#and i started noticing zombies attacking the crowd and slowly coming after me as well as angry ghosts

[konakoro]

Whenever I have "video game" dreams, they're always gradual horde survival/"last as long as you can"-esque dreams and I absolutely hate it. I hate those kinds of games as is because they stress me out so much, but now I'm physically in a scenario where more zombies and monsters keep showing up to rip my face off and murder me horribly.

I just wanted to pull a heist on a concert, not get swarmed by zombies and feel my spine get ripped out...

[delimeful]

not always what they seem (2)

warnings: inappropriate jokes, remus being remus, mild panic attack, fear, miscommunication

long overdue commission for @legendsgates​! thank you for your patience and support 💚

Chapter 1

-

Janus watched the giant creatures around them devolve into more of that buzzing, clicking language as Remus waved his arm around enthusiastically in response to them.

“What are you-- Stop that,” the emo kid hissed, his whole body going tense, and Janus leaned back slightly just in time to avoid getting caught in the half-tackle that Remus was subjected to. “What if they just asked who wants to be first to be dissected, huh?”

“Oooh, kinky,” Remus cackled from where the kid had pinned his wrists to the floor. “Do you think they’ll probe me first?”

Janus rolled his eyes, and then stiffened as a shadow fell over them. “Kid—!”

He could see the moment the red alien’s hand made contact, the kid’s face immediately draining of all color as those strange talons wrapped around him and started to lift.

Almost instantly, Remus surged to his feet, grabbing the kid’s arm before he could be lifted out of range. The hold was so tight it almost looked painful, but the kid clung back desperately. He looked smaller than ever without the bulky hoodie around him, his frame barely concealed by a worn, slightly oversized band shirt.

Remus’s face twisted into a snarl. “Hey, hands to yourself, you shitty Mothra rip-off!”

Janus quickly rose to his feet as well, looking up past the kid’s terrified gaze to see the alien had paused, it’s strange antenna protrusions twitching. The facial features didn’t give him much to work with, so he attempted to see what the creature was seeing, contextless: the kid tackling Remus for big showy arm movements, Remus coming after him. Was it trying to seperate them like a pet owner with a pair of squabbling dogs?

He shifted forwards, setting a hand on Remus’ shoulder and expertly drawing all attention to himself. Remus glanced at him and then reluctantly cut off his litany of extremely descriptive curses, though his grip on the kid didn’t falter. Janus tilted his head back to carefully lock eyes with the alien.

“No. Stop,” he spoke with a stern emphasis. “Put him down.”

He reached up to grab the kid’s arm as well, tugging lightly, and then repeated himself slowly.

“Double D, buddy, I’d bet all three of my balls that they don’t understand English,” Remus said, “no matter how slow you say it.”

Janus didn’t break eye contact with the giant, moving to point at the kid and then the floor of their enclosure emphatically. “That doesn’t mean we can’t communicate with them.”

At the perfect moment to dramatically accentuate his point, the alien seemed to concede, lowering the kid down until his feet were touching the floor. The guy tore out of the oversized grip as soon as it loosened, nearly tumbling head over heels. Janus caught him by the arm, and Remus took the opportunity to jump forwards and click his teeth menacingly at the giant hand. The alien recoiled immediately, looking much like an elephant shying away from a mouse.

“I volunteer to get probed and this is how you fucks repay me? Just grabbing kids all willy-nilly? Have some respect!”

The kid muttered something, half-lost under his panicked breaths, and Remus turned to look at him. “What was that, short stack?”

“Virgil,” he repeated irritably. “It’s Virgil, not ‘kid’, definitely not ‘short stack’. I’m twenty years old, for fuck’s sake.”

Janus and Remus shared a glance over the newly-named Virgil’s head, and that was enough to set the man off into another fit of cackling laughter.

---

Roman watched, enthralled, as the little creature bedecked in green threw its head back and made a hair-raising clamor.

Intriguingly enough, the other two didn’t seem to react too strongly to such a loud outburst. The yellow one turned its face to the side as its tiny features pinched into an expression that Roman couldn’t quite decode, and the shaky purple one’s pale face seemed to shift color as it made an emphatic hand gesture of some sort. Patton would be taking plenty of notes later.

The motions, the expressions, they were all intentional and full of meaning, just like the pointing and sounds Yellow had made when Roman had tried to separate Purple from the group. He still didn’t quite grasp why the other specimens had responded so strongly; Purple had clearly been attacking, though thankfully no serious harm had occurred thanks to Roman swiftly jumping into action.

“This is incredible,” Logan murmured from beside him, and Roman couldn’t help but agree.

“There’s so much to analyze here,” he mumbled. “Any small animal would flee from a predator’s grasp, but they recognized that we’re sapient, and Yellow even approached instead to mediate!”

“Yellow?” Patton asked, a bit of teasing in his voice. “I thought your nicknames were always a bit wordier?”

“I can’t properly nickname someone unless I have their self-presentation and personality, Pat!” Roman defended. “It’s more of a… designation. After all, I can’t very well ask their names, can I?”

“I mean, we could certainly try!” Patton suggested with an optimistic lilt to his voice. “I’m not a linguist for nothing, y’know!”

“It might take some time to communicate intent, so I wouldn’t get your hopes up, Patton.” Logan’s ears flicked at the pleading look the Nihl sent him. “Still, I’ll admit there’s… no harm in a first attempt.”

Roman unsubtly chittered a laugh at his coworker’s expense, and Patton brightened immediately.

“Glad that you agree it’s… wordth a try!”

---

Janus was drawn away from the amusing argument going on between his fellow captives (the topic being how old one had to be to be an actual ‘for-realsies’ adult, federal law be damned) by two of the aliens simultaneously making odd, dragged out noises almost like stuttering groans.

“They sound like fucking zombies,” Virgil muttered from where he’d appeared at Janus’s shoulder. He’d snapped back to watching the three with blatant paranoia the moment they were loud enough to catch his notice.

The kid wasn’t subtle at all, but it wasn’t like he was wrong to be on guard. They were still abducted, regardless of how fantastical or impossible their captors seemed. Seeing how significant the size difference was, they’d have to work on escaping through… more cunning means.

Janus carefully held his position as the three giants crowded around the enclosure again, ignoring the way Virgil reached out to grip the back of his hoodie, either for comfort or in preparation to pull Janus from danger. This time, the three chattered amongst themselves for a long moment before going quiet and turning to the multiple-armed one.

Automatically, the humans mirrored the gesture, and the recipient of their attention met their gazes carefully one by one before placing a rigid, vertical hand under their chin and holding it there.

“Patton,” the alien said, slow and clear. It looked at them expectantly, and then repeated the phrase. “Patton.”

It was definitely some kind of word, that was clear enough. When not caught up in the rapid-fire chittering nature of the alien language, it was much easier to decipher.

“Patton?” Virgil muttered, and then squeaked when the alien stared at him with sudden intensity, hands flicking up and down erratically. Except for, Janus noted, the one still under its chin.

“Patton,” it said again, and then lowered the hand. Next to it, the insect-like one put a much bonier hand under its own angular chin.

“Roman,” it said, with a few subtle clicks that probably couldn’t be replicated by human mouths. Janus nodded, the pieces clicking into place. “Roman.”

Sure enough, next to make the hand gesture was the last alien, who introduced itself with a note of rippling bass overlapping with something like Logan. It was probably a bit mangled as he echoed it back, but different vocal chords made things difficult.

“You communing with them, Dee?” Remus asked from where he was crowding over his other shoulder. “That’s no sign language I’ve ever used. You speak alien and you’re not even going to share with the class?”

Janus elbowed him off, and then stepped forwards, and placed his own hand under his chin vertically, studying the ripple of reaction that got from the aliens.

“Dee,” he said, choosing to use his nickname as he had with the other humans.

The aliens immediately dissolved into excited chattering, which Janus patiently waited out. His fellow earthlings were similarly surprised.

“Wait, they’re doing introductions right now?” Virgil’s head whipped back and forth rapidly. Remus was gleefully attempting to mimic the weird, echoey quality of the voice of ‘Logan’ and getting concerningly close.

The one with all the arms-- Patton, it was Patton, he needed to remember if he wanted to make any progress at all here-- let out a string of syllables, slowed down but still nonsensical to them, and reached out.

Virgil jumped back and Remus started forwards, but Janus cut off all movement with a quickly snapped “Stop!”

Including the alien’s motion. He resisted the urge to smile at the success, instead looking up at Patton and tilting his head slightly. “What is it?”

Patton didn’t understand his words, but the questioning tone seemed to carry over, and after a beat, they moved their hand forward again just slightly before pausing, as though asking permission.

Janus weighed his options for a moment, before stepping forward. Virgil, who was still latched onto the back of him, came along with only a single sound of half-panicked protest. Patton correctly assumed that this was Janus giving his assent, and moved their hand closer, much slower this time.

With delicate, careful motions, they pushed Janus’s left hand out from under his chin, and then carefully curled a finger around his right arm, tugging that one up instead. Janus realized his mistake after a moment, and placed the right hand under his chin instead. Patton withdrew with a bright hum.

“What is happening,” Virgil hissed, and Janus glanced over his shoulder at him. The color had drained from his face, and his hand was white-knuckled where it was holding onto Janus’s borrowed outfit.

“I was mirroring their… introductory gesture, I suppose, and it seems that the meaning changes if I don’t use the correct hand. In this case, my right one,” he explained. “They’re going to want to know your name. Do you want me to assist?”    

Before he could answer, Remus was bouncing forwards, placing a hand under his own chin to gain the aliens’ attention.

“Call me I-Am-A-Buttface,” he half-shouted, grinning wildly.

---

“Did… did anyone else catch that one’s name?”

Roman watched as ‘D’ reached over and tugged the other tiny alien back by the collar roughly before they could speak again, astonished by how the other only let out what might be a cackle at the rough handling.

Not more astonished than he’d been by the alien catching on so quickly, though. Logan had been rendered completely speechless for a record amount of time, and Patton was still happily waving his hands back and forth at the success.

D visibly let out a long breath, and turned back to them, placing the correct hand under their chin this time. “D,” they repeated, and then switched things up.

They pulled the rambunctious one closer and placed their hand under that one’s chin, too. “Remus.”

“Are they-- introducing the other one as well?” Roman asked, and none of them could answer. ‘Remus’ didn’t seem to object, though they continued to speak in that rounded language. “That’s certainly a bit... unorthodox.”

D looked over at the only unnamed alien, the angry one that was standing at D’s shoulder, and after a moment, they jerked their head strangely. D seemed to understand, and held a hand palm-up in that one’s direction.

The unnamed alien put their hand in the proper introductory position, and had a few false starts before finally getting their name out. “Virgil.”

“Virgil,” Patton echoed excitedly. “That’s Virgil! Virgil, D, and Remus!”  

“Stars above,” Logan said faintly, “they really are just people but smaller.”

Roman couldn’t help but agree with the astounded sentiment. It hadn’t really sunk in before, but knowing the personal names of individual members of the unfamiliar species… “This could have been a disaster. Why were they labeled as primitive? Did the recorders even actually observe the planet they’re from? This seems a little hard to miss!”

“Easy, Roman,” Patton reached over to run a couple of gentle hands over his agitated wings. “You’re scaring the little guys.”

Sure enough, when he looked over, he could see all three of the tiny aliens were staring at him. He clicked an apology, and then echoed it in Common. “My apologies, small friends.”

“I agree with you, though… We can’t treat them as anything less, not like the tests would have us do. I’m not sure what our next step should be,” Patton admitted, and they turned as one to look at Logan. The Glanrim had a recognizably enthusiastic glint to his eyes.

“We’ll have to present our case to the Council. If we want them to believe us, we’ll need sufficient evidence that our specimens are sentient, sapient, and deserving of the standard rights,” he told them, tail swishing. “Our next step is to obtain that proof, through whatever means we can.”

Roman and Patton shared a glance before nodding in agreement. They turned towards the aliens with determination, and then stopped completely short.

“We’re… going to have to find some method of communicating our intentions,” Logan said, tapping his fingers on his shoulder in thought. “I believe the lack of such communication is what caused Virgil to behave so timidly in the first place.”

“Yeah, just reaching in and grabbing them probably isn’t a good idea,” Roman admitted. “What’s the plan, then?”

“Well, this can be a test in itself. Assuming that they can discuss amongst themselves what tests each of us did on the first run-through…”

---

Janus stared blankly at the three hands that had been set down along the floor of their enclosure, palms-up, each corresponding to one of the aliens. He turned to look at Virgil and Remus, just to ascertain that he was seeing the same thing they were.

Remus tilted his head to a painful-looking angle, and then nodded to himself. “It’s just like those choose-your-own-adventure books, except with huge aliens that we don’t know the intentions of! Fun!”  

“Oh, so they’re insane? They’re out of their skulls?” Virgil asked, his voice upping an octave in disbelief. “They really think we’re going to just literally put our lives in their hands, after they abducted and tormented us?”

“That’s exactly what we’re going to have to do,” Janus muttered, and held his hands up when Virgil turned to him with a glare. “Just listen for a moment. What are they doing right now?”

“Trying to trick us,” Virgil shot back immediately.

“Getting handsy!” Remus offered.

Janus pinched the bridge of his nose. “No and definitely no. They’re offering us a choice,” he clarified, “because we’ve done something to shift their opinions of us.”

“Some choice,” Virgil muttered. Janus pointed at him, making him jerk back slightly.

“Exactly. What do you think they’re going to do if we refuse to engage with them at all?”

“... Grab us anyways?”

Janus nodded, casting another look over at the waiting aliens. “If that happens, we’ve relinquished any and all control over the situation, no matter how small. Instead, we need to take advantage of this while we can. We’ll be putting our lives in their hands regardless, so it’s best to act strategically here.”

“Well, I know what I want.” Remus sidled a step away from them and towards the aliens. “Dibs on the hot one.”

“The what one?” Virgil gaped, and Remus ignored him in favor of getting a running start and then throwing himself directly onto Logan’s hand. Unsurprisingly, Logan seemed unsure how to react to a human sprawling over him like Rose from Titanic. Janus was too professional to slap a hand onto his forehead, but the urge was there. He grabbed Virgil’s shoulder when the kid started towards them.

“Forget it. He’s made his choice, and he doesn’t seem like the type to be swayed by common sense,” Janus said, rolling eyes and choosing very emphatically to not question his fellow human’s apparent qualifiers for someone being considered ‘hot’. “You need to make a decision of your own.”

Virgil shook him off, running his hands through his hair in frustration. “This is crazy. All of it. Forever. You know that, right?”

“I’m aware,” Janus replied, voice dry. Virgil shot him another look, and then seemed to actually consider the options, though grumpily. With his shoulders still up around his ears, he looked vaguely like a very angry turtle. Janus kept this observation to himself.

“Remus called the one with all the arms-- uh, Patton? He called them boring and said all they did was talk at him,” he finally offered, glancing over at the alien.

Janus nodded, keeping his own feelings on the matter off his face. “You want that one, then?”

“What?” Virgil looked at him, confused. “No, I mean you should go with them. You’ll probably have an easier time figuring out what they want from Patton.”

Janus paused, thrown off. “Hold on, that-- that leaves you with Roman. I… don’t think you’ll have the best time, considering.”

“And you will?” Virgil took Janus’s silence as the admittance it was, and nodded to himself. “I can do it. I’m tougher than you think. And anyways, if I let you go with him, he’d probably try to swipe my hoodie. Not happening.”

Janus huffed with exasperation, and Virgil gave him the closest expression he’d gotten to a smile yet before shoving his shoulder slightly and stomping up to Roman’s hand. The alien looked just as unhappy as Virgil about the decision.

---

“Well, that was an… interesting selection process,” Logan said, lifting up his hand slightly and finding that Remus seemed content to be toted around.

It was more than he could say about his own matchup. “Yeah, that’s one way of putting it,” he grumbled as ‘Virgil’ continued to stand there, tiny arms bundled around themself, tiny eyes staring up at Roman aggressively.

The little creature didn’t seem intent on even touching Roman, let alone actually being picked up and taken anywhere. Roman looked over to where D was seating themself on the edge of Patton’s hand like a king upon their throne, and then back to Virgil, who didn’t move.

Maybe they expected Roman to do all the heavy lifting? He carefully lifted his hand, curling it around Virgil’s tiny frame, and received a vicious hiss for his efforts. He recoiled, antennae flattening. He hadn’t even known these creatures could hiss!

“You alright, kiddo?” Patton appeared next to him, one hand hovering as a safety net for D. Roman pasted on a smile immediately.

“Of course! Just working out methods of transport with… Virgil. They seem a bit less charismatic than D when it comes to conveying intent, unfortunately.” The tiny creature continued to stare at him, gaze only dipping away to meet D’s briefly.

Patton studied Virgil for a moment, gaze moving between their hunched form and Roman’s fidgeting hands. “They might be a little touch shy. The transport containers are still usable, if you need them!”

“Ah, that’s right! Patton, you’re a genius.” Roman exchanged good luck hums with the Nihl and waited until he departed to grab the transport container and present it to Virgil. “Is this what you want to use, you picky creature?”  

As though to spite him, Virgil’s skin shifted to a paler shade, and they went so far as to step back slightly. Roman allowed himself a few frustrated clickswears, and then stopped as he noticed the creature stumble slightly.

“Virgil…?” he attempted the alien’s name, but there was no response beyond their rapid air intake increasing. They didn’t look so good.

Feeling oddly off-balance, he quickly stowed the transport container away, and kept his hands out of sight to give the poor guy some more space. “Easy, easy. Please for the love of all that is good, don’t die of shock on me.”

Virgil didn’t seem to improve at first, but after a moment, they started muttering to themself, and slowly but surely, began to return to baseline. Roman felt as though years had been taken off his lifespan.

“Alright, if you feel so strongly about it, there’s no reason I can’t improvise and simply work from here,” he rambled, moving a seat and a tray of tools to the side of the wide-low enclosure. “Logan wasn’t kidding when he called you easily startled, was he?”

Virgil eyed the tray with wide eyes, and when Roman picked up the thermometer, they skittered back out of easy reach, arms lifted in what must have been a defensive gesture. Like a frightened Arkbit, but less fluffy, and Roman had to actually try to coax them over rather than just holding them still for the process.

“It’s just a thermometer! It won’t prick you or anything, on my honor,” Roman swore, and when that didn’t do the trick, he used the device on himself instead. “See, I just place it against my skin for a few moments, and… there! A perfectly healthy me!”

He extended the sensor end of the thermometer in Virgil’s direction, but didn’t advance. “C’mon, just give it a shot. We’re going to need your baseline in case you get sick, and it’ll make it easier to get the others’ temps if you can tell them I’m not going to electrocute them or anything.”

Virgil dithered for a long moment, but Roman’s patience was rewarded when the alien finally stalked closer and smacked his hand against the sensor like a challenge. Luckily, it was precise enough to work accurately even with such a small specimen, and soon enough Roman has a temperature.

“Huh… you’re warmer than me and Patton, that’s for sure,” Roman mumbled. “Logan probably already has all sorts of classification theories about you guys, but I think it’s at least safe to say you’re mammalian.”

Virgil tilted their head slightly at him, and Roman shook his head. “We’ll have more to talk about once we actually manage to make a breakthrough on language. For now,” he held up a small scale, normally used for weighing precise chemical measurements, “back to the boring stuff!”

The tiny alien made a strange drawn out noise, and placed their hands over their face, but they didn’t get all tense and breathy again, and that was progress in Roman’s book.

So long as they kept making progress, things would probably turn out okay.

[olivia-anderson-fanfic]

Soulmarks, Part 5

First part

Previous

~~~

The air left her lungs. Her suit was the only thing keeping her in one piece as he rolled over her.

Part of her just wanted to lay there and let him run her over again as she watched him come to a stop and start pushing his way back towards her, her entire body ached and screamed with every little movement, but she couldn’t let Chat’s sacrifice be in vain.

She pushed herself to her feet and watched Tim pick up speed. While he definitely had brute force on his side, his ability to make quick turns and stops was extremely limited.

Marinette jumped out of the way right before he could hit her again and he rolled right past, slamming into the white soldiers and toppling a huge group like bowling pins. He didn’t seem all that concerned with the bumps as he slowed to a stop and then started back in her direction again.

Hm…

She ducked through the crowds and grinned widely as Tim followed after her with no real regard for all the soldiers he was mowing down. They didn’t have magic suits to hold them together, so it affected them far more than her.

“HEY!” Yelled Bona-parts, who had finally noticed the commotion.

She sent him a cheeky wave and started in his direction.

The man was too smart to get bowled over, quickly dodging her/Tim’s attack, but she didn’t care about that as she knelt down and scooped Adrien up. She sent a wink as she ducked out the park and began running down the streets, Tim on her tail and rapidly gaining speed.

She slipped down an alley a while away that was too small for Tim to fit through. She set Adrien down.

Her soulmate groaned in irritation and punched the forcefield. Bright green light threatened to blind her and when she looked back Tim had been thrown back so hard he’d rolled a few meters.

He looked down at his hand and she could practically see the gears turning in his head. There was a short moment where he didn’t seem to know what to do. Then he shook out his hand and got to his feet.

He stepped back for a running start and then crashed into the alley.

Marinette was horrified to find that the building crumbled a little with the force.

He backed up and started again.

She listened to the dull thumping of the force-field crashing against the corners of the buildings repeatedly. The buildings would eventually cave, but that was a problem for a few minutes from now.

She wanted to lay down, but she knew that if she would she wouldn’t be able to get up. Instead, she settled for leaning heavily against a wall and resting her head back.

After a few minutes she finally managed to steady her breathing enough to speak: “You’re fucking stupid, you know that?”

“I think my plan worked,” he muttered, his face a bit pale as he pulled his broken leg to his chest. “Just… not how I intended.”

She shook her head slightly. “That’s literally the definition of a plan not working… but okay, sure.”

He sent her a slight glare and probably would have kicked her if either of their bodies could take it.

“Plagg, claws out,” he murmured, and there was a crunching sound as the suit forced his leg back into its normal shape. He pushed himself to his good foot and then slowly started applying pressure onto his bad one to get it used to holding his weight. “Well, we have…” He looked at the steadily crumbling wall as Tim ran into it again. “Around five minutes to plan before your soulmate makes this place cave in on top of us.”

She nodded and pulled out her yoyo. She messed with it anxiously as they thought.

She couldn’t come up with anything. Did it matter if she could, though? All the plans that she had employed that night had backfired spectacularly.

Ah, she could hear footsteps in the distance. They must have finished up Alya and Nino’s execution.

“They’re going to find us,” said Adrien.

She looked at Tim and cringed. He was right, unfortunately. A ball of pure light was hard to miss, and the sun was beginning to set. She may as well have had a neon sign over her head saying ‘Ladybug! Over here! Come get her!’

Her eyes found Adrien’s and she sent him a weak grin.

“Actually… they’re going to find me.”

~

She tore through the streets, Tim rolling after her.

She had considered trying to lose him through back streets and alleys, but decided against it. Even if it was a pain to dodge his attacks every few seconds, he was useful for taking down the soldiers.

She grinned as she turned a corner and saw the first group of soldiers. She glanced back and saw Tim slowing and then restarting in her direction.

She stood still, watching both of them coming at her.

She vaulted over the force field and grinned as Tim bowled over the guards. He turned around and rolled over them again as he started back in her direction.

Good, they wouldn’t be getting up any time soon.

She tried not to think about the fact that these were once people. After all, they were mindless zombies right now. She was putting them out of their misery.

Or, at least, she hoped.

But, since she could think of no other solutions, she continued using Tim to mow them down in droves.

As time went on, and the sky got darker, more and more soldiers started appearing, drawn by the light.

She could tell her soulmate was getting more and more frustrated as she dodged his attacks, but it wasn’t as if he could really change his strategy. There wasn’t much else he could do. He just had to hope she eventually tired herself out enough for him to land a hit.

And she was getting tired. And she could feel her injuries worsening the more strain she put on them. Her ladybug suit helped, but it could only do so much.

She was running out of time...

God, where was Bona-parts when you actually want to see him?

Oh. There he was. She reconsidered wanting to see him as her eyes found his blood-covered axe.

At least she knew where the akuma was.

She smiled and sent a wave to Bona-parts and then rolled to the side as Tim came past her.

The akuma dodged as well and stopped for a second to concentrate. She paused and looked around, waiting for the rumbling that accompanied the soldiers’ arrival…

But there was none.

“Where are they?”

She shrugged, trying not to let her relief show. “Would you like me to show you? I need to run from that guy anyways.”

“You do, do you?” He said thoughtfully.

“Try and use it against me if you want. Don’t think you have a way of pinning me down that won’t get you hurt, too, and my buddy here isn’t all that concerned with extra casualties.”

She saw Bona-parts take in the way that the green glow of the force field was somewhat muted and grimy. As if it were covered in a thin layer of paint.

“You killed them?”

She dodged another attack from Tim and shrugged. “I don’t think you’re one to talk.”

Bona-parts opened their mouth to respond and then whipped around, axe swinging. They missed Chat’s nose by centimeters.

Marinette cursed. There went that idea.

She pulled out her yoyo.

She glanced back at Tim and sighed. He was barreling towards them again. Fun.

Something clicked in her mind and she grinned as she gave Bona-parts a quick kick to the side. He scowled and turned his axe on her, swinging it --.

She jumped over his attack and he hit Tim’s forcefield. A beam of bright light forced her to look away momentarily.

She peeked her eyes open hesitantly.

Her soulmate had rolled an entire city block and was now lying unconscious in his bubble (or, at least, she hoped he was just unconscious, the kid had gone through enough).

Then her eyes found their way to Bona-parts. He was struggling to pull his axe out of where it had gotten stuck in a nearby building.

Chat grinned and pressed a finger to it. “Cataclysm.”

Marinette breathed a sigh of relief as she captured the akuma. Now all that was left was --.

Fuck. The lucky charm. She didn’t use her lucky charm at all during the battle…

Well, apparently it was a good thing that she’d summoned those handcuffs earlier after all.

She pulled them from her belt and smiled. “Miraculous Ladybug.”

Ladybugs swirled around everyone and she felt her bones mending under her suit. Cool, now she could actually take it off later without turning into mush.

She walked over to Tim and her eyes widened as he came into view. The ladybugs had helped him, too. His skin had been returned to a healthy shade and his hair was a glossy black.

Sure, it wouldn’t erase the memories of what had happened, but at least he wouldn’t have a constant reminder every time he looked in the mirror.

He curled up inside the bubble and rested his head inside his hands.

She looked away from her soulmate. She didn’t know if he was crying or just confused about why his likely concussion had disappeared, but it felt wrong to watch and find out.

Chat walked over and leaned against his baton as he smiled at her. “Well, Bona-parts is dealt with. Apparently, she worked at Amazon.”

Marinette nodded. “That explains it.”

He shrugged. “Yeah.”

She watched Tim slowly start to stir and winced. She really did not want to do any more fighting right now…

“Think you can do a portal to the bottom of a staircase?”

“Yeah. Why were you in an abandoned building, anyways?”

“Long story. Wanna meet some American superher --? Oh, wait, no, vigilantes. They call themselves vigilantes over there.”

He grinned. “Are they too good to be heroes?”

“Too bad, apparently. Even though they don’t have the balls to kill anyone.”

“Losers.”

“Absolutely. Wanna meet them?”

“I’d love to.”

Kaalki opened a portal underneath the three of them and they found themselves back in Arkham.

~~~

Next part

Taglist

@pawsitivelymiraculous @golden-promises @salty-fang @kitsunebell @sassakitty @octobitch @glastwime859 @miyla-lokidottir @onlyabatfan @ira-sairain @2confused-2doanything @ultimatetornshipper @ladybug-182 @laurcad123 @we-want-mini-mini @roguishredaxion @just-reblogs-by-h @futursworld @magic-miraculous @nathleigh @smolplantmum

[villainousshakespeare]

Putting it Back Together Chapter 3

Chapter 1, Chapter 2

Adam/OFC

Rated M (will probably change to E) - Grief, angst, eventual smut, mention of characters dead before the start of the story, blood, slow burn

Summary: Since the death of his beloved Eve, Adam had been barely living, only alive due to a promise he made to her. Then one night he meets his new neighbor, a woman dealing with grief of her own. Will they help each other heal or drive each other crazy?

@yespolkadotkitty @just-the-hiddles @hopelessromanticspoonie @wine-and-whines @arch-venus25 @caffiend-queen @devilish–doll @enchantedbyhiddles @hiddlesholic @i-do-not-fangirl-i-fanwoman @kellatron55 @ladyoftheteaandblood @latent-thoughts @gorgeous1974 @maryxglz @myoxisbroken @nuggsmum @nildespirandum @pedeka @redfoxwritesstuff @sinfully-lustful-darling @vodka-and-some-sass @wrathkitty @kingtwhiddleston @wolfsmom1​ @poetic-fiasco​ @shiningloki​ @dangertoozmanykids101​ @bookworm-christina​ @thecutestlittlebunbunfairy​ @amwolowicz​ @delightfulheartdream​ @frostbitten-written​ @what-a-flammable-heart​ @tom-hlover​ @nonsensicalobsessions​ @myraiswack​

For six nights Lilly didn't hear so much as a note of music coming through her walls. Were it not for the occasional banging sounds of large something or others being moved about, she might have thought her surly neighbor had relocated to get away from her. More likely, she realized, was that he had put on head phones to keep her prying ears from his precious compositions.

That being the case, Lilly did her best (which in all honesty was lousy) to put him out of her mind and get on with her life. She continued her late night foraging through her grandmother's belongings, pausing at regular intervals to sob when some unexpected jogger of memory was discovered. By the time she had worked her way through the main bedroom, where she happened upon a collection of love letters that Gran and her ill fated fiancé, Lilly's Grandfather though she had never met him, had written during WWII, she was surprised that she had any tears left. No wonder Grandma Lillian had never married, when she had found and lost such a great love while still in her college years. The paper was well worn, and Lilly could just imagine the older woman returning to read them again and again.

Less romantic but no less special was a photo Lilly found where it had fallen behind a bureau. The picture showed Grandma Lillian, glamorously beautiful in a long, sleek sheath dress and beads, singing on stage in front of a three piece jazz combo. Lilly smiled, naming each of the musicians in turn. The original band had long since gone their own ways professionally, but they had remained close friends regardless. The drummer had taken his savings and invested in a small blues and jazz club not far from here. Grandma Lillian had stopped in their on a regular basis to belt out a tune or two, always to great applause. Lilly's nights there, originally under age and smuggled in, were some of her favorites.

Impulsively, Lilly sprang to her feet. There was no reason she had to stay stuck inside all of the time. Gran would want her to get out and savor life; beyond a doubt she had always done so. Rummaging through her belongings she managed to find a simple black skirt and a red top that she had always liked. She brushed out her long hair with defrizzer until she could tolerate the way it looked billowing around her and applied a touch of lipstick and eye makeup to make her look "less like the walking dead" as Gran would have said. All and all she didn't look half bad. Throwing on a wool coat and pair of boots and putting the photo lovingly in one of about seventy gift bags she had found squirreled away earlier, Lilly made her way out into the cool night air.

It was after eleven, late to be heading out but still relatively early for a Friday in the city. A drifting of clouds obscured and showed the moon at intervals, adding occasional light to the dim streets with their burnt out lights. She would be out of the residential blocks soon and into the more bright and crowded nightlife that teemed nearby.

"It's not wise to be out alone at this hour," a low voice spoke in her ear as a hand descended to her shoulder.

Lillian let out a scream and turned around, bottle of pepper spray pulled from her pocket ready to douse her attacker. Before she could press the button the bottle was knocked from her hand to roll down the street as her wrist was locked in the tight grip of a large, leather encased hand.

"Don't," her assailant said calmly.

Looking up, far up, she confronted a pail face beneath a shock of wild, dark black hair, eyes obscured by sunglasses despite the lateness of the hour.

"Sorry if I frightened you," her neighbor said with a slight smirk, taking off the ridiculous glasses.

How had she not recognized that sinful purr of a voice? She heard it often enough in her fantasies.

"I wasn't frightened," she lied automatically, only to add as he continued to stair at her "well, maybe startled."

"Just imagine if I had been someone else. It might not have been so pleasant."

"Yes, because you are the soul of congeniality," she sniped back.

Slowly Lilly's heart beat was returning to normal, or at any rate as normal as it was like to get with him still holding her wrist. She startled easily at the best of times, and in a dark side street when by herself was far from optimal. He seemed to realize this, and was obnoxiously amused by it. Lilly did her best to glare at him, only too aware that she most likely looked like a little yippy dog.

"Fair enough," he agreed, finally letting go of her hand. "My point still stands though. It's not safe out here. All kinds lurking about."

"Monsters waiting to kill me and gobble me up?" she quipped lamely.

"You'd be surprised."

Bending down, he retrieved her pepper spray from where it lay on the street. He examined it as though he wanted to take it apart and put it back together again.

"Not very well constructed," he said at last, surrendering it back to her. "You'd be more likely to spray yourself by accident? Have you?"

"No!" she said indignantly, putting it back in her bag.

He looked at her knowingly and a tell tale blush spread over her cheeks.

"I did spray a date once," she admitted. "In the back of a cab. I was looking for something else in my purse, I pulled it out, and it went off right in his face."

She could not be entirely sure, but she thought she might just detect the hint of a smile twitch his lips. Well, wonders would never cease!

"Dare I ask if there was a date number two?"

"There was not," she sighed, beginning to walk again in the direction she had been going as he fell in beside her. "As it turned out, he deserved the dousing, though I didn't know it at the time."

"Well then," he said, long stride forcing her to trot, "it was all for the best."

"I guess. He was a broker, had a ton of money but was still rude to the waiter and left a horrible tip. I slipped an extra twenty in while he was in the bathroom."

"Fucking zombies. You're right, he did deserve it."

Lilly walked in silence for a few moments, wondering what on earth was happening. He had never seemed to particularly like her, in fact he had all but run away the previous two times she had come into his presence. So what was he doing now, walking next to her and talking as though he might actually not wish to be anywhere else?

"Where were you going?" she asked when she couldn't stand it anymore.

"Out," he said, jus the one word again.

"Oh, I used to go there all the time!" she said, making her eyes go wide and vacant. "They have horrible service, but the atmosphere is to die for!"

"Sorry, I'm not used to...."

"Talking?" she supplied helpfully as his words trailed off.

"Yeah," he agreed, not seeming to take offense.

Lilly watched him out of the corner of her eye. He was so odd. Handsome beyond question, talented, and clearly intelligent. One would think he would be out with a different partner every night if he wanted. So why did he spend all his time alone in a rundown brownstone? Why was he so closed off? She loved and hated puzzles, and he was one just begging to be solved.

"Where were you going?" he turned the tables on her.

"A club down on Avenue A."

"Ah, going to do what passes as dancing these days?" he said with a curl of his lip. "Grind against someone mindlessly to tuneless music?"

"Well, aren't we the old snob," she mocked him. "No, as a matter of fact it's a music club. Jazz and blues mostly. Small acts, lots of musicians stopping in when home from a tour, that sort of thing. Nothing fancy, but it has character."

"Really?" his interest seemed to be captured as she described it to him.

"Do you want to come?" she asked, careful to keep her voice neutral while she willed him to say yes.

"I suppose it's better than anything else I have to do," he grimaced.

"Wow, thank you so much," she said, pulling a face.

"I... I told you, I'm not good at this. I don't get out much, or see people."

"It's okay," she told him, fighting an exciting flurry in her stomach. "That's the good thing about music, you can just listen."

"Yeah," he agreed, eyes curiously bright as he looked at her.

They walked in silence the rest of the way. Lilly was hyper aware of him next to her, towering over her diminutive height. She did find that she felt more safe with him beside her. Whenever they neared a group of people on the side walk one look at him was enough to move the loiterers scurrying out of their way. She also caught quite a few glances being thrown their way, particularly after he had walked by. He did have a noticeably nice rear view, she allowed. Scampering after him did have an upside she supposed.

They arrived at the club and Lilly smiled at the portly man sitting on the stool by the door. Sidling up behind him, she reached out and pulled his suspenders, allowing them to snap back into place. He spun around, face breaking out into a huge grin when he saw her. The next moment she was swept into a bear hug that left her breathless.

"Lotus blossom!" he grinned at her. "You're looking all grown up! Haven't seen you around here in years!"

"Not all of us are frozen in time, Q," she said with a laugh. "How long have you been wearing those suspenders?"

"Since you were first sweet talking me to let you in," he smiled back. "You and that Gran of yours. Get me in all kinds of trouble!"

"You found enough trouble all on your own."

"True that, but you always added just that extra dash. We were all sorry to here about Miss Lillian. She was a real special lady, and no mistake."

"Thanks," Lilly fought back tears as he swallowed a lump in her throat. "Is Ossie here tonight?"

"You know he'd never miss a Friday," Q rolled his eyes. "Who else would let him play besides his own bar."

"Thanks, Q. Talk to you later."

"This tall fella with you?" he looked her neighbor, once again sporting his sunglasses, up and down protectively.

"Yeah," she said, once again feeling that butterfly sensation.

"Well, alright then. You be nice to her, or big guy or not, I'll take you down."

Adam didn't dignify that with a comment, merely giving the doorman his usual stare.

"Tell the barkeep I'm buying your drinks tonight," Q added as they started in.

"Do you really want to do that?" she asked with a laugh. "You know how I am."

"Damn girl, just try not to bankrupt me," he chuckled.

Lilly laughed and walked into the dark club, sense memory falling over her like a warm blanket. Music, friendly faces, and a handsome man to escort her. What more could she ask for? She just hoped she could keep from saying or doing something stupid for the rest of the night.

***

Adam was convinced that his new neighbor destined to drive him to distraction.

It had never really occurred to him how thin the walls of his home were. If it had realized he would have never bought the damn place. Of course, until she had moved in it didn't really matter. The old woman who had been her Grandmother would never have been so gauche as to interfere in his composing. The granddaughter though...

And what galled Adam most of all was that she had been right. The minute her barked out suggestion came slamming into his creative space he knew that she was dead on. He played the piece, hoping against hope as he came to the end that her contribution would prove just as off as his useless attempts had been. And yet he knew before he struck the chord that it perfectly completed his work. It was humiliating!

After that he made sure to plug in his headphones before turning on his instruments. He didn't want to rude after all, he told himself. It had nothing to do with the streak of embarrassment he had felt at her correction. Adam just didn't want to intrude on her piece.

The way was she was intruding on his. He could hear her all the time. Moving furniture around, cooking in her kitchen, even, to his horror, running her shower. He tried not to think about what she might look like under a stream of hot water, body soapy as her hands slid along its curves. Tried to keep the memory of the taste of her out of his mouth as the vision sprang unbidden into his brain.

It was almost worse when he would hear her crying, which was often. Adam had avoided such open displays of emotion even when he was human. His own tears were only ever shed in private now that Eve was gone. Why then did he feel the urge to break through the walls separating them and wrap the girl once more in his protective embrace?

It must be because he had fed on her, he decided. It was only a few drops, true, but it had still managed to spark something within him. It was such an intimate act, drinking someone's blood. He should have just rinsed it down the drain and been done with it. But it was so sweet, so hot and delicious on his tongue, that would have seemed like a sacrilege.

He was so attuned to her puttering around next door that he was starting to track her movements through the house. It was therefore a start to his system when he heard her front door open and realized that she was going out. At this late hour, with the streets dark and nearly deserted nearby, what was she thinking? Grabbing his coat, glasses, and gloves with a snarl, he was out the door before he could think.

She was not hard to catch. One of his steps could account for three of hers. She made an enticing picture as she ambled down the street, swinging a little gift bag as she walked. Red coat and bright hair caught the light from the moon when it cut through the drifting clouds above. Her skirt displayed a tantalizing stripe of bare leg above a pair of black boots, and he found his mind drifting to how easy it would be to access her femoral artery in such an outfit.

Had she no idea what a tempting target she made? Quickly walking up behind her, he clamped his hand down on her shoulder and growled into her ear, careful to keep his voice as calm as possible.

"It's not wise to be out alone at this hour," he said.

She was predictably flustered by his approached, and he took a kind of pleasure in making her squirm even more. After all, she was responsible for his discomfort over the past week; it was only right she should feel a little back. He was actually rather enjoying bandying words with her, he realized, until she confessed that she was on her way to a club.

Adam could see it clearly in his mind. Her coat over some chair, she would be clad only in the short black skirt and the tight red satin top he could make out underneath. Her hips swaying as her cloud of hair moved around her, she would catch the eye of any man there. Some zombie or other was bound to come up to her, predatory and drunk most likely. His hands would roam her as they danced, on her bare leg, or sliding around her waist, brushing against her breast, her ass, pulling her close to his sweaty body as he ground against her his hardening dick.

"Ah, going to do what passes as dancing these days?" he said with an angry curl of his lip. "Grind against someone mindlessly to tuneless music?"

"Well, aren't we the old snob," she relied, rolling her eyes. "No, as a matter of fact it's a music club. Jazz and blues mostly. Small acts, lots of musicians stopping in when home from a tour, that sort of thing. Nothing fancy, but it has character."

"Really?"

That sounded... not terrible.

"Do you want to come?"

Adam opened his mouth to say no. He never went out, not to clubs or bars or any other place filled with mindless hordes of zombies. But as he looked at her, trying not to let him see how hopeful she was, something inside him softened while another part had completely the opposite reaction altogether.

"I suppose it's better than anything else I have to do."

"Wow, thank you so much."

He honestly hadn't meant to poke her with that comment. It was himself he was frustrated with, not her.

"I... I told you, I'm not good at this. I don't get out much, or see people."

"It's okay," she told him. "That's the good thing about music, you can just listen."

"Yeah."

The comment took Adam aback. That was exactly how he felt. So many people wasted time with needless babble. It was so much easier to just listen. Let the atmosphere and the music take you over and move you. Why didn't more people realize that? The thing he hated most about seeing music live were all the people who insisted on talking over it.

He had an odd moment when she hugged the doorman at that club, fighting back the urge to rip the man's throat open and soak the street in his blood. He managed to fight it back once he saw that the relationship was clearly more paternal than romantic. Not that he cared if she had romantic relationships, of course. He just felt protective over her. Because of the blood.

They entered the establishment and Adam looked around with tentative approval. It was dark, not overly crowded, and those that were there sat and listened attentively to the band playing on the stage. She led him over to the bar, where she leaned in to say hello to the woman working behind it. Evidently she knew this whole place well. Not at all where he would have pictured her hanging out.

"Hey, Ivy," she said, just loud enough to be heard but not so loud as to disturb the crowd.

"Lilly! So sorry to hear about Lillian. We all miss her around here. The usual?"

"Yeah, thanks. Oh, and Q says he's paying for it."

"Oh, big spender," the bar tender laughed. "Hi, I'm Ivy. And you are?"

"Adam," he supplied tersely.

"What can I get for you, Adam?" she asked, eyes flickering to his companion and back.

"Nothing, thank you," he answered.

Ivy moved away to make her drink and Adam sighed in relief. It would be much easier to hold himself back from fantasizing about drinking his companion's blood if she were intoxicated. He tried to not let his relief be tinted by disappointment.

"Adam?" she said, looking at him with a half smile. "That fits, I guess. I'm Lilly."

Lilly, he thought. That fit her as well. She was dainty and pretty, although it was sometimes obscured by her clumsiness. Vaguely he noticed the band had just ended a set and applauded automatically, but his attention was focused on fitting Lilly's name with her person.

"Here you go, sweet heart," Ivy interrupted, setting a pint glass filled with light pink liquid down in front of her. "Don't drink it too fast."

The women laughed and Adam raised his brow in question.

"Cranberry and seltzer," Lilly said with a grimace. "I don't drink. Doesn't interact well with my anxiety meds. I know, it makes me a bit of a drag, but -"

"No," he interrupted her. "I prefer it, actually. I don't drink either. Alcohol."

"Oh, well thanks. Or something."

She looked down shyly at her drink, playing with the straw. Adam gave himself a mental shake. She was a human. A zombie. And an annoying one at that. She had cried on him, pried into his wiring project, intruded on his music. Why was he so fascinated with her? Was it just that he longed to taste her again? But if so, then why did he imagine tasting other things than just her blood?

"My Grandmother used to sing here," she told him out of nowhere. "That's her photo over there, behind the bar. Lillian Bell. The owner was her drummer for a while back in the 60's. She would bring me here to listen to what she considered real music. She was a bit of a snob. You would have liked her."

"I'm sure I would have."

Adam scoured his memory, trying to think if he had ever heard of the woman. He thought he might have, actually. He had a vague recollection of a small woman with a big voice that looked not dissimilar to the photo she indicated.

"That's how I know music," she continued, chewing on the straw and drawing undo attention to her mouth. "I don't sing myself, or play much of anything well, but I have an excellent ear."

"Much to my gratitude," he said, realizing at that moment he did feel grateful to her for her assistance.

"Sorry about that," she turned the shade of her shirt. "It sometimes is physically painful for me to hear the wrong note. Or, I mean... not wrong wrong... I meant... oh gosh..."

Adam let her squirm for a few more minutes before putting her out of her misery. She was rather delightful twisting on her stool, looking for a way out of the trap her mouth had gotten her into. He had the feeling it was not an uncommon occurrence for her.

"It was wrong," he said at last, taking pity. "I was stubbornly trying to force a finish that didn't belong. I can be arrogant that way at times."

"No, not you!" she protested mockingly. "I never would have imagined!"

Against his usual nature and inclination, Adam felt a smile begin to raise the corners of his mouth. She was incorrigible, this woman. He could tell that she was intimidated by him, hell, he had cultivated that in her, and yet she still said whatever popped into her head, fear be damned. She was brave, and that was a rare quality it seemed to him.

"Well, if it isn't my little Lilly!"

Adam looked up to see the drummer from the last group sauntering over. Lilly jumped off of her stool and hugged him warmly, but this time Adam had no fear it was anything other than familial affection. He was ancient, if not compared to Adam than to other humans, easily in his late 80s at least. Still, he had held a steady beat. The musician in Adam had to respect that.

"Ossie, it's so good to see you!" Lilly gushed. "I'm sorry I haven't been by in so long."

"We all know why, Lil," the old man sighed. "Lillian didn't want you to see she was failing, so she made up lies to keep you away. I yelled at her for that, don't think I didn't!"

"I can only imagine," she said with a watery smile.

"And who is your young man, missy?"

Adam inwardly rolled his eyes at the moniker, not so much because it assumed they were together but that he was young.

"My friend," Lilly corrected him hastily. "Adam. He's a musician too."

"Good set," he nodded to the drummer.

"Well, I'm not sure how I feel about that," Ossie looked at him appraisingly. "You can do a lot better than one of us."

"Friend, Ossie," she stressed again. "And while you might be my almost Grandad, you are not my father!"

Adam wondered why it bothered him that she was so quick to disavow any serious connection to him. It must be his pride, he decided. She had seemed taken by him that first night on the roof, and certainly the evening he had knocked her over and she had proceeded to stare at his bare chest. He had rather liked the way her eyes lingered on his muscles, to be honest. But perhaps his churlishness had put her off. If so, good for both of them

"You watch what you are saying, Lilly," Ossie scolded her. "You know your Gran had eyes for no one but your Grandpop. When you find a love like that, you can get buried in the grief of it when it's gone, it and forget to let yourself move on. Don't make that same mistake."

"I have to fall in love once first, before I can move on to a second," she said.

Adam leaned back against the bar. Is that what he had been doing? Getting buried in his grief? Eve had made him promise to live, but was he really holding up his vow to her? It made him nervous to even think about.

"I have something for you," Lilly handed the bag to Ossie. "Open it after I'm gone, I can't deal with crying again tonight."

"You are such a sweet pea," he said. "And that reminds me, I have something for you, too! I was cleaning out my office, and I found some master tapes of one of our old recording sessions. And there's Miss Lillian, singing to make your heart break! You got an analogue player at the house? One of the old type, mind you?"

"I don't know," Lilly bit her lip. "I haven't seen one, I don't think."

"I have one," Adam offered, before he even thought about what he was saying. "We can listen to it at my place."

"Well, you might just be worth something after all," Ossie beamed at him.

Adam looked back and forth between Lilly and Ossie, both smiling at him as though he had hung the moon. Inside where his heart once beat, he felt an ever so slight easing that was almost a pain.

What, he wondered, had he gotten himself into?

[anna-justice]

Lost or Found - 24

Summary: As Jay, Hailey, Kim, Adam and Kevin start their junior year in the wake of a tragic summer, the past year of their lives comes back to haunt them. If you enjoyed Pretty Little Liars, this is for you! *UPSTEAD/BURZEK High School AU

...

24 - Evermore  ...

“Your dad should have killed you when he had the chance…”

Hailey whimpered, her eyes clenched shut and beads of sweat appearing on her forehead.

“So you want to play hero one more time?” 

She flinched in her sleep, her heart beating out of her chest, so fast that she thought it was going to explode. 

“That works for me.” 

Hailey shot up, screaming. The last thing she saw was the barrel of a gun. She clawed at her chest, trying to get a good breath. “Hailey?” Someone yelled, and then right after, her Aunt appeared in front of her. “Hailey, it’s okay.” Trudy reached out to grab her hand, but Hailey pulled it back, looking at her with scared eyes. 

It had been a month since she had heard those words muttered aloud, but they plagued her dreams frequently. 

The two weeks following that day, all five of them took turns rotating through the police station. Everyday there were new questions, more people to explain things to, more statements to clarify, it was never ending. Then, it just stopped. There was nothing else they could do, they had to wait for trial. And in the meantime, Erin was placed in a psychiatric hold facility, and her lawyers were defending her actions as a symptom as psychosis.

It bothered them all, that technically she was free, all because they could blame her attempted murder on a psychotic break. Especially when Kelly Severide was looking at time. A few days after, two detectives showed up at Hailey’s house, wanting a full recount of the last five months, and that included the night that she was attacked. When Severide was questioned, he had no alibi and he confessed to strangling Hailey. His excuse was that he was threatened the same way that the rest of them were, only in person. He claimed that he knew Erin was alive the whole time, but she threatened to kill his mom and sister if he didn’t cooperate. 

Unfortunately, the only way to corroborate the story for a jury is to prove Erin mentally competent, meaning she was capable of carrying out her threats. To all involved, even Kelly, it was clear that she knew what she was doing, she was a mastermind, but to everyone on the outside, they were just a bunch of teenagers wrapped up in a murder. 

The girl that everyone thought was Erin still hadn’t been identified, they had to dig up the casket for the second time. The only way they were able to ID it the first time was by the previous fracture and bracelet, but there are a lot of people in the Chicago area that have broken their left wrist. 

So, with no new information and the date for the trial to begin still months away, they all lived life normally. Well, as normal as it could be after everything they went through. And normal for Hailey meant waking up every night screaming. 

Trudy looked at her husband, who was standing in the doorway. They shared a look, a very familiar one. They repeated the same steps every night, like some cruel rehearsed dance. Trudy waited patiently for Hailey to calm down, just seated on the floor next to her. “Hailey, sweetie, you’re safe.” She repeated. 

Every night it was the same, Hailey would snap out of whatever daze she was in and apologize profusely. “I’m sorry, I got scared…” She started.

“Shhh,” Trudy said, placing a hand on her leg, “It’s okay.” 

Hailey nodded, swallowing hard. “I’m good, you all can go back to sleep.” She said, glancing at her uncle. 

Trudy just nodded, she learned many nights ago not to fight her on it, “Alright. Goodnight Hailey, we love you.” She said, squeezing her shoulder. 

“Love you too.” Hailey said, watching them retreat back to their room. They left the door open like they always did, Hailey sighed rolling over and grabbing her phone. She sent a quick text to her boyfriend. 

Hailey:      :(

It was a system that they started a few weeks ago. The first few nights Jay would stay up with her on the phone, or she would call him after Trudy and Randy finally left, but the lack of sleep began to play a part in their relationship. So, they decided that every time Hailey had a nightmare (or Jay, he wasn’t clean of them) they would text the other a frowny face, so that in the morning they would know what the other had gone through the night before without having to talk about it. It has proved to be useful.

Hailey laid down again, willing herself to close her eyes, but she couldn’t. Sleep was too vulnerable, so she laid there awake, just waiting for the sun to rise on (hopefully) a better day. 

…

“What do you mean you haven’t picked out a costume?” Kim asked, as Jay slammed his door shut. Like every morning, they were all crowded around his truck, waiting until the last minute to head to class. The gossip still hadn’t died down, they were still the topic of every conversation, so they avoided it as much as they could. 

Hailey shrugged. “I thought we weren’t dressing up.” She said, looking up at her boyfriend, who nodded in agreement. Halloween was tomorrow, and of course Kim had plans for all of them.

“No, I said we weren’t dressing up as the characters from scooby doo…” Kim said, giving Adam a pointed look. 

Adam held up his hands in surrender, “Like I said, I’m sorry, it’s too soon.” He said, stifling a laugh. 

Kevin rolled his eyes, “Yeah, you all know I’d have to be scooby. And I’m not dressing up like a dog.” He snapped. 

“But Kev,” Adam said, faking a frown. “I thought you were my dawg.” Kevin glared at him, faking a punch as Adam jumped back. 

“Anyway,” Kim started, looking back at Hailey and Jay, and ignoring the antics behind her. “I promised Stella we would all be at her party tomorrow night, you guys will be the only people without a costume.” 

Hailey sighed, “Kim, we will get costumes, I promise.” Kim opened her mouth, but the warning bell cut her off. Hailey smiled, grabbing Jay’s hand. “We’ll see you guys later.” She said, before pulling him away. 

“Please tell me you have costume ideas,” Jay said quietly. 

“Nope.” They rounded the corner, Jay leaning down and stealing a kiss before they entered their classroom. Criminal justice was a little harder to sit through than it was before, but somehow Jay had managed to get his grade up. 

They took their normal seats in the back of the class, waiting for the teacher to begin. “I have an idea,” Jay said, leaning on his hand. 

“Okay?” Hailey said cautiously. 

“I’ll be a firefighter, and you be a Dalmatian.” He said, wiggling his eyebrows. 

Hailey scoffed, “No.” 

“Okay. You be the firefighter and I’ll be the Dalmatian.” He said, smirking.

Hailey shook her head, “Try again.” Jay fake pouted, retreating back to his half of the shared desk. 

Finally, their teacher decided to start class, cutting their conversation off for the time being. After about 30 minutes of notes, he passed out an assignment, leaving them to work on their own. Jay turned to face her, smiling. “I’ve got another idea.” He said, Hailey gave him a pointed look. “Squints and the lifeguard from the sandlot.” 

“Why? So every time someone asks us who we are you get to lay on the ground and make me kiss you?” She questioned. 

“Exactly.” He deadpanned. 

“Jay-”

“Okay, okay.” He said, laughing. He loved it when she got all riled up. “Peter Pan and Tinkerbell, cause you’re so short-”

“Jay!” She said, smacking his bicep. 

He laughed harder, “Okay, in all seriousness...we can be Jack and Rose from the titanic…” He watched Hailey’s face slowly morph into slight agreeance, “And Kev could be the iceberg.” 

“I’m done with you.” Hailey said shortly, stifling her own laugh. 

Jay laughed at his own joke, watching his girlfriend pretend to be aggravated with him. “You love me, you know it.” 

“Unfortunately…” Hailey said under her breath. She took a deep breath, “What about Danny and Sandy from Grease?” 

Jay smirked, “You in leather pants? Perfect.” 

“You’re hopeless.” 

…

The next day, Hailey sat in Kim’s bedroom getting ready. They had about an hour before the boys were supposed to come pick them up. Kim and Adam were going as Romeo and Juliet, while Hailey and Jay had finally settled on Rapunzel and Flynn Rider. Kevin had grouped up with some of the boys from his team, they were going as zombie football players, very original…

“Kim, you’re going to have to do this.” Hailey said, laughing in defeat. 

Kim smiled, taking over for her. She was waiting for her to ask for help, she’d been struggling to french braid her hair for almost twenty minutes. “I got it.” They sat there for a while in silence, Kim carefully laying pieces of blonde hair over the others, she glanced at Hailey in the mirror, noticing the blank look on her face. “How are you doing?”

Hailey’s head snapped up to meet her eyes, she caught her off guard. “Uh,” She shrugged, “I’m okay, I guess…” 

Kim scoffed, shaking her head. “I’ve said that word so many times recently that I’m not even sure it’s a word anymore.” 

“Yeah…” Hailey said, letting her thoughts wander. “I get that.” And she did, it was like she used the word as a shield. It was her response to everything, and she wasn’t okay, not that it was really a secret. None of them were okay, but saying it made it feel like they were. And deception was something worth clinging onto. 

“You know, we never talked about-” 

“We don’t need to.” Hailey said, cutting her off. 

Kim eyed her cautiously, “Okay.” She wanted to talk, but she didn’t feel like she had any right to push Hailey to. Not after what happened. “Done.” She said, a few minutes later, taking a step back to admire her work.

“Thanks,” Hailey said with a genuine smile, picking up the jar of flower clips they had bought that morning. “You think I should just put these everywhere?” 

Kim nodded, “Yeah, I think so.” She reached down, clicking shuffle on a playlist, a random Taylor Swift song playing. They were both done talking. 

An hour later, the two of them were sitting in Kim’s kitchen talking to her mom when Jay and Adam arrived. Adam just let himself in the front door, Jay choked on a laugh as he waltzed in like he owned the place. 

The boys appeared in the kitchen, “Honey, I’m home.” He said, passing Kim and hugging her mom. Kim rolled her eyes as they all laughed, Jay’s hand finding Hailey’s back like it always did. He was so happy, even though life was still crazy, he was ridiculously happy. Watching Hailey smile and Adam joke around like he used to (before they used it as a distraction) was so nice, and familiar and just so damn good. 

Hailey peered up at him, grinning as he pecked her lips. “Alright, let’s get a picture so you all can get out of here.” Claire said, ushering them together. Jay stood next to Adam, both of them holding their girlfriends securely against their waists. They all smiled brightly, relaxing after the click. 

They quickly bid their goodbyes, making their way out to Jay’s truck. Hailey slid easily into the passenger seat, despite her nude heels (that she was already regretting), while Adam and Kim got in the back. They pulled out of the driveway, and somehow Adam ended up with aux cord. Somewhere in between an old Maroon 5 song and the Weekend, Jay’s hand found hers on the center console. 

Hailey looked down at it and smiled. It was a simple thing that they did every single time they rode together, but it really symbolized how much things had changed. Hailey thought back to the day that he kept his eyes trained on the road, back when she cut him off when he tried to apologize. It was only two months ago, but they were different, everything was different, everything was better. 

 Jay followed her gaze to their conjoined hands, mimicking her smile. She didn’t have to say anything, he knew exactly what she was thinking. Part of him wishes he could go back and stay with her then, he felt like they had wasted so much time, but the other part of him knew that they were better for it. Neither of them were ready for what they have now, then. And what they have was worth the wait. 

Finally they reached their destination, Jay having the park pretty far away due to how many people were already there. They got out, Jay rounding the truck to help Hailey down, even though she hadn’t needed it in a long time. The four of them headed towards the decent sized house, they could hear the music thumping from outside. Hailey slipped her hand in Jay’s, gripping his forearm. 

Jay noticed the look of discomfort on her face, leaning down. “Hey, you okay?” He asked, eying her. 

Hailey nodded, holding on a little tighter. “Yeah, just don’t want to get lost in the crowd.” Jay nodded, believing her lie. She couldn’t really explain it, but she had a terrible feeling in her stomach and the thought of being lost in a sea of people made her want to throw up. Even though it was over, Hailey still found herself looking over her shoulder and watching out for her. And even though all of that meant she was nowhere near being in a party mood, she wasn’t going to bring everyone else down, they all needed a fun night. 

They made their way through the crowded makeshift dance floor, and found Kevin in a living area near the back of the house where he was sitting with Stella, Conner, Matt and Sylvie. “Hey guys,” He called, jumping up and clapping Adam’s back. 

Stella stood, hugging Kim tightly, “I’m glad you guys could make it.” 

Kim squeezed her, “Me too.”

Stella backed away, touching Hailey’s arm affectionately and giving her a kind smile that she returned. “I know it’s kind of crazy,” Stella laughed, “If you need something or just a break, the keys to the upstairs doors are hidden right under the doors, just inside the rooms.” She glanced at the obvious couples, winking. “I trust you guys.” 

They all nodded, Kim blushing, a chorus of “great” and “thanks” sounding. The group dispersed, the five of them huddling up. “Obviously Hailey and I are gonna stick together, if we get lost, meet back here at midnight and we’ll head out?” Jay suggested.

“Sounds good,” Kev said, nodding.

Adam agreed too. “That works for me.” 

That works for me…

Hailey flinched at those words, instinctively squeezing her eyes shut. Her breath caught in her throat. The image of a pulled gun flashing through her brain. She grimaced, trying to push the thoughts away. “Hailes…” She took another deep breath, doing everything in her power to keep her fear at bay. “Hailes.” Someone said, harsher, snapping her out of her daze. 

“Yeah?” She asked quickly. 

Kim eyed her cautiously, “I asked if you wanted a water…”

“Oh,” Hailey shook her head, “No, I’m good, thanks though.” She watched as Kim and Adam slowly disappeared into the crowd, her eyebrowed cinched together. 

Jay stepped in front of her, blocking her view of the rest of the room, “Are you sure you’re okay?” He asked, concern clear in his bright green eyes. 

Hailey nodded vigorously, “I’m good, I promise.” She said, his face didn’t change. He didn’t believe her. Hailey reached up, pulling him to her level and attaching their lips. She wrapped her arms around his neck as she deepened it, pulling him even closer. Jay did his best not to get lost in the kiss, but with her it was so hard. She pulled away slowly, peering up at him. “Jay, I’m okay.” Kim was right, it didn’t sound like a word anymore. 

Jay sighed, admitting defeat. “Okay.” He laced their hands together, leaning down and kissing her slowly before guiding her to the dance floor. They stood near the edge, Jay’s hand sitting on her hips as they swayed in sync to the fast music. They danced for a while before some of Jay’s teammates interrupted them. 

Hailey stood securely at his side as they spoke, absently listening to the trashy rap music that was playing loudly throughout the room. “Fuck, shit, bitch…” The sound of a gun being cocked rang through the speakers and Hailey screamed. Suddenly the eyes of everyone around her staring at her. She was frozen in place, forcing the terrible memories away, but she couldn’t. 

“Hailey.” Jay said, but her feet had a mind of their own and she was running towards the staircase, her lungs burning, she couldn’t get in a good breath. “Hailey!” Jay called after her, not even bothering to say goodbye to his team before taking off. 

Hailey booked it up the stairs, dropping to the ground in front of the first door she saw, grasping aimlessly for the key. She slumped against the door, tears streaming down her face as she fought to breathe. Jay booked it towards her, crouching down and finding the key easily. He unlocked the door, then swept his hysterical girlfriend off the floor, carrying her into the room and setting her on the bed. She was still heaving in front of him, and Jay placed two hands on either side of her face. “Hailey, Hailey look at me.” He said, but her eyes stayed trained on his chest. “Baby, you’re safe, look at me, please.” She clenched her eyes shut, more tears falling down her face. When she opened them again, they met his and she launched herself into his arms. 

Jay held her to him, rocking them gently as she cried into his neck. “I-I thought-” She stuttered, sobs wracking her body. 

“I know, I know.” He said, trying to calm her. 

“I thought it was over…” She said, and Jay felt his heart clench in his chest. 

He ran his hand through her braided hair, no doubt destroying it. “It is, it’s all over, you’re safe. We’re safe.” For some reason that made her cry harder, maybe because she hadn’t for the past month, she had been bottling up her feelings to protect herself and everyone else. Because even though she was, she hadn’t felt safe in a long time. 

Hailey pulled away after a long time, utterly exhausted. Jay couldn’t take the look of defeat on her safe, she looked so tired, so broken, that it scared him. How could he not have known how much pain she was in? 

She couldn’t bear to look at him, so she kept her gaze fixed on her lap. He placed his hand on her thigh, and Hailey laid one on top of it. She sniffled, using her free hand to wipe the never ending tears from her eyes. “I’m okay.”

…

The following Monday, Hailey sat in the passenger seat of Jay’s truck. After the events of Saturday night, Jay had no choice but to loop in Trudy and Randall, he had to after he had failed to do so before. They spent the rest of the weekend convincing Hailey to see someone, to talk about everything they had been through. 

It was probably the trauma left over from her parents, but the stigma that therapy made you weak was ingrained in Hailey’s mind, and convincing her to make an appointment was no easy task. 

That’s how they ended up sitting in the parking lot of a private practice right after school, Hailey’s leg bouncing nervously up and down. Jay lifted their intertwined hands off the center console, kissing the back of hers. “I’m going to be here waiting, all I ask is that you go in there and try.” He said, rubbing his thumb over the back of her hand. 

Hailey smiled softly, nodding. She leaned across the console and kissed him slowly, hoping that she was able to portray just how much love she had for him and trust she had in him through it. Jay pulled away, taking her in. “I love you, Hailey Upton.” 

“I love you, Jay Halstead.” She said. 

“Now, go kick some ass.” He said and she laughed, opening the truck door. She shut it, giving him one last look before walking inside the doors. 

She sat down in one of the waiting room chairs after signing in, a few minutes later an older man with big glasses popped his head out of the back. “Hailey?” 

She stood, “Yes sir.”

The man smiled, “Come with me.” He led her back to an office, gesturing for her to sit on the couch while he sat in the chair across from her. “I’m Dr. Charles, but you can call me Daniel or Dan, or really whatever makes you comfortable.” He explained. 

Hailey nodded, shifting nervously. “So, how does this work?” She asked.

“However you want it to, we can talk or not talk about anything you want.” He said, leaning back in his chair. 

“Okay,” Hailey glanced at the ground, “The-There’s a lot…” 

“That’s okay.” 

Hailey grimaced, finally looking at him. “Where do I start?” She asked.

Dr. Charles smiled. “How about the beginning?”

Hailey sighed, taking a few deep breaths, ready to start confronting all the demons that she had been fighting for so long. 

“Tell me everything.”

...

A/N: This is long but please, please, please read it!!

First, this is the end of this story, but it is not THE end! There will be a sequel and if you want to see a sneak peak, you can find it HERE. I am so so excited to continue exploring this version of these characters, and don’t worry, the next installment will be just as exciting as this one! 

Second, thank you so so so so much to everyone who has shown love to and supported this story. It really means the world to me, you have no idea. This has been such an amazing experience and I have learned so much from writing this, so thank you so much for reading. You guys are truly incredible, and writing has helped me through a tough time in my life. I’m going to say thank you a million time, but thank you, thank you, thank you <3

This story evolved so much lol: in the beginning I had no plan, and then it changed like five times, and we ended up here, so here’s a few things that didn’t make it in.

Nadia was supposed to die in chapter 19, but I decided against it…

I debated Kevin and Stella getting together, don’t hate me for this ahaha

I almost made Kim lose her hearing, but I wasn’t sure I could do the storyline justice with everything else going on

I debated killing Adam (I’M SORRY, i’m sorry…)

And finally (cause you don’t need to know all of my secrets) I ALMOST broke up Upstead at the end

Anyway, there’s some behind the scenes action if you’re interested. 

Back to the point: THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR SUPPORTING ME AND THIS STORY, I LOVE EVERY SINGLE ONE OF YOU FROM THE BOTTOM OF MY HEART, and i cannot wait to embark on this next journey together!!

So much love,

Anna

@lissethsrojas @puckluck28 @fuckyeahkillianemma @chilly7188 @thebigapocalypsewolf @karihighman @ruzek-halstead @anotheronechicagobog @snowwhite013 @tracysupton @angelsjedi @carissalizz​

[bittybattybunny]

The florist?! What has she done?! And what au is that?

Oh I guess I never talked about that AU

hahaha

Okay so sit down---

I have an AU called “the resurrection of Arulius Law”

it’s based on Frankenstein as well as the song “Annabel raises the dead“

Lillian is a crazed woman who fell in love with her classmate and childhood friend Arulius Law, however, he was already in a relationship with Vanessa Frost and they did plan to wed when he finished schooling. Lillian was kicked from the school for her mad science projects including reanimating a cat and it injured a student so badly he got sepsis and died. However, she was still in love with Arulius.

Arulius got his degree and was setting up his own law firm and he and Vanessa had a daughter named Harriet. They were happy. When Harriet is 5 years old, a carriage struck her father and Arulius died from his injuries.

Lillian stole his body and others in order to experiment in raising the dead. She did succeed.

Marcus is a detective on the case of the body-snatching, and he ends up teaming up with Estelle Guardian, an ‘undertaker’ who runs the Nightingale Mortuary. Estelle is revealed to be a grim, summoned by the prior owner Sena Nightingale. he named her Estelle and had a contract with her. however when he died she just. Kept his business going. The mortuary is a cover and they really investigate happenings in Subcon City.

So with Marcus, Estelle starts tracking the cause of the body-snatching down. She ends up meeting Vanessa and becomes close to her, helping her with Harriet as they look into matters. Harriet is actually the key to helping figure it out because whenever the reanimated Arulius is out with Lillian if he sees her he stops and she notices. So using her they are able to locate him and Lillian’s hide out. They find that Lillian is having issues stabilizing him and he’s failing and will wind up like her other experiments if she can’t fix it.

Estelle tries to get him to pass on (as a grim protects the dead. she will guide them) Lillian has other plans and wants to attack all of Subcon for mocking her and make a paradise of corpses for her and Arulius.

Arulius is able to snap to clarity when Harriet screams for him and ends up escaping with the main cast. He gets bad, Estelle can’t get him to pass. he willingly returns to Lillian to try and get her to stop, instead she locks and chains him up.

Marcus keeps an eye on Harriet and Vanessa and Estelle go to confront in a  big showdown, during it, Vanessa forms a fresh contract with Estelle giving her the name “Eclipse”. this Allows her to unlock her magic properly as due to the death of her prior contractor she was stuck in human form as she refused to return to the vail.

Eclipse in her grim form, runs and puts down the zombie army Lillian has created. with Vanessa on her back they are able to free Arulius and they chase Lillian down to stop the hoards. Arulius ends up snapping and going feral as an undead and attacking his own creator. In the struggle, he ends up consuming Lillian’s heart (as she wanted his heart--) This causes him to fully stabilize and he returns to his senses.

With Lillian’s death the undead slowly fall and they are released from her grasp. Eclipse states she’ll guide Arulius if he wants and they wind up staying together until Vanessa dies of old age. She then guides the couple. She stays with Marcus and Harriet as well, guarding them until Harriet herself is a mother and tells her she’ll be okay and says if she wants to go meet her parents she can. Eclipse is torn because she misses them both terribly but isn’t sure how to go herself as she’s been a guide so long. However both Vanessa and Ru are able to help her and let her finally pass on. (You see, a grim in some legends is made by BURYING SOMEONE ALIVE IN A CHURCH FOUNDATION. Eclipse was killed in this manner.)

Anyway that’s that au. Here’s the first couple pages I have written cuz IDK if/when I’ll work on this more--- it was like a hyper fixation I had for a few weeks hence the completed plot synopsis

“Soon… Soon you’ll be back…” She smiled so wide mouth threatened to rip. Her red hair flying around wildly in the stormy air as the window flew open papers scattering, “Soon. Soon, my dear, you’ll be back!” 

She laughed as she looked outside than at her work table and threw the switch.

The hand twitched.

-----

“Mommy…” the little girl tugged on her hand as they walked through the town, “Mommy can we do a chicken for dinner?” She asked curiously. 

The blond looked down with a chuckle, “No, Harriet. We’re doing fish tonight.”

The little girl puffed her cheeks up and stopped. She let go as she watched a tall figure amongst the crowd vanish into an alleyway. She smiled widely and ran off after him.

“H-Harriet!” her mother yelled taking off after her.

The little girl wove through the crowd, her small size making it easy to weave. She jumped into the alley, “DADDY!” She shouted.

The man turned, gold eyes flashing with recognition before the red-headed woman grabbed his hand and they vanished.

“HARRIET!” her mother gasped pulling her up in a panic, “D-Don’t run off like that! I-if I lost you too…” she held her close and buried her face in her daughter’s shoulder.

“B-But mommy! I saw daddy!! He was a weird lady!!!” She whined as her mother picked her up.

“Harriet... Sweet, sweet, sweet Harriet… Mommy told you… Daddy isn’t coming back…” She sighed carrying her back into the crowded streets, the heels of her shoes on the stone.

“But.. I SAW daddy… and daddy saw me…” she mumbled as she held onto her mother.

------

“Another?!” She gasped as she threw a knife at the wall, “Are you kidding me?!”

“Calm down Este----” he flinched as the dagger buried itself behind him, “Look. I wouldn’t come if it was a joke and this time--!” he flinched, “It was my own family who was stolen.”

She froze. “Marcus.”

He gripped his hat tightly, “My elder brother. Arulius. Estelle. They stole his body. Half the graves were stolen.” he sighed and shook his head, fighting back tears. He reached to rub his visible eye, “My sister-in-law and niece don’t know yet. I can’t tell them. W-why would someone be stealing bodies?!”

She scowled and sat down in her chair. She fumbled in the drawers behind her, “Nothing good. I can say that.”

The young man jumped as the cat rubbed against his legs, its blue and red eyes glinting before jumping to the desk. It crawled onto the woman’s shoulders as she skimmed the papers.

Pulling out a stack she threw them on the table, spreading out. Marcus grew closer, reading them over, and scowled, “These are…”

“Older cases. We had a string of body-snatching about a decade back. If I recall, a student from the Subcon School of Science and Law. She was expelled for illegal possession of a corpse. Something about fighting natural order.” she growled a bit.

“You don’t think!” He gripped his hat, “M-my brother’s body is being used for an illicit crime?!”

“Most likely.” She stroked the cat’s chin, enticing a purr. “I can’t say I’ve seen this much disrespect for the dead in a while.” she leaned on a hand, black hair falling over her shoulder. She chewed on her lip some, “If Sena was alive still…” she looked at her hand and sighed getting up. She grabbed the top hat and threw it on, “Well, Mr. Law. ready to get a little dirty?” she grinned as her cat meowed in agreement.

He shuddered, “No But I suppose this is on purpose?”

“Of course.” she sang moving to remove her dagger from the wall and hid it in her waistcoat among her other knives, “Why else did you come to Nightingale Mortuary after all?” her eyes glinted.

He sighed and fixed his hat as he followed after the woman as she locked the door behind her.

She flipped through pages of cases and scowled, “seems it all over. I wonder. Have you eaten recently?” she asked looking at the young man.

“Eh? No? I haven’t since breakfast. I’ve been too nervous.” Marcus grimaced, “why?”

“Oh I just didn’t want you to vomit over my associate’s home.” she waved a hand as they walked down the street. Her heels clicked as the cat on her shoulders snickered as they shifted.

“Why would I vomit?” Marcus scowled, “Estelle, where is it we’re going?” he asked in a shaky breath.

“Tacks-idermy and other novelties.” She explained, “I need to speak to the owner. She may have an idea.”

“A taxidermist?” he scowled, “why would she know of missing…” he got close to whisper, “corpses?”

“Well. you’ll see.” she sang.

----

Marcus paled as he heard the snapping bones as they entered the basement. He stuck close to Estelle as she walked, flinching every time he heard that sickening crunch. His eyes were wide as he noticed the blood on the walls.

“E-Estelle wh-what exactly are we doing?” He asked as he clung to her.

“Asking an associate if she stole the corpses.” she huffed.

“WHAT?!” Marcus gasped.

The bone snapping stopped. There was the sound of a heavy door as a person with skin white as paper and dark inky hair peeked around the corner. One eye was held firmly open with thick black stitches and the other half closed.

“Oh. Grim. Hi. What do I owe the pleasure of company?” their voice didn’t match their frame at all. It was light and soft like a voice made to read a storybook to children. She crossed her arms. Marcus stared at the thick stitching across her pale arms and she raised a brow, “who’s the standard?”

“This is Mr. law, my current client.” Estelle nodded at him, “we’re actually investigating something you may have ties to.”

The pale woman sighed, “Bodies?”

“Bodies.” Estelle chirped, “Have you been bothered?”

“I can’t GET any!” She threw her arms up annoyed, “do you know how HARD it is to do necromancy when you have no corpses?! Stanradrds make the BEST servants but with the shortage, I can’t GET any!” she fumed.

Marcus gulped.

“Really? You have issues getting corpses? Riley is unable to find any?” Estelle blinked, “Bridgette!”

“Riley has been having issues as well. I’m barely getting enough parts to keep healthy.” The necromancer rubbed her nose bridge, “I’m not going to go make my own but I may have to move shop.”

[keeponshouting]

After Infection

Chapter 2 of my original character massive multiverse mash-up. ...only like four people are reading this but whatever.

After Infection: Chopping Mall

“My name’s Shannon,” she says as they all sprawl about in the middle of a department store’s ransacked home furnishings section. “I’m a daycare worker and lifeguard. I—I saw one of those things run straight into the pool. He just…tackled the other lifeguard and—and dove right in. God, it was—it was terrible! Everything was—I—I just got in my car and started driving and my boyfriend… My boyfriend worked here so I came looking for him. He—he wasn’t here but the parking lot was a mad house! Someone hit my car and drove off and I was just—” She takes a deep breath and forces a shaky smile back into place. “Eric saw me stranded and let me in.”

“I’m Eric.” One of the security guards takes the mention of his name as a good segue into his own introduction. “Me and Jamie were on duty when everything just…went nuts.” The other guard raises his hand in a wave but says nothing. “There, um, used to be four of us but… Well, some of those things got in before we locked down.” His grimace says it all. “We’ve run into a few since then but only on the first floor so we mainly stay up here unless we need to make supply runs and no one goes down there alone.” He laughs, though it comes out hollow. “I was supposed to be going off shift, y’know? Then people started attacking each other in the parking lot and…” He shrugs.

The other girl who had been waiting inside clears her throat, anxiously tugging at the photo ID around her neck. “I, uh, I’m—” She clears her throat again and sits up straight. “Jo. I’m Jo. I was on a manager shift at—Well, I guess it doesn’t matter where I worked anymore, huh? Um. We were supposed to have a meeting last night – new stock and all that – but everybody’s always tired of eating at the food court so I just let them all go out and get dinner from this place across the street and then they’re supposed to come back and…” Her hand closes into a fist around her lanyard. “N-nobody came back. I had my headphones on when I heard a gun go off somewhere and Scott – he was one of the other guards – he came in and told me to get upstairs. There was—there was blood fucking—it was everywhere! Blood and—”

Shannon places a hand on Jo’s shoulder.

Someone else clears their throat and a low, slightly uncertain voice pipes up. “Uh, hi. My name’s Dennis and I’m a zombie survivor?” There is a small ripple of laughter and that seems to bolster his confidence a bit as he stretches out his absurdly long legs for a moment, then folds them loosely in front of himself as he leans back against his boyfriend’s knees and smiles. “So, yeah, I’m Dennis and this is Nate. We, uh… We were in town to, uh…” That seems to be where his confidence wavers again, though, and he leans his head back to look up at Nate.

Nate sighs and gives a small wave, taking stock of the group of people around him. His smile looks far more preoccupied than the one Dennis had to offer. “We were visiting some friends in the area. Planned on going out to do some hunting.” He points to the shotgun leaned up against the arm of his chair as evidence. “That went about how you might expect.”

The next speaker looks almost as nervous as Dennis at first but a deep breath seems to change his demeanor entirely, leaving him with an easy smile and a new air of confidence. “I’m Alex.” That confidence is put to the test as he glances down at the flakes of dried blood and god alone knows what else left on his palms. It leaves his face a little paler when he looks back up again and he distracts himself by introducing his friends instead of delving into their situation. “This is Val…Macy…Sasha…Nick. The dog’s Parker. We’re—”

“5 Year Mentality!” Her anxiety forgotten, Jo sits forward, eyes wide and excited. “Oh my god! I knew you looked familiar. Alex Niccols. Holy shit. I was supposed to go to your concert tomorrow.”

Val grunts, lip turning upward in a not at all subtle scowl. “Great. End of the world and we’re still stuck with a fucking fangirl.”

Jo’s face goes red and Alex sighs, confidence dissolving nearly as quickly as it had appeared. “Uh, yeah. We’re on tour. Well, we were anyway. Our driver stopped to help somebody on the side of the road and…yeah.”

“So, uh,” Dennis seems to have either regained his own courage or decided that helping Alex regain his is just more important and leans forward with a faint grin. “You usually tour with a vintage T-bird in tow?”

Alex actually laughs and grins right back. “Figured the guy who bought it wasn’t gonna be using it any time soon. If I’m gonna die anyway—” He shrugs. “—might as well drive to hell in style, right?”

Most of their circle laughs as well, taking any chance they can to relax for however short a time, and as soon as they go quiet again there is a little squeak and “I’m Amanda! I’m five!” Which gets all those who laughed before to do so again and finally draws attention to the last unwitting member of their little village.

Nate is the one who finally leans forward, perfectly nonchalant as he drapes his arms down over Dennis’s chest and yet… “Your turn, draugs.”

The man now holding everyone’s attention leans back into his chair, eyebrows raised as he takes a lazy drag off of his cigarette, ignoring everyone else in favor of studying the young man who seems to be so intent upon studying him. “Viktor.”

There is an uneasy shift among the others and Nate narrows his eyes for a moment before nodding. “Pleasure to meet you, Viktor. Just out of curiosity, since I couldn’t help but notice that you’re packing pretty heavy and you’ve got – what? – a sniper set up somewhere out there?” Around them, everyone else shares a few wary glances. Dennis sighs and mutters something in Nate’s ear but his words are ignored. “So, what exactly is it that you do for a living?”

Viktor takes another drag and leans forward, blowing a long stream of smoke out of the corner of his mouth as he plasters on a perfectly placid smile. “Former FBI, current investigative specialist. Federal reserve.” He shrugs. “My partner just happens to be manning the military surplus shop across the lot. Hell of a shot, ne?”

It is silent for a full minute, everyone just watching the two men stare at one another before Shannon sits up, her voice cracking just slightly as she suggests that they start making plans for the best way to make sure everyone is comfortable for the night.

---

“Any bright ideas, bossman?”

Viktor scowls and knocks cigarette ash over the sea of undead below as he looks toward the distant rooftop where he knows his partner to have set up camp. “Aside from shooting the perky daycare woman who won’t let me smoke in peace? Ne.”

There is a snort on the other end of the line. “Patience, ’mano. Not your strong suit with people, I know, but a good thing to have. Necessary even.”

“Sklapni. I’m not threatening to shoot the five year old. What more do you want?”

Everything goes quiet for a moment aside from the groaning and howling of the jostling horde and then, “Five year old?”

With a grunt, Viktor takes a seat on the edge of the roof and flicks the smoldering butt of his cigarette into the crowd. “Ano. Yes. My army consists of a daycare worker, a store manager, two security guards, a couple of hunters, a bunch of rockstars, and a five year old.” He pauses for a moment before adding, “And a dog.”

Miguel sounds distracted as he laughs in his ear. “And the only one you get along with es el perro.”

“Pretty much.”

“How did I know?”

“Hn.”

Another cigarette flashes into life on either side of the plaza and there is another quiet moment.

“Just try to play nice over there, sí?”

“Define nice.”

Viktor can almost hear the roll of the other man’s eyes and that, at least, puts a genuine smile on his face.

---

“So, uh, we got a plan yet?”

Nate frowns, glancing up toward Dennis’s place at the door to the main store before returning to rummaging through the rear of the hatchback. When the group as a whole had decided that they might as well just hold tight in the mall for a while, what with how many undead currently had them surrounded, Dennis had suggested that the two of them should probably head back down and see what sort of useful supplies they could believably scrounge up while maintaining the cover of a plain old hunting trip. Eric and that band kid, Alex, had come down with them but they had since headed back upstairs with a bunch of luggage that had been left in the T-bird upon first arrival. It is painfully quiet, aside from the muffled groans emanating from the zombie horde outside and the intermittent noises of the ventilation system kicking in and out and that obviously has Dennis on edge. To be fair, it has Nate pretty twitchy, too. Occasionally the garage door rattles but whatever Alex had done to the gears earlier is thus far doing an extremely impressive job of keeping any creeping fingers from wiggling their way underneath. Unless the zombies managed to full-out bust their way through, that door is going absolutely nowhere.

“The way I see it,” Nate says, “we don’t actually have a lot of options. In fact, all we’ve got right now is the knowledge that we’re relatively well-armed and stocked on food. Twelve people and a dog could probably live in here for a month or two without any trouble.”

There is a pause before Dennis takes a deep breath and blurts out, “What about Viktor’s partner?”

That makes Nate stop and he slowly raises his head to peer over at Dennis again, finding his eyes met and locked. “What about him?”

Dennis furrows his brow. “We’re supposed to help people, right? Protect them from—I mean, this kind of thing would—Zombies are in the bestiary so…”

“Yes.” With a sigh, Nate moves out from behind the car and leans his shoulder into passenger side instead, arms crossed over his chest. “Yes, zombies are in the bestiary and yes, we are supposed to help people and okay, fine, that includes the secretive asshole and his sniper, despite the fact that I am absolutely certain that both of them can pretty obviously take care of themselves and—” He holds up a hand to hush whatever is about to come out of Dennis’s mouth next. “—yes, I am aware that we should be grateful for his sniper’s help. We’d have had a hell of a time getting in here without him. Satisfied?”

There is a pause, Dennis pressing his lips together in thought, then he offers a sheepish smile and shrugs. “Yeah. I guess so.”

“Any other questions? Things you want to tell me off for?”

“Actually, yeah, question. Am I allowed to play with Amanda or would that be considered befriending your enemy by association?”

Nate throws his hands up and just goes right back around to finish resorting their supplies for easy transport. “He’s not my enemy, you dope, he’s just keeping secrets and I don’t like it. Besides, I know what everyone else is thinking and I’m not convinced that Amanda’s actually his but…”

Dennis grins and comes over to join him, bending his knees and stooping to bridge the height gap between them as he kisses Nate on the cheek. “She sure does seem attached to him, though, huh?”

“Stop trying to throw your back out, you fucking giant.” Nate gives him a proper kiss, then shoves a bag of camping gear into his chest to hide his own smile. “Now let’s get out of here. This place is giving me the creeps.”

---

“So here’s the deal,” Eric had said the moment that they were all gathered again. “This is the best furniture department in the mall so I’m making the executive decision that we stay put. We’ve only got three storefronts between here and the nearest restrooms but I’d still rather we didn’t let anybody go alone or unarmed just in case. We’ll take turns keeping watch overnight because I don’t know about the rest of you but that’ll definitely help me sleep easier. Anybody needs PJs or just some clean clothes—” He makes a point of looking toward Alex with only a quick glance toward Viktor. “—I can open up pretty much any store you want. Not like anybody’s asset management is going to come yelling at me any time soon. Just stick to the second floor. Agreed?”

Half an hour later, they are all down to the varying levels of undress in which they intend to sleep and are discussing the logistics of who is going to sleep where. Well, most of them are, anyway. Some people have simply taken up residence in their own selected spots and silently informed everyone else to fuck off. Luckily, Viktor’s selected spot happens to be on the furthest sofa away from pretty much everyone else. Meanwhile, the band kids have pulled a futon off of its display and tucked it in behind the nearby help desk with an assortment of pillows and blankets piled up around it like an extremely compact sleepover and Shannon and Jo have moved a few curtain display units to create their own little room. Nate and Dennis find things a little more difficult and have to hunt for a display mattress that isn’t going to completely kill Dennis’s back, a task which no one else seems to have realized would be such a feat until the giant finally stood at his full 7-foot height in front of everyone to help retrieve some bedding from a higher shelf. Even Viktor had looked a bit shocked by that.

By the time the main lights cut out, everything seems to be just about settled, and Eric does one last lap of the group before dropping a couple of blankets into the recliners that he and Jamie had selected. “We all good? I can dim the security lights a little if they’re bugging anybody too much. Want make sure everybody gets some sleep.” His words, however, draw very little attention as there is a much more pressing matter in need of attending just beyond the next display.

“Amanda, honey?” Shannon is crouched down by the little girl who is currently curled up on the floor, clinging to Parker and using the dog’s broad back as a pillow. Not far away, Dennis and Nate share a quick glance, one worried and the other significantly more frustrated.

“Amanda,” Shannon says again, still receiving no response. “Do you want to come sleep with me, maybe? Jo and I have our own little space. It can be just us girls. What do you say?”

The five year old just bites her lip and curls up a little bit tighter.

“She can keep Parker out there if she wants,” Alex quietly offers. “He’d get too hot over here anyway.”

After another moment, Macy gets up and pads out with one of their blankets and an extra pillow for the little girl even as Shannon keeps trying. “Amanda. Come on, baby. You can have your own bed and everything. We’ll make it up nice and soft and—”

The exasperated grunt that finally makes her stop causes everyone to jump and though most of them are unable to really see him from where they sit, Viktor’s one arm rises just barely into everyone’s view. “Jdeš sem, holčička.” His hand motions her over somewhat roughly. “Come here.”

Still biting her lip, Amanda slowly sits up but only hesitates until he finally opens one eye and turns his head to face her, brow arched with an irritable, “Well?” Then she hops to her feet and scurries over to curl up on the man’s chest. He simply ignores their audience, tosses part of his blanket over her, and closes his eyes once again.

---

The first morning comes and goes in a general whirl of coffee and the occasional cigarette, breakfast provided courtesy of Shannon and the nearest break room, until they all hear a whole lot of noise coming from somewhere downstairs and everything immediately goes quiet amongst them. It only takes a few minutes of hushed discussion for them to decide that the security guards and hunters will run recon and see if they can find the source. They return almost as quickly with the news that some of animals have escaped from the pet store and are now wandering freely about the first floor. This, of course, begs the question of how that might have happened and leads to the subsequent decision that they are going to have to do another sweep of the lower level in the very near future.

“So…” Alex watches as Macy and Amanda play with a box of kittens that Dennis had collected from the shop’s window, the little furballs happily climbing all over the ever patient Parker. “In all likelihood, there’s at least one more of those things still down there.”

“That’s all we can figure,” Eric agrees with a shrug. “By the time we got to the pet shop, it wasn’t there anymore but I can’t really think of any other explanation.”

Nate nods. “Half of the cages were on the floor. Even if the animals just got spooked by something, there’s the matter of what could have scared them.”

Val is the one who finally gets tired of the ensuing silence and leans forward to place her elbows on the table with a pointed thunk. “So, boys and girls, are we hunting this bitch down or what?”

---

The mall is basically shaped like an X and it only makes sense that they divide up into four hunting parties. Eric and Jamie stick together to cover the wing with the food court so they can be sure to check all of the nooks and crannies but the rest of the teams are divided with weapons proficiency in mind. Nate and Val take one hall, Dennis and Jo take another, and Alex finds himself headed down the last one with Viktor. It takes a great deal of arguing with a very panicked little girl to get that last one to fly, though.

“We don’t know which way it would’ve gone,” Eric had told them, “so watch your back.”

Val had checked her gun and flashed Viktor a glare at that, adding a simple, “And your partner’s.”

Aside from the occasional shop still playing its music mix through the in-store speakers, however, and a video place with ads still looping on their front display, their slow walk down hall four is proving to be surprisingly quiet. Watching some random anime character run across an absurdly oversized tv screen, Alex figures that the silence is really what creeps him out the most. He feels pretty safe assuming that the others are at least talking to their partners enough to strategize but his companion? Yeah, not so much. At least he can be sure that Viktor, of all people, is going to completely ignore the sight of the four-by-six-foot poster of his face plastered to the inside of some alt shop’s front window, signs around it displaying a countdown to a concert that will never happen. Anyone else and there might have been some sort of comment but no. With Viktor, he gets absolutely nothing. Just keep on walking and get the job done. For that much, Alex is pretty damn grateful.

Contrast to the eerie silence, the crash of a sign falling somewhere down an exit corridor is nearly enough to make him piss himself. “Fuck.” His voice cracks in a tremendously unflattering fashion. “Please just be a puppy or something.”

Viktor actually snorts at that as he returns from checking the entrance space to the nearest restrooms. He still says nothing, just brings his gun to the ready and starts toward the source of the sound. Alex takes a deep breath before following close behind, then has to literally bite his tongue to stop himself from swearing when he jumps at the sound of something running into the doors on the other side of a massive fountain and welcome sign. It is definitely not a puppy.

“I take left,” Viktor instructs, voice low and eyes focused on whatever lie ahead.

Well, shit. Alex takes a deep, steadying breath, and carefully creeps off to the right. He barely has to round his side of the fountain to see it.

What looks like it was once a janitor is there at the locked door, smearing blood all over the class as it claws at its own reflection. On the left, Viktor whistles to get the thing’s attention. To the right, Alex’s heart just about stops when it turns toward him instead. Luckily, it hits the ground with a hole in its head before it even gets close enough for him to properly smell.

“Well,” Viktor mutters, “that was a bit too—Duck.”

“Huh?”

The shriek behind him is more than enough to help Alex process the order, though, and he dives out of the way at almost the exact same time as a bullet whizzes past, not nearly far enough from where his head had just been for his liking. It leaves the second janitor sprawled in a double-dead bloody mess on top of him and he finally lets the curses he had been holding back burst right out.

Like some sort of terrible chain reaction, you shoot one and the sound draws the attention of another. A good dozen or so are banging on the outside doors now with another wave coming up behind them and when he looks back—“Behind you!”

A few trips to the shooting range with his grandfather had shown Alex early on that his aim was shit under pressure which is just another reason why he appreciates being paired up with the big, mean, Federal agent. All that Alex has to manage is a single shot that does enough to slow the attack and then it feels kind of like watching a high-end action film in real life. Viktor spins with the warning barely out of Alex’s mouth and has his hand perfectly positioned to catch the creature by the throat as it loses its balance mid-lunge. The weight and momentum are enough to knock Viktor’s feet out from under him, sure, but he keeps his hold, hand locked tight under the joint of the jaw, even as they both crash into the fountain’s pool. Not two seconds later, his pistol is still pointed at where the monster’s right eye had once been and the entrance hall is splattered with… Well, Alex would really rather not think about it.

That silence comes in again, everything gone deathly still aside from the splashing of the water and the rattling of the undead at the doors, and then Alex’s voice cracks again. “What the fuck do you pack, man?”

Viktor tosses the corpse aside and spits a wad of red and grey as he climbs back out onto dry land. “Glock 20C. 10 mm Auto. Good for hunting deer.”

“Fuck.”

“Hm.” There is a pause as the man looks himself over and grimaces before spitting again and mutter more to himself than to current company, “Well, here’s hoping the infection requires them to swallow bits of you.”

Alex simply stares up at him, slack-jawed, from his place on the floor until Viktor arches a brow. “Co?” “You—” Alex blinks, splutters. “Dude. You have a sense of humor.”

Viktor huffs and the sound very nearly sounds like a laugh. “Lose your new sweetheart and let’s finish this job.” Another blink, a look of confusion, and then Alex slowly turns his head to all but shriek as the dead janitor’s face falls a little closer to his own.

---

There is a low whistle over the line as Viktor pulls a chair up to the edge of the roof. “Mierda, ’mano. What happened to you?”

So begins an excellent afternoon, much as zombie hunting had begun such an excellent morning.

“We need a plan before I shoot something living,” Viktor states some time later as he levels his sights on another target. “The zatracený daycare girl is still trying my patience and at least one other person in here would be more than happy to see the store manager gone.” He fires. “If we don’t get out of here soon…”

“Just don’t forget me once you get out, sí?”

Viktor snorts. “What do you think I’m going to do, just leave you on the roof with your rifle and drive off into the sunset with a bunch of people I can’t even stand?”

“Watch the sarcasm, ’mano. I might be tempted.”

Looking up, Viktor smirks directly into the rifle’s sights. “Go ahead. Most people in here would likely be relieved.”

There’s a tsk-ing noise and he can see the weapon being lowered on the other rooftop. “No fun if you make it easy.”

[stargazermuse]

Soulmates (Wyatt x OC)

(So I wrote this for about a week and a half after watching ZOMBIES 2 at least ten times. I love Wyatt so I thought I would add this to my collection. Brooke is my character that I created. If people like this then I may go and start writing imagines. This was a collection of fics and ideas that I pulled together to create my own.)

“Wyatt! Where are you taking me?” The young cheerleader asked as she was pulled away from the party and through the dark. Their football team had won the championship and a party was in full swing at Bucky’s house. Cheerleaders and football players, zombies and werewolves. They had even invited the rival team as a show of spirit and they obliged. The drinks were flying, the music was loud, and the cheer was epic.

But that did give Wyatt enough time to pull Brooke away while he could. He chuckled as she asked him constantly, and still ignored her. “You’ll see.” “We can’t stray too far away. Bucky will worry.” Wyatt chuckled. “Always following the rules, what’s life without a little risk?” He asked her, pulling her close to him with one tug. The two had gotten closer since werewolves were integrated into Seabrook, not seen as monsters anymore. Her parents didn’t agree with the upcoming relationship between their human daughter and a werewolf, but they didn’t oppose it. “Come on, we’re almost there.” The beaten path wasn’t too far from the house, near a lake. He knew this place, and he wanted to show it. “A storm’s coming in. And I wanted you to see this before the clouds cover it.” He said as he pulled the leaves away. Brooke’s eyes widened. The moon was full, casting a reflection onto the lake and illuminating the night. Brooke grinned. “It’s amazing!” She said in awe, stepping over to the edge of the lake. Wyatt smiled at her as she strayed away, the light catching the white streaks in her hair that the wolves had placed to honor her. She wasn’t a wolf, but the pack had accepted her as a part of it like they had Addison. But instead of a full moonstone, they gave her the significance of the pack, the markings. She still had the small moonstone charm on her bracelet. That was his gift. He watched her. She was so beautiful. Since the day he had met her, since the day he had saved her, he had always thought she was beautiful. But their focus had been the great Alpha and finding the moonstone. He didn’t have a chance to focus on her, but she had fought for them. She, like Addison, had fought bravely against her family to integrate them into Seabrook. She went against her family. It was then, during their protest, that he knew she was beautiful, inside and out. He remembered, once the wolves had been released, pushing through the crowds. And once he had found her, he had picked her up in a bone-crushing hug, spinning her around. Zedd and Addison couldn’t help but laugh, watching them. Eliza laughed and high-fived Willa, who was watching Wyatt. She didn’t agree, but her brother seemed happy, and she wasn’t going to protest. He watched her, smiling with his arms crossed. He just wanted to kiss her, hold her to him. As he took a few steps toward where she was, he flinched, his ears catching rustling behind him. He growled, an unfamiliar scent rushing his nose. Eyes flashed orange, but before he could do anything, there was darkness. —--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Brooke grinned, feeling the night breeze cool her and brush her hair from her face. She could see the white strands meld together with her normal jet black hair. She had been honored and so happy when Willa and Wynter took her aside as Prawn. With a little moonstone magic, they helped change her hair to blend in, be a part of the pack, and then use their makeup to give her markings. Just down her cheeks. Wyatt had grinned, watching her as she was welcomed into the pack. She had felt welcomed. “Wyatt, this is wonderful! It’s so beautiful! Why didn’t you tell me about it?” She asked softly, closing her eyes. But there was no response. “What? You’re ignoring me now?” She teased, before turning once clouds began to trickle across the moon. The storms weren’t supposed to happen till late tonight, but it still gave a warning. She raised an eyebrow, realizing she was alone. “Wyatt?” She called, but no answer. What the hell? He was just here. “Wyatt? Stop playing tricks on me. Wyatt!?” She began to call, but no answer. He knew she didn’t do well with surprises. Not after she was attacked. He would never do this to her. Something wasn’t right. She started the trek back where he had been standing only a few feet away. “Wyatt? Where are you!? Hello!” She called, staring into the darkness. She had no idea where she was going. But she had to find him or at least find her way back. She started through the woods, calling his name every now and again, listening for anything. She smoothed her hand down the skirt of her uniform, swallowing thickly. She didn’t like this. Something was up. She heard a thud and a rustle. “Wyatt?” She called, listening again. Another thud. Laughter. “Wyatt? This isn’t funny!” She said sternly, walking toward the sound. She continued to push through the brambles, getting scraped up since her uniform was made for summer performances. She winced as she smacked her head on a branch, before raising an eyebrow as a few figures came into view. “Wyatt?” She whispered. As her eyes adjusted to the darkness, she could see at least five men. They were wearing red-letter jackets. She recognized the tiger on the back of them and knew they were the Northbrook football team, who they had invited even after Seabrook had beaten them. She was going to ask them for directions back, not seeing the harm in them, but something stopped her. They were huddled around something, holding it down. “Let’s get rid of this! Don’t need this anymore huh mutt!” One sneered, yanking something before turning and tossing it through the woods. Brooke could see what looked like a stone on a necklace before it disappeared into the darkness. A moonstone. Brooke immediately looked back to the group, seeing a flash of white hair and purple clothing. It was Wyatt. But that wasn’t what disturbed her. It was the fact that he wasn’t fighting back. His hands were shackled behind his back. And there was something on his face, rendering him from speaking. She could tell whatever it was pained him. It was a muzzle. A silver muzzle. And silver cuffs. They were torturing him. “Don’t need wolves on our land, regardless of Seabrook’s integration. Let this be a warning to your pack.” she heard one said as he hit Wyatt across the cheek, sending his head reeling as the silver sizzled against his skin. “Wyatt!” She couldn’t take it any longer. She pushed through the brush. “Get away from him! You’re hurting him! Leave him alone!” She screamed, startling the players and Wyatt. Wyatt was in pain. He had tried to push back away from the group when they had first taken him. But these were football players. They were so much bigger than him. And then when they placed the cuffs on him, silver sizzling against his skin, he didn’t know how he was going to fight. And then the muzzle. Hunters had used them before against werewolves, to silence them. Silver was laced against the padding, burning his skin as he struggled. But it wasn’t the beating and taunting. And it wasn’t silver. It was his moonstone. He had struggled violently against them, ignoring the pain as they ripped the necklace from his neck and threw it into the darkness. That was his. They didn’t receive another one. Moonstones were precious. His mother and father had split their moonstone to give Willa and Wyatt theirs. He couldn’t lose it. He had thrashed against them, until one hit him in the stomach, halting his movements. They laughed at his pain. His eyes widened when he heard Brooke. No, he had hoped she wouldn’t come and find him. But she had been left by herself. He winced at the pain, sizzling and burning flesh. “Let him go!” She yelled, before one moved, pinning her arms to the side and holding her there. “Ah ah, princess. Not till we’re done. Then you can have your pet back.” One cooed into her ear as she thrashed against him. “Get off me!!” She screamed, thrashing. She was strong, but they were stronger. “Wyatt! Leave him alone! This is a hate crime! I’m going to tell the police!” She tried to threaten. The others laughed. “We have to protect our own. Humans. That’s it. Zombies and werewolves shouldn’t be allowed regardless!” One chuckled, walking up to her where she was held. “Go back to the hole you crawled out from you useless loser.” She hissed. He glared at her, grabbing her shoulder. She winced, biting her lip. “Marcus!” The one holding her warned. Marcus glared before letting her go. “Brooke!” Wyatt’s strained cry came from the muzzle. Brooke thrashed. She had to get to him. “Keep her quiet. She can watch.” Marcus cracked his knuckles, and Brooke saw the silver rings littered on his fingers. She went to scream, before a hand clamped around her mouth, her screaming becoming muffled. The players advanced on Wyatt, turning on him, hitting and beating him with silver. Torturing him. Brooke continued to scream, against the other guy as she struggled. She was kicking him and moved to bite him. “You little bitch!” He screamed, pushing against her. She stumbled from the sudden release, tripping and falling. Her head connected with stone, and she saw darkness. “Brooke! Brooke!” Wyatt yelled before the pain became too much. ——---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The first thing Brooke noticed when she woke up was that it was dark. Darker then it had been. Thunder rumbled in the distance, signaling the oncoming storms from before. The second thing she noticed was the wave of pain from her head. She winced as she slowly sat up, touching her forehead and flinching at the sudden pain. As she pulled her hand away, she noticed a dark substance on her hand. She didn’t need to look too hard to know it was blood. Her blood. She winced and looked around. She was alone. They had just left her there. Those idiots. After they had hurt... She gasped and looked around, looking for him. Soon her eyes stopped and focused on the form that was laying on his side a few feet away. “Wyatt!” She gasped out, stumbling up and moving quickly. She collapsed beside him, looking him over. She had to swallow the bile in her throat. He was a mess. She couldn’t tell what part of him was skin, what part was bruised or bloody. It was too much. There were burn marks all over his body, some fresh and some beginning to bleed and ooze. She whimpered, too afraid to touch him, but she had to. “Wyatt?” He groaned, which had her sighing in relief, knowing he was alive. He was still muzzled and still shackled. “Oh thank god.” She looked down where his back was facing her. “Hold still Wyatt. I’m going to try and get these off.” Her voice was shaky as she pulled a pin from her hair, the neat hairdo from cheerleading collapsing over her shoulders. She bent the pin and stuck it into the lock, fishing with it. Her dad had taught her to do this. It was the only funny and happy memory she had with her dad. They had gotten locked out of their house and had no key. Her mother and Bucky were at a doctor's appointment so they had no other choice. Her dad was a part of the police force so he showed her how to. It was a memory to distract her as she worked on the cuffs. She sighed when she heard the click, and they loosened. She moved quickly, pulling the cuffs off of his wrists. She couldn’t help the small tear that fell as she saw how burnt and blistered his wrists were from the cuffs. She threw them across the ground. She didn’t want to see them anymore. “Wyatt? Wyatt, can you sit up? I-I got the cuffs off, they’re gone. You can move your hands.” She tried to reassure him. Let him know that everything was okay. She slowly helped the barely conscious wolf to try and sit up. Wyatt tried to help. He could hear her but all he felt was the pain. He knew she was trying to help him. But she was hurt too. Not as bad as he, but they had targeted her too. They had known she was there. They were going to find her after. After they had beaten him and left a message. But she had gotten there first. And she had tried to help, but there wasn’t much she could do. He should have known this would happen. Even now, after the integration, wolves and zombies were still enemies. Seabrook might accept them, but everyone else still had issues. Willa has expressed her concern. She didn’t want him or any wolf by themselves. But Wyatt was a rebel, and he wanted to spend time with Brooke. “Brooke.” He managed out, before closing his eyes as the silver burned the skin around his face. He clenched his fists. Brooke whimpered, shaking her head as she helped him sit up, supporting most of his weight. Why had she left her stuff back at her house? She didn’t even have her phone. “I-I’m going to take this off now. Don’t move okay?” She told him, hands shaking as she reached around to the back of his head, grabbing for the clasps. He hissed as her hands moved, silver touching skin. “Sorry! I’m so sorry!” She steadied her hands, unbuckling the clasp and pulling the muzzle from his face. She whimpered as she looked at the marks on his face. “How could they do this?” She whispered, throwing the muzzle over and whimpering. He leaned heavily on her, in and out of consciousness. She let him, not wanting the answer to the question. She knew why. A hate crime. They did this to him. How was she going to get him back to the house? She couldn’t hold him. She was strong but not strong enough. Plus she didn’t know how far they were from her house. It could be farther. She winced when he touched her forehead, where she had hit it. His hand then moved to a cut on her shoulder that was also bleeding. “Same scar.” He mumbled, remembering it was the same arm she cut when she had been attacked and he had saved her. She smiled weakly. “I’m so sorry Wyatt. This shouldn’t have happened to you.” She spoke softly. He shook his head, opening his mouth to say something before a series of coughs racked his body. It startled Brooke, but she held his body as he doubled over, coughing up what looked like blood, before passing out. She whimpered when his weight doubled, and she slid him down, his head in her lap. “Wyatt? Wyatt! Wake up, please! Please wake up! No, please!” She began to beg, eyes shedding tears now as she leaned over him, shaking him gently. “Wyatt?” She whimpered, before looking up. “Someone! Please! Help me! Please!” She began to scream, listening to it echo through the words. She had to do something. Anything. ——------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- “I’m sure she’s fine, Bucky. She probably just doesn’t realize the time.” Addison Wells spoke to her cousin. But she understood, she was worried too. Her cousin never disappeared. And even though she was probably with Wyatt, there was a lot that could go wrong. Bucky sighed, tossing a flashlight to Zedd after a moment. He was glad they had joined. Addison, Bree, Bonzo, Zedd, Eliza. Even Wynter and Willa joined. “It’s not like Brooke, Addie and you know that.” “The Northbrook team was pretty rowdy until the team stepped in. Anything could go wrong.” Zedd spoke, flicking the flashlight on and following him into the woods. They had tried to be nice. It was Seabrook, but the team continued to get drunk and make the party too wild, so their team had to step in to help. “And they were very against monsters.” Eliza pointed out. Zedd agreed, he had the bruises from the game to prove it. “You guys aren’t helping.” Addison hissed as they ventured into the woods, looking for the lost cheerleader and wolf.  Bucky wasn’t focused on them, more on his sister. He might act arrogant and only for himself, but Brooke was his baby sister. He’d do anything for her. “She’s probably just snuggled up with Wyatt somewhere. Unaware of the storms.” Addison tried to reason, looking up at a clap of thunder. The thunder was louder and flashes of lighting could be seen. They needed to find them and fast. “That’s what I’m afraid of,” Bucky mumbled. “Hey,” Willa looked over at the cheerleader. “Wyatt might be hard-headed, but he’s not an idiot. If anything he can sense the storm coming and has her hidden away in a cave to hideout. And if anything bad happened,” “Which we’re not saying it did!” Addison interrupted. Willa rolled her eyes. “He’d protect her. He cares for her.” Bucky sighed. He knew the wolves did care for them. They cared a lot. “Alright I’m sorry. I’m just really worried. It’s not like Brooke to wander off. And even if....” He stopped in his tracks. Over the whistling of the wind that was picking up, and the thunder, there was screaming. It was faint, but it was begging for help. “Brooke!” Bucky exclaimed, trying to pinpoint the screams. Zedd and Addison moved a bit away to see if it was coming from somewhere else. “Wynter?” Bree asked, seeing the girl on edge. “I smell blood.” She said softly. That had Bucky moving fast, toward the screaming, and the others following hot on his heels. —-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Brooke screamed for help until her throat was sore and her voice became hoarse. It just echoed off the trees and the wind that had begun to pick up. She whimpered, holding Wyatt’s body close to her as she could. He was breathing, that she knew. But it didn’t help her fear. She jumped when she heard brambles snap and looked up. A sigh of relief escaped her. “Bucky!” “Brooke?” Bucky asked, looking over his sister. She didn’t look hurt, aside from a few prominent bruises and the cut on her shoulder and head. “Oh my god!” Addison exclaimed as the others joined. “Wyatt?” Brooke looked up to see Willa and Wynter, eyes wide as they stared at their fallen wolf. Willa looked distraught, seeing her brother the way he was. He didn’t move. Fear turned into anger. “What did you do to him?!” She shouted, making Bree flinch beside her. “I-I didn’t....it....” Brooke tried to get out, before wincing as she was suddenly pulled from Wyatt, shoved onto the cold ground as Willa took her brother from him. “Hey!” Bucky yelled, glaring at the wolves as Willa moved toward his sister, growling. Wynter hadn’t moved, watching. Her eyes moved toward the silver cuffs and muzzle, and she swallowed. Addison moved quickly. “She didn’t do anything!” Addison exclaimed, holding Brooke’s trembling body against hers. “Bullshit!” Willa snarled, glaring at Brooke. “She was here. There’s no one else. His moonstone is gone! How do you explain that?” The thunder rumbled, giving off a vibe. “It was Northbrook!” Brooke finally spoke, whimpering against her cousin’s shoulder. “They pulled him away from me. We were just watching the moon. They were prejudice, they wanted to hurt him. Hurt me.” She explained as Addison squeezed her gently. “If it wasn’t for you, this wouldn’t have happened.” Willa glared at her. “Okay! Enough!” Zedd finally spoke, seeing the way Bucky was about to move. “It’s not safe out here. We’re done. Bonzo?” Bonzo looked up, trying to ignore the fighting. “Can you help and get Wyatt back to the den?” Bonzo nodded before walking over to where Wyatt was laying on Wynter. He slowly lifted the wolf, before following Willa. Wynter frowned but followed. “Brooke?” Brooke looked up at Addison when she spoke to her. She whimpered but shook her head. Addison frowned, before looking to Zedd. He nodded before the zombie moved and scooped Brooke up like he had Addison during the pep rally. Bucky frowned, looking over his sister as she clung to her rhetorical big brother. “Let’s get back. Take care of yourself.” Bucky reassured his sister. He knew she didn’t want to speak anymore. She had lost the only group she felt like she belonged. She lost Wyatt. She lost the wolves. ——----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- “Ow!” “Sorry!” Bree spoke once more as she pulled the rag from the cut. “Well, the good news is it doesn’t need stitches.” She explained to Brooke, finally cleaning up the blood from it. Brooke nodded softly, leaning against her headboard. The party had since been over, everyone heading home. Bucky and his parents were downstairs cleaning, while Zedd volunteered. Bree and Addison had taken Brooke upstairs. Impromptu sleepover. Brooke had since changed out of her dirty outfit. Her parents had been furious when they had seen how disheveled she had come back until Addison had shushed them and told them to drop it. No doubt she’d hear it from her parents later, but at this time she just worried about her cousin. Brooke had taken a shower and was now dressed in a pair of blue shorts and a tank top, her blanket pulled over her. She wasn’t talking much. Not since the whole outburst. She just needed the quietness. “Well, you’ll live.” Addison teased, before frowning when she didn’t receive a reaction from her cousin. She finished pulling Brooke’s hair back to get it out of her face. No doubt the white streaks were giving her a little anxiety after everything that happened. Footsteps approached their room, Bucky and Zedd entering her room with a tray of hot cocoa and some homemade s’ mores. “Your parents make the best s’ mores, Brooke.” Zedd spoke over a mouthful. Addison and Bree both looked at him, disgusted. But Brooke did smile. “It’s one thing they did remember. It’s a great pick me up snack.” She finally said, feeling Addison squeeze her shoulder. Zedd smiled and Bucky chuckled. “Can you tell us what happened Brooke?” Bucky then asked after the silence had settled, sitting on the end of her bed. Brooke looked at her brother from over her mug of hot cocoa. “Mom and dad think you were out there doing something bad.” She grimaced and shook her head, before handing Bree her mug to put on her table. “Ew, no. We’re not even dating.” She started before taking a breath. “No. He wanted to show me how the moon reflected off the lake when it was full. That was it. We were having a nice time. Then he disappeared. I thought he was playing a trick on me or something but when he didn’t try to scare me or come out, I started to worry, so I began to look.” She took a breath. “I found him not too far, but the Northbrook boys. They were beating him, torturing him with silver. They had his hands cuffed and a muzzle on his face. Laced with silver. They were yelling at him.” “No doubt a hate crime,” Addison mumbled, holding her cousin close. “I tried to get them to stop, but one held on to me and wouldn’t let me go. They wanted me to watch as they tortured him. I managed to bite his hand and he let go, but I fell back and hit my head on the rock, and passed out.” She whimpered and bit her lip. She didn’t want to cry. Not now. “When I woke up, he was just laying there, I thought he was dead. I tried to help him but I knew I couldn’t drag him back. That’s when I started calling for help.” She finished and swallowed thickly, trembling. “Thank goodness your brother’s looking out for you.” Zedd clapped Bucky on the shoulder. But instead of a disgusted look, he got a small smirk and a nod. Brooke looked over at her brother and smiled weakly, but that wasn’t what was on her mind. “I couldn’t help him. They were torturing him. And now the wolves hate me.” She said softly. Addison frowned and shook her head. “They don’t hate you, Brooke. Wyatt likes you, and they see you as part of the pack. Willa was just upset. Something happened to her brother. Bucky would have been the same way if something had happened to you.” She tried to reassure the girl. She knew this was a lot on Brooke. She was probably still in shock and pain. And this didn’t help. Zedd turned when two new figures entered. Bonzo and Eliza, who had followed after to make sure they got back. “How is he?” Addison asked softly. Eliza frowned. “Still asleep when we left. They were tending to his wounds while we were there. A healer was able to try and heal some of the deeper wounds and the poisoning with their moonstone.” Eliza explained to them, leaning against the door. There was silence. They could tell there was more to the story. “But...” Bree finally picked up. Eliza sighed. “Without Wyatt’s actual moonstone, his recovery will be painful and slow. He needs the moonstone to heal completely.” She finished. Brooke bit her lip and closed her eyes. They had flung it into the woods. She couldn’t remember. “We'll look for it tomorrow, bright and early. All of us. Right?” Addison reassured her cousin, looking up at them. And to her relief, they all agreed. They all settled for the night. Zedd, Eliza, and Bonzo headed home for the night, promising to bring something comforting tomorrow. Bucky went to his room while Addison and Bree took the guest bedroom for the night. They knew Brooke would want to be alone. Brooke couldn’t sleep for a while, too busy thinking and reliving what had happened. She had moved in the night, wanting to move toward the window to see, though rain was pelting the windowpanes. Thunder shook her room and flashes of light were seen from her window. She moved back to her bed, before jumping when her foot hit her bag and sent it falling over and spilling out. She sighed and bent over to try and shove the stuff back for now so she can go to bed. Her hand caught something soft, something with fur. She raised an eyebrow before pulling the sandy brown jacket with fur. Wyatt’s. He let her borrow it during Chemistry. She had gotten cold. She picked up the jacket and swallowed, before bringing it to her. It smelled like him. Wolf, but a touch of cinnamon and spices. “I’m so sorry! I did this!” She whispered as she fell back on the bed and this time, the tears fell, full down her face as she cried herself to sleep. ——---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Wyatt groaned. The first thing he noticed was it was warmer here than it had been outside. The second thing was he was in pain, but it was dull. It wasn’t as bad as before. He focused on the familiar scent. His den, his home. He then focused on the soft fabric that was wrapped around parts of his body. Wyatt winced before slowly opening his eyes. He was back in his den, on his cot. His shirt was gone, and gauze and fabric were taped around the parts that had been hit the most. How did he get back? He remembered coughing and in pain, and then darkness after the attack. Brooke? Where was Brooke? He couldn’t wait and began to try and sit up. It was painful, and he was sluggish. Why was this so hard? He winced as he continued to try and sit up. “Hey.” Wyatt looked over when he noticed Wynter standing in the doorway, holding a tray full of supplies. “You’re awake! Willa!” She called softly, before walking in. Wyatt smiled weakly, though the raised voices made his head throb. Willa soon made her own appearance, relief washing over her face. “Brother.” She walked over as Wynter followed, moving to kneel beside him. “How are you feeling?” “Like hell,” Wyatt mumbled, wincing and trying to stay sitting up. Wynter moved and helped him sit up, trying to ease his pain. “How’d I get back?” “Bonzo. He helped us get you back to the den. Here.” Willa took the bowl of water and helped, placing it against Wyatt’s lip. “Drink.” At first, he tried to protest, but soon realized that he needed it, and began to drink with his sister’s help. “Better?” She asked after pulling it back. He nodded and winced as Wynter tended to a cut on her shoulder. “I’m so sorry, Willa. I tried to fight back but they knew what they were working with. They had silver....everything, tried to subdue me like a pup....” he tried to explain, but she shook her head, brushing sweaty hair from his face. He flinched in pain, and she sighed. “The healer was able to tend to the poisoning and some of the deeper wounds you had,” Willa spoke, trying to ignore the inevitable. “But without your moonstone, it’s going to be a long recovery.” She looked over at him. Wyatt frowned. He knew his moonstone was missing. Back in the woods somewhere. He coughed weakly, before sighing. “Brooke will find it. I’m sure they’ll....” “No!” Willa growled as thunder rumbled outside. “No, we’ll find it. It’s our duty.” She said softly. Wynter watched her before shaking her head. “You need to stay here and rest. Recover and get some of your strength back.” Wyatt frowned at his sister, who seemed to be holding something back. She turned and walked out of the room once she knew he was okay. He watched her go, before looking at Wynter. “How’s Brooke?” He asked, knowing she was hurt. Wynter smiled softly. “She’s okay. Got a bump on her head but she should be fine.” She explained, rubbing a salve onto the deepest cut before pulling back. “Can you check on her? At school. I figured I’m going to be confined here for a while.” He said. Wynter looked at him before shrugging. “I’ll see what I can do.” “Does Willa think she did it? It wasn’t her fault!” Wyatt looked at Wynter. “She thinks all humans are the same.” Was all Wynter said as she stood up to leave. Wyatt swallowed. All humans are the same, Brooke wasn’t like that. She wasn’t just a human. She was more than that. ——----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The weekend went by slowly. Every one of them spent most of the weekend searching for the necklace, but their search came up with nothing. None of them had heard from the wolves regarding Wyatt’s condition. Brooke spent most of her Monday morning in the principal's office, explaining what had happened. Zedd was support and help. After describing who they looked like and grabbing a roster from the game, they were able to pinpoint the four exact players. Her dad then helped to take over and headed to the next high school after speaking to their principal. Brooke was happy that something was being done. This was a hate crime. A wrong needed to be righted. The wolves came to school that day, but every time Brooke tried to find Willa or Wynter, they disappeared. Even fellow wolves like Will and Wyhnny wouldn’t talk to her. It was after school during cheer practice when Brooke was finally able to corner Willa. “Willa!” She called, stopping the girl in the hallway. Willa wasn’t happy being cornered, but Brooke was learning from them. “How’s Wyatt?” She asked. “He’s fine.” Willa snapped, her moonstone glowing as her temper rose. “Willa, please! How is he really?!” She ignored Brooke’s question, so Brooke continued. “We know who did it. My dad’s going to have them arrested.” “And what’s that going to do?!” Willa snapped, spinning to glare at Brooke. “All humans are just the same. They see us as monsters. They want to hurt or kill us!” Brooke frowned, stepping back, letting the alpha speak. “I...” “And you’re just like them! All of them! All you care about is yourself! You don’t care about Wyatt or any of us. At least the zombies understand. Humans don’t. You’re just like your stupid brother!” She continued to yell, grabbing the attention of others around her. “I’m not like them!” Brooke tried to defend. Willa snarled, glaring at the girl. “Stop lying! All you ever wanted was to fit in! If not with the humans, then the zombies and if not them, now us. You don’t deserve those markings. You don’t deserve Wyatt. You’re not one of us.” Willa growled, before turning on her heel and walking out. Brooke stood there, eyes wide and fearful. She didn’t know what to say, at all. People began speaking around her, and she heard her name a few times. She whimpered, before running toward the bathroom. She slammed the door behind her and went straight to the sinks, looking up at herself in the mirror. The white streaks had begun to fade out of her hair without the magic. Back to her normal hair. “You’re not one of us” echoed in her head as she scrubbed at the purple makeup off her face. “You don’t deserve those markings.” Brooke scrubbed at the fake markings on her arms, rubbing her skin raw to get them off. “You don’t deserve Wyatt.” Brooke stopped, looking at herself in the mirror. She sniffles as she wiped the water from her face. Her bracelet jingled, and the small moonstone charm caught her attention. Next to the wolf charm. Tears fell freely from her face as she took the bracelet off, shoving it in her bag. She turned the water off and slipped on a puddle, practically falling on the bathroom floor. Tears fell freely, as she curled up on the floor, rocking herself. There was a moment or two before the door opened. “Brookie.” Addison sighed softly as she moved quickly, enveloping her cousin in her arms as she cried. Word traveled fast, and Bonzo made short work of finding Addison and letting her know. Addison quickly left practice with Bree in charge and went to find Brooke. She held the girl tight as she cried. “She doesn’t know what she’s talking about.” She continued to tell Brooke, trying to reassure her. But that was hard now. Brooke was broken. Beyond repair. ——----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Wyatt’s head hurt, horribly, but he couldn’t understand why. He hated being confined to one place, but he had no other choice. He could move, but it was sluggish and weak. The wounds had healed, but he was still hurting, still wincing every now and again. And now a sudden headache had made its appearance. He didn’t understand. He looked at himself in the mirror. The burn marks have since healed on his face, and he still looked like himself. But he didn’t feel like himself. He almost felt....not whole. Not anymore. Like something was missing. A part of him. He shook his head and ran a hand through his hair, sighing. Maybe he was getting cabin fever or something. There was rustling and what sounded like arguing coming from the entrance. He raised an eyebrow as Willa came stomping in, Wynter following behind, fussing. He had never heard Wynter remotely raise her voice at anyone, especially not Willa. “You can’t just up and yell at someone like that, Willa. As an alpha, you should know that!” “Like what you’re doing to me?” Willa snapped and ignored her friend as she jumped down the stairs. “That’s not the same. I’m not hurting someone’s feelings at the moment.” Wynter shouted, causing Willa to growl. “What’s going on?” Wyatt asked, walking over to the two. Willa’s eyes widened but soon she calmed down. “It’s nothing, brother.” She spoke softly. “Doesn’t sound like nothing.” “That’s because it’s not nothing.” Wynter intervened. Willa growled as if threatening Wynter. She jumped but shook her head. “I’m sorry Willa. But I’m breaking the Alpha’s rules. You can’t keep this from him.” She explained before turning to Wyatt. “Willa yelled at Brooke today. She told her that she didn’t belong in the pack.” “What?” Wyatt’s eyes widened. “Why would you do that?” Willa growled, before sighing. “I stand by my word. She’s not one of us.” “And how is she not one of us? I told you, Willa, this wasn’t her fault. She didn’t tell those guys to attack me. They would have attacked her if I hadn’t been there.” Wyatt argued. His sister seemed to ignore him, not wanting to listen to him. Wyatt growled. “Tell me why.....” “Because she doesn’t deserve you!” Willa yelled, startling both wolves in the den. She took a breath and growled, her moonstone glowing. “She doesn’t deserve you. She doesn’t understand anything about us or anything about you.” She explained. “And how do you know that? You’ve never gotten to know her. I can make my own decisions Willa. I am a beta, and I like her. Why can’t you just be happy?” He asked, wincing as he moved toward his sister. “Because I can’t take care of you! I don’t want you to get hurt anymore, Wyatt. And ever since the humans and zombies, that’s all that has been happening. I can’t lose you!” He was watching his sister break down in front of him. Willa had the role of alpha shoved on her before she was ready. After their parents passed, they only had each other, and Willa had more responsibilities than she could count. She hadn’t been ready. And even if she knew what she was doing now, there were still times when she fretted what she did. Wyatt sighed. He knew she was worried. “Willa. You don’t have to worry about me. I can take care of myself. I’m part of this pack too. But Brooke’s nothing to worry about. I like her, a lot. I wouldn’t have taken her out that night if I didn’t think I could take care of us.” He explained to his sister. She frowned and sighed. She knew he was right, but she didn’t like it. “I know. And I know you like her. I just don’t trust her. I don’t trust any of them. Even the zombies. I only know our pack.” “Maybe it’s time to create a new pack. Like Addison said.” Wynter told her, smiling softly. Willa smiled weakly, before pressing her forehead against Wyatt’s. “We’ll be okay. We still have each other.” ——---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Brooke just wanted to be alone, but her friends weren’t having it. They didn’t want to leave her alone in her despair. Not like this. So she walked the woods with Bree and Addison, who were up ahead with Bonzo, Eliza, and Zedd, laughing. Even Zoie has joined them. They let Brooke lag behind, knowing she would at least want some alone time. She hurt. She was embarrassed in front of everyone, yelled at, told she wasn’t part of a pack, and still, she hadn’t seen Wyatt or even talked to him. She didn’t know what was going on with him, and even though everyone assured him he was fine, she didn’t feel like it was fine. It had been a few days since the altercation. The white streaks had disappeared out of her hair completely, and she didn’t wear the markings they gave her. She was back to the cheerful colors of Seabrook, jean shorts and a pink tank top under a jean jacket and white sneakers. It wasn’t her. But it had to be. There was no one else, and she didn’t belong. She looked ahead where Bonzo and Bree were holding hands, swinging them back and forth. Zedd was playfully twirling Addison around, who was giggling. In Bonzo’s other hand he held Zoie’s while Eliza had her other and they were swinging her every once in a while. Brooke smiled weakly. They were so happy. In love. What was that supposed to feel like? She didn’t know. She sighed, kicking a rock and watching it hit another. A glint of light caught her eye. She thought it was a trick of the light, but then it was there again. She stopped, confused before turning her head. Something was glowing off in the trees. She turned toward the others, before moving off the path and following the glowing. She pushed through the brambles as the light glowed brighter. Her eyes widened and a grin split her face as the familiar moonstone was uncovered. Wyatt’s moonstone, she had found it! It was like it called to her. Told her where to go. She couldn’t wait to give it to Wyatt. No, no she would give it to Willa. Let her give it to him. She wasn’t a part of the pack anymore. It wasn’t her. She took the necklace and looked it over, good as new. Like it had never been torn away. She let her fingers feel the stone, smiling softly. Wyatt. It was all she could think of. “Brooke!” Brooke startled when she heard Addison calling. “Coming!” She called back quickly, standing up. Looking at the necklace, she swallowed, before sliding it around her neck. She wasn’t a wolf, so it wouldn’t do anything to her. She gasped as the moonstone suddenly glowed bright blue, before turning a shade of purple and disappearing. Brooke’s eyes flashed before she was herself again. She stumbled and looked around, confused. “Brooke?” Brooke quickly tucked the necklace into her shirt as Addison came around a tree. “You okay?” “Yeah.” She said and smiled. “Yeah, I’m great actually.” She said. Addison raised an eyebrow, before taking her cousin's arm and pulling her back for the group. Brooke grinned and followed. Why did she feel so great now? Back home, tucked away in her bag, the moonstone charm on Brooke’s bracelet glowed, blue, then purple, then back. ——------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Wyatt hissed when a sharp pain ran through his body, sending him to his knees. His eyes flashed yellow brightly, and he growled before it was over. He stood up, realizing it didn’t hurt as bad to move now. He wasn’t as sluggish, he had more pep. He looked into the mirror, shocked to not see the recent burn marks on his face. He moved his arms, looking for the wounds and burns, but they were gone. He pulled his shirt off just to be sure, and he was right. There was nothing. But how? He didn’t have his stone. “Wyatt?” Wyatt turned to his sister, who had entered after school. “What....” “I don’t know.” He said, stretching his limbs.  “I was laying there and had moved to get a drink. Suddenly there was a quick sharp pain, and then nothing. I’m healed!” He grinned, fangs flashing. He was himself again. Willa chuckled, happy, but confused. How did he heal so quickly? He didn’t have his moonstone, it made no sense. She raised an eyebrow, before noticing a new marking, on his left bicep. He hadn’t noticed it yet. It wasn't a normal marking. It looked like vines wrapping around his bicep, with a stone tangled in the middle. Her eyes widened. Her mother had shown her the marking on her arm. The exact same one. “One day you’ll share this with someone. It means more than you think.” She had spoken to a young Willa as she held an even younger Wyatt in her arms. It couldn’t be. And who? ——----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Brooke Buchanan swallowed thickly, her hands trembling as she stood in front of the den. This was crazy. She was crazy. She skipped cheerleading practice for this, even though Addison knew where she was going. The wolves hadn’t made it home yet,  so she had a little time to....to do what? What was she going to do? She knew she needed to talk to Wyatt, give him his necklace back, but was that it? Would she leave after that? After she knew he was okay. What was next? She held her bag close to her and sighed. The moonstone felt warm and comforting against her chest, but she knew she had to give it back. She didn’t need it, he did. “Brooke?” Brooke raised an eyebrow and turned. Two little hands wrapped around her waist, startling. “Hey, Winona.” She said, grinning down at the little were-pup. The dark-skinned wolf looked at her, grinning. “Where have you been? I haven’t seen you around.” She asked and Brooke giggled. “I’ve been busy. Haven’t had the time.” She lied. She didn’t want the little wolf to know what really happened. “We miss you! We miss dance parties.” Brooke giggled. Her and Addison would come down on certain nights when they were entertaining. Brooke always had fun, dancing with the pups. It was how she and Wyatt became closer. They’d always get paired together. “I miss you guys too.” She said softly. Winona looked up. “I know Wyatt misses you.” She teased. Brooke rolled her eyes. “Is he here?” She asked and Winona giggled, before taking Brooke’s hand and tugging her down into the den. Brooke swallowed but followed her down into the den. She smiled, it was still as beautiful as before. She loved coming down here. “Oh, Wyatt!” Winona called as they entered into what appeared to be his own room. Wyatt had his back turned, messing with something. Brooke smiled softly as soon as she saw him, though he hadn’t seen her. He was wearing dark brown pants with his signature purple shirt and sandy brown vest. “Winona, shouldn’t you be in class? I know they haven’t finished.” She smiled when Wyatt spoke, listening to him. “But I brought something for you! It was wandering outside the den.” Winona joked, looking at Brooke. Wyatt chuckled. “If you brought another mouse I’ll....” he turned, before stopping. Yellow eyes met blue. “Brooke.” Brooke swallowed and made a small wave. “Hi.” “Well, that was the worst conversation I’ve ever heard,” Winona spoke with her arms crossed. Wyatt chuckled. “Alright, you little were-pup, back to class before the teacher finds out you’re gone.” Wyatt scolded, shooing Winona off and back to class. Winona whined before doing as she was told and disappearing, leaving the human and wolf alone. Brooke chuckled, watching. “She reminds me so much of Zoie, and how....”. Before Brooke could even finish her explanation, Wyatt had pulled her to him, wrapping his arms around her tightly. Brooke was startled, before wrapping her arms around his waist and burying her face into his fur. Wyatt moved one hand to the back of her head, holding her there tightly. He didn’t want to let her go. Didn’t want to move. She was here, and he felt complete. “I’ve missed you,” Brooke whispered into his fur, closing her eyes tightly. Wyatt crooned, “I’ve missed you too.” He said softly, burying his face into her hair. They stayed like that for a few moments, before slowly pulling back. “You’ve recovered?” She asked him, touching his arm gently and letting her finger drag gently against one of the scars. Wyatt watched her, a smile formed. “Mainly scars now.” He said. She shrugged. “Makes you look tougher.” She joked and looked up at him after tracing it. He chuckled and looked at her, frowning. “Where are your markings?” He asked, concerned. She shook her head. It didn’t matter. He didn’t want to upset him. “It’s not a big deal. I have something for you though.” She said, immediately trying to change the subject. Wyatt frowned as she took a step back, her hands moving toward her neck. She pulled the necklace from her throat and unclasped it. Wyatt’s eyes widened as he saw it. His moonstone! “I found it a few days ago. Just haven’t been able to get it to you.” She held the necklace in her hand. “Doesn’t really suit me.” She said with a smile, before reaching forward and slipping it around his neck. She watched as it glowed before his eyes flashed yellow and he growled, flashing sharp fangs. She couldn’t help but laugh and smile at him. “Better?” “Perfect!” Wyatt concluded, smirking down at her. Brooke smiled softly. Wyatt watched her, brushing her hair from her face and tucking it behind her ear, looking down at her. “Now you didn’t answer my question. What happened to your markings?” He could only fear the worst. Even markings to a human meant a lot. Having them taken from her, he didn’t like the idea that someone took them from her. Those were her markings. She looked down, frowning. “I took them off.” She said quietly, biting her lip. “Why?” He asked, confused. “Because I don’t deserve them. I don’t deserve any markings that the pack gives me. I don’t deserve the pack. I don’t deserve you, Wyatt.” She exclaimed softly, biting her lip and trying to keep her composure. “I’m just like all of those humans. You got hurt because of humans, who’s to say that wouldn’t happen again? I can’t see you hurt.” She was holding back tears. She promised herself she wouldn’t do this. Not in front of him, and now here she was. Making a fool of herself. “Willa’s right....who’s to say....” “Stop. Brooke, stop.” Wyatt grabbed at her arm, turning her back to look at him. “Look at me.” He said, bringing his hand to her chin and making her look at him. “You didn’t cause those boys to hurt me. You didn’t ask them to, and they were going to hurt you. That wasn’t your fault.” He said softly, holding her to him. “And Willa....” “Willa was wrong.” Both wolf and human looked up when they heard a new voice. Willa was standing at the entrance, looking over the two. “I was wrong. Not all humans are the same. Addison proved that Bree proved that. And you’ve proven that Brooke.” She walked over to them, watching as they pulled away from each other. “You’re not like them. You didn’t hurt my brother. And I don’t think you ever will. You deserve him, and he deserves you.” She explained looking over the two of them. Brooke was blushing, pushing her hair from her face while Wyatt shoved his hands in his pockets. “We’d be honored to have you in our pack.” Willa said. Brooke grinned before hugging Willa. Willa was a bit taken aback before hugging Brooke. They pulled back and Willa grabbed her hand, pulling her over so Wynter and she could place her markings back and fix her hair. Wyatt crossed his arms and watched her from afar as the wolves began to help her. He smiled, it was as if he finally felt whole, felt complete. He had her back and he wasn’t going to lose her again. ———-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The music was blasting in the den, the moonlight casting bright lights from the glass on the ceiling to make it a dance floor. A party was going on. This would be the first time the pack, aside from elders and pups, would take on their true wolf forms. Once the moon was high, their moonstones would be strong enough and they’d be complete. Only a fair few were at the celebration, and that included Brooke and her gang. Brooke and Addison had already made it out onto the floor with the other wolves, dancing and having a grand time. Their feet moved to the beat, in time with each other. The wolves were with them. Zedd and a few other zombies were trying to go along. Zedd had both his hands full, holding both Brooke and Addison’s hands through the dance. Bonzo has the same with Bree and Eliza. Zoie was over with Winona and the other pups, even Bucky and the Acey’s joined in on the fun. Willa walked out toward the top of the stairs, royal blue gown swishing over her ankles, and makeup done, alpha markings showing. She watched the party going on, grinning. Wynter joined her, purple and tan dress stopping just at her ankles. This was their moment to shine. They hadn’t let their true form take over in years, and this would be the first for the newest of the pack. A wolf turned and saw them, before letting out a howl. The others followed, even the zombies and humans, once they had learned their native tongue. “Tonight, with fully charged moonstones, we will finally be able to take on our true forms. Even if it’s just for the night, it’ll be our honor to finally be who we are supposed to be. Seabrook has finally accepted this, and we are honored to have our newest members of the pack here as well. So please, enjoy your self, and when the time comes, we will finally see the real pack.” Willa announced to everyone. Another chorus of howls, as well as cheering, before the dancing continued. Willa watched them for a moment, smiling as her eyes met Eliza’s before catching movement. She chuckled, seeing her beta, her brother, immediately sliding through the crowds toward the unsuspecting Brooke. They had changed Brooke’s markings, one she didn’t understand. And Willa told Wyatt they would have to change his soon as well. They didn’t realize. And tonight was the night. “I still don’t understand. I thought it was impossible.” Wynter spoke beside her, breaking her out of the trance. “The elders say it’s not impossible, but it hasn’t happened in years. I guess it was time for a change.” Willa said with a shrug. Wynter nodded. “He looks happy.” She told her alpha. Willa smiled. “He is happy.” ——----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- “Alright zombie, I think it’s my turn.” Brooke turned from her hold on Zedd to see Wyatt standing in front of them. She couldn’t help but grin when she saw him. “By all means.” Zedd joked and playfully picked Brooke up before plopping her down in front of Wyatt. Brooke squealed and laughed, standing in front of him. Addison waved as Zedd led her over to the others. “I thought you’d be with your sister, getting ready?” She asked, hand on the fur of his jacket so she wouldn’t lose him. Wyatt smirked, brushing her hair from her face. “She can get along without me for a few minutes.” He said, before pulling her back out into the dance. Brooke grinned, following him out to the center and participating in the dance with him. She kept up with everyone. She was a natural dancer, just not a natural cheerleader. She couldn’t help but laugh as a few of the wolves grabbed her, hoisting her up on their shoulders while Wyatt moved around them. Addison and Bree followed. A cheer within a dance. She felt herself lifted, twirling in the air before coming down, right into Wyatt’s awaiting arms. She flushed blood red and smiled at him, and he grinned, holding her. Everyone cheered. “Come on,” Wyatt spoke softly, helping her to her feet. “I want to show you something.” He said, taking her hand and walking up the stairs and out inside the night. The moon was full, reflecting off the top of the den. Wyatt pulled her out, smiling at her. “Wow! It’s so beautiful!” She exclaimed, leaning against the railings. Wyatt had to agree, but it wasn’t just the moon. It was her. Dressed in a darker blue dress that fell to her knees, and a dark grey cardigan. She had begun to break the norm for Seabrook. She didn’t care for the same colors. He still sported his colors, a purple shirt and black pants, a black coat over it. But it meant something to her. “So?” He looked up when she spoke, turning to lean against the rocks around her. “Are you excited?” She asked. He chuckled. “Nervous mostly. Our pack hasn’t done this in centuries, they never had the full power of the moonstone to help them. This Is the first time the elders say were ready. And we have to trust our instincts.” He said, grabbing her waist and hoisting her up onto the rocks. She chuckled and smiled at him as he surrounded her, placing his hands on either side of the rocks. “I want you and the others to stay within the outskirts of the den. Just in case something goes wrong. Sometimes our animal instincts can take over before our actual ones do, and I don’t want you to get hurt. The other wolves will protect you, just in case.” He told her, looking up at her. She frowned, watching him. “Promise me?” “I promise,” Brooke said softly, before sliding back down so she was standing with him, still leaning on the rock. “But you have to trust yourself, Wyatt.” She said, touching his cheek and bringing him to look at her. “I know you won’t hurt me. You never would.” She said, blue eyes meeting yellow. Wyatt looked at her. And he didn’t know if it was the markings and the white or the moon reflecting, but she looked like a wolf right then. And he loved her. He smiled softly, before reaching down and letting his lips connect to hers, eyes closing. Brooke followed, eyes slipping shut as she returned the kiss, her arms sliding around his neck. Neither one noticed the charm of her bracelet glowing purple or the moonstone on his necklace glowing as well. His hands slid around her waist and held her close to him. It was a short sweet kiss, but one filled with so many emotions. Ones that had never surfaced until now, and ones that were genuine and real. They pulled back at the same time, faces flushed red and a wolf-like grin around Wyatt’s face. Brooke giggled, before wrapping her arms around his waist and leaning against him. He smiled softly, holding her to him. His heart hammered in his chest, and he worried that she could feel it. But she didn’t seem to notice. He brushed her hair from her face, smiling before the smile seemed to strain. “What’s this?” He asked, noticing the cross markings under her original ones. She frowned, pulling back and raising an eyebrow. “My markings? What’s wrong?” She asked, confused as his hand graced her cheek where it was. “Those are there. But these....these are different.....they mean.....” “Mates.” Wyatt turned to hear his sister and Wynter near where the had exited. Wyatt raised an eyebrow. “Mates?” Brooke asked, confused. Wyatt shook his head. “Willa now you’ve gone too far....” “But I haven’t. I’m only telling the truth.” Willa giggled, arms crossed. “What’s going on?” Addison asked as she appeared behind them, pulling Zedd along. She had given enough time to Brooke and Wyatt and wanted to check on them. Bree and Eliza had followed, ready to tease the new couple. “Willa, we’re not mates. I know our pack has traditions but this is an older one. One that hasn’t been used in centuries. We can’t be...” Wyatt argued. Brooke frowned, confused. What was that supposed to mean? She thought it was a good thing. Willa chuckled. “Brooke, when you found Wyatt’s moonstone, you put it around your neck to safeguard it right?” She asked “Yeah. I knew I wasn’t a wolf so I knew it wouldn’t do anything to me. I figured it would be safer there.” She explained. Willa nodded. “Did you feel anything when you did? A sudden feeling?” Brooke had to think. “I mean I think so? It was like a sudden warm feeling in my chest, and then my mood was gone. I was happier. I went and joined everyone.” She looked over at Addison, who nodded to vouch for her. Willa nodded before looking at her brother. “That was the same time you healed almost immediately. You told me you felt complete again. And you didn’t have your necklace then.” She told Wyatt. “Well yeah. I just thought I had enough energy from the main moonstone to help heal....” “And when Brooke and I fought and I said all those hurtful things, didn’t you feel some sort of pain?” Wyatt had to think, before nodding. He had a headache that day, almost like he had a hole in his heart. Willa chuckled. “You met your mate, Wyatt. It’s Brooke. It’s been Brooke all along.” Wyatt stared wide-eyed at the two wolves in front of him, confused. Brooke was right there with him, confused as to what was actually happening. “So you’re saying they’re meant to be together?” Addison asked after a moment, just as Bucky joined them, looking over his sister. Willa nodded. “It hasn’t been seen in centuries. Not after our parents actually. Most of the time wolves choose their mates. Kind of like you and Zedd, Addison. But sometimes fate slips in and helps to decide. They believe that a certain two should be together, then fate or destiny will bring them together in one way or another.” “It’s even rarer with soulmates, actually,” Wynter added and grinned, Willa nodded. “You two are soulmates. The moonstone chose you two to be together. If you don’t understand, look at your moonstones. They’re a different shade now.” Brooke and Wyatt both grabbed at their stone. But they were right, Brooke’s was a dark shade of purple now, and Wyatt’s had a tinge of dark purple mixed in with the white stone. Brooke held her charm up to Wyatt’s stone, and it glowed softly. “If you don’t believe that. Wyatt, take off your jacket.” Willa teased. Wyatt growled but took off his jacket. Willa walked over and slowly rolled his sleeve up, showing the new marking that he still hadn’t noticed. “Just like dad’s,” Willa whispered, looking at her brother. Wyatt looked at her, before looking at Brooke. “Can you take yours off?” Wynter asked, walking over to Brooke. Brooke frowned, but shrugged the cardigan off and handed it to Bree. Wynter moved Brooke’s arm and chuckled. On her left bicep, was the same exact marking. Brooke’s eyes widened. “Where did that....” she startled. “They match,” Willa stated. “You two are soulmates. You were meant to be together. Fate threw that curveball at both of you to make sure that you were both ready. Once it knew, the fates just had to align.” She explained. Brooke’s eyes were wide, and she looked to her friends, who shared the same expressions. Bucky seemed tense but he didn’t say anything. Brooke swallowed before looking at Wyatt. He was staring at his wolves, confused. She frowned. “Wyatt....” she whispered. Wyatt heard her beside him. He was shocked, confused. He loved her, but he never thought they would be soulmates. He never thought he would get the same chance his father had to his mother. How did this happen? Willa nodded at him. She knew it was upsetting and confusing, but it was true. “The pack welcomes you with open arms Brooke. You will always be one of, regardless of you being human.” She said and smiled. There was a lone howl. The time had come. The moon was high. Willa turned before looking back at her pack mates. “It’s time.” She said, turning to look at them before walking out with Wynter, the others left, following, confusion and excitement twisted together. “I have to go,” Wyatt spoke suddenly. “Wyatt....” Brooke looked at him, biting her lip. He was acting strange. It was all confusing. Did he.....did he not care? But he turned, kissing her on the cheek and leading her back inside before disappearing with the group. She smiled weakly as he disappeared, catching up with her friends outside the den. “Everything okay?” Addison asked, her arm wrapping around her cousin as Bucky joined them. Brooke bit her lip, shrugging. She didn’t know what was going on. There was a long, drawn-out howl, and the others who had not transformed joined in. Brooke and the others were confused, watching the woods for some signs. Three giant wolves emerged from the tree line. They were bigger than anticipated, beautiful. The pack must be behind them. They could tell who was who. Willa stood proud and tall, looking over her den. Her fur was black as night, eyes glowing as she stood over. Wynter moved beside her, a sandy brown wolf. She wasn’t as big as Willa, but still stood tall. There was a rustling as Willa watched her brother move toward the group. He could be trusted. Brook’s eyes widened as Wyatt moved forward and down the hill. The russet-colored wolf was sleek and fierce, scary but amazing. He moved toward the pack, toward the group of humans and zombies. Brooke was the one to move, despite Bucky’s protests. She came face to face with Wyatt, staring into his beautiful yellow eyes. Now she knew. Now everyone knew. She brought her hand up to the fur on his neck, soft, before letting her forehead touch against Wyatt’s, closing her eyes. “I love you too.” She whispered against his snout, smiling. Wyatt crooned, before backing up when he knew they were ready. Brooke smiled, nodding, and watched as he took off back to the others. He howled, the others joining in before the wolves disappeared into the night. They would be back by morning. “To answer your question, Addison,” Brooke said as she walked back over. “I’m great.” Addison grinned, as Bree and Eliza began to tease her. It didn’t matter. She finally felt whole. She had a soulmate. She was herself.

[927roses-and-stuff]

Miracles in Gotham: Chapter One: Strings of Fate

Hey, guys! This fic is inspired by @ozmav’s Maribat AU. Shoutout to @mystery-5-5 for brainstorming ideas with me for this fic. Hopefully, you guys enjoy it!

It’s only been a few hours since I posted the prologue, and I’ve already received such wonderful feedback! Thank you to anyone who took the time to read and/or like/reblog/comment/gave kudos to this! 

I know it seems very Mlbverse-centric right now, but I have to set up some of the conflicts somehow, amirite? Trust me, you’ll only have to deal with Paris for like one more chapter.

If you want to see more, follow: #miraclesingotham

P.S. I refuse to believe that the ladybug-themed egg is the actual form of the Miracle Box. Nope, no way. 

Tag list (if anyone wants that to be a thing):

@northernbluetongue

First Next Fanfic

Chapter One: Strings of Fate

Dear Diary,

Everything’s been so different without Master Fu. I’ve heard from Marianne that he’s healthy and doing well. I’m happy that he gets to be free from the Miraculous and living happily with the love of his life, but would it be selfish to wish that he were still around to guide me? It’s been a total disaster since I’ve become the new Guardian. Chloé’s anger at Ladybug makes it impossible to go a day without an akuma; much less since Lila Rossi decides to provoke her at every turn. 

Honestly, what is wrong with that girl? She’s even more irritating than Chloé, if you ever thought that was possible. 

But, diary, I’ve noticed that Hawkmoth’s become more strategic with his akumas. I think handing out the other Miraculous was a mistake. I’m sure it’s because Hawkmoth now knows the identity of the others that he’s been targeting our class almost exclusively. 

This is why I’ve always said that secret identities were important. Now that they’ve all been discovered, I doubt I can entrust them without harming them and their loved ones. 

I wish I could write more and reflect on my emotions like Master Fu told me to, but I hear an akuma calling my name. 

Bisoux, 

Marinette

________________________________________________________________

“So, chaton, who are we fighting this time?” Ladybug asked as she landed outside of the Louvre.

“So glad to be here in your presence. Ladybug, here comes the lovely Princess Fragrance!” He quipped as he dodged a zombified civilian rushing at him. 

“Rhyming, Chat Noir?” Ladybug laughed as she jumped up, making two of the zombies crash into one another. “Are you sure you haven’t been caught in Princess Fragrance’s traps?”

Chat laughed and leapt to her side, using his baton to bat away at the incoming civilians. “Maybe just a whiff.”

She scanned around quickly, looking for green skin, pink hair, or her gothic black dress. When she found nothing, she grabbed Chat Noir by the waist, and projected her yoyo on one of the Louvre’s chimneys. 

“Well, wake up and smell the roses, chaton. We better go find her Royal Highness!” Ladybug said as she grabbed onto Chat’s waist and swung away from the incoming hoard of civilians. She watched as they toppled over each other, desperately grabbing at the sky. 

Chat winced at the sight also. “Me-ouch! Seems like their loyalty’s deadly.”

They landed on the roof and Ladybug straightened, letting go of Chat. She sighed. 

“Let’s go before it turns into a bloodbath.” 

Chat nodded. “Princess Fragrance was headed to the Pont des Arts  last I saw her.”

“Do you know why she got akumatized this time?”

“Not really. Maybe it had something to do with the Prince again.”

Ladybug sighed. Poor Rose and her fragile heart. “I guess. Well, hopefully she doesn’t break anymore hearts.”

When they arrived, Princess Fragrance was seated upon the shoulders of Luka and Anarka Couffaine. Behind her was an army of their classmates, standing in silence and waiting for their orders. At her feet was Juleka, looking up at her and pleading. They managed to catch the end of Princess Fragrance’s declaration before Chat tackled Juleka and rolled away just as perfume was sprayed. 

Princess Fragrance screeched. “You will not get away from me, my Princess! Minions, after the mangy cat!” 

Ladybug’s eyes widened as she watched her classmates charge towards Chat and Juleka in unison. Jumping into the fray, Ladybug twirled her yoyo into a shield and yelled at Chat behind her. 

“Hurry up and get Juleka away from here, while I distract them!” 

“But, Ladybug-”

“Just go!”

Chat looked from Ladybug, who was slowly being overrun by Princess Fragrance’s minions, to Juleka in his arms. Making a decision, he carefully set her down and whispered at her to run when she was ready, before joining in the battlefield. He jumped in front of Ladybug and swung his baton, knocking out half of them. 

“Sorry, Ladybug. I’m not going to leave you alone.” 

Ladybug huffed, but didn’t have time to check on Juleka as the minions recovered and charged towards them even more aggressively. Ladybug swung her yoyo, making sure it wrapped around one of the farther lamp posts before swinging across the crowd, making sure to kick some of them down. When she landed, she searched for Princess Fragrance. 

Where could she have gone? She was here a second ago. 

She quickly scanned the area before she spotted her, racing down the bridge followed by Luka and Anarka. They were now behind the crowd that Chat Noir was still struggling against and Juleka was slowing down by the looks of it. If Ladybug didn’t hurry soon, she’d be captured next. 

Hurriedly, Ladybug swung over the crowd again, making sure to grab Chat Noir on the way. 

“Thank you, bugaboo. Now, I think it’s time to pull the ace up our sleeve, right?” 

Ladybug nodded. “Lucky Charm!”

A spool of red yarn dropped in her hands. 

“What the heck am I supposed to do with this?” Ladybug asked as she scrutinized the object. Sighing, she ran towards Juleka and Princess Fragrance, hoping to at least prevent further damage. She was hurrying so much, that she barely heard Chat shout something about fate and strings. 

With a thud, she managed to push Luka and Anarka away, before landing on her feet. Not even a second passed before Princess Fragrance kicked her in the chest and she rolled away. Luckily, Chat caught her before she fell headfirst, but she could already feel the bruises forming.

She could only watch as Princess Fragrance approached Juleka who shook in place. 

“Don’t worry, my love,” Rose said. “Nothing can tear us apart now. We will be together forever.”

Ladybug watched in horror as Princess Fragrance reached up to caress Juleka’s cheek. Her earring beeped. She had to hurry.

What was it that Chat had said? Strings and fate? 

She glanced down at the spool of yarn in her hand. 

Oh.

The red string of fate. 

Ladybug stood up and rushed in between the two girls, tying one end of the string on each of their fingers. Princess Fragrance and Juleka jerked back in surprise. 

“What is the meaning of this?”

Ladybug glanced to Juleka nervously and winked, hoping she would play along. “You’re right, Princess Fragrance! With this red string of fate, you and Juleka can now be together forever! It is said that the red string ties soulmates together in an unbreakable bond.”

Princess Fragrance squealed. “I knew it, I knew it!” 

Ladybug watched as Chat snuck behind Princess Fragrance and snatched at the perfume bottle in her belt. However, the bottle accidentally sprayed and Chat started to sing praises to Princess Fragrance.

Princess Fragrance turned around, then turned back to Ladybug scandalized. “Wait! This was a trick! You don’t think my princess and I are meant to be at all! You just wanted to take her away from me! You-!”

Before she said anything else, Ladybug had already untied Juleka from the other end and dragged Princess Fragrance closer to her. Before she could attempt anything, Ladybug spun her around and around until the yarn had effectively tied her up. 

Juleka rushed over to Princess Fragrance and grabbed the perfume bottle, giving it to Ladybug. She quickly purified it and untied Rose before enacting the Miraculous Cure. 

She knelt down beside Juleka, making sure that Rose wasn’t too disoriented from the attack. True to the Cure, everyone else was waking up from their slumber, and any of the injured were instantly healed.

However, Marinette knew that each one of them remembered; something even the Miraculous Cure couldn’t fully erase. All of them remembered; except for the victim. 

“Hey,” she said softly, brushing aside Rose’s bangs to reveal her teary eyes. “What happened? This was the third time this week.”

When Rose couldn’t do anything but sniffle and curl into Juleka’s embrace, Juleka replied, “It’s been a rough week for her. Chloe’s anger makes her more nervous than she lets on. We bumped into Lila who complimented us today and Chloe happened to be nearby and  told Rose that no one would really love her.”

Ladybug frowned. Already, she knew that no other result could’ve come from having Chloe and Lila in the same vicinity. 

She watched Juleka rub Rose’s back softly and murmur sweet words of comfort. Ladybug awkwardly patted Rose’s back twice before she stood up. Her earring beeped again, and she stood up. 

“Look, I’ve noticed that your classmates have been targeted more recently. I’ll try to see what’s going on, but my advice is to stick together. Even if people you don’t like taunt you, make sure you support each other.” 

Juleka nodded. “Thank you. We know you can help us.” 

Ladybug forced herself to smile. “Of course.”

With that, she swung away and hid in a random alley. Before she de-transformed, she sent Chat a quick message to meet up later at the Eiffel Tower. 

________________________________________________________________

When she finally returned to her room, she was greeted by a multitude of kwamis: Pollen. Trixx, Sass, Longg, and Wayzz. Each of the kwamis sat upon their customized jewelry boxes that doubled as a bed and a miraculous container. 

“Welcome home, Marinette!”

Marinette smile at them, setting down a bowl of food she had taken from the kitchen. “Hey guys. I bet you’re hungry, feel free to dig in!”

She watched as the kwamis fervently dived into the bowl, eating as much as their tiny stomachs could feel. Glancing to her closet, she could envision the other kwamis entrapped in the Miracle Box, isolated from their world. 

Marinette wasn’t too sure why, but when Master Fu gave up his guardianhip, the Miracle Box had transformed into a red and black polka-dotted egg. She hadn’t thought too much of it then, but she  later realized that the box was locked. As far as she or the kwamis knew, it was inaccessible. Marinette watched as the kwamis floated over their jewelry boxes. She sighed, feeling unprepared for the future of being a Guardian ahead of her; she still couldn’t believe that Master Fu was gone, but the future didn’t wait, and it would string her along whether she wanted it to or not.

“Are you okay, Marinette?” Tikki asked, floating closer to her owner’s face. 

She sighed again. “I’m just thinking about the Miracle Box again. I don’t know how else we can get it to open, and the only other person who would know, no longer remembers!” 

Wayzz floated next to her and gently patted her arm.  “It will all work out, Marinette. Have you tried looking through the Miracle Journal, yet?”

Marinette sighed and buried her head in her arms. “Even if I did, I don’t think I would understand a thing.”

“What do you mean?” Wayzz asked, floating to sit on Marinette’s head. “Master Fu left a translated copy for you on his tablet. He had it with him when he went to fight Hawkmoth.”

Marinette shot up and cupped Wayzz in her hands. “Wayzz, there was no tablet when we rescued Master Fu. There was no tablet in the locker either.”

The kwamis’ chatter stopped and their eyes widened.

 “Then, that means…,” Wayzz trailed off. 

Marinette heard herself whisper as the daunting thought loomed upon them:

“Hawkmoth has the tablet.”

[ghostsray]

Danny Zombie chapter 2

(remember this fic? here’s the second chapter. tbh i dont even have a plot in mind, im just writing whatever bs pops in my head. based on @burning-clutch‘s prompt: an au where the ghosts are humans and the humans are ghosts)

.

Walker trudged into the cemetary. It was the dead of night, pun unintended, and he carried a flashlight to provide him better light than the dim full moon. He had received complaints from the surrounding residents about a strange occurence here: a flash of light, a sudden storm. To him, that sounded like a load of crap, but more than one person had witnessed it, so he had no choice but to investigate.

The flashlight's beam caught a group of teenagers up the hill, standing among a row of graves. As soon as they noticed him, they began to flee--two at first, then another pair trailing after. "Hey!" Walker called and picked up his pace, but he was too late. The four troublemakers had already made it to the opposite wall by the time he reached the grave they were ransacking.

Walker stopped and turned his flashlight down over the grave. He let out a disapproving tsk at what he saw. Whoever those teens were, (and he had an idea; he was familiar with all the troublemakers in town,) they had undoubtedly robbed the grave. A deep hole was dug in the mound, almost as if somebody had climbed out from inside the grave. Walker chuckled at that image. As if zombies were real.

The cop shone his flashlight down the hole. At first, he was met with nothingness, which was odd. Surely the graverobbers couldnt have taken the whole corpse with them, could they? Then, something stirred. Walker nearly dropped his flashlight in surprise, but he caught it and kneeled over the open grave to get a better look.

Nothing.

Walker exhaled. He was not a superstitious man, but this place gave him the creeps. He stood up, and as he did, his foot knocked against something. He looked down and grinned. A guitar--and a familiar one at that. He was sure the owner's parents would enjoy a nice chat with him.

He bent down to pick up the instrument, and that was when it happened. Toxic green light gradually grew from the grave and intensified until everything was shed in chartreuse. Walker momentarily forgot about the guitar, whipping his head back to face the grave.

It wasn't so empty anymore. When he peeked inside again, a swirling vortex of green...something...had filled it up. The light it produced was so bright it painted the soil a sickly green. Walker's jaw hung loose as he gawked, trying to make sense of what he was seeing. Just then, something rose out of the vortex--or rather, someone.

He was a tall man in a white suit and sunglasses hiding his eyes, but what really caught Walker's attention was the fact that he was glowing. If one stared at him hard enough, his skin appeared transparent, and Walker thought he saw his skull underneath his face. Oh, yeah, and he was floating in the middle of the air above the portal he had come through.

The man, whatever he was, looked down at Walker, and goosebumps broke out on his flesh. He picked up his jaw long enough to ask, "Who...What are--"

He couldn't finish his sentence before the creature lunged at him. Walker held his arms up to protect himself, but it didn't do anything, because he wasn't attacked. Instead, the man--the ghost--had entered his body.

Walker's entire body shuddered. He felt his mind being pushed into nothingness as whatever was inside him wrested control. He desperately tried to cling to his consciousness, but it was no use. When he opened his eyes, he wasn't Walker anymore.

Operative's eyes glowed red. He flexed his borrowed neck and smiled.

.

Sidney woke up on 6 AM, like he did everyday. The alarm clock was ringing by his bedside, and he rolled in bed and slammed the top until it quieted. His eyes fluttered open. Blue eyes stared at him.

"Jiminy Cricket!" he blurted and fell off his bed.

"Jiminy Cricket?" Danny echoed. "What year were you born in?"

Sidney glared up at him from his spot upside down on the floor. The halfa was standing in Sidney's bedroom, wearing his borrowed clothes after Sidney had insisted he take a shower last night to remove all that creepy dirt on his body. He looked more alive than he had yesterday, almost normal even, though he was still pale.

"Says the guy who died forty years ago," Sidney grumbled and righted himself. He glanced at the halfa again and asked, "Didn't sleep?"

Danny slowly shook his head. "Dreams...are scary."

Sidney raised an eyebrow. Now that he looked at those blue eyes again, he noticed they seemed pretty bloodshot. "Not all dreams are scary," he said. "For example, I was just having a wonderful dream about standing up to Aragon."

"Who's Aragon?"

"This bully in school," Sidney said, and the way he mentioned the word "bully" made it sound like the worst insult possible. "His real name is Aaron, but he thinks calling himself Aragon is edgier or whatever. He thinks that just because he's rich, he's so much better than everyone else." He shook his head and added, "What about you? What dream is so scary you couldn't sleep?"

Danny didn't reply. He averted his eyes and focused on a corner.

Sidney sighed. Once again, he wondered why he was even letting him stay at his house. Curse that Ember for dropping him here. Hey, Poindexter! Here's this undead guy I found in the middle of the cemetary. I'll just drop him in your house and then leave!

He can't say he doesn't understand her reasoning, though. Ember's parents would never let her sneak a boy in her house, but Sidney's grandmother was barely aware of what was going on around her. One time he managed to keep a cat inside for an entire month, and she had no idea. (The cat's name was Gene Kelly, and he escaped when Sidney left the window open one day.)

"Well, you're a human now, and humans need to sleep," Sidney told him. "Eight hours a day. Then again, you are only part human, so I'm not sure if you need that much...um, what are you doing?"

Danny had lost interest in whatever Sidney was saying and had started rummaging around his room. Sidney got up and stopped him before he could pull open his underwear drawer. "Hey, just because I'm letting you stay over in my room doesn't mean you're free to search through my stuff! What are you searching for, anyway?"

"I told you yesterday," Danny said. "I need to make a call."

"The phone is right there, in case you haven't noticed," Sidney retorted and pointed at the telephone on his desk. But Danny shook his head.

"Phones can't contact the dead. Don't you have a ouija board? A crystal ball?"

Sidney's eyebrows rose to his scalp. "No? I'm not really into witchcraft. Maybe Desiree might have that stuff."

"Who's she?"

"A neighbor. But I'm not taking you to see her."

"Why not?"

"Because," Sidney said, "I need to go to school, and I don't trust you enough to let you roam around town unsupervised. How do I know you won't eat anyone's brains or anything?"

Danny huffed. "Why does everyone keep mistaking me for a zombie? I'm a ghost."

"You're a walking dead person who crawled out of his grave, that's why. Now can you just...stay put while I get ready for school?"

"School?" Danny asked, sounding interested.

Sidney rolled his eyes. "Yes, school. You know, where you learn stuff? I'm pretty sure those existed around your time."

"Of course I know what a school is," Danny replied, then hesitantly added, "Can I come?"

Sidney blinked. "You...want to come to school?"

Danny shrugged. "I'm curious about what new stuff students are learning since I was gone."

Despite himself, Sidney grinned. "I didn't know you were a fellow nerd."

"I'm not a nerd," Danny said, blushing. Sidney laughed and patted his shoulder.

"Don't worry, buddy. Being a nerd is actually pretty cool these days."

"You're joking, right?"

"Nope. Dungeons and Dragons is hot. Star Trek is mainstream. You have a lot to catch up on."

Danny didn't look like he believed him, which only made Sidney laugh more. "Come on, I'll bring you to school."

.

Casper High hadn't changed much in forty years, although the student body did grow. Some of the students cast curious glances at Danny as Sidney led him through the crowded hallways, but they didn't say anything. Well, except for one.

"Who do we have here?" a voice purred. Sidney groaned and turned to face the speaker.

"Hey, Aragon," he greeted with a strained smile.

Aragon looked...not as intimidating as Danny expected. He was thin, with a pimple-ridden face and greasy hair, but his sneer was enough to signify that he was a bad guy.

Aragon sized up Danny and said, "I haven't seen you around."

"This is Danny, my, uh...cousin," Sidney lied. "He's..."

"Homeschooled," Danny supplied. "But I'm curious about what regular schools are like, so Sidney offered to show me around his school." He lied so effortlessly that Sidney wondered if he had practiced it beforehand.

Aragon snickered. "Homeschooled? That's probably because you're too wimpy to be around other kids. Hey, Poindexter, why don't you join your cousin at home? It's not like anyone will miss you."

Sidney bristled. He thought of numerous insults he could throw at the bully, and he almost might have said one out loud, but then Danny spoke up and said, "You're not scary."

Aragon blinked. "Excuse me? My dad can probably buy your dad's company."

"I doubt that," Danny muttered.

Aragon bristled and almost said something back, but then a girl came and rested a hand on his shoulder. "Leave them alone, Aaron," she told him.

Sidney smiled when he saw it was Dora. He loved Dora--she was basically the anti-Aragon, kind to everyone. She caught his eyes and smiled back.

Aragon shrugged her hand away and scowled. "Fuck off, Dora. I'm pretty sure that guy just insulted me."

"He just said you aren't scary," Dora said, "which is true."

Sidney snorted. Aragon turned on him, but before he could speak, his condescending posture dissolved at the sight of a woman coming up to them. "Miss Pandora!" he said, suddenly sounding polite.

The tallest human Danny had ever seen stood over them with her hands on her hips. "What's going on here?"

"Nothing," Aragon told her, and he actually wrapped his arm amiably around Danny's shoulders and said with a smile, "We were just greeting Sidney's cousin here."

She raised her eyebrow and noticed Danny. "Cousin, eh?"

"He's homeschooled," Sidney said helpfully.

"Well, then! It's very nice of you to show him around." The teacher smiled at Aragon, and it took Sidney considerable effort not to roll his eyes. Pandora added, "Maybe you can let him take a lesson with you. Class is just about to start, you know."

"Yes, ma'am," Aragon said with a white-toothed smile and saluted her. Pandora passed them, and as soon as she turned a corner and left, Aragon pushed Danny away from him.

"Have fun at school, fuckhead," he said and laughed. He left, and Dora turned to him with a grimace.

"I'm sorry about my brother," she apologized.

Danny shrugged. "He's...interesting."

"What the fuck!"

The three teens turned to see Johnny standing in the hallway, glaring at Danny with his jaw agape. He strode to him, then jabbed a finger at his chest and demanded, "What are you doing in my school?"

"Stop that," Dora said. "Why is everyone intent on bullying the visitor?"

Johnny stared at her with disbelief written all over his face. "You don't know what he is, do you?"

Dora looked confused, but Danny just smiled and said, "Hey, Johnny. Thanks for helping me last night."

Johnny scoffed. "I didn't help you. That was all Ember."

"True, but at least you didn't stop her."

"I'm sorry, what's happening?" Dora asked, glancing between them.

Johnny scowled and said, "He's a zombie."

"Ghost, actually," Danny corrected.

Dora stared at them for a moment, and then she burst with laughter. Johnny raised his eyebrows and saw her with a hand over her mouth, eyes crinkled humorously. "Ghost! Ha ha."

Johnny frowned and said, "It's not--"

"It's a very funny joke!" Sidney interrupted. "I bet he even crawled out his grave."

He smirked at Dora as he said this, and Dora laughed harder. Sidney felt Johnny's eyes boring into him, but thankfully, the school bell chose that moment to ring. Dora wiped tears from her eyes and said to Danny, "Have a nice day, ghost boy."

"Will do," Danny replied with a toothy grin.

Dora left, but Johnny stuck behind. He sent a glare at Danny and stated, "I don't trust the undead." Then he turned to Sidney and added, "You shouldn't, either."

The way his eyes bore into him made goosebumps break out on Sindney's skin. Finally, Johnny turned and left, his shadow trailing behind him.

"What a great guy," Danny said after he was gone. Sidney tried to study his expression, but Danny was wearing an unreadably simple smile, and his hands were in his pockets. Danny's blue eyes met Sidney. "So, where's your class?"

.

Fuck, Ember thought as she sped down the hallway. She was late for class and Ms. Pandora was gonna kill her. She turned a corner, then stopped so suddenly she almost slipped on the linoleum floor.

The man in front of her turned around. He was wearing sunglasses indoors for some reason. On his chest sat a sherrif badge, and in his hand was her guitar. She had no idea what was with the glasses, but it obviously wasn't enough to stop her from recognizing him, nor quell her anxiety at his presence.

"You," he grunted, which erased any chance she had of escaping unnoticed.

Ember gulped and waved nervously. "Heyyy, Sheriff Walker. What are you doing here?"

Walker held forward her guitar. "Is this yours?"

Oh boy. Ember began to explain, "I swear, I didn't rob that grave. Heck, why would I even be in the graveyard? I don't know how this got there, you must have seen someone else--"

Walker ignored her and shoved the guitar at her. Then, to her surprise, he said, "Take it. I have no interest in it."

Walker? Letting someone go when he had a chance to arrest them? Ember eyed him and asked, "Who are you and what have you done to Walker?"

She had meant it as a joke, but the way he stiffened made her reconsider the truth of her statement. He said, "I don't care what happens to you, human," which Ember thought was a strange choice of words, "I only wish to know where the escapee is."

"The what?"

Walker (if that even was him) turned his attention away from her and focused on the hallway behind her. Now that Ember listened, she heard footsteps approach. She turned around and saw Sidney and...was that Danny? What was he doing in school?

Danny seemed to freeze up at the sight of Walker. Maybe it was her imagination, but she thought she saw his breath turn to mist as it escaped his mouth, which shouldn't have been possible because it wasn't cold enough inside the building. His eyes widened.

When she looked back at who may or may not have been Walker, she saw his face stretched in an unnerving grin. He walked around her and strode toward Danny, who somehow got stiffer the closer Walker got to him.

Ember didn't understand what was going on, but she knew enough to be able to tell that this not-Walker was bad news (yes, even worse than the real Walker) and that Danny seemed to be, for whatever reason, in danger. She shoved herself between not-Walker and Danny and said, "So, Sheriff, how's life?"

Not-Walker growled and shoved her away. Yep, that definitely was not Walker. Danny saw that he wasn't stopping and began to run away, but not-Walker grabbed his arm and tugged him back.

It didn't feel right, seeing the undead guy look so scared. Ember barely thought about her next action. She looked down at her guitar, remembered how good a weapon it made when she whacked Danny in the head last night, and swung it at the back of not-Walker's head. Not-Walker grunted and let go of Danny. His glasses fell to the floor, and when he turned around to glare at her, she froze--because his eyes were as red as blood. Ember was fairly certain that Walker's eyes were supposed to be green.

"Ember, get away! He's a ghost!" Danny warned.

Ember stared wide-eyed at Danny, and that was long enough for not-Walker's fist to connect with her gut and send her toppling backward. He didn't just punch her--he also sent a strange beam of green light that made her body buzz with electricity and sent her skidding across the hallway. She fell over and clutched her stomach, wheezing. She weakly raised her head enough to watch not-Walker grab Danny again and lift him up by his neck. Sidney was next to them, but he looked too paralyzed to help, and Ember was in too much pain to get up.

"Danny Phantom--" Danny Phantom? "--I see you're alive," not-Walker said with a sneer.

Danny quit struggling in not-Walker's grip long enough to gulp. "Alive? Nah. I'm just overshadowing someone, like you are."

"You think you can lie to me? I know what overshadowing senses like. You're alive." His cheeks looked like they were pulled back by invisible strings into a cruel smirk, and he added, "But if you're really only borrowing this body, then I suppose killing it won't do anything to you, would it?"

His grip around Danny's neck tightened, and Danny's struggling became strained. Why couldn't he just go intangible? Sidney looked like he finally snapped out of his paralysis, and he ran forward to help Danny with a yell of, "Let him go!" Unfortunately, he was quickly pushed back by the same weird light that attacked Ember.

"You're mortals," not-Walker growled. "You don't understand the laws that govern ghosts. The dead stay dead. Ressurecting oneself is a major crime--against the laws of the Ghost Zone and the laws of nature."

Cool, so it wasn't Walker, but he sure as hell was equally obsessed with arresting people. Or, well...executing them was more like it, if he continued to squeeze Danny's throat any longer. (Re-executing? What would happen if you die a second time?)

Ember gritted her teeth and pushed herself up. She may have only known Danny for less than a day, but there was no way she was letting the weirdest friend she'd had disappear so soon after she met him.

Without a second thought, she ran up to not-Walker, ignoring the pain in her gut, and shouted, "Hey, dipstick!" Not-Walker turned around but did not have time to prepare when her boot swung up and connected with his crotch.

Not-Walker cringed. Ember wasn't sure if the ghost was able to feel pain from inside Walker's body (probably not, because she was confident in the power of her kick) but the shock of being kicked in the private part was enough to loosen his grip on Danny. Danny, now able to breathe, took this opportunity to thrust his hand into not-Walker's face, and before she could blink, a bright burst of green light not unlike not-Walker's own attacks was released from his palm and roasted Walker's face.

Apparently, the ghost did feel pain from that, because he yowled and let go of Danny. Danny didn't waste any time after he landed before grabbing Ember and Sidney by the arms and sprinting down the hallway and around a corner, away from not-Walker's sight.

Danny kept running, pulling the two humans behind him. She didn't know how long they went--lockers and windows passed by in a blur--before he apparently thought they were far enough from the ghost possessing Walker and let go of their arms to slump on the floor and pant.

"Okay, what was that?" Sidney demanded.

"Yeah, and why did that guy call you Danny Phantom?" Ember added.

Danny didn't answer them at first, still catching his breath. Finally, he gulped and said, "So, that was the ghost police."

"I kind of figured," Ember said, remembering the ghost's words. "Resurrecting yourself is illegal?"

"Of course it is," Sidney said, staring at Danny, and Ember thought she saw a hint of wildness in his eyes. "It's unnatural! You're supposed to be dead!"

Danny flinched. Ember bit her lip and placed a hand on Sidney's shoulder. "Hey, man. What's done is done. Danny's alive now."

Sidney kept huffing for a moment before he covered his face with a hand and sighed. "No. I know. It's just...I wasn't expecting to be a attacked by a ghost-possessed Walker today."

"I mean, you did bring Danny to school," Ember pointed out. "Why did you bring Danny to school?"

"I asked to come," Danny answered.

"Why would you want to come to school? Are you a nerd?"

Danny looked about to argue, but then Sidney spoke up, "That's not important. That ghost inside Walker is still around. How do we get rid of him?"

Danny hummed thoughtfully. "Usually, in the Ghost Zone, we just duke it out with ghost powers, but I don't think that would work when I'm part human."

It was then that Ember finally noticed the way Danny was cradling his hands tenderly. She looked at his palm and saw it filled with slightly greenish blisters. Danny caught her looking and covered his palms, but she had already seen them. Guess that ghostly light attack was too hot for a human body to handle.

"Then what do we do?" Sidney asked.

Danny shrugged. "Maybe...are there myths about ghost weaknesses? Usually those have a little truth in them."

"What, you mean like, sprinkle salt on him?" Ember said with a raised eyebrow.

"Maybe," Danny said. "I--"

Whatever he was about to say was cut off when a blur came through the wall behind them, grabbed Danny, and went through the opposite wall. Ember and Sidney both stared slack-jawed as they tried to make sense of what just happened.

"Ghost," Sidney said.

"Salt," Ember said. "I'll go to the cafeteria."

"I think I also have something that might help," Sidney said. "I'll go get that."

There was no time for Ember to ask what thing Sidney had that might work against a ghost. The two teens separated and ran down different directions, Ember to the school cafeteria. She arrived to find it empty apart from the lunch lady behind the counter.

The lunch lady was humming to herself as she cooked...whatever the fuck school lunches were supposed to be. Ember tried to crouch near the wall and sneak into the kitchen. If she was lucky, she could grab the salt and dash without any confrontation...but she had no suck luck.

The humming stopped, and Lunch Lady said, "What are you doing outside of class?"

Ember closed her eyes and silently muttered a few curses before standing up in front of Lunch Lady with a smile. "Sorry. I just wanted to grab some salt...for a lab experiment."

"Salt? We have salt," Lunch Lady said sweetly.

"Great! I'd love some, please."

Lunch Lady grabbed a salt container, and Ember reached out for it eagerly, but the woman held it back with a frown. "If it's for a science class, why were you trying to sneak past me?"

"Me? Sneaking? I would never," Ember said, her smile straining. "I just thought it would be quicker...you know...so I don't waste any class time."

"Of course your teachers wouldn't want you to waste class time. That's why they're supposed to bring their own materials for experiments. I talked to them about that last year."

Ember winced. "They...forgot?" When Lunch Lady seemed unconvinced, Ember brought her hands together in a pleading gesture and said, "Please, I just want some salt. It won't even be long. I'll give it back."

Lunch Lady narrowed her eyes, like she was considering Ember's words. "Salt is a very important part of food, you know. Salt and meat."

Ember quirked an eyebrow. "I thought too much salt is a bad thing. Same with too much fatty meat."

She probably should have kept quiet. Lunch Lady's expression turned into a scowl, and she all but screeched, "Are you questioning my nutritional knowledge?"

Ember had met ghosts, but somehow, this lunch lady was more terrifying. Ember faltered and stammered, "Um, uh..."

She was saved by the large dirt explosion outside. Lunch Lady jumped and leaned forward, trying to look out the window with wide eyes. The salt container in her hand was in reach.

Ember snatched the salt from her and darted. Lunch Lady yelled at her, but Ember was already running away...toward the explosion she heard come from the track field outside. Somehow, she had a feeling that had something to do with Danny and that other ghost.

She emerged outdoors, and sure enough, Danny lay in a crater in the ground, looking worse for wear. Then Ember looked up at the enemy ghost and did a double take. Walker's body must have been left back inside the school, because the ghost wasn't possessing him anymore, which meant she could see his true, ghostly form.

Being near him set her hairs on edge and filled her with dull dread. He was glowing. His edges were blurry, like an old photograph. His skin was bright green and translucent, showing his skull underneath. He wore a suit that looked like it should have been black but was bleached white, and white sunglasses covered his eyes, although Ember had a feeling they were the same red shade that possessed-Walker had.

The ghost hovered over Danny's bruised form. Danny weakly pushed himself on his elbows, wincing all the way, and said, "Can't we talk about this, Operative?"

The ghost, Operative, retorted, "Sure, once you're in jail."

He aimed a hand at Danny, and Ember could tell he was about to attack. She ran toward him, shouted, "Hey! Want some salt with that?" and swung the salt at him.

Operative flinched--then blinked when the salt went through him without any effect. Ember faltered. "So...salt doesn't work."

"Salt?" Operative smirked. "I've heard about that. It has to be blessed to work against ghosts. And it must be pure salt, not table salt."

"Well, fuck," Ember muttered.

She shrieked and ducked out of the way as Operative ghost-blasted the spot where she stood. While she hit the grass, the ghost turned back to Danny and held him up by the neck. Danny was too weak to even struggle in his grip.

Just as Ember was beginning to lose hope, she saw Sidney enter her field of vision. Ember scrambled to her feet and joined him in running toward the ghost. "What did you get?" she asked.

Sidney, poor non-athletic nerd that he was, was panting too much from the process of sprinting as fast as he could to really talk, but he didn't need to. He stopped a short distance away from Operative and held up the object he brought for everyone to see: a reflective silver mirror.

Operative turned his head away from Danny for a moment to look at the mirror. "What is that? Do you want me to see my reflection?"

Ember was wondering about his plan, too. A mirror didn't sound very useful against ghosts. Even Sidney looked uncertain of himself, his knees knocking together in terror.

To his credit, he bravely ignored his fear and ran screaming at the ghost, swinging his mirror right down at him. She thought she saw the ghost's eyes widen at the last moment before he disappeared right into the mirror, somehow sucked up by the silver. Danny fell on his butt as Operative was gone.

Ember picked up her jaw and asked, "What was that?!"

"I have no idea," Sidney admitted, still wide-eyed from the fact his plan worked. "I just remembered hearing some stories about silver working against werewolves and vampires and guessed it must do something about ghosts, too."

"That was brilliant," Danny said, smiling from his spot on the ground. He was bruised all over and had second degree burns on his palms, but other than that, he seemed fine.

Now that the big scary ghost was gone and Ember's heartbeat was settling, she crossed her arms at Danny and said, "You didn't answer my question from earlier. Danny Phantom?"

"Right," Danny said, reaching to rub his neck then stopping when that made him wince. "Ghosts don't usually use each others' real names. It's...personal, I guess. So everyone goes by a nickname."

"That's why you don't like us calling you Daniel Fenton," Ember said, remembering the way he flinched when he got called that in the graveyard and at Sidney's--the same way he flinched just now as she said that.

"Yeah," he said. "That ghost we just fought, Operative...well, he's lucky because no one even knows his real name. He worked with the government back when he was alive. Everyone just calls him by his title--or the Guy in White."

"That makes sense, considering how blindingly white his suit was."

Sidney suddenly yelped, and Ember turned toward him to see that he had dropped his mirror onto the ground. She looked down at it and understood why. A swirling fog appeared on its surface before it morphed into the Guy in White's face.

She jumped when the ghost brought a fist forward and at pounded at the mirror's surface--but the mirror didn't even vibrate, much less fracture. He continued to pound uselessly and growled, "You can't keep me in this relic forever. Just as you can't escape your punishment. You're upsetting the balance between life and death. You--"

Sidney crouched and flipped the mirror over so that its reflective surface was lying face down against the dirt. The Guy in White's voice was muffled.

Danny crawled to them and struggled to push himself up. Ember went to his side and helped him stand, and as soon as he did, she recoiled and asked, "Where did your bruises go?"

Most of them were gone, and she watched as the ones that did remain seemed to glow green before fading away. Ember stepped away from him, and he stayed stable on his feet. "Healing," he said. "Injuries aren't permanent to ghosts. I guess I kept that part of me when I got resurrected."

"You brought yourself back from the dead," Sidney said. Ember turned to him and saw him staring at the mirror he had just flipped over. "That ghost mentioned something about balance."

"Dude, the Guy in White is just ghost Walker," Ember said. "He probably comes up with any lame excuse to jail people."

"But maybe he has a point," Sidney argued, glaring at Ember--and at Danny. "What makes you special enough to get ressurected? Why not everyone else who died--like my parents?"

"Sid--"

"No, he's right," Danny said. He hung his head guiltily, gazing down at his hands. The burns on his palms seemed to take longer to heal. "This was a mistake. I thought I could get my parents' invention to work--and I did--but I didn't think about the consequences. Maybe they gave up on it for a reason."

Ember tilted her head. "So...what? You kill yourself again?"

Danny bit his lip and shrugged. "I...I don't know."

Ember glanced between him and Sidney, who was shuffling in place uncomfortably. She thinned her lips and stood straight. "Well, I'm not letting you do that," she said to Danny. "I don't care if you were dead before. You're alive now."

"Technically, I'm only half alive," Danny mumbled. "I still have some ghostly attributes, but..." He glanced uncertainly at Sidney.

Sidney fidgeted, then crossed his arms and sighed. "I guess...if you're human now...there's no point in going against that. You may as well enjoy your time back. I'll accept that. No need to kill yourself."

Danny's shoulders relaxed. Sidney still had his arms crossed, but he didn't look as angry anymore. The muffled voice of the Guy in White still came from the upside-down mirror on the ground.

Ember prodded the mirror with her foot. "So, what do we do with him?"

"Break the mirror?" Sidney suggested.

"No," Danny said. "Who knows if that would get rid of him. It might just release him again."

"I still don't get how he even got here," Sidney said.

Danny shrugged. "A portal? Though, it seems a little convenient that a natural portal would open up right after I got revived..."

"Or maybe he followed you back to the human world," Ember said.

"But he's not alive..." Danny's eyes widened. "Unless--"

He grabbed the mirror off the ground and began to run.

"Hey, where are you going?" Sidney shouted.

Danny turned back to face them. "My revival must have opened a permanent portal," he told them. "I'm going to send Operative back to the Ghost Zone, and I'm going to see my parents."

"A portal? But where?"

Danny met Ember's eyes, and he knew the same thought went through their heads. "My grave," he said. Then he turned around and kept running.

Sidney and Ember glanced at each other in bewilderment. Then Ember shouted, "Wait up!" and ran after Danny.

"Wait! But what about school!" Sidney shouted.

Fuck school, Ember thought. Ghosts, zombies, portals--ever since Danny entered her life, her days became exciting, and there was no way she was missing any second of this.

[mycatshuman]

I Put A Spell On You

Chapter 7 I'll Take Thee Away

Warnings: panic attacks, hypnotic voice, Deciet, let me know if I missed any.

Pairings: Eventual Logicality, Eventual Prinxiety, Eventual Remile

@icequeenoriginal and @civilsounds17 are the people to thank for this fic. That is, if you like it. But they still deserve a Pat-ton the back for putting up with me.

Masterlist

Previous Chapter | Next | More Chapters

🎃👻🎃👻🎃👻🎃👻🎃👻🎃👻🎃👻🎃👻

Virgil, Logan, and Remy flew into the sky on their brooms, leaving Roman, Patton, and Emile behind to run through town and finding anyone they could possibly recruit to help them on their way to the Sanderson house to make sure the path to the cottage was safe for hypnotized kids. "Use thy voice, Virgil. Bring them to the property. We mustn't let their lives be sucked from their bodies." 

Virgil nodded and swung down to skim the treetops as he started his song, his brothers flying ahead to hurry home. 

"Come little children I'll take thee away, into a land of enchantment." Virgil sang, his voice a beautiful melody ringing out through the cool night air. Below him, children left their homes and began moving towards the Sanderson House. "Come, little children, the times come to play. Here in my garden of magic~"

------

Roman, Patton, Emile, and John raced through town to get to the Sanderson house. As they ran, Logan and Remy had flown back to the house to prepare a potion to get rid of Eli in the case he had gotten to a child and they didn't get rid of him before sunrise. Despite running through the streets of Salem, they saw nary a child or car. It seemed trick-or-treating was over and the kids were all tucked in bed. However, the lack of cars was a little unsettling. If that alone wasn't enough to frighten them, then the eerie chill in the air surely tipped them off to the sinister plans of one undead 17th-century zombie witch. 

Roman found some warmth in Virgil's voice as they ran. It was comforting to know that, should they run into any trouble, a simple shout would arouse the witch's attention and he could fly down to help them. He soon noticed children tumbling out of their homes and walking through the street right to the Sanderson house. 

He let out a sigh of relief.  Their plan was working. He just hoped Eli hadn't gotten to a child already. It would be a lot harder for the three of them to try and pour the potion on Eli without the witch's help. Waiting for him to turn to dust with the sunrise was really their best-case scenario. 

If everything worked. 

-----

Logan and Remy watched as children piled onto the property. Suddenly, Roman, Patton, and Emile tripped through the gates in their rush to get inside. Virgil landed on the ground beside them and the four continued to the cottage and closed the door after entering. "The children are all coming," Virgil breathed out, his eyes wide, his skin as white as a sheet. His heartbeat erratically and his chest heaved beneath his corset. 

Logan frowned and turned to hurriedly finish the potion while Remy moved to help Virgil to one of the chairs. "Virgil? What's wrong?" 

Patton bit his lip, fighting himself on what to do. On one hand, he wanted to help Virgil, but he also wanted to help Logan so they could quickly get rid of the zombie witch and then the witches could enjoy their final hours. Patton tensed. He shook the thought from his head and turned to help Logan. He didn't like entertaining the possibility that these wonderful witches would turn to dust come sunrise but he also couldn't just ignore it. With a reluctant sigh, he moved to help Logan.

"What can I do to help?" He asked softly. 

Logan jerked his chin towards his spellbook. "Read off the ingredients, please. I'll get them." 

"Of course." Patton quickly moved to read from the book. He occasionally grabbed ingredients and handed them to Logan. His heart skipped and his breath hitched every time they touched. He wondered if Logan noticed, but he didn't mention it. And if Patton noticed a bright red blush spreading across Logan’s cheeks each time, he didn't say anything either. 

Meanwhile, Emile inched towards Roman, Virgil, and Remy. He wanted to help. In any way, he could. "Remy" he called softly.

Remy turned to Emile with a raised eyebrow. "Yes?" 

"What can I do to help?" 

Remy blinked. He glanced between his brother and Emile. Finally, Roman stepped in and took a gentle hold on Virgil. "Go, I've got him," he dared to whisper as soft as he could. His eyes on the messy hair falling into Virgil's face. 

Remy nodded and lead Emile outside. "Okay," he surveyed the large crowd of children. "We need to make sure he can't fly over and snatch someone up." 

"How are we going to do that?" Emile asked. 

Remy frowned. "I don't know. I was hoping you would have an idea. We can't fit them all in the house." 

"Wouldn't getting them on hallowed ground work?" 

One of the cats hopped up and shook his head. "Maybe, but he's a very powerful witch, there's a chance he could get to them. And to move them? It wouldn't be smart with him lurking around." 

Remy huffed. "Well, let's just get them to sit down. Won't be as easy if they're standing up." 

The two boys moved to guide children down to sit on the ground. They hoped it would be harder for Eli to grab them if they were sitting at the very least, it would give them time to react. Hopefully. 

Emile bit his lip as he helped more children sit among the overgrown yard of the witch's home. He had an idea. It was a risky one. A very risky one, but it would certainly work. Especially if Eli held a grudge against the Sandersons. "Remy," Emile tried softly, paying extra close attention to a particularly boring pile of leaves. Remy turned, his skirts swirling around his ankles as he moved to stand next to Emile. 

"Yeah?" He asked carefully, his exceptionally good nose picking up on the heavy uneasy scent wafting toward him. 

Emile picked at a stray piece of thread on his bag. "What if," he started, "we set up a trap for Eli? If we lured him away from the rest of the kids and kept him occupied until sunrise, he'll turn to dust and we'll be rid of him." 

A shiver shot up Remy's spine at the mention of sunrise and dust. He ignored the uneasy feeling swelling in his stomach, stuffing the feeling away in a bottle. He wasn't scared. He wasn't. "That…" Remy bit his lip, not liking the idea of having to use someone as bait, but also wanting to stop Eli from staying in the world of the living before he and his brothers hit the dust. "That could work, but…" Remy hesitated, picking his words carefully. "But who's going to lure him away? Plus, it's dangerous. We can't just use anyone as bait." 

Emile nodded. "Well, yeah. But if it's a group instead of just one.."

Remy nodded slowly. "Yeah, safety in numbers. That would be better." He took a few moments to think everything over. "Let's ask the others what they think first, okay?"  

-----

Roman wasn't sure what he hated most. Accidentally bringing back three dead witches and one zombie witch or being bait. He was a prince for crying out loud! He wasn't bait! He was the one who did the surprise attack! But, when he remembered Virgil's breakdowns due to Eli, he quickly relented. That didn't mean he was going to be happy about it. He huffed as he walked through town with Patton and Emile back to his house. They had been hoping to have Eli chase after them as soon as they got on the main road but no such luck. Or maybe luck was on his side by saying, 'I won't make you run into this monster.' Because he really didn't want to. But then he remembered how Virgil had reacted and he was reminded of the witches flying above them, high enough to avoid being sighted but low enough to hear them. And shoved the thoughts away. 

With the resurfacing of his courage, Roman marched through town and began what he did best. Acting. "I don't know about you guys," Roman shouted. "But I'm like-I can't even-that witch in the purples? He is fine!" Well…..maybe this didn't require much acting on Roman's part. It wasn't exactly a lie that Virgil was an ethereal being too beautiful and stunning for his mere mortal eyes to lay upon. In fact, Roman was sure it was a fact written in a textbook somewhere. 

Patton chuckled heartily. "Awwww!"

"When's the wedding?" Emile teased with a smirk. 

Roman's face exploded in various shades of red, some even matched his sash. "Shut up," he hissed with embarrassment. 

"Oh yes, do please keep talking." 

The three friends froze. Turning in a slow circle they came face to face with Eli. He shot them a wicked grin. Then he lifted his hands in an 'I'm gonna get ya!' Pose and shouted, "Boo!" Roman, Emile, and Patton turned in unison and darted through the streets, their shrieks reaching the witches above them who came down to try and help the teens. 

Eli looked up at them with a crooked grin that was seemingly cut into his face. "Clever you three are. But that just gives me the opportunity to suck the life out of your suitors." The witches let out a low growl. "Oh no!" Eli exclaimed sarcastically. "It seems I've caused anger." He chuckled and began twirling his fingers to create a blinding flash bomb. Virgil's eyes darted towards the witch's fingers and his eyes widened comically large. He tried to warn his brothers but it was too late. Logan and Remy spiraled out of control and landed in a group of trees. Virgil screamed. Eli nodded his head again, the grin still in place. "Good luck." He turned and walked off leaving Virgil alone. He moved to help his brothers only to stop when they told him to go help the others, they would catch up. He bit his lip before turning and flying into the clouds, keeping an eye on the three teens as they raced through empty roads towards Old Burial Hill. He slowly began to form a plan for every possible outcome as he rocketed forward through the sky. 

-----

Roman found himself running with no destination in mind, simply trying to get as far away from the kids as possible, lest Eli turns around and go after them instead. His feet didn't listen. They lead right back to where this started. The prince, the father, and the therapist all tumbled through the gates of the old Salem cemetery, the sunrise still a half-hour away. 

🎃👻🎃👻🎃👻🎃👻🎃👻🎃👻🎃👻🎃👻

Everything Taglist: @spxced-oxt @superwholocked-for-life @mirror2thespirit @aroundofapplesauce @lyditist @little-euro-girl @unicornofdarknessstuff

I Put A Spell On You Taglist: @maryann-draws @kittycake574 @partypoison1923 @i-need-you-buddy @ksallyyt @psychixx

[alisondepartedbear]

Just Breathe

Everything is not what it seems in Swellview, a kidnapper is running amok while Henry faces some challenging trials in his life. The boy most overcome what is inside to deal with major life changes.

~~~~

Chapter One

My mind's racing. It's been like this since I got into my car this morning. Matter of fact, I've been having spells like this for weeks. My heart begins to race, the hair on my skin stands straight up, and I begin to wonder why my body is scared. I end up scaring myself more each time with every bad scenario running through my mind. Charlotte getting kidnapped, Jasper getting in harms way, my parents being used against me, someone finding out my identity, I could go on for hours.

I look up, recalling where I am now. I'm in the beginning hallway of the school at my locker.

Some kids entering the school stare at me, a few giggle, and others talking to their friends. I hate having this dumb locker. Holy shit, I don't need this too. Quickly I spin around to my locker, and close my eyes. My fingers spread out on the locker and begin to tap rhythmically. Soon my breathing slows but everyone in the hall is too loud.

"Josh told me he liked me last night!" A girl I know of as Katie Longbottom says to her friend as they walk by.

"I cannot fail another chemistry test." It was a hushed quick whisper.

The tapping gets faster as I squeeze my eyes shut. Why couldn't everyone be quiet?! This is a hallway, my god. My forehead falls against the cold metal. I thought if my breathing was normal my head and heart would stop racing. I feel as if I'm preparing for a slap on the back. Two half breaths escape me, all the muscles in my back curl around like knots. I feel like I'm dying.

A soft hand lands on my shoulder, "Hen, what's going on?"

Charlotte. I pry my eyes open to look at her. Focus on her, she makes me feel good and safe. All of her shines up at me and I cannot concentrate on a thing. Another breath heaves out.

Charlotte takes my shoulders and pulls me close to her. Her sweet perfume fills my senses, I see flowers and waterfalls. "Henry, keep your eyes on me. What am I wearing? Say five things out loud for me."

"Ear rings," I whisper. How dumb do I have to get that I can't speak? I shut my eyes.

"No, open," Charlotte whispers, and so I do. "What am I wearing?"

"Ear rings,"

She nods, wanting more. Her wide brown eyes search over my face, and I feel self conscious.

"Jean jacket, red boots,"

Charlotte smiles and squeezes my arms. My shoulder relax first, and a shake runs through my body. "Bracelet, and lipstick,"

A moment passes and I feel my back straighten, I breathe out softly all while keeping eye contact with her. Is it true if you stare long enough at someone you fall in love? Her purple lips grin up at me.

Her hand pats my chest, "Are you okay?"

I nod. "Just scared myself there. Thank you, Charlotte."

"No need to, Henry. We can swing by the nurse before class if you want."

Looking around, we're the only ones in the hallway. "How long was I standing here?" I ask.

"I don't know. But I've been with you for seven minutes."

My body feels so drained and heavy. It takes all my will and strength to open the locker and gather my book and binder. Charlotte patiently waits for me. I can feel her eyes on my back, probably wondering why this is the third time she's seen me like this. I give her a little smile, and we head to the nurse's office before Intro to Business.

I'm ashamed of breaking here. I'm ashamed every time, but when its out in the open like this I can't help but feel hopeless. Ever since the first attack, I've been terrified of someone asking me about it, because I wouldn't where to start, and I feel bad for the feelings I have.

Jasper, Charlotte, and I sat at our usual spot in the right corner of the cafeteria. It's four hours later and I'm just starting to feel better. My brain feels full, and wishy-washy. I still need a nap though. My eyes were closed most of my last period. This was a mistake coming to school. I should've stayed home.

"You gotta tell Ray I won't be at Junk'n'Stuf until six." Jasper says stirring around his lunch served soup.

"And why can't you?" Charlotte hadn't been in the same room as Jasper for more than ten minutes and she already sounds angry.

"I get the feeling Ray doesn't like me that much."

"Ha," Charlotte covers her mouth and shakes with laughter.

I laugh a bit, shaking my head. "Ray doesn't like most people. Don't take it harshly."

Jasper shifts in his seat. "Whatever. I don't care about that. Will you tell him, man?"

"Sure, man." I nod; it's not too much to do. Maybe I should wait a bit before going in and re-cooperate before patrol tonight. I yawn.

"You feeling tired, man." Charlotte says. Her hand reaches across the table and pokes mine. I want to grab her hand to try and ground myself right now.

I glance at her, not willing to make eye contact. "I'm good."

I feel like shit. I want to explain why I've been walking like a zombie most days. But I can't let it out; it hurts too much. I can't lay it all out; I'll feel naked. My best friends shouldn't be burdened by my darkest thoughts and emotions.

Entering my house, I drop my keys, jacket, and books on the land before the the stairs. After washing my face and neck and changing back into pajamas, I make a huddle in the corner of the couch. The house is cold and quiet today. Piper has cheer-leading practice now, so she's gone until six. Our parents have after work classes they take together which has left me alone most days lately. I like it because I can leave all the lights off.

I close my eyes letting the hum of the house and air conditioning take over my ears. Warmth envelopes my body; slowly I work in sections, releasing tension in my calves, back, neck, and jaw. The couch molds around me as I sink lower into the fabric and cushions. The quiet lulls me to sleep.

Charlotte and I are standing in the carpeted room of a party. The walls are covered in carved wood framed photographs of animals in Victorian clothing. Red and brown furniture were positioned everywhere as well. I don't know whose house this is; must be somebody from school, someone Charlotte knows. A few faces in the crowd seem recognizable but everything far away is blurry. When did that happen?

"Char, where are we?" I ask reaching for her arm.

She giggles at me like we're playing a joke. "What do you mean?"

"Whose house-Never-mind," I run my hands through my hair, feeling my heart start to speed up. I look down at Charlotte, and take a deep breath. "So how are you doing?"

"I'm good." Charlotte's brown eyes shine up at me as she smiles. She takes my hand and runs her thumb across the back of it. "You look handsome tonight."

"Wh-what?" Her shoulder presses against my chest, and I feel flushed. I swear she'll kill me.

Metal hits wood and I swing Charlotte behind me as I look for the source of the noise. At the top of the wall above a bookshelf, a big circle latch opened. Water starts pouring out of it.

"Henry, what are you doing? What's wrong?" She holds my arm looking at me strange.

"Do you not see that water?!" I point to what is practically a waterfall.

From the size of the room, it's not going to be long before the water drowns us. Panic kicks up in my body.

"Charlotte, we gotta get out of here."

"Okay, if you wanna leave that's okay," She smiles and grabs my hand.

But my feet won't move! I look down and see cinder blocks in the place of my feet. "What?"

By this time the water has gotten to our waists, I look back and see that water is projecting out farther and faster.

"Charlotte, please, the water! Don't you see it!"

"It's okay." She squeezes the sides of my arms three times. "There's no water."

"Char-" The water covers my mouth, forcing it down my throat and nose. My arms flail around trying to move towards the door. Looking around I see no one is freaking out about the water in the room. Everyone is looking at us, at me like I'm crazy.

"Henry, breathe! You're fine." Charlotte looks terrified.

I want to cough and scream but nothing is happening. My body convulses and Charlotte grabs hold of me. Her body shakes against mine. She looks at me and I think she's crying. Her fingers poking me in the arm.

I feel someone poking me, and I notice light in the room. "Henry, don't you have work today? Are you going?" Piper asks above me.

What did I just dream? I cough a few times making sure no water came out. Peering up at her

I yawn and nod. Then it hits me. "Piper, what is it?"

"6:42, I just got home." She says from the kitchen counter.

I snatch my phone from the coffee table. Damn it, Charlotte called three times, Jasper texted four, and Ray called five times. Shit, shit. Quickly I grab my keys off the floor and bolt outside. I could still feel the sleep in my eyes and head as I mentally yelled at myself for this. Pulling out of my driveway, I realize I hadn't even told Ray about Jasper being late. Why can't I do anything right?

"Henry, you're so stupid." I whisper gripping the steering wheel to control my anger.

Jasper was covering the main floor when I walk in. "Man, I'm so sorry for not telling Ray. I fell-"

"Charlotte covered it." He says with a smile.

I sigh, letting my shoulders relax. There's Charlotte again, saving my ass. "Alright, then I guess I'm not too late for patrol."

I look down at my watch and wince. It's 7:15 now. Ray might yell when I get to the Man Cave. I know he doesn't really mean anything by it, but sometimes the yelling and arguing gets to me. My palms start to sweat.

"When do you think I'll be able to go on patrol?" Jasper was looking down at a laptop, probably trying to work on our English paper. He said he always made better grades when he did his homework at work.

"I don't think that's in your job description, bro."

"What do you mean?"

I shake my head, already a headache was edging on. My hands cover my eyes. "I'm not arguing over this today."

Even if every inch of my body knows it's rude, I walk out of the room and to the elevator. Already exhausted, I stand in the elevator and let the doors shut. I close my eyes and lean on the wall. Maybe I could shut it off and stand in here forever. Live in here until I die so I don't have to do anything ever again. In about ten minutes, Ray is going to want to leave for patrol. We're going to be driving and walking around the known edgier part of town where a couple muggings have been happening recently. Sometimes I wonder how bad it'd be if I froze. Since first having these panic attacks, we haven't had to deal with any horrible particular idiot so I honestly wouldn't know how I'd act. Slowly I pull my arms around myself and take deep breath trying to pull myself together. I could be fine; I could die. I take another deep breath and press the elevator button.

Charlotte turns around when the door opens. She gives me a pretty smile. "Hey Hen,"

"Hey," It's breathless but I'm used to that around her. A small smile forms on my face, and I move closer to her. I lean against the desk she's sitting at. "Sorry, for unexpectedly bailing on the first little bit of work. I took an unexpected nap."

"No problem, I'm glad you got to rest a bit. Your uh...thing seemed to drain you this morning." She avoids eye contact.

"I...yeah," Maybe I should explain myself to her.

Charlotte looks at me opening her mouth to speak when Schwoz walks in. He doesn't say anything, to occupied with her new invention. But I stare back at Charlotte trying to plead with her wordlessly not to speak about this in front of him. She held an intense gaze, searching for something in me.

"Are you okay?" Her words were a soft whisper meant for us two. She moves to face me fully and leans in to my bubble.

I whisper back. "I'm fine."

A speck of anger flashes across her eyes then she says lowly. "Please, Henry, you can tell me anything."

My throat closes and I feel evil for making her worry. I turn from her concerned piercing eyes and push myself off the desk to get away from them. My chest tightens and my face gets hot indicating that I want to cry.

"Hey, kid, you ready to head out?" Ray walks in from the left room.

Already walking to the tubes, "Yeah, let's get out of here." I pop the gum into my mouth.

After transforming, Ray snaps at me for being late. It wasn't as vicious as I imagined but I still felt shame of letting him down.

"Leave him alone, Ray!" Charlotte's voice was quick and stern. She stood by the couch with her arms crossed; her little hands were squeezing her arms in frustration.

"Char," I say in a warning tone.

Missing the tone of the room, Ray points his finger at Charlotte. "Do you want to get in a fight, little woman?"

"No, she doesn't. Let's go." With a shaking voice and hands, I push Ray underneath his tube.

As we go up I see Charlotte begin to pace.

Hi! If you are reading this, thank you so much for taking the time out of your day to look at this post! Please like or comment if you want me to continue posting on tumblr. I will be updating this story on fanfiction.net. My username is robotsandblankets. Have a nice day!!

Part 2

[sirranzid-blog]

TheLecturer

Alan had worked as a lecturer in MIT for 2 years . He had seen many students come and go but Mellissa  was something different.   In lectures she seemed to stand out in the crowd ; everyone noticed her as she had a presence that just forced you to look.

It was summer and the university’s air conditioner had broken. The students in Alan's lecture resembled the cast more from a zombie film than the academic elite that they were meant to be.

The lecture was 10 minutes in when Mellissa glided in wearing the thinnest summer dress that she could get away with. It took Alan a good few seconds to stop looking and berate her.

"Mellissa, glad you could join us; I hope we didn't inconvenience you too much.  Maybe we can change the start time for you next time?"

Mellissa  went bright red. She wasn't used to being picked on.

"Er  I’m sorry sir; I was in a meeting with the head of school."

As Mellissa  spoke Alan felt a ..stirring ...deep down.. he quickly pushed it down... He shouldn't feel like that about a student... But the way she replied..was...almost inviting.

"Take a seat at the front and try and catch up Mellissa "

Mellissa  quickly shuffled over to her seat.. and sat down...She didn't notice but Alan... and a good portion of the room noticed her perfectly formed breasts almost free themselves as she sat down..

Alan blinked and forced himself to regain composure..

He carried on the lecture.. and in lulls and stolen moments managed to gaze upon Mellissa’s glistening body... Her every curve lovingly hugged by the dress..

When the lecture was over, Alan had to stand next to his table as the students left... He had lost his battle to stop his urges..

2.

Alan was in his office .. marking up even more papers .. so many students were trying to use Google copy and paste to pass their degree when there was a knock at the door.

Before Alan could answer, the door creaked open and Mellissa poked her head around and in the sweetest voice Alan had heard in a long time .. she said..

"Sir.. may I come in I need to talk to you"

"Of course Mellissa. Come in and take a seat"

"Sir.. I’m er... "  she stumbled over her words " I’m behind with my work and I’ve lost my text book.. I’m so sorry sir. I’ve looked everywhere.  Can I borrow one please.. please sir?"

Mellissa’s pleas were almost electric .. It was like Alan’s ears were connected to his boxers...

 "Ok ok calm down Mellissa ... you can borrow my old text book, but really you need to catch up a lot.  I’m missing the past 4 essays from you; go over to the bookcase. It’s on the bottom shelf."

"Yes sir. Thank you sir.. Over here?"

Mellissa pointed.

"Yes just there .. Is there anything else you need?"

"Well ... yes I need Dr. Hopkins book on discrete mathematics."

Alan sighed.

"Mellissa you need to sort your work out or your going to get into a lot of trouble."

"Yes I’m sorry sir."

"I’ll get it for you."

Alan started to get up just as Mellissa was kneeling down to look at the bottom shelf... She was wearing her thin dress again... The morning sun through the window seemed to accentuate her already pronounced curves.. and with her first bending over then kneeling down.. there was little left to Alan’s already overworked imagination...

He walked over to the bookshelf and stood behind Mellissa who was engrossed in checking the books...

He reached over carefully avoiding the knelt Mellissa to grab his book on discrete mathematics...As he started to pull it out .. Mellissa said…

"Got it"

and started to stand up....

Time seemed to slow down for Alan, but the sound of his thumping heart was faster than ever... Mellissa, not realizing how close Alan was, had started to stand up...

Her pert...soft beautiful bottom started to rub and slide up Alan’s trousers...edging closer to his crotch...

She didn’t seem to notice or stop as she glided over Alan’s excited front...

Alan gasped and Mellissa finally seemed to notice what had happened... she turned around... achingly close to him and looked up with the cutest...but also the dirtiest little grin on her face...

"Ohh .. I’m sorry sir. I didn’t realize you were there.."

Alan had to clear his throat and stumbled over his words..

"Err yes I was there and er .. its ok... I  iii... have your book .. .here"

He thrust his book at her like the nervous teenager he felt like...

Mellissa took the book slowly... then still looking up at Alan lowered her arms with a book in each.. and dropped them on the floor...

  3.

  "Mellissa?"

 Alan’s heart dipped ... her eyes were glued to his.. those big wide brown eyes... He couldn’t help but let his flick down for a second to Mellissa’s exposed cleavage... It dawned on Alan that she couldn’t be wearing a bra...

 "Sir ... I ....felt you."

 Mellissa said in a lower ..more husky tone...

 Alan was stumped... he was lost for words... his mind was blank.. all he could think about was the carnal visceral pleasures set before him...

 "I..."

 He started but .. then ... stopped... he was lost..

 "It’s ok sir.. I liked it"

 Mellissa cocked her head slightly to the side as she said it and seemed to lap her tongue when she said formed the work like.. .her eyes darted down to Alan’s crotch for a second then back up...

 "Mellissa I don’t think it’s appropriate for us to ..."

 His words were cut short as Mellissa lowered herself down into a squat, and then leaning forward, letting her breasts stroke Alan all the way up his body...

 The thin dress couldn’t contain Mellissa with what had happened, and so her breasts now almost fully exposed now seemed to draw the eye to them with an unseen force..

 Alan was close to breaking point.... he wanted Mellissa so much it literally hurt.. His trousers seemed to groan under the strain...

 "Oh sir i think...I fell out of my top..."

 Mellissa said slowly tracing the outline of her pert pink exposed nipple...

 Alan snapped .. He couldn’t take it anymore ... He strode up to Mellissa and slid his hands over her exposed breasts .... as he touched he couldn’t help but let out an animalistic groan..

 Mellissa gasped and her eyes rolled back in her head...

 Alan spun her around and pushed her against the wall... sliding his hand under her dress .. he felt her soft silky legs and his hand slid all the way up...

 Mellissa moaned loudly as Alan’s strong hands met her uncovered pussy... she tensed and twitched ... she couldn’t help it ...

 Alan lifted her skirt and practically ripped his trousers open...

 He grabbed Mellissa’s pert cheeks and held his cock just on her unashamedly wet pussy....

 * Knock Knock*

 "Shit ... get dressed Mellissa... quickly"

 Alan whispered hurriedly

 Mellissa quickly re-arranged her dress and fixed her hair.. picking up the books...

 Alan hopped back towards his desk forcing his throbbing member back into his trousers..

 He dropped back down into his seat as Mellissa sat in hers... just as the dean walked in

 "oh hi Alan. I didn’t realize you were busy .. we have a staff meeting in 5 ok?"

 "Of course dean. I’ll be there right away."

 "Mellissa ..I..."

 "Sir .. I’ll see you in our next lecture.."

 She winked.. and left the room.. leaving the close to heart attack Alan gasping for air...

 4.

 After Alan’s very embarrassing meeting, where he sat cross legged for the whole hour, he sat back in his office... he tried to carry on marking but kept finding his gaze moving over to the spot where he and Mellissa had....

 He tried to push it out of his head .. it was a terrible mistake that he must not do again.

 Later that week there was another lecture with Mellissa , and Alan prepared himself best he could, but what greeted his eyes that day... was kryptonite to his will..

 He stood in the theatre .. first he didn’t notice... focusing as much as he could on the rest of the room. He went deeply into the mathematics of the problems .. blinkering his mind as best he could ... but when he dropped his chalk... and picked it up....

 she was there....

 No more thin summery dresses now. She had a neat pleated green skirt down to her knees and a crisp white shirt .. .with just the slightest hint of her pink bra underneath...

 He knew he had to talk to her after the lecture as she was still behind on her work...

 He pushed the thought out of his head as best as he could until the lecture was over ...

 "Mellissa stay behind,"  he said .. impressed at the sturdiness of his voice..

 "Ohh sirr but I have to go I’m going to a party."

 "Mellissa.. You’re still behind on your work .. and now you want to go out to parties?"

 "Ohh I’m not dealing with this now."

 She said flippantly .. and started to walk past Alan..

 He felt her skirt waft over his legs...

 He shuddered .. then quickly regained his senses...

 "Young lady. If you walk out now, you fail my class."

 Mellissa stopped as if someone had just pulled her puppet strings..

 "Nnoo please sir.. I’m sorry. I’m just under a lot of pressure and and I .. "

 "I’m starting not to care why Mellissa.. because you don’t seem to want to try .."

 "I do sir.  I really, really do."

 She was close to him again now looking up with those eyes... He caught a flash of a pink bra strap and he had to look away...

 "Sir please .. I know you like me ... maybe I can...."

 "Step closer,"  he said in a deeper, more menacing voice..

 Mellissa felt an inexorable urge to move close... she stood inches away from his chest..

 "You have a lot of work to do young lady."

 With that he put his hand on her shoulder... the shirt was thin.. so he could feel the rounded plastic of her bra strap... He looked down at her innocent round eyes and moved his hand down from her shoulder.. softly tracing the shirt... until he connected with her breast...he felt its warmth through the shirt...her eyes blinked and she gasped....turning bright red....he kept going feeling the frilly rim of her bra cup...before cupping around it slowly...he started to slowly move her soft warm breast around in his hand...her breath quickened.. but she was still looking away... with a cute red face ...so reaching out with his other hand, Alan held her chin with his thumb and forefinger and gently directed her face towards him ...

 "Mellissa... I think we need to finish what we started before..."

  5.

 Mellissa stared up at Alan .. her face burning red.. her body weak... putty in Alan’s hands... literally in fact as he had cupped his strong, hard hand around her breast and was teasing it so much it tingled..

 "Sir we’re ... awfully exposed in here aren’t we?"

 Mellissa said meekly..

 "I know... that’s what will make this fun... now ..unbutton your shirt"

 "Si  sii siirr?"

 "You heard me .. Now if you want to pass ... do it"

 Mellissa looked at the floor again... she was turned on incredibly so.. but still her heart raced in her chest... 

 She slowly started to undo her shirt...letting it fall apart bit by bit as she went down past her bra...

 Before she could finish...  she felt Alan’s hands slide into her newly opened shirt...cupping her breasts...her arms were frozen she was starting to shake... she was starting to be thankful she wore a skirt...

 Alan was, once again, testing his boxers way past what they were designed for... but he wanted her.....

 He grabbed her hips and spun her around...sliding his arms under hers, he gripped her ...pulling her shirt open and ensuring her arms were locked...

 "Siir, anyone could see!"

 Without answering Alan leaned over and started kissing Mellissa’s neck... she arched it sideways moaning as he ravished her soft skin...

 Mellissa was helpless ...shivering with each hard kiss Alan made...

 She forced out the words..."Pleease sir"

 Alan let her go... she stumbled a little but then turned around to face him...shirt hanging like a forgotten memory...

 Alan walked close to her again this time with a grin Mellissa knew was trouble...

 He reached out gently and took her hand...

 Her mind raced as to where he was going to take them.... but as she was thinking...she felt her hand being gently directed... right onto Alan’s crotch...

 Her soft warm hands seemed to grasp onto Alan almost by design...

 She felt him through the rough trousers... felt his warmth .. and the pulsing beat of his heart....

 She looked up... begging him with her eyes...

 He smiled and gave a short nod....

 and so she slipped her hand up and started to unzip his trousers... even the large zip had warmed up... as it slowly descended downwards...Mellissa was greeted by black boxers that were pulled so tightly she could  have traced his ...bulge...

 Breathing very shallow now she reached her hand into his trousers...

 He was fiery hot .. .and as soon as he touched.... he let out a deep low groan....

 She looked up to see his face twisted in what must have been an uncontrollable reaction...

 Her nimble fingers probed his boxers until they found the opening...sliding her hands inside, she griped hold of him... feeling the hard...throbbing veiny cock she remembered from the other day..

 She pulled him out of his boxer prison... and was presented with it in the open for the first time....

 Alan saw her eyed widen in shock ... and awe...  she was frozen...staring ...her chest bobbing up and down making her perfect breasts rock up and down....

 He knew she needed a little help... and so reached down and put his hand over hers.. which was already gripping the base of his cock...she was startled but still transfixed on him...

 So he started to a long slow stroke...with her hand under his...

 The rhythmic sliding up and down of his cock in front of her seemed to snap Mellissa back into life... and Alan felt her hand start to lead the stroke...

 He gently let go... and let her speed up... watching his cock twitch with pleasure...

 She leant in...opening her soft supple lips wide to accommodate him...at first the softest of touches on his tip then her lips tensed and he slid deeper inside her mouth..... her tongue flick and lashed at his cock as it slid in like a trapped wild animal...

 Mellissa started to take him deep into her mouth... resisting her gag reflex as much as she could... before letting him out...

 She went faster and faster.... hearing Alan groaning deeply and feeling his cock twitch and pulse in her mouth...  She wanted him to cum badly...not only because she would love it ..but so she could be finished.....

 Alan seemed to hear her thoughts as he softly pushed her away; her eyes darted up in puzzlement...

 "Not so easy Mellissa...this is just the appetizer"

 6.

 Lifting the now visibly shaking Mellissa up, Alan started to button up her blouse ..

 "Now put me back in my trousers and zip me up."

 Mellissa was more excited than she had ever felt... She gladly put the dripping wet cock back into its home...

 "Now follow me Mellissa .. There’s another lecture on in a few minutes... "

 Mellissa let herself be led up the lecture theatre to the booth at the back where the projector and sound equipment was kept...with a jingle of keys, Alan opened the door and pushed Mellissa in...

 "Sir? ... if there’s a lecture on .. wont people see us?"

 Mellissa said with a hint of panic.

 "Shhh ... its mirrored glass... as long as your quiet.. I can do to you whatever I want."

 Alan pushed Mellissa further into the booth and locked the door... it was cramped and small with large glass windows looking out over the lecture hall...

 Mellissa was facing out into the empty room.. it looked strange from this angle... like it was on tv or something..

 Alan walked up behind Mellissa... and pressed himself against her perfectly shaped bottom...

 "Ohh sir... I..."

 Mellissa was shocked and gasped from the feeling of Alan against her... even though it was through clothes... she felt him throb against her..

 Alan leaned forward...making his crotch rub against Mellissa’s skirt... and started to slide his hands up her now slightly crinkled white shirt.....all the way up over her excited breasts...They felt even hotter now.. and her nipples were pressing out so far they had gathered the shirt around them...

 Alan started to move his hips slowly.. powerfully against Mellissa who was now pressed against the sound table... his nimble fingers rolling her hard nipples through her top..

 Mellissa hadn’t been concentrating but students had started to gather in the lecture hall....

 Her eyes were open wide in fear but also... uncontrollable pleasure from behind...

 "Sir,"  she whispered .."they really cant see us?"

 "No they cant..." he answered in a deep voice..

 With that, Alan took a hand away from Mellissa’s top .. and slid it between her legs..just at the bottom of her skirt...

 His first touch produced a loud moan from Mellissa...and so with the tips of his fingers, he started to glide his hand up her skirt..up from the back of her knee...slowly snaking up her inner thigh....

 Finally he reached the top....softly touching her cotton panties..... Mellissa moaned again and tensed....

 Alan’s hand after first touching so softly began to slide over the underside of Mellissa’s panties....eventually reaching ...her centre of pleasure..

 With the tiniest of touches, Mellissa’s body twitched and jerked... her legs opened wider and she let out a slow gasping moan...

 Still rolling and playing with her nipples, Alan used his other hand to slowly...and softly ...trace his finger around Mellissa's clit through her panties...

 He could feel that she had already soaked her panties.... and so slid his hand up from her ample breasts to her neck.. and pulled her back slowly...turning her head so he could look into her eyes.....

 He leaned in....millimetres away from her face...eyes fixed on hers....

 "I’m going to fuck you senseless Mellissa"

 With that he kissed her...his powerful lips enveloping hers.. tugging at them... biting.... She couldn’t help but be deeply turned on ... his tongue slid into hers flicking and playing with her own.

 As they kissed, Alan pressed a little harder on her clit..now moving it around with his fingers through her wet panties...

 Mellissa tried to moan while kissing....

 Alan stepped back.. and spun Mellissa around to face him .. her red face and shaking body just drove him wild...  he knelt down in front of her...held her knees and pushed them apart....

 Mellissa felt the stubble from his face move up her legs...to her most intimate area.... then.. without warning she felt his teeth against her ...they slid together pinching her panties.. but impressively not her....

 Alan then pulled her panties down to her ankles using nothing but his teeth...

 He softly kissed her high up on her inner thigh causing yet another gasp....

 Then he started to kiss higher....and higher... feeling her thighs shake with the very thought of what was coming...

 7.

 mellissa couldn’t help but tense herself as alan got closer...

 his hands now slideing up her legs onto her hips..

 then with the softest touch... he kissed her engorged clit...

 "ohhhh"  mellissa half moaned

 she could see people walking past the window now.. getting their seats which just seemed to make her clit pulse and throb even more..

 she could feel alans warm breath on her as he used the very tip of his tongue to trace her sensative lips all the way up to her clit flicking it ever so gently.

 her legs were shaking uncontrollably now.. as alan teased her pussy..softly spreading her and licking again...

 His hands slid around to her soft smooth bum and pulled her closer .. his tongue now flat and laping up all of her pussy...

 alan looked up to the tormented face above him.. seeing her breasts bob up and down with her shallow breathing..

 he paused for a second to admire the twitching glistening perfect pussy in front of him...

 he smiled .. knowing what was coming next...

 he leaned in , making his tongue as pointed as he could.. delving into the space between her clit and hood and started to circle around her now trembling clit...

 mellissa made soft slow wail.....

 as she wailed alan wraped his lips around her circled clit and started to suck...

 mellissa felt a surge of pleasure wash through her body .. she was using all her willpower to stay stood up while her pussy was filled with this electricity ..

 alan now feeling her pussy tensing with pleasure decided it was time ...

 he first stroked her quivering pussy with his fingers before thrusting them deeply inside the wet tight hole...

 mellissa let out a small yelp as the pleasure doubled....

 alans fingers while roughly pushed inside her were already expertly finding there way to her gspot.. pushing and pressing it hard and fast...

 alans sucking became more harsh and his tongue flicked over her swollen clit inside his mouth...

 the surge was now a torrent...... a flood of electricity...

 she felt the fist spark of an orgasm as alan pressed deeply on her gspot..

 then another... more and more sparks...building and building...rushing up through her body...

 mellissa screamed as her whole body shook with an orgasm she couldn’t control forcing her to squirm with the un believable pleasure....

 calming down she saw the people in the lecture hall stareing at her...

 her body still twitching she looked down to alan .. who was already looking up with a grin....

 "well I guess were off to a good start"

 8.

 Mellisas heart raced her eyes darted from person to person .. muffled " did you hear that?" coming from the people outside..

 alan stood and pulled mellisas hands behind her back forcing her to keep looking out of the 2 way mirror...there were a good 6 or 7 people now trying to peer into the booth..

 alan pulled her arms back a little more pushing her chest out and letting her shirt slide way exposeing her breasts again..

 "hmm pleeasee sir pleeasee they can see "

 mellissa wispered desperately..

 "maybe they can.. "

 alan teased

 suddenly the door handle rattled... mellissas heart took a nose dive...

 the handle paused as both alan and mellissa herd raised voices outside..

 alan shuffled mellissa over to the 2 way mirror glass door...

 "alan no .. no dont...please..PPLEAASSE"

 mellissas voice was a little louder and more desperate...

 alan simply shhhed her and shuffled mellissa forward closer to the door...

 mellissa could now see the young man holding the handle of the door.. she knew him he lived in her dorm..

 mellissas breath was shallow again she was terrified ...

 alan felt mellissas chest heave up and down .. he smiled...so much it hurt ...

 he pushed her slowly into the door.. her head tilted to the side her breasts began to press against the glass

 mellissa saw her breath steam part of the glass as she looked in terror right into the eyes of her dorm mate... know her most private parts were pressed not 2 inches away from him..

 just as she opened her mouth to speak...she felt alans hand slide down her back..over her now naked bum...and between her legs...

 mellissa couldn’t help but let out a small moan as her already sensitive pussy was penetrated once again...

 her dorm mate whipped round his eyes fixed on hers...

 "im sure I herd something sir"

 he shouted as mellissas eyes began to blur with the fresh waves of pleasure pulseing through her body...

 "leave it we will start our lecture anyway"

 another voice shouted...

 mellissa shivered as a spark ran through her body.... she was amazed how quickly she had got so excited again...

 mellissas dorm mate left the door and went to sit down..

 the hand slid out from between her legs and she felt her arms pulled backwards.. she stumbled back legs still shaking..

she was looking down through her breasts down at her legs and pussy... and with 1 last stumble she gasped...and between her legs a large shape came into view...

 9.

 In the dim light of the booth alans cock still glinted from its wetness ... mellissa felt like a magpie spying shiny things ... she liked.

 "im only going to fuck you if you can drip on my cock slut"

 mellissa felt a tenseing of her pussy when alan said slut... she shouldnt like being called it but ..she was and she was starting to like it.

 "i.. i dont know if i can sir"

 "try"

 mellissa edged back a little more until she was right over alans now visibly thumping cock, she willed her pussy to drip and tensed as hard as she could...

 it felt like an age she was desperate for him and she just wasn't wet enough ... then through her legs she saw alans strong hands clasp around the base of his cock and slowly stroke all the way to the tip then sliding back down to the base.. 

 mellissa let out another whimper as seeing this just made her want it so much more , she felt her pussy twitch and with that ...the tiniest drop of her juices dropped from her and almost in slow motion splashed on alans cock.. even before mellissa had thought to ask alan grabbed her hips and pulled her down pausing to rub his tip into the perfect place before plunging deep inside her as he pulled mellissa down... further and further it felt like it went on forever and her insides were singing with pleasure.

 when his throbbing cock reached its limit alan gave out a low grunt and before mellissa knew what was happening he had pulled out and then slammed himself inside her in one fluid animal motion , mellissa felt her legs turn to jelly and shake uncontrollably but it seemed alan had prepared for this as he now held her up with his rough hands griped around her waist using her to fuck his cock like a rag doll.

she felt like a ball of pure pleasure , she was using all her effort to stay upright as her body shook and tensed with every thrust , she was bouncing up and down so fast now that her breasts now freely loose from her top flailed around giving her a most glorious feeling of abandon.

mellissa could feel every last inch of alans cock as it savaged her engorged sensitive pussy she felt herself tense around his cock which just made the feeling even more intense , she couldn't stop herself anymore and she fell back against alans chest , she felt every muscle and every movement he made even more, she looked back and their eyes locked... and he opened his mouth to speak...

[chenziee]

The Second Kidnapping of Eren Jaeger

[read on AO3 || on ff.net] [read from the First one]

Summary: The 10 times Eren gets kidnapped, with varying degrees of severity to the crime and some repeated offenders. (Erwin didn’t sign up for this.) Pairing: Levi/Eren Additional tags: Canon Verse, Humor, Parody(?), Fluff Chapter Words: 2319

Captain Levi came to the mess hall for breakfast, as usual. He scanned the room quickly for the one head of messy brown hair, as usual. He didn’t find it immediately, as not-so-usual.

‘Where the hell is the brat?’ he thought irritably when he sat down with his food, scanning the room with his eyes again for good measure, before he started eating. With each bite, Levi got more and more nervous. It was suspicious. The brat had never missed any meals up until now. (If we didn’t count those that were directly after a particularly bad day outside the walls, in which case nobody didn’t miss a meal or two. Let’s face it. You just can’t stomach food with fresh images of severed limbs, heads, intestines, and blood in your head.)

Everyone else but Hanji, who’d told him yesterday she’d leave early to experiment on her new ‘beautiful titan children’ in the morning, was present. Did the brat just oversleep? Or did something happen?

He finished his breakfast, distracted to the point he even forgot to bully everyone around into cleaning after themselves until everything was spotless according to his standards, before he left hurriedly to check on his brat.

If he weren’t in such a hurry, he might have noticed the pair of eyes full of calm, quiet satisfaction that were following him out of the room.

By the time for morning training, Levi was thoroughly stressed. Eren wasn’t in his room but it looked like he did get up by himself alright as there were no signs of any fight or struggle.

And he wasn’t anywhere else either.

Levi hated to admit he was worried. Should he start a search? It didn’t look like anyone else had noticed so maybe he was just overreacting. It was a big place. It would start being a real problem if he didn’t show up for training.

Arriving at the training grounds, late as he was busy very casually searching the castle until then, Levi felt like ripping his hair out when he noticed the shitty brat really wasn’t there. He was maybe also starting to panic a little bit.

“Oi!” he shouted, so that everyone could hear him. “Does anyone know where the hell is Jaeger?”

Silence.

Silence was never good.

“Shit.”

Did Eren seriously get kidnapped? But without putting up a fight and destroying everything in sight in the process, when (very) destructive, (very) loud battles are the one thing he has immense talent for?

And this happens just days after he pulled that joke on Mikasa? How ironic.

‘Wait a minute there.’ Levi stopped in his tracks, his eyes darting back to the crowd of people who had already begun their warm-up while sneaking curious glances at their Captain every few seconds, watching him pace nervously.

Luckily, even in a state of near-panic, Levi still could keep his head kind of cool (he didn’t survive all these years of nearly suicidal acts purely on luck) and it downed on him at last that he really shouldn’t be the only one in this state right now. There was one more person who would, without fail, immediately know when Eren wasn’t within 100 meters radius. Definitely, with 113% accuracy.

“Ackerman,” he growled, stalking over to stand in front of her as she stretched.

“Yes sir?” Mikasa answered, her expression calm and cool.

“You know where Eren is.” It wasn’t a question. Levi was dead sure.

However, Mikasa only shook her head, tugging at her scarf. “No, sir. I’m sorry but I really don’t know where he is.”

Levi’s eyes narrowed dangerously as he hissed, “Don’t lie to me, Ackerman.”

“I’m not lying, Captain,” Mikasa defended herself quietly. “Why would you think so?”

“Because you’re not running around in a circle screaming your fucking head off.”

“Well, I think he’ll show up by himself by lunch, sir. But could it be he’s been kidnapped?!” Mikasa exclaimed in a mock panic tone. The mocking tilt was barely there but Levi just knew. They were through one too many verbal and physical battles to be able to read the other rather well. Not to mention she threw his own words from the week before at him to stress her point.

Levi took a deep breath to calm down, crossing his arms in front of his chest. “Ackerman, you know what happens when it turns out you were lying?”

“Of course, sir, but I’m not lying.” Her voice was firm and confident. And definitely amused.

Levi was pissed. She knew something and he’d get her for it. But at least now he knew Eren was not in danger. Hopefully.

Meanwhile, Eren’s vision was slowly turning blurry, his body losing all feeling.

He needed to focus. If he lost control now, everything would be over. He’d be finished.

Piercing pain shot through him as something long and sharp went right through his right hand which was almost too firmly connected to the titan body. He wanted to scream. He couldn’t find the strength to do so.

He couldn’t concentrate. Just staying conscious was getting harder and harder by the second as he felt the titan slowly overpowering him, pushing his sense of self back.

Forcing himself to calm down, taking deep breaths, he focused on a single thought. He could get out of this. He could get out alive. He had to.

Lunch came and Levi was practically a bomb only waiting to blow up.

Lunch came and Mikasa was ready to start laughing sadistically at the mere sight of the man who looked like he was awfully close a mental breakdown.

Lunch came and everybody could feel the tension that descended on the Survey Corps headquarters.

And then came the cue for the decisive battle between the two mighty warriors to begin.

The door was thrown open and everything stopped moving.

The whole mess hall watched in anticipation when between the two wings of the unnecessarily giant door appeared Squad Leader Hanji, grinning in delight like the mad(wo)man she was. “Levi~! Just you all wait ‘till I tell you what an incredible progress we’ve made today! You’re gonna be blown off your feet! Haa, I should- no, I have to experiment on Eren more often!” she squealed, uncaring of both the murderous glare Levi was giving her and the atmosphere in the room as she practically oozed energy and enthusiasm.

In contrast, Eren, who dragged himself in behind her, looked like a zombie that had been through a good number of deaths in his undead life. He definitely felt quite ready to pass out the first chance he’d get.

“Eren!” came a shout from two different people at once, before two pairs of arms caught him just before he gave in to the temptation to actually collapse.

He smiled gratefully at the two he couldn’t even identify, oblivious to the lethal glares exchanged literally right under his nose. Eren was just glad to have something to put his weight on and he didn’t really care on what or whom or under what circumstances that was happening. The only thing that interested him right then and there was its existence.

Levi momentarily interrupted his silent deathmatch with Mikasa to glare at the happily glowing Hanji instead.

“What the fuck is the meaning of this Hanji?” he said in a deceivingly calm tone.

Hanji cocked her head a little, still smiling; she had always been immune to his intimidation attempts. A fact that pissed Levi off to no end. “What do you mean? Eren is just a tiny bit tired. Don’t worry; I checked on him and he’s fine. He’ll be as good as new in time for his private evening training.” She winked at him with a teasing gleam in her eyes, which only served to irritate Levi further.

He rolled his eyes. “I mean, why haven’t I heard about this? You should have fucking told me yesterday. I’m the one in charge of him and the one in charge here until Erwin and Mike come back,” Levi growled through gritted teeth. He was on the verge of ripping her crazy head off and ritually offering the remains to her pet titans.

Hanji shrugged and answered in a carefree voice, “Well, I didn’t want other people to know – for the sake of the safety of everyone involved and for the sake of the experiment, you see; I even told Eren only when I woke him up this morning. Like a surprise attack. Actually, I wanted to tell you after that but I also didn’t want to disturb your beauty-sleep so when I met Mikasa on her way to Eren’s room,” she grinned mischievously as she noticed Levi’s eyes narrowing, “I asked her to tell you later. It’s not like she’d ever put Eren in danger. She didn’t tell you?” Hanji sent a half questioning, half knowing look Mikasa’s way, while Levi sent the same way a look saying that if he weren’t holding Eren up, he’d beat her senseless before ritually offering her alive to the titans. For several reasons.

Mikasa returned them both an expressionless stare.

She locked eyes with enraged Levi shamelessly as she gave Hanji an answer that left everyone present gasping for air while Hanji had to muffle her laughter. “I wanted to but I never got the chance to do so. Captain left during breakfast before I could talk to him, then he was nowhere to be found. During training he asked me questions I was unable to answer and didn’t let me explain. After that I found it too dangerous to approach him.”

Levi was speechless. He stared at her for a long minute during which nobody dared to even breathe, before he spoke up slowly, his voice full of ice, “I fucking asked you where he was. How’s that a question you were unable to answer?” Everyone present shivered when he finished. Or, everyone except Eren, who was still out, barely hanging onto the edge of consciousness, Hanji, who was naturally immune (and still laughing), and Mikasa, who was simply not intimidated by any potential threats to Eren’s wellbeing.

“But sir, you know the location of the experiment grounds is a top-secret information after the last subjects were killed. Obviously I didn’t know where he was. Even now I still don’t know.” There was a faint hint of superiority in that statement. Mikasa knew she couldn’t lose this round.

And Levi knew that, too.

He wasn’t amused.

Some time later, Eren was lying on Levi’s bed, already almost fully recovered after some sleep. Nonetheless, Levi couldn’t help but still worry a bit, even though he hid that worry behind his once-again-perfect poker face.

“Are you feeling better now, brat?” he asked offhandedly, his tone not betraying how much he really cared about the answer.

“Yeah, a lot better. I was just exhausted by all those experiments Hanji had me do,” Eren answered in a steady but still tired voice as he shivered at the memory.

They were both silent for a while before Levi sighed, giving up any pretence, “Eren Jaeger, this is an order, do you understand?” he said in his authoritative Captain Voice.

“Yes sir?” Eren looked at him questioningly, awaiting his orders. He’d sit up to salute as well if Levi’s glare wasn’t pinning him to the bed at any sign of excessive movement.

Opening his mouth again, Levi stated clearly, “Next time you go somewhere, you come tell me directly. I’m fucking responsible for you. I need to know in case something happens. As your superior. Are we clear?”

Eren was a little surprised by the order but a moment later, a knowing grin split his face wide. ‘As your superior, huh?’

He chuckled quietly, happy Levi cared so much. Even if he was terrible at showing it. “Yes sir.”

The situation in the dining hall had calmed down considerably after a still noticeably pissed off Levi left to tend to the zombie Eren had become, practically dragging him along, and a somehow roughed up Mikasa left with a victorious, rare smirk on her face to start with her punishment consisting of extra super-hard-super-long training course and cleaning the whole castle from top to bottom strictly, absolutely alone.

Only a few people stayed behind, huddled together and quietly discussing something, all of them sporting very serious expressions.

“So…” Connie started saying into the silence, looking at the paper in his hands intently. “The score as of now is even, with 36 wins each and 2 draws,” he announced and several groans were heard in response.

“Whoa,” Sasha whistled between bites of the last leftover bread she had collected over the room earlier (after swiftly taking care of Eren’s portion of lunch). “This is getting to be really long and dramatic in-laws fight.”

“Yeah; don’t you think it’s getting kind of boring?” Jean muttered from where he was resting his chin in his hands, frowning a bit before continuing thoughtfully. “If they continue like this much longer, we’ll never get a winner. Maybe we should change it?”

Ymir, who had an arm casually thrown over Krista’s shoulders, raised an eyebrow at him. “Like how?”

“Like who will be the first one to get three wins in a row?” suggested Armin uncertainly.

There was a moment of silence before Hanji raised her hand full of excitement. “I’m betting on Levi!”

“You’re betting on the loser?” Jean scoffed but Hanji just shrugged.

“You can never know what that cute little thing might already be plotting. You just don’t know him well enough, yet. Moreover, betting on the one you expect to win is way less fun!” Her eyes sparkled with something none of them really bothered to analyse for the sake of their sanity.

A blur of voices trying to place their bets all at once followed. After today’s showdown, most of them bet on Mikasa.

[First || Next Kidnapping]

[sapphicscholar]

Literally just Halloween fluff to make up for what I've heard was a shitshow of an episode (though I won't see it until tomorrow night, so please no spoilers!) Pairings: Sanvers, Supercorp, Scholsen, and Lucy/Vasquez (don't know a name for them..) because fuck it, I want all the cute gay pairings

A/N: Happy Halloween! Also, heyyy, I’m back! Thanks for the patience and best wishes for the exam! It…well, it happened. Fun story: walking into the room, I over heard one of the women who was waiting to take the Math GRE Subject Test whisper to her friend, “Oh god, those are the lit kids. They’re the only ones with more of a curve than we get because the test is so hard almost everyone fails.” Cool, cool, cool, thanks for the fun vote of confidence!

I’m still pausing on the new prompts because I want to catch up so I don’t have the queue hanging over my head, but asks on Tumblr are open since I’m more than happy to answer questions/brainstorm ideas that may or may not end up in future fic/generally chat about random shit. This one was not prompted, but I liked the idea, so I ran with it for a short fluffy one-shot. I’ll get a Tumblr post up sometime soon with a master list of all of my Halloween fics, one of which may not go up until later this week…

Chapter Text

“Where’s my gun?” Maggie yelled from the living room.

“You don’t need it tonight!” Alex called back, her voice slightly breathy as she forced her foot into her tall boots.

“Not the real one—the toy one! For my costume!”

“Oh. Uh…I think it’s in the closet.”

“Spent enough time in there to know,” Maggie mumbled, laughing when Alex’s retort came back almost instantly: “I couldn’t hear the specifics, but I’m sure it was rude!”

As Maggie rooted through the closet, she felt a pair of strong arms wrap around her waist as Alex’s breath was suddenly hot against her neck. “Need a hand? I’ve been told I have quite the reach.”

Laughing, Maggie spun in Alex’s arms, her breath catching at the sight of Alex’s red and black spandex suit, the telltale yellow “i” emblazoned on her chest. “Well, hello there, Elastigirl.”

“Eyes back in your head, Sawyer. Tonight we have to be appropriate for the kiddos.”

“Only until 9…”

Smiling even as she shook her head, Alex leaned in and kissed Maggie softly. “C’mon, Jessie, let’s find your cowboy hat and your gun and get your cute little butt down to CatCo.”

“My cute little but would definitely prefer to stay here with you and that spandex suit.”

“Wasn’t this whole thing your idea?”

“With Kara, and I’m totally sure should could handle it on her own…”

“Nope. You two are finally getting along well, and I’m not about to jeopardize that for sex.”

“What if I promise to—”

Alex cut her off with a finger to the lips and a stern shake of the head. She might have more self-control than most, but there was only so much she could resist, and when Maggie took it upon herself to verbalize all the things she wanted to do to Alex—well, all bets were off. “I’ll get your gun and the candy. You find your hat and my mask.”

“Roger that, Elastigirl.”

“Is this going to go on all night?”

“You betcha.”

One heated makeout that left the car windows fogged and costumes slightly askew later they finally made their way into CatCo, waving as they caught sight of Kara dashing to and fro in full Supergirl attire as she put the finishing touches on the decorations for their alien-friendly Halloween. When Maggie had mentioned over dinner one night that there was often an uptick in instances of anti-alien attacks on Halloween as too many young off-worlders attempted to go out—gills and tentacles and blue skin on display, assuming it was the one night a year they could be themselves—only to find themselves found out as “real” aliens and subjected to the anti-alien hostilities Cadmus and the like continued to stir up, Kara had been quick to jump into action, intent on finding a safe way for the aliens who, unlike her, didn’t have the privilege of blending in to celebrate the holiday like the other kids their age. After one short meeting with James and Lena and two slightly longer meetings with J’onn and Maggie’s captain about ensuring the support of local law enforcement, Kara was off and running to plan CatCo’s first “All-Inclusive Halloween Extravaganza.”

Kara, Maggie, and M’gann had worked together to find the closest approximation to sweets from all different planets (as well as to mark anything that could be toxic to certain species), to come up with a whole host of games and activities, and to promote the event to local kids. Alex had to admit, she was beyond impressed with the results. The entire first floor of CatCo had been transformed. A string of cubicles was now a row of activity booths, including face painting, bobbing for apples, and painting mini pumpkins, while the entire back section of the floor had become a haunted house run by Winn and Vasquez, who had worked together to rig up animatronic ghouls, sound systems, and motion sensor-activated surprises.

With another half hour until the kids started arriving, Alex carried their candy over to the sweets table where James and Lena were busy sorting and labeling everything—both of them more than a little concerned about potential lawsuits from leaving anything that could be lethal or toxic unlabeled.

“Cute costume,” James commented. “Didn’t want to go the couples route?”

“Nah, she doesn’t quite have the size to pull off a Mr. Incredible costume. And I wasn’t about to dress up as Woody and match her.”

“Buzz Lightyear?” Lena suggested, stifling a laugh at Alex’s unamused expression.

“I prefer a bit of flexibility in my costumes.”

“Ah yes, the DEO catsuit—but now in red!” James teased, earning a glare from Alex.

“You’re talking a big game for a man in spandex himself.”

“You can’t go wrong with the Superman route…”

“Excuse me, I think you could have killed it as Supergirl too,” Lena chimed in, twirling slightly in her skirt, stopping only when she noticed the real Supergirl frozen in place, mouth hanging open. With a wink and a small wave to her girlfriend, Lena turned her attention back to Alex, not missing the protective big sister scowl. “So! The candy.”

Figuring she could be generous for the holiday, Alex indulged the digression and turned her attention back to sorting the sweets.

Across the room, Lucy strolled in with a few of the other DEO agents there to make sure nothing happened to ruin the fun night for the kids.

“What are you, Luce?” Kara asked, assessing the totally unmarked black spandex suit paired with black heels.

Lucy gestured at the furry ears on her headband and rolled her eyes, as though it were the most obvious thing in the world. “I’m a cat. Duh.”

“A very sexy cat,” Vasquez added, wrapping her arms around Lucy and pulling her in for a kiss.

“Don’t get your night of the living dead makeup on me!” Lucy squealed, though her laugh and indulgent smile gave her away.

“C’mon, let your undead zombie bride carry you through the door of the haunted house.”

“I feel like that’s seven years of bad luck…”

“Nah, I won’t break any mirrors.”

Kara chuckled as Vasquez bent at the knees and easily scooped Lucy up into her arms bridal style, whisking her across the room and leaving Kara to direct the DEO agents to different areas of the floor.

---

After a few quiet minutes while Kara anxiously paced around, peering out the door in the hopes that someone would arrive, local families slowly began trickling in, the young aliens mingling with the human children of some of National City’s prominent alien rights advocates as their parents gathered at the cider table to chat. Within half an hour, the floor was crowded, and the sound of laughter and squeals from inside the haunted house filled the air, mingling with the Halloween soundtrack Lucy had prepared for the occasion, letting the occasional Rocky Horror song slip in among the kids tunes.

“You proud of the event?” Alex asked, sidling up next to Maggie and handing over a cup of the cider she’d spiked just a bit.

“Yeah, I think it’s going well,” Maggie offered with a small shrug of her shoulders.

“Ugh, why is it that you’re only a cocky shit at home.”

“Cause you love it when I’m a cocky shit in the bedroom,” Maggie teased.

Blushing slightly, Alex swatted at Maggie’s upper arm. “Just take credit for the damn event, Sawyer. It’s a huge success.”

“Yeah? Yeah, it kind of is.”

���Definitely is.”

---

Across the room, James made his way over to the haunted house, having left the treat table in Kara and Lena’s very capable hands, hoping they wouldn’t distract one another too much. “How’s my little master of ceremonies doing?” James asked, draping an arm across Winn’s shoulders.

“Master of horror, master of gore—c’mon, let me have a cool title.”

“Is Man in the Van not cool enough for you?” James teased. Seeing the small pout on Winn’s face, he pulled out the caramel apple he’d brought over. “Make it better?”

“A little.”

“What if I offered to go through the haunted house with you?”

“It’s not fun when we both know what’s going to happen,” Winn reasoned, though he’d been dying to take James out to the truly creepy warehouse-turned-haunted house in downtown National City since it opened.

“What if I told you that I asked Vasquez to rig up a few horrors that you don’t know about?”

“Well, then, I might just say you’re the best boyfriend ever.”

“Only a might?”

“Let’s see how it goes first,” Winn stipulated, though the poorly concealed grin gave him away, and he excitedly grabbed James hand and dragged him over to the entrance as soon as Vasquez was all set up.

By the time they made it out, Winn was in James’ arms and even James looked like he had seen a ghost. “What the hell, Vasquez? I thought we had a deal!”

“The deal was to scare the crap out of Winn. I did that, didn’t I?” Vasquez gestured at the way Winn had wrapped himself around James like a koala bear.

“But I didn’t tell you to scare me too!”

“Who says it was intentional?” Vasquez asked, trying and failing to look innocent.

“Lucy told you, didn’t she?”

“Told her what?” Lucy asked, popping into the conversation.

“About how he’s super scared of mice,” Vasquez announced, drawing a loud laugh from Lucy who nodded gleefully.

“So how’d you get Winn that scared? I thought he was supposed to be all master of horror tonight.”

“Oh, Winn here is terrified of the Joker…just threw in that signature laugh and a few choice holograms and boom—instant koala bear.”

“It’s a perfectly legitimate fear,” Winn pouted as he let himself be lowered to the ground.

“Sure it is.”

“Whatever.”

“Anyway, I’ve gotta head back over to the music, but I’m about to give a little dance lesson to the grown ups on how to do the Time Warp so I suggest you close your haunted house for the night.” With a small mock salute, Lucy turned and strutted back over to the makeshift dance floor.

“I’m not gonna miss watching you pelvic thrust, babe,” Vasquez called after Lucy, hopping out of the control seat to follow her across the room.

“Sure you already get plenty of that at home…” Winn trailed off, smiling impishly at Vasquez, who had rounded on him.

“You know Danvers isn’t the only one who knows six very painful ways to kill you with her index finger, right, Schott?”

“Psh, you’ll never be as scary as the Joker! Good try!”

“I can project the Joker hologram into your bedroom when you least expect it,” Vasquez threatened.

“Shutting up now.”

“Good idea.”

From across the room, they heard Lucy announce over the microphone: “It’s time for the Time Warp, and if I don’t see Superman, Captain Kirk, Jessie, Elastigirl, Supergirl 1, Supergirl 2, and Zombie Bride out on the dance floor, they’re gonna be joining me on stage to teach you all the dance!”

Within moments, the entire Superfriends crew had materialized on the dance floor, leaving M’gann and J’onn, who had arrived late after a quick patrol as Supergirl, to play the responsible adults at the snack table. As the opening chords rang out through the speakers, Alex felt Maggie’s hand squeezing her own.

“What’s that for?”

“I love you. I love this. I love our weird little family, you know?”

“Yeah, I love you too.”

“I can see you two lovebirds not stepping to the left!” Lucy yelled, her gaze trained on Alex and Maggie. “Would you like to come up here and help me demonstrate the moves?”

With a laugh and a middle finger that Maggie hastily knocked down before any of the kids could see, Alex let herself be pulled into the routine.

[ssississpssk]

Sissy Spacek Rip Helicopter, H 58 4xCS + 7-inch Release Date: July 25, 2017

Helicopter is very relieved to announce this box set, which has taken about nine years and many anxiety attacks to come together.

In April 2008, Sissy Spacek embarked on a west coast tour. We didn’t really have much material at that time, so we played mostly a weird collage of electronics and tape. At some of the shows we played songs intermingled, but mostly it was exploratory and experimental.

When the tour was finished the recordings were meant to become this box set: 4 cassettes and a 7-inch with inserts. This endeavor was faced with many obstacles, and after only a couple of years, I was so frustrated that I decided to just edit the material into a simpler album, Rip, which came out on Gilgongo in December 2011. I never quite gave up on the box set version, but the universe, through endless blunders, just kept telling me it wasn’t the time for it.

Some of the catastrophes along the way:

I bought 400 tapes and had them sent to my friend’s house in Los Angeles, only to realize that I would then have to re-send them to Greh, who was dubbing them in Detroit.

I pressed 100 copies of the 7-inch at Bill Smith, along with a few other records. Putting out records when you’re on the road/couch surfing is pretty much impossible. You don’t have any space to deal with anything and the anxiety of trying to assemble and ship and organize hundreds of copies of multiple records is enough to drive anyone insane.

I ordered 100 reel boxes and had them sent to Los Angeles. On another tour I drove them up to Portland to have my friend Cody Brant hand-draw each cover.

The tapes were then shipped to me in New York, where I was staying at the time. This was around 2009 or 2010. I thought for some reason I could get the release going from there, despite having basically no resources at my disposal.

I asked Cody to ship the boxes to me in New York, which he did. I think I had suggested sending them media mail, which he confirmed with the post office was ok. They arrived with $100 postage due, so after conferring with the NY post office, I had them returned to sender thinking they would be sent back to the Portland post office that OK’d it and they would be understanding. No such luck.

When leaving NY, I had to then ship the tapes back to Los Angeles again, 400 tapes’ fourth trip through the mail.

A couple years later I was in Los Angeles, looking through my storage space, tearing the entire thing apart, looking for the 7-inches, thinking maybe I’d try to get this project going again. No luck. I asked everyone I could think of if I had anything stashed or left at their house, specifically a box of 100 unpackaged 7-inches. No. Somehow I managed to lose the entire pressing. (To this day never found.)

The boxes stayed in Cody’s basement for many years, developing a bit of mold, cobwebs, and age by the time I picked them up. Later most fell into even worse condition while in storage (again) and most ended up unsuitable to be used at all and I had to buy more.

A bit of luck later, I was on the phone with Bill Smith looking for some pressing plates, and they told me they had H 58 on the shelf. I immediately knew that these were the plates for the Rip 7-inch and after a moment of astonishment, asked them to press another hundred.

After driving all the pieces across country yet again, they finally were all in one accessible place. I looked for the files of the originals, but it they seem to be completely lost. I asked Greh if he still had them. No luck. I listened to the tapes and figured out what was what and then labeled them all. I got the rest of the material printed and assembled the boxes and finally got everything finished.

The recordings in this set differ greatly from the Rip CD. These recordings were essentially the source for that album, but here the material is presented more as concrète events with less intervention. Since the original files are lost, it’s doubtful there will be any digital or second edition of this version, aside from the Rip album.

Here’s the story of the Vancouver BC show that was the description for the Rip CD when it came out:

We played this show in Vancouver BC that was definitely in my top three. Sissy Spacek caravanned up there with Yellow Swans and arrived late afternoon right between the venue and Gabe’s girlfriend’s house. It was probably about two blocks in between. We hung out there for a little while and I had needed to pee for a really long time, so I took a few steps over to this alley and took a piss and then reconvened with everybody hanging out and waiting for the promoter and Gabe’s girlfriend to arrive. After a couple minutes we noticed these two women in the alley checking us out. After a skeptical, then dismissive look, they squatted directly in my piss and started smoking crack.

Previous to this, we thought everything in Canada had been hilarious. The accents at the border, the 70′s strut of the “walk” light, road signs … pretty much everything. This was something different. I’ve lived in Los Angeles for a long time, and I’m not used to seeing stuff like this in broad daylight off what seemed to be a main drag.

Eventually we hung out a bit at the house and then headed over to the venue once the promoter showed up. I parked and he warned we should take everything out of the car. “Everything.” Don’t leave a single insignificant thing in view or it will definitely get broken into. We unloaded into a white room, kind of cold and dank. The walls and ceiling were literally dripping. It reeked of beer. “Oh, we had a party here last night, we just hosed it down.” “With beer?” I asked as a joke, but not really. He explained it used to be a fish factory and that they had shows there and bands practiced there. They never had any problems with cops because of the neighborhood.

“How many bands are playing?” “Six, I think.” “What time does the show start?” “Probably around midnight.”

We left back for the house to check out their half pipe and hear stories about the view from their second story window. Just walking back and forth a few times between the house and the venue, we saw a lot of stuff — weird stuff. Zombies milling about, prostitutes hanging around, people with bad things or no thing to do. I can’t say how we looked, but I can say that I did not see anyone that looked like they had a normal agenda.

Around 11pm we headed back over. I set up the record table and checked to make sure everything was ok. In the back storage room there was a tower of around 50 cases of beer. Jesse and I were baffled by everything at this point. We decided we should just take a walk up and down the street and see what was about. Just crossing the road had shown us quite a bit. Corydon refused our invitation to join us in no uncertain terms.

We head out to the street. I had noticed this big rig parked on the corner all day. It was just the front cab of a big semi truck. It was the kind that was elongated and probably had a small apartment behind the seats. As we passed it, being night time now, I looked back over my shoulder through the windshield as we walked by and saw a white, doughy, mid-50′s man, standing completely naked, staring back at me from behind/between the seats. We made solid eye contact. I turned immediately and told Jesse, “Don’t look back” as I slowly turned my head around to look again, only this time the light was now off and I could only imagine he was now standing there still looking at me, completely naked, now in darkness. We passed two more crumbling prostitutes who were barely able to stand before we managed to get to the corner. We took a right and noted the street name, Hastings, and walked about six blocks up the street.

Passed 11 pm, things looked much uglier than during the day. Everyone was some kind of walking dead, zombie, prostitute, unconscious and sprawled out, people literally in the gutter, everything looked like absolute bad news. There were many notable sights. We saw a convenience store whose neon sign read, “Open 23 Hours”. We saw drug addicts freaking out, prostitutes getting into cars, people shaking, yelling, etc. Jesse looks fucked up, so I think that’s why, between the two of us, a guy chose his spit for me (but missed). Suddenly we realized we were now far from the venue. Pretty far. We should turn around. We crossed at the intersection at Gore Street and came back on the other side. Unscathed except for an empty box of Goobers thrown at me (again the victim!)

As we stroll up to the venue, probably around 11:30 or so at this point, we have to wade through people to get to the door. Miraculously it is completely packed. $5 to get in, $5 per beer. The promoter explains that underage kids know this is a place they can drink no problem, so they always do well. We play a set alternating between grindcore and full-on noise. People were rowdy during both. Six bands is never something you want to hear, but somehow it went fine, crowded until it ended around 6 am and turned into a sloppy sock hop. All the beer was gone.

The next day Jesse was sick enough to go to the hospital and bow out of the rest of the tour.

***

Recorded up and down the West Coast by Jesse Jackson, Corydon Ronnau, and John Wiese and featuring appearances by Yellow Swans, Peter Kolovos (Open City), and Paul Costuros (Death Sentence: Panda!).

Numbered edition of 100.

http://helicopter-la.com http://helicopter-la.com http://helicopter-la.com