#dammit will's gonna kill you for making her lose his cat

[katyawriteswhump]

the freak in the penthouse part 12

E-rated (for sexual content), accidental millionaire eddie/sex-worker steve. On tumblr: Part 1 Part 2 Part 3.1 Part 3.2 Part 4.1 Part 4.2 Part 5.1 Part 5.2 Part 6.1 Part 6.2 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10 Part 11 or search #thefreakinthepenthouse :)

On AO3 FYI, I’ve basically imagined that Dustin and Suzie are roughly the same age as the others in this, so in their late teens and early twenties…

Chapter 12: reality check

Five Days later

Steve picked up the phone and dialled Eddie’s number. It rang twice, before the answerphone stabbed him with the same old jack-knife in the gut:

“Hi! This is Suzie.”

“And this is Dustin.”

“We’re not around right now—

“—or we’re having our downtime, together or apart, which is super important to us—” 

Jesus Christ, kill me already.

Steve had heard this message a dozen times. Dustin and Suzie sounded so goddamn chirpy, like they were going to explode into song. And Steve had endured waaaaay too many chirpy songs the last few nights, courtesy of Robin’s mom’s cassette deck.

He endured the rest of their nail-scapingly annoying message and braced himself for the Ding!

“Hi, this is Steve. Again. Look, I really need to talk to Ed—”

“Answerphone tape full,” recited an electronic voice, the polar-opposite of chirpy.

“Fuck!” Steve slammed down the receiver. 

Why wasn’t Eddie returning his calls?

Okay, Steve had been sleeping a ton the past few days, might’ve missed something. Robin’s leave was over today, and her mom worked really long shifts…

A muffled meeeeow had him looking up sharpish. Resident cat, Fernando, glared at him through the window.

“All right, I’m sorry I stole your couch. I don’t hate you, it’s your fur that hates me. Way to go making me feel even shittier about it.”

He glared back. Trouble was, this was Fernando’s home, not his. Robin had technically moved out last year, and he’d barely got a nickel to slot into the housekeeping kitty.

He was gonna have to sell his watch. Or the guitar. Dammit, he’d wanted to check in with Eddie first, but what choice did he have?

He leafed through the telephone directory for music stores, scraped together some loose change, and caught a bus across the city. On the journey, he missed his old Sony Walkman as never before. Thanks to Robin’s mom, ‘Mamma Mia’ by Abba ear-wormed through his brain. Uuuuuuurgh! He  hugged the glittery guitar case tightly and attempted to pep himself up.

Eddie said he was crazy about Steve. Steve sure as heck felt the same. 

“Yes, I’ve been broken-hearted, blue since the day we parted. Why, why did I ever let you go?”

“Shut the hell up, Agnetha,” he muttered, earning himself a scathing glance from a woman sitting close. But Steve hadn’t been broken-hearted when he left the hotel. He’d been scared shitless over that fact he was losing his memory as well as his mind. He still was. His future with Eddie had been the one thing he’d felt faintly optimistic about, and… 

“Look at me now, will I ever learn?”

No. No way. Eddie was a good person. Yeah, Robin had passed hours bad-mouthing him. No matter. Steve believed in Eddie. Well, he desperately wanted to. He was getting really worried about him—about whether he’d really been ‘cured’ of his agoraphobia, and about his overly sass-tastic and curiously absent friends. 

He missed him so much. Christ, it hurt.

In ‘Jivin’ Jams,’ Steve laid the guitar case on the counter and opened it. The store-owner’s brows shot sky high: “Where did you get this, son?”

“A friend gave it me,” said Steve. “There was a rumor it once belonged to Jimi Hendrix or something.” 

The guy stared at him, mega-intense, which Steve took to be a positive sign. Maybe he should play hardball, get competing offers from a bunch of stores.

“I’m looking for at least two-thousand bucks,” he ventured.

“I got some catalogues out back that should help me figure out what it’s worth. Gimme a tick.”

Steve shrugged. “Sure.”

The dude vanished. Steve waited, grinning when a track he knew—‘Friday I’m in love,” by The Cure—drowned out the Abba hell-loop in his head. He remembered this one. Yeah, he’d been flat on his back on that honking great bed, with his ankles looped around Eddie’s neck. While merrily fucking Steve, Eddie had sung along like an idiot:

“Monday, you can hold your head, Tuesday, Wednesday, stay in bed, Or Thursday, watch the walls instead, It's Friday, I'm in love…”

Christ, he missed Eddie’s dumbass ‘o’ face. He missed how Eddie always needed him to come too, loving it when Steve squirted across those lick-tastic tatts. Yeah, he missed… so much. If he got a decent amount for the guitar, maybe he and Eddie could rent a place together. Get back to fucking every day of the week…

He was still daydreaming, smirking vaguely, when the two policemen walked in. 

“I didn’t know it was stolen!” protested Steve. The son-of-a-bitch store-owner handed the guitar over the counter to one of the cops.

“Where d’you get it then?” asked the other.

“A friend gave it to me.” Steve’s legs started to feel wibbly.

“This friend got a name?”

Steve bit hard into his bottom lip.

“You think on it, and tell us when we get to the precinct, huh?” 

They took his knapsack and turned out his pockets. When the handcuffs came out, the bubble of panic in his windpipe ballooned.

“I didn’t know it was stolen,” he repeated, sort of on autopilot. They cuffed him anyway. Outside the store, the cool air smarted against his burning skin. “C-crap. No, please! Look… I… I didn’t know!”

He was guided into the back of their patrol vehicle and the door slammed shut. He shut his eyes, rested his head back, and battled his instinct to struggle against the cuffs.

OH MY GOD, EDDIE! YOU REALLY WERE TAKEN FOR A CHUMP!  

Unless he knew it was stolen? No. No way, no way. This isn’t happening. This isn’t happening. Okay… breathe. Keep calm, right? Shiiiiit! 

Steve had been picked up by the police once before. It’d been soon after he’d run from that man, when he was on the streets, and… Nope, nope, NOPE.

His mind grew as clammed up as his body. Which was probably how, breathing fast and shallow, he survived the short journey to the precinct. Still kinda dazed, he was uncuffed and processed. His rescue inhaler, which had been in his pack, was handed back to him. For the first time in a while, he managed to form a coherent sentence: “I need to make a phone call.”

As he was shown to the booth, his worries swerved off in a whole new direction. Dammit, he still didn’t know Robin’s number. He could try calling the hotel, see if he could get a message to her, but…

His unsteady fingers dialled the one number that’d etched itself into his heart. He knew it was gonna go to that ‘answerphone full’ message.

Shit, you are not gonna cry, Harrington, or you’re gonna be eaten alive.

“Hello, this is Suzie.”

“Oh Jesus Christ!”

“No, I’m afraid I’m not Him. This is Suzie Henderson. To whom am I speaking?”

“It’s Steve.” He swiped his knuckles across his cheekbones. “I’m, uh… um… Eddie’s friend. Is he there?”

“No, we don’t know where he is. We’re really worried.” She sure sounded less chirpy than in her message. “I thought Dusty tried to call you back. Have you heard from Eddie?”

“N-no, no. Oh my God. Oh my God, this isn’t happening, this isn’t happening.”

“You seem distressed, Steve. Can I help?”

What choice did he have? He poured out his story, including how Eddie gave him the guitar he was accused of fencing, right till the call randomly cut off.

…

In the interview room, a tired-looking cop dumped a worryingly thick file between them.

“It’s a simple question, kid. Tell us how you came into possession of Jimi Hendrix’s guitar, and we can cut you a deal. You sing sweet enough, you could skip all charges.”

Steve chewed his thumbnail, stared at the table: “I got it from a friend.”

“Listen to me. That guitar was stolen during an armed robbery at a house in Brentwood. You already got an arrest record. You don’t talk, you’re looking at some serious time behind bars.”

Steve gawked up at the interviewer, his thumb still half-caught in his mouth. He’d go to the prison for the guy he loved but…

This isn’t happening.

“Whoever you’re covering for, are they worth it? You scared they’re gonna come for you? We can put you in witness protection.”

Scared? Of Eddie? It was almost hilarious, and finally snapped Steve from his clammed-up funk. He giggled nervously.

“You think this is funny, kid? You can laugh your ass off in jail. You wanna recall your friend’s name for me now?”

“I… um…”

Eddie would want you to tell him, you idiot! He can probably help clear this mess up! There is also the teensy weensy possibility he’s skipped town, leaving you holding his seriously problematic baby…

“Look, I’m not exactly sure where he—“

The door flew wide and a young woman with fashionably frizzy hair and some serious shoulder-pad action stepped in. “Stop the interview. My name’s Nancy Wheeler. I’m Steve’s lawyer and I need a moment alone with my client.”

The interviewer looked mildly pissed then picked up his files and shuffled out.

Steve slumped back in his seat and blinked at his apparent saviour. Beneath the make-up and the power suit, she didn’t look much older than he was. She smiled tightly, pulled a chair around and sat down beside him.

“Woah, woah, woah.” Steve finally found his voice. “I don’t wanna sound ungrateful, but I can’t pay you anything."

“I’m not actually a lawyer,” she hissed, kinda apologetic. “I’m a trainee journalist. Friend of Suzie’s. She’s sort of into law as a hobby, and she’s clued me in on exactly what to say, so… sit tight, keep quiet. We’ll have you out of here in no time.”

…

Nancy did a lot of talking, and Steve eventually found himself leaving the precinct flanked by Nancy and Suzie. Suzie had brought her checkbook to pay Steve’s bail, though in the end, he hadn’t been charged.

He’d lost track of time during his ordeal, and it was past ten pm and dark outside. Before they reached the bottom of the precinct steps, a Volvo drew up, and its internal light switched on. A guy with curly hair and a ‘Vecna’s Doom Quest’ baseball cap wound down the window.

“Get in!” he yelled.

“Love you too, Dusty-bun.” Suzie headed around to the front passenger seat. 

Steve hesitated. “Uh, look, I appreciate the cavalry charge and all, but you’re, like, complete strangers.”

“Get in, Dingus!” Robin had rolled down the backseat window.

“What the heck are you doing here?” He climbed in, and she folded him into a clumsy hug. Nancy climbed in on his other side.

“Are you okay?” asked Robin.

“Jesus, what do you think? I got arrested, and.. I’m so confused.”

Robin launched her story, as Dustin drove off. When she’d discovered Steve AWOL, she’d freaked out. Then she’d called Dustin’s number, which she knew Steve had been trying all week. While garbling madly at each other, she’d learned from Dustin about Steve’s arrest. Dustin, meanwhile, gleaned that Robin had heard from co-workers that day about an incident at the hotel.

The same incident that Dustin, Suzie and Nancy had spent the last few days trying to get to the bottom of.

“What happened at the hotel?” asked Steve.

“We’re not entirely sure,” said Nancy. Steve wasn’t sure why they'd gotten a rookie journalist in tow. So much baffled him right now. “What we do know is that the police have charged Eddie with assault and battery. His disappearing act doesn’t exactly help his case.” 

“What? No way!” Steve couldn’t buy it. Eddie was one of the gentlest guys he’d ever known. Okay, there was that one time he busted his own knuckles, but…

"It's a pretty serious business," Robin was saying. "The only witness was Doreen. She swore that the so-called 'victim’”— Robin spluttered the word out like sour milk—“was blind drunk and walked into a pillar, but the police didn't buy it.”

“We’ve got to find Eddie before the cops do,” chipped in Dustin.

“Yeah, well, LAPD are the least of Eddie’s troubles,” snapped Robin. “I’m gonna gut him over this whole guitar business.”

Too fucking much.

After the rollercoaster of the past few hours, Steve felt basically punch-drunk. He groaned, rubbed his brow, then shaded his eyes from the dazzle of the streetlights. “Please just someone tell me you’ve got a clue where Eddie is.”

“It’s a work in progress,” said Suzie. “He never picked up his ride from the hotel. We’ve exhausted our leads locally, so we’re heading up to Oregon to see his uncle. Wayne won’t talk over the phone—”

“He won’t talk to us, period,” interjected Dustin. “But I think he knows something.”

“We’re going to Oregon?” Steve emerged from beneath his fingers. “Now? The cops told me to not leave town.”

“Dustin said he’d drop us home first,” said Robin. “I’d be delighted to wash my hands of Jon Bon Jovi’s evil stoner cousin for good.”

“He’s not evil.” Steve gave an enormous yawn, then zoned in on the one thing he knew for sure. “I need to find him. You go home, Robin. Fernando will scratch my eyes out if I spend another night on his couch.”

She bitched a bit more, including about how yuck and sweaty he was. Then she refused to leave him. He curled up against her—he couldn’t risk drooling on a complete stranger—and hunkered down for the long drive.

....

Part 13 on Ao3 Part 13 on tumblr

promise we’ll get back to Eddie in the next chapter. I needed to get a few more characters into play so we can finally get steddie on their path to healing and HEA… soon (ish!) 

Thank you for reading. Likes, reblogs and comments much appreciated and will feed the bunnies🐰💕🐰💕🐰💕🐰💕

On tumblr: Part 1 Part 2 Part 3.1 Part 3.2 Part 4.1 Part 4.2 Part 5.1 Part 5.2 Part 6.1 Part 6.2 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10 Part 11 or search #thefreakinthepenthouse :)

On AO3 All my ST stuff on AO3

[nikodimopoulos]

A heavy sigh escaped him in response to the 'romeo' quip, figuring the cat was out of the bag as far as he and Mikayla were concerned. "That's obviously not why you're here." Otherwise this would have been a conversation before all of Nando's shit hit the fan, given he was pretty positive this information hadn't conveniently popped up at the same time as the gossip blast had. Still, that wasn't his focus, and he knew it wasn't his companion's -- no, all that this told him was that Nando was, unsurprisingly, emotional, which meant his actions would convey as such. "You're right, I don't. But I can't imagine you'd still be standing on two fucking feet if more of us were in on it. Killing a father, keeping his son around with everyone knowing what the hell happened? Not very smart in my opinion." The words weren't meant to stir, but more to give the other another perspective, another reason why turning his back on everyone in the cartel was a stupid idea, apart from the obvious: that it was ultimately going to get him killed. Brows narrowed at the mention of Mikayla though, about her potentially getting herself killed. "What?" Last he knew the deal between her and Rio had ended, with pay and protection guaranteed, and that was it. "Jesus Christ, Mikayla..." He remembered her mentioning during one of their conversations getting involved with LS because she wanted to help, wanted to get justice, but mounting a crusade all on her own? It was stupid -- and exactly something that the woman who ran back, head first, into a potential shooting situation would do. God dammit.

But the comment about not putting a bullet in his brain -- well, that caused all of the synapses in his brain to rapid fire off. Niko was as calm as they came, patient, able to put his own emotions and feelings aside for the sake of any task no matter how daunting. However, a threat was a threat, and regardless of if Hernando was joking or not when he said it, Niko was sure there had to be some truth to it, and he wasn't about to let that slide. "Let me make a few things perfectly clear right now, Hernando," the capo started in, boldly taking a few steps forward. "If I was in on any of this, you would be dead right now. You hear me? Not alive. Not fucking breathing, not pulling up to my restaurant at ten at night with a hand on your gun acting like a basketcase -- I'd have come down to your shop the fucking second I saw that gossip blast, knowing that you're now a liability to Alejandra, and I would have come through the back, set myself up behind the counter, and the second that bell rang out I'd have blown your brains out all over the magnolias." Jaw clenched, Niko gave Hernando a quick once over. "But I'm not in on it. Evident by how you're still alive. So, I'd be really careful about threatening one of the few friends you have left in this place."

He allowed a long moment to pass between them, letting his words ring in the air between them, before he finally released another sigh. "Of course I'll make sure Mikayla's safe." Sincerity was evident in his eyes as he looked at his fellow capo. "But if you keep this shit up, you're gonna get yourself killed. You're gonna make her lose an uncle all because you let your emotions get the better of you. You realize that, right?"

His words only made Hernando tighten his grip, the joke unnerving him more than he showed. "No, we're in real life. Or did you forget that while you were busy playing romeo with my niece?" The words came out before he could stop them and he took a breath, not wanting his emotions to cloud the reason he had stopped here in the first place. And the reason he hadn't just shot first and asked questions later. "You don't think but you don't know that for sure. Not like anyone is gonna come out and admit it," he added. The worst thing he could do right now was be naive. That was what got you killed. It wasn't about trust anymore really. All about action. He waited a moment before he finally dropped his hand from his gun but didn't get any closer. "I didn't come here to shoot the shit. I came here to make sure Mikki had someone who could make sure she doesn't get herself killed." It almost made himself emotional all over again when he thought about their last conversation and it was clear in the way his voice cracked slightly at the mention of it. He had never fought with her like that before and now he regretted it. But now all of his cards were on the table. Everyone knew he was LS but Niko still had the luxury of being able to keep it under wraps.

"Last time I spoke to her she was hell bent on mounting a crusade against whoever was backing Dante. I tried to stop her, I don't want to see her get hurt but I think you know her well enough to know she's not gonna stop. Even with this shit hitting the fan. I need you to make sure she doesn't get killed. You do that, I may not put a bullet in your head," he told him with a shrug. Maybe he was joking but he really wasn't. He had always respected Niko, trusted him even, but all of that had gone away the moment that secret was published. Now he just saw him as a means to make sure Mikki stayed alive. It didn't mean there wouldn't be trust there once again but it just wasn't at the top of Hernando's list of priorities. Still, the fact that he was asking him to look out for one of the most important people in his life spoke volumes. He didn't trust anyone else within in the organization to do it. "You think you can handle that?

[akitokihojo]

Monster - Chapter 19

chapter index

“How far off are we talking?” Inuyasha asked, kicking out the fire as the rest of his team hurried to pack up camp.

“Ten miles, give or take.” Koga answered.

“How are you so sure it’s Hakudoshi?” Kagome asked next, strapping her bag over her shoulders.

“Anyone want to fill us in on what a Hakudoshi is?” Miroku implored with a bemused frown.

“A short, evil minion that we need to kill.” The wolf demon answered.

Blinking blankly, Miroku shifted his eyes over to Kagome for an actual explanation.

“Naraku created a group of demons. As far as we know, he had five. We killed one already, so now he’s down to four: Hakudoshi, Kagura, Byakuya, and Goshinki. Hakudoshi, we really don’t have a lot of information on other than he’s a child and has long, white hair.”

“He’s a child.” Miroku gasped.

“An evil one!” Koga feebly defended.

“Miroku, think of it as a design.” Inuyasha spoke. “Remember how we explained Naraku to you? How he’s an inorganic half demon? Anything he creates is essentially inorganic, as well. Child or not, Hakudoshi is still a demon of his that needs to go down.”

“Excuse me?” Koga sort of gaped at how that bit of information was so casually mentioned and how no one else was the least bit fazed by it.

“He’s just a little boy though, right?” Sango inquired sympathetically. “Isn’t there a chance he can be turned around and saved?”

“No, I think he’s a bit too far gone.” Kagome grimaced. “We had a friend that was sort of tortured into shape by Naraku’s guys. Hakudoshi was the main offender and was a fan of sharp objects.”

“Oh, okay. Evil child with a knife. Got it.” Miroku cringed, immediately throwing aside any further argument he could have thought of.

“The only one that’s worth saving is Kagura, but that’s a story for another time. We’ve gotta get going.” Kagome added.

“Hello?” Koga called, demanding their attention. “Inuyasha, what the fuck did you just say about Naraku?”

“Oh, that he’s an inorganic half demon? Yeah. You didn’t know that?” The hanyou shrugged sardonically. It was high time the secret got out to all that were involved since everything was so real now, but that didn’t mean he planned on sitting Koga and Sesshomaru down to have a nice, mature, informative conversation. That just meant he’d openly talk about it in front of them so that they could piece it all together on their own. It wasn’t like they could do much with it, anyway. He kept it under wraps for the protection of himself and everyone around him. Now, there was no further reason for it.

“Yeah, come on, dude.” Miroku arched a brow, playing along. He felt it was only his right since the guy just tried to punk him. “Even we knew that.”

“How the fuck… Inuyasha, what are you talking about? What does this mean?” Koga questioned seriously.

“It means he’s not a full demon like he wants everyone to believe. I can tell you’re looking for his weakness though, and I don’t know that. Technically, at this point, him being half demon is useless information. It’s nothing more than a fun fact. Half demon or not, he’s still a force to be reckoned with.”

“No, but half demons have specific traits about them, don’t they? They have a time of the month dedicated to basically emphasizing their weaknesses, right?”

“We turn human, yes.” Inuyasha tried not to grumble with his admittance. It was common knowledge. What wasn’t was the day and time it happened. “Naraku, doesn’t. I don’t exactly know what he transforms into, but it’s definitely not human, and potentially even more damaging to him. Be that as it may, do you know when that is?”

“Obviously not.”

“Then, it’s useless information.”

“How do you know this? Did you see it?”

“A long ass fucking time ago, I did. I was a kid; I wasn’t paying attention to the phase of the moon. Unless you know where he is and want to camp out every fucking night outside his place to wait and see if you miraculously feel his demonic energy die off, I’m going to have to repeat, this is all useless information now. It serves as nothing more than a stab to his ego.”

“Dammit.” Koga hissed. He was hoping that since it was new information to him, it’d be something they could grasp onto and utilize in the future, but the mutt was right. No one knew where Naraku was hiding, and camping out was obviously out of the question. Not to mention, a monster like that with the pride he harbors would take extensive efforts to protect himself during his moment of incapacitation. As quickly as he’d clung to the hope, the wolf demon was going to have to drop it. “Can you guys keep up while running? We should head out.”

“Kagome, get on.” Inuyasha kneeled, securing her rear as she climbed onto his back. With a little hike up, he was set to carry her at a decent speed.

“Kirara, let’s go.” Sango firmly ordered, and the small cat demon by her side let out a little meow, hopping into an open space as she transformed into her larger, saber-toothed version.

“Uh, there are things you don’t see every day, and there are things you see that make you think you took a little too much of Kaede’s good shit. What the fuck is that?” Koga pointed to the large cat demon, beyond perplexed.

“Kirara.” Sango replied nonchalantly, jumping on the demon’s back with ease. Miroku followed, not quite as skillfully, but not as sloppily as he used to either. “She’s my cat.”

“You’re not high, buddy.” Miroku grinned. “This is not an illusion.”

“Kagome, you’re from a weird ass village.” He shook his head, heading off in the direction he came from as he led the squad forward.

Koga had had to slow his pace down a bit since he knew he ran faster than the average demon and he didn’t want to lose his new comrades, but he was glad to hear no complaints from anyone. In fact, it was him that ended up doing the complaining. By the time they reached the fork where he’d left Sesshomaru, the high and mighty dog demon was nowhere around. As fruitless as it was to even call out for him, given his scent and aura weren’t in the immediate vicinity, the wolf demon still found himself audibly searching.

“Let me get this straight,” Inuyasha began, safely setting Kagome back down to her feet. “You told Sesshomaru to wait for you?”

“Yeah.” Koga frowned.

“And, you actually expected him to listen?”

“He said he would!”

“Did he say he would or did he grunt?”

Koga paused as he recalled the conversation with Sesshomaru, realizing it was the latter that he’d received. “Fuck!”

“Who’s Sesshomaru?” Miroku asked after climbing down from Kirara.

“Inuyasha’s older brother.” Kagome answered.

“Half brother.” Inuyasha corrected.

“They don’t get along.” She continued with a grimace.

“From the smell of it, he’s long gone.” The hanyou mentioned, his nose in the air to gather the area. “He went right. We’ll go left. There’s no use in you trying to catch up with him, so just come with us.”

“What happened to no teaming up?” Koga meagerly mocked, barely putting any effort behind his deriding tone.

“You can come with us, you can stay behind, or you can seek out the imp fucker. I don’t care. I was just giving you another option.” Inuyasha rolled his eyes, leading the way toward the left route.

“Alright, alright. No need to beg, Inuyasha. I’ll help you out, but only because you asked so nicely.”

Inuyasha barely bit back his groan, his head falling as he kept walking. He was going to regret this, wasn’t he?

“Koga, you never answered my question from before.” Kagome said, jogging a little to walk beside him as they all continued down the path. “How do you know this is Hakudoshi? Didn’t you guys say the underlings all give off the same scent as Naraku?”

“Oh, yeah. They do. We caught something feint and followed it. You’re not gonna like this, but we ended up coming across a house at the edge of the woods -“ Koga paused, pointing behind them to the West. “And, everyone inside was…”

“Dead?” Miroku attempted to finish for him, wondering if that was the word he was going for.

“I mean, yes, but a little more than that.”

“How can you be a little more than dead?” Sango asked.

“It was gruesome, okay? The bodies were mangled. It was an entire family torn to shreds. The smell of Naraku was strong there, so we followed it out. We got all the way to this path here, and the scent of him went down both ways. Hence, why I came and found you. That way, no matter what, more ground is covered and we can hopefully corner the fucker. Sesshomaru was adamant that it couldn’t be Kagura, Byakuya doesn’t look like the type who’d want to dirty his nails doing something like that, but who’s the one we discovered has a thing for torment? Hakudoshi.”

“You cannot possibly be that stupid, can you?” Inuyasha gruffly asked, abruptly stopped in his tracks as he spun around. His brows were furrowed and his lips turned down in disapproval. “This is most likely the biggest trap anyone has ever willingly walked into.”

“No, that was definitely considered.” Koga plainly responded. “But, it’s a chance we have to take. And, one you readily hopped on board with without any further information.”

“Because, I decided to trust you for once. A big mistake on my end, clearly.”

“So, if you knew it was potentially a trap, you’d let it all slide and allow him to get away?” The wolf demon challenged.

“I would have taken a moment to establish a plan.” Inuyasha scowled.

“Hakudoshi could theoretically lead us to Naraku. Sesshomaru and I already came up with a plan. Cover more ground and pin him.”

“You’re forgetting one major thing here, Koga.”

“Goshinki.” Miroku concluded. It was the only name he’d heard that hadn’t been considered.

“Right.” Inuyasha assertively confirmed. “That’s a creation we have literally no information on, and you two are going off of assumptions. Assumptions that could get us all killed.”

“What’s happened to you, Inuyasha? You used to be so carefree and reckless.” Koga teased. “Now, all of a sudden, you’re rational and want to put as much thought into everything possible? Why’s that?”

Inuyasha didn’t answer. His jaw clenched tight, and his amber eyes pierced through Koga’s blue irises.

“Oh, got it.” The wolf laughed, patting Kagome’s shoulder. “It’s because your sweetheart almost died, right? Well, don’t worry. I’ll be right here to save her again if anything happens.”

“You son of a -“ Inuyasha ground out, stopping himself before he could throw a punch at him.

“Koga!” Kagome pushed his hand off of her.

“Kagome, what?” Miroku demanded, marching forward.

“Goddammit.” She grumbled before turning to him. “Look, there was an incident, but I’m fine.”

“What happened?”

“Naraku’s puppet kicked my ass; I told you that already.”

“You didn’t tell me it’d almost killed you!”

“It’s not imperative knowledge, Miroku. It happened, it’s done, I’m okay, so let’s drop it.”

“What happened?” He repeated more sternly.

She hesitated. She didn’t want this to make her cousin worry more, which was why she’d chosen to never include that tidbit of information in the first place. It wasn’t necessarily her most prideful moment, either. It was terrifying. For she and Inuyasha. Bringing it up would help no one, and would ease the pressure on no one’s shoulders. Still, Miroku pierced her with his indigo stare, and she felt compelled to give him something.

“He tossed me off of the mountainside and into the river after the heavy rains had filled it. Koga saved me.”

Miroku could say nothing, his hand flying to rub the tension from his forehead as he closed his eyes. This was why she didn’t want to tell him. What good is it doing? It seemed to only be reinforcing his stress and the longer he was silent, the heated sighs leaving his nostrils, the more uncomfortable she was becoming. She could only hope he was taking this long because he was processing the information and throwing it away. He got what he wanted, there was nothing anyone could do to change it, and now the best thing to do was to let it all go.

But, then his dark blue eyes transferred to Inuyasha. “I thought you’d said she’d been safe with you.”

“Hey!” Kagome quickly shouted, though she didn’t immediately regain his attention. Nevertheless, she spoke. And, she spoke powerfully. It was like she could feel the admonishment sitting heavily in Inuyasha’s chest, and she wasn’t about to allow that to overtake him again. “It is not his fault! My safety is in no one’s hands but mine, so don’t act like I need bodyguards standing at every side of me! I am not fragile, you know I’m not fragile! I know it upsets you that you weren’t there, Miroku, but that’s the thing! You weren’t there! You don’t know how it all went down! So, don’t blame Inuyasha, because you don’t know how hard he was trying to save me!” Finally, his look had shifted back to her, and it seemed his frown became something less angry and hinting more on the remorseful side. “Redirect it towards me! Ask me what I had done wrong! I can list everything! I was too scared, I let my emotions get the better of me, I wasn’t strong enough, I hesitated - I can go on! But, you’re not gonna do that, are you? If you aren’t going to blame me, then I can guarantee you that it’s not going to make you feel better to place the blame on anyone but Naraku, so just drop it! It happened, it’s done! Let it go, Miroku!”

Swiftly, while the heat still bubbled in her core, Kagome turned around to face Koga. “And, you! What was that? Were you just trying to gloat because you didn’t like that Inuyasha opposed you!? Grow up!”

“I - I didn’t know that not everyone here was aware of what had happened.” Koga feebly defended.

“No, you just didn’t think before you said anything! You were throwing whatever you could out there to get under his skin! If you want to tag along, you need to learn to communicate better, understand!? Work with us or go find Sesshomaru!”

Then she turned to Inuyasha, sighing out some heat and allowing her glower to relax a little before speaking to him. He was innocent, he didn’t deserve her temper. So, with one exhale, she pushed as much infuriation from her being so that she could continue semi-reasonably with him. “I don’t really think that there’s any way we can come up with a plan for this. I think the best thing we can agree on is to be on high alert. Expect the unexpected. Or, did you want to turn around?”

“No, you’re right.” Inuyasha agreed.

“Okay.” Kagome breathed, though she faced the others in challenge. “Anyone else want to say anything?”

The group was quiet, and she’d noticed Koga’s tail drooped almost fearfully, his azure eyes on the floor and away from her. Good. It was immature of him to bring up her near death experience anyway; he should be ashamed of himself. He didn’t just cause Inuyasha to recoil, but gave her, her cousin, and Sango grief in doing so, as well. What an idiotic move.

“Great. Then, let’s keep going.” She concluded, turning around on her heel and walking forward at a quick pace. Everyone else, though, had to stay put for a quick breather.

“What did I tell you about pushing her?” Sango asked Miroku, coming forward to give him a half-sympathetic rub on his arm.

“Yeah, I know.” He grimaced, turning to follow after his cousin so that she wasn’t wandering off alone. “I’ll go calm her down.”

Inuyasha pinched the bridge of his nose. “The answer you were looking for is, I’m not sixteen, seventeen years old anymore, Koga.” He sighed. “But, it does also help to have someone else to consider when making your decisions. You should try it sometime.”

“That was terrifying.” Koga admitted.

“Yeah.” Sango laughed, her cat demon companion following her forward. “That’s what you get.”

Kagome could hear the footsteps approaching, easily identifying the gait as Miroku’s, and as soon as he was close enough, she glanced over her shoulder at him. “I’m sorry I left home without telling you, and I’m sorry if that felt like betrayal, but can you please try to get over it?”

“Well, that was blunt.” He muttered. “I wasn’t betrayed, Kagome. I was worried sick. Look, stop for a second.”

“No, because then the others will catch up and I don’t want them to overhear us.”

“Okay, fine, fair enough. Just try to look at it from my point of view. Please. Our entire lives, I’ve spent looking after you. Not just after I moved in when dad and uncle died, but always. I was the one who gave you the boost on top of the counter to get the cookie jar, and then helped you down. I was the one who put a bandaid on your knee when you tripped and fell. I was the one who stood in front of you when the henchmen came to our village. I know you don’t need protecting, but I’m your older brother. Whether you need it or not, I want it for you. I like to know that you’re safe, and when I don’t, it scares me.”

“That’s very sweet, but it also sounds like you’re saying if you weren’t there to monitor the situation yourself and something went wrong, you’re going to be judgmental about it.”

“How did you get that from anything I just said?”

“‘I like to know that you’re safe, and when I don’t, it scares me.’”

Miroku grimaced. “That wasn’t supposed to be turned against me.”

“I don’t know what you want from me, Miroku. I’ve said I was sorry like ten times already. I can’t go back to two months ago and change my mind, and even if I could, I wouldn’t. You can be mad at me all you want, I completely understand, but can you please try not to take it out on Inuyasha?”

“I didn’t take it out on him. I asked him a simple question.”

Kagome stopped walking then, pinning him with a stare that read right through his weak facade.

“O-okay,” He babbled awkwardly. “So, it was less simple and more a question that put him on the spot. I met the guy yesterday, Kagome. I don’t know him yet, so if he’s telling me he’s ensured your safety but Koga’s telling me you almost died, I feel like I have the right to -“

“Be judgmental?” She interjected, walking again.

“No.”

“He never said that, anyway. He’s contributed to my safety, but no one can ensure anything. Especially out here. You said it yourself last night, you and Sango have been through the wringer, as well. How many times have you guys been really hurt to the point where you needed to lay low?”

He bobbed his head in a small motion. “A couple times.”

“Right. It’s impossible to know what to expect outside of the boundaries of home, and we’ve all had to learn that the hard way. I’m not asking you to be his best friend, I’m asking you to take common sense into consideration, and to think before you react. You cant control what happened in our separation, and you just need to come to terms with the fact that I’m fine. I know you want to protect me, and I sincerely appreciate it. I do. I want to protect you too, which was why I suggested you two go home. But, you made your choice, and as much as I wanted to fight you on it, I respected it. It’s not like you’re blind to the craziness we’re dealing with; I’m sure you’ve gotten a pretty good taste of the morbidity out here. All I’m saying is, what’s done is done. Let it be done. Stop trying to make up for lost time, and just be with me now.”

“Okay, okay, okay. I get it. I’m sorry, but I’m also not sorry. I didn’t want to upset you, but it’s sort of shocking to find out you’d almost died. You can’t blame me for responding in a manner that wasn’t exactly the most positive.”

“In my defense, you weren’t supposed to find that out.” Kagome sighed. “I’d wanted to keep that from you, and clearly for good reason.”

“Why? Why wouldn’t you want me to know that?”

“Because, that information only hurt you, Miroku. Are you telling me it’s a good thing you know now?”

“Okay, I see your point.” He finally relented.

“It’s not like I’m trying to keep secrets from you or offend you in any way. I’m just keeping my business on a need-to-know basis.”

“I understand now. I do. Is there anything else I need to know?” He gave a crooked grin to try and lighten the mood.

Kagome heard the footsteps of the rest of their group coming around the bend not too far behind them now, and she peeked over her shoulder to make sure Inuyasha wasn’t in sight. Still, to be respectful of his sensitive hearing, she chose to keep her voice low. “Yeah. The day I’d almost died, it was really hard on Inuyasha, too. He was scared he’d lost me. He’d felt like he’d failed me. So, what you said - salt in the wound, Miroku. Not cool.”

“Oh. Ouch.” His smile stiffened. Faltered. “My bad. I can’t even apologize to him, though. I take it from the way you’d whispered that I’m not supposed to know.”

“Yup. Just keep it in mind for the next time you want to act like a tough guy. You don’t know the full story. I know that’s what’s bothering you, but handle it.”

“Are you saying I’m not tough?”

Kagome stopped walking and analyzed the size of her cousin’s biceps, teasing him by pursing her lips disappointedly as she pinched the muscle. The flicker of her brown eyes up to his said it all and Miroku gasped.

“Is this what I get? Is this the treatment I get because I care about you?”

“No, it’s the treatment you get because you’ve got puny arms.”

“The audacity! You’re small, too!”

“Miroku, she stabbed a guy in the groin with an arrow yesterday. I wouldn’t say that if I were you.” Sango chimed as they all appeared down the trail.

At hearing that, Koga’s eyes went wide, aghast, and he swiftly spun around on his heel mid-step to head back in the direction they’d come in. He’d been the most recent to piss her off, so it was evident he was the one she’d have no problem turning on if he spoke out of pocket again. He’d much rather head out to find Inuyasha’s brother than stick around to potentially share the same fate as arrow-dick-guy. Before he could take another step though, Inuyasha snagged the back of his vest, dragging him along.

“Keep going, wolf. She’ll only turn on you if you pretend to be alpha.”

“Inuyasha, I am alpha. I’m literally the alpha wolf of my pack.” He murmured unnervingly to the mutt.

“I know.” He smirked. “I want to see what happens.”

“Uh,” Inuyasha heard Kagome up ahead, noticing she’d stopped walking, she and her cousin facing off to their right. From his vantage point a little down the path, he couldn’t see what they were gazing at, but he could tell there was a break in the trees right where they stood. “It’s a cave.”

“Do you sense anything?”

“Yeah. I think so.”

She was right. The scent was feint, but Naraku’s trail ended here and went inside. He could feel demonic energy, but what was disconcerting was, he couldn’t pinpoint just how dangerous it was. Even worse, from outside of the cave, he felt eyes on him. Eyes he felt would only peer harder the moment they went inside.

“You got anything to help prepare us?” Sango asked. “We haven’t faced anything belonging to Naraku yet. How strong are we talking?”

“That sword on your hip,” Inuyasha pointed. “It’s not just there for show, right?”

“No. I’m highly skilled with it.”

“Good. You’ll find it’s a valuable asset to keep you alive then. Other than that, all I can say is to stay vigilant. If Koga or I tell you to back up, you back up. We tell you to get down, you get down. Understand?”

“You two went from arguing to playing co-leaders?” Miroku asked with an arch of his brow.

“You got heightened senses?” Koga asked. “You got keen instincts?”

He scrunched his nose in regret of his remark. He was on a roll today. “No, but I’ve got nice hair and great listening skills.”

“Wonderful. Then, you’ll be just fine.” The wolf remarked with a wink, bravely leading the way inside.

“Hey, you okay?” Inuyasha checked, grabbing Kagome as he sort of forced her to walk slower and stick behind everyone with him. His arm wrapped around her shoulders as he pulled her closer to kiss her temple, her stride falling in line with his.

“I’m fine.” She dismissed. “Sorry for what he said back there.”

“Don’t be. You still mad?”

“Nah, I was more frustrated than anything. I get where he’s coming from, I just don’t know how to make everyone happy right now.”

“Don’t worry about making everyone happy, kid. He’s spent over sixty days worried about you. By now, it’s almost a learned behavior. Show him he’s got nothing to worry about. Show him what you’ve got. Just like you did with me.”

The advice made sense. It made a lot of sense. Miroku had always stood in front of her, shielded her from so much while growing up, so simply telling him no one needed to do that anymore wasn’t going to be as effective as showing him what she’d learned she could do. He hadn’t been there to see her develop into the conjurer she now was, so his absence went both ways. He was going to have to drop his need for control, and she was going to have to demonstrate her formed abilities.

In reply, she smiled and nodded, glancing up to the hanyou in appreciation. Kagome gave a little perk of her lips to silently request a kiss while he was still so near, and he grinned, leaning down to quickly give her what she’d wanted.

Inside the cave, it was dark. Ominous. Inuyasha was right, he felt closely watched. Almost studied. He jogged ahead to catch up with Koga, the hit from his boots against the cavern floor echoing off the surrounding walls.

“You feel that?”

“Yeah.” Koga agreed, blue eyes searching for the culprit. There was nowhere for anyone to hide, though. Not so close to the entrance at least. The only way to discover the source, he felt, was to delve deeper, but deeper was where it would definitely grow increasingly dangerous. A turn of events they were prepared to expect. No matter what, Koga didn’t like the feeling swimming in his gut. “Come out of hiding! You wanted us to follow you, right!? Well, here we are!”

The wolf demon’s loud voice bounced off of the walls, repeating down the chambers the cave harbored, but no one replied. No one came out from behind a rock, or a nook in the siding, no one approached, no one was there. Except someone was. Someone had to be. This was Naraku’s scent, there was no mistake of that, but for some reason, the demonic aura was so engulfing, it almost felt like they were inside of a demon, itself.

“Well, if they didn’t know we were here before, they sure do now.” Inuyasha remarked dully.

“We give off demonic energy, ourselves, dipshit. Of course, they knew we were here.”

With a roll of his amber eyes, Inuyasha trudged on beside him, remaining observant of their surroundings as they traveled through the tunnels. The deeper they walked, the more sinister the feeling became. It was like wading through a sludge of demonic energy, and that sludge was toxic and thick, almost entrapping. Still, there was no way to pinpoint the source. It was all around, and he was trying to figure out the direction of a stronger pull, but he couldn’t.

Kagome fell behind. Just slightly. Out of nowhere, a very subtle dizziness began to hit her, but she didn’t want to worry anyone. She hadn’t had much water today, so maybe she was a bit dehydrated. It wasn’t bad at all, so there was no need to bring it up or ask for a small break. Maybe it was the energy of the cave. It was putrid, that was for sure. Definitely similar to what she felt when Moryomaru was near. Vile and rotten.

That had to be it. It was just overwhelming. Kagome tried to blink her slight case of vertigo away when the tiniest ache in her head pinched right over her eyes. No one else was reacting, though. Were they not affected by this? With a deep breath and a thick swallow, she pushed it all aside. If the demons of the group, more sensitive than she, could go forward, then Kagome could, too.

The further they went, the worse it got. She found herself squinting to see straight, tensing her throat so her pained sighs wouldn’t alert anyone. Her head wasn’t consistently throbbing, but came in waves. Not even quick waves. In fact, she couldn’t grasp the pattern, sporadically coursing through and causing Kagome’s brow to crease and her nose to crinkle each time. Again, she tried to gather if anyone else was having adverse effects to the atmosphere. Koga and Inuyasha seemed relatively uncomfortable but that was the extent of it, Sango and Miroku appeared fine, and Kirara had reversed her transformation to perch in her owner’s arms. Then, Kagome’s vision blurred momentarily, and her fingers twitched. What was wrong with her?

As much as she didn’t like it, she was going to have to say something. This wasn’t going away. Something was off. She was feeling a haze drifting over her, and it almost seemed like it was legitimately clouding her vision now. Kagome opened her mouth to gather Inuyasha’s attention, but her voice didn’t seem to work. Her body stopped as they all kept going, though she hadn’t told it to. Her brain was sending signals to her legs to keep walking, to her mouth to speak, but her command seemed to be meaningless all of a sudden.

And, when she blinked that time, she opened her eyes to see the bars of a cage before her. It was pitch black all around, not a sound to be heard, not a person in sight. No longer was she dizzy, and her head pounded no more. To her right, her left, beneath her feet, and above her head, she was surrounded by metal that sealed her in. The bars were cold and didn’t budge at all when she thrusted her bodyweight into it, trying to shake the lock free.

The shock to go from behind her group to wherever the hell she was now in a split second had her shaking, her lungs pumping as a panic sprung over her. She called for Inuyasha, Miroku, Sango, Koga, but no one answered. Her voice merely echoed in the darkness she was trapped in, the rattling of her cage from her forceful jerks against the bars hitting her ears over and over as the sound bounced off of walls she couldn’t see.

When she heard someone speaking, Kagome held her breath. Ice pebbled her skin. The voice was that of a child’s, a young boy’s, yet it held the underlying hint of menace. It was like she could sense the smile he wore, the enjoyment on his tongue, but he wasn’t talking to her. What he was saying, it didn’t make sense.

Inuyasha felt a spike, and both he and Koga stopped immediately. Ominous energy no longer filled the air. It was focused now. It was heavily concentrated in one spot. Behind them. The hanyou turned around to scour the open area they’d reached deep within the cave, spotting no one that didn’t belong, but then his stomach unexpectedly sank. It dropped so low, he thought he was going to be sick. The threat they were feeling, it was coming from Kagome.

She stood there, her hands raised up as she steadily moved her fingers one-by-one, her expression blank. He could hear the smallest mumble coming from her lips, but what she was saying, even he couldn’t make out. A sense of dread was overcoming him. Why was he feeling this? Even Koga seemed struck, confounded, saying nothing, but instead, actually taking a step away. The evil, it was growing. Evolving.

Miroku and Sango had turned to look, and Miroku was quick to notice something was wrong with his cousin, but as he went to step forward, Inuyasha hastily reached for his collar, pulling him back.

“Kid?” He cautiously asked. Kagome didn’t even look up from her hands. “Kagome?”

After a moment, she sighed and shook her head, her dark tresses fluttering around her shoulders. She made a few more subtle sounds from her mouth, the only clear word Inuyasha gathered being, “testing.” Otherwise, it was almost like she was learning to speak, clicking her tongue once or twice to discover how to make audible noise. Her brown eyes wandered around the large cavern, blinking as if to adjust to the dull light in the cave, panning over them, up, and then coming back to land on him.

“Kagome.” He tried again, this time more seriously. His heart was pounding as it would in the face of an enemy, his instincts were ready for an attack, but everything felt wrong. This was Kagome. This was his Kagome. He wasn’t supposed to feel this with her; it was all wrong.

Her plush lips parted, and a breathy, “huh,” was released. Her voice was high, sweet, and a timbre she rarely used.

Inuyasha let go of her cousin, knowing he was staying put now, and his fists clenched at his sides. Worse, Tessaiga began to quiver in its sheath, calling for his attention. It only did that in dire situations. It only asked to be released when he neglected to recognize it needed to be wielded for his own protection. It was wrong. It had to be malfunctioning because of the weird aura.

“Oh,” She sighed again, beginning to speak more clearly from then on. “There it is. Finally. That was tough - she’s a tough one.”

“Kagome -“ Sango tried.

“That’s not Kagome.” Inuyasha said, cutting her off.

A smile began to curl at her lips, and it scared him. It scared Inuyasha. It was crooked, arching more in one corner before it expanded on the other end, and her tongue tipped out between her teeth in a playful manner that made his blood go cold. That wasn’t Kagome’s smile, that wasn’t the grin he loved so much. Even Miroku twitched agitatedly at his side, stepping away before he looked at him with disturbance hindering the glow in his eyes.

“What’s wrong with her?” Miroku asked.

“What?” Kagome leaned her head to the side. “Don’t you recognize me…?” Her voice trailed off at the end as she nibbled her bottom lip. “Miroku?”

She seemed unsure of the name she spoke.

“Or, are you Miroku?” She asked, pointing to Koga, ending with a frustrated groan as she tapped her head. “Hang on, it’s a little jumbled in here. She wont let go just yet.” A few more taps. “Come on, lady. Let it go. Ah, no, I was right. Miroku.”

“What’s going on?” He reached, jaw taught.

“And, you’re Koga.” She pointed again to the wolf demon, completely disregarding the question. “Which obviously makes you Inuyasha, and you’re Sango. Got it.”

“Who are you?” Koga asked, stoning as he nobly squared himself.

“I’m Kagome.” She giggled.

“Who are you!?” Koga repeated in a lethal growl.

“Woah. Someone’s testy.” Her smile shifted to a wry smirk. “What are you so upset for? I haven’t done anything yet.”

“Don’t make me ask you again.”

“Or what? You’ll choke me out? Kill me? Look at me, pal. Whose body am I in? If you come at me with those claws of yours, it’s not me you’ll be touching. Come on, use your brain.”

Koga didn’t rebuttal, clenching his jaw and slanting his eyes dangerously, and her gaze bounced around to gather the discomfort written over all the others’ faces. Inuyasha, in particular, seemed the worst off. His hardened features screamed his seething anger, but his golden irises communicated something much different. Something more desperate.

With a grumble in the back of her throat, one that was small and held the attitude a young teenager would, Kagome rolled her eyes and lolled her head slightly, a small stomp being given from her right foot. “You guys are no fun. I’m Hakudoshi. Duh. Who the hell did you think I was?”

“So, this is what you can do? Mind control?” Koga glared.

“Way to simplify it. Don’t do me the dishonor.” Hakudoshi gestured to his entire self inside of Kagome’s body. “This is much more than mind control. I have control over her heart, brain, soul, you name it. Kagome has left the building.”

“Where is she?” Inuyasha questioned, his voice coming off husky.

Hakudoshi pointed to her head. “Right up here. She’s annoying as shit, how do you handle her?”

“Let her go. This is your one warning; let her go.” The hanyou growled. “You hold onto her, you hurt her in any way, not a single one of us will blink when it comes to ripping you apart.”

“You’d hurt your precious lover?”

“You think we don’t know your body is around here somewhere? You honestly think we’re that stupid to believe your entire entity is inside of her right now? No, you’re in this cave, we know that much.”

“But, where?” Her smile widened tauntingly. “This cave goes on for miles, and what makes you think you have that sort of time on your hands? You can go searching for me, but what’s your plan? Is someone going to play babysitter while the others go on a wild goose chase? Not a single one of you is strong enough, and that’s what’s fucking funny. Two humans and three demons against a conjurer. From the looks of it, three of you would be too sentimentally stunted, maybe four of you, and the last one - that’s you, Koga - would just get absolutely wrecked. Or, are you going -"

“Get out of her head, you stupid, fucking brat!” Inuyasha demanded, his claws biting into the heels of his palms with rage that was only building at an uncontrollable speed. How did this happen? It couldn’t have been that quick. Did Kagome feel anything weird, anything abnormal, or was Hakudoshi stealthy while he slid inside and took command.

She arched a brow at the interruption. “Well, that was rude.”

“You’re forgetting something, Hakudoshi.” Miroku spoke. “So long as Kagome is in there, she can still fight back. If one of us has to restrain her while the others go searching for you, so be it. Kagome wouldn’t allow you to hurt us.”

Hakudoshi guffawed, laughing hard as Kagome’s frame doubled over to clutch her stomach. “What!? Again, look at me! I have complete control over her!” He boasted, flailing her arms about. “This is all me, you fucking moron! Kagome can’t stop shit right now! She had just enough darkness in her heart for me to grab hold, and now the fight she’s putting up is worthless. I can utilize the knowledge and skills she’s learned by flipping a switch in her mind. If I want to kill any of you with her abilities, I can and there isn’t a damn thing you guys can do to stop me!”

“What darkness?” Inuyasha asked.

“I’ll actually entertain that question, because it was hard to find and I’m proud of myself. Apparently, holding Kikyo while she died was what did her in. Just a tiny bit. It’s been eating at her for a while now, hasn’t it? That’s not where it started, though. There was a little girl? One she failed to save, or something?” She grimaced carelessly. “I would say that created the smallest, dark spot in her heart, and Kikyo’s gory death made it about the size of a small ink stain. She’s resilient, I’ll give her that. But, not resilient enough.” That last part was almost sung while he emphasized each word of the sentence, tapping her finger in time. “All I need is an inch. So long as there’s darkness, I can take rein.”

Kagome could hear everything that was being said from within her cage, listening to this little boy speak through her. She could hear the others reply to her. It was like she was just a bystander to a conversation while she was also the main focus, and it was driving her insane. She felt completely powerless, rattling the metal bars as hard as she could, but the lock refused to give.

It didn’t surprise her to have darkness in her heart. In fact, what surprised her was how small it was. Kagome was the type of person to pick herself back up again, she never lost hope. In the era they were living in right now, darkness surrounded them, but it was what they fought for that made the difference. She knew that was what had divided her from Kikyo. She knew she’d been strong enough to avoid allowing it to take over her. But, she was human. Kagome was a human who’d been through a lot, who’d had her heart broken, who’d seen others have their hearts broken, who’d had her world turned upside down over and over. So, she wasn’t upset to know her heart had taken a hit. She was upset that her anguish was being manipulated against her.

How was she going to get out of this? Her back was bare; she didn’t have a single weapon on her. She stood in her cage in nothing but the clothes she’d donned that day, stripped of her bag, her arrows, and even her father’s blade in her boot. It was like the demon wanted her to feel as vulnerable as could be, to watch helplessly while he plotted in her own body.

Still, she shook the door of her crate, the metal hitting loudly, echoing, muting her scream as she demanded to be set free. Kagome refused to be a prisoner in her own mind, her own vessel. If he thought she was annoying now, she was going to create as much noise as she possibly could to give this guy a pounding migraine. Hopefully it would throw him off or distract him, though he seemed well versed in tuning things out. It was the best option she had until something better came along, and it was more important that she didn’t sit back and take it.

“Naraku’s not going to be too happy to learn she’s still alive.” Hakudoshi mentioned. “Though, given there was no validation of her death, he was fifty-fifty on the possibility, so maybe he’ll just do his notorious grunt before giving us our next orders to kill her. Which brings me to my next course of action. See, I honestly didn’t expect all of you guys to show up, no less the conjurer. I was trying to draw in Sesshomaru. I’ve been bored and felt like taunting him a bit, and since Naraku asked us to dispose of him, I figured I’d have some fun beforehand. Goshinki went one way, I went the other, and I was really hoping Sesshomaru would follow in my direction, but my dumbass of a brother broke his muzzle and found some villagers to eat, which stole Sesshomaru’s attention from right under me. Anyway, in you guys walk, and the moment I saw the conjurer, I couldn’t resist. Now, I’m toying with the idea of taking her back to Naraku. It’d save us both an enormous amount of time -“

“No.” Inuyasha rumbled.

“-and he can choose whether to keep control over her and use her to gain the power he’s always wanted, or kill her on the spot and remove any inconsequential threat she thought she ever was.”

“Like hell!” He barked.

“Right, right. Of course, you object. That’s to be expected, but it brings us around full circle. Obviously, you all were going to die the moment you set foot in this cave. No matter what, Sesshomaru and the wolf were going to be goners today, and Koga made our jobs a hell of a lot easier by bringing Inuyasha along. The rest of you are just bonuses, I guess. The thing about me is, I’m not really the, um, remorseful type.” Kagome leaned her head to the side, the smallest smile curling her lips. “I like it when people scream. Watching blood seep from wounds excites me more than anything I’ve ever experienced. I couldn’t have imagined a better scenario. Now you all get to die by the hands of someone you care so much for.”

“Kagome.” Sango stepped forward, a valorous pinch to her brow appearing. “Kagome, you have to fight harder. I know you’re in there, I know you can hear me. Kick his ass. Push him out. Push him out.”

Kagome’s eyes were on Sango now, and for a moment, her expression had completely fallen. Her lips were straight, brow was uncreased, and her entire body had stilled. Then, she dropped her gaze, a shudder running over her, and a pout formed so fully that her chin quivered.

“S-Sango?” Kagome trembled.

“Kagome!” Her friend called urgently. “We’re all right here! We know you can do it!”

“It’s so cold.”

“Keep fighting! Keep -“ A flash of heat ran through Sango’s veins when she stopped, realizing Kagome’s frown had crumbled and it seemed like she was pinching back her laughter. Gradually, her stomach shook with amusement and a snort came through her nose, giving in to the one-sided humor of the situation as she laughed.

“Man, you should have seen your face!” Hakudoshi gloated. “How could you fall for that so easily!? You’re clearly not the brains of the group!”

“You’re despicable.” She said through clenched teeth.

“Thank you.” He replied with a grin.

“You guys need to go.” Inuyasha spoke lowly. “Find Hakudoshi. Kill him.”

“What’s that you’re saying over there?” Kagome rose her eyebrows in question, her head inching to the side curiously. “Trying the whole divide and conquer thing?”

“Go.”

“Inuyasha…” Miroku started, appearing more tense than he had before.

Was he expected to just run off and leave her behind? Sure, Inuyasha was strong and he and Kagome clearly cared about each other, but this was his family. This was his cousin, his little sister, being manipulated right now, and he was being told to leave her to someone else to take care of? That wasn’t going to sit right with him. It was logical that Inuyasha would be better at tending to this situation given he was stronger and faster, but Miroku was struggling with the aspect of leaving her at all.

Hakudoshi took the moment to shrug everything off of Kagome’s back, heedlessly dropping her bag to the floor before returning her quiver full of arrows where they belonged.

“Ah, that’s better.” She spoke, wiggling her shoulders freely before pulling an arrow free. “Miroku, tell me she won’t do it again.”

“You need to go.” Inuyasha insisted, giving the guy beside him a pressing look. “Get out of here.”

“I can’t leave her.”

Hakudoshi lined up the nock of her arrow with the string of her bow, utilizing Kagome’s skills by simply reaching into her brain. It didn’t matter if he had never shot before. Kagome knew how, and it was her being he inhabited. Anything she knew how to do, he was able to do as well. Pulling the string back, he leveled his aim, lining the arrowhead up in Miroku’s direction.

“Awe, let him stay, Inuyasha.”

“Look, I can’t protect you and her at the same time. It’s better if you go and find him. You need to save her.”

“Inuyasha’s right, dude.” Koga concurred. “We’ll only be in the way, and for what?”

“To help!” Miroku strongly stated.

“Where’s that arrow aimed, Miroku? You think you’re helping right now?”

“They’re right.” Sango said, backing up. “Inuyasha can handle this. We’ll be of more help if we find that bastard.”

“But-“

“I can sense your anxiety.” Hakudoshi grinned, teasing them all, adding to the tension on their shoulders. “You really think it’s gonna be that easy to find me? Do you think my body is somewhere in this cave, sitting helplessly alone? Don’t take me for a fool. Of all of Naraku’s creations, I am the genius. I am the more cunning. I am the imperceptibly strong one. You think Naraku made me a child for nothing? No. It was to deceive everyone. It was to strike more fear. You may only see your precious Kagome right now, but believe you me, you’ll be an idiot to think finding and killing me will be as easy as running off to save the day.”

“Oh, shut up!” Inuyasha commanded angrily. “The only thing you’re good at is fucking with people’s heads. You want to make us think it’s going to be difficult so we second guess or stall. Well, it doesn’t fucking matter. Either way, you’ve fucked with the wrong person.”

“Oh no, I’m shaking in my boots. Whatever shall I do?” She giggled. “I’m not just good at messing with your head, Inuyasha. Want to watch me drag you all down one-by-one? She’s yelling right now. Kagome’s trying so hard to break free, and she’s frustrated that she’s gotten nowhere. She’s beginning to lose hope. She’s really reliant on her weapons, isn’t she? Without them, she’s powerless, and boy is that catching up to her right now. ‘Inuyasha! Inuyasha, please!’” Hakudoshi called out in the exact scream Kagome was internally fighting with.

The hanyou flinched painfully, his jaw tensing, and a trembling breath left his nose. Every muscle in his body went unbelievably taut for a moment, horrified by how scared she was. He’d had to fight his instincts to protect her, because he couldn’t. He couldn’t do a damn thing for her right now except face her as she currently was.

“Miroku, she just wants to make you proud. Awe, you two have such a sweet bond, don’t you?” Hakudoshi said, violating Kagome’s mind as he discovered her thoughts, her emotions, laying them out on the table for everyone. No longer did she wear a smile. In fact, she seemed nothing short of serious now. As if hurting people was a business matter. “Grew up together, got into trouble together, lost your fathers together. The look on your face when you watched your one remaining parent die has stuck in her head for even this long. Wow, it’s so vivid, too.”

“Stop it.” Miroku muttered.

“You only held it for a moment before you realized she was looking. Then, you wiped it off and never showed it again, and she didn’t know why. But, it’s stuck with her ever since. Oh god, and your fathers went down in flames, didn’t they? Fire and bloodshed, demons everywhere, they were doomed from the start. You were trying to stop the bleeding even after your father shut his eyes. She saw you put on that brave face when it made the least amount of sense, and since then, she’s felt like she needs to put one on with you too in order to be taken seriously.”

“That’s not true.”

“Isn’t it?”

“I know her better than anyone does. She knows perfectly well that I respect her and take her seriously whether she’s got a brave face on or not.”

“Knowing her better is irrelevant, Miroku. I’m in her head. I can see everything. You want me to scream again so that you’ll believe me, or what?”

“No!” He quickly sputtered, terrified to hear her desperation again. “No.”

Hakudoshi blinked, lowering the bow and arrow Kagome held. Her plush lips were relaxed together, and her gaze lowered just for a second before he looked back to her cousin.

“Her heart’s pounding right now. She’s scared. She really doesn’t like that you’re the one I’m threatening.” He cocked a brow in speculation, and as he continued speaking, it was more to converse inward than anything. “Would you rather Inuyasha? No? Sango? No, again? Koga?” He sighed in irritation, re-stringing the arrow. “Then, silence.”

“Go.” Inuyasha urged, feeling the gravity of the situation upsurge dauntingly. “You guys need to go.”

“What are you gonna do?” Miroku inquired when Koga grabbed his shoulder and began pulling him back to continue through the tunnels.

“Whatever the fuck I can.”

“No! I’m staying with you!”

“Oh, please do.” Kagome’s voice sinisterly brushed their ears while she once more aimed.

“Miroku, I know you don’t trust me yet, but right now, you’re going to have to!” He barked, shoving Miroku away. “What the fuck are you so worried about!? If anyone’s in fucking danger here, it’s me! So, if I have to tell you to get out of my way one more fucking time, I’m gonna kick your ass!”

“Let’s go, Miroku!” Sango dropped Kirara to transform, reaching for her boyfriend’s arm to pull back.

Kagome inched her arrow back further, pinching an eye shut for better aim.

“We’ve got this, Inuyasha.” Koga promised.

Inuyasha had turned away to regard them for a split second, grateful that Miroku had finally given up his obstinance, when he felt the incoming threat. Thinking as quickly as he could, he pulled Tessaiga, the sword transforming as each inch was freed from its sheath, jutting it out to successfully block the shot that was too close to hitting Miroku in the back.

In his peripherals, he’d caught Kagome waver. Her head had notched to the side and her hands twitched. Her face had twisted almost painfully, but before long, her deadly stare was back. As if it had never left.

“Oh, you’re fast!” Hakudoshi grinned.

Tessaiga transformed when defending against her arrow. It had been calling for his attention on his hip. No. He was almost scared to see if his hunch was true, but he had to. Turning back forward, Inuyasha squared, holding Tessaiga in the direction Kagome stood and watching as it stayed transformed, swirling with energy that should have died off. As if betrayed, he nearly dropped his sword to the ground. It was detestable, compromised, ruined, wrong. Tessaiga didn’t work against Kagome. It wasn’t supposed to. He’d figured out a while ago that it was meant to aid her. It was meant to protect her. Fate was a funny thing, and it managed to tell him he was born to be by her side, not opposing her.

“Inuyasha.” Miroku whispered apprehensively.

The hanyou slid his sword back into its sheath, and then removed the sheath entirely from his belt, tossing it to the side. “Go. I promise, I won’t hurt her.”

Finally, he heard them run off, the sound of their feet fading down a corridor as they rushed to find Hakudoshi. There was a chance. Before, her fidgeting, that was Kagome trying to regain control. It had to be. Hakudoshi had almost struck her cousin, of course she was going to object powerfully. Inuyasha could reach her, he was confident of which. It was going to be tricky, but it was possible. She was conscious in there.

“So, it’s lover versus lover, is it?”

“Kagome.“

“You realize you’re part demon, right?”

“Baby, I know you’re giving it your all right now, but you’ve gotta put in a little more effort.”

“All I have to do is flip that switch in her brain to use her conjurer abilities.”

“Push him out, kid.”

“It won’t even take a lot. You’re only half demon, so with the power coming from her, I’d say ten percent would be enough to do you in. Twelve percent to be safe. Six percent if I want you to suffer.”

“Come on, kid. Fight.” Inuyasha pushed.

“Oh, give it a rest.” The grumble in her voice was deep, another octave she rarely used. “All you’re doing is agitating her; you’re not helping her any. What is this? You think some motivational speech is all you’re gonna need to save her life? Or, is it your own life that you’re more worried about?”

Inuyasha could barely fight his glower. It felt off giving it to Kagome, but it wasn’t Kagome it was intended for. It was Naraku’s minion. Hakudoshi was lucky it wasn’t he going after him, because Inuyasha would make his death agonizing. As if he didn’t already hate Kagome being touched as it was, she was now being held captive from the inside. He wanted Hakudoshi to beg for forgiveness before he ended his meager existence.

At the exact same time that Koga had sensed something was off, Kirara gave a low growl of warning, reinforcing the wolf demon’s decision to stop immediately. The further they’d gone down the corridors, the darker it had become, and the drip of water echoed loudly in a cavern up ahead. Quickly assessing it, Koga could tell there were no living beings anywhere near, but that somewhere in the cave was another dangerous demon. It was either Hakudoshi’s body or the fucker wasn’t lying earlier.

“There may actually be someone else here. With him.” Koga mentioned to the others.

“Are we near them?” Sango asked.

“No. I can’t tell where they are, but the further we get from Kagome and Inuyasha, the more clear their energy is becoming.”

All he smelled was Naraku, though. Which meant, no matter what, they were going up against an underling. Considering he was traveling with two humans, Koga almost wished they were facing an off-brand demon. These were like mini bosses before the big boss, and Koga just wasn’t sure how skilled these humans were with the weapons belted to their sides. Would they pull through and be actual assets to him, or was he about to have to keep their lives in tact while facing a direct descendant of Naraku, himself?

“Stay close. Follow orders. You go against anything I say, I’m knocking you out myself so I don’t have to deal with saving your sorry asses. Got it?”

“Who died and made you king?” Miroku grimaced.

“The previous leader of my clan.” Koga snorted.

Miroku and Sango exchanged a bemused look before shifting back to Koga.

“I’m the leader of the wolf demon pack. That may mean nothing to you, but let it mean something here. I know how to look out for people, I know how to make quick decisions in the heat of battle, and I know how to make the best calls. We’re all fighting for the same thing, right? So keep up and don’t hold me back.”

“How about, you don’t hold us back.” Sango countered, slanting her eyes brazenly. “There. You wanted a challenge, right? You wanted to make sure we weren’t submissive and weak? Well, go ahead. Lead the way, King Wolf Demon. We’ve got your back.”

“How far ahead do you think they are?” Miroku inquired, gazing into the dark shadows in front of him.

“Not sure.” Koga replied, impressed by the boldness of the woman. She was gutsy, he could grasp that much. “It helps that Hakudoshi’s presence isn’t hanging over us anymore. Now that it’s centered, whomever’s with him is standing out.”

“You can’t follow their scent?”

“I only smell Naraku, but it’s all over the place. It’s like they’ve touched every fucking wall in this maze to throw us off.”

“They probably have.” Sango agreed. “It would be a good reason to back up Hakudoshi’s arrogance regarding our difficulty finding him.”

“So, we go forward, right?” Miroku asked.

“Only way to figure out where the scent gets stronger. Be on your guard.”

Kagome was protesting as hard as she could, wrestling, yelling, trying to break the lock on her cage. Hakudoshi was reaching back to equip another arrow, and he was moving agonizingly slowly. His way of taunting both she and Inuyasha with the threat.

“Stop it!” She demanded. “I won’t let you hurt him!”

But, she went ignored. Time and time again, she went ignored. What did she have to do? What had she done earlier to make Hakudoshi’s control falter when he’d shot at Miroku? She was frantic and scared, and she was resisting. She was resisting, and that resistance was like the spark of a flame in the kindling. While she pulled back, there was a thump in her core that pushed forward, but what was it? How did she fan the spark to grow into flames? How did she do it again?

“What would you do if I spoke to you entirely like I was Kagome from this point forward?” Hakudoshi asked, aiming an arrow at Inuyasha.

The hanyou didn’t answer. The bastard would have him dead in a second if he didn’t think up a plan, and he needed to be quick. He’d need to dodge and then he’d need to disarm him. That was the best course of action. Pinning her down would be second. He had to believe that the rest of the group would pull through, would kill the brat and free Kagome. Until then, he was going to have to do everything he could to survive, which may very well be as difficult as facing Kagome in the flesh. He knew what she could do, and this child was inside of her putting her skills to the test. Against him. If he really could utilize her conjurer powers, Inuyasha would have to be incredibly careful. It was ironic to think about, a demon using conjurer powers, but wasn’t something he was willing to underestimate. Technically, he was just possessing her, not completely encapsulating her body as it was easy to assume. Which meant, Hakudoshi probably wasn’t all talk.

“Her mannerisms are right here.” He pointed to her head, nearly nicking her flesh with the arrowhead. “Oh, whoops.” He flinched too casually, cringing at his mistake.

Inuyasha had had to tense rigidly to avoid reacting. He couldn’t feed into Hakudoshi’s bullshit. It would egg him on. It could potentially cause him to actually hurt Kagome, and Inuyasha refused to allow that.

“So, anyway, what’s your plan? You really gonna fight Kagome? Or are you gonna take every hit she throws at you?” When Inuyasha neglected to answer, she shrugged her brows. “Silent treatment, huh? I bet you wouldn’t ignore your girlfriend.”

Her expression softened, brown eyes shimmering as they always had as a very soft curve appeared on her lips. When she spoke then, it was in her natural tone, and it struck Inuyasha directly in the heart. “I understand if you can’t fight me. This is scaring me, too. But, can you do me a favor?”

It took everything in him not to respond, but he’d failed to keep all of his reflexes at bay. His amber eyes flickered away and his frown deepened momentarily before he forced himself to look back at her. Whatever existed of Kagome’s smile had shifted as she now worried her bottom lip between her teeth, and her gaze had fallen to the rocky floor beneath their boots.

“Inuyasha, I really don’t want to hurt you.” She tremblingly admitted. “Kill me before I do. I can’t stop him. I’m trying so hard, but I can’t stop him. So, you have to stop me.”

“No!” He growled. “Stop it! Hakudoshi, stop it!”

“Baby, please.”

His stomach clenched painfully.

“Why can’t I break free? What do I do?”

“God fucking dammit, stop it!” Inuyasha slammed the heels of his palms into his temples.

Kagome began to walk closer, and the hanyou had to remind himself to take a step back. The aura coming off of her, the threat, it wasn’t hers and it was to be heeded. This wasn’t his girl he was up against; he couldn’t be fooled so easily. But, each step away from her was physically painful. He was supposed to be protecting her, but he was refusing her quivering form.

“Why won’t you let me near?”

“Knock it off already!”

“You have to promise me that you wont let me hurt you.” She whispered.

“Hakudoshi!” He back stepped again.

With a small groan, the demon relented. “Fine. This will be more fun, anyway.” He said, making Kagome grin as she lunged to attack Inuyasha.

Swiftly, he grabbed her wrists to protect himself, flinching back when she’d almost cut his face with the arrow. Getting her to drop the bow was easy, but her grip on the sharper object was white-knuckled and fierce. Already, he knew his hold on her was too strong, but he couldn’t let go just yet. He could feel the danger levels spiking, which made him believe Hakudoshi was legitimately using her conjurer powers. If he didn’t make her drop it soon, if Hakudoshi cut him, he could be severely hurt, and then what? Lose Kagome? Allow his death to sit on her shoulders? Neither were going to happen.

“Kid, keep fighting for me, okay?” He said directly to Kagome, thrusting her back against the cavern wall to smack her hand against the uneven rock. Finally, her grasp relented and the arrow slipped from her fingers.

“Remember when Naraku was holding me over the cliff?” Hakudoshi continued his charade, speaking as if he were Kagome again. “Just before I was thrown over, I wanted to tell you that I loved you. I didn’t want to die without you knowing.”

“Stop it!”

“And, I know you know now, but I feel like I should remind you.”

No, no, no. He couldn’t hear that. Hakudoshi or not, he didn’t want that tainted in this moment. They said those words so rarely, spoke their feelings through actions and other versions of affectionate discourse, but whenever that phrase did come out, he didn’t want it to throw him right back into this incident. He wouldn’t have it taken away from them. He was frenetic to shut Hakudoshi up.

He’d acted without thinking. It was a natural impulse, and before Inuyasha knew it, his knee was being thrusted up into Kagome’s diaphragm. She doubled over with a violent cough, her breath coming raggedly, unevenly, struggling at first until Hakudoshi started laughing with saliva dribbling over her lower lip.

Inuyasha had backed away in unrestrained regret, holding his hands out at his sides as if they’d abused their privileges. How could he? He’d hurt her.

“Holy crap, dude.” Hakudoshi guffawed, and Kagome’s voice both caressed and defiled his ears. He wished the possession changed her tone to the child’s. It was painful to hear her be talked through, no matter how out of character it’d been or not. “You really kneed her. That wasn’t even a warning tap either, that was a full on hit!”

“Fuck, baby! Fuck! I’m so sorry!”

“What kind of abusive boyfriend are you?” He asked, standing straight.

“Oh, fuck off!” Inuyasha ground out, setting his jaw irately. “You can’t get under my skin with that shit.”

“Maybe you’re right.” Hakudoshi bobbed her head. “Only, ‘I love you’ will do the trick.” She grinned tauntingly, picking up her foot to pull out the knife in her boot.

Kagome slowed down a moment. Too long, she’d been fighting the restraints of her bars and it was getting her no results. She needed to take a minute to analyze the situation, no matter how difficult it was to do right now. It was easier to let her nerves get the better of her, to keep fighting and struggling, but it was fruitless and Inuyasha needed her to come back to him.

She looked closer at the lock keeping her closed inside the cage. So many times, she’d kicked it with everything she had, applied her entire bodyweight into it, and the only thing she’d achieved in doing so was creating loud clanks to echo in the darkness she currently resided in. The lock didn’t look to have received any damage whatsoever. That was impossible. It should have at least sported a dent, or a nick. Something. This was getting her nowhere. Why?

Because, she wasn’t shut in by a key. Of course. She was confined by demonic energy. She’d been so heavily consumed by Hakudoshi’s that she hadn’t even been able to feel the power engulfing the thick, black padlock. That being said, she still wasn’t sure how the hell she was going to get out of there. Yet again, she was held back by her inability to transmit spiritual power into her hands.

That wasn’t going to work for her right now. Kagome had no other options. She couldn’t wait for an alternative to appear, because nothing ever would. She was going to bust out one way or the other, and this was how. Hakudoshi had no right to threaten Inuyasha with the power that was hers. It was hers. And, she was going to use it exactly as she willed.

Koga’s heart was beating hard, his lungs were pounding. It felt like they’d been traveling through the cave for way too long and only ended up turned around, but before he’d even sensed it, Kirara caught onto something to their right. She led the way, her hackles raising, her growl growing more violent when they finally found the right path. Koga felt it, too. Up ahead was a threat waiting for them. Literally waiting.

“For a while there, I honestly thought you’d never find us.” A woman spoke, her arms crossed over her center. “The child’s been out for half an hour now? Forty-five minutes? Were you guys walking or something?”

For a quick moment, Koga took in the sight before them. They were in another opening, one just a smidge more narrow than the other they’d left Inuyasha and Kagome in. Water had leaked in through the cave ceiling, coating the ground in puddles all around, the drip loud to his ears. The woman in front of them, she was tall. More interesting, she looked to be about as done with anyone’s shit before anything had even happened. It was like the expression of annoyance was forever etched into her skin, her eyes naturally slanted in that manner. Her hair was brown, medium-length, worn half up in a twisted bun that a white feather decoratively stuck out of. Red painted her lips, nearly matching her bold irises, and along her body, she wore a plain, black dress that dipped down low in the center of her chest.

On the floor at her side, a young child slumped in his seat. His hair was white, long, untamed. He was unconscious and still he managed to give Koga the creeps. Nothing more needed to be studied about him. That was Hakudoshi.

“Kagura?” He asked, just to be sure.

“Don’t try to be my friend just because you know Sesshomaru.” She shook her head, rolling her eyes. “I’m still under orders to kill you and protect this freak.”

“Because of Rin?”

“Because of Naraku.”

“Because he has Rin?”

She sighed out heatedly, shaking her head in irritation again. “You clearly already know the answer to that, so why are you asking?”

“Don’t you think it’d be easier to save her if we knew where Naraku was?” Koga tried, carefully stepping forward with a subtle hand gesture for Sango and Miroku to hang back. “Give me something that I can pass on to Sesshomaru. Better yet, come with us. We -“

“Stop.” She ordered abruptly, and it was said in a tone that brought Koga to listen. Very slowly, very steadily, she shifted her head from left to right, her scarlet eyes never parting from his azure. It was her way of conveying something she couldn’t say out loud, but whether he understood was up to him. Hakudoshi wasn’t completely unconscious; he could still hear everything. The last thing she wanted was him bringing anything back to Naraku, and that fucking rat would. “Back up.”

“I don’t want to fight you.” Koga admitted, following her gaze as she glanced over to the child’s limp form, then back up. What was she telling him?

“Then, this’ll be easy.” She said. This guy had to be as daft as they came. There was only one way to make this painfully obvious, so careful of the ruffle of her clothing, she grabbed her ear and once more looked at Hakudoshi. That seemed to do the trick. Koga stiffened slightly, nodding in comprehension.

“Kagura, what am I supposed to tell Sesshomaru?”

“Nothing.” She frowned. “You aren’t leaving here today. So, I suggest you fight, or you’ll die in shame.”

As Hakudoshi lunged at Inuyasha, Inuyasha had to be quick to grab Kagome’s wrist again. He couldn’t afford to be conscientious or apologetic right now. He had to disarm her and pin her down. Swiftly, he stepped a leg behind her ankle, shoving her back to throw off her balance, and dropped down to the floor with her. He tried smashing her hand against the ground to make her fingers release their grip on the blade, but they actively refused. She held onto the knife for dear life, and Inuyasha had to shove the worry that his clutch was bruising her to the back of his mind.

“The first time we made love -“

“No! Shut up!” Inuyasha demanded, silencing her sweet voice. “Get out of her head!”

“Make me.” She rumbled seductively, the switch in her timbre nearly giving him whiplash. “Of course, that brings us to the third time we made love.”

���Fuck you.” He growled, pinning her still as she tried to buck him off. “Those are intimate moments between she and I.”

“Not anymore.”

Inuyasha thrusted her hand along the ground again, fighting against her incessant battle to stab him, but still she clung to the dagger with a grasp that would not yield. He was just going to have to pry it away from her, then.

It was difficult, but his main focus had to be her dominant arm. He couldn’t let go of it whatsoever, so he had to figure out a way to use his hand that restrained her left. Dragging it down, despite her opposing struggle, Inuyasha managed to capture it beneath his knee, freeing his own hand to force her fingers to release the knife. She’d given a jolt and the sharp blade clipped his palm, making the hanyou hasty to retract back.

“Man, I really messed that up, didn’t I?” Kagome giggled. “I’ll admit, it’s hard to multitask. This lady’s got it down to an art.”

There was no conjurer power that backed up her attack, and Inuyasha got fucking lucky. His hand was seeping blood now, but he didn’t have time to even think about it. It was actually working in his favor. The more blood that got on her hand from his prying, the more slippery her grip became. Finally, Inuyasha stole the dagger away, dropping it to the side of his leg as he quickly rolled her over to her stomach.

God, he’d forgotten how fast she could be. Immediately, Kagome was pushing up against him, and he’d barely been able to really define his dominance. He had to apply his knee to her back to shove her back down while he expeditiously scooped the arrows from her quiver and threw them out of reach.

“You fucking jackass!” Hakudoshi protested on a wheezy breath.

Inuyasha removed his knee, realizing his bodyweight was hindering her breathing, and everything else was by pure instinct. He’d jerked one hand behind her back, hiking it up so she had limited use of her shoulder, and took a solid grip in her hair. Maybe he’d gotten too lost in the moment, too aggressive. He could feel how forcefully he was pinning her down, feel her cheek scrape against the rock, but it wasn’t until she cried out that he slackened.

“Ow. Inuyasha, you’re hurting me.” Kagome moaned.

“Shit!” It was reflex, his reaction to let her go. But, he shouldn’t have been so precipitous. He hadn’t realized her free hand had reached for the blade he’d thoughtlessly dropped so close. Kagome rolled over nimbly, and Inuyasha hardly had time to react. She swung the dagger at him, and he was incredibly fucking grateful it was in her non-dominant hand, because it was held at an angle that gave him the advantage to jump away without harm in the nick of time.

“Wow, you really are weak for her.” Hakudoshi commented, rising to Kagome’s knees. “If you don’t wisen up, those emotions will be the very thing that kill you.”

“Shut the fuck up.” Inuyasha responded, wiping the blood from his hand on his pant leg, a vain effort as he felt more warm liquid cover over the burning wound. He had to ignore the angry spot on her cheek he’d caused, one that went right over the small scrape she’d received the day before, making it larger, darker.

“You know, maybe I’m going about this all wrong. Maybe I’m attacking the wrong person.” Kagome smiled mischievously.

Immediately, Inuyasha knew where Hakudoshi’s thought process was headed and he stiffened.

Steadily, Kagome lowered the knife to her thigh, scratching the blade against the texture of her pants. “What if I -“

He’d moved promptly, he had no choice. He went to pin her down again, to steal the dagger from her grasp once more. He was going to throw it so far away that it’d be lost in the shadows and worthless to find in the depths of a struggle. But, Hakudoshi got the better of him that time. Inuyasha hadn’t established proper form, and Kagome bucked her hips upward, tumbling his balance and rolling him over.

Good fucking god, she was strong. He was hanyou, he had formidable strength, and yes, the fear of hurting her was drastically holding him back from doing anything too impetuous, but he was now in a pressing conflict. The knife was inches from his throat, and she was pushing all of her weight down into him. Inuyasha was lucky he was quick enough to stop it in time from stabbing him through, and now he was fighting to keep her lifted so she didn’t succeed.

“Kagome, baby!” He called warily. “I could really use your help right about now!”

“Kagome says to suck a dick.” Hakudoshi grinned.

“Kagome!” His options were limited. Rolling her off of him was a feeble choice if she still had the fucking knife, though it gave him an opportunity to pick himself up and create space. There was the potential that she’d be faster in that sort of predicament, and that obviously needed to be taken into consideration. He desperately needed to disarm her and he needed to act quickly, because she was bouncing her weight down on the dagger now in an attempt to wear out his muscles.

His best option was to take her by surprise. He needed a split second, that was all. He had no choice, and he would make up for it in whatever way that he could later. For now, Inuyasha fixed his grip on her hands holding the knife with one palm, trusting the strength in his arm, and with the one he now freed, he slapped Kagome in the face with what was absolutely too much vigor. But, it worked. Hakudoshi was discombobulated for an extremely brief moment, a gasp leaving her lips, eyes wide from the jolt of it, and Inuyasha utilized the time to push Kagome back and rip the knife from her fucking hands, throwing it in a direction unknown even to him.

Hakudoshi began thrashing against Inuyasha. He hit him back, he scratched, he laughed wickedly, and it was difficult for the hanyou to take hold of Kagome’s wrists again with how wild Hakudoshi made her flail. Inuyasha was trying. He was sorely trying to get her under control, only really failing to block one good hit from her, and when he’d thought he had a forearm in his grasp, Kagome sprung off of him, ripping herself free to run toward something.

He rolled himself over and pushed himself up, his body going insurmountably tense in response to what he was facing that his gasp was silent and nothing more than a hitch in his chest. Hakudoshi had snagged an arrow and her bow, and was inching it up to aim at him. Kagome’s smile was one of victory, her bottom lip stained with blood he’d caused her to bleed.

She was furious. She was screaming. She was desperate and frantic. This was her body, and Kagome had no control over it. This was her mind, and it wasn’t listening to a thing she was saying. What caused her stomach to ache painfully was that she could feel Hakudoshi pulling her spiritual power, rounding it up, saturating an arrow as he aimed it at Inuyasha. Hakudoshi had the upper hand, she could practically see it, and her panic was beginning to overwhelm every inch of her.

“Inuyasha, run!” Kagome cried, but unsurprisingly, she went unheard. Until Hakudoshi had the audacity to tease by repeating it. His tone held no inflection. It was said casually, carelessly.

“Inuyasha, run.”

“Please! Run!”

“Please. Run.”

“No.” He replied gruffly, and Kagome froze, realizing he was replying to her. “I won’t leave without you.”

Hakudoshi inched her arrow back to create a tauter string, and she could feel that he was about to release it. No. No!

Feeling helpless, Kagome shook the bars of her cage again, frenzied enough to try anything to save him. She was hot all over, her heart was pounding erratically, her mind was racing a mile a minute.

“Stop!” She screamed. “Stop it!”

This wasn’t supposed to be happening. This was her body, dammit. This was her mind, this was her heart, this was her ability. Why wouldn’t her powers work for her? Why would they never work this way? She’d been trying to burst the lock, and nothing. Failure was not an option right now, she needed to recondition her strength.

Protect yourself for me, my little bird. Keep it in its cage.

Her father. His words. It rang so relevant right now that it hurt. She was nothing but a little bird trapped in a cage, but it was the most unsafe she’d ever felt. Her papa thought it’d be her salvation, to hide away, but this was irony at its worst. The fact of the matter was, her powers weren’t what put her in danger. It was the people around her. The people against her. Locking her gifts up to defend herself had been the counterintuitive option all along.

“They’re mine, Hakudoshi! Stop!” He was about to shoot and Kagome was terrified, shouting so loud that her voice broke. “They’re my powers! You can’t use them!” She rattled her cage defiantly, feeling a pull in her abdomen that helped her push against her restraints. “They’re mine! Not Midoriko’s, not Kikyo’s, not yours, they’re mine!” Hakudoshi released his shot. “Get out!”

Inuyasha grunted, the sharp strike of her arrowhead piercing the right side of his chest, causing him to stumble backwards a few feet until he hit the wall. There was nothing in her arrow. He was dealt nothing more than a painful blow through his flesh. Still, he found himself holding his breath anxiously. Her powers would have taken effect by now, right? The tail of the weapon stuck out in front of him, and he watched it to see if it would disintegrate. When nothing happened for thirty seconds, Inuyasha nearly slumped in relief.

There it was, she could feel it. Hakudoshi’s hold on her was destabilizing. Warmth radiated from her being, and Kagome urged it to grow. He was trying to reattain his control, like hands slipping over an oil-slicked rope, but she couldn’t allow that. The fire charred the kindling in her core and raged violently within her. It hurt, but she didn’t care. She let it expand through her veins, through her flesh, through her fingertips.

“Get out!” She repeated vehemently, doubling over as she vividly visualized the demon expelling from her soul. “GET OUT OF ME!”

Inuyasha watched Kagome’s frame fold, falling to her hands and knees as unrestrained grunts and groans left her mouth. Her fingers raked against the rock beneath her, and letting go of a cry, she stumbled down to her forearms with a wild tremor that racked her entire body.

“Kid?” He spoke through heavy breaths from his lungs.

“Get -“ She was fighting. She was pushing so hard, and he felt a manic energy soaring from her that greatly intimidated him. Kagome was giving more than what she had to free herself that her voice came out low and throaty, like she was forcing her words out while her body was battling intensely that it was nearly impossible to use her vocal cords. “Get out!”

It was her. Inuyasha’s stomach twisted achingly, desperately needing to support her, to be next to her. “Kagome!”

He ripped the arrow from his chest, clenching his throat to swallow the pained moan. It was unimportant in retrospect. Fuck his discomfort, he had more critical things to worry about right now. Inuyasha pushed himself from the cavern wall, sprinting over to Kagome’s crumpled body and skidding to his knees.

“Don’t touch me!” She screamed at him, and the hanyou went rigid. His hands hovered just inches above her back, twitching as he struggled with himself to listen to her.

“Kagome, it’s me!”

“It’ll hurt you! My power! It’ll - It’ll hurt you!” She claimed through choked exhales.

It was emanating from her. That’s what he was feeling. He may not be able to see it, but she was shrouded in her conjurer strength, seemingly able to do what she’d never been able to before as she fought back against Hakudoshi.

“He won’t -“ Kagome released a wrenching sob, trying to pick herself up to her hands but collapsing back down. “He won’t let me go. He’s still here.”

“Keep going, baby!” Inuyasha encouraged, dropping his palms to the earth while staying as close as allowed. “Fight him! You can do this!”

“Get out!”

“You can do this!”

Kagome whimpered through the engulfing and searing heat of the flames, taking as deep a breath as she could muster in an effort to fan the fire and keep it growing. Blinking open her eyes, she could see how vibrant the lavender of her power was, appearing like a legitimate blaze from her skin. At this point, Hakudoshi’s presence was barely lingering. She needed to be diligent to make sure there wasn’t an ounce of him left in her soul. If she wasn’t thorough in getting all of him out, he could potentially seep back in to take rein of her again.

Never. She wouldn’t allow it. She was going to make him regret ever taking her hostage, she was going to make him regret ever using her against her people.

“Let me go!” She demanded, slamming her fist against the ground.

“Good, Kagome! Fight him! You’ve got this!” Inuyasha shouted.

He was in her heart. He was clinging to the small fleck of darkness that’d been created from the times she’d endured, his grimy hands slipping but catching, slipping and catching again. Kagome tensed her breath then, concentrating her strength there as it torched and incinerated whatever presence he left within her. It was overkill, but it was necessary. She felt like she’d inhaled smoke, coughing and sputtering when she finally breathed again, but that was it. She was freed.

Hakudoshi was gone.

Inuyasha felt her powers calm, but didn’t reach for her just yet. Gradually, the stiffness in her muscles noticeably decreased. Kagome was gasping in air, her back excessively rising and falling with how her lungs pumped, but progressively, her body was relaxing.

“Kagome?” He whispered.

She couldn’t help the chuckle of relief that left her mouth, or the way her arms refused to work with her, failing to even try and pick herself up. Her head went from the balance on her forearm to the hard surface of the ground as her rear sank back to rest against her legs. It didn’t matter that her head scraped along, nothing mattered in that moment. She was too fatigued to care, or feel pain, or worry about anything more.

Extremely sluggishly, Kagome reached out with one hand, blindly feeling around for Inuyasha. He was still there, she could sense him, but words weren’t coming to her right now. All she wanted was his touch. She wanted to feel his warmth, his callouses. With her opposite hand, the side she’d yet to try, the side she’d assumed he had to be closer to, Kagome turned it over, sliding it out in the hopes that he would know what she wanted.

Inuyasha swallowed thickly, hoping he was reading her right. She was searching for him, wasn’t she? With her hand opened for him, he slid his fingers within, feeling the sweat that coated it and sighing out so deeply the moment her fingers curled to hold him there.

“Is it you?” He asked, unable to control himself any longer as he scooted closer. “Are you back?”

Kagome hummed, nodding lazily.

Inuyasha made haste to pick her up. He released her hand, grabbing around her shoulders to pull her to a sit so that she wouldn’t have to push with her defeated muscles. Her dark hair was everywhere, but she managed to sweep her arm over to fix the tresses out of her face, a small smile curving her plush and blood-stained lips. But, her eyes. Though lidded, they glimmered with tears and the earthy tones pulled him right back home.

“You did it.” He chuckled proudly, sweeping hair behind her ears as he admired her for all that she deserved. “You did it, baby.”

His fingers trembled as much as she, the ice was finally leaving his bloodstream, and Inuyasha cradled her jaw when Kagome finally got a good grasp on supporting herself. As tears fell to streak her cheeks, he gently swiped his thumbs to clean each one, careful of any sensitive marks that marred her face.

“I’m sorry. Fuck, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt you.”

Kagome leaned into his attention, uncaring of how she felt or looked while she couldn’t take her eyes from the wound in his chest. Though his shirt was black, she could still see the blood causing the cloth to stick to his skin, seeping through in a thick coating. Her fingers shakily reached for the injury she’d inflicted, stopped by his quicker hand when he grabbed her wrist and brought her knuckles up to kiss.

“I’m sorry.” She cried.

“Don’t be. You saved my ass, kid.”

“No, I -“

“You didn’t hurt me. I promise. This wasn’t you, baby, remember that.”

Feeling like she needed him or else she’d be unstable and incomplete, Kagome urgently grabbed his shirt and pulled for him, nearly losing her meager balance in the process. Inuyasha wasn’t hesitant in the least to comply. He moved closer at the same time he gathered her forward, hugging her tight while breathing her in.

“Are you okay, kid? You okay?” He rushed to ask, taking her jaw again to tilt her head to the side and analyze the blemishing of her face.

“I’m fine.” She replied.

Inuyasha swiped his thumb over her bottom lip and froze when she winced. Reflexively, Kagome sucked in her lip, finally tasting the copper as her tongue traced over the cut that bled. It must have collided against her teeth when he’d hit her. She could hear everything, she was aware of the general happenings of the fight going on, but given it wasn’t a direct reality for her, it was weird coming back to deal with the repercussions of it.

“Oh, that was a good one.” She commented, and Inuyasha immediately released her, a look of panic striking his expression. He’d almost backed away fearfully before Kagome reached for him, and she steadily pulled his hands back toward her. “No, it’s okay! Inuyasha,” She hovered one of his hands by her cheek before she nuzzled into it. “It’s okay. I promise.”

“I hurt you.” He breathed contritely.

“You didn’t do it on purpose. You were defending yourself. I’d have a problem with you if you hadn’t.” Kagome brought the other back to hold her as he had been.

Inuyasha curled into her, tilting her face again as he softly brushed a kiss to her scraped cheek. The tremble in her fingers was increasing, the shock of the situation really settling in. They rested on his forearms, her hold barely there anymore. She had to be fucking exhausted. It had to be so hard just sitting up right now. Her eyes were sunken and hooded, her smile was present but listless, her skin was pale and clammy, yet she still pushed through it all instead of collapsing and saving affection for later.

With a kiss to her forehead, he decided it was best to gather everything up. The battle wasn’t over. As much as he wanted to get her out of there, he needed to help the others, and Kagome was undoubtedly safer with him at this point.

Making sure she could support herself, he stood to find the knife he’d tossed. Thankfully, her scent was good guidance, and he was able to locate it hidden in the shadows in the distance. He fixed that in his belt before he picked up her arrows, unsurprised when he heard that grumble come from her as her stomach clenched in pain. Inuyasha made his way back calmly, smoothly, setting everything down beside him so that he could pull her hair out of the way. His hand was gentle as it stroked her back, soothing her heaves while she vomited.

“You’re okay.” He kissed her shoulder. “You’re okay, babe. You did such a good job. I’m so proud of you.”

Kagome coughed, a shuddering whimper following her discomfort, but Inuyasha continued to console her the best that he could. This was to be expected. She’d busted her ass saving them both and presented a level of power neither of them had yet to see. He’d take care of her tonight. He’d watch her carefully, he’d tend to everything she needed. Thankfully, Kaede had given them some of her medicine that helped Kagome the first time around, so she’d at least be able to sleep through the evening and fight the fever with a little help.

He helped her crawl away from the mess, whispering that he’d be right back when he walked in the direction of their kicked-aside bag, grabbing Tessaiga not too far off along the way. He pulled out the canteen of water and opened it up, ambling back and handing it over for her to sip on.

“Where is everyone? Can you smell them?” Kagome asked as she handed the bottle back over to him.

“Yeah.” He gave a small nod, replacing the lid before reaching for her arrows to drop back in the quiver over her shoulder. Her bow was within reach, so he stretched from his spot, dragging it their way. “They’re somewhere deep, but I’ll be able to find them.”

“We’ll return for the bag later.” He said, helping her to her knees so she’d be able to rise easier. Turning around, the hanyou readied himself for her to climb on his back, keeping a grasp on her hand to help leverage her up before he scooped up her rear to support her.

Thankfully, he not only had multiple scents to guide his way, but just a mile in, he could catch the sounds of fighting, of yelling. The cat demon’s roar was distinct and echoed, and Inuyasha picked up his pace.

As he got closer, he scouted out a spot to tuck Kagome in. She was already growing feverish; he could feel it through his clothing. Her part was over, she’d done more than enough. Now, he needed to protect her.

“Stay here, okay?” He whispered as she settled into her little nook. Her body was tired, and she leaned against the rocks for support.

“I want to come with you.” She said, but everything else about her communicated otherwise.

“No,” He shook his head, smiling softly while pushing her bangs from her eyes. “We’ve got it from here, kid. I’ll come back for you. I promise.”

Inuyasha leaned forward and brushed a kiss to her forehead, feeling how she subtly relaxed. “Tell me you’ll stay here. Nod.”

Kagome gave a listless nod, her face expressionless as she fully sank back now.

“Good girl.” He cooed. “I’ll be right back.”

It looked like he hadn’t taken the exact turn everyone else had. The tunnel he inhabited inclined and he came out on a ledge overlooking the scene below. There was a wind picking up in the cavern, one that only bewildered Inuyasha for a second before he pieced together who the woman facing off with Koga and Sango was. Kagura could control the wind, keeping their advances at bay while assaulting them with sharp thrusts of rocks shooting mercilessly through the air. Miroku and Kirara faced a child, a malicious grin on the little one’s face as he whipped his white hair over his shoulder.

Hakudoshi.

Taking out his sword, Inuyasha jumped from his ledge, slicing through the current Kagura flared with a wind scar that carved a passage. The moment his feet were on the ground, he raised Tessaiga over his head and slammed it down, watching Miroku get shoved out of the way by the feral cat demon as his attack went straight for the evil child. A barrier protected Hakudoshi, forcing his second wind scar to trail right over him in a circular motion before dying off as it hit the far wall.

“Long time no see, half breed.” The boy sneered.

“Inuyasha!” Miroku called. “Kagome, where -“

“She’s fine. She’s safe.” He quickly replied, amber eyes never parting from the purple ones belonging to the demon child.

“Eh,” Hakudoshi’s top lip curled cynically. “You tend to use those words lightly, don’t you.”

“Fuck you.” Inuyasha spit.

“You did quite the number on her.”

The hanyou nearly dropped his sword in his vehemence, marching forward. He could see the arrogant twitch of Hakudoshi’s mouth, thinking he had the upper hand with his barrier, but with a tightening of Inuyasha’s grip, the fang of his sword grew red and he stabbed it through. The wall around the child disappeared, and it was pleasant to watch his expression dwindle instantly. His small legs hurried to back up as he tried to rebuild another barrier, but Inuyasha went and broke that one two, reaching forward to strike his face.

“Not so tough now, are you?” Inuyasha grabbed the demon by his neck, lifting him up, ignoring the way Hakudoshi clawed at his wrist and hand to be set free.

“Kagome blames you for not saving her when she was thrown from the cliff.” Hakudoshi claimed through his clenched throat, choking but still speaking tauntingly with whatever willpower he had. “She saw you trying to grab your sword, but couldn’t understand why you weren’t able to get it because it was right there. She thinks you should have been stronger. Stronger like Koga. Like your brother.”

“No, she doesn’t.” He evenly refuted.

She’d lied. She’d never intended to stay behind and wait. Kagome just knew it was the only way to keep Inuyasha from worrying. She would be upset with herself if she didn’t do everything she could to help, and there was still some fight left in her.

At first, she’d tried climbing to her feet, but her legs shook and gave out from beneath her. Twice, she’d tried to stand, but it was no use. Not even with the wall as support was she able to walk up the incline. Just trying to pick herself up was exhausting, her stomach wringing painfully, and she’d had to pause to pass some bile. Trembling horribly, Kagome wiped her mouth clean, continuing forward on her hands and knees.

It was a strenuous path uphill, but Kagome pushed herself as hard as she could, swallowing thickly to fight through her body’s resistance. She could hear the action, she could hear Hakudoshi spewing nonsense to try and hurt Inuyasha again, and she could practically feel just how livid Inuyasha was as he faced him. She wanted to see to his end. She didn’t want to risk him getting away. If anyone needed to be disposed of in Naraku’s army, it was him. He was the termite, the demon who destroyed you from the inside out, and he was going to choke on his arrogance today.

“Kagome thinks you could have done more to save your mother.”

“You’ve lost your spark since you can’t speak through her anymore.” Inuyasha firmed his hold on Hakudoshi’s throat.

He wheezed, his voice breaking, but still he continued. “You were fourteen, you weren’t helpless. Just inexperienced and stupid. That’s no excuse. You could have helped her.”

The hanyou turned around, walking back the way he came.

“Kagome believes she would have survived if only you were full demon. Your mother would have been better off.”

“Kirara,” He called, holding the child a little higher. “Hungry?”

Tossing Hakudoshi, the saber-toothed cat leapt forward and caught him in her mouth, biting down and vigorously shaking her head from side-to-side. His screams echoed as he was mauled alive, ripped apart in Kirara’s teeth.

Kagome perched on the edge of the ledge on her knees, aiming an arrow in her bow downward. It was almost too much effort to pull the string taut, the muscles in her arms quivering horribly, but she powered through. Supplying a lethal dosage of her power into her weapon, she locked on the best she could.

“Kirara, drop him!” She ordered, and the cat was obedient to the ring of her voice. Spitting the maimed demon out, she backed away and Kagome released her shot, killing off the wicked underling of Naraku.

She’d had to catch herself before falling forward, her balance off kilter, her body weak, her stomach objecting, but she swallowed the bile the best that she could. She had everyone’s attention now and there was still one demon left.

“Kagura!” Kagome stressed demandingly. “Go! If you want to protect Rin, then go! Now! Otherwise, we’ll have to kill you, too.”

“You aren’t even going to try to ask questions?” The woman asked through a tense jaw and uneven breaths. “You’re just going to let me go? Just like that? That doesn’t seem like the wisest thing to do.”

Aggravated, Kagome pulled an arrow from her quiver in a means to challenge her attitude, aiming it in her bow. It worked. She was stopped promptly by Kagura’s quick reaction to raise her arms in way of yield.

“Alright, alright.” She murmured. Her scarlet eyes looked the countering woman over, how she was fighting just to stay up. She was dangerous. She was a force to be reckoned with, and she could tell that with nothing but a glance. Kagura was there when Hakudoshi came to, and he hadn’t been touched with her around defending him. Which meant, Kagome had pushed him out. No one had ever succeeded at doing that before. Hakudoshi was violent and sadistic. He’d make a home out of your body and then kill you while he was in it. But, when he regained consciousness here, he was pissed. Which meant, he lost. He didn’t get up as easily, either. He seemed out of breath, he carried himself as if he’d been wounded, as if his strength had been compromised, and she couldn’t help but wonder if he’d been sent back not only with a damaged ego, but damage to his being, as well. “I hope you win, conjurer.” Kagura said before backing out, leaving the cavern.

With a breath of finality, Kagome let her hands fall to the ground beneath her, supporting her body the best she could. Spotting her cousin gazing at her with pressing concern, she gave a feeble wave, a smile containing minimal effort accompanying it as she gave a thumbs up. Miroku chuckled exasperatedly, rubbing his forehead in agitation before running his fingers through his hair.

“You said you’d stay.” Inuyasha said as soon as Kagome’s eyes glanced his way.

“Sorry.” She mouthed. Matching his tone, as light as it was, was just too much energy right now, and it was a struggle on its own not to collapse.

As if reading her fatigue clearly, Inuyasha effortlessly made his way back up to the ledge to check on her. The backs of his fingers caressed her cheeks, pushing hair from her face. She was burning up; it’d hit her hard this time. They needed to get her to a place where she could safely recuperate.

“I don’t think any of those things Hakudoshi said.” She whispered on an exhale. Her body gave the slightest sway, and Inuyasha’s hands moved to her sides to prevent her from falling.

“Shh,” He soothed. “I know you don’t.”

“I - I would never.” Kagome looked as if she were about to cry, sparring against her exhaustion to stay upright. “I think you’re perfect the way you are.”

“Kid, stop.” Inuyasha lulled. “Come on, you need to rest.”

“Is the fight over?” Her brow furrowed tight, and one of her hands pressed into his thigh as she wavered again. It was like she couldn’t feel his support. “Are there - there anymore demons?”

“No. It’s over.” He shook his head. It clicked. She was about to pass out, and at the perfect moment, Inuyasha caught her when she fell into his chest. Giving it a second, he waited. Her breathing was still there, her pulse was still beating, but she was undeniably unconscious. Honestly, it was surprising that she’d lasted this long.

With a sigh of relief, Inuyasha held her tight for just a moment longer. Everything was fine now. Her body was forcing her to rest. Kagome was going to be extremely unhappy when she woke up later, but for now, she was okay. He pressed a lingering kiss to the top of her head before adjusting her legs so he could scoop an arm beneath the backs of her knees. She was safely cradled in his hold as he stood, silently gesturing to the others that it was time to leave.

| previous chapter | <-

[cardiophileanonymous]

Late Night Errands Chapter 1

Mulder x Reader

Summary: The reader is a paralegal preparing to help defend her client on trial in a week. The stress has finally convinced her to go out and get a stethoscope to help calm her down. Little does she know a certain agent was watching her out while she was out late at night, and it makes her a prime suspect in his eyes.

Y/n= your name

Y/f/n Y/l/n= your first and last name

B/f/n= your best friend’s name

...

Y/n slammed the door shut then started to punch the sides of the steering wheel. What in the world was going through her mind? Of course this store wouldn’t have any stethoscopes! Even if it was a pharmacy. People don’t have stuff like that lying around in their homes. Not normal people, anyway. What was she gonna say to the employee when they inevitably asked why she was looking for one? “Oh, I don’t need one, I just want it for my weird-ass heartbeat kink!” Yeah, that was one conversation she didn’t want to have.

She silently stared at the moon for a few brief moments. Why couldn’t she have a normal kink like everyone else? Like feet, maybe. It still would’ve been weird, but dammit, at least she’d be able to find porn of it. The best she could find easily was cardiophilia fanfiction, and even then, it was scarce.

She snuck glances around the parking lot. Nobody in sight. So hopefully, nobody would notice the blush on her face when she brought up an hour long “asmr heartbeat” video for the sake of calming herself down.

She smiled in bliss. When a heartbeat was in the background, it was like everything melted away. She groaned in frustration when she heard a text from her friend, B/f/n.

Don’t forget we’re having lunch tomorrow! I’m taking your mind off that trial if it’s the last thing I do!

She was double pissed now that the stress of last week filled her head. She was a paralegal, and one of her clients was set to go on trial less than a week from now. It was the oddest case she’d ever seen. The case of Bill Brown.

The man had killed exactly one-hundred people in the span of less than half a year. And the details he gave were chilling. They were vivid and graphic. So, he must’ve been a sociopath or something, right? Well he was super remorseful. And upon turning himself in, that’s right, turning himself in, he sobbed for three days straight. What’s strangest was he claimed he didn’t know they happened until the memories came back to him that night.

She wouldn’t have believed it either, if he didn’t point to bodies that hadn’t been found yet. He helped officers uncover at least a quarter of his victims.

It gave everyone working in his defense a headache. Argue innocence and a false confession? He flat out admitted details the public didn’t know. Did they argue insanity? He seemed pretty fucking sane during interviews and psych evaluations. Self defense? Not in a million years.

What got at her was the genuine feeling he was innocent, and that someone, or something, could be out there. The idea of being out there in the city alone with it out and about gave her the creeps.

“Whatever,” she whispered, turning the audio up so she could return to her blissful ignorant state. Where everything melted away. Where she was actually pretty happy with a smile on her face. With that, she began to drive away.

…

All she could think about when she finished getting dressed was the trial. The trial, the trial, the trial. This was gonna be the biggest train wreck she would ever see in her career, and she had only become a paralegal a mere three years ago. She didn’t envy the defense attorneys she was working under.

Her thoughts were interrupted by three knocks at the door. Strange, she wasn’t expecting anyone today, except for B/f/n, and she was always late for everything.

She looked through the peephole to see two people in fancy clothing outside. She opened the door just a crack.

“H-hello…?”

“Y/f/n Y/l/n,” the man asked. Y/n nodded hesitantly. The man speaking held up the badge and the woman behind him did the same. “Agents Mulder and Skully, FBI. We have a few questions about your client. The one who’s set to go on trial next week.”

She turned her head to the side.

“I’m sorry, I think you might be mistaken. I-I’m not an attorney, I’m just a paralegal.”

“Oh, we’re not mistaken. That’s exactly why we wanted to talk to you.”

She looked inside her apartment real quick, then back at them.

“Okay… come on in. Just come in quickly so the cat doesn’t get out. She has a habit of running outside.”

She was internally grateful that her friend talked her into going out for lunch. She would’ve felt embarrassed if she had had to talk to these well dressed professionals in her pajamas. Skully knelt down, petting Y/n’s cat that had just walked up to the two.

“Um… would you like tea or anything? I’m about to make some for myself now.”

Skully lifted up one of her hands while she let the small animal nuzzle into her other one.

“That won’t be necessary. We plan to be out as soon as possible.”

“O-okay… um... I’m guessing you’re here to ask about Bill Brown?”

Mulder nodded.

“That’s correct.”

“I… don’t really understand. He’s set to go on trial less than a week from now. Why is the FBI getting involved? I thought this was settled, more or less.”

“We think he may be the wrong guy. We’re investigating a series of murders strikingly similar to the ones he supposedly committed a year and a half ago. We need to look at some of the previous evidence and cross examine it with the crimes happening now.”

She still seemed unconvinced.

“Why haven’t you gone to my firm? Or better yet, the police? I-I’m sure they have everything on file.”

Mulder shook his head.

“The lawyers won’t speak to us. And the police department doesn’t want to reopen the investigation when they’re so close to closing it. They don’t want to cause panic.”

She nodded. That actually wasn’t that hard a story to believe, considering the people she worked with on a daily basis. She just looked around the room.

“Okay… you might want to rethink my offer about the tea, then. And have a seat. Because this’ll take a long time.”

...

She presented them with a long list of documents. Some images, most legal papers. She pulled out the two things that were most of interest to her, a map of where the killings took place as well as a few images of supposed murder weapons.

“I’m not really sure what you’re looking for, so here's everything, I guess.”

Skully started flipping through the legal papers, reading passages of the man’s confession. Y/n’s cat slipped under Skully’s arms and laid on her lap as she continued to read. Mulder took a keen eye to the map.

“When did these murders take place?”

“Um, September 14th through February 10th, sir.”

“And he moved here the day these murders started, correct?”

“C-c-correct. You… didn’t already know this?”

“Oh I did. I just wanted to make sure you did. Encyclopedic knowledge of a case is the sign of a good paralegal, don’t you think?”

“Oh!” She let out an embarrassed chuckle. “Thanks…”

“Tell me, Y/n. What do you think happened?”

“Well, the evidence clearly shows he’s guilty, so… we are going to be arguing that he did these crimes due to mania and insanity.”

“No, Y/n. What do you really think?”

She looked down, and started to get finicky. She sat up straight.

“I think he’s innocent… and I have a theory about what happened. But… I don’t think anyone would believe me.”

Skully raised an eyebrow.

“Why haven’t you brought it up with any of the defense attorneys?”

She looked away, then back at the both of them.

“You won’t… tell anyone, right? I don’t wanna lose my job because everyone thinks I’m crazy.”

Mulder nodded expectantly.

“Of course not. Now, what did you find?”

She flipped through the papers.

“While they were at his house… they found a lot of these DVDs.” She was somewhat mumbling under her breath. When she pulled out the image she presented it to Mulder. “I’ve looked them up and they’re all from a lesser known hypnotist.”

Mulder read the bottom of the DVD covers.

“Hannah Martin?”

“...yes. I’ve tried to find those specific DVDs myself, on her website or Amazon or whatnot, but, uh, I can’t find them.”

“Why do you find these significant?”

“Um… Skully, was it? May I please have the written interview?”

She handed it to her. Now that her hands were free, Skully began to pet the cat sitting on her legs, who purred in appreciation. She cleared her throat and began to read.

“Bill said ‘I moved to start a new life, I tried to smile every day, I helped my neighbors, I listened to hypnosis videos every night before bed to make me a better person. I did my best to turn my life around… but I guess I was a monster this whole time. Last night, my memories came back to me in my dreams. I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m so sorry…’”

Mulder nodded.

“So you think that the hypnosis videos he watched before bed may have mind controlled or influenced him into committing these crimes overnight?”

Her face began to turn red and a wave of feeling stupid hit her.

“I’m sorry! I know that sounds insane!”

“No, not to me.” She was in awe. He was actually entertaining her insane supernatural idea? “How far have you looked into this Hanna Martin?”

“You have to pay at least five-hundred dollars for her to create a hundred and fifty custom sessions to send to you personally through DVDs. Um, the first alleged murder was one hundred and forty-nine days before the last alleged murder. That day he confessed would be day one hundred and fifty.”

Mulder seemed incredibly interested. He gazed down at the image he was holding.

“Thank you for bringing this information to my attention. Can you please scan this and make a copy for me? I want to see if I can track down these DVDs.”

“O-okay!”

She was a little excited that her idea was being entertained. And, aside from that, this agent was very cute! So he was cute and as conspiracy crazy as she was?! She smiled like a dope when she was no longer being watched, her back to the two. She began making the copy.

“Another question for you, Y/n.”

She gulped. Something about this man saying her name made her stomach drop.

“Y-yeah…?”

“Do you go out at night often?”

The feeling of her stomach dropping was now from fear.

“What do you mean?”

“I saw your car parked outside the local drugstore late last night, any reason for it?”

She swallowed, hard. She was going for ulterior motives, but she was relieved she had something to fall back on.

“I was getting my medication. Um, I can show you if you want proof?”

“There’s no need to. But midnight is fairly late to be running errands like that, don’t you think?”

She breathed in.

“I couldn’t sleep. So I thought I might as well do something productive.”

He nodded. She turned to look at him, but she couldn’t quite read his face. Was he insinuating what she thought he was? Or was this all in her head? If he thought she was involved, he was probably crazy. She just laid out all this evidence to prove her client innocent, and possibly even helped point to the real killer, yet he thought she might be the guilty one?

“Did you happen to purchase anything from this hypnotist?”

“No, I don’t have that kind of money… and besides, i-if I am right, I don’t know if I would want to get anything from her.”

“Mhm.”

Her dopey smile and blush was gone by the time she handed the copied image to Mulder.

“I’m not sure about the legality of this…”

“Don’t worry. I’ll deal with it.”

She was a bit angry when they left. B/f/n was a bit confused walking in.

“What happened?”

“Ugh! The stupid FBI is involved in the case now. They wanted to see some stuff.”

She tilted her head to the side and her nose crinkled in disbelief.

“The FBI?”

“I don’t know either! Just… help me pick up these papers. Actually, don’t! I need to make sure they’re all in order before court in a few days!”

She nodded as Y/n began to put everything as they were supposed to be.

“...that guy was kind of cute.”

She sighed.

“I thought that, too. But actually, he’s a dick.”

[thr-333]

Drastic Measures- Part 15

@daminette-december2019-2020

~Cats~

Did I set up a whole pet store b plot? Yes. could I have easily used it for this promt? Yes. but I live to be unpredictable~

Also I’m gonna give you all fair warning I’m starting to foster kittens tomorrow(huh cats good timing) so if I miss an update it is all their fault.

Ao3

First < Previous

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

“So was this how you did it?” Damian asks, leaving the plane on autopilot.

“No, it was a lot less private jets and a lot more magic portals,” Marinette hands him a drink because oh yeah there's a fridge on this plane stocked to the brim, “Won’t he figure out where we are?”

“No this is a card Jason gave me he says Father never caught him so he won't catch me,” Damian sits down across from her, a sea of clouds out the window, “He actually had a whole box full I’m a little concerned,”

“Well you know as long as he doesn't do anything drastic, like buy a plane,” Marinette scoffs gazing out the window. She feels Damian's eyes on her but he doesn't say anything so she lets it be.

“How did I never realize you were Ladybug?” He’s looking at her like she's the world, a look she never gets out of the mask it feels undeserved.

“How did I never realize you were Robin?” Marinette snarks back, anything not to feel that knot in her chest, “I mean the way you tried to kill me was so reminiscent,”

“... I tried to kill you,” Damian seems stricken by the realization.

“Twice,”

“I am very sorry,” 

“... Wow,” And dammit he does look sincere, and she was ready to forgive him on his half-baked apology before how was she meant to stand up to this?

“What?”

“Oh no I was just expecting to hear your brothers scream or something,” Marinette shrugs, Damian rolls his eyes but relaxes, “You actually apologized,”

“Yes surprisingly I understand the concept,” Damian snaps not looking directly at her.

“Now you’re back,” Marinette smiles, letting herself relax.

“About what happened,” Damian breaks the silence again, “The whole soul mate ordeal, does that actually exist?”

“In a way, usually not the way people think,” Marinette faces him turning on more of her Ladybug confidence, “The universe is all about balance, that's the whole point of the miraculous, like the creation of the Ladybug miraculous has to be balanced by the destruction of the Cat miraculous, if it’s not, the world is out of balance, you get things like Hawkmoth,”

“So that’ll happen to us?” Damian leans forward with rapt attention.

“No, miraculous are powerful examples but balance applies to people too, soul mates balance each other out if one dies then the other person is off-balance,” Marinette makes vague gestures to support her explanation, “Sometimes the effects are minimal sometimes they are extreme, it all depends on how well you know your soulmate and if you have a miraculous,”

“What happens if they have a miraculous?”

“Well miraculous have more power and if you wear them long enough that power becomes part of you, if only one person has that power than the bond is off-balance, so usually the guardians try to pair up soulmates to hold the miraculous,”

“So you-”

“Extenuating circumstances,” Marinette waves off before it can be mulled over, “Master- the guardian that chose me feared it might have negative effects on you but I guess being… everything balanced it out a bit more,”

“So you said it’s not romantic,” Damian's blushing now, Marinette holds her breath, “Does that mean-”

They are thrown to the side, alarms start blaring and they are losing altitude quickly.

“What's going on?!” Marinette stands up shakily, using the seat to pull herself up.

“We’ve been shot,” Damian's running to the cockpit, “We’re going down,”

“Damian!” Marinette grabs him, the ground is visible now and they are quickly approaching the forest. 

There's no miraculous to protect them. Marinette grabs the parachutes passing one to Damian they shrug them on before opening the door.

“Ever done this before!?” Damian shouts over the wind.

“Nope!” and with that Marinette jumps out of the crashing plane.

She stops the fall by deploying her parachute, drifting down as the plane crashing into the rain forest. She gets tangled in the canopy trees, getting out of the parachute Marinette makes her way down to the forest floor far from the crash here and no Damian insight.

“Hey, Damian! Where are you!” Marinette shouts meeting silence, running through the jungle, “Are you alright!? Answer me!”

“Define alright,” Marinette looks up above her and there Damian is, hanging from the branches like a ragdoll, “do not laugh,”

“I’m not laughing,” Marinette is definitely laughing, “No I’m just checking my phone up high like I always do, ignore that sound pretty sure it’s just a bird,”

“Marinette stop taking pictures and get me down,”

“Alright, alright,”

She does with some trouble eventually getting Damian down safely.

“So whereabouts are we?” Marinette peers through the trees.

“Jungle, far from our target,” Damian has his specialized GPS out, “We’ll have to find the nearest town and get transport,”

“Right, town,” She whistles,  “There seems to be an abundance of those around,”

“There's one a few days walk from here,”

“Perfect,” Marinette rolls her eyes, following Damian's lead, “Who shot us down anyway?”

“Could be the military, wouldn’t put anything past Father, there may be a villain base nearby,” Damian lists, “Or perhaps, it was some poachers,”

“What Damian you didn’t spring for the armored jet?”

“I would have if I didn’t-” He stops looking at her despondently, “You’re messing with me,”

“Yep, but the fact you fell for it is very revealing,” Marinette pats him on the shoulder walking forward. She gets the distinct feeling of being watched and looks around casually as possible, spotting the source,  “In other news have you seen that mushroom over there,”

“We’re being followed,” Damian whispers to where she was pointing near the hunter.

“Amazing deduction, if only someone had pointed you in that direction,” Damian smirks before Marinette asks, “Who could it be, Batman? Assassins?”

“Or the people that shot us down, or both,”

They both watch cautiously taking a step forward, then they get attacked. Marinette and Damian dodge to the side in time. And no it’s not Batman or a villain or anyone else its-

“Big kitty!” Marinette squeals the tiger prowling towards her. Marinette reaches out with her magic trying to soothe them.

“Marinette stand back,” Damian warns, forced to the opposite side.

 “Please Damian this thing looks so starved I could speed walk away from it and it wouldn't catch up,” Marinette reaches out, cautiously despite her flippant attitude. The tiger sniffs her hand before bumping against it harmlessly, her creation magic soothing it, “Come on let's help her out,”

“How on earth did you pull me into adopting a tiger?” Damian asks as they stalk through the forest tiger in tow.

“Please, I’d probably have to hold you back from adopting it,” Damian doesn't deny it, “We’re just making sure she gets some food,”

“And how are we not turning into that food?” Damian asks, backing up as the Tiger stalks closer to him.

“Miraculous magic, animals tend to love me,”

“Especially cats,” Damian says a weird pinch to his tone.

“Sure, cats, ladybugs… oh,” She stops, looking back at him.

“You said miraculous holders should be soul mates,” Damian's talking to the ground.

“Yeah but Adrien's not my soul mate,” Marinette puts her hands on his shoulders, “You are,”

“So you two arent?”

“Not at all,” Marinette smiles, Damian relaxes and they keep walking.

“That's good,”

“Good?” 

“I didn’t say that,” He’s blushing now and Marinette’s not above teasing.

“Yes you did~”

“Marinette shhh, we’re trying to hunt here,” Damian shushes her still in a teasing tone. Marinette laughs, running to catch up.

 ---

 The hunt goes well. Well enough that Marinette should be more worried the tiger is about to adopt Damian not the other way around. They are carrying the kill for the tiger back to the den. She goes inside while they set the food down outside.

“Do you think she has babies!?” Marinette is also not above using her magic to pat tiger cubs.

“I’d say by the empty den no,” Damian backs up from his peeking when she stalks out, pacing around the area.

“I’d say by her distress and these footprints that yes,” Marinette glares in the direction the footprints go, “And that this isn’t good,”

“Follow me, I’ll track them,” Damian runs forward, closely followed.

“Another hunt, goodie,”

“You know a problem with your sarcasm Marinette is that I don’t know when you’re being genuine,”

“Oh, Damian I always use genuine sarcasm,”

Damian holds back whatever comeback he has, instead, running faster. They track the footprints through the rain forest. It isn’t far until they find the poachers. And it takes considerably less time for Ladybug and the former Robin to take them down.

“There you go sweetheart,” Marinette hands the two cubs back to their mother, not before getting in a quick pat.

“Yeah considering this man's arm that's not accurate,” Damian begrudgingly bandages the guy's arm, not with the best bedside manner.

“Yes it is~” Marinette coos at the mother fretting over the babies, “I suppose we have to take them to the hospital,”

“Right in the main city, and we should use their truck,” Damian grins evilly, Marinette matches it.

“There are closer-”

“Hush you,” Marinette gags the poachers for good measure, all of them bound.

“We’re taking a job at the Royal palace, you can be sure that we’ll mention you,” Damian glared coldly down at the men, “I would recommend not making your review any more unflattering,”

---------

no taglist :P

[crystalrose555]

Slap me, I dare you! pt.8

“Yup, definitely should have just let Luke bake me alive.” Marley muttered to herself.

Not that anyone would hear her since they were all bombarding her with questions and comments. In fact, each time she tried to answer, they would just sweep her voice aside with their loud side comments. Finally, after far too many words, the brothers finally calmed down enough to take in the situation.

“Alright, are we done now? Great, see ya.” Marley claimed quickly as she got up and started to walk briskly toward the edge of the table.

However, her path was blocked by a large hand which led to a questioning Satan.

“Hold on, after all the trouble you put us through with your disappearing act, you owe us an explanation, Marley.” He scolded.

“Yeah, like how did you end up here like this? And more importantly, who kidnapped you?” Levi asked lowly as his horns threatened to pop out.

Marley sighed heavily before turning around.

“No one kidnapped me. I asked Luke to take me to Purgatory hall until this wore off.” She answered flatly, motioning to herself.

“Ha! I knew that chihuahua had her!” Mammon yelled as he popped up behind his brothers, only to receive a wave of shushing from various library patrons.

“Mammon, shut your mouth.” Levi hissed.

The avatar of greed just pouted as his eyes gleamed at the tiny woman on the table.

“Woah, you’re downright puny, huh?” He pointed out as he tried to poke Marley.

Marley just simply swatted in his direction, sending a spark of lightning to singe and shock his finger. Mammon yelped as he pulled his hand away and licked his faint wound, the others, on the other hand, stared at the snorting Marley in awe.

“Marley, since when have you learned arc magic?” Satan asked.

“If you must know, Solomon has been teaching me.”

“What, why him? I could’ve taught you that!” Levi shrieked out.

Everyone looked at the third born who looked away as if to distance himself from his own words.

“You? Yeah, the last time you messed with lightning, you were flaking for a week.” Belphie pointed out.

“S-Shut up, I just have to grind a bit more and put my EXP in the proper stats, but that doesn’t matter. So come on, Marley, we don’t need these normies.” He claimed proudly as he stood up straight with his chest puffed out.

Levi then reached out, preparing to pick up the diminished selkie only for Belphie to slap away his hand.

“Levi, what makes you think that Marley wants you to take care of her?”

“What? You think a gross otaku like me can’t do it? For your information, all my Ruri-chan figurines are in pristine condition.”

Satan sighed.

“Marley’s a living creature, not plastic and resin. She needs someone who understands that.” He claimed as he motioned closer.

Asmo raised his eyebrow while Belphie chuckled rudely, grabbing Satan’s attention.

“Yeah, either a cat or one of your book piles is going to get her killed.” Belphie responded.

“And you think you can do better?” Satan sneered.

“Me? No, I would probably fall asleep on her. That’s why I think Beel should be the one.” Belphie smiled as he motioned to his grinning twin.

“I give it an hour before you’re fishin’ her out Beel’s stomach!” Mammon laughed.

“At least he isn’t going to sell her to some random witch to pay off his debt.”

“Oi, I’d get her back!”

“Wow, you’re not even going to deny it?!”

“Why? Y’all know what I’m about and it’s not like any of you are gonna believe me otherwise!”

The squabbling turned into a fully heated argument as Asmo and Beel watched from the sidelines. The fifth-born shook his head while the sixth stared at the top of a bookshelf. With a sigh, Asmo looked down at the table, preparing to snatch Marley away while the others were distracted but she was nowhere to be found. Asmo scanned the entire surface before turning to Beelzebub who was still staring high above him.

“Beel, Marley’s gone! Did you see where she went?” He cried quietly.

Beel simply pointed up to where Marley was making her way to the library entrance, scampering across the top of the bookshelves. Keeping her momentum, she cleared the treacherous gaps by floating across with her gown. Speechless, Asmo grabbed hold of Mammon and Levi before shaking them and directing everyone to Marley. The quarreling brothers grew wide-eyed as some of their jaws

“Oh my Diavolo, she’s pulling a Princess Pomegranate from Super Maria Sis!”

“Levi, now’s not the time! Marley, get back down here before you get hurt!” Satan called out quietly as he and his brothers followed her from below.

Marley paid them no mind, if she could just get to the hallway, she could lose them and find one of the Purgatory hall crew. Increasing her speed, she flung herself from one shelf top to another while the brothers fumbled over themselves, knocking over books and students alike just to keep up with her. A bookcase nearly toppled over only to be caught by a ready Beelzebub. The other students raised their eyebrows and muttered to one another, wondering why the lords of hell were chasing what looks like a mouse across the library. Marley cursed herself as she felt her body burning from the excess exercise, while she was unmatched in the water, running on land had always proven a challenge, especially over long distances.

“Dammit, I’m almost there.” She heaved out as she prepared to jump off the towering bookcase and head for the door that was within sight.

She leaped with all her might but instead of floating, her body felt heavier and was growing even more so. While all the brothers nearly shrieked, Marley just felt a bubbling deep inside herself that was unfamiliar and ticklish. Unaware of what was happening to her, she continued to fall to the floor which grew closer and closer. In fact, she reached the ground faster than expected as she landed with a hardy thud. She turned towards the brothers behind her with wide eyes that mirrored theirs.

There in the demons’ eyes stood their Marley, her skin and hair glimmering from the magical residue, at full size adorned in a ball gown of shimmering white petals. Levi felt his face turn bright red as every magical girl anime ran through his mind while his brothers had varying reactions from surprise to delight. They all locked eyes with Marley’s annoyed watery purple orbs only to be brought back to reality by the sound of several dropped books. As much as they hoped it was from the bookshelves they nearly toppled over, the source came from the countless students who had their eyes locked on the selkie whose appearance was practically begging to be noticed.

“Marley, whatever you do, don’t. Run.” Satan whispered slowly.

However, fighting her instincts was never Marley’s strong suit. In a flash, she bolted into the hallway with all her might, leaving the brothers to fight against the oncoming swarm of gossip-starved students stampeding out of the library.

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

“Who are you?!”

“Where’d you come from!?”

“Are you dating anyone!?”

The flurry of questions flung from the mob of demonic students bolting after the panicked selkie down the hall. Frantically, Marley looked for any place to hide but each nook and cranny was filled with even more students who only joined the chase. What started as a small group grew to nearly half of the student body chasing after her and was growing larger by the second. Marley was losing her moxie as desperation grew inside her like a weed. Being chased by predators was one thing but this was on a whole new level. Looking over her shoulder, she could only see the piercing eyes of the devilish student body along with flailing arms and claws. Solomon told her demons are fueled by their desires and they could very well tear her apart from the sheer overwhelming curiosity.

“Leave me alone!” She screamed, creating a ice floor to deter her pursuers from following her.

The ice, however, was just crunched underneath the stomping feet of the mob. Her eyes widened as she looked forward and screamed profanities in the air. She didn’t want to hurt them, she just wanted to be left alone. Her mind raced back and forth, thinking about everything that led to this, from coming to Devildom in the first place all the way to the picture she posted on Diavolo’s Devilgram. The picture lingered the longest as her face darkened from the sheer anger and embarrassment. “God Dammit, it was just a stupid picture!!!” She shrieked at the top of her lungs as the mob grew more restless upon hearing her unintentional confession.

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

“Dammit, why did she run off!? A legion of demons is always going to give chase if someone runs!” Satan yelled out as he huffed for breath.

“I can’t run anymore, I’m getting all sweaty and not in a fun way.” Asmo whined as his running turned into a lazy trot.

Levi just grabbed Asmo’s arm and pulled on it.

“Come on, we have to save my Henry!” He heaved out as he struggled to keep up with the group as well.

Belphie said nothing as his own body tried to flop on the floor from the sudden physical activity. Mammon growled underneath his breath as he heard his younger brothers whining.

“If y’all can’t keep up, then stop complain’ and go do somethin’ helpful!” He yelled back to his slower brothers.

“But we have to save my Henry from the jaws of death!”

“She ain’t gonna die! Besides, what's the worst they could do?” Mammon asked.

“Remember the last time Asmo held a private concert for his fan club?” Satan commented sternly.

“Oh, I remember that day, they were so excited that they couldn’t help swarming me like a bunch of cute bumblebees~”

“Asmo, they went crazy and ripped your clothes off! Barbatos had to break it up and your club was suspended for two months!”

“I know, and it was getting to the good part too. It’s not my fault I’m too beautiful~” Asmo pouted, leaving his brothers with concerned and annoyed faces.

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

“Hear me, O Wind, Hasten my step!”

Marley had been chanting this spell continuously to stay ahead of the rampaging mob. And to make matters worse, students were leaving their classes just to have a chance to grab her. Luckily, the spell helped her to dodge their unwanted embraces but she needed to figure out where she could possibly go if every class was a trap in waiting. She could feel the fatigue of spellcasting and running but she had no choice, she had to keep going. Unfortunately, unbeknownst to her, the students hadn’t gone completely insane from hype and were actually brewing a plan to catch her. With a series of group texts spreading through the school like wildfire, they managed to corral the speedy woman down the corridor where their plan would be executed.

Meanwhile, Marley considered running to Lucifer’s office for sanctuary but her stomach turned thinking about him never letting her forget it. Deep down, she rather be mobbed than give that man another reason to flaunt his ego. However, the cries and roars of the crowd behind her was crawling up her skin to the point where she could feel their grabby fingers. She shook her head and bolted down the hall, she bit her lips hard and cried out with all her might.

“Help me, anyone, help!!!”

To the legion of demons behind her, the woman they were chasing suddenly gave off a blinding flash of light that nearly stopped them in their tracks. By the time they got their sight back, Marley had already made a turn down a hallway. Seeing this, the mob divided into small search teams that spread out far and wide through RAD.

[marisandini-chu-blog]

Bruce Wayne is a Simp for Bad Bitch

OmG I can’t believe I’m writing the obvious but the idea is in my head and I need a place to word vomit. 

Okay, so it occurred to me that Bruce has a more serious and intense relationship canonically with three women, as far as I know; Andrea Beaumont, Talia Al’ghul, and Selina Kyle. All of whom are the epitome of Bad Bitch with the capital B. (Yes, I’m ignoring Rachel Dawes from Nolanverse. The only thing I like about it is the Iconic Joker. No batman movie is good enough without the Batfam.) 

Why do I raise this point, you might ask? Well, that’s because I want to rant that Bruce, my boy, my man, my childhood comfort character is actually a SIMP?!?!

Like... I’m just... urgh.... okay... I am very vocal for a healthy relationship with commitment and based on mutual love and respect. So the fact that Bruce has only bad, iffy, or casual relationships really want to tear my hair out. And why my heart don’t want to ship with any of them, even though BatCat is one of my favorite pairing! 

I am a WonderBat shipper because I love watching them in JLAU as a kid and even though I’m not slash shipper unless it’s canon, SuperBat made much more sense to me. Heck even a threesome with the Trinity would have been healthier relationship rather than whatever Bruce had with the three of them and here’s why: 

You might not have heard of Andrea, but she’s canon from the Timmverse movie called Batman and the Mask of Phantasm which is A REALLY GREAT MOVIE. Totally recommend. One of the best Batman movie at all times (Yes, I say Batman movies not Batman Animated movies). Has great plot twist and good pacing. so Spoiler Alert! Andrea was Bruce’s fiancé, making her possibly Bruce’s first love, before his journey and possibly could have stop him from becoming Batman (I would say he’s a simp in this case, but he would have had a much more happier, healthy household so it’s not bad thing) if she hadn’t disappear for being a Mob Boss’ Daughter!!! 

I repeat, a mob boss’ daughter. 

And she came back only to be a mask avenging assassin that went toe-to-toe with Batman.

And she could have choose to stay with Bruce but she didn’t because she choose vengeance over him. Like.... Bats, you should stop with the “I am Vengeance” routine you’ve got going on because she does it better than you ngl. 

So she left and I cried at the end of that movie because trauma wasn’t enough, you put heartbreak after heartbreak to my boy. Thanks DC. 

Then there’s Fucking Talia Al’ghul which is a no brainer why she’s not Bad but BAD. Like, Talia groom Jason, supervise Damian’s harsh, brutal, and abusive training, control Damian through the implant spine to kill Dick, orders Damian execution before regretting it, DRUG BRUCE when CONCEIVING DAMIAN!!! And that’s only the top of my head. 

And if you want to blame it on Morrison’s writing, THAT’S FINE. We’ve bitched about Tom King’s writing enough to know it’s valid. 

But, BUT, bUt... it needs to be address that even before Morrison, Talia CHOOSE to stay in the League of Assassin. People can tell me that she’s a complex character that’s loyal to her father but love Bruce and that her upbringing makes her complicated or whatever. Nuh-uh. You don’t get to make Talia helpless when it suited you. Talia is a fucking Bad Bitch (TM). She’s been taught to do whatever the fuck she wants according to her belief and ideal. At some point, Talia knew she wanted to be in position of power in the League rather than staying with Bruce. 

But it’s canon that Talia, if I remember correctly, doesn’t like Gotham or Bruce’s mission. She thinks being a hero is beneath them or whatever. And doesn’t understand why Gotham is special to Bruce. So yeah, you might not agree how Morrisons write her. But do not fucking tell me she’s not a character who will not be willing to do what she thinks it’s necessary to get what she wants, including training her son as an assassin. I mean, she likes being the Demon’s Daughter in the league. She may not agree with her father but Talia wants to give Damien what she wants. Power.  

Talia loves Bruce. That’s a fact. He’s probably the only person that makes her feel like she’s a person instead of the Demon’s Daughter. Bruce has a knack for that. To make people want to be better, even just a little. Talia could have chosen him, if she wanted to. The fact that she helps him so much when fighting against her father numerous times is proof enough. 

I'm highly suspecting the reason she stays is because she knows Bruce would always forgive her (SIMP ALERT) unlike her father who would straight up stab her if she ever betrays him.

I’m not saying there’s no love for her son, I’m just saying if she even looks at the batfam funny than I will raise my flamethrower on that bitch’s face. Because you can’t rely on Bruce on that. That man would give bullshit excuse for her or want to handle her himself because your “history” with her makes you entitled.  

Aaaah, don’t you just love it when there’s a great villain you can hate on so much?

I'm not saying she can't be a good person. Pre-morisson made Talia more of an anti-hero. But I do like Talia "I'mma cut a bitch" al'ghul. It's just... I like ruthless Bad Bitch like her. Though preferably she could have balance it with more of her maternal side through Damian.

Okay, I’m getting off tangent. Now comes to my favorite girl. Catwoman. Selina Kyle. The famous ship of all Bruce’s relationship sans SuperBat. 

I... am conflicted the most about this. 

See, Selina is one of the few people who understands Bruce. Who was there when he needed a shoulder to rely on. Someone who doesn’t take Bruce’s shit, and one of the constant person in Bruce’s life. 

But not... constant enough. Which is a theme of her, even in her fursona... I, I mean PERSONA, PERSONA!!! 

Anyway, I love seeing these two broken people. One handles it with violence and vigilantism, the other through thieving with a Robinhood-esque thing going on. So of course they get each other. It always helps that they try to make each other better. Selina taught Bruce to be okay of being selfish of wanting to be happy, and Bruce believed there’s good in her that makes her feel she’s not a hopeless case, y’know? It’s even canon that in one universe, they’re married and have daughter, Helena Wayne. So... yeah? Happy end! (Until they died but that’s non issue here at the moment.) 

Then Tom King (Urgh, him again) wrote Bat proposing to Cat, and by the time they’re about to be married. Selina left him at the altar. 

So yeah. 

But then they get metaphysically? Figuratively? married after the Flashpoint which they turn Thomas Wayne into a villain (At least make him from alternate universe instead of timeline!!!) and kill Alfred (WhYYYYYY?! Bruce suffered enough why do you go kill both his fathers dammit!!! Let the goddamn butler rest in peace). And basically Selina and Bruce promise each other forever. Which is sweet. BatCat Forever, am I right??? 

Yeah, here’s the problem. (And I’m just nitpicking here, okay). For all Tom King’s character assassination of Bruce, he did Selina right in one thing. Which is the fact she doesn’t like being tied down by anything.

If Talia puts importance in power. Selina puts importance in freedom and her self-independence. 

I remember as a kid watching BTAS, that Selina didn’t want a relationship with batman if it meant changing who she is. So when Selina left the altar, I wasn’t surprise at the news. Then she actually agreed to marry him, only this time, she didn’t need a judge or a paper to make the marriage legit, y’know. And I thought, yeah that’s so her. 

But the thing is Bruce. Accepts. Her. Every. Single. Time. 

Without a single thought. She asked, “Do you still want to get married?” and he asked “When?” 

Even though it’s not the first that Cat leaves him hanging. 

Tell me he’s not a simp for that. 

It’s great that he accepts her for everything she is. But I’m conflicted because Selina stays static. She stays with the cat theme in the fact she doesn’t want to held back by anything. She takes what she wants. She loves who she loves. And no one was gonna change her. But then where’s the character growth? 

Is it regressive of me to think Selina should be ‘tied down’ or express commitment when she never has been tied down before even though she loves Bruce? 

Is it not-feminist of me to think Selina has to change herself for a man? 

I just don’t like the fact Bruce and Selina enables their masked persona. Their relationship is strongly base on their cat-and-mouse chase. They nicknamed each other “Bat” and “Cat” for God’s sake. Even though yes, it’s canon that “Batman” and “Catwoman” is their real selves and their civilian life is their masks. Heck, she didn’t go for the altar because she believed (though manipulated) that making Bruce happy would make Batman insufficient, or losing him entirely (Thank Tom King for that). 

That would be true, and stay true if not for one thing. Which is some thing what Bruce has that Selina doesn’t: 

The Batfam.

Bruce’s real identity isn’t just the Batman anymore. He has to be a single father with growing children he never plan to adopt but did anyway because they needed each other. He can’t use his batman persona to be a father at his house, but he will when training them to be his partner. His family became the strength to Bruce’s fight for Justice. 

Bruce is the Batman, but he’s not everything who he is. Selina is supposed to be part of the batfamily yet sadly, I haven’t read or watch anything that has her interact with them in a positive way or actually bond with them. Heck, when Alfred inform the proposal to the batfam they were shocked and thought it was a bad idea even (And they’ve known her for almost half their life by the way.) 

The fact that Tom King implied Bruce was never happy or wasn’t happy enough without marrying Cat when his Batfam should be the source of his pride and joy?! Apparently family means nothing to Batman. Woah DC, what a great message you’re sending here. 

I guess that’s why, I was a bit iffy when Selina “marriage” with Bruce isn’t official. Because she commits to the man but she doesn’t say she’ll commit to the family (though I suppose it could be imply or I just forget stuff). The batkids are grown up enough that they don’t really need a maternal figure, but that doesn’t mean they don’t need more emotionally available people in the family. And that I haven’t seen much of her taking effort to bond with the people that’s the most important to Bruce. 

It just makes her want to commit to Batman instead of Bruce Wayne, in my eyes I guess. 

So yeah, that’s why Wonderbat and Superbat makes more sense to me. Because they’ll make an effort to be THERE for the family and they’ll be just generally be a healthier relationships because, again, emotionally available so they might talk when they have a problem instead of running off the altar when you think a Happy Batman is Bad Batman. But no, DC have to make Bruce is a simp and his life edgy. 

Anyway, I might be wrong in some things because, you know. Canon becomes a blur to me after a while. 

[randomfandomimagine]

I Don’t Need You (Geralt of Rivia x Reader)

Characters: Geralt of Rivia

Fandom: The Witcher

Tags: Reader Insert, Gender Neutral Reader, Angst

Warnings: Swearing, sad

Word Count: 1,1k words

Requested by @the-mechanical-angel​: Hello dear! I'm so glad you're back! Now I would like to see what to will do with this: headcanon reaction of Gerald and the Fwarrior (yes, a sequel of the one I requested you) when they meet again in a tavern after she recovers, she's still hurt about his behavior and when he asks her to join him in another mission she declines coldly, telling him that he made clear that he doesn't need her and after telling him good luck she leaves him alone at the table. I love your additions to the fandom 🥰

A/N: Sequel to the headcanon I wrote here ;)

A/N2: It had been a while since I wrote pure angst! The other request was more from Geralt’s POV, and this from reader’s. There’s not a whole lot of dialogue on this one, but I kind of like how it turned out anyway. Hope you like it!!

Recovery was a slow and arduous progress, and Geralt didn’t make it any easier for you. Ridden with guilt, he stuck by your side. He insisted on looking after you to make amends for pushing you away and ultimately being responsible for your injury. Contrary to what he was trying to achieve, he was smothering you. It only made you feel more helpless. In any case, having him around after your argument was the last thing you wanted.

Needing to get away from him, you sneaked out while he was gone to gather supplies. While he rode on Roach, you left town. You hid yourself in a tavern, far enough from him without exhausting yourself in your injured state. Then your loneliness’ company made you thoughtful.

You still vividly remembered what happened, even through the passing of time (only two days had passed, yet they felt like weeks) and the haze of your injury induced fever. Your skin still felt warm, and it only seemed to burn more intensely at the thought of that moment.

Geralt had said you were getting in his way, even if you had only complained that he was being controlling and treating you like a child. You were strong and capable, yet he made you feel useless and defenseless. His arguments of his monster knowledge would never leave your mind, as he made sure of it with his shouting. On top of all, you couldn’t help but to resent him further after the very creature he was supposed to hunt got you. After it nearly killed you because he pushed you away. Because he insisted you weren’t strong enough to face it, until you believed him.

And now there you were, clutching your fresh wound, that still ached even as it healed. That still reminded of how painful that moment between you and Geralt was, perhaps even more so than the injury itself. 

You shook your head, bringing the cup you held to your lips and taking a big swig of ale. It tasted bitter against your tongue, and somehow it was nothing compared to the biterness that had settled in your throat and your heart ever since you awoke. 

Even after so many hours and through the haze of fever, you still remember Geralt’s concerned expression when your eyes fluttered open. The way his brows arched and his golden eyes shone with regret and fear. Fear of losing you.

Had he said anything right then, you might have forgiven him. Had he told you how worried he was, how sorry and scared... you might have tried to forget what happened. But he didn’t.

Had he been tender, attentive and patient during your convalescence, you might have changed your mind. Had he behaved differently, you might have too. But he didn’t.

Instead, Geralt showed you a sarcastic smile and muttered something of the likes of ‘I can’t believe you would do something so stupid, you barely made it’. As he stood by your side day and night, even when the healer came back to check on you, it was too much for you. You were feeling weak and helpless again.

So there you were now, away from him. You couldn’t handle his demeanor any longer. It was too much that he refused to admit he was terrified of losing you, of admiting that he had been wrong. His pride was too great for him to admit his mistake and instead was sarcastic and demeaning. For the last time.

“Y/N” Geralt’s voice startled you slightly. You hadn’t hear him approach you, and he seemed to come out of nowhere.

He had found you again, and seemed determined to know what you were doing. Perhaps this was due to his concern, but it felt controling and smothered you.

“What are you doing here?” You said, continuing to drink and without bothering to dedicate him a simple glance.

“You still look like shit, but at least you look better” Was his ridiculous attempt.

Trying to be patient, you heaved a sigh. Maybe he was making an effort. Perhaps you would give him a last chance to fix things. Mend the harm he had done.

“Charming as usual, Geralt” You rolled your eyes. “If you have anything to say, just say it, otherwise fuck off, will you?” 

“Looks like you’re almost healed” Still not moving to force eye contact, the witcher stayed next to you, towering over you sitting. His hand accidentally brushed against the back of your shoulder as he paused for a moment. “And I’m off to Vizima”

“So?”

“Are you gonna stay here?”

You finally looked up at him. The mild darkness on the tavern shadowed his features, causing his eyes shine like a cat’s. There were no emotions in them, neutral as usual. 

“It depends” You slowly stood up, watching him carefully. “Got something for me?”

Geralt frowned, seemingly understanding what you meant. ‘This is your chance, Geralt’, your gaze told him, ‘your last chance’. An apology would suffice. The word ‘sorry’ was not required. There were many ways to apologize and make amends. His would certainly be different, but you would take it still.

The witcher considered it. His eyes analyzed you, seizing you up as yours were him. Ultimately, he clenched his jaw and averted his gaze. Your heart seemed to break at the sight, and all of your wounds throbbed. Both internal and external.

“I have nothing to say to you” When his eyes landed back on you, he tilted his chin up slightly. “Except come with me”

“No” You said, calmly sitting back down.

“No?”

“You heard me”

“Why?”

You clutched the cup in your hand, feeling your nails sinking into its surface. A sudden urge overwhelmed you, but you repressed it before you could angrily slam it against the table and start shouting at him. 

He had made his choice. He wouldn’t change. He wouldn’t admit his mistake.

You wouldn’t budge. You wouldn’t let him hurt you anymore. You would stay.

“You made it very clear, you don’t need me” You refused to glance at him again. “And I don’t need you” 

The murmur of the tavern was defeaning. His silence was somehow louder. You didn’t turn towards him, but you felt him stiffen up beside you. A part of you wanted him to finally say something. To at least ask you to be more patient with him. To say something, anything! 

He didn’t.

Geralt suddenly turned around and faced his back to you, so quickly and angrily that you jolted up slightly. Without a further word, the witcher walked away. He left the tavern, and with it you. 

Tears gathered in your eyes, but you shook your head to shake them off. As much as the pain in your chest overpowered your wound, you didn’t move. You didn’t go after him. He was done being so stubborn and making you feel like that. You let him go as did you let your tears go, dripping into your ale and being lost there forever.

Tag list: @call-me-harley-quinn / @kingniazx / @greeniemoon / @they-call-me-thewildrose / @aviankin / @jasper-the-stan / @v3nusc3 / @kisabellar / @breezyfails / @squirrel-saloli / @saveatruckrideoptimusprime / @ultracolorfulnerdcollection / @creativemayhems / @bands-messed-me-up / @pantrashtic / @buckyness-intensifies / @drunkonbuckybarnes / @kkcline123​ / @designfailure56 / @this-is-whump-dammit / @anderfelll-s / @x-joie-x / @waitingtobeimpressed / @legallyblindgamer727 / @kylosdankdealer / @angelias134 / @team-wang-puppy / @btsxtrbl / @szhead31 / @alwayshave-faith // If you want to be added or taken off the tag list for these fandoms or characters, let me know!! // Reblogs and comments are appreciated!

[ca311ach]

Mistake

#dekubaku #dkbk #bakudeku #bkdk

Warning: Major Character Death (?)

(Note: I hate sad endings. Keep that in mind.)

They were so close in the beginning...

Deku and katsuki have been growing apart. Deku’s working all the time, katsuki never sees him anymore— it’s almost as if he doesn’t want to be there. They never talk, never eat together, never go anywhere together, it’s all just work—they don’t even sleep together, Deku crashes at the office more often than not. Deku brushes it all off, says he really doesn’t have time for this conversation, they’ll talk later—

“Oh, will we? ‘Cause-“

“Yeah, sure, Kacchan, look, I really have to go-“

“Then maybe you shouldn’t fucking come back.” Katsuki’s angry, not really paying attention to the words coming out of his mouth. He regrets saying it almost immediately, clenches his jaw against the apology balanced on the edge of his tongue-

“Maybe I shouldn’t.” -only for it to dissipate and coat his throat in ashes. Deku’s still shoving clothes into his go bag, hasn’t looked up even once during the conversation. Like it doesn’t matter. Like their relationship and it’s impending end mean absolutely nothing to him. Katsuki stares, sinuses prickling, the room blurring just a little at the edges.

“do you... do you even love me anymore?” The question slips out before he can stop it. Dread drops heavily into his stomach, debris from the beating, breaking thing in his chest.

“...I’ll come by in the morning. Get my things.” Deku pauses, hesitates. Katsuki wants him to look up, to look at him. Just once. They’ve both always been so damn bad with words but they wear their hearts on their sleeves. If Deku would just look at him- “Bye.” Katsuki’s body goes cold. When Deku pushes past him, he does nothing. Stands on numb, shaky legs as the front door opens, shuts. No particular force behind it. No anger, no hesitation, just open and shut. It feels like a dismissal.

Suddenly, katsuki can’t be here anymore, in their shared space with the dozens of photos on the walls, the old worn out sofa with that weirdly shaped stain on the rightmost cushion, the out-of-place poster in the kitchen because katsuki isn’t good with surprises. The all might curtains in the living room because they’re both nerds, the football-sized Pomeranian plushy Deku got him because ‘it looks just like you’. That soap dispenser in the bathroom that looks kinda like a dick but Deku always says is an abstract cat. Their bed.

He stands in the door of their bedroom for a while, itching to leave but not wanting to run into Deku on his way out. What feels like hours later, he throws on a coat, grabs his keys, and rushes from the apartment like a culprit from a grisly crime scene.

He goes to Eijirou and Mina for the night. Their house is always open to him, a haven away from his empty home. He tries not to utilize it much, stubbornly denying his loneliness until the sleep deprivation starts to affect his work.

There’s a large scale villain attack the next day.

Number one hero Deku’s not there to answer the call. He and pro hero Shouto had left the country just that morning for a mission.

The villain has a metallurgy quirk that allows them to control and warp any magnetic metal within their vicinity. The greater the magnetism, the more control they have. They’ve been souped up on an unstable trigger knockoff, developed by an underground lab syndicate. As a result, their influence has expanded to a larger radius and to metals they wouldn’t typically be able to work with. Driven insane by the power, the villain is tearing apart the city of Fukuoka indiscriminately, tearing pipes up through the ground, supports from buildings, smashing cars into groups of civilians and using lampposts as oversized baseball bats. Smaller pieces of metal have become cannon balls, bullets. The civilian death toll is climbing, at least three heroes have been killed; the situation is horrific. Heroes from across Japan are called in to help.

Lemillion and his partner, Suneater, had been first to the scene, there when the perpetrator’s quirk spiraled out of control. They were rushed to the hospital before the roads had filled with flying debris and fleeing civilians. Gale is down for the count— the villain had used his quirk against him, sent hundreds of tiny projectiles to ride his wind and penetrate his skin. Creati managed to slow the villain’s trek across Fukuoka, distracting her with any number of non-metallic obstacles and distance-based weaponry. Unfortunately, the swirl of metal constantly rotating the villain thwarted any attempts at getting close. Plastic sedation bullets ricocheted off flying mufflers and mopeds. Ingenium had to rush in and grab her when she collapsed from exhaustion, narrowly avoiding a sharp piece of sheet metal, poised to slice them in half.

Dynamite arrives late alongside Pinky and Red Riot. He’d called in sick for the day, tired and numb, having spent the night staring at the wall of the Kirishimas’ guest bedroom. The couple had taken the day off, too, to keep an eye on Katsuki. None of them expected the urgent call from their superior, ordering them to Fukuoka /immediately/ to assist in taking down a level nine threat.

Dynamite goes into the fight determined to do the best he can, exhausted as he is, heartbroken and puffy eyed. He’s sloppy, reckless, pushes himself past his limits and then some. He’s shot with makeshift bullets, impaled with scraps, maimed by debris. He’s torn apart.

In the end, Dynamite wins the fight but Katsuki loses his life.

Izuku is watching the fight from Europe where he and Shouto have been temporarily commissioned. He feels helpless, guilty, even before Dynamite turns up on screen. Hasn’t been able to shake the heaviness in his chest since that morning, when he’d rushed to grab more of his things from their shared apartment before heading to the airport. The feeling only multiples when his husband appears on screen, builds from his stomach up to his throat. His chest hurts. He wishes he was there, he wishes he hadn’t left Kacchan like he had, with their relationship up in the air. They were going through a rough patch, and it’s not like he’d been trying to smooth it over at all. Katsuki was perfectly in his right to be angry, especially when Izuku repeatedly dismissed his concerns for the sake of work.

The Dynamite on screen was a mess, though it might not look like it to anyone else. Izuku knew his Kacchan, knew Dynamite, how he moved, how his attacks worked, the explicit precision behind his every maneuver. The Dynamite on screen was reckless and sloppy, throwing himself at the villain again and again. Izuku would swear that he could hear a sharp crunch the next time the villain grabs Dynamite with claws of sharp scrap metal and slams him into the ground.

Still, he blasts himself out of that crushing clutch, propels himself into the air, bleeding and bruised and so obviously broken despite the distance between the fight and the helicopter’s camera. Izuku wishes he could grab him, hold him down, tell him to ‘stop, already, dammit, you’re gonna die if you keep this up.’ But all he can do is watch as Dynamite once again throws himself at the villain, narrowly dodging her reaching, grabbing metal hands, to propel himself into the whirl of torn and splintered metal rotating around her.

He makes it through, disappears into the artificial twister. The circumference of the area he entered is dyed red, a skirt of blood and gore and proof that all the world watching may have just witnessed Dynamite getting shredded into bloody pulp. Izuku’s eyes water, the guilt and the helplessness and the love for his husband that could never fade, never in a million lifetimes, finally clog his throat. He can’t help it, though, the hope in his chest. He’s not dead. Katsuki is not dead.

The whirl of metal stops, suddenly. The scene on the television is completely still; he’d almost think the thing had frozen if not for the exclamations of the live reporter. And then it all falls, loudly, dramatically, a veritable ruckus that has almost everyone in the foreign office around him hurriedly blocking their ears. Izuku can’t move. Can’t breath. The camera zooms.

Dynamite stands over the prone body of the villain. He looks... horrific. Nightmarish. More blood and gore than body. The reporter gasps. The office around Izuku is silent.

Dynamite falls.

And Izuku goes cold.

No.

A winged hero, Blue Jay some part of him interjects, flies over, drops down to let the two medics they have in their arms tend to Dynamite. Uravity follows, hurriedly floating debris and pushing it to the side, making way for more medical personnel. Her movements are frantic.

Not like this.

They finally get the ambulance through, load dynamite in with practiced speed and, sirens wailing, take off across the screen. Blue jay kneels beside the still unconscious villain, grabs at Uravity’s arm to draw her distracted eyes away from a cause she can no longer do anything for.

Not like this, please.

Izuku takes the first flight he can find back to Japan, Shouto at his back. They’re off the flight the second it touches down, in a car not long after.

The hospital is a mess, handling an overload of casualties from the fight. So many civilians injured, so many heroes, too. It’s a struggle to break through bustling nurses and doctors and weeping families, but Izuku and Shouto get to the desk, are promptly sent back to the ER waiting room.

Hours pass, no one comes to talk to them. He and Shouto watch people come and go, watch doctors deliver the good, the bad, and the horrible. Finally, someone comes. Her jaw is clenched, her eyes wide but shuttered. She stares at them for a moment, Izuku and Shouto, and they stare back at her. When the tension reaches a boiling point, she takes a deep shuddering breath and, with a voice choked by grief, she says,

“I’m sorry.”

And Izuku’s world /shatters/.

[snappedsky]

Fanatics 81.6

Round Two: New players join.

*Links to previous and next chapters in reblog*

--

Reawakening Part 6

           “You’re all alone.”            Squee sits doubled over on the couch, his forehead pressed into his knees and his arms wrapped around his head. He digs his fingers into his scalp as tears quietly drip down his cheeks.

           “You have nobody left,” Squishy Pete says, his unnaturally wide smile somehow even wider. “Why keep fighting? See, if you join us, you’ll never feel lonely. You’ll never have to worry about anything. You could do whatever you want. Even kill. And you’ll never die. Why keep fighting?”

           Nugget meows, catching Squee’s attention. He turns his head as the cat nudges him and he lowers his arms.

           “Vengeance,” he says.

           “What?” Pete questions.

           “Vengeance,” Squee says again, standing up and glaring down at the stress toy. “If all my friends are gone, like you say, then it’s because of you. And that’s even more reason to keep fighting. For revenge.”

           He draws his knife and Pete’s smile wavers.  

           “Uh b-but you can’t possibly fight us forever,” he points out.

           “Then I’ll die fighting,” Squee growls, pointing his blade at the toy. “All so you can lose.”            Pete stammers fearfully as Squee starts to swing, but gets interrupted by a sudden voice.

           “That’s my boy.”

           The kitchen closet suddenly blows open and random objects clatter onto the floor. Squee watches, bewildered, as something climbs out of the pile.

           “I can’t believe they just shoved me into the closet,” it grumbles.

           Squee’s knife slips from his hand as his eyes well up with fresh tears, but this time not from sadness.

           “Sh…Shmee…?” he croaks.

           The teddy bear looks at him, smiling warmly. “Hello, Squee.”    

           “You’re back,” he breathes.

           “You’re back!?” Pete squeals fearfully.

           Shmee’s smile drops into a furious glare as he faces the squishy toy. “That’s right, you rodent.”

           “B-but it’s not possible!”

           Shmee hobbles across the floor and hops up onto the coffee table. His body is in worse shape than ever before, water-stained and his seams coming apart. But he still looks intimidating as he towers over Squishy Pete.

           “You have some nerve, encroaching on my territory like this,” he snarls, “talking like you own the place. You need to learn some respect.”    

           “You…you don’t scare me!” Pete barks, “I have the power of the Nightmare on my side. I don’t sense the Daydream backing you! You’re all alone!”

           “I don’t need those bureaucrats,” Shmee growls as a shadow starts to grow around him. “I never have.”

           The teddy bear goes lifeless as a light brown aura rises out of it. It towers over Pete, grinning with a mouthful of fangs and narrowed white eyes. Pete can barely squeak in fear as Shmee picks him up with his large claw. He opens his mouth and bites down on the stress toy’s neck, ripping off its head. Shadowy black tendrils spill from the body and Shmee sucks it all up like spaghetti. When there’s nothing left, he drops the lifeless toy onto the floor.        

           “Wow,” Squee croaks. Shmee looks at him and grins brightly. Squee cracks a smile back.

           “Squee!”

           The moment is ruined as the front door slams open and Zim, Dib, Gaz, Tak, and Pepito burst in. They stop when they see Squee on the couch and the shadowy Shmee hovering over him.

           “It’s the nightmare!” Dib exclaims.

           “Relax,” Shmee scolds, “it’s just me.”

           “Shmee?” Pepito questions, “wow, so that’s your real form.”

           “What are you guys doing here?” Squee asks as he stands up.

           “We’re here to help,” Zim states.

           “Help?” he questions and glares at Pepito accusingly. “You told them?”

           “I had to,” Pepito insists, “Squee, you don’t have to handle this alone.”            “I don’t want you guys getting involved,” Squee argues, “it’s too dangerous.”

           “Squee,” Zim says sternly, “remember when Pepito’s dad attacked the city to try and get him to be the Antichrist? We all helped fight him off. And we helped Gaz when she was being harassed by that weird gamer cult. And you all helped me when I left for Irk. And we help Dib with all of his new, weekly obsessions.”

           “Hey,” Dib snaps.

           “The point being, we’re a team,” Zim states, “we help each other, no matter the danger.”

           Squee stares at him, speechless as his eyes well up.

           “They’re right, Squee,” Shmee says, “you’ve never been alone and you don’t have to face this like you are.”

           “Right,” he croaks, wipes his eyes, and smiles. “Thanks, guys.”

           The others smile back and they all squeeze together into a big, group hug.

           “So,” Squee says as they split up. “What now?”      

           “Uh, well, Johnny’s fighting that Zoli girl,” Dib says.

           “What?” he exclaims, “we gotta help him!”

           “Agreed,” Shmee nods, “but I can’t travel around in my true form and this old body of mine isn’t stable anymore.”            Squee turns to him. “So…what are you saying?”            He smiles. “I’m gonna need you to make me a new body.”            Squee blinks with surprise. “Uh…well, I haven’t written in a while…but I guess that’s a good place to start.”

           “Hang on,” Shmee says, “there’s someone else you need to help to. But uh you might wanna put on some gloves first.”            He quickly explains the situation and Squee gasps. After putting on a pair of gloves, he goes into Johnny’s room, where an old rabbit corpse is still nailed to the wall. He carefully takes it down, the remains threatening to turn to dust in his hands, and carries it back to the living room.

           “What the hell is that?” Gaz gags.

           “Nailbunny,” Squee replies as he rests the body on the coffee table. Then he sits on the couch and grabs a notebook and his favourite fountain pen.

           “Alright. Let’s see if I can still do this.”

           Meanwhile, the fight between Johnny and Zoli is still in full swing. He charges her, swinging his knives. Nightmare tendrils spread from her back to try and block the attack, but he cuts through them with ease. Before he can reach her though, she leaps back.

           “Why you running?” he snarls. Zoli can only growl in response.

           Johnny gets ready to charge again but stops when four figures suddenly drop down next to Zoli. Jimmy, Krik, Dillon, and Edgar stand next to her, staring at Johnny with surprise and horror.

           “About time,” Zoli snaps, “wait. Where’s Tess?”

           The zombies are too petrified by Johnny’s glare to answer.

           “Hey!” she barks.

           “Whu-huh-what?” Jimmy stammers as they look at her.

           “Where’s Tess?”

           “Oh, she uh she betrayed us,” he replies plainly, still somewhat distracted by Johnny’s eyes.

           “Dammit,” Zoli spits, “I knew it was a bad idea to bring her back. Whatever, we’ll deal with her later. Right now, we have to destroy him.” She glares at Johnny. “Don’t hold back. Show no mercy.”

           “Uh, r-right,” Jimmy grunts and the Nightmare tendrils burst from all five of them. Johnny snarls and grips his knives. But before anyone can move, four more figures drop from the rooftops, this time next to Johnny.

           The Night Terrors stand next to him, glaring at Zoli and her zombies.

           “Hey, Nny,” Eff says, “you look…different.”

           “So do you,” Johnny replies, examining their nightmarish changes.

           “You didn’t defeat them?” Zoli barks at the zombies, gesturing to the Night Terrors.

           “W-we tried,” Jimmy whimpers, “but-but they…they’re stronger than we thought.”

           “Unbelievable,” she growls and looks up as Tess slips off Reverend Meat’s back to sit on the ground. “And you! You will be punished for this betrayal.”

           Tess gulps and trembles.  

           “Leave her out of this, Zoli,” Reverend Meat snaps, “this is between us now.”

           “Fine,” Zoli snarls, “we’ll destroy you all at once then.”

           “Alright, now this is a party,” D-boy grins.

           “Just stay out of my way,” Johnny grunts.

           “That should be our line,” Sickness retorts.

           The Nightmare appendages lunge from Zoli and her zombies. Johnny and the Night Terrors charge them head-on. The mass of fangs and tentacles cut and slash them, but together, the five of them tear through.

           The Night Terrors clash against the zombies. Reverend Meat shatters Jimmy’s torso; Sickness slices Edgar in half; the Doughboys rip off Krik and Dillon’s heads. And through the shower of severing limbs, Johnny swings at Zoli.

           She draws a pair of machetes from her coat and barely manages to block his knives. The blades clang against each other and they both swing again.

           They swing and swing and swing and cut into each other, slicing their faces, arms, and chests. Johnny’s blood mixes with Zoli’s as they splatter the road.

           Suddenly, Johnny throws down his blades and catches Zoli’s arms. She’s briefly caught by surprise before he smashes his head into hers. He lets go of her arms as she flies back and skids down the road.

           “M-m’lady,” Jimmy croaks as his body regenerates before Reverend Meat crushes it again.            

           Zoli lies on the ground, coughing up blood. Johnny stands over her, panting as blood drips from his various injuries.

           “This ends now,” he growls.

           Zoli flinches back as he steps forward, then scowls.

          “No!” she shrieks. A humungous mass of tendrils burst from her chest and crash into Johnny. The same thing happens with the zombies, knocking back the Night Terrors. They all roll down the road and look up in shock as the appendages mold together, forming a giant cloud of writhing fangs and tendrils that looms over them, nearly blocking out the sun.

           The appendages strike and Johnny and the Night Terrors brace themselves.

           But nothing happens.

           They look up to see a person standing in front of them. They’re holding their hand forward, emitting a light blue force field from their hand. The Nightmare smashes against it but the shield doesn’t give.

           “Who the-?” Eff questions.

           A second person drops down next to the first. The force field is lowered and the Nightmare is absorbed into their mouth, like they’re sucking up spaghetti. After a couple seconds, the entire mass is gone, leaving Zoli and the zombies lying on the ground, and the person sighs with content.

           “Wh-what?” Zoli gasps, out of breath.

           “Who are you?” Johnny asks.

           The two people turn towards him and his eyes widen with surprise. They don’t look familiar, really, but they have a very familiar feeling.

           They’re both tall, slender men. One of them has short, brown hair. He’s wearing simple brown pants and a matching t-shirt with a brown trench coat. There’s a long scar cutting diagonally down the middle of his face and he has a single bucktooth.

           The other one has short, blue hair. He’s wearing blue jeans with a white shirt that has a cartoon nail in the middle. Both of his eyes have matching scars in the shape of ‘X’s and he has two buckteeth, like a rabbit.

           Johnny stares at the blue haired man, too stunned to say anything. The man smiles at him but before he can say anything, Zoli shouts angrily.

           “You!” she snaps as she stands up. “Who are you?”            The brunette clears his throat. “I’m surprised you don’t know me. Although, I guess we never were officially introduced.”

           He nods at the blue haired man. “After you.”

           He bows his head with respect. “I am Nailbunny. I block out evil.”

           “And I am Shmee,” the other smirks, “I absorb evil.”

[galahadwilder]

2 sentence ask meme- "Stop struggling Princess, I won't let anything happen to you," the Akumatized Cat reassured. "I just need your here to help me convince Ladybug to had over her Miraculous."

Save Me From Myself, Ch. 1

Save Me Archive

Enjoy my writing? Sponsor a fic chapter!

Chat Noir had always been good at communicating through subtext; apparently so was Chat Blanc. Those two sentences told Marinette a number of very important things. 

First: Akumatized or not, it was Noir, not Blanc, that was in control. She relaxed into his trembling grip, into his chest, as the winds atop the Eiffel Tower buffeting her hair around her face. I won’t let anything happen to you, he’d said, and he’d meant it—possessed by rage or no, he’d sooner have ripped his own heart out than let her fall. His claws hovered over her skin, refusing to touch. She knew she could trust him, and so she did.

The second thing was bigger. Much bigger.

I just need your here to help me convince Ladybug to had over her Miraculous, he’d said, conspicuously referring to Marinette and Ladybug as separate people when he knew damn well they were the same. Even with his thoughts, his very soul, twisted, Adrien’s loyalty to her was incorruptible. He doesn’t know who you are, he was telling her. He can’t read my thoughts and I’ve told him nothing.

Help me.

She hadn’t had time to grab Trixx. Couldn’t transform in front of Adrien—they didn’t know how wired into Chat Blanc’s senses Hawkmoth was. As long as Chat could convince Hawkmoth that Marinette could bring Ladybug to him, and as long as Marinette could keep Chat Blanc’s attention—and his sanity—he wasn’t a danger. Couldn’t hurt anyone but her, and wouldn’t hurt her.

She reached up, brushed her fingers along his cheek, and he whimpered. “Don’t worry, Chat,” she whispered. I’ll get us out of this.

The only problem was how.

*

“Gyah!” Alya screamed, pounding raw, bloody knuckles into the stonework at the base of the Eiffel Tower. She pulled back her hand, feeling nothing, as blood dripped down to the stone below. “Where is she?”

“She’ll be here soon,” Nino said, his gaze flicking nervously across the skyline. “That’s her partner, right? She’s—she’s gotta be.”

“It’s been an hour,” Alya snarled. “An hour since Chat Blanc kidnapped our friend, and nobody’s seen hide nor hair of Ladybug in that entire time.” She pulled on the collar of her shirt, looking down, as if the Fox Miraculous could have somehow appeared around her neck without her noticing since the last time she checked, about forty seconds ago. “God damn it!”

“She’ll be here,” Nino said. He stared up at the specks of their friend and her captor on the top of the tower, picking at a hangnail that she knew he didn’t have. “She always is—she’s gotta be, right?”

“What if she’s—” Alya’s voice broke. “What if she’s not?”

“Then I suppose,” said an older, accented voice, “she’ll need your help.”

Both of them jerked around to see a small Chinese man in a Hawaiian Oxford standing just behind them. He wore cargo shorts, sandals, an inscrutable smile—and Nino’s Miraculous.

“Who are you?” Alya said, eyes narrowing.

“I am…” The man tilted his head quizzically. “Ladybug’s mentor.” He held up a hand, with a familiar octagonal box. “And she needs you.”

Alya’s stomach slammed into her solar plexus as Nino stumbled backward in shock. “Where is she?” Alya gasped. “Is she okay?”

The old man shook his head. “Her partner has been captured,” he said. “Which means we’re one step away from losing.” He hung his head. “I had to beg her to stay hidden, lest she lose her Miraculous as well.” He sighed. “So no. She’s not.”

*

“You’ve got this,” Marinette murmured, stroking Chat’s face. “Keep it together. You’re gonna be okay.”

Chat whimpered as the neon violet mask pulsed across his face. “He won’t stop,” he moaned. “Princess—it hurts.”

She pressed her fingertips into his scalp and began to scratch. He purred, but it cut as the neon mask pulsed, burned hot against his face. Sizzled.

“No,” he gasped. “I’m not leaving her here!” He shook his head. “I swear, she’s coming, she’ll be here—no, no, no—don’t make me hurt her, I won’t, I won’t—”

The familiar whizz-crack of Ladybug’s yo-yo striking metal.

Chat Blanc’s head whipped around as Ladybug vaulted up the side of the tower, charging towards them. He turned, met Marinette’s eyes.

Rena.

She nodded. Go.

Chat launched himself to his feet and flung himself into space, plummeting toward the Ladybug Mirage.

*

Rena grimaced as she saw the white blur of Chat Blanc swan dive off the Eiffel Tower, leaving Marinette alone and unprotected—the struts were not a place for an unarmored civilian. She hated this plan, but it was all they had.

As Chat fell, like a pulley, a green figure rose up the opposite side of the tower. Carapace bounced upward, launching himself off each strut toward Marinette.

The Ladybug mirage leaped sideways, narrowly dodging Chat Blanc’s claws and blowing the whole charade. Chat spun in midair, throwing up his hands and catching himself on one of the struts, then unholstered his baton and fired it upwards. The Ladybug mirage backflipped away from the tower, rappelling downward on her yo-yo as Carapace grabbed onto Marinette and pulled her upwards toward the observation deck.

*

The elevator dinged open at the base of the tower, and Marinette rushed out, immediately looking upward. The Ladybug mirage had vanished—five minutes. Rena had probably been forced to detransform already, leaving Carapace all alone against the ferocity of Chat Blanc. Without Marinette there, Chat Noir seemed to have lost all ability to hold Blanc back.

Carapace was losing ground. A temporary hero facing an experienced fighter, filled to the brim with killing intent? No contest at all.

She brushed her hair aside, clearing Tikki a path to her earrings and ducking behind the stone base of the tower. “Don’t worry, Kitty,” she murmured. “I’ll fix this. Tikki—!”

A superstrong arm in orange and black wrapped around her waist, and suddenly she was in midair halfway across the street. “Sorry!” Rena said as they bounded to a stop on a nearby rooftop. “Had to get you clear.” She let go of Marinette, brushing down the arms of her jacket. “Do you know why the Akuma was coming for you?”

Marinette growled. This was not the time—! “No,” she said. “I’ve got no idea.”

Rena glanced back to the tower. “Dammit. Okay,” she said. “Gotta go. Can you get down from here on your own?”

Marinette nodded, and then Rena was gone.

*

Fighting Chat Blanc—without Ladybug, no less—was absolute hell. Destruction incarnate, unrestrained by Chat Noir’s gentleness, faster and more vicious than any Akuma they’d ever seen.

“You can’t hide in there for long,” Chat snarled as Carapace slumped behind the glowing honeycomb of his Shellter.

“Don’t do this,” Rena whispered.

Chat bared his fangs. “You can’t stop me.” He raised his hand. “Cataclysm!” A violet-black flame coalesced in his palm, like a corrupted version of his usual destructive power.

What happens when Cataclysm touches Shellter? Rena thought, sweating. “I’m sorry, Ladybug.”

“Somebody say my name?”

Wire wrapped around Chat’s wrist, yanking his Cataclysm away from the wall of Carapace’s shield. At the other end of the wire stood Ladybug, hand on one hip, smug grin on her face.

“Ladybug,” Rena gasped in relief.

“Ladybug!” Chat cried in what sounded shockingly like delight. Then Hawkmoth’s lightning-bolt mask flared over his face, and he grabbed his temple and began to scream.

*Chat swung his hand at Ladybug.

“Nnnnnnope,” she said, limboing under his arm just like she’d done during Dark Cupid. She launched herself onto her feet, flipping forward onto the wall across the street and sticking to the window. “Come get me, Kitty!”

“Stop it!” he screamed, charging toward her Cataclysm-first, his face twisted in fear. “Run, dammit! Get away from me!”

“Not on your life,” she said, flipping herself up the wall just ahead of his claw, which closed on empty air.

“Please!” he cried, frozen, his hand shaking. “I can’t protect you from me!”

“No,” she said, nodding. “But they can.”

Chat Blanc turned to see a crowd of Ladybugs, smiling and waving at him.

“Oh God,” he said as Ladybug flipped over him, disappearing into the crowd. “I can’t tell if I’m in heaven or hell.”

Ladybug snorted, lost amidst a swarm of illusions of herself. Ah, Timebreaker.

All the Ladybugs charged him at once.

Chat Blanc screamed, sobbing, trying not to swing at any of them—for all he knew, any could be the real one. She, meanwhile, hung back, watching, trying to figure out where the Akuma had landed. It definitely wasn’t his ring—he wasn’t actually wearing it right now. That left…

“Now!” she yelled, and Carapace leaped out from the alley, slinging his shield at the back of Chat Blanc’s neck. It whonged off his spine, stunning him—

And Ladybug leaped forward, wrapped her fingers around the bell at his throat, and yanked him in to lock lips. He melted into her, mewling, and she pulled the bell away from his throat, crushing it in her fingers.

The metal melted, turning to the blue knitted fabric of Adrien’s favorite scarf before it even hit the ground.

*

“You can’t tell anyone,” Adrien said to Carapace, leaning onto his friend’s shoulders. The Akuma fight had taken a lot out of him, and he may not have remembered much but catching him up on what he’d done didn’t seem to be great for his emotional state.

“Course, bro,” Carapace said. “Do you, uh…”

Adrien sighed. “Yeah, Nino,” he said. “I know it’s you.”

“Uh, right,” Nino said, pushing back his hood and scratching the back of his neck. “Sorry about the, uh, hitting you with the shield.”

Rena chuckled.

“It’s fine, Nino,” Adrien said. “Promise.” He turned to Ladybug. “Sorry for trying to kill you.”

“It’s fine, sweetie,” Ladybug said. “You were actually trying really hard not to, anyway.”

Rena raised an eyebrow. “Man, even when you’re Akumatized, you’re still shameless in love with—wait.” She scowled. “Aren’t you dating Marinette?”

“Open relationship,” Ladybug and Adrien said simultaneously.

Rena narrowed her eyes, then shrugged.

Ladybug turned to her boyfriend. “Why did you get Akumatized, anyway?”

Adrien closed his eyes, breathed in, then out. “I know who Hawkmoth is,” he said. “And… My Lady?” He opened his eyes, locked gaze with her. “You’re not gonna like it.”

Save Me Archive

Enjoy my writing? Buy me a coffee!

[notyetneedcoffee]

No Secrets, Part 4

Pairing: Steve Rogers x Reader, Bucky Barnes x Reader (???)

Warnings: None in this section

Steve loved you and it terrified him.  

The purity of his love for Peggy and the depth of pain he felt over the loss of a life with her ran so deep, it left a gaping wound his enhanced system could not heal. The realization that something happening to you could wound him as deeply practically paralyzed him.  

Had it not been for the effects of the accident. You would have likely never known.

You remembered an old conversation. Steve once told you that the reason he’d been chosen for the experiment was because of who he was, not what he could do. He explained the serum enhanced not just his muscles, not just his physical being, but also who he was.  

“The serum would make worst come out of a bad man and the best come out of a good man.”  

It made you wonder if that’s why Steve’s emotions were so strong, so deep, and so distinct. They were like feeling in primary colors. Bold. Overwhelming.

Talking it through, with or without words, had been important.  

Now you just needed to figure out if you loved Steve enough.  

Even though he kissed you passionately, even though you felt incredible in his arms, even though you loved him, you didn’t know if you loved him as deeply. You just found out how he felt. You just discovered the power you held that could hurt him and more than anything you did not want to hurt him.

He left with your kisses on his lips and knowing that you were not rejecting his deepest desire. It was more than he hoped. It left you feeling both hopeful and frightened.  

The next day a mission sent him to central Africa and you had not been able to talk since. In fact, you had not talked to anyone over the last five days.  It began to drive you mad. You needed to feel normal, be around people. Which is why you were driving down the road, heading into town for a coffee.  

On the edge of town was a little strip mall with a grocery store, a nail salon, a dog groomer, a little hardware store, a teriyaki joint and a drive thru coffee stand. You didn’t even plan on getting out of the car. Just get a latte and feel a little normal.  

‘Shut up, shut up, shut up. You little fucking bitch.’

You looked in the rear-view mirror to see a crappy SUV. The man behind the wheel looked angrier than a wet cat. The woman beside him wept into her hand.

‘Buddy looked so scared. I hate leaving him there. He’s okay. I hate seeing him shake like that.’

‘Screw it. I’m getting the hot stuff. It's so good. Been craving it all day.’

‘Beyonce wouldn’t put up with his shit.’

‘I can’t forget my prescriptions this time.’

‘This is the best song ever.’

The voices of those in cars around you hit you all at once as you drew closer to the intersection. You tried to focus on the road, to shove it all back. Your hands tightened on the steering wheel. Maybe this wasn’t a great idea.  

‘No!’

‘Gonna kill you!’

Your eyes shot to the mirror again where you saw the guy in the SUV grip the woman by the back of the neck, hard. Her cries of fear and pain slammed into your mind.  

‘FUCK!’

The mental scream gave you a split-second warning. Your car smashed into the car in the intersection. The SUV rammed into you. The airbag blew in your face. Everything went fuzzy.  

Dozens of voices all at once battered against you. Your heart raced. You head and face hurt. You couldn’t catch a full breath. As your eyes focused, faces looked through the broken glass at you. You couldn’t tell the difference between their words and their thoughts. So, you stayed in stunned silence.

“Move! Out of the way!” A familiar voice reached your ears.

Sam Wilson pushed aside a man leaning in your car window. His hand touched your head. “Thought I knew this car. What are you doing here?”

“Sam.” You croaked. “Get me outta here.”

“Yeah. Okay.” He stood ‘Bucky is going to lose it.’  

Among the chaos, you tried to focus but couldn’t. So many voices. So much all at once. You covered you face and tried to breathe. A cool metal hand touched the back of your neck. Looking up, you found yourself staring into Bucky’s intense stare.  

“Are you okay?” He leaned over you. ‘What the fuck are you doing here?’

“No.” You clutched his arm. “Need out.”

“Back off!” Bucky roared just before ripping the door off the car. His arms came around you and lifted you out of the car. “I got you, Doll. You hurt?”

“Don’t think so.” Your arms wrapped around his neck.

“Move it, Wilson.” Bucky carried you through crowd towards a black truck. ‘Dammit, woman, what are you doing here?’

“I fucked up.” You whined, head spinning. “I don’t feel so good.”

“Sam! Now!” He tucked you into the truck, sliding in beside you and pulling you close. ‘Hold on. We’re almost away from everyone. Damn it. Look at you, Doll.’

After a bit the volume in your head decreased and air filled your lungs again. Physical pain in your head began to register. You touched your left temple. Bucky pulled your hand away, examining your face. ‘Looks worse than it is.’

‘Cap is going to blow his top.’ You heard Sam’s worried voice in your head.

“I’m sorry.” You whined.

“You’re okay, Doll. We’ve got you.” Bucky gave you a tender smile, but his thoughts were more harsh. ‘Got to stop being so rash. You’re gonna kill me one of these days.’

“We’ll be back to your place in a few minutes.” Sam said from the driver’s seat.

“My car... those people...”

“I left them with Hill’s card. She’ll sort out all the details. Don’t worry, nobody was really injured.” Sam explained. “Let’s just get you back.”

You head began to clear a little. Bucky’s worry still enveloped you as much as his arms. ‘Could have been killed. Good thing we were going for lunch. Dollface looked so scared.’

“The guy behind me.” You swallowed. “He was hurting his wife. Wasn’t the first time.”

“In the SUV?” Sam asked.

“Yeah. I got distracted.”

“Hold on.” Sam hit the remote button and called Maria. As they conversed, Bucky’s fingers combed gently through your hair. He reminded himself you were okay, that you were safe.  

“My face hurts.” You mumbled.

“Looks like you knocked your head on the window.” Bucky spoke quietly. “You’ve got a pretty good burn from the airbag too.”  

‘You should have been safe. About had a heart attack when Sam screamed your name.’

“Okay, we’re here.” Sam pulled in the driveway. “You doing okay?”

“Yeah.” You sighed. “I think so. Embarrassed.”

‘Cap is going to be so mad.’ Sam parked the truck in front of the house. He turned in his seat looking at Bucky holding you. ‘Damn. Damn. Damn.’ He opened the door. “Come on. Let’s get you inside.”

You stepped gingerly to the ground and let Bucky lead you inside. He made sure you were settled you on the sofa before heading to the kitchen for ice. “I’m so glad you guys were there.” You put your head back. “Thank you.”

“Yeah, well, we never did get lunch. So, I’m raiding the cupboards.” Sam announced.  

You smiled, even though it hurt. “Make me something too?”

“No problem.” Sam started looking in the fridge.  

“Here, Doll.” Bucky lowered down beside you, gently touching an ice pack to your face. ‘Don’t argue, just let me take of you.’

‘Scooby dooby doo, where are you?’ Sam sang to himself from the kitchen. You smiled.

‘Huh?’ Bucky scowled.

“Sam,” you whispered. Bucky nodded, his shifted examining the burn from the airbag.

‘Looks like it stings. Still beautiful, though. Thank god she didn’t hit the steering wheel.’ Bucky’s eyes intensely examined your face. ‘Got to keep her safe.’

‘Cap should have told him before he left.’ Sam’s thoughts reached you. You froze. Steve told Sam about his feelings for you, but not Bucky. Your eyes locked with Sam. ‘I don’t know how this works. I don’t know if you can hear me, but Cap didn’t tell Bucky how he feels about you. Don’t break his heart.’

You didn’t know which ‘him’ Sam meant, but you didn’t want to hurt either of them. Steve and Bucky were your friends. You loved them both, felt completely comfortable with them. You didn’t want either of them hurt, ever.

‘She’d be so pissed to know how much I just want to lock her away and keep her safe. Keep her here, where I can watch over her.’ Bucky’s thoughts caused a band of emotion to tighten around your chest. His fingers traced your face. ‘You so special, Doll. Love you too much too let anything happen to you.’

“I’m okay, Buck.” You said finally.

“You shouldn’t have left the house.” He scowled.

“I know. You’re right.”

“Sam.” Bucky’s voice rose a little. “Remember today’s date. She actually said I’m right.”

“That’s one for the books.” Sam laughed. “Will that jaw of yours be okay if I whip up some burgers?”

“You sure you want to be around me that long?” You picked at the white powder covering your shirt.

“Ain’t worried about the stupid shit bouncing around in my head.” Sam laughed. “You want cheese?”

“Of course.” Bucky snorted. “Don’t worry about it, Doll. Neither of us wanted you to be sent out here anyway.” He gave you one of his charming smiles. ‘I’d already tell you anything you wanted to know. I’d never hide from you.’

“I’m going to get out of this.” You stood up. “The airbag dust is itchy.”

Disappearing into the bedroom, you were so thankful they couldn’t hear the confused and panic laced thoughts in your head. Steve didn’t talk to Bucky about the feeling he’d been harboring. What were you going to do now?

TAGS:

@asiaaisa77 / @babygurl8840 / @badassbaker / @bangtan-serendipity / @beautifullungs / @buchanansebba / @buckybarneshairpullingkink / @dsakita / @geeksareunique / @imma-new-soul / @jennmurawski13 / @jesseswartzwelder / @kiki5283 / @lbouvet / @michelehansel / @mindtravelsx / @morganhoran1671 / @my-favorite-fics-and-imagines / @notyourtypicalrose / @nova3312​ / @patzammit / @rainbowkisses31 / @readermia / @rynabarnesrogers / @sammghgecko / @scarlettsoldier / @sebbysstangirl / @sexyvixen7 / @sllooney / @thegetawaywriter / @theneuropsychwriter / @the-omni-princess / @the-reading-octopus / @thorfanficwriter / @unadulteratedwizardlove / @vanillabunn21 / @vxidnik​ / @what-is-your-plan-today / @wildmoonflower / @wwe-fanfiction-queen / @sassy89sworld / @bitchwhytho / @carinacassiopeiae / @jessyballet / @killcomet / @steve-rogers-is-a-saint / @phoenixwench   

[dammitadolfnomorecake]

Once Bitten, Twice Stupid prt.25

Keith was impressed. He was impressed by Lance’s work ethic. Since damn near throwing his laptop in Lance’s lap, the vampire had been typing and clicking away, distracting Keith from the videos he was supposed to be watching. His heart wasn’t in it. Pidge and Hunk might be a step above normal paranormal investigators, but they were still so clueless of the world around them. Peering over to look at Lance’s screen, Keith quirked an eyebrow. His feelings of being impressed changing as he barely stifled a laugh as he found Lance wasn’t working on ghost hunting, instead in the bottom of the left hand corner of the screen was a video of cat compilations playing as the vampire checked his emails. Pidge was going to be super cranky when she found out. Her wrath was nothing to laugh at, finding it somewhat annoying she’d declared herself boss of their weird club thing. Her passion couldn’t be faltered. She’d already seemed to have sussed out what she wanted to investigate next, which was one of the local pubs where guests had stated they’d seen ghostly apparitions and heard crying only to find no body there. Personally he thought the cries were probably from other guests having sex. He’d made that mistake before, before he knew what Adam was to Shiro. Having woken in the middle of the night to someone “whimpering” “oh, Jesus” repeatedly, he’d crept from his bedroom, barely three steps into the hall before he realised it was Shiro, and that the pair of them had left the door opened while they boned. He’d bolted back into his room, thrown himself down on his bed, then buried himself under his blankets as he tried not to hear what was happening between his brother and his boyfriend. The following day Shiro had walked with a limp, Keith feeling highly uncomfortable as he knew what’d happen. The following week when Adam had come down with hip pain, and Shiro was fussing over him ridiculously, Keith had invested in a new set of noise cancelling headphones. There were just some things about his brother that he didn’t need to know, ever.

Keith wasn’t aware that Lance noticed he was watching. Closing his email, the vampire opened up a blank word document. Thinking he was about to draft a letter, Keith had almost turned away when Lance started typing

“Don’t tell Pidge. She’ll shoot me”

Keith couldn’t help the almost giggle light laughter he barked out. Lance sighing at him, as Pidge dug into his side with her elbow

“Something you want to share?”

“No. No, Lance just clicked on a dodgy link and I was laughing at his stupidity”

Lance typed

“Thanks for nothing”

As Pidge sighed deeply, as Keith bit down his laughter. It wasn’t his fault Lance had been sprung doing the wrong thing

“Can’t you take this seriously?”

Lance raised his head to look to Pidge

“I didn’t mean to. I don’t know why Keith’s even laughing”

“Because you’re an idiot?”

“Thanks, Pidge. If you’re so smart, what did you find”

“I never thought you’d ask. Okay, guys. I’ve got a plan for this weekend”

Hunk and Lance both groaned simultaneously. Shay laughing at the pair of them

“I think your assistants are too keen on your plan”

“They never are, but if it’s the five of us, we should be fine. Keith can man the camera, while we explore”

Keith’s internal humour dried right up. He wasn’t supposed to be being involved

“Why me?”

“Because you’re the photographer of the group. Now, guess what I found, guys!”

Pidge was way too into this. When no one replied, she cast something to the screen before getting up and walking over to the TV

“What’s that?”

Hunk already looked panicked at the thought of whatever it was on the screen behind Pidge, his tone just a pinched

“I found an old map of Garrison, it’d been miscategorized...”

“You mean you were snooping where you weren’t supposed to and found an old map that wasn’t supposed to be found, don’t you?”

Pidge shot Lance fingerguns

“Got it in one. You know how we guys knew about the tunnels under the town, and the old mine shaft from when Garrison was first founded? Well, I find it! The mine, I mean. They repurposed the mine into a temporary base in case they needed to retreat, but I bet you’ll never guess where the entrance is...”

Pidge drew herself up for the big reveal, Lance spoiled it

“It’s under the pub”

“... In... dammit, dude. I was going to say that”

“You snooze, you lose”

“You’re a douche”

“Rude. I thought we talked about this before”

“Yeah, but like... I’ve found the other entrance. It’s next to the cemetery”

Pidge perked back up, Keith had a bad feeling. Messing around in, and around, a cemetery wasn’t a thing. It wasn’t respectful. Those people who’d been buried there deserved to rest in peace

“Pidge, I don’t think we should be messing around near the cemetery”

Keith nodded his agreement with Hunk, Shay also looking uncomfortable

“It’s near, not in. Look, here, see this bit here, that’s where the gates are now. But you keep going a for maybe 150metres past that, down the slope bit and you come to where the entrance should be. It’s probably barricaded up, or even like buried, but we can still suss it out. No one’s been down there in like a hundred years, can you imagine what’s down there?”

“Pidge. This is really bad idea”

“But don’t you guys want to find the entrance?”

Hunk shook his head

“No”

“But...”

“It could really dangerous down there”

“We’re only going to have a look”

Lance sighed at Pidge

“We never just have a look. I’m with Hunk, I don’t mind if you can get access through the pub, but going out to find the entrance to a mine system that’s probably no longer stable isn’t a good idea. There could be a rock fall, or worse”

Pidge deflated

“So you’ll only go in through the pub”

“Yeah. Sorry, Pidge. I know you’re really keen on it, but it just isn’t safe”

Keith agreed completely with Lance... except about entering through the pub. Some things were best left alone

“Fine. I’ll go see them again... you guys are so lame”

“We’re only lame because we don’t want to see you hurt”

“Whatever. Why can’t you guys be on my side”

“It’s not about not being on side, it’s about safety. That mine has been closed up. There could be mould, or worse down there. You could get seriously sick, provided you don’t get hurt first. If anything happened to you, it’d break me to pieces”

“Okay. I get it. Fine. Whatever. Hunk, start packing up”

“But I...”

“You’re my lift. Right now I want to go home”

“Pidge...”

“I get it. Okay. You don’t want me hurt, but I’m not a baby. I’m also not a total buzzkill like you are. You always think you know what’s best, Lance. You don’t”

That wasn’t fair on Lance. Lance insisting on talking things out

“I love you, you idiot. You’re not listening to me and I don’t want your life in danger”

“I can take care of myself”

“I know you can”

Pidge brushed Lance off. Keith feeling like she was acting like a baby by having a temper tantrum over not getting her own way. Lance was genuinely concerned for her, his points valid

“Hunk, start moving”

Keith felt awkward as he said goodbye to Hunk, Shay, and Pidge. He’d walked them to the door, Hunk assuring him she’d come round and see sense once she calmed down. Keith wasn’t so sure. Wandering back into the living room, Lance had thrown his laptop to the other side of the couch, had his glasses off and his hands covering his face as he leaned back to rest the back of his head on the cushion behind him

“That went well”

“Yep”

“Are you okay?”

“Yep”

“Is Pidge going to be okay?”

“Nope. Now we have to go out tonight. I don’t wanna go out tonight”

Walking over to the couch, Keith dropped himself down beside Lance, poking him in the leg

“What do you mean, we have to go out?”

“Because I’ve known Pidge long enough to know she’s gonna wanna go snoop at the entrance”

Keith had suspected. Pidge had given up too easily

“She doesn’t listen when she gets fixated, does she?”

“Nope”

“And you have to go make sure it’s safe first?”

“Yep. Not the first time either. She found a club once in Platt, so I checked it out. Pretty much dealer central. Anything you wanted. Pretended my drink was spiked the next day. Let’s say we didn’t ever go to that club as a group”

“She’s lucky to have you”

“Yeah. It’s not just a me thing right. You wouldn’t want your little sister playing in an abandoned mine, would you?”

Lance moved his left hand up as he looked at Keith. Keith feeling himself nod, as Lance didn’t look as okay with things as he was pretending

“No. Hell, I wouldn’t even want Shiro poking around in there”

“Okay. I don’t know if it’s me overreacting, or if I’m being stupid”

“Neither. So why do we have to go?”

“I’m going, and you’re going because I figured you’d want me to not get myself killed on your watch”

“Is it likely?”

“Who knows. You stay in the car. I don’t want you hurt either”

Keith scoffed. Whatever Lance could handle, so could he. He wasn’t scared of deep dank tunnels and potentially being buried alive

“I’m a hunter”

“You’re a human. I’m going to grab something to eat. We might as well head off now, I can point the pub out on the way there”

Keith wrinkled his nose. He honestly wanted to veg out on the couch and recover from too much human interaction

“The sun’s still up”

“So?”

“People could see what we’re up to”

Lance sighed at him, letting himself slide sideways so he was leaning against Keith with his head on his shoulder. Keith’s heart did a weird beat, the closeness weirdly intimate... What was he supposed to do? Shiro normally hugged him or ruffled his hair if Keith sat against him the way Lance was right now

“Um, Lance?”

Lance made a show of groaning and stretching as he sat back up. What the hell was that? Why was Lance touching him? Now his arm felt funny...

“You’re right. We’ll wait. Dinner first, then near death adventure. Whooo hooo”

“I can’t tell if you’re being sarcastic or not”

“Sarcasm is wasted on you”

“No it’s not, you’re weird”

Lance patted his leg, before shuffling forward on the couch

“I’ll grab a bag and meet you in the kitchen”

Great. Just great. Keith really didn’t want to be going on an adventure, but Lance had made his mind up and Coran had told him to look after Lance... which meant he had no choice but to do what Lance wanted.

*

With the sun still in the process of setting, Lance turned tour guide, describing the “pros and cons” of each business as he drove down the Main Street. Keith didn’t particularly care. He was more worried about being pulled over by the police with rope, two flashlights, and a shovel in the back. Lance didn’t seem to care, or maybe he did care and was talking about everything in an attempt to avoid the real issue of them about to do something very stupid.

Turning off the main road, the road to the cemetery was gravel. Old weeping willows marked the side every few dozen metres, giving it a weird feel when compared to the rest of Garrison. It was almost pretty. Cows gazed in a couple of the paddocks they passed, some kind of crop in others. He’d brought his camera because Lance had told him to, and now he really wanted to capture the view

“Want me to pull over?”

Lance was already slowing down as he guided his bronco to the gravel shoulder of the road. It wasn’t much, barely distinguishable from the road with the exception of weeds

“Huh? What are you doing?”

“You said you wanted to take a photo”

He had?

“No I didn’t”

“Yes, you did. You clearly said “I should take a photo”

Keith didn’t remember saying it... Maybe he had? Shiro’d teased him for it before

“I was thinking it...”

“And saying your thoughts out loud, apparently. If you wanna take photos, go for it. I’ll wait”

“Are you sure?”

Lance cut the engine

“Dude, don’t make this weird. Go take photos of the sunset”

Keith felt a tad foolish as he climbed out the car. Lance had told him to go for it, and now that he was, he kind of felt like he was keeping him waiting

“Are you sure you don’t mind?”

“Nope. I gave you a camera so you’d have something of your own to do. You like photography, so go crazy. It’s not like the mine entrance is going to pack up and leave town while I’m parked here”

Keith still felt weird about it, but Lance had said it was okay, so it must be.

Practicing with his camera was fun, Keith took as many photos as he could knowing he’d cull the ones that weren’t up to his standard later. There was something about taking a photo. About capturing that moment, because no two moments were ever the same. He’d never be standing out on this road again, at the exact same time, capturing the exact same things again. There was something beautiful in it... not that he’d describe it like that to anyone. He still got embarrassed when Shiro would make a big deal out of some great photo he took. Secretly he was pleased, but he didn’t want to let that show. He wanted to keep the feelings that went with the image to himself. It wasn’t like he was a professional, he was just a guy with a nice camera and a nice view. That was it.

As the sun dipped lower in the horizon, Keith climbed back into the bronco

“Good to go?”

“Yep”

“Cool. It’s not that much further until we reach the entrance”

Lance wasn’t going to ask to see the photos? Something about Lance not asking disappointed him. Not that he wanted to share, but now he kind of felt like he had inconvenienced him after all. Realising Lance hadn’t turn the engine back on, he looked at the vampire

“Seatbelt”

“Really?”

“Yep. I take the safety of my passengers seriously”

It was a dirt road with no traffic. Begrudgingly Keith pulled his seatbelt on

“Better?”

“Yep. Okay, let’s get this show on the road”

Lance slowed to a crawl as they passed the cemetery. It wasn’t much. A wire fence around the graves with a gate that’d seen better days

“It’s like heritage listed. They clean it up every couple of years. There’s actually a trust that makes sure the older graves don’t lose their markers from erosion and that...”

Not like in big cities where being buried only lasted for like 25 years before someone else was buried on top of you and headstone was tossed

“Cool...”

Lance snorted as he shook his head

“I’ll bring you back here sometime during the day. The old headstones are kind of cool”

“Do you have a headstone?”

“I don’t know, do you?”

Keith deserved that. Lance was dead and alive at the same time

“Sorry”

“Don’t be. No, I don’t. When I’ve been in one place too long, Coran helps me “disappear”. It’d be nice if I could actually age past this, but the people I used to know wouldn’t believe it was me anyway. I look too young to be me”

“You don’t age? At all?”

“I wish I did. It’s hard looking like a teenager. People try to say I’m “woke” or “lit”. Don’t even get me started on modern music. I miss the days when the lyrics told a story”

“You sound like Shiro. He’s the same”

“I would say he’d a smart man, but you’re both kind of... the same”

Lance’s comment got under his skin

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means I told you both you’re not a vampire from the very beginning as you both kept acting like you were. Seriously, you two are so alike that it’s laughable”

“I’m going through changes. You don’t get to be like that when you bit me”

“I bit your melodramatic arse to save you. And told you repeatedly. I’m not getting into this argument again, but you both need to use your ears when someone is trying to tell you the truth”

“How was I meant to believe you?”

“Because I saved your life?”

“You could have been planning to snack on me later”

“Keith, you might be a snack, but I try to limit my bread intake”

Keith blinked half a dozen times. Lance had to mean he was a human sized blood bag snack to a vampire, not that he was... what? Did Lance... no... Lance couldn’t... think he was hot. He was just himself... with weird purple eyes and black hair that was most definitely not a mullet... He didn’t have fluffy brown hair like Lance’s, that always sat in a kind of scruffy casual without being untidy. His skin wasn’t all brown and smooth, nor was he sporting eyes so bright and blue. Not that Keith noticed, like that, he was just observing him. Yep... Outwardsly Lance wasn’t a horrible looking specimen... maybe. He wasn’t sure... Why was he still stuck on this chain of thought?

“Dude, relax. It’s a joke. Okay, we’re here”

“Here” was a barren looking stripped hill. Half a hill, it’d been mined back to expose the stone beneath

“It’s all sandstone up there. They mined out the sandstone and shale. They eventually hit coal down there. Most of the older buildings in town are made from sandstone. I guess having the cemetery so close to the mine made it easiest when mishaps occurred. Don’t tell Pidge, but I already had a fair idea about this place existing. I mean, it had to exist, but we’ve got this old quarry further out that closed down in the ‘50’s, so I guess most people just think most of the stuff came from there or was shipped up from Platt”

“I don’t think I needed the history lesson. Your age is showing”

“I wish it was. I think I’m the only person in the world who hopes to wake up with grey hairs and the occasional wrinkle”

“I think you’re fine how you are”

Keith died on the inside. Fumbling his belt undone, he rushed to get out of the bronco. What the fuck was that? And was there any way to accident murder himself under a ton of rubble in the mine?

[theravencawsatmidnight]

Part Two

Summary. Todoroki is assigned to look after a feral ex villain with a snake quirk. He has one week to turn her life around

Monday Night.

You were curled up under the Kotatsu with Kaa and Nagini wrapped around your arms, every now and then you would shake in your sleep or growl and bite at the air . Shoto was sitting next to you browsing his phone trying to find any info on you. He tapped an article reading it over.

Reports of a woman running around turning people to stone. Seems to be frightened and looking over her shoulder constantly.

The woman has been captured by Endeavour and taken into custody for questioning. The number one hero said she appeared to be on something called a quirk enhancer that made her mind go crazy.

He looked over at you placing his hand on your head watching the shaking stop. He tilted his head speaking low. “Who forced drugs on you..?” Slowly he pet your messy green hair watching you sleep.

Tuesday.

Kaa and Nagini were flicking their tongues on your face till you growled, waking up with drool coming out of your mouth , you were all curled up like a little kid under the Kotatsu. Kaa and Nagini slithered back into your arms and you sat up rubbing your head seeing Shoto in the kitchen making food it smelled like .

For the first time in a long time you slept great, like a baby. Your body was rested and you felt like you could do anything. But what could you do? All you wanted to do right now was eat and steal.

“ you awake ? I made some eggs “ he smiled over at you. You got up giving him a look and Shoto just set the plate down on the table. “I was thinking we would spend the day outside, maybe a few shops.” He asked you sitting down eating his Soba.

The food was in your mouth so fast it took you a minute to realize he said something. Nice food, pets like too. Shops? Sound okay. Take an item.

“Ok!” You said between bites.

Shoto smiled at you and petted your head. “Okay then, after you eat, go wash up and I'll be waiting.

•

It was a traditional bathroom with red and white towels and a big shower. You stripped down looking at your body and the pets slithered out to look at you. “What wrong?” You asked them.

“Ssssstill sssad?” Asked Kaa

“About the sssshots?” Nagini asked

“Yes. Hurt.”

The snakes lifted out of your arms more to rub on your cheeks. “Itssss okay now.” They told you.

We find man and kill him.” You said rubbing your eyes. “Yesss” they answered.

After the shower you were dressed in the green dress and some sneakers, Shoto smiled at you and you looked away grabbing the dress, squeezing it with a pouty look on your face.

“You look nice y/n”

“Hmph.”

His cold hand grabbed yours and you looked at him growling.

“Do you want me to do your hair before we go? So it's not in your face?”

“Not in face” you said brushing it back just for it to fall in your face again.

Shoto laughed letting go of your hand. “Okay if you-“ you grabbed his hand again looking away, cheeks red.

Shoto braided your hair for you before he took you out. You had never had something done for you like this before. It was a confusing feeling .

Shoto brought you to a few little stores he liked; The first one was a traditional store that sold blankets and kimonos along with furniture. The kimonos were fascinating to you; the colors, the designs, the little hair accessories that went with them. One stood out to you though, it was blue and had snakes wrapped around it . You looked at Shoto and he put his hand on your head smiling. “Ill reserve it, its not for everyday clothes its for festivals, there's one of Sunday we could go to if you want”

“Uhn..!” Yes, want to go. Be pretty, have..fun. “Want to go.”

“Alright then, ill put the money down then.”

Excited. Pets feel happy. What festival like?

The next store was a Hero merch store that you did not enjoy. You disliked Heroes and what they did to you. But before you could think more about it Shoto showed you his merch jacket. “Like it? I designed it,” It was half red half white and said IcyHot on the back.

“Silly” you told him.

His expression was blank for a minute and you crossed your arms nodding fast. His laugh made you blush.

“Aww, i was gonna buy it for you, its really warm but if -“

“I want!!” You grabbed his arm shaking it.

“But it looks silly though?”

Why want? It dumb jacket. Pets ? What Pets think? …. cuz it his? Be warm? Fine.

“Want.” You told him with flushed cheeks. “Want warm.”

Shoto smiled putting the jacket around you. “Im glad.”

The last store was a little trinket store full of statues and fans along with lanterns. You couldn't figure out why Shoto liked this place but you didn't really care either. Shoto was off looking at some lucky cats and you were off by yourself looking at little snake statues.

Pets? What do you mean no? Not your choice. Shoto get mad? So? Not Pets' decision. You picked up the statue looking it over. So what if Shoto been nice. Helping me? Dont need help, need to get out of debt. In trouble. You pushed the statue in your pocket and could hear hissing in your ears.

After a few more minutes Shoto found you taking you out of the store, you walked with him along the sidewalk, hands stuffed in your pockets staring at the ground. Shoto could tell you were un easy, the quiet vibe and the look on your face. Slowly he grabbed your arm stopping you and you looked at him.

“What did you take y/n”

Your eyes got wide. How?!? “How know..”

“Because i can read you, and you look guilty. Now show me.”

Slowly you showed him the little statue and Shoto took it from you and walked back to the store . He made you give it back and refused to leave till you apologized. The walk home was very tense and you could feel heat coming off Shoto.

Once inside you expected him to ignore you, even give up on this week with you. But instead he put his arms around you bringing your head to his chest. “I know its hard y/n, all of this must be overwhelming. But if you do that again and the owner gets mad ill lose you. You'll be assigned to some other Hero. And we both know you wont like that”

You squeezed his shirt shaking. Dammit.. “sor..rry.”

“I know .” He rubbed your head. “Dont do it again. Okay?” He slipped his arm around tipping your chin up to see your sad face, you leaned into his grip mumbling low.

“..Kay..”

[blushing-starker]

the incredible @puppypeter (check out their blog, it's amazing) asked for a soft, ageing starker and my heart cracked in two cuz I live for this dynamic. Can you tell I'm living for the sake of moodboards?

He loves Tony, he really does. But if the so called genius forgets his reading glasses one more time, Peter will lovingly shout at him. Because he had covered the entire lab in neon post it notes, programmed an alarm in each A.I and explicitly reminded Tony every day before the road trip. They were going to Europe and that implied museums and fancy menus and speeches and glasses so Tony wouldn't be squinting at tiny words whenever he was curious about something. But Peter was 99.999999% sure his boyfriend would accidentally forget to pack his things just so he could show the world Tony Stark was not ageing, no sir. Which is why Karen and Friday had helped Peter buy and safe guard thirty pairs of glasses in their luggage.

By the fourth day, they were all gone. Peter is seconds away from scolding Tony because this was important, it has to do with his health, dammit, when he turns around and there's a cat. His boyfriend is cooing at the feline, scratching beneath a furry chin and grinning when the cat begins pawing at the last pair of glasses they have. Does his heart melt at the sight? Yes. Was he still angry? Absolutely. Will he ask Tony how the hell he found a cat in the jet hangar? No. They've been together for eight months, Peter's used to animals just showing up and seeking Tony out.

"No." A hurt look is aimed at him and he won't laugh, he can't surrender even if the cat copies Tony's face and gives the most pitiful meow Peter has heard in eighteen years.

"But it's all alone here, Peter. And look, it's cute like you." It is a pretty cat, fur an almost identical shade to Tony's hair and the fluffiest tail a cat could posses. That's not the point though, is it?

"It could belong to someone in the area or have kittens. We can't just take them, Tony. And a cat is a responsibility. It's not like having DUM-E or Karen. You have to feed the cat, vaccinate them, pet them, clean them and not forget them in a hotel five cities away. I won't be at the house every day to remind you to look after yourself and a cat. "

The billionaire lights up and Peter knows he'll have a headache by the end of this.

It's been amazing to travel all over Europe, he's enjoyed exploring new places with Tony. After months of rising crime, overwhelming homework and hungry rivals choking the life out of them, a vacation was desperately needed. He's not in the mood to fight, but he will if he has to. Peter knows Tony is getting older and he doesn't care. Sure, he cares about his health and making Tony go to monthly check ups and take his vitamins and having his glasses so he could be safe and drive properly and-

Peter cares about his well being. Always. But he doesn't care that Tony's getting older and it's more obvious now than a year ago. There are wrinkles around teasing eyes and sexy graying temples and creaking joints, but that does not mean Peter loves this ridiculous man in front of him any less. He finds Tony gorgeous, always has and always will. It's not just about his body, it's Tony himself that's so attractive. And yeah, he also finds a silver fox Tony really fucking hot. He's 21, he can ogle whoever he wants.

Right now, however, he's staring Tony down.

It's not that he doesn't want to take in every stray and care for them. It's that he can't be sure Tony will remember to act accordingly.

"I asked around and apparently she's already been vaccinated and sterilized by the manager. No one's taken her home yet because most people have allergic family members. She just showed up a few days ago. You have to know that's weird. This cat appears the week we get here and she's already had her shots. What are the chances she'd strut out and start purring at me? Come on, Pete. The universe wants me to take this cat home."

His eyebrow twitches. He's sure of it when Tony glances up and sets his shoulders back. Every Avenger knew to prepare for a fight when Peter's face moved that way. This man would kill him. He's fucking certain he won't live to twenty-five.

"You forgot your glasses in every city we've been to. How am I supposed to let you take a cat with us? "

"I knew you'd have back ups," the blood rushes to his head and the cat snuggles closer to Tony, ears flattening when Peter's lip curls, "and anyway, I won't forget two cats in a hotel because they meow and move. How could I forget when they're alive and not something as small as reading glasses?"

Distantly, he's pleased. Happy with the knowledge that his boyfriend knows how to read him like a book. It's why they're great together, villain or no villain around to threaten their lives. That's something he'll preen over later while calling Ned. Now he smiles, teeth bared and eyes cold.

"Did you say two cats? Because I swear I'll leave you here, Tony. I've got Karen and a car and lots of sightseeing to do. If there's another cat, I will drive away and call Pepper to pick you up. And you know how she gets when you make her travel half way around the world, Tony. I will finish this trip. If you wanna keep the cats, then keep them. Here in a hotel, practicing how to care for them while I do what I wanted to do with you. Or you can send them to the house with someone else and join me. I know you, you're gonna end up with cats in the house. But I am not babysitting two cats while worrying about you too. I love you, I do. I won't do it, Tony."

His heart would be destroyed if anything happened to those cats and Peter had no plans to cry during this trip. Something shifts in Tony's face and he sighs, defeated. A pout is forming rather quickly and Peter can't believe this is the same man that saved the universe. His boyfriend is a child. He's head over heels in love with a child and Peter knows it. Christ, he won't last two minutes angry if Tony keeps sulking like that. It hurts too much.

Hands that have used Infinity Stones are softly setting the cat down when Peter groans, rocks on his heels and mentally curses his parents in law for bringing an insanely ridiculous man into the world.

"Fine, keep the cats. But you are not losing those glasses and I better see you taking all your pills. Ok, Tony? I mean it, they are your responsibility and I don't want you leaving them in a hotel because you were too busy thinking about something else-"

Tony drops the cat, pounces at him and he's suddenly in the air, strong arms twirling him in a circle. It's the silliest thing they've done in their whole trip and they'd taken pictures with a shoe as a tripod.

Laughter bubbles up and Peter is helpless to stop the joy that washes over him at the sight of his grinning boyfriend. He really loves this man.

He wraps his own hands around Tony's face, draws him in and kisses the smile that's replaced a pout. They stay like that, Peter straddling Tony, lips intertwined and laughter slipping out every few seconds. The cat meows at them for attention and he thanks Maria and Howard Stark for such an insanely wonderful boyfriend.

(They keep the cats, finish the trip and Tony never loses a pair of glasses again. Then again, he never had.)

Sorry for the weird spacing, tumblr doesn't like me.

[qweeby]

Nine Lives To Short Part 4: Not Yours To Lose

♡♡♡♡♡💔💔💔

Paring: Shinsou x Reader

Genre: Angst

Taglist @foxypuppy @bakuhoetoedoroki

Plot: You only have 9 days to tell him how you feel but maybe 9 days just isn't enough

-The time as come for your date-

"You ready, Cat?" Shinsou asks opening the taxi door "Yeah I'm ready Shinsou" you say with smile.

" JUST GET IN CAR YOU IDIOTS!" Katsuki yells while he kicks Hitoshi in the back "Ok Ok calm down Bakugou!".

All of you get in taxi, you in the middle, Shinsou on the left and Bakugo on the right. "Again why is Bakugo coming on our date?"

Kaminari closes the taxi door " Because I'm broke, Izuku has training to do and plus...."

Bakugo takes it wallet and waves a credit card in your face " I have Icy Hot's credit card!".

Izuku looks surprised " Hey I-isnt that Endeavor's?...."

Without saying a word Bakugo just rolls up the window sticking his tongue out at the both of them. "KACCHAN DON'T WASTE EVERYTHING ON ENDEAVOR'S CREDIT CARD!"

" LIKE LOSING 50 CENT IS SO FUCKING IMPORTANT TO THE NUMBER 1 HERO SHUT UP DEKU! AND YOU DARE TELL ICY HOT".

Bakugo kicks the drivers set "THIS IS YOUR FAULT FOR NOT PULLING OFF EARLIER! DRIVE DUMBASS!"

The taxi takes drives off, you slap Bakugou in the back of the head " What's wrong with you don't talk to the driver like that! HE'S LITERALLY THE ONE DRIVING US TO OUR DESTINATION"

"Tch, be glad I got this extra moving this damn thing".

Hitoshi sigh while you and Bakugo argue back and forth " Hey Y/N"

You and Bakugo are pulling on each other's face pinching one other but then stop to look at Shinsou "Yeah?"

"OI DON'T IGNORE ME!"

"That eyepatch that Denki gave you is it bothering you?"

"OH YEAH THE EYEPATCH" while the boys were visiting you Kaminari gave you an Eyepatch for your "messed up eye" as a get well soon gift that he asked Momo to make.

"It's fine Hitoshi you don't have to keep checking in on me"

"Well that's not true I should always be checking in on you I basically have to since you like to keep secrets"

The taxi stops at a red light....behind a line of traffic.

"Secrets? What about my secrets am I not aloud to have them Shinsou?"

Hitoshi crosses his arms "Well when you keep secrets about the pain you're feeling that's definitely not something to keep to yourself but here you are". You look at Shinsou but he doesn't look at you he actually turns away from you facing the window.

"Hitoshi...."

" OI WHY DID WE STOP MOVING?"

The taxi driver looks back at Bakugo and points to the now green, " WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU POINTING AT THE LIGHT IS GREEN KEEP IT MOVING!".

" Hitoshi what's up with you why are you acting like this?"

Hitoshi face palm's "I've been like this for the pass week! I've noticed you've been acting weird first it's asking for your quirk to be Erasure by Aizawa then you don't eat lunch! THEN you asked that stupid hypothetical".

" YOU'RE STILL ON THE QUESTION"

"YES YOU THINK I JUST FORGOT ABOUT IT THE NEXT DAY HELL THE ONLY WAY I KNEW YOU WERE HURTING WAS BECAUSE I HAD USED MY QUIRK ON YOUR DAD.

You look away from Shinsou crossing your arms as well shouting at him "YOU USED YOUR QUIRK ON MY DAD WHAT HECK SHINSOU WHAT'S !WRONG WITH YOU. Do you think this is easy for me? having to deal with that fact that I'm running out of time and I only have 9 days left to live! You think I can just blurt that out!".

Hitoshi finally looks at you but the look in his eyes....the look of despair is all you see.

"What...."

"Shinsou i-...I can explain...."

"YOU'RE DYING IN 9 DAYS! WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME!"

"Hitoshi...this isn't the time or place to talk about this!" You lean back hitting you head on the window but then you realize, " Wait I'm sitting in the middle how did I hit the window, why didn't I hit Baku...BAKUGO!

You and Hitoshi stick your heads out of the window to see Bakugo jumping on top of each car and truck hoping car to car making his way back to the taxi from the front of the line of traffic yelling " OI YOU SHITTY DRIVER!"

" BAKUGO GET YOUR ASS BACK IN THIS TAXI".

Bakugo being Bakugo ignore you and stomps on the hood of the taxi " SHITTY FUCKING DIVER ANSWER MY QUESTION!"

"Y-yes?.."

" YOUR QUIRK TELL ME WHAT IT IS NOW! RIGHT NOW"

" W-when I tap my foot I-i can make people see different colors... it's not special why d -do you ask....".

Explosions pop in Katsuki's hand like someone lit thousands of firecrackers all at once " IT'S YOU YOU'RE THE REASON WHY EVERYONE IS STUCK HERE DAMMIT THAT LIGHT ISN'T SUPPOSED TO BE FUCK BLUE! IT'S SUPPOSE TO BE GREEN LIKE DEKU!".

The taxi driver claps his hands turning off his quirk making the traffic light turn back to green.

" W-what do I do now-".

Bakugo steps on the windshield cracking it.

" When I get in that back seat you better STEP.ON.THE.FUCKING.PETALLLL!!! YOU GOT IT!" The taxi driver nods with tears in his eyes waiting for Katsuki to get back in taxi.

Bakugou walks to back of the taxi getting in as he grinds his teeth slamming the door, " AND QUIT YOUR JOB WHEN YOU DROP US OFF YOU SUCK AT DOING SUCH A BASICALLY HUMAN REQUIREMENT I FUCKING QUIRKLESS WANNABE CAN DO THIS 50 TIMES FUCKING FASTER AND BETTER!".

The driver rides off while you and Hitoshi are left dumb founded " Bakugo....what the actual fuck". Bakugo ignores the both of them "Shut up! Don't say a word to me it's not me who you should be talking to right now."

Hitoshi puts his hood over his head " That's what I meant back keeping secret...what the hell am I suppose to do with that information"

" I don't know! Do what you will with it!"

" THAT'S WHAT YOU SAY! DO WHAT YOU WILL WITH IT?!"

You go quite as you hear that spine chilling voice once again.

He says...." You are such a fool"

" AND THERE YOU GO NOT SAYING ANYTHING!"

"HITOSHI SHUT THE HELL UP WHY ARE YOU SO WORKED UP ABOUT EVERYONE IS GONNA DIE! You are never gonna know when you will die! We could die in a car crashes right now and say fuck my 9 days left! THAT'S HOW THE WORLD IS!".

Hitoshi grabs you by your shoulder and hood falls off but in the process of it falling you and Bakugo see his his tearful face.

" It's not suppose to happen to you Y/n NOT THIS EARLY W-WE STILL HAVE ALL THE TIME IN THE WORLD TO-"

You punch the back the head of the driver's seat yelling " WAKE UP HITOSHI I'M NOT YOURS TO LOSE!"

.

.

.

"How could you say that.... your gonna lose him Y/N"

" I need to get out of this car right now..."

Hitoshi says as he unlocks his side of the taxi the door.

" Hey! Where are you going! Hitoshi!"

" Don't say what you think he's just blowing off steam...but you'll explode....it always come to that point"

The clouds above start to settle making there dark night sky into grey gloomy night.

" Where are you going back to her!?!"

He stops walking "Of course he does".

" Who told you..."

You start to laugh as rain lightly pours down, " Ha HA WOW! Looks whose keeping secrets now!"

" Tch it's technically not a secret if you knew for a while"

"Hitoshi don't get smart with me just get back in the car please".

"No I'm not getting in".

In the blink of a eye the rain turns from a light shower to heavy, the sound of every droplet hitting the ground can be heard.

Bakugo closes his eyes as he knows what's about to happen "Fucking dumbass's"

" Hitoshi get in the car!"

"IM NOT GETTING IN THE CAR"

"FINE GO BACK TO HATSUME!"

Hitoshi clenches his fist "MEI HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH YOU DIEING SO DON'T BRING HER INTO THIS IT'S NOT HER FAULT"

" Y/N...you are such a fool" the cat says as he lays ontop of the car rooftop.

" IF ANYTHING IT'S YOUR FALUT! YOU'RE THE REASON IM GONNA DIE!"

Hitoshi just turns away and continues to walk away "YEAH GO AHEAD WALK AND DEAL WITH THE FACT THAT IF I DIE IT WILL BE ON YOU HITO-"

Bakugo covers your mouth and pulls you back into the car "You really don't know when to shut up, Oi driver...the petal STEP ON IT!"

They drive off as Shinsou walks away in the rain.

"Bakugo let me go!" " No dumbass just stop fighting! He's gone ok....he's gone".

You holds bakugou's arm " h-he's gone...." you snatch off the eye patch throwing it out of the window while the purple sits on your lap.

"You made him leave, why even act surprised it was only a matter of time"

"....Bakugou where are we even going?"

" Where the hell else we're going on a date"

You glare at Bakugou "reallllllllly??? But why?"

Bakugou turns his head away blush while he pets your head running his finger through your hair "If you do have only a limited time....I wanna treat nice so we don't end on bad terms and plus I don't need a fucking spirit haunting me".

You smile right after that you place your hand on Bakugou's face " Bakugo that's so sweet of you" " Tch shut up dimwit"

-A few minutes go by-

You and Bakugou lay in the taxi though Bakugou is awake while you sleep, he's been calling Hitoshi but it just goes straight to voicemail.

" Stupid Cat lover I can't believe he left me with her like that when I see that idiot I'll give I'm a piece of my mind"

"Umm sir this is your stop?"

"YEAH JUST GET ME OUT OF THIS SHIT"

Bakugo kicks open the door stepping out the car with you on his back. He walks towards the restaurant but then stops as the taxi driver honks the horn " I-I dont get a tip?...."

"A tip?....YOU WANT A TIP I'LL GIVE YOU A FUCKING TIP HOW ABOUT YOU GO FUCK YOURSELF AND YOUR SHITTY QUIRK AND YOUR SHITTY TAXI SERVICE! NEVER EVER GET BEHIND THE WHEEL AFTER TONIGHT!".

The taxi driver speeds off leaving dust in bakugou's face "I'm gonna find him later and kill him"

" Thanks for making my eardrums bleed"

"Thanks for waking up just in time for dinner".

You get off of Bakugou's back stretching and yawning "Hey before we go in I want you to know something", "Hm? Yeah?".

"No matter what happens to you if you die or not...always know that every second is a gift".

He turns to you holding out his hand "So come on chances like this happens once in a lifetime don't waste this second".

You take Bakugou's hand " I wouldn't dream of missing this gift.

.

.

.

For the rest of the night you and Bakugo have a fantastic time, you start to see a side of him that no one else's sees. Bakugou can be caring sweet and kind regardless of those facts he's still Bakugou so you know when the bill came he was outraged and made a scene.

-Meanwhile with Hitoshi as he was making his way home-

Hitoshi looks across the street and stares at you house and thinks about he used his quirk on your dad it reminds him of all the words people used to say about him and his quirk

"You a Hero HaHa! You're kidding right Hitoshi!"

"A hero who brainwash people come on get real that'll never work"

" Your qurik isn't really fit for a hero"

".....it's was you that made me believe I could be someone more"

Shisou think's back to the day you stop up for him when he was being picked on by the other kids.

"HEY! DONT MAKE FUN OF SHINSOU! I think his quirk is super cool! He'll be a really cool hero that saves the night! The Awesome Hero MindFreak!"

"Mind Freak....I like it..."

"See Shinsou likes it!"

" Of course Y/n thinks Shinsou's cool you think anyone with a power is cool"

"I bet you she wants to be a hero too! With no quirk? Now that funny!"

"Don't listen to them Shinsou I know that one day people will see how great you are like I do You'll be a great hero !"

Hitoshi frowns while muttering " A great hero....that's funny because how could a great hero make such a rookie mistake".

"I'm no great hero....I wouldn't even call myself a villain. If the reason for your pain is me....if I'm the reason for your death then I'm nothing but a monster".

He drys his eyes before walking inside "Nothing but a monster."

♡♡♡♡♡♡💔💔💔

Even though tonight ended with a somewhat happy ending for one of our heroes the clock is still ticking

"And we are finally on track with on plans of stopping".