#but. well. anyway! may not be fully canon compliant but still they are very dear to me

[echotunes]

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Ordem Paranormal (Web Series) Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Arthur Cervero/Joui Jouki/Cesar Oliveira Cohen, Arthur Cervero & Joui Jouki & Cesar Oliveira Cohen Characters: Joui "Joe" Jouki, Cesar Oliveira Cohen, Arthur Cervero, Jennifer the Cat (Ordem Paranormal) Additional Tags: Campaign 03: Ordem Paranormal: Desconjuração, Pre-Canon, Between Seasons/Series, Sleepovers, Late Night Conversations, Conflict, Guilt, Crying, Hugs, Ambiguous Relationships 

Summary:

Joui can’t sleep. That isn’t news, exactly – he finds himself unable to get to sleep pretty often, these days. It’s just that usually, the place he’s tossing and turning at night is his own bed, or some sort of hotel room. Not Arthur and Kaiser’s couch. It’s not like he was planning to sleep here. He knew it would be awkward to just show up at their place after several weeks of only sporadically answering their messages, and expect them to give him a place to stay without demanding an explanation. But he ended up in a bad spot after a several-day investigation, and had no money left, and was too far away from the Order HQ, and… well. It ended up being the only place he could go.

Joui sleeps over at Arthur and Kaiser's apartment, and the three of them have a late-night talk.

---

aaand the final fic i wrote for fic in a box, also for @wsdalt!!!

[hufflepuffdean]

alright so like. I just rewrote 15.20 in my head following most of the episode parameters and it’s amazing how much better it makes me feel? I do have an idea for a fully canon-compliant fic and I do feel a bit better about the finale than I think most do, but I wanted to barf this out lol. it’s not COVID-compliant, but again, it does fit what the ep was trying to do I think. I’m trying not to be like a Polyanna asshole or whatever because I’m seeing people be condescending as fuck but writing this out works for me so I hope this works for someone else?

the ep can still open with the montage and definitely still include Miracle. but make it clear way more time is passing. like, a matter of years. at least five. we can see Sam and Dean on various hunts but also them doing some normie things. Sam in a Zoom class (no, COVID doesn’t exist here, he just is busy lol) and Dean working at a bar. it’s clear they’re happy. and again, it’s clear it’s been several years.

I’m ngl I’m not super married (no pun intended) to Sam/Eileen like a lot of D/C fandom but it’s been established and it does work easily within the show without having to be like Awkward New Romance. so she’s there too sometimes. 

there’s definitely a part where both Sam and Dean are looking through pictures of those they’ve lost. Dean can like look at a picture of Cas and say... thank you, I won’t waste it, looking at the picture. I feel like people would be pissed he’s not looking for Cas but again, I’m not totally changing the structure here to make the episode #actually a Cas rescue, and it would be hopefully clear why he’s not looking, that he missed him but thought it was what Cas would have wanted in his sacrifice. plus there’s a payoff at the end here.

eventually someone shows up with the uh, vampire juggalo case where they haven’t been able to save all the kids. I do not want them to be clowns and it is my version so they are not. anyway Sam and Dean go off on that hunt.

the barn scene... okay well first there’s no Jenny because dude I am obsessed with this show and have watched S1 at least four times and I love every minor character and I had no idea who she was until the flashbacks and also she didn’t even do anything wtf was that. 

mostly I fucking hate that Dean has to die at all! but again, we’re sticking to the episode’s basic structure, just kinda cleaning shit up. sooo I guess the thing here is - Dean’s death needs more agency. maybe Sam and the kids are directly being threatened somehow and he makes the choice to jump in and save them even if it costs his life. this is the one specific bit I can’t really nail down (HA) so if you have any ideas feel free to send ‘em along. I feel better about it if Dean at least got some significant time to himself to live.

the goodbye can stay. it was well done, and I think both Jensen and Jared did a great job. I think things like “Sam should have tried to call 911, while in the middle of Bumfucknowhere Ohio″ or “Sam should have tried to pray to Jack, who already said he’s staying out of things” take away from the power of the scene.

you can have the montage of Sam mourning. it’s a while before he calls Eileen or anyone else, since he’s so devastated. when he does have Dean’s funeral, like, everyone who’s still alive is there. Eileen, the Wayward girls, Garth, anyone I’m forgetting. fuck it, Alice! the Lebanon kids! even random strangers, to show what Dean meant! at some point Sam should give the bunker keys to Claire too.

at the end Rowena shows up. Sam is devastated to see her, saying he can’t do a deal. Rowena just says she was there to pay respects... and tells him that Dean is not one of hers. Sam just kinda lights up.

now you can do the thing where it jump-cuts to Heaven. the scene with Bobby is good. I may write a post later about how Jack and Cas redoing Heaven is like the thing that makes the finale alright to me, but definitely keep that. the change here is that Dean does go into the Roadhouse, and it’s full of like every goddamn dead character we love tbh. Charlie, Mary, Rufus, Jo, Ellen, Ash, Victor, Kevin, Pamela, etc. Those are just characters I thought of off the top of my head lol. No John Winchesters Allowed but everyone else. also no Cas yet but don’t worry he’ll be there in a bit. 

you can start the Carry On montage here but dear god don’t play that cover version.

on Earth, we see Sam and Eileen living. they have a daughter, thanks, though her name is still Dean. (I’ve realized I hate the “naming a child after a beloved dead relative” trope, but we’re clearly doing that so it’s okay.) maybe even make it so that they adopt one of the kids they saved in the barn. Eileen has like actual lines, whether she’s talking to Sam about how much he misses Dean and how it’s hard without him but he’s going to live for him, or whether she’s talking with Sam to Dean about how there are monsters and bad things in the night and sometimes mom and dad used to deal with them, but not any more. but they’ll still be careful. (the anti-possession tattoo can stay and salted windows and all that.)

Dean gets in the Impala in Heaven and you just hear “hello Dean” on the radio. it’s Cas, obviously. Dean does one of those killer smiles. they have a convo about the rebuilding of Heaven, and how everyone here, it’s Dean (and Sam) who brought them this kind of happiness. Dean’s like, Cas it was you too, of course it was you Cas. that can be it, orrrrr if the network would allow you to go farther, Dean can say, like. ugh I can’t put it into words right now but something that makes it clear he reciprocates. fuck it, have an “I love you too,” I’M mentally writing this lmao 

the rest of the montage can proceed like normal-ish I think? I actually did really like it when Sam was “driving” the Impala at the same time Dean was driving it in Heaven. just please god get a better wig. also I do not think Sam’s only pictures on the mantle should be of like, Dean and John lol.

Dean’s tending bar in Heaven with the whole group there when he suddenly is like... oh... I think I have to take care of something. everyone knows and is thrilled for him. Cas comes along. (honestly this one’s optional in my mind, I think that scene at the end was really good as is, but I want a TFW reunion, sue me.)

bridge scene plays out, only Cas is there too and there’s a lot of hugging all around. fuck it put Miracle on the bridge too he’s an icon.

theeeee end. oh and no two seconds later cut to the actors out of character but still in costumes and the crew not in masks during a respiratory pandemic, please, it was very thoughtful for the fans and the crew deserves love I get it but also but really weird lol

[justaramblingromantic]

promise

Characters/Pairing: Kobayashi Rindou and Tsukasa Eishi/EiRin

Type: Canon compliant, Post-series, Canon-divergent AU, Peerless-verse, Freestyle

Word Count: 1657

A/N #01: Been dreaming of Sicily again, and this was what came out of it. 

This is also a continuation of ‘mine’ and ‘favorite wild thing.’ Reckon there will be another three or four more loosely connected drabbles in this mini-series before I’m done. This couple just won’t leave me be, I swear.  

xXxXxXxXxX

That morning, she was all disgruntled and grumpy as they set off from Palermo. Wearing an oversized pair of shades and hunkered down on the passenger seat in an oversized hoodie, dark red hair tumbling down her back that was still not completely dry from her shower earlier, she looked rather miserable for someone who was on vacation.

Beside her, taking the wheel of the SUV that they had rented, Eishi briefly took his gaze off the road to glance at the miserable lump that was his girlfriend.

“Still hungover?”

She responded with an unintelligible mumble, hunching even further into her seat like an upset turtle.

“This is why you shouldn’t have drunk so much last night,” he scolded lightly, not entirely sympathetic with her misery since it wasn’t as if she was dying or anything of that sort. She turned towards him and sent him what was probably a gimlet stare from behind the darkened lens of her shades, but his response to her crankiness was to grab a baseball cap sitting on the dashboard of the car and place it on the top of her head, further shading her sensitive eyes from the bright morning sun.

“Rest. I’ll wake you at a pit stop.”

She was feeling a lot more like herself a couple of hours later, though still a bit quieter than usual. He had made sure that she was properly watered down and also had some food in her, so she was a lot less irritable, and was even beginning to gaze at their surroundings with renewed interest. Soon, they would arrive at the sprawling olive grove and vineyard where they would be spending the majority of this trip, nestled in the charming, rustic countryside of southeastern Sicily. As they got closer and closer to their destination, so grew Rindou’s interest and anticipation, and by the time they pulled into the massive, eighty-hectare farm of Pianogrillo, the redhead was already vibrating uncontrollably, beside herself with excitement.

“Tsukasa, look!” She turned to him with sparkling eyes and a giddy smile stretched across her face. “Isn’t this awesome? I can just smell all the adventures to be had here, already!!” She wound down the side window and stuck her head out of the car, taking deep lungfuls of the crisp country air as they drove past neat lines of olive groves and fruit orchards on a graveled road, an irrepressible grin growing.

A friend of a friend had recommended this place for a farmstay when Rindou had been researching for things to do in this region, and she was glad that she had taken up that suggestion and made a booking – the farm was even more gorgeous than what she had seen in the photos, with its sprawling vineyards that stretched out as far as the eye could see and that beautiful view of the majestic Sicilian mountain range in the distance. She could not wait to get out of the car and start exploring the grounds.

Eishi was bemused by her rousing enthusiasm. Undoubtedly she had been to even more exotic places than this for her work, but no matter where they went, she was always excited and happily marveling at the sights and, of course, exclaiming over the food. No wonder she was so well suited for her role on screen; she was so infectiously bubbly, he wanted to smile.

“Are you really that excited about this trip?” he asked.

She turned to him and peered at him incredulously, as if surprised that he even had to ask. “Of course, duh! I’m here and you’re here and we’re both at this very same place looking at the same views and sharing the same experiences! Don’t you think that’s special? I wonder what fun we’re gonna have here; we should go on more trips together, Tsukasa!”

He glanced briefly at her, lips twitching at her palpable exuberance as she chattered away a mile a minute. Her mood was definitely fully revived now, and it made him happy too, knowing that she wanted to visit all these faraway and foreign places with him and share her pleasure and delight with him.

“Yeah. Let’s travel together more from now on.”

They pulled into the front yard of the guesthouse and Rindou wasted no time climbing out of the car, grinning from ear to ear as she turned in a circle and gazed all around her. The actual working farmstead was a fair distance away and she thought that she could also see the stables just partially hidden up ahead along the road. There was even an infinity pool nestled right beside the guesthouse, and the 17th century architecture of all the holdings on the property had been painstakingly preserved and restored to exactly how they used to look in the past.

Eishi got out of the driver’s seat as well, pulling his shades up to rest on the top of his head as he looked curiously around too. There was farmland stretched out all the way to the horizon no matter which direction he turned; endless plots of orchards and vineyards cultivated upon gently undulating hills and rolling knolls, and it was almost disconcerting, all this amount of vast wide space that were utterly devoid of crowds and people, nothing but nature, flora and fauna all abound. It would take a bit of getting used to, but the white-haired man thought that it was already starting to feel like a peaceful, stress-free kind of vacation. Hopefully.

He turned to head to the back of the car to unload their bags when Rindou loped back to him and grabbed his hand, pulling him along in an entirely random direction.

“C’mon minion number two, let’s venture upon these virgin lands and go explore!”

“But our stuff-”

“Do that later, let’s go, let’s gooo! Ah! That’s the pig pasture over there, isn’t it! I’m pretty sure they are rearing free range Sicilian Black Pigs here; don’t you wanna go see-”

She was already salivating at the thought of those delicious, organic pork chops rooting about the woodlands, happy and plump. Eishi’s wilted determination was no match for that sort of motivation fueling her, and so he was promptly dragged along. They didn’t get too far though, for a horse with a rider approached them at leisurely canter from the farm, waving them to a stop as he neared. The steed was a tall, handsome equine with a sleek chestnut coat though Eishi was not familiar enough with horses to determine its breed, and its rider was a dark haired, goateed, middle aged man dressed casually in jeans, a plaid shirt and dusty riding boots.

“Bon vinutu! Welcome to Pianogrillo!” he called out in a heavily accented English as he drew to a halt in front of them. Flashing a smile, his gleaming white teeth stood out against his tanned, olive complexion.  

“Ciau~!” Rindou greeted back cheerfully, her ears perking at the familiar voice. “Are you signore Lorenzo?”

The man dismounted from his horse and turned to them. “Se, I most certainly am! And you must be the newlyweds! Congratulations, my dears. How was your drive here? I hope it was nice and uneventful.” Lorenzo unhooked a ring of keys from his belt loop and jingled them merrily. “Come; let us go first to the guest house and then I’ll show you around. We’ve prepared the most beautiful honeymoon suite for you lovebirds, I promise you’ll fall in love here all over again! Then we shall open a nice bottle of sweet wine to toast to your happiness!”

Eishi did a small, gaping double take as Lorenzo herded them back towards the guesthouse. Then he stared at Rindou, bewildered.

…Newlyweds…?

To his wonder, Rindou happily, gamely, accepted the offer. “Thanks for the hospitality, Lorenzo-san! We’re in your care!”

“So. We’re…married now?” Eishi asked his beaming ‘wife’ drolly while they were waiting for their gregarious host to tether his horse to a nearby hitching post.

The redhead grinned. “Why not? You don’t wanna?”

“I did not say that,” he was quick to refute. “Though it’d be nice if you can give me some warning next time since apparently I’ve missed my own wedding.”

She petted his arm consolingly, amused that he was playing along. “S’okay! Your beautiful, patient and considerate bride understands that you were busy with work. But feel free to make it up to me during our honeymoon…or I may just run off with some handsome Italian stallion when you aren’t looking~”

He gave her a deadpan stare…and then he glanced pointedly at their surroundings, where there was nothing but farmland all around.

“…Where in this countryside, pray tell, are you planning to wrangle a ‘handsome Italian stallion,’ my wayward, runaway bride?” he asked politely.

She coughed to mask a laugh at his deceptively mild question. She widened her eyes earnestly. “When there’s a will, there’s a way. And I’m a very determined woman, as you know!”

“I’ll paddle your backside,” he muttered in response, and she snickered.

“Is that a bribe~?” she asked innocuously, gold slit gaze sparkling with mirth and anticipation, and he groaned.

“You’re terribly unruly,” he chided.

“But you married me anyway,” she reminded him cheekily. “S’too late for returns now~!”  

He grabbed her hand and tugged her close before she could skip off in her excitement like she tended to do sometimes. “Who says I’m returning you?” he retorted. “You may be a handful but I know how to handle you.”

His bossiness was intriguing to her, and so she obediently stayed close, also partially pleased by his confidence when it came to being with her. She sidled over, tiptoed, and pecked his cheek, pleased to enjoy the thrilling luxury of his undivided attention, especially since they had both been so busy with work lately.

“Is that a threat?”

His lavender gaze settled on her, quietly darkening at her happy affection.  

“It’s a promise.”

xXxXxXxXxX

A/N #02: Pianogrillo Organic Winery and Olive Groves is a legit farmstay in Sicily and you can check their listing out on Airbnb. Yah, sometimes when I have nothing to do I like to go and look at listings on Airbnb in different countries, haha.

[the-truest-sentence-i-know]

Chapter Twelve | Blackmail

Fandom: Disney’s Descendants

Summary: Quinn Little, raised in Auradon by Little John, finds out that her heritage is not what she thought it was. When Little John tells her that her real father was a villain, she must go on a journey of self-discovery that will bring her to all the forbidden places in the United States of Auradon.

Pre-canon & canon compliant to the first Descendants film.

Word Count: 2.5k  |  11/23

ao3 ||| ff.net ||| wattpad ||| quotev

Jax was pacing again. After Quinn had told him everything she had heard, he had asked Cai, who was on watch, to go get Jade and have her guarded at all times. “If they come up empty, they might go for her anyway.”

“There’s no way he’ll be able to figure it out, right?” Quinn asked, leaning against the desk. “Only you and I know.”

He nodded. “We need to come up with a father though because he will try to catch you off-guard.”

“It would have to be someone no one knows.”

“Preferably someone from my father’s crew,” Jax mused. “Alf Mason.”

“Who?” Quinn asked.

“Exactly,” Jax said. “He’s dead and no one knows who he is or what he looked like.”

“Alright: Alf Mason,” Quinn said, letting the name gain familiarity on her tongue. “I guess there’s not really anything else we can do about all this right now.”

Jax shook his head. “Just hope for the best.” He stood in front of her and took her hands in his. “I’m sorry I was an ass earlier.” He brought her hands up to his lips and kissed them gently.

“I forgive you,” Quinn said with a small smile. “You’re under a lot of stress right now.”

“Yeah, but you’re right. Arrogance only works in certain situations.” He grinned. “Like turning you on, apparently.”

Quinn laughed. “And even that, in only very specific situations.” She stood on her toes to kiss him, arms curling around his neck.

 That night, Quinn felt herself shaken awake and opened her eyes to find Cyrus’ concerned face.

“It’s Cai,” he said. “He can’t stop coughing.”

Quinn quickly pulled on her clothes and quietly crept out of the room to not wake Jax. She followed Cyrus to the forecastle. From outside the door, she could already hear the hacking cough. Inside almost everyone was awake, trying to cover their ears with pillows to drown out the noise. Cai was lying in his hammock, curled on his side and coughing into his arm. His face was pale and damp and his eyes teary and red. It seemed like a regular cold, but the cough did not sound good.

“How long has he been like this?” she asked Cyrus.

“He’s had a cold for a week or so, but it only got bad tonight.”

Quinn nodded. “Well, until we know for sure what it is, make sure he gets rest and fluids. If he gets worse, come get me.”

Cyrus nodded.

“Oh, and make sure you wash your hands and all that. We don’t need everyone else catching this, especially not now,” she added.

When she returned to bed, Jax woke up. “Where’ve you been?” he asked blearily.

“Cai has a cold. Nothing to worry about,” she said and slipped under the covers.

 The next morning, Jax was already up when Quinn woke up. She found him in the guest bedroom with Jade, who was not pleased with her new bodyguard situation.

“I’ve always been allowed to go out on my own,” she protested. “What’s different now?”

“There’s a possibility someone might try to kidnap you to use as leverage,” Jax explained calmly.

“Who?” she demanded.

“I... can’t tell you,’ Jax said.

“How can I be safe if I don’t know who’s out to get me?”

Jax sighed, then caught sight of Quinn in the doorway. She smiled at them. “Maybe you two should spend the day together,” she suggested. “Then Jax can be your bodyguard, but it’ll be more fun.”

“But don’t you have to practise for the duel tomorrow?” Jade asked.

Jax grinned. “Practise? I could beat him with my eyes closed with one hand tied behind my back!” He swung an imaginary sword around blindly until Jade laughed.

Jade was much more cheerful as she and Jax left the room. “Keep an eye out,” Jax said to Quinn as they passed by.

“Always do,” Quinn said, and he quickly kissed her on the cheek.

“Gross!” Jade called. “Let’s go!”

Jax laughed and allowed her to pull him up the steps.

Quinn had a late morning shift at the shop, so she did not have much time to scout for what Seamus was up to. As she headed back to the shop, she hoped Jukes would be able to find him before anything bad happened.

 The bell on the front door tinkled and Quinn turned to see Seamus of all people walk inside. She tensed but tried to seem relaxed. “Seamus,” she said. “What can I do for you?”

“My father is looking for an old compass of his,” he said. “He thought it may have ended up here.”

“Perhaps,” Quinn said. “There’s a whole bunch of compasses in that display case.”

He browsed around for some time and Quinn tried to ignore him. He finally came up to the counter empty-handed.

“No luck?” Quinn said, sympathetically.

“Nope,” he said. “It’s probably at home somewhere, misplaced; you know how fathers are.”

Quinn laughed nervously. “Yeah.” She knew where this was going.

“You’ve never mentioned your father, Quinn,” he said. There it was.

“Well, it never really seemed relevant,” Quinn said.

“Who is he?”

“Alf Mason,” she said as firmly and resolutely and truthful-sounding as she could. “He was on the original crew. He’s dead now.”

Seamus nodded. “I see.” Nothing betrayed whether he believed her or not. “Well, I’ll see you tomorrow then.”

“Yeah, see you,” Quinn said. As soon as he was gone, she leant back against the wall, allowing herself to fully breathe again. As her heartbeat calmed, she wondered if he had believed her. Only time would tell.

•••

Her shift ended right before dinner, and Quinn closed up the shop and started back towards the ship. Just as she was about to go up the gangplank, she heard her name called behind her.

“Quinn!” Jukes was sprinting towards her, lowering their voice as they neared her. “Seamus is at Captain Hook’s right now. I don’t know what it means, but it’s odd.”

Quinn felt her stomach drop as she remembered her conversation with the infamous Captain. If anyone could figure out who she was, it was him. “Oh, no,” she breathed.

“Where is Jax?”

“Out with Jade,” Quinn said and started running into the city, Jukes close behind.

They found them in a café downtown.

“What’s happened?” Jax asked.

“Seamus is at your father’s house,” Quinn gasped, out of breath.

Seeing the fear in her eyes, Jax needed to ask no more questions. “Jukes, take Jade back to the ship, keep her under guard.”

“But Jax –” Jade started.

“Jade,” he said. “This is important.”

Soon they were running again, Quinn following Jax’s lead.

“Do you think he knows?” Jax asked.

“Maybe not yet,” Quinn said. “But he did say I looked familiar.”

They skidded to a stop in front of a tackle shop in the north side of the island, named ‘Hook, Line & Sinker.’ Quinn was too stressed to appreciate the pun.

Jax threw open the door and they charged through the dark and empty shop and bounded up the back steps. They burst into a large room, where Seamus sat across from Captain Hook. They both turned to them as they entered, Seamus in surprise, Hook with casual interest.

“Speak of the devil and he –” Hook started to say but stopped when he looked at Quinn. Recognition flitted over his features. “Perhaps I do know who you are after all.”

Quinn and Jax realized their mistake. Running in here seemed to have been exactly the memory jog Captain Hook needed.

“Alf Mason was never resurrected by the Beast because he did not die in the battle with Pan.” He spoke slowly, calmly. “He died earlier, fighting the Indians.”

“Indigenous people,” Quinn corrected automatically.

“I’m sorry?” he asked.

“Nothing,” she muttered, feeling his piercing blue gaze and shrinking under it.

“Seamus, what the hell?” Jax said, trying to stall his father’s realization.

“I am merely trying to learn about the gang I’ll be leading tomorrow,” Seamus said.

“You’ll have to face me fir –”

“I do not care for your meaningless bickering,” Hook interrupted, eyes still on Quinn, and tilted his head to the side. “You look so much like your mother, my dear.”

“What?” Jax asked.

“My mother?” Quinn said, barely breathing.

“Yes,” he continued. “Very pretty dark woman we met on our travels. Extremely clever; your father was quite taken with her. He nearly gave up piracy to be with her – he actually went through with it when he learned she was pregnant.”

“What was her name?” Quinn breathed. Everything else had fallen away – she had nearly forgotten why they were here. Nothing else mattered.

“Izula”

Quinn smiled a little, trying to blink away the tears forming in her eyes. “Izula.”

“You resemble her a great deal, too,” he said. “Except your eyes – those are your father’s.”

“This is all very heartwarming,” Seamus snapped. “But who is her father?” The spell was broken, and Quinn felt more grounded again.

“If you tell him, father,” Jax said. “I swear I’ll –”

“Gentleman Starkey, my former first mate.” Hook’s eyes, which had betrayed nothing before but curiosity, now blazed with anger. “The traitor. The reason we are all on this sodding island.” He rose from his chair, hook glinting menacingly.

Jax started to step in front of Quinn, but she stepped forward, drawing her sword. “I am not my father,” she said. “I never even know him.” Her mind was still whirling from all she had learned, but she would have to unpack it all later.

He looked at her drawn sword with a pitying smile. “It is naively charming that you think you could best me.”

“But the two of us could,” Jax said, drawing his sword and standing beside her.

He observed both of them a moment, looking eerily similar to how Jax did when he calculated the odds of something. “You are both more valuable to me alive,” he said finally.

“But if you’re Starkey’s kid,” Seamus said. Quinn turned to him quickly. She had nearly forgotten he was here. “then you couldn’t have been born on the Isle.” Quinn could see the cogs turning in his mind. “You knew basically nothing about the Isle when you first joined –”

“I was homeschooled,” Quinn interrupted desperately. “I was hardly let outside.”

“– because you didn’t grow up on the Isle,” he realized. “You grew up in Auradon.”

Quinn breathed out shakily and glanced over at Jax whose hand was moving towards his sword.

“Careful, Jax,” Seamus said. “The duel isn’t until tomorrow.”

“What duel, son?” Captain Hook said lazily, watching this all unfold with slight amusement.

“He challenged my place as captain,” Jax said, not taking his eyes off Seamus. “but clearly he was afraid he couldn’t win if he’s resorting to blackmail.”

“You’re the one who let a hero and a traitor on to the Crew,” Seamus spat.

“She can’t help where she’s from and her father was a traitor, not her,” Jax replied. “You, on the other hand, are most certainly a traitor. Conspiring with Maleficent to replace me as captain?”

Quinn looked between them with worry. Jax was angry, but calm, while Seamus looked like he wanted to light both of them on fire. There was no way this would end without a fight.

“Those aren’t the actions of a leader or a captain,” Jax continued. “But of a coward.”

With a yell, Seamus attacked, and Jax’s sword was out in a flash to block him. Quinn jumped back, ready to grab her own sword, but stopped, realizing that this was Jax’s fight, not hers. There could be no doubt that Jax was capable.

So she stood to the side as the two, former allies and maybe even friends, slashed away at each other, teeth bared in twin sneers. On the other side of the room, Hook had not stirred from his chair, watching the fight unfold in front of him.

Jax’s movements were graceful and calculated as ever, but Jukes was right in that Seamus was a talented fighter himself. Where Jax was all smooth manoeuvres and footwork, Seamus slashed and hacked ferociously. He was larger than Jax and used this to his advantage.

For a little bit, Quinn was worried that Jukes had overestimated Jax. Perhaps he could not beat Seamus.

“When I return to the ship victorious,” Seamus taunted. “I’ll tell the Crew about your little girlfriend.” He slashed broadly at Jax, who jumped aside. “They’ll never trust you again.”

Jax’s mouth curled into a sneer but said nothing. Quinn watched them with concern – surely they were tired by now. Then she saw what Jax was doing. In letting Seamus prattle on, in nimbly jumping in and out of his way, he was purposefully tiring him out. She noticed Seamus’ movements slow, his comments shorten and disappear as he focused entirely on the fight.

That was what Jukes had meant – Jax was not physically the strongest of the two, but he was clever enough to make up for it. She scolded herself for doubting him. Of course, he could win, he was Jax the Magnificent after all.

Seamus could see it too. When Jax’s fist connected with his jaw and he came back spitting blood, Quinn saw a flicker of fear in his eyes. But he simply grinned, blood staining his lips. “You know just beating me won’t help you,” he said as they circled each other. “Even if I lose, if the Crew finds out, they’ll kick you out anyway. The only way to stop it is to kill me.” He raised his eyebrows. “And I don’t think you have the balls to do that.”

A growl barrelled up Jax’s throat and turned into a yell as he moved so quickly, Quinn hardly saw what happened. Seamus crumpled to the ground and for a moment she was afraid that he had killed him but realized that he was just unconscious.

“You just proved his point,” Hook said dryly from his seat.

“Shut up, father,” Jax snapped, surprising everyone in the room. “He will face the Crew for his betrayal.” He looked over at Quinn. “with some modified details, of course.”

Jax and Quinn lifted Seamus’ unconscious body and began to carry him out of the room.

“Hold on,” Hook said, and they turned back. “Quinn Starkey, I hope you remember that I know who you are, and should I ever require a favour…” he warned.

Quinn’s jaw clenched. “I’m sure we’ll be able to work something out.” She inclined her head. “Captain, have a good night.”

“You as well, Miss Starkey,” he replied. “Goodnight, son.”

Jax turned and they left without a word. Once they were out of sight of the shop, Jax looked over at Quinn. “Are you alright? He dropped a lot on you there.”

“I don’t know, I –” Quinn started but was interrupted as Jukes nearly ran into them.

“Oh, wow,” they said. “I see the duel happened earlier than planned.”

Jax grunted. “You’re hilarious, Jukes, now give us a hand.”

“It’s unfortunate really,” they continued. “I was looking forward to seeing you beat his ass.”