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theycallme-thejackal · 2 years ago

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(requested by @wonderlandleighleigh & @bekindreblog)

Pairing: Lenny Bruce & Midge Maisel Rated T

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

“I had a visitor today.”

“Bob Hope finally coming after you for that Marilyn Maxwell joke?”

“Actually he was more irritated about the Pope and his duck paramour.”

Midge laughs into the receiver. “So who was your visitor?” She asks.

“A fourteen-year-old who has clearly been spending too much time with your mother.”

Midge raises her eyebrows in surprise. “Esther? How did she even find you?”

“You kept my letters.”

Her breath catches. “Well you did send me one just the other day,” she quickly deflects. “She probably saw it with the rest of the mail.”

“Midge,” Lenny chides, his voice gentle.

“I’m going to kill her,” she sighs, her cheeks flushing in embarrassment.

“Don’t do that. We’re not married, so they won’t let us have conjugal visits.”

“Lenny,” she scolds with a laugh.

“Sorry,” he replies, but the tone of his voice suggests he’s not sorry at all. “But aren’t you tired of this, Midge? Occasionally spending the night together and then pretending we didn’t?”

“It’s better than nothing.”

“But not as good as everything,” he argues. “Let me take you to dinner.”

Midge exhales a shaky breath. “I...Lenny, I don’t want to get hurt again.”

“And I don’t want to hurt you again,” he says. “I’m almost eight years clean, Midge, and I haven’t been arrested in nearly as long. I’m not...I’m not the same guy I was back then.”

Midge hears the door open slowly. “That must be Esther.”

She hears him exhale a breath. “Tonight. I’ll be at Anton’s at eight. If you don’t come, I’ll know your answer,” he says.

“Okay,” she breathes, hanging up the phone with a shaky hand. “Esther, is that you?” She calls, stepping into the hallway.

“Hi, Mama,” she greets. “I’ve got homework to do.”

“Oh, okay,” Midge concedes, letting her daughter pass her and go into her bedroom, a waft of familiar aftershave flooding the comic’s senses.

Midge sits on her bed, reaching for the drawer and pulling out a stack of letters wrapped up in a black tie that lost the scent of him ages ago. The truth is that she’s never stopped loving him. She’s never even thought about being with anyone else. She’s gone on dates in the last decade - mostly at the behest of her mother - but no one has ever been able to take over the space Lenny occupies in her heart.

A couple hours later, she stands in front of her mirror wearing a blue dress. “What am I doing?” She breathes in disbelief.

There’s a gentle knock on her door, and she looks just as Esther presses it open. “Mama, I need to tell you something,” she says, looking guilty.

The older brunette smiles softly. “I know,” she replies, moving to her drawers and pulling out a pair of earrings.

“You do?” Esther asks.

“He called. Apparently you’re gunning for an apprenticeship with your grandmother.” She laughs quietly as her daughter blushes.

“You look really pretty, Mama,” Esther says, sitting on the edge of the bed as Midge continues getting ready. “Dress is a little fancy for a gig, though, isn’t it?”

Her mother turns, finishing with her earrings and folding her hands in front of her. “I have a date tonight,” she says.

Esther’s face falls, and she lowers her gaze to her lap. “Have fun, I guess.”

"You know I don’t like people meddling in my life,” Midge says. “I’m a grown woman. I can take care of myself - ”

“You’re not happy, though, Mama,” Esther protests, looking at her.

Midge takes her daughter’s hands in hers, squeezing gently. “I don’t like people meddling in my life,” she repeats. “But just this once...thank you,” she says before kissing her forehead.

The teenager looks at her happily. “You mean - ”

“Don’t get your hopes up, okay, sweetie? Lenny and I have a long history, and this might not work out,” she warns. “But I’m glad I’m getting a chance to find out.”

Esther wraps her arms around Midge tightly. “I just want you to be happy,” she admits. “You’re the best mom ever, and you deserve to be happy.”

Midge tears up at that and kisses her daughter’s hair as she holds her. “You’re the sweetest kid in the world,” she says. “There’s leftover mac and cheese and brisket in the fridge. Don’t stay up too late, and don’t meddle in any other relatives’ lives,” she teases, slipping out of her embrace and standing.

“But I want to hear about your date!” Esther protests. “Can I at least stay up until you get home?”

She arches a brow and smirks. “Sweetie, if the date goes well, you’re not going to want to hear about it,” she teases, making Esther’s face contort as she flushes in embarrassment. “Hey, you’re the one who meddled,” Midge reminds her. “I have to punish you somehow.”

#midgelenny #midge x lenny #midgexlenny #tmmm fanfic #marvelous mrs. maisel fanfic #otp: more important than god #jackal fics

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fiveisnumber1 · 4 years ago

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Timeless - Five Hargreeves x Reader

Word Count: 2860

Warnings: I’m sorry.

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23

_________________________

Pt 10 - Time Moves On (With Or Without You)

In the Hargreeves household, the day started out like any other one, with breakfast. With the ring of a bell, the uniformed children all filed in one line into the dining room and made their way to their seats. Quietly standing behind their chairs with their hands behind their backs they waited in silence for their father to arrive. Once he entered the room he stood behind his seat before commanding,

"Sit."

With that word the children pulled out their seats and sat at the table to eat, each of them quietly doing their own things. Luther and Allison exchanged small smiles to each other across the table, Diego secretly scratched a knife into the armrest of his chair, Klaus fiddled with some special paper under the table, Ben read a book by Anton Chekov and Vanya quietly ate her meal. There was one child who was having trouble keeping quiet on this day and that was Five. Although he had already done so much with his powers during missions and practice sessions he wanted to do more. He knew he could do more. Five wanted to time travel and it ate him up inside that his father wouldn't allow him. Instead of eating he stared down his father from the opposite end of the table. Anger and frustration building up inside him. When his anger boiled over he grabbed his knife and stabbed it into the table. The loud sound caused everyone to look at him.

"Number Five?" Reginald questioned

"I have a question." Five stated with contempt in his voice

The other children looked at their brother with concern and shock in their eyes.

"Knowledge is an admirable goal, but you know the rules. No talking during meal times, you are interrupting Herr Carlson." Reginald replies

Unhappy with his father's response Five forcefully pushes his plate forward before saying,

"I want to time travel."

"No," Reginald says

"But I'm ready!" Five explains sitting up from his chair "I've been practicing my spacial jumps just like you said."

Five then jumps from his spot at the table to right next to his father's seat.

"See?" Five comments aggressively

"A spacial jump is trivial when compared with the unknowns of time travel. One is like sliding along the ice the other is akin to descending blindly into the depths of the freezing water and reappearing as an acorn." Reginald explains

With his hands balled up in his pockets, he cocked his head to the side and angrily said,

"No, I don't get it,"

"Hence the reason you're not ready," Reginald replies

From down the table, Five can see Vanya shake her head no as if to tell him to stop pushing the issue.

"I'm not afraid." Five retorts to his father

"Fear isn't the issue. The effects it might have on your body, even on your mind are far too unpredictable. Now I forbid you to talk about this anymore." Reginald commands

Five couldn't believe what his father was saying. Ridiculous how he didn't believe that Five could do it. Five was going to time travel and was going to prove that old angry man wrong. Turning on his heel he runs away from the table leaving his father, Grace, and his siblings behind.

"Number Five. You can't leave the table you haven't been excused! Come back here!" Reginald yells

Five didn't care what the old man had to say though. All he cared about was proving he was ready to time travel. He ran out the front door and through the gates of the house in which he lived. Angrily walking down the street he was determined to jump through time. The one thing he didn't expect was you latching on to him. You had seen Five leave his house from out your living room window. You quickly called out to your mom telling her you were heading out before teleporting your molecules over to your friend and grabbing on to him. With a flash of blue, he had jumped through time and brought you along with him. You didn't notice though because you were too busy trying to get him attention.

"Five!" You called out as he walked for a little bit taking in the surroundings

"Not ready my ass." Five mumbles to himself

With another time jump, the two of you were in a winter scene.

"Five!" You called again

Five had heard you this time and stopped. Turning around he saw you holding onto him. You let go and took a step back.

"What the hell are you doing?!" Five yells

"I saw you leave your house from my window and you looked upset so I wanted to make sure you were okay." You reply

"I'm fine." Five states

"You don't seem fine is there anything I can do?" You question concern evident in your tone

"You can go home." He answers

"But Five-" You start but are cut off

"You wouldn't fucking get it (Y/N)! Just leave me the hell alone!" Five yells

Before you can say anything he turns on his heel and jumps again leaving you standing there alone.

"Well screw you too I guess!" You yell at the spot where he just was

Turning around you make your way back to your house. Looking around you see the snow around you. You could've sworn there was no snow when you left and even if you just didn't notice it you wondered how you couldn't with the amount of snow on the ground. Shaking your head you make the walk back home wondering what could've gotten into your best friend. When you make it back to your house the door is locked. You were confused, your mom never leaves the door locked when you tell her you're going out. You start to knock on the door but when you get no response you start to bang on it and yell out,

"Mom? I'm home!"

When you get no response you try again banging and calling louder,

"MOM! I'M HOME! IT'S COLD OUTSIDE LET ME IN!"

You were about to call again when you hear a voice behind you say,

"Whacha doing kid?"

When you turn around you see a garbage man putting trash in the back of the garbage truck for the houses around yours.

"I'm calling for my mom to let me in. My family lives here," you explain

"Yeah don't we all wish our family could live in that house." He replies with a scoff

"What? No, I do live here." You reply

"Yeah, and I'm the king of England. Nobody has lived in that house for eight years." The man replies

"What do you mean eight years, it's 2002." You state

"We're you banging on that door with your head? It's 2013." The man states "The family that lived there's kid went missing 11 years ago. They stayed in the house for three years but just up and left when they couldn't deal with the grief. Rumor has it they went off the grid and can't be found."

You look at him confused and he says,

"Whatever. It's not my business."

He then gets on the back of the truck and you can faintly hear him say,

"Weird kid."

You turn back around to look at the door. That man had to be crazy, you had only left a few minutes ago, there was no way it was 2013. Phasing inside the door the room is dark but you call out to your parents again,

"Mom! Dad! I'm back home."

You get no response. You make your way over to the light switch to try and get some light in the but they don't work. Maybe there's a power outage from the snow? You then open the living room curtains but when the light from outside shows in there's nothing there. The TV, the couches, the coffee table, nothing. The room was empty.

"Mom? Where did the furniture go?" You call out again

All you heard was silence. You made the way around the rest of your house. Emptiness was everywhere. Running upstairs you went into your bedroom. Everything was there like it was when you had left that day. Bed, toys, clothes, everything still in its place. Maybe your parents were just redoing the whole house. You made your way to your parent's bedroom you started yelling,

"Mom! Dad! Please tell me you're in there!"

You were about to bang on the door with your fists but with one hit the door slowly swung open. There was nothing here. Their bed was gone, their clothes were gone, your parents were gone.

"No, this can't be real..."

Your heart started to race a little faster. Where could they have gone? You only left a few minutes ago. You needed answers and if there was anyone who could explain what was going on it was one of the Hargreeves. They had to know what had happened. Without even a second thought you transported yourself from your parent's bedroom to the foyer of the Hargreeves house. In a panic, you started shouting the names of the Hargreeves kids,

"Ben! Diego! Allison! Vanya! Klaus! Luther! Five! Anyone?"

Frantically you looked around the empty house when you heard a voice behind you say,

"Excuse me, can I help you."

You recognized that sweet soft voice. Turning around you saw Grace standing there. She looked shocked.

"(Y/N)? Is that you?" She asks

"Of course it's me! Who else would I be?" You question

Grace slowly makes her way over to you. Gently cupping your face she looks at you and says in awe,

"You look the exact same as when I last saw you."

"Well of course! You only saw me yesterday. This last hour has been so crazy. First I chased after Five and he told me to leave him alone, and then I went home and no one answered and some garbage man told me how nobody lives in my house and my house is empty and according to the garbage man, it's 2013. Ridiculous right? Where are the kids I need to ask them some questions."

"Oh no, sweetie..." She says with a sympathetic look in her eyes

Grace doesn't say anything else she just looks at you sadly. Your heart dropped. This couldn't be real.

"Grace please where are the kids?" You pleaded tears starting to form in your eyes

"Well- they uh- they're not here anymore." She replies softly

"No! That can't be true! None of this can be true!" You shout before running off

"(Y/N)!" Grace calls but it's too late because you had already run off

There was no way that they weren't here. You ran to the library, typically Ben or Vanya would be there but when you got there you found nothing. Diego to Klaus was usually in the kitchen but nobody was there either. Running towards the bedrooms you opened every door looking for your friends. You checked in the courtyard, the dining room, everywhere. Tears leaving a path of where you had been. Each one of them was empty, abandoned as if no one had lived there. You ran back downstairs to check the parlor but when you got in there it was empty as well. All that was there was a painting of your best friend hanging above the fireplace. You turned your head and saw Grace standing there silently.

"I'm so sorry (Y/N)" she whispered

Your heart raced faster. You couldn't believe it. You didn't want to believe it. You turned your head back to look at the painting of your friend. The realization of your situation had started to set in and your body started to shake. You collapsed to your knees unable to support the weight of your body anymore. It felt as if you had just been punched in the gut and all of your breath was taken away. The tears started to fall faster from your eyes as you screamed,

"NO!"

Your voice was filled with grief as you let out painful cries of immense sorrow. You wrapped your arms around yourself to stop your shaking but it was no use. You were barely able to breathe as you screamed your pain into the empty silence of the house. There was no other sound except for you and at that moment you knew that you were alone. Your family was gone, your friends were gone, the person who mattered most to you was gone. The pieces of your life had fallen apart and you didn't know how to get them back.

At the same moment when you were coming to the realization of your new existence so was Five. After he had told you to leave him alone he had jumped once more through time. He looked around him and saw nothing but fire and destruction. With fear coursing through his veins he turned back around and ran as fast as he could towards the Umbrella Academy. When he arrived at the destroyed remnants of the building he called out into the rubble,

"Vanya! Ben! Dad!"

He received no response from inside the building so he turned around and shouted,

"Anyone!"

All that he could hear was the crackling of flames around him. This wasn't where he was supposed to be, he needed to get home. Five immediately tried using his powers to go back in time.

"C'mon" he begged of his power

But there was nothing he could do. Realizing it was too late and he was stuck he turned back to look at the remains of what was once him home. Collapsing to his knees the feeling of sadness overwhelmed him. There was nothing left. Slowly he regained his strength to stand and made his way around the house. Finding an area that wasn't consumed by flames, he carefully started to explore. Out of the rubble, he saw a hand sticking out holding an eye. Curiously he walks over to the hand and takes the eye out of it. He examines the eye before moving to see the person there. It was a man. He then looks to his left and looks out amongst the rubble of the building. Running over to another man he spotted he roughly tries to shake them but it is useless as they don't move. He then passes a female person before heading over to another man. He stares at the figure and sees the marking on his wrist, an umbrella in a circle. These weren't just people, these were his siblings. He could feel himself getting choked up as he stood there amongst their lifeless bodies. They were his family and they were all gone. Before he could fully acknowledge the sight he heard a faint gasping coming from further back. Running towards it he sees another figure impaled on some metal rebar. He makes his way over but when he sees who it truly is his heart sinks.

"(Y/N)!" He calls out rushing to your side

Five kneels next to you and takes in the sight of you. You were older but not as old as his siblings. It must've been because you took those jumps through time with him.

"(Y/N)" He says softly

Slowly you turn your head to him. You couldn't tell if you were imagining things but there was Five, your best friend, right in front of you. His blue eyes were full of sorrow.

"Five? Are you my angel here to take me to the light?"

"No, I'm here I'm real." He says tears forming in his eyes

He looks at the metal going through you. He had to get you out of here. He needed to.

"(Y/N) it's gonna be okay I'm going to get you out of here. You're going to be alright!" He says choking up

Five frantically starts looking for anything to stop your bleeding and help keep you alive.

"Five." You lightly call out

"Yes." He says turning his attention back to you

"The book." You say looking towards your hand caught under some rubble

Quickly Five removes the rubble and grabs what you were asking for. It was the diary you had gotten for your 13th birthday. Surprisingly it was undamaged compared to the world around him. Gently he brings to book to you.

"Here." He says

"Keep it." You reply weakly pushing it back towards him

Five places the book in the ground and turns back to you. Using what last bits of your strength you have, you lift your hand to the small boy's face and place your hand on his cheek. Five uses one of his hands to hold yours against his face. You can feel some of the tears that had fallen from his eyes on your hand.

"Are you still mad at me?" You ask faintly

"No, never. I could never stay mad at you." He replies his voice choking up more

"Good..." you answer quietly

You wrap your hand around your locket and then lay your head back and close your eyes. The smallest of smiles on your face as you let out a breath. Five watches waiting for your chest to rise and fall again but it doesn't. Grabbing your shoulders he starts to shake you.

"(Y/N)! (Y/N) wake up! Please I needed you here! I need you with me! Please!" Five cries out

It was too late, you were gone. Holding what he could of your lifeless body he lets all the tears flow from his eyes. His painful cries of sorrow echoing throughout the empty landscape. He had lost you and was completely alone. And so in the same exact place, in two different times, you and five dealt with the same harsh truth. Everything you loved was gone and life would never be the same.

Taglist: @xplrreylo @joebob15274 @insatiable-ivy @fruitsaladtree @angelpeachamber @academy-umbrella @lizziel1410 @ir3neeee @faith-quake @aliens-with-colas @eddiomyspaghettio @lady-celeste25 @im-dead-and-hurting @nerdypinupcrystal @cherry-ki-d @anapocalypseinmymind @vicassa @2cuteforyourlies @taylorsmakingfuckingmacandcheese @n1ghtsh4d3-67

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benisasoftboi · 4 years ago

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Unorganised thoughts on Trails of Cold Steel IV:

WHY ARE THEY CALLED CLASS VII?

WHO ARE CLASS VI?

Anyway - I started playing Trails in August, and I’ve finally, finally caught up (yes I know Hajimari I can’t read Japanese) and like... what do I do now?

It’s a fantastic series and I’m so, so glad I picked up Trails in the Sky on a whim last summer

This game was long. Is it longer than the other ones? It felt that way

The best part was the first chapter because Rean wasn’t in it and yeah I still don’t like him!!! But seriously, it was astonishing how much more I was enjoying things without him

I audibly groaned when goddamn bonding points returned in the second chapter

Actually that was a lie, the best part was Any Time My Angel Estelle Was On Screen

I missed her so much

I let her get the final hit of the game against the boss because she’s the best

Speaking of angels I caught three Wazy cameos!!!

Also Gilbert came back and if there had been a camera on me... I quite literally teared up a little I was so thrilled

I hate the curse it is dumb and rips all the nuance out of the characters. People do not need a goddamn evil curse to be swayed to extremes by overzealous nationalism. Trails I know you are better than this, I played Sky and Crossbell

Fav new location was Milsante (liked Alster too, though). I really like going to tiny little outposts and villages in JRPGs, they make the world feel more real

What the hell was up with the Osgiliath Basin? As in, Giliath Osborne??? Is this going to be a Hajimari thing?

Oh yeah, HOT TAKE, Alan Richard >>> Giliath Osborne. I was reading an LP of Sky FC while playing the game, and Richard’s motivation is clearer and less over-complex, more sympathetic, and he’s just generally a far more human character

Alan Richard best political antagonist in the series fight me (Rufus Albarea distant second)

For best supernatural/cult-y antagonist I’m stuck between Weissmann and Joachim. Or maybe Campanella lol

Oh uh speaking of characters named Georg I will never not hate everything about the George and Angie subplot. Angie should have died and George should have stayed evil, or it shouldn’t have happened at all. As it is, it was a complete waste of time - you could take it all out and NOTHING would change

Angie would have been the perfect character to sacrifice as well, she’s just important enough that it would feel like ‘oh shit’s getting real’ but not so important that it’s unbelievable

(like Olivier. I could not fully believe they’d actually kill him, and the moment Laura told me ‘they never found the bodies’ I was like, oh, so they’re definitely all still alive, cool)

I mean, it would be a Bury Your Gays, but honestly... there are things I like about Angie, but is anyone really looking to her as a lesbian role model? I hope not. Yikes

So yeah I guess I hate George now for getting my hopes up and then being boring. Shame

I did the Towa romantic ending, of course. I genuinely think she’s the best match for Rean, of all his love interests

Chaaaracters

Rean: Still the least interesting person. Not a good sign when I’m sadder about the robot dying than the main protagonist yeeting himself into the sun (side note, the two endings thing? Unnecessary and dumb). There is no reason girls would like him this much, blah blah I’ve said it all before. Liked his new hair. Honestly would have respected it if they’d had the balls to kill him off. I basically never even used him in battle lol, Juna became my new team leader

Juna: Honourary protagonist imo. I’ve changed my mind since CS3, she’s my fav new Class VII without a doubt. She’s just really good and full of personality and depth and OH GOD WHY IS SHE CRUSHING ON REAN WHY FALCOM WHY

Kurt: pls falcom don’t try to force this aroace king into a nonsense ship with Sully I liked her but what are you doing, anyway Kurt is great and he got cool new swords and he got to hang out with Mueller, who I adore, I love Kurt

Altina: I also love this little bunny. Her relationship with Millium is so lovely and seeing her grow and become her own person made me so happy and OH GOD WHY IS SHE CRUSHING ON REAN WHY FALCOM I LITERALLY SAID SHE HAS THE BEST RELATIONSHIP WITH REAN OF ALL THE GIRLS BECAUSE SHE DOESN’T DO THAT IN THE LAST GAME WHY DO YOU HATE ME????

Musse: Yeah I’m still not sold on Musse but I liked her better this time! I like a smart, confident girl! Just stop being weird about your teacher and we’d be golden!

Ash: Good boy. Sweet boy. Ash and Joshua game now Falcom

Alisa: Still cannot believe she’s presented as the deuteragonist by the marketing - but you know what? Solid arc, she got some closure with her parents, maybe she and Jusis can get together for tea and complain about their messed up families. She’s never going to be a character I like all that much, but I don’t dislike her. I just wish she hadn’t clearly been written as ‘Rean’s love interest’ before anything else

Elliot: I love Elliot, I really do. I mean, I wish he hadn’t been flanderised to the point of speaking in music puns half the time, but he’s a solid, consistently pleasant character

Laura: Goddamnit Falcom please give Laura anything resembling an emotion regarding her dad dying. Also you tell me she’s kind of oblivious and stuff but we never see it. I like Laura but she really could have been more

Machias: I love Machias, fight me fan base. He’s so funny to me. It feels like, at this point, all he really wants is a nice office job, near a nice coffee shop, where he files papers and sometimes gets to yell at corrupt rich people, but NO, he has to run about in dungeons and fight monsters, and are you FUCKING kidding me, ANOTHER crazy snake cultist!?!? It’s great, he’s the only one who’s just done with it all and love it

I low key headcanon that he and Jusis are kinda dating at this point, but we don’t see anything because the games are from Rean’s POV and they don’t want to tell him because they know he’d be weird about it

Jusis: I still really like Jusis! He’s interesting, and his surrogate brother-sister relationship with Millium is so sweet (yes, I saw that bouquet catch, Falcom, and I hate it, stop it, gross). Awesome to see him confront his brother, obviously I let him have the final blow. Rufus was a great antagonist. Jusis has some of the best development over the games, and is also really fun to use in battle (apparently I am the only one who feels this way though :/ ah well)

Fie: I was surprised by how much I liked Fie’s confession scene, seeing as I don’t like Rean/Fie at ALL. Fie finally gets to have feelings about her dad, and we see her working with Zin at the end! Very happy for Fie, best girl

Emma: Ahhh I still find Emma kinda dull and exposition heavy, but she also had a nice arc, I liked her relationship with Rose, all good

Rose beat me at Vantage Masters for 40 minutes lol

Gaius: It’s still extremely funny to me that Gaius became one of the most important people on the continent *off screen*. And he still doesn’t really do anything. He has his own airship now, I guess. Justice for Gaius

Sara: Kind of faded from relevance after CS1, but I do really like her all the same. And I loved her speech at the end

Crow: At the end his hair got darker and everyone was like ‘you’re back to normal!’ and I literally did not realise he was meant to have been looking different

But anyway Crow is a really good character and I literally never didn’t enjoy him. I love the bit where Jusis and Machias team up to call him a cringy edgelord, because they are right. Crow is fantastic

Towa: Towa has never done anything wrong in her life and all of Erebonia should pay for her therapy

Patrick: I cannot believe how much I love Patrick now, compared to CS1. He’s just such a sweetie. Good boy

Elise: Take her to the sun with you, Rean. Pointless character

Alfin: Is she the heir now? I hope so. She’s such a funny character, not my fav, but I enjoyed her

Angie and George: Should have died, moving on

Celine: I love her, but did she really need a human form? No, no she did not. Great character though

Tita: Special mention, because you know what? I do not like this version of Tita! Like I said, I was reading FC recently and she was so much better there! Now a third of her lines are just her saying ‘Agate’ in various different tones. And it feels like she’s lost a lot of her confidence, where’s the little girl who followed us up Carnelia Tower? I would have preferred them to just not bring her back at all

Duvalie: Haha I love Duvalie she’s great. Stop implying that she’s crushing on Rean. Literally WHY would she. Ugh

Rose: Everything about Rose is great, I would play a full game about her backstory. More Rose

Ships!

Obviously I like Machias/Jusis because I am BASIC

I didn’t like Olivier/Schera back in Sky, but you know what? They sold me. It’s cute (even if I feel Schera’s character was neglected in favour of Being A Love Interest, sigh). Though I’m not sure when Olivier made the switch from ‘Schera is one of many people I flirt with’ to ‘Schera is my one and only’?

But am I the only person who’s kinda on the Oliver/Schera/Mueller train? I’m not normally into OT3s, but Olivier and Mueller have one of the best dynamics in the series, and Schera and Mueller would probably get along great if they were ever allowed to properly interact. And you know Olivier would be down

Like I say, I do not like Jusis/Millium at all, it’s not a ‘I like another ship better’ thing, it just massively skeeves me out because of the maturity difference

Ash/Tatiana was unexpected but adorable

Patrick/Elise, because I want Patrick to be happy and Rean to be mad

Also Elise/Alfin, sorry Patrick

I hope Anton and Sharon really do get together. Sharon deserves unconditional love and Anton deserves a happy ending

Sharon also deserves to hook up with Sara like once

I also sort of feel like Sara/Claire would be fun

I’ve actually like Gaius/Linde from CS1, I’m happy it’s kind of a thing now!

If Lila/Maybelle is the LET’S GO LESBIANS Trails ship, then Emily/Theresia is LET’S GO BABY LESBIANS

Vincent/Margarita. They’re both horrible people. At least this way no one else has to deal with them

Joining my Kloe/Josette in the ‘crack ships I love that have very, very little canon basis’ is Fritz/Kairi, based on their interactions in that one mission and then that they’re eating together at Mishelam. It’s pretty much just a height differences thing, lol

Miles/Elnan. I have literally no justification for this

Other stuff There was this one scene where Gaius says how nice it is that Mueller cares about Olivier and Mueller just snaps his head round and the scene ends, and I don’t think it was meant to be funny but I laughed for like a full minute

The intro to the music at Mishelam is extremely creepy to me

I love the Pom Party mini game a whole lot

There were... a lot of typos in the second half of the script. It’s massive, so I’m not mad, but I hope there’s a patch at some point

BERYL BERYL BERYL BERYL BERYL I love her

Uh if we’re still doing romance next arc please give us a gay option, no Crow did not count

I hate divine knight battles! I really do! That last one against Ishmelga was really hard and not in a fun way! In a ‘this is bullshit fake difficulty’ way. Please don’t bring them back!

The true final battle, though? FANTASTIC, now THAT is a final boss! One of the best in the series, like that’s such a fun gimmick!

I got it trapped in break state and spammed Heaven’s Kiss/Quick Star, because I’m a strategic gamer

I am embarrassed by how long it took me to recognise Lucy

KLOE CAMEO!!!

Oh and I assume Kaela is going to be important next arc, since it’s in Calvard?

I love Thomas??? And Rosine???

Why was the grandmaster reveal hidden behind watching the ending twice, why do that? Great scene, though

My theory is that she is Aidios, I will cling to this for as long as possible

I probably have like a million other things to say that I’m just not remembering right now. Look forward to random shouts into the void about it in upcoming weeks, followers

I really enjoyed this overall, despite the problems I mentioned above. It was just fun, I like the cast, the gameplay is great... just a solid game

Trails is a really fantastic franchise - not perfect, but what is? I’ve had such a fun time with it over the past half-year, and I cannot wait to see what happens next. Thank you, Falcom, the localisation team, the VAs - stellar job all around

This is normally where I’d end on a joke but like. Nah, I’m just happy. Cue ‘The Whereabouts of Light’

#long post #cold steel #cold steel 4 #trails of cold steel 4 #cs4 #cs4 spoilers #cold steel 4 spoilers #trails of cold steel #kiseki #kiseki series #trails series #:)

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itspixelberrychoicestime · 4 years ago

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Lucky

Book: The Royal Romance/ Heir

Summary: Despite everything, Liam was lucky.

Pairing(s): Liam x Aria (My MC)

Note: This took me about 3 or months to write this as I wasn’t satisfied with the ending. I think this is the best ending that I could think of for this one. I’ll try to do my best to continue with writing as life and work has been getting in the way. DM/ Comment/ Reblog and ask me if you would like to be tagged.

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“How did she get so lucky?”

Liam kept hearing the same question about his wife, Aria.

Aria was sleeping beside him in their bed. Liam didn’t want to disturb her from her slumber as he looked outside the bedroom window.

He thought the comments about Aria being lucky to be him was humorous. Liam never considered himself as the “winner.” He wasn’t sure if Aria would say yes to his proposal. There was some point he felt that Aria might come to her senses. Like, did she know that her life would never be the same? Liam hated feeling this way as he never wanted his insecurities get in the way for his love.

He grabbed the frame of him and his wife in their wedding day. He love seeing Aria’s smile, how her hazel brown eyes twinkled in the cathedral lights. He then grabbed the photo of his daughter Eleanor, one week after her birth. He smiled down at the photos. His insecure thoughts were about to go away until Eleanor started crying from the nursery. Aria immediately got up from their bed, but saw Liam already up.

“Don’t worry, I got her.” He said. He set down the photos and was on his way until she stopped him.

Aria rested her hand on his shoulder and rubbed her eyes to wake herself up. “No, no, I got her. I didn’t know you’ve been up. You just go to bed.” She left to see her daughter.

Liam sighed and followed her to the nursery. Aria grabbed Eleanor from her crib and cradled her.

Aria cooed to Eleanor, “Hey sweetie, what’s wrong?”

Eleanor whimpered. Aria swaddled her to calm her down. Aria sat on the rocking chair and hummed a tune for Eleanor to fall asleep.

Liam was by the threshold. He saw how Aria managed their daughter. Seeing them both together gave him a good feeling. He tend to imagine his late mother caring for him when he was a baby. The thoughts were still in his mind.

“If I was never royalty, she would still be alive.”

Eleanor stopped crying and Aria put her back in her crib.

“Love you Lil Bunny.” She whispered as she ran a hand on Eleanor’s cheek. Aria got up from the chair to find out that he was in room. “Liam, you’re still up?”

“Yeah. I just wanted to see if you need help.”

“I told you not to worry.” She assured him. “Let’s go bed.”

In bed, Aria was in Liam’s arms as he stared blankly across the room. He asked, “Aria?”

“Hmm?” She responded.

“Would you still want to be with me if I wasn’t royalty?”

“What?” Aria shifted upwards to see Liam facing behind her. “Why would you ask that?”

“I’ve been having these thoughts for a while. What’s been going on with Anton, Bradshaw, Barthelmey-” He stopped himself before he was going to ramble. He grabbed her hand. ” But I can’t shake this feeling that you deserve better.”

He continued without noticing that his thoughts were racing all at once. “If I wasn’t born into this position, everything would be different. We wouldn’t be in this mess. My mother and father would still be alive, I would’ve been a big brother, but-”

“We probably wouldn’t have met, Eleanor wouldn’t be here.” She said. “Even if you had still gone to New York, it’s a small chance for us to meet.”

“I hate thinking this way.” He stared blankly. “I like to think that somehow I would still go into the bar you worked at, see you there, and fall in love you all over again.

“Liam,” Aria had her hands on his face, “Look at me. I love you, not because you’re a king. You are a kind, thoughtful, and loyal person. But it’s not just that, you have been a wonderful husband and father. And I am so blessed to have you and Eleanor, and everyone else in my life.”

She continued, “You are one of the best things that ever happened to me. You were one of the few who had been on my side. I will never know how my life would be like if we never met.”

Liam glanced away. “I know, and I never thought about that. I’m sorry.”

She had him face her again. “You don’t have to apologize. I know that things haven’t been easy, but like I always told you: I’ll be by your side, both the good and the bad.” She kissed him. “I love you, and I’ll be damned if we have to cave in.”

He chuckled. Liam then nibbled her neck. “I sure am lucky to have you in life.” He positioned himself on top of her. “Now, tell me more about you not wanting to cave in.”

End.

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Tags: @kenna-and-val-are-my-queens, @darley1101, @helentwombly, @jbzxls

#playchoices #the royal romance #the royal heir #liam x mc

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dhwty-writes · 4 years ago

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Chapter 9 - A Broken Contract

Well, Geralt is not having a good time in this one! But I promise you, it's in a fun way, not in a whumpy way :) Have fun reading!

As always, my chapters are betaed by the amazing @persony-pepper, thanks so much for that!

Summary: Geralt is away on his contract - the first one since he and Ciri arrived in Lettenhove. It is not going great. In fact, it is going very shitty.

Read on AO3

Part 1 | Part 9 | Part 11

Geralt of Rivia was feeling miserable. He was tired, soaked to the bone, and freezing. But of fucking course destiny wasn't done with him despite all that he had been through in the last four days. Why would She be? He grunted annoyed. This whole fucking contract was a bloody mess.

"Ho!" he said and lunged for the ripped reins that dangled from not-Roach's bridle. Lightning lit up the darkness and thunder roared above their heads. The wet leather slipped through his hands when the horse reared up, whinnying in blind panic.

"Fuck," he cursed and swiped his drenched hair out of his eyes just in time to see her wheel around in an attempt to flee. "Oh no, you don’t," he grunted and moved his pinkie and ring finger downwards. "Stay," he commanded and she did.

He sighed in relief and walked over to her, stroking her muzzle to calm her further. He always preferred to talk to the animals instead of using the signs. But sometimes there just wasn’t another way. "A whole pack of ghouls won't faze you," he murmured disapprovingly, "but a bit of lightning and I have to Axii you?"

He picked up the reins and inspected the damage. They were torn and the leather was frayed where she had ripped herself loose from the tree, he had tied her to. The missing piece was still flapping in the wind. 'Shit,' he thought. Normally he wouldn't have thought much about it, just stitched it up again. Roach’s reins had been torn in more than one place. But he reckoned Jaskier would have quite a lot to say about that.

'Jaskier'll have quite a lot to say about everything,' he mused as he saddled not-Roach. Somehow, he wished he was here now. It felt wrong to weather such miserable days without the bard’s constant complaining. ‘Fuck,’ he thought and tried to push the feeling away.

Dawn had finally come, not that he could see it with the unrelenting downpour. It was the fifth day since he had left Lettenhove, and he was still half a day's ride away from Saltwall - in the wrong fucking direction. "Fuck," he told not-Roach gently, "Jaskier will have my head for this."

The mare snuffled and nudged at his shoulder.

"You're completely right," he grumbled, "Ciri'll gladly serve him my heart on a platter." He groaned internally. Shit, Jaskier had rubbed off on him with the dramatics.

There wasn't much he could do about it, though. So, Geralt miserably began his day, leading not-Roach while he himself waded through the mud. He could only hope that the muck was the washed out remains of the dirt track that would lead him back to Saltwall and not another path entirely.

His hope was growing slimmer with every passing minute, though. Even after a whole day of walking he still hadn't reached the small brook he remembered as a landmark. He was pretty fucking sure he'd lost his way somewhere. And it was still raining.

It was getting darker, though, so he stopped for the night. He freed not-Roach from her saddle but didn't even attempt to rub her dry. There wasn't anything dry to dry her with left. He cursed as he discovered that even the loaf of bread had gotten drenched. So, it was mouldy bread from now on if he couldn't hunt anything. Sulkily he tossed the bread back into a bag without the decaying ghouls' heads. The rain didn't make them smell any sweeter either.

He tried lighting a fire with Igni and was even halfway successful: there were flames, at least. For half an hour. With a stream of filthy curses that made even not-Roach move further away from him, he settled down against a tree and tried to sleep. When that failed, he managed to meditate for a few hours.

At least the pouring had reduced itself to a drizzle when they set out again in the morning. A small mercy, he thought.

Two hours passed and he nearly missed the brook. 'Miss' wasn't quite right. Rather, he nearly turned around again. Because what had been a gentle rivulet trickling merrily through the countryside three days ago was now a raging torrent.

"Fuck!" he cursed loudly when he picked up a splintered plank of what must've belonged to the wooden bridge he had crossed. It had been old, creaking with each of his steps, so it wasn't like he was surprised. Still. "Fuck," he repeated for good measure.

Childishly he kicked the plank into the stream. He knew that it was no use but he didn't care. "Of fucking course," he roared and not-Roach reared her head in agreement. He decided then and there that he despised Redania.

"I'm never taking a contract here again," he grumbled grouchily and tugged on not-Roach's reins turning upstream in the hopes of finding a passage there. "I better hope the pay's good at least."

In any other case he might've considered walking into the opposite direction, payment and reputation be damned. He always could find another contract elsewhere. But that just wasn't an option. Unlike any other time, there were people waiting for him to return. They were waiting for him to return before sunset, to be precise.

He knew that it was impossible. He'd known it from the moment it had started raining. Still, it was frustrating to spend the better part of one day trying to find another ford and then the rest of it to try and get back to the direction he was actually headed. Geralt cursed every higher being in this world for his terrible luck.

At least it had stopped raining.

The next morning it was raining again. It had begun in the crack of dawn with a mean drizzle that prickled like needles and had varied between light rain and full on downpours for the better part of the afternoon. And the ghouls' heads were reeking. By now Geralt was seriously considering throwing them away, skipping the pay, and just returning to Lettenhove straight away.

He was just contemplating this again when a young distressed voice distracted him: "'Scuse me! 'Scuse me, mister! Please don' go walkin' on!"

"What?" Geralt growled and turned to see a small child running towards him, almost as drenched as he was. "What do you want, boy?"

"I'm no boy!" the girl answered. "An' I need your help! My Pa's wagon slipped off the road, straight into the ditch, y'know, an' we can't get it out again."

"Hmm," Geralt made.

"Please, mister, we've been here for hours! My Ma'll be so cross at us, she'll shout an' everythin' if we're not home at sundown."

He scowled as angrily as he could. He had no time for backwater farmers whose wagons broke. He needed to get home himself and he knew he could count himself lucky if there was only one shouting person waiting for him. But instead of backing off the girl drew closer and tugged on his hand. "Please, mister," she said again.

'Fuck,' he thought. "Where?" he asked.

Her face lit up and she tugged on his hand again. "Over there! Come, mister, I'll show ya!"

He hesitated for a moment, calculating his chances that there was a band of robbers waiting around the bend. 'Fuck it,' he decided. His life was miserable enough already, he might actually enjoy killing someone if they tried to mug him.

To his surprise, they did not. When he followed the girl, there actually was a man struggling with a cart. "Pa!" the girl shouted and let go of his hand. "Pa, the mister says he's gonna help us!"

The man tugging at the bridle of the farm horse let go and wiped sweat and rain from his brow. "Well done, Mara. Now, see here, mis- oh."

His gaze flickered over the medallion resting against his chest to the two swords on his back. "Hm," Geralt made and steeled himself for the vinegar sour stench of fear that would surely come. "You want my help or not?"

"I heard a witcher lifts twice as heavy as a normal man," the farmer said.

"You heard right."

"Jolly good! Then we'll have the cart out in no time!"

Geralt quirked a sceptical eyebrow at the odd behaviour of the man and his daughter but didn't say a thing as he tied not-Roach to a tree. "Stay," he ordered and jumped down into the gutter.

"How's it look down there?" the farmer asked.

"Well enough," Geralt answered. He knew little of carts but as far as he could tell neither the wheels nor the axle were broken. The wagon was just stuck in the mud and the horse couldn't pull it out by itself. "I'll lift it, then you should be able to get it out."

"On three," the farmer agreed. "One." Geralt jammed his shoulder underneath the cart. "Two." He pressed his feet into the mud. "Three." With a groan he lifted it.

He couldn't tell what the farmer was doing but there were some very angry words, a horrified gasp from Mara, and then the cart was gone and Geralt fell face first into the mud.

"Fuck!" He shouted loudly as he got up.

"My Ma says-" Mara began but her father put his hand on her shoulder.

"No, sweetie," he interrupted her gently, "today’s the day for cuss words."

“Really?” she asked with wide eyes. “Can I say one, too?” When her father nodded, she shouted as loud as she could: “Bollocks!”

Geralt wiped the mud from his face with his equally muddy shirt and growled in frustration. "Guess your load is ruined," he said as he looked at the goods strewn around him.

"Pity that," the farmer said and offered him a hand to climb out of the gutter again, "but at least we didn't lose the cart. And not everything fell off. My name's Anton, by the way."

"Geralt," he answered.

"Geralt," Anton repeated. "Thank you. And sorry for the-" he gestured at all of him.

"You look worse than Sam! And smell jus' as bad," Mara helpfully offered. "That's our pig," she added at his confused look. "Sam the Ham."

"Hm," Geralt hummed.

"Pa says I shouldn' name him, cos we've to eat him. But I did it anyway! I named our chickens, too, and-"

"Mara," Anton said softly and, thankfully, she shut up. To Geralt, he said: "Stay with us for the night? In exchange for your troubles."

Geralt blinked stupidly. "I'm a witcher," he informed him.

Anton snorted. "I know. That make you waterproof?"

He scowled in confusion. "No."

"Then stay. Can't offer you a bed but a barn for you and your horse, a hot meal, and a fire to dry your clothes."

"Hmm," he sounded, contemplating it. He probably shouldn't, he'd lost enough time already. If he hurried, he'd still get paid today. "How far from here to Saltwall?"

"Three hours if you're lucky. But not with this weather." He crossed his arms. "You got a room there?"

"No."

"Then it's settled." Anton went to sit on the cart. "Come here, Mara."

Mara didn't move. "Can I ride on your horse?" she asked with wide eyes. "I've never ridden a horse before. Only Sam the Ham and he’s a terrible horse, y’know?"

"Don't be impolite, Mara," Anton said the same moment that Geralt answered: "Not mine."

"Still. Can I ride it?"

"Her," he answered as he untied not-Roach's reins. He glanced at her father, who nodded slowly. "Come here," he told her and she ran over eagerly. She squealed as he grabbed her around the waist and deposited her in not-Roach's saddle. "Hold onto the horn," he ordered her and shortened the stirrups. "Don't squeeze your thighs. Don't move your legs at all." She wanted to grab the reins and he quickly pulled them back. "No."

Mara pouted but didn't say a thing as they made their way down the washed-out road.

"A mighty fine horse you got there," Anton remarked.

"Hmm. It was a loan."

"Has she got a name?" Mara asked eagerly.

"Not from me."

Her face fell and her father quickly carried on: "And what sort of friend you got to give you that kinda loan?"

"The Viscount de Lettenhove." He hesitated for a moment. "Not a friend, though."

"Master Julian?” Anton asked eagerly. “Is he well?"

"He is. You know him?"

"Ran away as a lad once. We found him after two days o' walkin'. Famished, poor boy's never gone hungry before. Our kitchen table's as far has he got before his Lordship's men found him."

Geralt frowned. "So, I'm back on Lettenhove soil?"

Anton laughed heartily. "Barely."

"Hmm," Geralt made but the farmer kept on talking: "Just over the border, we are. It's a nice place, though, innit? Y'should see it in spring. That's how we found the lad, that is. He was sittin' here with his lute, singin' away. Head in the clouds, that one, more luck than common sense. He was 'admirin' the wonders of nature and turnin' them into songs' or somethin'. Always was weird like that, the lad, he was. Ne'er quite at home up in the Hall."

"Hmm." Geralt wasn't about to dispute that.

"You've known him for long?"

"Sixteen years."

"Cor..." Mara said. "That's a lot o' years."

"He ever found that home he was lookin' for?" Anton inquired.

Geralt shrugged. "Suppose not. He's back, isn't he?"

"Still composing? Still wishin' to be a bard?"

'No,' he wanted to answer. 'He doesn't need to wish for what he already has. Half a dozen gross of ballads he’s written about me, and I repaid him with scorn.' Instead he said: "Rarely."

"Pity. He wasn't half bad. What were you even doin' out there?"

"Killed the ghouls in the woods. On the other side of the river."

"Really?" Mara leaned down eagerly and he quickly caught her by the shoulder to keep her from falling. "You can do that?"

He shrugged. "It's my job."

"Cor... How'd you do that?"

"With my sword."

"All on your own? How much were there?"

"How many," Geralt corrected without thinking. All three of them gaped for a moment when they realised what he had just said. Not-Roach snickered.

"Well, how many were there?" Mara crossed her arms defiantly.

Geralt sighed in defeat and began telling the story. 'No use trying to resist.' He had plenty of experience with impertinent brats after all. This one wasn’t a noble one at least.

The sun set when Anton finally interrupted the never-ending stream of questions from his daughter. "Ho!" He pulled on the horse's reins and pointed at a pitiable house. "Well, this is us. Ida!" He jumped from the cart as Geralt helped Mara from not-Roach's saddle. "Ida, come outside."

A portly woman stepped outside who promptly began fussing over Geralt. She quickly herded him inside and made him accept a dry set of clothes from Anton that almost fit. She made a pouting Mara scrub the dirt from his shirt while he himself scrubbed himself clean with a bar of crude soap.

In the end he was glad that he accepted the invitation. Ida was not what he would call a great cook, but he preferred any hot meal with ale to mouldy bread and rain water. He slept in the barn with not-Roach, the horse, and Sam the Ham. But, the hay was soft and the spare quilt Ida had forced on him was warm and dry. He couldn't complain. He shouldn’t complain, truly. But still, curled up in the hay, he found himself wishing for Ciri to be there. ‘Or better yet,’ his mind supplied, ‘Jaskier.’

He surely would have him smiling by now with his exaggerations and his songs and his japes. ‘He also would keep me awake,’ he thought grumpily. And, somehow, he missed that, too.

The next morning, his clothes were still warm from drying over the fire the whole night. Despite his protests, he was sent on his way with breakfast and a fresh loaf of bread.

"Nonsense!" Anton insisted. "I won't hear no complaints about our hospitality from no-one."

"Especially not Master Julian," Ida added. "Say hello to him from us, will you?"

"Tell him he can come visit!" Mara pleaded. "He can sing about our trees again."

"Hmm," Geralt made. "I will. Thanks." He wanted to turn and climb into the saddle when the little girl leaped forward and hugged him impulsively. He patted her head awkwardly until she let go.

"Goodbye, Geralt-Witcher!" Mara called after him as he rode away. "An' thanks!"

He reached the miserable hamlet that barely deserved the denomination town at midday — still dry by some miracle.

He stopped the first person that walked past him and brusquely asked: "The alderman?"

The quivering man pointed him in the general direction of the biggest house in the town. Geralt didn't bother with knocking and just followed the scent of fresh food. He found the alderman at lunch, the table groaning beneath the heavy platters.

He grunted in disgust and tossed the bag with the ghouls' heads straight onto his plate. "I'll have my pay now."

"Witcher!" the alderman yelped and leapt to his feet. "What do you think you're doing?"

"I'll have my pay now," he repeated. "And then I'll be out of this shitty town."

"You can't-"

Geralt growled and the alderman quickly took some steps backwards.

"R-right," he stammered, fumbling with the coin purse on his belt. "Here!" He threw it onto the table.

"Are you fucking kidding me?" Geralt growled and stared down at it. "That's all?" He didn't need to count it to know that it was nowhere near the agreed payment.

"It's all we have to spare," that lying, cheating bastard of an alderman said, standing before his table that was almost breaking beneath its heavy load. "It was only a couple of necrophages. Besides, you're late, witcher."

"It wasn't only a couple of necrophages, it was a whole fucking nest of ghouls I cleaned out for you."

The alderman crossed his arms defiantly. "Be on time next time, and you get your full pay."

Geralt was half of a mind to tell him that there wouldn’t be a next time. That no witcher of the school of the wolf would ever come to sort out his problems again. But he couldn't risk aggravating Jaskier's neighbours against the viscount. That was no way to thank his host. "I wouldn't have been late if the rain hadn't washed your decayed bridge away."

"Now don't get cocky with me, witcher," the alderman bristled. "I'm not scared of you."

"Hmm," Geralt made and stepped closer.

The man shrunk back a bit. "It's almost winter. You can't rob a man in winter."

With an annoyed grunt he snatched the purse up and left the house again. "Come on, not-Roach," he grumbled and tugged on her reins, "back to Lettenhove." He had gotten paid less for more, so he really shouldn't complain. It wasn't like he needed that money at the moment anyways. 'Still would have been nice to not set out dirt poor in spring.'

The ride back to Lettenhove went better than expected, all things considered. Well, at least better than the rest of his journey. The road was slowly drying up again, so they made better time. Still, he hadn't even reached the main road before the darkness forced him to make camp.

Come morning there were finally no storm clouds looming overhead anymore. Geralt rode at an almost leisurely pace and found himself enjoying the last warm sun rays of the year.

He had no illusions of reaching Lettenhove before the next day. One and a half days, it had taken him to get to Saltwall — with good weather. He knew he might make it if he pushed not-Roach and himself to the point of exhaustion and beyond. But he was already late. A few hours would make no difference, he figured.

When he woke on the tenth day there was a thick layer of frost covering the floor. The cold seeped through his bedroll and he had no qualms about getting up and moving.

He hadn't gotten far when the rapid sounds of hooves alerted him. There was another rider coming his way, bent low over his horse’s neck and pushing the poor animal to a breakneck speed. 'Poor thing,' he thought.

He tried to pull not-Roach out of the way but to his surprise the rider slowed his horse right in front of him. "Geralt!" he exclaimed.

Geralt blinked. "Jaskier?" he asked dumbfounded. Then, relief washed over him. If he hadn’t been in not-Roach’s saddle, he would have hugged him. Instead he smiled at him.

"What are you doing here?" they asked at the same time.

The viscount regained his voice first: "What the fuck, Geralt? You were due to arrive back home almost a week ago!" Anger was plain on his face, yet the vinegar stench of fear overpowered any spicy rage. Geralt’s face fell as he remembered that the Jaskier he had longed for was gone. "Where were you? What kept you? Shit, Ciri is worried out of her mind for you! I-"

"It wasn't my fault!" Geralt interrupted him sharply. "I can't control the damn weather, can I?"

"Ten days, Geralt! Ten fucking days! You said four, five at most! It was necrophages you're fighting, not a griffin or something. You can kill those in your sleep!"

"Had wrong information," he grumbled.

"You- I- what?! From whom?"

"The alderman. He said two or three ghouls. Got a dozen of them."

"Fuck," Jaskier muttered.

"Hm," Geralt agreed.

The viscount sighed and ran a trembling hand across his face. The stench of fear grew fainter. "Well, let's head back, shall we?"

Geralt said nothing in response but simply nudged not-Roach forward in the direction Jaskier had come from. He knew the questions would come soon enough. They always did.

After half an hour of silence he discovered that the questions did not come. After an hour he decided that the quiet was just as maddening. "The rain started on the fourth day," he informed him unbidden. "Was awful. Took the whole fucking road with it. Next day I nearly missed the river because the bridge was gone too. Took me one whole day to walk around. Then, I found a farmer with a cart stuck in the mud. Told me to greet you. Anton, his name was. And he had a wife. Ida."

Jaskier nodded. "I remember. They were kind to me."

"That's about it," he concluded.

"Sounds like quite the journey." Geralt turned to look at Jaskier, expecting to see the same wistful look in his eyes that he always had when Geralt spoke of his adventures without him. Instead, he was stone faced.

He didn't understand why that hurt so much. "It was."

"Well," Jaskier sighed, "Janina will be glad that you returned Dancer safe and sound to her."

Geralt frowned in confusion. "Who's Dancer?"

That got a reaction from him: "Who- I- the horse!" Jaskier stammered. "The horse you took without consulting me first, you moron!"

"Hmm," he made and tugged on not-Roach's reins to catch her attention. "Could've told me," he said to her. To Jaskier he said: "You said to take any I want."

"Yes, of course, but- wait, what have you been calling her if not Dancer?"

"Not-Roach," he replied. To him that was obvious.

Jaskier gaped. "Unbelievable," he muttered and laughter bubbled from his lips before he bit down hard on his lip. Geralt smelt blood.

“My lord,” he said slowly, “I am sorry.”

“For being late?” He scoffed. “You better be.”

“No.” He hesitated. “Well, for that, too. I’m sorry for what I said before I left. You- you were right. It was dangerous. I should’ve taken better care of Ciri.”

Jaskier gaped at him. “Huh,” he said surprised, “Never thought I’d see the day… Well, anyways," he sucked the blood from his lower lip. "I trust that you were justly compensated for your inconvenience?"

"Eighty crowns." He had counted them after all.

Jaskier tugged sharply on his reins. Not-not-Roach snickered in protest but stood still regardless. "Excuse me?"

He brought not-Roach to a halt, too. "Got eighty crowns from that bastard."

He clicked his tongue in disapproval. "Now that just won't do."

Geralt snorted quietly. "Don't trouble yourself, my lord. It's not worth it."

Defiance gleamed in Jaskier's eyes. "Oh no, witcher," he said icily, "you don't get to order me around anymore." The bitterness in his voice made Geralt flinch. "Sixteen years I held my tongue when you were denied pay, bed, and board alike. Do not think that that was easy."

He couldn't restrain himself: "Held your tongue? I seem to remember quite a lot of first fights and tavern brawls with your involvement, my lord," Geralt said and ducked his head to hide his smirk.

"Don't flatter yourself, witcher, they were hardly about you."

He scoffed. They both knew that was a lie. "What are you even going to do?"

Jaskier clicked his tongue and began to ride again. "I suppose that entirely depends on how he chooses to answer my first letter."

A smile danced around Geralt's lips. "My lord?" he called after him.

He turned in the saddle. "My witcher?"

"Please don't kill him."

Jaskier wrinkled his nose as if the simple request were a terribly foul meal. "I'll consider it," he said and spurred his horse into a trot. "Don't get your hopes up, though."

#My writing #OWBABH #of witchers bards and broken hearts #geraskier #geralt x jaskier #geralt/jaskier #geraskier fanfiction #geralt of rivia #Jaskier

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badchoicesposts · 5 years ago

Text

Loyalty or Royalty

Chapter 11

Summary: Mia Bhatt spent years trying to escape her past, trying to escape the feeling of betrayal that was left in her heart after the fire, and she finally had. She was marrying the King of Cordonia and was finally going to get her happily ever after. But, after a momentary lapse in judgement caused her to send a wedding invitation to someone she was sure had forgotten about her, she realizes that sometimes the past has a way of crawling back to you.

Author’s Note: In this fic Anton and The Sons of Earth were caught before the wedding. Also this story will contain flashbacks that will be in italics.

Pairing: Liam x MC (Mia Bhatt), Platonic!Colt x MC, Past!Logan x MC

Word Count: 3,408

Warning: Language

Taglist: @flowerpowell, @dcbbw, @texaskitten30, @kingliam2019, @hopefulmoonobject, @lovehugsandcandy, @los-cafeteros, @desireepow-1986 @lovemychoices, @kimmiedoo5

Catch Up: Masterlist

“Sweetie, everything’s going to be fine,” Ximena tried to calm Mia as she frantically changed out of another outfit.

“But, what if it doesn’t go fine,” she asked again for the millionth time, shimmying into a pair of leggings.

“Logan’s a nice guy. You have nothing to worry about.”

Mia pulled on a tank top, hated the way it clung to her love handles and immediately pulled it off before going back to her closet. She pulled out a blouse, thought it made her look top heavy and grabbed a sweater instead.

“I don’t know how to do this, Xi,” she said, pulling it over her head and dropping down onto her bed.

“Are you really going to wear a cable knit sweater?” Ximena asked, raising her brows and fighting back a smile.

“Okay, Xi, I’m kind of freaking out here. Can you make fun of my clothing choices later please?” she asked desperately.

“Look, sweetie, I know you’ve never been on a date before. It’s normal to be nervous,” she said, placing a comforting hand on Mia’s shoulder.

“Is it normal to be terrified?” she asked, true, genuine fear evident in her eyes. “I can’t do this, Xi. I don’t know how to do this.”

“Logan’s a good guy,” Ximena repeated, an understanding look in her eyes. “You’re safe with him. I truly believe that and I think you do too. You have a good judge of character, trust it.”

“Okay,” Mia finally said, letting out a breath she didn’t know she was holding.

“Good, now take that sweater off,” Ximena said, rummaging around in her bag.

She pulled out a top and tossed it in Mia’s direction. It was black lace peplum top with long sleeves.

“I don’t think I can pull this off.”

“Put it on,” Ximena instructed, her tone left no room for arguing.

Mia sighed and pulled the shirt on, her black bra peeping through. Ximena smiled proudly in her direction and tossed her a red mini skirt. Mia eyed the garment cautiously before pulling off her leggings and stepping into the skirt. The outfit was completely out of her comfort zone and she just wanted to put her sweater back on, but Ximena was already ushering her out of the loft and down to where Logan was waiting for her.

He and Toby were playing a game of pool and he was just about to sink the 8 ball when he caught sight of her. His mouth dropped open and he missed the shot.

“Mia, you look… wow,” he said, causing her to blush furiously.

Ximena pushed her forward and she stumbled into Logan’s arms.

“Are you ready to go?” he asked.

She nodded her head and Logan led her to his car. He opened the door for her and she smiled, despite her nerves.

“So where are we going?” she asked.

“Somewhere I think you’ll enjoy yourself,” he said, a hint of mischief in his eyes.

“Logan, you know I hate surprises,” Mia groaned out, rolling her eyes at him.

“You’ll like this one, I promise. Don’t you trust me?” he asked playfully.

Mia remained silent and just raised her eyebrows at him in amusement.

“This is where you say ‘Of course, I trust you, Logan. You’re so handsome and dreamy.’,” he said, raising his voice about three octaves to imitate her and causing her to scoff.

“Okay first of all, I sound nothing like that. Also did you just refer to yourself as dreamy?” she teased.

“Oh yeah, I’m very dreamy,” he said with a playful wink. “Seriously, though, I think you’ll like it. I promise you've never been anywhere like it before.”

The smile slowly fell off of Mia’s face as Logan pulled up to the sideshow. He got out of the car and once again opened the door for her.

“So what do you think?” he asked, looking at her with a hopeful smile.

Mia plastered a smile onto her face and looked back up at him.

“It’s… uh, really great,” she tried feigning excitement, but Logan saw right through it.

“You hate it,” he said, his shoulders slumping slightly in defeat.

“No! Not at all. It’s just… I’ve been here before. A lot actually,” she said with a guilty smile.

“You have?”

“Logan, I practically grew up in Kaneko’s shop. I came here for the first time when I was fourteen,” she said, giving him a sheepish smile.

Logan reached his hand up and ran his fingers through his hair.

“I’m sorry. I hadn’t thought about that. I just thought that maybe it would be a good place for you to let loose,” he said.

“Don’t apologize. You were right. This is a good place to let loose,” she said, a sudden swell of confidence surging through her. “I’m not really great at that, but maybe you can show me how.”

Logan held his hand out for Mia to take, and she entwined their fingers.

“Let’s go grab some food. There’s someone I want you to meet,” he said leading her over to a food truck.

“Hi, Vaughn!” Mia greeted the owner with a large smile.

“Hey, Mia! Hey, Cuz,” he said, both of them sharing an amused smile at the look on Logan's face.

“You two know each other?” he said, a look of shock etched on his features.

“Fourteen,” she singsonged before ordering a grilled cheese sandwich from Vaughn.

Logan ordered as well and the two of them ate while laughing and going back and forth with their usual banter. Mia was actually enjoying herself, and it wasn’t until over an hour later that the nervous energy returned. This time, however, it was more out of excitement than fear.

“Since you’re such a frequent attendee I’m sure you’ve danced here a million times,” Logan whispered in her ear, grabbing onto her hips and pulling her back into his chest.

“I-uh, I’ve only ever been here with Colt and trust me, we would never dance like this together,” she stammered out, her heart beating rapidly in her chest at the feeling of her body pressed so close against his.

“Maybe there’s something I can teach you after all,” he mumbled, pulling her in even closer.

~~~

Mia had never hugged Teppei Kaneko before. Maybe that wasn’t entirely true. She must have hugged him at some point during her childhood, but she could never remember actually doing it. It was just something that didn’t happen. You don’t hug Teppei Kaneko. He wasn’t that kind of person. However, as he stood before her now, his face scarred from the explosion seven years ago, she had the urge to wrap her arms around him.

She couldn’t explain why. Perhaps it was relief. Relief that he was here right in front of them and now they wouldn’t have to wonder where he was. Maybe it was because now that he was here she could finally hear the answers to all of the questions that she had. He could fill in all of the blanks. Or could it be because she missed him despite all of the terrible things he’d done. She quickly decided that it was a mix of all three as she moved forward and threw herself into his arms. Sure, she was upset about everything, but he still meant so much to her. He was still special to her.

Mia squeezed Teppei as tightly as she could and for a moment he just stood stiffly with her arms wrapped around him. However, he soon wrapped his arms around her as well, squeezing her just as tightly. But, almost as soon as he did, she pulled herself away and wrapped her arms protectively around herself. She felt the familiar stinging behind her eyes and walked back over to Drake, where he placed a comforting arm around her shoulders as Colt moved forward.

There was a look of complete disbelief in his eyes as he took in his father’s appearance. He moved forward and pulled him into a hug as well, something completely uncharacteristic for the two of them, and Mia hid her face in Drake’s shoulder in attempts to hide her tears. Drake squeezed her a bit tighter in reassurance and in that moment she was glad he was the one here with her.

“What are you doing here?” she asked, finally pulling away from Drake’s embrace and sending Kaneko a cold glare.

“I have a contact at the correctional facility in Cordonia. When I learned that you went to see Claudius and disappeared from the Palace I assumed you and my son would be here,” he said.

Hearing his voice as smooth and confident as it had always been growing up, sent Mia back into a state of mind she never thought she would be in again. She had always associated Teppei with safety. He was almost her anchor growing up because he gave her a safe place to escape to when being at home was too unbearable. However, even then she knew that he wasn’t the type of person you could cross. It was an odd mix of emotions that he made her feel. Although she felt safe with him, there was always a part of her that knew what he was capable of and that it was necessary to keep her guard up. That familiar feeling overtook her as he spoke to her now. She knew that he wouldn’t hurt her, and she trusted him implicitly, but she also knew she had to tread carefully.

“You have a contact at the correctional facility?” she asked.

“Yes.”

She wanted to be shocked, but honestly she wasn’t. It was typical of him to have connections everywhere.

“Pop, I have so many questions. How are you here right now? Where have you been?” Colt began firing off questions, although Teppei hadn’t taken his eyes off of Mia.

Mia knew why he was looking at her. He was waiting for her to ask the question she had been wanting to ask since she found out he was alive. She was sure she knew the answer, but she still needed to hear it from his mouth.

“Are you actually my father?”

“Yes.”

“Why?” she asked, her face completely blank as she fought back her emotions.

“Back then I would have done anything to be yours. You protected me, made me feel safe, or at least I thought you did, and as crazy as it sounds you even made me feel loved. I would have done anything to know that you were my father and that monster wasn’t. So, why didn’t you say anything? Why didn’t you do anything? Why didn’t you actually protect me? Why were you okay with sending me back home to a man you knew was hurting me when all you had to do was claim me?”

��Amelia, everything I’ve done has been for you,” Teppei claimed in the same calm voice that was starting to drive her crazy.

“Really? Because from where I’m standing all you’ve done is hurt me. You allowed me to go home to an abusive household, faked your death, and if that wasn’t enough you followed me across the world where you helped people who tried to kill me,” she said, her voice getting higher and more aggressive with each word.

“I’ve always protected you to the best of my abilities,” he said.

“How?” she demanded. “Because I sure as hell can’t see it!

“The only reason you caught that idiot Anton was because of me. If I hadn’t faked my death then The Brotherhood would’ve closed in and the entire crew would have ended up in prison, and the only reason you got away from that man you called your father was because I intervened!” Teppei growled out, finally beginning to get agitated.

“What? What are you talking about?” she asked.

A look of hesitation briefly crossed his features before one of resignation and determination took its place.

“The deal went south because I wanted it to. We had already exchanged the vehicles, but the other crew was expecting $65,000 and I sent him with $50,000,” he admitted.

Mia froze in place. She wasn’t sure what to say to that. She wasn’t sure how she was supposed to react. He set her parents up to get killed.

“You’re the reason my mother is dead,” she breathed out, backing up and dropping down onto the bed in shock.

There was a brief look of genuine sadness in his eyes at her words.

“Amelia, I may have done some terrible things in my life, but I would have never knowingly done anything to hurt your mother. I had no idea she was going to be with him that night. If I had, I would have never done it in the first place,” he said, walking up to her and resting a hand on her shoulder.

Mia jumped up at his touch and ran around him to the bathroom. She locked the door behind her and let out a soft sigh as more tears began to well up in her eyes. She looked at her reflection in the old smudged motel mirror. Her eyes were red and puffy and she looked exhausted. She felt exhausted, and as a wave of nausea began to overtake her because of the stress she realized just how much she didn’t want to be here anymore. She wanted to go home to her husband. She splashed some water onto her face and took a few deep breaths before leaving the bathroom. She gathered up all of her things and threw them into her overnight bag.

“What are you doing, Bhatt?” Drake questioned, causing her to turn and face the three men in the room.

“I’m going home,” she said, zipping the bag up, “And you’re not leaving my sight until we get back to Cordonia.”

You didn’t talk to Kaneko like that. It just wasn’t something that you did. He didn’t take orders, he gave them. However, Mia was past the point of caring. The man himself didn’t seem to be in an argumentative mood either because he simply nodded in her direction.

They all gathered up the last of their stuff and went to the airport, boarding the plane, and settling in for the long flight. Colt still seemed to be in a state of awe, and Mia could tell that it was killing him not to ask questions. The flight itself was fairly uncomfortable for everyone. They could all feel the tension between Mia and Teppei, but no one was sure how to break it.

Mia herself just wanted to be away from him, but she knew that she needed to make sure that he wasn’t going to disappear again. She wanted answers. She wanted answers about Anton and The Sons of Earth and about her parents’ death. But, first she needed a good night’s sleep in her own bed and in Liam’s arms. She needed to release all of the built up tension in her body because if she didn’t she would snap.

When they touched down in Cordonia, Liam and Bastien were waiting for them at the airport. Mia immediately walked into Liam’s arms, and he held her tightly.

“Are you alright, love?” he whispered in her ear, gently rubbing his hand up and down her back.

Mia shook her head to say no, and he pressed a gentle kiss to her lips.

“We’ll figure this out. I promise you, I’m here no matter what,” he said, causing her to smile despite herself.

She pulled herself out of his arms and Liam and Kaneko both seemed to be sizing the other up. Finally, Liam held his hand out for Kaneko to shake. He did so and they acknowledged each other with a stern nod before Liam opened the SUV door and allowed Mia to climb inside.

“Make sure someone always has eyes on him,” Mia said to Bastien once they had gotten back to the palace and they had set Kaneko up with a room for the night. “We’ll figure out what to do with him tomorrow.”

“Yes, Your Majesty,” Bastien responded.

“Just Mia.”

“Of course, Mia,” Bastien said, giving her a smile before they parted ways and Mia and Liam retired to the royal apartment for the night.

Once they were finally alone Mia collapsed onto the bed and let out a tired sigh.

“What’s wrong, my love?” Liam asked, laying down next to her and brushing one of her curls behind her ear.

Mia confessed everything to him. She told him about finding Kankeo and everything he told them. By the end of the story, she was beginning to get visibly upset and Liam could see it. He reached up and started slowly massaging her shoulders. He pressed a few kisses to the side of her neck and she sighed as her body finally began to relax.

“I’m sorry, love,” he whispered, moving his hands to the bottom of her shirt. “I wish I could take all of your pain away.”

He unclasped her bra next and moved down her body to pull her leggings off. He helped her to lie down on her stomach and continued to massage her back.

“How can I help you?” he asked, leaning down to press another kiss on her now bare shoulder.

“Mmm, just keep doing that,” she mumbled, the feeling of his hands on her body doing wonders to ease her stress.

Liam’s hands moved down to her lower back, and she let out a satisfied groan causing him to chuckle.

“You spoil me, My King,” she mumbled, cuddling her face into her pillow.

Mia found herself drifting off into deep sleep, only to be awoken the next morning by Liam gently running his fingers through her hair.

“Morning, Li,” she mumbled, curling up against his chest and revelling in the feeling of his bare skin pressed against hers.

For just a moment everything was fine. It was just the two of them in the world and they had nothing to worry about. They could just be with each other and nothing else mattered.

“Did you sleep well, love?” Liam asked, pulling her in closer.

Mia nodded and pressed a gentle kiss to his chest before burying her face in the crook of his neck.

“Do we have to get up?” she grumbled, her body already ready to fall back into a deep sleep.

The travel plus the stress from the last few days had all been exhausting. It was hard for her to believe that just last week she had been walking down the aisle and now she was dealing with the fact that her father had come back from the dead.

“I’m afraid so,” Liam muttered back, a hint of playfulness in his voice. “ But first…”

He flipped them over so that she was lying on her back and he was hovering over her and settled between her legs. He pressed a slow kiss to her lips. Mia sighed happily against his lips and wrapped her arms around his neck, her fingers playing with the soft hairs at the base of his neck.

“I missed you,” Liam mumbled, pulling away and gazing down at her tenderly.

“I was barely gone for two days,” she retorted, although she wore the same lovesick smile on her face that he did.

“I spent months wishing that I could be by your side and now any time apart is far too long,” he said, referring to his and Madeleine’s engagement tour.

“Well, I guess it’s a good thing I’m not going anywhere,” she said, pulling him down so that his head was resting on her chest.

The two lay like that for awhile longer, Liam rested contentedly in his wife’s arms as she slowly ran her fingers through his hair. Even when he broke the silence hesitantly, he made no move to get up.

“I hate to bring this up, but we need to decide what to do with him. If he were anyone but your father I would have had Bastien questioning him since he stepped foot back in Cordonia,” Liam said, his breath warm against her skin.

“I need answers from him. We both do and so does Colt and the rest of the crew. I don’t know what to do when we get those answers, but I need to know the truth,” she said.

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starkatana · 6 years ago

Text

Baby’s First Quirk(s)

Summary:

Shoto is watching over his and your daughter, Kisa, while you are out. When her quirks start manifesting. He calls Deku over for help. Lots of mayhem and fun.

This takes place after UA, every student is now an adult and well established in their hero careers. Featuring Deku and Shoto, slight mention of Momo and Female Reader.

Todoroki Shoto x Female Reader

Shoto paced around the living room of his house with his phone to his ear, waiting for Deku to answer.

“Hello, Todo-”

“Midoriya! I need you to come over right now! Y/n left me alone with Kisa and I have absolutely no clue what I’m doing!”

“Oh! Su-“

“NOW!”

Momo wanted to kidnap y/n for the afternoon to go shopping. She was willing to bring their toddler, Kisa, along with so Shoto could get some sleep, but he assured her that everything would be okay and that he’d be able to handle her on his own and that y/n should go have a girls day.

“Go enjoy the day with Momo, Kisa and I will be fine.”

“Well alright. Give me a moment, Momo.”

-Present Time-

There was a knock at the door. Todoroki ran over and almost ripped the door off its hinges.

“MIDORIYA!”

“Hi Todo-“ Shoto grabbed Izuku by the collar and pulled him into the house. “HELP!

There was your daughter, levitating herself around the room.

“Oh my god! Todoroki!”

“I know.” Shoto filled up with pride, “but wait for it.”

Then the 2-year-old started laughing and waving at Midoriya it started to snow.

“Oh no.”

“Don’t worry,” Shoto said, ”it gets worse.”

“Worse?”

“I went to change her diaper, and she farted flames.”

“Todoroki…she has all of your quirks.”

“Yeah.” He nods looking at Midoriya.

“3 quirks in one toddler.”

“Yeah.” He nods looking at his floating daughter.

“I was born without one! I had to eat a piece of hair! This isn’t fair!”

“Hey, I know we haven’t actually ever gotten around to that conversation but I have a floating child that I can’t control.”

“I broke all the bones in my body!”

“HEY!” Todoroki grabbed Midoriya by the shoulders and shook him, “I need you to stop thinking about yourself and help me get her down.”

“Most of my bones anyway!”

“Floating baby!”

“I know! I’m just upset!”

“Y’know, I really did think you were All Might’s love child.”

Deku made a face at Shoto. Then they started running around the house trying to bring her down. Neither of their quirks prepared to wrangle in a toddler. Fire is hot, ice isn’t good for cradling a toddler, and smashing things weren’t going to help. The entire time she laughed and giggled at her dad and uncle.

“Todoroki, doesn’t she have something that she loves?”

“Anton!”

“The cat?”

“She loves hanging onto him. She almost always sleeps with him, or well, he gets into the crib and sleeps with her. Where is that fat bastard?”

“I found him!” Midoriya yelled reaching for him under the table.

“Okay, be careful when you pick him up.”

“OW!”

“He hates being held.”

“Cat!” she came landing close to Deku and chased after the cat. Anton immediately turned around from running away from Deku but warmed up to her.

Todoroki slowly walked up to them. He sat his left side close to the cat and kept his hand on her leg, acting as an anchor. He gave Deku a thumbs up.

“We’re safe. As long as we just keep a hold of her, she can’t float up.”

“What?”

“You think I fucking know? I just didn’t want to hurt her! She farted flames at me, man! Then she was missing from the diaper table. I managed to get her down then I had to use the bathroom and then she was floating and it snowed.”

“Wow, that is a lot to wrap your mind around.”

“But now that I have her and she’s distracted, tell me more about eating hair and your quirk.”

“I’m pretty sure I already told you, you just want to hear me say that I’m All Might’s bastard child.”

Shoto frowned and gave Midoriya a look, “…So?”

“Hi, -your mom’s name- it’s Shoto, I was just wondering how did you handle levitating kids?”

“Kisa levitates?! That’s adorable.”

Shoto laughed, “Yeah. That’s not all she does.”

“Oh! Did she inherit one of your quirks too, Shoto-kun?”

Then the fire alarm went off, “Todoroki!” Midoriya cried from the other room.

“Both.” He covered his other ear, “She inherited both of my quirks and y/n’s.”

“3 quirks?! Gosh, you guys are going to have your hands full.” She laughed on the other line.

“Yeah, they just manifested. How did you manage to control y/n’s levitation quirk?”

“We got her a tent. A small child’s one that you attach over a bed and we tried to scold her about levitating outside of it, while being inside is okay.”

“Thank you –your mom’s name- we’ll come to visit and talk soon. Thank you.”

The smoke alarm was going off and all Kisa could do was cry and then her tears turned into ice.

“Midoriya!”

“I’m working on it!”

“Dammit.” Shoto picked her up and held her on his left side to warm her up, “You’re gonna get frostbite!” Shoto sighed as he bounced her on his leg. “It’s okay sweetie, don’t cry.”

“I got it,” Midoriya said taking the smoke alarm from the ceiling.

Todoroki kept bouncing and patting her back. Letting her fall asleep in his arms. “Don’t worry, daddy’s here to keep you warm. I’ll always be here.” He said gently.

“I’ll leave now.”

“No!” Shoto whispered quietly, “Please don’t leave me Midoriya, you’re Kisa’s god dad, you have to stay here with me.”

Midoriya sighed and sat next to him on the couch. “Y’know, she probably stole two quirks from two other kids out there. Leaving them quirkless. Children like me.”

“Eh, it’s fine, you ate hair. I’m sure it’ll work out for them too.” Shoto said leaning his head on Deku’s shoulder. “If I fall asleep, please hold onto her leg.”

Y/n and Momo walked through the front door, “Hello! I’m home!” Todoroki and Midoriya were asleep together on the couch while your daughter was playing with the cat next to the couch.

“Mama!” she got up and ran over to her.

“Hi, sweetheart.” She picked her up and gave her a kiss.

“Aw, we used to catch these two napping together on the dorm couch all the time. So, glad they still do that.” Momo laughed looking over at them.

“Look!” Kisa said throwing her arms in the air and she started floating towards the ceiling.

“AHH!” you screamed, “Shoto! Get up!” you ran over to the couch and shook him, “Look!” you pointed at her

“Ah.” He mumbled, “AH!” he looked around dazed, but noticed you and that your child was floating. Then he leaned his head back onto Deku, “Yeah, she farts flames too.”

“And she can make snow.” Midoriya mumbled.

“What?” You asked them confused. Kisa floated back into your arms with a big smile. “3 quirks?”

306 notes · View notes

alj4890 · 6 years ago

Text

Calm before the Storm

(Thomas Hunt x oc* Amanda) the events that led up to Would You Kindly Calm Me Down?

A/N After some requests to see how this began, this time we see everything from Amanda's point of view. This is still a dark turn, but knowing the bittersweet outcome hopefully helps.

@walkerinfolkvangr @alleksa16 @penguininapinktuxedo @blackcoffee85 @stopforamoment @fullbeaumonty @cocomaxley @darley1101 @hopefulmoonobject @krsnlove @littleblossom357 @annekebbphotography @gibbles82 @bella-ca

Bastien met with Liam, Riley, and Olivia. "With Anton's capture, the remaining members of the Sons of the Earth have fled Cordonia. My contact in Interpol assured me that they will not remain free much longer."

Liam relaxed in his chair hearing this news. "Our state of living with fear of retaliation from the remaining members can finally come to an end." He reached over and slipped his hand in Riley's. They could finally have the happy life they had dreamed of, worry free.

Olivia frowned as she listened to the list of countries where some were thought to be hiding. "Are we sure that they are the only ones still holding an ax over our heads? I know my late husband was not as forthcoming with information as we had hoped before his execution. Could there possibly be another splinter cell to this terrorist group?"

Bastien regarded her silently. "Your grace, you and I are of the same mindset. I unfortunately do not have the proof yet. Alana Kausuma from Interpol has been keeping me updated on any possible leads to such a group. The two of us are not taking a chance by ignoring any rumors or unusual transactions."

Olivia released her breath. "That is a little more reassuring. I do hate having to wait on knowing for sure our enemies are no more."

Riley reached over and squeezed her hand. "Try and not let it consume you. You have enough with the speech you have to give tomorrow night."

Olivia grimaced at that particular task. "Amanda should be arriving in a couple of hours and she promised to look over it and see if I should change anything."

"Is Thomas able to join us?" Liam asked.

Olivia shook her head. "Amanda said he was in the middle of a difficult shoot and told him to remain in California."

______________________

"Come on Liv! Live a little." Maxwell encouraged as she frowned at the food placed before her.

"There is so much grease." She wrinkled her nose in disgust at the double deluxe bacon cheeseburger loaded with mushrooms and onions.

"I believe you mean, so much flavor." He said as his eyes widened with his own choice. The King Kong hero sandwich with fried eggs, bacon, cinnamon, bananas and syrup was so far living up to the hype.

Amanda nudged Drake and nodded toward what was placed on the Formica tabletop before Nadia. Her eyes were huge as she gazed at the tower of blueberry pancakes placed in front of her.

"Umm...honey? I can barely see over the top!" She exclaimed.

He chuckled as he met her around the side of her plate and gave her a quick kiss. "I think I have proven that I have chosen well for each of you. I think this shows that I should have free reign in ordering surprises for everyone on our nights out."

Drake shook his head. "Not so fast. All decisions of your ordering ability will be withheld until I have my--"

A massive sloppy joe with coleslaw and steak fries was placed in front of him. Drake's jaw dropped. "Okay. No argument from me." He relented as he dug in.

Amanda quirked an eyebrow. "No food for me, huh? I guess BFF means Best Friend Forgotten." She teased.

Maxwell grinned. "Here it comes. Only the best for the fire eater of the group."

Amanda smiled as she was given a buffalo chicken sandwich with hot sauce and jalapeno ranch dressing. There were even slices of peppers in her cheesy fries. "I'm with Drake. You can order all the time when we are out."

Nadia had managed to eat a tenth of the way through her pancakes and nodded. "You know me too well, sweetie pie."

They all turned to Olivia, who was attempting to eat the massive burger with a knife and fork. "What?" She demanded when they all stared. "Fine. It's good, but I refuse to touch it."

They laughed and talked of the dinner the next night. Olivia shared what Bastien had said during the meeting, causing all to become serious again. She rubbed her forehead as her eyes narrowed. "I can't get rid of this gut feeling that we are missing something. Something right in front of us. Anton was so obsessed with being trained by my father and aunt. There has to be something..." They sat in silence for a few moments, wondering what, if any, threat still hovered.

Nadia broke the silence by announcing that the rest of the evening had to be gloom free. "We all need ice cream!" She got up and ordered different ice cream treats for all of them. After stuffing themselves, they walked back to their hotel.

Amanda read over Olivia's speech once they were in her room. They talked for a little while about what each other had been doing the past couple of months. The subject led to Drake spending a lot of time at Olivia's duchy.

"He has been helping with a lot of the repair work since Anton's bomb went off in the family vault." She explained.

"It's nice to have a friend with carpentry skills." Amanda said with a teasing grin.

Olivia nodded. "Yes, it is." She looked away and colored some.

"If you aren't going to share the juicy details then I am going back to my room and get some sleep. That meal mixed with the jet lag is starting to hit." She hugged her friend and reassured her about her speech. "You will blow everyone away with it."

_____________________

An hour later, Amanda was laying on the floor of the bathroom, fairly certain she would never eat any chicken type product ever again. Whatever had made her sick seemed to be leaving. She slowly got up and brushed her teeth. After a quick shower, she amazingly didn't feel like she had heaved her entire stomach up.

She sat down and tried to call Thomas. Her phone made a weird static sound and cut out. "Come on..." She muttered as she tried a few more times. Even her text messaging was glitched and would not send anything. "Great. Perfect timing." She used the phone in her hotel room and frowned as the call went directly to voice mail.

"And his phone is off." She shook her head with a smile. She really wished she could have heard his voice before going to sleep. Something about his deep, calm voice never failed in relaxing her. She sighed and tried a few more times before leaving a short message and hanging up.

She noticed a flashing light on the phone in her room when she turned her lamp off. She hit the message button and heard the voice she loved above all others.

"I think something is wrong with your phone. Make sure to get a new one in New York if you have time. I...I miss you and had hoped to hear your voice. Take care and know I am anxiously awaiting your return. I love you."

She closed her eyes and smiled. Now she could fall asleep.

_______________________

"You look nice." Drake said when Amanda walked up.

"Thanks. So do you." He smoothed his navy suit and smirked. She sipped some of the tart cranberry punch she had discovered. It was her third glass so it must be love. Drake's attention was on Olivia going from noble to noble, talking about her passion of stopping any and all that threatened anyone.

Amanda looked around the ballroom and wondered how soon was too soon to go to the dessert table. Her stomach felt a little off, but cheesecake brownies were beckoning. Drake took her arm and nodded toward people finding their seats.

"I say we go over there instead." She pointed at the dessert table.

He chuckled. "It's too soon. Besides, you haven't eaten dinner yet. I'm sure someone would say something asinine if you came to the table with nothing but sweets."

Amanda frowned. "Do you know what we are having?"

"Some kind of chicken." He noticed her face turn a little green. "You okay?"

She nodded. "Yeah. The chicken from last night did not agree with me. Knowing more is in my future is just..." She shuddered and looked over at the punch bowl. "I'm going to get more punch. Want any?"

He shook his head as he kept his eyes on Olivia. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Amanda smiling. "What?"

"Go on and join her." She said with a nudge.

He squirmed slightly. "What about you?"

"I suppose I will drown my loneliness in punch and brownies." Drake chuckled while she squeezed his hand affectionately. "Thank you though for making sure I wasn't going to suffer abandonment issues."

Drake kissed her cheek and took off. She watched as they both seemed to gravitate nearer and brush their hands against each other's. "Their slow burn is going to kill me." She said softly as she walked over to the punch bowl.

Amanda took her glass and walked over to the wall of floor to ceiling windows overlooking Central Park. She noticed a couple going on a carriage ride and wished Thomas was here with her.

Her attention was drawn to a woman stepping outside of a side entrance to the hotel. She was dressed in black like the bartenders that were working at the dinner. She had a duffle bag that she set down near the windows and lit a cigarette. Her hands were trembling as she began to walk towards the park.

Amanda knocked on the window to get her attention that she had forgotten her bag. When that failed, Amanda turned to let one of the staff know when she suddenly found herself on the floor.

Her ears were ringing while muffled screams surrounded her. Amanda opened her eyes and tried to focus on the ceiling or what was left of it. She tried to sit up and noticed the four large pieces of glass embedded in her body. She let out a low whimper as she tried to remove one of the bigger pieces.

Her mind screamed at her to hurry as plaster and wood fell around her. Small fires were burning in different areas of the ballroom. Amanda cried out and her breath came in short bursts as she slowly worked on getting it out of her side. Her shoulder felt like it had been branded with fire. She tried to look at it and then wished she hadn't when she saw her skin nearly peeled back.

She watched people running in fear around her, desperately wishing one of her friends would find her. Were they unharmed? What if they were seriously hurt? "Please, God, let them be okay." She finally got one of the shards of glass out and felt the warm gush of her blood begin to pour out. "No," she cried softly. "No, no, no." She dropped the glass and tried to scoot across the floor on her back, her blood marking her trail.

Her legs and arms trembled and finally gave out. Her tears fell as her blood continued to slowly pool around her. Ignoring the chaos around her, she stared at the smoke curling up toward the ceiling and thought of Thomas. She wished she could have told him how much she loved him one last time. The last few year's with him had been the happiest of her life.

As she realized that she would most likely die, her mind flashed with images of their time together. She thought of how they ended up together, both so surprised the other felt anything beyond friendship. She then focused on the sweet moments together during the mundane, everyday life.

The times spent wrapped in his arms as they stayed up late watching movies, seeing him flustered if someone witnessed him being romantic, even hearing his deep voice as they lay in bed talking about anything and everything were a few examples of what made her life perfect.

Her tears fell faster as she wondered who was going to take care of him once she was gone. Thomas would end up drowning himself in work if no one was there to convince him to pause and rest. He needed someone to be there to listen and encourage him when his doubts crept up. She wished she would be the one to continue in that position. She loved every single part of her life with him.

Blackness began to edge around her vision and the desperation to see Thomas one last time caused her a sob to escape. She heard her name in a loud voice and tried to turn her head toward the man who rushed over to her.

"Lady Amanda! Look at me!" Bastien commanded. She tried to focus on him and speak. He quickly ripped his jacket off and wadded it up. He pressed it against her wound as he yelled for Liam to alert the paramedics. His gray eyes turned back to her and he leaned down to be able to hear her.

"Hotel worker. Woman. Reddish brown hair. Bartender. Bomb in duffle bag." She gasped as he pressed harder and could feel herself slipping into darkness. She heard him say, "Alana's informant was right, Daughters of the Earth are enacting one last form of revenge against Olivia refusing to be a true Nevarkis." She weakly grasped his wrist causing him to lean nearer to hear her. "Bastien. Tell Thomas. I'm sorry to leave. Love him." And then she was in complete darkness.

_____________________

The peace was broken by bright lights and a doctor barking orders as her clothes were cut away. She breathed in the oxygen through the mask and noticed the bags of A positive blood being hooked up to one of the IV's. She let out a slight scream when one of the nurses jostled the remaining glass shards.

Green eyes focused on her. "Amanda. I'm Dr. Zelig." His eyes crinkled to show he was smiling under his surgical mask. "I am very happy to see your eyes open. Now though, I need you to rest and I am going to do all I can for you. Next time you see me, I will make sure you are comfortable. Okay?"

Amanda muttered a thank you and he nodded for anesthesia to be administered. His attention was pulled away from her face and his eyes widened. "Amanda? Stay with me a moment. Are you pregnant?"

And the darkness consumed her once again.

She could hear the silence broken only by the soft beeps of a heart monitor and the soft swoosh as her IV's administered the various fluids and blood into her arm. She opened her eyes and looked about the dim room and saw the green eyes of the surgeon.

"Dr. Zelig." She whispered. His tense face eased with her words. "That's right." He sat down in a chair that creaked and took her hand. He began to tell her all that was repaired in surgery and how he believed she would be good as new in a few weeks. His grip tightened on her hand as he told her she had suffered a miscarriage. Her eyes filled with tears as she tried to comprehend everything.

He gently patted her hand and expressed his sorrow. He told her to rest and that he would check on her soon. Amanda stared at the ceiling. Miscarriage? How had she not known she was pregnant? Her heart ached as she thought of having to tell Thomas that she lost their baby. The guilt began to consume her over her ignorance.

She wished so much that he was with her to help her wade through the overwhelming pain that came from knowing they lost something infinitely precious. A piece of each of them that would have been loved and protected was snatched away in a moment. And she didn't even know.

Would it have been a boy that looked like a replica of his father but had her sense of humor? Or a little girl that would have snuggled in between them while watching movies, holding her favorite toy and blanket? She would never know.

Her eyelids drooped with exhaustion as she thought of needing Thomas to hold her and tell her that they would get through this. She fought sleep for as long as she could, wishing someone would walk into the room and tell her Thomas knew and was rushing to be with her. With no more strength left, she whispered a prayer for the one she needed to come and fell into a deep sleep.

She wasn't sure how long she had been asleep when she heard the chair creak. She opened her eyes and wondered if she was dreaming. When she whispered his name and felt the touch of his hand she knew her prayer had been answered. Her Thomas was there and would give her the comfort she so desperately needed.

#choices trr #the royal romance #trr #trr maxwell #trr drake #trr liam #drake x olivia #liam x riley #thomas hunt #choices rcd #thomas hunt x oc

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heartbeetz · 7 months ago

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I love my video game husband so much. Does everybody know how much I love him

#also he loves ME!!!#anton thoughts foreverrrrr ♡♡♡♡♡♡♡#my honey my sweetie my baby my angel my cutie my everything #roz posts

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jovialyouthmusic · 6 years ago

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Charlotte’s Choice

A Royal romance AU

13 Frozen Out

Charlotte has a lot on her mind and Drake feels an icy blast.

@ao719 @agent-bossypants @andy-loves-corgis @sleepwalkingelite boneandfur @blackcatkita @brightpinkpeppercorn choicescommunity @darley1101 @drakewalkerrosenberg @flowerpowell @fluffy-marshmallow-heart @gardeningourmet @katurrade @livingthroughchoices @likethetailofacomet @mrs-nazario @mind-reader1 @ooo-barff-ooo @silviasutton1989 @speedyoperarascalparty @zaffrenotes @missevabean @mrsdrakewalkerblog @cora-nova @dancetothestoriesinyoursoul @missameliep @tanelle83 @endlessly-searching-for-you @jlouise88 @drakenazario @annekebbphotography @missevabean @cora-nova @tabithacarlisle @furiousherringoperatortoad @ritachacha @notoriouscs @classylady1234 @wickedgypsymoon @carabeth @ritachacha @choices-fangirl @debramcg1106 @goirishsunshine

13 Frozen Out

The following morning Charlotte got ready to go out skating. She loved it normally, but this morning she would be expected to skate with each of the suitors. As her father was still feeling unwell however, it would be very informal.

Maxwell loved skating too, and he was her first partner. They chatted and joked, and she felt ready for the social onslaught. Next came Neville, only barely able to stay upright on the ice, so mercifully their turn was short – Charlotte ‘accidentally’ knocked him over and he had to retire.

Rashad was surer on his feet and it was actually quite pleasant to talk with him. Milo, on the other hand, was a competent skater but his conversation was dull. Tariq had an immaculate pair of skates but could barely move in a straight line and hung on to Charlotte for dear life whilst trying to pretend he was fine. Next was Anton. Naturally he was a superb skater.

‘Your highness, may I say how wonderful you look’ he smiled, offering her his arm ‘You are very graceful, you must have had an excellent trainer’ He laid his hand on hers and she was relieved to find there was no spark this time – maybe it was the ice, maybe it was because her hormones had calmed a little – it didn’t matter, she was immune to his charms today.

‘The only training I had was through experience’ she answered ‘I spent many winters visiting Lady Olivia, and we loved to come out onto the ice. I fell a few times before I learned how to stay on my feet’

‘How charming’ he replied, ‘My father insisted on my having the best trainer available, and I worked very hard to live up to his standards’ Charlotte’s gaze wandered over to the other side of the lake, where Olivia and Brad were skating together, laughing and smiling. She wished the formal part of the day was over, though she had put time aside later for her race with Drake, who had not showed up yet, and she was worried about his outburst the night before. Anton was still singing the praises of his dead father, and she set her face into an expression of appreciation.

On the other side of the lake, Brad waved to Charlotte, and she waved back, not noticing the resulting frown passing over Anton’s face. Brad launched himself toward her and sped across the ice swiftly. He smiled a greeting

‘Your Highness, Lord Severus’ he said politely, and started to skate around them in circles. ‘I believe it may be my turn to accompany your Highness’ He turned as he skated round them and ended up skating a complete circle backwards before coming to a halt beside her, kicking up a little flurry of ice chips as he did so. He saw a scowl pass over the Lord’s face before he smiled and bowed slightly. Charlotte gave Brad her arm and Anton skated away.

‘Where did you learn to skate like that?’ the Princess asked as they smoothly glided over the ice, matching each other’s rhythm.

‘Edinburgh’s pretty cold in winter and we lived close to a Loch that froze every winter’ he explained ‘My Dad bought a pair of second hand skates for me and I spent hours out on the ice, racing my friends and generally messing about’

‘More or less like me’ said Charlotte. ‘Livvy and I had such fun and Maxwell came to join us sometimes’

‘Oh yes – how about Drake?’ he asked. ‘He usually features in your childhood stories’

‘Livvy was very young when she lost her parents, Drake didn’t appear for another few years and he didn’t visit Lythikos until – until he was made a ward of the Crown’ She explained ‘He also preferred skiing – we’re having a race later, we do it every year’

‘That sounds fun’ he grinned ‘Is he not coming to the lake then?’

‘No, you have me all to yourself for a while’ she smiled, holding on to his arm.

‘Heh – all to myself, with dozens of other people on a frozen lake.’ he laughed. They chatted for a while, then his expression changed, and he grew serious.

‘I’m sorry I got you into trouble with Drake yesterday’ he said, ‘He was pretty angry’ Charlotte sighed

‘I can’t understand why’ she said ‘He has to accept that I’ll be – branching out a little before I choose my future husband. I’d only ever been with him, and it’s not like we were exclusive, I know he’s been with other women, and from what he said, none of them were virgins’

‘So what is it with you two – friends with benefits?’ he asked, and she looked thoughtful.

‘I suppose that’s the closest explanation’ she replied ‘but it’s a pretty unique situation. Up till now he’s been my only option’ Brad leaned closer to her

‘Well your highness, I’d be very pleased to continue our – lessons, and broaden your experience’ he said in a low tone. Charlotte gripped his arm as she felt her knees go weak. She kept her balance as they continued skating amongst the others.

‘That’s - a generous offer’ she replied, ‘but I don’t know if or when I’ll get the opportunity. I’m not sure how Drake would take it either, after last night’s upset’ Brad pursed his lips.

‘Like you said, he can’t expect you to be exclusive – unless that’s what you want?’ He squeezed her hand ‘I’m sorry, perhaps I was out of line. You know where I am if you want to take up my offer, but perhaps you should talk to Drake too’ At that point, Olivia skated across to them.

‘Sorry to interrupt Lottie Lou, but it’s time for lunch. Put this hunk down and come and help me make small talk over the fondue’ Brad looked uncomfortable, made a little bow and skated off to leave the two women together.

‘Livvy, you’re such a tease’ laughed Charlotte ‘He’s terrified of you, you know that?’ Olivia shrugged

‘I know, it’s such fun’ she grinned archly ‘Did you see how well he skates? I’ve never seen such a natural. If you don’t want him sweetie, I’ll have him.’ The two women skated to the edge of the lake and made their way to the Dining hall set up in a chalet at the side.

‘Sorry Livvy, he’s still a contender as far as I’m concerned’ replied Charlotte ‘Any news on getting his claim to the Earldom sorted out?’ Olivia scowled

‘Bureaucracy in England is a nightmare. Every time I think I’ve got somewhere, I find I have to contact yet another government department and they all take an age to reply. It’s progressing, but slow as molasses’

‘That’s a shame’ sighed the Princess. ‘Anton keeps trying to impress me, but he just succeeds in being boring. If I hear one more time about how perfect his father was, I’ll scream’

‘So how do you feel about Rashad? You’ve not mentioned him before’ Olivia unlaced her skates, put on her high heels and shrugged off her coat. The Princess followed suit and they walked though to the hall where the other guests were waiting for the staff to start serving lunch.

‘Oh he’s alright I suppose, pleasant, but dull, though not as dull as Milo.’ The Princess had to stop there, as everyone was waiting for her to be served first, and then the buffet would commence. It was time to juggle eating with circulating and paying attention to the guests. Lunch was over when Bastien appeared at her side and coughed to get her attention.

‘Bastien – is there something that needs my attention?’ She asked, and he nodded

‘Princess, your Father asks that you attend him as soon as possible’

‘Is he feeling better? I can go along after dinner tonight’

‘I fear I have not made myself clear, your Grace. He wishes to see you now’

Charlotte entered the King’s suite and was shocked to see that he was still in bed.

‘Father, you’re still feeling unwell?’ she asked, and went to sit on the edge of the bed. It made her recall happier times when she was little and was allowed to go into the Royal bedchamber after breakfast to see her parents, even though her father had been cool toward her ever since her mother died.

‘I am, my dear, and that is why I’ve called you to my side. What I am about to tell you is in strict confidence. Only my doctor and Bastien will have any knowledge of the information I share with you now.’ Charlotte felt uneasy, and shifted uncomfortably

‘Father, you’re scaring me’ she said in a small voice. He looked tired, his eyes drooping for a moment before he gathered himself together

‘Charlotte, there’s no easy way to tell you this. I’m dying’ fear struck into her heart, and she let out a little cry. He held up his hand ‘There’s no use being emotional about it, it won’t change anything’ he said as she moved closer to him.

‘Dying – what – what do you mean? Is there nothing…’

‘Nothing can be done my dear, I have a very aggressive form of lung cancer. I’m told I only have months to live.’ Hot tears spilled down Charlotte’s cheeks, and she took his hand to kiss it. She loved him despite everything, despite his coolness and his aloof unforgiving nature. He suffered her touch for a few moments before he took it back. His tone was gentler when he spoke again.

‘This is why I’m pushing you, my dear. It’s imperative that I leave my country with a strong leader. I urge you to make the right choice, to find the right man to support you and share the burden you will have so very soon.’ He looked at her softly and grasped her hand with his, holding and patting it fondly. ‘Don’t cry child, I’ve had a good life, and I’ve loved two very wonderful women who served our country well. Make me proud, be strong and rule well’

‘I – I can’t believe it Father. How long have you known?’

‘Before the social season started, I knew I wasn’t well, but I’ve only been told this last week that it’s terminal. I’m sorry my poor sweet girl, I wish I could take this burden from you. It’s imperative that you keep this secret – tell no-one. It could be very bad for national morale. I will do my best to make things appear as normal as possible. I can use the excuse of Regina’s death to take a back seat. You may have to stand in for me on a few occasions, but I will do my best’ He lay back and closed his eyes. ‘If I rest now, I will be strong enough for the ball tonight. I will see you then, my dear’ and the audience was over.

Later, Charlotte managed to get away alone to the top of the ski slopes, where Drake was waiting. He did not look in the best of moods and she was still stunned by her father’s news.

‘At last, I thought you’d never get here. Were you busy with our British friend?’ he couldn’t resist accusing her, but her eyes flashed with anger. She couldn’t believe that he was being so petty, though she knew he was ignorant of her mental turmoil. His jealousy was the last thing she needed.

‘Drake, you aren’t the only suitor - I have to engage with everyone, you know that’

‘But not like that!’ he growled, and the unfairness of it all hit her like a wave.

‘Why not? It’s the first opportunity I’ve ever had to be intimate with anyone but you!’ she snapped ‘Should I go to my wedding night without ever having anyone else touch me? It’s not like I’m your only conquest. How many women have you been with?’ Drake opened and closed his mouth. She had never been so forthright – they had never discussed their relationship; he had fulfilled her needs and counted himself lucky. He knew that what they had shared so far was lust – but was there love too? Did they both want the same thing? She was still waiting for an answer and he didn’t have one.

‘Charlie…’ he began but dried up. She shook her head, anger still showing in her eyes until she pulled her goggles down, the line of her lips thin and stiff.

‘See you at the bottom’ she said savagely, and set off abruptly

‘Hey, hold up’ he shouted, and set off after her. He could tell by the way she moved that rage was driving her, and it scared him – not for himself, but in fear that she would forget her own safety. She was going at breakneck speed, and he needed to keep her in sight. Her tracks smoothly ran from side to side of the piste and he noticed she was getting dangerously close to the edges of the safe zone. He pushed himself on as her figure shrank, getting further and further ahead. ‘Charlie’ he shouted, ‘Slow down, you’re going too fast’ and fancied that her voice drifted back to him saying

‘Not fast enough’ He gritted his teeth and drove himself past his own safety limit, desperate to catch up. Her figure started to get closer and he shouted again.

‘Please Charlie – I’m sorry. Slow down, it’s dangerous’ He saw her face as she turned to look back at him, and suddenly she hit a bump on the slope and struggled to keep control, her skis leaving the ground. She flew for a few feet before landing awkwardly, managing to slew sideways to slow her speed and stop, kicking up a flurry of snow as at last he caught up with her. She was visibly trembling as he slowed down and came to her side, angling his skis to come to a stop, and dug his poles into the soft snow. Her face was pale despite the cold air, still a little redness in her cheeks.

‘Are you okay Princess?’ he asked with concern.

‘No thanks to you!’ she gasped ‘If I hadn’t turned when you shouted, I wouldn’t have hit that bump’ He took his goggles off and brought his face close to hers, hands on her shoulders. Her breath made little clouds in the cold air.

‘I’m sorry Charlie, it was wrong of me to get angry. You’re right, I need to…’ he took a breath ‘I don’t own you, if you want to…’ he couldn’t find the words. ‘I won’t stand in your way. But I don’t want you to get hurt. Please promise me you’ll be careful’ She shrugged his hands off her and didn’t answer for a while, obviously still angry with him despite the shock.

‘Careful? I’ve been careful my whole life’ she laughed ruefully ‘you don’t get to tell me what to do.’ She dusted herself off and stamped on the snow ‘We’d better get to the bottom of the slope – I’ve duties to fulfil and people to talk to. You can set off first if you like – knock yourself out, you get the win this year’ He stood and gawped at the Princess, astounded at the change in her. She glared at him and motioned with her head for him to go. He swallowed hard and opened his mouth to speak, but no words came. She was right, he couldn’t tell her what to do – she would be Queen soon. He was afraid of pushing her any further. Reluctantly, he turned and made off to the bottom of the slope alone.

Later that evening some of the guests gathered in the Chateau lounge in front of a roaring log fire, hot chocolate and mulled wine flowing freely along with spiced biscuits and Lythikos ale, which no-one but Olivia was drinking. Maxwell and Brad had set up a friendly rivalry on the ice earlier, trying to outdo each other with fancy moves and were talking enthusiastically about the day’s events. Kiara and Penelope were talking with Rashad and Neville, and Anton and Milo were having a discussion on vintage cars. Olivia and Charlotte circulated amongst the guests and Drake stood alone nursing a whiskey and gazing sullenly out of the window.

‘Why don’t you go and chat with Drake, sweetie?’ asked Olivia ‘I’ll cover for you for a bit’ Charlotte frowned

‘No, I’m too angry with him’ she replied ‘He thinks he can tell me what to do, who to see and what I do with them. Let him brood, I’ll do as I please’ Olivia raised her eyebrows

‘Well he must really have pissed you off, you’re not usually so – focused’ she said, ‘What was it that tipped the balance – that outburst last night over Brad?’ The Princess nodded; even though that irritation had been superseded, she couldn’t tell Olivia what was really bothering her.

‘Yup. He needs to back off, stop telling me how to live my life.’ Olivia looked over at him

‘You mean we have to endure Mr Grumpy?’ she sighed ‘You know he broods and sulks like a champ. He’s bringing down the whole ambience of the evening’

‘Well then he can go sulk somewhere else’ Charlotte huffed ‘Hey Walker’ she raised her voice, so the others could hear ‘Is something bothering you – is the whiskey not up to your standards?’ Drake’s head whipped round, and his lip curled. Before he could think to moderate what was about to come out of his mouth he spoke.

‘The whiskey’s the only thing keeping me in this room. It’s the company that’s not up to my standards’ he said with barely supressed rage. The whole room went silent, and Drake coloured. He looked at his watch and put his glass down, turned to the room and made a deep bow. ‘If you ladies and gentlemen will excuse me, I have somewhere else to be’ he growled, and left the room. Olivia gaped at the Princess.

‘Well, you really pressed his buttons’ she breathed ‘Are you sure you wanted to do that?’ Charlotte nodded, tight lipped.

‘Sorry Livvy, I think the evening’s more or less done’ she said. ‘I’m going to my room’ and she left, going in the opposite direction to Drake.

Olivia was taken up with damage limitation after that and roped in Brad’s help to try and lighten the mood, but it was no good, the guests started to drift off to their rooms. She thought she knew where Drake had gone and was pretty sure Charlotte had indeed gone to her room, so she told Brad to see to the stragglers and dressed to go outside. She went out across the terrace and deeper into the wood, following his footsteps in the snow – as she thought, there was just the one set.

‘Look little sis, look up’ Drake pointed up at the shooting stars ‘Make a wish and it will come true’ Little Savannah clapped and smiled at the meteor shower. Every year since that first time, he had brought her to see them, and every year she said her wish had come true. Last time though she had smiled sadly and said it was a story for children and turned away toward the house. Three days later she had gone without a word, leaving him wondering where she had gone and why she had not contacted him to let him know she was safe. He and Bastien had done their best to trace her, but the trail went cold at a hotel in Spain.

Drake stood with his back to a tree, gazing up at the night sky when he heard footsteps in the snow. He turned to see Olivia approaching.

‘Hi Livvy, shouldn’t you be entertaining your guests?’ he growled

‘They all pretty much left, and Brad’s covering for me’ she replied.

‘I’m just peachy thanks, you shouldn’t worry about me’ Olivia walked close to him and laid her hand on his arm.

‘But I do, you shouldn’t give up so easily. If you meant nothing to her, she wouldn’t be so upset’ Drake looked up at the stars again.

‘You know why I’m out here’ he said ‘I was hoping she’d follow me at some point, but I think I burned that bridge’ At that, a streak of light swept across the sky, then another and another. Olivia caught her breath at the sight of the meteor shower.

‘It’s always a pleasure to see’ she breathed ‘Last year we were watching with Savannah’ Drake groaned.

‘I know, and I wish she was here now. She’d know just what to say to sort things out. She sure chose a bad time to disappear.’ Olivia patted his arm again

‘I’m sorry Drake’ she said sadly ‘You’re right, she’d be able to see straight’ Drake grimaced

‘Where did it go wrong?’ he said, and turned on her, anger flashing in his eyes ‘It was your idea to bring someone else in. It wasn’t supposed to be like this’ Olivia threw up her hands defensively

‘Hey, I stand by it’ she said ‘Give it time – when she cools down, she’ll start to realise. Time apart is not time wasted, trust me. She’ll realise what she’s missing soon enough.’

‘I hate this charade’ he said ‘I’m not even sure how I feel any more. You might as well gift wrap her and hand her over to your English almost-Earl. Or Anton.’ He stepped away from Olivia, scowling ‘I’m off to my bed – via your drinks cabinet. I hope you have a good stash of Whiskey’

‘Fine, Drake, go sulk. That’s something you never had a problem with. But you need to work out how you feel about Lottie before it’s too late’ She snorted. He made a dismissive gesture and stomped off. As he got closer to the terrace, Brad loomed out of the snow, just starting to fall. He glared at him.

‘I hope you’ve not come to be my cheerleader. Go talk to Olivia, I’m not in the mood’ and he carried on into the house. Brad continued on to Olivia.

‘What the heck was that all about? Is he still pissed about me and Lottie?’ he asked her

‘I’m afraid so. He’s never had to share her with anyone except me, so he’s finding it difficult.’ Brad looked confused

‘Share her – with you? Are you saying…?’ Olivia rolled her eyes

‘Share her friendship you idiot. My sexual escapades always feature a real live breathing hot blooded male. What I meant was, he’s never had to share her with someone with a dick – or a talented tongue, as Lottie tells me’ she smirked ‘Would it be cheating, do you think, if you gave me a little demo?’ Brad backed away from her

‘Hey, I’m not just hetero, I’m monogamous too. I’ve heard about some of the little parties that go on here in private, and I’m not up for it’ he protested. Olivia followed him, backing him up against a tree.

‘Are you sure I can’t tempt you? Unlike poor dear Lottie, I’m not a virgin. I’m up for anything darling’ Brad’s face was a picture of fear and doubt, but he managed to slide out of Olivia’s grasp.

‘I – err, not right now, Olivia’ he gulped ‘I think that would be rather – complicated, don’t you?’ I – umm, I think one or two guests were still up when I left the Lodge, I’d better get back and make sure everything is okay’ Olivia pouted.

‘Oh very well, I’ll come with you. Wouldn’t do to let them raid the wine cellar while the hosts are cavorting in the snow.’ She started back to the house, but Brad hung back for a moment. Olivia turned and held out her hand for him ‘I wouldn’t want you to slip, sweetie’ she quipped, and he reached out to take it. He exchanged a startled look with her as he felt a small electric jolt at the contact of skin to skin, and followed her back to the Lodge, bemused as the snow started to fall thickly.

#drake walker #drake x mc #liam x mc #olivia nevrakis #trr #choices trr #trr drake #trr choices #trr fanfic #the royal romance #choices the royal romance #charlotte's choice

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ithinkthereforiamfandom · 6 years ago

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The 29th of January

(@kitten-kin Thank you for Your help, I hope this lives up to it. 2K)

It was the 29th of January and a Tuesday, John Hated Tuesdays. There was a camaraderie to Miserable Mondays, Wednesday was the midpoint, the point of no return on route to the weekend, Thursday had the weekend within sight and none of Friday’s get-me-out-of-here anxiety, who didn’t like Fridays! Tuesday’s only saving grace was that it wasn’t Monday. John’s mind rambled horribly since he'd got back so he took it for regular walks letting the monotony of his new step, step-thump, step, step-thump cadence calm his mind. Two more days... Thursday, he’d always liked a Thursday and he could start an early weekend as a dead man.

Day 29, he would be getting a pointless 30day chip tomorrow at his NA meeting which he would have to attend or Mycroft would cut him off again and Mummy would be notified. He had confirmed his attendance with his brother, so much for anonymous, and was headed to Bart’s where Molly had some tests he was permitted to assist with. The set up would be long and tedious but he would swing past the morgue before he hit the lab and run his posthumous hematoma experiment first.

John was almost out of the park, he’d done two laps today hoping it would help but now he just wanted to be home. “John" He heard a voice say his name but it was a common enough name. “John Watson” Definitely calling him now so he halted and turned to see a man approaching. Civilian, out of shape, familiar. “Mike, Mike Stamford" Yes, Mike from “We were at Bart's together" Mike from Bart's, he should be happy to see Mike from Bart’s but he just couldn’t be. The conversation drizzled onto coffee and he zoned out for a while remembering when he had a future in medicine, when he had a future but then Mike brought him back from his growled responses with “You’re the second person to say that to me today”... Was there someone else in London like him?

Sherlock was on fire, definitely having an up day as he ran the last of slides under the microscope and definitely green pigment, Molly would bring him coffee shortly and he had just cracked that cold case though the morgue results would be needed to confirm. He grabbed a pipette as the door opened because people were less inclined to question his presence when he was busy but it was just Mike who strolled in with some dull friend of his from the good old days. Mike might have a phone though so he can text Lestrade and avoid going all the way to the Yard.

John had an unobtrusive look around as someone was busy in the lab while Mike gave him a tour. It all looked so different now and he would have had to catch up on so many new things, field medicine was archaic but there was comfort in its simplicity. This was the other him apparently and John didn’t look twice until the man spoke and asked Mike for his phone. The voice was deep and cultured but long lines in a tailored suit impressed him as he handed over his phone. Mike really thought this man would share a flat with him.

Sherlock was caught off guard when the man, John, offered his mobile. Sherlock observed this new person and information flooded his mind as he took the phone. Stance, Tan, Grooming, Stick but standing. He gave the device in his hands a quick once over. Clearly the invalided war hero disagreed with his addict brother, but this might work well as John would motivate his sobriety and a doctor could be handy though the flatness in his eyes... He would need to keep John alive if he was going to help Sherlock with the work. Just had to confirm his deductions first, then get moved in! Mrs Hudson couldn’t complain about a doctor And an army veteran as his flatmate! John was perfect.

He was a nightmare, what was Mike thinking... John had been floored by Sherlock’s deductions and stood stumped as Sherlock whirled out the lab in a flurry of information, riding crops, and finally an address... did he just wink?! Shifting his weight John followed Mike out again and headed home; to his dull bedsit, his breakfast apple for dinner, his laptop, and his gun. He looked around the boring beige walls and realised he was smiling, Sherlock was not dull. A bit not good as his mum would say but definitely not dull. John decided he would grab this coincidental lifeline, Baker street, tomorrow. If it all went horribly he could always change his mind.

The damn chip weighed a ton in his pocket, John didn’t know he was in NA and he had no idea how he would react. The taxi pulled up just in time and Mrs Hudson was there to greet them, the woman was a saint and John seemed pleased with everything except, A Mess, yes by military standards the place was a mess and if he wanted a military man to cohabitate he would have to adjust. John settled into the wingback with his back to the entrances... He was either already very comfortable here or his self-preservation and combat instincts were history. A case came up so John would have time to get himself settled. Then again the limp, John didn't run anymore so maybe that’s what he needed, for his body to override his mind and that would be one less thing plaguing him.

Trouble, John could do trouble. He thought that the bullet had taken that away and while it might not be the army or a foreign country trouble at home was the same so he raced through dark side streets after an insane man to catch a murderer. After his very polite rebuff and his walking stick in storage the days blurred at Sherlock’s side until it was almost all over, Again. John had witnessed men die, as their medic and their captain he had held it as his duty to stay with his men if they were dying but his gun was in his hand before he knew it. He would not loose another man, not tonight and not Sherlock who had saved him; cured him, given him purpose, and his life back! He squared his shoulders, took a deep breath and squeezed on the exhale.

Sherlock sat on the tail of the ambulance and ignored his shaking hands, the bullet must have passed within inches from him but Lestrade still wanted answers. He explained who the shooter was and scanned the darkness for suspects until his eyes found John standing at ease between two cars and everything lit up in his mind. He could see John, the military crack shot who had put a bullet passed his shoulder and into a man’s heart without a twitch... or Sherlock himself would be injured or dead. John, who he had to protect now so he brushed Lestrade off and breezed past his brother before they made their escape, his extraordinary John.

*12 months later*

The damn bloodhound was only good at finding the trouble John growled to himself as he stitched, he'd managed to catch most of the trouble himself but Sherlock still had a concussion and now John was a Veterinarian as he stitched up a thin slice in the dog's side. He still remembers the day Sherlock brought him home. “Calcutta. Wait, you liked The Perishers so you’re naming your tracker after a dog with no sense of smell.” They had both laughing and the dog seemed to join in but now the dog just whined slightly as John stitched up shaved skin. “Poor beast, we'll have you back to himself soon, almost done boy" The dog was enormously loyal to Sherlock and John was grateful but he had eight stitches himself and didn’t want to consider what may have happened had he not been there.

*6 months later*

Sherlock came come from a week in Belarus where an idiot had killed his girlfriend and would shortly be hanged, never to pass on his unfortunate genetics. He found two sleeping veterans in his lounge as John lay on the couch and a gorgeous German Shepard lay on the floor beside him. He set about making tea loudly enough to wake John, as he filled the kettle he remembered the discussion of a few months ago. “I can take care of myself and what if he bullies Calcutta?!” Sherlock hadn’t liked the idea of some aggressive beast harrying his faithful hound. “He will not bully Calcutta, they are all team players and Pax was attached to my unit for a while. You need protection Sherlock, someone there when I can’t be" Captain Watson had been very firm about it and Pax, silly name for war dog, was clearly settled in. Calcutta watched him from the lounge but Pax now stood in the door way actively observing the way John did all the time too. “I see I have another Veteran in the house now” Sherlock quipped to John as Pax's tail brushed his legs, his escort saw him safely to the couch then curled at John’s feet while John yawned and scrubbed his face. “I’ve trained him to your scent my LovelyLove if I’m not around he’ll stick to you like glue.

*On the next 29th of January”

“I thought Pax was retired” Sherlock was brushing distinctive guard hairs off his beloved Belstaff for the thousandth time. “Pax has retired Sherlock, into your employ just like me" John kissed his sulking sweetie. “My employees never listen to me!” Sherlock had taken to carrying a clothes brush in his coat and had been frustrated but very impressed when John had barked a command and Pax had bolted Sherlock’s side and taken their assailant to the ground in seconds. John had explained that Pax knew Sherlock was to be protected but the orders came from John. When the doorbell rang Sherlock started up from absentmindly scratching Pax's scarred ears. “That'll be Brom" John smirked, he would never buy Sherlock’s claim that his “badger hound" could investigate small spaces for them. “Dushunds are very cute Love!” John called after rapid footsteps. “Anton Chekhov would agree with you" Sherlock quipped back “But Brom will work just as hard and Pax or Callie" The dushund snoozed in Sherlock’s arms and John had to smile at the smitten look on Sherlock’s face, working or not Brom was clearly home to stay.

*6 months later*

John and Sherlock sat in the lounge with their small pack, Mrs Hudson had come up for tea and her enormous black poodle had stayed with the mob all piled together before the fire. “Sherlock” John sounded stunned and Sherlock's eyes snapped to his. “The Queen has a pregnant Corgi and we’ve been offered a pup from the litter” Sherlock rose to study the message. “John, can we? A Pembroke Welsh Corgi is much more interesting than a Knighthood!” John looked into sparking eyes. “I didn’t think we could refuse and I would never refuse you Love. We'll send our acceptance and our thanks, the litter is due in a few months, quite an honour I’m sure"

*The next 29th of January *

The corgi was an adorable creature which they had almost lost to Mrs Hudson on first sight. The little one slept on Calcutta most evenings and Royal gifts come with health plans so they need never worry about medical expenses for the pup, Rose, so named for her reddish patches was quickly a feature on everyone’s laps and when they took the pack for a walk though the park in the evenings she rode in Sherlock’s pocket until she couldn’t fit anymore. They made a sight, John felt, the mix match of dogs only emphasised the mismatch of himself and Sherlock but his family was perfect, all four legs and fur.

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trr-fangirl · 6 years ago

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Remember Me - XI

Pairing: Liam x MC x Drake (Drake x Olivia)

Word Count: 3,315+ (Sorry, I got carried away)

Warning: Strong Language,

A/N: This is all pretty much fluff... but second to last part! I’m sorry this too so super long to get up but I needed to clear up a lot of stuff and I’m doing it in this chapter and next chapter along with introducing a whole new plot. A lot of stuff from this series is going to carry over and it definitely won’t be as short as this one. This part is a little boring in my opinion because I’m clearing up a lot of the plot. Enjoy and thank you so much for reading my little (shitty) series.

Notes: I used my King and MC’s names for this fic. This is set after the events of book three. A read more cut is inserted below and is also tagged as long post and long text.

Tags: @choicesfanatic86 , @captain-kingliamsqueen , @gracepedia , @hopefulmoonobject , @hhiggs , @umccall71 , @mfackenthal , @heatherfilliez , @flowerpowell , @writtenbycandy , @flyawayblue56

MASTERLIST

"If you wanted to meet somewhere decent we could have just gone to Lythikos Manor," Lucretia said as she walked into the Queen Mother's small estate. "This isn't even half the size of the Palace."

Regina rolled her eyes as she walked down the narrow hallway, "If you don't want to be put back into custody, I'd advice you to keep your unwanted comments to yourself." She said back as they arrived in the sitting room and sat down. The servants quickly brought in a glass and a bottle of champagne for them before leaving.

Lucretia took a sip from her wine glass before shooting Regina a dangerous glare, "Why is my niece trying to bring back some runaway peasant?" She asked harshly as she put her glass down on the table in front of them, "She was supposed to say in America and you have my niece running after her."

"Your niece made that decision herself. " Regina muttered with a shrug, "There is only so much we can intervene with and your little plan to kill the Queen in Valtoria backfired severely. If you want Anton and Olivia to be the monarchs, you need to work with me."

Lucretia rolled her eyes and sighed as she swirled her glass of champagne, "Fine. We'll try your way but if it starts to backfire just like this one... I'll have your head."

"Ah. The classic Nevrakises threat. How cliche?" She asked as she finished her champagne, "It'll work, Lucretia. I can assure you that much."

The woman stared at Regina for a while longer before taking another sip of her drink, "You never explained why you hated this girl so much... She is your daughter in law." Lucretia asked before finishing off her drink and filling her glass back up.

"Just because she's my daughter in law doesn't mean I have to like her. Her constant joy and determination for a country that she just happened to acquire by falling in love with a prince is a ridiculous fairytale. She needs to be knocked down a peg and that's what we're doing... aren't we?" Regina asked as she relaxed against the seat and sighed.

Lucretia smirked, "In a sick and twisted way, we are."

Jessica knocked on the bedroom door to her sister's room, "Kimi! Time to get up!" She called through the door but frowned when she didn't answer. She knocked on the door again before it was swung open but a sleepless Kimiko.

"Did you go back to sleep after our talk this morning?" Jessica asked with concern. Her sister shook her head before walking back into the room, leaving the door open so Jessica could enter. She stepped inside to see clothes scattered across the bed and wooden floor.

"You're going back to Cordonia, aren't you?" Jessica asked a hint of hurt and sadness in her voice. She knew Kimiko was going to go back sometime but she didn't expect her to go back so soon. The younger didn't answer her as she continued to fold her clothes and stick them into the small bag she brought with her. Jessica shook her head as she unknowingly balled her fists.

Jessica stepped closer, "Why? Why go back after everything that happened to you? You're safer here... Don't you see that? When you were here--"

"You don't understand, do you?" She snapped as she glared at her, the white shirt in her hand becoming wrinkled as she clenched it, "This isn't up for discussion! I am a Queen! I am their Queen and they look to me for guidance in every situation. I cannot and will not abandon my people! I love my people and that's something you will never understand-- even if you tried!"

Jessica looked down as she tried to hide the hurt and tears forming in her eyes, "What about your family, Kimiko? What about us!? Don't we even matter to you anymore?" She yelled as tears fell from her eyes.

Kimiko gulped but kept her stoic expression on her face. Nothing tore her apart more than seeing her sister crying because of her decisions. Cordonia was everything to her but so was her family, how could she pick between the people she spent her entire life with and the people she was getting to know... again? She wanted to stay and live in New York again but something kept pulling her back to Cordonia. Something she couldn't describe but it was just as strong as love and passion for the country- maybe even stronger. Kimiko shook her head and put the remaining clothes into her bag.

"I love you, Sister. I will always love you but I have to return to my home." She whispered as she pulled the bag onto her shoulder and walked past her sister towards the door.

Jessica turned around and looked at Kimiko, her eyes and face still wet with tears, "But your home is here."

She shook her head slowly before whispering "...Not anymore."

"At least eat before you leave, sweetie." Her mother said as she turned off the stove and began to make a plate for Kimiko.

Kimiko sighed and put a small smile on her face as she sat down at the table. She placed her bag on the floor next to her. She played with her fingers as her sister words replayed in her head. Now, she wasn't sure if she was doing the right thing... Was leaving her family to fend for themselves the best option when she could provide them with a life with luxury? Or even if they didn't want that, she could at least provide them with a small house and an occupation? As she drowned in her thoughts, her mother placed a plate of food in front of her with a worried expression mingling on her face.

"Kimi?"

She jumped at the sound of her name and looked up at her mom, "Y-Yes?" She stuttered. Her mother stared at her for a moment longer then sat in the chair across from her.

"Are you alright? I heard you and Jessica this morning." Jasmine asked.

Kimiko shook her head as she played with her food, moving it across the plate like she did as a child when she didn't want to eat. Her mom frowned and she immediately stopped, "Jess doesn't want me to go back to Cordonia."

Her mother made a sound of realization and leaned back in her seat, "She was never really on board with you being in an unknown foreign country and as the assassination attempts continued, her trust in the Cordonian Monarchs and security began to dwindle. She just needs time to come to terms with you being royalty."

"What about you...? Are you okay with me being noble?" She asked timidly as she finally started to eat her food.

Her mother just smiled and nodded, "Of course. I couldn't be prouder of you. I'm not going to lie and say that I was okay with you just leaving New York but once I saw how much you loved this man and how determined you were to clear your name, I realized that my little baby was finally happy and living her life fully."

"Did you make your decision about coming to Cordonia with me or are you still on the fence like Jessica?" She asked, a hopeful look appearing on her face. It only got bigger when her mom started to smile.

Jasmine nodded, "Of course. If that's what you want."

She smiled brightly at her mother and opened her mouth to speak when the doorbell rang. She and her mother exchanged confused expressions before Kimiko got up and walked over to the door and looked through the peephole. "Oh, my god!" She exclaimed as she fumbled to unlock the door.

"Kimiko! See I told you it was this house!" Maxwell called first before turning to Drake, who just rolled his eyes at him.

"What are you all doing here?!" She asked as she looked at all of her friends before her eyes fell on Aiden. She stared into his eyes for a moment as guilt washed over her. He stepped toward her before engulfing her in a tight hug.

Kimiko hesitantly hugged him back, melting into his embrace before pulling away and hugging the rest of her friends. She spotted Mara and Bastien standing behind the group and gave a small smile to Mara, "I guess our little plan didn't work."

Mara simply gave her an apologetic smile as Kimiko mouthed 'Thank you' to her. She glanced at all of her friends before letting them into the house. "I know it's not as big as the palace but make yourselves at home." She said to them warmly. Her eyes flashed to Aiden, who wasn't look at her at the moment. She gulped as she reached for his hand, running her fingers over his.

He looked over to her and sadly looked down at their hands, "We need to talk."

Her breathing hitched for a moment and she slowly nodded. She turned towards the stairs and lead him up to her bedroom. Of course, they needed to talk. He came all this way and she knew she wasn't going to get out of the situation without a lecture. As they stepped into her room, she began to get knots in her stomach at the thought of what he wanted to talk about or what was needed to be said. He closed the door behind him, slightly leaning against it as he watched her settle into her bed.

"Why did you leave?" He asked softly, staying close to the door.

She looked up at him before looking back down at her hands, “You weren’t going to tell me anything.” She said, her voice conveying a harsh tone. Aiden raised an eyebrow, clearly taken back by her answer.

“I would have.”

She shook her head, “I asked you about the explosions and shootings that I continuously had nightmares about. You either ignored me or pushed it off as if it didn’t matter.” She muttered as she folded her arms across her chest. “I wanted to know what happened in the past and you didn’t tell me... So— I left.”

Aiden looked away from her as he realized what he was doing to her. He was neglecting her again, just like Drake was telling him. He didn’t want to believe him but as he heard the same thing coming from his wife, he knew it was true. He was becoming selfish for all the wrong reasons.

“I didn’t realize that was what I was doing. I didn’t tell you because I didn’t want to scare you or make you feel unsafe.” He explained as he walked over to her and sat on the bed next to her. “I never thought I would ignore the woman I fell so hard for.”

She raised an eyebrow at his comment, “Well, you did and you should really pay more attention to me.” She mumbled as a small smirk appeared on her face but it disappeared just ask quickly. “Aiden. I need help with my recovery. I can’t do this all by myself... I’m going to need everyone’s help.”

He nodded and planted a soft kiss on her forehead, “I’ll try my hardest to be there for you as much as I can.”

Kimiko nodded. She rested her head on his shoulder, taking in his scent and letting out a content sigh. She felt her muscles relax as she leaned against him, melting into him. Aiden wrapped his arms around her and rubbed her arm, knowing she wanted his affection after being apart for a few days. Despite losing some of her memories of him, Kimiko was still the same girl who craved attention and love from anyone that gave it to her. He pulled her closer to her, holding her tightly against his chest. Her fresh vanilla scent whisked past his nose, causing him to smile.

“I was going to come home today, you know.” She admitted as she played with the lapel of his blazer.

He smiled, watching her snuggling closer to him, "I'm happy you wanted to return home so soon but we weren't going to leave until tomorrow." He informed her as he slowly and reluctantly pulled away from her. "We didn't think we would find you so soon."

Kimiko hummed softly and stood up, "Is it alright with you if I come with you to the hotel?" She asked, a bit timidly. She missed being around him, no matter how much or how little she remembered of him. She perked up when she saw Aiden's warm smile appear on his face and then him nodding.

"I'd like that."

She smiled wider as her cheeks flushed a bit before taking his hand and walking him out of the bedroom, going back to the living room where everyone was seated. They sat in the room together and listened to her mother's millions of embarrassing childhood stories about Kimiko and her siblings. Night had fallen before they knew it and as the group began to head out, Jessica grabbed Kimiko's hand before she exited the family home.

"Hey... I was thinking about what you said about coming to Cordonia." Jessica started as she pulled back some of her hair. Was she coming? Did Jessica make her decision about leaving the states that quickly? Kimiko turned to Aiden and gave him a quick kiss on his cheek then stepped back into the house to speak with Jessica.

Kimiko pulled her sister to the side, "Look. I know you have a life here and you can stay if you want. Don't let me stop you from doing what you want. You have two cute dogs and an amazing job in Maine." She told her sister, even though it hurt her inside that she may not be coming with her to Cordonia. Jessica sighed and looked down at her feet as if she was trying to form words to say.

Jessica finally picked her head up and sighed, "I'll let you know in the morning." She simply said and wrapped her arms around her sister tightly. Kimiko nodded and hugged her sister back just as tightly before pulling away. Jessica kissed her forehead before gently pushing her away so she could go meet up with her friends.

Back at the hotel, Kimiko followed Aiden to his room and settled into the large suite before telling him that she was going to get something to eat. She took her time finding her way through the hotel's many hallways with Mara before getting back to the lobby. As she scanned through the many food items, she noticed Drake sitting in one of the lobby chairs.

"Hey." She called as she walked over to him, dismissing her guard with a wave of her hand. Mara discreetly dashed into a dark alcove, watching her charge from a distance.

He looked up from his phone and gave her a short nod, "Amaya."

"I think we should talk.." Kimiko stated.

Drake put his phone into his pocket and stood up, "Sure. Let's get something to eat while we're at it." He mentioned as he walked over to the food selection and picked up a sandwich.

She followed behind him and put her hands behind her back, timidly. She opened her mouth to speak but hesitated and shook her head, "N-Nevermind. It's nothing." She said as she turned to leave but he caught her hand before she could leave. Kimiko turned to him with wide eyes as guilt washed over her. And as if she was a raincloud, she let everything out as she looked into his eyes.

"Look, Drake. I didn't mean to toy with you. I needed someone but I shouldn't have used you. It was my fault and I could have ruined so many relationships because of my stupid decisions." She blurted as tears threaten to fall from her eyes. She blinked them back before looking down. Drake let her wrist go and put one of his hands into his pocket as he always did when he was guarded.

He hesitated at first but spoke anyway, "I know it's in our past but since I told Aiden about what happened between us... Our friendship has been strained. I'm pretty sure Olivia has an idea of what’s going on and will have an earful for me once we all get back home." He took a breath before looking up at her, "I want us to be friends but... I need to fix my relationship with Aiden."

Kimiko nodded, "I guess it's for the best if we... keep our distance?"

"For now." He said as he offered her a weak smile, "Don't worry, Amaya. It's just temporary."

She nodded and forced a smile, "I know. We live in the same place for crying out loud. You'll see this face even if you don't want to." Kimiko joked and he chuckled.

"That's true... I'll see you around?" He asked as he slowly turned away from her. Kimiko nodded and waved to him as she watched him start to head back to his hotel room. She let out a soft sigh before calling her Mara back and glancing over the food selection again.

Early the next morning, the Queen woke up to the sound of her husband talking. She reluctantly opened her eyes and looked around her immediate surroundings. The white sheets were pulled back and empty as she expected them to be. She stifled a yawn before turning towards in the opposite way and smiled as she saw Aiden standing in front of the window with his phone to his ear. His attention was drawn as it usually was when he was talking about business. She watched him silently while looking at his shirtless body and bit her lip as she remembered the night before. She could even see some of her own markings still fresh on his skin. Thank God, they would be the only ones who would see those markings on his skin and the ones he left on her.

Kimiko sat up a bit and pulled the sheets over her naked body once Aiden got off the phone. His eyes lit up and he smiled when he saw that she was awake. Aiden sat next to her and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek, “Good morning.”

“Morning. Who was that on the phone?” She asked curiously as she ran a hand through her hair, ruffling it a bit as she looked around the messy hotel room. The mess was mostly her fault for there being scattered clothes laying on the floor and a two knocked over wine glasses.

Aiden stared at her features for a moment before answering her question, “Security measures for our return home. We’ll probably be bombarded with questions from the press but it shouldn’t be too much for us to handle.” He told her with a reassuring smile. Kimiko nodded in response as she turned to him and gave him a passionate kiss on the lips.

She pulled away and rested her hand on his cheek, “I think we can take the press. We’ve done it before, right?”

Her husband just smiled at her and kissed her back just as passionately, putting his hand around her waist and pulling her closer to his body when her phone buzzed from the nightstand next to their bed.

She groaned a bit and pulled away but that didn’t stop Aiden from gently kissing her neck as she reached for behind her for her phone. Kimiko looked at her phone and squealed loudly as she read the message left on her screen.

Aiden pulled away from her and raised an eyebrow, “What are you—?”

“My sister agreed to move to Cordonia!”

#trr #the royal romance #fanfic #long text #long post #remember me #liam x mc #liam x mc x drake #trr fanfic

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thejollyroger-writer · 6 years ago

Text

Met by Moonlight: Chapter Three - Emma

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Her new housemates barely give her any time to unpack or settle before they are pulling her out of the house for food.

“Come on, we know you must be hungry!” The tall girl with the dark hair and midriff-revealing shirt takes her by the hand, practically pulling her out door, the other two girls taking up the rear, with the three boys shuffling behind them awkwardly.

When they finally reached the apartment - the flat - Emma was surprised to find five faces there waiting for her, since she figured the apartment would have three bedrooms maximum, though there was no real reason behind that thought. But, as it turns out, she was correct, and there were actually two apartments for graduate students on opposite sides of the same hallway, for both history and English students. Hers was a four-bedroom one, shared with Killian, the tallest girl (Ruby? She’s pretty sure her name was Ruby.) and a quiet, mysterious blue-eyed boy who had not yet had the opportunity to introduce himself. On the other side of the hallway was a very tall, skinny boy with pale eyes and crazy dark hair sticking up in all directions; and two other girls, a blonde and a redhead, who have done nothing but smile at her since she’s arrived.

“I mean, I am hungry, but we don’t - you don’t all have to stop what you’re doing to take me out - “

“It’s a tradition, sweetie,” she argues, not giving up the fight, and when Emma turns around to lock eyes with Killian, all he can do is shrug, flashing a quick smile at her. “We always go out for pizza when we get a new roommate. It’s just what we do!”

“Well, if it’s a tradition…” Emma starts, and when she stops fighting against Ruby’s grip, she turns and smiles at her, a beaming smile that changes her whole face, lighting it up, and it’s a smile that Emma can’t help but return.

“I know that we’re so excited to have another girl in the house! There was another guy here last semester, Isaac, but he was quiet and awkward and, honestly, there was something about him that just creeped me out a little bit.”

“Me too,” the blonde behind her quips in, and as she continues, Emma realizes that she, too, has an accent, like Killian. “I try my best not to judge people, but he was just really weird. I was kind of relieved when he transferred, actually, because I knew he wouldn’t be living with us anymore.”

“I was just worried that we were going to get someone weirder than he was!” The redhead comments, and Emma turns in time to watch Killian clap her on the shoulder.

“Well, love, you don’t have to worry about that. Unless something drastic’s changed in the past few years, Emma is definitely not weirder than Isaac was. “

“Wait, do you know each other?” Ruby asks, turning around and walking backwards to face the group.

Before Emma can answer, Killian says,“Yeah, Emma and I went to school together back in Maine.”

Her eyes go wide, but she is not the only one to respond. “No way! That’s so weird.”

“Did you know it was her when you got the paperwork?”

“Were you guys, like, friends?”

For some reason, Emma isn’t quite ready to reveal their past to all of her new roommates, and a quick, terrified glance from Killian lets her know that he feels the same.

“All the paperwork said was her name and the terminal she’d be in. I thought it might be her at first, because we were friends, though I figured it couldn’t be, because what are the odds?”

“There’s only, what, a thousand people in Storybrooke, so the fact that we’re both from there and ended up here, in the same program, at the same time is crazy.”

Confused, the redhead turns to Killian. “Wait, I thought you said you were from England?”

“I was born in England, aye, but we moved to Maine when I was a boy. My parents are still over there, though my brother and I both returned.”

“Right. I remember you saying something about that before.”

Ahead of her, Ruby pulls open the door to a small pizzeria, gesturing for Emma to go first, though the blonde passes her and leads them towards a larger table in the back of the restaurant.

“Hello, hello!” A voice from the back calls to them, and out of the swinging doors comes a large, bearded man who can’t be much older than they are, wearing an apron over a bright green tee-shirt and jeans.

As they all find their seats, Emma between Killian and Ruby, her companions respond with a smattering of hellos, and she learns that the man’s name is Anton.

“This must be the new roommate!” he says excitedly as he approaches the table. “Welcome to Oxford! I’m Anton.”

“Emma,” she says, and takes his outstretched hand in her own.

“It’s a pleasure.”

She smiles back at him, but one of the boys says, “We’ll take our usual, please,” and Anton nods, bows his head towards her, and is off.

“So, Emma, tell us about yourself,” the redhead says excitedly, but all Emma can do is blush before Killian speaks up.

“Come on, Ariel, that’s not fair putting her on the spot like that.”

Ariel pouts, but the blonde says, “Well, then, let’s all introduce ourselves instead.”

“Aye, that sounds better.” Emma turns to him, the corner of her cheek turning up in a small, thankful smile, and he does the same, though quickly looks away.

“I’m Wendy Darling, starting my third semester of grad school, originally from London, and I focus on female Victorian writers.”

The redhead - Ariel - is next. “I’m Ariel, this will be my second semester, and I’m studying the history of modern human exploration, specifically the oceans, but also the rainforests, desert, and Arctic and Antarctic regions.”

One of the two boys speaks up, the one that is in the same apartment as her. “I’m August, I’m technically in my fifth semester of graduate studies since I’m doing a teaching fellowship and finishing my thesis on the history of fairy tales and how they’ve affected us as a society.”

“Jefferson. I’ve stopped counting semesters, because my masters will be in the portrayal of mental illness in classic literature, but I’m also simultaneously going for my doctorate in psychology, so I’ve been here for… four years? And I have another three left.”

Clapping him on the shoulder, as if proud, Killian smiles at him before introducing himself, which Emma thinks is sort of funny since she’s known him since she was fifteen, but she lets him continue. “Killian Jones, though you already know that. And this is my second semester, and my concentration is in the tragedies of Shakespeare.”

Passing right over Emma, Ruby takes her turn. “I’m Ruby Lucas, this is my fourth and final - “ she crosses her fingers in front of her, closing her eyes for a moment before continuing, “-semester, and my concentration is in mythological fantasy and the use of supernatural creatures.”

And then, they all turn to her. She has no reason to be as nervous as she is, but that doesn’t stop her from doing just that, and she takes a deep breath before starting. “Okay, well, I’m Emma Swan. This is, uh, my first semester, obviously, and my concentration will be in some sort of contemporary fiction, though I haven’t quite decided what yet. Probably detective fiction and murder mystery and how we, as a culture, have become enamored with death and whodunnit stories and things like that, but I…” She realizes that she has turned her gaze down to her hands, and when she looks back up, she finds all of her companions are still looking at her, waiting for the end of her rambling speech. “I’m not sure,” she finishes, her voice soft.

There are nods and hums of approval around the table, and of all the people around her, she finds her eyes drawn to the bright blue eyes across the table from her - August, the fairy tales studier that Belle told her about, and when he meets her eyes with his, he flashes her a smile that is almost too perfect to be real.

She does not want to already be attracted to someone; she just got off the plane earlier today, but she cannot ignore the blazing look behind August’s blue eyes, especially as the night goes on and she continues to find him watching her, his lips curling into a sweet smile when her eyes meet his.

Maybe England will be even more of an adventure than she imagined.

She only has two days to acclimate herself with the town before she receives the email from Belle:

Lovelies,

Given all the bloody renovation done over break to both the library and our lovely building, I am going to have to ask all of you to shorten your time off by a few days - everything is a little out of place right now, and I would like to have it all put back together by the time classes start. No need for formalities the first few days, just show up ready to kick our bloody buildings back into shape! If you’re already in town, I would like to start tomorrow (and obviously I will be providing lunch, because that’s the only way to make you wankers work!); if you’re not in town, get your arses here and help us!

See you all soon!

Belle

So the next morning, clad in jeans, boots, and a plain white tee shirt, they convene in the kitchen of their small apartment, and when they begin their descent to Killian’s car on the street in front of the building, they find the two girls from across the hall also on their way out, arms linked together as they head down the street.

The library, she discovers upon walking through the beautifully hand-carved doors, is greater than anything she had ever even imagined, more beautifully rustic and antique than any of the pictures she spent hours mulling over--dreaming about--made it seem. Killian either senses her awe of the building, or expects it, for even though he is a few steps in front of her, he turns around as she takes it all it, his eyes fixed on her as hers jump around the room.

“Better than you imagined, eh?”

“Definitely.”

Her eyes finally meet his, a smile equivalent to hers spread across his face - a smile that she remembers so well from the days she used to spend with him - and a smile that she is still not sure about how she feels having it back in her life.

But, in truth, the library really is better than anything she imagined. There are books everywhere: organized on shelves, piled on tables, stacked on carts - chaos.

It does not take them long to find Belle, standing in the most open part of the first floor, looking angrily around at the piles spread around her, a clipboard in her hand which she continues to scrawl on as they approach.

“Right, so this is bloody worse than I figured it would be, and I’m damned sure it wasn’t this bad when I was here two days ago,” she says as they approach, not even looking in their direction. “They’re piled in bleeding boxes upstairs, so we all most definitely have our work cut out for us! Booth, can you take our newest member for a quick tour of the building, show her where her office is going to be, and then start with the boxes upstairs?” Emma turns to August, who smiles gently at her before he turns back to Belle.

“Of course, it would be my pleasure.”

He gestures for her to go first, around the tables gathered in the center of the room and up the stairs.

“So, you’re from Maine then, same as Killian?” he asks when they are out of earshot of the rest of the group.

“Uh, yeah. He was, uh, sixteen and I was fifteen when he moved from England and joined my class. Are you from somewhere there, too? In the states?”

“Yeah, somewhere over there,” he says, running his fingers through his hair. “But nowhere in particular. I was an orphan growing up, most of my time spent somewhere near California, New Mexico, Arizona. Have you ever been to Arizona?”

She blushes a little, glad that she is on the steps in front of him so he cannot see her reddening face. “I, uh, never had the pleasure. To be honest, the first time I even left Maine was when the plane took off the runway.”

“I guess that’s one of the few perks of not having any roots, then. You don’t have that same tie to somewhere, nothing keeping you from just up and leaving.”

She is surprised by his sudden personal outbreak, but she also sees his point. She doesn’t know what exactly draws the next words from her, but once they come, there is nothing she can do to stop them: “I had opportunities to leave, but I just--I never wanted to, until one day I realized I hadn’t and needed to. And that’s why I’m here.”

She stops at one of the tables near the top of the steps, only to allow him to take the lead and show her where she needs to go, but he stops as well, leaning against the table. When he smiles at her, she can feel her heart fluttering in her chest, something she has not felt in what feels like years, and it awakens some sort of giddy-schoolgirl vibe within her--and she suddenly finds herself clinging onto his every movement, his every word.

“Well, I know for sure I’m glad you’re here, Emma.”

“I’m glad to be here,” she answers, her chest tight, though thankfully he does not stay by the tables for very long. Instead, he removes his jacket and sets it on one of the chairs, pushing up the sleeves of his long-sleeve shirt, and heads away from her.

“Let’s see the shape your office is in, then, shall we?”

Given the state of the library, Emma shouldn’t be surprised at the equally chaotic state of the office, but surprised she is. She can tell that, under the piles and boxes and carts full of books, the office is in great condition: two desks, both up against a large glass wall that looks out over the floor of the library, the back wall covered floor-to-ceiling with a large wooden bookshelf that sits mostly empty.

“So, this will be your new home for the next few years, Emma,” August says, sweeping his arms in a grand gesture around the room. “Though I’m sure by the time classes start up and you actually need to start using it, it will be in much better shape than it is now, especially knowing your office mate.”

“My office mate?”

As if on cue, a tall girl with hair too blonde to even be classified as blonde (but would calling it white even do it justice? Instead, it seems to be some crazy shade of platinum/silver that shimmers even in the shitty lighting of the office) walks in, a pure white backpack hoisted over her shoulder, which she promptly tosses on the floor beside one of the desks.

“You must be Emma!” she says with a smile that Emma’s pretty sure makes the room physically brighter--a contagious one Emma can’t keep herself from returning. “I’m Elsa, and I’m so excited to be working with you!” She, too, has an accent, but it is not as refined as Killian and Wendy’s. She makes a mental note to ask about it later, but for now, they have work to do.

“Elsa is our poster child for the graduate department,” August teases, but it doesn’t seem to phase her, just pulls a smile on her face.

“There’s nothing wrong with being where you are, August,” she retorts, rolling her eyes, and then looks around the room. “They definitely made sure we had our work cut out for us, then, didn’t they?”

“It sure does seem that way.”

And, just like that, as if someone suddenly flipped a switch in her, turning her on and sending her off. Telling Emma which box should be next and commanding August to carry them to the right parts of the library, Elsa works like a machine, putting everything in the office back in order.

Emma only wishes she could do the same with her life.

#captain swan #cs ff #met by moonlight #my writing #wordsbymeganmichael #ouat #cs fics

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