency to turn feral one night a month and tear people to shreds. Therefore getting on everyone’s bad side and we all know that the wolves and vampires have hated each other since the creation of time.”

She turned her eyes to Elijah and Diego. “Then there's the vampires who ticked off the witches by throwing a wrench into their harvest ritual and using one of their own to control them. And, well, they anger the werewolves and humans simply by existing.”

From there she looked at the witches. “In retaliation for the vampires and the leader of the human faction getting in the way of them gaining more power with their ritual, the witches hexed not one, but two humans. Long before that they also cursed the werewolves to live in their wolf form save one day of the month. And to top it all off they’ve angered the original vampires with their repeated attempts to get rid of my unborn child.”

Lastly she looked at Francesca, “Then there’s the human’s…” she sighed. “From what I’ve seen they turn a blind eye as long as the money keeps rolling in and when it stops they go on a killing spree of whatever faction cut them off.”

“Are you approaching a point?” Elijah asked, still pinning Oliver’s head to the table.

“My point is…” she turned to look at everyone else in the room, now speaking to them. “We all have reason to hate each other, but we need to put the past in the past, step out of the hate tainted shoes of our ancestors and come together to create a thriving community. Not just for ourselves, but for future generations as well. Otherwise we will constantly be looking over our shoulders waiting for the next war to break out…the next crime to be committed, and I don’t know about all of you, but that doesn’t seem like much of a life to me.” she paused and looked at the four men still frozen in place with their eyes on her. “So, boys, what’s it going to be, murder and war… or peace and hope for a better future?” she asked and the men let go of one other and brushed themselves off. “Alright then,” she looked at the DJ standing at a table in the corner of the silent courtyard and made eye contact with him. “laissez le bon temps rouler!” she waved her finger in the air in a wrap it up manner and the DJ turned the music back on kicking the party back up.

Klaus gave her a proud smirk when they caught each other’s eyes as she turned and headed back up the stairs where Nate still stood. “You are aware that you just did a New Orleans style mike drop right?”

“I’m not sure I’m aware of anything that just came out of my mouth.” She answered as she turned her back to the crowd, leaning on the wooden railing then stared off into the distance. “I hate being the center of attention.”

“Then what possessed you to stick yourself in the limelight?” Nate asked curiously.

She shrugged and shook her head. “I don’t know, I just…I saw Elijah slam that werewolf’s head into a table and Jackson threaten to kill Diego and something in me just…snapped.” She explained then met his green eyes.

“Well, this is your home now and you’re not just a human, you used to be a vampire and you’re carrying a baby that is three out of the four factions. You have good reason to want them to all get along.” Nate pointed out.

“Yes, but that doesn’t give me the right to jump onto a soapbox and lecture them like I’m some kind of high and mighty, all knowing-”

“Queen?” she heard Klaus ask and looked to her left to see him walking over, “May I steal a minute, mate?” he asked Nate who nodded and walked off.

“I’m not a queen.” She told him with a head shake.

“That speech you just gave suggests otherwise.” He countered. “You may not see it, but everyone else does. You were born for this role. All you have to do is open your mouth and people respond.”

“Born for it or not I wasn’t born into it.” she argued as she turned around and looked down at the crowd. “This has only been my home for a little under eight months. Those people have lived here their whole lives.” Genevieve, standing at a table with the harvest girls, minus Davina, looked up at them and Katie frowned. “Queen or not we shouldn’t be talking right now. So,” she gave Genevieve a challenging look as she turned from the crowd to face Klaus and placed her hand on his shoulder. She started seductively talking to and touching him, “I’m going to flirt with you like the desperate, has been, walking incubator she thinks I am and you’re going to look at me like I’m pathetic, reject me then walk away.”

His face took on a look of disdain as he removed her hands from where they were slipping under his suit jacket then towered over her as he grabbed her face in his large hand and looked her in the eyes. “I love you.” from far away, especially from the angle Genevieve was viewing the exchange from, it looked like Klaus had told her he loathed her.

Katie’s face twisted with a pained look and she surprised even herself with the tear that slipped down her cheek as he let go of her face, turned his back on her then walked away. She kept her eyes on him as he made his way to Genevieve then asked her to dance to the slow song that was playing. While they were dancing Genevieve glanced up at Katie and gave her a snooty, ‘I win’ smile then slipped her eyes back to Klaus. “Wanna take a walk, get some fresh air?” Nate asked as he walked over and stood beside her.

“Fresh air would be nice.” She answered as she took her eyes off of Klaus and Genevieve to look at Nate as she wiped the tear from her cheek.

They were on their way to one of the main exits when she heard Elijah call her name and stopped as he walked over to her. “May I have a moment?”

“Uh, yeah, sure.” She answered, wondering if she’d said something in her speech that pissed him off, then looked at Nate who had also stopped, “I’ll meet you outside.” he went ahead and she turned her attention back to Elijah who placed his hand on her shoulder and walked her over to the desserts table. “What’s up?”

“First,” he grabbed a slice of cheesecake and a metal fork and held them out to her so she took them with a roll of her eyes, “I haven’t seen you eat much tonight. Also, I have been talking to the faction leaders and we all agree that you should join us in signing the treaty tonight. They believe you should take a seat at the table.

“What?” she asked around a bite of the plain cheesecake.

“With Rebekah no longer in the picture, the people see you as the Mikaelson matriarch.” He explained. “Not to mention you put things in perspective and gave them the final push that led to them all agreeing to sign the treaty tonight.”

“You call me a matriarch, Klaus calls me a queen, both are flattering, but insanely inaccurate.” She said with an animated shake of her head not understanding why Klaus and Elijah kept putting her on a pedestal.

“Katie, you are standing in a unique place of power as an important member of this community with the fresh, un-bias, view of an outsider. We are simply encouraging you to embrace it. However, it goes without saying that you do not have to do anything you do not want to do.” He told her diplomatically.

“Can I think about it?” she asked as she dropped her eyes to her cheesecake.

“Of course.” He answered, happy that she was even thinking about it. “We’re meeting here in the courtyard at 11 if you decide to sign it.” she just gave him a nod and headed outside where she found Nate sitting on a bench.

“So, what did Elijah want?” he asked as she sat down next to him.

“He asked me to sign the treaty.” She answered with a sigh as she slipped her hands over the itching skin of her stomach.

“Are you going to?” he asked curiously.

“I don’t know.” She answered with a shrug. “On one hand I’m flattered and I want to step up to the plate, but on the other I just want to be a good mother.”

“You know, this is the twenty-first century, you can choose to be both.” He told her, making her look at him across her shoulder. “I think I speak for the masses when I say I think you should go for it. Take your place at the table and use your voice to make a difference.”

Katie took in a deep breath as she lifted her shoulders then let them fall as she let it out.

TVDTVDTVD

Elijah gave Katie a surprised look when he saw her walk into the courtyard and join him, Francesca, Genevieve, Diego, Hayley and Jackson where they all stood around a table that held the new treaty, a bowl and seven silver daggers. Diego was the first to pick up a dagger and cut his palm. Everyone else followed suit then held their hands over the bowl, creating the ‘ink’ they would sign the treaty with. Elijah dipped a quill pen in the blood then handed it to Diego who signed then handed it to Francesca who passed it off to Genevieve then on until Hayley handed Katie the pen. So Katie dipped it then signed her name and handed it to Elijah, the last to sign.

After a few words from Elijah the meeting dispersed. Katie and Genevieve headed for the stairs at the same time and bumped shoulders. Katie bit her tongue, gave Genevieve the most polite smile she could muster for such a horrid person, then stepped aside and waved for her to go first. “You know,” Genevieve started as they neared the top of the stairs, “you can flash your cleavage and flirt all you want, but you’ll never win him back.”

“Yet, I believe you’re time with him is limited and you know it.” Katie replied with a condescendingly chipper tone and her head held high as they came to a stop at the top of the stairs. “After the birth of our child he’ll be so wrapped up in his daughter and me, aka his family, that your little love spell on him will break and he’ll forget all about his witchy little play thing. So enjoy your borrowed time in our bed while it lasts.” Katie told her with a smile as she walked past her. “Goodnight.”

She knew she shouldn’t say things like that since it was technically true, but she was ninety percent sure that Genevieve saw her as a giant joke no matter what came out of Katie’s mouth.

[bookwyrminspiration]

Shattered Upside Down

A kotlc wings au: masterpost here

Chapter 13: The Abandoned

word count: 8.8k

chapter summary: Confused, Sophie searches for answers to the mysteries of her friends, but what she finds may be more than she can handle.

warnings: brief descriptions hinting at a place with a bad past, caves and darkness, mention of a rotting skeleton (like one sentence), panicking, swearing, intentional misuse of grammar for dramatic effect, and I think that's everything!

taglist: I’ll reblog with it. let me know if you want to be added or removed

This is one of the longest chapters I've ever written help--but also, enjoy!! It feels like so much happens and yet nothing at all, but I had a lot of fun with this one

ao3 link here or read below the cut

A million little slivers of starlight burned beneath Marella’s skin, marking her position in the sky. Had she not known better, Sophie would’ve thought she was burning alive from the inside out, tumbling through the sky like that.

Brrr, it whispered, rubbing against her leg.

Dumbstruck, she didn’t even register the sensation.

“Where on Earth is she going,” she marveled, watching Marella’s form move further and further away, intention and dedication mirroring her every move.

It was only that crystal clear eyesight that enabled her to pick out the details. Black leggings and a black long-sleeved shirt adorned her body, clearly intending to hide. Yet the dark fabric couldn’t hide the stark shine of her wings against the night, lighting her up like a beacon.

Thudding its head against her leg, the little creature finally got through to her. “Wait, how did you know about this,” she hissed down at it, eyes still tracking Marella.

It didn’t respond.

Hesitating for only a moment, she groaned. “Well, I have to make sure, she’s okay, right?” Her logic fell flat, the all-consuming curiosity and faint betrayal urging her forward. This was justified. She needed to follow her, to be there in case something happened. She couldn’t just go wandering off like that, she reasoned.

Yeah! She was just being a concerned friend, worried what Marella was getting herself into. Nothing more. It was unusual behavior, so Marella couldn’t get mad at her for being worried.

Never mind that she’d done the exact same thing and hadn’t faced the consequences.

“Are you coming, too?” She asked, as if the thing would respond. It just shook itself off, padding beside her as she moved along the platform, looking for a better spot to take off from.

There. Up ahead a bridge lay with open sky above it, free from the dense trees dominating this area. She’d even bet that’s where Marella herself had taken off from. Secluded, away from the rest of them all, easy to disappear; she’d thought this through, Sophie realized.

The clothing, the location--all those questions from before. Something wasn’t adding up.

Taking no more than a few seconds to tie her hair back with a spare elastic on her wrist, Sophie took off at a sprint, pushing off into the night.

Wind rushed past her ears, drowning out several of her thoughts as she ducked low, sticking close to the canopy of trees populating the forest. Marella’s wings kept her from maneuvering as easily down here, so if Sophie stayed low, perhaps she’d be harder to notice.

The thought nearly stopped her short--why was she trying to hide from a friend?

Well, she started hiding things, first, she reasoned, pushing past the guilt and doubts marring her vision, infecting her resolve in her own justification. She never answered the question.

A flickering shadow shivered through her peripherals, the little echo gaining traction ahead of her as it moved through the tops of the trees, silent, like the woods knew it and accommodated its every whim.

Marella stayed clearly visible up ahead, but the further they flew from the village, the more confident she seemed to become in her movements, more determined. Her pace increased, and Sophie nearly crashed into a few particularly crooked branches sticking out as she matched speed. At this rate, she felt as though she could teleport, that’s how quickly the two of them were moving, a chill spreading through her body as lost clothing did nothing against the rush of the sky against her skin, horrid and pulling and unforgiving.

And still Marella appeared none the wiser to her presence.

Trees became fewer and farther between, rocks and tumbling landscape taking over the area in their stead; Sophie ducked even lower to avoid notice--while her wings wouldn’t give her away by sight, the light grey of her shirt might, especially alongside those thick white bandages wrapped around what felt like her entire body; Elwin hadn’t taken them off yet.

Elwin. A flurry of guilt bombarded her, stealing the very air from her lungs. She was digging her own grave with each minute she let him stay, let him learn, let him in. She’d have to take him back eventually, and the world would come crashing down when she did.

What a risky game she loved to play.

Marella’s trajectory shifted without warning, dipping downwards exponentially, ground rushing up to meet her. Far enough away, there was no sound as she made contact with the ground.

Sophie slowed, drifting to the blanketed ground, the buzz behind her fading in the wind as her feet met rock. There was practically nothing out here, just flat expanses of stone and rich moss, the vegetation creeping underground rather than growing upwards like she was used to.

Except for the boulders.

Scattered throughout the place were boulders of deep grey rock, slightly taller than her in height. But it was their unnatural roundness that unsettled her, nearly perfectly spherical in shape.

Marella moved, and with a start Sophie dropped to the ground. Shit. Flat expanses. One wrong move and anyone--Marella--could see her. It’d been so much easier to hide when she’d been along the trees, the foliage, part of a crowd.

Mistakes tumbled into landslides within her mind, cascading down down down as she realized the severity of the hole she’d dug herself into. Not even a ruminating, hesitating thought had passed through her mind before she’d leapt into the sky after Marella, who was currently hastily making her way through the field of rocks, heading for something unseen up ahead.

Scrambling, she darted to a crouch behind one of the nearest boulders in; Sophie tried to think for once in her life.

She had no clue where they were, why Marella was out here, or what she’d find if she carried on, but she knew one thing for certain. She wouldn’t leave Marella alone. Even as she sat there, the rustle of the woods behind her frothed with unnatural sounds, claws tapping against trees, the rough thump of heavy-set footsteps on an Earth not built to bear them.

Holding her breath, Sophie peered around the boulder only to find Marella nearly vanished from view, moving steadily downwards, jutting rock and overgrown foliage blocking her line of sight. But the sound of her moving remained, barely audible over the wind.

Shifting, she leaned her weight forward, intending to press herself up, to maneuver around some of the obstacles atop this otherwise flat expanse, her only defense against discovery.

Losing her footing, her shoulder--still not fully healed--knocked into the boulder with enough force to shift it, a deep grating sound rumbling from the ground as it scratched against rough terrain.

A few pebbles loosened, just enough to unsettle the thing, and with dawning horror Sophie realized it was going to tumble away from her, completely giving her away. Rocks didn’t just move on their own.

Acting on instinct, Sophie dug her fingers in, as though she could somehow keep several thousand pounds of rock still, as though she could hold it back.

It worked.

The noise quieted as she strained, not wanting to breathe but not daring to hold it, a steady in and out as her muscles pulled taught. Eyes wide as they could go, she froze.

Marella’s footsteps had paused up ahead [mention them earlier], now sounding closer and closer with each step. She was coming back.

Sophie didn’t notice. Her attention was focused on her hands, the one’s grasping that boulder like her life depending on it, holding it steady.

She’d clawed gouge marks into its surface.

Each place her fingertips met, an indent caved in, the sheer force of her grasp tearing it apart. She hadn’t even meant to, had just wanted to keep it still, keep it quiet.

It was quiet, too quiet.

A hand clapped over her mouth from behind.

“Don’t move,” they hissed, nails digging into the skin of Sophie’s cheek as she started to struggle. Everything within her fizzled out, replaced by a numb, hollow echo of that panic.

Biana? She asked, reaching her mind out behind her. That voice, she’d know that voice anywhere, the cherry blossom aroma that clung to her skin, now pressed to her face

Her mouth would’ve fallen open were it not held closed as she tried to look around, instead catching a glance at her hands on the rock surface. Or rather, at where they should have been. Nothing occupied the space, as though she weren’t even there.

Biana had vanished the both of them.

“Come to visit, huh?” Marella called out, footsteps growing louder amongst the quiet moss.

Eyes wide, both of their heads snapped to the side, the source of the sound. Could she see them? How?

Only...Marella wasn’t there.

Brrr, the echo mumbled, crawling around from atop the boulder, jumping to the ground. Frozen, she tried not to breathe. Maybe Marella hadn’t noticed the two of them at all.

“You’re going to help me,” she stated, and with a start she realized Marella was coming around the boulder, directly towards them.

Biana shifted behind her, leaning back slightly as she pulled Sophie along, hands pressed so tight against her face she was worried her blood flow would never recover.

Brrr, it said again, rubbing its face against an edge of the boulder as Marella came into view, mere feet away. Biana was shaking against her skin, anxious yet unforgiving with her grip.

Her legs ached something fierce, but Sophie refused to give herself even a moment of reprieve. Any movement could alert Marella to her presence, and she couldn’t figure out the right way to explain this if they were caught.

Marella reached down, and Sophie nearly stopped breathing. A touch of space separated their arms, so precarious she could’ve sworn she felt the shift of the wind with it. Her heart had gotten itself lodged in her throat, the press of Biana’s skin against her own the only thing keeping her lips from quivering.

Exhaling, Marella picked up the creature, hoisting it into her arms, and it went along with it, just sitting there.

Brrr, it postulated, looking very much like a cat with the way it folded in on itself and turned into a liquid as she held it.

Not seeming to bother with anything else, she turned, her face becoming more visible, and Sophie cringed away, frightened by something she didn’t entirely understand.

A feverish light had taken hold behind Marella’s vacant eyes, burning with something that wasn’t quite her. Eyes too wide, smile too flat, limbs too loose, her blood-red wings readjusted themselves a few times as she stood, stirring the air as she began to walk away.

What-- Biana started in her mind, knocked out of some stupor as she tried to understand the friend before her.

Quiet, Sophie hissed back, mental shields reinforcing themselves on instinct. Her focus had slipped more than once recently. With the mindbubble and the proximity, it'd be her luck that her thoughts would be broadcast to everyone when she was specifically doing something she wasn’t supposed to, feet away from someone she was spying on.

Neither of them moved as they listened to the sound of those retreating footsteps, not until they’d been gone for several minutes did Biana’s grip on her face loosen, retreating back a few steps as she stumbled to the ground, sitting with her legs splayed out in front of her.

With precision and more than a little chagrin, Sophie carefully peeled her fingers away from the surface of the boulder, the little craters she’d left behind to decorate it, ensuring it wouldn’t shift the moment she let go.

That was too close, Biana whispered, hands braced on the back of her neck, looking off into the distance. They breathed for a moment, letting the adrenaline calm from their systems, but not to the point of complacency.

Every so slowly, Sophie turned to face Biana. Adorned in what looked like pajamas, soft maroon pants paired with a button up in the same shade, she looked entirely out of place in this rocky landscape. But of course, it was the wings that drew her attention, like always; colorful and splayed wide behind her, their scaled sunset pattern on full display, yet she somehow managed to keep from being dwarfed beneath them. A simple braid kept her hair out of her face, dark with moisture, like she’d just gotten out of a shower.

Entirely out of place was more than a correct description. What are you doing here?

What are you doing here, she countered crossing her arms with contempt from her position on the ground, looking up at her.

Sophie flushed, gritting her teeth, utterly caught. I was concerned for Marella.

And I was concerned for you. Still am, but Marella’s deal seems a little weirder right now, so I’m focusing more on that. Biana leaned forward, starting to get up, wings flapping slightly behind her, flickering in and out of view in time with her body.

How did...how did you find…she trailed off, not even sure what she was trying to say. They didn’t have time for this.

Biana dusted herself off, shaking some of the pollen from Sophie’s skin out of her dirtied pajamas. Sneaking around is my thing, Foster. Can you blame me for being curious when you started moving around the place at odd hours? I mean, you walked right past my house.

Had she? She hadn’t paid very close attention, just trying to puzzle out what the creature was doing--the creature.

Yes, I can. But that’s not important right now. Do you know what’s going on with Marella? she asked, already turning away, hurrying around the boulder and out into whatever lay beyond. The footsteps had faded away, so she’d need to move a little quicker to catch back up, figure out what was going on.

That conversation from earlier today just...didn’t sit right, a ship caught in a whirlpool within her stomach, tumbling down and down and down the hollow waves, dangerously close to capsizing. The questions, the avoidance...the guilt.

Is something wrong? Biana countered, reaching out to lock her fingers around Sophie’s wrists. Enhance me, it’ll be easier. The last part was added on as an afterthought.

Nodding in agreement, she plucked at the strings of her enhancing to release it, an electric hum shivering through her body, traveling into Biana’s skin, the two of them vanishing as one.

I...don’t know. I wanted to check, but I didn’t know how to ask. I tried, earlier today I mean, but it didn’t go well. I pried.

Something indescribable flickered in the forefront of Biana’s mind, but she said nothing as Sophie began pulling her along, impatient and fueled by nerves frying themselves to shreds.

Can you track her? Biana asked, quiet, almost hesitant.

Blinking, she stopped in her tracks. Oh. Yeah. That’s a thing I know how to do.

Closing her eyes to block out all the sensory information she could, she raised both hands to her temples, more a habit than a necessity at this point. Biana’s hand slid from her wrist down her arm, coming to rest on her shoulder, never breaking contact.

Pushing out her mind, she focused on the quiet rage, the pain Marella’s presence always brought, the glimmer of something more always out of sight, but there. Broadcasting her search in pulsating waves, she aimed them towards the direction she knew Marella had gone, the maze of tortured moss and rock, vast and unknowable.

Presences flickered all around her and she shuddered. So many thoughtless, hollow creatures, wandering the Earth yet dead in all the ways that mattered. It was cruel, whoever put them out into the world, to look at something so full of life and choose to unmake it into something of your own.

Faintly, she could feel Biana running her fingers through her hair, untangling a few of the knots she’d acquired over the flight. With each passing second she grew more and more restless, desperate for the feeling of Marella to light up her mind.

Anything yet? Biana asked, sounding a little preoccupied, like she was trying to work her way through a flurry of obstacles to voice the thought.

Frustrated, Sophie gritted her teeth, sending out a stronger push. I can’t--

Heat blossomed in her mind, a few of Marella’s disjointed thoughts exploding into color in the distance.

I got it! she exclaimed, bouncing slightly on her feet, feeling the grin splicing her face spread wider. Wait. Where...where is that.

The exuberance trickled out of them, the momentary victory not enough to explain what she’d found. Marella was...underground. At least, that’s what her mind was telling her, the origin of those echoing thoughts distinctly lower than ground level, and moving further downwards with each passing second.

Well, what are we waiting for? Biana countered, slipping her hand across her skin to interlace her fingers with Sophie, the more powerful energy transfer in her palms making them both jump a little. Here, I’ll help lead the way, just like in Nightfall.

Sophie’s eyes remained closed as Biana took control of Sophie’s physical well-being, helping lead her through various labyrinths of moss and rocks and dead twigs so she wouldn’t trip over them as she went, leaves blown from the forest behind them scattered throughout, only detectable by the crunching beneath their feet.

It feels wetter here, Sophie mumbled into Biana’s mind, a chill lighting her skin, yet up ahead the pulse of Marella’s mind remained constant. Stagnant, she realized, remained the air against her skin. Wait. What’s blocking the wind?

They’d come to a stop, slowing down as Biana pulled back on her wrist, fingers tightening.

Biana hesitated a moment before replying, as though uneasily looking around. I...think you should open your eyes, Sophie.

What? she replied, startled, though her eyes were already opening at the first inclination she should. Oh.

This is…

What am I...what am I even looking at? Sophie asked, utterly bemused.

Before them, a deep depression began, cutting through the land. Rock coated in moisture and dying moss tumbled down the terrain--stairs, she realized. Carved into the form of the area in such a way it took a moment to find, but those were deliberately placed. Reaching down without a rail--unsafe, if anyone asked her--those steps and chaotic rock formations descending downwards, steeper than any she’d ever seen before in her life, leading down down down into the Earth.

A cave. You’re looking at a cave, Biana told her, mental voice a little shaky.

She was right, the vast, looming space beckoning her forward looked like a cave, but--

Why would Marella sneak away to a cave? she asked, because down those precarious steps, into that jagged, leering mouth, was that ever-burning presence moving down down down into its depths.

Biana took a breath before responding. Let’s find out.

Sophie didn’t trust her body to take her down those steps with her eyes closed, so she kept them open for this part of the journey. Biana also let go of her, and she blinked as her body came back into view. Marella was far enough ahead that neither of them were worried about being seen anymore, but they liked to have the option open. Who knew what else was out here and relied on sight to hunt.

Her fingertips grew slick and moist from the moss covering those barely stairs, heart thundering into her ribs as she nearly turned the stairway into a slide, losing her balance badly enough she knew she would have coasted all the way to the bottom and crashed just a few weeks before.

But not now. Now, her wings steadied her, held her aloft with a hum as she regained her footing and continued on, Biana a few moments behind.

I’m ruining these pajamas, she commented, sounding more amused than annoyed.

That’s what you’re thinking about right now? Sophie questioned, bewildered as she turned back to make a face at her. It kept her mind off the way the air became stale. There was something else to it, something more than just stagnation that haunted the scent. It was...metallic.

Biana nodded solemnly, fingering the cuffs of her shirt, which were now dark with water. We should’ve flown. Her wings fluttered slightly behind her to emphasize the point.

I’ll keep that in mind next time we walk down a hidden path into a cave in the middle of the night.

Holding up her hands in faux surrender, like she was giving in just this once to keep her happy, Biana grinned at her. Then flinched. They both did.

It was difficult not to when the steps dropped off so suddenly, a gaping ledge at the edge of the entrance

Just another step and they’d enter the cave properly, not just the depression it was sunken into.

We’re really doing this, Biana whispered, awed.

Sophie just nodded, stealing herself for only a moment, then pressed forward, jumping off the edge into the open air.

The hum as they opened and caught her echoed throughout the space, leering back at her in a mocking imitation of herself. But she didn’t care. Not as she hovered there, back muscles straining as she turned around to look back at Biana, to encourage her to take the leap.

But Biana was already in the air, gaining height and momentum as she soared over Sophie, spinning about in a pretty loop before coming back down to meet her in the air.

Sophie thought she was smiling, but it was difficult to see her in the dark and night vision had never been a strength of hers. See. I told you we should’ve been flying.

Yeah, sure. She rolled her eyes affectionately, but it couldn’t ease the anxiety the dark brought. All the jokes, all the teasing with each other, all it could do was distract from the burning curiosity at the back of her throat, the reckless abandon with which she’d thrown herself into this situation.

Marella had walked into this cave alone, so they could do it together.

They’d put this off too long.

A faint bit of light still shone through from the gaping entrance, the moonlight bidding them one final farewell before they found something they’d never be able to undiscover.

Marella was down here somewhere, she realized with a start. Marella was down here somewhere, all alone.

Sophie cast her mind up ahead to regain that sense of direction she’d lost when opening her eyes, to figure out where the hell in these gaping caverns she’d gone. Her human family had gone to Carlsbad once on a vacation, but that had been a controlled cave with paths and railings, not at all like this uneven, natural cacophony of rock.

That burning spark had moved further and further away, but Sophie had enough of a latch on it now that she was confident they could trail Marella.

That was until her mind vanished entirely, extinguishing like a doused torch.

It couldn’t have been more than a few minutes. A few minutes of bumbling their way through the dark, trying their damnedest not to make a noise.

If they could hear the dripping of the water off to their side, ringing through caverns and echoing through the air, then surely the sound of them moving--well, Sophie moving--could be heard up ahead. And with Marella’s mind vanishing, she was taking absolutely no chances.

Go go go go go. It was all she could think to say, desperation pushing her forward. Marella had to be okay. She had to be. There was simply no other option, no other ending Sophie would accept.

She didn’t want to think about why minds went silent.

Sophie--down there, Biana called out, though her sense of urgency was much less panicked and more determined. A fire had been lit behind her eyes, her mind entrenched in lighter fluid catching quick. There was no hesitation in her voice as she angled sharply down, towards the cave floor.

No, not the floor--there was something there.

Right before she slammed into the ground, Biana pulled back up, coming to rest on a small expanse of flat, stable ground half-hidden behind a myriad of other shapes and shadows. Her wings flapped anxiously behind her, at least that’s what Sophie thought.

Sophie followed, coming to a less dramatic landing, but she still nearly lost her footing, unable to see what she’d stepped on in the dark. Catching herself, nearly hitting Biana in the process of regaining what little sense of balance she had.

Frowning, she reached down, feeling along the ground to try and find the thing she’d stepped on, because it certainly hadn’t been rock. No, it had shifted and moved, unconnected to the ground. There, her fingers made contact, and she scooped it into a hand.

What’s that? Biana asked, reaching out blindly in the dark until her fingertips met Sophie’s, pulling the two of them closer together.

Running her hand up and down to try and get a feel for it in the dark, she fumbled about for an explanation. It’s like some kind of...stick. But-- her palms rubbed against something rough adorning the top, and she stopped short.

But what?

Sophie rubbed her fingers together, now oily and slick, the scent emanating from them familiar in an unsettling way. But she didn’t know where she would’ve seen something like this before aside from brief mentions of advancements in her human history classes.

It's...a torch. She mumbled, disbelief coloring the words. Like a rudimentary human torch.

Because those were flammable oils coating her fingers, soaking through the rope crudely tied around the top of the stick. Why would Marella need a torch? Was this Marella’s?

Turning to Biana, she held it out tentatively. Was this what you saw down here?

No, she replied, the faint sound of moving air accompanying her shifting wings. That was.

Frowning, Sophie took a breath. She’d need to work on her night vision in order to get through the next few minutes. Concentrating, she started off into the darkness, letting the little flickers and the knowledge that there was light somewhere in this cave guide her, her eyesight shifting just enough that everything became just a tad bit clearer. No longer was the world made of shadows, it was only haunted with them.

Blinking, she saw Biana’s arm extended, pointing to something, heart thundering in her chest and seeming to echo through the cavern.

Sophie turned.

And her heart stopped dead in her chest, stuttering through the next few beats as the burst of adrenaline hit her system.

They needed to find Marella and they needed to find her now.

Because her mind had found just enough light to discern the details in the cave wall, the claw marks gouged into the side, the spacing belonging to something much larger than she’d ever seen before.

But it was what she saw above it that gave her such pause, breath catching in her throat.

There was a symbol carved into a solid metal door, sitting agape in the shadows.

An eye, the same one that had been haunting her all those years ago and come back with such vengeance when her back was turned.

And a chain, intertwined throughout.

Sophie was through the door before she’d even decided to open it, Biana pressing in right behind her. It was left ajar; whoever had last passed through here hadn’t the time or the care to shut it. And for that she was grateful, because as she wrapped her fingers around it to push it open she realized it was several inches thick, complete with a complex latching system that had just been abandoned to the elements.

Stepping forward, several balefire sconces leapt to life along the walls, but their placement was scattered, as though multiple were missing or broken. Retreating, they winked out, only the vague shapes she could pick out on her own accompanying her. Testing, she inched forward, letting those lights ignite once again, illuminating the next few dozen feet.

The walls were solid cold stone, matte rock curving into carved pillars reaching off towards the ceiling alongside the length of the hall. It was all deep slate with a perfectly smooth finish.

Except for the claw marks gouged into the stone. Every few feet, another set could be seen, same as those outside.

Something terrible had once roamed this place, maybe still did.

Biana slipped her fingers between Sophie’s, squeezing tight as she exhaled in one big breath beside her, rhythmic, as though she were counting.

Ugh, what is she doing, Biana groaned with faux annoyance, but it couldn’t hide the tremor upsetting her mind. Sophie didn’t have time to be anxious, each passing second her heartbeat growing louder.

Questions later, she deadpanned, squeezing Biana’s hand back as she started off down the hallway. A rush of something unsettling devoured her skin, and in the flickering cast of those balefire sconces she realized could no longer see herself.

Drifting around them as they moved, the air had an...unnerving quality that she couldn’t put her finger on. It wasn’t stagnant, but it tasted almost...sterile. Too clean, artificial in a way that brought back childhood memories she’d rather forget.

As they picked up speed, fires kept igniting in front of them, more and more sconces reaching infinitely ahead, the patterns repeating themselves again and again. Pausing, she looked around, trying to see if there was anything in this hall. It couldn’t just continue like this, right?

Looking over her shoulder, only pitch black space met her. Apparently, the lights went out once you got far enough away.

Sophie Foster and Biana Vacker stood in a puddle of light in the middle of an eternal hallway, unseeing of anything on either side.

Look--the claw marks, Biana noted, her hand materializing in midair just long enough to gesture to the walls.

Tilting her head to the side, Sophie stepped a little closer, trying to see what Biana was noticing. Five deep scratches had been carved into the wall, but they weren’t humanoid in any way.

Materializing again for a brief second, her disembodied hand pointed off to their left.

Another scratch in the walls, the same five tears into that stone finish. Sophie didn’t need any direction to note the third instance, this one off to the right. Like Clockwork, every few sections of wall separated by those pillars were gouged out and cracked, having been torn through by something much bigger than the two of them.

But what does it mean, she asked herself, reaching her free hand out to finger the marks. Her fingertips were still slick with that oil, and she left glistening fingerprints on the walls every crack she touched.

The wall gave beneath her caress, something clicking in a way that would’ve been silent to anyone except her and that new hearing.

Biana pulled her back with a start, fingers tightening as her other hand came up to rest on Sophie’s chest, protective. But it was too late.

Moving on silent mechanics, the wall began to depress, sliding back and folding in on itself, curving around like some scene from Labyrinth to make an opening in the wall.

A doorway.

The hall wasn’t just infinite off into eternity--they’d been passing by doors the entire goddamned time.

Ecstasy lit her up inside like a switchboard, the stark relief that there was something something something and they were making progress.

Poking in her head, just to take a brief look around, she felt Biana pulling slightly ahead, moving into the room in its entirety. Sophie chose to stay closer to the door, just in case it started to close behind them. And maybe she wasn’t entirely comfortable with the idea of just walking into a room underground without a backup plan to escape.

A few scattered flames flickered into existence, triggered by something they didn’t understand just like all the others. The light cast the room into uncertain shadows, but it was enough to see by. Tables, long a slender, wrapped around one half of the room, the other--

Her heart stumbled in her chest, a deep, instinctual fear telling her to run run run to get out while she still could.

It hit her then, what childhood memory this place reminded her of. The smell.

A hospital. It smelled sterile and stagnant like a hospital, like too much antiseptic and clean metal, like overhead lights buzzing in your ear and the crinkle of plastic and paper--easy to dispose of.

This is a facility, she choked out, stumbling out of the room, pulling Biana with her. She still couldn’t see her, but she could feel the tremble of her fingers in her hand, could hear the way her heart had picked up a beat, smell the sweat slicking from her palms.

There’d been several smaller facilities, hidden places scattered around the world, but none had been as fearsome as that original one. The one where everything had gone so wrong.

But that didn’t mean places like this one didn’t exist, offshoots to make sure not everything was localized, keeping animals and monsters and poking around with them or whatever they did.

Because that was a cage on the other side of the room, thick bars bent and twisted and unfurling themselves from the walls. Whatever had been kept there no wanted to be kept, had let itself out. She just hoped it wasn’t still somewhere within these walls, this hall.

That explained the symbol outside, at the very least.

Breath quickening, Sophie moved to the opposite side of the hall, pressing her fingers to about the same spot, moving her hand around until that same click sounded, the wall unfurling into a door revealing more of the same desolate decor, the sterile air.

In this room, though, there were spilled vials of various colorful liquids spreading all over the table. Deep red crusted the edges of notebooks and papers littered on every surface and floor, wrinkling and warping their appearance. Jagged and elegant, she couldn’t understand the runes written on the papers.

That wasn’t the worst thing in the room, though. No, she realized, as Biana let out a little squeak, grip tightening in Sophie’s like all that stood between the end of the world and the world itself was the two of them.

Rotted and crumbling, a skeleton sat behind the bars of this room, curling in and out of itself, sprawled in the corner, some parts a polished white and others coated in dried sinew and lingering skin. Inhuman in every sense of the word, but there was something in the back of her mind that couldn’t help but recognize the thing, to see it and understand it on some level.

Biana pulled her back out of the room. We have to find Marella--now.

I know. I know. But I don’t know how! she groaned, reaching a hand up to brace on the top of her head, like there was just some answer she could find to make this all fix itself. She’d fixed too many of the world’s problems before, but now this was personal.

Are you sure you can’t track her?

Grimacing, she dropped her hand back to her side. I can try again.

Opening her mind once more, she sent her consciousness rocketing in each direction for Marella, for a hint of anything. Any hint of a spark, any trace of a tail to follow. Again and again, her power shot out of her mind like shock waves, powerful enough Biana shifted in discomfort.

Nothing.

Panting, Sophie lowered herself to the ground, letting go of Biana’s hand to press both of her own to her temple.

“She has to be somewhere,” she croaked, throat raw from the stress coating every inch of her insides, the tension littering her muscles.

One more time. One more minute, and then they’d tear the entire place to pieces to find her--she’d call everyone else to come look, too. It didn’t matter that they’d scold them later for running off alone, for spying on a friend. As many eyes as they had would be on this area as soon as possible if she couldn’t find anything in one more try.

Gathering everything within her, she sent one last desperate, searching wave into this hall, searching for an end, searching for a lead, searching for a friend.

Nothing.

Groaning to herself, she dug her fingers into her scalp. Nothing nothing nothing again and again, the silence as deafening as it had been back when--

Wait.

A dozen moments flashed across her mind, testing and comparing and questioning.

Sophie sat up straighter, and Biana glanced side to side, like there was something she’d be able to see in this darkness.

Dark and numb and quiet. That’s what this place was, that’s where Marella’s mind had gone.

“Of course,” she hissed, jumping to her feet. “Don’t let me bump into anything.” The last part was directed at Biana, who was looking at her with hesitant hope.

“You found her?”

“No, but I think I can. I have to find my blind spots.” She explained, closing her eyes as she reached out again, searching for the center of that emptiness her voice had vanished into.

Biana hesitated for a moment, processing. “What?”

Sophie waved her arms in a brief explanation that didn’t explain anything. “Quiet. Monsters. Marella. It makes sense.”

Because it did, and she couldn’t believe she hadn’t put the pieces together sooner.

Marella’s mind had become undetectable, and every since then she’d been unable to find any mind other than Biana’s within this emptiness, but if she was right, that would disappear soon as well. She hoped she was right.

That day, just a few weeks ago, had she not made the same realization? Neither her nor Fitz could pick up on that mind approaching, and they’d burst into the wrong room without realizing there were swaths of people behind it.

Monsters were quiet. They made everything quiet, casting a thick blanket of emptiness over those near them.

Marella must’ve been near one, one powerful enough to snuff out a mind she knew so well, to hide it from her at her most desperate.

So she’d follow the emptiness, the silence. She’d follow it to it’s core as it got louder and louder until she found Marella. Searching for her like a blind spot, just like she’d said.

She just hoped her realization didn’t come too late.

Turn upon turn, rooms and stone and doors merging upon themselves and melding into a maze she couldn’t understand. How do you find a blind spot? She couldn’t see it, her eyes shut tight as they were.

Biana held her hand the entire way, the creaking grinds off opening passages and the overwhelming power of rot and rubbing alcohol and ruin pressing against her face as they moved.

MARELLA, she called out, desperate. It echoed into the emptiness pouring into her mind, as though the further she went the deeper and thicker the water grew. Wading through tar would’ve been easier than transmitting to Marella. But that’s not what she was trying to do.

It vanished into the murky fog, but with direction. Casting it all about, there was a direction where it became muddiest, traveled the least.

That’s the direction she indicated to Biana, letting her handle the doors and the moving, Sophie concerned with keeping that hold, that single gleam of hope amongst an otherwise bleak existence. Because at the other end was Marella. It had to be. There was nothing else she’d accept.

Again and again she called out, keeping them on the right track, though it was difficult with all the twists and turns. Ignoring how difficult it would be to get back out, Sophie furrowed her brow further.

But they’d stopped moving.

Biana’s arm was pressed against Sophie’s middle, holding her back. “Um. Sophie. I think you need to see this,” she whispered, breath trembling as she exhaled oh so slowly.

Sophie opened her eyes. Sophie let her hands fall to her sides.

Framed on either side by a once-extravagant curling arch, the world reoriented itself in her mind. The balefire sconces on either side tried desperately to illuminate the vast, unending cavern before her, but it simply couldn’t reach far enough. It would never be enough.

Mouth agape, Sophie stepped forward, moving through that arch and into the end of the world.

Wet and craggy, the smooth polish of the floors turned to rough rock, dropping off into an edge like the side of a cliff only a dozen feet in front of her.

A cave, vast and eternal. This was a true hollow beneath the earth, unending. A few wrong moves and she’d get lost in this molten black with no way back, stranded.

Because it was pitch black, the ceiling practically non existent it was so far away--when had they gotten so deep underground?

A cough rang out behind her, and she turned to see Biana’s arm pressed to her face, her eyes watering from the putrid rot and mold growing everywhere they could touch.

What had this facility been hiding down here?

Cautiously, Sophie reached out her mind. Nothing. As far as she could reach she sensed nothing, no one, nowhere. It wouldn’t do her any good to just go rushing off into the dark. She was reckless but she wasn’t that reckless--that was something Keefe would do, which meant she absolutely shouldn’t do it. Taking a single moment to get her bearing and solidify an approach could be the difference between life and death later. That didn’t mean she liked the wait, though.

“We have to find her,” she whispered, wings humming to life at her back, turning to look over her shoulder one last time to meet Biana’s eye.

But Biana wasn’t there.

Whirling, she turned back around, squinting out into that darkness, that open cavern with no boundaries. She could’ve sworn she saw a hint of the void grinning back at her. Perhaps Biana had flown off ahead of her, had moved when Sophie had frozen. But if she had, she was vanished and Sophie couldn’t detect a trace of her, not even the slight flapping of her wings in this dead silence.

Brr.

Sophie flinched, muscles all jumping to high alert at that single noise. She knew exactly what that noise meant.

A light exploded into existence in the distance like a beacon.

Fire.

Marella.

Found her.

How strange it was that concern for another could be so powerful any thought for yourself would vanish like an extinguished candle, hardly a puff of smoke to remember that self-preservation by.

Sophie was in the air and she didn’t know how she’d gotten there.

Heavy nothing pressed against her eyes, none of the shapes she knew existed registering in her conscious mind. It was too dark.

But that flash of flame--such a brilliant red-- had shot so high, so bright. The cavern had been illuminated for just long enough she’d been able to burn the image into her mind, knew there was nothing but open open space ahead of her.

She forced herself to think over the rest of the image, the cracked floor and frozen trickle of water that marred its surface. But she was in the air, so that didn’t matter. Why was she thinking of it?

“Marella!” she called out, desperate, hoping hoping hoping for another burst of light, a hint of direction. Her mind had become useless, the heavy lull of the presence of something keeping her suppressed, unable to reach out or track her any further.

Wait.

The presence of something.

Lead filled her heart, choked her lungs, tore her to pieces. So desperate, she’d been, to find Marella, to figure out where she was. She’d even made the connection between here and that first facility. The monsters, the blanket over her mind, the dampening of her ability.

There was something here.

And Marella was near it.

“MARELLA,” she called, listening to the echo back at her. If only Tam were here, maybe he’d be of some use in this environment. Some shade trick, some sleight of hand acquired from those bat wings of his.

A puff of flame answered her call, and her focus narrowed in.

No hesitation crossed her mind as everything became that one spot. She didn’t even register what that brief light illuminated, the marks on the ground, the curls of smoke that smelled faintly of burning sugar.

Towards the back of this cavern, or perhaps it was the middle, an outcrop of rock jutted into the sky, raised a bit higher than its surroundings. That’s what she’d noticed with that light in that moment.

Brr.

There. The sound came from so close she could’ve sworn she could see it, touch it. Something unfamiliar rippled through her body, coursing hollow electricity through her mind as her skin shuddered against her will. Air rushed past her mind, echoing further and further away, her ears ringing.

Wet rock and moss slammed against her, sending her crashing to her knees on the ground, hands splayed before her. What? That wasn’t possible--she hadn’t been close enough yet, hadn’t reached where she’d meant to be.

Stifling a yelp, Sophie pressed to her feet, and the wobbling of her mind told her if she could see the floor it would be swimming before her, undulating and curving in an unnatural way, nearly sending her to her knees again. Get it together, she scolded herself, trying to shake the feeling away.

Exhaustion pulled at her eyes, a deep desire to calm down and let all her worries fade away, nearly undoing all the effort she’d put into this trip.

Brr.

Just ahead of her, that’s where the noise came from.

“Oh? What are you hissing at?” Marella. That was Marella’s voice saying those words. Why?

That creature, that little echo. She’d taken it. Taken it and vanished into the earth.

Hissing? It wasn’t hissing, couldn’t she hear? Was it not clear the casual deference in its sound, as though bored with this whole ordeal.

But Marella. That was Marella, safe and alive and whole and so so so close. Where was she--the darkness remained relentless, impenetrable. Even if she’d had her sense of balance she doubted she could force her way through this empty smog, not this deep in.

She didn’t have to.

Brr.

The sound--behind her, it was behind her so she whirled, wings steadying her with a hum as she staggered into position.

It blinked at her. A pair of eyes, pure white, a ripple washing down its body as each of those white stripes she’d caressed not so long ago burst to light, incandescent, a beacon. Tumbling down and around and flooding the air, specks of dust turned to glitter rain and the wet rock beneath her feet shivering into life.

And it was as that light burst from it’s little body, curling through the air and guiding her, that illuminated Marella. It was still in Marella’s arms, but she was facing away from her, dragon wings draping down her back, falling around her as she looked off off off into the darkness that wasn’t so dark anymore.

And it was that light that killed her and left her to rot. Curling through the air, rippling through the world in waves, that light was bouncing back, bringing something else out of the dark and into the light.

That pure light turned into a deep red, glinting off claws and leather flesh and dripping dripping dripping into the ground.

Marella stood in front of a dragon.

There was nothing more beautiful, more alive in this world than being afraid. A pounding heart reminded her of all the blood she could lose, the tremble of each muscle a gentle threat of all the power she could be, the potential she could hold if only she was willing to throw her head back in the wind and embrace it as her.

This moment was beautiful in that Sophie Foster’s lungs moved too quick for her to count, in that Marella was oh so close to that thing and the thought of it set her alight.

She didn’t say a word, didn’t need to. Nothing more than a silent observer, Sophie feared.

As though the light against its scales were sparks hitting tinder, a warm glow burst to life beneath its skin, illuminating like a forge in its belly, lighting it up from the inside out as it raised its head, burnt sugar scented smoke leaking from its mouth as it exhaled oh so slowly.

Sprawled on its side, its appearance became visible: deep ruby scales to match the ones at Marella’s back, eyes a hollow white, the right one marred through with several deep scratches still fresh. Its body wrapped around itself, forming a crescent on top of this raised dais. A crescent Marella stood in the center of, that echo held tight in her arms, no hint of fear to be seen.

“Will you let me approach, now?” Marella whispered, not looking at it.

What are you doing, she called out with her mind, desperate, but she could feel it fall flat. It didn’t stop her from trying. A heavy silence pressed over this place, stole her breath, and she feared if she spoke it would be the last time she did so.

Her mind was unreachable despite such close proximity, guarded and elusive enough it may as well have been that of the dragon.

Whatever kept Marella safe so close to that creature, she did not dare disturb further.

What next and what to do? Look look look at me the answer said and yet she could not find it, saw only the glint of scales and the hollow of this chamber and the nothing nothing nothing on all side.

It was nothing.

The answer.

Do nothing.

Sophie stood frozen as stone as Marella stepped forward, closer to that dragon.

Its head turned towards the sound of her approach--it couldn’t see. It was relying on sound and scent and everything in between but it could not see. That slash through its eye must’ve blinded it.

It exhaled in a snarl, great bellowing curls of smoke adding to the miasma.

Marella did not flinch and Sophie could only watch stare fear as it pressed closer and closer and closer, the ground beneath them rumbling as it started to shift to its feet.

The shift allowed it to press its head right up beside Marella, head nearly half the size of her.

Slowly, determined, Marella’s hand moved from the echo in her arms, reaching out out out, skin meeting scale as she exhaled, the palm of her hand glowing with that same burning light that came from this beast’s throat, shining through as it puffed a lick of flame against her face.

Like calls to like.

The saying popped into her mind, but its origin eluded her.

Marella’s head bowed as she moved closer, resting her forehead against that of the dragon, encased in smoke. Each breath they took, they took in tandem.

A faint grinding sound, something ancient, snapped into place and their heartbeats synced; Marella’s existence could barely be heard over the cacophony of the dragon, its thunderous presence.

Whatever this was, it would pass. It had to. Sophie would get Marella, find Biana, and get them both out of here. Whatever was happening, she’d fix it. Everything would be okay. She just had to wait it out, see it through.

Something screamed.

From way off in the distance.

Wretched and wet and echoing.

The dragon’s head snapped up, huffing.

Marella turned, quick as a whip.

Her eyes were lidded and vacant, her breathing rhythmic.

But that’s not what caught Sophie’s attention.

It was the glow, the heat, emanating from those eyes. Alive. Marella was burning alive from the inside out.

The intensity of that gaze had her stumbling back, unnerved. Her hand flew to press against her sides, searching instinctively for those pockets, those missing pockets. Throwing stars, there were supposed to be throwing stars on her person, but there weren’t any pockets in her clothes because these weren’t meant for fighting.

She was. What devastating, effervescent beauty, to be born to fight. A fury in her soul refused to quiet, the remnants of her haunting lull on the battlefield never content.

Her pain would not be tamed.

Sophie’s hand slipped into a pocket; something pressed against her fingertips.

Unthinking, she withdrew it.

Her imparter cast a murky light into the growing smoke, the fog, but it remained devastatingly legible.

A cascade of messages had come through in the past few minutes alone.

Fitz had sent question after question, out of his mind with worry. Why couldn’t he reach her? Where was she? Was she hurt?

But there was another message from someone unexpected. Maruca had reached out, one sentence. But those three words may as well have slit her throat for the way she choked.

Linh’s gone missing.

[cadence-talle]

Moonlight Burst Into the Room

Pairing: Marella Redek/Linh Song

Wordcount: 2,203

TW: mentions of transphobia 

Notes: For @marellinh-week-2020​! Doesn’t totally fit any of the prompts besides First Kiss/Confession so let’s just pretend I posted it then instead of several days late 

Taglist: @everyonehasthoughts, @clearlykeefitz, @loverofallthingssmart, @a-lonely-tatertot, @enbies-and-felonies, @molly-sencen, @lemontarto, @appalyneinstitute1, @ruewen-and-rising, @silver-snow, @linhamon-roll, @hyperlollypop, @never-ever-too-many-fandoms, @keeper-of-the-lost-queers, @impostertamsong, @vibing-in-the-void, @yeetersofthelostcities, @mistythegirlfluxmess, @diamond-dreamerr, @we-have-no-bananas-today, @an-absolute-travesty, @callas-starkflower-stew

Linh has never had a nickname. 

When she was younger, still living with her parents, names were a point of frustration. Her parents never used pet names, which meant they always referred to her by her given name- the wrong name. Always the wrong name, until Linh had to tell them to stop. 

(That conversation was quiet, hushed, like her parents couldn’t quite believe it. They had simply stared at her when she said I’m a girl and then shared a long look.)

Her parents had called her Linh from then on, but it still felt strictly impersonal. As if a wall of water had sprung up between them and drowned any hope of parental affection. 

Once they were banished, names were hardly ever used. Elves at Exillium weren’t considered to have names; they were referred to in a group or not at all. So Linh grew accustomed to turning at a simple shout, to only hearing her name spoken by her brother. Lonely? Sure, but at least she didn’t have to hear that disappointed sigh of Linh whenever she messed up.

(The way Tam said her name wasn’t disappointed, not ever. But it was resigned, like he knew he was the only one who would ever say it. Like he had come to terms with the fact that they were going to fade into oblivion.)

Then Sophie turned up and ushered them into her friend group, into warmth and belonging and people talking to Linh. People saying her name.

Sophie’s group didn’t use nicknames much- besides Keefe, of course, who seemed to be in a competition against himself to come up with the most ridiculous titles for Sophie- but just hearing her name said in a way that told Linh people wanted her here was enough. 

And then Marella Redek becomes a bigger part of Linh’s life, her fiery temper charging into arguments and her endless vocabulary of pet names filling the air, and Linh doesn’t know what to do with herself. 

-/-

“Hey, sweetheart, could you grab me that box?”

Linh turns just in time to see Dex hand Marella the small wooden box in question with a confused look. The blond girl grins at him and opens the box, digging through its contents. “Ooh, a necklace! And… Prattles?”

She holds up the package for all to see. The three of them are the only kids at Havenfield today- the others are all off on various errands. Even Sophie’s out in Atlantis, shopping with Biana. Linh doesn’t mind much, though, even as they embark on the laborious task of sorting through the stuff in Edaline’s cluttered office. She’s still marveling at the fact that she has friends now. 

“They’re probably really stale by now,” Dex says. Marella shrugs, ripping off the top and popping a candy into her mouth. She makes a face.

“Oh, ew. Why did you two let me eat that?”

Linh giggles and Marella smiles at her. There’s a strange flush on the other girl’s cheeks, and Linh wonders if you can get sick from eating old Prattles. She hopes not. 

“He did warn you,” Linh points out. Marella puts a hand over her heart in mock insult. 

“Betrayal! I thought we were friends, sweetie.”

Linh shrugs nonchalantly, trying to hide the warmth she can feel creeping up her neck. Marella does this all the time, she reminds herself, and Linh just needs to get used to it. “Sorry. All’s fair in lov- in war and stale Prattles.”

Dex snorts, shooting Linh a knowing look. Linh blinks and he shakes his head. “We should get back to cleaning. Marella, put the Prattles down.”

Marella, who is apparently a three-year-old in the body of a fifteen-year-old, shoves two more Prattles into her mouth and pockets the drawstring bag that holds the pin. Dex rolls his eyes and turns to a huge green chest. Marella nudges Linh’s ankle with her foot. 

“You know, hon, this stuff really isn’t bad. You wanna try?” She holds out the box. 

Linh shakes her head and Marella puts the package away. Linh’s thoughts, though, can’t be dislodged so easily, and the word hon echoes in her mind for the rest of the day. 

-/-

The transition from Exillium to Foxfire was a hurried one, a few busy days of reading schedules and getting used to being around normal people again. It felt almost too fast in the moment, too quick for even the little they were leaving behind.

Linh has left a lot of things behind in her life. She doesn’t miss them most of the time, but on days like this- days where it’s quiet and cool and the winds whipping past her sound eerily like the whispers in her head- it’s hard not to remember. 

She wanders outside of Solreef, settling down under a tree where she won’t be directly visible from the house. The grass around her is still slightly damp with dew, and Linh tugs a few blades out of the ground to fiddle with. 

Tiergan’s house is very different from anywhere she’s ever lived. The rooms are large and sprawling but still cozy, perhaps made so by the various pillows and classified scrolls that are scattered across nearly every surface. It’s not the rugged landscape of Wildwood nor the smoothed edges of Choralmere, and Linh is glad. Things are calm here, but not so calm she’s afraid to walk on anything but tiptoe. 

She broke a vase, once. One of her mother’s heirlooms. Tam had been chasing her through the house and Linh hadn’t had a chance to slow down in time. Quan had shouted louder than she had ever heard, too angry to even call Linh by the right name. 

It’s been years since that event, but the disappointment still presses on Linh’s skin. Covers her like a heavy blanket woven from sad sighs and ignorant comments and constant dissatisfied looks. The idea that Linh would never be enough. 

Will never be enough, no matter what she does. 

(There have been too many conversations for her to ever disprove that.)

“Linh?”

Abruptly, Linh realizes she hasn’t been breathing. She breaks away from the fixed point she’s been staring at and pastes a smile on her face. 

“Marella! Hey, sorry, I must have forgotten you were coming today.”

“You didn’t,” the blond girl responds, sinking down next to Linh. “I wanted to surprise you. Are you okay?”

“What? I’m fine. Why?”

Marella gives her an utterly unimpressed look. 

“Hon. You looked about five seconds away from crying when I showed up. And that’s not a bad thing,” she hurries to add when Linh opens her mouth to apologize. “I just want to help, if I can.”

“I-” Linh trails off, staring at the ground. “I was just thinking. About… stuff. Names. Memories.”

“Huh.” Marella doesn’t press, which Linh is thankful for. “Names can be weird sometimes,” she says carefully, turning to face Linh. “My mom- on her better days, she calls me Ella.”

Linh blinks. “I thought you didn’t like being called Ella.” Marella had almost taken Keefe’s head off when he had called her that once. Marella shrugs. 

“I don’t know. It’s different when Mom does it. It tells me… she’s there, I guess. She’s there and she loves me.” Marella worries her bottom lip between her teeth. “It’s hard to see, sometimes. What she’s going to do. What I’m supposed to do when she gets frantic or starts crying.” 

“I get that. Well. Not the ‘frantic and crying’ part, but I get not knowing what to do.”

Marella smiles, a tiny, crooked thing. “I thought you would, sweetie.”

Linh turns back to the landscape, staring out at it. Next to her, Marella shifts so she’s facing the same direction. Her eyes are still fixed on Linh, though. Maybe it’s that, or maybe it’s the sweetie, but Linh speaks up a few moments later. 

“My parents… didn’t always remember to call me Linh.” She says, testing the waters. Marella’s head inclines a tiny bit, encouraging her to go on. 

So Linh does. She tells the whole story, all those lonely years in Choralmere and then the too-free years in Wildwood. She’s never had to tell anyone that before- Tam has always known, and neither of them needed to say it out loud. 

When she finishes, Marella is silent. Linh worries she’s made a huge mistake. 

“Sorry,” she says quietly. “You don’t have to- I mean, I know this changes-”

“Hey, darling.” Marella shifts to sit on her knees in front of Linh, leaning forward and grabbing her hands. “This doesn’t change anything, okay. I mean, obviously it does,” she says thoughtfully, “but you’re still Linh, okay? You’re still Linh and you’re still beautiful. And I totally understand if you don’t want me to make a big deal out of this, but if you do, I happen to throw legendary parties.” 

Linh laughs, a half-choked sound of relief. Marella settles back against the tree with a grin and they stare at the horizon again. 

“Thanks,” Linh says after a moment. Marella gives her a thumbs-up.

“What are friends for, right?”

“Yeah.” Yeah, Linh reminds herself. Friends. 

-/-

“Whoa. Hon, look at this.” Marella pulls a tiny marble out of a box, glittering pale yellow and about the size of her thumbnail. Linh would almost mistake it for a Councillor’s cache if it weren’t for the absence of tiny jewels inside. 

They’re back in Edaline’s office, digging through piles of junk, but this time it’s just the two of them. Linh is halfway sure that’s intentional, actually- even Grady and Edaline suddenly decided to take an impromptu trip to Mysterium today. They have Havenfield all to themselves. 

(That sentence seems to fill Linh’s stomach with the mechanical butterflies they accidentally unleashed earlier. She doesn’t think about that too hard.)

(If she does, she knows she’ll find out something very odd about why she always feels warm when Marella calls her a pet name.)

“What is it?” She asks Marella. The other girl lifts one shoulder. 

“I don’t know, but it’s pretty. Let’s see...”

She taps the marble with two fingers and the lights cut out. They come back a few seconds later, Marella grinning sheepishly.

“Whoops. Sorry, sweetheart-”

“Stop calling me that.”

The words are out before Linh can stop them, and she flounders. “I mean- I just-” She shakes her head. “I can’t. Not when I know…” You don’t mean them, she finishes mentally. It hurts too much to hear you throw them out that easily. 

Marella’s expression shutters and she looks away. “Right,” she says, sounding oddly defeated. “Of course.”

She turns around, muttering “of course you would have figured it out” under her breath. Linh frowns and, since her mouth and her brain seem to be operating on different planes of existence today, says,

“What? Figured out what?” Her tone is almost challenging, but even Linh isn’t entirely sure why. Marella turns back around, arms crossed defensively.

“Really. You’re really gonna make me say it?”

“Say what?”

Marella throws up her hands. “Fine. I like you, okay? Is that what you wanted?” Her voice drops lower, less frustrated and more finished. “I’m sorry. I didn’t want to be weird. I’ll get over it.”

“You. You like me?” 

Marella doesn’t respond, already sorting through another pile. Linh takes a deep breath and uses what’s left of her courage. 

“I didn’t know that. I wanted you to stop calling me pet names because I thought they didn’t mean anything to you.”

Marella pauses. Straightens up. 

“They did,” she says, so softly it’s almost imperceptible. “They all did.” 

“They meant something to me too.” 

Edaline’s office is quiet. Linh doesn’t move, doesn’t blink, tries not to even think until Marella turns her head. 

“I hear there’s a really good restaurant in downtown Atlantis,” she says. It’s a question, an outstretched hand. Linh smiles and takes it. 

“That sounds amazing,” she responds. “Honey.”

The marble slips from Marella’s fingers and the lights turn off again. Marella’s smile, though, is enough to brighten the room. 

-/-

When she was little, Linh never had a nickname. 

They were too frivolous for her parents, too unnecessary for the people who sometimes forgot to even call her Linh. Nicknames weren’t needed for someone who barely had a name at all. 

Nicknames are never really needed, but they’re used here. 

“Mare,” she calls across their small kitchen, “we need to go.”

“I’m here! I’m ready,” Marella responds breathlessly, pecking Linh on the cheek as she rushes to pull her coat on. 

“Bi is going skin us alive if we’re late to Sophie’s party.”

“Good thing we’re not late then, sweetie.” Marella grins at her and moves out of the door. They are late, actually, but neither of them really care. 

It hits Linh sometimes, how very different her life is now. She has friends, and family, and a wonderful wife who deserves the world. 

(The ring on her finger seems to shine. That conversation was feather-light and delighted, a gasped yes and cheers from all their friends.)

“Hon, come on!”

She has a nickname now. Dozens, in fact. But she also has a name.

Linh Redek steps out the door. 

[theeggoman]

Kill Bill AU! I had this idea at work and I refused to let myself sleep until I drew it out! Bakugou is the bride, Kirishima is Bill. 

What I LOVE about these movies is that with each kill, you can see how much Kiddo truly did once love these people. They were her friends and allies, and their betrayal hurts more than anything. Each time she kills one of them you can see the pain it causes her, followed by the relief and bitter sweet sadness. UMA THERMAN IS AN AMAZING ACTRESS OKAY! So obviously Bakusquad are the members of the Deadly Vipersquad, and they all loved each other at one point. The rest of the characters are explained below:

All of this takes place in the same places as the movie” America and Japan. Everyone is Japanese still, but Bakugou and Deku are Japanese American.

Sero is Copper Head, expert with knives. He left the Deadly Viper Squad after falling in love with the pretty doctor who saved his life and the two got married and had a kid. He’s never forgiven himself for what he did to Bakugou.

Mina is Cotton Mouth. With Kirishima’s help, she becomes the head of the entire Japanese Yakuza. I’m gonna make Toru into Sophie, her assistant and best friend. She loves Bakugou like a brother and respects him more than anyone, but in her mind he had it coming and she’s lost no sleep over it. She hates him for abandoning her.

Kaminari is California Mountain Snake. His eye was plucked out by Sensei Aizawa, the same teacher who taught all of them. He’s in love with Kiri and knows he’s nothing but a replacement for Bakugou, and it’s eaten at him and corroded at his sanity. His friendship turned to jealousy and hatred, and as soon as Bakugou was out of the picture he rushed in to comfort Kirishima. He knows kiri’ll never truly love him. Regardless, he’s never lost his begrudging admiration or respect for Bakugou, even is he hates him for having the only thing he’s ever wanted. Bakugou plucks out his other eye when he learns Kaminari killed his master, but he can’t actually bring himself to kill Kaminari, so he just leaves him to die of blood loss.

Tetsutetsu, being Kirishima’s brother, always adored Bakugou’s spunk and manliness. In fury over how he broke his brother’s heart, he agrees to the wedding massacre, because in all of their minds Bakugou abandoned them all. It’s only after Bakugou utters those fateful words “it’s your baby” before Kiri shoots him that they all realize what they’ve just done. He’ll never forgive himself for it, and leaves all the riches and grandeur behind as penance and now works as a bouncer in a strip club. He was a drug addict as a kid and falls back into the habbit, much to Kirishima’s dismay.

Bakugou is a trans man who’s parents immigrated to America before he was born. They were killed in a house fire when he was 5, and he was raised in an orphanage, with nothing and no one. He met Kirishima after killing 10 of his minions in a blind rage for raping his only friend. His plan originally was to track down Kiri and kill him too, but when Bakugou came crashing through his window screaming, swinging a baseball bat with blood all over his face, Kiri fell in love. He shocked Bakugou out of his rampage by calling him beautiful, and begged to recruit him. Joining the Deadly Viper Squad gave Bakugou the family he’d always longed for, and he couldn’t help falling in love with him back.

But when he found out he was pregnant, he realized that he’d become the exact thing he hated. And his kid was going to grow up surrounded by death and decay and all the things that fucked Bakugou up to begin with. So he ran away, back to his home town, and with nowhere to go, he showed up on the doorstep of his childhood friend Deku, the very person he was avenging when he fell into Kirishima’s arms. Deku takes him in immediately, and doesn’t care that the baby isn’t his because he’s been in love with Kacchan since they were 5. And Bakugou realizes that Deku is the perfect person to raise his baby with, it’s the perfect environment, and finally he gets to have something. (Or NAH bitch because kiri and the bakusquad come for revenge and kill him lmao)

And now for Kirishima. (Dark kiri warning!)

In this AU, Kiri is about 10 years older than the rest of the characters. He has a similar background to Bakugou, and he has black hair. He’s charming, with a big beautiful smile, built like a brick house and could crush your scull in his hands. He’s damaged. He did what he needed to do to survive, and built up his own empire training under the greatest masters in the underground. He became known as the deadliest assassin in the world. Mina was his first student, then Sero, then Kaminari, and finally Bakugou. He fell in love with him at first sight, in a possessive, obsessive way. For those precious few years where the deadly viper squad was a thing, and Bakugou was right by his side ruling the underground with him, and his younger brother Tetsutestu finally had his life together and was with him all the way, he was happy. Bakugou disappeared while on a mission, and everyone assumed he’d been killed. Kirishima tore up the world trying to take his revenge, but when he found out the man he loved had abandoned him, all of them, to go play house with some fucking picture perfect, undamaged, spoiled boy he’d grown up with, (and Bakugou, who would scream at him any time he even mentioned children, had GOTTEN KNOCKED UP with what he assumed at the time was Deku’s kid,) the last shred of his humanity cracked and he killed the entire wedding party. (He’d proposed to Bakugou countless times and always been turned down. His heartbreak was insurmountable.) He turned bitter and angry, no more bright smiles, the last light in his world gone. He used Kaminari as a poor substitute, let Sero walk away from the life with the woman he loved the way he never would have let Bakugou do, gave up all his power and prestige and let Mina take over the underground. When Eri was born, he took her and raised her and waited for the day Bakugou would inevitably come for him. And even though he knew what he would do, he couldn’t bring himself to care. He just wanted to see him again, that incredible explosion of life that brought life to his world. To die at the hands of the man he loved is a pretty good way to go.

The members of the wedding party that die: Iida, Todoroki, Ururaka, Tsuyu, Deku, Inko, and All Might.

Other characters: Estaban Viheo, (Kirishima’s father figure,) is Fatgum. He was a Yakuza leader who took the dangerous young Kiri under his wing, and loved him like a son. He noticed from an early age that Kiri loved all things manly, and had a huge soft spot for fiery blond men. Pei Mei, (the master,) is Aizawa. He’s bitter and angry and old, but Bakugou always had a special place in his heart.The crazy 88 are all the Class B students, and Bakugou and Kiri’s Daughter is Eri (Because she has blonde hair and red eyes and horns!!! She’s perfect!)

[an-absolute-travesty]

For the prompts: Team Valiant has to do some kind of "bonding game" to make sure they can work with their councillor teammates. They play Uno as teams and it it eventually ends up with someone flipping the table and/or screaming. Myabe a fist fight or two.

So, I really love this prompt. 

Word count: 891

About: listed above

Tw: capital letters

(whoops I made it gay-)

Oh and this will be going on my wattpad later tonight, my user is ohwowhatethis and I have the same pfp, you can’t miss me :)

“YOU’RE AN AWFUL PERSON! I CAN’T BELIEVE YOU WOULD BETRAY ME LIKE THIS!”

“Sophie, it’s just a plus 4, calm down!”

“No Biana! This is a betrayal! A betrayal I tell you! I cannot believe my own girlfriend would do this to me”

This game of Uno had lasted almost 4 hours by now. The council wanted Sophie to bring a human game for team bonding experience. It didn’t help that the rest of the friend group had heard about it and there were now 23 people playing. Sophie had to leap back to the Forbidden cities to get 2 more packs of cards. 

“Sophie, it can’t be betrayal if we aren’t using teams anymore.” Dex pointed out.

Originally they had divided into 3 teams, the councillors, team valiant, and then the people just there for fun. However, that didn’t last very long as Bronte apparently couldn’t resist screwing over Alina and so they quickly abandoned the teams and it was now every man for themselves. 

“It is a personal betrayal, Dexter.”

“Stop your blabbering, is it my turn yet?” Stina looked like she was about to fall asleep.

“Yes,” 

Stina smugly put down a wild card and chose green.

“Oh you mother-”

“Ramira!” Oralie yelled “Language! We do not swear at children!”

The councillor rolled her eyes, she had nearly sworn at everyone in the room at least twice. Every time she tried, Oralie cut her off.

Ramira took a card from the pile. And another. And another. And another. 

She picked up 11 cards before getting angry.

“OKAY WHAT THE HELL-”

“Language!”

“THERE IS NO WAY THAT I WENT THAT LONG WITHOUT GETTING A GREEN-”

Terik started laughing from the other side of the round table.

“What are you laughing about?” Ramira sneered. 

“Well, I can sense potential...so I used it to my advantage. Blame Keefe, he gave me the idea”

“Hey! Don’t put this on me! You told me Stina would choose green and all I did was shuffle the cards when everyone was looking at Sophie screaming-”

“You little rats” Said Ramira as she stood up from her chair, Terik matched her. 

“Councillors,” said Oralie. “We are above fighting like this!”

“Well clearly someone isn’t above cheating” said Ramira with a look in her eye that could kill a man.

“Oh, what? You can’t handle a little prank-”

“BE QUIET!” yelled Oralie as she bounded up from her chair.

Naturally everyone was immediately silent, surprised by the normally sheepish woman’s outburst.

“This was supposed to be a bonding activity! Instead we are fighting like children and threatening each other! This is absolutely ridiculous, I cannot believe that two people of such high status, power, and education could be so...so...childish!”

The councillors looked down in shame, along with Keefe.

“It’s...it’s my fault. I told Councillor Terik to use his powers to cheat.” Keefe kept his head down in shame.

“No, it’s my fault.” Sophie said. “I knew how intense games of Uno could get, the only worse game I could’ve chosen was Monopoly.”

Terik shook his head. “The blame can only be put on me and my fellow councillors. I was the adult in the situation and should not have encouraged cheating.”

Bronte stood from his chair. “It doesn’t matter whos’ fault it is. What matters is that we have acknowledged our mistakes and we can now move ahead. Let’s continue with the game, I may be diplomatic but it doesn’t mean I’m not still determined to win this thing,”

“Nice try old man, but I have this in the bag,” said Tam, as it was now his turn. He put down a custom card reading ‘Play rock, paper, scissors with the person directly across from you. Whoever loses picks up 8 cards.”

“Oh it is on” said Bronte, putting his hand in position to play.

~*~

1 hour later, Linh sat with her head on the table, fast asleep. Marella right next to her. Fitz and Tam had both quit and were now sitting in the corner talking with their foreheads touching. Keefe was doodling with his legs crossed on the floor, Dex peering over his shoulder. Sophie and Biana were laying on the floor next to each other while holding hands and talking. Maruca and Stina were leaning on the wall next to each other. Wylie sat in another corner reading. Only the councillors remained playing. 

Bronte sighed, “Plus 4”

“Ugh,” said Alina. “I’m tired of this”

The others mumbled their agreement. 

“Let’s just settle for a tie this time,” Emery said. 

Everyone in the room that was still awake nodded.

Slowly, everyone got up and prepared to leave.

“Well,” Zarina said, “Same time next week?”

“Yep,” Sophie said as she stood up. “Next time I’ll bring Sorry!” She had a grin on her face that showed she knew what chaos she was about to create but no one seemed to notice.

Everyone steadily streamed out the door. Grady and Edaline were waiting outside and picked all the kids up before leaping them to Havenfield for a sleepover, it was easier than everyone’s guardians picking them up.

Once everyone had changed into their pyjamas, Keefe pulled out a familiar deck of cards.

“So,” he said with a smirk. “Anyone up for a game of Uno?”

They all looked at one another.

“You’re on.”

[team-council]

These are my Alina/Cadence HCs bc I lowkey ship them! Note that for this I’m assuming gay couples are automatically bad matches bc they can’t reproduce. Also this contains some HCs that just pertain to these characters and not exclusively their relationship.

Also big thanks to @everyonehasthoughts for listening to me ramble about this + also coming up with some of the ones featured here

• Alina and Cadence are about the same age and they have been dating in secret since they were 16

• Because Alina always wanted to be in the nobility, they mutually agreed it would be best for her reputation that things stayed on the DL between them

• However, as they got older Cadence grew less secure about this. She wasn’t happy feeling like she had to keep her love for Alina a secret, but mostly just worried frequently that their relationship was more of a burden on Alina than anything else

• Cadence isn’t very open with her feelings, so while Alina was able to tell something was wrong with her she could get Cadence to elaborate on it- mostly because Cadence was worried Alina would feel guilty about her discontentment.

• Alina herself hates the arrangement as well. She’s a very proud person and it literally kills her that she can’t go to parties and watch people writhe with jealousy as she dances with the prettiest girl (Cadence) in the room, or that she can’t gush about all of the amazing research Cadence does to everyone she meets. But most of all, of course, she hates that she can’t give Cadence the life they both deserve together.

• Alina, however, is willing to brave this- or so she thinks. She’s certain that one day she and Cadence will be married after Alina’s been in the nobility- maybe even on the council- just long enough to change the system for the better

• Cadence, on the other hand, can’t bear it any longer. She’s already naturally a distant person and the pull of her research quickly becomes an enticing escape from her anxieties about her relationship with Alina.

• Cadence officially breaks things off with Alina when she leaves to research the ogres on a more personal level, telling her that it’s not her fault and that she just wants to focus on research at the moment.

• Alina is absolutely devastated. Despite wanting to support Cadence’s dream she does beg her to stay. Like beg beg, like fucking sobs

• Cadence is extremely distressed by this and leaves before she can change her mind, believing they’ll both be happier if they focus on their respective ambitions.

• Alina doesnt take this very well. All her life she’s dreamt of having someone to love. She’s terrified of being alone and she wants desperately for someone else to love her- because despite the vanity she fronts, she’s not capable of doing it herself

• Alden has been interested in Alina for some time, and since he’s on her match list she decides to pursue him.

• The two hit it off surprisingly well, and while Alina doesn’t love him as deeply as she loves Cadence Alden makes her feel cared for and important and serves as a welcomed respite from her heartache and fears of lonliness

• This does not last, as Alden moves on from her extremely abruptly, getting with Della

• Since Cadence is in Ravagog- somewhere Alina would have a hard time getting to her even if she had the balls to face her again (which she does not)- Alina decides in utter desperation to pursue Alden despite his rejecting her

• She can’t handle another heartbreak

• She can’t handle feeling like she isn’t good enough again

• She needs to be loved

• We all know how it goes from there for her

• While this is going down with Alina, Cadence is having a much different experience with the ogres

• At first her new, freeing lifestyle keeps her mind off Alina. She’s happier on her boat, able to research as she pleases, able to isolate herself with her work without being bothered or subjected to ridicule from elves not particularly fond of her ogre-centric studies

• But even Cadence’s solitary disposition has its limits, and in her early year’s at Ravagog things are /hard/ for her. She doesn’t have any elven friends and the ogres still don’t trust her enough to truly be companions

• She feels entirely alone sometimes and spends many nights staring at her imparter, wanting to call Alina. To tell her everything she’s been through, to excitedly ramble about her research, to complain about Dimitar’s god awful temper, to cry because no matter how hard she tries to stomach it her mind gets a bit weaker with each display of violence she’s shown- something that ogres see her as lesser for, even despite the fact that she doesn’t look down on them for those practices in the first place like other elves do

• She never does call her though

• Her time in Ravagog amplifies some of her best traits- her curiosity, her compassion, her patience- but also some of her worst- her reclusive tendencies and her emotional reservation specifically.

• It’s decades before Lady Cadence is called back to teach at Foxfire

• Alina begs the council to pick another mentor for Sophie, but can’t press it too hard without looking suspicious

• They spend a long time avoiding one another, adverting their eyes in the staff rooms and halls, sitting on opposite ends of the table at meetings

• But before they know it they start gravitating towards one another again

• At first it’s little things like soft, stolen glances or pacing at one another’s sides on the way to a conference

• Then they start talking again

• Cadence arranged for them to have tea during their free time. They chat and catch up and pretend like nothing happened

• Then Alina invites Cadence to dinner at her house, where she ends up breaking down. Cadence cuddles her as she does her best to explain what happened with Alden, how small and disposible she felt when he left her, how she felt like just being with him was a betrayal of Cadence

• Cadence assured her that it’s alright, she tells Alina she’s loved and she’s important, she promises her that things will get better and fights tears of her own

• There’s so much more cadence wants to say, baggage of her own that she’s about to collapse under the weight of

• But, again, she’s had to overcompensate for her weaknesses living with ogres. She’s even worse about her emotions now than she was before and crams them all into a box and shoved them away

• Alina can tell this, but unlike before she’s determined not to give up. She’s going to make thing’s right. She’s going to make sure Cadence Talle, who has spent her life understanding others, is finally understood herself

• And then Councillor Kenric dies.

• They’re both made candidates for the councillor position

• When Alina’s elected it’s unlike she ever imagined it would be. This isn’t going to be in and out. It’s not a matter of changing the match system or garnering respect for the talentless. She’s smack in the middle of a war. The man who held her position previously was murdered. It’s a greater commitment than she ever wanted out of the nobility, and it comes to her right when she’s finally got Cadence back again after so many years

• Cadence encourages her to take the position. She’s stuck at Foxfire anyways so it isn’t like she’s going anywhere. She’s- endlessly- worried about Alina’s safety, but she keeps those fears to herself. If Alina’s to be a councillor, Cadence will need to trust and respect her as a leader, not coddle her like a lover- much as she might like to.

• Alina eventually relents and takes up her new position

• The two keep in contact with calls here and there, but Alina is more busy than she’s ever been and after Ravagog is destroyed Cadence demands time away from her duties at foxfire to visit and help with damage control and recovery

• The next time they’re alone in person again Cadence is lying unconscious in an infirmary bed

• When Alina got the news that she had been attacked at Havenfield she dropped everything to visit her. It was impossible to pry her from her side. She sat next to her bed and gripped her hand as tightly as she could in her own, begging her to wake up and be alright

• Cadence doesn’t take too long to come around, and when she does she find’s her chest grows unbearably warm at the sight of Alina, whom she accepts that, in that moment, she is still completely in love with

• Cadence assured her that she’s fine, even attempting to get out of bed in order to hug her. This does not work. Alina has to drag her back onto the bed before Elwin bursts in and tells them both off

• It takes Cadence a while to talk Alina out of assigning her a body guard, and Alina relents only just barely under the logic that the attack wasn’t targeted at Cadence so there’s no need for concern

• Alina can tell that the incident weighs on her, but again she can’t get her to open up

• When Luminaria falls Alina, fortunately, sustains a few cuts and a couple broken bones like some of the other councillors but nothing too bad. By the time Cadence hear’s of the incident and comes running there’s not much to see of the accident anymore. But that doesn’t stop Cadence from pressing kisses against what of her is bandaged up (and dousing her in a number of different baked confections and flavorful teas)

• Again, they’re contact wanes for a little. Cadence is desperate to keep Dimitar from shutting the ogres away from the rest of the world and focussed most of her attention on that

• When they talk again it’s after Alina had been told that Cadence was the intended target of the Havenfield attack. Before she can start talking about bodyguards and security measures, however, Cadence finally breaks down.

• She clings to Alina like a child and recounts the interrogation session, how she’d failed to reason with the ogre, how he’d died as a result. Alina can’t empathize with her grief. She thinks of the assassin and bile rises in her throat. But she stifles her anger and holds cadence, promising that it isn’t her fault, that the work she’s done is good work, that the hatred he held for her was unwarranted and ill conceived

• When Cadence calms down she explains everything she’s been withholding. Her anxiety about their relationship, her paralyzing lonliness, her frustrations having to abandon her research, her still very real love for Alina

• Alina can’t help the few tears that come to her eyes. She’s finally got past Cadence’s walls, she can finally talk to her and comfort her like she needs to in order to help her feel secure

• Alina assures her that their relationship was never a burden, that she’s never been ashamed of Cadence, that she still loves her as well, and that she’d always be willing to take her back. They touch on other issues as well. Alina can’t entirely convince her that she doesn’t need to be constantly reserve herself they do make an agreement to be more open with one another

• They’re still plenty busy though, and mostly keep their interactions to friendly conversation and platonic affection as so not to threaten Alina’s position on the council. Alina has made plans to resign once the Neverseen is dealt with and marry Cadence like she’d always planned. Cadence is hoping that Alina won’t mind spending some of their time as a couple in Ravagog, and Alina’s hoping that Cadence won’t mind spending some time literally anywhere else

[dcbbw]

Sneak Peek Sunday (8-23-2020)

I know for certain I was tagged by @sophie-and-shizuku​, and I think I may have been tagged by @bebepac​. Honestly, I have not had a lot of time to work on anything because of work obligations but I do have a fic ready to post and a handful of almost-there WIPs; fics that if I just sat down and added one more section, or did a final read-through on, I could post.

For Sneak Peek Sunday, I present to you my They’re Almost Ready list.

Boomerang (Un-Romance AU):

Maxwell.

I wonder what he is doing here. Then I hear his voice carry over my partition.

“Hey, Reebee,” he says, using his nickname for me.

“Max!” I say a little too loudly and a lot too cheerfully.

He steps to my ‘doorway’. “I come bearing treats,” he announces as he holds out a brown paper bag in one hand and my pink drink in the other.

I tell him to come in, and he plops in the guest chair before handing me my drink and cookies. I place them on my desk and roll my chair around so I’m facing him. I eye him appraisingly: Maxwell looks good. He’s still slim with a head full of gelled hair; his face is still handsome in an odd way. Maxwell is the type that is always animated: eyes flashing and sparkling, a permanent half smile lifting one corner of his mouth, hands moving.

A man in motion.

Right now, his leg is jiggling while his fingers tap and dance against his pant-covered thigh.

“What brings you here?” I ask curiously.

“I dropped Pen off this morning and walking her to the elevator, we ran into Lynn going on a coffee run.”

I freeze momentarily. Maxwell dropped Penelope off? “You and Pen?” I ask in what I hope is a casual tone.

He nods happily. “I ran into her at a pet shelter a couple of weekends ago. We talked some, grabbed some lunch, and we’ve been … hanging out ever since.”

“He was looking for a peacock!” Penelope offered helpfully from her cubicle.

I nod slowly. “Hanging out,” I repeat.

Max’s eyes grow wide as he takes in my expression. “It’s not like that.”

We stare at each other. The yet is unspoken. 

Ghosts (Damien/Kai/Hayden ):

We were eating dinner in the living room. America’s Most Eligible was on, and for whatever reason, Kai and Hayden absolutely love that show. There were shrieks of laughter and finger pointing at the television set while I watched them absently, barely tasting my dinner.

Hayden noticed my lack of scoffing and reprimand and looked at me quizzically. “Are you okay, love?”

Kai put down her forkful of food to look at me through narrowed eyes. “Does this have to do with that client? What’s the job, Damien?”

She is neither suspicious nor jealous, just protective. Kai doesn’t love deeply or passionately; she loves fiercely.

I sip some cold beer. “I don’t know the job yet. I have to meet with them to find out.”

They both look at me skeptically. I shrug. “I just … I don’t know. I feel disconnected and I don’t know why.”

Except I do. I’m lying to the two most important people in my life, after mom and siblings, because of a man who left me three years ago. Over a phone call. I didn’t hear from him when I was heartbroken. I didn’t hear from him when robot assassins and a crazy man were trying to kill me and my friends.

No, he waits until I’m happy again to call. And I answered.

Love in a Time of Betrayal:

The light in the room was muted as the late afternoon sun filtered in through the closed window blinds. The heavy damask curtains were pulled open, tied back with cords of silk rope. They reminded her of an opera box.

Her hands ran down the front of his shirt, frantically pulling buttons through their holes; the diamond on her finger sparkled in the muted light of the room. The fabric was soft beneath her fingertips. Silk? Often washed cotton? It didn’t matter as she pulled the shirt from his broad shoulders. He let out a low laugh at her eagerness, his hair falling across his forehead in an endearing way.

She couldn’t wait to run her fingers through it.

The man pulled her closer to his bare chest, his short curly hairs matted to his skin. She breathed him in: pinecones, green grass, cognac. A hint of leather. Her lips found the crook of his neck and placed a kiss on his collarbone. He responded by planting a kiss in her hair.

They were star-crossed lovers, their hearts and their fates always at odds. The very Universe telling them constantly that they were not to be together, yet their bodies spoke differently.

Their love spoke differently.

She wondered if what they shared was lust or love, and always decided love. Lust could be sated, but her feelings for him never were.

He knew he loved her, with every fiber of his being. But he saw the signs: every chance they had at happiness was snatched away; sometimes cruelly, sometimes subtly. Either way, the pain was the same:

Deep. Hurtful. So intense not even the sweet release of death would alleviate it.

But here they were again, under the most trying of circumstances, attempting to right their world the only way they knew how.

The Queen’s Friendship:

The woman and Veronica were sitting in a dive bar, eating burgers and drinking beers. It had been five years since high school graduation, and their group of friends had disbanded:

Brenda’s mother had died soon after graduation, and she and her siblings had sold the house and divided the money. Brenda moved to Richmond, VA and had gotten a job with the state government. She was expecting her first child any day.

James had gotten a football scholarship from Auburn University. He played well, but not well enough to be noticed by the NFL. He was working as an accountant in Birmingham.

Michael D. had joined the Army.

Michael B. had moved to DC to attend Howard University and was applying to the police academy.

Shirley was in nursing school, and roommates with Rosalind, who was now a cosmetologist.

Ryan had gotten a degree in Physical Education Teaching and Coaching. He had always liked sports, but not playing them. He was waiting to hear back from the school board about a coaching position.

Veronica had gotten her meeting planning certification and was now looking to get into real estate.

The woman had her degree in Office Administration, along with the rest of the world. She had applied to several places but had yet to hear back.

Veronica dipped her French fry in ketchup as she studied the woman’s face. “I need you to be there! We’ve been friends forever and I want you to be my maid of honor!”

“You and Ryan are getting married?” The woman repeated her friend’s earlier statement, feeling foolish. Why, she wasn’t sure.

Veronica leaned back, tapping her nail against her chin. “I thought you were over Ryan?”

“I am! I am!” the woman hurriedly reassured her lifelong friend. “I just … wow, life is moving fast.”

Veronica nodded as she sat up straight. “It is, but it’s right, ya know?”

The woman nodded, but she didn’t know. She didn’t know how right felt. The two friends finished their meal, and on their way out, the woman saw a sign hanging on the wall: Now hiring waitresses, all shifts.

How I Met Your Wife:

The Duchess stopped fussing long enough to allow Yu to greet her deferentially; Riley smiled at the pretty, slim waitress and asked if there were a more private dining area she and her friends could enjoy their lunch. Yu arched an eyebrow; already the waitress held resentment against the Duchess. Of course she would want to lord her power and position over everyone else.

With a grunt, Yu led them to the private dining area reserved for large and/or private parties. Once the group was seated, Riley grasped Yu’s hand. “Thank you so much for accommodating my request. My appreciation will be reflected in your gratuity.”

Yu looked at the Duchess with a touch of incredulity before saying, “It’s the least I can do given that the King is offering the orchard workers some relief. I have family members who are affected.”

Riley looked at the waitress with concerned eyes before rummaging in her purse. “What are their names?”

Yu gave her the names before leaving the table with menus. She didn’t expect anything to come of it, but at least the new Duchess gave good lip service. She returned with the tea service in time to hear the Duchess on her phone arguing with someone who had to be the King.

“NO, you CANNOT return to the manor, Liam! And NO ONE is coming to the Palace! How in the HELL are you going to suggest WE use the SAME BAKER you and Madeleine were going to use?”

Silence as the Duchess listened to whatever the King was saying.

“I DO NOT CARE THAT THEY ARE THE ROYAL BAKERS! DO I LOOK ROYAL TO YOU?”

Yu hung back, not sure what to do. Riley smiled, and waved her over. “I am going to find a local Valtorian baker for the cake.” Brief silence. “IT ISN’T OUR WEDDING CAKE! I have three people, possibly four, with me RIGHT NOW who would LOVE to be the Duke of Valtoria! Don’t worry about who they are!’

More silence, then the Duchess hung up the phone. She looked at Yu. “The King will be joining us. Please send him here when he arrives.”

Coronation:

I run my hand through my hair while keeping the other on the steering wheel. The car is quiet, too quiet. I turn on the radio and a melancholy song fills the sedan.

And I bruise when you leave the room I never liked the way it felt Keepin' my hands to myself, mmm

Like some magic moment of which I'm not quite sure I wonder if you've ever been in love like this before You'll be scared when I possess you But you'll want me all the more

The music doesn’t help because my brain is filled with questions and images. There’s not enough room for the music and I impatiently turn the radio off. My phone rings; my hand fumbles on the passenger seat and I pull my eyes from the nearly empty road long enough to see it’s Beaumont calling and press the speaker button to answer.

“Yeah?” I growl as I check the speedometer and press a little harder on the gas pedal.

“Drake! We got Little Blossom! She’s going to stay!” he babbles excitedly in my ear.

I am quiet for a moment before I respond. “That’s great. Liam will be happy to hear it.” I don’t bother to ask Maxwell why he convinced Brooks to stay.

Liam made a choice. It wasn’t her.

“I thought you’d be more excited,” Maxwell says with some confusion in his voice.

“Olivia showed up at the Coronation, talked to Liam, and left. Then the pictures of Brooks came out. Wondering if there’s a connection.”

“You think Liv sent the pictures?”

I roll my eyes in annoyance. I try to keep the irritation out of my response. “No, Beaumont. I’m wondering if whoever did this to Brooks is behind Liv’s leaving.”

Desperate Measures:

Blinking back tears, Bertrand glanced at his watch. He raised an eyebrow as he realized it was almost time for his visitors. They were coming to meet with the stoic, confident Duke of Ramsford, not some maudlin, lovesick fool whose bank account was dangerously close to being overdrawn.

He pulled his papers together in neat stack and centered them precisely in the middle of the desk. He opened a drawer, and retrieved his lint brush, rolling it in brisk strokes over his suit jacket and sweater vest. Before leaving the study, he reached in a candy dish; he plucked a breath mint, which he popped in his mouth.

The Duke strode down the hall, ignoring the paintings and photos that lined the walls. He needed to check on lunch; the cook had been with the Beaumont family for decades; she still came in twice a week to do the grocery shopping and prepare dinner for the Duke and Lord. The rest of the staff had been let go; Bertrand could not afford to pay them, and people needed to make a living.  

Bertrand trusted the chef implicitly, and normally wouldn’t micromanage, but today was important.

This meeting could put House Beaumont back on the road to riches.

Crown Prince Liam’s social season was starting in two days’ time; Maxwell had accompanied the Prince and some friends to New York City. Bertrand had tasked him with finding a wealthy American socialite who may be willing to sponsor herself in the season. It was a long shot, but Bertrand was desperate. Nothing seemed too farfetched at this point.

House Beaumont could not afford to sponsor anyone; however, every house who entered a suitor received a stipend to cover expenses such as clothing, food, and transportation. The House with the winning suitor received press coverage and a check to be split with the suitor.

Bertrand needed a winning suitor.

But the noblewomen of Cordonia did not need House Beaumont; they had their own houses, and no need to come out of pocket. However, there was one suitor who was entering the season who came from a minor noble house. A suitor whose name was unknown despite her mother having strong ties to Cordonia.

A suitor who had money, and lots of it.

Lady Hana Lee of Shanghai.

What are you working on @ao719​ @bobasheebaby​ @katedrakeohd​ @glaimtruelovealways​ @burnsoslow​ @thecordoniandiaries​ @bbrandy2002​

[ofendlesswonder]

#50 for the prompt thing. Supercat please ♥️

50. “People are staring.”

Kara isn’t exactly hoping to run into Cat when she’s summoned to Washington D.C. for a missiondebrief, but when she spots her as she’s leaving the Oval Office, she can’t exactly say that she’s disappointed.

Cat looks as amazing as ever, dressed in a pair of dark pants and a white blouse, a black blazer thrown over the top and her hair perfectly curled, striding down the hallway like she owns the place and, Karacan’t help but wonder, as she watches her approach, if one day she will – she wouldn’t be surprised if Cat was planning on announcing a presidential bid,come the next election.

“Supergirl.” Cat doesn’t look surprised to see her asshe pauses in-front of her, hands slipping into her pant pockets as she tilts her head up to meet Kara’s gaze. “It’s good to see you again.”

“And you, Ms Grant.” It feels like an eternity sincethey’d last seen on another in person (Kara tunes in to the White House press briefings, sometimes, because Cat’s running commentary is always anentertaining one), but the years fade away into an easy sort of familiarity that only working so closely together for so many years can bring. “How haveyou been?”

“Oh, you know.” Cat lifts one shoulder in a delicateshrug. “Always busy putting out the next fire. Though I’m sure you can relate.”

Kara hasn’t exactly been short of those, lately, andshe’s sure that her wish for a quieter 2020 won’t be granted.

“Ms Grant,” a woman appears at Cat’s shoulder, atablet in her hands, “here are the last minute changes you asked for.”

Cat’s new assistant, then, and Kara can’t help butsize her up as Cat scans over the words on the tablet screen. She’s a similar age to Kara, and she wonders, hiding a smile, if she’d changed Cat’s opinion onmillennials. She looks nervous as she waits for Cat’s response, and Kara wonders how much the poor girl has already been yelled at today, or if Cat hasgrown mellow since she’d left CatCo for pastures anew.

“Good.” Cat’s voice is brusque as she hands the tablet back to the woman. “Tell them I’ll be ready in ten minutes.”

“Yes, Ms Grant.” The woman scurries away withoutanother word, and Cat sighs as she watches her go.

“Good help is so hard to find,” she mutters, eyes onher retreating assistant’s back, and when she turns back to Kara there’s the hint of a knowing smirk on her lips that Kara pretends not to notice.

(Even though the last time she’d seen Cat, the ‘go get them, Supergirl’ had been perfectly audible).

“I should let you get to your briefing,” Kara decides,because as much as she’d like to spend the rest of her day with Cat, she knows the other woman probably has a busy schedule ahead of her.

“If you have an hour or so to spare,” Cat seemsreluctant to let her go so easily, “you could wait in my office for me? It’d be nice to have a drink. Catch up.”

“I… okay.” She’s surprised by the invitation, but shecan’t bring herself to turn it down, not when seeing Cat again has been like a breath of fresh air – she’d pushed all thoughts of her former boss down deep(and even deeper still when she’d sold the company, because that, as irrational as she knew it was, stung like a betrayal) when she’d left, and she’d almostforgotten how much she enjoyed spending time with the other woman.

When she wasn’t being yelled at, anyway.

“It’s this way.”

Kara falls into step beside Cat as she sets off down the hall at what can only be described as a march, Kara struggling to keep up even with her longer legs. The halls are bustling with people, who fall silent asthey pass them by, curious eyes watching them go, and Kara shifts uncomfortably under the weight of their gaze.

“Something wrong, Supergirl?” Cat asks, as she pauses beside a heavy wooden door, the plaque beside it indicating that this is Cat’s office,and when Kara glances through the open doorway, she finds quite a different space from the one she’d occupied at CatCo, but one that is distinctly CatGrant, all the same.

“I… yeah, it’s just… people are staring.” Kara glances over her shoulder as she says it, and the huddle of people opposite them quickly look away.

“Because it’s not every day that Supergirl walks down these halls,” Cat replies, ushering Kara inside the room and pulling the door shut behind them.

“But… the President walks these halls every day.” Surely the person wielding the most power should garner the most attention. Political power, anyway – Kara’s pretty sure she could beat the President in a fist fight even without her powers.

“Yes, well, people do tend to expect that to happen in the White House.” Cat looks amused as she grabs something from her desk. “Superheroes, on the other hand, are a bit harder to come by.”

Kara supposes that she’s right, but that doesn’t really set her more at ease, and she’s glad she’s now hidden from view.

 “I really should get going – feel free to make yourself at home,” Cat says, heading towards the door, her heels clicking on the wooden floor. “I’ll be back soon.”

She shuts the door behind her, and silence echoes around her as she glances around the room. There’s a screen behind Cat’s desk, an echo of her wall of screens from CatCo, muted but showing the podium that she knows Cat will take her place behind shortly. The desk is cluttered, like Kara remembers, and she smiles as she catches a glimpse of a framed photograph of Cat and Carter, her son now towering over her, his blonde curls unruly as he grins atthe camera.

The view out of the windows is much less impressive than Kara is used to, looking out into the White House grounds rather than the city skyline, so Kara settles for watching Cat’s press conference, instead, easing herself down into one of the chairs behind Cat’s desk, and resisting the urge to kick her boots onto the top of it.

The sound of the door opening startles her, and Kara whirls around to find the girl from before frozen in the doorway, blinking at Kara with stunned surprise.

“Oh, sorry.” Kara jumps to her feet and throws a reassuring smile her way. “Cat said I could wait for her in here.”

“T-that’s okay, Ms Supergirl.”

“Just Supergirl is fine, thank you.” The girl could barely look her in the eye, and Kara wonders how someone so meek could survive as Cat’s assistant – but then, people had probably thought the same thing about her, when she’d started. “You work for Cat?”

“I’m her assistant.” She runs a nervous hand through her hair before inching further into the room and dropping down behind the other, smaller desk in the room, and Kara wonders how well she would have fared, sharing an office with Cat. “Sophie.” She holds her hand out towards Kara, and she takes it, shaking it firmly. “Could I… would it be alright if I asked foryour autograph? My little sister loves you, it would literally make her year.”

“Oh, uh, sure.” It’s been years, but she still isn’t used to this side of her job, and doesn’t think she ever will be. “What’s your sister’s name?” Kara asks, as Sophie scrambles for a pen and a pad of paper.

“Emily.”

Kara scribbles a quick message before signing her name, and she’s handing it back to Sophie when the door is pushed open, Cat striding through a moment later – Sophie jumps at the sound, and Cat pauses when she sees Kara hand back the pen.

“Sophia,” Cat begins, and Kara tries not to smile, because it’s nice to know that some things never get old, “are you harassing my guest?”

“N-no, Ms Grant.”

“Oh?” Cat arches an eyebrow, arms folding across her chest. “Then what’s that in your hand, hm? Because it looks suspiciously like anautograph.”

“It’s fine,” Kara interrupts, because Sophie looks like she might be about to cry. “Honestly.”

“Hm.” Cat purses her lips, but she doesn’t press. “Here.” Instead, she reaches into her pocket before brandishing a twenty dollar bill at her assistant. “Take this, and go and buy yourself something nice for lunch.”

“Ms Grant?” Sophie looks highly confused, and Kara bites her lip so she doesn’t chuckle at the look on her face.

“Are you deaf, Sophia?” Cat sounds exasperated, a tone that Kara is more than familiar with. “Go, before I change my mind. Oh,” Cat calls out when Sophie is almost through the door, “and bring me back a latte, please.”

“Yes, Ms Grant.” She scurries away, closing the door behind her, leaving the two of them alone, and Kara takes the opportunity to sink back down into the chair she’d been sitting in before.

“You always this hard on your assistants?” Kara asks, lips twitching as Cat leans back against her desk and kicks off her heels, as she’s been known to do after she’s been on her feet for too long.

“Only when they deserve it,” Cat answers smartly, and Kara grins. “So, Supergirl – how are things?”

“Busy,” Kara sighs, glad that J’onn and Alex have assured her that National City will be safe during her absence, meaning that she doesn’t have to rush back. “If everyone could just stop being evil for aminute, that would be really, really nice.”

“Have you tried asking the criminals nicely?” Cat snipes, and Kara had forgotten how much she enjoyed this, the easy way that Cat spoke to her when she was shrouded in the cape.

“No, but maybe I’ll try that next time.”

“See that you do.” There’s a soft smile on Cat’s lips, atwinkle in her eyes, and Kara wonders if she’s missed this as much as she has. “And how is CatCo?” Cat’s gaze turns challenging, then, a single eyebrowraising upwards, and Kara swallows.

“Ms Grant?”

“Are we still playing this silly game?” Cat sighs, liftingherself onto her desk in one easy movement, eyes never leaving Kara’s face. “After all this time?”

“I…” Kara trails off, worrying at her bottom lip, and she knows that Cat already knows, that she isn’t going to do anything untoward with her identity (because she’s had more than enough chances, over the years), and surely it shouldn’t be this difficult to admit it, when there are no consequences? “CatCo is fine,” Kara manages to force out, eventually, and Cat’s eyes flicker with interest. “Different, since you left. There have been a lot of changes.”

“For better or for worse?” Cat asks, and she almost looks like she’s afraid of finding out the answer.

“Definitely worse,” Kara murmurs, her voice soft. “It hasn’t been the same since you left.” She can scarcely remember what things were like, with Cat at the helm, it’s been so long, but she knows that it was definitely more interesting with Cat prowling the halls. “Do you miss it?”

“Every day,” Cat sighs, her voice sad. “Don’t get me wrong, I love what I do now, but… it’s just not the same.”

“You could come back,” Kara offers, but Cat gave a slow shake of her head.

“No, I couldn’t. Selling it saw to that.”

“Why did you sell it?” She has to ask, because it’s bothered her ever since she found out.

“So I wouldn’t give in to the temptation to come back,” Cat explains, fingers tapping against thesurface of her desk. “It would be a step backwards, and, much as I might miss it, there were reasons why I left, and none of those have changed.”

“Like?”

Cat purses her lips for one long moment, her eyes locked on Kara’s, an unreadable expression on her face. “I told you – I wanted a change.”

“Is that all?” Kara has to press, because she’s sure that hadn’t been what Cat was planning to say. “You said reasons. Plural.”

“So I did,” Cat replies, a note of finality in her voice,and Kara decides that’s the most she’s getting out of Cat on that particular subject.

“How’s Carter?” Kara asks, instead, watching as Cat’s lips twitch into a fond smile.

“He’s wonderful,” she answers, that light in her eyes that she gets whenever she thinks about her son. “It took him a little while to come around to the idea of moving out here, but he’s flourishing in his new school.”

“That’s good. He must be what, almost sixteen, now?”

“Next month, yes.” Cat looks touched that she’d remembered. “He’s all grown up – he even has a girlfriend.”

“And you?” Kara finds herself asking, even though she’s positive she doesn’t want to know the answer – her feelings for Cat had faded over time, but that doesn’t mean that she wants to hear about her falling in love with someone else.

“Forever single,” Cat answers, curtly. “I learned a long time ago that I don’t need to go home to someone else at night. Besides, I was never exactly very lucky in love.”

“Maybe you just hadn’t found the right person,” Karamurmurs, and Cat’s smile is soft.

“Or maybe I let them slip away,” she replies, and Kararaises a curious eyebrow, but Cat just shakes her head. “What about you, Supergirl? Got a guy waiting for you at home?”

“I haven’t exactly been very lucky in love, myself.” Her relationship with Mon-El has been her one and only, and it hadn’t exactly been easy for her to recover from him leaving. She’s had offers, since, but she’s yet to meet anyone that really sets her alight, makes her feel alive, even though she desperately wants that happiness that she’s seen her sister have,first with Maggie and now with Kelly. “And I’m not the safest person to be with,” she shrugs. “Maybe I’ll be forever single, too. We can start a club – spinsters only.”

“Watch it,” Cat cautions, but there’s a smile on her face.

“What, you don’t want to be in a club with me?” Karapretends to be offended. “How rude.”

“We’re already in a club,” Cat fires back, “of ‘mostpowerful women in the United States’. I may no longer be the queen of all media, but I still hold some sway.”

“How can you not, working in this place?” Kara gestures to the space around them. “Although the view is slightly less impressive.”

“Yes, well, some sacrifices did have to be made.” Cat looks out of her window more than a little wistfully. “Although, I - ”

The ringing of Kara’s phone interrupts whatever Cat had been about to say next, and Kara throws her an apologetic look as she pulls it out of the hidden compartment in her suit. “Sorry, but I have to take this,” she murmurs, when she sees Alex’s name on the screen. “Hey, is everything alright?”

“Uh, not really,” Alex answers, and Kara hears the sound of something explode in the background, justas the screen behind Cat’s head flickers to life on a news story – Kara recognises the city skyline immediately and jumps to her feet. “We have a situation.”

“Yeah, I can see that.” The monster fills half the screen, enormous in size, and Kara isn’t surprised that Alex had called. “I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

“Go,” Cat tells her, eyes wide as she takes in thedestruction being wrought in her former home. “Be a hero. And don’t be scared to come by again – perhaps the spinster club could start having monthlymeetings.”

“You got it,” Kara chuckles, and she surprises Cat bypulling her into a quick hug, allowing herself a few precious seconds to breathe the other woman in, to remember the feeling of her, warm and soft anddainty in Kara’s arms. “I don’t suppose that window opens?” She asks, when she steps back, and it takes Cat a moment to blink away the dazed look in her eyes.

“Ah, no. Security hazard.”

“Of course.” Kara turns toward the doorway, pausing before she speeds away. “Goodbye, Cat.”

“I’ll see you soon, Supergirl.”

She shoots Cat one last smile before darting down the hall, launching herself into the air as soon as she’s cleared the building and hurtling back towards National City, vowing, as she turns to take one last look at the White House before it disappears on the horizon, that she’ll make a return trip sooner rather than later.

[kassies-take]

Kane Vs Luthor

SuperBat^2 (Kara/Kate) all earths have merged so Batwomans Gotham and Supergirls National City exist on the same earth (Star City also exists next to NC as does Central City so Kate gets a Costume from Cisco and Kara gets a device from him so she can become more human when she needs to) Kate and Lena end up in a battle of wits while trying to take over CatCo. Humour/Serious/Romance/NSFW

A/n: I don’t know how this gonna go down but thank you for giving me the opportunity to try something new. I also don’t know what you mean by take over Catco? Did you want the two CEOs to try to buy Catco for Kara? Ooh ideas just popped into my head!

Warnings:

SuperBat^2, Supercorp, (Insert ship name for Lena and Kate)

Word Count: 1966

Kara had hope. She is the Paragon of Hope after all. After Crisis she desperately wanted to have a certain Luthor by her side again. Back when flowers filled her office, back when brunch was a weekly thing, back when she could’ve shared her secret, back when they were best friends. But the Luthor, the Luthor wanted nothing to do with the Super after her betrayal and hurt.

Kate, Paragon of Courage. Batwoman had the courage to come out as a lesbian to all of Gotham, and confront her past. All with a bit of help from the Girl of Steel, now it was her turn to repay the favor.

A knock interrupted Kara’s staring contest with the refrigerator. She lowered her glasses and looked towards the door. A benefit to having x-ray vision, no peep hole needed.

“Kate?” Kara walked towards the door. “What are you doing here?” She moved out of the way to let the brunette in.

“We spent the beginning of crisis looking for the Paragon of Courage together, and the later half stuck in the Vanishing Point together. You have the same face of lost hope, when you video called for Batwoman’s coming out, like the one then. Thought I come by and check on you.”

“W-What about Gotham?”

“The Crows have Alice, Gotham can last a few days without the bat. It lasted three years before. And if the city really needs Batwoman, the World’s Finest would be there.” Kate opened Kara’s fridge for a beer and walked towards the blonde on the couch. “So.”

“What?” Kara grabbed the remaining potstickers from her coffee table and began to stuff her mouth trying to avoid the elephant in the room.

“What has made the Girl of Steel lose a bit of hope?” Kate asked while pointing the bottle top at Kara before she grabbed the bottleneck to open the beer with her bat-a-rang.

“Lex is running the D.E.O now and the whole world thinks he’s this... hero.”

“Lex Luthor a major dick huh,” Kate sat down next to Kara.

“You have no idea. I want to know what he’s up to.”

“Well we know Lex Luthor is a psychopathic lunatic, who wants to take over the world,” Kate took a sip.

“I know that, but...”

“What is his plan?”

The two sat quietly in Kara’s loft trying to think of ideas of Lex’s plan. That was until Kate spotted a picture in Kara’s open journal.

“Who is this?” Kate teased as she held up the photo of Kara and Lena.

“Lena, she was my best friend.”

“Was?”

“She’s Lex’s sister. But she’s not like him or the rest of the family, she’s good. Before Crisis I betrayed her, kept the biggest secret from her. Lex told her. She had a mission to make sure no one could hurt each other again, because I had hurt her when everyone in her life had already done so. She told me, all those times I checked in on her at her office, during brunch, game night and each one of those times she told me about her Achilles heel. And now, now she’s got her wish that I experience the same thing she has. She wouldn’t even look at me now, and she’s working with Lex.”

“Were you two close?”

“When I was around her I didn’t have to feel like I had to be Supergirl. I was normal, and I didn’t have to worry about the weight of the world on my shoulders.”

“Like she’s the only one who truly knows you, and not your alter ego. Yeah I know how you feel.”

“Luke?”

“Ex-girlfriend actually. Sophie Moore which gives me the impression that she is more than a friend to you.”

“She’s my best friend, she’s my family.”

Kate froze and stared, eyebrows furrowed at the oblivious girl in front of her.

“I appreciate you coming here, Kate. I don’t mean to kick you out but I have work in the morning and Andrea would not be happy if I’m late.”

“Tomorrow is a Saturday, you could help me on my suit though.”

“You brought your suit here?” 

“Well no, but Cisco said my suit ‘is too last crisis’” Kate used quotations as she said it.

“Huh maybe Cisco could help me with something.”

“You already have an upgrade on your suit, did you want another one?”

“Oh no, a gadget actually or something you know to help me feel more human. To be Kara Danvers and not Kara Zor-El or Supergirl.”

“Like forever?”

“Just when I want to be.”

The World’s Finest Duo entered Star Labs greeted with hugs and shouts. The shouts were mainly by Cisco, he was excited to show off the new bat suit.

“Ta-da!” Cisco pulled off the white sheet in the main corridor.

Barry had his arms crossed, as Caitlyn and Iris turned their heads to the side, Kara’s eyebrows creased together with her mouth slightly open, and Kate was the only one with courage to speak the truth.

“What’s the difference between this and my old suit.”

Cisco gasped in mock hurt. “Excuse me, your old suit may have Kevlar armor, damage recording, night vision lenses, and a defibrillator. But this! This baby can fly!”

The suit began to levitate as Cisco gushed at his own creation.

“And what if it runs out of battery?” Kate asked. “I wouldn’t want to fall out of the sky.”

“I’m glad you asked,” Cisco pointed to Kate before he tapped something on his tablet. “Kinetic storage! Everytime you move in the suit it charges it AND BAM nanotechnology! You can get to scenes quicker!”

“That’s so cool!” Kara smiled.

“Come on let’s try this baby out!” Cisco drummed his hands against the shoulder of the suit. “Barry has the ring, Kara has the glasses, J’onn with his shape shifting, and you, you get a necklace!”

“A necklace? Really Cisco?” Iris shrugged.

“Yeah yeah it’s all Black Pantery, not that origin-“

“I was hoping for more of a pizzazz,” Iris waved her hands in the air, displaying jazz hands.

“Okay, I see how it is. You try improving a suit that was already impressive.” Cisco sassed.

Ralph walked in moments later. “Oh hey, love the new suit Cisco, I’ve got info on our meta.”

“Thank you! At least someone has an eye for beauty.”

“Alright, Ralph and I will check it out.” A gust of wind blew around the corridor.

Cisco asked Kate for her birthstone necklace and placed some emitter on the back of it. “When you need the suit it’ll know.”

The suit slowly appeared on Kate’s body as the whole room now found it impressive.

“And for my favorite Kryptonian.” Cisco held out a bracelet.

“Is this blue Kryptonite?” Kara asked.

“So based on our existing world history, not only does blue K not affect you like Bazzaro, it can also suppress Kryptonian powers. When you whip off your glasses for your suit to materialize, the lead lined glasses would engulf the blue K letting you become Super. Superbat 2.0. Try them on, and see how it works.”

“So you want Kara to punch me while I fly away.”

“Okay when you put it like that, it makes it sound less interesting.”

Kara and Kate thanked Cisco after their test run. Things went back to normal, well as normal is it can get with the World’s Finest, for the next eight weeks. Andrea decided to focus more on Obsidian North than on Catco, therefore selling it with two potential buyers. Lena Luthor and Kate Kane. 

Ms. Kane and Ms. Luthor continuously went back and forth without giving Ms. Rojas the ability to jump in and agree or disagree with the two other billionaires in the room. 

“Okay, I’m going to go to the editorial meeting. You ladies should figure this out between the two of you before you come to me of who is buying and at what price. I don’t even care if it is less than what I bought it for, just get Catco out of my hands.”

“1 billion,” Lena crossed her arms in and leaned against her chair. 

“Is that how much you’re willing to pay for Catco?” Kate asked. 

“I don’t care about how much money I pay for it as long as I can make Kara happy.”

“So you are buying Catco for it’s Pulitzer prize winning reporter.” 

Lena was confused, as far as she knew Kara Danvers never got a Pulitzer prize, not since the multiverse was changed. So how could this insignificant real estate, tattoo covered asshole from Gotham know about what wasn’t even possible. 

“The lines on your forehead indicate that you are confused. That or you are just getting old,” Kate smirked. “And to answer your old lady confusion, Kara and I saved the multiverse, along with that no good brother of yours. Which you still work with despite the reality of his psychotic mind.” 

“Working with Lex was the only way I could keep an eye on him without causing any suspicions and to protect Superfriends from his ultimate plan.” 

“Yet your plan was to sit around while he did awful things?”

“What more could I have done? Sleep around with someone while being in love with someone else?” Lena called out Kate. 

It was Kate’s turn to be speechless. 

“Don’t think I don’t know Ms.Kane. You have all these tattoos to show you don’t care and is a player but deep down you really care for someone.”

“I could say the same for you Ms. Luthor. It is not all that surprising that you brought up sleeping with someone else and loving someone while we talk about Kara. That every time you are in a room with Kara, your eyes subtly move towards her arms or how you unconsciously bite your lip.”

“What goes on in my mind about Kara has nothing to do with this.”

“It takes one to know one, Luthor. I’m just stating the facts.” 

The room fell into silence for the first time since the younger Kane and the younger Luthor walked into the office. That was until a happy, beaming Golden Retriever walked into the room.

“Kate! You’re here!” Kara ran to give her a hug. “What are you doing here?”

“Andrea is selling Catco, wanted to see my chance of getting it. But it seems I have competition.” Kara followed Kate’s line of sight and noticed Lena. 

“Lena! You’re here!” Kara ran towards Lena before she hesitated to give her a hug.  Before the whole betrayal there would’ve been no hesitation but now, now she didn’t know what the right thing to do was. 

“I am, and when I buy it back. You will be editor in chief.” 

“No need to kiss ass, Luthor. We are both trying to buy Catco for the same reason.”

“What is that reason?” Kara smiled.

“I’m surprised you didn’t hear Kara. You’re the one with super hearing.” Lena whispered dangerously close to Kara’s ear.

“I-uh. I got a. I got a device from Cisco. He made something for me so I wouldn’t constantly need to control my strength and be human like you guys.” 

“Well feel free to use all your strength with me.” Lena bit Kara’s earlobe before she walked away. 

“I’ll tell Andrea, I’m buying then?”

“Oh sweetheart, I’m not going to make it that easy.” 

“Kate please save me.” Kara was redder than a tomato.

“I think you should follow her.” 

“You’re right. I’ll go do that.”

Andrea walked in the moment Kara left. “So it turns out Lena is buying Catco?”

“Huh what, okay,” Kate did not realize she agreed to Lena buying Catco. She was confused with how that whole thing played out. 

[wolfpawn]

I Hate You, I Love You, Chapter 169

Chapter Summary -Danielle gets a broken tooth whilst Tom has to feign a broken heart.

Previous Chapter

Rating - Mature (some chapters contain smut)

Triggers - references to Tom Hiddleston’s work with the #MeToo Movement. That chapter will be tagged accordingly.

authors Note - I have been working on this for the last 3 years, it is currently 180+ chapters long.  This will be updated daily, so long as I can get time to do so, obviously.

tags: @sweetkingdomstarlight-blog​ @jessibelle-nerdy-mum​ @nonsensicalobsessions​ @damalseer​ @hiddlesbitch1​ @winterisakiller​ @fairlightswiftly​ @salempoe​ @wolfsmom1​ @black-ninja-blade​

Tom looked at Danielle sympathetically. “Are you okay?” She gave him a glance back that was a mixture of disbelief he would ask such a thing since the answer should be obvious, and pathetic sadness. He pulled her close to him and rubbed her arm. “I’m sorry, stupid question.”

It was a fairly normal day. Danielle had gone to the office to ensure that everything she needed to send had gone through before a conference call with the US and Asian offices which would then include the new office that dealt with excess issues as there had indeed been a need for its expertise, as a result, an error in ground quality under a set which thankfully led to said set collapsing at night with none there to be harmed, yet it still needed to be dealt with as filming had been set back a few weeks, leading to an update call to the partners, including Danielle. She did not think much of the sensitive tooth she had of late, she had noted it and put it down to the toothpaste her dental hygienist had suggested after her last cleaning, so she had thought that at her next cleaning a few months later, she would talk to them about it. It was as she bit into a sandwich that she felt the pain surge through her jaw and when she tried to see what the issue was with her tongue, she noted the tooth was shattered, jagged edges meeting her tongue, and the pain immeasurable. She used the call system to get her secretary to come in before spitting the food in her mouth into a tissue, parts of her tooth, notably discoloured, mixed in with the semi-chewed bread.

“Ms Hughes?”

Her jaw hurt, her tooth hurt, and all she wanted to do was cry with the odd sensation shooting through her jaw. “I need…” She winced, moving her jaw was painful. “I need to cancel my meetings, call Tom and tell him that I need him here as soon as he is available.”

Her secretary frowned. Tom’s number wasn’t even on the system even though he was Danielle’s next of kin, she did not want anyone who should not be able to access it to get it. “I...what shall I tell him is the matter?”

“I need him to drive me to the dentist. I…” She winced again as the pain continued. “Just tell him I have a slight emergency.” She kept her teeth clenched together, but her facial muscle movements still caused the nerve to move and cause pain, though thankfully, not as much.

As it stood, Tom promised he was on his way, he was on a walk with the dogs so he would have to turn around and drop them home, change and rush to get her, the issue was that the meetings could not be delayed and they needed her input, leaving Danielle to listen for the most part to what was being said without saying much back. She had her secretary ring her dentist, who told her to come in as soon as possible and that she could take paracetamol to assist her with her pain until she arrived, meaning that during the meeting, Rebecca came into the room, handed Danielle the painkillers and some water and walked out again.

“With regards the London office…” Lucas continued, having been warned that Danielle would be quite quiet through the meeting. “It is coming to our attention that Brexit is not going well.”

“That would be an understatement.” Danielle scoffed out. “It’s not until March, hopefully not ever, so I am not worried yet.”

“But regarding it, we are going to have to discuss a European office within the EU and Ireland because of its Arts laws and allowances, not to mention taxes, is a safe bet.”

“And the British office?”

“A downsizing perhaps, if this continues, we cannot invest too much in a place where the economy will be unstable.”

Danielle inhaled deeply and nodded, it was an issue for many businesses regarding the madness Britain was now in, but she was not in the mood to discuss it even if she wasn’t in utter agony with her tooth. “We will know more as time draws near, make the plans. We are a safety firm, we prepare for every eventuality, this is no different.” She declared. The rest of those involved in the call nodded in agreement. When her door opened again, she was relieved to see Tom looking at her. “If you gentlemen would be so kind, my mouth is in agony and I have an appointment with a dentist. Anything that needs my signature, fax on and I will have it back to you by close of business in LA this evening.”

“If that’s a root canal, I doubt it,” Lucas commented. “Take a day or two if you need it.”

“You will have it tonight,” Danielle repeated before getting to her feet and clicking off the conference call. “Sorry…”

“Don’t be, what happened?” Tom helped her collect up her belongings she would need for the evening.

“Eating lunch and it just broke apart, my tooth just shattered, it was a fucking chicken tikka sandwich.”

Tom’s eyes widened before he put his arm around her. “Have you called the dentist?”

“They said rush in, I will have to wait for a gap in consults though.”

“Then we wait.”

An hour later, Danielle had an x-ray down and a diagnosis, not that there needed to be too much of one done with the tooth in the condition it was. As Lucas has guessed, a root canal was required. Luckily for Danielle, the dentist had the ability to do it that day, so she spent a further two hours of her day being “abused” she later jested, by a man she was certain had sadistic tendencies, since no right minded person would surely take pleasure in a career that included what dentistry involved otherwise.

Tom was told she would be ready by close of business and that it would probably be better for him to do something more interesting whilst he waited but he did not leave for more than a few minutes to get himself a tea and a small snack before returning.

When Danielle walked out to the reception, she seemed almost shaken. Tom rushed over to her and realised she was fine mentally but her body seemed traumatised more than she was and did not seem to know how to cope with what had just occurred.

She was under strict instructions for food and drinks for the next few days and simply said and did little for the evening.

Tom felt terrible for her, seeing that she was miserable in her current state but watched in shock as she did everything she swore she would and faxed on the signed paperwork as well as a few notes she had wanted to raise in the meeting but had not the want to say because of the pain she was in before sitting down to tepid soup, so not to hurt the area. “We’ll just sit and watch some telly.” He stated after they ate, noting how both Bobby and Mac were curious as to what was afoot, both checking on Danielle constantly, clearly knowing something was wrong. Danielle said nothing in response, her face still feeling the effects of the treatment. “I’m sorry, Darling.”

“Ben...Sophie?” She forced out, hoping not to drool as a result.

“Rearranged already for a fortnight’s time,” Tom informed her. “They understand completely and wish you a speedy recovery.”

Danielle nodded in relief, elated that she would not be forced to host their friends the next night, if there was one thing she could not bring her self to do, it was talk and discuss the wedding when all she wanted was to scream with the odd sensation filling her face.

*

“I’ll talk to you later.” Danielle leant up and kissed Tom as she put on her jacket and headed for the door.

“I will be working with the Pinter this evening, so don’t wait for dinner with me, I will get something when I get back,” Tom informed her, not knowing if he had told her that for his upcoming Pinter play, he was doing a small shoot for it that evening.

“I know, I have an easy dinner for tonight, I won’t be back until at least eight….if I’m lucky.” Danielle’s face showed her thoughts on the likelihood of that happening. “At least I am only working in the city.”

“That makes two of us.” Tom leant down and kissed her again. “Be safe.”

“I will if you will.”

He chucked. “Deal.”

*

“We need to get those wires for the lights sorted, immediately before the client comes,” Danielle ordered looking at the ceiling of the structure she was in. “And we need to make sure every one of the puddles of water are not a slip risk.”

“Puddles?” The set hand looked at her.

“If the company cannot use their actor because of a broken leg from slipping in a puddle, you’ll know about it,” She commented. “Plus, we need to have wires out and I don’t think anyone plans on getting barbequed here this evening.” She walked off and spoke to the man in charge. “We will be ready in about forty minutes.”

“Thank you, Ms Hughes. I appreciate you giving your time like this. I know we are not the sort of work you usually get and this is not your usual fee.”

“I am more than happy to assist, all things considered,” She smiled, zipping her jacket up more, the cold of the evening seeping into her in the November air.

*

Tom shuddered slightly as he got out of the car and walked to the small tunnel that the Betrayal shot was being taken in.

It was a simple little shoot. Just walk forward, pretend to have his heart broken, portray his heartache and go home to his beloved fiance and learn the lines for the show. An easy evening, all things considered.

He walked over to the director. “Jamie.”

The director smiled at realising who was speaking to him. “Tom, thank you for coming. We can get this done in about twenty minutes. Well, that’s the plan anyway. We just need to get the safety go-ahead and we are sorted. That has been the biggest part of this, bloody insurance claim culture, we are shooting for twenty minutes but we have been securing the area with three hours. How do people deal with using this normally?”

“No problem, yes, I know. My fiance is in that field, she says the same.” He nodded.

“Pity you couldn’t have asked her to just sign off on this and we get sorted quickly.”

Tom shook his head. “She is too meticulous. She is like a celebrity that is signed to an autograph company. You only get her signature on something if it is fully above board. It would be easier to get Her Majesty’s signature on something than Danielle’s.”

“Sounds like a Ball-Buster.”

“Professional is more accurate.” Tom corrected. “What do you need of me?”

“Have Bea sort your make-up, we just need you looking worn and hurt. I will check how much longer we’ll be waiting to start filming here.”

Tom nodded and did as he was told. He watched curiously at everyone rushing around to sort the area for shooting, specifically to where Jamie was speaking to a woman, going by her height who he was envious of with her clearly warm jacket with something he could not see properly written on it due to how she was standing and the lighting. When she nodded, Jamie clearly was relieved to get the go-ahead before rushing over to Tom, instructing him in what was needed.

Tom did exactly as instructed, he visualised as he was taught to, specifically thinking of if it was Danielle he saw, giving the heartache and anguish he wanted to portray in the character. What startled him for a moment, causing his eyes to widen slightly, was behind the camera, standing close to Jamie, smiling at him with a heavy jacket on with the name of a company he saw daily and a large “DH” on it, was Danielle. He was startled to see her there but continued his work. When the call came to cut, Jamie was pleased with his work and he ordered they tidy up and go home to their families. As soon as he was allowed to leave his mark, Tom walked over to a smirking Danielle. “Surprise. You were incredible.”

“What are you doing here?”

“Working.”

“Work...you are working on this?”

“I got a list of the prospective jobs for the company for the month and on it was this, so I told them I would do it for a flat rate as I knew a cast member.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I wanted to surprise you.” She smirked. “It’s weird to think we’ve technically worked together now, even if one of us never knew that we had before we finished the job.”

Tom gave a small laugh. “I don’t recall this jacket.”

“It’s a work one, I tend to keep it in my office so I don’t freeze or drown on set.”

“It looks really warm.”

Danielle laughed at the blatant envy in his face as he looked at the waterproof and insulated jacket. “It is, and it is downpour proof. I wore this to the Brannagh set and my clothes underneath were dry.”

“Now, you’re just bragging.” Tom gave her a genuine smile. “But I am so glad you were here.”

With a small smile, Danielle leant up and kissed him. “I am so happy I am too. You were incredible, this will be an incredible piece.”

“You are coming to it, I hope? I may be able to get you a ticket or two.”

“I already have three tickets.” Tom frowned at her. “Once to go with your Mam and Emma. One to go with your Dad and Sarah, and finally, opening night, by myself.”

“Alone?”

“I could only get one for that night, and like Hell am I missing it.”

Filled with pride at how Danielle wanted to be there for him, Tom beamed more as they walked to collect her things and head home.

[ericsonclan]

Worth the Price

Summary: Now that the crew is safe Louis's heart and mind starts becoming plagued by other things.

Word Count: 1000+

Read on AO3:

Read Ch 1:

Lose her. Louis was about to lose her. That's all that was going through the young captain’s head as he saw Dorian’s blade getting closer and closer to his love. Desperately he used his weapon and whacked the side of her head with all his might. The sound it made, of the skull cracking under the pressure, the squelching of the brain and blood, made Louis feel sick to his stomach. The empty look in the Delta pirate’s eyes, the way her life had so easily been snuffed out. It was terrifying.

Looking down at his hands, Louis felt his body begin to shake. There was blood - copious, unrelenting amounts. He tried to brush and wipe it off but no matter what it stayed the same. At least the others were safe. The captain looked up and felt his heart drop. Everyone was dead. Their bodies scattered across Ol’ Kickass and the Delta ship. Blood covered the deck and Louis struggled against its warm, sticky nature. The smell was overwhelming him and with each step he took it seemed more blood coated him, weighing him down. Louis wrestled to step forward; his strength gave out and he slipped into the bloody depths.

The captain jolted awake, causing his hammock to sway this way and that. His breathing was uneven and small beads of sweat trickled down his face. It was that same nightmare again. The same one he had been plagued with ever since they had barely survived the attack with the Delta. No, that wasn't exactly true. He had only been cursed with these nightmares after they had successfully brought Sophie back from the brink of death. His body and mind had been so focused on making sure his whole crew survived that hellish battle that he had been granted peace from any nightmares. But now that he had a small semblance of peace of mind it seemed like fate had decided to snatch that away.

Slowly Louis got up from his hammock, his eyes scanning around the room to make sure everyone was still there and alright. Once he had made sure everyone was there he moved to the door. Gently opening it he tiptoed down the hall and up the stair to the upper decks. His dreadlocks swayed softly with the late night breeze. The wind blew through his shirt and caused the captain to give a little shiver. Looking over at the ship’s wheel he saw Omar who was ever diligently keeping his eyes trained on the seas. The cook glanced away for a moment and gave a short nod to Louis. A faint smile appeared on Louis’ lips then he continued to wander forward. His hands rested on the side of the ship when suddenly the gentle notes of a flute drifted through the air. It was a more somber song. The notes felt lost as if searching for a path to take but each time it settled the song grew frantic once more before turning into a quiet tune. Louis glanced over to see Marlon sitting on the bowsprit with his reddish brown flute. His right leg dangled off the side of the bowsprit while his head rested on his left knee. His blue eyes searched the darks seas, as if hoping it held the secret answers to the questions swirling round in his heart.

“Marlon?” Louis’ voice startled the blond pirate, nearly making him lose his balance.

“Shit, Lou. Nearly gave me a heart attack,” Marlon pushed back his hair then rose from his spot and began to make his way back on the deck. He knew better than to taunt fate with a chance to get him soaked.

“Sorry,” Louis looked over at his best friend and noticed the bags under his eyes. “Couldn't sleep?”

“It's been kind of hard since what happened two days ago,” The pirate’s eyes focused on the ground before he moved over and leaned against the side of the ship. Louis knew what his friend was talking about. Marlon had decided to come clean and be honest with Sophie about the lie he told the day the Delta pirates attacked. Louis knew that Sophie would be upset but to the level she was… He still could recall that day perfectly.

“I don’t know if this is a smart idea. Sophie has only had a few days of being awake.” Brody crossed her arms and looked over at Marlon. The street rats looked between their two friends - the tension in the air was slowly building.

“I have to tell her. Ruby said that no matter what time I say it it's bound to be bad so I might as well get it over with now,” Marlon glanced over at the auburn pirate who still clearly disagreed with his choice.

“Does it even need to be cleared up, though?” Brody’s question made Marlon and the street rats look over in shock. “Listen, I know that Soph will learn that Minerva didn’t make it. There’s no hiding that. But what good does it do to reveal that you lied to her? Wouldn’t it be better to move forward and forget it?”

“Could you forget it if you promised Mitch you’d go back for Willy? Or Violet? Or Tenn?” Marlon’s question made Brody hide her eyes.

“No, I couldn’t.”

A moment of awkward silence passed between the crewmembers.

“Okay. I wanna ask you to wait but based on that look in your eyes you won’t do that.” Brody took a deep breath.

“We should have Ruby in there when you tell Soph,” Violet added in, making the others look towards her.

“We should be there too. So she doesn’t feel alone.” Willy jumped in and Tenn nodded along. So the pirates split off to prepare for the confession. After twenty minutes everything was set up. Tenn sat beside Sophie’s hammock and gingerly held his sister’s hand. The rest of the street rat kids save for Mitch who was still too weak to join stood in the room nearby. Ruby was there at the ready after letting Sophie know that her bandages had been cleaned and that even if it was just by a little bit her arms were getting better. Sophie smiled warmly.

“Yeah, that's great. Looks like I’m gonna be up and sparring in no time.” The redhead smiled around the room at her crewmembers.

“Better watch out or I’ll be winning all the bets,” Marlon gave a confident smile as he leaned his body against the door frame.

“Don’t count on it. I may be injured now but these wounds-” Sophie paused as a wave of pain washed over her, causing her to take a shaky breath. Violet and Willy moved forward, both having concerned expressions on their faces while Tenn gave Sophie’s hand a gentle squeeze. “It's okay. I’m okay.” The redheaded pirate reassured them but they didn’t buy it. “What I was going to say is now that Minnie is here too, you’ll see just how powerful me and my twin really are!” Sophie’s proud declaration was met with silence and somber expressions. The sight confused the pirate. Her eyes scanned each and every face. All of them held the same sadness.

“Sophie,” Marlon’s voice caught in his throat. He took a deep breath then started once more. “Minerva didn’t make it.”

Sophie’s eyes grew large and her hand that held Tenn’s tightened. “What?”

“The Delta ship was sinking and she wasn’t able to cross,”

Marlon’s words made Sophie shake her head. “You’re joking, right? Tell me you're joking.” She searched her close friend’s face and saw that he was speaking the truth. Tears began to slide down the redhead’s face. First coming down slowly before falling in copious amounts. There was no way. Minnie was dead? After all those years and all that hardship, to have it all end with her life snuffed out and her body floating at the bottom of the sea. Sophie’s mind was consumed by sorrow and her body began to shake with emotion.

“You promised though, you said you’d go back for her,” Sophie’s eyes were focused on her bandaged hands.

“I lied.”

Those words felt like a dagger in Sophie’s heart, slicing it open and deflating any naive hope that was still left inside.

“I told you that because I saw the state you and Tenn were in. If I had gone back for her, you would’ve bleed out and everyone on the Delta’s ship would have gone under with it.”

Sophie’s mind didn’t register his words. Her heart was too consumed by the betrayal and the hatred that came with it. The redheaded pirate gritted her teeth and rose up to her feet. Immediately she began to stumble and sway this way and that until she lost her balance and fell.

“Sophie!” Tenn moved forward along with the others.

Sophie ignored their help though and tried to rise to her feet. Pressing her hands against the floor she began to rise but within seconds it was obvious that her arms were not strong enough. The stitches stretched and tore, blood beginning to seep and coat the pirate’s arms. Sophie collapsed once more.

“Sophie!” Marlon moved forward to help.

“Stay the fuck away from me!” the pirate hissed and used all her strength to try once more. Her body was screaming out in pain and agony but it felt like so little to the inner sorrow and turmoil of her heart. Blood dripped to the floor mixing with the tears that fell from Sophie’s face. “I never want to see you again! You hear me? I don’t want to see your face!” Sophie tried to move forward but slipped due to her limp, useless arms and the blood. “I hate you! You promised and now Minnie… now Minnie…” Sophie continued to cry until she let herself wail in sorrow.

Tenn moved closer and wrapped his sister in a hug as tears slipped down his face while his body trembled. Ruby ran forward and began to help clean up the mess and patch Sophie’s newly opened wounds. Marlon watched in silence before he hid his eyes from the others.

Marlon’s eyes focused on the upper decks then looked out into the calm waves.

“I said one time that I didn’t care if she ended up hating my fucking guts. As long as she survived that's all that matters. But now this... it's too painful. I know I’m being selfish and greedy, but I just want the friendship back. ” Tears began to escape the blond pirate’s eyes and splatter onto the deck. Louis reached out his hand and placed it on Marlon’s shoulder. Marlon glanced back at his best friend and soon the pair were hugging each other tightly. The two stayed in that hug for a while until Marlon pulled back and wiped his eyes with his shirt.

“It's obvious you couldn’t sleep either. Wanna open your heart up too?” Marlon gave a small smile over to his captain that faded when he saw that Louis wasn’t returning it. “Louis?”

The captain remained quiet for a few more seconds then looked up at Marlon. “Do you think it's ever right to break our code?”

The question made the blond pirate’s eyes grow large for a second before he glanced away. He looked off into the vast darkness of the night for a few seconds. “Is this because of that woman you killed? The day we battled the Delta pirates?”

“I can’t get the image of her dead body out of my mind. That moment plays and replays in my nightmares. Makes me wonder, y’know, if it was the right thing to do.” Louis walked over to the side of the ship, resting his elbows on the wood.

“Louis, Clem is alive, right?”

Marlon’s words made the captain look over. “Yeah.”

“So is AJ,”

“Marlon-”

“That one act you did saved lives. Hell, it probably helped make sure that we all made it out alive. That code is there for a reason: to make sure we don’t randomly kill our enemies whether that be due to ease or anger.” Marlon looked down at his knuckles. A few seconds passed before he spoke once more. “I’ve already told you that I almost broke the code too.”

That statement made Louis look up at his best friend.

“The battle was hell. Everything seemed to be going wrong and so many were getting hurt and I let my anger overtake me. I punched that bastard in the face again and again and again when it suddenly hit me. I would be killing out of anger, an anger that scared me. So I backed away. But with your case, Lou, you were protecting the ones you loved. You were protecting your family.” Marlon scratched the side of his face then leaned forward. “So, I guess what I’m trying to say is yes, there are cases where it's okay to break the code. We have friends who have killed in the past, we have members that have killed while being an Ericson pirate. Do you look at them any differently?”

“No,” Louis shook his head, making his dreads sway.

“Do you respect or care about them less?”

“No, I don’t.”

“Then there’s your answer. None of us think badly of you for doing what you did. You broke the code the right way.” Marlon’s words bounced around in Louis’ mind before settling in his heart. The two stood around in silence for a few minutes.

“Okay, you’re probably right,” Louis looked down at the ground.

“I know I am. You’re a good captain, Louis.” Marlon wrapped his arm around Louis’ shoulder. The two friends shared a smile before the conversation turned to lighter, happier topics. Soon the minutes turned into hours and the sun was rising up.

“Damn, I should go and get started on my morning chores,” Marlon kicked off the side of the ship and strolled forward.

“Marlon,” Louis’ voice made the blond glance back at him. “Thanks for the words.”

“Anytime, Louis, anytime,” With a final wave Marlon went on his way, leaving the captain to his thoughts. Louis’ gaze turned to the rising sun and a confident, soft smile appeared on his lips. Maybe Marlon’s words were right and maybe he could finally get some sleep.

It seemed to be a false hope though - his nightmares didn’t fade away. That very night he suffered from the same one as the night before. The smell and feeling of blood overwhelmed him as he stared down at his bloody hands before looking down at the life he had snuffed out and the crew he had failed to protect. With a shaky gasp Louis woke up and pushed back his dreadlocks from his sweat-drenched face.

Slipping out from the room, he wandered towards the upper decks once more, in part to get some fresh air and space but also in hopes that he could speak to Marlon again. But as the captain glanced around it was clear that Marlon wasn’t there. With a groan he looked up to the starry sky before he noticed Violet sitting up on one of the beams attached to the main mast. Louis stared at his friend for a moment, wondering whether to go up there and join her for a bit or not. After a few minutes he decided to go for it and began to climb up to her. As he got closer he noticed that she was spinning around her dagger. Her eye studied it closely.

“Hey, Vi.” Louis’ voice startled the blonde pirate, making her fumble her weapon.

“Louis!” Violet hissed, clearly annoyed that he had almost made her drop her dagger. “What the hell are you doing up?”

“Couldn’t sleep. You?” Louis took a spot beside his crewmate.

Violet was silent for a few seconds. “Been hard to do that lately. With the aftermath of that shitstorm of a day and then with Sophie nearly-” Violet’s voice caught in her throat for a second. “I sleep if I can.”

“Yeah,” Louis kicked his feet anxiously. His mind began to turn back to the images of that nightmare. It still felt so real, every single detail. Was it his guilt that was forming these nightmares? Did any of the others suffer the same? Did Violet with the kill of that Delta pirate? He glanced over at his friend then looked away.

“Just ask. I can tell something is up.” Violet spun the dagger between her hands once more.

“Do you regret killing that Delta pirate?”

His question made Violet pause. “No.” she replied simply then placed away her weapon in its sheath. Her right knee drew closer to her chest while her right arm casually rested upon it. She looked out towards the sea that looked like a dark blue blotch to her. A small frown appeared on her lips when she felt Louis’ eyes on her. “I don’t regret it because I did what I had to to survive. Besides, it made sure I could go and help the others out that day.”

“Yeah, that makes sense,” Louis fidgeted with his coat.

“If you feel guilt or some shit for killing that pirate that day, you shouldn’t. Clem is only alive thanks to you.” The wind picked up and caused Violet’s blonde hair to sway this way and that. “What we did that day, it was to survive and protect those we cared about. That's never wrong.”

Louis sat in silence, letting those words sink in and soak in his heart. Two nights now he had heard similar words and each he knew them to be true. It didn't seem like they would instantly take away the nightmares or his own inner struggles but they would help. For even if he had to struggle for a bit longer with this, it would be okay. His crew was alive. They were safe and as long as that was true he would do whatever it took to keep things that way. For at the end of the day, his family’s well-being was worth any price.

[alonely-dreamer]

The Valuable Sun | Chapter 14

Summary: Eric left with Russell and Pam won’t let her leave Fangtasia.

Pairing: Eric x OC

Warnings: 18+

A/N: Please, note that I am French so there might be some mistakes here and there.

Words: 2227

Masterlist

Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8 | Chapter 9 | Chapter 10 | Chapter 11 | Chapter 12 | Chapter 13

There was no escaping Pam. The vampire had made it impossible for Brooklynne to go outside of Fangtasia, even for a minute. “I never disobeyed Eric, I’m not about to do it now,” she had said. But Brooklynne couldn’t bare it. She had to leave, she had to go. As soon as she found her phone, she had been surprised by the number of calls that she had received. Not because there were a lot of them, that was to be expected, but because of when she received them. She had been a prisoner here for two days and Sookie hadn’t even tried to call her once. The only calls she missed were from Tara and Jason. Listening to the dozens of messages they had left them, she learnt that Tara had been kidnapped by a delusional vampire named Franklin who took her to Mississippi where she first found Bill, then Sookie, who too had been kidnapped by a vampire of the name of Russell Edgington. Brooklynne was confused to hear about it, as Eric hadn’t mentioned her sister at all. She had been even more confused when she heard that Eric was there, saw them both, even Bill, but did nothing. Tara went as far as to call the Viking a “motherfucking traitor”. Brooklynne couldn’t blame her, after all, it did feel like betrayal. But she chose to trust Eric, she chose to think the best about the situation. If Eric had helped any of them, he’d probably be dead, and gone would have been his chances at avenging his family. But still, knowing that he left Sookie in the hands of Russell, especially since he knew of her powers, that hurt. That hurt much more than she would like to admit, even to herself. But all of that dilemma was forgotten in a second after she heard Jason’s messages. It was a horrific rollercoaster. First, she heard him say Bill had drained Sookie of most of her blood, then heard that her sister almost died. She heard too many messages of her brother asking her where she was and “what the fuck” she was doing. Sookie needed her, she needed her blood. The hospital couldn’t find Sookie’s blood type, and Brooklynne was her only chance of survival. Listening to these messages, she begged Pam to let her go, she cried, she screamed and even kicked but the vampire had no sympathy and even threatened, more than once, to chain her back to the bloody basement. The fighting stopped though, when she listened to the last message her brother had left her, informing her that Bill had arrived and fed Sookie his blood. Sookie was safe. Sookie was alive.

Exhausted by the last two days and especially the last hour, she let herself fall on the grey couch in Eric’s office, putting on the way too tight clothes that Ginger had brought over, ignoring the food that was on the desk that the waitress had “cooked” herself. She fell asleep almost instantly, leaving the horror of reality behind, just to step inside the horror of her mind.

Question after question, doubt after doubt, nightmare after nightmare, Brooklynne slept over forty hours in a row but got very little rest. All of her quiet and hidden worries came to life, dreaming of Eric, but not exactly Eric, or maybe just exactly him. Maybe the scary smirking vampire in her nightmares were exactly who Eric was and she was just too stupid to realize it. Maybe he didn’t really care about Sookie, maybe he would have killed her himself if it meant securing his revenge. Maybe he was a bloodthirsty vampire like Sookie had said, someone who didn’t care at all about her, or just about her powers, someone who would kill her once he had no more use of her.

When she wasn’t dreaming of Eric she dreamt of Russell or the Magister, or both. She watched the latter die over and over again, watched him torture Pam, torture her, torture Eric and then die by the hand of Russell Edgington. She watched herself be killed by him, watched Sookie die by his hand as well, watched a faceless vampire kill Tara and Jason. She heard Pam’s screams echoing inside of her head, saw Eric’s concerned look turn into an evil grin, saw herself with burning wings and falling from the sky.

None of those nightmares woke her up, no matter how bad they got. It was a loud noise that had her jerk awake, and an apparition that had her jump and almost fall off the couch.

“We need sanctuary,” she heard Eric say as he walked in.

Pam was there too, as surprised as Brooklynne as the telepath heard the vampire gasp, obviously unaware of what had her maker so panicked.

“Oh my God, what have you done?” she asked as she saw the blood on his shirt and on his face.

“Are you okay?” Brooklynne asked as she got up from the couch and made her way to him over to the desk.

“I staked a vampire, the lover of Russell Edgington,” he informed them, pacing the room. Brooklynne had never seen him like this, neither had Pam.

“Are you insane?!”

“Where can we go?!” he shouted back at her, making both women jump.

“We can go to my house…” Brooklynne started but he cut her off.

“No, that’s out of the question.”

“You never panic, should I be panicking?” Pam asked right as Ginger appeared behind her.

“Ginger, dear,” Eric started to say, “where do you live?”

“Across the river in Bossier, why?”

“We need your house. Now-ish,” Pam answered.

“Because of the V-feds?”

“The V-feds?” Brooklynne repeated, confused.

As she received no answer she looked up at both Eric and his progeny and what she saw was less than reassuring.

“They’re here for the Magister,” Pam guessed.

“What? But…”

“Russell sent a crew to clean up, right?”

“Yeah, I checked everything myself, the basement is spotless,” Pam answered.

“Let’s stay calm, and let’s go,” Eric instructed, “Brooke you know nothing, and if they try to glamour you, pretend like it’s working.”

“What about me?” Ginger asked.

“You…” Eric sighed, “you can just be yourself.”

He gave a look to his progeny then gave a reassuring nod to Brooklynne, before he walked out of his office, followed by everyone else.

 ***

 Confused, Brooklynne stayed silent as Nan Flanagan ordered her men to silver Pam and Eric. The 800 year-old vampire said nothing as her eyes fell on Brooklynne and continued to ignore the human as she interrogated Pam first, then Eric. To everyone’s surprise, Eric was brutally honest about everything. He told them about Russell and his pack of werewolves. He told them of his own family and need for revenge. He told all of that, knowing it would probably get him killed, in front of cameras, in front of the famous Authority Brooke had heard so much about.

After Nan left Fangtasia a little before sunrise, leaving some of her men to guard her prisoners, Pam said nothing as she gave a worried, sad and confused look to her maker, before she made her way to the other room where her coffin was waiting for her. Eric didn’t follow her and instead made his way to his office where Brooklynne found him.

He was sitting at his desk with a worried look Brooklynne wasn’t accustomed to see on his face. He raised his head a little as she walked inside the room. She said nothing as she closed the door and made her way to him.

“I’m mad at you,” she said in a calm tone.

“Lying would have been futile.”

“I’m not talking about that. I’m talking about you leaving my sister to a crazy psycho vampire who hates human and who’s probably gonna do terrible things to her once he knows what she is!”

“You mean a fairy?” he said suddenly, almost making her jump despite his quiet voice and calm attitude. The look on her face told him everything he wanted to know.

“How do you…”

“Your cousin told me.”

“My cousin?” she frowned.

“Hadley.”

“How did you… How does she…”

“She was Sophie-Anne’s human until a few days ago. She’s the one who told her about you and your… abilities. The queen sent Bill to investigate.”

It took a minute for the telepath to realize what it all meant. “She sent Bill,” she breathed out. “Bill… became friends with Sookie…”

“It was his job. Though I have no doubt his feelings are real, knowing how he is…”

A word escaped her mouth she had never said before. It surprised Eric too.

“I couldn’t have helped Sookie even if I wanted to…”

“I know that. I just… I wish you would have told me…”

“I didn’t want to worry you.”

“Nobody wants to worry me!” she replied loudly. “Nobody tells me anything because they think I’m too weak to hear it! And I’m sick of it!”

“I’m sorry.”

His apology took her by surprise. She couldn’t remember if he had ever apologized, to her or anyone.

She sighed. She let go of her anger, not wanting to spend what could be their last moment together angry at him. She sat on his lap like he liked her to do and rested her head on his chest.

“What do you think is going to happen?”

“I don’t know.”

“Yes you do.”

He sighed. “I’d be lucky if they decide to put me in a box for a thousand years.”

“They can do that?” she asked, with a horrified look on her face as she looked up at him.

“Oh, yes.”

“But…”

“Don’t worry about it. It won’t help either me or you.”

“But…”

He didn’t let her finish as he gently brought her head back to his chest.

“You’ll be fine. When I’m gone… never tell anyone what you are. Take Sookie and go. The queen knows what you are and what you can do. What your blood can do. She wants it. She wants the sun. She can never have it, do you understand?” he asked as he took her face in his hands and locked her eyes in his to emphasize his point. “If he doesn’t already know it, Russell will figure it out too. Never tell anyone. Ever. Promise me.”

Tears filled her eyes as she stared back at him, his plea echoing in her head. A few tears fell down as she nodded.

“What am I gonna do without you?” she asked in a trembling whisper.

“You’ll be just fine,” he said, bringing her closer to his chest. “If they leave Pam alone, you can always trust her and ask her for help.”

“I’m sure she’d rather I leave her alone,” she chuckled sadly.

“Yes. But she’d do it for me.”

“You’re gonna be okay,” she said, completely aware of her denial.

He smiled as he stroke her hair. “We’re all going to be okay.”

 ***

 An entire day had gone by and Eric hadn’t gotten any sleep at all. Around midnight, they found Pam at a table in the club, waiting silently for Flanagan to come back with the verdict. She said nothing to her maker, though the look on her face said it all. Eric and Brooklynne sat at the table next to hers and they didn’t move nor say anything for about an hour.

At last, Nan came back with a letter in her hands. She looked angry and in a hurry. This was going to be quick, and the armed men following her made it certain that the arrest, if arrest there was, would be quick too.

“You look like shit,” she told Eric.

“Well I feel fantastic,” she replied dryly.

“The ruling is as follows,” she said as she opened the letter. Brooklynne squeezed Eric’s hand and she felt her heart starting to beat faster inside of her chest. She knew Eric would hear it too. “The Authority disavows any knowledge of our interview, your statement or, indeed, this ruling itself. None of this ever happened.”

“What?” Eric voiced what Pam and Brooklynne were feeling too.

“Missing royals, dead Magisters… It’s a political tar baby no one wants to touch,” she explained. “Not with the VRA close to ratification.”

“Russell will not stop killing,” Eric told her. “What if the human public learns of it.”

“That’s why you’re going to take care of it. Quietly, discreetly, and, most important of all, completely off the books. You wanted revenge, it’s yours.”

“What resources are you gonna give me?”

“None. We’re not getting near it.”

“How do you expect me to kill him? He’s three times my age.”

“Listen, you whiny little bitch. The only link between Sophie-Anne, Russell and the Magister is you. You brought us this steaming pile of shit and you’re going to make it go away. Bring me his fangs, or I will have yours.”

She turned around without another word, followed by all of her men, leaving the two vampires and the fairy alone to digest what had just been said. Eric turned around to look at his progeny who seemed to be as worried as he was. His eyes fell on his human and he could almost read her mind.

It was a death sentence after all.

*********

Tags: @thepoet1975 @nerdysandwichqueen @catchmeupimgettingoutofhere @raegan-hale @colie87 @heavenly1927​ @abbey7103

[indestinatus]

The Reunion

(Cairo - chapter 2/4)

chapter 1

The streets were long and broad, carrying illustrious names. They’re macadamed and crowded dwellings were located on both sides, with terraces and decorated gates beside long colorful windows with shutters and intricate tapestries swaying in the wind.

The smell of burning fuel and perfume filled the air, as well as strong spices, coriander, cardamom, cumin, and chili, coming from hidden stalls. Vendors shouted various prices and foreign names, and people were busy buying jewelry, clothes and other goods to pay too much attention to anything.

Faint exotic music could be heard from the distance if you trespassed the main market limits and went deeper into the old streets of the city. Sand covered the cobblestones and the heat hugged your body, worse due to the crowd and limited space.

A woman crossed the market plaza swiftly, a blueish cloth protecting her face from the heat and sand. Her dark brown eyes were the only thing visible, and if you looked closer, they were sharp as a knife. She kept her head down as she walked, but her pace was confident and fast.

She'd just took down three men sent by the woman who wanted her dead.

Her name was Sahar.

Loud bells rang from the main chapel, marking three in the afternoon.

It was the 21st of November 2016. Cairo, Egypt.

Ziva David was afraid.

All she could think about was if Tony had seen the message she left on the back of the photo of them in Paris along with Tali's things six months ago.

If he did, he would've already been here. He would've already contacted her. And they would've have one last chance. A chance for her to explain everything, or at least try to.

If he didn't, it was already too late. Since she faked her death in Tel Aviv back in June, everywhere she went, she'd sense she was being watched. Just this week in Cairo, she'd tracked down almost fifteen killers sent by Sahar.

Tonight was her last chance of seeing Tali.

She spent the whole day wiping out the remaining men so that if her family came tonight, they'd had a small hope of safety. Time was running out.

Ziva crossed the street which led to the hotel she was staying. She'd only chosen it because the rooftop was the highest one nearby. Easier for her to take watch, worse for snippers to do their job.

She entered the main hall in a hurry, eager to get to her room. She'd already disposed of the knife but wanted to watch from above if there was any commotion on the streets.

If there was any sign of them.

"Ms. Rainier!" a voice stopped her just in front of the elevator. Oh lech tiz-day-en, what now?

She turned around slowly, the cloth still covering half her face, but the concierge sure saw the deadly haze her eyes carried.

"I-I'm so-sorry, miss, I know you've asked for the utmost disc-cretion," said the short man, sweat covering his forehead, "but there's a gentleman demanding to see you. His name is Jean-Paul. He says he's your husb-band."

Jean-Paul. Jean-Paul Rainier.

"Of course, thank you."

Jean-Paul and Sophie Rainier were the married assassins they portrayed in the undercover operation, a lifetime ago. Ziva always joked with him that if they had another life, perhaps they'd have a chance together. She never knew if he'd remember that.

Apparently, she was wrong.

"Where is he?"

"He's right there, miss. With the stroller."

Ziva turned around. Their eyes met.

It's strange. When someone's very important and you haven't seen them for a long time, as soon as you do it's easier to breathe.

Tony swayed Tali's stroller slowly, a duffel bag hanging from his shoulder. He looked older, more mature. For a moment, they only stared blankly at each other, the world slowing down.

Then Tony looked upwards and sighed heavily, shoulders going down. He looked back at her again, and his eyes were different.

There were tears.

"You sure are difficult to find, sweetcheeks."

Ziva let out a harsh laugh, but her feet couldn't step closer.

Why is that the more you have to say, the harder it is to speak?

"You look tan," she said.

"You look tired," he answered, "almost as if you just came back from the dead."

His eyes looked hurt for a second, "sorry, I had to-"

"Is she-"

"She's sleeping."

Ziva nodded, she didn't know where to start. Even after rehearsing again and again what to say to him, her mind was now blank.

Tony motioned with his head to the elevator, pushing Tali's stroller that way.

Ziva's breath caught in her throat when she saw her daughter sleeping in it. She was sucking her little thumb and holding Kelev tightly.

She was safe. She was cared for. She was loved.

"Yeah, I know," said Tony, "she snores so peacefully, doesn't she? Just like her mother."

Ziva's eyes shot up at that. He was smiling, that boyish DiNozzo smile. Her heart plummeted with the sight.

"You said I snored like a drunken sailor with emphysema."

"Oh, she remembers. Also, you got worse, you used to understand sarcasm in the English language."

They shared a brief laugh when the elevator doors closed, but it didn't last long.

"Sophie Rainier, really?"

"I did not think you would remember."

"I remember everything," his eyes were watching her as if he wouldn't let her leave again. Ziva was looking at Tali.

"I know."

They arrived at her floor and she tried to open the door, but her hands were trembling. Too many meds today.

"Here, let me help," said Tony, grabbing the keys from her hand. His fingers touched hers lightly and her breath caught again. Ziva had dreamed for too long about this moment. Seeing, touching him again. Both of them.

He noticed.

Tony opened her door and let Tali's stroller inside the room. It wasn't big, there was a closet, a bathroom, a double-sized bed and a small suitcase in the corner. The windows, however, were huge, with a beautiful view of the market streets of Cairo below and the pyramids in the distance.

The atmosphere was heavy. Tony gently took Tali out of the stroller and laid her in the bed, putting the duvet over her. She didn't even move, it was like he'd done that many times.

Ziva also wasn't moving. She was as still as a statue, paralyzed with the image of Tony taking care of their daughter. Yes, she'd seen photos of them quite frequently, but she didn't want to think so much about how he would manage to do that.

Now she knew.

It is my job to protect you, Ziva.

Handle with care, contents priceless.

I know you want to change. I can change with you.

He loved Tali just as he loved her all these years.

Ziva kneeled on the floor, hot tears spilling down her cheeks, hands trembling along with her whole body rocking back and forth. Everything was darkness, and she suddenly felt very cold. Her chest hurt as if her heart was ripped from it and shoved back in right after.

Panic attack. Panic attack. Her mind roared.

"I'm sorry, Tony, I'm so sorry," she said again and again.

"Shhhh, it's okay. Hey, it's okay," he answered, whispering softly in her ear as his strong arms held her close to his chest, "we're okay, Ziva. Me and Tali, we're okay, just like you said. Breathe."

Her breathing slowed down after a couple of minutes, his arms still holding her against him, his hand caressing her hair. They were still at the ground.

"Hey," he said, grabbing her chin and lifting her eyes to look at him, "I know you, Ziva. I know you better than you know yourself."

Brown eyes blinked when green ones didn't look away.

"I just need to understand," he said, kissing her temple and still cradling her gently against his chest.

Ziva took a deep breath and let her body relax in his arms. She looked at Tali, sleeping in the bed. She couldn't face him while telling this.

"One day... One day I was ambushed in Israel, Tali was home, and I was in the streets to get her a new crib. Two men attacked me. I managed to bring them down, and learn from one of them they were sent by a woman to kill me. Her name was Sahar. That same day I packed all Tali's things and contacted Adam..."

"Adam? That Adam, the same Adam?"

"Yes, he's helping me. He's the only one who knows about Tali and Sahar."

"He knew about Tali?"

And Tony didn't. Ziva didn't let her own father know.

"He knew once I needed help. He helped me to get Tali to Ori so she could give her to you. You're the only one I trust to keep her safe, Tony."

Ziva could feel his chest go up and down, sense him processing all her mistakes.

"Okay. Go on," was all he said.

"I left a message in the back of a photo of us in Paris. It was all I could do without anyone suspecting that I was still alive."

Tony let out a sharp laugh, "I almost didn't read it in time."

"But you did."

"But I almost-"

"Tony," she said, looking up to him again. His eyes were troubled as if losing her was worse than betrayal, "they still follow me, wherever I go. She wants me dead. She's watching me like an eagle."

"Hawk."

"What?"

"Nothing," he appeared amused.

"Tali... Tali can't stay with me. She needs you. And before you ask, you cannot. You cannot help me, she needs at least one of her parents..."

"Alive."

"Yes."

Tony sighed heavily, his eyes never leaving hers.

"Why didn't you come to me? Why didn't you come to me when you found out about her? Why didn't..."

"I didn't deserve you, Tony. And you deserved more than a broken woman with a horrible past and a difficult future. I was terrified you were going to be furious and time passed and everything turned more complicated and...

"Ziva...," he said, one hand moving to hold her face and his eyes closing, chest heaving several times, "Ziva, if I knew you were pregnant, I would've been there in a second."

She let her forehead rest on his, eyes closing as well. Silent tears ran down her cheeks again, as she started to think about all that didn't come to pass.

"Tony, I-"

"Abba...?"

Ziva's body tensed again.

"It's okay, sweetcheeks, come here. Someone wants to see you."

Sweetcheeks. The term of endearment he used with her was the same he used with his daughter. Their daughter. It was like a hard slap in the face.

Tali hopped to the ground, still holding Kelev. Ziva gaped at her silently, not daring to breathe. She didn't know if she'd recognize her.

Tali drew closer, her little fingers going up to Ziva's face. She traced her nose, cheeks and mouth, going down to her hair and her bare neck. The necklace she used to grasp as a baby was not there.

Tali pulled something from inside her shirt and squeezed, then framed Ziva's face again. The Star of David. Tony gave it to her, Ziva's necklace. Tears continued to stream down her face.

"Ima...?"

Ziva let out the breath she was holding and wiped her tears swiftly.

"Yes, Tali, it's me. It's Ima."

"Ima!" she said, arms gripping Ziva's neck, demanding to be pulled to her chest.

"Oh, mon Coeur," her mother answered, kissing her hair, nose, cheeks, everywhere she could. She missed her so much, too much.

Strong arms embraced both of them, and Tony kissed Ziva's hair.

"Zee?"

"Hum?"

"How much time do we have?"

Ziva sighed, brought back to reality, "Tonight. And maybe tomorrow morning."

To be a family. A few hours to finally be a family, was all they had.

"Are you going to the opera?"

"Yes."

"Can we come with you?"

Ziva kissed Tali once more as she giggled sweetly in her arms.

"Yes."

Tony smiled as a weight lifted off his shoulders. She'd let him in. She'd finally let him in. He had both of them for the first time. He had the love of his life and the proof of their love in his arms, if only for a moment. He had a family.

"Then it's a date."

chapter 3

[walkerduchess]

A Game of Hearts - Chapter Twelve: Conceded (The Royal Romance AU)

Pairing: Drake x MC, Liam x Olivia [Liam x MC]

Notes: After struggling with the lack of time and motivation to write, I finally finished this chapter. Not much happens here, but it’s an important point for what’s to come. If you’re still reading this series, I’m sorry it took me so long! Hopefully I’ll be faster with the next chapters.

I do not own these characters, they belong to Pixelberry.

Summary: Elia and Drake are not yet in the same page. Liam is still suffering alone but finds some comfort.

Word Count: 3073

Tagging: (if you want in or out the list just let me know)  @confessionsofabrokegirl​​​, @museofbooks​​​, @stopforamoment​​​, @annekebbphotography​​​, @queenodysseia​​​, @drakewalkerisreal​​, @twinkle-320​​, @i-bloody-love-drake-walker​​, @texaskitten30​, @princessleac1​

Prologue: Promised | Chapter One: Unveiled | Chapter Two: Tied | Chapter Three: Acknowledged | Chapter Four: Disarmed | Chapter Five: Gone | Chapter Six: Unbarred | Chapter Seven: Assisted | Chapter Eight: Suited | Chapter Nine: Breached | Chapter Ten: Split | Chapter Eleven: Exposed

Chapter Twelve: Conceded

They spend a very quiet night after finding out that Prince Leonard is actually a traitor. Drake and Jonah pass the rest of it brooding in an almost comically similar way, if it wasn’t so worrisome. Thankfully, no one else got near the cabin again, so the night was peaceful. 

The sky remains gray for the entire next day of walking, and it appears to match everyone’s mood. They don’t talk much, ghosts of betrayals and frustrations looming over them all.

Once they’ve set camp again and are ready to go to sleep, though, Drake pulls Elia aside, “I need to talk to you.”

“Yes?” She replies promptly.

Drake glances at the tents in which the kids have just gotten into. “Not here.”

He then catches her by the hand, pulling her farther from their camp, but not far enough so they’d still have a look on the tents. It’s not unpleasant, the way he touches her so naturally all of a sudden, but the princess can’t help to tense a little still. She doesn’t really know why.

“Well?” Elia asks, searching his face.

His look is worried and urgent, yet he hesitates a little before speaking, “I need to go back… to warn Liam.”

“Oh,” she responds. She doesn’t have to ask to know he’s talking about Leo. She understands it, the loyalty Drake has to Liam is crystal clear, although disappointment lingers on her voice and on her face. Does he not understand still?

“Drake, I understand that this is important and Liam needs to know,” she begins, “but what we’re doing here, this mission… it will put an end to all of those problems.” It’s simple, really, in her mind. If there’s no more war, there’s no more enemies and no more ruptures of any kind.

Drake seems to have gotten impatient with her reply, though. “I get what you’re saying, but this,” he gestures at the space around them, “this, Elia, is too dangerous.”

“I know that, it has always been dangerous.”

“No, you don’t know!” Drake’s voice rises, clearly getting more agitated by the second of the conversation.

The princess is left flabbergasted by his sudden sharpness, her jaw dropping considerably.

He tries to collect himself, rubbing his eyes with his hands, but with little success. “Queen Madeline is dangerous, but Leo… Leo knows us, he knows who we are!”

“This doesn’t change anything.” Elia has to make an effort to keep her calm but the annoyance she’s starting to feel is evident in her voice. “We’re taking the long way south, through the woods, not to be seen, just as it was planned.”

“Well, it was not planned by me!” Drake half-shouts.

“So you want to just give up? Turn back and leave it all behind?” Her voice rises too this time, matching his.

“For now.” He answers, matter-of-factly.

“I’m sorry, I’m not going to do that.” Elia mind is made. It has been made ever since she left Cordonia for the first time, with no certainties of returning. She will never give up, not after coming this far.

She can’t tell whether it is her words or the finality in her expression as she spoke them that made Drake finally put his anger out, but she sees the moment something changes in his eyes.

“I’m sure you’re not used to not getting things your way, so I’m just going to let you know - not everything is about you!” 

The princess doesn’t miss his condescending tone, but chooses to ignore it for now, “This is not about me, Drake, this is to save everyone!”

“Right, because it’s in the stupid prophecy. Which is about you.”

She looks into his eyes, searching for a little spot of vulnerability amidst the harsh wall he put up again, “you know this is the right thing to do.”

Turns out she finds none.

"Are you really so short sighted that you don't even mind you could be putting people at risk? Children!" He motions with his head towards the camp, where the kids are - supposedly - sleeping.

She can’t tell whether she’s more shocked or angry. “Don’t you dare bring them into this just so you can win this argument,” she warns.

“It’s not me who’s doing that, you already brought them into this, taking them on your mission.” Drake chuckles cynically. "Have you considered that they might have been better off if left alone?"

Her first instincts ignite, itching for her to tell him off, to force him to accept how wrong he is, but something inside of her takes in his words. Can he be right? 

"No one's better off if left alone." Her voice is small, like she’s not sure she believes it.

"Well it depends on who's the company," Drake says coldly.

Elia just glares at him. She does not want to keep up with this.

“I’m going to sleep,” she informs, pushing past him towards the tents.

She doesn’t look back, not stopping until she reaches her tent and gets inside. Even when she lies down, with warmth and silence around her, her brain is still screaming. She turns her head to look at Nora, sleeping beside her. Maybe she is putting them in danger. At first she decided to let them join her because she didn’t want to leave the kids alone in the middle of a war. They could get hungry, or hurt, or worse. But is this mission any better? Is she any better? 

If she’s honest with herself, it was never only about them. She’s come to truly care for them like they’re her own family, and with them she doesn’t have to be alone. Maybe Drake is right.

-

Liam takes a deep breath, gazing at the view before him, his city looking… normal. It's been a long time since he's been here in his chambers, at Thorngate castle. He's been practically living in Stormholt now, with all the chaos after Sophie left. He needed a moment to breathe, and home seemed the best place for it.

His world might be upside down, but for the ordinary people, the settlers, life simply goes on. As he reminisces, he twirls the glass he’s holding in his hand, eyeing the amber liquid. He’s certainly never felt so alone. 

He should’ve told Drake to stay. That there was no point in looking for Sophie. But maybe part of him wanted him to find her, to bring her back to him. As guilty as it makes him feel, part of him still wants her to be back, even if it’s the opposite of what she wants. As if I’ve ever had a clue on what she wants, he thinks while taking a sip of his drink.

There's a knock on the door and the prince turns around, swallowing the liquor.

“Yes?” He calls out from the balcony.

The door opens slowly, revealing a woman with red hair and a matching elegant, yet functional red dress.

“May I come in?” Liv asks, already stepping in his chambers and closing the door.

Liam chuckles to himself, not even bothering giving her an answer. Lady Olivia always does whatever she pleases most of the time. 

She makes her way over to the balcony while Liam reaches for the bottle of liquor and a second cup, pouring some for both of them. He turns around to greet her with a smile and offers her a cup, which she promptly takes.

Liam turns back to his previous position overlooking the city, upholding himself with his forearms on the stone railing.

Liv joins him, coming to stand by his side.

“How are you?” She asks.

The prince can’t hold back a smirk from colouring his face. Here he was, a couple of minutes ago indulging his self-pity over being alone and then Liv comes and just… is Liv. Of course he knows how she’s like with everyone else. He can’t even count how many times he had to step between her and Drake to stop them from coming at each other’s throats. But when it comes to him, she’s always been a friend, though they haven’t been as close as they used to be in these past few years, ever since she left Thorngate to live at her family’s home, Lythikos Castle. 

She notices his sly smile and narrows her eyes at him, “what is it?”

“Nothing, I…” he turns to her, widening his grin, “I actually really needed a friend.”

She grants him a cocky smile, though a sincere one. “Then I guess I came in the right time?” she says before taking a generous sip from her cup.

Liam just smiles, though it doesn’t quite reach his eyes.

Liv’s expression becomes serious. “What is wrong?”

The prince sighs, leaning his side on the railing. “Everything.” He is usually scared of appearing defeated, to anyone else, but not with Liv.

She, on the other hand, looks the exact opposite of defeated. Her posture is energetic as she speaks, “I know you’re worried about Princess Sapphire. I mean, we all are, but you especially.” She stares at him, making sure he looks at her. “And I understand she is the Promised Princess, but Liam… this kingdom relies on us too, and we can take action--”

He doesn’t let her finish though, "this kingdom is a fucking mess right now, Liv, and you don't know half of it." He doesn’t mean to snap on her, but he is too tired of politics. He quickly regrets it. “Sorry,” he adds, after a couple of seconds. 

Still, Liv doesn’t seem hurt, nor mad. Maybe just a little bit displeased, yet not at him. She places a hand on his own, above the railing. "If you need to unburden, Liam, I'm here."

He smiles softly, stepping a little closer and kissing her forehead before dipping his head and resting his own forehead in hers. He lightly shakes his head. He can't tell her. Although the corner of his lips lift up upon imagining the havoc Lady Olivia's rage would instill, if she’d learn what really goes on in Cordonia.

She must have felt it, for she moves to turn her head up, looking at him. “What?” She asks, a small smile in her lips as well.

“Nothing.” It’s just a small lie that Liam doesn’t regret telling. Not if it means Liv won’t have her heart torn apart the way Sophie had. “I’m just glad me and Cordonia have you.”

“You’ll always have me,” she says, placing a hand on his cheek, “and Cordonia too, for that matter.” 

They both chuckle, and before he knows what is happening, her lips brushes his. In a moment’s thought, he shifts his face to the side. He can’t help it. Not when Sophie comes to his mind. He is engaged, or… was? She did give him the ring back, but it doesn’t make it any more clear in his head.

"I'm sorry," Liv begins to pull away, "I didn't mean to…"

And then his thoughts run back to Liv.

-

"What, you've never kissed a girl?"

Liam doesn't reply, but judging by her face, he's definitely blushing.

"Not even Princess Sapphire?" Liv’s eyes are wide, not in an alarmed way, Liam thinks, but rather amused.

“No.” Liam tries to bring all of his confidence, or as much as there is to a fourteen year-old prince, to his voice. “Sophie is too young, anyway.”

The girl chuckles, not buying his indifference even for a moment. “She’s not that young, Liam. And I bet she knows you want to kiss her,” she finishes, throwing the prince a devilish grin before resting her head back in the leafy wall inside the maze, where they’ve been hiding from his governess.

Liam is about to say something but it takes him a while, and he’s probably blushing even harder now, for Liv begins outright laughing.

“I’m messing with you, fool. It’s really not a big deal,” she adds kindly, once she stops laughing.

He enjoys the way Liv is always honest with him, it makes him feel more comfortable talking to her. “So you have… kissed a boy before?”

“Yes,” she begins, “but don’t go thinking I’m going to tell anything about it, now.” 

Liam just raises his eyebrows and nods. He suddenly feels different, like he’s… longing, but he’s not sure what for.

Liv stares at him, sympathetically at first, but then she opens her mouth and closes it a couple of times, as if she’s hesitating in what she has to say. 

He gives her a questioning look and at last she sighs, closing her eyes and speaking in a tone Liam can tell she’s feigning disinterest. “If you want to know what you’re doing when you do kiss the princess… you can try it first with me.”

Now that’s something he never expected. “What?”

“Come on Liam, I told you it’s not a big deal.”

He clears his throat, not wanting to sound like a complete idiot, before speaking, “that would be nice.”

At first it wasn’t nice. It was weird. But Liv was bossy, and she made sure he tried enough times until he learned how not to make a fool of himself.

-

Liam is always thinking, always worried. Perhaps he can think about what he needs for one day, instead of think about what everybody else needs. Maybe it doesn’t mean he is a bad leader if he lets someone care about him.

Before he can stop himself, the prince reaches out and holds Liv by her hand, causing her to turn back towards him. He notices her lips opening, ready to say something, however he is faster. Liam takes one long step, placing his other hand on the back of the woman’s head, pulling her in for a kiss.

After a couple of seconds, she returns the kiss and he feels the world around them gradually dissipating, all the troubles and chaos fading away. He knows they’re not gone, but he can go back to being worried tomorrow. He’ll probably feel guilty, but it doesn’t matter now.

-

When the sun came up, Elia decided it was futile trying to get more sleep. She wakes up from the few hours of sleep she got with a newfound determination, though. She has a mission, and she believes in this mission with her life. No one can change her mind about that. 

She doesn’t step out of her tent until she hears everyone is awake, though. It’s stupid, and she reprimands herself for being such a coward, but she doesn’t want to take the risk of finding Drake alone outside. 

When she does get out, Drake is already eating breakfast with the kids and gives her a serious look. It’s obvious they still have to talk, but Elia can’t afford to. She’s figured out a way for them to move on and she has still to arrange everything before she lets her own feelings make her change her mind. So, she says nothing and begins frantically taking down their tents and putting everything together, as if it was a normal day and she’s simply preparing for resuming their travel.

Drake approaches her a while later, when she’s almost done and is finishing turning a blanket into an improvised bag, while it being completely full of some more blankets and supplies.

“Hey, we need to talk.” He’s standing behind her, while she’s crouching down and struggling with the recently cut edges of the blanket-bag. His whole demeanor is calm, different from the past evening, but his face scrunches up upon seeing Elia’s handwork. “What are you doing?”

“One second,” Elia speaks without even looking at him.

He waits, and soon the woman stands up, facing him. He has his arms crossed in front of him and one eyebrow raised at her unusual behavior. 

The princess is suddenly in a loss of words. She takes a big breath, ready to give the speech she practiced in her head, but it’s all gone from her mind. She just stands there, staring at Drake with an uninvited ache in her chest. It wasn’t supposed to be this hard, she thinks. It was the plan all along, after all.

“Are you unwell?” Drake brings her out of her stupor, concern flashing for an instant across his face.

As if the reminder of Drake’s disdain of her was the motive she needed to shut her feelings down, Elia’s breathing finally even for her to speak, “you were right, Drake.”

“What?” He spurs out, not quite believing what she is saying, all the barriers he put up to prepare for a fight coming down at this unforeseen strike.

Elia’s barriers aren’t so strong either, and she bites her lip before replying, “This is a dangerous mission and I can’t put other lives, beside mine, at risk.” She begins to feel her eyes stinging and does her best for her voice not to falter, “I’ve made a spare bag with blankets and supplies,” she motions at the improvised  pack on the ground, “for you and the children to travel back north.”

Drake’s eyes widen before he uncrosses his arms and shakes his head. “No.” He doesn’t sound authoritarian, but rather in denial. “You are not going alone.”

“I’m not going back, Drake,” she states, her gaze decided, even with unshed tears making her eyes glisten. “You go do what you have to do, and I’ll do what I have to do,” she finishes with a sad smile.

Elia can see the conflict through Drake’s eyes. She leans down to catch the new bag and hands it to him. Eventually, he exhales and reaches for it, taking a hold of her whole hand along with it. Drake takes one step forward, just inches separating him from the princess.

It takes Elia by surprise and her breath catches. It looks like Drake wants to say something, but he just stands there, holding her hand in his and staring at her with pain in his eyes. Her eyes seem magnetized by his and she uses the last remaining bit of sound judgement she finds in herself to finally pull away from him a little. 

“Thank you,” she almost whispers, “please take care of them.” She speaks and quickly pulls her hand from his, turning and walking away to say goodbye to the children, before having the chance to see a bewildered Drake nodding weakly.

[hazelnmae]

Lies Travel Faster Part Two: Chapter Four

Summary: Sophia Murphy’s past is coming for her. Can she outrun it?

Tags: Tommy Shelby x Original Female Character

Warnings: angst; smut; violence; language; rape/non-con; death

ALSO WARNING: This chapter catches us up to the events of S5 so beware of S5 Spoilers.

Chapter 4 Read Chapter 3 here

“I had a dream about a black cat last night, Pol. A black cat dream means there is a traitor close by. It was you who taught me that.”

“Black cat can mean lots of things,” Polly responded. “Can mean you're hurting yourself. Betraying yourself.”

Tommy lit the cigarette hanging from his mouth and leaned his back against the bar.

The dreams had been coming more frequently. The hallucinations more clearly. And since the news of the stock exchange crashing, he couldn’t get rid of the sinking feeling that things would get worse before they got better.

“Are you seeing things, Thomas?” Polly asked him after a few moments of silence.

“Yes, I am,” he responded without thinking. “Yes, I am. Very clearly. Coming from every fucking direction.”

Though he wouldn’t admit it, he was nervous. Not for the meeting--he’d never been nervous to face his family, least of all Michael, even if he did lose much of the company’s holdings in the crash. He wanted to throttle his cousin, was ready to cut him out of the family altogether, but he wasn’t nervous to see him.

When she walked into the pub, it suddenly made sense. The bundle of nerves that had been sitting in his chest fell quickly to the pit of his stomach.

Sophie.

She made quick eye contact with him, but promptly dodged his gaze by looking about the room for someone else, anyone else to address. She made a beeline for Polly on the other side of the room.

Michael and Gina walked to the middle. They were the focus of the meeting, after all, and Sophie planned to fly under the radar. Why Tommy had insisted on her attending at all still had her a bit flustered. It wasn’t he who requested it directly, of course, but Arthur who spoke with her at the train station.

Polly just eyed her as Sophie moved to the woman’s side. The grin on her face indicating this was a moment she’d been waiting for. For Sophie, though, this was the moment she’d been dreading.

She hadn’t wanted to return to Birmingham, not really, but she knew she had to. There was nothing left for her in America. Once and for all, she’d ended the feud that plagued her for so many years. And while that was a particular relief for her, she had no desire to stay and start over with a new life.

The truth was she was comfortable in her new line of work. Pulling that trigger and dropping Vincenzo reignited a fight in her that she’d long ago lost. Her previous life in Birmingham was a dream to her now, an odd and sometimes frightening, always disappointing, dream. A dream in which she’d lost herself. She’d lost sight of who she was--from where she came. And her time in America only reminded her of that.

Returning to Birmingham required a reconciliation of those two versions of herself. And she welcomed this.

It also required a reconciliation of another kind. One she wasn't ready for.

Tommy attempted to take charge of the meeting, almost immediately, clearing his throat and leaning his back against the bar to get everyone’s attention.

But Michael didn’t sit, not yet. Instead he walked toward his cousin and spoke first.

“Tommy, I'd like to introduce you to my wife,” Michael said, motioning toward Gina who sat at the small table behind him. “I would also like to say something--”

“Sit down, Michael,” Tommy interrupted.

But Michael continued, “I betrayed you--”

This time it was Polly who interrupted, taking a step toward them and ignoring Sophie as her focus now turned to her son.

“Michael,” she said sternly.

But again, Michael continued on, “But only in my heart. There was a time, in America, and there was a lot of money in that bank. And I wondered if I could I could leave, move to California. Someone said I should invest in pictures. Hollywood. But Sophie stopped me.” He nodded toward her where Sophie audibly gasped at the attention now turned on her. She felt her heart racing and feared it might actually burst from her.

But Tommy didn’t even look in her direction.

“I told you to sit down, Michael,” he said.

This time Michael did what he was told and the discussion quickly shifted to the real order of business, the ship’s docking in Belfast and the run-in with the Billy Boys and the IRA that followed.

Sophie hadn’t been aware of it at first, as both sides clearly focused on Tommy Shelby’s cousin rather than some woman he once knew.

She was on edge for the rest of the trip after Michael came to her cabin and informed her of what had taken place. But in truth, she was also relieved to have been no part of it. Judging by Tommy’s demeanor, he wasn’t convinced by Michael’s story and Sophie was thankful she wasn’t also in a position to have to defend herself.

The fact that she clearly meant so little to Tommy that neither side would come for her had her feeling something else, though. Anger. Frustration. Sadness. A combination of all three. She was angered and frustrated that his enemies had apparently caught onto the dissolution of their relationship quicker than she had. And she was saddened to have to face it all over again.

Sophie realized she’d completely lost track of the conversation unfolding and had no idea how it’d taken the turn it had, but Micheal's proclamation caught her attention, snapping her back to the present.

“The reason Gina and I got married on the ship was because Gina is pregnant,” Michael said. “You're going to be a grandmother,” he added, turning to Polly.

Polly was shocked and Sophie could tell it was taking everything in her not to burst into tears right then and there. She sat at the next table, steadying herself to the news.

“Okay, Michael. I believe you,” Tommy finally said. “Welcome home. And congratulations.”

He extinguished the almost spent cigarette and added, “Just remember your unborn child has witnessed what you said.”

“Thomas!” Polly shouted, appalled at the gall her nephew had to curse an unborn baby.

“And it will be born according to--”

“You fuck!” Michael interrupted, practically jumping from his chair and moving toward Tommy, who didn’t even flinch.

Sophie, instinctively, moved toward the scuffle, but Arthur made it there first, restraining Michael who held onto Tommy’s empty gaze.

“Where the fuck are you going, hmm? Are you fucking mad?” Arthur asked his cousin. “You are free to fucking leave, Michael.”

“You fucking bastard,” Michael spat at Tommy through gritted teeth.

“But you're not free, Michael, are you? You lost this company a lot of money,” Tommy replied calmly. “I told you to sell but you held on, and now I want you to pay me back what you owe me. There is work you can do, there are risks you can take. We were close before. Now I want you closer still,” Tommy said, claiming the last word.

“Michael, honey,” Gina said. “Look at your cousin. He's in trouble, huh? He needs you. Come on, baby, let's go.”

And with that, Michael, Gina, and Polly left the pub in a flurry.

“Black cat dream is never wrong, brother,” Arthur added before taking one look at Sophie and walking out the door behind them.

The gravity of the situation finally hit Sophie for the first time.

A black cat dream. She didn’t know much about Romani culture, but she was sure she’d heard about black cat dreams from Polly when Alfie Solomons had betrayed Tommy at the fights two years prior. They were bad omens. They signified a traitor approaching.  

Tommy had told Michael to sell, and Michael had refused, fancying himself the wiser man. Clearly Tommy interpreted this as a traitorous act. An act of betrayal.

And Sophie questioned this herself. Is Michael a traitor? Was there something happening in America I should have noticed? Could I have stopped this? She thought.

Tommy stood in silence for a few moments, not even looking at Sophie, instead stepping behind the bar to grab another bottle of whiskey and pour himself a drink.

He nodded in her direction, to ask if she would care for a drink herself, but she shook her head to refuse the offer.

Tommy leaned against the bar and finally looked at her, drinking her in after what felt like an eternity. He’d forgotten so much about her. The intense way she could hold his eye contact. The way she always seemed to be smiling from the corners of her mouth, even when she was unhappy or upset. He’d remembered how beautiful she was, but was struck by the new air of confidence that emanated from her, as if it just added to the charm.

She was wearing her hair different, but she’d changed in other ways too.

“You look different,” he said, finally deciding to speak to her for the first time in two years.

“How so?” Sophie asked in return.

He didn’t know how to answer the question, because he couldn’t exactly identify it himself. He knew what she’d done in America, of course, always staying informed of her movements but never letting her know as much. But he wasn’t sure if that’s what had changed her.

“I don’t know. At peace?” He finally offered as much a question as an answer.

Sophie just smiled.

She certainly didn’t consider herself at peace. She was satisfied that she’d sought and found justice for her family, but she wasn’t at all at peace with what she’d done.

“I feel different.”

“At peace?” He asked.

“No,” she answered. “You know, Tommy, in my time away I learned just how alike we are, you and I. And you know as well as I do that people like us will never have peace.”

Something about what she said and how she said it cut to Tommy’s core. He didn’t want Sophie to be like him. He wanted her to find peace. But somewhere deep inside, he knew she was right. She had proven she was like him--determined, stubborn really, and unrelenting in the pursuit of what they wanted. Damn if she isn’t exactly right, he thought.

He felt like he should say something--tell her she was wrong, assure her she’d one day find peace, remind her just how much better than him she really was. But he couldn’t form the right words. So, as usual, he remained silent.

“You look different, too,” she continued after a short pause, gesturing toward his hair.

Tommy ran a hand through his hair and grinned.

And Sophie felt it in her gut. That grin.

It always did have a way of leaving her breathless, of knocking her flat on her ass when she least expected it.

She realized in that moment just how much she’d missed being near him. And she found herself frantically working out any way of remaining close to him.

She’d come to the meeting to resign from Shelby Company, for the second time. But when he grinned she panicked at the thought of leaving him again.

She cleared her throat to speak, to ask for more work, any excuse to stay near him, but was relieved when Tommy beat her to it. She tried to steady herself again.

“Clearly your work in America is finished. I've some ideas for you,” he paused to take a drag from his freshly lit cigarette then continued, “but I have plans tonight. Come to Charlie’s yard tomorrow. We can work out the details.”

Sophie just stared at him, unable, in that moment, to decide what direction she should take. Refuse, walk away for good, leave it all behind? Or agree, keep him near, risk it all?

“That is assuming you still want to work for us,” he added.

“No. I mean, yes. Of course I do," She answered quicker than she thought she could.

Sophie felt her palms grow sweaty, suddenly anxious now that she'd committed to something.

That’s when the door to the pub swung open and a slight, dark haired woman entered. She looked at Sophie first, then glanced at Tommy before returning her gaze to Sophie.

Tommy cleared his throat and shuffled his feet, obviously uncomfortable with the situation.

“Ah, well, you're busy,” Sophie said to no one in particular.

“Yes, we've got plans--”

But Sophie interrupted him, just smiling, “You said that.”

Somewhat abruptly, Sophie turned and made her way from the pub, not even giving him an opportunity to respond. She didn’t need a response, Jesse Eden’s presence said it all.

She’d recognized the young woman from the photographs she’d seen in the paper. Sophie wasn’t sure if she was still in Tommy’s life, as Arthur hadn’t mentioned her in his updates as of late. But seeing her walk in, the look she gave Tommy, his reaction to the two women being in the same room--it was all the update she needed.

Inside the pub, Jesse turned her attention to Tommy, somewhat shocked at Sophie’s rude behavior. She hadn’t even stopped to introduce herself.

“You going tell me what that's about?” Jesse asked, fidgeting with her gloves.

“No,” was all the response she received.

Because just then, he spotted Sophie’s shawl on the back of a chair by where she’d stood during the meeting. It was a deep green and he thought how it must compliment her skin tone. It was elegant--and it made him think of just how full of contradictions she was. Soft, feminine, full of class. A woman who could wear that shawl. But strong, tough, merciless when necessary. A woman who could drop a ruthless Italian mobster with one shot from a distant hillside. After all this time, she still fascinated him.

“Let’s go, Thomas," Jesse said, sensing he'd been distracted.

“One minute.”

He made his way across the room as Jesse walked out of the pub ahead of him. He gently lifted the shawl off the back of the chair, careful not to let any ash fall from his cigarette onto the delicate material. He held it to his nose and inhaled deeply.

It was soft in his calloused and overworked hands.

And it smelled like fucking peonies.

Tommy tossed it on the table and followed Jesse out the door.

_______________________

Read Chapter 5

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