#and not being able to handle it without risking dying cause you know she is an ordinary human

[tenrose]

People nowadays are so used to get what they want from TV writers that when they are wrong they throw tantrums like toddlers.

[drjdorr]

"So how long has it been since you heard from that facility now? Five? Ten minutes?" Zarra asked the crime lord, a cocky smile on her face despite the ropes binding her to the chair

"Quite" the crime lord said as he nervously paced

"He should be here soon, I'd make amends with any gods you worship"

"I said quite!" His hand smacks against her face out of frustration

"Hehe," she chuckles, the smile still on her face, "you call that a smack? Where I grew up, a hit like that is a sign my mother was having a good day." Suddenly the lights went out and the machinery around them whirred to a stop. "I'd start praying if I was you, before it's too late"

With the power cut the room was dark save the light from the skylight above but these guys hadn't gotten so high in the organization to work directly under the boss by not being able to deal with a bit of darkness. Anyways, there was only one way in and the moment he stepped through that door, he'd be swiss cheese

The room was silent. No one moved, no one even breathed.

Then with a CRASH of shattering glass Jysgo landed as two thugs crumpled to the ground, two bullets expertly placed in the base of their skulls. Jysgo's eyes then rose to meet the crime lord's who saw only death in the drow’s.

Jysgo rose to his height and began advancing on the crime lord, his guns smoothly snapping from goon to goon, each bullet another death as his eyes never left the leader. The crime lord had been in many shoot outs, you don't get into his position without getting your hands dirty on occasion, but he had never seen someone be so casual surrounded by gunfire, not even breaking stride to dodge the knife stab before blowing out the over extending attacker's brain or having a fleeing criminal's brain touch the door right before his fingers would have. Soon only Jysgo, the crime lord, and Zarra remained in the room as Jysgo looked at the crime lord

"Kneel" Jysgo said, his tone almost bored as he glanced over to Zarra to check on her

"I'm sorry, you do not get to-" the crime lord drops to the ground screaming as Jysgo rolled his eyes and used a pair of shots to cause his kneecaps to shatter

"I said kneel" Jysgo said as he sat the muzzle of the gun against his forehead, a pull of the trigger and the crime lord's brain stem would receive a new open concept floor plan.

"P-please" the crime lord begged, the tears unclear if they were from fear or pain "l-let me go, I'll go straight, I'll leave town, you will never see or hear from me again, just let me go please"

Jysgo looked at him, so pathetic, only two bullet wounds and a gun to his head and he's begging for his life. The man wouldn't last a day among Jysgo's people.

"You know," Jysgo said, "I believe you." his gun began to lower, a glimmer of hope entering the crime lord's eyes. But as his gun was passing over his stomach Jysgo continued, "but you hurt Zarra" before firing into his gut twice.

the crime lord shuddered from the shots and was about to topple when Jysgo caught him by his suit coat.

"not risking you having this" Jysgo said as he pulls out the dying man's gun from his pocket and releasing him to fall onto the floor. "not a bad gun" he says before pocketing it.

he walked over to Zarra "are you ok?"

"I'm not a baby Jysgy. Is Grabbyhands ok?" Zarra knew her brother cared but this was a slow Tuesday compared to back home, though he probably wasn't to use to it given he was the reason someone's Tuesday quickly became less slow

"your rat is fine" Jysgo dismissed her customary correction as he gave a whistle and the door handle gave a jiggle before opening to a racoon that quickly ambled over toward Zarra excitedly

"Mr.Grabbyhands! I'm so happy you're ok" Zarra stepped out of the ropes she had untied an hour ago to embrace her pet

"found him near where you were taken. turns out they didn't want a little garbage eating dog" Jysgo said watching the reunion

"Racoon! And he doesn't eat garbage he eats your food"

"not really endearing me to him, but he was almost as impatient to find you as I was. darn mole almost got me shot trying to attack a thug when he didn't stand a chance against"

"Racoon! but... thank you for saving him Jysgy. I know you aren't fond of him but it means alot that you tried to save him" Zarra hoisted up the wriggling mass of fur as Grabbyhands crawled onto her shoulders

"don't get me wrong, he drives me up the wall, but that little skunk makes you happy." Jysgo said looking at the masked critter "that being said, the moment that isn't the case he is getting kicked out of my house"

Zarra gave Jysgo a small punch on the arm "you will have to wait a long time then"

"ughh" the dying man moaned in pain

Zarra walked over to the man before taking out a case from her pocket and setting down a few small flowers "Hemlock" she explained before walking over to leave with Jysgo

[jayktoralldaylong]

I remember reading somewhere that Jayce doesn't stand alone as his own character and is dependent on his relationship with Mel and Viktor, but after much consideration I've realised that's not true (I can't remember if I read it here or not). The reason it seems that way though is because CARING IS JAYCE'S CHARACTER. His biggest weakness being that he CARES too much. That's why it seems like the entire summary of his being is dependent on his relationship with other people, because he as a person IS dependant on other people. He might not be as complex as Viktor or Vi but that's the beauty of Jayce.

He is one of the most selfless characters in Arcane and that is his achilles heel. People like to call Jayce selfish (the Jayce slander organisation), I don't even know where they got the idea that Jayce is selfish or arrogant.

Even this, what is called his most selfish scene wasn't a decision that he made himself. If Mel had made no moves on this man he'd have no idea that she liked him. He responded because she was kissing him.

You can tell the kiss took him completely by surprise. He summarised this is what she wants and he gave it to her without hesitation.

It's his same reaction to everyone else, which is why he's so easily manipulated. If Viktor asked for anything, Jayce would happily hand it over. Jayce was living a happy life when the only one he had to answer to was Viktor. Mel places him in a public space and suddenly he's thinking about what everyone wants.

What Heimerdinger wants, what Mel wants, what Piltover wants, what the Undercity wants. Always trying to make other people happy, willing to sacrifice his own happiness and well being. How often do we even see Jayce happy? He's always anxious. Always stressing. Always concerned, and it gets worse the more responsibility is heaped on him.

His personality wasn't designed to handle this much effort so we see him leaning on others in a plea for help. That's why he's dependant on them. That's why it seems like his character revolves around them.

Heck, if Caitlyn had been around more his character would have revolved around her as well. Which it did, even with her brief appearance. He became a Councillor for a day and Caitlyn wants to release a whole criminal from jail, and he lets her! He didn't even ask any questions. The reason he's stressing so much about Piltover Vs the Undercity is because EVERYONE he cares about lives in Piltover and he's been forced to watch them die thanks to Jinx and their shenanigans while they do nothing! It makes a person want to go mad. Viktor is in danger, Mel is in danger, his mother is in danger, Caitlyn who is risking her life in a place that he cannot reach...is in danger! How do people expect Jayce to sit still or think right in that kind of situation. Naturally he thinks taking action is the best cause despite Mel's warning because people are dying.

But then he SEES the Undercity for the first time. Actually sees them and realises that attacking them is homicide. That's all that it is. Just homicide. He doesn't push on even with Vi egging him on because there's another intriguing thing about Jayce it's his ability to chose.

He was given a choice the first time between Heimerdinger, Mel and Viktor. He chose Heimerdinger. The second time, when he realised Viktor was sick, he chose Viktor. Vi was asking him to chose murder and massacre, Jayce can't choose those things. He doesn't want to hurt anyone. How do people not understand that Jayce keeps trying not to hurt anyone and ends up hurting himself in the process.

He comes back and choses peace. He's able to coral everyone into choosing peace and now Jinx had put him in a very difficult situation.......

Because Jayce is in fact the most emotional character in Arcane. All his decisions are based on emotion, and if anything....anything at all, happens to Viktor or/and Mel because of Jinx. Jayce will NOT be choosing peace.

[luminberry]

Twin Troubles

More Jericho and Atticus shenanigans featuring me and @acorncake's sonas..cause i have brainrot for my own characters and cant help it.

its very self indulgent, so you were warned lol. this is part one with my sona and Jericho

It wasn’t often you got sent out for missions for SQ,usually helping back at base keeping things orderly and trying to go about your day. But after two or three missions had gone awry in one particular sector, 2B had pulled you aside and decided you were ready for more serious work.

You weren’t entirely made for the normal run and gun missions most of the grunts working under SQ were sent out on, fortunately this was something different and surprisingly well fit for what you were able to do. You never cared for guns much, you never really learned to use them outside of extreme emergencies..Instead you preferred other weapons, but considering everyone else preferred guns you were mostly out of luck.

Which was why 2B had introduced you to the odd secrets of the Magiturge, or simply put, magic of some sort. Surprisingly you were pretty good at it and picked it up faster with each passing day. Which is what landed you where you were now.

Doc had asked you and a few others to do some basic recon on a newly made group called "PrivSec". The most common knowledge was that they were generally a security business of sorts. You only knew about them faintly, they worked alongside Nexus and a few other mostly shady businesses that wanted to keep the public eye from looking too closely at their going ons.

They hired anyone willing to work and had a rather high turnover rate, which wasn't surprising since most who seemed to sign on were bandits and just about anyone desperate enough to risk dying in a gunfight. They looked fairly similar to MERC but a bit more organized on the surface.

You were sent to sneak into one of the bigger branch buildings with a teammate. The two of you were supposed to stay low profile and grab any info you could without setting off alarms if possible.

Unfortunately you couldn't just walk in given your..strange appearance compared to most other grunts. So that's where your new lil magical hobby came into play.

It took several tries and tests but you managed to perfect an invisibility charm of sorts for yourself. No one would be able to catch you if they couldn't see you to begin with. Your teammate on the other hand knew how to make herself non imposing to others, making them just assume she worked there.

Shadowing her through the front doors you broke apart, wishing each other good luck and starting on your separate missions.

Watching her wander off for a moment you stepped aside from the direct stream of busy working grunts to survey things before heading out yourself. Being invisible you felt relaxed for the moment, eyeing the few low ranking banditos stationed at the front of the building and nearby the front desk.

Among them however was a figure that made you pause briefly. A taller than normal cowboy in a faded denim long coat. SQ had made it grievously clear to avoid him and his twin counterpart at all costs..You remember his name was Jericho right?

He was currently talking with two stressed looking grunts in suits near the front desk, and curiosity got the better of you as you quietly made your way forward to listen in.

"I know y'all are worried bout them hoodlums from SQ muckin around these days but don't worry! Me n tha lads here know how ta keep things in order, I promise ya."

"Well Ranger Jericho that is what we pay you for! We've already had SEVERAL close calls with our sister branches, we absolutely cannot handle another break in. Nexus is already on our throats to reclaim what was stolen last month.."

"I know that, I got a crack team hunting loose ends down as we speak..y'all can rest easy knowin my boys are on that case. N I personally won't let anyone or anythin slip past me."

As he spoke his eyes moved to fall squarely on you for a moment, making you jolt for a second…There's no way he could see you…right?

"Hey easy there with that shortstack, y'all need a hand?"

You turn to see a grunt with several large packages shakily stacked atop one another just about to crash into you and the corner of the front desk. Moving aside quickly as Jericho stepped in to lend a hand you let out a quiet sigh of relief..You were still safe, he was just helping a very over encumbered worker..He didn't seem too bad, just if you weren't breaking the law you figured.

Shrugging to yourself you slipped away from the group to sneak into the elevators and catch a ride to the next floor and start your mission properly.

The second floor was quiet and somewhat dimly lit, you did come in fairly close to closing time afterall. The less people to deal with the smoother your end of the mission would go. Your partner however was working on a bit of a time limit and would finish up just in time for the building to close if things went alright.

Walking quietly down the long hallway you stopped now and again to peek into darkened rooms and rifle through files, taking a few here and there that held promise. You needed all delivery schedules and rosters the most, but account information and the like helped just as much you figured. If SQ could take supplies and recruits from Privsec, they'd start to fall apart from the inside out with time.

You weren't in any rush, you had all night to grab what you needed. And considering no one was up here yet you were relaxed while you worked.

Eventually you reached the last room on this floor.. ironically it seemed to be Jerichos office of all things. You were certain anything important would be here, the lights were off and door unlocked..for a Ranger he was very trusting of his co-workers.

Sneaking inside you closed the door quietly and pulled out your small flashlight to have a look around. The room itself was shockingly big..well given how damn big the owner was you supposed he needed a room to match his stature.

The desk was impressively built, it came up just below your chest, you searched it quickly only to come up with nothing to note sadly..Eyeing the large set of locked file cabinets next you moved to start picking them open one by one.

You weren't exactly skilled at picking locks of any kind but using a tiny bit of your magic to force it kinda counted as lock picking right? The tiny bright flashes lit up the darkened room around you almost playfully now and then, kind of like mini fireworks.

The first file cabinet held a rather bulky looking folder with several oddly coded texts inside…Well Doc did say grab anything that looked of interest and judging by all the weird symbols several documents held this was something alright. You moved to place it on the desk behind you when something caught your eye.

The office door was wide open, and you distinctly remember closing it behind you when you came in several minutes ago. Just as panic was starting to rise up the back of your throat you sensed something..or someone behind you.

But before you could even bother to turn around a very warm and heavy weight settled itself against your back, pinning you to the desk and then some. Warmth slowly bloomed over you as the stranger behind you squished you further into their gut as they settled against you and the desk. Large clawed hands lazily found their place at either side of you, trapping you in place before the owner spoke up at last.

"Might be a good idea for y'all ta drop yer lil cloakin charm right now before I start ta get a might bit angry."

The dark tone in his voice clearly stated he wasn't in the mood for fooling around, how he caught you without making a damned sound was unnerving enough right now. You dropped the charm as asked and hesitantly looked up as best you could at your captor.

Jerichos glasses seemed to glow in the faint light coming from the hallway, making him much more menacing looking as he stared down at you still pinned between his stomach and his desk. As he got a good look at you his glare softened before turning into a look of interest. Your blue outfit and matching bandanna got a soft smile out of him for a moment.

"Well now my sneaky lil bluebird, mind explainin why yer sticking yer nose inta things that don't concern y'all?"

If it wasn't for the fact he was more or less leaning halfway onto you and pressing you into his oversized gut, you'd mouth off about being called a bluebird of all things..But given that you were pinned by someone possibly two feet bigger than you who was very much dangerous to be around, you found your voice dying in your throat looking up at him.

"Hm, cat got yer tongue eh? Well why don't we fix that? Since y'all made tha mistake of fooling around in my damn office of all things….I think I'll have a bit of fun with ya."

"W-wait, hang on."

"Oh so ya did have a voice after all eh? Guess that'll make things easier. While I am a bit displeased with ya, I will apologize for this next bit..I know sudden shifts tend ta make a few folks sick."

"What? Wait no, please jus-"

You felt something lurch all around you..like you were being pulled backwards without even moving a muscle. The world tilted in ways you weren’t entirely sure were possible, the entire ordeal was starting to make everything go black at the edges of your vision. The brief pain of being pinned to the desk vanished and you felt yourself fall for a second or two before landing on a hard and cold surface. You hear..as well as felt Jericho hum to himself, satisfied with whatever he just did to you.

"There we go, much better. Sit tight while I get tha lights real quick."

Jericho sounded suddenly so much louder now, you felt him moving more than anything, distant tremors rattling your frame as a distant realization came slamming into you just as the light flicked on and blinded you.

Yelping softly you clapped your hands over your eyes for a moment, senses going on high alert you noticed Jericho hadn't moved yet..

When you removed your hands and opened your eyes you knew why immediately. You were stranded on his desk, now no bigger than a damned doll if not smaller..As for the one responsible he now towered over you at the doorway, grinning down at you as he waited for your situation to hit home.

"Well ain't ya just tha cutest that size? Lookin round like a lil lost bunny..Was wonderin what y'all were up ta when ya slipped in earlier..N now I know."

"W..wait you knew I was here from the start? H-how??"

How the hell did he spot you?? You tested your charm thoroughly before even stepping foot in this building..Jericho laughed at your reaction for a moment before gently tapping his glasses with a clawed finger, giving you a devilish smile.

"Can't outfox a fox sugar~ These glasses just ain't for looks, Atticus n I are fairly skilled at magiturge practices ourselves..Made these lil beauties ta help spot things that ain't quite right..Saw ya sneakin in from tha start n just decided ta play dumb n see what trouble y'all would get inta before steppin in."

So your mission was a failure from the get go…great. That meant if anything your partner was also doomed for capture as well if she wasn't careful. You backed away from the large stack of files..and tried to keep some semblance of space between you and Jericho, who hadn't stopped smiling at you since this all began. The longer you eyed that grin of his the more dread you felt in your stomach.

"..I guess that's why you shrank me too..? To teach me a lesson not to go where I shouldn't?"

"Sorta..but mostly just so I can have a bit of fun getting info outta ya, cute lil thing like yerself I just couldn't resist."

You paled a bit listening to him, you needed to run..or at least get away before he could get his hands on you. Eyeing your surroundings you could only try running towards the back of the desk.. hopefully the fall wouldn't hurt.

Jericho seemed to have other ideas about you making a run for it, a soft tsk reached your ears before you saw a hand looking out to grab you.

"I ain't blind my lil dear, ain't gonna do ya any good ta try n run from me now. C'mere n lets have a nice lil chat just tha two of us."

Backing up you tried to at least dodge the oncoming hand looming over you, ignoring the squeaking gasp that escaped you in your growing panic. In the back of your mind you knew it was a useless attempt, but hey who could blame you for trying anyways?

You felt the warmth seconds before you felt Jerichos hand reach you, in your efforts to try and get away you stumbled just for a moment, which he took full advantage of to knock you over. The air in your lungs was gently but firmly pressed out of you as the massive hand came down to pin you firmly to the desk. You could still breathe easily but trying to wiggle free at all proved fruitless.

“Now now, I jus got finished sayin there ain’t a point in runnin..Now lookit ya, tiny lil thing, I am gonna get some answers outta my lil bluebird or we’re gonna be here all night. If ya behave for me, I might even let ya go with a warnin. That is, if y’all behave n stop tryin ta run on me.”

“F-fine..fine I’ll behave..just stop squishing me so much already, your hands heavy!”

That at least got a laugh out of him, and the hand did move…only to be replaced by one finger as your tormentor shifted to take a seat behind his desk, forcing you to roll onto your back and look up and up and up into that smug grinning face..Something about him was making your face heat up and you hated it, unfortunately he seemed to notice this and leaned in while shifting to scoop you up between two fingers.

“Aw now ain’t that just tha most darlin lil thing..y’all light up like a lil light onna christmas tree~”

“S-shut up, just ask your questions and stop manhandling me so much please!”

He shifted to prop his head on a hand, elbow settling on the desk below while you were unfortunately moved so much closer towards that damned smug face. You really didn’t like the way he smiled at you, it made your stomach flip and seize up being caught like this.

“Aw c’mon sweetheart, I’m bein gentle with ya..Better treatment I give most lil thieves that I catch sneakin round my office. Ya actin like I’m bout ta snap ya up like some big ol’evil beast or somethin..”

“..W-well I don’t know what you have planned for me so of course I’m scared! You were already big enough as it is before you did this! Couldn’t you ask your questions with me being my normal size??”

“Well I could, but y'all might try n make a run for it my frightened lil bluebird. Better ta keep ya close at hand..Tell ya what though, y'all cooperate with me I'll let ya go with just a lil warnin like I said earlier..sound good?"

You gave him a very skeptical glare..which didn't exactly do much since he was still grinning at you being held fast between two or three of his fingers. You didn't trust him but you honestly had no choice here it seemed.

"..maybe, you promise to let me go afterwards?"

"Course! I'll let ya go right on yer way..all ya gotta do is play nice n I'll send ya on yer way right where ya gotta go."

"…fine, not like I can say no anyways."

You couldn't help but pout a tiny bit as he grinned somehow even bigger at you agreeing, feeling like you got yourself into deep trouble now as he started with some very simple questions. Knowing Doc would have your ass if you gave away info so easily to PrivSec…you decided to lie and only offer out half truths. He didn't ask you to be truthful, only to give information.

Several long minutes of questions and mild teasing later he seemed very satisfied with the info you gave him. He sat back in his chair, bringing you up along for the ride as he got comfortable once more. You didn't like how he had just casually manhandled you the entire time, like some personal fidget toy or something. You swatted a few times at his hand to get him to stop, only earning you a deep laugh and a half apology before he continued your line of questions..Frankly you were tired of it and wanted to leave. Your face still felt warm even now, you hated how he seemed to pick up on what made you flounder and fluster..You just wanted to leave and have nothing else to do with Jericho after today.

"Alright my lil bluebird I think that'll do me for now..Thank ya kindly my dear for being such a good sport for me for so long. I think I'm ready ta let ya go on yer way now."

"Alright cool..you gonna change me back to normal first right? I can't get home being this small.."

"Oh don't worry, it'll fix itself in due time my dear. Let's get ya goin where yer needed most."

"..why are you saying it like that..? Wait..wait what are you doing? Hey! HEY."

Instead of setting you down on the desk or floor he was bringing you far too close to his face..and opening his mouth up far too wide for your liking, making you yell and thrash in his grip. You knew something had been wrong from the start and now you were going to pay for not trying to run sooner.

"Well I said I'm gonna let ya go~”

He seemed to pause if only for a brief second to reach up with his free hand and gently cup your legs between two fingers, taking your shoes off with an odd level of gentle care before resuming bringing you back up towards his mouth. The weird action makes you go silent for the duration, mind focusing on the strange sensation of massive fingers gently encompassing each of your legs in turn to slip your shoes off and place them out of sight somewhere below. The moment the action is completed however, you snap out of whatever silence you slipped into to resume yelling at him, the action making him snort slightly in amusement.

“You didn’t say fuckall about outright eating me!! Put me down on the desk or something. I didn't agree to being your meal damnit!”

“Fraid ya did, y’all agreed ta me lettin ya go after we were done..Not my fault y’all didn’t quite ask for specifics here before we got started. Sides, y’all are still a lil sneak thief and I ain’t bout ta let that go. Y’all will get ta go home..after I’m done with ya that is~”

He seemed tickled at your angry thrashing and complaining, shifting to dangle you above his wide open mouth with another soft chuckle. You didn’t really appreciate being lied to so blatantly, or getting a very good look down his throat. Cursing up a storm at him to let you go, your voice shot up several octaves as he suddenly lets you freefall the last few inches onto his outstretched tongue and into his mouth with a screech of alarm.

You did not want to be in here, in a mouth of all goddamned things. Twisting around you tried to frantically climb back out, even risking grabbing Jerichos bottom front teeth to try and wrench yourself out.

All your efforts however only served to make him laugh, deep baritone voice rattling the empty space in your lungs and down to your very bones for a few good seconds. You let out an angry shout as you felt yourself being carefully shifted, hands being pried loose from their hold as his tongue easily scooped you up and back, forcing you to watch the world before you get cut off with a soft click of teeth.

Sealed away in hot humid darkness and now more or less powerless against Jericho, he took his sweet time tasting you. Gently rolling you about in his mouth with a happy hum or two, seemingly very satisfied with your taste as your angry ranting and fighting slowly began to weaken with time.

You only tried to fight a bit more urgently when you felt him shift to swallow you down at last, trying to blindly grab onto something to prevent your descent. Everything you tried to grab proved to be too slick to keep a grip on, forcing a frustrated and soft wail from you as you felt his throat grab firmly onto your legs and pull you down.

Forced into the unbearable warmth and pulled down along the strong muscles of his throat, you felt something from the outside follow your descent for a few seconds or so. It felt like an eternity was passing by as you slid down deeper, but you knew it was likely only a few scant seconds before the vice-like grip you were in suddenly fell away.. You landed on your back with a grunt of surprise..you were in his damned stomach like he wanted at last. It wasn’t exactly spacious or cramped..somewhere in the middle. You felt your new space shift and sigh as Jericho let out a long contented breath once you were settled in his belly at last. Hearing the world around you breathe and hum happily was..something.

That of course did not mean you were going to stay settled. After a moment of letting your situation hit home you forced yourself up shakily to your feet and proceeded to pound on the warm slick walls with all you could, yelling at your captor angrily to let you go. You tried to ignore how everything just seemed to want you to sink into its warm slippery folds, tried to ignore all the sounds going on around you now.

All your efforts seemed to do was make him let out a soft burp or two, quickly followed by a belly shaking laugh which knocked you on your ass.

“Land sakes darlin, yer a lil pistol in there ain’t ya? Won’t do ya any good though I’m afraid, I’ve kept worse in there..though none that tasted as sweet as y’all I’ll admit. Just settle down in there, y’all be fine. Jus let ol’Jeri here take care of yer sentence sweetpea, alright?”

“NO! I want out!! This isn’t fuckin faiiiir! ….please? I don’t wanna be food..I don’t want this..I’m sorry okay? Please just let me back out..please.”

Jericho sighed again..poor thing was sounding so upset, but laws were laws and the dear needed to learn that. He rubbed at the spot he could feel them pressed against for a moment, offering some comfort if he could. It tore him up sometimes how distressed and upset some folks really could get.

“Listen darlin, I know it’s a bit scary but y’all knew what y’all was doin was wrong. And this is y’alls punishment. I’m a man of morales and principals first and foremost..but I can tell y’all it won’t hurt. Jus be good for me in there alright?”

He could feel them still put up a bit of a fuss, much weaker than before at least. They eventually settled down like everyone else he jailed, he’d take good care of em though. They were a rather fun lil treat, tasted oddly refreshing he thought to himself..He’d have to keep an eye out for the lil hooligan, not that they were hard to miss looking like they did.

He’d be sure to give em an extra sweet send off, to make up for lying to them a little bit. Couldn’t help just playing around with em, so something sweet before they woke up would do..He could already picture their face lighting up that pretty shade of blue now.

Made him just want to do it all again~

[kpop-dungeon-dark]

His Little Princess. (Nerd!Hyunjin x You)

•TRIGGER WARNING•

Warning(s): Non-Con, humiliation, punishment, degradation, kidnapping. Both of you are legal in this. Read at your own risk.

Hyunjin's hands were a little shaky as he stood in front of the busy table during break time, knowing it was the only time when he'd be able to approach her as their schedules clashed. Adjusting his round spectacles one more time, the boy turned his head to look at his friends at a table far away. The 8 boys gave him huge smiles and stuck their thumbs up at him, nodding at their friend as they silently encouraged him to go for it. Taking in a huge breath, Hyunjin turned to look forward again, taking the few remaining steps towards it.

"Y- Y/n…" His soft call went unnoticed as all the cool kids on the table continued to eat and enjoy their break. Looking back at his friends, he groaned inwardly but they shook their heads and warned him not to come back without asking her. Yes, it seemed easy in the heat of the moment but now… standing in front of all these people… even thinking of proposing her while she looked so pretty with her pink dyed hair… busy on her phone like this…

"Y- Y/n!" Hyunjin let out after standing there for 5 minutes. The whole table went silent as his heart started to thump anxiously. Okay snap. Maybe that was too loud. Everyone slowly started to quieten down, heads turning toward Hyunjin and just why was a nerdy loser like him calling someone as the pretty and beautiful Y/n like this so informally?

"U- Uh…" The girl who had averted her gaze from her phone sounded, raising an eyebrow because she remembered him from one of her classes last year. Maybe…? She wasn't even sure if she'd even seen him before.

"I- I was wondering…" Biting the inside of his cheek, Hyunjin gave himself a whole mental peptalk, feeling like his heart was about to burst from all this attention on him. Come on. It wasn't this hard… right? He'd prepared for like two weeks now. Ever since senior prom was announced. It was his last prom. Last year's had been terrible too. It was now or never. "I was wo-ndering i- if you c- could come with m- me t- to senior p- prom-" before he could finish his sentence, some people on her table started chuckling.

"Wooooooh! Is our very own Y/n getting asked out right now?!" A girl bitchily laughed while clapping, causing the girl in question to bite her lip, cheeks flushing.

Fuck. Why couldn't he have just slid in a letter or something like the rest of her admirers? Was embarrassing her like this in the cafeteria necessary?

"I cannot believe this nerd just asked Y/n out!" A guy shook his head before the whole cafeteria started to buzz with whispers.

"Hey boy!" Hyunjin fell to the floor when a muscular guy from the table, who always followed Y/n around like a dog, suddenly got up, pissed. "Get the fuck back! Why're you embarrassing her?!" Grabbing a carton of juice her angrily splashed it at Hyunjin's face. "Is this your little attempt at making her a laughing stock or what?! You know damn well people like her don't go with people like us!"

Everyone started laughing at Hyunjin, pointing at him while ridiculing him, causing tears to form under his juice covered spectacles, only getting further ruined when a girl from the table tossed her lunch on him. But none of that humiliation could have broken his heart as much as when Y/n got up without sparing him another glance, picking her bag up before leaving the cafeteria in anger and embarrassment.

.

"Who the fuck does that girl think she is?" Minho spat in pure hatred as Hyunjin finally went to sleep in his room, the rest of the boys now downstairs in his living room. "I knew she was a self proclaimed Princess and all but this?!" It was already really hard to impress the boy and this had angered him.

They had scooped a crying and heartbroken Hyunjin up from the cafeteria, the muscular guy insulting them as well as he 'advised' them to bring Hyunjin off his little cloud. Then they'd brought the boy home on short leave before forcing him to shower and then he just shut off, collapsing on the bed before going to sleep.

"These popular people are ruthless…" Changbin sighed, tiredly relaxing on the couch.

"They're nobody's. Changing groups is nothing to them. Friends don't mean anything to them neither do feelings. If you're popular, they're your friend. But if you're not, you don't matter as a person." Chan shook his head in distaste, all of them hurt for their friend.

"You're right." Jeongin agreed.

"Guys…" Seungmin, who was the only one that hadn't spoken until now ever since the incident sounded, raising his head. "I… have a plan."

.

Y/n slowly raised to consciousness, blinking and groaning when she didn't recognize her surroundings, feeling a painful bound around her wrists as her ankles burned too. "W- What the…" She tried to speak, blinking as the girl tried to recall her recent memories, gasping once she remembered. Oh yes. She was in the parking lot of the school, walking to her car when she felt someone grab her from behind before a wet, funny smelling towel was pressed to her mouth.

"I- Is someone h- here…?" She whispered, throat painfully dry. "Hello…?" Her voice broke. "H- Help! Someone… h- help!" Y/n's body slowly started to fill with panic as she tried to struggle, realising that she was in a basement, placed on a chair whilst her hands were cuffed and legs were tied to a damn spreaderbar.

"Nobody will help you so I suggest you stop that pathetic little screaming already, Princess." Felix spoke as him and all the boys except Hyunjin entered he basement, smirking at her panicked state.

"Oh look who's awake!" Changbin ridiculed with a mocking smile.

"Tsk. Do you even deserve the 'help' that you oh so desperately want?" Han was disgusted with her as he glared at her.

"Y- YOU- WHO ARE YOU?! WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS?!" Y/n yelled at them, trying to break out of her restraints pathetically, trying to recognise them before realising in despair that she didn't know any of these nerves. "LET ME GO! OR YOU'LL GO TO JAIL- AHHH!" The males laughed at her when she fell off the chair, falling on her face as her skirt flew up.

"We will go to jail?!" Woojin raised an eyebrow as he crouched in front of her. "When disgusting whores like you get to roam around freely?!" Pulling his hand back, the boy slapped her across the face, making her cry out.

"Uhuhuh~" Chan shook his head as he sat on the chair and pulled her back by the spreader bar. "Now, now, Woojin. Little girls shouldn't be hit like that." Before the stronger one of them all picked the girl up by the spreader bar, all of them laughing at the humiliating sight since her skirt was up all the way. "This is how brats are supposed to be handled." Laying her over his knees, Chan landed a smack on Y/n's ass, making her legs kick in pain as she tried to struggle but it was literally impossible.

"Do you think you even deserve to struggle?! After you've been so disgusting and rightfully deserving of this punishment?!" Minho slapped her jiggling ass now, not one of them willing to get effected even though she was a living breathing female with a gorgeous body and they were all inexperienced virgins. Why? Because she was Hyunjin's.

His little Princess.

"O- OKAY PLEASE S- STOP! PLEASE! I WON'T TELL THE COPS! JUST STOP! PLEASE!" The girl started begging now, making them chuckle at her, the rest landing smacks on her ass now as Chan manhandled her struggle, not allowing her to move one bit. "P- PLEASE! O- OUCH!"

"You popular people are so pathetic. Acting all mighty but actually not capable of anything." Jeongin shook his head in disdain.

"Oh it's not just that reason but one of the many behind these popular kids being pathetic!" Han smacked the back of her head, enjoying how she shook under them.

"Hyunjin better punish her well! Tsk! He was just trying to ask you on a date! With all due respect!" Changbin pulled at her hair.

"And you treated her like he disrespected you or something." Seungmin shook his head in disgust.

"How do you like it now, huh?" Felix suddenly splashed ice cold water on her face, causing her to cry out as he ignored her begs, a cold expression on his face.

The boys were ignoring her constant pleads and cries, laughing and spanking her before a voice came from upstairs, a shadow forming on the stairs. "... Guys?" It had been 2 days since the whole incident, Hyunjin was slowly recovering. "W- What are you doin-" the boy's eyes widened as he moved further down, his legs going shaky at the sight before him.

"I- Is that… WHAT THE HECK?!" Rushing the rest of the way to Chan, Hyunjin crouched down in front of him, moving the weeping girl's hair out of the way. "IS T- THAT Y/-" gasping loudly, the boy looked around at his friends, getting angry at the sight of her red face with her skirt resting on her back, limbs tied up tightly. "WHAT ARE YOU-- LET HER GO!" Getting up on his feet, he tried to fight Chan, being pushed back by Han and Changbin as he tried to reach Y/n.

"Don't you remember how you were insulted for literally only trying to ask the girl you like out?!" Felix yelled over the commotion he was making with Han and Changbin.

"We are not your enemies!" Han panted heavily, having a hard time pushing the bigger boy back.

"They dumped food on you! Pushed you to the ground! Made fun of you! The whole cafeteria laughed at you!" Minho added in to the fire, frustrated from how fucking whipped their friend pathetically was.

"B- But that's n- not Y/n's f- fault!" Hyunjin wavered, biting his lip as his heart started thumping.

"Yes it fucking is!" Seungmin shot at him. "You think anyone would have dared done anything had she not done that pathetic cute little act before walking out on her Princess heals like that?" Hyunjin blinked at them and then at her struggling and crying form, his fresh wounds cutting open once again as he remembered all of it. Pushing Han and Changbin away, the boy walked closer to her now, crouching in front of Chan as he tucked some of her hair behind her ear.

"H- HYUNJIN PLEASE! PLEASE! I DIDN'T EVEN SAY ANYTHING! I DIDN'T DO ANYTHING! PLEASE!" His heart flurttered from how his name rolled off her tongue, throat getting dry. Oh how he'd wished to hear her say his name.

"Yes, you did." Reaching for her ass, Hyunjin placed his shaking and sweaty hand over it, feeling it up before he groped it, instantly getting hard. "Yes, you did. You allowed them to treat me like that." Y/n was shaking her head repeatedly and he grew frustrated, slapping her already spanked cheek. "Don't lie… baby. I fucking hate it when people do that."

Getting up, he started undoing his belt before he could stop himself, pulling it out the hoops before doubling it and bringing it to her ass, feeling a strange kind of satisfaction from her cry of pain. "All I asked was a question. I never stepped past my boundaries…" Going for her beautiful sit spots now, Hyunjin forced himself to not drool before he made her scream again. "And you had them humiliate me like that as if I did something disrespectful… tsk…" Y/n was shaking in Chan's hold as she hysterically cried from the pain, shock and terror. "And now I have no choice but to humiliate you back, huh?"

"Exactly, good little girls don't behave like that at all." Jeongin shook his head, making Hyunjin look up at all of them, a new kind of darkness in his eyes.

"Get out." That was enough to make them all empty the basement of his house as his parents were never home, taking Y/n from Chan before he followed others and closed the door behind them. "Had you not done that disgusting little act, you wouldn't have been humiliated like this, baby." The girl trembled as he sat in the chair, throwing the belt away.

"H- Hyunjin, p- please… I am sorry…"

"Sorry doesn't cut it, I am afraid, darling." Affectionately brushing her hair out of her pretty face, Hyunjin admired her beautiful features that were currently swollen and red, pressing his lips to her nose. "Not when you're looking so beautiful like this with your ass tight in this lace underwear, baby." The girl felt a shudder go down his spine as he caressed and groped her ass to soothe the pain. "I hope you didn't let them see too much, huh? You're all mine."

Y/n let out a weak little whimper when he placed her on the ground, spreading the bar which forcefully held her legs open, causing him to get even more hard from the sight. "I wasn't planning this, Princess. But now that you're here…" Hyunjin's voice was dangerously low as he opened his pants, hurriedly tugging them down along his boxers and allowing his hard cock go spring out.

"W- Wait!" The girl tried to look behind her as she was on her chest. "What are you d- doing?!" Her time was alert and alarmed, breaths heavy.

"What am I doing?" Raising an eyebrow, Hyunjin wiped the sweat off his forehead and pushed his hair back that was heavily sweating, adjusting his spectacles as he crouched behind her. "What do you fucking think?" As Y/n slowly realised what was about to take place, her struggles became frequent and loud once again, begging him to stop. "Tsk… sorry but I don't listen to nasty little whores. I bet you're not even a virgin despite barely being 18, huh?" Grabbing her panties, Hyunjin ripped them off, leaning down to kiss and lick at her bruised ass, the marks caused by his belt and his friends -which he wasn't so happy about- making his cock twitch as the tip grazed against the soft skin of her sitspots, causing the girl to shudder.

"H- Hyunji--"

"Just shut up already, Y/n-ah…" His fingers started to graze against her squishy pussy lips that were leaking. "You're leaking so much… Tsk… is it one of your fetishes? Being punished by your… owner and his friends? Was that maybe why you overacted so much on the situation? Purposefully acting out… perhaps?" The girl could only pathetically cry in response, hating how his finger pushed in her pussy lips, the spreader bar forcing her to open up as his index finger slowly rubbed her up and down.

"So what if a… nerd likes a popular girl? Must it be so complicated? Must it always be so fucking stereotypical? Why? Are we not humans?" His nail prodded against her opening slowly that he wasn't honestly sure was even her opening, looking down to make sure he wasn't doing anything wrong, his only knowledge all the porn he'd watched. "Why am I treated like trash, huh?" A gasp left Y/n when his finger suddenly slid in her cunt, slowly pumping up and down. "Just because I wear spectacles for my bad eyesight and am good at studying? Is that so bad, huh?!"

"N- No! No! Please!"

"Yes… yes…" Hyunjin slowly spoke, rage filling him now as he smacked her ass with his free hand again, continuing to finger her. "That's exactly what it is. I am trash because I am better than you, right? You popular kids are nothing but pathetic little disgusting insecure jealous shits." Adding another finger inside her, Hyunjin scissored her walls and prepared her for his surprisingly big cock.

"And do you know what should happen to disgusting little kids like you?" Gripping his cock with one hand, the boy started to piss on her red ass, making it burn before he pulled his fingers out of her, getting her shirt out of the way and spraying some on her back too, making her squeal loudly in disgust, trying to get away. "They should know their place and be kept in it. All of you should have an owner like me to make you learn."

Shaking his head at her crying, the male pushed his still leaking length in her hole, moaning and grunting at how tight but pleasurable it really was, spreading the bar to it's highest limit before gripping her thighs, his lips falling open at how good it felt. "N- No!" Hyunjin grunted and turned her around on his cock. "I want to see you as I fuck into you and claim you! You're all mine!"

Starting to fuck her hard and rough, the boy reached over and kissed her swells, using one of his hands to rip her bra off. "Fuck…" Hyunjin couldn't believe the beautiful sight before him. "You're so beautiful, Y/n…" He complemented, genuinely affectionate. "Truly… both up here" he finally kissed her lips, moaning at the taste of her raspberry chapstick. "And down here" the boy kissed both of her adorable little fat tits, licking at the nipple and giggling when they hardened. "It really happens in real life!" He excitedly remarked, twitching inside her, already close from all that he got to see.

"I am lucky I have friends that care for me" his hips were moving at a quick pace, Hyunjin's cock bulging against the skin of her stomach, it's shape and movement easy to make out as he used her as a literal sock. "Because I was planning to give up on you. The last 3 days have been so hard. I was starting to believe that maybe there really was no way. That maybe all pretty and popular girls have to go to the cocky muscular jerk that just plays them, makes them cry. Maybe guys like me are always nothing but a mat for Princess' to wipe their feet on." He couldn't help but softly smack her face, pulling at her hair before biting down at her neck to leave marks.

"H- Hyunjin… p- please sto-"

The boy sighed in disappointment at her whisper, shaking his head before pinching her nipple and kissing her again. "No, baby. No. You'll be good and behave. If you don't behave, I promise this will go on and on. There is no way out of this unless you act good. Like a good little Princess." Kissing her lips again, Hyunjin finally managed to push his balls in, collapsing against her as his own sweat fell on the glass of his spectacles. "M- My little Princess. I've always liked you in silence. Ever since Kindergarten. But I won't anymore. You will be mine now that we are of age."

Y/n could only shudder as she felt him cum deep inside her, kissing her lips again as he went motionless, holding her as tight to himself as he could.

It went on for another two hours, Hyunjin losing a track of just how many times he came deep inside her, fucking her in unconsciousness too as she helplessly dozed off and woke up again before she agreed. She will be a good girl. For him.

That was the only way.

.

Y/n didn't really go to school after that incident, the prom approaching just 3 days later. "You look absolutely stunning, Princess." Hyunjin's voice rang in his bedroom and from behind Y/n as she stared at herself in the mirror.

"Ehhh~ s- stop…" The girl whimpered out, blushing as she lowered her head and turned around, slowly reaching him before she nuzzled her face in arm shyly, not even looking at him. "I- I don't."

"Yes, you do" the boy's eyebrows furrowed as he softly grasped her wrist, tightening his hold on it possessively. "You're the prettiest Princess to ever exist. And you look so beautiful in this moment that my heart might just stop" gripping her ass that was locked in a chastity, Hyunjin pulled her closer, growling lowly before he gripped her chin and forcefully kissed her.

"I- I love how I c- can be at my utmost c- comfort with you…" She whispered, so glad that she was in a comfortable dress that she liked and not a high-end extremely revealing dress that she didn't even like deep down but wore it for the name and price, being uncomfortable in it the whole time. Before her eyebrows furrowed because he wasn't wearing his spectacles.

Her pussy shivered from just how Hyunjin kept her in her little place as well.

"That is a normal feeling for those surrounded by people that actually care for them and not their status, Angel." Y/n sighed and nodded slowly, knowing he was right. She knew her friends were fake and bitched behind her back. Of course she did. "Now…" He heavily sighed and moved past her and towards the dressing table. "Let's get those uncomfortable and irritating contacts in."

Y/n quickly reached him, stopping his hand from grabbing the container before she reached for his spectacles resting not so far away, unfolding them before resting them on his nose and pushing them up. "Must the nerd always change for the girl he likes?" A bright smile made its way on his face at her words, chucking deeply before he nodded and kissed her forehead appreciatively. "What you did was wrong but I was no good either. Thank you, Hyunjin. Please always keep me as your little Princess. It's the only time I wanna be a Princess honestly."

His heart was fluttering. "That is the only thing you were born to be, Angel." She giggled at his words before stopping, realising that he was serious and gulping at his serious expression.

"Y- Yes, Hyunjin…" She felt so damn small. Fuck. Fiddling with jacket, Y/n sneakily looked up at the handsome boy. "I- I've been g- good, right Hyunjin?"

His hands toyed with her ass as he swayed them side by side slowly. "Hmm…?"

"T- Then… w- will you please m- make me feel g- good?" Her locked pussy was leaking.

A deep chuckle left him. "Hmm. Maybe?" When the girl whined and pouted softly, Hyungjin gripped her hair and pulled her face closer before kissing her deeply. "Behave tonight and I'll consider, alright?" Before both of them left to prom.

.

[idiotwhotalkstoomuch]

I have another question: Have you read the demon slayer manga by any chance? If so, how far into it are you? like have you eat all of the chapters already? Cause I got the idea where even after MC is sent back to their original world, the boys are still able to check up on how MC is doing through the mirror from the opening ceremony. That way when MC eventually participates in the final fight against Muzan they get the chance to truly see MC in action which brings me to my actual question (Assuming you've read everything to avoid spoilers) how would they react to the severity of MCs injuries against Muzan or even some of the upper moons? Based on their personalities who do you think would be cheering for MC, begging them to live another day so they can have a chance to meet again since they're absolutely working on a way with Crowley to bring them back. Since this is the battle against the big boss,it means demon slayers won't be necessary and it'll be fine for MC to live the rest of their days in peace at NRC or in the world of NRC right? on the other hand, who do you think would instead be hoping that MC will stay down and receive medical treatment, let the other slayers handle the rest of the battle because they're already so badly injured they really shouldn't push themselves any further and they can't bear to see their friend hurt so badly (Considering what happens to a majority of the cast, if MC is a pillar, Ooooooh boy.)

I also found an absolutely amazing demon slayer video that's fan made but I don't want to risk spoiling anything cause it's way later on in the series, hence why I asked earlier.

So I just read some of the manga (not in order cause being orderly and me do not mix)

Decided to detail the fights more cause they can all be summed up to “worried as heck” with varying degrees

WARNING SPOILERS FOR THE MANGA OF DEMON SLAYER (I TALK ABOUT SOME OF THE UPPER MOON FIGHTS, WHO BEATS THEM AND SOME IMPORTANT STUFF ON THE TANJIRO FIGHT. ALSO A SPOILER FOR THE DEMON SLAYER MOVIE Y’ALL KNOW WHAT I’M TALKING ABOUT)

The upper moon fights that MC likely participate in are the Hantengu fight and Douma or Kokushibo (I will cover both) before Muzan

Being a successor of a Hashira, if they were the flame pillar or the sound pillar’s tsugoku it’s likely they might even join the hashira if deemed skilled enough and since they joined in overblot fights, their skills definitely weren’t slacking so it’s likely they have

During the Hantengu fight they join Mitsuri in fighting Hantengu’s strongest clone so the others can go for the main body but since Mitsuri was the one to jump in and get the attack to the face and recalls her past, only she awakens the demon slayer mark

Douma has a past of pissing people off and ruining families and if they were Shinobu’s tsugoku alongside Kanao then they know full well what she plans to do and Adeuce and the others really wish they could go and comfort MC as the grief on their face at the idea of their master dying is clear

If MC is a girl and joins Shinobu in the fight, they might wind up getting eaten by Douma alongside Shinobu if they fight well enough and Kanao doesn’t make it in time, in this scenario Lilia and several other Diasomnia members have to calm Malleus down as his anger at watching his friend die while being helpless is clear as the others grieve

Luckily in this scenario, if the mirror keeps on to at least see Shinobu’s plan through then they get to see Douma’s defeat by his own gluttony with Kanao and Inosuke dealing the finishing blow

If they end up not being eaten or just don’t catch Douma’s interest (either by not being a female, them being saved by Kanao in the fight or other possible reasons), Grim really wishes he could join and melt all the ice created by Douma as his blood demon art starts to freeze them as they throw their own swords alongside Inosuke (or help in some other way) to assist Kanao in finishing the blow against Douma and ending him once and for all

Azul, Jade, Jamil, Leona, Lilia, Malleus, Riddle, Rook, Vil and the teachers have to applaud Shinobu for her suicidal yet extremely effective plan, they likely would not defeated Douma without her and hope she rests in peace (ngl her death broke my heart lol)

If they ended up fighting Kokushibo, they’re all pretty shocked to see the regenerative abilities of a demon both from Kokushibo and Genya, they had heard about it from MC but seeing the extent of how far it can go in this fight amazes them

The Kokushibo fight seems allergic to letting people under the age of 18 survive (Muichiro death was sad but Genya death animated may actually emotionally break me) so it’s very possible that they die in the fight as after all Kokushibo is the strongest demon moon that probably spits on Upper moon 6’s 22 pillars killed so it’s very unlikely that they could ever leave this fight unscathed or with their life

Jack has to help Adeuce and Grim who are breaking down as they watch their friend who they were hanging out with the other day like normal teenagers would, give their life to defeat the demon who has killed hundreds of people

The older members of the cast like the teachers, Malleus and Lilia all have moments of silence for the young lives slain by the man who was obsessed with being the strongest samurai

In the Muzan fight (if they make it there alive), since they’re stronger than many other members, the lower ranked demon slayers give their lives to protect them a gruesome sight that characters like Kalim have to cover their eyes to all the death and gore in the mirror

MC like Tanjiro and the hashira get poisoned by Muzan’s blood and all of them think it’s the end until Tamayo’s cat comes in and saves them, avid dog lovers like Crewel have to give props to the cat for saving their lives

It’s possible that at the memory of the twst cast waiting for them to win and the family they’ve lost yo Muzan, MC gets their demon slayer mark to help them in the fight against Muzan, luckily if they are aware of the demon slayer mark’s deadly condition from Kokushibo, the more experienced magicians and potions experts like Crewel, Vil, etc. believe that if MC gets through the fight they could create a way to prevent the demon slayer mark from ending their life at the young age of 25 something that brings hope to all of them

Of course optimistic thoughts like that can also be crushed at the end of the fight after Muzan disintegrates under the sun once and for all since they could’ve received fatal injuries in the fight until dawn and die with the kakushi trying to save them, while the others plead for them to be sent back to their world so they can receive immediate treatment and are reminded of the fact that they likely won’t make it and are forced to just let them die surrounded by their comrades

If they manage to survive the fight against Muzan (likely having one of their senses permanently ruined, having a lot of permanent scars on their body or even missing a limb or two) and are ready to just retire for the rest of their life and they receive a message from the twst cast are always welcome to have them back if they want to retire in their world

[hxseok-honee]

atlas heart || part 28

a/n : aha,,, ahaha,,,,, listen, i know this is a jimin au okay I KNOW -- but this chapter belongs to jung hoseok and thats that im sorry

previous | next

tag list!! [closed]

@deepseavibez @siredjoonie @kawaii-desv @knadiuniverse @anxious-reading @catbugsugarpea @cahowlkook @amoreguk @taekookandyoongi @nogitsune-sama @whitetshirtsrus @gustavkonrad @lilacdreams-00 @seungkwanismyaesthetic @mochiteddybear @cosmicdaylight @helpitskpop @lovetootie2x @unnoticeableparadox @applejuice218 @amicalostgirl @bad-idea-personified @moralita76 @yoongiscrackhead @thebleuprince @jooniesmind @incredibleella @missbowkimjinju @marifujioka @evil-ian @uqhgood @milky-way-bitch @yellohoshi @agust-suck-my-d @okaysoplshelpme @cutehoshii @dreamcatcherjiah @butterflylion @thesunisup-theskyisblue @thealexalcala​  @yoonjibby​ @baepsaekid​ @surviving-in-neverland​ @blaisezabini​ @melswolf​ @michiiedreamer​ @minimochimin @ebeanz​ @bts-bambi​ @sleepyje0n

_______________________________

When Y/n finds Jimin down by the lake, she feels that every fiber of her being wants her to turn back, wants her to run and hide under her blankets -- as if she’s the one that needs protecting from him. He doesn’t see her until she’s a few feet away, approaching him from the shoreline. The smile he gives her when he turns is kind but reserved, like he’s preoccupied. She lets out an awkward laugh.

“Why did you want to meet down here in the middle of the night? Way to be weird, Jimin.” He rolls his eyes playfully, nudging her with his elbow before gesturing back toward the ground not far away, covered in grass instead of the sand here by the water. Y/n follows him there, taking a seat next to him with question marks in her eyes when he doesn’t answer her. He snickers at her confusion.

“You’re really stuck on this, huh? Maybe I just wanted to look at the stars with you.” Her features scrunch up cutely as she reacts to his admittedly cheesy one-liner, and he feels the tips of his ears go red. “Okay, I swear that sounded better in my head.” She grins before turning away, looking up at the sky in contemplation. Jimin thinks that maybe, in other circumstances, they really would have been able to sit here together in peaceful silence and watched the stars all night long. He hates that he has to ruin it.

“I actually… I have to talk to you.” She doesn’t pull her gaze from the sky, but he does notice that her expression has clouded over with something he can’t place. It looks a lot like resignation. Swallowing once and trying to shake out his nervous limbs as subtly as possible, he takes a single deep breath before turning his upper body to face her. She still won’t look at him.

“I know you’re probably going to hate my guts after this, and I completely deserve that because I’m selfish and stupid, and I’m too nosy for my own good, and I never should have pushed so much, but I--”

“I know.”

“Yeah, I know you know that I’m an idiot, and that I’m annoying, and that I ask too many questi--”

“Jimin, I know.” He stops then, and the look of pure confusion he gives her breaks her heart. She has no idea that the pained expression she’s giving him is breaking his. She can’t even keep her eyes on him when she continues. “I know that you know.”

Jimin jaw drops, and he gets the idea that he looks a bit like a dying fish, closing and opening his mouth as he tries to figure out how to continue. He hadn’t planned for this turn of events when he’d practiced the conversation in his head.

“You -- but how? Was I too obvious?” He sits up straight, terrified that his suspicious behavior had already gotten her into more danger. “Did I do something that risked your secret? What was it? Tell me so I can make sure never to do it again--” Y/n’s eyes shut as she sighs, and she quiets him with a shake of her head.

“Dumbledore told me, the day after you’d gone to see him. He wanted to warn me.” Jimin stares at the side of her head, processing that she’d known almost two weeks that he’d figured everything out, but she hadn’t confronted him about it. “I haven’t told the boys yet, but I’ve been freaking out about it. I wanted to talk to you right away, but… I decided to wait until you were ready to talk about it…” Her eyes flick to him, but at the sight of his gaze fixed completely on her, his attention fully hers, she looks away. “I was scared that you hated me. Even when you kept reaching out and talking to me, I felt like… maybe you hadn’t realized exactly what I am or what that means. I was waiting for you to leave me. Or expose me. I don’t know. I feel like I’m losing my mind.”

“I would never do that to you.” It falls out his mouth, feeling oddly like a confession when he says it without thinking and is immediately embarrassed. He clears his throat when she looks up at him with wide eyes, scratching awkwardly at his collarbone. “I needed time to process… not that you’re a werewolf, but that I had been such a fucking idiot the entire time. I should have listened to your friends and just let you be. I was nosy and selfish and objectively really annoying, and I hadn’t even realized that they were just trying to keep you safe by pushing me away. I’m really sorry, Y/n… for endangering you like that.”

He won’t look at her -- he can’t. But when a cold hand closes around his own, squeezing gently, he at least is able to look in her direction. She squeezes again, and, with as much courage as he’s ever had to gather at once, he lifts his eyes to meet her. She looks to be on the edge of tears, but she’s smiling at him, and it confuses him to no end.

“You’re not… mad? Because I completely understand if you are--”

“I’m not mad, Jimin. I’m kind of relieved that you know now, even if I am probably going to always be scared that one day you’ll wake up and realize that I’m a monster and run for your life.” He breathes out a laugh, knowing that she’s not joking. He just can’t imagine a version of himself, now or ever, that would look at her and see anything but the girl he’d been desperate to befriend all this time.

“I’m not going anywhere, Y/n. I want to help you, if that’s okay. I want to do anything I can to help keep you safe.” It’s then that she pulls away from him, her expression turning apprehensive. Jimin takes one look at her and assumes it must be about her friends. “I know that Hoseok and Jungkook don’t like me, but I can talk to them if you want me to! I can explain myself and make sure they know that I’m just trying to help--” She shakes her head suddenly, cutting him off with a wave of her hands. She can already tell how her conversation with them later tonight will go, dreading having to ask them to meet so she can break the news.

“No, it’s not them… I’ll handle the boys -- it’s probably better that you aren’t there when they lose their minds, so I’ll talk to them. It’s just… things are more complicated than you think. It’s not really as simple as helping me… there are things you still don’t know, and it’s not my place to tell you…” Jimin thinks back to the way Dumbledore had called the situation ‘infinitely more complicated’ than he knew, and the way Y/n’s talking right now has him going out on a limb.

“Is this… about Remus Lupin?” Y/n meets his eyes with alarm, her breath catching audibly in her throat, and Jimin knows he’s right. “He’s… like you, right? His friends are involved, too.” She gapes at him, unsure how to respond.

“How…” He looks away, rubbing at his neck uncomfortably.

“Well, the night I figured things out -- it was a few days before the full moon, so your symptoms were a little more apparent at the time. I saw him in the Great Hall the next day, and he was looking just like you… and his friends, they act a lot like Jungkook and Hoseok sometimes… it wasn’t hard to put it together.” Y/n sits there in silence, not certain if Jimin is just really observant and was hyper-aware of everything because he’d just realized such a monumental secret, or if she needs to talk to the Marauders and her own friends about being less conspicuous. Probably both. She barely hears Jimin when he starts talking again.

“Is… that what’s keeping you from letting me help? I swear I won’t say anything -- I’ll even pretend I don’t know about him. I’ll do anything.” She watches him as he starts to devolve into what’s probably the third rant in the last half hour alone, and she knows he’s desperate to prove himself to her. He doesn’t need to -- he’d made his innocence and kindness clear to her long before he’d had any idea of her affliction. It’s everything about him, really, that’s causing her so much pain. She’s scared for him.

“Jimin… are you sure this is what you want? We’re in the middle of a war… and you’re a muggleborn. If anyone were to find me out, and they link us… I don’t know what would happen to you. Everything’s so delicate and dangerous, I don’t know if I can put you in that kind of danger.” This time it’s Jimin that reaches out for her, slipping his fingers through her own and linking their hands once he has her in his hold. He looks entirely level-headed when he looks her in the eye and responds.

“I’m with you, Y/n. I’m with you.”

--

Y/n stares up at the entrance to Slytherin common room, a deep frown set into her features. She’d made what she’d believed to be the right choice by not having Jungkook and Hoseok in the same room when she told them about Jimin -- they have a habit of enabling each other’s worst characteristics, and the last thing she wants to deal with is two enraged boys in the middle of the night. But now that she’s here, having just left a furious Jungkook in the room of requirement, she’s not looking forward to having this conversation again.

Jungkook had been surprisingly calm when she’d broken to him that Jimin had discovered her secret, but if there’s only one thing in the world that Y/n can say with complete confidence, it’s that she knows Jeon Jungkook. The look of complete ease that he’d given her had terrified her far beyond any explosion of anger. She almost prefers that he had reacted. It had taken her the better half of an hour to calm him down, only feeling comfortable texting Hoseok that she was on her way to him when she’d seen an emotion cross Jungkook’s eyes other than blank detachment. Even then, it was only annoyance at the fact that she refused to let him “talk” to Jimin on his own.

Now, it’s almost 3am, and Y/n’s only brushing away her tragic attempt at reasoning with Jungkook when the door to the Slytherin common room slides open, revealing a sleepy-eyed, bedhead-ridden Hoseok. He’s only half-dressed, clearly unable to be bothered to care about his appearance this late at night. He scratches at his bare collarbone with one finger while he squints at her, his blatant concern hidden slightly by how disgruntled he looks.

“Do you have any idea what time it is? Why would you do this to me?” Y/n snorts, knowing from experience how objectively rude Hoseok can be in the first few minutes of being awake. She hopes he stays bogged down by his sleep-deprived mind long enough that he doesn’t completely lose it when she talks to him. She glances past him into the common room before responding.

“Is there somewhere we can talk in private? I have something to tell you.” Immediately, the sleep is gone from Hoseok’s eyes, and Y/n mourns the hope that he wouldn’t be clear-minded during their conversation. He nods once, pointing over his shoulder.

“My room’s fine.”

“Isn’t Yoongi there?” Hoseok shakes his head, a slight smile gracing his features while he explains.

“He got a call from Kim Seokjin not that long ago -- something about a late-night snack run and how eating alone is ‘a lonely habit’.” He shrugs, and Y/n guesses that Yoongi must get dragged out against his will by Kim Seokjin quite often if Hoseok is unbothered by it. Hoseok points again in the direction of his bedroom, and Y/n only follows with a nod.

By the time they return to his room, Hoseok’s awake enough to be self-conscious, so he’s searching for a shirt immediately, gesturing for Y/n to close the door behind her. Then he flops down onto his bed, crossing his legs and patting the spot at the end of his mattress for her. When she decides to remain standing, running her fingers along the edge of his bedpost awkwardly, Hoseok squints, suspicious.

“What happened?” Y/n closes her eyes and takes a deep breath, looking Hoseok head-on and ripping the metaphorical band-aid off.

“Jimin knows about me. He just told me. Before you say anything, we talked about it, and--”

“That little shit--” Hoseok’s standing from his bed, fists balled up in rage as he heaves out an enraged breath. “When I get my hands on that nosy, obnoxious fucking twerp--”

“Hoseok, wait! Wait.” Y/n holds her hands out in front of her, planting them on his chest while she stares up at him with wide eyes. “It’s okay! It’s fine, we talked! He’s not going to say anything to anyone, even about the stuff with Remus--” She’ll admit that saying that last part probably wasn’t her best idea, considering how Hoseok reacts, blind with fury.

“What do you mean? What does that mean?!” He’s growing louder now, and Y/n knows she has to calm him down before he wakes the entirety of Slytherin house. Taking his face in her hands, she tries to force him to focus solely on her, but it only results in Hoseok gripping at her wrists, desperation clear in the way his hold is shaking. He’s looking at her with wild eyes, demanding an explanation for something so wholly unacceptable, but Y/n can’t give that to him while he’s like this.

“Hoseok, I need you to breathe, okay? I’m okay. I will be okay. But I need you to lower your voice and breathe. Don’t think about anything else.” This display -- a total loss of control -- is what she’d expected from Jungkook, but the boy who’d been beside her their entire lives must have known better than to show his ruthless side and risk upsetting her. In this moment, Hoseok, who’s always so keen on hiding himself behind a mask, is seeing red the way he never has before, and that’s what scares Y/n most.

“Eyes on me, Hobi, hm? Look at me -- I’m right here, and I’m okay. Look at me. See? I’m perfectly fine. Nothing’s gonna happen to me, I promise.” She’d somehow managed to bring him down from his erratic high, keeping his face close until she could see in his eyes that he’s looking only at her. His breath is ragged, and if she thinks she’s caught the slightest tremble of his bottom lip when he opens his mouth, he’s hiding it well. But what he whispers to her breaks her heart clean in half.

“You can’t promise me that. The more people that know about you, the harder it is for me to trick myself into believing you.” Taking a breath to stop herself from tearing up, she releases him slowly, stepping back when he only moves to sit back down on the edge of his bed.

“Hobi… you can’t do anything to Jimin, okay? You can’t confront him or do anything rash. I mean it.” It takes a few moments, but finally Hoseok is lifting his eyes to meet hers. He nods, and Y/n knows that’s all she’ll be able to get out of him. She wishes it was enough, that weak agreement, but if there’s one other thing in the world she can say with complete confidence, it’s that she doesn’t know Hoseok quite as well as she knows Jungkook.

--

Jimin’s on his way to class the next morning, lost in his thoughts about Y/n -- he can’t seem to focus on anything else these days -- when he’s unceremoniously dragged by the back of his robes into an empty classroom and shoved against the nearest wall. Hissing at the pain, he barely has time to slump over and catch his breath before he’s being pinned back against the cold stone by a pair of very determined hands.

He stills completely when he finally lifts his gaze and meets the eyes of Jung Hoseok. The Slytherin is visibly furious, his glare almost manic as he pushes Jimin’s shoulders back into the wall. He only lets up when an involuntary cry of pain escapes Jimin, but he never lets the boy go.

“Now, you’re going to listen to what I have to say, and you’re going to listen closely. Yeah?” Jimin isn’t sure it’s a question that needs answering, considering that he’s literally trapped, but the increased pressure of Hoseok’s knuckles on his chest has him nodding frantically. Hoseok doesn’t release him when he leans down into his face.

“For some ungodly reason, Y/n has decided that you can be trusted, and I’m sure you loved that she said she’d talk to us so you wouldn’t have to do it yourself, huh? But I think that you deserve to have the whole picture, Park -- look at me when I’m talking to you.” Jimin had shut his eyes simply from the proximity of Hoseok’s hateful glare, unable to handle it, but when the older boy shakes him roughly, he opens his eyes so wide that he’s terrified to even blink.

“This game you’re playing? Using your obvious little crush on Y/n as an excuse to pry into her business and put her in danger just because you like sticking your nose where it doesn’t belong? It needs to stop. Because you don’t know all the rules, Jimin. And you don’t get any do-overs.” Jimin can feel the grip on his shirt starting to tremble, and at first he thinks maybe Hoseok’s so enraged that he’s actually shaking, but the glint in his eye tells Jimin differently. It tells him that Hoseok is scared -- he’s terrified. The uncertainty of Jimin’s existence in Y/n’s life -- not knowing if this is going to end badly for them -- it’s scaring him, and Jimin gets the feeling that Hoseok’s someone who deals with fear by being angry. Taking a very big risk, he whispers out to the 7th year.

“I swear, I just want to hel--agh!” Squeezing his eyes shut when Hoseok lifts him away from the wall and promptly slams him back into it, he doesn’t finish his plea. He can feel Hoseok’s breath fanning angrily over his face, and he swears a low growl rumbles from deep within the Slytherin’s chest when he responds.

“Shut up! You don’t know what that even means. You don’t know how to help. All you’ve done is screw things up for us, so let me welcome you into our little group with a warning.” A hand clamps the sides of Jimin’s jaw, lifting his face and squeezing hard until Jimin opens his eyes to look at Hoseok.

“You get one chance, so if you even come close to screwing that up, Y/n is the last thing you’ll have to worry about. Clear?” Jimin nods again, the hand on his face making that incredibly difficult. Finally, Hoseok releases him and steps back, watching with unmasked annoyance as Jimin fixes his clothes and rubs at all the spots he’s sure will be bruised by morning. They stare at each other, Hoseok eventually rolling his eyes with a sigh.

“Y/n told me you want to help. She asked me to mentor you in potion-making. I only agreed to it because she’s very stubborn when she wants to be, and someone needs to take over her doses. I won’t go easy on you, so you better be ready for a summer of hell. I need to know she’ll be safe with you once I’m gone, and frankly, I don’t even trust you to boil a pot of fucking water, much less a dangerous, highly sensitive potion.” Jimin swallows hard but doesn’t comment on the blatant insult, only processing that Jung Hoseok has agreed to train him.

Hoseok’s eyes flicker to the door, and Jimin takes that as his cue that the conversation -- if that’s what this was -- is finished, so he wanders out of the room in a slight daze, Hoseok following closely. As if the universe is telling him that this moment can, in fact, get much worse, Jimin meets the eyes of one Jeon Jungkook as the Gryffindor happens to be passing on the way to class. Where Hoseok’s glare was unbridled fire and rage, Jungkook’s gaze is turning to pure ice, and Jimin can’t decide which is worse. Jungkook doesn’t even acknowledge him as he passes, breaking eye contact and going on his way as if Jimin doesn’t even exist. Hoseok chuckles darkly behind him.

“I almost feel bad for you, Jimin. If you think you have it bad with me, you’re in for a real treat with Jungkook.”

[bubblegumbeech]

Haunted Towers and Hidden Truths

Phic Phight prompt by @lexiepiper

Write a more traditional ghost story. How would things change if ghost powers weren’t super powers, but closer to old horror movie tropes?

“We shouldn’t do this Danny,” Sam said, ever the voice of reason. “This place isn’t like our usual haunts.“

But Danny shook his head, “No Sam, I have to do this. I have to know what that dream meant, if it was really a dream or something else.”

He moved to take a step forward when his other friend, Tucker, grabbed his arm, “I don’t know man, I think she’s right. There isn’t a possessed item to destroy, or an overactive ghost to try and calm down, heck even Vlad has a weakness we can exploit, we don’t know anything about this place. What if we don’t make it out of this one?”

“Come on Tucker,” Danny argued, his own confidence nothing but a mask, “It can’t be as bad as the haunted video game right? You die in the game you die in real life!”

Tucker didn’t laugh, “this is serious Danny, I know that dream had you messed up, but what if it was just that? A dream?”

“Or,” Sam cut in, “What if it’s a trap? Remember how Desiree tried to get us with that monkey’s paw when she realized we were getting involved with every scary story and urban legend in town and she didn’t want us to find out about her?”

There was also the time a ghost discovered Danny’s secret and decided to haunt him personally and make his life a living hell until he and Tucker were able to exorcise it. It had involved a gorilla, a lot of research into dead safari hunters, and one of his parent’s inventions that they rigged to do what they needed before destroying it so it couldn’t be used against Danny himself. 

“We made it through all of those things together, remember when we first saw Cujo? And we thought he was to blame for Valerie’s mother?” Danny said.

Sam deflated, “and then we did research and discovered that Cu Sith only foretell death, not cause it… But Danny, we tried to research this place, remember? We found nothing. It’s like it doesn’t exist.”

“Yeah man,” Tucker scratched the back of his neck uncertain, “I couldn’t find so much as a blueprint. No building plans, nothing. The only thing we have to go on are stories from reckless kids trying and failing to spend the night.”

“You don’t have to follow me, the last thing I want is to put you both at risk. Especially after last time.” 

Tucker groaned, “Danny you know we aren’t going to let you do this alone right? Especially not after Walker’s prison. Who knows what would have happened if we didn’t come in and save you?”

Danny smiled, “I probably would have starved to death to be fair, but yeah, I’ll try to avoid getting locked in any metal cages, deal?”

“To be fair,” Sam said, returning his smile with one of her own, strained though it was, “you probably would have died of thirst first.”

Chuckling at his friends' attempts to lighten the mood once they realized his mind wouldn’t be changed, Danny finally let himself look up at the place in question. It was a tall, crooked looking clocktower with old, brittle wood and peeling paint. In the low light of the evening it looked almost purple and with the dust and cobwebs covering it, it was clear no one had been inside for quite some time. 

The Clocktower was a recurrent presence in his dreams, the ones he’d started having since the accident that made him the way he was: different from any person, but not quite anything else. It was always there in the background, but he’d never gone inside. 

Once, during a particularly dull recurring dream where he relived the life and consequent death of a warehouse worker, he’d walked away from the endless piles of boxes and tried to go inside the clocktower instead. But no matter how far he traveled, it was always the same distance away. He just couldn’t get to it. 

Danny couldn’t shake the feeling though, that something inside might have the answers he’s been searching for. So he stepped forward, and knocked on the door.

There was no answer, of course, and  Danny almost felt foolish doing it, but also, ghosts and spiritual beings all had their own rules and perceptions of what is or isn’t polite, most of which Danny had stumbled into learning the hard way, and it really didn’t hurt to check.

“No answer,” Sam said and Danny nodded, turning the handle. It was old and brass and when it turned it made a loud grinding noise that vibrated along his arm. But it did open, and without Danny needing to persuade it, so that had to be a good sign right?

Unless it really was a trap. 

“Maybe we should leave someone outside, in case it really is like Walker’s prison.” He offered, but both of his friends shook their heads and stepped past him. It was dark, musty and smelled in a weird way, like a library. If a library had locked its doors and not let anyone enter for a good century or so. 

Sam took the lead, her flashlight catching on unfamiliar shapes and shadows. “Do you know what we’re looking for?” she asked, her voice uncertain. 

Danny shook his head, “Not really, just… answers.”

They looked around the ground floor at first, but if it held anything particularly supernatural or important, it wasn’t going to be found. “This just looks like my grandma's living room.” Tucker complained, taking the sheet off of one of the couches, “we need to go further in if we want to actually find something.”

He wasn’t wrong, Danny looked over to the spiralling staircase in the back of the room, and then to the other doors that surrounded it on the first floor. “It’s probably better to do this systemically right? Go through every room on each floor and move our way up?”

“You mean like in a video game?” Sam asked, “sure, we can do that.”

They started on the left, but that room wasn’t much better when it came to finding any kind of clues. It held a kitchen, a very old kitchen, with a stove and oven that Danny had only ever seen in period movies. But…

“Why does it smell like cookies?” Danny asked, turning to his friends who both looked at him like he was crazy.

“Cookies? Yo, Danny this place smells like straight up death. Not cookies.” Tucker said, backing away from the oven and starting to open up cabinets. 

Sam rolled her eyes and did the same on the other side of the kitchen, “it doesn’t smell like death you dolt, it smells… like a graveyard.”

Danny walked to the middle of the room, towards the oven- he always made sure to be the one seeking out the more dangerous or suspicious things in the haunts they went to- while the two of them bickered. They tended to start these smaller, petty arguments when they were scared, it took the edge off. 

“Duh?” Tucker said, and Danny heard him slam one of the cabinets shut, “graveyards are death? What does it smell like to you? Your Mom’s perfume?”

“No, it smells like someone dying, you know all hospital chemicals and gross stuff.”

There wasn’t anything in the oven, but oddly, Danny had felt a wave of warmth when he opened it. Almost like it had just been used. But, ghosts didn’t need to eat, right? And there couldn’t have been a person living here, they’d notice that. At least, Danny hopes they would notice that. After being in dozens of life or death scenarios hinging on whether they noticed important but minute details, they’d become pretty good at that kind of thing.

“Ugh! Don’t talk about hospitals, I’m still not over North Mercy, that was horrible,” Tucker turned to Danny, leaning on one of the counters and ignoring the cabinet he opened right behind his head. “What do you think death smells like Danny?”

Danny walked over and closed the cabinet, he didn’t want something to suddenly appear inside of it all twisted limbs and empty eyes or for something to crawl out and scare them, or even have it slam shut on Tuckers head, like some ghosts were known to do. He didn’t have to put much thought into his answer, “It smells like burnt flesh, electricity, and polished wood.”

Tucker paled, “oh… right. Sorry.” 

He shrugged, “anything yet?”

“Not unless you count cobwebs, dust, and deteriorating cooking books,” Sam answered, walking over to both him and Tucker. 

Danny looked around at the kitchen, it looked normal, even some dying light shone in from the one window along the outer wall. The only thing weird was the shape and that was because it was at the bottom of a spiralling clocktower. There was nothing particularly scary about the place, and frankly Danny didn’t know what to do with that.

“Let’s move on, this place is giving me the creeps,” Sam said, crossing the room and going to the next door. 

Danny and Tucker followed, unwilling to be left behind, or to let her go on her own. The next room was the same size as the other two, but it had an extra window and was crammed absolutely full of books. Just books. Stacks and stacks of them where they didn’t fit on the shelves, which were completely packed themselves, and Danny had the thought that this was probably what he was smelling when they first walked in. 

It was a library. A personal one, but without any room to sit or anything to sit on despite the genuinely impressive display of books and Danny found himself gently stroking his hand against the cover of a book on the top of the nearest stack, When Ghosts Speak: Understanding Earthbound Spirits.

“Please tell me we aren’t reading all of this,” Tucker whined. Danny frowned, why wouldn’t he want to read these? It was a treasure trove of information, these books could have countless, researched, answers to questions they’ve been asking since the start of everything! 

What if one of these books could tell them why Amity Park seemed to attract the supernatural, why they seemed to gain power within the city’s boundaries, why Danny wasn’t dead. He wanted nothing more than to grab any one of these books, walk into the next room, with the couches and comfortable chairs, sit down and read and read until he found something, anything he could use. 

These books might even be able to help him deal with the supernatural threats that plagued their town. Mostly they’ve been surviving through luck and half baked internet searches with the occasional trip to the town library. And while it had been enough so far, Danny was practically salivating at the thought of being properly, genuinely prepared for something for once. 

“Of course we aren’t,” Sam said, dragging Danny out of his fantasies of maybe knowing what he was doing, “they’re completely deteriorated. If we even tried to open one it would probably fall apart.”

Danny frowned, and then looked down at the book he’d subconsciously grabbed. It didn’t seem as bad as Sam was describing, but he also didn’t want to risk it either. He’d realized early on there was a difference between what he was seeing and what was actually real. He set it down gently and looked around the rest of the room with his friends. 

“Are we so sure this place is haunted?” Danny asked. By then, the sun had set entirely and the only light left was their flashlights. High powered and with fresh batteries they were still little use against the encroaching dark and Danny wanted to move on to the next floor already if he wasn’t going to be able to open a book. 

Tucker stood up from behind a precariously leaning shelf and dusted himself off, “Dude you’re the one that said there was something here and we needed to investigate. Remember, like an hour ago when the two of us were trying to stop you from going inside?”

Danny scoffed, “that’s not what I mean.”

“What do you mean then?” Sam asked, stepping closer so she could meet his eyes. There was something in her expression, curiosity or suspicion, Danny couldn’t quite parse. 

“I…” Danny stopped to think, what did he mean? Was it just that the place didn’t feel haunted? There wasn’t anything here trying to scare him away, no ominous winds or loud knocking, but they’ve gone into haunts before that took a long time to start actually reacting to them. “There’s no, I don’t know how to explain it. Usually when we go somewhere haunted, that a ghost has a claim to or whatever… there’s this feeling that I’m trespassing? I don’t feel like I’m trespassing here.”

That probably didn’t make any sense, and despite everything they didn’t usually act on Danny’s gut instincts as a group without evidence. The issue with the circus and it’s terrifying owner was a lesson too well learned after all. 

True to expectations neither Sam nor Tucker looked convinced. They shared a quick ‘what now’ look between each other and Danny resisted taking a step back and sinking into the wall. Not that he could do that, as far as he knew he couldn’t do that. Only actual ghosts could do something like that and despite everything Danny was still human- well, still had a physical form. 

Permanently. 

“Let’s move on upstairs,” Sam reasoned, “if Danny’s right there won’t be any harm in it, and if he’s not we’ll find out once whatever’s here starts actually reacting to us, right?”

Perfectly reasonable and logicked as always. Danny nodded and walked to the next door, if he was right it would lead into the room they had first entered with the staircase that twisted and climbed higher and higher into the heart of the tower. That was the next place to go. He knew that.

Tucker gently patted his shoulder as they walked towards the base of the stairs, “yeah, maybe the ghost doesn’t consider this bottom part his haunt? Maybe he just likes the clock on top?”

Danny smiled, “like the hunchback of Notre Dame?”

Smiling back, Tucker nodded, “exactly! Oh man, we gotta find out if that guy is real one of these days.”

“We have our hands a bit tied with Amity Park without going after disney characters,” Sam said, pushing the two of them from behind so they’d actually go up the stairs. “Now let's get a move on, I want to be back home before breakfast so my parents don’t realize I snuck out again.”

There was something Danny could say but he bit back the comment about how at least her parents would notice and quickly walked up the stairs instead. As soon as his feet touched the first step a bubbly feeling lifted in his chest, and it made him want to go higher as fast as he could there was someone up there waiting for him-

“Danny!” Sam called out, grabbing him by the arm, “calm down!”

Her grip on his arm was tight and Danny looked down to see what had her panicked only to find his feet had left the stairs entirely and he’d started floating upwards instead of walking. Like a human. Like his friends. Like what he was supposed to be. 

He swallowed and let himself sink back down, forcing the feeling in his chest back as much as he could. It was like trying to kill the fizz in a shaken soda by screwing a cap back on it and he struggled with it for a moment. He’d never felt like this before- sure, most ghosts and other supernatural entities tended to broadcast emotions to a higher degree than humans, and with them also being natural empaths and Danny’s unfortunate situation it often led to him being overtaken by emotions that weren’t necessarily his own. 

It’s just, they’ve never been this overwhelmingly positive before.

Even with Vlad, as human as he was, his emotions were always tinted with obsession and desperation. His need to have Danny and his mother for his own colored every interaction he’d had with the man and it often left a bitter, strained feeling in his chest. Right now, Danny felt almost giddy. And he wasn’t even sure it wasn’t just his own emotions, reacting to the environment around him. It was a nice environment after all. 

But Danny was good at ignoring things like that. 

“My bad. I’ll try and keep my feet on the ground from now on.”

Sam looked conflicted, “Danny you know we don’t mind you using your powers,” Danny nodded, they’d told him so many times over and over again, “But we don’t want to lose you to them. You promised to stay with us, remember?”

Danny smiled, “I remember. I won’t end up like that, I promised. That’s why we’re here right? To stop it?”

Sam nodded and let him go. 

The second floor was similar to the first, in that it had three rooms leading into each other with the spiral staircase in the center. Danny started with the door on the right. It was a study. There was a desk, paperwork, and a bottle of ink with a quill and Danny found himself wondering just how old this clocktower really was. And how long it had been since its occupant was truly here, alive, if ever. 

They split up and started looking around, eagerness exposed in their movements. This was the most likely place to have something useful, especially if whoever spent their time here was as studious as the lower floor suggested.  Danny went for the desk. 

There was a note on it, in perfect, looped handwriting and the ink was still glistening, fresh from the bottle if the smell had anything to say about it. Danny ran his hand across the words hoping to smudge it, but it had dried already, if barely. 

It’s nice to meet you, little anomaly.

Danny grit his teeth. 

“Guys,” he called out, holding the paper, “It knows we’re here.”

Sam and Tucker rushed over, and Sam grabbed the paper from his hand to read for herself. “Little anomaly? Isn't that kind of insensitive?”

“Yeah,” Tucker agreed, “you just have weird ghost powers right? Vlad’s the same way it’s not like you’re the only person on the planet like you.”

Hesitant to correct him, Danny bit his tongue. It was true that Vlad was a person who had unfortunately gained the abilities of a ghost, things like floating, making objects move with his mind or using his spirit to control people while he slept safe and sound at home. And he’d gained them in a similar way to Danny as well, trusting the wrong people and delving into things he never fully understood and still didn’t. 

It was just … less true for Danny was all. 

But he wasn’t going to tell them that, he wasn’t going to tell anyone that. So how did whoever, or whatever this was, know? Or was it just saying things to get under his skin, that was pretty par for the course when it came to ghosts. So why wasn’t it doing anything else? Trying to get them to leave? Was Sam right? Was it really a trap this entire time? What would happen if they went back downstairs and tried the door, would it open?

He grabbed the paper and shoved it into one of his jackets pockets, there was plenty of time to freak out over it later after all. “Let’s keep looking around, there has to be something here that it’s trying to distract us from.”

Unfortunately, there wasn’t anything more useful than there had been downstairs. Just what one would expect from a normal office. What papers he did find had detailed extensive notes, yes. But they were in a language Danny couldn’t read and neither Sam nor Tucker even recognized. It was infuriating!

Almost like whoever was haunting this place, was telling them it had all the answers they wanted but wouldn’t give them any. He just wanted to know how - Danny shook his head. There had to be something. He wouldn’t have been led all the way here, had all those dreams, if there was nothing he could do at all. 

He threw one more frustrated look around the office before he threw the stack of papers he’d been digging through on the floor and marched over to the next door. It was unlocked, again, just like all of the others and it only served to increase Danny’s frustration. 

“Wait, Danny,” Sam noticed him leaving and quickly followed, the door slammed shut behind them, locking Tucker inside the office.

“No,” he whispered, this was all his fault, he shouldn’t have let this ghost get in his head like this! He never should have let his emotions take him over, he knew better. It led to bad things. Horrible, terrible, things. 

There was a loud bang on the door, someone was pounding against it and Danny flinched. Was the actual haunting finally starting? Was everything really just a way to lure them deeper into the tower and away from each other? 

“Guys?” he heard Tucker call out from the other side of the door, “did you seriously just leave me behind? Don’t we have like, a rule against that?!” 

Danny sighed in relief, it was just Tucker. “Are you okay Tuck? Did anything happen over there when the door shut? Any oozing walls or flying papers-”

There was another thump, probably Tucker banging his head against the door, “I know what to look for Danny I’ve been doing this the exact same amount of time as you.”

“Yeah yeah,” Danny acquessed. “Just get to the stairs and we’ll meet you there.”

He exchanged a glance with Sam, she was glaring a hole into the side of his head and he felt guilty for being the cause of everything going wrong, again. So he apologized and ignored her exaggerated eye roll when she said he should have known better, because well, he did. But what was he going to do, apologize twice?

The room they were in was a simple one, likely some kind of storage space that he and Sam could dig through for hours on end, but it was more important to get to Tucker than to try and make sure they didn’t miss anything. 

Which, in hindsight, was probably exactly why they’d been separated. 

A cold breeze tickled at Danny’s hair and he felt himself relax despite it all. It felt nice, the cold, and Danny liked when the haunts they went to leaned towards the chillier side like this. Sometimes, especially if Vlad was involved, it felt like he was walking into an overwarm swamp when he entered a haunt and it made him itchy and uncomfortable the entire time. Vlad never seemed to notice, and his friends complain equally about both, so Danny had mostly kept it to himself. 

The entire tower felt nice, cold dry air, the smell of books, ink, and cookies, even the playful, excited feeling that seemed to permeate throughout the tower. Like someone had designed it to appeal in every way to both sides of Danny’s instincts. 

It was unnerving. 

He followed Sam out of the room and back into the middle where the stairs were, but Tucker wasn’t there. 

Sam pulled out her phone, and Danny held his breath as it rang, once, twice, and then a click and Tucker’s familiar, annoyed voice came through the speaker and Danny sighed in relief. “Uh guys? I couldn’t get out the door so I tried to climb out a window, and there was uh, a ladder. So I’m outside right now. Come get me?”

Danny met eyes with Sam and nodded, they headed back down, “we’re coming Tuck,” he said.

“Cool, cool, actually rather than coming to get me, can we just go home? Come back later, like in the day time? How come we never do these things in the daytime?”

“You know that’s not how ghosts work Tucker.” Sam said, bored, as they walked to the front door. Danny felt a tug, something like a hand on his shoulder and turned to see what was behind him. There wasn’t anything there. 

He turned back around to see that Sam had already walked outside, and was holding the door open for him, one of her eyebrows raised. Awkwardly, Danny jogged a little, so as to not hold them up too long. But before he could actually walk outside the door slammed shut.

Sam screamed.

“Danny! Are you okay!” Tucker asked, his voice panicked and muffled from the other side of the door.

“I’m fine,” Danny said, gritting his teeth and turning around. The room didn’t look or feel any different. There was nothing screaming at him to get out or anything else malicious. If anything it seemed even cosier than before, and Danny didn’t really know how to react to that. 

He looked back at the door. There was a way, no. He couldn’t do that. Danny pinched at the bridge of his nose, the only thing to do, really, was to see who had invited him in. That’s what it was right? Some kind of weird ghostly invite?

“I’m going to go check upstairs,” he called out to his friends before walking back towards the staircase. 

They pounded on the door, “Danny don’t you dare go up there without us! Just wait, we’ll find a way in! It’s dangerous alone!” 

Ignoring their protests Danny took the stairs two steps at a time, fighting the rising excitement in his chest and firmly planting his feet against the polished wood. There were answers waiting for him, he knew there were. He just had to find them. 

The third floor had a bedroom, it was nice, cozy and the bed even looked inviting. Danny didn’t bother to stay long. Whoever it was that called him here wasn’t in this room, nor were they in the next or the one after that. Just two bedrooms and a bathroom on that floor and Danny quickly made his way to the next. 

This room was different from the rest. For one there were windows, everywhere, that seemed to play different scenes of different people from all over the world. If Danny strained his ears, he could even hear them speaking different languages. On the other side from the windows was an entire wall of clockwork that chimed and churned as the gears moved, keeping the face of the clock on the outside ticking along in sync with the rest of the world. 

When Danny stepped into the room properly the carpet sunk easily underneath his feet and he felt a nice, cold breeze that came from a purple flamed fire housed properly in a fireplace in the middle of the room. He hadn’t even noticed a chimney from outside. 

There was a man in front of the fire. He was tall and hooded and he carried an equally tall and gnarled staff in one of his gloved hands. Danny felt himself freeze, he had never seen a ghost this solid before. There was always a little bit of transparency, no matter how powerful, they didn’t have physical forms afterall. Not like Danny.

“Who are you?” he asked. His voice was dry and soft and Danny was thankful when it didn’t crack on his question. How embarrassing would that have been? 

The man turned around, his face changing as he did from old and aged to a younger one, closer to his parent’s age, a large jagged scar marking it’s way through one of his eyes and down his cheek. He smiled, “I am Clockwork, Master of time. All that was, All that is, and All that will be. I understand you have many questions for me. I hope to answer them.” 

A thousand questions ran rapidly through his mind, why did you call me here? Did you call me here? Why get rid of my friends? What are you and why haven’t I seen anything like you before?

“How do I prevent myself from becoming that.” Danny asked the most pressing question first, desperate. The man-ghost-Clockwork, sighed and gestured for him to sit. There was a comfortable looking couch with an equally comfortable chair across from it and a plate of cookies set on an elegantly carved coffee table between the two.

“That’s easily answered, sit, have a cookie.” Clockwork floated over, crossing his legs and settling into the chair before grabbing a cookie for himself. 

Danny glanced at them, uncertain, before taking a seat. The couch was even more comfortable than it looked and he found himself sinking back into it, confused. The room was a nice, cold, temperature as well, despite the fire clearly burning in the fireplace. 

He grabbed one of the cookies, “can I eat these?” he asked, looking over at his host.

“Of course,” Clockwork smiled, taking a bite of his own before leaning back, “I made them for you. Though your friends would have to be more careful, I’m not sure what food like this would do to a human.”

“I am human,” Danny argued, placing the cookie back on its plate. He had to, denial was all he had left at this point. 

Clockwork frowned, “yes, well, I suppose we’ll get there next. You wanted to know about your dreams.”

Finally, Danny nodded, “they’re different ever since- uh well… ever since the incident.”

“It’s natural to not want to talk about one’s death,” Clockwork said, he leaned forward and tilted his head, “or one’s birth.”

“My dreams,” Danny asked, avoiding that conversation with all the grace of a blind hippo, “why are they different. You know right?”

Sighing, Clockwork nodded and leaned back, “yes, I know everything. They’re different, frankly, because they’re dreams. It’s unsettling to you because it’s new, you’ve never dreamed before.”

Danny scowled, “that doesn’t make any sense, I had plenty of dreams when-”

Clockwork interrupted him, disappointment plain under his hood, “You can lie to your friends Daniel, but I already know the truth. Just as you do.”

“I was astral projecting. Like what Vlad does… but then why-?” Danny bit his tongue. He couldn’t say it, not outloud. It was too difficult, he’d spent too long hiding it, pushing it away and doing everything he could to keep anyone from noticing. 

“Why can’t you do it anymore?” Clockwork answered for him, Danny nodded. “The simple answer is that you aren’t like Vladimir, despite what he believes and would like you to believe as well. But that’s something else you already know. Ask me a question you don’t have the answers for.”

Danny grabbed another cookie, biting into it fiercely just to have an excuse not to speak. It tasted really good, better than anything he’d had in a while and Danny wondered if maybe there was something in it meant to sate his less human cravings. The thought didn’t help his inner turmoil. 

Clockwork smiled softly at him though and sighed, “Fine, in order to answer your question, first I have one of my own.”

“Didn’t you just say you know everything?” Danny mumbled before shoving more cookie in his mouth. 

“What good is a teacher that only lectures?” Clockwork said in retort, “do you remember how you died?”

He did, of course he did. “Kinda hard to forget that. Lab accident, electrocution, nothing fancy.” he said, curling in on himself. Clockwork had been right before, it was painful to talk about. But he wanted, no, needed the answers to his questions. He’d survive this. 

“Well, that’s where your first mistake lies. Yes, that is what stopped your heart, and likely the most memorable part, but you didn’t die from that Daniel. What killed you came after.”

Danny frowned, “that doesn’t make any sense? What happened after?”

“Your spirit was never particularly bound to your body in the first place, likely due to your parents dabbling where they shouldn’t for as long as they did before you were ever born. There was a summoning, I think you remember, that your parents were holding when your accident happened on the floor below them.”

It was frustrating, that he was right. That he knew it. “I remember them recognizing me, my spirit. I remember them finding my body and shoving me back in. I remember the pain, and waking up and seeing-” Danny choked on the realization. It couldn’t be...

“Seeing the world in your dreams?” Clockwork asked, “the way you saw it when you were a spirit, free from the confines of your body, correct?” He floated over the table, sat next to Danny, and placed a hand on his back. Danny realized he had been shaking. 

He grabbed the fabric of his jeans in a tight grip and tried to stop, “It’s all real, right? It isn’t… I’m not still dreaming? Please, I need to know.”

The hand on his back pulled him close, tucked into Clockwork’s side and Danny felt comforted despite himself, he fought to blink away tears that had been building behind his eyes as he tucked himself into Clockwork’s side. He was so solid, unlike any other ghost Danny had ever met and he seemed to radiate comfort where most just gave off fear and hurt. 

“You’re not dreaming Daniel, you never were. The world is different when you see it  through our eyes, that is all. When you woke up, you weren’t human anymore. Of course you wouldn’t be limited by a human’s sight.”

Danny curled into himself tighter, despair clouding around him and likely leeching unpleasantly into the air. It would be a wonder if Clockwork didn’t feel it. “So I’m a ghost.”

“Hardly,” Clockwork said and Danny stopped breathing, “Do you think the world is so simple it is split between what is ghostly and what is not?”

“I…” Danny had actually assumed that. So far everything they’d dealt with so far, short of Vlad, had either been a ghost or spirit of some kind, or a human that used magic or ghostly artifacts. Even Vlad had simply been a person who had learned how to control his own spirit the way a ghost would. If Danny wasn’t a human, and he wasn’t a ghost, then what was he?

Clockwork ruffled his hair, “I suppose you’re young. It is easier, afterall, to think of it that way. But Daniel, ghosts don’t have physical forms. They can possess one, or control one, and sometimes even mimic one, but they are spirits.”

He sighed, “you are something entirely different. You’re something remarkable.”

Danny leaned back, using the sleeves of his hoodie to quickly dry his tears so he could look Clockwork in the eye, “What am I?”

“You’re new.”

Danny shoved him, “Agghh, I knew that you jerk!” It was probably a bad idea to attack or antagonize someone as clearly powerful and knowledgeable as Clockwork, but really he’d been asking for it. And Danny’s patience was only so strong. 

Clockwork didn’t fight him back though, nor did he get offended. Instead he just smiled that soft smile that Danny was starting to realize was affection, and said, “did you? Weren’t you trying to read my books to find out if there was anyone else like you?”

“Well yeah-” Danny stopped, “Oh. There wouldn’t be anything would there? If I’m the first?”

He groaned, that really was just his luck. He’d never figure out anything at this rate. Clockwork, the bastard, just hummed and grabbed another cookie, offering it to him. “No there wouldn’t. But you’re not the only one who was the first or only of their kind. Who had to figure out on their own, who and what they are.”

“You mean Vlad?” Danny asked, the thought left a sour taste in his mouth, wow he really hoped he didn’t mean Vlad.

Clockwork’s smile turned brittle, “I don’t mean Vlad.”

Danny chuckled, his thoughts turning mischievous, “I don’t know, he seems pretty unique, what with all those different abilities he has and the way he can choose to be human or ghost-”

“Oh please,” Clockwork interrupted, “there’s plenty of humans like Vladimir Masters, you were fully capable of astral projecting like that from birth, no black magic necessary. Just because he found a way to twist-”

He stopped, then looked down at Danny who was trying and failing to hold back a shit eating grin. All at once the air seemed to leave him and he deflated, the irritated look on his face replaced with open and honest affection and Danny felt it sing in the air around them.

“You were messing with me.”

“To be fair I didn’t think it would work, all knowing and everything.” Danny said, unable to fight the bubbling feeling in his chest as it rose to meet the affection around them. Usually it sucked having the empathy of a ghost and being near one or at least, something with the same traits. The negative emotions tended to bounce between him and them and amplify and it always made Danny struggle to parse his own emotions from theirs. But right now, in the top of a clock tower with the most powerful entity Danny had ever met, he felt happiness and joy to a degree he’d long forgotten. It was dizzying. He was almost giddy with it.

Clockwork patted him on the head, purposefully messing his hair, “yes well. I think in time, it will be more obvious just how different you truly are, how crucial every small coincidence was that came together that night to create you. But until then, you had another question? I can answer it now.”

Danny frowned as he realized what Clockwork meant, “You! I asked that question first! How did you only answer the one you wanted to!!”

“It was important,” Clockwork said, relaxing into the couch next to Danny, “to answer that question I had to be sure you knew what you were.”

He sputtered, “But I don’t?! I’m just something new! Something different!”

“Something physical that exists with the laws of the spiritual.”

“Yeah!” Danny said, “Wait, what?”

Clockwork nodded his head, “a physical entity that exists within the realms of spiritual possibility. It must be such a struggle, to deal with both sets of instincts like that.”

Danny’s head hurt, it was too much to try and understand the details of all of this. Maybe Tucker was right and he should just have let it be, learn to live with the new normal his life was now. Wasn’t that kind of what Clockwork was suggesting anyways? Then again, unlike Tucker, he did seem to thrive off of all of Danny’s questions, whether he actually answered them or not. 

“Yeah, I have to fight my more ghostly instincts all the time. It’s exhausting.” he said, leaning into Clockwork. It should have been embarrassing, seeking comfort like that, but he’d already cried into his shoulder and there wasn’t really any way to come back from that so Danny did as he pleased. 

He felt Clockwork’s hand return to his back, a solid comforting presence, “Now why would you do that?”

Danny tilted his head in confusion, “what do you mean?”

“Why would you fight against one half of yourself so thoroughly? But embrace the other side entirely?” Clockwork elaborated. “Did you think there wouldn’t be any consequences in fighting against your nature?”

“But,” Danny struggled to speak, pieces of the puzzle he’d thought hopeless putting themselves together in ways he had never expected and didn’t quite understand, “my nature is bad.”

Clockwork frowned and turned to look at Danny properly, “Daniel, it’s your nature. There is nothing good or bad about it. It is only as it is. Everything is as it’s meant to be.”

This was too much, Danny sat up fully and turned entirely towards Clockwork, “are you saying, the way I become that thing from my nightmare, is by… doing what I’ve been doing to avoid becoming that thing?!”

“Yes,” Clockwork answered like it was the most obvious thing in the world. 

He blinked, the answer really couldn’t be that easy. “But in my dream, I, my instincts-”

Clockwork grabbed a cookie and placed it in his hands, “even humans react poorly, when they starve themselves. As you exist now, you simply need a different kind of sustenance. One you’ve been denying.”

Danny felt dread crawl down the length of his spine, “what kind of sustenance?”

“Spirits exist for reasons, and they exist differently from humans. In order to keep existing they need emotions, experiences, something to keep them held together. A spirit that has no reason to exist will simply disappear, you’ve seen such before it is relatively common after all. But you can’t do that, since you are physical in a way that they are not. You can starve yourself endlessly, into madness even if you’re desperate enough.”

“I do it to myself?” Danny asked, flustered and frustrated. It was true then? He really was his own worst enemy? 

Clockwork shook his head, “it is not inevitable Daniel. As you were, it was the most likely path forward. Yes. You would have noticed the symptoms, seen yourself losing control and then, in reaction, suppressed yourself further. Starved yourself further.”

Danny cringed, yeah, that sounded like him. “How do I stop it then? I just embrace what makes me ghostly? What about my parents? If they think they failed the resurrection, that I’m not human anymore, they’ll kill me for real! Or worse!”

“That is indeed troublesome, and the paths of the future where they know your truth are twisted and sharp, every small decision every tiny change causing a greater effect on their reactions as a whole. But you do not need to reveal yourself to your parents to live your truth.”

Relieved, Danny fell back into the couch. He hadn’t even noticed he’d floated off of it, was that good? Bad? He shook his head, this was all too confusing. “How then?” He asked, maybe this time he’d actually get a straight answer. 

Clockwork ruffled his hair and stood up, er, well, floated up and over towards the fire. “You continue doing what you’re doing with your friends, protecting your town and interacting with the truth of the world around you. And…” He turned around, “you can come visit me. It’s quite lonely in the clock tower they trapped me in, and there is much I can teach you about becoming. I had to learn such things about myself once after all.”

“You’ll let me come back? To visit you?” Danny didn’t know what to say. He could come visit, ask more questions, get more answers. It seemed too good to be true, and Danny found himself eager and excited at the prospect. 

For some reason, the entire conversation, he’d thought this would be a one time thing. That the clocktower would disappear behind him and leave any question he didn’t ask unanswered. To find out that wasn’t the case, that he had somehow, against all odds, made some kind of ghostly ally, was beyond expectations. “You’ll help me?”

The answering smile had Danny floating out of his seat, “Of course Daniel. I’ll even bake cookies.” 

[strawbabysimp]

Adult Trio Hanahaki AU HCs

Chrollo

Chrollo actually expects to contract the disease, waiting patiently as the days go by for the first petals to show up. He knows he's been steadily falling in love and he doesn't intend to let you go down this self-destructive road together. He knows loving him will only lead to more pain for you and he's willing to go through this if it means you're alright in the end.

He spends time researching the illness before his body even shows the signs, so confident in his unrequited love that he doesn't doubt this information will prove handy. After a bit of searching, he learns that there's a surgery, performed in only the darkest of alleys, to relieve this sort of "illness."

When he first wakes up to find soft blue petals falling from his mouth, landing slightly disfigured on the sheet beneath him, he doesn't appear surprised or cringe away. He only picks up one of the blue hydrangeas with a soft smile, his waiting having finally come to an end.

He knows there's some risk to the surgery, a chance he could end up dying while on the table, but there's no other choice. So he savors the two of you's potentially last moments together, bringing you your favorite treats and even that outfit he saw you eyeing in the store when you went for a walk one time. He leaves his coat on your couch and by the time you start to chase after him to return it he's already long gone. Hopefully, he'll have a chance to come back and get it later.

He savors the way they burn coming up, the way he can practically feel them blowing around inside his chest before the next coughing spell. This pain grounds him and a part of him will miss the tragedy of loving you. Another part of him knows the pain in his chest isn't all from the flowers. A small, easily contained, part of him had been wishing you felt the same.

He survives. He's in pain but he lives. The romantic love is now gone but he's glad to have his memories intact. When he appears on your doorstep asking for his coat back you invite him in for a mug of something hot to drink and you feel your heart leap at the kind look he gives you.

Hisoka

When Hisoka first begins coughing up the blood-colored petals he doesn't panic, he's too focused on processing one singular thought to worry about his own wellbeing. He thought you had loved him back.

You two always flirted back and forth and while he did put on a bit of an exaggerated performance when saying such things he thought you had felt the same way. He laughs darkly in disbelief, the disgusting petals making their way up his throat once again, serving as a reminder of how he allowed his idiotic desires to fool him. He really thought that if he put his everything into a wish that he would eventually obtain it.

He tries to make you fall in love with him, getting more and more desperate every day, coughing the undeniable sign he was getting worse into his sleeve whenever he's with you. He acts as if it's some sort of magic trick whenever they appear out of nowhere and into his palm, throwing them up with a wide smile so they can fall over the two of you. Your laughter hurts his ears in a masochistic sort of way. He's falling even more in love.

The days go on and when the coughing gets particularly bad you pat his back comfortingly, you ask him what he's coming down with before you spot the petals. You ask him what that is, eyes wide and confused, staring at him as if he kept some sort of disgusting secret. The rational side of himself knew that you were just concerned, scared for him. The irrational part? It was infuriated. How dare you ask him something like that? You were the one that put him here. He should be asking you what's wrong. He was the scared one, not you.

Bloodlust fills his aura and without thinking he strikes out. It's clean and quick, he didn't even have time to think about it. You're bleeding out and he panics. Bringing his hands up to your neck he tries to stop the rush of red. He realizes after a moment that he can't sense your aura. You were gone. And that's okay, he'll tell himself, he won't suffer anymore if you're dead. A small, wilted, pedal leaves his mouth, falling straight into the puddle of red pooling on your lap. He'll be okay.

He picks up a bouquet of red roses to leave by your grave, the walk there spent reminiscing about the way he used to find beauty in the floral displays and unintentional elegance of even the smallest daisy. Now the sickening scent only serves to remind him of how foolish of a man he was and how foolish of a man he still is for wishing things could have worked out somehow. He never does end up leaving those flowers for you.

Illumi

He's at dinner when it first showed up. The petals. Silently eating his food as his mother ranted about Milluki's reclusive tendencies to his face. His chest burned but he didn't react, acknowledging the pain but being able to handle it. He didn't want to disturb his parents with his problems. Just as he was about to take another spoonful he couldn't control his body's movements. Everyone turned to him with wide eyes, his mother complaining about how rude he was being while he was clearly in pain. Her words stopped when she noticed the flowers falling into his bowl.

They screamed and they screamed. They were furious he could have fallen in love with someone, disappointed that he had allowed such feelings to blossom inside of him. He didn't know what was going on. They acted as if he knew what he did was wrong but he didn't even know what was happening. They later explained that this is the sign of unrequited love. A love so strong yet so brutal that it tears apart the one who fosters it. His mind was reeling, trying to figure out who could have caused such a thing until he landed on you. It wasn't a shocking realization. It just made sense. He was in love. You didn't love him back. Simple. Though he couldn't say for sure if his eyes watered due to the choking or this revelation.

Kikyo quickly made her way over to him, gripping his arm with her claws, dragging him up from out of his chair. He could fight it but he doesn't. He was sorry for whatever he did and now he needed to make up for it. They tell him this will be for his own good, that all things are temporary and he'll be just fine.

The room is dark and cold, he's chained to the wall and he can almost make out shapes in the blackened room. He knows his eyes can't really be seeing the objects but his own memory of being kept just like this so many times before has him mapping it out anyway. His family members only come in to feed him once a day, they never talk or let him know how long he has left in here. After what he would later found out was two months spent in such confines they show up. The light is bright and painful but he keeps his eyes open anyways. He missed seeing the world. The petals have finally stopped.

The next time he meets up with you there's no more coughing. You come up to him and ask him where's he's been, if he's okay, what happened to him, etc. He only tells you he had some family business to take care of. You look down at his wrists, bruised and scabbed over, the way his cheekbones stick out in a way that makes him look sickly rather than nicely defined, taking ahold of his fingers gently you place his palm between two of yours. The soft smile you give him brings butterflies to his stomach and he expects the coughing to start up again. Only it doesn't. There's a soft blush on your cheeks and neither of you pull away from the comforting touch.

[spectrum-color]

So. Moiraine going through the redstone doorway to stop Lanfear at the docks. This may be somewhat controversial, but I really do think she should have died for good there. Not because I dislike her; I love Moiraine and she’s my favorite mentor character in all of fantasy. It’s because I think it was a very powerful scene that was true to her character and her (and Lanfear for that matter) coming back later really cheapened it.

Moiraine was a woman who dedicated her life to ensuring the Dragon Reborn would succeed at tremendous personal risk; she knew that the Tower was compromised and the only people she could trust with her mission were Siuan and Lan. Being killed or imprisoned was an ever present risk. She was playing with the highest possible stakes and was painfully aware that if it went wrong, it would bring the end of the world. Without her, Rand would have most likely been found by agents of the Shadow and killed, gentled, or worse. She protected him before he learned how to protect himself and taught him much of what he needed to know fulfill his mission, and she was willing to die without a second thought so that he could. Like Lan said, she was a soldier. She was one of the few people surrounding Rand who wasn’t trying to advance herself in any way. Her agenda was solely to ensure he succeeded in the Last Battle. She can accept her death because she feels Rand has made enough progress that he doesn’t need her to accomplish what he needs to do anymore, and that was the single thing that she cared about the most. What happens at the docks is also extremely important to his arc; he feels like he caused her death because his hangups around fighting women (really Lews Therins residual guilt over killing his wife) stopped him from killing Lanfear and it really kickstarts his downward spiral. I would also argue he had come to respect and care about Moiraine despite his best efforts, but I know not everyone will agree with that. In any case, it was needed both to force him to grow and to push him down the dark path he spends the middle of the series navigating. “You will do well” is incredibly poignant in this context and should have remained her last words to him.

So basically, by dying to protect Rand just as he was starting to be able to stand on his own as a leader, Moiraine fulfilled her life’s work in a rather spectacular fashion and reached a really satisfying end to her character arc. Then she gets brought back later on through a bullshit plot contrivance only to have an egregiously pair the spares marriage to Thom (and I like Thom a lot, but neither of these characters needed a love interest and the way it was handled is just bizarre) and play a diminished role in the rest of the story. Lanfears character also suffers from coming back; the real end to her arc should have been Rand/Lews rejecting her for good but instead she gets a new name (?) and body (??) and decides to start pursuing Mat and Perrin (???) She was a really fun villain but her time was up. RJ really was not willing to let go of characters even when he should have.

[ashbrea381writings]

Fractals and Feathers: Chapter two, Information

“Colored cracks may appear in cases where a soulmate dies and is subsequently resuscitated.” Tim quoted as he sat back from the computer. “This happens frequently with heart patients and those in bad motor accidents.” 

“Yes, but these are a lot of them… And they’re gold.” Damian commented with a sigh. “And Kent has mostly gold with a few red ones. It shouldn’t be possible for someone to die and be resuscitated that many times!” He began pacing around behind Tim, muttering. “There must be some kind of magic involved here, perhaps Mother is behind this, Grandfather always hated my wings, it could be some sort of magic they’re using to try and make me think my soulmate is dead, but it didn’t work right.”

“Baby Bird, that doesn’t explain Jon’s wings.” Dick commented as he walked in, removing his mask and wiping some sweat from his forehead. “Besides, I did some recon too, it seems like a few people who’s soulmates are in Paris have experienced the same thing. When they called their soulmates in a panic over the cracks that had appeared, they were told that there is a new set of Supers in Paris. And one of them has the power to reverse all the damage done by the Villain… Including death.”

Tim gave a groan, typing furiously as he tried to get past the firewall that kept rewriting itself. “I can’t get any info out of Paris. I even set my VPN to and address in Paris, but it somehow keeps blocking me.” He growled in frustration as a window opened on the screen previously just covered with code, showing a young woman with dark, blue-black hair in a high ponytail and a red and black mask over eyes that practically glowed blue.

“Will you stop that?!” She snarled in heavily accented English. “I don’t care who you are, but you need to keep your noses out of our business.”

Thankfully, Tim and Damian were still masked up, and Dick was able to turn around before the video fully opened. “We work with the Justice League, if people are dying repeatedly and are only brought back by magic it IS our business.” Nightwing responded in his best Batman impression as he turned around with his mask back in place. “I’m assuming that would be you who does this?”

“Yes, it is, and I would appreciate it if you and your superpowered friends stayed away from my city.” She seemed to set whatever the camera was attached to on a ledge, showing a stunning view of Paris behind her. “We have it handled here and we don’t need any of your friends making our jobs harder.”

“Isn’t your job to protect the citizens of Paris?!” Robin growled, stalking up to the screen and glaring behind his mask. “Yet somehow, those who we know have soulmates in Paris are suffering with the knowledge that their soulmates keep dying only to be brought back by some magic that might just stop working one day!”

“I don’t get a choice.” She responded, crossing her arms. “Hawkmoth won’t stop until he gets what he wants and I don’t feel like letting the world potentially end, thank you. We are working on his identity, but it’s difficult with the magics involved-such as the one that alerted me to your intrusion and prevents you from finding what you want.”

“And how are we supposed to trust you?” Red Robin asked, almost too casually for Robin’s preference, if the way his shoulders stiffened was any indication. “See, we have a couple people we know personally whose wings are covered in gold and red fractal patterns, and we’re awfully worried about people who have to sacrifice themselves that much. Especially since it obviously sticks long enough to make a mark, AND they all showed up within the last couple of weeks.”

“One of my team members is able to rewind time for a maximum of 5 minutes at a time, this allows the possibility of thousands of different aborted timelines, hence why the lines might show up multiple at a time. Because they might have died in a couple dozen of the timelines before we finally had a solution.” She sighed and pinched her nose. “We are up against a madman with a magic item that allows him to use negative emotions against us and make his victims do the dirty work for him.”

“Dirty work? What kind of dirty work?” Nightwing asked, frowning and crossing his arms in turn. “What does he want, exactly? And how does that potentially end the world?”

“He wants the magic items that myself and my partner use. The ones our team uses and that Hawkmoth and his partner use are from a set of them, I won’t tell you how many. Each has a different power, and the one’s my partner and I use happen to be the two most powerful, using the power of creation…” She paused and gestured to herself, glancing off screen for a moment. “And destruction, respectively.” She stepped to one side to reveal a young man in armored leather with cat ears on his head.

“When you combine them, you are able to make a wish. Would you trust the man who is willing to destroy Paris with such a wish?” The young man asked, his black and acid green wings flaring out as though in a threat display. “Or being able to use someone like Superman as a weapon?”

“How would that be possible?” Nightwing asked, “Also, since we will apparently be having a longer conversation than I expected, I’m Nightwing. These are Robin and Red Robin.” He added, pointing to them. “We would like to offer aid if we can, even from a distance if we needed to. I’m assuming that since you could connect to our computer with the magic you’re using, you could also exempt it from the magic.”

“That’s a bold assumption. I’m Ladybug, and this is my partner Chat Noir. While I could let you guys have an exception, I’m afraid I don’t see why I should trust you.” Her wings were also bristling, the red-and-black spots clearly caused by the magic they used just as Chat’s coloration obviously wasn’t natural.

“We are known for being detectives above all else. We don’t have powers, and one or two of us are even mentally well-adjusted enough that we could probably come to you guys without risking whatever happens with your villain.” Nightwing insisted.

“How about we come to you? Give us a place to meet with you in your city, we have a way to transport ourselves. I’d like to size you up before I give you any more information.” Ladybug countered, moving her hands to her hips. “I don’t trust that you’re nearly as well adjusted as you claim, I’m one of the most positive people on the face of the earth and even I have had to force myself out of mindsets that nearly got me Akumatized. It’s not as easy to avoid as you think.”

“What was that word? Akumatized?” Red Robin asked, frowning as he tried and failed to translate the word.

“It’s what we call it when someone has been taken over by Hawkmoth. He sends out a butterfly corrupted by magic and turns normal people into a villain. Once the Akuma -the butterfly- is purified the victim does not remember any of what happened while they were Akumatized.” The Bug and Cat pair exchanged a glance, making frustrated faces at each other.

“What was that look?” Robin asked, still angry that they weren’t giving him what he wanted. “The look you two had just now?”

“We… We’ll tell you after we decide if we want help from you.” Ladybug sighed. “I’ve added a way for you to message me on my device I’m using to talk to you, it’ll show up as an app on your computer. Don’t use it for trivial matters or I’ll just lock you out. Give me a time and place to meet, using my timezone preferably, and I will do my best to have both me and Chat be there to discuss matters further.” With those last, brisk words, Ladybug reached for her device and cut the call.

“Well, that was rude.” Red Robin huffed, picking up his phone to show Batman’s face in a video call there. “Did you hear all that, B?”

“I heard. Send coordinates for the top of Wayne Enterprises, for 9:00 pm Paris time tomorrow.” He instructed, sighing from his seat in the Batmobile. “We will all meet them there, let her know that myself and the three of you will be there.”

“Copy that, B. Sending the information now.” The young man typed quickly, double-checking what time that would be for them. “That’s the middle of the afternoon, are you sure?”

“Yeah, nobody has anything scheduled for tomorrow, and she sounded about the same age as Robin. With all that considered, I don’t know if they DO have civilian plans early the next day, so I’d rather err towards them having more time to sleep.”

Reading the return message, Red Robin began to chuckle. “They want to meet us at 4am Paris Time, as they already get up that early to do other things and missing half an hour or so wouldn’t be an issue.”

“Very well, if that’s part of their routine, we can handle that.” Batman answered, seeming interested to know what the heck had them up that early.

[shima-draws]

Hiro is here!! We've all been waiting for him!!

You know the drill by now, all the yummy details about his background are under the cut ;) Also be warned it is VERY long I went a little feral writing his backstory lmao

Hiro

Age: 17

Hair color: Orange

Eye color: Pink

Element: Psychic & Forest

Okay so a lot of this is gonna be stuff I'm pulling from posts I've already written to make it easier on myself and so I don't have to repeat anything.

Before he was born, the Novune Forces approached Hiro's parents because they knew that he would be born as a dual elemental. Part of their goal was to raise several dual type children to become human weapons--they targeted dual type babies specifically because they're said to be more powerful since they can use more than one elemental type.

It was the perfect opportunity for Hiro's parents because at the time they were not ready for a child despite agreeing that they were going to have it. Ofc the Forces did not reveal their plans so to them it turned into a nice surrogate parent situation where Hiro's mother would give birth to him and he'd immediately be given up for adoption afterwards. It was definitely hard for them to part with him but they trusted he'd be in good care. Well. That turned out great, as you can probably tell :')

Hiro, along with Kaz and Mallary, became the Forces' iconic trio, with Hiro considered to be the golden child and the most dangerous between the three of them because of his high intellect and skill in combat. He grew up under a very strict regimen and would spend hours each day dedicated to training both his mind and his elemental powers. He's an extremely gifted psychic elemental and took to his abilities almost immediately--he’s able to read his opponents movements and set up traps before they can even get to him. He’s usually airborne for most battles he’s in; he finds it easier to strategize from a higher vantage point, and he also just likes to float around and dodge enemy attacks and act like an ass lmao. He’s a pro at immobilizing his enemies so they can no longer move, ending his battles swiftly and cleanly. Physically he’s not very powerful so he uses a magic staff to fight. His intelligence more than makes up for his lack of super strength!

He has a special power like Kaz’s extra dragon typing (and, like Kaz, he has a streak in his hair from the experimentation)—Hiro gets visions of death, basically predictions of the future, and his visions are never wrong. He’s able to see who dies in battle and the Forces use this to their advantage so that they can prepare around any casualties. Hiro hates getting these visions because he doesn’t like seeing people die, he witnesses their last moments and it’s certainly traumatizing for him;; and like Kaz, this power was something he only unlocked through lots of experimentation on him, so he usually passes out for hours after getting a vision since it’s not a “natural” ability he was born with.

As for his second typing, it was something he never really clicked with. Forest elementals have to be very attuned to nature and are generally more kindhearted and gentle people, but since Hiro grew up in a base with only limited access to the outside (and because he’s forced into acting as an antagonist), his forest elemental powers were repressed over the years. He’s already powerful enough as a psychic elemental so he doesn’t feel the need to resort to a second power, especially since his superiors viewed his second typing as useless and he never received proper training on how to use it. He's already a huge threat as he is so they said good enough. The Forces believe that if something is useless, throw it away, so they eventually abandoned any hope of him succeeding in bettering his forest powers, and focused solely on enhancing his psychic abilities and making his death visions clearer.

Before Hiro became the cold-hearted and snarky colonel that the Forces know him as, he was actually a very kind child with an aversion to violence, and cried often. That got forced out of him pretty quickly though--he learned right away that disobedience means punishment and the only way to pay for his mistakes is by verbal and physical abuse. Poor baby :'( He and Kaz and Mallary go through a LOT of unfair shit as kids. The event that really drove home his intense determination and flawless record was the first mission he was ever sent out on.

This happened when he was around 13. Usually members of the Forces don't get to go out on solo missions unless they have a high position or are old enough to, but he was the exception because of his talent and because it was an experiment to see if he could handle it. His mission was to infiltrate a small, family run guild and basically gather intel and find out what their agenda was, as there were rumors they knew of some of the Forces’ plans. Upon Hiro’s arrival to the town where the guild was situated, he ends up rescuing the Guildmaster’s daughter, Lorelai, who is around his age. Unknowingly, he triggered his forest elemental powers, which caused them to land in a field of flowers he’d bloomed. Because of this, Lorelai starts to call him Flower, since he couldn’t come up with a codename in time and he doesn’t have a real name anyway lol

A couple weeks pass and Hiro spends more and more time with the guild, growing closer to Lorelai and being lulled into a false sense of security. He becomes extremely jealous of how the guild lives, and is very emotional at how much of a family they are, and how sweetly they treat him. Hiro starts to ponder over whether or not he should be sneaking around behind their back, when one day the guild is attacked while he’s out. When he returns, the village is set ablaze, and when Hiro demands what’s going on, his superior informs him that he was merely a decoy to get their defenses down, since apparently the Forces had definitive proof that they knew of their plans. His superior orders Hiro to search the village and kill anybody who was left.

Hiro, panicked, searches for Lorelai, and finds her hiding in the forest nearby. He apologizes to her and has a mental breakdown, blaming himself for all of her misfortune. Lorelai realizes that he’s being kept in the Forces against his will and begs him to run away with her. Hiro knows that he’ll be hunted down if he does, and Lorelai could get hurt, so he tells her he has to stay with them. In the midst of this, they are confronted with the current colonel of the Forces, who encourages Hiro to kill Lorelai. Hiro refuses, and the colonel calls him out for insubordination. The colonel then decides to kill both of them in order to get a promotion. Hiro leaps to defend both Lorelai and himself, and in the scuffle, receives the scar on his head, and accidentally kills the colonel. Traumatized, bloodied, and terrified, Lorelai is the one to apologize to him as he cries his eyes out. Hiro numbly reassures her and tells her to run while she can. Lorelai admits that she loves him and bids him farewell, hoping that they can meet again, and that she’s sorry she can’t do more for him.

This is when Hiro decides to become the perfect agent—dangerous, cruel, and flawless, so that something like this never happens again, and so that he can have enough power to make the decisions rather than just following orders to mindlessly kill people. From then on out he does what he’s told without any complaints and has a record for never failing a single mission the Forces have given to him. Any enemy considers him to be absolutely ruthless because he does not hesitate in battles and will neutralize with no questions asked. He’s a cocky little bastard around enemies lmao he loves to snark them and tease them. He’s strictly against killing after what happened to the colonel, so instead, if it’s a high risk operation, he erases the memories of his targets to reduce the threat. Because he’s so uncomfortable with the thought of death in general he reasons that losing your memories is better than dying, and that makes it easier on the Forces as well since they’ll leave less of a trail rather than just killing people left and right. 

Growing up, Hiro didn’t interact with Kaz very much, and they usually just saw each other in passing. However they both respect each other a great amount, and they sympathize with each other, being in the same sort of situation. Both the Hiro and Kaz hate their upbringing and hold a grudge against their superiors for their treatment and experimentation on them;; As for Mallary, Hiro became enamored with her because she reminds him a lot of Lorelai (who he later admits to being his first love). He finds her strength captivating and the way she doesn’t give a shit about other people’s opinions admirable. Hiro eventually falls prey to her manipulation and falls over himself to please her, which bothers Kaz because he knows Mallary’s just toying with him.

After the Forces’ plan to kidnap Ginni and use her as a hostage blows up in their face, Hiro finds out that Kaz had escaped with her, and commends him on the extremely smart decision to do so lol. He wonders if he should start considering leaving the Forces as well, seeing as he’s mature and responsible (and smart) enough to make it on his own. He’s ordered to retrieve Kaz which was a HUGE mistake on the Forces’ part because they didn’t realize Hiro’s loyalties lied more with people on the outside. Hiro meets up with Kaz and Kaz eventually convinces him to desert the Forces and work with him to stop their plans. Hiro agrees to work as a double agent for a while, leaking all of the Forces’ information to Kaz, Ginni, and the guild. In the midst of all this, Hiro meets Olivia, who pretty much calls dibs on him and she’s like “Listen Ginni got to give Kaz his name so can I give the colonel a name?? Please???” So she starts calling him Hiro! And finally baby boy smarts up and starts crushing on a girl that actually gives a damn about him and god dammit it’s the cutest fucking case of puppy love since Dusk/Nozomi. Hiro absolutely adores her, but he’s too nervous to actually do anything about it because he’s got huge abandonment issues (thanks again bad parenting! And Mallary!) and doesn’t want to ruin one of the only genuine friendships he’s ever had. But he is head over HEELS for Olivia and it’s so……softe.

Mallary finds out that Hiro’s acting as a spy, and retaliates. Hiro realizes just how awfully she’s treated him and defeats her, allowing him to escape and officially join up with the guild.

After that it’s a whole bunch of crazy action stuff as plans come together and they get to take down the Forces. Hiro falls harder and deeper for Olivia while she remains oblivious (at least, for a little while, until she finally starts noticing). He grows closer to Kaz and Ginni as well, and begins connecting with Kaz on a deep level because of their shared history. (They’re kind of like brothers, and Hiro considers him to be his best friend :’) )

Once the Forces are defeated, Hiro and Kaz both decide to go on a journey of self discovery in order to better themselves and learn more about the world they haven’t seen due to being locked up for so many years. Kaz and Ginni are already on the verge of forming a relationship, but with Olivia and Hiro it’s still tentative since she’s unsure and he still feels inadequate as a romantic partner. Olivia admits that she likes him and Hiro is so happy he’s ready to burst, but then he realizes it’s not the right time for them to be together so he gently rejects her. (Olivia takes this as an actual rejection tho not a “I’m not ready to be in a relationship with you yet tho I WANT to” and Ginni’s like YA’LL ARE SO DUMB I S2G).

Hiro and Kaz go their separate ways, and Hiro travels around for a while! He eventually settles in a lovely little village where he learns about his forest elemental powers and how to use them better. He’s finally able to connect with other people and essentially becomes way softer around the edges, revealing the true personality he had when he was a kid. A year or so passes and suddenly Kaz, Ginni and Olivia show up to reunite with him, and not long after that Hiro and Olivia FINALLY get together and start dating 😔👌 (Ginni: TOOK you look enough, god)

At some point the four of them go on a journey together and Hiro runs into his biological parents again…!! And he finds out he has a younger sister and they all reconnect and it’s SO EMOTIONAL

Other than that I think that’s all I have 🤔 Thanks for reading though this epic rollercoaster ride of a story plot lol!

Extra personality traits

-Hiro’s sarcasm and snarkiness is a defense mechanism to prevent anybody from seeing his vulnerable side, and also a way to trick the fear inside of him. Kaz is the one to point this out actually lol

-Despite that he does enjoy teasing people lightheartedly and being sassy, once he gets comfortable enough with them! There is a difference between his snarkiness towards enemies compared to that towards friends

-Is EXTREMELY loyal to the people he cares about. At first he tends to act prickly and kind of standoffish towards people he doesn’t know well. Over time he becomes more open to trusting others. Once you earn his trust and he deems you worthy of his friendship he instantly becomes softer and kinder haha, it’s like a switch

-Often dismisses people that he thinks aren’t worth his time or aren’t smart enough to hold an intelligent conversation with him

-Spends a lot of time reading and gathering knowledge. He is very book smart—but not very people smart :’D He and Kaz will spend hours in the guild’s library, since they’re both very thirsty for information outside of what they studied during their time in the Forces

-Touch starved as FUCK. He flips his shit every time somebody touches him in a friendly way, and will melt into a puddle if he gets hugged

-He can be very nosy and insensitive sometimes, prying into other people’s personal affairs if he thinks he can solve the issue

-Absolutely a tactics expert. He calculates all of his moves very carefully, and uses prediction tactics to leave no room for error. He enjoys coming up with mock battle situations to challenge himself.

-Very self-sacrificial;; he views the lives of those he cares about to be far more important than his own. He’ll lay his life on the line for his friends in an instant

-Is the person in the group who is the least fond of violence. If he can find a way around injuring someone, he’ll do it. He prefers to restrict his enemy’s movements or slow them down so they can’t fight back. He is VERY good at neutralizing opponents before they can even register it

-SUPER speedy. Due to his small size he’s very quick, most people don’t see him coming

-He’s really sensitive about his height fjmaksldmas he snaps at people who make fun of him for it

-Tends to levitate when he’s in deep thought. Olivia finds this very cute

-Blooms flowers when he’s happy/embarrassed

-He’s actually. A very talented dancer :0 During his year away from the guild he learned a lot of folk dances at the village he was living in, and when the others witness it they get really starstruck because it’s super mesmerizing!! He blooms flowers as he dances

-At his core he’s a very compassionate character!!

-After escaping from the Forces, he’s able to express his emotions more openly, and goes back to the way he was as a child. He’s a crybaby :’) He cries whenever someone he cares about gets hurt

-The only person in the group with the fucking brain cell, and the most rational one. Unless Olivia gets involved, then he gets stupid and flustered lmao

[gamerwoo]

[Tales from the Pack] Chan: Homewrecker (Part Six)

Characters: Chan x female reader

Genre/warnings: werewolf au, fantasy, it’s basically all angst i’m sorry lmao

Word count: 1,741

Summary: Chan caught your attention as soon as your eyes met across the market. Something about him drew you to him, and you knew you were meant to be. However, you were already taken and arranged to be married on your next birthday, so you could never be together.

a/n: things in bold are in english

Previous | Next | Homewrecker Masterlist

Rin frowned as she stared at her alpha. He was just reading a book at the kitchen table while she stood at the counter and just watched him, the frown not necessarily intentional, but it appeared because of her thoughts.

“Do you want something or are you going to continue to stare at me until you burn a hole in my head?” Jiung wondered, not looking up from his book.

She was well aware the older wolf knew she was there and had been watching him silently, she just wasn’t sure what to say to him. Whenever she tried to bring up what was bothering her, he just brushed it off and said everything would be fine. Rin absolutely loved Jiung, but she didn’t like how positive he always was. It was going to get him in trouble one day.

“I still feel like Eunjin’s getting closer to us whenever she screams,” Rin stated for at least the tenth time since meeting with Seungcheol’s pack. It had only been two days since then, but both nights, the pack had woken up to Eunjin screaming in the distance -- and Rin was sure it was getting louder each time. “I don’t like this feeling I’m getting, Ji.”

“Her screams were never an issue to you before, and now they are? She was in our house before, Corinne,” he reminded the younger girl with a chuckle, setting his book down on the table and turning his attention to her. “I’m telling you, everything will be okay. That probably has nothing to do with us.”

Rin grimaced at his use of her full name before making a face at him. But despite being playful with the alpha, she still felt immense worry that going into town with Seungcheol’s pack was a bad idea. She understood the pack’s promise to always help others in need, but she’d also heard the horror stories of how doing that had gone wrong for them. She was the newest member of the pack even though she wasn’t the youngest -- Jiung and Chanseong had found her on a trip to Australia  where she’d fled to from New Zealand -- so she didn’t have to go through the loss the pack had faced. But she’d heard they used to have so many more of them, and they’d all died from either trying to help other packs, or from very unfortunate accidents -- like Rika’s mate. And she feared that Jiung’s positive and helpful mindset was going to cause even more causalities, especially with them having to go into town to help. 

But, knowing Jiung would continue to wave away her concerns until she ultimately gave up again, Rin didn’t say another word about it.

-

Things were normal that morning in the house as Chan returned home. Only a few of the pack were awake -- he wasn’t sure why some of the pack woke at the crack of dawn, but at least it meant that there was usually breakfast for him when he got home --  but Soonyoung wasn’t in the kitchen waiting up for him like usual.

“He probably went into town again,” Junhui shrugged when Chan had asked about it. “He’s not in his room, so that’s my best bet.”

“Why’re you even awake, anyway?” the youngest wondered.

Jun sighed as he continued making his own breakfast, mumbling, “Stupid fucking birds...”

The pup opted to not comment on Junhui’s odd reoccurring nightmare and just ate his breakfast before going upstairs to sleep. He didn’t really sleep much when he was with you -- he might doze off a bit, but it wasn’t enough to make him feel rested -- so he often went up to his room after eating breakfast.

However, his slumber was cut short by an ear-piercing scream so loud that he only recalled one time when he heard it: when Eunjin had first seen Joshua. Chan immediately clamped his hands over his ears and let out a howl at the pain, curling into a ball under his blankets. It felt like it lasted forever, and even when it was over, it still rang painfully in his ears.

Feeling disoriented, Chan stumbled out of bed and made his way downstairs. He could hear the pack was absolutely silent, but he wasn’t sure why until he rounded the corner to the living room.

Eunjin had just passed through the doorway to the living room, frozen where she stood. The pack was all staring wide-eyed at her, but Chan was unable to see where she was looking since her back was to him. He walked forward and peered around her, following her gaze.

His heart dropped into his stomach.

Even though the whole pack was staring at her in horror, her eyes were locked with Hansol’s. The wolf seemed more surprised than afraid, staring back and blinking every so often without saying anything or moving a muscle. 

What broke the silence was Jooyeon whispering, “Is Hansol gonna die?”

The alpha blinked, broken from his horrified trance. The banshee was screaming in the face of one of his pack, and that struck fear straight through him. What was he supposed to do about that? What was he supposed to think?

He shook his head, softly replying, “I... I don’t know.”

-

Eunjin described it as ‘a bad feeling’. 

“I can’t tell what’s going to happen, I just get a feeling,” was all she was able to explain. But she clearly felt bad for shaking up the pack, quickly adding, “It might not be him dying! He might just...c-cause it...?”

That didn’t really make anybody feel better, but they felt bad for the poor girl. She couldn’t control it.

But with the date of your birthday quickly arriving, the pack was terrified of what was to come, and they had a feeling that Eunjin’s scream had to do with that. Ever since they made the plan with Jiung and his pack, Eunjin had been going out into the woods more and more often. As if the pack wasn’t stressed enough, now they had to worry about tracking down a banshee in the middle of the forest at night.

With only a few days left to work out the rest of the details of the plan, Jiung was going to go back to Seungcheol’s with Hanbin, Chanseong, and Rika while Kyung, Baekhan, and Jaesang went to scope out the town a little bit. Chan was growing more and more anxious as days went by, unable to think about anything else but you and getting you out of there. He knew it was dangerous and risky, but he was also excited that there was a chance of giving you a better life than what you had. It was scary, but it was a risk he knew he had to take.

However, as the countdown to the rescue mission grew shorter, Joshua seemed to grow more and more grumpy. He was even more irritable than normal, and more often than not, he wasn’t even at the house.

“I don’t know what’s up with him lately,” Jeonghan sighed, running his slender fingers through his hair. “He won’t talk to anyone, either.”

“I think I know what it might be,” Seungkwan offered, knowing Joshua wasn’t even around to hear them. “Well, Eunjin might.”

The pack was surprised. The girl who caused the most confusion that morning might have some answers for something else.

She just looked at him silently as the pack looked between the pair. But she seemed too nervous to speak up, so Seungkwan patted her hands he held in his and spoke for her.

“I think the voice she hears a lot is Lilly,” he admitted. Eunjin looked down at her lap, eyebrows furrowed. “She’s been telling me what it says, and she said it sounds female. She’s been saying things like ‘what if it’s like last time’ and, um... Love, what was the other thing?”

“‘He doesn’t want to leave me,’“ she recited, still staring at her lap.

“Right,” he nodded, “so I think he’s going to visit her grave everyday.”

“Why would he have to leave--?”

Soonyoung’s eyes opened as the realization hit him, cutting off Chan’s question, “Because we’ll have to move away.”

The pack fell silent, suddenly feeling heartache for their brother. Joshua was getting irritable because he was upset. All he had to be close to Lilly was the place they buried her which wasn’t too far from the house. But after all of this, they’d have to move farther away to the house Jiung had showed them. They’d be farther away from Lilly, and that made Josh upset.

“Let’s just cut him some slack for a while,” Jihoon spoke up.

Thankfully, a knock at the door broke the somber atmosphere. Jiung had arrived with his pack, so Seungcheol called for them to come in. The small group walked down the hallway and rounded the corner to the living room.

Eunjin looked up.

The next thing he knew, Chan was slapping his hands over his ears, doubling over from the pain. Had his eyes not been squeezed shut, he would’ve seen the rest of his pack -- including the mates -- and Jiung’s pack doing the same as Eunjin’s shriek made their ears feel like they were bleeding.

Once it was over, both packs slowly uncovered their ears and looked up at Eunjin. The banshee was standing up from her spot on the couch between Seungkwan and Seungcheol, staring with her lips parted and her blue eyes wide like she had with Hansol.

This time, she was staring at the other alpha.

-

At the edge of town, the small group finally composed themselves after hearing the awful scream. It was in the distance, but far too close for comfort. And it was in the direction of Seungcheol’s, which none of them liked one bit.

“What do you think that was?” Jaesang asked, looking to Kyung for answers.

Not wanting to worry the younger wolves, she just sighed and shook her head, “It’s fine, let’s go.”

‘Kyung, aren’t you worried?’ she heard the telepathic pup in her head, and knew Jaesang could hear him, too.

“No, Baek,” she promised, even though it was a lie.

Kyung walked into town with Baekhan and Jaesang flanking her, muttering to herself, “He better not be getting us into more trouble than we can handle, or I’ll kill him myself.”

[ravennm84]

Lyre Festival Fraud

This was another prompt that I found and just ran with it. The prompt itself was based on the Fyre Festival Disaster that happened in 2017 where 5,000 people were scammed out of thousands of dollars per ticket for what was supposed to be a luxury music festival. I didn’t take the story to quite that scale since most middle schoolers don’t have that kind of cash. There will be a sequel to this coming out soon. Warm-Fuzzies and please enjoy!!

Over the past few weeks since Marinette had come back to class, she couldn’t help but notice that Lila seemed to be up to something new. For one, the Italian girl hadn’t been bothering her as much as before. There was still the occasional quip and barb thrown in her direction, but nothing compared to what she had been doing before. She wanted to write it off to the deal Adrien had made with the girl, the blonde had confessed the truth to her after the photoshoot and promised her that he would never let things get that out of hand ever again. But something just didn’t seem right.

Lila was sticking to a single story about a party that she was planning on an island south of Venice over the long weekend next month. She was going on and on about it being a private island, with beautiful scenery and a rich history. Her mother was setting it up for a bunch of politicians, and all of the celebrities Lila knew were coming. A five-star chef would be there to make everyone the most amazing food. Many of the musicians she knew were planning to do jam-sessions, so there would be live music. The way she described it, it was going to be the biggest private event that Lila had ever been involved with.

Marinette and Adrien kept keen ears pointed in her direction, more than they normally would. Something about this particular story seemed different from her usual lies. It didn’t sit well with either of them

They could admit, the Italian was smoother with this lie than she was with any other she had spouted since joining their class. She had started mentioning the party a little here and there, then the different celebrities, then the hotel and bringing in the chef. How expensive it all was and how her mother was planning everything. Then, the following week, Lila dropped a bomb that had almost the entire class squealing and scrambling.

“You won’t believe it! Mama said that I could invite all my friends to come to the party so I’ll have more people my age to talk to!” Lila gushed as she bounced up and down on the balls of her feet.

“Seriously! That’s awesome, girl!” Alya cheered excitedly.

“But I have to be up front with all of you about something, and I want you to know that if I had my way I would never ask, but my mom insisted.” Lila’s expression quickly turned uncertain as she looked around at her ‘friends’ before taking a breath and continuing. “Whoever wants to come, has to take care of their own travel and pay €300 up front for the food and accommodations. I really wish I didn’t have to say that, but there was nothing I could do to change her mind.”

“That’s completely understandable, dudette.” Nino grinned as she slung his arm around Alya’s shoulders. “But still, for two nights in a swanky hotel and all our meals handled, that’s a total steal. When would you need the money?”

Lila’s face lit up again saying that she would need the money at least a week before the party so her mother could book enough rooms and make sure there would be enough food. Mylene asked if they needed their parents to escort them, and Lila promised to get them the needed forms to travel. She also asked Alya not to post anything about this on her blog, as this was supposed to be a private thing with a lot of big-name people and they couldn’t risk word getting out. The journalist readily agreed but made Lila promise that she would be allowed to post pictures after the weekend was over, which Lila readily agreed.

Marinette and Adrien looked on with worry as their classmates began making plans for the weekend in a few weeks. After class let out for the day, Adrien convinced his body guard that he needed to study with Marinette for an upcoming test. Since the man liked the girl, her parents, and had a soft spot for their bakery’s salted caramel scones; he allowed it. Up in her room, the two teens set their homework aside and jumped on Marinette’s computer to see what was going on with the Italian. 

“What do you think she’s up to?” Adrien asked her.

“Not sure, but it’s strange that she kept saying how I shouldn’t ask for money when I do commissions, then turns around and asks for €300 per person.” She says, looking up private islands near Venice. “I mean, she has to know that she can’t just ask for money from everyone and then not follow through since she would have to give all of their money back.”

“Agreed, she could try and say that the money was non-refundable, but I don’t think they would accept that.”

She hummed in agreement before pulling up a map. “The only private island I can find close by is Isola Santa Christina, but that’s North-East of Venice, not South. And I checked the availability for that weekend, and it’s not reserved. The only island South of Venice that could be considered ‘private’ is Poveglia.”

The blonde’s brow shot up when he heard the name. “Isn’t that the haunted island that’s been closed off to tourists for a long time?”

“Since the 1960s, when the mental asylum closed.” She nodded, as she continued to read. “And before that, it was where they sent people dying of plague and other diseases to die and be buried. It says right here, there’s over 160,000 people buried there in ‘plague pits’ and it’s nearly impossible to walk five meters without walking over someone’s remains.”

Adrien’s lip curled in disgust as he read the information and history of the island over the French-Asian girl’s shoulder. “Well, she did say that the island was private, historic and had a view. And the island does have a lot of history and it’s private.”

“And there was a plan to turn the old asylum into a luxury hotel a few years back, but that fell through.”

They continued reading the different articles on different islands around Venice, but none of them seemed to fit. Adrien agreed that Lila wouldn’t be so sloppy with her lies to invite everyone to a weekend party and then have to give everyone their money back… but what if she never had to see anyone again?

“Do you mind if I look something up really quick?”

“Did you think of something?” She asked while standing from her desk chair so he could take a look.

“It’s just a hunch,” he muttered, his fingers quickly typing at the keys. “I think you’re right, Lila wouldn’t ask for money if she was just going to have to turn around and give it back, even if she used the ‘deposit’ excuse to keep part of it for herself. That can only mean that something else is going on.”

It took a few minutes, but he found what he was looking for on the Italian Embassy’s website and twitter page. Different people wishing Ambassador Rossi a fond goodbye before she transfers back to Italy before the holiday weekend. “She’s not coming back,” he said between gritted teeth while Marinette looked over his shoulder.

“I want to say that I can’t believe Lila would do something like this, but she purposely got me expelled, almost got me akumatized, and almost caused another Scarlet Moth incident. Stealing from people she won’t see again is well within the boundaries of what she can do.”

Adrien turned the chair to look Marinette in the eyes. “What should we do? We tried the high road, that was a mistake and I’m still kicking myself for saying that, but we can’t just sit back and let all of them get scammed for €300.”

“It will be more than that,” worry evident in her voice. “It will be the €300, whatever they have to spend on their tickets there and back, and whatever money they’ll spend on someplace to stay while they’re there, if they stay in Venice.”

“We have to try,” Adrien said, just as determined when he forced Lila to lie to get Marinette back into school. “Maybe if we talk to everyone, one person at a time and explain what we found, we might be able to convince them to look into things a little deeper and figure it out themselves.”

Marinette hesitated. “They didn’t believe me before, why would they believe me now?”

“Because I’ll be with you every step of the way to show them that it’s not just you, I promise.”

~oOo~

Adrien kept his promise, he stayed with Marinette as they pulled their classmates aside to show them what they found. Nathaniel, Juleka, Rose and Chloe seemed to really listen to them and agreed that it seemed a little too good to be true. The others were more hesitant to listen and turned their questions to Lila, who was quick to spin her lies about the comments on Twitter being taken out of context, that her mother’s coworkers were only saying goodbye for the weekend. Then she turned on the fake tears and accused them of spreading rumors and lies when she was just trying to do something nice for her friends. That resulted in the majority of the class shunning Marinette and Adrien for the weeks leading up to the holiday. 

Nearly the entire class gave Lila €300 each before the deadline she had set. Adrien and Marinette had been ‘uninvited’ to the party; Chloe scoffed and said that she wasn’t about to waste her time with a bunch of people she didn’t even like; and Nathaniel, Juleka, and Rose all claimed that they couldn’t afford it. Lila was leaving school a couple days before the weekend to “help her mom prepare for the party” but gave everyone instructions on which dock to meet at for the boat to pick them up and ferry them to the island. 

Friday morning, the two of them tried again, practically pleading with their friends not to go, that it had all been a scam. This was met with a lot of harsh words, insults, and Alya declaring that she could no longer be friends with someone as vindictive and jealous as Marinette. That left the girl in tears, but the four that stayed behind were quick to comfort her and took her back to her house after school for a movie night. After the others left, Marinette sent a quick email, hoping for a positive response.

The movie night was followed by a jam-session on Saturday at Juleka and Luka’s place. It was a blast to have Adrien on the keyboard with Kitty Section again, it was a little difficult without a drummer but it was still fun. When Marinette got home, she was relieved to see a response to her email waiting for her and read it before she went to bed.

They had a picnic in the park on Sunday, along with Marc, where Adrien was having a photoshoot so he could sit and eat with them during his breaks. The photographer liked the natural energy and look of the group so much that he took multiple pictures of the three couples, as Vincent put it. There was another email waiting for her when she got home, she read that one twice and rewrote her response three times before sending it.

On Monday, the six of them hung out at the bakery with Tom showing Marinette’s friends how to make the perfect croissant and the best way to pipe frosting onto cupcakes. They had a blast and ended up having a frosting fight at one point, which ended with a large round of giggles and Adrien striking a victory pose since he had gotten hit with the least amount of frosting. Everyone had a great time and went home with the goodies they’d made. The final response in Marinette’s email put a smile on her face, knowing that she had done the right thing.

~oOo~

Tuesday morning and the five of them weren’t sure what to expect. They had decided to go with a united front and met at the Dupain-Cheng bakery so they would go to school together. Sabine gladly handed all of them fresh pastries before they left and wished them luck. Marinette’s parents had been made aware of Lila’s deceit and how she had likely scammed their classmates out of a lot of money. Hearing this, the two bakers had been making multiple calls to the Board of Governors about their daughter’s expulsion and other incidents that Adrien had brought up that had to do with Lila. From what they had heard, it was likely that their school, M. Damocles, and Mme. Bustier would be under heavy scrutiny very soon.

Entering the classroom, none of them were prepared for the dead silence from the rest of the class. Everyone looked to be experiencing different levels of confusion, anger, and absolute exhaustion. Everyone except Chloe, who looked smug as she grinned at everyone in the room. When the five of them came in, her smile grew as she looked directly at Alya. “So, how was your weekend on that private island in Venice? Was it as fabulous as Lie~la said it would be?”

Mylene, Sabrina, and Kim all started crying; Nino ducked his head to hide behind his hat, Max's head dropped to the desk with a thunk, and Alya’s fists clenched so hard that her nails cut into her palms. But it was Alex that had the most colorful reaction as she slammed her hands on the table and practically screamed.

“Shut up, you blonde shrew! Grrr! I swear, if I ever see that liar again, I will hit her over her head with my skates until she apologizes.” Her eyes turned to Marinette and Adrien, still angry but with a bit of self-loathing. “You were right. We all waited on that dock all day until the police came and took us to the station. We had to spend the night in the police station and wait for our parents to come get us. Alya tried to argue that it was just a private party and even pointed out the island that bitch said it would be on. But no~, that island was closed to the public and has been for 50 years!”

“We tried to tell you,” Adrien said hesitantly when Alix stopped ranting to breathe.

“Dude, I don’t think I’ve ever seen my parents so mad,” Nino said, barely lifting his head to look at his friend. “They’re talking to a lawyer about what they can do, but the law dude said that the most they can do is file charges against Lila for the scam and that none of use are likely to get any of the money back.”

“My parents grounded me until the lawsuit is settled or I pay back all the money they spent on coming to get me,” Ivan told them, his large shoulders drooping almost half-way down his back.

“By my calculations, that is unlikely to happen,” Max said, not even bothering to lift his face from his desk. “When taking into account the amount of money that she took from each of us, that she had us go to Venice of our own accord, the fact that her mother is an ambassador and therefore bestowed Lila with diplomatic immunity for her actions; there is not much the law can do.”

Unable to help herself, Marinette turned to look at Adrien as a small smile graced her lips. Adrien gave her a bigger smile that confused everyone, even Nathaniel, Rose, and Juleka. “You should tell them.”

“Tell us what?” Alya asked, not sure if she could deal with any more surprises for the rest of the school year.

“Well, after Adrien and I figured out what Lila was up to, we recorded one of the times she bragged about the trip and how much money she was getting from you. I emailed the video, your names, the dock where she told you to go, and all the other information to Ambassador Rossi on Friday night to let her know what was going on.” 

All of their jaws dropped as Marinette continued to speak. “I don’t think she believed me at first; but then she got a report about a bunch of unaccompanied minors from her daughter’s school being detained in Venice and that she had apparently allowed them into the country. She was shocked and confused that any of you got through customs without an adult, but then Ambassador Rossi noticed a stack of documents were missing and figured Lila must have taken them and forged her signature to make the scam more believable. I talked to her again last night; she’s forcing Lila to plead guilty to fraud and forgery, any charges that the Italian government was going to file against you are being dropped, and she's clearing out Lila’s savings to pay the money back to your parents.”

Now the entire class was crying tears of joy and relief. They knew that they’d messed up when it came to Marinette and Adrien, Alya especially towards her best friend. But they were more than willing to work their butts off to make it right, no matter how rough the road ahead of them might be. 

[wienerbarnes]

Witch Bitch

Pairing: Bucky x Witch!Reader

Word Count: 3,943

Warnings: witch stuff, burning at the stake 😳

A/N: this is heavily inspired by american horror story: coven bc i recently watched and ive been binging all of it lately but its not necessary to know anything about ahs lol i kinda just used their fancy magical terminology and concepts bc they were cool🤪 

MAIN MASTERLIST

The best time of the day was breakfast. It was the time when Bucky, Sam, and Sharon were most often together. Sometimes training overlapped and they missed lunch. Sometimes missions ran long or friends were in town and they missed dinner. But the morning? They were all early birds, all awake by seven. They took that shared characteristic and shared breakfast together whenever they could. Bucky usually took care of the coffee, Sam usually took care of the eggs and bacon, and Sharon usually took care of the bagels, toasting them to perfection before slathering on a layer of cream cheese.

It was a moment of peace in their day. Quiet before the noise of the gym or the conference room or the jets or the private trainings or the interviews with prospective agents or anything else they do on a daily basis. It was a time for three friends to just sit and eat and enjoy each other's company as though they are just that: three friends. Not super soldiers or captains or special agents. Just people being normal. Normal doesn’t last long, though. It never does for them.

Bucky’s on dish washing duty this morning while Sam and Sharon chat idly behind him, waiting for him to finish so they can all leave together. A soft voice interrupts them, though, making the three of them stop what they’re doing because no one has access to this floor except for the people that live here - meaning them three.

“Who’s in charge here?” You ask.

“Who the hell are you?! How did you get up here?!” Sharon asks, ignoring your question.

You were in a long, flowy black skirt, slit cut in the left side exposing your leg, and a long-sleeve black shirt, tucked beneath the waistband. Think black boots cover your feet and a black hat sits on your head to complete your look. Bucky almost doesn’t notice the folded black umbrella underneath your arm as his eyes trail down the multiple chains and necklaces around your neck, falling between your breasts.

“I’ve been trying to find someone to help me but the people in this building are not very helpful. I figured I’d find who’s in charge myself, something that you all don’t seem to want to help me with, either.” You explain.

“The only way to even enter this building is through strict appointment and background checks, and no one’s even allowed past the nineteenth floor.” Sam explains.

“Why are you entertaining this? I’m getting her out of here.” Sharon says, moving to walk towards you to take you out of the building herself.

As she nears closer and closer, you wave your hand lazily, without taking your eyes off Bucky, the only one who hasn’t said anything this whole time, and Sharon collapses on the floor soundlessly.

“Jesus!”

“What did you do!”

Both Bucky and Sam panic as they rush to Sharon’s body on the floor. They frantically run their hands over her body, looking for the point of injury that made her collapse the way she did, but they find nothing. No holes, no blood; she didn’t even make a sound.

“She’s not breathing and she doesn’t have a pulse, what the fuck did you do to her?!” Sam yells at you.

You roll your eyes, “Okay, you got me. I don’t need help finding who’s in charge, I already know it’s you. I still do need your help, though.”

You’re ignored as the two men hover over their friend, unsure of what to do or what even happened to her.

“Oh, alright, move.” You order them, stepping over Sharon’s body.

You stand before her, lifting your hands to hover over her body before closing your eyes and letting out a deep and long exhale. Bucky and Sam watch as it takes only about seven seconds for their friend to suddenly gasp for air, jumping back to life. The boys crowd her once more, checking her eyes, her pulse, everything to convince themselves that she’s actually alive like that, and if she was even dead in the first place.

Sam finally looks back up at you from the ground, as though he just remembered that you’re there, “What are you?”

You smirk in response, ready to finally get what you came here for.

…

“So, you’re a witch?” Sam asks, the four of them now occupying a private conference room for some privacy.

“A witch who killed me.” Sharon adds.

“And a witch that brought you right back.” You reply, leaning back on your chair, leg crossed over your knee, slit exposing your thigh. Bucky’s eye twitch to look at your bare skin for a second before returning to meet your eyes.

“So… what do you do?” Bucky asks.

You smile at his innocent curiosity, “All witches don’t have one universal power. Some are clairvoyant, some do voodoo, some dabble in pyrokinesis, divination, transmutation, descendum,” You glance over to Sharon, who’s still pouting at you, “Resurrection.”

“And can you do all of those?” Bucky asks.

“Almost all of them, but I’m not here to talk about me.”

“Why are you here?” Sharon asks.

“You guys hunt the Nazi’s, right?” You ask, aiming your question towards Sam, knowing he’s the Captain in charge.

“Hydra, yes.” He confirms.

“Well, your Nazi’s somehow got a hold of my magic. And they are playing with very dangerous fire,” You begin.

Bucky interrupts, “We’re all for taking down Hydra, but, don’t you think you’re a little more… powerful than us?” He asks.

“Bucky!” Sharon slaps his arm, as though she’s shocked that he would ever admit such a thing.

“I am. But I’m not that powerful, either. Not anymore, at least. A group of those Hydra invaded the coven my sisters and I were at. I was the only one that escaped.” You tell them.

“Did Hydra take them?” Sam asks.

“No, they killed them.” You respond, growing irritated as the subject grows touchier and touchier.

“Can’t you just bring them back like you did me?” Sharon inquires.

“No! I can’t. Like I said, I’m not that powerful anymore. Maybe I’d be able to bring back a house full of dead girls when it was me and twelve others but it’s just me now. I wouldn’t come all the way over here if I had other options.”

Silence grows over the group as they process what you’ve gone through. Surviving through the massacre of your fellow witches and not being powerful enough to find the people that did it on your own. You’re vulnerable.

“So what can we do?” Sam asks, ready to join forces with you.

“Help me locate the men who did this so I can handle the magic part.” You tell him.

“What magic do they have?”

“Although witches control most of the magic, sometimes it can be taken on in… physical forms. Specifically blood. The blood they retrieved was from a witch that was skilled in Vitali Vitalis.”

“The alive within the living.” Bucky translates.

“There are two worlds: the living and the dead,” You begin to explain, “Vitali Vitalis keeps the balance between these two things and it’s one of the most difficult powers for a witch to master. Oftentimes it’s used to give parts of your own life, health, and energy to someone who needs it. But it can also allow you to take life from someone and give it to yourself.”

“Like immortality?” Sam questions.

“Not quite. Any witch can be killed with a knife or bullet. This kind of magic keeps you from dying of age. I’ve only ever known one witch who mastered it.”

“What happened to her?”

“She used it for evil, like this. Took the souls of hundreds in order to allow herself to live for almost three centuries. Until she was killed, of course.” You finish, a small smile on your lips knowing that she got what she deserved.

“What, you burn her at the stake?” Sharon jokes.

“Yes, actually. We did.” You tell her matter-of-factly, becoming more and more irritated at the fact that she doesn’t seem to take this is as seriously as you are.

Bucky interrupts, sensing the rising tension between the two girls, “So when we find these guys, you’re going to burn them at the stake, too?” He asks.

“Yes,” You say, as though it’s the most obvious thing in the world, “The consequence of using magic like this for evil is death by fire. I hope you all don’t think the rules will change on account of these men being Nazi’s?”

“Well, we just have a different way of doing things -” Sam begin to defend

“Yes, I’m aware. The countless destruction caused by you and other militaries, the millions of innocent lives lost yearly, not only in the constant war and irresponsible handling of your nuclear and alien weaponry, but by incorrect prosecution. Not to mention the billions of dollars spent on your ridiculous prison systems that don’t work when actual bad people escape and the death penalty practices in certain states. I just figured my way was easier. And cheaper.” You reply.

Silence crowds over the four of them once more as they think over all their options.

“I’m in.” Bucky speaks first.

“Me, too. Even if I don’t like you.” Sharon follows.

“Feeling’s mutual, dear.” You smile at her.

The three of them look to Sam, waiting for his commitment as well.

“Alright. Let’s get to work.”

Plans were made, theories of location were thought of, and plans to execute the mission were put into place, all of which included you. A temporary room was given to you when the information of your lack of a place to stay was brought to light. Only for the duration of this mission, is what Sam told you, but you can spot the amount of love and light in his heart from miles away.

It was later that night, and you’ve since cleansed the room, going as far as to place a protective spell on the entire floor. You’ve lost too much already, and you’re not about to risk anything.

A knock at the door sounds and the visitor you’d been expecting has finally arrived. You walk towards the door, still in your clothes from earlier but now you’ve removed your shoes, and open the door to reveal Bucky.

“I was waiting for you.” You tell him.

“How’d you know I’d come?” He asks, stepping through the door when you step aside, silently gesturing to him to enter.

“I can hear your thoughts. You've been debating whether or not to come see me for the past thirty minutes. Your mind is very loud.”

“Tell me about it.” He mumbles to himself, thinking about the countless nightmares, voices, and all the other reminders of just how loud his mind was.

“You can ask all your questions, you know. I won’t take any offence. You’re just curious.” You tell him, settling on your bed, hoping he’ll join you and stop hovering near the door.

Luckily he takes the hint and takes a seat across from you.

“I’ve never met a witch before. A real one, I mean. Like, someone born a witch. Like Salem witches -”

“I understand.” You chuckle lightly.

“You don’t seem… afraid of me. Or, hesitant, rather.” You tell him, thinking about how he’s received your presence here compared to his colleagues.

“I was wary when you killed my friend, but… you just need some help, is all. I’m sorry, by the way, I’m not sure if I said it before, but, I’m sorry for what happened to your friends.” He tells you.

He’s very polite. But you supposed that’s not abnormal considering he got his manners from the 1920’s. You like it, though. You give him an appreciative smile before giving him the okay to ask you whatever he wanted.

“So you said that witches can master multiple powers but have one specialty; is yours resurrection?”

“Yes; it was the first power I ever exhibited when I was a teenager. I was about fourteen or fifteen. My next mastered skill is descendum and then clairvoyance, where I was in my twenties, or so.” You tell him as he looks at you with pure fascination in his eyes.

“What is - what is descendum?”

You pause, “The power to descend your soul down into the afterlife - to hell. And return alive.”

His eyes widened, not even knowing that was something someone can do; not even knowing that hell existed in the first place, “So, you’ve been to hell?”

“Yes. I’ve also been able to retrieve people from hell, their soul. A variation of my power of resurrection, I suppose.” You explain, not being too fond of that power; descending to hell.

Bucky sits in silence for a few minutes, and you let him. You can hear the question lingering around in his head; what he’s thinking. But you let him build up his own courage to ask it. You know he’s only scared of the answer; the answer you know he’s not going to like.

“What is hell like?” He whispers.

“It doesn’t matter what my hell is like. Everyone has their own personal hell they experience when they die.” You tell him.

Confusion clouds his features as he registers your answer.

“Is there… Is there no heaven?”

You smirk, “It’s nice that you’ve remained religious after all this time.”

“Yes, there's heaven. But only for the purest and most innocent of souls. And rarely do people escape life without sin. Everyone has evil in them.” You tell him, knowing it’s a harsh truth that no one wants to hear.

The people Bucky’s killed, the crime he’s committed, the families he’s hurt; it all passes through his mind. Everyone has evil in them.

“What was your hell like?”

“I’m not telling you that.” You tell him quickly.

Bucky ponders what his own hell will be like, after seeing the way you’re clearly shaken up about your own. The fall from the train. The man in a lab coat sawing off the rest of his arm. The needles poking through his skin in the middle of some facility. The chair.

He doesn’t realize that he’s looked away from you until he snaps his thoughts back to the present and sees he’s looking down into his lap. He glances up to see your face, your soft features and kind eyes staring at him. He glances from your eyes to your lips and back up again before clearing his throat, not realizing how close he got to you during his time here sitting on your bed.

“You know, I, uh, I should go. Thank you for, uh, answering my questions, but we head out pretty - pretty early tomorrow, so,” He trails off, standing and patting down his shirt to smooth out the nonexistent wrinkles in a nervous habit.

He makes his way towards the door and his hand touches the knob when he hears your voice, “Hey, Bucky?” He turns slightly to face you again, a hum to indicate for you to continue.

“Thank you for coming to see me. And thank you for all the kindness you’ve shown me. You’re a very good person.” You tell him sincerely.

He gives you a nod of you’re welcome before exiting.

He’s not sure if you told him that because you truly mean it, or if it’s because of the state of anxiety and existential crises you’ve put him in now that he’s going to be thinking about his personal hell, but he appreciates it, nonetheless.

He thinks you’re a pretty good person, yourself.

…

The mission goes off without a hitch. The combined skill of the Avengers’ stealth, spyware, and experience along with your magic and witchery makes for an easy capture of the men who killed your witch sisters and stole your magic.

It’s not long before the facility they were at was shut down and cleared out, arresting any officers and rescuing any prisoners or hostages, and the five men specifically responsible for the destruction of your coven are in separate custody. What’s left of the blood is returned to you, as well.

That’s where the group of you stand now, a decision to be made about the criminals you’ve captured. To be put in the maximum security prison floating in the ocean, or to be put to death by fire.

“I don’t believe in being the executioner of people.” Sam tries to convince.

You can’t help but let a laugh escape you, “Do you know who you work for?! Do you know who you are?!” You remind him.

“Those guys can’t escape the Raft.” He tries, referring to prison in the middle of the ocean you’ve heard about.

“You did.” You respond, knowing about when Steve Rogers took him out of that prison, along with other superheros.

You see Bucky and Sharon look between the two of you, torn between how these Hydra criminals should receive their fate. Staring into the hot depths of flames or rotting alone in a cell? Both seem to be too merciful, in Bucky’s opinion.

“This isn’t just running the facility or experiments, Sam. This is different. They were using dark magic to commit crimes. Maybe they should face the consequences of a dark-magic-punishment.” Sharon offers.

You don’t have time to be shocked at Sharon agreeing with you and picking your side before Bucky agrees and Sam is outnumbered. He stares at you and gives a single nod, allowing you to do this your way.

You smile, a silent thank you for giving you the closure and opportunity to serve justice to those who did you harm. “Off to Massachusetts, then.” You tell them, and Sam takes his seat in the pilot's chair, Bucky accompanying him in the front of the jet.

You take a seat, making yourself comfortable for the flight to Salem and you feel a body take the seat next to you. You glance up to see Sharon looking at you, but you notice she has something in her hand, offering it to you.

You look down to see a small plastic bag of fruit gummies. But not just any fruit gummies, you realize. Halloween themed fruit gummies. The pictures on the outside show the various options inside: witch’s hat, a broom stick, a melting pot, a vial, and a magic wand. Hilarious.

You take the gummies, though, accepting her attempt at a truce.

It’s not long before you and your temporary teammates find themselves standing before a large, empty field, multiple wooden stakes standing about fifteen feet tall scattered about with plenty of space in between.

You lead the walk to a group of them standing tall in line, so the men can be burned at the same time, as opposed to one by one. A group of large, burly agents lug the Hydra operatives along, behind you and the rest of the team.

Bucky hangs around your left, as to not be in the way of the black umbrella held in your right hand, and Sam and Sharon trail behind you. You can sense their uneasiness and tune out their worried thoughts. Everyone’s first burning is always an experience; they’ll get over it.

Bucky doesn’t seem worried, though. In fact, you can’t hear his thoughts this time around. But he still stands tall and straight, walking with confidence, so you make a safe assumption that he’s okay.

None of the men’s cuffs or shackles are removed, but thick rope is tied on top of it, around the wrist and looped around the waist, tying them to the stake. The cuffs are special grade - high tech Avengers vibranium - and they can be retrieved later once the fire burns out.

“Any last words?” You ask, more for tradition than whether or not you actually care.

They look scared, obviously not expecting their fate to look anything like this. You remember seeing Bucky tackle one of them in the facility, prying his mouth open to rip out a tooth, or what looked like a tooth, like a dog caught eating something it wasn’t supposed to. A cyanide pill.

Silence comes from them, except for one of them, “Hail Hydra!” He yells, as if that cowardly and pathetic phrase would change anything.

With a raise of your hand, seemingly with no effort, you wave it and the stakes all begin to rise up in flames. There’s nothing to spark, no twigs, no gasoline, nothing, and Bucky watches as the flames rise, growing stronger as they engulf the five men. They begin to scream, and Bucky looks over at you, as if to confirm you didn’t bring gasoline or something with you, and he sees a smile slowly grow on your lips.

They haven’t stopped screaming; they’re still alive when you turn and begin to walk back the way everyone came. Bucky follows, and eventually Sam and Sharon do, too, the other agents staying behind until the end to retrieve the cuffs and shackles that will survive the fire.

“So, now what?” Sharon asks, the air quieter as the screams have slowly stopped in the distance.

I can’t imagine what kind of paperwork follows this, “Back to the tower.” Sam responds.

“The coven’s only a short walk from here.” You say, not needing to elaborate much more. The men have been caught and brought to justice, but you still have a broken, battered, and beaten down coven to fix.

A friend of yours was meant to go by and retrieve the… bodies. Which you’re grateful for. But magic won’t help you fix the walls, the floors, mop the blood, or find other witches in need of an escape and a place to improve and master their powers. You have a lot of work to do.

As the view of the jet gets closer, you prepare to bid your goodbyes to the Avengers, your thank you’s as well. Regardless of your attitude towards them before, you couldn’t have done this without them.

A metal hand engulfs yours, pulling you back a bit as Sam and Sharon continue on.

“Do you need any help?” Bucky’s warm and gentle voice floods your ears, hand still in yours.

“You guys have been more than enough help, now, really.” You try to tell him, but he has none of it.

“You may be tough, but you can’t fix up that house by yourself,” He tells you, “I can be pretty handy, fixed up a few things back in my day.” A soft smile grows on his face.

You glance over his shoulder as Sam and Sharon wait by the entrance of the jet, “Don’t you have to go back?”

“They won’t miss me.” He tells you, not even looking back to confirm with his teammates, hand dropping to run it through his hair.

You giggle at him, before giving him a shy nod in answer to his offer to help you fix up your big house.

“I’m going to hang out here for a few days.” He yells over his shoulder.

“We figured.” Sam calls out, and Sharon throws you a wave as they board the jet, the opening close after them.

“Lead the way?” Bucky offers you, taking your hand once more, interlocking the fingers this time.

And so the two of you are off, one of your hands still clutching the umbrella, holding it above your head, and the other hand interlaced with the one of a handsome and kind super soldier. This wasn’t the way Bucky expected the last two days to transpire, but he’s glad they led to holding the hand of a very pretty witch.

[lisbonsteresa]

need a pick me up?  (2x16....technically)

When she talked Celia down from sending a chauffeur earlier that morning, Nancy had considered it a small victory. 

Allowing herself another 20 minutes to be Nancy Drew before she had to wrap herself in armor and spend the night as Nancy Hudson. But despite her best efforts, the dread and guilt she’d been dealing with since the incident at the paper mill had only gotten worse as the day went on. 

And now that she’d finally gotten to the point where she couldn’t avoid leaving any longer, her thoughts had gotten so scrambled that she was starting to wonder if she should just call her grandmother back to say she’d reconsidered. 

She called out one last goodbye to Carson as the front door closed, struggling to pull her phone out of the criminally small clutch she hadn’t used since freshman formal without dropping the coat she really regretted not putting on before she stepped out into the November evening. 

All the while she was still trying - and failing (again) - to figure out the best way to tell a billionaire patriarch with a tendency of permanently removing any slight obstacle that she was his secret out-of-wedlock townie granddaughter. She was so caught up that the low whistle from her driveway nearly caused her to drop the clutch altogether. 

Her head snapped up to see Ace, silhouetted against the sunset as he leaned against Florence. “Tom was right - that really is some dress.” he remarked as she approached him. She ignored the way his eyes looked her up and down too many times to just be appreciating the dress, and hoped he was ignoring the way the flush on her cheeks grew every time. 

(They were ignoring more and more around each other lately. She was trying to ignore how that made her feel.)

“Thanks,” she held out the clutch to him and he took it without question, freeing her hands so she could pull on her coat. “but what are you-”

“Carson called me.” he answered before she could finish asking, his attention flicking to a point behind her with a smile and a wave. Nancy turned to see Carson waving back from a side window. “Said he thought you could use a lift.”

She turned back towards him, tamping down a sudden rush of fondness for both men until she could manage an amused smirk. “Sometimes it’s weird how close you two are.”

His response was an unbothered shrug and a grin as he passed the clutch back to her. “You’re just jealous that he gave me first dibs last pizza night.”

“How could I be?” She shot back with a roll of her eyes. “You went right for the pineapple.”

“Hey, don’t knock pineapple on pizza - it’s a work of underrated genius.”

That seems to be a theme with you, she thought, pausing for moment to consider if calling your best friend a genius while he smiled warmly at you in the dying sunlight that turned the edges of his hair gold was toeing a line. “Whatever you say.” she said instead, shaking her head and walking around Florence to open the passenger door with a sigh. “Now let’s get this over with.”

The smile dropped off Ace’s face at the reminder of why he was there. “Yeah, let’s go.” They climbed in and after coaxing Florence into a squeaking start, they were off.

Most of the drive to the yacht club passed in a comfortable silence - just the quiet hum of whatever 70’s rock station the radio was tuned to and the sporadic popping of Florence’s exhaust. If Nancy closed her eyes, she could almost imagine they were headed to the Claw for a late shift, or Nick’s for movie night, instead of straight into the metaphorical lion’s den. (Maybe even literal - at this point there wasn’t much she’d put past Celia).

There was something bothering Ace though, she could tell. The closer they got to the club, the tighter he gripped the wheel, clenching his jaw like he was trying to hold back whatever words were running through his head. They pulled into the long semi-circle driveway, the lights decorating the entrance of the club shining in front of them and the valet eyeing them with confusion from his podium. Ace cut the engine but didn’t move otherwise, and so Nancy didn’t either. She could wait him out - after all, it was far better than the alternative.

A beat passed, then another, and then: “I just want to say I’m sorry.” That threw her for a loop - what did he have to apologize for? “For what I said yesterday.”

She could feel her eyebrows furrowing as she ran through the conversation she knew he meant - their brief talk in the kitchen before the intergalactic crisis overrode their local one. “No, you were just being honest.” she replied. “This,” she raised her gaze towards the twinkling lights, feeling the pit of dread in her stomach more than ever, “could change everything. And even with Swift-approved armor, I’m afraid of what happens to Nancy Drew once Nancy Hudson is out in the open.” her voice sounded small; vulnerable; honest in a way she wasn’t sure she could be with anyone but him.

“I’m not.” his jaw was set; his face determined when she looked over at him. “I don’t know what’s going to happen in there, and I don’t know what they’re going to ask of Nancy Hudson, but I was wrong when I said this would be the end of Nancy Drew.” he turned to meet her eyes, his own imploring. “Nancy Drew is smart, and caring, and sarcastic, and determined, and self-sacrificing to an almost dangerous degree, but she’s good.” 

The back of Nancy’s neck felt hot; the car suddenly felt a thousand times too small. She wanted to wrench open the door and run, but she couldn’t make herself look away from his eyes; she was almost afraid to blink and end whatever this moment was. “You’re good Nancy. You’re a good daughter and a great detective, and you’re a really, really good friend. You’re one of the best people I know, and no Hudson blood or last name is going to change that.”

There was a pause as he opened his mouth like he was going to say more, but then he closed it and dropped his head, avoiding her gaze as he fiddled with Florence’s gearshift. “Anyway, I know you’ve been dealing with a lot, and I know I’ve been acting like part of the problem, but I just want you to know that if you ever get confused about who you are, I’ll be here to remind you.”

There were a thousand thoughts running through her head, trying to line themselves up in way that she could make enough sense of to put them into words. How what he’d said had almost made her forget what she was about to walk into. How she didn’t think he could be a problem for her if he tried. How similar this felt to another conversation, maybe just over a month ago, when he’d been there to offer her understanding and someone to come to when things got hard. 

She hadn’t had the words then - she wasn’t sure if she would ever find them - but somehow hearing that he still wanted to be there for her after all they’d gone through made her feel like she could face down a hundred Everett Hudsons. But she didn’t say any of that.

Instead, she reached out and covered the hand he was still resting on the gearshift with her own, waiting until his eyes met hers again. “Thank you.” she said softly, giving him what felt like her first genuine smile of the day. “That really means a lot to me Ace.” It wasn’t much; it wasn’t even close to everything she wanted to say to him, but it was all she could manage for now, and she thought he’d understand that. Hoped he would. He seemed to understand her better than she did herself, most days.

“‘Course.”  he replied with a grin, and she felt a little bit of the weight on her shoulders fall away. His eyes dropped down to her hand covering his before meeting hers again. “Nancy -”

But whatever he was going to say was interrupted by a loud knocking on the driver’s side window, causing them both to jump and look to see an anxious valet staring down at them. “Um, excuse me sir,” he began once the window had been rolled down, “but if you aren’t going to use the valet services I’m going to have to ask you to pull forward to the main parking lot. The other guests will be arriving soon and they can get…unhappy if we’re not able to help them quickly.”

“Right, yeah, sorry.” Ace shot the teen an apologetic smile. “One more second and we’ll be out of your way.” Seemingly satisfied, the valet turned and started to make his way back to his podium, casting worried looks over his shoulder at them the whole time. “Guess that’s your cue.” Ace continued, turning back towards Nancy with a resigned expression she was pretty sure matched her own.

“Yeah, guess so.” she turned her attention to the doors of the club as an employee around the valet’s age pulled them open and let the light from inside spill out. She wondered if Celia was in there, looking for her. She wondered what she might have already told her husband; wondered just what she was going to find once she crossed that threshold; what risk she was putting herself in; exactly how far she’d be able to push her luck.

Ace’s “hey” pulled her back into the car. “You’ll call if anything happens? I’ll get the whole crew here for backup.”

She noticed he didn’t ask her to wait for them - they both knew she probably wouldn’t. “I’m not sure Florence could handle a full cabin in such a rush.”

“Hey, Florence is tougher than she looks, and you didn’t answer the question.”

“Of course I’ll call.” she gave his hand a quick squeeze before releasing it and grabbing the clutch instead so she could be ready to go (and not so she could avoid seeing his reaction). The passenger door opened with a high-pitched squeak, and Nancy stepped out into the cool night air. “And Ace?” she turned back to him before closing the door, lingering in her one final moment of only having to be Nancy Drew. “Thanks for the lift.”

He looked up at her with one last grin. “Anytime.” And then the door was closed and Florence was roaring to life and rumbling down the driveway. Nancy stood watching until she couldn’t see the tail lights anymore, then squared her shoulders with a sigh and started up the path to the club entrance. Time for the world to meet Nancy Hudson.