#but then i gain a human vessel and fall so in love with a green eyed human with daddy issues that it makes me feel truly alive and

[outoftoucherlocksholmes]

it’s time we as a society face the truth: foo fighters is castiel-coded

[ixiot-ghostrebel]

Wow I am suprised that idea with smart impostor with power to control will of others. And now I want to add something for our dear reader becose often with impostor au where reader is labede as impostor dsont have power only that gold blood, like if we are truly a creator or thier reincarnation reader shodul have some powers maybe not all of them becose that wodul be boring but maybe unlocking them like traveler by gaing new element and each element adds some godly power anemo-time, geo-creation,electro-space hydro-live dendro-memoris/ilusion cryo-death pyro-energy like at the strat reader is still human but by gaing emeletar powers thier old god/creator powers are coming back and maybe memories of reader previose life as the creator of teyat and that why impostor wants to stop reader becose impostor wodunt care if some look a like lives in teyat only reader becose if reader gains back some of thier powers that will be game over for them

As for elements and godly power bounded with them that I chose well...

Anemo-time:becose of how venti as anemo archon is related to the god of time istaroth(sorry if I got the name worng)

Geo- creation: becose teyat mostly in mass is made of that element so creation

Electro-space: manily becose of how ei has her own kind of demesion where she is inside shogun puppet

Dendro-memories/ilusion: memories brcose of irmusol and ilusion becose of how many plant live can make person see halucification after eating or bearthing them

Hydro-live: well.....water is in evry leaving beging so live

Pyro-energy: to me fire is that primalr energy sorce becose humans first use fire to fule many of things form the light soccer too fire the forges.

Cryo-death: last element that traveler will unlock and cryo rperesting in that god powers as the end of reader jorunie to reagin thier godhood and as Winter is time where we asociaste often with the end of the year like the death is end of the journie trought live some times death can be painless the times where the snów falls down puting the world into rest but sometimes death can be suden like ice storm or painfull like hail

But there is one element.....One last element the fordiden element that no one and I say no one wodul on right mind resort to this but when the reader gets all of the 7 elements...... impostor will in desperation resort to this and that is

Abyss- destruction

Why abyss as destruction and not pyro well to me that wodul be cool wink to old gose saying "evil cannot creact and can only corupt and destroy" but the destruction canot be controled and that will be impostor downfall no punishment form the pepole that they fooled no form the reader....only form thier own green and fear thier live will end and only thing that will be left is thier body as vessel.....vessel that one goal is destruction.

Oh, so Traveler!Reader, I see. 👀

This is a Part 2 of The Imposter Headcanon Post! You don't have to read it first to understand this!

Glad you liked the previous post, anon! And yes, I did make a oneshot based off of the previous post—it's currently a work in progress, but it'll be out soon.

I love this idea of Reader basically being like the Traveler, gaining powers by resonating with the Statues of Seven. It'll definitely be filled with drama and hardships, considering how smart the Imposter is in this AU :D

So...allow me to introduce some of MY Traveler!Reader Hedacanons!

When Reader unlocks a certain element, they can also rely on the Statue of Seven to immediately heal them. → Much like the Traveler in game, they can simply be next to the Statue of Seven and heal rather instantly.

Reader can also teleport there at any time they want, without giving notice to anyone at all. Oh, and using the element of the nation would give Reader extra stamina and an extra boost for their attacks.

For example, let's say Reader is using Anemo in Mondstadt. Boom! They get like—3 weeks worth of energy somehow and their anemo attacks can rival the anemo archon, if not the "creator" themself lol.

Now that I think about it, imagine Reader imitating Venti's Elemental Burst and then suddenly the black hole becomes 2000x stronger as the time goes by—

Speaking of time...let's move on to the next headcanon :D

Reader can manipulate the powers mentioned in Anon's message, but at a cost. → What is the cost, you might ask? They feel the fatigue depending on the duration of time they use this specific type of power.

For example, let's say Reader is trying to escape some puppet dudes the Imposter sent after them, right? They can use the power of anemo to stop time for a small duration until they made a good distance away from the hunters. The only problem is, (in this case) Reader ran 10 miles just to escape. They are going to be exhausted by the time they let time resume.

And yes, there is a limit to how long Reader can use these powers. And, for now, Reader can only hold it up for short periods until they know who they really are.

There will be a slight difference when it comes to the Abyss element, but I'll explain that later.

Reader's memories comes in forms of dreams and "magical text" only they can read. → Ahem. I quoted "magical text" because, let's be honest, it's in our language. Of course no one in Teyvat would know how to decipher it (Not even Haravatat Scholars & Students—we can hear them all crying in the background) except Reader of course!

These texts may seem like usual text messages, but if Reader thinks about it long enough, they actually hold many clues and puzzle pieces of who they are, and what they can do!

The dreams are a little different. Reader is legit replaying their old memories that they no longer remember, recovering parts of their forgotten past little by little at a time. They give clearer answers (sort of) instead of clues and hints.

Reader's Abyss element, when being "purified," creates light. → Yeah, you can clearly see where I got this idea from (coughs looks at Lumine & Aether coughs). The power of the light element is the reaction of when any form of purification is performed while Reader is using their abyss powers.

What kind the light element do? Depending on the situation, the light element will create the thing Reader needs the most. A distraction? Boom, there's a freaking giant everyone needs to worry about. Need shelter? A tent appears out of nowhere. You need a freaking hospital? Light avatars who somehow know medication will appear and be your caretakers!

Unfortunately, the light element is the weakest of all the other seven elements, only being able to perform once after the previous light apparition is destroy/gone. With the other elements, you are able to use it side by side after a short cooldown, but with light element? Not side by side + very long cooldown.

If Reader isn't careful, they might get slightly burnt from the light element, very much unlike pyro.

Once Reader discovers who they really are, they first charge out into a supernova. → Their full powers have been awakened, therefore...we must have a dramatic entrance of the true creator back!

Once Reader regains who they truly are, their powers immediately come surging back, because Reader finally knows how to harness not only the seven elements, but their true creator powers. Thus, a supernova happens, but it's not explosive.

No no...In fact, it will destroy the Imposter's connection to their "puppets" and free all of Teyvat from that absolute Tyrant. Reader is the walking beacon of light today, bois.

Once at this stage, the Imposter is standing no chance. The world literally recognizes the creator and will help them in their mission to kill them. Every single character on this planet will hunt down this imposter till the very end after everything they did to them.

Happy Ending? Well, it depends how writers feel with these headcanons/ideas.

Alright, that's all I got! Sorry if this is really short—I couldn't think of anything else at the moment lol. See you around! :)

Ghost Rebel Side Note: Sorry if this wasn't up to your standards, anon :') Feel free to come back to my mailbox when it's free! It doesn't have to be just brainrots or anything lol- I don't mind simple discussions =v=

Also! I have a question: Should I make an Anon List + a List of all the things people can write about in my mailbox? Please let me know what you think :)

Check out the Ghost Rebel's Blog Description to See if Their Mailbox is Open!

[multistoty]

@wcrriorhearts

Once upon a time, there was a man as great as the gods,but even the great can tremble with fear.Even the great can fall. It can take years to mold a dream. It takes only a fraction of a second for it to be shattered.Sometimes, the boy wished he never had to sleep. Sometimes, he found himself wondering that if he stayed very, very still, if he never moved at all, things would change. the prince thought that if he froze himself he could freeze the pain. If time stands still nothing can go wrong. Times like these he wish he could step outside of himself for a while. He wanted to leave this worn body behind, but the chains are too many, the weights too heavy.Truth is a jealous, vicious mistress that never, ever sleeps.Love didn’t end all at once, no matter how much you needed it to or how inconvenient it was. You couldn’t command love to stop any more than a marriage document could order it to appear. Maybe love had to bleed away a drop at a time until your heart was numb and cold and mostly dead.power comes infected with the only disease left to us: the virus called human nature. Innocence is doomed to die a senseless death at our own hands, a casualty of the mistakes we can never undo. So we lay to rest the wide-eyed wonder we once thrived upon, replacing it with the scars of which we never speak, too knotted for any amount of technology to repair. Wars were fought over the different interpretations of the same doctrine.He was afraid, but fear meant he was still alive. This was why love was so dangerous. Love turn the whole world into a garden, so beguiling it was easy to forget that rose petals were as ephemeral as feelings, eventually they would wilt and die, leaving nothing but the thorns. Pressed in his mother’s arms, he was broken and small, the butterfly fighting for life in the grass. He wanted to be woven and whole. To have his mother gain feathers to the wings expanded on her back. But he was a babe. Screaming and crying holding her as if she would disappear like a shadow in the night. How could the greens have murdered his brother? For there was no other way that Luc would not have come home. No way his mother would have been certain of the knowledge of his death. He wished daemon were here to take the brunt of his pain. To hold him like the father he had become. Calm was his normal breathing space, but who could know a child blinked out like a star missing from the sky and not break. The blanket of her unbound blonde hair brought a sort of shield around him. She held him like hope. Like a grudge. And he was sure his bruising touch was the shame. This was his idea. His creation of a fire to burn them alive. His brother. His best friend. The tinkle of laughter and the smack of wooden swords so far away. Being a first born had never felt harder. The sweat of his entry back on dragon back broke a sweat and made him smell world weary now the salt of tears broke blood vessels and pools sticking onyx hair to his face.It was easy to be good and kind in times of plenty. The trying times were the moments that defined a man. And love? Love was something that did much to change a person. It brought joy as it brought suffering, and in turn brought about those moments that defined one’s character. Love gave life to the lifeless. It was the greatest of all living powers. But, as with all things, love had a dark side to it. This game of power was one thing. Murdering an innocent child on a diplomatic mission was the kind of evil he found himself incapable of understanding. Incapable of a single bit of joy in the world outside. The whisper of his words were world weary, but he needed her to hear their honesty. “This isn’t your fault, mother. I pushed the idea. You could never have known that he wouldn’t come home. Luc couldn’t have.- I- I am not being very - princely am I- I just wish i could switch his place. He’s too young. To pure. It wasn’t his time.”

[saturatedboy]

Can I pretty please get some angst with Donna confessing her feelings for Reader but Reader declines, saying she doesn’t return her feelings and also has feelings for someone else (preferably Alcina or even Heisenberg)

Donna Beneviento x F!Reader

Warnings: angst, possessive language

Words: 4K

Requests: open

The outside had turned the mud ground into a blanket of white snow. How long has it truly been since you went outside? A week, maybe 3 weeks at tops. You missed the cold air, running through the forest playing 'hide and seek' with some unexpected visitors. Gosh you hate to admit it but you missed going to the family meetings at the church where Mother Miranda would talk about her plan.

You were just a journalist from Britain, looking for an adventure but somehow your so-called-holiday in Romania came to a sudden stop wen you were taken by Mother Miranda and had a Cadou paced in you. You had slight PTSD of the pain you had gone through but you were deemed to be an 'undesirable' vessel for something you were never given further information upon. So you were thrown to the side for Donna take take home and for Angie to have a 'playmate'. However, what Mother Miranda didn't suspect was that the Cadou had in fact affected all your sense so you could hear, see, taste, feel and smell much more than an average human. Of course when Donna found out about this, seeing you see perfectly in a pitch dark room during you and Angie's game, she grew here suspicions and kept it a secret.

It was only after she saw that, that she had decided to keep you inside away from any of the other Lords and Ladies. Donna had thought that if any of them found out about this that they would want you for their own personal reasons. So what was better than to keep you locked inside away from any of them. If only she saw the incoming feelings that she would gain just by being in close contact with a human for a long period of time.

Breathing hot breath onto the glass window, you drew a bunny sniffing a carrot with some strange looking trees in the background. Leaning back feeling proud of your drawing, you ran a hand through your hair and straightened it out. "Having fun?~" A voice came from behind. Twirling your head around you were face to face with none of than Angie the doll. She smiled and crooked her head to the side, admiring your small drawing, floating closer to see it clearer.

"I suppose, it's just boring staying in here all day without seeing anyone else." You sighed and looked down, letting your body rest with your back against the window sill and your legs dangling off the window sill. Angie looked at you then back at the bunny. She knew how badly you had wanted to go out, and she was more than sure it wasn't healthy for a human to stay inside for long periods of time. Tapping a finger against her mouth, she gasped in surprise and pulled against your hand, wrapping her small hands around three of your fingers. 

"Come come! hoho, I have an idea~" She sang out, pulling harshly on your fingers making you slightly wince. 

"Okay okay I'm coming, just keep your voice down. You're getting louder each day." You had jumped off the window ledge and landed perfectly on your feet. Using your other free hand, you had patted down your grey dress and straightened the veil on your head, only to be dragged into various rooms by Angie and her excited giggles, making the bottom of your dress become crinkled from the quick movements.

"If I remember correctly, if you can't go out then we'll just invite people to come see you hm?~" The doll had purred out once she dragged you into the office room on the first floor. Her voice held a slight tone of mischief making you think about backing away from her and going to go back to sit and wait for Lady Beneveinto to come back from the meeting. But if you did that, you may just loose a chance of seeing someone else other than Angie and the other puppets. You followed her reluctantly near where the large oak desk was with a black leather chair occupying the floor behind it. "Yes yes, that's it! Now just sit down there and take some of the paper from the filing cabinet underneath that desk! oooo this is going to be o fun!" 

Following the orders, you had taken hold of the seat and leaned down, searching for the filing cabinet under. Just in the far left there it was, 2 drawers with silver handles. Pulling the first one, there in the drawers was paper. Grabbing three pieces of paper, you pulled yourself back up and shut the drawer with your foot. Moving around a little on the chair, you got yourself comfy and waited for Angie's next words. "Wow, no wonder she really likes you! You're so obedient-anyway~"

"Wait Angie, who do you mean by 'she'?" Angie was swaying across the room, laughing softly as she heard your question. She had her back turned to face you so you couldn't see the growing smirk playing at her mouth. She wouldn't ruin who liked you because it wasn't her position to-However if she didn't confess to you sooner or later, Angie will have no choice but to in fact tell you herself. Just the thought of you both together had her internally screaming in merriment, the way her owner would stare at you when you were sleeping on the couch or even when Donna would create you clothing perfect to your size to see you wear them. Angie knew Donna was so much more merry with you around, her heart had practically been in love with you since you first ever came. Getting back on task, Angie flew over to the coffee table behind the green couch and grabbed a pen that was sitting above some recent sketches of Donnas plants. Grabbing it within her grasp, Angie had swiftly floated back to you and waved the pen in front of your face, your eyes following its movement.

"Now, use this to write letters to the other lords and Lady! We could throw a party~ OOO and you can meet everyone more! Great time to meet people right~" Liking the idea and forgetting about your past question, you had plucked the pen from Angie's grasp and started to write in formal writing to the other Lords and Lady.

"Angie," You asked her as you had finished writing to the other rulers. Angie hummed as she was sat with folded knees on the desk and was picking at some splinters in her wood arms. "What about Mother Miranda...shouldn't I be thrown into the death pile by now?"

"Ah ah," you placed the pen back down, passing the letters to Angie who had called some other puppets to walk in with envelopes in their arms. "You were suppose to die but it appears you survived the Cadou. Mother Miranda doesn't care much about the failed experiments, such as you, so she gave you to us~ Aren't we just a happy family~"

You stayed silent, watching the doll place the letters into the envelopes and signing the back of them, most likely applying the other Lords and lady addresses. She gave them back to the puppets and signalled them to go off, their feet scurrying away as quick as they could to deliver said letters. Clicking her gears about, the doll had stretched her arms up and stood on the table waving her hands about. "C'mon lets go get ready. I made a few adjustments to your writing and they should arrive hopefully around 6 sharp. Hoho lets get you spiced up!" As soon as she said those words, she flew out of the room in what you could only think to be to go to your room you were staying in. Sighing out, you brushed away any lose strands of hair and stood up. Smiling to yourself, you strode out of the office room and made your way to your room, lifting your grey dress up when it came to walking up the rickety stairs.

When you followed down the few hallways, you arrived to your destination. Turning the silver knob, you pushed over the heavy door to reveal Angie throwing clothing all over your room. "Angie could you at least try keep my room clean," You spoke as you wandered over to your bed where most of the discarded clothing were. Picking them up of your sheets, you cradled them all in one arm and placed them onto a rocking chair that was seated in the far corner of your room.

A groan came from inside your wardrobe, followed by the appearance of the wedding doll slamming shut your wardrobe door. Huffing, she crossed her arms. "There is nothing here! Nothing good. hmmm, Argh! What are we gonna do?" Silence filled the space between you both. You hadn't got a clue what was wrong with the clothing you had, Lady Beneviento made them all for you. You were grateful for the beautiful clothing you had been gifted with, treasuring each one making sure to never tear any of the fibres in any of them. 

Soon however the silence was broken with the noise of the manor door opening and the soft sound of wind from outside. "Ooo~ Looks like Donna is back eeee! Lets go say hiiii~" The doll had hovered near the door, waiting for you to follow. Making an 'o' with your mouth, you followed the doll out of your room and down the steps where you were greeted with Lady Beneviento waiting for the both of you. She was mid-way in putting her veil behind her head when she spotted you at the top of the stairs. Smiling sweetly, she held her hand out inviting you to join her.

Plucking the front of your dress you, you walked down the steps being careful not to fall as Angie had glided past you into Donna's arms giving her a hug chanting her name over and over. "Donna! Donna! Donna you're back! Now lets play, No wait lets eat! Ahh, no. Lets get ready for the party- wait no!" Donna raised an eyebrow. party? Now that was news to her.

"What party?" She asked, holding Angie out as she saw you walking in the background towards her.

"Well, hehe. We decided to host a party~ You know, meet...the others...heh?" Angie squirmed out of the holding of Donna and turned to the side to allow you to greet Donna. Curtseying, you showed respect to the Lady of the Manor. Her hand moved to be under your chin. After she moved your chin up so she could see your face showing worry.

"You are holding  party without my permission?" She asked softly, brushing your jawline with her thumb watching your every move. You gulped, feeling much smaller than Donna in the current position and feeling the pressure of guilt seeking into your heart.

"I'm so sorry milady-It's just I haven't been able to go out or see anyone else in a long time. I didn't want to go against you in anyway! I swear," You panicked, feeling Donna's hand become slightly tighter until she released you and brought you close in by snaking an arm around your waist and pulling you into her chest, only to snake the other around and give you a hug. She rested her head on your shoulder and inhaled deeply smelling your shampoo from the morning shower you had before she left for her meeting.

"I'm not mad dear, just tell me next time. However I wish you to not make any agreements with any of my siblings." She pulled away from the hug, still having her arms wrapped around you, and raised an arm up to cradle your cheek. "I wouldn't want you to get hurt by any of them," Her whisper had been tense, like a warning. She gave your temple a kiss, pulling away and smiling once again. "Well if I know Angie, I'm sure the party is being today. Come, I'll fetch some clothing for you to wear for tonight." She stepped out of arms length and began to walk, her shoes clicking against the wood on the floor. You watched her go, only to get nudged by Angie to go follow her. You hastily ran after her, following her to her quarters of the manor. You hoped nothing bad would happen tonight.

Donna had sat waiting patiently for you on a stool. It took 3 hours to create the most elegant dress she could, having the top a little tight with a flowy bottom. In silver hand stitches, were roses crawling up from the bottom of the skirt to the top. Gibeon gemstones were decorating the sweetheart neckline with a sheer of black fabric attached to the top going down to the bottom of your wrists. Donna decided to let you keep the opaque veil, finding it completing the look of your dress. "Do you need any help at all?" Donna asked, sitting waiting for you with hands on her knees.

"No worries, I am....done!" You exclaimed, stepping out behind the folding screens. Your appearance made Donna stand up. You couldn't see her reaction behind her veil but you knew from her movements as she paced herself towards you she was proud of her handy work. Once she was stood in front of you she clasped her hands tightly together.

"Now don't you just look like the perfect doll, all dressed up...for me,"

You tilted your head to the side. "What was that last part Lady Beneviento?" You asked like a lost puppy. She giggled lightly and took hold of your arm, slowly dropping her hand down to take hold of your hand. 

"Do not worry about it, now I think it's time for you to meet my siblings. They are downstairs at the moment already." You nodded and smiled softly. Finally you were going to meet other people! Or monsters...from what Angie has told you and Lady Beneviento from the past. Letting Donna walk in front of you, her hand still in yours, you followed behind her as she lead the way. You could hear many voices from below as well as Angie's screaming and two people arguing. A pit in your stomach had been created. Were you really ready for this?

You had reached the stairs, hiding behind Donna's height. This was it, all voices had became quiet. More likely staring up at Donna. Donna had coughed, clearing her voice. "I'd like you all to meet someone close to me. Be respectful for any foul behaviour towards her I will attend to by using either force or a violent way to manage you." You lightly gasped, you knew Donna to never be someone to ever be violent so her proposing words had left you slightly on edge. Without any warning, Donna had stepped to the side and used her hand to guide you to stand next to her.

You looked below to see three young girls, all dressed in black. A fish like monster with a hunched back and a crown made from bones. A very tall woman flashing a motherly smile at you with a large black hat on her head. And lastly a man that held a hammer that you were sure to be maye just slightly smaller than your own height over his shoulder. Gulping, you waved at them all which resulted in the three girls squealing with Angie. "Oh wow she's just like a doll all dressed up!" One with blonde hair had spoke.

"I know right hehe~ Lady Donna had dressed her up perfectly~" Angie spoke, being just as excited as the rest to see your appearance. Donna gently pulled you closer to her and then walked down the steps. You trailed behind her seeing the three girls go back to their conversation with Angie whilst the fish man went to go towards the office room. Once at the bottom of the steps, both the tall woman and male walked over to you with smiles of their own. Donna had let go of your hand and stood beside you staring behind her veil at the approaching people. She was seething with unseen anger.

"Hello there dearie~" The tall woman spoke, her red lips highlighting the fact she had pearly white teeth. You blushed as she said 'dear'. Her voice to you was very attractive. The male beside her had playfully bowed to you, reaching for your hand with his gloved one and lightly kissed your knuckles.

"Now now Donna, why do you keep this beauty of a fine woman away from us all?" He asked, letting his lips linger on your knuckles as he spoke, only pulling away when the woman in white had hit him on the head.

"I'm sure Lady Beneviento had her reason you man thing. Now give the lady some space and keep your dirty paws off her." She harshly flicked him on the head and turned her attention back towards you. "My name is Lady Dimitrescu, and what might the alluring dazzling girls name be here?" You shyly looked away, rubbing your hand up and down your arm feeling the material below scratch slightly at your skin leaving a tingly feeling.

You bowed your head and spoke with a smile, hiding all your nerves. "My name is (Y/n), its an absolute pleasure to meet you all." Absolutely loving your manners, Lady Dimitrescu had gently stroked your hair.

"Such lovely manners~" She purred out, staring deeply into your eyes that were almost hidden behind your veil.

"Yeah yeah and my name is Lord Heisenberg, but please doll call me Karl~" Heisenberg had spoke, letting his hammer drop to the floor next to him so he could lean against it. Hearing the rather loud noise, you turned your eye sight to stare at him. Seeing your head turn to look directly at him, he grinned and pushed he glasses to the end of his nose sending you a wink. You 'eeped' and looked the other way in embarrassment.

'Keep yourself together!' you shouted at yourself in your head as you huffed out harshly and took a breath in, turning back around to face everyone. Donna wasn't having any of this. How dare they all come into her home and flirt with what is hers. Her doll, her creation, her property.

"How about we go have lunch." She seethed out through closed teeth.

"Oh what a marvellous idea. Say (Y/n), why don't you sit next to me and we can talk more about your life. I'm sure we could also discuss days you could meet me and my daughter. Oh they'll love you, such a graceful woman as yourself is sure an eye-catcher." Lady Dimitrescu had spoke out, grabbing your hand and leading you astray with Lord Heisenberg following behind shouting out how you should instead come to his factory and explore the real world. 

As Donna was left behind, she clenched her fist tightly. To see you walk away with her siblings sent shivers down her spine. You were a beautiful woman, there was no doubt about it so of course you were going to catch the eyes of at least one of her siblings. But she didn't expect you to just...just follow them like that. "Is this jealousy I can smell?~" Dona turned to look at Angie. 

"I have no clue what you're talking about. She doesn't like them, she's only just met them all." She denied, taking a stroll to meet everyone in the dining room.

"Just remember you fell for her when you first saw her~" Angie called from behind making Donna stop in her tracks. She was right, she did indeed fall for you after she set her sight on you. You were so beautiful, everything you had ever done lead her to believe that there was a connection between the two of you. You had spent most time with her, surely you had fallen in love with her. She'll just make sure to claim you before any of the others do. Better to tell the truth then later. And so tonight, she had told herself she would confess to you, confess her feelings and get you to become her other half.

You were stood outside on the porch. Lady Beneveinto had asked you to meet her here after the lunch you had with the other lords and ladies. You felt happy to be within the presence of others instead of just you and Donna being the only functioning people with blood and skin. The weather had became slightly warmer and left with a full moon in the sky. You had your veil pulled back after Heisenberg had asked to see your eye colour. You blushed slightly as the thought of him, however your blushed increased when yo thought of Lady Dimitrescu. How could two people have such strong effects on you. Gosh you felt like you were about to faint in there with their teasing about your height as well bout your manners, though Lady Dimitrescu did say they were perfect.

The door behind you opened and out came Lady Beneviento. You glanced at her and nodded in acknowledgement. "Evening Lady Beneviento." You said, seeing her stand by your side. 

"What do you think about them all?" She asked suddenly catching you off guard. You raised an eyebrow and took a moment to think.

"They are...different from you. I know that for sure. However I do believe that each have their own personality which makes them fun in a way. Not to mention they were all really kind towards me tonight and I felt honoured to be within their presence." You finished with a beaming smile. Donna hummed, looking at the forest in front of her manor. Inside she could hear her siblings fight and Angie chanting cheering them on.

"What do you think about me?" She turned her full attention to you, taking your hands in hers and looking up at you. You couldn't see her facial expression because of her veil but nonetheless, you thought.

"You are someone who takes control when needed. Although quiet, you bring a comforting atmosphere with you everywhere you go. You're really sweet a well and thoughtful, which is why I treasure every dress you give me." Donna listened carefully to your words. She was extremely happy you liked the dresses she makes you, and to also be told that you loved her being around too. She bit her lip in anticipation, maybe this is the right time to say what she is needing to say. Inhaling deeply, she cleared her throat and stepped closer to you, placing her hands on your hips.

"I need to say this because it's been playing on my mind ever since you got here and was given to me. From a playmate, you have made your way past that and became much more to me. What I’m trying to say is that- I love you.”

You stayed in silence, a soft wind brushing through your hair as you looked at Donna.

“Lady Beneviento I- I don’t know what to say.” Your face had turned a slight red, feeling a weird feeling in your stomach- like you were about to faint. Donna held your hands tighter, your knuckles turning white from loss of blood.

“Just say you love me back! Easy right?” Again you had stayed silent, looking away from her to look at the manor door instead. You felt her grip loosen however, you could move your fingers about. “Right?” She pressed on, her voice quivering a little.

“I can’t love you,” you placed her hands to rest in her chest. Slowly you took your hands away from hers and left her standing in shock- not that you could see. “I love someone else, I’m sorry Lady Beneviento. I’m sure someone will love you as much as you love them one day.”moving yourself away from the awkward conversation, you had left Donna standing alone on the porch, going back inside only to be greeted by both Heisenberg and Dimitrescu.

Dropping her hands to the side, Donna had gripped the side of her dress. Her shoulda slowly shook up and down growing rapidly in speed. A single breathy laugh left her throat. “If you don’t love me-

I’ll make you love me.”

[dessam]

A little pre-Weapon XI AU thing centered around the retelling of how Devin died and the half-truths Max likes to spin.

Warnings for violence, blood mention, and backstabbing

Or: if two Plumbers were on a mission escaping a heliokinetic psychopath and one shot the other in the back would that be fucked up or what?

The universe always seemed to get the last laugh in, no matter what Devin was doing.

“Max, he’s getting closer!” 

Whether it was trying to make breakfast only to realize he didn’t have any eggs, or attempting to stop a galactic warlord from consuming stars on the weekend, he was always somehow the butt of a sick joke. 

This joke’s name was Ragnarok, and Devin wanted nothing more than to wash his hands of the monster. He’d also like to wash his hands of the stupid, stupid man in the co-pilot’s seat next to him.

“Ship won’t go any faster, Devin!” Max hollers back.

Rolling his eyes, Devin mutters under his breath: “Have you tried flapping your arms?”

His current partner - a certain Magister Maxwell Tennyson - seems to find the whole bit some sort of joke, and was laughing through their last narrow escape from Ragnarok. Tennyson isn’t at all perturbed by the villain rapidly gaining on them, and a little voice in the back of Devin’s mind pipes up to remind him: you can’t trust a single one of them, not even your partner.

Which, obviously, was a lesson he had known long before he became a Red Spot, but was now a mantra he spoke every single time an incident like this happened. 

Of all the bloody people to be partnered with, Maxwell Tennyson was a name at the bottom of a long, long list of Plumbers that--

“You with me?”

A voice cuts through Devin’s thoughts, and his partner is looking at him from the corner of his eye, grinning.

“What?” He says shortly, on edge.

“I said: Ragnarok really wants what we took, huh?”

Devin bites his tongue, resists the urge to snarl back that it’s his fault they’re in this bloody mess, that they had the element of stealth right until Max had to blunder their escape and alert every being with working cochlear nerves they were onboard Ragnarok’s ship. 

“We couldn’t let him slaughter six billion people just to get his hands on the Sun’s energy,” he says instead, shooting Max a mocking grin. “Not my fault he didn’t like you stealing the key that activated his energy vortex. You’re welcome, by the way, for me bailing you out of there.”

Max’s expression falls immediately, eyes snapping forward and hands tensing on the ship’s controls, all comradery gone. Devin’s partner was never very good at saying thank you.

CRACK

Lurching in his seat with a grunt, the bulkhead rattles around Devin as the nav system sputters and whines before fading, and he watches with dread as glowing instruments suddenly wink out one by one, the ship going dark. 

Next to him, frantically flicking switches and checking the backup system as it flashes a warning red, Max looks at Devin with wide eyes.

“Blast took out our engine couplings, our shields...we’re dead in space.”

Oh so slowly, a shadow overtakes them, plunging their vessel into darkness. 

Swallowing hard, Devin tests the controls, tries to think of their fastest way out of here, all while Max just stares dumbfounded up at the massive ship overtaking them. 

There’s a hissing vhmm from the rear door, and Devin glances back as the massive form of Ragnarok materializes in a blue haze onto their ship. 

Red eyes boring into his own, the warlord sneers at the two Plumbers, back straightened and fists clenched at his sides. 

“Where did you hide my key?” He speaks in a low snarl, lip curling back to reveal ugly yellowed teeth.

Devin shares a short look with Max, sees the gears turning in his partner’s brain.

Fuck this, he decides. 

Standing and drawing both of his blasters, Devin unloads shot after shot at the ship’s newest arrival, and the human next to him takes just a moment longer before standing and unloading the clip of his weapon at Ragnarok just the same. 

Ragnarok seems unperturbed, smoke clearing as the plasmabolts fizzle out, not a scratch on him. Devin growls, lunging behind cover with Max just as a vibrant yellow blast from Ragnarok takes out their ship’s main console with a resounding BOOM!

The blue halogen lights of the backup systems flicker before maintaining, secondary life support still online and running smoothly. 

It does little to calm Devin’s nerves as he presses his back to the offhand weapon’s console, and glances to Max at his side. 

His partner looks pale, staring straight ahead with his jaw clenched and right hand clutching his blaster. Devin watches him reload the clip in one movement without looking, recognizing the confirmed remaining charge of the weapon: seventy-three percent, glowing in luminous green. 

“I’m going to go for the Null Void projector,” he grips Max’s arm for a moment, forcing the human to look at him. “Cover me, understand?”

“Devin, wait--”

But he’s already up, sprinting towards the main weapon rack on the far wall, ducking under another blast from Ragnarok that singes the hair on the back of his neck. Behind him, he can hear Max swear something in terran before more plasmabolts are fired off, and Ragnarok roars in frustration. 

Devin slams his hand on the access panel, snatches the mobile Null Void projector from its rack just as another blast nearly takes him out, the explosion throwing him back against the port window and sending the Null Void projector clattering into the corner. 

“Devin!” Max hollars, lunging out from behind cover and sending another round of bolts at Ragnarok. 

The heliokinetic monster is grinning now, yellow energy glowing in his palms as he slowly stalks towards Max, and Devin has a split second to think before he focuses on an exposed electrical panel inches away.

Bingo. 

Yanking a glove off with his teeth, he grabs one of the loose wires as he stands and lets the raw energy pulse through his body, instantly feeling woozy. 

He only needs a short charge - thirty-five hundred watts should be enough - and the electricity extends from the fingertips of his left hand to the fingertips to his right hand, gathering at his wrist. Devin narrows his eyes, focuses, and fires.

A sharp blast of energy sparks off, lancing out to strike Ragnarok square in the back. 

He screams, sinks to one knee, and Devin grins in triumph, dropping the wire. 

The heavy smell of ozone hangs in the cockpit, and he tries to shake off the last jitters of electricity sparking off his hands before snatching the Null Void projector off the floor, levelling it at Ragnarok’s torso.

“Any last words?” He asks, unable to help the smug smile that crosses his face.

“You will know true suffering, Osmosian,” Ragnarok spits, pupils dots in a sea of dark red and yellow as he stares unblinking back at Devin. “This isn’t over, none of it. As long as you’re alive--”

Devin scoffs, flicks the trigger, and Ragnarok’s words turn to an enraged scream as he’s sucked backwards through the warped portal of the Null Void.

“Blah blah blah, you'll rue the day, et cetera. I’ve heard it all before.” Devin grins, sheathing the Null Void projector and inspecting the dark smear where Ragnarok once stood. 

He can hear his partner stand, and turns to double-check their nav system.

“Computers will need a reboot, but we should still be able to get a signal out for pickup. Could be worse, I suppose.” He sighs, drags a hand down his face, feels the start of a migraine coming on. “Not a bad shot, eh Max--?”

POW!

Blindingly white-hot pain overtakes him as he hears the sound of a blaster go off. Staggering, falling to one knee, hysteria instantly grips Devin’s mind. 

I’ve been shot. Max shot me.

His thoughts are confirmed as he collapses onto his side, glancing up blearily at the shape of his partner, silhouetted by the ship’s overhead lights. 

“I’m sorry, Devin, I’m so sorry. I had my orders.” Max rasps out, crouching beside him, taking one of his hands in his own.

Devin almost wants to laugh, or scream. To tell Max he’s a brainwashed idiot, that things didn’t have to be like this, that he could’ve found another way. Really, he doesn’t even know why he’s surprised at this point.

“Orders, eh?” He chokes out, tasting copper. “So Ragnarok was a distraction, to get me to slip up?”

Max shakes his head, squeezes Devin’s hand.

“No. Ragnarok was...he was supposed to finish you off back on his ship, quick and clean. But if you want something done right…Devin, I’m so, so sorry.”

“I know,” Devin gasps, agony shooting through his body with each syllable. “Max just, please, promise me one thing.”

His partner squeezes his hand a little tighter, nodding.

“Tell my wife and son I love them.”

Any compassion drains from Max’s face, taken over by horror and dawning realization. 

“Your what.”

Devin grins, finally knowing he got the last laugh in. Fuck you, universe.

[banshee1013]

Fic - Ostara

Title: Ostara Rating: Teen Tags: Castiel/Dean, Human!Cas, Established Relationship, Fluff, Spring Rituals Words: 902 AO3 Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30164448

================================================

Castiel wakes suddenly, blinking in the darkness, and for a minute he’s not sure why.

Then he feels it.

A pulse, almost like a slow heartbeat — the stirrings of something long asleep beginning to stir. 

He remembers this feeling. It’s one he didn’t think he would be able to feel again. 

He sits up slowly, pushing back the covers and swinging his legs over the side of the bed, then pauses, listening.

Dean stirs, snorts and shuffles, but then his breaths return to their previous gentle, rhythmic snores. 

Slowly, quietly so as to not further disturb Dean’s slumber, Castiel rises and pulls the robe from the nearby chair over his naked body. He pads to the door, opens it carefully and slips outside, quietly pulls it closed behind him. 

With each footstep down the dim hallway to the map room, he feels it — the pulse thrumming from the earth, rising from his feet and through his body. He enters the map room and climbs the stairs to the landing, winces at the creaking of the door as he opens and then closes it behind him, and ascends the spiral stairs to the outside. 

It’s still dark when he steps out, the cement of the stairs leading to the dirt lot at the entrance to the bunker cold against his feet. But as soon as they touch the dirt, the thrumming grows stronger, the pulse beating harder and faster. 

His footsteps quicken, his heartbeat rising to match the pulse of the earth as he climbs the slight incline running along the outer walls of the bunker, into the grove of trees at the top. At the summit of the incline, the trees open into a small glade, still bare from the winter. From here, he can see the horizon, just beginning to brighten; the indigo of night fading into light blues and oranges, a sliver of yellow just at the horizon. 

The thrumming grows even stronger and as the sun breaks over the horizon. The robe slips from Castiel’s shoulders, falling to the ground. He lifts his arms over his head, reaching for the light — and gasps as the first rays of the dawn brush over his fingertips.

Ostara. Vernal Equinox.

Spring.

As an angel in incorporeal form, he could sense the vibrations of the earth ebbing and flowing with the changing of the seasons, but they held no real significance for him then — only observing them as they affected the humans in his charge. That first Spring after taking Jimmy Novak as his vessel was the first time he had actually felt it — the near-ecstasy of the pulse of the earth coming back to life after the dormancy of winter; but then discovering that most humans still only noticed the visual effects — the greening and flowering of the earth around them — saddened him.

When he lost his Grace and became human like them, he was certain his own experiences would be as limited and pushed it from his mind. What he had gained — taste, touch, feeling, and most of all, love — was so much more than what he’d believed he’d lost.

So when the pulse of the earth had awakened him this morning, he was surprised. 

And when the rays of the first sunlight of Spring touch him, the sheer intensity of the feeling rocks him to his core.

As the sun continues to rise, the rays drift down his body, filling him with power and warmth. He pulls in the warmth, down from the palms of his upraised hands, through the crown of his head, his face and chest and abdomen and legs, pulls the warmth into himself until it’s a glowing ember at the core of him; then he falls, dropping to his knees to plant his palms onto the earth. He pushes the warmth from the glowing ember through his arms and into his hands, pushes it into the earth at his feet, and feels the earth awaken underneath him. Breathes in, breathes out, feeling every cell in his body light up. 

Slowly, he drops from his knees to sit fully on the ground, legs crossed; his naked skin humming from the sun’s warmth and residual effect of being the conduit of its power. His gaze falls to the ground in front of him, sees a small shoot peeking out from the soil. 

He brushes the tiny leaves with gentle fingers. “Hey there, little one.”

He’s not sure how long he sits there, the sun’s rays basking him in golden warmth, but he becomes aware of a new warmth from behind him, the discarded robe being draped over his shoulders, a warm body pressing into him over it, warm arms wrapping around his waist.

“Hey, Cas.” Dean’s head pops over Castiel’s shoulder, and he rests his chin there. 

“Hello, Dean.”

“Not that I don’t admire how gorgeous you are naked in the sunlight,” the whisper in his ear sending shivers scurrying down Castiel’s spine, “but you’re gonna catch your death out here.” Dean’s hands flatten against Castiel’s abdomen and brush lightly up to his chest, leaving a crop of goosebumps in their wake and chasing the breath from his lungs.

Covering Dean’s hands with his own, Castiel leans back into Dean’s warmth. His own personal sun; his light, his love.

“Blessed Ostara, Dean.”

Castiel feels Dean’s brow crinkle in confusion and chuckles. 

“Spring, Dean. Happy First Day of Spring.”

[teamhook]

CSSNS20 :|: The Wolf and The Savior

Hello, everyone! Well, I want to apologize for not posting on time. I was diagnosed with Pneumonia and Covid19 so I had to take my time to get better. I was on lock down for six weeks. I’m truly sorry I missed my deadline but here I am now. Thank you for your patience.

I want to thank the Mods @cssns , my lovely Artist @allons-y-to-hogwarts-713 , my Beta @ultraluckycatnd

~I truly love the fandom...

AO3

FFN

 Summary: Loosely inspired by an episode of Lost Girl...

 When danger looms over Emma Swan, Killian Jones offers to give up a major part of himself in exchange for her safety, but the Norn has different ideas for their deal and he may have to relinquish more than he’d planned. What is the Norn scheming, and what consequences will Killian face for the decisions he makes?

The Wolf and the Savior

 Once upon a time, the realms lived in harmony. The peace came to an abrupt end once the Darkness found a vessel. That Darkness spread corrupting Fae and humans alike like a plague. Some ran to different realms, but in the end, there was no place to hide. The Darkness consumed them all, and only one realm remained. In order to control the shared evil foe, they became the Light and the Dark to keep a balance. Every Fae had to choose a faction. Families were torn apart by the choice. Each region had an assigned ruler. Peace was never meant to last. Multiple Kingdoms fell as the Darkness sparked a long war that led to many deaths on all sides.  

Unbeknownst to the Jones brothers, their King was a selfish coward with an unquenchable thirst for power. 

Killian Jones, alongside his older brother Liam, served the corrupt King Robert Fitzroy who was a recent widower. His wife had fallen ill during her pregnancy, and both she and the child died during childbirth. The King had been looking for a new Queen but none had captured his interest until he met Captain Liam Jones's vibrant wife, Belle.

The Jones brothers were sent on a mission to obtain a weapon that would help them win the war that was currently waging. The King took that time to endear himself to the lovely woman. He was smitten quickly by how well-read she was, and she surprised him by also turning out to be an amazing strategist. 

The mission failed and turned out to be a death sentence for the elder Jones. They had been ambushed and Liam had suffered a deadly wound made by silver nitrate as it spread throughout his body. In an attempt to save his brother’s life, Killian Jones went to go see the Norn. 

The Norn’s deal was simple. She wanted what Killian held dearest: his wolf. The ability to transform into a wolf was the best part of himself. To be able to run wild was an exceptional experience. The choice was simple. Killian’s wolf in exchange for his brother’s life. Killian was unable to go through with it. His wolf was a vital part of his identity. Without his wolf, who was he? 

Unfortunately, Liam wasn’t lucky and died. Not long after his death, the King’s betrayal was revealed. Without a second thought, Killian Jones turned against the crown. He would no longer serve a wicked King. His beloved brother was gone, and with him, the yearning for being a man of honor died too. For centuries he lived a life full of debauchery and revenge against the King and his new bride. His guilt over the selfishness of keeping his wolf haunted him long after he had avenged his brother. With the King dead, his new Queen had taken the throne. She was a righteous ruler and had tried to reach out to Killian to explain that she had only agreed to marry the King in exchange for his and Liam’s safety, not knowing it was a trick. 

After a long time after the Great War had passed, there was a truce between the Fae and the humans. They worked together to stop their common enemy, the Dark. They had to ensure the scale was never tipped in the Dark’s favor because allowing it to consume too much could lead to another war.

After decades of tranquility, an evil witch wanted the crown. 

On an evening he was brooding over a bottle of rum, he was approached by a man hidden by his cloak. “Killian Jones?”

“Aye, what of it?”

“I have a proposition for you,” the man answered with a smile. 

The newly crowned Fae Queen had married a lowly human and soon they were to become parents. Sadly the very existence of the witch threatened the safety of the unborn Princess. It was decided that she would be hidden with the humans. A trusted friend would take her upon birth to keep her safe since it was foretold she would be the Savior of the Light and the end of the Darkness. On the day of the birth of the beloved princess, the witch cast a spell to stop time and take their memories, then she would have all the power. In order to save their newborn daughter, who was prophesied to save them all, they sent her through a magical portal to safety. 

Emma Swan grew up loved and adored by her adoptive mother Sarah. The years passed by and the woman became afraid of losing her daughter; Sarah refused to tell Emma the truth of her parentage. She was supposed to prepare her for the future but instead decided to keep Emma as her daughter. 

Young Emma sensed that Sarah was keeping her in the dark for a selfish reason, and in her frustrated state, she took off on her own. If Emma were being honest with herself, she had always felt like something was missing. She wasn’t running away, she was running towards something.

At barely seventeen years, she found herself out on the streets. She gained employment in a small dive diner. The glimmering green-eyed golden-haired beauty captivated everyone she met. 

She was befriended by a man about five years her senior. In a moment of vulnerability, Emma allowed herself to be comforted by the man. She felt so alone. He decided that friendship was not all that he wanted from her and attempted to take by force what was not offered freely. 

Although she was afraid, Emma was not willing to be taken advantage of without a fight. In an effort to survive as the man groped and touched her as if she was his to do with whatever he wanted, she felt a surge of power as a white light submerged the room and the man collapsed to the floor.

Emma Swan ran once again afraid~~ she was a runaway ~ lost girl ~ waitress ~ a murderer. 

Days before her twenty-eighth birthday, Emma Swan stumbled on to a small unheard of town. Storybrooke, Maine. She never heard of it but somehow she felt a pull to it. 

All her life she had run in search of something that was missing; she didn't know that the truth was that she was seeking for her family. Their motto being, I will always find you.

She meets and bonds with the town school teacher and the town’s dog catcher from the local animal shelter. The brave Deputy becomes a fast friend as well. The Sheriff is a stickler for the rules and that was more difficult to break through. 

It doesn’t take long for the curse to be broken. Emma Swan falls in love with Deputy Jones. A true love’s kiss reveals the truth. Soon, other enemies make their way to the town. 

The teacher, Mary Margaret, is her mother, and the animal control officer is her father, David Nolan. 

The dashing Deputy is Killian Jones, ex-Navy Captain, and former scoundrel, and he is the man her heart chose. 

As a family, they had quickly overcome so much to be together, and now the final battle was fast approaching.

The problem was the Savior was still weak from the previous battle.

They had survived a curse cast by an Evil Queen, a vengeful Dragon, a crazed former ally, and time travel.

Emma had found her family after being a lost girl. She had found true love too in an unlikely place, a redeemed villain. Some days it was surreal she was the daughter of a Queen. No, the Rioga. There were no more monarchs.  

As a last resort to save the woman he loves, Killian goes to the Norn for help. He offers a deal, his wolf in exchange for her to transfer his strength to Emma, but instead, she takes his love passion - the love for his mate - as payment.

 At the last battle, Emma feels a sudden rush of power that has her overwhelming her foe, the Black Fairy. 

The Fairy shrieks as the light magic consumes her and she is absorbed by it. 

After the dust settles, Emma is embraced by her parents and she looks around trying to find her anchor, her love, but he was nowhere in sight. Where was he? 

Killian leaves the Norn, shifts into a wolf, and runs. His animal takes over as he whimpers for the loss of his love passion. His black fur coat shined as he galloped across the forest. His blue eyes were a dark storm. He found a spot overlooking the ocean and howled. Right now, Killian didn’t know what could have been worse, losing his wolf or the love for his mate. How could he ever face her? 

The Norn laughed as she put away the vial that held Killian’s love passion. She found the wolf fascinating, and he was beautiful. Part of her wished it was hers. His love. Technically it was hers now. She smiled wickedly. 

Killian decides to visit an old friend. He needs to make sense of his life. 

He knows he is being a coward, but how is he going to face Emma? Look into her eyes knowing that his heart won’t speed up at her touch. That he will feel nothing. If he is lucky, he will still hold a fondness for her, but nothing romantic. No spark. 

Killian called Graham to let him know he was taking some time off. In reality, he hopes he can figure something out before coming face to face with Emma. 

Graham agrees hesitantly after urging him to talk to Emma but he cannot deny him; he has all the time accrued. 

Emma has been looking for Killian, calling him non stop. Voicemail has become her new enemy. She knows it’s because of him she is still alive, the surge of strength that went through her when she defeated the fairy was proof of that.  

She freezes as she is going through his room looking for clues. He had told her about a Fae he had visited years ago in hopes to save his brother. Maybe he went back but this time it was to save her. 

Emma runs out of his place and goes to ask her parents if they know of this Fae.

Once Emma reaches her parents’ home, she bursts in. “Mom, Dad!!” she yells for them.

“Emma, what’s going on?” Her father reaches her first.

“I think Killian went to go see that Fae, the one that does deals? I think he traded his wolf for me. To save me.”

“Wait, Emma calm down.”

She was walking back and forth. “Dad, I can’t find him anywhere and during my fight with the fairy I felt a rush of strength and I was able to beat her. Dad, it was something I hadn’t felt before. It was raw and powerful.” 

Her father tilts his head and smiles, “He does adore you. I’m afraid your mother might know. I don’t know all the kinds of Fae that exist. Let me go get her. Just stay here, and sweetie, please calm down.” 

Emma continues pacing the room. 

Her father comes back with her mother in tow. “Emma, sweetie, your dad says you can’t find Killian? I didn’t know he was missing.”

“Mom, it’s a feeling I have. I think he is in trouble. I haven’t seen him since before the battle with the Black Fairy. He was supposed to meet me there but never showed. I was telling Dad that during my final battle with her, I felt a surge of energy and it felt like him. I don’t know how to explain it.”

“Your father mentioned you had questions about a Fae that grants deals...”

Emma sits down and her foot keeps tapping the floor rhythmically. Her parents follow suit and sit across from her. “Killian told me once that he could have saved his brother but that he was a coward. He couldn’t go through with it.” Emma sighs, “He felt guilty for so long, and that was the reason he went after the King.”

“And you think he did this for you?” her mother asks.

Emma sniffles, “I was afraid I wasn’t going to make it, for a moment. I thought the Black Fairy was going to win, but then I felt his presence. I felt his love and strength around me, and then I was able to destroy her.”

“Okay, I know there’s a Fae called Norn. She trades for favors. Emma, if Killian went to her, I don’t know what to say. She tricks and takes what’s dearest to you. Sometimes the price outweighs the benefit.”

“Where can I find this Norn?” Emma stood up, determined. 

“Emma, she’s not someone you can deal with. She is a dark Fae.”

“How could Killian go to her then?”

“The rules are simple, dark Fae deal with each other only in the case a light Fae wants to talk to or has a problem with a dark Fae. There’s a protocol that needs to be followed. Killian is a deputy, he deals with both dark and light Fae to do his job.”

“Mom, why can’t I? I’m the stupid Savior. I don’t understand.”

“Emma, we need balance. If the balance is lost, we end up fighting battles with Black Fairies because of that imbalance.”

Emma yells, “Then what’s the point of being the Savior if I can’t help the man I love?” Her eyes brimmed with unshed tears. 

Her father is the one that tries to soothe her, “Emma, Killian is a survivor and he will be fine. He might need time alone. Just wait until you hear from him. He wouldn’t want you to react before you know what exactly you’re up against.”

What her parents had failed to tell her was that since she was half-human, the Norn wouldn’t see her. 

Emma leaves her parents’ home in a huff and decides on a new tactic. Ruby is a wolf too, so she is going to have her confirm Killian’s presence at the Norn’s. 

With a smile on her face, Emma enters Granny’s Diner. Ruby smiles back at her, but the closer Emma gets to her, the more Ruby's smile shrinks. 

“Hey, Ems. The usual?” Ruby busies herself getting a cup ready.

“Rubes, I need a favor and you cannot tell anyone.”

Ruby sighs, “I don’t know how to feel about this. What favor?” 

“I need you to take me to the Norn.”

“Emma, the Norn is not someone you can just see.” 

“Why not?” Emma rolls her eyes.

“Look, she is one of the oldest Faes and she is not a fan of humans. Not only that but she's a dark Fae. Whatever the issue is, she is not the answer.”

“I think Killian went to see her. I haven’t seen him since the battle with the Black Fairy. Ruby, his phone is off. Killian told me that, a long time ago, he went to make a deal with her. He was going to give his wolf to her in exchange for Liam’s life. At the last minute he changed his mind and Liam died. Killian has hated himself for that decision.”

“Emma, trading your wolf is not something one can do lightly. Our wolf is part of us. Imagine if someone took your hand.” Ruby made a pained face. “If he did that, he will never be the same. Emma, he will not be able to run free. His wolf will be gone. He is going to need time,” Ruby whispered. 

Emma’s eyes water, “Is he going to hate me?”

“Killian could never hate you. He loves you. You two share True Love.” 

“I just know something is wrong,” Emma said as she stared her friend down.

“Okay, I’ll take you, but you’re going to have to let me take the lead,” Ruby hissed.

 “Fine. I’ll be on my best behavior. When can we do this?”

“She lives in the woods, just passing the toll bridge. We can go early tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow? Ruby, can’t we go today? Killian has been missing for almost a week.” 

“Fine, but if anyone asks, we are just going to have some drinks. We are lucky Granny is out with Marco ’cause if she heard any of this conversation she would have my hide.” Ruby shutters. 

“Drinks to take my mind off my missing boyfriend.” 

“I’ll meet you at your place right after my shift ends.” Ruby nods at her friend. 

Emma and Ruby arrive at the toll bridge. “We need to walk the rest of the way,” Ruby says.

Emma simply nods.

“Ems, the Norn likes to trick, and she loves deals. Just let me talk.”

“Okay. Ruby—” Emma hesitates.

“What is it?”

“You're a wolf, right?”

“Yes…” Ruby rolls her eyes.

“Uhm, do you know Killian’s scent?”

Ruby stops and turns to her friend. “I’m familiar but not in the same way you are familiar with it.” Ruby waggles her eyebrows.

“I mean, you say the Norn likes to trick. Could you tell if Killian was there? I mean could you smell if he was there?” Emma takes a baggie from her back pocket. 

Ruby thinks about it, “Yeah, I should be able to. His scent might be a little faded, but I should be able to make it out.”

Emma smiles, “So you won’t need this?” She pulls out a black scarf from the baggie. 

Ruby grabs the scarf and smells it. Her eyes turn to her friend. “I know you are worried about him, but Killian is a survivor. He knows what he is doing. I can’t say I agree with his decision, but I understand why he would sacrifice half of his being for you. Emma, that man adores you and if something happened to you, it would destroy him.” 

The trek is faster than they thought it would be. 

They reach a big tree trunk. Emma looks around and turns to Ruby, “I thought you said you knew where she lived!” 

Ruby shushes her and knocks on the tree trunk. The trunk transforms into a door and creaks open.  

They enter hesitantly. 

An older woman appears out of thin air. Emma curses, I should be used to this by now.

The woman glares at her, “Human, how dare you enter the Norn’s home?”

Ruby clears her throat. “She’s here with me.” 

The Norn’s attention turns to Ruby and studies her. “Anita’s daughter, granddaughter of Granny Lucas. One dark, one light. What sacrifice do you have for me?”

Ruby’s eyes turn golden at the mention of her mother. 

Emma speaks, “She only has some questions for you.”

The Norn hisses at her.

Emma stands her ground. “Look, lady, we only have a few questions for you.”

“I don’t answer questions to humans, but I’m willing to excuse your behavior in exchange for a single hair.” She was human but there was strong magic around her too and yes, a hint of familiar energy. 

“You can have a single hair if you answer my friend’s questions.” Emma ignored Ruby’s growl. 

“I sense these questions aren’t hers to ask, you are the one who needs them answered. One question.” The Norn held out her hand. 

Emma plucked a hair out and handed it to her. 

The Norn examined the hair and put it in a small vial, “I’m waiting.”

Ruby is looking around trying to catch a scent but there’s nothing

Emma looks at Ruby for confirmation. The other shakes her head. “I want to know if—” she sighs as her eyes drift back to Ruby.

The Norn snarls, “Sorry, no cheating, you and your pretty friend forfeit the deal.”  

Ruby and Emma are thrown out. They land on their asses. 

“Shit,” Emma mutters.

Ruby groans, “Ow, that bitch just reeks darkness but no Jones scent. I’m sorry, Ems.”

“Could she mask the scent somehow?”

“I suppose if she wanted to keep her clientele secret.” 

“I know he was here,” Emma states. “When you love someone you just know.”

“So what now?” Ruby asks. 

“Now I track myself a wolf,” Emma says.

~~~

@hookedonapirate @kmomof4 @searchingwardrobes @seriouslyhooked @profdanglaisstuff @let-it-raines @revanmeetra87 @snowbellewells @hollyethecurious @branlovestowrite @thejollyroger-writer @shireness-says @ilovemesomekillianjones @thisonesatellite @thesschesthair @winterbythesea @stahlop @resident-of-storybrooke @superchocovian @lfh1226-linda @thislassishooked @shardminds @winterbaby89 @xhookswenchx @ultraluckycatnd @gingerchangeling @wellhellotragic @xemmaloveskillianx @courtorderedcake @pirateherokillian @optomisticgirl @darkcolinodonorgasm @sherlockianwhovian @andiirivera @djlbg​ @nikkiemms @jennjenn615 @scientificapricot @officerrogers @imlaxdris71 @therealstartraveller776 @kday426 @kymbersmith-90​ @artistic-writer​ @laschatzi​ @lassluna​

[mymysticbouquet]

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Twenty-four stories of gay sex, gay love, gay mystery, gay fantasy, gay demons, gay science fiction, and gay transformations of gender. This book contains stories of alien invasion, reincarnation, murder and other crimes, emasculation, masturbation, switching gender, catamites, sodomites, romance, enforced chastity, humor, romance, nostalgia, interesting cures for toxic masculinity, retaliation against bullies, and over-the-top gay sex. In one tale, a man is transported to another dimension to compete in an inter-dimensional masturbation contest. In another, college boys employ a stolen militarized gay sex weapon against their former high school bullies. Several men are kidnapped by demons and carried to Hell where good times are had by all. There’s a story involving a male chastity device, a story about boys required to wear thong bottoms at all times, six gay mystery stories starring a promiscuous private investigator, and several enforced male emasculation stories. Then, of course, there are those wily space aliens who have their own plans for humanity, and human reproduction is not on their agenda.

The Business

For his obvious gayness, Bill Saroyan had been cruelly bullied in high school, particularly by his nemesis Rolf Dangler. Upon arriving in college, Bill joins the Uranus Club whose president has access to the military’s gay sex weapons, which can turn latent homosexuals fully gay. By then, Rolf has become the captain of the college’s swim team, so Bill proves that he can outswim Rolf and turns the tables on his former bullies.

Forgive Us Our Trespasses

Harry is a famous author, but his partner and lover Bradley is subject to occasional violent fits. After one of Bradley’s irrational moments, Harry takes a walk that grows increasingly surreal. Returning home, he finds Bradley murdered and himself arrested. This story was a finalist in the 2020 Saints and Sinners Fiction Contest and printed in Saints+Sinners: New Fiction from the Festival, Edited by Tracy Cunningham and Paul J. Willis. (Bold Strokes Books, April 2020)

Thinking of Him Always

Clark is a elderly gay man romanticizing his first love, Davy, an amoral scalawag. As was true of many gay males in 1978, Clark must conquer his internalized homophobia, find his bliss, and turn away from a toxic relationship.

You’re Next

A demon transports college English professor Larry Tarr to Hell where Satan opens Larry to his slutty nature, and he learns the truth of his satanic ancestry.

Locked in the Zero

A gay hotel manager and supporter of his community, Peter awakens one morning to find himself hungover and sick with flu. However those afflictions pale when he discovers that his cock has been mysteriously enclosed in an unbreakable male chastity device. As all attempts at removing permanent cock cage fail, Peter must unravel the mystery of who inflicted this torture upon him and why.

The Upsilon Incursion

After the Upsilons invade and assume control of Earth, they establish laws against procreation. Men are summoned to Espollo, the floating city in the sky, for genital mounding. However, when Roy’s appointment date arrives, he discovers that the Upsilons have a different plan for him. The aliens have discovered that they are allergic to human females, which has left them sexually frustrated. Thus Roy is included in a select group of males for an experiment to transform them into adequate vessels for Upsilon lusts.

Demons Can Be Tricky

Tristan’s Satan-worshiping grandmother had warned him against summoning demons, but Tristan hopes to bind a demon into giving him a larger dick. But when Lord Dantalion appears in Tristan’s ritual circle, the demon convinces Tristan that he can fix the mortal’s short-dick problem only if he is released. Tristan falls for the demon’s trickery, and after being butt-fucked to death, ends up as the demon’s spouse in Hell. However, in the end, Tristan faces a bright and productive future in service to the Great Beast. The moral of this comic story is that when you make a request of a demon, it pays to be specific.

The Flirtatious Twist Mysteries

In The Flirtatious Twist Mysteries, (“The Green Wrapper Case,” “The Government Truck Affair,” “The Dead Redhead Problem,” “The Japanese Garden Situation,” “The Orange Juice Caper,” & “The Red Suitcase Business”) gay private detective Flirtatious Twist solves six weirdly bizarre mysteries. In each case, written with tongue in cheek, “Flirty” ends up having over-the-top gay sex with an attractive man involved in the case, a secret he keeps from his lover and partner Sparky.

Processed

For some reason, when space aliens invade Earth, their first inclination is to put an end to human reproduction. Ritchie is a college student, living with his sister Denise and her husband while attending Portland State University. In early April, Denise receives a summons to report to Benevolence Hospital for processing. Mystified, she goes as ordered and returns a sexless being, indistinguishable from all other processed humans. Ritchie joins a resistance movement, but the rebels numbers are daily diminished as their processing dates arrive.

Into the Whirlwind

In this story of reincarnation, a soul experiences lifetime after lifetime in the bodies of gay men.

Postcards from the Orgy Deck

When Dave and his lover Bill embark on a gay cruise around the Caribbean, Dave’s sexual excesses and intoxicated behaviors are revealed in a series of post cards that lead to his downfall.

The Hand

Derek is an edger, a gooner, a pornosexual, a compulsive masturbator, who is dragged out of his mundane Earthly life by the gambler and promotor Mirdor and transported to the planet Asinel, the media giant of all the dimensions, to compete in an inter-dimensional masturbation contest. Masturbating without coming is the most popular sporting event in every galaxy and every dimension, with countless trillions of enthusiastic fans. Derek must compete against thirty-one other masculine beings, champion masturbators all, with the last “man” to ejaculate winning the grand prize.

Chillin’ for a Jillin’

The proceedings in this story are set shortly after the events related in David Holly’s novel I Shall Not Be Jilled. Claude and his friends attend a small, private high school in the Oregon Coast Range where Claude’s parents own a winery. Thus far the administrators of Maggie Fell High School have resisted the national jilling mandates, but the time has come when they can hold out no longer against the national emasculation movement.

The Lair of the Salt Demons

Hort and his friends are flying over Holy Devil Swamp when their scoot stick crashes. The men of the swamp, the so-called Salt Demons, rescue them, and three lucky Salt Demons select a boy to become his “pretty girl.” Hort is taken to Water Snake’s home where he becomes Water Snake’s lover while Water Snake trains him in the ways of the swamp.

Bradley’s Special Day

After the Radical Gynocracy gains control of all levels of government, the women promptly legislate the final solution to masculinity. Boys are required by law to begin measuring down in their sixteenth year. By the time any male turns seventeen, he must have popped his muff. Bradley’s special day is fast approaching, and he must find a way to cope with the regulations that outlaw his masculine appendages.

The Harvesting of Humanity

A world-wide pandemic is raging, while the government wages war against an alien race who came to save us. Tucker, a draftee, takes his platoon into battle only to be captured by the enemy. Shipped to the enemy’s home planet, Tucker and his cohort discover that they were selected because they were not of the breeder stock. Soon the so-called captives learn that they are honored guests of the aliens and that their earthly government was cruel, exploitive, and totalitarian.

Occom’s Razor

Some conclusions are obvious, so toxic masculinity must again be tossed on its head in a perverse twist on sexism. Markie lives in a sizzling-hot futuristic climate. Minimal dress is preferred, but human society creates demands. Each boy of a certain age is required by law to wear thong bottoms in public.

Fair Exchange

Alfrie, a farm boy just turned eighteen, is bartered by his parents to a money lender who wants a catamite. Alfrie’s parents find their son’s fate amusing, but Alfrie is hardly amused. Though filled with trepidation, Alfrie finds gay sex to his liking, and he gains urbane sophistication, business acumen, and social advancement. The plot thickens with many incidents of gay lovemaking, along with kidnapping, arson, murder, mutilation, and political shenanigans.

Not Another Minibate Story!

Myles is a student at an exclusive academy where the boys are told that they must measure down in order to conform to the new social norms. Myles and a friend attempt to escape their fate, but the tide of history is against them. Finally, Myles’ family sends him to Adjustment Camp where he can prepare for his future as a muff in an emasculated society. (Note: These male emasculation tales from the world of Minibate are a direct attack on the masculinist, penetrationist, militaristic, paternalistic, androcentric, protectionist ethos, and they offer a satire and social commentary on that conformist, uniformist culture.)

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[etlunainmorte]

“Any last words, Little Lamb?”

The tears just fell and your heart ached awfully.

The entity, who, apparently, was loyal only to its real “Master”, has brought you involuntarily to the death’s door. You knew there was no turning back.

You bowed down low, letting your tears fall on the ground. Controlling your sobs, you looked up and glanced into his empty bloodshot eyes one last heart - wrenching time, and let out the words you so wanted to tell him for the last ten years,…

The massive heart of the Dreadnought pulsated weakly in response to your dying heart. With a soft voice, you whispered your feelings, pouring out all of the emotions and frustrations that piled up over the years of being controlled by the entity.

“I love you, V.”

For a moment, the man let the sword down, seemingly conflicted with something. He pinched the bridge of his nose as he started chortling, a bit soft, at first. Then it gradually became louder as he slicked his dark locks and threw his head back.

Your heart felt like it just shattered into a million pieces at the same time that the massive heart of the Dreadnought lost its radiance.

You bit your lip, trying to hold back the pain.

With a deep sigh, V raised the Yamato above his head, gripping its hilt with his weak, trembling hands and pointing it to your stomach.

His thirst taking hold of his entire being and engulfing what little humanity he had left, he declared with every inch of the true Devil within him,

“I choose,… POWER!”

***

I See My Future Before Me - Alternate Endings

***

***

You could hardly believe everything that happened that one, fateful day. V, who gained a great deal of power from the three Sisters of Fate, Cassandra, Andromeda, and Galatea, revealed that he was none other than Vergil, himself: Dante's twin brother who was thought to be dead. 

And with this insane amount of power, all of his wounds did not only heal. He gained his true form, as well.

However, what shocked you the most was not V revealing who he really was.

It was when he finally revealed his true intentions to everyone.

Searching for a great power to defeat Dante, and searching for an even greater one to keep his weak and fragile, mortal form, void of its all powerful Demonic half, intact without a single care of any of the consequences,...

It was,... too much for your own heart to bear.

The moment he agreed to the pleas of the powerless Lamb, Galatea, to set you free in order to receive the other entities that kept you alive and immortal for a long time, he,... has merely forgotten about you.

Well, he still knew you. He knew (Y/N) (L/N).

What he forgot were his feelings towards you,... when he was still V. From the ashes of those feelings he had for you when he was still in the fragile and vulnerable form of the poet and Summoner known simply as V, the adoration, the admiration, the glimpses of what could be considered as love, rose a man as cold as the winter evening. A warrior that was even stronger than Mundus, himself. From the remnants of the man you loved and would love until your dying breath, a Devil, who would never, ever love you in return, not while he's still alive, not even after his death, and not in a million years, was born.

His name,...

... was Vergil Sparda,...

After mercilessly killing Pandemonium of Destruction, the Demon behind the Dreadnought, and Lord Fleminger, the man behind all the insidious plans, the man descended to the Underworld and made his name known to all who dwelled in it. He overthrew its former ruler, Mundus, and murdered what remained of his three powerful loyal servants and their armies - Bedlam of Insanity, and Maelstrom of Calamity. He searched every nook and cranny of the foul place, murdering all who dared to lift even a single finger against him, until the only ones who were left were those who were unable to fight. Sitting on the throne that used to belong to Mundus, with the bloodstained Yamato on his hand, he ruled over them,...

... and what remained of humanity after his onslaught.

Humans and Demons alike were powerless against him. With Dante, the one hope, the one ray of light for the weak, gone, also by his twin brother's own hand, you, or Galatea, who remained by your side through this genocide and all this heartbreaking tragedy, could not do anything against him.

And you, being a weak human, were spared by Vergil. It was,... an act of mercy from the new King, the one Alpha and Omega, who ruled all. You had no other choice but to follow him as his servant and do all of his bidding.

However, there came a time when Vergil needed all of the Sisters of Fate back.

He needed Galatea.

But, why?

"Sparda." Vergil simply told you that one day as you stood and humbled yourself before him. "I could not find Sparda, even with Cassandra's guidance. I need the Past, the Present, and the Future by my hand in order to locate him. I need the weapons to find their forger."

"My Lord," You uttered, as meekly as you could, as you avoided his cold, cold eyes. " ... may I ask why you need to find Sparda?"

"FOOL!" His word cut through your heart and through the deafening silence of the room like a hot blade against ice. "Do you think I would stop after spilling blood all over this land? Until I find and kill the Last Knight, I would never be able to completely rule over this world!"

"He's,... " You stuttered, then took a deep breath. You had to remind yourself that he would never lift a finger against you. But that was only due to the fact that you still have Galatea within you. "But, he's your f - father,..."

Vergil did not say anything. Instead, he stood up from his throne and came down towards you. Step by loud, frightening step, he descended, until he was mere inches from you.

Only then did he make you look at him by forcefully  propping your chin up with the hilt of the Yamato.

"You have no right to deny what's rightfully mine." He spoke, his rage seething, his anger overwhelming you. "You are but a mere, disposable vessel who kept my weapons safe. I have looked upon you with merciful eyes, spared you, and protected you against the malice of these,... foul creatures.

"I now humbly ask this of you,... before it is too late." The man, then, removed the Yamato from you and unsheathed it, pointing the blade at you as a final warning. "I demand you to give what is rightfully mine. Do it,... for the sake of the man you love, worship and adore."

Your voice may falter, your knees may wobble, and your heart may fall apart. Despite that, you,...

... would never let him win.

Not this time.

"The man I love, worship, and adore," You declared with utter resolution as you slowly looked up at Vergil's eyes. " ... IS DEAD!"

***

@la-vita and @clevermentalitybeliever .

***

Before Vergil could even retaliate, the woman, that he once loved, worshipped, and adored when he was still a weak and fragile poet, raised the metal cane that he thoughtlessly discarded when he finally gained the power he sought, and let Galatea, the most powerful of the three Sisters of Fate, possess it.

Casting an unbelievable and powerful form of light that blinded Vergil, the metal cane radiated warmth and gave the woman enough power to do one last bravery to end his tyranny. Calling upon those three discarded thoughts that once helped Vergil in his time of need, she was able to push the evil man away with the sheer light that emanated from the cane.

With the last ounce of Galatea's power, the discarded thoughts of Vergil's past formed into a majestic bird, a ferocious tiger, and a massive golem that lent an even greater power to the metal cane in the woman's hand.

And with the last ounce of her strength and what probably remained of her own life force, she drove the metal cane to Vergil's chest.

Push after agonizing push, the woman drove the cane deep into his chest, the sheer sensation of it tearing her own heart apart.

Tearing her own emotions apart.

With the voices of those incarnated thoughts that urged her to end this evil, all of those memories of the past came cascading down upon her as Vergil's breathing slowly ceased.

Of her running away from him, of her being rejected by him. Of her simply walking with him, of her excitedly talking with him. Of her smiling at him, of her being smiled back by him,...

... of her dancing with him on that moonlit Grecian balcony, and of her seeing him after ten long years of searching.

After a hundred years worth of waiting,...

Oh, how it hurt,...

... it hurt so much.

Ending the man she loved above all else,...

... it hurt so, so much.

As the light of the cane ebbed away, the woman pulled it from his chest and threw it away. She kneeled and took his almost limp body. As his battered eyelids fluttered and his bloodstained mouth formed incomprehensible phrases, the two Sisters, Cassandra and Andromeda, left his body and disappeared like ashes in the wind, never to be seen again. Then, Galatea, along with the three discarded thoughts, appeared one last time before her, saying their farewells, and disintegrated into nothingness, leaving her with the man who was dying because of her.

And the man? Slowly, slowly,...

... he turned back into the man he once was.

Silver eyes slowly turning into green ones, white hair becoming longer, and muscular frame morphing into that familiar weak form,…

He changed back into the mysterious man called V,...

It was in this pitiful state of sorrow and hopelessness when the Last Knight Sparda finally made himself known to the woman.

Crying, worn down, and void of happiness, he found her there, cradling the lifeless body of the man she loved.

His own son.

She looked up at him with gladness as if he was her last hope.

"Forgive me." The Last Knight spoke. "For allowing you to bear all this pain. For letting you carry this task alone. For allowing the prophecy to come into fruition. Forgive me."

The woman smiled at him as tears rolled down her beautiful, tired face.

"Let me join him, please." She uttered her last wish. "Give me,… peace."

And as Sparda raised his own weapon to oblige and allow her this one last act of kindness and mercy, the lullaby that softly came from  her lips rang in his ears until her last breath, haunting his soul forevermore,...

Wept for me, for thee, for all,

When He was an infant small.

Thou His image ever see,

Heavenly face that smiles on thee.

Smiles on thee, on me, on all,

Who became an infant small,

Infant smiles are His own smiles,

Heaven and earth to peace beguiles,...

***

[crociincovid]

I know him, February's thrush, And loud at eve he valentines On sprays that paw the naked bush Where soon will sprout the thorns and bines. Now ere the foreign singer thrills Our vale his plain-song pipe he pours, A herald of the million bills; And heed him not, the loss is yours. My study, flanked with ivied fir And budded beech with dry leaves curled, Perched over yew and juniper, He neighbours, piping to his world:- The wooded pathways dank on brown, The branches on grey cloud a web, The long green roller of the down, An image of the deluge-ebb:- And farther, they may hear along The stream beneath the poplar row. By fits, like welling rocks, the song Spouts of a blushful Spring in flow. But most he loves to front the vale When waves of warm South-western rains Have left our heavens clear in pale, With faintest beck of moist red veins: Vermilion wings, by distance held To pause aflight while fleeting swift: And high aloft the pearl inshelled Her lucid glow in glow will lift; A little south of coloured sky; Directing, gravely amorous, The human of a tender eye Through pure celestial on us: Remote, not alien; still, not cold; Unraying yet, more pearl than star; She seems a while the vale to hold In trance, and homelier makes the far. Then Earth her sweet unscented breathes, An orb of lustre quits the height; And like blue iris-flags, in wreaths The sky takes darkness, long ere quite. His Island voice then shall you hear, Nor ever after separate From such a twilight of the year Advancing to the vernal gate. He sings me, out of Winter's throat, The young time with the life ahead; And my young time his leaping note Recalls to spirit-mirth from dead. Imbedded in a land of greed, Of mammon-quakings dire as Earth's, My care was but to soothe my need; At peace among the littleworths. To light and song my yearning aimed; To that deep breast of song and light Which men have barrenest proclaimed; As 'tis to senses pricked with fright. So mine are these new fruitings rich The simple to the common brings; I keep the youth of souls who pitch Their joy in this old heart of things: Who feel the Coming young as aye, Thrice hopeful on the ground we plough; Alive for life, awake to die; One voice to cheer the seedling Now. Full lasting is the song, though he, The singer, passes: lasting too, For souls not lent in usury, The rapture of the forward view. With that I bear my senses fraught Till what I am fast shoreward drives. They are the vessel of the Thought. The vessel splits, the Thought survives. Nought else are we when sailing brave, Save husks to raise and bid it burn. Glimpse of its livingness will wave A light the senses can discern Across the river of the death, Their close. Meanwhile, O twilight bird Of promise! bird of happy breath! I hear, I would the City heard. The City of the smoky fray; A prodded ox, it drags and moans: Its Morrow no man's child; its Day A vulture's morsel beaked to bones. It strives without a mark for strife; It feasts beside a famished host: The loose restraint of wanton life, That threatened penance in the ghost! Yet there our battle urges; there Spring heroes many: issuing thence, Names that should leave no vacant air For fresh delight in confidence. Life was to them the bag of grain, And Death the weedy harrow's tooth. Those warriors of the sighting brain Give worn Humanity new youth. Our song and star are they to lead The tidal multitude and blind From bestial to the higher breed By fighting souls of love divined, They scorned the ventral dream of peace, Unknown in nature. This they knew: That life begets with fair increase Beyond the flesh, if life be true. Just reason based on valiant blood, The instinct bred afield would match To pipe thereof a swelling flood, Were men of Earth made wise in watch. Though now the numbers count as drops An urn might bear, they father Time. She shapes anew her dusty crops; Her quick in their own likeness climb. Of their own force do they create; They climb to light, in her their root. Your brutish cry at muffled fate She smites with pangs of worse than brute. She, judged of shrinking nerves, appears A Mother whom no cry can melt; But read her past desires and fears, The letters on her breast are spelt. A slayer, yea, as when she pressed Her savage to the slaughter-heaps, To sacrifice she prompts her best: She reaps them as the sower reaps. But read her thought to speed the race, And stars rush forth of blackest night: You chill not at a cold embrace To come, nor dread a dubious might. Her double visage, double voice, In oneness rise to quench the doubt. This breath, her gift, has only choice Of service, breathe we in or out. Since Pain and Pleasure on each hand Led our wild steps from slimy rock To yonder sweeps of gardenland, We breathe but to be sword or block. The sighting brain her good decree Accepts; obeys those guides, in faith, By reason hourly fed, that she, To some the clod, to some the wraith, Is more, no mask; a flame, a stream. Flame, stream, are we, in mid career From torrent source, delirious dream, To heaven-reflecting currents clear. And why the sons of Strength have been Her cherished offspring ever; how The Spirit served by her is seen Through Law; perusing love will show. Love born of knowledge, love that gains Vitality as Earth it mates, The meaning of the Pleasures, Pains, The Life, the Death, illuminates. For love we Earth, then serve we all; Her mystic secret then is ours: We fall, or view our treasures fall, Unclouded, as beholds her flowers Earth, from a night of frosty wreck, Enrobed in morning's mounted fire, When lowly, with a broken neck, The crocus lays her cheek to mire.

-- The Thrush in February, by George Meredith

[crimson-mage-02]

Voltron Legendary Defender Written in the Stars  A Thousand Lifetimes

Summary: Voltron and Honerva come together at the source of all realities in the ultimate battle between good and evil for the survival of the universe. 

Note: Here it is, the very last chapter of Season 8! Hope you had enjoyed all three stories i have made along with making my own character Kaela. Hope you all enjoyed her character. Enjoy reading!  Hope you enjoyed the journey!

@spacelion-loveshermulletson, here it is! The very, very last chapter! Hope you enjoyed the journey! 

The battle against Honerva continues in alternate reality of Altea with many Alteans down below watching the fight. Honerva shoot a blast at the Castle where Zarkon was shielding his Lotor away from the attack and Voltron depleted the attack and saved them from the blast with their sword.

Honerva knocked down Voltron the ground proceeding to attack them. “We have to take the fight as far away from here as—” Keith started as he saw Honerva coming their way and lunged her sword at them but they all moved out of the way, getting away from the Alteans, not wanting to harm them or getting anyone hurt.

They clashed blades together and fought on with Honerva tripping them using the tail and tried to stab through Voltron using her drill. She pounded them into the ground. Allura gritted her teeth as she let out angered battle cry and blasted Honerva off them.

“Now let’s finish this!” Allura growled, preparing to fight back. “This is for Kaela!”

“Incoming!” Lance shouted seeing one of the wings are coming their way and stabbed them from the back. And two came and stabbed in the lower abdomen, falling down on the ground.

Then all of the flaps of the wings were creating a portal up in the sky along taking away the quintessence from Voltron. “We can’t let this happen. She can’t get away.” Shiro said. They all pulled out the flaps of the wings out of them and went after Honerva through the portal.

“Is everyone okay? Allura?” Keith asked. They all responded much to his relief and haven’t heard from Allura.

“I’m here, Keith.” Keith sighed in relief, glad to hear that she was alright.

“Does anyone has eyes on Honerva?” Shiro asked, looking around for her. They all saw strands in front of them and glowed brightly.

“What is this place?” Lance asked.

“I-I’m not sure.” Allura said. They all gasped hearing Honerva from behind them.

“This is the beginning.” Honerva said as she charged at them. “And the end.” She shot one of the strands making all of the paladins seeing the people that lived in another reality.

“Can—Can you all feel that?” Allura asked, looking up ahead where the strands were. “These strands are...”

“The only remaining realities left in existence.” Lance said.

“This place is the source of time, of space, of…” Pidge started as she looked at the strands.

“Everything.” Hunk finished as he held onto the controls tightly.

“I will end this once and for all!” Honerva snarled as she shot down all of the reality strands. Removing them from all of existence. Voltron flew in and then felt the wave of the explosion seeing all of the innocent lives in another reality.

“She’s destroying all realities!” Allura grunted.

Honerva kept on destroying all of the strands until there is nothing left. And there was only one more strands left. “She’s destroyed everything. There’s only one reality left.” Keith said.

“No. Please.” Allura gasped seeing Honerva was going after the last strand.

They all clashed blades with Honerva to prevent her from destroying the last strand. Destroying the remaining reality. Honerva thrusted Voltron forwards towards the last remaining strand.

“If Honerva destroys this final strand all of existence will end with it!” Allura exclaimed. Then Voltron had created extra booster with enough fire power to push Honerva away from the last remaining strand. Then the light appeared and shone brightly coming from Voltron and Honerva’s mech.

(~)

Honerva was teleported in a void with light orbs floating around her. She gasped softly as she saw Kaela standing in front of her with her hair down and was in a white dress. She had this unreadable expression as she walked towards her.

“Where are we?” Honerva demanded.

“The connected consciousness of all existence.” Allura said to Honerva until she saw Kaela in the void and the paladins gasped, seeing Kaela standing in front of them.

“You think you’re safe here? Soon, all will cease to exist.” Honerva said.

“You have to stop this.” Kaela pleaded. “You have to stop all of this destruction.”

“All these worlds, all these realities, they deserve to live.” Hunk said.

“Those realities are flawed and weak, living out the same pathetic cycle of war and pain.” Honerva said.

Allura walked up to her. “There is beauty in their flaws. I lost my father, my mother, my planet, to this war, but I’ve gained a new family and a stronger than any I could have imagined.”

“Humans began very flawed. There were wars, hate. But each with mistake, they learned and grow.” Pidge said.

“Now we reach out to other worlds to pass on those same lessons and spread them across the universe like your people once did.” Shiro added.

“And with every new world touched, the message grows.” Hunk said.

“Every world, every reality. We wouldn’t exist without the others.” Keith said.

“Our differences are what makes us stronger.” Lance added.

“You think your words mean anything to me? I’ve lived multiple lifetimes, and all of them filled with pain and loss. If I cannot experience the simple joys of life, why should anyone else?” Honerva asked, glaring at the Paladins and Kaela.

Allura put both of her hands on her temple and Honerva gasped seeing all of her past memories with King Alfor and her adventures before she was corrupted. “There was a time when you loved more than just your family, a time when your fascination with how vast the universe is gave way to your desire to help others and uplift others.”

Honerva got her Altean markings reverted back to normal as she turned see the memories of Lotor. “You tried to help him. He was happy. He deserved better. You deserved better as well, Kaela. Better than I could give. I am so sorry that I had killed you in cold blood.”

“Honerva, you were as desperate as Zarkon when he tried to save you. And you were desperate to find your son. You loved them. You still have love for your family. And what I did was out of love to save my brother and you did the same when you were trying to find your family.” Kaela said.

“Lotor may be misguided, but, ultimately, he wanted to preserve life. Honour your son. Help me change this.” Allura said.

Honerva felt tears rolling down her cheeks. “I’m sorry, but the damage is done. There’s nothing left to save.”

“I can change the Quintessence within your vessel. Your son helped me learn how to transform it from a destructive force into a life-giving force. But I cannot do it alone.” Allura said, offering her hand to her.

“But that would require-…”

“I know the risks.” Allura said as she offered her hand, but Kaela’s held hers. Much to Allura’s confusion. She looked over at the young mage princess as she gave her an unreadable expression on her face.

Kaela stood quiet for a moment in silence. She helped Honerva up to her feet and turned to her and the paladins. “I know you knew the risks. But you don’t deserve this, Allura. And…I am the only one who can also do this.” Kaela said.

“W-What are you talking about Kaela?” Allura asked as she stuttered and trembled. Feeling her body going numb all over and clasped her hands together.

“I have broken one of the laws by using dark magic and that my runes are disappearing because of it.” Kaela confessed as she held on to her arm and shown her runes were disappearing.

The paladins gasped with Keith knowing why her runes were disappearing. “But you did that to save us.” Lance said in disbelief after hearing that she had used Dark Magic to save the universe and them. Along with the fact that her runes were disappearing, and she didn’t tell them. Or either of them.

“I had to pay the price, Lance. I…I have to deal with the consequences on my own.” Kaela said. “This is why I never told you what had happened during that last battle on Earth. I wasn’t ready to tell you then. But it is happening right now.”

“You knew? And that was the reason why?” Keith asked sadly as he narrowed his eyes, feeling hurt that she didn’t tell him about her runes were disappearing aside from her telling that she had absorbed Dark Magic. For the very second time.

“Yes. I knew.” Kaela nodded and then looked at everyone who had crestfallen looks. “All I want for you all is to live your lives to the fullest and never throw it away.” Kaela said.

“No, there has be another way.” Allura pleaded desperately as Honerva walked towards her and stood beside Kaela.

“You have a life to live with your family and friends. And with one man you love. I shall use the remaining Quintessence I have left to save all realities. My mission…Our mission ends here, right here and right now.” Honerva said.  

“And I have my last remaining mana to restore all of existence.” Kaela said to the paladins. “I have to take it. It is my purpose. Your paths go on. Mine ends here.”

“There will be no Voltron without you.” Hunk said as tears started to form in the corners of his eyes. He will miss Kaela so much, but he knew that the sacrifice must be made.

“Voltron will always be needed, Hunk. The rest of the work is up to the people and you all. They’ll have you to guide them and bring them together.” Kaela said with a sad smile as they shared their last hug.

Kaela turned to the weeping Green Paladin. “Goodbye, Pidge.”

“I’m gonna miss you, Kaela.” Pidge sniffled as the two girls hugged tightly. They both recalled back to their memories whenever they were helping each other in the Castle of Lions. And how Pidge was the first person to accept her aside from Shiro when they all first met.

“I’m going to miss you too, Katie. Please stay curious and fearless.” Kaela said. “Here, I want you to have this.”

Pidge looked at the green pendant with two purple crystals in her hand. “You sure?” Pidge asked as she was about to take it from her.

Kaela nodded and put the pendant around her neck. “You look beautiful, Katie.” Pidge’s tears wouldn’t stop flowing down as she hugged her again. Kaela broke the hug as she wiped her tears before going to Shiro.

“Most of them won’t know the sacrifice you made so they could live. You won’t be able to see what they had done to honour you.” Shiro said.

“I will always be watching over you, Shiro. I will always be there to guide you. I wish you full happiness and a peaceful life that you deserved and needed.” Kaela said as she hugged him. “Thank you for giving me another chance to meet my brother.”

“You never have to thank me for anything, kiddo.” Shiro said as tears formed in the corner his eyes.

Kaela smiled and moved in front of Lance and looked away for a moment until they looked at each other. “It has been a quite an adventure.” Lance said, looking away from her not wanting to let her see his tears. But it was too late. They were already rolling down his cheeks.

“It has.” Kaela said as her voice cracked and wiped his tears away. “Stay safe and fulfil your dreams, Lance.”

Lance felt a lump in his throat. “And thank you for everything you had taught me. It has been a greatest pleasure to fly with you, partner.”

“At first, I thought you were a nuisance, but you proved me wrong otherwise. You proved yourself that you are more capable to do great things as a Paladin of Voltron. I am proud of you, Lance. It has been an honour to being your partner and sister.” Kaela said as they both hugged tightly. “Take care of Katie, or otherwise, I’ll hunt you down.”

Lance let out a teary chuckle and they broke the hug with Lance kissing her on the cheek. Kaela let go of him as he comforted Pidge, he wrapped his arms around her. Pidge hugged her boyfriend tightly with her arms around him. They comforted each other in a tight embrace.

Kaela saw Allura was in Keith’s arms and they were comforting one another. She noticed how close they were and realized that they are now together. She came towards Allura as she hugged her tightly. “Please, please, don’t go.” Allura wept as she already knew she had died to save them, but she doesn’t want her to go just yet.

“Allura, I have to. And you know what has happened. For the sake of the universe, Allura. I’m doing this for all of you. You deserve to live. And to rule Altea and continue your father’s legacy.” Kaela said as she held her hands. Allura gasped as she saw Kaela taking off the crown. The crown she had given her after her capture. After they declared their friendship that lasted. Kaela was willingly to give back to her.

“I won’t be needing this anymore.” Kaela said as she put the crown on her forehead. Allura’s tears flowed down and Allura smiled. They pulled away from the hug as Kaela used her powers for the last time and got the dark entity out of her with Honerva destroying it. Allura gasped softly and saw that she was free from the dark entity at long last.

“Thank you. I am so proud of what you have done for us. I will truly miss you. Thank you for being my friend, Kaela.” Allura said with tears rolling down.

“And thank you, Allura for everything. Thank you for being my friend. Thank you for giving a second chance.” Kaela smiled and held her hands. “You have my blessings.” Allura smiled brightly knowing what she had meant. She had given her blessings for being with Keith. The two girls smiled at each other and hugged each other again before Kaela went over to her brother.

Kaela held his hands tightly as Keith rubbed the back of her hands and he saw her arms were no longer covered by her mage runes. “This was it, wasn’t it? Your nightmares?”

“Yes, it was.” Kaela replied with tears rolling down her cheeks.

“W-Why you didn’t say anything, Ella?” Keith asked as his voice started to crack.

“I still die either way and this is all we have. I know that the lions have enough quintessence in them. The universe will always need Voltron and you.” Kaela said, caressing his cheek, seeing that there were tears forming.

Keith put his forehead against hers. “But you have so much to see. So much for you to explore.”

“I know.” Kaela said as tears flowed down. “But I already have you and mom along with a wonderful family. I had everything I ever needed. You made that happen when you first found me.”

“Kaela, when you accepted me, it helped me to accept myself. I am proud to see what you have become. I am proud of what you had done. You helped us to save the universe. And you saved countless lives with us.” Keith said with a sad smile.

“You have helped me to believe in myself in using my powers and I want to thank you for all the moments we had shared together. And no matter what happens, I’ll always be with you forever.” Kaela said as she put her hands on his shoulders. Both of them closed their eyes with their foreheads pressed against each other.

Then appeared purple and red aura, twirled and danced around them. All of her mana were all transferred into Keith. Kaela pulled away as she cupped his left cheek and brushed her thumb against it. Appearing a new marking on his cheek, while wiping his tears away.

Keith opened his eyes with tears were flowing down his cheeks. He looked at his sister one last time and kissed her on the forehead gently. Once they pulled away, Keith saw a purple diamond appearing on her forehead. He chuckled and he wiped her tears with a smile. It was the symbol that symbolises that Kaela is now a true Master Mage and the Great Ikri. Kaela and Keith shared their last hug one last time until a warm light and the spirits appeared.

The paladins of the Old, King Alfor, Zarkon and Lotor appeared with Serene who offered her hand to her. Kaela and Honerva walked towards them with the paladins watching and all of Kaela’s runes were disappearing one by one. Honerva was reunited with her son and husband at last. Both son and husband were now reunited with Honerva and had warm smiles.

Kaela had tears falling down while remembering her memories with the Paladins. She looked back at them seeing Hunk was being comforted by Shiro, Lance and Pidge were in each other’s arms, smiling at her with tears flowing down their cheeks. Keith and Allura were in each other’s arms, looking at her with bittersweet smiles. Kaela smiled gratefully seeing Allura was wearing her crown. With final look, she closed her eyes with a single tear rolling down and joined into the light with Serene.

(~)

Then the shape of the phoenix appeared and screeching with the wings were stretching out to all strands of realities that were saved and the phoenix light and essence died out. The spirits were flowing around the Atlas and the lions and they were back into their normal form floating in open space as purple essence danced around the lion and the Atlas. “Is this?... Are we?” Keith asked as he opened his eyes.

“Yeah. This is our reality.” Pidge said while wiping her tears away. Allura cried and mourned in her lion as she felt coldness on her forehead and realised that Kaela had given her crown to her. She cried as she held it close to her heart.

“She did it. She saved us all.” Lance said as he looked down at the group photo they took with Kaela in the Castle of Lions. She was smiling and had her arms around Pidge and Allura with Keith, Hunk, Shiro and himself in the background smiling and Coran was looking at all of them fondly with a tablet in his hands.

“I don’t remember that planet being there before.” Hunk said as he wiped a tear.

The paladins all looked out of their lions with Allura gasping softly with more tears rolling down her cheeks. “It’s Altea.” Allura said. She silently thanked her friend for reviving her beloved home planet.

Keith looked down sadly and felt something in his hand and opened it. He gritted his teeth and held the shining object in his hands. It was the bracelet he bought for her when she stayed with them after he saved her. He realised that Kaela added red crystals to the bracelet. He looked out to the spirits and he could feel her essence. She’ll be there to protect us. Forever and ever

In the hangars, James held the locket in his hands as he saw the spirits were shining brightly above them and disappeared. He looked down at the locket in his hands and saw another photo where they had taken in Clear Day, he noticed that she wore the hair pin he had won for her. He saw that Kaela had written something. “I’ll always search for you in a thousand lifetimes.”

One Year Later

“With the return of Planet Daibazaal, the Galra Empire is at a crossroads. For so long, the people of this extraordinary civilization have been manipulated by a dictatorship, that placed a misguided sense of self-preservation above all else. It was a tragic, unfortunate series of events, that led us down this dark, never-ending pain of power and greed. But now…. We, the citizens of the Galra Empire have an opportunity.” Keith said and looked up at a shining star above them.

“To make right all of the injustices set into motion by our forefathers. Because of the sacrifice made by my sister, Mage Princess Kaela, we have been given a second chance, to come together in rebuilding the Galra Empire by joining the galactic Coalition and ushering in a new era of peace.” Keith concluded with the Galra cheering and chanting his sister’s name.

Keith turned to look at his mother who was looking up at an evening star in the sky. He comforted his mother with a smile and a side hug. “I hope she is here with us.” Keith said.

“I am sure she is always watching over us.” Krolia said. “Always.”

(~)

In the Atlas, the chancellors were arguing over the table as Shiro tried to calm them down until Hunk came by at the table with two trays in hand. “Chancellors. Please, sit. Dinner is served.” Hunk said.

He placed the plates on the table to eat the meals. “The filet of bandrillo, spiced with seasoning from the plains of planet Mabo, alongside pilaf of long-grained forlongian brill from the vast fields of Antidoll.” Hunk smiled. “And it’s accompanied by a cider made from the petals of Altean juniberry flowers and Plumberry flowers that Mage Princess Kaela once loved. Bon Appetit.”

Shiro and the Chancellors took a bite of the dish and smiled brightly as they tasted something so delicious. “It wouldn’t be possible without cooperation of all three planets of Xritoo system. Much like my cooking crew, comprised of aliens from all across the cosmos working together to bring you this delicious meal.” Hunk said as he gestured to his crew.

“Mage Princess Kaela, the very person on this day, once said, “We all must not give up hope.” Hunk said proudly. “If the people of your planets work together, so much more can be achieved.”

“Let’s honour her by following in her footsteps and walk in the path towards peace and hope.” Shiro smiled.

(~)

James was walking around Plaht City, wandering around the city as he saw some couples walking in hand and hand. He looked away immediately, almost thinking of his days with Kaela. His best friend and the person he had loved since childhood.

Then a blue petal blew by and looked up, seeing the tree that Kaela had healed and grew. He walked towards it and looked up. He smiled as the blue flowers reminded him of her. He looked at the trunk and saw a flower crown in front of a memorial with writing on it. Everyone had heard what Kaela had done for them and for the universe.

James saw a little girl putting a flower on the crown and ran back to her parents. He walked towards the tree and put a hand on the trunk. He smiled a bit, feeling some of Kaela’s essence from the tree. He turned to the side and imagined her standing by her side, with a smile. With a warm and care-free smile. Her eyes would sparkle every time.

James then fished into his pocket and got Kaela’s locket. With the engraving, “I’ll always search for you in a thousand lifetimes.” He smiled and then decided to wear it, to keep her closer to his heart and he did promise he would try and find her in a thousand lifetimes.

(~)

Lance wiped his sweat on his sleeve, putting the tools down and looked at his girlfriend. “Hey, Katie. Are we almost done? You know we can’t be late.”

“All done.” Pidge smiled as she took out a drive and walked towards her boyfriend and brother.

“So, peanut, have you been thinking of any names?” Lance asked, smiling at her and kissed her on the cheek.

“Yeah, I was thinking of Chip.” Pidge grinned. Matt and Lance looked at each other with smiles on their faces.

“You and your puns.” Matt chuckled in amusement.

“And this is why I love your sister so much.” Lance said, looking at his girlfriend lovingly. Pidge smiled at him brightly and gently nudged him on the arm. Lance kissed her on the forehead and was about to kiss her fully on the lips, but Matt cleared his throat. Last time they kissed he walked into them by accident. Seeing them in uncompromising positions as he referred.

“Katie, your father’s got the teludav all warmed up for you. Better get going. You two don’t wanna be late.” Colleen said, calling out to her daughter and Lance.

“Don’t worry, Pidge, I’ll have chip all ready to go by the time you get back.” Matt promised.

“Just don’t initialize until we return. I want to witness Chip’s first moments of consciousness.” Pidge grinned as she given her brother the flash drive and Lance grabbed her hand to get ready.

Lance and Pidge were in their armours and lions getting ready to visit their friends. “Have a good time, you two. But not too much fun.” Sam said to the two paladins.

“We will, Dad.” Pidge smiled.

“Don’t worry, Mr Holt. Katie’s in good hands here.” Lance said with a charming smile.

“Come on, sharpshooter! We’re going to be late!” Pidge chuckled as they went through the wormhole.

(~)

“Construction is on course, your highness.” Merla confirmed to the new Queen of Altea.

Allura smiled brightly as she watched the construction of the new Castle of Lions in front of her. “Most excellent. How are the preparations for tonight’s birthday celebration coming along? It has to be perfect. This will be the first Altea’s victorious celebration and most memorable birthday.” Allura said as she looked over the preparations.

“It is going along very well, Allura. And the rest of the paladins should be coming very soon.” Merla replied. “And I wish I would’ve met her. She seemed to be a very brave Mage Princess.”

“She is one of the most bravest, stubborn and courageous Mage I have ever met. If she were here, she would’ve taught the Altean children about healing.” Allura said, remembering how she watched Kaela attentively as she healed the paladins with her magic. Allura wore Kaela’s crown with pride and love as she also wore a purple and white dress in the honour of her.

“She sounds like a wonderful person.” Merla smiled.

“She is too.” Allura replied with a warm smile. “A most wonderful and courageous woman I have ever met next to my dearest friend Pidge.”

“Oh, and Allura, we can get access to the location, we can begin set up.” Merla said.

“Perfect. As soon as Coran is finished with something.” Allura said looking at where Coran stood.

“…and had Mage Princess Kaela not seen that there was still good left in Honerva, we most likely would not be sitting here today. She grew to understand that there is good in anyone also seeing the bad.” Coran said to the children. “She would always find a way to save people and bring out joy, hopes and dreams. She could see that in every person.”

“Even her adoptive father, Emperor Zarkon?” asked one of the children.

“Perhaps.” Coran replied with a small smile as he looked at the statue in front of him.

“Do the paladins miss her? And do you?”

“Yes, I do believe that the paladins misses her greatly as well as I. She had taught us to never lose hope. And that her spirit will always be guiding us. Also teaching us on how to move on forward to the future.” Coran replied with a smile.

The children all smiled as they were about to ask more questions. “All right, everybody. I think Coran has someplace to be in a few doboshes. And you all have class to get to.” Said an Altean teacher.

The children groaned with Coran laughing in amusement until he heard three wormholes opening and saw the Black, Red, Green and Yellow lion coming out in front of Kaela’s statue and landed near the New Castle of Lions. Allura smiled and greeted her friends as Pidge hugged her. Lance and Hunk greeted her warmly along with Shiro. She met with the eyes of the man she loves, and she cupped Keith’s face and kissed him passionately on the lips. “Hello, Keith.” Allura said as she pressed her forehead on his. “You have everything we need for the birthday celebration?”

“I have. Mom made me bring other things.” Keith said, showing her a bouquet of blue flowers. “Also, her favourite cake from Earth. It’s a cheesecake. Well, a blueberry cheesecake.”

“Hey, I brought something for her, as well!” Lance exclaimed happily as he pulled out loaded boxes of flowers. “I didn’t even know what was her favourite flowers so I uh, sort of ordered different tons of flowers.”

“Oh, I think she’ll love the flowers, Lance. But Plumberry flowers are her favourite.” Allura smiled, gesturing to the bouquet that Keith had brought.

“What? She never told me that.” Lance said as he scratched his head.

“Yeah, remember how you saw her writing something in her journal and she got mad at you for trying to read it?” Pidge smirked at her boyfriend.

“Yeah, I remember that. She punched you so good that she gave you a black eye.” Hunk chuckled. “Classic Kaela.”

“And that’s why she never shared anything with you or tell you anything about her until you two are friends.” Keith smirked. Lance groaned in annoyance much to everyone’s amusement.

Coran came and smiled at them. “Great, everyone is here. Shall we get started?”

(~)

Everyone laughed out loud as they all sat on a blanket in the juniberry field. Pidge was sitting on Lance’s lap while Allura was leaning on Keith and Shiro was sitting next to Keith. Hunk was munching on some food with a smile. They were watching a vlog that captured Kaela’s most memorable memories. They all saw Kaela pinching Lance’s ear in the kitchen. She was helping Hunk cooking with Pidge in the background fixing something.

And the video changed to where Kaela and Keith were training, and Kaela had Keith pinned down. She had him in a headlock with a brightest smile they all ever had seen. The slide were showing the sibling moments. Keith putting Kaela into bed, Keith reading her a book and Kaela helping him on cooking with Hunk. And another slide shows Kaela with a grin as she pointed at the direction where Keith and Allura were in the hallway gazing into each other’s eyes. Both Keith and Allura chuckled at that memory.

The other slide shows Shiro and Kaela were looking at the stars together in the Atlas. Them dancing in the ballroom while Kaela was in a light blue and purple dress with her hair in a braid. Keith and Shiro lecturing her all night in her study and had a pile of books all over the table.

Allura giggled when she saw Coran fixing the corset for Kaela when she was fitting in a dress for a diplomatic meeting. She could not breath properly during the whole meeting. Later that day, she ripped the corset into pieces with Coran crying over the loss of the dress. Kaela was never going to wear any corset. Ever. She despised corsets ever since then. And in the background, Allura was comforting Coran with a sheepish smile.

It also show where Allura and Kaela were looking at the stars with Pidge at the beach on a planet. The girls all had their arms around them with Pidge in the middle. Then the slide changed to Keith was carrying Kaela in his arms with bright smiles on their faces. Everyone gushed at that memory, but Keith’s expression can be noticed and that he misses his sister every day.

Then the video changed it to where Kaela was speaking. “Lance, no. I don’t wanna do this. Besides we both know you’ll end up being pinned down by my brother.”

“I’ll be fine. I can take it. Come on! It’s fun! Every kid does this to their older siblings.” Lance whispered as he passed the marker to her.

“But this is Keith, we are dealing with here. You know how much he gets mad after that.” Kaela hissed as she looked at Keith who was sleeping in the lounge. Lance beckons Kaela with a grin to take the marker.

Kaela raised an eyebrow and opened the lid. She started to draw on Keith’s face. After a few moments, Keith woke up to seeing Kaela was covering half of her face with her book. “Ella? Are you okay? You look red.” Keith said.

“Uh-huh, I am fine.” Kaela nodded, trying so hard not to laugh out loud.

“Then why are you acting like there is something in my face?” Keith asked as he rubbed his face until he felt ink on his fingers. He looked back and forth at Kaela and the ink on his hands. He heard Lance’s laughing.

Keith growled. “You are so dead!” He chased Lance around the Castle with the rest of the paladins watching in confusion and Kaela laughing in amusement.

Keith glared at Lance who smiled sheepishly. “Okay, I was teaching her the stuff she missed out as a kid. She needed that.”

“Yeah, anything besides that.” Keith said.

“But Keith, at least she was having fun with us.” Allura said as she calms him down.

“Yeah, it is nice to see her smiling again.” Hunk said.

“And she inspired us all. She even convinced my dad to do the impossible with the garrison tech to infuse it with Galran and Altean tech. I mean, seriously, though, Earth has come a long way. It’s a hub for all alien activity now that my dad’s stabilized his teludav technology.” Pidge said with a smile. She was handing him another piece of a birthday cake for Lance.

“That’ll make travel on the Atlas much easier. We’ll be able to reach more sectors with the improved mobility. Not to mention the supplies we’ll save with the shorter journey.” Shiro smiled as he set down the plate.

“Yeah, yeah! We’ll have so much room for the cooking ingredients. People are just so much easier to reason with when they’re full.” Hunk said. “Man, this diplomacy thing isn’t nearly as easy as you and Kaela made it look.”

“I am sure you are doing a fantastic job, Hunk.” Allura said with a proud smile.

“Then you and my sister made everything look easy.” Keith teased Allura as she punched him on the arm playfully. Keith smirked and kissed her on the cheek, making her blush.

“She said she wanted to learn a few things about politics.” Allura smiled playfully at Keith. “She had done a fantastic job. But her strongest point is as a Mage Healer.”

“Speaking of which, how are things in Daibazaal?” Shiro asked.

“We’re calling for an election to select the Galran representative for the Galactic Coalition. So that’s step in the right direction.” Keith replied with a smile.

“Let me guess. They asked you to be their leader and you said no?” Lance asked raising his eyebrow while he had his arm around Pidge.

“Yeah, pretty much.” Keith replied with a smile.

“Classic Keith.” Lance smirked and everyone laughed in amusement.

“I am so proud of your decision, Keith. Kaela and I knew you would always be the key to the Galra’s future.” Allura said as they intertwined their hands together.

Coran smiled at the paladins and the new Queen of Altea. He smiled proudly and thought how they came a long way when they first met and when they first met Kaela. “Just around this table I see so many lives touched by her actions. For some of us she was a healer, a counsellor, a confidante and a sister. But to those of us around this table, she will always be family.” Coran said as he grabbed a glass and raised it high. “To Kaela!”

“To Kaela.” Everyone said as they all looked back at the statue of Kaela from behind them that had photos and flowers in front of her. They also had the statues of the Paladins of the Old along with Mage Princess Serene standing in behind Kaela.

Keith smiled as he hugged Allura as she wrapped her arm around his waist, smiling at the statue. “Happy Birthday, Ella.”

(~)

Everyone went to sleep for the day until Keith woke up and saw a white feather coming into his room from his window and then saw the spirits had appeared. Allura woke up beside him also felt her presence and heard the lions roaring.

The paladins and Allura all went outside to see the spirits appearing before them with the Lions all drifting above them. They all saw different kinds of colours in the sparkling night sky with the spirits lighting up the dark as they all white orbs coming down and two spirits appeared as King Alfor and Queen Melenor. Allura’s tears rolled down her cheeks as she ran to them and wrapped her arms around them tightly. Shiro gasped when he felt a hand on his shoulder from behind him and saw Adam. He was smiling at him fondly. Shiro had tears forming overjoyed to see him.

Keith, Lance, Pidge and Hunk all smiled seeing that Allura and Shiro were reunited with their loved ones. They heard a white phoenix squawking above them and landed in front of them and appeared Kaela in spirit form and wore a white dress. Keith’s breath hitched seeing his sister after a year and saw another spirit appearing and saw their father was standing beside her. Kaela walked towards him smiling as she caressed his cheeks and wiped his tears.

Keith smiled and they hugged in a tighter embrace and she looked back at their father who walked towards Keith. Keith gasped softly as he felt Kaela holding his hand tightly until their father went up to his children. There were no words need to be spoken and he simply nodded, he was proud of what he had done as a Paladin of Voltron and for everything he had done for the universe. The three hugged each other with everyone watched with tears flowing down.

Allura looked at her parents as they began to fade. Her mother and father both embraced their daughter one last time. Shiro looked at Adam who was smiling at him sadly and started to walk away from him. Shiro looked at Keith who had his arm around his sister and father. Their father smiled at Keith one last time before he started to walk away and joined the other spirits in the night sky. The paladins all looked at their lions one last time as they reminisce on their memories as Paladins of Voltron and their memories they had shared with Kaela. The joyous memories they all had treasured.

Kaela and Keith pressed their foreheads together with Keith shedding one tear and let go of her as he watched she running towards the lions. She transformed into a white phoenix and flew with them with the spirits shone bright in the night sky with the paladins smiling and with tears flowing down.

After a year, everything had changed for the better with The Holts family established the next generation of Legendary Defenders. Hunk created a culinary empire, bringing the universe together, one meal at the time. Lance took Kaela’s wishes to heart and followed his dreams as he became a teacher in the Garrison and teach the young generation of becoming great pilots with his girlfriend, Pidge, by his side, Krolia and Kolivan became the Galra representatives to the Galactic Coalition. Keith helped transition The Blade of Marmora to a humanitarian relief organization with the help of his girlfriend. Queen Allura of Altea, who encouraged the Alteans to become peacekeepers and brave diplomats in the universe while respecting Kaela’s wishes as she continued her father’s legacy and ruled Altea. Shiro found happiness with Curtis and finally left the battle behind.

Somewhere in deep space, all five lions followed the white phoenix and led them far away from Altea to a planet with pillars around it, serving as a gate way and the spirits glowed brightly, responding to the white phoenix and the Lions.

(~)

“My lord, we just got word.” Said one of the soldiers, he had his jet black tied up back neatly as he bowed down in respect. “It seems that the Great Ikri has fallen.”

The soldier watched his lord and master swung his spear across the room and then slashed a tapestry that was on the wall, cutting it in half with Mage Princess Serene and her family image on the tapestry. “Is that so?”

“Yes, my lord.” Replied the lieutenant.

The Lord chuckled evilly as he looked at the cut tapestry of Mage Princess Serene. “Hmm, looks like the story and the legend is not ending, after all, Mother. Gaius, begin preparation and summon the Elders. It is time to bring back what is rightfully ours.”

“Yes, of course my lord, Prince Adelram. At once.” Gaius complied as he went and do as he was told to.

“Soon, Mother, I will take everything you have. And then I shall rule Zelza and it will all be mine Looks like the story is not over just yet.” Prince Adelram chuckled evilly as he overlooked his soldiers building and creating weapons of their own in an abandoned mansion.

[nadziejastar]

Thoughts on Soranort?

“Hey, I got an idea. Ask your heart. See if it’s got a clue.”

“Well…my heart was aching. That’s why I kept going.”

It was almost too much to bear. The sorrow—the pain, and so many other feelings. A suffering so much greater than anything he’d ever known. Hatred, sadness, anger, jealousy, fear, resentment, anguish, envy, uncertainty, pain, despair. Who did these feelings come from? Roxas? That woman? Those two people called me Ven—maybe him? Or someone else?

“Oh… Thank you, Sora’s heart, for pushing him right into our clutches. Aren’t hearts great? Steer us wrong every time,” Xigbar remarked, mocking as ever.

Personally, I don’t think he would have made a good Nort. But that’s why he was the hero.

Sora was targeted as a vessel because he had pain inside of him. The pain wasn’t really his, though. It was the memories inside of him, which didn’t even belong to him. That’s why I think he’d make a pretty boring seeker of darkness, from a story standpoint. He’s better suited as the hero. I think almost all the Norts were handled VERY poorly, though. The Dark Seeker Saga just turned out to be a huge flop in the end. It was supposed to be all about healing pain. Not just for the missing guardians of light. But the seekers of darkness, too. There was a reason they all got Norted, which KH3 did a VERY poor job explaining. It was because they all had pain that led them to abandoning their heart.

Ansem’s mouth twisted into a smirk. “If he wavers from the path we lay, we destroy him.”

“But in that case…we’ll have to find ourselves another vessel.”

Xigbar barked a laugh. Another vessel…, he says, as if it’s nothing. Just one piece of their grand, far-reaching plan.

“That is why we never have just one iron in the fire,” Xemnas replied matter-of-factly.

KH3 was supposed to be all about Xehanort’s search for a replacement vessel after Sora failed in KH3D. Vessels are not easy to come by, so “reserve members” shouldn’t even be a thing. I think the person they were supposed to be talking about in this scene was Davy Jones. He was a perfect vessel because he didn’t have a heart, but he didn’t die. He cast away his heart because it caused him pain. He would have been like the Beast in KH2, where they were trying to get him to join he organization. 

This world could have felt like it was relevant to the main story. But Davy Jones’ heart got little focus and all anyone cared about was the stupid black box, which isn’t even relevant in this game. The whole idea of the seekers of darkness becoming vessels because of pain got very little attention. When you defeated them in the Keyblade Graveyard, there should have been a sense of healing for each character’s pain and a sense of resolution to their story. The sad remix of the organization music was SO GOOD. Instead, most of them ended on a cliffhanger, which is absurd.

And then there was the heart that nestled close to mine. There, it continued to quietly encourage me. If he hadn’t been there, I wouldn’t be here now, standing in front of his grave.

Master, did you forgive me? Or maybe I haven’t been forgiven yet and I’m only still here so I can atone? I know there are no answers to my questions and no one has to forgive me for my sins. Even entertaining the thought of being forgiven is so presumptuous of me. A weakness.

The only vessel handled even semi-decently was Terra. His personal pain was given a lot of focus in BBS, so his story didn’t feel particularly incomplete… except when it came to Eraqus. I don’t feel Terra got proper closure with him. Terra didn’t even know if Eraqus forgave him, which is just sad. Terra’s messed up relationship with Eraqus was the whole reason he fell to darkness. It was his doubt that Eraqus truly loved him like a son that made him so susceptible to manipulation. It broke my heart how Terra was reluctant to hug Eraqus at the end.

“Not your concern.” With those parting words, Xehanort strode away. Eraqus slammed a fist into the floor as he watched him go.

Why did I fail to stop him? Is it my fault? Where did I go wrong? Is the darkness itself what beguiled him so? Must this plague steal my dear friend from me?

Then you got Young and Master Xehanort. In BBS, people kinda saw Xehanort as Lord Voldemort. People couldn’t see how Terra could trust him, because he was so obviously evil. But he was human, too. He was Eraqus’s dear friend. I’d be willing to bet it was some personal pain with Eraqus that led to Xehanort falling to darkness completely. Xehanort had no backstory, though, so it was hard to understand why he gave up or why he and Eraqus seemed so happy together in the end.

Ansem talked about some kind of betrayal, but I had no idea what he was even referring to here. 

Xemnas also had pain. He had Terra’s memories, spent years looking for Ventus in the Chamber of Waking. He was lonely, though this is never explored in any way.

I think Luxord probably joined the organization voluntarily. But why? He isn’t loyal to Xemnas. I doubt his original backstory was being some amnesiac Keyblade wielder from the age of fairy tales. He hinted at some personal pain due to “compulsive behavior”. I’m sure he had a sad backstory that caused him to join for his own reasons.

Why am I in the Organization? Well, I mean, there’s lots of reasons, but—oh, right! I wanted friends, right? Oh, no. Wow, actually no, that sounded way uncool but… now I’m thinking back on it and I’m just like, yeah, I guess it kinda was like that, huh.

Aside from the whole old guys’ club going on, it kinda seems like there were a lotta tight-knit groups in the Organization. Y’know, like Axel and Saix, Marluxia and Larxene, Zexion and Vexen, and Xaldin and Lexaeus? And I guess in the end, I hung out with the old guy a lot.

Yeah, so it’s not like it’s a big deal, seriously that’s it. I hate fighting and jamming out is way more fun. Sad stuff, painful stuff, why would I wanna do anything like that?

Let’s assume that Demyx was supposed to be a real member of the true organization instead of Xion (which is what I believe). His Character File story hints that he had pain and also that he became very close to Luxord. Which makes sense because they were some of the only members left after Castle Oblivion. Axel spent all his time with Saix, Roxas, and Xion. So, Demyx and Luxord really had no one else, and probably hung out with each other a lot. So, Demyx might have joined because of Luxord. But this is never explored in any way and Demyx is just a plot device to deliver Replicas.

SYMBOLISM Strelitzia is seen as the flower of freedom, and also represents immortality and paradise.

In early trailers, Marluxia had green eyes in the Rapunzel world, meaning he was not even supposed to be fully Norted before the final battle. So, I think he did join the organization of his own free will. But he had personal pain that led up to it. The loss of his sister. She said she’d carry him on her back, then his final boss form in CoM has him riding atop this strange woman figure. All very interesting. This is something that should have been wrapped up in this saga, though.

Sigh, it was so much better when I had no heart. When I didn’t have to worry about things like liking someone. Becoming fond of something is painful. That’s why those feelings were taken advantage of.

I think Larxene loved Marluxia and wanted to be by his side. She didn’t even want to regain a heart because it caused her pain. There should have been resolution to that at the end of KH3 instead of leaving it dangling.

Xigbar had pain, too. He was constantly haunted by his memory of Ventus glaring at him. You could tell that he was jealous of the bonds the other characters had. He commits suicide at the end due to the guilt he has. I would have said that his story was handled well if it ended with his suicide. It was pretty sad. But they reversed it and made it out to be a ruse. Xigbar was just faking his entire personality the whole time and was really Luxu all along. WTF!? I just can’t…

I wanted to be like you. I was jealous of you. Who was I exactly? Did I even exist? I’m just a puppet with no heart whose fake memories were planted in my head.

I was made, I’m artificial, I’m a fake. What do I need to become a real person? Or rather, was I a real fake? I fell into the dark and wandered the world of darkness.

Riku Replica’s story wasn’t resolved well, either. He spends all of CoM being tormented about not being the real Riku and that no doubt leads him to joining the organization. But then after he’s defeated, he gets no closure to his identity crisis. Instead, another “good” Riku Replica comes and rips the “evil” Replica’s soul out (WTF?) and then that story is over. It becomes all about Namine at that point. He sacrifices his only chance at life for her, which is kinda weird and depressing. I would have preferred if Riku Replica gained some kind of peace with being a part of Riku and then going home into his heart, like Xion did at the end of Days.

Whereas Ven’s worries and suffering were proof of his growth, his proclivity toward the light, Vanitas’s own misery was merely a pitch-black morass that brought with it nothing but pain.

We’re so different, but I could feel you every step of the way. I bet you didn’t notice me at all. What does this battle between us mean to you? You probably don’t have a clue that it means our hearts are intertwining. The fight itself doesn’t matter. What’s important is that our struggle makes us feel the same things. You hate me for trying to hurt your friend now, right? And I hate you right back for having friends at all.

Never once is any attention given to Vanitas’s pain. He despised Ventus and was jealous of the fact that he had friends. All the Unversed came from his negative emotions. Ventus told him they were the same and that he needed to come home inside of his heart, but…he doesn’t? Instead of finding some kind of peace by going back to Ventus, he just… disappears. 

The person who probably suffered the most was Axel. Because he’s the one who forgot the most. Being forgotten and forgetting, they’re both painful.

Saix’s pain turned out to be a joke. He couldn’t find some random girl he spoke to a few times, boo hoo, such a sad tragic backstory. He had to be quickly turned into a good guy before the epilogue, so he only joined to “atone” not because of any pain. His real pain was supposed to be about his relationship with Lea.

Cancer is ruled by the Moon, the planet of receptivity. It’s the zodiac sign related to feeling and emotions in our hearts. Cancer is, in many ways, the most sensitive and vulnerable sign of the zodiac. They feel deeply, but they’re not sure what to do about their feelings.

Emotions tend to play a dominate role in the lives of people born under Cancer. Naturally defensive and sometimes afraid of being hurt, they tend to put their heart and soul into all their relationships, and are very faithful, loyal and loving partners. Cancer people are extremely sensitive to matters of the heart. It is easy to hurt their feelings and they become deeply emotionally wounded when wronged, and can take a long time getting over it.

Also, I just really like the idea of Saix as a Seeker of Darkness. Cancers have very delicate hearts and are very emotional people who are vulnerable to pain. 

[i-llbedammned]

Guardians of Alpha Centauri

Title: Guardians of Alpha Centauri Word Count: 8551 Read here:  https://archiveofourown.org/works/22381912 or below

Summary: Set in the post Almost End of the World from Good Omens and the Post Infinity Wars from the MCU, Crowley and Aziraphale are living their lives as normal when suddenly they are summoned halfway across the galaxy to help deal with the pressing problem of one Galactus trying to consume everything in his path. However there is a small problem in the fact that the act of summoning cut them off from the source of their power. Will they gain their powers back in time to save the world yet again?

Text: There were so many things that Aziraphale and Crowley had lived through in their lives.  The Fall from Grace, humans leaving the Garden of Eden, even the almost Apocalypse.  However all of that paled in comparison to the current state of events.  In fact had it not happened to them they would have sworn that it was only a fanciful tale told to them by a human who had imbibed too much. 

 However there was no deny that one minute the two of them were strolling through Piccadilly Circle and talking about how their day was and in the next they were aboard a spaceborn vessel of some kind.  It took a few seconds to register that the scenery had changed, but when it did the conversation fell suddenly into an awkward silence as both the angel and the demon processed what was around them.  

“Crowley?” Aziraphale asked slowly, looking at the burnished steel walls around him and trying to process if this was some avante garde art performance, “Did the lower side just do something to displace us?”

“My side?  Why would it be my side?  It’s not like yours is without its fair share of underhanded gestures and cold hard steel is much more the upper side’s aesthetic than the lower side’s,” He growled, turning around to see hallways stretching into the unknown depths of….wherever they were, “And no, at least nothing that they sent a memo to me about.”

“Could it be the archangels then?” Aziraphale muttered, “They were awfully displeased about the whole Apoca-wasn’t.  Maybe since holy water failed, they have attempted to put us in a sort of time out?”

“Doesn’t sound like their style either.  Not with Gabriel around.” Crowley prodded a purple glowing rod and was repaid for his curiosity with a sharp zap of electricity.  He withdrew his hand with a hiss of pain, his forked tongue curling upwards in pain.

His silver haired companion strode forward towards a black plane only to realize that it wasn’t part of the wall, but instead was a window.  A grin spread over his face as he saw the great expanse of space and stars before him.  Surely if they were anywhere within their world, Crowley would be able to know these stars and then they could find out where they were.  Excitedly he gesticulated his arms and Crowley came over to him, not sure if it was a gesture of excitement or pain til he stood beside him.

The demon gave a long low whistle of amazement as he gazed upon the glowing green nebulae around them. “What a beauty.” A whisper with the closest thing to reverence that a demon could manage escaped out of his mouth halfway unconsciously.  It was too much to immediately expect him to rush past the magnificent vision in front of them and the two sat for a minute, basking in the ethereal glow of the cosmos.

Softly after a minute of reverence, “Do you know these stars, my dear?”

“Never seen them before in my life.” Crowley shook his head, his red locks flipping about his shoulders as he did so, “Not that I’m surprised.  There are far too many stars for me to have built all of them.”

“Odd,” crooned Aziraphale, “I thought we had seen them all.”  His face brightened, “Well it’s no matter.  We should probably be heading home.  There’s a lovely chef’s show tomorrow with chefs from all over the world coming to impress the public and two tickets just cleared up for us, so we should get home with enough time to be able to properly prepare.”  He pulled his hand downward, feeling for familiar energies that….were somehow not there.  Thinking that perhaps he misfelt things, he snapped his fingers and tried to get the piles of holy energy that he was definitely manifesting to explode in the usual manner it did when he created a miracle.  To his own surprise, even given that he could feel nothing coming forth, nothing happened.  In vain he tried again, going through the motions but meeting with the same sort of success that running a car with no gas would meet with.

“Crowley!  I can’t contact the powers that be!” The angel said, his voice a barely controlled panic.

The demon smirked and attempted to pull the swirling energies up from below, only to find his connections likewise confounded.  No this couldn’t be.  He simply wouldn’t allow such a thing to come to pass as it was physically impossible! However the powers that had brought them to this point had seen to it that even the prodigious power of Crowley’s will couldn’t pierce through the fog around them, which was truly an impressive feat considering that his will had been enough to put Satan himself in his place not that long ago.  Loudly he swore, “Cursed bloody bollocks!  What in The Devil’s name has gone wrong?”

A voice from behind them whined, “These are the two that are supposed to help us save the Galaxy?”

A tired, deep voice responded, “According to my calculations, they are the only ones who can.”

Turning away from the green light of the nebula, the pair of them beheld a ragtag group.  There was a brown haired human dressed in a bright red leather jacket, a grey t-shirt and pair of black jeans.  Next to him was a green skinned humanoid dressed in a body suit of black leather with some sort of newfangled ray gun pointed at them and a burly looking grey skinned humanoid covered in red tattoos who had decided to opt out of shirts altogether, going instead with just a pair of black jeans and rippling muscles.  A small furry dog of some sort with a gigantic red button smirked on top of some sort of mobile tree as the tree attempted to communicate with another humanoid with antennae dressed all in green.  A human dressed in long blue robes with a flapping red cloak that went out of style in the 1800s looked at the two of them with tired eyes.

“Mortals!” Aziraphale hissed to Crowley as he tried to drop any talk of miracles and former apocalypses, taking on what he saw as a much more innocent demeanor, clasping his hands over his belly.  “Hello there.” He grinned uncertainly and gave a tittering laugh, “I’m afraid I seem to have lost my way a bit.”

“I’ll say,” drawled Crowley, trying likewise to seem casual as he stuck his hands into his pockets and tried gauge the extent that they were currently in the proverbial fire. Though he wasn’t exactly afraid of being discorporated, it was a lot more worrying when he couldn’t feel the pulse of Hell below him as now he was unsure of where he would go to reform. Thankfully the crew in front of him, even given the green woman’s gun pointed at them, seemed to be very uninterested in killing them.

The man in the robes spoke up first, “You’re probably still under the teleportation sickness, caused by the spell that brought you here. I am sure-”

Crowley’s face wrinkled in disdain, “Spell?  Like Allister Crowley or something?” The demon asked, knowing that most mortals wouldn’t recognize the name of a real magician but he knew that a few decades back that Crowley figure seemed to be big in the media circles.  

“Who’s that?” the grey skinned man asked earnestly, his body language reading as unsure if this was an insult or not.

“It’s a magician.  A pretty famous one.  Wait didn’t he work with Satan?” The human with the red jacket added in, now turning his head towards the robed man, “Strange, do you work with Satan?”

“I don’t-“Started Strange before he was once more cut off.

“No, I can assure you he doesn’t.  I would’ve seen him at the staff meetings.” Crowley fired back matter-of-factly.

“Wait you both work with Satan?” the man incredulously fired back, with a look on his face of utter betrayal.

“Oh!  What’s Satan?” the grey man asked, getting even more confused, “Is that a threat to us, Quill?”

“Only the biggest threat known to man if that was the case!” Quill fired back, his body language getting more aggressive but with an underlying tone of fear to it.

“Bigger than Galactus?” asked the green-skinned woman, tightening her grip on her gun and looking down the sights at them.

“I certainly do not work with that sort of man!” Aziraphale puffed up his cheeks and raised his voice to be heard over the din that had engulfed the ship, insulted at the very idea that even a misguided human could have mistaken him for a demon of any sort.

Crowley gritted his teeth, “Not exactly on the best terms with him and his crew either.  Bit of a row we got into.  Artistic differences and all that.”

“Yes, he is a magician like Allister Crowley!” Piped up the big-eyed humanoid, trying to be helpful as she pointed at the Strange man.  Aziraphale could feel the effervescent joy pouring out of her as her antennae glowed. It was touching how sincere she was, even as he could feel the inward cringe of the recipient of her praise.  Surely they couldn’t be all bad if she was with them.

“No, I’m nothing like that,” The robed man pinched the bridge of his nose, elevating his voice with a soft orange glow of his hand til all their voices became muted in comparison to his, “If you all will let me talk, I can explain a little of what has happened.”

It looked Quill was about to argue but a wave of the magician’s hand and a brilliant glow of blue brought his voice’s volume down to barely above a whisper.  In fact all of their voices were down to barely above a whisper, as Crowley quickly realized when he went to launch a witty retort. The human with a black goatee, Strange, pinched the bridge of his nose and had a look on his face that the Archangel Michael had given Aziraphale far too many times, a look that said that they had been trying to give a mission report for several hours but no one would stop talking long enough for them to get a damn word out.  It was not a look that beckoned questioning.

He looked up and lifted a finger, parsing his words carefully.  “Just one minute is all I ask.”  Lifting his head, he straightened his posture and moved his shoulders backwards to give himself a more intimidating pose.  Aziraphale could swear that his cloak moved itself to billow behind him and make him look more impressive, but of course that would be ridiculous as on most planets clothes didn’t move themselves.  The man spoke, his voice resonating loudly, “You two have been summoned by a magic as old as the cosmos themselves.  You have been chosen because you are the sole hope of this universe for survival as gifted by the old magics.  There will be five days before life as we know it, every part of this universe is swallowed up by a horrific man known as Galactus-”  

He waved his hand a purple armored man appeared around the floating image of a star.  With a look like a child stealing all the cookies out of the cookie jar, he shoved a planet into his mouth.  There was no chewing, no sound and he made it look as effortless as popping a gumball into your mouth.  Any snarky replies or questions were chased out of the collective minds of everyone who witnessed it happen.  Crowley cast a sidelong glance at Aziraphale, who looked positively terrified. The demon did not envy him.  The angel’s gift from God was the ability to feel the emotions of those that he was around, though he needed to be within eye’s gaze of them.  It was not often they got to behold whole planets, it was overwhelming to be surrounded by so many feelings.  To feel all of those and then to feel them suddenly snuffed out would be an unimaginable thing.  Rage flowed through Crowley, not specifically towards the giant who ate a planet but also to the callous man who forced this image and pain upon them.  The woman with antennae seemed to notice and made her way silently over to Aziraphale.  Her antennae glowed and his body grew less tense, his eyes slowly falling half lidded. Crowley started towards them, but Aziraphale raised a hand.  No, stay your hand, this one meant no harm, it said silently.  The demon once more stood with crossed arms, watching the presentation of the only one who could verbally speak.

The sorcerer continued like nothing had happened, “-He is known as The Destroyer of Worlds.  He doesn’t stop until he has eaten everything that the worlds have to offer. And if we don’t stop him then he will consume us all.”

The man waved his hand and a blue glow came from his hands once more.  There was utter silence that still reverberated throughout the ship before Crowley’s voice broke it, as he turned away from them all shaking his head, “No.  You got the wrong guys.  We’re not your saviors.  We didn’t even stop the other one, not really.  That was all the Anti-Christ, really.  It’s him you want.”

“The magics would have summoned him if he was the one that could help.” Strange’s cloak flapped for emphasis as he carefully said each word like he was explaining the whole thing to an impetuous child.

“Well, uh, we can’t really be of any help even if we wanted to.” Aziraphale kindly interjected, looking more than a little nervous.  It was terribly uncouth of him to admit to having powers around the mortals, but he figured there had to be an escape clause if the mortals in question had magic powers and had summoned him, “I already tried to use my powers to miracle us home and it didn’t work.  We’d be little more than sitting ducks if we were thrown at that…giant.”

“That’s likely from the summoning.  It creates a poisoning effect on magic, which is why we don’t use it to summon answers to all of our problems.  If you are mortal it might even kill you in the process.  Provided it doesn’t do that, it should wear off in three days which will give you plenty of time to get ready for Galactus.” Strange said.

“I don’t suppose the spell you had was written in Aramaic was it?” Crowley asked, his attention captivated as an idea occurred to him.

“As a matter of fact it was,” The sorcerer answered.

“Beelzebub, damn you.” Hissed Crowley, intending for it to be under his breath but finding it to be far louder than he intended it being.  It was just like that demon to offer power to the mortals but then poison them and take away their powers before they’d be able to utilize it properly. She always did like Aramaic, she said it sounded like the words were growing in a venomous garden- whatever that actually meant.

“Hold on a second, let’s take it back a few steps” Anti-Christ?! Beelzebub?!” Peter Quill exclaimed, looking around to see if anyone else heard that and finding no reaction from his non-Earthling crew. Aziraphale lifted a finger to explain but was quickly drowned out in blind rage.

The Captain went on, “You mean to tell me that the fate of the galaxy rests in the hands of a pair of Satanists?  Is that what you expect me to believe, Strange?  Because this whole magic thing seems real suspicious as it is without getting Satan involved.”

“Oh put a lid on it, Satan’s not exactly on good terms with us either after the stunt we pulled.” Crowley drawled.

“Did I not prove my competency with the Infinity Stones?” Strange said, his voice shooting out like daggers, brushing past Crowley who shrunk back to give him space.  Though he was only a mortal, the power rolling off Strange was palpable to someone like Crowley.  It was not something to be trifled with, especially not without their powers readily accessible.

“Well yeah, but now’s different.” Quill said, weakly trailing off as he realized he no longer wanted to go toe to toe with a man who had seen millions of outcomes of a destroyed universe and lived to tell the tale.

“Maybe the magic got it wrong?” The green skinned woman suggested, shrugging and holstering her gun. Apparently if they had not attacked her by now they were not a big enough threat to be worried about.

“I am Groot.” The tree said, likewise confused.

“None of you look like saviors either.” Sniped Strange, “I can assure you the magic is correct.  Now if you are all done questioning my every move, I am going to sleep.  Summoning things from halfway across the universe takes a lot out of you.” Without waiting for a response he turned on his heel and exited.

“Oh!  A Flora Colossus!” Aziraphale preened with his eyes lighting up with excitement, upon hearing Groot speak once Strange had left the room.  The woman with antennae stepped back to allow him to move now that his mood had changed for the better, “It has been ages since one of you have been around.  How is life on Planet X?”

“I am Groot.  I am Groot.” The tree responded, with a touch of anger in his voice.

Aziraphale’s expression took on one of awkward family dinner where someone asked a question about a spouse that had been divorced, “Ah, well it seems you are better off without them then, wouldn’t it?”

“You understand Groot?” the raccoon spoke up, his attention now fully captivated by the angel.

Placing his hands on his belly to show his pride at connecting to the creature he elaborated, “I understand all sorts of languages from all of God’s creatures, though I have no clue what species you are.  You have all the markings of Procyon Lotor, yet I know that species cannot typically speak the Queen’s English and doesn’t have such metallic legs.”

“That’s because there’s only one of me,” He jabbed a finger at his own chest, “Man-made, through and through.  Name’s Rocket.  That’s Groot.” His paws gestured to the tree man who grinned and waved a branch.

“I am Groot.” He stated.

“You trust him that much?” Rocket looked at Aziraphale suspiciously but relented, “Groot seems to think you are good people.  Anyone that’s good in his book is good in mine.”

“I am Aziraphale, Guardian of the Eastern Gates.” The angel bowed his head in respect.

“What Eastern Gates?” Rocket looked perplexed, “Like the spaceport on Libris 40?”

“He means Hell, Rocket.” Quill jumped in, looking sour.

“I most certainly do not!  I am angel good sir!  There’s no need to-“ Aziraphale sputtered, “slander my good name calling me a Satanist or saying I live in Hell.  I earned my place in the Heavens and you would do well to acknowledge that.”   He remembered his manners belatedly and added in, much more gently, “Please.”

“You both are angels?” Quill’s tone changed, becoming stunned amazement as he looked back and forth between the white suited angel and then back at his black leather clad companion, who was currently in a bit of an argument with the large grey skinned man about whether or not fire was a valid solution to most battles.

“Well, after a manner of sorts. I am an angel in active duty.  Crowley is an angel who has fallen from his line of work into a new one. Think of it like a different office building rather than anything terribly big.” Aziraphale placed each word delicately, afraid that the wrong move would send this man into a spiritual paroxysm of rage and disbelief.  It was of course a very big thing to fall, but it wouldn’t do to panic the mortals about something that happened thousands of years ago.  Sometimes it was ever so trying how temperamental mortals could be, thought the angel who would throw a fit if someone moved a book in his library without telling him exactly where it was going first.  

It was delicate enough for Quill as he looked between them before his eyes lit up with a rare kind of fire that made Aziraphale know exactly why he was the Captain on this ship.  “So we have God and Satan on our side?” He let out a large whoop of joy, “Man’s there’s no way we can lose then, right?”

“Ah.” Aziraphale swallowed the factual correction that neither he nor Crowley worked for God or Satan at this particular time, “I suppose not then.”

“Guess all that god blood came in handy after all!” Quill exclaimed to no one in particular and Aziraphale decided not to question it.  Too many mortals thought they had the blood of God herself running through them and over the years he had found that it was practically pointless to tell them otherwise. They never believed you even if it was true.

The angel and demon pair were led the rooms which they would reside, two silvery rooms that were connected by a doorway between them. There was a large fish tank along the side of Aziraphale’s room that had some sort of strange purple fish in it.  He grinned brightly and applauded as they made loops around each other, loving the way that they made bubble trails as they swam.  Though he had been there at creation he still loved being reminded of all the variation, just so long as the slimier and more grotesque creatures stayed away from his immediate sense of touch.

“So what do you think of it?” Crowley growled, leaning against the doorway that separated the beds that they would never in all honesty use.

“Oh they are a most delightful creature.  Just look at the little bubbles.” Aziraphale laughed, tracing the path of one with his finger in the air.

“That’s not what I meant and you know it, angel.” The demon responded, moving closer, “I meant about saving the world all over again.”

“Again?” Aziraphale turned away from the fish, frowning, “My dear boy, we didn’t save the world the last time just to watch it be devoured by this Galactus monster, did we?  I mean, I’m not going to pick up a sword and swing at him but we’ll figure it out, won’t we?”

Crowley nodded thoughtfully, glad to see that the years of humanity had finally sunk into the angel’s thick skull, but said, “Think it will take more than a sword this time.  Your powers come back after the jump?”

“Ah, no.  Not yet, I’m afraid.” Aziraphale stopped short as the door opened to his room. Standing there in the doorway was the raccoon and the green woman, looking.

“Oh good.  You haven’t left.”  The woman said, but her voice sounded more like an attack than a greeting.

“I was just thinking of going for a stroll among the stars actually.” Crowley responded with a drawl, his hand lazily pointing over the rush of stars that were outside of their window.  The colors all melded to one at this speed.  Even to one such as them a discorporation would be most likely to happen, even were all their powers in perfect working order.  Which of course they weren’t, but that was beside the point. He also was not terribly sure if he currently needed to breathe atmosphere like a mortal.  Crowley wasn’t sure if a demon, even an underpowered demon, needed to breathe but he sure didn’t want to find out this way.

The raccoon sniped, “Wouldn’t try that if I were you bub.  Last guy that tried we ended up scraping off the windshield for a week.”

Aziraphale gave a watery smile, “Oh no that wouldn’t do.”

“Follow me, you’ll need weapons training before we find Galactus.” The green woman motioned with her arm for them to follow.  She walked down the hall without waiting to see if they would follow.

“I’d follow her if I was you.  Gamora knows what she is talking about.  Last thing we need is you guys blowing yourselves up as you try to fire one of the ship’s guns.” Rocket said, looking at both of them curiously.  “You have fired a gun, right?”

“Yeah, back in WWII.  I was a wicked shot with a .45” Crowley smiled despite himself at the memory of training to use it.  It was utterly unnecessary of course with all the miracles they could do, but it sure was exciting to learn how to use.  All the power of an explosive right in the palm of your hand.

“What’s a World War II? What world?” The raccoon said.  He actually sounded earnest, the poor thing.

“Never mind.” The demon’s expression soured. He didn't have the strength to describe such a period of darkness in human history at the moment.

Slowly, Aziraphale and Crowley followed, not wanting to be impolite in their newfound floating home.

“So I gotta ask, don’t angels and demons have wings or somethin’?  I don’t see any of them unless you are hiding them in those coats of yours.  The pictures Quill had all had wings.” Rocket began as they followed down the metal hallway.

“Common misconception.” Crowley drawled, “Wings get in the way of fashion. We did away with them when togas fell out of style.  You have to keep up with appearances.”

“So you just cut them off?  Just like that?” Rocket stated skeptically.  He didn’t know enough about angels or demons to correct them, but he knew enough to sense a liar.

Aziraphale stated gently, “You think wings are a physical thing, like an eyeball or a leg.  They’re not. They are more like…a dream-“

“Or a nightmare-“ interjected Crowley

Aziraphale continued as if he had never said anything, “-given form.  They are always there even if you cannot feel them.  They exist metaphysically and eternally.  They are here now, but we simply choose not to show them.”

“So when you cut them off, do you keep them in a jar or somethin’?” Rocket continued, clearly finding that more plausible than the idea of metaphysical wings.

“I had mine mounted.” Crowley smirked as Aziraphale sighed in defeat, “I keep ‘em right over the wall in my house just in case I ever need to reattach them.”

“If you guys are done, this is the rooftop energy cannon.” Gamora stated, patted gently a stick with a large blue ball mounted to the top of it, “You steer it with the stick and then press the ball to fire it.  Look through the targeting system, not the window when firing it.”

Walking towards a door she pointed at it, “That’s the airlock.  Don’t walk out of it unless you want to die.”

“Right.  Breathing. That’s something we need to do.” Aziraphale said, trying his best to sound as if he was taking the whole thing seriously.  They had never needed to breathe, it would make creating the stars rather hard if you needed a bubble around your head to do so.  He saw no reason why things should be different now, even without their powers.

“There are two guns on this ship.  One on the top, one on the bottom.  There’s also one at the front of the ship, but that one is already claimed by Drax.”

“Wait, you ever fired a gun before?  You never answered me before.” Rocket stopped, staring at Aziraphale as he stared at nodded vacantly at Gamora.

“Not quite. I almost did once, but…thought better of it.” Aziraphale stated weakly.  Their new companions didn’t need to know that he had almost killed a child while possessing a woman.  The state of the world was at stake and it was completely understandable in the moment but the description sounded utterly unforgiveable.  

“Oh boy.” Rocket said, pinching the bridge of his nose with a paw.

“Let’s do some target practice first.” Gamora said, loading up a training program for a basic recruit.  Crowley took aim first, the kind of wild grin that he got when he drove the Bentley on his face.  This was going to be a blast!  

His proper companion shuffled from side to side as the shrill scream of the laser started firing.  Small talk!  That was what mortals loved! “Odd lot aren’t they?  This whole crew.” Aziraphale smiled.

The green woman “Seems like it.  I’ve only known them for a few months myself.”

“Ah!  A new recruit like us then?” His tone became more chipper.  Perhaps they were not going to be entirely out of their depth if there was someone else who was equally as out of sorts on board.

“No, not like you at all.” Rocket responded before she could responded, but there was a note of pain in his eyes. “Gamora…” he trailed off and shook his head, “She just went through some changes.  It’ll all work out in the end though.”

Gamora shrugged, “They claim to know me.  Said they knew me in another life.  Not sure I believe if, but I do need a ride and a job so they are good enough for that.”

“I’m sure it will all clear up one day.” He said and let the conversation die there.  You didn’t need to be an angel to feel the waves of grief coming off Rocket at the mention of her being a new recruit.  There was a history there that he was not comfortable uncovering outside of a confessional.  It almost felt like a death, but there she was standing right in front of him so it couldn’t be that.  Perhaps it was some sort of memory wipe?  He knew those were used as a punishment on some planets and it was entirely plausible that she had got put into prison on one those but Rocket did not.

Several hours later they were no closer to being expert marksmen, but Aziraphale had cleared his way through several asteroids.  Not the asteroids he were aiming at mind you, but other asteroids that definitely had it coming.  Gamora and Rocket stood in stunned amazement at how someone so old could be so incompetent.

“I’m much more useful with a sword.” Aziraphale stated, stubbornly, “What’s the point of all these flashing lights and big booms anyway?”

“Let me try again, angel.” Crowley said, slithering his way around the flustered angel to take the seat.  At the laser fired he gave a wicked grin.  Yes!  This was the very thing he loved mortals for.  The power, the sheer roar and punch of the machine was palpable.  He could feel the pull of energy hit him like a comforting punch in the chest as he whirled around and fired.  If their weapons packed this much of a punch, he wondered what driving the monstrosity.  It’d be like the Bentley had a city’s worth of engine power attached. The thought of him made him grin wider, the mad grin he got when he had a bad idea that he didn't stop from manifesting.  It was a look that could burn cities down if he wished it.

He spun in his chair, running a hand rakishly through his hair as he expertly fired at the intended targets.  If he was doing to do this, he was going to look like a damned movie star as he was doing it.  Given the whoops and sighs of joy from Rocket and Aziraphale he guessed that he was nailing that imitation expertly.  Good, that was all he wanted.

“I’m glad at least one of you has some useful skills.” Gamora said, giving the smallest of grins that was her mark of approval.

Week one and everything appeared to be going well.  The angel and the demon fell into the step of things.  Aziraphale kept to the company of the one known as Groot and talked about literature and magic with Doctor Strange in way that made the others become bored and wander away.  Strange, despite being a technical mortal, definitely had knowledge well beyond the scope of his years and seemed all too eager to get away from the typical vapid meathead type discussions that tended to circulate about Quill’s ship.

Crowley for his part was content to talk music with Quill or share war stories with Drax.  By war stories, of course, it is understood that Crowley didn’t tell a single true story and just told whatever would be the most interesting thing to make an alien believe about Heaven and Hell.  He would have the man believing that the streets of Earth were plague filled rivers before they came along.  There was no description of the crowded halls of Hell or the stark, cold cleanliness of Heaven but instead of burning pits of bile and rust to be compared with fluffy clouds of eternal light that birthed unicorns.

It was going well, far too well perhaps for God to be satisfied that her subjects were being tested thoroughly enough.  Halfway through the second day a large blast rocked the ship, knocking everyone on their side as the ship spiraled with the force of the blow.

“What was that?” asked Quill, as everyone climbed to their feet and rushed to get to their battle stations.

“We got company, right side.” Rocket said, tweaking a few buttons on his arm to release a few rocket propelled explosives towards their visitors.

“You think?” barked Quill, annoyed that they hadn’t caught the enemies before they hit the ship with their lasers.

“Oh, oh no.” Aziraphale said quietly, his face going pale.  He felt their minds, like nihilistic holes coming upon the horizon.  No not a mind.  Like a black hole.

“You feel it too?” Strange asked, looking at the angel with a careful regard. He was not used to having magical peers on board this ship but the prospect of it enticed him even with death staring them down.

“They are…empty.  Completely and utterly.  Not a soul among them even though there are living things among them.” Aziraphale stated, staring out the windows as Gamora returned fire upon the five purple and green ships.  They exploded but it didn’t feel like death.  It felt just like a spark being swallowed by space.

“Their souls were eaten.  Seen the signs before when a few people messed up real bad down below.” Crowley responded, reaching out with his own senses.  Given the state of poisoning they were in it wasn’t like he could do more than sense and watch.  Angels might be able to feel emotions but demons could feel all sort of mental wounds upon the soul.

Someone up in the front of the ship decided to be a bit more aggressive with evasive maneuvers without warning anyone.  The ship began to spiral, almost sending that demon and the angel sprawling, but Strange caught them in some sort of green bubbled magic and stopped their tumble.

“If you are going to do something, now would be the time?” He spoke, as he launched an impressive fireball at the enemy ships.

“I can’t.” Aziraphale yelled, realizing just how soft his mortal form was as metal shrapnel flew into his hand.

“What do you mean you can’t?” Strange roared, his voice becoming one with the shattering metal of the ship.  The muscled one known as Drax took out the ship that wounded them as Rocket flung a bomb out of a canon.

“Listen, it is all very sudden and our powers never really came back.” The angel looked ashamed.  Never before had God been so quiet before.

“And you didn’t think it prudent to mention this before?” The Sorcerer Supreme looked livid.

“Oh yeah, toss that in right after we figure out who the Hell we are fighting and how to fight back with nothing but our backsides to our name.” Crowley sniped, taking a position at a gun and doing his best to aim.  It was hard without Hell on his side, but he managed well enough, “Great job by the way, bring us on to save the world but don’t even let us have our powers to be able to save it.”

“Now is really not the time.  Get to work and shut up!  We can deal with this later!” Gamora screamed as they bickered. Survival took precedence and they focused upon staying alive rather than arguing.

“Really? All this God and Satan bit and they can’t even help us against some basic ships sent by Galactus?” Rocket gritted his teeth as he tried to repair the ship as quickly as possible, “This is great, just great.”

“It’s not my fault!” Aziraphale urged, “Trust me, all this is rather new to me as well.”

“Quite.” Crowley concurred.

Stephen Strange, looking nearly dead on his feet looked at them from a chair that looked rather more like a throne in this light.  A king with a broken crew upon a throne heading towards oblivion in a sparking ship.

“Something the magic must’ve severed your connection to the source of your power.” He murmured, halfway to himself.  

“If I had known mortals could cut me off from God and Satan’s touch I would have asked them to do so years ago.” Crowley chimed in, reaching for that fire that usually would come to him and make his will into iron.  Nothing, the same as before.

“Uh, hello.  We’re heading toward our almost certain doom with a useless demon and angel.  Not the time for jokes,” Quill responded from a seat upon the stairs, his head in his hands.

“Who said I am joking?” Crowley raised an eyebrow.

“He is very serious,” Mantis added in, her antennae glowing.

“Great.  I’m glad he’s serious.  We can all be grateful of that as we explode in a ball of fiery doom.” Quill’s head snapped up as he glared at his fellow ship mate, who shrunk from his rage.

“Easy Quill, it is not her fault that they are incompetent,” Drax stepped in, waving a placating hand, ”Disgusting in form though she may be, she is not to blame for all of our troubles.  We will find a way to crush Galactus the way that we crushed Thanos.”

“Last time we didn’t get away without casualties,” He said, casting a weighted glance at Gamora who was studying a battle map and oblivious to his gaze.  “And I don’t think we have an infinity gauntlet to bring people back if we fuck up this time around.”

“We need to find a way to reconnect them to the source of their power,” Strange spoke up, “If we can find a way to kick start their magic, their spirits should be able to do the rest.”

“So we have to pray really hard?” Aziraphale asked, “I don’t know if She will be able to hear me all the way out here, but I can try.”

“Something along those lines.  Whatever it is, we better think of it fast.  We are two days from Galactus,” With a great effort he clambered to his feet, “Let me rest.  We’ll start trying to fix you two once I am a little more clear.”

The next few days were spent in a sort of training montage from beyond. Stephen Strange dove headfirst into his mission and there was little time for banter or cajoling with the other members of the crew.  He poured over books at a lightning fast pace, looking for something involving angels or demons that wasn’t written by some religious scholar with an agenda.  Even for someone of his learning finding accurate information was very hard.  Often he would go to Crowley and Aziraphale to confirm something and get a long speech about why that monk had a grudge against them and fundamentally misunderstood the purpose of Hellfire because of it or that witch had it out for angels after half of her family was burned by mortals claiming to be in God’s name so you shouldn’t take her too seriously.  In all honesty he was not sure if the accurate answers he got were more infuriating than the false leads considering how often he had to go back to square one.

They tried everything that they could think of.  Crowley tried lighting himself on fire to remind himself of Hell and only ended up with blisters.  He tried to stand at the front of the ship and pretend like he was driving his Bentley as the stars arced past them but only made himself more dizzy.  He tried to eat an apple to remind himself of the garden or lay in the lamps to try and remind himself of the sun on the day that Aziraphale sheltered him with his wings and for a moment he could feel the ghost of his power returning, but once he tried to pull upon it the whole thing vanished.

Aziraphale tried praying as loud as he could but only drove his fellow crew members half mad with his pleas.  A large sigil was inscribed upon the floor to try and make a portal to heaven but it ended up only making a loop that took Aziraphale elsewhere in the ship.  He tried to read their books, but they were all trashy romance novels that didn’t particularly inspire feelings of divinity to come rushing towards him.  There was no amount of tentacled bodice ripping that could make him feel more than mildly amused at the lack of understanding of physics the authors had.

“There has to be something that appeals to you! Something that motivates you to move forward when nothing else will!” Strange advocated, feeling at his wit’s end.  Hours of work with very little sleep and food had driven him to the edge.

“I dunno.” Crowley responded, his blistered hand holding a brown bottle of whiskey as he dramatically sprawled upon the ground, “I really thought the drink would do it.  Usually put me and Aziraphale in a pretty good mood and we bonded like this the last time the world was ending and it turned out pretty alright.”

“Just got us besotted this time, I’m afraid,” The angel slurred, trying in vain to get his eyes to focus, “Can’t even sweat it all out this time and instantly become sober.  Just gotta ride it out like a mortal I’m afraid.”

“How long will this last for?” Crowley tittered, imagining how Beezlebub’s face would be turning red if they saw him so incapacitated.  He wished they were here just so he could take a shot right in front of them out of spite.

“Hours,” Aziraphale said dismally, “We’ll have reached Galac- Glax- the purple bastard by then.”

“Oh good.  Maybe when we all die I can at least die drunk.” The demon toasted, “Here’s the ineffable plan.”

“Gimme some of that,” elbowed Rocket, taking the bottle of whiskey from the demon and drinking some himself, “I’m not dying sober if the plan is to drink ourselves to death.”

Stephen Strange let out a dramatic sigh, “The plan is to not die at all.” He hovered the bottle of alcohol to a rooftop ledge and anchored in place with a charm.  With a wave of his hand a mountain of sobriety hit the three who had been drinking and they all glared at him simultaneously.

The ship beneath them lurched unpleasantly, sending all of them toppling to the ground save for Crowley who simply rolled.

“What’s the big idea?” Rocket snipped as he stood up, rubbing his head.

“He is upon us,” Strange said, his eyes focused on a thousand realities that were not this one.  His gaze turned towards the angel and demon, “Now is the time.  You learn or we all die.”

“No pressure.” Crowley grumbled, but he felt his heart begin to flutter with nerves.

Strange’s cloak moved behind Aziraphale and Crowley, urging them forward. Like a mother taking care of her babes it wrapped an air mask in its folds and pressed it to their face.

Rocket ran off to find the rest of the crew deeper into the ship yelling over his shoulder, “We’ll hold him off for as long as we can.”  With bravado he screamed, “Come and get some you big purple grape!”

The rumble of the guns firing went off, vibrating the whole ship.  Chaos exploded around them in flames and sparks. With a lump in his throat, Aziraphale stepped into the airlock with Crowley trailing after him.  

“I don’t suppose you have a plan, dear boy?” the angel asked, manifesting his wings with a blink of the mortal eye.

“My plan is to dodge until I can figure out a way to miracle my way out of this problem.” Crowley began to stretch his own forth, black feathers and white ones mixing together and sending small sparks of electricity when they touched.

The doors opened and they flew forth, breathing deeply in their atmospheric bubbles.  Around them soulless ships swept about, trying their best to end them.  However even a soulless soldier was no match for two winged beings who had wings since the dawn of all creation, or rather a little bit before.  The larger ships had a quite a time trying to hit him as they darted and flitted about.

“Hey, come on, come get me!” Crowley taunted one and it launched a volley at him.  With a great push of his wings he rose up and the blast went into the enemy ship behind him instead.

Aziraphale grabbed an asteroid with his hands and spun about, hurling it into the engine of the enemy ships.  In short order it exploded.

If it wasn’t for the fact that they were two steps away from death with every breath it would almost be fun, this game of dodging and flinging.  It was very rarely that they ever got a chance to use their powers without having to fill out mounds of paperwork later, so it was liberating to be able to do so without feeling bad about the casualties.

“I think we might actually stand a chance,” Crowley grinned, turning around to face Aziraphale.  But what he saw behind the angel made him freeze, his grin stuck in a rigor stiffness. Coming over the horizon was a giant purple bloke who was eating the stars as if they were fairy floss.  He opened up a mouth the size of a black hole and in went in a star, leaving only blackness in return.  It was a thing that should not be in either Heaven or Hell, but yet there was no denying that he was right there in front of them.

“That’s him, if you are going to do something, now’s the time.” Echoed Strange’s voice in their heads.  They were not expecting him to be able to do such a thing, but considering the fact that they had gone all of their existence with someone to answer to knowing that he was there was almost comforting rather than surprising.  

Aziraphale looked over at Crowley as the stars began to vanish around them. “Looks like this is it, my dear.” His voice sounded heavy, his eyes shone with helplessness and grief. “There’s no one else I’d rather be at the end of the world with.”

“It’s been a pleasure, angel.” Long taloned hands found the angel’s soft one, wrapping themselves there tight.  With a free hand he grabbed one of Aziraphale’s shoulders and pulled him closer, “Just once, in case we don’t make it.  I need to know.”

“Goodbye, my dear.” Aziraphale softly pressed his lips to the demon’s. They were warm and surprisingly delicate with the after taste of whiskey still lingering.

It was like being struck by lightning as their lips met.  That isn’t a matter of metaphor either.  White hot currents power arced out of them and into them and all at once the voices of Heaven and Hell were with them once more. The one thing that had kept them going all these years, their anchor that kept the world in place the first time around was right in front of them the whole time.  Why they had been but fools to not see it in the first place.

Hands still linked and smoke pouring off of them they turned towards Galactus.  With a snap of their fingers in unison, the power they had just taken in, the rough rush of it, came pouring out of them in a beam towards the purple monstrosity. Galactus burst like a piñata spilling stars and planets all around them.  Heaven and Hell’s powers combined were enough to deal with him, at least once.  The amount of power it took exhausted the angel and demon to the point that they could not move.  They drift loosely about, hands held with tired grins on their faces before the ship picked them up.

 If saving the world was exhausting, then it was nothing compared to the after party.  Drinks flowed like water and everyone drank more than they should have. It was fun, but by the end of it all Aziraphale wanted to do was go back home.

“You are fearsome warriors, worthy of respect!” Cheered Drax the Destroyer.

“Ah, many thanks.  But we really must be going.  Lots of worlds to save and all that.” Aziraphale politely turned down the offer of yet another drink.  He pulled himself on to the sigil made by Stephen Strange’s magic

“Next time the world ’s in trouble, I’m calling you guys first,” Quill hooted and howled in celebration.

“Yeah, maybe,” Crowley agreed, knowing that he would do everything in his power to never be left on a floating bit of metal in space again.

With an understanding nod Aziraphale made eye contact with Stephen Strange.  It wasn’t much, no more than a moment really, but in that moment they both understood each other perfectly.  In no way would either of them ever want to travel with such brash mercenaries ever again even if they lived several lifetimes.  It was all a bit much, really.

A ripple and a blink and they were once more in Crowley’s apartment.  A bird softly sang outside and the sun cast a golden light over the black apartment.

“You still want to see that play?” asked Crowley, hoping the other would say no.

“Not in the slightest,” Aziraphale sighed, “To be honest, I just want to sleep for a week.  Those people make my bones feel tired”

“Need any company in bed, angel?” Crowley gave a crooked smile that seemed like it only meant trouble.

Walking hand and hand with the demon they made their way down the black halls, “In general no, but from you I think I would rather like that.”

Together the two of them wound their way to the bedroom, for rest and quiet as well as a fair bit of snogging.  They can hardly be blamed.  After all, their snogging saved the world so even Heaven and Hell couldn’t be that mad at them for doing it again.

[screechingtrashcalzonewombat]

"Apopalictic Astral Asending" Reavaluate disassociate my self worth...

The galaxies have birthed an uncontrollable being ....

I've feel as tho Ive seen myself split in two ..

Witch side do u wanna see if ur lucky I'll let you choose .

Cause in the end I loose..

One of hate one of love could both be from up above..

Or down below ...

I've began to show signs of delusions as half my mind goes an tells me it's only mild confusion. As my body fights my brain an heart to escape theys terrible illusions.

Yet the other half tries to start a fusion of body an mind an all the suddently my thoughts are no longer mine..

But a evil so Divine that its wound it's way threw time itself I've fealt the damage the energy dealt. I've yelped in anquish an pain been stuck for 7 long years in the rain with nothing to gain .. I can barely fathom to explain im not fully on earth I'm on another astral plane but i fear i flew out of my lane I've gone insane never wanted fame Ever fealt like bat man I mean oops Bruce Wayne. Nah fuck hes spoiled a wet rat infact I'm more like hulk duck when I'm near i wearly see I'm drowning inside my mind but no one can hear my dear I fear I've lost control again but cant compute I've been booted out of the system I've clawed hit an kicked to try to get to the top but i outta of known I've been ripped an thrown from my throne ive been shown what this beast can do but who woulda thought a demon bought my soul ..a jackal a goul.....you'll see me shift into numbness I suposse it was my own dumbness for being to open now cause of me my body an mind are broken an stole. as I weep an shutter an i try to speak but only stutter I found myself weak in defeat ....as ik this demon reaching its peak will plunder an pillage the town I've found I'm bound to this beast nowhere to run not north south or east I can run it will feast on my soul until the end of time ..

For diamonds cannot compare to the rarity of a soul nor a bowl of Ruby's an jems rolled in gold .....

A bold statement you say........

.. theres no ray of light here they stole it away buried it in your mind but how can u define being locked trapped in yourself ...

You've dealt your own fate ...

Wanting ansers u dint deserve ..

Did you like your just dessert's...no?

Dose it hurt ..... After you itll kill children's childhood freinds like bernie & eart ....whent bizzirk an bashed there brains makeing bloody rains

curking on everyone with cutlery forks an knifes* slice *cook big bird with chives after I've shanked him 900 times... 100 more woulda been devine serve him drink to dry alone cooked an ripped him to the bone but not quite alone u may not be home inside but u can still watch...I thought I taught u better than to close ur eyes dont beg or look surprised look away an I'll adopt another stray to do the same a slow sweet death cure's my hunger anyway

.the wines innocents blood bitter sweet to the taste of the tounge

no one thought it capable I seemed...looked ...so young..

They dint know it had just begun it wasn't me but the evil half committing crime with glee an fleeing repetavidly revealingly images to my mind of times & crimes so sickening I thought I'd die forever scetched seered into my mind .binded with no power as one towers over you using your power you cowar for how dose one define the disasbalment of there an every defined mind while ur inner demon dines on flesh making a mess of your vessel you cant even wrestle your way to the light to stay only break down in defeat that your so far away you've became an internal mess cant even stand on ur feet the beast has u chained in defeat u cry an apologize looking for answers as of how to stop.....an then...you hear a voice .." you outta stayed silent instead of talk back. U shouldn't of complained do u still think ur life used to be pain...... . Ur a sack of shit ur wit is less than that of an ant not to rant but I'm not done yet I have ur soul now I'm never letting go no no no I have plenty more so much to show many souls to reap an emotions to subdue after all u said yes.....

...did you forget ur the one who started this.

mess ......you dressed your mind with fantasy an fiction word to the wise never mess with other worldly friction an your itching for a way out but I doubt ull get there before the end of time .after all you had a devil an an angel on ur shoulder an you chose wrong this time. Only took 666 times but I'm patient an always waiting for 6 years hating an burning flesh waiting for a prayer a call after all Lucifer was once an angel an the most beautiful you just dint get to see from what angle he had beauty wrath an determination but u humans resulted in his isolation incarsorason. So now we will end up being humanity's enialation when were done there entire selves with evaporate for the demons have released self hate to pro create creatures in confidence we annihilate the fate of the human race at least the trace slight like us able to bust threw dementions so weve mentioned a start to find the inordinary soul an heart ......humanity was doomed from the start.. you stole our purpose our reason to be......humans sit in sin an glee.

Your humanitys Pride is overbearing never genuinely caring ..

Greed is sweeping the nation its reached ever state an it's got a hot heaping plate of corruption for mankind's consumption greed is grotesque in its steps of the darkest quest to corupt ur mind an want. .want..want until that's all you are is wanting more

Lusting over losely draped garments you've tarnished ur soul .

Envy of what you do not posses but for all you know that information an life would make you a mess but ud still test ur envious tendencies.....

Glutton glutton what have you gained it's not knowledge no for it's to plain rather glutton uve found a urge that wont go away....

Wrath an vengeance blood draw too no one stops till some dies him or you....

Sloth last but not least cant forget you cause uuuh wait what that fuck do u do....you sleep an sulk sit slither out of simple tasks an that's why ur not 1st no ur last like humanity just ask ....

So soon the day will draw near the the number 4 is what you should fear our dear old freinds were sending up for a visit so they can reddit ur fate for each a horse an a trait the first out the door with bow in hand riding a white horse with bow in hand

..

Conquest the start of the final test leading the restthere dark version of light on a white stallion he leads the way an soon will follow hades anyway.

War was next on a red steed he rode prepared to purge an quench new blood for the wars an battels would just begin brother against brother an close of kin witch to win?

Famine foe of all on a black horse with the courses hair so fair merely bone but dont let his appearance fool you hes for he is full devouring your greed taking away everything you want or need an now ur rationed to nearly starvation stretching farther than destination world wide sensation...

Pleage reaper of souls slowly apears steadly trotting riding a very sickly steed looking pale an almost gruesome green with sores an sickness best keep a distance. For he shall be the bringer of death an reap you all one by one to the four you shall fall...

Will you be spared are you true....

Are you happy with your life what did you do...?

Rapture no you still must die.....

Say good by to this earthy chapter theres so much more that manifest after.

But only your earthly husk must rust an fall your all energy of grate mass....

It's time to take the task of self evolvment an enjoy an enlightened installment

this world was just step wrench ur third eye wide open an accept the token of eternal life.

Grinded it to atoms a flash of dust all together ur a self fulfilling must memory pass u in a rush.....

. sudently ur bodysuit is gone ....

But it dint felt like it quite belonged.

You were 7 grams of light matter to be exact an sudently you've cracked the atmosphere ..steering energetic waves my metal psyche caves to the new information flying threw stars consolations.

Suddently speeding at the sound of light the stratosphere seems to disapear ..

My fear is gonewithout a trace an freedom transferred in its place

but am waved in infatuation to find out about out true destination...

Restoration of the soul the goal of a higher self being achieved as I crash into the sun 1500°

I feel a warmth like no other each being hues of light I might of missed earth if not I heard a voice but a mental push no need for speech just thinking it shall be done said by the the brightest in the sun.

Rejoice at last but ur journeys yet to pass ..

This is merely were you start ....

Our flames grew high with frantic waves not wanting to give up the new life we were just gave

Suddenly our flames grew dim as we felt a swirling deep from withn sudently the surface of the sun turned to tin an bent in a cracked an caved with itself our time an space sending us ascending in alignment the same assignment.

Because the sun has begun to change ina twisted way a black hole some could say.

As all of our astral beings were ripped an tore apart at the seams we all merged an formed one all knowing creative being an sudently everything I've know has little matter I'm past a point of human chatter i understand infinity the holy trinity I down in the milky way an experienced every life I've relived it twice I've spliced my genetics into over 2000 million beings I've seen good an bad in between experienced every tragedy to build my strength an studyd every thesis an theory thread an chain nearly drove my vessel insane even took knifes threw my veins in anger yet it failed I was just a trailer.ive seen love hate an anger

Comprehension compasing many others I have love an understanding past many beings there anger seems to brush by me cause I'm with 2000 souls an minds that have formed one to reach a state I can medidate in the milky way an force your negative away .

Our astral self has accumulated complete power an understanding by costuming to our full potential our old body's merely a rental.

Gentle at first then bursted into power showered in knowledge I know now much that I wondered before but now I want more an I've thought till I an 2000 shared beings head hurt cause my girth of knowledge will now never be enough it's tough cause now I must find .... how to ascend again but for now i must defend my vast mind defind crime ...?

Keeping 2000 vast voices locked away so I can focus an try to learn anyway leaning in to vast places is I the 1st 2nd or 3rd or other many plains I cant quiet place I'm traveling threw them all searching for everything I couldn't before .

This life isent like the countless other this life I like it has interesting teathers

I've surpass Angel's an there feathers an vison of a hawk.

I've surpass demonds and there demonic temping talk ..

I've walked on water as I was ripped apart an I felt my self rebuilt every cell of my being got hit with rods of power lightning not even myself can fight me god like abilities the universe as built in me theres ben a spiritual shift a tilt in me somthing generations of DNA sprawled out in a numerical display my old life experiences is the price I pay so that I can be god even if only for a day

I think I'll sit an think somewere in the outter spink of the universe I've cursed myself with knowledge an now I'm aware step into my astral space....

If you dare...

[carryonmywaywardwriters]

Dean x reader, someone gets killed on a hunt. Make me hurt 😢

“Dean-”

“Don’t touch him!” Sam bellowed, pushing you away from thehunter’s corpse. You hadn’t been expecting the attack. Your feetcaught over each other as you back pedaled. Reeling from the fury inthe once kind eyes and from the scene in front of you. You couldn’tcatch yourself. Didn’t have time to think and try to. Instead, yourass slammed against the pavement as Sam Winchester leered over you. “Don’t you fucking touch him.”

You didn’t say a word in retaliation. Simply sat there, on the coldground. Staring into the empty green of Dean’s eyes. It all becamereal, then.

“No…” A warm drop of water slid down your face as you watchedSam reach for his brother, only to fall short. Not quite able totouch the still warm flesh as he fell to his knees. “This…this wasn’t supposed tohappen.” It was as if you hadn’t croaked out the words. Witnessingthe broken hunter somehow made everything worse. “S-S-Sam?”

“Shut up,” He’d been so sweet to you, once. So open. More sothan Dean had been in the beginning. A smile that could light up theroom would grace up that unconventionally handsome face and all wouldbe well. But, that was long gone. “Just shut the hell up!” Hispaled skin was pulled taunt over his bones, letting the moisture dripdown it that much faster. “This is your fault. It should have been you.” The trembling youcouldn’t seem to stop grew worse. “No one is going to make a dealto bring a Winchester back, Y/N…”

“We don’t know that,” You couldn’t believe it. Wouldn’t. He hadsaved the world. Fought off the biggest bads. That kind of mancouldn’t be gone because of the spell-crazed human that had been after you.That wasn’t how it was supposed to happen. “He’s Dean…this…thisisn’t the end. It can’t be.” Sam wasn’t listening anymore. Slowly,his blood covered palm reached for his older brother. His only family. The body was pulled into his lap. As if he could revive him that way.

“Why didn’t you listen to me, Dean?” The remaining Winchesterwhispered to the cooling, empty, meat suit. His head bowed as theflood broke. Deep, shaking sobs left him. His hair dripped down intothe thickening blood, but he didn’t notice. Didn’t care. “I needyou, damn it!”

“I’ll make this-”

“You did enough!” Bellowing worked. Your mouth snapped shut. Watching the scene wasn’t something youcould stomach any longer. Instead, you scrambled to your feet.Running from the slashed throat. As far from the hostile brother asyou could get.

But, you could only flee so far. Deep inside your chest, a burningache remained. All you could see was the echo of the man you loved inhis sibling’s arms. He’d hate the way you and Sam fell apart beforehe even had a chance to leave with a reaper. However, that wasnothing compared to what he’d think once he knew what you planned todo.

It hadn’t even taken an hour. Maybe you should have stopped to thinkit over. Perhaps it would have been better to wait. Instead, you fellto your knees at the feet of a gleeful demon.

“You think you’re worth a Winchester?” The sneer didn’t make itsway to your soul. You were too numb. Too set on what you had to do.

“No.” Dry and broken, you spoke up. “No, but you know thatholding onto the soul of the girl he loves is going to get youfurther than hoarding his soul will. He’ll do anything you want.” Sam wouldn’t let that happen.The deep fury he held towards you for dragging his brother- hislifeline- into your personal problems was enough to ensure hewouldn’t allow Dean do something as stupid as you had. “He’ll doanything for me.” Including giving up his life. Your eyes clinchedshut at the slashing pain inside you. “Think about what you have togain.”

Black eyes glared down at you, before a haunting smile crossed thevessel’s lips, “Deal.”

There would be no ten years for you. No time to see the life back inthe emerald eyes you so loved. But, that didn’t matter. As the demonraised its knife, you closed your eyes. Silently begging Sam to takebetter care of Dean than you had. Trusting him with your love’s life…

[deansawthetvglow]

For You.

1.9K Angst, Fluff, i suppose light tw for self harm (Read on AO3)

It’s probably the 100th time he’s said it, but Dean is tired of the same old excuse.

“I did it, all of it, for you Dean.”

Cas is looking at him with the most sincere eyes, brows raised slightly, anticipating the usual response. Silence, or annoyance, or awe, but Dean is tired of hearing it, so he runs his hand over his mouth and, as his fingers trace his own chin, slightly stubbled. He parts his full lips and sighs.

“That’s not good enough Cas.” He shakes his head slightly, breaking eye contact for just a moment before continuing “Why are you even here? You already pulled me from hell. That was your job, to raise me from the pit, help stop the apocalypse, and then leave. But you’re still here. Why?”

“Dean. You know why.”

“You don’t have to keep saving me Ca-” the familiar nickname stops on his tongue “Castiel.”

Cas’ eyes drop and hesitantly, somber, he steps closer to Dean. “I know I don’t need to, but it’s- it’s the right thing to do”

Dean swears Castiel was about to say something else, but whatever it was, it had died on his tongue, replaced by lines from what seemed like a rehearsed script that Castiel always happened to have in his back pocket.

“If that’s your only reason to continue risking your life, your wings, your soul, anything, for me, it’s not worth it. There are a million other ‘right’ things that you could do out there. Ones that wouldn’t kill you and sure as hell would benefit a lot more people. You helping me, God it never really helps anyone, does it? Just hurts.”

Castiel looks resigned and he moves to sit down at the table in the middle of the bunker, placing his elbows on it and perching his chin on his own hand.

“Perhaps I should leave. It’s been many years and yet we continue to end up here. I am not naive Dean, perhaps to some of the more ‘human’ emotions that you possess, but I know more than I let on,” Cas grits his teeth for a second, but he’s staring straight ahead, ignoring Dean “but you continue to deny me. Continue to question my actions. Continue to ask me how I could possibly still be here, despite me telling you many times.” At this he locks eyes with Dean “I may not be human, but I am a soldier. I know when a battle is lost.” He drops his hand from his chin and interlocks his fingers, looking down at them silently.

Dean is lost. His brain not quite grasping what Castiel is speaking of. He approaches the table and taps his hand softly on the glossy wood, looking down at the dark hair and trench coat and the all too familiar hands that fidget under his gaze.

“Casti-”

“Don’t. It is clear I am no longer needed, nor desired here.”

And with that, Cas is mustering every ounce in his body to use tattered wings to spiral him out of the bunker and to anywhere but at that table. He’s just as surprised as Dean that it works.

Dean is suddenly alone and stunned, not having seen Cas disappear into thin air like that in what’s felt like ages.

Castiel is hurled into a field somewhere at the edge of a forest. He leaves a crater and the whole situation reminds him of when he pulled Dean up from the grave.

He pushes himself into a sitting position and looks down to his right hand, feeling that all too familiar prickle on his palm when Dean is on his mind. Dean’s handprint had healed long ago, Castiel’s hand hadn’t.

Without thought, climbing from the dirt and moving to sit in a bed of lavender, full well knowing it’s meaning and it’s irony in this situation, he pulled his angel blade from where it sat alongside the right side of his celestial body. He switched it from his right hand to his left and set his right hand flat down amidst the flora. With a swift movement, Castiel felt searing pain and saw white as his hand separated from the rest of his vessel. He quickly healed the open wound and used his grace to touch the hand laying in the bed of flowers, quickly turning it to dust.

He turned from the spot where blood tainted the earth and walked towards the road in the distance. If Dean could live without his mark, their bond, so could he.

Dean felt a searing pain on his shoulder in this instant, but he paid it no mind as he desperately climbed into Baby and attempted to call Cas. Straight to voicemail. Stupid, stupid, stupid. He never could let himself have too much of a good thing, and Cas’ constant dialogue of “for you” had been overwhelming. He knew it would end up in pain, and of course it had, prompted by his own words. But as Dean exited the bunker garage, he couldn’t help but feel lost and empty, vengeful. As familiar as those feelings were to him, it was a different kind of an empty. It felt like before Cas when he didn’t actually know that something was missing. But now that it was gone, the constant comfort he had felt unknowingly since returning from hell, was gone. He gripped the steering wheel and kept his eyes on the road attempting not to cry at just how lost he felt. He could usually gauge where Cas would go, but now, he had no idea. It frustrated him beyond all belief and as he let this fester, he finally pulled the Impala over to the side of the road and got out of the car, kicking the dirt and kicking Baby’s front tire.

“Fuck.” He ran his hands through his hair and down his face attempting to see anything besides red. When he finally opened his eyes, angry tears threatening to fall, he saw purple. A field of lavender cut only by the sharp contrast of a dark khaki coat and a saunter, one not quite human. He sighed as he saw Castiel walking away from him towards where the road reached closer around the field. He huffed and wiped his eyes as he climbed back into Baby, silently apologizing for taking it out on her.

He rolled around the bend of the field and parked adjacent to Castiel’s path. He was looking down at his feet and the flowers as he walked so he didn’t see the familiar black car or man dressed in flannel getting out and walking to meet him where he walked.

When his ears finally caught the sound of moving grass, he looked up, startled to see Dean. Apparently the whispers of his wings hadn’t carried him as far as he has hoped. He stopped for a split second before starting up his walk again, with purpose.

As they gained on each other, he noticed the red in Dean’s eyes and his tousled hair. He put the ghost of his hand into his pocket in an attempt to hide what was missing, but Dean was too close.

“Cas, what?” Dean looked frantically at the arm that stopped at the wrist and no longer continued in a clean line to a strong hand with nimble fingers.

“I broke our tie Dean. I assume you are satisfied with that.”

Dean could barely even process what had happened, but in his mind all he thought was that he would go to hell and back if it meant getting that back.

“Fuck. Cas. You didn’t.”

“It’s easier for me to leave you, my charge, when I return to heaven,” he deadpanned.

Instead of reacting in anger, Dean simply reached up to his own left shoulder and subconsciously rubbed the skin where it had once been so raw and had so recently flared up.

Concern still stained his face, but it had softened as he stepped closer to Cas, hand still holding his shoulder,

He licked his lips as green eyes bore into blue ones.

“If I can’t have you tied to me here” he patted his shoulder softly, “then” he took a shaky breath and looked down at Castiel’s impossibly pink lips. He so desperately needed to fill the empty that grew inside of him as the pain in his shoulder slowly subsided and faded away. Before he could think any more, before he could lose anymore of Castiel he crashed his lips into Cas’.

Cas froze at the contact but slowly melted into the kiss reaching his left hand to Dean’s hair and letting his wrist rest on the skin of Dean’s hip right where his flannel lifted ever so slightly.

After a moment, he broke the kiss, looking into Dean’s eyes, searching.

Dean’s eyes squeezed shut as he rested his forehead against his angel’s. “Still not enough.” He whispered so quietly Castiel almost couldn’t hear it. But as soon as his ears picked it up, he understood, they still weren’t bonded as they had been before.

“Dean, may I-”

And even though Dean couldn’t have known what he was asking, he interrupted, breathing out a shaky “Yes.”

Castiel lifted Deans chin with two of his fingers ever so slightly and kissed him again. It was almost imperceivable to the human eye, but a minuscule amount of his grace passed from between his lips to Dean’s. Dean winced at the burn that hit his bottom lip, but Castiel just kissed him again, gently as he caressed his cheek with a soft thumb.

When it was done, and the bond was back, they parted, Deans hands coming to rest on Castiel’s hips. His tongue escaped his mouth and ran over his bottom lip in an attempt to asses the damage. Castiel blushed as he looked at the new addition to Dean’s lip. It was small, but sweet and Dean looked at Castiel curiously.

“I swear to God Cas, if you left some embarrassing scar on me, I will never forgive you”

Castiel just laughed and looked fondly at the little heart that sat on Dean’s lip, just left of center.

“I’m sure you’ll love it.”

Dean smiled and then looked down to Castiel’s right arm. “You’re a drama queen, aren’t you.”

Castiel looked down, a bit ashamed, but he smiled ever so slightly anyways as he brought his eyes back up to meet with Dean’s.

“I did it for you Dean, all for you.”

Dean huffed and laughed down at his boots before he punched Cas’ shoulder ever so playfully and then turned, holding our his right hand for Castiel to hold onto as he led them from lavender to pavement.

After he opened the door of the Impala for Castiel to climb in he made his way over to his side and sat in his place behind the wheel. He adjusted the rear view mirror and looked at his lip, groaning at the tiny, perfect heart that now sat there, and looked over to Castiel with serious eyes and a smile he was trying to hold back.

“Yep it’s official, I hate you.”

He looked back to the mirror to readjust it to its proper placement, lingering for just a moment on the heart, raised up ever so slightly from the skin that sat around it.

He smiled and looked to the road thinking of the heart. If he secretly loved it, no one had to know.