#but also in leos defense... he Did Die. its not like he can get hurt WORSE from there. probably | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

creepypocky · 3 years ago

Note

Hello dear! May I have a romantic and Nsfw creepypasta match-up please? Feel free to ignore this if they are closed but if you do choose to do this then thank you so much! I hope you have a great day/night!

Zodiac sign: Leo sun, Aries moon, Leo rising

Personality Type: ENTP

Pronouns: She/her

Sexuality: Straight (For now might be bi but i'm going with straight)

I'm 5'4 and I have a very tiny body frame so i'm extremely petite and pretty small. I'm not very curvy and I literally have the body of a cereal box...lol but its fine because I have nice hips and thighs. I have thick brown hair that goes down to my back and it gets tangled pretty easily but its kinda fluffy. I have brown eyes and tiny freckles all over my face and body. I also have a very strong grunge style, like Flannels, band t-shirts, combat boots, leather jackets etc. But i'd also always enjoy a nice oversized sweatshirt or hoodie with a pair of skinny, ripped jeans and some converses or something along those lines.

For my personality.....this is where things get interesting. At first people find me very intimidating due to my resting bitch face and cold exterior but I promise i'm not like that ALL the time. When you get to know me, i'm a big extrovert, goofy and about everything that comes out of my mouth is sarcasm or some dry humored joke. I'm also that one friend in a group where they literally will do the stupidest shit ever like for an example one time it was super dark outside and my other friend was there, while I was trying to climb a tree and I failed and fell out of the tree, and landed on my back. I got straight up after that somehow it didn't hurt.....like at all? But yeah i'm super reckless and sometimes people have to save me from myself if you get what I mean. I also have a very strong "I don't give a fuck" attitude and I will not hesitate to stick up for myself or my friends....like i'm the type of person where if someone glares at me, i'll glare right back. I can have bad anxiety and I can be very self destructive. This is where my feisty, stubborn, hardheaded side comes in. If I want something then i'll fight for it even if it hurts me and i'll get into a bad cycle of putting myself down and trying to do better even if I did great the first time but I always push myself too far and other people have to stop me because I usually can't see it when its happening. I also cover my emotions up and I have a lot of trouble talking about whats bothering me or what problems i'm having emotionally so I put up a wall and I act tough, or happy and sometimes i'll be the exact opposite but I try to hide it.

Weird things about me: I've grown up in the south all my life so sometimes when I talk a few words they'll come out sounding WAYYY more country and southern then I wanted, I don't have an accent but sometimes my words just come out that way. I also love the smell of cigarette smoke....let me explain. When I was a kid my parents smoked a lot and I was used to smelling it and now it reminds me of home and is sort of comforting.

Things I like: I love swimming (I was on a swim team for about 9 years), I love horror movies, I like rain and the sounds of thunderstorms because its calming to me, I also love the smell of rain, I like cloudy days, cooking, listening to 80's and 90's rock but mainly 90's because 90's is the best, My favorite bands are Bush, Audioslave, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Linkoln Park, Pearl jam but i'm pretty open to anything. Things I dislike: Spiders.......I will scream if I see a spider.

So for the nsfw part.....I'm very shy and i'd like it if someone guided me. But i'm 100% a Bottom and I love praise and maybe a tiny bit of degradation. I also have a big ownership kink like if someone tells me that i'm their's....then I might die. Also if they told me that they "Needed" me I would also die on the spot...in a good way. I'm also a sucker for marking like lovebites and hickies? Yes please. But please tease me and edge me because I prefer not having control so someone else being in control is just...lovely. Also pet names! Like Sunshine, Babygirl, Doll....AHHhh I might melt. Things I don't like are impact play or the whole "Daddy kink" It kinda just makes me cringe

I also don't think I really have a type but.....I do tend to love people who are brooding, and intimidating on the outside but a big teddy bear on the inside because that's how I am sometimes. I hate people who are fake or just passive aggressive because they are super annoying to deal with and honestly if you have something to say then just say it to my face rather than behind my back.

Hello :)

|| I enjoyed reading through this. I'll definitely work on it now. ||

I match you with ~ Jeff The Killer!

First off, he really likes your size and style, he has a think for small girls that can still be tough and that’s something he loves showing off when you get together lmfao, he’s like, “Yeah, my girls strong. Fuck you gonna do about it?”

Now, Jeff is a really unstable, violent guy. A lot of people (even me) don’t even see him ever being interested in being in a relationship, so when the creeps saw Jeff with his arm around you, they were immediately baffled by it.

The truth is, though, this man totally wants to have someone by his side, someone that accepts him even though he’s a killer. Someone that’s open to his feelings and is willing to look past all of the horrible shit he’s done.

You’re like that to him, it took him a very long time to get used to how he felt for you at first. At first he thought his brain was just being stupid, but Jeff isn’t dumb. He knows what these feelings feel like, and he recognized them almost immediately after that.

Jeff is really insane, and he constantly leans on you for support and depends on you to keep him leveled at times. It can get pressuring, but despite it all he always makes sure to not blame you if he ends up doing something dumb because he knows it’s not your fault.

He finds your clothing style pretty hot, he really loves badass kind of outfits with leather and band names, because as I said, he loves to show off that his girl is “cool” or something.

He thinks your resting bitch-face and cold exterior is really badass too, being around you always gives him so much confidence and its a great change from the usual fake confidence he has around everyone that he keeps up as a defense mechanism when in reality he was always pretty insecure.

I honestly think Jeff is an extrovert too, like he loves being around people and interacting with them (When they’re not normal people and don’t think he’s hideous, that is). I canon this mostly because when hes alone, then he’s also alone with his thoughts and his thoughts always end up wandering to his insecurities and what he hates about himself, but you often catch him during these times and you reassure him that everything will be okay and that you still love him.

He totally relates to being the friend that says stupidest shit, you two will often just go up to one of the creeps and just start spouting random shit. He honestly fucking loves being goofy with you, and you two are always creating awesome memories together when you prank the other creeps and sometimes each other and he honestly wouldn’t have it any other way.

When you do stupid shit that gets you in trouble or puts you in danger, he’s always quick to get to you and make sure you’re okay, he would probably panic a lot though. Like, “What the fuck, dumbass?” “How the HELL did you do that???“ as he’s frantically trying to solve the situation. Will most definitely sit there and laugh at you for a good 5-10 minutes once the whole thing is dealt with though.

You being able to stick up for your friends is one of the great qualities about you that he absolutely adores, especially since before he became a killer he would always get bullied and nobody would ever stick up for him, so one day when you defend him against a bunch of assholes it just warms his heart up and makes him feel so loved, but he most likely wont admit that.

He’d let it slip eventually though.

When you’re feeling self-destructive, he is 100% there for you. Although he’s not really the best at giving advice, he’ll still sit there with you and let you talk your heart out and will listen to every single word because he wants to show that same contribution towards you that you’ve shown him. He’ll constantly reassure you that not everything is your fault and that you’re strong, and he’ll make little promises to you.

If it was a person in particular making you feel that way though, he’d definitely make sure to pay a visit to the motherfucker.

He admires your determination to fight for the things you want, but to an extent. He hates it when you overwork yourself or push beyond your limits to the point where it destroys you, and he wants you to know that you’re not alone and you can ask for help, you don’t have to destroy yourself. He’s more than willing to stay right there, by your side.

He understands hiding your true emotions, because well, he’s had to do it a lot around the other creeps and around his family when they were still alive. So he won’t ever push you to talk about somehting if you don’t want to, but he doesn’t want you to pretend to be okay either. He’s more than willing to just lay with you and do whatever you want if it would make you feel better.

He honestly likes how you have a southern accent at times, when he’s feeling upset or like his sanity is draining, your accent really soothes him so sometimes he’ll ask you to lay it on thick because he could honestly listen to you talk to him and listen to your accent all day if he wanted to.

It’s good that you like cigarette smoke because I canon this man smokes very often.

When it storms at night, he’ll always hold you close to him with a blanket and just listen to the storm sounds with you because it soothes him too. This man is really pent up from feeling driven to constantly murder and just sitting with you listening to the rain and thunder is one of the main things that level him.

He’s really not the best.... at cooking.... but, this means you can cook often for him since he won’t for himself. B)

He will just put you in a car and drive for hours to no destination and blast that 80s and 90s music just to see that smile on your face.

This man will 100000000000% destroy any spider within a 10 mile radius of you.

He understands not liking people who are fake because there were a lot of people who talked shit about him when he went to school, and when he has a problem with someone he will always say it to their face and make them understand that they’re a piece of shit to him.

NSFW:

You like being dominated and guided? Good, because this man is at least 95% a top. He thinks it’s adorable that you’re shy and will most definitely be willing to guide you through the whole thing and tell you exactly what to do for him.

Jeff is really possessive tbh, so when he’s fucking you he will constantly say shit like,

“Fucking mine”

“You’re nobody elses“

“You belong to me, only”

This man will definitely bite you everywhere, he lives to just throw you down onto the bed and start biting everywhere on your body and making sure to leave marks just so you know exactly who owns you.

Don’t worry honey, he will spend hours just filling you with his cock and telling you that you cant cum unless you beg more, or he’ll just pull out right when you’re about to cum on him and just slap your folds with his fingers as a way to make fun of you.

He’ll call you things like, “baby” “dollface” “darling” when he’s feeling passionate but oh boy if he’s feeling angry or he’s punishing you? Be prepared to be degraded all night.

There we go <3

Sorry if this is too long lmfao, I just think that Jeff is a really misunderstood piece of shit. I hope you’re having a great day and taking care of yourself, and I hope you enjoyed this matchup. :)

#creepypasta smut #creepypasta #matchup #creepypasta matchups #jeff the killer #anon ask #smut

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write-a-bad-romance · 4 years ago

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Only If You Hurry (Comte/Leo)

Pairing: Leonardo x Comte, with hints of Vlad x Comte

Rating: T

Word Count: 1738

Prompt: Hurt/Comfort, Leo and family matters, modern AU

Ao3 Link: Here

Note: I'll be referring to Comte as "Saint-Germain" throughout this fic because I don't want to spoil his first name. Also, his views about same-sex relationships do not reflect the author's actual opinion.

Vanilla-scented smoke trailed behind Leonardo as he located the door to Saint-Germain's apartment and knocked furiously. The sound of a violin was abruptly cut and replaced by footsteps approaching the door.

Leonardo didn't need to announce who he was. The man inside already knew.

Or maybe not. Saint-Germain still needed to look through the peephole to make sure. Leo heard the sound of unlatching as he stared at the tip of his scuffed leather shoes, a stark contrast against the grimy maroon carpet.

All the money in the world and still he refused to move someplace newer, fancier. But then, the entire building is HIS anyway.

The door opened with a heavy creak as Saint-Germain's worried face came into view.

"I wasn't expecting a guest. At least not tonight." The blond man sighed, "But at this point, this is your house as much as it's mine, isn't it?"

Saint-Germain backed away to allow Leonardo some space. The moment he stepped into the room, he noticed an ornate decanter of wine and matching glasses on the coffee table.

"I thought you weren't expecting company," Leonardo smacked his lips. The living room was bathed in a warm golden glow, just like everything Saint-Germain.

"I had a feeling knew you'd come."

The larger man decided to let further comments die on his tongue. He marched towards the burgundy velvet armchair and sunk against the cushioning. Other men of his size would complain about how cramped it was, but Leonardo welcomed the snug comfort it offered.

He loved sitting at this very chair and let himself soak in the familiarity of his surroundings. Even more so when the master of the house was around and he would—

Leonardo batted his thoughts away as Saint-Germain probed him. "Is this about that date you mentioned a few days ago?"

"Jeez, how did you know?"

"Just a guess. To be honest, I can't tell you if you just came back from your lab or a fancy restaurant on a hotel rooftop." Saint-Germain gestured towards Leo's desultory choice of clothes. "You're not even trying anymore."

"Yeah, well. She’s a friend of my cousin, my only good cousin. How was I supposed to refuse?"

"Family matters. I understand." Saint-Germain poured from his decanter and passed it onto the slouching man. "But you can't keep doing this if it means coming to me moaning about it."

"Grazie," Leonardo accepted his friend's offering, but not without almost dropping the glass and letting its content spill onto Saint-Germain's antique Persian rug. "And thank you for being such a good friend and taking in the burnt of my woes."

He wasn't far off from the truth. Despite his harsh words, Saint-Germain would always nod and listen with that almost-holy, serene visage. And without fail, the man would offer him little quips of advice, some soothing words here and there. Sometimes, outright spats were inevitable. But even then, it was Saint-Germain who stood his ground and made Leonardo spend the rest of the night reflecting and repenting.

The weary lecturer closed his eyes and sighed. The good, young doctor wasting all his attention on me? This can't be right.

"Was she really that...undesirable?" The occupant of Leo's thoughts picked his violin once again and pressed it against his collarbone. "How long did you, erm, last?"

"Dio. You make it sound so obscene," Leonardo scoffed. "She wasn't. It's just, well...."

Saint-Germain let out a wry chuckle and gave him a hearty smile. "I see. So it's your tastes that's currently leaning towards....men. Did I put that correctly?"

"Well, I guess you're not entirely wrong." Leonardo hoped he could blame the wine for the rosy tinge that swept across his cheeks.

"Understandable," Saint-Germain cradled the instrument on his arm, a faraway gaze to his eyes. "Once you're accustomed to the comforts of a man, it'll take you a while before you stop searching his image in other men."

Leonardo threw a pointed look at the oblivious man. That's not how it works.

Besides, aren't you just talking about yourself?

"Really," Saint-Germain ignored his indignant gaze and sat on the loveseat across Leonardo, his own filled glass in hand. "Even if you've dropped hints here and there, wouldn't it be better if you confront your family and tell them the truth?"

"Those were major hints I've been dropping," Leonardo raised his voice. "I had another cousin calling me just to ask about some guy in my Facebook photo from five years ago."

"And?" Saint-Germain licked his wine-tinted lips. Grazioso, Leonardo wanted to say. "What did you tell him?"

"I asked him what his point was. He hung up immediately after," Leo snickered. "Guy must have been scared shitless of me sounding so angry. I never showed that side to him before."

"See?" The blond man sighed, pouring himself a second glass. "Deflecting questions is not a confirmation. Neither is silence."

Leonardo watched intently as the other man rose from his seat to get his violin. His best friend looked enticing in a white shirt with sleeves rolled up to his elbows, he had to admit. The ensemble would've been made perfect if Saint-Germain had on a black waistcoat—

Damn the alcohol for letting my mind run loose.

"Anyway, since you're here to drink your sorrows away," Saint-Germain lifted his violin. "Why don't I play something for you?"

Leo bit back a scoff. That's not the kind of comforting I need, but that's about the only thing I can get from this. More than this, and it’d be—

"Sure," He flashed a cheeky grin, "Are you taking requests? Wait, no classics. I don't want you to lull me to sleep."

Saint-Germain set his bow on top of his violin's strings, the instrument waiting in position. "Anything for you."

The pair laughed their worries off into the night, accompanied by Leonardo's off-key singing. It was tiring, the Italian thought.

But relaxing, in its own superficial way.

“Anyway,” Leonardo spoke much later as he began gathering his belongings. “How’s it going with your cara mia?”

Saint-Germain seemed taken aback by the sudden question. “Oh, everything is fine. Why do you ask?”

“No,” Leonardo paused, wondering if Saint-Germain noticed the awkwardness of his phrasing. Not that it mattered, going by the inanimate turn of his voice.

“There’s nothing for you to worry about,” Ah there it was, Saint-Germain’s signature stern look that appeared whenever Leonardo managed to land a crack on his defenses. “Now, look at you, fussing over someone else’s love life over your own.”

“I get it, I get it.” Leonardo waved a hand in defeat as he made a beeline towards the exit. “Besides, it won’t do if your girlfriend notices I’m going to your apartment all the time. She might get suspicious.”

“She already has,” The smaller man gently pushed Leo’s back as he ushered him out of his abode. “Now go home and get to bed. Don’t wander off into some bar for another drink. Or guy.”

“Santo Dio! No need to keep scolding me! Save your lectures for later!” Leonardo laughed, his face completely flushed. “Thanks anyway. See you when I see you?”

“Anytime for a dear friend.” Saint-Germain patted the padding of Leonardo’s jacket.

“Right. Ciao.”

Leonardo cursed in Italian as he slammed his fist on a nearby wall.

“Shit.” He ran a sweaty hand over his weary face. “What was I thinking? Wasting my time and whining to the very person I want."

Leonardo could never say he loved the man. He longed for him. He lost sleep over him. Crying for him might be a little too much, but still, it was the blonde hair and amber eyes that followed him to sleep and starred in his dreams.

And every time, Leonardo would wake up panicked, alone and panting.

And desiring.

He remembered carefully warning his 'wards' Salai and Melzi, "Never go for unavailable men. Don't give in to the delusion that you're somehow going to make it work, whatever it takes."

"Withdraw while there's still time. It's not worth it." He admonished severely.

Leonardo laughed at his hypocrisy, disgust welling in the pits of his stomach. Even if his frivolity hadn't corrupted Saint-Germain, the other man had enough poison in himself to get the job done. Time and time again, he would gaze into the man's golden orbs and find nothing there.

He would give so much of himself to others but never oblige anybody else to fulfill him. Would never allow anyone close to his heart.

Leonardo knew he couldn't handle him, Saint-Germain and his darkness. And neither could the man endure him. So why did he—

How did he fall in this deep?

Leonardo shook his head and carried on with a forceful stride. They were fools, both of them. But Leonardo was an absolute abject for letting his heart and brain to be wholly governed by the image of a man who clearly wouldn’t look his way.

Nor anywhere else.

Saint-Germain stared dumbly at the blinding screen of his phone. There was no delivery notification under his latest message.

She was still blocking him. He could only pray the email reached her inbox and didn't end up in the spam or whatever abyss she subjected him. He couldn't afford another postponement. If he was lucky, this weekend, they'd have one last dinner, and Saint-Germain would offer to end their meetings.

Leonardo and his colleagues would praise him for being the one in control, always the dominant one. They believed Comte could pull away gracefully and call off his relationships at the drop of a hat.

Oh, if only such was the case. Saint-Germain battled day and night to gain control over his erratic feelings, hidden under lock and key beneath his impassive facade.

The constant battles made him vulnerable. Weak people had no business supporting another, not when they could barely stand on their own two feet.

And he was so close to baring it all to the very person he'd laid his eyes on.

Leo can't keep seeing me like this. So prone and useless.

You're a strong man who deserves an even stronger man. It will never be me.

He recalled Leonardo murmuring to him over another round of wine on the balcony of some hotel a long time ago.

It should be easy, being with the one you love.

Love isn't supposed to hurt or tire you out. If it's running your heart rugged to the ground, then what's the point?

Right?

Saint-Germain twisted the silicone casing of his phone furiously. He didn't know. How could he answer?

What was love supposed to feel like?

Joyeux anniversaire, Comte! Sorry I’m offering nothing but angst on this jolly day! :’)))

This was actually a request from anon, but I decided to make a longer piece from the prompt. The original draft had Renaissance influences thrown in, but things got hectic and I couldn’t continue my research. So I decided to go with mu usual jam: Modern AU.

Also, I think I overdid the hurt and added too much angst. I hope it’s okay.

Thank you to @ashavazesa for helping me brainstorm ideas. I’m sorry things didn’t come out like we intended to, but your suggestion (namely, Comte playing the violin for Leonardo) stuck with me and it fit nicely. Thank you!

#ikevam comte #ikevam leonardo #leocomte #ikevam fanfic #leonardo x comte #riri tries ikevam

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fatesdeepdive · 3 years ago

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Entry 33: Dawn Breaks

No Supports or castle stuff today. It’s time to end things.

Birthright Chapter 27: King Garon

Corrin enters the throne room to fight Garon, who stands up from his throne wielding a massive axe. Garon compliments us for making it so far. When Corrin mentions the deaths of Xander and Elise, Garon calls Xander a pawn, showing no remorse. You know, I like Xander as a villian, but goddamn did he get the short end of the stick in terms of parents to die fighting for.

Corrin attacks Garon, doing no damage. Azura begins singing and Garon grabs her by the throat. What are you doing, stepdad? Garon orders Corrin to stand down, using Azura as a hostage.

Ryoma attempts to negotiate an end to the war and Garon asks Ryoma to hand over all of Hoshido. And also kill himself. Then Garon attacks Ryoma with a fireball. I don’t think Garon’s good at negotiations.

Ranjito, Ryoma’s sword, begins glowing for some reason. Like Fujin Yumi before, it upgrades Yato, this time into a cool curved sword with a white glow. Wielding the new Blazing Yato, which is really OP, Corrin manages to hurt Garon.

This chapter sees us charging through the throne room, taking on an army of tough enemies who my high leveled units cut through like butter. Wait a minute, didn’t we fight Iago in the throne room? Does Garon have two throne rooms? Yeah, that tracks.

Garon has powerful stats, as well as skills that stop criticals and reduce the stats of units who attack him. But also Corrin and Ryoma are really strong and killed him easily.

Then Garon gets back up and trunks into an ugly dragon that demolishes Corrin and shatters Yato. Ryoma and Takumi run in to protect Corrin and also get taken out. Garon attempts to breath fire on the princes and Corrin jumps in front of them, T-Posing to block the attack. Corrin falls over, presumably dead.

Birthright Endgame: Dawn Breaks

The final chapter of Birthright, which has a name that is far too close to that of the fourth Twilight book for my liking, begins with Corrin floating in a black void. She wakes up back at the start of the game, in her bedroom, with Flora and Lilith standing over her, telling her to wake up. Either we’re in hell, or the entire game was a flashforward.

Corrin doesn’t remember anything and acts like everything is fine. Xander and Elise walk in and tell Corrin to wake up. Corrin says she’s happy, as long as everyone is with her. Then she remembers everything bad that happened to her. Xander tells her she can either remain in the afterlife, or go back and fight. Corrin hears echoes of Ryoma and Azura being attacked by Garon and Corrin decides to keep fighting.

All of the units we brought into the final battle shout cheers of encouragement; all of them are nice, but kinda generic, with two exceptions. Yukimura begs for Mikoto to lead Corrin back to the world of the living, which is really nice. And Azama says that Corrin isn’t destined to die for another 72 years and 19 days, which implies he knows exactly when each of my units will die. Which explains a lot.

Overall, this scene is great. It’s blatantly reused from Awakening with less narrative connection, but it’s still good.

Corrin says goodbye to her fallen friends, with scene shifting between the Frost Village, Training Grounds, and Dueling Grounds. Also, now that I think about it, where the fuck is Gunter? Did he have something more important going on? I know that Conquest and Revelations reveal he’s still alive, but I’m pretty sure he’s dead in this story path. Dick.

Corrin awakens, wielding a repaired Blazing Yato. Somehow. The repaired version of Yato, despite having the same stats, can now block Dragon Garon’s attacks. Neat.

We aren’t given an opportunity to head back to Fort Kenshi between chapters, but that’s fine. This battle has us charging through the ruins of the throne room to take out Garon. Again.

At the start of the battle, Azura begins singing her magic song, weakening Garon. LITWAA leads into the final battle theme, which is great. I don’t praise this game’s music enough; all of it is good and this battle theme in particular is amazing. As Garon begins to weaken, he begs for Anankos to give him strength. I wonder if that’ll end up being important.

Garon hits hard enough to one-shot most of our units and has fantastic defensive stats. Unlike the last round, he doesn’t wield an axe, meaning we can’t take him out by abusing the weapon triangle. This battle would genuinely be very hard...on hard mode. On normal I can just bum rush him and end the battle in two turns. Fittingly, Corrin ended up with the final blow.

Garon transforms back into a human and tells us he should have killed us as a child. As he dies, he says that perhaps this is what he wanted all along, the sweet release of death. He mumbles about how he lost his mind and became something, then dissolves into bubbles. Corrin wonders about what Garon’s deal was. Unfortunately, we need to buy some DLC to find out.

Azura faints, having pushed herself too far to stop Garon. Azura says that she can die in peace, knowing that everyone else will be safe. As Azura fades away, she asks Corrin to smile for her, one last time.

I know I compare this game negatively to Awakening a lot, which it definitely deserves, but I’d like to praise it for using its anime cutscenes in the final chapters, something Awakening didn’t. It really helps the dramatic moments hit hard.

Ryoma is crowned king of Hoshido, promising to bring the world into a new age of peace. Ryoma upholds his promise and helps rebuild Nohr with Hoshido’s resources. Everyone cries tears of joy.

Corrin meets with Leo and Camilla, who mourn the deaths of their siblings, and finds out that Leo is now king. Afterwards, she heads to the lake where she met Azura. Azura’s ghost tells Corrin to look into the lake, to find something hidden deep, before disappearing. The final cutscene shows the Hoshidan royals, happy together, meeting at a statue of Mikoto.

The credits roll, giving epilogues for all of our units and showing their battles/kills. I’ll be going through all the epilogues in bulk at the end of Revelations, but I would like to note my top units: Kaze, Silas, Mozu, Ryoma, and surprisingly, Azama. Who had close to 2000 battles because I sent him and Azura alone into a battle to build Support and unlock a Paralogue and just let enemies beat the shit out of him for a while.

As well as my least used units: Selkie, Caeldori, and Rhajat. Which isn’t surprising, considering I used them so rarely that I haven’t even mentioned recruiting them yet. My worst non Paralogue unit was Yukimura, followed by Shura and Izana. My least used actual units were...Sakura and Jakob. Sigh.

Saizo. The unit with the least real battles was Saizo. That’s what I was getting at. Followed by Kaden and Takumi. That’s not to say any of them were bad, Takumi in particular is insanely overpowered; I just didn’t need to feed him kills to keep him useful.

After the credits, the game gave me the option to select a few units to keep and recruit in later playthroughs. I only chose one, my max strength, eight movement Blacksmith: Kenshi. We’ll be seeing him again, eventually.

Closing Thoughts

Replaying Birthright has given me a new appreciation for Fire Emblem Fates. It’s a very flawed game, but to be honest, I had a great time. I’ve focussed on the writing, primarily, but the gameplay in Fates is fantastic. It’s a solid Fire Emblem game and I like Fire Emblem. Hell, things like personal skills, the rebuilt weapon triangle, and fixing pair-up make it a fantastic Fire Emblem game. My only complaint is that it’s a bit easy at times. Part of this stems from me playing Normal/Casual for this blog; I started a Hard/Classic playthrough in my spare time and it fixes most of the issues. The maps, although not as phenomenal as Conquest, are still varied and creative.

And then we have the writing, which is very hit or miss. I’ve explained my problems with this game before (black and white morality, incest, half of the Supports are forgettable), but to be honest, I do enjoy a lot of Birthright’s writing. It’s rarely anything special, but it gets the job done and occasionally has these fantastic moments of drama.

Birthright is a solid game that deserves a spot in the Fire Emblem series. If you haven’t played Fates before, I would recommend playing it.

Now comes Conquest, which has even better gameplay and also...even worse writing. Yay. But first, I’m going to be going through some of the DLC and Paralogues for Birthright.

#fire emblem #fe fates #fe 14 #fire emblem birthright #hoshido #ryoma fe #corrin fe #azura fe #garon fe

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dershloopmain · 4 years ago

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End Of Everything - Chapter 2

‘’Jesus,’’ Casey said, looking down at the broken fence with multiple zombies, all in different states of living, tried to claw their way out of their barbed wire and wooden confines.

‘’Tell me about it. I knew they were dumb but I thought they were supposed to have dope eyesight? Doesn't look like it to me,’’’ Raph scoffed, pulling his own splintering baseball bat out of his bag, poking the arm of the closest trapped zombie.

‘’Won’t Donnie want a sample for his tests? Don't poke em too much what if they come free you ass!”

‘’They won't come free! I dunno I thought he was good for all that.’’

‘’I dunno either but shouldn't we at least ask him? Besides, we need the help,’’ Casey said with a shrug, ‘’and stop poking em Raph!’’

‘’What? You can ask him, but if I show my face in that lair before this is done, Leo will end my life so you’re going,’’ Raph said, pulling back from the undead recipient of his abuse.

‘’Fine, I’ll go alone then.’’

‘’Don’t say it like that you’re making it seem like you're going out into a haunted forest. You just gotta drop down the sewer pipe and walk like 100 feet then you’re at the turnstiles.’’

‘’I know! I also know I am, just as susceptible to Leo’s… whatever we’re calling them.’’

‘’First of all, when did you learn such a big word Jones and second just text him then you big dope,’’ Raph rolled his eyes, turning back to his undead victims, beginning to poke and prod at their bodies.

‘’I said stop fuckin’ poking em dude!’’ Casey said, pushing Raph away from the fence with his foot as he tapped out a text to Donnie, ‘’And it's surprising what hanging with D all day makes you learn.’’

‘’Hey! Rude. They're not gonna hurt anyone they're stuck as anything in there. Besides, I’ve been hanging with Don for years, you won't get smarter in a couple of months. Half his ramblings are gibberish at this point,’’ Raph said, sitting up and continuing to poke the zombie. Casey rolled his eyes, realising he wasn't going to win this.

‘’I dunno. I guess I just actually pay attention to him,’’ Casey said with a glare.

‘’Oh sorry,’’ Raph said with a sarcastic high pitched tone, ‘’What is he your boyfriend now? Why’re you getting so defensive?’’ Casey shot another glare at Raph, ‘’Yikes, touchy subject then. I’ll support you no matter what bro, and if you wanna kiss some time, just let me know,’’ Raph said, standing and pouting his lips while moving towards his friend.

‘’Dude stop it,’’ Casey laughed, pushing Raph back, ‘’No he isn’t either I’m just saying, maybe you’d be less of a bone head if you actually listened to him.’’

‘’Nice to know I’ve still got a chance with you then,’’ Raph said with a smirk, ‘’And who are you calling ‘bonehead’ Casey Jones, you’ve got more skull than cells.’’

‘’Alright alright I get it you’re gay for me, its hard not to be, just don't let Mona hear or she will kill both of us. I’m also just gonna ignore that last part but what I said still stands you’re a bonehead.’’

‘’I show you bone head,’’ Raph said, diving at Casey and tackling him to the ground, locking him in a headlock, ‘’Say I'm not a bonehead and I’ll let you go.’’ He said with a smile.

‘’Never!’’

‘’Well then, I hope you like the taste of dirt and sweat because I ain’t moving until you say it!’’

‘’Children, children, come on stop it,’’ Donnie said, rolling his eyes as he pulled himself out of the sewer. Raph looked up at his brother and smiled, allowing Casey a moment to flip Raph up and off of him. He landed on the dusty, cracked tarmac with a shout of surprise, before huffing and pulling himself and Casey up off of the floor, ‘’Now then. What’s the problem?’’

‘’We need help and Case was wondering if you needed new samples to test,’’ Raph said, pointing at the hole in the fence and multiple zombies clawing at the floor in an attempt to pull themselves free and feast on the 3’s flesh.

‘’Right… I’m guessing Leo said you couldn't have help right? That’s why you texted me?’’

‘’Yup.’’

‘’Thought so,’’ Donnie said softly with a small grimace on his face. A grimace that didn't go unnoticed by Casey and Raph. Nothing was said regarding it but yet… they all understood. A silent yet ever-present cloud hung over them all but not a word was said. Raph cleared his throat.

‘’Right then,’’ He spoke, rubbing his hands together readily, ‘’Let’s get on with it.’’ With that, the moment was over and the cloud disappeared, however not completely. It still loomed over them, threatening to take over their beings at any point. Donnie and Casey nodded, pulling their splintering boe staff and baseball bat out respectively and begun to shift the monsters, pushing them back from a safe distance.

‘’How long have our defences been compromised?’’ Donnie said, straightening up and letting out a deep breath.

‘’Not sure,’’ Raph said, copying his brother, ‘’But they’re really stuck in there so it must’ve been at least a couple of days. Probably longer.’’

‘’Why did Leo only send you two to do this?’’

‘’Your guess is as good as mine. He probably still hates me because of what happened.’’

‘’He can’t be still hung up on that. It’s been 3 months.’’

‘’I know,’’ Raph let out a shaky sigh, lifting his hand and pinching the bridge of his nose, ‘’He's not the only one who lost someone important though. We all lost something but we aren't all tyrannical megalomaniacs.’’

‘’You know how close Usagi and he were though. You can’t be mad at him for missing him.’’

‘’It’s past ‘missing him’. Fuck, I miss Mona too but it’s not my fault it happened I just- I just hate that I can't stop loving him. He's my brother, no matter what he does to me. I nearly died on that supply run, if it weren't for Casey I wouldn't be here but… no matter how mad it makes me I can’t stay mad at him,’’ Raph bit his tongue, his shoulders sinking in defeat, ‘’I’d do anything to get him back.’’

‘’I know Raph. I know,’’ Donnie said softly, moving towards his brother and wrapping his arms around him, rubbing his shell comfortingly. Casey didn’t say a word, he only followed Donnie’s lead and wrapped his own arms around his friend.

‘’Fuck me, man, there's something about the apocalypse that's making us all sappy,’’ Casey laughed, pulling an arm away from Raph and wrapping it around Donnie, who evidently also wasn't taking the entire situation well, but was just a lot worse at talking about it. He could tell from the turtle's physique that it’d taken a toll on him. Initially, while he had always been relatively thin, any muscle mass he had had before was gone, leaving nothing but skin, bone and organs. The eye bags Donnie had always sported seemed deeper and more rooted in weeks of sleepless nights rather than days of late nights and early mornings. His face was sallow and thin, his cheekbones protruding through his skin, almost pushing to escape their green confines. But he never said a word. Not to him. Not to Mikey or Raph. Not even to April. He was a silent sufferer, he wouldn't say a word to anyone but yet everyone knew. One of these days, Casey thought, he was going to have a proper conversation with Donnie. A proper talk. Even back before all this, they hadn’t been insanely close. Always at war over something or other yet something drew Casey to Donnie. He wasn't sure what yet but he’d figure it out. Eventually.

‘’Guys you do realise there's still zombies literal centimetres from us,’’ Donnie said, glazing towards the green-grey decaying hand reaching out for Raph’s ankle.

‘’Oh shit yeah,’’ Raph and Casey said in unison, pulling away and starring down at the writhing mass.

‘’How are we gonna move ‘em then?’’ Raph said, pulling a broken hockey stick out of Casey’s bag and poking the creatures again.

‘’My God Raph you’re like a 6-year-old. Stop. Poking. The. Fucking. Zombies!’’ Casey said angrily, ripping the hockey stick out of his hand and shoving them firmly back into his bag.

‘’Well, by the looks of things,’’ Donnie said, crouching down and levering the creatures up using his staff, ‘’They’ve been impaled by the fence. Pushing them back is just going to lodge them in even more and break the fence even more. We need to create some kind of lever system to lift them up so we can push them off the fence and out of our perimeter,’’ He stood up again, stretching his legs out and giving them a small shake, before looking over at Raph and Casey.

‘’This is why you’re the brain’s and I’m the brawn D,’’ Casey said, wrapping an arm around his shoulder and pushing him down into a headlock.

‘’Cut it out Casey,’’ Donnie said indignantly, squirming in an attempt to get out of Casey’s arms.

‘’Yeah Casey, cut it out. We gotta sort this out before ‘Nardo throws his rattle out his pram,’’ Raph rolled his eyes and Casey grimaced, loosening his grip and allowing Donnie to pull himself free.

Without another word, Donnie pulled a small toolbox out of his bag and placed it on the floor not too far from the creatures writhing in the barbed wire and jagged wood. Opening the box gently, he pulled out a small, clean-looking glass syringe and a neatly folded wet wipe.

‘’Ok,’’ He said finally, ‘’I need you two, and its imperative that you listen and do exactly as I say because I’m your only hope for a cure and if I get turned you’re all doomed so,’’ Donnie pointed at the pile of zombies, ‘’hold them down and away from me. But under no circumstances are you to do ANYTHING that could kill that one. If they die, their sample will be tarnished and it won't be effective,’’ He finished, a stern and serious expression on his face.

‘’Got it, Don,’’ Raph said, walking towards the pile and pushing his foot down onto the head of the creature Donnie had said, ‘’Casey, can you hold the others back while try and sort this one out?’’

‘’I’ll try,’’ He said sheepishly, looking down at the 3 or so other zombies laying at his feet before quickly composing himself and beginning to use his hockey stick to lift them up and pushing them back and away from his friends and home. Stepping over the barbed wire and broken fencing, he jammed his hockey stick back into his bag and pulled the splintering bat out, moving towards the now free pile of freaks.

‘’You want me to kill em, D?’’

‘’Can do,’’ Donnie said flatly, not looking up from his test subject.

‘’Uh- You know what never mind I’ll just kill em,’’ Casey said, swinging his bat in a downward arch, smashing the creatures’ skulls in, killing them all instantaneously. Mushy brain and dark, viscous blood splattered on his sneakers and jeans, coating them in another layer of grit and grime. He had to admit, the idea that these were once living people was disturbing to him. They’d once had lives, jobs, families and friends. They’d been like him once. Alive and free. Would everyone have bashed his skull in if he’d been infected? Or would he have been corralled and used as a test subject for Donnie to find a cure? He hoped the latter but… He wasn’t sure. After what’d happened, he wasn’t sure Leo would’ve been insanely happy with the idea of keeping zombies in the lair, especially not him. Being low on the hierarchy had its perks but not having Leo on his side in regards to anything was not one of them. He sighed, shaking the viscera off of his shoes and bat before stepping back into the borders of their home.

‘’Nearly done Don?’’ Casey said, crouching near him. He glanced over at his

‘’Nearly and… there we go done,’’ Donnie said, wiping the mucus and deep red blood from the small wound he’d just created, smiling at his work.

‘’Why’d you wipe it after. They’re dead their entire body is infected,’’ Raph said, removing his foot from the creatures head and letting Donnie back up before dropping its arms and dashing around to the other side of the fence.

‘’Force of habit,’’ Donnie said quietly, clearly uncomfortable with what was about to happen.

‘’We have to do it, Don, I know you don’t like it but we do,’’ Raph said, walking over to his brother and putting a comforting hand on his shoulder. Donnie looked away, gently placing the syringe into a ziplock back and putting it back into his toolbox.

‘’I know you do I just- I don’t think I’ll ever get used to seeing them be killed. They used to alive and through no fault of their own, now they’re monsters I- I don't know how much more of this excessive violence and murder I can take,’’ Donnie said, his eyes filling up with tears.

‘’Hey, hey don’t get upset. Crying’s healthy and all but if you start, I’ll start and even Raph might start- hey ow!’’ Casey exclaimed, whipping around and shooting Raph a death glare. Raph snorted, a mischievous smirk plastered on his face. Donnie laughed, wiping away yet another batch of unshed tears.

‘’Sorry it just… gets a little much at times,’’ Donnie shook his head, rubbing his elbow nervously.

‘’Don’t apologise for having emotions you big dummy,’’ Raph said, walking to stand next to Casey, ‘’I gotta say, me and Casey aren’t exactly peachy. I doubt Mikey and April are either. Don’t even get me started on Leo. It’s ok to feel like this Don, just stop bottling it up. That’s where it’s not healthy.’’

‘’I can’t believe for once WE are the one's schooling Donnie,’’ Casey said, crossing his arms and shaking his head jokingly. Raph rolled his eyes, as did Donnie.

‘’Now the sentimental shit’s over, let’s just finish up here and go down, I seriously doubt ‘Nardo is gonna be happy with how long we’ve been,’’ Raph said, trying not to think about what was inevitably to come.

‘’Tell me about it. D, we’ll deal with the creature and you can like, close your eyes and ears if that’ll help, then we’ll get started on the fence,’’ Casey said, trying to add an air of enthusiasm to his voice to bring up the mood, however, even he could tell it wasn’t working.

‘’Sure,’’ Donnie said, walking back to the manhole cover and looking away, covering his ears as Raph and Casey pulled out their respective weapons and began pulling the zombie out of the barbed wire and splintering wood, replacing it out onto the dusty street. Then, Raph stepped towards the thing that was slowly attempting to crawl back towards them and slammed his sai down into its head, cracking its skull and killing it, once and for all. He felt the vibrations up his arm as the metal of his sai clashed with the concrete, causing him to shiver a little, before pulling himself up and shaking the remnants of blood and brain off of his sai.

‘’Ok D, all done,’’ Casey shouted over, turning around to his friend and giving him a reassuring smile, who offered a small, shaky smile in return.

With that, Raph tucked his sai away and stepped over what was leftover of the small portion of the fence.

‘’You got any nails in that thing Donnie?’’ Raph asked, gesturing at the toolbox.

‘’I should have a few, I brought some hammers too, I figured you two wouldn't have remembered to bring any with you,’’ Donnie said, opening the toolbox and pulling out a handful of nails and handing them to Casey, before pulling his backpack around so it hung over one shoulder and rummaging through it for a couple of seconds before pulling out 3 relatively clean hammers and handing one to each of them.

‘’Well then, let's get to it,’’ Raph said, swinging the hammer around and grabbing a couple of nails from Casey’s outstretched hand, before picking up one of the wooden boards and beginning to bash it back into the wooden post that protruded from the tarmac. Casey and Donnie soon followed suit, before finally beginning to carefully pick up the barbed and wrap it around the makeshift fencing.

‘’That wasn’t so bad,’’ Raph said, grinning at their handiwork.

‘’Definitely a lot quicker with you here D,’’ Casey said, smiling at his friend.

‘’No problem Casey. I know how Leo can be, so just text me if you ever need help with anything. He already doesn't like you coming down to my lab. Thinks you’re stopping me from working or something,’’ Donnie said with a sigh.

‘’Well, I’m not gonna stop coming unless you tell me to. I don’t care what he thinks,’’ Casey said defiantly, putting his hands on his hips as if he were some hero.

‘’A real modern-day revolutionary you are Casey Jones,’’ Donnie said, rolling his eyes with a smirk.

‘’Should we head back? It’s getting cold,’’ Raph said, wrapping his arms around himself and rubbing them in an attempt to preserve any sort of body heat he could.

‘’Jesus it is. Must really be September,’’ Casey said, stuffing his hands deep into his hoody pockets.

Donnie nodded, flexing his fingers before pulling them back into a fist multiple times.

With that, the three headed towards the manhole cover and climbed down back into the sewer. It was surprising how much you learned about New York’s bathroom habits after 6 months of the apocalypse. Raph had always assumed that there’d always be greywater down here, no matter how many humans lived up top yet somehow, the sewers had run dry. Remains of final faeces and bathroom breaks lay dried up or non-existent along the floor of the sewer. It was almost impressive yet disturbing. The world really was ending. Or, as Donnie had put it ‘’Humanity's end as the dominant life force on earth’’.

‘’Bite your tongue Raph. If Leo says anything, don’t bite,’’ Donnie whispered as they hopped the turnstiles into the lair. Raph swallowed in a desperate attempt to dampen his dry tongue, failing miserably. He could feel his stomach turn in knots and any food he’d eaten in the last 24 hours was churning in his stomach, threatening to make a reappearance.

‘’Raphael,’’ Leo’s deep voice filled their ears, Raph flinched, ‘’I trust your supply run went well.’’

‘’Yeah. Got more medical supplies. There wasn’t much else we needed though so that was it.’’ ‘’What about our defences. Are they secure now?’’

‘’Yeah. Casey and Donnie helped me patch it back up so it should be fine.’’

‘’Donatello helped? I thought I told you that you and Casey were to do it alone.’’

‘’Yes, I know, I’m sorry but he was already up there to get another sample from the zombies and he had stuff on him to help so…’’ Raph trailed off, his eyes trained on the ground. He refused to look into Leo’s cold, uncaring eyes. If he did, he already knew he couldn't hold himself back.

‘’Hmm. Donatello? Is this what happened?’’

‘’Yes, Leo. I promise you, they didn’t ask me to help them. I asked them if I could come up to get a sample for my studies,’’ Donnie said sheepishly, looking up at Leo, trying his best not to let his fear be shown.

‘’Fine. I’ll believe you. You may all leave now.’’ Leo said plainly, glaring down at Casey and Raph, both of whom were starring at the ground still as they walked away, shoulders hunching slightly.

Leo nearly felt himself crack. He wanted to stop them, tell them he was sorry and wanted everything to go back to normal but… he couldn't. He couldn’t stop hating them for what happened. He couldn’t stop his blood from boiling every time he saw Raph walk past him to leave the lair. Maybe time would heal all wounds, but for now, he was perfectly content blaming and hating his younger brother for what he’d done. Not just because of what he'd lost. It's what all of them had lost. It was how reckless and immature Raph had been and HOW he'd caused it. All of it added up into a pit of rage that had been brewing for years. The number of times he'd been kidnapped or injured because of Raph's idiocy and complacency and arrogance. What had happened had broken him, the small, sane and happy, innocent part of him had snapped. Maybe if Usagi returned that part would be reconnected but… he knew that wouldn’t happen. It couldn’t happen. And it was all Raph’s fault.

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winryofresembool · 5 years ago

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Fic: Nightmares and Morse Code

Fandom: Heroes of Olympus (I imagine this happening some time post TBoO. Also, I have not read Trials of Apollo and I don’t know if I ever will so if this fic has some canon divergence, that’s why)

Characters/ships: Leo Valdez/Calypso

Summary: Calypso notices a certain habit of Leo's when she's trying to comfort him after a nightmare.

AO3 link

A/N: I decided to post this fic here too, so if you saw a link earlier, yes it’s the same fic. Anyway, I guess I am now officially writing non FMA content. Heroes of Olympus has pretty much consumed my life for the past few weeks (or even months by now) and while I adore Leo and also Caleo as a ship, I've noticed the fandom doesn't agree with me especially on the latter and there's very little Caleo content anywhere. So, I decided to change that! The idea of Leo saying I love you for the first time through Morse Code had me soft and I just had to write a fic around that. So, without a further ado, please enjoy and don't forget to review especially if you'd like to see me write more HoO content in the future! (And FMA fans, don't worry, I surely haven't abandoned Edwin or my fankids!!)

Genre: fluff, hurt/comfort

Warnings: none?

...

That night was particularly bad. Leo thought that in exchange for the happy moments he spent with Calypso, some evil force had decided to make his dreams double as bad.

Some of them were old, familiar ones. The fire that had killed his mother. Abusive foster families and bullies at schools he had escaped from. The voice telling him that he’d forever be the seventh wheel, his friends smiling and laughing together while he was stuck alone in his bunker. The Argo II group, all except him, getting killed by the giants, because of him.

But there were a couple of new ones too. In the first one he was back in the underworld, feeling that same pain he had back then he had died, positive he was on his way to Tartarus. But he found the second dream worse: Gaea was torturing Calypso, telling Leo that he had to pick from two options: either Calypso would have to die or she’d wake up again and destroy all the life on earth. If Leo had had to pick between himself and the rest of the world, he wouldn’t have had to think long. But… Calypso was just barely starting to learn what living in the real world meant after her 3000 years lasting imprisonment, she was so excited and happy to see new things, and genuinely wanted to be with Leo (despite the constant bickering) for reasons he didn’t quite understand, and… he could not bear the thought of living without her. Finally, he woke up to his own screams as he watched Gaea’s ‘minions’ cut her with a sharp knife yet again.

“Leo?”

It was too dark in his room to see, but he heard fast footsteps approaching him and soon the door was opened and someone switched the light on. He had to squint and protect his eyes from the light before he finally saw the slender figure next to him. Relief flooded into him as he realized that it had all been just a nightmare and Calypso was just fine, although with a very worried expression on her face.

“Hey, Sunshine,” Leo said with a slightly hoarse voice, attempting a lopsided smile but it didn’t reach his eyes. “What’s up?”

“I… heard you screaming.” Calypso replied, suddenly embarrassed about rushing into his bedroom like that.

“Me? Screaming?” Leo sat up and waved his hand, trying to brush it off. “I think your ears are not quite yet used to the mortal world, mi sol.”

“Leo Valdez. I’m serious. I know what I heard.” Calypso glared at him, her beautiful features getting surprisingly scary when she wanted to. However, Leo didn’t budge.

“Sirius? Like Sirius Black from Harry Potter? I thought your name is Calypso,” he attempted, fully aware of how poor his joke was.

“What’s Harry Potter?” Calypso asked with confusion, not yet familiar with the modern popular culture.

“Only the most popular black-haired fantasy hero of our time… After me, of course.” Leo winked, but Calypso wasn’t happy with his answer.

“You’re only trying to make me forget the original topic. Why were you screaming?”

His face fell and he was twitching his hands nervously on his lap.

“Fine. It was a nightmare. But nothing I can’t handle.”

Calypso looked at him sadly, wanting to reach him but not sure if she should. Instead, she said softly: “I know you’re trying to act brave for me, but you don’t have to. I can see that something is hurting you and I want to help you. Like you’ve helped me. Maybe opening up would help you feel better.”

At this point Calypso noticed that Leo seemed to be tapping a certain pattern on the wooden edge of the bed with his fingers. She wanted to ask about it, but decided against it. Instead, she sat down next to him and slowly inched her hand towards his arm, encouraging him to talk.

Leo shook his head to clear his mind. “I… well, in these nightmares, I was reliving some of my worst memories… My mother and stuff… But there was a new dream too.”

“Please. Tell me about it.”

Leo tried to resist but something about Calypso’s calm tone and expression worked like Piper’s charmspeaking and he started babbling so fast Calypso couldn’t keep up with him. “Calm down a bit, Hot Head,” she stopped him. “I only got the part that I was in the dream.”

Leo took a deep breath, trying to focus on his hands that were still tapping against the wood nervously. Then he started in a slower pace: “Yeah… Dirt Face… I mean Gaea…” he added when Calypso raised her eyebrow questioningly, “in this dream, she was trying to wake up again… And she tried to make me choose between you… and the rest of the world… I mean, either you die or them… and I couldn’t.”

Calypso let that information sink in. Trying to hide her emotions, she crossed her arms over her chest and asked: “Are you saying that you would even consider letting me stay alive if you could save the rest of the world?”

Leo probably hadn’t expected that reaction. He failed to recognize that a part of the reason Calypso asked that was to conceal the fact that she was moved, going defensive: “But Cal, remember how she tried to make you kill me in Ogygia. And she could have offered you something much better than I could. But you refused to kill me. You even helped me get off that island even though… you know.” In his mind he added ‘even though it hurt you’. “Do you really think that after all that I could just…”

“Hey, it’s OK. I… think I understand your feeling. But thankfully you don’t have to choose because I’m right here, I’m OK, and she’s gone.” Calypso squeezed Leo’s free hand briefly. After a moment of silence, deciding to change the subject: “That… thing you do with your fingers… Is that a Morse code? Or have you been listening to too much of that rap music you talk about?”

Suddenly Leo’s face went all red. Calypso probably would be weirded out by his habit if she knew the meaning. “You… don’t happen to know Morse code, do you?”

“Not really…” she had to admit.

“That’s… that’s fine. The thing I was doing was just something my mother taught me when I was a kid.” Leo shrugged, trying to look casual.

“Oh… I thought it might mean something.”

“Maybe it does, maybe it doesn’t. If you want to know, you’ll have to figure it out on your own.” Leo smirked, even though he couldn’t hide his blushing.

“Leo Valdez, so full of mysteries.” Calypso rolled her eyes, but couldn’t help but smile a bit.

“That’s why the ladies love me! Even you fell for my mysterious charm.”

“Uhhuh.” Calypso pushed him back to his bed, sticking her tongue out. Then she spoke with a softer tone. “So, are you feeling better now?”

“I think I am. Thanks. Talking with you made me feel better.” He still looked like something was bothering him, though. In reality, some, annoying part of him tried to tell him to reveal the code.

“I’m glad to hear that,” Calypso replied, reaching to give him a quick kiss on the cheek. “Um, maybe I should go back to bed. We have some work to do tomorrow.”

“Sure… Well, good night,” Leo answered, looking a bit… disappointed? Before Calypso was out of the room, though, he said with a new determination:

“Hey, Sunshine. I’ll give you a hint. It’s ‘te quiero’ in Spanish.

“What is?”

“The code. And… I mean it. With you.”

“Oh. Okay.” Calypso answered, even more confused than before as she exited the room. She only knew a couple of Spanish swear words (thanks to Leo) so she had no idea what ‘kiero’ or whatever that word was meant. But she decided to find out.

…

A week later, Calypso heard Leo scream again. But this time, instead of waking him up and inquiring him about his dreams, she decided to sit down on a chair next to the bed and hold his hand, hoping it would reach him. She had spent a long time researching on both Spanish language and Morse codes and had finally cracked Leo’s code. Some part of her had already known its meaning but seeing it for real had made her strangely overwhelmed. As she saw him there, whimpering quietly, scrunching his forehead and looking so vulnerable , that exact same emotion he had been expressing struck her with force. This brave, determined, smart (and, she had to admit to herself, sometimes kinda funny) boy had been through so much. Ever since his mother had died, his life had been nothing but a struggle, and even now that they were (relatively) safe, the ghosts of the things he had experienced were still haunting him. She wanted to show him there were still things worth living, worth loving, in this world.

So she started softly tapping on his hand.

.. .-.. --- ...- . -.-- --- ..-

I. Love. You.

It seemed his form relaxed as she reached the end of the code. She waited a bit longer to see if the nightmare had faded away, but when she finally stood up about to leave, his fingers suddenly wrapped up around hers.

“So you figured it out,” a sleepy voice said against his pillow.

“I did,” Calypso admitted.

“Cal.”

“Yeah?”

“Don’t go.”

Calypso wasn’t sure if she had heard right. “Huh?”

“I… I’d like you to stay.” Leo said, sounding unusually vulnerable.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, Sunshine.”

“OK. I’ll stay then.”

Leo backed up in his bed to make her space, and she settled down next to him. She didn’t protest when an arm wrapped around his waist after he had put the comforter over them, instead nuzzling closer to him and taking in the warmth that was radiating from him. And gods, he really was warm. The two didn’t say much after that, but Leo’s fingers started automatically tapping an answer to her message against her stomach. Soon enough, both of them started drifting into sleep, this time a much more peaceful one.

#leo valdez #calypso #caleo #pjo #heroes of olympus #hoo #my fics

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lilacmoon83 · 4 years ago

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Finding You Always

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Chapter 221: A Long Awaited Wedding

Snow smiled up at him, as they danced together in the diner. The rehearsal dinner had gone off without a hitch and they enjoyed the evening with their family, as they celebrated the imminent nuptials between their son and soon to be daughter-in-law. Rose and Fandral had returned with the news that Jekyll might have dabbled in experimenting with taking hearts before, simply to see if he could replicate the process through science versus magic. It didn't yield many answers, but they were not surprised by the level of pure psychosis that the doctor was exhibiting. That aside, as usual, they had not allowed him to spoil their evening. And now, as dinner was winding down, they were dancing to one of their favorite cheesy ballads, to quote their children, courtesy of the jukebox. He twirled her around and then brought her back so that his chest was pressed against her back, as they continued to sway. Her smile widened, as he sung the whispered words of the song in her ear and she felt warm chills travel down her spine.

"You know what it does to me when you sing…" she purred.

"That's the idea," he whispered, as he spun her again and she ended up facing him again.

"Then I can't wait until you and I are home, because I feel like a dip in the hot tub with my husband," she said.

"That hot tub was a really good idea," he agreed, as he noticed Eva nodding to his wife, just as she and his sister came back from the Inn side.

"What's that about?" he asked.

"Well…I didn't want to tell you until I was sure, but your sister had some symptoms earlier and I had Eva check her out," Snow replied.

"What kind of symptoms?" he asked.

"The pregnancy kind," she replied, with a wince.

"What?" he asked, as his eyes widened.

"Yeah…I know and she's already scared, but it's going to be okay," she replied, as she gave Natalie a reassuring smile. He joined her in doing so and hugged Snow close.

"Of course...with someone like you in her corner, she'll be fine," he agreed.

"And with her big overly protective brother in her corner, she'll be doubly fine," she said.

"Well, at least Clayton's not here so we don't have to look at that stupid smug smirk," he replied, as she gently prodded him forward.

"Go," Snow said, as she watched him go over and talk to his sister, which was followed up with a hug, their first one ever.

"You were right...that didn't take long for him to take to her," Emma said, as she sided up to her mother and put an arm around her.

"Mmm…I know your father and he loves his family, even the one he is just discovering," Snow said, as she watched them with love in her eyes.

~*~

James and Aphrodite awakened at last and looked at each other, before practically leaping up and throwing their arms around each other, hugging fiercely.

"It was always you…" she cried, as a few tears slipped down her cheeks. He kissed her gently.

"Eros...he's truly mine," James realized, as he caught sight of the Collector.

"You…" he hissed, as he stalked toward Clayton, who backpedaled. He found a sword and held it up in defense of himself. A sword appeared in James' hand, thanks to Zeus, and he parried the Collector's blade.

"Give me one good reason I shouldn't flay you down to the bone?" James questioned, as their blades clashed.

"Well…I'm already dead and you've obviously won," Clayton retorted.

"You're right...let's just throw you in the river," James growled, as he grabbed him by the collar and prepared to toss him into the river.

"You can't let him do this, Goddess Nyx!" Clayton pleaded, as his usual arrogant façade was gone and replaced with real fear.

"As much as I would love to be rid of him...he's right, I cannot let you administer his justice," Nyx stated.

"Such is not allowed. Hades may have allowed others to do as they please, but I run a much tighter ship," she said. Clayton smirked, as James released him.

"Thank you, Goddess," he said, bowing deeply.

"Shut up or I will throw you in the river," she snapped, as he was wisely silent. James glared at his father next and faced him.

"You just couldn't let me be happy, could you?" he spat.

"I made many mistakes and you'll never believe this, but I do regret them," George said.

"You're right...I don't believe you. The only thing you regret is that you're dead and you didn't get your way," James hissed.

"And you…" he hissed at Hera.

"She never did anything to you...why do you hate her so much?" he asked. Hera glared at Dione and her daughter.

"Because she exists," Hera stated simply. Nyx raised her hand at that and Hera's soul burst into flames. She screamed briefly, as she was squelched from existence. She turned to George and Clayton next and approached.

"Being erased from existence is much too good for you, Collector and so is the river," Nyx said, as she looked at him.

"I could be useful to you, Goddess. My wealth of knowledge is unmatched...even he knows that," Clayton said, looking at Zeus.

"That's why I deserved to be a God...that's why I wanted her to bear my heir, but alas, that sadly wasn't meant to be and instead, she birthed his mongrels," he added, glaring at Clayton.

"I was very close to having the Chalice myself when I made Snow White crush Charming's heart. I would have stepped into his shoes and she would have made a nice surrogate to bear my heir," he claimed.

"The Charming bloodline is as good as a Divine bloodline now with the power of the chalice, but sadly, that wasn't meant to be either," he continued and then smirked.

"Until now…" he said.

"What are you talking about?" Aphrodite asked.

"Because my son has succeeded in doing what I could not. He has sired an heir with the coveted Charming bloodline," Clayton said.

"That's not possible!" James refuted.

"Are you saying that your son has raped one of our nieces? And how would you even know that?!" Aphrodite asked in outrage.

"I know, because Underbrooke has ways of letting the dead find out what's happening in the living world and you're right, it isn't one of Snow and David's precious daughters that is carrying my son's heir," Clayton said, as he looked at them smugly.

"It's your sister," he said, enjoying the look of shock and disbelief from them.

"I don't have a sister," James snapped, but Clayton continued to smirk smugly.

"Yes...you do. I knew your father well and he had more than a few dalliances. One of those encounters produced a child," Clayton said.

"Even if that's true...none of that means anything. Your son is never getting his hands on the Chalice. I remember everything now...and I made sure it has all the protections necessary to prevent it ever falling into the hands of evil," Aphrodite replied.

"Maybe. Maybe not...but regardless, my bloodline is secure and it is ensured that it will never die out. And one day, that child will know of the other half of its legacy," Clayton said.

"No...pretty sure Snow and David will make sure your son has no access to that child and no ability to poison him," James refuted.

"He's right...your family has been a scourge on humanity for centuries and my daughter will help make sure that doesn't continue," Dione assured him. Clayton smirked.

"We shall see…" he said.

"We will...but you will not, demon," Nyx declared, as she ceased his movements.

"You get to go to a very special place...a special eternal prison created for only the worst to ever exist," Nyx hissed and a chill of fear slithered through Clayton.

"You're going to Gehenna...a place in a dimension just beyond Tartarus. It is a horrid place of filth, stench, smoke, and fire," she said.

"You get no rest, Collector. This place will be your eternal torment and the demons already there will be your tormentors," she added, as a black portal opened before them and he saw the flames reflecting in his eyes, just before he was sucked through the portal into his eternal hell with a final scream.

"Now you…" Nyx said, as she turned to George.

"You have a well earned place in the river of lost souls...but I have decided to give you a chance to work out your unfinished business for perhaps a less harsh sentence," she said.

"You will return to Underbrooke...for now. Mind your steps and I may send you somewhere other than the river Styx or Tartarus, Your Majesty," she said, as she banished him back to the surface.

"You should have just thrown him in the river," James growled, as Aphrodite put a soothing hand on his shoulder.

"We are together again and the curse is broken, my love. He can no longer hurt us," she assured, as he put his arms around her.

"I remember everything now...all our past lives together," he said, as his brow suddenly furrowed.

"Wait...please tell me that this doesn't mean our son and Leo are actually blood related?" he asked.

"Well, if they were, that would be wildly awkward, but no...since Eros was conceived when you were Anchises, he is not related to any of his cousins by blood," Zeus replied. They let out a breath of relief.

"Yes...only you in your life as James is actually blood related to David," Dione added.

"Yeah...why do I sense that this wasn't random?" he asked.

"Because you're right...Athena was tired of seeing this curse wreck the two of you and stacked the deck, so to speak," Zeus replied.

"How?" Aphrodite asked.

"She suspected that if she entwined your destiny with David's, that Snow and David, as the truest loves, would indirectly help the two of you in breaking your curse," Dione replied.

"She's right...she somehow knew I would get tired of seeing your heart broken and refuse to allow James to be reincarnated after he was killed. She was right...I made a deal with Hades for that one to keep you in Underbrooke indefinitely," Zeus explained.

"So she knew David and I would somehow cross paths? And it would lead me to be revived?" James asked.

"Yes...she had Ruth tell you that she was giving you her second chance...but that was me. She came to me once David fell through that portal to the Underworld and clued me in on the fact that you'd cross paths with your brother," Zeus replied.

"You mean…" James started to say. Dione smiled.

"Yes...it was your second chance all along, so you could be reunited with our daughter," she said.

"But...how did you know things wouldn't go wrong again?" James asked.

"I didn't...Athena really had to strong arm me into agreeing to it. But as usual, she was right. Thanks to Snow and David, being the champions they are, Blue was finally exposed and it led you both to the truth you needed to break the curse," Zeus replied. James shook his head.

"Wow...so now we go home, I guess?" he asked. Aphrodite smiled and nodded, as she looked to her parents. Tears filled her eyes, as she hugged them tightly.

"I just got you back," she said tearfully. Nyx waved her hand and a looking glass appeared.

"This is my gift to you...and I will send it to your home in Storybrooke. This will allow you a coveted privilege of communicating with them from Elysian," Nyx offered. Aphrodite bowed respectfully to her.

"Thank you Goddess," she said, as she hugged her parents one last time, before joining hands with James. Hermes appeared and escorted them through the portal.

~*~

"Mmm...this was the best idea," Snow cooed, as she and David sat pressed together in the warm, bubbly water. He kissed her hair.

"Definitely," he agreed, as he held her against him.

"But I think I know a way for it to get even better," she purred, as she turned in the water and straddled his waist, watching his blue eyes glaze.

"Definitely better," he agreed, as she began to gently rock against him and their lips met in a passionate rhythm that was in concert of the fluid movement of their incredible lovemaking...

~*~

The next morning

"Elsa?" Anna called, as she entered her sister's chambers early that morning. Leo had slept over in their room in his parent's castle, following the usual tradition of spending the final night before their wedding apart, despite the fact they had already been living together for years.

"Out here," Elsa called from her balcony. Anna poked her head out and observed her sister already dressed in her wedding gown. It was beautiful and glittered in the early morning sunlight. It was similar in design to her favorite blue dress, with a glittering bodice, satin skirt, and a shimmering iridescent train. Her hair was braided and draped over one shoulder, as per usual, and she wore her tiara.

"Oh Elsa...you look beautiful…" Anna gushed, as she took her hand.

"Thanks…" she replied.

"Are you nervous?" Anna asked.

"Not like I thought I'd be. Leo and I have been living together for a few years now and we thought we were already married during the curse. This just feels right," Elsa replied.

"Because it is. I've never seen you at more peace, but then love will do that," Anna said, as they shared a hug.

"It's time…" Kristoff said, as they exited her chambers.

"Wow...you look beautiful, Elsa," he said. She smiled.

"Thanks…" she said, as Elsa waved her hand and they disappeared in a poof of light blue smoke.

~*~

David attempted to straighten his bowtie on his tux in the mirror, but it was not cooperating at all.

"Snow, can you help with this damn...wow," he said, as he came out of the bathroom and found her there in a sleeveless shimmering orchid dress. It wasn't too dissimilar to an orchid ball gown she had once worn long ago, but this was a modern design and a bit less formal than something she would have worn for a ball.

"I take it that you approve," she said, as she glided up to him and straightened his bowtie with minimal effort.

"How could I not...you are so beautiful," he said, as he slipped his arms around her waist and she smiled up at him.

"You're pretty handsome yourself...very handsome, in fact," she purred, as he kissed her tenderly.

"Are you ready?" he asked. She nodded.

"Yes...this is a long time coming. We already consider Elsa our daughter...this just makes it official," she said.

"I know...I'm so glad that our girls are happy in their marriages and that Leo is finally happy too. We've...worried about him," he replied. She hummed.

"He had some bad luck...bad luck that neither of us experienced. Sometimes I felt a little unqualified to give him advice," she admitted.

"Tell me about it...he once told me that he appreciated my insight, but that I didn't really get it and he was right, because I met you," he said.

"You were my first and my only...that's really rare these days," she replied.

"You were my first and only too...we were so blessed and now we know Leo is too," he said. She smiled and kissed him again.

"Come on...let's get our baby boy married off," she said. He chuckled.

"There was a time when you were horrified by the prospect of said baby boy being with anyone," he teased.

"I know...but thanks to his early bad luck, I had my reasons. But then Elsa came along and we love her. She's perfect for our son," Snow said.

"Yeah...and just think, we'll probably be doing this for Bobby in a few years," he mentioned.

"Oh, I am not looking forward to that. My youngest baby...but we'll probably be doing this for Summer first," she reminded him.

"Ugh...let's not talk about that," he complained and she smiled.

"I think it's safe to say that neither of us is looking forward to an empty nest. But we have our grandkids and we'll most certainly have more. Not to mention we'll soon have a new baby niece or nephew," she said.

"Yeah...that was definitely unexpected. I'm glad Clayton is gone so I don't have to see his stupid smug smirk over the fact of his bloodline mixing with ours," David said sourly.

"Mmm...he's gone forever, baby and his son is in prison where he belongs. This baby will be a Charming thru and thru," Snow assured him. He nodded in agreement, as he offered his arm to her. She hooked her hand on his elbow and they prepared to leave for the reserve.

~*~

Drizella looked around the creepy lab with a bit of disgust.

"This place is horrid...worse than that stupid Inn I'm forced to live at right now, because that prissy little bitch destroyed my family's mansion and took our wealth," she complained.

"Yes...but we are well protected from the strong arm of the law here on this island and we have little time for your whining," Jekyll replied. She huffed.

"Fine...what is our plan for today? Because I want nothing more than to see Snow White cry tears when we interrupt her precious baby boy's wedding day," she gushed.

"I think we should let the wedding commence and then crash the reception instead," Grimm suggested.

"Any particular reason?" Jekyll questioned.

"People will be more spread out, more relaxed, a bit of alcohol in the mix as well. It will catch them more off guard and create wider chaos," he said.

"I like it," Drizella said, as she turned to the doctor.

"But you promised me a solution to not having magic. If I am to declare myself as the new Evil Queen...then I must have the power to back up my claim," she replied. The doctor smirked and opened a case underneath one of his lab tables.

"This is an experimental drug that I have been working on to allow you to create the ability to conjure magic. It's temporary and has not been tested well yet. It's a risk...I don't know what side effects there might be," he warned.

"But it will give me powers?" she asked.

"Until the drug wears off...but it should be long enough for our purposes," he replied.

"It's untested...I will warn you again," Jekyll said.

"But it will work?" she questioned again.

"I guess we'll find out," Grimm said.

"You have to ask yourself...is getting what you want worth the risk?" Jekyll asked. She thought for a moment and then offered her arm. Jekyll smirked and administered the injection…

~*~

Leo chuckled, as several of the animals gathered around him. He got a nudge to his hand from Graham, a lick from Wilby, a head nudge from Pegasus, and a nuzzle from Firestorm.

"Thanks guys," he said, as his parents arrived and he could already see his mother tearing up.

"Oh sweetie...you look so handsome," she gushed, as she gently adjusted his bowtie.

"Thanks Mom," he replied, as they shared a hug.

"We are so proud of you and we love Elsa," David said, as he clapped him on the shoulder. He smiled, as his parents stepped off to his side, intending to stand at the altar with him. The audience was seated and the music began to play softly, as Eva, Emma, and Summer walked down the aisle arm in arm, both in gorgeous baby blue dresses and came to stand with their brother as his best women. Next, there were chuckles from the audience, as Lucy and Hope were next. Lucy carried the rings on a pillow, while Hope toddled along with her little basket and tossed flower petals. They arrived at the altar, where Hook scooped Hope up and sat back down next to Henry and Ella in the front row, while Lucy stood with their family at the altar. Also in the front row was Regina, Robin, Granny, Red, Xander, Natalie, Thalia, Rumple, Belle, Gideon, Rose, and Fandral.

The music intensified, as Elsa entered on the arms of Kristoff and Anna, as they accompanied her down the aisle. Leo smiled, as he looked at her in awe and they soon arrived at the altar. Anna hugged her tightly, as she and Kristoff took their places on her side, while Anna held her flowers. She joined hands with Leo and they turned to Archie, who stood there to officiate the ceremony.

"Friends...we gather here today to join Queen Elsa of Arendelle and Prince Leo of Misthaven in the bonds of matrimony and I must say, I am honored once again to officiate yet another Charming family wedding," Archie began.

"I have had the privilege of knowing Leo since he was born and have watched him grow every step of the way. An extraordinary little boy has become an extraordinary man, but then that did not surprise me, considering how extraordinary his parents are," he continued.

"From very early on, I knew Leo was a very special boy. Animals would seek him out, even before magic came here and I could see his deep compassion for them from very early. I knew then that he would be exceptional...but I also knew that it may come with challenges," he said.

"Being exceptional or different is not always easy, as I eventually learned when I met Elsa upon her first arrival in Storybrooke," he continued.

"I saw how extraordinary her magic was, but how incredibly lonely it made her," he said.

"Until she met Leo and realized she had a kindred spirit; someone that truly understood and that was not afraid of her power," he added, with a smile.

"To see these two find their way back to each other and fall in love brought me true joy and I am honored to bring them together in this union. I know you both have vows and we are eager to witness you speak of your love and devotion to each other," Archie said, as they faced each other.

"Archie summed it up pretty well...I've always had trouble relating to people outside my family. Even in a town of magic, I was the weird kid that animals followed everywhere," he said, eliciting a few chuckles.

"I had some trouble with relationships and when I met you, I think I knew that no one else would understand me the way you did. The problem was that we were separated by the walls between realms," he said.

"Even after we parted for those few years, I could never stop thinking about you and growing up with the greatest true love as my example, I knew what that meant. I knew that I loved you and that we'd find a way to be together. And we did," Leo said, as they shared a smile.

"We did," she agreed.

"I feel so lucky to be welcomed into such a warm family. I never even considered having a normal family, let alone finding someone to share my life with. I couldn't see the possibility of anyone not being fearful of my power," Elsa said.

"But then you came along and showed me that if I stopped fearing myself...then others would too. You understood the curse of having power and taught me the beauty of it as well," she added.

"I didn't believe in true love or soul mates until I met you and your family and I can't wait to continue this crazy journey together," she said, as they shared another smile.

"It is without a doubt that we are witnessing another shining example of true love," Archie said.

"The rings please," he said, as Lucy did her part and presented the pillow, allowing Leo and Elsa to take the wedding bands.

"Prince Leo Charming of Misthaven, do you take this woman, Queen Elsa of Arendelle as your wife?" he asked.

"I do," he said, with a smile, as he slid the ring on her finger.

"Queen Elsa of Arendelle, do you take this man, Prince Leo Charming of Misthaven as your husband?" Archie questioned.

"I do," she replied, with a smile, as she slid the ring on his finger.

"Then with the power invested in me by the royal council of Misthaven, I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss your bride," Archie declared. They smiled and their lips met in a passionate kiss to the applause of everyone present.

"And now...we celebrate this union at the reception following immediately!" Archie announced, as the newly wedded couple retreated together from the altar, with their family following. It would be a long afternoon and evening of celebration.

~*~

James and Aphrodite stepped through the portal and into their home atop Mount Olympus.

"It's good to be home," James said. She smiled.

"It's good to have all of my memories," she replied, as he pulled her close and kissed her tenderly.

"I guess we should go find everyone. I guess I have a sister to meet and questions for my father," James said.

"Well...you sort of missed the wedding, but you'll be in time for the reception," Hermes said.

"Wedding? Leo and Elsa?" Aphrodite asked. She nodded.

"Much has happened and I'm sure Snow and David will fill you in, but Leo and Elsa wanted to get married before the next mission," Hermes said.

"Just how much did we miss?" James asked.

"A lot...you know Snow and David, always on the move," Hermes joked.

"Well...looks like we have a reception to get ready for," Aphrodite said, as they proceeded to go clean up and change.

~*~

"Are you sure you want another? These are very strong," Aesop warned, as he manned the bar and kept the drinks flowing at the reception.

"These earthly concoctions have little effect on me, mate. While yours is an impeccable recipe, only real Asgardian ale can get me drunk," Fandral said, as Rose enjoyed her mixed drink.

"Saying that I can't get you drunk just takes all the fun out of the challenge," Aesop joked.

"Well...I would offer to give you a few tips with your brewing to make a strong Asgardian brew, but I'm afraid it would be a bit dangerous to humans," Fandral joked back.

"As an author...your culture fascinates me. I'd love to read more about Asgard," Aesop said.

"Oh we have many books and you're welcome to any of them," Rose replied.

"Yes...you were an author that ended up in the Land of Untold Stories, am I correct?" Fandral asked.

"Yes...if there is one story I have been reluctant to tell, it's my own, I'm afraid," Aesop replied.

"Well...if you ever do want to tell it, we'd love to listen," Rose assured.

"Thank you...perhaps someday," he said.

"Do you want another?" Snow asked, as they put their empty glasses on the bar.

"What, are you trying to get me tipsy?" David teased and she pecked him on the lips.

"Maybe I am…" she purred, as he pulled her close and they swayed together.

"It's good to see you two unwind a bit, especially with all that you told us is ahead," Fandral mentioned. Snow smiled.

"Yes...we need it. The easy thing to do would be to close off the United Realms and leave the Land Without Magic to its own problems. Some probably think we should," she said.

"That's not your style...nor ours. If there are innocents suffering, then helping is never wrong," Rose agreed.

"Yeah...and there is an upside. We've lived in this world for so long, but we've seen very little of it. Despite the danger, we'll also be traveling to places all over the globe from what the Major said," David said.

"There is much romance to be had in adventure," Fandral agreed with a toast of his glass. Snow smiled and bit her bottom lip, as she looked at David.

"You know us...slowing down never seems to be in the plan, but I wouldn't change it for anything," she said, as he pecked her on the lips.

"Me either…" he said, as he led her back onto the dance floor.

"Shall we as well, my angel?" Fandral asked, as he took her hand. She nodded and they joined everyone else for another dance.

Aesop smiled, as he observed the festivities and continued serving drinks.

"It would seem bartending is the occupation of washed up writers. Curious…" a voice said, as Aesop turned to see a man at the bar.

"I'm sorry...who are you?" Aesop asked.

"No one important...thanks to you," he replied.

"I don't even know you," Aesop said.

"No...but you knew my ancestors when you screwed them out of the authorship," the man replied, as Aesop took a sobering breath.

"You're a Grimm," he realized.

"Yes...and instead of being a world famous author, I own a bar, much like you," Elias said.

"I suspect that your bar is somewhere I've never visited then," Aesop replied.

"No...Pleasure Island isn't for the faint of heart, despite its deceiving name," Elias replied.

"Ah Pleasure Island...a den of villainy and scum," Aesop said.

"Better than being around a bunch of sanctimonious heroes and at least I didn't run from my duties as the original author," Elias challenged.

"I didn't run…" Aesop snapped.

"It doesn't matter...neither of us will ever live up to the glory that Henry Nolan Charming has found," he said.

"Henry is the most honorable author to ever hold the pen. Now, I think it's time you leave. Snow and David would not enjoy having scum like you at their son's wedding reception," Aesop replied. Elias smirked.

"Oh…I'm not going anywhere and thankfully, this party is about to liven up a bit," he replied. Aesop frowned and then heard a few screams.

~*~

"They look so happy…" Snow gushed, as they danced and she watched their son dance with his wife.

"That's the magic of true love," David said, as they swayed slowly. The moment was absolutely perfect, especially as he kissed her, so they should have known it would soon go wrong.

A few guests were startled when one of the ice sculptures exploded and melted, with water sloshing onto the dance floor.

"What the hell?" Leo muttered, as another one burst and became a puddle.

"That doesn't seem normal," JJ mentioned, as he danced with Summer.

"It's not," she said, as she felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand up.

"Rumple…" Belle asked, as she saw that he had gone rigid. He responded by ushering her off the dance floor. Regina looked around, as the ground beneath them started to rumble.

"Let me guess...that's not you doing that, kid?" Emma asked, as she and Killian looked around.

"I'll get the baby," he said, as he hurried to retrieve her from Granny, just in case.

"Yeah...not me, but I think I know who it is," Bobby replied.

"Oh he has got guts if he's even thinking about interrupting my grandson's wedding," Regina growled irritably, as she readied a fireball in hand. That's when three more ice sculptures exploded, creating more alarm. David held Snow close and glared fiercely at the phantom that was seemingly causing this.

"Stop cowering and show yourself, you snake," he growled, as the water from the exploded ice sculptures began to steam and evaporate into the air, creating a mist around them all.

"Enough with the theatrics, you demon! You are not going to destroy our son's wedding!" Snow shouted into the air, as she stepped forward. But that was exactly what he wanted, as the tendrils from the mist suddenly became alive and wrapped around her.

"Snow!" he cried, as she disappeared into the mist. There was a tapping sound, like shoes on the dance floor, as the mist suddenly lifted and they could see again. His heart pounded wildly, as he could feel Snow was still nearby, but couldn't see her. What he did see though was nothing short of nauseating. The tapping noise was revealed to be Drizella Tremaine, the original version and his long time stalker, arriving in a gaudy, cleavage bursting green dress. As usual, she was dripping in cheap costume jewelry, wore a tacky looking tiara, and her makeup was grossly overdone.

"You have to admit...that was one hell of an entrance. Fit for a Queen, if I do say so," she said.

"You are no Queen…" David refuted.

"Oh, but that's where you're wrong, handsome. I am a Queen now...the new Evil Queen," she claimed. Regina's chuckle started low and then grew into an outright mocking laugh, as she stepped forward.

"You? The Evil Queen? I'd say more like an evil wannabe, but you're not even that good," Regina sneered.

"Better than you...what Evil Queen gives up their conquest for revenge and becomes family with their enemy?" Drizella countered.

"A smart one...which leaves you out," Regina retorted.

"Where is my wife?" David snapped.

"Well, I'd love to say dead, since that would be my preference, but I'll take out of the way so I can make you mine," she said in a sultry tone.

"Listen ghoul girl, this is my brother's wedding and unless you'd like to go back to the rubber room, you better tell me where my mother is and leave or things might get even uglier for you and that's saying something with a clown face like yours," Emma growled.

"She's very rude, Charming...you should have raised her to respect a Queen," Drizella commented.

"She respects real Queens, like her mother, not trashy less than wannabes like you," David retorted. She pouted at that.

"So mean...but you're so dreamy, so I can't even be mad," she gushed and he rolled his eyes.

"Seriously bitch...where's our Mom?" Leo snapped hotly.

"Suffering…I hope," Drizella hissed and Emma blasted her with a burst of white magic. She cried out and found herself singed after it, seething at the blonde.

"That was a light tap...the next one is going to burn," Emma warned.

"Or maybe not," Drizella growled, surprising them all when she hit Emma with a sickly green blast of magic.

"Emma!" David cried, as he hurried to help his daughter up from the ground. She was mostly dazed, but had a minor burn on her chest from it.

"She...she has magic," Emma uttered, but he shook his head.

"How is that possible?" he wondered.

"How indeed," a voice said, as Jekyll emerged in a puff of mist, with Snow by the arm. She had her wrists in a pair of fiery cuffs, but they didn't seem to be burning her.

"Let. Her. Go," David growled, as he stepped forward and brandished the Chalice sword.

"I wouldn't come too close," Jekyll warned, but David ignored him until Snow grimaced in pain the closer he got. He noticed the cuffs had gotten redder.

"These are specifically designed to keep you away from her. Get too close and they will react to your body heat, causing your beloved great pain," Jekyll said.

"You sick, sadistic psychopath...let her go now," David growled. Jekyll chuckled.

"I finally found a way to keep you apart...but then I knew my genius would never let me down," he boasted.

"As for the subject of how she has magic...that would be my genius again. I have worked on a concoction for many years that alters the DNA of a person that is injected with it and allows them to use magic for a time," Jekyll explained.

"Your elixirs and serums will never truly be able to replace the power of real magic," Rumple refuted.

"Oh, I don't know...I think the Savior got a taste of what my elixir can do," he argued.

"She surprised me...that won't happen again," Emma assured them.

"Let her go...this is the last time I'll ask or I'll use the full power of the Chalice on you. I won't hold back…" David warned. He smirked.

"Too many innocents could get hurt if we battle...and you know it. You won't risk innocent lives," he challenged.

"Now...she'll be coming with me," Jekyll said.

"The hell she will…" David growled, as Bobby curiously reached out to feel what kind of energy was pulsing through the cuffs on his mother, as Jekyll continued to goad his father.

"But you cannot stop me," he said, as he gently caressed her cheek with the back of his hand. Snow shrugged away in disgust and turned her head away from him as much as possible.

"So beautiful...you feature in all my dreams, lovely Snow and now those dreams will come true," he promised, but his delusion was interrupted when Bobby slowly started approaching them.

"Stay back brat...you don't want to harm your lovely mother," Jekyll warned. But to his and everyone else's shock, the cuffs didn't seem to react to him at all and he had an aura of peridot green around him.

"How...how are you doing this!?" Jekyll growled and the teen smirked.

"I think the question should be why do you think that you can defeat my magic and the magic of my siblings? Magic that our parents gave us, born of true love and magic that the Dark One himself and the former Evil Queen taught us to use," Bobby replied.

"But to answer your stupid question...I just used my earth powers to cool my body temperature to almost nothing. I guess I'm kind of the walking answer to foiling all your psychotic science experiments," Bobby said, as he sent a small seismic vibration into the cuffs around Snow's wrists and they cracked, before shattering to pieces.

"You little…" Jekyll said, but he released another seismic charge directly at Jekyll, throwing him back almost twenty feet. David rushed up to his wife and swept her into his arms.

"This...is not over," Jekyll warned, as Drizella and Grimm backed away to join him.

"Not by a long shot," Drizella promised, as they disappeared in a puff of smoke. Snow breathed a sigh in relief, as David held her and kissed her passionately.

"I'm okay…" she promised, as they enveloped Bobby in a hug between them, while the rest of their children gathered around them.

"That was incredible, baby brother," Emma said. He shrugged.

"I have the powers...I'm going to use them," he said simply.

"We just got here and saw everything at the end!" Aphrodite called, as she rushed toward them.

"You're back!" Snow called, as they shared a hug.

"A device that can keep you away from Snow...he really went there?" James asked, as he and David shared a hug as well.

"Unfortunately, but he's no match for our son," David said, with pride, as he put his hands on Bobby's shoulders.

"Your memories? Did you find any answers?" Snow asked.

"Oh did we...it's quite a story, but I say that we don't let that stupid doctor and his loser sidekicks ruin this celebration," James suggested.

"Especially since it seems that I have a sister to meet," he added, as he looked in the direction of his father and the blonde woman next to him.

"So...are we doing the fireworks?" Leroy asked impatiently. David smiled.

"Yes we are...and then you can tell us everything," he replied, as the dwaves went to resume the festivities.

"Wait...you put Leroy and Happy in charge of fireworks?" Regina asked in concern.

"Don't worry...they're only allowed to set them up. Doc is in charge of the ignitor," David assured, as the fireworks commenced.

"My love...if you need me to take you home, the kids will understand," he whispered to her. But she shook her head.

"No…I won't let him do that to me. As long as I have your arms around me, I'll be fine," she promised, as they shared a tender kiss. But there was no doubt that Jekyll's latest stunt had shaken them both a bit. A device that prevented him from being near her made his blood run cold. He only hoped they could find another way than just their son to combat this threat and eventually find a way to destroy Jekyll, once and for all...

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kaen-ace-of-diamonds · 5 years ago

Note

How do you think Ozpin died at Beacon?

(just going to go ahead and count that as a writing prompt)

He is intimately familiar with the feeling of fighting a losing battle.

In his prime, he would have reduced this girl to a bloody smear on the floor in a matter of minutes, and then charged out to spend the rest of his surging energy smiting every last Grimm that dared threaten his students.

But Ozpin is millennia past his prime, and his power has long since been torn into shreds to give away to others, and what remained left to weaken with age and incompletion. So here he is, stuck beneath the earth, feeling his strength beginning to fail him far too quickly.

On the other hand, the girl – Cinder Fall, of Mistral, of Haven, how did she get past Leo?! – seems to be just getting started. Sweat runs down her forehead, and the sound of her heavy breathing comes in time with his own, but she shows no signs of tiring like he is. Her eyes are alight with malice and bloodlust, like a hunting predator, and she bares her teeth like one, too. Sensing weakness and the end, her lips spread into a hungry grin.

“All your fame, all your power, all your pretense, and this is the best you can do. I don’t like to look a gift horse in the mouth, but I was expecting bigger and better from the man who drives my master to distraction. You really are just a sham, aren’t you?”

Ozpin can’t quite stand straight anymore, leaning hard on his cane, but he can still glare icy fury at her.

“Do you know?” His voice rattles from his mouth, while blood trickles from its corners. “Do you know what she plans to do to you? To the world?”

To that, Cinder just laughs. Fire envelops her hands again, and runs across the vault floor towards him in four serpentine surges, hot enough to melt trails into the metal. The shimmer in her eyes as she dives into the air and races with it to finish him off is one he recognizes. The girl is high on her own newly complete power, allowing herself to be moved by the magic coursing so fiercely through her veins. Thought is not something she needs right now, only this raw strength.

Ozpin does not allow himself to be bowled over, of course he doesn’t. He shifts his cane to a defensive stance, tries to bring forth another rippling shield. But it’s broken almost the second he casts it, and his hands are seared as Cinder’s body slams into his again. They grapple like lions for another few moments, trying to get at each other’s heads, throats, eyes, but only managing to clash cane against sword again and again…until one ferocious, molten swing sends his cane flying from his hands.

It lands with a sharp clatter over thirty feet away from them, and, heart jumping, he reflexively jerks towards it, reaching out –

Cinder body-checks him, with one flare at her feet to propel her lunge forward and another to arc forward and burn him from chest to face. He’s blinded for a second, and he hears himself cry out in pain before the back of his head cracks against the floor and cuts his voice off.

Once again, it’s over for him before he’s actually killed. He hears a thin rush through the air a split second before he’s impaled in every limb, through his kneecaps and elbows, by spikes of superheated black glass. His flesh and blood sizzle, and a scream is ripped from his throat. Before he can try to move again, there’s a click of glass on metal, and then the breath is forced from him with a hard stomp to the chest. His glasses were knocked askew when he hit the floor, so he looks up to see Cinder leering down at him in a dizzying blur.

“She told me that you would be afraid.” He can’t tell whether the girl sounds more satisfied or fascinated. “If I did it like this.”

His body is different but his soul still remembers: lying sprawled on the ruined earth covered in dirt, ash, and his own blood; home and family in ruins around him; his ribs cracked under Salem’s heel. Even in the haze of pain he’d been in then – also not so different from the one he was in now – some part of him had been startled to see no pain or hurt at all in his partner’s eyes. Only loathing, contempt, and rage.

We finally had freedom.

Even if this girl hadn’t been flinging fire around for their entire battle, he would have known exactly how she plans to finish him.

Cinder can see the shadow of fear pass over his face, and she laughs at it. “I never thought very highly of you, but I didn’t know you were a coward. Could I convince you to tell me where the Relic is, in exchange for a painless death? I doubt you’ve had very many of those.”

He narrows his eyes in disgust. “Do you have any idea why Salem is collecting them? What their true purpose is?”

“The same purpose as mine, Ozpin. We are going to burn this worthless world to ashes,” she says, eyes blazing bright as the sun.

A bitter laugh bubbles up from his throat. Foolish girl, he wants to snarl at her, foolish, egotistical girl, there’s no we when it comes to Salem, she’ll use you up and throw you away, there’s no new world waiting for you even if you survive…

But he knows it would be a waste of last breaths. For as long as Salem has brought her forces to bear against him, he’s never been able to decide which was worse: the ones that were clearly misled about her true intentions, or the ones that are perfectly aware and perfectly happy to follow her to oblivion with the rest of the world, their own lives worth far less to them than vengeance and destruction.

“Find the Relic yourself,” he spits. “If you can. And when you return aboveground empty-handed…I only hope I’ve taught my children enough to kill you.”

Cinder laughs once more. “I’d say they’ll all be with you soon, but…well. You get to keep going no matter how many of them die for you, don’t you?”

A final shot of fire is building up in her hand. A piece of his own inborn magic – a piece of his daughter’s soul – stolen by this monster and twisted into a murder weapon. Just one of endless things he will never forgive Salem for.

“Do us all a favor and just stay dead this time, won’t you? Everyone would be better off.”

Oh, how he would if he could.

Spent and shattered, Ozpin has nothing more to say to this girl. He knows when his time is up. He tries to close his eyes and simply wait for the end to come; Cinder has a more important job to do and she’ll want to make this quick if not painless. But it does him no good. The few moments it takes for the massive stream of fire to engulf and incinerate his body feel like an eternity, and his dying screams are lost in the roar of the flames.

#Anonymous #thanks for asking!#ozpin #rwby ozpin #cinder fall #RWBY #kaen's fics

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jflashandclash · 8 years ago

Text

Traitors of Olympus: Blood of a Mayan

Twenty Six: Ajax

So… It is too Awkward for Us to get Ice Cream after This..? It’s Not, Right?

Pax may have had a minor lapse in judgment. Okay, maybe a major lapse in judgment. But judgment was lapsy for him. Especially in situations where your brother drops some of his Mist mask in front of your almost-girlfriend and makes some unfriendly advances towards her.

Pax could envision the defense now, “Don’t worry. It’s just like we’re giving you a major concussion. You won’t remember a thing.”

Yea, that was going to be added to the list of Things That Don’t Scream “Date Me:”

1. Battling Rodents

2. Crazed Brothers with Forget-Me-Lots rags

3. Restraining Orders

Anyway, Pax had screwed up. He could see that now—well, he couldn’t actually see it, as he was rather blind at the moment, but the general sentiment was there.

Drugging their friends with delicious Kool-Aid? He’d rather look at it like he’d eased them into a well earned nap, with complimentary sleeping bags and weasel snuggles.

And Axel wasn’t supposed to give Leo an exaggerated bear hug in the original plan… or break both of his wrists… or choke him. They were supposed to toast with the same Sleepy Time Kool-Aid over a blacksmith’s job well done and some delicious tofu burgers. But Kronos also wasn’t supposed to have some weird, residual essence in Backbiter that called out of Axel’s b’alam side. Funny how the Fates worked that right? One moment you’re going to have a delightful midnight picnic with a handsome Latino blacksmith and the next you’re telling your brother that psycho behavior might not be the best way to keep friends.

Pax would have to send the Fates a very friendly Christmas card this year.

Although everything was still blurry, Pax put one hand up towards Axel and one hand backwards to push against Kally like a referee calling, STOP! Hammer time.

Pax just hoped Kally didn’t start to run, since he knew Axel’s predator instinct might kick in and he really didn’t want a slapstick chase scene that ended in an uncomfortable letter to Apollo of, Please resurrect your daughter. I really like her and my brother and I may have goofed up a bit.

“Axel, let’s tone it down on the whole maniacal behavior thing. I think Phobetor would give you a standing ovation on the fear factor and execution, but—”

Axel sighed in annoyance, a gesture that made Pax want to mimic the motion in relief. It meant this was still dominantly his brother and not the Leonis Caput. “We’ve done this dozens of times little hero,” Axel said.

That was true. There was even this one time with a Roman senator and his elephant—well, that didn’t matter now.

“But not to a friend!” The anger in Pax’s shout surprised him. Maybe he’d been holding in a little more resentment than he realized or maybe he just felt that tonight was a good night for vocal projection. “This isn’t a discussion—we’re not messing with Kally’s head like this. Maybe other ways, but not like this.”

There was no way to know how much someone might forget with the River Lethe. Yea, they could give someone a brief press with a diluted dose to estimate a few weeks to a few months memory loss but… Kally might not even remember she was demigod if they did that. She also would forget that Pax was a scumbag, made bad life choices, and that she owed him nine drachma and ten Reese’s.

“Leo won’t remember making the sword. No one else knows and Kally can’t exactly go around shouting it to the world with her River Styx pact,” Pax said. The spots in his eyes were fading. He might be able to see Axel’s disappointment in full in a few seconds.

Axel’s shoulders relaxed and he tilted his head. Those eyes looked more sad than angry. “Do you really think she’ll ever love you after this?”

Pax squirmed. All he ever wanted was to meet a good person and have a happily ever after with a happy, functional family. Mattias and Jack had always teased him for falling in love fast and hard and planning things way too far into the future—he’d have Baller and Hunnie wear a tuxedo and dress for his and Kally’s supposed wedding. But Axel and Pax had done a lot of awful things under Kronos’s order. Pax wasn’t a good person. Maybe he didn’t deserve a Disney ending where he got to walk off singing and trip over forest critters that wouldn’t get out of the way (cue Hunnie and Baller again in their tiny suit and dress).

Although he could feel a loved section of scumbag die on his inside, Pax choked out, “That doesn’t matter.” Augh, that hurt. Punched right in the morals. What is this feeling of righteousness? “This is wrong. This is something Flynn would do.”

“THIS is wrong?” Axel growled skeptically. Pax was really happy Axel didn’t enlist all their deviousness to prove a point for all those in the audience who hadn’t been paying attention. Instead, his golden eyes shifted past Pax, to Kally. “There’s no shame in forgetfulness, Kalypso Kassand. No one can hold you accountable if you don’t remember.” His voice was slipping; Axel was losing control. “Just know, if you break your vows of silence and I lose Backbiter before I can slay Santiago…” His tongue flicked out to lick his lips. “I will find you and add you to my collection of souls.”

Pax thought his metaphor could have been better. Plant you in my garden of flowery death. Use you as flour for my cookies of destruction. Bookmark you in my library of chaos.[1]

“Axel… what’s wrong with you?” Kally asked quietly. Under the hand he had protectively behind him, he could feel her shaking like she’d taken the ice bucket challenge. Pax understood the sentiment; it would be cold to do the ice bucket challenge in the middle of November.

But Axel had just gone a few miles too far. Erasing some of the memory of some random hero that apparently saved the universe? Eh. Threatening Kally so he could slay their dad…

“This isn’t you talking,” Pax said. “It’s the Leonis Caput—”

“WE’RE THE SAME PERSON!” the frustrated scream came with the lovely harmony of Axel’s baritone paired with the Leonis Caput’s gravely bass.

“Wow—yea, that. Axel would never have such a silly slip of his anger management. That is Kronos’s monster. You are my brother born of the primordial awesome and I am NOT afraid of annoying you back into acting like yourself—now step off of that stupid sword!”

The forest was eerily quiet for a second. Pax could hear the sizzling of dirt as the last batches of superheated earth cooled. Other than that and the torches quietly flickering in the night, he couldn’t hear anything except his own heartbeat. The thump was inconveniently loud, like Apollo had picked his skull as a new drum.

Axel grunted and staggered forward, off the blade. Pax could tell he was trying to count internally, to regain control. This had always happened as their helmets’ magic waned, a little more of the memories seeping through, of Axel massacring Romans in the Labyrinth as sacrifices to Kronos. Normally they weren’t this bad, but normally Kronos’s essence didn’t crash the party. Rude.

Axel clutched his head and made a low whining noise. Still manly, Pax would assure if he ever told the tale later. This time when Axel collapsed to his knees, Pax could tell that was actually his brother. Axel immediately started rubbing his Mist mask on, smearing away the teeth, crazy eye color, and other nice Halloween rave gear.

Disaster averted! Pax relaxed. He often woke up and thanked the gods his brother hadn’t gone on a murderous rampage. Pax was a person of habit; he really hadn’t wanted to change that morning routine.

Someone giggled by one of the work benches.

Kally and he jumped. Axel probably would have if he wasn’t acting all tragic and angsty.

A girl sat on one of the work benches. She looked about Pax’s age, maybe a little younger at fifteen or so. She had short, jagged black hair, streaked with various shades of red, purple, and white. Her eyes glistened a bloody red, wide with glee, a lot like how Pax’s mothers did in human form. Dirt smeared her face, arms, and neck, making it hard to tell how tan she actually was. She wore a black, torn up shirt that read I Solemnly Swear that I am Up to No Good and some weird black mesh of shorts. She would have been beautiful, like a brightly colored viper, except Pax knew they were a little too closely related for that.

“Atë,” Pax greeted the Goddess of Mischief and Ruin.

“Have you ever watched a monster turn?” she asked, tilting her head as she examined Axel’s struggle. “They don’t talk about that part in the myths, how a human loses its humanity. It’s like how they montage training sequences in action movies. You never get to really appreciate the gradual attrition of character and decay of moral.”

“That was really uplifting. Thanks for dropping by,” Pax said.

She flashed Pax a psychotic smile. “I haven’t seen you since the day before the Battle of Mount Othrys. Oh Ajax!” He cringed at the memory and her use of his first name. “I still haven’t decided with you. Will you be more gullible or reckless or trusting?” She giggled again. “Mom said to check up on you and the sword. You father will ascend tomorrow morning if he’s not stopped. Are you as excited as I am for the ensuing chaos?”

Axel made a pained grunt, but didn’t lift his head from his hands.

The pieces started to fall into place and make about as much a sense as a Salvador Dali painting. The little acts of mischief, the fighting amongst the Olympians, and the silly errands they’d been sent out to do. Pax might have been mighty proud if he didn’t feel like his mom and sister had dressed him up as a pretty doe for deer hunting season. “You and Mom have been having some good bring-your-daughter-to-work days, huh? Weren’t you, uh, thrown off Olympus though? How’re you uh—” Pax wasn’t sure how she referred to her hobbies. “—working with the gods?”

“I was tossed down. Now I can spend more time with demigods and mortals. I dote on your kind far more than the rest of the family.” Atë leaned forward to give Kally a small wave, one that only entailed curling her fingers like she was catching elusive dandelions, or plucking out someone’s tendons. With Atë’s general demeanor, he assumed the latter to be more accurate to her tortured, artistic soul.

Kally stiffened.

You know that awkward, slightly racist, incredibly conservative uncle that you don’t want to introduce to your friends for fear of him saying all gypsies are Satan spawn? Atë was that relative if that relative had just been bailed out of jail for burning down orphanages for handicapped children. Pax preferred to keep an all inclusive mentality about his family, but he had a friend or two from handicapped orphanages and liked them less on the crispy side.

“Kally, that’s Atë, my half-sister on the godly side,” Pax muttered.[2] “Atë, this is Kally, my… uh, well she was my almost-girlfriend of about ten minutes ago.” Now Pax could probably add Kally to the list of people who would like to see him in a ditch with a sign that read, pour steaming coffee here, over his head.

Kally cleared her throat. “Friend,” she corrected quietly. Which was way better than someone who wanted to pour steaming coffee over his head. “Are you the one who set Athena and Poseidon against each other?”

Atë giggled again like a broken Ferbee. “Again, I can’t mess with the Olympians. But heroes… Heroes can go anywhere.” In a swirl of smoke, Atë disappeared off the bench and reappeared inches from Pax’s face. He could smell the reek of iron and see flecks of dried blood crusting her shirt. Ways to encourage a midnight appetite.

“Are you going to be Mom’s champion?” she asked, stroking a finger under his chin.

When Hunnie woke up, he decided he’d need to sit his furry friends down and find out if getting pets under the chin felt this demeaning and creepy for the weasels. If so, he’d make sure they got appropriate weasel therapy and carnivore friendly lollipops as an apology gift.

Pax didn’t want to be anyone’s champion. He wanted to make sure Dad didn’t hurt people. He wanted to make sure Axel was safe and sane, and not a whimpering mess. He wanted to go back to Camp Half-Blood and spend the rest of his life helping the Stoll brothers make Chiron miserable and doting on Kally with homemade shirts and cookies. But he was sure, if he said that, Atë would just counter, “Yea, and I want Apollo to reinvent the Black Plague, and wipe out half of humanity. We can’t all have what we want.”

When Pax hesitated, Atë pinched his cheek. “The fate of Camp Half-Blood might boil down to whichever side you choose, chaos or peace. Don’t worry. I’m sure you’ll make the wrong choice.”

Smoke burst in front of him and she was gone, leaving Pax to wonder if he and Axel may have screwed up way more than he had thought.

Thanks for reading :D

[1] Pax has a full list of these, but Jack had to burn the list so this chapter didn’t go on for too long.

[2] I know you’re either a Wiki search away from who Pax’s mom is or—for those of you more into mythology or My Little Pony—you’ve already figured it out. But this author is stubbornly not going to write her name down until she introduces herself to the cast.

#Blood of a Mayan #Traitors of Olympus #Percy Jackson and the Olympians #Heroes of Olympus #fanfiction #writing #Ate #Pax #Kally #Axel #Leonis Caput #I'M ALMOST DONE WRITING THIS DAMN BOOK! :D

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