#blackspikes | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

kit-williams · 4 months ago

Text

Ahh yes the Mara meetcute

So happy to read this as everyone was cute

And yes Astartes staring at each other as socializing

Museum

Warsmith Eciton Formicas takes the time to visit his bonded human, an educator who works at the local museum’s natural history exhibit. He’s not the only one at the museum that day and gets to meet his bonded’s favorite teacher.

Author’s Note: Another meetcute. 🥰 I can’t have Mara meeting Eciton in Of Fin and Feathers AU and not have them meet in Space Marine Husbandry Sentience AU. Takes place after Ben reunites with Amelia.

Tagged: @shadowfirecat , @kit-williams , @bleedingichorhearts , @barn-anon , @gallifreyianrosearkytiorsusan

@sleepyfan-blog , @bispecsual , @c-u-c-koo-4-40k , @ms--lobotomy , @whorety-k

@gra93fruit-blog , @i-am-a-dragon34 , @felinisnoctis

Eciton stands at the back, watching the young man talking about biodiversity of the forest undergrowth in front of a rapt audience. His lips curl into a small smile as the children excitedly wave their hands to be picked to handle the large millipede the young man held. He was glad to have scheduled some time off to visit his bonded at the museum amd watch him work. It’s not often enough that he’s able to do such a thing nor be able to keep a close eye on his human. Luckily he’s able to assign some of the Astartes at his base to keep his bonded safe in his stead.

The presentation soon finished and the audience dispersed to wander among the rest of the exhibits. Eciton walks over to where his bonded human was packing up the animals and displays he had. He gently takes the small ant farm and wolf spider display then puts them on the cart.

His human grins and thanks him.

“Was that the presentation you had been working on the past few weeks, Daniel?” The warsmith asks.

“Yes. How was it?” Daniel replies as he continues to pack up.

Eciton hums with approval, “Rather engaging, though I thought you would put some more focus on the ants.”

“You like ants, I get it.” the young man laughs, “I have to be fair about giving all creatures equal amount of time in my presentation, you know.”

Setting on the last display, Daniel is about to push his cart back in the lab behind him when he spots someone familiar. He happily waves them over, “Ms. Plover! Ms. Plover! Hi!”

Mara had watched Daniel’s presentation, impressed by his performance and growth over the years. She lags behind, reading the displays as Amelia and Ben, along with their space marines, go to check out the rest of the exhibit. Suddenly, Daniel’s familiar voice calls out to her.

“Ms. Plover! Hi!”

Daniel had been one of the students she taught many years ago when she had been teaching full-time. Mara is surprised that he still recognized her. Her eyes crinkle as she walks towards the educator and greets him with a warm hug and a smile.

“Your presentation was very well done!

Eciton watches as Daniel rushes over to an older woman to enthusiastically greet her with a hug. Daniel leads her over to where he was standing and introduces them.

“This is Ms. Plover, my favourite teacher! She’s the one who inspired me to continue insect keeping and research, and become the educator I am today.” Gesturing to the bonded space marine, Daniel continues proudly, “This is Eciton Formicas, my bonded space marine! He’s the warsmith at Steelix Fortress Base.”

Eciton straightens his posture and gives her a nod. She looks and smells familiar. He quickly realizes that she was related to Alcyon’s and Malaran’s humans, who were involved in the incident with that Black Templar. Internally, he debates if he should mention that or not to her.

“Don’t let your other teachers hear that.” Mara joked before smiling warmly and holding out a hand to the warsmith, making sure to address him by his proper title, “Nice to meet you Warsmith Formicas. You can call me ‘Mara’ instead, Ms. Plover is far too formal and I’ve retired from teaching.”

Eciton’s hand engulfs hers as he gently shakes her hand, “My pleasure. It is good to meet someone who’s inspired my bonded so deeply.”

Daniel grins, “You’re the only one who let me keep bugs in the classroom. Even after the whole ‘mantid babies’ incident.”

Mara chuckled, remembering the time when baby mantises hatched from the egg case that Daniel brought in. They were still finding tiny mantises a month later in the classroom. “I don't think we’ve ever found them all.”

“Good! I’ve left my legacy in that school.” Daniel thumps his chest proudly to Eciton’s amusement. He looks at the cart and excuses himself, “I need to put these guys back in the lab, I’ll be right back out soon. You guys have a good chat!”

With that, he wheels the cart away and disappears into the lab.

An awkward silence hung between the pair for a short moment until Mara spoke up again,“Thank you for letting my daughter keep Ben. I’m sure that incident caused you no shortage of headaches. I apologize for the inconvenience.”

Eciton blinks, not expecting Mara to say such a thing. He quickly collects himself, “It’s fine. That issue has been resolved and it is only a matter to settle in the human legal system now between your daughter and her in-laws.”

“Regardless, thank you.” She replies, grateful to have her family reunited.

The Iron Warrior could feel heat at edge of his ears and he nods slightly, “You’re welcome.”

Mara smiles a little then asks, “How long have you been bonded with Daniel? I don’t remember him mentioning anything about a space marine when I was teaching him at Gannet Point. Knowing Daniel when he’s excited, he definitely would be announcing that to the world.”

Eciton chuckled, “I met him while he was here in Steelix River several years ago. Sometimes that boy needs to learn timing and volume, but it suits him well for the work he does here.”

“Grandma’s looking like she’s having a nice chat with that space marine guy.” Ben points out. Amelia had thought her mother had lagged behind for a susiciously long time when they decide to turn back to search for her.

“Your mother is chatting up the Warsmith.” Alcyon murmured incredulously, one arm wrapped around Amelia’s shoulder.

Mara is indeed talking to Warsmith Formicas who is soon joined by the presenter, one of her former students. Amelia lets out a quiet exasperated laugh and leans affectionately into Alcyon’s side, feeling him tighten his hold, “Of course she is. My mom has a talent for holding a conversation with nearly anyone. It probably helps that the warsmith’s bonded is my mom’s former student.” She knew that her mom isn’t bonded to an Astartes, but the way the warsmith stands protectively by the educator, it is obvious that the educator is his bonded human.

Mara nearly forgets the time while she was chatting until Ben wraps his arms around her and she sees Orca close behind.

“Grandma! We’ve found you!”

Mara chuckles and hugs him back, “Hello Ben, Orca. This is Daniel, one of my students and this is Warsmith Formicas. Be polite.”

Ben looks up and greets them both, “Hi Daniel. Hi Warsmith Formicas.”

“Grandma?” Daniel asks, “Did you get married?”

“No,” Mara explains, “I adopted my niece as my own and her son, Ben, is my grandson.”

Eciton looked down at the scrappy young boy who was the cause of all this drama; who, against all odds, managed to escape a Black Templar and reunite with his mother, with the help of his bonded chaos marine and one of his men. Ben stared back evenly, not cowed by the warsmith’s presence. Eciton can see the family resemblance.

“Formicas.” Malaran says as he holds onto Ben again, his red eyes daring the warsmith to make a comment about his charge. Daniel shifts uncomfortably.

“Where’s your mom and Alcyon?” Mara asks Ben, cutting through the tension like a hot knife through butter.

“They’re coming.” The boy replies.

They look over to see Alcyon and Amelia making their way towards them. The chaos Iron Warrior nods at them, “Warsmith.”

Amelia greets them, smiling, “Warsmith Formicas, Daniel.” She addresses the educator, “That was a wonderful presentation.”

“Yeah!” Ben pipes up, “That was so cool! I really liked when you talked about the fishing spider.”

Daniel’s grin is large and bright when he replies, “I’m glad you guys like it! Unfortunately time’s a bit tight, but next time when you come by again, send me an email and i can set you up with a behind the scenes tour of the lab.” Giving Ben his business card.

Ben cheers, “That is awesome! Thanks!”

The educator laughs, “You’re welcome!”

Eciton and Daniel look on as the family wave their goodbyes and disappears to look at the other exhibits in the museum.

“Cute kid. That’s the one who made the shouty guys shoutier?” Daniel asks.

Eciton snorts at Daniel’s description of the Black Templars, “Yes.”

“I like him, he seems bright and scrappy.”

“The boy and his Astartes are trouble.” the Warsmith grumbles.

“They can’t be all that bad. You seemed to have a nice chat with Ms. Plover. She makes some really good pastries too.” Daniel adds.

“She was a good conversationalist.” Eciton grudgingly admits that much, then smirks at his bonded, “She also shared some of your hijinks of when you were in her class. Bringing in a container full of cockroaches without secure containment? Really, Daniel?”

The young man groans, “I was a kid. Secure containment wasn’t exactly my priority at the time.”

#warhammer 40k #space marine husbandry sentience #oc: eciton formicas #oc: daniel #oc: ben plover #oc: mara plover #oc: amelia plover #oc: alcyon #oc: malaran blackspike #iron warriors #black legion

34 notes · View notes

kit-williams · 9 months ago

Text

I would love to read those comments.

Me: side eyes the use of bond mate by Alcyon

Also me: Later when its like yeah that's a full blown mate bond

Ahhh someone actually using the different types of bonds and showing them off! Which begs the question... is the Templar an intense bond or a weak bond who just wanted to fight... HMMMM

But awww Amelia... Alcyon will wait for you to feel better as you said he's devoted and so he'll wait for you to reciprocate anything. (Not wanting to assume that Alcyon has fallen HARD)

Aunt by Space Marine yes!

Also loved the ending with the final words being "please don't do that again"

Guesthouse of the (Lost) Astartes: To Render Aid (4)

Erriox and Lenora provide aid to a lost chaos space marine and his young bonded human.

Dialogue spoken in Gothic are bolded and italicized.

Author’s Note: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4.

I am finally done! That was such a ride. This last chapter is a big one with a word count of almost 4900. A few comments on this chapter: Big bad scary chaos space marine is soft for his (mate, wife) bonded human. Malaran is Ben's ride or die buddy, and also has very little filter. Apparently, being an aunt by space marine is a thing now. I have a bunch more of silly comments in my head for this chapter. Let me know if you guy want to see these comments.

Thank you @squishyowl for making the fic dividers!

Enjoy!

Tagged:

@kit-williams, @barn-anon, @bleedingichorhearts, @shadowfirecat,

@gallifreyianrosearkytiorsusan, @sleepyfan-blog, @c-u-c-koo-4-40k, @bispecsual

“Ben?” Both Lenora and Ben turned to the sound of the voice.

“Mom!” Ben cried, running towards her, “Mom!”

Amelia braced herself against the impact, laughing tearfully as her son ran into her arms. She hugged him tightly, “Ben! Oh Ben! I missed you so much!”

She had absolutely zero clue on how her son even managed to find his way here, let alone escaping out from under her ex and his family’s noses. But she didn’t care. He’s here, her boy is here!

Ben buried his face in her shirt, wetting it with his tears, “Mom! I missed you! I missed you so much!”

“I looked for you for so long!” He wailed.

Amelia’s heart shattered at her child’s cries. She tightened her grasp, apologizing over and over in weepy whispers, “I’m so sorry! I’m so sorry! I’m sorry, Ben! I tried! I tried to…Oh! I’m so sorry!” Hugging him tightly like it was her last day on earth.

Amelia desperately wanted to tell Ben how she tried again and again to visit and see him, each time only to end up blocked by her ex-husband’s family or his Black Templar Astartes. The gifts and letters she tried to pass onto him. How Alcyon managed to catch her ex unguarded and intimidated him enough to let her visit once more outside their home and give one last gift to him. How the Black Templar soon patrolled the school as well after that. She wanted to say how the judge ruled custody in her ex’s favour after Alcyon’s fight with the templar at Ben’s school. How they were then ordered by the Warsmith and the local Chapter Master not to contact him again, her own son, for the sake of keeping peace. She wanted to tell Ben so many things so badly, so he could understand that she had tried so hard and had never ever stopped loving her baby.

“I love you so so much, Ben.” Amelia mumbled into his hair.

What did it matter? She had still suddenly disappeared from Ben’s life without a word. God only knows what her ex’s family told him, given how much they disliked her. Her heart bled with regret. She could never apologize enough for not being able to fight harder for him. But now that Ben is here, she could make up for the lost time as much as possible.

“I love you, Mom.” Amelia laughed, full of joyful tears, when Ben gave her an extra squeeze.

But HOW did he get here? She wondered.

Eric’s voice drew her out of her thoughts, “Hey Amelia.” Passing her and Ben a box of tissue, which both gratefully accepted.

Amelia blew her nose and wiped her tears, noticing the other woman standing there with them. She smiled kindly at her, then gestured to Ben and Eric, “Let’s clean up a bit first before we continue. Eric, mind showing Ben to the bathroom?”

Once refreshed, Amelia asked her, unsure of who she was and what relation she had with her son, “You’re…”

“I’m Lenora.” She shook Amelia’s hand.

“Amelia.” She replied, “How did you meet my son? You brought him here, right?”

Lenora nodded, “Yes, well… Erriox, my Astartes, brought Ben and his Astartes to my home.”

Amelia encouraged her to continue as they sat together in the waiting hall, Ben curled up against her, “They were caught in a snowstorm when Erriox found them and led them to our house.” Lenora decided to skip the part where Ben caught hypothermia and needed first aid for now. Amelia already felt guilty enough, no need for her to add more worries to her plate.

“We found out that Ben was looking for you, but he and Orca were being hunted down by the Black Templar. It was only a matter of time before he would come knocking at our door as well.”

“Orca is…”

“Orca is Ben’s bonded Astartes.” Lenora confirmed. Amelia laughed quietly. Of course Ben would name his Astartes after some sea creature.

Lenora sighed, watching the boy start to nod off, “Ben told us that you were bonded to a chaos space marine. And luckily, between Orca and Erriox, they were able to figure out that it was brother Alcyon. So we made our way here to Steelix Fortress.”

Ben piped up, “We were chased by that asshole!”

“That asshole?” Amelia wondered, “You mean…”

“The Black Templar.” Lenora clarified.

“He was so close to catching us, but Ms. Lenora did this really cool Fast and Furious thing to avoid him! And Orca and Erriox jumped him and they started fighting!”

Lenora internally cringed at that, Ben’s mom really did not need to know how they drifted a truck and nearly careened off the road. So much for that.

“Erriox and Mal…Orca, they’re still out there fighting…” An uncomfortable anxiousness crept into her veins. So much so that she almost forgot to use Ben’s given name for the Black Legionnaire.

“Fighting the Black Templar, huh?” Amelia sullenly added.

“Yes.”

Amelia laughed with bitter admiration, “That Astartes is nothing if not doggedly dedicated to his cause with a one-track mind to succeed in his mission.”

“I’m sorry. That probably doesn’t relieve your fears.“ she added remorsefully.

Lenora stared at the distant entryway of the medical wing, mumbling, “I hope they’ll be okay.”

Ben piped up, “They can take him. Orca can take him.” He said with the utmost faith. Lenora wished she could believe the same. It’s been a long time since they had parted and yet Erriox and Malaran weren’t here yet. Two arms wrapped around her neck as Ben hugged her, “They’ll beat him. I know they will!”

She smiled sadly as she hugged him back, “Thanks Ben. I really needed that.” Just have to hang onto that spark of faith and trust that Ben’s intuition is correct. Right?

The boy then went back to his mother’s side, asking her, “Mom, is Brother Alcyon who you live with? Was that what you meant by the kingfisher?”

Amelia blinked, surprised at her son managing to find out where, rather who, she meant, “Yes, Kingfisher is Alcyon. How did you figure it out?”

“Ms. Lenora told me.” Amelia chuckled at Ben’s answer, “she’s a wildlife biologist who works with birds!” he answered proudly.

Lenora laughed, appreciating Amelia’s play on her Astartes’ name, “It made sense once Osteron told me who you were bonded to. For a little while, I was worried that we would have to check every area where kingfishers were known to be nesting outside the fortress.”

“You’ve seen actual kingfishers?” Amelia asked.

“Yes! There are at least one or two pairs that nest along the river just outside of the base. If you’re interested, I’d be happy to take you to see them at some point.”

Ben begged, “Please, mom?”

Amelia smiling, agreed, and traded contact information with the other woman.

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

By the time Alcyon arrived, the two Astartes warriors were trudging on the road towards the fortress. The disgruntled Black Legionary dragging his feet, looking off-balanced, and his sullen loyalist battle-brother carrying the comatose body of the Black Templar over his shoulder. All of them looked like something a wayward Heldrake dragged in.

“Khornate idiot!” He heard his battle-brother hiss at the Black Legionnaire.

“Trench Skaven!” The chaos Astartes hissed back, spitting a clod of blood onto the snow, “If your Warmaster wasn’t so soft, we would have killed him and be done with it!”

“Orders are orders! The warmaster needed him alive to find a way out of this mess! If you hadn’t so carelessly engaged the templar earlier, you wouldn’t be in this state!” Erriox argued.

“Enough.” Alcyon commanded, “Brother Erriox, pick up the pace.” He went to support the wounded chaos marine, “We will follow.”

They soon made their way to the fortress. Luckily, Malaran’s injuries eventually healed enough that he could jog unassisted. The group went straight to the medical bay, dropping off the Black Templar with the order of binding and securing the unconscious Astartes as soon as possible, then quickly left to seek out their bonded humans.

Malaran, now that the haze of bloodthirst and battle faded away, was suddenly reminded of Ben’s mission. He asked his fellow chaos Astartes, “You are bonded to Ben’s mother, are you not?”

Alcyon confirmed his identity.

Malaran rounded on the chaos Iron Warrior, voicing his displeasure, “Tell me, why did she not return to see her son at school? Did she know how much distress she caused him?”

Alcyon straightened to his full height and snarled at the still-injured Black Legionnaire, his red lenses flared with annoyance, “It was the corpse-damned Black Templar! In the last several months, he patrolled the area around the house, cutting us off from seeing the child there. Then he started doing the same at the school. My human begged him and that blasted family. Begged. Him. To see her son, to pass on whatever gifts and letters she had for him. Whatever they did with those gifts and letters, we never knew, but it was clear the child never received them.”

His voice lowered in volume, remembering that they were in the medical wing of the base, “I could not stand for such insult. That was her son, not that damned son of Dorn’s! We fought, which had us banned from the school grounds. Of course, humans do not look upon chaos warriors favourably.” Alcyon scowled, his one good eye glared at the floor in front of them as he remembered the utter heartbreak in Amelia’s eyes when she found out what happened. She couldn’t bear to look at him, let alone be around him, for days after that incident. It hurt. More than a chainsword carving through his chest.

He growled, his anger flaring, “We were then ordered not to contact the child anymore lest the Black Templars decide to start a crusade against us. So do not even DARE accuse my bonded of not trying find a way to see him!”

“But since you have bonded to her son and brought him back, I will forgive your insult this once, but if your actions so much as put her and her son in jeopardy, or tarnish her name,… I will put you down myself.” Alcyon threatened. Erriox was surprised at how fiercely protective his battle-brother was of his bonded human over such a short period of time. To be fair, he would have perhaps done the same in his situation. His brother’s record of events did answer his question with regards to the templar’s accusation though.

Malaran scoffed, “I am the last person you need to say that to. You take me for a fo—?” His rant was cut short by Erriox knocking his chestplate.

“Shut it. They’re here.” The Iron Warrior scolded him as they caught sight of the two chatting women and the child with them.

“Orca!” Ben called out, running up to meet him. Alcyon snorted at the name. Malaran ignored him, wincing as his gut wound complained when he knelt down to receive his human’s embrace. Ben threw his arms around him and buried his face in Malaran’s neck. He looked at his injuries and the cracked armour, upset at his current state, “You’re hurt!”

“I am fine.” He crooned, nuzzling to soothe his young charge. He purred, rumbling deeply, happy to see his youngling safe and sound.

“Mom! This is Orca! He’s my space marine! He’s the one who helped me!” Ben said proudly. Malaran couldn’t help but preen at the tone of pride in his youngling’s voice. Amelia walked over to the pair, standing in front of the kneeling chaos marine. To his surprise, she hugged him, her voice tearful but happy, “Thank you, Orca. Thank you for caring for Ben and bringing him back to me.”

She was Ben’s mother. He recognized her mild floral scent from the momento Ben carried. Malaran didn’t understand all of what she said, but he understood that she was grateful to be reunited with her son. But why was she crying? Did he do something wrong?

Confused, Malaran leaned his head against hers and purred, going by instinct as that was what usually helped quell Ben’s tears when he cried. Amelia gave a small laugh before releasing him, “I’m okay, but thank you again for sticking by him.”

“She’s alright. She said she is grateful to you for staying with her son.” Alcyon translated, his gaze noticeably softened as his mechanical claw tenderly touched Amelia’s cheek, catching the tear threatening to run down. She patted the claw in thanks and gave him a watery smile. The chaos Iron Warrior recognized the boy from the many times he watched his bonded meet with him at the school. He mostly stayed out of sight during those times for Amelia’s sake, but close enough that he could easily protect her should she run into trouble. His bonded placed her hands on her son’s shoulders to turn and face him. She smiled warmly at Ben and then at him, “This is Alcyon. He is my bonded Astartes.”

Ben looked up at him. Alcyon was a tall Iron Warrior, reminding him of the kind apothecary he just met, Osteo-something. But much more fearsome. His scowling face was heavily scarred, his right eye was replaced by a collection of red lenses, a deep cut ran down the left side, splitting open his top lip, exposing a glint of sharp teeth underneath. There was a shallow nub on the left side of his forehead where it seemed there was once a horn that was cut off.

His modified armour and his mechanical limbs only added to his frightening appearance. His left arm was replaced by a large claw and a large mechanized limb replaced his right leg just above the knee. Ben couldn’t believe that he was related to Erriox or the apothecary. Whereas Erriox looked stern and strict, and the apothecary looked kind; Alcyon looked scary, even scarier than Orca when he’s angry.

Swallowing his fear, Ben asked the hulking chaos marine, “Are you Kingfisher?”

Alcyon knelt, getting a good look at Ben, though still towering over the boy, “Yes, Kingfisher is the name your mother gave me.”

“Thank you. For keeping my mom safe.” Ben said, meeting his gaze bravely.

Satisfied, Alcyon huffed and stood up once more, gently ruffling Ben’s hair with his gauntlet-covered hand.

“Your mother is my bond-mate. Protecting her is my duty.” Came his stalwart answer.

Erriox quietly went over to Lenora where she was watching the reunited family. He pulled her against his armour in a close embrace. She hugged him, giving him a tired smile, glad that he was finally there. He was here, safe and sound, in one piece, with her.

Her hand caressed the remnants of the recent battle on his chest armour, “I was so worried...” Her voice dropped to a murmur, her voice tight with emotion, “The last I saw you were fighting… and then we waited for such a long time… I was scared that you wouldn’t… I thought…”

Erriox quickly shut her up with a kiss, a brow twitching in annoyance when he heard Eric’s whispered cheer. He quickly turned, using his body to shield Lenora from everyone’s view. His gauntleted hand gently brushed away her tears as she leaned into his touch.

Clutching her tightly in his arms, he kissed her again, this time deeply and all-consuming, “Have faith in me, Lenora. I will come home to you.” Erriox vowed into her lips. It would take more than just a Black Templar to stop him.

“You better.” She kissed him back, wrapping her arms tightly around his neck, pulling him ever closer for as much as his armour allowed. Desperately clinging to her Iron Warrior as if whatever entity that sent him to her will take him away if she didn’t. He only held her tighter and pushed his kiss deeper.

“Ms. Lenora!”

They broke off from each other at the sound of her name. Erriox quickly set her down and Lenora wiped her mouth before meeting the rest of the group, trying to ignore the swelling of her lips.

Ben rushed forward and hugged her tightly, almost knocking her off-balance had not Erriox braced her from behind.

“Thank you! You and Erriox! Thank you for helping me find my mom.” He mumbled into her chest. Lenora’s heart melted. She hugged him back, giving the boy a good squeeze, “You’re very welcome, Ben. Be good and take care of yourself, hm?” She mumbled into his hair.

Erriox reached over and patted the boy affectionately on the head, “You are welcome.”

“You might as well fuck her while you were at it.” Malaran snickered. Lenora's ears burned with that remark. Amelia blushed.

Erriox glared at him and growled threateningly, “Keep your comments to yourself, cousin. Don’t make me regret helping you.” Protectively looming over his human.

Alcyon elbowed the Black Legionary harshly, “Don't be so vulgar in front of my mate.”

“Your what?” Malaran’s mind came to a screeching halt.

��My. Mate. Did the templar hit you so hard that you have gone deaf?” Alcyon icily responded, resting his right hand against the base of Amelia’s back.

That was unexpected. The Iron Warrior certainly usurped the former husband’s position quickly, Malaran thought. The Black Legionnaire doubted that Ben would have known about this. He was about to ask, but thought better of it; this farce has gone on long enough for one day and he would like to spend time with his youngling now that this debacle was over. A moment of uncertainty ran through him, would this mean his position of Ben’s bonded was in danger too? His hands itched to bring Ben back to his side. He hissed lowly at the chaos Iron Warrior, reminding him, “Do not dare steal my youngling away from me.”

Alcyon glanced at Malaran, offended at his presumption, “You have nothing to worry about unless you foolishly put them in danger.”

Lenora shook her head, looking away from the two chaos space marines, “I think these boys are ready to head home and be done with it.” She chuckled to Amelia, then ruffling Ben’s hair goodnaturedly, the boy yawning mid-giggle, “This one too.”

She turned to Erriox, “Let’s go home?”

He was about to agree when Osteron walked up to the group, a warm smile on the apothecary’s face, “Hello Amelia, I’m glad you have your boy back.”

Amelia smiled at him, “Hello Osteron. Yes, I’m very thankful.”

He addressed the group, “It is rather late, so it is best to stay at the base and leave the next morning. You ladies and Ben here could stay in Brother Erriox’s and Brother Alcyon’s rooms. Brother Malaran, we will make arrangements for you to stay as well.”

He then addressed the three Astartes, irritation evident in his voice, “You three, tracking dirt and blood all over my clean medbay,…” Even Alcyon stiffened slightly at the change of tone, “Report to the Warmaster on today’s events then report back to me. You will spend your time cleaning up every speck of debris and stain in my medbay to my standard before you leave.”

“Yes sir.”

Malaran groaned and was about to argue, but Alcyon told him to shut up, “Don’t. It will only make it worse.” He said.

“Are you in trouble?” Ben asked worriedly.

Osteron chuckled, “It is nothing terrible. These boys made a big mess in the medical bay and now are going to clean it up. They will be back with you after they are finished.”

Malaran huffed and patted Ben’s head, purring and promising in Gothic to return to him as soon as he was done.

Lenora giggled at Malaran’s grumbling before turning to Erriox, “Don’t get into more trouble now.” She joked.

Her Iron Warrior huffed, side-eyeing the Black Legionary, “I can’t promise you that.”

Erriox kissed her brow and then her lips, “I will return.” He promised.

Lenora kissed him back, “One more for good luck.” She smiled. He smirked.

“We’ll see you later then?” Amelia asked Alcyon quietly.

“Yes, I will be with you soon.” Alcyon, almost bent double, pressed his forehead to hers. Amelia smiled and quickly touched her nose against his, “See you then.”

“Rest well.” With one last caress, the chaos Iron Warrior turned to follow his battle-brothers.

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

Lenora walked Amelia and Ben to Alcyon’s suite.

“So… like… Is Alcyon going to be my new dad?” Ben asked, breaking the comfortable silence.

“You want him to be?” Amelia answered.

Ben shrugged, “Don’t you like each other though?” Recalling how Alcyon acted towards his mom.

Amelia paused, confused and slightly concerned, “Yes, but that doesn’t make him your dad. What if your teacher and I like each other, would you start calling him dad?”

“No, but he’s probably better than my actual dad though.” Ben replied, making a face, he couldn’t picture his teacher and his mom together. He understood her point though.

“Alcyon is a space marine. He’s our protector, but I’m not sure he’s um… ready for you to be calling him ‘dad’.” She wasn’t sure how to feel about Alcyon in all this, to be honest. He was intimidating, at some points can be very frightening, and was weird about certain things, being unaccustomed to what humans here take for granted. But on the other hand, Alcyon was incredibly devoted to her, fiercely so. He was so different, and was so much more than everything she found lacking in her previous relationship. Amelia had to admit that she did love him in the short time they were together and that their relationship was intensely… romantic? But the fact remains that the emotional wounds left by her ex were too raw, too recent. She didn’t want to use Alcyon and to think of him as simply a rebound or a temporary band aid solution to that emotional trauma. The topic of fatherhood? Yeah, she’s definitely not ready to touch that conversation at all.

Lenora stepped in, “Ben, maybe hold off on calling anyone your dad. Orca might feel real weird about that.” She figured that would likely cause conflict between the two chaos space marines, considering how overprotective and clingy Malaran was of Ben. Chances are, Malaran would be upset and jealous of Ben’s relationship with the chaos Iron Warrior if that’s the case. The thought of Malaran begrudgingly calling Alcyon “dad” was very funny though.

The boy agreed and decided to drop the topic. He hadn’t even considered how Orca would feel. Another question nagged his mind, “Ms. Lenora, since Erriox is Alcyon’s brother and Orca’s cousin, can I call you ‘Aunt Lenora’?”

Lenora stared, trying to find the correct words to say. She looked helplessly at Ben’s mother who only giggled at them. She tried to explain, “Erriox is not actually related to them, you know? Kind of like in certain cultures where I would call another woman, like your mum, “sister”; but she’s not actually related to me.”

“But that means I can still call you Aunt Lenora even though you’re not really related to me if Erriox calls Orca, his cousin. You’re much better than my actual aunts.” Ben countered.

Lenora laughed, she couldn’t fault his logic and she couldn’t say no to the little bit of flattery at the end. An aunt by space marine, she is then.

“I suppose.” She said exasperatedly and fondly, “You can call me Aunt Lenora.”

Ben cheered. By that time they had arrived at Alcyon’s room. Amelia turned and hugged Lenora tightly, “Thank you so much, Lenora. Thank you for bringing Ben back to me. I thought I lost him for good. I owe you so much for this.” She said, heart full and feeling eternally grateful to the other woman.

Lenora hugged her tightly back, giving Amelia a comforting squeeze, “It’s all good, don’t you worry about owing anything silly like that. Just take care of yourselves. I’ll probably see you around the base sometime.”

She pulled away a little, suddenly remembering something, “I put some extra toiletries in Ben’s backpack. So if he’s looking for a toothbrush or something, it should be in there.”

Amelia hugged Lenora again, she couldn’t be ever more grateful to her, “Thank you so much.You really didn’t have to.”

“It’s fine. I have extras anyway.”

“You’re the best, Aunt Lenora.” Ben said, his voice muffled as he burrowed in to join in on the hug. Lenora just laughed, her tiredness briefly forgotten with the boy’s enthusiasm. She clutched them both tightly once more before taking her leave.

“I’ll see you guys around.”

Mother and son watched Lenora leave before entering Alcyon’s room. His room was relatively spartan. The only evidence that he was bonded to a human was the soft dark green fleece blanket on his bed and a few stems of dried Achillea millefolium flowers and dandelions tied together in a small bouquet on his desk.

Once inside, Ben dug through his backpack, pulling out spare clothes, more snacks and sandwiches, a large bottle of water, a bag of toiletries, a ziploc bag with some first aid items, among other things. Ben gasped when he pulled out a copied set of Blue Planet DVDs and a letter folded inside one of the DVD cases.

“In case you end up somewhere safe and able to find a DVD player. Enjoy the Blue Planet series! They are very good and I think you’ll like them. I don’t know where you and Orca plan to go after this, but I hope this pack will be enough supplies for a little while. At least until you get to another safe place. Good luck! I hope you find your mom. - Lenora”

That woman gave her son so much. Amelia didn’t think the kindness of strangers would stretch this far as she had already done so much for them. Amelia decided then that she would at least treat Lenora to dinner next time she sees her.

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

Mother and son were sleeping peacefully by the time the two chaos marines returned to Alcyon’s room. Malaran’s first instinct was to gather the boy and bring him with him to his room, but thought better of it.

“Let them sleep. I will be with them. Come join us again in seven hours.” Alcyon told him. The Black Legionnaire nodded as he retired to his own room for the night.

Alcyon stripped down to his body suit. Sitting at his desk, he switched out his heavy leg prosthetic for a lighter one and then took off his metal claw. It was only when he lived with Amelia that he started doing this, not wanting to accidently nick her again during their sleep. Human skin and flesh tears so easily. After the first couple of scars he made, Alcyon became much more careful using his claw around her, something he would never have considered for anyone, let alone a baseline human.

He slipped into the bed behind Amelia, his tall bulk protectively blocking them both should a threat enter from the doorway. He watched his human’s son sleeping deeply, nestled into the curve of her body. Reporting to the Warmaster had been interesting, piecing together the events between him, Malaran and Erriox. The Warmaster was deeply unimpressed and grumbled about a can of worms under his breath. In the end, Amelia was able to reunite with her son, which was all that mattered to him. This time, he will make sure to keep his this little family together, to make up for his past mistake to his dear mate. He will destroy anything and anyone who dares threaten his peace.

“Kingfisher?” came Amelia’s whisper. It was a strange name, but he didn’t mind it, though only she was allowed to call him that.

The chaos Iron Warrior rumbled a low affirmative, feeling her body sag in relief against him. He brushed her hair back delicately, pressing a kiss to the shell of her exposed ear, drawing out a blissful sigh. Her head tilted to reverently place a kiss to the skin of his arm stump where it met the metal attachment point for his claw. Alcyon hummed with quiet satisfaction, not daring to purr, lest he wakes up the boy. He wrapped his arm around Amelia, listening to their steady heartbeats as he closed his eye.

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

The mattress dipped with his weight as Erriox joined her. Lenora hummed in comfort as she felt his warm body curl around her and his rumbling purr vibrate down her back, relaxing as the exhaustion of the day’s events caught up to her. Erriox kissed the nape of her neck and nuzzled into her hair, inhaling her scent. She drowsily looked up at him, exhaling a sigh of contentment, “You’re back. It’s good to see you.”

“I’ve returned.” Erriox replied, his voice soft as his hand drifted along her exposed throat; memorizing the feel of her pulse and the warmth of her skin. He tilted her head back, kissing her languidly before pulling her closer to himself. “Don’t ever drive like that again.” He grumbled, closing his eyes and draping his arm over her. Lenora laughed in acknowledgment and intertwined her fingers with his, bringing his hand up to her chest as she drifted off to sleep.

#warhammer 40k #space marine husbandry sentience #space marine husbandry #iron warriors #black legion #oc: erriox #oc: lenora #oc: malaran blackspike #oc: ben #oc: alcyon #oc: amelia plover #mate bond

56 notes · View notes