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halothenthehorns · 1 year ago

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Chapter 8: TYSON LEADS A JAILBREAK

Jason squinted down at the new chapter title like there was Mist obscuring it. The words made less sense the longer he stared. "Tyson leads, Tyson leads a- Percy what the hell did you get him into?"

"Tyson leads a what?" Alex demanded, looking very close to strangling Jason already for even hinting at teasing him.

Thalia leaned over his shoulder to finish, "Tyson Leads a Jailbreak? Yeah, no, I'm on Jason's side, you're a bad influence on that kid. Do we need to have another custody battle?"

"Tyson beat up cows and Canadians just fine without me telling him to do so," Percy crossed his arms, he looked almost proud as he leveled a look at Thalia. "I'm sure whatever this is was a great moment in history, revolutionary, and my little brother is helping, erm, the masses not be oppressed anymore or something. And I will bribe a jury to keep him full-time Thalia!"

"Because that's the right way to win a kid," Will stage whispered while Nico snickered in surprise beside him.

Thalia and Percy began actually bickering who would be a better influence on him though, and Magnus looked on in concern for several moments. "I think I liked it better when Percy kept rolling his eyes and wanted to ignore the chapter titles," he admitted to Alex.

"Are you kidding? This is world class entertainment! If we play our cards right, we might start World War III right here!" Alex was definitely placing bets in his head.

Jason finally had to give an almighty throat clearing and a stern look at the pair. He was pretty good at that when he shut off those questions and actually tried to be serious, like he had experience getting wily kids together. "No offense Thalia, but I think Percy wins by default, Tyson's old enough to get a say and he's going to pick Percy."

Percy not-so-silently cheered. "Now, on with the show?"

"Fine," Thalia huffed, "but I still insist nature spirits don't count and Artemis would consider letting me train him."

"Get your own little brother," Percy smirked before sticking his tongue out at her.

Thalia smiled like a good sport as her secret little brother she hadn't told anybody about finally started reading and she fought back tears for everything she'd done wrong regarding him. She was starting to get worried if she kept this bottled up much longer she'd do something drastic, like try to bathe a cat just to get some kind of battle out of her system.

She knew she should tell Percy at least, he wouldn't bat an eye at the multitude of problems that would arise when he found out she planned on murdering a god for what they'd done, but she wanted to give her friend a chance to breathe first. Get his memories back, actually have a chance at some normalcy back at camp with Annabeth before he got into this while she figured out details, so until then, she'd wait.

The good news: the left tunnel was straight with no side exits, twists, or turns.

"I'd actually prefer it if there were though, if something big is chasing me," Magnus said skittishly. "If you're smaller, you can take the turns that'll slow whatever's chasing you down."

"But we could also look over our shoulder and be vaguely comforted we couldn't see it yet instead of thinking it's just behind that corner," Percy said in his attempt at a wise voice.

"Yeah, man, that's, that's not better than an actual good reason," Magnus frowned in concern how this guy was alive, as usual.

The bad news; it was a dead end.

"The kind of news that trumps any good news anyways," Thalia said in fair compensation, to which neither of them disagreed.

After sprinting a hundred yards, we ran into an enormous boulder that completely blocked our path. Behind us, the sounds of dragging footsteps and heavy breathing echoed down the corridor. Something—definitely not human—was on our tail.

"Tyson," I said, "can you—"

"Yes!" He slammed his shoulder against the rock so hard the whole tunnel shook. Dust trickled from the stone ceiling.

"Hurry!" Grover said. "Don't bring the roof down, but hurry!"

"Grover's sure asking a lot of him right then," Alex pouted, "multitasking ain't that easy."

"And Tyson's not even ADHD," Percy agreed.

The boulder finally gave way with a horrible grinding noise. Tyson pushed it into a small room and we dashed through behind it.

"Close the entrance!" Annabeth said.

"Bossy, bossy," Alex huffed one more time.

"Someone's got to give the orders in those kinds of situations or everyone would run around in chaos," Jason reminded.

Alex was more of a deadly, solo, ninja assassin though if he'd ever stop wearing the brightest stinking colors, so nobody was surprised when he rolled his eyes at Jason.

We all got on the other side of the boulder and pushed.

"Teamwork makes the dream work though," Alex laughingly approved. "I knew you guys could move any problem if you just put enough brute force into it."

"If Alex suggests we just throw rocks at the next monster to kill it, I want you all as witnesses to prove it was justified to see I threw a rock at him first to prove why that wouldn't work," Percy chuckled.

Thalia flicked him in the forehead and fought off a laugh. "See, this is why Tyson should hang around me more, he gets all his violent ideas from you!"

"I resemble that remark," Percy agreed casually.

"I'm assuming he doesn't actually mean resent?" Magnus muttered.

"He does not," Alex agreed without concern.

Whatever was chasing us wailed in frustration as we heaved the rock back into placed and sealed the corridor.

"We trapped it," I said.

"Or trapped ourselves," Grover said.

I turned. We were in a twenty-foot-square cement room and the opposite wall was covered with metal bars. We'd tunneled straight into a cell.

Will let out a long, tragic whistle. "What in Hades did that mortal do to deserve getting a cell next to a literal hellish pit? Can you imagine that poor inmate lying awake at night, hearing any number of things through that wall, and yet being so desperate to escape and chance going in?"

"Or, on the flip side, monsters keep getting into just that cell to eat whoever's in there and going back to the labyrinth, so the prison just accepts that as the black hole cell and throws the ones in there they hope will vanish," Alex offered.

"Is it possible? Did Percy finally stumble across a place you're not going to try to vacation to?" Magnus asked him with a smidge of hope.

"Are you nuts? This is easily in the top five places I need to know every detail of!" Alex looked at him in hurt he'd assume otherwise.

"Yeah, should have seen that coming," Magnus sighed in resignation. The real question would be what would Alex get arrested for to get sent there.

"What in Hades?" Annabeth tugged on the bars. They didn't budge.

"Confirmed, Annabeth does not have super strength," Jason nodded to himself like he was compiling a mental list.

"Was that really something you were holding out for?" Percy asked with mild curiosity.

"Can't automatically disqualify it after she held the sky so long. I'm now marking that as strength of character," Jason shrugged.

Through the bars we could see rows of cells in a ring around a dark courtyard—at least three stories of metal doors and metal catwalks.

"A prison," I said. "Maybe Tyson can break—"

"Shh," said Grover. "Listen."

"I would almost rather not, though," Magnus admitted. He'd had to imagine all the time what prison sounded like and wasn't looking for any more descriptors.

"It, uh, it wasn't," but Percy didn't know how to answer that, other than just saying it sounded very weird. Like someone was trying to speak with construction equipment.

Somewhere above us, deep sobbing echoed through the building. There was another sound, too—a raspy voice muttering something that I couldn't make out. The words were strange, like rocks in a tumbler.

"What's that language?" I whispered.

Tyson's eye widened. "Can't be."

"I never considered Tyson might know a second language and that's why he's so minimal in English," Alex said in fascination.

"Do monsters get their own language?" Magnus asked awkwardly. What the heck was going on? Were they even in a mortal prison, or had the labyrinth dumped them out in some hellish monster prison?

"As far as I know, it's a pretty universal kill Percy Jackson language," Percy shrugged, but the look of intense surprise on Tyson's face made him nowhere near downplaying something was up.

"What?" I asked.

He grabbed two bars on our cell door and bent them wide enough for even a Cyclops to slip through.

"So is Tyson jailbreaking himself? That's not something anybody can be upset about," Will was only mock confused, but the slight notes of dread in his voice weren't fake. He was not looking forward to Kampê being described in vivid detail. He still had nightmares about her.

"Wait!" Grover called.

But Tyson wasn't about to wait. We ran after him.

"No easy task I imagine," Jason mock saluted him.

"Yeah, he's weirdly fast, must be all that peanut butter," Percy agreed.

The prison was dark, only a few dim fluorescent lights flickering above.

"I don't think it's an active prison?" Magnus said in surprise. Surely somebody else would have been spotted by now. That just made it creepier though, now he was wondering when the vengeful spirits were going to show up. He still hadn't ruled out monsters were lurking about and the cells were just for show.

"I know this place," Annabeth told me. "This is Alcatraz."

"Fascinating," Alex yelped.

"Growing less surprised by the second the labyrinth dropped you off there," Nico muttered while fiddling with his figurine.

"You mean that island near San Francisco?"

She nodded. "My school took a field trip here. It's like a museum."

"What the hell do they sell in that gift shop?" Magnus spluttered.

"I swear if it's jumpsuits and space food I'll move in," Alex snickered.

It didn't seem possible that we could've popped out of the Labyrinth on the other side of the country,

"Like, seriously, where was this magic path the last two bloody times you needed it," Jason agreed with Percy's very put out look.

"I'm sure if we tried to take the exact same route we'd end up popping out in the South Poll," Percy grumbled at all of his luck.

but Annabeth had been living in San Francisco all year, keeping an eye on Mount Tamalpais just across the bay. She probably knew what she was talking about.

"I just assume that in general," Will nodded. "If she started babbling on about brain surgery or rocket science I'd take her at word."

Nico repressed the urge to gag that literally everybody but him was in love with this girl.

"Freeze," Grover warned.

But Tyson kept going. Grover grabbed his arm and pulled him back with all his strength.

"Did that cause a sequel of the flying shoes?" Thalia asked in concern and admiration at Grover trying so hard. He was all heart, a true protector, even with someone he wasn't fond of.

"He would have fallen if Tyson hadn't actually stopped to catch him," Percy agreed. "I think it would have been easier to pull on the anchor of a cruise ship, but that's Grover for you."

"Stop, Tyson!" he whispered. "Can't you see it?"

I looked where he was pointing, and my stomach did a somersault. On the second-floor balcony, across the courtyard, was a monster more horrible than anything I'd ever seen before.

"Which is really saying a lot when you've met, how many monsters now?" Magnus preemptively put his hand on his stomach to hold it in place for what he might be about to hear.

"Not even a fraction of all of them," Thalia shook her head in sorrow she couldn't promise this would get any better over time.

It was sort of like a centaur, with a woman's body from the waist up. But instead of a horse's lower body, it had the body of a dragon—at least twenty feet long, black and scaly with enormous claws and a barbed tail. Her legs looked like they were tangled in vines, but then I realized they were sprouting snakes, hundreds of vipers darting around, constantly looking for something to bite. The woman's hair was also made of snakes, like Medusa's. Weirdest of all, around her waist, where the woman part met the dragon part, her skin bubbled and morphed, occasionally producing the heads of animals—a vicious wolf, a bear, a lion, as if she were wearing a belt of ever-changing creatures. I got the feeling I was looking at something half formed, a monster so old it was from the beginning of time, before shapes had been fully defined.

"That is the coolest stinking thing I've ever heard of," Alex said slowly, clearly savoring each word.

"How, do you kill, that?" Magnus looked sickened such a thing like shapes even existed now.

"She's how I'd have imagined the mother of all monsters if you hadn't described Echidna already," Jason admitted. "A little bit of everything."

"You guys have no idea how lucky you are just to be hearing about this thing," Percy sighed. She was the kind of monster that made him fleetingly wonder if he was going to wet himself and not care if he'd feel that liquid.

Will's breath came out sharp, the sounds of screams and the smell of that poison and the looks of fright and pain still on faces covered in shrouds coming all to easily back to mind as he fought off a shiver. Nico placed a gentle hand on his shoulder, waiting to be shrugged off, or for Will to scream in fright at the death kid touching him right now.

To his surprise, the opposite happened. Will relaxed under his touch, one last shake of his head, and then he smiled at him. It was a small, tired one, but he mouthed thank you like he'd needed that moment to be grounded. Nico slowly drew his hand back all the same, examining it carefully to make sure he hadn't grabbed a skeleton hand by mistake just in case. Nope. There was that scar on the pad of his thumb from the first time he'd handled his sword. It had been real.

"It's her," Tyson whimpered.

"Get down!" Grover said.

We crouched in the shadows, but the monster wasn't paying us any attention. It seemed to be talking to someone inside a cell on the second floor. That's where the sobbing was coming from. The dragon woman said something in her weird rumbling language.

"What's she saying?" I muttered. "What's that language?"

"The tongue of the old times." Tyson shivered. "What Mother Earth spoke to Titans and...her other children. Before the gods."

"You understand it?" I asked. "Can you translate?"

Tyson closed his eyes and began to speak in a horrible, raspy woman's voice. "You will work for the master or suffer."

"Is Tyson a human translator? Cyclops translator?" Jason asked, always pleasantly surprised to find out more things no matter how persistent that nagging voice in his head was still saying all this time later this wasn't normal.

Percy was clearly puzzled by the question, obviously never having asked, so Nico offered, "as far as I know it ties into that whole voice mimicry they can do. If the person whose voice they plucked it from can speak it, so can they."

"That is so stinking cool!" Jason and Percy both cheered.

Annabeth shuddered. "I hate it when he does that."

Percy looked chagrined while Thalia gave him an understanding nod. Annabeth was allowed to be excused from thinking that was cool after what she'd been through, and Percy had a tendency to forget because Tyson was his daily Cyclops reminder instead of her nightmares.

Like all Cyclopes, Tyson had superhuman hearing and an uncanny ability to mimic voices. It was almost like he entered a trance when he spoke in other voices.

"I will not serve," Tyson said in a deep, wounded voice.

He switched to the monster's voice: "Then I shall enjoy your pain, Briares." Tyson faltered when he said that name. I'd never heard him break character when he was mimicking somebody, but he let out a strangled gulp.

Then he continued in the monster's voice. "If you thought your first imprisonment was unbearable, you have yet to feel true torment. Think on this until I return."

"You've only seen him do that once," Thalia gave him a bit of a judgmental eyebrow. "I'm actually quite pleased to know they can be shocked out of doing that trance." Much like Annabeth, she found that distasteful even being used on their side considering it had once been done to her.

"Who's Briares?" Jason cut into the uneasy silence that followed. "I, um, didn't realize Tyson had other friends besides you." A prison isn't the nicest place to have a sleepover, but it was even more awkward to realize Tyson might have been homeless before when there might have been some monster friend with plenty of space he could have been staying.

"I have no idea," Percy didn't sound to thrilled about the idea either. Prison break, the chapter title had promised, like Briares was stuck there and Tyson was going to help get him out. What the heck was a monster so old and powerful going to be like he needed help?

The dragon lady tromped toward the stairwell, vipers hissing around her legs like grass skirts. She spread wings that I hadn't noticed before—huge bat wings she kept folded against her dragon back. She leaped off the catwalk and soared across the courtyard. We crouched lower in the shadows.

A hot sulfurous wind blasted my face as the monster flew over. Then she disappeared around the corner.

"H-h-horrible," Grover said. "I've never smelled any monster that strong."

"Cyclopes' worst nightmare," Tyson murmured. "Kampê."

"Like a canopy?" Magnus was sure he'd heard wrong. "That sounds way to relaxing and nice to be translated right."

"I'm not making it up!" Jason promised.

"Who?" I asked.

Tyson swallowed. "Every Cyclops knows about her. Stories about her scare us when we're babies. She was our jailer in the bad years."

Percy frowned and swallowed a tight throat. He'd never asked about Tyson's mom, how long he'd been homeless before they found each other. Like with Annabeth, Percy worried it wasn't the best circumstances.

That bit also made him a tad grateful his mom never tried to give him bedtime stories, he was to restless a child. He vaguely recalled her singing her favorite songs to him instead, and wondered if he could get a recording sometime so Tyson could fall asleep listening to that instead of stories about the worst jailer of all time.

Annabeth nodded. "I remember now. When the Titans ruled, they imprisoned Gaea and Ouranos's earlier children—the Cyclopes and the Hekatonkheires."

"Can they not just be called heck-spawn? That's so much easier to pronounce," Percy sighed.

"Oh come on Percy, it's not that bad after you learned in school how to pronounce deoxyribonucleic acid," Will said bracingly.

"And now you're putting way to much faith in my education," Percy scoffed.

"The Heka-what?" I asked.

"The Hundred-Handed Ones," she said. "They called them that because...well, they had a hundred hands.

"The Greeks really didn't go out of their way to get creative with these names huh?" Alex said tragically.

"I'm, um, not complaining. Better than calling them the toe-to-head devourers or something," Magnus was definitely not wrapping his head around that right though. Were all the hands going to sprout out of his arms? Was he going to be a giant hand made of hands? Did that mean they were all thumbs and clumsy?

They were elder brothers of the Cyclopes."

"Looks like Percy's got some competition!" Magnus chuckled.

"Bet I'll win!" Percy said at once.

"It's okay guys, Tyson can have all the big siblings he wants, no need to fuss," Thalia mock playacted just because she was really tired of this being discussed.

Percy opened his mouth, a challenge on his tongue Thalia was just trying to move on from this because she didn't think she'd win, but he really saw her. The exhaustion in her eyes, the way she held herself like they were discussing Luke. Something about Tyson was really bothering her right now, and like Annabeth, he did forget her bad experience with them. So he quickly waved Jason on, but he kept watching her, and noticed how she didn't quite seem to want to watch Jason either.

"Very powerful," Tyson said. "Wonderful! As tall as the sky. So strong they could break mountains!"

"Cool," I said. "Unless you're a mountain."

"Might be cool for the mountains," Alex grinned. "I quite admire monsters that can break me."

"Only you Alex," Percy told him without surprise.

"Kampê was the jailer," he said. "She worked for Kronos. She kept our brothers locked up in Tartarus, tortured them always, until Zeus came. He killed Kampê and freed Cyclopes and Hundred-Handed Ones to help fight against the Titans in the big war."

"And now Kampê is back," I said.

"Bad," Tyson summed up.

"I swear we could just plaster that as the chapter title and it would always be relevant," Nico muttered.

"So who's in that cell?" I asked. "You said a name—"

"Briares!" Tyson perked up. "He is a Hundred-Handed One. They are as tall as the sky and—"

"Yeah," I said. "They break mountains."

I looked up at the cells above us, wondering how something as tall as the sky could fit in a tiny cell, and why he was crying.

"Hopefully it's just a minor inconvenience, like his warden forgot to put a mint on his pillow," Jason said with an odd look at Percy. It seemed pretty obvious anybody would be crying to be in these circumstances. They were all holding it together by willpower and sarcasm.

"I guess we should check it out," Annabeth said, "before Kampê comes back."

"And that's why the child of wisdom is leading this charge," Alex snorted. "I'd rather wait until Kampê came back to do this properly!"

"You would," Nico said, never entirely sure how much Alex was kidding about that.

As we approached the cell, the weeping got louder.

"Do you expect noises to get quieter the closer you get to them?" Will asked in concern.

"I don't know, I've never tried being quiet at anything," Percy shrugged.

When I first saw the creature inside, I wasn't sure what I was looking at. He was human-size and his skin was very pale, the color of milk. He wore a loincloth like a big diaper. His feet seemed too big for his body, with cracked dirty toenails, eight toes on each foot. But the top half of his body was the weird part. He made Janus look downright normal. His chest sprouted more arms than I could count, in rows, all around his body. The arms looked like normal arms, but there were so many of them, all tangled together, that his chest looked kind of like a forkful of spaghetti somebody had twirled together. Several of his hands were covering his face as he sobbed.

"That guy, is very cool," Alex instantly decided.

"Helps he might not kill you upon first meeting you," Magnus agreed, though he was still reserving a scream for that in case they got double-crossed.

"Either the sky isn't as tall as it used to be," I muttered, "or he's short."

"Mist manipulation?" Jason offered awkwardly.

"Or he didn't get Ouranos's genes," Percy snorted.

Thalia rolled her eyes at the pair of them again, so at least that was still normal.

Tyson didn't pay any attention. He fell to his knees.

"Briares!" he called.

The sobbing stopped.

"Great Hundred-Handed One!" Tyson said. "Help us!"

Briars looked up. His face was long and sad, with a crooked nose and bad teeth. He had deep brown eyes—I mean completely brown with no whites or black pupils, like eyes formed out of clay.

Jason gave an impressed whistle.

"That's what impressed you?" Percy yelped. "You weren't even phased by the arms, but his eyes?"

"Eyes are the window to the soul Percy, and that just sounded cooler than spaghetti arms," he chuckled. His blue eyes flashed a familiar, cocky kind of way when he mocked him that nagged at Percy's mind for a moment.

"Run while you can, Cyclops," Briares said miserably. "I cannot even help myself."

"Yeah, why is that exactly?" Magnus stage whispered. "He doesn't exactly sound pinned down."

"Sometimes your head can be prison enough," Nico murmured sullenly. If Magnus hadn't seen his lips move, he wouldn't have been entirely sure he spoke at all. Magnus swallowed a sharp, bitter feeling on his tongue of understanding and didn't press farther.

"Sounds to me like he just needs a helping hand," Percy said casually and then even laughed at his own pun, so the others just rolled their eyes at him and moved on.

"You are a Hundred-Handed One!" Tyson insisted. "You can do anything!"

Briars wiped his nose with five or six hands. Several others were fidgeting with little pieces of metal and wood from a broken bed, the way Tyson always played with spare parts. It was amazing to watch. The hands seemed to have a mind of their own. They built a toy boat out of wood, then disassembled it just as fast. Other hands were scratching at the cement floor for no apparent reason. Others were playing rock, paper, scissors. A few others were making ducky and doggie shadow puppets against the wall.

"I feel like trying to watch him sign would give me a headache," Magnus seemed fascinated how he was able to function all of those fingers at once. He did good to walk and have a conversation without tripping.

"Like trying to listen to a song at mock ten speed, he'd just bang out everything at once," Alex agreed, but he sounded more impressed. He was probably imagining punching 98 people at once and giving himself a high-five.

"I cannot," Briares moaned. "Kampê is back! The Titans will rise and throw us back into Tartarus."

"Put on your brave face!" Tyson said.

Immediately Briares's face morphed into something else. Same brown eyes, but otherwise totally different features. He had an upturned nose, arched eyebrows, and a weird smile, like he was trying to act brave. But then his face turned back to what it had been before.

"Does every part of his body just go nuts?" Percy half laughed half asked. "Do his ears change out to bionics?"

Thalia smacked him on his ear to shush him.

"No good," he said. "My scared face keeps coming back."

"How did you do that?" I asked.

Annabeth elbowed me. "Don't be rude. The Hundred-Handed Ones all have fifty different faces."

"I don't think ignorance should be called rude," Will said fairly.

"It is if you ask to see all fifty faces at once," Alex said with a very disappointed face of his own he knew he shouldn't and yet very much wanted to.

"Must make it hard to get a yearbook picture," I said.

Thalia laughed against her will and agreed, "a face a mother doesn't have to love, she could just tell him to change it to another!" Then kept snickering at her own joke.

Percy sighed in relief, it was kind of depressing watching her try to be all responsible and lieutenant-y. He was already worried the Hunt was going to make her boring and stiff.

Tyson was still entranced. "It will be okay, Briares! We will help you! Can I have your autograph?"

"Does he have an autograph book?" Alex asked in surprise.

"I think we found his celebrity crush," Magnus grinned.

"My question is, can you get one of those on Alcatraz island? I'm still not sure what to expect in that gift shop," Will chuckled.

Briares sniffled. "Do you have one hundred pens?"

"I only keep up with one because it's magic!" Percy looked traumatized at the idea of collecting all of those.

"His hands move independently of each other though," Nico frowned at the odd question.

"Maybe each would want to write their own autograph," Will said, an odd bit of disappointment in his voice nobody got because he hadn't gotten an autograph when it was available.

"Guys," Grover interrupted. "We have to get out of here. Kampê will be back. She'll sense us sooner or later."

"Break the bars," Annabeth said.

"Yes!" Tyson said, smiling proudly. "Briares can do it. He is very strong. Stronger than Cyclopes, even!

"That's, pretty strong," Magnus agreed, but with a weary kind of frown. How much stronger than Tyson could you be without tipping the terrifying scales?

Alex was no more impressed, because if Briares could break out of there, then surely he would have by now.

Watch!"

Briares whimpered. A dozen of his hands started playing patty-cake, but none of them made any attempt to break the bars.

"This is just sad," Jason frowned. How long had this guy been a prisoner already?

Alex tangled up a few strands of hair in his fingers and gave a painful tug. The memory, the feeling of how hard it was to walk out a door wasn't something he'd had to think about in a few years, but then he'd been kicked out. He hadn't gone back in.

Hopefully, it wouldn't take Briares that to get such a forceful freedom.

"If he's so strong," I said, "why is he stuck in jail?"

Annabeth ribbed me again. "He's terrified," she whispered. "Kampê had imprisoned him in Tartarus for thousands of years. How would you feel?"

Percy couldn't imagine it. Even at his worst moments with smelly Gabe he'd had his mom, or being underground in that Labyrinth, he'd been with his friends. He'd been able to move, have a sense of freedom, know that he could leave if he'd ever wanted to even if it wasn't something he'd ever consider.

The Hundred-Handed One covered his face again.

"Briares?" Tyson asked. "What...what is wrong? Show us your great strength!"

"Tyson," Annabeth said, "I think you'd better break the bars."

Tyson's smile melted slowly.

"I will break the bars," he repeated. He grabbed the cell door and ripped it off its hinges like it was made of wet clay.

Alex made a noise of appreciation. He knew Tyson would enjoy doing that with him.

"Come on, Briares," Annabeth said. "Let's get you out of here."

She held out her hand. For a second, Briares's face morphed to a hopeful expression. Several of his arms reached out, but twice as many slapped them away.

"I've heard of people fighting with themselves, but geez, this is ridiculous," Thalia said with grudging admiration for how much control Briares must have over himself. He could defeat any enemy if she could find him twenty-five bows.

"I cannot," he said. "She will punish me."

"It's all right," Annabeth promised. "You fought the Titans before, and you won, remember?"

"I remember the war." Briares's face morphed again—furrowed brow and a pouting mouth. His brooding face, I guess.

"I think Briares is going to be a great influence on you," Jason said in a very unhelpful tone to Percy. "Maybe seeing someone actively change their face around will help you figure out what an angry face is."

"Fat chance it'll do any good," Percy scoffed.

"Lightning shook the world. We threw many rocks. The Titans and the monsters almost won. Now they are getting strong again. Kampê said so."

"Don't listen to her," I said. "Come on!"

He didn't move. I knew Grover was right. We didn't have much time before Kampê returned. But I couldn't just leave him here. Tyson would cry for weeks.

"Yeah, that's why you shouldn't just abandon someone," Will sighed while rubbing at his forehead.

"I think this is a great, helpful tool to learn," Nico grinned. "All we have to do to win any fight is tell Percy it'll make someone cry if we don't."

"We shall achieve this quest or it'll make us all cry!" Percy said in a triumphant tone, even hefting an invisible sword. Then he lowered it and gave them a spectacular eye roll. "Nah, doesn't have a good ring to it."

"One game of rock, paper, scissors," I blurted out. "If I win, you come with us. If I lose, we'll leave you in jail."

"That should have been the chapter title," Magnus busted out laughing in surprise. "I Win Rock, Paper, Scissors a Hundred Times."

"Thanks for the confidence," Percy grinned, though he suspected they were all going to call him a cheat.

Annabeth looked at me like I was crazy.

"There's a face he could never forget," Jason clearly wasn't going to let that joke go.

"It's my favorite one," Percy agreed fondly.

Briares's face morphed to doubtful. "I always win rock, paper, scissors."

"Why? Can he read hands better than Magnus?" Alex asked suspiciously.

"I'm not a palm reader," Magnus frowned.

"Shush, you know what I meant," Alex waved his fingers concerningly close to his nose, exposing the dried in clay still in the folds of his skin Magnus had shamelessly been watching when he thought he could get away with it.

"Then let's do it!" I pounded my fist in my palm three times.

Briares did the same with all one hundred hands, which sounded like an army marching three steps forward. He came up with a whole avalanche of rocks, a classroom set of scissors, and enough paper to make a fleet of airplanes.

"He cheated!" Will yelped. "He still has to only pick one!"

"Game sounds a tad more interesting though if you used both hands," Nico grinned. "Bit more of a strategy involved."

"This guy could play a whole game of chess by himself and not use half his hands," Will grudgingly agreed. "Somebody's got to make it a challenge."

"Then he came to the right place," Percy cracked his knuckles in delight.

"I told you," he said sadly. "I always—" His face morphed to confusion. "What is that you made?"

"A gun," I told him, showing him my finger gun. It was a trick Paul Blofis had pulled on me, but I wasn't going to tell him that.

"Percy, you cheated too," Will groaned in disappointment.

"And kids shouldn't play with guns, Paul is a terrible influence," Thalia rolled her eyes at Will to make him hear how ridiculous he was being.

He opened his mouth, then shut it again. What was he supposed to say? He should have used a sword instead?

"A gun beats anything."

"That's not fair."

"I didn't say anything about fair. Kampê's not going to be fair if we hang around. She's going to blame you for ripping off the bars. Now come on!"

"You're being a manipulative little shit," Thalia said approvingly. "You don't get enough credit for being able to do that."

"Annabeth gets all the good credit, I'm just the sidekick," Percy reminded cheerfully.

Briares sniffled. "Demigods are cheaters." But he slowly rose to his feet and followed us out of the cell.

"Not a great lesson I'd want to instill in him," Magnus said uneasily. The last thing Percy needed was this guy as a powerful enemy, and making all future generations of demigods his enemy.

"I saved his life, he can call me a sore loser and a poopoo head too if he and Tyson want to hide under a blanket and laugh about me," Percy shrugged.

I started to feel hopeful.

"And then all hell broke lose," Jason said with such calm confidence, nobody even realized that hadn't been in the book.

All we had to do was get downstairs and find the Labyrinth entrance. But then Tyson froze.

On the ground floor right below, Kampê was snarling at us.

"Is run the right word there?" Magnus tried hard not to whimper.

"Better than freeze?" Alex shrugged.

Percy was making a strangled kind of noise that wasn't a word at all, his eyes large enough he resembled a deep sea fish.

"The other way," I said.

"Unless Tyson wants her autograph too, then you might stop," Thalia shivered.

"Nope, sorry, I'd have to make the tough call on that and tell him no," Percy said only a tad frantically.

We bolted down the catwalk. This time Briares was happy to follow us. In fact he sprinted out front, a hundred arms waving in panic.

"Oh, good to know that's all it took," Jason yelped in something close to betrayal, but he also had half a mind to lash a rope to one of his arms and hang on for the free ride, so he wasn't that offended.

Behind us, I heard the sound of giant wings as Kampê took to the air.

"Is now a good time to discuss how exactly it's possible for dragons to take flight?" Alex asked critically. "Especially the European ones which are all heavy-armored tanky beasts, and you cannot tell me she's gliding in there."

"You know Alex," Percy tried to say as casually as possible, "I think we should shelve that, and save it for a quiet time when we've just dodged our own near death experience, not in the middle of one."

"Duly noted," Alex nodded.

She hissed and growled in her ancient language, but I didn't need a translation to know she was planning to kill us.

"I'm sure Tyson's feelings won't be to hurt," Jason snorted.

We scrambled down the stairs, through a corridor, and past a guard's station—out into another block of prison cells.

"Left," Annabeth said. "I remember this from the tour."

"I'd trust any direction that wasn't backwards," Will promised faintly.

We burst outside and found ourselves in the prison yard, ringed by security towers and barbed wire. After being inside for so long, the daylight almost blinded me.

Magnus winced along with him, because he didn't usually experience that very harshly, or he got over it weirdly quickly. He'd never considered that of any use outside of just hanging around making sure Hearth or Blitz didn't bump into anything, now he realized he might have been able to take in the area a split second faster than someone like Percy or Annabeth.

Tourists were milling around, taking pictures. The wind whipped cold off the bay. In the south, San Francisco gleamed all white and beautiful, but in the north, over Mount Tamalpais, huge storm clouds swirled.

The whole sky seemed like a black top spinning from the mountain where Atlas was imprisoned, and where the Titan palace of Mount Othrys was rising anew. It was hard to believe the tourists couldn't see the supernatural storm brewing, but they didn't give any hint that anything was wrong.

"Still want that picture-perfect moment Will?" Nico asked mildly.

"Ever notice how nobody takes pictures of hard times?" Will asked with a sad smile. "Maybe I would, do a before and after thing."

"You're insane," Nico chuckled with growing affection for his particular insanity.

"It's even worse," Annabeth said, gazing to the north. "The storms have been bad all year, but that—"

"Keep moving," Briares wailed. "She is behind us!"

"And you guys keep telling me I have bad timing," Alex said in exasperation. "At least I didn't want to stop and talk about the scenery!"

"You're trying to tell us you wouldn't stop and smell the roses while a dragon canopy is behind you?" Jason asked in disbelief.

"Roses are so cliché," he scoffed like that was actually an answer before waving him on.

We ran to the far end of the yard, as far from the cellblock as possible.

"Kampê's too big to get through the doors," I said hopefully.

Then the wall exploded.

Thalia's smile looked painful as she tried to smother a laugh, and was failing. "Okay, next, I want you to say, I don't want a million dollars!"

"It doesn't work like that, I've tried," Percy promised through a grit-tooth smile.

Tourists screamed as Kampê appeared from the dust and rubble, her wings spread out as wide as the yard. She was holding two swords—long bronze scimitars that glowed with a weird greenish aura, boiling wisps of vapor that smelled sour and hot even across the yard.

"Poison!" Grover yelped. "Don't let those things touch you or..."

"Or we'll die?" I guessed.

"Well...after you shrivel slowly to dust, yes."

"Because of course the giant every-monster gets poisonous swords! What next, a propeller hat? A backpack full or restores?" Magnus looked exhausted for Percy even hearing of this unstoppable beast.

Percy wondered when the heck his life had turned into something that made a horror movie sound bland. It didn't sound great when he decided always.

"Let's avoid the swords," I decided.

"That is possibly the wisest thing you've ever said," Thalia said, clearly impressed.

"You and Grover putting that one good brain cell to use at the right time," Jason snorted.

"Briares, fight!" Tyson urged. "Grow to full size!"

Instead, Briares looked like he was trying to shrink even smaller. He appeared to be wearing his absolutely terrified face.

"I'm very disappointed you haven't continued describing all these new features," Alex pouted. "Did he have a button nose? A wide forehead? Dimples?"

"You know, I really didn't think about it much," Percy grinned, "like Jason said, it was all in the eyes."

"Ha!" Jason gave a barking laugh before falling off into snickers for a solid minute before he could keep going while Percy stared on, pleased with himself he'd gotten him to laugh so hard. Jason definitely needed to stop thinking and counting so much and have a little more fun.

Kampê thundered toward us on her dragon legs, hundreds of snakes slithering around her body.

For a second I thought about drawing Riptide and facing her,

"And you have two great guys to help you throw rocks at this monster and everything," Alex smirked right at Percy.

He took in a deep breath and raised his hand at the giant white boulder still sitting in the middle of the room from where he'd nearly caved in the roof.

It didn't move, and after several silent moments of everybody watching blankly, Percy shrugged. "See, told you it wouldn't work."

"You weren't really trying at all, were you?" Alex asked tragically, as if actually offended Percy hadn't thrown a rock at him to really nail his point.

"My attention is a little split, try again later," Percy rolled his eyes.

Alex sniffed, he knew a dismissal when he heard one. "I remember what ADHD stands for you know," he grumbled, but Percy was back to staring at the book and chewing on the cap of his pen.

but my heart crawled into my throat. Then Annabeth said what I was thinking: "Run."

That was the end of the debate.

"I want you to remember this moment if you ever think of joining that particular club at Goode High," Nico told him conversationally enough. He hadn't even been in awe this time Percy had run like a sensible person or taken charge. He was just a guy running for his life like anyone.

"Yeah Nico, this is for sure the first thing I want coming to my mind joining any club," Percy gave him a bewildered frown.

There was no fighting this thing. We ran through the jail yard and out the gates of the prison, the monster right behind us. Mortals screamed and ran. Emergency sirens began to blare. We hit the wharf just as a tour boat was unloading. The new group of visitors froze as they saw us charging toward them, followed by a mob of frightened tourists, followed by...I don't know what they saw through the Mist, but it could not have been good.

"Stampeding elephant," Alex offered.

"Raining men?" Magnus asked.

"A very angry woman throwing snakes at people out of a bazooka," Jason said with a little to much confidence, his mind offering a weirdly specific image of seeing someone on the news talk about this...

"The boat?" Grover asked.

"Too slow," Tyson said.

"Not with Percy driving it!" Will yelped.

"I wasn't going to argue with Tyson, who knew if she was just getting started," Percy shook his head sharply. He hadn't exactly sat around and clocked his ability to move a boat faster than every monster.

"Back into the maze. Only chance."

"We need a diversion," Annabeth said.

Tyson ripped a metal lamppost out of the ground. "I will distract Kampê. You run ahead."

"I'll help you," I said.

"No," Tyson said. "You go. Poison will hurt Cyclopes. A lot of pain. But it won't kill."

"Are you sure?"

"Go, brother. I will meet you inside."

"It was never hard to guess who Tyson took the best influence from," Thalia chuckled, handing him a mock stack of documents. "I concede the case, you now have both kids all to yourself."

Percy gave her a tragic look as he mock-hugged them to his chest and pleaded, "you won't even offer child support?"

"Ha, ha, ha," she chuckled as she gave him a light push. Hopefully this would finally get him to let go of that stupid joke, and besides, she'd meant it anyways. How could she not admire the hero he'd been to Tyson the instant they met? It was who he always was.

I hated the idea. I'd almost lost Tyson once before, and I didn't want to ever risk that again. But there was no time to argue, and I had no better idea.

"Sometimes the best idea is blind trust," Jason agreed gently.

Percy wasn't sure he liked it when he heard Jason saying stuff like that, and not because he disagreed. It just sounded exhausting, like how Chiron sometimes sounded so old. Jason was his age, he shouldn't know all that.

Annabeth, Grover, and I each took one of Briares's hands and dragged him toward the concession stands while Tyson bellowed, lowered his pole, and charged Kampê like a jousting knight.

"Getting medieval times up in here," Alex grinned. "I told you to get Tyson a cyclops-sized horse Percy, this would have been perfect!"

"I bet Rainbow would come around if we'd had time to call," Percy agreed.

She'd been glaring at Briares, but Tyson got her attention as soon as he nailed her in the chest with the pole, pushing her back into the wall. She shrieked and slashed with her swords, slicing the pole to shreds. Poison dripped in pools all around her, sizzling into the cement.

Tyson jumped back as Kampê's hair lashed and hissed, and the vipers around her legs darted their tongues in every direction. A lion popped out of the weird half-formed faces around her waist and roared.

As we sprinted for the cellblocks, the last thing I saw was Tyson picking up a Dippin' Dots stand and throwing it at Kampê. Ice cream and poison exploded everywhere, all the little snakes in Kampê's hair dotted with tuttifrutti.

Percy couldn't describe the dread that filled him if he wanted to. He would have learned to run backwards or started a jousting tournament or anything if he'd thought it would help in that moment.

But he trusted Tyson. He said he was going to meet him and so he clenched his fist tight enough he could have held a hundred hands and told himself to get a move on, this is what Tyson needed from him right now. The ocean had been roaring in his ears like a cheer from their dad.

He didn't seem to realize, as usual, he was really causing the ocean to begin stirring around them.

We dashed back into the jail yard.

"Can't make it," Briares huffed.

"Tyson is risking his life to help you!" I yelled at him. "You will make it."

As we reached the door of the cellblock, I heard an angry roar. I glanced back and saw Tyson running toward us at full speed, Kampê right behind him. She was plastered in ice cream and T-shirts. One of the bear heads on her waist was now wearing a pair of crooked plastic Alcatraz sunglasses.

"I cannot believe Rachel isn't here to help me get a visual on this," Alex groaned. "You think Oceanus will let us take souvenirs when we're done, because I will fight someone for that paragraph to exist so I can make a sculpture of it!"

"I'm sure you can just rip out a page and stuff it in your shoe," Percy told him, letting himself be temporarily distracted. People were in his room. Vulnerable friends who he couldn't blast away. "In fact, I'll be starting a fire underwater soon enough to burn all these, so get your picks while you can." Like he wanted anybody else to suffer the nightmare that was his life when this was done.

"Hurry!" Annabeth said, like I needed to be told that.

"She's just a good leader like that, making sure you're all on the same page," Jason snickered.

"I'll shove that page up your nose, see if you can finish it then," but Percy couldn't help but force a laugh. He needed to hear Tyson was okay more than jokes right now.

We finally found the cell where we'd come in, but the back wall was completely smooth—no sign of a boulder or anything.

"Look for the mark!" Annabeth said.

"There!" Grover touched a tiny scratch, and it became a Greek . The mark of Daedalus glowed blue, and the stone wall grinded open.

Too slowly.

Tyson was coming through the cellblock, Kampê's swords lashing out behind him, slicing indiscriminately through cell bars and stone walls.

I pushed Briares inside the maze, then Annabeth and Grover.

"You can do it!" I told Tyson. But immediately I knew he couldn't. Kampê was gaining. She raised her swords.

Percy moved on reflex. He was flinging only in his mind, but the water reacted around him.

CRASH!

There was now a hole punched into the door at least, instead of someone's skull. Perfectly shaped for someone to fit their head through like they wanted to be Janus for Halloween. Percy's arm was still flung out like a follow-through on a hoop until Thalia gently stood up and grabbed him, lowering him back into his seat as he stuttered for unneeded air while Jason calmly finished like a cannon hadn't just gone off.

I need a distraction—something big. I slapped my wristwatch and it spiraled into a bronze shield.

Desperately, I threw it at the monster's face.

SMACK! The shield hit her in the face and she faltered just long enough for Tyson to dive past me into the maze.

Percy rubbed the empty space where that watch used to be with the smallest of regret. Tyson was alive, and he'd make him an even better watch with their new, even more deadly adventures on it when he got back.

I was right behind him. Kampê charged, but she was too late. The stone door closed and its magic sealed us in. I could feel the whole tunnel shake as Kampê pounded against it, roaring furiously. We didn't stick around to play knock, knock with her, though.

"Talk about one of the greatest punchlines of all time," Thalia said faintly. That had been close. Way to close.

"Would anybody begrudge me making one up for that though?" Alex grinned. "I bet nobody will see it coming."

"You go right ahead Alex, like we can stop you," Will chuckled.

We raced into the darkness, and for the first time (and the last) I was glad to be back in the Labyrinth.

"Someone needed to bring a photographer on these trips to commemorate all the happy times you keep glossing over," Jason said as he began to hand the book over. "I can't believe nobody commemorated that first and last time in one moment!"

"That's what we have you for Jason," Magnus smirked as he took the book. "You're our bookkeeper."

"That would have been much funnier if he was about to start his turn," Alex frowned at him. "Work on your timing Magnus."

"I'll get right on that," he agreed. Half of him wanted to sit in a daze and wonder if Alex had some implications of that, but his fingers were already grazing along for the next chapter. Was it to much to hope this quest would go a tad easier now that they had Briares on their side?

#pjo #percy jackson #thalia grace #jason grace #alex fierro #magnus chase #nico di angelo #will solace #percabeth #fierrochase #solangelo #battle of the labyrinth #HDYSG #reading the books #fanfiction

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idgivemyeyesfor-mattmurdock · 2 years ago

Text

⋆⁺₊⋆ Chérie ⋆⁺₊⋆ Matt Murdock X Frank Castles sister

Summary: What happens when Mercedes Castle looses her brother and sister, all within a year? What happens when she tries to re-connect with Frank while, then, meeting an oh so familiar lawyer.

TW: DEATH, mentions of depression and suicide. Mentioned abuse, (if can get triggered by any of these subjects or subjects related. PLZ DO NOT READ. it is an ongoing theme.) Smut, but that will be later. ;) ;)

Wattpad Link for cast & playlist(s):

Chapter One:

⋆⁺₊⋆ Chérie ⋆⁺₊⋆

"They say this house is haunted

But all these ghosts I've grown with

As it slips away from me

I still hold on hopelessly

I lay my head to sleep and say goodnight"

- Holly Humberstone

Playlist Recommended for reading:

Oct 21st 3am

MERCEDES CASTLE WASN'T A BAD PERSON. She just wished she saw the world through rose pink tinted glasses.

It would have been nice if Mercedes thought that everyone was innocent until proven guilty. Rather than seeing innocence, she saw guilt until proven innocent.

It was a harsh way to see life, but god did give her charcoal gray tinted glasses. It wasn't her fault. Lord, did she want to take them off for one day. For one day, she hoped she would rip the glasses off and see people for the good they truly had inside.

Though sometimes god would let Mercedes take those glasses off, and when she did oh lord, did she see good. Christ, was she attracted to it.

When she saw goodness, grace, and hope— she wanted to bottle it up in a jar, put it on a shelf, and just take a look at it every day just to remind herself that it still existed.

As Mercedes drove her knuckles into the punching bag, she wondered what truly kept the world spinning.

Was it love? love was something that kept her afloat. Maybe some people, but love to Mercedes was like happiness. She didn't have it all the time.

If love didn't keep the world spinning, what was?

Well, it was grace.

As Mercedes watched her world move positively and negatively, she realized how grace affected it.

Grace and her's relationship was complicated because— grace kept Frank out of jail. But grace also forgave Billy when he murdered her sister.

Grace was there when god gave Yanelis a second chance at being happy, but grace wasn't there when Yanelis couldn't protect herself from hate.

Grace was there when Yanelis and frank were in the front lines, but, grace wasn't there for Maria, Lisa, and Frank Jr.

Good or bad, grace kept the world spinning.

Well, at least her world.

It was funny because being a detective she saw grace being tossed around to everybody. She saw it being given to murderers, adulterers, predators, the list goes on— Until it was needed, Grace was given to everyone.

Grace didn't go to her sister when she died a year ago.

Grace didn't go to her sister-in-law and nephews.

As Mercedes drives her foot into the scarlet plastic-covered bag, "Mama" by My Chemical romance plays in the background.

Silently, she whispered the lyrics to herself.

"Mama we all go to hell"

if Yanelis were alive, this wouldn't be happening. Instead, her and Mercedes would be binge-watching "Gilmore Girls" for the billionth time. Then after watching five or six episodes, Yanelis would play an old murder documentary and have Mercedes pinpoint everything wrong that was done, and why they didn't catch the murderer the night after. But instead, Yanelis was gone, and she was in an abandoned gym driving her knuckles into a plastic bag.

Frank didnt care. Maybe if he bothered he could be there with her— but, hell he was dealing with his problems. Frank didnt even show up to Yanelis Funeral. Instead, he showed up a week later at her tomb... what a guy right?

Frank was gone, murdering drug dealers off in hells kitchen and Yanelis was— Yaenlis was six feet under.

And then, Mercedes was just there.

This wasn't how their lives as siblings was supposed to go.

This wasn't the plan.

As Mercedes sweat falls down the curve of her forehead, the faint scent of lavender shampoo fades and its overcomes by the harsh scent of water, salt and blood— which fills the room entirely.

In a crime scene, its not really ideal to leave your blood on the premises, so she usually cleans equipment. hence, why a certain man has never noticed.

Crime had been low in Hells Kitchen. there was no need for a Daredevil, or a punisher. Now, the police were actually taking care of it. Sometimes Daredevil would be seen in alleyways but that was only if something truly needed to be taken care of.

Now, Daredevil spent his nights in fogwells, and his days in a law office.

The problem with Matt coming to Fogwells tonight was that rock music was played by millions of people at three o'clock in the morning, so her doing so wasn't something new.

As Matt placed his hands on the rusted doorknob, he listened for her heartbeat.

He heard the golden cross that was hung around her neck, bounce off her chest as she drove every punch and kick to the bag.

As he unlocked the door, he heard the muscles in her neck shift towards his direction.

A guy, great.

Matt didn't carry a cane, but by the time he entered the complex, he had already folded it. By the time he was up the stairs, the glasses that hung on the tip of his nose were in his duffle bag.

With the one glance she got, Mercedes noted:

Male: white, five-eleven athletic build- seen at fogwells gym at three o'clock in the morning.

Under the shadows she could tell this wasnt his first time here. Or, first time doing this.

As Matt sat down the duffle bag on a bench, he noted where he assumed the light was coming from. Though, three wasn't much light because it had been raining. So the light that radiated through the glass was more of a moonlight. He wouldn't want her to see his eyes, so he stayed within the shadows.

With another glance at Matt, Mercedes saw the silver cross that hung in the middle of his chest, the black tank top that gripped his torso, and the gray sweatpants that hung loosely down his legs. Though, as she looked down, she saw how his socks were carefully tucked into his pants.

As he walked closer towards Mercedes, the scent of fish and foil increased tremendously.

Though, with blood along her knuckles, she kept in contact with the bag.

"You're bleeding, aren't you?" Asked the man.

She looked back at him, and noted the bruises that nearly wrapped around his forearms.

Her eyes went back on the bag, and ignored him.

"You should probably stop."

His voice was raspy, something as if he had been yelling for too long... or maybe he hadn't spoken in a while.

she continued punching.

In a low tone, he said, "This is probably the best time to stop."

Matt heard her heartbeat calm, and her knuckles slowly retract from the bag.

As she paused, she stretched out her fingers and noticed the tissue that hung out of her knuckles, the tape that used to be wrapped around her knuckles was now only hanging on by a thread. as cold air slowly entered in her flesh, she silently cursed at herself.

she bit her lip as the pain registered in her brain, and then walked over to the phone, she squatted down and paused the music.

As she remained squatted, she looked over to where the man was and said, "Thanks."

she hoped he at least gave a slight grin, but from where he stood, she could only see his silhouette.

As she remained on the floor, she grabbed some leftover black tape and began wrapping her knuckles.

Matt heard her silently say, "fuck" as she wrapped her knuckles.

"Sorry, I knew that probably other people came here, I just... lost track of time... place is all yours."

As she tightened the tape around her knuckles, she said to the shadow:

"I'm Camilla" Usually when someone provided their name to a stranger, it made the other one feel comfortable around the other one.

Though, her electric heartbeat gave away her lie.

He nodded, and said, "Matthew."

Mercedes pressed her lips into a fine line and mumbled; "...Biblical"

"Yea well, I just dont go to church on easter, if thats what your insinuating."

She paused as she registered the tone of his voice. She noted how it reminded her of someone who she had heard of before. maybe at work?

"Never insinuated anything. Just noted that you could be named after a bible character. Just like how how you could have insinuated that i'm named after Prince Charles's mistress... just an observation.. nothing to be taken seriosly."

She continued to wrap the tape between her fingers.

"Were you?" asked Matt.

"Was I?"

"Named after Camilla?"

She took in a deep breath, her mind then traced for a story as to why her parents named her 'Camilla'.

"My dad had just broken the news to my mom that he had gotten another women pregnant... she didn't take he news very well, but she had my sister and she wanted my sister to have that experience of meeting her baby sister. So, when my mom and sister got to the hospital, my dads mistress asked my sister what her baby sisters name should be. after waiting a couple minutes, my sister couldn't think of anything that wasn't related to elmo, so my step mom said to my sister, 'why not Camilla?'. My sister liked the idea, but she just didn't know the meaning."

Matt heard her heartbeat escalate as every word flew out of her mouth.

Boy did she know how to lie.

"The meaning?" asked Matt as he began to walk over to the ring.

"Well, I broke the family. Just like Camilla."

He noticed her hadn't buzz as she finished tying the tape around her fingers.

"are, if you mind me asking— are you okay?"

Her eyes deviated from the tape at the thought of the question.

her eyes went back to the tape as she continued to wrap it, she replied; "I'm not a fan of lying."

"Me neither."

a moment passed as Mercedes contiuned to wrap her knuckles, slowly the aroma blood and sweat escaped, and the scent of salty tears entered....

The trim of her lash line clumped up her tears as the man said, "You dont have to answer."

from the showdown, she saw his knuckles. They were too also painted with blood.

His neck, which was bare from any bruise, had a stubble creeping from the mid of his neck, the up his jaw.

though his jaw was loose, it was— relaxed.

she read his lips.

Calm, but not bored.

She couldnt see his eyes, but from what she felt, she knew they were calm.

no pain circled them, and no creases were formed.

"You caught me on an off day."

Matt heard the tear drip down her cheek as he said, "if you come here, you probably have more of 'off months'"

the tips of her mouth curled as she thought: Its not like he's wrong.

as she went down on her knees, she unzipped her tote and took out a white cloth.

from the scent of the towel, Matt knew that the cloth had seen better days.

"it's been an 'off year'." She said as she began to wipe the bag.

"I'm listening."

she continued to wipe the bag, now noticing the amount of blood she shed in the time that she was there.

No wonder you're feeling dizzy

"Family... um, problems."

she contiuned to wipe down the bag and said, "...sister died about a year ago."

"I'm sorry." said Matt as his nose twitched at response to inhaling the scent of the room.

There was no indication that she was there, or had ever been there.

she wiped it perfectly, not a single implication that she was there.

No blood had dripped on the wooden floors, not even a drop of sweat.

All her sweat and blood stuck to her sports bra, which was made out of some material that rubbed against her skin so hard that now rashes were being formed on the sides of her back. those rashes made he muscles tense, but she'd been used to it.

"Since we're getting all 'forgive me father for I have sinned'.. Ikilled her. well," she paused and said, "I was the reason why she died."

he listened for her heartbeat.

a lie.

He heard her fingers tug the material of her short down, now they were covering a bruise she got from the bag.

"Couldnt get to her on time."

"your a nurse?" he asked.

"No, um, ex military, detective and psychologist sort of three in one deal"

He nodded as he crossed his arms around his abdomen and Mercedes said, "he wasnt treating her... right and I kept my mouth shut because-"

she thought about it: if that didn't say red flag, she didn't know what did.

"My sister um.. she had depression, an and i only saw her truly happy when she was with him. so, i—"

her eyes defocused, and soon her eyes were being covered by the palms of her hands.

In agony she continued saying, "didn't say anything" her voice was muffled. "then, he killed her."

she paused for a second, now her eyes were not aligned by tears but filled with them.

though her voice being covered by the palms of her hands, she said, "when you study to be a detective you're taught to not let your emotions get in the way of your judgement but i— i only saw my sister being happy so i didn't say anything.. and now, now, my sister—" she sighed, "she died because I didn't say anything."

his mind traced back to a year in time when he was crashing into a girl's apartment because he heard screams, but when he got there, that girl was dead.

Both of them didn't make it in time.

From experience after experience, Matt silently said to her, "dont kill yourself in attempt to bring her back to life."

"I killed her." she tugged at her lip and said, "for one year I've only heard one thing, 'Agent Ante, your sister has been murdered by one Billy Russo.'"

As she tried to continue, her voice became strained, "He killed her, and he's still out there— christ, he got innocent in the fucking courtroom!"

Tears overwhelmed her eyes as they began to fall down her cheeks.

"I couldn't save her." she said, "I. Killed.Her."

Her head shook, making the the curls that framed her face fly in different directions.

sweat fell from the strands and they dissolved in the air as she then said, "this is stupid, i'm talking to a stranger about my problems. sorry— I should be going."

"No." he said. He spoke softly, clamly, and steadily. "You put more tape on your knuckles, right?"

With hesitation, she responded. "...yea"

He replied, "well?"

As she wiped the tears away from her face, she said, "how do I know your not going to kill me?"

He bobbed his head from side to side and said, "Don't kill."

"Bullshit. How do I know that."

"The name, the cross--"

"Just because you have a cross around your neck doesn't mean I'm going to trust you. How can I trust you?" She walked over to the ring and slipped herself through the bands.

"Don't I look trustworthy?'" asked Matt as he did the same.

"Maybe." said Mercedes. As they both got into first position, "But, I can't judge because i haven't even seen you yet, because your doing some batman shit—" she swung at his jaw with her foot and said, "and standing in the shadows."

He laughed as they landed in opposite directions of the ring. However, he still stood in the shadow.

Fe felt the blood trickle in his jaw as she came back at him with quite a few more punches.

He slowly fought back. he noticed she was trained for combat.

He assumed by the way she fought, she wasn't just fighting to let steam out. she was there to train, or to maintain.

He noticed the way her legs hit his torso that they were not just muscular but built for one on one combat.

When her arms hit his chest, they were used to holding weapons, they were meant to kill, meant to hurt.

but then, she realized that when he maneuvered between his moves that he was trained as something other than for self-protection.

more like self preservation.

his body was trained to defy gravity, to slice, to torture in the most unexpected way. he fought almost as if a string were being attached from his head, though he was the one pulling it.

In the midst of slashing against one another, he pinned her down. He listened for her heartbeat but it was overcome by loud her breathing was. .

"You okay?" he asked. He slipped his hand around her waist, wrapped his arm around her troat, and pulled herself close to him.

"Never better," she said as she wrapped her hands around his head and slammed him down to the opposite side of the ring.

By the time his senses picked up her location, she was already on top of his torso, laying all her body weight on him, along with both of her hands pressed against his throat.

she visibly saw him lose air, concentration, sense.

She nodded his jaw tense, the sweat trip from his temples.

his forearms, now tense and fixated on her next move but, she let go, legs between each side of his shoulder, she stood up, and put her hand in front of him, "game?"

his body relaxed, his eyes now focused, his breath suddenly now on tempo.

He grabbed her hand but then kick her feet to which she was now on the ground and he was in the same position he was.

With a smirk and a buzz fro her heartbeat, he replied; "game."

It was in that moment where Mercedes realized that the guy whom she fought was daredevil.

#matt murderdock #matt murdock x reader #mattmurdock #ao3 marvel #mattmurdockxfemoc #mattmurdockxfem #mattmurdockfanfic #mattmurdockxreader #matt murdock fic #matt murdock fem!reader #matt murdock #mattmurdockxfempoc

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dandelionette-9 · 2 years ago

Text

Guys my decision to play Fire Emblem Shadow Dragon lapsing between sleep and Victorian boy sickness where I must gaze out at the river wistfully was a horrible decision, but I’m having a great time! Im on chapter 9 right now and my team is looking a little something like

Marth - He’s actually been really good!! I haven’t used him for jsckshit, but he’s on par with everyone, has been leveling up well, and has been able to handle himself. So like. Yay!! Also busted ass rapier win.

Caeda - I knew she was good but DAMN. DAMN??? Wing spear is wild too, shes just absurd. She’s gotten a lot of strength too, which I know dosent usually happen. She could probably solo a chapter me thinks. Also like, love her personality, glad she gets to have one!

Cain - CRITICAL KING!!! He’s literally been stat blessed, his strength and speed and skill are all just so good. He’s just tearing through shit left right and center, I really want to give him a refined steel sword. He deserves it.

Abel - I love dropping him in a pile of units and watching him somehow come out alive. He’s been doubling people for a while but is still struggling to solidly pick up kills. No dig on that though, I only bring it up because he’s so good at literally everything and I can stick him anywhere.

Norne - Im playing on normal just for her, and GOD does she suck but I love her so very dearly for the times she doesn’t. She’s finally starting to double people! Also I gave her a refined steel bow called “Bell Toll” because she always reminds me of bells. She’s sitting at a solid 6 strength rn, but, I’m remaining hopeful!

Cord - The best looking of the 3 axe man, and you can fight me on that. I only tried using him when I learned he made a pretty decent black mage, and DAMN does he actually make a pretty good black mage?? 100 hit rates, doubling, actually leveling magic… also I gave him a personal refined fire tome, “Wildfire”. I’m headcanoning he awakened his magic after I killed Bord off with no remorse. Also my boss killer!

Lena - Staff homie! Keep it up please!! Im begging!!!

Matthis - “Wouldn’t it be funny if I used him?” Yes, and then he became good?? Like, he’s not great, but god damn it he can tank and dish out a good attack. Granted he hits. I’m taking him to end game though he’s my sad little fuckboy. I gave him a javelin called “GAY RIGHTS” because he genuinely supports them, like it’s a canonical thing. Wishing nothing but the best for him

Wolf - The only surviving member of the Coyote squad (I was using Sedger too but he ACTUALLY died without me sacrificing him like a nerd) and like. Reclassing him to a hero was so sexy of me. He’s just murdering the competition. He’s gotten basically all stats up when he levels up. He’s unstoppable. Also I gave him a steel axe called “Pack Blood” to reference the dead homies (ironically Sedger was still alive when I gave him it, but he died that chapter, so, call me a prophet)

Athena - Did not know she came at level 10 but I love her so much for that. She’s like… refusing to crit, even with a killer sword, but she’s still absolutely slicing through units so. No notes! Keep it up girl! Please!

Radd - The reason I didn’t reset when Sedger died is because he died right at the end and I spent Radd’s entire introduction chapter trying to train him in the arena and got some not horrible state growths. He was really making me question using him though after I had to reset like… 7 times because he kept dying in the arena. He’s so bad. He’s a cavalier now. He’s illiterate. I’m gonna make him work if it kills me.

Everyone else, and I mean *literally* everyone else has been sacrificed except for Julian. Call me a gravedigger. Im not sure who else im gonna keep around in the future (definitely Minerva, maybe Midia, Dolph, and Jake, *maybe* but not likely Jorge) but y’know, we’ll see!

#shadow dragon #fire emblem

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crescentpaws · 5 months ago

Note

ok hi i’m back. & i will be responding with some thoughts of my own if that’s ok :) to satisfy my greedy little fintan heart yk.

• honestly this was my main take on that whole healing scene fiasco: fintan knew he couldn’t let the council get their hands on the information he was protecting. so he’d have to get himself out of there somehow. since he was only half conscious at the time, i feel like it wasn’t truly the calculated decision everyone viewed it as and more a choice made out of desperation. he probably knew there was a high possibility he would die, but he was willing to take that risk to protect his secrets. though i do think that he was also motivated by self-preservation, obviously, so once the blaze was called down he was largely focused on escaping (while everblaze can hurt pyrokinetics, powerful ones like fintan can still control it. he probably somehow managed to keep the blaze from touching him while simultaneously burning down everything around him).

another related thing: a lot of people treat kenric’s death as this targeted, personal attack, when in reality it was only a matter of chance (kenric being the one to push sophie & others out of the way of the fire). i’m not saying fintan wasn’t glad when he later found out that he’d killed a councillor, but i think in the actual moment he was more focused on saving himself than murdering people. if sophie has to die in order for him to keep his secrets safe, so be it. he did say that everyone would pay

• it is probably likely that the neverseen has crystals hidden in the lost cities, given the fact that they have several hidden in the forbidden cities. and in the chaos of the fire, nobody would notice fintan walking around (especially in a place as desolate as oblivimyre.)

or maybe he somehow painted his nails with the thinnest leaping crystal ever (similar to gethen’s tracker). who knows.

• is it bad if i admit that i had a similar thought when i saw that post…… the brainrot is actually so real it’s insane. but anyway bronte would be the most insufferable telepath ever. i pity all the elves that live in that au. (though fintan wouldn’t be much better in a canon-universe scenario either. they’ve both been alive for so long there’s no way bronte hasn’t inflicted on him before. fintan probably thought it was hot.)

• ok well. i know we have differing opinions on this subject….. i firmly believe he is a red circlet warm colors wearer guy…. but i respect your take……

• i’ve thought about this before too and it’s so funny to me tbh…. like imagine being vespera… chilling in prison for thousands of years and then suddenly you’re getting broken out by some people you’ve never seen before- oh and also the guy who helped throw you in there in the first place. crazy. but yes i have to imagine that fintan is how the neverseen knew about vespera (or at least the main way they knew). kenric was even referencing her in that memory in stellarlune, so we know it’s still something the council kept tabs on after all this time

• technically fintan could have also been an emissary at the time… we never know… also keep in mind that fitz mentioned that fallon served for about 1000 years, so that leaves plenty of time for bronte to have joined the council while fintan was still serving (they WERE councillors together and i will die on this hill. them being begrudging coworkers is so funny to me. & isn’t it sort of implied that bronte was also on the council when the whole thing with vespera and nightfall happened? because that would put them on the council at the same time then as well (though we already know that shannon isn’t that consistent with the timeline. so honestly all of this could mean nothing.))

• LMAO i made a post about this not too long ago and i still think it’s funny. which leads me to wonder how many times has he pretended to be drunk to get out of things before…. he’s such a dramatic asshole </3 (also i really REALLY want to know what his key word was that keefe said to get the caches out of the void. because that was what fintan supposedly ‘accidentally’ told keefe)

i also think it’s funny that the neverseen is able to get their hands on wine but not good food apparently

• i mean, sure. i don’t have anything to say about this one really. (except that fintan probably would have had an awful reputation by then (just because of the pyrokinesis ban) so i’m not sure how celebrity crush worthy he is)

• look man i’ve just always imagined him with short fluffy hair for some reason i don’t know what to tell you. or a shitty-looking mullet. that works too. (though honestly he’s probably had every hair style ever at some point so i can’t really say i’m against the headcanon. but no matter how hard i try i can just never imagine him with long hair idk!!! i’m sorry keeper fandom!!!!!!!!)

• i support this. & he definitely wears balefire jewelry. though in my opinion he wore more jewelry as a councillor and less as neverseen leader because idk. he just doesn’t have time for that anymore. (but imagine balefire rings…. they look like normal crystal rings at first but then the sparks inside activate when you breathe on them…. aaaa)

• this. i honestly think that a lot of his impulsivity comes from the fact that the councillors (himself included) always sat back and waited, planning and thinking things over for too long & blah blah blah, so he’s determined not to be like that again. yes, he’s got his long dramatic planned-out schemes, but as we’ve seen, the neverseen seems to change their plans quite often. he’ll modify the plans as he goes along depending on what he feels would be best in the moment (such as revealing he was still alive in neverseen. that was a horrible strategic move long-term, but his main focus at that moment was to scare people and show the gnomes that the council couldn’t truly protect their people. similar with later in the book when he outed alvar as a traitor. sophie had seen king dimitar’s plan when she entered his mind, so obviously there was no way she was going to open that box and release the plague into the wild. alvar’s reveal was just another way of showing that even though the neverseen’s plan hadn’t gone quite as well as they had hoped, they were still 20 steps ahead of sophie and her friends. and fintan even said this. fear is one of the world’s greatest motivators.)

• honestly we have to assume that fintan has beef with everyone in the neverseen (even his horrible awful son brant)….. but i don’t know. perhaps ruy is just annoying. ruy and alvar are probably the youngest of the actual adults in the organization (excluding rayni), so they’d probably have different ideas than a guy who’s been alive for over five thousand years. there is going to be a lot of arguing. (also, ruy’s last name is ignis. this could mean nothing, but i’m betting at least one of ruy’s distant relatives was a pyrokinetic. if that’s the case, fintan probably knew them)

• no i fully support you in this. he even does this in my sims world 💀 i mean even I talk to myself a lot, am i’m not quite as insane as he is. so i know he talks to himself frequently (and probably uses mirrors to practice his evil speeches in front of, too)

• yeah, they probably all convinced him that he should wait until the ‘right moment’ or something. but we all know he’s an attention whore so he was probably going insane while everyone was mourning kenric and nobody was saying shit about him (“um excuse me where’s my wanderling? bitch.”)

• no yeah i definitely agree with you here. it’s just a known fact at this point. bro is flat as hell and that’s ok ❤️ there is nothing but bones there ❤️

• i feel like he’d be more into platform boots than heels. just for his whole villain aesthetic. plus they’re probably easier to run in (though he’s probably somewhat graceful so i doubt he’d have too much of a problem in heels). also just imagining him in heels hurts my feet.

• back to my other bullet point involving vespera: i think if fintan’s cache did contain the information about her, he’d probably try to find out everything he could about her afterwards. he’s a former councillor, so obviously he’s got tons of connections and knowledge that most people don’t have. i’m sure it wasn’t that hard for him to find the journals tbh. maybe there’s a designated place the council keeps the confiscated possessions of criminals in. (side note: why do the councillors let people keep their caches when they retire? sure, it’s their memories, but it’s still extremely confidential information. who knows how many disasters could have been avoided if fintan hadn’t been allowed to take his silly little marble home with him.)

at the same time, gisela could have definitely gotten her hands on the journals first, though it would have had to be significantly harder for her (though she would have the added benefit of being a secret conjurer). we know she hid her conjuring ability since she was a teenager, so clearly she already had sinister intentions even back then. and we know she joined the neverseen shortly after she got pregnant with keefe, so she would have had to do her stellarlune experiment things before then (which i think she got inspired by vespera for). though she definitely could have talked with fintan about vespera before officially joining. (also, who was the leader of the neverseen before gisela? it couldn’t have been fintan, because there’s no way he would have given up power that easily, only for him to steal it back soon after. perhaps they didn’t have an official ‘leader’ back then and only had a handful of high-ranking members)

it’s possible she could have talked to luzia vacker, though i doubt she would have gotten that much information out of her. maybe gisela and fintan worked together to find the journals. idk!!

• YES i’ve thought about this too lmaooo. fintan would probably scold him for not focusing enough on his training… and maybe brant would start to pull away from jolie after that.. i can also imagine fintan comforting brant after jolie’s death (‘comforting’ in a loose sense… i have no idea how much compassion that asshole is capable of), since he can relate to the trauma of accidentally killing someone you’re close with because of your pyrokinesis….. augh……….

• honestly both are plausible. when brant first approached fintan, it seemed to be implied that he was simply asking him for advice on how to deal with having a banned ability, and he wasn’t going in with the intention of getting illegal lessons. but as soon as fintan found out, he knew he had to help brant. he’s seen what’s happened to the other pyrokinetics that have been suppressing their fire for millennia (“it’s all but burnt out their minds,” he said). i’m not exactly sure how brant contacted him, but there was probably some discreet way of doing so… like maybe he passed along a message before actually trying a face to face confrontation. or maybe he simply approached fintan in one of the rare moments he was in public and they snuck off to have a secret conversation then. (fintan could apparently sense that marella was a pyrokinetic in nightfall, so i’m sure he was able to sense it with brant as well. pyrokinetics generate a much higher level of body heat, after all. fintan was probably able to sense the abnormal amounts of heat radiating off this poor kid.) plus, i doubt fintan is as popular as fallon vacker. it’s likely that not many people would want to visit him, so if this kid showed up at his doorstep demanding to meet with him, he’d probably be curious as to why

anyway. thank you for fueling my insanity 👍

“ask box is finally open” ok write an essay on fintan. go.

no, thanks. i think you got that covered. how about i give you random, assorted fintan thoughts, fanfic ideas, and headcanons instead:

thinking about that moment in everblaze during the healing scene where he says "his identity dies with me" about the pyrokinetic he's protecting right before the entire building goes up in flames. was he planning on killing himself to protect brant? everblaze harms pyrokinetics, so he knew that it would harm him. the other option, of course, is that he was willing to take the risk of everblaze to try to kill someone else so that he could escape. everyone was canonically wearing fire-resistant clothing, so he couldn't have done any damage to them with regular fire.

how did he even actually escape oblivimyre? he couldn't have had a leaping crystal on him, or someone would've found it. did the neverseen hide a crystal in eternalia somewhere for emergency scenarios?

this post by quil inspired an au idea where bronte is a telepath, and is responsible for shattering fintan's sanity instead of alden, and fintan is just horny for him the whole time he's doing it and it makes bronte super uncomfortable.

HIS CIRCLET COLOR WAS BLUE. THE SAME BLUE AS HIS EYES, WHICH IS SKY BLUE. also fintan loves cool colors. he dresses in them frequently.

there's a very good chance that he's one of the councillors that threw vespera in the dungeon, since he knows about her existence, and he also knows all the secrets in his cache. so there's some tension between the two of them, even though it was his plan that ultimately set her free. it's kind of like him supporting the pyrokinesis ban, but also being the one that'll likely get it unbanned (indirectly through marella). he's all about breaking cycles that he himself started. something about guilt and admitting you're wrong to yourself, but being too proud to admit it to everyone else.

he served at the same time as fallon vacker, and was present during the story bronte told in neverseen about meeting king gowg. this means he was councillor while bronte was emissary. i think this is how they met, and how their "long history" started.

he was messing with keefe the entire time he was with the neverseen, like pretending to be drunk to mislead him. there were easier, better, safer ways to lead keefe down the wrong path than pretending to be drunk, but this is fintan, and he's dramatic.

alden had a celebrity crush on him. i don't make the rules here.

HIS HAIR IS LONG. IT'S SHOULDER BLADE-LENGTH. PLEASE, I BEG.

he wears lots and lots of jewelry. all the time. he's so extra like that. also all the jewelry is blue/green/purple because he's a cool colors guy.

fintan seems to regret his time as a councillor, not just what he did to get pyrokinesis banned. in neverseen, he says that when he was a councillor, all he did was sit back and do nothing. so there's a possibility that he might've written off important things as nothing or something along those lines. people might've come to him with appeals to reform exillium or exile, or fix the separation between the talentless and the talented, and he might've refused. either way, there's something else he regrets. it might be in his cache.

what's your beef with ruy, man? there's something there canonically. i need to know. it's so juicy. gethen also hired ruy to the neverseen, so i imagine he's more partial to ruy, which means fintan may or may not also have beef with gethen.

he talks to himself in the mirror. shut up. i know he does.

when he faked his death, he wanted to immediately reveal himself as alive again, and it was only the collective cooperation of the other neverseen members that stopped him for so long.

HE HAS A FLAT FUCKING ASS. FLAT AS A FUCKING PANCAKE THAT GOT FLATTENED EVEN MORE. IT ISN'T CONCAVE, IT ISN'T BULBOUS. IT IS FLAT.

he wears heels to make himself feel taller, because even though he's tall (6'2"), he wants to be towering.

he probably found vespera's journals somehow. but how? did lady gisela show them to him? is that how she got her acceptance into the neverseen? vespera's main philosophy is ruthlessness, which fintan would agree with, but in a less intense way than vespera, i feel.

he probably heard brant gush about jolie a lot. i bet that was funny, since he was probably utterly disinterested. "so, it's about time you learned to summon bigger balls of everblaze. here's how t-" "FINTAN. JOLIE CALLED ME PRETTY TODAY" "wow. i would've never known . . . "

how did brant even reach out to him about manifesting? probably he hailed him or something. but remember, fintan's an ancient. so i doubt brant would've been able to properly get ahold of him (like how fallon wouldn't open the door for alden in nightfall). so did brant like burn down his door and scream ALRIGHT BITCH I NEED SOME LESSONS to get fintan's attention or something?

or was it the opposite? did fintan somehow know that brant was a pyrokinetic and reach out to him? if so, how? maybe he keeps tabs on everyone who's considered "talentless" and checks up on them to make sure they aren't exhibiting signs of being a pyrokinetic or something? if so, that's kind of sweet, not gonna lie.

it isn't an essay, but i hope i satisfied your greedy little fintan heart

#fun fact apparently it’s taken me over an hour to type this… ah… i have too many thoughts #kotlc #fintan pyren #kotlc thoughts #kotlc headcanons #gisela sencen

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parkersbliss · 4 years ago

Text

My Reason | K. Brekker

pairing: kaz brekker x female reader

warnings: cursing? maybe slightly out of character?

wc; 2k

synopsis: kaz brekker makes a desperate attempt to protect you, but it backfires for both parties

prompts: 015: “You’re everywhere I go!” 020: “I just wanted you to be happy.”

a/n: kaz brekker: *breathes* me: I LOVE YOU YOUVE DONE NOTHING WRONG MY SWEET CHILD

Masterlist | Taglist | Prompt List

—

You felt like crying.

Scratch that. You were going to cry.

You were going to cry and possibly throw something, anything. You wanted to grab a knife and chuck it at the wall repeatedly until there was a hole.

You wanted the wall to feel the same pain as you.

Like there was a hole in it.

Ironic.

Kaz Brekker, dirtyhands, the bastard of the barrel, shattered your heart. And he probably didn’t even know it or cared.

Kaz only cared, for one thing, money. You couldn’t blame him for that. Money was something necessary in Ketterdam. You needed money to stay alive and above the rest.

But money also puts a sign on your head. A big red blinking sign that probably says something like “big kill, big money.”

You weren’t stupid. You were very well aware of how big of a sign Kaz had on his head. Plenty of people wanted his head on a spike. You almost want to add yourself to the list.

“What?” You asked, voice small.

“Don’t make me repeat it.”

Kaz doesn’t bother to look at you. His eyes stay trained at his desk, filing through paperwork for the slat. He scribbles on them, whether it be a signature or a check.

“I don’t understand.”

“I’ve made myself clear.”

“No.”

“I’m not asking.”

“I don’t want to.”

“(Y/N), this isn’t up for debate.”

“Well, it should be! I should be allowed to have a say in this.”

“You don’t get one!” Kaz said harshly, finally meeting your eyes. “Out.”

You want to refuse, sit there and scream at him for the rest of the night. But you can’t. Kaz Brekker won either way. It doesn’t matter if you sat in his office the rest of the night and argued. His say was final. You would only be denying the inevitable by fighting.

You stand up, blinking through the tears forming in your eyes. The words slip past your lips before you even realize.

“I hate you.”

You slam the door shut behind you, missing the way Kaz’s face drops, and his pen explodes from the force of his grip.

He had kicked you out like that. Stripped you of everything you are. One mission gone wrong, and you were booted back onto the streets of Ketterdam.

He had kicked you from the Dregs.

It wasn’t even your fault. You didn’t understand his reasoning. You got shot, and the next thing you know, as soon as you've recovered, you’re alone.

And honestly, if Pekka Rollins himself asked you to murder Kaz, you just might. The Dregs weren't a gang; they were a family. They were home to you.

A home that you hadn’t had in a while, but it wasn’t just the Dregs. It was Kaz Brekker. The bastard of the barrel was also the person that held your heart in his hands. He was the person you went to at midnight when you didn’t know what else to do.

He was the person that listened to you.

He was your person.

But you weren’t his.

You grabbed the knife off the table and throw it as hard as you can at the wall.

You miss.

You grab the knife, wiping away the tears blurring your vision, and aim again. This time it lands in the wall. You clutch it and throw it again.

And again.

…

The Crow Club is still as lively as ever as you walk past it. You contemplate going inside, but you know better. A shadow catches your eye behind you, but there’s no one out here but you.

And yet, you can’t shake the feeling of being watched. Then again, any member of the Dregs was constantly being watched.

You shrugged it off.

Work was easy to find in a place like Ketterdam. It was also easy as one of the top assassins. You busied yourself in easy missions with easy targets.

It was the one thing in your life that remain stable. It was after one of these missions while cleaning your knife, did you see her.

“Inej?”

The said girl steps out of the shadows, silent as ever, and pulls down her face covering. “Hey.”

“What are you doing here?”

“The same thing as you.”

You use your knife to gesture to the dead man on the floor, and she nods.

“Looks like I beat you to it,” You joke, tucking your knife away and rolling your shoulders.

“It would appear so.”

You want to ask how everything is, and despite every bone in your body, how Kaz is.

But instead, you turn around to leave.

“We miss you,” Inej blurts.

You freeze, letting your shoulders fall. “I miss you guys, too.”

“He’s an idiot.”

“You don’t have to tell me that.”

Inej nods, stepping back into the shadows, and you leave, an aching in your heart.

But that wasn’t the last time you ran into Inej. You saw her everywhere after that and nowhere at the same time. At first, you didn’t mind, but then it became unsettling.

You felt like you were being watched in your own home, but there was no one. It was hard to explain. You always saw her in town, but the feeling of being watched couldn’t be shaken when you got home.

You didn’t know how to explain it. You wanted to call her out on it, but you said nothing.

Until you did catch her in your house.

You let her off with a warning by throwing a knife into her corner. It was never going to hit her, neither of you would allow it, but she stepped out after that.

You raise an eyebrow at her. “What are you doing?”

“Checking on you.”

“That’s bullshit.”

“I’m just looking out-”

“You’re everywhere I go!” You shout, “Everywhere, Inej. If you wanted to look out for me, you could use the door and ask!”

“I’m sorry,” The Suli girl said.

You pinch the bridge of your nose, sighing. You feel bad for yelling at her. Inej was one of your closest friends, and she was only looking out for you. “Inej, it’s fine I just-”

“It’s Kaz.”

“Kaz?” You question, voice softening.

“He wants to know that you’re okay, and not dead. Every time you go on a mission, he sends me as unofficial backup.”

“I can take care of myself. If he’s so worried about my safety, he shouldn’t have kicked me out in the first place," You snap.

“Maybe you should tell him that.”

You turn to face Inej, but when you do, she’s gone.

Kaz? This was his doing? You didn’t believe her, but you also knew she wouldn’t lie. You sit on the edge of your bed, staring out the window. Kaz wants to know if you’re okay.

Kaz Brekker, the man that kicked you from the Dregs wants to make sure you’re okay. The thought should be comforting, but it’s more infuriating to you. At first, you thought maybe he had changed his mind, but this was worse. He didn't trust you to take care of yourself or respect you in the slightest.

You were angry at him. You didn’t understand why, and he refused to tell you. He was so stuck up, thinking that keeping his feelings from others would make him appear stronger.

But the strongest thing anyone can do is admit them.

You stand up, grabbing your knife from the wall and tucking it into your belt.

There was someone you needed to see.

It’s bitter cold outside, biting and chilling. It forces you to walk faster towards the Slat. No one questions you when you walk in; it’s normal to them.

In fact, they look happy to see you.

Jesper’s eyes light up, and he goes to hug you, but Wylan pulls him back.

“That’s her pissed-off face.”

“I would wear earplugs if I were you,” Nina warns, “(Y/N) doesn’t back down from a fight and certainly not with Kaz.”

You make no comment and step past them, making your way up to his office.

You don’t bother knocking and throw open the door, eyes blazing.

Kaz’s head snaps up from his work, equally pissed that someone dared to open his door without permission, but then his eyes soften.

“You’re supposed to knock first, you know that,” Kaz said sharply.

You roll your eyes, slamming the door behind you. Nina smirks as she sits with the other crows outside the door, all wearing earplugs to reduce the sound of your screaming that's bound to come.

“I don’t care about your petty rules, Brekker.”

Venom drips from your voice, and Kaz sets down his pen, leaning back in his chair. “Is there something you want?”

“An explanation.”

“I can’t offer you that.”

“Kaz, you promised.”

His lip twitches ever so slightly at that.

“You promised me this. We made a deal. And Kaz Brekker goes through with all his deals.”

Kaz is silent. He’s at a loss for words. Dirtyhands did not have the upper hand here, and it seemed he was finally stunned.

“You can’t just send Inej out to watch over me after you kicked me out, okay? If you don’t have an explanation, at least let me live the rest of my life without you watching over.”

Nothing.

You sigh, pushing the tears back, ready to make your way out of the slat for the last time, but then he speaks. His voice is raspier than usual but soft, almost like a whisper.

“I just wanted you to be happy.”

“Happy?” You scoff. “Why would that ever make me happy?”

“It was a way out.”

“Out of what, Kaz?”

“This!” He shouts, standing up and gesturing to the walls around you both. “This lifestyle of doing the dirty work to survive and always having a sum of money plastered on your forehead.”

“I don’t want out!”

“It was a way for you to escape…. to escape me.”

There’s silence as you process his words. You wanted to be angry at Kaz and continue to lash out at him, but you understand. He had given you your reason, and you're damned because it's a good one.

But you didn't want to escape him. Kaz was the only reason you stayed in Ketterdam; he was the thing that kept you grounded here. He was your person.

“Why would I ever want that?”

“You hate me.”

You shake your head, “Kaz-”

He cuts you off, switching topics. “This lifestyle isn’t meant for you.”

“It’s not meant for any of us.”

“I gave you a chance.”

“You gave me a reason.”

“A reason?”

Kaz waits for an answer, but you’re afraid to give it. The hardest thing anyone can do is admit their feelings. And you're unsure if you're strong enough to face them.

Kaz Brekker was stone cold, and you don't know if he'd drop the facade, even for you.

“You are the reason I deal with this lifestyle,” You finally said, voice barely above a whisper as you feel the weight lift from your shoulders. “Because it’s worth it. You are worth it.”

“I am not worth anything,” Kaz dismissed.

“Kaz Rietveld, you are worth everything to me.”

The boy freezes, and you take a step forward, placing your hand inches from his. Your heart beats madly in your chest, and you feel like you're suffocating as you wait for an answer, a reaction, anything. You expect him to pull away, but he doesn't. He stares at your hand inches from his on his desk.

“I’m sorry,” he whispers.

“It’s okay,” You said.

His eyes meet yours, and you can see the fear in them. His hands are shaky, but he manages to take yours in them. He still wears his gloves, and your hands are just barely resting on top of his, but it means enough to you.

“You’re worth everything to me,” he repeats back to you.

Your heart bursts in your chest as Kaz squeezes your hand lightly. The action means everything to you.

Nina screams in triumph with the rest of the crows outside the door.

You and Kaz laugh, still holding his hand.

And at that moment, you know, you are his everything, and he is yours.

#AYE FIRST KAZ ONE SHOT #I LOVE IT SM #FREDDYS EYES 😩#this gif is my will to live #kaz brekker #kaz brekker x you #kaz brekker x reader #soc kaz #six of crows #six of crows imagine #shadow and bone #grishaverse #kaz brekker fanfic #kaz brekker fic #kaz brekker angst #kaz brekker fluff #kaz brekker one shot #kaz brekker imagine #crooked kingdom

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i-am-baechu · 3 years ago

Text

Title: DNA

Paring: Park Jimin x reader

Genre: Thief! Jimin, head detective! reader, lovers to enemies! au, established relationship! au, breakup! au, enemies to lovers! au, fluff( kind of), smut, and angst

Summary: Two whole years and the Black Swan burglar hasn’t been caught yet making head detective, Y/N L/N’s, life hard. At every crime scene, the person leaves black feathers and video recordings of random things. Things that don’t even connect to the crime scene or the next one, why would they record roses or even a restaurant? On top of that, Y/N just recently broke up with her boyfriend Park Jimin when she felt like he was hiding something. Y/N has to face Jimin but will she be able to leave without a scratch or will something worse happen?

Warnings: Secrets are bad remember that!, mystery, Taehyung is the bad guy in this (sorry), poison, murder, crime scenes, guns, blood, alcohol and cigarette usage, slow build up lol, angst, fluff? and sex scene

Part of Little Mix's Mixtape series!

November 2, 2020

Everyone has secrets, everyone has lies, and everyone has a past. We accept things that we want to believe are true because it protects us from our harsh realities. Being naive can only take you so far in life and that’s why children crave to be protected or...at least feel safe. There hasn’t been a moment in my life where things were pure paradise like how all the adults around me said it would be. They said being a young adult would answer the questions you had when you were a teenager but it did the opposite. More questions appeared as time went on like dust in a library. I thought I knew what was happening between us but it was just me pretending everything was alright. I knew deep down how this would turn out but my naive nature took over me because of love. I really thought it was love or was it just me saying it was to feel better. No matter what I did...No, I can’t say that...

May 1, 2022

In this city, the truth was hard to come by. Rumors of infidelity floated through high society while the lower class watched with wishful stares, hoping that one day they can be as rich as them but never seeing the pain that was caused by themselves. Rumors were what kept people alive and alerted for any future threats but for others, it made them run into the corner with their ears covered. The cloudy days are when the shadows come to play while the light is hidden, hidden because of the fear and the future hurt. L/N Y/N would know about this hurt and she knew it all too well.

Y/N entered the station with a coffee in her hand as she gave small smiles to the other officers. Her days were starting to seem all the same, even her dreams had documents and pictures that never answered her questions. She entered her office and stared at her desk with a frown. The white of the paper was mocking her at this point and all she could do was take it. She placed her coffee on the table and opened her emails before she did anything. As she was going through her emails there was a small knock on the door and she softly said come in without her taking her eyes off of the computer.

“Ms. L/N...”

She looked away from her computer to see the newest intern, Jeon Jungkook, giving her a awkward smile. She moved away from her computer and gave him her full attention with a gentle smile, “Yes, Jungkook?”

“Bianca wanted me to tell you that there was another break in...It happened two days ago but we were only now notified because the owners were gone on vacation and came back to a mess.”

She nodded her head and glanced down at the papers before looking back at him. In a serious tone, “Were there black feathers at the scene?”

“Yes...Bianca wanted me to tell you that she thinks it's part of the Black Swan case.”

“What did they say was missing?”

“A wedding ring and a diamond choker. There was also a red sequin dress that was left at the scene.”

She raised her eyebrow and got up from her desk rubbing her forehead roughly. She walked up to her board and stared at the Black Swan case with a confused look. There’s been four break-ins, including this one, and she couldn’t figure out why these people were getting targeted. She glanced over her shoulder at Jungkook and then back at the board, “Was it a family of three that reported the case?”

“Yes...”

“Do they live in a gated community?”

“Yes...”

“Was there a tape?”

“Yes.”

“Are they part of the Waltz foundation?”

“Bianca looked into it and...yes they are.”

Y/N nodded her head and turned around to give him a small smile, “Jungkook, gather your things. You're coming with me.”

He looked at her with wide eyes and pointed towards him, “Me-me? Are you sure?”

She put her coat on and nodded her head, “You need to learn somehow. I know Bianca is...she's hard to work with. Trust me I know.”

He gave her a quick nod of his head and before he left, he turned back making her raise her eyebrow, “Ms. L/N...one more thing.”

“Yes, Jungkook?”

“They said the house smelled like alcohol and roses but there was no alcohol that split and no sign of roses.”

She nodded her head and glanced at the pictures pinned into her board, “Just like the other houses...hurry and get your things together. I’ll get a crew ready to go down to the house after I talk to Bianca.”

“Yes, Ms. L/N.”

She heard the door close and she let out a deep sigh that she was holding in. Why are these families getting targeted? They are part of the Waltz foundation. The foundation that gave toys to sick children and free meals for families in need. The foundation that helped her when she was younger and saved her friends lives was now looking suspicious to her. Two years the Black Swan case has been occuring. The houses of a family of three were getting robbed and the only thing they stole was jewelry; the most expensive pieces. The first house had red heels that looked brand new and expensive, the second house had white opera gloves, the third house had a diamond encrusted headband and now a red sequin dress was added. To her it sounded like a fancy dress you wear to a date. Something she hasn’t been doing in the recent month because of her relationship status.

Her ex-boyfriend, Park Jimin, was the man of her dreams. He would always give her roses, give her his jacket when she was cold, and paid for dinner whenever they went out. The two years she spent with him was...they were good but there was something not right about it. It felt like he was hiding something from her. He would never discuss work with her and he never let her meet his family, friends and even his coworkers who were unknown to her. It caused many arguments but they always fixed it or put the problem to the side and moved on from it for the time being. It started to eat at her as more time passed, why was he hiding things? Was she not worth knowing the truth? The constant questions made her feel so small that it made her break up with him and she hasn’t seen or heard from him since. It was strange not hearing from him and it made her worry but she couldn’t focus on him right now. She let out a deep sigh when memories of Jimin came floating in her mind, where did he go?

The sun was disappearing as the gray clouds started to show up. Y/N glanced at Jimin who was staring out towards the river with a small smile. She poked his cheek causing him to turn towards her and blinked his eyes at her with confusion, “Is everything okay?”

“We should get going, it's going to rain.”

He shrugged his shoulder and shook his head, “Why do we need to go? Isn’t it romantic to be in the rain together?”

She snorted at this and felt a small water droplet on the top of her head. She put her hand out to feel another drop on her fingertips. She glanced back at him who was already taking out an umbrella from his bag, “You knew it was going to rain and didn’t bother to tell me?”

“Well, you do have a phone. You could’ve easily checked yourself.”

She let out an annoyed puff of air and crossed her arms, “So....”

“Plus you always dress like it's cold.”

“Your missing the point...”

He shrugged his shoulders again and put the umbrella on top of them as they watched the water drops dance on the river. It was peaceful to see the rain, especially when you're on a date.

“Neh, Y/N looked this way.”

She turned her head to see his phone getting ready to take a picture. She quickly moved to put her chin onto his shoulder and put up a peace sign. She smiled at the picture when he showed her but he quickly took the phone out of her hands when he was receiving a phone call. She raised her eyebrow at him and watched the smile on his face disappear. It turned into a serious look, a look that she has never seen before. It made her feel uncomfortable but she quickly looked back at the river. Admiring the silent dance performance before her.

She grabbed everything she needed and left her office. She went in front of everyone and everyone turned to look at her. She let out a small cough before she spoke, “I need a small crew to go down the new target of the Black Swan. Ramirez, I want you and your crew to come with me. Jackson, you're in charge until I come back, no funny business.”

As everyone moved to her commands, she went to leave the station but stopped in the front hall when she saw something in the corner of her eye. She turned her head and she saw a small doll on the benches but this doll had black curly hair with buttons for eyes. She tilted her head at this and slowly walked forward with one of her hands on her gun, just incase. When she approached the doll, she moved her hand away from her gun and put on blue latex gloves and picked up the doll slowly. She examined the doll with curiosity, the doll was just an ordinary doll. She looked around and saw that it was empty, it was only her and this doll. She looked at it once more and saw the tag said Waltz foundation but something caught her eyes. Embroidered on the tag was a black feather, making her drop the doll. She stared at it with a shocked look but she took a deep breath, not wanting fear to be seen. She picked up the doll and walked towards the lab to see Kim Namjoon looking at something.

“Namjoon?”

He looked up at her with a raised eyebrow because saw the doll in her hand, “What is that boss?”

“It's a doll...it has a black feather on the tag. I need you to examine this doll to see if there's any trace.”

“Where was this?”

“In the entrance hall, I need you to keep this a secret for now. I’m going to talk to security and look at the cameras. I’ll be back in two hours maybe less, you think you can have it done by then?”

Namjoon took the doll out of her hand and examined it himself. He looked back at her and gave her a small smile, “I think I can have it done by then...Hey Y/N.”

“Mm?”

“Have you heard anything from Jimin?”

She took a sharp breath in and shook her head, “Have you heard anything...I know he's your best friend and all-”

“No, I haven’t heard anything from him... I’ll get started with this and good luck with the search.”

She tilted her head at this and raised her eyebrow at him, “How did you know I was doing a search? You weren’t in the office.”

“News travels fast, especially if Bianca knew about it first.”

She let out a small chuckle and nodded her head, “That’s true. Alright, I’ll be back.Thank you Namjoon.”

“No problem, Y/N.”

She gave him a small wave and walked out to go inside her car. As she entered her car, she glanced around her. It felt like someone was staring at her but she couldn’t see who it was. She shook her head and assumed it was her being paranoid and drove off. Little did she know someone was behind the tree watching her drive away.

When she arrived, she saw that the crew already tapped up the area and was doing their jobs. She saw Jungkook waiting by a car and she walked up to him.

“Are you ready?”

Jungkook jumped at the voice and looked at her with fearful eyes, “Ms. L/N, y-yes I-I am.”

She let out a small laugh and patted his back gently, “Sorry for scaring you, I didn’t mean it. I’m going to tell Ramirezto question the family and we’ll go inside the house.”

He nodded his head and she turned around to look for Ramirez. Each step she took, it felt like sound waves were going through the ground and everything was slow motion. Something wasn’t right. She stopped her movement and looked around her once more, glaring at every tree and ignoring the small crowd that was there. She glanced at the crowd and saw that no one was directly looking at her but she felt like someones eyes were on her. She was snapped out of it when she heard her name and saw Ramirez coming up to her.

“Y/N, I was looking for you. The family is waiting in their living room, what would you like me to do?”

She rubbed her hands together and let out a small sigh, “I want you to ask them questions, just the standard ones for now.”

“Okay.”

She watched him leave her sight and before she walked back to Jungkook, she glanced over her shoulders again. There was nothing. She walked up to Jungkook and patted his back, “Let’s go.”

The two of them entered the house and it was your standard family house. There wasn’t anything that was crazy but she glanced at the jewelry that the wife had on and she knew the diamonds were real. They headed up the stairs and into the master bedroom after they put on the shoe covers and gloves. She looked around the room and saw that it was the same thing as the other houses. She stared down at the tape with a frown and looked at one of the officers, “We need a VCR.”

The officer gave her nod and she looked around the room with annoyance as Jungkook was writing in his small notebook behind her. Nothing was different and that's annoying to her. Why would they keep repeating the same scene over and over again? It didn’t make sense. Especially since the person was stealing specific jewelry from the people and leaving behind things that didn’t connect to anything. She let out a sigh and turned towards Jungkook who was too busy writing to see that she was looking at him.

She glanced into the master's bathroom and raised her eyebrow. She slowly walked up and knelt down to look at the feathers closely. These were different from the other ones. These ones have glitter on the ends and had pink paint splatter on some of them. She got up from the floor and opened the door and her eyes widened at the scene in front of her. On the toilet there was the same doll that she saw in the station but this time it was pink. She walked out of the bathroom and rushed to the middle to gather attention, “I want everyone on the search for pink or glitter. In the bathroom there's a doll covered with this pink paint and it's only semi dry. Meaning this was painted today. Let’s go!”

She walked out and took her phone out quickly, “Namjoon?”

“Yes?”

“Is there any paint on the doll?”

“Yes, how did you-”

“Is it pink?”

“Yes. Y/N, what’s going on?”

“Namjoon...I-I...I think I know who's doing this...”

Y/N sat in her living room with a glass of whiskey in her hand as Namjoon sat in front of her smoking his cigarette. After the long day she had at the crime scene and at the office she needed to unwind and talk to someone. She knew the one person that would listen to her was Namjoon. He dropped some ash in the tray and looked at Y/N, “Are you sure about this?”

“Namjoon, think about it. Black feathers, pink paint, and glitter. All things that the Waltz foundation uses for their annual toy drive for decorations.”

He puffed out some smoke and shook his head, “Do you know how crazy that is?”

“I know...I know but think about it. There was two fucking toys from their foundation. What else do I think?”

“There is a big foundation and it has high profiled politicians in it. If you go forward with that theory, it can cause trouble for you.”

She sighed and placed her glass on the table with a stressed look, “For now it’s just a theory…it doesn’t explain why the jewelry was missing and the things left behind.”

Namjoon let out a small chuckle and poured himself a glass of whiskey while Y/N watched with a raised eyebrow, “It’s as if the thief is trying to woo you.”

She scoffed at this and finished off her glass, “Don’t be ridiculous.”

“I’m just saying. It’s weird, the tapes and the clothes. It’s basically a date outfit plus crime. You should be more careful now, just incase.”

“I doubt this thief wants anything to do with me.”

In a warehouse in the middle of the city, Jimin leaned back in his chair remembering his forehead in a hard manner. He was frustrated, what more can he do to make her see the truth? He picked up his glass and finished his whiskey with a glare. He tossed the glass at the wall as he got up from his chair cursing under his breath.

The door opened making him glance at it and let out a sigh when he saw who it was, “Did you see the doll?”

“I did...Jimin, are you sure this is the right thing to do? It can affect you because of who you're messing with.”

Jimin sighed and sat on the couch next to him with a frown, “I know it will affect me but they messed with the wrong person. Messing with me is fine but messing with Y/N, that's a death sentence.”

“As long as you're sure...”

“Jungkook, just make sure you watch over her, okay?”

“Okay.”

March 10, 2021

It happened again. No matter what I do, it keeps happening. The hints I drop and nothing. Red on the floor and walls without a trace of remorse. How can I explain this? If I said my secret out loud then what would happen to us? The more I walk away or hide things...no I can’t tell anyone. Especially...I can’t write that, they will know. I questioned our love in the past but the more time that passes I realize that my heart belongs to one person. It’s in my hands now to protect them even if it means I have to get my hands dirty. How can no one notice these murders? What more do I have to do to get them to see it. Someone is cleaning this up before I can talk to someone...I need to figure this out before more people are killed.

May 4, 2022

The dolls stared at her as Y/N stared back at it. The dolls that looked so familiar to her but at the same time held something sinister within it. It’s been three days and so far there hasn’t been anything on the dolls. Namjoon was trying his best to find something for her but so far, it was a dead end. The tape showed her roses on a wooden flooring that showed another doll sitting on a business table. That was confirmation for herself to know the Waltz Foundation had something to do with this but she needed more evidence before she could say anything to her team. She continued to stare at the dolls until she heard the door open in the examination room to reveal Namjoon giving her a sad smile.

“Y/N, I opened up these dolls four times and there was nothing abnormal, just regular stuffing.”

She let out a sigh and nodded her head, “What about the stitching?”

“No, these are just basic dolls you’ll see on sale at the store.” She continued to stare at the dolls with an emotionless look making Namjoon give her a worried look, “Y/N?”

“Namjoon...remember when we were young on the streets...we saw similar dolls in the window and thought they were the greatest thing we have ever seen.”

Namjoon let out a soft chuckle and wrapped his arm over her shoulders rubbing them gently, “Y/N, that was in the past. Now look at us. Don’t think about the rough times-”

“Taehyung saved me when the store owner was going to hit me. He said I was driving customers away because of how filthy I was...if the Waltz Foundation had anything to do with this, you do realize I would have to see Taehyung...again.”

Namjoon sighed and looked away, “That’s why I'm hoping it's not. What Taehyung did-”

“What he did will never leave my mind. That’s why I can’t forget the past, Namjoon. You need to understand that.”

She pushed his arm off of her shoulders and wrapped her arms around her body with a frown, “Y/N...I just want you to be free from him.”

“Somehow he's back in my life...Thank you Namjoon for checking these so many times.”

“No problem Y/N, you should head home early today.”

She sighed and looked at him with a smile, “That actually sounds like a good idea. Any suggestions for what I should do?”

“I heard from the officers that Amber’s is having a fifty percent for people on the force today.”

“Really, why?”

“I don’t know but I know how much you love deals and alcohol, especially when you're stressed.”

She rolled her eyes at this and crossed her arms over her chest, “I’m not an alcoholic...I’ll go. I do need a break away from all this.”

He smiled at this and nodded his head, “Okay, text me when you get there and call me if you need me to pick you up.”

She nodded her head and started to walk out of the room before she glanced over her shoulder at him, “Anything from Jimin?”

“No, I’m sorry, Y/N.”

She nodded her head and headed out without saying anything else. When she got into her car, she leaned forward, hitting her forehead on the steering wheel. She was frustrated with herself because even though she and Jimin are through, she can’t help but worry about him. She lifted her head and looked at herself through her mirror with a frown, what the hell is wrong with her?

She stared at the car and started to drive to Amber's, remembering Jimin introducing her to the bar.

Jimin opened the door for her as she glanced at him with a small smile. The place was small and it was very inviting with a 1950’s theme throughout. She was hit with the smell of cherry pie making her confused. She looked at him with a confused look, “Is that pie?”

“Oh, they make the best cherry pie.”

“This is a strange bar...”

Jimin let out a small laugh and led her to a table near the back with her hand in his. They sat at the table as he stared at her with a smile, “You look beautiful tonight.”

She rolled her eyes at him and let out a small laugh, “Jimin, I’m literally wearing sweats and a shirt because you texted me out of the blue saying let’s go on a date.”

He shrugged his shoulders at this and gave her a small pout, “But you agreed...I haven’t seen you in a week or two.”

She sighed at this and nodded her head, “I know...there’s a new case at the station and it's making everyone confused.”

“Oh? What is it?”

“A home was robbed and there were black feathers all over the master bedroom but there’s no DNA on them and we can’t trace them back...it’s so weird. The house was in a gated community but the guards said there was no one entering last night.”

“That does sound weird but I know you can figure it out.”

Y/N sat at the table looking down at the dark wood with tired eyes. Maybe it was a bad idea to come here but she did want at least one drink since she made it here. She got up from the table and headed towards the front. She sat at the bar making the bartender raise his eyebrow, “Y/N?”

She looked up and saw Yoongi staring at her with shocked eyes, “Yoongi? You still work here?”

“Yeah, I do. I haven’t seen you in awhile.”

“Yeah, sorry about that. I’ve been busy...can I ask you something?”

Yoongi put the glass down that he was cleaning and leaned forward towards her, “Yeah, you can ask me anything.”

“Has Jimin been here...”

Yoongi looked away from her for a second and then let out a small cough, “No but I’ve heard from others that he's been working.”

“Working?”

“Don’t worry okay...He’s okay and everything he does is to protect you. Remember that.”

She tilted her head at this and nodded her head, “What’s with the riddles, Yoongi?”

“Just listen okay...be careful, officer.”

She walked him away into the back room leaving her alone with a confused face. Now she wasn’t in the mood to have a drink and got up from the bar as fast as she could. She sat in her car staring outside her window with a blank expression. What was Yoongi trying to say to her? She scratched her head and started her car to head back home. The drive back was silent and she couldn’t get Yoongi’s words out of her mind. Something was happening in the city and she needed to learn what before she gets hurt or worse, gets killed.

She entered her home and stared out into the pure darkness with a frown. What does Yoongi know?

July 20, 2021

It’s getting harder to hide everything. Each time I look into her eyes, it gets harder. All I want to do is to protect her but how can I protect her when I’m hiding so much. I can’t just tell her because then she would ask me about my job and I can’t...I can’t let her get caught in the crossfire. I would never forgive myself if she got hurt because of me. This city is holding secrets that even I don’t know but what I do know is that I’m going to protect her no matter what happens.

May 5, 2022

The silence in the station made her feel nervous. It was five in the morning and no one was here which was unusual because usually the janitor was here to say good morning to her but nothing. Her heels clicked through the silence and before she entered the office she saw that her light was on making one of her hands go to her gun as she opened the door slowly. She took the gun out and pointed at the person but her eyes widened when she saw who was sitting in her office.

“Is that how you say hello to an old friend, Y/N?”

Her glared harden and her grip got tighter around the pistol, “What the fuck do you want, Taehyung?”

He let out a chuckle and moved towards her pushing her gun down to the floor, “I can’t see you, after all these years? This is how you treat me?”

“I should kill you but my morals stop me. Again what do you want?”

He took the gun out of her hand and put it on her desk as he leaned against the dark wood, “I wanted you to go to dinner with me. It's for the annual toy donation.”

She scoffed at this and shook her head, “Why would I ever go with you? After what you did-”

“Oh my god, you're still onto that. It was years ago.”

She turned her head at him and shook it with her eyes glaring at him, “You stabbed me and left me to die. What the hell do you want me to feel towards you?”

“I said I was sorry. It’s your fault for being there...but I’m sorry for stabbing you back then but you didn’t die.”

“Because Namjoon saved me while you were getting adopted you fucking asshole.”

“Can’t we fix our relationship, neh, Y/N?”

“Nothing can fix our relationship and the fact that you think you can is...its pure comedy. Why did you ask me for dinner? There’s a reason.”

Taehyung rolled his eyes and nodded his head, “Fine. The foundation wants you to come because they saw that you were one of the kids that they helped out years ago. I guess they want to congratulate you because you're the head detective or whatever.”

“See, you don’t give a shit about me. It just makes you look better. No, I won’t go, now get the fuck out.”

He scoffed at this but did what she wanted but before he could leave, he turned around and gave her a small smirk, “Word on the street is, Jimin’s been missing.”

“Don’t you ever say his name.”

“Feisty for your ex, now why is that? Could it be you love him still? How cute.”

She looked away for a second and then back at him with a glare, “Get out. I could arrest you for breaking in.”

“Oh but Y/N, you would never do that. I’m the son of Kim Jinyoung, the head of Waltz. You would look horrible. Have a good day.”

She watched him close the door and she scoffed at his words. She shook her head and put her gun back in her pants. She sat at her desk and she scoffed at the invention on her desk. She picked it up and ripped it up into small pieces. She rubbed her forehead roughly and opened her side cabinet to take out a bottle of whisky. Today is going to be long for her.

Hours later and she stayed in her office avoiding everyone because she wasn’t in the mood for anyone. Today she decided to go to Amber’s again and drink away the stress she had that day. Jungkook was in her office more since the day he went with her to the crime scene and she wasn’t bothered about it but she was curious why he was attached to her. The day flashed before her eyes and she found herself inside of Amber’s to see that it was empty. She glanced down at her watch with confusion to see it was seven at night, meaning it should be busy. She continued to walk through the emptiness with her gun out and ready just incase. She continued to make her way through the small bar until she heard voices and she hid behind a random closet that was slightly opened for her to hear.

“Listen, you need to tell her. She's been asking about you.”

She raised her eyebrow at this, Who is Yoongi talking to?

“I know...”

Her heart stopped at the familiar voice and she couldn’t stop herself from opening the door. She saw two men looking at her with shocked eyes but she couldn’t focus on the scene. Her eyes met his, who was looking at her with pure shock and guilt but she didn’t care about that right now. He looked the same as he did before but his attire was something she had never seen before. He was in a suit with leather gloves, she glanced down at what he was holding and saw black feathers in a clear bag.

She struggled to say anything but instead she brought her gun up to point at him. He shook his head and took out his gun to point at her now. They stared at each other and neither of them blinked in this moment. After everything they have been through, this is how it's going to end for them. Yoongi went in between them and pushed down their guns as he looked between them with wide eyes, “What the hell are you guys doing?”

“I should be asking the two of you that. What the hell are you doing with fucking black feathers, Jimin?”

Jimin let out a low chuckle and shrugged his shoulders, “You should know, officer.”

She brought her gun up as he just stood there looking at her with a smug look, “Yoongi...how long have you known?”

“He just told me tonight...”

She glared at him and her finger gently touched the trigger as he shook his head, “Your not even going to ask me anything?”

“What the hell do I need to ask? Your the fucking Black Swan thief.”

“Did you see the dolls?”

She put her gun down and stared at him with a confused look, “Why?”

“The Waltz Foundation isn’t good. You of all people should know that.”

“What the hell are you talking about? Where the hell were you? You’ve been missing-”

“Y/N, I don’t have time for this. I need you to know that I’m protecting you.”

Before she could say anything, Jimin ran out of the bar leaving her standing there in shock. She shook the shock off and went to run after him but Yoongi grabbed her wrist making her look at him with an annoyed look. “Yoongi, let go!”

“Let’s sit down.”

He brought her to the back table as she started shaking in the booth in anger but sadness at the same time, “Yoongi, I-I, what the hell is going on?”

He sat across from her and took a deep breath, “All Jimin told me is that he’s leaving you messages at each crime scene to figure out the big picture. I asked him why-”

“Jimin is a thief? That’s his job?”

“Technically yes but he’s more of a spy. I only found out this month when he came in with blood coming down his forehead.”

“Wait what? Blood? What happened?”

Yoongi rubbed his forehand and looked down at the table before looking back at her, “A month ago…”

It was two in the morning and Yoongi was finishing up his shift. He was going to hang out with Namjoon later that day to talk about the disappearance of Jimin and how Y/N was doing. He was worried for his two friends but he knew they could handle themselves just fine. He was putting up the final glass as he went in the back to lock up for the night. Before he could enter, the entrance door slammed open causing him to sigh at the unwelcome guest, “We’re closed!”

“Yoongi! I-I need he-help.”

He quickly whipped his head to see Jimin covering his head with a towel that was coated in blood as he stumbled to a table. It’s been a week since he heard from Jimin and he just assumed that it was because he needed a break because of the recent break up with Y/N. Yoongi didn’t get a chance to blink as he rushed to Jimin’s side, laying him down on the table. He gently moved the towel away from his head and his eyes widened again, “Jimin what the hell are you doing? Dude where have you been, it's been a week since I last heard from you.”

“A mission…”

He glared at him and let out a deep sigh, “What kind of mission are you doing to be this hurt?”

“The Waltz Foundation...”

“Why are you getting involved with them? You know how dangerous they are.”

Jimin let out a small cough and watched Yoongi wrap his head slowly, “They’re behind the killings of the sick kids and the homeless.”

Yoongi finished wrapping and stared at him with a shocked look, “What the hell are you talking about? Why would they do that?”

“I saw someone high up doing it.”

“Who?”

“Taehyung, he had a group of people around him and he ordered them to kill this homeless person because they wanted a new can of food. One of the guards saw me and hit me on the head, which is why I'm here now.”

Yoongi continued to stare at him and shook his head, “Do you have any evidence?”

“Not yet but...I think they're after Y/N.”

“Why would they be after Y/N?”

Jimin looked down at his hands with a frown and looked back at him with a sad look, “She was supposed to die when they gave her something when she was younger but she didn’t. They are after her now to complete it. I think their “gifts' ' are poisoned and killing these people but I don’t know why, yet.”

“That’s so bizarre. Why now?”

“I think it's Taehyung doing.”

Yoongi picked up the bloody towel and tossed it in the trash with annoyance. He turned back and shook his head at him, “Why would Taehyung have something to do with this?”

“He's going to become the next CEO for Waltz. I know they have a dark secret, trust me...please.”

Y/N stared at Yoongi and closed her eyes with no noise leaving her body. She opened them and looked at him with a sad look, “They... they tried killing me?”

“That’s what Jimin said...He told me he has evidence but he doesn’t know how to show you.”

“Why would anyone kill kids or the homeless...it doesn’t make sense and it's pure evil.”

Yoongi nodded his head in agreement and reached forward grabbing Y/N’s hand rubbing it gently, “I should’ve told you that Jimin came in a month ago but I...I didn’t want you to be a target or something. I couldn’t live with myself.”

She nodded her head and gave him a sad smile, “When I was younger...me and Namjoon went to a toy foundation thing that they had at one of their factories. It was the greatest day of my life because I was basically poor and living on the streets. I saw everything I ever wanted, every doll and toy that a child would beg their parents for on any given day but...one of the workers saw me and gave me this doll..the doll was special and it wasn’t like the other dolls they had there. This doll had bright white hair in pigtails and a pink dress with bows, he told me I was special and to treasure it forever. I kept it safe in a box under my bed because he was the first adult that ever said that to me..sad I know.”

Yoongi shook his head and continued to rub her hand with his thumb, “It’s not sad...trust me.”

She nodded her head and glanced away, “I was the only one that received a doll that day from a worker...I didn’t think much of it.”

“You were a kid, why would you?”

“I do remember that Namjoon said the factory was off putting.”

Yoongi raised his eyebrow at this and looked with curious eyes, “What do you mean?”

“There were people in white coats walking around with clipboards, watching us. It was strange but me and Namjoon kept away from their eyes just in case they did something. It was uncomfortable.”

“I can imagine that. Y/N, please don’t see Jimin as the bad guy here. He’s doing his best to protect you.”

“It's kinda hard when he pointed a gun at me but I...I’ll think about it.”

Jimin enters the factory breathing heavily and tosses the bag of feathers on the floor making Jungkook look up at him from the couch with a confused look, “Is everything alright?”

“No...Y/N, she saw me tonight.”

Jungkook’s eyes widened and he ran to him with shock, “That wasn’t the plan.”

“You don’t think I know that? Listen, we need to speed up this plan. In the jornal I stole from a guard, the next killing will be this Friday at noon. You need to take Y/N to the toy store for her to witness it. I think Taehyung is going to be there so, be careful.”

“I can tell her we should look at the stores that sell Waltz owns for dolls that are similar to the ones at the crime scene.”

“That will work...make sure you protect her, just in case.”

He nods his head and looks down at his feet, “Is there something I should be worried about when I arrive at the store?”

“Keep your eye out for guards. They know what Y/N looks like and will do anything to get her.”

October 13, 2021

Today was Jimin’s birthday and she forgot. How can she forget? She was his girlfriend for a year now and she forgot. In her defense, she has been busy with work with this Black Swan thief. It was hard to do anything that was involved with that. She turned her head to glance at Jimin who was sleeping deeply and sighed to herself. She felt horrible but then she thought of a great gift for him. Its been a month since they last had sex and she missed it and she knows he misses it too.

She pushed the blanket off of her and turned towards him to see him sleeping on his back now. He moved the blanket away from his body to expose his naked body (something that made Jimin feel free and she didn’t really care). She bit her lip as she looked him up down with a red face but she knew she couldn’t be shy right now. She felt herself heating up as she was met with his already erect cock laying against his abs. It was a sight for sure.

She reached out and ran his fingertips along the man's shaft before leaning down letting her tongue finally taste him. She carefully grasped the base and held it up enough to get her lips around the tip and suck it. She looked up at him when she heard some noises but felt better when he didn’t wake up. After a few sucks, she couldn’t stand it anymore. She pulled away her mouth, her lips with pre-cum and spit but she didn’t bother to wipe it away. She took off her pants and underwear gently and slowly, not wanting to wake him up.

She carefully climbed into his lap and straddled the man’s lap with a small smirk on her face. She can’t wait to see his face when he wakes up with her on top of him. She raised herself up slowly until she felt his tip hitting her wet hole. She slowly sat down on his dick and she tried to calm herself down from the feeling of being full, “Jimin...”

She whimpered aloud and looked down to see his face and it was clear that Jimin was still dreaming with the soft snores. She placed her hands on his stomach and slowly lifted her hips up and down. She repeated the movements and let little noises slip out her mouth. She was trying to go too slow and let him wake up in bliss but she couldn’t help it now. Her hips sped up and she began to lose herself on her own pleasure forgetting that this gift was for Jimin and not her.

It wasn’t until Y/N was bouncing on his with all her might that Jimin woke up and he woke up with wide eyes. He blinked his eyes slowly and looked her up and down with a smug look, “Well, well..look at you go.”

She almost didn’t hear him over her moans but she looked down to check if he was sleeping and was met with his smug look. She gave him a small smile and continued to move her hips, “Happy birthday Jimin...”

Jimin’s hips went up into her when he saw the innocent look on her face while she was riding him, which made him go crazy. His hands immediately went around her waist so he could hear her still and trust up, “This is my present?”

“I thought..mmm...I thought it was a good one.”

She let out a loud moan and her hips started to roll again to meet his thrusts.

“You’re doing so good, fuck.”

She continued to move her hips and Jimin’s hands reached behind to grope her ass as he leaned forward biting her neck gently, “Keep riding just like that.”

The room was filled with her small moans and it drove Jimin crazy, “Are you going to cum? Go ahead, cum.”

“Fuuuck, Jimin!”

“Fuck Y/N...”

The two let out deep breaths as she felt his cum inside her, causing her to feel warm on the inside. She let out a small laugh and leaned forward giving him a deep kiss. When she leaned away she gave him a smirk, “Happy birthday, baby.”

“Happy birthday to me indeed.”

May 6, 2021

Y/N sat in her office glancing at the pictures of the past crime scenes. She looked closely at each of them and made the conclusion that everything that Yoongi told her last night checked out. Whatever is happening in this city, the Waltz Foundation was the cause of it. The first crime scene she noticed that there was pink paint but you couldn’t see it unless you knew what you were looking for. The second crime scene had a check from the Waltz Foundation in the open and they didn't think much of it at the time. She leaned back in her chair with annoyance and glared at the roof. How is she going to trust Jimin? He lied to her for years and now Yoongi thinks she can just trust him like it was that easy. She understood when he said this but she felt like he wasn’t seeing her side of things. Then again it doesn’t matter when murder is innvoled.

Her door opened and she glanced at it to see Jungkook holding his small notebook and a smile on his face, “Jungkook? What do you need?”

“I was talking to the officers and they agreed with the idea of us going to the toy store down the street. Just to see if the doll we saw was there.”

She nodded her head at this and gave him a small smile, “That’s really smart Jungkook. When we go, we'll wear face masks. Just in case they recognized us from the police station.”

He nodded his head at this and realized this would make his job easier. The two headed out and the drive there was fast with conversation between the two flowing well. They placed the black masks and she looked at him to give him a small nod as he returned it. The two enter the store to see it somewhat busy and the two of them blend in perfectly. She walked around with Jungkook following her like a puppy. So far, she saw no doll that was familiar to the doll they saw at the crime scene. She continued to look but nothing.

She put her hands on her waist and turned towards Jungkook with her eyebrow furrowed, “I don’t see any similarities. That’s annoying...I really thought we were onto something.”

“Maybe at another store, I heard each store has unique toys that you can't find at others.”

She nodded her head and looked back at the elephant toy with a frown that no one could see, “I suppose.”

She glances outside the window with a blank expression as she takes a deep breath with her eyes close. When she opens them, her eyes widen at what she sees. Taehyung walked right past the windows with four guards behind him but something was off with him, even for Taehyung. She doesn’t waste time and starts to walk out with Jungkook following her slowly, knowing what happened. The two hide behind a wall that gives them the perfect view of Taehyung and his guards. She stared at him with a hard look and pulled down her mask to look at Jungkook, “That’s Taehyung, he’s next in line for the Waltz Foundation. Why is he in the back alley with his guards?”

Jungkook doesn’t answer but continues to stare with a concerned look. He heard stories from Jimin of what happens in the back alleys but he hoped this time was different for her sake.

“You really think you can pick whatever you want? What a selfish prick, you should be grateful for getting food in the first place. You don’t deserve to be alive especially since you can’t provide for yourself. You have to beg from others in order to live, pathetic.”

“Please sir, I’m-”

All of sudden there was a loud gun shot causing Y/N to jump at the sound and Jungkook continued to stare with a glare. The homeless man screamed out in agony and held his hand with blood covering his clothes. He starts crying and stares at Taehyung with a pleading look, “Please...I won’t do it again.”

“Your right, you won’t.”

Just then Taehyung took out a pistol and pointed at the man’s chest and pulled the trigger but his gun didn’t go off. He dropped the gun and covered his wrist as he hissed in pain. He turned towards his guards and then around the area, “Found whoever fucking shot me.”

Y/N and Jungkook run back inside the store trying to act normal the best they can. Y/N’s hands were shaking as she brought up a cute bear and Jungkook saw this. He took his phone and sent his location to the one person he knew could save them right now. The store door opened and they both glanced up to see the guards looking around and started walking towards them. Y/N’s heart started beating fast as she continued to stare at the bear. Jungkook wrapped his arm around her waist making her glance up at him with a confused look but he didn’t look at her.

“If you really want this, then I guess I’ll buy it for you. Babe, this is the last one though. You have enough at home.”

Her brain processed what Jungkook was doing and played along with him, “But it would look cute in my collection and it would be from you, making it special.”

“How about we go to lunch and think about it.”

Just as he said this the guards walked past to them to go further down. Y/N placed the bear back and intertwined her fingers with his, “I’ll like that.”

The two walked away normally but quickly made their way out when they were out of sight. The two stood in front of the store breathing heavy as Y/N clenched her chest, “That was good thinking, Jungkook.”

“Thanks...We should wait here. There’s something I need to tell you.”

She stops clenching her chest and looks at him with a raised eyebrow, “Jungkook what-”

“Y/N! Jungkook! Get in!”

She turned her head to see Jimin in his sleek black car that she was accustomed to but she looked back at Jungkook with a betrayed look, something that hurt him, “You know Jimin?”

He doesn’t say anything and grabs her hand and goes into the car as fast as they can. As they moved into the car she couldn’t stop staring at Jungkook with a shocked face, how does he know Jimin? Jimin starts driving the car in utter silence as Y/N stared outside the window. He kept glancing at her with a frown and knew this was going to be hard. He loved her with all his heart but in this moment he had to focus on his mission and he can’t let his emotions take over him in this moment.

“Was Taehyung there, Jungkook?”

“Yes, with four guards just like the journal said. He said the same thing about how the homeless person can’t provide for himself and has to beg.”

“I knew he was going to say that. Did he kill?”

Jungkook pulled out his phone and clicked on the camera app that let him look at the street cams anywhere. There was a dead body but one of the guards picked up the body and put it in the back of a van. Jungkook sighed and nodded his head, “Sadly Taehyung got to him.”

Y/N looked between the two with a confused look, “Taehyung killed before?”

“Yes, twenty times to be exact.”

She sat there and shudder at the thought of murdering someone and shook her head, “I know hes bad but he wouldn’t kill someone...right?”

Jimin glanced at her through his mirror and shook his head, “Taehyung is corrupted just like the foundation. He’ll do anything for power...remember that.”

“Jimin, what the hell is going on?”

“I’ll tell you everything when we get to my hideout.”

“What the fuck? Are you batman now?”

Jungkook chuckled at this as Jimin shook his head, “I’ll be your batman, catwoman.”

She scoffed at this and stared out the window with a frown. How could she miss murders? It was her job to protect people and she couldn’t even defend the people's rights. Taehyung has killed twenty times but that doesn’t mean that's it. He could have more under his belt and no one noticed it or even if they did what the hell could they do? Taehyung was the son of the Waltz Foundation and was next in line, if he got arrested...he would probably kill her if she ever did that.

The car stopped and she snapped out of her thoughts when she saw they were in a empty lot. She looked outside the window to see an abandoned factory that was in the worst condition. She looks back at Jimin to see that he was getting out of the car but she couldn’t do the same. She sat there and tried to process everything that just happened to her in the past week. What did she do in her past life to deserve this? As she sat in the back seat, Jimin came around and knocked on the window causing her to jump.

“Let’s go.”

As she got out, Jimin grabbed her wrist and headed inside the factory as Jungkook just watched with nervous eyes. He brought her in to sit on the couch as he stood in front of her Jungkook next to him. She continued to stare until she let out a sigh, “What the hell is going on?”

“That’s the million dollar question.”

“Jimin…”

He sighed and nodded his head, “You said I was hiding stuff from you. Truth be told, this is what I was hiding. A foundation that’s supposed to save lives is actually the weakest one to make room for more inventory. You were the only one that didn’t die and now they're going to end it.”

“Why did you rob all those houses?”

“To get you looking. Each house that I robbed were key people in the foundation. They gave the foundation a new list of people that would make them look good. They saw sick children as a ticket to become more rich and powerful.”

She nodded her head but she continued to glare at him, “Why did you leave behind the tapes and the dress up shit?”

“Taehyung invited you to a dinner, a special dinner for the foundation. You needed a pretty dress to comply with him. The tapes were small snippets of past dinners.”

“Why did you lie to me?”

“Y/N, I had to…”

“Everything we have is now gone, you realize that, right?”

Jimin shook his head at this and reached out to grab her hand but she pulled away before he could, “Y/N, you don’t do this.”

“How are you going to tell me that when you're the one that caused all of this separation!”

“I wanted-”

“Guys, I think we should talk about our personal affairs later. Right now we need to talk about the mission before someone else gets killed.”

Jimin and Y/N head whipped towards Jungkook and she actually forgot he was still there. Jimin cleared his throat and stood back up, standing next to Jungkook now.

“Right…the Waltz Foundation has been killing for years and it was flying under the radar because of who they were killing-” Jimin walked over to his desk and grabbed a folder handing it over for Y/N to read. She glanced at the folder and him but she took it. She opened it and her eyes widened at the list of people that have passed away, “They have this theory that if you are weak or poor then you shouldn’t be able to live but they can’t just take you out as simple as that.”

Jungkook cleared his throat and Y/N looked up at him, “They're doing it at random to keep suspicion low. They do it with botulinum toxin and the hospitals allow them to do it because well, they own them. They randomly select a child and go to that room to offer a toy and well, they die.”

Y/N blinked her eyes at this and sigh deeply, “That's evil but how do I play a part of this?”

“You were supposed to die when they gave you that doll but the worker protected you.”

“What do you mean?”

“The worker made sure to give you that doll because the doll is a limited collection. Not even the richest parents had it. He knew if he gave this doll, they wouldn’t kill you.”

“But why me?”

“Taehyung…he requested that you die after not killing you when he stabbed you. He felt like he failed by not doing so.”

Y/N slowly nodded her head at this and looked around the room trying her best to process everything. She looked back at Jimin and leaned forward, “You have evidence?”

“We have plenty of evidence. So much so, that it can land almost everyone in jail.”

“What now?”

“We will go to the foundation dinner together because a little birdie told me you were invited.”

She glanced at Jungkook with a glare as he looked away from her heated stare and looked back at Jimin, “I can’t wear the dress you sent me.”

“Don’t worry I have another dress for you, have some faith in me.”

She let out a small laugh and nodded her head, “How are we going to get them?”

May 7, 2022

It was the night of the dinner and Y/N stood in the factory with her arms crossed over her chest with Namjoon and Yoongi by her side. She was nervous but at the same time confident because she knew she was going to be with Jimin. Namjoon wrapped his arm around her shoulders and gave her a small smile, “Everything is going to be alright.”

Yoongi leaned forward giving her his signature gummy smile making her feel at ease more, “Jimin is going to be there with you, remember that. He would never let someone hurt you.”

“He doesn’t need someone else to do it because he does it just fine.”

The two men glance at each other before looking back at Y/N with a worried glance, “Y/N for tonight don’t think of that.”

“Namjoon I know… it’s hard for me because I have to act fake with him.”

“Is it really you being fake?”

“Shut up Yoongi.”

Just then Jimin enters the room with Jungkook following him. She glanced down and noticed the dark green material in his hand and looked up to see him giving her a smile, “This dress isn’t like other dresses. This dress has bulletproof material just in case anything and I will be having gadgets as well. Tonight is when we expose the foundation to the media.”

Y/N nodded her head at this and took the dress from his hand, “How are you going to do that?”

“Hoseok, my partner in this, went undercover at a media place and will play the tapes of them killing. Before every foundation dinner, they play a video to remember all their achievements. Not this time.”

She took a deep breath and nodded her head again, “Okay…I guess let’s do this.”

The two walked out of Jimin’s black sleek car and saw the huge amount of people entering the hall. Everyone was dressed so elegantly and she wondered how many of them had blood on their hands. She smoothed out her skirt and wrapped her arm around Jimin’s arm and they started walking down the carpet. Flashing lights were everywhere but they ignored it making their way to the entrance.

She leaned towards his ear with an annoyed look, “This dress is so heavy to walk in.”

He smirked at this and leaned over her ear, “Sorry love, we had no choice. Protection is protection, remember that.”

She rolled her eyes and they entered the beautiful dining area. The amount of chandelier’s was enough to make any royal family feel ashamed. She tightened her grip when her eyes saw Taehyung, “Taehyung is at the head table…I was supposed to sit next to him.”

“Oh darling, I have a ticket for the back. Right in front of the exit, I planned out everything.”

She smiled at this and nodded her head. She watched as some couples were dancing in the middle. She smiled at how gracefully they were, maybe she was jealous of their skills or that they have a real partner instead of their ex partner. Jimin looked at what she was looking at and patted her hand gently, “Do you want to dance?”

“W-What!? Why would I-I want to dance?“

He didn't say anything and glided her to the dance floor making her hands feel sweaty. She wasn't much of a dancer and Jimin knew this but he always tried making her dance with him regardless of the situation. The couple started going back and forth, not moving much but enough to be considered dancing.

She looked up at him with a small smile, “This made me remember the night you took me out on a boat. We danced for hours and ate so much.”

Jimin laughed at this and leaned forward towards her eye, “Your also missing the main part love, we fucked until the sun came up.”

She felt a shiver down her back but she shook off with a fake laugh, “Anyways, we should head to our table. People are moving away.”

“Yes, dear.”

The two walked away and her chest was starting to hurt. The nerves of everything were starting to get to her at once. What would happen if something went wrong? When they sat down she chugged down her champagne making Jimin raise his eyebrow.

“Y/N what the hell?”

“I’m sorry, I’m nervous.”

“I know but fucking hell. Relax.”

She nodded her head and reached out to grab his hand. He felt this and gave her a gentle smile, he intertwined his fingers with hers and they stared at the front. She watched Taehyung walking up to the stage in his nice black suit. Taehyung cleared his throat and leaned forward to the microphone, “Welcome to the Waltz Foundation dinner, where we celebrate our yearly achievements. I am proud to say that this year had the biggest turn out with our donations so, thank you for that. Let’s watch the start of our foundation with my grandfather.”

He walked away and she glanced at Jimin who was staring at the screen. Just then a recording of Taehyung in the back alley showing him with a gun pointing at a person, “-You don’t deserve to be alive especially since you can’t provide for yourself. You have to beg from others in order to live, pathetic.”

Taehyung glanced at the crowd and saw Y/N and Jimin sitting in the back. He grabbed the guards arm and pointed towards them, “Fucking grab them.”

Just then a gunshot echoed through, making everyone gasp at the screen before them. All the cameras started going off as Taehyung rushed to the stage, “That was some action movie?”

He let out a awkward laugh but he knew no one was buying it. Just then Y/N’s officer came running onto the stage with their guns pointing at him, “Put your hands up!”

Taehyung scowled at this and did what he was told.Taehyung looked through the crowd and his eyes landed on Y/N who gave him a hard stare. No emotion in her eyes but she did feel her heart break a bit. Even though she hated him, he was part of her childhood. She watched him get arrested and she looked away as they went towards the rest of the table to arrest the rest of the family. Jimin grabbed her hand and they got up from the table.

Before they could head out, she heard footsteps behind her. She took a deep breath and turned around, kicking the guard onto the floor. Jimin took out his gun and shot the other guard in the knee making him fall. Y/N stared at the guard and then back to Taehyung. Even when he lost, he tried to take her down with him.

They headed outside of the hall and no one said anything to each other. The blue and red lights were glowing on their skins and she glanced at him to see that he was already looking at her. She felt her chest tighten but she couldn’t look away from him. After all the things they have been through, she knows she can’t be with him at the moment.

He grabbed her hand and gave a small smile. He leaned forward and gave her a kiss on the forehead, “I’m sorry for everything…but I needed to do this.

“That doesn’t make it okay Jimin…what am I going to do about the Black Swan case? I can’t just ignore that people will ask questions.”

“Not if you said you captured the thief.”

“What are-”

Jimin put his hands together and put them towards her looking at her, “Arrest me, Y/N.”

She glanced between his hands and his face but nothing came out of her mouth. The man that stood before her and gave her so much pain and happiness in her life. She loved him but making this decision would change her whole life. Even though he committed a crime, he can do no wrong in her eyes because in the end he saved so many lives. Something she couldn’t do. She leaned forward and kissed him gently on his lips and shook her head with tears coming down. This decision will change her forever.

He can do no wrong. No, he don’t need to try, made from the best. He passes all the tests. Got my heart beating fast, it’s cardiac arrest. He's from a different strain that science can't explain. I guess that's how he's made, In his D-D-D-DNA.

Tag list:

@belladaises @iknowyoualwaystae @vinylphwoar @mickmoon @delicateladypeach @bbl32 @arepabella @scuzmunkie

#bts reactions #bts scenarios #bts jungkook #bts imagines #bts namjoon #bts seokjin #bts taehyung #bts jimin #bts yoongi #bts x reader #bts hosoek #Bts #jimin x reader #bts jimin x reader #bts angst #bts smut #Spotify

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utilitycaster · 4 years ago

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Wizard Breakdown Tracker, #135

Each week I think “man it would have been cool if I had thought of this idea, in which I make jokes about how stressed out the wizard NPCs are, during, you know, the Vergesson heist or something when we were interacting with more than one wizard NPC instead of during a dungeon crawl with only one wizard NPC, emphasis on crawl” but you know what, I persevere, because where else am I going to put song parodies about the death of Vess Derogna that are literally only funny to me? Twitter?

Anyway while I am personally team Jester, in that the faster Lucien is simultaneously disintegrated, run through in the chest with both a vestige and a holy avenger, shot through the heart (and Veth’s to blame), beheaded with a hand axe, banished, punched in the face, and sent into a black hole the better, the party has other plans. Thanks to the long rest though it has been about 12 hours, plus the 4-ish from last week, so I guess we’ll check in with a few of our other wizard friends as well.

As a reminder Caleb Widogast is a PC and thus excluded from this list.

Currently sidelined

Presumably having a good day: Pumat Sol (blissfully unaware of all of this); Allura Vyesoren (saint-like patience and a wealth of experience with disaster adventuring parties; at least this one has a cleric at more than 0.33 FTE, a wizard, and some lesbians), Ludinus Da’leth (this miserable pile of power plays wakes up every morning and is like Isn’t it Grand to be head of the evil wizard council and no one realizes I probably destroyed the first non-drow elven civilization on the continent to arise after the calamity! Fetch me more pastries!).

No idea but here’s hoping he found the cat portion of ScryTube: Oremid Hass

Lady DeRogna, taken off the scene, sorry that your murder happened while off-screen.

Trent Ikithon: I’ve established that I think the only real things that can damage Trent emotionally are Caleb paying too much attention to him so as to destroy his standing within the empire, or else Caleb ignoring him. Honestly if Trent would not continue to torture students and spread propaganda if left unchecked I think he could be slowly murdered solely through Caleb expressing apathy. So despite the amulets of nondetection I like to imagine that somehow, somewhere, Trent felt Caleb reaffirm to Essek that his top priority is still stopping the city from returning, not Trent, and it necrotized just a little bit more of his liver.

Conclusion: 7/10. I went to the OG evil mageocracy and no one knew who you were.

Essek Thelyss: Well on the one hand he’s still flirting but on the other imagine spending a literal century being like “what if we’re wrong about how we approach the fundamental basis for our society” and he just got proved right. I have to imagine he’s got that kind of stress where suddenly everything becomes dead calm and also this explains why he unnecessarily cast a 3rd level spell, which he knows could in theory cause him to lose all his hair, to impress a boy. I didn’t even get into the conversations he had with Caleb, the bad dreams and eyeballs, Fjord teasing him, Yasha being like “ALRIGHT ALREADY”, the horrible Aeorian creatures, the fact that robots might be back(?) or his ongoing terror that the Assembly is after him!

Conclusion: 8/10 but he’s like, kind of having a good time. Essek is in all ways but physical in a Hawaiian shirt right now drinking a Mai Tai and going Nothing Matters; I presume he will have a full breakdown following the boss battle and honestly he deserves it.

Astrid Beck: Others have already established the parallels between Essek and Astrid but honestly I want to highlight it because really, on the one hand we have Essek, whose world is crashing around him because he was right all along and is in terrible immediate danger but surrounded by friends, and on the other we have Astrid, whose world is crashing around her because she was wrong all along and she’s probably not in immediate danger but Eadwulf is the only person she can trust and we don’t know all the details about that either.

Conclusion: 8/10 but in the bad way, not Essek’s kind of fun way.

Wulfpupy:

Conclusion: 3/10. You know that tiktok with the blonde woman with glasses who has a lot of highlighter on her nose who talks about how sometimes if you have guy friends they will say something deeply fucked up and you’ll be like “oh my god do we unpack this right now” and then you look over at them and the only thing in their mind are the lyrics to Kokomo? That’s Wulf. He will activate the second Caleb comes back in town or Astrid actually falls apart but until then he is on Island Time.

Yussa Errenis: I wonder if there’s a small part of Yussa that is part of the city’s awareness and, moreover, can see what Beau and Caleb at least are doing, and he’s like “I’m so simultaneously proud and impatient, also we live in a world that does not have IV fluids so like, hopefully my body still exists in some kind of functioning state when I am rescued” (note: did I google “how were coma patients kept alive in olden times” for this? Perhaps.) Anyway if he is aware he’s also just like, watching all this like “I WILL GET YOU SO MUCH PAPER OH MY GOD CAN YOU JUST KISS THE OTHER WIZARD SAVE ME FROM THE EVIL HIVEMIND CITY.”

Conclusion: I mean still infinity/10, he is still trapped in the city of madness and also if he does have a small part of his mind that is sane and able to observe the material plane he also is aware that Trent and the Volstruckers broke into his tower.

Known Gem Wizard Hotsauce Lutefisk: I know, I know, weird that I brought him up. However consider: Yussa’s wizard tower now contains two wizards in suspended animation, their consciousnesses trapped in eldritch astral sea-related spaces. This is incredibly funny to me. We’re in a real Old Lady who swallowed a fly scenario except it’s centuries-old wizards getting sucked into traps because of their own hubris. The reason why mageocracies no longer exist isn’t the lack of magical knowledge or even because power corrupts absolutely, it’s because literally just put some lightly fried forbidden knowledge under a box with a stick propping it up, add your parody of Long-Term Nuclear Waste Warnings above it, and a wizard will be like “that sign won’t stop me because I CAN read and what’s more I’m better at reading than you are!” And then they get trapped in a box.

Conclusion: what is a breakdown tracker to a man whose mind has been stuck in a gem for, from his perspective, at minimum about 35 years?

#critical role #critical role spoilers #wizard breakdown tracker #shadowgast #honestly i want shenanigans that rival any post-dragon vm shenanigans after aeor and i want essek to have a starring role #sorry percy i want a BLACK HOLE in the hot tub #your music this week was lady madonna by the beatles and kokomo by the beach boys #i swear i am a millennial i just spent a lot of formative time in the car with my boomer parents listening to the oldies station

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makeste · 4 years ago

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BnHA Chapter 314: ...Or You Live Long Enough to See Yourself Become the Villain

Previously on BnHA: Some random assholes were all “let’s throw exploding spears at All Might and see if it activates his Conqueror’s Haki” and SURPRISE, MOTHERFUCKERS, IT DID!! Elsewhere, Lady Nagant confusingly tried to capture Deku alive by shooting him in the stomach, but to be fair I guess that’s what happens when you send an assassin to do a bounty hunter’s job, so yeah. Deku was all “ouch”, and then because this is a shounen he basically just straight up forgot about it, and did a big fancy Smokescreen thing, and then activated his mildly incomprehensible new ki-blasting quirk which he got from the Third. En and the Third were all “hey Deku maybe let’s not just impulsively activate all this shit in the heat of battle when you don’t know how to use it yet and you’re already injured,” and Deku was all “thanks for the quirks guys but I’ll take it from here” and snuck up on Nagant and grabbed her arm and so now what’s going to happen I wonder.

Today on BnHA: Nagant is all “[shoots Deku again]” because of course she is lol. Deku is all “tell me about AFO!” and Nagant is all “why would I tell you anything?” and then proceeds to tell him her entire life story which is FILLED WITH SO MUCH MURDER, YOU GUYS. Holy shit. So basically she was an assassin for the HPSC, which we already knew, but somehow it’s one thing to know that, and another to actually see her running around capping dudes in the forehead and being covered in more blood than the elevator from The Shining. Anyway, so you’ll never believe it, but all that murder had a negative impact on her psychologically, and eventually led her to question everything she believed about hero society, and so she killed her creepy boss and was promptly sent to Tartarus. This extremely fun chapter ends with Overhaul showing up all “HI, HELLO, I’M STILL HERE”, because for some reason he is still here. Why are you still here, Overhaul.

“the beautiful Lady Nagant” oh you know your audience don’t you Horikoshi

well all right then! so I’m guessing this means that she is not, in fact, going to roll over and die just because Deku’s out here all “GOT YA!” like they’re playing a game or tag or something. ffff may the manga gods have mercy on our young suicidal protagonist

lmao so Deku is all “GOD I’M SO SMART, WHAT A GOOD STRATEGY I HAD, CAPITOL JOB THERE OL’ CHAP, CAPITOL” and lol, okay. I mean, it was a good plan though. but I’m still waiting for the other shoe to drop here

“I’ll make you give me information on All for One” well there you go, lol. Deku Angst arc still fully engaged. still no light in his eyes either of course. just a lil chaotic ball of sleep deprivation and rage

lol, fucking THANK YOU though

oh my god what the hell did she do to him lol

did she shoot him with her elbow??? fucking look at this?? THIS IS WHY WE LISTEN TO HAWKS oh my god Deku are you dead

WHAT’S HAPPENING, IS THIS GOOD OR BAD, WHO’S WINNING

things that I wish I could tell from this panel which I unfortunately cannot tell

did she stab him or shoot him?? can you imagine if it was the former lol. why does Horikoshi keep stabbing all my kids. look Kacchan now the two of you can match

did she actually hit him or did he get away??

or did she hit him and then he jumped away?? just, what

well anyway, so now Deku is asking her why she sided with AFO, but he seems a lot more pissed off than when he was interrogating Muscular, though. probably because she shot him three times. fair enough

oh my god

does Lady have a blog here on tumblr dot com?? -- does Horikoshi have a blog here on tumblr motherfucking dot com?? why do I suddenly feel like this man is out here sneakily reading up on all our discourse

oh my god Deku it’s almost like getting up close and personal with someone who can shoot custom bullets from any distance and any position with deadly accuracy was a terrible fucking idea

IF ONLY SOMEONE HAD WARNED YOU NOT TO ENGAGE WITH HER AT ALL COSTS. IF ONLY SOMEONE HAD HAD THE FORESIGHT TO DO THAT sob. can you imagine how much shorter this series would be if characters actually listened to Hawks. Hawks, and Momo. why do we even let anyone else run the show ever

OH MY GOD

DEKU, RUN

OH MY GOD WHAT IS HAPPENING

this looks a lot like what happens to me whenever I play One’s Justice. those fucking combo attacks that you can’t fucking escape from and so your character just has to stand there getting their ass whalloped repeatedly while you wonder why you paid $40 for this

but anyways though. so Lady who did you kill?? I bet they deserved it, don’t worry I forgive you

(ETA: ANYWAY SO FRIENDLY REMINDER THAT LADY NAGANT DID NOTHING WRONG EVER IN HER ENTIRE LIFE. aside from murdering all those innocent people and shit. but there were CIRCUMSTANCES, and THEY WERE EXTENUATING, OKAY.)

-- holy shit

looks like the HPSC arc is back on the menu boys

so are we about to learn that the HPSC was going full Hydra on people’s asses? secretly dispatching anyone they deemed a threat to society?? “taken care of” as in you fucking shot them??

so then was the “hero” she killed actually one of the guys who was giving or carrying out these orders?? holy shit Lady, up until now I’ve mainly just been stanning you for your flawless eyebrow game and metal af quirk, but this shit could actually get real very quickly, and I am prepared to genuinely and sincerely love the shit out of you depending on what we learn next about your backstory

oh my god?!?

so wait, hold up. am I reading this right?? basically the HPSC started murdering vigilantes because they were worried they were gaining too much of the public’s favor?? holy fucking shit???

oh my GOD oh my god

“it’s been a while since I scarred you all with the dead dog and the graphic slaughter of an entire innocent family, huh,” Horikoshi says thoughtfully. “anyway so what do you all think of my new creation, the Spaghetti Bullet.” well, Horikoshi, so you know that squished-up face that Kermit the Frog makes sometimes? yeah. that’s what I think, if you must know lol

holy hell the juxtaposition

I’m actually kind of surprised to learn she had a lot of fans? what with her M.O., I was expecting her to have been an underground hero like Aizawa, but apparently not? then again I still have absolutely no idea how any of that works. I really need to read Vigilantes already

oh snap

nothing like a sweet dose of assassin trauma to finally round out our BnHA Trauma Bingo!! well done guys, we finally collected all of the traumas! hooray!

noooo Ladyyyyyyy

holy shit what a fucking chapter. like, this man promised us an assassin, and went and fucking delivered. I was not expecting it to be this dark, lol, but holy shit I am here for it

you know, at some point you have to start questioning the logistics of this, though

I mean, how do I put this... her quirk isn’t exactly subtle. that murder scene from a few pages back looked like the first season of Dexter for fuck’s sake, that’s not exactly “disappearing” people now is it?? and I mean, her bullets are literally made from her own fucking hair; it seems like it would be impossible not to leave any evidence behind. did no one start to wonder who the fuck was going around murdering all these people? or did the people who asked too many questions wind up getting conveniently “disappeared” themselves??

and hey, speaking of asking too many questions

holy shit is he blackmailing her??!? or no, wait -- what the hell is he reaching for in his pocket boy you better not

(ETA: what exactly was this man expecting fdslkjd. “uh oh my unstoppable hair trigger assassin who is literally always armed is asking questions, better announce that I am going to shoot her and then reach into my pocket veeeeeery slowly while she stands there all of two feet away.” how did this guy ever function as the head of a shadow government with these decision-making skills, I’m genuinely baffled.)

OH MY GOD LADY YES

this. right here. is why “run the fuck away” was damn good solid fucking advice. oh shit. but my god did this dude have it coming

so wait lol has she just been narrating all of this out loud to Deku this entire time

okay but can we just stop for a moment and appreciate the fact that they’re having this deep conversation about the dark secrets of hero society right in the middle of their intense mid-air sniper free-for-all lol

holy shit you guys, Nagant’s the one that should have made the tell-all video. I mean, no offense to you, Dabi, I’m sure you worked very hard on your video and did a ton of crunches every day so that you would look good with your shirt off while you told the world all about how your dad was a jerk. but seriously...

this is already like 100x more convincing than what he put out. also, gasp, is it another flashback

yes it is oh my gosh

so the HPSC Chairladyperson whom ReDestro killed used to be this guy’s direct subordinate, huh? I wonder if she kept the whole assassin program going after she took over. can’t say I was feeling any particular kind of grieving way about her death before, but certainly not now lol

but unfortunately Nagant has finally lost me at the same place where all of the villains inevitably do, which is to say when they somehow make the dubious mental leap from “society sucks and is bad” to “let’s just be openly fucking evil lol, worth a shot.” because when heroes murder innocent people and cover it up, that’s obviously bad (and I mean, it absolutely fucking is lol, don’t get me wrong); but when villains murder innocent people straight up out in the open without giving a fuck, they’re righteous revolutionaries? just -- is there really no non-murdery middle ground here?? I guess that’s what Deku and co. are for, hopefully

anyways oh shit Deku seems to have spotted something?? and he’s doing something weird with Blackwhip what

oh, he spotted her, I guess

lmaooooo

new favorite Deku panel right here. a masterpiece

oh my god you guys our little boy is starting to grow up before our eyes

you love to see it. and you can tell with those elipses that he’s gearing up to say something really cool and determined and badass like the shounen protag he is, yes please, Deku ilu so much please do your thing

ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

IS THAT A TEENY TINY LIL EYE SPARKLE THERE OMG. still not anywhere close to his usual standard, but that’s some clear resolve there in his eyes there at long last! it always shines the most clearly when he’s being true to himself and his ideals, so I love that it finally shows up again here, when he’s reaffirming his resolve to help others no matter what

uh oh so what’s Lady going to do now

is it time for a trump card?? kinda sounding like it’s time for a trump card

???

I lied btw, this is my new favorite Deku panel. but anyways what is she up to now lol

ohhhhhh, lol

why does she seem shocked, lol. here I thought this was part of her plan, but apparently she forgot all about ol’ “Look Ma, No Hands” back up there

and so I guess that’s it for this week! so we’ve learned basically everything now about Lady and her quirk and her history with the HPSC and why she agreed to work for AFO. pretty much the only question that still remains is why the hell she decided to drag this asshole along for the ride! because I still cannot figure that out dsklkjlkf

(ETA: actually now I’m kind of wondering if they maybe have some past connection we don’t know about yet. when exactly was Nagant sent to Tartarus? is it possible she was ordered to track down and kill Overhaul at some point before that, but never got around to it? or something else along those lines? idk but now I’m curious.)

anyways Deku, I know that your empathy has no bounds and that you’re on a “saving villains” kick right now, and good on you... but also, if you decide to just like, skip all of that shit just this once, absolutely no one will hold it against you, I’m just saying. just, all I’m asking here is maybe let’s think twice before we start trying to reform guys who imprison and torture little girls for profit. I think maybe that’s a good place to draw the line. next week is going to be a very interesting chapter lol

#bnha 314 #lady nagant #midoriya izuku #bnha #boku no hero academia #bnha spoilers #mha spoilers #bnha manga spoilers #makeste reads bnha

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shurisneakers · 4 years ago

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shut in [epilogue]

Summary: When your high profile mission goes terribly wrong, you’re forced to hide in a safehouse with a man you’ve never met before. With seemingly nowhere else to go, you’re forced to work together to figure out who is trying to have you assassinated before it’s too late. (Sam Wilson x Reader, Hitman AU)

Warnings: anxiety, ptsd, swearing

Word count: 4k

A/N: annnnd we’re done :)) thank you to my resident bully @midnightsunfae for really getting this fic off the ground and helping with the planning. ily upo and thank you to everyone who’s read this series over the 5 months it’s been going on. it’s meant the absolute world to me :’)

Previous Part || Shut In Masterlist

Your fingers tapped rhythmically against the table, an indicator of the nervousness that was building to a crescendo in your chest.

“Are you sure you wanna do this?” he asked, hand placed gently on your forearm.

You nodded, eyes downcast. If you looked at him, you wouldn’t be able to find it in yourself to follow through with it.

“I am,” you said quietly, swallowing to get rid of the lump in your throat.

“Okay,” he confirmed, letting his arm drop gently.

Ten minutes to go. You took a sip of water nervously. The glass had already found itself shifting back and forth on the table in search of the perfect place. It was a fruitless quest anyway.

The door was painted a dark green, steps leading up to it from the pavement.

“Are you sure he won’t mind?” you asked quietly, standing a stair below him in apprehension. Neither of you had contacted him or sent a message, just showed up at his place exhausted and covered in a thin layer of dirt.

“I know he won’t.” Sam raised his fist to knock thrice, a pause before knocking two more times.

A code.

He turned around slightly, checking to see if you were fine. The longer you stood out there, the more afraid you were of someone spotting the both of you, putting an end to your life before it even began. You had a feeling that paranoia would continue for a long time.

The door swung open, revealing a tall man with blonde hair leaning against the doorway with one arm. There was a nick above his eyebrow, an old scar that hadn’t faded over time. Even though his other hand was concealed behind the door, you could tell that he was holding something by the way his muscles were clenched. Years of training wouldn’t disappear overnight.

"Sam." Surprise overtook his face in a second. "You're alive."

"Don't sound so happy, I can't handle it." Sam rolled his eyes, an affectionate smile on his face. "This is Y/N, we need a place to stay."

“It’s just been a while since I heard from you, man. Coming from a hit?” Riley didn’t think twice about moving aside, scrutinising dried blood on your person as you walk past. “Nice to meet you, I’m Riley.”

It was a cane in his hand. Sam’s mention of his limp flashed in your mind.

You gave him a small wave and a quiet re-introduction of yourself, following Sam into the house.

“You could say that.” Sam paused, a hand on Riley’s shoulder as he says something out of your ear shot to him.

Riley’s face turned stoic immediately, a nod of his head and a deep exhale soon following. “Stay as long as you need.”

“Thank you.” You pressed your lips together in a straight line with a corner quirked upwards, a half smile of sorts.

“Bathroom’s down the hall, to the right.” He pointed out the direction. “I’m getting you some food. Gumbo still your thing, Wilson?”

“Anything other than peanut butter.”

Riley was a blessing you could have never prepared for; knowing exactly what you both would need and anticipating emotions you had no idea you’d be feeling. For someone who had guests show up completely uninvited to crash on his couch, he was ready as ever, given that he had been through the same thing a while ago.

It was difficult. Fuck that, it was one of the hardest things to go; not pretending like everything around you would fall into soon and that you would be fine because you had to. You had worked too damn hard for you not to be.

But you knew things weren’t going to be fine right off the bat and it would be foolish to think it was.

“Sam, look at me,” you commanded gently, but there was an edge of firmness to your tone. You were sitting on the bench near the entrance of the park.

“I’m sorry, things were going good and I thought-” He shook his face that was hiding in his palm, elbows resting on his knees.

His attacks didn’t come nearly as frequently as yours. It was easy to think that he had no trauma just because he learnt how to deal with it better.

“Look at me, Sammy.” It was just a walk in the park, a stroll that should have lasted twenty minutes tops. You had been on that trail before for the same purpose but something triggered him today, someone’s gaze who lingered too long on the both of you.

He clenched his fists, lifting his head to meet your gaze.

“Breathe with me.” You exaggerated the movements to have him follow, a system the both of you had come up with when anxiety attacks used to hit at random. A temporary solution to an aftermath that would go on for hours, days even.

It took him a few staggered breaths to get there, finally falling into routine with you. He could feel his heartbeat slow to what it was but the pit in his stomach wouldn’t subside for a while.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t-”

“You have nothing to apologise for,” you reassured, still making sure he was breathing with you. You were nervous too and your eyes were still darting about to survey your surroundings, but he needed you at that moment. “We’re safe. We’re okay.”

“No one’s here,” he mumbles, interlacing your fingers and bringing it to his forehead to lean against your hand.

“We’re okay,” you repeated, giving him the space he needed. “We’re okay.”

“Will someone be joining you?” The waiter prodded softly. If it wasn’t your incessant tapping at the table, the clammy palms and constant checking of your watch was a clear giveaway that you could use a bit of kindness that day.

“Yeah, any minute now.” You smiled at her. She simply nodded, refilling your glass of water before leaving you alone.

You looked at your watch and sighed.

Seven minutes.

Things were fine. Things were good.

Sam and you were… undefined. Labels almost seemed too constrictive for now and it wasn’t like the both of you didn’t know what the other felt. It was kind. It was soft. Sometimes you kissed his cheek when the sunlight bounced off his face while he watered the succulents and the smile he gave you was addictive. Other times he snaked an arm around your waist and leaned his head on your shoulder while you watched the street from the kitchen window.

It made you happy, and so you tried to force away the stem of doubt that creeped into your heart.

Riley had introduced the concept of movie nights and the occasional mob movie would make it in there just to poke fun at. He showed you around the city, inviting you to go grocery shopping with him at the farmers market, the best places to get a glimpse of the music scene or to subtly point out potential date night spots.

He was a genuinely nice guy, and if you thought Sam was fun to hang out with, you were not prepared for the both of them together. You could tell why Sam adored him.

“Y/N, I don’t know how you stayed with him for all that time and didn’t murder him in his sleep.” Riley glared at Sam who had once again left his collection of music CDs strewn around on a couch. It was all in jest; it was well known that Sam found an anchor in music that kept him up late at night for a sense of calm.

“It was a close call sometimes,” you added playfully, giving Sam a grin.

“You weren’t exactly easy to survive with either.” He scoffed. “How many times did we watch Megamind in a row? Eight?”

“You wouldn’t stop watching Die Hard,” you accused, arms crossed over your chest. “It was payback.”

“You made the rule saying we couldn’t watch things more than twice in a row and you broke it first.”

“I’m gonna go,” Riley interjected. “But y’all keep at this. I heard it’s good for your soul.”

“Stay there,” Sam demanded, pointing to where he was standing a second ago. “You’re gonna be play judge since you started this shit.”

“I really don’t want to.” He shook his head, staying put nonetheless, amusement clear as day on his face.

“The laundry.”

“The dishes.”

You both narrowed your eyes at each other. His argument didn’t hold a match to yours.

“You know what, I was wrong,” Riley announced to no one in particular. “I’m pretty sure you guys would kill each other under any other circumstance.”

The smile on your face faltered but you straightened it back out with a clearing of your throat before firing a comeback.

It was barely a second, almost unnoticeable. But Sam caught it.

Four minutes.

Almost time.

The tapping became more intense, and the rate at which you pulled out your phone to check the time increased.

Fuck, this was a bad idea. How were you supposed to behave with him after all this time?

Something was wrong. Something was off.

Sam wasn’t blind to it. He could see it under the smile you eased into at game night, the complaining when too much food was ordered for three people to eat, the good natured teasing when he rolled over to your side of the bed at night to steal your blanket.

Something was eating at you, gnawing at you from the inside.

His suspicion was confirmed when you whispered at 2am one night to what you thought was an asleep partner that you wanted to move out. Find a place of your own.

His stomach dropped instantly but he didn’t so much as move a muscle.

“I need to get out. I need to have a life,” you sniffed, doing your best not to wake him up as you traced circles into his skin lightly. “I don’t know what it’s like to be independent. I won’t know unless I figure it out myself.”

The air had a chill to it and it was one of the times you had asked him to sleep in the guest bedroom with you instead of on his own, knowing that it was one of those nights where you could use a little extra warmth.

“Even when we were in there I couldn’t stop thinking about whether this thing between us was just because we were forced to stay together. You said it wasn’t, and I know that but I can’t help but think-” Your voice cracked. “Would you come back to me if things were different?”

He didn’t answer, even though he knew what he wanted to say with all the certainty in the world. Your fingers continued to draw on his skin. He continued to let you.

Sam didn’t even bring up the conversation that morning, or that week. Instead, he held you a bit closer whenever he could and gave you the space to hopefully open up to him on your own time, letting you know that he’d be there to listen.

It took a while. You both were in the middle of watching a movie that wasn’t Die Hard when you told him that you needed to talk to him about something. The hesitancy in your voice and the fixation your fingers had with the hem of your sweater was painful to witness.

He understood, of course. He always did. That you needed to experience what it was like to live, not survive. That decades of living with other kids, living under an abuser, living in a safehouse for months, was restrictive and suffocating and you needed to find what made you happy.

And so did he. It was something both of you had to do eventually, exit the bubble you had been staying in under such ardent protection for those two months.

Riley was wonderfully supportive of it, vowing to find you the best apartment that New Orleans had to offer. You didn’t doubt it.

His place had been colourful and bright and everything you could have asked for after the monotone walls you were used to. But it wasn’t yours.

A few weeks later you had moved out. Sam left a lingering kiss on your forehead, a sign to say that he’d be here whenever, whatever.

You made a Shakira joke. He laughed.

A completely fresh new start. If you failed now, it was all on you.

And what a terrifying thought that was.

It had been four months since you had left Riley’s apartment behind.

Four months since you had seen either of them.

The cafe was starting to feel too small for this event. Too intimate, too-

When the bell above the cafe chimes, something at the back of your mind instantly wakes up, sending you on high alert.

“Y/N?” he called out from behind you.

You knew he’d be early.

“Sam.” You breathed out, standing up to face him.

Video calls didn’t do him any justice. He had a particular glow to him, an aura of confidence that wasn’t there the last time you saw him. His beard was neatly trimmed and the smile that tugged at his lips the minute you caught his eye was beautiful.

You didn’t realise how different he looked until the time apart. Months of makeshift workouts and peanut butter as your only source of protein had done a number on him. You remembered him being leaner, and what you now realised was the constant burden of fatigue on his face.

“You look good.” An understatement escaped you, but he did.

He had a deep blue shirt on that hugged him in all the right places. Months of seeing him only black and grey had you damn near drooling when he wore other colours after you got out.

Not that you were staring, but his biceps had definitely made a wonderful return.

“You’re not so bad yourself.” Sam sent you a smile that instantly put you at ease. “Independence looks good on you, sweetheart.”

You gave a small laugh, gesturing for him to take a seat. Should you have hugged him? Shook his hand? Kissed hi-

“It’s been a while,” he politely interrupted your overthinking. “How are things going?”

You let out a small breath. It was a big question, one that you had answered over text and call a few times but it was different now. He was in front of you now and you couldn’t bullshit the way you used to on call occasionally.

“Weird,” you admitted. “I don’t know what to do with myself now that I have all this time.”

“It takes some gettin’ used to.” He nodded in agreement, leaning back in his chair.

A lot of your time went into trying new hobbies. Knitting, pottery, drawing- anything that you could get your hands on. Things didn’t always catch on, some discarded just after the first week. Others stuck, bringing you bits of triumph every time you moved forward with your newfound skill.

“You still seein’ your therapist?” He flashed a smile at the waitress who filled his glass of water.

Ah, yes. Dr. Bishop had been one of the first people you sought out.

“Yeah.” You took a sip of water. “See her weekly.”

You still had money left over from all the hit jobs that you had done. As much as you wanted to leave every inkling of that life behind, you needed the cash to live. You had enough for the time being, but you knew that eventually you had to start working; if not for the money then for the peace of mind.

“How’s that goin’?”

“She thinks I talk in elaborate metaphors. The gang’s what I call my toxic family, he was my abusive father, stuff like that.”

There were moments where you thought you saw someone you knew standing at a corner, vendors giving you icy looks from across the street, footsteps outside your door that seemed too damn loud. But nothing ever came of it.

“Thanks for the tip, by the way.” You extended a smile to him in appreciation for the idea.

“Worked with my therapist, figured it would be the same with yours.” He shrugged casually. It wasn’t like you wanted to lie to her, and you weren’t. But some things were better left in the dark.

“But I think it’s helping.” You exhaled deeply, eyes downcast. “The nightmares are reducing.”

“That’s a lot of progress.” The corner of his mouth quirked upward in pride.

Several feelings erupted from that look, some that you’d spend the whole day revelling in if you didn’t force yourself to move on.

“How about you?” you diverted the subject back to him. “How’s Riley?”

“He says he misses ya.” Sam laughed. “Says he can’t handle me alone, that he needs you back to save him.”

“What have you been doing to that poor man?” you teased, easing back into your seat. “He was fine when I left him.”

“He’s got a fancy new job now and it’s been going to his head. Needed a little humbling.”

“You’re not going too hard on him, are you?” Even though you knew he wasn’t, it was fun to make sure.

“Nah, I’d say it’s just about the right amount.” Sam grinned and you felt the familiar flutter return to your stomach. “I’ve been doing good. Working on getting my license.”

“Oh yeah, how’s that going?” You were thrilled when he said he was going to look into becoming a youth counselor, knowing that it was something he had been genuinely wanting to do for ages.

“With my background, or lack of it, it’s a little trickier than I thought it would be,” he divulges a bit more seriously. “Riley’s been pulling a few strings and I got a few contacts but it’s gonna take some more time.”

You bit your lip, worry rising for him. He deserved it, he earned it. It fucking sucked that it wasn’t going to be an easy, direct path.

“We’ll figure it out,” you said quietly, reaching out to intertwine your fingers with his in reassurance.

The contact brings with it a small spark. You wondered if he still felt it.

“Yeah. We will.” He sent you a soft smile at your action, not making any effort to move it. “You been on any dates lately?”

You let out a snort at that. “Loads. Have fellas lining up at every corner for me.”

“I bet.” He’s more bold, a bit more open than he was in the first month when you both got out. “How many of them do I have to fight off?”

“I’d say six as a rough estimate.” Your expression mimicked one of consideration. “I hope you’ve been getting your hours in at the gym.”

“I’ll kick it up a notch,” he promised, hands raised in surrender.

“You better. We’re supposed to go for laser-tag.” A dumb callback to a joke he made on one of your last days there.

“Or paintball.” He remembered. It made you unnecessarily giddy. “I added an escape room to the list too.”

“Hilarious,” you fired at him, rolling your eyes slightly but the happiness on your face proved otherwise.

His laughter died down eventually, paving the way for the comfortable silence that lingered between you both. Your eyes fell down to where your hand still held his, biting your lip to conceal a smile.

“Y/N,” he called out, pulling your gaze back to his. “Jokes aside… how are you?”

You let out a breath at his question. You knew it was coming.

“Riley found me an apartment,” you murmured.

Sam looked up from his phone. “Yeah?”

“It’s a nice place. Lots of sunlight. Quiet too.” You toyed with your fingers. “But it’s about an hour away. More if you consider traffic.”

Sam set his phone down gently on the bedside table, indicating that you had his full attention.

“I don’t want you to think I’m abandoning you, because I’m not. I wouldn’t, I just-”

“Hey,” he interrupted calmly, twisting his body to face you. “I don’t think you’re abandoning me. If this is what you need, then you should do it.”

“I don’t know if this is what I need. I don’t know what I’m doing, I’ve never been-” the frustration in your voice only increased as you went on. “-I don’t even know if this is going to work. What if I hate it?”

“Finding out what you hate is just as important as what you like, I think.” He watched you toy with the fidget square he had gotten you. “And you know that if you don’t feel like it, then you can come back here at any moment.”

“I know.” It was a comforting thought. A safety net.

“But would this make you happy?” That caught you by surprise.

It wasn’t something you had thought of. You thought of the negative consequences, the devastating effects it could have on you, how it could be the worst possible decision you’d ever make.

“I don’t know,” you mumbled, a new anxiety setting in. “I guess we’ll see.”

You liked the neighbours who played the piano way too loud at 2am, the really terrible coffee at the therapist’s office and the feeling the paper plane on your dresser gave you when you occasionally looked at it.

You didn’t like how hot the apartment could get, especially during the afternoon, or the guy who sold magazines down the street who cursed at everyone for no reason, or the gentrified Indian food they served at the mall.

But Sam was right. Figuring out what you didn’t like was just as beautiful a journey as figuring out what you did.

“I’m happy.” You breathed out. “Or I'm working towards being happy. But it’s there.”

He doesn’t say anything to that. Simply slipped his palm under yours to lift your hand, pressing a kiss to your knuckles.

“I’m proud of you.”

If anyone could feel the heat that rose to your face they would probably think you had a fever.

The fear that you had, the one of what things would be like if you weren’t forced to survive in a confined space together, had begun to fade the minute he called out your name that day.

It was Sam. Your Sam.

You shake yourself out of your train of thought with a small smile, making a move to gather up your belongings without letting go of his hand for a second.

“Well, c’mon then. Those paintballs aren’t going to shoot themselves.”

“Are you saying this is a date?” There was a smirk on his face that wasn’t there a minute ago.

“Would you still consider it one once I annihilate you?” You tilted your head in a challenge.

“That would never happen, first of all.” He scoffed. “Second… I was thinking that maybe we could do something normal for a change.”

That had you more interested than the prospect of adventure sports. You had enough of it for a lifetime, frankly speaking.

“Lead the way, Cinnamon.” He only rolled his eyes at the nickname, sending you a vaguely threatening look. You just laughed.

“This place got good coffee?” He looked around at the establishment and its patrons.

“One of the best.”

“Then I don’t see why we have to go anywhere else,” he offered and you nodded, relaxing back into your place with the same sense of warmth in your heart that only intensified with his proposal.

He raised his hand up to flag the server, the same girl who had been helping you out since you got there, asking for two menus.

The smile he sent her was infectious. It was good.

“Sam,” you began quietly. “I missed you.”

His eyes softened, the sunlight reflecting in it making it shine like dravite. “I missed you, too.”

“Ready to order?” The waitress stands beside you with a notepad.

He looked at you and you nodded with a smile.

Things were different. You were different.

And he still came back to you.

--fin--

here’s my ko-fi if you’d like to support my writing <3

thank you so much for reading!

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andvys · 4 years ago

Text

Longing (part 8)

Warnings: angst, mentions of death, nightmares

Pairing: Ellie Williams x reader

“(Y/n)?”

“(Y/n) can you hear me?”

“Please wake up! I can’t lose you too!”

“Her pulse is weak.”

You heard voices but it sounded like you were underwater, you couldn’t open your eyes. Everything seemed so heavy.

“Come on (y/n) please!” Ellie screamed, sobbing.

Holding your head in her lap, brushing hair out of your face. She didn’t know what to do, Joel is dead and you seemed close to death as well. She couldn’t lose you too. Ellie felt overwhelmed by everything, having witnessed the murder of Joel and now you wouldn’t wake up. After the man smashed your head against the wall and the way you fell down she wasn’t sure if you’d wake up at all.

Poor Tommy had to wake up to see his brother laying dead on the floor and now he had to collect his body off the floor to bring him back home, so he could be buried. Ellie watched how Tommy and Jesse carried Joel away, feeling tears running down her face she looked back down at you.

“Ellie?” You whispered weakly, trying to open your eyes.

“I’m here (y/n).” Ellie said, relieved that you woke up.

“I’m sorry, Ellie.” You said, letting a tear fall.

“It’s my faul-.” You said, closing your eyes, feeling lightheaded again.

“No (y/n), hey! Don’t close your eyes!” She begged you, touching your face.

“Ellie come on, we gotta go.” Jesse said, coming up in front of you to take you.

“She woke up but I think she’s unconscious again.” Ellie said, wiping her tears away.

“Come on, I got her.” Jesse said, moving down he grabbed you from her arms, carrying you to your horse.

Ellie stood back for a second, looking at the ground where Joel was laying just a few minutes ago, in his own pool of blood. Ellie couldn’t bare this pain, she started sobbing quietly.

“I’m sorry Joel.” Ellie whispered, before leaving the room.

Jesse put you on top of your horse, letting your form slump over slightly. The back of your head was bleeding and you seemed to have gotten a few punches in your face as well. Jesse felt bad that he hasn’t gotten there earlier, he has never seen you this way before.

Ellie came out of the room, seeing your unconscious form on your horse and Joel’s dead body on his horse. Not being able to look at Joel any longer, she went over to Shimmer.

No one said anything, Jesse got on top of his horse, grabbing the reins of Helios he started guiding your horse back. Tommy did the same with Joel’s horse. Ellie and Dina right behind them. Dina kept glancing at Ellie and you in concern, not knowing if she should say anything or if she should stay quiet.

Waking up again, you were on your horse. Looking beside you, you saw Joel’s dead body on his horse, Tommy guiding his horse back home. You could feel tears in your eyes at the sight of Joel. You couldn’t just go back home and let his killers go. Suddenly sitting up on your horse, your head started spinning but you kept yourself up. “I have to-“

“Whoa (y/n), take it easy.” Jesse said, halting his horse. Everyone else looked over to you.

“(Y/n)!” Ellie called out, getting off her horse she walked towards you.

“I have to go back.” You said, looking around, your friends looking at you in concern.

“I have to- I have.”

“Kid don’t make it harder than it already is, we’re going home.” Tommy said.

“I- we can’t just let them go!” You said, looking around bewildered.

“They’re not getting away with this but we have to go home first.” Ellie said, she was barely holding herself together but she had to stay strong.

“I-“ “you have a concussion (y/n), you can’t just go after them now.” Jesse said.

Nodding your head you looked down. Ellie looked at you one last time before getting back on top of shimmer.

Arriving back home in Jackson, Maria and the guards rushed over to Tommy, gasping at the sight of Joel’s dead body. You couldn’t stay, you would start crying again. Getting off your horse, you almost collapsed if it wasn’t for Jesse holding you up.

“Come on, let’s get you to the infirmary.” He said.

Looking back at Joel one last time, you started walking away.

“Alright, you definitely have a concussion. You need to rest as much as possible, your head is gonna hurt for a while. I’ll give you some pain killers but like I already said, you need to rest!” The doctor ordered but you weren’t even listening, you were just thinking about Joel.

Jesse stood back, leaning against the wall, he looked at you in concern. He noticed you weren’t listening to what the doctor said.

“Alright thank you doc, I’ll bring her home now.” Jesse said, walking towards you.

The doctor nodded his head, giving Jesse the pain killers. “You make sure that she rests, young man.” He said.

“I will.” He said “come on (y/n).”

Ellie waited for you in front of your house already, you didn’t want to see her right now. You couldn’t look at her not when you felt like it was your fault that Joel died.

“Hey I got it from here, Jesse.” Ellie said, coming up next you.

“Alright, here some painkillers.” He said, giving the bottle of pills to Ellie. “She needs to rest.”

Ellie nodded looking at you she noticed you were avoiding her eyes.

“Bye guys.” Jesse said, before leaving.

Opening your door you went inside, shutting the door and locking it, Ellie took of her jacket and helped you out of yours.

“You can go home, Ellie.” You said, your voice still weak.

“I’m not leaving you and I- I don’t want to be alone right now.” Ellie said.

“You shouldn’t be with me.” You said, feeling yourself tear up again, you sat down on your bed.

“I want to be with you.” She said, sitting down next to you.

Sighing you looked down, nodding. You knew that she would hate you if she found out that you saved Abby but you wanted to be with her one last time before she would shut you out forever.

“I’m so sorry Ellie.” You said, looking at her you noticed she had bruises too. You didn’t even notice them earlier when you were avoiding looking at her face. Touching her cheek, you ran your thumb over the bruise on her face. Closing her eyes, she started crying silently. “Come here.” You said, pulling her into you. She immediately latched on to you, hugging you tightly, she started sobbing.

You held her, crying with her. You didn’t even know what you were feeling in this moment. You felt every emotion but you also felt numb. You felt like you were missing a big piece, one that could never be replaced.

Laying down with Ellie, you held her in your arms, with her head on your chest. She was still crying, you were running your fingers through her hair.

After a while she fell asleep, you still held her tightly not wanting to let her go. Single tears escaped your eyes, looking up at the ceiling, you knew that this was probably the last time you would hold her. Your little romance seemed to be short lived, she would go back to hating you once she finds out what you did.

You didn’t sleep at all that night, you spent the night thinking about Joel, holding Ellie in your arms you knew you wouldn’t see her for a while and you didn’t even know if you’d come back alive. You wanted to spent the rest of your few hours in Jackson with her, even if she was asleep.

Looking at her, you allowed yourself to admire her for a while. Ellie lost him, she lost the man who was like a father to her, you’d have to stay strong for her. You knew what you had to do. You promised yourself that you would go after them, you’d kill everyone of them and leave Abby for last. She was going to suffer the way she made Ellie and you suffer.

Getting up from under her, you made sure you didn’t wake her up. Getting out of bed, you walked over to your backpack, putting some stuff in that you would need, you grabbed your gun holster putting it on your leg, getting your jacket on, you stuffed your swords into your backpack and grabbed a few water bottles.

You went over to Ellie, looking at her one last time, brushing some hair out of her face, you leaned in kissing her forehead before you turned around, you wrote a quick letter to Ellie and left.

Walking past Joel’s house, you looked at his porch. Thinking about how just a few days ago you were sitting there with him, drinking coffee and talking not knowing that it was the last time.

Breaking into the armory was not something you thought you’d ever have to do but you didn’t have the keys and you needed more guns if you wanted to go after the group. Ellie told you they were from Seattle, you didn’t even pick up on that but Abby had a patch on her sleeve that said W.L.F, they were probably something like the fireflies and you hated the fireflies.

After you grabbed some more weapons you went over to the stables, getting your horse out, you knew an older man named Darren was on guard duty today and he had the tendency to fall asleep, usually you would get angry at him for falling asleep while he had to look out for any danger coming close to Jackson but today you were relieved. This would make your escape easier.

Walking over to the gate, you opened it just enough so you and Helios could fit through it. After you got out, you shut the gate again. Getting on top of Helios you kicked your heels against him, making him speed off into the woods.

The next few days would be difficult for you. The concussion was definitely going to be a problem. You felt tired and a little lightheaded. The guy that smashed your head against the wall did a good job at making sure that you stayed down, you were looking forward to seeing him again.

You were riding for hours now, it must’ve been around noon now. You were thinking about Ellie, she must’ve been up by now. You knew as soon as she would find your letter she would run to Tommy and Maria begging them to let her go after you or join you, you knew she wanted the wlf’s dead as much as you did.

Ellie woke up to an empty bed, she didn’t think anything of it at first, thinking you were in the bathroom or something until she saw a piece of paper with her name written on it laying on the bedside table. Taking it in her hand, she turned it around, reading it slowly. Eyes widening at the mention of you going after the W.L.F’s.

“Shit.” Getting up from the bed, she quickly put on her shoes, grabbing her coat she left your place. Running over to Maria’s house, she saw her and Tommy walking out of their house.

“Maria! Tommy!” Ellie called out, running towards them, almost crashing in to them.

“Hey Ellie, slow down.” Maria said, putting her hands on Ellie’s shoulders.

“It’s (y/n)!” She said, out of breath.

“What’s wrong with (y/n)? She okay?” Tommy asked, looking at her in concern.

“Yes I- no.. I don’t know. She’s gone.” She said. “She went after them.” Giving them the letter. Maria and Tommy glanced at each other before taking the letter to read it.

“Maria!” A man yelled, running towards them.

“Someone broke into the armory, a few weapons are missing and a horse is gone.” The man said, trying to catch his breath.

Tommy ran a hand down his face. “We’ll deal with it right away, Rafe.” Maria said.

“But-“ “I said we’ll deal with it.” She repeated sternly.

Nodding his head, the man left.

“That was (y/n).” Ellie said.

“We know.” Tommy said.

“I’m going after her.” Ellie said, looking at them.

“Like hell you will.” Maria argued “go home Ellie.”

Ellie looked at Tommy. He must be considering going after them as well, they killed his brother after all. He looked down at her “we’ll talk about it once we buried Joel, Ellie.” He said. “Until then just stay put, (y/n) is a tough kid, nothing will happen to her out there. We’ll catch up to her before she arrives in Seattle alright?”

Nodding her head, Ellie turned around going home. She’d stay for Joel’s funeral but after that she would go after you and Joel’s killers.

It was getting dark out, you’d have to set up camp soon. You wondered if they buried Joel already. You wanted to be there but you felt like you didn’t deserve being a part of his funeral not when you were the one who saved his killer.

How ironic, saving her lead to Joel being killed. You wished you could turn back time, you would have never helped her, you would let the infected kill her but it was too late and Joel was dead because of you.

You were riding through a small town, looking for a place to set up camp. The streets were empty and quiet, no signs of infected. A small house with an open garage catched your eye. Getting off Helios, you led him towards it. Leaving him there you went inside to check out the house, making sure that no infected were inside. After you secured the place you went back into the garage and closed the gate.

“Alright helios, looks like we’ll stay here for the night.” You said, patting him.

Going back inside you left the door to the garage open, sitting down on the couch in the living room, you put your head in your hands. Your mind was racing, all sorts of thoughts plaguing your head. Laying back down, you looked up at the ceiling, trying to fall asleep. You needed some rest, especially if you planned on going after a whole group and who knew how much more people they had back at their base. Closing your eyes, you started falling asleep slowly.

“I was wrong about you (y/n).” You recognized this voice but you didn’t know where it was coming from.

“You made it far but at what cost?” Turning around you still couldn’t see him.

“You lost the only person that cared about you because of your mistake.” Walking through the hallway, you opened a door to see if he was in there.

“I always told you, you can’t defend yourself. I was wrong. You keep getting out of bad situations without an issue but it seems like protecting yourself isn’t very important to you anyways not as much protecting others is and yet you failed. You failed him.” The voice was getting closer now you turned around to see him standing there. Your father.

“You killed your own father and now you killed the man you came to see as a father.” He said, chuckling.

“I didn’t kill you.”

“No you just left me to die, same thing.” He said, shrugging.

“What do you want from me?!” You yelled at him, feeling tears build up in your eyes.

“I want you to understand what you are.”

“What I am?”

“You’re a monster, everywhere you go people die.”

“No.” You whispered, shaking your head.

“Your mother.”

“No, stop.”

“Me.”

“You did it yourself.”

“The man you killed.”

“He deserved it, he was bad.”

“Joel.” Your father said, coming closer to you.

“Don’t say his name!” You screamed at him, pushing him away but he was gone suddenly.

“What the-“ turning around you saw someone else standing there. Eyes widening at him standing there.

“Joel?” You whispered, a tear slipping down your face. He was bleeding, blood running down his face from the open wound on his head.

“It’s your fault.” He said, angrily, walking towards you.

“Joel.” You sobbed, walking backwards.

“All of it! You killed me and you’re gonna kill Ellie as well!” He screamed at you

“No please stop!” You begged, crying.

He pulled out a gun pointing it at you, pulling the trigger.

“NO!” You screamed out, gasping for air. You sat up on the couch. Looking around the room, breathing heavily, you realized it was just a nightmare.

“Fuck.” You whispered, clutching your chest, trying to calm down. You noticed tears were streaming down your face.

You already thought that it was your fault that Joel died, hearing him say it himself put you into even more pain, even though you knew that it was just a nightmare.

Could you ever forgive yourself?

#ellie williams x reader #ellie williams imagine #ellie williams #tlou ellie #tlou imagines

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