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bouwrites · 5 years ago

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Even Heroes Have the Right to Dream: Chapter 15

All that’s left for me to climb to the heavens is the chasm of the night.

First, Previous, Next. Ao3.

Story under read-more.

Marinette is awoken by a muffled shout. She frowns into her pillow for a moment, waiting and wondering if it isn’t just her imagination, and then she hears it again. Not a yell, not a sob, something in between. That involuntary whimper closer to a groan, dulled by a wall. It only takes her a second to decide to rise from her bed.

It’s… not the first time she hears sounds like this from Jon’s room. She knows he hears the same things from hers. But both of them know each other’s pasts as heroes, so both of them understand. They don’t interrupt. It’s an unspoken agreement. They talk about nightmares, sometimes, if they need to, but only the one suffering brings it up. They certainly don’t go to each other in the middle of the night.

But… that was then. That was when they were friends. Best friends, even. Now, they’re dating, and even though Marinette still fights to do it, crossing the boundary into his room feels less inappropriate. She’s not afraid of overstepping her bounds. Not as much, anyway.

And besides that. Given what happened, Marinette already has an idea of what’s troubling Jon tonight.

A new brother, hidden from him for a month, locked in combat with his father. A weapon made to kill Superman, replace him, with Jon’s old name. Damian’s storage of kryptonite the only means of putting down the last Kryptonians.

Jon does so well out there on the farm. Marinette is so proud of him for standing up and resolving the situation peacefully, if not quite how he intends, and for having the strength to chastise Superman directly after a panic attack like that.

But Marinette also knows, because she does the same thing, that pushing past something, brute forcing his way through to the conclusion he needs, is not healthy resolution. Just because he does what he needs to do doesn’t mean he’s okay when all is said and done.

It’s been a while since the last nightmare. At least, the last one Marinette is able to note. She’s sure they’re more frequent, but Jon is quiet enough that she can’t hear, or she just doesn’t wake up at all and misses it. To her knowledge, though, this hasn’t happened since they started dating. Not during last semester, at least, and none the days he spent in Paris during the summer.

It pisses her off that it’s been triggered again. Jon deserves peaceful dreams. He deserves a peaceful life. But as much as Marinette wants to rage at Superman, for letting himself get dragged into a fistfight with a teenager (at best, given Conner is technically much younger, and she doesn’t care that Conner started it, Superman is an adult who should have handled it peacefully), for keeping Jon’s own brother a secret from him for a month, for not handling the situation so that Jon needn’t have been called in, that’s not Marinette’s place.

She certainly loses respect for Superman, but she’s following Jon’s lead with this. It’s his family. She has much more important things to worry about than spiteful fury at Superman for allowing this. She has to take care of Jon.

She raps her knuckles gently on his door. “Jon?” She asks quietly. “Can I come in?”

There’s a sharp, shaky breath that Marinette only hears because she’s listening so closely for it, then his voice. “Please.”

She turns the handle and slips into the pitch-dark room. Jon’s breathing is labored, and sounds like he’s fighting tears, and Marinette can make out just the barest silhouette of a Jon-sized ball curled up on the bed.

She doesn’t come in here often, not even after they start dating, but she knows Jon keeps his floor clean, so she doesn’t think twice about making her way over to him.

Her foot snags on fabric along the way, triggering a shatteringly loud clatter of metal and rustling denim. She winces. Jon does go directly to his room when they finally return home in the evening after their confrontation; she should expect him to not care to make sure his clothes are put away properly. Just this once. That’s her mistake. Carefully, she pushes the discarded pants aside with her foot, and finally reaches the bed.

She slips in under the blanket beside him and coaxes him to roll over to face her. Then, she hugs him close and kisses his head. She says nothing. She simply holds him.

It takes some time. Minutes, hours, Marinette can’t tell, but she’s there for a long time. Slowly, Jon’s breathing relaxes. She can tell by the way his face furrows up that he hasn’t fallen back asleep, but that doesn’t matter. What matters is that, little by little, he calms down.

“I woke you up, didn’t I?” He asks, voice just a whimper. “I’m sorry.”

“I’ve woken you up, too.” Marinette says matter-of-factly. “It’s okay.”

Jon breathes a shaky sigh. His forehead falls against hers. “I hate this.” He says softly. Despite how he trembles, despite the undercurrent in his voice that rises above the fragility, his voice never travels beyond the tiny space between the two of them. “Dad didn’t even tell me about Kon. I had to find out from Damian telling me to break them up. Does he… does he just not trust me? Because I’m not Superboy anymore? I- I know I told him I don’t need to be kept up to date on all the hero stuff, but… this is my brother! Why wouldn’t he tell me about this?”

Marinette exhales gently. “It was wrong of him to keep Kon secret from you,” she agrees, “but he was probably just trying to protect you. I’m sure he just didn’t want to risk you getting dragged back in.”

Jon scoffs bitterly. “What a great job.”

“I know.” Marinette rubs Jon’s bare back carefully. “I know…”

Jon sniffs. “What’s wrong with me, Marinette? I always – always – trusted Dad. He was my idol. I used to want to be just like him. Now, I… I feel like I can’t be any more different from him. What- what do I do? What did I do? Why am I… Why…” His breathing grows more tense, and he screws his eyes shut tight. “I don’t even know what happened. It’s like one moment I was Superboy, and the next… he doesn’t even tell me about my own family. No one does until they need me.

“Am I really that- that broken that- that I…”

New York is lucky that fury isn’t a physical thing. Superman, the Justice League, and all of America as collateral is lucky that the fire under Marinette’s skin stays there and does not immolate the entirety of them all. How dare they hurt Jon like this? How dare they make, however unintentionally, a man like Jon feel broken.

Marinette spent a long time feeling broken. Betrayed, alone, without her only mentor in the cruel world of heroism. She spent a long time believing it all to be her fault. She only persisted out of obligation.

Adrien once spent a long time feeling broken. Abused by a father blinded by a vain hope. Forgotten in his gilded cage, left to believe he’s the problem.

Like hell is she letting Jon feel that way.

“You’re not.” Marinette says firmly. “You’re not broken. You are the most wonderful, the kindest, the bravest, the most principled man I have ever met. There is absolutely nothing wrong with you.”

Jon is quiet for a long time. “Did you hear Kon?” He asks eventually. “Cadmus made him because I retired. Because we need a Superboy. I… I turned my back on that, on everyone who needs me, and… and because of that…”

“I don’t believe that.” Marinette says. “That might be what they told him, but he also said that he’s supposed to kill Superman if he turns bad, right? This… Cadmus. They didn’t tell you about that plan, did they? So, they would have made Kon either way, except… if you were there as a replacement, he might have only been a weapon. To take down either of you if they thought they needed to.”

Jon squeaks out such an odd noise. It’s a laugh cut off by a shaky gasp. “You always were so much smarter than me. You’re… you’re right. God knows why that makes me feel a little better, but… it does.”

“Pretty stupid that our lives are so weird that the thought of a half-brother created solely to kill you is a comforting thought, isn’t it?” Marinette teases, finally pulling a real laugh out of Jon. “But it’s because you know it’s not your fault. You haven’t done anything wrong. Matter of fact, I’m really proud of you.”

“You are?”

“Of course, I am. You put them both in their place, and never sacrificed your virtues to do it. You proved to us both that even if the worst happens, we don’t have to sacrifice what we’ve done here. Right? Nonviolence. To me, you’re exactly what the Girod stands for.”

Jon sighs. “I’m still not convinced it’s possible. But… thank you. I’m- I’m trying.”

“I know you are.”

Jon pulls her closer and buries his head in her shoulder. They lay like that, in silence, for so long that Marinette is sure he falls back asleep. But he surprises her when he says, “Today made me think… look back on everything that happened. I… God, I don’t even recognize myself. I always thought I’d grow up to be Dad, basically, but… now I’m on a completely different path from him. So different that he doesn’t even- I’m… scared. Lost.”

“I know.” Marinette mutters into his hair. “God, Jon, I know.” Throwing herself into the unknown with clipped wings and no safety net, Marinette knows the feeling. Not knowing where she’s going, hardly recognizing where she’s been. It’s scary, and it’s lonely, but… they’re not alone. “I’m here, Jon.” Jon’s grip on her tightens when she says it. “It’s okay, because we can do this together, right?”

“…Together. Right. If we’re together… I love you, Marinette.”

“I love you, too, Jon.”

“Hey, Marinette?” Jon whispers, with life just about renewed in his voice. “…On a scale of one to ten… how much have you already adopted Kon?”

Without missing a beat, Marinette says, “Your dad will have to fight me for the papers.”

Marinette is no stranger to sharing a bed with her boyfriend. The only difference when she wakes up today is that it’s Jon next to her rather than Adrien. Even so, it’s been years since back then, when she and Adrien were living in that apartment together.

If someone had told teenage Marinette that this is what her future holds, sleepily rising with the morning sun over the skyline of New York City, with not Adrien, but a farm boy from America stirring at her side, that little Marinette would probably have had a panic attack. If she’s told that she’s the one who steps away from the life she dreams of, that life with Adrien, with marriage and kids and a hamster on a horizon close enough to taste, that little Marinette might actually faint from shock.

It’s so strange, how dreams change and how reality drags them down to Earth. Jon is right. When she looks back at the person she was and how she manages to get where she is… she hardly recognizes that little girl. It’s sad, in a way. It’s rose-tinted nostalgia frozen by an odd melancholy. Affection for that little girl, in almost the same way she looks at Conner – a kid overwhelmed by the craziness of life, who needs a guiding hand – but… knowing that not only has she given up on those dreams, but that she made the choice to reject them is… sobering.

Would little Marinette like the person she is now? Does the Marinette of today? Marinette smiles and rubs Jon’s shoulder idly. He’s stirring awake, not quite dead to the world like she sometimes is in the mornings, but much more tired than he should be. He’s a morning person. Has been for as long as Marinette has known him. He only has trouble rising if he has trouble sleeping, and that considered, Marinette expects it this morning.

Even if it would be the shock of a lifetime for the Marinette of so long ago, Marinette thinks she’s quite happy with this. It’s still frightening. She’s still a little lost. To leave behind dreams she holds so dearly for so long is no small thing, and Marinette knows the next big change is just around the corner. They only have this year before they graduate. After that, they need to enter the next chapter of their lives. The transition may or may not be an easy one. But if they tackle it together, they can overcome it just like they are overcoming this one.

Jon sits up, rubbing his eyes and yawning, and mumbles, “Someone’s at the door.”

Not a second later, the doorbell rings. Marinette rolls her eyes. With a ruffle of Jon’s hair and a jump out of bed, she leaves Jon’s room for her own. “Be with you in a minute!” She calls to whoever’s at the door.

She refuses to answer the door in her nightgown. That said, it’s an easy affair to slip on a simple dress. As she leaves her own room to answer the door, Jon emerges from his, shirt still unbuttoned and fastening his belt.

Marinette answers the door. Standing there, looking very much out of place, Conner Kent fidgets with the hem of his shirt. “Oh! Conner! That was fast. Come in, come in!” Marinette steps aside so he can squeeze past her. “Take your shoes off. You can put them in this closet here.”

Conner mechanically does as instructed, so Marinette turns and catches Jon with a quick kiss to his cheek. “I’m going to make some cookies. And breakfast. You move the furniture.”

“Yeah, this ain’t my first rodeo.” Jon smiles back, catching her before she can hurry to the kitchen to give her a kiss on the lips. When he lets her go, he turns to grin at Conner. “Good to see you, Kon! Let me give you the grand tour.”

While Marinette is working on breakfast (and cookies on the side) Jon comes into the living room with Conner on his tail. Conner looks so lost, like a little duckling following his mother, and Marinette coos internally at his dumbfounded expression.

The two don’t have guests often, but their friends have been over before. They figure out quickly that their little table and two chairs isn’t enough space for everyone to share a meal, much less hang out at, so they figured out their alternative. Jon pushes the table and chairs into a corner (they don’t need the chairs with only one guest) and then pushes the sofa back closer to the center of the room. It’s further from the television, but it gives him space to pull the coffee table away from it. The coffee table itself is lower to the ground, and much larger than their little dining table, so if they all sit around it on the floor, they can share a meal with friends – or family.

It’s not that much adjusting. Just pushing things around a little, not nearly as major as when Marinette needs floor space to cut fabric, and Jon’s strength means it’s hardly an annoyance to set everything where it needs to be.

“So, did you already piss of Dad, or did you just miss me?” Jon asks casually as he picks up the coffee table.

“I didn’t do anything.” Conner crosses his arms defensively.

Jon shakes his head slowly, standing from placing the coffee table down in its new place. “I didn’t mean it like that, bro. I was just teasing. Come on, sit. What made you decide to visit so soon?”

He plops down on the sofa, hesitant Conner following suit a moment later, and watches his brother expectantly. For a moment, Jon meets her eyes, a silent question overtaking his expression. Ordinarily, if they have breakfast at home, he helps cook. And that’s when they’re cooking for two. Marinette shakes her head. She’ll do this, Jon needs to focus on his brother.

She keeps an eye on them, though. Connor is distinctly uncomfortable here. “I’m sorry.” He says. “I should have called ahead.”

“Don’t worry about it.” Jon says nonchalantly. “Marinette and I have classes in a couple hours, but we’re free until then.” Classes, and if Conner’s sticking around this afternoon Jon will have to ask his professor for a short extension on an assignment he planned to complete yesterday, but it should all work out. They’re definitely not cluing Conner in on that part. The last thing they need is for him to feel like he’s getting in the way of their university work. “And I said you’re always welcome here, didn’t I?”

That gets Conner to loosen up just a little. “I…” Conner starts. “I… I’m here to update you on the cover story. On how you suddenly found a new brother.”

I don’t suppose anyone would believe if we said you fell from the sky. Marinette thinks, snickering to herself.

“Ah, yeah, I saw the message when I was getting ready this morning. You’re sixteen, officially, were in California with adoptive parents until now. I assume those names were all aliases.”

“Think so.” Conner says.

“Adoptive parents died, you came here to be taken care of by your birth parents. Did I miss anything? I just skimmed it, honestly.”

“There’s some more details, but that’s the idea.”

“Cool. Real nice of you to come tell me that in person after you already sent the brief.” Jon says it in a friendly way, but it’s clear that Jon knows that isn’t the real reason Conner is here. “Your idea?”

Conner grits his teeth and crosses his arms again. “I… I wanted to ask you about Superman. And about Superboy. And… what happened.” Jon’s expression turns serious, but Conner, despite looking somewhere between angry and terrified, forges on. “All I know about you is what Cadmus taught me, and all they know is the public stuff. No one ever said why you retired, some people are even still saying you’ll come back, but… you told me to use the name, so… you’re not coming back, are you?”

“No, Kon, I’m not.” Jon sighs heavily. “If you know all that public stuff, you already know that at first, the League just said I was on leave.” Conner nods stiffly. “I haven’t talked much with them since then, but I know them pretty well. I’m sure they were just trying to prevent a panic from Superboy disappearing suddenly. The truth is, it was a temporary leave at first. I didn’t know what I wanted to do, because I was raised to believe that fighting, using my powers for the good of the people, is the right thing to do. But… I honestly hated it. Fighting, I mean. It wore me down, until eventually I had to decide what I want my life to be. Mom convinced everyone to let me take a leave while I go to college. I was supposed to use my college years to decide my future. If I’d go back, or not.” He chuckles a little helplessly. “I think everyone expected me to come back within a few weeks.”

“But you didn’t.”

“No. I didn’t. My friend Damian told me once that it started because I felt safe enough to process everything. All the fighting. But… after I was away for a while… anytime I thought of going back, I’d start panicking. Not like- not like worry or anything like that. Like what you saw back at the farm. I freeze. I- uh, I’d rather not go into detail on exactly how it feels, but… I can’t fight anymore, even if I wanted to.” Jon shakes his head slowly. “But I don’t want to.” He grins at Conner’s near-horrified face. “I was only getting worse and worse towards the end of my time as Superboy. I’m happier now living a… well a peaceful life. So, no, I don’t intend to ever go back. I promised myself and Marinette that I wouldn’t ever fight again. And I intend to keep that promise. We’re pacifists now.”

“That’s… I’m sorry.” Conner looks to the floor. “That must be hard.”

Jon snorts. “Not when my old League friends aren’t trying to drag me back into it. Not anymore, anyway. You totally missed my whole ethics crisis phase.”

Conner winces, despite Jon’s attempt to lighten the atmosphere. His hands tremble and he bites his lip as he stares at the table. “I’m sorry.” He says. “If I didn’t start that fight, you wouldn’t have had that panic attack, I- I- you’re my-” Conner huffs, closing his eyes. His jaw and brow are set determinedly. “I’m not going to put you through that again. I’m sorry it happened once. I won’t make my brother feel that way.”

“Kon…” Jon’s gentlest voice carries through the room. “Don’t blame yourself for that. I knew what would happen, and I went anyway.”

Marinette rolls her eyes as she brings three plates of food to the coffee table. Conner seems to be trying hard to figure out a response, so Marinette uses the opportunity to interrupt. “Breakfast.” She says. “Eat up.”

“Ah! Thank you, Marinette!” Jon immediately leaps from the sofa to take a seat on the floor next to the table. “You’re the bestest ever!”

She giggles, bending down to kiss Jon’s head. “You’re cooking next time.” She murmurs, smiling at his laugh in reply.

Conner jumps, like he’s forgotten she’s there. “Oh. Thank you. You were there yesterday, too.”

“Of course, I was.” Marinette says. “I’m a lot like your brother. I was a hero for a long time. Started when I was a kid, too, though not quite as young as him. Put that life behind me, came to America for university. It was a stroke of luck that we ended up roommates.”

“Now she’s my girlfriend.” Jon beams proudly. “So, get used to her. She’s your sister-in-law.”

“We’re not married, Jon.”

“Have you seen us? We were married before we started dating.”

Marinette giggles, and, for the first time since he got here, Conner smiles. A small, weak one but a smile nonetheless. It falls quickly, though. “I can’t believe Superboy gave up being a hero. Just… like that.” Conner says quietly.

Jon lets out a sharp laugh. “Hey, that took years. I wouldn’t say it was just like that. Trust me, bro, it was hard. Worth it, though.” Marinette lets Jon take her hand and give her that same smile he had on Thanksgiving.

“Superman wants you to be a hero.” Conner says. “He doesn’t want me.”

Jon’s brow knits together. “Kon.” Jon touches his shoulder, drawing Conner’s eyes to his. Both the same blue, just a few shades deeper than Marinette’s own. “Do you want to be Superboy? Not me, Superboy, you Superboy. Is being a hero something you want to do?”

Conner awkwardly pushes his breakfast around the plate. “I… I was made to be a hero.”

“That doesn’t answer the question, Kon.” Conner flinches, but doesn’t say more, so Jon sighs and says. “It’s your life. Never forget that. I always thought I’d grow up to just be Dad, but look at me now. I had to decide my own path, and someday you will, too. If you want to be a hero, that’s fine. If you don’t, that’s okay, too. I’m your brother, and I’ll support you either way. And Dad?” Jon pauses for a moment. “He’s doing the best he can. You scare him, that’s the only reason he wouldn’t have told me about you. If you scare him that badly… it’ll take time for him to really accept you. But he will. And even if he doesn’t, your life is still yours. You don’t have to be him if you don’t want to, and he can’t stop you from using him as an example if that is what you want. Do you… sort of get what I’m saying?”

“I have to decide what I want to do.” Conner says.

Jon grins and throws an arm over Conner’s shoulder. “Yeah, but there’s no rush. You’re like, a month old, dude, you’ve got time to figure everything out.”

Conner glares at Jon, but makes no move to push him off. The expression quickly softens. “You’re… not at all like I expected.”

“Trust me, bro, when I look back at myself when I was Superboy, I think the same thing. Is it good or bad?”

“Good… I think.”

Jon beams brilliantly and roughly ruffles Conner’s hair, making him quickly rescind the statement.

Marinette slides into her seat. As usual, the professor isn’t here yet, but it’s not worth the walk home with only an hour between classes. Luckily, no one uses the room at this time block, so Marinette can sit down early and work on some sketches, or homework, if she needs it, or even just a bit of hand sewing.

She doesn’t expect Kasey and Louise to come in, both hesitating in the doorway with wide eyes like she’s some sort of ghost. Louise gently coaxes Kasey forward. “Hey, Marinette.” Louise says with a guarded smile.

Their countenances being so clouded puts Marinette on guard herself. “Hi. I don’t usually see you here, what’s up?”

Kasey fiddles with a pink pen in her hands. “Well, um… Have you heard from Sam recently?”

Marinette just raises a brow. What could she say that you’re so afraid of? “No.” Marinette answers honestly. “I blocked her when she started harassing my boyfriend. Haven’t heard from her since.”

Like she’s flipped a switch, the tension drains out of the two other girls. “Oh, good.” Kasey says. “Uh, er, I mean- not that it’s good that- I- aw…” She covers her face and ducks into Louise’s shoulder, groaning at herself.

Louise just smiles awkwardly, patting her back all the while. “We didn’t invite Sam back into the apartment this year.” She explains. “When it looked like you were willing to forgive what she said, we decided to do the same, but when we found out what she was trying to do with Jon… it crossed a line. It took a while to finalize everything, but we’ve basically cut contact with her. Last we heard, she blames you and threatened us that she’d ruin our friendship, like you ruined hers with us. Apparently, she was assuming that we’d cool off over the summer and forget about it. When she found out that we didn’t… We… aren’t sure yet what she’s planning.”

Marinette suddenly feels very weary. Who would have thought unnecessary drama would follow her right out of heroism (and lycée) and into normal university life. Maybe drama is less a kid thing and more a human thing?

If that’s the case, Marinette has never been more thankful for Jon’s Kryptonian heritage.

Then again, there is the whole “I’ve got a new sixteen-year-old brother created in a lab to kill or replace me, whichever comes first” thing, so maybe Kryptonian lives are actually even more dramatic.

Only Jon is worth that headache, no matter how cute a kid Conner is. And it really does put this kind of dumb, petty drama in perspective. Marinette sighs. “Guys, just forget about Sam. Trust me, she can’t do anything to me.” If Lila couldn’t, Sam definitely can’t. Lila is a lot more frightening than her, and Marinette’s already beat her twice.

Kasey collapses heavily into the seat next to her. “I wish I could.” She whimpers. “But… Sam was my friend. I still can’t believe she did that in the first place.”

Marinette stops for a moment, frozen, and slowly sets down her pencil. Louise takes the seat in front of them, imploring Marinette silently with her eyes to do something, though Marinette sees deep within those eyes that Louise is hurt, too.

The truth is, Marinette is hurt, too. Betrayal is betrayal.

So, she carefully picks Kasey up off the desk and turns her around so that she can comb her hands through the other girl’s hair. Kasey relaxes into the touch just like Marinette used to when Adrien or Alya or Nino did the same for her way back when. “When I was in collège,” Marinette says gently, “back in Paris… that’s middle school here, though it went on into high school, there was a girl in my class called Lila.”

Louise leans close resting her head on the desk while Kasey frowns a little at the story. “Lila is…” Marinette licks her lips, searching for appropriate words. “A sad, sad girl. All she cares about is fame and attention and power, and to get that, she tells all sorts of lies. A lot of bragging about celebrity connections, charity work she claims to do to make her look good, that kind of thing. Plus, she lied about disabilities to get my classmates to do things for her. Anything from her homework to carrying her lunch tray.”

“Wow.” Louise says. “She sounds like a bitch.”

Marinette giggles. “I wouldn’t have called her that, we were just kids, after all, but given she made no effort to change even towards the end of lycée… yeah, she was.” Not to mention how she got worse, with Hawk Moth and the Miraculous. Marinette has to shake the memories away. There’s no use lingering on that right now. “She’s a lot worse than anyone imagined, even me, but… that’s not why I’m telling you this. The point is that, early on, I figured out she was lying. I called her out. Because of that, she considered me a threat and did everything in her power to ruin me. She would plant evidence to accuse me of stealing, or cheating, make false claims of me attacking or bullying her, spread rumors about me, anything to make my life terrible. To prove that she can, and to punish me for defying her.”

“Definitely a bitch.” Louise mutters, quieter this time. Kasey makes a disgruntled noise of agreement.

“She threatened me with exactly the same thing Sam threatened you two with. She told me that she would take all my friends away, that I’d be all alone.” Marinette continues. “I won’t bore you with all the details of that whole thing, but… it was a tough time. There was more going on on top of everything, so I was already stressed, and the threat of losing my friends – seeing them trust Lila even when I know she’s lying, take her side when I try to call her out on the lies… it was hard. But you want to know how it all ended?”

Kasey pulls away to look at her with determined, curious eyes. Probing eyes what hunger for the answers. Marinette appreciates that look. That drive for knowledge is a good trait to have. It reminds Marinette of Alya, much more tempered by logic now than when they first met but no less passionate. “How?” Kasey asks.

She got arrested for being a supervillain. Marinette smiles to herself and decides that bit of information isn’t strictly necessary to get her point across. “I’m still close friends with all my classmates from collège. None of us have heard of Lila in years.” Marinette chuckles. “Sam’s little stunt reminded me of Lila, honestly. Except Lila was a lot more threatening. Trust me, I’m way too familiar with that type of person to fall for her tricks. She has no control over our friendship. That’s something only we can control.” Marinette lifts up a fist, holding it out to Kasey and Louise. “Right?”

Kasey laughs, loud and bright and shiny like her, and crashes her own fist into Marinette’s. “Right!”

“Definitely.” Louise says, much more quietly, but with no less feeling, adding her fist to the group.

Marinette reaches out and pulls both girls into an awkward hug over the desk. “I miss Sam, too. Just because she showed her true colors doesn’t mean we didn’t think of her as a friend. But it’ll be alright, because we’ve still got each other.”

Marinette has to hold back a yelp (and Louise fails to) when Kasey throws her own arms around them all and squeezes tight. “You’re really something else, Marinette. I’m so glad we’re all friends.”

——-=——-

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brittababbles · 5 years ago

Note

Trump isn't wrong about injecting chemicals and uv light into our blood either. I have to go in constantly for uv of the blood because I'm one of the rare few poor bastards with a blood disorder that my own body is rejecting. (Aka blood poisoning) I got it due to breaking my leg and not having it properly taken care of. Just be aware, even if he's a dumb ass, he's not wrong on this one.

Why did you send this, anon? Why?

Okay, I - whew, where to begin here.

This- this is my field. I work in healthcare. I’m studying this stuff. I spent a lot of time with epidemiology and viruses and no. Okay. We use UV treatment for VERY specific sets of circumstances, and anecdotal experiences of the few do not equate to a positive scientific study by any stretch. We don’t generally use it for viral disinfection, especially not in sensitive tissues like the ones that make up the respiratory tract, where the COVID-19 virus likes to habituate. Because lung tissue does not regenerate as readily as blood does, and it definitely doesn’t regenerate as readily when it’s infected with a virus that makes it not work right. Also, if UV rays can cause skin cancer - skin being a tissue that contains melanin, which is specifically supposed to protect your skin from UV damage - image what it does to fragile lung tissue. So no, exposing a COVID patient to UV radiation is, at best, likely going to do nothing at all and at worse, create an entirely separate problem.

Also, we have no evidence at all the UV radiation does anything to COVID in tissue. It kills it on surfaces. Maybe.

Now to the bit about injecting chemicals into people. Now, we inject chemicals into people all the time. Technically saline is a chemical. We pump that into patients by the liter. Drugs are chemicals. We generally don’t put those in people without rigorous testing first but yeah we do that too. But our dear non-medically savvy president didn’t just say “chemicals”. He specified two disinfectants that do seem to have an effect in killing COVID on surfaces: bleach, and alcohol.

Now, technically the human body can orally consume small quantities (very very small, in the case of bleach) of these substances and, assuming said body has normal hepatic and renal function, will probably be fine. Probably. But both of those are cytotoxins. That’s why they work as effective disinfectants against bacteria as well as viruses - they kill cells! Guess what your body is made of??? Cells!!! And if you drink some alcohol and don’t die, it’s probably because it passed through your digestive system, was broken down, passed into your circulatory system and through your liver so it didn’t kill you. But drink enough of it and you get cirrhosis or alcoholic hepatitis! Which is fun, right? In the veterinary world they sometimes use grain alcohol as an antidote to antifreeze poisoning but again those are special circumstances that, from experience, don’t always work. Bleach will just kill you, realtiscally.

Guy, we can’t even put water into a vein because of how the body is pH balanced (also electrolyte balanced... I’m not doing the hyper/hypotonic saline lesson here because it’s literally the first lab in a physiology class please look it up) Bleach? Which is a. Highly cytotoxic and b. Extraordinarily basic on the pH scale? Nah. You can’t just inject someone with bleach and expect them to be ~cleansed~ of a virus. It probably will kill the virus. It will also kill the patient.

Also, again, bleach and alcohol work well on surfaces. Alcohol works well to disinfect skin if used sparingly. We do not know what it does to COVID in tissue, but we know what it does to the tissue itself. It kills it.

So yeah, he’s wrong. Like really really wrong. I’m a baby-nurse (a nurse who is a baby, not a nurse who handles babies) and even I can give you several reasons why he’s wrong but I didn’t think I needed to tell people that UV radiation blasts and bleach drips are not going to do anything to solve the COVID pandemic. Also our president is an idiot and we should probably not be taking medical advice from a man who actively does not believe in science.

I need a drink. Cytotoxicity be damned.

#what the fuck did i just read #that’s not how this works that’s not how any of this works #gods Din just blaster me in the head #sad healthcare worker post #sad nurse is sad #healthcare #nursing #covid 19 #corona crisis 2020

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kpopchangedme · 5 years ago

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Nocturna: Part III

The fragile peace between undead and lycanth is imperilled your arrival to the Inferorum Castrum. Between the changing power dynamics of the wolf pack and the insatiable urges of the vampire king, you aren’t exactly sure where your loyalty lies.

Protagonists: Im Jaebeom | You | Bang Chan

Word Count: 2.9k

Nocturna Masterlist | HALLOWEEN

The second time you wake in this foreign place, you’re still as disoriented. It takes a moment for you to understand you’re being actively shaken to consciousness. Then, another minute to recognize your surroundings and the man waking you. Well, not a man, Jaebeom.

“There’s not much time left before dawn,” he states, looking away, “I can’t let you rest more.” You’re soft and out of it when he sits you upwards. With warm water, he wipes away all traces of your run into the woods, fall, the attack, his feeding, and your intercourse. When your upper body is all clean from the blood and the dirt, he slides a cream shirt over your head. It is way too large, it falls down to your knee.

As if reading your mind, he clarifies; “Your clothes are ruined, you would get asked too many questions.” You could explain to him that coming back late from a hunting expedition in nothing but a man’s shirt won’t do much better, but you lack the strength. You are not exactly yourself. He stops wiping your feet to look at you, sensing this. “What’s wrong?”

“Dizzy,” you mutter, head doddering.

A dimple digs between his perfectly straight brows. Jaebeom brings his wrist to your forehead. “I think you have a fever,” he announces. He can’t tell because his body doesn’t match, but your skin is very damp. “I… It’s the blood loss...” He mutters, having never seen a human unwell after drinking from a vampire. For your kind, black undead blood is a magical cure. You were fine the first time, you’ll be alright. “We need to leave before sunrise.”

“Are we going to Ia-” You’re gagged before you can finish your sentence. Jaebeom brings an index to his lips, crimson eyes narrowing. Right. You aren’t supposed to say anything out loud in this place... He said so yesterday, or tonight, you aren’t sure what day or what time it is. You’re lost. He must think you’re the dumbest person he’s met.

“I’m escorting you out.” Jaebeom nods, still bashfully avoiding your gaze. He stands, tugging you with him. You extirpate yourself from his large bed, body aching all over. “One more thing, before we go out...” He pulls you into him easily since you’re all sluggish. Then he presses his mouth to your ear, barely audible; “Do not look anywhere, do not step away, do not talk at all, do not even breathe somebody’s way. Do you understand?”

“W-What?” Your head falls back and Jaebeom cages your chin to hold it straight, confusion painted all over his face. He curses between his teeth, a swear so ancient you have never heard it before.

“Focus, tidbit, this is important.” The vampire hushes, annoyed. “It’s the only way I can honour my end of our deal. None should be curious about you. They should forget about your existence the moment you leave these walls.”

“Who?”

“My Court. Do you understand me?”

“Sure.” You agree, too confused to care. You can’t keep up with anything he’s saying right now. Jaebeom sights, hesitating before lightly kissing your pout. You don’t jerk away.

He brings his palm to your heart, feeling it in your chest as though he’s worried about your well-being. Everything sounds fine, but you are off and feeble. You were a lot more doubtful, curious and combative at twilight. He doesn’t understand why you’re in such bad shape, you should’ve recovered by now. He braces himself, grabbing your hand instead of your waist as he turns the doorknob. Most vampires should be in their rooms, ready to get to rest for the day, and the diurnal beasts shouldn’t even be up yet. Ideally, no one should see you, even if they heard. He never brings humans over, and although he can do however he pleases, if someone saw you, he wouldn’t hear the end of it. There’s also a chance you’d be at risk in the future. He has many enemies and they'd wonder if they can get to him through you. If you're special somehow.

Dizzy, you watch as Jaebeom cracks the door, glancing at the large stone corridor you only got a glimpse of yesterday. Whatever he sees seems to please him, because he exits quietly. Pulling you behind, he moves fast by a multitude of closed doors, turning every corner with evident apprehension. After a few minutes of walk, you give up trying to understand where you are going at all. Whatever this place is, it’s a gigantic maze. You follow his instructions, breathing cautiously and always staying a step away. Without warning, Jaebeom suddenly stops moving, body tensing. His face is wiped clean when he turns to gesture you to stare at the ground. Unsure of what’s going on, you still obey, feeling something bad is bound to happen. He starts to walk again, faster, and you look fixedly at the gray stone floor as it becomes a luxurious red carpet.

“Jaebeom-iiiiiiie.” Someone chirps up ahead, barely making the undead slow down. That’s probably why he tensed, you realize in horror. Another vampire? Hiding behind your loose hair, you keep your head down and follow him like a shadow. “Isn't it too early for you to go out?”

At that Jaebeom stops walking altogether, so abruptly that you collide with his back. “You’re the one who's up before dawn,” he retorts, cold but casual. Trying to be forgotten, you stubbornly keep your gaze glued down. You stare until dark dots are dancing in front of your eyes. You really aren’t feeling all that well...

“I haven’t slept much, you were being loud.” There’s a low laugh that ends in a weird cackle following. Don’t look, you tell yourself, fighting against your natural curiosity. “Besides, you wouldn’t believe the crazy thing that happened to one of my Betas yesterday...” At that, Jaebeom bends his elbow, bringing you all the way against his back.

“I know of everything that transpires here,” he hums threateningly.

“Really?” Another laugh, and this time the urge is too strong. You raise your head, sneaking a glance above Jaebeom’s shoulder.

A stranger is leaning back against large wooden doors, as though waiting for you two. That is clearly the exit to this odd castle. The new creature tilts his head and wiggles his fingers in front of him, catching you looking. He’s short but has a large built, very impressive. He also has way more colours than Jaebeom, and abysmal black eyes. Not a vampire but inhuman beyond the shadow of a doubt. You are not sure how, but even at first glance, you immediately know what he is. Your nape tingles weirdly, shivers running down your spine.

“It doesn’t seem like you do, Jaeboem-ie.” The massive wolf-man nods his chin your way saying that, and you duck back behind the vampire’s shoulder. “Stealing from us to warm your bed for a night, it’s unlike you to be so reckless”

“Stealing?” Jaebeom snorts defiantly. “Last I heard, you were still guests on my land. I go and feed as I please. In my Castrum, your pack abides my rules.”

“Sure, I remember,” the dark one crinkles his nose, “the treaty hasn’t aged as well as me...”

“It’s a very generous pledge.” Monotonic, a newcomer in your back intervenes. Jaebeom, who was as strained as a pulled bowstring, immediately relaxes against you.

“Ah, at last!” The wolf pushes away from the door at the entrance. He stretches his arms in an offbeat welcoming gesture, “the reasonable cold-one! I was so worried you already went to rest, Jinyoung-ie!” Without meaning to, you turn to assess the second creature. Clearly an undead. If his ethereal pale skin hadn’t given it away, the bloody steel scowl you briefly meet would’ve for sure.

“I was about to,” Jinyoung replies, remaining inhumanly still, “but I heard you troubling the king, Jackson.”

“K-King?” You repeat under your breath, heart quickening as your mouth opens in astonishment. No one minds you, but Jaebeom squeezes your hand twice.

“Troubling him? I’m the one dealing with the distress he caused my pack!”

“Enough!” Jaebeom roars, exasperated. “Stop yapping nonsense and let me out!”

Jackson laughs once more at his anger, way too exaggeratedly. His amusement is obviously fake and does sound like a mad dog barking. If Jaebeom is his king, it sure doesn't feel like it. There must be a lot of bad blood between them. Uncomfortable, you wiggle from one foot to the other. The wolf-man ceases his howling to dart his black eyes on you, amusement giving place to something strangely just as warm.

“Nice to formally meet you, pup...” His expression twists into a large grin, “Jackson Wang, Alpha of the Bang Pack.”

Jaebeom reacts as though you've been directly threatened by the greeting. He turns to shield you with his arms, grunting as a warning. The other vampire also steps between both creatures, though still highly apathetic.

Jackson whistles, impressed by the scale of the reaction obtained. “You’re confused, Jaebeom-ie. She’s not yours to protect...” Claiming this, he raises his hand to the East side of the large Hall.

Summoned, another figure extirpates itself from the shadows. A silver-head you recognize instantly. There’s a strong pull in your stomach and warmness spreads through your body at his familiar sight. So, it wasn’t all a dream, Chan truly is here with these creatures. Has he lied to you all this time about his identity, or is there something you're missing? This is everything Jaebeom warned should not happen. If he hates wolves like he claimed, why are these two guests in his Castrum? Right now, you can't even begin to make sense of everything.

“Hello again, Jeonha.” Chan tilts his head your way, walking to the other wolf’s side. He looks tired and jittery, concerned. His eyes become two thin lines as he asses you from head to toe. There’s no hint of beastliness in them at all this time. You've never seen your old friend this agitated and distressed. You should reassure him, but Jaebeom beats you to it.

“Keep your paws to yourself, mutt,” the king warns, voice distorted, “or lose them.”

The larger wolf bursts out laughing for the hundredth time, “WOW!” Jackson claps, hysterical with merriment. The others wait for it to go by, unsurprised as if this happens to him regularly. “I think there’s a human saying… About history-”

“How are you?” Chan interrupts, unable to hold back anymore. "Has he hurt you?" Unable to not reply when your friend is staring at you like that, you shake your head from side to side. He sighs in relief but still anxiously runs a hand in his curls. You're puzzled, the scene in the forest is flashing through your fuzzy mind. What happened between you two, who attacked you? He seems so worried. You can’t keep up with this messy situation. After a quick look at Jackson, Chan straightens and raises two fingers in front of him, bending them in an invitation. “Come here,” he commands with a deeper voice, one you have never heard him before. The vampire's arm on your waist tightens dolorously, and scary sounds birth at the back of his throat. “Here,” Chan repeats with a short nod, looking more drained and this time your whole body trembles. It is weird, as though you are yearning to obey. He doesn’t miss it and smiles tentatively, lips curving upwards, inviting... “It’s okay, you are safe now. I’m here.” His dimpled grin is simply contagious, irresistible. It's familiar, comforting and safe. You've been cherishing that smile of him for years. Craving to get closer, your right foot slides forward on the carpet causing the king to look down at you, shocked.

“Where are you going?” Jaebeom might be whispering, but you’re certain every creature in the large hall hears. “That beast attacked you.”

Impossible. Your friend wouldn't hurt you. Shaking your head in denial sends your hair flying around. You almost lose your balance trying to free yourself away from the confused vampire's grasp. Chan’s irides slide to the corner of his eyes to the larger wolf, a silent exchange you miss.

“It’s almost dawn, Jackson.” The second undead points out, sounding a little less bored than prior. “My patience is wearing thin.”

“Well, Jinyoung-ie… Let me enlighten you.” Smiling cockily, the broad wolf walks up to him. “See, your king has been whoring around with my new whelp.” Whatever this means, everyone instantly reacts but you. For the first time since you’ve gotten out of his room, Jaebeom jerks away, putting some space between your bodies. “And obviously I couldn’t sleep because her-”

“What’s going on...” Your legs wobble, missing his support.

“- mate wouldn’t stop whining about it!”

“Are you sick?” Chan promptly steps closer, alarmed at your feeble state. Unfortunately, he pauses halfway to you when Jaebeom's glare falls on him.

“I merely stopped your dog from bleeding her out, Jackson. What I did with the human afterwards is none of your business.” The vampire king's chin raises with pride. You wonder how you missed his rank before when he’s so obviously noble. “I was there, I saw him hurt her.”

“I would never!” Chan barks, outraged by the accusation. He braves the earlier threat to walk up to you. “I tried to explain everything to you yesterday, Jeonha. She's mine.”

The younger man doesn’t mind the vampire hissing through his teeth this time. When his hand wraps around your elbow to hold you up, you aren’t strong enough to even consider pulling away. Chan’s touch is warm and reassuring, scorching after Jaebeom’s unnatural dead one. He’s home when you are so lost and hazy, always has been. You can’t wrap your head around the possibility he could ever harm you. You've both saved and protected each other's lives many times in the past.

“That young wolf, isn't he Bang?” Jinyoung asks, getting ahead of something his king has missed. “Alpha legacy.” You’re too weak to listen to the rest of the heated exchange that follows.

“C-Chan... I don’t feel…” Like his chest is a magnet, you lean closer until your back is enveloped in him. This is soothing, your whole body hurts.

“Sssh...” Your friend brings his palm to your sweaty forehead, wiping cold sweat. “You’re safe, I got you now y/n... ”

“Y/n.” The king echoes in pure consternation.

“H-home,” you whine, eyelids heavy.

“I know… I’m so sorry, but you'll need a few days. Don’t worry, I’ll take care of gran.”

“How does the dog know your name?” Jaebeom’s stare is so deadly when you meet it, that you almost throw up at its intensity.

“Chan's my f-friend...” You reply, faintly, and his face twists in disgust like you’ve disappointed him.

“You have our sincere apologies, Jackson.” Jinyoung interrupts, dignified as he looks at the tense scene. “The king made an honest mistake. We won't interfere with your business again.”

At that, Jaebeom throws his arms to the side, angrier than before. “I don’t care, I’m not letting them turn her! I promised the human a safe return!”

“You’ve always been so dramatic and short-sighted, Jaebeom-ie.” Jackson rolls his eyes back. “Couldn’t you tell while you were fucking her?”

“She’s already marked, Jeonha...” The other vampire explains, way more pragmatic.

“I’m w-what...” Disoriented, you slip away from Chan’s grip and tumble forward. You’re hallucinating. The four creatures aren’t really there. You aren’t in this Hall, in this place. You’re dreaming. You’re back home in your bed. You have a fever. “You killed me.” When the young hunter reaches for your shoulders, you shrink on yourself.

“I didn’t,” Chan pleads, desperate, “I chose you!”

“I'm d-dying...” Your eyes barely focus, the rest of the room is fading.

“You've been poisoned.” Someone shouts a protest from across the room but Chan goes on even louder; “You just need to sleep. The hours following marking are painful...”

Shaking your head, you crouch on the floor, breathing rendered heavy. No one moves, watching you curl on yourself on the carpet. You fist your hair, miserable.

Now everything hurts.

“For the record, the whelp left our wing alive, Jackson.” Dignified, the second vampire darts his bloody gaze on his king, who remains frozen still.

“Of course you put it that way, Jinyoung!” The older wolf grunts sarcastically, pushing himself away from the wall to glare at both undead, “You can’t have another diplomatic incident...”

“She isn’t responsive,” Chan snivels, sounding far away.

“I've fed her bloo-”

“Again, we won’t acknowledge that.” Jinyoung cuts off his king, successfully shutting him up.

“But it's obviously his venom!” Chan protests, mad. “She should be fine. She would’ve healed much slower without-”

“Chan! If she dies it’s on you,” his Alpha intervenes, warning with a deep voice; “not the king.” He’s skeptical as his Beta kneels. “You said she was a hunter, that she could take the bite. You guaranteed i- ”

“She’s it,” Chan pulls you into his arms. You’re so out of your mind that you don’t notice when he stands to carry you out.

“It’s dawn, Jeonha.” Jinyoung coldly points out for Jaebeom who still hasn't moved. He doesn’t get the hype surrounding you at all, you aren’t that pretty. For all the vampire cares... You should die, it’d be less trouble. The king seems rather shaken though, and he hopes the current tensions at the Castrum won’t worsen.

Nocturna Masterlist | HALLOWEEN

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writerbyaccident · 6 years ago

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Code of Honor (Yandere SpinnerxReader)

Request: Can you do a Yandere Spinner from BNHA who becomes obsessed with a civilian he saved during one of the LOV attacks. It was instinct and he protected her because of course he believes in stain’s ideology and wanted to save an innocent life. But it was love in first sight for him when she kindly thanked him for rescuing her and wasn’t repulsed by him. So he stalks her and at first she doesn’t notice it but when she does she tries to be nice but her anxiety became increased.

Sorry for posting this kinda late, I just couldn’t stop writing!

The fire was spreading quickly. In a manner of minutes it had gone from burning solely in one corner of the hero agency building to devouring several of the upper floors. As Spinner stood guarding one of the exits on the ground floor, he could hear the crackle and roar of Dabi’s flames. The plan was a fairly simple one for this attack: Dabi had been ordered to set his flames in the top floors of one of the city’s most well-renowned hero agencies, sending all of the remaining heroes down towards the exits on the first floor where the rest of the league would be waiting. Spinner had been anxious to get the mission started ever since Shigaraki told them the plan, utterly determined to make Stain proud. Already the bodies of several so-called heroes were lying at his feet, their deaths a testament of just how unworthy they all had been.

Still, despite the temptation to revel fully in his work, Spinner forced himself to stay focused, ears and eyes peeled for any signs of someone approaching. All he could hear though was the fire and the sound of distant screams, most of them coming from outside of the building. Clenching his sword tightly, Spinner briefly debated whether he ought to leave his post to try and find some of the false heroes he was sure were still in the building. But no, if he left his position he would be giving them a way to avoid justice, a fact he couldn’t dismiss. Besides, they would have to come to the various exits eventually, he just needed to be patient. Spinner’s musings were abruptly cut short though, when a resounding crash and subsequent scream reached him from the other side of the door. Reasoning that he should check to make sure that some supposed hero hadn’t slipped through the league’s perimeter, Spinner opened up the exit door.

There, in the cramped alleyway laid you, trapped under the fallen debris of the failing building. Even through the dust and smoke that had mixed in the air, Spinner could tell that you were merely a civilian. That much was clear from your ordinary clothes and the fruitless way you were trying to lift one of the heavy wooden beams off of your legs. Swearing through the pain, you made the attempt several times before admitting that it was useless, instead deciding to use your remaining energy to call out for help. Although even then your cries for help were punctuated by several screams of anguish. As time continued to pass without a hero in sight, you felt yourself becoming more and more lightheaded from both your injury and the smoke pouring out in the alleyway. Realizing that you were going to pass out, you called out one last time for someone to help you.

The only person to hear your cries though, or at least the only person to care, was Spinner. When he had first spotted you, he had simply watched, arguing that some patrolling hero would help you. After all, he didn’t want to leave his position if help was just around the corner. But as he waited with you, he realized that no one was coming, and he was left with a choice. He could leave his post, potentially missing the opportunity to cleanse the world of more false heroes, or he could ignore you, and let an innocent person die on his watch. Two sides of Stain’s ideology warring in his mind, Spinner tried to determine what he ought to do. When he saw the back of your head beginning to sway though, he made his decision. Putting his sword down, Spinner ran up to where you were trapped. He grasped the beam that had you pinned, and, lifting with all of his strength, he threw it off of you.

While you could feel that the weight that had been crushing you leaving, the mixture of dust and smoke swirling in the air kept you from clearly seeing who it was that saved you. As your hero drew you into his arms, you could only make out an outline. Spinner, meanwhile, couldn’t make out many of your details either, though he could feel how small and fragile you felt as you trembled in his arms. Leaving the alley behind, he took you somewhere safer, though it was still an alleyway, as he had no desire to be spotted by law enforcement. Once he had brought you to safety though, laying you down gently against the alley wall, he could finally see you fully. Though covered in dust and ash, Spinner knew that he had never seen anyone as beautiful as you before. His heart pounding excitedly, he reminded himself not to get his hopes up. After all, Spinner knew from experience that if you did end up regaining full consciousness, you would simply react to him with fear and disgust. But still, even that reminder couldn’t keep him from running his hand through your hair. Reaching behind him for the small bag of supplies that he had brought with him for the league’s mission, he fumbled through it for a minute until he found what he had been looking for. He pulled out the water bottle, thanking whoever was up there that he had thought to bring it, and poured some of the water out into his cupped hands.

With supreme gentleness, Spinner began to wipe your face clean, taking care to make sure you didn’t have any head injuries that he failed to see earlier. You stirred a bit at the feeling of water and flesh brushing over your skin, still barely conscious, not knowing exactly what was going on but enjoying the sensation nonetheless. As Spinner cleaned you, he couldn’t help but notice just how soft your skin felt beneath his scaled hands, it felt positively addictive. But, pointing out that he still needed to help you, Spinner retracted his hands and instead picked up the water bottle again, this time bringing it to your lips. Tipping it slowly, he watched as you subconsciously gulped down the cool water, licking your lips to get every last drop. Groaning, you fidgeted a bit and began to regain full consciousness. With each minor sound and movement that you made, Spinner grew only more hypnotized, finding it utterly unbelievable that he almost didn’t save you.

“What—what happened?” you moaned, eyes still closed.

“A building was collapsing,” he answered softly, “I guess you were walking by, and you got pinned under some debris.” Nodding vaguely at Spinner’s description, you began to open your eyes, and Spinner began to brace himself for what would inevitably come next. But as your eyes took in his reptilian appearance, you made no sound or look of disgust. Even when Spinner stared in your eyes, he found not even the slightest hint of repulsion. This alone was a shock to him, but when you suddenly threw your arms around him, he was shocked into speechlessness.

“Thank you,” you murmured quietly, your voice undoubtedly the sweetest thing Spinner had ever heard. He shivered at your words, amazed by their simple kindness, and cautiously moved to put his arms around you. You allowed him to do so, and he took a moment to savor the feeling of your breaths before squeezing you reassuringly.

“How do you feel?” he asked you. “Do you think you’re going to be alright?”

“I think so, I don’t think any of the debris hit my head or anything, it’s really just my leg that hurts.” Nodding slightly at your words, Spinner took the opportunity to glance down at your leg, laid bare as it was by the skirt you wore. There was a sizeable gash there, and already your skin was beginning to bruise. Spinner swallowed, both due to the sight of your flesh laid out so prettily before him and due to the sight of your flesh bloody and bruised. The vision of you hurt and vulnerable crushed his heart, someone so sweet should never have to experience something like this, he thought to himself. After pouring some of the left over water over your wound, Spinner took out some of the gauze from his bag and wrapped it tightly around your injury. Biting the inside of his cheek nervously, Spinner prepared himself to say something more, but was then interrupted by the sound of police officers about to turn the corner and enter the alleyway where the two of you laid. Before they could see him, Spinner fled, tucking himself so deeply into the shadows that you had no idea where he went.

The next hour passed quickly for you, a blur of police asking what had happened and medics fluttering around you. You told them the whole story as well as you could remember it, how you had been taking a shortcut to get home only to become trapped by a fallen beam. Once you had finished your recollection though, you were shocked to discover that your savior had been none other than a member of the League of Villains, the very group whose attack had put you in such danger in the first place. After determining that you were telling the truth, the police let you be, leaving you to finish healing in the hospital. For a while you found yourself unable to sleep, too confused and agitated by the knowledge you now held. Why on earth would a villain go out his way to help some random civilian, you wondered. Eventually though, the day’s strenuous events caught up with you, leading you to fall asleep.

As you slept though, a shadowy form had climbed up to your window, now silently sliding it open so that he could enter. Spinner slipping into the room he took a quick look through the door to make sure that no doctors or nurses were approaching. When he saw no one in the darkened hospital hallway, he turned back to where you were sleeping soundly. He was glad to see that you were being taken care of, though a part of him was bitter that it was no longer him acting as your caretaker. After all, what did you or him know about the people who worked at this hospital? How was he supposed to know if they were any good at their jobs? What if they didn’t care about their patients? That last question worried him especially. If the staff here didn’t care about you, they might make some sort of stupid mistake, only making things worse. And he was sure that they wouldn’t see just how special you were either, which might lead them to neglecting you in favor of others. Spinner longed to take you back home with him, where he could watch over you, but the still-rational part of his mind admitted that he didn’t have the tools or the training that the doctors here did. It seemed that if he wanted to keep you safe, he would have to let you stay here for now.

Spinner’s fear seemed to be unfounded though, as you soon made a full recovery and, after a few days, were ready to go home. In fact, it was only the hospital’s abundance of caution that had kept you there that long in the first place, wanting to make sure that there was no chance of you getting an infection from your injury. As glad as you were that the hospital staff was so dedicated to helping you heal though, you were happy to finally be going home. No matter how nice the nurses were, you would much rather be at home, eating your own food and sleeping in your own bed. Thankfully, you didn’t live far from the hospital that you had been taken to, and with the sign-off from your doctor and with the warmth of the day beckoning you, you decided to walk home. Even though you had just been in the hospital for a few days, it felt like you hadn’t been outside in ages, making a walk all the more tempting.

Spinner, however, was split on your decision. On the one hand, he could appreciate that you felt as though you needed some fresh air and exercise. Plus, you walking home meant that he could watch you more easily. But on the other hand, he couldn’t help but fear that you might exacerbate your injury by walking. Or what if someone decided to take advantage of a pretty, young girl walking through the streets by herself? All the more reason for him to make sure you got home safely, Spinner argued. Really, he thought to himself as he followed you, you needed his protection. Someone so kind, so innocent was easy prey in this world, to both villains and “heroes” alike. He just loved you so much, he couldn’t bear to see anything happen to you.

As he walked behind you, Spinner soaked in how joyfully you observed the world around you. You were simply so happy to be out of the hospital and back in the fresh air, it felt as though nothing could ruin your mood. But as you continued your journey home, your contentedness was slowly poisoned by a growing paranoia. You couldn’t help but feel as though someone was watching you, but each time you looked back, you saw no one. It didn’t take long for Spinner to pick up on your change in mood, and abhorred by the thought that he might be scaring you, he decided that approaching you was worth the risk. So when you turned a corner into an empty side street, Spinner ensured that he was standing there in front of you.

Upon his sudden appearance, you stumbled backwards in shock, looking around for someone to help you. The street was abandoned though, and as Spinner grasped your wrist, you had no choice but to let him. Seeing your nervous reaction to him, Spinner scowled internally. He didn’t blame you of course, he knew that it wasn’t your fault. It was those police officers and those false heroes’ fault, they had told you nothing but lies to try and make you scared of him. But you had not reason to fear him, and he would prove it to you.

“Hey, it’s okay,” he murmured, wrapping his free arm around your waist. “You know that I won’t hurt you.”

“Do I?” you muttered. “Do I know that? You’ve hurt plenty of other people.”

“Only those who have proven themselves traitors to the name of hero,” he explained, desperate for you to understand. “You’re not one of them, you’re not.” You huffed out a breath but didn’t argue.

“What do you want with me then?”

“I just wanted you to know, that whatever they told you about me isn’t true. I’m not evil, I’m just working to make this world a better one. You don’t need to be scared of me, I’m not here to hurt you, I’m here to protect you.”

“Protect me?”

“Yes,” Spinner said, nodding eagerly. “You’re something rare in this world, something precious. I’ll do whatever it takes to keep you safe.” Tensing at his dark tone, you gazed into Spinner’s eyes, trying to see what he was thinking. What you found there only frightened you more though. In his gaze there laid a fierce, almost sickening adoration, paired with some sort of desperate plea. It threatened to consume you, to swallow you in its wake until there was no escape from him. Deciding that you wouldn’t wait for that to happen, you suddenly stomped your foot with all of your strength on Spinner’s toes, causing him to loosen his grip reflexively. Without hesitating, you turned and ran back towards the busy streets, refusing to look back. Spinner, though, just stood there sighing and shaking his head in disappointment. He had really hoped that this would have gone better, but he wasn’t about to give up that easily. It was a good thing that he had thought to learn your address beforehand.

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xlady-saya · 5 years ago

Text

i’ve had a love of my own [ch 2]

Relationships: andrew/neil

Summary: Despite everything Neil could’ve imagined for his life, he never thought he’d be here, finally giving the world the interview they’ve always wanted.

It’s been decades, but even with his numerous accolades and sports wins, he finds that they’re the least important thing about his life.

Neil can’t help but laugh. Andrew would be so annoyed if he were here.

Of course, Neil only wants to talk about him, and the life they spent together.

Tags: interviews, post canon, major character death but not how u think I swear lol, neil is an old man retelling his memories about andrew, cheesy romance, post retirement, see more tags on ao3

Read on ao3!

"What do you remember most about the night you were inducted into the hall of fame?"

Neil's suit collar feels especially tight as he descends from the podium, his body pulling him in one direction and one direction only. The smile on his face feels too tight, but the hoard of smiling faces and applauding hands around him don’t seem to notice. The rabbit instincts, as Andrew would call them, surge up aggressively. Neil hates public appearances like this, especially when the event is partly focused on him. He can only hope his speech wasn't too terrible.

People shout out their congratulations as he passes, but they all blend together like an oil slick meeting water. Pretty on the outside, but otherwise devastating to the fragile nature of his mind. Bright lights above bounce off full champagne glasses, creating a blurry horizon he has to squint at.

Years of public exposure has done nothing for his dislike of crowds, and he chases the feeling of Andrew's protective bubble. Warm, safe, home.

It feels like that one time Nicky dragged him to a party hosted by the baseball team in college, and left him to go hurl his guts out over the side of the house. At a certain point, Neil had been so overwhelmed he had hastily retreated from the drunk mob into the safe haven of the bathroom.

It's an eerily similar feeling, except this time his safe haven comes in the form of Andrew, suave and bored as he leans against the back wall. Much, much better.

Neil nearly trips over his feet in an effort to reach him, but Andrew is always one step ahead. As if sensing Neil's distress, Andrew extends a hand, and Neil refrains from rolling his eyes at the muffled gasp he hears somewhere in the back.

Catching a glimpse of them acting like a couple is akin to seeing a shooting star in the daytime, according to tabloids. In Neil's mind, they all simply don't look hard enough. Sometimes just the way Andrew looks at him makes Neil feel like they should be behind closed doors, with how it radiates off both of them. He's not sure why people don't see it, because surely Andrew's denials aren't believable. He's incredibly affectionate, if all his gifts and gestures say anything. And more than that...

At the end of any given day, if someone checked, Andrew's fingerprints would be all over Neil. Some on the back of his wrist, trickling down his spine and ghosting over his lower back, dotted along his throat.

Skin deep, with heat that travels even farther.

He takes Andrew's hand gratefully, letting himself be pulled in by the relief of that unparalleled shelter.

"You call that a speech, Josten?" Andrew asks, though Neil catches the spark that sets his eyes aflame. Good—Neil missed it. These events sap the energy out of Andrew like a vacuum, and he knows he only puts up with them for Neil's sake. Neil is happy to be a compact little battery when Andrew needs it.

Neil readjusts their hands but doesn't pull away, giving Andrew a small squeeze to pair with his smirk.

"Like you could do better," he snarks, but moves against the wall anyways, shoulder pressed to Andrew's. They've both bulked up from years with the pros, but where Neil will always be somewhat lithe, Andrew is stocky and built like brick. Neil sighs, breathing in the scent of Andrew's cologne and the subtle mint of nicotine gum.

There are still some eyes on them, but people are mostly looking at the next speaker. Neil can't make out Kevin or Thea in the crowd, but that's probably a good thing given what's about to happen. "You didn't even give a speech," he remarks playfully, a hint for Andrew to chase.

Andrew purses his lips, not taking it until Neil leans further into his space. Neil knows he has the advantage here; he's dressed in a fitted suit, personally picked out by Andrew, with blue accents that match their team (and additionally, his eyes). However, that’s not Neil’s biggest advantage, considering he's wearing the watch Andrew bought him for Christmas—the one with a rabbit stamped cleanly into the back of the metal face. 'Now you can't use your dead phone as an excuse,' Andrew had said, but Neil had seen through it.

Neil nudges him cheekily, gesturing to the room full of people.

"Surprised you're even here," Neil adds, feigning shyness in another effort to break through Andrew's (flimsy) blockade.

It works. Neil's not sure if Andrew's gotten softer over time, or if he's gotten better at this. Though he guesses he's the same. There are not many walls left for Andrew to scale on his end either.

"Don't be stupid," Andrew replies, firm and sharp. It sends comfortable shivers down Neil's spine, Andrew’s sternness causing the joke to evaporate. Even the insinuation that he'd miss Neil's crowning achievement...he won't allow it.

Come to think of it, Andrew's probably thought about it more than Neil. Neil worked so hard for this moment, to make a name for himself in the sport he adores. And he's proud of himself, he is, and he deserves to be in the hall of fame with how much he's fought. Yet now that he's actually here, surrounded by people who want nothing more than to sing his praises, all he needs is...

Neil giggles, whispering in quiet Russian. "You're proud of meeee."

Andrew huffs, but Neil powers on. "Admit it or...you know what will happen, don't you?"

"Neil."

"You look really handsome tonight—"

"Neil, I'm serious," Andrew tries, and while Andrew isn't the type to blush, the way his entire body stills might as well be equivalent to a fire. Neil's hand drifts to Andrew's lower back, because casual touches are second nature to them now. Instead of pushing away from the touch, Andrew's back bends for him, and Neil's gives a subtle press.

Truly, this is Neil's favorite tactic, complimenting Andrew. He'd learned in their last year of college that Andrew can't handle it, and the blond can try to say he hates it all he wants. But Neil never hears a 'no,' does he? "I love seeing the way the suit jacket fits over your shoulders. It reminds me of how strong you are. You're my anchor, you know? You always keep me safe, I feel like I can do anything if you're there. I love knowing this is real, that you're here with me and you'd fight to keep us—"

Neil jumps when Andrew turns on him, but his triumphant grin sits firmly in place.

Andrew leans him in to cut him off with a kiss, like he's accustomed to, but that's not something he's willing to give the paparazzi today. He takes Neil's hand again, glancing around. "We're leaving," he says, because he knows that's what Neil really wanted all along. Duh, Neil already knows Andrew is proud of him. "I've had it with this place."

Neil's body sings at the word choice, at the words unspoken: 'but not with you.'

"Mhm," he agrees happily. When Andrew had been inducted into the hall of fame, they'd ditched the ceremony even earlier than this. So it's about time. "What's the plan?"

Andrew doesn't miss a beat. He tilts his head in the direction of the far doors, and Neil zeroes in on them. He'd clocked all the exits when they first arrived from force of habit, so he follows along with Andrew easily. "Reporters are at the west wing entrance, we'll have to sneak out the service entrance past the kitchens. It's handled."

Neil smirks broadly, and lets Andrew lead the way. One advantage to being so short? It's a hell of a lot more efficient to duck down behind people. "Did you already make a deal with the wait staff?"

Andrew's expressions in public are still quite reserved and closed off, but Neil can feel the smug energy radiating off his back as they push through the kitchen doors. None of the staff even bat an eye. In fact, some of them are trying extremely hard to not look at them.

Neil looks at Andrew, brow raised.

"You'd be surprised what a couple autographs can get you," Andrew says, pulling them around a corner to survey the last stretch between them and the outside world. They should be in the clear, but the last thing they want is to run into a security guard or overactive publicist walking through these back hallways. Neil can't contain his excitement though, his leg thumping uncontrollably against the linoleum. Andrew pauses when he notices, and there's that flash of amusement Neil loves so much. "Control yourself, bunny."

"Stop making me wait," Neil shoots back, because he rarely has the opportunity to be this rebellious. As much as he cusses out reporters and fights people on the actual court, he misses the giddy mischief of sneaking around with Andrew. It's like making out on the roof all over again, or trying to be quiet during movie nights with Andrew's hand caressing his thigh.

It's exhilarating, and he can read Andrew's physical cues so well by now. The shift of his feet, the tension in his shoulders...It's like when he's about to block a shot with his bare hands, except this time he pulls Neil down the hall in a sprint.

He knows he's supposed to be quiet, but the best he can do is muffle his laughter with his free hand as he lets Andrew carry them out of the venue.

If Neil bumps into a cart of metal trays, they're long gone before anyone can react to the sound.

The Lotus comes to a stop in the empty parking lot of the old football stadium. It's one of their favorite places to escape to, a project the city keeps claiming it will repurpose but never does. The lampposts lining the giant lot still work, but there's not a car in sight, the old building dark and menacing. To Neil, it's just...theirs.

Neil stumbles out of the small car, missing the backseat of the Maserati. He wishes they were driving their new Maz instead, but it's Andrew's signature car, and they knew they'd need to lay low.

Ha. To think they'd be invisible in a car like this.

Again Neil has to right himself, his pants still sitting halfway down his thighs. He's glad Andrew thought ahead with bringing them a change of clothes, but the cramped space isn't the best for changing into jeans. He has a feeling Andrew did that on purpose, forgoing Neil's sweats.

Doesn't help that Neil's legs are jelly for other reasons.

Andrew slides out of the driver’s side with a lot more finesse, wiping his mouth on the back of his hand as he comes around. Helpless, Neil drops his arms and lets Andrew pull up his pants.

It's the little things.

Neil smiles when Andrew sighs, loading some of his weight on top of Neil. He won't call it a recharge, Neil just knows. Neil plays with the loose strands of hair at Andrew's nape, at peace in the piercing cold, no real landmark in sight apart from the decaying stadium. It's weird; it reminds him a lot of when he and his mother would camp out in abandoned lots. Vantage points from all sides, but the risk of exposure and openness were high too.

Here though, more than ten years later, Neil basks in the vulnerability, because nowhere feels unsafe with Andrew in his arms like this. He lets Andrew sway them back and forth for a bit, and yeah, this is preferable to the sounds of clinking champagne glasses and excessive applause.

His publicist will give him shit for it later, but he wouldn't exactly be Neil Josten if he didn't cause problems.

Neil smiles into the distance, watching the flickering of a nearby lamppost. "The movie starts in an hour," he says eventually, and Andrew nods into Neil's neck once before pulling away. There's no disappointment in his eyes, and he taps Neil's watch to the beat of a song Neil can't place.

Instead, he just zips up Andrew's open fly, smirking at the unimpressed stare he gets. "You're a nuisance."

"I know," Neil says proudly, and watches as Andrew goes back to the driver's side. He looks a lot cozier and harder to recognize now, dressed in Neil's Palmetto hoodie and jeans.

"C'mon, we need to grab food still," Andrew says, and at the reminder, Neil's stomach growls. If they had stayed an hour more at the event they probably would've been fed fancy catered meals, but that would've messed with their Friday tradition of greasy drive in food.

Neil knows they’re showing a double zombie movie feature today, and he does not want to miss it. He straps in just in time for Andrew to hit the gas, and doesn't even speak up about all the traffic laws they break to make it there on time.

"How mad do you think Kevin is?" Neil asks when Andrew is passing him his soda. He fits it snuggly in between his thighs, jumping from the cold. It can't be helped; the lone cupholder is reserved for Andrew's milkshake, in danger of overflowing from whipped cream.

Andrew turns back to the cashier at the drive thru, and their eyes are still on the verge of popping out of their sockets. They must be new. The other coworkers regard Andrew and Neil with warm familiarity, a little too used to the two famous athletes rolling up for food their nutritionist would not approve of. Andrew takes their bag from the worker without much acknowledgement of his shock, peeling off before they can so much as stutter a sound of disbelief.

They'll get used to it.

Greedily, Neil digs through the bag.

"I think he expects it by now," Andrew answers, uncaring. His eyes flick to the side when Neil's rummaging pauses, and Neil sends him a suspicious look.

"Two fries," he states, not quite a question, but a confirmation of what he's seeing at the bottom of the bag. Two orders of fries.

Then, in the privacy of their car, Andrew lets his feelings shine through. He rolls his eyes, but the edge of a smile plays on his lips. "Don't act like you don't eat half of mine. I got you your own for once."

A 'hmph' escapes Neil's mouth, and he holds a fry in front of his face. He can't exactly refute Andrew's claims, he is a notorious fry fiend, but...

He doesn't have to like it.

"Aren't I sweet?" Andrew says, mockingly, and Neil hates that the answer is actually yes.

"Salty," he corrects, surrendering to pop the fry into Andrew's mouth.

That's all he's getting from Neil's stash though.

The Lotus roars as Andrew pulls away from the stand and up the nearby hill. Most people at the drive in come early, eager to get spots closer to the screen, but they have a special spot far away from the throng of people. The hill only houses one or two other cars who have the same idea, spaced out far and free to talk or fool around in the backseats.

Neil never pays them any mind; it's hard to give attention to anything that isn't Andrew once the blond actually starts talking, offering theories about the plot or characters on screen he may or may not actually believe.

Neil has a suspicion Andrew just likes giving him more reasons to talk too.

The first movie is older, remastered but still carrying that grainy quality old horror movies have. The colors are subdued, almost rusty, and Neil's fixated by the way the flashes dance on Andrew's skin. Whether it be splotches of red or the ominous sunset, just before the eerie music begins, the scenes reflect in Andrew's golden eyes to the point where Neil can hardly follow the story.

Not that it matters, it's zombies. What more is there to get?

"Are you satisfied with the effects for once?" Andrew drawls, though surely he knows Neil's been staring at him for the last ten minutes. He doesn't put up a fight anymore when it comes to that, instead playing with Neil's salt ridden fingertips and drinking his milkshake.

Smiling, Neil lets his eyes drift to the screen. A show of gore and fake blood has him nodding, not nearly as affronted as he usually is. The woman on screen is a good actress, though movies will never get true anguished screams exactly right.

"Mm, practical ones are better," Neil says, commenting on the lack of CGI. Another good thing about older movies: they had to build the monsters themselves, had to spend a lot more time on the makeup and fake guts. It's slightly more unsettling, considering what Neil has seen and done, but less annoying than the computer generated stuff.

When Neil zones out too long, he feels a fry poke his cheek, and he opens his mouth automatically. Andrew watches him with a small smile. Neil's not sure when Andrew grew more comfortable smiling, but somewhere along the way they both got used to it. It's a subtle, quiet expression on the blond, but that's how Neil likes it. Andrew's personality will never be loud, never cheery like Nicky's or Matt's. But it feels like a secret, something reserved for those that mean a lot to the blond. Neil can never feel anything but pride when he sees it, when Andrew lets himself express a bone deep contentment for those people in his life.

For Neil.

"What is it?" Andrew asks, and Neil waves at the screen, bored with it all of a sudden.

"I'll never understand the point of people who approach the first zombie," he says, and he says this every time. And alright, he knows that's the only way to truly kick off the plot but it always rubs him the wrong way.

"It's not like they know it's a zombie, Neil," Andrew replies, in reference to the next unfortunate victim to approach the zombified man in the park. The zombie had been stumbling around, and the older lady simply couldn't help but ask if the man was alright. Being a good samaritan will get you killed every time.

Neil throws Andrew a look, aware that Andrew isn't so much inviting Neil's rant as much as he's poking it hard with a stick.

"Excuse me, I'm already wary of normal people walking around," Neil points out. And that's justified in his mind, given what he's been through. People are weird and should be avoided unless absolutely necessary. Neil's therapist, who he's begrudgingly getting used to, might not agree but Neil's not quite ready to fully tackle the issue yet. Instead, he gestures to the way the poor lady's face is now being eaten. "I see someone stumbling around like that? I'm not going near them! At minimum you should consider them drunk and violent."

Or at the very least: real fucking annoying.

"I think you have more survival experience than most people," Andrew says, but Neil knows he's not actually defending the character's stupidity. Andrew agrees, and his smile grows when Neil huffs.

For effect, Neil slumps back into his seat, arms crossed. When Andrew tries to reach for his hand, he playfully swats it away, doing his best to not show cracks in the mask he's wearing. It's a skill he learned from his boyfriend, the complete lack of expression. Problem is he can seldom keep it up for longer than a few minutes.

Neil eventually smirks, right on cue, turning over in the passenger seat so his body is facing Andrew. It's not nearly as seductive as he wants it to be, what with the food wrappers and wrinkly clothes, but he knows it's enough to be infuriating. "You think it's hot," he sing songs, and Andrew sighs.

This time, when he reaches out, Neil doesn't refuse the offered hand. On screen, more unassuming citizens are devoured.

The image of the crowd reminds him of the banquet, of his switched off phone that's probably blowing up with questions about where they are. It's another world at this point—the expensive suits, dinner, the rehearsed words.

Here in their car, sitting in the dark in his hoodie with his boyfriend's hand in his, Neil feels far more spoiled. That doesn't mean he's not appreciative though, and the weight of his accomplishment sits warm in his chest, flowing through him to remind him it's not a dream. He's alive, he's here, he's with—

"Yes," Andrew interrupts Neil's train of thought, voice nearly a whisper. "But your downfall is obvious."

That gets Neil's attention, though he does preen from the compliment. "Hm?"

Andrew shifts in his own seat, and for the first time that night, Neil realizes how tired the blond must be. His muscles slump with exhaustion, his eyes blinking away the strain, but it's a good tired, the kind you feel when you can finally relax and sink into your bed. Home. Neil experiences that a lot, when it's the two of them, and the scope of the feeling is only intensified by Andrew's words.

"You'd go back," he reminds Neil, because that's now something that can't be debated. Neil's breathing stutters, and he hears the unspoken words: for me.

It's no surprise that no matter how things change, Andrew's first instinct will be to chip away at something, to present a flaw to protect himself. Neil's not sure he's even aware he's doing it, the need to value himself as something lowly and not worth fighting for.

Neil will keep proving him wrong, time and time again.

"That's not a downfall, that's strengthening my team," Neil quips, and Andrew huffs a laugh, rolling his eyes.

But Neil won't let him get away with that. He picks the buzzing insecurity swarming around Andrew's head right from the air, and crushes it until there's nothing left. At least for the moment; with them it always comes back, they just get better at dealing with it.

"I mean it," Neil says, and it's not him being a shit like back at the banquet. This isn't a barrage of compliments to make Andrew flustered, and from the way the blond stills, he understands that. Neil's tone holds an almost dangerous quality, ready to slash anyone who would dare refute it. It's hollow, haunting; he would've been a much better actor for horror films than the ones in this movie. "Andrew, if you're with me, I can do anything."

That hasn't stopped being true, and he doesn't think it'll ever be the case. He won't ever be without Andrew.

Andrew doesn't tell him to be quiet or stop, just lets the words settle between them and mix with the suspenseful music from the screen. There's a muffled scream below from an open window as soon as the jump scare happens, but neither of them flinch. Andrew's gaze bores into him as the blond shifts in his seat, mirroring Neil's awkward pose.

They're both still so compact though, they make it work. Neil pulls their hands up onto the center console, rubbing the back of Andrew's palm.

"Hey," he says stupidly, after he's been staring too long. Andrew's gaze turns sleepy, gooey, if Neil will be so bold. Andrew doesn't respond to his earlier claim, and Neil knows parts of Andrew's language well enough to know that the silence speaks more towards his agreement than anything.

Andrew may not accept all of it, but he'll hold it close, he'll remember it and chew on it as much as he needs to. That's all Neil can hope for.

"Hi," Andrew whispers back, during a lull in the on screen violence, and Neil scoots as close to him as he can. He doesn't want to miss a single syllable, a breath.

Without much else to say, Neil lets the giddiness from before rise up, finally speaking on it. His smile is too much to smother, but he tries and fails. "We're in the hall of fame together."

In an instant Andrew's smile falls, but it's an obvious show. And he calls Neil dramatic; it's a shared behavior. Neil laughs uncontrollably from it, from the way Andrew shakes his head up at the roof of the car.

"Junkie," he mumbles, because there's not much more to explain.

Or so Andrew thinks. Really it's less about Exy in that moment for Neil. The part that makes him so overjoyed, that pushes him over the edge into bliss...

"I'm proud of you," Neil manages through the laughter, and repeats himself with a few reallys thrown in for good measure. But still, Andrew doesn't get it. Or he does, and he's being a shit on purpose.

"Tonight was about you, you know," the blond tries, tone suffering, but the itch of a smile threatens his blank facade again, and Neil's main job is to poke and prod it out of hiding. It's a fun game, no longer difficult. Not that he ever minded, not that he could mind anything about what makes Andrew...Andrew.

Neil looks up at the ceiling too, as if he can see through it, like he can see far beyond their universe and beyond the cosmos. They're so insignificant, he knows, but funny how these moments never feel swallowed up by the weight of it all. One day though, he supposes they'll fade into that nothingness, and that's why it's such a comfort to him, to know their names will be next to each other in some way beyond gravestones. "I know, but I just like to remind you. Everyone is going to remember you now."

Andrew is one person he doesn't want to ever be forgotten, for how he makes Neil feel...it would be criminal for that to even be a possibility. Neil huffs a laugh; Andrew's more the type to wax poetic, to say sappy bullshit and then try to act like he hasn't. But here Neil is, heart singing.

There will never be a way to leave that feeling behind as evidence, so everyone who ever doubted Andrew will know, but Neil can wish...Neil can dream. He can do whatever he wants.

Andrew tilts his head, his free hand casting itself forward, gesturing to the world beyond the screen, beyond the ends of the planet. "There’s no point in being remembered like that. When we’re gone, we’ll just be gone."

And in some ways, Neil agrees, or at least understands. Legacies only mean so much, can only withstand so much time. There will be other sports heroes, new rookies and players with their own accomplishments, their own time in the spotlight. But that's not what Neil means, not what he believes in. His fame is meaningless, it will wither and die. So will Andrew's. But...but, he's not afraid now to have that spark of want, the need to preserve as much as possible.

Though if he's being honest, and he won't tell Andrew because he's sure to refute it, there will never be as good a goalie. Neil knows that.

Neil grins gently, squeezing Andrew's hand to call his attention back to where it belongs. Andrew listens, always bends for Neil in some way. Andrew extends his free hand across his lap, and in sync, Neil lifts his leg to drape it across the console. Andrew catches his ankle gently, thumb resting in the dip of bone. Neil shivers; he's been treated with such care for years, but it's never easy to fathom all the way. Andrew's hands are weapons, and yet he cradles Neil like glass, like he's not the tainted mess he is under these clothes.

"Normally I would agree, but you’re kind of my loophole," Neil whispers, shrugging in that infuriating way, the one that communicates clearly that nothing Andrew says can convince him otherwise.

Andrew is familiar with it, and is no longer dead set on fighting Neil every step of the way.

"You're ridiculous," the blond says instead, tracing through Neil's jeans, over the memorized lines and scars of his calves. Neil wonders if he likes to do that especially in these moments, to remember Neil is real. He's not going anywhere. "I don't ever know what to do with you."

"Kiss me? That might help," Neil offers, and in the next moment Andrew is meeting him halfway over the console. Neil wasn't even aware he'd shifted so close, but then he's surrounded by just Andrew. There's a hand in his hair, tangling the curls, and his mouth opens for Andrew's like a switch has been pulled. It's automatic, a craving satisfied. Over the years, Andrew's kisses became predictable, the taste of him no longer surprising or laced with desperation. Despite all that, Neil thinks they're even better now.

It's an exhilarating feeling, to know someone so, so well, down to the press of his tongue and the slot of his lips.

Neil sighs when Andrew pulls away, breath hot and eyes lidded, and alright, maybe they're not completely predictable. Neil is always taken aback by how quick his body is reduced to jello, barely keeping himself upright.

It makes him brainless, makes him ramble, so it slips out again. "I want everyone to remember you," Neil breathes into Andrew's mouth, chasing him as he pulls back. Andrew's hand on his chest stops him, Andrew's stare as intense as ever.

It's quiet; Neil has no idea what's going on around him, either with the movie or the crowd. That's unheard of for him, isn't it? But he's not scared, or nervous. Eventually the instinct will come back, the urge to check the locked doors and look behind the car for things lurking in the shadows. But right them, it's just the two of them, wrapped up.

Andrew tugs on his leg, pulling Neil forward until his thighs hit the console, and looks disappointed they can't be glued at the hip. It's cute, but Neil bites his tongue on the comment. Andrew must sense it, because his eyes flash back up to Neil's face, reaching up to cradle it. Neil can predict that trajectory too, the way Andrew's fingers brush the burn marks.

"Idiot," Andrew says. "Only you get to remember me like this."

Damn you, Andrew.

The edges of Andrew's lips quirk up, triumphant in the face of Neil's stunned silence, but Neil refuses to admit he's won. Only...partially.

Neil will hold these moments for himself, close and free from prying eyes. He'll do that for as long as he can, covet them until he can't keep it in anymore. He supposes that's the best compromise either of them could ask for.

The swell of need in his chest intensifies, and he reaches forward to tug on Andrew's sleeve. It feels so dumb; he's allowed to touch more than this, he's allowed to grab and cradle Andrew's skin. But it's too much in the moment, and he tugs again, like he's right back in college.

"Home?" he whispers, unsure. Andrew looks around them, back at the screen and then at the moon hanging high in the sky. Technically, this is a double feature, and it feels almost wrong to pop this bubble around them. Neil's not sure he wants the moment to end either, not even when the credits for the first movie roll and early birds start to peel out of the lot. Headlights ghost over them, but the only move Andrew makes is to lean down and lower his seat all the way.

Neil, smiles, and knows exactly what to do.

They reach a silent agreement as Neil hops into Andrew's seat, fitting snugly against him as the new movie opens up:

No. Not yet.

Neil notes with amusement how the reporters sit, slightly more relaxed, like they're not quite ready to let go of their professional personas in favor of pulling their legs up. Soon enough, they'll get there. Neil's barely begun to scratch the surface, and he hopes their matching looks of disbelief will fade too.

Neil puts down his water, throat already aching, but if that's the price he has to pay so be it. He's been feeling extra lethargic today, underwater and tied at the ankles, but it's not enough to dissuade him. Rubbing his throat, he smiles. "We ended up really sore from sitting like that all night, but we didn't regret it," he says. The purr of the Lotus is so loud in his mind he almost expects for someone to roll up to the building in one.

Andrew had driven them extra careful that night.

Blake jots something down in his notepad, skims it, then crosses out something else. A question he no longer needs answered, perhaps. When he looks up, Neil is waiting. "That's where you went? You got a lot of flack for that disappearance."

Oh he did, lots of speculations; a feud with Kevin Day, a PR war, a statement about the sports climate.

Really, he'd just wanted some snuggles.

"I've caused worse scandals," Neil says, brushing it off. Compared to all the other segments he's had in the tabloids and news media over the years, including the reveal of his bloody family business, the hall of fame incident is far from important.

And honestly, Neil doesn't care about any of that. Rayah seems to sense that the sports talk won't get them anywhere, and she offers him a laugh. "Andrew wasn't very social, was he?"

Ah, good. They're learning.

Neil's demeanor changes, happily steered in the direction of Andrew, and he leans back. An understatement.

"Neither of us were," he replies, examining his nail beds. That's not entirely it though, and he knew it then too. He's not sure why he never called Andrew out on it, maybe because it was so obvious he didn't need to. "But...I think in that case he was just trying to protect me. I was tired from all the preparations all week. Even when I was young, Andrew wasn’t really keen on letting me stretch myself to my limits."

In fact, after his freshman year of college, no threats in sight, Andrew's protectiveness was even more apparent. Neil endangering himself was a thing of the past, and Andrew made sure to keep it that way. After Baltimore, Andrew simply wouldn't tolerate it. He was aware of Neil's exhaustion, his fatigue, and while he never babied Neil, he wouldn't stop himself from intervening when he could sense Neil would not.

The stress of the hall of fame ceremony sapped Neil clean of any energy, that final speech pushed him to the edge. So Andrew took his hand, and pulled him away from it.

The two reporters share a look then, and Neil gets that surge of annoyance. Andrew would tell him to calm down, that it doesn't matter, but well...

Andrew isn't here, and Neil can be as angry as he wants when people misinterpret their relationship.

After a while, Rayah clears her throat, cutting the tension. At least she has the decency to treat him with the same respect he's giving them and not lie. Neil was never one for politeness. "I'll be honest, it’s hard to imagine someone like Andrew Minyard being that way. He sounds so gentle when you talk about him."

Though the insinuation was clear: to everyone else, he was the exact opposite.

"He had a lot of sides to him," Neil responds, because it's better than the petty response of well he was. He supposes that's not fair, not to them and not to Andrew. He plays with the watch on his wrist, now a little dated and not nearly as shiny. He's pretty sure the time is off now, so he's still the rabbit, running late.

"He could be so caring, but he never gave up his firmness, or his no bullshit nature. Believe me, if he didn't agree with me, he would've let me know. He had a way of snapping me out of bad decisions...not always kindly," Neil says, still grinning.

"You sound like you didn't mind," Blake says, though the confusion is still clear.

Neil had been deceived and led astray so much in his life, forced to swallow lies and spit them back out. Being with Andrew was so freeing; he never had to worry about those things ever again.

"No, I...I loved that about him," he says quietly. He's having a bad time with words, nothing new there. It's hard to make it sensical without having experienced the relationship first hand. He wishes Dan were here, she's able to convince people of anything. Still, he pushes, he needs to explain this if nothing else. "No one ever bothered to see Andrew beyond the hard exterior. Like you said...you can't see Andrew as gentle. Well, he was seldom anything but around me as we got older. I trusted him not to lie to me, and to take care of me, and I did the same in return."

He realizes his voice is taking on a desperate quality, but he can't help it. He could fill books with anecdotes, times where Andrew held him close or was just an absolute pillar of comfort. Try as he might today, he knows he'll never say enough.

People will still remember Andrew primarily as an unfeeling ghost, as the person who punched other players or was quick to anger, though that was far from the truth. Unless Neil makes his case here, that'll never go away.

"It's not that either of you ever provided proof," Blake says, and flinches at Neil's glare. It's a fiery thing, he hasn't used it in a while, but he assumes it's still just as acidic from how guilty the reporter looks. He stutters, and backtracks as best he can. "And based on what you said, I totally get why! It's just—"

Rayah, who is far better at making a case for the public's idiocy, is quick to lean forward. "There were only a few moments people ever saw him act like he cared as much as you say," she tells him, and it's followed by a wince. "One of them...wasn't exactly happy."

Oh.

In an instant, Neil knows exactly what they mean. It was all over the place, wasn't it?

He almost forgets that; he was too busy drowning in his own terror. It was over forty years ago and yet the memory is so strong, the same pain shoots up Neil's legs. The nausea is faint, a reminder of how unbearable and sleepless the following few nights were. He remembers a sickening crack and the shout of people, the flash of cameras.

And Andrew.

Always Andrew, running towards him.

Yes, he supposes it's hard to challenge that moment between them, to categorize Andrew's actions as anything other than fierce protectiveness and worry. Yet when Neil thinks of that incident...what the public saw barely scratched the surface.

He can still feel Andrew's hands digging into his shoulders, can hear the slow footsteps walking into their home...

The room is quiet for a beat too long, and Rayah and Blake exchange a look. It's Blake that eventually clears his throat, and Neil regards him slowly, trying to shake off the beast of a memory.

It's over, it passed. But...it was important, so...

"Are we allowed to ask about that day?" Blake asks, voice small and gauging Neil's reaction.

He sighs; he can't exactly avoid it. There's lots more stories to tell after the fact that won't feel the same without the context, but there will be some conditions.

Neil nods once, tightly. He spreads it out in his head, and an old beat of paranoia surges up in him. Stupid. He's not that dangerous anymore, no one is watching him, no one is looking for him. But it has him looking at the door anyways, wondering if the room is bugged or lined with cameras he can't see. Well, he'll just be careful.

He flattens his hands across the blanket, chewing on his words. "I suppose it would be a disservice to what I'm trying to do if I didn't talk about it," Neil answers, gesturing to Rayah. "Go ahead."

Neil braces himself before taking the plunge, and gets lost in his past once again.

"The day you were injured, what was it like?"

#andreil #aftg #all for the game #andrew minyard #neil josten

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nedalawhisper · 5 years ago

Text

Good morning! Here we are again, I bring a new story of Fragile and Higgs, this time more focused on her!

I wanted to tell you that I'm open to writing ideas in particular that you ask me.

If you want, you can try reading it with this song in the background

𝑇𝘩𝑒 𝑎𝑟𝑜𝑚𝑎 𝑜𝑓 𝑐𝑜𝑓𝑓𝑒𝑒, 𝑐𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑒𝑠, 𝘩𝑢𝑔𝑠, 𝑏𝑢𝑡... 𝑊𝘩𝑜𝑠𝑒 𝑏𝑢𝑛𝑘𝑒𝑟 𝑖𝑡'𝑠 𝑛𝑜𝑤?

They say that love and hate share something as biological and perfect as brain chemicals. When you hate someone, you secrete the same neurotransmitters as when you love, and even when you take some type of drug. Curious, right? Sometimes you need to understand the mind to understand some behaviors, such as going to the bunker where you and the one who was supposed to be the love of your life shared time alone.

[Welcome, Fragile.]

That voice greeted under the control of anlo automatic bunker program, it did it every time someone entered. If it were a human, it would ask her why she hadn't come home for a year. This corner had been a comforting home for both, Higgs and her, where they could be natural, Fragile was away from work and that managed to remove the serious mask that the woman always wore.

However, now it was only sadness that she felt upon entering there. The woman immediately went to the control panel to increase the ventilation speed, the air was too charged. She expected it in a worse state, it's true that everything was full of dust (it even made her sneeze a few times just breathing there) but luckily there was no water leakage or anything. Only the mistreatment of an abandoned place. It was no more than two instances, the entire cabin and a bathroom for both of them. Perfect for a couple, even large compared to where they both normally rested. A kind of living room at the back, an island with chairs to eat, a kitchen where to make homemade food ... Perfect right?

Just looking at that place, Fragile's head filled with memories that now felt like blades on the skin. Nostalgia is a feeling that she wouldn't wish on anyone, ever, or her worst enemy. The laughter, the screams of happiness, those moments when Fragile practically fell asleep hugging Higgs. A tear had leaked down her cheek and left a mark on the dusty ground and no, it hadn't been for the chiral allergy. Seeing that seemed to focus her again, she had only come back for her things and that's what she would do; take them and go right..?

The woman resumed the path to the stairs that led to the top where the bed was and the wardrobe where she would find what she wanted. She began to take out her clothes, her shoes, jackets... Among them there were even some other Higgs t-shirt or sweatshirt that she "stole" from him (let's be honest, wide clothing is very comfortable and more when it is from your loved one and it smells that special person.). It's a gesture she shouldn't have done but took the shirt and brought it up to her face. Even after a year it still retained some of the aroma and it hit her, so hard that it could have resembled a blow to the stomach.

God, two days ago she had been able to get rid of everything from Higgs but in the end what she kept in the headquarters didn't have an emotional charge as strong as those that remained in that place. Now... what difference did it make? She was sunk back to her neck. She stuffed that pair of clothes into the backpack she had brought and turned to look at the bed. An unmade bed, cold and dusty. That morning was the last. The one in which Fragile brought the bomb to Middle Knot City, Higgs was extremely nervous that moment but attributed it to the pressure of work... Who could imagine all that...?

Her feet shuffled to the same bed and she sat on it, not caring about the dirt accumulated by the year of neglect. She felt her cheek wet again and took off her gloves to clean herself, then placed them on her own knees but when she saw them, she felt that punch of pain again. It wasn't because of the marks of old age, it wasn't because of the trauma of running under Timefall, it was because of who did it. Her body collapsed for a few seconds, maybe she shouldn't swallow those situations so much and take them out. In that bunker she was alone, completely alone, so Fragile felt free enough to cry.

"Why did you do it...? I loved you so much... I keep doing it, I'm stupid..."

Her hands went to her own neck and pulled out a necklace, looking like a Qpido but on a smaller scale. That little necklace had once helped them locate and protect themselves, but a year ago Higgs's had stopped signaling. She released it from the weight of her fingers and the pendant floated over the palm of her hand until she decided to put it back on her neck. She raised her head and looked around with those deep navy eyes, a sea beset by a storm that will perhaps last forever.

After feeling somewhat calmer Fragile got up and decided that although this place was no longer going to be occupied by anyone, she couldn't have it so neglected either, so she picked it up, perhaps in the end it would become a refuge when she could overcome Higgs, overcome it so that the memories only filled the heart but didn't make her cry.

One last look, that bunker that no longer seemed like total chaos. The blonde put the backpack on her shoulders and walked to the entrance. Her fingers brushed the necklace for the last time in a special way, one that normally sent a message to the other quickly so that the latter would get the message that one of them missed the other and loved. Although she assumed that message would no longer arrive...

Never more.

#death stranding #higgs x fragile #fragile death stranding

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creator-zee · 5 years ago

Text

I was sitting at my desk writing in my journal of never to shared story ideas and fragments listening to peaceful instrumental music, when my music was interrupted by the ringtone of Boss. I groaned then answered the phone. “Yeah, Boss. What’s up?”

“I need you to kidnap a princess.”

I sighed. “Really? Isn’t that a little medieval? Do we really need to be enforcing story book ideas?”

“We’re villains, Z there’s not much more we could do to ruin our image.”

I sighed as I stood and paced around my small one room apartment. “I know. But it’s because of those damn stereotypes that we were forced to turn to villainy.”

“Look Z, I know you don’t like perpetuating stereotypes, but no one will actually get hurt, you know that, right? We just have to make them think that we would. It’s the only way people like us can make a living Z. So are you in?”

I nodded. “Yeah, I’m in. So who am I kidnapping?”

“The princess of X Corp, Lavender Blossom.”

I raised my eyebrows. “And how am I supposed to do that? Why not Steph? She’s a lot more stealthy than me.”

“But she can’t turn into a dragon. We need to make a statement, or Mr. Blossom won’t pay up. Sneaking in a kidnapping her does have the same sense of urgency that a giant fire-breathing dragon tearing off the roof of a building to pick her up out of her penthouse has.”

I sighed again. Of course he just needed me for brute force. I could do other things too, but of course he didn’t care. “Alright, I get it, I’ll do it. Any specific time?”

“3 o'clock.”

I sat back down at my desk glancing at the time on my dinky clock. 12:30 pm “Will have back up for me when the heroes inevitably show up?”

“Yeah, but you won’t need ‘em. You’ll do great Z.” He added after a pause. “And be careful. Don’t die. We don’t want to lose you.”

I nodded. “Of course, I’ll be safe.”

“SBV forever.”

I replied with our motto. “SBV forever.”

He hung up and I set my phone down. I changed into a simple black t-shirt and some black joggers. I pulled a simple necklace with a single jewel in it over my head. The jewel was something I had enchanted to ensure that I didn’t end up naked the next time the heroes forced me to shift. Hopefully, I wouldn’t be captured but one could never be too safe.

Didn’t bother preparing anymore, I wasn’t fighting in this form. No, I was a dragon and so I would be fighting as one. Dragon scales were already almost impenetrable, with only other dragons being able to leave a mark. That and specially enchanted weapons, but as far as I knew no dragons had helped the heroes figure out what the enchantment was. Unfortunately, magic doesn’t need to penetrate to be effective. I may resist most magic, but one of the heroes had figured out a mimic spell that emulated another dragon’s fire.

I returned to my writing after setting an alarm for 2:45. The time passes too quickly and I found myself drawn out of the zone by my alarm interrupting my music. I closed my journal and left my phone on the table. Tucking a key into my pocket, I headed out the door.

I walked several blocks until I found the ally I changed in. Turns out it’s hard to find a space to transform into a giant dragon without people noticing. This ally was nice because it was big enough, but also completed uninhabited.

As my dragon form took shape and stretched my wings and legs, loving the feeling of being on my natural body.

I crouched and launched myself up into the air, roaring as I did. If Boss wanted a show, he was going to get one.

I spit a stream of fire and spun through it. I flew higher into the sky and then dropped diving towards the large apartment building where Lavender would be in. I landed on top of the building, drawing the attention of most of the civilians in the area.

I used my soul sight to locate where Lavender was, so I knew I didn’t accidentally hurt her. I then proceeded to stomp in the roof right to the left of her. I ripped the remaking room of above her. Causing it to crumble into rumble. I let out a large roar as I did. As I smashed the rest of the penthouse with my tail I made sure not to knock the rubble down below where it could hit civilians.

Lavenders screams of terror hurt my sensitive ears and I roared in return to shit her up. It don’t work. I spread my wings and picked her up gently in my mouth. With two strong flaps I flew back up into the air. Careful to not hurt the struggling human in my mouth, I flew and landed on the X Corp roof.

I gently placed Lavended down on the roof and then trapped her with my claws. I roared and unleashed another torrent of fire into the sky. If that didn’t get the Blossom King’s attention I don’t know what would.

Lavender had finally stopped screaming. Which was music to my ears. I waited for Mr. Blossom to show his face, but instead a team of fucking heroes showed up. Great. Now I had to fight off heroes, keep Lavender captive, and not hurt anyone except the heroes. I grabbed Lavender in my mouth and tossed her on my back. If she didn’t want to plummet 1000 feet out of the sky she would hold on. I shot into the air and circles above the heroes.

There were five. Four random element wielders who I didn’t care about, and the fucking Angel. The Angel was the poster girl for the heroes. With her white wings and long blonde hair and blue eyes and her golden staff she was the perfect hero. And she knew the spell that could actually hurt me.

I easily took out the element wielders one by one by swooping in and knocking them to the ground with my tail. The Angel tried to hit me with fire but I dodged it all. Finally, it was just me and the angel. I hovered in the air with Lavender still holding onto me for dear life. It appeared the Angel hadn’t realized she was there yet. I dove towards the Angel mouth open shooting flames out towards her. She deflected the flames the dodged my swipe. She returned for as I climbed back up by shooting a stream of flame at my back.

My back! Fuck! Lavender!

I struggled to spin to protect her and the flame hit me straight in the underbelly. I roared in pain, and climbed higher into the sky. I climbed until the air grew thin and humans could just barely breathe enough. I knew lavender would be fine because my body heat would warm her, but I didn’t dare go higher in case she couldn’t breathe. The Angel flew steadily up towards me, but couldn’t quite reach me. The air was too thin for her wings and she wasn’t using magic like me to pull air from father around closer to me so I could still fly.

The Angel shouted up towards me. “Okay Dragon. I’m going to make you a deal. You tell me what you did with lavender and I don’t call for backup that can throw your sorry ass in jail.”

I roared in response. The fool. I couldn’t talk in any la gauge she could understand while in this form. And there was no way she was winning this. I cast a spell that created a thick fog around us. I dove down and used my soul sight to find her soul. As always her soul light was sadly familiar and as always I ignored it. I broke through the fog towards her where she was hovering just out of it. She had no chance to retaliate. I grabbed her in my jaws.

I could kill we with a single snap I my jaws. Her frail body had no chance of withstanding the force, but instead I cast a simple sleep spell on her that would last a day. I returned to the X Corp building and set her body down. As soon as I had touched down, Lavender slid off my back. I turned and trapped her in my claws once again. My head snapped to face the roof door as it squeaked open.

Mr. Blossom walked out. “Okay, dragon. You win. You defeated the Angel. So what do you want?” He laughed to himself. “Who am I kidding you’re a dragon of course you want gold, or in this case money. How about 10,000?”

I shook my head.

“50,000”

I shook my head again.

“60,000”

I spotted hero reinforcements approaching so I nodded. He handed me a check that was hurriedly written out and handed it to me. I let lavender go an used magic to send the check into my necklace that hung around my neck even in dragon form. I took off and flew away as the hero reinforcements showed up. A couple chased after me, but they stopped pursuing me as they found the Angels body. It probably looked like she was dead. Sure she was bloody, from my mouth but all the wounds were superficial and would heal. She would be fine, after all, I could never hurt my childhood best friend even if she was now my worst enemy.

14.1

I circled the city from high above a few more time to ensure that I had no hero tails. Once I was satisfied I dove down into the alley and landed softly. I shifted into my human form, and began to walk back to my apartment. The Angel’s spell had hit me solidly in the stomach, and I could feel the burned skin rubbing against the fabric of y t-shirt painfully. I should have just dodged instead of spinning, but the flame may still have hit Lavender, and I couldn’t let that happen. I only got burned by the dragon flame spell, but Lavender, being a fragile human, would have been burned to a crisp. I couldn't have that on my conscience. I may be on off the most wanted Villains in this city, but I hadn’t actually killed anyone, sent a few heroes to the hospital, yes, but kill anyone, no. Even the SBV have their limits, and murder is one of them. We will threaten and hurt, but not kill.

I reached my dinky little apartment on the bad side of town, and opened the door. I locked the door behind me, and grabbed my phone. I summoned the check from my necklace and called Boss.

“Yeah, Z. Hold on one sec.”

I sat down on my bed, setting my phone on speaker as i set on my bedside table. I removed my shirt, wincing as the skin on my stomach stretched. Great. My entire stomach was burned. At least it looked like just 1st degree burns, nothing too serious. My palm glowed as I began the healing spell. My skin mended itself as I focused my magix towards healing me.

“Okay, Z. Go ahead.” My phone crackled from the bedside table.

I leaned and picked it up. “Boss, I got 60,000 for Lavender right here. I would have gotten more, but some more heroes showed up.”

“That’s great Z. How did he give it to you?”

I glanced at the check. “A check for 60,000. He didn't fill in anything else.”

“That’s good, last thing we need is for one of us to cash a check made out to the ‘Storybook Villains.’”

“You’re right. I’ll fill the rest out, then cash it using the app. It’ll go right into the savings.”

“Great work, V. Make sure to make it out to Rob Boss.”

I nodded, grabbing a pen. “Of course.”

“We’ll see you tonight for game night, right?”

I shook my head. “Sorry, Boss. No can do. I have a date.”

His surprise carried in his tone. “I didn’t know you found your lover soulmate.”

I laughed. “I didn't. I meant I have a date with my bed.” Silence from the other end. “I’m joking, Boss. I wouldn't miss game night for the world. You guys are my only friends.”

“Alright, Z. I’ll see you soon then. We’re meeting at Muffin’s place.”

“Okay sounds good. Bye, Boss.”

“Bye, Z” He hung up, and I set my phone down. I rolled off my bed and onto the floor, staring at the ceiling. I raised my arm, and looked at my forearm and my right arm. The name Azariah was tattooed three times onto my arm. Most people had three different names scattered all over their body, but I had the same name three times in the same place. In a world filled with heroes and villains people tended to go by nicknames whether or not they belonged to either group. Very few people went by their legal name, so finding any of your soulmates either enemy, lover, or friend, was very difficult. I had given up a long time ago despite only having one name to find, not three. Besides, I wasn't sure if I wanted to find them. After all, they were my best friend, enemy, and true love. Unless three people just happened to have the name Azariah and live in this town, which I doubted.

I had only ever told one person about the fact that all three of my soulmates had the same name. Growled in irritation sitting up. I was such a foolish kid. I even told them the name. And now that person, who had been my childhood friend, the one person to look past my species, was my worst enemy and fought me several times a week. So much for the promise she made me. She said she would never turn her back on me, just because I was a dragon, the villain of all the storybooks, but now look where we are. I will never be that foolish kid again. I will never tell anyone my soulmate's’ name. I won't make the same mistake.

I searched through my closet and decided to wear a long sleeve and jeans. It was just game night with some friends who happened to also be this town's worst villains. After depositing the check and throwing it away, I tucked my phone in my pocket and grabbed my keys and left my apartment.

I walked down the streets. I lived on the bad side of town in a crappy apartment, so I had to walk all the way over to the good side of town to get to Muffin’s house. Sure, I could just move to a different apartment, I had the money. I could afford a slight upgrade, but I was lazy and liked my home. Besides the heroes don’t think to look for a member of the richest villain gang in the poorest side of town. I snorted to myself, ignoring the strange looks of the other people. Knowing the heroes they would probably be looking for somewhere a dragon could live, not a human. Although, the Angel, probably hadn’t hesitated to tell the heroes all about her shapeshifting abilities. Argh! I regretted ever trusting her. She was why I had been forced to turn to villainy.

10 years ago...

“Come on Z, let me ride you just once.” Ace pestered me.

I gestured to her wings. “You can fly by yourself Ace, why do you want to ride me?”

She giggled. “Because, I’ve never ridden a dragon. It seems so cool.”

I relented, I just couldn't say no to Ace. “Okay, just once though.” Come on. The two young girls ran out of Ace’s house to the backyard. I hadn’t figured out how to deal with the clothes problem, so I just let them rip as I transformed into a young dragon, no bigger than a horse. I crouched down, so Ace could clamber onto my back. She seated herself in the gap between spikes at the base of my neck. I stood slowly, making sure she had a firm grip. I took a few running steps before launching myself into the air. I wasn’t skilled enough to take off from a standstill.

Ace giggled and laughed as I circled the city with her on my back. “We need to fly together more often, Z.”

I roared quietly in agreement.

The flight went smoothly until I had to land. I was unused to having to land in a confined space like Alex’s backyard. Usually I allowed for an open are for my to run to slow down. I was still a youngling and not very adept at all flying maneuvers, especially since I didn't have much time to practice, because people regarded me with fear in my natural form. I didn't take the short space into account, and dove down like I normally would to land. Ace squealed in glee at the feeling of weightlessness. When I pulled up to land I didn't slow enough. As I tried to skid to a stop before the fence, by claws tore easily through the dirt so I dug harder into the ground. Too hard. I flipped onto my back. My back that Ace was sitting on. I immediately rolled over and nuged Ace, who was crying and screaming. Her mom rushed out and looked at her destroyed yard and crying child who was cut up from the spike on my back. She pulled out her phone and called the heroes. They arrived quickly and took Ace away to heal her.

Two elemental heroes, approached me from either side. The one in blue glared at me. “Come with us, Dragon. You need to pay for attacking this innocent child.”

The one in a gray suit, crafted chains out of metal and fitted them around my legs, and then my wings. They even wrapped chains around my mouth to muzzle me. They dragged my back to their public headquarters and tossed me in a cell.

Several hours later they came back. “Turn into your human form dragon. We know you have one. That poor child you attacked told us all about it. Said kidnapped her and flew her in the air before crushing her on the landing.”

Shaking in fear I transformed in my human form. My clothes had been shredded, so I stood naked, in a pile of chains in front of two full grown strangers. The reluctantly handed me clothes.

They returned several hours later to transfer me to the city jail. I was given 5 years for assault. I was eleven years old and in jail for I crime I didn’t commit, because my best friend betrayed me, and I was a dragon. They didn't listen to my protests. No one cared that it was an accident. So, five years later when I was released, I turned to villainy. I had no choice. They were the only ones willing to accept me. Boss, my mothers old high school friend, took me in after my mother's death, one month after I was released from jail.

Present...

I checked my watch. 7 pm. Perfect. Right on time. I knocked on Muffin’s door. They opened the door and engulfed me in a hug. “Oh, it’s so good to see you Z.”

Muffin was a half-giant and really fucking strong, so I groaned in pain. “Too tight. Too tight Muffin. I need to breathe.” They dropped me and I gasped in air. “Good to see you too Muffin. Who else is here?”

Muffin shrugged as we entered the house. “Uh, Steph, Boss, and Ocean, oh, and Devil.”

I nodded as we entered the living room and I saw all of them gathered around the table in the center. “Hey, guys.”

They all greeted me by nods or waves. Steph handed me a glass of water as I sat down next to them. “Nice job today. I liked the fog trick. You really got the Angel that time.”

I shook my head. “Not really she’ll be fine in 24 hours.”

Devil raised her eyebrows, “Really? She looked dead when you dropped her on the roof.”

Ocean added. “The News said you killed her, but we know that you wouldn't do that.”

I groaned. “Of course they said that. NO, she’s not dead. I just put a sleeping spell on her. She’ll wake up with a few scratches and bruises from her struggling but that’s it.”

Boss shook his head. “How are we ever supposed to maintain our reputation with you puting all the heroes to sleep.” He grinned. “But, I’m proud of you Z. Nice job.”

I chuckled. “Hey, I did destroy the entire penthouse. And I didn't hurt any civilians.”

Muffin clapped me on the back. “I know. That was great.”

Another knock came from the door and muffin left, only to return with T in tow.

Ocean raised an eyebrow at T. “For someone who can turn into the fastest animal alive, it’s remarkable how often your late.”

Offended, T defended. “Hey! I’m only...” he glance around, then sighed, defeated. “The last person here.”

I laughed. “Come on T, get over here. Now that you’re here we can start playing games.”

Devil pulled a deck of Uno card from nowhere. “Ooh, ooh, can we play Uno?” She bounced excitedly like a little kid.

Boss smiled grabbing the card and starting to deal. “Sure.”

14.2

Saturday afternoon. Most people my age would be getting ready to party, grateful they didn’t have to work about any homework for one night. Most people my age were in college, their biggest worry being an exam or class project. Maybe finding their soulmate. Definitely not, not getting killed as several very angry heroes chase them you across the city in a high speed chase, after they demolished a bank so their friends could steal the money inside.

That, unfortunately, was just my life. The heist for today had been to strike on a bank that happened to be closed for reconstruction, so no one was inside. I would destroy the bank then Boss and the others would rush in and grab the money while I lured the heroes away. It had worked. But, it working meant I had to fight several heroes, including the Angel. And they weren't just elementals. It was a group of the heroes finest. They all had super strength, and could fly. One could shoot laser, a couple could use advanced magic, and the rest all were shapeshifters of some sort.

I was pretty much screwed. I roared in frustration as another jet of the Angel’s dragon fire narrowly missed me. I climbed high into the sky before dropping like a stone to get under them. I quickly broke out of the dive that they had followed me into and flew straight towards them as they also broke out of their dives. I managed to catch the laser guy and grab him in my mouth. Conserving my magic, I opted instead to use my venom to incapacitate him. He would be fine in a few weeks, the venom wasn’t lethal, but it was incredibly painful. I dropped him as I spiraled to avoid a magic blast from one of the other heroes.

I flew wildly and scattered to by myself some time while I prepared my next spell. With a roar in draconian, I released the spell. An identical version of me appeared next to me. I sent the illusion flying towards the angel while I dived for one of the magic users. The Angel futilely send dragonfire after dragon fire at the illusion, but it didn’t waver. I couldn;t physically attack with the illusion, but I could make it look like it was using magic so I had it spit fire at the angel. I focused back on the magic wielder in front of me who was about to blow my face off with a magic ball. I turned to avoid it narrowly, and smacked him with my tail, but he only staggered. I spun back around sending flame at him as the illusion did the same to the Angel. My concentration was split and I didn't notice the shapeshifter behind me. He grabbed me and turned into an elephant causing me to sink to the ground.

I used a magic spell to teleport out of his grasp and desperately flew high into the sir where they hopefully couldn't follow. But the trick that worked on the Angel didn’t work on these guys who didn't need air to fly. I narrowly dodged several more spells and several animal attacks. I couldn't get one attack in I was too busy dodging. I was forced back down where the Angel could also attack. A dragonfire hit me on one wing and I roared as I fell spinning down towards the Earth. I forced my burned wing to work, but I still barely managed to slow my descent as I crashed into the roof of a building. I rose to my feet but one of the heroes had jumped on my back. They were seemingly unbothered by the spikes protruding from my neck. They had somehow gotten their arms around my neck and were squeezing. They couldn't reach all the way around, but it didn’t matter because it still restricted my breathing.

I wheezed as I struggled to breath. Time was running out for mw. I had to just hope that the others had managed to get into hiding and escape any other heroes, I couldn't distract these ones for any longer without being killed. I used the last of my magic to teleport me and cloak me as I desperately dove for an ally to transform in. Once in human form in the street. I slumped against the dirty pavement wall, gasping for breath. I was covered in magic burns and burns, and a large bruise was forming around my neck. Some of my ribs felt broken from the crash and my right arm was bent at an unnatural angle.

“Fuck.” I muttered under my breathe. I was in really rough shape. I struggled back to my feet and glanced at the surrounding street names. I sighed in relief. Devil’s house was relatively near and she’d be able to patch me up no problem. I limped down the street, gaining many strange looks from passersby. I dragged myself up the stairs to Devil’s apartment and knocked on the door.

Her roommate opened the door. “Whoah. What happened to you?”

I grunted in annoyance. “I got in a fight. Look is Dakota here?”

The roommate shook their head. “Sorry, no. Look do you need to go to the hospital. You look really bad.”

I shook my head. “No, I’m fine. I just need to see Dakota.”

Recognition dawned on the roommate. “Oh... I get it. Your one of her ‘business partners’ here for her ‘special services.’”

I nodded. It was not really the reason I was here, but close enough if it’s what would let me see Dakota.

The roommate gestured to the couch. “Go ahead and take a seat. I’m sure she’ll be back soon.” After a minute the roommate spoke up again. “So are you a succubus or something. Is that why you’re here in such rough shape instead of going to the hospital?”

I nodded, willing to just go along with it. “Yeah, Dakota and I have an agreement. It tends to work much better than the hospital.”

The roommate nodded as if she was in on some big secret. “Well I’ll be in my room. You two have fun, and try to keep it down.”

I nodded. “Of course, we wouldn’t want to disrupt the peace. We’re not evil.”

The roommate laughed before leaving. What the hell! Was Devil actually a prostitute or did she just make her roommate think that to cover for when we came over? I guess I had until Devil came back to think about. I sat on the couch in pain and silence for who knows how long when Devil finally returned. I stood when I saw her enter the room.

She took one look at me then cursed under her breathe. “Shit. What happened to you?”

I shrugged. “A lot. Can you please just heal me?”

Devil nodded. “Of course. Come on let’s go to my room.” Once inside her room, she looked over me more closely. “I’m going to need you to take your shirt off. I can’t see all of your burns.”

I nodded then glance at my arm. “Uh, can you heal that first, so I can take off my shirt.”

As an answer, Devil moved her hands to my arm and they glowed faintly. I looked away as I felt the bone right itself and heal.

“There, no try taking your shirt off.”

I complied, and Devil gasped. “Shit, dude. You’re burned so badly, uh, everywhere.”

I sighed. “Can you fix it?”

She nodded. “Yeah, but I’m afraid It’s going to scar.”

“Okay. That’s was probably eventually going to happen with me facing of against the Angel so much.”

The devil began healing the burns on my torso. “I’m sorry we weren’t there to help.”

I shook my head. “It was unavoidable. It was the plan. I distract them, you all get away.”

Devil moved to working on my front. “I know, but I don’t think Boss realized that you would get so hurt.”

“It was a calculated risk. No one knew they would send their poster squad after me.”

“We really should have guessed that though without the amount of attention you’ve been getting recently, and after how you took out the Angel.” Devil commented as she moved to my right arm. She healed the bicep but when she got to the forearm she paused. “What’s that?” She asked, pointing to the name repeated three times. “Who’s Azariah?”

I turned my arm to hide it. “That’s nothing. And no one.”

Devil moved onto healing the rest of my arm. “Okay, whatever you say Z.” She finished healing me without further comment.

I pulled my shirt back on and thanked her. “Thanks for the fix up Devil. I am going to go relax now though.”

Devil nodded. “Of course, you deserve it.”

Her roommate smirked suggestively at me as I left, reminding that I had forgotten to ask Devil about her cover up. I made a mental note to ask her later as I walked back to my apartment. I needed a drink. I had had a crappy day. I unlocked my apartment and scrounged around my small kitchen to find that I only had water, milk, and orange juice. I scowled and grabbed my wallet from the table along with my phone. I had missed a call from Boss. Damn.

I opened my phone and called him back. “Hey, Boss what’s up, you called me?”

“Just checking in to make sure you’re okay. The fight looked pretty rough from what I saw on TV. The News is claiming that its the closest that the heroes have come to killing the Evil Dragon.”

I groaned. “Really they added ‘Evil” in front. Nevermind. Yeah, I;m fine. I had to stop by the Devil’s place for a quick fix up, but I’m good now.”

“That’s great Z. Thanks to you we were able to get away with a great haul. I’ll put your share in your account.”

“Thanks Boss, I’m going to go out now and unwind.”

“Okay Z, just don't get too drunk.”

I laughed. “I won’t.” He hung up and I left my apartment. I walked a little ways to a better part of town and went to my favorite bar, The Eagle. I walked in to the bar and passed the tables heading straight to the bar.

I took a seat and the bartender came over. “What can I get for you, sir?”

“Just a glass of your best beer, whatever you recommend.” I laughed as he walked away. Of course he mistook me as a guy.

He returned with the glass of beer and I took it from him. I was only halfway done when someone took a seat next to me. I sighed internally. I hope they don't try to make conversation. Then I turned to look at the stranger, and found a too familiar face, Ace. I checked her soul. Yep, that was definitely her. Ugh, why did she have to be here? Could my night get any worse?

“Hey there. What’s up?” Yes. Yes it could. Ace was now trying to talk to me.

I shrugged, staring adamantly at my beer. “Not much.”

She glanced up at the TV. The news was currently covering, yet again, the events of this afternoon. “Did you see the crazy heist the SBV pulled off today?”

I nodded. “Who hasn’t?”

She really couldn't take a hint. I didn’t want to talk, but she continued on. “Can you believe how close they got to killing the Evil Dragon? It’s too bad she disappeared at the last second.”

“Too close for comfort.” I muttered.

She turned to face me, confused. “What do you mean?”

I shrugged. I had to be careful or she would grow suspicious. “Just that the heroes are supposed to be the good guys, but they just tried to murder someone who has never actually hurt anyone except those that hurt her.”

“What are you talking about? The Evil Dragon has ruined countless lived by destroying buildings and stealing money, or helping the SBV steal money. The heroes are perfectly in their right to take her out.”

I couldn’t control my temper. I had had a rough day, and my filter was off. “Do you know her? Do you know what she does with the money? Do you know why she does what she does? And do you know that she has never once injured anyone who is not a hero actively attacking her?”

She seemed slightly taken aback. “Surely she’s hurt someone. And aren’t her reasons obvious. To get money to live a luxurious lifestyle without any regard for others or how to properly.”

I leaned forward on the bar. “Is it really that obvious?”

“Yes?”

I glared at her quickly before refocusing on my beer. “Wrong answer. You know nothing of you she is when she’s not the ‘Evil Dragon.’ The title itself is a little harsh.”

“Why are you even defending her?”

“Because I’ve been hurt by heroes simply because of my species. They aren't as good as people think.” I finished the rest of my beer and set back on the table with a sense of finality. The bartender returned and I paid him in cash.

I stood to leave, but Ace grabbed my arm. “What was your name again?”

I pulled my arm away. “I didn't tell you, but you already know it, Ace.”

As I walked away I heard her call after. “How did you know my name? I never told you.”

I smirked to myself as I disappeared into the streets and headed home. Of course, Ace would assume all of the SBV lived luxurious lives on a mountain of gold. In reality, we all lived pretty simple lives, and Boss donated the extra money to charities around the world. Sure, we weren’t perfect, but we weren't as evil as people thought. I sighed. It didn't matter. People would never change their mind. To them I would always be the Evil Dragon, because there had never been a Good Dragon before., so they were unwilling to accept that there might be one.

14.3

Ace’s POV

I was left dumbfounded at the bar as the mysterious stranger disappeared. Who the hell was she? How the hell did she know my name? I tried to just ignore it, but as I was walking home her words kept playing back in my head. Who was I to judge the Dragon? No, she was wrong. She didn’t know that I was the hero and had been attacked by the Evil Dragon first hand. The Dragon had tried to tear her to shreds and fry her to a crisp. She had hurt Lazer really bad just this past fight. Her venom would put him out of commision for weeks. I didn't even know she had venom. She hadn't used it before. Not even when she had grabbed her in her mouth. Why didn’t she use such a powerful venom before? It seems weird to handicap herself in such a way.

I slammed the door to my apartment shut in anger. A seed of doubt had been planted in my head by this stranger, and it was growing and wouldn’t leave me alone. I sat in my kitchen drinking a glass of ice cold water contemplating what the stranger had said. Had the Dragon ever really been trying to hurt me or my colleagues? After all, earlier this week when she could have killed me in the fog, I woke to find she had just cast a sleep spell on me. The Dragon was clearly capable of much more lethal magic, so why didn't the Dragon take the opportunity and kill her? I ground the heels of my palms into my head. It didn’t make any sense. The Dragon had no problem destroying buildings risking people’s lives, but she never actually killed anyone despite being full capable of doing that.

Suddenly, I remembered a moment from my last big fight with the Dragon earlier this week. The dragon had twisted to take a hit of dragonfire on her stomach instead of her back which was really weird since her back was covered by many spines in addition to think scales. Why had she done that? I pulled out my phone to review news coverage of the event. I found one blog post that was particularly interesting.

The Angel is Actually the Devil. The Angel tries to kill Lavender Blossom during a fight with the Dragon.

What the fuck? Lavender hadn't been involved in the fight, had she? I scrolled down the article to find a picture of Lavender clinging onto the Dragon’s back as I fired a dragonfire spell at them. Shit! I had almost killed Lavender. If the Dragon hadn’t turned I would have roasted her. I laid my head down on my kitchen counter in my arms. Nothing made sense anymore. That fucking stranger had messed with my head. I stood to full height. I would find that stranger I demand answers from her. How would I find her? Well, that was a problem for future me. Present me was going to go to sleep.

I spent my entire day fighting of petty criminals, who barely stood a chance against me and the other heroes. I was looking forward to getting off work and being able to go back to that bar and find the stranger. Fortunately, or unfortunatly, I was unsure which, the Dragon and the SBV had not attacked today. When I got off work, I flew quickly home and changed into street clothes and out of my white armor that made up my Angel costume.

I hurried down the street and to the bar. I walked inside and stood blankly for a bit before making my way to the bar. I don’t know what I expected. For her to just be sitting right her? I called the bartender over and order a club soda. I didn’t feel like getting drunk tonight.

When the bartender returned with my drink I asked him a question. “Do you know the girl from last night?”

“I’m sorry miss, you’re going to have to be a bit more specific.” He replied.

I struggled to remember the strangers features. I had been to distracted by the words coming out of her mouth. “Uh, she had short black hair, green eyes, and was tall and really built.”

The bartender paused to think. “Oh, her. Yes, she comes here often.” He laughed to himself. “I was always unsure of her gender though. She’s a girl?” I paused. “I think so?”

The bartender continued. “Anyways, she comes her pretty often. Doesn’t talk much, generally just gets one drink and goes. Maybe one of the other customers knows her.”

I pressed him one more time. “You don't even know her name?”

He shook his head. “Nope, she always pays in cash. Leaves a hefty tip too.”

I thanked him and left to go mingle. At least that was something. If she left a hefty tip she was probably better off and lived in the good part of town. I was leaning against the wall with my drink watching a pool match when some drunk guy came up to me.

“Nice wings you got there miss.” He grinned.

I tried to avoid looking disgusted. Maybe he knew the stranger. “Thanks sir. Would you perhaps be able to help me with a problem of mine?” I offered him a fake smile, although he was too drunk to realize that.

He grinned hungrily, coming closer to me and putting a hand on my arm. “What problem would that be miss?”

I put up with his proximity in the hope he had information. “I’m looking for someone. Tall, muscular, short black hair, green eyes.”

He backed up, disappointed, and slurred. “Oh, that fellow. He comes in here every so often. He’s from the bad side of town. I’ve seen him come and go from that Condor apartment complex. He keeps to himself though.” He moved closer to me. “He probably can’t help you like I can. Don’t think I’ve ever seen him look at a woman. Strange man he is, but not me. I’m not strange at all. I’m perfectly normal.”

I pushed him off, disgusted. “Not today, sorry, I really need to find this guy.”

The guy stumbled away. “Suit yourself, shame really...”

I ignored the rest of his comment as I went back to the bar to pay for my drink before leaving.I pulled out my phone and looked up Condor apartments. I walked all the way there through the shifty streets of the bad end of town, guess my earlier assumption was wrong, they did live on the bad side of town. Weird. Everything about this stranger was weird. I looked up the apartment complex with its shifty sign and realized that I didn't even know this person’s name I couldn’t just walk up and find them. What was I hoping? That they’d just walk out. Like that would happen. I began walking back to my apartment, defeated. I guess I’ll just try to find them at the bar. Apparently they were a regular there. I called up my best friend, the one whose name was tattooed on my right shoulder, for advice. Maybe I was just being really stupid.

“Hey, Az, what’s up?” Hayden was one of the few people who I let call me by my real name, Azariah.

“Nothing much, H. Just feel like I might be being really stupid over something.”

“What’s bugging you?”

I sighed. “It’s kinda a long story.”

“I’m not going anywhere, but feel free to shorten if you want.”

“Basically, I met this stranger at the bar yesterday who had some really interesting opinions. And it's really confusing me, so I tried to find them, but no one even knows their gender much less their name. Some drunk dude told me where they live, but without a name I can't do much.”

H laughed. “So you’ve turned into a stalker.”

“What, no. Have I?”

He laughed again. “Relax, I’m joking. So what got you so confused?”

“This tranger suggested that...” I paused uncertain, it sounded kinda stupid.”

“That what?”

“That the Evil Dragon isn't actually Evil, and that we’ve been judging her unfairly.” I blurted.

He paused to take a moment to process. “And, is that true?”

“Yes, no, I don’t know... and the weirdest thing is that the stranger knew my name.”

“Azariah? Really? But no one knows that’s your name.”

“No, Ace. But, it’s still weird. Instead of telling me their name they just said that I ‘already knew it.’”

“That’s not mysterious at all.” H’s sarcasm was thick. “Maybe, they knew you when you were younger.”

I reached my apartment and collapsed on my couch. “But then shouldn’t I recognize them, if they recognized me?”

“I don’t know. It’s possible they recognized you by something else like scent.”

I gasped in disbelief. “So they’re a werewolf.”

“Maybe... I don’t know. Didn't your one dragon friend tell you that they could see souls, maybe that’s it.”

I sighed. “Maybe... guh, this is hopeless. I’m never going to find them.”

“Why are you so set on finding them?”

I shrugged. “I don’t know. I guess I just want answers.”

“Do they go to that bar often?”

“Yeah.”

“And you saw them on saturday?”

“Yeah?” Confusion carried through my voice as I wondered what H was planning.

“How about this? I take you to the bar saturday evening and see if they show up. If they don’t then will ask around some more for a name.”

I nodded. “Yes, yes. Than you H. You’re the best.”

“I know Az, now go to sleep. It’s late.”

“Okay, you too. Bye H.”

“Bye Az.”

14.4

Z’s POV

I woke to the buzzing of my phone. I groggily answered it. “What?”

“Morning Z. I need you.”

Boss’s serious tone woke me up. “Yeah, sure Boss. Where? And what for?”

“A rival villain gang just set an entire block on fire. The News is calling them the new SBV and better than us. We won’t be able to threaten people and have them take us seriously if we get one-upped by these guys.”

Fear started building in my gut as I realized what Boss was getting at. “So what do you need me to do?”

“I need you to do something big. You and T.”

“How big?” I asked with building dread.

“I need you two to attack the heroes base. At least their public one. Muffin and Ocean will be there for backup, and Devil to heal you two afterwards but you need to hurt the heroes and hurt them bad.”

“How so? Please don’t say killing them. Because I don't think many are stationed there.”

“No, I know that not many are there. You and T are going to set all of their prisoners free.”

“So a jailbreak?”

“Yeah, but while T is setting people free you’re going to be destroying the building.”

“What about the heroes inside?”

“Hopefully they will have fled before it collapses.”

“Hopefully?”

“Yeah, so are you in or not Z, because we need you.”

I sighed. I didn't like this. I may actually hurt someone. And we weren't getting money, just street cred. How many murders were we going to set free. “Okay, I’m in, but only if it’s really necessary.”

“It is, we need this if we want to get money from hostaged in the future.”

“Okay, when is this?”

“ASAP, T will be waiting at the rendez-vous spot on top of the office building across the street from the heroes. Once he sees you, you two will head in.”

I sighed, steeling myself for the mission to come. “SBV forever.”

“SBV forever.” He ended the call and I threw on a shirt and pants and my necklace. I rushed out the door grabbing my key as I went.. I left my phone and wallet behind, so that if I was captured they couldn’t be used for identification. I ran to the ally and transformed rushing over to the Hero Complex. I spotted T crouched on the roof and roared to signal him to go in. He shifted into a hawk and followed behind me as I crashed through the roof of the building. Alarms began to go off and T began setting prisoners go, working from the top down, I followed behind him reducing enter cell blocks to rubble easily.

The heroes had begun to arrive, I shifted my attention to the heroes, I could destroy the building later. Only a few elementals were there immediately. I dealt with them simply. I knocked them out of the air and to the ground with one swipe of my claw, knocking them unconcious. More heroes were approaching from the west. I just needed to buy enough time so that T could finish. And leapt off the rubble to meet the next wave of heroes halfway. It was the magic users and shapeshifters from before accompanied, as always, by the Angel. I Climbed into the sky as I raced towards them diving as approached to get more speed. I dove towards one of the magic users. He dodged to one side with a smirl. I shook my head internally. Overconfidence was a mistake. As I sped by I curled my tail just so, so that it caught him by surprise. He let out a cry, and went spinning through the air, I followed him to the ground catching him with my mouth. I quickly cast a sleep spell on him and dropped him. Turning to deal with the magic I was being pelted with. Strangely, the Angel wasn’t using dragonfire. The other magic was little more than an irritation in comparison. The other heroes noticed as I flew towards them undeterred.

“What are you doing Angel? Hit him hard.” One of the shapeshifters yelled. I flew past them as they dodged and circled back to the Hero Complex as I dodged a dragonfire, looks like the Angel was out of whatever funk she’d been in. I noticed T dart out of the bottom of the complex and I dove towards its base. I really hope everyone is out. I used magic with my fire to send explosive balls of fire towards the structure before I plowed through it. The concrete gave way under my force and my magic-enforced body. As I climbed free of the rubble I saw the building flying behind me. For good measure, and to satisfy Boss I send waves of flame over the rubble. The other heroes had caught up and I dodged another dragonfire. T was currently engaged in a one on one battle with the hero shapeshifter and the magic user and Angel attacked me. I wished I could use the sleep spell from a distance unfortunately I needed to be in contact with an individual to use it. I targeted Angel first, since her attacks were the most painful. I created several less complex illusion that mirrored my movements as I circled the pair. Angel sent streams of fire towards each illusion, but didn't hit me. I flew out of the circle in a complex shifting pattern to scramble the illusion. I pulled out of the flip and hovered above her, I sent waves of fire towards her from me and the illusions. Her shield broke and I dove in, catching her while she was weak I grabbed her only long enough to cast the spell before dropping her, The other magic user pelted my with magic explosions but they were useless when my scales weren’t weakened by dragonfire. I chased after him as he flew in fear away, unfortunately he wasn't fast enough or smart enough, I caught him, put him to sleep and dropped him.

I circled back and found T flying away from the unconscious form of the shapeshifter. We passed each other exchanging nods before we went our separate ways. It seemed to easy. It should have been harder. Something felt off. Shouldn’t more heroes have been there? I rushed home to watch the News in hopes of finding something out. I opened the door of my apartment, locking it behind me and plopped down on the couch after grabbing my phone.

I called Boss up as I pulled up the news on my laptop. I pulled up a live feed on our attack.

“Yes, Z? I see the attack was successful.”

I shrugged as I watched the news. “It was, but it feels too easy. Something's off. There should have been more heroes. It was their complex after all.”

Suddenly, I let out a gasp as the I read the statistics tolling across the news feed. 10 heroes trapped in building demolition by the notorious SBV. I struggled to hold back tears as I heard the reporter. “....the hunt for the Evil Dragon has increased, any reward for information on this absolutely wicked monster will be rewarded...”

“I’m sorry boss, I’ll have to call you back.” I dropped my phone on the couch and held my head in my hands. Tears began freely running down my cheeks, and horrible sobs broke through my mouth. I had killed 10 people. I had actually killed them. And I had done it with barely a second thought. Sure the news just said trapped, but I had lit it on fire. There was no way they were going to survive, or survive to live a decent life. I had become the monster everyone thought I was. I had just killed 10 and ruined who knows how many lives of those close to them. Another wave of sobs took over me. I heard a knock at the door, but ignored it. I didn’t fucking care anymore.

“Z, open up. Let me in. It’s me, Ocean.”

“Go away.” I cried through tears.

“I’m not going anywhere while you’re like this, so open up. Or I will knock this door down.”

I reluctantly pulled myself off the couch and opened the door. Ocean pulled me into a hug,, as she walked into my apartment. She kicked the door shut behind her and dragged me back to the couch.

I sobbed into her shoulder. “I’m a fucking monster Ocean, I just proved them all fucking right. I am just a killer.”

She rubbed my back, reassuringly. “No, you’re not. It was Boss’s order. You were just following orders.”

“I still did it.”

“The new just said that they’re trapped. One of the elementals you knocked out of the way early on regained consciousness and put out the fire. Other heroes arrived shortly later to free them. They all survived, with minimal injuries. The healing staff quickly fixed them up. You didn't kill anyone.”

“But I could’ve.”

“You didn’t. You did what we needed. The news is taking us seriously again, and no one was killed.”

“I’m never doing something like this again for Boss. I’m not going to risk lives like that.”

“And that’s okay. Boss shouldn’t ask you to kill if you’re uncomfortable.”

I pulled away from Ocean. “Thank you Ocean.”

“No problem, Z.”

14.5

I found myself back in The Eagle Saturday night. It had been a successful week, minus the terrifying mishap on Monday. I hadn’t been called in by Boss much after my meltdown, the others had takes care of a few raids and even one fight with the new rival villains. It wasn’t until today that Boss had asked my to do a simple kidnapping. It had gone smoothly without a hitch, but I still hated it. I hated the screams of the boy as I held him in my jaws. I hated the fear with which the mother regarded me. I hated the hate that I was given by the heroes. I was sick of this, I was sick of being an outcast but there was nothing I could do to change anything. I was doomed to be a villain.

That’s why I found myself drinking by myself on a Saturday evening instead of at home binge watching shows. My sulking was disturbed by some shipper gal sitting next to me. Correction, by Ace sitting next to me, and her soulmate from the looks of how their souls were linked. Best friend or Lover I ideally wondered while returning my gaze to my beer.

“So, Stranger, care to enlighten me as to what you think of the Evil Dragon after her stunt on Monday.”

“No.”

“Come on, you have to give me something after you just left me last week.”

“No I don’t.”

The dude next to her, a sandy blonde extraordinarily average dude, spoke up. “At least give us your name. You’re such an interesting person, with such interesting opinions.”

I was growing irritated why couldn't they just leave me alone. “I don’t even know you guys.”

Ace persisted. “Then let us get to know you. We just want to be friends.”

I sighed. “Fine, I’ll think about it.”

Ace grinned. “So what is your name?”

“A Mystery.”

Ace wan undeterred. “Okay Mystery, so how do you know so much about the Dragon.”

“I do my research and am not so quick to judge like some.”

Ace raised an eyebrow. “Pretty sure, research does tell you someone’s motives.”

I shrugged.

“If you feel so strongly about the Dragon then why haven't you spoken out about it more?”

I looked at Ace meeting her eyes. “People have their mind made up. They don’t care what you say. If they see you as the villain or the hero then that’s all they will see. I didn't feel like fighting a pointless battle.”

I dropped Ace’s gaze as she replied. “Some are willing to listen.”

I snorted dryly. “Like who? You?”

“Yes.”

I rolled my eyes. “I was joking.” I took the last swig of my beer. “You’re a hero, you won't change your mind anytime soon.”

She was taken aback. “What? How do you know I’m a hero?”

I payed for my drink and stood to leave.”Same reason I know your name, Ace.” I left her and my friend behind without saying anything else. I returned to my apartment and finished the night like I should have started it, by binge watching shows on my laptop.

The next Saturday found me at The Eagle again. I don’t know why I came back. Chances are I would run into Ace again. Maybe that’s why. It was nice for a change to have someone not in the SBV to want to get to know me, not that I would let Ace get to know me again. I wasn’t a foolish child. I wouldn’t make the same mistake again.

Sure enough I spotted Ace’s white wings as she entered the bar. She was alone this time.

She spotted me and headed over to grab a seat next to me. “Fancy seeing you here, Mystery.”

I chuckled.

Her face light up as the bartender slid her a drink. “Was that a smile I saw? From the dark and brooding Mystery.” She asked in mock shock.

I shook my head.

“So, how was your day Mystery, you seem a bit more chipper than usual?”

“It was average, nothing special.” I replied dully.

Ace scooted closer. “Really? Then what’s with the smile threatening to break through your tough facade?”

I glared at Ace. “It’s going to go away if you keep pestering me.” But it didn’t. I couldn't help it. Being around Ace just felt so natural. I had to keep reminding me that she had betrayed me and ruined my childhood, but it was hard when she was right to next to me acting friendly and innocent.

I stayed at the bar long past when I finished the beer simply enjoying Ace’s company. I didn't mind listening to her chatter away about whatever was going on in her life. At least it appeared that Ace’s job as a hero allowed her to live a comfortable life. I was fine listening but once she shifted the conversation to me I got defensive.

She was swiveled on her barstool so she could face me, while I remained facing the bar. She laughed briefly. “Here, I’ve been talking about me for the past hour, you must be dreadfully bored of hearing about my life. What about you? I barely know anything about you.”

My walls went up. “There’s nothing to know about me, I’m just your average Joe.”

She raised her eyebrows. “Average? You don't seem average to me.” Her eyes strayed to look me up and down. “For one, you don’t look average, you look stunning.”

I looked away from her. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Ace cockily continued. “Oh, really? ‘Cause I think I do know what I’m talking about. AFter all I have eyes.”

“You also have a soulmate, so why are you flirting?”

She shrugged. “I don’t know your name, so you might be my true love, or my worst enemy. I would prefer the true love personally, but who can control fate.”

“So the guy you were with last week was your friend soulmate, then?” I snapped my mouth shut. Shit. That was stupid to say. No one normal can tell that from just a look.

Ace didn't miss the comment. “How did you know we were soulmates?” I opened my mouth to figure out some excuse but she cut me off, “Let me guess, same way that you know everything else.” Ace turned away irritated. “Why won’t you just let me in? I don’t understand, what did I do wrong?”

What did she do wrong? Ugh. She did everything wrong. My anger took over and I snapped. “Why do even care? You already have a best friend, so what’s the point of trying to be friends with me?”

Ace snapped as well when met with my hostility. “Because I want to be a good friend and to more than just my soulmate. I messed up a friendship badly when I was a little kid and I don’t want to let that happen again. I can't even do my job fighting evil properly, because everytime I look the Dragon in the eye all I can see is my childhood friend who I sent to jail. I ruined her life, yet I call myself a hero. I haven’t made up for anything. And you’re comments made me think that I have been unfairly judging all the villains. Maybe they aren’t really that evil after all, yet I’ve been trying to kill them or throw them in jail just like I did as a kid to my best friend.”

After her outburst, Ace stormed out of the bar and I stood there dumbfounded. Ace regretted what she did. She felt bad, she saw me when she fought me. I stood and chased after Ace, already having paid, but she was gone. Damn. I had messed up again.

Solemnly I walked back to my apartment. Maybe I could fix things with her next week. If she even bothers to show up next week.

14.5

Ace’s POV

I finished buckling the last strap on my armor, as I walked into my boss’ office. She looked up at my entrance. “Great, your here early Angel. There’s break in at a warehouse near the Condor apartments. Some heroes have already sent, but they could use a more senior agent like you out there.”

I nodded. “Right away, Ma’am.” I saluted and turned on my heel to leave the office. I flew over the balcony railing and out of the roof of our deployment building. The building was disguised as just another skyscraper in downtown, but inside it held offices lockers and all the inner working of the Hero Organization. I flew from the building towards the bad part of town, where the Condor apartments were and the warehouse that was broken into. I hoped Mystery was okay, she lived there. Actually, she could be the person breaking in, she seemed to be sympathetic to villains.

No. I shook my head to clear it of such thoughts. I couldn't think about Mystery right now or the argument we had had several days ago. I dove into the streets and found the warehouse where the other heroes were. I tightened my grip on my staff as I cast a spell to create magical chains. They tightened around the strong man of this three man party. The other heroes were locked in hand to hand combat with the other two so I hovered back making sure no other villians were going to show up. They quickly finished with the other villains and I grabbed the chained up strong man. THe heroes grabbed the other men easily and flew up to join me as we headed back to the base.

Link in the green, who had earth elemental powers, came up net to me. “Why did they send you? We had it covered.”

I shrugged. “Sorry, Link. I don’t make the decisions just follow them. I know I didn't do anything.”

He sighed. “I know it’s just irritating. It’s like the Organization doesn’t even take elementals seriously. You have to be a Super to get assigned to anything other than minor crimes.”

The other woman, Ruby, a fire elemental, joined in. “You know that’s not true. I’ve been assigned to a case against the Dragon.”

“Really?” Link raised his eyebrows.

I nodded. “Yeah, she was with me on the X Corp kidnapping.”

Ruby sighed. “Not that I did much. The Dragon knocked me out of the sky right away. I didn't stand a chance.”

I offered Ruby a sympathetic glance. “Don’t take it to heart, the Dragon is really strong and skilled.”

She returned a smile. “Thanks, Angel, but I still wish I even stood a chance against any of the stronger criminals.”

The conversation died off as we flew into the HOHQ and brought the criminals to the justice department. Normally we took them to our public headquarters, but that was still under reconstruction. I had just returned to the lobby, where we waited for assignments, when the alarm went off. That meant a high-class villain gang had attacked. I briefly wondered which one it was as I swooped out of the lounge and up to my boss’ office.

She was standing and pacing back and forth waiting for the other Senior Heroes to show up. As they filed in she began speaking. “Squirrel, Max, Magic, Bear, and Angel, you’re in charge of taking down the dragon. “Flyer grab three juniors and tackle the rest of the SBV. The rest of you stay here and be ready to act as backup. Try not to let them escape again, the government is going to cut our funding if we can’t stop these guys. With they new villain gang showing up they’ve escalated from their normal crimes. This time they’re breaking into the Crafter Corporation. The Dragon is overhead. The rest went inside, and the employees have been pouring out of the building. No one’s been hurt yet and we need to keep it that way. Go! Now!”

We saluted and left her office. I went out the roof followed by the others. I didn’t understand why we enever just sent all of the senior heroes after the Dragon. Why not just put them to a stop? Oh well, I just needed to follow orders. We had gotten really close to catching the Dragon before, maybe today would be the day.

I focused my attention as I spotted the large for of the Dragon hovering above the building. Her purple scales shone in the sunlight, and in another situation she might have been beautiful. The large spine running from her snout to her tail reminded me that she was deadly. It didn't matter that she resembled a much larger version of Z, I needed to take her out. BUt as she swiveled to face me, I saw her eyes, the eyes that reminded me so much of Z. They were filled with sorrow.

I shook my head, no I was imagining things. “Max, Magic. Distract her, so I can get a shot in. Once my dragonfire weakens her, all of you will be able to do damage.”

They nodded breaking off from out formation. “Sounds good Angel.”

I dove towards the Dragon readying the spell, my staff glowed as the magic began building in it. The Dragon hadn’t moved, and was completely ignoring the others attacks. Her gaze was focused solely on me. It was terrifying. Any sorrow I had seen, or thought I had seen, was gone replaced by determination. The Dragon was in fighting mode and I needed to get my head in the game.

I unleashed the dragonfire, and the Dragon finally moved. She dropped down onto the roof of the building, roaring. My path carried me over her and I was forced to spiral out of the way as she snapped at me. As I flapped hurriedly to right myself as I heard the large wong beats of the dragon as she pursued me. I knew I couldn't outrun her in a dead sprint, so I pulled up as I prepared for another dragon fire. I flipped over and shot at her back as she flew past, under me. She had no time to dodge and it hit her square in the back. She roared in pain, and I forced and guilt I felt away. She was coming back towards me, fire building in her mouth.

The flame shot past me way to the left as I dodged. Her aim wasn't normally that bad. What was wrong? I turned to chase after her as she climbed for the sky. Now was not the time to question her slacking abilities, I just needed to get her. I spotted Bear and Squirrel as they came up on the Dragon from behind in the form of two pigeons. As she leveled off,, they landed on her back as tigers raking their claws into her back. The Dragon barely paused as she spun into a barrel roll to knock them off. They shifted back into birds and flapped unde her but she knocked them away with her tail, followed by a breath of fire. Max caught them in a magical glow before teleporting them back to the infirmary. They couldn’t recover from a direct hit like that quick enough. A purple glow surrounded the Dragon and suddenly there were ten of her. They were circling Magic and I flew in the middle, sending a stream of dragon fire in all directions. All the forms disappeared and I spun to locate the real Dragon. She was back at the building. Max was close on her tail, too close, she wacked him away and trapped him between her front two claws. His body went limp and the Dragon sent it flying towards Magic.

Magic struggled to catch the limp form of her brother. SHe teleported him somewhere safe before sending up a distress beacon in the sky. She was right. We needed back up. The Dragon was taking us out easily, and who knows what the rest of the SBV were doing in that building. I spotted the half-giant run out of the building, and so did the Dragon. She roared something and the half-giant nodded dashing through the streets, pursued by FLyer and two junior heroes, the third must have been taken out. I felt something slam against my side sending me falling towards the Earth. I had been distracted and had missed the Dragon coming next to me.

Right before I slammed into the concrete, Red grabbed me. “Get your head in the fight Angel.”

She set me down before flying back into the fray. I followed with another dragon fire spell charged. The Dragon had just pulled out of a dive with Magic in her mouth, but her stomach was exposed. I sent the dragonfire straight towards her and she twisted to the side, but it still hit her left wing. Magic screamed, as the Dragon bit down on her. Red charged with her sword heading for the Dragon’s neck. The Dragon’s eyes widened in fear at it threw Magic’s bloody body at Red. Red’s assault was halted by the impact of Magic’s body knocking her out of the sky onto the roof of a nearby building. The dragon turned as another Super managed to land on her back. He summoned two magic balded and jabbed them into her back, they sunk deep into her flesh. Her scaly armour failing her as they were weakened my my magic. A terribly inhumane cry of pain was wretched from her throat as she struggled to shake the Super. The Super fell but was caught by Radiator. The magical swords reappeared in Ex’s hands, as Radiator dropped them on a roof. Red blood was now pouring down the Dragon’s back from the wounds. SHe desperately climbed into the sky as I, and a legion of other heroes, followed on her tail.

I was the closes and as she pulled out of the climb and into a flip some of her hot blood landed on me. It burned as it touched my bare skin. I quickly wiped it away, as I prepared another spell. I spun to aim at the Dragon, but she had disappeared, I spotted her diving into the streets down below. She must have teleported. I sent my dragonfire towards her, but I doubt it hit. As I dived down I heard the confused shouts of the heroes on the ground.

“Where’d she go?”

“Did she teleport again?”

Red’s voice carried through the crowd. “Search the skies, she has the advantage in the open air, not in crowded streets. Her first teleport must have been a red herring.”

Draco, one of the Super’s, added. “Flyers pick up a ground troop, more eyes will help.

I dove down and picked up Ex who was the closest to me. I struggled to fly up high with the extra weight. I definitely wouldn’t be able to dodge if we did find the Dragon.

We had flown over the whole city twice, before Red called it off. “Report back to HOHQ, we lost her.”

In my arms, Ex growled. “Argh! I can't believe we lost her again. We were so close, she was so injured.”

I nodded despite the sick feeling of guilt in my stomach. “You landed a good hit Ex. Wherever she is, if she doesn’t have a healer she’s screwed. She was losing a lot of blood.”

“You think so. Maybe we did get her after all, and someone will find her body.”

Ex seemed way to excited about murder. Mystery’s words came to mind. Why kill someone who has never killed? I forced a cheery tone though. “Maybe, yeah. We’ll have to watch the news.” I dropped Ex off in the lounge before going to the locker rooms. I stood in front off the mirror and washed the Dragon’s blood of my face and my armor. It burned my hands, and I winced in pain. Even the Dragon’s blood was a weapon, so why did she keep losing? Sure, she was outnumbered, this time, but before she had had many opportunities to take us out. And with the SBV’s help they probably could kill a decent portion of us, so why didn’t they? I splashed water in my face to clear my mind. I could worry about it later. Maybe ask Mystery about it on Saturday. Ugh, Mystery. I wish we could have resolved the argument. I still didn't understand what I did wrong. Why did she take such offense to me trying to be friendly? She seemed fine earlier. I straightened, grabbing my staff, and went back to the longue.

I was called in to lead some junior heroes on minor robberies and assaults, but I was distracted. I was still thinking about the Dragon and Mystery, as much as I tried to focus on dragging the petty criminals who had escaped back to HOHQ, I couldn’t. When the NIght shift showed up and I was finally released to go home, I could have shouted with joy. At least at home I could focus just on my thoughts, not on fighting.

I was flying home the way I normally do, when I realized some of the buildings below were where the Dragon had disappeared. Ex’s comment came to mind, and I decided to make a quick stop and check it out. I landed in the ally, uncertain what I was looking for. Surely I giant dragon body would be hard to miss. I was about to give up, after all it was a foolish notion, when I spotted a human body collapsed against the wall. I ran up to it, realizing it was covered in blood as I grew closer. I turned the body over, and saw the necklace of the Dragon.

That’s why we couldn’t find a dragon. The Dragon was a human. How had we all forgotten that she could shapeshift? I inspected the body closer wiping dirt and blood off the face.

Mystery? No, it couldn’t be. SHe couldn’t be the Dragon. She couldn't. She just couldn’t. She couldn’t be dead. I frantically searched for a pulse, relieved when I felt a faint one. I searched for any form of identification. I couldn't take her back to the HOHQ, they would probably just let her die. Even though I had been fighting her earlier today, I didn't want her to die. I groaned. There was nothing. No wallet, no phone, just a key and the necklace. Something on her arm caught my eye, a tattoo. Maybe it was helpful. I wiped the blood gently off the burned skin. The tattoo was unaffected, so it must be a soulmate mark. I read the name, no names.

Azariah, Azariah, Azariah.

My name. My name three time. My name three time in the same place. My name three times in the same place on the upper right inside forearm. The exact same place where it had been on Z.

Tears welled up in my eyes, and my throat tightened. “Z... No, no, no, no, no, no.”

Z couldn’t die. I wouldn't let her. I was not going to lose her again. I picked up her broken body and began racing towards H’s place. Hayden was a healer, he could help. He had to help. I raced through the sky as my tears dripped onto Z’s body. I landed in front of H’s house. The front door was open.

I dove through the door landing inside. “H! Hayden! Please, Hayden. You have to help me.”

He came flying down the stairs. “Az, Az what’s wrong?” His eyes landed on Z’s body. “Who’s that? Why didn't you take them to the hospital?” I sobbed. “Please, just heal her. I’ll explain everything later.”

He took her body from me taking her upstairs to his guest bedroom. “Okay, I will Az.” He saw the necklace. “Is that...?”

I nodded. “Yes, please, just help me. I’ll explain, just trust me”

He sighed. “Okay, I trust you, but please go wait with Jake downstairs. I need to concentrate.”

I nodded and headed back downstairs to the kitchen where Jake stood confused. The tears started again and he pulled me into a hug. “Let’s get you cleaned up Ace. H will fix her, he always does.”

14.6

Z’s POV

I blinked my eyes open, surprised that I wasn't in pain. I was actually quite comfortable. I jolted up reaching for my necklace as I realized something was horribly wrong. I certainly wasn’t almost dead in an ally, and I wasn’t at any of the SBV’s houses. Where was I? My necklace was not around my neck. Shit! Someone could not just be walking around with the Evil Dragon’s necklace. I rushed to my feet pausing to realize I was in different clothes. I paused at the doorway leading out of the room. Why was I in someone’s bedroom? I slowly opened the door which was surprisingly unlocked. I summoned a magic dagger into my hand. Better to be safe than sorry. I had no idea where I was. I crept through the house. I paused at the spiral staircase heading down. I peaked over the railing to the living room down below and saw no one. I crept down the staircase. I snuck around the corner to the next room.

“Fuck!”

I jumped as Ace swore in surprise. I dissipated the dagger and stood up, no longer scared, just confused.

“What the hell, Z? What’s with the dagger?”

I gasped “Z? You recognize me?”

Ace shook her head, ashamed. “No, but I found your tattoo.”

I tried to push back my disappointment. “Oh.”

She looked back at me. “So why are sneaking around? We saved you.”

I shrugged. “When you’re the most wanted villain and you wake up in a strange place, you tend to be very suspicious.” I paused. “How did you find me? And why did you save me? You’re a hero. Shouldn’t I be in a cell or dead right now?”

Ace looked hurt. “Do you really have so little faith in me?”

“Yes.” I replied coldly. “I spent my teenage years in jail because of you. You betrayed me before, why not betray me again?”

She dropped her gaze. “I didn't betray you then, and I didn’t.”

Anger and indignation rose in my chest. “WHat do you mean? The fucking heroes told me you said I kidnapped then attacked you. You fucking begged me for a ride, what part of that is a kidnapping you? And sure I messed up, I hurt you, but it wasn't intentional. How is that assault? Aggravated assault?”

Tears were threatening to break free of Ace’s eyes, and I couldn't understand why. Couldn’t she handle the truth? “I didn't say that. I didn't say any of that. The heroes twisted my words. I didn't know until it was too late.”

I crossed my arms. “Why join them then? And why did you never visit me, never talk to me?” Now tears of my own were building. “I was so hurt, so alone. You abandoned me Ace, and then I find out you now work, not just work are the poster child of, the very people who ruined my life.” Anger mixed with tears as I shouted at Ace. “I was a fucking child and they dragged me to prison. No one ever visited me. I was completely alone for five years with no friends and no family. My mom was in prison because of the heroes. My dad was killed by the heroes. And even the people I was imprisoned with were scared of me, just because I was a dragon.”

Ace tried to come closer to comfort me. “I’m so sorry Z. I didn't know. I tried, but my parents forbade me. They thought you were dangerous and a bad influence. I couldn’t find you after you were released. I didn't know you were a villain.”

I backed away from her. “You couldn’t find me because I was busy starving on the streets with no job and no home. No one will take in or hire a dragon. My life only started to look up when Boss found me and took me in. I had to turn to crime just to survive. I had no choice. We may be called the villains, but the heroes are the ones who are evil.”

Ace shook her head. “No, we’re just trying to protect people and make it better.”

I laughed dryly. “You believe that shit? Is that why you joined them? To be a better person in order to redeem yourself?”

She nodded hesitantly. “Yes.” She responded in a quiet voice.

I shook my head, sadly. “I can't believe you. After you witnessed their racism and flagrant disrespect for my well-being.”

Attracted by all the yelling, Ace’s friend and some other guy came in. “What is going on in here?” Ace looked up. “Relax H, it’s fine. Z and I just have a lot of misunderstandings and unsaid words, that need to be cleared up and said.” Ace gestured between me and the pair of guy. “Z, meet Hayden, he’s the one who healed you, and his husband, Jake.”

I nodded at Hayden. “Thanks for healing me, but why did you? You must have seen the necklace, unless someone stole it before Ace found me.”

Hayden shrugged. “I healed you because Az burst into my living room, sobbing begging me to heal you. And your necklace is upstairs by the way.”

I nodded in thanks again. “Thank you again. Also Az? That’s a new nickname. Is that what you go by now Ace?”

Ace shuffled nervously. “No, I still go by Ace. Az is short for my real name which is-”

“Azariah.” I muttered dumbfounded. I slumped to the ground in shock. I couldn’t process.

Hayden filled the silence. “How does she know your real name?”

I answered for Ace, or Az, or Azariah. I stuck out my forearm. “Because her name is tattooed on my arm three times. She is my best friend, worst enemy, and true love.” My voice was emotionless. I was still too shocked to be angry or hurt and happy, although it occured to me that I should feel something. “Didn’t you see them when you healed me?”

Hayden shook his head. “No, I must have missed it. I was moving quickly so that you wouldn't die.”

Jake finally spoke up. “I’m confused. How can Ace be Z’s best friend when H is Ace’s best friend?”

I shrugged. “I don’t know. Why don’t you ask fate?” I turned my face up to glare at Ace. “Why didn't you tell me when we were kids? I told you when we were seven. Why wait fourteen years to say anything? Why wait until it’s forced out of you?” I dropped my head into my arms. “Too ashamed to have a dragon as your soulmate?”

Ace shook her head vehemently. “No, I am not ashamed of you Z. I just was confused. I didn’t understand. Since you had my name three times, but I had three different names I was really confused.”

I looked up sadly. “Why didn't you just say something? You could have asked my name? You could have done anything?”

Ace sighed dropping her gaze to the floor. “I didn’t want you to be my enemy. I didn’t understand how you could be my enemy, so I just convinced myself that it had to be a different Azariah.”

I just shook my head again. “I just don’t understand.” I looked back up at Ace. “So you’ve found your best friend, but have you found your enemy or true love. What am I to you?”

Ace paused before answering, and I feared the worst. “My true love.” I breathed a sigh of relief as she continued. “My worst enemy was my high school bully who almost drove me to suicide.”

I gasped. “Ace, no. I’m so sorry.”

She brushed it off. “It’s not your fault and it’s in the past.” She smiled at Hayden. “Hayden actually helped me realize that life was worth living.” She laughed. “I thought he was my true love, until he told me that he was gay and had already found Jake.” She glanced back down at me. “And then I just had your name Z.”

“You can say my full name its okay.”

She smiled slightly. “Okay, Zion.”

14.7

Now changed back into my, now cleaned, clothes, and with my necklace tucked under my shirt I was preparing to go back home. Ace grabbed my arm when she saw me in the doorway doing a final check over to make sure I had everything. “Where are you going?”

“Home?” I cocked my head to one side. “Why?”

“I can’t just let you go back to your crappy apartment and back to villainy. Not now that I’ve finally found you again.”

I sighed. “First of all, I like my apartment. And, what would you have me do? I can't get a job.”

She shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe come and stay at my place.”

I shook my head. “I’m not going to leech off you.”

“Go by a different name and join the heroes as a magician.”

I scoffed, disappointed. “Really Ace, you want me to go work for the people who ruined my life?” I pulled my arm from her grip. “Come find me when you have a real idea.”

She looked hurt, and I felt slightly guilty. “How? How am I supposed to find you again?”

I shrugged. “Come to my apartment, since you apparently know where I live.”

“I just know the building from some drunk guy at the bar, I don’t know the room.”

I walked out of the house. “436. Room 436, Condor Apartments.” I heard Ace take one step after me before she decided not to follow. I couldn’t help but feel slightly disappointed. I had been so tempted by her offer to stay with her, I couldn’t deny that I like Ace, and now that I had no more excuses to hate her it was hard to push her away, yet I still did. Just because I had found Azariah, didn’t mean all my problem were solved. SHe needed to realize that not everything could just magically get better. This was real life, the HO is not just going to suddenly change their mind and forgive all of the SBV’s crimes and let them become heroes, or even get regular jobs. Finding my soulmate didn’t fix racism and the situation I was in. Once Ace realized that, then maybe I would be more willing to let her in.

I was maybe halfway home when I heard wing beats behind me. I turned to see Ace flying towards me. I briefly debated running away, but decided just to stop and let her catch up.

She landed next to me slightly out of breath. “Z, thank god. I think I might know a solution.”

Interested, I turned to face her. “I’m listening.” She rushed and her words ran into one another and I barely could make anything out. I grabbed her hand, to calm her. “Slow down, and start over.”

She took a deep breathe. “I haven't worked out all the details, but I know you guys-”

I raised an eyebrow. “Us guys?”

SHe nodded. “Yeah, uh, you and the SBV. Anyways, I know you can’t slash don’t want to work for the heroes, but I’m assuming none of you really want to still do villainy.”

I nodded. “And?”

“And, you guys have money right? Your supposed to be really rich.”

I shrugged. “We have some, most of it gets donated.”

“Oh, so that’s what you do with it? Umm, anyways, I was thinking why don’t you guys start your own business? It could be a clinic or something else. You have the money to start it and then you don’t have to worry about finding jobs elsewhere if you create your own business. And if you want to break down the stereotype so that the heroes will be more open in the future you could be vigilantes on the side.”

I paused before responding, considering. “Maybe, I would have to talk to the SBV. The main problem is getting customers. I doubt we could open a clinic since none of us have the right degrees, but perhaps something else. I don’t know about the vigilantes part though.”

Ace pulled me into a tight hug. “Thank you, thank you.” I stood shocked as she continues. “Now, I don’t want to have to go all the way to your apartment every time I want to talk, so can I please at least have your number.”

I stood frozen for a second before my mind caught up. “Yeah, you can. Do you have your phone?”

Ace paused and stepped back checking her pockets. “Uh, that would be a no. I was in my Angel armor when I found you. I don’t carry my phone with me.”

I rolled my eyes. “Of course you don’t.” I grabbed her hand again. “I guess you’re coming to my house then. Then you can give me your number.”

Ace smiled. “Okay, I won’t complain if it means spending time with you.”

I shook my head. “God, you’re so cheesy.”

I opened my apartment door and gestured grandly. “Home Sweet Home.” As Ace walked in I closed the door behind us, locking it. “It’s a little cozy, but it’s big enough for me.”

Ace spun around. “Cozy is one way to describe it. Tiny is another. Why don’t you move somewhere bigger?”

I shrugged. “I don’t know. Here has always worked, and moving is a lot of work.” I walked over to be table to pick up my phone only to find it had like 50 missed calls. “Shit.” I cursed.

Ace turned to look at me. “What? What’s wrong?”

I groaned. “I have a bajillion missed calls.”

“From who?”

“The SBV probably trying to figure out if I’m dead.”

Ace gestures to my phone. “Well call them back. Let them know that you’re okay.” As I called Boss, Ace asked. “Why did they all leave you anyways? You were way outnumbered.”

“I told them too.”

“How you were a dragon?”

I motioned for her to shut up as Boss answered the phone. “Z?”

“Yeah.”

“Thank God, you’re alive. We were so worried. Don’t pull a stunt like that again. That’s the last time we listen to you when you say go. You could have died. How did you even survive?”

I glanced at Ace. “Uh, that’s actually a funny story.”

I could imagine Boss raising his eyebrow. “Oh really? Pray tell.”

“The Angel saved me.” I blurted.

“...”

“Boss?”

I could hear him sigh. “So you’re telling me that your arch nemesis saved your life?”

“Yes?”

“How in the world did that come about Z?”

I chuckled nervously. “That’s also a funny story.”

“You have some explaining to do.”

“I know. I know.”

“You should start explaining.”

“Okay, okay.”

“Like, right now.”

“Basically, the Angel is my childhood friend who also happens to be my true love soulmate.”

Boss’ sarcasm was so thick it could cut. “That’s perfectly normal.”

I looked at Ace again who just standing there awkwardly and took a deep breath. “I don’t want do be a villain anymore.”

“What!?” Boss growled through the phone. “Is this because of your new hero girlfriend? Are you betraying us because of this person you just met?”

I winced. “I’m not betraying anyone. And no, it’s not because of Ace. You know I’ve never liked this.”

“I know Z, but you also know that we don't really have a choice.”

“What if we did?”

“What else are we supposed to do Z?’

“Start our own company slash business?”

“Like what? Z this is ridiculous, were villains, fighters, what can we do in a business?”

“Can we at least ask the others? I am sick of always being the villain.”

Boss sighed and finally relented. “Fine. I’ll ask, and I’ll get back to you. Goodbye.”

I muttered “Bye,” but he had already hung up. I groaned and sat don on my couch tossing my phone on the ground in front of me.

Ace came and sat next to me, placing a comforting arm around my shoulder. “What happened?”

I groaned and leaned into Ace. “Stuff. Boss doesn’t think it’ll work, thinks I’m betraying them.”

Ace pulled me closer. “You’re not betraying them. You’re just trying to change.”

I sighed. “I don’t know if I can. Boss’ right. I don’t know how to go anything but fight.”

“You seem to know a lot of magic.”

“Combat magic, or healing.”

“Healing is useful.” Ace suggested.

“Not without the right licensing which requires schooling which requires money which I don’t have.” I countered.

“You’re strong. You could do construction work or contracting, maybe yard work or landscaping.”

“Those all require skill.” I looked up at Ace from my slouched position next to her. “Just forget Ace. Boss is right. It won’t work.” I pulled myself away from Ace and sat up.

She looked up at me, disappointed. “Does this mean you’re just going to go back to villainy?”

I shrugged, not meeting her gaze. “I guess so. I don't have any other options.”

Ace sighed and stood. “I guess then we will have to go back to be strangers.”

I stood quickly, staring at her. “What? Why?”

“Because I can’t in my right mind date someone who breaks the law on the regular.”

“I don’t have a choice.” I argued.

Anger was rising in her tone. “Then make a choice. Do something, try something. Try anything.”

I matcher her anger with my own. “I did try something else. It didn’t work. I almost froze to death, and I was starving all the time, completely reliant on strangers generosity. THat’s no way to live, and I am not going to live like that. I am almost not going to betray the people who helped me live, my family, the SBV.”

She crossed her arms. “I guess we’re at a standoff then.”

I tried to think of something, anything that could convince Ace to not just leave. My phone went off from the corner and I glanced between it and her. “Can I take it? Will" you leave?”

She shook her head. “No, I’ll wait. You can take it.”

I darted over to the couch and grabbed my phone. It was Boss. “Yeah Boss?”

“Z, you know that idea you had?”

“The one from like 15 minutes ago? The business?”

“Yeah, well-”

“”Forget about it you were right, it can’t work.”

“No, Z listen. I asked the others about it and they wanted to meet up and try to figure something out. You almost dying, shocked them quite a bit. They don’t want to be doing this anymore. It’s grown to dangerous with that rival gang showing up. We can’t get away with the same stuff we did before.”

I stood staring blankly, processing. “What...”

“Were you not listening?”

“No, no I was, I just don’t understand...” I trailed off.

“Do I need to spell it out? You were right, it’s time for change.”

“Okay... but how?”

He sighed, I could sense his exasperation even through the telephone. “By the business idea... Z are you okay? Where have you been the past few minutes? It’s like you don’t remember the conversation we had earlier.”

“I’m fine, just got a lot on my mind. What business could we do?”

“That is still to be decided. We were hoping to meet up tomorrow to discuss.”

“Okay... just text or call me with the time and place.”

“Of course Z, now go sort out your ‘stuff.’”

“Right, thanks, bye.”

“Bye.” He hung up.

Ace looked at me expectantly, arms crossed leaning against the door. “What was that? I’m assuming you weren’t planning your next raid right in front of me.” I shook my head. “No...”

She raised an eyebrow. “Then what?”

“Boss wants to discuss a plan for change tomorrow.”

She smiled. “Isn’t that good?” “Yeah...”

She stood up and walked towards me. “Then why do you look so glum? This means we can make something work.”

I shook my head. “No, it means that we’re going to get our hopes up and then have them crushed and be back to square one.”

She shook her head in confusion. “What’s with the pessimism, Z?”

“I don’t know. It just all seems impossible. Everything is always nice in theory and messy when you try to get it to actually work.” My anger was growing although I tried to keep my tone neutral.

Ace met my angry gaze. “Why are you angry at me? I haven’t done anything.”

I growled, running my hands through my hair, exasperated. “I’m not mad at you. I-” “It sure seems that way Z.” She was also growing angry.

“I’m mad at everything Ace, not just you. I’m mad that I have to choose between having a sustainable life or having an honest one. I’m mad because I don’t see a way that your idea could work. I’m mad that you can’t seem to grasp my situation.” I sighed lowering my hands. “So, yes, I suppose I am mad at you. I’m mad that everything is black and white to you. You only see me as a villain when I’m just trying to survive. We’re all just trying to survive Ace, why can't you understand that?”

I saw her jaw clench as she paused before answering. “I do understand Z-” “No you don’t.”

She glared at me. “Let me finish. I do understand, and I definitely don't see everything as black and white. If that was the case you would be dead right now.”

“Then why won’t you just accept that I’m a villain.”

“Because you aren’t trying to change. You say that you don’t want to be a villain, but you don’t try to change it. You considered it for all of an hour then immediately flipped the script.” She growled in frustration. “You think I’m mad because your a villain, no, I’m mad because you are not trying to change. You’ve just given up.” She sighed, her anger dissipating. “Why won’t you try harder to find another way to survive? You almost died. You could have died.” SHe looked up from where her gaze had fallen to the floor to meet mine. “I don’t want to lose you because your means of survival got you killed.”

“And I don’t want to die. But-”

“But what?”

“But I want to be able to independently support myself. Apparently, I can't have both within the law.”

She looked up at me pleadingly. “Then why are you so quick to shut this idea down?”

I turned away from her penetrating gaze. “I don’t want to be disappointed again.”

She came up behind and placed a hand on my shoulder. “Again?”

I nodded turning my head to face her. “Yes, again.”

“Who disappointed you?” She asked in a whisper.

“Myself.” I answered, almost inaudibly. “My expectations.” She pulled me gently into a hug, silently urging me to continue. I took a deep breathe as emotions threatened to choke me. “I always expected that I would find a way to fix my situation, but it just kept getting worse, so... so I gave up. I just accepted that my fate was to be a villain.” I bent my head, burying it in Ace’s shoulder. “I already lost this battle Ace. I don’t want to lose again.”

She backed up and used her hand to raise my head to meet her gaze. “You won’t lose. You’re not alone this time. You have me.”

She leaned up to kiss me, and I froze in shock.

She pulled away. “I’m sorry, I shouldn't have.”

I shook my head and leaned down to kiss her again. She happily returned it, but I was forced to pull away as my lungs pleaded for air. “Don’t be sorry.”

She smiled, tears of joy welling in her eyes before she wrapped her arms around my neck and pulled me in for another kiss.

14.8

I walked down the street, silently contemplating the whirlwind that had become my life, while people rushed by dealing with their own problems. Last night I had convinced Ace that she needed to go home, because she still had work the next day. Shortly after Ace left, I had fallen asleep, exhausted. I now found myself avoiding accidentally running into people as I made my way to Boss’ house for the meeting. It was times like these when I had to walk across the whole city that I wished I could turn into something less conspicuous than a giant purple dragon to fly. Oh well, I guess it kept me in shape.

Finally, I rounded the corner and saw Boss’ house with several cars in front of it. I took the stairs by two and knocked on his front door. He swung it open, with his ever present moody scowl. “‘Bout time you showed up. I was starting to wonder if you bailed on the meeting for your idea.”

I shook my head. “No, I wouldn’t do that.”

He raised his eyebrow in skepticism. I ignored it. I walked passed him into the living room. He closed the door and followed behind me.

When Muffin saw me they leapt up and enveloped my in a bone-crushing hug. “You’re okay. Gosh, we were so worried.”

“Yes, I’m okay. A friend helped me out.”

Muffin released me returning to her seat as I grabbed one on the floor by the couch. Devil raised an eyebrow. “A friend? Don’t you mean the Angel?”

“Yes she’s a-”

Boss cut me off. “Enough. We should cut to the chase. Ideas for a business we could feasibly and legally do.”

Steph shrugged. “How about an odd jobs shop? People come to use with random jobs that might not have a specific profession. Could be painting or carpentry or construction...”

Boss nodded. “That could work.”

Devil cut in. “How will we get customers? Why would people come to us?”

“Because we would do jobs efficiently and well for a reasonable price.” Muffin suggested.

“Yeah, but how do they know that?” Devil pushed.

“We can pay for ads.” T suggested.

Steph added. “Especially in the bad end of town a lot of people can’t afford more professional carpenters or professionals won’t work for them so they would be willing to get jobs from us. Especially if they recognize Z and I who live there.”

Boss clapped his hand together, standing up. “Sounds like a plan, unless anyone has objections. I’ll buy a building to be our office and, T, can you take care of advertising. Steph, Z, and Muffin you can be our main workers since you’re the strongest, and Z can help with her magic. Devil you can help me on the business end of things since you seem to have a knack for the details. I’ll let you know when we can get started. Now, I need to get to work.”

He left, but before wwe all left, Ocean finally piped up. “Don’t forget you’ll need to choose a new name to go by since our villain names will blow our cover. We still are criminals, although the law can’t get us unless they know who we are.”

I nodded. “Good point Ocean.”

Against my better judgement, I couldn’t stop hope from building as I walked home. This might actually work. I plugged in my headphones as I walked back to my apartment to pass the time. As of such, I was caught completely unawares when suddenly I was lifted off my feet. I Immediately teleported out of the strangers grasp, landing in a crouched position on someone's grass. I summoned a magical dagger with a wave of my hand and scanned the skies for my attacker.

I relaxed and stood back to full height, as I recognized Ace who was confusedly flying back to the ground.

She landed and raised an eyebrow. “The dagger really?”

I dissipated it quickly as I felt heat rising to my cheeks. “You startled me.”

She quickly pecked me on the check before grabbing my hand and dragging me back down the street.

I followed, if, admittedly, hesitant. “What’s got you so chipper?”

“Nothing, just had a good day. How was yours? How did the meeting go?”

I paused, if only to process her rapid speech. “Uh, umm, it went well. Boss is going to contact us when we start working.”

Her wings spread slightly as she smiled and pulled me into a hug before kissing me. “Yes! I told you Z. It would work.”

I smiled. “Yeah, you did.” I backed up from her and my face fell. “But it hasn’t worked yet we have yet to get any money from it.”

She kissed me again. “Have some optimism Z. Now come with me. We’re having dinner at my place.”

I stopped raising my eyebrow and crossing my arms. “And, when were you going to tell me this.”

“Uh, right now. It’s not like your doing anything.”

I sighed, uncrossing my arms. “I guess I’m not, but I would like a little warning.”

SHe nodded. “Of course. I’ll try to tell you in the future, but I still need your number.”

“Oh.” I laughed. “Yeah, I guess we forgot about that yesterday.”

She blushed. “I got a little distracted.” SHe grabbed my phone that I offered to her to put her number it. “It’s your fault anyways.”

I gasped with false drama. “How is it my fault?”

She poked me in the chest. “You’re just too hot.” She backed up obviously checking me out. “I mean you’re 6’5” of muscle. How could I not be distracted?”

I turned away blushing. “So, this dinner...”

She laughed. “Yeah, come on. I’ll carry you.”

I hesitated. “Can you? I mean you are shorter than me and not as strong.”

“I’m strong enough.” She defended.

“Okay.” I relented. “But, don’t blame me when you get tired.”

“God, you’re heavy.” Ace complained as we finally arrived at her house. She set me down and leaned against the wall, catching her breathe.

“I warned you.”

She glared at me. “Not helpful.”

“What you have me do? I don’t know which apartment is yours.”

She finally stood back up. “You could carry me up the stairs. I’m on the third floor.”

I sighed walking over to her. “Of course you are. How am I supposed to pick you up though? Won’t wings get in the way?”

“Stop making excuses.” She wrapped one arm around my neck. “Just carry me.”

I sighed. “Okay, but I don’t want to hurt you.”

“You won’t.” She assured me as I picked her up. She was surprisingly light. I quickly climbed up the stairs, but paused once I reached the third floor.

There were three possible direction. “Where do I go?”

“Left.”

I glanced down at her. “Okay, just tell me when we’re there.”

I started down the hallway glancing at the room numbers. 230. 231.

When we reached 272, I groaned. “What even is your room number, Ace?”

“Uh, 297.”

I stopped. “Really, Ace. Wasn’t that down the hallway to the right? Did you make me just go in a giant circle?”

She tried to hide her smile. “Maybe?”

I sighed as we finally reached her room. “Why?” I set her down so she could unlock the door.

“Because I like being carried by you.”

I rolled my eyes as she unlocked the door. “So laziness.”

She turned and quickly kissed me before taking off her shoes. “Nope, just you. I like you and I like being close to you, but you’re always so closed off.”

I shrugged as I closed the door. “Guess I’m just not used to being touchy feely.”

She straightened and kissed me again before heading to the kitchen. “Well, get used to it.”

I untied my boots slipping them off before following her into the house. “Don’t I have a choice?”

She shook her head as she began grabbing stuff from all around her kitchen. “Nope, you’re dating me.”

I leaned against her counter. “So we're dating now. You haven’t even taken me on a date.”

She stopped moving turning to face me. “Wait, but we’re soulmates and we kissed doesn’t that make us a couple.”

I shrugged, enjoying making her flustered. Besides I wanted payback from making me carry her around the building. “Nope. Pretty sure you need to ask me out.”

She walked up to me, coming really close with a smirk on her face. She kissed me suddenly, surprising me, then pulled back, victorious. “Doesn’t this count as a date?”

“Uh, Yeah, I suppose.”

She flashed a victorious smile my way before returning to her tasks. “So like I said we’re dating.”

I glared at her. How did she manage to always get her way? “Yes, I suppose we are.” I glanced at the seemingly random food she had pulled out. I walked up and peered over her shoulder as she chipped up some vegetables. “Now, what are you making your girlfriend?”

She turned at tapped my nose. “That is a surprise.” She handed me a chicken breast. “Now be a dear and cut this up will you?”

I sighed grabbing the breast and a knife. “Okay I will buy only if you take me to the movies later.”

She smiled. “It’s a date.”

14.8

“I hate you.”

“You’re a monster.”

I turned around my tail tucked protectively around my legs as I pulled my wings in tight shrinking I to myself. The faceless figures closed in around me chanting their insults.

“Beast.”

“Killer.”

”Villain.”

”Heartless.”

”Evil.”

One figure came closer and I could make out it’s face. Ace. I tried to retreat but was blocked. Ace sauntered forwards holding her staff. She poked my chest and I could sense the magic gathering in it.

“Kidnapper. Attacker.”

Overwhelming heat in my chest.

I woke with a gasp. I sat up and turned away from where Ace was sleeping next to me. I felt tears welling in my eyes and moved to wipe them away with my hand and found my cheeks already damp from tears. I struggled to hold back tears but silent tears racked me. It wasn’t the first time I’d had that nightmare or some variation of it. Sometimes it would be child Ace, but it was always Ace. I thought maybe they would stop now that I knew that Ace hadn’t betrayed me, but I was wrong.

It still hurt. The words my own brain crafted against me. Only one was a lie, but only just. She’d come close. Every word was like a dagger through the heart. All she’d ever wanted was for someone to look at her, the real her, not her human form, without fear. Like Ace used too. But that was impossible now. Everyone who watched the news, faceless figures, every time they saw me they regarded me with fear, hatred, or anger. I’d seen it hundreds of times while sitting in The Eagle. I’d heard the comments. All true.

Another fit off sobs racked me and I struggled to stay quite. I ground the heels of my hands into my forehead. Why couldn’t I handle the truth? It’d been years. I wasn’t a kid anymore. I stood from the bed heading to the bathroom. I ran the tap splashing water in my face. I needed to get it together and fall back asleep before Ace noticed. I didn’t want to have to explain to Ace why I was crying. At least the water covered my tears, although my eyes were still red. I shut the tap off leaning against the sink staring in the mirror. My dead eyes stared back at me.

I headed back to the bed to see Ace propping herself up on one arm staring at me. “What’s up Z?”

I shrugged. “Nothing.” How’d she know that I was up? I hadn’t even turned lights on, relying on my night vision from being a dragon.

She raised her eyebrows while pushing herself up into a seated position. “Really? Then why aren’t you asleep? I miss your warmth your like a living heater.”

I offered a weak smile at the joke. “Just had to go to the bathroom.”

“That’s why you were crying?”

I quickly masked my surprise, she’d been awake? “No.” I sighed. “It was just a nightmare. No big deal, now let’s go to sleep. You still have work in the morning. I don’t want to keep you up.”

She persisted. “At least tell me what it was about.”

I dropped my gaze. “Nothing, like I said. Now come on let’s just go to sleep.”

I laid down with my back to her. She grabbed my arm. “Z what aren’t you telling me?”

I shrugged her arm off. “Nothing, alright. Drop it.”

She came closer filling me into my back. “Come on Z. You can open up to me. You can trust me.”

I rolled back away from her scooting closer to the edge off the bed. “I said drop it.” My irritation was growing, and no doubt was coming through in my tone.

Still she persisted despite the signs, putting her hand back on my arm. “Come on Z. Talk to me.”

I pushed her hand away. “It was you alright. Now leave me alone.” I snapped.

I could feel her move away, before the quiet question cut through the silence. “Me?”

I didn’t feel like explaining. There’s no way she could understand. She was fucking perfect. A fucking angel. The poster child of the heroes. “I told you to drop it.”

“I’m not going to drop it. How could I be your nightmare? I’m your true love.”

“And my worst enemy.” I spat, tired of this conversation. “Drop it Ace. I don’t want to talk.”

Still she persisted. Why won’t she just drop it? “But I want to.”

I’d had enough. I got up grabbing my jacket from where I’d discarded it on a chair. “I’m going. I’ll see you later Ace.”

She stood up and grabbed my arm stopping me. “Wait why? It’s 3 am.”

I pulled away. “Because you can’t respect that I don’t want to talk. Stop expecting me to be you. I’m not affectionate and I don’t talk about my feelings.”

“But Ace, talking is good.”

I shrugged off her comment. “I’ve been managing fine for years.”

I walked out of her apartment, shutting the door behind me to end the conversation. Ugh. I wished I had my necklace. I could use with going for a flight to clear my head. Maybe once I got home. I pulled out my headphones and put them in losing myself in the music. I didn’t want to think. Not about my dream and definitely not about Ace.

Lost in my music I wasn’t paying attention and suddenly I was pulled into an alleyway roughly by a strange man. He shoved my against the wall and began trying to undo my belt. His mistake. I brought up my knee hard I to his crotch. He jumped backwards cursing in pain.

I summoned a dagger and held the purple magic blade against his throat as I reversed our positions pinning him against the wall. “I suggest you think twice before you try that again.” I cast a deliberate glance towards his crotch. “Maybe I should give you a little reminder. “ I stared straight into his eyes. “It’d be a little harder to rape someone without that don’t ya think?” I stepped back letting him go. “Just remember I know you now. And I will know if you try this shit on someone else. And I will do more than just kick you in the balls.”

He ran away terrified and I smirked to myself. Of course I had no real way off tracking him. I could have used magic but that would be draining for extended periods of time. Hopefully, the threat would be enough to discourage him. I returned to the street and continued my walk home, dissipating the dagger.

14.9 (might not include, not sure if it fits)

I was almost home when I was pulled into another ally. I reached for my magic but gasped as I was unable to. I looked down and found that I had been stabbed with a dagger by this mysterious figure.

The figure brought their face right next to mine as I groaned as pain began spreading out from my wound. “Long time no see, Z. How’s dear old mom doing these days? Oh right. She’s dead. How could I forget?”

My body stopped responding to me and I slumped against the wall held up only by my assailant. “You sick bastard.” I forced out.

He laughed. “Your family owes mine a debt Z. Your mom couldn’t pay, but you will.”

I tried to open my mouth but he clamped his hand over it. “Don’t bother arguing. You don’t have a choice. You see my family specializes in enchanting, and this dagger well it’s cut you off from your magic and a poison is slowly spreading through your body. When you next wake I will have complete control over you.” I fought against the blackness of unconsciousness, but to no avail.

When I next woke I was in my dragon form with a metal collar around my neck. I scrambled to my feet searching for that sick bastard John.

I saw him and lunged toward him, but he just shook his head tutting. “I don’t think so. Sit down.”

Suddenly I was sitting. I tried to stand.

“Nope, stay.”

I tried to get up but a crippling pain shot through my body from the collar and I couldn’t budge.

John laughed. “I wouldn’t try to resist Z. It’s useless. Now I’m going to have some fun. From what I understand, you used to have a close childhood friend, an angel I believe.” John pretended to remember something. “Ah that’s right. The Angel. Now she happens to be a hero and your a villain. Go attract her attention. Let’s start by destroying the X Corp building.”

My body moved on its own flying out of the warehouse I was in and towards the X Corp building. Even though John was still standing behind me, I could still hear his voice in my head.

Smash through the building. Right in the middle.

I dove down crashing through the building, a spell prevented my own injury but the rest of the building came crashing down. I didn’t even want to think about how many people were inside.

Set it on fire.

No. No. No. No. my body didn’t listen to my desperate pleas, and soon I had bathed the entire building in my flame. I could see heroes approaching.

Take them all out but save the Angel for last.

I turned towards the hero and sent a wave of flame towards them. The Angel and Magicians deflected, but the shifters were knocked out of the sky. I dove after them and latched my jaws around one of them. I felt myself release venom into the body and I cringed at least he wouldn’t die. The other shifter had hit the ground though and I didn’t know if he would be so lucky.

Ace hadn’t been pelting me with fire. Ugh. She probably thinks I betrayed her. That I lied. That I made everything up. No, I couldn’t ruin this. I tried to turn away as I dove for the other two magicians but the pain came back. My body barely faltered and soon the magicians were also in questionable states of near death. Only Ace was left.

Kill her.

Ace was finally fighting back sending dragonfire at me. I didn’t dodge simply healing the injury instead. She hesitated and flew away as she charged another blast. I continued barrelling towards her at full speed, spewing flame. She tried to dodge, but I hit one of her wings. She crashed into a building and I landed in front of her. She scrambled back from me and found herself at the ledge. I slowly stalked forward, flame building in my mouth.

I tried to fight it I tried to break John’s control. Ace couldn’t die. I couldn't kill her. I ignored the pain and managed to stop myself although I couldn’t turn away.

Kill her.

My right leg moved forward. The pain was almost overwhelming. I could barely think through the blinding pain. Like burning fire and shooting pains and stinging needles and a ache all over. Every pain ever seemed to be happening right now. Despite my struggles my left leg moved forward. The pain caused my vision to blur and suddenly fire. It cleared and I saw nothing. I looked around rapidly trying to locate Ace. She was being carried away by Ocean. The rest of the SBV was running towards me, attacking me.

Kill them all.

My body sprung into action as my mental power faded. I struggled to regain any control but failed. They outnumbered me and they knew all my weaknesses. Steph climbed onto my back where I couldn’t reach them. She sank her daggers into the soft spot where my neck met my body. I roared in pain. T circled back and landed on my wing as an elephant crushing it. I was grounded now.

I was glad they were winning. I needed to be stopped. My body didn’t agree though and fought against them. I knocked muffin off the roof with my tail. Boss landed on my back dropped by Ocean who had returned. I spun trying to shake him and Steph off. Suddenly, I stopped. The collar fell to the roof with a metal clank. Boss had cut it off with his enchanted swords. I stopped moving, stopped fighting, stopped struggling.

Boss swung off my back to stand in front of me. “Z?”

I nodded.

Steph appeared beside him, taking off her cloak she held it out. “Shift. Use this to cover yourself.”

I obeyed and wrapped her cloak around me ignoring the blood dripping down my back and my broken arm.

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.” Tears began falling down my face as I stared at the ground unable to look at my friends if they were even that anymore.

“Get her out of here.” Boss commanded. “We’ll figure this out later. For now we need to disappear before more heroes show up.”

Ocean grabbed me and carried me back to her house. The rest of the SBV following. I tried to resist the beckoning emptiness of unconsciousness, where I could escape my pain and guilt. I felt my eyes drift shut. It would be so easy to just give in. To not have to deal with the blood soaking me, the shearing pain in my arm and back, the splitting headache.

“Stay with us Z you still have some explaining to do.” Ocean urged.

I blearily opened my eyes. “I’m sorry.” I muttered before I gave in the the blackness.

#good villain #this ones longer #supervillain #superheroes #dragon #elementals #various other people with powers #writing #not edited

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enigmaticjblake · 5 years ago

Text

We have failed humanity

If you are reading this, chances of you being an intelligent and a self-aware human being just escalated.

Although I would admit that a bleak possibility of a hyper advanced alien race capable of travelling across time and space has discovered us already and has deciphered all possible forms of human communication only to come to the conclusion that we are among the most stupid races of all and are just not ready to join the ranks of the universal union. I guess that explains why aliens do not want to talk to us. We aren’t ready for an introduction yet.

We humans, on countless number of occasions we have exhibited our immaturity, selfishness and ruthlessness towards humanity.

We have educated ourselves to the tooth, invented newer technologies but we have lost the vision of protecting our planet. We have abused our oceans, our forests and our resources. Our planet is 4.543 billion years and humans are approximately 300-200,000 years old. If you mathematically condense the age of the planet earth into 24 hours, we humans have inhabited it only for a mere 3 seconds and look at what we have achieved.

Countless number of wars have ravaged our civilization over the years, ever since mankind emerged but there are two wars in particular that have changed the world forever. World War 1 and World War 2.

While WW1 lasted for approximately 4 years and lasted between Jul 1914 to Nov 1918 , it lead to the mobilization of more than 70 million troops and stands among the darkest phases in human history. Ironically it was supposed to be a war to end all wars, as the perpetrators claimed.

More than 15 million human lives were lost in the war.

It is shameful because there was another World War.

WW2 took place on a global scale and lasted between 1939 to 1945, that’s approximately 6 years of endless mindless destruction of humanity as a whole. As much as 30 nations participated in the war, which eventually turned into a battle of 2 factions; the Allies and the Axis. The major players in the war disposed off their entire economic, industrial and scientific capabilities to fuel the war and as a result, there were 90 million deaths all across the planet.

While that wasn’t enough, the world witnessed an unimaginable horror, imagine the world’s most excellent minds capable of thinking outside the box working with the express purpose of creating something that can wipe off humanity.

The atomic bomb was made in order to put an end to the war but it was more of showing the world who is the big daddy.

Hiroshima and Nagasaki saw something no one in this world should see. When the bombs dropped, the whole world changed that day. Both cities were burnt to crisp and the whole region was plunged into radiation. The effects of the same are evident till this day.

It was a demonstration to the prowess of the super power as we know it.

To be honest, not much has changed ever since.

As humans we were supposed to be on but we have divided ourselves.

Our egos have become so fragile that we jump into conflict too fast. Apes did that, pre historic man was no different and intelligent homo sapiens are also no exception.

If you are well aware of your surroundings, chances are you must have heard or read about World Wars. If you have not, you are probably too young or never got the chance to educate yourself.

On the third day of a fresh new decade humanity woke up to memes of World War 3.

There was this sudden discomfort, confusion and realization that we have damaged ourselves beyond repair now.

Whatever the reasons maybe, I see two ignorant world leaders trying to justify their fragile ego and are ready to take down the world along with them.

The possibility of the world engulfing into a third world war has never been so real, let us dive into the consequences humanity will have to face if a third world war erupts because the chances of it have never been this real.

1. There will be black rainfall

Soon as the bombs drop, the skies will go dark and there will be black rain. The rain wont clear the sky and the drops won’t be water. These will be oily drops which will possess harm if come in direct contact with any life form.

In Hiroshima, the black rain started 20 minutes after the impact, the rain covered a rough area of about 20 miles. The whole region was drenched with this black gooey substance which was highly radioactive.

The skies were burning and oxygen levels were dropping, people were struggling through the flames and dying of thirst. Out of desperation most started consuming the mysterious black liquid only to later succumb to a radioactive demise.

The substance was so radioactive, it altered the blood of the people it came in contact with, there is no doubt that if we witness such weapons of mass destruction, we will definitely see this black rain.

2. An electromagnetic shock wave will disrupt electricity causing a massive black out.

Any nuclear explosion will be followed by an electromagnetic shockwave that can potentially fry electric grids and circuits on a nationwide scale. Nuclear tests in the past were capable of doing so on a 1000 miles radius and this was discovered by accident. Ever since, or so called scientific minds have designed nuclear bombs in a way they emit these shockwaves. So not only it will turn off your Xbox or Playstation, the data on your computer will be erased, the food in your refrigerator will become inconsumable and water treatment facilities in the area will shut down eventually granted access to contaminated water.

For a long time, we will be living without electricity and contaminated water.

3. The skies will become so dark, the sun will black out.

Wherever the bombs fall, there will be an unfathomable amount of energy in that area will consume the surrounding area and will create a dense mushroom cloud almost 15 kms above ground level. This mushroom cloud will spread out into the sky which will cover up the entirety of the sky leading to a long lasting darkness. Survivors of this event will only see a black sky for almost a period of 30 years. Only after 30 years there will be chances of seeing the blue sky and a clear sun.

4. The planet will become too cold for food cultivation.

Dropping temperatures will be a direct consequence of blocking of sunlight by the dark clouds. The dark skies cause a nuclear winter on the planet, there won’t be any summer. It is possible for the animals to starve to death and all the flora, fauna and vegetation that exists at that point will wither away and die.

It will take approximately 25 years for the planet to recover from this climate change.

5. The Ozone layer will be damaged badly.

As we all know, pollution and carbon emissions are slowly damaging the ozone layer, in case of a nuclear holocaust the ozone layer is estimated to take a damage of 50%, this will allow the suns radiation to enter our atmosphere and will be lethal for all kinds of life forms. Life will just not be the same again.

Surviving life forms will go through extensive mutations, crops will become smaller and weaker and will even stop reproducing, humans will suffer from skin cancer and will die a painful death.

6.Billions will die of starvation.

It is estimated that even with continual efforts of harvesting any kind of crops or even if we adopt modern scientific farming techniques, it will take at least 5 years for us to get the first post war yield.

Low temperatures, high amounts of radiation in the soil and water will make it immensely difficult to harvest any kind of crops.

We just won’t be able to feed everyone. Those who will learn to survive will somehow manage to find food and people living beside coastal regions might find it a little easier but again, as there will be a black sky, most of the plankton in the sea will wither away which will kill our oceans. Anything fished out of the oceans for consumption will be dangerous; the first five years will be harsh and challenging and most of us won’t be able to survive.

7. Packed foods will be safe for consumption.

Sealed food is what will keep us alive for the first five years, bottled and canned food come with preservatives, granting them longer shelf life and it has been proven through experimentation that they can protect the contents from radiation. Stuff found on ground zero will contain smaller tracer of radiation but will still be consumable, just don’t expect them to taste good. The challenge will be to stock them as everyone will scavenge the wastelands for them. Just like how we see in most post apocalyptic sci-fi tales.

8. Radioactive bones.

Surviving humans will suffer from cancer, as earth will be bathed in radiation in the initial days of fallout. Strontium-90 is one chemical that tricks our body into believing its calcium and easily accepts it. The body sends this chemical directly into our bone marrow and teeth and thus leads the victim into bone cancer.

The only way to survive is finding out a solid enclosure and stay put till a few weeks have gone, two weeks is the safe period for radiation to reduce a 1000 folds. Birth defects, genetic mutation and deaths will be common. Same were observed in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

9. There will be massive storms all around the globe

The first month will witness a crazy pattern in the weather, the nuclear debris wont just block out the sun, it will enter the stratosphere and there will be massive storms, heavy destructive rainfall, blizzards of radioactive snow and cold darkness. It will be a push back into the dark ages where the cave man used to struggle for basic necessities of life.

Things beside water bodies will be worse as temperatures will plummet into a dark nuclear winter.

10. Power vacuum

There will come a time when people will emerge from their shelters, bunkers and eventually try to re-establish civilization. This is will a very dangerous phase, imagine a shift of power into the wrong hands, imagine the world going back into a much darker age. All the efforts humanity took to establish social, economical and ethical systems will have to be redone. Again there can be misuse of power.

11. People will survive.

It is not secret that billions of people will die the moment a bomb goes off, billions more will die a slow and a painful death, be it starvation, freezing in the cold or radioactive poisoning. There are just too many ways to get consumed by the harshness of the post apocalyptic world while handful of us will make it. The handful of us will adapt, be stronger than ever, have the will to survive against all odds.

Those who survive the first 30 years of this apocalypse will be the one to see a new earth. An earth where plants will start growing back, the skies will be clear and the sun will shine like it used to.

The new world will look something like Chernobyl where nature has reclaimed everything.

Life will go on and people will start rebuilding everything and I hope that they do their best to learn from the mistakes their past foolish and selfish leaders have made.

Hopefully they will evolve into a much mature race and finally have the aliens talk to them some day.

#nuclearwar #fallout #notowar #worldwar3 #humanity

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takaraphoenix · 6 years ago

Note

Ooh shiny new ask game..... If they haven't been asked yet F, K, X and Y? Thanks! 💜

They haven’t! Thanks for asking! ^-^

F: Share a snippet from one of your favoritedialogue scenes you’ve written and explain why you’re proud of it.

Oooof. I am so bad at remembering things I wrote. xD

Though one story where the dialogue stuck with me is “The Dragon’s Treasure“. I just, personally, found myself surprisingly funny in that one. Most of my humor is “Literally only I will find this funny lol”, but in this case, I was really pleased with it.

"What... in the world. You took the wrong person, dumb dragon. I'm a prince, not a princess."

"Not every dragon likes pretty princesses, some of us do prefer a pretty prince", replied a dark, rumbling voice, echoing through the cave. "And it is not polite to call others 'dumb'."

It took a moment for Percy to place the voice and even then he had a hard time wrapping his head around it. He very slowly turned his head to face the dragon whose black eyes bore into Percy's very soul. The young prince gulped hard, causing the dragon to look nearly amused.

"You... can... t—talk...", stammered Percy, feeling like the ground beneath his feet was crumbling, only that there was no ground because he was still being held by the dragon. "I've gone mad."

"Debatable", hummed the dragon, very clearly amused now. "But yes, of course I can talk. All dragons can talk, we just choose not to because most humans are not good conversationalists."

"So... why are you talking to me? And why did you abduct me?", asked Percy skeptically.

The dragon seemed to frown as he tilted his head – the voice was very clearly male. "If I put you down now, will you be a good, little human and not run away? If you try to run, I will be forced to punish you and I did have other plans for today, little one."

"First of all, I'm not little!", sputtered Percy with a fierce glare.

"Of course, fragile creature that fits into the palm of my hand", drawled the dragon out sarcastically.

Percy's glare darkened even more, though he also looked a bit embarrassed. "Whatever. Yes, yes I won't run away. I just want to know what the hell is going on here."

The dragon cautiously put Percy down before patting his head with a single claw. "There, there. Good, little human. Now, just sit there and wait for a moment. Don't scream, it's annoying."

Percy wanted to ask why, but then it already happened. The magnificent dragon shrank down to... a human-like version of himself. His skin was darker than that of Percy or his country's people, an olive-color, there were patches of scales on his arms and torso. Black curls and silver horns on his head, eyes still as dark and intense as they had been before, with a predator-like look on his face. Percy shuddered under that intense gaze. Around his hips was a piece of leather wrapped that looked pretty much like the dragon's skin had; black, beautiful and adored with sapphire-shards. Thanks to the cloth only around his loins, the human-looking dragon was showing off his very nice physique. Percy felt his face heat up as he stared at the gorgeous creature in front of him. The most stunning parts however were behind the young man – large, black leather wings (though of course smaller than the ones from his dragon-form; proportionally shrunken down) and a black tail whipping behind his body. Percy had never seen anything like this creature before.

"W—What are you?", stammered Percy, clearly frightened by the new things.

"I'm a dragon. I had hoped you would be up to speed on that", sighed the creature disappointed. "My name is Níehkkón tou Chaédez, but you can call me Nico, it is most likely easier to pronounce for your human tongue. I am a dragon. And yes, all dragons can talk and all dragons have a humanoid form. Though we only talk to those we deem worthy. And our humanoid form is normally reserved for our mates. I do have the urge to smack you upside the head however and if I'd do that in dragon-form you will most likely never recover from it."

"Why do you—ouch!" Percy interrupted himself as he was smacked upside the head by a tail.

K: What’s the angstiest idea you’ve ever come upwith?

That’d be Hanging on by Thread. It would have been part of my Chasingverse. And it’d have been a more elaborate look into when Percy lost the baby. I had only hinted at it in the story prior to when he loses it and then talked about the loss during Chasing Fireflies itself, but for a time there I wanted to make a separate story for it.

The whole deal of it was that, during the Giant War, Nico would have gone to the Fates and made a deal with them to protect Percy at all costs, because the thought of losing Percy was too terrifying.

“A life for a life”, was what the Fates declared. “A debt to be paid in days to come.”

And Nico, being young and not knowing what it would entail, agrees.

2020 rolls around, Nico actually managed to get together with Percy, they’re happily married and expecting their fifth child. And then there are complications. While Percy is in the hospital, fighting for his life and the baby’s life, Nico goes to the underworld, trying the only thing he can do.

But he can’t. Because he made the deal. A life for a life. And now he has to make the choice. Uphold the deal and give the life he hasn’t met yet, or undo the deal and instead lose the love of his life and rob their four children of Percy, rob Sally and Paul and Tyson and everyone else of Percy.

So he makes a hard choice that he never told Percy about.

Yeeeah, that was the idea. But then I chickened out of it because I love happy endings and this would literally just reduced me to tears just writing it. Percy losing the baby, blaming himself, slipping into depression, Nico carrying the burden of knowing what had really happened and also blaming himself and just overall angsty sadness. That idea got canceled.

X: A character you enjoy making suffer.

Jace Herondale! He is a precious boy who is so good to hurt! *^* Physically and emotionally! ^o^ It’s just so much fun, because Dom plays him so beautifully and I know how wonderful he looks when he suffers?

Y: A character you want to protect.

On the risk of sounding like a hypocrite: Jace Herondale. As much as I love making Jace suffer, the show has gone way too far at this point, like seriously even my sadist writer self thinks “Slow down some guys, killing dozens of innocent mundies and murdering Clary in his dreams over and over again and then blaming himself for Clary’s supposed real death really seems enough, did you have to make him murder his only livnig relative??”...

Fanfic Ask Game

#Jace Herondale #Fic: The Dragon's Treasure #Fic: Chasingverse #Nicercy #PJOverse #Fanfic Ask Game #send me asks #mysticalnights2

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thetourguidebarbie · 6 years ago

Note

MORE DRAGON MATES PLEASE

So this is a sequel to this minidrabble, but it has the minidrabble in the beginning for context. Also for @arrenemris who asked for a full drabble to this foreverr ago. I’m sorry it’s so long. The smut ranges towards the possessive end of the scale, but I wouldn’t call it BDSM.

I hope you feel better Luiza

Klaus’s eyes flew open abruptly, interrupting a very vivid dream involving a blonde staring up at him with bright blue eyes and her lips wrapped around his cock. He’d never seen her before, but she’d started popping up in his dreams not too long ago, some more sexual than others… It was odd, but he figured that he must have seen a picture of her somewhere and subconsciously remembered her face.

Sighing, he got out of bed, slightly irritated that he’d been pulled out of what had seemed like one of the best dreams yet, and tried to figure out what woke him. He was answered by a quiet rustling down the hallway, his enhanced hearing picking up a soft feminine voice spitting out a variety of colorful expletives.

He opened the door to approach the room, his footsteps predatory and silent, his teeth gritting when he realized that whoever the girl was, she was in his third treasure room, which was devoted to his most precious possessions (as opposed to the first, second and fourth, which were gold, silver, and gems and jewelry, respectively). He felt his fingernails lengthen into claws, his teeth beginning to sharpen as he approached, and he let out a soft growl as he opened the door with his shoulder, only to see…the blonde from his dreams?

She was barefoot, dressed in only a thin slip, her hair rumpled as though she’d just woken from sleep. She was as beautiful as she was in his dreams, perhaps moreso, but even as he looked at her face he couldn’t place her. She also didn’t appear to be holding anything, though she crossed her arms over her chest when she noticed his eyes linger on her breasts, her pebbled nipples showing through the silk.

“Um, eyes up here please.”

“Why are you in my treasure room?” he growled, ignoring her pointed reprimand, though he couldn’t help but notice her eyes roam appreciatively over his naked chest, lingering on the tattoo inked on his neck before she seemed to jerk back to reality.

“Um, excuse me? What am I doing in your treasure room? How the hell am I supposed to know? I just woke up and was here,” she said, waving her arms around to indicate the piles of his most precious valuables.

“A likely story,” he murmured, carefully stepping over a pile of swords encrusted with diamonds to approach her. He gave into a sudden urge to touch her skin, wondering if it was as soft as it looked, and he ran a fingertip down her cheek, frowning when she flinched away.

“It’s true! Why else would I be here?”

He gestured pointedly to the piles of treasures surrounding them and she huffed, crossing her arms over her chest again, her tongue darting over her lips before she spoke again. “Well, I’m not here to steal your gold or whatever, if that’s what you’re thinking. Do you seriously think that if I was going to go invade a dragon tower I’d wear my nightgown? And no shoes?”

“And yet, here you are,” he bit out, taking a step towards her, and she stepped back at the same time. He felt an odd twist in his chest as she moved, a spark of fear clear in her eyes, and he suddenly felt…ashamed? He didn’t want her to be afraid.

How odd.

“Seriously! What’s your problem?”

He ruthlessly pushed away the shame, the curiosity, trying to keep his tone harsh when he answered. “My problem, sweetheart, is that you’ve entered a space devoted to my most precious possessions without my consent.”

He watched with interest as she planted her hands on her hips, her eyes fiery. She really was beautiful, her slip clinging to her in all the right places, cherry-painted toes curled against the smooth stone floor. “I ended up here without my consent too, buddy. Remember?”

He somehow couldn’t help but feel a bit territorial, a bit possessive, and all he wanted to do was press her against the nearest wall and claim her–

Shit.

“You belong to me. You’re my most precious possession,” he breathed, his eyes widening in realization.

He only realized that he’d said it out loud at her snarl of indignation.

“Excuse me? Your what? Um, this is the 21st century. I have rights. You can’t just like, kidnap me and tell me I belong to you. How old are you?”

“I’m roughly three thousand years old. I stopped counting quite a long time ago. And you, sweetheart…you’re my mate.”

“I’m your what now?”

“Mate. Soulmate, if you’d prefer.”

“I don’t prefer, actually,” she shot back, her arms crossed over her chest. “That’s insane.”

He resisted the urge to argue, to tell her how he knew. He wanted nothing more than to give her a detailed picture of the way she’d writhed for him in his dreams, and he suspected in hers. It was likely from her accent that she was from what was now called North America, and the only reason she hadn’t been transported before was because they’d never slept at the same time, only seeing each other in dreams but never sharing them. Even so, she was doing an excellent job of pretending that she didn’t know who he was, but he wasn’t sure that would hold up if he took the time to point out that he could smell the remnants of her arousal from him still lingering in the air, that she smelled delicious.

Unfortunately, he could already tell that she’d push back even more, and he couldn’t have that.

As if she’d read his thoughts, she tore her eyes away from him and he found himself immediately missing the fire in them. He drank in every movement of her body as her gaze roamed around the room to take in her surroundings as though trying to buy time. He was content to sit and watch, to wait. She seemed like the type who had a need to break silences.

He was proven right when she took a deep breath and turned back to him. “Well?” she asked, her tone slightly aggressive.

“Well what, sweetheart?”

“Aren’t you going to like, walk me to the door, or something? Obviously neither of us want me here, so…” she trailed off expectantly, her eyebrows raised.

He debated correcting her, telling her that now that he knew who she was—what she was—he didn’t have any inclination to let her leave. She already seemed skittish, however, and he’d met enough women over his three thousand years to know that young ladies tended to only be flattered by the urge to hoard them in theory. No, he’d have to be subtle. “It’s quite late,” he pointed out, nodding in the general direction of the window, which showed an abyss of inky black sky and a smattering of stars, the tower so high that even the hills’ peaks seemed small.

“I know.”

“And cold.��

“I know,” she repeated irritably, shivering slightly as though the reminder had made her more aware of the chilly temperature. He didn’t make a habit of keeping the fires lit anywhere but the human servants’ quarters, though in the cold months he allowed them to tend to them around the castle for their own comfort, if only to save him the time of finding new ones should they die of hypothermia.

“Perhaps you should wait until morning,” he said, trying to be diplomatic, sensing that she might take pointing out that she might freeze to death as a challenge.

Humans were ever so fragile, after all, a fact he was reminded of when he noticed the girl shift uncomfortably again.

“I’m fine, thanks,” she said with a toss of her hair. “Full offense, but you seriously expect me to have a sleepover with a three thousand year old dragon when he thinks I’m his soulmate? You guys aren’t exactly known for letting people go when you trap them in towers. Thanks, but no thanks.”

He bit back his natural retort that he’d simply been minding his own business, hadn’t asked to be permanently tied to a human girl who couldn’t be more than two decades old. His immediate instinct was to move her somewhere warm, to keep her safe, and her immediate rejection of his good intentions stung. It was uncomfortable to have such an instant attachment, even worse that she seemed to not reciprocate in the least. He couldn’t deny that it hurt slightly, no matter how ridiculous that was. He wasn’t used to caring for anyone.

It was natural to be protective of one’s mate, and he fully intended to keep her, but he had to be careful. Dragons weren’t the only creatures to be cursed with them (or blessed, depending on your perspective), and he’d known many monsters who’d grown soft after their dreams became reality. He could not become such a monster. He was proudly as cold-blooded emotionally as he was physically, and the girl didn’t seem all that inclined to make the foreign rush of emotion any easier on him.

“I have only innocent intentions, I assure you,” he bit out.

“That’s not a trap denial,” she pointed out, and he narrowed his eyes at her flushed cheeks and paling fingers, could hear the change in her heartbeat, her tongue darting over her lips.

“I insist you at least warm up while I arrange transportation, then,” he said, standing aside and gesturing for her to exit the room.

“You have a phone, right? I can just like, call an uber or a taxi or something. Those have heat,” she said impatiently, breezing past him into the hallway and falling into step beside him, composed and haughty in just her thin slip and bare feet as though it was the most natural thing in the world. He was almost impressed.

“Cabs can’t make it out this far, I’m afraid.”

She snorted. “You’d be surprised at places I’ve hailed cabs.”

He doubted it but hummed noncommittally, coming to a stop at the double doors at the end of the hall that led to what should have been a staircase and opening them to reveal the smooth stone walls of a shaft that led to the top floor of the castle proper. “In order to ensure that the human servants can’t access my treasures I make this tower accessible only by flight.”

He glanced at her, unsurprised to see that she looked a bit rattled. “So how do I get down?”

“Well, you can either jump the equivalent of ten stories and hope you survive, or…” he trailed off, letting his wings erupt from his spine and stretch out, fighting down a smug smirk at the look of wonder on her face.

He remained quiet, trying not to preen as she inspected him with wide, curious eyes. She hesitantly reached out to touch a wing, apparently having forgotten that she hated him in favor of feeling out what he felt like under her hands.

He didn’t mind. The confirmation of her interest, however small and potentially reluctant, was gratifying. He’d been lost in her touch too much though, and the light brush of her delicate fingers against the sensitive scales wrapped around bones made an involuntary rumble sound low in his throat. She was brought back to reality immediately, her hand jerking back. “Did you just purr?”

“No. Dragons aren’t the least bit feline,” he said firmly, immediately realizing it had been the wrong thing to say when a slow smirk stretched across her face. It was jarring that he didn’t even know her name but she could read him easily, and he was uncomfortable enough that he felt he had to break the moment.

Without waiting for her response, he pulled her close in his arms and jumped, wincing as she screamed in his ear. He beat his wings lightly just before they landed to make sure it was gentle enough that it wouldn’t hurt her.

“Seriously? You couldn’t warn me?” she screeched as soon as they touched down, squirming out of his arms.

“My apologies, sweetheart. I thought you wanted to go home as soon as possible,” he said, his quirked eyebrow a challenge for her to argue. She looked tempted but seemed to decide that her priority was to leave instead, huffing and turning on her heel to stomp off to the staircase on the other end of the hallway. He took a moment to admire her form as she walked away. He’d seen her in his dreams many a time, of course, had felt her long legs wrapped around his waist, gripped her pretty arse in his hands as he took her from behind, but seeing her curves framed by thin silk and lace in person was much better.

“I still think you’re playing dumb about the whole me appearing here thing, so just to cover my bases, I don’t like kidnapping. It’s rude,” she said once he caught up with her, breaking the silence.

“I assure you I did not do anything of the sort. You simply appeared,” he said lightly, ignoring her disbelieving glance and huff of annoyance.

He had no doubt that she wouldn’t make it easy to win her over, especially since she seemed like the stubborn type. It wasn’t a rare trait by any means, and one he was unsurprised to find in his mate, but it certainly made convincing her to stay more difficult.

And infinitely more entertaining.

He noticed her looking at him out of the corner of her eye as he led her down the staircase, his hand pressed to the small of her back, and he couldn’t help but watch her face as he opened the heavy front door to expose the seemingly endless hills, the light dusting of snow on the ground barely visible in the darkness.

“Where am I, exactly?” she asked slowly.

“My castle in what’s currently called Switzerland. I have eighteen, but this is the one with my most…valuable treasures.”

“Holy shit,” she breathed, her eyes widening. “Seriously?”

“Indeed. Do you still want me to call you a cab?” he asked dryly.

It seemed to shake her out of her trance. “Umm…”

“Are you sure you wouldn’t prefer to stay until morning?” he suggested smoothly, resisting the urge to slide his arm fully around her waist lest she believe he was propositioning her, closing the door and pulling back to face her instead. It was too soon to be so forward, considering the first impression he’d made. Best to pique her interest and leave her conflicted and wanting more. “I have comfortable quarters for guests. In the morning I’d be happy to arrange transportation for you to return to…” he trailed off expectantly.

“New Orleans,” she said reluctantly.

“Ah. I see,” he said, having expected her to be that far away, already trying to decide whether being exhausted from such a long flight would be worth her clinging to him for hours, her body warm against his scales. Probably. He’d have to lend her some clothes, of course. The skies were cold, especially for humans, but he did enjoy the idea of her wrapped in his scent. From the way she was eyeing him however, he had a feeling his offer would be vetoed instantly.

“I’m Caroline, by the way,” she said, breaking through his inner thoughts.

“Caroline,” he said slowly, testing the name on his tongue.

“Yeah. That’s it. What’s yours?”

“Klaus.”

He raised his eyebrows as a bright red flush crept up her cheeks, her eyes widening. “Oh,” she squeaked.

“All right, love?” he asked, raising an eyebrow, and he didn’t miss the flash of lust in her eyes, the way she stiffened. Was it possible that she hadn’t figured out who he was until this moment?

“Yep,” she said quickly, swallowing. “Totally fine. I’m tired. Where’s the guest room?”

“Right this way, love.”

Caroline stared at her ceiling, trying to fight down the mortification that still lingered two weeks after Klaus had dropped her off at the airport, cursing herself for what felt like the millionth time for being such an easy blusher. He luckily hadn’t commented on her clear surprise-slash-hope that the floor would swallow her at hearing his name, but she knew he’d noticed. She wasn’t good at keeping secrets anyway, and this one wasn’t exactly something she wanted to fess up to. Hopefully her weird teleportation was a one-time thing and she’d never have to see him again.

Other than in her dreams, that is.

Before being teleported across the planet during her first self-indulgent afternoon nap in months, she had figured that her imagination was bored with fantasies about frat boys with fumbly fingers and too much confidence and therefore conjured up a sexier fantasy man. She’d been having those dreams about the mystery lover for months now. They were usually explicit, the faceless stranger whispering the filthiest things in her ear and touching her until she was shaking. Occasionally they were simpler, more along the lines of snuggling against a warm, angled chest, stubble brushing against her skin as he pressed his lips to her shoulder. No matter what they were, she always woke up wanting more.

He had an accent and long artist fingers, strong arms that wrapped perfectly around her holding her close. She’d occasionally seen the flash of blue eyes, had felt the brush of stubble against her neck so viscerally that it almost felt real, but she’d never gotten a good look at his face.

It had been even weirder when she’d moaned his name for the first time, but she’d attributed it to a romance novel she’d read where the hero was named Klaus. Just a subconscious thing. Nothing magical about it.

But now…

She’d thought the dragon’s voice sounded familiar when he first spoke, but had been too thrown off by his bad attitude to think about it too much, too busy being irritated with his arrogance. The rude interruption of a really nice dream that edged on the filthier side hadn’t exactly helped her mood. Once he’d said his name though, everything had clicked into place at the worst possible time.

The realization that the man she was looking in the eye was the same one that she’d been dreaming about just an hour before was bad, but the fact that said dream had been a decidedly NC-17 rated roleplay that involved being forbidden to come around a toy in her pussy while she had his cock in her mouth made it infinitely worse.

He’d given her a smile that was all teeth when he’d escorted her to the private jet to send her back and had told her she was welcome anytime. His tone had been infuriatingly teasing, and she’d glared at him as she marched up the steps, wrapped in a sweater that smelled like him that was bulky enough to hide her lack of bra and jeans in her size that he’d somehow produced by the time she woke in the morning.

Once she was back her dreams had continued. They were even more vivid now that she knew his face. She was mad at herself for having them, even more furious that she looked forward to having them. She’d eventually went to a party to hook up with a random guy and then had to cover up her automatic moan of ‘Klaus’ with a light cough, burying her face in the guy’s shoulder and finding herself already missing the oddly enticing scent of charcoal that had lingered on her skin for days after she’d returned.

Her quick one-nighter with not-Klaus had ultimately been unsatisfying despite him actually managing to make her come. After that, she’d stayed up as long as she could, reluctant to go back to sleep and face that she loved the way Klaus spoke to her in her dreams, but she was only human and she couldn’t study for her first ever college midterms half-dead.

After a few nights where there had been no teleportation, she figured it was a one-time thing. Now that her midterms were over, she deserved an afternoon nap, she decided. She pulled on Klaus’s sweater, which she’d taken to sleeping in despite her better judgment (he’d never know, after all, plus her dorm heater was broken and it was freezing) and kicked off her jeans, falling back on her bed and pulling the covers tightly around her.

She was so tired…and she felt herself drift off as soon as she got comfortable…

“You’re so beautiful like this, love. Bent over for me with your pretty arse in the air….all mine for the taking.”

Caroline moaned softly as long fingers brushed against her wet center, shifting against his fingertips to try to find friction. She was pulling at the ropes that bound her wrists to the sturdy headboard, her cheek pressed against a soft pillow as Klaus stroked her pussy just shy of her clit.

“Please,” she breathed, arching her back in invitation, and he chuckled, the low rumble making her shiver.

“Patience, love. Good girls get rewards,” he said, and she felt the shift in the mattress as he moved forward to press a kiss to her shoulderblade, his hard cock pressing against the back of her thigh. “Beg as much as you like, of course, I do enjoy the way you moan my name, but I want your hips still with your legs spread for me. Wide.”

“Okay.”

It was hard not to grind back against his fingers, her entire body quivering with anticipation as he stroked her entrance, his touches infuriatingly and frustratingly gentle. He knew how to build her up, and he was doing it in the most torturous way possible. She gasped out his name as he brushed against her clit, curling her toes and trying to focus on not grinding back against him despite his distracting murmurs of praise about how well she was doing.

He hadn’t specified what the rewards would be, but even back when his identity had been a mystery, he’d always made her exercises in restraint worth it.

She tried to remember this as she felt stubble against her thigh. “Oh my god,” she breathed, clenching her eyes shut as his tongue traced her opening, the scrape of teeth against skin nearly making her come just from the contrast of sensation. He seemed to notice, pressing soft kisses against the scrape and avoiding the area she was most sensitive.

“Klaus, please…”

“Please what, sweetheart?”

“Touch me. Make me come.”

“I will,” he promised with another open-mouthed kiss close enough to her pussy that she had to concentrate hard on not squirming to get his touch where she wanted it. “But not yet. I enjoy exploring your body, my mate. I love your taste and the feel of your skin beneath my fingers. Indulge me. Be good for me and I’ll make it worth your patience.”

“I know,” she breathed. “But I want…” she took a sharp breath as Klaus interrupted her with his fingers sliding into her, hooking against her walls just the way she liked it. Every part of her wanted to grind against him, but she was careful not to, her breathing growing ragged as he found her g-spot. “Oh my god.”

“That’s it, sweetheart. Keep still like I told you. You’re doing so well.”

She moaned as he pulled his fingers out, whining out his name at the loss of sensation, and bit her lip hard enough to draw blood when he laughed quietly, a sound that promised all sorts of sinful things if she just held on.

She felt his chest warm against her back as he moved forward, lifting her head off the pillow when she saw his fingers hovering in front of her. “Suck,” he ordered, his fingertips brushing against her mouth, leaving her arousal clinging to her lips.

She opened her mouth to take him in, humming softly at the taste of herself, tipping her head to the side as an invitation when he started nipping at her neck. The headboard creaked as she pulled on her restraints, instinctively needing to reach back and keep his lips on her skin, and he pulled away immediately, sliding his fingers out of her mouth as well and settling behind her again.

“Klaus, please,” she breathed, looking over her shoulder at him. Her breath caught at way his eyes flashed gold and the glint of fang when he smiled.

“Tell me what you want.”

“I want your cock in me. Please,” she confessed, the words falling off her tongue with an unintended note of desperation that made her flush. He didn’t seem bothered by her need for him, his lips pulling wide over his teeth, and she could see his cock, hard and leaking precum.

“Arch your back, face down,” he ordered, his tone smooth and low, and she obeyed, heady anticipation flooding through every inch of her.

She felt his fingers tangle in her hair and tug lightly as his cock pressed hard and hot against her thigh, his body heat and scent cloaking her as his body pressed against hers.

“Sweetheart.”

Caroline moaned softly at the touch of a calloused palm to her bare shoulder, opening her eyes blearily to see Klaus staring down at her. Whenever they wandered off the path of their push and pull into something new or particularly intense, dream-aftercare tended to follow. He was always tender, light brushes of fingers against her skin and whispered praises making her heartbeat slow and her breathing even. She almost loved those little moments more than the sex, his body wrapped around hers always comforting and making her feel safe. The dream had never skipped forward like this, though. She hadn’t even come. Still, his fingers running through her hair felt nice.

“Klaus…That feels good. Keep doing it,” she breathed, her eyes fluttering, and she saw his lips quirk into an amused smile.

“As much as I’d like to, and I would very much like to, I think you’d attempt to throttle me the moment you realized you weren’t dreaming.”

Her eyes went wide, and she sat up so quickly she heard something crack, becoming aware very quickly of the cold stone under her bare thighs and the glint of gold in her peripheral vision. “What?”

“I could be mistaken, sweetheart, and I don’t want to be presumptuous—“ she snorted glaring past his shoulder at the wall. “—but is it a correct assumption that you were dreaming of me?”

She could feel her cheeks heating, but she shook her head, preparing to spit out something venomous to pretend the flush was from anger, but he cupped her face gently, encouraging her to look at him. “It’s all right, love. I was too.”

“That makes one of us,” she lied with narrowed eyes, her cheeks burning. He chuckled, the brush of his thumb along the column of her neck sending shivers down her spine.

“And I suspect, whether you’ll admit it or not, you were having a very specific dream about me. One that involved you on your knees with your pretty wrists tied to my bedposts begging for more as I fucked you from behind.” She took a sharp breath and he grinned. “A reward for good behavior, if I’m remembering correctly.”

She swallowed, not wanting to give him the satisfaction of knowing he was right. She was so curious, though, desperately wanted to know why she was having these dreams. This whole soulmate thing was nonsense, but she knew magic existed. Her friend Bonnie was a witch, after all. She had no idea why he’d picked her of all people to curse with sex dreams–it seemed so random–but she wanted to know why. “Are you giving me these dreams?” she asked. “Like, are these your fantasies?”

“No,” he said softly, smiling as she opened her mouth to argue. “I’m quite sure they’re yours.”

“Excuse me?” she spluttered, jerking back from his hand. “Then how do you know what I’m dreaming about?”

“So you admit it?”

She gritted her teeth, turning away, and she heard him chuckle softly.

“Fate has paired us. We’re made for each other in every way.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“You’re my mate, sweetheart. I’ve told you as much. When we sleep at the same time, we share dreams.”

She huffed. “Assuming you’re not lying through your sharp, princess-munching teeth–”

“I’m not, and I don’t eat princesses, or people in general. Unless you’re–”

“Shut up. Seriously. Anyway, assuming you’re right, why do I teleport all the way across the world?”

“You give yourself to me, and my magic puts you where I keep my most precious treasures.”

“That’s so creepy,” she muttered. “Like, really. How am I supposed to sleep when you’ll just have to send me on a 19 hour flight every time I take a nap.”

“So you believe me then?”

“What? No!” she said much too quickly.

His smile was all teeth, predatory and greedy in all the best ways, and she could feel her heart pounding in her chest from anticipation. She kind of hated that she wanted him so much, that she craved him and the sinful things he did to her body. But only kind of.

“I have a castle near New Orleans, actually,” he said conversationally, and she took in a sharp breath. “It’s hidden by magic. I could relocate there for the time being so that you’re naps would be less inconvenient for you.”

“Oh, so the solution is to make it easier for you to bother me?” she asked, ignoring the tiny voice in her head saying that it would definitely be logistically more practical.

“Not at all,” he murmured, bending close enough that their lips were almost touching, and she couldn’t find it in herself to pull away, too curious about what he tasted like. “Let me be clear, I have many things I want to do you Caroline. The fantasies I’ll tempt you to beg me to fulfill are so salacious that I have no doubt you’ve never even dreamed of them. I almost can’t wait, my mate, but for you, I will.”

“Wait? What do you mean? Wait for what?” she asked, hating how breathless her voice was and kicking herself at the look at his face for forgetting to deny that they had that connection, that she was starting to believe that he might be telling the truth. He reached to tug at the hem of the sweater he’d lent her, nosing her cheekbone before nipping her ear, his breath hot against her skin.

“For you to finally admit that you’re mine. That you belong to me.”

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