#distressed stone pathway

[fannibalmusical]

Houston Natural Stone Pavers

Ideas for a traditional, mid-sized front yard with stone landscaping in the spring sun.

[kazuos]

Front Yard Natural Stone Pavers Houston Photo of a mid-sized traditional full sun front yard stone landscaping in spring.

[illillsa]

Pathway Landscape An example of a mid-sized traditional full sun front yard stone landscaping in spring.

[project3x5]

Traditional Landscape - Natural Stone Pavers An example of a mid-sized traditional full sun front yard stone landscaping in spring.

[zanamoses]

Pathway Nashville Ideas for a medium-sized, full-sun, rustic backyard stone garden path.

[bubble-leaves]

A Distant Campfire - Hassian x Reader

Hassian can’t find Tau. It’s normal for the plumehound to venture out on small quests or go for a brief stroll down an alternative path, but the last time Hassian saw Tau, the sun was beginning to set. It’s now midnight, and Tau has still not returned to the grove. Hassian pushes open the door to the grove and walks out of his fortress, his brows sunken in distress. What if a muujin somehow attacked Tau? What if he ate something poisonous? What if the beast Hassian senses so often in the forest sought Tau out?

Hassian swallows hard. If anything were to happen to Tau, he couldn’t live with himself, knowing that he wasn’t there to protect his most loyal companion. He scouts out the area with his eyes. Luckily, the two moons out tonight would provide him with enough light to safely navigate Bahari with no problem. Hassian clutches the quiver band across his chest and, at last, pursues a search. He knows the land well, so there's no fear of getting lost, at least.

The night is warm and the meadows are quiet. As Hassian patrols the main pathway of Bahari, he listens for any distant barking, whining, or enthusiastic footsteps. He pays close attention, holding his breath, even, but there is nothing but crickets and Kilima moths squeaking. His heart is pounding as Hassian thinks the worst. He keeps going, however. Hassian isn’t one to give up so soon, if at all, especially for his friend. He rounds a corner of a small cliff and peers into the distance. As said before, Hassian knows the land. He has memorized where every tree is, every remnant of the human ruins, and every unused camping ground. So, when he sees a faint fire and a thin plume of smoke rise above an adjacent cliffside, he gets a spark of hope. His brows lift with determination and a bit of curiosity. His sharp walk turns into an impatient jog. Hassian makes his way up the hillside to where this fire is coming from. Once he finds himself on flat land, he’s careful to keep his footsteps silent.

Hassian walks all the way up to the cliffside, his back pressed against the cold stone. He listens. He hears the soft crackle of fire, a sound he’s familiar with. Aside from that, there’s silence. So, he creeps along the cliff wall, then peeks around the corner ever so slightly.

He sees him. The electric blue fur. Hassian lets out a quiet sigh of relief, as he knows the fur belongs to Tau, and he’s safe. However, he continues his silence due to a newfound feeling of confusion and curiosity. Why is Tau over here? Hassian can only see his lower half. Tau is laying down on his belly, and his tail is curled to the side sadly. The fire pops and cracks as Hassian watches his friend intently.

All of a sudden, Hassian hears a sniffle—and not one from Tau. It was from a person.

Hassian’s eyes widen and his brow raises. He has never experienced Tau comforting someone else before. Unable to resist the urge, Hassian gazes around the corner to see who Tau is with. Somehow, his wide eyes get even wider. It’s his quiet, bookish human friend that emerged with the rest of their kind. (Y/N). They’re sitting down, their back against the cliff wall. Their face rests with melancholy, and thin tears stream down their cheeks. Tau lays his head in their lap while calmly allowing the human to stroke his fur.

Hassian is internally conflicted; he wants to collect Tau, but he also wants the human to not weep any more. He cringes at himself. He’s going to have to reveal himself and talk to them. Hassian takes a deep breath, holds it for a second, then rounds the corner to the cliff completely.

A loud gasp escapes your lips as you see a figure approach from the dark, which simultaneously spooks Tau. Tau jerks around and Hassian quickly drops to his knees to show it's just him. All the while, he gets just two feet away from you. Tau rushes up happily and licks his face, and Hassian has to carefully push him away to get him to stop. You stare at the two with sheer horror in your eyes. Hassian looks over and notices your expression, and he feels terrible; he’s making you feel even worse. Tau looks at you too, and he resumes position back to your lap after he remembers your emotional turmoil.

“(Y/N), I deeply apologize,” Hassian says, his words coming out like a rapid river. “Tau was missing for so long and I hadn’t anticipated you’d be with him.”

You open your mouth to reply, but nothing comes out. Tau notices when you start to tremble, and quickly nudges his head under your palm. You look down at him and sigh. Hassian watches, feeling awkward and useless in this sort of scenario. He’s not the best at these things.

“I’m not very experienced with emotional consolation, so I apologize in advance,” Hassian, his face wincing but his voice still relaxed. “Are you okay? What happened to you that made you come weep in the mountains?”

You stroke the fur of Tau’s head to soothe your anxiety.

“I—” Your voice cracks. “Ugh . . . I’m just . . . ha-having a hard time adjusting here,” You explain, your voice a pathetic quiver.

Hassian frowns. He may not appear to be empathetic, but he could definitely understand how hard it must be for you to adapt to a new culture.

“I have no idea what I-I’m doing,” You continue, scratching Tau’s ear. “I can’t remember anything. I don’t remember my parents. Or where I’m from. I only remember my name, my age, and that I read to escape.”

Hassian keeps his mouth shut and lets you rant. You probably haven’t had the opportunity to share these complex feelings with anyone in Palia yet. In order to seem not too focused on you, which might overwhelm you, he begins petting Tau with you.

“And, like—I’m a total introvert, I don’t know how to talk to people, aside from you. S-So, how do I make more connections in this world I popped into?” You say with despair. “I wish I just stayed in the void, I was better off there.”

Hassian speaks to firmly say, “You were absolutely not better off in the void.”

Your eyes finally avert from Tau to look as Hassian. He looks at you with a stern expression, yet you understand that it's one of compassion. Hassian stares back at you, taking in the visuals of your beautiful face dampened with tears. He softens up again, realizing that firmness probably isn’t best in this situation. He clears his throat and readjusts his posture.

“Apologies,” He quickly mutters, before going on to explain, “Please don’t say that, I should say. Perhaps this is selfish of me to disclose, but I’d never wish for you to return to the void. In fact, I would rightly wish the opposite, that you’d never return there again and stay here, in Palia, with me.”

You’re blushing, completely floored by Hassian’s honesty and forwardness. Although, Hassian does catch himself on that last part.

“Ah, not with just me, forget I said that,” He pleads.

Seeing his quick, flustered correction makes a small smile break out on your face. Hassian notices it and his heart corresponds with a hard skip. It felt so absurdly good to make you smile after seeing you look so broken. His face starts feeling warm as you both accidentally stare at each other for too long. Hassian clears his throat and averts his eyes to Tau, who’s asleep in your lap. Damn it, his wingman is out of commission right now.

“I didn’t know you actually liked me that much,” You say, surprising him.

“Wha—huh? What do you mean?” He asks.

Your hands touch the cold grass of the land as you relax your posture, cooling your palms off from the heat of Tau's fur. The sensation comforts you into saying more.

“I don’t know. I’m not used to people caring about me,” You shrug. “Not that people are malicious to me. I’m just not very . . . er, noticeable.”

Hassian’s heart breaks as you say all this, yet his expression remains stoic. Just then, he decides to slide over to rest against the cliff wall with you. Both of your faces are subtly saturated with color, and you don’t look at each other for a moment out of shared nervousness.

After a brief moment, Hassian says, “I am sorry that the ignorant folk around here can’t see how wonderful you are.”

Both of you keep your eyes on the crackling fire, the atmosphere suddenly tender yet anticipatory. You rub your arm, finding what he’s saying hard to believe. Hassian observes you in the corner of his eye, inwardly afraid that he just said something he shouldn’t have.

“Thank you,” You murmur, a small smile growing on your lips.

Hassian turns his head to you curiously, and is relieved to see that sweet smile on your face. Although it’s tiny, it’s still infectious, and Hassian finds himself smiling thereafter. Seeing you relieved of your sorrows and lit up again is worth the awkward attempts at consolation.

“Of course. You should expect nothing less,” Hassian assures. “I . . . care for you, greatly.”

A sudden warm, fuzzy feeling appears within your chest. Hassian watches as you ruffle the fur behind Tau’s head, noticing your subtle increase in energy and happiness. He’s relieved—and perhaps just a little proud of himself for being a useful, supportive confidant for you. He locks eyes with you once more as you turn your whole body toward him. This interrupts Tau’s comfortable position on your lap, but he doesn’t whine.

“Um . . . I am not quite sure what's supposed to happen now,” Hassian admits.

You fidget with your hands awkwardly, but still keep your small smile. “We . . . don’t have to do anything in particular. I just appreciate your company.”

A surge of warmth envelops his face, and he nods intently. “I see. Again, I am not the best at these things. I appreciate your patience along with your company, as well.”

“Hassian, you did great,” You assure, before finally asking, “ . . . um, did you want Tau back?”

Hassian looks down to his furry friend, chuckles a little, then looks back to you.

“Yes. I believe both of you have to get to bed, anyway,” Hassian mentions with a smirk.

You rub the back of your neck sheepishly, laughing along too. “Ahhh, yeah . . . ”

Hassian stands up and sucks air through his teeth to get Tau’s attention, which he gets immediately. He trots over to Hassian after his head cocks back a bit. You’re a little disappointed as you feel the warmth of Tau’s furry chin dissipate.

“Well, what are you waiting for? Get up. Come on, let me walk you back to Kilima,” Hassian suggests.

“Oh! U-Uh—okay!” You say brightly, surprised but pleasantly so.

Hassian smiles a little as you stand up with him. He wholesomely admires you whenever you’re not looking, and this time is no different. Of course, he’s not about to tell you that; at least, not right now. As you two and Tau set off for Kilima Village, both of your hearts pound. You both feel an impossibly strong pull toward one another, yet it takes your breaths away whenever you think of how to explain those feelings to each other. For now, you both plan—because you two are so similar, it’s natural that both of you would be expecting to confess first. Despite how obvious it is, though, you’re both bound to be surprised by each other’s passion and forwardness in the near future.

[thisnameisnotspokenfor]

Chapter 30 Rough Chapter Preview

((ooc: here have this entire segment!))

 “What....what is this place?" Asha breathed. 

“My guess is as good as yours,” came the star’s voice as his eyes settled on a partially collapsed statue behind them. One that if was still whole, would have easily rivaled Rosas’s biggest cathedral in size. “I’m not one to leave loose ends after bad encounters. But I thought it’d be best if we spent some time down here to convince your little ‘acquaintances’ that we hadn’t survived the fall.” 

Shivering, she half-heartedly wrapped her wet shawl around herself. “Did you know this was down here?”

“Oh, you mean the city?” He shook his head, “I didn’t. The only reason why I found it was because I felt something coming from here.”

“You felt something?” Her eyes darted from the star to the collection of dilapidated buildings that stood before them. 

He nodded “A calling.”

“How exactly does one feel a calling?” 

“Same way how one manages to conjure a large air bubble that’s strong enough to keep you alive down here. That’s how.” He gestured to the walls of said air bubble before turning his eyes to the darkness outside. “But I suspect it’s coming from a malfunctioning artifact or a distress beacon of sorts.” 

A distress beacon? It had been how the injured Atlantean general had summoned the stone serpentine. So the idea wasn’t too far-fetched. But from here of all places? 

“You know it’s funny you say that,” she started as she felt herself slightly shiver. The coldness of her still-wet shawl had done her no favors. “My Saba once told me of a legend from when Rosas was still young, a fisherman used to sail the Salcona river. After narrowly surviving a boat accident he claimed that he’d heard strange voices coming from the bottom of the river.”

“Voices?” His light pierced the darkness as it briefly illuminated the ground below, revealing the bits and pieces of stained glass that had been embedded within what she could only assume was once a beautiful pathway. 

“Yeah. Strange ones. They said it drove him so mad that he swore to dive to the bottom of the river…No one ever saw him again,” She whispered, eyeing the sparkling shards of the ground that led towards the heart of the sunken city. 

“You don’t think there are survivors here, do you?” Impossibilities of survival aside, How was anyone to be rescued from something like this? She’d tried to not think of the hopelessness of the situation crushing the survivors as they’d desperately searched for any sign of

“I wouldn’t bet on it. But It’s not as outlandish as you think,” He’d shifted closer, holding his hand towards the bubble’s wall. “I’ve heard of astronomers having hidden underground tunnels that allowed them to travel all over the kingdom in dire situations. Factor in their food supply, powers, extended lifespan, and technology, and anything is possible.”

“But that can’t be right- Rosas was founded on a completely new island! This city can’t be a part of its predecessor.”

“And yet it just so happens to be full of those same astronomical symbols,” the star interjected before leaning towards her. “A little too coincidental don’t you think?”

She nodded, her eyes lowering to her feet as she contemplated his words. 

If what he said was true then that would mean that Rosas had never left the ashes of its predecessor behind just like the historical records had claimed.

But how could that be? Surely someone would’ve pointed out the error sooner! There was no way the scholars nor her father would’ve allowed such untruths to be propagated to future generations. 

“BAAAA” came Valentino from beside her as he gestured for her to look forward.

“What?” She asked. “What is it? Do you see something?”

He shook his head, before pressing it to the walls of the air bubble as if he’d wanted her to follow suit.

Of course, doing something like that initially seemed ridiculous to her under the fear of possibly popping the bubble, but come to think of it, this wasn’t any normal air bubble, right? So maybe she could get away with a few sudden movements…But her reservations had been quickly put to rest when she’d felt the low vibrations of something that she could only deduce was sound coming from the nearby city. 

Quickly, she pressed her ears towards the bubble’s side, making out the sounds of Bells and chimes softly ringing in the darkness. But why would they be ringing?  

“Asha-,” came the star’s voice as something swam past once more, nearly startling her. “What are you doing?”

“Listening,” she answered, briefly sparing him a glance. “Do you hear that? It’s the sounds of bells and chimes ringing and I think it’s coming from the city!” She exclaimed as he blankly stared at her. “I’ve always known that water isn’t a vacuum, so sound could travel through it. But for the bells and chimes to be ringing so continuously like this…that must mean that something underwater is making it move! But the real question is…what?” She started to pace the bubble, which was frankly, a near-impossible task given the bubble’s rather small size. But that hadn’t stopped her from asking “Is it the current or something else? Maybe it’s connected to the calling you felt! But…why?”

His brows furrowed as his hand pushed his hair back.“You really want to know?”  

“Of course I do!” she exclaimed, unable to hide her smile. “Don’t you?”

“Well…” he, the self-admitted reckless and insane star, hesitated. The expression on his face was wavering. “I suppose so…”

“Suppose so? Cepheus we literally just made the greatest archaeological discovery of this century!  This is a once-in-a-lifetime achievement that could be the answer to all of our questions involving the order and its strange absence!”

“Or, it could be dangerous,” his voice lowered as the light within his hand flickered.” You don’t know what’s down here.”

A part of her couldn’t believe that of all the things they’d done, this was where the star drew the line. He’d been so troubled about the order’s strange absence, yet he seemed reluctant to explore the one place that could give him answers. Granted he did have a point, as up until now, the most she’d ever assumed was down here was nothing more than fish and scattered bones. 

But that hadn’t stopped her from being curious, not when the existence of the buildings that challenged Rosas’s history had so proudly touted the symbol she’d seen from the astronomer’s order.“True, I don’t. But I guess it’s a good thing I have you then, don’t I? You’re probably scarier and way stronger than any apex predator that roams the ocean.”

“Apex what?” 

“Apex predator,” she repeated. “You know, a carnivorous animal that resides at the top of the food chain!” she explained as a small idea formed within her mind. 

“Am I an Apex predator?” he asked, curiously pointing to himself as he leaned towards her. 

“You?” she looked around the small bubble thoughtfully. Flattery had always done wonders on nobles, now she wondered how well it would work on a star. “Well, I mean you remorselessly maul people three times your size with sheer brutality, without taking any damage.” she shrugged. “Yes. I think you’d comfortably classify as what they’d call an apex predator.”

The star beamed, “Ha ha! Wait-,” he paused as his smile faltered. “You’re complimenting me-,” His eyes narrowed at her suspiciously, “who are you and what have you done to Asha?!”

She rolled her eyes before pointing to him accusingly. “I mean I could be asking you the same question. You didn’t use any magic whatsoever in that fight for someone who’s so highly pro-magic.”

“Touche,” he conceded. “But don’t think flattery is gonna convince me to take you down there.”

“Well it’s not really flattery if it’s the truth now is it?” she asked smoothly as she leaned towards the star.

“....Fair point,” he shrugged, before clearing his throat. “Alright then, I guess we can look around for a little bit. IF-”

“If?” she repeated.

“-You promise to stay close to me. The pressure at this depth is very unforgiving. So It’s best we stick together for now.”  

She nodded, unsure of how she’d be able to do anything else given the limited space the bubble provided.

Nearing the city, Asha’s eyes took in the pieces of columns, buildings, and broken statues that littered the ground, offering a mere glimpse of what she could only assume was once a beautiful courtyard.  

“There are so many statues here,” she murmured, briefly pausing to listen in to the sounds of the surrounding bells.

“Of course there are,” he sighed. “To a star, there’s no greater form of praise than a beautiful artistic piece that’s fashioned after them. You should see the palaces that some of the alpha stars live in. It’s full of human art.” 

“Do you recognize any of these then?”

He shook his head without hesitation, as they swam past several collapsed statues that could have easily rivaled the castle in size. 

“How about these?” she asked, pointing to another.

To her dismay, his voice promptly answered with a somewhat unenthusiastic, yet decisive “No.” 

Setting aside her confusion for now, she continued looking around the desecrated town square, not seeing anything particularly noteworthy until her eyes caught sight of something glittering beneath the edge of the star’s light.

“Wait!” she halted him before pointing to where she’d spotted the glittering object beneath them. Obediently the star guided his light towards the direction she’d pointed in, quickly revealing the location of said object to be within the hole of a large building that had partially collapsed. 

Excitement once again filled her at the sight of the astronomical symbols etched into the building’s stone roof as she shivered and asked, “D-do you think that’s the order?”

He gently shook his head. “The order was far larger than one building, but from what I’ve heard they did have a location in the heart of the kingdom, which was very close to the castle.”

The castle? She’d looked around for any sighting of said castle but had come up empty. There wasn’t much to go off of whether or not this part of the city had been near the heart of the kingdom nor if this building had been a part of the astronomer’s order, but something in her mind had told her that it was at least worth exploring.

The star nodded to himself as he peered into the dark depths of the building. His mind surprisingly made up as he cracked his knuckles. “Well, I suppose now is a time as ever to make life-altering mistakes while embarking on a pointless albeit fascinating search.”

“Life-altering what?” Asha spat as he smiled at Valentino.

“Go on Valentino we’ll be right behind you!” he gestured towards the dark pit beneath them. 

Valentino, understandably bleated in protest as the star frowned. “What? What do you mean by no?” Valentino shivered before bleating once more as the star gasped. “Ah right, I keep on forgetting that you earth creatures are weirdly addicted to oxygen. Me personally? I’ve always been more of a hydrogen and helium guy, not that I need them of course-”

“Wait,” she grabbed his hand, gently pulling him back as she thankfully put a stop to his strange rambling. “Before we enter. Promise me that there will be no more riddles, no more games. I just want transparency.”

“Transparency,” the star repeated, looking genuinely confused. 

“Yeah you know, honesty. It’s what friends do. They tell each other things that they need to hear, even when it’s not easy.”

“Friends do that? Does that include constructive criticism on interior decor and capes?” he asked as he glanced at her soaking-wet shawl.

“My friends do, and no it does not include constructive criticism on interior decor or capes,” she retorted before quickly stuffing her shawl into her satchel. 

“How many friends do you have beside me?”

“A lot but that’s not the point,” she lied with a huff. “Right now we’re looking at a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, one that I doubt we will see again. So it’s best that we try to answer any questions we have while we’re still down there. Right?”

To her surprise, the star pleasantly answered, as he placed a hand over his heart, “Of course Asha. Let’s get started, shall we?” She nodded as the bubble slowly began to descend the roof’s hole and into the building below. 

The room they’d slipped into had been massive, with its downward stairwell structure nearly reminding her of an academic auditorium. Everything in the hall was covered in algae, as objects such as furniture, books, bookshelves, scrolls, and all sorts of instruments lay strewn about as the remains of a once beautiful crystal chandelier lay in the middle of the room. Carved into the surrounding dark-colored stone walls were depictions of strange Creatures and people, all poised towards a chalkboard full of strange letters that stood at the other end of the room. She and the star exchanged glances before nodding, carefully approaching the chalkboard.

“This was written in Asterahi,” he murmured as he tentatively looked over the board.

“Is that another star language?” she asked, noting how different the ‘words’ had looked from the ones he’d shown her yesterday.

“It is. A far more exclusively spoken one though.”

And yet one that he appeared to be capable of reading she’d thought as he’d continue to look over the language’s strange symbols. For a star peasant he was rather well-educated, wasn’t he? “I know you said you could tell which court had spoken Cosmelathian based on the dialect or rather variation you saw it written in… Does the same apply for Asterahi?”

He carefully nodded, “It does…and from the looks of things, this looks like it was written by someone from the,” his eyes widened, as he quickly shook his head. “No….That can’t be right. Not here…Why here?”

“What? What is it?! Cephues what’s wrong?” He failed to answer her as his eyes continued sweeping over the board. His smile was gone now as she felt the water around them begin to move, pushing away some of the debris near the foot of the chalkboard as she gasped.

“Cepheus, look!” she cried, pointing to the large half-destroyed ship that lay in front of the chalkboard. “It’s one of the ships we saw Erlan’s people use!” She could barely think straight as she gently shook the star’s shoulders. “It’s real! It’s really real! And it’s here!” She paused, feeling the weight of reality set in. “Wait so are you telling me that story wasn’t fictional?”

“I don’t ever recall telling you that it was,” he answered with a slightly furrowed brow.

“Oh…” she whispered, releasing his shoulders as she stepped back. “Wait…so do stars actually look like that? A dark cloud with glowing eyes and a multitude of voices or was that a creative liberty you took?”

He grinned rather smugly, “Creative liberty, of course, in reality, we stars usually look far worse.”

“Worse?” she repeated, before pointing to him. “Even you?”

“I’m not sure why I’d be excluded from that, but yes, even me. There’s a reason why we’re so…particular about how we look when we’re around humans…”

“Finally,” she grinned. “A form of you that isn’t ridiculously handsome. Now I actually kind of want to see-”

“Finally a form of me that isn’t ridiculously handsome?” he repeated, staring at her in silence before the true meaning of her words began to sink into both of them. She hadn’t meant it like that! But the grin that slowly spread across the star’s face told her that she was now in for a world of trouble.

“Asha-,” he sang.

“I’ve never been one to ask a building to collapse on me before,” she grumbled as she tried to ignore how her face burned.

“Do you think I’m handsome?”  The wicked little star was enjoying this. “It’s okay if you do. I think you’re really pretty too~,”

She shook her head, quickly taking another step back as she cursed the tightness of their air bubble. “Ha, ha, no, no, I never meant that you were handsome, you see what I was trying to say was that-,”

“That?” the star repeated. “Go on Asha, tell me what you were trying to say.” He was really enjoying this, wasn’t he? 

“Scratch that, I hope the building collapses on both of us.”

Valentino panickedly pleated as the star’s smile sharpened. Mischief filled his eyes as he leaned towards her, “Is this you showing your strong feelings for my form again? I knew you liked it but to call me ridiculously handsome-,”

“I am politely asking you,” she called while staring at the partially collapsed ceiling. “To please do it. Just make it quick.”

“Ha! Listen to me princess, very few things in this universe could kill you while I'm around, but I'm afraid this building” he pointed upwards towards the ceiling. “Isn't one of them-,” he’d flippantly waved his hand as he leaned away from her. 

“Alright, so what could?”

“Nothing that you’d need to worry about,” he replied, his voice a bit more ominous than she liked.

“Well unnerving note aside, this means that Erlan’s kingdom could have been the ancestor or had some sort of ties to Rosas’s predecessor!” She looked over the ship once more. To call it advanced would have been the understatement of the century. No, this wasn’t advancement. It was technological perfection. “Do you think it still works?” she asked the star after she’d finally managed to partially break the trance the ship had, had on her. “We could fix it though, couldn’t we? Just like how you fixed the music box! Imagine if we could get it to fly again! This could be a life-changing thing for the people of Rosas! The king would have to listen to us! He’d have to!”

To her chagrin, he looked away before shaking his head, “I don’t think your king would be very pleased if you made this discovery public Asha.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well from what you tell me, I think his abhorrence to technology seems personal, and like you said your people are complacent and dependable on the king, something that may not be as benevolent nor generous as you think it is.” 

Not benevolent or generous? She wasn’t certain about that! Yes, it had made everyone a little too safe and lazy, but she had to give credit where it was due. King Magnifico had made them complacent as a consequence of his dedication to serving and protecting them, something that she’d argue was very kind given how most monarchs tended to act.

The star looked her over, and as if reading her thoughts, he’d gifted her a smile heavily laced with what she could only recognize as sardonicism. “You know Asha,” he started. “A king’s greatest enemy isn’t those who he faces on the battlefield or those who he strong arms into trade deals or diplomacy. No, it’s the people who he must convince and assure of his divine right to rule with each and every passing day.  Because the minute those people think to themselves that there is another, someone better, is the day that everything a king has worked for goes to naught. His kingdom will become nothing more than a gilded cage as those around him fight to secure themselves for power.”

“I…I can’t disagree with what you’re saying….But the people and royal family of Rosas aren’t like that! You’re free to think of the king however you want, but nothing can change the fact that he and so many others worked hard to make Rosas into a place where people who’d suffered could be given a chance! Just like how Erlan used his power as king to help others and establish the Astronomer’s Order!”

He tilted his head, as he thoughtfully stared at the nearby collapsed pillar. “So passionate. You sound as if you speak from experience, or perhaps intimate knowledge of the royal family?”

She shook her head. If the star had thought that he was the only one who could maintain secrecy under this amount of hydrostatic pressure, then he was sorely mistaken “It’s history that we’re all required to learn…”

The star hummed, evidently not sounding too convinced.  “History? Alright then…How did you know that Erlan established the astronomer’s order? Surely they couldn’t have had that in your history books.”

“They don’t.”

“So how did you know?”

“I didn’t I-,” her voice trailed off. “I heard it…in a dream.”

“A dream?” Cepheus’s eyes narrowed at her as the cold seemed to seep into her bones. “You’ve been having weird dreams lately?”

“Sometimes,” she confessed. “But everything that’s happened to me has been very strange and a little too coincidental.” It was a shame that the bubble was so small, otherwise, she would’ve started pacing once more as she began to think aloud. “But Maybe you’re right…maybe I shouldn’t show this to the king.”

“Oh? And why do you say that?”

“Well…come to think of it, isn’t it a little odd how those figures not only chose to attack me on the one day I’d have a vacation? There’s no way they could’ve known that unless they had an informant in the castle keeping them updated on my whereabouts. But then there’s the fact that if they truly didn’t care about assassinating other people, then why hadn’t they done it this morning if they’d been stalking me for a while?” She’d asked glancing at Valentino who shivered before looking up at her. “But they only attempted it when I was alone with you….Wanting to discreetly dispose of me is one thing. But doing it when there’s another person around, one completely irrelevant to the situation is irrational…unless, of course, they had their reasons for wanting to kill you as well.”

“You think they knew that I am a star?”

“It’s quite possible, or at least they know now given what you showed them. And they had magic of their own, and-” her voice trailed off as she remembered the red crystal she’d seen on the woman’s neck. Ones that looked nearly identical to the crystals that the Atlanteans and Erlan’s people had worn. Had the people hunting them down been astronomers who’d sworn allegiance to the crimson court? But that didn’t make any sense! If they’d sworn to serve the stars then why were they shattering wishes?

She shook her head as she turned her attention back towards the star in front of her. “But it still doesn’t make sense to me. The language that you heard their leader speaking in, was it close to ours?”

“Close, but not identical. I’d say from its roots that most linguists would probably tell you that it’s a sister language of yours.”

“And then there’s the fact that they didn’t hesitate when nearing the bridge that’s usually guarded. It’s like they knew it would be empty by the time they’d be approaching…and the river” She shook her head. “they knew which path to block. They deliberately tried to send us down Salcona. That can’t be a coincidence.” 

“I feel as if you’re on the verge of something here,” he started. “You’re formulating some sort of hypothesis aren’t you?”

“Sort of,” she admitted, still thinking about the red crystal and shattered wishes.

“BAAAAAAAA-,” Came Valentino’s voice as he leaped forward, gesturing to the other end of the hall.

“You see something?” Cepheus repeated as he turned around. Valentino reverently nodded before gesturing towards the wall on the other end of the hallway. 

“It’s some type of mural I think,” she murmured, examining it as she noticed the bits and pieces of colorful stained glass shining the minute the star’s light landed upon it.

Sirius,” she’d whispered on recognizing the figure depicted by the mural.

He’d looked nearly identical to the picture she’d seen in the journal, only this time he wore a beautiful crown embedded with blue and golden jewels as the words on the mural’s edges read Sirius de Solari-, her eyes squinted trying to make out the rest of the letters that had been lost to time.

But she’d suspected the final words were ‘de Solarius.’ A suspicion that had only been confirmed by the figures of blue and golden that acknowledged him on either side of the mural.

He must have been someone important. Otherwise, she’d have seen no other reason why such a beautiful mural would be dedicated to him if he didn’t at least hold some power in the world of stars and astronomers. 

But as she studied his face, she couldn’t help but quietly admire the artistry and dedication that had gone into what could have easily been the most expensive piece of art in Rosas.

“Cepheus?” She looked from him to the mural and then back to him. 

“Don’t say it,” he grumbled, but his voice had lacked the venom she’d expected. No, now he just looked tired. Tired and expectant as if the similarities in looks had been brought up multiple times before. 

He’d denied being Sirius, but surely they must’ve been closely related… why else would they so strongly resemble one another? But… if they’d been related then why would Cepheus be a mere peasant while Sirius appeared to practically be a prince, or maybe even a king?! 

Maybe Cepheus was his illegitimate son. An illegitimate son that he had neglected for whatever reason, hence why the son had resented the very name and resemblance he had to his father. 

Hmm, that was plausible. 

Cepheus was dangerously close to scowling now as he practically snapped, “Draw a picture of him Asha, it will last longer.” 

She blinked in surprise. “What?”

“You’ve been staring at that wall for at least five minutes,” he complained with a frown as he crossed his arms. 

“Well, I’m an astronomer. It’s sort of my job to examine and study stars for a living Cepheus.”

She hadn’t expected to see a cold fire ignite within the depths of his eyes as he staunchly turned away. She glanced at Valentino who seemed just as confused as she. Had it been something she said? 

“Well go on,” he’d said after a moment or so of uncomfortable silence. “Ask your questions. You want answers about him don’t you?”

Goodness. Of course, she wanted answers! It’s why she’d wanted to explore in the first place. But she didn’t want answers at the expense of invading the star’s privacy or boundaries. 

She shook her head, “No. I can tell that this is a rather sensitive topic for you, and if you don’t feel comfortable talking about it for whatever reason then I won’t ask about it. But if you ever want to share then I want you to know that I’ll be here, ready to listen.”

“Ready to listen?” he repeated as confusion laced his voice. “But what if I never want to share? What will you do then?”

A challenge. Maybe even a warning. She’d swallowed the unease as she forced herself to shrug, “Then that’s okay too. Look Cepheus. I’m not going to force you into doing something that distresses you, alright? That’s not what friends do, and it’s not what I’m going to do.”

“Really?”

“Really.”

She wasn’t sure how many seconds of silence had ticked by before his face slowly softened and he offered her his hand.  

His fingers slowly intertwined with hers as she quietly welcomed his warmth.

“C'mon,” he says softly as the bubble begins to move away from the mural. “Let’s go see if there are other ships around.” He must’ve sensed her confusion as he quickly added, “Just because the king can’t appreciate it, doesn’t mean that you can’t use it to further your own studies, right?” 

“Right.” She nodded, and a small ghost of a smile teased at his lips as they moved forward, this time through the large hole in the center of the floor. 

“Where are we headed to?” Her voice echoed as the star’s light peered through the darkness, revealing the misfortune that had befallen a place of prestige and beauty. 

“The panic room,” he’d answered. “I think it’s where the signal is coming from.”  He’d only briefly paused once to shine his light on the wall behind them, revealing another mural. This one depicted planets, none of which she recognized. Perhaps they’d been planets from another galaxy? It was a possibility, given how stars had most likely been the ones to divulge such information in the first place. “I have a, no pun intended, sinking suspicion that if the evacuation ships and distress beacons were to be anywhere. They’d be in the bottom of the building near the panic rooms.”

“Why do you say that?”

“Imitation is said to be the highest form of flattery,” he’d half-heartedly gestured to the columns full of strange vein-like carvings. “So there’s probably a good chance that they’d keep their weapons where we would normally keep ours, which is usually near the panic rooms.”

His voice echoed as they finally slipped into the entrance of an expansive hallway filled with murals behind statues that had lined either side of the hallway.

But whatever admiration she’d had for the statues and murals order couldn’t extend to the rest of the hallway. “It looks like a tornado came through here.” She’d commented as she took in the sight of the broken statues, glass, and rubble that littered the hallway. The architecture of the fountain had surprisingly looked quite similar to the one she’d found in her father's library, evoking a sense of disappointment as she realized just how little Rosa’s’ style had changed. 

“That probably isn’t too far from the truth,”  he’d replied before glancing towards the pile of debris. Then he’d looked behind them. Surprise coloring his eyes as he smiled, speaking in Cosmelathian as he’d turned to fully face the mural. 

“Who’s that?” She’d asked, watching as the light finally revealed the mural to be of a red-colored individual, draped in exquisite robes. A crimson star. She’d nearly backed away until she’d taken note of the rather relaxed expression on Cepheu’s face.

“Antares de Luktu Nocturnus, an ancient figurehead of the crimson court,” he’d answered simply. Antares? She’d been certain that that had been one of the names she’d read in both the astronomer’s journal and the cards from the king’s study. But they hadn’t said any more than that as Cepheus quietly took a knee near the foot of the mural. Unfamiliar words left his lips as he bowed his head. 

Shock filled her as she watched him pay his respects to none other than a red star. “Did…did you know him personally?”

“He was before my time,” his voice was so painfully quiet that she’d nearly strained to hear him add. “But he helped to pave the way for hybrids like me.”

“I see…I’m sorry for your loss….” she spoke, as a small beat of silence followed, until she asked, “Was he a star hybrid too?”

“No, he wasn’t. But that didn’t stop him from trying to improve things for those like me…” He glanced into his palm now full of blue energy. “Compared to the other members of the crimson royal family, he was quite unorthodox in his methods, so much so, that it allowed those who wouldn’t usually tolerate a crimson star to take a liking to him. But after he…ceased to exist…there was never another docile crimson star.”

Ceased to exist. Antares was dead. But it hadn’t sounded as if he’d died of ‘natural causes.’ “How did he pass, if you don’t mind me asking.”

“Frankly, I’m not sure,” he answered as he stood back up. “The elders have never been transparent about it. All they say is that in spite of all of his wisdom, Antares committed the ultimate sin that a wishing star could make.”

“The ultimate sin for a wishing star? “Did he kill the person who wished on him?” 

“I…Ha…quite the opposite actually...the ultimate, or rather worse sin a wishing star can make is to fall in love with their wisher ” He abruptly looked away. “It’s strictly forbidden.”

“But star bloods exist-,”

“Yes, but never as the result of a wishing star and the person whose wish they’re granting. It’s serious, Asha. A wisher already has far more power over their star than realize. To fall in love with someone who has that power is the ultimate death sentence, or at least it was for Antaris.”

“I see…was this why you started acting out when Mr. Silver and Mr. Bjorn made those jokes?”

“Ha, I suppose you could say that…”

“You Suppose?” 

A mirthless chuckle escaped him as he shook his head. “You’re a nice girl Asha, but I don’t want you to get hurt….”

“You think us becoming a couple would hurt me?” she asked, feeling her brows furrow. 

But a part of her couldn’t help but wonder. If the stars hadn’t forbidden it, would he have attempted it? He did seem sorta flirty… But would he have bothered with her if the rules hadn’t dictated it? A part of her didn’t think so, not after she’d seen just how closely he resembled a possibly high-ranking star. Then there’d been their back and forth near the port. Yeah. He wasn’t interested in her, rules or no rules, she just couldn’t see them happening.

He nodded, as she mentally noted how quickly the star had averted his eyes as they continued swimming into the partially collapsed hallway. Every now and then he’d muttered something under his breath as his glowing eyes combed the darkness around them. What that something was, she doubted he’d tell her.

Her eyes slowly combed over the passing star murals as the words slowly came into view.

_____‘de Solarius’

_____del Apsuramal’

_____ del Myrkadius

_____ De Nocturne

The first part of the mural had been far too incoherent to translate, but those were the titles of Alpha Stars! And they’d been on every single mural they’d passed.

A hallway full of alpha stars…Figures of scarlet, cerulean, gold, and silver danced across her vision before she spotted the final mural, trapped behind the debris of the partially collapsed hallway. It’d been too dark to make out the figure depicted, as her eyes had managed to make out the words beneath the mural.

Alderamin de ____ the rest of his title was missing as darkness enveloped the mural.

Alderamin was an alpha star? That made sense. From all accounts, he’d sounded powerful…Had he known Sirius? Surely he must’ve maintained some interaction with the order if they’d studied and even fashioned a mural after him… But why had the journal’s author gone to such great lengths to scratch out any details about him? Wait…hadn’t Alderamin been in the play that she’d seen in Banquo? Yes, she was almost certain that he had been the name of the star he’d slain…and yet Cepheus spoke of Alderamin as if he were still alive…

She knew she’d promise to refrain from asking him uncomfortable questions, but in the face of such discovery, it was hard to be content with her decision. All that she’d seen and presented with had only given her more questions, that she needed to answer, if not for her own sake, then for the sake of her father and anyone else who’d been lost.

Unable to maintain the silence any longer, she heard herself say, as she quietly trembled “Did they ever mean anything to your people?” 

“Pardon?”

“I asked what the star’s perspectives on the astronomers were. It’s not hard to see that the astronomers evidently thought very highly of your kind. But I need to know…was that feeling ever reciprocated? For the astronomer? For my father? Did they ever mean anything to your kind? Or were they seen as nothing more than novel curiosities?”

He fervently shook his head, “Of course, they mattered to us. The astronomers have always been important to us! Having a personal astronomer has always been a sign of honor and prestige for us! They were our bridge to your world Asha.”

“So then why didn’t any of your kind come to earth sooner when you’d lost contact?”

“That’s…” he hesitated, briefly thinking it over before he shook his head. “I’m not sure…but we tried, everyone tried, even the council but no one could break through…all I know is that they think something was purposefully limiting our power on earth, so much so, that we thought you’d cut us off-”

“How could the astronomers cut you off? You’re the source of their power!”

“I know, which would be more than enough motivation for someone who didn’t like the order to go through with it.”

She paused. His words strangely made sense to her as the pieces slowly began to fall into place. “Would there have been anyone on earth motivated or strong enough to pull off such a feat?”

“Possibly, but I wouldn’t know. I wasn’t here.”

Her mind wracked through every possibility and suspect she could think of until she’d remembered them. “How powerful is a starblood?”

. “Most if not all-star bloods who would've been around that time were probably the children of high-ranking stars.”

“Which means they would’ve inherited a good deal of power… more so than any astronomer would have gained from an allegiance.”

The star frowned as his expression darkened. “If you’re trying to say, what I think you are…Don’t.,”

“Why not?”

“The star bloods have always had powerful connections to the courts. Most wouldn’t appreciate you speaking so negatively about them.”

“And yet in tumultuous times, Tau Vitrius and the other astronomers didn’t seem to trust them!”

“Most astronomers didn’t,” he retorted.

“They didn’t?” Silence. “You know something don’t you?” an involuntary shiver slipped down her spine as she watched the star’s eyes narrow.

“Not any more than you do, no. But if I could tell you more, I would…”

“But you can’t?”

“No, I don’t know half of it, and even if I did, where would I start? When I came to earth, I expected to see an order thriving and full of life, not, this!” he’d exclaimed as he gestured to their surroundings, and for a brief second, she could hear it. The fleeting note of panic and perhaps even anger in his voice as he’d stressed the word ‘this’. But he’d quickly recovered, shaking his head as he looked away from her,  “I can tell that this whole ordeal is distressing to you too. But if I could fix it, I would. I’d do everything in my power to.”

“You’d bring back the order?”

“If I were powerful enough, then yes. I’d make it possible. But we’d have to get the council involved.”

“I’m sorry we?” she frowned before gesturing to him and then herself.

“Yes, we. You can’t make an Astronomer’s order without stars nor can we make it without humans. There’s a common ground here Asha. You wished for more for yourself, your country, and your people, and nothing could bring you greater prestige, honor, advancement, and wealth than an order like that.”

“Okay,” she conceded with a reluctant nod. "you bring up some solid points but what is this council you speak of?”

“Ah well, the council is a group of elderly alpha stars that after abdicating their thrones in this part of the galaxy or universe move on to other ones. The current ruling alpha stars have to answer to them since they have the final say in a lot of things. But I don’t think it would matter,” he started as they moved forward, and quickly slipped through another hole in the ground... “If they could’ve brought the order back then they probably would’ve done so already.”

 With each and every passing room, the piles of debris had seemingly grown smaller and smaller, something that felt odd to Asha as she began to hear the faint sound of chimes and bells once more, soothingly filling the darkness that surrounded them as they descended deeper and deeper. Had it not been for the star’s light, Asha wasn’t sure that she’d be able to maintain her calm. Or at least she was calm until the star had come to an abrupt halt when they’d been swimming down a stairwell. 

“What is it? What’s wrong? Have we reached the panic rooms yet?”

“Yes, but I think you might want to see this.” He pointed towards one of the distant yet intact hallways connected to the stairwell. “It was Tau Vitrius, right? The astronomer’s writings who you and your father studied?”

She nodded, looking in the direction of his light as she saw a barricaded hallway, near the end of it was an open room filled to the brims of maps, telescopes, scrolls, equipment, and journals. But near the center of the room, pinned to the wall was a metal slate that had read TAU VITRIUS.

Had it been a classroom? Or maybe some sort of office! She’d desperately tried to take in the figures that had been drawn onto the maps in hopes of possibly cross-examining them with the manuscripts later, but at this distance, it had been nearly impossible to see anything, anything except for another metal slate that hung near one of the maps. 

“Tomas,” she whispered as she read the name on the metal slate over and over again. “That’s my Dad! My Dad’s things are in there!”

“Hold on!” Cepheus exclaimed, holding her back as she struggled against him.

“Let me go!” she protested. “I need to get to that office! That map!” she groaned. “If only I could get to it! It might be the key to translating his manuscripts!”

“No. Asha, it’s too dangerous…” he whispered as he looked her over with concern. He shook his head, “we’ve been down here long enough. If we stay down here any longer then you might become hypothermic. You’re already shivering enough as is.”

“What? But we haven’t gotten either of the things we’ve come for! Weren’t we supposed to make it to the panic rooms?”

“Asha,” he adjusted his grip on her. “We are in the panic rooms.”

“What?” Her breath hitched at the sight of the destroyed panic rooms. Her fears were only confirmed when she’d caught sight of bones scattered around the tattered remains of clothing, pinned beneath a fallen column. She’d fought to keep the bile down, as the darkness quickly swallowed the remains of the unfortunate person.

There were so many skeletons of different sizes lying around the hallway, some posed as if they were still about to ascend the stairwell, while others sat in their chairs or on the floor, surrounded by objects like clothes, jewelry, and toys. All of the colorful crystals around their neck were dull and broken as if the power of the stars had no longer persisted in them.

But it had been the final skeleton that had been the worse, the one slumped over in the furthest corner, holding a flashing crystal in one hand and a small toy in the other. They’d been inches away from a partially destroyed ship that no doubt could’ve saved the lives of everyone who had perished in this room.

It was like Atlantis again, wasn’t it? A powerful empire that at its pinnacle had found itself on the bottom of the ocean, forgotten. But someone, no, something had killed these people. Her father’s mentors, his colleagues, his friends. However, none of their poses had looked combative or panicked, but whether or not that could’ve been attributed to the elements' toll or the strange circumstances of their death, she couldn’t know. She nearly didn’t want to know. 

If it had been this bad now, then what had it looked like the day it had happened? She didn’t want to think about it, not after she’d seen how haunted her Saba had looked at the very thought of said day.

Tears prickled at her eyes as she tried not to imagine their final moments, and the dread they must’ve felt knowing that they’d never see their loved ones again. Whatever they’d faced, she could only pray that it had been swift and merciful as she’d covered her face. But it had all been in vain as her shaky hands could only do so much to shield her from the world of violence she’d been immersed into as the tears began to fall.

“I’m sorry Asha,” the star had whispered as he held her. 

“Take me back,” she’d pleaded, unable to stop how badly she now trembled.  Guilt flooded her as she began to realize that despite her curiosities, she was standing in a graveyard, one that deserved more respect than her partially selfish intentions. “Please. I don’t want to see anymore.”

“Alright,” he’d nodded, holding her close as they slowly began their ascent. 

They were nearly halfway towards the surface when she’d briefly looked back at the shrinking city below. Up here the city’s shape looked…off, as if it had been carved or rather broken off where the furthermost edges of the most dilapidated buildings sat. 

“Asha?” came the star’s voice as he let go of her. “Stay here” he’d told her. “I’ll be right back.”

“Wait,” she started, tugging at his sleeve before she’d even realized it. “You’re going back down there? Alone?”

He nodded, his eyes searching her face before he cracked a lopsided grin. “Why? Are you worried something will happen to me now?”

“Who said I was worried?” she scoffed, before crossing her arms. “I just don’t want you getting false hopes that I’ll be the one to come and save you when you find trouble down there.” 

“Noted. If I’m not back in five minutes, send Valentino,” he grinned as the goat barely bleated in protest. “I’ll see you soon.” he smiled. His hands gently gripped her forearms for a moment as he stepped back, gently slipping out of the bubble’s confinements. 

His hands were still holding her arms as he drew a deep breath and closed his eyes as his body began to glow a bright cerulean, one that had nearly been identical to the Atlantean’s crystal.

Her jaw dropped as she felt his hold disappear, his eyes meeting hers briefly as he began to sink, slowly settling himself into the ruined remains of the city’s square. He burned brightly as the same blue light from his body began to engulf the city beneath him, spreading through the building’s strange carvings as the chimes and bells began to ring louder, the choir of their voices nearly overwhelming as he looked around the city.

Then as if deciding on something, he’d flickered out, leaving them all in complete darkness and Asha to her thoughts.

She’d hardly believed what she’d just heard, much less seen. It had felt as if the lost city had come to life one last time to sing to the star through a chorus of bells and chimes, one of which had suspiciously sounded like the chimes her father had placed on the porch, that had been silent until the day the star had come….

Her eyes widened in realization, as silence seemed to greet her ears. A silence was promptly broken by the sound of something large moving through the water below.

[lawwrenx]

‘ Agape.

pass judgement into me, but love me too.

SYNOPSIS

A hooded lady saunters the pathways of a fiery, hideous place beyond the graves and dirtied soil of the earthly sphere. Her heels clack against the stoned road, and it echoes in loud sharp sounds around the place that had screamed absolute filthy. The flames burns her skin through the fabric of her clothes, prickling white canvas with humid air that seemed almost unbearable— but she confidently continues her walk on the grounds belonging to the spirits of the damned, despite the wary stares burning on the back of her head; shoulders squared, back straight and head held up high.

Her figure screamed HOLINESS, a saint sent by the pure and blessed Lord above the heavens; a land far, far away from their grasps of desperateness and pitiful distressed calls for safety. Six holy wings stretch behind her head, whereas the rings flowered with all-seeing eyes revolve in orbit around her covered face, and she finally stops to an abrupt halt infront of a wretched excuse of an hotel to the path of redemption.

A blonde man, seemingly half the size of her, linger infront of the hotel before his crimson irises snaps from his nervous fidgeting of his cane to her towering silhouette just a foot away from his person. The lady in white and gold distantly tastes the bittering taste on the tip of her tongue,

“ Monsieur Ophanim (Your Name), The Court and The Divine Justice, I kindly extend you a warm welcome to the premises of Hazbin Hotel. ”

Heavenly Father,

Hell is a place that reeks of sin. a place for her.

Fem!Ophanim!Reader x (?)

Wherein Reader, an Ophanim and otherwise referred to as “The Court”, “The Divine Justice” and the “Throne”, was thrown into hell as per request from Sera, the Seraphim for having illegally visiting hell. What will she do within the lands with man-eating demons, chaos and filth?

[friendlylocalwhumper]

“I n-need help.” Rain-soaked clothes cling to his body where he shivers on the doorstep.

Just inside the doorway stands Emory, blocking the warm yellow glow of the Christmas tree with his body. His eyes widen but he stays tucked between the door and the frame. “Lux.” He wants to crouch down, scoop him up, carry him in. But there is something dangerous inside: a wonderstruck little girl fawning over all her presents in pretty paper and bows. A little girl who has no idea that anyone ever gets hurt, and who thinks her dad is away on a trip to pick up the best present of all for her.

“It’s Christmas morning,” Emory adds finally, face twisted with distress. He doesn’t know what to do. He can’t bring Lux inside, Penny can’t see him like this. But it’s so cold outside, and Lux looks like he’s in so much pain.

“...Need help,” Repeats the miserable warlock. “Just… g-get me to, to the side of the house, to hide. And then - and then - I can h-heal. I just…”

“You’re scared. Okay. Yeah, okay.” Swallowing his fear of ruining their daughter’s magical morning, Emory steps out into the rain. A chill runs down his spine when descending the two steps to the pathway reveals the bad angle of Lux’s leg. In a practiced motion he kneels and gathers his husband up into a better shape to guide him to his feet. Lux isn’t so thin anymore; he finally has enough muscle and dad-pudge to make his shoulders bigger and add some weight to him.

Besides, unfortunately, Emory knows that Lux can limp along on a broken leg without screaming.

The puddles complain with feeble splashes at being disturbed by dragging feet. The bricks on the side of the house catch them as Lux and Emory half-collapse together. The rough stone catches Emory’s knuckles and scores scrapes across the skin there as he protects Lux’s head without a second thought. They’ve fallen together enough times for him to see that coming.

The collision with the wall and muddy ground is finally enough to punch a sound out of Lux. It strikes Emory as horrifying that he was hesitant to come out and help when he hears that whimper. It sounds so different from how Lux’s sounds used to, like he was using a voice back in his twenties that the Hunter would be more entertained by. Letting his voice go high and cracked. Now, his voice is deeper, and that makes the soft, broken sound worse. Lux doesn’t sound like someone who makes pitiful sounds anymore.

“What happened, honey?” Emory asks softly as he checks on those shoulders first. The right one is just tense, the left one being touched makes Lux snap his head back against the bricks. He doesn’t scream, but it’s obvious that he needs to. Rain splatters across rapidly paling cheeks, droplets catching in his short beard that was just scruff a few days ago.

“Him. Just - a popped shoulder, uh, busted ribs, leg needs… you know.”

It looks exhausting for Lux to speak. A soft hand wrapped in band-aids cups his cheek as Emory leans in to tip his head down, their foreheads touching and the world seeming to close in comfortably around them. “Do you want to heal up, come in, get changed? She’ll be so happy to see you.”

It was supposed to be reassuring, but Emory can tell it came off as dismissive instead. Lux keeps his eyes closed and frowns deeper like he does when he’s holding back tears. “Yeah, I just… need a minute?” His voice cracks at the end. “Because I f-felt small again and I don’t feel like a dad right now.”

Their daughter inside the house, waiting on jumpy legs to finally get to open presents, weighs on Emory’s mind urgently like a stove left lit. But the Lux trying not to weep right in front of him is a concern more of the world-endingly devastating variety. Seeing Lux needing to cry always chokes him up, too, and it takes deliberate effort not to crack right now. “Okay, Curls. Take a minute. You’re home. Let’s get this shoulder healed first, what do you think? Make it hurt less so you can breathe.”

Lux’s staggered gasps stop for a second, and then comes a tense chuckle at the realization that he was struggling to get enough air around the agony. “You think, you th-think, fuck…” The curse comes in a practiced whisper to protect little ears. “Stupid, the stupid stuttering, I didn’t miss that.”

“It still happens when you’re stressed, sometimes.”

“Well I hate it a lot, a lot more when it’s because of him.”

Emory hums, whipping back tangled sopping hair that looks straight right now, but will be fluffy and curly once it’s dried out. “Just breathe and think of bed. The black blanket and the pillows. You can use your magic, it’s safe and we’ll be warm soon.”

A shuddery sigh comes at the guiding reassurances. With the deliberate calm and focus that comes, Lux allows blue-white light to blossom in his palms. His eyes blink open to squint toward the street, because as protected by the side of the house and the fence as they are, someone could drive by and see, and then…

“It’s safe,” Emory reminds, his hand on Lux’s cheek guiding him away from looking compulsively for danger. “Fix that shoulder. We have a few more minutes before she tears the presents to shreds, I think.”

That startles a laugh out of Lux, but at the same time his magic flares and dies out, his brows drawing up in upset. “He - he, Em, he tried to use - he tried to use her. Against me.” It’s all a whisper, a hoarse confession. Emory draws back in instant protective worry as he listens hard. Lux presses a hand to the ground and digs his fingers into the mud. “He made an illusion, a, he used magic on a box so when I opened it, I’d - her earrings were in there. I thought they were. I told him - I told him, I made sure he knew not to, not to ever come here, or even - he knows not to. Not to go near her.”

“We have to kill him. Get someone to. Move, we’ll have to move…”

“Em.” Lux looks like he wants to scream again, but more from emotion than pain this time. He remains quiet and weak against the wall. “There’s nothing else to do. He’s not coming close. I just - don’t try to - I don’t need…” Every raindrop that crashes into him is an assault on his senses. He can’t stand this kind of pain anymore, not when he has things to do. A family to pay attention to. When he was twenty it was fine to spend days curled up whining and crying, sleeping, wallowing. Now it feels like a waste of time to even explain what happened to Emory. “I made him sorry. Scared him. He erased my, made it so I couldn’t…”

It’s just a fact that the Hunter erased his memory of opening that gift, and that Lux found the mind magic in his own head and tore it apart to remember. Mentioning the assault on his mind is still hard, though, and he chokes on it.

“...Just. He knows not to, and I got out. I’m just s-, I’m - yeah. Scared. God, I miss being an annoying crying kid and Anders bullying me into taking a break.” A self-interrupting, chaotic sob-sigh, and he sinks further toward the ground. Impatiently he lifts a hand, summons that magic back to his palm, and heals the dislocated shoulder. He takes the joint thunking back into its socket like a punch to the gut instead of bone grinding on bone and nerves twisting unbearably. “Fuck,” He whispers again, as if mentioning Anders makes it impossible not to curse.

“Sorry.” Emory crouches close again, taking the liberty to adjust Lux’s broken leg so it’s closer to the core of his body. Lux is pale as a ghost but doesn’t complain, as he can finally reach the limb with his magic and pour some light into it. “Sorry, Curls. I know you didn’t ask for this. I know you… you can keep her safe.”

The warlock hums in agreement, then squeezes his eyes shut and raises his free hand to bite down on the side of it. Shaky breaths hiss out around the bite as his leg straightens and mends itself.

“H-hard to, to numb at the, same time,” He pants as Emory brushes his hair back.

“I know, honey. Come on, gotta get up.”

The puddle that they passed through earlier sloshes back out of the divot in the yard as they trudge through, and the front door opens with a squeak of complaint.

There is a tremendous racket of clinking glass, crumpling paper, and what sounds suspiciously like a pine tree knocking back against a wall. Penny comes running out into the hall with pine needles in her hair and a cloth snowflake ornament trapped in her sleeve. Her eyes go huge and round when she sees both of her dads, not just the one who stepped outside.

“Dad needs a break,” Emory says with quick, practiced ease before she can run in and hug Lux. “He fell down in the rain coming home! Isn’t that silly?”

“Daaaaaad,” Penelope complains and rolls her eyes, sending her whole head lolling back and her arms flapping once at her sides with the exaggerated gesture. “Ew.”

Lux tips his head down to see the mud they tracked in, and the growing puddle beneath them. “Ew,” He agrees, and smiles. It’s so warm in here, he almost wants to just sink to the floor and sprawl across it. “I’m gonna go take a shower get on my Christmas jammies. Then presents?”

The little girl stands still, suddenly, and clearly has a miniature crisis. “Yeah, uh - uh, Papa, you can, you can help, you can go help.”

Emory tips his head. “I don’t think Dad needs help with-”

Off she goes, unleashing a tornado in the living room to try to clean up and hide the evidence of her sneaky present opening.

[aroseyetbloomedwrites]

May You Open Your Eyes Once More [A Francel Vignette or Stand-alone]

Rating: G

Category: Gen

Fandom: Final Fantasy XIV

Characters: Francel de Haillenarte & an unnamed cat.

Summary: This was not the first time he had seen her, but it could very well be the last.

Tags and Notes: animal in distress, little bit of angst, current verse. [[I may be interested in a cooperative continuation of this.]]

This is NOT cross-posted to Ao3 and may not be.

Sneak peek:

To be borne of familiarity, this particular situation he will find himself in. Heels digging into a thin layer of ice, and snow, as it begins to sweep across the stone pathways, obscures the divots and crevices of inlaid masonry beneath. To create a fine dusting over pathways and stonework walls, flags of their nation begin to stiffen as the snow penetrates their fibers, and then freezes in the wind, steadily picking up. The brim of his hat, firm even as it was, will crease further in the wind, and he will have been tempted to pull it harder down upon the crown of his head, golden straw strands to peek from the upturned folds, and joyful yellow feather, ruffled and split under the pressure. Even pinned against his forehead, his hair will be sorely tested to remain in place, not long enough though in any regards, to cover his seeing eyes, expansive as the ocean, down-turned, where he has stopped, gazing at a pile of snow which is… not snow at all. 

How familiar, he will think again, this white coat, beneath that dusting of snow, curled up, and unmoving. He cannot see the blue eyes, or the pink nose. But then… he had not seen the cat in some time, having crossed paths briefly turns ago, turns and turns and turns ago. To have knelt down for it, and shared the meat from his stuffed bun. To have gently touched gloved fingers to a small forehead, and been graced with only the flick of tufted ears, a curl of a tail, and its chops licked clean of ground meat and carrot. In this instance, as he kneels once more, silent but for the whistle of wind around his long ears, he is not Francel de Haillenarte, but just another grieving soul, lamenting the loss of a life he may have known, which had touched him curiously. A mystery which would go unsolved, and a family which may never know what had happened. And in that moment, he may also feel the guilt, the guilt of having gone on, empty handed, of having not retraced his path, cat in toe, to provide for it, however briefly, to not have found its family. It had run off, and he had let it.

Francel will remove a glove, fingers bared to the biting cold, only to touch it upon its snow-dusted head, surprised then, in the way the curled body will jolt, rolling over disoriented in the snow. Francel shall exclaim aloud, there are none around to hear the way the cat pitifully mewls, and how Francel sucks in a breath. The walkway is barren of passerby, not that he shall have been concerned to stoop in any such persons presence. The urgency of thought, as his naked hand brushes snow from the struggling and renewed shivering little body. The fur, lengthy as it were, caked with packed snow, where heat could last only so long against it, melting it minutely, only for it to freeze again. There is only one thing, in that instance, of which he can do, and that is to slide from his shoulders the crested coat he wears, collar fur lined, and the inside padded and insulated warmly of leather, and perhaps karakul skin and wool. His body temperature lingers in it, the cold not able to sap the warmth from it so easily, as he gingerly folds it into his lap, and then will pick up that poor, distressed feline, wrapping it like the precious parcel it is into his coat. Before he covers its face with the hood, he will peer into it, minutiae as it is, pink nose, blue eyes unseeing, partially closed, whiskers nearly frozen off. How could he, how could he?

‘I shan’t feel sorry for myself. Not when… I might still hope.’

He shall think, and none too gently, as he folds the hood of his coat forward, so that only that pink nose is visible then, and cradles it to his chest. How exposed to the elements he shall feel then, the white wool of his undershirt all he has to protect him as he turns carefully on his heel to retrace his steps now, as he should have then, back towards the Last Vigil. The shirt sleeves do not quite reach his wrist, and his glove, the single one which remains on his hand, does not make that distance either, and so the chill shall creep up his arm, but this, this is nothing compared to what warmth as has left his little charge, and he can hardly feel it, compared to the pain the little cat must surely have endured. How spry she had seemed then, when first he spied her, in comparison to now… 

And behind he, as he paces with harried steps up the slopes from the Jeweled Crozier, that lone bowed glove shall remain, forgotten in the snow, to be retrieved by another, perhaps, or buried and shoveled away to the side when the snow ceases, and clearing the paths are not so futile. 

[captainderyn]

[Fictober24] Day 14: "Did you stick to the plan?"

Prompt: "Did you stick to the plan?"

Fandom: LOTRO

Pairings: Wulfwryn/Raenor, Faewryn/Eldarion

Warnings: None

Summary: Faewryn anxiously awaits Eldarion's return from his first skirmish ride with the Minas Tirith guard. Years of experience waiting for her mother to return from such skirmishes doesn't make it any easier to wait.

--

Faewryn paced the battlements, tapping her knuckles in a frenetic beat against her lips as her eyes locked on the horizon. The sun was beginning to dip low on the horizon. She’d kept her eyes on that too--watching as it inched lower and lower with the passing hours. 

They were late. 

By now the gates were supposed to be opening with the welcoming cheers of a guard patrol returning safely. Her mother was supposed to have ridden back through those gates hours ago. She knew her father was worried; he’d left her side where he’d kept her company under the guise of getting things ready for a much needed comfortable homecoming. But Faewryn knew it was because her ada didn’t want her to pick up on his worry. 

Did you stick to the plan? She thought to herself, not for the first time that afternoon or even for the first time since the sun took its first taste of evening. 

For it was not just her mother on this patrol. No, her mother had done this hundreds of times. Her trotting through those gates, no matter when, was practically a guarantee. 

No, much to her distress Eldarion had joined this patrol. His first ever foray into what securing the area around his city was like. And he was late. 

They’d promised each other he’d come home safe and that nothing would go wrong. That if he were to ride with Wulfwryn then everything would be fine. 

Faewryn swore she saw the sun tick down another notch. The shadows seemed to deepen. She began chewing on her thumbnail. 

Deeper and deeper the shadows grew, inching across the battlements until--

There! The gates began to creak open. It was too quiet as the horses rode through, the ringing of their shod hooves too clear on the stone pathways. 

Faewryn’s heart plummeted to the ground and she took off running. 

“Ada!” she cried, running into her father at the staircase just above the gate. He had his hands braced on the stone wall, breathless as Faewryn was. 

Though she knew that her father did not age the same as her mother did, she swore with each scare such as this more weariness was added onto him. 

He reached out and braced her shoulder with his hand, giving a reassuring squeeze. 

“It’s alright, henig.” He soothed, drawing her close into a half hug. She sank against him, feeling weak in the knees. 

Five summers or twenty summers, the times where things did not go as planned did not get any easier. 

“They’re okay? Why aren’t they here yet?” Faewryn worried her thumbnail again until her father squeezed her shoulder. She dropped her hands to work into her skirts instead. 

“They’re saying they got held up at the gate to report.” Raenor said, taking a long breath as if to remind himself as well that things were okay. “From what I hear, they met a small skirmish but are back no worse for wear.” 

It was longer than Faewryn would like until the battered group of guards trudged up from the gate, their horses getting swept away to the stables when their feet had barely transitioned from stirrup to stone. She scanned the group in their black cloaks and white tree emblems, their shining swords and shields. 

She picked out Eldarion at the center of the group, dirt spattered but upright. A group of veteran guards stood around him, shoulder-slapping and saying something that involved miming swords and cheering gestures. 

She picked her way down the stairs and made her way over. Eldarion found her immediately, a sheepish expression flitting across his face. 

She shoved his shoulder, brows drawn low, “What happened to the plan, Eldarion?” 

He rubbed the back of his neck with a chuckle, “It went a little upside down. But we made it back!” 

She tried to keep a stern look, but failed. He smiled back at her, obviously pleased with the success of his first skirmish. He’d talked about it for years, trained with her mother for years to reach the point where Wulfwryn would finally let him ride with the guard. 

“I’m glad you made it home safe.” she said and he pressed a kiss to the top of her head. 

[fannibalmusical]

Natural Stone Pavers Front Yard

[yuu3585]

𝐒𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐞𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐬, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐎𝐜𝐞𝐚𝐧 𝐛𝐥𝐮𝐞 𝐞𝐲𝐞𝐬. 𝐜𝐡.𝟏 - 𝐒𝐚𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐞

Backstory: A grave threat hages over a village run by the Ito clan, Sukuna the King of Curse… Either the village hands him a sacrifice or the village burns, with no way out Dai Ito the clan head sacrifices his daughter Tsumi to the King.

Pairing: …

Ch.2

Word count: 1.8k

Warnings: Abuse, blood, family trouble, mention of murder, yelling, life being threatening, name-calling, ocxcanon!

Extra: This story takes places ten to fifteen years before anything in the manga happens! Plus this is an AU for my OC's

----

“Worthless as always I see!” A young teen yelled, her dark purple eyes glaring down at women crying below her “Answer me Tsumi!” She yells, stepping closer to the woman called Tsumi, “Mao…move!” A young man orders stepping past her, a katana in hand

He crouches, grabbing ahold of Tsumi's chin as tears fall from her face, “You didn’t answer Mao” he says, brushing the katana against Tsumi's exposed arm, “I-I’m s-sorry, Yamato…it won’t happen again!” Tsumi says, her words barely audible, Yamato’s grip on Tsumi's chin tightened

“The fuck you call me!?” Yamato yells, the Katana in his hand slashing against Tsumi's arm, she cries grasping a hold of her cut and bloody arm, Yamato rolls his eyes, letting go of Tsumi's face, Mao laughs as she watches the scene unfold “Very nice, big brother!” she chimes as Yamato stands his blonde hair covered with snowflakes as the first sign of winter approaches, “Tsumi go clean yourself up now!” Yamato orders, Tsumi stumbles clutching her cut arm tight in her grip “Y-yes, my lord” Tsumi says, bowing her head before turning from the two

“Can’t believe this crybaby is my older sister…” Mao says, crossing her arms as she watches Tsumi stumble away from the two “half-sister!” Yamato corrects, turning on his heel, motioning for Mao to follow him back into the estate

----

Tsumi shivered as she walked the cold air hitting her harshly, and the gash on her arm causing her a harsh amount of agony, as she walked along the stone pathway, Tsumi breaths as she slid open the servant quarters door, the warm air hitting her faces as she steps into the room, it refreshing as Tsumi walks quickly blood dripping as she steps fast

Tsumi slides open another door, it’s colder but she steps inside. Sighing softly Tsumi Neils, sliding a blue box with yellow flowers over to her. Tsumi opens the box it’s filled with medical supplies and other things that must belong to her, a whine leaves her mouth as she carefully reaches for the bandages, setting them down on the cold floor

Tsumi let out a groan as she closed the box sliding it away, the blood from her arm stained her kimono, with shaky hands Tsumi wrapped her wound, she winced as the pull of the bandages caused discomfort as she finished, tightly wrapping the final bandage around her arm tying it… Tsumi huffs as she shakily stands up

Footsteps catch her attention, as they approach her room “Tsumi” the voice calls sliding the door open, it's another maid, she was young, seeming the same age as Tsumi “Y-yes…” Tsumi answers, holding her arm closely to herself “Are lord wishes to see you…” she says, sliding the door more

Tsumi sighed, nodding her head as she walked past the maid “He’s in the meeting room…” the maid said, a hum left Tsumi's mouth as she walked away, returning outside as the cold winter wind blew heavy as snowfalls, Tsumi moves her braided blonde hair to her shoulder hooking her arm around it…so it doesn't “fly” around, as Tsumi walks to the meeting room

----

As Tsumi approached the meeting room she could hear the sound of Mao yelling, she didn’t sound happy… she sounded distressed like there was a real reason for her to be yelling, Tsumi stopped at the door of the meeting room it was cracked slightly, Tsumi takes a breath before looking into the crack the scene that played in front of her hooked her to the core

“What do you mean the King of Curses is threatening our village?!” Mao yells, her black kimono swaying slightly as she yells, Yamato places his hand on Mao’s shoulder “Calm down let him explain” he says, Mao sighs rubbing her eyes “I’m sorry for yelling Father please explain!” Mao says, taking a seat on one of the three cushions in front of their Father…

Dai coughs, clearing his throat, “As I stated, Sukuna has given me an ultimatum… give him a sacrifice or the village burns.” Mao tenses as she listens to her Father explain, Yamato thinks for a moment “Who are you sacrificing?”, Dai coughs causing Mao to reach out for him “I’m fine Mao” Dai says raising his hand, stopping Mao

“But Yamato on that subject I’ve decided Tsumi will be the sacrifice…”

Tsumi's eyes widen as she listens, backing away from the door, her breath catching in her throat… Everything seemed to be spinning nothing looked right in Tsumi's eyes, her body shock at the weight of Dai's words, Tsumi knew he didn’t love her but sacrificing her to Sukuna seemed way too far for this sick man

“TSUMI!”

A voice yelled it was Mao, the teen was standing in front of Tsumi, her dark purple eyes staring harshly at Tsumi, she said nothing as the both of them stared at one another “Tsumi come we need to talk…” Dai spoke, waving her over

Shakily Tsumi stands, Mao lets out a groan as she walks past her, Yamato glares at Tsumi as she bows to Dai before taking a seat on the cushion in the middle closest to Dai “Tsumi I assume you overheard me correct?”, Tsumi nods her head avoiding Dai cold purple eyes “Seems you know what that means correct?” Dai asked Tsumi's blue eyes met with Dai’s for a moment as she speaks

“Y-yes I understand Father…” “Good, I’ll have the maid bring you a new kimono…” Dai informs coughing slightly, Tsumi clears her throat before she speaks catching Dai's attention “Father what if, I were to refuse this…” Mao groans as she hears Tsumi ask this question, Yamato does the same causing Tsumi to fall quiet, “You’d either die by Yamato’s hand or…a curse” Dai says his voice low, causing Tsumi to tense up, he never lied about killing anyone

“I-I understand…”

Mao laughs a little as she hears the fear in Tsumi's voice, Yamato sighs looking away from his sisters. Dai waves for the three to leave, Tsumi bows before standing up, Mao rolls her eyes as she stands-Yamato stands as Tsumi reaches the door, sliding the door open, disappearing into the dark hallway-Dai grabs hold of his bamboo cane, standing up slowly Yamato grabs hold of his Father as he coughs

“Tea…?” Mao, asks smiling softly at her father “Yes tea sounds great.” Dai answers, as Yamato smiles at the two, “I’ll ask the maid to prepare it!” Mao says, running out of the room, Yamato stares at his Father waiting for him to move, Dai shakily starts to walk his greyish-blonde hair swaying as he walks. Yamato holds him close making sure he doesn’t fall. As they step outside the meeting room Yamato slides the door behind him the lights being the only light in the dark cold hallway

----

Tsumi listened as a few maids whispered behind her, their hushed voices loud in her ear “Have you heard” One said her voice soft “No what's happening?” another question, Tsumi sighs blue eyes staring down at her freshly bandaged arm, “Tsumi is going to be the village sacrifices, to Sukuna” Tsumi listens as the maid behind her gossip, they stop as the head maid slides open the door, she looks displeased with them but motivations, as she walks forward two other maids follow holding a dark blue kimono

The three maids step out of the way as the head maid steps behind Tsumi before she can say anything, Tsumi's blue eyes meet her brown ones, the maid clears her throat as she looks away from Tsumi, “We need to get you ready” she says, backing up as Tsumi stands up holding her arm “Shall we…?”, the maid nods motioning for the other two maids to follow the both of them

Tsumi shivered as she pulls off her black kimono, the head maid's brown eyes staring at the scar that liter Tsumi's body “Seems the rumors are true…” she said, folding the black kimono and setting it to the side…Tsumi hums to the maid’s question as she starts to put the blue kimono on, tying the obi tightly around herself “I’ve heard things about Sukuna…if you can be careful!” The maid says bowing before leaving Tsumi

“I’ll try”

----

Tsumi's blue eyes stared at her hands as Dai's bamboo cane came into view “Tsumi…” he said, his voice harsh as his cane tapped against the ground, the coldness of the winter wind crept up Tsumi's spine as she choked on her breath, nerves stressed as her fears creep into her mind. What would happen to her, will she even live or would he kill her just cause he can

The fears of what could happen clouded Tsumi's mind as Dai's bamboo cane tapped against the meeting room floor, he seemed to want to get this over with. Everything spun in Tsumi's head, tears threatening to fall as she sat there overwhelmed by fear

Tsumi felt something hit her back causing her to look up, it was a curse she was tall, her head seeming to touch the roof of the room, Tsumi stared shocked by the curse… she had dark purple hair that was long tied into a high pony if let down it would reach the floor, Tsumi felt something hit her back again she looked it was a tail seeming to belong to the curse it was black with pink fluff at the end and the middle of it

Her was face turned to Dai, towering over him, “Didn’t Sukuna ask for Mao…?” she asked, voice echoing in the room “He did but Tsumi, my oldest daughter, requested to take her place!” Dai explained, glaring at the confused Tsumi. The curse groaned before her to face Tsumi, she was tan and her face was covered in black marking two locationed on her checks, while two sets of others sat above and under her eyes, her eyes were pink with “x” pupils

She hummed as Tsumi stared at her, the curse bent down showing off more about her. On the top of her head were two black horns with pink highlighting them, and her hair was tied with what seemed to be pink flowers. Was that part of her technique? As Tsumi's eyes looked over the curse’s body, her hand caught her attention they were black and faded into her skin at the joints of her arms, she had long black nails that complemented the black of her arms

“Tsumi stand we’re leaving” the curse ordered standing back up, Tsumi’s legs shook as she stood eyes staring down at her hands… “Come”, the curse said, stepping away from Dai. Tsumi followed close behind her hands shaking harshly, the curse led the both of them outside, snow falling softly in front of them

Tsumi looks up, staring at the snowflakes falling. It's soothing, the curse sighs “Follow, don't fall behind!” she orders stepping into the crunchy snow, Tsumi nods following close behind her

----

Divider credit - Sweetyparty

[blorbologist]

if you're still doing them: how about some antipathy/sympathy for kynan and cassandra?

36. Antipathy/Sympathy

"This spell attracts or repels creatures of your choice. You target something within range, either a Huge or smaller object or creature or an area that is no larger than a 200-foot cube. Then specify a kind of intelligent creature, such as red dragons, goblins, or vampires. You invest the target with an aura that either attracts or repels the specified creatures for the duration. Choose antipathy or sympathy as the aura's effect."

[This is a really fuckin hard spell to work with yet, so apologies that my muse took me in a bit of a different direction!]

[Set in my Cat’s Cradle AU - and a few months in the future of where the story currently is. So has a couple spoilers for what I have planned there!]

His last stop looks rich as all hells. It’s a relief, a big one, because Kynan can hide from the rain under the eaves without soaking his back and ring the doorbell. And wait. The downpour smothers any sound of approaching footsteps, but he does see the shadow of movement through the fancy frosted glass. 

“Hey - er, hi! Special delivery,” says Kynan as soon as the door opens. He forgot to get the pen handy, so he fumbles around for one to offer along with the clipboard. “Sign here.”

Holy shit, she’s cute. And looks exhausted as hell, which makes sense immediately because it’s the end of the term. But also not, because what student would order this much stupidly specific metal. Or maybe she’s an engineer? Engineering majors are always weird. 

His arms are getting tired - again, big box full of panels and parts - as she squints at the pen, at him, at the clipboard, at him, at the box. 

“I have got to get Percival to double check his address when he orders his gadgets online,” she sighs. “I’m sorry - this was my brother’s work. Could I still -”

“Oh yeah, definitely.” 

Probably not, but it’s all pros from where Kynan’s standing. A few more seconds out of the rain, for one. Not needing to carry this box back to the truck. And maybe, just maybe, he can get his head together to say something smart. 

“I, uh-”

Kynan jumps, almost drops probably ten pounds of robot guts on his foot, and yelps when something black and - jingling? - definitely jingling zips by, each bound down the steps punctuated by a cheery little bell.

“Rapier!”

Kynan’s halfway down the stairs already. “Rapper? You - sorry, you named your cat Rapper?!”

“Rapier,” she corrects. “Like a fencing sword.”

Okay, sure, that works. His eyes widen as the girl brushes past him and onto the stone pathway leading to her house. “What are you doing?! It’s pouring rain - get a coat on, the kitty can’t get far in this weather.”

She narrows her eyes - only barely, because they’re blown wide with distress.  “Only if you saw where she went.”

“Under my - the work truck.”

Kynan steels himself and, while she’s ducking back inside, kneels on the wet driveway concrete to peer between the wheels. And get on his hands, too, because she’s all the way back there, huh? 

“Here kitty kitty,” he chitters. Wide yellow eyes stare back at him, quite startled by the situation. Well, yeah, you got us into this mess. “Come on - uh - Rapier? Rapier, come on!”

She does not come on. Though she does chirp, which he thinks is a reassuring sign. Stretching his arm out to try and scratch her chin or scruff her ends up being a bad idea, though - she skitters farther back. Fuck. He can feel the rainwater bleeding through his pants. It’s freezing.

He makes his second embarrassing trill of the day when a heavy weight drops on his back. Turns his head to see the young woman, now securely wrapped in a raincoat. And something thrown over him, too.

“You’re soaked. It’s one of my brother’s that he’s forgotten here one too many times - at least it will keep you dry.”

“Oh.” Kynan realizes he’s still on his hands and knees, with a very fancy if worn coat hanging awkwardly off his back, in front of a very cute girl. In the middle of a storm. “Thank you?”

There’s a painfully awkward pause. “Cassandra. Cass. Pleasure to meet you.” She looks about to hold out her hand for a shake before she grins a bit sheepishly and stuffs it in her pocket. 

“I - thank you,” she says. “For helping.” 

“Well - I’m Kynan. Leore. Kynan Leore,” he stammers. “And - it’s nothing”

--

It’s not, actually, nothing.

The fugitive isn’t under the work truck long. She actually leads them on quite the chase until she actually runs into something that gets her to turn around.

Kynan has just a second to cow in triumph, cat bundled in his soaked coat (he stripped it to put on the dry one when Rapier got under the hedge) before he immediately regrets opening his big stupid mouth. 

“Fuck! You - fucking gross! Sorry,” he adds a bit sheepishly, even though Cassandra just looks amused by the sudden outburst. “She reeks - I think from the garbage bins? Fuck.”

Cassandra is cruel enough to laugh. He immediately wants more of it, and if the cat wasn’t so busy struggling to escape he’s pretty sure he’d get a look from the feline. 

“Let’s get you both inside,” she says, disturbing an array of mirrors as she skips through puddles. Gone is the exhaustion, just pure relief to have her cat safe, and - wow. With blue that pale, her pupils are obvious, honing in on the teeny fuzzy head. 

Rapier makes a really pathetic yowl, though, so. There was no look for him, there. Chill, Leore.

Cassandra opens the door for them both. “Never thought I’d be making this sort of delivery today,” Kynan says as he releases Rapier in the entrance. She takes the time to daintily shake her paws, about as miserably as Kynan feels. “I hope you’ve got towels for her - and you, too. You’ll catch a cold ”

“That’s an old wive’s tale.” Cassandra rolls her eyes. Rapier, sensing trouble, makes a jingling retreat further into the house, leaving a trail of damp pawprints in her wake. “It’s moreso the close proximity from staying inside to avoid the weather. It makes sharing colds easier.”

“Oh. That’s cool.” Kynan makes a face as he shucks that wonderfully warm coat. He’ll remember it fondly. And this whole evening, really, even if he’s sure he’s getting a cold out of it, no matter what Cassandra says. “Well. I’m glad I could help! And, uh, I hope your brother gets the package safe, and that -”

Something in Cassandra’s look stops him.

“How long of a drive do you have? Until you’ll be home and have a change of clothes?”

Kynan frowns. “I mean? Between getting back to work, clocking out, and the traffic this time of day? … Probably an hour.” 

She hums, glancing away. Her hair is only faintly damp, on account of the hood she’d had up. Dark brown, with streaks of - blond? Or white? It’s really pretty. 

“... Percy hasn’t been by in months,” she says, almost to herself. “I told him I’d get rid of his things if he didn’t -” There’s a very decided nod that makes Kynan stand a little straighter. “Right. You - Kynan? Mind staying there? I’ll get you a change of clothes. I think you’re roughly of height. And then I’m treating you to tea. For catching my little lady.”

He blanches. The coat alone, even a bit tattered, is probably a few day’s pay. Just loaning it to hunt for a cat in the rain felt decadent. “I - no, really, it’s fine -”

“It’s really not.”

“How about - what - dry up the kitty first?” he tries. “And I’ll throw my coat over a heater and leave when it’s dry. Fair?”

Cassandra sniffs through her nose. From anyone else - from someone else in particular - he’d call it disdainful, but it’s… actually really cute? And it feels affectionate. 

“Fair,” she agrees, swiping a towel from a nearby bathroom. He helpfully points out where Rapier’s pawprints lead as he works to unlace his running shoes (fuck he feels super poor, extra poor, wearing old no-name sneakers on this fancy tile). 

And then his phone rings.

“Oh - sorry. My boss. Gotta -” Kynan clears his throat. Cassandra actually smiles - really smiles! - and waves a go-ahead, padding off in pursuit of her cat.

“Hi! Sorry, sorry - something came up. A cat got out, and given it’s the end of my shift I figured -” he shuts up. Listens. Nods, dutifully, even if she can’t see it. Hears the scuffling of towel. “Yes. I understand, it’s very - very unprofessional. I know, but - yes, Ripley ma’am. It won’t happen again. Promptly - yeah. Goodbye.”

“Sorry,” he’s been repeating that a lot, lately, but it feels a lot better saying it to Cassandra. “She’s a real - er - hardass? About efficiency, and all -”

“Get out.”

Until it doesn’t. 

“Sorry?” squeaks Kynan.

She’s looking at him like - not like he’s beneath her, the way rich folk do. It’s worse, it’s the look his old man has when he’s fucked up, and pissed him off, and offended him. Even worse - it can always get worse - he sees the face in the mirror, bruised and scared that this’ll be it. 

“Get off my property,” Cassandra snarls, clutching the cat to her chest. It looks just as confused as he feels. “Leave, now, before I call the cops.”

… That last bit shook too much to be a real threat, but he’d not want to turn it into one. Kynan bites his tongue and gets out of there as soon as he can, hears the lock and deadbolt behind him. The rain hasn’t let up. He can’t stop and think, either, because she’s scared and angry and he doubts Ripley would back him up if he loitered. So it’s on autopilot that he gets the keys into the ignition and drives away, Google Maps reminding him cheerfully of the most efficient route back to work.

What did he do?

[sciencelings-writes]

All in Good Time

Day 1 of Zelink Week 2023 hosted by @zelinkcommunity

Prompt: Yearning

WC: 6072

Ao3 Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/48491140

Part of my Fem!Zelink AU, this is also the only one (this week) that incorporates LU

Wild couldn’t sleep. Despite being in an insulated room inside of an actual house after weeks of dealing with rocky ground and late-night monster attacks, despite feeling like she was closer to home than she had been since she had left her own time, despite the chorus of deep even breaths and the occasional snore that would normally lull her into the comfortable darkness, she just couldn’t sleep. 

The entire day had been wonderful, she had spent a good amount of it enjoying the luxuries of an actual kitchen with appliances rather than the simple fire she was used to dealing with. Cooking was one of the few typically feminine hobbies she found herself drawn to and she was sure that if she were born a man, she’d still like the activity just as much. It was far more pleasant than cleaning the sables and the cucco coops and hauling hay around all day. 

Lon Lon Ranch felt so close to home, but at the same time, not nearly close enough. It had the same smells and ambiance as her home farming village of Hateno, she could so easily hear the mooing cows on the way to Purah’s lab and the clicking of horseshoes against the stone pathways. Even the melody Malon hummed absentmindedly to herself felt so familiar.

But it was missing the most important thing. Or, she supposed, the most important person. 

It had been an ache she had felt since stepping through the first dark mysterious portal, every time she pulled out the Sheikah slate to take a picture of something that didn’t exist in their time, every time she spotted a frog or listened to Sky’s melancholy harp serenade, the emptiness in her chest intensified. 

It was such a sappy thing to admit, but she missed Zelda with her entire heart. Every moment away was an unending physical pain that she never seemed to get used to. For years they’d snuck through the shadows to see each other, even if it was unlikely for anyone to figure out what had truly been going on between them. They’d already been separated for a century, Wild balancing on the very edge of death and her princess fighting to keep the embodiment of hatred from destroying the entire kingdom. Being thrown into another adventure had been reopening a wound that had only just started to heal to tear them apart once more. 

Not even Warriors snoring was loud enough to drown out the thoughts she found herself being drawn towards. She tortured herself with imaginary sensations of her lover's fingers combing through her hair, commenting through a smile about how long it had gotten. How she never flinched away after touching the myriad of scars that branded her skin when the princess herself possessed nothing of the sort despite fighting for far longer. How her voice rang in Wild’s ears when reading a new book out loud, desperate to share her most recent fixation with the one person who was delighted to listen. 

It was impossible to lure her thoughts away even when the backs of her eyes started to burn, no attempt at distracting herself would last for more than a few seconds and she very easily gave up on trying, but she knew that she couldn’t carry on her session of wallowing for much longer before there was going to be consequences. And though the rancher could sleep through Warriors snoring directly in his ear without a single issue, she was sure that Twilight would snap awake if she even sniffled. He seemed to have an extra sense for whenever someone was even mildly distressed. 

Perhaps it was a good idea to get some fresh air. 

Even though the room was pretty large and could fit eight heroes in it pretty easily, it didn’t leave a whole lot of floor space between them. The slight anxiety of tiptoeing between each slumbering body momentarily delayed her insomnia-fueled spiral of yearning, at this point, it would’ve been pretty inconvenient if Four woke up because of a slightly creaky wooden floorboard next to his head. 

At least the door was quieter, as long as she turned the nob at an unbearably slow pace. She resisted the urge to rush her exit knowing it would make too much noise, but only barely. 

The moment she was confident in her success, she padded over to a nearby tree, paying no mind to the fact that she was barefoot, only focusing on the chirping of the crickets hidden in the foliage. She leaned against its trunk and slid down until she had landed in a sitting position on the cool soft grass. 

The sheikah slate flashed to life in her hands as she instinctually swiped to a familiar screen. Her gallery of photographs. She ignored the stunning landscapes and the, in her opinion, hilarious images, one of which was Wolfie trying to pick up a Stalnox bone that was far too large for his mouth. She tapped on a recent image that she always found herself being drawn to.

Zelda had just cut her hair, she couldn’t stop grinning about it. She had to agree with the Great Deku Tree on this one, her princess's smile was easily comparable to the sun. It almost blinded her but she never even considered looking away. She was blessed to witness it, and even more blessed to capture it in the memory of the slate, knowing that her own could be unreliable. 

It was a beautiful image, but Wild didn’t spare a thought at the natural lighting of the sunny day, or the backdrop of the hills behind their home, not the spring flowers blooming all around her or the vibrant glimpse of blue from their pond. She could only see Zelda’s freckles, a feature she had developed since spending every daylight moment outside if she wasn’t holed up in Purah’s lab. Her sparkling green eyes that Wild swore had flakes of gold in the right lighting. How ethereally gold her hair was, as if she was forged by the most skilled Gerudo artisan. 

Ever since she’d been freed from the Calamity, she’d resolved to abandon nearly every responsibility of royalty, becoming someone free from the burdens that had nearly drowned her before, knowing that even attempting to rebuild the empire that fell was not the job for a teenager who wasn’t even quite an adult yet. Perhaps that was something she could devote her time to later.

Wild could admit, the wind in her hair and the machine oil staining most of her clothes were far more charming than stuffy dresses and heavy jewelry. But it was really the fact that she smiled and laughed far more often that really made her appreciate the decision. It was easy to forget that though Link was the Hero of the Wild, her counterpart was also deserving of the title, it was where they both thrived after all. 

Zelda would likely say something about how every action there was an equal and opposite reaction, which is what looking at the photograph while being so far away in time from the subject felt like. She loved her princess with such force that the, hopefully temporary, loss of her was just as debilitating. The perfectly warm soft memory of holding her princess in her arms was just as much a source of comfort as the lack of the action being unable to be repeated after months of wandering was soul-crushing. 

She forced herself away from the image and back to the inventory screen. She tapped the icon for her beloved's favorite flower. In a flash of ancient swirling blue light, a silent princess appeared in her hand. She wiped a bit of moisture with her sleeve before it could escape her eyes, squeezing them together in a failed attempt to keep it all in. 

She hoped that her exponentially building sobs were being drowned out by the lively nighttime sounds, but she was never that lucky. 

The grass rustled with the nearing steps of someone she was definitely not expecting. Her head snapped up to the intruder, maybe Time had spotted her through his bedroom window, or she hadn’t been as successful at sneaking away as she had thought and Twilight had come to investigate, but it was neither of them. The pale light of the moon reflected off of a disheveled head of blonde hair with a distinctive streak of pink. It was easy to imagine him wearing a long floppy sleep cap, with an old brass candle holder that has a little handle only big enough for a single finger, on top of the nightgown he wore to sleep when they weren’t paranoid about the possibility of a midnight ambush. 

“Champ? You okay?” The veteran’s groggy voice was only barely loud enough to be heard over the natural night sounds.

For a moment, she considered lying, dismissing his concern knowing that he was the least likely to pry into her mess of feelings. But she had been holding it in for far too long, and she knew for a fact that he would understand. Perhaps if it were in the daylight, when she could fully see his face, when she felt far more exposed, she wouldn’t have said anything. But the nuances of her expression were hidden in the darkness, and the exhaustion from the day wore on her judgment.

“I miss her.” She started simply but once she took the first step, she found herself tumbling down the metaphorical stairs. “I thought… after a hundred years, it would be over. We would be together and we wouldn’t have to hide anymore. We would get a chance to figure out what we wanted to be without the meddling of fate, but I guess I was being too optimistic. If dying couldn’t get destiny off my back then why would the defeat of some monster.”

“I know that it’s more likely than not that she’s safe and healthy and it’s far from accurate to say that I’ve lost her forever, it’s not like she’s dead or anything. She’s just so unimaginably far away that not even letters can reach, and I miss her. It feels silly to worry about that when there are mutated monsters trying to kill us at every turn, but no matter how much I try, my thoughts always return to her.” Wild continued, deliberately keeping her gaze away from Legends. 

“For the record, I don’t think it’s silly,” He sat alongside her, joining her in resting his back against the tree, its curvature keeping them from having to look directly at each other, it was much more comfortable for both of them that way. “But if I knew how to help you I would probably be a lot more mentally healthy myself.” 

“I wasn’t really expecting some uplifting pep talk, you’re not Twilight. I’m just tired of pretending that I’m fine all the time. It’s worse here, I didn’t expect to be jealous of the old man reuniting with his wife. They’re just too cute with each other, I can’t stand it.” A fraction of a smile found its way onto her face, though it had no correlation to how happy she was. 

“I bet he’s cuddling her right now, the selfish bastard,” Legend spat, causing a surprised huff of laughter from his companion.

“How dare he, just look at the way he openly adores his wife! What an asshole!” Wild matched his mock outrage, folding her arms indignantly, the sheikah slate sat abandoned on her lap. 

“The audacity of some people, honestly. Who gave him the right to be happily married within my view.” 

“There should be laws against this. We should talk to his Zelda about it.” 

“I’m sure she’d hear us out, I doubt they’re even less shameless in front of the queen. It’s probably annoying to her too,”  The veteran reasoned. 

“It is decided, I’ll write the proposal in the morning.” Wild slumped her head on Legend's shoulder as the exhaustion of the day left the stage of depressive spiraling and into actual weariness. The sensation of heaviness on her eyelids far outweighed the feeling of developing tears that had overcome them only minutes before.

She unfolded her arms and lifted up the glowing flower into her direct view again. The silent princess lazily spun between her fingers, its luminous pollen sprinkling off into the gentle breeze like fairy dust. 

“Can you… not tell anyone about this? I don’t want to worry anyone,” The champion muttered after several minutes of blissful quiet. 

“Just as long as you don’t tease me for being a softie again.” 

“Then stop pretending that you don’t curl up and use Wolfie as a pillow every other night.”

“Shut up,” 

In the morning they would be found unmoved from their spot under the tree, the silent princess would be braided into her hair, and the tears would’ve long since dried. 

By the time Time awoke and would decide to check on his incarnations, and thinking of a fun way to wake them up, he would notice a blanket covering the separated duo, and he would decide to allow them a few more minutes of sleep. Though it wasn’t entirely out of the kindness of his heart, he knew they’d both complain about soreness when they woke up from sleeping in such an odd position.  

It’ll serve them right for talking behind his back. 

***

Sometimes it was easy to tell where the portals had taken them, they were a group of well-traveled heroes so there were many ways to determine when they had ended up. Whether that be from obvious landmarks or foliage only recognizable in one era or even just stumbling across people one of them knew directly. Hero-ing came with plenty of opportunities to network after all. 

This was not one of those times. 

Even if any of them could see further than a few feet ahead of them in the dense blizzard, it wouldn’t do much use. The snowy mountains all looked the same and not a single rock formation was enough for one to pinpoint their location. 

Normally the group's goal would be to find civilization and ask about strange happenings, but right now, their main objective was to avoid freezing to death. Their resources were already spread thin, not all of them had been prepared for the extreme change in climate. 

Four and Wind rode on Epona's back, accepting that the snow was far too deep for them to walk in without much in the way of protection from the elements. Legend and Hyrule had given up bundling themselves up separately and now shared both of their blankets in an attempt to retain whatever heat they could in the storm. Warriors scarf had migrated from his neck to being wrapped around his mouth and nose, and his hands were firmly being pressed under his armpits in an attempt to keep them from growing too cold. It turned out that fingerless gloves were only practical in more temperate environments. 

Even Time had to forego his heavy armor in favor of as many layers as he could dig out from his pack, his jaw set stubbornly in place to keep them from chattering together in the unyielding chill of the wind. Unfortunately, it was a battle he would end up losing, though he put on a valiant effort. 

Wild led them from the front of the group, as what naturally tended to occur when the world around them was treacherous and unknown. Though they were all seasoned adventurers, she had an instinct for wilderness survival that had saved their lives on many occasions. 

For several hours she had feared that she had led them in circles, the eternal blinding fog from the storm made it feel as though they had stayed stationary the entire time. While they hadn’t made many turns it felt as though the boulder they had passed was the same one from an hour ago. 

At first, they tried to spend the trek amusing themselves in one way or another, Wind tried to teach them a sailor shanty he had learned and was lucky enough not to understand the full meaning of, Hyrule started a very short game of i-spy that fizzled out once he realized that the only thing they could see was snow and the occasional tree. Four tried to quiz them on all sorts of knowledge but it turned out that what he knew was very different than what everyone else knew. 

By the end of the day they traveled silently, quietly begging for even a hint that they had made any progress in their journey, and like a trail of light from the goddess herself, they were given something even better. 

For a moment the blizzard eased up enough to see the valley they had just begun to enter. They were at the top of a familiar slope lined with balls of snow that had once been used to solve a puzzle. It took only a single glance for Wild’s hope to be reignited. 

“Good news boys! I know where we are!” She forced more enthusiasm into her voice than she had energy left in her body, “There’s a cave at the bottom and it’s not even a boring one!” 

Wild forced herself to slowly make her way down the valley to keep everyone in her sights, for the first few cautious slippery steps she was excited. She was home! She was finally in the same time period as Zelda, theoretically. Time travel could be weird but they never appeared just outside of anyone’s eras. Yet. So while recognizing a snow-covered slope wasn’t complete confirmation that Zelda was finally within arms reach, Wild decided to remain hopeful. Until she remembered how far away the hebra mountains were from Hateno. Or even just anywhere that her princess was likely to be. She couldn’t just expect that Zelda would remain stationary just because Wild wasn’t there to follow her around. 

Her heart sank in parallel with the group's descent into the ice. She had no idea where Zelda would be, the shrines had been offline for a while, it was still several days hike to get to any form of civilization and it was more than unlikely that the first people they came across would just have happened to have seen the princess wandering by.

It was best to focus on her current task instead of letting herself hope like that. Get everyone to safety. Get out of the storm. Attempt to transfer all her useless emotional energy into something she can actually use, like cooking an astronomical amount of food, or hitting something really hard with her sword. She could pretend that exhausting herself in one way or another would help but knew deep down that it probably wouldn’t.

Soon the rectangular manmade opening was visible through the snow, Wild stayed at its edge to count each Link that made it there, hoping to Hylia that no one got lost in her haste to get to safety. Two on a horse, one leading the horse, two in a bundle of blankets, one trying to give his sailcloth to another who was shivering pretty hard, and one at the end making sure no one fell behind.  

“Ready to see a really big skeleton?” Wild patted Time’s bicep as they entered the ice cave. 

“Is it prone to reanimating?” The man grumbled, and the champion nearly laughed. 

“Nope, it’s just a leviathan. Apparently, they used to be gods, but I think that anytime people see something big they say that.” Wild moved to help Wind off of Epona, normally he could jump off himself, but the ground was a little slick and it would not be fun to slam into it.

“That is a pretty big skeleton…” The old man's eye widened microscopically, for some reason, it was hard to impress him. She hoped to manage it someday. 

“Link?” almost in unison the whole group turned their heads towards the voice, but none faster than Wild. She probably could’ve snapped her neck at the speed her head spun. If she had been holding anything, she would’ve dropped it without a thought. 

Between them and the great skeleton was a modest campsite, only consisting of a fire and a bedroll, a little stool to hold a modest notebook while a white horse stood nearby, though it was none of those things that caught Wild’s attention. 

Dressed in a mix of her royal wintery whites and insulating Rito fabrics, was the one person she had been yearning to see since the moment she left. Who, only moments ago she was mourning the lack of likelihood of being able to see again any time soon. Whose absence she had cried over and whose presence followed her wherever she went in the slate that sat at her hip. 

Without making the conscious decision to, Wild was suddenly running, in moments that passed so quickly it was hard to tell if they happened at all, she had landed in her girlfriend's arms. The momentum caused them to stumble a bit but Wild somehow managed to keep standing, despite the weakness in her knees that wasn’t there a couple seconds before. 

“Hey princess,” her voice was hoarse, and she was acutely unaware of the fact that she was surrounded by her brothers. It was like they had just disappeared and she hadn’t even noticed. She could only focus on the warmth in her arms and the smell of Zelda’s hair and nothing else existed or mattered. 

“I hope you haven’t been getting into too much trouble,” Her princess teased quietly in her ear, Link could feel her smiling against her skin. 

“I think you know better than to hope for that,” Wild backed away and loosened her hug, but only a little bit. Only enough for Zelda to squirm her arms to cradle her lover's face before pulling her in. 

Her kiss was magic, or maybe it was just her. Link had spent so long holding onto the constant quiet sadness of missing her that it felt like a miracle when it evaporated from her being. She could hardly imagine knowing what sorrow was now. She could just be being dramatic, but her love for Zelda was enough to defeat a great beast made of hatred, it was a reasonable assumption to make that it was a powerful thing. 

Link was so caught up in the euphoria of seeing her princess again that she had nearly forgotten that she hadn’t come alone. Thankfully when she was able to drag her eyes away from Zelda, her brothers had all made an attempt to give them some privacy. Some of them were better at pretending to set up camp than others, Twilight just stood at Epona’s side and smiled in the way he did that made her nervous about what stories he had in mind to embarrass her with.

At least while Hyrule was working on building a fire, he only let his curiosity draw his eyes toward them a couple of times. The others were somewhere on that spectrum of trying to give them a moment while also snooping with various rates of noticeability. Warriors was definitely just fidgeting with one of the bags on Epona’s back and not planning on actually unpacking. She could tell that Wind was just itching to meet Zelda and tease Wild about their obvious PDA. 

She would’ve been nervous about their reactions, but she had hinted about her relationship for a while and they always seemed very casual about it. It had gone from agreeing with some of the others that girls were pretty, to practically stating outright that she was in a relationship with a woman. Though she never discussed it very in-depth, she still struggled with holding onto her emotions a little too tightly. 

Wild took another lengthy moment to enjoy Zelda’s closeness before she’d have to start introductions and explanations, but for now, she was exactly where she wanted to be. Zelda’s gloved thumb whipped a tear from her face, with a look so fond she just might have gotten a cavity from it. 

“You missed me that much, huh?” The princess's voice was borderline teasing but there wasn’t a hint of genuine malice in it. 

“What can I say, I’m tired of being taken away from you. For some unimaginable, crazy reason, I’m just happier when you’re around.” 

“It’s almost like you love me or something…” 

“How absurd, it’s not like you’re the smartest, most beautiful, not to mention most strong and ambitious, princess in the history of forever. Now that I’ve done some time traveling, I can actually confirm that fact.” She tried to sound serious with her voice perfectly level but she was a little too high on emotions to have that kind of control. Thankfully Zelda didn’t seem to mind that she stumbled over her words a little or that her voice was a little hoarse. 

“That’s not fair, you know I’m bad at taking compliments you…hero…” She patted Wild’s grinning cheek as a replacement for bumping her partner's shoulders or giving her a light playful punch to her perfectly solid biceps, but her limbs were being squeezed in a hug so the best she could do was pout and slap her cheek with only a few inches of built-up force behind it. 

“You could also work on making up better insults for me, but I guess we both have our faults,” the hero laughed, her princess was easy to catch off guard when it came to sudden bouts of nice things being thrown her way, even more so when it was so clear to her how genuine Link consistently was about it. Zelda was trained to always search for someone trying to manipulate her or have ulterior motives, and it didn’t help that she spent so long without much kindness being granted to her at all.   

“One of yours being that you’ve been ungracious to your travel companions,” the princess turned to the group of eavesdropping heroes, “I truly apologize on Link’s behalf, I’m sure she didn’t mean to neglect you all.” At the prompting, Wild loosened her embrace and allowed the princess to free herself, though she still kept an arm wrapped around her waist, it still felt too soon to completely let her go. 

“Fine,” Wild rolled her eyes, “Princess, these are my spiritual predecessors, Link, Hylia’s first chosen hero,” She pointed at Sky, who managed a little wave, “Link, the small one,” She pointed at Four, “Link, the hero of time, I think it’s his dark counterpart that Kilton was obsessed with, I think he’s the only one with such dramatically middle parted bangs like that…” She gestured towards Time, who raised an eyebrow but stayed silent. 

“Link, my favorite person to get lost with,” She pointed at Hyrule who smiled at his description, “Link, the pink one with too many titles and weird adventures so we just call him the Veteran,” She passed over to Legend. 

“Link, the one whose horse I legally share custody of due to magic timeline weirdness,” She gestured toward Twilight, knowing that she would have to give her girlfriend much more information on that one, but it would have to be later. There were still secrets that should be kept. 

“Link, the sailor who would be a pirate if he was less of a wuss and would let me peirce his ears,” Her smile towards Wind was not well received. 

“Well, maybe if you wanted to do it with something other than the dagger you use to skin rabbits I’d be more interested!” He defended himself valiantly, but Wild just grinned as she moved on to their last member. 

“Finally, we also have Link, the only one I don’t think we have records on but I’m still pretty sure he’s in the late era of myth.” Warriors performed a dramatic bow when Wild’s outstretched finger finally reached him. “Everyone, this is Zelda, the genius who is somehow crazy enough to put up with me. Now that that’s all dealt with, what do we want for dinner?” 

***

For the first time in months, when Wild was able to settle down in her bedroll, she was fully at ease. She knew she would sleep easy and that she wouldn’t spend hours awake, desperately trying to lose consciousness. She was glad to not have to rely on pure exhaustion to get her to succumb to the darkness, that she wouldn’t have to find some quiet way to spend as much energy as she could whenever she wasn’t allowed to take first watch. 

For once, she couldn’t wait to settle in and not be afraid of the potential nightmares that rejoiced in haunting her. Zelda had that kind of effect on her, erasing the recurring terror that refused to leave her mind, comforting her when no other person could. When normally she tried to hold out on sleeping as long as possible, she was nearly excited to lie down on a bed that was little more than a cocoon of cloth on a surface of ice and stone. 

Zelda’s skin was smooth beneath her fingers, her hands had wedged themself between the soft warn tunic that she used as a nightshirt as if mere contact with her was a healing force. Though, Link supposed, it very well could have a power like that. It certainly felt like it. 

The bedroll was large enough to fit both of them, just as long as they were cuddled tightly together, which would’ve only been a problem if they were stuck in Gerudo Desert or Death Mountain. But sharing heat was no issue, quite the opposite. 

Their legs were intertwined like a messy braid, their bodies offset slightly so Wild’s head rested comfortably on her princess's chest. Short nails grazed through her hair in a calming rhythm that caused her to melt into Zelda’s form even more. 

“I missed you Aryll.” her voice was soft, hushed enough to keep the name from reaching anyone else's ears. It was like a secret between them, her true name. It wasn’t as though she didn’t like the ones she was more openly called, Link or Wild, she was happy sharing a name with the heroes. She loved how it connected them and how it turned her from a person to a force of nature. It united them and showed that no matter how different they looked, they were the same in the ways that mattered. 

But Aryll… that was the name that had long died off, that only a select few had the honor of knowing. It was who she was without the baggage of being the hero, free from the chains of fame, it was the name that wasn’t whispered among gossiping townspeople below the castle who scoffed at her accomplishments. There weren’t many people left who knew of her true name, a few Zora who still used the hero's name despite knowing she had another. 

Link was the name of someone great, someone powerful and courageous that people would tell bedtime stories to their kids about, she was proud to be one of them, she wore the name like a badge of honor when it was once a row of chains. Link was the name of someone blessed by the love of the goddess and born to fight an impossible evil and even though it was a heavy burden, she knew that she could carry it and it was that name that led her to the one she loved most, whos breath she could feel rustling the hair on her scalp. 

Aryll was a closely held secret, one she was reluctant to share with even the brothers she had grown so attached to. She trusted them, of course she trusted them with her life, but she already felt different from them, it was nice pretending that she was as much of a hero as they were. Deep down she knew she was separate from them, not just through her gender but through time and her failures, the name was just one more thing proving that she wasn’t really one of them. 

She liked being one of them. 

“I’ve missed you since the moment I left, it’s nice to be home.” Wild, Link, Aryll muttered into her princess's collarbone.  

“We’re still pretty far from Hateno, nearly as far as we could get without leaving the kingdom,” Zelda commented. 

“That’s just where our house is, as cliche as it is to admit, I feel more at home with you than some house I bought to keep from being demolished.” 

“You’ve always been the sappy one, but I suppose home hasn’t been the same without you getting flour all over it. At least when I’m rambling at you, you usually hum or make some kind of noise to show that you’re at least pretending to listen. Hateno is a little lonely without your voice.” She uttered wistfully. 

“That sounds pretty sappy to me. You know you don’t have to hide it, I bet there’s a journal full of poetry of your flowery words about me, I bet you could write about my countless clumsy trips down the stairs and make it sound like the kinds of songs Kass would sing. I know you have a magical way with words that have been lost with all of the bastards who poisoned the court. I’m sure you could make me do anything with those lips of yours.” 

“Not in the same cave as your predecessors darling, you’re not very quiet on normal nights but this place has outstanding acoustics.” Zelda smiled slyly above Wild’s reddening ear. 

“You know that’s not what I was trying to say… but I guess we should try to find some time alone at some point, I’m sure I could set the boys loose on Rito Village, I don’t think most of them have seen a Rito before. It’ll keep them busy for long enough for me to slip with you somewhere, just like old times.” 

“I can’t say that I miss the paranoia of being caught, but I suppose there was a certain thrill that came with it. I’m sure we can find some dark corners to pull each other into.” 

“I’m looking forward to it. I’ve also been looking forward to this, to being with you again.” Though she was weary from traveling and the months of yearning left her exhausted when she finally had no reason to do so anymore, though she had finally found an overwhelming sense of peace that weighed her down like a hefty worn blanket, she fought to stay awake, just a moment longer. It seemed like such a waste to spend her time with Zelda sleeping when she knew all too well that it would be limited. 

“Close your eyes, my dear hero, I’ll still be here in the morning, if anything tries to take you away from me until then, they’ll be sorry.” Zelda seemed to read her mind, though it wasn’t as if this was the first time Link had remained awake in her lover's arms, as if they were about to lose each other at any moment. Perhaps she just wasn’t that hard to read. 

“Hylia help any poor soul that tries to get in your way,” Link huffed a silent laugh, though she still took a moment of hesitation before closing her eyes. There was still a drop of uncertainty. There was still a chance that when she awoke, her princess would be gone. Whether it be because this whole miracle had been a dream, it surely felt like it, or because the pursuit of dark monsters required a more rushed investigation.

“Sleep Aryll, you know you won’t be able to resist for long anyway,” Zelda rested her chin on her swordswoman's head and tightened her grip around her shoulders just a little bit tighter. 

Aryll enjoyed a slow deep inhale, relishing in her princess’s aroma that she had longed for, the only faint reminders lingered on the clothes she had brought with her but the scent had faded into nothingness. Now she was here, totally and completely consumed by it and her warmth once again. 

She couldn’t imagine wanting a single thing more. 

[vh-rp]

The Galeb Duhr

HABITAT: Underground, Thaigs, Caves, Wherever there is stone COMPANION: No MOUNT: No SHAPSHIFT: Yes RANGER CALL: No Guardians of: The Blightedsprites

When galeb duhr were not moving, they could choose to appear exactly like a boulder, but when they opened their eyes or moved, one could see that they had dark, foreboding eyes, a wide mouth, and two appendages that acted as both hands and feet.

The makeup of a galeb duhr's body always matched the type of stone around which it lived. For example, those from areas with large amounts of quartz deposits might have a more quartz-like composition. Granite-like galeb duhr were the most common variety. Galeb duhr never had bodies made from sandstone or other such sedimentary rock.

Physical Characteristics Galeb duhr ranged in size from four feet (one meter) in height to as large as sixteen feet (five meters). Their rough, stony exteriors made them appear as unassuming boulders when they were still, blending seamlessly into their rocky surroundings. This camouflage ability served as both a defensive mechanism and a means to ambush potential threats or prey.

Movement and Dexterity They were very slow-moving creatures with a steady gait. It was not possible for them to hold anything in their "hands" while walking, but if they were "sitting" they could manipulate objects with their hands with surprising dexterity. Despite their slow pace, galeb duhr possessed incredible strength, capable of moving massive rocks and creating pathways through solid stone.

Habitat Galeb duhr primarily reside underground in the expansive network of caverns and tunnels of Thedas. Their preferred habitats are areas rich in mineral deposits, particularly those with abundant granite, quartz, or other hard rock formations. These underground realms provided the galeb duhr with both sustenance and protection, as they could meld seamlessly with their surroundings.

Behavior and Ecology Galeb duhr are solitary creatures, typically avoiding interaction with other species unless necessary. They have a profound connection with the earth, able to sense vibrations through the ground, which alerts them to the presence of other creatures or environmental changes. This sense allows them to detect intruders or potential threats from great distances.

Their diet consists mainly of minerals and rocks, which they grind down using their powerful jaws. This diet contributes to their robust and resilient bodies, making them even harder to injure or destroy.

Role in Thedas In the world of Thedas, galeb duhr play a crucial role in maintaining the balance of underground ecosystems. Their movements and activities help to aerate the soil and create new tunnels, which can provide pathways for other subterranean creatures. Moreover, their presence can deter more dangerous underground dwellers, providing a form of natural pest control.

Galeb duhr are also known to guard ancient treasures or relics buried deep within the earth. These creatures have an innate sense of the value of certain minerals or artifacts, often leading them to protect these items fiercely from would-be treasure hunters.

Interaction with Other Species While generally reclusive, galeb duhr have been known to interact with other intelligent species on rare occasions. These interactions are often driven by necessity rather than curiosity, such as negotiating passage through their territory or seeking assistance in times of environmental distress. They communicate through deep, rumbling tones that resonate through the ground, making their speech difficult to decipher for those unfamiliar with their ways.

Myth and Legend Legends surrounding galeb duhr often depict them as ancient guardians of the earth, embodying the spirit of the land itself. Some cultures revere them as protectors of nature, believing that they can bring prosperity to the land by blessing it with their presence. Others view them with fear and respect, wary of their immense strength and mysterious nature.