#as soon as he steps out of that arena i’m jumping his bones so hard

[wildsaltair]

what are you doing later, sir

[apexland]

New Season, Same Old Idiot.

Mirage x Reader (Season 7)

Warnings: None! Gender Neutral 

"Rise and shine" followed by a thump to my forehead woke me out of my sleep, only to wake up to the sight of Mirage standing beside my bed with a his usual mischievous grin. "No-get out" I muffled into the pillow, turning around and attempting to pull the cover over my head to drown out the now perky tune Elliot was singing but the covers were soon yanked from my head. "C'mon y/n, time to get movin' Olympus is on the Horizon" He said, whilst trying to hold back his laugh due to his witty pun. Holding back smile, I eventually sat up. 

"Can you get out I need to get changed, you idiot", he simply nodded before walking out but leaving one of his 'decoys' still standing. 

“I know that's you", but it was followed by a stretched out silence, after letting out a sigh I quickly jabbed the 'decoy' in the stomach causing Mirage to let out a groan. "Out!" He quickly threw his hands up in surrender, "W-what how'd you know it was me!"

"It'll work some day" He muttered to himself defeated that he didn't get the bamboozle over on me.

__________________

"Dropship inbound" the AI voice rang out over the comms. Horizon was staring out out of the small windows of the dropship, it must be hard for her coming back here. "You okay?" I asked her, she turned to me forcing a smile onto her face -"Aye, I'm fine. Just looking forward to showing you lads n' lassies how it's done" She let out a laugh, but hiding the sadness she probably felt from coming back to Olympus, "Come on newty" I gave a smile, watching as the small drone followed behind her.

"Ah, let's go let's go let's go" Octane eagerly said whilst cranking a bolt on his right leg. "Eh, Chey do you think you can mend this thing" He said whilst giving his leg a kick out. Lifeline rolled her eyes before muttering "this boy". 

The teams eventually flashed up on the screens but before I could even look to see the two legends I was paired with I heard Mirage’s voice echo, "Hey sunshine, look, you get the pleasure of being on my squad, ain't that great" 

Flashing his signature grin, but in contrast to Revenants growl "stupid skinsuits"- which at the start chilled me to the bone but overtime being in the arena with the murderous robot, it still chills me to the bone. But, a squad was a squad none the less and now the collective goal was to win, stepped into the same platform, after the familiar loud buzzer sounds we begin be lowered slowly above Olympus. "So, uh- where are we headed guys" Mirage said as we were all taking in the sights. Scanning around I eventually spotted a place that peaked my interest, "what about the big dome" I half yelled over the noise of being so far up in the air. "Let's go already!" Revenant growled, jumping from the platform we all took different buildings to grab loot from inside the dome.

 Luck was not on my side when I looted the building, finding no armour along with a P2020, and only one stack of ammo until I spotted a purple evo "About time" I muttered to myself but as I got closer I spotted Mirage also going for the armour, "Back off!” I yelled at him, only to be returned with a smirk from the bamboozler.

"As if, I was here first sunshine. But if I see another one I'll be s-sure to shoot it you way". Just as he was about to lift the armour, I quickly put down a blaze of fire, between him and the armour.

 "I seen it first, it's mine" He only laughed "There's the scorcher I know". "Go ahead y/n take it, I'm sure you'll need it more than me anyway" He said jokingly but knowing it would get under my skin, rolling my eyes I grabbed the purple armour and we continued to rotate through Olympus.

"Skinsuits over there" Revenant spoke, I spotted Caustic going into the building but immediately the door was blocked by one of his traps. "Who is he with?" I asked, looking down the scope of the triple take I had found inside one of the loot bins close by, but couldn't see who was with the toxic trapper. "Bloodhound and Bangalore” Mirage commented. “Have you got a shot sunshine”

“No or else I would have took it, genius” Mirage put a hand on his heart acting hurt by my comment before he mumbled a ‘leave it to me’ as he left the cover of the rock getting closer to the building, I looked at Revenant with a look of confusion and if the murderous robot could express himself, I think he would have the same look. As Elliot got closer, I watched as he sent off one of his decoys over the door and low and behold the door opened, quickly looking down the scope of the sniper I took the shot seeing Bangalore hit the floor.

No words were spoken only the sound of Revenants totem sounded beside me and I knew that was the signal to push in, Bloodhound quickly used their scan and we were exposed, our first obstacle was getting around the toxic traps that lay at the the door I quickly sent another blaze of fire at the door which took both the entire door and trap out in a flash before we pushed in, they had retreated to the back of the building probably attempting to go for the revive. 

“Send a decoy to bait them out” I said to Mirage in the hopes they would show their position and they did, still under the cover the Revenants totem, with the help of a kick of the door from my squad, I pushed in and released my ultimate which was a pool of fire that quickly started to damage the enemy squads armour and as the returned to the totem and pushed in again knowing they were low with no time to heal.

“Well played squad” Mirage said triumphant with his hands up in the air awaiting a high-five. 

“We’ve still got another 4 squads to get through” I said picking up the extended energy magazine and equipping it. “C’mon, we’re the dream team. We’ve already won” As if he had just jinxed it himself, the sounds of Rampart’s turret sounded, oh shit.

“Get down!” I yelled as we dove for cover, the bullets hitting the wall were fierce as we were stuck in the one spot. Revenant growled as he turned around and targeted the turret with one of his silences, which quickly put a stop to Sheila. Throwing a few grenades to break the line of sight as I pushed Mirage’s shoulder to move and we ran out the door, leaving behind a blaze of fire at the door to prevent them from pushing.

 But our squad got separated as the sound of Gibraltar’s ultimate sounded and we all took off seeking cover, but as the air strike hit the sound of Revenants comms cut off, meaning he had gotten downed. “Shit, shit, shit!” I whispered to myself trying my best to reload the volt with a shaky hand.

“You still alive sunshine?” Mirage's breathless voice sounded over the comms.

“Yes, I think the rest of the squads have made an appearance” Taking a peek over the rock only to get skimmed with a bullet from Lifeline with a Sentinel perched on top of the building.

“Make a run for the building to your north, I’ll meet-” 

“I’m pinned down, there’s a red dot pointed at me and if I move I am done for” I said, I was about to tell him to wait it out and see if he could get the jump of the last squad at the end until I just heard a faint ‘give me a sec’. 

“MOVE NOW!” I trusted his word and made a b-line for the building to the north, but as I spotted Mirage at the door, I hit the floor as bullet hit me straight in the thigh, the decoy didn’t distract the enemy squad long enough for me to make the distance to the building. 

But, as a showman Mirage quickly used his ultimate to break the line of sight and distract the enemy squad long enough to pick me up before we made it to the building. “No need to thank me, I know I’m great” he grinned, I was sat on the ground my back against the buildings wall. 

“Can you just give me a med kit, please” I breathed out, “Armour only keeps a certain amount of pain away you know”

“Here, let me do it” He grabbed the kit, and started to bandage my leg up. I wasn’t sure what it was but the way we were so close in proximity and the fact he had ran out to get me even though he could have gotten away with not being spotted made me just stare at him. “I know I’m handsome, but please stop staring at me sunshine”

My emotions had just seem to all come at the one time and I couldn’t even come back with a stinging reply like I normally would have and Mirage noticed that because after hearing no reply, he looked up at me. “You okay?” I snapped out of bringing myself back.

“Yeah, fine” I said flatly, as I took over doing the bandages. Feeling a hand on my cheek sent my right back to being frozen, his hand moving to lift my chin forcing me to look at him. 

“You are a horrific liar” he said, his eyes landing on my lips as he moved closer. Our breaths mixed with such close proximity, my heart racing. I’ve never felt paralysed, who knew the back and forth jabs and ego killing jokes between us both was just hidden feeling on both sides.

“As much as I would love to kiss you right now Y/N, we are in the middle of a bloodspot and the people wanting to kill us are right outside” Flashing a smile at me and he kissed my cheek. 

“You’re still an idiot” He stood up and stretched out a hand and pulled me up from the floor. 

“Clearly you have an attraction to idiots then” I rolled my eyes at his comment. “Now, let’s win this sunshine”

We didn’t win, but instead won something a little bit more priceless. 

[slytherinbarnes]

Sub Rosa [64]

vi. exit wounds 

Pairing: Bellamy Blake x reader

Word Count: 6.9k

Warnings: angst (we sad, my friends), injuries, blood.

Summary: heartbroken, you try to navigate your life and an impending war, all while trying to keep it together.

a/n: i feel like yall have been wanting this update since i broke your heart on friday, so here we are!!! the taglist for this series is open! I hope you enjoy, please let me know what you think!!!

previous chapter // season masterlist // series masterlist

As soon as Octavia announces the retreat, you offer to take Indra and a few of the other badly injured people back to Polis in the rover to see Jackson. Octavia gives you her blessing, especially when she sees you warily eyeing Echo and Bellamy. You know you have her sympathy, your dislike for Echo just as strong as Octavia’s. Clarke and Madi offer to ride with you, to keep you company, but you deny them, wanting to spend the time alone. 

After the last few people are loaded into the back of the rover, you head towards the driver’s side door, ready to drive off. As you reach for the handle, you hear someone call your name, and the voice makes your stomach sink, aware of exactly who is calling out to you. You hesitate, trying to decide if you want to turn and face Bellamy right now, but the very thought of doing so brings tears to your eyes and you decide against it. Instead you pull yourself into the rover and drive off, ignoring him as you drive the vehicle past him. Only once he’s behind you do you spare a glance in the rearview mirror, watching as he looks at the retreating rover with heartbreak.

You scoff, annoyed that he’s upset when it’s you that should be hurt by him and his actions. It’s bad enough that he decided to date Echo knowing all the terrible things that she’s done, but the fact that he didn’t even tell you feels much worse. You’ve been on the ground with him for days, and while it’s definitely been stressful and chaotic, you wish that he had tried harder to tell you, warn you. Instead, you had to find out when you saw them kiss. A reunion kiss that was meant for you, not her.

You feel tears rise to your eyes, squeezing your throat, making it hard to breath, and you pull over for a second, unable to see past the emotion. You sit and cry, hard, ignoring the fact that there are at least 10 people in the back of the rover, waiting for you to get them back to Polis. You nearly jump out of your skin when you feel a hand come down on your shoulder, and when you turn to look, you see Indra looking at you, expression regretful, her voice sounding weak as she says, “I know what he means to you, Wanlida, but a warrior does not mourn those she has lost until the war is won.”

You nod your head and wipe your fallen tears away, knowing that she’s right. Your family and your home are in trouble, along with the people in the rover with you. Right now, it’s more important that you get them to Polis. And so, you start the rover back up and continue to Polis, keeping yourself busy to keep your mind off of everything. As soon as you arrive, you help unload the injured and take them into the bunker, before assisting Jackson as he helps doctor those in need. The rest of the group makes it back in a few hours, the return hike much shorter than the initial journey, and one of the Wonkru members from the desert lets you know that Octavia and Clarke are looking for you in the main office. You thank them for passing along the message before you head that way, curious on what this is about.

As soon as you get there, you enter and see Clarke checking on Octavia's worm wound, making sure it’s healing well. Octavia glances at you as you come to stand beside Madi, who is watching intently, and the Wonkru leader doesn’t hesitate in giving you a serious look. “My brother will come to his senses.”

Your gaze drops to your shoes, not wanting to talk about this, not now, and you can feel everyone’s gaze on you as you compose yourself, lift your head, and hum, “Maybe.”

Everyone seems to sense how uncomfortable you are, because the topic quickly changes, and Octavia’s gaze falls on Madi, who is watching Clarke clean the queen’s wounds in awe. Clarke glances at her and smiles before muttering, “Madi's a big fan. She's heard every story about the girl under the floor who saved the human race.”

Octavia turns her gaze towards Madi, nodding at her with respect. “Now what's your story? You survived six years of radiation? What's your secret?”

“Synthetic nightblood, like us.” Clarke starts to bandage Octavia’s wound, the lie rolling off her tongue easily. “We took her to Becca's lab and shared our bone marrow to keep her alive.”

“You're lucky the twins found you.”

Madi nods, opening her mouth to say something, when the door to the office swings open and Cooper steps inside. “Ready to move?”

Clarke finishes up the bandage and answers for Octavia, “She needs another day's rest.”

“She needs to be with her people.”

Octavia seems to agree, because she stands, allowing Cooper to hand her her armor. “I'm done licking my wounds. Let's go remind the others what we promised them.”

As she starts to step towards the door, Octavia turns your way. “My banishment of Echo still stands. I’m going to deliver the news now, I’d like for you to be there.”

You glance at Clarke, who nods, and though you aren't ready to confront this, you think that maybe it’ll be easier with Octavia at your side. So you nod, and Octavia smiles quickly before settling her expression into a more serious one. She motions for you to follow her and you do, taking the journey out of the bunker and back up to the surface, into the streets of Polis. The clouds hang low above the streets, dropping a cool rain onto the people that are gathered below, and you’re thankful for it. Maybe it’ll hide your tears if you cry.

Octavia pulls you to her side, the two of you walking together as equals, while Cooper hangs back slightly. As you move down the street, some people turn away, some stop to whisper, and you realize now how much tension hangs in the air over the people of Wonkru. Octavia senses it too, because she turns to Cooper, voice sounding accusatory, “You said they needed to see me, but they can barely look at me. What aren't you telling me?”

“Word has spread about our defeat in the wasteland. Diyoza's firepower has crippled us. The soil here is dead, I don't care how much it rains, it won't be arable for years. And, as you know, the hydrofarm can barely produce enough-”

Octavia cuts her off, sounding upset, “Stop it. We have faced worse odds than this.”

“Yes, but now we know the warning signs of rebellion. I once betrayed you when you were vulnerable, when Wonkru was living in fear.” 

Your brows pull together, curious about the history between the Red Queen and her loyal servant. However, you don't get the chance to ask, because a familiar voice calls out from behind you. “Octavia.”

You and Octavia turn, coming face to face with Echo and Bellamy. You were afraid that the sight of them would upset you, but now, as you stand in front of them, all you feel is anger. Ferocious, white hot anger, pulsing through your blood. If you could, you’d take the knife on your thigh and plunge it into Echo’s heart, letting her feel the hurt that she’s caused you. Echo avoids your eyes, but Bellamy doesn’t, his gaze searching your face for any sign of what you’re feeling. He must sense the anger, because he seems taken aback, not expecting the fire that moves through you. You remember what he said to you before he left, I’ll always be in awe of your anger, and you wonder if he still feels that way now, when so much of it is directed at him. 

You watch him shake his head a little, trying to clear his thoughts, before he looks at his sister, “Glad to see you back on your feet. Echo tried to get in to see you, but they wouldn't let-”

“What is she doing here?”

You are surprised by how meek Echo sounds when she responds, reminding you nothing of the bloodthirsty spy you knew six years ago. “I just wanted to thank you for saving my people.”

“They're not your people.” The anger in Octavia’s voice is palpable, and you find yourself thankful that she’s not going to back down from this. “Azgeda is a memory. There is only Wonkru, and there is no place in it for you.”

Bellamy immediately cuts in, his face fallen. “I know you two have history, but Echo is on our side. She proved herself dozens of times on the ring.”

“This isn't the ring.” Octavia turns slightly, raising her voice to be heard by those around you. “Wonkru, I banished this murderer from the bunker six years ago. My judgement still stands!”

“O.”

She turns back to her brother, stepping closer to deliver her last message with a threatening whisper. “She has 24 hours. If she's still here by then, she fights in the arena.”

She turns, holding out her hand to you, and you glance at Bellamy, watching as he shakes his head, disapproving of the situation. The act makes you defiant, and you want him angry, just like he’s made you, so you smile and take Octavia’s hand, allowing her to whisk you away from the couple. Bellamy, never one to give up without a fight, jogs after the two of you, calling out to you both. “Octavia! Octavia, stop. It was six years ago, you just can't cast her out! She won't survive! Natshana, please! Just let me explain!”

Octavia ignores her brother, fully intent on staying true to her word, but you spin around at the mention of your nickname, pulling Octavia to a stop beside you. You can’t believe he has the nerve to use a nickname he gave you when the two of you were still together, and your expression pulls into one of anger and hurt as you snap, “Don’t call me that!”

His expression pulls into one of hurt, and he opens his mouth to say something, but he is cut off by a warning call from a nearby horn. You turn and lock eyes with the Wonkru leader, both of you looking worried, before you hear a sonic boom, the same one you heard when Diyoza’s ship landed the first time. You look up, eyes finding the small ship in the sky, and as it flies closer, everyone starts to panic. There’s a stampede heading in your direction as everyone runs to the bunker and to safety, and Octavia starts to back away until she sees that her brother isn't following. “Bellamy, get in the bunker.”

“Not without Echo.”

He gives you one last look before he turns and runs off, not even giving you a chance to stop him as he leaves in search of his girlfriend. You feel a pang in your heart knowing that it’s her he’s worrying about, and not you. You stand there frozen, watching him leave, and Octavia does the same, in disbelief that he chose the spy over the two of you. Cooper grabs Octavia’s arm, getting her attention, “Blodreina, look!”

You both follow her pointed finger to the sky, watching as giant metal crates fall from the ship, before it turns and flies away, no bomb dropped. The metal crates fall to the ground slowly, aided by parachutes, before they hit the ground and the sides pop open. You watch in surprise as a bunch of apples roll out, and as you step forward to get a closer look, you see it’s stuffed with all kinds of fruits and vegetables from the valley. You jump in surprise when you hear Diyoza’s voice, coming from a speaker attached to the top of the crates. “People of Wonkru, this is Colonel Diyoza offering you a chance for peace. I know you’ve all suffered, I know you're hungry, and so many of you are weary of Octavia's rule, but now you have a choice. Abandon your weapons, leave Wonkru behind, and join us in Shallow Valley. We have plenty of food and shelter for those seeking a better life. When our ship returns tonight, head for the wastelands. Anyone waiting for us outside the ruins will be rescued. But come unarmed. If Octavia attacks our ship, we will retaliate against your city with lethal force. We're watching everything, always.”

Octavia grabs a weapon from one of the men nearby and swings it towards the speaker, knocking the antenna off the top and ending the transmission. But somewhere nearby, one of the other crates finishes the message for all of you to hear. “There is a place in the valley for all of us, so please choose wisely.”

Octavia turns to Cooper, voice low, and eerily calm. “Get everyone into the bunker. Now.”

Cooper does as she’s told and gathers everyone that still lingers outside to send them back into the bunker. Miller, who has just come out of the bunker to see what the commotion is, stops at Octavia’s side, expression blank. “What are your orders, Blodreina?”

“Burn it. Burn it all, until there’s nothing left.”

You look at her in shock, not pleased to see perfectly good food go to waste, but Miller immediately does as she says and gathers the guards, directing all of them to set the food supply on fire. You stand and watch one of them burn until nothing remains but ashes, lost in your thoughts, not realizing that everyone has left you behind without another word. Everyone, that is, except for Bellamy. 

You don't notice him at first, too lost in your own head, but gradually you become aware of the hairs on the back of your neck lifting, standing at attention underneath someone’s gaze. You turn around quickly, hand reaching for your knife, but you drop it when you realize it’s him. Your face falls, not pleased to see him, or be near him, reminding you of the first few weeks that you knew him. You see a look of hurt pass his features at your expression, and he walks closer to you, coming to a stop at your side. “I thought you were dead.”

Your jaw clenches with anger, and you harden your heart, refusing to let his broken whisper sway your feelings. Instead, you latch onto your lingering anger, turning and directing it towards him. “I know. But that’s not why I’m upset. It hurts me to see you with Echo, but the worst part is that you didn't tell me, Bellamy. You knew how I felt about you, how much I loved you, and you knew how excited I was to have you back on Earth. And still, not once did you tell me that you moved on with someone else.”

Bellamy’s expression sinks, and he whispers, “Loved?”

“What?”

“You said loved, past tense.”

You tense up, not even realizing you said it, and one check of your emotions lets you know that it isn't true. You love him, of course you do, but it would be so much easier if you didn't. Coping with this would be much easier if you felt nothing towards him, if you hadn't spent the last 6 years dreaming of the life you wanted to build with him as soon as you saw him. But you ignore his hurt, and your own, and let your anger crackle like electricity around you. “Do you love her?”

He freezes, caught off guard by the question, before his expression goes neutral. You can tell he’s trying to hide something, his feelings for Echo probably, and it tells you everything you need to know. He looks like he wants to say something else, but he's cut off by your twin, who stands near the base of the rubble and calls your name. When you look towards her, she motions back towards the bunker. “There’s a meeting we need to crash.”

You nod, letting her know you heard her, before turning back to Bellamy. You decide to leave him with one last painful remark, hoping it hurts him, just like this hurts you. “Guess you found someone else to tell you about the stars.”

You wait just long enough to see his face fall before you turn and walk towards your sister, sorrow flooding through you quickly, cooling the fire within you. You hate hurting Bellamy, even now, but losing your other half is something that would break even the strongest of people. You briefly wonder if you have a second to shed a few tears before the meeting, before Clarke quickly destroys those plans by calling out to your former lover, “You too, Bellamy! You need to be there.”

You glare at your twin, and she gives you a sympathetic look as you reach her, her voice soft when she whispers, “You know I wouldn’t invite him unless I had to. But it’s his sister, and he needs to be there.”

You just nod, not trusting your voice, as the two of you wait for him to catch up before heading back into the bunker and towards the main office. Monty and Harper are already there and waiting when the three of you arrive, clearly all on the same page, while you and Bellamy are in the dark. Clarke pushes inside with no hesitation, unfazed by the angry glares that are turning in your direction. 

“This is a private meeting.”

Octavia waves off Miller’s dissent, “It's fine.”

“We all have people in that valley that need our help.”

“If you're talking about your mother, I am not interested in rescuing traitors. I'm trying to prevent more of them.”

Bellamy stares at his sister in disbelief, his voice rising as he lectures her, “Your people are hungry and you're worrying about defectors? We should stop wasting time looking for enemies in Polis, and we should start trying to find a way back into that valley!”

“Last time I checked, Diyoza can see our every move.”

Harper speaks up from her place in the back of the group, motioning towards her boyfriend. “That's where Monty comes in.”

“Laser-comm.” He holds up a radio, showing it to Octavia. “It's dialed right into their mother ship. All I need is a relay tower on the ground that we build out of scrap, and a computer. I should be able to blind the eye from right here.”

“Good plan. Once it's down, we can attack.”

“Miller, set Monty up. Cooper, shoot anyone who tries to defect. We're done here.” She brushes past all of you, heading towards the door. “Time to train.”

Everyone disperses, and you, Clarke, and Bellamy step outside, watching Octavia disappear into the bunker. Bellamy mutters, “That is not my sister.”

You don’t answer, still content on ignoring him, but Clarke doesn't say anything either. You glance her way and see that she is staring off into the distance, and you follow her gaze to see why. Madi is talking with Gaia, both of them smiling. Clarke glances over at you, worried, and you nod. “Go get her. I think I’m gonna stop by for a training session.”

Clarke barely looks your way as she answers, “Let me know if you find out anything.”

You both walk down the ramp together, towards the talking pair, but you immediately continue past them, giving Madi’s shoulder an affectionate squeeze as you move past. She grins at you as you continue by and you smile back at her before following the path that Octavia took into the bunker, leaving Bellamy and any thoughts about him behind without a word. You can tell you’re on the right track, because you hear the sounds of fighting growing louder as you draw closer. Finally, you come upon an open door at the end of a hallway, where Octavia now fights Cooper, easily beating the woman. “I told you not to go easy.”

Cooper steps away, looking apologetic, and you call out, “Got time for one more?”

Octavia looks to where you stand in the doorway, face breaking into a grin. “Cooper, give her your sword.”

You accept the weapon as she hands it to you, brushing past you and out the door, muttering, “Your funeral.”

You step into the room and onto the training room floor, you and Octavia circling each other with predatory grins on your faces. Octavia is the first to make a move, lunging towards you and swinging her sword around, but you lift your sword and block the blow, listening to the sound of metal clanging as it echoes in the room. You reach out and push her hand down and away, spinning your body, bringing your sword with it, and nearly hitting her before she blocks you at the last second. As she does, she looks at you, studying you, before asking, “What do you think about Echo?”

Just the mention of her name sends fire flowing through you, boiling your anger up and over, and you answer her question with an aggressive series of attacks that she barely manages to block. On the last one, as the two of you stand staring each other down, you mutter, “You already know the answer to that.”

“She nearly killed you in Mount Weather.”

You pull back, and lift the shirt on your right side, revealing one of the few scars you received on that fateful trip to the Mountain. You counter her point with, “And she nearly killed you on that cliff.”

You remember the fear and rage you had at the announcement of Octavia’s death, and she must feel the same way about her near death experience, because she answers you with a similarly aggressive response, lunging at you with an onslaught of attacks. You manage to block each one, but on the last one, she uses your focus on the blocking to kick you backwards, knocking you on your back. You feel the air rush out of your lungs in one fell swoop, and you groan as the impact hits the bulletwound on your shoulder, improving day by day, but not able to withstand this kind of trauma. Octavia stands over you, looking down at you, and she mutters, “And now she’s taken Bellamy from you.”

You stare up at her, wondering what angle she’s playing, or if she just wants to hurt you for no reason. But then she extends her hand to you, which you eye warily before taking it. She pulls you to your feet, both of you now standing close, and she whispers, “Her 24 hours is ticking by, but Bellamy seems intent on going with her. What will you do then?”

“I don't know. Bellamy has my heart, but if Echo has his, then I won't stand in their way.”

Her head tips to the side and she tsks, giving you a disapproving look. “That’s not the Invisible Twin that I know. The girl I know fights for what belongs to her.”

“I’d do anything for Bellamy, you know that Octavia. That includes letting him be happy with someone else, no matter what it costs me. I only ever wanted him happy.” As soon as you say it, you know you mean it. Because despite the hurt, the anger, and the pain it will cause you, you will do anything to see Bellamy happy, to see him smile. Even if that means watching him love Echo.

You hear someone clear their throat near the door, and you turn towards them, your eyes falling on Bellamy. You’re not sure how much of the conversation he heard, but it’s clear he caught some of it because he’s watching you with an intense look. Although you just told Octavia you just want to see him happy, that doesn't mean you’re over your hurt just like that. You nod at Octavia, “Thanks for the training.”

She nods back at you, and you head towards the door, extending Cooper’s sword out to Bellamy. You think of Octavia’s words to you, and start to wonder if it was just her way of riling you up so you’d give her a good fight. It’s hard to know for sure, but you decide to warn Bellamy just the same. “She won't hold back. Neither should you.”

Your fingers brush as he takes the sword from you, electricity going up both of your arms. You lock eyes, and he looks like he wants to say something to you, until you cut your eyes at him, warning him not to. He nods, accepting your anger for now, and without another word, you brush past him and out the door, walking away from the love of your life in search of the only family you have left. 

-

You find Madi and Clarke in the tent she set up in the streets of Polis, none of you wanting to spend any more time in the bunker than necessary. After a quick dinner, you mumble something about feeling tired and you curl up in your sleeping bag, intent on crying yourself to sleep after your emotionally taxing day. 

You're not asleep for very long when you’re woken up by the soft sounds of a conversation being held in the tent. You open your eyes slowly, your back to the people talking, listening in on the conversation. 

“It was hard for a while, really hard, but we survived, thanks to Octavia.”

It takes you a second, but you realize it’s Niylah’s voice, quiet in the confines of the tent. You hear Clarke’s sarcastic reply follow, “You mean, Blodreina?”

“How do you explain the sun to someone who's never seen it?”

Clarke seems to hesitate for a second, and you’re sure the comment on the sun has her gaze swinging over to Madi. You brush your fingers over your own necklace, reassured by the silver moon that hangs around your neck before you hear Clarke ask, “And what about the Flame?”

“What about it? The time of the Commanders is over.”

“Does Gaia still have it?”

“They say you made her into a Natblida. Is that true?”

“Yeah.”

“I can still tell when you're lying.” You tense up at Niylah’s response, knowing that Madi being a true Nightblood, not a created one like you and Clarke, puts her in danger. Niylah may say that the time of the Commanders is over, but you know that not everyone believes that. There are people that would kneel to Madi, without hesitation, and given all you’ve seen from Octavia, that is not a situation you are eager to have her in.

You jump when you hear a clang of metal outside, followed by the sounds of Niylah and Clarke slipping from the tent. You rise from your bed and grab your knife, stepping out of the tent just in time to see a hooded figure standing in front of the door, holding a rag over a blonde person’s mouth. Your stomach drops, thinking it’s Clarke and you immediately hold a knife to their throat, close enough now that you can see the person in the hooded figure’s arms is not Clarke. They freeze and lower Niylah’s unconscious body to the ground. Clarke, who is standing nearby, gets a look at the hooded figure’s face first and whispers, “Gaia? What the hell do you think you're doing?”

“Protecting the true last Natblida, as my order has always done.”

You look at Clarke, silently asking her what she wants you to do, and she nods, letting you know it’s okay for now. You lower the knife but keep it close, and Gaia grabs Niylah’s body and starts to drag her away before whispering, “Come on, you two.”

You and Clarke follow her into an abandoned building, closing the door behind you as you spin towards Gaia and look at her in confusion. “Whose side are you on? What are you, Fleimkepa or Wonkru?”

“Blodreina saved my life, but that doesn't mean I can forget my faith.”

She unrolls a leather satchel and you and Clarke watch on, trying to figure out what she’s doing. She reaches for a bottle of liquid, and Clarke puts the pieces together first, reaching out and putting her hand on Gaia’s arm to stop her. “You are out of your mind if you think I'm gonna let you kill my friend.”

“Niylah is not your friend. You're Wonkru or you're the enemy, that's what she believes. If you want to protect Madi, this is the only way.”

“Madi is not a threat to Octavia, she's a child.”

Gaia turns on her, looking at her in earnest.  “Yes, a Nightblood child who appeared two days after we rose from the ashes. That's no coincidence, Clarke. Octavia's not going to see it that way, and neither do I.”

Clarke quickly pulls out her knife and reaches out to grab Gaia, holding the weapon to her throat before either of you realize what she’s doing. “Listen to me, if you think you can force the Flame on Madi-”

Gaia cuts her off, “I would never do that. And I'm not the one you should be afraid of.”

Niylah starts to stir from her place on the table, effectively ending the conversation. Clarke releases Gaia, and nods towards the door. “Go, before she sees you.” 

Gaia turns and steps towards the door, and your twin turns to you. “Get back to Madi, start packing our things. When that transport comes, all three of us are going to be on it.”

You nod your head and slip out the door, jogging back to your tent and grabbing each of your packs, stuffing the most important things inside of them. Clarke drops into the tent a second later, silently passing things to you and helping you to grab what the three of you need. She hands you her sketchpad, the one she turned into a book of pictures for Madi, who must have been flipping through it earlier, because it's open to a picture of Bellamy. Your stomach drops and you’re sure your face does too, because Clarke whispers, “We should tell them, just so they won’t worry.”

“Yeah.”

You put the sketchpad in her pack, and she starts to rise, but you put your hand on your arm to stop her. “I’ll do it.”

“Are you sure?”

You feel tears well up in your eyes, but you force them down and whisper, “It might be the last time I see him. I want to say goodbye.”

She nods, honoring your wishes, and she pulls you into a hug before you go. “It's going to be okay, la lune. I promise.”

A few of your tears spill down your cheeks, triggered by the comfort your twin gives you, and you pull away, wiping them from your face. “Get Madi ready, I’ll be back soon.”

You turn and head out of the tent, moving through the dark streets of Polis to the second camp area set up just around the corner. You’re thankful that the couple chose to camp out over here, because it means you’re less likely to run into them or see them together. Now, however, you know you’re walking right into the lion’s den, preparing to do something that will just break your heart even further. You don’t know what’s worse: Bellamy going to space without the chance for you to say goodbye, or you leaving to go to Shallow Valley and getting to say goodbye, but knowing that Bellamy will always be just out of reach for you. 

When you get to Bellamy and Echo’s tent, you step close to the door, opening your mouth to call out to them, not wanting a repeat of the time you walked in on Bellamy and Raven. But just as you start to announce your presence, you hear Echo’s stressed voice float towards you, through the tent. “Bellamy, I just can’t okay? You may not see it, but everyone else can, me included. You still love her, and she still loves you. I know that you love me, but not the way you love her. And that’s okay, I understand, the heart wants what it wants. But I deserve more than that. I deserve to be loved by someone who can love me fully and completely.”

You freeze in place, goosebumps erupting along your skin as you start to realize that they’re talking about you. Bellamy’s voice sounds distressed when he retorts, “Echo, I do love you fully and completely.”

“Not the way you think you do. Things changed the second Madi saved us from those prisoners and told us the twins were still alive and in trouble.” You feel tears well up in your eyes as you stand silently outside of the tent, waiting with bated breath. “I didn't want to accept it at first, but the past couple of days away from you really opened my eyes. You two belong together. And maybe if she had died in Praimfaya, things could be different for us down here on Earth, but maybe our love was always meant to stay up on the ring. Maybe it wasn't made to last beyond that.”

Your heart breaks at the realization that if what Echo is saying is true, Bellamy still loves you. And here you stand, outside of his tent, preparing to announce your departure to Shallow Valley, leaving him, and the possibility of love, behind. But you know that Madi’s life is at risk here, and Octavia and Wonkru are too unstable to handle the threat of a real Nightblood child, so you know what you have to do. You step back from the tent a little and call out, “Bellamy, Echo, are you guys in here?”

You hear movement from inside the tent, and a second later Bellamy steps out, followed by Echo. They stand a few feet apart, looking uncomfortable, and you notice the pack on her back. “Are you defecting?”

“Not exactly.” You look at her in confusion, but she nods her head towards Bellamy. “He can explain, I have people I need to find.”

You nod, and the former couple stands and looks at each other awkwardly before exchanging a quick hug. They avoid eye contact the entire time and pull away quickly before Echo nods at you in goodbye and disappears into the crowd. You hear the rumble of the approaching transport ship, and you and Bellamy both look towards the sky, watching as it draws closer. You turn to Bellamy, about to begin your goodbyes when you hear Clarke call your name. You turn in her direction, watching as she tells Madi to stay put before she jogs over to the two of you. The first thing she takes note of is Echo’s absence, and she looks at Bellamy. “Where’s Echo? Is she defecting?”

“Not exactly.” He nods for both of you to follow him as he starts to step away. “Come on, I'll explain in the bunker.”

You shake your head, already denying his request. “Bellamy, we're leaving too.”

“What?”

A look of hurt passes over his face, and you resist the urge to reach out to him, to comfort him, kiss him, knowing that right now, things aren’t right. Instead you mutter, “It's not safe for us here.”

“No, you don't understand. Echo's defecting so we can take down the eye, and once it's down-”

Clarke cuts him off, disinterested in hearing their plan. “No, you don't understand. Diyoza is the least of our concerns. Your sister is dangerous, and Madi's…”

She turns to glance back in Madi’s direction, about to expand on the danger she’s in, but when she looks that way, her eyes widen in alarm. You turn around, finding that the place Madi was standing in is now empty, the young Nightblood now missing. Clarke grabs your hand and starts to pull you away, “We have to find her.”

You glance back at Bellamy and find that he is already following you, eyes scanning the area around him for any sign of Madi. You feel a pang in your heart, melting at the fact that he’s searching for Madi even though he doesn't have to, even though he barely knows her. But he’s searching because he knows that she’s important to you and Clarke, and you again have to resist the urge to sweep him up in your arms. 

Clarke pulls you down the street, all three of you looking for Madi and calling out to her. “Madi!”

“Madi, where are you?”

Suddenly, the transport flies right overhead, lowering to the ground nearby, and you turn to Clarke in alarm. “We're out of time.”

The three of you stand there, looking at each other, trying to think on what to do, when a shot rings out nearby. All of your expressions morph into confusion as you hear another shot and a distant cry of pain, before Clarke whispers in horror, “They're shooting at the defectors.”

The three of you take off again, following the steady sound of the gunshots that ring out every few seconds, until finally you see the barrel of a gun sticking out a window, bullets firing from it. You get Clarke and Bellamy’s attention and point up to it, “There!”

“On me.” You and Clarke nod and he pulls out his pistol. Clarke does the same, pushing you behind her so she can protect you. You silently curse yourself for leaving your gun in your pack, never very good at carrying it around with you. Ultimately, it doesn't matter, because Bellamy leads your trio up the stairs and kicks open the door, him and Clarke pointing their weapons at Cooper, who stands looking at you without an ounce of shame. “Cooper, what the hell is wrong with you? Octavia said to let them go.”

Her head cocks to the side, as if she doesn't understand his question. “Who do you think gave me the order?”

“Where is she?”

“In her office, waiting to hear that it’s done.”

As soon as she says it, Cooper pushes past all of you, exiting the room with a blank stare on her face. You, Bellamy, and Clarke all turn and run from the building, heading straight to the bunker to talk to Octavia. But as soon as you climb through the door and down the stairs, Clarke gets a glimpse of a familiar looking figure standing in the atrium with the Red Queen. She immediately takes off running towards her, yelling, “Madi? Madi!”

All three of you try to push through the door and run down to them, but you’re held back by a set of guards near the door. Clarke looks down at the pair, in complete distress, and yells, “Octavia, get away from her!”

Madi looks your way, trying to comfort her. “Clarke, it's okay, I came to her.” Madi turns back to Octavia, who lifts the knife in her hand and slices open her palm. As she reaches out for Madi, she commands, “Let them pass.”

Clarke immediately takes off running towards them, and you and Bellamy jog after her, hearing Octavia’s voice float up to you as you get closer. “Nau oso tai so op kom won jus. Yo laik Wonkru.”

Now we bind ourselves in one blood. You are Wonkru. As soon as you reach the atrium where they both stand, you see that Madi and Octavia’s hands are clasped together, blood dripping from their joined palms. Clarke snaps, “What the hell are you doing?”

“It's okay. She knows everything.”

You and Clarke exchange a worried look before looking at Octavia, who returns her knife to her belt and nods at the two of you. “I understand why you lied, you were just trying to protect her. But Madi no longer needs your protection, she has mine.”

She turns her gaze away from you and back to Madi, reaching her bloody hand up to grip Madi’s chin and hold her gaze with her own. “I know what it's like to be the girl under the floor. You don't have to be afraid anymore, your training begins tomorrow.”

And then she drops her hand, leaving a red and black blood streak behind on Madi’s cheek, smiling at you and Clarke before she turns and leaves the atrium, heading up to the office. Bellamy shifts from his place behind you before following her, and you can hear the muffled sounds of them arguing before they even get the door closed. You ignore it for now, turning to look at Madi and Clarke, who looks between you both with worry. “I know you're both mad, but I told her I didn't want to be Commander. I did it to keep you safe, because Diyoza would kill you both if we went back to the valley.”

Clarke pulls bandages from her pocket for Madi’s hand, and gives her a serious look. “It’s our job to keep you safe. And you just made it a whole lot harder.”

Madi looks upset, and Clarke steps away, trying to calm herself down. You drop to your knees in front of the young Nightblood and wipe the blood from her face as she whispers, “I was just trying to help, ani.”

You smile at her, nodding, trying to show that you aren't upset with her. “I know, little sun. Everything is going to be okay.”

You hear a door slam behind you as soon as the words leave your mouth, and you turn and find Bellamy standing outside of the office, fuming. He meets your gaze, looking upset, and you realize now that you aren’t sure you believe your words to Madi. A ship full of prisoners has taken over your home, the love of your life just got dumped by someone else, and the youngest member of your family is now in trouble because of the color of her blood. You take a deep breath and send a silent prayer to the Universe asking for a lucky break, just this once. 

You hope against hope that it listens. 

-

next chapter

[five-rivers]

Long Night in the Valley Chapter 4

Trigger warning for suicide and suicide baiting.  Starts and ends at the * asterisks.  

.

There was something wrong with the school.  Other than it being entirely within Midoriya’s head.  It was… ominous.  Foreboding.  The way the walls joined together was wrong.  The colors on the posters clashed.  The incomprehensible background noise made by the bright blurs was jeering, mocking.

It reminded Aizawa too much of his old school, the one he went to before UA.  Of the looks and the hate he got just because his quirk frightened people.

But Midoriya had a straightforward physical quirk.  Correction: he appeared to have a straightforward physical quirk.  Even if he’d had the bone breaking problem, he shouldn’t have experienced anything like that.

Aizawa was shoved, hard, from behind, and that shouldn’t have knocked him off balance, but it did.  He tumbled, painfully, to the ground.  There hadn’t been anyone there to push him.

Except the blurs.

He cursed inwardly.  He had been too fast to dismiss them, he realized, as cruel laughter rose up around them.

“They can touch us,” said Aizawa.  “Be careful.”

“Yes, sir!” said Iida, sporting a black eye already.  “I apologize for my inattention.”

More laughter.  An older, but still indistinct voice rose above the sound, along with a taller blur.  A teacher.  The condescension in the tone made Aizawa’s teeth hurt.

He caught sight of Suzuki ahead.  “Come on,” he said.

“Let me try something, sensei,” said Todoroki.  He raised his arm, and ice filled the hallway, pushing out to either side.

The blurs ignored it.  The jeering increased in volume.  Aizawa could make out individual words, now, like ‘useless’ and ‘freak.’

“Good thought, Todoroki,” said Aizawa.  He tried not to let his trepidation show.  He had a feeling this was going to be difficult.

The children looked at him in horror.

“Sensei,” said Iida, “you’re being… encouraging?”

“Just follow them,” said Aizawa, pointing.  He wanted hazard pay for this nonsense.

“Yes, sir!” said Iida, zooming off.  He was immediately tripped again.

Luckily, Suzuki didn’t seem to be having much more luck.  The blurs, which Aizawa guessed were somehow Midoriya’s memories of his former classmates, were just as violent with him.  Aizawa couldn’t see Midoriya anymore.

Laughter.  One of the blurs scratched at Aizawa’s side and murmured tauntingly.  They passed a nurse’s office where nothing but cold words and cold winds emerged.  The hallways smelled like smoke and sugar and things that had to be related to quirks.

There was a loud ring overhead, and the blurs abruptly vanished.  Despite the burns Aizawa had suffered (when?) he forced himself to speed up.

He almost caught Suzuki before he entered the classroom.

Iida slipped on the tile floor, hitting him from behind, and all of them skidded into the classroom as a tangled mess.  Aizawa hadn’t been this clumsy since he was in middle school.  What was going on?

Midoriya was sitting at a desk, hunched over and muttering.  The desk was, to put it nicely, ruined.  Even from Aizawa’s current perspective, he could make out some truly hateful things carved into the wood and metal.

Aizawa dearly hoped that this was exaggerated.  Even so, he was going to seriously talk to Midoriya about therapy and taking legal action against this hellhole.

“What are you hiding?” asked Suzuki, roughly.

*

The classroom exploded into sound, blurs at the desks solidifying into outlines, into ghosts.

You’re also applying to UA, aren’t you, Midoriya?

Midoriya froze and buried his head in his arms.  Aizawa, halfway up with the intent to stop whatever this was, felt himself freeze as well.

This mindscape affected him far too much for his peace of mind.

The ghosts laughed, long and hard and cruel, the teacher did nothing to stop it.

Then Bakugou’s shade exploded.  Literally.  The smaller Midoriya barely had time to throw himself back, away from the blast.  Midoriya’s reflexes had much improved since middle school, but, honestly, even this much was impressive for someone of his age.

Come on, Deku!  Forget the crappy quirks, you’re totally quirkless!

… What?

Aizawa missed the next several sentences as his mind whirred, trying to comprehend what he just heard.  But then another explosion brought him back, and Bakugou’s next words were completely unmissable.

If you think you’ll have a quirk in your next life… go take a swan dive off the roof!

Just like that, whatever was holding them in place broke, the ghosts fading away entirely, leaving the classroom completely empty except for them and Midoriya.

Midoriya who was shaking, fists clenched, tears running down his face.

“Are you happy now?” he demanded.  “Are you happy?  Why couldn’t you just let me-?  Me being quirkless in middle school isn’t hurting anyone!”  He took several deep but uneven breaths, his shoulders trembling.

Uraraka stepped forward, and Midoriya flinched.

“Izuku?” she said, hesitantly.

Midoriya looked up, his expression guarded.

“The first thing I’m going to do when we get out of here is punch Bakugou.”  She said it cheerfully, one hand in a fist.

Midoriya gaped, but some of the oppressive, terrified, atmosphere dissipated.

Aizawa sighed to himself.  Now that the immediate danger seemed to be over, he moved closer to Midoriya.  He wasn’t sure if it was even possible to comfort a memory or a fragment or figment or whatever this was, but he wanted to be between Midoriya and Suzuki.  Especially given that Suzuki seemed to be able to manipulate the environment to some extent.

“Plus ultra,” agreed Todoroki.

“Uraraka!  Todoroki!” gasped Iida, scandalized.  “You can’t just punch a classmate outside of school supervised sparring!”

“I love you Iida, but you’re a bit of a hypocrite sometimes,” said Uraraka.  “Especially considering, uh…”  She gestured vaguely at Iida’s hands and then Midoriya’s face.

Iida turned a very funny color, then looked down at his hands.  “Oh my god, you’re right…”  He whispered, horrified.  “What have I become?”

“Besides,” said Todoroki, “Aizawa is like, right here.”  He gestured at Aizawa.  “We can ask him if we can—”

“No,” interrupted Suzuki, “that can’t be it!  Show me what you’re hiding!”  He started forward only to be jumped by three extremely annoyed hero students.  Just to be safe, Aizawa activated his quirk and kept it trained on the man.

“Mind the gun!” reminded Iida.

Ah, yes.  The gun.  Which the man may or may not have recovered at any point due to the impermanent nature of everything here.  Lovely.

“Midoriya,” said Aizawa, “he’s after you.  Get out of here.”

“Yes,” said Midoriya.  “Sorry, sensei.”  He bobbed in an incomplete bow and turned to the door.

And there was that stupid gun.

Aizawa wished he had his capture weapon back.

“What are you keeping secret?” demanded Suzuki, his voice echoing somewhat.

Midoriya clutched his head and screamed, falling to his knees.  His body vanished entirely, but the sound remained, somehow.

The classroom fell apart.

.

Very briefly, Tenya recognized Hosu.  The smoke, the alley, the distant, indistinct cries of Manual.  It wasn’t the alley where he’d found Stain standing over Native, however.  This was… this was Midoriya’s perspective.

The scene shifted again, rapidly.  They were now in the entrance tunnel to the sports festival arena.  The air smelled of smoke.  Todoroki startled, but—

It fell away.  A hallway in UA, the smell of coffee.  Then, one of the soundproofed conference rooms, papers on a table, the writing all blacked out.  Suzuki lunged for them, Aizawa punched him in the face.

Another shift, a dilapidated apartment with footprints on the walls and ceilings.  A microwave hummed in the background.  As soon as it dinged, they were elsewhere again.

Back on the beach.  The light was different.  A single car still remained and—

They were on a rooftop.

The wind blew mournfully.

Midoriya was standing at the edge, uniform in disarray, a burnt notebook clutched in one hand.

“Stop it!” he shouted, almost doubled over.  “Stop it, stop it, stop it!”

Tenya took a step forward before he could fully assess the situation.  If he tried to grab Midoriya now…  There was a good chance he’d go right over the edge.

“There it is!  That smile of his is just a mask—”

“Of course, it’s a mask, you idiot!” exclaimed Midoriya, angrily.

Angrily.

Midoriya rarely got angry.

“I am clinically depressed, and I have anxiety!  That doesn’t make me a villain.  Are you stupid?  Are you on drugs?  Is the whole commission on drugs?  All Might’s smile was a mask ninety percent of the time!  And don’t you dare try to tell me that Hawks’ smile isn’t a mask.  Do you do this to him, too, you sicko?”

Suzuki had gone very stiff.  “How do you know about that?”

“Because I have functioning eyes, unlike virtually everyone else, apparently.  What is wrong with you?”

“You,” said Suzuki, “are in no position to ask questions.  What are you hiding here?”

“You really want to know?  Do you?  Do you?  Huh?”

“Midoriya—”

“Shut up, shut up, shut up, I can’t take this anymore, this is so stupid.”

This Midoriya was… also not quite right, it seemed.  Beyond age.

“You want to know why this place is a secret?  Fine.  Fine!”  He threw his hands on the air.  “This is the first and last place I seriously considered suicide.  Happy?”  The last was said with such an incredible amount of venom that everyone took a step away from Midoriya.

“Suicide?” said Tenya out loud, unable to stop himself.

“I didn’t want to—Hero courses filter stuff like that out!  If they think you’re going to be a liability!”  He was breathing heavily.  “Are you happy now?  You have my- my deep, dark secrets!  You know what- what I was like before, and—”

“Midoriya,” said Aizawa, gently, “it’s fine.  UA doesn’t filter for that.  All you would have to do is attend extra counseling.”

“Really?” said Midoriya.

*

“That can’t be it,” said Suzuki.  “You…” He whipped his head around.  “There was someone else here.  Who stopped you?  Was this where All for One recruited you?”

“What is wrong with you?” demanded Tenya, activating his quirk long enough to skid to a halt right in front of Suzuki.

Suzuki looked past him as if he weren’t even there.  “Who was with you?”

A faint breeze picked up.  Without power, can one become a hero?  No, I should think not…

“All Might?” said Uraraka.

“All Might?!” repeated Suzuki incredulously.

The scene changed in a blink.  They were in a pedestrian tunnel.

Midoriya, as disheveled and tiny as he was on the roof, leaned up against the wall, clearly wary of them in general and Suzuki in particular.

First contact… whispered a voice that dragged across Tenya’s mind like the end of a silk curtain.

“First contact?” said Suzuki.  “What is that supposed to-?”

“Hey!”

They turned to see a figure standing beyond the tunnel’s mouth, in the sunlight.  They were tall and slender, perhaps as tall as Tenya, and wearing a hoody and disposable medical mask.  The voice sounded oddly familiar, but Tenya couldn’t place it.  It sounded like the owner was about their age.

“Ha!” said Suzuki.  “This guy definitely isn’t Midoriya!  You have to admit-!”

“Are these guys bothering you?” asked the boy in the hoody.

“Yes,” said Midoriya.

“Well, don’t worry now!  Because I am here!”

“Are you… a vigilante?” guessed Tenya as the unknown boy stepped into the tunnel.  Many of them had an appreciation for All Might.

“Sure!” said the boy, cheerfully.

“Mutation-based speed enhancement,” muttered Izuku, sliding across the wall towards the boy.  “Fire and ice user.  Five-point activation mass alteration.  Quirk negation with secondary minor telekinesis.  Some kind of thought or memory manipulation, possibly a form of telempathy that allows him to alter the local environment as a side effect.  May have a truth-detection component.”

A thread of ice wound down Tenya’s back.  Even if he didn’t believe that Midoriya was a traitor, that he was giving information about them so freely to this stranger, as if they were enemies, was chilling…  Even if it did evolve that this was just a figment of his imagination…

“Ha!  It’ll take more than that to get rid of me!” said the vigilante, pointing a thumb at his chest.

If Tenya wasn’t mistaken, however, there was a bit of a wobble in his voice.

“Mass alteration can act like freefall.  No conscious control of how much mass is altered, can only reduce mass,” continued Midoriya, now hiding behind the taller boy.  “Ceiling of absolute temperature alteration from average is lower for fire than for ice.  Speed enhancement can be used to power kicks.  Mind the capture weapon.  Scarf.”

“Gotcha!”

The vigilante lunged for Suzuki and threw him bodily into Aizawa.  While the adults were recovering, the students moved to flank the stranger.  He attempted to throw Uraraka in the same way, but she got him with her quirk and he floated towards the ceiling, which he kicked off, enough power in the movement to clock Todoroki in the jaw.

Tenya attempted to apply a kick at the vigilante’s exposed but still-floating back, but was nearly stabbed in the eye with a pencil by Midoriya.

“Sorry,” said Midoriya, breathlessly.  “Sorry.  I didn’t do this for real.  I thought about it.  But I didn’t.  Sorry.”

“You thought about stabbing me in the eye?”

“No.  Muscular.  The sludge villain.  I thought—Maybe I should have.”  His muttering rapidly became unintelligible.

Tenya was distracted enough by the muttering that he took a second longer than he should have to react to Midoriya going after his bad shoulder.  The tip of the pencil dug right into it.

“Sorry, sorry, this is a dream, I know it hurts, I’m sorry.”

“Disengage!” shouted Aizawa.  “There’s no point in fighting these guys!”

“The hell there isn’t!” said Suzuki.

“Dissension among the ranks, eh, villains?” asked the vigilante.

“Hey!” complained Uraraka.  “Don’t lump us in with him!”

The vigilante, somehow, got a hold of Aizawa again.  Despite his young appearance, he had a lot more skill than Iida, or even Midoriya.

Aizawa managed to get a blow across the boy’s face, knuckles knocking his hood and mask askew, and—

He would recognize that smile anywhere.  Even if it wasn’t paired with the floppy bangs they had all come to know.

“All Might?!”

.

Toshinori tried to ignore his growing headache as he laid out supplies.  Izuku was sleeping, and they were safe for now, but it would be foolish of them to assume that the Hero Commission would just let Izuku disappear.  The infinite variety of quirks in the world all but guaranteed someone with a tracking quirk would be after them, and soon.

Thus, it behooved them to disguise themselves.  

In this day and age, the easiest way to do that was to make it look like you had a quirk other than your own.  The bulky coat he had selected included a high collar and an apparatus that covered everything below the eyes, suggesting a disturbing or difficult-to-control mutation.   Of course, he’d also have to wear sunglasses.  His eyes were unfortunately distinctive.  The hair would have to go, too.

For Izuku, though, he couldn’t stand the thought of completely cutting his hair off—it would look strange in someone so young, anyway—so instead he had retrieved the hair bleach.  White hair, combined with a suit and properly worn tie, would make him appear older.  Lifts in his shoes would add to that impression.

The computer pinged.  Toshinori went to it and made a face.  He wasn’t technologically inclined at all, but Six was and had been a different story.  The computer was old, but Six was very good, and large organizations only rarely changed their protocols.

The commission had their tracker, a young rescue hero named Trace.  She was on her way to UA.  The details of her quirk…  Yes.  They could potentially even keep her away from the safehouse, if they took the opportunity to cross their paths…  But they would have to start preparing to leave now.

Izuku woke with a gasp and an anguished cry.  The pain in it was echoed by a spike in Toshinori’s headache.

Toshinori rushed to the room.  “What’s wrong, my boy?”

“They’re not in my head anymore,” said Izuku, knotting his fingers in his hair.

“That’s a good thing, isn’t it?” asked Toshinori, even as he knew it wasn’t.

Izuku shook his head.  “They’re not in my head anymore.  They’re in yours.”

[captain-tch]

All That I Can Give

summary: kiko is a struggling business owner thrown into the chaos of the borderlands. when she makes a mistake that will threaten her life, she learns just how far she will go to keep herself alive. 

chapter 12: never underestimate a spark

previous chapter

Morning came faster than she wanted it to. Kiko woke up against the wall, her back begging to be cracked and her neck aching. All of her joints protested as she clambered to her feet, with holding a yawn. 

Her gaze darted around. Her brain struggled to comprehend why she hadn’t woken up in a nest of blankets, a ragged sofa with a snoring Tetsu nestled within it. 

Tetsu! 

She scrambled to his side, holding his face in her hands. His bruises were a shade darker today, smaller cuts having crusted. He still hadn’t shown no sign of waking, still in the same position he was in when she brought him in last night. 

Last night. 

The days events rushed towards her like a tsunami. They shot her, but then they patched up her wounds. They kidnapped them, and then invited them to join their so called utopia, as if they had a choice. They gave her a room, with a bed and shower, but with the lock glued open. 

An uneasy feeling settled deep in her stomach. She couldn’t shake the feeling that this place brewed misery, and she was about to get sucked into a whirlwind of it. 

Looking at Tetsu, she knew this couldn’t happen soon. He hadn’t woken up yet. She imagined when he did wake up, he would have trouble moving at all. As much as her mind begged her to flee, she had to stay here. They needed a support network whilst both of their wounds healed. When they were in a clean bill of health they would escape. 

Kiko breathed deeply. The day to leave couldn’t come soon enough. 

She pulled Tetsu into the rolling chair, pushing him out of the room. She started to retrace her steps from last night, trying and desperately to find Ann. As she was rolling Tetsu down more corridors, rolling past curious onlookers she brushed off, it became apparent she had no fucking clue where she was going.

Turning a corner, her heart dropped out of her throat. Niragi was walking down the corridor, his gun casually slung over his shoulder. He was talking to the man with the katana. 

Kiko pulled Tetsu’s chair back, cursing as he started to slip out of the seat. She quickly ran around the front of it, pushing him back into the chair however she could. The footsteps got closer. Kiko panicked. Her gaze shot to the door nearest to her. 

She reached a frantic hand out, pushing the door open and wheeling Tetsu in. 

“Well, well, well. What are you doing here, little firecracker?” 

Kiko gulped. She spun around, discreetly closing the door shut behind her. She prayed no one was in the room. It would take a lot of explaining once this was all over. 

“Niragi, as unpleasant as always.” 

He snorted, elbowing his friend. “Last Boss, do you hear this? She’s as feisty as ever.” 

The man only stared at Kiko. She tried not to focus on him too much, crossing her arms across her chest and glaring at Niragi. The bullet wound on her shoulder ached. “I don’t have all day. What do you want? 

“I want you,” Niragi leaned closer, his mouth mere centimetres from hers. His friend continued watching intently. It was clear this was something he was very accustomed to witnessing. “I want you underneath me as I-” 

Kiko raised a hand, placing a silencing finger over his lips. “I get the picture.” 

He only smirked under her finger, his gaze on her as he parted his lips. His tongue grazed along her finger. Kiko withheld a shudder. She snatched her hand back as soon as she could. Niragi chuckled. 

“Where’s your little friend?” 

Kiko stiffened at the mention of Tetsu. She forced a smile on her face, practising her well rehearsed script. An iron wall was built in front of her features, cemented by her solid stance. “I’m not his keeper.”

“Didn’t seem that way yesterday.” Kiko tried not to let the events from the kidnapping play over in her head. If she even thought of how Niragi threw Tetsu to the ground, how she knew in her bones he caused that gravel rash on his cheek, she was certain she would snatch the rifle from his grasp and fill him full of lead. It wouldn’t achieve much - she’d probably be skewered by Last Boss before she could hit anything major - but the satisfaction of seeing the red blossom on Niragi’s shirt? Euphoric. 

“Not everything is as it seems.” 

“Know that from experience?” Niragi lifted his rifle, pointing the sights directly at Kiko. Immediately she pressed herself into the wall, her heart racing a million miles a minute. From the short time she’d been at the Beach she knew Niragi and the militants weren’t the kind to be messed with, and staring down the barrel of his gun right now drilled that into her mind. Her hand discreetly found the handle of the door behind her, ever so slowly turning it downwards. 

The barrel moved downwards. Kiko couldn’t hide the sigh of relief that passed her lips. Niragi laughed darkly at her, swinging his gun around carelessly. “I knew it. You look like a firecracker, but you’re not even a spark.” 

Niragi nudged Last Boss’ shoulder, gesturing for them to carry on down the hall. They started to disappear from sight, Kiko trying to hide the fact she was leaning on the door for support. She had felt the bony fingers of the Grim Reaper about to tear her away from this world. She could feel the imprint of them on her skin. 

As much as her legs still shook, her jaw was set. Niragi’s words swirled in her mind. He thought he was weak? He had barely met her. He didn’t know the damage she could cause with her own hands, the very hands she was both proud and ashamed to look at. He didn’t know that she took down the demon haunting her existence with something as simple as a paper weight. He didn’t know that she intended to sacrifice others to survive. 

She might be a spark. But when a spark is left ignored, it can very quickly turn into an inferno. 

A smile curled onto her face. Niragi didn’t know shit, and one day he was going to find out the hard way how badly he had underestimated her. One of the few joys she found in life was proving people wrong. She would love to prove Niragi wrong by smearing his blood all along the walls. 

Shaking off the residue fear, Kiko opened the door behind her. Tetsu was miraculously still in the chair. He was nestled against the wall and besides him, a woman with dreads smiled up at Kiko. 

Kiko watched her warily as the unknown woman got to her feet, sticking a plastic stick in her mouth. Unconsciously, she took a step back. 

“I’m assuming you’re the one who pushed him in here?” The woman queried, gesturing to Tetsu behind her. “He’s pretty beaten up.”

“Game.” Kiko answered her unspoken question. She moved towards Tetsu, maneuvering herself behind him and preparing to roll him away. “Sorry about that.” 

“You two new around here?”

Kiko nodded. 

“You’ve made quite the impression. Niragi’s taken a liking to you.” 

“He’s got a strange way of showing it.” She could still feel the ghost of his tongue along her finger. The desire to plunge her whole hand in acid was overwhelming. 

The woman’s gaze moved to Kiko’s bandaged shoulder. It seemed like she put the puzzle pieces together, eyes lighting up in recognition. “You’re the pair they brought back from the supply run?” 

Kiko nodded. She was starting to feel uncomfortable under the woman’s probing gaze. She seemed to be assessing every curve of Kiko’s body, taking in all the bruises, cuts and bandages covering her body. 

“We better get going.” 

The woman nodded. Just as Kiko was leaving, the woman jumped in front of the chair. Kiko considered using the chair as a battering ram, but the thought of the extra effort made the decision for her. 

“Going anywhere special?” 

“To see Ann.” Kiko halted, looking at the woman. “Can you show us where she is? This place is a maze.” 

The woman agreed, sending Kiko a bright smile. The woman, whom Kiko quickly learned was called Kuina, was very talkative, filling the space between them with mindless chatter. Kiko didn’t mind it too much. It was a great distraction from the constant whirring in her head. 

Kuina showed them where Ann’s medical office was, standing by as Ann redressed Kiko’s and Tetsu’s wounds. She gave some pain relief, sending them on their way. 

By the time they’d left the medical office, the light through the windows was starting to fade. Kiko’s worried gaze fixated on Tetsu. His visa ran out tonight, and he wasn’t even conscious. She had a few extra days on hers since she played early, but the thought of sitting it out was ludicrous. She wasn’t going to let Tetsu enter a game and not even be aware. 

She would be his body guard. 

 Kuina noticed Kiko’s heavy eyes. “Does his visa expire tonight?” 

Kiko nodded. 

“What are you going to do?” 

“Protect him.” 

Sensing Kiko’s resolve, Kuina led Kiko down to the main lobby. She explained on the way that before the games, Hatter would give what he deemed a ‘motivating’ speech, and then people selected a number at random. This number assigned them to a car, and that car of people would go to the game arena. 

Kiko drowned out Hatter’s words, gaze curiously moving throughout the room. She saw quite a few familiar faces, her eyes wandering. They stopped on a face she couldn’t quite recognise. She was a young girl, dressed in a bikini and shawl covering her legs. She was talking animatedly with her friends, laughing hard. As if she felt Kiko’s gaze on her, she turned around. 

The colour instantly drained from her face. 

The memory came rushing back. The paper weight. The mess of Ryuk’s head underneath her hands. And the girl shying away from Kiko’s bloody hands. 

This girl had witnessed her commit a murder. 

Kuina passed Kiko a number. “This is Tetsu’s car.” 

Not fully processing what was happening, Kiko took the number from Kuina’s hand. She started to move Tetsu in the direction they needed to go in. She carefully lifted Tetsu’s body off of the chair, pushing it into the car. She put his seat belt on before diving in next to him. 

The car ride was a blur. Her thoughts were a whirlwind, consumed with anxieties over the girl, and Tetsu’s unconscious state. What if the girl told someone? She wasn’t familiar enough with the Beach yet to know if murder was something that would slide. What if this was a spades game? She wasn’t sure how far she could carry Tetsu with her screaming shoulder. 

The car pulled to a stop outside a high school. All of the cars occupants left the car, them all leaving Kiko to struggle carrying Tetsu’s body weight. She stumbled behind them as they entered the school, arrows directing them further into the building. They stopped once they reached the canteen, a single table placed in the middle of the room. 

A pile of phones was set up in front of it. The Beach members all grabbed a phone, Kiko shoving hers into her pocket and holding the phone over Tetsu’s face. Her breath halted in her throat as a nerve wrecking thought dashed through her mind - does it register someone when they’re unconscious? 

She didn’t have to worry too long as the screen quickly filled with his details. 

Kiko frowned, looking around the room. There was only six of them altogether from the Beach. She looked around the room to see if anyone was hiding. She looked again at the central table. On the table laid six glasses of clear liquid. 

“GAME: CUPBEARER. DIFFICULTY: EIGHT OF DIAMONDS.” 

Kiko swore colourfully under her breath. In her arms, she felt Tetsu’s body begin to dip. She gripped him tighter, pulling him upright. 

“Kiko?” A voice mumbled. 

Kiko’s head snapped in the direction of the voice. One of Tetsu’s eyes was swollen shut; but the other was fluttering open. A huge surge of relief washed over her. 

“What’s going on?” He rasped. 

“We’re at a game.” 

“But, how...” Tetsu trailed off. 

Kiko opened her mouth to explain as the bodiless voice boomed through the room. 

“REGISTRATION COMPLETE.”

Kiko prayed that Tetsu gathered his wits soon. If he didn’t, it might kill them all. 

[gabekidd]

You’re Welcome

Pairing: Wardlow/OC

Category: Fluffy fluff

Word count: 1,824

Fluffy little Wardlow fic request for @lancearcherinrippedjeans starring her OC, Camryn Morgan. I hope you like it! It’s the least I could do after you wrote me THREE fics. Also tagging @what-does-mine-say :D

Find more of my fics here.

********************

Nothing irked Camryn more than when someone interrupted her while she was in the zone at the gym. And, for whatever reason, no one managed to irk her more than one Nick Jackson.

“Ah!” She let out a startled yelp when she looked up and saw him staring at her with his crazy eyes through the mirrored wall. She ripped out one of her ear buds and whirled around. “What the fuck, Nick?”

He smiled. “We just got here and I saw you so I thought I’d come say ‘hi.’” He paused. “Hi.”

She arched a curious brow. Of all her teammates in The Elite, no one was quite as peculiar as Nick. “‘We?’ I don’t see anyone else, bud. Are you feeling alright?”

Just as she asked, Matt and Kenny rounded the corner—and Wardlow was with them. Camryn’s pulse quickened and she stood up straighter. What was Wardlow doing with them? And oh my god they’re coming over.

“Camryn!” Kenny proclaimed with a smile. “We thought you might be here.”

She tried to smile as casually as possible. “You know me, just trying to get it in before the show tonight.” Her eyes suddenly widened. “Trying to get a workout in!” she quickly corrected.

“Phrasing,” Matt smirked.

Her entire face went red. “You meant what I knew.”

“Anyway,” Kenny segued. “Have you two met?”

He motioned back and forth between Camryn and Wardlow. She stole a quick glance at him before shaking her head. “Not officially.”

“Well, then,” he started. “Camryn, this is Michael Wardlow. Michael, meet Camryn Morgan.”

They shook hands, and Camryn practically had to tilt her head all the way back to look him in the eye; he was more than a foot taller than her tiny five-foot-one frame. “Nice to meet you,” she smiled.

“Likewise,” he returned; but then his brow furrowed. “Wasn’t your hair red last week?”

Her cheeks flushed again, both surprised and flattered that he’d noticed. Then again, it would’ve been hard to miss someone changing their hair from fire engine red to lilac purple. “Oh, yeah. I change it a lot.”

“Like every other week,” Nick commented.

She narrowed her eyes at him. “Not that often; more like every month. I just get bored easily.”

“Well, you should keep that color,” Michael said. “It looks good.”

Camryn’s whole body flushed that time. “Thanks.”

“Well, we’ll let you get back to getting it in,” Kenny smirked; she rolled her eyes. “And hey, make sure to get to the arena a little early tonight, alright? We’re filming some stuff for BTE.”

“Will do,” she said.

“It was nice meeting you,” Michael said as he walked off with Kenny and Matt. Camryn smiled as she put her ear bud back in.

“You too.” She turned back around to grab some weights; and when she stepped back she jumped in surprise again. Nick was still staring at her through the mirror. “What?”

“Bye,” he grinned, and he took off after the others.

“Weirdo,” Camryn breathed as she resumed her workout.

*A few months later*

It was a beautiful day, and Camryn needed to get outside—even if it was only on her patio. She fixed herself a glass of iced tea and grabbed a book; but as soon as she sat down in the patio chair her cell phone rang. It was a FaceTime call from Michael. She couldn’t help her smile as she answered.

“Hey, good looking.”

Michael didn’t even say hello before he proclaimed, “Your hair’s blue! It was pink like three days ago!”

She rolled her eyes behind her sunglasses. “We’re in quarantine, Michael. Do you know how bored I am?”

“Okay, but don’t be surprised when all your hair falls out,” he smirked.

“Worry about your own hair,” she playfully returned. “It’s looking a little rough.”

“Shut up, no it isn’t.”

Camryn bit her lip. It really wasn’t; he was looking just as delicious as ever. But she had to tease him a little bit. “Okay, what do you want? Did you just call me to harass me about my hair?”

 “No,” he said. “Obviously, I called you to wish you happy birthday.”

Camryn’s stomach fluttered. A small part of her had worried everyone had forgotten about her birthday, especially with the pandemic going on. It meant a lot to her that Michael thought to call.

“How old are you now?” he asked. “Twenty-one?”

She let out a loud laugh; he knew damn well she wasn’t 21. “Yes; twenty-one plus seventeen.” Unlike some women, Camryn had no qualms about sharing her true age—she was turning 38 today, and damn proud of it. Besides, not to sound vain, but she thought she looked better than a lot of women 10 years her junior.

“I can’t believe that. Honestly,” Michael said. “You look late twenties, early thirties, tops.”

“Well, thank you,” she grinned. “It’s my top-secret skin care routine.”

“Nah, I think it’s good genes.”

He gave her that look, and Camryn suddenly wished she could jump his bones, quarantine be damned. She and Michael had become fast friends ever since that day Kenny had introduced them in the gym, and they’d developed quite the flirtatious relationship. She loved the attention, of course—who wouldn’t?—but she often had to remind herself that it could never go beyond flirting. No matter how good she looked, Michael was still six years younger than her; a relationship between them simply wouldn’t work.

“You flatter me,” she said; and then she abruptly changed the subject. “So, have you heard anything about getting to wrestle again yet?”

“Actually, yeah,” he said. “I have a lumberjack match against Luchasaurus on Dynamite in a couple weeks.”

She smiled when she heard that. “Cool. I’ll be there, too.”

“Yeah? Nice,” he smiled. And then he added, “You better not be bald.”

“Alright, goodbye, Michael!” And she hung up on him before he could say anything smart in return.

********************

It was the night of Michael’s lumberjack match against Luchasaurus, and Camryn couldn’t be more excited. She hadn’t seen Michael in person since Double or Nothing—in other words, it had been far too long.

But, as excited as she was, she needed something to eat first. She stopped by catering and made a beeline for the snack station; but before she could grab a bag of chips, someone came up from behind and picked her up in a bear hug.

She let out a yelp and kicked her legs. “Michael! Let me go!”

“How’d you know it was me?”

“Because you’re the only one dumb enough to ambush me!”

She felt a laugh rumble in his chest. “Oh yeah? What’re you gonna do about it, small fry?”

Camryn groaned; she hated when he called her that, and he knew it. She struggled in his grip, but it was no use. He was far too strong. “Please put me down,” she pouted.

“Fine,” he gave in. “But only because you asked so nicely.” He set her feet back on the ground; but before he could completely let her go, she grabbed his arm and twisted it behind his back in a hammerlock.

“Shit!” he proclaimed.

“What’re you gonna do about it, Wardlow?” she taunted.

He shook his head. “Nothing. It doesn’t really hurt.”

Her mouth dropped and she shoved him away as he laughed. “Rude!”

“Oh, did you want to hurt me?” he returned. “I didn’t know you were into that, Cam.”

Camryn’s face went beet red at his roguish smirk. “And on that note, I’m gonna go,” she said, and she snatched a bag of chips off the snack station and hurried down the hall.

“Hey, I’m glad you’re not bald!” she heard Michael call, and she extended her arm to flip him off without turning around. If she had, he would have seen her smiling.

********************

Later that night, taping had wrapped and everyone was heading out. The Elite were headed to grab a late dinner, but Camryn had told them she would catch up—she needed to do something first.

She walked down the hall headed toward Michael’s locker room, her heart thumping in her chest. Honestly, she wasn’t sure what the hell she was doing. All she knew was that she had feelings for Michael, and after seeing him for the first time in weeks, she just couldn’t ignore them anymore.

She was nearly there when she suddenly stopped short. She could hear two familiar voices just around the corner: Michael and MJF.

“So are you headed back to the hotel orrr?” Maxwell asked.

“Actually, I’m gonna see if Camryn is still here and ask if she wants to grab dinner,” Michael answered. “Sort of a late birthday thing; I know she was bummed she didn’t really get to celebrate because of the quarantine and everything.”

Camryn’s heart fluttered. He wanted to do that for her? That might be the sweetest thing anyone had ever done for her.

“Well it’s about damn time,” Maxwell returned.

She heard Michael give an awkward laugh. “What do you mean?”            

Maxwell scoffed. “What do I mean? Dude, come on. You two have been dancing around your feelings for months.”

There was a pause. And then Michael returned, “Nah, it’s not like that. She always clams up and changes the subject whenever I flirt with her.”

“That’s because she’s awkward as fuck,” Maxwell dismissed. “It doesn’t mean she’s not interested.”

Camryn turned on her heel and took off as quietly as she could. She didn’t want to hear the rest of the conversation. Maxwell wasn’t wrong; she was awkward as fuck, and this had been a terrible idea—

“Cam?”

She abruptly stopped and closed her eyes against Michael’s voice. They’d been closer than she’d realized. She put on a brave face and turned around. “Hey!”

Michael’s face fell; it was obvious he knew she’d overheard them. “What’s up?”

“Oh, nothing,” she said. “I was actually just leaving. See you later!”

She tried to make her escape—but Maxwell stopped her. “Wait!” he said. “Michael wants to take you out for a late birthday dinner. He also likes you, but he’s too chickenshit to admit it.”

Michael shot him a look. “Really?”

He smirked. “You’re welcome, bud,” he said as he smacked him on the back.

Camryn froze. She wasn’t sure what to do or say. So she said the only thing she could think of. “Is that true?”

For the first time since she’d known him, Michael looked nervous. “Well, yeah.”

She bit back a smirk. “All of it?”

He mirrored her grin. “Yeah.”

Before she knew it, Camryn’s legs were carrying her forward; and before she could think better of it, she reached up and pulled Michael’s lips down onto hers. She pulled back and smiled up at him. “I like you, too.”

“YOU’RE WELCOME!” Maxwell proclaimed, and Michael flipped him off as he kissed her again.

[talkfastromance4]

Crowded Room (l.h)

Summary: a tryst between two in a crowded room makes the sparks burn brighter.

author’s note: inspired by crowded room by selena gomez. her new album is amazing. i’m getting my period soon so sorry all these one shots are smut, i can’t help it omg

Word Count: 1807

Masterlist

Keeping your relationship with Luke hidden was hard but well worth it because of stolen glances from crowded rooms, forbidden touches in inconspicuous ways set your skin on fire. The look in his eyes matched the heat in your cheeks when he would touch the lower part of your back while at an after party of an awards show. 

Your friends didn’t even know but they all had an inkling there was a guy in your life because when Luk would send you flirty texts you couldn’t stop smiling for ten minutes. 

It started out innocent enough, the first of many stolen glances from across a high end bar started the tryst between you. His bright baby blues had you captivated immediately and you remember that first night so many months ago vividly.

Maybe it was the alcohol flowing through your veins or maybe it was how hypnotizing his eyes were, but you ordered two shots and sent one his way. The waitress walked over to him so slowly and it only increased your racing heart. 

His eyes glanced up at you again through the neon lights and he made his way over to you. His tall stature made it easy to push through the mingling bodies, his eyes never leaving yours and you felt frozen. Frozen in fear and excitement, the look in his eyes made you feel like you were his prey and you were more than ready to be hunted. 

When he finally halted in front of you, you had to crane your neck just to look at him and he smiled softly. 

“I’ve never had a lady buy me a shot before.”

The faint yet ever present Australian twang in his voice caused you to choke on your breath. His voice reminded you of butterscotch, warm and light but delectable. You’d listen to him talk for hours if you could.

“Just me shooting my shot,” you say faintly. 

It’s a weak pick-up line but a smile spreads across his face and he shifts closer to you so he’s leaning against the bar. You watch him stick is silvery glitter boots on the bottom of the bar before sliding your eyes back up to his, this new stance made it easier to look into those perfect blues. 

“Perfect shot,” he complimented then raised his glass. 

You clinked, touched the bar top then downed the alcohol in one swallow. It burned your throat and noticed he couldn’t take his eyes off your lips as you licked excess vodka from them. You felt like you were the only people in the bar, with each flirtatious word that was exchanged between you two caused you to move closer. It was magnetic. 

He pulled you in and you pushed back when your lips finally slotted together. His soft lips electrified your entire being, you needed him closer so you pulled on the collar of his silky maroon shirt. His arms wrapped tightly around your waist, he squeezed you in pulses until his hands roamed lower and lower.

“Take it somewhere else, lovebirds. I’ve got customers,” the bartender said breaking you two apart. 

You looked down in embarrassment but he tilted your face up with his thumb on your chin. 

“Wanna head back to mine?” he asks, eyes dropping to your lips as his thumb traced your bottom lip. 

“Yeah,” you breathe, “I’m Y/N by the way.”

“I’m Luke.”

At his place your nerves were haywire and the confidence from the alcohol was withering away but when Luke danced his fingers down your arms to grab hold of your wrists and looped your arms around his neck, you wanted this. You wanted him. 

He invaded your space, rubbing his nose against yours until you felt like you’d have no breath left was when he kissed you again. Each moment after happened in snapshots, each one important and concise as they happened. 

Luke hoisting you in his arms, your legs wrapping tightly around his waist. Your fingers working on the buttons of his silky soft shirt. The slip of his tongue exploring your mouth. The smell of him engulfing you as he drops you on his bed. The hurried act of removing your clothes and then his large body covering yours. 

His skin was cold while yours was warm and each caress from him caused you to shiver. The sharp bite of his teeth on your breasts. The softness of his curls between your fingers as he ate you out tantalizingly slow. His necklace hitting your collar bone as he thrusted into you deeply, your toes clenching with each push. 

Hands explored, gasps emitted and with a tremble you moaned his name when you came. He hissed out a ‘fuck’ when he followed soon after and then it was just your racing hearts having a conversation. 

No one else knew about that night but Luke made sure to get your number the following morning after making you coffee. The chemistry between you two was electric. You got each other like no one else has before and you sneak a glance at him at their album release party. 

To drive him crazy you chose a black and gold dress to go with the aesthetic of the album. As you talked with Andy about the album photos you felt Luke’s gaze burning into you. You felt his presence before he even bumped into you, his hands splayed on your waist, warming your skin through the fabric of your dress.

“Oops, sorry, Y/N,” he hums softly in your ear.

He gives you a light squeeze before continuing his pathway over to Ashton who was at the food table. He shoots you a quick wink over his shoulder and you inhale deeply enjoying the view of his back in that black shirt. You always liked the swagger in his strut when he walked and you couldn’t tear your eyes away. 

You were only half listening to what Andy was saying to you about millimeters and cameras.

Later, you met his eye across the way and raised your eyebrows as if challenging him then spun around disappearing into the hall where the bathrooms were. You were pretending to admire the large painting in front of you, there was an array of golds and browns and reds. 

“Come with me,” Luke mutters behind you causing you to jump. 

He takes your hand before you can respond and he’s pulling you to the bathroom. You actually pay attention to the bathroom because of the luxury of it. The sinks are marble and embroidered with gold with red walls. 

Then Luke pushes you against the sink, his lips on your cheek kissing a trail down your jaw and onto your neck. Your hands are on his back, moaning when he sucks at your sweet spot. Before you can enjoy it too much you push on his shoulder lightly. 

“No marks, remember?” you ask.

“I don’t care anymore,” he shakes his head lifting you onto the counter. He steps between your legs, his fingers ghosting under the hem of your dress. “I want people to know you’re mine and I’m yours.”

Your eyes widen at his words then you’re kissing him while your fingers unbutton his shirt and yanked it out of his pants. His hands slip under your dress pulling your panties down, you aid him by lifting your legs so he can take them all the way off. You work on his pants next shoving them down quickly and he pushes himself into you.

You cry out from him going in dry, your fingers squeeze his shoulders and his head dips to your shoulder, his hands tight on your waist. He rocks gently coating himself with your arousal as you get wetter. When it’s more comfortable he thrusts harder, his lips sucking on your neck, soft moans roll onto you. 

Your fingers curl in his hair as you rock with him, the sound of skin on skin and the constant clink of his belt against the marble top increases your arousal. You’re fucking in a public bathroom and he feels so good you don’t even stop the loud moan. 

“Feel good, lovie?” he grunts lifting his head to look at you. 

“Yea--”

His hips rock faster, fucking you deeper and with more precision. Your mouth opens in a silent moan and he cradles your face in his hands. 

“Want you to look at me when you come,” he commands moving even faster. 

The backs of your thighs are rubbing against the counter but your focus is on the knot in your stomach. Each thrust pulls at it and you feel your orgasm building.

“You like fucking in a bathroom, hm?”

All you can do is nod, his eyes captivating you just like that first night, you bite your lip. 

“You close? Am I making you feel good? Answer me.”

“So close, so good,” you gasp out grabbing onto his lower back. You force yourself forward against him and you’re getting closer, closer, closer until

“Fuck!” you moan loudly that it echoes off the walls. You’re seeing stars and galaxies and the sun all at once as fire engulfs your whole body. This orgasm is intense and you swear your heart stopped for an eighth of a second.

You’re pretty sure anyone outside can hear you but you don’t care. You force your eyes to stay open so Luke can see you, luscious moans slipping from your lips. His expressions match yours until you’re spent but he holds you up jack hammering into you until he’s coming. He pulls out and comes on your thigh. 

Your heart is pounding in your ears when Luke’s fingers brush your hair from your face. You sit there in a daze as he wets a towel and cleans the both of you up. He helps you stand rightly on the floor, but your legs are a little wobbly. 

He pulls his pants back up tucking himself in his jeans before snapping them shut and he buttons the rest of his shirt again. 

“You with me, lovie?” he asks softly kissing both your cheeks. 

“Yeah,” you whisper then clear your throat. “Yeah, I’m here. I’m good.”

“That was an intense one, yeah?”

“But it was a good one,” you smile lazily then realize something. “Where’s my underwear?”

“My back pocket,” he smirks.

“Luke!”

“Come on, lovie, I want to show you off,” he takes your hand pulling you to the door. 

You splutter nonsense behind him then go silent when those damn baby blue eyes look into yours when you’re back in the party room. It was just you and him again, everyone else was blurred while he was crystal clear. In a crowded room or an arena filled with thousands, when your eyes locked he was all that you saw.

[moonlightstars16]

Aching Emotions

30 Days Connverse Challenge

Day 9 ~ Nursing The Sick One

It was just one day after her final exam for the year. Connie was already doing her prep work for the coming year ahead. Studying so much she actually got the entire summer off. However she planned to keep up her education even on her 'break'. Thankfully she had her family, friends and of course her best friend/boyfriend, to keep her relaxed and calm during her "time off".

Later that evening, hours into the night she was pouring over her schedules and organizing her summer reading list. Waiting patiently to get her test scores back. Glancing at her phone and laptop every few minutes to see if there was an email notification from the school. The time between now and then was agonizing for her. So much so that she hardly ate or slept. Drinking only the smallest amount of water.

The fan in her room was higher than normal. Already feeling the summer heat from outside. At one point she did fall asleep on her desk. Only to wake up feeling strangely aching all over her. Stretching out her arms and legs from the uncomfortable sitting position, to see if that would help. Nothing. A ding from her phone caused her to quickly look up, brushing off the small headache she felt, and gasp from the notification alert.

Rushing around her room and bathroom, getting ready for a special terrain sword-training day. Having already grab and stuff one last thing into her bag, she ran outside only to be met by Lion. Standing there and waiting for Connie to climb on his back and take her to the temple. Complying instantly, she gripped onto his mane and tried to focus her breathing. Her heartbeat pounding all over her faintly. Lion turned his head to look at her. Though without much expression at a glance, his eyes told it all.

"I'm okay Lion I promise. Now let's go just in case Steven needs you there."

Lion had become sort of Steven's support animal. Helping him cope with all the therapy sessions and facing the reality that it is happening. It didn't seem to be a big deal. But it made a huge change to his life and things were becoming a bit easier. In fact, he only showed up when he sensed something wrong or 'off' with Steven. Teleporting himself right over to his side instantly no matter where he was.

Those visits became less frequent as of late. Because of that, he snuck in a few visits with herself and most likely more Lion adventures. Narrowing his eyes, he faced forward and roared out the portal, jumping threw and landing inside the infamous beach house. Sighing, she jumped off and patted his soft fur.

"Okay, but remember we can't barge into someone's home like this." Glancing up she gulped and bit her lip upon seeing the newly constructed wall. With a passing look, it seemed like it was unaffected by the past events. To herself, she could see it coming a mile away. Shaking her head she turned upon hearing the temple door opening with Pearl stepping out. Her mentor, her friend and, in a way, extended family.

"Oh! Hello Connie, it's good to see you."

"Same to you Pearl, how are you?"

"I'm doing okay, just busy with the school is all. However I'm pleased to have days were I only focus on one person." They giggled as Connie nodded in agreement.

"I hope you don't mind me continuing these lessons. It just helps me de-stress and keeps up my stamina for self-defense. As well as my own health."

"No worries, I'm honored to still be your teacher... Even after everything I did." Pearl smiled weakly as Connie set her bag down, sword and scabbard around her waist, and walked towards her. Placing a hand on her shoulder.

"I already forgave you long ago."

Moments later they were warped to a special arena. Pearl explained it was an earth terrain battle training area with ever changing scenarios and places to battle in. Originally used for the Gem War since it took place on earth as well as among the stars. Connie could barely focus as her sword seemed to grow heaver and heaver against her hip. Already sweating a bit from the long walk to the very center of the architecture.

"I also have a surprise guest for you." Pearl spoke while opening the secure doors to reveal the amazing arena and a few gems she recognized sitting in the stands. Garnet, Amethyst and Steven all sitting together to support her. Instantly whatever she was feeling seemed to disappear. Though upon seeing her boyfriend, her legs almost buckled down from beneath her. They all waved from their high positions as she waved back. Turning to face Pearl, her sword instantly pulled out from her seethe.

"I'm ready."

Connie jumped from a high bolder and landed on the sand. Changing the terrain from the forest to the dessert instantly while in mid-air. Rolling over to where her feet were back onto the ground, she ducked while moving out from her spot. Pearl, the real one, attacked mercilessly. Not even giving Connie a second to think. However it was hard keeping up with her as she young knight moved quickly with every second. Finally she landed a hit on Pearl's sword.

Advancing forward with metal clashing all over. So focused on the fight Pearl didn't seem to notice the change, when a more rocky terrain came into view. However as soon as she felt the rocks beneath her, she broke her concentration for a slight second. Leaving Connie only so much time to attack. Within a few swings, Pearl's sword left her hand, as Connie had her fall backwards with her own sword to the gem's throat. That ended the entire match.

"Alright, I yield." Connie smiled and helped her up. Suddenly a huge wave of pain seared through her head as she gasped and raised both her hands to her head. Heat radiating off her more and more. "Connie! Are you okay?"

"I'm f-" Another groan escaped her lips as she found herself unable to stand on her own two feet. Falling backwards and on her side as the arena itself began to spin. Pearl leaned down to her left side as darkness clouded her vision. The only thing she could remember before blacking out was a flash of a pink jacket and words spoken.

"I got you, Connie."

Hours passed as Connie laid in her own bed. Covers pulled over to her chin, a diffuser of gentle and calming senses surrounded her and sitting right by her side, was a concerned boyfriend. Dabbing a wet cloth over on her forehead and gently around her face. Watching over her sleeping form as she breathed in and out.

Instantly, Steven picked her up in his arms and sprinted towards the warp pad. Lion was waiting on the other side, licking his paws until a beam of light appeared. Standing up quickly as they jumped on his back.

"Take us to the hospital quick!" He held her close the entire time. Feeling the radiating heat from within. Now normally he would give her a kiss and heal her instantly. However it was important to know what affects the human body and the build-up to it's immunity. He had a hunch of what was going on as her and Pearl's sparring match occurred. The movements she had were a little sloppy and uncoordinated. It was obvious something was up. If only he could recognize it sooner.

It was also better for her mom to know what was medically going on, with her daughter especially. After knowing about all the fractures to his skull and bones, the recoveries he made physically were good....for those moments. Had he known more about them, he would've been more careful about it instead of magically healing it all away.

After two hours with Connie in the examination room then intensive care alongside her mom, both came out to where he was waiting. A common case of overworking herself to being sick. Plus her sword-training exerted all her energy and caused her to collapse and faint. After apologizing multiples times and Dr Maheswaren being understanding, yet firm, she asked him to take her home and watch her until she was off work.

Guilt overtook him once again as he sighed and ran his hands through his hair. He knew it wasn't directly his fault. But that didn't take away the twinged feeling of pain in his heart. Hating to see her like this ever. Blinking back tears he focused on what was more important. Cooling her off. Another hour passed before she finally was awake.

Blinking she focused until she saw him more clearly. A weak smile on her face as he gently grasped her hand. Leaning closer with a cup of water. She placed her lips on the rim and slowly drank every bit of it. As he held it for her. Afterwords, while setting it down on the side table she sighed.

"I suppose this is because I overworked myself?"

"Adding in that you physically fought for a long period of time." He filled her in on the rest before helping her lean forward against his shoulder. Adjusting the pillows so she was sitting up more. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"That my studies had me overworking myself?"

"Why didn't you come to me? How could you not come and talk to me about this?"

"How could I? After all you've been through? I-...I didn't want to be a burden." She blinked back tears and looked down at her hands. He placed a hand over hers and his other under her chin, encouraging her to look up.

"I am going through things myself, yes I admit that. But that does not ever mean I don't care for you or not wanting to at the very least listen. Connie I love you. I care so much for what is happening in your life. I want to be there for you too. Just like you wanted many years ago. I want to be apart of your life." He smiled reiterating her words from when they were kids. She smiled and nodded wiping away a few fallen tears as he did the same. "No more hiding from each other, promise?"

"Promise" She giggled as they hugged each other. Steven being a bit more careful while feeling her entire body still limp and weaker from before. Pressing a soft kiss on her forehead, she began to spill out everything. He listened to every word as he allowed her to lean against him. Stroking her hair gently to help ease her mind and worries.

After a long talk together, he helped her walk to the bathroom and put together a calming bath in her surprisingly fancy tub for her home. Leaving for her privacy as he made some hot soup for her and grabbed more water. On account of her parents both unable to be there for a bit longer than expected. He didn't mind staying by her side. Enjoyed taking care of her actually.

Finding her already dressed in her pajamas and refreshed, he set the tray down by her bed. Leading her away from the bookshelf and back into the cushy mattress. Pouting as he was firm (and teasing) with her. They took this moment of peace just to be in each other's presence. Well as one can be while their sick and the other taking care of said sick person.

"I think I already feel a bit better." Connie confessed with a smile and an all to innocent twinkle in her eyes.

"Really? So soon?"

"You kissed me a few minutes ago and my headache was instantly gone." She giggled as he froze in place. A blush tinting his cheeks a bit. Knowing the rule of using his powers, which he had control over, for emergencies only.

"Technically this was an emergency of sorts."

"Which is why I'm not going to hold this one over you. But to simply say, thank you." With a flirting wink he chuckled and shook his head.

"You're welcome. But what do you mean by 'holding this one over me?'"

"I was going to do this." With a small portion of her regained strength and energy, she gripped his shirt and pulled her over to kiss his lips. She was low on energy, not contagious after all. His eyes widened in shock before closing them and falling more into it's intensity. Holding her gently against him once again as they shared the most strange, yet loving of intimacies between them.

"You're lucky your parents aren't around." He spoke in between their kisses as she giggled herself against him.

"Exactly"

[spoon-writes]

Ends of the Earth | Chapter 16

Fandom: The Mandalorian

Pairing: Mando x OC

Read on FFN or AO3

Summary: When Sinead's husband is ripped from her, she escapes the Hutt Empire and goes on a quest to find him. Since being a runaway slave in the Outer Rim isn't exactly easy, she makes the Mandalorian an offer he can't refuse and soon they travel across the galaxy, looking for her missing husband.

Chapter index

Chapter 16 - Sinead Get Your Gun

"Stop! I'll do it!"

The yellow orb stopped a few centimeters from Sinead's face.

The Master's lips curled into an imitation of a smile and stepped back, extinguishing the yellow light. "That wasn't so hard now, was it?"

Sinead let out a shaky breath. The room suddenly felt ice cold.

"Let her go!" Mando was straining against the guards holding him back.

"Certainly. As soon as you're done with the fight, you're both free to go."

"Now."

The Master chuckled. "That's not possible, I'm afraid. What's to stop you from trying to escape if we don't have some … collateral. I assure you she'll be perfectly safe."

She wished she could see Mando's face. He didn't look at her.

"If anything happens to her …"

The Master's smile grew wider.

"You have my word.

… … … … …

Sinead was dragged to another room a few doors down. It was smaller and bare except for a chair sitting in front of the window. The glass, which spanned the room, wasn't flawless but had a seam running down through the middle. One guard pushed her down on the chair with a rough order not to move. He needn't bother; all but two guards had left with Mando and the Master, but these two were armed to the teeth, and her entire body still felt like jelly that had been forced through a sieve. 

The crowd wasn't happy about the delay, and she could feel, as well as hear, their anger through the thick glass.

"He needs to get on with it if he doesn't want a riot on his hands," said the Duros guard.

The Weequay guard grunted. "Ungrateful bastards. The Master's givin' them something to gawk at for decades, least they could do is shut up an' let him do it."

"Let's hope your Mandalorian is up for the task," the Duros said, brushing a cold finger along the back of Sinead's neck, and she flinched to the side.

The guards laughed, and Sinead ignored them. This was all her fault, but there had to be a way to fix it.

Breathe.

"Look likes the Ringmaster's ready," said the Duros, his raspy voice nearly drowned out by the screaming crowd as the Nautolan stepped up on the platform.

"LADIES AND GENTS, WE APOLOGIZE FOR THE DELAY. TURNS OUT WE HAVE A NEW CHALLENGER COME TO TEST HIS METTLE AGAINST THE ULTIMATE FIGHTER! WILL THIS STRANGER LEAVE WITH HONOR OR WILL HIS BLOOD DRENCH THE SAND!"

Sinead swallowed thickly, her stomach turning at the thought of the kid waiting for them back at the ship.

"FIRST, WE HAVE OUR REIGNING CHAMPION FROM THE DEEP JUNGELS OF KASHYYYK, THE BLOODIED, THE DARKNESS FROM RWOOKRRORRO, UANNKA THE WOOKIEE!"

A Wookiee appeared sprinting up a ramp, long legs quickly carrying him to the middle of the arena. His brown fur was shorter than most Wookiee's and he wore an intricate helmet that glinted in the sharp light. One paw held a heartlance as long as his body. He lifted it to thunderous applause.

The Duros' coarse laugh filled the room. "Your man is kriffed going up against the champion."

"Bet the Master is tryin' to kill him. No one stands a chance against the Bloodied," said the Weequay.

She tried tuning them out while her mind spun wildly out of control. Mando could take care of himself, but even he would get overpowered eventually. She doubted the Master would ever let them go even if Mando managed to get out of the arena alive.

The Ringmaster continued, "THE CHALLENGER TODAY DESCENDS FROM A PROUD WARRIOR RACE NOW MERELY A DYING ECHO IN THE GALAXY. WILL THIS ONE LIVE UP TO THE REPUTATION OF HIS ANCESTORS? BEHOLD, THE MANDALORIAN!"

Mando walked slowly up the ramp, every movement careful and calculated in stark contrast to the Wookiee, who swung his heartlance and roared so loudly that Sinead felt the air's vibrations.

They met in the middle where Mando motionlessly watched Uannka pace back and forth in the sand, puffing out his chest and roaring.

The Weequay leaned against the glass. "Look at that little shiv they've given him."

Sinead strained her eyes and saw that Mando was indeed wielding a blade barely a foot long, nothing compared to Uannka's force pike.

"Probably not even vibro."

"Barely fit to gut a gwerp."

Down on the arena floor, Uannka stopped pacing and was staring down Mando, who didn't move a muscle while Uannka blustered.

"WHO WILL EMERGE VICTORIOUS AND WHO WILL PROVE UNWORTHY?

LET THE FIGHTING BEGIN!"

It happened so fast. Barely had the echo died away before Uannka grabbed his heartlance in both hands and swung it at Mando, who twisted out of the way. The lance hit the ground and threw a cloud of sand up in the air.

They circled each other. Uannka lashed out again, and Mando stepped to the side, grabbing the lance as it passed his head. Uannka kicked out and caught Mando in the stomach, sending him sprawling on the sand.

Uannka followed and lifted his weapon.

Mando hurled a fistful of sand into the Wookiee's face. Uannka roared, and Mando rolled to his feet in one fluid motion. He dashed forward and sliced Uannka across the chest.

The blade barely broke the skin.

"See," Duros laughed. "Not even vibro."

Uannka jumped away and struck with his lance; it glanced off Mando's beskar pauldron.

"When he dies, you think she's going in the ring?" The Duros said.

"Won't put up much of a fight, will she?"

Sinead dug her fingernails into the palm of her hand.

A tinny voice coming from the Weequay forced Sinead back in the moment.

"Hey, Tyrsk!"

The Weequay scowled and pulled out a comlink. "This better be important," he spat, "The fight's started."

"We got a problem out here with one of the sponsors."

"Yeah? What's it got to do with me? I'm watchin' the prisoner."

"Just get your bony ass out here! We about to have a pissed off Wookiee on our hands."

Sinead sat still as a statue, trying to look as small and harmless as possible.

Tyrsk heaved a sigh. "Fine, I'm comin'. Don't get et before I get there." He looked at the Duros. "Make sure she doesn't move."

The Duros chuckled and fiddled with his blaster. "What's she gonna do? She's just a human girl."

"Just don't let her out of your sight, okay?" Tyrsk stomped across the floor, his pale eyes boring a hole into Sinead's back. "Need to do everything myself," he muttered before the door slammed shut behind him.

Now it was just Sinead and the Duros in the small room and his presence was a heavy weight beside her. Her ears prickled whenever he moved.

She wet her lips. "What ... what did this room use to be?"

"Shut it," the Duros said harshly and flicked her ear.

"It's odd having an empty room up here, is all, surrounded by all this wealth."

"I told you to shut it." The Duros' voice was deceptively calm. "Another word out of you, and I'll feed you to the akk dogs downstairs, ya hear? Just sit there and watch your Mandalorian be turned into ground beef."

Down on the arena floor, Mando went low and drew his blade across Uannka's thigh. The Wookiee fell to one knee to the crowds' delight. Blood dripped from the weapon as Mando backed out of reach.

"FIRST BLOOD HAS BEEN SPILLED!" The Ringmaster screamed.

Uannka got up and thundered towards Mando, roaring so loudly that Sinead felt it in her bones.

Her heart stuttered to a halt.

The heartlance glanced off Mando's armor, throwing sparks into the air. Uannka kept going, his momentum too strong.

He crashed into Mando, and they both went down.

Time slowed as neither of them moved. This was it. He was dead and she was next. A strangled sob escaped her as she though of the kid, waiting for them, not knowing that he would never see Mando again …

Uannka rolled over, and Mando slowly got to his feet. His blade was buried to the hilt in the Wookiee's chest.

The crowd exploded. There was no other word for it. They howled and screamed, jumping up and down until it felt like the arena was shaking.

Sinead let out a breathless laugh. He did it!

The Master watched silently from his throne.

"WHAT A SHOW! THE MANDALORIAN HAS TRULY PROVED HIMSELF TO BE A WORTHY OPPONENT! BUT WHAT WILL HE DO AGAINST A FEARSOME PREDATOR BRED IN THE DESERT OF FLORRUM?"

Mando scrambled back as a large portion of the arena fell away, and a scaly head appeared from the darkness. A long, gnarled body lumbered up the ramp.

Sinead had only seen an Oolo once before, in the palace on Sriluur. It had been a gift from Jabba to Slezza and had killed five palace guards before someone managed to put it down.

"Well, if the Bloodied didn't kill him …" the Duros snickered.

Once the Oolo was entirely out in the open, it reared back and hissed. It looked like a boulder come to life. Its battering-ram sized tail swung from side to side.

Mando dashed across the sand towards Uannka's heartlance.

Both Sinead and the Duros jumped when the door opened, and a new guard stuck his head through the crack.

"We need your help," he said, panting slightly. "The Wookiee's gone mad, we can't control him."

"Get someone from the lower levels to do it."

"They're out doing crowd control or dealing with the Mandalorian. C'mon, man!"

Once again, Sinead looked as small as possible. Please, please, please, I'm no threat to you. Leave!

The Duros opened his mouth but was cut off by a deep roar that did not come from the arena.

"Kriff!" the guard looked down the hall and his face paled. "Just lock the door behind her, what's she gonna do in an empty room?" He slammed the door shut just as another roar split the air.

The Duros pulled her up and checked her pockets for anything that could help her escape. When he didn't find anything, he pushed her back into the chair. "If you've moved so much as a centimeter when I come back, I'll throw you into the Pit. Understand?"

As soon as the door clicked shut, she sprang into action; she wedged the chair under the door even though it wouldn't be much of a challenge for an angry Duros, it could buy her a bit more time. Next, she circled the room, running a hand across the wall, checking for any gap or crack, but it was solid all the way around.

Years of use had turned the carpet into a brownish color instead of deep red, and scuff marks outlined where there once had been heavy furniture. Whatever the room had been, it was now empty, and it didn't look like they'd left anything behind when they cleared it out.

A boom shook the building. Sinead dashed across the floor to look down into the arena: the Oolo lifted its tail and smashed it into the ground, throwing up a tidal-wave of sand where it hit. Mando threw himself to the side, narrowly avoiding getting pulverized.

Sinead fell to her knees. There had to be a way out.

The Oolo reared round and tried to squash Mando with its tail again. The window rattled, and she noticed that a small gap had appeared between the wall and the glass.

With shaking hands, she grabbed the frayed rug and pulled. It came away easily and bared the cold stone floor beneath. Once it was gone, she discovered that the glass ran on a small track that looked like it hadn't been used for a long time. A tiny keyhole was set into the sliding.

Was it for maintenance? It looked old and forgotten, the guards certainly hadn't been aware of it, otherwise they wouldn't have left her alone.

She pulled out two carpet pins and jammed them into the hole. Blood pounded in her ears and she shot a frantic look over her shoulder at the door. She kept losing her grip on the pins. One snapped and she threw it across the room.

"C'mon," she whispered, wiping her sweaty brow with the back of her hand.

Suddenly, the mechanism clicked in place and the glass moved a centimeter before getting stuck with a grinding sound.

Sinead jammed her fingers into the crack and heaved, ignoring her screaming muscles.

Slowly, the window moved.

The deafening noise from the crowd nearly knocked her back. Thousands of voices joined together to make an unintelligible howl.

A narrow ledge ran alongside the window just wide enough for her to walk on without falling to her death.

Down in the arena, the Oolo brought its front legs down on the ground with a resounding boom. Mando jumped out of its field of vision, and it reared back, its big yellow eyes scanning the arena.

Mando appeared beneath the Oolo. The creature hissed when it saw him, spitting globs of venom. Its eyes narrowed.

Sinead couldn't look away.

As the Oolo came down, Mando thrust the lance between the Oolo's armored plates between its front legs. Its scream reverberated in Sinead's head.

She took a deep breath and stepped out on the worn stone. The air was hot and dry. It felt like she was back on Sriluur. A metallic smell of blood permeated everything.

Pressing herself against the cold, smooth glass, she inched her way along the ledge, hoping that the rooms would be empty.

A shriek went through the crowd, and Sinead instinctively looked down; she'd never been scared of heights, but the fact that the only thing standing between her and a deadly drop was a couple of centimeters of crumbling stone made her head spin and her mouth taste like cobber.

Mando backed up as three nexu stalked across the sand, their wide mouths open in a terrible grin.

She tore her eyes away to concentrate on the perilous walk. As long as nobody looked up, she would make it. Had the two guards discovered that she had escaped?

Suddenly the glass fell away, and she tumbled into the repository, or whatever it was. The world spun as she buried her fingers in the carpet, allowing herself to feel the solid ground before getting to her feet. The floor was littered with broken glass and ancient weapons which had yet to be cleared away. She grabbed a strange looking blaster on her way across the floor and concealed it under the back of her shirt. Pressing an ear to the door, she tried to still her beating heart enough to hear. There were sounds of running feet and anther ear-splitting roar; so Feyvik was still going.

She peeked into the corridor. Sounds of fighting just around the corner made her run the opposite direction. She had no idea where she was running to, only that she had to get out of there.

Shadows appeared on the wall, and her heart stopped.

A door opened next to her, and with a quick decision, she shoved it open and dove inside. A terrified servant yelped, and Sinead clamped a hand over her mouth.

"Shhh!" She hissed, shooting a frightened look at the door. It sounded like a whole battalion sprinted by outside.

The room was a small kitchen, a stone counter and an unlit heater the only furniture. A door led into another room.

The servant shook under Sinead's hand.

A distinct Wookiee roar cut through the air and gave Sinead an idea.

"What are you doing here?" She ripped her hands away.

"I-I was just-"

"There's a Wookiee running rampant on this floor! We have to get out of here! Now!"

The servant's legs gave out under her, and Sinead had to grab her again to keep her from falling.

"Listen-"Sinead hauled her to the nearest counter and sat her down- "who else is up here?"

The servant blubbered, and Sinead shook her. For the plan to work, she had to keep the servant off balance. "Well?"

"I'm the only one up here. The Master-"

"Is there another way out of here? The stairs aren't safe." For me, anyway.

The pale servant nodded slowly and pointed a shaking finger at a metal square set into the wall. Sinead pressed a button beside it, and it opened to reveal a small lift, barely big enough for a person.

"Where does it lead to?"

"Kitchen down in the Undercroft. The big one."

"Right." Sinead crossed the floor and grabbed the servant. "In you go."

"W-what? I can't fit in there!"

Another roar sounded closer than before.

"You'd rather stay?"

Sinead helped the servant squeeze into the lift. Once she was tucked in, Sinead's finger hovered over the down button. "When you get down there, you need to tell everyone to run. Master's orders."

"But why would he-"

"Have you ever seen what an angry Wookiee can do to a person? Do you want to?"

The servant looked like she was about to faint.

"Remember! You have to run."

Once the lift closed, she had to work fast on some kind of distraction.

A stack of crates in the corner grabbed her attention and she tore the lid away and peered inside, finding dark bottles packed in sawdust. She turned one of the bottles over. Cassandran Choholl. Very useful. Very flammable.

She grabbed as many bottles as she could carry and kicked open the other door, hoping the servant was right when she said that she was alone. The door opened into a study, the only light coming from the window. It seemed that care had been taken to make the room completely soundproof, as the constant hum from the crowd faded away as soon as she stepped inside.

She threw one of the bottles as hard as she could. It flew through the air and landed on the desk, smashing into a thousand pieces. The air was filled with a sharp, sweet smell that made Sinead's nose itch.

The rest of the bottles followed. The last one was upended on the floor,

trailing back

to the door, which she propped open with a vase. Even if she ended up dying, there was a sort of solace to be found in the fact that she had wasted more credits than she would ever see in a lifetime in just a minute.

She needed fire. Every cabinet under the counter was thrown open and the content pulled out on the floor. Her mouth was dry as she frantically tried to find anything useful. It was clear this kitchen was rarely used. At least not for any fire-making purposes.

A sack at the very back of a cupboard fell over and spilled a small amount of white powder on the floor. As she pulled it out, a cloud of white whirled into the air. Flour. She could use that.

The lift whirred as it reached the kitchen down below. Sinead punched the button to call it back. That done, she flung the sack around, coating the entire room in flour. It rose like a wave around her, coating the inside of her mouth and nose. For a moment, it was all she could see.

The ancient heater groaned as she turned a knob and a small, blue flame appeared between the scorched metal.

As soon as the lift appeared, she threw herself into the small space. The last thing she saw before the lift doors closed was the cloud of flour growing bigger and the lone flame flickering on the heater. She had to curl up to fit in the lift, her knees pressed against her chest and her head bent at an unnatural angle. The contraception whirred and shook violently. The lift became smaller and smaller. Her clothes stank of Choholl, the smell enough to make her dizzy.

Just as the cold fingers of panic had closed around her throat, the doors opened. She rolled out onto the cold stone floor. The kitchen was empty.

She was picking herself up from the floor when a boom shook the building, and a blast of hot air shot out of the open lift, which jumped, and the rope holding it snapped, sending it falling into the darkness with a crash.

There were screams from up above and thunderous footsteps on the other side of the door. Once they died away, she stole into the stairwell.

The undercroft was in complete chaos. Panicked shouts filled the big chamber, workers dashed between each other, hauling ropes or cages across the floor.

No one noticed an extra person join in the confusion.

Most of the remaining workers were prepping three akk dogs to be sent up. The creatures snarled and snapped at anyone getting too close to their cages.

Sinead's eyes were drawn to the holoprojector by the large control panel showing a translucent Mando running from the last nexu. The other two lay dead beside the Oolo.

All the guards were gone, and she still had the strange blaster; taking out the lone worker operating the controls would be easy. Until someone attacked her with an electro whip, that is.

Instead, she hurried into the adjacent chamber where the caged slaves were up and whispering amongst themselves. Fear and confusion hung in the air.

Only two guards were walking back and forth between the cages. One of them brought his electrostaff down on the bars, sending a shower of sparks into the air.

"Shut up!" he bellowed.

She found Belan and slunk up beside the cage.

"You're alive," he whispered, wrinkling his brows when he saw her flour-covered appearance. "The explosion, that was you?"

"No time," she ground out. "Need you to distract the guards."

"How?"

"Figure something out."

She moved back into the shadows as he pushed his way to the top of the cage and waited until one of the guards was right beside him. His hands shot out and grabbed the guard, slamming him against the bars.

"Get off me, you little whelp!" The guard tried to snatch his blaster, but new hands grabbed his arms and held them down.

"Hey! Let him go!" the other guard ran forwards, brandishing his electrostaff.

Sinead pulled out the blaster, took aim, and fired.

A small projectile exploded out of the blaster with an ear-splitting bang and an acrid smell of chemicals. The kickback almost wrenched it out of her hand.

The guard stumbled and fell to the ground.

A dirty hand snaked around the last guard and grabbed his blaster, and he went down with a strangled scream, a smoking hole in his back.

"Get us out of here!" someone screamed.

Wires ran from all the cages to a mechanism bolted on the wall, with a simple lever that she grabbed and pulled. Every door beeped and slid to the side simultaneously. Soon the chamber was filled with thin bodies clamoring towards the sewer entrance, nearly lifting Sinead off her feet. She was shoved against a hitherto unseen workstation hidden between the cages, the sharp edge cutting into her hip. Cards from a game of sabacc were scattered across the surface.

She was about to fight her way through the crowd when something peeking out from under the workstation caught her eye and she pulled it out.

An old datapad fell into her hands, one of those without any light that flickered to a new page when you pressed a small button at the bottom of the screen. In the dimly lit chamber all she could make out was a long list of names and a number. She shoved it under her shirt and out of the way.

Panic spread among the newly freed captives as the sewer remained shut. Sinead was shoved as some of the group turned and ran for the tunnel, spilling into the main chamber. Sounds of fighting reached her, and she fought her way through the mass of bodies.

Most of the workers ran when the slaves appeared; some grabbed the nearest weapon, but they didn't stand a chance against the press of panicked people. Sinead watched as a worker brandishing an electro-whip was swarmed until he turned and ran.

Sinead made her way to the control panel. Panic from the freed slaves and her own fear made her vision blur.

The translucent Mando was still alive, but the last nexu was nearing, and he had lost the lance. When it came too close, he shot a burst of fire from his gauntlet that made the nexu rear back before the flame died away.

She looked over the control panel. There were so many buttons and levers.

The akk dogs howled.

"Screw this," she mumbled and pressed a big red button.

The mechanisms groaned as the three cages were lifted into the air. A portion of the ceiling slid down.

"No, no, no, no, NO!" She watched horrified as the creatures lumbered up the ramps to thunderous applause.

On the holoprojector, Mando threw himself to the side at the last second, and the nexu tore into one of the akk dogs, the nexu's long claws ripping into its flanks.

She started slapping the console, eyes fixed on the hologram, her breath coming out in shallow bursts. Cages opened and closed. Some were lifted high in the air or slammed into the ground.

Suddenly, a section of the ceiling fell away, and the Mandalorian rolled into the chamber in a cascade of sand.

… … … … …

Din's lungs were burning. He inched back, keeping an eye on the nexu, acutely aware that he was surrounded.

So this was how it would end. He hoped Sinead made it back to the ship, got the kid out of there. He tried to push the thought away.

The nexu crouched and opened its maw, emitting a foul stench of death and decay.

He wouldn't go down without a fight. The pain in his arm where another nexu had gotten him died away as his heart rate slowed.

This is the way.

The nexu pounced, and the ground vanished under his feet.

Din rolled backward down the ramp until suddenly he was falling. He crashed into the ground, knocking every last breath out of his chest.

The world spun. He tried to get up, but a weight landed on his chest, sharp claws tearing into his already wounded arm.

Something exploded above him and the weight disappeared.

He couldn't move. Couldn't breathe.

Hands grabbed his shoulders and shook him.

"Mando? Oh, please don't be dead."

Slowly, his vision cleared.

"Sinead?" He gasped out with his first breath.

"Thank the stars!" Her forehead hit his chest plate for a moment before she got up and pulled him with her. "We have to run!"

Muscles shook as he got to his feet. "… the … records-"

"No time!" She kept a hold on his uninjured hand and pulled him along.

As his head was clearing, he noticed that the chaos around them, empty cages and creatures fighting among themselves.

They ran up a flight of stairs, Din letting her lead the way while he came to grips with the fact that he was still alive.

Citizens of Strako, the ones who'd screamed for his blood just moments before, ran amok through the corridors. There were snarls and howls behind him as the creatures followed them up the stairs.

The cold night air hit him when they made it outside. No guards were manning the main entrance, no one stopped them as they disappeared into the city.

Strako rang out with screams that seemed louder in the night. Frantic citizens fled while snarling, roaring, howling creatures spilled from the arena.

They never stopped running.

The spaceport teemed with activity on the ground and in the air. Sinead took charge, shoving her way to the Crest, which stood untouched in its corner.

She was the first to get up the ramp and disappear into the ship. The child woke up with an angry screech as she thundered past his crib and scrambled up the ladder to the cockpit.

Din pressed the command to close the ramp and let himself slide down the wall with a pained grunt. His body buzzed with adrenaline. Leaning his head back and closing his eyes, he tried to slow his breathing.

The ship shook as it came to life and rose into the air, wobbling a bit before moving out of the spaceport.

Small hands tugged on his pant leg, and he opened his eyes. The child looked up at him with a scrunched face and drooping ears, gripping the doll tightly. He sensed when Din looked at him and made a pathetic little sound.

He was scared. The realization made Din's heart clench.

"It's okay," Din mumbled and lifted the kid onto his lap. "It's okay."

The kid pressed his face against Din's chest plate. The beskar had to be so cold and hard, but he still did it.

"It's okay."

Only when the ship had entered hyperspace, did Din allow himself to relax, letting some of the tension ebb out of his body. He didn't care where they were going, as long as it was away from Loovria. Another planet to add to his rapidly growing list of places he wanted to avoid at all costs.

His eyes drifted shut. With every beat of his heart, a stab of pain shot through his arm.

The sound of Sinead's boots hitting the floor brought him back. He just wanted to sleep.

"Mando?"

He looked at her. She strode across the floor, her hands fidgeting with white powder clinging to her hair and clothes.

"You … you're okay?"

He winced as he tried to sit up. "Yeah."

Sinead breathed out a sigh of relief. "I don't know where we're going. Just picked the first route out of here."

"We'll figure it out."

Her face was drawn under the harsh lights. "Mando, I'm…" she stopped, biting her lower lip.

The child made a sound as Din shifted him to cradle him against his chest before trying to stand up.

Sinead was there, grabbing his uninjured arm and pulling him towards the bunk. His first instinct was to shake her off, tell her that he could handle it himself. But he didn't. He was just so tired.

Bloodlets fell from his fingertips, and the kid reached for the injury. He made an angry sound as Sinead grabbed him and pulled him away.

"You need help with that?" Her eyes were fixated on the dripping blood, ignoring the wriggling kid in her arms.

"I got it," Din grunted. Gritting his teeth, he carefully peeled the glove off.

It was a mess. Two puncture wounds on the back of his hand seemed to be the source of most of the blood, but he could feel other injuries further up his forearm. If it hadn't been for the beskar, he wouldn't have an arm left to patch up.

With a sharp intake of breath, Sinead stepped closer while making sure the kid stayed in her arms. "Fuck," she breathed.

"It's fine." It really wasn't, but he didn't know what else to say. He gave up trying to roll his sleeve over the injuries, instead cutting the fabric away with a nearby knife.

Sinead put down the child and raced to the nearest compartment. "I used the last t' pala paste. Stupid."

"Sinead, you don't have to …" he watched as she ripped open another compartment and rifled through the contents. Pain pulsed through his arm in a steady rhythm, reaching all the way up to his shoulder. The wounds on his forearm would be easy enough to fix, but his hand was a whole other question; the nerves, tendons, and bones would take little more than a bandage.

The kid tried to climb onto the bunk, and Din halfheartedly pushed him away.

"Got it!"

Sinead turned, a bacta patch clutched in her hands, one he didn't even remember getting. Bacta was so expensive in the Outer Rim that he usually did without it. She dragged an empty box across the floor and sat down in front of him, her legs brushing against his. He watched her as she grabbed the knife and carefully cut the packet open.

"What are you doing?" He instinctively leaned back, trying to get more space between them.

"An old trick I learned in the palace. If you have a lot of injuries and not a lot of bacta, you do this." The tip of her tongue poked out between her lips as she cut the last three sides. A sickly sweet smell quickly spread through the hull. "These things can't really be reused. Not very useful in this situation."

He let her nervous chatter and the hum from the ship's engine wash over him. Pain was the only reason he hadn't already drifted off to sleep.

Something warm touched his arm and he jumped, his other hand shooting out to protect himself.

Sinead stared wide-eyed up at him. He'd grabbed her wrist so hard, she had dropped a piece of cloth that fluttered to the floor.

"Sorry," she breathed. "I thought you were asleep."

He blinked hard and let go of her wrist. The new adrenaline spike made his head spin. Had she gotten up to get the rag? The kid was back in his crib, trying to climb over the side, so she must have.

"Wasn't," he mumbled.

She bent down and grabbed the rag from the floor. "I'm just going to clean up the blood, okay?" Her voice was soft.

"Can do it myself." He reached out for the cloth, but she kept it out of his reach.

"Just relax. I know what I'm doing."

Instincts honed by years alone in the Outer Rim screamed out to push her away, to find a secluded place and mend his wounds alone. Here, he was helpless, vulnerable. If she wanted, she could kill him right now, and he wouldn't be able to stop her.

He couldn't suppress a shudder when she touched his wrist, gently turning his hand. She stopped at the movement, her eyes flickering to his. "This is probably gonna hurt."

He nodded slowly.

Biting her lower lip, she set to work on cleaning the blood, which had mostly stopped flowing. Some of it had already dried, and she rubbed carefully, watching him for any sign of pain.

He gritted his teeth, focusing his eyes on a hook hanging from the ceiling. Pain coursed through his arm, but that wasn't the most distracting part. Pain he was used to. Sinead's touch was light and gentle as she worked, now and again glancing up at him as if she could see his face, looking for any sign of discomfort. When she moved her hand, she left a tingling sensation just beneath his skin.

She left the rag on the bunk, out of the kid's reach. He had given up trying to get to Din and was sulking on the floor.

"Can you hold this, please?"

Din held the bacta patch in his good hand, and she opened it carefully, taking care to not spill any of the gel. Instead of just a gob of bacta, there was a wad of gauze drenched in the gel, and she peeled off the first see-through sheet.

"Worst part's over." She smiled up at him, but it didn't fully reach her eyes.

She started from the top, carefully placing the paper over a gash. Immediately, it was like Din had submerged his arm in water so cold it dulled all other senses.

"It takes longer to work this way, and there'll be some scarring, but it's better than nothing."

A few more scars didn't really make a difference.

She worked in silence. Din watched her through heavy-lidded eyes.

"Mando …" she said, breaking him out of his daze. "I'm so sorry about all of this …" She stared intently at his wounded arm. "This is my fault. I should never have asked you to do this."

His brows furrowed. "But you didn't? The Pau'an-"

"That's not what I meant." She brushed a few tendrils of hair that had escaped her braid out of her face and left a bloody mark across her cheek. "I should never have asked you to pretend to be a fighter, or leave you with Rundu while I run off blindly, getting both of us caught."

He tried to summon the anger he had felt when she left him with the Neimoidian, but the bacta and her touch made it hard to feel anything at all.

"Thank you."

Her hands stilled, and their eyes met. For a long moment, neither of them spoke.

Din was the first one to look away, not sure what to say. His eyes fell on the blaster Sinead had left on the floor when she first entered the Crest. Suddenly, the explosion he'd heard made sense.

"Where d'you find a slugthrower?"

She looked over her shoulder at the weapon. "From the Master's collection."

"And the flour?"

Sinead looked confused for a moment before huffing out a laugh. "Oh, that. My little distraction." She scratched the side of her nose, leaving more blood. "My mother told me if I ever needed a big explosion, to find the kitchen and get my hands on whatever loose powder I could find. Every place has a kitchen. Well, except this one." She gestured with a bloodied hand to the rest of the ship.

"There's a galley."

She shot him a wry smile. "No, there's not. Just because you weld a cooker and a cold box to the inside of a gunship doesn't mean it's a galley."

"Mhm." He allowed himself to smile and leaned his head against the wall. Sinead's touch was becoming almost hypnotic.

The next thing he remembered was Sinead standing up, having wrapped the last of the bacta around his hand.

"You go get some rest. I'll clean this up," she said, going to the sink and cleaning her hands. Din noticed the blood down her shirt and in a puddle on the floor. The child had fallen asleep leaning up against his crib.

"I'm fine."

"You can't be fine, you nearly got your arm bitten off." She lifted the child and put him in his crib. "Go. I promise the world won't end just because you get some well-deserved rest."

It felt like it would.

"But-"

"Mando." The word came out in a sigh. "The bacta won't work properly unless you sleep. There's nothing here for you to do."

He looked at the kid sleeping peacefully in his crib. "If anything happens, come get me."

"Okay."

"I mean it."

"Okay!" She held her hand up, palms out. "If, for whatever reason, anything happens while we're hurtling through hyperspace, I promise I'll come and get you."

Din grunted and rolled his eyes under the helmet.

The door to the storage space closed behind him, and he slipped off his helmet, taking a deep breath of recycled air. It was over.

He crawled onto the cot, not bothering to get out of the rest of his armor. His body felt heavy, and it was like his arm didn't know whether to hurt or to tingle. Quickly, the smell of bacta spread in the small room.

The last thing he remembered before drifting away was the sound of Sinead knocking around on the other side of the door.

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[tysonbaerrie]

it don't always go the way we planned it

For my hockey babes @bisexualtylerseguin, @blameitonmyjuuse, @ohstarlings and @austonandersen who never fail to make me smile and are always ready to flail over Bennguin and come up with ridiculous, dramatic theories as to why they aren’t hugging. Title is from “The Bones” by Maren Morris. 

It's the last night that Tyler's in the Bahamas that it happens. They've all gathered for dinner when Jamie and Katie walk in hand-in-hand, beaming and happy and so in love that it makes Tyler's stomach hurt. They haven't even sat down when Jessie gasps, pointing to Katie. That's when Tyler sees it, the unmistakable sparkle on Katie's left hand. 

"About time!" Jordie exclaims as Katie leans into Jamie, his face quickly growing red. 

The table explodes with congratulations and good wishes, and Tyler stays frozen in his seat. He hadn't told Tyler that he was even thinking about proposing, and what did it say about the state of their friendship that Tyler hadn't known? They were best friends, linemates, the face of the franchise and Tyler hadn't known. 

He watches as Katie flashes the ring, beautiful and classic and so very her. Jessie and Kate and the other women at the table ooh and aah over it and Jamie stands by her, looking increasingly uncomfortable at the attention but also staring at Katie as though she's the center of his universe. Tyler can't stand it, having the last bit of his hope dashed. He feels his heart cracking in his chest, and he feels both hot and cold at the same time, and it's hard to breathe in the way it feels when he takes a particularly hard hit to the boards. He pushes away from the table without a word, not even a glance to Kate, his mind scattered and frantic but sure that he had to leave that he had to be away. 

He turns his phone off and doesn't lift his head from underneath the blankets when Kate returns to their room. She's silent and the air is tense around them as she changes clothes and climbs in next to him. She's still and quiet and Tyler can feel the change when she sags down into the bed. 

"Ty?" She tries, and he knows that she knows he's awake but he can't answer her. "Ty, I like you, but when we get back to Dallas...I think we're done."

Tyler expects it to hurt, but the only image that comes to mind is Jamie, and Jamie and Katie, and the ring on her finger. Kate being the brave one and ending things between them brings only relief. 

The next morning, Kate meets the girls for one last breakfast while Tyler showers and packs, preparing to head straight from the islands to St. Louis for All-Star weekend. Before, he hated that Jamie wasn't going with him, but now he's not ashamed to admit that he's looking forward to some space from his best friend. A knock on his door pulls him from his thoughts, and he's surprised to find Jamie standing on the other side, hands in his pockets as he stares at him. 

"Hey." Tyler greets him, and he feels ashamed at the crack in his voice. 

"Hey." Jamie replies. "Can we talk?"

"Sure, yeah, come on in." Tyler steps out of the doorway to allow Jamie in, and he watches Jamie scan the room. 

"Kate's at breakfast with Jessie and a few of the other girls."

"Yeah, Katie's there too." Jamie replies as he starts pacing the room. Tyler finds himself wringing his hands, waiting for Jamie to tell him what he came here for. He just paces though, running his hand over the back of his neck and then scratching his fingers through his beard. The face he makes is one that Tyler's seen countless times, when he's struggling to find the right words in the locker room when they're down and out after the second and he needs to say the exact right thing. 

"What's up, man?" Tyler finally cracks, trying to sound casual as Jamie freezes. 

"You ran out on dinner last night."

"Yeah, sorry, I just wasn't feeling well." Tyler knows it's lame, but it's the best he's got when Jamie turns his gaze to him, his eyes wide and full of hurt. 

"You ran out as soon as Katie and I walked in."

"I know, I'm sorry."

"Quit saying you're sorry. I know you don't like Katie, but..."

"I like Katie!" And the truth is, Tyler really does. He likes her, he thinks she's great, but then there's Jamie and she's the one who gets to have him and for a moment he hates her. Jamie gives him a disbelieving look. 

"Okay, but we just got fucking engaged and you just walked out. So what am I supposed to think?"

"It's not...I..." Tyler tries, feels the panic rising and his breathing quicken. "Jamie, please."

"Please, what? I just don't understand. You've always been distant with her, at first I thought...I don't know, but it's been years and now we're getting married and it's...I just wish you could be happy for me."

"I am, Chubbs, I am happy for you. If Katie's what makes you happy-"

"She is." Jamie interrupts, and Tyler sighs. 

"Then that's enough for me."

"Then why are you acting like this?" Jamie looks at him and Tyler wants to laugh, cry, grab the other man by the shoulders and shake him. "I just don't understand why you aren't happy about this." And he looks so genuinely confused and hurt that Tyler finally does let a harsh laugh escape, collapsing onto the bed with his head in his hands. 

"You know why." He finally whispers, so quiet that he's not sure Jamie hears him. "You have to know why."

"What?" Jamie finally asks, sitting next to him. "Do you...do you have feelings for Katie?"

"Oh, god." Tyler groans, wishing it were that simple. "No. Not Katie."

"But...oh."

Yeah. Tyler thinks. Oh.

"But you never said..." Jamie begins, and Tyer scoffs.

"Why would I? I knew you didn't feel the same. Why put us both through that kind of embarrassment?"

"Ty, I..."

"Please, Jamie. Don't. Don't make this any worse." Tyler jumps up, grabs his bags, and leaves the room without looking back at Jamie once. 

All-Star weekend is a disaster. Tyler's distracted, and heartbroken, and he has to put on his media face and be the happy-go-lucky Tyler Seguin that everybody knows and loves. He loses to skills competition to Patrick fucking Kane, and then they're knocked out in the actual game and just like that, his weekend is over. He's on a plane back to Dallas with absolutely no clue how he's going to deal with the fallout of his hotel room admission. 

He goes straight home, ignores the calls and texts on his phone except for one from Cassidy mocking him for losing the shooting stars competition. He replies with a series of middle finger emojis before locking his phone and collapsing onto the couch and losing himself in Netflix. 

There's no texts from Jamie. 

They have practice the next day, and Jamie is distant and quiet, only talking to him when they're on the ice and only about hockey. Tyler doesn't try to joke with him, avoids looking at him except when absolutely necessary. He's terrified of what he'll see there. Anger or disgust or - worse- pity. He hasn't seen anything on social media announcing Jamie and Katie's engagement, but he assumes they're waiting until perhaps the offseason when there's less attention on them. It doesn't make it hurt any less, because it's still real and it still feels like Tyler's losing Jamie in every way possible. 

When Jamie scores that amazing goal in OT against Tampa Bay the next night, Tyler's so lost in the euphoria of the win that he spreads his arms for Jamie without even thinking, waiting for the other man to crash into him in celebration.

It doesn't happen. 

Instead, he skates past him into Comeau, Perry, and Pavelski. Tyler stays on the periphery, watching as the team celebrates their victory as the crowd screams around them. 

Later, Jamie talks to the media and Tyler uses the extra time to shower and change and leave the arena before anyone has a chance to talk to him. His house is empty, but blessedly quiet, and he pulls a beer from the fridge and chugs half of it in one go. He'd always feared that Jamie would distance himself from him if he ever found out about Tyler's feelings, but he had never expected that it would hurt quite this much. He feels like he's lost everything in one go - his best friend, his linemate, the man he loves. He feels truly alone for the first time since he left Boston so many years ago. 

The pounding on his door is not a friendly knock. 

He briefly considers not answering, but the pounding continues with an intensity that tells him whoever it is isn't going anywhere. He checks the video on his doorbell and feels his stomach clench as Jamie comes into view. He pulls the door open and finds himself face to face with the other man. He's wearing a loose-fitting black t-shirt and well-worn jeans, his hair still slightly damp from his post-game shower despite the frigid temperature outside. 

"Jamie?"

"How long?" Jamie asks, and for the first time in years, his face is unreadable to Tyler. 

"How long what?"

"How long have you had...feelings for me?"

Tyler stares at him, shaking his head. Did Jamie really come all the way to his house to hash this out again?

"Come inside." Tyler finally replies, opening the door wider. He shuts it firmly, leaning his forehead briefly against the closed door before turning to face Jamie. 

"Why do you want to know, Jamie?"

"I just...please. I need to know." Jamie looks lost, and hurt, and it's something that Tyler never wanted to see on his face. He never wants to be the cause of any of Jamie's pain. 

"I don't know." Tyler finally admits, running his hand through his hair as he paces in front of Jamie. "I was attracted to you since we first met. It just...grew, I guess. I couldn't pinpoint an exact moment." Tyler hesitates for a moment before deciding that, if he's going to fucking himself over forever, he might as well do it right. "I feel like...at this point, I feel like I've always loved you."

Jamie turns away from him at that, casting his eyes to the ceiling, and Tyler knows that this is it. This is the moment that Jamie tries to let him down easy. Tries to be kind and gentle in breaking Tyler's heart. 

"You should've told me." Jamie finally tells him, rubbing his hands across his face. "You should've told me years ago."

"Why would I do that? It would have changed anything."

"It would have changed everything!" Jamie snaps, and just like that Tyler freezes, the anger in Jamie's voice something that he's only seen directed at other people. Never him. "Everything! I wouldn't have spent years trying to get over you, wouldn't have forced myself to move on, to try to find something who made me feel a fraction of what I feel for you!"

"I...what?" Tyler can't speak, can't think, because this...this is impossible. "You...had feelings for me?"

"Of course I did!" Jamie's pacing now, his eyes frantic and looking everywhere but at Tyler. "But I thought...I thought there was no way you felt the same. So, finally, I tried to move on. I met Katie, and I thought 'hey, maybe this could work. Maybe I'll finally get over Tyler and have a shot at being happy.' And I was! I was happy, I was going to marry Katie, and then you tell me that this whole time - this whole time - you felt the same!"

Tyler catches the past tense at was going to marry and freezes. He feels a small flicker of hope flare in his chest. If there was a chance, no matter how small...

"Jamie...are you engaged to Katie?" Tyler asks, and Jamie goes silent, stops pacing, the only sound in the house their heavy breathing. 

"Not anymore." Jamie finally admits, his shoulders sagging as the fight leaves him. 

Tyler kisses him. 

He feels Jamie freeze against him, but it only takes a moment for Jamiet to grip Tyler's waist, pulling him closer and changing the angle of their kiss. Tyler feels like he's going to explode out of his skin, the only things keeping him in one piece are the places where Jamie's touching him. It's chaste, as far as kisses go, but it makes Tyler feel more in one moment than all the lust-fueled kisses he's ever had in his life. It's everything that Tyler's ever wanted, and he honest-to-god whimpers when Jamie pulls away. He rests his forehead against Jamie's, breathing in the shared air between them. 

"I'm sorry." Tyler finally whispers, and Jamie pulls away to give him a questioning look. "I know you care about Katie. She didn't deserve to get hurt because of this."

"She gets it. I told her once, about you. I mean, she's mad as hell, but...she gets it."

"I love you." Tyler slides his hands up to cup Jamie's face. Jamie's smile is kind, gentle, and Tyler knows in his gut that this is it for him. 

"I love you, too." Jamie replies, and Tyler takes that as an invitation to kiss him again, this time with more fervor. Jamie groans when Tyler rubs against him, and it only makes Tyler more curious about the sounds he can pull out of Jamie. 

"Not that this isn't super romantic and shit." Tyler pulls away from Jamie, dropping kisses along his jaw and neck. "But will you please take me upstairs and fuck me?"

Jamie laughs, turns Tyler around, and shoves him toward the stairs. 

[itsivyberry]

tri-wizard champion {5}

The Maze

Draco Malfoy x Hufflepuff!Reader

a/n: my Christmas gift to you because 2020 has sucked ass and I want to finish this series before it’s over❤️ enjoy also READ THE MF TRIGGER WARNINGS THEY ARE REALLT IMPORTANT THIS TIME

word count: 4590

warnings: major character death, lots of blood, anxiousness, mentions of vomiting, sad sad stuff dude, also literally loss of a limb (there’s a warning before it begins, please don’t read if you can’t stomach it)

summary: the truth about the Y/L/N’s is to be revealed soon when Y/N is facing the dangers within the maze of the third task.

tag list: @drawlfoy @fanficflaneuse @ccelinewritess @accio-rogers @babyhoneystvles @nekee-lilac02 @dracofeltonmalfoy

masterlist

{ 1 } { 2 } { 3 } { 3.5 } { 4 } { 5 } { 6 }

gif credit: @harrysweasleys

The final task approached rapidly.

News about the sudden death of Barty Crouch spread throughout the student body quickly.

Y/N was growing anxious, more than she ever was for any other task. The spots from the grindylows had faded to a lighter color, similar to the two gashes on her back.

But now here she was, waking through a doorway to face the entire Hogwarts student body along with families and the Beauxbatons and Durmstrang students clad in a black and yellow outfit to represent Hufflepuff.

The three Hogwarts champions stood by their entrance to the maze. Cheers could be heard from every angle at which they stood, a lively march being played by the band.

Many students had homemade banners with the champions’ last names written all over. Y/N smiled at the sight of Draco holding a large banner with a silly drawing of her and Y/L/N written in big, bold, sparkly letters. She gave him a funny face and a thumbs up, and he blew a kiss right back mouthing “good luck.”

“Sonorus!” Dumbledore casted the amplifying charm, and the sounds of cheers and music died out. Students clambered to sit down, eager to hear about the task.

“Earlier today, Professor Moody placed the Triwizard Cup deep within the maze. Only he knows it’s exact position. Now, as Mr. Diggory...” cheers erupted at the sound of Cedric’s name, and Amos held his son’s hand high in recognition, “...Miss Y/L/N and Mr. Potter...” cheers grew louder and students stood, yelling for Harry and Y/N, including Ron, Hermione, and Draco, “...are tied for first position, they will be the first to enter the maze, followed by Mr. Krum...” more cheers, “...and Miss Delacour.”

“The first person to touch the cup will be the winner. I’ve instructed the staff to patrol the perimeter. Should, at any point, a contestant wish to withdrawal from the task, he or she need only send up red sparks with their wands. Contestants! Gather around. Quickly!”

Y/N rushed up, following Cedric to where Dumbledore stood. Her heart was pounding.

The five champions huddled up, and Dumbledore placed his arms around Y/N’s and Krum’s shoulders.

“In the maze, you’ll find no dragons or creatures of the deep. Instead you’ll face something even more challenging. You see, people change in the maze. Oh, find the cup if you can. But be very wary. You could just lose yourselves along the way.” The ominous undertone to his voice gave Y/N goosebumps.

Draco watched intently, trying to listen to what Dumbledore was saying to the five teens, but had no luck. His heart was pounding just as hard as Y/N’s was.

“Champions, prepare yourselves!” Dumbledore instructed, and the crowd cheered again.

Without thinking, Y/N turned around and bolted to the stands, stopping right in front of where Draco was.

“Wish me luck!” She said, jumping up to wrap her around a around his neck and pulled him close. He sat up to lean over the railing blocking the two of them, hugging her so tightly. “Awes” and “oohs” circled around the two of them.

“Good luck.” Draco whispered in Y/N’s ear, pulling back just enough to press his lips on hers in a rushed and anxious kiss.

She pulled away quickly, touching her feet to the ground and smiling warmly at him, before rushing back to her designated entrance to the maze, unknowing of what she should find inside.

Y/N looked into it, her heart hammering. It was too foggy to see any clearer than maybe 6 feet in front of her, and the hedges were impossibly tall.

Her thoughts began to bite at her. What if I don’t make it through in time? What if something in there kills me? What if I get lost and nobody can see the red sparks?

She wished she had the support of a representative like the other champions did. Y/N looked over to see Amos giving Cedric a tight hug, whispering something in his ear.

Just as quickly as he had hugged his son, he made his way over to the young girl and gave her a big hug too. “You’ll do amazing, Y/N. I wish both you and Cedric the best of luck.” He said into her ear.

“Thank you, Amos.” She smiled at him, allowing him to step back over to his son.

Cedric smiled at her, but it was wobbly. He could tell she was just as nervous as he was, and tried his best to comfort her with the distance between them.

“On the count of three. One-“ Dumbledore’s voice was cut off by the canon exploding early. Y/N couldn’t breathe as she watched Harry take the first step into the maze. Cedric followed right after, and the lively music from before flooded through the small arena.

The second Y/N stepped at least two feet into the maze, the entrance sealed off. It was deafening, how silent it had suddenly become.

Draco watched closely, as his girlfriend was suddenly separated from the eyes of the spectators. He knew her parents were watching somewhere in the crowd, feeling just as nervous as he was.

The only thing Y/N could hear was her own staggered breathing and the snaps of twigs beneath her feet. The passage was narrow, and she kept her want tightly in her hand.

The maze seemed to change every passing second, passages forming quickly. She was running now, trying to make sure she wouldn’t get crushed.

The first scream caught Y/N’s attention. It was loud, and bone chilling, and echoed throughout the entire maze. She was so sure the other champions must’ve heard it.

She was frozen. The scream must’ve come from Fleur, she had decided, and was silently praying the girl wasn’t hurt.

It was when an explosion over head, red sparks from only a passage over, had broken Y/N from her trance.

From outside the maze, everyone was silent at the first sight of surrender. Draco was repeating a mantra in his head.

Don’t be Y/N. Don’t be Y/N. Don’t be Y/N. Don’t be Y/N. Don’t be Y/N. Don’t be Y/N. Don’t be Y/N.

A glimmer caught her eye. She had barely moved from the entrance, not nearly putting in as much effort as she thought she would.

Y/N walked slowly towards it, whipping around and keeping her eyes open for any threat. A twig cracked behind her, and she screamed when something tackled her to the ground.

Draco heard the second scream. He knew it was Y/N after Fleur was removed from the maze. It took all of his control not to jump from the stands and force his way into the maze to find her himself.

“Y/N? Oh, Merlin I’m so sorry!” Cedric pulled himself off of her. “I thought you were Krum! He’s gone insane!” He helped her up.

Y/N’s eyes were blown wide and her breath was short. “You- you scared me! Don’t do that!”

Cedric must’ve seen the glimmer too, a glowing object in the distance.

“Together?” He asked her, not taking his eyes off the prize.

“Together.” She spokes quietly, taking the first step towards the cup.

Indistinct shouting not very far from the two Hufflepuffs made both of them jump. Krum, who’s eyes seemed to be incredibly cloudy from what Y/N remembered they actually looked like, was shooting hexes at Harry.

Harry’s defenses were down. “Get down!” Cedric yelled, jumping in front of Y/N and dodging the hex that had missed Harry. Y/N shrunk into the hedge to the left of her, covering her face with her hands.

“Get down!” Cedric yelled once more, Krum yelling another indistinguishable hex at Harry who was now on the ground.

“Expelliarmus!” Y/N gained the courage to jump up, hitting Krum square in the chest. He was thrown further away from the three of them, and seemingly unconscious.

Cedric ran over to him, kicking his wand from his hand. Y/N and Harry both realized he was about to cast another spell on him, Godric knows which one.

“No! Stop!” Harry yelled, holding him back. “He’s bewitched, Cedric!”

“Get off me!” He shoved Harry harshly.

“He’s bewitched!” Harry repeated.

“Cedric! Stop! Listen to him!” Y/N yelled, holding him back as well. Cedric shoved her to the ground so hard, her wrist snapped in half from the angle at which she hit the hard dirt. She cried out and it echoed, using her elbow to sit up and her feet to push away from the two boys. She had already caught a look at the ungodly angle her hand was suddenly bent at, and it made her want to vomit.

Cedric realized what he had done at the sound of his best friend’s scream. He was about to hold his wand up to send sparks for both Y/N and Krum, but Y/N jumped up before he could.

“Stop! We’ve already made it too far.” Her voice trembled. She was shaking violently, keeping distance between her and the two boys.

It was silent for a moment, the deafening sound taking over between the three teenagers just as when they first entered the maze.

“Together?” Cedric asked quietly, repeating what he said earlier, and looking at both of them.

“Together.” Harry and Y/N said at the same time.

Just as Y/N took a step towards them, a violent gust of wind hit her back and loud cracking echoed.

“Go!” Cedric yelled, grabbing Y/N’s good hand and running towards the cup. Harry ran after them, as quick as he could.

They made it to the center of the maze, and there stood the magnificent Triwizard Cup.

“Go on! Take it!” Cedric yelled.

“Together!” Harry yelled back, looking at Y/N who still had tears streaming down her face.

“One, two, three!” The three students jumped forward in the nick of time, grabbing ahold of the cup. A bright white light filled Y/N’s vision, and she was suddenly dizzy.

The three of them dropped onto the ground. She could sense their location had changed before she opened her eyes.

Harry and Cedric were on the ground near each other, gasping for breath. Y/N was thrown on the ground along with the cup, just a few feet away from them. The shock was beginning to wear off, and the pain was almost unbearable in her wrist.

“Come on, Y/N. Get up.” Cedric spoke quietly, the stillness of their new location scaring him. “You okay?” He asked both of them.

“Yeah.” Harry stood, looking around. Y/N allowed Cedric to help her stand, and she could finally see where they were. He held her broken wrist loosely in his hand, putting a protective arm around her shoulder.

A graveyard. The cup was a portkey. The sky was dark and cloudy, fog covering the rolling hills. Y’all tombstones towered over the three of them.

“Where are we?” She whispered.

“I’ve been here before.” Harry spoke suddenly.

“It’s a portkey. Harry, the cup is a portkey.” Cedric smiled mischievously down at the glowing cup.

“I’ve been here before.” Harry repeated. “In a dream.”

“Cedric! We have to get back to the cup. Now!” Harry’s voice was filled with fear and realization.

“Harry, what’s wrong?” Y/N asked, her eyes filling with tears again, thinking the worst that could possibly happen. Were they set up?

“What are you talking about?” Cedric pulled Y/N closer, trying to keep her safe from whatever Harry had realized.

A door creaked open loudly in front of them. It made Y/N jump, and the first tear rolled down her cheek.

Harry began shouting when a figure walked from the doorway. A scruffy man turned as he collapsed on the ground, and a fire was lit from under a large cauldron in front of the doorway. Cedric released Y/N from his hold, rushing over to Harry.

“Harry! What is it?” He spoke, his voice cracking from fear.

“Get back to the cup!” Harry yelled out of pain again, sounding rather irritated.

Cedric put distance between him and Harry as the figure stepped out from the doorway. Y/N immediately recognized him as Peter Pettigrew, a good friend of her parents before he betrayed them all for Voldemort. Her eyes were wide when she realized what he was holding in his arms.

“Who are you? What do you want?” Cedric spoke, holding his wand up as a threat.

“Cedric, back down now!” Y/N yelled pulling his shoulder back. He shrugged her off.

“Kill the spare. Keep the girl alive.” A raspy voice spoke.

“Avada Kedavra!”

“No! Cedric!” Harry yelled, attempting to stand but was too late.

A bright green light temporarily blinded her. She watched the unforgivable curse hit Cedric and throw him over her head and behind her. The second his corpse hit the ground, a loud sob escaped her mouth.

Peter rushed over to Harry, using his wand to force him to stand. He backed him up into a statue that locked him in place.

“Do it! Now!” The raspy voice spoke again.

Peter hesitated for a moment. He walked over to the cauldron, keeping a hold of the blanket in his hands but dropped whatever was holding it into the boiling substance.

“Bone of the father unwillingly given.” A disgusting bone was levitated from the ground, caught on fire and into the cauldron.

Y/N’s breathing was too short when the realization of a dead body behind her set in.

“Flesh of the servant...” he turned suddenly, rushing to Y/N and forcing her towards the cauldron.

“Stop! What are you doing to me!” She yelled, trying to release herself from his grip, but it was too strong.

“Willingly sacrificed.” A large knife was pulled from his sleeve. He forced her broken wrist above the steaming substance as she thrashed against him.

********THIS PART IS GROSS PLEASE PLEASE DONT READ IF YOU CANNOT HANDLE REALLY GORY STUFF!!!!!!!!!!! ‼️‼️‼️‼️

With no hesitation, he dug the sharp knife into her wrist, cutting through the bone and severing her hand into the liquid below. She screamed, louder than she ever thought she could. Blood spurt from her hand, staining the grass by her feet. Peter threw her on the ground, away from him and Harry.

She made quick work, ripping part of her shirt to wrap around her wrist, trying not to pass out from the loss of blood and the sight of her bone. Y/N had been taught what to do in this situation, just not to herself. She could barely even register what was happening as her fight or flight took over.

“And blood of the enemy...” he used the same knife to cut part of Harry’s sleeve. “Forcibly taken.” Peter dug the knife into his wrist, blood rushing down Harry’s arm and dripping from his elbow. He cried in pain, and it made Y/N wince.

Peter tapped the hilt of the knife over the cauldron, letting a few dropped of Harry’s blood sizzle into the liquid.

“The Dark Lord shall rise... again.” He spoke, breathing loudly.

Harry’s screams broke Y/N from her daze due to the blood loss. The entire cauldron caught on fire, melting away to reveal none other than the slimey, naked, disgusting body of Lord Voldemort.

Black smoke surrounded him before his pale feet touched the ground, forming into a cloak of some sort.

Y/N could hear him inhale deeply, running his hands along the pale, veiny skin on his head. She could tell this was the first time in a while he had taken his human form.

Peter stepped forward, his face full of awe and adoration.

Voldemort walked forward to Peter, looking down and laughing quietly but maniacally and the form he had taken.

“My wand, Wormtail.” Voldemort spoke harshly toward his follower, holding out his hand. Peter brandished the wand, bowing deeply and holding it out to Voldemort.

“Y/N, hey, look at me! You’re going to be okay. We are going to make it out of this. Stay close to the portkey.” Harry whispered, turning his head to see Y/N in her awful state. She looked petrified, seemingly wishing this was some sort of nightmare.

They watched as Voldemort took the wand from Peter, inhaling deeply.

“Hold out your arm.” He commanded Peter.

“Master...” Peter started to cry. “Thank you, master.” He began to hold out one of his arms.

“The other arm, Wormtail.” Voldemort spat. Peter’s eyes went wide as he held his other arm, allowing Voldemort to take a grip on it.

He shoved the tip of his wand onto the bare skin of Peter’s wrist, and the dull ink that once was there grew darker, revealing the Dark Mark in its true form.

Thunder rumbled throughout the graveyard. Y/N jumped, trying to stay as quiet as she could.

Voldemort looked up into the clouds. Y/N followed his gaze, and right before her eyes a dark skull formed. The skull opened its mouth, and a thick trail of smoke bellowed out of it, heading right towards where they were. The smoke broke off into different paths, becoming darker.

The second the smoke touched the ground, a person appeared. There were too many for her to count. Dressed in dark cloaks, skull masks and pointing hats, she couldn’t identify any of them.

“Welcome, my friends. Thirteen years, it’s been, and yet... here you stand before me as though it were only yesterday. I confess myself... disappointed.” Voldemort spat again, his voice echoing through the graveyard.

“Not one of you tried to find me. Crabbe!” Voldemort yelled, rushing up to one of the figures and ripping the skull mask off. Dark smoke followed.

With just a flick of his hand, Voldemort was now revealing the figures.

“Macnair! Goyle!” Y/N recognized the names. Crabbe and Goyle, two of Draco’s closest minions. She was silently praying there wasn’t a Malfoy among them.

“Not even you, Lucius.” Voldemort walked up to the last standing figure, ripping of the mask. A crow flew away violently from behind them.

Y/N was trying to stop the bleed of her wrist, but it soaked through the fabric she had wrapped on it. She was fighting off the black spots of her vision.

“My lord,” Lucius was brought to his knees. “Had I detected any sign, a whisper of your whereabouts-“

“There were signs, my slippery friend. And more than whispers.” Voldemort interrupted him.

“I assure you, my Lord, I have never renounced the old ways.” Lucius removed the hat from his head, revealing a familiar platinum blonde. Y/N let out an involuntary sob as she realized, but soon quieted down.

“The face I have been obliged to present each day since your... absence... that is my true mask.” Lucius continued as the other Deatheaters around them stood.

“I returned.” Peter spoke shakily, raising a hand for recognition. He gasped and doubled over when Voldemort rushed over to him, the cloak bellowing behind him.

“Out of fear, not loyalty. Still, you have proved yourself useful these past few months, Wormtail.” Voldemort’s voice softened just the slightest bit.

Y/N didn’t have time to realize when he was walking over to where she sat on the ground, over by Cedric’s body.

“Oh...” he spoke, pushing his face around with his foot. Y/N winced as he tutted loudly. “Such a handsome boy.”

“Don’t touch him!” Harry yelled, shrinking back when Y/N flinched and Voldemort glared at him.

“And who might this be, Wormtail? I see you used her for the spell.” Voldemort sneered, looking down at Y/N.

“Y/N Y/L/N, my Lord.” Wormtail spoke up. From behind Voldemort, Y/N saw Lucius whip around with an unrecognizable look on his face.

“Y/L/N?” Voldemort repeated, and Peter nodded. “Stand, girl, now.” He demanded.

Y/N stood slowly and shakily, keeping her composure in front of the Dark Lord himself.

Voldemort’s hand whipped out to grab her wrist, taking a look at the damage that was done. She inhaled sharply, letting out another sob from the grip he had.

“Well done. You have served me well, Y/N.” Voldemort said, dropping his grip and letting her arm fall limp. She kept a hard face despite the tears running down her cheeks.

Her eyes flickered to Harry. He had an expression that said “back down.” Voldemort followed her line of sight to look at the boy he hated so very much.

“Harry. Oh, I’d almost forgotten you were here. Standing on the bones of my father. I’d introduce you, but word has it you’re almost as famous as me these days.” Voldemort paused, maintaining eye contact for a second more.

He turned suddenly to his followers. “The boy who lived. How lies have fed your legend, Harry. Shall I reveal what really happened that night 13 years ago?”

“Shall I divulge how I truly lost my powers? Yes, shall I?” Hs muttered to himself, walking away from Harry.

“It was love. You see, when dear, sweet Lily Potter gave her life for her only son, she provided the ultimate protection. I could not touch him. It was old magic. Something I should have foreseen. But no matter, no matter. Things have changed.” Voldemort ended his monologue, rushing up to Harry and raising a hand as if to strike him.

“I can touch you... now.” He brought his pointer finger to touch Harry’s scar.

The screams that filled Y/N’s ears were agonizing. She shrunk into herself, wincing away from the noises. When Voldemort screamed along with Harry, ripping his hand away from his face, the screams stopped.

“Astonishing what a few drops of your blood with do, eh, Harry? Pick up your wand, Potter!” Voldemort released the statues grip on Harry, letting him drop to the ground.

“I said, pick it up! Get up! Get up! You’ve been taught how to duel, I presume, yes? First, we bow to each other. Come on, now, Harry. The niceties must be observed. Dumbledore wouldn’t want you to forget your manners, would he? I said, bow.” He was speaking so quickly, almost going crazy at the thought of fighting Harry once and for all. With a wave of his wand, Harry was forced into a bow.

“That’s better. And now!” Voldemort growled, running towards Harry and throwing him onto the ground. Y/N watched, using her feet to shove her back farther from the scene. When she hit something, she turned around quickly to see Cedric.

“No, no, no, no.” She kept repeating, grabbing his face in her hands. It was as though she finally realized what had happened. She had lost her best friend. Sobs were heard from where she sat on the ground. Her tears dripped down her chin and onto Cedric’s cold face as the dual behind her continued. She winced at every hex that was sent to either of them.

“I’m so sorry, Ced. Please. Please.” She begged him, grasping at his shirt, still sobbing violently.

Y/N never took her eyes off of Cedric, even when Voldemort and Harry cast such strong spells that they collided, created a blinding light from behind her. It was went Harry’s Expelliarmus spell finally hit the tip of Voldemort’s wand when she turned around to see an abonormallt large spark erupt.

It took the form of Cedric, alive and smiling at the two of them. Another old man, presumably a muggle, took place on the other side of them. Two more sparks formed to be a woman and a man. The man was speaking quickly to Harry.

“Harry! When the connection is broken you must get to the portkey! We can linger for a moment to give you some time, but only a moment. Do you understand?” Harry nodded.

“Harry, Y/N,” Cedric spoke from above. Y/N’s tears began to start again at the sound of his voice. “Take my body back, will you? Take my body back to my father.”

“Let go.” The woman’s voice was heard. “Sweetheart, you’re ready. Let go. Let go!” All four spirits rushed forward when the connection was broken.

Harry ran quickly over to Y/N and Cedric.

“Hold onto him! Accio!” Harry pointed his wand at the portkey, grabbing Y/N’s hand as she wrapped her arm around Cedric’s. The portkey took them right back to the arena.

The three of them landed hard on the ground. Cedric’s body was sprawled, and cheering erupted. The lively music started once more, nobody noticing what had happened. Harry was crying now.

“Harry, let go of him. Let go of him!” Y/N sat up, pulling Harry off of Cedric’s body.

He knocked her off, the exhaustion finally hitting her as she collapsed on the ground. Fleur rushed forward, and Y/N had never been so glad to see her.

She screamed loudly, looking around and covering her mouth with her hands in terror.

“Harry!” Dumbledore yelled, rushing from his spot in the stands. Hagrid hesitated to continue clapping when he realized what was happening. The music finally died down with the sounds of a trumpet flailing.

“For God’s same, Dumbledore, what’s happened?” The minister rushed to the ground by Harry and Cedric. Two Beauxbatons girls were helping Y/N up, her head lolling as she finally began to lose consciousness.

“Help! We need help here!” One of the girls called, her accent thick. Draco rushed up so quick, breathing heavy. “I’ll take her.” He spoke to the girls.

Y/N looked up quick at his voice. “Don’t touch me! Don’t let him take me! Get away from me!” She screamed, thrashing away from his hands.

He seemed so hurt and confused, putting his hands up in surrender. Y/N could tell he looked scared, more than she was at the mere sight of him.

Madame Promfrey was quick to rush up to Y/N, Taking her from the girls and putting her on a stretcher. “She’s coming with me alone.” She spoke harshly to every student surrounded it Y/N. Gasps were heard as the stretcher was levitated and everyone could see the damage.

“That’s my boy!” The faint cry of Amos filled Y/N’s ears. She used all her strength to lull her head to the side, watching her best friend’s dad collapse next to his son’s corpse. Her face scrunched up as hot tears escaped her eyes, dripping from the bridge of her nose onto the fabric of the stretcher.

Y/N eventually succumbed to the darkness, not caring who could see how hurt she was. Every student saw the blood soaking her shirt, how dirty she was, and her missing hand. It was an awful sight, and some people had to turn away so they wouldn’t lose their dinner.

Pomfrey was quick to take her to the Hospital Wing, fixing her up and cleaning her off so she could rest comfortably.

~.•*✰

Students would linger in over the next few days, checking up on Y/N to see how she was doing. She was always the same every time; asleep, but alive.

There wasn’t much Pomfrey could do about her hand. Tragic, it really was. Y/N would have never been considered as a follower to Voldemort, much less a loyal servant to him.

Dumbledore helped shield her from the press and the students that were begging to know what had happened in the maze. He made sure Y/N wouldn’t wake up to threats or feel incredibly unsafe somewhere she called home.

Professors were now worried about how to tell the students about the death of the golden boy, and how to not let it slip that Voldemort is back, alive, and rapidly gaining power.

But that was an issue for when Y/N woke up, and the truth about her family would finally be revealed.

~•.*✰

a/n: wow! Sorry about this one! I decided to leave on a cliff hanger, lol my bad. I’m done using the movie as a reference so the last chapter is coming straight from the noggin onto my cellular device. Merry Christmas tho, hope y’all got everything you wanted! Happy holidays and happy Hanukkah, Kwanza, or whatever you celebrate during this time! Love you all so much

[wrathofthewind]

viii. Ash

A thin blade came to rest near the young woman’s throat, so that should she dare move an inch her main artery would be instantly sliced. But when the girl took another step it was as if the skin cracked like paper, and nothing came out. Tyssen didn’t notice this detail and, just as she was about to leap forward and take hold of Arnalt, the blade swiftly tore through her like a bolt of lightning.

Arnalt barely screamed “NO!”, before that entire body crumpled and cracked and suddenly burst into shreds floating all over the room while a flurry of powder sprung from her throat like a fountain, where the blood should’ve been. Arnalt had barely woken up, with no time to rush to Pallax or Tyssen’s side and cover their mouths, himself taking a gulp of the powder and coughing incessantly.

“What—cough—sire!” Pallax shouted.

It was like a hurricane had been unleashed within the tiny room and metal and wood clang and danced, the table with scissors and needles lifting and forcing Arnalt to jump from the bed towards the far stone wall, holding his shoulder with one hand.

All three instinctively closed their eyes. The illusion soon broke, the powder stopped slamming against their throats, and the body standing like a mass of crinkled parchment simply collapsed on the ground.

“This is—!” Arnalt wanted to explain but the quality of the air quickly changed and suddenly they were enveloped in a blue mist.

Tyssen and Pallax looked at each other, with Pallax being the first one to slam a palm to his face in annoyance. He gruffly mumbled. “Gala.”

Tyssen looked pale. Arnalt quickly comforted him. “It’s alright, it’s not your fault, that…” he looked at where the “girl” had been. “That was her best puppet yet.”

“I—“ Tyssen was shaking, feeling both responsible and the most afraid. Arnalt understood. The one most susceptible to Gala’s formidable spell would always be Tyssen, it was the nature of those with the most regrets, the most secrets in their heart, and the most painful pasts to bear. Tyssen had all three in spades. Arnalt never dared ask too much about Tyssen’s upbringing or how he’d lived before he came to train at his palace. But he knew enough by the shadow cast on his face to not pry. And the last time Gala had done this cruelty, Tyssen had been found curled up and shuddering, his arms scratched bloody by his own nails as he wailed in a corner.

“It’s just one of us that has to get through the maze, it’s alright if you stay here Tyssen.” Arnalt controlled his coughs.

“Sire, I should be the one to go this time, you’re injured.” Pallax squeezed Tyssen’s shoulder, which Arnalt found a bit rare, and started heading towards the door which now glowed in a faint purple light, or a deeper blue than the mist in the room. It was hard to tell, Arnalt’s eyes felt itchy and blurry, but he still shook his head resolutely and walked to block Pallax.

“This is just because of me, you two have nothing to do with it. Gala’s angry, you know how she gets.”

Tyssen was still shaking slightly, looking down with his fists clenched.

Pallax continued, “why would she be mad this time? You lost! Ithana won!”

Arnalt chuckled slightly and winced with the pain in his shoulder. “I still hurt her didn’t I?”

It had been subtle, barely there, but when that one hit had connected and Ithana widened her eyes slightly and praised him, her fingers vibrating at the impact before she applied full force and sent him flying to the other side of the arena, Arnalt knew that she’d only acted like it was nothing. To the outside world, it was as if he’d barely gotten one solid, but still useless, hit. In fact, he’d soundly cracked one of her spiritual veins, and the force she’d used to shove him was precisely because she’d freaked out so bad. The whole time, she’d been slightly afraid that he’d managed to do that. With the King present, with her own name on the line, she’d then been so brutal to his arm but at least let him keep it. The injury hurt but it would heal eventually.

And sure, it wasn’t the time to feel cocky, but it’s not like he hadn’t improved and was glad he could finally show it to her, even if it meant that now Gala was enraged.

He opened the door and a hallway, endlessly white beckoned him. “It doesn’t seem to be a nightmare this time, just a mirage or something. I’ll go ahead and as soon as I solve the maze, we’ll return.” He glanced at Tyssen. “Pallax, take care.” … of him, he wanted to finish, but didn’t have to. Pallax nodded and put a single arm around Tyssen, even more concerned than what Arnalt had anticipated. He wanted to ask some questions when he returned.

Arnalt passed through the threshold of that door and was immediately spirited into a familiar mirage. His palace, near the kitchens, next to the training grounds. A long figure stood in the center practicing his form. His lips curled up a bit, and he leaned against the wall to watch.

“Alright Gala, I know you’re angry but think about my arm? Ithana paid me back tenfold, she should be fine after ten days, but what about me?” He spoke absent-mindedly to the air, chuckling slightly at the sight of Marius, again, tripping over a complicated combination and falling on his face. Another thin chuckle erupted to the side and he found a younger version of himself was also leaning against the opposite wall, his face equally rapt with the sight.

He hadn’t seen what his face looked like when he was appraising Marius, but now that he could stare, he found that it was a little bit cold, a little bit wicked, and a tiny bit soft. It was jarring to see himself this way. He knew which memory Gala was plucking this dream from, though he didn’t know why.

Suddenly his face turned sour, and in a minute, he would see that sour expression reflected on his younger self.

Footsteps approached and a few people clad in the most exquisite of attires surrounded Marius. The boy was still trying to get his bearings when a the practice sword he was using got swiped abruptly from his hand and broken clean in two.

“Arnalt, what is the meaning of this?” A deep, velvety voice calmly drifted to his younger self. “Sword arts? Since when do our servants practice sword arts?”

“I gave him permission.” A young Arnalt replied.

“Your permission has no authority when I’m here.” This person, whose voice became deeper and richer the more he lowered it, forcing everyone into an uncomfortable silence just to hear him, was a member of the High Council; the one known as Phoenix Rain, the words on his hilt spelling out clearly “Rebirth”—his Highness the crown prince, Ronan.

“Whatever punishment you might have for him should still fall on me.” That younger self of his walked firmly to stand in front of the even younger Marius, who at that point was wide-eyed and shaking. No wonder. Ronan was a large man, the shadow of a beard always clinging to his wide square chin, a scar on his eye and long refined nose did the bare minimum to give him a human appearance, because the rest were harsh lines like a carved gargoyle. He looked endlessly bored and naturally malicious. His armor was a second skin and though he didn’t wear it now, even the casual robes he wore to take a stroll somehow glinted like metal and chain. Upon closer look, it wasn’t too far off. Ronan wore a chainmail frock, casual, aware, that any moment someone might strike from the inner family and claim the title… just as he had.

“Boy, I could crush your skull.”

“I’m no threat to you brother, I’m not even a top ten contender, so just how satisfying would that be?” Arnalt realized his younger self did indeed look overly presumptuous and cocky.

“You dare call me that.” Ronan wouldn’t humor him by repeating it. In a flash, this dear older “brother” of his struck him so hard with the back of his palm Arnalt coughed blood on the floor and had to choke back his sobs. Marius had immediately rushed forward, like a tiny beast and Ronan simply lifted him by the neck and threw him soundly towards the well. With a bump he bounced off the edge and into the orifice. Arnalt heard the scratches and bangs before he splashed below.

“He looked a little thirsty. Consider that generous.” Ronan wiped his hands. “Arnalt, I know the Opal favors you, and Father looks away because you have that precious face of yours… but I won’t tolerate your breaking the Azurian mandates. Your mercy keeps the Kurian alive, but that doesn’t mean he’ll want to live when I’m through.”

Arnalt, the present one, hadn’t noticed when his fists clenched so ruthlessly his nails broke skin. He felt the blood on his hands. He abhorred this memory.

He’d been powerless to stand and do anything and was only praying that Marius knew how to swim.

It was then that his attention was drawn to the young maid who came over and bowed deeply to the prince. “Magnanimous Lord, Light of the Eastern Aurora, your guest has arrived.”

Ronan shifted his tunic slightly and gave her a sweeping glance, then turned with his retinue and was on his way. All Arnalt remembered after that were some fuzzy noises, some “quickly, quickly!” And the sound of rope, pulling and heaving. But watching the scene unfold and gradually turn grey as his consciousness faded, he realized his mind retained more information than he’d thought. Like the fact that this maid looked awfully familiar…

He saw her call over others but no one dared to come. Saw her lift his young body and carry him to a wooden bench, laying him there carefully, softly placing a wet compress on his head. Saw the “splash” he remembered, as she took a rope and dived into the well. Moments later she brought out a crying Marius. She was soaked to the bone and heaving. He’d thought others had come, but it turns out no one had helped her. And the last thing he remembers, the last thing he heard… “You, come here.” His brother’s voice before he’d passed out.

Her face. It was the same face of that puppet in the medical room that burst like paper and turned to ash.

His soul turned cold. This was definitely a mirage maze. 

But this was not done by Gala.

[chemicalmagecraft]

The Gamer Hero, Deku Chapter 24

A/N: Sorry I haven't updated in so long but first there were finals and then I kinda just needed to get back into the mindset to write this... My writing needs a bit of momentum sometimes.

By the way, I've decided to stop putting those accent things in Shoto and other people's names. I still haven't figured out how to do them using the keyboard so I have to find it somewhere every time I want to use it, which can get annoying... That, plus the fact that Shoto is probably going to be referred to by his first name a lot in the story soon? Yeah I hope you guys don't mind.

MattKennedy: Yeah, totally! The OFA Quirks that Izuku has unlocked so far are Fear, Skeletal, and Magnetize. Fear is an emitter Quirk that allows the user to raise or lower the level of a person's fear by making eye contact, Skeletal is a transformation Quirk that allows the user to turn any part of their body into a hardened, bone-like substance, and Magnetize is an emitter Quirk that allows the user to magnetize any object (though it explicitly does not work on living things or any body part attached to a living being). There are only three OFA Quirks that have yet to be shown, which are (SPOILER ALERT) Mending, Blackwhip, and Float. The only two of those that I didn't make up are Blackwhip and Float. Oh, and a fun fact: originally I thought of a Quirk that would let Izuku flatten people and things into any flat surface to kinda-sorta turn them into graffiti (actually I think it was the first original OFA user Quirk I thought of...) but decided against that because it would probably be a little overpowered if Izuku could just take out anyone he could push into a flat surface, even if there was a limitation on just slapping someone on the head so hard they become part of the ground, so I replaced it with Mending. Another fun fact, Fear causes Izuku's eyes to become slitted like a snake's.

xoxoxo

"This tournament has been so exciting so far!" Mic-sensei shouted.

"It's almost over, but I doubt there won't be some more... excitement," Aizawa-sensei added.

"That's right! This next battle will be Aoyama versus Bakugou! Who will win, folks? Will it be the radiant paladin, or will the red-hot warmage!"

"Start!" Midnight-sensei said.

"Let us have a glorious battle, mon ami!" Aoyama glittered.

Kacchan laughed. "Like it'd be anything else! Hit me with your best shot!"

"As you wish!" As with Tokoyami's fight, Aoyama opened by turning his sparkles into lasers. But while Kacchan dodged them his navel started to glow again. Aoyama struck a pose, and ribbons of light erupted from his stomach and enveloped him. The armor looked slightly thicker than what he had last time, but was unmistakably the spell he'd used last time.

"Let's see what you can do!" Kacchan shouted. He blasted himself at Aoyama, fists blazing. He slapped Aoyama in the armored chest and shot himself back with a small explosion. The hits caused Aoyama's armor to fluctuate and knocked him back, but aside from looking a little less vibrant the armor held. Kacchan grinned.

Aoyama smiled back at him and shot another wave of lasers. Kacchan tried to phase through the lasers with Fire Embodiment but was still blown back anyway. "Shall we get this battle started for real?" Aoyama asked as he struck a pose and used the distraction to fire up his Quirk again. His armor thickened and formed a stylish helmet, then the excess light flowed down his arms and formed into a rapier and buckler. Aoyama flourished his sword and shouted, "Taste the sting of my Silver Chariot! En garde!"

Kacchan's grin widened. "If that's how you're gonna play this..." he muttered. He struck an equally dramatic pose, almost literal fire in his eyes. A glow similar to Fire Aura engulfed his body, but it looked deeper somehow. I honed my senses on it and heard a ping.

A new skill has been created through special action! From extensive use of skills to understand magical effects, the skill 'Analyze' has been created!

"That'll be useful," I muttered. It created a text box with information that I already knew some of from using Eye for Magic. Which meant it would probably be made passive by Tactician, unlike Eye for Magic or Open Mind. Score. Now if only I could get an Open Mind version... I filed that away for later and looked at the Analyze text box.

Fire Ignition

An infusion of the fire element into one's body stronger than Fire Aura. Grants greater enhancement than Fire Aura, but damages the user.

Increases attack damage by 90%, increases movement speed by 45%, increases STR by 30%, user generates extreme heat.

150 MP used per minute.

User takes 150 HP of fire damage per minute.

Locks user into using exclusively the fire element.

Maybe he tried to brute force Fire Embodiment and got something somewhere in between? It looked like I'd be healing him after this fight...

The ground crackled and glowed from the sheer heat pouring out of Kacchan. "If that armor of yours is Silver Chariot... how 'bout we call what I'm doing Magician's Red?" Even I could barely follow it when he ran at Aoyama, leaving only a few burning footprints behind him. He was behind Aoyama before he could even react, and slammed his leg into him. Aoyama was sent flying, sparkles erupting from where Kacchan kicked him. Aoyama almost flew out of the arena from that one attack, but managed to force himself to slam into the ground using light magic, leaving a rainbowy afterimage of himself for a second. The ground cracked from the hit and Aoyama's armor looked a little worse for wear, but Aoyama just looked a little dazed. He used that new spell, Starlight Dash, to get up immediately.

"DIE!" Just in time, too. Aoyama just barely managed to Starlight Dash out of the way of Kacchan dashing at him. Kacchan stopped on a dime when he passed through Aoyama's afterimage, shattering the ground from his stomp, and shot himself at Aoyama again. It almost looked like he was hitting the ground so hard that he was being launched around by the recoil... Aoyama flinched and raised his shield. Kacchan slammed shoulder-first into the shield. The buckler flashed in an explosion of light, knocking Kacchan back. He almost landed outside of the arena but Fire Dashed back in just in time. "Not bad," Kacchan said. Then he lunged back at Aoyama. He let loose a flurry of almost-blows, just barely stopping himself from triggering Aoyama's shield trap whenever he maneuvered it in place with an explosion. Even though Kacchan never landed a hit on Aoyama, though, each explosion pushed him back a bit.

Kacchan yelled and slammed the ground in front of Aoyama. The ground exploded, knocking him into the air. Then Kacchan wiped his forehead and flicked his hand at Aoyama. A few small beads of fiery light flew off of his hand, landing on Aoyama's armor and shield. The mana-charged sweat droplets exploded, launching Aoyama back. Before he could touch the ground, Kacchan tackled him again. This time Aoyama didn't manage to save himself in time. He dropped outside of the arena and let his armor dissipate. Meanwhile, Kacchan collapsed to the ground. His skin was red, and he had steam rolling off of him. Luckily his pants were mostly fine, but his shirt was more ash than shirt...

"The match is over!" Midnight announced. "Aoyama is out of bounds! Bakugou is the winner! Now go to the nurse before your next match, Bakugou."

xoxoxo

I waited in the waiting room while Kacchan got chewed out by Shuzenji-sensei. Sonia flinched at something and sat down next to me.

"Hey, Izuku," she muttered out loud, even though she was still incorporeal. She liked doing that sometimes, probably because she was a sound elemental.

"What's up, Sonia?" I asked.

"You... might wanna be extra nice to Iida for a while..."

"Did you eavesdrop on a conversation?"

She frowned. "It's not... I hear everything within my range. That's just what it's like as a sound elemental. I used to not... process it, I guess, but now that I'm contracted I know what everything I hear means..."

"Oh." That was... interesting. I'd heard the elementals say things that implied they existed somehow outside of being summoned, but that was... interesting. "Do you... want to talk about it?"

Sonia shook her head. "Nah. It's actually a lot nicer than not really knowing anything that's going on. Besides, Granny's almost done yelling at Kacchan."

I got up. "Alright, then. Let's go."

xoxoxo

Kacchan grinned toothily at me. "So. It's you against me, huh?" He said over the roar of the crowd. "I figured it would be." He did his signature fist-punch. "Let's have a great fight, Deku!"

I smiled at him. "I'll make sure of it."

"IT'S THE FINAL FIGHT, FOLKS!" Mic-sensei shouted. "MIDORIYA VERSUS BAKUGOU! WON'T THIS BE A SHOW!?"

"Midoriya and Bakugou have shown themselves several times in the sports festival to be very talented and very powerful," Aizawa-sensei added. "Honestly, even I've been inspired by the crazy things the students have been doing..."

"Start!"

Kacchan jumped at me with a proto-Flash Step, boosting with his explosions. I reacted just in time to activate Elemental Embodiment, and Kacchan swung at air. It still hurt because he used fire magic, but I rematerialized behind him and Bass Blasted him. Naturally Kacchan didn't go anywhere near the edge from the sound blast, but he went a bit further than I thought he would. "LIMIT BREAK!" I shouted right off the bat. I swung my arm like I was throwing a bowling ball, outputting a lot of ice magic. "GLACIER PRISON!" Kacchan was encased in a giant wall of ice. Just as I thought, that was only a temporary stop. I could see him melting through the ice already. I Flash Stepped in front of the Glacier Prison and activated Ice Aura. I kicked the base of the ice, cleanly breaking it from the ground, and pushed it with a small use of OFA combined with ice magic. The entire Glacier Prison started sliding like in Kirby when you move into an enemy you used Ice Kirby on, if you were able to freeze boss-sized enemies with Ice Kirby.

Kacchan exploded out of the ice in a wave of steam and water before he went out, spraying half the arena in water as he hurtled straight towards me. I planted my feet and swung back to hit him. He threw a few strands of his hair at me for some reason, then cocked his own fist back. When I went to swing, my arm was stopped by something, letting Kacchan get a free hit on me. Whatever blocked my arm didn't stop me at all from getting knocked back. I had Dune raise a few rock walls for me to crash into. I got back up and... tried to Flash Step. Something around my chest this time stopped me. Luckily Damage Reduction meant that it didn't hurt me too much... I looked down at what was blocking me and saw several strands of long fibers. As I watched, a few more threads of silk wrapped around my body.

"You've probably noticed by now, huh?" Kacchan said. And then I thought to check his affinities again. Sonic 40 and Bio 30. "You can come out now, Leaf!"

The silk anchored to the rock wall I threw up grew and morphed into a green-haired boy in a green blanket cocoon that may or may not have been a giant leaf. He grumbled a bit and said, "Hey."

"The surprise is over, get him," Kacchan ordered. Thousands of strands of silk erupted from the bio elemental and wrapped around me and the surroundings. I was quickly wrapped up tight in a silk cocoon. I tried to use Lightning Embodiment to escape, but the webbing was resistant enough that that was a waste of time and MP. I struggled, trying to get some leeway, and took stock of the situation. I couldn't really move, the silk blocked my lightning, I could hear, or rather not hear, that there was enough material that it was soundproof, Halitus told me that it was airtight... I tried water and then bio. Water just left the cocoon wet, but I was able to merge into the web with bio. Leaf tried to keep me in the center, but I was, with a little difficulty, still able to phase through the silk. My hand got free of the web, so I slammed it into the ground and turned it into roots. I pulled the rest of my body out of the cocoon by turning into a small oak tree.

"OH WHAT THE HELL!" Kacchan shouted. "Alright, let's do a pincer attack on the tree!" Kacchan Fire Dashed at me from one side while Leaf lashed out with silk from the other. I burst into cactus needles, evading the webs and stabbing Kacchan a few times. I gathered my body back together, except for a few needles that Kacchan manage to incinerate, and reformed behind him. Kacchan turned around, murder in his eyes. "Leaf," he growled.

Leaf sighed and shot more silk at me, while Kacchan threw fireballs where Leaf wasn't covering. I smiled at Kacchan before turning into water. Leaf's string shots stabbed right through me, splashing even more water around. It didn't help that all of Kacchan's fireballs hit into what remained of the ice prison, nor that I had Rayne subtly spread all the water around. I "fell" into the puddles, then popped up behind Kacchan. I slapped him with a wave of water, soaking him, then switched to Lightning Embodiment.

"Ah, shi-" Kacchan started to say before getting punched by my lightning fist. He coped a lot better than the last time I used that combo, though, because after only a few hits my hand hit his wooden face with a lot less impact. Kacchan smirked and transformed his arm into a bunch of vines, which he wrapped around me. I changed back to normal and almost immediately turned to air to get away. Kacchan cursed as I rematerialized on the far side of the arena from him. He pointed at me, a fire lit on the tip of his finger. I grinned, activated Eye For Magic, and mirrored Kacchan perfectly, copying the magic he was putting into it almost perfectly. He shot the fire bullet at me, which I copied. Then he blinked and summoned more fireballs. I summoned more fireballs almost immediately. With my INT it was hopefully quick enough to look simultaneous. We threw a few more fireballs at each other before Kacchan realized that that was getting him nowhere.

"You're not finishing me off with a stupid copycat game, Deku!" Kacchan dashed at me using Fire Ignition. I managed to mimic it with One For All, but fumbled with the explosion to the face that followed it. My head shattered. Conveniently it happened to be made out of stone and I was able to piece it back together. "Damn Elemental Embodiment..." Kacchan blasted me a few more times. This time, however, I blocked the explosions with a Mana Shield, then hit back with a Steam Blast. Kacchan recovered with Fire Dash, then started flying upward. "Come and get me, Deku!"

I grinned, forming Halcyon Wing to fly after him. Really, it was bound to happen at some point. I flew after him, just barely lagging behind him. I flapped my wings, shooting a few feathers at him. Thanks to Halcyon Wing's secondary effect his flight spell also faltered for a moment, letting me catch up and kick him toward the boundary. He blasted himself back up and threw two blades of heat at my wings. I scattered my wings into feathers long enough for the blades to miss most of the feathers, then reconstituted my wings with most of the rest of the feathers. I threw the few that I left out at him and followed up with a small lightning bolt. Kacchan dodged the feathers, but I curved my lightning to strike him in the shoulder. It wasn't enough to do any major harm, but he growled and clutched his arm from the shock. I grinned and fired an Ice Beam at his hand, which was clutching his arm. I also iced that lightning wound for him while I was at it.

"DEKU YOU FUCKER!" Kacchan shouted as he plummeted. He caught himself with Fire Dash, supplemented with Fire Ignition, and rammed straight at me. The fire melted the ice as well. I flapped my wings, which was now no longer enough to screw up Kacchan's Fire Dash, and ascended fast enough that I hoped I would dodge him. It didn't work. "DIE!" Kacchan screamed as he punched me in the face. I shot all my feathers at Kacchan while I was still ascending, then turned to air. I floated down while Kacchan dodged all the feathers, then turned back when I was under him. Ping. I stopped falling before I even used a flight spell.

"Really?" I muttered to myself. "I get a flying Quirk now?" I shrugged it off and reached for the source of my new Quirk, Float. "Hey Kacchan!" I shouted. He pivoted in midair to face me. "Limit Break: Flurry of Blades!" A spear appeared in my left hand and a kunai in my right, both glowing brighter than my normal level 98 Bound Blades. I gave the spear Electric Aura and the kunai Wind Aura, then threw both of them at Kacchan. He dodged them both and shot an explosion off at the spear, but I'd already created my next two weapons, a flaming flamberge and a steam rapier. Bound Blade's interaction with One For All was interesting. Trying to supercharge a single weapon would either make it explode or cause it to become gigantic. Both of those could be useful in the right circumstances, especially as a surprise, but it was a lot better to just generally enhance the skill itself. This made the weapons slightly stronger and gave me a sort of connection to them, but there was an even bigger advantage to it.

Namely the fact that I could make a theoretically infinite amount of weapons, and give them their own individual Elemental Weaponry. Within a few seconds, I'd thrown a little over a hundred weapons at Kacchan. He managed to dodge most of them, though. "What, are you just gonna keep throwing weapons at me, Deku?" he asked. "That's not gonna work!"

I grinned and looked at the mass of floating weapons above Kacchan that I managed to keep him from noticing just by keeping him focused on dodging. "You'd think that..." I sent all the weapons at him at once. Kacchan noticed before any of them actually hit him, thankfully, and started dodging and exploding them again with more than a few curses. While he was preoccupied, I started charging up a large ball of ice magic. When he was most of the way done with my storm of weapons, I threw the swirling ball of frigid energy at him. "Arctic Storm!" I shouted when it hit him, engulfing him in a miniature blizzard. He was tossed out the side, steaming and covered in frost, and I had Halitus make an air cushion to keep him from hitting the ground too hard.

"Bakugou is out of bounds! Midoriya wins!"

I floated down next to Kacchan, landing lightly. "You suck," he told me with a grin wide enough that I had the strangest feeling he wasn't being sincere. I offered him my hand, which he grabbed. "Still, that was a damn good fight," he said as I helped him up.

"C'mon, let's get you patched up so you can accept your silver medal," I said.

He snorted and lightly hit me. "Fuck you, asshole."

"Love you too."

xoxoxo

Elemental list:

Midoriya: Halitus, Dune, Rayne, Blaise, Juniper, Mifuyu, Raimon, Iggy, Sonia, and Claude

Bakugou: Pyra and Leaf

Tokoyami: Corvo

Uraraka: Nebula and Ion

Hagakure: Lucy

Tsu: Bubbles

Aizawa: Charlie and Cassiopeia

[elane-in-the-shadows]

Red Queen Fan Fiction - In The Meantime Chapter 7

Prologue

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Find this on wattpad and on AO3

A/N: FYI, I haven’t read the Shade short story yet, so comparisons are futile. Any canon divergences – or blatant similarities – are happening by pure chance. If there are blatant similarities, I’ll grin up to the moon, and if there’re divergences – well, I’ve been working on these headcanons for two years and can’t throw everything overboard at this point ;-)

Returning

He still had his ability after all, or they couldn’t have had teleported out of Whitefire into the tunnels.

Diana let go of his hand and Shade snorted at his former doubt, which had been stupid to begin with. How could his ability have left him when, just minutes ago, he’d used it to kill a dozen Silvers?

He stemmed his bloody hands against the damp wall. Almost he was able to pretend his hands weren’t stained with blood but only with common dirt. Dried into black, Silver blood looked as ugly as its Red variant, and its smell made him as sick. Shade tried to clean off the worst of it with the condensed water on the tunnel wall, not caring that it was dirty in its own way, if only it helped him not to throw up.

Diana seemed as if she’d like to throw up as well, whether from the horrible battle, teleporting, or due to her numerous wounds, he could not say. She leaned against the wall, exhausted. Her head was thrown back, her palm rested on her stomach, on her bruised ribcage. The older wound on her cheek was torn again.

He took a deep breath, another attempt to calm himself, to get loose from the weight on his shoulders, both from what he’d already done and what he was still about to do. Save Mare.

He had to focus on that, on his ability. But still, she was nowhere he was able to jump to, if she even lived. He sighed. “Come,” he said to Diana, and offered his hand. “If not to Mare, I can bring us to Kilorn.”

Slowly, sheshook her head. “Spare your power,” she declined. “Nor would we get on the train now.” With a groan, she stemmed herself away from the wall and stumbled toward him – again, without talking his hand. “There’s a safe house in Archeon that’s closer.” She looked at him, her gaze once more burning with intent. “Hopefully, with an informant who knows what the hell has happened in the meantime.” She told him where to go, and in the end, she touched his palm with such a reluctance that he barely felt her fingers at all.

“King Maven was hailed even before everyone knew the old king was dead,” Will Whistle told them in the bare, but comparatively comfortable safe house. “And then, it was more important to announce the arrests of the murderer and traitor prince Tiberias, and of Mare Barrow, the fraud. They’re in the Bowl of Bones now,” he added, along with the details of the morning’s shifting events.

“The arena’s cells are made of Silent Stone, negating abilities,” Will finished.

Shade’s eyes widened. “What?”

“To assure no interference, besides from those Arvens. They can tolerate the silence, as they’re somehow involved in its creation,” Will explained.

Shade buried his face in his hands. “That must be why I can’t get to her…” he muttered.

Will cleared his throat and Shade raised his head, seeing Farley nod at Will. As if she could hide any of her own shock coming with Will’s revelations. If anything, she seemed tenser than before. “Anything else?” she asked.

“I don’t understand any of this,” Shade burst out. “Farley, you said the crown prince said no to you, to any kind of coup. Why would he kill his father?”

Farley opened her mouth, but he went on, “Was it brotherly affection? If not Mare, did he want to save at least his brother from prison?”

Will cackled. “Oh no, there’s no love lost between the Calore brothers, Shade. If you let me finish, please?” he chided him, turning serious again. “Just a minute before you two arrived, the execution was announced. Of Mare and Tiberias. Seems like our new King Maven prefers a specific kind of feast for his coronation.”

Shade frowned, but Farley left for the bathroom with a rushed “excuse me”.

He stared after her. “She has to take care of her injuries,” he said.

Will shrugged. “Shade, you see, it probably has to do with the whisper queen. Everything must have. Likely … Maven’s whole recruitment was a trap, planned by the queen.”

Shade cussed, then calculated. It seemed so obvious in hindsight, but … well, he’d never spoken to Maven, only believed in Farley’s reluctant trust in him.

“Then we did everything wrong,” he said quietly.

Will moved over, and briefly touched Shade’s knee in reassurance. He didn’t like that, and suddenly, he understood Diana’s distance that denied any kind of comfort or closeness. He straightened his posture, shaking Will off. “The battle isn’t lost,” he claimed. “We still can – have to – do something.”

Will’s answering smile was mirthless, and Shade wondered how long and full of relapses Will’s own struggle had been.

“Indeed,” he heard Farley say, who was just returning from the bathroom. She’d gotten rid of her bloody and torn jacket, her shirt baring bruised and bandaged skin. She tried her best to appear commanding, although that was obviously difficult for her. She even stood uneven.

“As important as Mare Barrow is,” she glanced at Shade, “our priority is evacuating Naercey. Will you assist us with your skill and connections there, Will Whistle?”

The corners of Will’s mouth twitched. “Sure, Captain.”

Haste and urgency had taken over Naercey. Of course, Shade and Farley weren’t the first to return to Naercey, although they hadn’t been sure if the news of threat and betrayal had reached their comrades. But they had to know enough to warn the inhabitants, so the evacuation could begin. People were moving from dwelling to dwelling and transports were loaded and leaving. Shade offered his help and was put to work fast enough, shortly briefed that transports were sent off single and in irregular intervals to remain as inconspicuous as possible.

“The mersives have left too, and will return soon,” a woman told him. “There’re only so many safe houses in the surroundings, and the mersives can go to larger bases.”

Shade nodded and went on to follow his instructions. The road ahead was less important to him than going back to save Mare. He knew he didn’t do as well as he could, with his hands shaking and his thoughts straying off like his eyes that searched for familiar faces that appeared in the distance and flickered away from his blinking, tired, gaze.

He couldn’t believe it was only early afternoon, still the same day, when his group released him. There was no time to rest, and too much to do to save as many as possible. He felt so exhausted, not least because of his teleporting fight in the morning, although the lack of sleep they all had suffered took its visible toll as well.

And the uncertainty about Mare, he thought, then yawned and stretched.

“Hey.”

He flinched too hard. Even as he turned and saw Farley, his heart continued to beat faster. It’s just the exhaustion, he told himself. But that was a lie. He felt unguarded at every moment, his confidence was shattered and he was overwhelmed by danger and forlornness.

Farley hardly looked different, certainly not better. She’d finally changed into fresh clothing, but wore her wounds visibly, including a careful, tired stance.

So different from the woman from last night.

She rolled her shoulders. “Time to talk about Mare,” she said. “Well, I have time. You?”

He nodded, then cleared his throat. “If not, I’d make some.”

She tilted her head. “Of course.” She smiled wryly. “I’m not of much help here, so all my focus is on Mare now.” He blinked. “You know, since I’m at fault for all this …” Her grimace had to be painful with her injuries, with the way it stretched the old wound on her jaw, re-opening the cut he’d stitched himself.

“What?”  he gasped. She stared him down until he shook his head. “I understand, but … we all agreed to the operation. Especially the other officers.”

“Oh sure,” she hissed. “So far, Naercey isn’t under attack, but once it happens, when Maven, his witch of a mother, or whoever the fuck is in charge now, starts it, I’ll gladly blame them. For now, these people are losing their homes, Shade. Whether they flee or risk staying, I brought this upon them, with my arrogance and foolishness.”

It was easy to see beneath her grim face and dark humour. He knew she had a point. But he also noticed how much she needed to say this, to confess and acknowledge her guilt to someone.

He stepped toward her, reaching out with his hand. She flinched, maybe out of pain, maybe because she was still scared of him. But then she leaned into his touch, let him cup her mostly uninjured left cheek. Her gaze seared him and he believed he saw in it a yearning for his closeness.

“It’s quite self-absorbed and arrogant to take all the blame onto yourself, Captain Farley,” he said quietly, before she moved away. Eyes downcast, she gulped and her expression changed from bitter to sad.

She wants me, he thought, only that she thinks she doesn’t deserve to be with me.

She looked up with a snort. “Mare,” she reminded him.

“How could I forget?” he said.

She irked him, no, almost angered him. She was playing him again with the way she ignored him and their relationship. She freely wallowed in her own guilt and became distant to “punish” herself, but what about him, and his sins? He’d killed today, many people, and he didn’t know how to deal. He was back at the Choke, in the bleakest days of his life, shocked over those Lakelanders he’d killed there. Today, they’d been Silvers instead of Reds, yet they’d died for his self defense as well. It didn’t change the disgust, nor the dark pit of shame he felt that made him doubt he was right to be here, to be a rebel fighting with all he had.

I can do this, he told himself, I’ve proved it already.

I only do not enjoy it.

He wished he could talk to Diana. He was sure, believing he’d already witnessed it, that she wasn’t perfectly okay with all of it either. But she continued to avoid him, so he went to Kilorn who had no such qualms, and was happy to see his friend, to give him a hug and to plan to free Mare.

Kilorn was occupied with packing the explosives that were to be used in smaller amounts, piece by piece. With his nimble hands, Kilorn showed quite a talent for it, one he’d used in the morning too, when they’d destroyed Archeon’s bridge. Shade couldn’t match and Kilorn taunted him about it. Jokingly. Softly. Shade didn’t know how Kilorn managed it, to be funny despite all this, and yet he was grateful for it.

“You’re staring after Farley like some lost puppy,” Kilorn remarked the next time his shaking fingers dropped something. Shade cursed and Kilorn took it away from him, shaking his head. “No use here,” he muttered.

Shade cleared his throat. “What do you mean? She’s not even here.”

Kilorn shrugged. “But you search for every little glimpse of her, instead of looking at the work.”

“Sorry,” he murmured, his head lowered in embarrassment, and to hide his blush. He still felt Kilorn’s gaze on him. Then he rose. “Mare is our priority,” he claimed.

Kilorn nodded, “Of course.” Yet his face appeared so curious, so understanding that Shade was tempted to blurt everything out. He opened his mouth, tongue tingling. He wanted to talk about it, about her, about them. But in the end, he lacked the words to describe it. What was between them now? Were they in love? In a relationship? He could say what they did, or had done, but that wasn’t what he really craved to figure out.

Kilorn began to smile, still soft and not making fun of him. He was happy for Shade, whatever for, and for now, that was enough.

Shade squeezed his hand. “If I’m so useless, I better take a rest,” he said and took his leave.

He had every reason to be tired and still, he paced Naercey for a while first. If he was honest, he just wished to encounter Diana again, by accident, so he could claim he kept his distance as she seemed to wish. But the sun started to set and he longed to rest like he’d told Kilorn. He entered the building where most of the Scarlet Guard were staying, if on packed bags now. Shade prowled the corridors, noticing how his steps slowed the closer he came to Diana’s room, where they’d spent the last night together. Although “night” was hardly accurate, given how short the episode had been. It seemed so long ago now, his sense of time warped by the onslaught of the morning.

In front of her room, he stopped. He wasn’t sure what to say, but now he was here, he could at least tell her to go to bed after this awful day. That woman never considered her own needs.

He took a deep breath and entered. Immediately, he froze on the threshold and gaped. Because she wasn’t up and planning or giving orders, but asleep on her pallet. Weapons were placed around her, easy to grab, but she didn’t stir. Shade hadn’t been quiet. If she was as alert as the weapons indicated, she should’ve woken up. Yet she slept on without a tremor, more at peace than he’d ever seen her. He couldn’t imagine she’d ever intentionally let down her guard in that manner, so only exhaustion could’ve taken its toll and she’d relented.

As much as that relieved him, as stunned as he was, it meant he had no reason to stay. He respected her privacy and left to let her sleep.

The next morning, the sky was overcast with foreboding, dark clouds. The air felt heavy with heat and humidity, adding another weight onto the backs of those left in Naercey. All of them, whether soldier or civilian, cast glances around, at the sky, into the distance, as if they expected the assault to arrive from the air or on the ground at any second. Even when Captain Farley roused her soldiers, giving them their orders and instructions for this operation. Shade listened and tried to maintain and show determination, but like the rest, his whole body was tense, and his eyes wandered furtively just the same.

“Rise, red as the dawn!” Diana finished with a shout and Shade and the others fell in.

They’d lost; they’d been down. But they’d go on. Always.

The drive with the undertrain continued in similar fashion, an odd blend of weariness and enthusiasm. When the train reached its hidden stop, the team members jumped off with careful motions. It was a little walk to the Bowl of Bones, but it was also safer this way.

“Kill or take out any patrols you encounter,” Farley ordered, with gritted teeth. Strange to kill on the way to safe someone else. Shade didn’t think her nap had been restorative enough, if anything, she looked worse and he could only hope she felt better.

“We should be fast enough their absence should be irrelevant,” she went on, “but we have to use Maven’s neglect of the tunnels as long as possible. For now, he has other jobs to do before he can – ” She stopped as Shade spun around in front of her, halting as well.

“Why don’t you stay back, Captain?” he said.

“What – “

“Aren’t you injured enough already?” He looked her over, eyes lingering on her visible limp. He grabbed her by the shoulders. “Someone has to secure the way back to the train,” said he. She opened her mouth, but he continued. “No need to have everyone close to the detonations,” he insisted, staring into her eyes. “Those are often a strain on bystanders, no matter the precautions.” She gaped, not believing he challenged her, told her, who always walked to the front, to stay behind. But he’d decided he would win this one glaring duel against her. And eventually, her gaze waned.

“Take them and run,” she said snidely. “I guess you don’t need me to carry those two.”

He nodded and before he got on, he took her hand and squeezed it. “See you in a few minutes.”

Her sneer softened slightly.

It took longer than a few minutes. Once they’d reached the space beneath the arena, the techie among the group produced a screen and as fast as he was, he needed a moment to find pictures of the events above. As they watched, the detonation specialist hesitated to act. “Fight’s too unclear,” he insisted, but Shade saw more than one finger on the triggers after the bombs had been placed. It didn’t make him any less nervous. His fingers and toes twitched, and the throbbing pulse of his blood drowned out the sounds around him.

Kilorn touched his hand in reassurance, and after a thankful glance, Shade started to focus back on his comrades’ discussions as his eyes fixed on the screen where he saw Mare dancing in a lethal battle.

Finally, the metal girl ran away, leaving the arena almost empty but for the condemned. “What are you waiting – ” Shade cried out, but a guard held up a hand to halt him.

The techie pointed at the screen; at the darkening sky, to be exact.

“Get ready to trigger ten seconds after the first lightning strike,” the lead detonator commanded. Indeed, the sky was lit up white and purple with lightning before a minute had passed.

Silence fell upon them, only broken by a few gasps until the thunder began to rumble, audible even down here, even over Shade’s hearing protection and his rushing blood.

Just seconds later, another kind of thunder reverberated through the tunnels, the sound of explosions timed to be unremarkable in the lightning storm.

Unremarkable to those above, hopefully. Not to Shade, not to the team. Shade grabbed onto anything he could grasp, and still he stumbled from the recoil. So did the others, and they were shaking and blinking and hugging themselves and each other, hoping the ringing in their ears and the dizziness were temporary.

The detonations were successful, and now, there was a small hole in the ceiling, creating a direct view to the sky and into the arena.

Shade crawled toward the opening. No one followed yet, some of the team had actually been thrown back. For a moment, he closed his eyes, relieved he’d made Diana stay back. Then he reached the hole, pulled himself up, and the first thing he saw was a lightning strike hitting the ground just two meters away from him. His sister Mare was merely another short distance away.

Shade began to grin.

The little distance was still potentially deadly, he knew. Soldiers were marching into the arena, guns ready. Mare, the prince next to her, continued to bring the lightning from the sky into the arena to halt her opponents. But she strained under the effort, not able to go on like this for much longer. That didn’t quench Shade’s amazement at seeing Mare’s power in the flesh for the first time, made glorious rather because it was hard on her. But the threat combined with the rush of his comrades as they joined him sobered him.

Shade hadn’t touched his pistol. But the others, Kilorn being one of them, were less reluctant. They shot the enemy soldiers, taking down many by this absolute surprise, but not enough to eventually defeat them.

We’re back to hit and run.

Shade used the chance of the moment when Mare was out of the center of attention for a second and jumped toward her, grabbing her and the prince to vanish at the next breath.

A few more bombs secured their escape, smashing parts of the tunnels as a result, as Shade couldn’t hope to teleport all of them back to the train. He would if he had to, now that others carried Mare and the prince as they ran. Shade glanced at her at every other second, worried by her unconsciousness. He told himself she was taking her first teleport as badly as Diana, but Mare was no less injured than her either. What the combined shocks had done to her remained to be seen.

The manacled prince had woken, unlike Mare, as they reached the undertrain. They had to shove him forward as he beheld the vehicle, although he didn’t stall in a way that sabotaged them or their escape.

Getting in and getting started was a matter of heartbeats under Farley’s command. She didn’t display excitement over the success apart from the smile that lasted a split second when she saw Mare, now carried in Shade’s arms. Even when she glanced at him every now and then during the drive, she stayed next to the prince, keeping watch over him like he was her personal trophy.

Once, Kilorn touched his shoulder in relief, a tear rolling down his cheek. He needed a moment to look at Mare cradled on Shade’s lap, before he was urged to resume some errand. It was merely to maintain alertness, Shade guessed, as the danger wasn’t over, might not ever be. He leaned back, eyes closed, finally feeling the greatest weight lifted off him, as he and Mare were finally together again.

That small peace, however, vanished as he opened his eyes, and by chance, found Diana’s gaze. It spoke of the gravity of the things to come, and Shade inclined his head in understanding.

Hitting and running and fighting would continue, and they had no idea how the game had changed, now that Maven Calore had taken the throne of Norta by betraying his family, the Scarlet Guard, and Mare.

Then Mare opened her eyes.

A/N 2: And so we've reached the end of Red Queen. There are some holes between the one-shots I wrote for Glass Sword that I might fill, although I believe the canon short story covers similar same points. I don't know if I'll compete there, I guess I might as well simply bow to the perfection it is ;-)

@elliemarchetti @lilyharvord @mareshmallow @clarafarleybarrow @carstairsjames @inopinion @sarcasm-and-procastination @eurydicel @selenbean-beany @marecalrandomstuff @thelightning03 @mareven0123 @gisabarrovv

[ninth-holder]

Testing In (part four)

[The final round finally comes to an end! Who will be victorious?]

Izuku was curious to see Kasandri’s quirk, so he didn’t attack right away. The stadium was silent, everyone in the stands and on the sidelines waiting to see what would happen. For a long moment, they just stood there. Izuku got impatient.

“Come on then!” he shouted, activating full cowling and racing towards her at full speed, “Come at me will your full power!”

He pulled back his arm for a punch, but then suddenly Izuku was slamming into a wall. A glowing, red rectangle had appeared between him and Kasandri. It was bright enough that he had to squint and hot enough to be uncomfortable, but Izuku didn’t back away immediately. This was it. This was her quirk. He had to study it.

The wall vanished. Kasandri had her arms stretched out towards him. There was a sort of determination in her eyes that Izuku hadn’t seen earlier. 

“So you can build walls,” Izuku said, nodding slowly, “That’s how you were blocking my shots and keeping yourself from falling out of the ring. It was pretty smart of you to use it so that I couldn’t see before, because now that I know, I can work around it.”

“Go ahead and try,” Kasandri invited.

Izuku went for her again, ready to change direction when she put up a wall. Instead, he felt something catch his foot midair and he went sprawling near Kasandri’s feet. He grabbed one of her ankles, the one that was still wrapped up. Kasandri yelped, and with a swipe of her arm her leg wrap had been ripped up. She pulled her foot away and jumped up as Izuku tried to grab for it again. A red square appeared in the air, and she landed on it.

“I thought you were going to work around it,” she said, jumping up again. The platform she had been standing on vanished, and another one appeared for her to land on higher up. Izuku jumped to his feet, but Kasandri was already retreating, running through the air, platforms appearing and disappearing as she wound her way up and out of reach.

Finally she stopped, about twenty feet up in the air. Izuku could see that she was panting. Using her quirk must have taken a toll on her. He glanced down at his broken fingers. His quirk we taking its toll as well. He was going to have to end this quickly, before he took too much more damage.

Izuku launched himself into the air, trying to attack. Kasandri jumped out of the way, forming more platforms to aid her escape. Izuku managed to land on one for a moment, but she immediately got rid of it and he dropped back to the ground, landing in a crouch.

“How high can you jump?” Kasandri yelped, moving herself higher. Probably an attempt to stay out of range. Izuku launched himself up again, reaching her level but missing the platforms and Kasandri.

“As high as I need to,” he answered, dropping back to the ground. He landed, and then suddenly his body was surrounded by red. He looked around. She’d built a box around him. It was bright and hot, and Izuku wasn’t sure what it was made of. He pulled his arm back and gave a 5% smash. The wall in front of him shattered. High above, he spotted Kasandri stagger backwards half a step, nearly falling from her platform.

“I can’t get out of range,” Kasandri said, mostly to herself, “And I don’t have enough power to trap him right now, especially not from so far away.” She clenched her fists. “So I guess there’s only one other thing I can try. Sorry about this, Izuku Midoriya.”

Kasandri threw her hands up. A huge orb appeared above her, like a red sun. Izuku could feel the heat from the ground. Another box surrounded Izuku, certainly just to distract him long enough for her to attack.

“Solar Eclipse!” Kasandri cried, about to launch the orb at him. Izuku heard a shout from the sidelines, and then everything vanished. The box around him, the giant orb, even the platform Kasandri had been standing on. He looked over and found that Mr. Aizawa had activated his quirk, though he stopped it as soon as Kasandri started falling.

She shrieked, and Izuku saw a platform appear about ten feet off the ground. Her body slammed into it and it shattered. A second later, she hit the ground hard.

“Mr. Aizawa, why did you do that? We were in the middle of our fight!” Izuku argued.

“This was a sparring match, not a death match,” Mr. Aizawa answered, as if that explained it.

Across the arena, Kasandri struggled to her feet. She looked pretty banged up from the fall. “I wasn’t going to kill him,” she coughed, swiping at the blood dripping from the corner of her mouth, “My red level attacks aren’t lethal, especially not to someone with a strength quirk like his. Besides—” She coughed again, grimacing. “I’m pretty sure having me drop to the ground like that was pretty dangerous too.”

Izuku frowned, hurrying over to her. “You’re hurt!” he yelped. Kasandri put a hand up, indicating him to stop. He did so, reluctantly.

“We’re not done with our fight yet.”

“But you just fell! You’ve been injured! We should at least pause the match and let Recovery Girl fix you up.”

Kasandri scowled. “Your fingers have been broken for most of this match, but no one stopped for that.”

Izuku stepped back. “How did you—?”

“Oh, please. I know a broken bone when I see one,” she said, “Now get back to your side of the arena. Like I said, we’re not done.” Izuku frowned, but walked back to the other side.

“Right,” Mr. Aizawa muttered, “Sorry about that. I thought...I didn’t know how strong your attack would be.” Kasandri nodded, possibly to indicate that it was fine or maybe just so that Mr. Aizawa would know she heard him. “Keep fighting.”

Izuku felt bad for Kasandri. She’d been injured during the fight because of an outside influence. Though, to be fair, that kind of thing certainly happened to pro heroes all the time... Was it possible that Mr. Aizawa did it on purpose? Izuku wasn’t sure, but he did know that now that she was injured, Kasandri should be much easier to take out. She wouldn’t be as fast now, so she wouldn’t be able to dodge, and he could already break through her shields.

He raced towards her. Kasandri summoned a wall, and he smashed it. He noticed her stumble back a step. He continued forward, breaking walls as she built them, getting closer every second. “There’s no way you can win like this,” he pointed out.

“I don’t care!” she shouted, “I can’t give up now! After everything I did to get this opportunity, I’m not about to just throw it away!”

Izuku reached her and threw a punch, but Kasandri threw her arm up to block. A shield appeared on her arm, red and glowing like everything else, but definitely shaped like a simple shield rather than a wall. It moved with her arm, something that the walls she created earlier didn’t do. There was still more to this quirk that Izuku didn’t understand.

He smashed her shield with a punch, but she summoned another. He was knocking her towards to edge of the ring with every blow, and she knew it. Kasandri glanced back, noticed how close she was to being defeated, and dropped to the floor of the arena. A second later, a dome appeared around her.

“Do you think that’s going to stop me?” Izuku asked, pulling his arm back. Suddenly, the dome changed. It had started out red, but quickly shifted to orange, then yellow, then green, then blue, and finally ending on white. It was brighter than before, and Izuku had to retreat several feet because the heat was intense. He wondered for a moment if Kasandri was trying to cook herself.

The shape of the dome shifted as well, collapsing inward. Kasandri stood, and the bright white pieces adhered to her body, creating a glowing white set of armor. “Celestial Guard,” she gasped out, “Try to hit me now, Izuku Midoriya.”

Izuku could still feel the heat radiating off her. Her quirk must have protected her from it. He could probably stand to hit her once, though it would almost definitely burn him. Still, he’d have to risk it if he wanted to win.

“Alright, then. I’m going to end this.” Izuku took a few steps back, powering up full cowling. He wanted to move quick, get in as fast as possible. He didn’t want to be in close range of that heat for very long. He shot forward towards her, ready to knock her out of the arena.

Kasandri widened her stance, prepping herself to take the hit, but then she staggered. The glowing white armor dissolved, and Izuku saw her eyes unfocus. She took a few steps, trying to keep herself upright, but ultimately pitched forward. Izuku didn’t stop moving forward, but instead of punching, he ground to a stop right in front of Kasandri and hooked his arms underneath hers to stop her from hitting the ground. She hung limply in his grasp.

“Kasandri?” Izuku asked, carefully setting her down on the concrete. Her clothing was scorched and a sheen of sweat covered her face. All Might and Mr. Aizawa appeared on either side of him. “I think she’s unconscious.”

“Stupid kid,” Aizawa muttered, “She probably knew she couldn’t hold that defense, but she did it anyway. Still...she fought well for most of the match.”

“She’s got that ‘never-give-up’ attitude!” All Might added, scooping Kasandri up into his arms, “I like her spirit.” He turned and started carrying her off to see Recovery Girl.

“Izuku Midoriya wins,” Mr. Aizawa announced, looking up at the class, “Now, everyone head back to the classroom. I’ll meet you there to discuss your individual fights.” He turned to Izuku. “Midoriya, follow All Might to the nurse’s office. Recovery Girl is going to need to fix your broken fingers.”

“Right,” Izuku answered, nodding and hurrying after All Might. When he caught up, Kasandri was already stirring.

“I...lost,” she breathed, “didn’t I?” All Might nodded silently. Kasandri sighed, tears welling up in her eyes. “After all that...and I couldn’t even win. This was all a waste then, wasn’t it?” She looked up at All Might.

“Young lady,” All Might said, grinning at her, “Who ever said you had to beat young Midoriya?” Kasandri stared up at him, blinking in confusion. “You did very well. In fact, if Aizawa hadn’t stopped your earlier attack, you might have won. And even after that setback, you continued to fight. That takes heart.”

“Does that mean she passed the test?” Izuku asked, catching All Might’s attention. The pro hero smiled at him.

“Well, I can’t say anything for certain yet, but I think she has a good chance.” All Might brought them to Recovery Girl, who reprimanded Izuku for intentionally breaking his fingers again. He had told her he wouldn’t do that again.

“I’m really sorry,” Izuku sputtered, “but we were told to go all out and I wanted to make sure Kasandri got a good fight.” He breathed out a sigh as Recovery Girl’s quirk expended has energy to heal the breaks. “I...I wasn’t just doing it for fun.”

“Have a seat, young man,” Recovery Girl said, patting one of the beds. Kasandri was laying on the one next to him. She was unconscious again. “I want you to keep an eye on her, alright? I haven’t done a lot of healing because she’s low on stamina. She needs to rest for awhile before I can do anything more for her.”

“You're not going to watch her?” Izuku asked uncertainly.

“I have to go help with some of class 1B’s training for today,” she answered, “I’ll be back soon, but stay with her until then, okay?” Izuku nodded and Recovery Girl hurried out. All Might also left, probably heading back to help Aizawa.

There was a moment of silence, and then Kasandri cracked one eye open. “Are they gone?” she asked, nearly making Izuku jump out of his skin.

“You’re awake!” he yelped.

Kasandri chuckled softly. “Yeah. My injuries really aren’t as bad as they look. I’m just exhausted.” She sighed faintly. “You’re a great fighter, by the way. Your quirk is really powerful.”

“Thanks,” he answered, “Hey, if you don’t mind me asking, what is your quirk exactly? I couldn’t quite figure it out.”

“It’s called Hardlight,” Kasandri answered, “It allows me to manipulate light and compress it into objects. My body is also more resilient to high temperatures, because compressing the light particles causes heat. Red level objects are no problem to me, but the stronger the object, the hotter it gets and the shorter I can use it without getting burned.”

“Wow, that’s amazing!” Izuku gushed, pulling out his hero notebook and starting to write stuff down. Kasandri stared at him, surprised by his antics. “No wonder you were able to get recommendations.” He paused for a second. “Hey, I hope you get into the hero course. You fought well today.”

“Thanks, Midoriya. I hope I get in too. I want to be able to train with you and your classmates more. I learned a lot today already. I want more of that.” She shifted on the bed and closed her eyes. “I want to get stronger. Then I can fight you again, and next time I’ll win.”

Izuku smiled a bit. Honestly, she probably could have beat him today, just because he hadn’t known what she was capable of. “Sure.”

Recovery Girl returned a little while later and sent Izuku back to class. Mr. Aizawa was still going through the fights when he arrived. Apparently, they had all been recorded, so that they could still be used to see if the students had improved. Izuku walked in to a recording of Bakugo fighting Iida.

“Iida,” Mr. Aizawa was saying, “Trying to avoid Bakugo’s blasts was a good idea, but you never attacked, and the moment you had to slow down, he overwhelmed you with firepower.” Izuku winced as the screen was overtaken by a large explosion, obscuring the view of the camera. “Ah, Midoriya. You’re finally back from the nurse. Take your seat.”

Izuku sat and drowsily listened as Mr. Aizawa went through the rest of the fights. Sitting in front of him, Bakugo seemed to be half-asleep as well. He didn’t even react when Mr. Aizawa mentioned how he had irresponsibly see up too much power early on, making him incapable of winning his last fight.

“That’s all for today,” Mr. Aizawa finally announced, “Everyone go home and get some rest. Your regular classes resume tomorrow.”

“Mr. Aizawa,” Izuku said, pulling his hand up, “What about Kasandri? Is she joining our class or not?”

“That decision is being made tonight,” Mr. Aizawa answered, “The teachers need to deliberate. If she does get in, we’ll also need to discuss whose place she’s taking. In other words, which one of you will be dropped from the program. It’s not a decision we can make lightly.”

“Oh, right. Sorry,” Izuku muttered. The class packed their bags and left. Iida and Uraraka walked with Izuku to the train.

“Hey, Deku! Your fight got really intense!” Uraraka chimed, bouncing on her heels, “That Kasandri girl was pretty powerful. I almost thought she had you before Mr. Aizawa erased her quirk.”

“I wonder why he did that,” Iida mused, tapping his chin, “He must have been concerned for your safety, Midoriya. I admit that attack had me on edge as well, but Mr. Aizawa isn’t one to make rash decisions like that. For some reason, he must have thought the attack would be more powerful.”

“I’m sure it could have been,” Izuku answered, “I talked to Kasandri after the fight and she told me when she makes red objects, those are the least powerful ones. I think white is the most powerful, like that armor she summoned at the end, but it’s harder for her to use.”

“That must be why she passed out,” Uraraka realized, “Like how Bakugo used too much power and passed out in his fight with Todoroki.”

Izuku nodded. “Yeah, I think that’s how it went,” he agreed, “When she got hurt in the fall, she got desperate and pushed herself too far.” He frowned. “I hope that doesn’t ruin her chances of getting into the hero program here at U.A.”

“I doubt it would,” Iida assured him, “She did very well against you, and certainly could have beaten many of our classmates. I’m not sure I could have beaten her myself. She’s clearly on par with the class, and so she really should be allowed in.”

“Yeah,” Uraraka agree, nodding, “We’ll find out tomorrow, but I wouldn’t worry about it too much. There’s nothing we can do about it anyway.”

“Right.” Izuku nodded. “Well, I’ll see you guys tomorrow.”

[welcometoyournewhell]

What Family is For

Well that was a waste of time. Not many people read oc based stories but I was hit with the inspiration this morning. I promise I'll get my ass going on the prompts I owe!

WARNING: Contains violent themes, talk of PTSD, gore, and other relating themes. Also contains tickling and fluff.

"People die because you want them too. You kill for pleasure. " The room went silent. It was as if time it's self had come to a standstill. "You call me a monster," The Galran general Voltron had captured spat at Allura. "You've been letting one live with you the entire time! "

Jerome felt sick. He felt like he was going to puke to be exact. His body felt cold, and his eyes burrned with tears that threatened to pour put. "That little fuck has taken out how many people huh? How many?! "

The sound of two hard objects colliding filled the room. The eighteen year old dared to look up to see his uncle looking over the general, a Galran gun in his hand. He had bashed the back end I to the man's face.

"Shut. Up." Adam's orders were simple. The general spit out a wad of blood and a few teeth. "Buddy your attacking the wrong man, " he croaked. "That boy has killed planet leaders. He's killed innocent people, good people! Yet you defend him? " His eyes narrowed at both Allura and Shiro now.

Adam bashed him with the him once more. "I said enough! " Voltron was out on another mission, lucky for the the prisoner. "You think you have any right to cast judgement against me? " Adam looked up at his husband. If he kept beating the guy he may cause some more damage, meaning getting information from him would be a lost cause.

Shiro shook his head before looking at Allura. "Should we put him in a freezing pod until he's needed? " The princess thought for a moment before casting a glance at her nephew. He looked mortified. His face was filled with horror.

The team knew what he had done to an extent, but maybe it was revisiting all the memories that was causing this reaction. "Probably for the best, " she nodded. Shiro walked down to help Adam lug the guy away, leaving Allura, Coran, Krolia, and Jerome alone.

Jerome felt as if his feet we're cemented to the ground. He felt so sick and cold. He wanted to cry, but he also wanted to lash out. He wanted his dads.

A hand clapped down on his shoulder. She wasn't his father but she was a close substitute. Krolia gave her grandson a loving smile trying to reassure him. However Jerome wasn't having it.

He looked down before finally feeling the urge to move. Biting back his gag reflex he thanked his grandmother for the encouragement before leaving.

The three exchanged looks of concern before returning back to their stations, after all... they had a job to do.

Not long after Jerome had curled up in his bed, his baby blanket held to his nose. He was such a child at times but a comfort item was called a comfort item for a reason. Stompers curled up behind him for the warmth radiating off his body.

Flashbacks of his time away from home flipped though his mind as he quietly started to shake and cry. His first time meeting Asmar, the take down! He was resourceful and used the "handcuffs" to his advantage! Because of that he was sparred, but at a cost.

Their next show down the shark-like creature destroyed everyone else in the arena, everyone but Jerome. In the midst of battle the other prisoners thought a sacrifice would calm the beast.

They pinned him down, allowing easier access for the beast. It backfired greatly as Asmar went for then first, but after he left a mark Jerome would always remember.

He clutched his metal arm, the burning sensation returning from the memory. His teeth slowly piercing the skin, breaking the bone and flesh. It was so slow, so agonizing.

They didn't pull him out of the arena either. They all watched as he went for the boy's leg next. Fitting from the foot to mid thigh in his mouth he closed in for the chomp.

Jerome screamed in pain. It was bloodcurdling, however it was unheard over the masses cheering in entertainment. However they stopped once Asmar retreated to his water bed under the arena. After what felt like hours the Galran guards brought him to the infirmary.

The rest was a blank. Just like when he disappeared. The last thing he remembered was saying good night to everytime, when he woke up in the morning he was in some motel room with a dead man in the bathtub. The man turned out to be the king of that planet. He was a small creature, he looked innocent.

Being charged for his death Jerome was locked away until the Galra invaded and dragged the prisoners and civilians on board.

He had no memory of killing him, nor did he have any for the other crimes he had committed. He'd stopped getting of the ship when they would land. Aliens wpuld riot accusing him of different things that he had no recollection with, making it harder to form alliances.

He was broken. He'd been put into so many screwed up situations, like being strung up and fed only vitamins in a dungeon waiting for his marriage to Lucius.

He was strung beside Lotor, the prince's father. He was to be sacrificed the night of their wedding before Lucius became emperor of the Galra empire he had remade in the name of his grandfather, Zarkon. Haggard had taken him in after Lotor tried to recreate the thrown.

She pulled the strings behind the puppet show, buts till catered to the boy's wants and wishes. Despite being his grandmother, she acted as a mother for him. A mentor. She took him in when the world had turned against him at a young age.

But being g locked up for days just hearing the annoying man beside him squeal and whine about everything imaginable, even trying to tell him stories of Voltron; it was a lot.

Killing the prince, and saving his family was the easiest of events so far. Being a hit man living with Asmar. All his memories we're flashing by so quick that he didn't hear the panicked calls.

He was shaking so badly that Stompers had jumped off the bed in annoyance. The skunk now watched as Shiro and Adam tried to pry the boy's arms away from his face.

Shiro felt his heart breaking at the sight. He'd gone through hell and back, he'd never wish it on anyone else. But watching his nephew crumble before him? It was awful. He couldn't help him, especially when the kid refuses to open up anymore about things.

"Jerome." Adam had crawled behind the boy, trying to cuddle. He hoped that it would calm him down. "Jerome it's okay. Daddy and papi are coming back soon. Okay? " Still nothing. The sobs became louder, he was stuck within his own head.

Something the team had grown used to. Shiro would go into similar fits. However, Keith or Adam could usually bring him out of it. It took a while, but they could. Jerome however was a bit more difficult.

Adam pulled the shaking form into him as he started to hum softly. As his husband did they, Shiro started combing through the dark locks of hair. "It's okay, we're here now, " he whispered softly.

The sobs became less patterned and more heartful. The shaking had slowed slightly as two blue eyes peered out from behind the limbs. Jerome whimpered slightly, but his eyes pleaded for help.

Crawling under the covers as well both uncles held their nephew trying to sooth him before his parents returned. "It's okay.... Shhhh... It's alright, " Shiro couldn't bounce him as he did when the boy was just a babe. More often than not he found himself stepping in to help like a father rather than an uncle. But they were a close family.

Finally the shaking ceased. Looking down both men noted how exhausted the boy looked. He needed sleep. But sleep was where the memories laid. Keith could tell what nightmare he was having based on his scream and body action at this point.

The boy was broken. They all knew it. But they didn't stop their love.

After fully calming down the boy nuzzled into Shiro. Something he'd done since birth when Keith or Lance was absent. "I'm sorry, " he whispered softly. "For what, " Adam asked as he leaned his head on lazily.

"For being a damn child, again. For having to bother you to help me as I sob like a five year old. " Shiro furrowed his brow. "Your not acting like a child Jerome, " Adam had beaten him to it.

"Just don't worry about how others see you, alright? There's no need to be ashamed of this. It's something your going to need help with. Your uncle still does. Your parents go through similar things as with everyone else on this ship." He looked over at his husband while speaking.

"It's not a burden on anyone. We're family, we want to help. " Shiro blushed slightly. He had similar insacurities and would try to hide his panic attacks from Adam.

Jerome nodded silently before letting out and 'okay'. Shiro had wanted to ask him about the general but decided now wasn't the best time. "I don't want to sleep, " Jerome mumbled with thick, heavy eyes.

"I know you don't, but you really should. Uncle Adam and I are right here, we'll protect you. " Jerome shook his head. "You can't protect me from things in my head. You can't protect me from stuff in the past, " he argued.

"But we can protect you from things in the future. " Shiro suddenly came up with an idea. He smirked mischievously at Adam who looked a bit wary. "Everything except well... The tickle monster, " he spoke calmly before Jerome dissolved into giggles.

It was a cheer up method he'd used on Keith growing up, it worked pretty well in his nephew too! Adam ran his fingers up and down the small back, as Shiro played with his ear.

Jerome giggled happily and sleepily, not putting up much of a fight. "It tickles, " he squeaked as Adam began to trace his side, he stopped when he felt a bump under the thin shirt. "You weren't going to bed were you? " Jerome shook his head.

"Good, you should sleep with this on," he lectured as he pulled on the bottom of the binder softly. It was like having four parents, it really was. The eighteen year old squirmed slightly, as demanding more physical attention.

His uncles gladly gave into the request tickling under his arms and his belly. "Nahahah, " he squealed happily. "Does it tickle? Huh, " Shiro teased. Jerome nodded happily, exposing more of his body for acsess.

Both adults chuckled briefly before tickling their nephew to tears. By the time they stopped loud foot steps could be heard echoing down the hall. The door slammed open revealing both Lance and Keith in their armor.

They were panting heavily, a look of panic on their faces. "Jerome, " they exclaimed in sync. The boy remained against his uncle as he put his hand up to slightly wave. Adam and Shiro gave a smile before allowing the parents their rightful places.

"Sleep tight kid, " Shiro said before ruffling the boy's hair. Adam copied the motion before they left the room.

"Baby, you okay? " Keith was practically smothering him. "Yeah dad, I'm okay. " Lance was quietly holding him. Whenever it came room the six month absence he got like this. His depression just came rushing back.

"We love you, " he spoke softly.

"I love you guys too. "