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ohfugecannada · 4 months

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Groot’s many backstories

So earlier I saw this post by @alastorgould where he over some of the many versions of Rocket’s backstories, eventually writing his own take on it that combined elements of all of them. It’s a pretty good summary of Rocket’s past and it’s many incarnations in the comics, cartoons and MCU etc and I highly recommend you check it out along with his rocket and halfworld related art/fics.

Anyway, It inspired to make my own post going over some of the backstories/incarnations of my personal favourite gotg character: Groot. Because A) as mentioned, he’s my fave, and imo one of the more underrated Guardians members out of the core 5, and B) Groot actually has quite a few takes on his backstory already through not only multiple retcons in the 616 comics continuity but also through several multi-media adaptations of the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise. And I thought it would be fun to share some of them with you all.

Obviously, this isn’t gonna cover every single piece of media Groot has been in/has had his backstory mentioned etc. But I did my research and tried my best to cover a good chunk of the most notable continuities and adaptations.

Also, I haven’t read the entirety of every comic Groot is in ever (I.E. the latest gotg Grootfall/Grootrise story arc) so forgive me if I get a few details wrong. If there are any die hard gotg/Groot comic readers out there, feel free to politely and respectfully correct me on a few things.

The Comics

In the main marvel 616 comics there have been at least 3 different versions of Groot’s backstory and origins. 4 if you count his very first incarnation…

Tales to astonish #13 (+ other King Groot appearances)

King Groot is the giant tree like ruler of Planet-X, and an alien invader who lands on earth to kidnap the humans from a small town in order to take them back to his home planet and experiment on them. Conventional weapons used by the towns military don’t work as this groot is immune to fire and explosives. But thanks to the quick thinking of protagonist human scientist Leslie Evens, king groot is taken down by genetically bred super termites. He seemingly dies in this story but later makes appearances in comics like the Howling Commandos, aiding the team. Most commonly being seen as an inhabitant of Monster Isle. There was a time where it was thought the groot on the guardians of the galaxy was the same groot as king groot (mainly the annihilation: conquest series), but this was later retconned as a different Groot impersonating King Groot. Which brings us to…

Guardians of the Galaxy #14 (2013)/Annihilators #1 and 2 (2012)

Groot was a flora colossus sapling who along with his fellow saplings (also all called groot) were looked after by a group of elder flora colossus called the Arbor Masters. This groot was different from the others as he often brefirended the maintenance mammals; small intelligent mammal like beings who most other flora colossus looked down on as inferior. One day, another group of flora colossai were bulling a squirrel-like maintenance mammal and groot steps in to defend it. After one of the more violent flora colossus nearly kills the mammal, groot snaps and tears the other colossus apart. Presumably killing him. This catches the attention of the Arbor masters, who then have groot banished from the planet via a space ship.

This groot would later go on to impersonate king Groot and join the team that would become the Guardians of the galaxy, in Annihilation Conquest: Starlord #1, where he’d first meet his teammate and future bff Rocket Raccoon. The way he was written in annihilation conquest made it seem like he was the same character as King Groot, but this was later retconned in Annihilators #1 and 2 as well as Guardians of the Galaxy #14.

Groot vol.1 (2015)

My personal favourite comic origin for groot. (Also literally the best version of Groot in any media ever dont @ me)

Groot is born on Planet X, where the flora colossus are towering giants who regularly kidnap beings from other planets to preform experiments on them. Groot is disturbed and appalled by the actions of his people but feels powerless to do anything… until one night where he discovers a little human girl, Hannah, being held prisoner in one of the holding pods and decides to help her escape.

After teleporting Hannah away back to Earth, Groot remains behind and destroys the teleportation pad, presumably cutting the flora colossus off from earth, and he is banished by his elders. Groot then wanders the universe for a while, taking in all its wonders and sights, before being thrown in a kree prison where he meets Rocket for the first time. Rocket can’t understand Groot at first, but over the course of months sharing a cell with him, does. After this the two form a fast friendship and break out of prison, becoming bounty hunters/criminals and eventually joining the Guardians.

Groot vol.2 (2023)

One of the most recent and drastically different origins presented in the comics so far.

In this miniseries, Planet-X is a lush forest covered planet and the flora colossus, unlike the other comic origins, are a benevolent and peaceful race of sentient plants ruled over by a giant matriarch tree called Granopy. She looks after and tells stories to a child groot and his two friends Tweeg and Gleef.

One day their forest gets burnt by a gang of mercenaries known as The Spoilers, led by an evil Flora colossus named Agz, and the three get kidnapped. But are freed by a young Mar-vel. Together the four of them, along with an Alpha Centurion hunter called Yondar, fight against the Spoilers and save Planet X. As of writing this, the Grootfall/grootrise arc, which references this miniseries, has only just wrapped up. So It’s not clear if this story is supposed to be a prequel to the 2015 Groot origin or if it’s a full on retcon of it. (Im gonna assume the latter, given how different Flora Colossai are in this compared to the previous origins. Unless Flora Collossus society/planet X as a whole really went down hill after Groot grew up, somehow going from the peaceful forest utopia we see in vol. 2 to the desolate wasteland ruled by an evil king groot in tales to astonish/groot number 6 but I digress) so it’s up in the air for now if/how they connect to each-other…

Origins in other media

As a Marvel multi-media franchise, the Guardians of the Galaxy, and by extension Groot, have had a number of different adaptations and interpretations across various non-comic book mediums including movies, games, tv shows etc. so let’s take a look at four of the most famous ones.

MCU

Weirdly enough, despite this version of Groot (and his son Groot ii aka baby groot) being the most widely known by general audiences thanks to the popularity of the MCU, MCU Groot is the most mysterious when it comes to his origin story. We never get any implications or mentions of it in the entire gotg franchise (outside of a mention of Planet X in the nova police lineup scene in vol.1). The closest we get is an idea James Gunn had planned for a short film about how Groot and Rocket met and a few very brief mentions about it in interviews. In the tweet about the short film idea, James explains Groot was caged up at an intergalactic zoo housing exotic alien creatures and was treated like an animal. Until a worker at the zoo, a robot/cyborg named Tibus Lark, became attached to Groot and helped him escape, becoming his closest friend. Until they found themselves in a hole/prison where Lark and groot would meet Rocket. Being mortally injured, Tibus would explain his and Groot’s story to Rocket before entrusting Groot with Rocket and dying. Rocket would then use the robotic parts of Lark’s body to build his big gun seen in the first gotg and break out of the pit with Groot. Beginning their criminal partnership and (dysfunctional) friendship.

Gotg Disney XD cartoon season 1

In the Disney XD cartoon, Groot grew up on an idyllic and serene Planet X ruled by his father(?), both coming from a long line of flora colossus spanning billions of years who, along with all life on Planet X, all grew from an object known as the world pod. A source of power that exists within groot. Shortly after a day of battle training with his father, the Kree and their leader Ronan invade the planet to mine it of its resources. Dispute the protest of its natives, the planet is burnt to ashes, leaving groot the lone survivor. He’s then taken by the kree and experimented on, along with other kidnapped Earth animals. This is where he meets a newly anthro-ified Rocket, and the two break out together and eventually join the guardians.

Gotg Telltale Game

Like the MCU version, we unfortunately don’t get a look into his backstory, but what we do know from the alternate story path where Rocket stays with Quill and Groot goes with Mantis when the team break up is he is the last of his kind and empathises with mantis greatly because of it.

Gotg Eidos Game

Through conversations with Groot (with Rocket, and later in the game Mantis, translating for Quill), and a few parts of rocket’s conversations, we learn that Groot’s father was the king of Taluhnia (the original native name of Planet X) as well as the other branch worlds. Groot himself wanted to be a forest caretaker so he could care for the plants of Taluhina. In contrast, his father and the arbor masters were corrupt and favoured the needs of the few over the many, and enslaved the sapient animals on Taluhnia. With some saplings even hurting these mammals for fun. Groot however, preferred thier company over the others of his kind due to how nice and smart they were, comparing them to rocket in his convo with Quill and Mantis.

Unfortunately, however, they along with the rest of Taluhnia, would perish after the Chitari would test an experimental doomsday device on the planet. After the planets destruction, the other branch worlds would mobilise an attack, but they were no match for the Chitari and were destroyed as well. Fortunately, groot was able to regrow himself into a smaller sapling form. Making him, as far as he knows, the only survivor. In his smaller form, he would eventually be sold to the collector, but would later be stolen by rocket who raided the whole place while drunk. It’s kind of a mix of the maintenance mammal stuff from the gotg issue 14 story and the general flora Collossus are corrupt stuff from that and groot issue 6, with the alien race wipe out the flora colossus part from the cartoon (though swapping out the Kree for the Chitari this time).

…And that’s it for the most famous Groot origins! Again, this doesn’t include every incarnation of Groot ever, but I think I covered my bases with the most notable continuities. Maybe I’ll have a go at writing my own take on the origin at some point, but for now, I just hope you all enjoyed learning about Groot’s different pasts as much as I did researching them…

Also let me know if there are other, more obscure versions of Groot and his backstory I missed here. I’m always down to learning more Groot lore.

#marvel #marvel cinematic universe #mcu #Disney #comics #marvel comics #gotg #groot #rocket raccoon #Peter quill #star lord #disney xd #eidos montreal #Groot comics #gotg comics #guardians of the galaxy

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honey-minded-hivemind · 5 months

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For requests, here are the things I can do/write for:

Fandoms:

• X-Men: The Animated Series

• X-Men Evolution

• X-MCU

(I can do a crossover of these with other Marvel heroes, just as long as your request is platonic and has something to do with X-Men, I can do it)

Categories:

• Fluff

• Angst

• Hurt/Comfort

• 5 + 1 Things

• Creepy Fluff

• Forced Adoption

• A/B/O (Alpha, Beta, and Omega)

• Platonic Cuddling

(Just ask/request what you want, as specific as you can, so I cover it to the best of my ability. If I say no, or can't do it, i will ask if i can write something else for you)

Characters I Write For:

• Professor X/Charles Xavier

• Storm/Ororo Munroe

• Wolverine/Logan Howlett

• Beast/Hank McCoy

• Shadowcat/Kitty Pryde

• Nightcrawler/Kurt Wagner

• Rogue/Anna Marie

• Spyke/Evan Daniels

• Cyclops/Scott Summers

• Marvel Girl/The Phoenix/Jean Grey

• X-23/Laura Kinney

• Magneto/Erik Lehnsherr

• Mystique/Raven Darkholme

• Sabretooth/Victor Creed

• Quicksilver/Pietro Maximoff

• Scarlet Witch/Wanda Maximoff

• Toad/Mortymer Tonybee/Todd Tolansky

• The Blob/Fred Dukes

• Avalanche/Lance Alvers

• Gambit/Remy LeBeau

• Colossus/Piotr Rasputin

• Pyro/St. John Allerdyce

(If there is another character I didn't name that you want, just ask, and I'll see what I can do)

AU Ideas (If you're curious):

• A/B/O

• Dark (A Better World Inspired AU)

• Villain

• Hunger Games

• Vampire

• Drider

• Naga

• Dragon

• Wings of Fire

• Zombie Apocalypse

• Siren

• Selkie

• Werewolf

• Reincarnation

(If you have any you want to see or like any of these, don't hesitate to request it)

Possible Mutant!Readers:

• Pyrokinesis

• Electrokinesis

• Foresight

• Invisibility

• Snake

• Cat

• Spider

• Creator (makes things out of nothing)

• Gembody (like Emma Frost)

• Telepath

• Telekinetic

• Hydrokinesis

• Botanokinesis/Phyokinesis (control plants)

• Crystallokinesis (manipulate and control gems and rocks and minerals)

• Hemokinesis (control and manipulate blood)

• Wings/Flight

• Light

• Darkness/Shadows

• Were-creature (can be human, turn into a n animal, and/or have a mixed form)

(If you have any mutant powers you want Reader to have, please mention it, otherwise I will keep it neutral or pick out one myself)

I hope this helps y'all if you are having problems putting together your thoughts. I know organizing some options can help, as I have OCD and like to know my options, too, and have have in their own categories. Y'all have a lovely day💛

#honeycomb thoughts #platonic yandere marvel #yandere platonic marvel #platonic yandere xmen #yandere x-men #platonic yandere #platonic yandere x reader #platonic yandere marvel x reader

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geekcavepodcast · 1 year

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“Fall of X” Era Ushers in New Comic Book Series and Ties into Several Titles

In July 2023 the X-Men will hold the Hellfire Gala, which will kick off a new era that will become known as the “Fall of X,” where everything that mutantkind has accomplished on Krakoa threatens to be destroyed. The Fall of X saga will tie into several titles and create a few new ones.

X-Men will continue with the 25th issue from writer Gerry Duggan and artist Stefano Caselli. As with other Hellfire Galas, the team will get shaken up. Kate Pryde, aka Kitty, Sprite, Ariel, Red Queen, and Captain Kate, will join the team under the name ShadowKat.

X-Men #25, featuring a main cover by Joshua Cassara and a design variant cover by Peach Momoko, goes on sale on August 2, 2023.

Iceman gets his own solo series as Earth’s protector from writer Steve Orlando and artist Vincenzo Carratù. Bobby Drake will get a new base of operations, new uses for his abilities, new enemies, and a new purpose, “but a dark side effect of his new mission could cause it all to shatter… After the events of this year’s can’t-miss Hellfire Gala, Bobby Drake, AKA Iceman, sets his sights on heroic deeds like never before. But as a new situation develops that links Iceman to his Antarctic ice palace, he’ll have to be slicker than ever to accomplish his mission before Orchis knows what hit them!” (Marvel Comics)

Astonishing Iceman #1, featuring a cover by Jesús Saiz, goes on sale on August 2, 2023.

Wolverine and Ghost Rider are on a collision course in the four-part epic from writer Benjamin Percy and artist Geoff Shaw’s Ghost Rider / Wolverine: Weapons of Vengeance. “A demonic serial killer is murdering innocent mutants. But what is it about this deadly new villain that forces our two heroes to team up? And what buried secret does he share with Wolverine and Ghost Rider’s never-before-seen very first meeting in the past?” (Marvel Comics)

Ghost Rider / Wolverine: Weapons of Vengeance Alpha #1, featuring a cover by Ryan Stegman, goes on sale on August 9, 2023. The story continues in the pages of Ghost Rider #17, Wolverine #36, and Ghost Rider / Wolverine: Weapons of Vengeance Omega.

Uncanny Avengers, from writer Gerry Duggan and artist Javier Garrón, will see the return of the Avengers’ Unity Squad. The new team will include Captain America, Rogue, Deadpool, Quicksilver, Psylocke, and Penance. The team will be tasked with solving the mystery of the murderous Captain Krakoa and stopping his army of killers from starting a new world war.

Uncanny Avengers #1, featuring a cover by Javier Garrón, goes on sale on August 16, 2023.

Writer Steve Foxe and artist Jonas Scharf’s new Dark X-Men series will band together a new twisted team under Madelyne Pryor consisting of Pryor, Havok, Archangel, Gambit, Zazael, Zero, Albert, and Emplate. “This deadly group will band together to fill the void left by the X-Men, and are seemingly the perfect team to combat the harsh conditions of FALL OF X. Their hearts are in the right place but under the unpredictable leadership of the Goblin Queen and operating out of New York’s new Limbo Embassy, will this team’s dark ways turn the tide for mutantkind or make things far worse?” (Marvel Comics)

Dark X-Men #1, featuring a cover by Stephen Segovia, goes on sale on August 16, 2023.

X-Force continues from writer Benjamin Percy and penciler Robert Gill. The team will have a new leader - Colossus - who will lead them to a place that Marvel Comics assures us readers will never expect.

X-Force #43, featuring a cover by Daniel Acuña, goes on sale on August 23, 2023.

The Invincible Iron Man, from writer Gerry Duggan and artist Juan Frigeri, will see Tony Stark playing a key role in the Fall of X. With Feilong in control of Stark Unlimited and using it to build Stark Sentinels, Tony proposes an alliance with Emma Frost.

The Invincible Iron Man #9, featuring a cover by Kael Ngu, goes on sale on August 23, 2023.

The Fall of X will also send ripples through the Ten Realms. Realm of X, from writer Torunn Grønbekk and artist Diógenes Neves will find a group of mutants stranded in Vanaheim. “And what's even more confusing, the locals seem to believe that they hold the key to fulfilling a prophecy that can either raise the realm to riches—or cause it to fall to ruin. With Magik's powers malfunctioning and a mysterious figure amassing power on the outskirts of the realm, these X-Men are going to going to have to band together if they want to stay alive long enough to find their way home!” (Marvel Comics) If Magik, Dani Moonstar, Marrow, Dust, Curse, and Typhoid Mary can overcome their differences they may just rise as the legendary heroes of the Tem Realms. Or their presences could just escalate the conflict and warps all of mutantkind’s destiny forever. No pressure.

Realm of X #1, featuring a cover by Stephanie Hans, goes on sale on August 23, 2023.

(Images via Marvel Comics - “Fall of X” Promotional Image by Bryan Hitch and colorists Alex Sinclair, X-Men #25 Cover by Joshua Cassara, Astonishing Iceman #1 Cover by Jesús Saiz, Wolverine #36 Cover by Ryan Stegman, Uncanny Avengers #1 Cover by Javier Garrón, Dark X-Men #1 Cover by Stephen Segovia, X-Force #43 Cover by Daniel Acuña, The Invincible Iron Man #9 Cover by Kael Ngu, and Realm of X #1 Cover by Stephanie Hans)

#fall of x #hellfire gala #x-men #astonishing iceman #ghost rider wolverine weapons of vengeance #ghost rider #wolverine #uncanny avengers #dark x-men #x-force #invincible iron man #realm of x #marvel comics #krakoa #mutants #TGCLiz

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comicbookhyperfixationtime · 10 months

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Uncanny X-Men #194- Juggernaut's Back in Town

Last Issue Recap: The team fought Thunderbird's identical brother and his Hellion friends in a US base, tanked whatever remained of their superhero credibility and then proceeded to just let Thunderbird and the Hellions waltz on back to Emma Frost without any repercussions.

This cover is pretty cool, I wouldn’t say the composition is fantastic but it makes it pretty clear what this issue is going to be about (a big ol’ heavy hitter slap fight) and Rogue with Nightcrawler and Colossus’ powers is intriguing.

The issue doesn't start with a fight though, it starts with Juggernaut having a friendly conversation with the most oblivious cop in New York

Yessir, I'm sure the giant hunk of muscle wider than he is tall couldn't possibly have anything to do with the recently escaped super criminal. 10/10 polic-ing.

Juggernaut watches some news crew give exposition for new readers on him (there's plenty of convoluted backstory but all you really need to know is he's the Juggernaut, bitch) and his recent appearances in other comics (shameless plugins). They also remind us how the X-men and Spiderman (who was Juggernaut's latest foe) are Feared and Hated By the World They Have Sworn to Protect. The popularity of a Marvel character in-universe is indirectly proportional to their popularity IRL, thus why Wonderman is highly successful film star.

Cut to the X-men in the Currently-Not-Destroyed Xavier's School upstate waking up and not giving a singular fuck about one of their super criminals on the loose.

He stayed up all night watching old swashbuckler films ahhhh he's such a dork I love him! (Thirsty Sidenote: this is I think the first time Kurt has been drawn without a shirt and gloves on. In earlier issues he seemed to basically live 24/7 in his costume. Yes I noticed. Don't judge me.)

Nobody cares, that is, except for Colossus (aka Piotr Rasputin), who went from one of my favorite characters to least favorite characters when he started dating an underage Kitty Pryde until Marvel Editor in Chief Jim Shooter told them to stop (possibly the only good decisions Jim Shooter ever made). They wasted so much good himbo potential with this boy. Anyway, he's very excited for a rematch with Juggey after demolishing a few blocks with him in a post-breakup funk several issues ago. So excited he quite literally busts out of his clothes.

See, its dumbass himbo behavior like this I'd enjoy a lot more if I couldn't get the bad taste of him and Kitty out of my mouth. Screw you Claremont for ever thinking that was ok.

Wolverine comes in from his daily barefoot snow jog in purple pajamas to tell Nightcrawler to get the team ready to track down Juggernaut because blah blah its their jobs booo you spoilsport. Honestly I would have loved an issue where the X-men just stayed at home and did nothing. I find the cool-down moments in long running comic series are usually my favorite parts. Its nice to see how these characters interact with each other and live their lives when they aren't constantly in mortal peril. But the cover promised a big knockdown dragemout and so, the plot must keep plotting. (Side note: how did Wolvie even find out about the Juggernaut? Everyone else was listening to the radio but he was running outdoors. His plot sense was tingling I guess).

Since Cyclops is a married man, Storm has lost her powers and Professor X is off in Scotland doing New Mutants stuff, Kurt now has the sole leadership responsibility of the team. I've really enjoyed Kurt's run as team leader so far. He's doing his best but he's not cut out for leadership and its clear he hates every minute of it. He's an extroverted sweetheart who would rather support his friends. Its nice to see Nightcrawler get more stuff to do after barely being present for the past for story arcs. His self doubt is also a fantastic change of pace from the previous leadership dynamics, which were the team leader going "Wah wah wah I'm the leader and you have to do what I say I'm going to be a controlling little bitch," and the second in command/former leader muttering under their breath "I would be such a better leader I deserve this title more leader doesn't know what they're doing wah wah wah." It was basically a three way dick measuring contest between Cyclops, Storm and Professor X and I hated every egotistical minute of it.

Speaking of Storm, we cut to her in her home in Kenya showing some colonial douchecanoes who's boss. Storm was recently depowered by an antimutant weapon created by Forge (long story) and so has quit the team and is returning home to find inner peace or something. Being 80s Marvel Kenya is of course portrayed in a nuanced and intelligent manner- just kidding its a thatched roof bush station in the savannah and I'm pretty sure they only chose Mount Kilimanjaro because it was the only place in Africa they could name.

Also this specific Racist White Dude is using a South African slur (kaffir) in Kenya. I'd like to say the writers meant him to be a South African on vacation in Kenya but to be honest I don't think they were thinking that hard about it. If I'm wrong though and this isn't just an example of lazy writing, lmk.)

The women running bush station who Storm saves turns out to be a member of the tribe that worshipped her as a Goddess in her first appearance (because, again, Marvel is well known for their fantastic African representation /s) and falls at her feet. The implications of this are that the regional drought mentioned in previous panels is the result of Ororo joining the X-men and no longer acting as weather Goddess, which raises a whole bunch of questions about the morality of her decision to leave in the first place, as well as broader questions about the ecology of the Marvel Universe as a whole that literally superpowers were needed to keep the climate in the region stable in the first place (climate change must be hitting them hard and fast, forget the Setinels, this is the bad future y'all should be going back to stop!). Anyway, I'm sure at least some of these will be answered the next time we see her.

Back to the main storyline, Kitty and Rachel are spying on Juggernaut, who is in a bank in civies, seemingly doing ordinary, none-crime stuff.

Look at his giant butt in that tiny chair how could anybody be fooled by this?!

The stakeout is going pretty quietly until Nimrod shows up to finally do something. The panels showing him locking in on the X-men's location is pretty neat, but its giving me Deja Vu. I wonder if its because the panel is so famous I've seen it before, or if they copied some iconic imagery from something else (it is giving me Escape From New York vibes)

Rachel and Kitty evacuate the civies and regroup with the rest of the X-men as Nimrod focuses his attention on Juggernaut. He punches Juggernaut into a conveniently empty construction lot where they can beat the stuffing out of each other without the writers having to worry about civilians. Do you think construction lots cause superhero fights, or do superhero fights cause construction lots? Its a chicken-egg sort of thing I feel. The X-men show up to stick their noses in like a bunch of idiots and this is where I have to make my opinions on Nimrod known.

Nimrod is a mutant hunting cop-robot that had been introduced previously, having been pulled into the current timestream from the Days of Future Past timeline when Dr Strange reversed time to stop the spell of an evil wizard from turning Manhatten into a Hyborian Era fantasy kingdom. I personally think exchanging Fantasy AU Avengers for pink murderbot is a pretty lame deal, but what do I know. Anyway, he's spent all his time since his initial appearance living in some poor guy's basement, eating his snacks, taking up space and barely masquerading as human, much like me.

So. I'ma be honest. I don't like Nimrod. I think he looks like a stupid pink trapezoid. Also, his name is dumb. Yeah, yeah, Nimrod was a famous biblical hunter, I know, but like. This was the 80s. Bugs Bunny had been a thing for decades, "Nimrod" was already well established as an insult and honestly giving the guy that goofy-ass triangle head and Looney Toons-esque invulnerability is not helping the associations. Like, what the hell were the DoFP folks thinking?! But then again this is same Evil Future Government that decided Rachel's mutant hunter outfit should be a literal goddamn gimpsuit so I think its been well established that their real crime aren't against humanity but fashion.

He's also extremely OP in the worst way. I can't even keep track of how many powers this guy has. And you'd think that might make the fight's interesting, right, like you'll you never know what's going to happen next? No actually it makes everyfight extremely boring because I know exactly what's going to happen next, the X-men are going to attack with something and Nimrod is going to go "Nu-uh, you can't hit me I have my everything shield!" and take them out of the fight with some new weapon he pulled out of his ass. And that's exactly what happens this time. Nightcrawler and Colossus teleport into the fight? Nimrod's tracking systems immediately detect them and he blasts them unconscious. Wolverine does a fastball special?But oh no, a force field! Kitty phases through him? Not only does she not disrupt his systems, she gets knocked back by energy field!

The demonstration of Nimrod's bullshit powers is great here, but I actually wanted to post this because of Rachel's fit. Its so 80s but I kind of adore it. This nonsense continues even after Rogue absorbs Kitty, Nightcrawler and Colossus's powers in a Hail Mary. Don't get me wrong, Rogue kicks ass and its hella entertaining but Nimrod once again is on his bullshit. She punches him into a million tiny pieces and he just reforms himself! Then he teleports out of there because I guess even he knew this fight had dragged on long enough. Which is another thing I hate about Nimrod; they can never actually kill the bastard. He'll just teleport away and come back next time with even more bullshit. It'd be so cathartic if Rogue had finally just smacked him down for good but I have a feeling we'll be seeing a lot more of him in the future. The X-men let the Juggernaut go, despite him being a literal criminal, because they've been doing that a lot recently. Unfortunately for them, this time surprise news crews have been behind the fourth wall the whole time like its an episode of Impractical Jokers and now the whole world knows they didn't even try to do their job. And don't give me any "oh they were weak they knew they couldn't taken him" Juggernaut had his psionic bucket hat off and Rachel Summers was right there she could have taken him down with a single thought.

We end the comic with an ominous discussion about the X-men by two members of the Russian Security council.

You can tell its Moscow because of the picture perfect view of St Basil's which magically appears in the window. Also, how the heck am I supposed to take Eyepatch Ivanovich here seriously when he's wearing little red booty shorts?! Anyway, this certainly was an issue of X-men. It started off really fun, then it got kind of generic. Certainly not the worst or most infuriating by any means. Looking forward to next issue!

Edit: I took the comic at face value and wrote that Mount Kilimanjaro was in Kenya. Mount Kilimanjaro is actually in Tanzania, near the Kenyan border, so unless the borders have shifted since 1985, Claremont is an idiot and so am I.

#comic books #marvel comics #uncanny xmen #juggernaut #rouge #storm #nightcrawler #kitty pryde #wolverine #Colossus is there too I guess #nimrod #way too long #way too many tags

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newx-menfan · 1 year

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May solicits!

I’m already reading “Bishop: War College” for the full five issues and X-23 for the full five as well…so I didn’t bother to post it…

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STORM

STORM FACES THE BLOWBACK OF HER POWERS!

ORORO MUNROE, A.K.A. STORM, has been a thief, a goddess and a leader of the X-MEN – and she’s just getting started! With her mutant ability to control the weather bolstered by her top-notch fighting skills, she’s a formidable opponent like no other (as CALLISTO of the MORLOCKS can attest)! But when an elemental power emerges near the XAVIER MANSION, it’ll take Storm to the limit of her powers and beyond!

Get ready for an electrifying all-new series showcasing Storm’s days of rocking her mohawk and leading the X-Men, as she faces an ALL-NEW VILLAIN that will threaten to tear her apart from her team…and what she thought she knew about herself!

Writer: Ann Nocenti

Artist: Sid Kotian

Cover Artist: Alan Davis

X-FORCE

The new team of COLOSSUS, WOLVERINE, DEADPOOL, OMEGA RED, SAGE and DOMINO must contend with BEAST’S plans…and the future! A blast from their past will have readers talking, and sets the stage for the next era of X-FORCE!

VARIANT COVER BY EDGE

Artist: Robert Gill

Cover Artist: Joshua Cassara

Variant Covers

————————————————————-

The rest seemed pretty…MEH.

I can’t remember if Ann ever wrote Storm, so I am SUPER excited about that! I have been a DIE HARD Nocenti fan after her LONGSHOT series and Storm during her Mohawk/ “Life Death”/de-powered phase is my all time favorite Storm! (“Life Death” and “A Love Story” are hands down my favorite Claremont story!!)

I am really curious if Percy is staying on “X-Force”, since he’s doing a Wolverine book during that time and the writer isn’t listed…I hope not, since his run has been phenomenally boring and terrible 😬

If it is him writing it…I might skip it, Laura or not!

#May 2023 #x men #Storm #Ann Nocenti #x force #Benjamin Percy?#Marvel

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narrativestringtheory · 1 year

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On Comics: Growing Old with the X-Men

by Noah Berlatsky

[ed. note: a prior iteration of this article appeared as “Growing Old With the X-Men” on Patreon in 2022]

A friend lent me The Uncanny X-Men #160 (Marvel, August 1982) when I was at summer camp in the early 1980s. I wouldn’t say it’s exactly haunted me ever since. But it disturbed me at the time, and it stuck with me as a confusingly nightmarish story—a gratuitous exercise in disempowerment and decay.

Reading it again some forty years later through the power of digitization, I’m more aware of its weaknesses. Writer Chris Claremont’s endless exposition eats up text bubble after text bubble. Penciller Brent Anderson struggles with pacing the convoluted script—moments of grotesque horror (like Kitty Pride’s skeleton literally being removed from her body) are weirdly shrunken into a series of smaller panels so you can barely see them. I’d thought some of my fuzzy memories of the comic were a result of time and distance. But it turns out that a lot of scenes just aren’t drawn in a way designed to stick in memory.

At the same time, it’s, clearer to me now why I found the comic so unsettling then, and why, as an adult, it still retains some power. Claremont, in his clumsy, gauche way wrote a comic about the clumsy, gauche process of getting old. The innocuously named “Chutes and Ladders” turns out to be a story about decay, death, and failure. When I read it as a twelve-year-old, I was looking through a dimensional portal to the more jaded, (somewhat) hideously transformed me reading it now.

The plot starts out on the X-Men’s new island base. Storm, Nightcrawler, Wolverine, Kitty, and Colossus are participating in one of those Danger Room training battles with which Claremont was endlessly fascinated. Illyana, Colossus’ six-year-old sister is fascinated too; she’s watching eagerly, which positions her as a stand in for the audience. At the same time, she herself is being watched through a kind of interdimensional television by a mysterious figure with ominously long fingernails.

That obscured figure is a Satanic stand-in named Belasco, and his realm is Limbo. He’s a devilish demiurge for Claremont himself, setting the story in motion and summoning the reader deeper. He reaches into Illyana’s mind, whispering, “Tell no one, Illyana. Just follow my voice…to paradise.” The creepy child abduction connotations foreshadow the story’s obsessions with corruption, as Ilyana wanders off (clutching a Fozzie Bear doll). Kitty—the youngest member of the X-Men—notices Illyana’s gone and heads after her.

Illyana seems to vanish, and then Kitty is also zapped away. This sequence is presented as unpleasant in a way that is far out of proportion to what we see or what actually seems to be happening. Kitty is frozen in a circle of light and completely panics: “What’s happening?! I feel—No! Oh no!” She doesn’t sound like a superhero, but like a child facing her worst fear.

The older heroes figure out the kids are gone eventually; they follow and inevitably vanish. They all find themselves, or lose themselves, in an ill-defined gothic cavern-like realm—again, called Limbo, though it looks more like Hell.

The real horror here isn’t the décor, nor even the monstrous Sy’m, who talks incongruously like a 1920s gangland thug. (“So tell me boss—who do you want killed?”) The real horror is age.

The X-Men aren’t just visiting a different realm, but their future selves. Thanks to time displacement and cosmic comic book woo, our heroes learn that they were already in Belasco’s realm years or decades past, when they had been easily and gruesomely defeated. Wolverine’s adamantium skeleton lies in Belasco’s throne-room. Colossus apparently lived for some time, but he too was eventually killed; his aged corpse hangs on a wall. Or at least, Claremont says Colossus was an old man when he died. Anderson’s art doesn’t really show it, which is no doubt in part simply technical insufficiency, but which also suggests that age can’t be imagined; it’s a horror beyond visualization, even when it’s hanging there in front of you.

Worst of all is Nightcrawler. Our gallant, high-spirited Kurt didn’t die. He was instead turned into a corrupted parody of himself, a lecherous giggling monster matching his demonic appearance. When Kitty meets old, gross Kurt he gropes her, in an extremely unpleasant sequence. (Anderson’s pencils again don’t let you see clearly what’s going on, though this time it’s obviously intentional; Kurt’s hands when he gropes Kitty are off panel.) The sexual implications echo Belasco’s quasi-seduction of Ilyana at the comic’s opening; growing up here is shadowed with violence.

Elder Ororo’s fate is less grim than death or corruption. But time has still taken her on. After watching her friends die horribly, she reached some sort of détente with Belasco. As she aged, she lost her elemental powers, but studied sorcery instead. She uses her latter-day magic and her knowledge of the workings of the teleport circles to help the younger X-Men avoid the mistakes of the dead by urging them to run away.

They do so, but Belasco manages to grab Illyana’s hand. Kitty loses her grip on the girl for a second, but then gets hold of her again and pulls her back to our world—only to discover that in that blink of an eye when their hands were separated, Ilyana aged seven years, and is now thirteen.

That lost moment, in which a whole life happens between panels, is the part of the comic I remembered best. I’d sometimes over the years wonder what happened to Illyana, that same impenetrable gap fixed there as I got older, doing whatever I was doing. Time passed for me around that panel as it passed for Illyana inside it. You’re always getting older in that white gutter between then (further and further ago) and an ever more decrepit now.

The jump disturbed Colossus too. “How can I face our parents?” he wonders, and in a further internal monologue he muses on his sister’s tragic fate. “Childhood should be the happiest of times—and in a stroke, Illyana has lost that forever. Worse she has now spent half her life in Limbo […] should I welcome her, comfort her, love her…or fear her?” Belasco, though, gets the last word, cackling about Illyana’s glorious destiny while clutching her Fozzie Bear doll, a symbol of youthful innocence lost.

Contra Colossus, childhood isn’t always a happy time, as “Chutes and Ladders” is aware. Kitty’s outsized fear upon being transported into limbo, coupled with Nightcrawler’s advances, suggest that the comic is in part about sexual abuse. Belasco is grooming Illyana for his own purposes (further explicated in a Magik mini-series, which I still haven’t read). He’s an evil father, with elder Ororo, who dabbles in dark magic, as a compromised, also-abused mother figure. Colossus is grappling with the fact that aging can be imposed by adults in ugly ways; the comic is in part about how children like Kitty may be forced to contemplate their own skulls before they should have to.

The comic isn’t just about children though, which is part of what made it memorable for me when I was a child. To some degree, Claremont was writing for twelve-year-olds. But he was writing for those twelve-year-olds about what it’s like to grow up. Part of the superhero empowerment fantasy is that the characters never grow old; Colossus is still in his prime now, in 2023, just as he was in 1982. But also somehow in 1982, in that one comic, he was vaguely old, in a way difficult to visualize, and defeated and dead.

Belasco is evil, but he’s also age personified, and evil and age, intertwined, beat the X-Men, not once, but twice. They grow weak, they die. They are frozen and terrified. They betray themselves in grotesque ways and in smaller ones. They harm their friends (Sy’m uses Wolverines severed claw to pierce Colossus’ armor.) They fail to protect their loved ones. They run away. But wherever they run, time comes after them.

I vaguely understood when I was a kid that—through Anderson’s vague outlines and Claremont’s endless text—the comic was speaking to me about my own future. It was teleporting me forward in time to an older, tireder, heavier, more defeated me. And here I am, looking back. I could tell my 12-year-old self to run, I suppose, but it wouldn’t do much good. Back there, somewhere, I put the comic down and went off to swim more efficaciously than I can now. When, like Kitty recapturing Illyana’s hand, I picked the book up again, I liked it less, and, alas, understood it better.

#Noah Berlatsky #On Comics #comics #X-Men

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theinsanecrayonbox · 1 year

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X-Force #38

Conclusion of the Xeno stuff! Huzzah!

Apparently this was all about Dom, cause she’s got internal narration throughout. Whatever, that’s fine.

So we pick up where we left off with our merry trio going to Moreau island and finding skinless monkey minions…I’m sorry, it’s Attack on Titans not monkeys

See, that totally Attack on Titan

Deadpool cuts his way out of the giant. It dies. The other two land their plane. This stupid happens

I’m on board with the vampire analogy, and yes I gave in with a cannibal joke, but cmon guys! Arkady doesn’t lick up random viscera. (Now if he’d actually licked Wade here maybe it’d be fun then but cmon)

Peacock man turns on his little telepath. The gang gets into the lab.

Look it Arkady being a good and helpful boi

The “omnimutant” attacks, and it does not look nearly as silly as the version on the cover; it looks mostly like a composite Beast/Wolverine but has Arkady’s coils for some reason. Anywhos, it’s a tough fight

See he’s a good boi and wants to help his team mates, while Beast just cares about the download. He unplugs at 98% to help

Oh that’s kind of a neat effect, wonder what psychic power that is-

WTH??? The death spores haven’t been shown to MELT people before. And one would think you’d be immune to your own power like this one, wouldn’t you?? Is Arkady dead now??? Also, how’d you get his genetic material to use Mr Peacock; I could buy you got the classic X-Force gang’s cause they’ve apparently fought you already? But Arkady hadn’t. And why are you interested in keeping and testing out Wade as if you didn’t already have him; we saw you had clones of him already.

Ah yes, Beast being horrible and terrible. But also (sorry this was before the memo but my caps got mixed up)

Xeno’s plan is literally SoS; is the X-stable just rehashing their own CURRENT ideas now?? Because Xeno’s “augment humans with mutant biotech/powers” is exactly what Graydon has Orchis doing over in Sabretooth/Exiles.

Anyways, kiddo controls omnimutant, they defeat Peacock. Domino goes to kill him, sees his scarred face then decides not to…but totally leaves his monsters to kill him. She goes outside to rejoin Deadpool who’s entertaining the kid…Arkady is lying on the ground by the plane maybe dead? Deadpool carries him into the plane in another panel…

Right Dom, because no one else has never ever EVER stolen you’re genetic makeup to make a super powered entity. Nope. Weapon H is not real. Never ever.

My last snarky comment aside, that’s it. They blow up the lab on Genosha and head home I guess. Why was Colossus on the opening cast page if he was Sir Not-Appearing? I know he and Laura are joining next issue, but what?

Overall…eh, I’ve said it in other posts; this was billed as a finale for several books/storylines that I guess centered on Domino. But as someone who jumped in late to this series and didn’t read the others from the beginning either, it was lacking substance, not helped by the lack of footnote caption boxes to remind readers where to find plot points from the back issues. Is that on me for being late, well not the missing caption boxes, but yeah I give you it is a bit. But again, as a finale for several long things, it wasn’t really good.

And Beast still has to answer for his war crimes more so than just getting the cold shoulder from ‘his friends’ at the lunch table. Arkady was a good boi though (cannibalism aside) and made a new best friend in Deadpool, so that’s nice. It’ll be interesting to see what Colossus and Wolverine can bring to the team (and hopefully no more Logan since we get Laura??)

#kp reads comics #kp rants about comics

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lostpirateinwonderland · 1 year

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Hello and Welcome to the Tea Party! ☕️🫖

As stated in the mini bio, I’m 1/2 American, 1/2 Italian (si, parlo tutte due lingue ☺️). I’m also a huge Disney and Marvel fan. I used to be a huge super fan of Star Wars, but I left the fandom after Disney bought it. I still love most of it and celebrate May 4th, I’m just not active in it. I’m a big history buff, preferring to stay in the 1600-1790’s, mainly the Golden Age of Piracy and the American Revolution. I LOVE dragons (kind of an unhealthy obsession at this point, but you can never have enough dragons in my opinion) and am a big fan of the Eragon series. Recently, I’ve started to get more into book fandoms such as ACOTAR, TOG, FBAA, Fourth Wing, etc., so you might see me lurking over in those areas. However, I tend to bounce back and forth between different fandoms depending on my mood. I am over 21, but I would prefer not to disclose my age.

To clarify, I’m not a fanfic writer, but I am an avid fanfic reader. Please do not expect me to post stuff, I’m mostly using this account to be able to connect better with the fandoms that I am a part of.

As mean as it sounds, I will block people who have nothing more than a profile pic because of the scary amount of bots there are on this platform. It’s nothing personal, I’m just watching out for my own safety. Hence why I’m posting this; to let authors know that I am real and I unfortunately do exist in the real world (please send me to a different universe, I beg you 🙏🏽).

That being said, here are the fandoms that I am a part of with the characters that I will read fanfics for (most of them being character x reader format because I apparently have no self control 🤷🏽‍♀️):

Marvel

Bucky Barnes/Winter Solider

Namor (both comic and MCU versions)

Loki Laufeyson/Odinson

Warren Worthington III/Angel

Piotr Rasputin/Colossus

Pirates of the Caribbean

Commodore James Norrington

Lieutenant Theodore Groves

Lieutenant Andrew Gillette (yes, I’m using that version of his name, because I prefer it)

Turn: Washington’s Spies

Major Ben Tallmadge

Major John Andre

Once Upon A Time

Jefferson/Mad Hatter

A Court of Thorns and Roses

Lucien Vanserra

Azriel

Eris Vanserra

Here are movies, fandoms, and characters that I absolutely love, but don’t read fanfics for:

Disney

Treasure Planet

Robin Hood

Peter Pan—Captain Hook is one of my absolute favorites

Alice in Wonderland—The Mad Hatter being my favorite, but the Mad Tea Party scene is my absolute favorite 💙🫖☕️

Hercules

Bedknobs and Broomsticks

Zorro—The Guy Williams version is my absolute favorite. I always love seeing fellow Italians (in this case, fellow Ito-Americans) on the silver screen. 💚🤍❤️

Others

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang—I will not accept critiques about this beautiful and uplifting masterpiece. Grandpa Potts is my favorite 🤣

James Bond—I’m here for Q. Desmond Llewyn was absolutely brilliant (fun fact, he was in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang as well); I totally don’t recite the line about the grenade pen all the time. Ben Whishaw is at a very close second.

Austenland—Fantastic. I watch this every time I need a good laugh.

The Eragon Book Series—I refuse to watch the movie, as this is my all time favorite book and book series and I don’t want to ruin it for myself. Favorite characters being Angela, Murtagh, Sapphira, Solembum, Eragon, and Brom. I will occasionally read Murtagh x reader fanfics, but there are so few of them, that I read most of them years ago.

Harry Potter Series—Both books and movies. I also like the Fantastic Beast series. I’m going to be blatantly honest; I’m here for the dragons and Charlie Weasley. Don’t get me wrong, I love the stories and what not, but I have a giant fangirl moment every time he’s mentioned, in the stories, and/or I see dragons. I’m kind of like Lampie from Pete’s Dragon, except I get super excited about dragons, as they are my absolute favorites. 🐉

Hook—As stated with Peter Pan, one of my favorite characters of all time is Captain Hook. Dustin Hoffman was absolutely brilliant in this and I love the idea of Captain Hook facing an adult version of Peter. One of my favorite adaptations of the classic story. 🥹

The American Revolution—Not any film or story in particular, but I do love learning anything I can about the conflict and love the period. The exception to this is the TURN: Washington’s Spies series; I LOVE this series. Definitely my favorite TV series of all time. Hamilton the musical is fine, however I don’t care for Hamilton as a person, so it’s weird for me watching an entire production about him (he was pretty nasty in real life). King George was the only thing I really liked about it. Banastre Tarleton and the Culper Spy Ring are the two big things that I will devour information about the most as they are the most fascinating for me. If it weren’t for the fact that I am broke and don’t have time, I would absolutely join the re-enacting community for this time period.

The Golden Age of Piracy—As stated, I am a big fan of this time period. It spans a pretty long time time (most sources put it between 1690-1720, but there are many events that led to this giant boom and they started long before then), but I my favorite pirate/privateer out of all of them is Benjamin Hornigold. He was such a fascinating person and out of all of the pirates that are most famous, I would argue that he stuck to his moral code the most. Otherwise, same as American Rev; besides Pirates of the Caribbean, I don’t have any stories or films in particular. Black Sails is ok and Our Flag Means Death is hilarious, but I have a problem where I start screaming at the screen about how inaccurate it is (mostly with Black Sails. Out of all the things you could mess up, it shouldn’t be that hard to not mess up one of the biggest things in history that is associated with the start of the rise of piracy in the Caribbean, but apparently I’ve been proved incorrectly) 🤷🏽‍♀️.

Thank you for reading my long, extensive bio about myself. Feel free to tag me in any of the works listed above, I am pretty good at reading it, liking it, and placing a comment within a timely manner.

In the mean time, I hope you enjoyed your tea! 🫖☕️ Please pass me the McVities before you leave. 🍪

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emma-frxst · 1 year

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Smooth Criminal (15)

Pairing: colossus x reader

Summary- You’ve been hit by, you’ve been struck by, a smooth criminal.

Piotr falls in love with you, an art historian. He doesn’t know that you have a secret double life as an ex-spy turned art thief selling your stolen art to Sebastian Shaw. What happens when your two worlds collide?

Warnings: Trigger warning! Violence, fighting, blood, knives, pain, near death experience, Sad piotr, sad reader, Sad everyone. Next few chapters angsty as hell.

A/N: its smooth criminal sunday!!!! I know this fic has taken a long ass time to get finished, but I appreciate you all following me along this journey. Few more chapters to go. Sorry not sorry for making this angsty as fuck

Series masterlist

Previously on Smooth Criminal:

You turned to lock the door. While doing so you heard heavy footsteps from someone walking up behind you, a cool shiver made its way down your spine.

“Did you miss me?”

You’d know that voice anywhere. That voice has been causing you months of anxiety, nightmares, and paranoia.

Sabertooth.

You turned to face him and as you did, Victor wasted no time pouncing on you. His and your weight sent the two of you crashing through the glass front door of the bookshop. He pinned you to the ground, glass from the door digging in to your back.

He wrapped his meaty hands around your neck, choking you. Enough to weaken you, but not to kill you. Asphyxiation wasn’t his style.

The dagger. You needed it, now.

It was in your bag.

Shit.

You reached out beside you, feeling around for a decently sized piece of glass. Finding one, you didn’t hesitate and stabbed him in the neck with it.

It was enough of distraction for you to push him off you.

You frantically grabbed your bag, dumping out its contents in search of the dagger.

There it was.

Victor stood facing you, pulling the glass shard out of his neck nonchalantly; like it was a mere thorn in his side.

This was it..The fight for your life

For Piotr.

With your heart pounding in your ears, you stood before Victor, dagger in hand, blood soaking the back of your shirt from the small shards of glass piercing your skin.

The wound in Victor’s neck healed right before your eyes.

He laughed as your hands trembled.

This enraged you. Now you were ready to fucking fight.

You ran at him, but he deflected you, using your momentum against you, he grabbed your dagger-clad hand and shoved you against the wall. Causing the dagger to drop the the floor.

You rebounded with a swift kick to the groin. As he was doubled over on pain, you took the opportunity to retireve your weapon, turning over a heavy bookshelf on top of Victor in the process.

You ran upstairs as fast as your legs could carry you.

Slamming the door shut behind you, you searched the room for weapons. You had gotten rid of most of them, to avoid Colossus getting suspicious.

You were cursing yourself for that now. Looked like it was just you, your wits, and one small dagger.

Victor taunted you as he made his way up the steep stairs.

He kicked the door open ready, eager even, to fight. Cocky bastard.

You punched, hit, kicked, and even bit all you could. You grew weary as you continued to defend yourself, But you were no match for a mutant with a healing factor.

There was only one way to end this. You had a plan, albeit not a very good one, but a plan nonetheless. You had to time this just right. Victor wouldn’t let you get close to him with the dagger. He’d just deflect the weapon then gut you like a fish. You had to let him get close to you, so you could use the blade.

You fought back enough to have a few seconds to make your way down the stairs. You felt like your feet weren’t moving fast enough, so you jumped over the last half of stairs, pain shooting through you upon landing.

You stood at the bottom of the stairs while Victor moseyed out from the loft to stand at the top of the staircase.

He laughed.

“You can’t beat me (y/n).”

“Try me, bitch.” You spat, hand on the dagger that hid in your waistband.

It was almost as if the next seconds happened in slow motion.

Victor launched himself from the top of the stairs, claws out and teeth bared; like a sabtertooth tiger attacking it’s prey. You were counting on that.

You didn’t move as all 275 pounds of him landed on top of you, his claws sinking into your chest. But you were sneaky, at the last second before he was on you, you pulled the dagger from your waistband. With all your strength, you drove it straight into the center of his chest as your bodies collided.

With all his weight and momentum, Victor knocked you flat on your back. The impact abruptly knocked the air out of you. The weight of his gross, sweaty, and now bloody body crushing you.

He rolled off of you, jerking the dagger out of his chest.

He panicked when his healing factor didn’t kick in.

“What did you do to me, bitch?!” He exclaimed, trying to get up off the floor but he was too weak.

“Carbonadium..Bitch.” You huffed through labored breaths, the taste of blood invading your mouth. “It s-stops your h-healing.”

Victor looked at you, eyes wide, jaw slacked. He couldn’t believe it. You had outdone him.

You watched Victor become weary as the carbonadium travelled through his bloodstream, deactivating his healing. After a minute, his breathing slowed to a stop.

It was over. Done. You had done it, the cost was hefty, but you had done it.

You laid there on the floor, searing, burning pain shooting through you every time you tired to take a ragged breath. Victors claws did a real number on your chest, you ran your hand over the puncture holes, there were 10, one for each of victor’s disgusting, dirty claws. All the blood made your skin slick, your hand was covered in blood from only a few seconds of contact.

Your limbs were tingly, like the static of an old tv.

Blood soaked your clothes and pooled all around you, still your only thought was of Piotr.

Oh god, Piotr. He would be here any minute now to pick you up for dinner.

He was going to find your body. You hated that he was going to have to see this.

But this was the only way. Like you said, your plan was a crappy plan, but it worked. Sabertooth was no longer an issue.

But selfishly, you wanted the last thing you saw to be Piotr, to see his blue eyes one more time, his smile that always gave you butterflies, you wanted to commit those to memory and hopefully that memory would follow you to the afterlife. You hoped Piotr would realize that you truly did love him, you were sad and angry that you’d never get the change to explain.

You chose to reminisce on memories as the sand in your life’s hourglass ran out.

You could feel your heart beat slowing down, God, you were so tired now. That endless sleep seemed to be calling your name.

Finally, you couldn’t stay conscious any longer, the blood loss was too much. Your vision blurred and your vision began to fade to black.

Piotr POV

Piotr was on his way to pick up (y/n) for dinner, he had been working a lot so we was excited to spend time time with her. It was a nice evening so maybe he could convince her to go for a walk in the park.

He pulled up to the bookstore and instead of (y/n) patiently waiting for him outside, the glass door was completely shattered and he couldn’t see her. Piotr’s thoughts went 0 to 100. Piotr was a worrier, yes, he’d admit that. He cared for (y/n) more than anything and didn’t want anything to happen to her.

Heart pounding in his ears, he threw the car in park and ran as fast as he could inside. He went into defense mode just incase something was wrong. Although (y/n) would fuss at him for being in metal mode and ripping his clothes.

“(Y/n)?!” He called out, his voice panicked. He was hoping some kids had just thrown rocks through the window or something. He stepped through the door, broken glass crunching under his heavy footsteps.

He flipped on the light revealing the bookstore to be a complete wreck. Broken glass and books scattered everywhere, spare papers scattered by the wind blowing through the door.

“(Y/n)!” He called. (Y/n)!? Each call of your name more desperate than the last.

He rounded the check out counter, coming upon a sight made his blood run cold and the air leave his lungs. Nothing..nothing could’ve prepared him for what he saw.

There was so much blood.

“О Боже, (Y/n)!” {oh god, y/n!}

Piotr exclaimed rushing to her side.

“о нет, нет нет нет. дерьмо. боже мой.”

{oh no, no no no. shit. oh my God.}

Piotr shed his shirt and pressed it into her chest to try and slow the bleeding, with his other hand he checked her pulse. It was there.

Barely.

He reached for his phone to call paramedics.

“Come on darling, hang in there. Please stay with me! Please. I need you.” His desperate cries rung out through out the otherwise silent night.

Piotr had to shift out of defense mode to fit in the ambulance.

He looked at his hands, the sight of (y/n’s) blood on them made him sick to his stomach. Feelings of hopelessness sunk deep into his bones, and unbeknownst to him, would make their home there for a long time to come.

Piotr watched the EMTs try their hardest to save (y/n’s) life while he sat there feeling completely useless.

Maybe if he has been just a little bit earlier picking her up, maybe if he hadn’t got stuck in traffic…maybe..just maybe he wouldn’t be sitting in the back of an ambulance watching the one he loved fight for her life.

Tags: (tag list of open, send me an ask if you want to be tagged, removed or only tagged for certain characters.) @chromecutie @xenomorphique @evelyn120700 @nightriver99 @iamwarrenspeace @this-that-and-every-thing-else @hsk-puma @bungeewabbit @pianomad @lesbianstarkx @hazilyimagine-blog @super-darkcloudstudet @thehuntress26 @siren-lamented-vampire @mooleche @rovvboat @leo-writer @dandyqueen @nitemaremotionless @thewintersoldierswife @master-sass-blast

#colossus #piotr rasputin #colossus x you #colossus reader insert #colossus fanfiction #colossus x reader au #piotr rasputin x reader #piotr rasputin reader insert #peter rasputin x reader #x men fanfiction #colossus/ reader

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master-sass-blast · 3 years

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Children of the Gods: Part Three, Chapter Two.

I had to input every single italic you see in this fic by hand because Tumblr doesn’t hold text format when I paste it innnnnn. *pained smile*

Please give this chapter some love, because that was fucking painful to do.

Summary: The aftermath of capturing Allison proves messy -both in dealing with the teen's evident trauma, and in all the skeletons in various closets that get unleashed soon after.

Pairing(s): Piotr Rasputin x Reader, Nathan Summers x Wade Wilson, Frank Castle x Karen Page, and Alexandra Rasputin x Nikolai Rasputin.

Rating: M for gun violence, depictions of death and injuries, depictions of emotional trauma, and gratuitous use of the word “fuck.”

Word count: 8.9k.

Set after “Children of the Gods: Part Three, Chapter One.”

Taglist: @marvel-is-perfection, @chromecutie, @super-darkcloudstudent, @girl-obsessed-with-things, @leo-writer, @emma-frxst, @sadstone-s

“What the hell were you thinking!”

“Ooh, careful there, Doohan,” Wade snarks, head rolling to indicate he’s rolling his eyes. “Get any more agitated and you’ll be saying all the no-no words.”

Scott scowls at Wade. “Stuff it, Wilson.”

“Every damn night, laser pointer.”

A mixture of grimaces, sighs, and groans go up through the crowd.

You’re all gathered in the medical wing of Xavier’s –the X-Force and nearly all of the X-Men. Allison’s off being examined by Dr. McCoy and Alyssa –to make sure she’s stable enough to be taken out of the handcuffs and the suppression band—and Frank and Karen are sequestered in a separate room until it's clear how everything's going to shake out.

Because, naturally, there’s been a wrench thrown in the situation.

Or maybe the whole damn toolbox, you mentally amend as Wade and Scott resume arguing.

“We cannot harbor a mob criminal here—”

“She’s thirteen, Summers!” Wade snaps. The eyes on his mask narrow into slits. “She’s not a criminal –and her parents’ choice don’t automatically make her guilty!”

“Murder, illegal theft and possession of firearms, assault, stalking, kidnapping,” Scott starts listing, ticking off each of Allison’s misdeeds on his fingers.

“She lost her family,” Nathan interjects, voice going to gravel. “Where the fuck were all of you when she needed support? Isn’t that what you’re supposed to do?”

The room goes silent. Many of the X-Men members look away or hang their heads slightly.

“We had no way of knowing that Allison was a mutant,” Ororo speaks up. “Without the proper information, we can’t help. It’s unfortunate, yes, but out of our control all the same.”

“But you know now,” Wade argues. “You knew with Russell. You knew with all the kids at Essex house. You turned your back on him and those kids, just like you’re turning your back on Allison now.” He scoffs, disgusted. “Same shit, different day. You’re all a bunch of cowardly cocksuckers.”

“We do have limits,” Professor Xavier speaks up from his chair. “Russell and the other members of Essex house were considered wards of the state. Legally, that meant Essex house had custody of them until they turned eighteen. We wrote petitions. We did as much as we could to bring attention to the issue. Unfortunately, it got swept under the rug or stonewalled by anti-mutant members of the legal system. As for Allison…” He sighs. “Taking in wards with criminal connections put the school at risk. Not just for fear of retaliation –as would certainly be a risk with Miss Ricci’s connections to the mafia—but also our funding and licensing. As an orphaned mutant, she is certainly deserving of our help—” he pauses to glare sternly at Scott and a few of the more stubborn, self-righteous members present “—but we have to consider the needs of our other residents and students, too.”

“I think we’re overlooking that Allison is here right now,” Jean pipes up. “Whether or not she stays with us is one thing, but we need to decide what to do for at least the next forty-eight hours.”

“She stays here,” you say automatically. “As far as we know, she has no other guardians, potentially even nowhere to go. I don’t think it’s gonna kill us to give her a bed and some food to eat.”

“Absolutely not,” Scott fires back –and, behind him, Angel and Iceman nod. “She’s far too aggressive to possibly put the students at risk.”

“She’s agitated and traumatized,” you reason, “but that doesn’t mean she’s going to lash out at people left and right.”

“Doesn’t she have a guardian of sorts?” Neena pipes up. “Artemis? Has anyone gotten ahold of them?”

“We reached out with the number Miss Ricci gave us,” Xavier explains. “The call picked up, but there wasn’t any verbal response for the duration of the call.”

Well, that bodes well. “What about her attorney?” you ask. “If we can’t keep her here, wouldn’t her attorney be able to arrange some sort of safe place for her to stay.”

“Thus far, we haven’t been able to reach her attorney.”

And that bodes even worse. You fight the urge to sigh or roll your eyes, and instead mentally curse monkey wrenches and whoever thought to invent the damn things.

“For the time being, I’ve contacted some of our external resources” –the glance Xavier shoots at both you and Piotr tells you that it’s your uncle and Alexandra—“to help with matters until the dust settles. They should be arriving soon, so—”

There’s a loud crash from down the hall, the sound of glass shattering, and an angry screech that sounds suspiciously like, “Fuck you, Castle!”

You give into the urge to sigh before booking it towards the sound of chaos and rage. Great. Now it’s an entire toolshed.

***

Subduing Allison this time, at least, is easier for several reasons.

First, she’s still wearing the repression cuff on her wrist. Without her powers –without a way to pop in and out of this existence, specifically—she’s much easier to catch.

Second, she’s tired. It’s not just the bags under her eyes or the sweat glistening at her furrowed brow. She’s stumbling unevenly, panting as she tries to exact her revenge.

Third, Illyana happens to show up at the exact same time with your uncle and Alexandra (and Nikolai as well, though he has less involvement in the “subduing process”).

Alex reacts fastest. She hooks one strong arm around Allison’s waist, then scoops her away from Karen and a hangdog-looking Frank. “Alright, that’s enough.”

Allison, however, doesn’t seem to agree. (Though whether it’s due to general teenage contrariness or trauma-induced rage, the jury’s still out.

…Actually, it’s probably both.)

“You don’t even get it, Castle!” Allison snaps with a manic grin, eyes wide and haunted. “You killed a good man. My dad was getting out! He was going to testify against them—”

Alex clamps a hand over the teen’s mouth, making her cut herself off with a garbled grunt. “I said enough.”

Allison thrashes in the older woman’s iron-clad grasp –to no avail, unsurprisingly. Her face scrunches up, then her jaw starts flexing. There’s a moment where her expression goes slack when Alex doesn’t react, then her nose scrunches up again and her jaw starts working harder.

Alex sighs, then starts carrying Allison back down the hall (she’s astonishingly unfazed by been chomped down on). “Come on. Let’s get you calmed down, malen’kiy.”

At the other end of the hall, Neena pokes her head into the fray. “Someone who calls herself Artemis is at the front door.”

Professor Xavier nods, then says, “Please escort her back to Miss Ricci’s room,” before wheeling after Alex and Artemis.

You look between Neena and the Professor –then, in the interest of going where you’re actually allowed to be (and not being bored out of your mind because you’ll be literally shut out of the room), you head towards the foyer.

…

“Do you think Frank was set up to stop the trial?”

Your uncle shrugs; the two of you have taken up a spot at the back of the room, where you can watch things unfold and gossip like the two old ladies you are in spirit. “It’s possible. It’s also possible that it was retribution for Allison being a mutant. The Ricci syndicate is notoriously… intolerant.”

You grimace. You certainly understand just how far people will go against their own flesh and blood for intolerance’s sake. “Blood and water.”

Your uncle nods, expression equally sour. “You fucking said it, punk.”

There’s not much point in hashing it out any further –both from the standpoint of “forbidden knowledge” and digging up old trauma—so you settle back into watching Artemis go through the mandatory security check.

She’s tall, with broad shoulders. Her hair’s dark, just starting to streak with silver at the temples, and her eyes are deep, intense, borderline black color. Her nose is slightly crooked –comes with the territory in this walk of life—and she’s dressed in black motorcycle wear and combat boots.

She honestly looks so fucking familiar.

You frown, brows pinching together as you try and place her face in your memory. Failing your own abilities at recollection, you lean over and whisper, “Is she one of your team members? I swear I’ve seen her before.”

“Uh –no,” your uncle replies (and it’s too fast and shaky, but you’re too caught up in figuring out whom the fuck you’re looking at to notice). “I mean –everyone has a doppelganger, right?”

“I guess.” You squint at Artemis, as though physically narrowing your eyes will help your brain puzzle things out—

And then Alex strides into the foyer –wiping the hand that Allison bit, and if you look close enough you’re pretty sure you can still see a few bloody teeth marks—and the cloud of confusion lifts from your mind.

“Oh!” you gasp quietly. “That’s why she looks familiar! She looks like Alex.” You look from the Rasputin matriarch, to the other black-leather clad woman, then back again. “She looks… a lot like Alex, actually.” You laugh softly –coincidence is a hell of a thing—then keep rambling when your uncle doesn’t say anything. “Two women who love the color black and carry enough weapons on their person to stock an army. You’d think the universe broke the mold with Alex, huh?”

Your uncle shifts from foot to foot next to you, but says nothing.

“You really weren’t kidding about the whole ‘doppelganger’ thing, huh.” You cock your head to one side, then frown as another epiphany starts growing in your mind. “Actually… she kind of looks like you, too.”

Your uncle makes a quiet, pained choking noise. “Punk—”

“Yeah, she’s got more of your build…”

“Punk.”

“And her lower lip has that weird lopsided curve like yours—”

“Punk—”

You peer closer at Artemis’s face. “Actually, her nose looks like you took yours and Alex’s and mashed them together—”

“Punk.”

You finally look up at him and take in the pale, wide-eyed, tight-lipped expression on his face. “What?” When he doesn’t say anything, you look at Artemis, then Alex, and then back at him—

Oh God.

Holy fucking shit.

You stare up at your uncle, agape. “Wait a second –you and—”

“Okay, shut the fuck up!” he hisses, panicked, before dragging you out of the foyer and into the nearest hallway.

“You and Alex had a baby,” you blurt –albeit in a voice no louder than a harsh whisper. “Artemis is your and her lovechild!”

He winces, then holds up his hands. “I can explain—”

“I don’t think you can!” you hiss. “Why didn’t you tell me that I have a cousin who happens to be my husband’s half fucking sister! Oh God, does Piotr know? Do any of the Rasputins know?”

“I…” He trails off, then cringes. He rubs the back of his neck. “I’m not sure, actually.”

You stare up at him, dumbfounded. “You’re not sure. How are you not sure? Nick knows who you are –what, you think Alex just kept a whole child from his knowledge—”

“I mean, he probably knows that there was a baby at one point—”

“The baby is in this fucking house!” you snap in a quiet growl, arms flailing wildly. “She’s a full grown adult who probably pays taxes and has a 401k going! Why wouldn’t Alex tell her husband—”

“Look,” your uncle interjects, cutting you off. “As far as Alex knows… she thinks she’s… dead?”

You gape. Then, as quietly as you can manage (given the circumstances), you exclaim, “What the fuck!”

“Keep your voice down!” your uncle hisses, gesturing wildly in panic. He looks over his shoulder, then when he’s certain no one overheard you, he sighs and looks back to you. “Look, it’s a long story—”

“I’m sure it fucking is!” You cross your arms over your chest when he winces. “How is it that you know your secret lovechild is alive, but Alex doesn’t? What, did she just abandon her?”

“No, no—”

“Didn’t think so. So what the fuck happened?”

He sighs, shoulder slumping, and runs one hand through his already disheveled hair. “Look –long story short, the people who ‘made’ Alex took the baby—”

“Artemis. Her daughter. Your daughter.”

He purses his lips, but concedes with a nod. “They took her away after she was born and told Alex she was dead –and that’s actually what prompted her to get out, but that’s another story for another day—”

“Okay, hang on a second.” You squeeze your eyes shut and hold up one hand. “Alex thinks her baby is dead –probably one of the most traumatic things in her whole life. You’ve known that she’s alive…” You open your eyes again and fix your uncle with a stern stare. “Okay, how long have you known for?”

He grimaces and shifts uncomfortably. “…well, the US took her, but she didn’t present early, so they turned her loose into the foster system because she didn’t have potential as an ‘asset’—”

“How fucking long?”

He ducks his head, carefully avoiding your gaze. “…tracked her down when she was ten.”

Your eyes widen –and then you slug him in the shoulder. “You fucking colossal asshole!”

He panics again, motioning for you to keep it down while checking over his shoulder. “Shut the fuck up!”

“No! Not only have you lied to Alex for decades—”

“She never asked—”

“A lie by omission is still a fucking lie!” you snap in a gravelly whisper. “So, not only did you lie to her, but you also abandoned your daughter to the mercies of the US foster care system!”

“My life wasn’t safe to keep a kid around!” he hisses back at you. “I couldn’t take care of you, and I couldn’t take care of her! If anything, it was safer for her if the government thought I didn’t know she was alive!”

You sigh, pinch the bridge of your nose, and wave dismissively with your other hand. “Okay –fine. That still doesn’t justify the whole lying thing, but whatever. Does Artemis know that you and Alex are her parents?”

“…Yes. She tracked me down when she was in her twenties and I told her the truth.”

“Well, it sounds like determination runs in the family,” you mutter. “But at least you two have kept in touch…” You look up, see your uncle’s grimace, and sigh. “You didn’t keep in touch with her.”

He shoves his hands in his jacket pockets. “I didn’t know how to handle it.”

“Pretty sure ‘not like that’ is a good answer.” You sigh again, then shrug and put your hands on your hips. “Well, you’ve probably solved your own problem. She’ll probably just tell Alex who she is just to spite you, assuming she got the ‘petty vengeance’ gene too.”

Your uncle’s eyebrows spike to his hairline, and his expression goes through the five stages of grief in a matter of seconds. “She –she can’t—”

“She can and she probably will.”

He hunches over, crouching, and grips the back of his head. “Shitfuckshitfuckshitfuckshitfuck—”

“Myshka?”

You and your uncle both jump, then whirl in unison and give your husband your best convincing, “we’re totally not talking about long lost, hidden family members and other poor life choices” smiles that you can each manage.

(Consider that you don’t look like you just shit your pants, you win.)

Piotr’s forehead wrinkles with concern. “What… is everything alright?”

“Just fine, baby,” you assure him, subtly kicking your uncle so he relaxes. “Just talking about what happens next.”

Piotr nods after a moment, likely picking up on that whatever’s going on right now isn’t life or death and that you’ll fill him in later. “I actually came to find you,” he says, gesturing to your uncle. “Professor Xavier still cannot reach Allison’s lawyer. He has asked for your assistance.”

“Right. Absolutely. On it,” your uncle says with a none-too-convincing smile. He shoots your husband a pair of finger guns, then books it out of the hall and towards the medical wing of the mansion.

Piotr stares after him, then shoots you a confused frown. “Is he okay?”

You shrug. “He’s doing about his usual.” You decide to further sidestep the issue by ambling over to him and giving him a gentle hug. “How are you?” Are doing okay?”

Piotr wraps his arms around you and kisses the top of your head. “I am fine now. Just a little sore.”

“Me too.” You nuzzle your cheek against his burly chest. “We really should invest in that hot tub we keep talking about getting. It’d be great for post-mission recovery.”

“Hot tubs are expensive, myshka,” he chuckles.

“Yes, but we’re not getting any younger. It’d be a good investment in taking care of our bodies.” You tilt your head back and grin up at him. “I thought you were all about that life.”

He sighs and shakes his head, feigning exasperation, but his amused smile is a dead giveaway. “Whatever shall I do with you, myshka?”

You grin wider. “You could kiss me.”

Piotr grins back, then dips his head and presses his lips against yours—

Mikhail appears next to you out of thin air. “Ah. Gross. Big meeting is happening. All hands on deck.”

Piotr rolls his eyes when his elder brother teleports away once more, then looks back down at you and strokes your cheek with his thumb. “Sorry about that.”

“It’s fine, baby.” You unwind your arms from his massive trunk of a torso, then slide your fingers between his as the two of you walk towards the medical wing.

…

“—I am telling you, Charles, not being able to reach this kid’s lawyer is a bad fucking sign.”

You and Piotr walk into a conference room to find your uncle and Professor Xavier locked in a heated argument.

Wade, Nate, and Neena are leaning against the table to watch, occasionally leaning over to whisper bits of commentary to each other (or, in Wade’s case, speak at normal volume).

In the corner of the room, where a couple of armchairs are positioned, Nikolai sits with his two other children; they’re speaking in hushed Russian, but none of them seem too concerned about everything else going on.

“As I previously stated,” Xavier says, words clipped, “we cannot release Miss Ricci without speaking first to her attorney. The X-Men operate as a special law enforcement service, and failure to comply with criminal and civil statutes will have enormous consequences for the Institute—”

“There’s going to be a bunch of fucking ‘enormous consequences’ for the Institute,” your uncle interrupts, growling through clenched teeth, “if you don’t evacuate this building right fucking now! Fuck’s sake, Charles –you hired me as a security advisor; just listen to me.”

Piotr frowns and curls one hand over your shoulder. “What is happening?”

“What’s happening,” a new, strong, feminine voice interjects from the hall, “is that we’re leaving.” Artemis shoulders past your husband –a feat not easily achieved by many—with Allison in tow, then holds up the teen’s arm that has the repression cuff still attached. She glares at Xavier (and God, she really looks like Alex when she does that), then spits out through gritted, bared teeth, “Get this fucking thing off my kid.”

There’s a longsuffering sigh in the hall, and then Alex steps into the doorway. “She has that cuff on for her own safety –as I already told you—”

Artemis whirls, face contorted by a vicious scowl, and snaps, “I didn’t fucking ask for you input!”

(Boy, if that doesn’t just scream ‘repressed trauma and mommy issues.’)

Your uncle looks like he’s about to pass out again, but Alex seems remarkably nonplussed. She merely raises one eyebrow at Artemis, as if to say ‘that’s all you got?’

There’s no way she knows, you think as you watch the two stare each other down. Not with how much she cares about her kids. There’s no fucking way—

“Actually, we’ve got bigger problems,” your uncle pipes up, voice quavering slightly before he clears his throat. “We can’t reach your kid’s shark.”

“They have other clients,” Artemis retorts, upper lip curling in a derisive sneer. Her dark eyes smolder with barely constrained hatred as she tosses a withering glance in his direction (daddy issues, too, this chick won the whole lottery). “Or maybe they got stuck in traffic.”

Your uncle narrows his eyes at that (and now the two of them look so much alike, overcome by ire as they are). “You cannot possibly be that fucking stupid.”

Artemis sucks a breath through her teeth, eyes widening with rage and hurt. “You fucking dick—”

In the corner of the room, Illyana bolts upright before going stock still. Then, she gasps and reaches out towards her mother. “Mama!”

(The way Artemis’s face mars with a pained grimace makes your heart ache.)

Alex tenses, eyes glowing gold as she starts scanning the horizon (presumably checking for heat signatures). “Gde?”

The room goes quiet –and then you hear it.

The sound of engines rumbling –multiple engines—and car wheels crunching against gravel. Doors thumping open and shut, followed by footsteps. Hushed voices.

You scamper over to the nearest window and float up, just enough to see several men clad in black and Kevlar and carrying rifles stalking towards the front door and around the sides of the house in groups. “Guys with guns. Lots of them.”

“Then get down!” Nate hisses before yanking you back from the window.

“Lights out,” Alex orders before hitting the switch herself. “Get everyone to a reinforced room.”

“There’s a safe room at the end of the hall,” Xavier says before wheeling himself towards the door.

Allison clings to Artemis’s sleeve, much like a baby koala. “What’s going on? What’s going to happen?”

“Go with the Professor,” Artemis says. She quickly –but gently—frees her arm, then clasps the teen’s face with both hands. “Look at me. Listen to the Professor, and stay put until I come get you. Okay?”

Allison’s forehead puckers, and her lower lip starts trembling. “But—”

“Is alright,” Nikolai interjects with a kind, reassuring smile. He gently ushers Allison towards the door, then down the hall before she can protest further.

A few doors down, Karen pokes her head out of the room where she and Frank have holed up. She frowns as she takes in the chaos. “What’s going on?”

“Mafia men with guns!” Wade chirps as he half-skips, half-jogs towards the mansion’s entryway. “Tell your boy to suit up!”

“There’s a safe room at the end of the hall,” Neena adds as she runs after Wade.

Frank squeezes around Karen and kisses her temple before falling in line behind the two assassins.

You step to the side so Karen can run past you, then turn and press a hasty kiss against Piotr’s cheek. “Love you.”

He kisses your cheek in return, equally as brief. “Ya tozhe tebya lyublyu.”

And then the two of you run towards the danger bearing down on your home.

***

In all the firefights you’ve been in, there’s always this moment of silence. A calm before the storm. A moment where everything goes still, while both sides wait for the other to make a move.

You duck behind a wall as the mafia gunmen continue hammering away at the front door, tucking yourself in a shadow. Your stomach tenses, breathing going quick and hard as your mind starts putting a plan together. Don’t want to risk collapsing part of the house by doing a pressure vacuum. Best option is to probably knock them to the ground so the others can jump them.

The door rattles. The wooden portal splits on one side, sending jagged splinters poking out into the air.

You slow your breathing, forcing yourself into a calm, focused state. Wait for them to get past the entryway so you can hit as many of them as possible.

In the back of the house, near the kitchen, you hear glass shatter.

They’re in. You clench your fists at your sides, watching as the front door slowly gives way. Three… two… one…

The door breaks open, swinging inwards as the first gunmen step into the foyer—

And then the door snaps off its hinges and slams into the men, taking them out like bowling pins.

Strike, a small, inane part of your brain giggles.

Shouts go up through the house. You can hear the sounds of rushed footsteps, shattering glass, and what sounds like people being bodyslammed through tables (and, given the type of people fighting for your side, it just might be that). Gunfire pierces the air –and is accompanied by the telltale, metallic plinks of the bullets ricocheting off your husband’s armor.

Angry screams emanate from the front step. Men barge in, firing down the hall, towards some unseen target (likely Alex or Nate, given the door trick).

You wait until as many men are piled into the foyer as possible, then send down a downdraft that blows out the windows on either side of the door.

The gunmen tumble to the floor, swearing in a mixture of English and Italian.

Nate, Wade, and Neena swoop in. They descend upon the mafia men like a pack of wolves, breaking bones, dislocating joints, and cracking skulls as they disarm –and, in some cases “un-alive”—the gunmen.

“It’s raining men!” Wade sings as he runs one of his katanas through the gut of one assailant. “Hallelujah! It’s raining men!” He ramps off a nearby wall, then t-bags another man before stabbing him through the temple. “Amen!”

You crouch, tracking the movement of the scuffle. You tense when you see a couple of the men jump Nathan, then charge towards the railing and dive over when a few more try to break past to run down the hallway. You flip in the air, land in the hallway ahead of them, and unleash a blast of wind right in their faces.

The mafia men fly out through the front door. They sail over half the front drive, then bounce off the gravel surface and roll several times before coming to a stop.

You let out a harsh breath, then dart down the hall towards the kitchen when you hear glass shattering and the sound of Frank bellowing angrily.

The kitchen and rec room are a mess. Glass shards from shattered windows coat the floor, glittering before being crushed underfoot. Doors are cracked from having people slammed into them. The rec room couch is overturned –and is sagging suspiciously on one side, hinting at a cracked frame. The entertainment system is shattered, with smoking bullet holes littering the TV, speakers, and media systems.

Frank has one of the guys pinned down over the sink. He’s snarling as he uses the lip of the sink to choke the guy out. There’s blood smeared his lips and chins, trailing back up to his chin.

Another gunman stalks in through the dining room, gun trained on Frank’s head.

You whip a blast of air at the second man, sending him sailing into the wall so hard the drywall cracks.

He drops to the ground, unconscious.

There’s some terrified shrieking –and then a gunman is punted up and out of the basement stairwell. He sails through the kitchen window headfirst, crumpling in a heap in the hedges outside.

Your husband storms up the staircase, teeth bared in an angry snarl. The waning daylight glints off his metal exterior, almost making him look like some sort of avenging angel. He stops short when he sees you, though; his irate expression vanishes, replaced by concern. “Ty v poryadke?”

You manage a smile and flash him a thumbs up—

And then a truck with a Gatling gun strapped to the roof rolls up to the back door.

“Get down!” Frank hollers before tackling you to the ground behind the kitchen island.

The room explodes into chaos. Bullets plow into the walls, sending up spurts of drywall dust in their wake. Wooden doorframes and floorboards crack, unleashing cascades of splinters in every direction. Glass shatters, raining down upon everything in its reach.

Frank positions himself over you, shielding you as fragmented bullets rain down upon your both. He cups your head with his hands, doing his best to protect you from the hellfire.

Over the din, you can just make out a loud, angry bellow –and then the sound of bullets hitting metal. Heavy, deliberate stomps make the floor shake.

The gunfire cuts off. A shriek pierces the air just before you hear what sounds like a car being tossed into a tree.

(As you’ll discover later, that’s precisely what you heard.)

Frank lifts his head, then carefully rolls off you. He crouches next to you and holds out a hand. “You okay?”

“Yeah.” Your ears are ringing, and you’re pretty sure you’ve got glass shards and splinters in your hair, but you’ve been worse. You take his hand, flinching when you hear the sound of more gunfire outside.

Frank peers over the lip of the island. “Reinforcements. At least five more cars headed our way.”

You suck in a breath. “Piotr—”

“Is holding his own for now,” Frank says.

“I’m gonna help him,” you rasp out. “Make sure everyone in the house that’s not on our side… stays down. And that we’ve still got all our people.”

Frank nods, then runs off towards the foyer.

You catch your breath, then creep towards the back door (better safe than sorry). You flatten yourself against the wall next to the doorway, then peer around the broken frame.

Piotr’s facing off against the new influx of cars. He’s got one hand on the hood of one Range Rover, arm extended out like he’s fending off a five-year-old. With his other hand, he flips another SUV over, causing the thing to land on its roof and putting the vehicle squarely out of commission.

Your stomach sinks when five more Range Rovers tear across the lawn, leaving deep, muddy tracks in their wake –and are followed by three more trucks with Gatling guns attached to the roofs. You sprint out the door, take a flying leap over Piotr, then send out a shockwave of air when you land on the ground.

A few of the cars fly backwards, rolling across the lawn like tumbleweeds. A majority of them, however, manage to stay upright or bump into each other and recover.

Your eyes widen when one of the Gatling gun operators aims directly at you. Shit.

Piotr leaps in front of you, whirling so his back is to the gun. He curls his body over yours, shielding you as gunfire rains down on you both.

You grit your teeth, grunting. You can feel the impact of the gunfire resonating through your husband’s metal body. Worry clutches at your heart when Piotr lets out sharp, ragged groans; he’s largely invulnerable in his armor, not to mention his sense of touch is severely dulled, but you know that with shit like this he’s still feeling some sort of pain –and there’s nothing you can do. You’re both pinned down, and as powerful as your shockwaves are, they’re not enough to stop or even skew the trajectory of a bullet—

Blue light washes over both of you. The sound of the gunfire wanes, replaced by warbling, pinging noises instead.

You peer around Piotr’s side to see Illyana standing between the two of you and the oncoming cars. She has her arms outstretched, palms facing the onslaught of adversaries. A shimmering, sky blue shield with various magical incantations floating through it surrounds all of you, stretching into the sky for at least forty feet.

Illyana grunts. She’s being shoved backwards from the force of impact from the bullets. Her feet are digging into the ground, leaving ruts as she tries to hold her stance. “We need new plan!”

“How about ‘stay alive?’” Piotr shouts back as he digs shrapnel out of the grooves on his arms.

Wade, Neena, Nate, and Frank come barreling out the back door, faces streaked with soot and blood. They dive for the ground, covering the backs of their heads and necks with their hands—

An explosion goes off inside the mansion. The shockwave shatters windows on both the first and second floor, blowing out window frames and trim.

Piotr covers your body with his once more. He cups your head with his hand, shielding you from the falling debris and the worst of the shockwave.

You cough and hack as smoke billows out the broken windows and doors. You do your best to make a vortex to suck the smoke away and send it up into the air. Your lungs burn, and your ears are ringing like a bell from all the gunfire and the explosion—

Four more gunmen emerge from the smoke pouring out the back door.

You snarl, then whip blasts of air at them, slamming them into the exterior walls of the house.

One of them goes down, while the other three are merely stunned.

Mikhail comes barreling out next. He lets out a guttural battle cry, then sucker punches one of the men in the back of the head before aiming a blast of rust colored energy at another’s gut.

The man screams as he sails into the air, arcing over the tree line and disappearing somewhere in the canopies.

The third man aims his gun at Mikhail –then staggers and drops to the ground when a beam of golden energy sears through his chest.

Alex storms out of the smoke with Artemis and your uncle trailing close behind her. She glares down the remaining gunmen and cars, teeth bared in a vicious snarl. Blood is flecked across her face and spattered over her leather jacket. “House is clear!”

“Yeah, except now we’re about to be cleared out!” Wade hollers back. “As in, ‘all sales final, no returns, no exchanges!’”

“If we could make plan,” Illyana screams, voice strained with the effort of holding the shield, “would be very great!”

You look over to Alex –and see her eyes widen. You whirl towards the gunmen just in time to see one of them aim a rocket launcher at all of you. “Oh, for the love of—”

The first hit is technically deflected by Illyana’s shield, insomuch that the projectile and the shield both shatter the moment they meet. The force of the magic breaking sends out a shockwave of blue energy that flies backwards into all of you, knocking those who managed to get up back off their feet and stunning the rest of you.

You groan, head reeling. Your vision clears slowly, casting double images when you move too quickly. Shit.

You can make out Piotr, just next to you. He’s lying face down on the lawn, grunting and moving in slow, clumsy movements. He turns his head, brow furrowing when he sees you, and reaches out towards you.

You extend your hand to grab his –but he’s just out of your reach, no matter how far you strain. Your body feels heavy with fatigue and pain; everything inside you is screaming to get up, to fight, to keep moving because death is knocking right on your door, and you’ll be damned if this is how you go out—

Alex recovers first –no surprise there. She shoves herself to her feet, seething and growling like a feral beast. She hurls a blast of energy at one of the cars –and, from the sounds of the carnage, makes a direct hit. She storms towards the sea of mafia men like an avenging angel, hell bound on vengeance and blood.

Audible gasps go up from the amassed assassins.

You lift your head to see several of the gunmen backing away from the mansion and crossing themselves with shaking hands. You chalk it up to Alex being Alex, and make to drop your head back against the ground once more—

And then you see Allison standing in the ruined doorway.

She’s glaring down the gunmen with a viciousness that doesn’t suit the youthful roundness of her face. Her brows are knit together, and her mouth is twisted into an ugly scowl. Her eyes are glowing a brilliant shade of blue and give off little wisps of azure colored smoke. Her skin and hair are smoking as well, creating an aura around her body. Blood drips down from her nose and onto her shirt –which is stained with ash and soot. There are burn marks and indents on her wrists from where the repression cuff and the handcuffs used to be, respectively, but the restraints themselves are gone.

The ground begins to shake. Two patches of cerulean light appear underneath the grass, growing larger until they form swirling vortexes of magical energy. The ground begins to crumble at the edges of the portals, eroding away and growing wider until they make gaping tunnels that channel so deeply into the earth there’s no telling how far they truly go.

You recoil when the smell of sulfur and smoke blenches forth from the tunnels. Shit, did she hit a gas line? Fucking dammit, like this day can get any worse—

Echoing, blood-chilling howls emanate from the tunnels.

Your eyes widen –and then your heart starts working overtime when you see two, then four massive hellhounds (like the ones Allison summoned at the mall) crawl out of the tunnels.

Shrieks of terror sound from the gunmen. Several take off running, while others try to shoot the beasts.

The hounds snap and snarl at the gunmen, then charge at the group. Two of them go off after the runners, while the other two start lunging after the assassins like they’re rabbits.

You stare at the chaos in disbelief –and then a set of strong hands grab you underneath the arms.

“Get up.” You uncle tugs you to your feet, keeping you steady when you stumble. “You can’t be in the flow of traffic for this.”

Behind you, Allison is panting like she’s run a marathon. The aura of blue smoke is growing around her, trailing into the air and floating over the ground. Veins of light spread across her face and arms, glowing the same shade of vibrant blue as her eyes. Her breathing grows louder and more ragged, until she’s growling and shaking with each exhale— and then she screams.

Much like the first confrontation in the cemetery, all those months ago, the scream unleashes a shockwave of blue energy. This time, though, the shockwave is far from a decoy for escape. It washes over you, the X-Force, your uncle, the other Rasputins, Frank, and Artemis harmlessly enough –then slams into the mafia forces and vehicles like the wall of a hurricane.

Alex charges after the shockwave, carefully trailing behind it. She waits until it clears the first line of gunmen, then slams her fist into the face of the man closest to her. She blocks his attempt to strike her, then twists his arm –dislocating the shoulder, which makes him shriek in pain. Then, she wrenches his rifle away from him. She shoots him once in the center of his forehead, then turns the firearm on his fellow men and keeps firing.

Mikhail and Artemis go after the one surviving Gatling gun. Mikhail teleports onto the truck bed; he sweeps the back of one man’s jacket over his head, effectively blinding him, then kicks the other man present in the balls before shoving him over the side of the truck.

Artemis, on the other hand, stops a few feet away from the truck. She uses her telekinesis to rip the Gatling gun off its mount, then yanks the driver out through the windscreen –headfirst, no less—and dumps him on the lawn.

He doesn’t get back up.

“Come on,” your uncle says, pointing towards the further reaches of the property, where some of the gunmen are still trying to outrun the hellhounds. “Let’s give the dogs a helping hand.”

The two of you reach out, creating a wind current that slices through the air and slams into the stragglers.

The men careen into nearby hedges –and the hellhounds have it from there.

The familiar sonic blast of Nathan’s gun rips through the air. The shot slams into the last remaining SUV, rendering the vehicle to little more than glass shards and mangled metal.

The back lawn and gardens fall silent, save for the sounds of groans of pain and the hellhounds chewing on various gunmen.

Mikhail takes a fall off the back of the truck bed. He flops onto the ruined grass below, limbs splaying like a rag doll’s. “Alright. Is time for nap. Wake me… never.”

Illyana scoffs from where she’s sat next to a smoldering bush. She picks up a nearby stone, then chucks it at her eldest brother’s head (and hits her target, no less). “There is still clean up. Bezdel'nik.”

Mikhail flips her off, then groans as he rubs the bridge of his nose.

“She’s right,” Alex lectures her eldest as she picks her way through the carnage. She nudges one body with the toe of her combat boot, then shoots him through the temple when he groans.

“Mama!” Piotr gapes at her, expression scandalized. He sputters, looking between her and the body at her feet.

“Chto? Vy khotite yego zhivym? Chtoby on mog dolozhit' svoim khozyayevam? Chtoby on mog obrushit' adskiy ogon' na etu shkolu i vsekh, kogo vy lyubite? No –no.” She holds up her index finger and stares sternly at Piotr when he tries to argue. “You do not leave enemies on your six o’clock, medvezhonok. First rule of survival.”

Piotr swallows hard, then says softly, “X-Men do not kill.”

Alex shrugs. “And I am not an X-Man.”

“We’ll handle it,” Nathan says. He holds his hand out for Alex’s rifle, nodding when she hands it to him after a moment’s hesitation.

(Wade and Frank are already working their way through the sea of dead and wounded. Frank’s traversing the chaos methodically, sticking to minimal shots to kill the survivors, while Wade’s alternating between singing “Dancing Queen” and getting post-mortem revenge.

“You shot my dick off inside!” Wade gasps as he peers down at a –slightly chewed on—corpse. “Extra bullets for you!” He then shoots the dead body several times before resuming his pitchy serenade.)

“What now?” Allison asks, staring out at the carnage with a slightly shocked expression.

“‘What now?’” Artemis repeats, laughing incredulously. She stomps towards Allison, pulling a pack of tissues out of her inner jacket pocket. “What the hell are you even doing out here? You were supposed to stay in the safe room—”

“They had cameras in there,” Allison says with a roll of her eyes, as if that justifies her decision to join the fracas. “You guys were getting your asses kicked.”

“We would’ve handled it.”

“Yeah, except you weren’t,” Allison fires back. She scrunches up her face when Artemis starts wiping the blood off her face, but otherwise takes the mothering without any complaint.

“It’s not your responsibility to deal with this shit,” Artemis says, voice and expression softening for a moment. She cleans up Allison’s face –then scowls. “And where the fuck are your cuffs? How did you even get out of them?”

Allison shrugs. “I used my powers to short the repression cuff out and ash it off.”

Illyana’s, Alex’s, and your uncle’s heads all snap around to stare at Allison.

“Are you kidding me?” Artemis hisses through clenched teeth. “You could’ve fucking killed yourself!”

“Or caused magical paradox that ripped hole in space-time continuum,” Illyana snaps.

“Ruptured blood vessels in your brain and caused an aneurysm, made the cuff deliver a lethal electrical shock, turned your magic against your own body and rendered yourself to ash,” your uncle continues, ticking off items on his fingers.

“Well, I didn’t do any of that!” Allison snarls, glaring at the others while Artemis keeps cleaning up her face. “And I made sure you losers won the fight –so fuck off!”

“Get her something to eat and drink,” Alex says. “Her blood sugar is bound to be low after pulling a stunt like that.”

Artemis glares at Alex and opens her mouth to respond—

Across the yard, Wade lets out a pained shriek. “My balls are not fetch toys! Bad Fido! Bad!”

Your eyes widen as you watch one of the hellhounds swing Wade around by his legs. You bite down on your lip, holding in a shock-induced laugh.

“Where’s this mutt’s off-switch –hey, hey! No!” Wade wriggles in the hellhound’s mouth, panicking as another beast bounds towards him. “My spine is not a tug toy! Can someone get rid of Fido and Rufus before they rip me in half!”

Allison snorts –then, before anyone can stop her, holds out her hand and flicks her wrist.

All four hellhounds melt back into the ground, disappearing to the depths of hell from whence they came.

Artemis swears under her breath, then catches the teen when she stumbles. She moves frantically, grabbing more tissues as blood starts pouring out of Allison’s nose once more. “You fucking idiot. Why the fuck did you do that? When are you going to fucking learn that you’re not invincible—”

Allison lets out a sharp, hoarse laugh –then passes out.

…

The wreckage inside the mansion is heartbreaking.

You stare at the ruined furniture, the scorched walls, the splintered doors, the ruined rec room and kitchen, and you have to wonder what was the fucking point?

Part of you understands that the mafia came prepared for war; they were going up against powerful mutants, so –naturally—they would want to be prepared. Having the strongest, most powerful weapons available increased their chances of success. Logically –from a strictly tactical standpoint—it makes sense.

Glass crunches under your shoes. You stare down at a litany of fallen picture frames, heart wrenching as you stare at the ruined pictures of graduates, students, and workers inside. We’re just a school. We work with kids. What was the point of trying to wipe us out?

Piotr ambles up behind you. He puts his arms around your shoulders and kisses the top of your head. “Cleaners and repairmen will be here in less than one hour.”

You feel numb. You place your hand on his arm. “That’s good.”

“We have back ups of pictures,” he murmurs. He kisses your cheek. “Insurance to cover replacing damaged items. We will be fine.”

“I know.” You sigh, leaning back against your husband’s chest. “We’re just a school. What… what was the point? Why try to wipe us out?”

“I do not know.” Piotr kisses your other cheek, hugging you reassuringly. “Perhaps they believed we knew information about ‘family business.’ Or that we were protecting Allison for some reason.”

“She’s just a kid,” you argue, voice breaking as your grief and exhaustion wells up and threatens to overtake you. “She’s only thirteen…”

Piotr says nothing, merely holds you closer.

You sigh—

And then a door slams. Hurried stomps echo down the hall. There’s creaking as a door opens again, followed by more footsteps and exasperated shouts.

Allison storms past you and Piotr, heading towards the kitchen. Her jaw is set, fists clenched at her sides.

You and Piotr look at each other –then follow after her, if only to be sure that nothing else is going to explode today.

She slams her hands down on the island counter –and, on the opposite side, Frank and Karen both flinch and stare at her warily.

Allison glares at Frank, jaw working convulsively. Her shoulders heave with each breath she takes. Her eyes shine with unshed tears, making the bags underneath seem darker and deeper by comparison. She trembles, expression flickering wildly between grief, white hot rage, and the neutral mask she’s trying so desperately to hold. She sucks in a breath that sounds more like a pained sob, then stares Frank down and spits out through gritted teeth, “You leave my people alone, I leave yours alone. Deal?”

Frank sighs. He nods, expression heavy with grief and eyes shining with remorse. “Yeah, kid. You got a deal.”

Allison clenches the edge of the island so hard her hands go white. She lets out a strangled, angry laugh as the tears finally start to fall. She ducks her head briefly, then glares back up at Frank. “I fucking hate you.”

Frank grimaces, but nods and says, “I know kid. It’s okay. And for what it’s worth, I’m sorry.”

“That ain’t worth shit.”

“I know… believe me, I know.”

Artemis –who’d previously been watching at the kitchen threshold—steps forward and puts her arm around Allison’s shoulders. “Come on, sweetheart. Let’s go.”

Allison clenches her teeth together, but still lets out a choked sob. She presses her lips together, looking around the room to try and regain her composure, to stop the flow of tears. She manages a deep breath, then takes one last look at Frank and snarls, “If I have to see your fucking face again, I’m ripping out your guts,” before storming out of the room.

Frank, to his credit, doesn’t respond (though you suspect he feels too guilty to even consider arguing). He merely hangs his head, expression that of a kicked dog.

Karen leans against him. She interlocks her fingers with his, murmuring in his ear (likely about how it isn’t his fault, and while it looks like that may technically be the case, you’re glad you don’t have to walk the spider’s silk of a line those facts lie upon).

What a shitshow.

Piotr puts an arm around your shoulders and gently leads you out of the kitchen. “Come on, myshka. Let’s go find spot to rest.”

…

Frank and Karen leave shortly after “making the deal” with Allison.

Allison and Artemis hang back for a bit to talk to Xavier. You don’t get all the gorey details but from what you can tell, it’s essentially an offer to help train Allison’s powers so she doesn’t hurt herself rolled in with a warning to keep her nose clean, stay on the straight and narrow, etcetera etcetera.

The sun’s just starting its descent from the sky before the two of them walk out of the meeting room.

Allison is wearing Artemis’s jacket and looks downright haggard.

Artemis has her arm around the teen and is gently guiding her while she talks to Xavier (though, perhaps the term “talk” is too generous, considering most of her responses are nods or terse, one-to-two word replies).

The rest of the Rasputin family, you, Piotr, and your uncle are all gathered in the foyer to make sure Allison and Artemis leave without too much trouble (or causing more trouble themselves).

Your uncle is sweating bullets and looks like he just shit his pants; he’s glancing between Alex and their daughter so fast it’s a miracle he hasn’t given himself a headache yet.

Now or never, you think, watching him with pursed lips. Tell your secrets before they’re told for you.

Alex kneels down next to Allison. “Are you okay?”

Allison’s gaze doesn’t leave the floor. “The fuck do you think?”

She quirks her mouth to the side. “Not all that good.” Alex ducks her head lower, trying to catch Allison’s gaze. “You remember what we talked about?”

Allison’s eyes narrow. She moves her gaze away from Alex. “Go to hell. I know what I know.”

“Sometimes… it’s better to not,” Alex says. She stares at Allison for a moment longer, then pats her shoulder before standing and walking away.

Artemis stares after Alex, expression morphing rapidly between fury and shock. She sputters for a moment before snapping, “What –that’s all you have to fucking say?”

Alex pauses, turning slightly so she can see Artemis. She raises one eyebrow, otherwise looking unbothered. “Is there something else I should be saying?”

“You don’t have anything to say to me?” Artemis presses, crossing her arms over her chest. “Nothing at all?”

“Is there something you want me to say to you?” Alex fires back, smirking slightly.

Artemis stares at Alex for a long, hard moment. She shakes her head, eyes welling up with tears, then turns her glare onto your uncle. “You really didn’t fucking tell her.”

“What?” Alex’s expression sobers, going wary as she looks between your uncle and Artemis. “What didn’t you—”

“This really isn’t the time or place—” Your uncle tries.

And here it goes.

“I’ve gotta do all the work, then,” Artemis snarls with a vicious smile. “Yeah, I guess that makes sense, considering I’m not your favorite,” she tacks on with an angry glare towards you. She storms towards Alex, one hand outstretched, with a cruel, angry smile stretched across her face. “Hey, mom. How’s it going?”

Alex’s eyes widen. She stares at Artemis, eyes tracking over the younger woman’s face. “What…”

“You fucking heard me.”

Illyana, Piotr, and Mikhail look at each other, then at Alex, then at Nikolai. They explode into confused Russian, gesturing between their parents, Artemis, and your uncle—

Realization dawns in Alex’s dark eyes. Her expression trembles, tears welling up in her eyes as she stares at Artemis’s face.

And then she uses her telekinesis to yank your uncle over and decks him.

#sass writes #piotr rasputin x reader #colossus x reader #nathan summers x wade wilson #frank castle x karen page #alexandra rasputin x nikolai rasputin #love me some soap opera style drama #and frankly so does marvel #and honestly if marvel can have whatever tf infinity war and endgame were i can have this #probably shouldn't have built alex's whole backstory and have it be outside the scope of this series bUT OH WELL #deadpool fanfiction #x men fanfiction

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moonbaby26 · 3 years

Text

Marvel, Star Wars, and My Hero Academia

WORKS CROSS POSTED TO AO3 HERE.

THIS IS MY OLDER STUFF, NOT CURRENTLY ACTIVE, SORRY! 😭

-Pairing: Peter Maximoff x Reader

Age of Apocalypse Series: Tells the story of your first meeting Peter during the Age of Apocalypse movie events, but also continues after the movie timeline, fleshing out the early stages of your relationship. (Peter x GN!Reader)

Chapter 1 - First Meeting

Chapter 2 - Escape

Chapter 3 - The Battle

Chapter 4 - Telling the Truth

Chapter 5 - Aftermath

Chapter 6 - The Past

Chapter 7 - Diamond in the Rough

Chapter 8 - What’s in a Name?

Chapter 9 - Epiphany

Chapter 10 - Sleepover

Chapter 11 - The Witch

One Shots/Shorter Fics:

One Shitty Friday Night (Part 1) Set after the Deadpool 2 movie. While out on a double date with Colossus and Shadowcat, you and Peter run into Deadpool and Russell. Fluff, humor, cursing, jealous!Peter. (Peter x Fem!Reader)

One Shitty Friday Night (Part 2) *contains smut* Conclusion of part one above. Dadneto content. More fluff, smut, then fluff again. Jealous!Peter confronts Gambit. (Peter x Fem!Reader)

-Pairing: Loki x Reader

Goddess Series: You were a Greek goddess when the Fates crossed your path with the Asgardian god of mischief. (Loki x Fem!Reader)

Chapter 1 - The Man from the Sky

Chapter 2 - Rare Company

Chapter 3 - Night of the Storm *contains smut*

Chapter 4 - The Village *contains smut*

Chapter 5 - Growing Love

Chapter 6 - A Party and a Spy *mild smut*

Chapter 7 - Point of no Return *contains smut*

One Shots/Shorter Fics:

Reunion Set after Thor: The Dark World, you were a goddess and Loki’s former love. Separated after his presumed death, and alone raising the daughter he’d never met, Loki finally returns to you on Midgard to reclaim what was lost. (Loki x Fem!Reader)

Missing Halves During the battle of New York you were ready to sacrifice anything to save Loki, even from himself. But deemed a variant by the TVA, you only end up pruned to the void, connecting there with the other versions of the man you last loved. (Variant!Lokis x Fem!Reader)

-Pairing : Boba Fett x Reader

The Droid Maker *contains smut* After losing your family to an Empire attack and fleeing to the Outer Rim, further bad circumstances lead to you being sold into slavery at Jabba’s palace. But what should be the end turns into more, and an unlikely connection with Jabba’s fiercest bounty hunter.

GIF by @kilruas

-Pairing: Various MHA x Reader

What the Heart Wants Details your first meeting with Shota and his friends when you were both just teenage hero interns. The start of your relationship and wholesome fluff. (Young!Shota Aizawa x GN!Reader)

First Night Back Home *contains smut* You were a pro hero and Eraser Head’s longtime girlfriend. After a few weeks out of town, you return late at night for you both to engage in some make up intimacy. (Shota Aizawa x Fem!Reader)

The Arrangement (Parts 1 and 2) You were a relatively unknown hero and Eraser’s girlfriend. But a violent nomu attack puts you headfirst into Hawks and Dabi’s world as well, changing everything you thought you knew. (Shota Aizawa/Hawks/Dabi x Fem!Reader)

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chaoticgeminate · 2 years

Text

Families Made & Families Found

Part of the Iridescence Fictional Universe

Precious Sea Glass Series

Pairings: Dragon!Pero Tovar x Nereid f!Reader

Series Rating: E (Minors DNI) [CW: Vague mention of war, mentions of disownment/exile, smut]

Word Count: 6.2K

Series Summary: After meeting the one his magic calls for Pero must fight against Immortals, Elder Fae, and magic beings alike to keep her safe by his side.

Chapter Summary: Hope and joy come to the bay in the form of a happy union

Notes: Please join my new taglist if you want updates! This chapter is minimal plot and heavy on the romance.

[AO3]

He was finally home, where he belonged, your body maneuvering through the tunnels branching off the grotto toward the main space as hope bubbled in your heart. Your father looked physically well and his eyes softened as you and the remaining two siblings of yours crowded him, basking in his return at long last.

“My children, I am so sorry that I have been away for so long. I cannot stay, unfortunately the Elder Ones have only retreated temporarily, but I was told by the young dragon that many of you have suffered in my absence. I came to apologize for allowing such grief to strike you, my dear ones.” He traced the scar on your face with his thumb and you couldn’t help the way you stiffened a little, knowing already what young dragon he was talking about.

“How is Pero, father? Is he well?” He was alive, you could still feel his magic burning deep within the core of your own aura, but he’d flown long and far over the last years and his returns had become shorter and shorter. It felt like each time you saw him again his skin bore new scars, new lines from weariness and lacking some of the fullness that he’d once had.

Your father cupped your face and pressed a kiss to your forehead, reminding you of many centuries ago when you were still small and how the gesture never failed to make you feel secure and safe and cherished.

“Your dragon is well, my dear one, he has been one of our greatest allies against the forces the Elder Ones have been using and even the Elder Fae themselves are hesitant to cross him. The Sky Queen has called upon his kindness to defend the temples to the North against Kro’mrak and his Colossus followers. The giants, ogres, and trolls have begun directing their march there since they had thought to have the Citadel’s aid in taking Gale Ennore.” You nodded slowly and felt the tremor of dread deep in your heart, the fact that this war was still raging was beginning to make everyone lose hope for peace.

But you found yourself worrying more and more each day, even with Ulean here the shore around the bay was vulnerable to being invaded by the bog witch and her followers and the Meré had begun their assaults anew.

“Is there anything that can be done, Father?” Pelanos’ voice was small but you knew it was his fear that made it so, he and Melodia were the last two of your siblings that remained. Kelain, Ilo, and Aret had all died fighting a swarm of Meré that had come when Ulean had been on the shore fighting off several groups of goblins.

Watching the way your Father’s eyes looked between the three of you, the way he seemed to almost deflate, you knew that the answer was likely a very difficult choice for the Immortals to make. All of the most powerful spells and magics came with a high price and you couldn’t begin to imagine the cost of unleashing such great magics upon the world.

“There is, and we have considered it, but doing so would cause the greatest changes to Solvora and rend the magic of the world into pieces and we do not know whether the end result would do more harm than good.” All you could do was nod, understanding the hesitation far too well, these decisions were not yours to make but if your Father had even taken them under thought it meant that he was already working to weigh the risks involved.

After a beat of silence you reached out and captured his hand in yours, the appendage so much larger due to the sheer size of him, and you squeezed gently with as hopeful as a smile you could muster.

“We’ll continue to fight, Father, we’ll continue to do what we can to protect Glennrior Bay in your absence. We love you and we trust you to do whatever it takes to protect as many innocents as you can.” His lips lifted into a sad smile, nodding once, and you knew that he likely had to leave again soon. But he captured your hands in his and this time you felt the thrum of power dancing beneath your skin, felt the way your natural aura swell and shift.

“Be strong, my darlings. I am proud and always will be proud of you. Your dragon asked for my blessing to complete the bond between the two of you and take you as his mate, and I’ve given that blessing to him. I name you the Guardian Nereid of the Glennrior Bay, my darling, the power I just granted you will allow the three of you to create physical forms for Water Elementals. If they choose to bind themselves to the sea proper I can complete that ceremony after the war has settled.” You watched him give both Pelanos and Melodia a fraction of his power, the three of you nodding once as he looked over you, and the Immortal left for the Taunmack Flats once again.

As the Guardian Nereid, the Elemental bound to the bay waters, you held more authority than any over the future of the bay. But it also further cemented your tie to the wilding magic that was flowing through the waves and the sands and sky, acting as both an anchor and a means of increasing the power of your magic. You could feel the ties of your natural magic and the wilding magic of the bay begin to intertwine, to weave together as one, and you could feel the life of the magic thrumming around you.

“The Meré have gathered just outside the bay and there are guests asking for you on the shores.” Ulean’s lithe form was cutting through the water toward you as you emerged from the grotto, it was strange to see her swimming just as swift without being in her dragon body but you’d long since gotten used to it. The pair of you navigated the water with ease and you had to do a double take when you emerged from the waves, spotting the group of young women and their travel satchels, but you recognized them.

“You’re from Marta’s pod.” As soon as the words left your mouth the eldest in age out of them, and quite frankly she couldn’t even be that many years past her majority, let out a soft huff that came more like a growl.

“We were exiled from the pod, all of us have refused to obey the laws of the Elders and Alpha, we know we’re more than just our ability to have pups and because of our refusal to mate and us fighting off suitors we were told to leave. Auntie- she told us to come here, to find you.”

As you looked at the group of selkie, your eyes soft for their plight, you could feel Ulean rumble her annoyance beside you.

“Course you’re worth more, you’re able to learn how to fight, just because you’re women doesn’t make you incapable or even lesser.” The fact that the dragon was quick to offer reassurances bode well, and this gave the Bay more than enough aid once the new Pod was able to fight properly. Pelanos and Melodia had been able to work together and bring new Water Elementals to the bay waters, all of the elementals very eager to assist in defending the bay and the sea in general from the Meré and the Bog Witch.

“We’ll teach you how to fight and help build stronger buildings for you to live in here on shore, Kvia might’ve been abandoned years ago but now with you here it will rise again if we all work together.” You offered your hand and the selkie eagerly offered hers in return, the other young cows looked equally relieved at the acceptance.

“My name is Rhiannon, I’ve taken the role of Alpha of our new pod.” You couldn’t help the way your mouth curled into a proud smile as the young selkie stood straight, tall and firm in her declaration, and you looked at the cliffs of the bay only briefly. This was the offer of hope and your eyes danced with a newfound gleam as you felt Pero’s aura swell in the distance, which he often did when he was returning home.

“Rhiannon, as the Guardian Nereid of the Glennrior Bay I welcome you and your pod amidst our waters. From this day forward you shall be the Faldes Point Pod, it is the Northern curve of the crescent cliffs and currently the most defensible against the Meré assailants.” The selkie nodded and her pod all murmured in excitement, earning a name from a Guardian elemental was the ultimate pride for any Werekin or Shifter families, and you had no problem giving them this as a gratitude for their return.

“We will learn how to help fight and defend the Bay and the shores, thank you so much for allowing us this chance.” With the formalities done you sent Ulean to fetch Pelanos and Melodia, not only to watch for the Meré but to have their aid in construction, and as the girls eagerly jumped to help you decided to keep your heart open to hope that this was a good turn for the war.

Pero arrived by nightfall, when the rough outlines of the new buildings were made in stone markers and tents had been erected for the selkie, and his hold was tight as you hurried to him. You grinned against his insistent kiss and returned his affections without a care for the observing eyes, the searing heat of his aura and the swelling cool of yours casting that bubbling warmth within your veins.

“Mi amor.” His voice was so low that it was practically a purr and you let him trace his nose along your cheek before he was drawing back to look you over, likely for any signs of harm you might’ve earned in his absence, and when his protective sweep was over you were being pulled back into a much deeper kiss. His tongue traced your lips, plundering into your mouth the moment you opened to him, and his hands gripped the soft skin of your waist in a hold that would likely leave marks.

But you loved it, loved the open and needy affection, you loved how much he refused to even hide what he felt for you in any way.

“Pero, my love.” His rumbling returned and you sighed into his insistent mouth as he pulled you against his body much tighter than before, this wasn’t an uncommon way for him to greet you after so many years apart due to the war that the Elders refused to end despite trying to challenge the Immortals who shaped Solvora.

“Marry me, mi amor.” The request whispered against your lips made you stare up at him in awe, you knew he’d asked your Father but for him to ask so soon was not what you’d expected. Your eyes softened, growing wet, and you nodded eagerly as you whispered your agreement against his lips. Ulean’s bellowing cheer made you turn in time to see that your silent observers were much closer than before, the selkie looking both awed and nervous at the presence of your mate-to-be, and Pero’s curious expression made you hum fondly.

“Pero, these are the selkie of the Faldes Point Pod, I’d like you to meet Rhiannon. They are of Marta’s pod, but they wish to learn how to fight and help win the war, their refusal to have children in the pod led to their exile.” Pero regarded all of the young women before nodding once, his stern look softening just a touch more than you expected.

“Then we shall happily teach you, welcome home.” Rhiannon’s eyes began to shine with tears in the light from the torches, sniffling, and you couldn’t help but go to her and pull her into your arms. You suspected that she had issues with having a male figure in her life treat her with kindness, knowing Gawain and the pod as you did, and it appeared the others had a similar history with their own misty eyes.

But as you drew back, watching them collect their emotions, you felt Pero’s large hand press against your lower back. His eyes were stern but not in a threatening way, more like he was feeling whatever frustrations on their behalf.

“Your potential is greater than what your former pod believes, it is folly to discount such determination and drive, and so we will help you learn to protect your new pod.” You suspected he had met many a person who felt powerless, compared to himself especially, but you were honestly a little surprised that he was so good with them. It appeared that, for a battle and time hardened dragon, he was quite good with younger people.

But then you realized it made sense that he was protective of them, the bay was his home as well and you’d welcomed the selkie here, you had claimed the pod and being his betrothed made them his responsibility as well. In a way you and him had adopted them as yours, given that they were hardly old enough to be considered proper adults, and Ulean met your gaze with a knowing smile.

“Have the meré made any ground on the Bay?” Pero’s question made you immediately shake your head, the power that your father granted you had also allowed you and your siblings to set strong barrier spells with Ulean’s aid that acted like a forcefield of sorts and kept the meré out.

“Then I wish to marry you tomorrow evening, when the moon is fullest and the Huntress can lay witness to our union given that you are brethren in that you both were born of the Ocean Lord’s hand. I have- I had a set of robes crafted from the moonspun silk for you, and mi mamá has sent a gift of her own that I am to present to you when our vows are completed.” You nodded and he smiled as he pulled you against him again, his nose against your ear breathing you in with a low him.

“We must do this correctly then, Pero. Your pretty little bride should return to her grotto until tomorrow, it’s poor luck to see your bride until she’s revealed to you.” Ulean’s voice was sly as she winked and Pero rumbled slightly but agreed with a nod, turning you into the water dragon’s arms after placing another searing kiss to your mouth.

Nervous wasn’t the emotion you were feeling. Anxious, excited, and happy for sure were the biggest things. Melodia smiled as she helped you into the white robes, your nieces and nephews all helping keep you dry by preventing the water from touching you or the precious silks, and the tailor who had worked with them had done a stunning job. The long skirt fell loose and fastened off to the side of your waist in a way that showed off much of your thigh, tightening around your torso in a deep V collar thanks to the sewn in fasteners, and you were still wearing your headdress of kelp, net weave, pearls, and sea glass because that was part of who you were.

The long sleeves of the garment fell to your wrists, sheer and decorated with the smallest shining pearls, and the ends of the sleeves belled down past your hands just a few inches. All in all you felt beautiful, the soft mother of pearl belt that Ulean had carved for you sat on your hips helping hide where the robe fastened at the waist. It also had another sheer layer of silk attached to it in a way that would open into a long train, enchanted specifically to not allow sand to cling to it, and you felt the slight buzz of commotion before following Melodia’s gaze to the door where Ulean was waiting.

“It’s almost time.”

You had spent all day in the grotto as everyone else worked to set everything up for your union, decorations and a feast all being arranged for you, and the light inhale of nerves made you smile before you nodded at the water dragon. It was strange to walk across the floor of the grotto, since you were so used to swimming, but the soft white sand felt like silk on your feet; that had been your only request, to be barefoot as you usually were for the ceremony.

“I’m so happy for you, sister.” Melodia’s eyes were shimmering with tears and you wiped them away with your thumbs and offered her your gratitude, all your nieces and nephews tittering in delight and excitement as they helped create the pathway that would keep your ascent dry. Ulean shifted bodies outside the grotto, doing a final sweep for any meré that might be looking to capitalize on the celebrations, while you and Melodia walked hand in hand up the path toward the shore.

The moonlight shimmered down through the dark waters like a beacon, casting the glow around the coral and sea grass that lined your walk, and from here you could see the shimmering fire of the torches and the large bonfire casting its warm glow into the night. A thrum of power from the moon was answered by the rising surge of energy deep in the very ocean itself, your father and the huntress’ blessings making you smile wider than ever, and you watched Ulean weave through the water to hurry to the shore before you could crest the surface.

Pero met your gaze the moment you stepped up into sight, his robe was black and sheer in a way that showcased the onyx scales along his back and draping down the sides of his neck where they met and coated his pectorals before fading into a smattering of scales around his navel, and even from here you could see the gleam of his claws and the ornate antique silver circlet reflecting the firelight as a Priestess stood waiting for your arrival. His trousers were new, clean, and stopped just at the ankle and his feet were as bare as your own.

Along the little path marked by gleaming sea shells were all the selkie, your family, and even Pero’s friend William; you knew then that the Priestess was the very same that William had fallen in love with. As you finally neared your dragon his eyes danced with delight, tracing the deep V of the robe collar, and the Priestess chuckled softly.

“We gather this day to finalize the bond of union between the dragon, Pero, and the Guardian Nereid of the Glennrior Bay.” Lin, you could have sworn that was her name, let her voice call into the open sky; your title always came first in any ceremonial events now and this was no different, she spoke your name after a beat of silence.

“You are not of his kind but you are the one who calls to Pero’s heart and soul, you have faced many hardships and many years apart yet your love has only grown stronger, this love has strengthened both of you and has proven that even in times of tragedy you can still find happiness. By taking him as your own you merge his family and your own, his magic and your own, your duties and his own. Will you accept Pero for all his is, all he has done, and all he can yet still do?”

“I do accept him, Priestess.”

“Pero, you are not of her kind but you are the one who calls to her heart and soul, the years of war have kept you parted and yet neither of you have lost any love for one another. This love has given your strength to return home, to fight and protect, and has proven that happiness and light are possible in dark times. By taking her as your mate you merge your family with her own, your magic with hers own, your duties and her own. Will you accept the Guardian Nereid of the Glennrior Bay for all that she is, all that she has done, and all that she can yet still do?”

“I do accept her, Priestess.”

“Melodia, sister of the bride and sister-to-be of her husband, you have witnessed this pair grow as individuals and as betrothed from the very beginning. This union brings together a daughter of the Ocean Lord and a son of the Sky Queen, dragon and elemental, man and woman. Will you offer your blessing of this union, giving your sister over to her mate and accepting his place in your family and your place in his family?”

“I do accept their union, Priestess, and offer my most sincere blessings.”

Melodia extended your hand and Pero reached out too, letting your sister place your hand in his, and the dragon offered a sincere smile before Melodia stepped back to sit beside Pelanos and the other Elementals. You looked at your dragon, his eyes gleaming golden in the firelight, and the Priestess smiled softly as she revealed the hand fasting rope. It was the same woven rope that made up your headdress braided with brilliant dark crimson, deep blue, and a cloudy white cord; land and sea, fire and water.

“This cord was crafted by the brother of the bride and the heart-brother of the groom, representing the union of two powerful elemental beings, it is a symbol of their bond and a gift from their loved ones. Do you have vows for one another?” Pero nodded and you nodded too, turning to face him fully as Lin began wrapping the cord around your joined hand.

“Pero, my love, I am not a young creature and yet never in my life had I thought I would find someone like you. I was curious of you, at first, unsure; and yet the moment our magic met and called to one another I knew that I would never be able to walk away from you. The Immortals put you in my path that day, something I will forever be grateful of, and I will happily spend the rest of my days as your mate and wife. You’ve proven to me you are devoted, strong, able to provide for me, and despite being away for many years at a time you always come back. I vow to stand by your side through all the dangers that may come our way, I vow to protect our home and treasures and your heart that you’ve chosen to give to me, I vow to protect both our families, and I vow that I will protect and cherish you from this day to the last of my days.”

“Mi cristal marino, mi amor, when we first met I was overcome with the desire to possess you; it is… it is my nature to hoard away treasures and I knew that you would have been the greatest treasure I’d ever claimed. But then you proved to me that while you are my treasure you’re so much more, you’re bold and kind and loving and energetic, and now I wish to be claimed by you and stand at your side. I will never be able to change that I am grumpy and overprotective, that I am quick to temper and hard to calm down, but never will you ever need worry about my love for you. I vow to stand by your side through all the dangers that may come our way, I vow to protect our dreyerie and your heart that you’ve chosen to give to me, I vow to protect both of our families, and I vow that I will protect you and cherish you from this day to the last of my days.”

The knot was bound and you smiled at your husband, your mate, your love as he grinned right back at you. The lines around his eyes and the weariness that plagued him lessened just a little for tonight, his molten gold eyes were gleaming with the love he had for you, and Lin wiped a tear from her eyes before she stepped back from the pair of you.

“With the Huntress as your witness, the blessing of the Ocean Lord and Sky Mother, and the presence of your families and friends I name you husband and wife. Mates, for the rest of your days, and wish you a long and happy lifetime together.” Pero’s free hand came up and you went willingly as he cupped the back of your neck to steal into your mouth, the kiss was full of pent up emotions, and the rope around your wrists began to shimmer before it faded into your skin like a tattoo. At the end of the aisle you smiled at the besom broom before walking alongside Pero toward the tables of food, the pair of you jumping the broom stick, and Pero squeezed your hand in his tightly as you both were sat at the head table.

He handed you a silk wrapped item and you stared at the pendant within the fabric in awe, it was the same antique silver as his circlet and the center of it held a smoky crimson gemstone that was riddled with orange and gold veins.

“This is the mark of our clan, mi amor, a gift from mamá. Her way of welcoming you and providing her blessing without being present to do so.”

“We’ll have to visit soon, so I can thank her properly.” You smiled as he kissed you deeply, knowing it stemmed from accepting that you were truly part of his family now and you would have to reach out to your Father soon.

You smiled at Ulean, who had remained very sober, and your family as they helped the selkie settle into their tents for the night; William and Pero were talking in low voices, you knew that the war was still very much ongoing but this time their expressions looked much lighter. All night you’d danced, feasted, and drank freely to celebrate; Pero had proven himself more than capable of twirling you around the sands in a fast-paced step-dance that left you smiling even as he stole your breath with another searing kiss at the end. The moon was beginning to set and you whispered your gratitude to her, knowing that soon you would be taken up to the dreyerie, and Pero’s eyes found yours before he bid his heart brother a good night.

Lin had already turned in for the evening, the Priestess was recovering from battle still and quick to tire, so you resolved to thank her in the morning.

“Are you ready to turn in, mi cristal marino?” You nodded without any hesitation, knowing what he was asking, and Pero shifted forms before letting you climb up and rest against his back. The train of your robes fluttered behind you, catching the moonlight and shining in the dark, and as you landed on the ledge he let you down before shifting back and scooping you up into his arms. His facial hair tickled as he peppered your skin with kisses and walked you into the dreyerie proper, the piles of golden coins and fancy rugs and treasures all bypassed as he walked you down to a different area.

Your eyes rounded in surprise at the sight of the soft mattress near a hot spring he’d definitely had help creating in here, the bed had pillows and silk sheets and soft crystals created a silvery glow of light around the space that wasn’t too bright. You kissed him, it was like a need clawing at your very being to give yourself over to him and Pero groaned into your mouth, laying you down on the mattress and capturing the sides of your face as he knelt over you.

The kiss turned languid, stoking the fire of passion you had built but not consuming either of you, and Pero drew back to brace his forearm on the bed so he could meet your eyes.

“I will not push you, mi amor, so if you do not wish to go further than this-“

Your darling husband groaned when you captured his mouth, hands cupping his cheeks as you sank your teeth into his lower lip, and the love you felt for him was almost overwhelming. You knew he was gentle compared to what most others thought of him, when he had reason to be, but his willingness to wait for you only cemented the truth that you were ready to be one with him in all ways.

“I want you, Pero, I want you to make love to me. I want you to ravish me, I want you any way you’re willing to give.” The confirmation, the consent, made his mouth curl into a fond smile before he was pressing more of his weight on you and dragging his mouth down your neck so his tongue could swirl along your skin and taste you. But he went lower than your bust and you felt your breathing hitch when he nosed at your ankles, nipping his way up the skin of your leg as he looked at you.

Pero was worshiping your body as he held your gaze, his kisses and bites driving your heartbeat wild as his thumbs slowly circled higher up your leg and the eye contact was making you squirm. As your lashes fluttered closed he let out the softest growl.

“Look at me, mi amor, watch me as I pay tribute to your love; let me kneel at the altar that is your body and prove my devotion to you.” Your lip quivered as you nodded and the dragon rewarded you by dragging his face higher up your leg and sucking hard at the skin on your inner thigh, teeth pressing enough that you knew you’d have a mark, and his thumb traced up to brush against the core of you. His eyes snapped to look at you since you’d gone without any sort of under garments, you usually opted out of things like braies or stays due to the materials available usually not doing so well when wet, and Pero’s mouth drifted higher still until he was staring at you from the center of your thighs.

“Please-“

He didn’t make you wait or beg any more than that, licking a gentle stroke of his tongue through your folds like he was merely tasting you before rumbling out a sound and lifting one of your legs over his shoulder to press a searing swirl of his tongue against your opening while his thumb pressed against the hood of your clit. You keened in surprise as your lower body was hoisted up, the robe falling away from your skin as Pero sat back on his knees and heels, and his breathy moan against your body sent a shiver of delight through you.

Pero’s mouth was insistent, like he was trying to devour you, and you were more than happy to let him do so. Each broad stroke of his tongue ended with him swirling the tip of his tongue against your clit, every dip into your wet heat drew a ragged groan from the man between your thighs, and your body was slowly winding tighter and tighter as he held your gaze and made you watch him take you apart.

Your chest heaved when Pero’s mouth sealed over your clit, drawing a much more insistent circle with the tip of his tongue, and you couldn’t fight the way you keened as he slid one thick digit into your body. His ragged exhale against you was enough to make your hips jerk against his mouth and Pero’s rumbling of approval made you even wetter, he sounded like he couldn’t get enough of you and as his eyes shimmered with nothing but desire and love you felt the tight draw of your muscles as pleasure crested over you.

The sound echoed in the dreyerie and Pero’s mouth replaced his fingers, tongue driving into you so he could catch every last bit of your release, and you could see the hardness of his cock straining against his trousers as he let you down onto the bed.

“Come here, Pero, I want to feel you in me.”

His lips lifted into a soft smile and his facial hair was shiny with your wetness as he stood up and began to loosen the ties of his placket, his tongue darting out to lick at the lingering taste, and you smiled as you unfastened the belt and your robe with a gentle ease to bare yourself to him fully. Pero took the garment as well as your headdress, hanging them on a low ledge with his trousers, and you couldn’t help the way you marveled at him exposed like this.

The onyx scales trailed all the way down his back and over the small swell of his ass, ending in freckles of scales decorating the outside of his thighs and trailing along the V leading to his cock, and your body clenched around nothing at the sight of him erect and shiny with precum. He was thick and throbbing, his scaled shaft had vertical ridges made of thick veins that you could see pulsing beneath the skin, the head of him was a deep crimson and peeking out from the scaled flesh and even his sac was covered in the small onyx scales.

He was beautiful, his broad frame decorated with battle scars and you could see the iridescent shine of crimsons, pinks, and oranges reflecting off his scales as he watched you take him in fully for the first time.

You spread your legs for him to look at you fully, inviting, and Pero crawled over you with a loving sigh as he slotted his mouth to yours in a soft kiss. His tongue gliding against your own as he rubbed the underside of his length against your seam, teasing and drawing a needy whine from you as your head fell back, but the dragon only hooked one arm behind your lower back as the other was braced above your head.

He angled his hips and you sighed as he sank into you, the glide of him thanks to the scales was smooth and warm, your release slicking the way for him; the stretch wasn’t painful, you felt deliciously full and hooked one of your legs over the curve of his lower back to open yourself to him a little wider. Pero’s hiss against your neck was rasped and you could feel each ridge of him, shifting a little when he didn’t move, but his nip against your throat made you whine.

“Needy little esposa.” He took his time, gentle thrusts into you as he held your lower body close to him in a way that made it feel like he was reaching deeper with each stroke, and you slotted your mouth to his as Pero rolled his hips in a way that had the top ridge on his cock gliding against your clit. You bit into his lower lip and angled your hips, panting into him as he groaned into your breathing, and you loved hearing how much he was affected by you.

His raspy little growls and hisses mixed with each moan, the way he traced his nose along your cheek and down the side of your neck as he peppered kisses to your skin, and just the feeling of him holding you so close to him made your body light up until you were shaking and digging your nails into his scaled back as he stroked against a spot in you that left you seeing stars.

You clenched around him as you came, shaking and breathing hard, and Pero exhaled a low rumbling moan as he shuddered and spilled his seed into you. But what you hadn’t counted on was the way you felt the head of him swell, each small thrust dragging against you, and your already sensitive body was shaking as you chased that quickly cresting high by rocking until you were locking down on him again with a breathy cry of his name.

He peppered soft kisses to your face and neck, panting into your skin, and you carded your hands through his hair as you pulled his mouth to yours for a soft kiss.

“I wanted to be gentle with you tonight but all I can think of is hearing you fall apart for me over and over.”

“You were gentle, Pero, and I loved it. But I already said I want whatever you’re willing to give me.”

His eyes darkened and he licked into your mouth with a rumble of approval before promising that sleep would be the last thing on your mind as he whispered his desires in your ear and you were more than willing to give them to him.

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