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onskepa · 5 months ago

Note

Hiii friend!! Could i get a Norm adopts the Sarentu ask kids and also Spider? In this universe the timeline is a bit different, right after the final battle of A1 the Sarentu are still kids and after Ahari’s death, Alma manages to help them escape and send them far away ( aka to where the omatikaya live) so Mercer can’t get to them. And there Norm adopts them after he had already adopted Spider. And then siblings shenanigans ensue.

OOOOOOOOOOOH~!!! YES YES YES~!! TIME FOR NORM TO SHINE ON THIS ONE! HOPE YOU ENJOY~!

P.S: The sarentu player is named paw in this story , also paw and telisi are girls. Yefti is mute and a boy!

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Full house

Norm was just norm. A skinny, nerdy guy with a huge fascination with anything foreign and new. He was just as normal as his name. Norm. He is not much of a warrior like his best friend, or a snappy, demanding director like his old friend and mentor Grace. Yes he is strong when needed to be, not afraid to be in the front lines when it is called.

He is not a lot of things. That much is certain. What norm is, is a nature loving, gentle soul, loyal, respectful, kinda, and above all, loving.

What norm is not, or more over, what he never thought he would ever be, is a parent.

Not a parent to one child, he never expected he would be a parent to 9 children.

One human, and 8 na’vi children.

“You’re kidding” norm says, not really believing what he just heard.

“I am not, believe me norm, I almost didn't believe it at first either” Jake says.

“No, I have to hear it myself. Replay it” norm says, max nods, replaying a message they were sent just an hour ago.

It was an audio, a bit scuffled but loud and clear was the voice of a woman.

“Hello? This is Alma Cortez. I am a researcher and Co director of TAP. An education branch of the RDA. I don't have a lot of time but I am seeking help from the RDA rebels, more specifically Jake sully, aka Toruk Makto, and Grace Agustine. There are na’vi children here being held against their will. They need help and I alone cannot do it. I need-God damn it! Grace if you are hearing this, please! I need your help! They are not all dead! I repeat! The Sarentu children are alive!”

Norm can say he has been into battles and raids enough times to see some patterns, alternatives, can even predict how it will end. Call it cheesy but he is the man of loyalty and would do anything to protect those he cares about.

Among the people he has come to care about more than his own life, was his newly adopted son that enjoy being called “spider”

Bright, crazy, and will try different ways to kill himself simply by being curious of the world he was born in. A walking happy, stress inducing little being spider is for Norm. Full of surprises, and norm enjoys that.

The biggest surprise was him being born.

And norm is always grateful for that, always thanking Eywa everyday. Yup, parenthood sure is something not many today plan for.

“Well, each of us can watch over him, like that old saying goes, ‘it takes a village to raise a child’” Max suggests. A group of the science guys have found baby spiders in the old dormitories for the female soldiers. Only a few months old, skinny little guy.

It wasn't long before they did a DNA scan of who he belonged to. The results were both scary yet unsurprising. It was after that many did not wish to get involved with the baby.

“I will do it” , the norm says, more like announcing it.

Picking up spider, wrapping him up in his little blankie, he says it again, “I will be his parent”

“Does this count as a reverse kidnapping?” Max asks.

It was night, using nature to cover the scorpion plane, waiting for an important package. Jake, Norm, Trudy, Max and Grace were all waiting patiently for Alma to come to them with the sarentu children that were being held within the human facility.

“I see it as a rescue mission” Trudy says, her eyes not being away from her port.

“It is a rescue mission” Grace affirms, her eyes scanning through the foliage for any movement. Being silent and listening carefully for any sounds of footsteps. Her concentration was a bit out of character for her. None have seen her this serious before.

“It will be a huge cultural shock to these poor kids” max says, filling out the silence of the soundless night.

“Cultural? More of a world shock, metal walls and holograms is all they ever knew” Jake replies. All of them have heard the tragic news of a fallen na’vi clan, how there were no survivors and even more tragic there was no way to help them. Grace was more hit on a personal level, felt more helpless, as feeling that it was somehow her fault when really it wasn't.

“They will struggle, a lot of struggling, getting back to their roots and relearn everything. It's very sad " Norm comments. His thoughts drift to spider, thinking what it would have been like for his son. To be brainwashed and never been allowed to do things that he was born to do. A hell no child should go through.

“I know I am thinking ahead but…..who will take in these kids?” Trudy asks suddenly.

“Hi! Im spider! And I am your big brother!” little spider proudly points to himself as he talks to the newly arrived na’vi children. He was so excited to meet them the moment norm told him who was coming. New friends and new siblings!

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Jake asks, he and his friends huddle on the farthest corner of the old hells gate. Everyone watching the sarentu children carefully.

“They seem very comfortable with spider” Max points out.

“Its because he is human, didn't you see their faces? Seeing native na’vi? They looked horrified, "Grace whispers.

“STAY AWAY!! LEAVE US ALONE!!”

“ENGLISH!! WE DON'T UNDERSTAND YOU!!”

“THEY ARE GOING TO KILL US!!”

8 sarentu children huddled together, tears flowing down from their eyes, little bodies trembling in fear. Circling the younger ones, as they all scream and cry in utter terror. Surrounding them was what was supposed to be a welcoming celebration to these unfortunate children. What was supposed to be loving, cheerful, and harmouns, the children only feared things that they don't understand.

And what they dont understand is the native na’vi are right in front of them, speaking in a language they dont understand.

“And what is your name…?” Norm asks softly to the sniffling children, after what felt like forever with a touch of a miracle, the sarentu children have calmed down. A great thanks to Norm. Using his already experience with spider, he flawlessly managed to gather the 8 children and have them stop crying.

“M-my name is nor…” the little boy stutters out as he wipes away his tears. Holding hands with little teylan and ri’nela.

“That is a wonderful name, and you” norm compliments as he turns to one of the little girls. Looking down shyly as she plays with her hands, “my name is paw….”

“Im t-telisi….” another little girl says, being slightly more confident. Holding her hand was one of the older children. He was trying to look tough, brave and tall. Norm knew he too was scared inside but rather not show it.

“This is Yuayt….and-”

“ACHOO!!”

Telisi was cut off from a sneeze, coming from another little girl.

“And she is okni, she gets sick easily,” Telisi informs.

Okni was rubbing her nose when another little boy, ripping a piece of his shirt to wipe her nose.

“And that is yefti….”

Norm took a good look at all of the sarentu children. He was about the make the more bizarre choice ever in his life. Perhaps more bizarre than all of the bizarre ideas. He was gonna make all of these sarentu children into Spellman children.

“Come on slow pokes!!”

“Yeah! I'm smaller yet faster than any of you!!”

“Telisi! Spider! Be Careful!”

9 little spellman children were exploring the vast forest that was now their forever home. There is always an adventure to explore, little mysteries to solve and skills to hone.

Spider and Telisi make way for their other siblings as they fearlessly go ahead. Not far behind was nor and ri’nela with teylan between them. Nor trying his best to keep while ri’nela takes her sweet time. Behind them yuayt giving okni a piggyback right while paw was holding okni’s hand and yefti being comfortably silent beside them.

“Feeling any better okni?” paw asks, giving her sister a gentle squeeze on her hand. Okni nods, giving a reassuring smile.

“That medicine better work, or else we will use the medicine that humans use” yuayt says.

Paw frowns a bit, “don't be like that, the tsahik is a master of healing. It is her life's job, why do you still doubt her skills?” she asks her brother. Yefti also gives a disapproving look to his brother.

“It's been a year already and Okni is still sick. In my eyes, there hasn't been any changes” yuayt replies.

“She stopped having accidents at night. Not puking as much and can now sleep through the night without any interruptions. I see that as major progress” yefti signs. Trying to points out the positive outcomes from mo’ats medicines.

“He is right, and okni can eat more now!” paw adds.

“Not enough” yuayt scoffs.

“Dont be meanie” okni whispers as she gently pokes her brother's cheek.

Yuayt stopped complaining after that.

“Spider! Telisi! Slow down! Ma’eywa!” nor shouts, giving up on telling his siblings to not go that far ahead.

Ri’nela giggles as she helps Teylan go over a big tree root.

“It is futile brother, they are just too energetic” she says. Nor sighs, she is right. Out of everyone, his two older siblings are such a chaotic duo. They were slowing down for the other trio to catch up.

Teylan looks over to see yefti and smiles, “YEEYEE!!” he shouts excitedly.

Yefti smiles, seeing his baby brother and runs over to him. Teylan reaches out his little arms, wanting to be picked up, to which yefti happily complies.

“You spoil him brother” nor says.

Yefti merely shrugs, “it makes him happy. Also he wants to copy okni” he signs.

“Speaking of, I can carry okni if you are getting tired yuayt” ri’nela offers as her brother gets closer.

Yuayt shakes his head, “im fine, okni is lighter than that little fatty”

Okni hit him in the back of the head, “done be a meanie, teylan isnt fat, just squishy” she gently scolds.

“Eerr….teylan’s appetite is growing…” paw says.

“Its fine, with all the running and climbing, he won't be squishy forever” ri’nela says as she gives teylan a playful pinch on his chubby cheeks.

“He won't if yefti keeps carrying him like a baby” nor comments.

“Teylan is a baby” yefti signs.

“I'm gonna beat you spider man!!” telisi teases.

“NEVER!!! They don't call me monkey boy for nothing!!” spider shouts.

Both laugh and cheer to their hearts content as they run through the vast forest, not caring to stop. Letting the wind hit their faces, overcoming any obstacle and quick thinking.

Climbing to the floating mountains do they see their goal.

“I'm gonna win~!!” telisi shouts enthusiastically.

Spider summoned all his strength and went even faster, going past telisi and makes the leap of faith.

“SPIDER!!!” his sister screams, stopping to witness him jump from the edge of the cliff and flying towards the nearest landing.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAHH!!”

Spider braced for impact, his side landing first on the rocky ground. Grunting in pain, and a bit dizzy, he shakly gets up. Dusting off the dirt and rubble, he laughs.

“HA!!! I WIN!!” he cheers.

Telisi shakes her head, huffing loudly.

“Dad is going to skin you…”

“OOOOOOOWW!! OWOWOWOWOW!!!” the spider squeaks in pain.

Ri’nela sighs, trying to gently tend to his bruising and scratches.

“You are lucky dad is busy with Jake, he will be very angry when he finds out what you did” she scolds her big brother.

Spider chuckles a bit, “I couldn't let telisi beat me, my record would be broken”

“I like competition brother, but never when it comes to risking our lives” telisi shouts across from the room they are in.

Okni hears spider in pain, and quietly goes over to him, silently offering some of her medicine. Spider gently denies.

“I'm ok sis. Don't waste your medicine, you need it more than I do”

Okni slight frowns. Offering it again.

“Spider is right. It is not easy for the tsahik to make that medicine, okni. Only you can use it” ri’nela says as she adds the last bandaged on spider’s side.

“Kiri can make some. We can ask her” okni finally speaks, clutching her herb pouch.

“Kiri is too busy looking at pretty flowers to make medicine” yuayt scoffs. He and teylan were messing with some old technology equipment. More like yuayt trying to make sure no small piece gets into teylan’s mouth.

“Can anything positive come out of your snarky mouth?” nor asks a bit sarcastically. Earning a glare from yuayt, “When you stop bitching like a-”

“Ok that's enough you two” spider interrupts what could be another round of word fighting.

Yuayt rolls his eyes, lifting teylan from the table, handing him over to yefti who gladly accepts. Grabbing his knife and gun, he makes his way to the exit. The other kids following his movement.

“And where are you going?” telisi asks.

“Somewhere” yuayt replies and leaves.

Almost everyone shakes their head.

“I will get the fire started, no doubt he is coming back with some good yerik” ri’nela informs. Telisi and Paw quickly helped her.

Norm walks into his home after saying his nightly farewells to Jake and his family. It was a long day with so many things to do, but happy he will come home to his kids. Chuckling to himself, norm cant help but smile widely. It has been a year since the kids were rescued from the hellish TAP facility and already have grown so much.

A lot has happened, overcoming trauma is not an easy thing. The Sarentu children were easily scared when starting to live here. Scared about everything, even seeing other na’vi. Norm still couldnt believe a lot has progressed over one year. Though not all is perfect and not every wound is healed.

There is still a lot left to do for these kids, his kids.

And speaking of his kids, norm opens the door and-

“TOO MUCH SALT IS BAD!!”

“NO! IT MAKES IT TASTY!!”

“WHERE DID YOU EVEN GET THAT?!”

“FROM YOUR ASS! WHERE ELSE IDIOT! THE KITCHEN!”

Yup, another round of spellman chaos.

“HEY!”

All the spellman children stopped what they were doing and stared at norm.

“DAD!!” they all cheered. Forgetting about their argument, everyone ran towards their father. Jumping on him, hugging him, shouting so many things at the same time.

“Easy! One at a time!” He tries to settle down the kids.

“Dad! Nor added too much salt into the stew!”

“So what?!”

“Daaaaaaaaaaad!! Yuayt called nor a bitch again!”

“Dad dad dad!!! Spider did a dumb move today!!”

“Why are you snitching on me!? Dad I know who telisi’s crush is”

“DON'T YOU DARE!!”

“OK OK!! QUIET DOWN!!” norm shouts.

Everyone dispersed, giving norm room to get up and observe what is going on. From the smell and obvious pot cooking, it smelled like yerik meat stew. Knowing instantly, norm turns to yauyt.

“Did you hunt today?” he asks.

Yuayt shrugs, “why ask if you already know the answer”

Yefti slapped his arm, “really?” he signs.

Paw tugged on norms shirt, eagerly wanting to say something.

“Yes paw?” norm turns to her.

“Can we watch a movie after eating?” she asks, trying to look cute to convince him. Ruffling her hair, norm smiles, “lets eat first then we shall se

“Dad,” Telisi calls. Now turning to her, norm lets her continue.

“Spider jumped off a cliff and almost died” she tattles.

“SPIDER WHAT?!”

“SNITCHES GET STITCHES!!” spider warns.

“WHO IS WEARING THE STITCHES RIGHT NOW?!”

“Finally…..” norm can breathe in relaxation. After a hearty meal the food coma hit everyone.

Norm tucks little teylan between paw and yefti. Beside paw was Okni, who was also beside yuat. On the other side of yefti was nor and ri’nela. Spider and Telisi were sleeping over their other sleeping siblings. As if to protect them even as they slumber through the night.

Norm quietly observes the children. Everyday he gives his best, gives his thanks as he couldnt believe his luck. 9 beautiful children. Chaotic and rowdy but good kids.

Many wonder how norm does it. Every time he is asked, “how do you do it?” or “have you lost your mind yet?”

Many times was norm close to losing his mind, but knows better. Constantly reminding himself that his children could have been in worse situations. That they wouldn't be here if it wasn't for the call for help.

Jake at times would say “got a full house there norm”

Yeah, he was right. A single man trying to raise 9 kids does insane, lunatic, but norm enjoys all of it. And there is nothing in this world or the next would norm trade it for anything. His kids are not just sarentu or human kids, no, they are spellman children and norm be damned if others say anything else.

Aaaaaaaand that is it for this one! This fic took me a good while because I was trying to get every scrap of information about the other sarentu children. See what personalities I can create.

Until the other sarentu children are properly shown in the frontiers, this is what I cam up with. So I hope you guys enjoyed it! Until next time! See ya!

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deadboydetectives-confessions · 4 months ago

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Listen. This is petty, I know it's petty, nobody has to tell me. But some of the outfit misconceptions in fic are areally starting to get on my nerves. Things that require extra research, like Edwardian undergarments or detachable collars, I can excuse, because we're all just having fun here and tbh those garments are inconvenient sometimes. But things that are straight up just visible in the show? Charles is NOT wearing jeans, he's wearing slacks/trousers! He doesn't wear a belt, he's wearing suspenders/braces! He has TWO coats, the black overcoat with all the pins and patches, plus the burgundy zip-up jacket with plaid lining (Harrington jacket).

And Edwin is not wearing a waistcoat, he's wearing a sweater vest. His layers go brown overcoat, blue-grey striped suit jacket/blazer (unsure of the difference. Yes this is sort of hypocritical. As established, I'm being petty), darker blue sweater vest, white button-up shirt (with detachable collar).

Honestly the one that gets to me the most is the waistcoat/sweater vest mix up, because that one's so visibly obvious if you've watched the show any sort of recently. The jackets and jeans thing takes a bit of a closer watch. But at this point it's starting to take me out of a fic, and in order to keep enjoying it I have to be like "well, alternate universe where Charles wears jeans. I guess." or "I guess Edwin decided to be fancy and put on a waistcoat today."

Just, rewatch the show I am begging you. Or take this ask as a PSA.

#confession #dbda #dead boy detectives #fanfic related

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tetsuooooooooooo · 2 months ago

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ok im watching act 3 again to write down my questions and see if anything makes sense this time

edit im 2 eps in this got long as FUCK kjchgxhi come talk to me!!!!! im screeching into the void!!!!!!! americans wake up look at my post!!!!!!!! say everything to me!!!!!!!!!

why are we introducing time travel alternate universes into this story

where did the other ekko go, was he in Our ekkos universe/body or just out of commission, bc that makes no sense i think, if they didnt switch then wheres the ✨symmetry✨

do you think that skye had anything to do with them figuring out the cleaning flowers thing in the AU? and is viktor dead? and jayce in jail? banished? i wonder where skye went here i hope shes living her best not in love with a gay guy life

where the FUCK was the Original-AU heimerdonger when he got bodysnatched by the Our version? they do still call him professor but in Our version he just recently got kicked out of the council so would he still be just freeloadin around zaun at that point in the AU? was he ever councilor?

can everyone on my screen Please stop hurling their guts out from timetraveldisease

if theres no hextech and no anomaly in the AU reality then how did it throw them in it in the first place

ekko is smart but if he was smarter hed stay around to research what needed to happen to make zaun work in this version and save himself time figuring it out from the groundup back home, i think

but also what the fuck COULD have possibly happened to make it so different CUZ LIKE- ok the little flashback bit with vi dying in jayces house- the gang is wearing the same clothes as in Our version, so that would probably indicate that THAT zaun was also in the same state as Our ""original"" version too? right? no? i mean i would say they did put emphasis on clag n mylos clothes being different and more piltovian or whatever idk maybe im onto nothing WAIT NO BECAUSE CLAGGOR WAS MAKING THE DAMN FLOWER TO CLEAN THE POLLUTION SO IF THATS STILL THERE THEN IT COULDNT HAVE BEEN RESOLVED THAT MUCH EARLIER HERE RIGHT

also what the fuck had to be different exactly for enforcers to bust the kids after blowing up a building and not chuck them all in stillwater this time around? did they really care that much about vi dying? was that really the inciting incident for zauns inclusion? marcus? fucking MARCUS marcus? marcus "im gonna bury the lot of you" "deals with the devil to get a 14 yearold put in jail for life"* marcus sees a zaunite girl dead (after breaking into a piltover home and wrecking it) and just goes "aw :c" ? the council of rich businessfucks like salo whod do everything they can to maintain the status quo? is One Dead Kid (still the name of my nonexistent band) really all it takes this time? am i too tough on these people am i dumb if id like some elaboration on how that whole story went or

*to be honest i. dont really get what that Deal thing with silco was about in the first place

wheres Scar aaaat show me my guyy whERES VIKAAA

how did the shimmer story end up in the AU because IF the main change here is vis death then i could believe that silco WAS still already on track with beginning the production at that point if of course singed is also in the same position as Originally

is there a universe where that hammer lands on jayjays head and ends him right there

did silco forgive vanvan before or after zaun gets their "win" in the AU? because my bet is DEFINITELY after

ALSO how the fuck in a city like piltover did they not renovate jayces blown up flat after fuck knows how many years, at LEAST 3 (id wager at least 7 but thats just me so whatever) like city of progress who?? is it just there as like a cautionary tale??? did they put up a lil plaque for jayce after he kild himself?? they just boarded that shit up tho there was nobody there?? why did they leave it like that idk

WHY did heimerdeimer die???? DID he die?? why did he DIE?????? what happens to the AU-Original hongerdonger??? you couldnt have just waited 10 minutes and have powder do allat?? she trusted us right? maybe not

why WAS bonking viktor in the head with the zdrive the answer to our problems

powder knew what she was doing with that innovators cum petition sign right

WHAT the FUCK was that mylo claggor moment like am i inSANE OR WAS THIS SUS AS HELL also (man rapping) put some FUCKING RESPECT on stromaes name

how DID rizzard viktor stop being purple actually. god i still hate that reveal im not smart but i refuse to believe that was good writing

what happened to put that rock in jayces wrist? it wasnt a process it was viktor doing it in a split second why did that need to happen? so he wouldnt lose it? hunh?

no because WHAT IS AMBESSAS FUCKING GOAL HERE IN THE END

does she want kino back? whAT DO YOU WANT WOMANNNN

did that princess girl that got her head sliced off by bessa in the first season actually have anything to do with anything in the end or not cuz im just confuzzled

how does he know that

what does that mean

how does SHE know THAT

what does THAT mean

does loris have the same accent as vik??????

where the fuck did that ginger binch come from in the first place is she from piltover or noxus if shes from piltover what did ambessa give her and when

Neither of them would say ANY of this shit

wonder what vi would say if she saw this conversation before her and cait decided to pork

im just gonna choose to believe she was in there for like 5 hours so her labrador attention span just reset and she chilled out about jinx (actually ykw i guess im willing to believe at this point she doesnt really care that much if jinky offs herself or not)

what the FUCK ARE these goddamn doll puppet thingies viktor makes why are they LIKE that why is THIS the theme here (because orianna and Plot) (but like dyouknow what i mean)

what the fuck was the point of Skye Young as a character in this entire story other than a Gaydar Jammer. with all respect to skyvik stans but like. what is it.

lmao you abandoned them much before that guys

we stan a I Gave You Food And A Roof Why Are You Sad You Ungrateful Ingrate queen

it REALLY DOESNT DOES IT JGHCCGHIBC

why DID skye die again? they wouldnt have just? integrated? again? or smthn? why is this a one-passenger ride all of a sudden? we already got a hivemind thing goin? whatsup?

#arcane #arcane 2 #arcane season 2 #arcane season 2 spoilers #viktor #viktor arcane #jayvik #caitvi #jinx #jinx arcane #jayce talis #skyvik #arcane critical

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eleni-cherie · 6 months ago

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a thief's origin✨ || bts • kth - chapter 0.6

"you're afraid I won't wait." "I'm afraid you will."

a criminal and a doctor should be as different as the sun and the moon - but unexpected things happened every day. like him finding his safe haven in her.

»»»

masterlist: here

— genre: thief au, gangster comedy, adventure, romcom, humour, angst, fluff, sexual tensiON, slowburn, mutual pining, strangers to friends to lovers s2f2l

ALTERNATIVE UNIVERSE. CHARACTERS NOT NECESSARILY LIKE THE REAL PERSONS. ALSO VERY UNREALISTIC PLOT LOL - JUST PRETEND READING A MANGA/COMIC OR WATCHING A FILM, REALLY.

SUGGESTIVE THEMES. MENTIONS OF VIOLENCE & BLOOD (BUT NOTHING TOO GRAPHIC, IT'S STILL A COMEDY!)

»»»

The inside of the embassy looked much like the outside let assume.

Fancy furniture with tasteful vases and decoration, wallpaper-covered walls and paintings hanging on them. A big mirror placed across from the entrance hall caught their attention, seeing themselves in it when entering. Their eyes lingered on their reflection a little longer. They looked like actually belonging there along with the other guests.

Taehyung gently guided her to the direction string music was heard from, following the other attendees inside. As they entered the ball room, she let the blazer fall from her shoulders, returning it to him.

"So, what's the plan?" Cassandra whispered, eyeing everyone around them eagerly as he put it back on. "Eavesdropping on a diplomat? Observing the guests? Keeping track of the security? I counted five guards nearby so far."

He chuckled at how serious she was taking her role, flattening the collar of his shirt. "First, I have to meet the guys. They sneaked in my gun, so I gotta get it from them."

Right, made sense. He couldn't have sneaked it in with the metal detector at the entrance.

"Oh okay, and what am -"

"You'll take your seat at our designated table and wait, okay?" Before she could even revolt, Taehyung tapped his in-ear and pivoted towards the back of the room only to disappear in the sea of well-dressed people.

Cassandra huffed, taking a handful of tulle into her fists before trotting to the direction of the tables at the side. The invitation said she'd be at table 16 and soon she spotted the card with the number. And the place card with her fake name on it.

Ms Cassandra Vasques. A fake research scientist in the medical field.

At least the field of profession wasn't so far off. Probably chosen on purpose by Jimin to minimize the potential of her blowing her cover. A medical researcher was easier than pretending being an international lawyer or engineer.

With disappointment spreading inside her, she took a seat and propped her chin into her palm. As if her insecurities hadn't been enough, now she was left to sit there alone like a loser. Besides, she could swear the old lady in her dark blue dress sitting at the table next to hers was scrunching her nose at her. Great.

Cassandra's arms instinctively folded in front of her in an attempt to cover the décoleté, although she could spot some other ladies with similar deep necklines or daring side-cuts while still managing looking classy.

She dragged a breath when sensing someone approaching her. A waiter from the look of his red vest and the silver tablet he was holding.

"May I take your order?"

"Red wine and.. and any cocktail you have with blue curacao, please." The waiter rose a mildly startled brow but only gave her a bow before leaving again.

If she had to go through this night feeling like a fool she might at least enjoy herself with a cocktail. She rarely got to drink any, so might as well tonight.

The drinks arrived soon and she immediately took a few sips of the deep light blue drink. Contently wiggling her shoulders when tasting the sweet-sour taste.

Unsure if much time passed or she simply drank too quickly, something she tended to unfortunately despite a cocktail's high alcohol percentage, her drink had eventually reached the lower half of the glass.

She felt a light buzz taking over, her mind beginning to float lightly and a sheepish smile plastered over her lips as she observed the people dancing to the string quartet's music in the dimly lit ballroom. Making her head sway to its rhythm, mimicking their movements.

She wasn't drunk, nor really tipsy. She had only begun to loosen up a little when she decided to take another sip before checking her make-up, just in case. The small pocket mirror in her purse coming in handy, she noticed that of course some of the the brownish-red lipstick had faded by now and she attempted to fix it with the lipstick she'd bought, when the reflexion of something black appeared behind her. Her eyes narrowed and in a mindless move, she turned her head and let the lipstick disappear back inside the purse.

Taehyung was standing behind her, having returned and now glancing down at her with a soft grin on his face. His hand stretched out towards her.

She looked at it suspiciously, making him laugh under his breath.

"May I have this dance?"

Cassandra shrugged, not try hiding she was sulky of him abandoning her among strangers. All her social awkwardness she thought she'd left behind in university, resurfacing after all in an unknown environment.

"Sure, but I have no clue how to dance."

Taehyung noticed her sullen mood but decided not to go into it and instead make up for his, admittedly, unpolite behaviour.

"You're lucky I don't mind you stepping on my feet."

Somehow this along with his boyish naive smile managed coaxing out a small laugh from her after all and her expression softened. Usually she wasn't so fast in giving in, but he made it easy.

Eventually, she placed her hand in his bigger one and let his fingers close around it and Taehyung gently pulled her up from her seat. Leading her through the crowd, until they reached the centre of the dancefloor. A clear vision of the band playing on the stage. Along with a clear sight on the French embassandor. Cassandra looked behind her to see what he was looking at and recognised the man. She hadn't attended totally unprepared after all, having looked up photos of him and his wife online, remembering Taehyung's task - which naively enough also in some way felt like hers, too - to keep an eye on the embassandor and warn the others if he attempted to leave and go upstairs.

Another couple bumped into her, not paying attention while dancing and she redirected her focus on Taehyung. He held her hand firmly, his other arm loosely wrapped around her waist. Pulling her closer in the narrow space, to prevent her from bumping into another person. And Cassandra swallowed at the almost non-existent gap between their chests.

"You have something.. there." He gestured to the corner of his lips and she frowned for a moment before realising she must've smudged the lipstick when seeing him behind her. And she cursed under her breath because of course, her clumsiness just never gave her a break.

"Wait, I -" She attempted to let go and get her purse but his thumb was already wiping off the faint smudge and she paused startled. Her eyes blinking rapidly. "T-thanks."

He nodded, his hand going back to holding hers as they began to move among the others.

"I really don't know how to dance, I wasn't joking," she mumbled embarrassed as she felt her feet almost tripping with every move, glancing up at him with an apologetical smile. He only breathed out a chuckle and she felt her skin tingling where his hands were laying on her.

"Just follow the rhythm." His mellow voice almost drowning in the soft melody around them.

It was so strange. Like a fever-dream. Swaying with him among strangers who were most likely by far more important and wealthy than her. She felt like Cinderella. A poor maid in disguise at the king's ball, dancing with prince charming himself.

And as they kept moving, her body following his eloquent moves, she felt the tingle develop into a burning, spreading on every inch of her skin like wildfire. And she wasn't sure if it was the liquor, opening her blood vessels on its surface, or the warmth of his touch that caused it.

There had always been an attraction simmering under the surface for Taehyung, she couldn't deny that. It'd been there four years ago when she'd first met him and it'd still been there over a year ago when meeting him again.

However, Cassandra had never dared to see him as more than a friend before, knowing it would've been pointless with their vastly different lives.

But moving along his lead under the sparkling lights of the dimlit room in such close proximity along with the palm of his hand leaving her waist to lay flat right at the ribbon on her lower back, made her feel deezy.

Right now, her mind had completely shut down and all she could hear was her beating heart putting her skin on fire and all she could see was his dark irises, getting lost in their depth - along with that damn lonely curl on his forehead.

She was an internist. She knew the neuro-biology behind attraction, inflatuation, sex and even the feeling of love.

Neurotransmitters, hormones, endorphines.

At the end, it all came down to serotonine, dopamine, β-endorphine and noradrenaline.

She also knew, however, that this cocktail of messengers alone would only cause a feeling of happiness, lust and content, no deeper feelings. It was humans themselves putting meanings into them. And right now, Taehyung was causing her neurological system to have a complete meltdown.

His hand slid off from her lower back then and he stepped back, making her spin before stepping in and catching her again. And she held her breath for a moment before giggling, seeing an equal amused glint in his eyes. His hand finding her waist again. "Would've never guessed you'd be such a good dancer," she teased. Her natural response to distract from her flustered face.

He shrugged non-chalantly, spinning her again. Her giggles making him smile while he glanced above people's heads. Spotting the embassandor talking with other guests next to a pillar at the side.

"Picked up some moves at all these sleazy parties we attended."

"Mhm, to dance with all the pretty girls I see.." she grinned.

He only breathed a laugh, his attention back to Cassandra. Sensing her hand gliding from his chest to his back. Briefly brushing over the pistol grip that stuck out from the waistband and pressed onto his lower back under the suit jacket.

A slower song began playing and she leaned her head against his shoulder to rest her - surely alcohol-induced - spinning head. And they began moving slower. His breathing hitching along with their movement.

Her eyes closed then and she let herself take in the feeling of Taehyung holding her in his broad arms like this. Forgetting completely where they were and why. For just a minute, she wanted to be in a bubble of her own instead.

Taehyung smiled to himself, pressing his cheek against her sweet-scented curls.

The bare curve of her back fit perfectly under his fingertips and he wondered if that was even possible or if he just made things up by now. Like the aching in his chest and the cloudiness of his mind at the feeling of Cassandra's delicate body swinging in his arms.

"No, you're the only pretty one so far."

His thoughts mindlessly slipped out of his lips, not meant to actually be said out loud. And the thief realised he had to snap out of whatever this was he was letting himself get lost in.

They were only there as a cover so he could keep an eye out for the job.

And moreover, Cassandra was a friend. A dear friend. One of those friends you didn't need to see every day to know they were there. A friend who, no matter how much time apart, it would always feel like not even a day had passed by since the last time you'd joked with them. No matter how far away, they still cared for you. And you for them.

That was the kind of friend Cassandra was to him. A special one. He knew, after all, that a friendship like this wasn't a given. Especially considering his busy and beyond legal life.

So no, he couldn't allow himself to feel anything beyond that. He couldn't allow himself to dwell or surrender to that looming feeling. Or the way his chest contracted irregularly when sensing her fingers fisting his suit jacket when hearing his words.

Cassandra's heart skipped a beat at his warm breath brushing over her ear and she swallowed. She wanted to believe she knew him well enough to know he'd never say something ingenuine, he wasn't the type to wrap others around his finger just for fun.

"Glad my dress is 'fitting' enough," she quietly joked, reciting his previous choice of words to ease the sudden tension between them. His chest vibrating against her cheek.

"Mh, green is my favourite colour."

Her eyes fluttered open at this and she slightly heaved her head to look at him.

"You're lucky, then," she smirked, "If it was available in blue or red, I'd have chosen them instead."

"Huh." His lips shaped a small grin. "Are these your favourite colours? Blue and red?"

"Mhm, and their pastel shades."

He nodded, licking over his suddenly dry lips. "Yeah, I can see that. Emeralds, sapphires, rubies.."

She faked offence with a pout then to keep herself from blushing. "No diamonds?"

For a moment, he simply stared at her dark-frame eyes, mesmerized and perhaps a bit bewitched by their intenser look that night. "Diamonds are awfully common, they wouldn't suit you," he said matter-of-factly as they danced in a circle. The song changing into a more up-beat one. "They just became popular thanks to good PR."

Her lips formed a small 'o'. "Really? I didn't know that." Intentionally dismissing the subtle compliment between his words - unsure if she could handle herself otherwise - she was surprised by this information, seeing him nod.

She hummed then, looking away for a second before giving him an amused smile.

"Wow, what good promo can do. So no diamonds then.. good thing I was never a big fan of them anyway."

His brows rose, not having expected that as most people were, thanks to aforementioned advertisement.

"No?"

"No, though there's one exception.."

Now he was intrigued. "And what would that be?"

Her lips curled and she bit back a cheeky grin. "I wouldn't say no to a pink diamond like the Pink Panther."

At this Taehyung couldn't help but burst out laughing with a chesty sound. Of course she'd be referring to a classic heist film, he thought. His head falling back before he tried containing himself as a few people around them already glanced in utter bewilderment at his sudden amusement.

Flashing her a square grin then, still chuckling. "A pink diamond would suit you indeed."

Cassandra smiled contently and placed her head back onto his shoulder. Feeling her cheeks warm. "Thank you."

His glance left her then and instead wandered up, looking around in the sea of important people and to the direction of his main person of interest. Only to freeze, coming to an abrupt halt.

The embassandor was gone from his spot and nowhere to be seen.

Dammit, he wasn't able to spot him.

Cassandra frowned, mirrowing his expression. "What h-"

"Come," he said in a stern tone and tugged at her hand. Rushing out of the crowd. "I lost sight of him," he explained over his shoulder when reaching the spot he had last seen him at.

Her eyes widening in mild panic as well, now also frantically looking around.

With quick steps, he held her close to him as they left the ball room. His eyes intense and it worried her, the last time she'd seen that expression on them was when they'd been chased through Barcelona half a year ago.

He scanned their surroundings, his eyes seemingly a shade darker and he tapped his in-ear transmitter then. "Guys? Stay alert, I lost sight of him."

"What?" Jimin's raised voice was heard from the other line. "How? Weren't you paying attention?"

"I-" He briefly peeked at Cassandra. Feeling disappointed in himself for acting like a noob and letting himself get distracted. "I shortly lost focus," he eventually muttered.

"Yeah, can imagine with what," his friend chuckled then and he felt his cheeks turning red.

"We're almost done," Yoongi spoke up then, "Just make sure he isn't entering his office in the next ten minutes."

"Got it."

According to the blueprint, the office was in the second floor, at the end of the left corridor. Right there where Jimin and Yoongi were located at right now.

He took a last glance into the ball room, ensuring he hadn't missed him.

"Can you see him?"

Cassandra shook her head. "No, but I can see his wife. Wait."

Before Taehyung even realised she had left his side, she was already walking up to the embassandor's wife, a blond woman in her forties in a deep lavender-coloured dress currently holding a martini while chatting with another woman. Only when he saw her green dress flowing a few metres away from him, he realised what she was planning to do. His eyes widening, about to run after her and hold her back when the blonde turned and smiled at Cassandra. The three women began to chat away for a moment. Cassandra giggling at something the brunette woman in the blue dress said, bowing at her before walking back to him.

Already spotting Taehyung's inquiring look. "What did you-"

"Her husband apparently lost his cufflink and went to replace it with another pair in his office. He's supposed to deliver a speech in fifteen minutes and didn't want to do it without it."

"How did-"

She shrugged, cutting him off. "I just introduced myself with the fake name and explained my work in the medical field. The other woman was the leader of a women's health organisation, I recognised her. So it was easy to strike a conversation. Then I casually wondered where the gala's host was and she told me."

His lips parted, taken aback by how smoothly she obtained the information, almost reminding him of the other smooth-talker he knew, Jimin. However, something else caught his attention then.

"Office you said?"

She nodded.

Fck.

He slid off his suit jacket, wrapping it around her shoulder. "Wait outside for me, okay?"

"Wh-why? Where are you going?"

"Saving their asses."

And with that he ran off, leaving her back. Again. If she didn't know better she'd have thought he was Cinderella and it was close to midnight.

Holding his blazer tightly, Cassandra went back to the ball room, passing by the dancing crowd and towards their table where she picked up her purse before making her way out of the stuffy atmosphere. Past the foyer with the big mirror which she intentionally ignored and exiting the building, the cool night air hitting her heated skin.

- Heated from the drinks and the heat from so many people in the room of course.

At least there were also other guests lingering around there. Some only now arriving, others gathered in small groups for a smoke.

She held the suit jacket closer to herself when she felt several pairs of eyes on her, stepping more to the side where she hopefully wouldn't gain any attention. And she waited.

Usually, she wasn't someone who liked being in the dark, but she understood this wasn't a common situation for her. Her only role was to get Taehyung in, nothing else. She was supposed to stay out of trouble. So she tried actually listening this time and simply let him do his job.

However, after awhile she felt bored and didn't know what exactly to do with herself, so she observed other guests when suddenly faint pop-sounds echoed above her.

She glanced up, unable spotting anything out of the ordinary that could've caused it. It seemed like nobody else had heard it though, most likely due to the loud background noises of chatter and music.

Minutes passed and she grew more impatient while waiting outside in the chilly air, another sound being heard then. This time it was a creaking from around the corner.

The young woman tensed, again no one else but her having heard it. Sparkling her curiosity once again, she turned around the corner only to be almost hit by someone landing right in front of her on the grass. And she squealed, clutching her purse tightly until realising it was none other than Taehyung who had appeared out of nowhere.

"What are you doing here?" she whispered in a hiss as he brushed over his black dress shirt. His hair dishevelled by now.

He quickly pressed a finger to his lips then, shushing her. And with wonderous eyes she observed him sliding the magnum out from between his waistband along with a small cylinder. Screwing it onto the gun barrel. Next, he pressed himself against the wall, peeking around the corner and aiming at the side-building on the opposite side of the courtyard.

He knew they were at a blind spot which the guards couldn't spot, but if he leaned out too much he'd be caught by them so he had to act quick and careful.

His tongue slightly darted out as he focused, firing one precise shot at a window in the first floor then. Everyone present stirred up at the shilling sound and the security from the entrance immediately rushed inside. The people who had been outside in the courtyard all looked up at the window while raising their voices in confusion. Confused mumbles about what it could've been, some guessing a stone having been thrown. No one having guessed a gunshot as the silencer prevented it creating a loud enough noise for the to hear with the background buzzing.

Content by their reactions, Taehyung tapped his in-ear then. "Quick."

At his command, Yoongi's head followed by Jimin's appeared out of the window in the second floor. And the two began climbing out the windowsill to slid down the gutter pipe. Half-way through though they slipped and landed in the bushes beneath them, with butts first.

Taehyung and Cassandra stifling a laugh at the hilarious sight.

"Haha funny."

"Well, quite an elegant way to go," Yoongi chuckled in self-irony as he picked leaves out of his hair.

"Something that wouldn't have happened if someone had done his job correctly," Jimin coughed then. A knowing smirk on his lips as he glanced at Taehyung from the corner of his eye. Before the younger one could counter something though, he already waved him off. "Anyway. Let's get out of here before they notice."

They nodded, Taehyung turning to her then. "Cas, wait at the gate for a few minutes. We'll get the car and pick you up."

"Wh-"

"Just trust me, okay?"

She swallowed at his look of appeal and nodded. Watching them sneak behind the bushes to the very back of the high metal fence, which immedietally subjected to Yoongi's katana as if it was nothing but butter under a knife. And the three escaped from the hole and into the night.

Perplexed and a little unsure, Cassandra slowly walked out and making sure no one had seen her appearing from behind the corner when she heard loud voices coming from the open window in the second floor. Security probably having entered the office.

Acting as if she hadn't had a clue about what had gone down, she innocently walked across the courtyard and through the corridor to the entrance. The grip around Taehyung's suit jacket firm when she entered the chill night at the open street. Even humming while letting her gaze wonder around, pretending she didn't notice any of the uproar from inside the building. Glancing at her imaginary watch then, she acted as if she was waiting for someone and they were late which technically was true.

Finally, the familiar black limousine appeared in front of her and she hurried to the backseat where Yoongi greeted her with a nod. And they drove off.

"Alright. What even happened?" she asked then, a rush of adrenaline still running through her veins as she began shifting in her seat and glancing at each of them.

Taehyung dragged out a tired breath from the passenger seat, recalling the events of the past twenty minutes. How the embassandor had indeed been heading to his office. How Taehyung had to knock out a security guard to create a commotion in the first floor for the embassandor and his security to go check out. And then him escaping by climbing out the window before they reached the source. "Nothing."

Cassandra blinked with a scoff. "Nothing? Seriously now?"

"Just had to do create a little distraction."

Was that the noise she had heard? "What distraction?"

He smirked into his palm that was propping up his chin. "Oh, you know. Had to get a little creative." By basically making his own firecrackers.

"Don't worry, love, no one saw us and we got what we were there for," Jimin smiled brightly from behind the steering wheel, glancing at her in the rear-view window before adding with a wink, "Nice dress, by the way. I can see why Taehyungie got so distracted."

Taehyung's brows rose at this, his hand slipping from his chin. He probably would've fought his friend if he hadn't been driving right now, surpassing cars at speed limit.

"This had nothing to do with anything," he said with a scowl, keeping his voice calm and unphased. Cassandra only folded her lips, nodding to ensure she believed him. His attention then returning to Jimin. "And you, can you not flirt with any female for just five minutes?"

He was just glad he had offered her his blazer so they didn't actually get to see the whole dress or otherwise Jimin wouldn't have stopped pestering her.

He heard the master thief groan in annoyance then. His gleeful mood by their successful stunt, sullening with Taehyung's irrational agitation. "Man, chill. She looks good, that's all I said."

"It's alright, seriously," Cassandra giggled bemused by their quarreling, patting Taehyung's shoulder reassuringly from the back. She leaned over between the seats then to flash Jimin an appreciating grin. "And thanks. Wasn't quite sure about it so I'm glad someone likes it."

Jimin's eyes widened at this, peeking at Taehyung dumbfounded. "Don't tell me I'm the only one who complimented you tonight."

"Well," she laughed under her breath and sat back, "I also heard it'd be 'fitting' for the occasion. I took that as a compliment."

"I-it definitely was," Taehyung assured, earning an eye-roll from Jimin who found him unbelievable.

"You do look good," Yoongi spoke up then from beside her. Giving her a small encouraging smile, which she reciprocated happily.

"Thank you, Yoongi!" It felt great to hear all these compliments, even if it was just out of politeness.

Her eyes briefly wandered to the passenger seat then, lingering there a moment when an inaudible sigh escaped her. Adverting her eyes from him then and instead looking out at the passing buildings across the illuminated Danubian bank.

As they turned into a side-street and away from the river, Jimin's phone vibrated in his pocket. Cassandra didn't really think much of it, but Yoongi and Taehyung exchanged an alerted glance. There were only two reasons someone would call him after all.

Either it was Arabella, wanting to persuade him into helping her out again or it was interpol being on their tail.

Honestly, they didn't know which one was the worse trouble.

By the light scowl on Jimin's face, though, and the lack of flirting and heart-eyes while speaking to the caller, it was most likely not Arabella.

"Alright, thanks dear," he said then and ended the call. A groan leaving his lips before he faced them with an uneasy laugh. "Well, seems like pops found our hide-out. The nice old neighbour called me. I'd asked her to let me know if someone showed up and she said some tall, handsome guys with trenchcoats were questioning them."

"Sounds like pops and his entourage," Yoongi nodded, being glad Jimin was charming enough to convince nice old ladies to help them out and inform them if cops showed up, "How far is the airport?"

"Pops? You mean that interpol agent?" Cassandra's eyes grew twice in size when recalling that nickname, "He found you here? How?"

They shrugged. "That's his job, after all. He'd quite suck if he didn't do it right occasionally," Jimin chuckled, taking a sharp turn and earning some honking from other drivers.

"You think it'd be smart to head to the airport now though?" Taehyung wondered out loud then, "Last time they were already surveillancing all airports and stations. Maybe we should just head to another city and lay low instead."

"You got a point," Jimin agreed then, "But then we gotta change cars. They'll probably soon find out about this one."

"Crap."

They fell silent and Cassandra looked around. "Well, how about you hide somewhere like my hotel room for the night and then think of something in the morning? I mean, no one will search you there, right?"

They perked up, Taehyung instantly shaking his head. "No. You already got enough involved."

"But no one knows that yet," she deadpanned, making his jaw clench. "No one will find you there."

"She got a point.."

"No, she doesn't," he protested in vain. He knew she was right, but he simply couldn't accept that.

"Alright, you got another idea then?"

"The one I suggested."

"You forget that last time they were also barricading the main roads in and out the city," Yoongi countered then, "So got any other idea?"

He didn't.

»»»

Thankfully, and much to Taehyung's relief, they didn't have to actually all cramp in Cassandra's hotel room since the room next door was unoccupied. It was easy for them to pick the old lock after sneaking into the building from an open window without anyone noticing that they were even there. The perks of old, small hotels.

When they parted, Cassandra's body was still buzzing from the gala. The exhilarating feeling not having fully subdued yet.

After entering her dark room, she first freed her feet from the stilettos and kicked them as far away as possible, not wanting to ever see them again. However, she didn't feel like taking off her dress as well yet and shedding off the elegant feeling of the night so soon.

It was still fairly early, not even midnight yet, and she decided to sit outside at the small balcony for a moment to cool down and recall the last few hours. Taking one of her jackets with her as she'd already returned Taehyung's blazer.

It was silent in the backyard of the hotel, save for the faint melody of music coming from an open window somewhere. The little tables in its centre sitting lonely among trees and bushes.

It was ironic in a way, how no one out there could imagine what had happened on the other side of the city that night. As if it was a parallel universe.

Standing there for awhile enjoying the peaceful silence and reliving the evening in her head - while intentionally not dwelling too much on specific moments, or feelings - she decided to go back inside. It was getting cold, even with her thick jacket on, and a sudden exhaustion overcame her after all when the sound of someone stepping out on the balcony beside hers made her pause in her tracks.

She knew it must've been one of the guys and yet, whoever it was probably went out to be alone just like her, so she didn't want to intrude.

So she dared an attempt to sneak inside. Only to get hindered by a low chuckle.

"You stalking me now?" The teasing smirk was audible even from behind the partition. And Cassandra exhaled in relief before huffing jokingly.

"Excuse me, I was here before you?"

Taehyung tsked and leaned his folded arms over the railing right beside her. Letting his eyes wander over the dark scenary of the night. The music had stopped awhile ago, only a stray cat pushing a can echoed through the peacefulness now.

She leaned a bit over to catch a glimpse of him behind the thin cement wall then.

His side-profile shone under the sparse lighting of a lamp underneath them, its serene expression captivating. Unsure if she'd ever seen it before.

She was fond of it, though, just as she was fond of his strong brows, the curves of his nose and lips and all the other soft edges complimenting them. And she was especially fond of the way the night breeze was swaying his tousled strands, not much of their previously sleeked back state evident anymore. Causing them to fall right into his eyes before he pushed them back with his long fingers.

In that moment she made a mental snapshot of this sight, the sight only she got to see and nobody else. She knew with time, her memory wouldn't be able to fully capture this placid nature anymore, but she knew the emotions it triggered inside her would forever be engraved in it.

Her gaze wandered out into the old buildings then, she inhaled deeply and ignored the lingering chemical reactions underneath the surface of her skin. Pushing it all away. Or at least, pretended to.

"I had fun tonight."

Taehyung hummed in acknowledgement and tilted his head to face her better. In the faint lightning, her round face glowed like the mood. And he observed her tuck away a brash curl which had fallen into her view and got caught in her long eyelashes. Warm eyes absentmindedly staring at nothing in particular and he noticed the tiniest reflections of light dancing in them.

His mind instinctively remembering the similar sight in the ballroom only a few hour ago. When she was in his arms in the sea of people.

A shaky breath left his lips at that memory and he averted his eyes from her again. Focusing on the dark silhouette of a building in the distance instead.

"Me, too," he eventually breathed and pushed himself off the railing. "But don't expect this to happen again," his tone turning into a warning one then, "This was the first and only time you'll get involved in a heist."

He had to stifle a laugh when hearing her offended huff, imagining her folding her arms in front of her with an adorable confusion.

"What, why? It was so exciting! And I did my part well, didn't I? Not my fault if you blew it." A dull sound followed her mini rant along with her small yelp and he already figured out that she hit her elbow against the metal railing. Shaking his head, he was about to argue when she continued, blowing out some air. "Besides, it hardly counts as 'participating in a heist' anyway."

"And why doesn't it?"

"Because I barely noticed anything from the action."

Her complaint made a laugh brush past his lips. "Good. Let's keep it this way. It was the last time this happens anyway," he simply stated then and she pouted.

"Fine, you meanie."

"Cas-"

"I said 'fine', I get it," she sighed then, "I'm not naive, I know it can get far more dangerous than that. No reason to keep lecturing me. But it was still fun and I don't regret it. When else could I dress up and attend a gala after all?" She smiled and he could tell she genuinely meant it.

Taehyung nodded, biting back a smile.

"You looked beautiful tonight, by the way."

Her breath hitched and she stayed quiet for longer than she intended. "Oh, so not just 'fitting'?"

And Taehyung folded his lips, unable to retort anything as the mocking, even if playful, felt deserved.

Why had he struggled so much telling her before?

He should've told her way sooner, face to face with no partition seperating them. It had been on the tip of his tongue all night long, but something inside him feared crossing a line if saying it out loud. He felt like a coward right now.

But what if he didn't even mean to say 'beautiful'? What if the word he much rather preferred was 'breathtaking'?

"No. You.. you looked great."

His firm voice put a smile on her face, feeling the chemical reactions inside her gaining intensity all over again. She straightened herself then and cleared her throat.

"Thank you. You looked quite handsome, too, cool guy." Like someone who drank his vodka martinis 'shaken, not stirred' -type of handsome.

She found herself silly for not telling him sooner either, for some reason overthinking it the whole evening. So she couldn't really judge him for only complimenting her now. She wondered if he had struggled as much as she had.

"Ah, did I?" Taehyung laughed under his breath, masking his own blush.

"Mh, I'm sure you already knew."

"No, I didn't actually," he grinned, "But thank you."

And they enjoyed the silence of the night for a little bit longer.

»»»

next chapter: 0.7 here

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its-in-the-woods · 7 months ago

Text

The Woman Who Couldn’t Die Part 3

master list

Part 1 , Part 2,

Pairing: The Ghoul/Cooper Howard x Original Character

Alternative Universe where I make things up cause I can only research so much

Synopsis: His hands found their way to her hips, when was the last time he had looked at someone? Someone that he wasn’t trying to use, or kill. Her eyes roved over his, he kept waiting to see disgust or disinterest, instead her eyes just held his. A small smile played over her lips, as she glanced down

MINOR GET OUT. Rating/Warning: This is based on fallout expect Canon typical: Drug use, dEath, graphic viOlence, suggestions of SA, NonCon (not by the mc) suggestions of non con bodily harm, body horror, angst, hurt/comfort, death or people and animals, ptsd, drugs and alcohol use, addiction, slow build, angst with no comfort

Note: These will be spaced out as I am heavily editing and researching them. Each chapter will be 2-3+k words. Tags will be edited based on the chapter, please make sure you read them.

Also note that I will not be spoiling any of the reading. I will keep my tags relevant without spoiling what is happening in the story.

Jade didn't expect to feel suffocated as they entered into the settlement. The place was busy, people rushed back and forth, and there was an air of uncertainty. Mutters of raiders hanging around had the men at the gates asking a lot of questions. They were almost turned away until the Ghoul had fished out a handful of caps. The guard had taken a second before snatching them and letting them in. The place was the usual, several ramshackle buildings shoved together and surrounded by piles of trash that stood as walls. People gave them both the side eyes as they moved through the different kiosks and grifters.

The Ghoul didn’t say much just moving off towards a ramshackle pharmacy, Jade sighed at that. Guessing that their deal was now done, dead raiders or not she had only paid him to get here. The movement of people made her skin itch, too many people, too many eyes, too much of everything. She pushed back that crawling feeling that was poking at her neck. If she was gonna lose it she needed to be somewhere private, outside town. For now, she just needed to get some new clothes that actually fit. She saw a small shop with various clothes peeking out through some dust-covered windows, the place looked mostly empty which would be a good spot to try and clear her head.

Her heart slowed as she made her way into the buildings going through the racks of pieced-together clothing. Hoping to find something that fits a little better than her current attire. Her stomach was still knotted from her breakdown in the woods. Kill or be killed, was how she had lived most of her life, but seeing the raider beg for his life just to end it, had snapped something in her. The raider couldn’t have been out of adolescence, just a kid really, they all were just kids. Trying to somehow survive in this world. She wondered if they would have even attacked them, but they would have. The Ghoul had several rounds in his shoulder to prove that, and the raider he had skewered as he jumped out of the bush would have cut her throat just the same. Going soft over the dead would help no one. She needed to keep pushing forward or she’d end up dead.

The woman at the front was watching her closely, as she pulled out a shirt, a pair of cargo pants, and a heavier jacket. She had managed to grab a small amount of caps from the raiders. It won’t be enough but maybe a trade could be brokered.

“How much for these?” Jade asked, undoing her bag and putting it at her feet. The woman at the front wore a scowl as she came up to the counter.

“Eighty caps,” The woman chewed, her eyes looking Jade over. She was slim, like most folks, skin tanned by the never-ending sun, wearing a handmade dress.

“Could I do thirty caps and trade you some chems?” Jade asked, pulling out a few of the chems she’d snagged off the raiders.

The woman looked over the chems in front of her, eyes narrowing at the different bottles. Lips screwed up as she assessed each vial. She held them up to the skylight above her.

“Where you get these?” The woman prodded, standing back and putting her hand under the counter.

Jade backed up immediately, only grabbing her bag and putting it in front of her like a makeshift shield. Hand resting on her pistol behind the bag, she wasn’t the quickest draw but she wasn’t gonna let scrawny get her without a fight.

“There were raiders outside the town, just took care of them. Scounged what I could, like anyone else,” She swallowed eyes looking at the vials of chems still on the counter. As the women twitched staring daggers at Jade.

A familiar click sounded and Jade turned to see the Ghoul standing there with his gun pointed at the woman. His face was tight underneath the wide brim of his hat. His clothes fluttered around him as he stood there like something out of one of the old West novels Jade used to read.

“The girl was just doin’ what we all doin’,” He said, moving around to grab the vials of chems off the counter. “You don’t like her deal, just say so.”

The woman moved slowly, putting both hands on the counter, her eyes wide as she watched the Ghoul move. Her hands shook slightly as she looked over the man.

“Just had a lot of raiders around Ghoul. Don’t need my shop known for dealin’ with unsavory characters, such as yaself,'' She sputtered, “If the girl wants the clothes I will trade her what she offered.”

The Ghoul turned to Jade who had backed up even further, nodding his head at the women. The younger woman moved to drop the caps on the counter, turning to take the chems back from the Ghoul. She placed those down and grabbed the pieces of clothing.

“Thank you, for the trade,” Jade said briskly, turning to make sure the Ghoul was following her out of the building. His gun was still pointed at the cashier as he moved through the doorway, the way he moved was more cat-like. Fluid, quiet, and with ease.

Outside the Ghoul grabs Jade’s shoulder and spins her around as she tries to move away. She stifled a squawk looking at his face, a hardened mask, eyes searching over her, was he looking to see if she was okay?

“Figured you’d have ditched me by now,” Jade said quickly, tucking her clothes into her bag and placing it back onto her back. Looking around to make sure no one else was gunning for them. A cold weight pressed against her stomach.

The Ghoul sighed, turning away from her, “You’re welcome too, Pips-squeak.”

“I am going to go see if there is any work, maybe make enough to get a room,” The woman stated before walking towards the building with painted INN on the front. Underneath the awning was a board with several dozen sheets of paper pinned to it.

Stopping, she was surprised to feel the Ghoul stop a few feet from her, “I can’t pay you anymore, the last of my caps were used for the clothes.” The words felt bitter against her tongue, despite only knowing the man for three days, she had grown fond of him. They worked well together if the Raider incident was any indication, but she was certain that they’d be going their separate ways here.

“Ya, tryin’ to get rid of me, tiny?” The Ghoul chuckled, “Pretty sure you’d be radrat bait if I hadn’t walk’d in there.”

“Just figured the contract was up,” She licked her lips, eyes scanning the flyers. Not much was actually sinking in, Jade had very little knowledge of how any of this worked.

“Said ya wanted to be a bounty hunter.” The man said casually, Jade could see from the corner of her eye that he was staring at her.

Jade turned, her hands tucking around the straps of her backpack as she looked at him. That prey feeling washed over her, “Yeah I did. What are you suggesting?”

The crooked smile came across his face, which made her stomach flutter, “Why not let me teach ya? Best bounty hunt’r around.”

She narrowed her eyes at him, moving slightly closer to him. “The best for now.” Trying to hold his eye contact and not let the fear and sudden arousal eat at her.

He let out a short laugh, grabbing a flier off the wall. “Come on, got some roaches to kill.”

***

The Ghoul rests against a tree trying to wipe his face of the green guts from the radroach. Jade wasn't far from him flicking her hands of the viscous liquid. Stuff was everywhere and on everything, thicker than molasses on a cold day.

They had traveled for a day to get to the farm, the farmer had been a bit too welcoming for his liking. Something about him was shifty, that and the fact there seemed to be no one else on the farm. That said he did give them half the caps before they even went to look for the roaches. It took an additional three days of searching to finally find the den, which ended up being much more than a den. It was a hive.

Both of them had run out of ammo, instead moving to machetes to cut and slaughter the never-ending swarm of beasts. Jade had got cut up several times. Nothing that stitches and stimpak won't fix, but it had made his heart clench to see the girl covered in both green and red blood. If she had died it would have made the whole thing much trickier, at least that’s what he told himself. They had managed to get all the way to the queen. A fat rotund thing that never stopped howling. Jade had climbed over the piles of dead bodies and decapitated the thing as Ghoul continued to fend off the last of the swarm. The woman had looked triumphant holding the things head in her hand, like some kind of warrior Queen.

Now out of the cave system, the Ghoul was unsuccessfully trying to get the slim off his face. It was becoming clear that some of the goop had gotten into his nose hole. It wasn’t the first time stuff had gotten up there, unfortunately he was fresh out of cotton swabs.

“Fuck,” He growled, pulling his gloves off with his teeth and slapping them on the ground.

“What’s up?” Jade said coming over and plunking her bag down, the queen’s head strung up in a tree. Didn’t want to draw any unwanted attention to the thing, plus it was proof they’d done their job.

The Ghoul felt around the edges of the cavity trying to figure out if he could dig the sludge out. Letting out a frustrated sigh, knowing his fingers would do more damage than good. He leaned forward and tried to shake it free but nothing came out.

“Do you have roach guts in your nose cavity?” The girl said, with a small chuckle as she diug around in her bag, and pulled out some cotton swabs.

He tried to wave her away, “It’ll come out on its own.”

“Oh hush, and hold still,” She said, grabbing his chin to look at her. Her hands worked skillfully to remove his hat so she could see what she was doing. The fading daylight is just enough for her to see into his nose cavity.

He froze, despite the number of scars she had. Her hands were soft, her grip on his chin firm as she tipped his head more to see what she was working with. He hadn’t been this close to her before, her eyes weren’t just brown. But brown with shots of green through them, her face mostly unmarred by the abuse she had suffered. Her hair slicked back into a ponytail full of roach guts. Her fingers worked quickly as she used the swab to scoop out some goop. He squirmed slightly, it was not painful but an uncomfortable feeling

“Shit, did that hurt?” Jade asked shifting so that she was nearly sitting in his lap.

The Ghoul just shook his head, he could feel how warm her body was. The way her thighs rested against his, her body almost pressing against his chest. His heart was pounding so loud he thought she’d be able to hear it. The Ghoul could hear her heart beating. Her hand loosened its grip on his chin and moved to rest on his shoulder.

“Almost got it, there is a little more, just hold on.” She whispered skillfully, grabbing another swab and inserting it carefully, he felt it brush inside his nose. Making him feel like he might sneeze for the first time since losing his nose. She pulled it out and flicked off the goop into the bush. She turned back and looked at him.

He couldn’t help looking up at her, her features were so soft and delicate. His hands found their way to her hips, when was the last time he had looked at someone? Someone that he wasn’t trying to use, or kill. Her eyes roved over his, he kept waiting to see disgust or disinterest, instead her eyes just held his. A small smile played over her lips, as she glanced down at his lips. Leaning in to kiss him.

His heart rate shot up as he felt her push her lips against his, mouth opening to lick across them. His hands gripped onto her hips as her hands gripped against his shoulders. Mind going bank as he pushed her off of him. He stood up, this was not happening, walking away from her.

“Wait. Stop” Jade shouted after him, but he kept moving forward away from her.

His mind was ablaze, he hadn’t kissed someone in years. A flash of a memory, the bombs dropping, holding Janey on Sugarfoot as they rode away. Her face as she screamed in the arms of soldiers dragged her away. Look on his wife’s smug face as they drove away. The moment he shot Sugarfoot because the animal was starving. His skin blistered in the neverending sun, and watching as his body changed, every time he got a cut or nick it would gnarl and twist. The look on a soldier's face when he came looking for help. The first taste of radaway, med-x, rad-x, and a laundry list of other drugs. The first time he had to kill someone just to eat. The first time he saw himself in a mirror, his nose sloughing off, skin a dirty meaty red. Begging for help and being shunned away. Called a monster, a creature, a zombie, a killer, a murderer. A Ghoul. He was a Ghoul. The word echoed around in his head like a bell chime.

His lungs were screaming and he dug around his duster pockets pulling out the inhaler. He pushed it into his mouth taking a shot back. His eyes rolled into his head as his brain went foggy before he collapsed onto the ground. His hands dug into the soil, the feel of soil under his fingertips. The sound of birds moving in the trees, bugs buzzing. He focuses on that, on the numbing sensation spreading from his lungs out. Coughing and spurting he pushed himself onto his feet, leaning heavily on a tree, mind finally quiet. He took two more puffs before the numbest finally stamped out the fire of the memories.

***

Jade watched him stumble away, her ass in the dirt baffled at what had just transpired. It was just a kiss, and here he was acting like she had asked him to fuck her. She spat some bug guts that had fallen from her hair, out of her mouth. Wiping her mouth with the back of her hand, before pushing herself up and off the ground. They had spent over a week living out of each other's pockets, it wasn’t like he was a bad-looking man. He was better looking than ninety percent of the men around this hellhole. Just cause he was a Ghoul didn’t mean she wasn’t attracted to him. She sighed going over to his bags to find a needle and thread, she’d needed to at least try and stitch herself up. The one on her left wouldn’t be too bad, but the cut that went across her back would have to wait.

She grumbled biting into a piece of stick as she sewed it up, her teeth clenching as the needle pulled in and out of her skin. Done, she grabbed a stimpak and jabbed it in with a small sigh as it numbed the pain. If the Ghoul ever came back she’d ask him to look at the other wounds. She cleaned the needle and tucked it back into his bag.

Her mind wandered over the day, the week. The unavoidable haze that was before that. Stomach knotting as she looked around the empty forest. It was mostly blank, she remembered some stuff and saw some of the marks on her. Luckily the stimpaks and whatever else they fed her had kept her body mostly intact. Even the places below the belt, how that whole area was okay was beyond her. The memory of the first time she had let herself feel down there flooded in.

One night while they were looking for the roaches, she disappeared to go pee. Had taken a moment to actually feel around there, something she had been terrified to do since she had left the outpost. Expecting to find scaring, tears, and more damage, but there wasn’t much. There were dozens of scars on her thighs, ass cheeks, two scars that had actually slit down each side of her cheek. Even so, maybe one day she’d be able to enjoy that part of herself again. One day, but that wasn’t something she’d really been concerned about till tonight.

Letting out a sigh she rubbed at the back of her neck where that tingling feeling still lay. That tingling feeling had spread and overwhelmed her when she had shot the Raider kid. It was always there, trauma, suppressed memories, things trying to crawl towards the surface.

“No, Nope, we aren’t doing that Jade,” She said out loud to the forest, “We are here right now. We are okay. We are okay. Just killed a bunch of radroaches, and got enough caps to get a bed for the night. Ghoul will come back, no way he’d leave his bag here. The bag means more to him than anything. Also the hat, the bastard would melt without his hat.”

Jade takes a few deep breaths, bringing up good memories. Looking after the calves on the farm, bartending at the Lazy Susan, the way the forest sounded, killing radroaches. She imprints those memories at the forefront. Focusing her mind to push everything back into the hole it had popped itself out of.

“Anything else doesn’t matter, we just keep going. We got this.” Jade says finally, shaking her arms and hands. Letting the feelings flow out of her like dust behind her.

The sun had started to set, as much as she wanted to light a fire it would be too dangerous alone. Grabbing her jacket she slipped it on, the cut on her back stung, she’d have to deal with that later. Instead, she gathered up their things and moved herself more central to the clearing. She also took a moment to cut down the head of the Queen. Grabbing some rope and tying it to the bag for easy pickup.

Briefly wondered if she should try to climb a tree to camp out overnight. Most of the trees around her were too small or didn’t have low enough branches to climb. The center of the clearing would be safest, and hopefully. the Ghoul would be back soon. Asshole anyway, Jade felt resentment at the fact she had let herself rely on him. Even with his gruff lone wolf bullshit attitude, something under that hard shell had made her feel safe.

As if he had heard her, the man sauntered through the forest, his marred features evident in the rising moon. He walked right up to her without a word snatching his hat off the bags and tipping it back onto his smooth head. He didn’t say a word, as he re-gloved his fingers and shouldered the bag. Before starting to walk off in the direction of the farm.

Jade huffed but packed up, and followed after him. Muttering to herself about him being a giant dickhead, she struggled to keep up with his pace. Her body ached from the various wounds that rub as she moved.

part four

*If you enjoy the story let me know! It keeps me writing!

*Want to be on the tag list le me know below

*more to come, this is fully plotted just a lot of editing and additions..

*Find me on AO3 here

#fallout #the ghoul #fanfic #cooper howard #writing #fallout tv #writer #angst #horror writing #fallout fandom #fallout series #fallout tv series #the ghoul cooper howard #the ghoul x oc #the ghoul x original character #the woma who couldn’t die

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demigod-jack-hearth · 4 months ago

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This is to address a situation where I had carelessly modified my Circe blog @the-goddess-circe to fit my alternate universe. This caused many people to get hurt and I am addressing it.

When I created the Circe Blog on August 8, it was with the intention for Jack to get possessed by Circe, a character I was interested in because as a character Circe is really complex and fascinating, I am not excusing her actions OR morals. She had not much canon lore to work with and I was excited at the opportunity to be able to experiment and work with Circe.

During one of Jack’s possession scenes ( https://www.tumblr.com/demigod-jack-hearth/758229800393523200/open-starter )

I thought it was a good idea to make a complete alternate universe for Circe, which is how I modified her intro to the alternate universe that Odysseus has raped Circe and sexually assaulted her. I did not think of the consequences of my actions and how I was not handling this situation OR topic with the care or respect it deserved.

This is the role play thread that started this alternate universe- https://www.tumblr.com/camp-sky-heaven-on-earth/758618332716056576/i-know-it-hasnt-been-long-since-i-asked-you-to?source=share

I did not consider how this was dehumanising and triggering the trauma other others and this was not my intention in the slightest.

For this overlook and negligence on my part,

I’m am wholeheartedly sorry to everyone, those affected by my actions and my audience who have seen it.

I realise now that I have people that watch me, people that reads the things I put out and they are very real. Their feelings are real. Their experiences are real and their stories and trauma are real. This is a grave mistake on my part, and I now understand that what I say and do have an effect on others.

I did not take the correct amount of time to think this through and do my proper research on the canon lore.

This section is to address my first anon message back on August 13 about my Circe au:

Link to the post-https://www.tumblr.com/demigod-jack-hearth/758706460356149249/its-kind-of-disheartening-to-see-you-re-writing?source=share and https://www.tumblr.com/demigod-jack-hearth/758707116707119104/if-you-realise-it-was-a-mistake-it-might-be-a?source=share

When I first received this anon message, I dismissed it as something I didn’t need to worry too much about and because of my WRONG mindset that I do not share as of now, I made a very throw away and poorly worded response.

I spoke to some people I am now not in contact with and they had encouraged me to not think too much about it and reinforced my belief that I had free reign to make alternate universes without discretion. I was also unhappy with a separate issue that caused me to have a lot of pent up anger and frustration, this does not excuse the way I replied the anon.

These conversations with people who enabled my wrong view on the situation sparked me to make my response hurtful, bitter and unnecessary.

I regret making that comment and I am sorry to the anonymous message who got hurt by my remarks.

I understand that Odysseus and Circe are very important characters whose stories should not be modified so carelessly.

Now onto the important part: What I will do to amend this situation.

I am not asking for anyone to forget or forgive this situation, but I hope to at least make some amends.

First off I will be deleting Circe’s Blog and will not be reworking it until I can get an acceptable version in the works.

Second of all this is a repetition but I apologise to everyone affected and reached by this situation. I am willing to make personal apologies at your request.

Finally, this will not happen again. I have grown and understood the situation to the best of my ability and will do everything in my power (running it past people before I post things and checking the facts) to make sure this does NOT happen again.

I'm going to tag everyone because I don't know who has been affected by my actions

@ja50nt0ddwa5h3r3 @unhinged-waterlilly @zariahthewitch @thegroovydaughterofhestia @beauty-queen-official @that-girl-cupid @ariathemortal @emdabitchass @if-chaos-was-a-boy @the-gods-strange-children @silena-daughterofaphrodite @love-lightning-forethought @fabulousdaughterofhecate @weakest-son-of-sun @chaos-pers0nified @neoptolemus-achilles-son @kaiaalwayswins @bast-the-best26 @goddess-of-bubblegum @hispanic-daughter-of-hermes @gaygirldoodles @luck-is-crucial @pink-koi-lovejoy @smileyalater @the-bosses-of-you @the-goddess-aphrod1te @cloak-of-ares @heraaaaaaaa @unproblematic-hestia @theycallmejeezycreezy @queenofthedeep @giant-prophetic-snake @reyna4ever @vicious-daughter-of-zeus @itsyourboyezra @the-smart-and-the-dumb-one @feral-hermes-child @oopsies-i-did-a-thing @creature-under-ur-bed @unfortunate-daughter-of-hestia

Thanks to my friend who helped me so much with editing this and helping me make it sense

#i never meant for any of this to happen #it's anyone to get hurt #I'm really sorry #and I know that I've fucked up #tw rape #sorry

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originalqueenhottub · 2 months ago

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Preface

Pegasus J Crawford (Or Known as Maximillion Pegasus to other audiences) is the legendary architect to the world of Duel Monsters as many who played the game could tell you. The charismatic, witty, poised man who's very presence poured a sense of mystery; created a game based on a more ancient and dangerous version. But the reason why? Even more elusive to most experts of the game. Pegasus had plans for Duel Monsters. Plans that few were not privy to know. A singular desire, a forlorn wish but one with catastrophic consequences if answered.

Enter, Anath. An intuitive character who is about to unknowingly weave fate into another direction for both Pegasus and herself. Her arrival to his castle just days before the events of Duelist Kingdom have started the unraveling of the threads of fate. Hindered by her own ancient curse, however, will these two be able to break the chains that threaten to not only drag them to their pre-destined doom? Will they conquer an ancient darkness that stretches from the eons of time?

(This story is definitely going to be fun. I have had a good bit of it down for a while, I am just in those stages of Editing that I dread... I am spontaneous on my story writing timelines and write down ideas quickly from different parts of the story 😅 And it can make it difficult to string it together. But if you want a good story, I can guarantee this one will be decent!

It's funny, originally I was writing it as a one-shot or a "Joke" but it actually turned into a project for me! Complete with art, smut, and my own alternate reason why Pegasus is alive in the anime, but dead in the Manga. It kinda was inspired by the Game- Duel Links, and the Bonds Beyond Time movie.

The exploration of alternative universes is a endeavor I try to navigate carefully, as I am not a fan if it is done poorly. Just know when reading my story, I did copious amounts of research (re-reading the manga, watching it in original Japanese format, finding old articles from my Shonen jump magazines and notes from Takahashi himself.) and found things that unexpectedly fit not only my plot, but Yu-Gi-Oh's vast and beautiful storyline.

And while accumulating knowledge, I seemed to have stumbled upon others who seemed to want the same thing I did. An emotional, deeper side of Yu-Gi-Oh that Kazuki Takahashi DID want to give us, but due to editing and people in his editorial circle caused him to have to cut a lot of back stories. This was to focus more on the card games (Boo!) But in a way, I get it. That's what made this franchise so popular.

This story I hope will deliver substance that I feel we all wanted from a Yu-Gi-Oh story. Yeah, it may be a fanfiction, but like other works of art and stories out there, this came from the heart of someone who loved the story so much as a child, that I wanted to keep it alive like it has me.

Takahashi, may you rest in peace. I want you to know not only did you pass away a hero to others, you saved me and countless others by showing us- "The heart of the cards" )

#fanfiction #duel monsters #yu gi oh #maximillion pegasus #pegasus j crawford #oc #yugioh duel monsters #yugioh duel links #yugioh alternate universe #seto kaiba #mokuba kaiba #duelist kingdom #duelist kingdom alternative story arc #Pegasus’s wife's ghost

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sugarviv · 1 year ago

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My take on the Paris Special’s alternate universe (pt. 1 of many concepts explained)

Keep in mind that I am not a writer- more an idea person. I don’t imagine anything I come up with will be even close to canon. With that said, let’s start with the Backstory:

The origin story begins not with the universe we see, but instead with a world where everything is normal… Except

Gabriel allows Colt to use the Peacock Miraculous so that Amile can have a child. Instead of responding is complete disgust however, Colt takes an interest and decides to try and research about the miraculous…

Somehow, he manages to learn what he needs to, and summons Gimmi to make the ultimate wish… To be given supreme power over anyone and everyone. After all, the price that would take would only serve to keep himself in power

Things play out as we see they do in that universe at that point: Gabriel steals the Moth and Peacock miraculouses (miraculi?🤔), Colt kills Emile for using the power of the peacock again, mostly due to a proud anger he’s had since the first time she had Adrien, and Gabriel goes into hiding to start the resistance.

The difference now is that Colt knows of Gabriel’s identity… that’s exactly why he decides to give his only son the Cat Miraculous. So he can be forced to watch this universe’s Adrien unknowingly destroy himself (along with knowingly destroying Paris ☝️😌)

Now… here’s a few quick design ideas for other characters.

Felix and Kagami, both being Sentibeings, work for the Supreme as Morals Officers (not sure how else to call them). They’re both constantly on the clock, patrolling the city, keeping the citizens in line, and overall trying to dissuade any kind of rebellion.

They act in sort of a Good cop/Bad cop routine, and are so overworked and under so much pressure that they have no time to be themselves or even know themselves.

Although Chloe’s father is still the mayor, Laws work differently under the Supreme’s rule. Andre was made to send Chloe to live elsewhere if he wanted to be given a position of political power, which lead to Chloe living with her friend Sabrina.

Chloe is a typical mean girl, lashing out at others and being petty, but this is all due to insecurity and (pretty trope-y) stuff.. She did grow up with her father though, and through her emotionally (and literally) absent mother, got to grow up with Adrien and even star as a model for many of Gabriel’s more youthful and feminine designs. She considers Adrien to be almost like a brother to her, even though she doesn’t see him much after his mother died.

I,,, honestly don’t have much for Luka 🧍 He’s mostly just potential right now- Potential to become a part of the resistance AND potential to be used by the Supreme and harness a miraculous. Luka is a good bit more cynical compared to his show counterpart, and struggles with serious abandonment issues after not only his dad abandoning him as a baby, but his twin sister Juleka seemingly vanishing as well (she became a miraculous holder- I’ll design her eventually if y’all want 😊)

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the-silentium · 8 months ago

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What if - Alternate Ending

Masterlist

Pairing: Wrecker x OC.

Words: 12.5k words

Warnings: Angst, fluff, Gore, swearing, halo canon violence, RvB characters, major character death.

A/N: And I am finally back with the promised alternate ending. I've been gone a while, a lot happened since I last posted a chapter here. Mainly, I got a spine surgery and struggled with writer block. Fortunately, I had this chapter 90% done already so I forced myself to finish it, so at least I could share what would have happened if Layla went back to the Halo universe. Please enjoy ~

____________________

Echo had seen some bad missions in his time under General Skywalker's command. A couple of times, the thought that he wouldn't make it out had crossed his mind and urged him to do more; run faster, shoot more droids, watch more closely his and Fives' backs. It had worked fine until the Citadel where he lost everything. Then he was found again and the Batch showed him that there were crazier plans out there that he had yet to experience. He was certain he had felt the caress of death twice as often as he did in his first battalion. Surviving this many times had been a feat he dared not dwell on too much.

He didn't want to dare the odds to get back at them for winning so often. All the time, even. Then again, faith always had a cheap trick up its sleeve. Be it a surprise battalion of droids blocking their escape route or a particularly complex encryption, the Batch was no stranger to those last-second complications.

They pulled through no matter what.

They had to.

Sweat ran down Echo's spine when he hit an unbreakable firewall. He had taken way too long to get to this point and he wasn't even close to accessing the files needed. Who knew hacking into old Republic databases would be so hard for him, a former soldier who dedicated his life to the Jedis and their war. It shouldn't have taken this much time. Every other Republican file he had previously hacked had been rather easy since he knew the configurations and standard structure of the files and encryption.

This one was particularly hard to crack. Impossible even. His concentration wasn't optimal with his brothers fighting the enemy a few feet away, but it wasn't anything he wasn't used to. Cid had been quite vague about the information she was after, she only told them where to hack and requested a whole unencrypted file.

Sure, he had tried to export the data onto an external drive to work on the encryption later, however, the security system interlaced with the requested code made sure that everything would be deleted as soon as he moved, copied, or even open a single file.

"Better be worth the credits." He mumbled under his breath. Infiltrating a top-secret Republic base that was coincidentally deep within Empire control was nothing to take lightly. She better pay them well on this one.

He forced his way through another trail in hope of finding something that would satisfy their employer. Bits and pieces of research passed through his fingers like sand. He saw the information passing through his mind but could never get a hold of it. That device had been an extremely important asset for the Jedis to put so much effort into hiding every drop of information about it.

Spatial manipulation. The words disappeared out of his reach before he could focus on them. Frustrated, he pushed again, opened doors, and forced his way in by destroying firewall after firewall.

Teleportation. He nearly got a grasp of this one, but the file erased itself before he could disable the security protecting the data.

Echo groaned. He felt like a pawn being pushed around. Played and mocked. That is until he found a back door. A breach in the security system. He smirked. Finally, he had found it.

//Activation?

The question floated through his brain and the clone felt a new wave of adrenaline rush through his veins.

//No.

He couldn't know for sure what he would be activating.

His curiosity on the matter was crushed when a door behind him closed abruptly and all members of the Bad Batch formed a barrier between him and the sealed-off door.

"Disconnect yourself." Hunter turned to face him momentarily. Echo could hear the strain in his voice. He had taken too long to fulfill his goal. "We're leaving."

Echo hesitated. He was torn between obeying orders and letting go of the only progress he had made. It wasn't only their bounty that they were abandoning, but important Jedi research. Those findings could perhaps help the fighters who dared face the Empire. The soldier deep within his genes wanted to fight that oppressing enemy, even when they clearly couldn't in their actual situation, not with Omega amongst them who could get hurt at every corner.

With a heavy sigh, Echo disconnected from the system and joined his brothers.

"We have to shoot our way out."

He could hear Hunter's inner conflict. They had all agreed that Omega should remain with Cid, but she had another idea in mind. How the kid avoided Hunter's detection was still a mystery. One thing was certain, the sergeant was beating himself over it and they were all worrying for their younger sibling's wellbeing.

Echo moved behind Omega whose sheepish expression had long ago morphed into a focused one. She was ready to follow orders. If only she had done the same hours ago.

"Perhaps we won't have to." Tech frowned when he analyzed the security feed displayed on his datapad. "They are retreating."

"They are?"

Dread filled Echo at the possibilities a strategic retreat could mean. None of them were good.

"It would seem that they used our defensive position to their advantage. While we were here, another squad trapped the power supply room with explosives."

"We have to lea-"

"I'm afraid we don't have time." He showed them the live feed of the generator room, the detonator showing a meager six seconds.

Frenetically, Echo jumped and connected himself back to the systems to force his way back to the only thing that his mind could think of.

//Activation?

Spatial manipulation. The typed words flashed behind his eyelids. Teleportation.

Echo swallowed the lump blocking his throat. Please take us back to the ship.

//Activation?

//Yes.

_______________

Echo groaned when fingers poked him in the face. He felt sick. Not that sickness he got when he ate something bad, but the kind when Tech was piloting like a madman on spice. Motion sickness.

His ears were slightly ringing. He could hear Omega's voice over the noise. She called out to him in such worry that his eyes shot open in alarm. He looked at her upside-down figure, noted the tears gathering in her eyes, and immediately forgot the stiffness in his muscles to pull her into a reassuring hug.

"What did you do?" Crosshair walked up to them. He nearly sounded accusing, which didn't sit well with Echo.

“I activated the program.” He explained with his eyes still closed in the hope to chase away the ache growing in his skull. “I don't know what it was, but the files mentioned a teleportation device. I thought it could get us out of there.” And if Crosshair was still there to jab at him, then it must have worked, right?

A short sense of relief washed over him at the thought that he managed to save his siblings from their imminent death. Slowly, the clone opened his eyes and took in Omega’s state. She still clung to him, her own eyes shut tightly and a hand pinching her nose. He thought he felt her shake, but that could also have been Crosshair nudging him.

"So you activate anything you can touch? Guess we're stuck in the middle of nowhere because of your amazing plan, Echo." The sniper remarked with a sneer.

"Better that than being dead." He shot back, annoyed. This was another obstacle, nothing they didn't usually deal with. Sure, with the Empire lurking around everything was one thousand times more difficult, but not impossible.

“Cut it off.” Hunter’s voice lacked any real command. It sounded like he was entranced, focussing on something else. Curious, Echo looked over Omega’s head.

His stomach fell.

Skeletons lingered on the ground in sickening puddles of what Echo assumed once was their flesh and organs. It soaked up the fabric of torned clothes and broken armor. The armor was a simplistic design and offered way less cover than the clone's armor. It reminded him of the armor worn by the Kota's militia. He also could recognize a human skull under the sideways helmet. His heart jumped in his chest at the thought that a Jedi General could have been here, or could still be around.

The overall atmosphere was heavy. Heavier than what they were used to on the battlefield or on Kamino. Whatever device the Jedis were working on was either dysfunctional or came into use too late. Surely, they had entered specific coordinates into their programming with a purpose, one that the clone was certain was good.

"I would say that the battle occurred years ago," Tech informed them, still leaning over the closest dead body. He tapped away at his vambrace, analyzing the data he recorded. "The threat is long gone."

"What's that?" Omega whispered under her breath, catching everyone’s attention.

Echo’s stomach rose to his throat.

Unknown aliens lay on the floor in dry, blue puddles, their mummified bodies surrounded by small cylindrical objects and what looked to be an unknown type of blaster. Never before had he seen species looking like those.

One of them was tall, bipedal, and had blueish armor covering its lizard-like body. Four mandibles formed its mouth, their sharp teeth in full display. Four digits were closed around a purple item that looked very much like a weapon of some sort.

Others were smaller, more or less reptilian-like. One of the species had a thicker build, its skin a dark purple shade. Some of them had masks over the bottom half of their faces while others didn’t, showing a series of sharp, pointed teeth. Their arms seemed oversized compared to the rest of their bodies, and full of small barbs that Echo was certain were sharp enough to cut flesh.

The last specie he noticed was lean and muscular, their bodies covered by scales and feathers. Their avian-looking mouth was full of sharp teeth and ended on a hooked beak.

Tech approached the tallest alien, scanning it over. Instinctively, Echo waited for Tech’s imminent info dump of the unknown species. He remained silent.

Echo frowned. It was unusual for his brother to keep quiet on unfamiliar knowledge. He was always keeping them as informed of their enemies or environment as possible to keep the drawbacks as low as possible. This was a first. Was it possible that his know-it-all brother was at a loss?

With a quick look around, Echo noticed that the room was filled with bodies. Way above a hundred of them, humans and aliens alike. What looked like ships were stationed not too far from them, their class foreign to him.

"Karking hell…" Crosshair's whisper gave him goosebumps. Something was seriously wrong if Crosshair of all people was taken aback.

Added to Tech’s unusual behavior…

"I…” Echo’s head snapped in Tech’s direction as soon as he heard the hesitation in his voice. A cold sweat ran down his spine. “Don’t think we are in the right universe anymore."

His heart skipped a beat. What could Tech even mean? Did he mean systems? The silence following the statement was deafening. Echo didn't understand why no one was correcting Tech or even asking for clarifications. What he said literally made no sense.

"Those are Covenants." Echo frowned at Tech’s words. He couldn't recall ever hearing this term before.

"Covenants?" He asked, at a total loss.

Tech hesitated and looked at Hunter. Echo didn’t know if it was for guidance or confirmation, but he received none from the sergeant who remained fixed on the alien laying at his feet.

"Aliens from another dimension. Layla's dimension." Tech briefly looked at him before returning to look over the body of the imposing alien.

Even though his brother had said it like it was the most logical thing in the universe, Echo knew that Tech often overlooked that not everyone was well-versed in random details and specifics. This fact was accurate the majority of the time. This time around though, Echo couldn't stop but notice that only he and Omega were confused about the whole another dimension thing.

Also, the name was familiar. He knew he had heard it before. Was it during one of their many nights at 79s? Or from the GAR? Deep within himself, he knew the name belonged to someone powerful. The word impressive also came to mind. He heard Fives calling that name in his head, his voice full of amusement. I've never seen the General as close to a heart attack as when you've slashed that spider droid down, Layla!

"Wait. Layla, the freelancer with a light sword?" He hadn't thought of her in forever. She had left their battalion and soon after he got caught at the Citadel.

"Yes." Hunter snapped out of it and scratched the back of his neck. "A space-traveling device sent her to our universe and the Jedi repaired it to send her back. Must have been the same program that you activated." To Echo's relief, there was no anger in his voice, only worry which was not much better.

He would have believed that his brothers were playing an elaborate plan on him if only there weren't litteral bodies and unknown aliens scattered around him at this very moment. Space-travel was a crazy concept, but he also couldn't explain how the Force worked.

"So, those Covenants, what are they?"

"Aggressive species that are at war with mankind,” Tech explained. “I, unfortunately, don't have much information on them other than the very basics." He grabbed a device from a nearby alien body and stood up. It looked awfully like a droid-popper.

"The basics?"

Tech glanced momentarily at Omega. A flash of worry quickly disappeared behind the glare of his glasses and he moved his attention back to the purple sphere in his possession.

"We should avoid them as much as possible in order to remain… whole. And alive." That he had figured out by himself. "Our best chances of survival would involve finding Layla."

Hunter hummed. "I agree, but eh last I heard, her coming back here meant a near-death sentence." His sergeant approached Tech and reached out to the round device. Right before he managed to take the item from Tech's hands, the engineer pushed a button on the side of it. The device was instantly engulfed in blue fumes and a high-pitched noise filled the room.

“Tech!” Hunter’s yell covered Echo’s sharp breath intake. He might not know what this device was but a word rang in his head. Explosive.

In a heartbeat, Tech threw the device as far as he could while Wrecker grabbed Omega to hide her behind his body. In a crouch, Echo looked as the device bounced on top of a crate, stuck to the side of a ship, and exploded in a flash of blue-white light, charring the metal and the bodies within its detonation zone.

“This was unexpected.” Tech matter-of-factly broke the stunned silence that fell onto their squad.

“Was it? This is a battlefield!” Hunter yelled, his arms open to his sides to show his surroundings.

“I meant that the grenade stuck to the ship, but not to the crate. Or even to my hand.” He further explained after sparing a quick glance at his hand. “But back to Layla. Your assumption is accurate, although she did mention that this universe was desperate to win after more than two decades of war. I am almost positive they would not dispose of a capable soldier like her. She might have been reconditioned– in the literal sense of the word, not the Kaminoan way. Or even sent to another hopeless mission."

With a groan, Hunter dropped it.

"Let's assume that she theoretically is still alive, how do you plan on contacting her?" Crosshair asked from his spot at the back of the group, his eyes trained on the upper levels of the hangar.

"Our comms are void of any outside signals, so we cannot reach her through her GAR-issued channel." While using his scanner, Tech ventured farther away from them and away from the ships.

“Could we try to reach her through their comms?" Wrecker wondered.

With a move of his head, Hunter ordered them to follow Tech’s lead. Wrecker moved Omega into the crook of his elbow to keep her as free of the gore as possible. There was no way she could escape the smell even if she had closed her eyes to keep from seeing more remains and pressed her face to Wrecker's neck. The least they could do was to make sure she wouldn't come in contact with any of it.

Echo walked behind the two of them, his blaster at the ready. He managed to calm down his mind when he noticed that their feet were the only marks left on the sticky, gory crust caked on the floor. It reassured him to think that the enemy was long gone.

“It wouldn’t be a good idea to send a comm-wide message in the hope to get to her. Many things could go wrong. She mentioned that she had to learn Basic, which means that the only thing others would understand would be her name, drawing attention to her. Additionally, we could be perceived as a threat for having infiltrated their comms or even-”

“We got it Tech.” Hunter cut him off. “You sound like you have a plan.”

With a nod, Tech stepped over a skeleton. “This is because I do have one.”

“What is it?” Crosshair pushed.

“I might be mistaken, but if my theory is correct, we should find the remains of Layla’s squad in this complex. Squads share a closed line, which would be a safer way to attempt communicating with her.”

“Oh.” Wrecker’s step faltered. Echo frowned in worry.

“And if your theory is wrong?” Crosshair asked.

“Then we’ll have to go comm-wide and hope for the best. But do not worry, I am fairly certain that this battlefield is the result of Operation: LEVIATHAN.”

“How do you know?”

“Kai told me more about it.”

Tech took them into a hallway, his steps careful, but definite. How he managed to look over the scene without faltering made Echo wonder if he had not already seen this very place.

"Alright. I don't sense anyone around here but let's stay alert, boys." Hunter cut to the front line and with a shake of his head to clear his mind of all this carnage, he walked deeper into the compound.

They soon reached a junction and followed Tech's directions through the left corridor, toward the nearest power source he could detect. The battle must have been heavier here. Sections of the walls were missing, pink shards covered the floor and creaked under their boots, dark stains covered the standing walls and they had to step over an alarming quantity of bodies. The more they progressed, the more Omega had to press her hand to her mouth and nose to keep the smell away.

Echo looked into the nearest hole in the white wall. His eyes recognized more human remains and transparisteel covering the floor. Some skeletons, Echo noticed, didn’t have any armor or blaster, leading him to the conclusion that those victims were civilians. The clone could count at least a dozen in the hallway.

They looked for what felt like hours, up a few floors then down again, until Hunter brought them outside through a hole in a wall. Green grass greeted them. The field wasn't level, a clear clue that a battle once raged. The multiple craters in the dirt were akin to heavy artillery damage, the buildings they just exited seemed like they had subsided some damage with their burned spots marked into their cream-colored exteriors. A majority of the broken windows and vehicle wrecks were beginning to be claimed by the environment.

Echo heard wiggling before he saw Omega jump off Wrecker’s arms.

"Stay close." He warned, still unable to trust this place even though Hunter didn't detect anyone around.

She nodded and latched onto Wrecker's hand who was busy looking at the scenery around him. The sun was shining high in a clear blue sky. The soft waves of the nearby ocean lapped at the beach, offering some calm to the carnage site. Omega grabbed a handful of golden sand before letting the grains fall between her fingers with wide, amazed eyes.

A sudden sound drew the clones' immediate attention. Every blaster turned to the source, a column of water that leaped from the ocean fell back into it. Following the water jet, a set of gray-blue tails breached the water, sweeped into the air and returned to the depths.

"What was that?" Omega asked, her eyes even bigger than before.

"An aquatic creature of some sort." He answered as best he could. Judging by the size of the tails, the beast must be humongous.

"Wrecker, Echo!" Hunter's voice sliced through the comms. "Stay closer."

Sure enough, the other half of their group had ventured farther ahead and were now standing before four floating objects. In a jog, Echo joined his brothers with Wrecker and Omega in tow. Now closer, he noticed that the objects were in fact helmets held on top of weapons shoved into the ground. Graves.

Tech already had one helmet in hands and plugged into his datapad. The engineer typed away in concentration while Echo analyzed the rest of the scene. He didn't want to touch any of the helmets, feeling like this would be disrespectful to the fallen. The grass had already grown back over the graves, however the length did not match his surroundings, letting him know that bodies were now resting beneath their feet.

In the corner of his eyes, he noticed Omega holding one of the helmets. He was tempted to ask her to put it back, but the softness of her fingers as she lightly traced the heavy damage fracturing the visor and metal as well as the deep sadness in her eyes pulled him to a stop. She knew what she was doing and did not take any of it lightly. He then remembered that despite being stuck in a lab on Kamino, she knew war too. Only, her angle was different than theirs.

Omega turned the bucket and grabbed a colorful flimsi from within. She wowed and showed them a picture of five humans in weird blacks. A black-haired woman stood behind three men and a woman. She had them all in a hug from behind while they all smiled. The red-headed woman showed her fingers in a V motion, a blond man hit his fist to the palm of his other hand while the two remaining men sat relaxed, one holding a knife while the other held a box with a big, red cross on it.

"It's not holographic." Omega pointed out while rotating the picture in all angles. "The colors are nice."

Without a word, Wrecker slowly took the item from her hands and turned it over to analyze it further.

How his brother handled the picture caught Echo’s attention. There has been only a handful of times when his brother has been that cautious about anything. Even more curious, he was not looking the whole picture over, he was focussed on a single spot.

"Wrecker? Are you okay?"

His brother blinked like he just woke up from a dream and looked at him. "Eh.. yeah. I mean… not really. But I'll be fine."

"Are you sure, big guy?"

"Yeah…" The way he trailed off was so uncharacteristic of his usual cheery attitude that Echo had a sudden urge to touch him in hope to convey his support. He was still pondering about the significance of the picture for his brother when Wrecker carefully folded the flimsi on the existent fold line and safely tucked it in his own helmet, leaving Echo dumbfounded.

________________

Tech examined the side of the helmet and sure enough, the cards with the triangle in the middle were painted in white over the deep blue shade of the armor.

They were Layla's teammates. She had been here and had buried them herself. A quick look around confirmed that no other graves were dug and it couldn't be a coincidence that these were all members of the same team. Her team. He remembered her breakdown and wondered if being thrown back where it all happened, seeing their bodies and burying them had broken her all over again.

Tech remembered the carnage they saw earlier and wondered if that was why she had kept them at bay so long. He had noticed her effort into keeping walls around herself, walls that they ultimately tore down because solving impossible tasks was what they did best. They were witnessing the outcome of the worst day of her life and some small part of him understood where she came from.

He got to work on the electronic panels of the helmet, connecting it to his vambrace to access the comms system. It was harder than he remembered without Kai translating the unknown language for him. He hoped that the communication channels were coded the same as back then, he remembered the way to gain access to the correct network and which channel he had to connect their own to in order for Layla to hear and talk with them.

"I'm in," Tech informed the team. He couldn't help but glance at Wrecker in wonder at what would happen next.

________________

It had been a while since she last saw this planet. Last time was when she had used the cube to flee the despair ever growing in her chest. She couldn't say that she missed it one bit. Not after everything that happened there and everything that followed.

That planet was tainted with blood and haunted by painful memories.

"Did you fucking hear what I said?" The accusatory voice next to her was way too loud for her to possibly ignore.

She looked at Gates without a word.

"Of course not, since when do you listen to me?" Gates scoffed in offense. "Do you fucking know how often the spaghetti meatballs is on the menu in that damn army? Once in a blue moon, that's how often! I'd almost forgotten how that damn sauce tasted like and lemme tell you, it wasn't as good as my mom's cooking but compared to the other shits they give us to eat, it was like a fucking filet mignon." His finger pointed at her accusingly and Layla briefly wondered if he was able to shoot with his left hand. "Only had one bite when you fucking showed up and ordered us after you. Whatever we're doing here Regan, it better be good. Like killing-those-Covenant-fucks-for-good good."

At this point Layla couldn't tell if the fire in her blood was originating from Gates' tirade, her first trip back to Bounty after her cowardly escape from her heartbreak or the fact that Kai intercepted a weak incoming signal from the Deltas channel.

She couldn't even believe she had once appreciated that soldier. Now, all she could think about was different ways to shut him up.

War changes everyone, she soberly thought.

It has never been said explicitly, but Layla knew he was part of ONI's plan to keep a close eye on her. He wasn't the one reporting abnormal behaviors to the higher ups, Ortez was, being the silent observant and extremely by-the-book soldier that he was. It only turned out that those two survived a crazy amount of crazy missions together and for this reason were never separated. She had tried to have them transferred to another squad, but they were now a trio until death did them apart.

So far Ortez had had an easy job. She never did anything out of UNSC's standards. She killed Covenants, ate and slept when needed and attended briefings. She had destroyed the cube as soon as she had regained consciousness on Bounty and became aware of her surroundings, and never talked about it again. In order to protect the Galaxy that offered them shelter, Kai had gone ahead and wiped every bit of information about the last two years. The knowledge of another conquerable universe was safely hidden within Layla's mind, where ONI could never access it. As far as ONI knew, she had survived two desolate years on Bounty, living off the meager rations of the compound until her AI managed to fix a comm channel strong enough to reach Command and request an evac.

The pelican wasn't fully grounded, yet Layla pushed the button to lower the ramp. Her body stiffened in anticipation of a worrying hand that would reach out and stop her from jumping the last meters separating her from the surface, but it never came. She ignored the pain pinching her heart and jumped.

She forced her body into a false sense of clear determination and made her way through the street separating her from the complex. Memories tried to destabilize her with their vivid screams and scarlet tints. She could faintly hear the Marines following her steps, plasma bolts raining all around them. She reached the back corner of the building and stopped.

Red. So much red.

"Take your time." Layla's breath deepened as she acknowledged Kai's words. The Spartans weren't with her yet, she had time to settle. The DMR in her hands stopped shaking, her jaw ached when she released the tension, the tingles in her feet faded away and her mind cleared of all the fog keeping it hostage. There was nothing she could do now to change the scenery on the beach.

With a final grounding breath, she turned the corner. Four graves stood out from the peaceful nature, every helmet in place like the day she left them. Cautiously, Layla made her way to them, fully expecting to find an elaborate trap set up by a Zealot with the help of a Huragok, their favorite engineers. There was nothing but untouched helmets and guns.

She kneeled before them while keeping an eye out for signs of trouble. The grass around the graves had been crushed recently. Someone had been here and sent out a signal using one of the helmets. Why, she had no idea. The only thing she knew for sure was that it involved her personally, the comm line that was used was closed to anyone that was not a Delta.

Her finger tensed on the trigger. Three yellow spots entered the radar's field, followed by two red signatures. Allies with enemies.

Yellow spots didn't make any sense with Gates and Ortez still behind, but she did expect enemies.

"Could those three use the Delta's signature to alter their own?" She wondered under her breath.

"Negative. I looked deeper into their signatures and the allies are identified as 99-1, 99-2 and 99-4, not Deltas." Kai informed her.

Layla's heart stopped. Was she dreaming?

She glanced up and ghosts looked right back at her. She didn't dare blink, in fear that they would fade or not, she was not sure which.

Multiple things happened when the Bad Batch came into view. Layla's eyes widened in surprise, a weak, fluttery feeling bubbling in her chest. Her joy was quickly crushed by a more gripping feeling that left her nauseous. Guilt gripped at her stomach and threatened to topple her over at the sheer intensity of it.

That was, until Gates and Ortez who had jogged after her the whole way lifted their weapons towards the clones.

Out of pure reflex, Layla's arms shot up to lift both guns towards the sky, her own clattering to the earth. Gunshots exploded into her ears, along with the soldiers' surprised gasps, a high-pitched yelp and Gates' colorful language when both guns slipped from their grasp due to the speed of her intervention. Out of fear she did put more strength into her move than necessary, she had to give them that.

"What the hell are you doing Regan? That's fucking Insurrectionists!" Gates hissed.

She grabbed his wrist when he reached for his pistol. This time she put some effort into controlling her strength.

"Lower your weapons." Her snarl surprised even herself. "They're not Insurrectionists."

"And how would you know that? Civillians don't walk around in fucking armor." He fought to pull his arm out of her grip. She momentarily tightened her grip in warning before releasing him.

"I fought with them before. They're on our side."

She looked back at the clones, took in their defensive stances, their weapons pointing at the ground but ready to aim at them at any moment and sighed. She could already feel the heartache creeping in, burning her as fiercely as the tears streaming down her cheeks.

The urge to turn on her heels and walk away was also becoming more prominent with every passing second. Like the coward that you are. Her teeth sank through the tender flesh of her lip and drew blood. Man up and face the consequences of your actions.

"Stay here." She ordered her men before crossing the space between her and her old team. She could not flee this time. She still remembered the reasons behind her departure and the Spartan still suffered every time she thought about them. A borderline painful heartbeat squeezed her chest when her eyes landed on a particular clone.

She forced her gaze away and noticed a new soldier amongst them, one of the two that her armor detected as enemies. She took in the kama and the cybernetic arm. No clone she had met before had those attributes. Was he a new defective clone? A sad kind of joy spread through her, he was in the right team, she personally knew it.

And they overcame your departure. Because you are expendable. She swallowed hard.

Despite the thick layer of titanium covering her body, their gazes burned holes into her like she was bare before them. All the feelings she had felt that night when she held the cube in her hands for countless hours came back in a swing. Uselessness. Shame. Despair. Disapointment. Now, she had to add nervousness to the list. How had they taken her betrayal? Despite asking herself that question every day for a majority of a year, she never got an answer. Right at the moment, she found that she might have been better without knowing at all.

But fleeing wasn't an option anymore, was it? She couldn't run. Not again. Not this time. Maybe if she had forgotten all about them she wouldn't have thought more about shooting them down as Insurrectionists, but she knew who they were. They once shared a bond and Layla had let herself care for them. Deeply. She might be as nervous and scared as the day the Covenant invaded her home planet, but she wasn't about to let another of her friends die. Instead she pushed down the lump in her throat and stopped at a more than reasonable distance.

"What are you doing here?"

She mentally winced at her own words. She hadn't intended to sound so harsh. Or bothered. Her choice of words was even worse. All her brain could think of was are you all okay or I'm so glad to see you all again, because she was relieved to know that the Clone War hadn't claimed their lives even though it still could.

She had been worried. She had also been fighting every second she had been back, be it against the Covenants or ONI– not that this was the Batch's fault, the final choice had been hers after all– but she was exhausted and their presence here meant complications that she would have to deal with.

"It's good to see you again, Layla." Sergeant Hunter moved his gaze from Ortez who didn't need to be told twice to lower his weapon and settled on her, his own trigger finger relaxing slightly.

Her mind stopped for a second. A blissful second where her worries faded away and she could almost see herself back at the Marauder's entrance, marching up the stairs after another successful mission. Oh how she missed that ship. If she was honest, the crate in the Marauder's hangar was way better than sharing a bunk room with Isaac Gates.

Her fist closed on thin air. She couldn't get distracted. Not during a crucial moment like this one.

Although…

"Likewise." She replied, her eyes darting on the Sergeant's right to find a familiar helmet staring right back at her. "I take it that the Jedis lied then? They were supposed to destroy the cube's data."

It was a blessing that the Spartans beside her couldn't understand Basic. An even bigger one was that she hadn't forgotten how to speak the otherworldly language after not using it for a year.

"They had it stored in a securised archive room. Nearly killed us to get the info." Sergeant Hunter explained.

She raised an eyebrow in confusion. "You stole from the Jedis?"

"That's a long and complicated story. The Jedis are dead."

Time stopped completely around them. This couldn't be possible. It didn't make sense. She thought back to the Council who welcomed her into their world, to the alien Jedis who patiently tried to coax her into being comfortable around them, their mind tricks and their knowledge and their wisdom and everything! General Kenobi and Tano and Koon and all of those cute apprentices and for God's sake, even Skywalker! Were they really dead? She deeply hoped that they were not.

And Crosshair? Where was he?

"The Clone War is over then." Was all she managed to say. She could not acknowledge more loss. Not right now. At least she could rejoice that the clones' lives were not put at risk anymore, soldiers without war and droids to hunt them.

"So Regan, what's happening?" Gates called from his spot 12 meters away. "Not everyone speaks whatever language you're all babbling. Seriously. I've never heard that kind of shit before."

Layla ignored Gates' questions, he could use his equipment to listen in and speculate all he wanted. Although she had to admit that his intervention was exactly what she needed to get her head back in the game.

"So the cube's data sent you here? Do you know how to get back?" She sure hoped they knew although she was also aware that should they have a plan to go back, they would have done it by now. It seemed that they needed her to do it.

"We were hoping you could get us back." Sergeant Hunter breached the tight formation with a single step forward.

She swallowed hard. "I destroyed the cube. There's no way out of–" Layla frowned at the sight of a young girl peeking behind Wrecker's form. "Here."

Why they had a kid with them was a mystery, one that she wasn't certain she wanted uncovered. Maybe the clones were in the middle of a rescue mission when it all happened. That must be it. A weird rescue mission that also involved stealing data from an archive room.

She forced herself to drop it. This was not important.

"We got here without it. Could Kai use the program Echo activated to send us back?" Tech wondered.

Her eyes widened. It had been so long since she had heard that name. She remembered the kind clone who offered her an opening for her escape of 79s; she had once considered him something close to a friend. What she didn't remember was the cybernetic arm. She bit her cheek in an effort to keep herself from asking what happened.

"It could be possible depending on the program, the tools required to make it work and whether or not Echo remembers the coding." She told them. Tech sorted through his pouches to find the AI connector he developed back then.

"I got my name, but nothing else." Kai popped up into her HUD. "Did I know them?" He wondered, curiosity written all over his face.

"You did." She confirmed.

"What did I do exactly?" Tech asked, frowning in confusion.

"Sorry, I was talking to Kai. He had to wipe his memory to keep your world off the radar, so he's a lil' lost." She explained to the clone as she pulled the AI chip from her helmet and Kai appeared in her palm. "Override command: Plan 99."

Kai's holographic body pixelated for a few seconds, the wave of locked information now crashing over him. He stilled with a hand on his head and a frown. His eyes moved from the ground to the men before him and a smile stretched his lips.

"Tech! Hunter! You're all alright! Wrecker! Hi!" He beamed and Layla felt a weight she was not aware was there lift from her shoulders. "Oh. Is Crosshair ok?" He worriedly looked around their ranks to find the grumpy clone.

"He is fine." Tech reassured him. "Although I can't say he is pleased by our current situation."

"That's understandable." The small AI grinned when she handed over the chip.

It was curious how she hadn't hesitated to surrender the AI to the clones when she had once felt betrayed by those very same men and yet she would never pass him to Gates or Ortez, not even for a second.

"Hey! Regan! The hell are those guns and what the hell is he doing?" Gates nearly shouted as Tech plugged the other end of the connector in Echo's helmet. She narrowed her eyes in annoyance and curiosity.

"None of your business, First Lieutenant." She called back.

He pursed his lips, a glare burning in his eyes. Ortez grabbed his partner's shoulder when his mouth opened, a clear warning to watch his words. He didn't listen and shook him off. "Is that what weird shit ONI warned us of? Maybe we should just shoot you down for sympathizing with the Insurrectionists."

Layla gnashed. This was a bad situation as it was, she did not need Gates to throw gasoline on the fire. The clones were out in the open and had nowhere to get to cover while she dealt with the threat that was her chaperones if need be. One wrong movement and Crosshair would open fire, starting a shooting mess that she was right in the middle of.

"The Pelican detected three Phantoms entering the atmosphere." Layla cursed at Kai's warning. Why did everything have to go South?

"Three Phantoms incoming." She relayed to her men. Gates cursed loudly.

"We might have triggered some sensors." Ortez pulled Gates back a few steps and put himself between the two. "What are your orders Captain?"

“We’ll take cover in the peripheral buildings to-”

“Her orders? I’m not-”

"First off, they're not Insurrectionists." She advanced towards the daring, orange trimmed Scout who took the tiniest step back. "Second, if you think you can manage three troop drops on your own, then be my guest and shoot me down.” She challenged.

She knew he was aching to do as she said and probably would have if it wasn’t for the fact that three drops were too much for two men and Ortez who grabbed his partner before pulling him towards the nearest exit, groaning and cursing.

With a sigh to let out some frustration, Layla turned towards the GAR soldiers who looked positively on edge.

"Enemies are incoming. I highly recommend that you stay back and let us clear the area. And please, take care of Kai."

"You know us. You know we won't let you fight alone." Hunter crossed the distance separating them, his team in tow.

"I do know you. And, no offense, but I also know that you're outclassed by the Covies. They're not droids, Hunter." She turned her back to them. "And I'm not alone."

A heavy hand fell into her shoulder, preventing her from walking away.

"Let us help."

She gulped, her gaze straight ahead. "What about the kid? You'd put her in danger."

"She's sturdier than she looks." The grip did not waver, nor did it tighten.

With a sigh, Layla relented and motioned them to follow her with a move of her head. "Guess you'll need a small briefing then."

She heard Hunter call for Crosshair on their comms and inform him of the situation. He also ordered his brother to join them as fast as he could, no need to put him at risk of getting jumped by Covenants while alone.

"Your blaster bolts can kill them, however it might require more than one bolt. Keep your stun mode off," She glanced at Hunter out of the corner of her eye. He looked right back at her, a memory of a conversation passing between them. "They won't hesitate to kill you, so you shouldn't either. If you see a small, flashing, purple ball, duck or jump away. That’s a grenade. Don’t try to catch it or kick it, it will stick and blow you to bits.”

Tech hummed. "We encountered this particular explosive. It is interesting that it does not stick to the thrower or certain objects, like it has a mind of its own."

Bewildered, Layla's steps slowed momentarily. "You threw one of those?"

"Yes."

"Were you… attacked?" Kai hadn't found any sign of Covenant activity in the area prior to their landing and she knew that the UNSC had abandoned Bounty for the time being.

"No, I simply desired to test a theory." He pushed his glasses up his nose.

She resumed her pace, following the beacon that was Gates’ rant. "Okay. Well. Eh… a venting coolant keeps it from sticking to the thrower so the person to prime it is safe, but after that, anything made of flesh or metal that gets in contact with it will be stuck. Also, it might not happen, but some troops have a camouflage device like mine. So if the air starts moving, shoot it."

"If they really have the same technology as you, then we'll be fine." Hunter assured her and only then did she remember the effect the camouflage had on him.

They arrived at a crossroad, where the ground was in the process of being trapped by Ortez’s expert hands and a bunch of charges. Gates was occupied scanning the sky.

At that, she showed them the street opposed to Gates’ position. The clones slowly positioned themselves before looking up to get a better look at the Covenant forces gathering in the horizon.

"And why would we listen to you?" Crosshair spat as soon as he joined their ranks, inches away from her face. The venom and disdain in his voice were welcomed by the Spartan.

"All I'm trying to do is keep you alive. I've lost my whole team here once. It won't happen again if I can help it."

"We're not your team, now, are we?" He shot back and despite his face being covered, she knew he was shooting her down with his eyes.

"No you're not." Facing the consequences of rash decisions was always a pain. "Doesn't change that I don't want any of you to die."

She turned around, DMR in hand. Footsteps followed her on her way to the facility's hangar.

"I'm sorry."

She flinched at Wrecker’s tone, so soft and pained. She would take Crosshair’s verbal abuse anytime and would even accept physical retribution with open arms for the pain she put his brothers’ through, but this tone was beyond what she could take.

From experience, she knew it hurt worse than an energy sword stab wound.

"It was my fault, right?" He looked at the ground, his voice wavering slightly.

"It was not." She refuted quickly. "I left because my place is here." Or that’s what I thought.

He groaned. "That's not true, your place was with us. We were a squad and a squad stays together."

Her throat closed. How many times had she hoped to hear those words before she decided to use the cube?

"Now, that's not true either, Wrecker. I remember a time when all of you avoided me whenever we were off duty. I didn't really belong and I thought I'd save the time of asking for a transfe-"

"That's what you thought?" He cut her off, dumbfounded. "It wasn't- we were not avoiding you! We were protecting you! From diseases! We were told to be careful." He walked up to her to the point where her weapon almost touched his chest plate. To the point where she saw her fingerprint on the side of his helmet.

"I got vaccinated." She sighed and forced herself to step back and reach the closest Warthog. "I was protected."

"But Tech said vaccines were not always effective. They helped, but you could still get sick."

She looked back at him and noticed his heterochromic eyes filled with guilt. His helmet was now up on his head, holding perfectly still and Layla had an unconscious thought to pull it down to keep him as protected as possible.

She knew her decision had been rushed and despite the long hours she spent with the cube in her hands, her decision had been half-thinked through. She had acted on emotions. She was a true Regan, her Mama once told her. As impulsive as they came, she had said. One would have thought that she would make good impulsive decisions since it was literally her last name, but as it turned out, it was a warning. Impulsive decisions would be her downfall.

"I-"

The ground shook under the impact of an energy mortar, cutting her off. Layla ducked into the Warthog and tried the ignition. The vehicle roared to life on the third try.

"Jump in!" She pointed at the passenger seat and he promptly joined her. With haste, she reversed out of the hangar and turned them around to regroup with their comrades. Wrecker wowed at the sight of the battlefield awaiting them.

Together, the Phantoms managed to bring a little less than a regiment in addition to three Wraiths. She swallowed hard. Could they defeat 400 Covenants? A Spartan team would be fine, but they were clones from another universe. They were trained soldiers, but they were not trained to kill Covenants. She swallowed hard. They will have to do. They must.

“So, what’s your genius plan, Captain?” Gates asked through the comms with the highest level of sarcasm he ever used with her. Not that she cared. She was more bothered by the quick English-Basic language transitions.

She stopped near their position and got out, Wrecker following her lead.

“Those guys will cover our backs." She pointed at the Bad Batch with her thumb. "We take the Warthog and you drop me as close to those tanks as you can and I'll take care of them before they collapse the buildings on our heads.”

"Wh- a- That's three enemy tanks!" His voice raised in disbelief.

"I can see that."

"Three! We are a recon and infiltration team! Not first liners!"

"Gates-" Ortez tried to calm the man but as expected, it didn’t help much.

"You're batshit crazy, you know that?" Gates cut him off and moved slightly aside to keep eye contact with her. "I mean, Spartans have always been fucking crazy, but you-! Something's very wrong with you! It's like you're actively trying to die and fuck if I'm going to let you take me down with you. I have a fucking family Regan, one that I want to see again and if I fucking die because of you, mark my word I'll haunt your ass 'til you blow your brain out." He ranted, his face going more red with every second.

She looked at him, unamused. Irritation itched at her fingertips. "You're done?"

"No. I fucking hate you." He slammed his helmet back into place.

"The feeling's mutual."

_____________________________

It was pure chaos. He was used to chaos, but this was new. Despite Wrecker being the tallest out of the Batch, a lot of the enemy were towering over him. It was scary. Although it was way scarier to look at Layla fight the aliens head on while he was ordered to fight from the cover of the buildings line.

His feet were tingling in an urge to vault the window and run where she fought mercilessly to protect them. He had a need to join her side and help, and each time he felt the pull getting too strong he had to remind himself of Hunter's warning.

You'll hinder her if you go. It could get her killed.

He knew it was true, that he severely lacked knowledge of this world and in the event that he did join her side, she would be focused on protecting him and not herself.

It wasn’t that she was doing a bad job a protecting herself, she was tearing through the enemy lines like a hot knife through butter, but after a year passed staring down at her fingerprint staining the side of his helmet and hearing her laugh in his dreams, he desperately wanted to fix what his inaction broke.

“Sniper deployment in the left building. The blue-gray one. Fifth floor.” Kai warned them, allowing Crosshair to take down the aliens before they got time to aim at the clones.

Kai had linked the Batch's comms to Layla's so the AI could keep her updated on the aerial space traffic while working on the cube's code along with Echo, amongst other things.

From the comms Wrecker could hear Layla dispatch what sounded like orders to her comrades and unlike earlier, it didn't sound like an argument.

It might have helped appease his mind to know that she was not alone on the front line if only he believed that her teammates would help her in case she needed it. It didn't look like they worked well together when all the orange armored guy did was to constantly snap at her. Even though they fought side by side flawlessly to take down two of the three tanks trying to shoot them down, Wrecker couldn't help but not trust them.

All he could do to offer his support was kill aliens before they could get to her.

He shot down a frenzied alien running towards them with two round devices in hands. An explosion resonated through the air, taking a few aliens down with it. Along with his brothers, they made quick work of the Covenants trying to flank the Spartans.

"Two banshees will be on the battlefield in forty-seven seconds." Kai reported in both languages.

"What's a banshee?" Crosshair and Hunter asked in sync.

"Enemy air support." He explained while Layla was already commanding her troops into what Wrecker thought was a new plan. He heard some resistance over comms which made him hyper aware of the scene before him.

Layla grabbed a weapon off an alien's corpse and ran towards 'Gates'. As warned, two ships flew towards the battlefield, firing at the Spartans as best they could. The weapon in Layla's hand glowed green before she swiftly aimed behind herself and shot the incoming ship. Wrecker's stomach churned as Layla jumped on a shield generated by Gates' armor and using her momentum, he propelled her into the air towards the falling aircraft.

His knees nearly buckled underneath him when she somehow opened the aircraft, pulled an alien out of it and took its place at the commands.

"Wrecker! Focus on the fight." He should have been embarrassed at the fifth reminder to keep focus, but he truly wasn't. His focus, despite his best effort, was constantly drawned klicks away.

In her stolen aircraft, Layla shot some troops until the other ship took chase and managed to land a few hits despite her maneuvers.

“Crosshair.” Wrecker turned to his brother, his heart tight in his chest.

“Already on it.” Came his reply and a few bolts precisely hit the back of the enemy ship. The fourth bolt caused an explosion of the left reactor which allowed Layla to loop around and finish the banshee.

“Thanks, Helljumper.”

“Anytime.”

“Your rear is fuming.” Hunter warned.

“I know.” Wrecker could hear the grin in her voice and found himself grinning back. “Watch this.”

The purple ship sped forward until she reached the active battlefield and it plunged down towards the remaining tank. Wrecker’s grin faded. A last bolt was shot towards the tank, right before Layla’s form jumped out of the vehicle in a free fall. Wrecker heard the tank and aircraft explode, however he couldn’t find any joy in them yet.

“Are you okay?” He asked with worry. That fall was pretty high.

“I jumped from higher, remember?” She reassured him and just then he spotted her running to cover. “I’m fine. Kai, how’s that code going?”

“We’re progressing. I estimate the code to be completed in twenty minutes or so.”

“Great job bud’. Tell me when you’re done.”

“Will do, Captain.” He nodded. "Just to let you know, in order to activate the coding to send them back, we will require a powerful energy source.”

“Any ideas of a suitable power source?” She grunted as she punched an alien that got too close.

“One that will not please Gates and Ortez.”

She scoffed. “Let me deal with them.”

“Then our pelican will do just fine.”

She chuckled over the comms and the hair on Wrecker’s arms rose. How he missed the sound. He realized that the laugh that resonated through his dreams was less endearing than the one he could hear while awake.

As it happened many times that day, Wrecker’s heart skipped a beat at the sight of Layla ducking under the swipe of an energy sword before being tackled and sent flying a few meters back. He heard her breath cutting under the impact and a groan leave her lips when a tall, blue-armored alien materialized out of thin air and kneeled onto her abdomen, snarling at her face.

Wrecker jumped out of the building before he knew it. He ran while shooting at the beast, his mind solely focused on keeping her safe. All he could hear was the blood pumping in his ears, all he could see was the sword shining high into the air, ready to strike down. And then all he saw was blue. Blue blood coated his visor, the sticky substance spurting from where his vibroblade connected to the alien’s neck. He removed the blade and his arm became warm.

He had never been so glad to see blue in his life.

“Are you okay?” He dropped to his knees to assess her condition.

Her hand grabbed his outstretched one and he quickly pulled her up. For a short moment all he could think of was her hand in his, how right it felt. Then a bullet flew past his head and he let go to duck under cover with the Scout.

“Yeah. Thanks for that.” She was already shooting back at the enemy, prompting him to copy her movements. “You should go back to the others.”

“I should. But eh I’ll stay here.” He hoped she wouldn’t order him back.

“I’m sure your Sergeant wants you back, Wreck.”

A long silence stretched the comms line.

“All things considered I think he’s better with you.” Hunter replied. A relieved breath escaped his mouth. He could stay.

“If you say so.” She reluctantly let go and ushered him after her.

Together they cleared a section of the battlefield while the two other Spartans worked half a klick away. Wrecker’s attention was fully captured by the fight, he wouldn’t let anything go wrong, not if he could help it.

It was easy to go back to old habits. He was made for war, to fight on the front lines, not search around for bounties. He was in his element and to add to it, he fought by her side again, the place where he felt he truly belonged.

Less and less enemies shot at them, a majority of their numbers covering the ground, unmoving.

Until a yell came over the comms.

“Hunters!” A gruff voice warned. “Two of them incoming from the North-West.”

Layla groaned.

“You guys take one down, we’ll manage the other.” She ordered. “Wreck, follow me. We got a big guy to settle.”

“A’right!” He dutifully followed her, his blaster at the ready.

“Here’s what we’ll do. I’ll draw its attention while you shoot it in the back. Aim for the tender part, not the armor. They are resistant, so shoot like there’s not tomorrow. And if it turns to you, you take cover.” Her last words were hard. “I mean it. You run and you hide. That cannon will kill you in one hit. I’ll get its attention again and then and only then you come back out to shoot.”

He wasn’t a fan of her being the bait out of the two of them. He would prefer it to be the other way around, but knew better than to voice his concerns. A scene on an explosive field could quickly mean death. “Got it.”

“Let’s go!”

Farther up the street, two beasts marched towards them, their heavy armor gleaming under the sun. Two green spots suddenly glowed from their arms and Wrecker got ready to duck behind a nearby vehicle. One of the two beasts got distracted, multiple shots bouncing off its body. Its attention turned to engage the two Spartans who did a similar tactic as Layla’s. One bait and one shooter.

Wrecker ducked behind the abandoned vehicle, safely avoiding the green plasma bolt flying his way. With small peaks over the metal carcass he waited until the Covenant followed your movements and turned its back on him, exposing the soft part of its body.

Instantly, Wrecker opened fire like instructed. Blue bolts rained on the soft flesh of the alien causing it to stumble slightly and misfire the charging cannon bolt, missing Layla by far. Content with the result, Wrecker rained hell on the beast until it turned around to face him and fired a bolt. The metal body pressed against his back jerked under the impact, sending the clone to his knees. He hurried a look behind and found that Layla had already baited the alien to shoot at her instead.

As he did before, Wrecker jumped back in position and fired. It took several repetitions until the creature fell to its knees and clattered to the ground, unmoving. He couldn’t rejoice in the small win as the enemy troops still crawled around, shooting at Layla like she was the Plague. He gladly returned the shots.

“The code is complete with a coordinate modification.” Kai informed them over the line. “All I need to send them back is a connection to the power core of the pelican.”

“Then lead them there. We’ll join you soon.” Layla ordered as she pulled him after her right as a grenade flew past their heads. The explosion muffled Kai’s answer and caused Wrecker to stumble lightly. He kept as close to her side as he could.

Their earlier conversation kept repeating in the back of his head, how crestfallen she had sounded. She truly believed that she wasn’t one of them and it hurt him more than any wound he subsided during the Clone War. She was important to him and he drove her away without even noticing. He hated his weakness that allowed her to leave them that night. He should have talked to her like he had planned to. Instead he had chickened out and she left.

He swore to never shy away from talking to her. He swore to bare his honest feelings and not hold back ever again. Too much time had already been lost and he doubted he could survive another heartbreak.

So he listened to the small voice that kept telling him that it was now or never.

“You’re coming with us, right?”

She spared him a glance, her weapon still raining shots onto the enemy.

“To the Pelican?”

“Home.”

She paused, frozen for a second. He took over the cover fire.

“Wrecker. My home is-”

“With us.” He assured her. “Always was.”

He saw her hesitate in her movements. His heart leaped in his throat when plasma beams missed her by a hair, and a bolt crashed into her armor’s shield. He pulled her behind some cover.

“I should have told you that before. I wanted to! Really badly! I just- it was- I- I got scared that I would screw up and destroy what we already had and well, it happened anyway. But I realized that you needed me and I let you down and I won’t ever let you down again.” He scrambled to explain.

“We should have this conversation later.” She whispered and moved away from him, causing his heart to leap in fear to lose her again.

“I thought that too a year ago and then the next day you were gone. I need to say that I loved you then and I still do now. I missed you every day and the Marauder hasn’t felt like home in so long because home is you.”

He almost felt out of breath. His heart was beating wildly, his thoughts were scattered everywhere and nowhere at the same time, all he could really think of was whether he had said enough or not, had said the right things or not, of she would leave or not-

“She’s right, Wrecker.” Hunter grunted. “You should have this conversation later.”

“R-right.” Heat flared up his face at the thought that the whole team heard his rant.

“For what it's worth Layla, the Marauder definitely hasn’t felt the same without you sleeping in the cargo hold.” Hunter’s smile could be heard in his voice.

That jolted her out of her trance. She snorted in amusement and her shoulders shook lightly in what Wrecker was sure was silent giggles. Tension eased out of his muscles in response.

“I also missed having someone who truly listens to my informative chatter and who doesn’t cut me off mid-way.” Tech chirped in.

A low grunt filled the line. “Wrecker started pushing us around again.” Crosshair supplied in annoyance.

“Okay, okay, I got the point.” Layla looked around at anything but him, her feet shuffling a little.

Despite his initial embarrassment, Wrecker was glad he blurted everything over the squad comms. He knew his brothers also felt grief over her sudden departure and despite Crosshair’s gruff behavior, he knew for a fact that his brother rumminated on what went wrong. They all did. And now they all followed his lead and offered reminders that she was a part of Clone Force 99 and her presence amongst them was wanted and appreciated.

“The enemy forces are fairly low. We better join the others now before the guys get suspicious of the others lurking around our transport.”

He nodded and followed her lead to join his brothers and sister. Oh. Now that he thought about it, Layla never met Omega. He will love presenting her to his little sibling.

He could now see his squad, Omega safely tucked away in the belly of the ship alongside Crosshair. Tech and Echo worked on the underside, their hands lost within the metal beast. Hunter kept guard, his eyes trained on the horizon.

Layla cursed. “A sensor was tripped. That’s probably Ortez keeping track of me. They’ll be rallying here any second now. Kai, what’s the status?”

“Another minute and I can activate the protocol.” He assured her.

“Good j-” “Cover!”

Wrecker only had a second after Crosshair’s warning to duck. A sniper shot grazed his arm.

“Wrecker!”

An explosion hurt his ears, way too close to his comfort. The blast disturbed his running momentum and sent him tumbling on his hands and knees. He recovered quickly, his blaster aiming to the orange blur exchanging blows with Layla. Both dodged and retaliated in quick succession, staying way too close to one another for Hunter or Wrecker to offer support fire.

If blasters were useless then his fists would do fine.

With a war cry, he charged the duo, fully intending to neutralize her aggressive teammate. Layla ducked under a right hook, leaving a perfect opening to him for a left hit. His knuckles hit a solid light shield instead of a helmet. With a grunt, Wrecker pushed through and hit the shield with powerful blows after powerful blows. Gates spat curses, his feet digging into the dirt in an attempt to keep his ground. He pushed him back, keeping him occupied on him instead of Layla.

He saw her creeping around to attack Gates from the side. Before she could attack, a sniper shot hit her in the leg, earning a cry of pain. Her leg buckled slightly. Gates used her pain-induced hesitation to reach for her and stick a device on her chestplate. She recoiled until her movements stopped completely, her arms stuck mid-air and legs ready to pounce.

“Fuck! Wreck! My armor is locked. I can’t move!” He heard the light panic loud and clear.

“Don’t worry. I got this.” He reassured her.

“I’ll get her.” Hunter added, already running to their position.

Swiftly, Wrecker delivered a kick to the shield, sending the soldier tumbling on his ass. He followed with a punch to the face which connected and broke the black visor. A kick to the abdomen pushed him back from the UNSC soldier who rolled to his feet, a knife in hand.

The blade flew around and Wrecker did his best to avoid it. He grabbed Gates’ wrist in a firm grip, pulled him closer and delivered a left hook. The scout stumbled to the ground, his body going limp for a second. He was about to get back up when a stun shot hit him and he fell back down.

“Time to go.” Hunter pushed him towards the ship, Layla in tow.

Wrecker followed right next to her, close enough to feel slight hits of her elbows as they ran. They came to an abrupt stop before Crosshair who kept looking out for more trouble.

“Ready to go back?” Kai asked loudly, but his eyes were on Layla.

Wrecker held his breath.

“Yeah. Let’s go.” She sounded confident, her own visor trained on his. He knew there was a smile hidden under helmet, one he was eager to see again.

“Alright. Please remain calm, keep your head and arms close to your body and enjoy the ride.” The AI clapped his hands and the same feeling of free-falling took over his senses, making him panic instantly. Through the daze of it all, a hand grabbed his and squeezed tightly. He squeezed back, the small movement offering him tremendous comfort. Everything would be alright as long as they stayed together.

The free-falling feeling stopped and he found himself on his knees. His eyes moved to her hand still encompassed in his, moved up her arm to find her face. As soon as she met his visor, he pushed his helmet over his head and slowly reached to do the same to hers. Her eyes had turned shy, looking at their hands instead of his eyes.

“I loved you too. And well, I still do.” He could only hear her words because he was so close. Their breaths almost mixed.

“Welcome back.” He lowered his forehead to touch hers. Her eyes fluttered close, mirroring his.

“I’m home.” She whispered and his smile hurt his cheeks.

20 YEARS LATER

“You know, I don’t think I ever thanked you for not giving up on me when I kept making mistakes. I did some really bad ones and you never turned from me. It's crazy to think that it took you to travel universes for me to understand that my place was truly with you. I know it was by accident, but don’t you think it sounds romantic nonetheless? If not by your own doing then even the universe wanted to reunite us.” She chuckled. “That's so cheesy. But I’m grateful it happened. So thank you for pulling me back to you and for staying at my side no matter what.

“You’ve always been the strongest out of the two of us and I’m really trying to take a page out of your book here. I know you hated how your body aged so much more quickly than mine, and I hate it too because that karking gene took you from me too early, but I also try to see it from another angle, you know? I think it helps me cope. And its damn impressive when said like that, so here: you fought for a good part of your life, against droids, the Empire, you fought to ensure that we had a future together and then it all stopped. Well, more or so. Then came the small problems of life; finding our home, keeping it upright, dealing with my mind playing tricks on me, all those time you helped the village despite your aging body– I was always happy to give you those massages and you know it– and so many more that we overcame.

“What was I saying again? Oh. Yeah. What I meant is that all your life you fought in one way or another and you came back every time. Maybe injured, but alive. You were so strong that the only thing that managed to stop you was time itself, the only thing you had no power against. You were so strong, my love. I’m sure that if time was a droid, you would have trashed it in minutes.

“Now, am I as strong as you? I know I’m not. But I promised you that I’d do my best to be happy and that’s what I’ll do. After all, I have Aedan to lure me out of bed each day with that carefree smile of yours. I’m also grateful that he looks so much like you, but I told you that so many times already. He helps me heal a lot and I think that it's also a reason why you were so relieved when I told you I was expecting. You didn’t want to leave me alone, didn’t you? My strong and smart man. You’ve always known me more than I know myself.

“I miss you every day.” Her throat tightened. “My life became so much better because of you and I cannot thank you enough for it. I wish we had had more time, but I guess that will come later, when I find you again. Aedan and I will care for each other like you cared for us, with so much patience and love. Were you aware that our boy now has high standards in love? He’s only 13 and already talks of soulmates. That's all on you. You did that, you amazing man.

“Okay. I’ll let you rest for now. Take care of yourself wherever you are. I love you with all my heart and soul.”

A smile stretched her lips despite the salty tears falling down her cheeks. The tip of her fingers carefully stroked the plastoid of the helmet before her, her touch lingering on a familiar fingerprint. She had always been bad at goodbyes although she knew that this time, she would see him again. She had no doubt about that, after all he traveled universes to find her again. He would find her anywhere. It might not be tomorrow, she still had things to do, but when the time was right Wrecker would reunite them. He was the strongest after all.

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