#and ive yet to actually use him in a mission yet lol

[shad0w-elemental]

dante

[tartigglez]

For the 300 follower event. Can I request green with Zhongli as Rex Lapis?

"rest"

・❥・rex lapis x gn!adeptus!reader

・❥・1.5k

・❥・set in old teyvat, reader and morax are in a sort of weird soul bond situationship, half-dragon!li (i've just decided its his base form now so everyone cope), he calls reader "little one" at one point (lol?), reader has horns (that sounds so silly help), reader cries and it's kinda cinematic, (yes i am using this to heal the wounds my ex left me with because he was ashamed of our relationship thank you for asking!), this has gotta be one of my fav fics ive ever written LOL

・❥・HELLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO IT IS I, CAEL. today i present you all with: a thing i wrote!

・❥・if you want to request a prompt from this event, click on the green title!

the world is quiet when the dragon slumbers. 

at least, that's what you think. 

that's what the adepti think.

the souls of the old deities that have been subdued by rex lapis calm a little when he rests. their empty shells are less vengeful, and they, albeit momentarily, no longer seek to wreak havoc on the people of liyue. 

it was a simple mission you had. go to the cave, retrieve any necessary cor lapis for streetward rambler and do not disturb morax. and of course, none of the other adepti knew, but this rule was an optional one in your mind.

the others would never know of your relationship with rex lapis, which was of a deeper level than you cared to explain. the deep, intricate weaves of your two souls together were much more detailed than anyone could ever imagine, so gently and carefully tied over such a long time that they could never be undone. they were roots so deep that neither you nor him could even tell how much you needed each other. 

of course, when he is resting you shouldn’t disturb him, because he needs it. he works hard to protect his people, and for this reason he should always be allowed to rest when he needs. 

as the few chunks of cor lapis you carried in your bag clanked together, you entered the mouth of a cave in mingyun village. you were fully aware that this was where he would be, since you could feel his presence. but you were only here since this was where the best cor lapis could be found, right? right?

a seemingly small tunnel in the side of the cave led you straight to the sight of him. he was completely still in slumber, tail of brown scales and golden spines lay a little curved on his hoard of various gemstones and chunks of metals.

you walked somewhat slowly to him, tiptoeing your way in to the cave, only to have a look at him of course. he looked quite strange when sleeping. his aura was much more peaceful than usual. 

normally, morax was calm. but there would always be some sort of troubled glint in his eyes, one that it appears only you can see, perhaps it is only for you to know of. 

as you made your way to the side of the cave opposite to the opening, you could see his hair and arms glowing a little in rhythm with his breathing. from deep in his chest came soft, yet low purrs. he was at rest. however, the small smile which appeared on his lips would say otherwise. 

slowly, but surely his eyelids opened, the bright amber irises previously hidden behind them meeting you as you stared at him, not even realising he had actually woken up. instead you were busy admiring his presence. 

“you haven’t been here long, hm?” he spoke with a yawn, pushing himself to sit up upon his hoard. the golden surfaces of a few pieces of mora reflected his sharp features as he took a sigh. 

your expression was one of pure guilt. you had only wished to see him, after all it was rare that the two of you got much time alone, but you didn’t want to actually wake him up when he was so deserving of a sleep. 

“not to worry,” he smiled, “i was due to wake up in a few days anyway.” he got down from the top of the pile, ground shaking a little as he jumped, and was all of a sudden by your side. “why the long face, little one?” he asked gently, tilting his head to the side and placing a loving hand on your cheek.

“i didn’t want to wake you up” you sighed, leaning into his touch. “i did miss you, but i only wanted to see you, not disturb you.”

he moved a little closer to you, his horns slightly touching your own as he moved his forehead against yours, “you are never a disturbance to me, dear” he spoke, closing his eyes and taking a few breaths with you. 

but suddenly, it hurt.

“morax…” you opened, trailing off, unsure of how to convey what you wanted to say. instead, your eyebrows knit themselves together, and completely out of your control, a single tear rolled down your cheek, losing itself slowly to the fabric of your robe after making its way down your neck. 

he felt it, all of the emotions that were happening for you were making their way to him, his senses more amplified after having rested. “dear-” he said softly, voice breaking a little, hands and eyes searching your body for some sign of injury or pain, “did something hurt you, are you well?” his eyes were filled with concern for you, and somehow that made you feel worse. he stroked your cheek with one hand, the other rubbing up and down your arm. “tell me, what troubles you?” he asked quietly.

“you wouldn’t want to know,” you giggled a little, more tears suddenly escaping your face. “it is a futile complaint”

“tell me,” he said, bringing his hands to your cheeks and gently wiping away your tears, “i want to hear all of it” 

you were silent for some time after that, the dim environment of the cave allowing you to lean your head on rex lapis’ shoulder, holding his hand as the other was gently stroking over your hair, and slowly massaging at the base of your horns. 

“do you think we’ll ever be able to tell them?” you said, nothing more than a whisper. so quietly that if morax didn’t have such heightened senses, he wouldn’t have been able to hear it at all.

“tell who?” he said back, shoulder slightly vibrating against your cheek as he did.

“the others. do you think we can ever tell them about us?” you asked, absentmindedly staring at a single coin of mora across from you. upon its shiny surface was painted the image of rex lapis of one and his adepti. no. upon its surface was painted two people who were held in a love that had been finely crafted over centuries, each piece chiselled out like the stone of a statue. 

“do you want them to know?” he asked, turning his head a little to place a soft kiss upon your head, humming a little before turning back to face his hoard, leaning his head on top of yours.

you nodded a little, closing your eyes, unsure of what to say next.

“if you want them to know then we shall tell them. i doubt they will be upset about it. after all, i am the one in charge, no?” he chuckled a little, interlacing his fingers with yours. 

“you’d really tell them?” you asked, moving from the way you were sat, instead sitting up straight to look at him, holding both his hands in your own. 

“if that is what you want, then of course i will. i only wish you had told me sooner.” he smiled at you, standing up and pulling you with him. your eyes shone brightly as you beamed at him, and he moved a little closer to you to ask a very important question…

“would you like to rest with me for a little while?” 

you nodded, and within an instant he had whisked you to the top of his pile. he began circling around, trying to find a comfortable spot before inviting you to lay down by him, tapping on the space beside him, which was rather funny, because a few of his treasures rolled down the side of the hoard, which made him pout a little. 

you keenly moved to lay down beside him, resting your head on his arm. however, there was one major problem.

“this is kind of uncomfortable” you spoke, watching his face contort from being relaxed, to confused, to relieved. through his expressions you could already tell that he had found the solution. 

“here,” he yawned out, swiftly moving you to lay on his chest as he rolled on to his back. “better?”

you laughed a little, cheek against the robe which (barely) covered his chest. “much better”

he wrapped both his arms around your waist, every effort being made not to scrape you with his talons. and in this moment, that was when it hit you, more than ever before. every piece of care that he had for you and you for him, it was all for one cause…

“i love you, morax” you smiled softly, squeezing him a little.

finally, you had put words to it. after centuries, you had finally verbalised on the affection shared between the two of you. for the first time ever, you knew exactly what you felt. it was love. 

it is love. 

sfw masterlist || event masterlist

© tartigglez, 2023. do not copy, translate or repost, reblogs appreciated

[fangirlingatstuff]

Hi ive seen your work, thank you for keeping the epic fandom alive 🙏🙏. I’m not sure if you do nod but if you do could you write headcannons about him, like the mandrake ones. Thank you!!

Awww thank you for liking my work!! 😊😊 I found the lack of content for Epic saddening and had to do something about that lol

I can definitely write some hcs for Nod, I’ve had a few asks about him that I havent gotten to writing yet because he’s not someone I write much for but this is a good way to start!

Nod General and Romantic Headcanons

General

I feel like the movie didn’t emphasize this enough but Nod isn’t just a good flyer, he is one of, if not the, best.

I imagine he’s been on the back of a bird ever since he was little. Flying with his dad or with “Uncle” Ronin when they weren’t off fighting boggans, or even riding with other leafmen when his dad wasn’t around.

Nod probably grew up around leafmen his entire life, being in the barracks or following his dad around while he was on a shift. The other leafmen and women took to him like he was family and he was always seen with another soldier if he wasn’t with his mom or dad.

Probably was friends with other soldier’s kids and they got into all kinds of mischief, mostly bugging the older soldiers.

The day his dad and Ronin left for a seemingly routine recon mission, his dad left with a kiss to his mom and a ruffle to his hair. There was a tension in the air, unspoken acknowledgment between the adults that this time was different than before, but Nod didn’t bring up that he could see that.

When Ronin came back alone, with nothing but his father’s helmet and many bruises and cuts, Nod didn’t shed a tear.

He took the helmet as Ronin explained that his dad wasn’t coming back this time and stared at it in understanding, his face falling.

Nod didn’t even need Ronin to tell him that his father was gone when he came up to the door.

Nod was little when it happened so Ronin had taken charge of him early, but that didn’t make him any less rambunctious.

For a while, Nod was quiet, that was until he grew old enough to be unsupervised and all bets were off. It got especially bad right before Ronin started training him as a leafman. His behavior was actually the reason why Ronin enlisted him, because he was getting into trouble.

Loves animals. Wants all the pets, give him five minutes and he would’ve had Ozzie on his back kicking his leg.

Finn is sort of like his older brother and when they are both off duty, Finn takes time in annoying Nod, usually by messing with his hair or playfully shoving him.

Romantic

Goofy freaking tease. If he’s even half an inch (or whatever the heck tiny people use to measure height) taller than you, he’s calling you short forever now.

Is constantly holding things out of your reach or blocking your way, if you have to do something or need something, by principle he feels like he has to prevent you doing or getting whatever you need.

Cheesy dorky pick up lines. He has an entire index of them, sometimes he will go alphabetical. Finn has a list of his most used ones.

He will be taking you on flights all day every day. Hope you aren’t afraid of heights.

In all honesty though, he would be so excited to share his love of flying with you. He’s good with birds and would love for you to like flying as much as he does. If you don’t, thats ok, but he will give you puppy-dog eyes when you tell him you don’t want to fly today.

Tries to impress you all the time with his swordsmanship and status as a leafman, apparently he heard that people “like a guy in uniform” so he’s laying that on thick.

Even though it is when he isn’t trying at all that he impresses you the most, you won’t ever tell him that. He’s too cute when he’s talking about how to train a bird or fit a saddle and you could listen to him for hours.

That isn’t to say you aren’t impressed by him as a leafman. His agility is crazy and seeing him train or fight is a feat in itself. Just make sure you stay safe and he’ll let you watch him work all day.

Ronin teases the two of you. So does Finn. Nuff said. Finn likes to embarrass Nod in front of you.

“Oh have I told you about the time when Nod got scared by a caterpillar?” “FINN!”

Ronin encourages this, he’s the one that started it after all.

[night-dark-woods]

5, 7, 15 for the fic asks!!

thank you!!! this got extremely long.

5. What’s a fic idea you’ve had that you will never write?

oooh hm. idk about Never, but ive been rotating the idea of Chalco and Aunor interacting bc the different ways they orbit around Ikora FASCINATE me, and the things that have been asked of them are very different. it would have to be epistolary i think and while i DO think i have enough primary sources to get their voices and values alright (letters from Aunor etc, and then WQCE my beloved), im not confident in my ability to do epistolary, & also i'd need something specific for them to argue about (that i also am interested enough in to litigate thru character POVs).

i've yet to decide if I'm accepting the TFS ending cutscene panel where Ikora is using strand, bc im suuuper ambivalent on Ikora using any darkness subclass- i need to re-listen to a bunch more post-campaign stuff to see how i feel about it, bc i know she talks to Mara a LOT in mission voicelines, and i think a lot of their past conflict has been over Mara's antipathy towards the Light & focus on balance over sheer faith in the Traveler (not religious Faith-faith, as we've talked abt before, bc i dont think Ikora sees the Traveler as a *god* like Zavala does- it's like gravity or thermodynamics its simply *true,* and can be explained. its not something that requires faith or sacrifice.)

but if i decide to accept that as canon then i think that would make a FASCINATING argument because Aunor has been Ikora's hunting dog for YEARS, cold-blooded killer putting down guardians who fall to darkness, and i think the sheer betrayal (from Aunor's POV) of Ikora changing her position on that would cause SUCH a crisis of faith for Aunor (what does that mean for what she's done in Ikora's name? what does that mean for how she can live with the weight of it?), and i think constrasting that with Chalco being Ikora's right-hand man (her silly rabbit / does she call you that / no) BUT without the blind loyalty that Petra has for Mara ("you are not the queen and i am NOT one of her cadre") could be sooo fun bc it wouldn't be a simple "Aunor mutiny Chalco loyal." i just dont know if Actually Writing it will provide more enrichment for me than just rotating the concept in my head.

that got long!!! and also ive partially convinced myself to work on it eventually lol.

anyway. that's the main one that i can think of, that isnt a "this scenario sounds hot BUT i dont want to write it bc there isnt enough character work to make the logistical nightmare of writing porn worth it" LMFAO

7. How many ideas for fics do you have right now?

5-ish?

- Elsie&Amanda (nicknamed "horsegirl movie but its a robot with dysphoria") where Elsie needs help fixing some part of her body and she can't do it by herself for some reason and then has to deal with the fact that Amanda regards her body with a simple honest appreciation that Elsie will NEVER feel for herself bc of when and how she became an exo!!! her own mother calls her body a "walking lazaretto" and she watched her father die horribly for this technology!!! god!!!

- Ikora's fight with Madhir & how she let him eat her ability to want anything. god. Ikora Rey woman that you are. also inspired by the way the demon works in dunmeshi bc i think the Ahamkara should work more like that. fuck monkey's paw genie trick wishes, getting exactly what you wished for and in doing so losing part of Who You Are is so much better. the Ahamkara aren't evil tricksters they are PREDATORS they are the very tippy top of the food chain and as dunmeshi says. to eat is the sole privilege of the living. there is no moral weight to that no matter how violent and that makes the violence of it far more interesting!!!

- somewhere between 3 and 5 high-concept porn fics, 2 at WIP stage and several that may or may not get written, all Petra-centric bc i (and Jackie) love to put that dyke in situations (all have Mara/Petra/Sjur as a given established relationship, the two WIPs are focused on Mara/Petra and Petra/Sjur & the ones that may just stay as ideas have bonus Petra/Amrita(/other corsairs) & Petra(/Sjur)/Amanda)

15. How do you come up with titles for your fics/chapters?

song lyrics mostly!!! often the one i was listening to a lot while writing/thinking about it, or one that makes me feel like that post thats like "song that reminds me of my favorite character comes on and i make the most unwell expression known to man."

the problem is i want the vibe of the whole song to mostly fit which means i've recently become aware that i nearly exclusively listen to sad music, apparently, bc i could not find a Single Song i like that fit the very fluffy/conflict-free Amanda/Sloane fic i wrote recently, so instead its both a line from the fic and a bit of a pun on the content lol: follow-through (impact play)

[danganronpafan777]

hello its nyx (on another account since my phones charging) and i have come to share more dr nyx lore points and some improvements ive made for them :3 (its been a year)

- nyx didnt join the kirasagi foundation, however they have helped in lots of kisaragi foundations missions. so they basically became the ‘replacement for members’ of the kirasagi foundation. so technically they joined kirasagi foundation without direct approval.

- nyx lives with adult mech arm nagito in post-sdra2 time period.

- both dra and sdra2 games keeps nyx’s gender a secret, so they got a bathroom in their dorm so they dont have to go to the girls / boys bathroom.

- nyx was in the future foundation’s care in post-udg and pregame dra. nyx finds kyoko to be pretty, and finds makoto to be ugly.

- nyx bought momo (their mini pomeranian dog) in pregame sdra2.

- its established that if nyx enters any of the girls or boys bathroom, they get punished by running around the school for 5 times. its specially for nyx because nyx pissed off monokuma and monocrow.

- nyx used to have long hair that reaches around the waist in udg, they got their hair cut so its around shoulder-neck length.

- if nyx sees mitch, they basically just walk away even if they have to be in that room. someone has to drag nyx back in the room.

- nyx finds rei to be ‘pretty and smart, but also the meanest mean’. and also, nyx finds tsurugi to be ‘ugly, has too strong morals, and is scary’.

- nyx was in sdra2 because the kirasagi foundation wanted them to be there. nyx just came in too early.

- nyx tried to shave mikados hair off to eat them.

- nyx is friends with haruhiko and satsuki, having a little crush on them both.

- nyx in sdra2 wants to apply for psychology major in university, but cant because they have to be with the kirasagi foundation. theyre only willing to help because teruyas there.

- nyx has a lot of knifes and guns in their closet because their father likes collecting knifes and guns.

- nyx admires kiyoka and wishes they could be as pretty and friendly as her. but they also claim that they dont wanna be ‘too pretty’.

- nyx likes to switch up on how they act around people as boredom. i guess its like junko, but its not constant. its like.. 1 week per new act. their true self is just an apathetic, yet emotional person whose insecure of their own true self.

- nyx doesnt like tight clothing, clothing thats uncomfortale around the armpit, and clothing thats considered to them ‘too close to the neck’.

Nyx and Nagito is a duo I didn’t think about but it sounds like a cool dynamic!

Nyx finding Makoto ugly lmaoo (I don’t think he’s ugly, but his hair confuses me)

Momo 🥺 Minako and Midori definitely took care of the pooch during the events in Sdra2

Running around the entire school 5 times for walking into the gendered bathroom? They fr getting the Yuki treatment goddamn

Nyx with shorter hair def suits them better :)

Mitch would be offended for a while, but eventually just accept it. This definitely helps humble him lol

Nyx summarized how half the fandom sees Tsurugi and Rei in Dra. Calling Tsurugi ugly tho is hilarious

They were put in another killing game for being at the wrong place at the wrong time? Damn…

Nikei and Teruya held him down while they did it

That’s adorable! (And based ngl) I can’t help but imagine them as part of the sunshine quartet (quintet now)

I’m actually taking AP Psychology, and it’s really cool! (Lots of memorizing and writing tho) Teruya, and surprisingly Rei, would hound Tsurugi to give them time off for them to study and do what they like.

“Name something a burglar would not want to see when he breaks into a house.”

Nyx is already beautiful and friendly, and Kiyoka wouldn’t hesitate to tell them so

Changing personalities each week is a mood, and Teruya would def just vibe with it

As for tight clothing, I honestly feel the same way tbh

Thank you for sharing, and hope you have a great day or night! 😄

[locowolf]

finished RDR the other day and i have some thoughts.

ofc going in i knew the vibes were different from RDR2, but i still was not prepared for how LONELY it felt. sometimes when i was just riding around the feeling would hit me like a train and make my stomach turn. i think a big reason why it feels this way is the urgency of what john is doing. sure, there’s stranger missions and random events and challenges just like RDR2. but who cares? there’s no time for any of that, john needs to find his old friends. he needs his family back. everything else can wait. i saved most of the stranger missions and everything for jack just to give him something to do (which i will get to later). i’ve always been wicked fascinated by spaghetti westerns so i absolutely loved the lonely vibes btw

i’m pretty sure i’ve said this to literally anyone who will listen (all my friends) but john looks so so sad. angry and so so sad. he looks like he’s perpetually about to burst into tears. all i could think about was young john in RDR2, who was always second to arthur. whose abilities were doubted. who was left to die by the man that raised him. who tried his best to live an honest life. who bought a run down plot of land and built a home to win his family back. john was just trying his best, and only four years later (which does not feel like a long time to me) his family is kidnapped, and he has to work for the government and hunt down his old friends. it’s all just so sad and depressing UGH

speaking of RDR2, i think it’s really interesting how it changes the way players view RDR. i did do the strange man stranger missions, and hearing him mention the woman dutch shot during the blackwater incident was?????? literally mindblowing to me?????? this little remark, both about the woman and the incident, was actually the catalyst for the plot of both games and the disillusionment of dutch in arthur and john?????? also just knowing the past john had with javier, bill, and dutch makes their endings so much sadder (besides bill honestly lol he was always annoying). also also the little things, like returning to beecher’s hope and thinking about charles and uncle building the home with john and getting shitfaced after it was done :)))

i bought the game for my PS3 (because FUCK spending $50 for the same goddamn game) and it was a nostalgic experience. the PS3-era graphics and controls (reminds me of GTA IV) plus playing with the PS3 controller was very very fun! the horse handling still trips me up (again reminds me of GTA IV’s odd driving mechanics) and is probably my least favorite part about the game. i also watched my dad play it all the time when i was like six or seven, so it was cool seeing the things i remembered, like the shootout at fort mercer and how silly the horse breaking looks :3

i wish there were a little bit more references to RDR2 (or i guess it’s the other way round?). just a teeny tiny little bit more fan service. also i wish we saw more of abigail and jack :((( i know the ending is meant to be abrupt but i just love their dynamics so much :(((

and speaking of abrupt!!! the fucking ending!!! i had already seen the last mission (because i love spoiling games for myself), so when that cutscene in the barn started playing i was like ?!?!?!?!?! already?!????? i still don’t know if i love it or hate it. i know it happened so soon because the govt was just using him and could not give two shits about him or his family, “our time has passed, john” or whatever dutch said, not being able to run away from your past, etc. but i just love john so much and wanted him and his family to live happily ever after :(

this brings me to what is, in my opinion, the saddest part of RDR, which is jack. he’s a moody teen who doesn’t really understand the world yet. he has a complicated relationship with his father. he doesn’t want jack to be a gunslinger like him, but he doesn’t want him working for the government, either. he wants jack to be a man but treats him like a boy. jack just wants his father’s approval. him and his mother are kidnapped by the government, not knowing what his father is up to, then is reunited with him a few weeks(?) later. but jack isn’t an idiot and he can put two and two together, and he probably looks up to john for what he did to save his family. john takes him out hunting a few times, he jokes about him and abigail growing old, and things start looking hopeful. jack is finally going to have a chance at a normal life. but then the army shows up, kills uncle, and massacres john. when jack is like fifteen. then his mother dies three years later.

jack is eighteen and alone. no family or friends. i guess he has the macfarlane’s but i doubt jack was close to them. there’s nothing for him. a big empty house, a big empty ranch. and he continues the cycle that john was trying to end. arthur saw the faults in his outlaw ways and convinced john to get out of it, to protect his family and build a life for them, to run and don’t look back. john listened (mostly), but then he was forced to take down the known remaining VDL gang members. even though arthur doesn’t say it to him, i think john understands that revenge is a fool’s game. he understands that the days of the gunslinger are over, and he wants jack to live a better life than he ever had, in the same way arthur wanted john to settle down and marry. but jack is young. i can imagine him seeing what his father did as revenge, even though he was forced into it. but john never got the chance to have the “revenge is a fools’s game and the world is changing” conversation with him. jack watches the government murder his father, who he undoubtedly looked up to. his father who did everything in his power to get his family back. i can only imagine the anger and betrayal he felt for those three years he took care of abigail. him and his teenage brain trying to grapple with it all. then, once he’s an adult and he’s lost everything, he becomes a gunslinger and gets his revenge.

(i forgot to get back to the part about saving the side stuff for jack lol. i just feel bad about him being alone so i saved everything for him to do. maybe he can make some fucked up friends or something idk)

i like to imagine jack lives a decent life. maybe sadie or charles reconnects with him. maybe he explores the US and runs into tilly in saint denis. maybe he befriends the macfarlane’s and decides to become a rancher like his father was trying to be.

i think in his early twenties he would be an absolute train wreck, drinking and gambling and letting beecher’s hope fall into disrepair. but he would mature. he finds arthur/john’s old journal tucked away in the attic and thumbs through it one night, reading the passage where arthur tells john to protect his family. and jack thinks he has a chance. he doesn’t have pinkertons or the government breathing down his neck like arthur and john. he’s smart, he has a plot of land, he has a whole life ahead of him. he has a chance. so he cleans up beecher’s hope with the help of the macfarlane’s, he finds a wife, he starts a family, he has an honest living, and he lives happily ever after.

(this has huge fanfic potential tbh)

and my biggest takeaway from the game is: everyone was just trying to live for something. john, bill, javier, dutch, ross, everyone. they were just trying to survive. they were just trying to survive. of course, their survival methods varied greatly, and some were definitely more honorable than others, but in the end, weren’t they all doing the same thing? they were corrupt killers trying to live in a world that hated them. they were fighting for what they believed in. they were trying to make it out on top by any means necessary. all that varied was how they did it.

what a fantastic game. i think i still prefer RDR2 as a whole because i just fucking love collectathons, but RDR is still an amazingly tragic story. i binged-played it in two days.

[rharyx]

Follow up to this post, where I started cataloging my Final Fantasy journey.

Crisis Core I watched a playthrough back in high school cuz I thought Zack was cool as shit and I loved the theme music, but I never actually played it. But since I finally played 7, I knew I had to follow it up with this, and I went with the Reunion remake since I heard the combat is a lot better. Which I guess it is? I can't compare it to the original since I never played it, but the combat here was real fun and snappy -- I spent hours just doing side missions. And of course the story was as good as I remember it. Only downside is Zack's new actor is nowhere near as good as his original, and that really brings it down a tad. But it still doesn't kick Zack out of my "Top 5 FF characters" list. Also, I always liked Genesis, which I guess a lot of people don't? But I think he's just so funny. Like he actually stops his mission to kill Hojo or whatever to info-dump Loveless lore on everyone in the room. Dude's so weird, I hope he's in the remake trilogy. I think a 8/10 is fair.

Final Fantasy IV Took me a bit to finish this one since stuff got in the way. Not really much to say about this one, though, I guess. The story was good, and some areas and events were cool (like the giant robot thing), with lots of characters who show up and do their thing then leave. Cecil is pretty cool, Kain sure is a guy, and I like Rydia a decent amount. Love how that dude Edge is just straight up called Edge though lmao -- I imagined him having a sort of Johnny Bravo/Might Guy voice, which really elevated his character in my head. But otherwise, the whole game was a pretty standard affair. I kinda thought the vehicle stuff was pretty interesting -- like how you had to use the hoverboat, to get to the ship, to get to the better ship, etc. That was neat in its own way. Fuck the final boss, though, that shit felt unfair. 6/10, I guess? Definitely the mainline FF I've been least into so far, but it's still nowhere a "bad" game.

Final Fantasy XII I heard this was one divisive, but I don't see how? Like, this was really good. I did hear the original release was pretty bad compared to the Zodiac version I was playing, which made me think...... Between 12's initial release, 14's initial release, and 15's initial release...is 16 the first mainline game in over a decade that came out completely fine without needing an overhauled re-release or oodles of DLC to smooth things over in some way?? (I haven't played 13 yet, so that may have been fine upon release.) Anyway, to speak of the game itself, the License Board and Gambit System was really interesting and I kinda hope they bring it back in some way in the future, cuz I love tedious grindy stuff like that where you slowly fill up an ability grid (reminded me of the Sphere Grid, kinda). And the story -- while sometimes feeling really overwhelming with the amount of terms and names I had to memorize -- was well structured and I like how everyone's stories wrapped up by the end. Vaan is truly not a protagonist though, is he? lol. If anything, Ashe was the main character of this story, which I did kinda fuck with, even if she's not one of my favorite characters from the game. Also, I loved how many areas and differing locales we went to on the journey. I wasn't expecting such an array of distinct and visually engaging locations. One thing, though...why did half the voice over audio sound like it was being recorded through a soup can? It was so weirdly mixed. Like, you get used to it, but what happened?? Anyway, as a FF14 fan I though it was neat to see where all the Ivalice inspiration came from, and overall the game was really enjoyable to play. I've definitely not scratched the surface when it comes to the optional content, like Espers or whatever, but idk if I'll ever have the time to complete all that anyway. But for the main game itself, definitely a solid 8/10. Maybe even an 8.5.

Not sure what to do next, maybe try V once it goes on sale. Or probably just jump into Remake and Rebirth.

[ekaterinatepes]

Nothing but the Best

Author’s note: angst fest ahead. Lol

Series Master List

IV.

When Gojo went back home he realised that all of his wife’s possessions were gone. His heart contracted painfully in his chest knowing that not a single trace of hers was left behind to keep him company. As if she had never been really there and all she had been was a beautiful dream. Y/N had taken everything that belonged to her: all of her clothes, personal belongings, beauty products, etc. Her presence had been wiped clean from his house.

Even their pictures together! He almost lost his shit again when he went to try and find their wedding album on the shelf where it usually remained but didn’t find it there. That’s when he realised all the small pictures of them both that were strategically placed around their home were also gone. He frantically looked for them to the point where he almost tore the place apart.

Defeated and fearful he went to the garage, the last place left to search. He hadn’t taken out the trash today, that’s where their recycling and trash bins were located, when he opened the tall trash bin he found what he had been desperately looking for. They were all there. His heart stopped beating for a full painful minute.

For the first time in his life he fell to his knees and wept like a child while holding onto the picture of their wedding where Y/N smiled looking into Satoru’s eyes. While holding hands in front of the beach.

“I’m sorry…” he whispered looking at her smiling face on the picture. “I’m sorry…” That’s when the mighty, honored, head of the Gojo clan broke down for the first time in his life. For the first time ever… he had lost.

-

(6 months later)

How long has it been since he last saw her? Kissed her? Made love to her? His gifted mind immediately provided the answer: 6 months, 7 days, 13 hours and counting.

Satoru sat in the darkness of his house, looking at the calm and quiet woods surrounding his residence. Y/N didn’t want to live in the city when they got married, she enjoyed the peace, quiet and privacy… then again so did he. But now it all seemed to help drown him further down his abyss of misery. The silence was deafening. The cold seeping through his clothes and wrapping around his heart made him flinch. Without her… this place resembled an empty, dark and rotten cursed domain… maybe it was; one of his own making.

The Gojo clan did not lack in resources and money to make things happen and yet the 5 different detectives he had working for him couldn’t find his lovely wife. Fucking band of incompetent fuckers. She was good, completely untraceable! Of course, he could see Suguru’s doing on this as well. He was the one that helped her disappear, there was no one better than him for that kind of work.

So far he knew she left Tokyo in a flight with her actual name towards Russia, she landed a day later in Saint Petersburg and paid in cash for a hotel where she stayed two days, after that all trace of Y/N Gojo was lost for a month.

Y/N L/N appeared then in London. He hated that she was using her maiden name, as if she rejected his claim on her as if she wanted to tell him without words that she didn’t belong to him any longer. And yet, she still was very much Y/N Gojo since he fucking burned those blasted divorce forms the very night she left. No, his wife was not going to divorce him now or ever! He wouldn’t allow it.

He always loved and cared for her constantly but now she had become his obsession. The elders kept nagging him about missions getting backed up to which he kindly recommended they go fuck themselves for a while. But finally his conscience nagged the shit out of him and ended up taking care of it. It was after all his life’s mission, the future generations counted on him, he couldn’t slack on it if he wanted to prove to Y/N he was a reformed man, he couldn’t be selfish! He had to prove his worth to his wife.

After London, she completely disappeared. He actually flew there and went to look for her in the house she rented but by the time he got there she was long gone. He wasn’t stupid, he knew Suguru kept track of his movements as well, surely to let Y/N know with enough time to elude him.

Satoru couldn’t believe how in less than a year his life had gone to shit. He had no one to blame other than himself, he was the artifice of his own destruction.

Fucking Sookie… he though back to his past lover and the shit show her pregnancy had been. After Y/N left, Sookie started nagging him about signing the divorce papers so they could be together but at this point Satoru made it clear for her that was never going to happen. He ended all physical intimacy with her immediately and made it clear he was going to take responsibility for the baby but he was not going to be with her as a lover ever again.

It had taken Satoru the longest time to come to terms with the fact he had cheated on his wife out of his egotistical need to stroke his own ego. It had been the most stupid, selfish thing he could have done. When Sookie showed up in Tokyo he found her extremely attractive, he saw her everyday at the school and eventually her attempts to seduce him were successful. It was Satoru’s immature need for constant self idolization that drove him to have an affair. He wanted to somehow put to the test his love for Y/N as if it was an experiment. He indeed loved his wife, much more than he could have ever imagined, more than he could ever love anyone else, but Sookie was a nice distraction and a boost to his need for adoration.

Fucking idiot….

He had been a fucking flaming idiot. Not long after their affair started Sookie wanted more and more from him. Not only material things such as clothes, money, trips… to the point where if he didn’t give into her every whim she would threaten him with telling his wife about them and the baby! That’s when he snapped out of it and realized he had fucked up. It was the same night his wife left.

If only he had realized about it sooner.

Gojo Satoru was a certified asshole but he wasn’t that much of an asshole that he wouldn’t take care of his own child, despite the fact that the mother was the wrong woman. He went to every doctor’s appointment, provided for both mother and unborn child until the day the baby was born.

The whole time he couldn’t help but imagine what would his wife look like if she had been the one pregnant. The image he conjured in his mind of his beautiful Y/N round and glorious with her growing bump. Evidence that she belonged to him and no one else. Shaking his head he often found himself daydreaming about her. Wondering where she was and what she was doing. He missed her… terribly.

-

The day the baby was born had been nothing other than pure karma cashing out on him.

Sookie was a 5’2 blonde girl with amber eyes… but low and behold his surprise when the child that was born was a little dark haired, green eyed baby boy with not a single trace of cursed energy nor any of his features. He saw the dread and fear in Sookie’s eyes “S… Satoru… I can explain” she said trembling while holding the baby in her arms.

Satoru… had never been happier.

It was his second chance to fix everything with his wife.

He approached the blonde woman and said “I don’t care what you have to say… this child is clearly not mine, I am not mad at all. You can keep the apartment and everything else I’ve given you for your son, but I am not taking responsibility for a kid that is not mine. You would do well in finding the actual father and figuring your shit out” after that he walked out of the hospital feeling an incredible weight being lifted from his shoulders. He wasn’t even mad she had been cheating on him, nor that she lied to him for so long. He deserved that! But now he was 100% free to devote himself to his wife and making it up to her. Of course… once he was able to find her.

—-

New York, NY. USA.

It had taken her so much work… blood, tears and sweat was the most fitting description for what her life had been the past few months.

After leaving Japan for good she started moving around like Suguru instructed, never stay too long. Don’t make too many friends, don’t use credit cards! Only cash! Change your appearance often, be invisible! She had turned into a chameleon.

Suguru and her spoke very often, and impressively despite the physical distance that separated them she had never felt closer to him. Suguru Geto was a man of depth and kindness. He was wise beyond his years and the only person she trusted.

With nothing else to focus other than herself she decided to distract herself from her pity party and actually do something about it. Instead of crying, hiding and mopping around she chose to invest herself body and soul into her career which is why she had been in Russia and London. And now in New York.

In Ballet you can be as strong as a linebacker with the endurance of a marathon runner and the heart of a lion. But there is one thing you have that no one else can touch nor have. That’s your flexibility…. You ability to adapt, to change and twist your body at your heart’s desire. Your god given gift of ligaments and tendons… but whatever you have is not enough, is never enough when you want to be the best. You are at war with yourself, battling your body’s need for rest and the desire to curl back up. You break yourself trying to bend yourself.

There are days when your body retaliates and tightens… like a grudge, you go backwards sometimes… but you learn. You find the perfect torture to get the results without destroying the tool that got you this far.

Very much like life itself… it was all about thriving, even when you are in pain. And that is exactly what she did.

———-> Chapter 5

Tags: @Sleepyamaya, @Cloudsinthecosmos, @Jxvajxy, @satoruhooraaa, @my-reality-is-in-my-head

[mikasuxxx]

Now I'm curious. spill the ideas!

omg okay okay so!!! you know all that blabbering i kept posting about girly girl pink loving reader? yeah that was all mostly a self insert lmao. I already have an oc in mind that ive created in the past and shes basically the reader except i never mentioned her till now cause i didnt think anybody would care

but!! basically this super spy girl idea is lowkey inspired by Ada Wong from Resident Evil, like she has the EMF gun and a lot of òther spy gadgets that are issued by the govt yet she still puts glitter and rhinstones on them cause she can

She mostly gathers intel, but if something goes wrong she has no problem with assassinating targets. She will successfully get the mission done by any means necessary

That being said, I'd love to see how she's gonna fit in this game. Shes still their spy and they probably use her to get intel on the Shadow Company to help out Ghost team make their next move. Maybe she fucks a shadow soldier, maybe she fucks Graves himself, who knows. As long as she gets what she needs.

Also? she adores all the boys in the 141. Same thing with Alejandro. shes absolutely in love with that man and would do anything for him AND the squad too

She might be involved in a shootout? but all she has is a silenced pistol with limited ammo (because thats all shes allowed to carry, smh shes pissed about it) She still wants to help out.

OKAY so enough about my oc. I didnt wanna bore you with the long details. So, what i like to think is that even after all the missions in Las Almas, Alejandro and the 141 remain as very good friends, and they hang out most of the time. I havent played the game but i hope after all the successful missions the 141 and Los Vaqueros go to a bar to celebrate and get absolutely trashed. (and Ghost gets to drink Bourbon like a good ol' boy)They also play cards too. Maybe a friendly round of poker too.

Alejandro would drive them around the city, showing them his favorite places to hang out and eat ans they have the absolute time of their lives there. like even Ghost seems to be enjoying himself (although you can tell bc of his mask lol)

Idk. I just really enjoy the idea of them becoming life long friends joined by that whole mess.

Im so sorry if this was too long, im just so glad theres someone who actually wants to listen to my rambles. Hope you enjoyed it tho!!! thank you for the ask!

[miss-smutty]

hii i just discovered ur blog and whew wow- tumblr is severely lacking some daddy hemsworth fics so tyyy

idk if your taking requests rn but could i please request something with thor or chris where he’s had a rough day at work or something and is very angry so he’s really rough in bed with you that evening and you love it! also could it include lots of dom!thor/chris and dirty talk bc that’s my weakness

tyyy if u do this sorry if it was too detailed idk ive never sent a request lol but ty hunny <3

So first of all thank you @mysticbonkoperavoid , I'm so glad you like my fics ❤️

And secondly thank you so much for your amazing request, I literally got lost in this filth 🥵🥵 I hope you like it 😘

A/N- This is just pure filth, so consider yourself warned 😂🥵🥵 strictly 18+ only. Dom!Thor literally had me ✨ clenching ✨

Summary- Thor's had a tough day and nothing you do is helping until you let him take out his frustration on you and become his little slut.

Word count- 3,243 of pure filth

Pairing- Thor x reader

Warnings- Smut, filth, dirty talk, rough sex, swearing

18+ only!!!

Taglist-: @innerpaperexpertcloud

Posted: 22nd Feb 2021

⚡A Push Too Far ⚡

Thor had come home from a mission in a foul mood, you'd tried everything to cheer him up. You'd made him his favourite snack, put on his favourite show and even massaged his big, worn out feet. Nothing was working and you were exhausted with the effort. You selfishly couldn't stand the negative atmosphere and just wanted to know how to make him feel better. If he wouldn't tell you what was wrong how could you help? You were so used to him being overly enthusiastic about everything and hated when he was in one of these moods. Something pretty bad must've happened to dampen his mood this much.

"Just tell me what's wrong and I can help" You huff.

"Will you please just forget it? I don't want to talk about it" Thor said, pushing you off gently when you try to touch him. 

"I want to know what's happened to put you in such a sulky mood." You said teasing him, trying to get his attention. If you couldn't get him to talk to you then you would just have to help him take his frustration out in the best way he knows how.

"Please Y/N, stop talking about it" He says exasperated, you're pushing the last of his nerves and you know it. It's exactly what you want, you know what he's capable of when he's angry.

"Make me." You say, seeing the switch in his eyes as his jaw clenched tightly, the muscles in his neck straining against the skin. You backed away from him slowly, knowing all too well what was coming.

The ground shook around you as bolts of lightning flew from Thor and his eyes glowed brightly making you shield your own eyes from the sudden glare. Immediately knowing you'd pushed him too far. You were frightened but more than that you were massively turned on, your pussy clenching with ferocity. You knew he'd never hurt you, well never more than you could handle but still, angry Thor was a feast for the eyes. Delicious.

"You better shut that pretty little mouth of yours before I put it to work" He bellowed, his eyes still glowing and his jaw clenched together tightly.

"Is that a promise?" You say under your breath, watching Thor through your eyelashes as he towered over you.

"On your knees" He commanded, with the power of a God, making you weak as his voice rebounded from the walls of the large, almost empty room with a dramatically high ceiling. 

"But..." You start before he cuts you off.

"Did I stutter? do as you're told" He urged, looking down at your petite frame before him. His powerful demeanor making you do exactly as you were told. Looking up at him with innocent eyes as you knelt on the hard, wooden floor.

He circled around you, like a wolf and his prey, taking in the sight of you kneeling like a victim. Purposefully not touching you, the anticipation of when he would strike making you hold your breath. Your panties are already soaking wet and the buldge in his pants is straining against his trousers.

Thor moves to stand in front of you, his legs planted a foot width apart while he gazes down at you, a slow, wicked smile appearing on his lips. Tortuously, slowly unzipping his trousers and pulling out his lofty length, gripping it firmly with his two hands.

"I think that pretty little face deserves to be fucked" oh fuck, Thor, now you're talking. Now was your turn to smile devishly at Thor, ready and waiting for him to feed your slutty little mouth with his fat cock.

He disappears behind you, you try to turn around to follow him with your eyes but he grabs your hair, pulling you back. It made you ache but not your head, it made your pussy ache. 

"Don't move" He whispers into your ear, still pulling your hair back so you're looking up at him. Pulling a hair tie from his wrist and wrapping it around your hair at the nape of your neck. Wait a minute, where did he get that from? It dawns on you that he's had this planned since the minute he'd got home, the only way he knows how to take his frustration out. Probably knowing you wouldn't be able to take his silent treatment and push him too far in the end anyway. Oh you sneaky man, Thor. 

It feels like a painstakingly long time before he's finally back in front of you, his trousers and boxers now discarded on the floor behind you. Taking in the sight of his thick, muscly thighs and his long, thick cock have you licking your pouty lips. You want to reach up and pull his t-shirt off too but he grabs hold of your wrists as they snake their way up his torso. 

"Ah ah ah, are you going to be good? or am I going to have to tie you up?” He asks in a gruff tone making you put out your bottom lip as you sit back on to your ankles. Your knees beginning to ache from the hard floorboards.

"Does it hurt?" He asks, watching you whince with a satisfied look on his face "Do you want a cushion?" He says in a teasing voice while you nod your head with pleading eyes.

"What do you say?" Bending to pick up the cushion from the couch and holding it out of arms reach, smiling sinfully.

"Please" You say sweetly, more than happy to play his game. Your whole body aching with need. At last he pulls his t-shirt over his head, his biceps flexing as he does, your heart racing at the sight of his ravishing nakedness. That perfect body is all yours.

"Strip" he says seductively looking you up and down, throwing the cushion on the floor by your knees and pulling you up and against his rock hard cock. A squeel emits from your mouth, his hands gripping your cheeks firmly.

You look at him for a second, dumbfounded. You're used to him taking the lead and ripping your clothes off in a heated frenzy, this is new.

Elated with the fact he's allowing you to give him a show for once, you drape the straps of your dress over your shoulder, pushing him down on the couch with a hard shove to the chest. Watching that slow smile spread on his lips and his cock bounce, satisfyingly, with the impact.

Pulling the dress down to your feet and stepping out of it, standing proudly in your lacey underwear. Cocking your eyebrow at him as you hook your thumbs into the side of your panties, pulling them down a fraction. You stop to move closer to him, reaching your hands out to touch his bare skin.

"No touching or I swear I'll tie your hands" He says nonchalantly, his eyes hungry with lust, you pout at him, disappointed you can't touch him.

He watches you intensely as you finish taking off your panties and bra, holding in a giggle when you throw them at him and they hit him square in the face.

"You smell, delicious" He surprises you when he licks his lips, no hint of a smile on his face just that deep intense glare of a predator. The word 'delicious' rolls of his tongue, delectably. The way he stares into your soul, taking in every inch of your nude body, makes your stomach clench, your pussy dripping with arousal.

"Now back on your knees" He says, standing back Infront of you, his cock eye level.

Grabbing your ponytail with one hand and guiding his cock to your mouth with his other. You open your mouth instinctively, widely, like the good little slut you are.

Thor takes no prisoners and rams his cock deep into your mouth, making you gag instantly. Your lips wrap around his cock, the length and thickness filling you up. He yanks your hair backwards so your looking into his eyes while he slams his cock in and out of your mouth.

"Look me in the eyes while you take my cock" oh for the love of God... and Thunder. your pussy is dripping, aching for it. "Good girl" 

He pushes your head down on his cock, as far as you can go. You can feel the tip hitting your tonsils and the shaft throbbing in your mouth. You're gagging, spit dribbling down your chin in a disgusting manner. Your eyes brimming with tears as he rams his cock to the back of your throat. 

"Choke on it" he groans, his head hanging back. You feel the confidence to reach out and cup his balls, knowing he wouldn't chastise you when he's too consumed in the ecstasy of your lips and tongue wrapping around his cock.

"Is that better? Are you satisfied now you've got my full attention?" He looks down at you, a deep hunger in his eyes. You were nowhere near satisfied yet, not until you felt his cock stretching your walls but you couldn't tell him that, he'd just tease you for even longer.

"Mmm" you mumble around the length of his dick.

"Don't talk with your mouth full" he scolds huskily, his voice filled with lust.

You hold onto his firm cheeks while you suck his dick, letting your tongue do the work, running over the full length and teasing the tip. Sucking on the tip, hard, while you grip the base with your hand. You can feel his cock throbbing in your mouth, amazed with how hard he is. You know he's struggling with restraining himself, just as much as you, he'll just never admit it. 

Thor lets out a deep growl, thrusting his dick into your mouth one last time before sharply pulling out with a pop. You were actually upset he'd stopped you, you were enjoying sucking his fat dick. He pulls you up to stand before grabbing your cheeks in his hands and lifting you up, wrapping your legs around him.

You want to kiss him so bad. You hang on to him as he pushes you back against the wall, hard enough to leave a bruise. The feel of his cock thrusting against you has you mewling as he bites hard on your neck. Shivers travel through your entire body, finally feeling his lips against your skin and the thrill of his teeth biting against your neck. The fine line between pain and pleasure being well and truly explored.

You're lost in the feel of his teeth against your skin and muscle, moaning loudly, you barely notice when he sets your feet back onto the ground. Sucking loudly on your neck, your head hanging to the side giving yourself to him freely.

"Im gunna leave marks all over your skin so everybody knows you're mine." He says breathlessly against your skin, his breathe tickling your neck making your hair stand on end, your pussy clenching, agonisingly.

Thor pushes his forearm against your throat so you're locked in between him and the wall, no where to go. Staring into your eyes, making you blush as he pushes two fingers into your mouth without warning.

"Suck" he commands, his voice gruff and deep, oozing authority. You know his fingers are going to delve into you and you can't wait, sucking eagerly on his legthy, stocky fingers.

Before you have time to draw breath, he thrusts his fingers into your opening. Immediately curling them around to find your G-spot. Satisfaction plastered on his face when he hears your moaning, knowing he's got you right where he wants you. 

"You love this, don’t you? Let me hear how much you love it.” He whispers into your ear, his arm still pushing against your throat. You can barely take anymore, his sultry words and his thick fingers making your head spin. Nothing else in the world matters right at this moment, he fills you with narcotic desire. Like a drug to you, you can't get enough, always wondering when you'll get your next fix. If you could get away with making him lose his temper on a daily basis, just so could feel this amount of pleasure, you would.

You moan for him obscenely, you're eyes pooling with desire and hunger. His fingers repeatedly hitting your spot, harshly, bringing you over the edge. Your mouth hangs open, your eyes rolling to the back of your head as your pussy clenches around his fingers.

"Does that feel good" he asks captivatingly, holding is arm against your throat and fucking you with his fingers.

"Amazing" You say breathless, the huskiness of your voice surprising you. His face is so close to yours and your senses so hightened that his masculine scent hits your nostrils. His otherworldly fragrance. The smell you long for on those long nights he's away. It hits you and you're consumed by it, your legs starting to shake as your mind loses control. The orgasm rushing from your core.

Then it's gone, just like that. You open your eyes, noticing they're about to burst with tears. You were so close!

"I don't care how good it feels, don't you dare come yet" he says venomously, you honestly feel like your about to start crying. The build up was so intense and then it was just gone and you still feel that deep need. Thor is looking pleased with himself and if you weren't so turned on by the look on his face, you would've slapped him straight across it. Cocky shit! 

You were about to protest, but he saved you from the punishment when he stuck his fingers into your mouth again. Your slickness coated all over them.

"Now see how good you taste, how wet I make you" you looked him in the eyes resentfully and for just a moment you saw his eyes soften. Only a moment before they're filled with fire once more and he's pulling you to the bedroom across the room. Still fighting the urge to finally have his way with you, taking his precious time to tease you beyond your limits. To show you who's the boss around here. As if you ever had any doubts.

Throwing you onto the bed and pushing your knees open with force. You can feel your pussy throbbing with anticipation knowing it's not long until he finally gives you what you've been craving from the start.

Thor effortlessly clamps both of your wrists above your head in a vice like grip with his big, manly hands, leaving you writhing, like his prey, on the bed below him. You breathe a sigh of relief when he finally reaches down to kiss your lips, biting on your bottom lip hard enough to draw blood.

"Keep your hands here" Emphasising 'here' with a squeeze of your wrists. You try to stay perfectly still while he moves down your body, straining your neck to watch what he does next.

“What a perfect sight, you, all spread out for me to do whatever I want to” he says, positioning himself in-between your legs. Seeing you in all your glory, your pussy dripping wet making him lick his lips.

You gasp when his lips latch on to your inner thigh, so sensitive to his touch. Biting and sucking all the way down each thigh, your going to be covered in hickies come tomorrow morning. You know that's his plan, he loves to see the remnants of the night befores dirty sessions. Even if no one else can see them, he knows they're there, a reminder that you're his.

"Just marking my territory" he reminds you, confirming your suspicions.

"I know exactly what you're doing" you say through gritted teeth, the pain and pleasure unbearable.

"Let’s find out how much you can take before you're begging me for my cock.”

All you can do is nod your head while you bite down on your bottom lip, afraid how shaky your voice will be if you try to speak. 

The sudden slap to your pussy makes you shout out, completely unexpected but hot as fuck all the same, sending shockwaves throughout your whole body.

"You like that?" He slaps you again, hitting your clit with his fingertips and making you convulse uncontrollably. You can see the restraint on Thor's face, the vein protruding from his neck and the tightness in his jaw are the tell tale signs. You know he's about to burst.

"I love to see you squirm now I want to hear you moan" he grabs onto your hips and turns you over, pulling you on to your knees. His movements getting sloppy and desperate now, the lust taking over him.

You inhale as Thor presses the tip of his cock to your opening, brushing it up and down and gathering your wetness. Your legs threaten to give way as he teases you with his cock, you can't stop yourself from pushing yourself back onto him.

"Do you think you deserve my cock?" his voice was heavy with desire. 

"Yes, Thor... Please" you plead, more than worthy after the torture he's put you through.

Thor eases himself in gradually, while you push yourself backwards, no more patience left in you. Holding on to your hips and exhaling, the satisfaction of finally feeling your walls clamping around him. You whince as he slams himself into you with full force, his balls slapping against you. The sounds of sex filling your ears in a glorious way.

"You won't... be able... to walk... after I'm done... with you" he says between every thrust, knocking you forward with every slam. Your orgasm is building already, you can feel your walls tightening, trying to push him out as he holds on to your hips relentlessly.

He grips hold of your ponytail, yanking it backwards, so your head is as far back as it can go, your neck straining. He squats above you, dipping his dick into you, so deep you can feel it in your stomach. This position is fucking everything, he knows you're about to come and sends a slight electrical charge straight through your core just as you release around him. It feels fucking amazing! 

Thor reaches forward and hooks his finger into your mouth, pulling your cheek back as he continually pounds into you. Orgasm after orgasm gushing all over his cock, dribbling out of your aching pussy until you're kneeling in a puddle of your arousal. Your screaming his name, your pussy throbbing, squeezing against his cock. You know he's struggling to restrain when he inhales sharply.

"Dirty fucking slut" he says venomously.

"You fucking love it don't you?" His voice is breathless and deep, you can't take much more. The power of your come is pushing him out, making you ridiculously tight. You can feel his cock twinging as his powerful come shoots into you, he roars so loudly the bed shakes around you. You finally collapse into the bed head first, your knees giving way as he rests against you with his cock still inside of you, twitching and convulsing.

"Are you ok, baby?" Thor asks sweetly, his frustration finally dissipated, rubbing your ass cheeks tenderly.

"More than ok" you say breathless and tired, rolling over onto your back underneath him and pulling him down on to you.

Finally his lips are on yours, passionately, forcing your mouth open and stroking your tongue with his. Kissing you like his life depended on it, making up for the hours spent without the feel of your lips on his. A deep feeling of satisfaction washed over you, he's yours and you're his and you can fuck like animals but still collapse into each other arms lovingly afterwards.

"Are you going to tell me what's wrong now?" You tease, making him laugh a great big belly laugh as he pulls you over on top of him.

[folklorefairyy]

* my all time faves!

celebration post !

this list could be so much longer and there are some amazing moots i have that i havent included or haven’t had the chance to read for (namely bucky since that list is so big dhdhd) and so check out the moots tagged on my celebration post and go check out all their works because they are genuinely amazing)

i might do another of these one day so that i can get more fics on but just know if you’re a moot and i havent included a fic of yours i love your work and i love you and i just think ur amazing

➱ Bucky Barnes

wakanda by @buckybarnesdiaries *

Steve gives you Bucky's dog tags for a reason.

froot loops by @burninmatches // more than just destruction *

bucky helps you during a tough time and maybe your relationship is not just mentor and student.

drunk in love by @burninmatches

you got infected by the love serum and now you’ve fallen in love with one of your closests friends, peter parker. what happens to your boyfriend, bucky barnes?

as long as i’m here, no one can hurt you by @blackberrybucky *

bucky holds you through the sadness

i’d never hurt you by @cap-n-stuff *

bucky x short!civilian!fem!reader who meet in Bucharest with reader as a tourist and as Bucky’s getting his plums reader trips and catches her - a relationship ensues yet the fairytale comes crashing down when Bucky is framed for the UN bombing and Steve and Sam come to get him

innocence by @extremelyblackandwhite

bucky barnes, recently retired avenger, is hired as a bodyguard for an innocent upcoming actress.

warm by @revengingbarnes *

“The fire alarm in our building went off and you rushed out without a coat. Wanna share my blanket?”

period. by @greyslytherin

Bucky Barnes taking care of the reader while she’s on her period

bucky having a nightmare by @cap-n-stuff

imagine bucky having a nightmare and walking into the readers room with a blanket and waking her up asking to be the small spoon

➱ Peter Maximoff

the coolest twinkie by @amourtentiaa *

where the reader discovers they have a mutation and is lowkey panicking and Peter is just there like “BUT THIS IS AWESOME!” and just generally full of encouragement while trying to calm you tf down

adventures in parenting 101: nightmares by @milkytheholy

peter maximoff x reader being new parents and raising a kid in the mansion

ivy by @sunflowergirl522 *

Your mutation is controlling and growing plants. Peter spots you one day while he’s running and makes it his mission to get close to you. You then use flowers to tell him what you think of him without actually saying it.

(just check out zoe’s full peter maximoff masterlist because she’s bloody incredible at writing peter and i need to read more of them!!)

bad behaviour by @free-pool-trash *

Peter x Reader where they’re in the sitcom reality and Billy and/or Tommy get in trouble in school so they ask them to pretend to be their parents so Wanda and Vision don’t find out

convenience store by @quicksilverownsmysoul

you work at the local convenience store, everyday the same, that is until someone speeds by. Someone brings a little more excitement to your life than you bargained for

➱ Pietro Maximoff

the other half by @burninmatches

You and Pietro have been walking through the fine line past friends and before… something else. Perhaps a handful of moments, though the domestic bliss of sharing food to the boiling feelings under your skin, would change everything. 

double sided recipe card by @vanillann *

where the reader tries to cook sokovian food for him because he’s homesick

kiss of life by @dem-obscure-imagines

You are an Avenger with the power to heal. However, you didn’t expect to catch feelings for the man you brought back from the dead.

➱ Peter Parker

sweater weather by @beskar-tano *

You spend a cozy evening by the bonfire with the Avengers and your boyfriend, Peter Parker.

the ship by @itsapeterthing *

you and your best friend and teammate, peter parker, go to a costume party only to discover that everyone believes that you and peter’s alternate super-hero identities are dating.

stuck in my brain by @felicityparkers

whatever music that is stuck in your head is stuck in your soulmate’s head too.

i have them too by @tom-holland-is-spiderman

A headcanon of Peter Parker comforting the reader with stretch marks and they get ashamed of them so they hide their body from Peter making him feel sad.

by the elevator by @peterbenjiparker * (there are two parts to this and the second is linked on the op)

You break your hand after punching the elevator door. But luckily the cute boy is there to help out. You thought you would never see him again but you both keep running into each other by the same elevator.

➱ Thor Odinson

totally not a date by @superficialstark *

in which you go on a double date with tony and pepper expecting steve to show up as a mate date and instead being met with thor who you can’t help but be charmed by

but i just wanna hear your voice by @blackberrybucky

thor comes back after they defeat thanos and tries to make things right with you.

➱ Wanda Maximoff

of taunts and tickles by @beskar-tano *

Wanda spent the past few days trying to cheer you up and bring you out of your dreadful slump. After trying almost everything, she resorted to her last hopeful idea: a tickle fight.

➱ Natasha Romanoff

my girl by @beskar-tano

Natasha surprises you with a romantic date by the lake, surrounded by the beautiful scenery as fall takes its toll on the changing leaves. 

➱ i’d love for you guys to suggest some fics for steve, sam and loki because i apparently don’t know of any in this dodgy brain of mine (she’s not working as i make this dhdhd) - you can also send some in for any i’ve not got too many fics on so far!

i havent written or read for star wars in so long (dw i am still a sw account and i love my sw moots ive just been on a marvel kick and haven’t had time to read many moots fics recently so they’re all piling up lol) and so i don’t think i could come up with a comprehensive enough list given the fact that there’s so many amazing fics coming out each day!

so instead i thought i’d direct you to some accounts that have some phenomenal work that i instantly fall in love with each time!!

➱ @etherealsanakin

poe dameron, anakin skywalker

➱ @xwing-baby

din djarin, poe dameron, star wars oc

➱ @dindjarindiaries

din djarin

➱ @sunsetkenobi

obi-wan kenobi, anakin skywalker, boba fett, din djarin, padmé amidala, rey, luke skywalker

➱ @artiza-n

anakin skywalker, marvel! (namely bucky)

➱ @beskar-tano

anakin skywalker, obi-wan kenobi, boba fett, din djarin, luke skywalker, fennec shand, poe dameron

➱ @anakinswhore

anakin skywalker

➱ @anakinlove

anakin skywalker

➱ @betweentwopines

din djarin, anakin skywalker, padmé amidala etc.

these are just some accounts that i have read regularly or some moots who post for these characters (and i need to get around reading for) but there’s so many more incredible writers for sw on here, some that i’m moots with too, that can self plug here if they want!! (my brain isn’t working today so i can’t think of everyone)

[alj4890]

I got an ask we know Riley gets kidnapped by Anton but what if Anton was in love with her and he didn’t wanna kill her but makes her his. What if Olivia killed Claudus for shooting drake.

I love the way you think, Nonny! I actually would have eaten this up with a spoon if that had happened in canon. To be honest, I really liked Justin in book 2. If he had been a new love interest, I would have done a play through just to see what happens if Riley chose him 🤦🏻 Of course then we find out he is behind all the bombings and such so...oops, LOL. When I first saw your request, I made an aesthetic with just Justin/Anton and Riley in mind. I completely forgot to add a definite OTP of mine, Drake and Olivia, to it. Smh. The story though will definitely include them along with Riley and Justin. I am so tempted to turn this into a series 🙊

@gkittylove99 @krsnlove @kingliam2019 @texaskitten30 @yourmajesty09 @mom2000aggie @ofpixelsandscribbles @twinkleallnight @lodberg  @amandablink @neotericthemis  @mm2305 @sfb123 @iufilms

Masterlist

True Intentions

It had happened when he had not been paying attention. It shouldn't have happened at all. He had one goal. One mission. Nothing had ever come to mean more to him than that. Nothing. No one.

Until Riley.

He knew he shouldn't have spent so much time with her. He shouldn't have helped Maxwell in picking the right dresses for her. He shouldn't have stuck around to see her come out of dressing rooms, an excited smile upon her face, as she twirled around for them to give their opinions.

It had taken all his will power to keep from telling her what he truly thought. Riley's beauty was simply stunning, not because of her outer loveliness, but more that he saw her inner beauty shining through each trial she faced. Her strength amazed him. Her wit brought a smile to his face. Her kindness touched his heart.

It made him begin to long for things he shouldn't. They shouldn't be a part of any dream or plan he had.

And yet...she was beginning to crop up in his thoughts. In his dreams.

In his plans.

He winced as he tried to get comfortable.

His plans hadn't exactly gone as he had hoped. In fact, he should have talked to his men and explained that Riley was not to be a target.

Thank God for Drake. If he hadn't jumped in front of her, she would have been taken from me.

His lips twisted in another painful grimace.

"Are you in pain?"

Justin looked up and tried to smile. "Just a little."

His nurse shook her head. "I told you to buzz before it got too bad." She gently checked his wound.

"I don't want to be a bother." He mumbled.

"You aren't." She patted his hand. "You aren't any trouble at all." Her nose wrinkled. "We had a few nobles cause unnecessary problems when the attack happened."

"Really?"

She rolled her eyes. "Some were knocked down during the chaos and demanded they be admitted."

He chuckled softly. "Sounds like something they would do."

"It's a shame that good people like you were seriously hurt while those spoiled nobles try and take all the attention." She readjusted his covers after administering some more pain medication in his IV. "I don't know why King Liam is so hellbent on bringing them back to court."

"What do you mean?" Justin tried to fight the effects of the pain medicine. "What's he doing?"

"He and Lady Riley are going on some type of tour to some of the major houses to personally invite them to their wedding."

His brow furrowed.

A unity tour. That would work on these small minded individuals. It was a smart move. The public were already Team Riam. Once the royal couple convinced the most powerful houses to come to their wedding, all the other minor lords and ladies would follow suit.

"Well played, Liam." Justin's eyes drooped closed. "Well played."

**************

He couldn't believe that they not only convinced Madeleine's entire family, but also somehow got all of Portavira on their side.

"What's the plan?" Claudius asked.

"We need something big to remind everyone that we aren't a one trick pony." Justin told him.

He looked out the window. Leaves were beginning to change with the first hints of autumn in the air.

A hint of a smile appeared as a plan began to form.

"It would be a shame if Cordonia's apple orchard had a bad year, wouldn't it?" He eyed his second in command.

Claudius chuckled. "It really would."

******************

Justin watched as every channel showed the devastation of the orchard near Applewood. He couldn't help but smile over Riley making the people love her even more for her righteous anger. Her promises to bring those responsible to justice along with making the orchard bigger than before made him nearly burst with pride.

She had grown into her role more so than he had ever imagined. Gone was the timid young waitress from New York who uttered no comment when reporters surrounded her. She was a confident woman now who could think on her feet.

Justin thought she was more attractive than the first time he had seen her floundering in front of the cameras, in desperate need of a hero. It hadn't been a bother to rush to her side then and put his arm around her. Her wide eyes had lifted to his and he had nearly melted from her beauty.

He still couldn't believe that she forgave Liam for choosing another over her. Granted Madeleine impressed him with how she could manipulate reporters into spinning a story to her advantage, but Riley was so many things that the cold countess was not. She deserved better than what she got.

And he planned on giving it to her.

*****************

A week after the orchard burning, he turned to see the one rarely far from his thoughts.

"Justin!" Riley rushed over to engulf him in a hug.

"How's my favorite media darling?" He asked.

She leaned back and gave him that smile that was brighter than flash bulbs. "Much better now that I know you're recovering." She playfully glanced about before whispering, "Save me from Madeleine!"

He laughed as he hugged her once more. "I don't know. I've seen her work and can't find fault with it."

Riley pouted. She linked her arm with his as they walked down the hospital hallway. "I prefer your guidance to hers." Her nose wrinkled. "It's weird being told how to act by Liam's former fiancée. I know there wasn't anything between them, but still."

Justin patted her hand. "Tell you what. If Madeleine is unable to do her job or you decide to fire her, then I will gladly step back into my old position." He dug around in his pocket for the earpiece she had used during Liam's engagement tour.

Her smile reappeared. "Old faithful."

"I'm always Just-in-time." He teased.

*****************

It had been too close. He hadn't expected Riley to go anywhere near Constantine. And there she was, by Liam's side, graciously accepting some necklace from the old man who had destroyed her initial happily ever after.

His heart had nearly stopped as he watched rubble fall around them. Riley had frozen in fear over Liam's safety. It was a nightmare come to life as pieces of the wall and ceiling began to collapse.

At least one good thing had come from this: one king was dead.

It sadly wasn't the king he needed to die.

Justin began to plan how he would comfort Riley once Liam was gone. He wouldn't have to tell her it was he, himself, who orchestrated his death. But he would make certain to enjoy the benefits of it.

His eyes narrowed over another slight problem he had.

He was going to have to kill his own wife too.

******************

Lythikos...

It had been almost too easy. Madeleine was already in need of a distraction after hearing Liam gush over how excited he was to marry Riley in a few weeks. Once she requested a fruity cocktail, he knew then that the poison could go undetected taste wise.

The bartender left to go replenish the champagne. Madeleine's irritation over having to wait on a refill was drawing attention.

"Here." He grinned at her. "Allow me to make you another."

Her eyes widened. "Aren't you that press secretary that helped Riley?"

"I am." He began to mix a strong cocktail for her while adding the poison, all right under her nose. "And I must say you are the best I've ever seen."

Madeleine's irritation disappeared over the compliment. "I am, aren't I?"

"Riley's lucky to have someone so knowledgeable in ways of both the court and public like you." He added.

"Yes, she is." Madeleine muttered. "I'll do anything for my country, even if it is a thankless job."

"You should be recognized for your sacrifice." Justin handed her the deadly drink.

"Yes, I should." She took a gulp.

"How is it?" He asked.

"It's the only good thing here." A tipsy grin appeared on her face when she saw Riley. She grasped Justin's hand and pulled him in her wake. "Let's go say, hi."

"Boooooo!" Madeleine giggled when Riley turned around. "It's the ghosts of press secretary past and present."

"The what now?" Riley lips trembled with suppressed laughter as she looked up at Justin for clarification.

"I'm the ghost of press secretary past." He winked at her.

"OoooOooo!" Madeleine swayed where she stood.

"Whoa, there." Riley tried to steady her. "You okay?"

"She's had a little too much." Justin mimed drinking.

"It's a party!" Madeleine slurred. "It's in the worst place ever but it's a party and I'm going to...going to..."

"Enjoy it?" Riley offered.

"Extractly!" Madeleine's brow wrinkled over that not being the right word. "Expactly?"

"Exactly." Justin corrected.

"That."

The crowd quieted around them when Olivia took the stage to offer a final toast of the evening to Liam and Riley's wedding.

"Woo!" Madeleine cheered.

Riley and Justin tried to shush her.

Her giddy smile fell as her rosy cheeks drained of color. "Somefing's not..."

"Madeleine?" Riley lost her grip on her when she swayed violently to the right. "What's--"

Madeleine hit a table, causing the plates to clatter and the vase of blood red roses to fall over.

"I hate this place." She collapsed on the floor.

"Madeleine!" Riley dropped to her knees and tried to bring her to. "Liam! Mara! Come quick!"

Justin stepped back as the two came to see what was wrong. He watched as Olivia made her way through the crowd to find out what the all the fuss was about.

"What's wrong with her?" Riley asked.

"She's been poisoned." Mara whispered.

*******************

Justin loved seeing the delighted surprise once more on Riley's face when he said he would take over Madeleine's duties for the rest of the tour. It would have been a perfect moment if Liam had not been standing there. He was ashamed to think of his nearly giving himself away when he panicked at the sight of Olivia walking in behind him.

He wished Lucretia would quit trying to push Olivia into going into the family vault. She had a sick sense of humor in wanting her niece to discover she was already married. For some reason, she did not approve of the way her niece depended on her friends for support.

Justin knew the power friends could have. Had he not been trained by his own parents' friends, he wouldn't be the worthy man next in line to the throne. His comradery with his own men inspired their loyalty and willingness to die to make him king.

He needed to distance himself from Lucretia the moment they got out of Lythikos.

****************

She was supposed to come alone! Why did she bring Riley? I can't kill her. I need her. I deserve to have a choice in the one I want ruling by my side. The people already adore her, much more so than they admire Olivia. I was supposed to become free of this marriage. Once she and Liam are dead, I'll be able to be king and have--

"Justin?" Riley's eyes were clouded with confusion as she looked first at a picture of him dressed in a royal uniform. "What is this?"

"I'm sorry, Riley." His voice cracked on her name.

Justin reached in his pocket and pulled out a revolver.

Lucretia cackled with glee as she told her niece the truth about her marriage.

Justin stood there silently as the woman he loved shook her head in denial.

She's so incredibly sweet to doubt a friend could be the bad guy. I hate that I can't pull her away from all this and simply explain why I should be the ruler of Cordonia. I deserve it. I worked for it. My entire life was made for me to take the crown. She would be able to understand that. Look how far she's come in her own life. Who could imagine a waitress from some dive bar in America would come to be the next queen of a small European nation?

"Do it already!" Lucretia hissed. "Shoot her!"

He couldn't do it. Even as he held the gun steady, pointed directly at the woman he loved's heart, he couldn't shoot Riley.

"Get away from her!" Liam ordered.

Justin spun around to see the king and guards filling up the narrow passageway.

"I thought you said this was secure." Justin snapped at Lucretia.

"It was." She held her hands up in surrender.

Justin watched as she stepped forward, pretending to stumble.

His eyes widened as once again his love was trapped within a collapsing room.

He managed to see her safely end up in Liam's arms before escaping through a hidden passage.

He left Lucretia to the guards. She had served her purpose and was sadly of no use to him any longer. Now he could plan what he truly wanted to happen.

*******************

Liam and Riley's wedding day...

"I don't care who you kill. Olivia and Riley are to be taken alive." Justin told the small team of men he was sending in. "If you have to wound them to get them here, make certain Riley's is non life threatening.

He ignored the questioning look Claudius sent his way.

"Bring them both to our stronghold." His eyes narrowed. "Do not fail me."

****************

Later that night...

"Good work." Justin straightened his jacket. He wanted to look his best when he saw Riley again.

Claudius smirked at him. "Just think of all the men we would still have if you had let me go alone."

Justin chuckled. "True, but at least we are free of our weakest links." He smoothed his hair back. "Now take me to our guests."

***************

"I know the real Justin is somewhere in there." Riley leaned as far forward as her bindings allowed. "You helped me gain the love of the people. You know that if you kill me, the people will not readily accept you as king."

He couldn't help but smile. "I know and that is why I don't intend to hurt you."

"Then why kidnap us?" Olivia demanded.

He turned toward her. "If I'm to be king, then I have to take the necessary steps to claim the throne." He motioned for Claudius to come in.

"You're the one who shot Drake!" Olivia shouted, struggling against the ropes biting into her tender skin. "You'll regret that."

"And you tried to kill me!" Riley added, narrowing her eyes.

"That was a mistake." Justin quickly said. "You were never to be harmed."

"Then why all the attempts?" She asked. "Why do you persist in--"

"You weren't supposed to be here, Riley." He knelt down in front of her. "You should have stayed in New York until the time was right"

Her eyebrows drew together. "What are you talking about.

Justin asked Claudius to remain with Olivia while he took Riley somewhere private.

"If you think for one second that I will remain with this man while you take her away go do only God knows what," Olivia's chair creaked at her straining to break free, "then you don't know what a Nevarkis is truly made of!"

Justine rolled his eyes over her rant as he untied Riley from her chair. He kept her ankles and wrists bound together. He swept her into his arms and carried her out.

Olivia's shouts were silenced by the sound of a hard slap.

Riley struggled in Justin's arms. "What did he do to her? OLIVIA?!" Tears streamed down her cheeks. "Justin, please don't--"

"Nothing's happened to her." He took her into a surprisingly clean, yet drab, sitting room.

Riley was dropped on a chaise lounge. She eyed the door then Justin.

"I'm not going to hurt you." He repeated. He gently cupped her cheek, fingers brushing along her jaw line. "I love you too much to ever harm you."

Riley stilled. She looked up at him. "You what?"

He knelt before her. "I'm in love with you. It didn't hit me until you told me you had accepted Liam's proposal on the train. I didn't plan it, but I refuse to hide my feelings any longer." He smiled at her. "You've proven yourself as the rightful Queen of Cordonia. Once Liam and Olivia are dead, you and I can rule this country as we see fit. We'll--"

Riley shook her head. "Justin," she believed he was deranged and knew she had to handle this carefully, "I'm flattered. Really I am. I mean, we both know I would never have gotten this far without you."

His smile grew at her realizing she owed him for her meteoric rise within the court.

"But if you kill Liam and Olivia, the people will not feel any love or loyalty for you." She tilted her head as she studied him. "Surely you see the problem with this plan."

"People respect power." He explained. "They respect someone who fights for what is rightfully his. Since my birth, I have been meant for something greater. My parents, Olivia's family, even my soldiers realized that I alone am worthy to rule over this country." He focused once more upon her. "And I've seen that you are the one to do so by my side."

Riley shook her head. "Justin, I am honored," her voice cracked on that lie, "to have your love but I can't accept it." Her eyes filled with tears. "I'm in love with Liam."

"Riley, he didn't choose you." Justin argued. "He left you on your own to fight against nobles, the press, even his own father. You deserve so much more than being an afterthought."

Tears slipped down her cheeks once more. "That wasn't what he did. He was trying to protect me. And I--"

He leaned down and kissed her.

She froze at the touch, refusing to participate.

"Once Liam's gone, you will see the truth." Justin promised.

"I won't." Her eyes narrowed. "As long as I live, I'll hate you with everything within me for taking him from me."

"You don't have it in you." He shook his head in amusement. "You've forgiven everyone. Olivia, Penelope, Madeleine, even Constantine. You never hold a grudge."

"You'll be my first." Riley vowed. "Liam is the love of my life. If you ruin my chance to finally be with him, I will never forgive you. As long as there is breath in my body, I will find a way to destroy you."

"You are amazing." He murmured, knowing she was speaking from her heart. He couldn't wait for that devotion to be for himself.

"Anton?"

The two turned to see Claudius in the doorway. "Liam should be here any moment."

Justin nodded and told him he would meet him and the rest of the men downstairs.

He lifted Riley in his arms and placed her back in the cell with Olivia.

His wife had the bruised imprint of Claudius's hand on her alabaster cheek. Blood had dried on her bottom lip. No tears had fallen from the force of the hit. Her left eye was bloodshot as she glared up at him.

"Liv?" Riley choked out. "Are you--"

"I'm fine." Her harsh answer echoed in the chamber. "It will take more than some two bit thug to hurt me." Her eyes did a quick scan to make certain Riley wasn't hurt.

"If you will excuse me, I have to go prepare for Liam's last night on earth." He retied Riley to her chair.

She threw her head back with all her might to connect with his face.

His glasses broke from the force of her strike. Blood poured out his nose as he stumbled away from her.

"Don't ever," his voice dropped to a hiss, "do that again, my love." He gripped her chin and jerked her face up toward his. "You will learn how to behave soon enough."

He slammed the cell door and left them alone.

"Did he hurt you?" Olivia whispered.

"No." Riley bit her bottom lip. "Not yet."

*****************

"Where is my wife?" Liam demanded.

Justin couldn't help but be impressed. The young king was standing before him, completely outnumbered, yet didn't show the slightest flicker of fear.

He asked the one question that he himself would have asked if Riley was taken from him.

"She is well." Justin replied. "Which is something I can't promise about your own well being."

"I want to see her." Liam bit out. "Now!"

Justin's chuckle was interrupted by a hastily whispered message from Claudius. His head jerked around to search the dim hallway as if doing so would reveal the missing prisoners.

How had they escaped?

"You don't get to make demands here." He snapped at Liam.

"Let Riley and Olivia go." Liam ordered. "And I will take their place." His eyes narrowed. "I know it is a temporary one."

Justin couldn't help but smile. The man was indeed brave to trade his life for Riley and Olivia's.

"No!" Riley screamed out from the stairs.

Chaos broke out as she led the charge to attack the Sons of the Earth. Justin watched as she ran over to protect Liam's back.

The couple were doing their utmost to protect the other from harm.

Their friends were taking his well trained soldiers out one by one. It was embarrassing to see how pitiful his men fought.

Olivia moved into his line of sight. Fury blazed across her delicate features.

"I'm impressed." He told her, unsheathing his sword. "I should have searched you myself."

"Trust me." Olivia circled him. "It will be the last mistake you'll ever make!"

She lunged at him. He easily parried her attack. "I think you've forgotten that it was your parents who gave me the same training you had."

"I think you talk too much!" She twirled about, bringing her daggers up to stop his sword from meeting her shoulder. He grunted from her heel piercing his leg as she pushed off to break his hold.

They continued to try and deliver punishing blows to the other. She was desperate to kill the man who was after her friends and country. He was anxious to be free of their marriage.

He noticed from the corner of his eye Claudius and Drake fighting. His second in command stunned the commoner with an uppercut to his jaw, causing Drake to stumble back into a wall.

Olivia heard the scuffle and followed Justin's line of sight. Her face paled at Claudius moving towards Drake to end him once and for all.

With a flick of her wrists she not only slashed Justin but threw her other dagger at Claudius. It struck true along the side of his neck, cutting into his jugular. He let out a garbled scream as he fell to the floor.

Justin hissed at the deep gash she had made along his ribcage.

Seeing that it was a lost battle, he hopped the banister and began to rush upstairs. He would have to go into hiding once more before orchestrating another attack.

"This ends now!" Riley yelled out at him.

He spun around to see both her and Liam rushing toward him. He raised his sword, determined to put an end to the man who stood between him and the throne. He hesitated when Riley jumped in front of her husband.

"You're not taking him from me!" She raised her battle ax. "Every time you try, I will stop you."

Does Liam know how lucky he is? She waited on him to choose her. Twice! And now she stands here, ready to defend him to the death. How could any man not fall in love with Riley?

His refusal to fight her was his downfall. He was pushed over the banister by the royal couple. While his breath was knocked out, Maxwell and Hana bound his hands together behind his back.

He looked about at his fallen and captured comrades. His attention was drawn toward Olivia and Drake. The pair were covered in blood and bruises, yet they were leaning against each other. Drake had his arm around her while softly speaking. Whatever was said caused Olivia to press even closer to his side. Her arms slipped around his waist. Her eyes were closed tight as she allowed him to hold her.

Justin had suspected something more between the pair. It looked like his coup for the throne had accomplished something for them.

Bastien and the rest of the King's Guards rushed in. After talking to the king and new queen, he collected Justin and hauled him outside.

On the way, Justin met Riley's eyes.

There were so many things he wanted to explain to her. He believed she would have been on board with his plans for the kingdom. Once he had killed Liam and Olivia, he would be the benevolent king the country needed. Gone would be the purpose for pompous nobles. He would have established a council of Cordonia's citizens from all walks of life to advise him. People would be rewarded and honored for their service instead of simply being born to the right parents.

And she would have been his queen, guiding and protecting all she deemed worthy.

"Riley, I..."

"You will never ever hurt those I love again." She hissed.

"Take him away." Liam ordered, keeping his arms locked around his wife. "He will be dealt with in the morning."

Justin knew then that it was pointless to try and explain. She would never give him a chance after all that had occurred.

For the first time in his life, he realized that his intentions didn't matter to the one he loved most.

[madara-fate]

Ive seen people hate Gabi solely for killing Sasha..which i dont think is fair giving what happened before that..while i hate that sasha dies and did get aggravated at Gabi i understand.

That being said..

I actually hated Gabi from the first meeting.. All the other kids were likeable but she...just wasnt.

I cant stand her inability to realize.. maybe just maybe she was lied to her whole life..even Falco, Reiner, Annie and Bertholt were more open to it and started to realize maybe they were wrong..hell they even cared about some of the scouts.. Gabi was just a Marleyan wannabe that just wouldn't face facts even when she spent time with the kindest eldian people.

I know the other " warriors" had the same brainwashing and they did awful things, worse than Gabi, but its her mindset for me.. Thats what makes it worse she had the same brainwashing as the others but she was the most resistant to the truth.. So people saying its not her fault she was brainwahed..it not her fault initially but if she presented with the truth and still denies denies.. Then shes just reveling in her ignorance...

The other warriors, while yes doing awful things and following through with their plans, they still ended up sympathizing with the eldians and being like hey maybe they arent evil devils.. Hell you can see the inner turmoil it caused Reiner.

Plus the fact that Gabi seems to act above it all..like she isnt and eldian as well..like girl sit tf down and shut up🙄 if they are devils then you are too.. Nothing will change that..nothing will change the fact that with a bit of titan spinal fluid you change into one😒 like sis come on.

I also think i sympathize with paridis more is because for about 100 or so years they thought titans were some creatures coming out of nowhere to annihilate humanity🤷 they didn't know... But Gabi and the others did know..they knew eldians turned into titans and it was the marleyans that changed them, yet they still blame the innocent eldians for the sins of their ancestors. Even though Gabi is of the same race..its infuriating.. She's like the Uncle Rukus of AOT😂

( uncle rukus is a cartoon character on the show Boondocks, who thinks he's white with " re vitiligo" but is really black and he hates all black people, in case u didn't know lol )

I'm indifferent to Gabi, but I can't really say that I agree with this.

I cant stand her inability to realize.. maybe just maybe she was lied to her whole life..even Falco, Reiner, Annie and Bertholt were more open to it and started to realize maybe they were wrong..hell they even cared about some of the scouts

You're saying that Falco, Reiner, Annie and Bertholt were more open minded and started to realize maybe they were wrong, but Gabi did the exact same thing. In fact, it took less time for Gabi to come to this realisation than it did for Reiner, Bertholt and Annie, because they were only shown starting to question what they knew about the Eldians on Paradis after having lived with them for a few years. It obviously took Gabi significantly less time to reach the conclusion that the Paradis Eldians actually weren't so bad. She was also starting to form a genuine friendship with Kaya before the truth was revealed in the restaurant. So again, you're saying how the older warriors eventually came to care for the scouts, but the same can be said for Gabi as well. The older warriors came to care for their scout comrades after a few years, whereas Gabi was beginning to form a friendship with Kaya after a few weeks, if not days.

Gabi was just a Marleyan wannabe that just wouldn't face facts even when she spent time with the kindest eldian people.

Gabi did eventually face the facts though, and relatively speaking, when considering the level of her brainwashing, it didn't take her very long to do so.

People always tend to say things like "well Falco is her age and underwent the same brainwashing, so why can't she be more like him?", but that's like asking a struggling student who still tries their best, why they can't match the genius in their class who gets straight A's. Sometimes it's just something you're born with. Gabi is just innately more driven towards a singular purpose, much like Eren. However, people tend to forget that people like Falco who have that depth of understanding, are most definitely not the norm in that universe. Falco is the exception, not the rule. People can't just ask why Gabi can't be more like Falco, when the vast majority of perspectives in the series, are more aligned with Gabi.

Not only that, but Falco and Colt's own uncle, Grice, was part of the Restorationist movement with Grisha and Dina, so Falco had already been exposed to these opposing viewpoints long before we even first met him, and so was more susceptible to changing his views. And as if that wasn't enough, Falco was also present for Eren and Reiner's conversation where these topics were discussed, so he had a first hand perspective of the truth, Gabi didn't have that. If she had also been present for their conversation, it obviously wouldn't have been so easy for her to brush off the attack on Paradis with an "I didn't see it so it didn't happen" attitude. These things all contributed towards making it a lot easier for Falco to accept the differing perspectives.

Thats what makes it worse she had the same brainwashing as the others but she was the most resistant to the truth.. So people saying its not her fault she was brainwashed..it not her fault initially but if she presented with the truth and still denies denies.. Then shes just reveling in her ignorance...

But again, that's not actually the case. Gabi wasn't the most resistant to the truth, the only person who came to that realisation quicker than she did, was Falco. She was far more resistant to the truth than he was (partly due to the reasons I explained above), but that is not the case for the older warriors. Gabi denied it initially, but ultimately relented pretty soon afterwards. Compare that with Reiner, who responded to Annie describing the scouts as his friends, by saying how they were devils, not his friends. This was after having spent several years with them. He was confronted with the truth for several years at that point, and yet he still thought of them as devils. Therefore, among the Marleyan warriors, Reiner is actually the most stubborn one, not Gabi.

The other warriors, while yes doing awful things and following through with their plans, they still ended up sympathizing with the eldians and being like hey maybe they arent evil devils.. Hell you can see the inner turmoil it caused Reiner.

And Gabi did exactly the same thing... A lot sooner. Furthermore, Reiner only began having the split personality problem after having killed Marco. Prior to that, he had spent years with them, and yet was still very much gung ho about their mission and about the Eldians on Paradis being a filthy race.

Plus the fact that Gabi seems to act above it all..like she isnt and eldian as well..like girl sit tf down and shut up🙄 if they are devils then you are too.. Nothing will change that..nothing will change the fact that with a bit of titan spinal fluid you change into one😒 like sis come on.

I agree, but that is applicable to the vast majority of the warriors, excluding probably Falco and Tom Ksaver. Every Marleyan warrior or warrior candidate who aspired to be an Honourary Marleyan for whatever reason, knew that they'd be tasked with getting rid of the titan threat posed by the Paradis Eldians, and they were fine with it because they had been raised under the notion that they were separate from the Eldians on Paradis.

They were all taught from the moment they could think for themselves, that the Paradis Eldians were bad people, and that those on Marley were still tainted, but had a chance for redemption. It's easy for us as the readers and viewers to tell them to sit down and shut up, when we haven't experienced being brainwashed ourselves.

[professional-dikut]

ooh ooh a request? tech/crosshair, crosshair being supportive of tech's interest tangents and making sure he takes care of himself when he gets too invested and distracted with work? idk how to write requests lol. ps. i read your latest echo/cross one and it was freaking amazing wow so fluff much angst yes comfort :)))

Ahhhh so sorry this took so long! I love this idea sm and i had many plans for this req so i hope you enjoy! (Fic under cut⬇️)

Word Count: 2673

TW: minor bad eating habits?

"Ouch!"

Crosshair snapped his eyes up towards a muffled hiss from Tech.

The man was sitting at his small work table, shaking his right hand around as sparks began to die down on a small bundle of wires in front of him. He had a stylus between his teeth and there was a tiny pair of pliers in his left hand. His leg bounced and his eyes darted back and fourth between the flimsy next to him and the bundle of wires.

Crosshair raised an eyebrow and swung his legs off his bunk to rest his feet on the ground.

Tech grumbled some incoherent curses before snatching the stylus out of his mouth and jamming down a few messy scribbles onto the flimsy.

Hunter had randomly decided to head down to the training facilities for a few hours, and Wrecker and Echo were in the cafeteria having some late night snacks. Crosshair had grabbed a snack on the way back from their simulator course earlier, though he hadnt eaten since lunch. So He and Tech were left in the barracks to do their own thing for a while until they decided to sleep.

Slowly, he pulled a leg up to his chest as he watched Tech move.

His hands flew across the pieces and parts that only he understood. His eyebrows were furrowed in the way they always were when he was deep in thought, and his eyes were zeroed in on what was in front of him and nothing else. His leg continued to bounce up and down while he twirled the stylus in his hand.

Crosshair smirked.

He stood up, quietly, and began to make his way around and over to Tech's table.

Tech muttered something and scribbled down some more notes, readjusting the bundle of wires.

The sniper slowly pulled a stool around to sit across from Tech, making as little noise as possible.

Tech didnt look up. His eyes stayed narrowed on his project, hyper focused on the goal in front of him. He picked at a few of the wires with the pliers, before twisting some together into a pattern.

Crosshair watched and got comfortable in the stool, crossing his arms and resting a leg on one of the bars around the middle of it.

Still twisting and pulling the wires into a weird pattern, Tech glanced aside to look at a black panel with some buttons and screens on it. He looked back and fourth between the wires he was still messing with, and the panel, as if he was deciding which one he should focus on. The wires were starting to look less jumbled as he wove them together, and he chewed his lip before switching to only one hand on the wires.

Crosshair's eyes widened, watching as Tech worked the wires with one hand, as the other fiddled with the panel.

His right hand moved—somehow—still weaving the wires together in a perfect pattern. It was slower than both hands, of course, but it seemed to be working and he hadn't messed up yet. Crosshair watched with a mixture of confusion and curiosity.

The panel had lit up at some point and was blinking in a few spots. Tech put a small screwdriver between his teeth as he tapped at the panel. Every few seconds, he'd grab the screwdriver and poke around the buttons, causing tiny colorful sparks that reflected in his goggles.

Eventually, the wires came together into one part, and Tech pinned the ends together with small ties. Pulling the panel towards him, he flipped it over and set the wires aside as he opened a small flap in the back of the panel.

He poked around in the small flap a bit with the screwdriver before grabbing the wires again.

Crosshair watched while Techs eyes narrowed and squinted at the wires, as he slowly placed them into the panel. Sparks jumped around his fingers as he attached the wires from the top and bottom, allowing them to sear together by them selves. Every few minutes a hand would fly up to readjust his goggles.

Shaking his head, Crosshair tried to suppress a grin as Tech finished up his project, swatting sparks away here and there.

"What is it?" Crosshair asked quietly, finding an opening where Tech wasnt as focused.

He waited a minute or two as Tech caught up to the question while putting things back together and into their original places.

"It is..." Tech mumbled, stuffing screws and tools into small containers and pouches.

Crosshair watched, waiting with patience as Tech finally gave a satisfied sigh.

"A power calibrator that I constructed to connect into the rear nose cannons." Tech began to say all at once. Crosshair listened intently. "It will allow more power to be transferred to the shields while the rear cannon is being fired, so that way we can do both at once without losing one mid-battle."

Crosshair squinted. It was actually genius. Half the time during missions, their shields would fail while firing the rear cannons due to the power usage. Though they had more power in the firing, the Marauder almost always got a pretty good beating if they used the cannons for to long.

"What wires did you use?" Crosshair asked, scooting his stool closer the table so that he could rest an arm in it.

"Twinaxial cables, acutally." Tech said spinning around in his own stool to toss something onto his bunk. "They're a variant of the coaxial cables, and have more than one conductor. They are good for short-range and high-speed power signals so they'll work well for what I'm using them for."

Crosshair nodded. He knew most of what Tech was talking about, and tried to understand what he didn't. Tech would usually explain if he was confused, but at the moment, he was pretty educated on what he was talking about.

"Great idea, Tech." Crosshair praised. Now that he had a quick opening, he could do their little routine that they always went through around these times.

"What did you have for lunch?"

Tech shut a drawer and froze.

Slowly, he turned in his stool to face the sniper with a look of deep thought on his face. He furrowed his eyebrows and rested his hand on his chin as Crosshair waited. Slowly, Tech conjured up an answer.

"It was a..." Tech began, tapping a finget on his chin. "A ration bar, I believe."

Crosshair raised an eyebrow and turned his head to the side.

"You had one for breakfast." He implied quietly.

Tech blinked and looked down at his hands.

"It's possible Ive had two, today." Said Tech, picking at his gloved hands.

"Any real food?" Cross asked.

A defeated look rested onto Tech’s face and he readjusted his goggles.

"Water?" He asked again.

Tech stared.

Crosshair sighed and turned in his seat, glancing at the snack next to his bed that he'd grabbed from the cafeteria earlier. He hadn't been hungry much then, but he did plan on eating it. He was pretty sure there was some soup, maybe a biscuit or two and possibly some meat.

He hopped out of his stool and Tech looked up in surprise.

Stalking over to his bunk, he grabbed the biscuits and a small thermal of soup. The meat was in a foil like bag and had a jerky texture and taste that Tech always liked, even since they were cadets. Cross took the bag and tossed it on his bed, poking around for any spoons or silverware. When he didnt find any, he shrugged and popped open the little thermal.

Crosshair caught Techs look of confusion as he spun around to sit down in his bunk, taking a whiff of the soup.

It smelled good, and it was still somewhat warm. If he didn't eat it soon, it would get cold in the next thirty minutes or so. He took a sip from the thermal and sighed as the warm liquid trickled into his belly and the bland taste settled on his tongue.

He looked up.

Tech frowned as he pulled his second glove off, the first one already on the table. His head was hung low and his eyebrows were still furrowed like he was thinking hard about something. His lips parted slightly as if he was going to say something, but he shut his mouth and froze as he looked up.

"Come here." Crosshair spoke, patting the spot next to him on his bunk.

Tech blinked and rested his hands on each other.

"The soup is gonna get cold." He spoke again, nodding to the thermal before taking another sip.

Tech looked at the soup, and then back up at Crosshair before scrambling out of his stool and padding over to the spot next to him on the bunk.

Cross leaned back to get the jerky/meat stuff as Tech got comfortable, pulling a leg up to his chest and turning towards the sniper.

Techs eyes lit up behind his goggles as Crosshair opened the bad of jerky, and quickly grabbed for a piece.

Crosshair caught his hand and swatted it away as Tech gave him an offended look.

"Excuse me?" Tech frowned, trying to maneuver around Cross's hand.

"Water first." The sniper said, shrugging and pulling the bag away from Tech and taking a bite of the jerky himself.

"Ugh." Tech grumbled and stood to stalk over to his own bunk, grabbing a flask of water that he took a few angry sips of on the way back.

"There."

Crosshair smirked as Tech plopped back down and snatched a piece of jerky out of the bag, taking a bite with a small smile on his face.

Cross handed Tech the thermal so he could open the small plastic container that had three biscuits in it. He peeled the plastic seal top off and took one if the biscuits out. They were a little deformed, and kind of stale and soggy at the same time, but thats what they got; And truthfully, they didn't really care.

Tech went between the thermal and the jerky, starting to realize how hungry he really was.

Cross handed him one if the biscuits and he took it happily, taking a bite and washing it down with some water from his flask.

"When's the last time you slept?" Crosshair asked randomly while Tech chewed.

Tech looked up up in thought and shoved another piece of jerky in his mouth. Crosshair sighed and moved the bag of jerky away for a second so Tech could finish chewing and not choke. He narrowed his eyes behind his goggles and stared at Crosshair as he took another sip of the soup.

"I woke up at five-hundred thirty like always." Tech said, wiping his mouth and shrugging.

Cross cocked an eyebrow at him. It was already nearing close to twenty-hundred, so Tech had been awake for longer than twelve hours at the least. He sighed again.

"Okay, what time did you go to sleep last night?" Crosshair asked.

"Around the time when I finished fixing Wrecker's blaster." Tech answered easily, looking around Cross for the bag of jerky.

The sniper was pretty sure he had fallen asleep before Tech finished up on Wreckers blaster. The amount of time spent fixing them depended in the damage, and depending on Wrecker, the damage was usually pretty major. Cross had fallen asleep at around twenty-four hundred, and Tech had only started working on the blaster a little bit before that.

"And when did you finish that." Crosshair questioned.

"Around four-hundred thir-"

Tech stopped, thermal tipped halfway towards his mouth.

Crosshairs eyes widened and the crease deepened between his brows.

"I meant-"

"No," Crosshair cut Tech off, turning to face him more. "You got an hour of sleep?!"

"Well, more like forty five minutes because it takes me a while to fall asleep sometimes." Tech said simply and then winced as Crosshair let his jaw drop.

"You need to sleep." Crosshair stated, closing the bag of jerky and standing.

"Wait," Tech whined, reaching after the bag of jerky. "Im not tired yet."

Crosshair tossed the bag of jerky onto the little work table and whipped back around towards Tech.

"Yes you are." The sniper said, looking pointedly at the bags under Techs eyes that he tried to hid behind his goggles.

"But-"

"Finish your soup, then you are sleeping."

Crosshair raised an eyebrow as Tech began to protest again, but wearily sipped the last of the soup and took the last bite of the biscuit.

Soon, Tech was out of his armor and in his blacks, pouting around as Crosshair nudged him towards his bunk. He had also gotten out of his armor, as encouragement to Tech so that he didn't feel like Crosshair was prodding too much or being too bossy. Even as cadets, Tech was never one for normal sleep; he loved to use the late hours of the night to get things done.

Crosshair paused as he looked at Techs bed.

"Well no wonder you don't sleep." Cross muttered, poking at cords and wires that were hanging from the ceiling of the bunk.

"They are projects." Tech argued, sliding a box away and onto the floor.

"I see that." Crosshair said and scanned the writing on the walls.

Tech yawned, and Crosshair found himself yawning too. He didn't feel too tired, but he didn't sleep well these days.

They usually didn't.

Tech gave a tired sigh before climbing into his bunk, and grabbing for the thin blanket.

"Are you- Oh." Tech stuttered in surprise as Crosshair climbed in after him.

The sniper wrapped an arm around Tech's waist and pulled him close as he tugged the blanket over the two of them. Tech wriggled around and tried to get comfortable under the blanket as Crosshair reached up to the light switch on the wall of the bunk. A wave of sleepiness surged over Cross as the lights slowly dimmed, until the only light was the faint glow of Tipoca City outside of the large wide window.

"You need to start getting better sleep," Crosshair started, closing his eyes as Tech scooted closer to him. "You're gonna stunt your growth."

Tech snorted and nuzzled farther into the snipers chest.

"Right." Tech whispered and yawned again.

Rain pattered against the window, and Crosshair could never tell if it was gentle or not. He'd gotten used to the ever present rain of Kamino, and wasn't sure there was such thing as gentle rain on the ocean planet. It was cool growing up, but it got old eventually.

"Do you remember when we went off-planet for the first time?" Crosshair asked randomly.

Tech pulled his head away from Cross's chest to look up at him with a confused face.

"Remember how fascinated you were by the karking grass." He said, grinning down at Tech.

Tech laughed and buried his face into the pillow, shaking his head a little.

"I thought it was so interesting." Tech said, voice muffled by the pillow.

He looked up at Crosshair and smiled sadly.

"It's so colorful." He sighed, resting his head next to Crosshair’s.

"I know." Cross whispered, pressing a kiss to Tech's forehead and nosing his dark curls as he closed his eyes.

Tech was out quick, snoring softly next to him within minutes. Crosshair smiled, a real smile, and gently pulled Tech’s goggles off. His eyes were tired, but his breathing was steady and his body was relaxed.

He looked so peaceful. So different from his constant state of either jumping around from project to project and rambling about different information and facts—or hyper focused and oblivious to everything around him. It was rare to have time like this with Tech.

Crosshair appreciated Tech.

He loved Tech.

He let that settle proudly in his thoughts as he slowly began to drift to sleep too.

[freshthoughts2020]

SOMETHING GOTTA BE SACRIFICED

SOMETHING GOTTA BE SACRIFICED

Ever tried to receive something in great in life? Can you recall a moment that you actually achieved something great without giving up something great? If you say you can, I guarantee what you accomplished wasn’t all that great because trust me something gotta be sacrificed. Let’s explore a few examples.

I. SOUL STONE

During the Marvel Cinematic Event, Avengers: Infinity War, the main antagonist Thanos was collecting what is known in the movie as the Infinity Stones. One of the stones Thanos need to collect is the Soul Stone. Now in order to acquire the soul stone, Thanos was required to sacrifice something he truly and dearly loved. It may be hard to picture a supervillain being capable of such a thing but Thanos isn’t your typical supervillain. He was a creature much capable of love.

In fact he sacrificed his greatest love, his adoptive daughter Gamora. He exchanged his daughter’s life to what he felt like was the greater good. He took something that meant the world to him to literally gain control of the entire world. All the other stones didn’t require such a grave action but the plan couldn’t be completed without that huge sacrifice.

II. GRANOLAH

In the Dragonball Super manga a new story arc has begun entitled the “Granolah the Survivor”. Granolah much like many other anime characters experienced a grave loss. His planet was destroyed under the direction of the tyrannous Frieza. Hell bent on revenge, Granolah becomes willing to do anything to exact vengeance on the wrathful emperor.

Granolah one day is made aware of the power of the Dragonballs, a magical set of orbs created by an alien race called Namekians that grants the wish of anyone who summons the dragon from the orbs. The set of Dragonballs Granolah used was only a two-set orb that was created by the namekians of his home planet. When summoned Granolah asked the dragon to become the strongest warrior in the universe. That was a wish obviously out of the dragon’s power but the dragon was willing to compromise.

The dragon granted Granolah access to all his potential power that would be normally obtained in 150 years, in a single instant! The great sacrifice only allowed him to have 3 remaining years left barring the fact he isn’t killed before then. Think about how bad you must want revenge when you’re literally willing to give up your life force to destroy another’s person life. A great sacrifice indeed!

III. ABRAHAM

In the Holy Bible, Abraham is promised great name and descendants from God himself. So When God told Abraham to sacrifice his son Issac, he had to be looking at God like “My dude this don’t make any sense”….”Sacrifice my son? Is you good?” However, Abraham had faith in God and didn’t bulge from the mission given to God. Right before Abraham was about to sacrifice his son he was stopped by an angel and a ram was sacrificed instead. So in exchange for a name that is known through history, (think of how we address God as the ‘God of Abraham’) Abraham had to almost sacrifice his son!

Although his son wasn’t sacrificed Abraham did sacrifice his son in his heart better yet he sacrificed his own will! Almost guarantee that anybody else in that position would’ve abandoned God’s plan and decided to keep their son! Keep in mind Abraham had his son at an old age and waited a while for a child! Who would want to sacrifice their son after that? Nevertheless Abraham adhered to God’s plan sacrificing his will in exchange to be the Father of Nations!

IV. CONCLUSION

So keep in mind the next time you’re itching to achieve greatness. Before you embark on your journey ask yourself what are you willing to sacrifice? Because to gain anything you have to lose something! Word to Mother B! lol

Follow Me on twitter @onlyonejaevonn

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[missmonsters2]

Between the Lines || X

PAIRING: Steve Rogers & Fem!Reader (Platonic) / Natasha Romanoff x Fem!Reader / Wanda Maximoff x Fem!Reader / Natasha Romanoff x Fem!Reader x Wanda Maximoff

Summary: Vampire AU. Life has changed drastically since the 1600s. Things are always on the move, and you’ve been very careful to not get on SHIELDs radar. Living on the down-low owning a café, you’re content to live out a quiet existence. That is until the Avengers enter your life.

[Set after the New York Invasion, in CAWS, and goes up to AoU. Canon divergent after.]

Warnings: This series will contain smut(**), poly-relationship, and dark themes.

Note: Oof I came back and DELIVERED 👏👏 it’s really long I’m sorry. I legit said we’re ending this arc today LOL

PART I || PART II || PART III || PART IV || PART V || PART VI || PART VII || PART VIII || PART IX

PART X of XX

Count: 11,007

⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷⋆⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷

There's something about the way the golden sky hits the horizon of this quiet countryside field.

It's quiet.

At least in comparison to the city.

You like the tall grass that surrounds the stand-alone home. The air is cleaner, crisper. There's a serene peace that settles in the area, and it makes you nostalgic for things you haven't had.

You can hear children running around inside, and the sink running in the kitchen along with food sizzling. Looking over at Natasha, there's a softness that has fallen over her face, a look you're somewhat familiar with, but in a different context.

This might be home for her, too, you realize.

"A safe house?" Tony tilts his head as everyone stares at the farmhouse.

"Let's hope," Clint mutters as everyone enters into the house. "Honey, I'm home!"

You tilt your head, curious when the woman you assume to be Clint's wife walks into the kitchen. You knew she was carrying based on the conversation you overhead, but you were still surprised to find her heavily pregnant.

She was due soon.

"Hi, company," Clint says in a rush as he gives her a kiss on the cheek. "Sorry, I didn't call ahead."

"Hey," the woman replies as she kisses Clint. You hear Tony make a comment to Thor about the strangeness of this, but you were focused on her stomach.

You tilted your head as you could hear its heartbeat.

"Gentlemen and gentle...women," Clint stares at you and Natasha. "This is Laura. My wife."

"I know all your names," Laura smiles while everyone looks at her rather awkwardly because no one but Natasha, you and, David knew about her.

David seemed the most curious, but he has always loved kids and got along with them easily.

"You're due soon," he tells Laura with a smile as he sneaks around you to stand closer to inspect Laura respectfully.

"You can tell?" Laura looks down at her stomach as David nods.

"Yes," he says. "A couple months at the most."

"How can you tell?" Laura asks as you hear tiny rumbling footsteps running towards this room.

"We can smell it," David informs her.

"Incoming," Clint says, kneeling down as his son and daughter excitedly burst into the room.

"Dad!" His daughter jumps in Clint's arm. Clint picks her up as he stands and kisses his son's head.

"Tinier agents," Tony blinks at the scene while Steve looks completely flabbergasted.

"This is Lila and Cooper," Clint smiles softly.

"Did you bring Auntie Nat?" The little girl says, and Natasha turns as she smiles.

"Why don't you hug her and find out?" Natasha starts to walk while Lila runs into her arms.

Natasha picks her up with ease, holding her close as she kisses Lila on the cheek. She comes back to you and tense ever so slightly before you relax.

Of course, you spent a lot of time with Allison as you took care of her, but sometimes, being around young kids would cause just a quick flashback of the ones you couldn't save.

Natasha smiles at you, and you return it lightly.

"This is Lila," Natasha introduces you to her and then telling Lila your name.

"Is she your friend?" Lila asks as she stares at you, and Natasha laughs.

"Yes, she's...my special friend," Natasha looks at you with a smirk to which you roll your eyes gently in response.

"I like your braids," you tell Lila softly, who smiles shyly at you in thanks.

"Sorry to drop by in like this," Steve says to Laura.

"Yeah, we would've, but we were too busy not knowing you existed," Tony chirped in.

Clint smiles as he stands next to his wife and has his hand on Cooper's shoulder.

"Yeah, Fury helped me set this up and kept it off SHIELD's files. I'd like to keep it that way, I figured this is a good place to lay low."

Laura laughed suddenly, and everyone turned to see David giving family photos to her.

"Okay, as low as we can," Clint corrects.

Natasha sets down Lila as she drags you closer to Laura.

"Ah, honey, I missed you," Laura pulls Natasha into a hug before giving you a kind smile.

Your nose twitches as you get closer, and you can smell Laura's pregnancy in more detail.

"And how's little Natasha?" Natasha coos as she bends down to touch Laura's stomach gently.

"You mean Nathaniel?" David snickers and you elbow him in the rib.

"What?" Natasha says as she stands up, looking at David before she turns back to Laura.

"Sorry," Laura gives her an apologetic look that confirms what David said.

Natasha leans back down to Laura's stomach, "Traitor."

"Thor," Steve calls out.

You turn your attention as Thor leaves the house with Steve following him.

You hear Thor say how he saw something in his dream and how he won't find his answers here before flying off.

Everyone seems to have reached their limit and wants to get some rest. You, Natasha, and David decided to stay in one room since the two of you don't sleep. David said he'd be out working on a lot of other things anyways.

"Mind if I shower first?" He asks you and Natasha.

"Go for it," Natasha nods.

"If you use all the hot water, I'll kill you," you tell him, and David just pretends to look offended that you would even insinuate he would before walking off.

You could hear Clint and Laura talking in the next room where he's updating her on the mission and what he'll do once this mission is done. You try to drown it out as you turn and focus on Natasha before you.

"How are you feeling?" You ask softly as you lift your hand to her face.

Natasha presses more firmly into your hold. A part of her wishes she could feel the warmth of your actual hand, but she doesn't want to push you, and you were clearly nowhere ready to touch her with your bare hands.

It didn't stop her from fantasizing about it, though.

"Better," Natasha rasps, "I've stopped hearing the lingering voices."

You nodded, using your thumb to stroke her cheek.

"How was it?" Natasha asks, breaking the silence, and you know what she's referring to.

Slowing dropping your hand, you went to sit at the seat beside the window.

"It was..." you sighed, "I don't know. Hard."

Natasha takes a seat next to you, combing her fingers through your hair, and your eyes fluttered at the serene feeling.

"Talk to me," Natasha softly says. She knows you've probably been refraining from trying to talk about it with her after that night. You must think she may not like it.

But Natasha doesn't care about such things like that. Tatyana was a big part of your life, and even though you haven't said anything about it yet, Natasha knows Wanda will be too.

In what capacity will depend on what you'll allow, what you think Natasha will allow.

"I suppose...I didn't expect her to look so much like Tatyana," you smile weakly. "Looking at her is like nearly looking at a spitting image. Pietro has similar features, being twins, but it's easier to ignore that he's a descendant."

Natasha nods, understanding as she continues to comb through your hair.

"I'm still working on confirming something," you tell her honestly.

"And if what you suspect is true?" Natasha asks.

You purse your lips.

"Then, we have a new set of problems."

⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷⋆⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷

The day continues on, and everyone, for the most part, has freshened up. You leave Natasha to her own devices with showering even though earlier she had given you a look that suggested that they could save water if they showered together.

You had felt a hot liquid pool form in your lower stomach as you licked your lips.

But now was neither nor the time to engage in such activities, though you did give her a languid kiss before excusing yourself.

You could hear Tony and Steve talking--passive-aggressively arguing outside. You were about to go out to break it up when your eyes honed in on something.

"Just great," you huffed under your breath as you headed out to the field where there was a tractor.

"Thank you, Laura," a deep voice spoke as he caught your eye as you came up to them.

Laura greeted you, and you nodded in response as she slipped out to do her task.

"Maria tell you to come out here?" You asked, looking at Nick Fury.

"She thought it would be best for me to assess the situation," he shrugs. "I wanted a little word with Stark, anyways."

You shake your head. "Your words will mean nothing to him, you know."

"Then perhaps I should talk with you," Fury redirects. "I hear you're quite involved with this case."

You remain silent, not taking his bait.

"What do you suggest I do?" Fury says, curious about what you'll say.

Before you could answer, you hear Tony approaching, catching the two of you after looking at the tractor.

"Ah, Mrs. Barton, that little minx. What are the two of you doing here? Did Maria call you?" Tony asks as he turns to look at Fury.

"Artificial intelligence, you didn't even hesitate," Fury cocked his brow at Tony.

You tune out the two of them talking as you focus your attention elsewhere. You could hear Steve a little ways away, still ripping woods apart with his bare hands. Inside the house, you could hear the water being turned off, indicating that Natasha was done with her shower, and you decided you would go in soon to shower yourself before helping where you could.

"--you didn't," you catch the end of what Fury said before the man walked off, leaving you alone with the genius billionaire.

He was frustrated--annoyed, you could tell by just looking at his face. The light grimace and pinch between his eyebrow were a clear indication.

Tony catches you staring at him, looking miffed as he peers at you.

"Well, I suppose you have something to say, too, huh?" Tony mutters.

You take a long minute to stare at him, his conversation with Fury not lost on you.

"Not really," you say in the end. "Nothing I haven't already told you, anyways."

"Right, like my ego being too big, and I'm not the be-all, end-all."

You shrug. "No one is the be-all, end-all. If the world had to only rely on one man, we would've gone extinct before cavemen even had the chance to evolve."

"And I'm the man that's going to cause that," Tony persisted.

"No," you shook your head. "You know as well as I do that it was only your fear being shown to you."

"Do I?" Tony scoffed. "All I know is that I saw all my friends dead, and I caused it because I couldn't save them. Who are you to say it's not the future I saw?"

"Because she can't show you the future!" You burst at him, grimacing at your own outburst. You sigh, closing your eyes and pinching the bridge of your nose. "That's not what her power is. In the best-case scenario, she can use telepathy to read your mind to experience your memories and thoughts, and then using that to project hallucinations onto you. In the worst-case scenario, she can use her powers to alter reality to make what she wants to come true. I don't think she's there yet."

"And how do you know all that?" Tony asks, narrowing his eyes at you.

"You know that I came on this mission for my own personal reasons."

"And what? That Maximoff girl is your personal reason?"

"They both are," you tell him. "Her powers aren't entirely unfamiliar to me. Different, yes, I imagine from the scepter, but not unfamiliar."

"I don't see the difference between her powers and my future." Tony blinks at you.

You grumbled, sighing as you try to explain. "It means, dumbass, that Wanda either doesn't realize that she can alter reality or that she doesn't have enough control of her powers to do so yet. I'm betting it's a mix of the two. I felt it when I fought with her. She's chaotic, and her powers are unrefined. Because of that, she can only snoop into your mind and then send you your worst fear in the form of a hallucination. You weren't shown the future, Tony, you were emotionally exploited."

You wanted Tony to understand, not so sure why you were so concerned with it. Tony, like everyone else, was a complex person with a multitude of different faces and layers. On the surface, he was a nonchalant, cocky dickhead (though, you were also sure some of that was truly him on the inside too), but he was also someone who cared.

A lot.

And people who tend to care a lot always overdid everything to protect everything and everyone they care about.

Tony was already hurting.

And Wanda was making it worse.

It was a painful reminder that Tatyana had hurt people too, and you couldn't stop her.

"How do you know that isn't the future for sure? How can you confirm that's not my legacy?" Tony murmurs quietly, looking at the sky as if the low volume would allow him to admit his fear without you hearing.

You stare at him for a long minute, biting your tongue before you draw a long sigh that gets Tony's attention.

Tony watches you, taking off one glove, pressing your lips together as you do so.

You hold out your hand to him.

"If you tell Natasha I touched you before her, I'll break your dick."

⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷⋆⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷

Dinner is a pleasant affair. You had gone back into the kitchen swiftly after finishing your talk with Tony. Laura was starting to make dinner, and you let her know not to worry about you and David as the two of you don't eat.

You had taken a step out with David while everyone was bustling around before dinner. It had been a while since you last fed, and you had a feeling things were going to start happening back to back, and you needed to be prepared for it.

The two of you headed into town to the nearest hospital, compelling a nurse to bring you both a blood bag to feed on and forget.

It wasn't a lot, but it would be enough to get through the mission without damage, hopefully. You didn't want to end up taking too much from the hospital and causing a problem, even though the two of you were too far from your own stash.

It would've been better to go to a blood bank, but this town was so small they didn't have one.

You were sitting closely next to Natasha as she ate her dinner, your arm around her, and you fought the urge to hide your face into her neck.

"You should head to NEXUS in Oslo to pick up JARVIS," David tells Tony.

"Is that where he is?" Tony hums. "Smart guy to head to the fastest internet hub on the earth. I'm such a proud dad," Tony pretends to tear up.

"Great, you got one good kid and one fuck up, classic!" You say over Natasha's head while Tony scrunches his nose at you.

"Why did I come?" Fury muttered rather loudly. Seems like all the information he was bringing was already brought up by David.

"For a good time, boss. But you wouldn't happen to have anything else, would you?" Natasha pulled a piece of her bread apart.

"I have you," Fury shrugged. "We ain't got nothing but our wit and our will to save the world. So stand up and take out that platinum bastard."

"Steve doesn't like that kind of talk," Natasha teases.

"You know what, Romanoff?" Steve jokingly threatens while she smiles mischievously at him.

You had been only half-focusing on the conversation at hand, jumping in here and there to throw in remarks. You were thrumming your fingers at your side quietly.

There was something about that first night you had all encountered Ultron.

"So, what does he want?" Fury asked.

"To become better. Better than us. He keeps building bodies," Steve licked his bottom lip.

"Person bodies. We're outmoded, biologically speaking, but he keeps coming back to it," Tony leaned back in his chair.

"He wants the human race to evolve; therefore, he needs to evolve himself," Banner mused.

"I don't think evolving the human race is his goal," David muttered.

"How's he going to do that?" Fury asked.

And then it occurred to you.

"Has anyone talked to Dr. Cho?" You pursed your lips.

⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷⋆⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷

There was a lot of noise as everyone was getting ready to leave the Barton household.

Thor was still out on his own, so no one held high hopes he would be coming back for this one.

"Alright, I'll head to you guys as soon as I collect JARVIS from NEXUS," Tony, lets everyone know.

"I'll take David and Banner to the Stark Tower," Fury said. " "Mind if I borrow Miss Hill?"

"All yours," Tony nodded. "What are you gonna do?"

"I don't know, something dramatic, I hope," Fury shrugs.

"Alright, everyone else goes with me," Steve attached his shield onto his back.

You nod as you stood next to Natasha.

"You know, I miss the days when I was the weirdest thing science created," Steve mused.

"What do you mean?" You looked at him with a smirk. "You still are."

"I swear to God--"

"Swearing is not good, Steve," Natasha joined in on the teasing.

"I hate you both," Steve shook his head with a good spirit.

⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷⋆⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷

There was something that rubbed you the wrong way when you entered the laboratory.

Sparks from exposed wires filled the air, and you could smell blood and hear the shallow breathing of a woman.

You recognized the scent.

"Dr. Cho is in there," you say quietly for Steve to hear, and the two of you race in to see that she was sitting on the floor, resting against a cabinet as she was clutching her stomach tightly. She had blood dripping from her head and lips, but she was still alive.

"Dr. Cho!" Steve called out as he race to her, bending down to see if she was okay.

"He's uploading himself into the body," Dr. Cho heavily breathes. "You can't just destroy the cradle. You need to get it to Stark."

"I got to find it first," Steve tells her.

"Go," she nods in the direction of outside. He purses her lip at her, but she nods to let Steve know she'll be okay.

He starts to head out but then looks at you.

"I'll catch up," you say offhandedly as you bend down to assess the doctor.

She was bleeding profusely through her stomach, where Ultron shot her. Dr. Cho had done her best to stop the bleeding, but it started to soak through the cloth. You looked around to find her technicians dead, and you frowned.

"Maybe I will get your venom after all," Dr. Cho says with a smirk, bringing your attention back to her.

You cocked your brow at her with a smile. "It's quite the risqué position. I don't know if my girlfriend would like that."

"I'm sure she won't mind you helping a frail, dying girl," Dr. Cho jokes but winces in pain shortly after.

You snort at the word frail but lick your lips nonetheless. "Listen, Doc, I don't wanna catch you doing experiments on yourself after getting my venom, alright?"

She nods, and you lift her hand away along with the cloth. You lower herself down her body, feeling the venom pool in your mouth.

You hear her breath hitch, and you're not sure if it's because she's in pain. You remind yourself you need to be careful. While you could drink the blood that was pouring out from Dr. Cho, you opted not to.

Dr. Cho realized this as you were carefully licking her wound, feeling something amazing happening on her skin under your mouth as she was being healed.

"What a loyal girlfriend you are," Dr. Cho mutters.

⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷⋆⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷

"I'm always picking up after you boys," Natasha grunts as she Steve's shield and gives it to you to hold.

You were on your way to Steve when Natasha dropped from the sky on a motorbike, and you found yourself hopping on the back of it as she passed you.

"Seriously, Steve, I've seen people treat their trash better than how often you drop this thing," you joke.

"Little busy, guys," Steve grunts back, "wouldn't say no to some help."

As you get closer to the truck where Ultron and Steve are, you whip his shield to him, and Steve uses it to knock Ultron's arm off of him. Ultron falls, catching sight of you two and uses his power to lift a piece of the ground up to stop Natasha in her tracks.

"Go!" Natasha tells you, and you get up on the motorbike before using your strength to propel yourself onto the truck as you leap.

Ultron sees you and immediately uses his ability to manipulate gravity to launch himself towards you.

But if Pietro was too quick for him, you were just a step behind. You blur to the side, back kicking him with a brute amount of force as Ultron passed you.

The strength of the kick alone had done a lot of damage. Your foot had impaled him halfway as he passed, bolts, and gears falling out of the hole you created.

"Look at us," you look at Steve, "we're a dream team."

"I always wanted to tag team with you," Steve smiles.

"Of course you do," you say as if it was obvious, "I'm your favorite."

"Ugh!" Ultron screams as he flies into Steve's direction this time, but Steve uses the momentum to take them both into the train that was moving next to them.

You followed as you spoke into the intercom, "We're taking the party elsewhere. The truck's all yours with the surprise inside, baby."

"I love when you leave gifts for me, so romantic," Natasha cooed.

"Please stop, or I will vomit," Clint says.

You snort as you follow through the hole Ultron and Steve created when they crashed into the train. You land with grace, noticing there are passengers on the cart.

Steve hits Ultron with enough force to send him flying, and you move as fast as you can over to a young teen to force her lower onto the ground from her seat to avoid being crushed.

"I guess I've got civilian-watching duty," you say almost glumly.

"I'd be happy to trade," Steve huffs as he stands up straight.

You could hear Natasha and Clint talking through your earpiece, and for a second, you wished you had stayed with your girlfriend when you hear that the truck is airborne, but you knew she could handle it.

"No, you seem like you got it," you shake your head with a smile. Luckily with a psychotic robot and turbulence on the train, it was too hard for anyone to grab their phone and record.

Ultron barrels into Steve, knocking him into the corner before Steve uses his foot to kick back.

"Of course," Steve puffs.

Even though you had said that you still helped out when you could, with the narrow pathway the train provided, the two of you had to be careful of making sure civilians didn't get hurt.

Ultron was extremely diligent in keeping you at a distance from him, realizing you were nearly as fast as Pietro and much, much stronger.

But then you heard it.

The light footsteps atop the train at first, then then your eyes easily adjusted to a blur that went past you, knocking into Ultron.

It was Pietro.

Your eyes easily found their way to Wanda as you turned around. She was looking at you, unsure what to think when your eyes met.

Ultron turned back to start towards Pietro, but two metal railings were bent to prevent him from doing so. Ultron turned back to see Wanda, and it was clear on his robotic face that he was hurt, but he also knew he couldn't best Wanda.

"Please, don't do this," Ultron's tone soft and pleading.

"What choice do we have?" Wanda's thick accent hung in the air, and you bit your tongue.

Ultron stilled for a millisecond before he turned around, shooting a blast out from his hand. Everyone dodged, and the explosion shot straight through to the train's front where the conductor was. Taking the momentary distraction, Ultron bolted out of the train and flew away.

With the conductor out, the train started to sway unsteadily, everyone losing their footing, and no one could go after Ultron.

Steve hopped up, heading to the front to check if the conductor was okay, but she was out cold. "We've lost him! He's headed your way."

The train flew off its railing, and everyone hung on the best they could as it kept going even on concrete and dirt.

"Nat!" Clint shouted through the intercom. "Cap, do you see Nat?" His voice was panicked and strained.

You looked out the window of the train in the sky. You could see Quinjet, but Natasha was nowhere in sight.

"What the hell do you mean, Clint?!" You shouted.

"I got the cradle, but Ultron grabbed her the last second we got it. Do you have eyes on her?!" Clint asked, his head moving jerkily as he looked around out the windows.

"If you have the package, get it to Stark!" Steve instructed. "Go!"

You heard Clint frustratedly curse an expletive before he flew the Quinjet away in the other direction.

Warning bells were already going off in your head as you were about to take off the train and see if you could locate Natasha, but Steve's voice stopped you.

"I need you to help stop the train, or these people might die," Steve's jaw was tight, and you knew that he didn't want this either. If he could stop the train on his own or trusted the two twins enough, he would want you out there looking for Natasha too.

You looked around, seeing the humans' petrified faces, all sorts of people on this train, no doubt children too.

You clenched your jaw, swallowing painfully, but you resolved to trust that Natasha was okay and could take care of herself. She had been long before you, you reminded yourself.

"Alright," you breathe out in a huff.

"Civilians are in the path," Steve told Pietro, who rushed off.

"I need you to help me stop this train," you turn to Wanda.

She stares at you but nods once firmly.

You make your way to the front of the train, hopping over the conductor and a few feet away from the train, turning as it approaches you.

Steeling yourself by digging your feet into the ground as you get into a stance with your hands out, the train collides into you. Instead of crushing you like it would an average human, your body hardens to take the shock, and the train pushes you back, gravel and dirt flying everywhere.

It slows down slightly, but it won't come to a complete stop before the train would barrel right into a building. You can see Pietro working around you, and Wanda uses her power to stop the wheels from turning.

The train comes to a full stop smoothly with all three of you, and no one was harmed.  People began to exit the train, and Steve came out to check on you while Wanda checked on Pietro.

"I'm fine, just need a second," you breathe, hearing Pietro say something similar to Wanda.

"Did you get the cradle?" Wanda asks, her eyes floating to you. Your eyes caught hers for a moment, but you turned quickly to your intercoms.

You had tried to contact Natasha, but it was obviously a bust as she didn't answer back. Your next contact was with David to tell him to start searching.

"Stark will handle it," Steve tells Wanda.

"No, he won't," Wanda looked distraught.

"You don't know what you're talking about, you don't know him," Steve defended Tony while Wanda looked more upset as the seconds passed.

"He will do anything to make it right," Wanda says, knowing what she saw in his head. "Ultron can't tell the difference between saving the world and killing it...where do you think he gets that from?"

Steve pursed his lips because as much as he didn't want to admit it, the girl had a point, and Steve was still miffed about how Tony had kept all this artificial intelligence stuff a secret.

"Stark, anyone, come in?" Steve said into his comms, but it was silent.

You turn around, jaw clenched as you were upset about Natasha taken.

"It'll be fine," you tell the three of them, the confidence in your voice that made everyone quiet. "We need to head back."

⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷⋆⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷

You were pissed.

And everyone could tell.

Natasha was taken, and no one knew where Ultron may have taken her. You understood at the time that Steve needed you there to help him, but it didn't help that Natasha was gone.

You were mostly pissed at yourself.

"Well, she's not dead," Tony says as if in an attempt to make you feel better. "If she were, Ultron would be rubbing it in our faces."

You didn't say anything in response, jaw still clenched tightly.

Wanda watched from the other side of the room, looking at you peculiarly with her head slightly tilted and arms crossed together just under her chest. She had gathered that you and Natasha were together, and from the information she got from reading other people's minds, it seemed that it was still relatively a new development.

There was something in Wanda's chest that flared annoyingly at the sight of you so...so worried over the redhead. She didn't quite understand it herself or what was the underlying cause of it. But you looked different with that expression on your face.

"You think Natasha might've left something for you outside the internet? Any old-school spy stuff?" Tony asked as he turned to Clint.

"I can cast some nets to see if I catch anything," Clint pressed his lips together, also eager to find his friend.

Your eyes were glowing red angrily as you tried to control your emotions. David came up to you, putting his hand on your shoulder to try to ground you.

"I'll find her," David promises you.

You were gripping a countertop as you were slightly hunched over it.

You needed air.

Suddenly, the edge of the countertop snapped under your grip, crumbling into smaller pieces, and you let it go as you stood straight.

"Find her within the hour," you tell David, walking briskly out of the room.

⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷⋆⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷

When you came back, everything was in chaos.

Everyone was arguing about the body in the cradle and what to do with it. You could see from the corner of your eye that Bruce was angry with Wanda and picking a fight with her.

It was escalating so fast. All of a sudden, Pietro took off as he started destroying lab equipment.

"No, go on," Pietro stood next to Bruce, but the next second afterward, the glass floor shattered underneath him, and he fell through where Clint was.

"Pietro!" Wanda went to help her brother, but then Bruce grabbed her from behind.

Tony and Steve were fighting each other, and you blinked before clenching your jaw.

You blurred over, and just before Steve and Tony were about to collide again, you intercepted, grabbing both their wrists and twisting.

"Ah!" They both yelled as they staggered, almost kneeling on the ground.

The room stilled as everyone look at you.

"We do not fight each other," you snarled at them, looking at Steve and Tony pointedly. "Keep this up, and I'll snap both your wrists."

You grip just slightly tighter in warning before letting them both go, and they stumble a little as they stand up straighter.

"Jesus Christ, I could feel the armor just about to give," Tony says, holding his hand up to inspect his suit while Steve rubs his wrist gingerly.

You then blur over to where Bruce and Wanda to separate them, shoving Bruce a little harder when he refused to let go of Wanda.

Wanda stumbles into your arms when Bruce is forced to let her go. You steady her with your hand on her back. Your scent fills Wanda's nose, and she's almost reeling at how it invades her.

"I get that you're beyond pissed, and what she did was not okay," you tell Bruce, eyes flickering to meet Wanda's for a second before looking back at him. "But clearly the situation has changed, and for now, she's with us. Steve brought them here. This isn't the time. Focus on the mission at hand, figure it out with her after."

"You want me to forgive what she did?" Bruce said incredulously.

"No," you shake your head, "I want you to be an Avenger and put it aside for now because your teammate has been captured, and there's still a maniac robot out there hellbent on making humans extinct."

Your words hit Bruce and seem to sober him from his anger, and he relaxes his clenched jaw as he sighs and nods. You pat him on the shoulder twice before you walk away, leading Wanda with you.

Best to not tempt it again if they're too close together.

Wanda looks at you as you walk with her. The words, 'are you upset with me?' want to leave her mouth, but she forces them in. Of course, you'd be upset with her. She had done so many things to the Avengers, including harming your girlfriend with hallucinations.

Wanda looks away and grits her teeth because she shouldn't care if you're upset with her or not.

But then she feels a light pat on her back.

Wanda looks at you. You aren't looking back at her, there's no indication that you had done that as you keep your head straight ahead.

Still.

Wanda had understood the gesture regardless, hearing your voice in her head.

'It's not okay, but I understand. You will get a chance to make it up to Bruce, and he will forgive you. Give it time.'

Before Wanda could say anything, Tony and Steve were at it again, but this time using their words.

"Tony," Steve's face daunt and tight in disapproval, "shut it down!" Steve demanded.

"And I'm telling you, this is will work!" Tony shot back as he caught you coming up to them.

"Tell them!" Tony looks at you, drawing Steve's attention to you as well. "Tell them what you--"

You shoot Tony a warning look, getting him to shut up.

Sighing, you looked at Steve. "Trust me when I say that it will be okay."

"You want him to bring another android to life?" Steve said in disbelief. "We haven't even defeated the first one yet!"

Before you could argue some more, Thor flew in, bringing his lightning hammer on the cradle, bringing the body to life.

"Wait!" Bruce yelled, but it was too late.

For a moment, it was silent, but suddenly, the body smashed out of its cradle.

Glass flew everywhere in its surrounding area. You immediately grabbed Wanda, pulling her to shield her from the flying glass as you used your hand to protect her head.

You felt a piece of glass slice through your cheek on the surface, momentarily stinging before it mended itself.

When everyone stood straighter as the glass settled, there was a giant red android standing in his naked glory, and a giant yellow stone plastered into his forehead.

You had known this was coming when you touched Tony's hand. You had seen quite far ahead;  everything from this, to the fight with Ultron in Tony's perspective, and even a little after that.

When the government and the United Nations wanted to be involved in the Avengers' affairs.

That would be a tricky one to navigate, and you wanted more time to think about it.

When you had relayed what you had seen back to him on the farm, you reassured him that he doesn't kill anyone in the next while, but you didn't exactly tell him what he will do in the future in detail as it could cause counterproductive results and change the future again.

All you could tell Tony was that he was on the right path, he was going to create something to help win the battle, and a heat seal would come in handy.

But back to the matter at hand, you knew this was coming, and yet, actually seeing the giant red walking toaster rubbed you the wrong way, and you weren't quite sure why.

He was floating and quickly flew towards Thor, who easily deterred the android away.

Thor raised his hands as Steve and Clint were ready to fight. Pietro came back, looking at you with a quirk of his brow when he saw you still holding Wanda.

You let go awkwardly because you were distracted, forgetting that you were still protecting her.

Why Pietro was staring at you like that, you didn't know. It's not like Wanda stepped out of your arms, either.

"I'm sorry," the android came back, sounding very similar to JARVIS. "That was odd...thank you," he looked at Thor.

"Thor, you helped create this?" Steve said as he eyed the being before him.

"I had a vision. A whirlpool that sucks in all hope of life and at its center is that," Thor says, pointing to the stone in the android's head.

"What? The gem?" Bruce clarified.

"It's the Mind Stone. It's one of the six Infinity Stones, the greatest power in the universe, unparalleled in its destructive capabilities," Thor explained.

"Then why would you bring it to life..." Steve pursed his lips, even more suspicious of the new being.

"Because Stark is right," Thor says, almost looking pained to admit.

"That's just gonna unnecessarily inflate his ego," you mutter while Tony was accessing what he helped bring to life.

"We can't defeat Ultron," Thor says, but then catches David entering the room. "Okay, well, maybe he can, but he seems like he has a lot to do."

"Help is good," the android tilted his head.

"Why does your 'vision' sound a lot like JARVIS," Steve's brows furrowed.

"We...configured JARVIS' matrix to create something new," Tony explained.

"I think I've had enough of the new," Steve pursed his lips, never taking his eyes off the android.

The android looked over to Steve. "You think I'm a child of Ultron?"

"You're not?" Steve countered back.

The android shook his head. "I'm not Ultron. I'm not Jarvis...I am...I am." Since he had yet to name himself, and due to Thor's vision, everyone decided that's what his name would be.

Wanda looked at Vision suspiciously. Her eyes narrowing at him. "I looked in your head and saw annihilation."

"Look again," he prompted her, staring at her intensely, and you resisted the urge to curl your lip back.

Wanda does what he says, a curious look on her face.

"Yeah, her seal of approval means jack-shit to me," Clint says.

You watched as everyone goes back and forth, with Vision ending with a long, windy, talk about himself and that they need to go. You resist the urge to roll your eyes.

"Sokovia. Natasha's there too," David answered, giving you a look when everyone questions where they were going.

"Then let's go," you lick your lips.

⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷⋆⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷

The ride back to Sokovia feels long, even with Tony flying the Quinjet as fast as possible.

You stand in the back, looking out the window as the clouds pass by. You hear someone come up to you, but you don't move.

The smell of cinnamon and orange blossom floats you're way, so you don't have to know who it was.

The two of you stand in silence, appreciating the view outside.

"Sometimes...sometimes I can see a glimpse into your head," Wanda says quietly, so the others don't hear.

Your eyes peer over to her before slowly looking back out.

"It's not polite to snoop," you say equally as quiet.

"I can't exactly control it..." Wanda mumbles.

"Even so, you should at least pretend you don't know," you moisten your lips.

It's quiet for a moment before Wanda speaks up again.

"I...saw someone. Things I can't explain," Wanda says unsurely, and you know what she's talking about.

Even though you know she can't help it, you can't help but also feel a little miffed.

You knew that Wanda had a right to know, and yet, you didn't say anything.

"You were looking for me..." Wanda realizes.

"And Pietro," you add, giving her a look, almost laughing when she scrunches her nose.

"We're...connected," Wanda slowly says, turning to face you more.

You swallow as you turn to face her as well.

Wanda's staring at you intensely as if drawing in every little detail about your face and committing it to memory. There's a tight feeling in both her stomach and chest, and she doesn't understand.

She doesn't understand you.

You nod softly.

"Will you tell me about it?" Wanda asks.

"After everything has settled," you tell her.

Wanda swallows.

"You want me to stay?"

She says it so softly, you're surprised such a tone can come out of her when lately she's been an angry bull.

With the time you have, you take in her features. Her long dark hair behind her ears, round face, with define cheeks and jawline was familiar. Her long lashes framed her eyes, and her dark eyeliner and the lighting inside the craft dimmed the color of her eyes.

Still.

She looked at you with an intensity that made you dizzy.

"Yeah," you rasp. "How else will you make it up to Banner?"

⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷⋆⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷

Natasha hears you calling her name as you run-up to her cell. She stands up, meeting you on the other side, her hand touches yours.

"You okay?" You ask her, accessing her thoroughly for any kind of injuries.

"Yeah," she tells you, smiling a little at your protective behavior, and once you're satisfied that she's relatively unharmed, you look back to her face.

"We gotta get going, team's already out there, and we're missing all the action," you say, liking the way Natasha smirks.

"Don't suppose you found a key just lying around on your way in, did you?"

You tilt your head, looking at the built-in lock on the cell door. Placing your hand over it, you yanked with a substantial amount of strength, forcing the metal underneath to give way.

You threw the hunk of metal behind your back and looked at your girlfriend. She smiled at you as she slides the door open, jumping into you to hug you briefly.

"Let's go," she says as she pulls back.

The two of you navigate your way through, but the ground begins to shake as you're almost out of there. The two of you stumble slightly before steadying yourselves.

"What's the situation?" You ask into the comms.

"Ultron's got Vibranium under the city. We're up in the air," Tony advises.

"Shit, we need to get out here," you say, turning to Natasha. "We're not going to make it on foot, so I'm going to carry you on my back."

Natasha nods, and you turn around, lower yourself so she can get on. Once she's secured on with her legs wrapped tightly around your waist, you adjust here once more before you're satisfied.

"Keep your head down and close to me," you tell her, feeling her following your instructions. The speed you'd be going at could accidentally break her neck if you weren't careful.

With that, you race out, quickly reaching the outside. Everything seems to be crumbling at you begin to maneuver onto the rocks, leaping onto another one as they fall. Eventually, you reach the cliffside wall, using your hands along with your feet to climb up.

When you reach safe ground, Natasha gets off.

"Didn't even break a sweat, huh?" She says to you.

"I have great stamina," you joke, but Natasha raises her brow at her, quirking her lip on one side into a seductive smirk.

"I'll be sure to test that out one day."

⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷⋆⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷

You feel awful.

Sokovia is falling apart, people are screaming and crying, and it's a war zone out here.

You separated from Natasha, warning her to not get kidnapped again because you don't think you could live with that kind of worry. She merely kisses your cheek before she races off to go help Steve and Thor.

You met up with David, who was huddled up with one of Ultron's robots, and a laptop next to him. The robot was powered down by David, who had his hands on its chest intensely.

"What are you doing?" You ask, looking at his laptop screen to see he was uploading something.

David didn't break his concentration or even open his eyes, but he answered you. "I'm trying to reprogram this bot's mainframe. The Vision is deleting Ultron off the net, so if I can do this, then I can turn this bot over to help us, and then spread it over to all Ultron's other bots."

"That would definitely turn the tide on this," you say, crushing a flying robot towards David.

"I...I got it!" David exclaimed, powering up the robot in hand. It stood up, accessing you, and you stood on guard, but it started to attack its own kind as a threat in the next moment.

"I just need to finish uploading the software to be spread," David picked up his laptop. "I'm going to take cover to finish this, and then find The Vision. I'm good here, you should go."

You nod at him before you take off at high speed. On your way, you bumped into Clint and Wanda. They were being overpowered as they tried to help civilians out of the area.

A group of bots begin to close in. It seems David is still in the process of uploading the software, so the attacks haven't ceased. You notice a bot hellbent on self-destruction as it plummets towards the ground.

Clint is already moving towards Wanda, shouting at her to move. You rush towards the two of them, jumping and pushing them through a building window just as an explosion hits. There are shots still being fired even as the three of you take cover.

Clint's already sitting up, alert as he tries to look at the situation outside without getting shot. Wanda crawls towards the wall, gasping and whimpering.

"How could I let this happen?" She's so distraught.

"Hey, hey, are you alright?" Clint asks, but you put your hand on his shoulder.

Clint looks at you. The situation outside still needs to be handled, and he seems like he doesn't have the time to try to give her a pep talk. You nod at him, and he nods back. Getting up, Clint readies his arrows before he kicks open the door.

"This is all our fault," Wanda cries quietly.

You grab her face, getting her to look up at you. "Look at me," you tell her. "It doesn't matter whose fault it is. It's your fault, my fault, it's everyone's fault. Regardless, this is happening."

She looks at you, breathing harshly as she blinks rapidly.

"I know you're hurting, but this is your homeland, and it's up in the air. Literally. Hopefully, if David manages, we won't be fighting an entire army of robots, but we still got one bad guy to fight," you swallow before hearing something approach as you push and move Wanda out of the way just as a shot fires through the wall.

Wanda looks even more frightened, and she's hanging on the front of your jacket as you readjust to move away from the wall.

"We can't change what we've done, we can only try to fix it going forward. I don't care about anything you did or who you were before this."

"I can't fix this," she bellows to you.

"Yes, you can," you backfire immediately at her. "If you scared and want to let everyone else clean up your mess, I'm fine with letting you do that. You'll be safe here, and Pietro can come to get you. But you can't sit here and tell me that you're okay with letting your fear control you. You can do this, I know you can."

Wanda stares at you, eyes shaking as bites her tongue, letting the silence fall.

"Why do you believe in me so much? Care about me so much?" Wanda asks quietly, feeling something stir in her stomach.

You look back at her, noticing that Wanda seems calmer. Maybe because you feel like you're looking at someone so similar to Tatyana in many ways. That Wanda feels like she's the villain who had caused this.

Perhaps thought she had wanted to be a villain at the start.

But it wretches your gut painfully.

"If anyone could become a hero, it'd be you."

⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷⋆⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷

"David, please tell me you're almost finished," you say into the comms as you, Wanda, and Clint fight the rest of the robots in your area.

The three of you need to work your way to Steve and the rest of the gang when Pietro flew in to take Wanda.

"Keep up, old man!" He teasingly says as he darts off.

"I hate him so much," Clint breathes deeply.

"If you want, I can carry you," you shrug.

"I both want to and hate the idea," Clint scrunches his nose but allows you to carry him.

"I'm really close guys, just hang tight!" David tells everyone.

"The next wave is going to hit any minute," Steve says. "What do you have, Stark?"

"Working on a heat seal," he tells everyone.

"We don't have the time," Thor says, "Ultron is trying to get to the core. We need to make a choice."

"That's not a solution," Steve firmly says.

"There's no math here, Steve. Everyone up here versus everyone down there?"

"I'm not leaving this rock with one civilian on it," Steve doesn't budge.

"I'm not saying we should go," Natasha counters back, nodding her head back and forth as she considers something. "There are worse ways to go. Besides, where else am I going to get a view like this?"

"I have at least fifteen other places that have better views than this."

Natasha looks over to see you had shown up with a disapproving look on your face.

"I think we might have to settle," Natasha gives you a self-deprecating smile that shows all too much that this is the only way.

"I don't settle."

With that, another voice comes on the radio.

"Glad you think the view is nice, hopefully, you think this is much better," Fury comes in with a Helicarrier in view. "Nice, right? I pulled her out of the mothballs with a couple old friends. She's dusty, but she'll do."

"Fury, you son of a bitch!" Steve says with a smile.

"Ooh! You kiss your mother with that mouth?" Fury replies in teasing.

Natasha looks over to you, smiling as you come up to her.

"Did you know?" She asks, and you shrug, not wanting to tell her that you touched Tony.

"If Fury decided to show up at the farm with actually nothing else planned, I think we would have to vote him off the island," you offer instead.

"That's comforting," Fury sarcastically said.

"Anytime," you reply.

Within seconds, lifeboats are deployed, and everyone is helping with the evacuation.

"The odds aren't looking too great here," Thor interrupts. "The core is getting bombarded."

"Rhodey, get everyone on the Helicarrier!" Tony says as he flies towards Thor to help.

⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷⋆⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷

"This is exactly what I wanted. All of you against all of me. How could you possibly hope to stop me?"

"Like the old man said," Tony looks at Steve. "Together."

The bots begin to rush towards everyone, and you swallow.

"Wait, guys!" You hear David through the comms. "I...got it!"

Just like that, the bots stop dead in their tracks and power down before powering back up again.

This time, they turn their attention towards Ultron.

"Are you kidding me?" Ultron grumbles as the bots rush towards him, firing shots away that Ultron easily deflects.

Because The Vision burned him off the net, Ultron has no way of accessing the software David created to try to change the bots back to his side.

The Hulk rushes towards Ultron, punching him square in the chest and sending him flying miles away.

Everyone turns to look at each other as David blurs into the area with his laptop.

"I feel like we missed a very epic battle scene," Tony says, "like a defining moment in a movie."

"Oh, I'm sorry," David says sarcastically, "if you want, I can totally fix that for you."

"Nope, we're good," Steve says quickly. "We still need to get the stragglers, but if Ultron comes back to the core, we're doomed."

"I'll protect it," Wanda interjects, looking at you as she does. "There's no one better than me."

You nod as Clint looks at Nat.

"Nat, let's go," he nods outside. She looks at you, and you nod at her as it would be faster for you to find civilians on your own.

You look at David. "Alright, nerd, you're going with me. I think you had enough alone time for today."

"You are so ungrateful, oh my god."

"I love you," you smile.

⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷⋆⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷

Tony is using the extra bots to help push the rock further into the sky. If they can get it into space, using the heat seal would cause the least amount of damage to Sokovia.

"I can't believe I'm going into space again," Tony mumbled, glad he had made the adjustments to his suit so it would be suitable to go into space better this time.

He had been prepared since the alien invasion.

"Maybe you chose the wrong career path and should've become an astronaut instead," you joke, getting a low chuckle in return.

You had run the perimeter with David, seeing that there were no civilians left.

Natasha volunteered to try to convince The Hulk to either change back or get his ass on the Helicarrier. You would've volunteered, but you don't think The Hulk would be happy to see you, and you can't keep biting the man to force him to change back either.

"I think I can hear a woman screaming," David mumbled. "I'll go check."

He takes off, and you are about to head back when you hear shots fired in the distance. You turn and speed over.

You felt your stomach dropping when you approach the scene. Everything seems to happen in slow motion.

Ultron in his jet, shooting down at Clint, who has a little boy in his arms. You turn your head to see Pietro.

He looks at you, giving you a smirk that feels all too familiar like it's his last one.

Pietro is a step faster than you, he probably always will be. But that doesn't stop you. You force yourself to run. Run faster. Run harder. The sheer amount of force causes a sickening crack in your legs, but you make it just in time.

Pietro only gets shot once through his stomach before you push him out of the way and cover Clint and the child.

The shooting stops as Ultron flies away.

The silence settles, and Clint looks up to see you standing straight before him. You've been shot all over, multiple times in multiple areas.

You suddenly puke up blood as you fall to your knees.

Pietro immediately gets up from the ground rushing over to you, catching you in his arms.

"Why did you do that?!" He yells at you, hands over your body, but he doesn't know which areas to stop the bleeding.

"You idiot," you tell him. "Can you heal from being shot? I don't think so."

Though you say that, the only thing that healed, even though rather slowly, was the crack in your leg.

"You're not healing," Clint says, his tone urgent. He looks at you as blood pours out. "Why aren't you healing?"

"She doesn't have enough blood in her system."

Clint turns over to see David, looking horrified. He kneels down, taking you from Pietro's arms.

"I told you, you fucking idiot, that we should've just taken more blood bags from the hospital," David scolds you.

"This is hardly the time for, 'I told you so,'" You reply weakly.

"Get the kid onto the boat," David looks at Clint and then looks at Pietro. "You need to go collect your sister. There are no more civilians, and we're reaching the stratosphere soon."

"What about--"

"I got this," David says as he bites into your neck. You hiss at the sudden pain. Clint and Pietro have more questions, but they do as David says and take off.

"You better pray to God that we make it back in time," David purses his lips as he pushes your sleeve up to bite in various places.

⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷⋆⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷

The damage to Sokovia is still devastating. It's not entirely obliterated, and people will be able to rebuild their country.

The Hulk, unfortunately, had taken off on his own in stealth mode. He didn't want to be found.

It seems The Vision has taken care of completely destroying Ultron, taking this chapter to an end.

It's not the perfect ending, but it could be a lot worse.

There was only one problem left.

You were dying.

Or at least, on your way to either going completely feral for blood to help you heal or going to a deep slumber until you were fed.

Either one was on the table at this point.

"What do we do?" Natasha asks David sharply as they're still in the air being transported back.

They were on the Helicarrier in their own private section away from the people as they didn't know what you were going to do.

"I only temporarily closed her wounds to stop the bleeding," David tells everyone, explaining why he bit you earlier. He was injecting his healing venom. "Venom doesn't quite work the same way on vampires as it does on humans. She still has a lot of internal bleeding that won't stop, and the only thing that can stop it is if she drinks blood."

"We don't have any blood bags on here!" Steve says as he looks at you, full of worry.

"We could...we could cut and drain our own blood," Natasha looks at you before looking back at David. "She can drink the blood as long as she's not biting us, right?"

David purses his lips as if to consider it but then shakes his head. "She's too badly wounded, it won't be enough. Plus, none of you are in the state to lose any more blood, even if you guys all donate. I can heal your wounds, but I can't make your body produce more blood."

"Then what do we do?" Natasha wants to scream. She can't lose you. She just can't.

At that moment, Pietro and Wanda come in. Pietro can hardly stand up himself, so Wanda is supporting him. They had heard part of the conversation as they came in.

Pietro looks at you, face full of anguish because you're only like this because you saved him.

You're tense on the table, occasionally arching your back up in pain and need. David is holding you down by your arm in case you suddenly get a burst of energy and massacre everyone in this room for blood.

Wanda looks at you, jaw clenched.

The feeling of loss is threatening her on her doorstep. You had saved Pietro, God knows if she could survive to lose her only family.

But Wanda was not ready to let you go either.  

It has occurred to Wanda that outside of Pietro, the only person in this world that may understand her, believe in her, protect her, care for her...would be you.

There was something there, something undefined and frightening. Wanda was sure you felt it too with her, though ignoring it for Natasha.

David looked at Wanda. He knew that he shouldn't.

Yet before he could even stop himself, Wanda looks sharply over at him, catching his thoughts.

You would be entirely beyond pissed at him.

It would cause a whole new set of problems for everyone.

He was sure you would rather die.

But David wasn't willing to risk the chance of you going feral, which was almost guaranteed at this point, or your death.

He just wasn't.

"She can drink my blood," Wanda says, drawing everyone's attention. Wanda was the only person who hadn't sustained any significant damage or got shot. She could afford to lose blood.

"What?" Steve looks at David, who has his lips pursed.

"It would work, wouldn't it?" Wanda also looks at you, your eyes glowing a red she's all too familiar in seeing in herself. "It would be even better than drinking from a blood bag to feed directly from me."

Wanda doesn't fully understand what you are, or the concept of vampires, but she catches pieces here and there from everyone around the room.

And there's a feeling of intrigue and possession that flutters knowing that she was the only one you could drink blood from, aside from her brother.

Pietro grips his sister's arms tighter, torn because if you could drink her blood, you could drink his, but he was also in no shape to lose any more blood.

Wanda pats his arms to assure him she'll be fine. Pietro leans against the wall as Wanda comes closer to you.

"It...would, but..." David's eyes shift over to Natasha.

Natasha clenches her jaw.

The words about how feeding can be an incredibly intimate and private act come back to her.

It's not that Natasha is particularly jealous of Wanda in that way. She's more jealous that she can't do anything to help you herself.

Natasha can't muster the words out of her mouth, so she tersely nods.

With that, Wanda stands right next to your lying body on the bed.

"Everyone, stand back," David says, trying to keep you still, but it's like you can smell how close to feeding you are.

The burst of energy does come, but you use to break out of David's grip as you fling him across the room.

"Shit!" David yells, convinced that you're going to kill Wanda to drain her blood. He stands up, reading to try to fight you even though it would be a losing battle.

But he stops.

You merely stand before Wanda, her face in your hands as you tilt her head up to expose her neck.

You press your nose against her neck, taking a long inhale as you purr at the scent.

Wanda can hear alarm bells in her head that tell her you're a predator, and she's your prey, but she doesn't tremble. Instead, she brings her hands up to hold your wrists as if to keep them in place.

You chuckle throatily, attitude nothing like your usual self, "How brave."

Wanda swallows slowly, the action very visible as the muscles in her neck move.

"It was you who taught me that I could be a hero," she says quietly as if it's only for your ears.

The words seem to trigger something in you as you sink your teeth into her neck, a mouthful of blood rushing into you.

It's been too long, you almost forgot what it was like.

It was hot in your mouth, as fresh as it was.

You could feel a warm body being pressed you, hear a heart beating, and smell the arousal.

A deep moan left Wanda's mouth, unable to control it. A hot, liquid fire shot down to her lower stomach, pooling in her gut.

Wanda couldn't describe how it felt, what she was experiencing, but you were doing something to her as you drank from her, holding her close to you.

You suddenly lift her into the air, wrapping her legs around your waist as you blurred over to the drawer cabinet against the wall, pushing Wanda up on it roughly. Your hands held her possessively.

Wanda was pressed to the wall as she sat on the cabinet, her legs still wrapped against you tightly as she fisted her hand into the back of your hair.

Everyone watched in astonishment of the act, David biting on his tongue as he looked at Natasha, who had no expression on her face to indicate what she was feeling.

Blood was rushing into your mouth, and it was delicious, making you delirious, but that didn't stop you from realizing there was a crowd in the room watching you feed, watching Wanda unravel.

You released your mouth from her neck.

"Leave," you demanded lowly and roughly, hardly coherent before you resume sinking your teeth back into Wanda.

Natasha stared at you, you seemed lost in your own world as you fed, and Natasha knows that you are only like this due to how injured you are.

Still.

As everyone leaves the room, Natasha looks at the two of you once more. Wanda's hand is buried in your hair while she's arching into you.

As she exits the room, Natasha catches Wanda's eyes, staring at her intensely with an unknown meaning in them before her eyes flutter close just as the door shuts.

PART XI