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darkficsyouneveraskedfor · 4 years ago

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From Eden: Two

Warnings: noncon sexual acts, mentions of mental illness; tags to be added throughout series

This is dark!Bucky. Your media consumption is your own responsibility. Warnings have been given. DO NOT PROCEED if these matters upset you.

Summary: The mc suffers from agoraphobia. After a new neighbour moves in across the street, her home becomes even more of a prison.

Note: Yo, so here’s part 2! I hope you all enjoy. As before, there is a transcript at the end for anyone having issues with the images.

Thank you so much for your patience! And support!!

As always, if you are so inclined, please like, reblog, and comment. <3

Transcript:

Sunday

I called Dr. Tisha this morning. I told her about the neighbour. She said it was nice of him to help with the garden but ignored me when I mentioned the broken gate. I don’t know if she believed me. It didn’t seem like it.

She’s coming by tomorrow to check on my progress. That means I can’t keep those magazines on the dining table anymore. The last time she made me throw half of them out. She didn’t listen when I told her some were so old they were priceless. Sometimes it feels like she doesn’t listen to me at all. Well, what do I pay her to do then?

I haven’t been back outside. I should water the garden as it’s only getting hotter but I don’t appreciate the unwanted audience. An intruder!

Later

I still haven’t found the courage to venture out. I made sure the bike lock was still in place from the front door. It is. Though, if that man’s metal hand could break the old lock, it will likely shred the chain lock.

Thinking about it makes my heart race. I should go lay down. I’m dizzy and the humidity is making me sick to my stomach. Or maybe it’s something else.

Monday

Dr. Tisha came by early today.

I showed Dr. Tisha where I kept my medicine in the bathroom cabinet, the pills divided into the days. I check off each day on the calendar so I don’t forget either. She said that was good. The last time she was here, it was because I’d stopped taking the pills so I hope this made her happy.

Then she walked through the house, she said she was happy to see the top of the table this time. I laughed but it wasn’t really funny. Then she went to the kitchen and checked all the drawers.

She found some books hidden under the sink and asked if I’d ever read them. I mean to but haven’t yet. She took them to the guest room where she found the bins of books stacked in the corner. Better than last time when they were a pile on the carpet.

She said I have too many things. Too many things that aren’t mine. She says it’s okay to be sad about grandma but that holding onto all her stuff won’t bring her back. Like I don’t know that! I do know! But she left me these things so yes, they are mine.

Then we went to grandma’s old room. It’s the same as it was. As it’s always been. Dr. Tisha frowned and went to my room next.

She asked me about the broken bed frame. I told her it was nothing. I made sure to replace the duvet I’d dragged out the couch to sleep without threat of rolling onto the floor in my sleep. Not that I sleep very much.

She opened my closet and found the magazines. That didn’t impress her either.

We had tea in the kitchen and talked. She asked me how I was feeling. About side effects and all that. Besides the occasional bout of nausea and vivid dreams, I’m fine. She agrees.

Then she asked about the tall shelf of vinyls in the living room. Which one is my favourite? I told her the old Vera Lynn record reminded me of grandma and it was still on the needle.

Then we argued. She wants me to get rid of the ones I don’t listen to. And the magazines in my closet! And she wants me to go through all the books, too.

She also suggested that I think about redecorating. I told her I didn’t want to do any of that. I like the house the way it is. Who is it hurting if I have a few extra books laying around?

She calmed me down after I raised my voice. She made me count my breaths and explained that I don’t have to get rid of everything, just a little. She says it would help with my progress. And, she said, I could probably make a healthy profit off a yard sale.

Well, I don’t care about the money, I don’t want to have a sale. I don’t want to deal with people and them thumbing through grandma’s thing for pennies.

Dr. Tisha said she’ll make some signs and we’ll have the sale on Saturday. My task for the week is to decide what to sell and prices. We argued again but not very long.

When she left, I started crying. Everywhere I look, I see grandma and this place is empty enough without her.

Tuesday

Lorena showed up today.

I gave her my list, it wasn’t very long. She asked about the bike lock and I asked if she could stop by the hardware store and get a new mechanism. She asked me if I even knew how to fix it. I said I’d figure it out.

I told her about Dr. Tisha’s idea for the yard sale. She said it was a great idea. I still don’t agree but she offered to help me sort through the guest room. I shrugged and asked her how long she’d be at the store. She said the usual and left.

I waited by the door. I watched the front gate for her return. She had the combination to the bike lock now and could let herself in. I just wanted her to come back and drop everything off so I could be alone.

When she did return, she wasn’t alone. I saw her at the gate, fumbling with the lock. As the gate shifted open, a metal arm reached past her to push it all the way. The man held a paper bag in his other arm as Lorena carried the other.

He was smiling as he spoke to her and let her pass. He followed her to the door and he saw me before I could back away from the slated window in the door.

“Open up,” Lorena called as she tapped the door.

I didn’t know what else to do but open the door. When I did she handed me her bag and reached for the one the man held.

“Sorry, but… I can’t let you inside.” She said glumly. “But thanks for the help.”

“No problem.” He glanced past her and I tried to hide behind her but he’s taller than her. He’s very big up close. “You have a great day. Both of you.”

“You, too.” Lorena said and he strode away.

When the gate clattered closed I waited until I was sure he was gone. I dropped my bag and rushed to check the lock. He’d secured it. Good.

I went back to the house and locked the door too. Lorena already had both bags on the table.

“He didn’t mean any harm,” She said as she unpacked the groceries. “He was just helping me so I figured--”

“You shouldn’t have let him in.” I told her.

“He was only in the yard. He didn’t come into the house.”

“I could have helped you.” I said.

“When’s the last time you went past the gate?” She asked as she pulled out a small plastic bag and slid it across to me. It was the new lock. “That should fit, if you can figure it out.”

“That’s not the point, Lor,” You slapped the table. “You let him into my space. A stranger!”

“He’s your neighbour. I’ve talked to Dr. Tisha and you know you’re supposed to be working on your socialising. This yard sale will be a good first step.”

“This yard sale is bull shit,” I was so angry I could have yelled. “I like being alone. I like it here. This is my home and these are my things!”

“Calm down.” She set down the carton of milk and neared me. “Look, I’m sorry. You’re right. I should’ve asked before I let him past the gate.”

I felt so tired. Suddenly weak, like the air had been let out of me. I felt bad for being so mad with her after she went all the way to town for me.

“I’m sorry I got upset.”

She forgave me and I forgave her. She convinced me to fill one bin for the sale before the end of the day. She left shortly after. Her and Shelby are going to see a movie. I’m watching one too. An old black and white movie Grandma had on her shelf of cassettes. It’s interesting but the edges are fuzzy and the audio is muffled.

Oh, well, I’m tired. And I’ll be sleeping on the couch anyway.

Wednesday

I tried to fix the lock today. I haven’t been outside that long since last week. The garden needs to be watered.

I took out grandma’s old toolbox, the tools half-rusted but intact. I got what was left of the old lock off easily but the new one was more of a task to get in. I had to open the gate to get it in. The holes for the screw were off-kilter but I couldn’t turn the lock enough to get them to line up.

Then he showed up. That man. Bucky. The lock slipped out as he scared me and my screw driver hit my shoe. My toe still hurts.

“You need some help?” He asked.

I shook my head and tried to close the gate on him but he was already picking up the mechanism and screwdriver.

“I can do it.” I sound like a dying mouse. I reached for the lock but he didn’t even seem to notice. “Hold the door steady and I’ll just--”

“I can do it myself,” I said louder but he still didn’t seem to hear me. Or chose not to.

He reached around the gate and pulled it closer to him. I grabbed the bars and he slid the lock into place. His metal fingers shifted it and aligned the holes.

“Do you have the screws?” He asked.

I found the box on the bunch of rocks just beside the gate. I handed him each long screw and he easily twisted them into place.

“There ya go,” He gave the screwdriver back and smiled.

I closed the gate, as good as pushing him out of the yard. He let me but looked confused. I took the key from the box and slid it in the slot. I turned it and the click slowed my racing heart.

“I still don’t know your name,” He said.

I didn’t tell him and left him there. You think he’d get the clue.

Thursday

It’s not even 5am. I woke up in a sweat. The fan is dead and the house has grown stolid, even as the night air slips through the open window.

I thought I’d closed it more but it is wide open and the power is out. There is an eerie silence as the buzz of the fridge is entirely gone and the house is pitch black.

I swear I saw something move in the window. Maybe a bird?

I tried to get back to sleep but it’s too hot. I guess I’ll just sit and wait for the sun to rise. It’s already starting to.

I want to go out in the garden today. I just hope that man doesn’t bother me again. I hope the lock is still in place.

Friday

Well, yesterday was fine. The power came back on at noon as I watered the garden and trimmed some overgrown plants. The freesias had grown despite my neglect.

Today was just as boring. I read at the patio table for a while but then the phone started ringing. Dr. Tisha was checking in. She said she put the signs up yesterday and hoped the turn out would be good. She asked me how much I got done. I lied and said a lot.

Now I’m going to go sort through the guest room and toss a few records on top to get her off my back. I guess I’ll just have to hide under the table tomorrow.

Saturday

Everytime I think I’m doing better, it all goes so bad!

Dr. Tisha and Lorena arrived early to set up the yard sale. They unfolded a table just inside the gate, leaving it wide open, and helped me arrange everything on top of it. I was nervous and tired. I didn’t sleep very much.

I waited nervously and the first customer showed up. Gladys, an old friend of Grandma’s. She bought an old pin cushion and the Miles Davis record. I should have kept that.

I watched mostly as Dr. Tisha and Lorena took the money and helped people, both familiar and not.

Dr. Tisha made me introduce myself to them at least. I hated it but they were mostly friendly. A woman with two children, I think she said her name was Essie? She said she liked my shirt. That was nice.

But then he showed up! I ignored him at first as he played with the ornamental cowbell. He took that and a few records from the table. He didn’t even seem to notice Dr. Tisha or Lorena as he came to me.

I kept my head down as I lined up the thimbles beside the painted sewing box.

“How much for the records?” He asked.

I didn’t say anything and went to the other end of the table. He followed and I turned back and went back to the other end again. He followed me. Again.

“Now,” Tisha stopped me. “What are you doing? He asked you a question.”

I looked up and blinked dumbly. “What? I didn’t-- I was--”

“Bucky,” Lorena greeted him as she neared. “Tisha, this is the neighbour who helped with the groceries the other day.”

“Oh, hello,” She held out her hand as she blocked me from getting away. “I’m Tisha.”

She introduced me then and told me like a child to say hello. I did, quietly.

“Are you… the one who gave her the flowers?” Tisha asked.

“I did.” He smiled. “But I guess she already has enough.”

“She’s shy,” Tisha lowered her voice. “She’s working on it. Now,” she turned to me, “how much do you want for the records… and bell?”

I didn’t know what to say. The man watched me and I felt as if I would melt.

“Come on.” Tisha poked me. “We talked about this, right? This is your sale.”

“Ten dollars each,” I doubled the price. “And twenty for the bell.”

“That’s a bit pricey,” Lorena said. I shrugged.

“Sounds fair to me,” The man took out his wallet as he leaned the record on the table beneath the bell and used his leg to keep it from falling. “I’ve never listened to these bands before and I’m trying to expand my library.”

He held out the money. Tisha had to elbow me to get me to take it. I snatched it from him and counted it. Another elbow as Lorena kept me from turning away.

“Thank you,” I said to him.

“I hope you enjoy the records,” Tisha offered gently before she pulled me aside.

She took me closer to the house as Lorena watched the table. She lowered her voice. “What’s going on?” She asked.

“Nothing.” I lied.

“Nothing? Why were you so rude to him?”

“I don’t like him.”

“You don’t know him.” She insisted.

“I don’t want to.”

“Look, I know you’re uneasy around men, but he was nice. And he’s your neighbour. You’ll be seeing a lot of him so I think you should at least try to be friendly. And remember what I said about friends?”

“My only friend is dead.”

I was so upset I ran inside. And now I’m locked in my room, waiting for them all to just go away.

#bucky barnes #dark bucky barnes #dark!bucky barnes #bucky barnes x reader #dark bucky barnes x reader #dark!bucky barnes x reader #fic #dark fic #dark!fic #series #from eden #agoraphobia #mcu #marvel

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thebestofoneshots · 4 years ago

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Christmas Times

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x reader

Prompt: In which you and Bucky have to get the Christmas tree for the compound and decorate it afterwards. Set on an AU whee Bucky joins the team before civil war happens.

Notes: Some Christmas fluff because I’m getting festive. Also Sebs new IG post inspired me I couldn’t stop myself.

Warnings: I mean reader does bump into her very mean aunt but she gets put on her place so it’s nothing you can’t handle.

You stood outside the door only a few seconds before knocking on the door.

“Yes?” You heard his husky voice from the inside of the room. So he was sleeping. He had a late mission last night you recalled, it made sense that he would still be sleeping.

You opened the door “hey! Sorry to wake you, But we need to get the Christmas tree for the common room.”

He was lying on the bed, covers on top of him but arms over them, the silver arm shinning with the small rays of sunset that slipped from the window, you could see his muscular frame. His now short hair a little messy on the pillow. “A Christmas tree? Doesn’t Tony have like a bunch of people that decorate and stuff?”

“Yes... he does. But apparently is a tradition that someone from the team buys the tree and decorates it. Said it was our turn.”

He drew a deep breath “Ok, then. I’m coming,” he smiled and stood from the bed. He was only wearing a pair of tight boxers and he turned quickly to grab his jeans so you couldn’t see much more than his muscular back, and obviously his ass, but you blushed anyway. You’d develop a small crush on the Winter Soldier since you joined the team.

“I’ll uh... wait outside,” you said and started going out.

“No, it’s fine I’m ready,” He said turning around. Still shirtless and walking to his closet to put on a shirt quickly. You turned to the side to hide your blush. Is not like you hadn’t seen him shirtless before, he went for a swim every other day. But his environment was different, it felt homier? Perhaps... “You ok?”

“What?” You asked turning your face back to him.

“You seemed... lost in thought.”

“Did I?... I didn’t notice. Shall we go?” You said skillfully changing the subject and started walking outside. “You know? I’m lucky I got paired with you to get the tree,” you spoke, a small smile appeared on his face as you did. He enjoyed spending time with you as well. “Your super soldier strength will come in super handy...”

“Is that the only reason you’re lucky? I was hoping it was because of my magnetic personality,” he joked.

“Oh, curse is not the only reason Buck,” you smiled as you playfully punched his arm.

The two of you got to the parking lot by then and grabbed the truck. You took the driver's seat since you knew the modern New York better than he did.

“Do we need to get ornaments as well?” He asked as you passed a few Christmas stores.

“Tony said he had some saved but we could buy anything we liked, every avenger has added their own special thing to the tree of something like that, that’s what makes it special,” you explained.

“When did you even talk to Tony about this? I thought he was in Europe.”

“Oh, he left a video recording and told FRIDAY to help me with whatever else.”

“There!” He said pointing outside “over there there was a very beautiful one,” he explained. You had to continue for a bit to be able to get to the other side of the road and then a bit more to find a parking spot but after a while, you finally stopped.

“I’ll follow you,” you said as you got out of the car and closed it by pressing the small button on the key. A few minutes later Bucky and you were looking at the many different trees in the garden.

“(Y/N)?” He called as you absently looked at one of the trees.

“Mhm?”

“Wouldn’t it be better if we got a plastic tree? Reuse it every year? To avoid climate change and deforestation?”

“You’ve been watching way to much Discovery channel,” you giggled “but actually, I was wondering the same thing and I googled it, apparently a plastic tree is worse unless you reuse it for more than 5 years, and it’s wasteful either way because I’ll end up on a landfill. But Tony promised he’d plant 10 pine trees for every Christmas tree used in the tower so that’s even better!”

“We should buy two then,” he said with a smile.

All right, let’s take a picture, you said as you took out your phone and posted him in front of a Christmas tree. As you were taking the picture you saw someone that made you quickly lower your head and fast walk towards Bucky to use him as a hiding spot.

“What?” He said looking around alert.

“Nothing, just. My aunt is there! I haven’t seen her in a while, and she’s just going to continue nagging me about getting a boyfriend “ you explained “so I’m just gonna, go hide for a while,” you said and quickly walked behind some trees leaving Bucky in that same spot.

As you hid in between a few trees and turned your back pretending to be really distraught by a random tree when someone taped on your shoulder. You frowned and cursed under your breath before turning with a smile.

“(Y/N)!” She smiled pulling you into a hug “I thought it was you back there.

“Aunt Linda! How’s it been?” You asked her smiling.

“Oh just fine, that’s what. I wanted to come here with your cousins but they were too busy to come. So I had to come to get the tree all by myself. What about you? Did you come alone too? I know you don’t have many friends anyway but maybe you convinced someone to help you...” she smiled.

“I... ugh—“

“—doll! I finally find you! I lost you a few trees back, I was about to tell you I found the perfect tree for home.”

“Bucky I...“

“Home?” Your aunt asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Aunt Linda this is—“

“—Her boyfriend,” Bucky answered pulling one of his charming gentleman smiles from the ’40s, “you can call me James,” he stretched his arm “it’s a pleasure to meet you, ma’am.”

“Well it’s a pleasure to meet you,” she smiled “such a handsome man! Never thought my niece would get a man like you. You’re out of her ligue.” Yes, that was Aunt Linda, poisonous words and all. And people wondered why you were hiding from her. “And to be honest, I was starting to think she was lesbian. 25 years and you’re the first one.” She finished.

You smiled “And there would be nothing wrong with me being a lesbian, would it?” you frowned. Bucky pulled you closer to him, with his flesh arm on your waist.

“Oh, of course not honey but you know, you’re already the family’s black sheep. You wouldn’t wanna make it even more evident. People would talk.”

“People like you I suppose,” spit Bucky from the side. He seemed to be getting rather angry at her. He clearly hadn’t had the brilliant opportunity to spend a whole Christmas with her and her vicious words or he’d understand she was actually being polite.

“Oh no darling, I would never, but some people on the family can be very creative, in a negative way if you know what I mean. So... how did you two meet?”

“At work.” You answered quickly, wanted to get away from there as soon as possible.

“Oh... at work...” she replied viciously, “well it’s not a surprise since you’re always working.”

“Yes, the minute she walked into the office for the first time she caught my eye. She wore a black suit and was walking alongside our boss looking like an angel. But it wasn’t until we got our first assignment together that I fell completely and utterly in love with her. With her mind and her voice and her everything. She has this way of analyzing situations and finding solutions, it’s incredible.”

You looked back at Bucky and then to your aunt who stood there with her mouth agape. You looked back at Bucky again and thought to yourself ‘damn he was a good actor. Little did you know he hadn’t been acting.

But then a busy woman walked passed really fast, pushing Bucky and casing his glove to fall on the floor. The glove that covered his metal arm.

She pulled his hand towards hers to look at it as you leaned to pick the glove up. Bucky seemed uncomfortable.

“Oh, you don’t have a hand.”

“It’s my whole arm actually,” Bucky corrected. You’d think no one would dare to say something offensive in a situation like this but there was Aunt Linda for you.

“Oh, that explains it.”

“Explains what?” You questioned.

“How such a handsome man would fall I love with you. He’s not complete. He IS on your ligue...”

And that was all it took. “You stop right there! First of all, him lacking an arm does not make him any less of a man or any less attractive. Second, he is one of the sweetest, nicest, bravest humans I know. And third of all, he is a veteran and lost his arm fighting for your country so you should show some respect!”

Your aunt looked at you perplexed. And blinked a bunch of times. “I didn’t mean to... I...”

“Aunt Linda, I didn’t—“

“—I’ll talk to your mother about this.” She said before turning around and leaving.

You and Bucky shared a look and started laughing at her offended frame as she was liked away. At first, you tried to hold it, but once she was far away enough the two of you were almost crying.

“That’s a character.”

“See why I was hiding?” You told him after taking a deep breath. Once the two of you finally cooled down, you noticed that you still had his glove on your hand. You looked at it and a free taking a deep breath you handed it to him. “I’m really sorry about that,” you said as you handed him the glove “but also thanks for stepping in and pretending to be my boyfriend. Although now the whole family is going to ask me about the mysterious James...”

“I’ll be happy to assist as your boyfriend whenever any other family member shows up,” He smiled.

“For what’s worth, I truly meant everything I said earlier. Your metal arm does not take away any of your worth Bucky,” you told him as you rubbed his flesh arm a little. There was nothing else you could do to comfort him, even knowing how delicate the subject was for him, especially it being originally made by hydra. “Anyway... did you really find a tree or were you just making that up?”

“I did!” He smiled. “Come!” He grabbed your hand to pull you through the made of trees towards the one you wanted. Once you got it, between the two of you you manage to load the tree on the truck and after a short drive stopped by a small Christmas market.

You walked along with Bucky through the beautiful Market but separated from each other when you stopped to look at some of the ornaments. You’d found a small shop that would vinyl cut whatever you wanted on a beautiful golden orb. “Hey (Y/N),” you heard as you stared at the machine from that small shop. You turned to find Bucky with a small bag in his hand. “I found the perfect ornament for you,” he said as he opened the bag and pulled a small crystal mermaid from it.

“She’s beautiful,” you said staring at it with awe. “How did you find her?”

“She was on a small store somewhere over there,” he said pointing to the right, trying to stop you from noticing he had maybe spent too much money on her because he couldn’t stop himself after seeing how perfectly fitting it would be.

“Thank you, Buck. I can’t believe you remembered I love mermaids so much...” you smiled. “Either way, I actually found something that would be perfect for you.”

“You did?” He raised an eyebrow.

“Yes! just you wait,” you winked and walked towards the small shop you’d found and ordered a little special thing. They said it would take around 20 minutes so you went back to Bucky.

“Let’s get an ice-cream,” you said as you pulled Bucky to a small ice-cream shop and ordered a few cones.

“You have plum taste?” You asked as the small lady nodded. “Two balls of plum in one and the other chocolate and blueberry please,” you ordered with a smile.

They gave you your ice creams in just a few seconds. And you walked back to the earlier shop alongside Bucky, the ornament was ready. You paid for it and held it behind your hands to show Bucky with a surprise. “All right close your eyes.”

He did as told. And you placed the ornament on his right hand and gave it a small squeeze to indicate he could open it. He stated at it for a while. The golden ornament had a shield on it. Like Steve’s original shield but with silver and red in the center. The cold slopes through the cracks between his shield, making it look just like his new arm. “You don’t like it...” you said since he hadn’t said anything.

“Like it?” He asked in disbelieve “I love it!”

You finally let out the breath you were holding. The shopping time was finished and the two of you hoped back on the truck to drive back to the compound.

Once there, the two of you brought the tree down and place it in the center of the common room. “FRIDAY? Where are all the decorations for the tree you told me about?”

“The box is behind the counter,” Explained FRIDAY.

“Yes, it is!” Said Bucky while pulling a very big plastic box from behind the counter.

He brought the box next to the tree and the two of you started looking through the box. Finding small ornaments and guessing which one was chosen by who from the team.

The first thing you did was add all of the lights, you choose the colourful ones and started filling the tree with them. After you started placing all the different ornaments. Leaving the two new ones you had purchased for the end, just like FRIDAY had advised you too.

“It looks nice,” you said as you smiled to yourself feeling accomplished. The shiny tree looks as beautiful as ever, the lights bouncing around from one place to another.

“We still have these,” pointed Bucky out taking the ornaments that the two of you got at the market.

“You’re right!” You said as you carefully took the mermaid from his hand and stared at the tree for a place to put it in. After a few seconds, the two of you started moving but neither noticed until your hands collided. The two of you were trying to place the ornament in the same place.

“Are you imitating me?”

“No. It was just the empty branch,” he pointed “the no es empty branch.”

“Well yes, it is the emptiest spot,” you agreed “all right, this is what we’re going to do, I’ll place mine over here,” you pointed at one spot “and yours can be here,” you pointed at another one, right next to yours.

“Deal,” he said as he placed his ornament. You placed your small mermaid later and it appeared as if the mermaid was looking at Bucky’s shield. Just like in the real world, you thought to yourself. Little did you notice Bucky was the one staring at you right then and there.

“We still need to add the star,” you said getting the delicate Swarovski star from the small box, of course, Tony would have a Swarovski star.

“Oh I’m not touching that, I don’t want to break it,” he said stepping out. “Tony doesn’t have much tolerance for me anyway.”

“Don’t be silly, I can’t reach the top anyway. The tree is too tall.”

“I’m not touching it.”

“Bucky!”

“I’m not. But I can carry you,” he shrugged.

“That would be less stable than just placing it in the top,” you reasoned.

“I’ve made my mind.”

“FRIDAY, do we have a ladder?”

“No, but you could use that chair over there.”

Bucky went for the chair and brought it to you. Placing eight on the side of the tree. You tried to step on it “this is so unstable...”

“Don’t worry I’ll watch your back,” he said as he tried to keep the chair shady with his hands.

“This is ridiculous James, you could’ve just placed it without an issue.” You mumbled as you slowly placed the star on the top. But your shoelace caught onto the side of the chair and you tripped and fell.

Luckily for you, Bucky was paying attention and he quickly grabbed you from the waist to stop You from falling face-first on the floor, instead, you fell on top of him since your weight had grown the both of you on the floor.

First thing you did as soon as you gathered everything that was happening is that you removed your weight from his chest by sitting in his stomach with one leg on either side of his torso, “Can you breathe?” You asked placing your hands on his face to look for any signs of trauma.

He smiled when he noticed how concerned you were “yes I Can breathe doll, I’ve been thrown from higher placed bc way bigger men.”

“But it was a hard fall, and my weight. Could have pulled all the sir from your lungs.”

“I didn’t... no need to worry,” he smiled again.

You drew a relieved breath and smiled too. After that, you rolled off him and instead of standing up you laid on the floor next to him as well.

The tree stood majestic and tall in front of the two of you. “We did an amazing job,” you mumbled.

“It’s because we’re an amazing team,” he responded. A smile appeared on your face when you heard those words.

“We should decorate Christmas trees more often,” you giggled. “But next time you’re placing the start!”

“And miss the opportunity of having you on top of me again? No way!” He joked. The two of you laughed again.

“Thank you, Bucky!” You said then as you gave him a quick fast hug, the two of you still lying on the floor.

“What for?”

“You always make my days brighter,” you said, trying to sound casual.

He turned his whole body towards you, his steel-blue eyes staring directly into yours. “I could say the same thing, doll.”

Find more Bucky fluff over here 👈

Feedback is always appreciated ✨

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3wisellamas · 4 years ago

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Just Rewatched Books 1 and 2, here’s a bunch of observations and wild, probably completely false theories!

Because dangit, this is how I get my kicks.

-In The Unfinished Car, it was One who Tulip was ultimately speaking to towards the end. It was One who expressed guilt over allowing the car to happen. It was One who she finally convinced to let it go as it was, stop trying to fix everything, and even break the car again to restore the turtle peoples’ way of life. And, it was ONE, not One-One, who jumped into her arms in the end, and made these particular faces, meaning he probably wasn’t entirely emotionless and robotic as conductor:

(apologies for TV pics on these. ^^; )

-Also, while One-One normally talks in his two different voices, and even converses/riffs on himself, in that scene before his voices combined back into One’s they were literally finishing each other’s sentences -- syncing up again! Does this mean that One-One is actually just...out of sync, rather than completely broken?

-I don’t think Amelia was going to the roof of her old university after Alrick’s death to jump. In The Past Car, she’s clearly on the ground while the roof...flattens? She literally watches it disappear right in front of her! And the train tracks are already in place when she gets up there. So, it might have been less that the train found her at her lowest point, but that she found the train -- and went right up to investigate it!

-And here’s another juicy Amelia theory: Throughout Book 1, One-One has a tendency to use the words “gone forever”. He uses it while telling Tulip what will happen when her number reaches zero (making her think she’ll die, when really he just means leave the train forever), then he uses it a second time while in Amelia’s tape, describing “Amelia” (actually Alrick, remember we were led to believe she was Alrick at first), who IS dead. And the final usage is after Tulip has her exit restored, and One-One says again that she’ll be “gone forever”, but, in this case, he clarifies that that’s a GOOD thing. So, what if, when One learned about Alrick from Young!Amelia, he used that same phrase, telling her he was “gone forever” -- One meant this as a comfort, maybe even a misguided attempt to convince her she should be happy he’s gone (like, it was One’s way of saying “He’s no longer in pain”), but to Amelia, it’s just reminding her of why she’s on the train in the first place. Thus prompting...you know.

-Okay, last observation about that damn Amelia tape: While in there, The Cat mentions that the memories are recorded as the passenger stores them, meaning there may be biases / misremembering / other things that not only change the memories to trap passengers in them, but also change what VIEWERS would see as well -- like how Amelia kept the memory of her wandering the streets after her husband’s death “at a distance”, which prevented Tulip from getting close. So...what if more elements of Amelia’s tape weren’t 100% accurate, due to misremembering things, convincing herself certain things were true when they weren’t, maybe even her age or the tape itself degrading over time, etc? Maybe even Alrick wasn’t remembered 100% accurately, with her grief clouding her memories and making him seem like a different, more ideal person? (I’m bringing this up because MAN did I have a realization later on...)

-After Atticus was turned into a Ghom, the first thing he did was attack Tulip, but he hesitated, allowing her to escape -- as if he remembered being her friend. And, then, when he was freed from the tube, right next to both Tulip, a passenger whose nice tasty life he could suck out, and the Steward, a robot, the first thing he did was attack the Steward. Just as he was trying to do before getting Ghom-ed! So, I think it’s safe to say, that, if the Ghoms really are transformed denizens, they still possess some memory of who they used to be and what they were doing before they were transformed. So...what does it say, then, that every non-Atticus Ghom we’ve seen has been trying to kill passengers (and NOT hesitate and let them go)?

-Tape Car time. So, if that’s the only car with its universe projected on the OUTSIDE, then that not only means the train, the wasteland, etc are all fake and part of the car’s projection, but...also the Engine, the control console, and One(-One)? Does this mean he was a fake conductor, too?

-And then, to make this even more of a mind screw...the Mirror World is apparently NOT a creation of the train, since MT / Lake has been with Tulip since the beginning even in the real world, and she was eventually able to leave the train -- when it’s shown that train-created items (like, say, the device Jesse was wearing when he got his first exit in the Mall Car) CANNOT go through exit portals. (But, then, for some reason, the handcuffs Mace had slapped onto MT also didn’t go through the portal with her? Meaning they were from the train? IDK.) Point is, though, the Chrome Car is a projection of the train, which itself is not real, as a projection of the Tape Car...but it’s connected to the Mirror World, which is connected to both the real world and the train? Does this mean the real world is part of the Tape Car’s projection as well? Is this a damn Matrix situation?

-There’s more Mirror World emergency services than just the Flecks -- remember the two paramedics that showed up in the Chrome Car to take care of Mirror Atticus and Mirror One-One? I honestly wonder now if they used to be reflections as well, who chose to keep their memories but not be cops?

-Alright, this is my most out-there theory, but I gotta say it. Mace and Alrick look slightly similar, at least as similar as a human and a featureless reflection cop can look -- the square jaws especially. And his voice also sounds a LOT like Alrick doing his robot voice with that modulator. So...maybe a connection there? Mirror Alrick decided to keep his memories after his death? I know I’ve seen this theory floating out there before, so it’s not new, but I just had to add it. But, then, another implication if this is true: Did he do this to keep remembering Amelia? And...Mirror One-One wasted no time at all in getting a hold of the Flecks, maybe because they’ve been keeping in contact with him through that car, and Amelia by association?

-Now, for the inside of the Tape Car. Specifically...what the hell is this thing?

That...looks a little like One. And during that scene in which MT / Lake is wading down the canal towards the tape -watching room to get her number, the camera actually focuses on this thing for a few seconds -- not enough to really call attention to it, but enough that now that we’ve seen One himself if stands out on a rewatch. So, what is it? It looks kinda like it’s watching over the whole Tape Car, with its one eye light thing?

I’ve got two theories that kinda work together on this one, neither of which are very likely considering I’m probably just taking a small background detail way too seriously, but come on, I’m having fun:

-If the inside of the Tape Car is the only real part of the train, and even One(-One) himself is fake...then that’s the REAL One, overseeing the train’s core operations but not interacting directly -- that’s what all the other robots, including One-One, are for.

-I’ve always kinda had a feeling that there’s a Zero to go along with One -- come on, it’s an obvious joke, what with robots running on binary and passengers needing to get their numbers to 0 and whatnot. So, for now, I’mma call that thing Zero.

-One last Amelia Takeover Theory. We know, from the Tape Car, that One-One is pretty hands-off about a lot of the train’s operations, his lack of hands aside -- he doesn’t seem to actually visit the Tape Car until something goes wrong there, and grabs his attention -- like Lake smashing up a few Porters. So...why were One and Amelia there in the past? Sure, two passengers boarding at the same time and sharing a number is unusual, but One even says it himself, it’s no big deal, on the train anything can happen. So, why WERE they there? Maybe it’s because something happened with Amelia in that car...like her waking up before the number-engraving process was completely finished? (And she smashed a Porter for good measure?)

-Things required to wake a passenger, according to One-One: Robots, coding, and juice boxes. (Things required to wake a passenger, according to Lake: Flicking them on the forehead with metal fingers) What if one of the actual purposes of the Stewards is to manipulate the pods and wake the passengers inside, and then slip out unnoticed so they can start their journey?

#sorry for the long post i just have Thoughts #infinity train #spoilers #finish infinity train #so we can see if any of these actually hold any water!

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hectabdr · 4 years ago

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Dragon Raja IV - Chapters 13 - 15 + epilogue (Abridged)

Hi everyone, sorry for taking so long to post the last part, I had a lot of work this week.

BTW, since it's over, I put the whole novel summary on a PDF document, which you can download from here.

Previous Chapters

Chapter 13

The nurse at the mental hospital couldn't believe her eyes when Luminous came back and requested to be admitted in his old room. He asked for his usual injection and went back to his not-so-favorite video game level.

In his vision, he kept accelerating far away form the swarm of death servitors, everything went according to plan and they still had lots of time to spare. He made many excuses to Nono in an attempt to justify his incredible performance, in the radio, there was a very strange song, Luminous recognized it, the name was "Daily Growing" by the folk group Altan, it was the same song that Johann and his father heard before they ran into Odin.

Nono was confused, Luminous just seemed to know way too many things. He knew about the damaged tire, about every safe route, the reach of the Nibelungen and the presence of a small, strange building hiding in the distance. It was the Media Asia Group building, according to Finger, this is the place where Nono found Chu Tianjiao's home. If this was a Nibelungen, an exact copy of the room should be there as well, still intact.

There was nothing surprising about the small place, but that was intentional. A person like Tianjiao was probably trained against people with skills like Nono's, so there had to be a secret compartment or a hidden door. He lifted the bed and there it was!

Mr Chu managed to create an underground bunker for himself. There was a bigger, more comfortable bed, a record player with Elvis Presley's discs and leather jackets. Luminous wanted to be more like this stylish man every second he spent there.

He noticed a bunch of pictures hanging from a string. Tianjiao spend a lot of time making copies of photographs from his family, but he wasn't in them, there was another man next to his wife and his son, but he used chemicals to erase him from the images. He also wrote small phrases dedicated to his wife in the back of the photos, like:

"This is the first year since you left me, you look good"

"This is the third year, you're getting fat"

"Fifth year, I don't have time to think of you anymore"

"Sixth year. ...but I still miss you".

The rest of the walls were filled with images and documents connected by red strings. Multiple events were listed in them, including the fall of Black Swan Bay in 1991 and the Greenland incident from November 7, 2002. These events related to dragon sightings and awakenings all led to a specific incident: The resurrection of the Black king Nidhogg. Even to the other dragon overlords, Nidhogg is a god-like existence, and its words are taken as prophecies. Chu Tianjiao was the city's watchman, he came to that place with a special purpose, but he mistakenly fell in love with a young dancer. They got married and had a child, they were happy, but he knew very well that he couldn't give them a peaceful life, so he signed the divorce papers and watched her take Johann away and marry a different man. While that family went to amusement parks and movie theaters, Tianjiao stayed on his underground room thinking about the fate of mankind.

Luminous memorized as much as he could from Tianjiao's investigation and went back with Nono, he kept driving and they entered the empty city, the lights were still on and the amusement park shined like a neon show.

- I always wanted to be in a Nibelungen, but I didn't expect it to be like this.

- How did you think it would be?

- Distorted, scary, definitely not this beautiful.

They looked up and they saw Odin, standing on top of the clock tower, Nono raised a gun and pointed at him but Luminous held it down, telling her not to disturb him, they kept driving silently and the god didn't notice their presence.

Luminous took her to a shopping mall, where they entered a department store and he gave her a dry change of clothes. This was still strange to her, he already knew her size, he never stopped looking at his watch and somehow he also picked an outfit that she liked (a pair of burgundy sports trousers and a fleece hoodie).

He gave her a cup of hot coffee and he suggested they waited on an empty movie theater while they waited for help.

Nono waited uncomfortable in front of the screen, Luminous picked up a random movie from the projector room, it was Wall·E, the second film roll to be exact, so the film started from the halfway point. The movie slowly relaxed her and she started chewing popcorn while they waited.

- I've been here before, haven't I?.

This was the theater where she rescued him from a failed love confession to Wenwen, before taking him to sign his Cassell admission papers. Actually, Luminous was watching Wall·E with his fellow literature club members. All of these were deliberate choices, he only picked the second half of the movie because they didn't have enough time to watch it from the start.

- You have been here, you have experienced all the things we are experiencing now and I have lived this moment many times.

Nono was a profiler, it wasn't that easy to trick her, so he admitted the truth. At 12:00am, Nono was going to die, like every other time.

- This dream will become a reality. I have repeatedly entered this dream just to find a way to save you, but I couldn't find it.

- If you can't find a way to save me, why don't you save yourself instead?

- My senior brother said that he always regretted leaving his father here alone, that feeling of regret is so terrible, it made him want to go back and die right there.

- Don't say such disgusting things, if this is really my end I will accept it.

The answer became obvious, the only way to escape this Nibelungen was for one person to stay behind and die. As the movie reached its climax, a spear broke through the screen, Nono didn't move, Luminous didn't move.

- No, senior sister, this will not be you end, it will be mine.

Chapter 14

Luminous opened his eyes, it was still a quiet summer night, he slid a small knife that he bought at the convenience store and ripped the straitjacket open. The hospital personnel were resting in different rooms so he sneaked out with ease.

His last attempt was the 108th, none of them managed to give him the perfect ending that he desperately chased. The old man with the tricycle was waiting for him outside, Luminous got on the small bike and drove away. The security guard couldn't believe it when he saw the same tricycle pass by for a third time that night, straight into the elevated road.

Luminous reached the old Asia Group building, now flooded and filled with rubble and mud. He managed to find the secret door and found the insides half-submerged as well, but not everything was ruined, he located a small metal suitcase in the corner that was filled with multiple weapons, including a revolver, a tactical shotgun and a Uzi submachine gun.

All seemed to indicate that this equipment came directly from Cassell College, an academy that never bothered to mention Tianjiao's existence.

In his way out, he picked one of the photographs that managed to survive the flood, it portrayed a family of three. Johann was probably five years old and his expression was as emotionless as usual, his robot face wasn't the result of some traumatic event after all, it came with him from the moment he was born. In the corner, Tianjiao wrote some words as well: "Stay like this, not crying, just looking into the distance".

This arsenal was strong, but insignificant in front of a being like Odin. Ming·Z·Lu showed up to offer one last gift.

Something for nothing, 50% fusion.

Luminous was familiar with that sensation, his nerves burned and the depths of his mind seemed to be cracked open, the pain was bigger than any human can endure, but once it was over, there was a feeling of euphoria, a need to fight. His senses increased immensely, he could now distinguish every single drop in the middle of the rainfall. This usually costed him a full quarter of his life but now it was... Free?

He finally heard the distorted noises of the death servitors, it sounded like the crying of babies. The wall of water and wind that protected Odin became visible, the black figure mounted an eight legged horse. He was in the Nibelungen again, this time he didn't plan to turn around.

Luminous approached them and parked the tricycle next to the Maybach, he stood in front of Odin and the god stayed silent. The words "You are finally here" were not uttered this time, he was right, Odin was waiting for Nono, but he didn't bring her this time, Luminous's presence was meaningless to his rival.

Odin kept staring at the end of the road, waiting for Chen Motong to appear and show her face.

- This is the right way to start the game, my senior sister is not here, only you and me, only one of us can leave this place alive!

He was vey happy, he finally played the god. He slowly grabbed a spear rocket launcher from the tricycle, the little devil was as reliable as always. The servitors immediately recognized the destructive potential of the weapon and tried to disperse, but Luminous opened fire first and scattered their shadowy remains on the road.

He saw his face in a puddle, the crazy expression of Ming·Z was now his own, like every other time they fused, it felt like this was his true nature. Weapon after weapon he ran out of ammo, some servitors sneaked behind him and sliced his torso with their claws, if it wasn't for the bulletproof vest that Tianjiao left in his suitcase, Mingfei would have died already.

A shot of his last gun, a M500 revolver finally broke one of the servitor's masks. He hadn't seen one of those faces since his mission in Japan, their skin was covered in scales and their teeth were long and alien-shaped. Odin gave them black robes and masks to use them as his personal servants. Odin was definitely different to every other dragon king he had faced before, they were all savage and aggressive, but this one was stoic and dressed like a figure of mythology, unless...

That was it! Odin wasn't a dragon disguised as a mythical character, Odin, the myth himself has been a dragon all along. The secret party had misread norse mythology, now it was clear that it narrated the history of the dragon clan and it was written by the dragons themselves. Every god was in fact a dragon king, in those myths, the main antagonist of Nidhogg was Odin. This god had already foreseen the coming of the end of the world, the so-called twilight of the gods, where the world tree would wither.

The suppressed Nidhogg will rise in the air, ready for revenge, it will destroy everything and ruin the kingdom of the gods. Therefore, Odin prepared himself for this battle, ordering the Valkyrie goddesses to gather the heroes's souls and place them in the Hall of Valor to assist him in resisting the black dragon. If the norse myths are indeed dragon history, the hall of valor must represent a place filled with countless dragon cocoons and embryos waiting to be awakened.

This information, this great secret was about to be buried there with him if he didn't survive this battle. Nono was probably packing, ready to leave with Finger and go back to Cassell, for whatever reason Odin needed her, she would be out of his reach, he just needed to endure and Odin was still as invincible as ever. Making a deal with Ming·Z was inadmissible, giving the little devil enough power to materialize could bring an immeasurable catastrophe. The boy appeared in front of him.

- Brother, you finally asked to see me, do you want to... Shake my hand?

The multitude of servitors overwhelmed him, he contemplated dying there, it wouldn't be so bad, just very lonely. With a loud bang! the strongest servitor flew out and fell motionless on the mud.

A red BYD car swiftly parked next to him, a hand came out of the window and shot the three closest servitors, that was Finger, of course it was him!

- Drive faster! Why the fuck are you here?

- What do I know? I was eating dumplings with your aunt and the hospital called to tell me you were gone!

Finger placed a tracking device on Luminous just like he did with Nono and saw his trace disappearing in the highway, so he went to investigate and entered the Nibelungen by accident.

- Don't get confused by my F-Rank rating, I started as an A-rank, remember?

Flammel tasked Finger with helping Luminous to prove Johann's existence, he didn't remember the young hybrid either, but he trusted Anjou, and Anjou believed in the importance of Luminous more than anyone. Not everyone on Cassell gave up on him after all.

- Don't drive away, we can't escape!

- I thought you told me to drive faster!

- Yes I did, but I meant towards Odin!

The servitors quickly realized what they were intending to do, so they formed a barrier in front of their master. Finger pressed a button on the car and one mini-gun came out of each side of the vehicle.

- The equipment department makes phones that double as grenades, you think they can't make 007's car?

The gatling guns opened fire on the crowd of servitors, effectively cleaning the way. Finger put the car on self destruct mode and got ready to jump out, Luminous got on the roof, aiming his knife at Odin. The car hit Odin's water barrier and exploded, the shockwave soared into the sky, filled with flames. Luminous jumped and managed to pass through, and with a swift move, he pierced through Odin with the blade, just like Tianjiao attempted to do many years before.

Every servitor stopped their movements, Odin's scores started dropping down immediately and his body got split in two. There had to be something wrong with that, there's no way he would fall to his death so easily. Luminous took the god's skull and removed the mask, under it, the face of a death servitor greeted him instead, the others started crying and laughing at them. Odin's only goal is Nono, it had always been Nono, this was a trap and he was already on his way to get her.

Chapter 15

Nono was sitting next to Su Xiaoyan's bed, peeling an apple. The woman happily ate the bonbons that Nono brought for her as a gift.

- Nono, how is your mother doing?

- She's fine, she's still working and always asks me when I'll get married but I just don't tell her.

Nono had to make up that story, but at that moment she really felt like Xiaoyan's niece. She checked the woman's medical records, apparently the doctors thought she was schizophrenic and amnesiac, as long as Nono played her role well, the medical personnel would think Xiaoyan's amnesia made her forget about her relative.

Because Nono brought Bonbons, Xiaoyan recognized her immediately and happily accepted her gift.

She had been there since her son's death, she lost track of time, to the point where she felt like she had been there for three or four months, when in reality, seven years had passed. Not many people visited her in that time, her husband would take her home for a few days every now and then, but those events became less and less usual. Of course, Nono was there for a reason, without Tianjiao's apartment, her only remaining clue was Johann's mother, but the woman wasn't very open about her life. Nono's ability allowed her to put puzzles together, but Xiaojiao kept messing up the pieces.

- Did your former husband treat you well?

- He couldn't make enough money and he was very unmotivated, playing foolish all day long, I had enough of him!

- But he's handsome, and he's probably still breaking hearts.

- How do you know that he's handsome? You haven't seen him before.

- Of course I have, I remember hugging my uncle!

- Come on, do you really think I'm that broken? I know I don't have a niece.

- Then why didn't you tell the doctor?

- Because you're so pretty, and I like to chat with pretty girls, there's no one else here to chat with me, and you don't look like a bad person either.

Nono was genuinely surprised, so she declared her intentions straight on, she wanted to know more about Chu Tianjiao, but his ex-wife didn't seem to know a lot about him either, he would constantly lie about his past and alternate between multiple versions of the story.

- Sometimes he told me that he was a great spy, and that he came here to complete a task, and I believed him, without a clue of his salesman-like nature!

- And you still married him?

- He was handsome, and I was young.

Xiaoyan didn't express any regret in divorcing him, she'd rather be with someone she could rely on, but there was something else she could not explain.

- But he seems to have left something behind with me, a very important thing, I just can't remember it.

- What is it?

- I said I can't remember it, I've been thinking about it for a very long time.

- What kind of thing?

- A very important thing, I must find it, it would be very bad if I didn't.

A burst of cold wind opened the windows and made them shiver, Nono stood up and went to close them but she noticed something strange, the flowers on the outside were all withered, black petals flew through the room, she closed the window as fast as she could, something bad had happened and the air outside smelled of death.

She took out a desert eagle from her bag and stopped Xiaoyan from screaming, the woman relied on her intuition to understand that Nono wasn't going to hurt her. The place was silent and the lights flickered, the instinctive feeling of being alert that came from true isolation soon got a hold of her. She and Xiaoyan got out of the room, door after door, every doctor and every patient had disappeared.

The rain and the wind rapidly eroded the building. The day was finally here, she had never been in a Nibelungen before, she once regretted not being able to experience it, now Nibelungen came to see her. She didn't knew wether to be nervous or excited.

- Someone, someone is coming. Su Xiaoyan's voice trembled slightly.

The sound of footsteps made an echo in the building, those weren't human steps, that sounded like a few horses were coming their way. The storm, the Nibelungen, the steed, the rider, it seemed to be an ancient king who came with a strong breath of death, and the flowers in the garden withered in front of him. Nono remembered him, she saw his silhouette in the reflection of the glass when she went to Tianjiao's apartment.

The rider didn't seem to know where Xiaoyan's room was and he was checking them one by one. They ran towards the elevator, the rider was on the first floor so they needed to get to the top as fast as they could without the sound of their steps giving away their position. Behind them, the fluorescent lights went out one by one. Nono finally saw the reflection of the elevator's door in a mirror, but when its doors opened, the light of Odin's flames came out.

They ran in the other direction and soon reached the stairs, they ran down but it didn't matter, they were trapped on an endless loop. She shot at the creature but the bullets melted before touching the god's armor. They kept running and Nono kept shooting back but it wasn't buying them any more time, temperatures were rising and there was no way out.

Odin wasn't even in a hurry to reach them, Nono took Xiaoyan in her arms and ran across a hallway, enduring the terrible heat of the floor. She tried to get out through a window, but after opening the curtains she noticed that the whole world outside had changed and she was greeted by the sight of a roman pantheon.

Nono suddenly fell silent, she helped Xiaoyan to sit down on a bench and put her boots on the woman's feet. She noticed something, she was crying, she was remembering.

- There might be a way for you to get out of here by yourself, now tell me, what did Tianjiao left for you exactly?

- It's... A child. I had a son with him, his name is Johann Chu, I can't find my son... I can't find my son!

Xiaoyan was holding a pillow in her arms, the doctor said that she would put this pillow in her belly every morning and happily declare that she was pregnant. Nono took it from her hands and threw it away.

- Since you have a clear memory of him, you don't need this anymore, you will find your son, although I don't know where.

In this world, those who are not lunatics are the ones who were deceived. Luminous and Su Xiaoyan were the craziest because of their link to Johann Chu, to the truth. His mother's mental disorder was not there because she had lost a son seven years ago, a certain god wanted to modify her memory of him and she was resisting. She tied the little pillow to her back because a child is only safe in his mother's body, she sensed that someone was going to hurt her boy, so she wanted to feel like she could protect him.

Nono pushed Xiaoyan into a cubicle next to the ward and told her to keep the door closed until someone came to rescue her. She took Finger's GPS device out of her bag and broke it, expecting Luminous and Finger to arrive there after seeing her signal disappear. Odin arrived, his flames evaporated the strong currents of water and stood in front of her, Nono kept two knives on her back and a desert eagle in each hand.

- Odin!

The creature and his lance were impossible not to identify, the god actually exists.

- You are finally here.

He slowly raised Gungir and a faint white thread appeared, connecting the tip of the spear and Nono's heart. She thought his goal was Xiaoyan, due to her connection to Johann, but she was wrong, Odin's goal was her and only her. No wonder Luminous threw her down in the library, he probably had a foreboding of her death for some reason and tried to save her, his eyes showed a constant state of panic.

She didn't believe him and they put him on a psychiatric institution. She really wanted to tell him that she was sorry, because she had underestimated him.

She had always tried to be there for Luminous, she couldn't deny that she saw a lot of herself in him, this obsession with taking care of her sidekick was so prevalent because she knew how it was like to be powerless, lost and defenseless, but in the most critical moment, she had failed him.

Nono vaguely heard a song, a duet about a father and his daughter, it was coming from somewhere, along with the noise of a car engine. Luminous was coming, that song came from the radio, but how could she hear him? It didn't matter, she felt him presence and she believed it.

- Luminous! Don't you fucking dare to come here!

Nono shot every bullet she had left and they melted on Odin's presence. The lance was thrown and suddenly, the Maybach smashed through the wall, its lights illuminated Nono's eyes. She smiled, the moment she saw him, the cartridge of her gun was empty. The lance had already started its course and Luminous could only see her lips moving:

- I'm sorry

- Ming·Z·Lu! Luminous roared, time slowed down in his eyes

- The little one is here! Ming·Z smiled, Since I promised my brother that I'd try everything!

Come out! Golden saint cloth of the zodiac!, Phase shift armor!, Fierce fist! Seven-fold ring of the blazing sky!, Absolute domain AT Field!.

Every time he yelled a strange name, Luminous froze for a moment, these strange spells were taken directly from anime shows, they were weapons that lined up in front of Odin's lance, even a nuclear explosion could be rejected by them.

- What are you doing?

- I don't really know what tricks would work so I'm doing all of them!

Ming·Z kept casting spells, the speed of the lance was indeed affected but it never stopped nor it changed its trajectory.

- Hurry up brother, run!

Nono tried to yell, telling Luminous to stay away, but her mouth moved too slowly. Luminous ran past Odin and past the lance. The seven-fold ring was the strongest defense against projectiles, every time the Gungir lance pierced through a layer, it made a loud noise. Nono dropped the empty gun, she didn't have the strength to wield her knives. The spear hadn't arrived yet, and she was already like a lamb crucified on an altar.

Gungir hit the final defense, the sound was almost glass shattering.

- I couldn't stop it, even with the last layer. Give her a hug, kiss her! This is going to be your last chance! I'll buy as much time as possible for you!

Ming·Z made another barrier but the lance broke it, the little devil's hands were splashed with blood and they stained his bow tie, but he didn't care and looked at his side as an indifferent Luminous passed by and stood in front of Nono. He never managed to change the events, just the scenery. Gungir pierced through Ming·Z's chest.

- Brother, I tried my best

- It's ok, I'm here as well.

Luminous wasn't going to hug or kiss Nono, he was there to take her place. He could clearly feel his heart being cut open. The spear hadn't even touched his skin and his body had begun to carbonize and turn black, showing a rare struggle, burning it inch by inch.

- No! No! No! Nono struggled to stand up and pull the lance away from him.

- Don't come near me!

The lance tried to go through him, but it only managed to pin him against the wall. Nono shivered slightly and tears slowly ran down her face, but she didn't realize that she was crying. She always wanted him to grow up and go his own way, to use any advantage she might have over him to push him forward, but now the person who was crying on the floor was her.

- Senior sister, are you okay? It's okay.

Luminous raised his head, half of his head and body were carbonized, the cracks at the end of his lips extended all the way to the roots of his ears. He was really happy, because he finally managed to achieve his goal. He didn't want to live with the regret of losing her, he had seen Johann's own regret already.

Odin wasn't pleased, the god roared as he realized he had missed his chance. Luminous whispered:

- Ming·Z·Lu...

- Brother, I am here, you really found a method to stop the lance!

- In this world, only a monster can stop a monster, and I am the biggest monster in the world...

- Yes, you are the biggest monster in the world, brother! You are awesome! Then, are you ready to make the last deal? I can't do much against the lance, but I can take care of the monster behind it, the little devil is good at this dirty work!

Luminous stared at him and asked for two conditions:

- Kill Odin, but also take Nono back to safety.

- Alright but hurry up! That guy is almost here!

Sleipnir's eight legs made a thunderous sound, the dragon subspecies that Odin mounted carried its master into the room. Luminous raised his blood-soaked hand and gave the little devil a high-five. Ming·Z's figure suddenly appeared in the night sky, this time he stopped laughing and opened his arms. He looked like a suspended cross.

- Something for nothing, 100% fusion.

He breathed deeply, as if he wanted to inhale all of the world's air into his lungs. Sharp bone spurs protruded from his body and he was covered in black scales. Huge black wings sprung from his back and he took flight, diving down, his image poured into Luminous's body.

The carbonized skin quickly peeled off, he experienced musculoskeletal growth and deformation and the sound of a glacier cracking was heard across the hospital.

The black wings were opened and Gungir was ejected from his chest. Sleipnir couldn't move a single inch closer to them, because Luminous placed his hand on the horse's chest. Nono stared blankly at him, because she couldn't tell if the monster in front of her was a friend or an enemy, but Luminous stared back at her.

- Sister, don't be afraid, as long as I live, you'll be fine.

After two years, Chen Motong saw the devil that rescued her from the bottom of the Three Gorges Dam once again. She remembered how he held her, his childlike fear and his voice.

Don't die, don't die, don't die... Don't Die!

- So it was you...

But Luminous didn't hear those words at all, he rushed to Odin, at the flash of lightning, the monsters that had been in conflict with each other so many times, leaving countless disasters, clashed once again, and the claws and the sword stained the place red and black.

They roared, they fought, a war between kings that can only be ended by death.

Epilogue

On the elevated road, Finger stopped for a moment to catch his breath. This guy is usually slacking and his posture is erratic. The death servitors are struggling to even reach his clothes.

There should be half a marathon left before he can lose them, however, the physical strength of those things is almost unlimited.

Seeing him stop, a group of servitors suddenly became excited and the baby-like cries they made reached the heavens. A girl in a black outfit and a gauze mask appeared in front of him, a ninja.

- How did you know I was here?

- I have a radar for pretty girls... Can you handle that many servitors?

Mai Sakatoku drew two small blades.

- Those are too many, I'm specialized in assassination, not group combat. It's a pity that the other two girls are not here...

- Then I hope I can help.

He had a sword in his hand, the mirror-like Murasame suddenly turned black, the black blade light soon extended all the way to his body and the rain around it evaporated. Mai was surprised by the brutality of the sword, but Finger remained indifferent.

- What kind of sword is that?

- Murasame, have you never heard of the Dragon Slayer of Fire? Then you are really kind, but a bit ignorant, my friend!

After saying that, he jumped and cut off the elevated road.

#dragon raja #dragon raja novel #luminous #nono #ming z lu #finger von frings #johann chu

26 notes · View notes

saiilorstars · 3 years ago

Text

Rise Up

Ch.12: For the Girl Who Had Everything

Previous Story: It Had To Be You || Current Masterlist

Pairings: Barry Allen x OFC

Chapter Summary: Team Flash enlists the help of newcomer Black Orchid to save Belén and Barry from Datura's and Poison Ivy's clutches. While they figure out the best course of action, Belén and Barry are each submerged into their own personal worlds...turned nightmares?

Pronunciation of OC: Bell-en. The last syllable has an emphasis so it’s not pronounced like ‘Helen’ would be.

Taglist: @ocfairygodmother @anotherunreadblog @transformerfan97 @stareyedplanet @perfectlystiles [If you’d like to be part of this OC’s taglist, let me know!]

Author's Note:

Itaclis is for Belén's world.

Bold is for Barry's world.

~ 0 ~ 0 ~ 0 ~ 0 ~ 0 ~ 0 ~ 0 ~ 0 ~ 0 ~ 0 ~ 0 ~

"Belén? You ready to go?" Iris' voice didn't register until the third time she asked the same question.

Belén finally blinked and tore her eyes from the nothingness she'd been entranced with. She blinked a couple times until she realized she was standing in front of a metal table, inside what looked like a laboratory. She herself was wearing a lab coat and some protective glasses. "...what?" she whispered. Where the hell was she!?

"Belén, we're going to be late!" Iris exclaimed. "Don't tell me you have cold feet already!"

"Cold feet—what?" Belén made a face that indicated pure, honest confusion. "What are you talking about?"

"Hey," Linda Park strode into the lab with her phone in hand. "Caitlin says she's already at the store. We good?"

"Yeah, I'm just waiting for Belén to get with the program," Iris chuckled. "I think she's got cold feet."

"Already?" Linda gaped. "You're not at the aisle yet."

Aisle?" Belén repeated, though something inside told her she'd be figuring it out in a couple seconds. Her eyes found her left hand where a shiny silver ring sat on her ring finger. "Oh my God is that an engagement ring!?" she practically screeched.

Now she had the odd stares from Iris and Linda.

"She's out of it," Iris shook her head.

"We gotta go or we're going to be late," Linda said.

Between the two, they grabbed Belén's things, pulling her protective glasses off and her lab coat, and dragged her out of the building...all in the meanwhile she had a meltdown over the news.

"What do you mean I'm getting married!? I can't get married!" she frantically looked between the two women holding her arms. They were walking her down the street as if she'd try to run away from them, and actually...if given the chance, she might just.

"Belén, wake up!" Iris gave her an odd glance. "This has been going on for almost a year now. This is the last fitting of your wedding dress—"

"I don't have a wedding dress because I'm not getting married!" Belén exclaimed. "I never got engaged! I am not engaged!"

"Jesus, Belén, how many hours of sleep did you get last night?" Linda asked, giving Belén the same look Iris had.

"The right amount to know that I never got engaged to anyone!" Belén finally wrestled free from their hooks and whirled around to face them. She pointed a sharp finger at the two women, warning them not to get any closer. "Now listen to me when I say that I am not getting married!"

"Fine, but you're the one who's going to explain that to Barry later," Iris said, freezing Belén in her spot.

The ombre-blonde blinked several times as the words hit her. "... Barry?" she repeated. "I'm...getting married...t-to Barry?" Iris and Linda both nodded their heads. "What…?" Belén felt light headed. Oh yes she did. "...when…?"

When she started rocking on her feet to the point of nearly falling, Iris and Linda hurried to catch her.

"Oh God Belén, don't tell me your already pregnant!" Linda's laugh was no joke for Belén who nearly fell again.

"Don't say that! I'm not—what is going on!?" Belén shouted to the air.

~0~

"Shivhan Jang," Cisco loudly read the name off the profile he had posted on the screen on wall for the others to see, "Twenty-seven year old with no actual priors…"

"Then why is she in our system?" Joe cut him off and pointed to the fact Cisco had the CCPD system open for them to see.

A smile spread across his face. "She had a speeding ticket she never paid."

"Okay, moving on?" Iris motioned them not to get so stuck on that one detail. They were on a time limit here, after all.

"Okay," Cisco clapped his hands together before continuing with his briefing. "Let's see. She and her family emigrated from Korea when she was 5, she's been a part of Central City's school records since kindergarten but we've got no college attendance. She dropped out."

"What about her powers?" Joe asked. "Did she get them from the Particle Accelerator?"

"Yup, there's footage of her in a flower shop the night the Particle Accelerator went off. I'd show it to you but it is not pretty."

"Can we trust her?" Joe wearily asked. He couldn't believe they were relying on a woman Belén technically kidnapped.

"She wants her freedom…" Cisco reminded.

"But how do we know she won't run out on us as soon as Caitlin finishes healing her?"

"Because we're chipping her," Cisco said so matter-of-factly that both Joe and Iris stared at him in shock.

"We're what?" Iris put a hand behind her ear just to make sure she was listening clearly.

"Relax," Cisco waved her and Joe off. "It's just a lie, but she won't know that. We tell her we found a way to switch her powers off. She likes her powers. She will help us."

"I don't know," Joe shook his head. "Sounds like we're being…"

"Shady?" Iris finished for him. "First, Belén kidnaps her, then we force her to help us with lies and deceit?"

"The situation is dire, Iris!" Cisco snapped. "We're not hurting her and we really are letting her go afterwards. Belén can kill us later."

"And you know she will kill us for letting her go," Iris reiterated that part just so they all knew what was going to come after. Cisco seemed more or less prepared for it.

~0~

"Barry?" someone softly called. "Barry?"

The speedster in question stirred awake after about the fourth call of his name. He opened his eyes and met a white sheet bunched up beside him. A bed. He was laying on a bed.

"Barry?"

It clicked to Barry that it was Belén calling his name. He sat upright and rubbed his eyes. There was something wrong here and he couldn't tell what it was.

"Good morning," Belén was sitting near the foot of the bed, to Barry's left, and was smiling at the speedster. "You must have been really tired because I've been trying to wake you up for a good 15 minutes now."

"What happened?" Barry dropped his hands from his face, though he was still partially groggy. "I thought I was…" but he trailed off when he finally looked at Belén. "Oh my God…Belén you're-you're…" He could finish the words in one go.

Belén raised an eyebrow at him. "What? Barry, are you okay?"

But Barry was speechless. Now he knew there was definitely something wrong. "You're...pregnant."

Belén's look indicated she was worried for him and not herself, like he was. She gazed down at her pregnant belly, which looked to be around 4 months at least, and chuckled. "Okay, what were you dreaming about that's got you so out of it?"

Barry's mouth was gaping and it didn't look like it would be closing anytime soon. "What!? But you're —"

"Pregnant, yeah," she nodded. "Have been for 5 months now. Did you just notice, or…?"

Barry looked like he would pass out at any moment. "When did that — how did that — what!?"

"Okay, Barry, you're seriously worrying me now."

"I'm... ut you're pregnant! You're—" Barry was stopped only because Belén had put her hand over his mouth. Still, his eyes were wide in alarm.

"I know, pregnant," Belén nodded slowly. "We've been through this. Now I'm going to take my hand off your mouth and we're going to get ready for the day. We've got work. Got it?" Barry slowly nodded and, keeping her word, Belén drew her hand away from his mouth. "There," she smiled, "All better. Now c'mon! I'm craving some chocolate banana pancakes!" She pecked his lips and scooted off the bed, though it was a bit of a struggle.

All Barry did was watch her go with wide, wide eyes.

~ 0 ~

Belén felt like she couldn't breath...and it wasn't because of the wedding dress hugging her body. No, no, it was the world she was living in.

"Belén, you don't look so happy," Caitlin's voice drew Belén's gaze from her reflection. She'd been staring at herself in the mirror for a good five minutes, but she wasn't in-tune with the rest of reality. "You look beautiful."

They were inside the store where apparently Belén had ordered her wedding dress from. Caitlin, Iris and Linda were sitting across her, watching her in delight as they got a full view of the finished dress.

"Yeah, um…" Belén cleared her throat and turned away from the mirror. "I'm just...it doesn't feel real…"

Caitlin smiled. "Yeah, that's understandable."

"You look so pretty, girl!" Linda exclaimed. "Barry's going to lose it when he sees you!"

At the mention of Barry, Belén stiffened. She looked down at her left hand again, where the shiny ring still sat. "I'm…" she swallowed hard. "I need my Mom. Where is she?"

"At home, where else?" Iris gave her a strange look. "You and her don't really talk, remember?"

Well, that rang right.

"I...need to see Barry, then," Belén figured if anyone would tell her the truth it would be Barry. Of course, the others didn't see it that way.

"You just can't wait, huh?" Linda gave her a smirk.

Belén reddened in a short minute. "Oh God, stop!"

"Oh give her a break," Caitlin waved them off, but of course they just burst into laughter.

"I need to see Barry, where is he?" Belén grabbed Caitlin's wrist. "Please?"

Of course Caitlin told her Barry was at the precinct. That also rang truth. Needless to say, Belén dragged Caitlin back to the fitting room so that she could help unzip the damn dress for her. She needed to get away from there and find Barry.

She didn't even think about giving any of her friends an explanation for her hasty leave...but it wasn't like they weren't going to guess. Luckily for her, the way to the precinct was just like it always was. There were few things that seemed just like her world, but this couldn't be it.

She kept thinking that as she walked into the precinct. She was only halfway into the bullpen when she spotted Barry coming out of the Captain's office. Well, he seemed normal.

"Barry?" she called once and had his full attention.

His face brightened and soon he bid goodbye to his co-worker. He came directly to her and greeted her with a kiss that, honestly, felt pretty real. "Hey," Barry smiled at her. "How'd it go today?"

"Hm?" it took Belén a few seconds to realize he meant her trip to the wedding dress store. "Oh, right, um...we gotta talk about that."

"Oh, okay," Barry nodded. "You want to go up to the lab?"

Belén agreed and allowed him to take her hand—her left hand—and lead her out of the bullpen. His hand felt real enough to be him...but there was something inside telling her that this was all wrong.

~ 0 ~

Caitlin finished stitching up the last bit of open skin on Shivhan's shoulder. Soon as she said she was done, Shivhan pulled up the STAR Labs shirt she'd borrowed up to her shoulder again.

"Thanks," Shivhan mumbled and got up from the medbed. "So, what do I do next?"

"Well, we're making you a tracker and implanting a communications system to your suit so we can talk to you while you're out," Caitlin picked up her tablet she'd left on the table.

"And when do I get to go out?"

"Soon."

Shivhan sighed loudly in annoyance. "Sure, take your time. Not like I'm in a hurry to leave."

Caitlin looked up from her tablet. "Why? We could offer you help here."

"I don't need help from you people. You let the Azalea and the Flash get kidnapped. Good going."

Caitlin pursed her lips at the hard jab. She couldn't exactly argue much in their defense there, right? Shivhan seemed to know what she'd done because she smirked.

Caitlin briefly glared in return them added, "And yet you needed my help stitching you back up." That made Shivhan's smirk falter. "Don't have many doctors around you?"

"They tend to get robbed where I'm from," Shivhan meant to leave the room, though she had no idea where she'd be going since she didn't know STAR Labs yet.

"Then maybe we can help you after this," Caitlin's offer forced Shivhan to turn around. "Help out that neighborhood of yours…"

"That is my territory. I will take care of it!"

A ghost of a smile appeared on Caitlin's face. "I guess it's not all about self preservation."

Now it was Shivhan's turn to glare. Caitlin, on her part, just smiled kindly.

"It's okay. That's your home and you have every right to be defensive about it. Why do you think neither the Azalea nor the Flash leave Central City? It's their home too and they want to defend it."

Shivhan rolled her eyes, but secretly she respected that. She was big on loyalty. And right now...she supposed she had to be loyal to the two metas who'd been defending them all this time.

"Dammit," she muttered under her breath. "Alright, let's go get those two metas."

~ 0 ~

Belén stared at her engagement ring while Barry went around his lab to clean up some things before they left.

"Hey Bells," he called, unknowingly using her nickname she was sure he wasn't supposed to know in this fake world. "Could you give me that file?"

Belén followed his gaze to the desk behind her and picked up said file. He nodded that it was that one and so she handed it to him.

"You have a lot of work today?" she asked as a means to keep the silence away and, honestly, to weed out any information that could help her figure out what was going on.

"Just a big case," Barry left the file flat at a table. "I think I have everything good but you know Captain Jang wants everything to be perfect."

"Captain Jang?" Belén repeated.

"Shivhan Jang?"

Belén blinked in shock. That was the bartender she met…

"Oh my God. Shivhan Jang?" she brought an index finger to bite on.

"What are you doing?" Barry walked back to her. "You don't usually bite your nails."

"I don't?"

He pulled her finger from her mouth and shook his head. "No. You work at a lab. You think it's disgusting."

"A lab...right…" Belén pursed her lips there. "What do I do there again? I thought I was a reporter or something…"

Barry laughed. "Right. Like you would ever leave your botany for anything."

"I'm a...botanist…" Belén nodded her head. Oh yeah, there was something wrong here because she didn't have a clue as to what a botanist would do. She loved her plants, but...she was no scientist.

"I think this whole wedding preparation is taking a toll on you," Barry smiled at her. "Thank God it's almost over, right?"

"Hmm? When is…?"

"Next week! Can you believe it?" Barry didn't notice her shock as he picked up her left hand to stroke her skin. "Feels like yesterday was the day I proposed. The park's fountain water was really cold."

"You proposed at our park fountain?" Belén blinked. That...sounded like it could be real. Their park fountain did have special memories.

"Course," Barry smiled at her. "Now I just really want us to get to the date so I can call you my wife."

"Wife…" Belén said the word and felt like she lost air. It did make her feel butterflies in her stomach. "I'm...going to be your... wife…"

No one could take the big grin off Barry's face. Belén certainly couldn't do it, even if she did know it wasn't real.

"Sooo…how's about I take my fiance out for some lunch?" Barry brought her hand up to his lips for a kiss.

Goddammit , Belén swooned. She nodded slowly and silently while her heart jolted in her chest.

~0~

By this point, Barry knew there was something so, so wrong. After a rather quiet breakfast with Belén, he practically raced to get to work. Least there, things seemed normal. The only thing that wasn't the same was the fact Veronica wasn't part of the precinct, neither was Patty. By the time lunch came around, Barry was going crazy trying to figure out what was wrong with his world. When Belén walked in, she found Barry at his desk with his head down and hands over his head's back.

"Barry?" her voice immediately pulled him up in a sitting position.

There she was, looking very...pregnant. He almost did a double take, but it was enough for Belén to notice.

"I know...not very...pretty-" she made a gesture at her stomach. "-appealing."

"No, that's not -" Barry didn't know what to say to her. It was hard enough looking at her. "I'm sorry."

"Instead of an apology, I'd really like to know what's going on with you," she walked further inside the lab. "This morning you were... completely out of it."

Barry nodded. It was a fair request, but it wasn't an easy one to respond to. He turned his chair to face her and offered her a tiny small. "I'm just...having some trouble waking up." Wasn't that the truth.

"Yeah, I know I sleep crazy," Belén sheepishly smiled.

Barry gave her a look. She wasn't a crazy sleeper. He didn't have the chance to sleepover with her a lot, but the few times he did she always slept peacefully. She barely moved.

Just something else that was wrong.

"Can we go to lunch?" Barry asked her. The only way he would figure out what was going on was if he got to talking.

Belén would be the only one he could trust.

~0~

"Hey," Joe strode into the cortex rather quickly if anyone had paid enough attention. "Did we figure out a plan to get Barry and Belén back?"

"Working on it," Cisco was tinkering with a small device in his hands.

"Yeah, uh, we got another problem," Joe informed, making Cisco look up from his work.

"What?"

Joe looked shaky, jittery…

"Where is she!?" Veronica Green's voice carried into the room minutes before she appeared. She looked absolutely furious, and yet...terrified.

"Oh you didn't," Cisco shot Joe a look. The man rubbed the back of his head, to his credit looking guilty. "You told her!?"

"I had to. Her daughter's been kidnapped," Joe reminded. "I already have my own son out there. I know exactly what it feels like—"

"We were getting them back! She's mad as hell!" Cisco flapped a hand in Veronica's direction. "With a gun!"

"Oh give it a break and tell me where my daughter is," Veronica snapped. "I cannot believe you let her get kidnapped! This is exactly why I don't want Belén anywhere near this world!"

"Well she's in it and we're working on it," Cisco nearly snapped himself. "Now would you please stop shouting at me? I'm trying to work on something here!"

"What is it?" Joe spotted the small device in Cisco's hand.

"It's a comm. system for Shivhan," Cisco turned back for the table he'd been working at.

"Who's Shivhan?" Veronica crossed her arms.

"Someone helping us to get Belén and Barry back."

"This is crazy! Why can't we just get the CCPD into this!?"

Cisco shook his head and mumbled something that sounded like 'beginners'. He turned back woman with a polite smile. "Because these are dangerous, poisonous, metahumans that the CCPD is not capable of fighting."

Veronica looked outraged. Her eyes flickered to Joe and waited for him to say something in their defense, but of course he never did. "You're just going to let him say things like that?"

"I ain't fighting no poisonous metas," Joe gave her a crazed look. "I have seen first-hand what those two are like and believe me when I tell you that these guys-" he pointed at Cisco, "-know how to handle it. With some supervision of course."

"Kind of gave the compliment and took it away," Cisco mumbled to him before facing Veronica. "Look, Ms. Green, Belén knows how to handle herself. She can hang on until we get there to help her."

But that didn't seem to satisfy Veronica much. "You just take this so easily. Like it's normal." Before Cisco could say it pretty much was part of their daily meta life, Veronica went on. "I could lose Belén just like I lost Maritza and Rayan."

"You're not losing anyone," Joe pointed at her then moved his finger to Cisco. "And you gotta hurry up. We cannot let Datura and Poison Ivy keep Belén and Barry another minute."

Cisco agreed.

~ 0 ~

"Sooo...we're not getting lunch," Barry confessed as he and Belén walked down the street. They'd been walking for a while now and while Belén had thought of asking him to just speed them to their destination, the act of walking and talking was a better strategy to get more information.

Now though, she looked at him curiously. "What? Why not?"

"I have a surprise for you," he announced with that same cheeky smile he had in real life.

"Well, what is it?"

"It's just down the block," he nodded up ahead. They'd turned down a new block of houses recently but Belén wasn't sure what he was nodding at.

He walked them to the last house of the block. While he didn't say anything, Belén noticed the 'for sale' sign in the front yard now had a bright red 'sold' over it.

Barry stopped them at the front door and reached for something in his pocket. "I did a thing...a surprise...and...well…" he pulled out a key that he held between them, "Surprise."

Belén's dark eyes widened as she looked at the keys and the front door. "You didn't…"

"I did," nodded Barry. "We talked about it but with all the planning we never really got around to looking. I thought I'd do that and I found one I know you'll love."

"Barry, I…" Belén didn't know what to do nor say. Her head kept turning from his soft face to the front door.

"It's ours, Bells," he put a finger under her chin and gently turned her gaze to him. "It's our home."

Belén couldn't help it. Her eyes teared up. It wasn't real, she knew, but she couldn't help wish - for a brief second - that it was. She wished they weren't always in constant danger with metahumans trying to kill them. It always felt like there was more bad than good in their lives, more tears than smiles.

She wished they could just be happy and safe.

She threw her arms around Barry and hugged him tight. Barry wrapped his arms around her and pressed a kiss to her head.

"I love you, Bells," he whispered.

"I love you too," she closed her eyes tight.

~ 0 ~

"You did all that in the span of 3 hours?" Shivhan looked over the magenta colored suit Cisco had apparently made for her.

Cisco had brought the suit to the cortex for her and the others to see. They still weren't very sure of Shivhan but so far, she hadn't tried to run away...though they were aware she was under the lie that she was chipped.

"Yeah, well, I was a bit rushed," Cisco huffed. "But I'll get it done better after we get our friends back."

"Nina's on her way here," Iris looked up from her phone.

Beside her, Veronica shook her head. "I cannot believe Dr. Clarke is in on this as well."

"Goes to show you that everyone can be a meta and still have a life," Iris said as a means to support Belén's life style.

"Or it shows that everyone's a liar," Veronica made sure to look at everyone in the cortex.

"Hey, don't count me in your web, lady," Shivhan crossed her arms and looked Veronica in the face. "I'm here helping your daughter who, by the way," she made sure to look at Cisco, "I still don't know her actual name. But she knows mine? How's that fair."

"She found you fair and square," Cisco raised his hands.

Shivhan rolled her eyes and pointed at her new suit. "Tell me when I can wear this stupid thing, alright? I'm gonna go take a shot before I have to face a murderer." But just as she was leaving, Caitlin came into the cortex with a grim face.

"I think I know why Datura and Poison Ivy have been stealing from labs," she announced.

"She stole some sleep and dream prototypes, didn't she?" asked Joe.

"Yeah, and given everything else that she took, according to Harry...they might have used it to build a sort of...dream inducer."

"A dream what-now?" Veronica frowned at her. Even Shivhan turned around when she was meant to be finding a drink somewhere in the building.

"Harry and I went over it, and we're pretty sure they've put…" Caitlin briefly glanced at Shivhan before continuing, "...the Azalea and the Flash into dream comas. They're dreaming whatever Datura and Poison Ivy programmed them to."

"So they could basically be having nightmares?" Cisco shivered. "Like walking zombies? Or death?"

Caitlin hated he was choosing to put those images in their heads, especially when Veronica was right behind him.

"We need to get them out!" Veronica exclaimed. "My daughter could have the worst nightmare invented by some murderer!"

"Why put them through that, though?" Iris made the question no one else thought to ask. She received quite a look from Veronica.

"Who cares! We just need to get them out of it!"

"It matters because Datura obviously put a lot of thought into this plan," Iris argued. "It's only reasonable we try to figure out a reason why."

"Because she's a psychopathic murderer?" Shivhan shrugged. "Sometimes there's no reason except to just be plain mean."

"She's right," Harry's voice cut in before anyone else could say anything. He walked into the cortex, making it his first appearance since Belén and Barry were taken. The guilt, while he fought it, was burdening his shoulders. "Datura used to be calculating before she came to this Earth. Now she's acting just like Zoom. She wants to be better than the Azalea before killing her. Miss Jang is right. Sometimes there's no reason except to just be mean. And if Datura controls the worlds...she's going to be outright cruel."

~ 0 ~

"Oh yum," Belén took a whiff of her plate the moment it was set in front of her. She'd ordered steak with mashed potatoes and some vegetables.

Barry watched her eat and had to chuckle at her excitement. It definitely felt like her. When Belén noticed his stare, she blushed and stopped eating.

"I had an insane craving today for steak. It's cooked so...we should be good," she rubbed the top of her stomach.

The smile on Barry faltered for a second. Right. That was definitely not real. It couldn't be. But still…

"How, um...how did that happen?" he knew the moment he asked the question that it wasn't worded right and it would definitely put him in an awkward situation.

"How did what happen?" Belén raised an eyebrow at him. Barry didn't say anything but his eyes flickered to her stomach. "What? You mean when did I get pregnant? Barry! You were there!"

"I know, but—"

"I didn't make this happen on my own, you know!"

Barry cleared his throat while he felt his face warm up. "I haven't...we've never…" but of course he couldn't say finish that sentence because apparently it wasn't true here.

"We never what?" Belén demanded to know. "Don't tell me you're doubting your fatherhood all of a sudden."

Barry shook his head. But it was just another face that didn't fit in this reality. Because in his world, he never touched Belén. And she wasn't the type to cheat on him. There was no way in hell she could be pregnant.

"Seriously Barry, what is going on with you?" Belén put her fork down on the table. "All day today you've been so weird. I'm a little worried, honestly."

"I-I'm fine," Barry coughed. "I think I just hit my head or something."

"And you forgot things?" Belén smiled in amusement. "Or is it that dad-shock come early?"

Barry bobbed his head. Dad. It was wrong and he had to figure out a way to get out of it. "Hey Belén, what's your favorite color?"

"Pink, why? You knew that…?"

Dammit, that was right. "Why is it your favorite color again?"

"Um...because it's on my favorite flower, Azaleas."

Dammit, also right.

"Alright, Barry, now you're really - oh!" Belén suddenly froze which, of course, made Barry immediately panic.

"What? What is it—"

"It's moving! My baby's moving!" Belén exclaimed and shifted in her seat so that she could sit sideways. "Barry, come here!"

Barry didn't really know what to do, but for some reason his feet moved without his consent. In 2 seconds he was with Belén but his hands trembled as they went back and forth trying to decide whether or not to touch her.

Belén grabbed one of his hands and gently placed it over her belly. Sure enough, Barry felt the light thump underneath.

It'snotrealit'snotrealit'snotreal, Barry told himself repeatedly to remind himself that he couldn't get sucked into this fantasy.

But the thumps continued.

"She's moving," Belén smiled with tears in her eyes.

Barry's gaze snapped up to meet hers. "...she? It's a girl?" Belén nodded her head.

Oh my God it's not real, and yet as Barry told himself that he just couldn't take his hand off Belén's stomach. He was feeling his baby kick.

~ 0 ~

Barry had brought them into the house which turned out to be beautiful. Belén never really thought about house shopping, and much less house shopping with your fiance. She was letting herself get sucked into this world and she hated it...but she just couldn't snap out of it. As Barry led her into the dining table and the kitchen, describing all the things they could do...she found herself falling more in love.

"And I promise not to burn the house down trying to cook that lasagna of yours," he said after showing her the stove.

A light chuckle slipped through her lips. "It's cute you think you'll ever get my family's recipe."

"Well, I'm going to be part of your family now," he swiftly countered with. "You could make the exception, then…"

"Yeah, we'll see!" she bopped his nose and started heading out. "Let's go see upstairs!"

"But I want that recipe!" he called after her.

They came up to the second floor and found four doors. They poked their head inside the first door's room and found a small room that could be for a guest.

"Or, you know...for a...baby...or something…" Barry said quietly, though not that quietly because Belén heard perfectly.

She smiled to herself. "Yeah, maybe…" she turned and walked for the next room. It turned out to be a decent sized bathroom. "Oh, I love that mirror," she gawked at the long, rectangular mirror hanging on the wall. "Is that a marble counter?"

"Easy, you look more in love with that than me," Barry frowned as she stroked the counter.

She laughed. "Jealous, much?"

"Let's keep looking, c'mon. Our room has a balconyyyy…" he sing-sang for her and got her attention.

"Don't lie to me…"

"I'm not…"

Belén bolted from the bathroom and skipped the third door to go straight for what was meant to be their bedroom. She flung open the door and saw a large bedroom inside. There was a beautiful, sparkly chandelier on the ceiling. But then her eyes found the balcony and she definitely fell in love with it.

"Oh those are so pretty!" she squealed and rushed inside the room. "You know I miss that from when I used to live at my dad's house?"

"Yeah," Barry nodded. "I thought you might like this one."

"I do," she said before opening the balcony doors. She stepped outside and was met with a gentle breeze. "Oh my God I love this."

Barry came up from behind and wrapped his arms around her waist. "I'm glad you do." He pressed a kiss to her cheek and held her close. "Because this is our home. It's our room. And I can't wait to live here with you."

Belén breathed in a shaky breath. "Yeah…I'd love to live here with...you…" she turned around and ran her hands up and down his arms. "We'd be happy here."

"Course we will be," Barry smiled at her. He gently pulled her back into the bedroom. "Now you know why I can't wait for next week. Are you ready to become Mrs. Allen?"

"Uum…" Belén bit her lip. "Well...I would like to be...some day…"

"That day is so close," Barry nuzzled his nose next to hers while she brought her hands to rest on his shoulders. He soon kissed her.

~ 0 ~

In the real world, Datura ran her index finger down the side of Barry's face. The unconscious speedster was placed on a metal bed with a few pads on wires sticking to his face, all connected to a machine behind.

"Don't be tempted," Poison Ivy's smooth voice warned.

Datura looked up from the speedster and scowled. "Never. I just find...it amazing. Pure appearance, though." She gazed down at Barry, who was no longer wearing his cowl as that had been ripped off the moment he was knocked out. "It's too bad Zoom is going to kill him later on. If it was up to me...he'd get to live."

"Really?" Poison Ivy crossed her arms. "You would seriously let him leave?"

Datura rolled her eyes but said nothing more.

Poison Ivy dropped her arms and moved down the room until she came up beside the second bed placed only a few feet from Barry's. This one had Belén laying on it, unconscious and with the same wires on her face as Barry. Her mask had also disappeared. "And this one? Did she ever have a chance?"

"If she didn't have her powers, then maybe," Datura turned to face Belén, but as soon as she did...a deep glare settled over her face. There was only honest hatred towards Belén, whether Datura wanted to hide it or not.

"I don't think so," Poison Ivy shook her head. She passed a hand over Belén's face, thinking it would be so easy to just end her right there...but of course Datura would never want it to be that easy. "I believe that was the plan...until you met her...and saw what she had."

Datura met Poison Ivy's look and glared. "She has the powers that can save my life. That's what I need from her."

"So then let's just take them and leave," Poison Ivy knew her suggestion would be shut down but she had to make a point of saying it out loud. "Better yet, let's just take Belén and go back to our Earth. We can run all the tests we need back there, with people who will back us up, and we can do it all from the comfort of our home."

"No," Datura's voice was hard and final. "She dies here," she said with a clenched jaw. "Where her friends are, where her family is...and where her Barry is. They can all watch her die here. That is what I deserve. Watch her life crumble as mine did." Her eyes gazed over Belén's figure and, without her knowledge, one of her hands started glowing with one of her siphoned powers. "Let's make the nice dreams turn into nightmares." She moved to the machine controlling the dream worlds. "Because if I know Belén, she's getting sucked into the fantasy whether she likes it or not. And that means when it finally crashes down, it'll hurt even more. Let's make it rain with pain." She reached for one of the small knobs on the machine and happily turned it over until a new sound took it over. The faint blue glow it had turned into an angry red.

Poison Ivy noticed Datura's hand glowing again. She always did. She was always aware that her friend slowly slipping from her, and if they didn't do something soon...

Soon there would be nothing left of her friend.

~0~

"I've been thinking of some names," Belén confessed to Barry once the two were out of the restaurant.

Barry, who was holding her hand, looked down at her with the utmost curiosity. "Really? What are they?"

"You can veto them if you'd like. Like what Ross and Rachel did when they were having a girl," Belén's suggestion made Barry laugh. "I'm serious!"

"Just go ahead!"

"Fine. I was thinking about Reneé?"

"Mm, that's almost as bad as Ruth."

Belén rolled her eyes. "Alright. How about Alya?"

"Better," Barry nodded.

"Then there's Ximena. I also kind of like Valerie, Aileen, and Everly."

"You...have put a lot of thought into this," Barry concluded, making Belén laugh. "I like those..."

"Well since I'm not at the lab anymore, there's not a lot for me to do," she shrugged.

"Lab? What lab?"

Belén gave him a glance, waiting for him to take it back but of course he didn't. "My lab? My job? At Mercury Labs? My botany work!"

"... right, right," Barry quickly said in an attempt to keep things looking normal. "You're a...botanist…"

See that wasn't right either.

But he didn't have a lot of time to think about it. All of a sudden, they heard gunshots.

~0~

"When do you want to go to the furniture store?" Barry asked once they were out of the house. He was busy locking the front door of their new house.

Belén rocked on her feet while she thought about the idea. "Ummm...don't know. Whenever I guess."

"Well, I don't think we should waste time. We get married next week so we should have things semi-ready for then…" Barry trailed off when he noticed Belén looking at the bushes of their front yard. "What?"

"That would be the perfect spot to grow Azaleas," she said with a growing smile.

"Yeah? Go look at it, then. We can stop and buy some seeds."

Belén pointed at him, indicating she liked the idea. She moved to step down from the front porch when a strong force rumbled underneath her. "Wh-what's happening!?" she couldn't get her balance no matter how hard she tried. The ground shook with all its might.

"It's an earthquake!" Barry exclaimed.

~ 0 ~

No one seemed to know where the bullets were coming from at first, but the firing didn't stop.

And then people started going down.

Two across the street had blood splatter on their foreheads, on behind that caught a bullet in their chest.

"We gotta get out of here!" Barry exclaimed. His first reaction was to speed them out of there...until he realized he couldn't. "I don't have my powers," he realized in horror.

"Barry, I can't run…" Belén said fearfully as if she knew what was going to happen next.

"It's okay, we'll just go as far as you can," Barry tugged her hand forwards and made her at least sprint. He had no idea where those damn bullets were coming from except that they were nonstop.

He was about to turn them down a new block when he felt Belén's shake and scream. When he looked back, he saw a red dripping from the back of her neck. There was a bullet in the back of her head.

As quickly as the bullet came, the life slipped from her eyes. And Barry got to see it firsthand and up close.

"No! No! NO!" He screamed as he caught Belén's body from falling. Still, with his own body shaking, he dropped to his knees, with his arms cradling her body. "Belén!" he cried out but she was motionless. Her eyes were open, but still.

~ 0 ~

"Earthquakes don't happen in Central City!" Belén shrieked as she clung onto a pillar of the front porch.

"Well, they do!" Barry tried to find his footing anywhere he could.

The house was shaking and grumbling. Belén's eyes widened when she saw cracks started to run down from the pillar she was holding. Her first instinct was to let go, but in doing so she almost fell back if Barry hadn't caught her.

"We gotta get out of here!" he tried pushing them forwards, but every time he took a step the shaking forced them back 2 steps.

"How strong is this house?" Belén's gaze was rising as she saw the cracks spreading on the porch's ceiling. The cracks then became loud groans releasing bits of cement.

"Move!" Barry tried pushing her forwards again. She put all her effort into running but the shaking was too damn hard.

"AH!" she screeched when a chunk of a pillar slid off its place and fell just in front of her feet. She once again moved but with one hand fiercely holding onto Barry's. They just needed to get off the porch and onto the yard where they could wait the earthquake out.

But things went too fast.

"Belén!" Barry suddenly screamed before shoving Belén forwards with all his might. She toppled over the front steps with her own scream, but as soon as she raised her head off the ground she saw the porch ceiling crumble down over Barry.

"BARRY!" she screamed at the top of her lungs. "NO! NO!" she scrambled to her feet however she could and made way for the porch. Her vision was blurry but she saw dust and the pile of ceiling pieces over the porch. She tried to use her vines to take the pieces off, but to her horror she couldn't.

She didn't have her powers.

"No! No! C'mon!" she pulled and pulled at one piece but it was too heavy. With all her sobbing, she didn't even realize the shaking had stopped. All she knew was that Barry was trapped underneath and she couldn't save him. She dropped to her knees in front of the pillage and sobbed.

~ 0 ~

Datura had each of her hands touching Belén's and Barry's arms while she had her eyes closed. Soon as she opened her eyes, she met Poison Ivy's intent gaze from across.

"Well?" the ginger had her arms crossed.

A slight smirk spread across Datura's eyes. She was gleeful but she wanted to show some self control. She drew her hands from each of the metas' arms and sighed happily. "They're so distraught. Poor little soulmates have lost each other in such wicked ways. I only thank these powers of mine for letting me enter the mind."

"What now, then?" Poison Ivy walked towards them. "They're at their weakest, physically and mentally. Let's take Belén and go."

Before Datura could agree or disagree, a powerful blast of air threw her and Poison Ivy across the room.

"You're not taking my friend anywhere," the Tempest appeared in the air with her hands ready for a fight.

"Is this the Tempest I've read about?" Poison Ivy raised an eyebrow at the meta.

Datura groaned in annoyance. "More like a nuisance! Take care of her!"

"Fine, but we're getting the hell out of here with Belén!" Poison ivy got up on her feet and shot a vine directly at Nina.

However, a dark magenta vine ruptured the ground underneath Poison Ivy and chucked her to the side like actual trash. Datura blinked as her partner screamed before crashing down on the ground. When Datura turned back to Nina, she saw the latter was not alone anymore.

Black Orchid, donning a new magenta and black colored one-suit, stood tall and proud. Her face was covered with a long black mask.

"You have a Black Orchid in this world too?" Datura gritted her teeth together.

"It wouldn't be the best world if it didn't," Black Orchid flashed her a smirk.

"You should know I killed her too," Datura's eyes flashed a wicked magenta color not previously seen before.

And that was recorded by both the Tempest and Black Orchid. STAR Labs wanted every angle covered in order to use it against Datura later on.

"You're going down just like her," Datura's voice overlapped with that of a woman's. Purple vines wrapped around her arms as she raised them to fire strong, magenta bolts. At least, they looked like bolts.

Black Orchid's eyes widened before she jumped out of the way. As each of the magenta 'bolts' landed, they spread around.

"What is that?" Nina blinked in horror as she watched it suck the color off the ground it was spreading on.

"Chloroplast," Black Orchid swallowed hard and shot Datura a glare.

Datura just smirked. She raised her hands in an 'I've got more' motion. Black Orchid charged towards her, forgetting her fears for a moment. Datura welcomed her with a series of more chloroplast bolts that Black Orchid would just barely dodge.

"Hey Nina, get Belén and Barry," Cisco's voice instructed from their comms.

"Yeah, I'll get them," Nina nodded and turned for her friends lying unconsciously on their beds. She flew towards them only to be shot down with a vine. Her face hit the ground first, making sure to warn Nina she'd have bruises later on.

"You're not touching them," Poison Ivy was back in the game and was angrier than ever.

With a groan, Nina turned flat on her back. She drew one leg up as if she were going to sit up but instead pushed it forwards to release another blast of air. It rocked Poison Ivy back, despite her efforts to stay still, and gave Nina the chance to get up.

"Where'd they fish you out from, huh?" Datura threw her best punch across Black Orchid's face. She smirked as she watched Black Orchid rub her cheek.

Course her smugness was part of her problem.

Black Orchid swung back then shoved Datura down. "You're one confident bitch, but that's going to be your downfall."

Now it was Datura's turn to rub her chin, and when she did she felt drips of blood from her upper lip. With golden eyes she rose from the ground and delivered a series of electric bolts. "I can't be defeated, you idiot. I am literally invincible," she declared, once again with a second voice overlapping with her own.

Black Orchid might have been a tiny scared there. She retreated to hide behind a crate while Datura began firing the electric bolts. Meanwhile, the Tempest flew to avoid Poison Ivy's entangling vines.

"Nina, get Belén! And Barry!" Cisco exclaimed again.

"I am trying my best here!" the woman snapped.

"We know," Caitlin agreed, "But if you get them out of that coma, it'll be a lot easier to take Datura and Poison Ivy down."

Nina stopped flying all of a sudden and whirled around. Another vine was coming for her so she twirled in the air and forced the vine in a different direction. She then created a miniature cyclone that she released straight for Poison Ivy. The ginger hadn't been expecting that for sure.

There was a clear satisfaction in Nina's face when she heard Poison Ivy's garbled screams. She flew back towards Belén and Barry and landed between their beds. "I have no idea what to do here. Do I just pull the wires off their faces or…?"

"Yes!" went both Cisco and Caitlin.

With a shrug, Nina yanked the wires off Belén's face first. As soon as they were off her skin, Belén awoke with a sharp gasp. She sat upright on instinct with wide, blinking eyes.

"Barry!" she cried horrifically.

"You're fine!" Nina put her hands on Belén's shoulders. "Belén, listen, you're fine! It wasn't real!"

Belén breathed heavily as reality set around her. "I was - I was…" she couldn't even come up with the right words to describe the horrific events she experienced.

"You're good," Nina offered her a smile. "Datura put you in a dream world where she controlled everything."

"Barry died…" Belén swallowed hard, almost crying there and then.

"But he didn't!" Nina moved aside and showed her that Barry was safe (in what fit anyways) and lying next to them. "He's right here. He's in a dream world too."

"Barry!" Belén bolted from her bed, ignoring the fact or feet were a little wobbly, and rushed up to Barry's side. Her eyes looked over the wires attached to his face and without hesitation she ripped them right off.

Like her, Barry woke up gasping and sat upright with the same horrific face. "Belén!" he screamed but Belén grabbed his face and turned his head to her.

"I'm here! It's me!"

Barry quickly looked her over and since he saw her back in her suit and it with no blood on her, he knew this had to be the real world. "Oh my God," he pulled her into a tight hug. "You died…"

"So did you," she choked the words out. She couldn't possibly hug him tighter and yet she needed to be closer to him. "You died saving me and I - I couldn't save you. I-I didn't have my powers and I…"

"I know," Barry kissed her head. "I didn't have my powers either."

"Sounds like Datura put you through hell," Nina's voice drew them apart for a moment. "Might I suggest a little revenge?" She made a gesture to the scene in front of them.

Datura was firing at Black Orchid with silver laser beams.

Belén didn't need to be asked twice. For once, she didn't care about the logics. She only wanted pain. Her skin started turning green and scaley, quicker than it ever had before.

"Datura," She darkly muttered and marched forwards.

"This might not be the best way to fight…" Barry trailed off when he knew Belén wouldn't stop to think about it. If she had gone through something similar to what he had, there was no way in hell she would stop until Datura was down.

Black Orchid's feet we're scraping against the cement as she was being forced back with the beams being shot at her. She didn't know she was about to have backup from the person she was meant to be saving. Belén swing a vine like a lasso and smacked it against Datura's side. Before the Earth 2 metahuman could realize what hit her, Belén struck down another vine that hit Datura right on her face. Needless to say it left several deep, open wounds.

Poison Ivy had finally detangled herself from the cyclone the Tempest sent her way and caught sight of what the Azalea had done to her partner. Just as she was about to run towards them, the Flash zipped up in front of her.

"I don't think so," he shook his head at her.

Poison Ivy's lips curled into a snarl. This plan was about to blow up in their face and of course Datura wouldn't see it because of her rage. She needed to get them out of there now.

Belén had jumped on Datura and punched her consecutively. "You made me think he was dead! I couldn't save him and it was all just some game to you!?"

Datura grabbed Belén's arms and butted heads with her. When Belén hit the ground, Datura paid her with the same coin and jumped on her to punch her. "It was my own personal nightmare just for you! Because I want you to know that I am in control of your life. And that your life...it's going to shatter into pieces like mine did. Only yours will end with your death."

"Get off of her!" Black Orchid kicked Datura's in the face and sent the meta back.

Soon as Poison Ivy meant to act, Barry did too. He swung an arm to stop her but she ducked. She retaliated by sliding a leg underneath and knocking him down. From above, Nina delivered new air blasts. While Poison Ivy struggled to stay on her feet, Barry got back up and started running in a circle as fast as he could.

Poison Ivy knew exactly what that meant. "Datura, we gotta get out of here!"

"No!" her partner screamed. She was facing off Belén and Shivhan with everything she had. Red energy just narrowly missed Shivhan's arm. Electric bolts could have almost fried Belén's left leg.

Belén did her best to keep up her front. She threw her own Chloroplasts, though without the sucking-energy part since she didn't yet own that ability. One of them did catch Datura's leg and it angered her. More fiercely than ever Datura's eyes glowed an orange hue before releasing lasers. Black Orchid swooped in front of Belén and raised tendrils of magenta vines as a shield for them both.

"Datura, LET'S GO!" Poison Ivy furiously shouted. She could see the paleness in her partner's face even from where she was. Datura was over exerting herself all over again. "We need -" her scream echoed in the room when Barry's thunder bolt struck her square in the chest. Her body crashed against the wall, falling over.

Datura suspended her fight and saw where her partner had landed. "No!" The orange hue disappeared from her face. She dashed towards Poison Ivy and without glancing back at the group, Datura vanished with her altogether with an electronic zap.

~0~

Caitlin conducted thorough mental examinations for Belén and Barry the moment they got back. She wanted to be 110% sure that neither were in any harm thanks to Datura.

"It doesn't look like either of you have any residual energy from that machine you were strapped to," Caitlin was happy to report after two hours of exams.

There was a mutual relief amongst the metas as well as the rest of the group crowding their room.

"How'd this even happen to you?" Iris asked the two in question.

Belén exchanged a glance with Barry, neither seeming to sure of their timing. "I was just...I was outside, moping I guess, when I saw this hue of energy at a distance," Belén explained first. "I thought it was Datura so I followed it and it brought me downtown where sure enough she was there. I fought her until she told me she had Barry."

"So you just let her take you?" Barry frowned at her. "Belén-"

She raised her hand to stop whatever he was going to say. "I figured she'd wake me up when we were at her lair or something and then we could escape together."

"But she didn't," Veronica spat. Out of the entire group, she was the only one who looked mad.

"Mom—"

"What are you going to tell me, Belén!? Look at yourself!" Veronica made a gesture at Belén's current appearance.

She had a few bruises on her face, as well as the imprint of the electrodes that had been stuck to her face. There was a cut on her lower lip, but to be honest...Belén felt physically fine. Her mentality, however, was another story.

"You need to stop all this nonsense before you get yourself killed!"

Barry gulped when he remembered his personal nightmare.

"Are you kidding me?" Belén hopped off the bed to face her mother. "Today more than ever proved I need to stop Datura. If I don't fight her, she'll come after anyone and do anything she can to hurt them. She's a danger—"

"That is going to get you KILLED!" Veronica frantically shouted with her entire body practically shaking. For a moment, the others sympathized with her (especially Joe). "Don't you see that!? She could have killed you today, Belén! You were at her mercy! You don't always get lucky Annah-Belén!" She looked around to see if anyone would back her up, or even if Belén would give in.

But she didn't. Belén just gave a small shake of her head.

"Fine," Veronica whispered. "But I will not be here to watch you get yourself killed." She stormed out of the room and the cortex altogether, just barely avoiding Shivhan coming the opposite way.

"You know," Joe spoke up after a few seconds, "Not to side with her, but...I see what she means as a parent."

"I know," Belén sighed, but he shook his head at her.

"No, you don't. None of you do because you're not parents. It's hard watching you-" Joe pointed at Barry, "-go out there, not knowing if you'll come back. I haven't had the misfortune of losing you or Iris, so I can't imagine what Veronica must feel knowing that she lost two of her kids to this metahuman world."

"I'm not saying she's wrong," Belén folded her arms, "But it's not like I'm going to listen to her and stay away. She needs to understand it's my choice and right now, I'm choosing to fight Datura."

"Not today you're not," Cisco pointed at her and even Barry. "You two need to get some rest because those nightmares could not have been easy. Now I've already put a new tracker for your suit Bells but you can take it easy."

"What if she comes back?" Shivhan spoke up for the first time since she joined the group.

"They won't," Barry assured her. "They're back on Earth 2."

"How'd this disappear?" Shivhan then asked when she remembered the odd electronic zap she'd witnessed.

"I think it's a gadget or something..."

"A dimension-teleporter," Harry corrected. "On my world, there's a meta who can...cross dimensions. Reverb. It's well known that he and Datura are pretty...close. He must have created the device and fused his powers with it."

"Well, that's lovely. Give the siphoner the ability to cross dimensions too," Iris sourly said. "It's not like she's deceiving, intelligent, powerful..."

Belén scoffed. "Where is the fairness in that? Do you know how hard it is to fight her? It's like every time I have her, she's one step ahead of me. Whatever I throw at her, she expects it. I don't know how she does that."

"And she's very good at creating nightmares," Barry hated to admit. "She got every aspect of our world right. Like...how would she know that I worked at my lab? That Belén's favorite color is pink because it's from Azaleas. The only thing she got wrong was that Belén is not a crazy sleeper and that she works as a reporter, not a botany scientist."

"Of course," Belén agreed with a small frown. "I barely move when I sleep and I don't know the first thing about botany science."

Something in Harry's mind started working as he thought about these small details no one was probably paying attention to.

"But you're kind of right," Belén said a moment after thinking of her own world. "She got you working at your lab, the Barry from my world knew I liked planting Azaleas in our yard."

Something snapped inside Harry's brain. 'It's like every time I have her, she's one step ahead of me.' He turned away from the group, his feet moving slowly in the beginning. 'Whatever I throw at her, she expects it.' His feet picked up his pace and before he knew it, he was leaving STAR Labs.

~ 0 ~

"Thanks for coming to help," Belén stood in front of Shivhan. The cortex was empty now except for them two. Before leaving, Cisco and Caitlin had informed Belén what led Shivhan to decide to help them. Belén felt like an apology was very much due here.

Shivhan had neatly folded her new suit and left it on top of the desk. "Yeah, well, I was chipped so..."

"You weren't," Belén awkwardly smiled at her. "It was just a lie so you would help us. Sorry about that. And...I'm sorry for kidnapping you. I was a bit desperate."

"And now I know why," Shivhan sighed. "I heard the stories about this Datura. I actually read your articles about her before any of this. I thought if I kept myself hidden, she wouldn't hurt me. But then there were robberies here and there, and people getting hurt...I couldn't stay away. One month was actually my longest hiding period."

"I'm sorry," Belén shook her head. "I swear I will make her go away so you and everyone else can feel safe again."

"Yeah," Shivhan nodded, "And I'm going to help you however I can. Starting with the Green."

Belén blinked. "What?"

Shivhan smiled, borderlining a smirk. "That bitch Datura is so confident I wanna wipe that smugness right off her masked face."

A small smile spread across Belén's face. "Really? Even after I kidnapped you?"

"Bold move. Kinda like you better for it."

"Oh my God, thank you!" Belén hugged her excitedly, though the bouncing was not something Shivhan was there for. She was a bit taller than Belén so it felt like she was hugging a child.

"Yeah...okay," Shivhan detached herself from Belén. "I'm not into hugs that much. So if I'm staying...does that mean Cisco will make my new suit better?" Belén nodded. "Awesome!"

"Bells?" Barry came into the cortex, though slowly in case the two women weren't finishing talking.

"I guess I will see you tomorrow to start training," Shivhan pointed at Belén then swiped her suit off the desk, keeping it nicely tucked between her arms.

"Wait, what?" Barry's clueless expression followed her as she walked towards the corridor. "You're staying?"

"Yup! See you tomorrow, new buddies!" she winked at them then disappeared.

"Something tells me she's going to be an interesting one," Belén said after a moment's thought.

Barry smiled at her, happy to see she was finally going to get the help she wanted. "You want to go home, then?"

"Yeah..." Belén sighed and glanced back at her suit on display. "It's not like she'll be showing up anytime soon. She got quite her game today. I can't believe we fell for her trap. How did she draw you in, though?"

"She had your suit's tracker, making us think you were there at the warehouse. I went to look for you there and instead I got Poison Ivy," Barry scowled. He still couldn't believe he hadn't seen the ginger coming for him.

"...what was your world like?" Belén asked after a moment. She side-glanced him with an expression indicating he didn't have to share if he didn't want to.

But instead, Barry agreed to answer once they were safe at home in the comfort of each other. He took them to her apartment where they found a spot on the couch. There they told each other what Datura had forced them to dream of; how their perfect worlds turned into nightmares with each other's deaths.

"I didn't have powers so I couldn't save you," Barry held Belén close when he remembered the bullets and the blood from her dream's counterpart. "And then you were gone...with the baby."

Belén snuggled to his chest. "Our baby? I'm sorry she made that happen." She felt her face warm up just thinking about the fact her other self had been 'pregnant' with their child. Of course, it was the same thing when she told Barry about her world where they were just a week from being married.

"I'm sorry she made your nightmare happen," Barry kissed the top of her head. "But you know that I would save you no matter what."

"Your death wouldn't be saving me, idiot," she looked up at him. "So don't you ever get that idea in your head. We either survive together or we die together. That's it."

Her hands found his face and as she stroked soft circles on his skin, they rested foreheads with each other. Eventually, they kissed. And because of the terror they lived, there was a lot to kiss for. Neither would say it then, but their kisses had changed into something deeper. Perhaps it was because of what they'd seen and gone through, or maybe it was the fact they were aware of what the future could hold for them if they wanted it.

~ 0 ~

A breach whirled into existence on Earth 1, allowing Datura to cross over. Soon as she touched ground, she saw Harry standing across.

"First time you summon me," the metahuman folded her arms. "Can I expect Belén's body behind you?"

"I know who you are," Harry went straight for the point. He'd been thinking this over for a few hours now and he couldn't be more sure of it. It all made sense. It was actually so stupid that he hadn't seen it from the very start.

Datura had a laugh. "Of course you do."

"I do," Harry reiterated with a sharpness that silenced Datura. He started taking slow steps towards her while he explained his conclusion. "It's been staring us right in the face and we missed it. I missed it," he put a hand on his chest, exhibiting true offence with himself that he had been so clueless. "Belén's been saying it over and over. You're always one step ahead of her, one step ahead of Barry. You're evenly matched against Belén. Every punch she throws, you expect it and have one better. Even from the very start. You knew who the Azalea was. You knew who the Flash was. You knew all these details about Belén, like what her favorite color was. It wasn't because you did your research. You just knew. And how would you know them? How could you always be one step ahead of Belén?" Harry stopped right in front of Datura, looking her (for the first time since he had the misfortune of meeting her) directly in her dark, chocolate brown eyes. Despite her position, Datura's red lips were quirking into a smirk. Harry remained emotionless, yet still confident he knew what was going on. "You know everything because you are Belén."

The smirk on Datura turned into outright smugness. She brought one of her gloved hands to her mask and carefully pulled it off her face. "Took you long enough." Earth 2 Belén Palayta looked exactly the same as her Earth 1 doppelganger, only she owned a darkness no other doppelganger could match.

Author's Note:

BAM. I've been waiting to reveal that one ever since Datura was first introduced! I originally had it planned to be revealed earlier but I felt like it fit better here. So, did anyone see that coming? It's literally foreshadowed in the story cover page. Hope y'all paid attention to it!

And a lovely little fun fact here: one of the girl names dream-Belén listed is the actual name I'm giving to hers and Barry's daughter in a for their season 5 rewrite. Can you guess which one it was??

#ocappreciation #arrowverseocs #fd: the flash #the flash #barry allen #the flash imagines #barry allen imagines #barry allen fics #the flash fics #oc: Belén Palayta #oc: Belen Palayta #oc: the azalea #fic: rise up

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jennycalendar · 4 years ago

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not posting this to ao3 bc the convoluted context only exists on tumblr, but here’s a mini thing i wrote today from that au where oz is dating giles and jenny’s daughter. also giles and jenny were in a band together pre-canon for a little while and have a very convoluted love story that i swear will eventually be a fic. fun times.

other things pre-fic that are fun:

ripper and jenny spent like a decade in la co-running a music store together while also raising their kids. jenny handled the actual business, ripper taught guitar classes on the side. janna is very musically gifted but teddy can’t carry a tune to save her life.

theoretically this is a version of canon where janna and buffy are the same age, and someday i will also write the fic where janna appoints herself buffy’s watcher, kicks wesley in the knees, and screams at every member of the council that comes near buffy. she’s heard enough horror stories from her dad.

“Are you nervous?”

The question took Oz by surprise. “Should I be?”

Janna didn’t answer. When he turned to look at her, he saw that she was looking out the window at what he assumed was their final destination: a relatively ordinary-looking house with the beginnings of a vegetable garden on the front lawn. “The last time I brought a guy home to meet my parents, he was super nervous,” she said. “Like, all spacey and weird. My dad was extra nice to him to compensate, but my mom kinda antagonized him a little ‘cause she thought it was funny. She probably won’t do that to you, though. I bet she’ll like you. I mean, she likes pretty much all my friends that I actually care about, and last time I brought a guy home I didn’t actually like him. Mostly it was just to show up Teddy ‘cause she’s always giving me grief about—”

Abruptly, Oz understood. Without a word, he gently tugged Janna’s clenched fists into his own hands, untangling the tightly coiled fingers to lace them with his own.

Janna exhaled. Shakily, she said, “I just really want them to like you.”

“I know,” said Oz.

“I mean really. Usually I don’t care a whole bunch, but you’re different.”

“I know,” said Oz.

“And sometimes my mom can be a little mean. Not like mean-mean, she’s just like that, it’s her way of being nice—”

Oz tugged on Janna’s hands, pulling her into a careful hug. Janna let out a nervous laugh and pressed a clumsy kiss just under his jaw. “I’m a pretty easy guy to like,” he said. “Unless your parents are the kind that don’t like it when a guy is in a band.”

“That would be totally hypocritical,” said Janna. “They were in a band.”

Processing this, Oz felt a slow smile sneak across his face. “So it’s genetic?”

Janna blinked, then smiled too. “Kinda, yeah! They ran a music store in LA till we moved. My dad’s the one who taught me how to play guitar and sing and stuff. He’s not classically trained or anything, but he takes it super seriously.”

“Your dad sounds pretty cool,” said Oz.

“He is pretty cool,” said Janna, her smile growing.

Gently, Oz tugged on Janna’s hand, then let go to open his door and get out of the car. He crossed around to open the door for her too, extending a hand to help her out. She laughed, letting him pull her out of the car, and tripped very purposefully to fall for a moment against his chest; he nudged the car door shut behind her and tugged her into a hug. “We got this, Jay,” he said, smoothing down her hair.

Though she was still very clearly nervous, Janna nodded, tucking her arm into his as they walked up the driveway. Oz rang the doorbell.

Thudding footsteps came from inside the house. Janna groaned. “Oh, no,” she muttered under her breath.

“Is this the boyfriend?” demanded a voice as the door was wrenched open. Looking down, Oz saw a small girl of about twelve surveying the two of them with interest. “I thought he’d be taller. How come he’s shorter than you? Why—”

“I am gonna punt you into next Tuesday, Teddy,” Janna threatened.

“Oh, this is Theodora?” said Oz with interest. “Pleasure.”

“At least someone has manners,” said Teddy with great dignity, turning on her heel and striding down the hall.

“Aren’t you gonna invite us in?” Janna yelled after her.

“Nope!” Teddy yelled back. “You’re probably vampires!”

“Someday I’m gonna kick her like a soccer ball and no one will ever see her again,” Janna was muttering as she yanked Oz over the threshold, roughly divesting him of his coat to hang it on a nearby coat tree. “I used to play soccer in middle school and I think I still know how to do it. Maybe I can get Buffy to do it. I bet if I kicked her really hard—”

“No kicking your sister,” came a very familiar voice.

If Oz was the kind of person whose jaw dropped, he thought it might have right then. Standing in the kitchen doorway was none other than Jenny Calendar, the original drummer for the Spitfires—the one who had toured with the band for two years before she and the lead guitarist dropped out to raise a kid. Jenny Calendar was looking between the two of them with an intrigued grin. Oz had a record with this lady’s face on it. “Uh,” he said. “What?”

“What?” said Janna, as though this was just a normal meeting between Oz and his girlfriend’s mom. “Anyway, mom, this is Oz. Oz, this is my mom, she—”

“I know who she is,” said Oz.

“Well, duh, I just told you,” said Janna. “Where’s Dad? Is he upstairs dissecting bug things for Buffy again?”

“Yeah, that was one time and I told them both they’re never doing that again. That’s my job in this house.” Jenny ruffled Janna’s hair. “Glad nothing ate you on your way here.”

“If it does, you gotta make a necklace out of my bones or something metal like that,” said Janna very seriously.

“God, you’re just like your dad,” said Jenny.

“Oh, yeah, it’s me she gets it from,” quipped Ripper, rounding the corner with Teddy on his shoulders. “Not like anyone else in this house was violent and terrifying at fifteen.”

“Okay, one, shut up. Two, no one needs to hear any of those stories. Three, shut up.” Jenny punched Ripper’s shoulder, careful to avoid jostling Teddy.

Oz was thankfully a little bit more prepared for Ripper’s entrance. If the Spitfires’ drummer was Janna’s mom, the lead guitarist pretty much had to be her dad. “Uh, hey, Janna,” he said, tugging at his girlfriend’s sleeve, “can we—talk outside for a sec?”

Janna looked a little puzzled, but acquiesced without much argument.

Shutting the door behind them, Oz said, “Your parents are Jenny and Ripper.”

“Huh?” said Janna, then, “Oh,” and then her face split open in a huge smile. “I didn’t know you knew about them! Pretty much nobody does! They left the Spitfires before the band got big, so it’s not like I bring it up a lot—”

“Okay, this makes so much sense,” said Oz.

Janna blinked. “What do you mean?”

“Your whole,” Oz waved a hand, “cool thing. It’s not just you, it’s genetic.” He grinned. “I don’t think I stood a chance.”

Janna went very pink, her smile impossibly bright. “You totally have to tell them you like their stuff,” she said. “Dad’s kinda mellow about it, but Mom has these insane stories from the years before she and Dad hooked up and she loves telling people about them.”

“Well, I’d love to hear your mom’s cool band stories,” said Oz, squeezing Janna’s hand. “Probably have a few of our own to share, right?”

“I mean, I’ve told them most of my good ones,” said Janna. “Remember that one time I broke a guitar over Devon’s head?”

“Fondly,” said Oz.

Janna snickered. “Dad’s done worse,” she said. “He was in Wretched for a little while. It was more of a Brit thing so you probably haven’t heard of it, but we have a demo album that they made and it’s soooo bad—”

“Mom wants to know when you’re coming in for dinner!” Teddy yelled from inside the house.

“IN A MINUTE!” Janna yelled back.

“We could go in now,” Oz suggested, “if you—”

Draping her arms around his neck, Janna said, “Give me a minute, Daniel.”

~~~

“Oh my god, I love him,” said Jenny delightedly. “Rupert, he knows our stuff! Does anyone ever know our stuff?”

“Janna’s last one didn’t,” said Ripper, attempting to take a forkful of casserole off his wife’s plate. Jenny whacked his fork with her knife. “Though I do think our darling Teddy psychologically broke the poor chap halfway through dessert.”

“If he was weak enough to be broken by a fifth-grader, he deserved to start crying,” said Teddy mildly. “It’s just facts.”

“She gets the mean streak from me,” said Jenny affectionately, looking at Teddy with adoring pride. “Mama’s girl.”

“They both get the mean streak from you,” said Ripper. Jenny started throwing wadded-up paper towels at him. “See?” he said, catching one of them and lobbing it back in his wife’s direction. “This. This is what I mean.”

“Your family is cool,” said Oz. “My mom’s gonna have a lot to measure up to.”

“Oh god I have to meet your mom?” squeaked Janna. “No one’s ever wanted me to meet their mom! Oh my god, you didn’t—why would I—”

“You know she’s never been this nervous about anyone she’s dated?” said Teddy conspiratorially to Oz. “I think she really likes you. Plus she writes your names together all the time on the fogged-up mirror in the bathroom and she made you a mixtape but she’s too scared to give it—”

“I’m gonna throw you out a goddamn window,” Janna hissed in Teddy’s direction. “You better believe I will.”

“Oz, you’re in a band, yeah?” said Ripper, giving Oz a little grin. “Might be nice to play sometime together, if you’d like.”

“Yeah, I would,” said Oz, and smiled back.

#fic #janna au #calendiles #ISH but they're married #(they got spontaneously married in vegas so that it would be easier to co-run a business)#anyway: yes. pls enjoy this snip. i am writing again now but it's all stuff that will take a while to see the light of day.

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alit0my · 4 years ago

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You know those fanfics, 5 times (something) plus 1. So five times someone on the team taught Booker something. And since it was he who taught. (maybe with OT3) {for example: teaching a language, cooking, fighting with a sword}

hello anon! idek if you still want this fic bc its been so long... but i have finished it! no ot3 this time im afraid, just didnt fit well with where i took this... hope you enjoy!

1 - Russia, 1812

When they first found him in Russia, they barely understood one another and had to use Andromache’s passable French to communicate. The Asian woman beside her named Quynh stared at him, as if looking into his soul as he gasped out words of conversation as he recovered from another hypothermic shock. The two men were paired off, keeping a close eye on their surroundings and ignoring the conversation altogether as they did not understand.

”The first thing we will do,” Andy said, handing another wooly coat his way. ”Is teach you a language we can all speak.”

”Like hell you will. I’m to return to my family,” he replied, wrapping the coat around him tighter. Andy shook her head and huffed, glancing at Quynh beside her.

”When you return in fifty years, when your family is dead, we will teach you Russian.”

”Or you could learn better French,” Booker snapped, cursing the entire world under his breath as his limbs shook uncontrollably.

The corners of Andy’s lips curled upwards slightly.

(Back then, Booker paid no mind to this. But now, he knew it was the introduction to Andy’s competitive side.)

It was thirty-eight years later when Booker returned. Andy had gotten better at French, and Booker grumbled at the fact that he now had to learn Russian, as per their unofficial agreement.

He wasn’t half bad at Russian, but he wasn’t particularly good at it either.

~ 2 - Italy, 1850

As he returned to the group after the passing of his son, the last of his true family, Quynh pulled Booker aside and placed a bow in his hands. She watched as he pulled the bow string back slightly, testing the recoil of the weapon as if he was examining its limits. Booker was just trying to not break the thing.

Quynh was scary, and Booker did not want to mess with her.

”Now aim at the target,” she had told him, nodding her head to the tree as she placed an arrow in his other hand. ,em>”Aim, and fire.”

Booker did as he was told.

Booker missed the tree by a mile.

Quynh tutted and put her hands on her hips, before taking another arrow out of the quiver on her back.

”Try again,” she said, almost encouragingly. ”We have time. I’ll make sure you can handle a bow almost as good as me.”

Booker ended up being half as good as Quynh, which they both saw as an achievement.

(He could never be as good at archery as Quynh, but it was the thought that counted at the time. Really, Booker should have been grateful for the distraction.)

~ 3 - Japan, 1894

Nicky was sitting at the kitchen table cleaning his sniper rifle when Booker walked in, still half asleep. Pausing in his tracks, Booker rubbed at his eyes and looked at the weapon on the table, never having really seen it out of its case which Nicky kept stored under his bed in their various safehouses.

Nicky looked up at locked eyes with the youngest, beckoning him over to sit beside him.

”I will show you how to clean this, and then if you want, how to use it,” Nicky said, picking up the scope and rubbing the rag gently across the glass. Booker nodded and watched silently before Nicky handed him a part and a new rag. ”Gently, don’t rush or you may scratch the metal.”

Booker wasn’t sure how a piece of cloth would scratch metal, but he dared not say. Nicky was allowing him into his space, to help clean his most prized possession.

When the weapon was cleaned, Nicky showed Booker how to reassemble the rifle before picking it up and beckoning him outside.

”We will set up here, and I will teach you how to shoot,” Nicky explained as he set up the tripod that would hold the barrel steady. ”Come, look down the scope.”

Booker could not see a thing, and Nicky gently nudged his head until he gasped, suddenly seeing the tin can in the distance.

”Now line it up, and shoot.”

Booker missed, but Nicky’s eyes gleamed.

(It was something that Booker looked back on fondly as he sat in his French apartment surrounded by booze.)

~ 4 - Egypt, 1948

”Where is your sword, Booker?” Joe exclaimed whenever they were gearing up for a mission. Booker looked at him then the others, who all had a sword strapped to their bodies whereas he only had an assault rifle and a handgun.

”I.. Don’t have one?”

Joe scoffed. ”I will change that. When we are done I will teach you how to wield a sword.”

Booker objected, which fell upon dead ears as the team went back to gathering their gear. Furrowing his brow, Booker looked down at his assault rifle and started to feel anxious. Was knowing how to wield a sword some kind of necessity to be in this strange team of immortals?

(He found out later, the next day in fact, when Joe had woken him up at the break of dawn with his scimitar in one hand and a longsword in the other. Joe was always the early riser, and the most energetic. Booker missed him the most.)

”Here, I will train you the art of the sword,” Joe smiled, but Booker could see the excitement shining through his eyes. ”Try to strike me.”

Booker looked at him incredulously, but swung the blade at him.

He ended up on his ass with Joe standing above him, scimitar pressed lightly on his throat.

”You take too big of a swing, leaves too much gap for the enemy to strike,” Joe explained, removing the weapon from Booker’s neck and holding a hand out to help him up. ”This will be fun. Bonding, if you will.”

”Joe, no one even uses swords anymore?”

Booker ended up on his ass again, in record time.

~ +1 - France, 2020

Booker hadn’t heard from them in six months, as per their non-contact rule, but he hadn’t expected a package to arrive at his front door with his alias on it. Curious, he placed his glass of water (which still tasted of whiskey from the night before) on the counter and picked up the box, setting it down on his kitchen table.

He stared at it for a while, not sure what to make of it as he decided to rip open the box before he could change his mind. Inside were a bunch of letters each with his name written in different handwriting, a few pictures and five small magnets that represented each member of the team.

Booker picked up the first letter from Andy, skimming through the words quickly before the tears fell on the paper and ruined it for good.

’...miss you Book…...Nile’s idea to……..considered your biological family……….struggling to cope……..should have listened to you more, and for that I’m so sorry. You taught me that there is more to life than what we do, and I should have seen that back in the 1800’s and not belittled you for it. I love you Book, see you soon.’

Quynh’s letter was short as sweet, but mainly contained phrases in many languages calling him a dumbass and pictures of him practising with the bow.

’Next time, maybe try to be a perfect shot before you decide to cross us you moron…….I hope you have improved with your bow I gave you, oh wait you left it in England and some historian took it to the museum because it is so ancient…..You better get me my bow back you absolute- Nile has been reading over my shoulder this whole time and now I’m going to write some good things about you…

‘How to start? What is good about you, Booker? You reminded me that not everyone is good at something first go, and that they deserve the effort and time you put into them. You ended up being a good shot and it only took you ten years! The others took twice as long. We will have a competition when you return, so keep those archery skills sharp, my friend.’

The next letter was from both Joe and Nicky, and Booker smiled softly to himself. Never to be separated, those two, and he was a fool to think otherwise.

’Nicky does not want to write you a letter, so I will write for both of us. This was Nile’s idea, sending you this little ‘care-package’ as she called it, but do not think this is an olive branch. We are grateful for you, Book, and since you turned up our lives have been somewhat exciting. Our separate and joint experiences in teaching you things has brought us both enjoyable memories, and though somewhat tainted by your actions, upon your return we would like to teach you more new things as we teach Nile. Maybe you might actually improve on your skills for once.

We both love you dearly.’

Booker sniffled and separated the picture enclosed within the letter. It was a capture of when Nicky was teaching him how to cook proper spaghetti bolognese, after he found out that Booker was using jar sauce and packet pasta. Booker remembered getting scolded all night in Italian, and when he told Nicky he understood, the response he got was ”Good. I should hope so."

Nile didn’t write a letter, but she didn’t need to write one. They only knew each other for two weeks before shit hit the fan and Booker was sent away. Instead, in Nile’s envelope was a tiny slip of paper with a phone number on it, along with some fliers for activities to do around Paris.

’Call me anytime, I’m here to chat. Also, don’t mope about for a hundred years, do something! Learn a new skill! (Okay, that might be hard but just do it, maybe bake some sourdough? You love that stuff!)’

Booker took the magnets out of the box, walked over to his fridge and placed them in a circle with a small click!, his heart panging every time.

Bow and arrow, two swords, a labrys, and a handgun with a US flag.

AO3 Link

#the old guard #booker #booker centric #4 + 1 things

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haberdashing · 4 years ago

Text

Labyrinth

Statement of Avery Horner regarding her experiences with an unusual patch of forest in a local park.

on AO3

Statement of Avery Horner regarding her experiences with an unusual patch of forest within a local park. Original statement given February 6th, 2020. Recording by Artemis Lee, archival assistant for the Usher Foundation.

Statement begins.

Okay, before I get into what happened to me specifically, I should probably give you guys some background. I mean, you’ll probably dig up a lot of the same information eventually--I assume, anyway, I don’t really know a ton about how all this works--but I might as well save you the trouble, right?

So, this is about a park right by my house called Old Pines Park. You’ve got my address from the intake forms, shouldn’t be hard to find from there, it’s literally right down the street from me.

The first weird thing about the place is that there are no pine trees in Old Pines Park. As far as I know, there never have been. There aren’t too many pine trees in the surrounding area, either; just not the right climate for them, I think? Could be named after someone named Pines, I suppose, but the time I tried looking into it I didn’t find much, certainly not detailed information about some famous person from my boring suburban hometown with that surname. That’s just... what the park’s called, for whatever reason.

Also, despite the park being, like I said, right down the block from where I live, I don’t have much in the way of childhood memories associated with the place. There’s a fair few parks in the area, though, so maybe it’s just that all the other parks had bigger playgrounds or nicer scenery or more sports equipment or whatever. It’s not the biggest park around, and I wouldn’t be surprised if some people didn’t even know it was tucked away back there, just an old playground and a grassy field with a small, dirty pond in it.

And the woods.

That’s the main thing I want to talk about--the woods there. Calling it “the woods” is probably- no, definitely overstating things, but I’m not sure what else to call it. It’s on the edge of the field, just a somewhat-thin strip of land where the trees are much denser than elsewhere, to where you can’t see through to the other side.

When I was growing up, my mom always told me not to go in the woods there. She claimed they’d found a woman’s body there once, though I never really believed her. I looked it up not too long ago, though, and sure enough, there’s a news article from when I was a kid about a body being found in Old Pines Park. Didn’t say it was in the woods, but I believe it. Didn’t say what had happened to the body, either, or whose body it was. Just a brief blurb, “jogger finds body,” end of story, apparently.

Come to think of it, I’ve never seen anyone jogging in Old Pines Park, especially not in the woods--the landscape’s not exactly the most conducive to exercise--but the news article definitely said it was a jogger who’d found the body. Why’s it always seem to be joggers who find dead bodies like that?

Anyway.

I actually listened to my mom about not going in the woods for longer than you’d probably expect. I never had much of a rebellious teenager phase, and what little rebellion I did attempt didn’t involve the park just down the road. I think I went in the woods once with a friend when I was a kid, but I barely remember any of it, and I don’t think we went far. It wasn’t until after I’d gotten back from college that I decided to see what the woods had in store. (Yes, I live in the same house after college graduation that I did throughout my whole childhood. Not proud of it, but it is what it is, I guess.) I didn’t tell my mom what I was doing, didn’t tell anyone, just went out exploring by myself.

There’s a clear entrance to the woods on the end of the park closest to my house, an opening where the trees part and you can walk through without any difficulty. The ground dips down a bit where the rest of the park ends and the woods begin, and depending how much it’s rained sometimes there’s a bit of water there, but it’s not hard to get past.

I didn’t get very far the first time, though. Just a few feet from this entrance and the sometimes-stream beside it, there’s a chain link fence that blocks off part of the way--and more importantly, there’s a hole in that chain link fence that’s plenty big for a person to get through. On the other side of these strange, mysterious woods is... a strip mall. There’s a few fast food restaurants, a furniture store, a bunch of storefronts for sale. Nothing that exciting, really, except...

Okay, don’t laugh, but I’m really into Pokemon Go, even now. And that strip mall has a Pokestop in it--one of the places you go to get more items in the game. Dunno why, since there’s nothing that neat there, but it does. So for months I’d occasionally go through the woods just far enough to get through that hole in the fence, spin the Pokestop in the strip mall, and head back. I’m not exactly the most adventurous person out there, so even that was a bit of a thrill to me, especially knowing that it’d been forbidden back in my childhood.

At some point I noticed that the hole in the fence that let me cut through to the strip mall had changed--before it was just like a bit of fence had been torn out entirely, but now a metal bar around shoulder height was still in place, so I had to duck down when making my way through. Still plenty of space to get through, though, so it didn’t really bother me; it was just a bit odd, especially since I hadn’t seen any in-between stages where the fence got built up before being torn down again.

One day I was out walking my dog, Biscuit, and after I popped through the fence and back I decided to go further into the woods, see what I could find.

First off, I didn’t notice it so much when I was just ducking in and out, but while the area’s objectively pretty small, when you’re in the woods of Old Pines Park, it really feels like... well, like you’re in the middle of the woods. The foliage is dense, and there’s not too much to remind you of civilization besides that fence on the side and the occasional garbage wrapper.

Biscuit and I followed the fence along for a bit--I figured it’d be easy enough to find our way back with that as a landmark--and we found a decent-sized stream that must lead into the park’s pond, but where it comes from I’ve got no idea, since everything’s built up around here and there’s not much in the way of rivers. I vaguely remembered seeing the stream before, maybe that one time I went with a friend, but it was still an interesting sight. It didn’t look like some pristine bit of nature, though--the water was discolored, and the wrappers and similar debris I’d noticed before seemed to be clustered around the stream.

We kept going, and before too long I found a second hole in the chain link fence. This I definitely didn’t remember from my one foray into the woods in childhood. Looking through it, I saw a white building that looked pretty big, and kind of industrial? It was pretty nondescript, and I’ve forgotten most of the details of it by now, I just know it was big and white and I had no clue what it was or what could be inside, even though basic geography suggests it must only be a few blocks from my house at most. I thought about going through, but it looked like the sort of building where you could get in trouble for being on the premises without permission, and I wasn’t looking to get arrested for trespassing, so I just kept going.

I think this was about the time I checked my phone--I still had Pokemon Go open, I usually do whenever I leave the house, I’ve joked with my mom before about how convenient it is that I always have a GPS in my hand--and noticed that it wasn’t getting a signal. Specifically, the game still showed, but there were no features on the map, no Pokemon, nothing to indicate where I was. It didn’t say that it was having trouble with the GPS, though, it just... didn’t load the map at all.

The woods got thicker and denser as I moved on, and eventually there wasn’t much of a path left to follow alongside the fence as there had been. The only thing close to a path, inasmuch as I wouldn’t be attacked by tree branches if I followed it, led away from the fence and deeper into the woods. I figured what the hell, and I followed the sort-of-path further in, even though it took me away from the fence, from the one major landmark this place had.

I went kind of slow at first, but Biscuit kept pulling me along. She was loving it. Maybe she’d just gotten sick of taking the same path every walk and was glad for the chance to explore, smell new things, wander a bit. A few times I had to pull her back and remind her that while she could get through that tiny gap in the trees, I couldn’t, so we’d have to find another way around. (Biscuit’s a pretty small dog, so she’s good at fitting through narrow spaces like that.)

As I kept walking, the path, such as it was, got less and less clear, and I stopped seeing any garbage laying around, any signs that this place had been touched by human hands before. I had to do a fair bit of ducking and weaving to keep going without getting scratched up too badly, but Biscuit was so excited about the whole thing that I felt it was worth it.

Then the path went from hard to find to just straight up not there, and I went to turn around, and... I couldn’t see the fence behind me. I could swear we hadn’t gone that far--I didn’t think the woods were even spread out enough that we could go that far--but apparently we’d managed to leave the fence behind.

I did my best to backtrack, but it was slow going, especially since the “path” had never been an actual path with clear markings, just the way that was most devoid of trees that would slap me in the face. Also probably doesn’t help that I have a horrible sense of direction--that’s one reason I like having a GPS in my hand at all times, but the map on it still wasn’t working. Biscuit didn’t seem to get what I was trying to do but then, hey, that’s dogs for you, am I right?

I felt like I kept going in circles, like I wasn’t getting anywhere, and I still couldn’t see the fence, and I was succeeding less and less in my “don’t get scratched by stray tree branches” goal, and I had no idea where the entrance I’d gone through was from here, or the garbage-laden stream, or any other landmark I could use for guidance...

What I ended up doing was just letting Biscuit lead the way. I figure dogs have a good sense of smell, maybe their sense of direction is good too. She always seems to know which way to turn on our usual walks, too, so maybe this would be the same? At the very least, it couldn’t hurt... well, it could, but so could continuing to wander around aimlessly on my own devices. It sounds ridiculous, I imagine, but... I trust this dog, and I know she trusts me too, and I figured if I couldn’t get us back home, maybe she could.

And it worked. Not too long after I just did my best to give in to Biscuit’s pulling and let her be the guide, she led me in one direction, and sure enough, the fence reappeared, and I could see one of the holes in it in the distance.

You’d better believe we stayed right up against that fence for the rest of our trip in the woods, up until we stumbled back out of the entrance.

My phone buzzed right as we left the woods, and the map was back, everything displaying just fine. But as I looked at my phone more closely, I noticed the time on it was only three minutes after I’d decided to go further into the woods than I normally did. I don’t know how long I spent in there, but I am damn sure it was longer than three minutes.

Since then, I’ve gone back to only popping through to reach the strip mall, and even that I’m not doing as much as I used to... and last time I went to do that, the hole in the fence was different, with some metal wiring still in place near the foot of the hole as well as that metal bar. More importantly, though, there was a No Trespassing sign up. I don’t know how many other people know about the hole in the fence there, how many other locals have figured out that little trick, but I couldn’t help but think that sign was put there specifically for me. Still don’t feel like getting arrested for trespassing, so I just turned around and left, Pokestop be damned.

The sign only forbids crossing the fence into the strip mall, though. It doesn’t forbid walking deeper into the woods again.

And part of me wants to go back, to go even further into the woods. I want to see if I can find my way out the other end all by myself. There must be a way, right? I mean, that stretch of land only goes on for so long, it’s not that big of a park. I’ve been resisting the urge for a while now, but I keep thinking about it. I feel like it’s not a matter of if I’ll go back in the woods, it’s when.

I wouldn’t bring Biscuit along, though. Partly because I want to see how much I could do without her help and without her pulling me through gaps I can’t pass through, but partly because... if anything happens to me when I’m in there, if I end up like that woman whose body got found in there all those years ago, I want to make sure Biscuit doesn’t get in trouble with me.

It’s one thing to take risks like that for yourself, but I wouldn’t do that to someone I love. That’s going a step too far for me.

Statement ends.

#tma #tma fic #tma fanfic #the magnus archives #the magnus archives fic #the magnus archives fanfic #personal #my writing

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desktopdust · 4 years ago

Text

Phantom Network: Malware Uninstall

A common question bandied about in regards to the Phantom Network is how a bunch of (insert adjectives like “lowlife” or “no good dirty”, etc) thieves manage to work together without constantly stabbing each other in the back. Yes, I’ll admit, even I didn’t quite understand it back when I was but a wee passive civilian living a mundane life, but I now realize this was only because I grossly misunderstood what a Phantom Thief is.

Most often, you hear “thief” and you picture someone taking something for themselves--a selfish hoarder who collects by any means necessary. A Phantom Thief, however, has more noble goals in mind...and a flair for the dramatic. Bit of a tangent, but important to note. You see, Phantom Thieves don’t steal for themselves: they steal for others. We take from the rich and give to the poor and all that jazz, because even if it’s only a drop in the ocean of wealth the elites have built up, the act of stealing from them proves that they aren’t invincible. It’s all too easy to feel powerless in this world. But when those with power aren’t able to stop regular people from knocking them down a peg, you get a tiny bit of hope, and more often than you might expect, that tiny bit of hope can make all the difference. Those dedicated to making that happen join the Phantom Network with a simple vow: “honor among thieves”.

Usually, that’s enough. But no organization is inherently pure, and no matter what your goals are (especially when you’re working outside the law), it’s only natural you’ll attract some folks who are in it for the wrong reasons. And that’s what we have the FW Protocol for! If a thief is found to have no honor, the Protocol strips them of their privileges and finds the safest way to expunge them from the organization. We don’t go as far as to execute somebody, but with how difficult memory deletion is to pull off, lifetime imprisonment is a fairly common result. The system works...most of the time. The Protocol can’t be too aggressive, so it usually waits for someone else to file a complaint. But, with the whole “honor” thing, a lot of good Phantom Thieves won’t feel right ratting on their colleagues unless they go way over the line, at which point they’ve probably already caused an incident and have the Protocol on their tail. Plenty of thieves manage to operate in that gray area, serving themselves without pissing anyone off too much...and I’ve all too frequently had the pleasure of dealing with one such individual.

Kari always pushed the limits even of that gray area. But it’s rare to find someone who can competently manipulate time, so she wasn’t entirely wrong in thinking that the Network needed her. Even after being betrayed over and over, I still haven’t filed a complaint, because she hasn’t outright ruined any job she’s been on and I don’t want to resort to drastic measures just for being personally wronged. Like I said, honor among thieves. I had decided to just put the whole thing behind me, not work with or even think about her ever again, but...things took a bit of a turn.

The “courtroom” we have at HQ is rarely used, so it’s a bit cramped. I practically had to wedge myself into the corner as I took my seat and waited for things to kick off. Opposite the door, the Phantom Network Admin sat at a blocky steel desk: a broad-shouldered, dark-skinned individual with a cyan bionic eye and metal down one half of their face, the other partly obscured by their many red curls. Between us were four lightly-armored folks who each wore solid red shades, and in the midst of them, Kari, with a jamming bolt stuck to her alchemar between her shoulder blades and shackles on her wrists.

“Phantom Thief Kari, the Epoch Swindler,” the Admin said. “Following the recent incident at Navy Canyon, the FW Protocol has conducted an investigation and found you in violation of your vow as a Phantom Thief. What do you have to say in your own defense?”

Kari adjusted her bangs with a puff of air. “Listen boss, I know I’m not exactly a paragon of virtue--honor isn’t something that comes all that easily to me. But have I really done anything that awful? I’m still serving the essential functions of a Phantom Thief, and none of my transgressions have impeded operations in any meaningful way.” Under her breath, she added, “Until Navy Canyon, at least...but that was an accident.”

“It is worth noting there have been no formal complaints filed against her,” said one of the FWs surrounding her. “However, when we interviewed those who have worked with her in the past, we noticed a running theme of dishonorable conduct. Several such thieves have been brought in today to share their accounts on-record.”

The various assembled thieves were called up one by one, each sharing a lovely little tale about some time Kari shafted them. Honestly it was hard not to laugh: I felt their pain. Through it all, Kari just stood there, completely silent as her misdeeds were laid out before her. Part of me couldn’t help but take satisfaction in the sight. But, another part...

“Lastly, we would like to hear from Phantom Thief Roche.”

I pushed my way to the front of the room, avoiding eye contact with Kari for as long as I could. When I faced the FWs, though, I could see her out of the corner of my eye, staring dag...huh. Well, she was staring, but not as maliciously as I was expecting.

“Roche. On how many occasions have you worked with Kari?”

“Ah, nearly a dozen, I guess,” I said.

“And during these occasions, did Kari conduct herself in a manner you found questionable?”

“Every time.” I saw Kari look to the floor. That’s the most remorse I’ve ever seen her show.

“In particular, please share your recollection of the Cosmic Sapphire heist.”

“Right.” I shifted my weight a little. “A certain Mr. Snyder had the national museum display a set of fine jewels he had collected over the years, so the two of us set out to steal the exhibit. Breaking in was easy, and then I went to the display room while Kari disabled the security. As soon as I had an opening, I snatched the jewels, but as I was headed out I was jumped by a mercenary using a sound alchemar. Turns out Snyder had shelled out quite a sum bringing in extra help once we warned him we were coming. I’m sure I don’t need to go into detail about why fighting sound-users is tricky--suffice to say I was on the back foot, with things only evening out once Kari showed up. We were doing okay, so I made a plan to end it. I got in close as a distraction...next thing I knew, my bag felt a good bit lighter, and I was eating concrete. Took me a minute to piece everything together, but basically: Kari stopped time, took the jewels off my hand, and then bolted back here on her own. Not to be dramatic, but I almost died there. That’s the only time since joining the Network I’ve had to make an emergency call. In the end, Kari got full payment, I looked like an amateur, and…”

Hesitation struck. See, I haven’t taken a look at the Cosmic Sapphire Collection--it was turned over to the Admin and stored in the Network’s cache--but I’ve always had a strong suspicion that a few of the jewels didn’t make it back to HQ. I wanted to bring it up, but...it’s not like I had any proof. It was baseless, and I’d just be slandering Kari and making her (already very bad-looking) case look a lot worse. She was still looking at the floor, and it was still weirding me out.

Nodding, one of the FWs asked, “And?”

Mmm, I might hate her, but I gotta be fair. I sighed, continuing, “And, I’m just mad about it. Being left to die and all. But, there you have it.”

I went back to my seat. The Admin folded their hands before their face, staring at Kari as they sifted through the information they had just absorbed. “Well. It sounds to me as though you’ve been awfully consistent, and all that’s saved you from comeuppance is the reluctance of more honorable thieves. Do you have anything to add, Kari?”

She shook her head. “...No.”

Yikes. I’d never seen her like this, and it was really starting to get to me.

“This selfish streak casts itself upon your current claims. Having previously been so willing to let your colleagues come to harm, it becomes more difficult to believe that the losses suffered at Navy Canyon were simply an accident. Especially considering how flippant you were in the wake of the incident.”

“Makes sense.”

The Admin paused, and boy did it drag on. Eventually, they said, “Have any come to speak in defense of Kari?”

“None,” answered an FW.

“So we truly have only your word to go on that this was an accident?”

“Come on, I--” Kari snapped, but cut herself off with a huff. “Alright. I’m an asshole, no two ways about it--it’s not like I don’t know. Maybe I didn’t react right to what was going on, but at this point, what do I have to gain by lying about it? It was an accident. I didn’t want those thieves to die. Believe me, don’t believe me, whatever. Are we gonna keep running in circles, or can we just get this over with?”

Damn, okay. Something got to her.

The Admin said, “You must have an idea of what my decision would have to be if we leave things here. Are you alright with that?”

“I just want it over with,” Kari mumbled. “If there’s no changing it, then this is just torture.”

So...she’d already accepted being banned from the Network? And was still insisting it was an accident? Why? What did she benefit from being honest at that point?

The Admin sat up straight. “Very well.”

Hold on.

“Kari, you are hereby--”

“Wait!” I said. All eyes turned to me. “...Boss. To be fair...I think she’s telling the truth about Navy Canyon being an accident.”

The Admin raised an eyebrow. “You do? Even though she’s put your life in jeopardy before?”

“I mean I’m still mad about that, don’t get me wrong. But it’s not like she let the others die and then got out of there: she stayed and finished the mission, and even saved the lives of the right flank later on. Why would she do that if she had killed the vanguard on purpose?”

After another all-too-long pause, the Admin said, “You make a fine point. But even if that was simply an accident, the trend in her conduct still stands.”

I glanced at Kari. She was staring at me, eyes wide with confusion. Don’t ask me, I didn’t get it either. “Of course. But, we don’t need to overreact, right? I think the fact that she stayed after that accident shows she’s not a completely lost cause--maybe we can help her to be a little more honorable, given enough time and incentive.”

The Admin considered this, leading to yet another long silence during which I could feel myself growing old.

“Plus, where are we going to find another time-user on her level? Not to sound like a business bastard, but you can look at it as an investment.”

The Admin chuckled. “Practical. I suppose if we lock her for a while, we can take the time to educate her on proper Phantom Thief conduct. Mandatory, of course, and she’ll be confined to quarters otherwise. Reparations will also need to be arranged, but that’s something we can work out at a later date. Does this sound acceptable to you, Kari?”

She turned back to face the Admin. “...Well, doesn’t sound like my idea of a good time, but...I suppose it’s better than my other option.”

“This will only work if you are truly willing to learn. If you remain obstinate, this verdict can and will be amended.”

“Okay, I get it. I’ll take it seriously.”

“Good. Does anyone else have anything to add?” No one did. “Then we’re done. Please escort Kari back to her quarters and confiscate her alchemar. Once you are satisfied the conditions are secure, please inform me, and then we can proceed.”

The FWs ushered Kari out of the room. As she passed, she stared at me, but I kept my eyes forward. The other thieves filed out, and I stayed where I was until finally the Admin walked up to me.

“I have to admit, Roche: I wasn’t expecting that from you.”

With a shrug, I got to my feet. “Yeah, me neither. Couldn’t tell you why that happened.”

The Admin smiled. “I see. You know, if we’re going to instill a sense of honor in Kari, there’s quite a bit she could learn from you.”

Every muscle in my body went stiff as I began to question recent decisions.

“Don’t worry, I won’t put you through that.”

The tension drained out of me all at once. You’d think it’d be cathartic, but it was more like the experience of finally vomiting after hours of nausea.

“Thank you for speaking up, Roche. Now, if you’ll excuse me.”

Kari was locked for a good few months after that. She wasn’t entirely responding well to her training, but she did make an effort, and eventually we got somewhere. After doing a handful of supervised jobs pro bono, she was allowed to leave her quarters, and no one at HQ saw her for another couple months after that. But, she did come back eventually and resumed duties as normal. I haven’t interacted with her since the investigation, and I don’t really feel an urge to change that. I’d like to think she’s made some real progress, but...it’s hard to give someone the benefit of the doubt after repeated betrayal. I’m gonna keep my distance. With any luck, she’s at least got some sense of honor now, and she won’t be my problem ever again.

#original #Phantom Network

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juuheizou · 4 years ago

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i may have went a bit overboard with choosing numbers. i just love those asks a lot. here they are: 4, 9, 13, 23, 28, 34, 36, 38, 47, 49, 51, 53, 63, 79, 83, 84, 97, 99

ash your overboard numbers are the best thing that ever happened to me dw about it tysm!!

4: how do you take your coffee/tea?

i’ll drink it black/plain if i really want a caffeine fix and have nothing to put in it, but i have a big sweet tooth and i like it w sugar and/or flavored syrup, and milk is nice but not a requirement

9: do you like singing/humming to yourself?

yES. i love to sing. like really love it. not to be emo but music has always been therapy to me. i was in a choir too for abt 4 years, and did some talent shows/open mics, and would really love to be in a band or something someday. i sing and hum around my house all the time

13: what’s something that made you smile today?

when i got home from work and laid in my bed for almost an hour straight (i’m running on critically low spoons ok don’t judge me) peachie followed me into my room as he always does when i get home, and hopped up and sniffed/licked me as he always does when i get home, but this time he stepped up onto my torso and laid down on me and we cuddled for a long time and it was v nice :)

23: what’s your favorite thing to do on lazy days where you have 0 obligations?

listen to music and nap, maybe draw/write/do something creative if i have the spoons

28: sunrise or sunset?

sunset

34: tell us about the stuffed animal you kept as a kid. what is it called? what does it look like? do you still keep it?

i don’t really remember the stuffed animals i had when i was v young, but when i was 16 i found this cute little stuffed giraffe at a thrift store and just had to have it. it’s not called anything. i tried thinking of a name and all i ever call it is ‘my giraffe’ but its a big comfort object of mine and i keep it in my backpack in case i need something to self-soothe with. i love stuffed animals and highkey want more

36: which band’s sound would fit your mood right now?

idk probaby like... velvet acid christ or some weird edgy ebm band like that. bc i am just CHILLIN and idk what i’m doing but i still like knives and blood and stuff

38: tell us about your pet peeves!

the list would be so long if i listed all of them, so imma just pick one and rant abt it a little. it really cheeses me off when ppl question u on irrelevant, personal stuff that i don’t wanna share and they don’t need to know. idk like the guy that helped my roommate move knew me for a few minutes and was immediately asking what i did for work, how many hours do i work, am i going to school, am i planning on going to school, why am i not in school, and i’m like ‘none of ur beeswax stranger.’ stuff like that. maybe its just bc i’m a v private person irl and have always been the person ppl share things with while not knowing much abt me, so it just seems unnatural and honestly intrusive when ppl i’m not all that close to start asking me personal stuff that i don’t readily share, esp when they get all pissy that i don’t wanna tell a stranger, my landlord, my coworker, etc a bunch of stuff they don’t need to know.

47: what food do you think should be banned from the universe?

fried onions in any kind of breading. they look so crispy and delicious, then u bite into them and onions.

49: do you like buying CDs and records? what was the last one you bought?

love it!! usually i’ll download the mp3s bc i’m broke, but when i can get them, i love having an album to hold and i love the little notes and lyrics inside the case and it’s just great. i haven’t bought a cd in a long time though bc money. the last cd i burned though was that ‘caress of steel’ one that i was so excited about

51: think of a person. what song do you associate with them?

person: my mom. song: idek the name of the song or what verses are from which songs, but she played and sang patty griffin all the time so whenever i hear one of the songs of hers that i would hear so many times growing up i think of my mom

53: have you ever watched the rocky horror picture show? heathers? beetlejuice? pulp fiction? what do you think of them?

all of them but heathers. beetlejuice was ok. didn’t like pulp fiction but i might have liked it better if my pretentious film bro brother didn’t talk it up so much. for all it’s flaws, though, i love rocky horror and have it on dvd so i can watch it as much as i want

63: are you fussy about your books and music? do you keep them meticulously organized or kinda leave them be?

ehh i like to be able to find what i want, but my bookshelf is a mess and so is my music library and i just... don’t do anything about it. not successfully anyway

79: what’s one of the cutest things someone has ever done for you?

irl not much cute stuff happens to me, but i thought it was v sweet when my homie @nipnaap drew me a suzuya for my birthday last year!!

83: what’s some of your favorite album art?

i like one-eyed doll’s album art a lot, both the drawn covers and the ones w photos. they just look super artsy and cool. sinister also has nice album art, which is not something i often say abt death metal bands, but its really well-drawn and the color schemes are cohesive and i like it. idk i like bands w kinda ugly album art lowkey, but those are the most consistent producers of album art i like.

84: are you planning on getting tattoos? which ones?

i want tattoos all over my fricking body. i’m not gonna go into a tattoo shop and breathe my pathogens everywhere during a pandemic seeing as enough ppl in my area are already selfish enough to do that, but i hope to get my first one soon.

97: myer briggs type, zodiac sign, and hogwarts house?

istp, libra, gryffindor

99: list some songs that resonate to your soul whenever you hear them.

honestly i don’t have the foggiest idea lately. i’ve been kinda having a problem w any music really making me feel much. am i in a depressed spiral or do i need to listen to more music, who knows?

send me some cute asks!!

#sorry for the late response #i had to go to work before i had time to answer it yesterday and then i slept through most of my evening when i got home #and honestly i have no explanation for today these just took me a long time to answer #i wouldn't have it any other way though i loved answering all your questions!!#answers #ash

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fandom-necromancer · 5 years ago

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451. Holding everything in doesn’t help, you know.

Shoutout to the amazing anon prompting this! Your other story will be up tomorrow!

Fandom: Detroit become human | Ship: Reed900

‘Good morning, tin-can’, Detective Gavin Reed greeted him without making eye contact, as usual. Nines looked up from his work, the little jabbing program in the back of his head starting to act up again upon the conclusion that the uttered statement was [dishonest] and [human is lying]. ‘Good morning, Detective. How had your weekend been?’ ‘Fine.’ [Subject is distant] [Doesn’t speak the whole truth] Nines nodded and got back to work. He had to go to a Cyberlife store soon and get this checked. Something had to be wrong, because with every word out of that human’s mouth he sensed lies and withheld words. A behaviour like that simply wasn’t natural. Maybe for a day or two, Nines supposed someone could handle it. But three months? Clearly some code had to be faulty.

A message popped up in his vision, informing him of a crime scene that called for their attention. ‘There had been a suspected drug related murder’, he reported dutifully to his partner. ‘We are to leave immediately.’ ‘No, I didn’t even had-‘ The detective cut himself off as Nines had turned towards him attentive to every word. This time they didn’t scream [human is dishonest]. ‘Alright, I’m coming.’ The human stood up and put on his jacket. ‘May I inform you that you haven’t had your morning coffee yet, detective?’ The man tensed and held it for several seconds, before letting out a deep sigh. ‘I know, toaster, it’s fine.’ [human is lying]

The drive to the crime scene was silent. Nines knew it was normal to discuss what they knew about the scene, but the detective wasn’t one for banter. So, he prepared one of his usual monologues: ‘The body was found today at 6:43 AM by garbage collectors in an industrial park. As I was informed there aren’t any signs of a murder on the body, but there were traces of red ice and a message left.’ ‘Oh god, will you shut u-‘ Nines looked over to his partner at the uncommon reaction, but before he could say something, the human corrected himself: ‘I’m sorry. Continue.’ Again, it was dishonest from the bone. ‘Detective, if you’d rather drive in silence and examine the scene for yourself, I can stop.’ ‘No! No, no, I’m fine, I don’t want to stand in your way. Just get on.’ [lie] ‘Okay… Well, there is a message on the wall above the body, Cyberlife font but not perfect. Maybe trying to blame androids for the murder?’ ‘We are there’, the detective interrupted and parked the car lazily at the street.

He almost fled through the opened gate in the fence and followed a beat cop already waiting for them. The woman led them through a jungle of pipes and brick-walls, maybe it was a chemical plant. Nines didn’t look it up, he was preoccupied hurrying after his partner.

He caught up to him as they arrived at the scene: True to Nines’ description there was a dead body, a middle-aged woman, leaning against a wall and a pipe. The ground was covered in tiny red crystals that turned blue where they came in touch with water puddles from yesterday’s downpour. No obvious signs of foreign interference, no blood, no needles, no reminders of handprints or rope at the throat. She looked like she was sleeping. Above her head there was near perfectly written: Pay your debts.

The detective was already on his knees, inspecting the crystals on the ground. ‘There is no pattern in the distribution’, Nines helped and saw the man flinch but say nothing, moving on to the body. Nines dipped a finger into the red dust and brought it to his mouth. The familiar results came in near immediately. ‘Red Ice.’ Gavin was already looking at the woman, crouching down once more to study face and throat, then hands and clothing. Meanwhile Nines looked up her file. ‘Her name is Susan Miller. Married, no children. No history of drug abuse, at least none documented. Works at a local news channel, no peculiarities at record there. Uploads photos of a bird regularly on social media. At least from her file there is no motive for a murder.’ He had noticed how the human had increasingly tensed while he was speaking. Nines immediately recalled what he had said, searching for a reason for this behaviour but found none. So, he continued: ‘The writing on the wall appears perfect, but there are little waves at the corners, evidence of a slight tremor or malfunction. Not enough to eliminate the writer either being human or android.’ Still, the crouched down human wasn’t answering, silently inspecting the findings in her pockets. A wallet with a bunch of cards, some money and pictures of her husband and the bird. Some keys, one for a car, one that looked like fitting a front door. Some handkerchiefs. Pepper spray. ‘The spray had been used at least once’, Nines supplied from his analysis. ‘I will try to find out whether that was here.’

He crouched down, getting samples of the ground around the dead woman, but stopped as his partner got up and walked away without a word. ‘Detective!’, Nines called out for him, but there was no reaction. He got up, recalling his recent memories. Why was the man acting so strangely? With everything he had done he had intended to help. There was a reason, androids were flooding the police. They could see things humans couldn’t. Nines would stand for it without pride or a feeling of superiority. There was also a lot, humans could do that went far over an android’s head. Especially working with detective Reed Nines experienced it nearly every day. He really liked working with the man as he was efficient and not hindered by compassionate emotions. The only thing standing between him and a successful cooperation was this behaviour the man was displaying: No more speaking than the barest minimum, every direct question answered with something he knew wasn’t what the man wanted to say. And he decided that this had to end that moment, standing next to the dead body of the poor woman.

He started running to catch up to his partner and found him sitting behind the wheel looking the other direction. Clearly waiting for him but not voluntarily. Silently, Nines entered the passenger seat, but as the man wanted to reach for the gear-knob, Nines grabbed it instead, looking at the human with determination. The detective met his eyes, flinching at the contact and immediately his left hand was at the door-handle. Nines scanned the human opposite to him and realised for the first time that this was a reaction of fear. Of course, he had never noticed it. He wouldn’t have thought the man to fear anything after seeing him in action with no regards to his own safety, only having the mission in mind.

Nines averted his eyes and let go of the knob, strangely regretting that the human was afraid of him. What had he done to frighten a man like Reed? Of course, he could be frightening. He had been designed to be. But he had always tried to be gentle and helpful. ‘I’m sorry, detective.’ ‘What?’ ‘You seem to be afraid of me.’ ‘No I’m not!’ ‘You are lying right now.’

There was silence. ‘I detected you lying to me repeatedly, always saying something you didn’t mean or trying to cover something up that slipped past your lips that you did mean. I… I asked myself what I did wrong all the time, but now I know. I am sorry to frighten you.’ ‘You don’t frighten me’, it was quietly uttered, as if ashamed. But it was true for once and Nines looked up again, studying the human that had crossed his arms over the steering wheel. ‘Then please tell me what I’m doing wrong. I can see your stress levels spike whenever you are talking to me, but you never tell me what causes that. I can ask for a transfer, if you want. Though I really enjoy working with you.’ ‘It’s nothing, I can handle it.’ ‘You are lying again. Holding everything in doesn’t help, you know.’

‘Fine, okay!’ Suddenly there was anger. Anger Nines hadn’t seen before, as if it had been chained deep inside his partner and only now set free. ‘I never asked for a partner. I was perfectly fine being alone. And then I get a phcking machine! A damn Connor 2.0! You know I would have rather learned I’m replaced by a bot than work with one! You perfect analysing dipshits, scrolling through people’s social media and finding out every little detail we thought to be well hidden. What will the world come to once our metal overlords slowly take everything? When our worth is determined by machines? Phck, I hate your kind. Always had and always will. And if you want to punch me unconscious for this too, like your damn doppelgänger did to show me my place, then fine, do it! It won’t change who I am! You would have to kill me for that!’ Nines looked at the human surprised and confused. He had never expected… What had Connor done? He accessed the precinct’s surveillance database through the android network and searched for anything that would explain what happened. As he searched, there was a groan coming from the human as he slumped down again. Finally he found a file. Gavin threatening Connor for illegally entering the evidence room. And moments later ending up on the floor unconscious. A heavy blow to a proud man’s ego. It made Nines re-evaluate his relationship to Connor and his approach to the human next to him.

‘I would never harm you, detective’, Nines said carefully. ‘I wouldn’t even think of it.’ He paused, expecting the human to intervene and shut him up. But detective Reed stayed silent. Without being able to see his face, Nines couldn’t find out whether what he was saying had an impact. ‘And I definitely don’t think humans are of any different worth than androids. I disagree of humans being superior. But so I do with androids. We are equals. I wouldn’t have taken the job if I replaced a human. I don’t know what Connor thought as he did this to you, but I don’t think it was justified. I know nothing I say will change your opinion on androids, but please look at my actions when judging me, not other’s.’ ‘Fine, asshole, I’ll judge you by your actions: You always act like you know phcking everything. As if a human can’t get to the conclusion that a pepper spray was used before! Shit, then the ordering around. New crime scene there, we are to go here… Bullshit! We are not partners! You are the perfect detective and I’m the burden you have to bring along because technically you have a partner. Don’t you tell me we are equals!’ ‘But we are? You are not a burden. You don’t speak to me at all, how should I have known what you found out? I just thought to help you by stating everything I could see. And I never intended to order you around although I see I might have phrased some sentences really weirdly. I’m sorry for that. But you have to tell me that, how else should I know?’ ‘Hmm yeah and end up drooling on the floor again? No thank you!’ ‘That’s not healthy.’ ‘Yeah, well, phck you! I only have my eight hours with you, then I can relax again.’ ‘But it doesn’t have to be like this. I can assure you you can always tell me. I promise you I’ll never harm you. We are partners, we are supposed to protect the other. And I need you. I agree, I can analyse samples and see more at a crime scene than a human. But you are far more advanced in finding a motive and thinking like a killer would. You have social skills I would never manage to develop in my active time. I need your skills and you need mine. And that’s how it is supposed to be. If you have problems with me, you can tell me.’

There was a heavy sigh. ‘You can’t tell me you need me. That’s bullshit. When did you ever needed me?’ ‘Every talk to witnesses or family members of victims, you lead. I couldn’t be compassionate if my life depended on it. I’m too analytical for it. And take this case for an example: I suppose you already have a hunch?’ ‘…Yeah.’ ‘I don’t. I know there is not enough evidence yet. But you already have an idea to follow for the next steps. That is one of your most amazing qualities.’

They still sat in the car, twenty minutes after leaving the crime scene. ‘So, how about we start over and you talk to me as if I were a human partner that in no way had a chance at overpowering you in a fight?’ The detective had risen his head over the wheel again, maybe Nines had managed to get through to him. ‘I think I could try that.’ ‘That’s good to hear, detective.’ ‘The name’s Gavin.’

#detroit become human #dbh #Reed900 #Gavin Reed #RK900 #Gavin gets decked ONCE in his life #Gavin: I have severe PTSD and can't talk to androids #I had a severe headache writing this and I hope there is nothing weird or wrong in the first half XD

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