#but it’s a thing that a roll would still govern (like climbing a wall just above head height)

[foone]

Jay peered around the doorframe over the corpse of the security guard. In the dim light of the still-illuminated exit signs, he spotted the attackers. Three figures, two carrying what looked like over-complicated crossbows, and a third hanging a few steps back, holding a dimly glowing rod and wearing some kind of tank on their back. A flamethrower? Maybe.

They're methodically checking all the offices along the hallway, ignoring the open door. Clearly they're worried about a surprise popping up behind them from one of the doors.

He leans back into the office. The wizard is rapidly writing something on the tablet, as the translator tries to keep up. Jay walks over and asks the translator what's going on, seeing the wizard's gestures towards the door.

"I'm not 100% sure but he says they will be sending squads with a magician, who has a... tank? Jar? And that you need to break the tank, and he'll take care of the rest."

Jay resists rolling his eyes. "That easy, huh? I saw when the guard fired at them, they're bullet-proof!" he says, checking how many rounds are in the guard's gun, more to reassure himself than anything else. The actual number is not very useful to know, if they can't actually hurt these invaders.

The translator writes out some words on the tablet, and the wizard slaps his head and quickly writes out a response. "this is not the best time for a chat, any chance you can hurry it along?" he mumbles, nervously checking the doorway again.

"I'm trying, I'm trying! Okay he says they have a shield which slows down fast moving things. So if you're close enough, it'll still work."

"Great. How close?"

"I have no idea. I don't understand their units yet."

"oh lovely! See if you can figure that out. I'm not optimistic about our chances either way... There are three of them, and two have weapons. Even if I can rush one, that leaves the other to put a hole in me, and then you."

"I'm working on it! Let me... Wait. Wait wait. It doesn't rain on their planet, remember?" she puts down the tablet and starts digging through her purse. "yeah?" "are all these sprinklers connected?" "what? I think so. Why?"

She climbs on the table, which wobles worryingly. Reaching up to the sprinkler, she lifts a scruffy lighter pulled from her purse.

"Tell me when. This should give you the opening you need!"

He stares at her, once again not sure exactly how much she's mad versus brilliant. "that's... That might work. Okay, get ready!" he says, kneeling by the door. There's only a few doors left before the attackers get to them. He thinks of mentioning that if this doesn't work, she's likely to be the first shot they take, standing on the table like that, but thinks better of it. It's the best chance of getting they have to get out of here without an impromptu piercing from those crossbow goons, and it would just worry her.

"See if you can get him to hide in the corner. I don't want them to get a lucky shot and take him out before we have a chance to fight back."

"oh good point. Can you hand... Oh right" she leans down to grab the tablet, but this turns out to be the last straw for this flimsy government-grade interview table. The table, tablet, and her all come crashing down with a terrible noise. A loud noise, which unfortunately prompts a response from down the hall.

Jay starts repeatedly swearing under his breath and takes aim at the doorway. So much for the plan. No no no, this isn't going to work. They're expecting this. They're checking each door carefully. I need them off balance. Oh well, time to do something foolishly heroic.

He steps against the far wall, near where the translator is being helped up by the wizard. He breathes deep, once, and runs for the doorway, hopping over the security guard's corpse as he goes.

As he enters the hallway all the hairs on the back of his neck stand up, and the air feels electric. He turns to run at the intruders, who are only a single door down the hallway and have their crossbows already raised. Oh shit he thinks as he goes into a dive, barely thinking about why he does that. He doesn't hear the firing so much as the wall behind him splintering, and the clattering noise as one of the bolts hits the floor and bounces along it, failing to embed itself in the tiled floor.

Raising his gun, he fires at the worst target. The unarmed woman (he can now tell) wearing the tank of blueish-green liquid). The other two are already reloading or going for their backup weapon, so he should be taking advantage of this moment of confusion to take them out. That's what his training told him, and he could almost hear his old instructor screaming in his head. Too bad, he puts his faith in the wizard, and hopes he's not about to die from a mistranslation.

His shot misses her, handily. The tank worn on her back shatters like a wine glass, and there's a moment of pain as it diffuses into the room. He tastes metal and mint and his ears ring.

The woman is stepping back and raising her staff. The crossbow solders have shaken it off much faster than him, and one pulls out something that looks like nearly the exact midpoint between a hunting knife and a short sword.

Jay tries to will his muscle to move and roll towards shooting him, but his arms are feeling like he sleep on them, the pins and needles tingle going from his fingers to his shoulders. This is not good.

And then there's an alarm in the distance. A moment of pause, and grey-ish black water sprays down on all of them. The sprinklers!

The intruders act like they've been teargassed. You don't appreciate how long people born on earth have had to get used to the fact that it rains, and for people who've never even seen a cloud, getting rained on is a new and frightening experience, even if it's a poor imitation of a rainstorm being provided by barely up to code fire suppression systems.

He manages to raise the gun enough to shoot the man nearest him, and his screaming turns into a choke, then silence. Jay has no illusions about being able to get turned around to take out the other guy, and who knows what the woman is capable of? But maybe this will even the odds a little. He gets about halfway to pointing at the other soldier when he's hit by a truck.

Or at least it feels like it. He's thrown down the hallway by the force of the impact, confused by the lack of anything visible hitting him. He loses his grip on the gun, and hitting the far wall at the end of the hallway definitely doesn't do anything for the tingling in his upper body. He raises his head enough to see down the hallway, where the woman is holding up that staff, which is now glowing an angry read. Oh right. They have wizards.

The blue haze of the spilled liquid from her tank is still floating around the floor like someone dumped dye in a smoke machine, but as he tries to force himself to get up and grab the gun, he notices it's all flowing in the open door of the interrogation room. He idly wonders if the AC is still running (how could the AC be running? They cut the power! Also, why am I thinking about this? I may have a concussion...) as the soldier and wizard (are female wizards witches? Sorceresses? Do they have a different term at all?) walk towards him slowly, the soldier finishing loading his crossbow.

He fires. Jay closes his eyes instinctively.

There's nothing. No pain, no impact sound of a miss, just a ptwang of firing and then silence. He opens his eyes. The bolt is stopped in mid air, by the open door. The wizard-lady shouts something, and Jay doesn't need the translator's help to know that that's a swear, and not a very nice one.

The wizard they were interrogating walks... Floats? Jay isn't sure how much is magic and how much is the concussion. He... moves into the hallway, and the witch-enchantress raises her staff while rapidly saying a lot of words, and the solder goes for his knife-sword.

His floating wizard friend raises his hand and...

Shit. Did I black out?

A moment had passed. The wizard is still standing there. The solder and magical girl (a sailor moon theme song begins playing in Jay's head, unbidden. Yep, definitely a concussion) are not. There's no sign of them. Not even a scorchmark on the wall or a bloodstain on the floor.

That's a little worrying. Okay, a lot worrying. Note to self, don't get on this guy's bad side. Also, minor update from your still functioning senses: he's standing over you now. Maybe see if you can react to that?

Jay tries to get up, and the wizard puts out a hand. "Here, let me help"

As Jay is pulled to his feet, he realizes why that sounds weird. "Now I know I have a concussion, because since when do you speak English?"

"since about 2 minutes ago. Come on, we need need to get out of here. They wouldn't just send one squad, and they will quickly notice that that we stopped one of them."

Jay tries to walk and it turns into a limp and nearly collapsing into the wall. "we? I'm pretty sure that was mainly you."

"nonsense. I couldn't have done a thing until you took out the matra tank". That word sizzles in Jay's head, like it's a wire that's improperly grounded. I guess that's what happens when the magic can translate something?

The translator reappears at the doorway, nervously looking up and down for any further attackers. "Are you alright?" she asks Jay.

"I'll survive, but we need to get out of here. Can you help steady me? If we can get to the stairs I can drive us out of here, but I'm still a little off balance from whatever that-" he pauses, his brain having run out of female-magic-user synonyms, "thaumaturgist!" (where did that come from?) "... Uh, from whatever she did to me, or from hitting the wall after she did the thing she did to me. I may be slightly loopy, as you can probably tell."

"Sure. Rudapedi, can you hold him up on that side?" "of course. Let's go. "

So his name is Rudapedi? It's a good thing these magic users don't speak Latin, or that might mean something like... Stinky feet? Wait, I don't think "rude" means stinky... I can't remember much of my Latin classes. Pecavi? Why is the world spinning so much, and what does Latin have to do with it?

Everything is going black. His last words before the warm velvety embrace of unconsciousness are "puella est in cena."

[xarrixii]

Chapter_30 : "Lemonade" ━━━━━━━━━━━━━

CW: previous chapter | beginning | masterlist

━━━━━━━━━━━━ ▼

Alph stares up at the glass, watching for a familiar break in the guards.

They’d been sitting in one—two rooms, actually, Storm was decent enough for bathroom privacy—for who knows how long, whittling away at the same pair of hand binders and watching a stupid routine.

Which left them enough time to think. To think about a lot.

Alph was left to think about what Urban would’ve done. What Urban was doing. What Storm still kept them for. They were left to think about the silence, the lack of anything fun to look at, and quite possibly worst of all, Storm’s theology. Now they owed Urban over the critical-thinking/heavy-analysis-after-high-school bet.

Storm had noble ideas, Alph could give them that. They wanted to rid the world of whatever they thought was injustice. Which happened to be a lot of the things Alph found to be injustices, pyrokinetic rehab clinics one of many.

Their solution after getting rid of the toxic officials allowing the stuff to happen was more than unsettling, though.

Alph could get past the murdering-government-officials part, they’d thought about it plenty of times in their life and anyone who willingly sentences people to death through torture are psychopaths. They couldn’t shake off the whole, “We become the new government and persecute anyone who doesn’t follow our dictatorship,” thing.

After enough of Storm’s motives and excuses, Alph was left with time to try and find a way back to Cinder. Which entailed ‘going to the bathroom.’

They slammed what remained of the hollow metal binders enveloping their hands against the bathroom wall, snapping it into several pieces based on weak spots they’d carved inside the metal where Storm couldn’t see it from their glass roof and catwalks overhead. Apparently, they weren’t even worth the regular maintenance of a rehab clinic.

Alph let out a small groan, flexing out their fingers, cracking them, anything to get some feeling back in their hands.

They exited the tiled hellroom, wedging themselves in one of the cement corners and peering up through the roof. There wasn’t much you couldn’t see from one of the corner cells if you climbed high enough. At least, of what you needed to see.

Alph set a hand on the glass after confirming the only guard not on break right now had turned around, summoning enough fire to melt it down and not enough to smash the entire thing in. They had to yank their hand away after the glass burned them, cursing to themselves at the pain after delivering themselves an opening.

They scaled the rest of the cement wall remaining after that, which wasn’t much, and willed their inner Urban to give them the stealth and witty ability to take out this guard without raising an alarm.

Long story short, Alph ended up giving the guy a nasty burn mark on their hand to knock them out.

“Sorry,” Alph whispered quietly, setting their unconscious body on the nearest metal folding chair in sitting position. They carefully crafted the pose to look like they’d fallen asleep, then swiped their keycard. “Or maybe not. I don’t know.”

They then promptly vaulted off the catwalk, rolling to their feet and taking the short, blissful walk to the entrance.

Storm had made it too easy.

Their hopeful thinking of a better world would simply come another day for Alph’s mind. For the first time in however long, they’d get to know what day it is and eat something other than what was likely the nearest deli’s sandwiches.

Also, they’d share complaints with Urban about hand binders. Uncomfortable little bitches.

Alph slid the keycard against the scanner, opening the exterior door of their not-federally-friendly prison. Took a few steps into the fresh air.

Then was connecting with the wall of the building they’d just left, boots encroaching on their vision while they summoned up the fire to fight back. Their whole body was practically glued to the wall, hands unable to move the fire any further toward the odd 1950s noir detective guy.

“What’s your grudge? Taken out of a comic and forced to live a normal civilian life?” Alph mused.

The guy pried the keycard from Alph’s hand, took one look at the ID picture, and turned to the other person with them. “I want this one in the OR. Get me their files, too.”

Alph smiled. “I didn’t know I needed surgery.”

Then their head smashed into the floor.

next chapter

━━━━━━━━━━━━ ▲ missing a content warning? let me know

the title is a reference to chapter eighteen, for those wondering

[heliosthegriffin]

Class of One 12, Tenets and Teachers

The news hadn’t been kind to him since Lisa had made her disappearance from Vale.

‘Miracle Boy, or Disaster Kid!?’

‘Selfless Hero, or Egomanaic Daredevil?!’

‘Who’s letting a teen run around fighting criminals, there’s something seriously wrong with our society!’

The fifteen year old pretending to be a seventeen year old sipped his tea and thought to himself, ‘Man, I really miss soda.’

Diets sucked, but you do what you have to do to stay monster fighting healthy.

Anyway, Jaune couldn’t watch a video without seeing his face looking back at him, or watch the news without him seeing a bad photo of himself looking back at him. Lisa really had been kind in that she actually used flattering photos of him.

The new news anchor? And the thousand other people on the internet? Not so much, they dug out the photos that made him look like the bum he knew he definitely was.

Though, they did have a point. Why did he go around getting into trouble, that could cause potentially millions of lien in damage, when he could not have that happen.

Oh, that’s right, because the endless horde of Grimm outside the city walls, the exceptionally corrupt government, the police who were just terrible at their job (Or in on the crime), the never-ending amounts of crime happening, and the blatant fact trouble went out of it’s way to find him, not the other way around.

Easily said, Jaune didn’t lose sleep over a bad headline or two, or three or four, or five.

Long as they could call him a menace to society as long as they didn’t get him kicked out of Beacon.

‘Jaune Arc, Fraud! Exposed!’

Well shit. It was a good run.

Jaune clicked on the video.

It was a ten minute long rant about nothing, while a man talked about something different entirely, though not without trying to throw a couple insults Jaune’s way.

It was clickbait.

Jaune rubbed his face. “Damn, not again.”

Anyway, things were as normal, or as normal as possible.

A knock behind him caught his attention, and Jaune raised his eyebrow. “I’m on the thirtieth floor…”

Jaune got out of his chair and looked at the window, where Amber’s smiling face sent him screaming.

Much to her amusement.

After he calmed down Jaune marched over to the window and opened it with much righteous anger. “What in the Grimm, Amber?! How’d you even get up here?!”

Still giggling like the clown she was, Amber slid into his penthouse, laughing on the floor.

“Yeah, get it all out.” Jaune said bitterly, looking out of the window down the sheer three hundred foot drop, did she climb all the way up? What the hell was security doing!?

Oh right, they didn’t get paid to deal with Hunters and Huntresses, Jaune couldn’t be mad at that.

Finally after getting out of her system Amber rose up and sat on his couch. “Sup.”

“Not much, why’d you scale my hotel?”

She shrugged. “I was bored, and you’re funny.”

Jaune with a roll of the eyes, he gave a sarcastic bowed. “I am to amuse, mistress.”

The huntress laughed. “Damn right, you do.”

“So, what’s the real reason you’re here? I thought you were hunting?”

“I wasn’t lying, I am bored, but I finished my contract early, and decided to come visit.”

Jaune smiled. “Well, glad you got back safely. So what was it this time?”

“Just some bandits down near the coast,”

“Would that make them pirates?”

Amber paused. “I’m not sure, anyway, I rounded them up and handed them over to the authorities, where they were given a trial, found guilty, and where then hung.”

“Really?” Jaune asked, a little pale.

“Yep.” Amber nodded. “Don’t fret, little boy. They were bad guys and I’m the good one, I think.”

Jaune saw her cheek twinge, and could smell her aura crackling like a well lit fire. “You’re just pulling my leg, aren’t you?”

“Ok, just a little bit, but I am usually the good guy, or girl, I guess. But, there were bandits on jetskis, so I guess they were pirates, huh. Anyway, I sorted them out and they’re serving time, but,” There was a serious look in her eyes. “Justice is harsh, if this had been a rural village and not Slate, a city state like Vale, they would be dead, most villages don’t have the resources to take care of prisoners for long periods of time or the ability to transport them to prisons, it’s easier and allegedly more humane to just kill them.”

Jaune sat in his chair staring at nothing. “Woah, that’s heavy.”

“True that, I’ve seen some stuff my guy.” Amber got up and helped herself to his fridge. “But, from what I heard you seen and had your fill of justice yourself, what do you feel?”

An uncomfortable expression fell on his face, the smile dropping. “It’s hard, I guess.” He could feel the lukewarm air of Amber’s aura and the slight imaginary dewdrops of a fall shower around him, all tinged caramel brown. “Hard that I don’t know what to feel, a lot of what I’ve done, well it was fast and I didn’t really figure it out till later, or I was so busy, I could afford to take long to dwell on it, except for that one time, but it wasn’t all my fault.” Amber sat back down and raised a eyebrow in curiosity. “I don’t have a good answer, I’m sad, but happy? Sad that it had to happen, happy that the people I’ve killed… won’t hurt anybody anymore.”

His friend nodded. “I understand a little bit.” She bit her lip. “I used to be really zealous about delivering justice when I first came in my ma-, Semblance, suddenly having all that power and no rules? It felt like my duty to help people and take down people who did bad things, it wasn’t until I realized how many people I hurt, how many people I put in a morgue that didn’t truly deserve it, that I realized I needed to have some restraint. I’ll still put a bastard down, but I’m not going to do it till I’m sure they deserve it.”

Jaune frowned. “Cool.”

Amber looked at him. “What’s wrong?”

“There’s a fly in my tea.”

“Oh.” “And, I don’t know how long it’s been in there.”

“Oh.”

“Also, I noticed it as I was drinking. I need mouthwash, I’ll be back in a moment.” Then Jaune ran to his bathroom and started chugging mouthwash.

After about ten minutes, Jaune came back. “Also, I feel conflicted because every time I’ve had to take care of someone, well, I acted on instinct, and by the time I came back they were dead. Does that make a me a bad person, Amber? Can I really help people, if everytime I’m in a dangerous situation I shoot first and ask questions later?”

“Oh yeah, definitely. I mean have you seen the amount of people you’ve helped? You’ve done way more good than harm?”

“Really?” Jaune asked curiously, sure he helped people when he could, but there were so many bodies��� and bloodstains in his clothes that had set and he was too embarrassed to take to a cleaner, so he just told Ezekiel to take care of it.

“Have you seen the comments of the bash videos you get?” Amber’s smile was down right sinister. “The people you’ve helped will come in there and down right eviscerate them, and that’s not even getting into the debunkers and counter bash videos, ah that is peak comedy.”

“I only watch them when I feel like I need a kick in the ass, so I’ve never really looked at the comments.”

“Well, here let me show you.” Amber turned on Jaune’s wall projector and linked up her scroll, pulling up some responses from the people he’s helped.

“Wow, I’d think you could threaten someone with a spatula like that.”

“Look at this one, that one is peak performance in intimidation, not only threatening they’re testicale but with a ball peen hammer!”

Jaune smiled, and turned to Amber. “Thanks, this makes me feel a little better.”

“Hey, no problem for my friend. You got any games?”

“Well, yeah I do I bought this new one, and I’m fan of the creators, It’s called Ancient Disk, and-”

A loud crash came from the hallway, followed by angry yelling.

Amber looked at him. “I thought you had the floor entirely to yourself?”

Jaune looked confused. “Me too.” He pulled out his scroll. “Well to be honest, there is actually four suits on the floor, but I never use the other three.” His scroll chime as a call began. “Hey, Ezekiel did you manage to rent one of the penthouses?”

“Why, yes I did! And for quite the penny too, they were quite incessant on being your neighbor too.”

“Alright, thanks, bye.”

Jaune frowned. “That’s weird, why would anyone want to be my neighbor?”

Amber gave him a look like he was stupid. “Gee, I wonder why, Mr. Miracle Boy?”

“Yeah, that’s what I’m asking!”

The huntress shook her head. “How about we go see your new neighbor?”

Jaune nodded. “Yeah, that’s probably for the best.”

Outside in the lounge area in between the four penthouse, several men were moving furniture into penthouse adjacent to Jaunes, all the while a familiar man and his diminutive companion sat shooting orders.

“None of you, better drop my stuff, or I’ll drop you in the bay!” Roman yelled, while Neo nodded.

Except they both had clearly dyed their hair black.

“What the…” Amber trailed off, and Jaune stared at his new neighbors in confusion as they offered him a cheeky wave.

A sword of pure aura Projected into Jaune’s hand, and the blonde began with menacing steps started towards the criminal duo.

“Hello, kiddo! How you doing?” Roman said, tipping his hat to his landlord, Neo phantomining the same.

“You have five second to leave, or I shove this very sharp object through your eye socket.” Jaune explained calmly.

“Woah woah, kiddo, is that anyway to talk to your tenants?” Roman said, as Neo grasped her chest in pain as if betrayed.

“Torchwick, you're a criminal in my hotel. Who’s broken in and tried to rob me. Do the math.”

Roman did an exaggerated eye roll. “I don’t know who this Torchwick is, handsome he must be though, I’m Namor Wicktorch businessman and daughter, One Wicktorch.” Neo fluttered her eyes and Roman took a bow.

Jaune looked them over, and looked over their auras.

Roman’s a burning orange that smells both cheap and expensive at the same time, that was warm and distracting, a sound like cackling, haughty laughter and shifting hands, but with a dark center that seemed hungry to swallow whatever entered it.

Neo's was pink but opaque like a staring at a mirror, but also completely silent, disturbingly so. But the smell, sweet and relaxing, bitter and fruity, conflict and harmony. Her aura casted reflections all around herself, and it was definitely going to give Jaune a headache later, but not just of herself but everybody near her.

“So, If I wash the dye from your hair, and throw you out, I won’t be throwing out my tenets because he’s a criminal that signed under a fake name?”

Roman sweats, holding up his hands. “Wow, that is some fast math, here is a counter don’t do that, please.”

“Why are you even here?” Amber asked, sizing them up.

“Good point,” Jaune nodded. “Why are you here?”

“Well, mostly to annoy you.” Roman said cheekily, but took a step back when the Jaune’s Projected sword glowed. “Alright, alright, I need a hideout and Neo, I mean One, likes the place, and I like the aesthetic, mixed with the security of having Vale’s strongest up and coming huntsman living here.”

“That’s stupid, but it’s also makes some sense.” Jaune said.

“Ok, yeah, but I figured this, money. Also, Vale’s justice system is hideously corrupt, so you could throw me in as many times as  you want, I’ll be out in an hour.”

Jaune frowned. “True.”

“Also, you hate the council don’t you?”

“A bit.”

“Alright, common ground. Also, Ezekiel is a great informant, and I’m good at informing him, so it's a win win.”

Jaune sighed. He was actually selling him on this.

Roman saw weakness and struck. “I’ve also already paid ten-years in advance, and according to Old Valean Laws of Hospitality, you are bound by your word and honor to protect and keep us comfortable, you don’t want to break your word do you?”

Jaune’s eyes twitched. “Alright! Whatever, I don’t care, just don’t rob anybody who doesn’t deserve it, or break anything. Also, did you create fake identities just to rent from me?”

Roman smiled. “Vale is hideously corrupt.”

Jaune dispelled the Projected sword and turned to Amber who was playing patty cake with Neo. “Lets go back, I ready to load up the game.”

Roman’s eyes lit up. “Oh, what kind of game?”

“Ancient Disk.”

Roman and Neo looked at him, “We invoke hospitality, we want to play too.”

“It’s single player.” Amber pointed out.

Roman and Neo looked at each other. “Alright, then we want to annoy you while you play, and if you die, we want a turn.”

“Fine whatever.”

Amber slid next to the criminal duo. “We also demand snacks and drinks.”

Jaune groaned, and ordered room service.

------

A lot of young men and women would be jealous of Jaune spending time with Ms. Goodwitch, understandably so too. After all, She was relatively young, incredibly attractive, very powerful, and moderately wealthy, and was voted as Vale’s most desirable huntress.

And according to most people that was sexy.

Most people have not sparred with Glynda Goodwitch.

Jaune gasped as he felt his eyes bulge in socket, as a telekinetically charged left jab hit solar plexus, he could feel his bones shake as she twisted the punch stomach sending him flying into the wall.

For the fifth time this afternoon.

Which finally broke his aura. “Ow.” Jaune whimpered as he slid to the floor, and dared to look at his teacher.

She had changed out of her usual outfit for a black sports bra, purple sweatpants, and sneakers.

Jaune had to admit he gaped in surprise when he saw her, the change in outfit giving him a bit of whiplash.

Not nearly as much as when she pulled out her fists and not her riding crop.

Ms. Goodwitch had a frown on her face as she walked over. “Your footwork and hand to hand skills are subpar.”

“It’s not my specialty…” Jaune deflected, and sighed in relief as he felt his aura recharge his tired body.

The teacher watched with interest. “That is no excuse, every hunter needs a well-rounded skill set, or they will later come to regret their niche later. Up, I know your aura has refilled.” The woman grabs him by the back of his collar and pulls Jaune back on his feet.

Jaune spread his feet and got into his stance.

“Make yourself smaller, you want to leave as little room as possible to be hit.”

He nodded and followed.

“Good, you may have large reserves, but those will serve you better if you take as few hits as possible. Make a battle of attrition into a war if you have too, outlasting your opponent is as good a choice as overwhelming them.”

She held up her hands, each one glowing with a mixed purple sheen that formed small shields.

“Hit my hands, I will monitor your performance.”

Jaune took a step forward and began to punch her shields.

Jaune’s enhanced eyes quickly picked up the faint mixing of energies from her semblance and her aura. “You’re…” He watched amazed. “Strengthening your telekinesis with the protective qualities of your aura?”

A faint flicker of surprise went through Ms. Goodwitches eyes. “Correct.” She stopped talking, her eyes closing as she went into thought.

If Jaune was a vengeful man he would have cheap-shotted her, thankfully Ms. Goodwitch was also a powerful sensor, as her telekinesis also gave her a form of 360 degree awareness to help micro-control her surroundings.

No, she didn’t tell him. He could just see limbs stretching out from her aura and feeling the area around her, which he assumed was her semblance or the way his brain interpreted it… hopefully.

He wouldn’t get through her defense in a hundred years without her at least counter attacking, and he did not want to anger the lady with telekinesis.

If he looked close enough, he could see a pair of hands on top of her own, like giant purple gloves, with another pair of hands crossed in front of those, with royal purple aura empowering them.

Jaune kept throwing jabs and crosses at the shields-hands till Glynda opened her eyes. “Stop, that’s enough.”

Jaune stopped mid-jab and stumbled forth, but caught himself. “Alright.”

“You’re getting better,” She said plainly, but it was enough of a compliment to make him feel warm. “Still subpar,” That took the warmth away. “But, by the time you’re shipped off to Haven for the festival you won’t embarrass yourself, or Beacon.”

“Gee, thanks professor.” Jaune said with a tinge of sarcasm.

“You’re welcome.” Glynda said, either not catching it or not caring. “I think we should work on your Projection skills next, it invaluable asset, and one most opponents will not be prepared for.”

“Alright,” Jaune nodded, holding his hand out, picturing in his mind the weight of Crocea Mors in his hand, the feel of the grip, how balanced it felt in his hand, the sharpness of the blade, and shape of the sword.

Within seconds a near-identical pale white Crocea Mors sat in his hand.

Ms. Goodwitch smiled. “A spectacle as ever.”

Training continued through the afternoon well into the evening, with Ms. Goodwitch whipping him into shape, and not in the sexy way either.

The only oddity he could find was the occasional blip on his senses, but he was half sure that was a work of Glynda’s semblance playing tricks on him.

By the time they were done, Jaune sagged to the floor exhausted and drained, feeling a little sick as his aura began to refill his stamina again and heal his body, which caught his teachers attention, as even she was looking somewhat tired now.

“Again?”

“Doesn’t yours refill like this too?”

“No, it is quite unusual, most experienced Hunters can force their auras to refill once, maybe twice a day, but it steals quite a bit of energy and stamina. Even myself can only do so about three or four times a day, and I do not boast idly on this, but I have the largest aura reserves of my year.” She looked at the scrolls, as she watched Jaune’s aura hit 100% again. “But, I have broken your aura several times today.” He watched the aura in her eyes grow darker as she looked him over. “And you’ve refilled near instantly each time.”

“Sorry?”

“Don’t be, it is not a bad thing, just peculiar.”

“So it’s a good thing?”

“I’m not sure, as I stated before it drains your stamina, but yours seems fine. Perhaps a semblance?”

Jaune frowned. “I don’t know,” He looked her in the eyes. “What does a semblance feel like?”

That seemed to throw her for a loop momentarily.

“I don’t have a good answer for that, but for me it feels like I’m using a part of me that feels like I’m using a limb that goes numb when I’m not using it, but quickly comes to life when I do.”

“That must be uncomfortable with how much you use your semblance.”

“Not as much as you’d think,” Then she closed her mouth. “What makes you think I use my semblance that much?” Her green eyes looked intensely at him.

Jaune shrugged, too tired to feel much of anything. “I can see it, you’re always using it to like move things, keep your hair in check, making your clothes straight and neat, keep a cool breezes on yourself, and keep your breasts from bouncing too-”

Jaune felt his jaw snap closed as a purple telekinetic hand grabbed him.

A surprising blush on his teacher's face. “Please, not another word.”

Feeling the danger around him, he slowly nodded.

A couple minutes passed, and Goodwitch spoke to him. “Can you see everyone’s aura’s like that?... Including Ozpin’s and Ms. Autumns?”

Jaune nodded. “Yeah, it’s just a skill I developed, I call it Super-Senses, I can see, hear, feel, taste, and smell aura.”

A look of disgust pasted Goodwitches face.

Jaune backpedaled. “I don’t mean like that! It’s just like how if you smell something you can kind of taste it, right?!”

She still looked displeased.

“It’s not like I go around sniffing people, It’s like how when someone passes you, you can smell they’re cologne or perfume, like that!”

She sighed. “Alright, but can you see Ozpins and Ambers aura, correct?”

Eager to change the weirdness over, Jaune nodded. “Yeah, I mean can’t everybody?”

“No. No they can not.”

“Really? I thought this was just a normal skill?”

Goodwitch sighed. “You Arcs.” And shook her head.

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“Anyway, no, most hunters can barely learn to sense a aura’s signature from a couple feet away, and struggle to pick up anything of a distance. It requires advanced aura control to even see someone’s aura from a distance, what you’re doing is to put it lightly, on a completely new level. Even most sensor semblance would struggle to pick up that information, as they tend to extremely niche and focused.”

“So, not everybody can watch people’s aura’s move?”

“No.”

“Or, see what they’re semblance looks like?”

“No.”

“Oh. What about-”

“No. Could you tell me about what The Headmasters and Amber’s aura looks like to you?”

Jaune frowned. “That seems a little private to tell you about.”

Glynda raised an eyebrow. “Why is that?”

“Because, that’s like asking me to tell you what they taste, smell, look, sound, and feel like. It seems a bit like kissing and telling, and no offense, discussing my Headmaster and Amber in those terms is crossing a line.”

“Oh…” Glynda blushed, as the implications of what she was asking set in. “My apologies then,”

“Apology accepted.”

“Alright then,” Goodwitch took a seat down in front of him, as an awkward silence drifted in.

Until she asked after a couple minutes. “I don’t suppose you could tell me what a mind is like?”

Jaune smiled. “You sure, I don’t want to come off like a creep.”

“Please, I’ve dealt with all sorts of students here, I doubt you could surprise me.”

“Alright then, well it’s color is like a very pretty shade of purple, dark and powerful, and it’s constantly playing a noise, it’s a very happy noise, it’s sounds like ballroom music mixed with the sound of people having fun and dancing, with a bit of lounge singing in the background.”

Goodwitches smile widened. “That sounds nice, when I was in Beacon myself, I liked to relax with such things. Tell me more, it’s making me a bit nostalgic.”

Jaune nodded. “Alright, well the smell,”

Goodwitch coughed. “Could you find a different word, the word smell is making me a bit self-conscious.”

He blushed. “I understand, the um, scent is not the same, it drifts I guess? It’s mostly like ink, followed by strong wine and old books… with a hint of pomegranates.”

Glynda motioned for him to continue. “I can’t really describe the taste or feel that well, considering… and I don’t think I should explain that. But, I can tell you about your semblance.”

Glynda nodded. “That's amenable.”

“Your semblance is… Well, incredible, it’s like a thousand hands constantly moving in harmony to make your life easier, one second one is adjusting your dress, the next one is keeping a student from falling off a cliff.”

“Excuse me, hands?”

“Yeah, hands. That’s what it looks like to me, or at least I think that's what I think it does.”

Glynda looked a bit confused. “Oh, continue.”

Jaune spread his hands out, moving and wiggling them. “Everytime you want something done, they do it, every blow is a punch, every object lift is grabbed by a hand of the appropriate size.” He pinched his fingers as though picking up a small doll. “Some are big, some are small, I can’t tell if they change size, or if you just summon new one’s depending on the need.” Then Jaune put his fingers on the floor and pantomimed them crawling around. “And when you want to know what’s around you, I see them feeling them up, moving around sliding up and down, it’s like a bunch of spiders became ants, it’s weird, but in like a good ways!”

A small smile appeared on Glynda’s face as stifled a chuckle. “I take no offense, I asked.” He could see her semblance moving around her. “Amazing though, I’ve never told anybody about my sensory abilities.”

“A pretty impressive one too, I’ve seen your hands cover entire hallways before, freaky.”

A playful glare was leveled at Jaune. “Careful, Jaun-, I mean Mr. Arc.”

Sensing the boundary, Jaune chose to ignore the slip up and just nodded. “Alright, alright, my bad.”

“It’s fine.” Glynda looked at her scroll. “Well, I do believe it’s time to part ways.”

“Alright, see you tomorrow.”

“Indeed, but one thing.” Ms. Goodwitch said. “Be careful, you hold several powerful abilities, and I doubt I’m the only one to find them interesting, keep them close to your chest for the time being.”

“Can do.”

The teacher watched Jaune leave. ‘Jaune Arc, what in the Heaven’s are you?’ ----------

As he was leaving, Jaune once again got the feeling of being watched.

An usual aura flickering in and out around him.

And this time for sure it wasn’t Ms. Goodwitches semblance playing tricks in his head.

Then he caught the signature and turned to face it, staring down the hallway at a pair of crimson eyes with black sclera staring back at him.

It was Giran Tina, the partner of Ar Kaus.

And she was watching him.

“Hey.” Jaune said casually as he could, trying not to show he was a little bit terrified. He wasn’t sure if she was shark faunus, but she looked like she could smell fear.

Then she vanished.

A brief aura signature flickered behind and Jaune felt his world shift as he hit the ground, then it disappeared and returned above him with her foot trying to smash his face.

He grabbed it and took a hold of her small leg, “What is your problem!” She smirked, vanished again and appeared down the hallway.

Then, she took off running.

“Hey! Get back here!”

And Jaune took off after her.

----

Reading his report document from the Vale Branch of the SDC, Jacques scowled. There was a near .00005% drop in stocks.

All thanks to that Arc Brat, and his ties to the miner’s guild. This was surely a scheme by the Vale Council to create a rival company to have cheaper dust available in the future.

This was unacceptable. Those bailouts and government subsidiaries belonged to him!

Sure, he might not be a problem today, but what about tomorrow.

He’d have to call his mole on the council. James Morrow, he’d get this shut down.

Jacques pressed a button on his desk. “Steven. Get Morrow on the phone… What do you mean he’s dead! Who killed him, Jaune Arc?!”

----

Jaune woke up groggy and tied to a chair.

He didn’t remember what happen after taking off after Giran, only that she disappeared again and something like a freight train hit him.

“Wake up!” A high pitched voice called out to him.

Followed by a heavy-handed slap. “Yeah, wake up!”

Jaune cracked his neck and looked at his captors, he really shouldn’t have been surprised.

Standing proud there was Giran Tina, looking mighty amused with herself.

While a guy nearly twice as tall as her stood next to her, with his arms crossed and a scowl on his face.

It was Palk Iah, the bruiser of the team. Suddenly it hit him, what had hit him.

“Yes, can I help you?” Jaune asked.

“Yeah, you can…” Palk Iah began, then turned to Giran. “Why’d we do this?”

Giran opened her mouth and laughed. “You fool, don’t you see it’s because…” Then a blank look crossed her face.

Jaune sighed. He had been kidnapped by idiots.

Then the door opened. “WHO GOT BLOOD ON THE DAMN CARPET!” Yelled a boy who was even taller than Palk Iah, clocking in somewhere just under seven feet, who’s eyes then stuck to Jaune and scream. “YOU DARK DAMNED MORONS, YOU DID IT AGAIN DIDN'T”T YOU?!”

[ssa-daddyhotchner]

Can you write something where when the reader sees Aaron for the first time in the fbi vest she can’t take her eyes off of him. When he confronts her about it, she denies it so he decides to send her filthy texts the whole flight home. When they land he tells the reader to get in his car. When they get to his place to go at it, she asks if he’ll wear the vest. He does. DomHotch!!! 😚 xoxo

You'll have to wait

(Request by anonymous)

Aaron Hotchner x Reader

Warning - (NSFW 18+)

Word Count - 2.3k

Material list

______________________

“Alright Reid and JJ stay here, look over anything else we might have missed. Coronate the media and send back up.” My eyes snapped over to Aaron. 

“Sir what about me.” 

“You’re coming with, your vest is in the car. Everybody lets go.” 

I was confused at the request but I followed the order. 

I never went into the field, I had experience from my previous job before the BAU. But Aaron never let me go with him to make an arrest which I never minded. I’d much rather work from the precinct or do an interrogation

I had my gun with me at all times but have I ever used it in an actual situation... With the BAU never once but with my other job yes. When Aaron and I got together he never changed a thing about how he acted towards me. It was always business but he did still worry about me. 

Going after regular criminals is definitely less nerve racking than serial killers. 

“Hotch sir”, I stopped him before he left the room. “Are you about me going with you? I can stay here, It’s not a problem.” 

“Y/n you’ll be fine. Strauss called earlier about how you never do anything, how I ‘benched you’. She wanted to see what you could do.” 

“But--” I tried to speak but JJ and Reid left the room and we needed to move over. “Look y/n we need to go.. come on.” He lightly tugged on my arm to follow him. I followed him as the rest of the team left the building. 

We climbed into the SUVs. The whole way there Hotch gave the orders that the ubsub was in the house, he didn’t plan on coming out alive. Morgan, Hotch, and I got into one car while Emily and Rossi went into the other. 

Aaron and Morgan could feel the nervousness radiating off of my body. Morgan turned around in the passenger seat, “Baby you gotta calm down.” 

I scoffed a dry laugh, “Easy for you to say, you guys do this all the time.” 

Aaron kept his hands on the wheel and focused on the road. “You’ve done this before nothings different.” 

“Yeah it is, I worked with those people in the field before and I trusted them. That's not me saying I don't trust you guys because I do... It’s just different.” 

“Just follow us you’ll be okay.” Aaron spoke and turned the corner on the street and my view revealed lines of cop cars and flashing lights. Hotch pulled over and we all got out of the car, I walked behind him and go to the back. 

He opens the trunk and pulls out three vests. I froze a little, being intimidated. I watched as Morgan and Aaron put on their vests. My eyes drifted over to Aaron, it fit his body perfectly. The navy blues kevlar fibers and white letters splayed across his chest. 

“Sweetheart, my eyes are up here.” He said teasingly after Derek had walked away. “Sorry”, he just smirked and helped me tighten my vest before we made our way over to the officers. 

“Are you ready?” Aaron and I walked over the house. 

“Totally.” I wasn’t ready, being too distracted.

--------------------------------------

On the jet Aaron sat in the back with his face buried in the files that scattered the table. I was with Emily and Derek on the opposite end. They were talking about Reid and teasing him while he was sitting in the seat next to us. 

While they were cracking jokes I couldn’t stop thinking about how Aaron looked in that fucking vest. He was already built but with the extra padding he just sparked that part of me.

My eyes drifted over to him working, he pen glided across the paper and his hands--

Zoning out I didn’t realize that he had noticed. Then my phone vibrated on the table. 

Aaron - Are you okay there

Me - Yeah I'm fine... why

Aaron - You’re staring

Me - No I wasn’t just thinking about you

Aaron - Me? You know what I think

Aaron - I think you couldn’t stop thinking about how I looked earlier. Your mouth was practically water at the sight of me. I bet you just wanted to get on your knees right there in front of everyone

I glanced up in surprise at Aaron and his files were closed and he was looking at me with a smug grin. 

Aaron - You’re imagining it now aren’t you

I was honestly, the things I’d do for that man. I clenched my thighs together and hoped no one noticed. 

I didn’t want to react but he was already getting a rise out of me. 

Aaron - You want to be on your back and have me over you with my cock buried so far, just wait baby

My eyes widened a bit and I put my phone back down. There was no hiding how flush my face was. “Who keeps blowing up your phone.” 

“Don’t worry about it”, i said too quickly and Emily reached over the table to grab my phone. I lunged over and snatched it back before she had the opportunity to search through it. 

“Okay...” JJ said after being included in the conversation. Aaron saw how I had excused myself from the table and went to the bathroom. 

When the plane landed we all exited and headed back to the office for the remainder of our things. 

After everyone left I joined them, going into my car from the garage, I heard a car behind me. Aaron pulled up and rolled down the window, “My place, now.” 

He didn’t say much after that, I climbed into the car and he reached a hand over to my thigh. His finger rubbed my thigh before the tipped of his fingers brushing, dangerously close to my core. 

I just glanced over at him, he was still in his suit. His shirt was so tight over his chest you could see the definition. 

We crossed the threshold of his house and not a second went by before my back was slammed against the wall.  

“Aaron”, he shook his head slightly. “I didn’t say you could speak.” 

“Please, I just-- I wanna ask you something.” 

“You get one question before I have my way with you”, his hand traveled down my neck and to hip, keeping me on the wall. “Wear it.” He raised his eyebrows. 

“The vest.” 

“I knew you couldn’t stop those thoughts from going into your pretty little head, you want me to wear a government issued bulletproof vest so you can have your fantasy.” I whimpered, I really wanted it. 

“I want you stripped and on the bed when I come back.” He released me and stepped away going out to the car. I went up stairs and in the bedroom shedding my clothes on the way. I kneeled on the bed and just waited and waited. 

When he didn’t return the arousal between my leg was already dripping down onto the bed, slipping a hand down I made slow circles on my clit. 

I was too focused on the sensation that I didn’t hear his heavy footsteps approaching the room. He watched with a smirk on his lips as I arched my back on the duvet. I got closer and closer to finishing and he could tell. 

My eyes snapped open and he was hovering over me, “I tell you when to cum... understand.” his voice was dark and coated with lust. I didn’t expect him, I thought I’d be able to hear.

I nervously nodded my head. “Tsk, are you going to be a good girl for me.” 

“Yes sir.” 

“I don’t think you are, needy little sluts always say whatever they need to get their way. That sounds like you doesn’t it?” He put a finger under my chin and lifted my gaze to match his. 

“No sir I promise.” 

“We’ll see won’t we, step off and get on your knees.” He pushed himself off the bed and I got the full view of him. It was like I saw him for the first time again, he looked so fucking good. 

I didn’t take a second thought before getting low in front of him, patiently waiting for him. Aaron was going to either take his time or be indescribably rough to get the message through. 

His hands went to his belt and took it off moving around me and buckling my hands together behind my back. 

Stepping in front of me he unzipped his pants and pulled them down enough to pull himself out. “Open”, he ordered before my jaw slacked as he slid his cock into my mouth. 

He looked down at me and my eyes met his. A groan escaped his lips before he took the motion. Sliding a hand behind my head and into my hair, he gripped a portion.

Tilting my head up a bit more so he could thrust in and out easier. “This is what you wanted right-- fuck little girl you’re doing that so well.” He gritted out using my mouth as a tool for his own pleasure. 

He was right, this is what I wanted, just the feeling of him inside my mouth was enough to make me cum. I wished he’d let me touch him, to just get a better grip and grab his thighs to stable myself. 

“I might actually let you finish tonight if you keep this up.” With the limited motion I had I flattened my tongue along his shaft and took him in as deep as I could before it was too much. 

I gagged around him, no matter how far we were into the scene he still cared about how I was feeling. Aaron pulled out and loosened my hair in his fingers, “You gotta breathe.” 

There was a string of saliva moving down my face as I swallowed and collected myself. "Are you okay?", I nodded softly.

"Do you want to keep going?" He gave me an out, he didn't want me to feel obligated to keep going just because of him. Aaron wanted me to feel comfortable.

"Yes", he resumed what he wanted. Opening my mouth back up. 

His cock moved slower to give me extra time to get okay again. When I moaned around him he got the message.

Pushing his hips into my face again and I got that feeling of my jaw being stretched. 

He groaned and his dick twitched and I knew he was close, I wanted him to finish but he pulled back. 

When he got a hold of my waist he tossed me on the bed. Flipping me over roughly my face pressed into the pillows below me. Aaron manhandled me like I was a ragdoll. “Well would you look at that, you really do get off when you act like the whore you are” There a small wet spot on the floor. 

My face was flushed and I caught my breath. Feeling the bed dip he adjusted my hips into the air. “Fuck”, I muttered my breath. 

“What was that.” I didn’t answer and he didn’t like that. 

His hand traveled over my curve of my spine and Aaron placed a slap onto my ass. Recovering he slammed himself into me and I jerked forwards. Letting out an embarrassingly loud moan I bit my lip and tried to hold them in.

“Now don’t do that now, I wanna. hear. you.” He every word he pumped in. I whimpered, getting the relief that had been building a few hours earlier. He grazed my g-spot deliciously and snaked a hand to my clit. 

“Oh god... fuck.” Leaning onto me his other hand wrapped around my neck and lifted me flush against his chest. I felt the kevlar on my back and it scratched my sensitive skin. 

His fingers tightened around my throat and squeezed. My vision went hazed and I rested my head back onto his shoulder. My back arched and I got every sensation I could. 

We locked eyes and he captured my lips in his, he slid his tongue over mine and claimed dominance. 

“Does the little bitch deserve to cum tonight.” He quickened his thrusts and I jolted. “Daddy please.” I clenched around him and I watched as he tossed his head back. I was already so close, and he knew it. 

“Sir can I cum.” 

“Not yet.” I could barely hold it, his pace on my clit was too much to handle. I choked out, “Aaron please.” 

“Go ahead baby.” Releasing the tension that was building was like breaking a dam. I came around him and I felt him pulse. My orgasm brought him over the edge and he spilled inside of me. 

I fell limp and he let me go, my pulse calmed as I came back to reality. He undid my restraints and I automatically pulled him on me, my lips met his.

“Come here”, he whispered against my lips and he helped me stand as my knees buckled. I couldn’t walk or stand on my own, “Fuck Aaron.” I chuckled and he brought me to the bathroom, cleaning up. 

I watched as he shed his clothes, to lazy to actually put them in the hamper they laid on the floor. “It was hot in that.” He said when he felt the cool air on his skin. 

I smirked and kissed him again, “and it was so fucking worth it.” 

“Glad you enjoyed it."

Getting up I made my way back into the bedroom and settled under the thin sheet. I laid my head down, Aaron had gone into the kitchen to get me some water.

When he came back he smiled at the sight, I was already sleeping so he placed the glass next to me on the table.

He got into bed, curling up with me. My sleeping body flipped over and automatically clung on to him. Putting my head on his chest, his arm moved around me and his hand rested on my hip.

Aaron kissed my temple and he fell asleep soundly.

[anothers-trash-my-treasure]

Take It Out On Me

Happy Smutty Saturday! I seem to like writing things revolving around the pandemic lmaoo I'm sorry, I don't want to make that a habit. This is escapism, after all. Anyways, request from god knows how long ago about angry fucking with our fav gremlin boi

Pairing: Merriell Shelton / Reader (Female)

Warnings: 18+. There's some angst, some words exchanged in anger but nothing too crazy. Unprotected sex (wrap it before you tap it pls don't be dumb) Rough sex, dirty talking, hints of BDSM if you squint, praise kink if you squint.

Word Count: 3K

Tag List: @edteche2 @xmxisxforxmaybe @diasimar @txmel @gloriousdarkangelsworld @paradoxicaltornado @404-not-found-xix

Enjoy!

When the pandemic started, things weren’t so bad. Your job allowed you to simply work from your laptop, you had turned the second bedroom/storage room into a makeshift office and it worked just fine. Merriell, on the other hand, was not so lucky. He had been laid off, and, at first, was incredibly stressed about it. Thankfully though, you made enough money to cover the rent and the government came through with some financial aid that helped Mer pay for the bills. You’d be okay.

In fact, once the financial stresses were taken care of, it was actually kind of nice. You two hadn’t lived together long, but long enough that you had noticed your schedule differences and long enough to know you had missed each other. Gone were the late nights at the shop that left you lonely and missing his touch. Quite the contrary, during the first few months, you had fucked like rabbits. He had taken you in every room of the house like you were christening the damn thing all over again. The kitchen, the living room, the bathroom, hell, he even had you in your ‘office’ at one point. It was fun, being together all the time.

Until it wasn’t.

Eventually, being cooped up in the same goddamn space all the damn time got to both of you. And you loved him dearly but god he was so fucking annoying sometimes. Usually, you could avoid creating tension either by slinking away to your office for a bit or politely asking him to take a walk. But the office door had been a lost cause ever since he fucked you up against it so hard it came right off its hinges and it was raining outside, so he couldn’t leave. You were stuck.

Maybe it wouldn’t have been so bad, but the little things that usually didn’t matter had gone unchecked and undiscussed and were beginning to bite at your skin in a way you couldn’t ignore. For you, it had started when you went to the bathroom in the morning, only to discover he had left the toilet seat up and you fell right through. For him it had started when you unconsciously kicked him awake at 6 in the morning on a Saturday. And from there it spiraled. By the time you were ready for coffee, he had drunk the whole pot.

“Thanks for leaving me some.” you had grumbled, and maybe you meant it in good fun, but your sleepy attitude struck a chord, and you knew that because it was met with silence.

So maybe that’s why you didn’t ask him if he wanted some of the eggs you were making for breakfast. And maybe that’s why he decided the be extra loud when he finally made his own breakfast. Pots and pans clanging as he threw them in the sinks, cupboard doors slamming shut and using his fork just a little too violently in a way that set your whole being on edge.

By the end of the day, you had snapped at each other a few times and the tension was so thick that you could barely stand just being next to him. You hated that you were feeling this way, that these stupid lockdowns were driving you away from each other when all you wanted was the opposite. But you couldn’t let go of your anger and annoyance, and it bled through your veins, poisoning any conflict resolution that threatened to act as an antidote to your frustrations.

The last straw came at dinner. He had asked you what you wanted to eat and just the question had you gritting your teeth. So you had replied, telling him that he could make whatever he wanted. That, apparently, was the wrong answer.

“Jesus fucking christ,” he snarled, slamming his hand down onto the kitchen island, “Can you please jus' tell me what the fuck you want?!”

You had done nothing more than glance his way and roll your eyes, not getting a chance to respond before he was launching into a tangent.

“Seriously, what the fuck do ya think I am? Some kinda mind reader?” He asks, one hand gesturing wildly while the other keeps the counter in a white-knuckled grip, “Ya been in this fuckin’ mood all goddamn day and Darlin, I gotta say, ‘m fuckin’ sick of it.”

You bark out a sharp, bitter laugh, “Oh, you’re sick of it?” You stand up from the couch, walking behind it so you can get closer to him, “Like you haven’t been intentionally pissing me off all fucking day.”

His jaw pushes out in annoyance, both hands now gripping the countertop, “I promise you,” and you gotta give the guy credit for trying to regain some composure, “whateva’ I did to make you this goddamn bitchy was not intentional.”

“Oh, so I’m a bitch now?” You counter, folding your arms over your chest.

His eyes close and his chin tucks into his chest, recognizing his mistake but unwilling to apologize for it, “That’s not what I meant.”

“No, no, it’s fine. Tell me.” you insist, stepping closer to him, “Tell me what a bitch I’ve been. Blame all your problems on me. Because that’s just easier, isn’t it?”

It’s not true. You know. He knows it. But right now, all you can focus on is the anger that’s been boiling in the pit of your stomach.

“Y’know what? Maybe this-” he cuts himself off, but his quick gesture between the two of you finishes the rest of his sentence for him. Silence fills the kitchen and now there’s salt added to the wound. Hurt swirls with your anger and you can’t stop yourself from talking even if you tried.

“No, say it.” you encourage bitterly, crossing the line into the kitchen, “Tell me how moving in together was a mistake. Tell me how you can’t fucking stand living with me. Tell me how I’m so bitchy and how sick you are of my shit. Tell me-”

Before you can finish antagonizing him, he’s got you pushed up against the wall, his hands braced on either side of your head. He’s so close to you, you can feel his breath, angry and panting on your skin. You look into his eyes, seeing them hard and cold with his anger but something else lying behind them.

“Shut the fuck up,” he growls, and before you can even begin to be angry about it his lips are on yours and you can’t breathe.

His anger is very apparent, even as he kisses you. It’s rough, bruising, but it’s an outlet for all the negative feelings you’ve been experiencing so you kiss him back just as hard. You reach for him, unsure if you’re working to pull him closer and push him away. It doesn’t really matter though because he doesn’t let you touch him for long. Within seconds both your wrists are taken in one hand and pinned above your head. You fight against his hold, despite knowing it’s futile. In retaliation you bite down hard on his lip, feeling only a little satisfied when he pulls away in shock, his free hand coming up to check for blood. There's not.

You meet his eyes with a defiant smirk. He wants to play dirty? Fine. You can play that way too.

He steps away and for a second you think he’s actually going to walk away. But then-

“Get your ass to the bedroom.”

You almost laugh. If he thinks you’re, in any way, going to be compliant tonight, he’s sadly mistaken. Instead, you cross your arms, falling back to lean against the wall, your eyes never leaving his. He chuckles, an angry smirk crossing his features. He looks away, shaking his head, tongue poking against the side of his cheek in complete disbelief. Before you can think of your next move he’s got you thrown over his shoulder, marching the both of you down the hallway to your shared bedroom. You squirm, trying to push yourself to an angle that would let you fight his grip but it’s no use. By the time you work his hold free, he’s already dropping you on the bed. Although dropping may not be the right word, he all but slams you down, leaving you momentarily breathless.

Even then, he moves quickly. His hands move to his belt, quickly working the clasp back and off so he can slide his jeans off. Despite your anger, you feel heat pool between your legs when the fabric drops to reveal bare skin. It’s nothing new for Merriell, but it never fails to do something to you. He knows it too, a cocky smile gracing his face as he sheds his shirt too. He only lets you look for a second before he’s quickly flipping you onto your stomach. He forces you up onto your knees, hand finding the back of your neck to keep you where he wants you as he climbs onto the mattress behind you.

You put up a bit of a fight, although you’re becoming less and less focused on your anger and frustration and more focused on the feeling on his cock pressing against the back of your jean-clad thigh.

“Always seem to forget how fucking stubborn you are.” He growls into your ear, pressing himself against the line of you body while his free hand starts to unbutton and work off your pants, “Hard headed and difficult.” he continues, biting roughly on your earlobe just to here your intake of breathe and to feel you struggle against his hold, “A fucking brat.” He punctuates the last words by tugging both your jeans and panties down around your thighs roughly. You hiss at the forcefulness of the action, feeling the burn of the fabric against your skin contrasting with cool air against your bare pussy.

You’re completely at his mercy.

His presence is dominating, even though you can’t see him, his hands, one pressing on your neck to keep you still and the other caressing the swell of your ass, let you know exactly who's in charge. You don’t struggle, both of you knowing how much you want him, but you still hold an air of defiance. Your face is turned so you can breathe, but you won’t give him the satisfaction of looking at him. He tries to draw you out, teasing you by dragging his cock against your wetness. He alternates between taking the tip and rubbing it between your folds and fucking the space between your thighs. He knows what it does to you, can see the way you fight the urge to beg by pressing your lips together.

But you don’t fold.

“C’mon baby,” he taunts, venom laced in his words, “I know you want it.” As he talks the hand on your neck slides up into your hair, “Know you want that attitude fucked outta ya,” He tugs your hair roughly, pulling a gasp from your lips and forcing you to look back at him, “All ya gotta do is ask.”

You breathe heavily for a second, eyes locked with his, “Go fuck yourself.”

He growls, shoving your head back down into the mattress and thrusting into you roughly. Your back arches, eyes rolling back in your head as he begins to fuck you, not allowing you even a second to catch your breath. The second he sees bliss cross your features, he’s insufferable.

He laughs against a moan, “Feisty,” he comments, “but the second my dick’s in ya, you’re putty in my hands.”

You’re desperate to prove him wrong. You force your eyes open, locking them with his and pushing back against his thrusts, the headboard already banging against the wall with the force of both your movements.

“Feel’s good doesn’t it?” He asks, free hand coming down on your ass with a sharp smack.

“I’ve had better.” Your voice bounces with each thrust, but you’re determined to keep your composure, despite the pleasure that makes your toes curl.

Another growl rumbles through his chest and he lays another harsh smack to your rear, just to see your body react, “Liar,” he hisses, fingers digging into your skin.

His angle changes ever so slightly so that his cock now drags against your sweet spot with every movement and you can’t force your moan back. His eyes light up, laughing delightedly at the sound, “Had betta’ my ass.” he comments, leaning down to bite roughly on your shoulder, effectively leaving marks all across them, “Ya jus’ can’t help ya’self. You love it. Love the feeling of my cock in you.”

“Who says I’m thinking of you?” You shoot back.

You know it’s not true. Merriell was unlike any lover you had before, you were hopelessly and utterly ruined for anyone else. But that didn’t matter. The comment, however untruthful, hits his possessive streak just like you knew it would. He pulls out of you, flipping you onto your back and nearly ripping the remaining fabric off your body before resuming his brutal pace, this time using your wrists on either side of your head to hold you down. In this position he can ensure that you’re looking at him, leaving no doubt in either of your minds that it’s him that makes you feel like this. Only him.

“Such a fucking brat,” he growls, leaving bite marks all along your skin. By the time you’re done, there won’t be a part of your body that’s not marked by him.

He stops talking for a second, focusing instead on giving you the fucking of your life. He’d never fucked you like this. He’d been possessive, sweet, caring, loving, jealous. But never angry. Not like this. Every ounce of frustration and anger he’d felt was redirected to his hips, the air tense with the hurtful words you’d both said earlier.

“C’mon,” you taunt when he slows for a second, lips turned up in a sneer even as you pant, breathless, “That all you got?”

“Shut the fuck up,” he snarls, hoisting your legs up onto his shoulders, releasing your hands so he can move one to your throat, pressing you into the bed that way instead. It’s hard for you to breathe that way, but you’d be lying if you said you didn’t love it. And if you thought he was fucking you hard before, it’s nothing compared to the way he’s fucking you now.

The new angle allows him to trust deeper into you and your stubborn resolve begins to fade a little. Your hands scramble to latch onto his forearm that holds you down, not trying to push him away but just searching for purchase, for support somewhere you’ve always found it. He’s not faring much better, head rolling back onto his shoulders with a groan as he fucks you. You’re both quickly abandoning your anger in favor of the pleasure that you provide each other.

“Merriell,” you mewl, a peace offering without even realizing it.

His head snaps back to look down at you, eyes sparkling at the sound of your name on his lips for the first time tonight, “There she is,” he pants, leaning down to kiss you, open-mouthed and filthy. It’s still harsh, but the anger behind his motions is nearly gone, “My good girl, huh?”

You don’t even need to nod, to voice your confirmation. It’s not even really a question. You both know you’d come to an unspoken agreement.

“Fuck, baby girl.” he moans against your mouth, slowing his trusts just enough so he can really make you feel the drag of his cock inside you, “Oh, you feel so good.”

You love it when he gets like this. When all he can do is fuck into you and voice his pleasure. It’s a sure sign of surrender.

“Yes,” you gasp, back arching up against his as you feel your pleasure begin to reach its peak, “Merriell, I’m close.”

“Yeah,” he breathes, nodding in agreement, “C’mon, baby I gotcha. Let go for me.”

Your eyes lock with his the second you feel yourself slip over the edge. You see the way his eyes watch you, full of love that he had hidden behind his anger earlier. Your nails dig into his arm and your eyes roll back, unable to help yourself as pleasure courses through your whole body. You think that maybe you're shaking, but you’re completely detached from your conscious, knowing only the bliss he’s brought you.

Your senses come back to you just in time to feel him finish inside of you. His head buries into your neck, muffling his moans against your skin. The hand that had previously held you down now cups the back of your neck, the other gripping the back of your thigh with a grip so tight, you’re sure you’ll wear his fingerprints for a week.

He collapses against you, staying buried in your heat but pulling back enough so he can kiss you passionately. You kiss him back, hands tangling in his hair as your emotions begin to rise. When he pulls back your eyes are wet with unshed tears.

“I’m sorry,” you whisper, rubbing your noses together.

He nods, rubbing your noses together affectionately, “Me too,” he says, just as quiet, “Don’t leave.”

It’s a rare moment of sheer vulnerability, much needed after the heightened tensions throughout the past few days. You both knew, on some levels that the words shared earlier were spoken only out of frustration. But there was always that glimmer of doubt that you both felt. For him, it was always that you could find someone better. And for you, it was always the possibility of him growing sick of you.

You shake your head, kissing his softly, lovingly, “Never.”

After a few more moments of holding each other, he pulls out of you but doesn't move much further. He pulls you tight against his chest, kissing the top of your forehead. You bask in the silence for a handful of moments, just listening to each other breathe, finally feeling the tension between the two of you dissipate.

“Next time, can you just please put the seat down?” You murmur against his chest, a teasing tone to your voice.

He barks out a laugh and you grin against his skin at the sound.

Everything was going to be okay.

[theskywaslookingback]

[AO3]

“Why do you even have that?”

Sasha looks up from her laptop to give Jon a quizzical look. They’ve been deep in a research hole for hours now, Jon with his files spread out before him like a buffet and Sasha picking her way through line after line of code to access things that she really shouldn’t be able to access - although, the government should have better security if it didn’t want to get hacked so she tried not to feel too badly about it. Jon’s not looking at his files now though, his gaze appears to be drawn to her shoe-box sized kitchen.

“Why do I have what?” She asks, “A kitchen?”

“No, the--” He flicks his fingers in a vague gesture to the counter, and his eyebrows pull together in a fetching little wrinkle that Sasha desperately wants to smooth away with her thumb, “the absolutely massive thing you have taking up half your kitchen.”

“Oh!” Sasha says, and then starts to laugh.

The stand mixer is large, honestly, too big to store in the meagre storage space of her cabinets and taking up half the countertop next to the stove. It’s also a garish bright red, loud against the backdrop of beige walls and a white lino countertop. She wonders why on earth Jon’s bringing this up now, they’ve been working for hours now and this certainly isn’t the first time he’s visited her flat, and decides the answer to simply be that ‘it’s Jon, he’s probably just never noticed.’

He’s fully scowling at her now, in a way she knows is defensive. He probably thinks she’s making fun of him. He can be so sensitive. “Sorry,” She says when she stops laughing long enough to speak, “I think you just caught me off guard. It was cute.”

“Cute?” Jon starts to sputter, the tips of his ears darkening and his nose wrinkling.

He is cute, Sasha thinks.

She waves it off. “It was a wedding present. That’s one of the big ones, I think, for most people. First thing I added to the registry.”

Jon couldn’t look more blind-sided if he’d been hit by a lorry. He even drops his pen, staring at her with wide eyes. “You’re married?”

Sasha snorts. “Don’t be daft. Does it look like I’m living with someone?”

Jon looks around anyway like he’s looking for evidence. “Divorced?”

“Nope.” She says, popping the ‘p’ with extra emphasis and grinning at the helpless confusion radiating from her friend.

“Then--” Jon trails off. He looks at the stand mixer again, like maybe it holds the answers he’s seeking. He looks back at her, and then down at his files. Suddenly his head jerks up and he says, “Wait, have you ever even been engaged?” He says this so seriously it tugs at Sasha’s heart. His eyes narrow like he’s caught her in some kind of trap, as though that wasn’t what she was expecting.

Sasha grins. “No.”

Jon looks at her incredulously, like he’s fitting together a bunch of puzzle pieces in his mind. It’s fun. Jon is so fun. “Sasha, did you fake an engagement just to get a stand mixer?”

“Yes!” Sasha slams her laptop shut and points at Jon, “But do not tell my great aunt that, do you understand? It took me years of work to get that stand mixer, Jon!”

Jon stares at her silently for just a moment, absolutely bewildered, before he dissolves into laughter, curling in on himself and digging his fingers into his sides. It shakes his shoulders and Sasha swears there’s tears in his eyes and before she knows it she’s laughing too, hard enough it hurts her chest and blurs her vision. To an outside viewer they must look positively loony. It takes ages for them to stop and gather themselves back together. Jon takes off his glasses to wipe tears away from his eyes while Sasha rubs at her face and tries to stop the giggles that keep bubbling up when she looks at Jon.

“God,” Jon says at last, “I haven’t laughed like that in--” he clears his throat, “anyway.”

“Yes,” Sasha agrees, “anyway.”

She looks at the clock and is both shocked and completely unsurprised that it’s after midnight.

Jon must follow her gaze because she hears him utter a quiet, “good lord.”

She’s dangerously close to laughing again.

Jon starts to shuffle his files away back into their folders. “Later than I thought.” He says.

Sasha hums in agreement, putting her laptop away and sorting her notes into neat piles. “No use trying to get home this late, you might as well just stay the night.”

“Ah,” Jon’s nose does that cute wrinkle thing again, and Sasha’s lips twitch, “that’s quite alright. I’m sure I can just find a cab.”

“Could do,” Sasha agrees, “but it’d be easier if you stayed. I’ve got an extra toothbrush and everything. Plus, tomorrow is Saturday so it’s not like we have to rush back to work or anything.”

Jon’s got all his things put back in his messenger bag, a solid olive green canvas affair that Sasha privately thinks is dreadful looking. “Wouldn’t want to spoil your weekend. I’m sure you have plans.” He’s stalling, looking for a reason not to go. Sasha wishes he’d just tell her what he wants.

She smiles, because Jon isn’t easy but she knows him and she likes him anyway, “Well, I was going to put that stand mixer to work and make myself some bread. But other than that--” She shrugs.

Jon’s eyes go once more to that bright red piece of kitchen equipment. “You make your own bread?”

“Sure. It’s cheaper and it tastes better.”

Jon makes a thoughtful noise. “Well, I suppose… that is, if it’s not too much trouble.”

“Lovely,” Sasha beams, and then adds slyly, “I’ve even got some of Tim’s things you can sleep in.”

Jon goes properly red at that and buries his face in his hands with a groan.

-

Sasha busies herself with getting her ingredients together while Jon wakes up. Before they’d become friends she’d always just kind of assumed he’d be a morning person. He had that air about him at work, sharp and alert even when she was still trying to get her head on. The truth is that while Jon has difficulties getting to sleep, he would happily sleep until mid-afternoon if she let him, so she makes sure to wake him at a decent hour and then goes back to check and make sure he hasn’t fallen back asleep. Since her flat is basically a glorified closet, and Jon sleeps on the sofa, this is not a hard task to keep an eye on.

It takes a good twenty minutes before Jon comes and sits himself down at what she generously calls a kitchen table. His hair hangs in curls around his shoulders and he impatiently pushes a hand through it where it covers his face. He’s still sleepy-eyed, the sleeves of Tim’s jumper she’d let him borrow pooling around his hands.

“Good morning.” She says with amusement.

He grunts, flopping into a rickety chair. “Coffee?” He asks.

“All out. Tea alright?”

He nods.

“Great. Kettle is over there.” She gestures vaguely to the area next to the fridge, “Tea is top cabinet.”

Jon sighs, like it’s a great effort for him to make his own tea, but offers no further complaint as he retrieves the kettle and fills it with water.

With Jon out of the way Sasha appropriates the table for more space to set out her scale and bowls. She won’t need anything too fancy today so it doesn’t take long to get set up. She hears the kettle and turns around just in time to see Jon half-way climbing onto the counter. “Jon!” She scolds, similar to the way she would her cat when she was a child.

He freezes and gives her a sheepish grin. “You said top cabinet.”

She did, and she hadn’t thought about the almost foot of height she had on Jon. She snorts and waves him down. “Grab the mugs, I’ll get the tea then.”

He grumbles something about doing it himself but obliges, plucking two mugs from the drying rack.

“Green tea alright?”

Jon makes a dismissive noise. “Black?”

“Out.”

“I’m taking you shopping after this, Sasha James, this is downright unacceptable.”

“Yeah, sure.”

She hands him the box of tea bags and he rolls his eyes at her, muttering as he fills their mugs with water.

“Do you at least have milk?”

“Yes.”

“Thank god.”

Sasha rolls her eyes and gets back to her scale, weighing out her dry ingredients.

“Why are you doing it like that?”

“By weight?”

Jon hums.

“It’s more accurate by weight than by volume, typically.”

“You can’t just, I don’t know, eye-ball it?”

“Jonathan Sims have you ever baked anything in your entire life?”

She takes the jerky shrug he gives in response as a no. She shakes her head and dumps her flour and yeast into the mixing bowl of her stand mixer. Jon hovers there at her shoulder, watching, so close she can almost feel his breath.

It gives her a wicked idea.

She reaches a hand up, like she’s checking something, and then flicks the mixer on high.

Flour explodes from the mixing bowl in a cloud of white, covering her and Jon and the countertop.

The little shriek Jon gives will stay with her for a very long time.

“Why?” He asks, mouth agape and positively covered in flour.

“Because I knew it would be funny.” Sasha says, laughing. There’s flour in her hair, and she’ll definitely need to wash her clothes, but the look in Jon’s wide eyes and the slowly blooming smile on his face is worth it.

It takes less time than she thinks to get everything clean again, and the second time she even allows Jon to help her measure ingredients and start the mixer. He’s very serious about the whole thing, watching the scale with a grim kind of determination like it would mean death if he added just a bit too much yeast to the dough, but it’s the most fun Sasha’s had in forever. By the end of the day she has enough bread to wrap a loaf up for Jon to take home, and he looks at her like she’s just given him the greatest gift he’s ever received.

“Same time next week?” She asks as she wraps his scarf around his neck.

“I suppose.” He says, ducking his head to avoid the kiss she tries to plant on his cheek. “If you’re amenable.”

“I’m amenable.” She says, and kisses the top of his head anyway.

Sasha watches him leave and Jon turns back at the end of the hallway to wave, before disappearing into the stairwell. She laughs, bright and happy, and closes the door.

[bush-viper-cutie]

Chapter One: The New House

Pairing: Snape x OC

Word Count: 2,472

Rating: E

Plot:  Severus, forced to live with his parents once again, moves into a new house with them… except the house itself isn’t new. Its old, very old indeed.

Warnings: none

A/N: Snapetober! I will be posting chapters often to this slice-of-life gothic slow-burn romance I have in my head :D Not following any prompts but I hope the general atmosphere of these chapters are spooky? Mixed with some gothic… maybe some supernatural elements ahead ;) Enjoy :D

Posted: 10/1/21

Chapter List

Next Chapter –>

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~*~*~ = time skip

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Severus Snape hated his life. His parents were awful, his family had no money, no support from anyone, and everyone he'd ever known hated him. The majority of his 20 years of life had been like that, except for a small bit of it where it wasn't, where it had been alright. For a few quick years, he had one friend who understood him, although it was now as he sat in the backseat of his father's car, looking up at the clouds, that he wondered if she ever did.

The clouds coated the sky, covering every sliver of sunshine with thick grey. No light broke through and as a result, everything looked as miserable as his life felt. The droning of the car engine and tires on concrete grated his ears as he tried for peace of mind.

His father's suitcase - sandwiched above Severus' trunk and his mother's large bag - dug into his side, poking at him deeper with every turn the car took. They'd been driving for almost an hour but he knew they weren't even close to their destination; they were still inside the city, still inside its limits. He didn't need to know where they were going, even if he'd like to, he knew his father couldn't afford to move to any city nor any country home close by.

His mother sat quietly in the passenger seat, watching classy houses with nice, white picket fences and short little rose hedges pass by as they drove. She looked away from the window when they stopped at lights or when his father needed to look at the map for directions; Severus suspected she didn't want to know if any of the four-member families out on their daily evening walk around their block looked in to see who owned the beat-up little pile of scrap metal driving by their house.

He didn't care though. He hardly cared about anything lately. The last time he could remember caring was the scroll parchment he'd received for graduating Hogwarts. That was all he'd wanted for two years. After he'd lost his only friend - his only best friend - he focused on school and school alone. He thought everything about his life would change the second he got hold of that certificate. For a few long days it had felt like a first-place trophy, but it wasn't. It was what it was: A certificate, of completion, of participation. Nothing more.

Maybe he could have been something. If he'd gotten a job, saved up while living with his parents, and finally moved out, leaving them behind forever... But he didn't do that. He spent two years wasting time meddling in a bigoted cult working, selling potions for scrap. Hardly making enough to stay off the streets pretending like it was better than living at home just because the new sinking ship he'd found himself in was with his friends. Maybe eventually he could have made it work if it hadn't been for the Aurors who busted their small section of Death Eaters dedicated to making money selling illegal potions.

He supposed they threw themselves a party, thinking themselves big-shots, catching a handful of young adults making money out the back of a shady pub. He remembered the headline in the Daily Prophet: "Fourteen Death Eaters caught and awaiting sentencing". He supposed his mother thought herself a saint now too, bailing him out, saving him from days of "possible abuse" as if it were any worse than the prison he'd lived in all his life.

At first, he couldn't figure why - not for the life of him - she'd even care what happened to him. He wasn't a child and he wasn't her problem anymore. He knew she derived some sick pleasure knowing he not only owed his existence to her but now his freedom as well... and then it all came out. They bought a new house and it wasn't built to be kept up by two people, hell not even three but he was sure his extra pair of hands would come very handy to them.

They didn't even need to pay him. Not only was he their child, but that bail money was something he couldn't even attempt at paying back, and not because it had been a lot. She'd paid it in wizarding money left over from her witch days and she knew his wand had been broken as part of his sentencing. He'd have to beg some stuck-up department deep in the government for a wand permit which cost money. Then he'd have to buy himself a new wand, then work to pay her back all while "bumming" it at home while his father yelled about getting a "real job", one that didn't involve "devil magic" in the "devil society" that was the wizarding world. And he was sure he wouldn't be able to show up for work with a bruised eye or swollen jaw, even if by some miracle his employer could look past his new criminal record.

He held in a wince as the car turned again and the top luggage fell onto his head. He was back to old habits trying to pretend he didn't exist.

"Hey," Tobias said, glancing at him in the rearview mirror. "Fix that."

Without a word, Severus shoved the luggage back onto the pile behind the driver's seat and sat back. They were on the outskirts of society now. The scenery had turned to country, and the smog of the city had cleared, though the skies were still dark.

His father stopped for a few moments and refolded the map on his lap. His mother carried on watching the world outside, unresponsive to either of them or the happenings inside the car.

"What's that say," Tobias handed Severus the map and lit a cigarette while he waited, not bothering to open the window.

Severus brought the map up to his eyes and squinted. His eyesight was poor and worsened by the approaching dark. "S-starts with 'c'..."

"S'got a double 't' or 'h'?"

"'H'." Severus handed it back and Tobias started driving again.  He took several turns and headed onto a rougher road.

Within minutes the tame country became wild and morphed into a long stretch of woods. For the first few minutes, he hadn't even noticed despite being completely focused on the environment that passed them, like his mother still was. The first few trees seemed to go on, and just when he thought they'd clear them and continue driving past open fields, the trees persisted until he realized they were deep inside a forest now.

A few more minutes passed and they finally did exit the forest into a wide field of dead chopped trees cleared to the side on either edge of the steep hill the car was climbing. Severus sat up finally, hearing his spine crack and snap into place after being hunched over for the better part of the day. He liked the colorful mushrooms and bright green moss growing on the black logs of the discarded trees.

"Here," Tobias grumbled, rolling down the window. He flicked his cigarette butt and rolled it back up.

Severus sat forward and looked out the windshield up at the house they were approaching. It was large and clearly abandoned, probably for a good decade. The shingles were covered in dead leaves, the paint was chipping, the windows were gray and smeared with dirt likely blown during wind storms. The porch was missing a step and the columns holding up the covering were slanted. It was more yellow at the top and browner at the bottom - rot on the foundation most likely.

He slumped back in his seat. At least, if it turned out horrible, if it came down the second they stepped inside, or the walls melted from mold before their eyes, their old home was still waiting for them, the cursed thing. Almost all houses back home on Spinners End were abandoned. No one to sell to, no one to buy decrepit eyesores in the shadow of rundown factories. But at least he still had the option if it all went wrong.

~*~*~

Severus stuffed his suitcase into the closet, kicked it in, and shut the door. Unpacking could wait. He turned around and looked at his room as a whole. It was small, located up the stairs in a corner. It had a slanted roof which was odd, considering there was a third floor above him. It would do though, it was on the opposite side of the house as his parent's room, so it would certainly do quite nicely.

He moved to the window and looked out to watch the mist settle below. His father was gone to town to purchase things they'd need: a lighter apparently for the fireplaces since this house was built before furnaces and never renovated. He felt like a poor house servant to a rich Lord, but it was better than feeling like a roach in his old home. They needed coal too, or maybe wood, whatever old metal kitchen stoves and ovens used.

Severus walked out of his room to look down the hall again. It was a larger house than he was used to - it practically felt like a palace - and was sure it would take a few days to memorize how to find the correct corridor places.  It wasn't Like Hogwarts, which typically took several years to memorize the right paths.

He walked down the opposite way he came and observed the way the dust clung to the walls giving the blue wallpaper a very muted look. The original owners liked their colors, practically every room had a different color to it. Corridors were blue, bedrooms green, dining room orange, library red, kitchen white, bathrooms pink... At least none of the colors were very offensive to the eyes, even without the dust they were all very muted and earthy.

He had explored the bottom floor, the second floor had all the bedrooms, and the third-floor stairs must be around somewhere, hidden. As he walked a new corridor he noticed there were spaces on the wall which had, at one time or another, held frames or mirrors but they were long gone. He turned the corner to a long hallway with very tall windows on one side. He could see the mist again and possibly behind it was more to the forest surrounding the house. He mentally noted which turn brought him to the back wall of the house. He walked on and at the center were the stairs to the third floor tucked into a gap in the wall opposite the windows.

The handrails were covered in dust and between the wood pillars were cobwebs that swayed as he crept up. There was an open floor filled with ghostly sheet-covered furniture. A chandelier holding half-used candles lay on the floor with a long chain still connected to the ceiling. Its crystals refracted light from the large windows on either side of the room.

He sat on a couch - not bothering with the cloth - and sighed. Eventually, they'd put him up to getting all this old stuff down so that his father could sell it, although, they'd already been inside once before and said they couldn't find the stairs to this floor - or large room.

He got up and walked back down the stairs peering into the small crevice between the handrail and wall. When he reached the bottom step he noticed the indent on the edge of the left-hand wall and pulled on it. A little ring popped out and when he pulled on that, the wall rolled out. No, it was a door. He pulled it further and closed it behind him. He stepped back against the windows. The wallpaper blended seamlessly and would have been hard for him to tell that it was a door at all. He pressed the blue-colored ring back against the wall and walked back to his room.

~*~*~

Severus heard a car door slam and sat up in bed. His father was finally back with the supplies to hopefully get dinner started. His nap must have been a few hours because the sun had already dipped below the tree lines.

"Severus," his father called out to him, his echoes from one side of the house bounced off every wall to reach Severus' ears. "Now."

He swung his legs over the bed and left his room, stumbling down the dark hallway towards the front of the house. He stopped at the foot of the stairs looking down. His father was smoking again and had dropped several grocery bags on the floor. He blew the smoke out of his mouth and looked up at Severus, then motioned for the bags and pointed in the general direction of the kitchen.

Severus obeyed and carried them in, placing them on the counter - which had been dusted - and started taking out the contents. The only modern appliance in the house was the fridge, tall silver and brand new; it must have been the real major cost of the house.

His father had bought a large head of cabbage and a pack of sausages. There were matches but no coal which means they might be having cold soup for dinner again. He put everything away and came back to stand at the door.

He stepped aside as Tobias entered the house again. Severus thought about stepping out and walking around for a bit, not wanting to be in the same house as his parents, but felt the distance between his room and theirs was enough for today.

He turned to the stairs and saw his mother holding the banister looking down at him.

"Tomorrow there'll be a list of chores for you in the kitchen," she said. Her stiff voice echoed throughout the house and she kept her eyes on him waiting for a response.

He gave none and she left, unbothered. It was the way of their relationship. She'd ignore everything he said, and he'd do the same. He walked up the stairs, hearing how they creaked and groaned under his weight, echoing off walls and resonating down the hall. He headed to his room and closed the door. It was only around nine, fully dark, but he was done with the day. Dinner wasn't worth facing them and staying awake any longer wasn't worth the boredom and loneliness.

He took his pillow out of his trunk and fell onto the bed, almost disappointed it didn't break and send any amount of adrenaline or chemical of any kind to his brain. He moved his pillow, slid his arm under it, and closed his eyes.

~~~ * ~~~ * ~~~ * ~~~ * ~~~

Chapter List

Next Chapter –>

[b-hardys]

final girl.

falcon and the winter soldier has me on my marvel bullshit ... pairing: bucky x reader (partially oc, I don't think there is anything too oc in here but I could be wrong. contains references of being alongside bucky with hydra, that’s probably the most oc element). part one of ??? let's see how fatws goes. spoiler-ish ... I'd recommend watching the episode first! + not proofread! @eusuntgroot <33

The world Post-Blip was so hideously confusing. And even more so, when the past eighty or so years of your life had been spent frozen like prematurely bought meat and only thawed out to commit heinous crimes - solo or with the only other pardoned war criminal that you knew. And when your only connection to your past self is through research into obituaries, that pardoned war criminal can seem like the only other person that truly understands you.

The lines between this connection remaining healthy and constructive and tumbling down to something tumultuous and concerning occasionally blurred, but the two were blindly none-the-wiser. For two previous highly intelligent weapons of mass destruction, they were quite dense … and stubborn if you asked Sam (do ask Sam).

The emotional dependence between the two, while encouraged by her therapist, was an ever-growing weight upon the pair's shoulders, an itch they could not help but scratch. But, it wasn’t (and isn’t) all existential thoughts and passing comments about growing independence through the growth of their pseudo-partner to their therapists.

The pardon and lack of wanted media attention about the pair (what government wants to rehash the unveiling of the institute that was supposed to be protecting them … was fully infiltrated by a terrorist organisation?), this insane idea of normality was their present issue.

“You’re free…” Bucky couldn’t believe the insinuation. Free to do what? Toss and turn over the mere thought that individuals' relatives live their day to day lives, tormented by the what if’s and the mystery surrounding their deaths, that he caused. Free to roam throughout this Post-Blip world? Well, the Government regulated therapy that currently needs to be in-person to assess whether he is a risk to the public would most likely negate that idea.

Free to date? Free to be happy? Free to live alone in an apartment with a bed so soft it was almost sickening to lay on? Bucky found himself so troubled by the notion of his freedom … making amends was the current plan but what happens when there is nothing to amend? His body clock is stuck in his thirties (he thinks) and these people all age like regular human beings.

One thing Bucky knew for certain was that he was free to roam the streets of Brooklyn at two am. He could convince himself that he was aimlessly wandering, but by now the path he is taking should be burned into the pavement.

She’d moved close by. Her only tie to any community was and is him. Not to make anything strange, they had definitely spoken about it beforehand. The invitation from Maria Hill to stay in some sterile facility, while convenient, felt too much like confinement. Like regulated surveillance, an overseeing eye … whether she meant it like that, or not.

It was the minor details that mattered. The knock that was so specific to Bucky, she always knew it was him. The devilish details of the doormat she had purchased at some bodega that laid out front of her door (the italic ‘leave’ always brought a sliver of a smile to his face), or how he just knew that when he eventually entered the tiny apartment he would be bombarded by greenery and miscellaneous throw blankets adorning the furniture - a habit developed in Romania, their four walls had been so drab to hide out in, but the minor details that she sprinkled around trying to obtain some semblance of normality, even in private, lingered.

The concoction of chemicals and conditioning that they endured, as much as they tried to ignore them, did enhance day to day life. Bucky could hear the pitter-patter of her footsteps as she sluggishly made her way to her front door. While the journey may be small, the exhaustion can increase the time it takes to even check the time on your phone.

“Can’t sleep?” Her voice … like an orchestra at their finest. Smooth, and so soft, even after years of unspeakable, relentless breakage, these moments between the two remain so soft.

“Can you?” He supposes, pardoned and civilian life had enhanced some sort of personality that must’ve lingered from the before. And she had no issue rolling her eyes and scoffing at his sarcasm, and occasional pessimism.

She’d clearly rolled out of bed to come open the door. The guilt was gnawing at him, had she been getting some sleep? At least an hour uninterrupted before the horror had decided to rear its hideous head. The nightmares paralysed her originally. She could spend days retracted in on herself. A shell of who she had blossomed into. Lying there staring out the bay window … just blank. Empty.

Her hands reached out to caress his face, fingers delicately brushing over the apparent darkness under his eyes. It was unspoken, the care that they felt for one another. This unrelenting instinct to protect, to nurture the other. He felt as if he was existing outside himself. How could someone like him be caressed so delicately, be led so quietly through her personal space to the bed only elevated by shipping palettes.

Shedding the excess clothing he had only thrown on to ‘walk around’ (who was he kidding, he knew where he was going), he let himself focus on her. The sweater slightly too large for her frame, the pyjama pants that had caricatures of frogs adorning them, at first glance you wouldn’t believe that the former Slice had even existed. That her draws had false bottoms that still hid knives.

They fell into such comfortable silence, the sound of the humidifier humming in the background filling the space. They moved on autopilot, Bucky to ‘his’ side of the bed while she climbed back up on the mound of pillows she had created on her mattress that felt like a rock. The two glanced at each other in passing, no bashful blushing cheeks but just, content. They slot so easily across from one another, a sliver of space between them as they closed their eyes, pinkies reaching out towards the other.

It was this comfort that grounded the two. The world Post-Blip so far, was overwhelming, overstimulating … interesting. But this unspoken connection between the two was grounding. And they would most definitely need it. The two retired, pardoned assassins had no idea of what was on the horizon, what was lying in waiting for the two to, maybe, get a night of uninterrupted sleep. How tragic.

[niragibitch]

The Killer Girl - [ Niragi X Reader]

This is the first Niragi fanfic that I write, and my first smut, I hope you like it Perhaps there is an error of agreement or spelling, as it was initially written in Portuguese and passed to English late at night

Niragi X Reader

Warnings: Violence, weapons, blood, sadism

Number of words: 2k

It was a completely degrading situation for her, handcuffed in the bed of that complete crazy man.                                                                                         She of all the people in the world, a murderer.She had an organization just like a beach where she was a leader, the purposes were completely different though. She and a group of around 50 people where she was the leader closed a complex of buildings, got fast, luxury cars and supplies to stay alive, gathered weapons heavier than the beach and were just there to cause chaos and having fun with the games, almost none of those who were with her wanted to leave this world, people with empty lives and no hope in the real world were very well there, criminals and murderers just like her too.

A hired killer, eventually hired by governments to eliminate people or even torture them for answers, her life was reduced to death in the real world and would continue to be reduced to it in this one, she killed whoever she wanted and moved on, she didn't see much felt in normal life like the others, it all seemed very pathetic.His organization eventually became a mini city of troubled people who followed some rules of good coexistence and obeyed it, nothing more. Anyway going to the point where she was captured by the sniper's guy.

Hours before she was in a game where her entire group was extinguished, she herself had to kill some of them in order to stay alive but something she didn't count on was that her munition would end. At the end of the game she was alive but slightly injured, and a guy with black hair and piercings found her, intrigued by where she got weapons, cornered her with other militants and took her to the beach. She reminded him of someone he knew many years ago.

After the hatter's talk about answers and death to the traitors and things she didn't care about, she handed them her cards and tried to leave, but being unarmed and injured she was dragged by Niragi to where she was currently.He looked at her for a few moments with an teasing smile, showed his tongue with that tongue piercing that gleamed with the light in the room.

He was about to climb on top of her to do who knows what when someone appeared at the door and he had to leave taking his inseparable rifle.What was a lot of innocence on his part, in seconds as handcuffs were loose and she was walking around the room looking for something, she didn't know when he would come back and needed a plan, which soon came up when she found ammunition and a revolver in a drawer.

Now she had some options but she didn't know which one would be more viable, the injuries no longer bothered her, pain became tolerable and easy to ignore , the current problem would be to go through the armed guys without getting into trouble. She leans against the wall, but soon she sees the doorknob moving and has to think about something, hiding in the bathroom she expects some commotion in the room.

Just as, through it, the door opens and after that it closes, that is to say he did not notice that it is loose yet, he turns around.

''That damn bitch! '' he exclaims and she hears some steps, deducing that he took steps forward by the direction of the noise she silently appears behind him, she had a chance.

She hits him in the neck hard enough for him to fall to the ground, taking advantage of the fact that he dropped the gun.

She steals the rifle, fastens the revolver to his waist and points the gun at him, unlocking it and holding the trigger.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing?" - he says in an automatic tone and just receives an empty stare from her

"I don't advise you to make any sudden movements or I'll have to put a hole in that pretty face of yours, dear."

he puts his hands up and slowly gets up.

"You know that if you kill me now there are going to be armed militants out there, don't you?" - He smiles implicitly and a challenging face.

"But if I shoot you now, they'll think it's just you being a complete insane, and shooting me and not the other way around, I can buy time and run away in the crowd."

‘'well thought ‘'

He approaches and in a quick movement taking the rifle and aiming it at her neck, she pull the revolver and put it on his neck in response, and inevitably end up smiling, it was the first time in a long time that things started to be interesting, probably because her life was at stake.t

The feeling of adrenaline was something incredible to the girl, she felt like she under somo drug effect .

''You're smiling, it's the first non-empty expression you've made since I met you, why? ''

Niragi can't help feeling attracted to her, someone with the courage to face him that way

"I imagined your blood running down that pretty face of yours" and inevitably she looks at his mouthIt

Seemed crazy, but she couldn't help but think about his tongue piercing, and to be honest he looked attractive since when she first saw him, shooting like an insane in the game hours ago .

He looks at her a little longer and ends up kissing her, using his free arm to grab her waist, who in response uses his free hand to pull his hair. Neither wanted to be the first to surrender and be the first to drop the weapon. Both fight a fierce battle to control the situation until he pulls her in a sudden movement, placing her against the wall, listening to her moan in response, her head had hit the wall but she didn't seem to bother with it. He holds her wrist against the wall, pulling out of the gun's direction and calmly drops the rifle on the floor.

"Drop that gun," he says in a husky voice next to her face.

"Kick that rifle away and I'll drop the gun" - She says imposing and he surprisingly complies, she fulfills her promise by releasing the revolver that makes a loud noise when falling on the floor, but that doesn't bother them.

Now, without being a big risk to each other's lives, they kiss again. He remains holding her wrist tightly against the wall, and she continues to pull his hair to the point that it hurts, she wanted him to be in pain.

He pulls away from the kiss and starts kissing her neck.

"What do you want me to do with you?" He mumbles, but he doesn't get an answer making him irritate by biting. "You're a sick bitch, you're enjoying this, aren't you?”But again he doesn't have an answer, the grip against her wrist weakens and she takes the opportunity to loosen her arms and inverts her positions placing him against the wall this time, with one hand she scratches his neck and with the other she pulls his chin making him look at her and kiss him biting his lip hard enough to bleed. He is initially frightened by that, but she kisses him again, normally feeling the taste of his blood in her mouth.Glad to have made him bleed, she separates her lips from his .

"About your first question," she whispers in his ear. "I want to see you like this, hurt and in pain, with blood running down your beautiful face, and about the other I'm really loving it.”

He holds her thighs by pulling her towards him, she hugs his neck and curls her legs around his body, which carries her to the bed, where they both start to undress each other.

When they realized he was already making aggressive penetrating against her who tries to make his back and neck bleed as much as possible. He tried and failed miserably to hold his moans, the physical pain mixed with the pleasure of it, it was maddening, he was getting lost in her. eventually she put her hands against his neck hanging him until she felt he could not take it anymore, and he slapped her ass with no measure of strength and pulled her more closer making her hips as close as possible to his.

Both were lost in each other's reactions, their breathing changed, the blood and marks they had caused on each other, and in the midst of it they both reached ecstasy.

He fell on top of her, practically dead from fatigue after such an act and with no idea what would happen next.

"You still haven't told me your name, dear''

''Neither you said yours, we are even ‘' - she replies arrogantly making him roll his eyes but ends up answering- ''(Y / N) ..’’

"Huh?" He grumbles in a questioning way, he couldn't formulate coherent sentences at the moment

''That's my name, asshole''

"You are lucky that I am not close to my rifle right now," he replies slightly irritated.

''I say the same, or you would be dead now’'

"Niragi ... that's my name ..." he says in a sleepy voice and ends up erasing against her shoulder that despite knowing that he is a crazy and insane guy, she couldn't help but find him cute.

She could get up and shoot him right then and run. There was also the possibility of getting up wearing her clothes and just walking away, he didn't seem to sleep for some time and he probably wouldn't wake up. However she chose to leave to think about this problem the next day and soon fell asleep too.

[…]  

The next day the girl was the first to wake up, getting up carefully so as not to wake her bedmate, while thinking about what to do. The easy answer was the handcuffs, the handcuffs were still on the headboard.The next day the girl was the first to wake up, getting up carefully so as not to wake her bedmate, while thinking about what to do.

The easy answer was the handcuffs, the handcuffs were still on the headboard.    

She approaches him by carefully pulling his arms up, placing them against the cold metal of the handcuffs and adjusting them so that they are as tight as possible.

She couldn't help analyzing the bruises left on his body, his neck was a little red, some of the places she scratched looked more like they had been cut and could take a while to disappear due to the depth, not to mention the wound on his lower lip . In general nothing there was very drastic, with ointment and ice he would quickly be fine.Not that she was going to take care of his wounds or let him go for now.

Anyway, the calm expression he had while sleeping was cute, he looked so vulnerable.

She stops looking at him and starts to martyrize herself with her own thoughts and gets up wearing her clothes and walking to the bathroom.

It doesn't take long before he wakes up, a little sluggish from sleep he doesn't notice the situation until he notices his trapped wrists.He looks for her with his eyes, and not seeing her there irritated him completely.

He struggles to get of the cuffs, making her hear the sound of metal against the bed. And then she takes a deep breath, leaving the bathroom and facing him.  

"If you don't let go of me now, you'll regret one day being born, when I'm released," he says in a menacing tone.

''What makes you think that someday you'll be released? I can kill you here and now, so be sensate and measure your words, ” retorts in a monotone voice

She leans against a wall with her mind racing, she needed a decision on what to do. A plan.

At no time did his eyes deviate from her, he analyzed her as if his life was at stake and in a way it was .

"What do you plan to do with me?" He says in a fake monotone voice, he wanted to stay calm as she was but it was difficult.He didn't like to feel vulnerable, and the situation at the moment left him on the fine line between frightened and angry.

''Sincerely? I have no idea, ”she says and smiles, approaching the bed and smiling sarcastically.“ What did you plan to do to me when I was handcuffed?''

"Do I really need to say it?” The smirk said it all, and as usual he sticks out his tongue with that piercing. "Are you blatantly staring at my mouth, if you're a good girl and let go we can repeat what we did yesterday’’ he tease

"Temptant" - she climbs on the bed, putting one leg over him, sitting on his belly ''but whoever is trapped is you and I can do whatever I want anyway ‘' She shrugs and can feel him shudder despite trying to control his emotions. reactions not wanting to appear helpless .''This situation is being really fun and stuff, but I think it's time to reach an agreement ... '' she passes her hand carefully over the marks on his neck '' I will give the cards and we will play from there, if you scream they will find you pathetic because of the current situation, you will lose your reputation ''he starts to get angry and that just amuses you even more ''So promise me that if I let you go, I can stay alive, with that gun and walk around freely .’'

"Do you think I'm stupid? You will definitely try to escape and I already saw that you are no amateur with guns ..''

"If you are afraid of dying, know that I have been able to kill you several times, including when you were sleeping, you need not be afraid of me, kitten. I do not bite most of the time .." she blinks. "Now give me a definite answer before I get piss ‘'

"Okay, I'll agree to your terms, though…”

"What?" She asks, starting to lose patience. "I'm starting to think that shooting you would have been a lot more practical.”

"You're going to live in that room with me" and after saying that he sees her expression change to something indecipherable "I'm going to need to keep my eyes on you so you don't do anything suspicious

"Was that it? Okay then, we have a deal" and so she gets off him by letting go of his wrists  ''But know that dealing with me is something almost unbearable and that if you irritate me you might end up not surviving’’

He is relieved to have his mobility again, his wrists were marked and would be purple for a long time.

"I advise you to put an ice on your bruises." She kisses him on the cheek, picks up the gun and walks away towards the door."

Where do you think you're going?"

''Analyze the perimeter since I'm stuck here, go get dressed before worrying about my life, I'll see you around ‘' and she leaves slamming the door

Niragi stays there without knowing exactly what to do, she was an intriguing woman. She drew his attention by making him want to keep her close and shoot her head at the same time. It was only a matter of time before they trie to kill each other.

[onebatch2batch]

Heyo, dialogue prompts: 14 or 30? 😊

HI THIS WAS FROM FOREVER AGO BUUUUUT that's my m.o. so here we are. Hope you like it!!

And no, I'm never going to stop writing different versions of Frank and Karen getting together, you can't make me :)

--

14. “You’re never going to let that go, are you?”

Frank can practically hear David scheming, and he’s proven right when an anthropomorphic mop of hair bends into his line of sight and he says, “Hey, remember in the bunker, when we were still on the run?”

They’re both standing in David’s front yard. Frank’s van is in need of an oil change and a replacement filter and since he’s not keen on anyone else working on his getaway vehicle, he called up David to request use of his paved, suburban driveway. It’s been a few weeks since he’s managed to get over here, and David had instantly agreed on the condition that Frank stay for dinner. It’s a beautiful summer day, even if it’s a little hot, and he’s feeling a little off-kilter from the sounds of children playing all around. It’s so painfully normal that for a moment he’d regretted asking, and then David had offered him a drink. The taller computer genius doesn’t know shit about cars, so he’s alternating between fetching more beers and talking Frank’s ear off. It’s been about an hour now, and Frank has slowly relaxed into the background noise.

“Yeah,” Frank responds dryly around the flashlight between his teeth. He’s elbow deep in grease and not really interested in where this line of questioning is going to go, but David has other ideas.

“Uh huh. You know, when you got yourself on the news after that kid held Karen hostage?”

If Frank is affected by the name, all David notices is a sharp glance. “Yeah.”

“And how you freaked out and begged for my help and said she was family?”

Frank straightens and sets the flashlight down on the bumper of the car. “You got a point, Lieberman? I’m busy.”

“Yeah, I have a point. Was that all just bullshit, or what?”

They stare at each other. Frank’s jaw ticks.

“...what.”

“Thought so.”

“No, what?”

“Well you made this huge declaration and then almost got yourself killed trying to rescue her so--”

“God damn it, Lieberman, you’re never going to let that go, are you--”

David shakes his head, exasperated. “I mean, we haven’t even gotten to meet her yet and it’s been six months since Madini used her government wiles to give you a new identity--”

Frank scowls. “It’s none of your--”

The other man cuts him off quickly, hands up. To Frank’s immense displeasure, the other man looks less cowed and more placating. “I’m just saying, invite her to dinner next week. What harm is there? Maybe something good might happen to you for once, god forbid.” His friend stares him down, using every couple of inches of height to try and look intimidating. Of course it doesn’t work, but Frank is too busy thinking about having a family dinner with Karen, with his friends, like a normal person. Like a couple. He realizes too slow that David is leering at him, pleased.

“David, shut the hell up.”

“You’re blushing. Is that a yes? I’ll tell Sarah.”

--

Karen doesn’t question it when Frank calls her up after half a year of radio silence. She asks if it's a casual dress dinner and what kind of wine to bring, and then announces she’s got to go and she’ll see him Friday at six sharp.

He doesn’t know if that’s better or worse than her just telling him to shove it.

--

Friday creeps up on him, and by the time he parks outside of her apartment it hasn’t really sunk in that he’s about to take Karen Page to a domestic dinner in the suburbs. Because it’s definitely not a date, even though it kind of is. It’s the stuff he used to do with Maria and the kids all the time when he was on leave; double dates and cook outs and all that crap. He’s rusty as hell and usually shit company, but they keep asking him back. And now, he’s throwing Karen into the mix.

It’s a feeling similar to being shot in the head and waking up in a hospital room. Disorienting and uncomfortable as hell.

He picks her up in the van, leaning against the side of it as he waits. The Lieberman’s neighborhood is outside the city, about a twenty minute drive. It’s going to give them plenty of time to talk, and he’d barely restrained himself from looking up conversation starters online before leaving his place. He doubts there’s any suggestions for a vigilante-cum-construction worker who’s picking up a date he’s spoken a handful of words to for the first time in six months. He’s just considering cancelling the whole thing when the door to her building opens and she steps out.

He’s seen Karen a lot of ways. He’s seen her in pencil skirts and heels and blouses, in tshirt and jeans, bruised and bloody. He’s never seen her in a sundress with her pinked shoulders bare to the world and strappy sandals on her feet. Her hair is in a long braid over her shoulder. She looks fucking resplendant. Absolutely divine. Fucking poetry in motion.

He’s fucked.

“Hi,” she greets, coming to a stop in front of him. She’s got a bottle of wine in her hands. Her eyes punch little, individual question marks into his skin when she searches his face.

“Hey.” He inhales, bracing for her reaction. His throat closes up when he gets a whiff of her perfume. So familiar from the handful of times he’s been close enough to smell it--something soft and floral, something that makes his head swim. He thinks back to that moment so many months ago, swaying together in the elevator, her skin against his, her perfume subtle under the metallic tang of blood.

Karen doesn’t immediately go for interrogating him. She only lifts the bottle in her hand. “I brought a white, is that okay?”

Wary relief loosens the knot at the top of his spine. He nods, pushing off the car to open her door. “Sure.”

When Karen climbs in, carefully arranging her skirt around her, the dark interior contrasting with the soft yellow of her dress, Frank thinks about a conversation with Curtis all those months ago. Wonders when the kick is coming.

They spend the first ten minutes looking out separate windows and listening to the radio. After that, Karen starts talking like she’s made her mind up about the evening is going to go. She asks him how he’s been, if he’s gotten a job, how Dinah is, what the Liebermans are like. Nothing is accusatory. They could be old friends passing one another on the street, the way she’s talking. Almost like she’s talking to a scared dog. Coaxing it out of a corner.

Guess he deserves that.

By the time he pulls onto the appropriate street, it almost feels normal. They’ve fallen into a familiar back and forth that’s easy to keep up with, and when he opens her door she gives him a small grateful smile, accepting his hand on the way down.

He’s not disappointed when she lets go to straighten the fabric of her dress. He’s not.

--

As always, the Lieberman household is an explosion of domesticity. There’s shoes on the stairs, a sweet smelling candle burning on the coffee table, toys and books strewn over the floor. Pictures line the walls. When Frank knocks on the door, Zach opens it like he’s been waiting for them.

“ Hi, Pete!” he greets excitedly, and then his eyes land on Karen. “Who’s that?”

“Hello, I’m Karen Page.” She crouches down to look him in the eye and smiles. “You must be Zach, right?”

He flushes, twisting his fingers nervously. “Yeah. Are you Pete’s girlfriend?”

They’re saved from answering by a sudden, high pitched shriek. “Frank!!”

Karen manages to stand out of the way just in time for Leo to come barrelling down the stairs directly into Frank, hugging him tightly around the middle.

“Frank, Dad says you were here Saturday but you were gone before I left Ann’s house!!” she pulls away and waves a book at him. “I’m reading the book you told me about!”

He grins down at her. “I waited around for ya, but your mom said you wouldn’t be home until later. How’s the book, huh?”

She scrunches her nose. “I don’t know yet. I’ll let you know. Are you Karen?”

Karen laughs. “I sure am. Leo, right?”

“That’s me. Come on, my mom is in the kitchen.” She nudges Zach and then four of them head into the other room. Sarah Lieberman is standing behind the kitchen counter, chopping up a head of lettuce. When they walk in, she beams at them.

“Hey guys, welcome! Hang on, let me finish this. Pete, David’s out in the garage trying to fix the sprinklers. Can you--?”

Frank rolls his eyes. “Say no more.”

He lifts his brows at Karen, but she gives him a jerk of her head. Frank huffs and stalks off after kissing Sarah on the cheek, Leo trailing after him talking about sprinkler systems and tools. Zach joins his mother behind the counter and peers at Karen curiously. She sets the bottle of wine down.

“So Karen!” Sarah exclaims, dumping the lettuce into a bowl. “Let’s get you a glass of wine and chat. How’s that sound?”

--

They end up on the patio furniture. After completing the salad and sides, Sarah turns on the grill and then ushers them to the corner of the patio, refilling their glasses.

“So,” she starts, and peers at Karen over the rim of her glass. “I’m going to be forward, but I get the feeling you’ll appreciate that. What’s the deal with you and Pete? Sorry--habit. Frank.”

Karen could have guessed this was coming, even if she expected a little more subtlety. And Sarah’s right, she appreciates the bluntness. It gives her a chance to answer in kind.

“I don’t know.” She runs a finger over the rim of her glass, frowning. “I haven’t--we haven’t spoken in...a while. Six months, actually. And the last time I saw him..well, it didn’t go as well as I’d hoped. I thought I scared him off, actually.”

“How so?”

And the story falls out of her mouth, in pieces. She hasn’t spoken to anyone about Frank, about her feelings for him--the good or bad--or about that afternoon in the hospital. “--and I thought...I thought maybe he would finally kiss me.” She runs a hand through her hair, frustrated. “And then he pulled that I’m not a hero bullshit and that’s the last I saw of him. Until he called this week.”

Sarah rolls her eyes. “That sounds like him. Honey, did you know when we first met he was gathering information on David?”

“Ah, yes. I was the one who found David for him.” She grimaces. “Sorry.”

“Don’t be! We’re lucky he came looking. Without him…” she shrugs. “I would still be a widow. And my kids still wouldn’t have their father. I’m just trying to say he may do things backwards, but he ends up doing things for the right reasons. Even if it takes him time to figure that out.”

--

Dinner goes well. Dinner goes really, really well. Not that Frank was worried--there isn’t a person alive who can sit down with Karen Page and at the very least admire her. The Liebermans fall in love with her immediately. The kids demand that she stay for a board game after dinner. Leo brags about her science project. Zach shyly asks if Karen likes football. Sarah drills her with questions about her job. David keeps her laughing while stupid jokes and send Frank knowing glances throughout dinner that makes Frank want to throw peas at him.

Karen is charming, sweet, and great with the kids. She gets along with David and Sarah, and sends him warm, unsure smiles until dessert.

They play Apples to Apples, and the kids decimate. Karen is a close third. Frank loses terribly, but he’s still busy ruminating over the warm feeling in his chest at the cacophony of noise that surrounds him as everyone submits to another peal of laughter to notice.

“Frank,” Leo says innocently once they’ve put the board game away and Sarah has told the kids it’s time for bed. She stands in the doorway to the kitchen and looks at him sternly, hands on her hips. “Please bring Karen around more. It’s not fair that you get to hog her and we’ve just met.”

“Leo, that’s Miss Page to you.” Sarah tries for sharpness but ends up laughing. “Off to bed. Don’t forget to brush your teeth.”

“Bye Miss Page!” the kids chorus, and then it’s just the adults.

“Great kids,” Karen laughs. “Smart, too. You’re in trouble.”

Sarah sighs and pats her husband’s cheek fondly. “Yeah, we know. Somehow both of them got his brain.”

David chuckles, turns quickly to press a kiss to his wife’s palm. “At least they didn’t get my hair,” he jokes.

Karen sneaks a glance at Frank, then quickly looks away. He catches it, just briefly, as does David.

“Sarah, we should probably make sure the kids are actually brushing their teeth. I’ll tackle Leo if you tackle Zach, tag team it? We’ll be right back, guys.”

It’s quiet in the kitchen after that. Karen takes a sip of her wine and taps her fingers. There’s something on her mind, he can tell. When she doesn’t say anything he leans forward to capture her gaze. “What is it?”

“Why now, Frank?” Karen asks.

The conversation he’s been dreading. A feeling of shame bubbles up so suddenly it nearly knocks him off his chair. He scratches his neck for no reason other than to expel the nervous energy building in him.

“I didn’t want to…” There’s no use pretending like they’re talking about something else, not when she’s staring at him like that. Like she's been waiting all night for this conversation while he’s been tricking himself into thinking it may not happen. His finger dances restlessly on the table top. “I didn’t want to get you sucked back in.”

“Into what?” She arches a brow. “You?”

“Me. My life. My goddamn baggage. I know you deserve better than me.” He clears his throat. “So I wanted you to have a chance to live your life without my ghosts hanging around.”

“Frank Castle,” Karen sighs, exasperated, “please don’t tell me you’re making decisions for me. And that still doesn’t answer my question--why now?”

His expression tightens. “C’mon Karen. I’m just tryin’ to keep you safe--”

“How many times do I have to tell you--”

“As many as it ta--”

“Frank--” David steps into the kitchen, Sarah in tow. They pause, looking between the two people seated at the table awkwardly. “Oh, are we interrupting something?”

“No, David. Thank you both for tonight. I think I should be going.” Karen stands and looks at Frank. “I have loved you for two years, Frank. No amount of avoiding me or trying to protect me is going to change that. Excuse me.”

And then she walks away.

--

He catches up to her just down the street. As soon as he sees that familiar head of blond hair he pulls the van over and hops out, jogging to catch up. Karen glances at him and then pauses, as if waiting for something.

“Let me drive you home,” he asks. “Please.”

He doesn’t take her home straight away; she doesn’t ask. Frank drives until he finds a spot overlooking the water. The heat has finally broken and a cool breeze comes in through the open window, stirring Karen’s hair. He shuts off the engine. They sit in silence while he tries to decide what to say.

“I guess I should start by apologizing,” he says finally, tapping the steering wheel. He’s past nervous, he just wants to fix his own screw up. “I’m sorry, Karen. I don’t want to make any decisions for you. I should have--I should have talked to you about it. I should have started this conversation a long time ago.”

“So, start it.” She’s watching him, waiting. There’s a tense expression on her face--like she’s either trying not to cry, or trying not to smile. Or tell him off. He’s not sure which, yet.

Frank clears his throat. “Okay. Uh. I’m not gonna make excuses, I’m just gonna tell you what I know. I know that I have done some shit, and I’m going to continue doing that shit. I’m not ever gonna be normal. I know that you’re smart as hell, and you check me, and you’re a fucking force of nature. I know that I have been telling myself that you deserve more than some--fuckin’ vigilante who wakes up to nightmares more than he doesn’t. I know you deserve to be safe and happy. You deserve more than I can give you. But uh,” he takes her hand cautiously, waits for her to pull away, relaxes when she doesn’t, “...I wanna try.”

“You gotta mean it, Frank,” she says, voice watery. “You better fucking mean it.”

“I mean it. I swear to Christ, I mean it.”

She pulls her hand away and for a millisecond, he thinks he’s said something wrong. Then she’s unbuckling her seat belt and clamoring over the armrest into his lap. It’s not the most majestic first kiss he’s ever had (of which there are few) but her breath is hot on his lips and her fingernails scrape gently over his scalp as if entreating him closer. Frank makes a low groan that he hasn’t heard from himself in a long time--too long--and then Karen shifts and his breath catches in his throat. The heat of her, all wrapped up in his arms, her hair falling over one shoulder as she peppers his mouth, his cheeks, his jaw with the tiniest of kisses.

He could have ruined this without even knowing. He almost ruined it before it even happened.

“I do want you, you know,” Karen murmurs against the skin of his jaw, fingers grasping his shirt. “All of you.”

“I know.”

“Does that scare you?”

He pushes gently until he can look her in the eyes. “A little,” he admits. “I don’t wanna fuck this up.”

“You’re doing okay so far,” she says, smiling. “Now that you’ve pulled your self-deprecating head out of your ass.”

“Took me long enough.” He cradles the back of her head in one hand, drawing her closer until their lips meet again. They’re both uncomfortable at the weird angle but it’s not until the horn beeps once, gaining the attention of a woman walking her dog, that Karen reluctantly returns to her seat.

They work to catch their breaths, watching the water.

“The Liebermans aren’t upset I left so--...abruptly, right?”

“Nah,” Frank chuckles, grasping her hand. He finds an indescribable amount of comfort in brushing his thumb over the ridges over her knuckles. “Actually, I think they like you better for it. Sarah almost chased me out of the house with a goddamn spatula.”

“I knew I liked her. Take me home? I’ll make coffee.”

“It’s a date.”

--

Frank’s phone lights up that night. If he were to reach an arm over and hold it up to see, David’s text would read, WELL?? Did you get the girl, Lloyd Dobler?

But he doesn’t. He tugs Karen closer and goes back to sleep.

[internalsealpanic]

The Mechanics of Living part 2

Summary:  You trick Tim into going to a closed-off sector. Things go well. a/n: I will be doing a director’s cut for this is anyone is interested (by anyone I mean @glorified-red) Warnings: very slight body horror and gore 

Main Masterlist

Tim Drake Masterlist

It was easiest to just tell Tim all the facts rather than rely on the goodwill you've built in 3 years to persuade him.

There's a reason sector 4-D was cordoned off last year. For some unknown reason, a section that had been little more than a concrete wasteland started teeming with infected life.

People say it was an abomination (An unidentifiable, Tim corrected but you still think abomination captured the appropriate dramatic for that.)  that wandered in from farther in the waste. Some people say it was one of Bludhaven's beasts they let loose. You highly doubt Bludhaven was in any shape to contain whatever it is ravaging sector 4-D. After all, it wasn't in any better shape than Gotham was at the moment. You doubt it's ever been in better shape. They're like two cities constantly caught in this vortex of awfulness, looking at each other from two different sides thinking 'poor bastards'.

Sector 4-D was an easy hunting ground where young scavengers got their feet wet before they could move on. Now it was a dead zone, a dead zone with too much potential to pass up.

Like every sector, sector 4 was vast and unexplored and supposedly, there had been a library there. A building full of books and most importantly, medical textbooks.

You feel a little bad plucking at Tim's heartstrings when all you cared about was the payout. Appealing to the guy's sense of responsibility was kind of cheating but-- BUT! The specified textbooks do have stuff about bacteria and illnesses so you aren't really overstating their importance.

You try to push down the number of zeroes the man had shown you as you zip past a rusted sign.

You don't really trust anyone other than Tim to help you with this. Besides, all the other people who won't stab you after cashing in the reward probably don't know half as many words as Tim so you'll definitely need him to get the right books.

You stare at the rows of cars before you. They're overrun with weeds and vines and rust. A stark reminder that your Gotham is just a fraction of what it had been. You stop your bike in front of a taxi with a faded yellow body.

"This is it. This is where your life as an adventurer begins."

You swallow back the wave of nostalgia, letting the bike roll past it into the mess of cars to keep it a little more hidden. It isn't illegal to go to this sector yet. At least not when you checked but you really don't wanna gamble your Scavenger's license on clerical errors by either of your guilds.

Tim steps out of the sidecar, careful not to jostle Basil in his bag. You want to point out that you should probably wake the cat up otherwise you were wasting food on him but you knew better than to expect cooperation from Tim's fur ball from hell.

“So which theory about the illness do you think is the most plausible?” He asks, tucking the walkman away. You both thought it was stupid name but you didn’t really wanna question the teller. “The one that involves the least aliens.” You pause, narrowing your eyes at Tim whose hand is currently being eaten by his cat. “Or alien adjacent things.”

“So, you're one of those people who thinks the government did it.” Tim is *such* a little shit. Maybe that’s why his guild master gave him the most useless cat on the planet. Grade A my ass, you think staring at the furball nipping at his knuckles.

“Not on purpose, no.”

Tim raises a brow. “I didn't know you had that much faith in humanity.”

“Pffff, I think they just fucked up.”  

“Here, I was accusing you of being optimistic.”

“A mistake really.”

You two come to a crossroads.  A giant large yellow lantern hangs in the middle of the street, swaying listlessly in the air. It’s strange.

“Do you think the people in the old world used those to scare away the sick?”

“If they did,” he looks around, “it didn't work.”

Your eyes flit over the area.  Stone walls crumble, vegetation willing in the cracks. Still, even with the overgrowth of life, the city feels hollowed out. Nearly a decade ago, you’d first laid a hand on one of the stone arches of the city hall just down by main street. Nearly a decade ago, you felt the stone crumble beneath the pads of your fingers. Nearly a decade ago, you had come the closest to knowing what it was like having the sickness. Even one of the great cities had been reduced to a fraction of its size.

“Do you think the color of the light matters?” Tim asks, pointing again to the lamp.

You squint. You hadn’t noticed it at first but yeah, the color of the lights was different.

“Maybe,” you tilt your head, “or maybe the people from before were just idiots.”

“You just have a bad opinion of them, don’t you?”

“Like you don’t.” You shoot back, tapping your bat against your boot.

Tim rolls his eyes and shrugs.

You try to smile at that but something’s wrong. Your skin bristling, the air is stale despite the wind. You watch the lantern sway back and forth, the thin wires holding it up, fragile and precarious. A bad feeling crawls up your spine.

There’s a pressure in the air, the atmosphere turning into a vacuum.

Basil hisses, looking as vicious as he can.

The wind stops.

The skittering voices rise like the fluttering of locust wings.

A writhing mass, pulsing and menacing, blots out the horizon. It opens its maw to wheeze and the stench of rot floods the air. Your insides curdle and wilt from the intensity of the putrid odor. Once the *thing* draws another breath, the skittering begins again and this time you know where it’s from.

You can see it in the way its neck twists and undulates, its rotting flesh rippling as the fragmented voices rasp out of its throat. Its limbs, deformed, move unnaturally as it ambles towards you.

You stare at it. Your limbs unmoving. That thing *is* an unidentifiable. In all technicality, it fits the neat taxonomy laid out by experts. It is neither man nor beast. Its form corrupted beyond recognition. It’s rotting and shambling. But the thing you are looking at cannot simply be sorted neatly because it is what it is.  

A creature that god himself did not touch.

An abomination.

You splay a hand on Tim’s chest, pushing him back lightly.  Glancing at each other, you nod as you slowly step back into an alley. You quietly curse Gotham’s gloomy weather for the thing’s appearance. You thought you would have at least ‘til sundown to look for loot before having to flee to a safer sector. But when in Gotham, nothing is ever certain even the rising of the sun.

All you have to do is be quiet. Easy enough. Being silent is the first thing you learn to be in this world.

It blinks at you.

It. Blinks. At. *You.*

Your heart stops, the blood running in your veins turning into lead.

Dozens of eyes blink at you. They’re not all human from the looks of them. It opens its maw again, your muscles bunch up in anticipation of its miasmal breath. The discordant voices coming from its mouth coalesce into a horrible sob.

Tim grabs your wrist and pivots towards an alley. The sudden change in movement shocks your body awake. You scoop Basil up and bolt down the alley, letting Tim lead the way.

Desperately, You try to concentrate on the scuff of your shoes against pavement instead of the creak of limbs and the plop of flesh as it drips off the creature. The pinching of Tim’s features tells you he’s doing the same.

You round the corner, shoulder hitting brick, narrowly avoiding dozens of hands reaching for you. Basil yowls and hisses and you would apologize but your shoulder is screaming at you and goddammit Basil, we have bigger issues.  

You and Tim squeeze into a space between the buildings seemingly too small for that thing’s gelatinous form. You make the mistake of looking back only to see its limbs skitter up the building and down the other end of the alley. It smiles at you, rows of teeth glittering in the sparse light.

This was it.

This is where your life ends.

Where else is there to go?

You expect the acceptance to come in like a flood or relief. Life was hard with very little room for breath. Scraping by, tooth and nail, knuckles bleeding for every scrap of stability. You close your eyes and take a deep breath. You suddenly feel so tired like the adrenaline had been keeping you together for the past few years. Acceptance should have come easy.

But it doesn’t.

You open your eyes to glance at Tim, finally resignation sets. His features are still pinched and his hand is trembling beside yours. You really did screw this one up big time, huh?

You bite your cheek.

Watching Tim’s mind work, you know you have to keep him alive. You squeeze Tim's hand. He narrows his eyes at you. You give him a crooked smile and let his hand fall.

You pivot, foot pushing against the pavement as you launch yourself to the other end of the alley.

If your estimates are correct, you can buy him 15 minutes. 15 minutes would be more than enough for him to make it back to the bike--

Tim yanks on your hood, throwing open a door. The creature howls as Tim hurls both of you into the building.

"What the heck was that?!" Tim screams.

"A Dick." You answer, rubbing your head. fuck. Tim could throw.

"No! You were being fucking stupid."

You scowl at him in the dark. "Thanks Tim. I get it."

"No, you don't!"

"Can we argue--"

The door rattles and shakes. A fist-shaped dent embeds itself on the metal door. You glance at each other before scrambling towards the very safe-looking stairs.

You fly up the steps like hell was on your heels and as far as you're concerned, it was. You wrench Tim's bag from him and you're half tempted to throw him over your shoulder as well but you're not sure the stare case can hold that much weight.

If you climb to the roof--  If you... climb... It can climb. Fuck.

You and Tim seem to come to the same conclusion as you throw yourselves into another door.

You shove a sofa in front of the door and sit on it.

"Please tell me you've miraculously come up with a plan." You hiss glancing over to Tim who's staring at the window.

He glances over his shoulder to look at you. "If I could pull off miracles, you wouldn't be so dumb."

You sigh. Ok, yeah. He has every right to be mad. It was an incredibly stupid move but it's a numbers game and yeah.

Tim runs his hand through his hair, tugging at the strands. He needs to come up with something. He glances out the window. He walks over and leans out the window.

"We should jump."

"Would you like to elaborate?" You wheeze, still not really letting go of a

"Follow me."

"Tim, I have never trusted you less in my life." You snort, quietly. But you make your way to the window.  You set Basil down and look at what Tim is pointing to. There's a dumpster filled to the brim with trash. There doesn't seem to be any infected mice in there and the road to the right is a straight shot back to the bike.

You lick your lips.

"So we're on the same page."

"Uh, if that means what I think it means then yes."

Tim lets out a breath as he opens the window as quietly as possible. You listen to the steady beat of limbs thumping against the wood. You hold a collective breath. The window clicks into place with a loud snikt.

The thumping stops.

You practically shove Tim out the window while you stare at the door. It rattles and shakes.  A screech erupts the stairwell as you jump out the window. You land with a thump, sinking beneath the mounds of plastic.

Your heart is hammering and pressing into your throat. Its beat is in sync with the steady thump of the limbs. The wet squelching of rotting flesh scraping against the rusted metal of the dumpster. You want to heave but Tim shoves a hand in your face. You gag silently. Tim's hand smells putrid from the trash.

You hold your breaths until the thumping goes away. You don't dare breathe until Basil settles down.

You fall limp against the trash. Your limbs feel like jelly. You gag. Thinking about jelly right now is probably the worst thing for your health.

Tim nudges you with his foot. You turn your body over as quietly as you can.

You watch him make shapes with his hands. You frown.   You cycle through your memory trying to remember what the gestures mean then let go of Basil when you do.

Basil rises from the trash, padding against the plastic.

When you hear Basil jump down to the pavement, you dig your way out of the trash.

"For the record, I hate your plans." You say, gagging.

"What was yours?" Tim fires back, dusting his hair.

"..."

"Just what I thought."

You're the first to climb out, holding your arms out to him mockingly. He silently threatens to curb stomp your face. You snort and tuck your hands to your side.

Thankfully, you make it to the bike without incident.

Tim tucks his body into the sidecar, occupying himself by comforting Basil. You hand him a bat as you start the bike.

"Just in case."

You kick the bike into gear as you two ride into the sunset.

You breathe a quiet breath, letting your eyes slip shut for a moment. The road is clear for about 14 breaths.  That’s all you want to think about.

At the fourteenth breath, you open your eyes to an open expanse of road, endless and breathtaking. You turn to Tim and laugh. He gives you a sour look. You’ll just buy both of you some canned pineapples later and he’ll maybe forgive you. Basil certainly does as he doesn’t participate in Tim’s sour protest, opting instead to crawl into Tim’s bag.

Then you hear it above the roar of the engine.

The skittering.

Voices like the fluttering of wings.

It screeches, the raspy cry making your skin crawl. You don’t wanna look back. You don’t want to see the unnatural movement of its body as it bounds towards you.

You kick the bike to a higher gear. The engine will hate you but you can’t repair it if you’re dead.

The bike slows down. Tim stands up raising your bat over his head, bringing it down. It does not clang. The sound is squishier and moist. Your stomach rebels. Hazarding a glance behind you, you see the writhing mass holding onto your bike.

“TIM,” you shout.

“I--” Swing “-- AM--” Swing “--A LITTLE--” Swing “--BUSY!” “THERE’S A CAN OF HAIRSPRAY IN MY DUFFLE.”  

Tim ducks down, throwing you the bat. You swing wildly at the creature, summoning up a truly impressive bout of swearing.

Tim sprang up, nearly falling off the sidecar if not for you grabbing his shirt. Tim flicked the lighter, pressing down on the nozzle of the spray, and unleashing fire on the beast. The thing cries, voice shattering as it burns. You watch its flesh burn. Oh, what a pleasure it was to see it burn.

"We are never doing this again!" Tim wheezes.

"Of definitely fucking not." You bark, kicking the bike to a higher gear. The purring of the engine sounds like music to your ears.

"We are definitely doing easy sectors by a bit." You laugh.

When you don’t hear a snarky remark, you glance to your sidecar. Tim is slumped into his seat, breathing hard. You raise your brow but turn your attention to the road.  You shake him. You shake him again and again.

Tim doesn't respond.

You pull your hand away and it’s slick with blood.

______________________________________________________________

Thanks for reading!!!!

Tag list:  @batarella​, @anothertimdrakestan, @lucy-roo, @multifandomgirl-us, @bungunz​ , @birdy-bat-writes​,  @boosyboo9206, @americasmarauders , @l-inkage, @arestorationofbalance , @cloudie-skay, @wunderstell   @hyp-oh-critical @glorified-red @ marshmallow12435 @vvipgot7be​ @jadedhillon​ @notsostraightweeb​

[herstarburststories]

Merry... Birthday?

Pairing: Dean Winchester x reader

Summary: You love christmas, but Dean doesn’t. Yet, he might make an exception for your birthday this year.

A/N: This one goes for @negans-lucille-tblr​ ‘s secret fic exchange. My secret Santa was @katymacsupernatural​. Hey, honey! I hope you enjoy this and happy birthday! You deserve double presents, so here’s mine. All mistakes are mine!

Divider by @talesmaniac89 !

You loved Christmas.

It was probably a nostalgic longing for your long gone urban life. Just in the same way you’d still catch yourself looking through the news for election results or feel your stomach twist if you didn’t eat homemade food at least twice a week. You were dead to the government and certainly spent more on the road than in a home. Besides, you had met up with God enough times to know him. All the encounters and screaming and unapologetic abandonment should make you want to throw any baby Jesus against a wall or even climb on a Christmas tree just to shout about all the hoaxes so perfectly molded in patterns through our brains like braids.

Yet, something about you loved christmas. 

The pretty lights always shining, it didn’t matter where you go. For once, all the city-- everything would be entirely made of light. Their incandescent glow always companishing each person, either it was in an once treacherous alley or only to make the kids' grin bigger as they watched them among the busy streets with wide eyed gazes. The confusion in the kitchen that often ended up with huffs bursting into chuckles between the smell of meals that were too much and would make a room for leftovers for the rest of the week. How everything seemed to be made only of happiness, and nothing could ever cut through those water; all the knives were suddenly swords for kids to play and no white gun. In Christmas, a house became a kingdom for every heart. Everything was good and felt through the skin to the bone, like a single glimpse, a hidden day of what would be paradise.

That was how you were raised, at least. The Winchesters didn’t share the same mindset, no. While you grew up with decorating the tree, they were hiding bodies in the dim light. Leftovers were all through their whole year, and Christmas was described as good or not with one single criteria: snow streets. They had to take one? Annoying date. They didn’t and there was eggnog? Bearable Jesus’s birthday.

Yet, you attempted to make the bunker the more festive possible: buying a bunch of christmas lights, cookies’ ingredients and even a small nativity scene. Your attempts to enjoy the date’s niciities ended up with Sam breaking his arm after crashing on the ground because you insisted on him putting the lights in a place higher than his age, not to mention the burned cookies that looked more like tiny monsters than gingerbread men.

Your parents used to make this look so much easier.

Although the youngest Winchester understood a little more about the concept of holidays, a believer in the good until the very end, his brother didn’t share the idea. You couldn’t say you were surprised. Dean just had two barely normal christmas in his life: one when he was dying and one with Lisa and Ben. Both situations made it to his heart only to shatter from the inside.

‘’Baby Jesus?’’ Dean snorted, shaking his head at the sight of you adjusting the weird little dolls in the nativity. He placed another ruined cook in his mouth, speaking with his mouth full next: ‘’We have the son of Lucifer, guess that counts.’’

‘’Don’t say that once Jack gets home.’’ You rolled your eyes, turning to face the oldest Winchester with your hands on your hips. How could he eat that? You couldn’t even make it a bite and Sam only had half of those. ‘’And stop eating those. They are burned.’’

‘’I’ve had worse.’’ He remarked, adding another cookie to his mouth. You grimaced, wondering for a brief moment how your boyfriend could be simultaneously the guy who saved the world and a man with the taste of a five years old.

‘’Yeah. But I’m the one who has to hear you whining about your bellyache later.’’

‘’I don’t whine--’’ You arched your eyebrows at his statement, making Dean huff in agreement. ‘’That was once and because of Sam’s weird ass vegan bacon.’’

‘’You acted like you were dying.’’

‘’My tongue was!’’

‘’So get this.’’ Sam’s voice interrupted your childish argument, catching the attention of both hunters like a shiny object did to a cat. ‘’Apparently we got an earlier christmas gift.’’

‘’What is it?’’ You asked, approaching the table.

‘’Three teenagers disappeared in the forest, all personal objects left behind.’’ Sam explained as Dean scratched out his neck to glance at his brother’s computer screen. Nothing like a case in Colorado. ‘’The authorities think it’s a serial killer. But one of the girls, Kayla Wodson, said she saw a weird, skinny giant take her friends.’’

‘’Ho ho ho and three bodies.’’ Dean clapped his hands together with a wry curve of lips. ‘’Alright. Let’s hit the road-- Wait, wait, wait. Where do you think you are going?’’

You were standing beside Dean while Sam raised to his feet, ready to pack his bags. Dean, nonetheless, was quicker than his brother, soon putting himself in front of Sammy; hands protectively standing in front of the youngest’s chest to keep him from moving any further.

He shook his head with a scoff. ‘’Dude, come on.’’

‘’Not happening, Sammy. You got a broken arm.’’ You mumbled a sorry along Dean’s big brother speech, to which Sam replied with a comprehensive smile. ‘’Y/N and I take care of it.’’

‘’He’s right. Must be the first time in his life, but he is.’’ Dean turned his head, furrowing his eyebrows at you ‘’Don’t worry. It’s just a wendigo anyway. ‘’

‘’Okay. Just…’’

‘’Don’t forget the fireblazer. As if your brother would miss an opportunity to use it.’’ You scrunched up your noise, causing a chortle out of Sam while Dean commented something about grabbing the specific instrument and walked away. ‘’Maybe you could call Eileen. Ask her to help you to back some christmas cookies.’’

Sammy shook his head at your wiggling brows. ‘’That doesn’t sound as sexy for me as it does for you.’’

Dean Winchester was good with numbers.

Not the urban numerical sense of the deal, of course. He almost didn’t make it in sixth grade with useless geometry and all that, and he still used his fingers to count when he had to deal with an equation. No, his good and quick way with numbers was easier, intrinsic to his head.

How many years since mom died? Seventeen. How many people did he have to save? All of them. How many years had he left? Less than he once owned.

Hunter math was simpler, and was all he really needed since he was four years old, running from the fire with his baby brother in his arms-- which brought him to the second section of his particular geometry: birthdays and death anniversaries. Dean never, ever forgot any special date. Those were his own holidays, the only worth celebrating and remembering. His wishes, grief, and cherishment were reserved for the people he loved, not some celestial assholes who saw his life like a book.

Therefore, his mind went on a golden rush for your day as soon as the Wendigo hunt took more than you both expected. You wouldn't be able to make it home before your birthday, which would be ending shortly, a matter of two or three hours. His inner engineers were useful tonight, in his vision, useful enough to make those sappy movies jealous. While you were washing some guts and leaves away, Dean went to the nearest convenience store. His long arms nesting a bunch of stuff he never dared to touch in years. The cashier with drowsy eyes and escarlet Santa hat seemed bored with his shopping, probably because she saw an uncountable amount of people buying the same things over and over. He couldn’t blame her for the suburban exhaustion. If anything, it was a small comfort for his war orbs to see and be a part of a scene so mundane.

He hustled back to the dive motel room, singing in relief to himself once he stepped in and heard you singing Christmas Tree Farm while the water rushed in. He grimaced at himself for recognizing that Taylor Swift song. How couldn’t he? That woman was 80% of all you heard everyday. Man, he was whipped.

Tilting his head back in reality, he started organizing in clumsy manners of putting everything in place for you. His bruised hands touching so carefully the fragile ornaments to make the motel room with grubby walls and weird black stan on the floor that only seemed to grow a little more like you.

You, the woman who put up with him, who laughed at his stupid jokes, and who watched Scooby Doo, all snuggled up to him every friday. You, the woman who switched from AC/DC to Taylor Swift and then Eric Clapton. You, the one who understood his job and helped him to wash off some of the blood on his hand and never got scared of how red the water could get. You, the girl who rolled her eyes at his first attempt of flirting and now stole his french fries and kissed his lips as if he was worth being delicate with. You, his breathing, his true holiday, his only act of faith besides Sammy.

Dean pressed his teeth against his bottom lip, looking up and down his little manual work. Part of him said it was ridiculous, he surely would make a lot of fun of Sam if he did that to a chick. Yet, mostly he was proud. He wanted you to like it. It wasn’t even near to what you deserved, but it was a piece of it. It was what the Winchester could give you, and that would be hopefully, enough.

While Dean was caught in the crossroad of judging and admiring his surprise, you left the shower with a towel wrapped around your head and lips mumbling Cocaine. Your feet glued to the ground once you witnessed what was in front of you: the room was decorated with christmas lights, a tiny plastic tree on the table, right beside a pie with candle on the top and two cup of what smelled like hot cocoa.

‘’Dean…’’ Your tender tone brought him back from his traineck thoughts as he turned around to glance at you. You chortled in astonishment as he raised his eyes and said surprise! ‘’What’s this?’’

‘’Well, it’s your birthday.’’ He shrugged, scooting closer to you with a smirk. Dean smoothly wrapped his arms around your waist, yours instantly resting around his neck. ‘’In my defense, they just had christmas stuff. Blame your parents for having you close to Jesus’ special day.’’

‘’Christmas stuff include pie and not cake?’’ Your brows knitted together, a heartwarming smile on your lips as you watched his expression marked by multicolored little lights. He smelled like something was a blaze, and you knew that was for standing too close to the candle and not for burning a body this time. Small changes.

He scoffed humorously. ‘’You like pie better anyway.’’ He nodded at the carnival-like situation around you two. Dean Winchester wasn’t the kind of man who got insecure, but you could catch a perk of brand nervous hesitation as his green eyes shot you an anxious glance. ‘’Did you like it?’’

‘’I loved it.’’ You pulled cheeks dimpled with joy that was kissed by Dean’s own smiling lips. The kiss was so gentle, it was his own palpable light hearted emotion. You being happy in his arms. It had been so long since he felt he could be enough, he could make someone happy. But you were right there. As you pulled away, another short kiss was given between playful words: ‘’That’s what I call a christmas miracle.’’

‘’Shush.’’ He leaned in and pecked your lips. As Dean pulled back, he couldn’t help but watch around with the pride of Hubris. His glance went back to you, a lopsided grin on his face. God, you loved that smile. You loved that man. ‘’So I added some whiskey to the hot cocoa. We could drink some, eat the pie, and see if those lights make a good improvise rope. What do you tell me?’’

All you could do was kiss him again.

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[wiypt-writes]

Stark Spangled Banner

Ch 10: You’re My Mission

Summary: The Asgardian Staff case is wrapped up but before Katie and Steve can be re-united, the Super Soldier has a mission of his own to complete. Their reunion doesn’t disappoint, and as she weighs up the events of the past few months, Katie reaches a conclusion about her future with SHIELD

Pairing: Steve Rogers x OFC Katie Stark

Warnings: Smut (NSFW)  over 18s only thanks. Bit of bad language….

A/N: Another lovely edit from @angrybirdcr​ of Katie in action.

Disclaimer: This is a pure work of fiction and classified as 18+. Please respect this and do not read if you are underage. I do not own any characters in this series bar Katie Stark and the other OCs. By reading beyond this point you understand and accept the terms of this disclaimer.

Chapter 9

Stark Spangled Banner Masterlist // Main Masterlist

 Tarim. Yemen. The hottest place Steve had ever been. Ever. And a place he had no desire to go back to. Ever. 

As far as he was concerned, this whole mission had been a cluster fuck of epic proportions. The Mercs they had been sent in to deal with were slightly more ruthless than they had anticipated, taking a group of school kids from the square hostage. Evans and Rollins (in Katie’s absence) managed to contain most of them, taking them down with non-fatal injuries, as was the agreement with the Government, but one of them wasn’t going quietly and had snatched up a kid as he made a break for it.

The Yemeni Special Forces were on their way, and Steve knew that if they arrived permission to execute a kill shot would be given. But even that was dangerous, as the guy had the kid held in such a position, his back to a wall, her held across his chest, that the angle would have been impossible. Steve ordered the team to lower their weapons, and stepped forward, hoping to talk the man down. And then Rumlow had taken a shot, off-loading a bullet straight between the Merc’s eyes.

And Steve was mad, mad as a wasp.

“I gave you a direct order…” He stood, hands on his belt in the jet as he looked at Rumlow, the nerve in his jaw twitching.

“I made a call.” Rumlow shrugged “If I hadn’t they would have gotten away…”

“You put those civilians lives in danger.”

“That’s a little dramatic…”

“Yeah, come on Cap.” Rollins spoke.“The kid was fine, we got the weapons Government were ok…no harm done.”

Steve rounded on him, his blasé tone set his teeth on edge.

“That isn’t the point.” he blazed “I wouldn’t have asked Barton to take a shot like that. I wasn’t, and never will be, willing to risk anyone’s life like that, not to mention that of a child, for collateral damage, just to get what we need. It makes us no better than the people we’re trying to stop.”

“It worked didn’t it?” Rumlow shrugged

“Sheer luck.” Steve retorted.

“Well sometimes you just get lucky.” The STRIKE leader shrugged. 

Steve sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. He didn’t need this shit.

“Look Cap, with all due respect, I’ve been running this team for years. You don’t get to do our job without taking a bit of risk.” Rumlow looked at him. “Now I’m sorry if you feel I was challenging your authority…”

“It has nothing to do with my authority.” Steve blazed at him.

“Really? Because that’s what it looks like from my position.” Rumlow shook his head “I’m sorry you feel this way. But it isn’t as simple as that. Life isn’t split into good guys and bad guys, it ain’t black and white… more shades of grey.”

Steve didn’t reply, he simply stared at Rumlow, his eyes raging before he moved away to a seat for take-off next to Natasha.

“Let it go Rogers.” She drawled softly to him. “You’ve chewed him out…you want my advice, leave it there.”

Steve didn’t reply. He was pissed and didn’t trust himself to say anything. He hadn’t heard from Katie so far today, but he wasn’t expecting to as he’d fired her a message last night, or this morning (he had no idea what time-zone he was in anymore) to tell her he was off on an urgent mission.

It was pathetic, he knew, but being away from her was really setting him on edge. Not just because he found jerking off in the shower was far less satisfactory now than before he’d actually started sleeping with her, but more so he was missing the stupid things, like her draping her legs over his on the couch whilst she was reading, her singing when she was cooking, the way she laughed till she cried at Brooklyn Nine-Nine, even demanding he make her a grilled cheese at 02:50 am…

Steve watched with amusement as the girls walked out of the bar, a little shaky, Katie leaning on Natasha laughing at something. He’d dropped them both off earlier in the evening and said he would pick her up later, even though they said they would get a cab. He had insisted, he loved looking after her and that was what boyfriends did right? Picked their dames up. However, as they teetered over to Katie’s car, it looked like he was about to inherit a pair of drunken, giggling idiots to look after, and the thought made him smile with fondness.

“Hi baby!” Katie greeted him as she climbed into the seat. She leaned over to give him a peck on the cheek and he smiled.

“You had fun? You look like you have.”

“Fun is my middle name Rogers.” Nat winked and Katie sniggered in the seat next to him as he pulled the car off from the curb.

“Nat’s gonna stay at mine.” Katie turned to look at him, her cheeks tinged pink with the alcohol “Afterparty!”

“Don’t you think you’ve both had enough?” He teased and. Katie put her fingers to her lips and told him to shush whilst Nat leaned forward.

“Just because you can’t get drunk.” She narrowed her eyes at him.

“Whatever, your funeral Romanoff.” He smirked, eyes on the road.

“God he’s so sensible, how do you cope?” Nat looked at Katie. Through the corner of his eye he saw a wicked smile cross his girls face.

“He has hidden talents” She quipped, before the two women descended into fits of giggles.

Steve let out an exasperated noise through his nose, but secretly he didn’t mind. He loved that she’d had a good time, even if he had the sneaking suspicion he’d been the butt of a few jokes, probably even a few risqué girl chats too.

“Hey, yoooo wanted to come get us..” Katie picked up on the noise he had made and looked at him. “Can’t stand the heat stay the fuck out the…” she paused “erm…”

“Kitchen?” Steve supplied, looking at her, left hand on the wheel, amused grin on his face

“Yeah, that.” She pointed.

“Kitchen is very much your domain sweetheart”

“Not what I heard” Nat chipped in. “She says you make a mean grilled cheese….”

“Oh my god.” Katie said suddenly “can you make us one?”

“What, now?” he frowned.

“Well obviously not right now as this is a carrrr” She rolled her eyes, gesturing around her “But when we get home. I’m hungry.”

He looked at her “Doll, it’s almost three in the morning.”

“Pleeeeeeeeeeeeese Stevie.” She pouted, batting her eyelashes at him in a ridiculously over the top manner, which he couldn’t do anything but laugh at.

“Alright I’ll make you both a grilled cheese” He nodded, unable to stop the smile creeping across his face, even when he heard Natasha burp the word “bitchwhipped” from the back seat.

Emerging from his memories, Steve lay his head back against his seat, shooting a glance over at Rumlow. The man was still being deliberately obtuse about the fact he was going out with Katie and he knew full well that the disobeying of order was a direct ‘fuck you’ aimed at him. But, as he thought about it whilst they flew home, he knew Natasha was right. The more he kept going on about it, the more likely it was to cause a bigger rift. With that in mind, during the debrief with Fury, Steve remained calm and when the time came he nodded at the STRIKE leader, giving him the floor when needed, both sticking to the facts- the operation had worked (Steve didn’t go as far as to use the word success), they had managed to seize the weapons and capture the main cartel leader who was now in custody of the Yemeni Services.

“What I wanna know is why are there so many of these weapons turning up?” Evans asked. “The DODC ran an extensive clean-up operation.”

“They were littered all over the New York, spreading the entire Manhatten area.” Steve said, answering as he looked at the Texan. “The DODC did as much as it could as fast as it could but people were already out there taking bits for themselves before the Chitauri had even been stopped. Katie says they’re still tracking through any leads, sifting out those who took them for souvenirs and those who took them for less scrupulous reasons…it could take years.”

“It was always going to happen.” Natasha shrugged “Terrorists are always looking for the next big thing.”

“Which is why we will always be looking for them.” Fury drew the meeting to an end as he stood up. “Alright, written reports to me no later than forty-eight hours. Other than that, you can head home.”

“Sir” Steve nodded as everyone started to file out. Steve noticed Natasha was hanging back.

“You ok?” She asked.

“Tired, fed up…” he sighed.

“Missing your girl?”

“A little” He admitted, before deciding to ask Nat what was on his mind because he could trust her honesty “Am I being old fashioned here, you know, with not wanting people to die?”

“No.” Natasha shook her head after a pause and he could tell she was picking her words carefully “I just think sometimes…well, we have to accept that we have to take risks.”

“You think Rumlow was right?” He sighed.

“Not as such.” she shrugged, “But I understand why he did it. I don’t necessarily agree with his methods shall we say but…”

Steve ran his hands over his face and couldn’t help thinking to himself how much simpler it had been in the war. They shot at them, they shot back. He let out a deep breath.

“You still taking some time off?“ She looked at him.

Steve shrugged and then looked at his fit bit for a second, thinking to himself the stats would make interesting reading. It was 5 in the morning. He hadn’t slept now for almost twenty-two hours bar the quick nap he had gotten on the jet. At that point his phone sounded with a message from Katie. A photo taken of Galway Bay in Ireland. Smiling at the simple message “Wish you were here.” he looked back at Natasha and nodded.

 “Yeah. I think I am.”

****

“Are you sure he’s okay to go out into the field?” Katie asked Coulson, one eye on Ward’s back. The man had just slammed a case shut, making everyone jump in the hanger and he was growing increasingly broody. Despite herself, she was feeling a pang of sympathy for him. She knew how hard it had been for him to open up about his past, and holding part of the staff had really shaken him. “He’s not exactly acting like himself.” she concluded.

“But he knows it. He’ll be fine.” Coulson replied as they walked to the SUVs. It was a short ride to the Monastary which was located just outside of Galway and Katie spent the time watching the scenery. She loved Ireland, she’d been a few times when at University in the UK. Her mind wandered to her soldier, who himself had Irish roots, his mother and father hailing from Limerick. Smiling, she pulled out her phone. She knew it would be late back in the US, it was barely touching ten am where the where and the time difference would make it the middle of the night. That is if he was back from the mission yet. Still, she took a photo of the coast road they were on skirting the edge of Galway Bay which in the November sun looked stunning, the light bouncing off the calm blue sea reminding her of those deep ocean pools she loved to look into. She sent it to Steve with a simple message ‘wish you were here’ and then shoved it back into her jacket pocket. 

The monastery itself was a beautiful gothic building set into the side of a green hill. They all climbed out and checked their weapons, Coulson once more going over the plan of action before they headed to the large front door.

 “Well, it’s been a while.” Elliot said quietly as they walked into the building, Katie taking a moment to appreciate the architecture, another thing Steve would love. “I wonder – ah, yes. There it is. Still here”.

He walked to the front of the room where a book lay set up on a stand.

“Well, the nose isn’t quite right, but…”

 Katie and Coulson walked up behind him, followed by the rest of the group to see that he was looking at a drawing of a man wearing long robes and holding the staff.

“That’s you?” Katie asked, looking at him.

“Yeah, they venerated me a bit as a saint.”

“They’re idiots” Ward spat viciously. They all spun round to look at him, where he was stood a few feet behind them all.  “Where’s the staff?”

“It’s upstairs.”

Elliot led the way, the team following up a set of spiralled staircase. Katie and Coulson were directly behind him, taking the lead with May and Ward shortly behind them as deputies.

 “It’s quiet.” May said softly

“ Why do you think I trusted them with my secret?” Elliot shrugged, still walking on ahead. He Elliot stopped in front of some sort of cabinet and ran his hand down the side before he reached for the handle. “They take a vow of silence.”

“But when you get them talking, they squeal.” A low male voice said, it’s owner appearing from behind one of the walls to the left of the cabinet, holding two pieces of the staff, one in each hand.  It was the man whose mugshot Katie had seen on the tablet earlier that day, Jakob. Suddenly he held one piece up high and stabbed Elliot in the chest with it, he fell to the floor.

 He turned and advanced on the rest of them, and Katie reached for her gun, readying herself. To her left she felt someone bend down to Elliot, presumably to try and treat him.

 “No one else wants to get hurt.” Coulson spoke to Jakob, his gun raised. Jakob cocked his head to one side, looking at it before he stared back at Coulson.

 “If you want to defeat a God, you must become one”

 Suddenly there was a loud yell and a scream. Katie spun round to see Ward had bent to Elliot, only it wasn’t to treat him, it was to retrieve the piece of the staff stuck in the Asgardian man’s chest. He held it in his hand and then suddenly threw himself at Jakob, knocking Katie and May out of the way as he went. The two men fell over the banister railing to the floor below.

Katie scrambled to her feet and looked down to see Jakob recovering from the fall first. She aimed with her gun but couldn’t get a clear shot in, as he picked Ward up like he weighed nothing and slammed him back down to the ground.

 “We need to help him!” Skye said, looking at Ward before she ran off.

“Skye!” Coulson called, he was now bent over Elliot and speaking furiously into his coms for Jemma Simmons to come help. “She can’t fight, she’s not trained…”

May nodded, “We’ll get her. Stark, with me.”

Katie nodded and ran after May, the pair of them practically jumping down the stair. Ward was now on his feet and as Jakob lunged at him, he flung himself to the right out of the way.

“Skye.” May instructed as they caught up with the dark hared girl who was watching Ward now ducking and diving the swipes from Jakob “Stay outta this…”

Both Katie and May stepped forward, but as they did so, Ward paused what he was doing and bent to grasp the part of the staff that was on the floor next to him. His face contorted in rage and when Jakob came at him again, Ward punched him hard in the face, enough to cause him to fly back against the wall where he slumped to the ground before Ward rammed him straight in the chest with the staff in a fit of rage like nothing anyone could comprehend. Ward’s chest was heaving and he spun round to see the other three agents watching him cautiously. His eyes were blazing with a fire Katie had never seen before.

“Ward.” May approached, tentatively stopping when Ward held his hand up.

“Get away from me.” His face was contorted in rage.

“Grant.”  Katie tried gently, stepping forward so she was level with May. “They’re right, that thing, this isn’t you.”

 Something clearly registered in his brain and his face softened slightly but then suddenly the door was kicked open and they whirled round to see the rest of Jakob’s group enter the monastery.  The three agents regrouped and Katie took her fighting stance, weighing up their opponents. It had been a while since she had been in a full force hand to hand combat, but she was pleased to find that her training with Natasha and Steve had kept her prepared. She dodged, ducked, punched, kicked, flipped up and over people, taking them down with her using her legs as the room filled with rowdy men and women, all yelling. May was working through them almost 2 at a time and Ward, now holding two of the staff pieces from somewhere, was easily fighting off a group of them, the power he was gaining from the staff clearly visible.

Katie grabbed one man in a choke hold just as he was trying to get up, and as he stopped struggling she threw him to the ground, and looked round at the now quiet room. May nodded at her, taking a deep breath and Katie turned to see Ward who was shaking drop both pieces of the staff he was holding and collapse to his knees. Skye hurried over and knelt in front of him.

 “Are you alright?” May looked round Katie. She nodded looking giving her a small grin, reaching up to tenderly brush at her cheekbone. One of them had landed a good shot.

“Been a long time since I had a full on fight like that, not using my guns.” she said, and May’s mouth curled up at one side before she made her way over to help Skye get Ward to his feet. Just as Katie was about to join them, the door opened again. She spun round to see another face she recognised from the photos, Jakob’s girlfriend, Petra stood there, the third piece of Staff in her hand.

“Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me” Skye said from behind Katie.

Katie looked around glanced at May who also turned her attention to Petra as she was now circling the room. Which a quick flick of her gun, Katie aimed a shot at her, but she simply whipped the piece of staff out in front of her and it tinged the bullet off to one side.

 “We’re no match for her whilst she has that” May said and instinctively Katie glanced down at the two pieces of staff on the floor near them. Grant wearily sighed and went to pick it up but Katie dropped down on one knee and grabbed his wrist, stopping him.

“You’re not in any state to do that.” she said not unkindly as she looked at him, “Let me help.”

“Kay…” he started to argue, the use of his nickname for her registered but now wasn’t the time to chastise him, nor did she really find she cared enough to do so. It was then that May cut in.

“She’s right. We can’t beat them unless we’re on a level playing field.” She shot him a look and he nodded.

“Okay.”

Skye helped Ward away as May and Katie watched Petra as two men from the group they had taken down earlier got to their feet. Petra looked round the room and let out an audible gasp as she saw Jakob’s body for the first time. Katie slowly and apprehensively reached out for a piece of the staff, hesitating for a moment as she had no idea what was going to happen when she did pick it up. May looked at her nodding and then the pair of them reached out, each gripping a piece.  Katie gasped as a warm sensation flooded up through her arm and then her head was like it was somewhere else. Which it was, she was back in what, according to Professor Randall, should be the worst moment of her life, only it wasn’t the moment she had initially thought of when he’d told them that…

Rhodey was on the doorstep of her Chelsea apartment at three am local time. She knew instantly that something was wrong. Without a word he entered, and told her that Tony’s ARV had been attacked and they had no idea where he was. She almost collapsed and he helped her over to the sofa where she sat still, tears falling as she listened. The room fell silent, and with a shaking hand she reached for the remote and turned the TV on to the News Channel, to see her Brother’s face plastered all over the screen.

“I’m sorry Kiddo…” Rhodey’s voice was choked and she turned to look at him “I should have been with him but he insisted on riding in the other ARV, the FunVee…” he shook his head, snorting angrily.

“Who’s taken him?” She asked, swallowing.

“We’re think it was an Ambush by the Ten Rings.” Rhodey swallowed. “We’ve not had a ransom note yet but we expect it’s a matter of time. We’ll find him.”

“It’s finding him alive that’s the issue, Rhodey” She wiped away the tears from her face, the sick feeling in her stomach threatening to overwhelm her and it felt like someone had a band over her chest that they were constricting, hard…and then it was to much, and she bolted to the bathroom, emptying the contents of her stomach into the toilet…

Gasping Katie took a deep breath and looked up sharply as one of the men flew at her. Letting out a yell of rage, pent up anger and hurt she launched forward as Petra did the same. Their pieces of staff blew against one another and soon they were battling, fiercely. Katie was fighting to kill, and she instantly understand what had made Ward run Jakob through with the staff. 

It felt good. 

She could hear and see in the corner of her eye that May was also tackling a few more members of the group, easily keeping them at bay but Katie was focussed on one thing, the woman in front of her. She was good, matching Katie blow for blow but eventually Katie’s tenacity and training started to win out and she began to get the edge. She swung forward with a huge swipe and knocked Petra to the ground causing the woman to drop her part of the staff. Automatically it joined with the piece Katie was holding in her right hand, glowing orange again.

“It’s been a month, Katie…” Obediah said “A month…I hate to say this but the chances of him coming back…”

“I don’t wanna hear it, Obi!” Katie wheeled round “Tony is alive, and until someone shows me any kind of evidence to the contrary…then things stay as they are, I don’t give a shit what the board say.”

She watched him out of the room before she dropped her head to the desk and began to cry. She didn’t stop, even when Pepper walked into the room and dropped an arm round her shoulder, the pair of them lost…

A crash caught Katie’s attention and she saw May had dispatched the remaining fighters. She glanced up, and saw what Katie was doing and instinctively threw her piece of staff over to her. Katie grabbed it, joining it with the other combined pieces completing the staff.

Katie gave a yell as once more that warm feeling spread up her arm to her chest and her memories swallowed her.

“Your government has for far too long sold weapons, manufactured by Mr Tony Stark, to our oppressors, to our enemies. This is blood in exchange for blood, death in exchange for death, meet our demands or within 48 hours the great Tony Stark is no more…”

The room came back into a bleary focus, just as Petra staggered to her feet, swaying slightly.

“I am not afraid of you.” She spoke, her accent thick.

“You should be…” Katie snarled, as she advanced towards her. Quick as a flash she let out a loud cry and struck Petra with the staff, hard in the face. She fell backwards to the floor, deadly still. 

And then a different voice spoke in Katie’s mind a clear voice. Her own voice.

“He escaped, though. And he was fine, well as fine as Tony ever is. So there’s really no need to fear this memory because that’s all it is, a memory. It all worked out in the end…”

Katie dropped the staff and fell to her knees, her entire body shaking with the exertion of wielding the Asgardian weapon. Her head was pounding with those memories, the voices, everything. Her hands flew into her hair as she bent over, trying to focus on anything but her thoughts.

“Hey…” Two hands were on either side of her face, and Katie looked up into May’s eyes. “Focus on me, Stark.” Katie took a deep breath as May’s hands slid gently down to the side of her shoulders. “Can you stand?” She asked. Katie nodded and then looked over at Petra.

“Is she…” She managed to croak out. Had she killed someone? In blind rage?

“Don’t worry about her” May shook her head, “I’ll take care of it.”

Katie got to her feet with May’s help, glancing over at Ward and Skye. Ward gave her a small nod of his head, which she acknowledged with a small incline of her own as May helped her out of the smaller Vestibule room they’d been fighting in and through to the entrance hall of the Monastery, the sun streaming through the stained glass windows.

“That thing…” Katie took a deep breath “Ward wasn’t wrong…it…”

“Tell me about it.” May’s voice was quiet, and Katie realised the normally stoic woman was shaking, although not quite as violently as her. The two of them settled on a large slab of stone. They were shortly joined by Ward as he sat besides them, the three of them didn’t talk for a while, merely lost in their own thoughts, Katie wanting nothing more than to get home to see Steve.

“When you held it…” Ward said eventually, breaking the silence. “Did you see anything?”

May nodded, and so did Katie.

“Then how, Kay? How did you hold all three?” Ward looked at her

She paused, thinking about it for a moment.

No need to fear this memory

“Because it’s a memory that I don’t need to be afraid of.” she shrugged eventually. “And I see the reason why every time I look at Tony.”

*****

Steve packed a bag. There was, sadly, one last mission standing between him and his girl. And he no idea how long this particular mission was going to take. It was completely rogue, way off SHIELD’s official radar anyway, only Fury and Natasha knew what he was doing.

Oh, and Tony. He’d enlisted the Billionaire’s help because had a somewhat personal interest in this case. So much so he’d leant him the Stark Jet, because he couldn’t use the Quinjet, and the fact that like everything Tony owned, his jet was faster and better than anything else, it had shaved a good 2 hours off what the journey would have taken had he flown full commercial, not to mention saved him a load of messing about in the meantime with bookings and check ins.

The jet was comfortable, he had flown on it a few times with Katie before back to NYC when they didn’t drive that was. As soon as he was airborne he face timed Katie using the connection on the plane and had hissed at the bruise on her cheek. She had batted off his concern and instead went on a rant about how cheap Fury was. He had to laugh at her indignant tone, apparently they had arrived at a Premier Inn a few hours ago and she had refused point blank to get out of the SUV and after a battle of wills with Coulson had upgraded the entire team to the Sheraton just outside of Galway within ten minutes. Apparently overnighters weren’t standard for the team she was working in as they had the Bus but Coulson had decided they all needed some down time after what sounded like a gruelling mission.

“And what better way to do that in a 5 star hotel with a spa, right?”

They talked for the longest time they had in the three, almost four days she had been gone and Steve loved it. She didn’t go into much detail about the mission itself, bar to say it had ended in a pretty ruthless fight and that she was mentally and physically exhausted, promising to tell him all about it when she saw him. He told her in no uncertain terms that they were both going to take some time out, Fury had cleared it and her face had lit up, but then fallen when he sadly told her he had one last mission to sort. After assuring her it wouldn’t take long, and it really wouldn’t, she had smiled and told him she couldn’t wait to see him.

“Me either Doll, me either.”

He took the opportunity to get some sleep, and was awoken by one of the stewardesses a few hours later who informed him they were an hour out. Thanking her he headed off to change out of his comfy sweats and into his specially selected outfit, one that would make him blend in a lot more than the stealth suit. Once he had arrived, cleared customs at the private airfield they had landed at, he climbed straight into the arranged official looking blacked out SUV and the driver set off, not a word spoken. The driver already knew their destination, Fury had already patched that information through before he had taken off.

It was easy to blag his way in to the building he needed to be in. Dressed in a black suit, all he had to do was quickly flash his SHIELD ID badge and the woman at the desk was only too happy to provide him the information about where he could find his target, and access to the required area. He didn’t take the elevator, it was too easy to be spotted. Instead he snuck round and found the service stairs and bolted up them two at a time to the seventh floor, his kit bag containing his shield slung over his shoulder.

****

After they had checked in to the decent hotel, not that Premier Inn (which she was sure was clean and perfectly comfortable, but she wanted fucking luxury after three nights of being in that pokey room) and she’d spoken to Steve for at least an hour, Katie showered, changed and headed off out to explore the area with Skye. The two had chatted, Katie really did like the girl, and they’d done a bit of shopping, had a late lunch, before they had headed back to the hotel and made use of the Spa. Then, she’d sat and eaten with the team, before bidding them all goodnight and retiring to her room with a bottle of Krug (because, why not?) and a long assed hot bath.

She tried to face time Steve again, but this time he didn’t answer. Probably elbow deep in whatever mission he was on this time, he’d been very vague about this one, saying it was hush hush but he would explain all in person, including what had gone down in Yemen which sounded like an utter shit-storm.

Changing for bed, Katie dropped onto the comfortable couch of the suite (ok, so she’d upgraded herself a teensy bit more than everyone else), poured herself another glass of Krug, slightly disgruntled to see the bottle was empty. So she rang down for another, fuck it.

Just as she had put the phone down, her cell called.

“Hey baby.” Steve spoke and Katie could hear the smile in his voice. “Sorry, the phone won’t let me face time for some reason.”

“Well that’s a shame because I’m naked.”

Steve groaned and Katie felt herself grin. “Don’t do that to me.”

“Sorry.” She giggled “I’m not really, just wish you were here.”

“I know.” He sighed “Me too”

“I’m taking it that seeing as you can talk your super-secret spy shit mission is done.”

“It was surprisingly easy” He mused, “Target didn’t suspect a thing and thanks to a very helpful lady I met, I got in with no fuss.”

“Helpful lady?” Katie narrowed her eyes. “How helpful?”

Steve let out a chuckle “All I had to do was flash my ID and smile”

“Coz you’re a regular charmer, aint you?” Katie laughed, and then there was a knock on the door. “Oh hang on… room service.”

She got up off the couch, made her way to the door, phone still in her hand and she pulled it open.

“Hey Doll.” Steve grinned at her and her mouth dropped open, the phone slipping out of her hand to the floor. “Surprise.”

She was a sight for sore eyes. Silk cami top and shorts, her hair falling in damp waves around her face. God he’d missed her.

“What…you…” She stammered, taking him in, the black fitted suit and tie he was wearing looked far better than it would have on anyone else and he laughed at the look of utter shock on her face “The mission, I thought…”

“You’re my mission, Sweetheart” He grinned, stepping into the room, dropping his kit bag, picking his phone up as he did so. And, no sooner had he straightened up, Katie gave a little shriek and threw herself into his arms.

“I can’t believe it.” She whispered, her hands straying to his face “You are here right? This isn’t just some weird trick my mind is playing?”

“I’m here, promise.” He placed a soft kiss to her lips. There was a clearing of a throat and Katie peeked over Steve’s shoulder to see a rather embarrassed looking hotel worker clutching the bottle of Krug she had ordered along with a fresh glass and an ice bucket. She tapped Steve’s arms and he reluctantly set her down so she could sign the receipt with a flourish. Steve smiled at the man, taking the ice bucket before closing the door. He followed Katie into the large hotel suite, and dropped the ice bucket and her phone onto the coffee table before sinking onto the couch and Katie climbed onto his lap, winding his tie around her hand.

“For the record,” she murmured as she looked him up and down, “this is a good look.”

“Glad you approve, Darlin’” He grinned as she tugged on his tie, pulling him closer to her, and she pressed her lips to his in a deep kiss.

He responded eagerly, hands creeping into her hair to hold her head in place as his tongue slid against hers, his hips rocking up before his lips dropped to her collarbone

“I missed you.” He purred as she let out a small groan, her hand sliding into his hair.

“I missed you too” She muttered, his hands gently fell to her hips, giving them a squeeze. “Take me to bed.”

Steve didn’t need asking twice. Standing easily, drawing a giggle from her as she wrapped her legs around his waist, he paused and looked around.

“Trust you to get a suite that’s bigger then my apartment.”

“I have very high standards.” She shot back. “Door to the right.”

He gave a quick laugh and strode over to the door, pulling it open and stepping into the plush bedroom which was softly illuminated by the bedside lamp. Dropping her onto the huge bed he crawled over her as she once more grabbed his tie and pulled him down.

“You really do like this huh?” He arched his eyebrow,  ooking down at her as she gently slipped his jacket down his shoulders and he shrugged it off, tossing it to the floor.

“What can I say, I’m a sucker for a suit. Although I still think the Stealth one is better.”

“Maybe I should bring that home one night.” He muttered as his lips slid against her neck and she groaned.

“Please do. Your ass looks great in it.” She moved, pushing on his shoulders. Steve sat back on his heels and she locked her eyes on his, undoing his tie gently, a move she managed to make incredibly arousing and Steve let out a groan and he kissed her.

“Fuck, I missed you.” He whispered into her mouth

“Save it, you’re wearing too many clothes.” She replied, undoing the button on his collar and then her soft fingers made their way down his chest, her eyes following as it fell open. He shrugged it down before he fell back down on top of her and moved to pull her vest top over her head. As he tossed it aside somewhere he let out a gentle moan at the sight of her in front of him, and he wrapped his arm around her back and tugged her up slightly as his head bent to take a nipple into his mouth. He used both his hands and his mouth in a nearly coordinated attack that left her all but dying, and completely desperate for his touch elsewhere. He could read her body signals like a book and happy to oblige, one of his hands slid down, dipping into her bed shorts, finding him hot and wet for him. He groaned into her chest his fingers playing with her.

“Baby you’re soaked.”

She managed to moan in response, and then it was a race for the pair of them to get out of their remaining clothes as fast as they could. Once there was no barrier between them he kissed her hard, Katie shifting so that her legs went around his waist, pulling him flush against her, wanting to touch every inch of him possible. Steve repositioned himself slightly, gently working into her, the pair of them letting out a satisfied sigh as he bottomed out, stilling slightly just to savour the moment.

“Stevie…” Katie whispered into his ears “Please…” At her plea, he began to thrust, slowly, deeply, running his hand down Katie’s leg until his hand stopped at her knee. Katie looked at him as he seemed to hesitate for a split second before he directed her leg up, casually resting it over his shoulder so that he could go even deeper. She moaned loudly, he’d never done that before and it felt so unbelievably good, like nothing ever had before. Her fingers dug into his arm as he starting pushing a little harder, a little faster, then faster, until he had reached a relentless pace. Katie could do nothing but reach up, bracing herself on the headboard of the large bed as he continued, making her curse and leaving her short of breath, eyes closed in utter pleasure.

He slowed for a moment, making her look at him, letting out a noise of protest. “Don’t stop.” she begged, “Fuck, Stevie…”

He grinned, and it was a wicked grin, coupled with the mischievous flash in his eyes and it made her gulp slightly. She’d never seen him like this before, it was as if something had snapped and he was finally letting himself go fully, realising that after almost six months of sleeping together he didn’t have to be a gentleman all the time as she wasn’t going to break. As she stared into those baby blues, his pupils blown with desire he slowly pushed himself up so he could put her other leg over his other shoulder. 

“Oh, holy fuck-”  Her voice cut off and turned into a loud wail as he picked up the pace once again, pounding into her over and over and it wasn’t long before his name and another plethora of curses tumbled from her lips as her orgasm ripped through her like nothing she’d felt before. Her back arched, fingers dug into his back as he coaxed her through it before dropping her legs from his shoulders, laying atop her and chasing after his own end furiously. Katie held him close as she came down, gently encouraging him into his ear, his rhythm eventually stuttering and changing as he came with a frantic gasp of her name.

The pair of them were slick with sweat and absolutely spent as they laid still, no sounds coming bar the ragged gasps for air from them both. Steve buried his head in the crook of his girl’s neck and she ran her fingers through his hair, his forehead still clammy and he let out a loud hmmm of contentment.

A moment or so later, Katie broke the silence.

“Baby.” She said softly, a playful thought rising in her mind. His response was simply another hmmm because he was still utterly blissed out. This caused Katie to smile a little as she spoke again. “Did Cap just come out to play?”

She felt him grin into her neck, “I think he may have done, yeah.”

“Well you can tell him from me that was amazing?”

“I’ll be sure to let him know…” Steve mumbled, still not moving.

“In fact, I’d go so far as to say that’s probably the best sex I’ve ever had.”

“Just probably?” Steve lazily raised his head to look at her and she made a show of looking upwards as if she was thinking about it.

“Ok definitely” She grinned, kissing him gently.

*****

Katie bid goodbye to Coulson’s team the next morning, Steve remained in the hotel room as he’d been under instructions from Fury not to speak to Coulson or draw attention to him in any way. Then they’d taken 3 glorious days break in Ireland, hiring a car and driving to Limerick.

As they drove, Katie told him all about the mission, what the staff had made her see, and how it had surprised her slightly what her worst memory was.

“I always thought it would be the time Tony told me mom and dad were dead” she said, softly a Steve cruised their hired Audi Q3 down the motorway. “Guess I fear losing Tony more.”

“It kinda makes sense.” Steve said, his hand straying to her knee “you were very young when the crash happened. Tony’s been your dad for, what, 22 years now? Far longer than Howard was I suppose.”

“Yeah.” she said gently, looking out of the window “I mean, I don’t remember a lot about my parents to be fair. I have memories, but sometimes I wonder how many of them are mine and how many of them are what people told me.”

Reminiscing seemed to be the theme of their brief trip away. They spent a day visiting the places Steve’s Ma had told him all about, then the next day, after a lazy morning they drove up to Dublin where they had both drunk a fair amount of Guinness after Katie dragged Steve to Temple Bar, showing him the places she had spent a fair few weekends in on trips over from the UK. They forgot all about SHIELD, all about Fury, all about missions. They were just a normal couple enjoying a break, and Steve had frankly never had as much fun in his life.

It was on their last night, just after they were curled up in post coital bliss after their 3rd round that evening when Steve mentioned about how it was back to reality the day after that Katie propped herself up on her elbow and looked at him, biting her lip.

“What if I don’t want to?” She asked quietly.

“Don’t want to what, Honey?” Steve asked, kissing her head.

“Go back. To SHIELD I mean.”

Steve’s hand paused its journey up and down her spine as he turned his head to look at her, frowning. “You want to leave?” 

“I’ve been thinking about it a lot over the last 3 days.” she said, her fingers gently tracing over the dark blonde hair on his chest. “I can’t do it anymore Steve, I’m tired.”

“What’s brought this on?” he asked, turning so he was on his side facing her, pushing her hair back off her face.

“I can’t pin point one thing.” she said, looking down. “But…”

Steve paused, waiting for her to continue, and after a deep breath she did, her words coming almost as a jumble as she poured her heart out to him in the darkness of their hotel room.

“If I’m honest I’ve been thinking about it since we found out that they hadn’t been destroying the Chitauri weapons. Look what happened when Fury started fucking about with the Tesseract… I mean how do we know they’re not making more weapons just like they were before New York?”

Steve remained silent, that had been bubbling away in his mind too. He wasn’t best pleased about the situation but knew that Katie, who had headed up the DODC clean- up had taken it personally. She’d flipped out when Tony had told her what his latest hack into SHIELD had discovered and Steve had had to stop her marching into Fury’s office and calling him a liar there and then. He understood completely, she felt betrayed after having being told she was heading up a clean-up operation when in actual fact it turns out to be a goddamed technology harvesting operation.

“You now when Coulson died, I blamed myself. I made a decision to try to free Thor not help Coulson and I know I’d probably do it all over again because it was the right call, but the point is I blamed myself, for the past what, 18 months or so and Fury…he let me do that, he let me think he was dead…”

She was getting worked up, Steve could hear it and sense it, even if he couldn’t see her properly.

“Hey…” he said, his hand gently moving to her arm, rubbing softly as she continued her ramblings.

“And then there I get to The Bus and there’s more secrets there, not being told Ward was on the team, which to be fair wasn’t as bad as I thought but still, it’s more lies…”  

She was crying now and Steve sighed, wrapping his arms round her and pulling her to him. She pressed her face into his chest “This isn’t me Steve, it’s not who I am.”

He held her close, hand wandering up into her hair as he chewed over what she was saying. From a selfish point of view the thought of her leaving SHIELD worried him. She’d been his linchpin, his rock at the agency, and he relied on her more than she would know. He loved working with her, seeing every day and he was scared if that changed, so would their relationship. But there was a small part of him that also worried when she was on missions, and there was no doubt if she did quit she’d be a hell of a lot safer. And not all couples worked together, right?

He pulled back slightly, his large hand cupping her cheek “Hey, you know I got your 6 right? I’ll support you no matter what you decide.”

“I know.” She sniffed softly. I just feel like if I do quit, then I’m taking the easy way out, you know, I mean SHIELD is dad’s legacy.”

“Maybe once.” Steve popped his shoulder. “Times have moved on, SHIELD has changed. I doubt your dad, Peggy or Colonel Phillips would have ever imagined in a million years how it would evolve.”

“You’re telling me times have changed?” She quipped and he chuckled.

“Guess I am, but I learned pretty fast when I got that serum that you can’t live your life being who people want you to be or think you should be. You need to be true to yourself”

She nodded and stifled a yawn.

“Sleep on it.” He urged, his thumb stroking her cheek. “And then if it’s still what you want tomorrow, ’ll even write your resignation letter.”

“I got it planned” She yawned. “Dear Fury. Fuck you. Love Nova.”

Steve laughed and pulled her to him, kissing her head. “Maybe drop the Love Nova.”

****

“You sure you wanna do this?” Steve asked as they stopped outside Fury’s office. Katie nodded, taking a deep breath.

“Okay, I’ll be right here.” He said, both his hands on her face. She gave him a smile and then turned and opened the door.

“Agent Stark.” Fury swivelled in his chair “Take a seat.”

“It’s okay Sir, this won’t take long.” She declined his offer, taking a deep breath.

“Do I need to borrow Captain Rogers SHIELD?” He looked at her, raising an eyebrow. “I’m assuming this is the bit where you’ve come to tell me exactly how pissed at me you are.”

“I’m not pissed” She shook her head, “I was, but not now. I’m just disappointed.”

He eyed her, and gestured for her to continue.

“I expected better from you Sir. You lied to me. You let me believe Coulson was dead. You know I blamed myself for that for months, and then if that wasn’t bad enough you sent me to a team containing my ex boyfriend…and don’t even get me started on the fact you’re secretly hiding Chitauri technology instead of destroying it.”

At that Fury’s face slipped and his face grew dark. “How do you…”

She arched an eyebrow and Fury gave a groan.

“Son of a…your brother is a liability.”

“Maybe, but at least he isn’t a liar.”  She shot back. “And neither am I. I pride myself on being honest, doing the best I can and I don’t like being used or manipulated.”

 “Agent Stark…”

“I can’t do it anymore.” She hook her head. “I’m tired of it all, the lies, the secrecy. This isn’t…it isn’t me.” she finished, shrugging.

“So what are you saying Nova?”

“That you can consider this my formal resignation.” She looked at him, eyes not moving from his and for a moment she was sure she saw a flicker of something that looked like regret flash across the Director’s face. But it disappeared as fast as it had arrived and she took a deep breath, squaring her shoulders back. “I will, of course, work any formal notice period.”

“I don’t suppose there’s any point in me trying to change your mind?”

“No, don’t suppose there is.” She shook her head.

“In that case, there’s no notice period necessary.” Fury spoke calmly, his posture returning to normal. He took a deep breath and strode round his desk, holding out his hand. “I’m sorry it’s come to this. You’re one of the best agents I’ve had. Coulson said you worked wonders on the Staff case.”

“Thank you, Sir.” She swalloed, fighting to keep her voice from cracking. “This hasn’t been an easy decision. For the most part, it’s been an honour to serve.”

She gently reached into her pocket, pulling out her official ID and ran her fingers over the silver badge before she handed it to him. Fury took it from her, and with one last smile she took a deep breath and turned, to leave, the tears brewing in her eyes.

This had to be one of the hardest decisions she’d ever made in her life but she wasn’t backing down. She’d talked it over with Steve extensively over the last two days and Tony too for that matter, her brother telling her that he, and their father would be proud of her no matter what. Undeniably her role at SHIELD had given her everything. A purpose, a new outlook on life, Steve. But now it was time to channel that energy in a new way.

“I would like you to remain on our books, in an advisory role.” Fury’s voice stopped her in her tracks and she grinned to herself, suddenly transported back to when he had said the same thing to Tony a few years ago.

She turned back and winked. “You can’t afford me.” 

**** Chapter 11

**Original Posting**

[chat-noir-always-here]

I rewatch miraculous—Rogercop

Once again–this post uses screenshots from the French Dub version of Miraculous, translated by the good people at MiraculousSubs on tumblr. Yeah, I like the French version. FIGHT ME!!!!

Nino winking at Marinette is cute :’). Also Alya’s proud smile makes my heart  💞💞💞

Marinette and Nino noticing Adrien’s loneliness🥺🥺🥺

Alya’s mom: “Unfortunately i have no dishes to share. But maybe mister Buregouis will invite you all to the hotel! And treat you to lunch!”

....I seriously doubt it.

Not that i agree with how she reacted, but i can see how Chloe would suspect Marinette for stealing the bracelet.

 Chloe had it in her bag.

 Everyone else is in their seats or standing against a wall.

 Marinette is the only one who is walking/moving and able to take it. 

its not as if Chloe’s aware there’s a little flying devil who lives in Adrien’s shirt, mistook her bracelet case for a camembert box, started playing with the bracelet and got his head stuck in it.

HOWEVER 

it’s revealed later on she never bothered to look through her bag properly before she started throwing accusations around.

Marinette’s right--it COULD have easily rolled away somewhere. 

No one notices Plagg rolling around between Adrien’s shoes either, so it’s clear they never bothered to look on the floor or search under the desks.

Chloe: “Let’s call Ladybug! Im sure she’ll actually do something!”

Ya just accused Ladybug.

Don’t give Ladybug extra work. 😒😒😒 That goes for Plagg too, since his hijinks are what caused this mess in the first place.

Hawk Moth: “Parent-child relationships can be so complicated.”

Oh ARE THEY?!

Hawk Moth says parent-child relationships are COMPLICATED guys!

Cuz ya know hawk moth is the FLIPPING POSTER-BOY for complex parent-child relationships.

Tom is a good dad. 😏

Mrs. Bustier: “please gentlemen! This is a school here. Think of the children.”

Mrs. Bustier is a good teacher.

Plagg: “if by big you’re referring to my rock hard abs well thanks for noticing!”

2021 goals: attain the confidence of Plagg.

Adrien: “what do you mean i can’t transform?!”

Plagg: “if you transform the bracelet will get absorbed with me and damge your powers!”

...Yeah, NO. I shudder to think what Adrien would do with a damaged Miraculous. 

Tom: “Marinette let the adults handle this.” Marinette: “Papa! She called me a thief. I’m just defending myself.” Tom: “You’re also accusing all of your friends just like Chloe’s doing to you.”

WHY THANK YOU TOM. You’re a good dad. He defends his daughter but he won’t allow her to do wrong by others either. 

Tom, Tikki, Chat Noir—its a good thing Marinette has so many people who can/will tell her when she’s in the wrong about something. Not that I don’t trust queen but everyone needs sound advice from trustworthy partners/mentors every once in a while.

Sabrina: “I’m Chloe’s BFF. I wouldn’t steal from her.”

So you would steal from other people then? And do you even CARE your dad just lost his job? 

Kim and Max: pointing out Adrien’s a suspect too

Marinette: immediately wrires Adrien off as a suspect because FAVORITISM

UGGGGGHHHHHH

Don’t talk as if the entire class is suspicious and then immediately excuse Adrien from any possible suspicion the minute you’re reminded he’s apart of the class too.  That’s literally no better than the stunt Mr. Damocles pulls in Despair Bear--even if he was caving under duress and Marinette is acting on favoritism.

Have I mentioned how much I hate it when the akuma is in the school???

This whole scene is actually so nerve-wracking to me. And just goes to show how freaking courageous the people of Miraculous Paris are. 

I mean

These are the people who live under the constant threat that any intensely negative emotions could cause them to be possessed and brutally attack/ capture/ maim/ kill their loved ones. This can happen to anyone, anywhere at any time. A place like school or even a highly secure building is nowhere near as safe as ordinary people would usually believe it to be.

Also take into account that by this point in the show (going by the netflix order) five of the students at this school have already been akumatized so it’s more than clear that Hawk Moth isn’t above akumatizing children. 

So parents are literally sending their kids off to school with this knowledge. Of course they believe/rely on Ladybug and Chat Noir to protect everyone but still. People can (and probably have) die in akuma attacks. People (kids!!!) did die, or at least nearly died, in Timebreaker when an akumatized Alix took their life forces to travel back in time. 

And here we have an akumatized person in the school.

Not for the first time. Nor the last.

Not to mention this is Adrien’s school. Hawkmoth knows his son is here. He knows akumatizing someone in this place at this time could easily kill his son. But he’s not concerned with that since his “wish” would “fix everything.” 

Hawk Moth just does not value life in the slightest. 

Meanwhile LB and CN do. Even if the magic ladybugs will fix everything and bring back those killed in akuma attacks (as it states on the MLB wiki) they never hesitate to protect and save people who are in danger during these attacks. Even if it would be more expedient to leave some people behind/sacrifice some people so they can get to the akuma quicker and easier. They never allow anyone to die for their cause.

Meanwhile Hawk Moth is just a bit too ready to break everyone in Paris.

Really, if Hawkmoth wanted to win all he had to do was actually put the akuma INSIDE a person. If that’s possible. I honestly can’t see LB and CN going so far as to kill someone to get the akuma. I’m not sure the babies have that in them...

Rogercop: Mayor, you’re under arrest for abuse of power.

Mayor B.: Hah! Look who’s talking.

He has a point.

Both of them.

Mr.  Bourgeois: flees from Rogercop in a hurry.

....Did you just leave your daughter behind?

 What's wrong with you?

Or is he trying to lead Rogercop away from the school...?

Okay but Ladybug was actually able to reach an akumatized victim by mentioning their DAUGHTER. 

LB: gets yeeted over building by a supervillain.

I sense memes.

CN: is a tad panicked over Chloe when she gets in a car with a supervillain. 

I actually love their friendship, precisely for little moments like this.

This little moment here is so cute. The way she gently helps him back on to the car, keeping her hand on his shoulder as he climbs. Their eyes are locked, too <3<3<3

Lets take a minute to appreciate CN’s initial reaction to LB getting knocked off the car versus his final reaction.

Chloe: is in handcuffs

Good job giving Rogercop a hostage, Chloe.

Chat Noir: So now we’re the nations most wanted felons???

Technically you guys ARE vigilantes.

 Vigilantes who are being allowed to do as they please as they have the trust of the civilians and government not to mention ordinary people wouldn’t be able to handle akuma attacks well, as seen in the Origins special.

Chat Noir: We should go and defend ourselves in the court of law!

Chat Noir is pure.

I love this transition so much. He goes from “whoops I’m caught” to “haha so are you” in 0.2 seconds.

.....

...........

...............He’s not wrong.

All in all a good episode with a few faults. 

[sasa-gay-yo]

Just Us (Chapter Eight: Bread)

← Chapter Seven

TW: Themes of SA

“Maybe they stopped somewhere? They’re usually on time, so something had to have happened,” I turned back to look at the café’s clock through the window. They were almost two hours late. Some people were making jokes about them all dying and not coming back, but I rolled my eyes at those. I would know if Levi died and I didn’t have a feeling like that. However, there was a feeling creeping up from my stomach. Something wasn’t right and it wasn’t because they had stopped along the way to take a rest. I had gotten this feeling before and realized sometime ago it lined up with Levi getting hurt on the expedition. 

Jonas shrugged, “I mean it’s always a gamble to see what time they come back. It’ll probably be late when they do. Let’s go back in. It’s not like they’re never late.” He tried to grab my arm to pull me down, but I evaded it. Something just didn’t seem right. I wasn’t settled to go back to the café yet. Not when this feeling was still slowly creeping up my back. What was going on? 

“No, Jonas, I’m going to stay here.”

Suddenly, there were screams from far down the street. Loud screams of terror. They weren’t welcoming back the Scouts, were they? Were they really in such a state to scream about? The feeling had finally taken hold of my brain and I started shaking. Something bad had happened. 

Levi, where are you?

“Wall Maria has fallen! Titans have taken Wall Maria! Shiganshina has been attacked by the titans!” I recognized the man on the horse as a new cadet and his eyes were filled with fear. As soon as he ran past the people waiting, chaos struck. My eyes opened as wide as they could and I observed the people from the crate I was standing on. Some were screaming in hysterics, others didn’t believe the news, too stunned to move, and most were already running back to their homes. 

If titans had taken Wall Maria, that means they were right outside Wall Rose. They were directly outside of Trost. Had the Scouts been stopped by an ambush of titans? How did the titans breech Wall Maria? Questions were running fast through my mind and even with Jonas’s pulling, I couldn’t leave the crate. Where were the Scouts? Where was Levi? I wanted answers, but I couldn’t get them like this. My eyes started watering.

“Eva, we need to go inside! If the titans broke through Shiganshina, then Trost is next!” The screams of the crowd had gotten loud enough to drown out anyone speaking in regular tones. People were coming to the same conclusions Jonas and I had. We weren’t protected by another wall, we were the wall now. The titans were right outside our doorstep. If they climbed up Maria, they can climb up Rose.

“Where are they, Jonas?!” I asked in desperation. Somehow, even with all these questions, my mind was hyperfocused on the Scouts. He grabbed my legs and hauled me inside, not caring to answer my question. I was too stunned to move. 

Once he put me down, he locked the door and closed the windows to the café. 

“Is your apartment locked?” I nodded slowly and looked around. Everyone had vacated their places at the tables and I even saw some pastries and bread missing from the glass case. That’s when I realized why Jonas had come in and locked the door.

“I think we’re going to have to keep the café locked for a few days. People are going to be panicking and doing crazy things, and if there are any refugees from Shiganshina, they’re going to end up here.” I started shaking at the thoughts of people breaking in. Tears, fear, and now physically shaking. My mind couldn’t process my emotions, but my body was going into overdrive.

I had bread. That was the one thing they were going to want. Every meal is with bread. Refugees and citizens. We had just lost valuable land to the titans, meaning that soon there would be too many people to feed and not enough crops. There wasn’t enough land between Rose and Mitras to feed all of us. We were already dealing with a shortage, but now it was going to be ten fold and I had one of the things people wanted the most. Apparently, my mind still didn’t care about that.

“Jonas, how did the titans get in?” He was tying some spare rope around the door and a chair so no one could get it even if they somehow got the lock open. I didn’t know how he was thinking so logically at this point. I couldn’t think straight or even move. I was calm in most situations, but this is the one that broke me. I wasn’t afraid for myself I realized.

He looked up at me and his eyes softened. I was shaking, my eyes wide and filled with tears, and my thoughts were consuming me. Levi was okay, I could feel it, but they had to be fighting titans right now or on their way to. It chilled me to my core thinking about them charging into a concentrated zone like Shinganshina, especially with the new recruits who had just gone on their first expedition. How many had survived this one, just to be eaten by titans breaching the Wall? I wasn’t scared for my wellbeing as much as I was for theirs.

His voice was calmer than before, “I don’t know, Eva, but you can ask Levi when he returns.” I didn’t know if that was to make me feel better, but a sudden confidence in Levi did help. They’ll return. He’ll come back again. 

“I’ll stay with you for awhile. You’re a well-known bakery so people or refugees might try something. You don’t know how to defend yourself from them.” As much as I wanted to reject his offer, I knew he was right. His house would be fine with his two roommates and I was too scared to even go upstairs right now. I nodded and sat down on a chair, trying to calm myself. I was thinking more logical now, but my body was slow to catch up with my mind. Wiping the tears off my face, I start to take deep breaths.

“I wonder what will happen next. If there are titans who can get above the walls, then humanity will have to think of some defense.” Jonas walked over and joined me at the table. We just sat there lost in our thoughts and trying to tune out the shouting going on outside. He decided to try and use humor to calm each of us down.

“A dome,” he suggested flippantly. Not a bad idea, I guess. Sacrificing the sky to survive titans wasn’t something humanity would want to do. Humans wanted to be able to see above and below them. That’s something they all take for granted on the surface. 

“I didn’t know titans were a thing until I was six or seven. The Underground was like a dome and everyone killed to try and see the sky. I don’t think that’d work,” I responded back. He just shrugged and we went back to sitting in silence again. We just didn’t know what to do now that our normal routine was broken. Jonas would be delivering something and I would be back in the café listening to the crowd complain about the Scouts per their return. I’d be waiting for Levi to come back and have our first late-night tea as… well, our first late night tea since we aired out everything. Now, that wasn’t going to happen. Humanity was on a complete standstill that day. 

Some people left Trost and others acted like nothing had happened days previous. The refugees were piling in one by one and being housed in the supply areas the Garrison had. When I took time to stare out the window, I could see them lining up outside to get their names down and escorted in. Their faces were just like the Scouts when they had returned from a brutal expedition and just like people in the Underground. I never thought I would see so many people with this expression above ground. Lifeless, shell shocked, consumed with helplessness; it was hard to stare at them long. I decided to keep the café closed while the refugees were getting settled and to preserve my stock. One of the Garrison members had mentioned that in a months time, the refugees would use up all the excess supplies and soon they would be on the ones for the people of Trost. It seemed the other Wall Rose cities were having the same problem. Coupled with the famine we were already dealing with, it seemed we were soon going to descend into some state of madness as a society. I didn’t want me or my café to be a point of interest to those who were food-crazed.

It seem the Garrison had other plans for the bakeries and delis of Trost.

“We’ll pay you a good amount. It may not be the same as if you would sell to the citizens of Trost, but it’s better than being frozen completely. The government will also give you some extra privileges, but that will be arranged later if you accept,” he smiled down at me as I leaned on the counter. I was trying to mold my face into the one Levi always had on. He was right, even if I was getting paid little per loaf, it would be much more than not selling anything. I could see Jonas in the corner of my eye who looked nothing but suspicious. He had stopped reading the newspaper to listen to the Garrison Captain and I’s conversation. 

“I would get paid in advance, correct? Per loaf? If not, then no deal.” He clenched his jaw, knowing that wasn’t his plan. I wasn’t going to let them exploit me like I knew they had the other bakers. The old couple down the street, the Saunders, had been contacted for the same service at the start of the influx of refugees. That was a week and a half ago. Once they had ran out of their flour and yeast, the Garrison told them to wait and get paid. Because of this, every bakery was hesitant to accept their offer. We, the owners, had been passing letters back and forth with bargaining tips. I was the first one to test them out and I’d write later on their success. 

“If we cannot pay you in money, we can give you more supplies and food in place. You know how it is, everyone is being drained. The Garrison soldiers are down to two meals a day.” Oh, boohoo. I could care less about the Garrison. They’ve been hoarding food for themselves and have limited the refugees to a single loaf, a bowl of soup, and a jug of water per day. 

“And how many meals do you give the refugees per day?” I raised an eyebrow and his jaw clenched even tighter. I had to accept the offer to get by, but I was going to make him feel bad about it.

“Will you accept or not? There are countless other bakeries in Trost…” I smiled, knowing he was lying to me. Almost every sensible bakery declined their offer last week. He’d have to go back to them and beg if he lost me.

“Let me hand out the bread. It’s my bread and I want to make sure it goes to the right people. You have the power to let me do that, don’t you, Captain?” He widened his eyes, probably surprised I even accepted. He didn’t care about the formalities after that.

“Of course, Eva. Whatever you want,” he grabbed my hand, shaking it wildly, “Thank you for accepting! Come tomorrow at nine in the morning with the number I gave you!” He quickly ran out of the café, making sure I couldn’t add on any more rules. Jonas pulled a face as he set the newspaper on the table. 

“You shouldn’t have accept it, Eva. Business will be up again soon and you know they won’t pay you. You know what they did to Ida and George,” he shook his head in disapproval. Jonas had little faith in anyone it seemed.

“It’s to help the refugees, Jonas, not the Garrison. If I can bring at least a little joy to their faces, I’d be happy. It’s heartbreaking to watch them aimlessly walk around Trost with those looks on their faces.” It was the Underground all over again. I thought I had escaped it.

“If I witnessed a titan almost twice the size of the walls, I’d look like that too. They’re saying that it disappeared as fast as it came and it brought in another titan to break through the walls. It’s insane. I’ve seen one titan, and they didn’t look like they were capable of that.” I turned to grab a big bag of flour and start making the bread. Jonas saw my struggle and came over to grab it for me and pull it into the kitchen where the batch mixer was. 

The week he had been here, I had barely gotten sleep until the Scouts returned. My body would calm down for a few hours and then go right back to being seized up and shaking. My overthinking also didn’t help my mental or sleeping state. I had also drank at least four cups of a tea a night.

“I can help you make it, but I have to start delivering again tomorrow. You’ll be on your own dealing with the refugees,” he poured in the flour and I went to fill up the pitchers of water. Jonas still had a huge distrust of the refugees flocking into Trost. It didn’t help that the food shortage was making them desperate. News of infighting flooded out into the Trost street gossip and everyone was worried when the fighting would also flood out of the barracks. They didn’t see most of the refugee’s faces… most were too weak willed to do those things. Only some had a spark of life left. 

The next morning, I walked into the stock yard, trying to keep my emotions down. Seeing the people fight each other and the faces of those still in shock made me sick to my stomach. These people had lost their homes and families, yet the Garrison was treating them like cattle. Even the children had the same looks as the adults; pained, helpless, and tired. I couldn’t show them my emotions thought. The last thing they want from someone is pity. I knew that well.

“There you are, Eva. We’d like to thank you again for cooperating with us. How many loaves did you bring?” The Captain looked down at me and I know he was reluctant to hear my answer. 

“Three hundred, like you asked,” I gestured to the bags on the cart I was pulling. He winced at that number and pulled out the notes to pay me. I stuffed the money inside my jacket and pulled the cart over to the soup that was being poured out. He probably didn’t think I could make that many loaves in a short time.

“They got you to listen to them too, huh, Eva?” It was the deli owned three streets down. When I needed to add meat in any of my winter pastries, I would always go to him. No one had the money for meat at the moment, that’s probably why he was here. No one needed specialty bread or pastries, that’s why I was here.

“I’m here for the refugees. I know the Garrison is hoarding supplies and has enough to feed them. They offered to pay me two large bags of flour everyday I brought bread. There’s nothing I can do about them, but I can try and help those who are being cheated from it.” He smiled at me and nodded in agreement. 

“I grew up in Shiganshina. My brother was still there, but he’s missing,” he had a sad look in his eyes as he glanced over the people, “It’s selfish of me, but I hope one day while I’m serving them, he’ll walk up for a bowl.” That made me want to cry. The pain I was pushing down for these people slapped me in the face when he told me that. It made me even angrier that the people were fighting for their lives and I still hear the Garrison soldiers mocking them.

“Refugees! Line up in an orderly line! You will get one large bowl of soup and one loaf of bread! If we see anyone try to sneak more, you’re rations will be taken and redistributed!” As soon as the Captain stepped down from the crate, people came rushing to us. They pushed and shoved each other, desperate to get to the front of the line. I looked down at the ground, not wanting to see it any longer. The government was dehumanizing them and the effects were showing as early as a week. When I handed out the bread, some even growled as they finally got their hands on food. Fights had broken out on the other end of the line as people were trying not to be last and the Garrison just stood there watching. My pity had turned into raging anger. The Garrison were the ones who were useless. They don’t deserve the taxes I pay them.  

“Ma’am, I have two other children with me. I didn’t want them to get shoved around, can I please have two more loaves?” I looked at the old man who had a straw gardeners hat on the top of his head. Next to him stood a young child, eleven or twelve, with a mop of golden hair on his head. His blue eyes looked up and pleaded with me, urging me that the man, probably his grandfather, was telling me the truth. The Garrison solider next to me stopped him from continuing.

“If they’re not in line with you, they’ll have to get their own,” he glared down at the two and I glared up at him. They weren’t lying and I was going to give them the two extra bread loaves, whether the Garrison guard liked it or not. 

“They’re over there! Please, sir!” The younger boy pointed to the center and you really couldn’t make out who he was pointing to because of the amount of people, but if you squinted there were in fact two kids who seemed to be of similar age to the boy. One with a red scarf and the other a brown jacket.

“With all due respect sir, I see no reason not to give them the loaves. It’s my bread after all.” He switched his glare to me and huffed. He thinks he’s so high and mighty when he’s being absolutely useless. If they were there to help the refugees, they wouldn’t have shoved them in a place used for cattle stock.

“If you give them that bread, be prepared for everyone else to fake the existence of children. We have people to feed, Eva.” I didn’t falter and I handed the young boy three loaves, one for him and two for the others. He beamed up at me, surprised by my kindness. I bet the locals and soldiers weren’t very kind to them and I know they hear the insults daily. I knew the impact of insults well. 

“By denying this bread, you’re starving two children. We have to feed people... Sir.” 

“Thank you so much miss!” The boy turned around and ran to join his friends. I smiled at the sight and handed his grandfather his loaf and soup bowl.

“Thank you so much for your kindness,” he smiled up at me as well, but the guard shoved him along before I could say anything back. 

“I’ll tell the Captain to deduct that from your next pay out. You’ll turn these people into freeloading, charity cases if you keep it up.” My gazed hardened and I passed bread onto the next person. 

“The only freeloaders I see are you and your fellow soldiers. You can give me two bags of flour a day, but not feed these people more than once?” He grit his teeth at me and rage filled his eyes.

“Why, you-”

“You haven’t even seen it happen!” He stopped, his fist in the air, and turned to the shouting that filled the square. The refugees in line turned too. It was the other boy, the one with the brown jacket, his eyes filled with rage as he yelled up at the Captain.

“How a titan eats a human!” My eyes widened and the anger rose to my throat again. Before the solider could hit the boy again, it was the blonde one who jumped in front to defend his friend on the ground. Whatever he said, and the pressure of the other refugees watching, made the Captain walk away. Everyone slowly turned their attention back to getting rations, but I couldn’t take my eyes off the trio who were standing up to go eat their bread. I couldn’t look away from the boy.

He was like Levi. The child no doubt had seen people eaten by titans as he escaped Shiganshina and was dealing with his hurt alone. Everyone around him was going through the same trauma, and the people of Trost didn’t care to listen. Is this how Levi feels? Surrounded by all these people, but forever alone in his experience with titans? I wanted to walk over to the kid and tell him that I’d listen to him. I’d let him tell me all the hurt he’s been through and try to make him feel better. 

“Do you know what those kids names are?” The guard seemed reluctant to hand me information after I just insulted him. 

“Who? Those three? I only know the one who was shouting. His name is Eren Jaeger and his father is a doctor. The blonde boy tries to solve all the fights he gets in and the oriental girl has to help Eren sometimes. She beat up another kid who Eren got in a fight over soup. That kid… he has so much rage he fights like hell is about to freeze over. If he was an adult, we’d have kicked him out already. I’m half minded to do it after he just kicked the Captain,” He crossed his arms and looked over the the trio again.

“Send them to me,” I blurted out, not knowing what my plan was. I just saw kids who needed help. A second chance at life. They were like me.

“If they are ever too much or, I don’t know, if they do anything, don’t kick them out, just send them to me. I need help making the bread anyways.” The guard rolled his eyes at me, probably thinking I wasn’t serious. Hopefully, if that day ever happens, he’ll remember what I said. I wanted to help heal those kids.

“Sure, yeah, whatever. Hand out the bread.” 

Walking back, cart empty, I was still thinking about that boy. The emotion in his eyes was indescribable. I’ve never seen someone his age with that type of trauma so evidently displayed in his eyes. Well, no kid above ground. 

“Eren Jaeger,” I repeated his name again. I wanted to help him and his friends, but the only way I could right now was to make them bread. I hope someday they do end up outside of my café. Maybe I can ask Levi about how I can get around the Garrison.

Levi. I smiled softly thinking about the man. The Scouts returned the sixth day after the news of Wall Maria in the middle of the night. It might have been a move so that no one could see them return, or it just happened to turn out that way when delivering the refugees that came on foot. Jonas had woken me up, as I was passed out over a cup of tea, and we looked out my apartment window at them. He was on his horse, hood up, and riding next to Erwin. I could tell by the way his shoulders were slumped over he was exhausted. It was enough for me to see him like that and I knew they would be ruthlessly busy in the next coming months. I couldn’t be greedy on wanting time with him. It had been about a half a week since they had returned and there were Scouts doing security work, but none had been Levi.

“I’ll try my best to be with you,” he had told me.

I had stayed at the Scouts HQ for one night and missed the Spring Equinox, but getting to be around Levi after so long was worth it. He had caught me up on what he was doing the past few months and how I needed to avoid Hange like the plague because she was crazy. I had developed a fondness for her, and she was the only other person I had talked to at the HQ, so I didn’t listen. She had taken me back, not without questioning the Captain and I’s relation, and I had to fend her off. Levi had stated that if we were to pursue some form of relationship, he would want it, like everything else in his life, to be private. It was more of a ‘people might try to gain leverage on me’ private than an embarrassed one, so I agreed. If it was unavoidable for people to know in a certain situation, then we would indulge them, but never in any other time.

“So… what are you and Captain?” She put the saddle on the horse I was riding. 

“Friends. I make him tea he gives me company. Nothing more.” With her intelligence, she would see through that lie easily. No one demands a friend for over a month.

“Friends?” She raised an eyebrow and tighten the strap around the horse’s belly. 

“He comes around once a month and I give him a specific tea he likes from the capital.” She held her chin, thinking about it for a bit until she just shrugged. 

I turned the corner ran into someone who was stopped and looked up at them to apologize. I had gotten lost in my thoughts and let muscle memory take me back to the café. Before I could open my mouth, a knife was at my neck. I instantly panicked and looked at my surroundings.

“You’re the one that Captain gave the money to, aren’t you?” He smiled down at me and I backed up right into another person.

“Eva Flynn, wasn’t it? You gave us bread.” Two refugees. They had saw me put the money in my pocket and were now trying to rob me. My gaze hardened, trying to stay vigilant, but fear crept up in me when my arms were grabbed from the back. I was too weak to physically push away from these two. 

Looking up and down the alley way, there was no one around. It was time to be at work or sheltering in your house. If I screamed, there would be no one to help me and my throat would just be slit. I’d been in situations like this before and they never ended well. I couldn’t show them my fear, that was the worst thing that could happen.

“It’s already in the bank, sorry.” I was very aware of the money that I had stuffed in my jacket’s inner pockets. It was burning a hole in my chest. Losing this money would be like losing two days of wages. The other one’s grip tightened and my shoulder blades were burning at the force. 

“We followed you here. We know you’re lying to us,” The front one smirked and pushed the knife further into my neck. The stinging signified he had cut open my skin. The fear was growing more and more. I was so close to the café, but no one was there. Quickly, I was regretting closing. 

“Just take the money, you know I have it.” He smirked and put his hand on my cheek. He wanted to bite off more than he could chew. 

“Now where would the fun in that be?” I spit in his face and he quickly answered back with a slap. This made my neck move along the knife, cutting in deeper. It was deep enough that I was finally in pain. I could feel warm liquid spread to the collar of my button up.

“Don’t make this harder on yourself,” the one behind whispered in my ear. The hair on the back of my neck stood up. He was the first one to try anything, grabbing my hip and then untucking my shirt from my skirt. I made sure my lower body struggled while minding the knife on my neck. I wasn’t going to let them win easily.

“I’ll report you to the Garrison,” I choked out loud as he shoved his hand in, touching the skin on my stomach. I tensed up and he laughed when he felt it. 

“You won’t be able to report us if you go missing.” My eyes widened a little bit, still trying to hide my emotions from the one in front. He was just staring down at me as his partner’s hand run along my torso and slowly going up. What an awful way to die. I thought at least I’d get eaten by a titan and go out with a bang.

I kicked the back one in the groin and he made a noise in pain, but not before grabbing the life out of abdomen. I yelped in pain and the one in front responded by elbowing me in the side. Not being stabilized by the back one, I fell sideways and was swiftly kicked in the ribs when I hit the ground. He started kicking my side over and over again, making me cough with every attack. If my adrenaline wasn’t rushing, I would’ve felt two of my ribs breaking from his force. 

I closed my eyes trying to breathe through the pain. I’d been in similar situations before and it’s always over quick if you try to focus on something else. Soon, they got bored because you were crying out in pain and they’d take what they needed and leave. Maybe if I went limp, they would run away because they would think I was dead. They didn’t seem like the type who would kill for fun like in the Underground. 

“Bitch!” He raised his knife in the air and I braced for impact. If he stabbed anywhere between my ribs, I was definitely done for.

“If you scream, little girl, no one will care enough to hear you.”

“Fu-” the knife clattered on the ground next to me and I opened my eyes. With how cloudy my vision and mind was, I could only focus on the brick wall in front of me. There was the man who groped me, hand stuck to the wall with a knife. The look on his face was pure fear. It sounded like the front attacker was being pounded into next week out of frame.

“You think you can fucking touch anyone, you vermin? I’ll rip off both of your arms so you’ll never be able to grope a woman again.” The venom in my savior’s voice scared even me. The guy pinned to the wall seemed to gain the will to live and, with a shout, pulled the knife out of his hand. He stepped over me and lunged at the assailant who easily stepped aside and I heard the man let out a harsh breath as he came in contact with the wall by my feet. I wished I could see them getting beaten up as retribution, but I would have to just deal with only hearing the sounds.

“I guess I should’ve just cut your hands off completely. Maybe I will,” The knife beside me was picked up, and thrown across the alleyway. You could hear it zoom in the air and rip into the other hand. A loud scream followed, cutting across the silence alleyway. I bet my attackers wished they picked a more crowded place so someone could save them. I laughed at the turn of events, but stopped when a pain went through my side.

“Do you have any last words before I carve out your organs one by one?” Footsteps echoed as my knight advanced forward. I’d have to stop him.

“Please, no! Mercy, I beg of you! We just need money!” I started silently laughing again at just how cowardly my attackers really where. I was right, if they killed me, they probably would have panicked and ran away. Once faced with the consequences of their actions, they were on their knees begging for forgiveness. And how crazy was I to want to give it to them? 

I sat up as best as I could, leaning mostly on my hands. I still couldn’t turn to see what was happening, but I knew he was thinking about the best way to get revenge. I’ll stop him here.

“Levi,” I coughed out. The footsteps stopped. 

“Hm?” It felt like I was interrupting him with the tone he gave back. 

“Let’s just go home, yeah? You’re not fit to murder humans anymore.” 

“What if I want to get back into shape?” It was a threat to the attacker still conscious and I heard him whimper as Levi probably glared holes into him. His voice was still dripping with venom. 

“He’s probably lost use of both of his hands, isn’t that punishment enough?” He grunted.

“Yeah, listen to her! She doesn’t want to kill us!” There was a yelp after that sentence and I wondered what Levi did to him. I didn’t care about my attacker or their lives. I cared that Levi didn’t get anymore blood on his hands than there was already. He left that life.

“Shut your mouth!” 

“It’s your choice, but you know my opinion.” I’d give him control of the situation and hopefully that logical mind of his would see that I was right… or at least what my motives were. There was a pause as he thought it over and I dropped back onto the ground when my arms gave out. The pain was creeping back in as adrenaline slowly left my body.

“Tomorrow, you’ll be reported to the Garrison. I have your faces memorized, and you can’t hide your wounds. Enjoy your last night of freedom.” It was completely reluctant and the knife he was holding clattered to the ground. The attacker let out a cry like he was thanking some higher power that he wasn’t just brutally murdered by Humanity’s Strongest. I was swiftly picked up and I closed my eyes taking a big breath. After I was in the clear, the emotions and adrenaline hit me like a truck. 

“I’m going to throw up.”

“I’m going to hit you if you do.” I laughed shallowly again, but went to clutch my side as I did. That probably made him increasingly upset. He didn’t even look down at me, just stared ahead slipping in and out of alleyways to not be seen. 

With my blurry vision, I took the chance to stare at him unashamed. Even with blood splatters on his face, and no doubt his clothes too, he was handsome. Maybe it was the hardened stare and that fact that he saved me from sudden death that made it ten times better to be in his arms. I just soaked it all in knowing he was probably going to drop me on the floor of the café and yell at me for getting attacked.  Empathy is something he needs to actively practice it seems. 

“S-stop staring at me so much,” His grip tightened a bit around my legs, but his voice was soft, “I’ll give you a drawing if you really want.” I smiled goofily up at him. Even when I was barely able to breath, I was going to tease him. This was second nature to me besides the bickering. 

“Why? Do I make you nervous?”  He said nothing, just scoffed and turned his head away from me. I would blame my injuries for the sudden confidence I felt and I laid my head into his chest to check if he was lying. In fact, his heart was beating at the same speed mine was: fast. I did make the Captain as nervous as he made me. He just didn’t know how to exploit me like I did him. I smirked before closing my eyes and settling myself into his chest, claiming it as my new home. There seemed to be no protest as we walked back to the café.

“No, Levi, you can’t take my shirt off!” I glanced over at Jonas whose head was about to burst. Levi’s fist tightened around the bandages and looked at me with utter anger and annoyance in his eyes. I just lightly laughed, and winced only slightly at the pain. I also gave him a little smirk like I had just won our game of chess.

“Who’s idea was it to get her drunk?” Jonas asked Levi through his teeth. Levi rolled his eyes in response and turned back to dress the wound on my neck. He wasn’t going to make his move it seemed. He hadn’t made a move in at least an hour and I was getting bored of teasing him when it had no visible effect. It was probably because of our onlooker.

“My ide-ow!” I glared down at Levi who was diligently at work cleaning my wound with the alcohol I had been drinking. He did that on purpose. If I was sober, that would’ve hurt so much more, but I think what subsided some of the pain was how close Levi was to me... and the alcohol. His head was lowered, in line with my neck so he could see his work, but his breath sent a feeling down my spine. If only Jonas wasn’t here I might have had enough drunk confidence to try and kiss him again. The way he had taken off his jacket and rolled up his sleeves also did something to me, but it was his attitude that was making him more annoying than hot.

Right now, Levi was being Captain again: indifferent, annoyed, and barely talking. I cursed Jonas again for having shown up for delivery as I decided to drink the leftover alcohol I had. Was my intention to get drunk and gain the confidence to tease Levi in his serious state? No, but I wasn’t complaining that it was happening. I was complaining that Jonas decided to stay and observe Levi bandaging me. I knew him saying, ‘I’m worried about you, you were just attacked!’ wasn’t the only reason he was sitting there, arms crossed, glaring at Levi. 

“There’s other ways to numb your body besides drinking a whole bottle of liquor, Eva,” he grumbled and I just took another sip before showing him the bottle. I was barely over half drank.

“I don’t remember you complaining when I said I was going to get drunk at Spring Equinox,” I raised my eyebrow at him and out of the corner of my eye, I saw Levi do the same. I had told him about the get-together I had missed while staying at HQ, but I hadn’t told him it was meant for everyone to get drunk.

“That’s different. You were just attacked and beaten by two men. If anything, I should be worried about how much your drinking seeing how calm you are.” Levi stood up and started wrapping my neck with gauze. My face was near his chest again and I relished in that closeness, knowing he’d easily rip away from it to keep up this tough act in front of Jonas. I just settled with breathing in his scent. He’d spoken only three sentences since Jonas had walked in. 

“This isn’t my first time being mugged, Jonas. Was I scared? A little bit, but this knight came and saved me again.” I patted Levi’s shoulder, and I felt him tense up below my hand. Hm, guess he isn’t used to being touched in the presence of others. 

“How are you two so calm!?” He gripped his head like he was the one who had blood on his clothes. Maybe the blood was making him go a bit insane. He didn’t like blood.

“Getting beat up in the Underground was like... a weekly occurrence. Right, Levi?”

“It’s time for your ribs,” Levi muttered and stepped back. He didn’t answer my question and I glared a bit.

The real reason I was downing this alcohol was because I had two ribs that needed to be reset and I hated feeling actual pain. The adrenaline had worn off sometime between us getting back and me drinking half of the bottle, so it was only the alcohol holding back the pain gates . I knew that once he started, it would definitely come back.

“Can’t I just let them heal weirdly?” He shook his head. Jonas stood up quickly as I was about to lift up my shirt. His face was pale and I remembered then how badly he couldn’t stand any type of blood or bones. Even if he hated that fact, he was going to have to leave or else he’d throw up in front of the man he hated the most. His manliness wasn’t going to let him do that. 

One of the first times I was sent out of the bakery to play with Jonas, his friend had fallen out of a tree and broken his wrist. Being part of the Underground, I knew how to set and patch up wounds. As soon as I set the boys wrist, Jonas threw up next to us. Sometimes, I don’t let him live it down and mentioned it in the present. He looked too distressed now to mess with him and I knew he was on his way out. Now, I could actually be around Levi. 

“I’ll come back after I’m off work. You,” he pointed to me, “stay inside, and you,” he boldly pointed at Levi who gave him his famous glare, “don’t try anything funny.” I laughed a bit and took another long sip. 

“I’ll beat him up if he does, Jonas.” He took one long look at Levi and I before grabbing his cart and walking out to deliver more things. Levi made sure he was far down the street before speaking.

“Thank gods he left. I was about to throw that damn bottle at him. He looks like he wants to kill me for the simplest things.” I smiled as Levi finally said his first real sentence in an hour. 

“He was just worried about me. You saw his face when he walked in and saw the blood on my neck. He hates blood or anything like that, so I’m surprised he stayed for that long. He also wants to beat you up, deep down. If he ever finds out about us, he’ll probably explode.” I took another swig and before I could finish, Levi yanked the bottle out of my hands and finished it off in three gulps.

“Hey!” He ignored my shouts and dodged my hands as he finished the last third before slamming it back down on the table. He let out a small groan of regret before standing back up and wiping off his lips.

“You don’t need to drink anymore. I’m surprised you didn’t try to grope me like you did when I carried you back.” My mouth shot open at the insult and he smirked. Captain Levi was gone, but at my expense. He had moved his chess piece.

“I grabbed you because you were about to drop me,” a lie, but I wanted to save a little face. Maybe I did grab onto his shirt when we were walking back… perhaps a bicep too. 

“What’s the boy to you?” It took me a second to realize he was talking about Jonas and I smirked. Was he getting jealous possibly? He did have an annoyed look on his face. 

“My first above ground friend. His parents were friends with Mr. Flynn, so whenever I was getting annoying, I’d be sent out to play with Jonas. We went to school together too. He’s my best friend, starting from age twelve.” That didn’t seem to wipe the annoyed look off of his face. He waved his hand for me to scoot back on the table. I raised up my shirt and tucked the ends into my bra so he had full view on my stomach. The bruises were already starting to show. 

“But he doesn’t want to be your best friend? Friend friend versus Levi friend.” My eyes widened and I went to sit back up, but the pain stopped me. 

“You heard that?!” He nodded and my eyes widened. How embarrassing. 

“That was probably the first indication I had feelings for you. When he confessed, I wanted to jump down and…” He trailed off, but this showing of emotion made me feel warm inside again. The butterflies came back too. There was a short bit of silence as he got the bandages ready to wrap around my middle and I just watched. Now, he was just hot, not annoying.

“I’m happy that you’re doing this. You have a lot of experience with rib care.” He playfully glared down at me and went to put his hands on my middle. I gasped softly as he did. Not just because his hands were cold, but also because this was the closest he’s ever touched me. Is this what he felt when I undid the bandages on his back? I relished in his touch, knowing the pain was going to come next. His hands were softer than I thought they would be.

“I think the first time I knew I had feelings for you was in your office in the capital.” 

“O-oh?” He stuttered. He found the rib he had to reset and I winced. The alcohol was barely helping and I think my senses were heightened even more because he was touching me like this.  

“I need you to breathe in and when you breathe out, I’ll reset it. This is what Hange does. It’ll be quick, I promise.” I shook my head, not ready for the pain.

“Talk to me while you do it... What… What happened to Wall Maria?” He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. This would be the first time he’s talked to me about an expedition in full detail. A step on the way to being comfortable with mixing me and his reality. 

“If you promise not to talk and breathe correctly.” This time, I just nodded once and he got ready to push my rib back into the right spot, “When you’re ready, take a big breath in to signal me.” 

“Okay.” He paused for a moment, just staring down at his hand, probably finding a place to start. I wondered if he felt the same way I did when I touched his skin. Could he feel my heart beat? I don’t really have to hide it anymore.

“The refugees said it was a titan taller than the wall who started it. He disappeared as soon as they could get a good glimpse at him. Into thin air apparently. Then, there was a titan that had plates on his body. Armor. He was the one who rammed through the walls. It wasn’t abnormals who learned how to climb like we thought. They were... intelligent.” I breathed in and out and he pushed down. I took a big gasp of air as pain went through my side and I clenched my jaw. 

“Fuck!” The ache came after the pain and Levi moved his hand up to the next rib he had to put into place. If he had broken almost all of his ribs, it had to be torture for him to reset all of them. I’m about to scream from this pain and it’s just one rib. I looked up to him and he had that same indifferent expression when he was recalling Wall Maria.

“We haven’t seen titans like this before,” he continued, “and it’s changed our mindset on fighting them. When we went to find the refugees who fled on foot, we didn’t encounter any other titans like that. That’s another reason we think they’re intelligent. They know how and when to hide. Who knows where they went?” 

“Ow, ow, ow, ow!” That rib was a little higher up and a lot more painful. At least we were done. I sat there breathing hard through my teeth and some tears came to my eyes. Once I seemed settled, he helped me sit up and started tightly wrapping the bandages around my upper stomach like he had.

“For now, the Royal Government has suspended Scout Expeditions because they want to use us as their security. They’re too afraid to lower the MPs in Mitras even though they should. We have a meeting with them soon to plan our next steps for Wall Maria and the overpopulation of the outer cities.” 

“Did you see Shinganshina?” He shook his head no and finished wrapping the bandages. I pulled my shirt down and sat at the edge of the table we used as a work space. He turned and leaned on the edge next to me, his arms crossed. 

“We didn’t get close enough. Too many titans and too many people to protect. We were already low on people from the expedition and it took almost everything to get the people of Shiganshina into Trost.” I turned to look at his face and saw the emotion in his eyes. Tired.  

“Do you remember how people looked in the Underground? The ones who walked around all day and night, going from bar to bar, and had no drive to do anything but drink?” He nodded. 

“That’s what most of the refugees look like. They have no drive or any want to do anything. They look paralyzed by fear and dead on the inside. Only a few have something in them that makes them keep fighting.” 

“Rage.” It sounded like he was speaking from personal experience and it suddenly made me want to ask him about his time in the Underground, but I didn’t want to further exhaust him. That was one of the things I was most curious about. Did we over lap? Go to the same places? Do we know the same people?

“That sounds about right. There was this young boy there today who picked a fight with the Garrison Captain. The look in his eyes… I still can’t stop thinking about it, it gave me chills. Rage,” I nodded, “It was pure rage in his eyes. I offered the Garrison to send him to me, along with his two friends.” Levi huffed next to me, probably knowing my motivations behind the offer. I basically gave him the same offer when he walked into the café for the first time… it just wasn’t out loud. 

“What happens if they come and he gets into a fight with one of the customers?” I shrugged and looked out the side window he was staring at. Only a few people were walking the streets, probably for late lunch. It was much less than before Wall Maria fell. 

“I closed for the time being. If anything, they would help me make bread for the refugees. I’d give them a proper meal, too.” 

“You’d give them a second chance like you do everyone else?” There was a bit of sarcasm behind his voice and I knew he had found the time to reprimand me. I was sobering up because of the pain and Jonas wasn’t here; it was perfect. I guess I’d let him get it over with.

“They were desperate and just needed money. It wasn’t like they were going to kill me for fun. Besides, you’re turning them in tomorrow, so they’ll get what’s coming to them. The Garrison is hungry to put some of the refugees in jail.” He rolled his eyes and uncrossed his arms, resting his hands on the edge of the table. When he’s mad, he seems to like to grip something. Control.

“They were going to use you and then kill you. It doesn’t matter why they did it, it only matters that they’re still roaming the streets. You don’t think they’ll do it again? If I hadn’t caught them, think of what they’d do to you.” His voice was growing in anger and I looked down at my thumbs, focusing on my breath. I definitely felt like a child being reprimanded by their parents. 

“I didn’t tell you to leave them alone for their sake.” I mirrored his position, putting my hands down on the edge of the table. We still weren’t looking at each other. I wonder why.

“You don’t need to worry about who or what I kill, Eva. It was justified.” His voice got softer this time, probably understanding my reasonings. He didn’t agree, but at least he knew why I did it. 

“I know I don’t. Most of the time what you do doesn’t concern me, but that doesn’t mean I can’t be concerned for you. I didn’t want you to kill anyone. You don’t have to kill to survive anymore… humans that is.” I became bold again and put my hand over his on the edge of the table. He didn’t move away from affection this time, but looked down at me hand. 

“I’m going to teach you how to fight. That’s how I’ve decided to conclude this situation. I won’t always be there to save you like I was today and that thought makes me even angrier. I can’t even protect you and that…” his jaw clenched and I felt his hand grip the table harder trying to compose himself, “I have a few days off, so I’ll stay here and teach you. The thought of leaving you here helpless when I go off places… I don’t like that thought.” I nodded and gripped his hand, telling him I understood. We sat there like that for a bit, probably both liking the closeness.

“Are you okay?” He looked up at me and the concern in his eyes made me feel something deep inside. My body felt so warm and I wanted to lean into him and have him hold me like he had before. I don’t know what stopped me. 

“I think I’ll be fine after being trained by Humanity’s Strongest.” I shifted incorrectly trying to hop off the table and almost crumbled to the floor. He caught me and helped me stand up like I did to him. He even gripped my shoulder like before, trying to balance me next to him. I made sure to take some liberties and lean on his side.

“I think we should wait a day since you can’t stand. I might be Humanity’s Strongest, but I can’t teach someone who incapacitated.” I laughed a bit and leaned in more.

“If you hold me like this, I might just stay incapacitated for a while longer.” He froze realizing he couldn’t escape my teasing, even if it was directly after a serious conversation. He must have thought that only drunk me was capable of being that bold. 

“I-I… What do you… I’ll… I’ll drop you!” He looked away from me as I laughed up at him lightly. Another blush point. 

“I’m tired. Can you take me upstairs?” He nodded and we started walking to the back door through the kitchen. I was debating what to say next as we walked up the stairs slowly.

“It’s fun, you know,” He looked back at me and I made sure we were halfway up the stairs before I said what I wanted too, “To other people you’re so tough and emotionless, but I can say one sentence and make you stutter so easily.” He stopped walking and looked down at his feet. He couldn’t leave me now and was trapped in dealing with me. This was power. 

“I said I’d drop you,” he squealed out trying to make it sound low and intimidating. It just sounded like he was struggling to stay composed.

“You look tired too. My bed is big enough for both of us.” Sleeping together seemed to be a touchy subject for him. When I was at the HQ, he was going to get a cot for him to sleep on and would let me use his bed. I obviously declined as he was still injured and suggested we just sleep together. That probably was the reddest he ever turned in front of me. It may have been coupled with the fact that I had teased him about it before, but I ended up sleeping on the cot outside his bedroom door. I wonder if he’d ever shared a bed with someone in his life. 

“I’m not tired.” We started walking up the stairs again. 

“Yes you are. It’s not like I’m going to do anything, my ribs are broken. I do have to warn you though, I’ve been told I’m a sleep cuddler.” With that, he picked me up completely and kicked my door open. He walked over to my bedroom and launched me on the bed from my doorway. The pain was probably meant as payback for teasing him. He looked down at me from the doorway, his eyes glaring at me. I bet he hated being at the mercy of my jokes. No control. 

“S-Stop… talk, stop talking and go to sleep… brat,” He tched before closing the door. I smirked up at the ceiling and moved under my blankets. The porcelain clanging signaled to me that he was in fact staying and probably making some tea.

“I’ll get you in here someday, Captain!” I yelled through the door and heard the dishes stop moving. I started laughing as I left him helpless again.

“Shut up and go to sleep!”

Chapter Nine→

Chapter Masterlist

xx My semester is starting soon so updates may become less frequent, but don’t worry I’m still here! Now that we’ve gotten to the start of AOT a lot of the next chapters will revolve around it, but from Eva and Levi’s relationship POV. My plan is to end it where the anime ends, so don’t worry there's a lot of Eva x Levi to come. Should we think of a name for them? Leva? Evi? Anyways, thank you for all the support and love you’re giving to this story!!!!! Maybe comment some plot moments in AOT that you’d like to see with Eva and Levi in it! xx 

[biggest-stupidhead]

Freedom Seekers

Summary: In a world of dragons, the scouting regiment seeks to free humanity from the fear of the beasts. Dragon seekers fight for the survival of the dragons, working directly against the government and the scouts. Both fighting for their own definitions of freedom, but are they really all that different? 

Word Count: 5.5K 

The young girl ran through the woods eagerly as she chased down a large ram. Each step she took was quiet. So quiet that the animal didn’t even bat an eye. The sheep stopped in his tracks and leaned down to chew on some grass. She took her stance behind an old oak and lifted her wooden bow. Reaching behind her back, she carefully pulled out an arrow and noched it between the string and her forefinger. She pulled the string of her bow back until her thumb brushed her cheek. She closed her left eye and honed in on the shoulder of the animal, she counted to three before taking a slow inhale. As she silently exhaled she felt her body still, at just the right moment she released the taut string, which bounced back and tickled her face. The arrow whistled through the air and landed with a dull thunk in the ram’s chest. The animal froze and leapt a few bounds through the grassy grove of trees before disappearing into the thick trees. With a growl the girl pulled another arrow from her quiver and stood to give chase. But before she could leave her hiding place a heavy hand caught her shoulder. She whirled around in shock, her mouth hanging open ready to protest. But the air left her lungs at the sight of familiar amber eyes gazing into her own jade green ones. 

“Frankie, I’m so glad that I found you, your father is livid.” The boy pulled his hand back and also took a healthy step back. Frankie bristled, still in the mindset of the hunt, which had so rudely been interrupted. 

“You think I dunno that.” She snapped, throwing her arms to rest simply by her sides. The whole point of going on this hunt had been to escape her parents’ nagging. For the past week it had been: “Have ya packed yet?” or “Make sure to sharpen that dagger.” it was getting old, after having been away for a full year already she had grown accustomed to being on her own, having the liberty to make her own decisions. It had been bliss, but alas she had to return back to the village for supplies and to give a report, just as all the other dragon seekers must do. 

“We don’t have long now, the sun will come up and it will be time for us to depart once more.” The boy told her these things, although she already knew this information. 

“You really should try and get some rest.” He said, as she shifted, a twig snapping under his weight. The sound made Frankie cringe, Harvey never had been good company on a hunt, he was much too large to roam through the forest undetected. 

“Fine, let’s head back then.” Frankie relented, knowing that he wouldn’t leave her side now that he was with her. His shoulders slumped with relief as she began to silently pad through the dense forest. The chill of winter had retreated, making way for fresh growth of spring, the forest was lush and teeming with new life. It was Frankie’s favorite time of year, the mountain that the clan called home was most vibrant in late spring and early summer, the melting snow from the peaks would cause the creeks to overflow and become insanely chilly. Frankie stepped onto the well worn path at last, much to Harvey’s relief, the village wasn’t far from here. 

Nestled on the mountain was the small remote village that the teens called home. The small establishment had dwindled in size, only a single main road connected the buildings. The community was mainly hunters and gatherers, the mountainside was not rich in soil, making farming nearly impossible.Not many chose this lifestyle anymore when there was a large city not more than a week’s travel away. Norwich was barely even qualified to be called a village at this point. The old fashioned view that the village clung to prevented the citizens to linger for long, dragon riding was not legal, and being so close to the metropolis that was known as Eldia was not ideal. The Eldian Empire had doubled in size since the Marlyan Empire had been defeated and once more consumed by the Eldians. Norwich was known for producing infamous dragon riders, who worked to protect and preserve the dragon species, fewer than three hundred dragons remained thanks to the Scout Regiment. Frankie dug her nails into her palms as she stalked down the beaten path, Harvey close on her heels. She had been searching for her dragon for over a year now, going into her second year once the sun rose. The last crop of dragon seekers had not returned, meaning that they died in search of their dragons or were arrested for fraternizing with the creatures. 

“I know that we aren’t meant to speak of it but-” 

“No, I won’t tell you.” Frankie cut Harvey off, her words minced and sharp. He flinched and chuckled awkwardly, she was really pissed at him. She knew that Harvey was wanting to ask her about her travels for the past year, however it was highly discouraged to speak about the journey that was taken when searching for a dragon. It was meant to be a sacred link between the pair. 

“You’re right.” he chuckled a bit dejectedly as the pair emerged from the trees, the soft baying of sheep and goats was filling the crisp morning air along with the melody of song birds. A shepherd was tending to the sheep and goats as the couple walked into the small town, passing by the cabins and lone barn. The sun was rising slowly, today was the Summer solstice, a sacred day to their people. It marked the second departure of dragon seekers, this year it would be Frankie, Maeve, Harvey, Killian, and Mary. All of them had already taken a year to dip their toes in the water in a sense. However due to their close proximity to the Eldian Empire they needed to travel a great distance to reach dragons. But it was customary to return after a year as frustrating as it was, in the old days it would take seekers less than six moons to find their partner, so it wasn’t as big of a deal to return in a single year. Frankie came to a halt in front of the humble cabin that her family called home, a few chickens were scratching in the dirt and cooing in the early morning light. Harvey kicked his toe in the dirt, sending a small dust cloud up into the air. 

“Well…” Harvey chuckled a bit awkwardly as Frankie rolled her eyes as she climbed the steps up to her cabin. She paused on the top step and leaned down, her hand reaching for Harvey’s broad shoulder, with a heavy sigh she brought her lips to his cheek and gave him a peck. He smiled triumphantly and turned to leave, Frankie crossed her arms and shook her head as she watched him saunter off. 

Frankie pushed into the house, the wood burning stove popped in the corner and her mother stocked the logs, her back turned to Frankie. 

“Took ya long enough.” She muttered, turning around and wiping her hands free of the soot. 

“I was huntin’” Frankie said, her words clipped as she moved to retreat into her room before her father arrived. 

“Aren’t you always, it’s time you gave up on this dragon business, settle down and marry Harvey.” Her mother began her age old rant, and Frankie rolled her eyes. 

“Mother my time isn’t up yet, I could still-” 

“Enough of this talk, the girl is right Ellenor.” Frankie’s father lumbered into the room, ducking his head to squeeze under the door frame. 

“But James-” 

“She’s all we got left, the last chance of glory.” He interrupted, as he dropped his ancient hunting knife onto the table. Frankie stood tensely, she hated when her parents spoke like this, both pressuring her to follow opposite paths. 

“We’ve already lost two to the cause, is that not enough?!” Ellenor’s voice was strangled and thick with emotion as she planted her hands onto the tabletop and leaned into James’ space. 

“There ain’t much of a choice, she’ll die either way. Might as well die with honor.” James grunted as he picked his knife back up to clean the blade. 

“You know I don’t agree with that.” Ellenor slammed her fist onto the table and James sighed before looking up. Ellenor’s lip trembled as she tried to hold back her tears, James reached up and cupped her cheek in one of his large callous hands. 

“Nor do I, but it is the truth. Francine is the last of our line, our last chance to bring honor to our name once more.” James spoke slowly, Ellenor grabbed his hand and held it closer to her face as a few tears escaped her eyes. James looked to his daughter, who stood still as a statue in the center of the room. Frankie stood taller under his gaze, lifting her chin proudly and meeting his eyes with reserve. 

“Aye.” She agreed, adjusting her quiver and hanging her bow next to her father’s on the wall. 

“See, she understands. She knows what must be done. Besides, she’s already survived a year, at the very least she can live another.” James said with a nod of approval at his daughter’s resilience. 

“You’re right, I’m sorry. My emotions overcome me at times like these.” Ellenor pulled away and returned to her chores. Frankie took her cue to leave and freshen up for the long day ahead. 

__ 

       The fresh air greeted the young girl's nose as she walked outside of her home for the first time today. She saw two teens bickering down the path, of course they were waiting for her. A smile spread across her warm cheeks as she ran down to meet her peers. Two small dandelions placed in her chest pocket. 

“Why must we always wait for loony?” The tall girl asked, her back turned to the other girl as she met the two with a smile. The tall girl knew what she had called her, but she brushed it off with a shrug. Glancing to Harvey who kept his eyes down. 

“Am I that much of a trouble Mary?” The young girl asked walking between the two. 

“No trouble at all.” Harvey said, nudging the girl a bit. 

“Are we going to stand here all day?” Mary asked, looking ahead at the road that led to the market. 

“Calm yourself Mary, it’s not going anywhere.” Harvey said squatting slightly in front of the girl, waiting for her to take his invitation. Which she did flash, hopping on his back and placing her arms loosely around his neck. 

“Can’t you walk Maeve? I mean you’re not a child.” Mary scoffed, walking away from the duo who just began to laugh. Despite Mary’s callous attitude she had missed her friends over the past year. 

They walked leisurely towards the village. As they got closer, Maeve could practically taste the baked bread. The bustle of the village carried a familiar tune. Harvey leaned down and let the girl slide off of his back. Mary had already left the two, going off to find the younger group of girls that worshiped her words and held her ideals. Maeve's eyes searched the market for the boy she wished to see. 

“He’s by the flowers.” Harvey said, pointing over to a tall boy who stood by a small cart. His strawberry blonde hair stood out to the girl. She smiled over to Harvey. He gave her a reassuring nod and Maeve ran off. 

“Killian.” Maeve shouted, moving closer to him. The young boy turned his head and held a kind smile on his face. He met the girl with a smile, picking her up off her feet and twirling her around. They both held each other tight, his eyes looked worn but she knew he was still the same boy from before. 

“I like your hair.” Maeve said after Killian had put her down. It had grown slightly, it looked as though he had chopped it with a small knife. 

“How I have missed you.” Killian said, placing some of her ashe blonde hair behind her ear. She looked up to him, his eyes still held that golden tint. She could feel her cheeks turn red as she looked into them. 

“I have something for you.” The young girl said, taking the small flowers out of her pocket and showing Killian. His smile widened as she placed one in his breast pocket. 

“Thank you.” He said softly, reaching down to take her smaller hands into his own larger ones. 

“Give me a break.” Harvey moaned, before turning to continue through the market. Killian chuckled and released one of Meave’s hands, sure to keep one held firmly in his grasp as if she could disappear at any given moment. The trio meandered through the main street, the people were bustling about in preparation for the evening’s send off festivities, streamers and banners were being stung between the townhouses. Stalls were being erected, goods set out for sale, children darted around the dusty road, waving small flags that had a simple dragon stitched onto them, the symbol of their people. 

“Remember that year that Frankie stole an entire shoulder of beef?” Killian scoffed as they watched the children squeal with delight. Meave scoffed and nodded, recalling the memory fondly. 

“Where is the thief anyway?” Mary asked joining the small group once more. They all looked to Harvey expecting an answer. 

“We’re not exactly attached at the hip like Maeve and Killian.” Harvey said, gritting his teeth. The two young teens let go of each other’s hands, their faces growing visibly red with embarrassment. 

“She must be around here somewhere.” Nave said, stepping on her tiptoes and grabbing onto Killians arm as she searched the crowd. They all began to search for the redhead around the lively village. Harvey’s eyes caught her first. He noticed that she was talking up a blacksmith. Who seemed to be uninterested in what she had to say. Harvey smirked at the sight of her getting worked up. 

“Over there.” The young boy said, pointing over to the girl. The teens cut through the crowd, which split at the sight of them, the famed seekers that had managed to return. Once they reached the girl they could make out her words. 

“-The hilts much too long, how will I ever get a proper hold of the bloody thing?” Frankie asked exasperatedly as she waved her hands about. The large man rolled his eyes and continued hammering the blade he was working on, drowning out Frankie’s words, much to her displeasure. 

“Hey! Are you even listening to me?” Frankie snapped, rounding the anvil to meet his downcast eyes. He pulled the glowing blade off the anvil and dunked it into a bucket of water with a loud hiss. 

“Fraid not little miss.” he said with a shake of his head. Frankie growled and abandoned the argument, as she whirled around Harvey caught her, a dopey grin on his face. 

“Long time no see little red.” Harvey said smoothly as he held her shoulders, Frankie grunted and brushed past him. 

“What brings a recluse like you into town?” Mary scoffed, giving Frankie a skeptical once over, from her ratty emerald green dress, work boots, messy hair pinned back into a loose bun. 

“Where have you been, pretty lady?” Maeve asked, pulling the young girl into a hug. 

“By the looks of it she’s been livin in the woods.” Killian said, looking the girl over with a grin. 

“Nothing new bout that.” Mary huffed, but she couldn’t keep the hint of fondness from her tone. After all, these were the people that she had grown up with, trained with. After all they were her family. 

“Can we just go now? I don’t want to spend the whole night by this blacksmith.” Maeve said, grabbing onto Frankies hand and dragging her through the market. The rest of the group followed them, all laughing along the way. 

The group made it to the large field that stood right in front of their village. Memories came flooding back, of a simpler time. When finding dragons was something miles away, and their parents would only sing them lullabies and not speak of the things that grow beyond their forest. When people were just people, and not someone who you could wed someday. When they could just be children. Frankie sat with her friends as she thought. Looking into each of their eyes, as Mary tried to hide a smile. As Maeve sat in Killians lap and looked into his eyes with hope. And when Harvey sat next to her and talked about adventure. Her stomach turned at the thought of one of them not coming home. She knew once they got out into the world she couldn’t protect them, and what she feared most was that when it came down to it she would have to make a choice that she was not prepared to make. The summer day flew by in a warm haze of wildflowers and cool creeks. The teens all waded out of the large creek, feet sloshing in the crystyline water. Meave was the last one left in the rushing creek, she was doubled over, her skirt was beginning to drag in the water as she studied the creek bottom. 

“Mary...Come look at this.” Meave said slowly, her eyes never leaving the creek bottom. Mary scoffed and rolled her eyes, but still approached the bank, the closest she dared to get to the water. She had been the only one to remain dry the whole afternoon. 

“What?” The tall girl asked. Placing some of her snowy hair behind her ear and looking into the creek. 

“Right there.” Maeve said pointing at the muck on the bottom of the creek floor. Mary squinted her eyes, trying to see if the girl was pointing at some sort of stone. But right before she could say she didn’t see anything the small blonde splashed her perfectly nice dress with dirty water. Maeve fell over with laughter, her flower filled skirt now getting drenched in the water. Mary swatted at her dress and tried to keep her balance. The rest of the group had engulfed in laughter. 

“You disgust me.” The tall girl said, walking away from the creek and leaving the blonde sitting alone in the water. Though Maeve didn’t mind, she just looked at the sky and watched the sun set as she moved her hands through the creek. Letting her fingers move gently along with the small waves that the two girls had made. 

“If you were wise you’d go get cleaned up for this evening.” Mary said as she wrung the water out of her skirts. Killian clicked his tongue and stood from his seat on the bank. 

“Almost forgot.” He agreed as he made his way back into the creek to pull Maeve out of the water. Mary stalked off in the direction of the village, not waiting for her friends. Harvey draped an arm around Frankie’s waist and pulled her flush against him, her hand splayed across his chest as they watched Killian pull Maeve out. 

“How could you forget about the biggest party of the year?” Frankie scoffed as the pair emerged from the creek, their clothes soaking wet. 

“I didn’t! Not really. I guess I just...didn’t want this day to end.” Killian rubbed the back of his neck as he rejoined the teens on the bank. Frankie’s eyes softened, she knew how he felt, and she assumed that the others felt similar as well. The past year had been a major eye opener for them, violence within the kingdoms, unforgiving wilderness, they had seen it all. Frankie was forced back into the present when the sharp sting of cold water struck her cheek, she turned to see Meave shaking her head like a dog to free the water from her ash blonde locks. 

“Mary was right, we’d better gather our things, the sun will set soon.” Harvey broke the silence, holding a hand up to his eyes as he surveyed the sky. Frankie hummed in agreement and untangled herself from the boy and set off after Mary. Meave followed close behind, holding her sopping wet skirts up to allow her to jog. The two boys walked back at a leisurely pace, having already packed the necessities for their journey. The girls reached the village first, splitting up to gather their supplies and get dressed for the journey. By the time all five of the teens were ready, the village was aglow with torches and a single bonfire in the town center. Men and women danced around the fire, casting ominous shadows over the town square. 

Frankie narrowly dodged a small child as she entered the fray, a large swine was being mounted over the flame. People cheered as Frankie and the other girls arrived, wearing their armor, which was made of shed dragon skin of various colors. On the opposite end of the clearing was the boys, along with Thomas, a boy who was a year older than them. He had found his dragon. A young fire breathing type dragon, the creature had been turned loose to survey the perimeter of the village, a luxury that they hadn’t had for years. The girls crossed the opening and stood before the boys, shoulders back and chins lifted. Harvey extended his hand as the music resumed in jaunty tune. Frankie accepted his outstretched hand and the pair began to dance, Killian and Meave followed their lead, leaving Mary to glare at the older boy, who smirked down at her, his hand held out expectantly. 

“Well Mary?” His voice was annoyingly smooth and the quirk in his lip made her chest fill with rage. 

“If you expect me to dance with ya. You’ve got another thing coming.” Mary said, crossing her arms and turning to her friends who smiled in one another’s arms as they danced around the orange flames. 

“You know ya have to.” Thomas whispered close to her. Turning her attention towards her parents who were looking directly at them. 

“I despise you.” Mary growled, taking the boys hand harshly and walking over to the group of couples. 

“Ya will be my wife.” Thomas said, pulling her close to him. His breath smelled of fish and his palms were sweaty as he took her hands into his. He reminded her of a bear, eager and greedy. They danced silently together, each of her steps worked perfectly with his. She was never one to miss a beat, each time they got closer to her parents they would give her a reassuring nod. Which made the girl lean into the boy more. Knowing that it would make her parents happy. 

The rest of the towns people joined in, bodies twirling and dancing to the rhythm of the tune, the beat of music picking up pace. Frankie smiled brightly at Harvey who spun her, his eyes full of love. Frankie felt her heartbeat speed up, the surroundings becoming overwhelming quickly. The scents of roasting meat, the sound of the jaunty music and cheering towns people filled the summer night air. It wasn’t often that the village threw large festivals like this, mainly when the seekers departed and if they returned. The music paused and Frankie slipped away, leaning against a house, her chest heaving. She just wanted to leave already, back into the woods, she never wanted to return. The childhood home that she had loved so much now felt like a prison. 

She only needed to last a few more hours, until the first rays of the sun peeked over the mountain that was directly across from them. Then the seekers would leave, resume their quest for dragons for another year. Or however long it took to find the beasts, men got longer than the women did. Women only got two years while men got their whole life if they so choose. Frankie balled her hands into fists as she looked longingly at the treetops, she wanted nothing more than to be sleeping up in them. She snuck a glance back at the festivities, people were swarming Harvey, who was pleased to feed their excitement by singing along to the music. Killian and Meave were still dancing, their arms linked as they spun. Mary was not too far off, clearly she was trying to escape her suitor, Thomas. Frankie was relieved to see that she wasn’t the only one feeling overwhelmed. Before she could reason with herself she jogged across the clearing and grabbed Mary’s hand. 

“Need a distraction?” She asked, jerking her head towards the trees. Mary’s lip curled in disgust but she nodded reluctantly. Frankie led them into the darkness, weaving through the trunks of the trees and until they reached a cliff. The cliff overlooked the valley below, which was wide and teeming with life. A river cut between the mountains as well as another large field of flowers and a grove of trees. 

“Don’t care for Thomas much do you.” Frankie asked conversationally as the pair sad in the grass, their legs dangling over the edge. Mary shook her head and scoffed in disgust. 

“Or any man for that matter.” She quipped, her blue eyes scanning the redhead’s features. Her sharp jaw, the slope of her nose and the freckles that were painted there. 

“I hear you...Although Harvey has always felt like the right choice….” 

“The outside world made you question that, didn’t it.” Mary said, clearly understanding where Frankie was coming from. 

“Aye. There’s so much that we have yet to see.” She agreed, her head tilted to look up at the blanket of stars above. 

“And you? Did you find some clarity beyond the village?” Frankie asked, her green eyes turning to meet Mary’s blue ones. She inhaled slowly, thinking over her response carefully. 

“Yes, but I’m afraid not enough.” Mary said after a moment and Frankie let out a bark of laughter. 

“It’ll never be enough Mary.” Frankie chuckled, her shoulders shaking as she looked out at the neighboring mountain. The sky was turning pink by the time the girls returned, most of the people were too drunk to notice their absence. Frankie’s father was singing loudly alongside some other men as they waved mugs of meade in the air above their head. The seekers gathered their supplies in preparation for their departure. The village elders emerged from their homes and stood by the entrance of the village, the people migrated to watch them give the departing blessings. The seekers stood in attention as the elders lit sage and waved it in front of them, bathing them in the scent. They chanted in the ancient language of their people and the townspeople echoed the prayer. 

“And now the parents and loved ones may say their goodbyes.” The elder said once he had finished burning the sage and the sun was nearly over the mountain. Frankie’s mother embraced her tightly, tears stained the leather armor that she wore, her hands grasping the bow on her back. 

“Come back to me.” She whispered as she kissed her daughter’s cheek. Her father gave her a brief hug before patting her on the back and leaning down to peck her on the cheek. 

“Make me proud.” He said, the scent of ale lingering on his breath. Frankie nodded and stepped away from them with a soft smile. 

Meanwhile, Meave hugged both her parents stiffly, her mother pulled back first, her eyes stern. 

“You’re our last hope Meave.” she said grimly. 

“You mustn’t fail.” her father said, his eyes seemed to say that she already had. She had never been able to please her parents. She nodded stiffly at them and stepped back to join Frankie. Harvey and Killian both received warm heartfelt goodbyes from their parents, being the eldest sons they were golden children among their families. Mary on the other hand didn’t even say goodbye to her mother and father. They had said all they had needed to say the night prior: “Come back with a dragon, or don’t come back at all.” and she took it personally. She wouldn’t fail them, or the village. She would be victorious if it were the last thing she did. Once the boys finished they all turned and left, the village was rowdy once more with screaming and cheering as they marched down the narrow path out of the village. 

“So what’s the plan, when should we split?” Killian asked as he tugged on his pack. 

“I’m going north this time.” Mary said as they picked their way down the mountain as they had exactly a year prior. 

“As am I.” Killian said eagerly, Mary rolled her eyes, but secretly she was glad to have a companion to travel with for a bit longer. 

“I was going to head North east this time.” Frankie said thoughtfully as she tilted her head back to catch the morning breeze. 

“I’m heading south once more.” Harvey said with a heavy sigh, he had been hell bent on finding a fire type dragon, while Mary was set on an arctic, Killian and Meave had no preference. But Frankie wanted an earth type dragon, one that dwelled in the forest and was one with it’s environment. She had heard legends from small villages in the north east of such a beast, one that lived in a cave deep in the woods. 

“Still set on that fire type?” Meave asked as she adjusted her own pack on her back. 

“Aye, I just know that I’m close to finding it.” Harvey said excitedly, his eyes shining. 

“I’ll come with you, southbound I mean… I still haven’t a clue which type is for me.” Meave said, her face a bit grim at the thought of her dragon. 

“Maybe I’ll go with you Frankie… Now that I think about it I heard a rumor that there was a beast in the mountains out east.” Killian said thoughtfully. Frankie nodded, she had heard the rumor too, but had no interest in an air type like Killian did, besides, rock climbing was not her forte. 

“Ah so the three of us can travel north and branch off at Balivack.” Frankie said, reaching into her pack for her map, the rough sketch of the continent and the major cities were laid out before her. Killian leaned over her shoulder and clicked his tongue. 

“It’ll be difficult to maneuver around those large cities, we’ll need to keep a very low profile.” Killian said, a frown on his lips. Frankie nodded in agreement, her eyes trained on the large forest that laid beyond the cities. It was one of the last untouched areas of forest on the continent. She vaguely recalled overhearing some low ranked soldiers saying that the queen was aiming to tame the land, if that were true then dragons days were truly numbered. 

The forest had proved to be a haven for dragons and other mythical creatures. Thomas had found his dragon in that wood two years prior, he’d been the only survivor among his fellow seekers. 

“Aye, it can be done.” Frankie said thoughtfully, she passed the map to Killian who held it up in the early morning light. 

“If we make good time we could even visit the seaside, never know if there will be a basking water type.” Killian hummed, tapping a finger on the coast line before passing the map on to Mary. 

“It’ll be straight north for me, I was so close to finding an ice type last fall.” Her voice took on a determined tone as she passed the map on to Meave who scoffed and passed it directly to Harvey. 

“The southern dessert and the wasteland will be my first stops.” He said proudly as he rolled the map back up and passed it back to Frankie who shoved it back into her bag. 

“Well we should reach the base of the mountain in an hour is we keep up this pace.” Frankie sighed as she turned to look at the trees as they walked past.

“With any luck.” Mary huffed with a roll of her icy eyes. 

Sure enough in an hour's time the teens had made it to the base of the massive mountain. Frankie shifted uncomfortably, anxious to be on her way. Killian was sending longing glances at Meave, who was double checking her supplies. Killian finally stepped over and enveloped her in his arms. Harvey nodded at Frankie, his eyes soft. Frankie knew that he wanted to hug her but she had no intent on allowing him to. Killian pulled away from Meave who looked up at him with wide eyes as he turned to rejoin Frankie. 

“Wait.” Maeve said walking over to Killian. She took off the small woven bracelet that was on her wrist. Killian held out his wrist, she gently wrapped and tied the bracelet around his outstretched arm and looked up at him. He embraced her again in a tight hug. 

“You’re not weak. You can do this.” Killian whispered into the girl's ear. She gave him a soft peck on his cheek but didn’t say anything. Deep down she knew something they didn’t. The young girl walked back over to Harvey who still was studying the map.

“Be safe guys.” Maeve said, looking between each of her companions. 

“Ready?” Harvey asked, putting the map in his satchel. The young girl nodded. The teens shared one last glance, a somber fog falling over them as they examined one another one last time. Mary was the first to break the tense silence, not with words but with her footsteps, her feet crunched on the ground as she retreated into the forest. Frankie nodded at Harvey, who mouthed, ‘Be careful’ before she turned and followed after Mary. Killian was close behind her, his neck craning to watch Meave and Harvey as they departed. Meave waved with a teary smile and Killian smiled sadly before turning to face forward. Harvey patted the girls shoulder before turning and trudging into the dense forest ahead.