#file: ezra bridges

[bbrrambo]

𝟕'𝐬 𝐇𝐞𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟒

[ 2023 ] [ 2022 ]

I FINALLY DID IT YALL <3

[galaxyedging]

A little Halloween visit to my Pedro Boy motel.

Agent Ortega x f!reader, The Thief x f!reader

(My Ortega and Reader from Trust and my Thief from New Year's Eve.)

WC:3.9k

Warnings: Smut. Unprotected P in V sex. Cum eating. Blow job. Literal magical sex. Blood and gore.

Summary: The motel usually makes dreams come true. On Halloween, things get even more magical.

Part of And It Just Keeps Getting Better

Halloween Weekend

Mrs Lord pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed. Her eyes were beginning to ache from going over paperwork. It just so happened that Halloween fell on one of their Fantasy Weekends and she was determined to make it memorable. Everything had to be perfect from the themed mocktails to the costumes, oh boy, would there be costumes. The thought of the guys all dressed up was almost too much. The clients would go nuts. Almost entirely lost in her vision she didn't realise that she was being watched. Something was stalked through the house towards her. It took its time, keeping its footsteps slow and gentle so as to not make a sound. It was only when it was right by her paperwork covered bed that she saw it

"I vant to suck your blood. Blah!" The creature announced as it pounced on her.

"Maxwell!" She playfully admonished. "You'll crumple my paperwork!"

"Sorry, Mi Vida. I just can't help it. You look good enough to eat." He managed to get out around his fake fangs.

"To eat, huh?" She raised an eyebrow at him.

That's how Max in his leather posing pouch and little black cape came to be face down between her legs for the next half an hour, thankfully minus the plastic glow in the dark fangs, while she deliberated over the food menu. Once she was satisfied in more ways than one, it was her turn to suck.

"Pathetic fallacy." Ezra mumbled as he looked out of his window.

Gregor lifted his head from the book he was reading. "Huh?"

"Oh nothing. It just seems like the weather has decided to join us in the festive mood. There's a storm coming in."

"I'm going to check the storm shutters just in case those clouds don't blow over. We've got enough food and water if we get cut off. Can you check the radios are all charged and handed out?" Joel asked Dave as he checked his tool box.

"Were you a survivalist in a past life?" Dave ribbed his friend.

"Something like that." Joel muttered heading out.

"Mrs Lord, I took down some of your decorations outside. If the wind picks up it'll rip through them like a tornado in a trailer park." Jack deposited the gathered decorations on the desk.

"Thank you, Jack." Mrs Lord gave him a half smile. It was all she could give him with the stress this weekend on her head.

Everything had been fine, all but one guest had checked in. All the preparations were complete. Then the sky started to darken. The weatherman had called for clear skies, it was unnerving to see anything but. With their location they had prepared for situations like this. They had a backup generator, emergency supplies, they were in a good position should the worst happen.

Mrs Lord let out a steadying breath. "It'll be fine."

Lightning flashed across the sky, it was almost lost against the lights of the reception room. The accompanying thunder was definitely lost against the sounds of the party in full swing. Almost all of the guests were happily paired with a partner for the night. Din, in his Knight costume, had a woman on each arm. Ezra in his best Pirate Captain threads had accepted a client. Oberyn was dressed as a god in golden robes, much to Dieter's delight, who was dressed, fittingly, as a housecat. His 'costume' consisted of a black jumper, black sweats and cat ears. It was almost as half hearted as Jack's Cowboy costume, which consisted of his normal clothing. Even Joel had put in a bit more effort with his pale face paint and neck bolts. He figured Frankenstein's Monster was fitting for him.

As the pairings filed out, ducking under the awning to hide from the driving rain, Maxwell noticed a guest, dressed in old wild west clothing, standing with both the Marcuses.

"Gentlemen." Maxwell greeted them. "What seems to be the problem?"

Pike spoke up "It seems that Mr Ortega here was booked in with Max Phillips but he's nowhere to be found. My client is missing and Moreno's was a no show."

Max thought for a moment. "I know we have one no show. So where is your client? And Phillips?" Max Phillips may be a brash jerk but clients liked him well enough. He always left them in a euphoric daze as they checked out. He didn't mix much with the other employees but he was a busy man. He worked in the city by day and spent his evenings working at the motel. Beyond that no one really knew much about him.

Maxwell did know that Max was very professional and had never missed an appointment. "Let's go look for him."

The short leather skirt creeping up her thighs was definitely out of her comfort zone.

"Come as you aren't night." She reminds herself as she hurries along to the party that she is late for.

Stopping once again to pull down her skirt, a voice from behind you makes her jump. "I think it looks great."

Spinning around, she found the voice's owner leaning in a doorway. His long legs crossed at the ankle as he leans against the frame. Taking in how strikingly handsome he is, she hopes that he's that man she's here to meet.

"Marcus?" She tries.

"And you would be…?" He holds out his hand.

For a second she wondered why he wouldn't already have her name, since the host assured her that he had discussed her desires with Marcus and set everything up for her. Maybe he didn't give him her name to protect her in case she backed out, she reasons. Giving him her name she shakes his hand.

"Come on in." Giving her an easy smile he leads her into his room.

Once inside, Marcus is a little more forward than she expected. His thick fingers dig into her thigh and scalp as he pins her to the wall. His lips don't leave hers until she's breathless. All her insistence on taking things slow was rapidly flying out of the window and into the storm beyond. There was no hesitation left in her when his fingers hooked under her panties to move them to the side. With the first swipe of his fingers across her now throbbing clit, she decides that she wants him now.

Taking a breath to gather her courage she manages to say the word that's been hidden in her fantasies. "Daddy, please make me come."

Marcus lets out a deep chuckle as his fingers breach her, stretching her in the most delicious way. "Don't worry, Sweetness. Daddy will make you come hard."

Marcus made good on his promise, his fingers pumped in and out of her relentlessly until that spot inside her couldn't take anymore. Her walls clenched around him, pulling his fingers in as he pulled her in to kiss her neck. He kisses and suckes on her pulse point so hard that she knows she's going to have marks later. He only stops to lick his fingers clean of her cum before returning to her neck and sucking harder than before. No, not just sucking, biting.

A scream cut through the air. It wasn't unusual to hear screams echoing around the courtyard. It was unusual to hear one so clearly blood curling.

"That came from upstairs!" Pike called before taking the stairs two at a time with Ortega hot on his heels.

The two men had been in the courtyard trying to sort out alternative arrangements if Max Phillips wasn't found. Pike was sure Oberyn wouldn't mind some more company for the evening. Ortega politely entertained the idea but Pike could see he seemed pretty set on Phillips. He thought this odd for a first timer but maybe Mr Ortega was just a man who knew what he wanted.

Pike ran down the narrow balcony zeroing in on the sounds of a struggle.

"You bastard!" A woman screamed before the door to the next room flew open. Out sprinted Max Phillips, the lower half of his face covered with blood. Pike was about to chase him when he saw the woman holding her neck, the red of her tank top darkened.

Ortega ran past "I've got him."

Pike had no other choice than to let the other man handle it as he administered first aid while waiting for Kyle. Joel had given the paramedic a call after hearing the commotion.

Once the woman was safely taken down to the small medical room, Pike tried to make sense of what he'd seen.

"He bit her?!" Moreno was stunned even with the evidence in front of him.

"It looks like." Pike sighed, still in disbelief.

"Was that some sort of kink he had? Did he take it too far?" Moreno mused out loud.

Pero had joined them when he heard the fuss. He muttered something under his breath in Spanish that only Moreno caught.

"You can't be serious." Moreno huffed a laugh. "A vampire?"

"We never saw him in the daytime. Or saw him eat or drink. His clients always checked out acting rather peculiarly. I have travelled to many places with such myths and seen things that I cannot explain."

Before either Marcus could react to Pero, a man approached them from the shadows. "Your well travelled friend is right. You have a vampire in your midst."

The man was very well dressed. He had on a white dress shirt, fastened with an expensive looking pair of cufflinks complimenting the even finer watch on his wrist. He wore a black bow tie that matched his vest in colour. Black dress pants and designer shoes adorned his lower half and the outfit was completed by a leaf pattern embroidered overcoat.

"Forgive me. I am Señor Ladrón. I have been searching for your vampire for a while. He had left quite the trail of victims." The man informed them as casually as if he had just told them to expect rain.

"Well, you found him. What do we do now?" Joel stepped out of the first aid room, closing the door behind him to give the recovering victim some privacy.

"We kill him." Señor Ladrón stated simply.

This seemed to be a good enough answer for Joel who simply nodded. Pero seemed satisfied too. Both Marcus's had seen some weird things during their time in law enforcement but a vampire would be pushing it. Nevertheless there was a bad guy on the loose and it was their job to stop him. The men paired off. Joel with Pero, Pike with Moreno. Señor Ladrón excused himself to gather some equipment from his car.

"Do you think we should be letting him walk around here by himself? The guy thinks vampires are real." Moreno asks Pike as they make their way through the motel.

"Max is my biggest concern. I'll have Din go check on our visitor." Pike edged his way around to the part of the motel that was under development.

The only light was the glow from the well lit side of the motel, the full moon and the occasional flash of lightning. Even Pike had to admit with all the vampire talk and it being Halloween night, the whole setup had him a little rattled. A little. That must be why he could have sworn for a second that he saw a light on in the last room on the block, even when they found it completely empty.

The cloaking spell worked perfectly as you watched the Chef and Superhero take a look around the room before walking off the way they came.

It didn't take much to lure the vampire into a trap. It was thirsty in more ways than one, so with your blood pumping and all that flesh on display, how could he refuse to follow you into one of the rooms that were closed for refurbishment. The spell you had cast on the room took effect almost immediately. The well-dressed vampire swayed on his feet. With a little support from you, he made it to the bed.

"What the fuc…?" Was all he managed before he was out like a light.

Studying his profile in the light of the full moon you thought it was a shame to kill someone so handsome. "Sorry, Gorgeous. I promise it's for a good cause."

Straddling him, you pressed the tip of the cedar stake to his chest lining up it before preparing to raise it. A flash of lightning was followed by the boom of the door being kicked open.

Ortega ran into the room, grabbing the stake in your hand. "Carrying out the ritual without me?"

"Just like you tried the last one without me." You snatch the stake back.

"I was going to include you but you seemed a little preoccupied."

"For the last time. That was a business dinner!"

"He didn't seem to think that. Even when I made it clear to him."

"What? That's why he reneged on the deal!"

"If he couldn't handle a six shooter aimed at his balls, he had no place in business."

A scream of frustration left you. "Aren't you bored of this?! A hundred and fifty years we've been at this. You betray me. I betray you. One hundred and fifty years and we're still both so stubborn that we can't trust each other. We can't love each other." You feel the weight of your words slip from your shoulders.

Ignacio Oretga usually presented an intimidating front unless he needed to turn on the charm. There was exactly one person and one person only who could bring out the soft demeanour he took on now. "Darlin', there hasn't been one second of the last a hundred and fifty years that I haven't loved you. Now trust is another thing entirely…" he grinned.

"Don't laugh at me." You pout.

Ignacio leans in to kiss your bottom lip poking out. "I'm not laughing at you. I would never!"

"Yes, you would!" You grin back at him, your fingers fiddling with his lapels. "I love you, too."

The first kiss between you in a decade sparks the old fire between you. The reason for you being in this motel is nearly forgotten as Ignacio lifts you as close to his body as he can. He's eager to refresh his memory of your body against his.

"Wait, My Love. We need to finish the ritual or our hundred and fifty years end here."

Ignacio's fingers lace between yours around the stake. "Allow me." He slips the wood from your hand.

Ignacio lines the stake up just as you did and prepares to raise to deliver the killing blow. Just as it had with you, the door bursts open. A familiar figure is back lit by the lighting outside from the worsening storm.

"Thief." You spit in its direction.

"Oh, I'm so much more than that." He laughs. "For example, tonight I'm a trader."

"What is it you want to trade?" Ignacio's eyes narrow on him.

"The vampire and the secret to securing a few more years of life for you both, in exchange for allowing me to feast on the energy from the ritual."

"But we have the…" You trail off as you see that the vampire is gone and all that remains on the bed is a faint mist. The potent tang of magic settles on your tongue.

"When you say 'feast on the energy'...?"

Ignacio presses, keen to get rid of your uninvited guest.

"It's simple. To increase the longevity of the ritual you must make love in the blood of the creature rather than just bathe in it. I simply wish to watch and feed off your passion." The Thief sat himself in a chair at the end of the bed as if the whole thing was a done deal.

"You're an Incubus?" You wonder aloud.

"Among other things." His brown eyes glint red with amusement.

Turning to Ignacio, you could see him weighing up the deal.

"We've done more exotic things in bed." Your lips quirk up at the memory. "Prague."

"Hmm. California in the 70's." Ignacio smiled, stepping closer his hands finding your hips as if he was engaging you in a dance.

"Amsterdam." You swayed to the old melody supplied by your memories.

"So we are in agreement?" The Thief snapped his fingers and the vampire reappeared.

"Yes." You say in unison with Ignacio.

Neither of you so much as glance at The Thief as you let muscle memory take over until the two of you are naked. A wispy tendril of red mist winds its way to you from the hand of The Thief. It licks up your bare skin increasing the sensitivity of every nerve it touches. When it pushes between your legs it almost brings you to orgasm in an instant. Ignacio seems similarly affected as his cock flushes red and weeps.

"Just a little gift from me. For being so gracious in accepting my offer." The Thief undoes his belt as he speaks before cupping the large bulge below it.

Ignacio presses a single kiss to your bare shoulder, it's enough to make your knees weak. With shaking hands the two of you manage to wield the stake. The weight of the two of you tumbling into bed pushes the stake into the vampire's heart. An explosion of thick, crimson blood covers you as you sink down into the bed. Ignacio is inside you before you know it, filling you with his cum as your convulsing body milks it from him.

The Thief moans in contentment as he strokes himself through his clothing. "Again."

The tang of copper rolls over your tongue as Ignacio kisses you. It takes only a fraction longer for the two of you to come this time. Your heels dig into the meat of his pert ass as you draw him deeper. His warm release drips out on the bloodied sheets below. He seems to have even more for you than usual.

"Again." The Thief groans as he starts to stroke his now bare length.

Ignacio fights through the fog of his mystical arousal to position you where he wants you. He now has you on all fours. After all these years there is still something primal about spearing you on his cock from this angle. He manages to last a little longer this time. Enough that he gets to enjoy the arch of your back as he pulls on your hair and the jiggle of your ass as he smacks into it. His cum gushes into you as he stutters out a groan. Each climax feels electric. He wants to fuck you over and over. Not just because of the spell but to make up for lost time. How had he been so stubborn as to miss so much as a day with you?

Gripping the bed frame you try to compose yourself as the last orgasm fades. Each one hits like plunging into the ocean. It hits hard before consuming you in its depths. Making the mistake of looking up you see The Thief with his head thrown back in pleasure. His hips chase his hand as his fucks into his fist. The sight of him so freely chasing his pleasure has you coming again.

Ignacio's hand lands firmly on your ass cheek. "I forgot my naughty girl likes to watch. Thief!"

The Thief still carries on jerking his cock as he acknowledges Ignacio.

"Why don't you join us? My wife has a very talented mouth." Turned on by his own words, Ignacio Jackrabbits into you hard until he comes again.

The Thief moves with inhuman speed pressing the tip of his cock to your lips before you realise he even left his chair. "Would you like a taste?" He strokes your cheek gently until you open up for him.

The precum gathered on his slit is like nothing you've ever tasted before. You find yourself sucking and bobbing your head in earnest just to get more. When Ignacio starts snapping his hips into you from behind, the force causes you to gag on The Thief's swollen head. The sound makes Ignacio throb inside of you. His wife choking on a cock while he fucks her from behind prompts another load of his seed to fill up your warm cunt. The warmth of him triggers another orgasm from you. Whatever this magic is, you want more of it. Not just for the sex but for how your husband feels inside and against you. Ever touch is heightened. You couldn't get any closer to him than you are right now. It soothes the ache in your heart from spending years without him.

The Thief utters something in an unrecognisable language as you swallow around him. He then pulls out with a slick pop. "I will still let you have a taste but I'm afraid I might be too rough while I chase my end."

The Thief proceeds to wrap his hand around his thick girth.The noise of his balls slapping against his fist while he groans deeply is enough to even affect Ignacio. Flipping you over, he mouths at your blood soaked tits. Sucking on each nipple until it aches. Each suck and bit builds another climax it only takes his fingers pressing to your clit for you to achieve it. You watch in fascination as Ignacio's cock spurts another load across your thigh without even being touched. Running your fingers through it, you greedily stuff them in your mouth.

"I've missed you so much." You pull your husband in for a kiss that evolves into a slower pace of love making. Slower, but no less satisfying as you both come twice in each other's arms.

The laguid, comfortable satisfaction that The Thief drinks down reminds him of his own love at home waiting for him. He's almost full and his cock aches for release. He starts to withdraw his magic from them. It's harder than he anticipated as they were already so much in love and lust. He finally does so as Ignacio has his wife's legs spread wide in the air to thrust impossibly deep inside her. Reaching out, he grips her ankle to steady himself as he prepares to finish himself off. He's so close, he can feel the heat in his spine. Looking down, he watches Ignacio's thick cock splitting his wife's tight pussy open. Her folds glisten with both their releases. Her puffy, pink cunt looks throughly fucked still it pulls her husband's cock deeper. He can feel their love and passion fueling the spell. The magic in the air ripples over his skin, his nipples tighten just before his balls do. His fist works incredibly fast to pump his overdue spend over the face of the beautiful woman underneath him. As he covers his face, her husband paints her insides. The scream that rips from her leaves her mouth open to catch The Thief's seed. She rides out her climax on his husband's cock while licking The Thief's cum from around her mouth. The Thief thinks that he got the better end of the deal. As the heavy energy in the room lifts, The Thief prepares to leave.

All the years you'd seen the man as nothing more than an annoyance. Someone who turns up now and again when your agenda's crossed. Now you were seeing just how powerful he was.

"Wait. That was…" All coherent thought leaves your brain as you look up at your husband practically glowing. Your eyes trace a bead of sweat from his forehead down the curve of his beautiful nose before dripping onto your bare chest.

The Thief chuckles. "If you think I know how to celebrate Halloween, wait until you see how I celebrate New Years."

Author's Note: I had a completely different vibe planned for this one but I'm just so happy to have finished something after going through a dry spell.

Tags: @kirsteng42 @prolix-yuy @thegreenkid2 @hquinzelle @fangirl-316 @gracie7209 @jedifarmerr @doommommy @scorpio-marionette @sturkillerbase @harriedandharassed @aynsleywalker @mswarriorbabe80 @rise-my-angel @adancedivasmom @kinda-nobody @movievillainess721 @munsonownsmyass @mandoloriancookie @faceache111 @elegantduckturtle @manazo @simpingcowboy @pedrit0-pascalit0 @yourcoolauntie @pedrostories @geekrenaissance @its-nebuleuse @sherala007

[winterandwords]

Sunday Six

I've been mostly afk for the last few days so I'm catching up with a whole fuckload of tags (every time I type fuck now I remember that dude who reblogged my "write what the fuck you want" post and had to say "aside from the profanity" and it cracks me up all over again).

The mass catching-up means that a) I'm late replying to stuff and ignoring day-specificness, and b) I don't have the mental capacity to keep track of who I'm tagging in things, so I'm making everything an OPEN TAG today.

The lovely @indecentpause tagged me to share six lines from my WIP on Sunday. It's now Wednesday, but better late than never. Here's Rafe in Bridge From Ashes having no patience for anyone he works with...

"...Leave me with my coffee and the files for an hour and I’ll catch you when I've been through it all. Don’t let anyone come in here and start pissing me off, all right?” “I don’t think anyone would dare,” he says, and gets up, taking his mug with him. I open the files and pull the front page forward. There are images behind it, more details, notes, streams of complex data sets, patterns waiting to be found. I don’t look up as Ezra walks out the door and it slides closed behind him like an airlock separating one kind of poison from another.

OPEN TAG! If you see this and want to do it, go for it. You're welcome to @ me so I can read and reblog your post 💜

[paisley-print]

Rating: 18+

Characters: Agent Whiskey x Reader X Ezra

This is a sequel to the MIDNIGHT Series

Rated TV MA. 

Heavy trigger warning. Infidelity, pregnancy, nausea, feeding tube. 

Not: This is 17 pages besties. It is a beast of a chapter. Please reblog and or comment! I really appreciate it! IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO BE TAGGED PLEASE FILL OUT MY TAG SHEET. Tag List Google Form

 Enjoy!Tag List: @just-here-for-the-moment​ @sherala007​ @jediknight122​ @pintsizemama​ @kenbechillin @elegantduckturtle​ @hearttbreak​ @tintinn16​ @showbuckysomelove @somenerdyuser​ @kesskirata​ @littlemisspascal​ @athalien​ @spideysimpossiblegirl​ @littlemisspascal​ @sheresh0y​ @pjkimrn​ @i-ship-it-ironically​ @fictitious-little-stitious​ @curiouskeyboard​ @o-sacra-virgo-laudes-tibi​ @murdersheghostwrote​ @fictitious-little-stitious​  @voteforpedro09​ @greeneyedblondie44​ @feel-it-on-the-way-home13​ @galaxyofmando​ @kravitzwhore​ @solemnlyswearss​ @gooddaykate​ @sherala007​ @aliwritesfic​ @athalien​  @amneris21​ @manuymesut​ @toxicfrankenstein​ @deadhumourist​​@damnyoupedro​​ @harriedandharassed​​ @hauntedmama

Jack was sitting in his office, staring out the window at the mountains in the distance with an expressionless gaze. He had just gotten back from an extended Statesman trip that had left him bruised in several places and shaken from the time change. His right shoulder felt like a tentacled creature had taken hold of it and snaked its way around his back, its arms reaching to encompass his neck and squeeze a tight band around his forehead. His eyes felt like they could simply pop out of his skull at any moment. 

He was getting too old to do trips like this, too slow in his draw, too oblivious to subtle sounds and sights. Why not leave it to the new recruits? They seemed more than eager to reenact their James Bond fantasies, traipsing across the globe with shiny guns and fancy suits. Jack was tired, and the near constant threat of death worried him more now than ever. The baby had made him reassess his values as of late, plus he had just gotten Emily back… he wasn’t about to leave her in this new world completely alone. 

As if summoned by some telepathic force, Emily’s voice floated down from upstairs. The main bedroom was positioned over his office. The water of the shower had been running just moments before. Jack set aside the file he was holding and made his way up the stairs to the main bedroom of the house. 

Emily was standing at the sink, the fog from her shower clinging to the mirrors and creating a cloud of steam that floated lazily out and into the rest of the room. Jack sat on the bed, watching his wife lean over the side of the counter in order to apply mascara with an expert-like precision. She had one towel wrapped around her torso and the other done up in her long brown hair. 

The glow of the lights made him feel like gagging. He turned his head, looking down at the grey Persian carpet. 

“I was wondering if you could help me zip this up?” Emily asked, bounding into the closet. When she emerged again, she had on a pair of whitewashed jeans and was holding a corset crop top up against her breasts. 

She turned her back to him so he could pull the zipper of the garment. 

“Where are you off to?” He asked, the sound of his own voice coming down on his head with the force of a well-swung baseball bat. 

“Going out dancing with Anna and Ashley,” Emily responded. 

His two nieces. She was the same age as they were. “I’m glad you are going out but-”  

“But what?” Emily asked.

“I just got back. I thought we would spend a little time together, is all.” 

“All I do is spend time in this fucking house, Jack, spend time with you. God forbid I try to live a little.” Emily said.

Jack drew in a slow breath, bringing a hand up to squeeze the bridge of his nose. He did not feel physically well enough to engage in a debate he knew he would never win. 

“I need cash. Everything is super expensive nowadays.”

Jack sighed, reaching into the interior of his jacket pocket to pull out his wallet and hand it over to her. She pulled out various bills. He didn’t know how much, folded them, placed them in her own pocket and tossed the wallet on the bed.

“When will you be back?” Jack asked, pulling off his suit jacket with some effort.

“Whenever I get back,” Emily said, shrugging.

“Do you want to talk about what’s bothering you, sweetheart?”

“I’ve said everything I’ve needed to say Jack, you’re just choosing not to listen.”

“I am doing everything in my power to help you. I don’t know what more you want from me.” 

Jack knew what Emily was feeling, and he empathized with her to a certain point. Losing everything in the blink of an eye was a feeling he knew all too well, and he had to do it alone. Emily at least had family around, loved ones that could soften the blow. Still, she wasn’t happy. Every time Jack mentioned you or the baby, Emily would get visibly angry and take jabs at both you and him. She felt shut out of such an intimate part of his life and jealous because that was supposed to be her.

Jack had to put his foot down when it came to converting the spare bedroom into a nursery. If Emily had had it her way, it would stay a guest bedroom, and they would allot full custody to you so she would never have to see the bastard child at all. Jack understood that it felt like a betrayal.

To her, this situation stung with the same severity it would have had cheated and had his own love child. Ironically, that was how Jack had felt too at times. He did not regret what the two of you had, yet he did not want to disappoint her.

Still, he disappointed her every day in ways entirely out of his control. He could not go back in time and erase all the flings had clung onto for years as his only source of intimacy. All the women he had slept in a fruitless attempt to feel less alone. Even if spent most of those encounters pretending he was in the throes of passion with her, rather than some nameless hook up he had met at a bar. 

 He could not fix the ways in which time had impacted his body. The look of disgust that passed Emily’s face whenever she noticed a new flaw never ceased to dismantle every ounce of confidence he had. He knew that she hated his greying hair, facial wrinkles, and less than toned midsection. 

The times they had attempted any sort of intimacy mostly ended in awkward disappointment. Jack would become too nervous to perform, doubting both his looks and her pleasure in the activity at all. Plus, he was too self-conscious to keep the pills he used to use around the house, in fear she could find them. 

She never initiated, but rather begrudgingly obliged and laid underneath him, as still and emotionless as a doll. He would walk away from those encounters feeling entirely disgusted with himself. He never initiated anymore and the two of them had only successfully slept together just once, that first night, months ago. 

Jack didn’t mind not having sex as long as it meant that Emily was happy. All he wanted, all he ever wanted, was for her to be happy. Lack of intimacy was a small price to pay for her satisfaction. 

“It’s like you have this whole other life without me,” Emily confessed. “Like I am some concubine shut up in this house, whose only function in your life is to be your companion.”

Jack stayed silent, listening. “How do you suppose I fix this situation then?”

Emily turned to him, pausing. “I want a baby shower.”

Jack’s brown knit in confusion. He was not expecting that response.

Upon seeing his confused face, Emily continued. “So I can feel like I have a purpose in this family. It’s not just going to be your baby, it’s going to be our baby when it’s here with us.”

Jack was speechless. Emily’s newfound interest in caring for the baby pleased him, but he was unsure of how you would react. Emily was right… the child would technically have three parents as soon as it was born...

“We can invite your friends and family -” Emily began.

“But sugar,” Jack said, trending carefully. “I’m not sure ‘y/n’ would - I mean - I could ask her, but I doubt she would want to come to somethin’ like that.”

Emily visibly soured at your name. “It’s not necessary to invite her. It’s better we don’t.”

Jack reached up, rubbing the back of his neck with his hand in an attempt to soothe the tension. “Sugar I don’t-”

“She can throw her own baby shower if she’d like. I wouldn’t expect her to invite me, and I would certainly not be offended. It’s as if we had a surrogate. We wouldn’t invite them, would we?”

Jack felt a momentary rise of anger well within him, but it fizzled out as fast as it had sparked. He could see where she was coming from, but you were not a simple surrogate. He knew when he entered into this that navigating the marriage and the pregnancy would require a less than traditional approach. What was right and wrong were often clouded in grey… this was one of those times. 

He wanted to afford his grieving wife a chance to feel a part of his family, her family, and yet he did not want to banish you to the sidelines anymore than he already had. It was an impossible situation - not helped along by the headache that made his brain feel stuffed with cotton.

“Fine,” Jack said, “we can talk about planning something soon.”

A smile grew on Emily’s face. She took up her purse from the bathroom counter, bound over to him, and pressed a kiss to his lips. “Thank you, I love you,” she smiled. 

“I love you too, darlin’” Jack said, returning the smile.

-

-

-

You sat in the exam room of the OBGYN, checking your phone for the sixth time. Jack had to miss the last appointment because he was on one of his frequent work trips, and now he was nearing ten minutes late for this one. When you first started dating Jack, you enjoyed the mystery that surrounded his employment and the demands of the job… you had found it rather exciting. But now, almost four years on, Statesman had become the very bane of your existence. It would be so easy for you to go to the media and spill everything you knew, or be bought by a foreign government and give them intel as a spy… that thought was a rather nice one in fact, as it would be a giant fuck you to both Statesman and Jack. However, you knew you wouldn’t be able to, not without monumental repercussions.

 You wouldn't be surprised if the NDA you signed held a clause that stated something along the lines of “if you hand over any of your knowledge of Statesman to the public, you will be terminated via a colt revolver welding sharpshooter in a cowboy hat.” 

Plus, any dealing with foreign government would just make you and the baby a potential target. You didn’t feel like getting your toenails ripped out by some opposing secret agency, no matter how much you wanted to see Statesmen go down.

The door to the exam room burst open. Jack was wearing his usual work attire, wonderfully tailored suit, cowboy hat and glasses. Statesman did do one thing right at least, and that was uniforms. 

“Hey” Jack said, slightly out of breath.

“You gonna take those things off or you plan on taking a meeting while you're here,” you half joked.

“Shit - sorry” Jack said under his breath, taking the glasses off, putting them in his right breast pocket, then going into his left and putting another pair on. 

You raised your eyebrows at him. 

Jack, seeing your face, responded “these are prescription.” 

You laughed. “Since when does Jack Daniels wear glasses?”

Jack cleared his throat and re-centered his tie. "Since I got barred from flying and carrying until I agreed to wear these fuckin’ things.”

 Your demeanor softened. You had nagged him about getting glasses very early on in your relationship but he never did, saying ‘everybody already thinks I’m your daddy, let’s not give em any more reason too.’ 

 “They look good on you,” you said. "They make you look distinguished, like you could be running things down there.”

Jack huffed and shook his head, never one to be graceful when accepting compliments. Though, you could make out the corner of his lips pulling into the most subtle of smiles. 

There was a knock on the door, then the ultrasound technician popped her head in. “Is dad here?” she asked.

You nodded your head towards Jack. 

The tech peeked further around the door frame to see him and smiled once she did. “Wonderful!”

You knew the drill. You rolled up your t-shirt as the technician turned the ultrasound machine on, spread the freezing gel over your stomach then turned off the lights to the room. As soon as she touched the probe to your stomach the machine whirled to life, displaying black and white images of your womb. 

You never quite got used to it. At a very base level, it was horrifying…. but also entertaining. It took a moment, but the tech was able to get a clear picture of the baby. Its round head and small nose were clearly visible on the screen. 

You felt a fluttering in your stomach that was matched by the baby kicking up its legs, then arms in quick succession. 

The tech laughed. “Someone is awake.”

You laughed as well. “Yeah, I felt that one. She’s been moving around a lot today, actually.”

Jack leaned forward in his chair. “That’s normal, right?” 

The tech nodded. “Yep, that’s very normal. All the wiggling around means the baby is getting stronger. In the later weeks you can actually see the baby pushing around in your belly if you're sitting or laying down.”

“Like the movie Alien,” you laughed. 

The tech snorted, “yeah, a lot of moms say that.”

You took a glance at Jack, who was on the literal edge of his seat, eyes fixed solely on the monitor like there was not a single other thing on earth. The tech took some images, measured the baby, then turned on the lights and exited the room to show the doctor the results. 

She had handed you a box of wipes to clean the gel off your stomach. Jack had the sonogram in his hand, smiling at it. You watched as he took the cellphone out of his pocket and snapped a picture. It dawned on you then that Jack had probably never had the opportunity to feel his other two children kick. They would have been too little. 

“Jackson” you said. 

He looked up. 

“Here, come here,” you said, sitting up a little on the exam table. As he approached, you held out your hand. “Gimme”

Confused, he went to hand you the pictures; you swatted them away. 

“No, your hand.”

He switched the sonogram to his other hand and offered the one closest to you. You took hold of his wrist, guiding it down to place it on the side of your stomach, then placed your hand atop of his. You thought the shock of his touch would stir something anxious in you, but it didn’t. In fact, his large, calloused hands felt familiar. 

“You might not be able to feel it yet,” you said. 

You waited a moment in silence, that familiar fluttering spreading in your body. 

His brows knit. 

“You felt it?” 

“You sure that was the baby?” he asked. 

“What else would it be?” 

He shrugged. “Your supper?”

“Jackson Henry,” you said, amused. "That is your kid.”

He smiled. “Listen, all I’m sayin’ is that this feels exactly how my stomach used to feel after eating that pasta sauce you make.”

Your lips quirked into a smile. “It’s not my cooking that’s causing that, you’re lactose intolerant and refuse to admit it.”

“Who puts milk in pasta sauce, anyway?” Jack asked 

“It's called vodka-” You shook your head smiling “you're a fuckin’ idiot.”

Jack looked up in mock surprise. "The baby just heard you call me an idiot.”

“The baby just heard you call her indigestion,” you shot back. 

The baby has heard me call you worse things; you thought.

It was times like these that made you loathe the idea of keeping in contact with him… because it was times like these that made you miss him, and hate him all over again for what he did. Sure, you could play into the little back and forth between you like old times, but nothing would change the fact that when you looked down, the ring on his finger was no longer gold you had picked out with him, but a silver completely alien to you. 

Jack must have sensed your change in demeanor, for he withdrew his and looked away awkwardly. “Yes, well, thank you for that. I appreciate it.” 

You hummed, pulling your shirt over your belly and throwing the tissues in the garbage can beside you. “Maybe in a few weeks you will be able to feel it more.”

The word ‘maybe’ hung uncomfortably in the air. Whether you doubted the existence of Jack or the baby… you did not know. Perhaps both. If the last three years had taught you anything, it was that nothing in life was ever guaranteed and you needed to be skeptical to the very end. 

-

-

-

Jack had come over that next Sunday, as he always did, to drop off groceries at your house. 

Jack had a lot of anxiety around certain things, and with the baby coming it kicked up tenfold, and you had learned that it was best to let him do the things that would make him feel at ease, within reason of course. This meant, allowing him to pick up some items for you during his weekly shopping trip and lug them up the steep stairs to your apartment - lest you fall while trying to do it yourself. 

On Sundays when he was out for work he would have the groceries dropped off. You wondered why you never saw Emily with him. Maybe she didn’t want to see you, maybe she didn’t care to help him with the chore…or maybe Jack wouldn’t let her tag along. If that was the case, you couldn't blame him. 

Usually, he would only stay for a few minutes, as he had to get his groceries home before they thawed, but today the two of you had plans to discuss the nursery. Once the baby was old enough, she would be spending large amounts of time at both houses. You and Jack decided that it was best to make the rooms look identical to one another. That way she could have some consistency with her surroundings 

Although the baby wasn’t coming for another few months, and she wouldn’t be able to stay overnight at Jack's house for an even longer amount of time…Rose had assigned this task to you both. She said it would be a great exercise in compromise and will allow you two to start getting excited about the prospect of having a baby. 

Jack had brought with him a  folder containing paint swatches, changing table adverts, and other miscellaneous decor items. You had your own ready as well. 

“Your obsession with mahogany is weird,” you said, leaning against the kitchen counter and waiting for your peppermint tea to steep. 

Jack sat at the kitchen table “it’s earthy.”

“It’s dark and depressing,” you said, “What about a sage green?”

“What hell is sage green?”

“Jackson, “ you said,  taking your cup of tea with you to the table. You took the paint swatch out of your folder and handed it to him. 

He tilted his head “hmm, yeah that's pretty.”

“And then I found this nursery set at Costco for one thousand five hundred. It has a changing table dresser, a crib that converts into a toddler bed, and then a full-sized later on. You don’t still have the old one right?”

Jack shook his head and sifted through some papers in his file, pulled one out then handed it to you. “I was thinking something more along the lines of this.”

He had printed out the specs of a top-of-the-line smart crib completely with a baby video monitor, heart monitor, sound machine,  and three different movement features. The price tag was a whopping six thousand dollars.

“It’s really expensive,” you said, setting the page down on the table.

He shrugged “it’s safe”

“I mean yeah, if money was no object of course I would want that crib but… I can’t afford that Jackson. If we go with the other option I won't have to buy new furniture for a few years at least.”

“What if it was a gift from the company?” He asked. 

You gave him an uneasy look.

“Ginger had asked me to ask you what you needed. It would be a gift from the whole agency, and a drop in the bucket from where finances are concerned.”

“It’s a pity gift, isn't it? They're not just handing out twelve thousand dollar baby gifts to other random employees, are they?” you asked. 

Jack looked down and cleared his throat “people at the agency feel…upset the way things turned out and they want to…show that they appreciated your involvement and friendship-”

“No. No, they can go fuck themselves” you could feel yourself start to get heated. It wasn’t completely the agency's fault of course, but you had grown to consider his coworkers' friends after seeing them at many company functions. The way they all conspired in secret and nobody gave you the heads up really made you feel betrayed. 

“Y/N,” Jack said softly.

“I don’t even wanna fucking do this anymore. You're making me fucking upset” you said, walking back into the kitchen and taking your tea with you.

“Look, all I’m trying to do is-” Jack started. 

A knock on the door made the two of you turn. You set your cup down on the counter and moved to the door. You figured it was the downstairs neighbors who needed Jack to move his truck, however, when you opened the door you were greeted with a sight that stopped you dead in your tracks. 

“Ezra?”

He smiled as he addressed you, “little bird.”

Jack stood and walked over to see what was going on. Ezra’s face flattened only for a moment but soon returned to his cheery smile. “My apologies if I'm interpreting,”

“No Jackson was just leaving,” you said.

There was a tense silence that followed, you looked behind you to see your ex-husband staring at the man, his jaw clenched tight. 

“May I come in?” Ezra asked. 

You nodded, pulling the door open for him to step through. You turned to Jack who was still looking as angry as ever and eyed him in a way that said ‘get your shit and leave.’ Jack obliged, grabbing his hat and keys from the table and walking to the landing font. He then stopped and turned as if he wanted to speak with you. 

You gave Ezra a quick smile then shut the door behind you to speak with Jack privately. 

“What?” you asked.

“He just shows up at your house? And you think that's all well and dandy?” Jack asked. 

“I gave him my address,” you said. 

“When?” 

“The other night when I drove to his house,” you said. 

“You drove to his house at night?” 

You held a hand up to stop him “need I remind you, Jackson, we are no longer married, meaning what I do and when I do it is none of your concern.”

“It is my concern because that's my baby in there too and I have a right to make sure she’s not put in any danger.”

You rolled your eyes “you’re so fucking dramatic all the time.”

“You don’t see how that's a little fuckin’ creepy?” Jack asked. “Are you sleeping with him?”

You opened the door again and stepped through it” Why don’t you go back home to your dead wife Jack? I’m sure she misses you.”

With that, you shut the door in his face. Ezra was admiring the pictures in the two files you and Jack had strewn about the table. 

“Nursery planning,” you said “can I get you anything? Water? Tea?” 

Ezra shook his head “no thank you, I’m fine.”

You nodded.

“I thought we should speak about what happened Tuesday evening. You did catch me quite off guard” Ezra said. 

You felt a warm heat move to encompass your entire face. “I’m sorry if I surprised you and if my phone number and address on the box seemed a bit…forward. I just wanted to let you know where you could find me.”

“It’s not often somebody has the ability to render me speechless,” he said, his lips quirking into a slight smile “but you seem to do it often, little bird. I appreciated the gift and the apology for that matter.”

You smiled awkwardly “good, yeah. That's all I was trying to do. I felt bad the way things happened, and I still feel bad.”

“Think nothing of it, little bird. At my age, it is best to let bygones be bygones.”

“I’m glad, thank you.” 

“How are you fairing?” Ezra asked.

“Oh um, fine. Still getting back on my feet, as you can see” you motioned to the mostly empty house. “But I’m good. The medicine is working well so hopefully, I can stop wearing the tube soon.”

“And the child?” Ezra asked. 

“Oh,” you said, putting a hand on your belly “she's good. Super healthy so I’m glad.”

His eyebrow quirked up “you’re having a girl? Congratulations, that is wonderful. Have you thought of a name yet?” 

“Thank you, um, and no not yet…what about you? How are things at the library?”

“Busy,” he said “for the life of me, I will never understand why children push off their summer reading until the very last two weeks of August.”

“That sounds like it sucks, things should start slowing down soon though… what, um, what does your girlfriend do?”

Ezra paused “girlfriend?”

“Yeah, the woman in your… you know on second thought that question might have been too forward I apologize-”

“She is not my girlfriend.”

“Oh.”

“She is a coworker, her and her girlfriend are living with me until their new rental leasing period begins. I apologize if that was not clear the other night.”

“No” you laughed “no it was not… so you came here to tell me that then?”

He nodded “and to give you this.”

Ezra reached into the pocket of his Jacket and produced a folded-up paper. “It’s the submission information for the North American Emerging Writers contest. There is a category for cookbooks, if chosen as a winner the company will sign with you, then take care of marketing, printing, and distribution.”

You frowned your brows at the paper “ I haven't kept up writing…and I don’t think I’ll have enough time once the baby comes.”

“The baby won't arrive for another few months, it seems to me you have more than enough time to pull something together. When is she due?”

“December.”

“It works out then, submissions are due by January first.”

“Yeah but I don’t know if it will be good enough-” you started. 

“It doesn't have to be good enough, it simply has to be finished. We can agree on how many pages you will send me a week, I will edit and revise then we can go from there. I would prefer at least two drafts to be completed before submission.”

You laughed “Ezra that's… would you even have enough time for something like that?”

“Surely I can make time.”

“Yeah but Ezra, I can barely cook myself or eat the food I cook, even just the smell of it is…” you trailed off, feeling queasy already. 

“Then you can give me the instructions, I can write down my thoughts on the recipe, and then we’ll reevaluate at a later time. The important test of a cookbook is instructing others on how to do it.” He said. 

 “Why are you so keen on helping me?”

“Because you harbor a talent I wish to foster and I think you have a very good chance at winning if you just apply yourself to the work. People around here rarely wish to become anything more than average- I don’t wish to see you fade into rural obscurity.”

You laughed, “it's just a cookbook Ezra.”

“It is your dream no matter how small, if you were to achieve it, it would set you above the rest of the population by a large margin. Now, I have some thoughts about the order of the recipes….go fetch your laptop.”

[ashenpages]

☯ Kallus. Because I’m an enabler.

This took me a while because I was worried that maybe I would be missing context since I haven't quite finished Rebels yet!

But, I've been reassured that my understanding of him is about as complete as it's going to get, so here we go!

I think Kallus has an insatiable curiosity. He doesn't like not knowing things. Knowledge is power, and he prides himself on being well informed. While this served him well in his time at the academy (star pupil, I believe they called him?), I think it's also served him well in becoming Fulcrum.

See, the thing about curiosity is that it goes both ways. He wants to know everything about military tactics? Awesome. That means he has an interest in weaponry that the Empire doesn't use too, because he's inevitably going to run up against it.

He likes learning about weapons. He likes learning about other races and species and planets. And all of it's sanctioned by the Empire because it's under the guise of intelligence recon.

But it's definitely more, no matter how much Kallus might explain it away as just doing his job.

This is how I think he was able to beat a Lasat warrior in combat and why the Lasat bestowed the bo-rifle on him. That wouldn't have happened if Kallus hadn't been worthy. Even Zeb can't argue with it.

As much as Kallus has been explaining away things he doesn't like about his job (like the massacre on Lasan), he can't keep doing it after his encounter with Zeb on the ice moon.

Now that curiosity is focused on the Empire, and seeing it for what it is. It was never about bringing "order", it was always about control and power and subjugation. And the curiosity that led to Kallus knowing everything about Zeb that was on file before they even crash-landed on the ice moon is now turned to finding every shred of information he can that will help him out-maneuver the Empire and feed the Rebellion.

Once he's free, I think Kallus has an easier idea figuring out what he "likes" and what he "dislikes."

It becomes clear that he likes strategy games. He enjoys playful banter, with those that he's allowed to engage in it with. I imagine that circle expands as he relaxes, but to begin with, I'm sure it's just Zeb and only because Zeb initiates it (because Zeb's love language is kindly traded jibes and challenges--another reason I love it when he and Sabine pair up for missions, because Sabine always rises to any challenge Zeb can toss at her).

I think he likes poetry and beautiful prose. He's so well spoken, and his delivery is always nearly lyrical. I think even when he was in the empire that he had contraband on his personal datapad. All in the interest of understanding his adversaries, of course, but now that he doesn't need to justify it, he can admit that he always found the words beautiful and their call to something greater moving.

I don't think he would know how to relax enough to enjoy dancing, at first, but I think he would enjoy something like a structured line dance where there's a form to it that even he can follow. Once he's comfortable there, I think he might enjoy learning to embellish, and with an encouraging partner, might expand from there. He might do well with dance-like sparring too, given his familiarity with combat. I'd love to write about Lasat bo-rifle dance forms or something--once I find time in my writing rotation.

I think he LOVES music. Once he's allowed to have it, I can see him never passing up an opportunity to attend live events, even if he's only on the fringes. I think he could be pulled into simple instrumentation as well. Stomping, clapping, hitting something rhythmically. I think he'd like getting to be part of it.

I think Kallus loves people. For all that he's been alone and fairly isolated in his time at the Empire, I think he's always longed for a community. I think for a while--specifically when he's acting as Fulcrum--that he thinks he has to earn the right to one. I'm not sure if he thinks he'll ever get there. But I know he wanted to defend the community Zeb talked about to the last. I'm happy he didn't get self-sacrificial about it, though, and he did his best to survive when it became apparent that he couldn't serve as Fulcrum anymore.

I think he hates being lied to. And, honestly, after his experiences with the Empire, I think he might be pretty sensitive to it. Even white lies that don't seem like a big deal might get his heart rate up and make his breathing tight. I think it's something he'll need some gentleness and reassurance to work through.

For some reason, I don't think he likes spicy food? I think he likes tart and bitter, but spicy is just too much for him. He'll eat it anyway (food is food, and he was taught not to be picky), but I think he likes fruit and foods like stew and pickles more than spicy things. Maybe he can find a Lasat who likes spicy things that he can pawn his not-so-favored morsels off on eventually...

I think he likes not having to slick back his hair and shave all the time too. Appearance was something he needed to use as a weapon while he was with the Empire. It was part of his arsenal. Now, it's just whatever he likes--and whatever gets Zeb to nuzzle him.

Last but not least, I think he likes Zeb. ;)

I personally love to fill the time between the S3 finale and the first episode of S4 with Zeb being the one who sits Kallus down to tend to his injuries.

It's interesting how much of their relationship is in the fringes. After "An Inside Man," it's clear that the group knows that Fulcrum is Kallus. In "Warhead," that means it's possible that Zeb knows that the communication he's having with Fulcrum is indeed with Kallus. He continues to use the code name in that episode. But in "Zero Hour," when the Fulcrum symbol shows up on the Ghost's bridge from Kallus's distress call, Zeb shouts, "It's Kallus!"

To me, that betrays a certain level of emotion.

I think Zeb and Kallus have been thinking about each other a lot since the ice moon. Heck, I think they were thinking about each other a lot before the ice moon, just in a different way. For Kallus, he needed to know who this surviving Lasat warrior was. For Zeb, he needed to get that bo-rifle back from the Imperial scum that didn't deserve it. Then a lot changed on the ice moon. And since then, I think they've attached their thoughts of each other to private moments of longing and daydreaming.

So when Zeb finally has a chance to check in on Kallus again, he takes it. He's a Lasat warrior, after all. He knows how to treat wounds as well as he knows how to give them. Zeb is definitely highlighted for his physical prowess most in the show, but there are a lot of skills I'm sure he has as both a warrior and a rebel that we don't get to see on screen. Treating injuries and rigging gear are two of them.

I think Kallus is too tired to resist those big, strong, and surprising gentle hands. It's not something that I think would get handsy or even that either of them would get a kiss out of, but I think it would be tender and grounding. I have a lot of passing daydreams about spoken reassurances and Kallus falling asleep in Zeb's arms that night (with Kanan bungling Ezra away into his room for the night to give Kallus and Zeb some space and privacy).

From there, I imagine a lot of intimacy, but also a lot of fear of overstepping, and for everyone on the Ghost to be like "JUST KISS!!!" before it actually happens.

They're just so tender and sweet and stupid and I love them.

Thanks for sending me this ask.

If you have others you want me to talk about, you can pick a symbol from this ask game I've reblogged.

[ozpins-halfway-house]

Ozpin's Case Files

Staff Meeting

Attendance: Ezra Ozpin (Executive Director), Qrow Branwen (Volunteer)

Date: July 5th, 2013

Purpose: Staff discussed a disagreement that took place yesterday (7/4/13).

Still nothing.

Not a single call or text, anything to break the radio silence. Oz tried to brush it aside, focus on the day ahead of him, but that was easier said than done. His agenda consisted mostly of writing reports and listening to presentations. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t stop his mind from drifting to that one conversation.

I should have known better. His pen froze just above the page. He gripped it in a tight fist before releasing it, leaving it to clatter onto the desk. Pinching the bridge of his nose, he sighed.

How could one stupid invitation cause such anger and stress?

Qrow did always have the same emotional response to everything, Oz lamented. If he was stressed or sad or anxious… or insecure.

Damnit all to hell.

Oz picked up his pen and quickly filled out what was left of the report in front of him. The more he wrote, the worse his handwriting became, the emotion pouring through every stroke. He shuffled the papers into their files, a frustrated sigh spilling from his mouth as he stood up. As he slipped the files into their proper cabinets, he heard a gentle rap at the door.

“Come in,” he said half-heartedly as he watched the filing cabinet slide shut.

“Uh… Hey, Oz.”

Oz snapped his attention to the sound of his partner’s voice. “Oh. Hello, my love. Is-? Are you-?” He cleared his throat. “How are you…?”

Qrow shrugged. “I’m… uh… it doesn’t matter. I’m just here to apologize.”

“You are?”

“Yeah…” Qrow rubbed the back of his neck. “Listen, I’m sorry, Oz,” he began, strolling up to his partner. “I was an ass. I overreacted, like I always do. You didn’t deserve that, and I’m just- I’m really sorry.”

Apology accepted, Oz wanted to say, but the words were stuck in his throat.

“The worst part is, I realized you were right,” Qrow went on. “I don’t belong there. So it’s okay-”

“No. It’s not.”

Qrow raised an eyebrow. “What?”

Oz sighed. “As much as I complain, this event is important. It’s the kind of event where we are encouraged to bring our spouses and partners and yet… Well, I chose to exclude you without your knowledge. That’s not okay.” Oz caressed Qrow’s cheek. “I’m sorry, too, love. For the way I handled this.”

Qrow smiled into the palm of Oz’s hand and planted a gentle kiss on it. “Can’t believe you just upstaged my apology like that.”

Oz let out a full, hearty laugh. He pulled Qrow into a tight embrace, paying him back with a kiss on the temple.

“Dick move, Oz,” Qrow added before burying his face in Oz’s neck.

With Qrow resting comfortably in his arms, Oz finally felt the pressure release in his chest. The tension he held so close since the minute Qrow stormed out and slammed the door behind him. The question he left trapped inside: What if he never comes back?

He no longer had to worry about that. There was only one question he needed the answer to now.

Oz let go, releasing Qrow for just a second. He put his hands on his partner’s shoulders and looked him in the eyes. “So. Qrow Branwen. Would you do me the honor of accompanying me to the most pretentious gathering on Remnant?”

Qrow grinned from ear to ear. “Oz. The honor is all mine.”

[bumblebee-moreno]

Awkward meetings (GN!reader)

Request: "Awkward first meeting for all the boys" and "Awkward first meeting and You lost something very important to you and they’re helping you look for it with Frankie Morales" for @luminescentlily

(Boys included are: Din, Javier Peña, Agent Whiskey, Frankie Morales, Max Phillips, Marcus P, and Marcus M.

Warnings: None?

A/N: Sorry this took so long to write. I had to leave a few boys out due to writer's block (Ezra, Tovar, and Zach Wellison), and I wanted to get this posted rather than continuing to stare at the screen in hopes of my brain miraculously functioning. To make up for my lack of inspiration at least a little bit, I added Marcus Moreno. Hope that's ok :)

Din Djarin

You feel a tug at your pant leg. Looking down, you are greeted by a pair of large watery eyes and big green ears. “Well hello there,” you smile, crouching down to be closer to the small child. “Where’s your family?”

He simply responds by lifting his arms towards you. You take that to mean he’d like to be lifted up. Scanning through over the crowded marketplace, you search for someone who the kid might belong to. You really have no idea what you’re looking for, having never seen anything like him, but you search nonetheless.

“Hey!” an angry voice calls out behind you. You whirl around, and before you know what’s happening, the child has been torn from your grasp and there’s a blaster to your head.

“I wasn’t going to hurt him I swear, I was just trying to find his family,” you blurt out, raising your hands in surrender.

The figure in front of you doesn’t respond at first, keeping his blaster pointed at you while he inspects the child for injury.

“Why did you have him?” The voice from under the helmet demands.

“I just found him by himself and I wanted to make sure he found his family,” you explain, voice shaking. “Are you his… Does he belong to you?”

“… yes.” He cautiously returns his blaster to its holster.

“I’m sorry,” you relax. “I didn’t mean to scare you. He’s just so… small. I didn’t want him to stay lost.”

The Mandalorian clutches the kid close to his chest as if he’s afraid they’ll be separated again. “Thank you.” He nods his head just enough for you to see the motion.

Javier Peña

“Shit, I’m going to be so fucking late,” you mutter to yourself, walking as fast as you can without sending the tall stack of papers in your arms flying.

On your way down the hall, you start going down your mental checklist.

‘Closed the window so the cat doesn’t escape? Check.’

‘Turned off the lights? Check.’

‘Locked the front door? Fuck.’

You stop in your tracks. How could you forget to lock your front door? You spin on your heel and run back towards your apartment, your one free hand switching between searching for your keys and adjusting the unstable tower balanced on your other arm.

In your haste to get your apartment locked so you can get to work on time, you fail to watch where you’re going.

Your body smacks into another. You fall backwards, losing your grip on the meticulously organised files. They scatter across the floor, completely losing the order you’d spent all night putting them in. The wind is knocked out of you for just long enough to hear the man you ran into grumping about how you should watch where you’re going.

“Shit, I’m so sorry, I’m running late, I should’ve been paying more attention.” You pull yourself to your knees and start gathering your work off the floor. You’d normally stand and make sure the man you ran into is okay, but things at work are tense as it is, and being even later than you already are isn’t going to reflect well on you. Especially now that all of last night’s hard work needs to be done over.

You expect him to get up and walk past you. After his reaction to being practically tackled, you wouldn’t expect him to give you more than a second thought. But then a stack of papers lands on top of the one you’re already holding.

Your eyes shoot up to meet his. “You okay? You hit the ground kind of hard there,” Your neighbour asks.

You swallow thickly. “y-yeah, I’m fine,” you give a shaky smile. “How about you?”

“I’m all right, just running a bit late,” He offers a hasty smile before helping you to your feet. “I gotta get to work, but um, I’ll see you later?”

“Yeah,” you breathe, momentarily forgetting how late you are.

Agent Whiskey

‘Ugh I really needed this day off,’ you type underneath the photo before pressing send.

You place your phone on the edge of the tub before relaxing back into the warm water.

It isn’t long before your phone buzzes. Your eyes widen in horror at the response:

‘I think you’ve got the wrong number, darlin’.’ It’s paired with a photo of a man you’ve never met.

He is kinda cute though. You’d never think the whole “unironically cowboy” thing could ever work but… No. No. You can’t be thinking that kind of stuff. You just texted a stranger a photo of you in the bath for fuck’s sakes, you can’t be attracted to him after that!

You frantically scroll up to examine the photo you sent, breathing a sigh of relief when you confirm that the photo you sent didn’t have anything too revealing in it; between the angle of the camera and the bubbles in your bath, nothing too embarrassing is visible.

‘Shit, I’m so sorry, that was meant for a friend ’

You pick up the shred of paper your best friend scribbled their new number on while you were at lunch with them yesterday, to figure out what happened.

‘not a problem, It’s a nice distraction from this god awful meeting I’m stuck in’

You frown. ‘You’re in a meeting and you’re texting a total stranger?’

You return your gaze to the phone number in your hand. “what in the fuck,” you say aloud to yourself. The second to last digit. It’s supposed to be a 4. Not a 9.

A shaky photo appears on your phone. It’s obviously taken from peeking just the camera of his phone over the edge of the table.

‘Damn, that looks like a serious meeting, shouldn’t you be paying attention?’ If you were texting at work, especially in a meeting, you’d have your ass handed to you unless someone was dying (and even then, it would depend on what kind of mood your boss is in that day). And this guy is just casually texting you, a stranger, during a meeting with people who look like they make more money weekly than what your whole car is worth.

‘I’m a bit more concerned that I don’t even know the name of the person who texted me such a lovely photo 😉’

‘It’s Y/N.’ you send. ‘And please delete that picture, that’s kinda private’ you ask, crossing your fingers that he respects that.

‘Already done. Mine’s Jack, since you obviously weren’t going to ask 🤠’

A soft smile appears on your face. Maybe it is kind of okay that you accidentally typed in the wrong number. Or… it will be after you (lovingly) cuss out your friend for having such bad handwriting.

Frankie Morales

“Shit.” You mutter to yourself, searching through your pockets. “shitshitshitshitshitshitshit” You swear you just had them. Or… maybe you left them on the counter back at the library?

You turn around to run back, rifling through your bag. You only make it a few steps before you’re knocked backwards to the ground.

“Shit, I’m so sorry,” you blurt the moment you catch your breath again. Barely sparing a glance towards the man you ran into, you start gathering your books.

“No, no. I’m sorry,” the man insists. “I wasn’t watching where I was going.” He helps to gather your books.

“You okay?” he finally asks.

You look up at him and freeze. He’s really cute. In the ‘I give the best hugs in the world’ kind of way.

“Yeah,” you respond breathlessly. “I just think I lost my car keys at the library, and I’m running late for lunch with a friend.” You mentally kick yourself. You just ran over the only attractive man you’ve seen since moving here, and then the first thing you do is overshare?

“Oh, did you want some help looking?” he immediately offers.

“I wouldn’t want to be any trouble.”

“Don’t worry about it,” he shrugs. “I’ve got lunch plans I’m desperately trying to find an excuse to get out of, so you’re helping me, really.”

“Okay, um… sure,” you nod. “an extra set of eyes looking wouldn’t hurt.”

“Cool. I’m Frankie.”

You introduce yourself and shake his outstretched hand.

The two of you make your way back towards the library.

“so…” you break the uncomfortable silence. “Lousy lunch plans, huh?”

“…yeah,” Frankie falls silent for a moment. “A couple of guys I used to serve with invited me out and I didn’t really have an excuse to say no.”

“Don’t get along with them?”

“We used to be friends, but I’m kind of rethinking that lately.”

“Oh,” you debate asking more questions. But then again, he doesn’t have to answer if he doesn’t want to, right? “Did… did something happen?”

“Convinced me to go to South America a while back, which would’ve been fine, except we kind of got stuck there, and my wife was left alone with the baby.”

Your stomach dropped at this. You’re not even sure why; you just met the guy, you really have no reason to be disappointed he’s taken.

“Was she at least understanding?” You ask.

“huh?”

“Your wife.”

“Oh,” Frankie chew his lip for a moment. “no. When I got back, she was… possessive. Searching my phone, never letting me go out with friends, that kind of stuff. Separated a few months later.”

“Oh,” you try to ignore the fact that your heart skipped a beat; you can’t be excited—that’s insensitive. “I’m sorry.”

“No, don’t be.” Frankie pinches the bridge of his nose. “I’m sorry, actually. I was helping you find your keys, and here I am ranting about my whole tragic backstory as if you actually cared.”

“I don’t mind.” You actually like listening to him. But you keep that to yourself.

“You shouldn’t have to listen to all that though—”

“Shit!” you interrupt him. “I’m such an idiot.”

“What? What’s wrong?” Frankie looks like he’s assuming the worst.

“…I didn’t lose my car keys. I walked here. And lunch with my friend is next week.” You chuckle bitterly. “I was so lost in my head I completely forgot she rescheduled. Sorry I wasted your time.”

“It’s okay,” Frankie laughs. You can’t help but smile at his lopsided dimple. “Hey, since you don’t have lunch plans and I want to get out of mine… Can I take you out? You can tell me your life’s story since you already know mine?”

“Sure,” you smile, though half of you is screaming to just leave the country to escape the embarrassment.

Max Phillips

“Ew, no.” you scrunch your nose.

“Hey, you’re the one that lost the bet.” Eva insists.

“I am not kissing a random stranger.” You sweep your gaze across the crowded café.

“It was your idea.” Eva sips her tea.

“That was because I thought I was going to win.” You cross your arms across your chest.

“You don’t get to opt out just because you’re a sore loser.”

“Yeah, but I don’t know them, what if they have a disease or something? Gross.” Your stomach turns at the idea.

“Okay, fine.” Eva sighs. And, for a fleeting moment, you have hope that she’s given in. “Kiss that guy then,” she points.

You turn. “Oh my god, Eva. No.”

“What? He doesn’t look like he has a disease,” Eva shrugs.

“He looks like a frat boy.”

“He’s cute though.” Eva leans in a not-at-all-subtle way to get a clearer view of him.

“I hate you.” You stand up. “And when I’m done, you’re buying me an entire bottle of vodka to wash my mouth with.”

“Yes!” Eva cheers triumphantly. A few people shoot her expressions of annoyance at the outburst.

You storm over to the man and pull him in by the collar. His lips barely brush against yours before you’re stomping back to your friend. Though, for a moment, you actually consider staying to talk to him. Eva was right, he definitely isn’t hard on the eyes.

You push the thought from your mind and collapse back into your seat, scowling at your friend.

“You’re literally the worst human being on the planet,” you huff.

“You’re just being dramatic,” Eva laughs.

“Am not.” Okay… maybe you are, but Eva can’t know that.

“Fine. We’ll go get you a drink once I’m back from the bathroom.” Eva skips off, still laughing about your reaction.

She’s barely out of sight before her seat is filled by the stranger you just kissed.

“Don’t flatter yourself, I lost a bet,” you don’t look up at him, instead choosing the glare at a stain on the wooden table.

“I figured as much.” You can practically hear the smirk in his voice. “I also figured I have the right to at least know the name of the person who just kissed me.”

You reluctantly introduce yourself, still refusing to make eye contact with the man.

“I’m Max. And, if you want to apologise for kissing me without my consent,” he throws a napkin with a phone number scribbled in red sharpie onto the table in front of you, “You can call me.”

Marcus Pike

You hum quietly to yourself, unable to stop smiling. It’s been so long since you’ve gone on a real date. You turn on your shower, but instead of water coming from the showerhead, it starts leaking from the base of the hose.

That can’t be good. You turn off the water and fiddle with the shower. Maybe it just came loose.

You reach for the handle to try the water again. But before your hand can even touch the cool metal, the entire shower head disconnects from the wall and clatters to the shower floor.

Letting out an exasperated groan, you start gathering your clothes into a bag. You really don’t have time for this today. Crossing your fingers your neighbour is home, you head next door.

You’ve never actually talked to him, but you figure he’s probably a safer bet than the crazy old neighbour on your other side; the way he looks at you whenever you run into him gives you the jitters. And not the “he’s a creep” kind of feeling you get when anyone else stares for too long. More like the “he’s probably got a taxidermy cat in his living room and a human body in his closet” kind of feeling. So the neighbour you’ve never even introduced yourself to will have to do.

Your knock echoes through the quiet air. Shifting from foot to foot, you wait impatiently for an answer.

The door clicks open, leaving you face-to-face with your neighbour, who is way cuter up close than you expected him to be.

“…hi,” He greets you as if he’s startled by your presence.

“…hi…” you bite your lip and tear your gaze away from his face to examine your shoe. “I… Well, I live next door, and well—”

“I know,” he interrupts.

“I-What?”

“I’ve seen you… around. We get home from work at the same time, so…”

“Oh.” You chew on your lip for a moment. “Look, my shower broke, and I have a date I have to get to, and well…” you drift off. Are you really asking your irresistibly adorable neighbour who you’ve never met if you can use his shower?

“Oh. Okay, did you want to use mine then?” You pretend not to notice how pink his face has turned.

“Would you mind? I just—I’m running late and I don’t have time to figure out what’s wrong with mine before I leave and still have time to get ready to go.”

“Sure, Come on in,” He shuffles out of the way to allow you space to enter. “Down the hall, second door to the right.”

“Thank you so much,” you smile awkwardly. “I’ll make it up to you, I promise.”

“Don’t worry about it.”

You walk as quickly as you can without breaking into a run to get to the bathroom, leaving Marcus frozen in the doorway.

This is not how he imagined meeting you. Not that he imagined that at all. And he definitely hadn’t spent hours trying to figure out how to ask you out. Because that would be weird.

And he just let you use his shower to go on a date with someone else.

Fuck.

Marcus Moreno

“Excuse me,” a voice speaks up from behind you, just barely audible over your music. You turn around to find that the voice belongs to a young girl.

“Hello,” you greet taking out your headphones.

“Do you see that guy over there?” she asks, pointing across the cluttered bookstore to a man struggling to balance a tower of books while skimming the shelves for more.

“The one in the glasses?” you confirm.

“That’s my dad,” the girl nods. “He thinks you’re cute, but he’s too afraid to talk to you.”

“Oh,” you say, unsure whether you should be flattered or amused.

“He says it’s ‘cause he doesn’t want to weird you out,” she elaborates, “but I think he’s scared you won’t like him back.”

The man glances up, and, upon seeing his daughter talking to you, rushes over. He pauses only briefly when he trips over a box of books placed in the middle of the walkway.

“Oh, here he comes, act natural,” the girl whisper-yells just before her father arrives. “Oh, hey dad,” she greets him nonchalantly.

“Missy, what did we just talk about?” he scolds.

“I know, I know,” she rolls her eyes. “I shouldn’t go up to strangers and tell them my dad thinks they’re cute even when he totally does.”

Missy’s dad freezes, a look of horrified embarrassment washing over his face. “You… You told them what?”

“I’m going to shop some more,” she walks away, winking at you.

“Hey, you get back here, young lady,” he calls after her, struggling not to raise his voice above a murmur in the middle of the peaceful book shop. His daughter ignores him.

He groans under his breath. “I’m sorry about her,” he turns back to you.

“It’s okay,” you laugh. “I’m Y/N,”

“Marcus.” He looks down at his armful of books. “I’d uh… I’d offer a handshake but…”

“Don’t worry about it,” you smile. Marcus smiles back. You allow a moment of uncomfortable silence before speaking up again. “So… you think I’m cute?”

“What? No! I mean, Yes. I mean…” Marcus’ face scrunches up in embarrassment. “Yes? But not… not in a weird way. I wasn’t like… admiring you or anything. That’d be… weird.” Marcus hangs his head with an exasperated sigh. “I’m sorry. I’ll just shut up now.”

You smile again at the flustered man in front of you. After a moment, you pull a pen from your sweatshirt pocket.

“Well, here’s my number,” you say, writing as clearly as you can across his forearm. “You can text me if you decide you do think I’m cute… In a weird way.”

You walk to the counter to pay for your books, sincerely hoping he decides to text.

---

Taglist:

@pascalisthepunkest @trashbin2 @anatanotegami @beesting77 @northernpunk @pumpkin-stars

[bbrrambo]

the kiddos got some updates [ old version ]

[justalittletomato]

How did the wedding go between Aster and Ezra?🥰

SOMEHOW FOUND THE INSPIRATION TO WRITE THIS OUT????

ENJOY SOME STAR BRIDGE 

*also THANK YOU FOR ASKING~~

She stares out the window and waves goodbye to everyone. She’s leaving.

She can sense even as they leave Dathomir’s atmosphere that her Father is staring out at the ship. Through their bond, she whispers a thank you and goodbye.

He will not be walking past her door this night without sighing in both sadness and the slight joy knowing she has left home.

—— The morning started with her younger sister poking her cheek, “ Aster…hey Aster…Vod..it’s today.” Aster turns over and covers herself with her ruffly coverlets. Danica pouts, “nod come on breakfast then you have to get ready!”

Aster doesn’t budge, she merely burrows deeper into her blankets. “Ka’ra” her buir sits next to her, Aster feels the covers tugged away and her buir laying next to her. “ Time to get up, my precious star.”

“Buir…I’m nervous.” a hand to her cheek.

“I would be shocked if you weren’t, do you want to marry him?”

Aster widens her eyes, “ Buir…of course…” she bites her lower lip in thought, “what if something goes wrong? What if I’m dreaming and he never came home? What if?”

Starlight shushes her gently, “ You cannot live in What if’s. Everything is real. He came home. You found him. And today my darling Princess you will walk down an aisle and do away with what if’s”

Aster embraces her buir tightly, “ i am going to miss you saying things like that each morning.” Starlight holds in her tears the best she can.

she is going to miss her precious princess asking her each morning.

Danica jumps onto the bed, “ COME ON! You said we get blueberry pancakes today!”

The three laugh. They would miss all of this….

—— Cress glances at Ezra whose struggling to stay awake,  “Did you sleep at all?”

“No too nervous.”

“Are you back-“

“NO! don’t think that, I just…this is really happening. I’m getting married. I never thought…I never dreamed.”

The young Jedi sighs as the Mandalorian Zabrak hands him a cup of caf, “ Well those I never changes today. You’re going to standing at the aisle and Aster is going to be at the other side, Dad is going to hand her off…

“Will I?”  says a smooth voice.

“DONT DO THAT!”  Ezra jumps as Cress winces, “Father, he is jumpy enough as it is.” Maul rolls his eyes, “ and the caf you gave him will make it worse. Mediate instead. I want everything to go well today.”

“you and me both” mutters Ezra. Cress sighs as Maul throws him a glance.  “I know you don’t like me too much, but know I just want to make Aster happy.”

“I know.”

“I am going to…”

“I know you will.”

“ I swear..wait you know?”

“You're a stubborn Jedi so I know you will. “Maul scoffs “ Hurry along now the day is starting and I need the groom ready and awake.”

Cress and Ezra glance at another, “ Guess he likes you more now?” —— The bridal cape that was her buirs is now hers. The blue stone on her finger shines in the light and for the last time, she picks up the small file and holds it up to Maul, “Can you get the back ones? you always did it perfectly.”

He does as she requests and kisses her cheek.

Her buir now hums and brushes her hair into a braided crown. One last time.  Danica arrives with blue Aster flowers for her crown braid.

She’s dressed and trembling slightly in excitement.  Starlight begs that she spin about like she used to and she does to the sound of soft laughs and tears.

—— He is letting her go.

Ezra is awestruck at the sight of Aster. Stars…he pinches his palm. Real. This is real. He is marrying a Princess. His friend.

He is letting her go…Aster squeezes Maul’s hand tight and he is letting her go.

—— It is a simple ceremony both a mix of Mandalorian and Lothal traditions…the young couple teary-eyed and the swear of yes almost a shout. The kiss is soft and overdue but oh so worth the wait. He has to tug her down as she’s floating once again, so overjoyed at what has happened. “i got you.” he whispers “you have me…forevermore.” she whispers back and pulls him in for another kiss.

—— She leans against his chest and listens for his heartbeat as they dance. He holds her closer and kisses her horns.  They barely register that the song has ended and they are still swaying.

They are in a world of thier own right now. Ezra and her. finally in the same place after ever so long. Finally together evermore. —— He kisses her hand as they drift into hyperspace and Aster smiles. What if’s and never gone from their minds. Real and the now are all that is left.

[thedistantstorm]

Project Compass 03

Read Along on AO3 Here

<< Previous Chapter <<    >> Next Chapter >>

This time: Thrawn is visited by Vah'nya and exchanges a handful of words with Eli.

Next time: Ezra doesn’t feel like he’s made a very good impression on the Chiss. Thrawn doesn’t really make him feel better. Vah’nya and Ivant discuss Un’hee.

-/

Thrawn was not used to having time. At least, not true free time. Sure, he indulged his love of art within the scope of his duties, but rarely did he do something just because he could. In fact, in his later years with the Empire, he rarely did anything but work. Leave was unnecessary, and he found he gained more enjoyment from fulfilling the tasks required of him while mentoring others along the way.

Briefly, his mind struck up the image of Karyn Faro. He wondered not for the first time what she made of the news, how she had so narrowly avoided sharing the fate of the Seventh Fleet. Ezra’s actions - the Revels' last ditch effort - had still managed to kill tens of thousands of Imperial troops. The survivors had all gone different ways, trying to get a lock on civilization. Thrawn had managed to convince Ezra to stick with him, though it was likely more so that Thrawn had been open about his lack of inclination to kill the young Jedi than any true kinship at the start, while the majority of his officers had at least considered murdering him in his sleep.

Now, he woke up expecting to be in his too small room aboard the Chimaera, not in comfortable lodgings amongst his own people. And despite it, he was not sure what to do with himself. Things here had changed. There had been a tension in the lines of the panel members’ faces indicative of strife. Which meant it was bad, if he was able to see it on the faces of Chiss politicians.

Not to mention that somehow, in the span of the not-quite two years since he’d parted with the Steadfast after their encounter with the Grysks, Eli Vanto had earned another promotion - and a large one, at that. Was he also tangled up in the politics of whatever was happening with the Aristocra? He did not act like it.

But then again, Thrawn was not entirely sure which side of him was the act, if any of it was. Originally, he’d come across as warm and nearly paternal toward Ezra during their first interaction. Human. Then, he’d become… stoic. Emotionless. Practically Chiss-like. It was impressive, Thrawn could admit, though he couldn’t help but remember the coldness of Vanto’s eyes, how he’d made direct eye contact with Thrawn and spoke evenly, no hint of anger and yet a solid weight behind his words that gave the seasoned military-man pause.

Something in Thrawn’s loins had shifted with those words. Eli Vanto was telling him, without saying explicitly so, that he had betrayed his principles. The cost of such a choice was loyalty. Loyalty between them that had been built upon time and effort, that had been forged both by time and hardship. Anger would have made Thrawn more comfortable than hard eyes and durasteel words. This was an unknown he knew nothing about how to deal with, much less if it could be dealt with at all.

Yet, he stood by his actions. At the time, over Lothal, he had done what he had to. It was a regrettable course of action, one he would have to live with for the rest of his life. But he had been trying to salvage the broken scraps of the TIE Defender Program, trying to piece back together what Arindha broke. It had been pointless, in the end. He’d known the Defender Project would be shut down before he went back to Coruscant that last time. Still, he had wanted to try and press forward. He was single-minded, determined to make things work. If he could not salvage that project, there had to be something he could do to get the Emperor’s favor. The Emperor hadn’t kept Thrawn in the confines of his upper echelon without a reason. Surely Thrawn could have found some way to turn Emperor Palpatine’s use of him into a mutually beneficial situation.

Now, he’d never know. The Ascendancy had intercepted his signals after roughly a year of being able to establish a stable frequency with the adequate trajectory. They’d managed a safe, covert extraction - not that there had been much to extract from, the remaining soldiers on the jungle planet would likely remain there for the rest of their natural lives by choice. Thrawn had relinquished his command of them early on, when it became clear that they were stranded in deep Wild Space and there would be no rescue. By the time he and Ezra had left, there was no one remaining to care.

His entire career with the Empire, more than a decade of his life, had been gone in an instant. To show for it, he had hardly anything at all. He’d brought the Ascendancy no honor, guaranteed them no support or security for his actions. His mission, overall, had been a failure.

And his assignment, now, meant that the Chiss felt him to be either a liability or-

A buzz of the intercom stole into his thoughts. Extracting himself from the chair he’d been sitting in, Thrawn crossed the small room to tap the console beside the door. “Commander Mitth’raw’nuruodo,” A woman greeted him. Her voice was familiar.

“Navigator Vah’nya,” He replied in kind, letting his thoughts slip into the depths of his mind. “Come in.” He keyed access for her to the suite and opened the door that linked his quarters to the shared living space. Vah’nya carried two trays with a delicate ease, setting them at the low table before selecting a side of the couch in the space for herself.

She’d grown a little more since he had last seen her, her features a little more weathered, a touch more severe. “I had suspected you would be on the Steadfast with Admiral Ar’alani,” He said, sitting a respectable distance away. He did not move toward the second tray even as she picked up a steaming mug of tea from hers.

She smiled at him. It was a touch unusual, the delicate look on the serious Chiss. “My path has taken me down a different road,” She mused thoughtfully. “Please, eat. I waited for you in the mess hall, but in hindsight I should not have expected you there.” He listened, helping himself to some of the warm bread and rosy jam placed on his tray. “I have time before I begin instructing my younger sisters,” She said, “And I had hoped to see how you were settling in.”

“Your concern is appreciated, Navigator Vah’nya,” He paused, frowning. “You are still-”

Vah’nya nodded. “Yes, I am still a Navigator despite my old age.” Another smile, more rueful this time. He noted that her expressions were significantly less guarded on her face, though she held herself stiffly. “You are not settling in easily,” She commented. “The ozyly-esehembo, he is your assignment, I heard.”

“I suspect,” Thrawn met her gaze, “You knew that without having to be told.”

“Un’hee does not hold back much, but I suspect she would if Captain Ivant asked her to.” Thrawn does not react to the name, though Vah’nya seems to pause on it for a second too long, testing him. “Nevertheless,” She conceded gracefully, tilting her head, “I was informed by the Captain himself. I oversee the Navigators aboard this vessel.”

“You are a part of the project the Admiral mentioned during our hearing.”

“I am,” Vah’nya acknowledged. “I will be evaluating your ward this afternoon.”

“Bridger is not my ward.”

“You are tied to him indefinitely, and he is far younger than you,” She pressed, before segueing just as Thrawn parsed a response. “Finish eating. I will take you around the ship and fill you in on the goings on. I do not think the Jedi,” Her accent curled strangely over the title, “Will remember half of what Ivant tells him.”

The Compass is small. Compact, but not claustrophobic. There were around three hundred staff (including the officers) and a troop of less than twenty fledgling Navigators aboard. It was a far cry from the Chimaera, an Imperial Star Destroyer, and far older than his last vessel. He considered it the equivalent to an Imperial cruiser by comparison. Despite this, the ship was outfitted with new technologies and had dedicated facilities to the training and upkeep of the young Navigators being trained.

Vah’nya introduced him to most of the crew members with whom she suspected he would work in close quarters. She even took the liberty of contacting the bridge crew in advance to make sure the Captain was out before taking him up to introduce him to the rest of the officers.

“I am sure you realize,” She said, “That I am not acting in an official capacity. I am not sure what your role with Ezra’Bridger will entail, but knowledge is something that makes me feel more secure now.” She rubbed her arms, voice holding something dark and hidden. Something had happened to her, Thrawn suspected. He filed it away for later consideration.

“It is a wise strategy,” Thrawn agreed. Their backs were to the bridge now. Vah’nya was explaining their patrol mission, scouting along the edges of the Unknown Regions. The chance of combat was low, and the traffic was significantly non-existent and thereby safe enough to allow newly identified Navigators to test their abilities in the field. Thrawn nearly welcomed routine military procedure.

The Navigator took him back down to the eighth deck, where his quarters were. She waited for Thrawn to let them in and shut the door quietly behind her. "I should not tell you this," She said softly, not moving from the doorway. "But I do not believe Eli will."

"Do not incriminate yourself," Thrawn retorted, his command voice smooth and dangerous despite it’s recent lack of use. He had sensed an undercurrent of something going on throughout their interaction, as though Vah'nya had been trying to decide whether or not to tell him something. "If I should not know it, do not tell me."

"It is nothing of consequence to our objective," Vah'nya responded. "I have told you next to nothing about our project," She reminded him. "This is more…"

"I did see him during the hearing," Thrawn admitted, though he did not appreciate the subtle twist of the conversation towards matters personal instead of professional. His reply was opinion, not fact. "He was unimpressed."

"There is more than meets the eye," She supposed, gaze flickering to him. "You understand?"

"I am deserving of his ire." Thrawn looked out into space through the tiny window. "More than anyone else's," He added, quieter.

"You feel sorry for yourself," She pushed. Her assertiveness was new and likely brought out by her current assignment. "It is not a good look on you, Commander Mitth'raw'nuruodo."

He did not glare, but the glow of his eyes, the way he positioned himself seemed to focus on her with elevated intensity.

She produced a data card from her pocket. "This should help to close the gap in your knowledge of the Ascendancy," She said, stepping closer to drop it on the low table.

"And the project?"

Vah’nya’s eyes narrowed, and her mouth twisted in a way that suggested displeasure. "I am not at liberty to discuss it. And I would warn you not to use your Jedi to glean the information from my sisters. Captain Eli’van’to will not take kindly to such games." She warmed. "But what I wished to tell you was-"

The door to the suite opened behind Vah'nya's back. In a covert and practiced move, Thrawn slipped the data card into his pocket, head tilted in a cool greeting Ezra.

Except, lingering in the doorway behind the young Jedi, was a second human, dressed in a Captain's uniform. "Oh," Ezra said in Basic, rubbing the back of his head. "I-"

"Senior Navigator," Captain Ivant said. His wood-brown gaze shifted to Thrawn. "Commander Mitth'raw'nuruodo." He nodded to them both, cordially. The fierce coldness Thrawn had experienced the previous day was gone, and in its place was a cool confidence. He had the airs of someone knowledgeable and approachable. Worthy of command. Ivant did not seem to linger on Thrawn for more than the greeting, though. He shared a look with Vah’nya before asking, "I trust you have settled in alright?"

It took a moment for Thrawn to realize he'd been addressed, but military procedure was deeply ingrained. "Yes, Captain," He said.

"Good," He said in Cheunh. To Vah'nya, he quirked an eyebrow, then drew their attention to the two completed meal trays. "Take them back to the mess," He instructed her. "The Commander and his charge will not have time, and it is on the way to your seminar."

"Now?"

"Yes, Vah'nya." His Cheunh was melodic, almost, with the inflection many of the Navigators and officers used, rather than the flat language used by most subordinates. Thrawn had expected nothing less, but it was impressive to hear all the same. At least, in this, he had not been mistaken. Eli Vanto had lived up to what Thrawn had seen in him. Perhaps he could find something positive in that. "I will discuss this with you later." The heat that didn't color his face in infrared splotches came out in his voice.

Vah'nya sighed. "Yes, Sir." She scuttled around Thrawn to collect the trays.

"Thank you," Thrawn bid her as she passed him a second time to leave. "The tour of the ship was most useful."

Vah'nya nodded, suspecting that was the least of which he was thankful for. She had served with many leaders, and none of them had ever handled idle time well. "You are welcome, Thrawn." She stopped in the doorway to regard Ezra and her superior. "Captain," She nodded.

"Navigator."

The Chiss woman left, leaving Ezra to look between Ivant and Thrawn. "The data card she gifted you should have plenty of art on it," Eli said. "Ar'alani compares her love of music to it frequently."

"It is similar," Thrawn agreed, but there was an edge of caution in his voice.

He wondered if Vah'nya had been sent to collect information, rather than visiting him of her own devices. Vanto did not project any malice or anger, though his emotionless state yesterday had given a lasting and uncanny impression of it. Today, he was cool, calm, and kind, though no less in control. Intensity lingered about him. Confidence was reflected in his movements and stance. It was an interesting catalog that Thrawn would pick apart when he had time for reflection. He knew, deep down, Eli Vanto was furious with him, to a point that he'd forsaken his emotions to make the point known. He had seen humans react that way before. It made an excellent point, as Thrawn so clearly experienced first hand.

Because of all of his transgressions and the wrongs he'd done, perhaps his most severe crime was he had taken this man's life and molded it in the interest of others (though to a lesser degree, for the man himself). Thrawn gave him a task that would cast him out of the Empire, and then he himself had failed. Eli Vanto, in the wake of Thrawn's own life, had always been collateral damage. And Vanto knew it, too. From the first.

Now, Thrawn’s failure meant there was no going back.

Captain Ivant spoke into his thoughts. "I know. You'll glean more from inspecting recent pop culture pieces from Csilla than from reading texts. That's why I had asked her to compile it for you in addition to the official reports."

Vanto had to know. There was no way for him not to understand the political ramifications of Thrawn’s actions. And yet, this. He’d asked her to do this? Eli was kind, he had always been the first to want to help. It was what started their uncanny relationship, and had helped forge them into an impeccable team. What was he playing at? What angle was he manipulating? What did he see? Thrawn needed to know.

It was nearly too late. "If anything stands out to you, or you want clarification, don't hesitate to ask," Vanto said in Basic. He turned to leave. "My door is always open."

"You did not want her to visit, and yet you gave her the data card to give to me," Thrawn pressed him in Cheunh. It was a test. A thinly veiled jab at Vanto’s temper, but Thrawn was shaken by the need to know how deep beneath the surface his new superior officer's anger was. Would this be enough to stoke its flames?

The human cast a glance over his shoulder, one dark eye catching Thrawn's. "I believe she was trying to prevent us from experiencing an uncomfortable moment," He replied in kind. His voice betrayed nothing.

Thrawn continued, "Surely you could have sent another."

"Sometimes it is far easier to permit a situation to unfold rather than allow it to run rampant behind one’s back." His lip twitched into a half-smile, but it was crossed with some faint emotion Thrawn couldn’t place. Sadness, perhaps? He wasn't sure, but something about the way Vanto regarded him bothered Thrawn immensely. He wasn't used to, nor did he like the sensation. Vanto dismissed him politely all the same. "Good afternoon, Commander Mitth'raw'nuruodo."

With a click of the door's hydraulics, he was gone. Thrawn stared after him. Something in the way the Captain spoke, an inflection in his tone, the slightest dilation of his eyes was a clue, and yet none of the tell-tale facial heat or reddening of his ears had indicated embarrassment or rage.

It was not sadness, Thrawn realized suddenly. It was disappointment. And it stung like an open wound in a place behind Thrawn’s ribcage and oozed unpleasantly into his core. He blinked at the closed door for a moment, trying to push the feeling down and away. It lingered.

"Uh," Ezra nudged at something invisible with the toe of his boot. He looked at Thrawn sheepishly. "You alright?"

"Why do you ask me that?" Thrawn did not mean to snap at the young man, but Ezra didn't seem to take offense.

"I can feel your sadness," Ezra said softly. "And I can pretty much never feel your feelings through the Force. It's like… like you've lost something," He rambled, "I just-"

"I am fine, Ezra."

Ezra closed his mouth. Thrawn only ever called Ezra by his given name when he really wanted the young Jedi to shut up. And usually, Ezra knew, that meant he was right about whatever he'd been saying to the Chiss. Whatever was happening in that big blue head right about now, Ezra assumed Thrawn had far more questions than answers.

[tabloidtoc]

OK, June 29

Cover: Heather Locklear Just Married 

Page 1: Big Pic -- Grey’s Anatomy alum Melissa George loaded up her bike before making her way around the city of Paris 

Page 2: Contents 

Page 4: Katy Perry ready for baby -- mom-to-be Katy is counting down the days until she meets her little girl 

Page 6: Jimmy Kimmel’s life as a dad 

Page 7: As filming for Avatar 2 resumes in New Zealand star Kate Winslet is considering living there full-time, Jessica Alba was already stressed out trying to manage her billion-dollar business The Honest Company while parenting her three kids but now that her acting career has been revived she’s finally hit her breaking point, it’s been almost two years since Justin and Hailey Bieber tied the knot and Justin’s mom Pattie Mallette couldn’t be more grateful that Hailey came into her son’s life 

Page 8: In a recent interview Prince Harry’s ex-girlfriend Cressida Bonas spilled the tea on how their romance affected her life and it’s got the royal family sweating bullets that she’ll spill even more, Brad Pitt takes his sober life seriously and he’s found a real kindred spirit in Lena Dunham who’s on roughly the same timetable of recovery as he is and the pair have become so close that Brad intends to reunite with Lena on screen sometime in the near future, though Lea Michele’s first pregnancy should be one of the most exciting experiences of her life she’s more stressed than ever as her colleagues continue to air her dirty laundry -- she’s so upset and has been crying a lot and she thought some of her respected pals like Jonathan Groff or Ryan Murphy would have come to her defense by now but that hasn’t been the case 

Page 10: Red Hot on the Red Carpet -- bright yellow -- Catt Sadler, KiKi Layne, Sandra Bullock 

Page 11: Zoey Deutch, Mindy Kaling 

Page 12: Who Wore It Better? Demi Moore ✅ vs. Holland Roden, Joan Smalls vs. Candice Swanepoel ✅

Page 13: Nicky Hilton Rothschild vs. Scarlett Johansson ✅

Page 14: News in Photos -- Hannah Ann Sluss (full page) 

Page 16: Dorit Kemsley took out the trash, Wells Adams goes for a jog, Melissa and Joe Gorga working out at home 

Page 17: John Legend resting his eyes while daughter Luna watched Harry Potter, Dakota Fanning gets out of her car, Isla Fisher on a bike ride 

Page 18: Winnie Harlow in Big Bear Lake, Elsa Hosk on the beach, Heather Graham and pal Odessa Rae at the beach 

Page 20: Adam Sandler relaxed at the beach with family and friends, Kim Zolciak-Biermann and husband Kroy Biermann 

Page 21: Ariel Winter in her pajamas running errands, Brigitte Nielsen and daughter Frida at the park in L.A. 

Page 22: David Beckham with his kids Harper and Cruz and Brooklyn and Romeo, Kevin Hart with son Kenzo, Cristiano Ronaldo and Georgina Rodriguez threw a costume party for twins Mateo and Eva with siblings Alana and Cristiano Jr. 

Page 23: Scout Willis back in L.A. with her rescue dog Grandma, Lucy Hale cuddles her dog Elvis, Colin Farrell on a walk with his dog and his sister Claudine 

Page 24: Inside My Home -- Patrick Schwarzenegger is selling his home in West Hollywood for $3.35 million 

Page 26: Ellen Pompeo and Chris Ivery calling it quits because they grew apart and have been living separate lives for a while 

Page 27: Denise Richards and Aaron Phypers’ relationship is beginning to crack as her RHOBH costar Brandi Glanville continues to claim she and Denise hooked up, Single Parents costars and real-life couple Leighton Meester and Adam Brody have found a silver lining since their comedy got the ax: they’d both been working so much they didn’t have a lot of downtime but now they’re finally able to enjoy family life, though Kourtney Kardashian and Scott Disick haven’t officially rekindled their romance the parents of three are discussing the possibility of having another child together 

Page 28: Kendall Jenner and Devin Booker are more than just a summer fling: she’s crazy about him and sees a real future with him, Kelly Clarkson filed for divorce from Brandon Blackstock, Love Bites -- Jordana Brewster and husband Andrew Form split, Bachelor in Paradise’s Derek Peth and model Saffron Vadher dating, Ryan Murphy and husband David Miller are expecting their third child 

Page 30: Cover Story -- Heather Locklear’s incredible journey -- a year after hitting rock bottom she has made a total turnaround: beating her demons and finding true love

Page 34: Suri Cruise speaks out -- Suri may be ready to lift the lid on her mysterious world and how she really feels about her famous dad Tom Cruise 

Page 36: Carrie Underwood’s big plans -- she’s telling friends she’s ready to try for baby no. 3 

Page 38: Reality TV’s strangest shows -- I Wanna Marry “Harry,” Farmer Wants a Wife

Page 39: Splash, Who’s Your Daddy, Scream Queens, Joe Millionaire 

Page 40: Interview -- Elle Fanning keeping it real -- the actress dishes on growing up in the spotlight, working with her famous sister and starring in her new series The Great 

Page 42: They’ve Still Got It -- the hottest singers from the turn of the millennium spill their secrets for staying in age-defying shape -- Jennifer Lopez, Brandy 

Page 43: Jessica Simpson, Britney Spears, Mandy Moore 

Page 46: Style Week -- Alexa Chung has just been named the first-ever global ambassador for the U.K. beauty brand Code8

Page 48: Share the love during PRIDE month with brands that support the LGBTQ+ community -- the cast of Pose celebrates last year’s Pride Parade in NYC 

Page 49: Mini Magic -- these tiny purse-perfect beauty saviors keep you glam on the go -- Reese Witherspoon 

Page 50: Stylish Summer Essentials -- Kourtney Kardashian and Kendall Jenner 

Page 52: Road Trip Traveling -- Nina Dobrev 

Page 54: Entertainment 

Page 55: Q&A Tamra Judge 

Page 58: The Class of 2020 -- Ludacris and daughter Karma Bridges, Pierce Brosnan and son Dylan Brosnan, Jerry O’Connell’s daughters Charlie and Dolly O’Connell, Laura Dern’s son Ellery Harper, Julianne Moore’s son Caleb Freundlich, Maci Bookout’s son Bentley Edwards 

Page 60: Hollywood Heat Meter -- after racially insensitive remarks resurfaced Max Boyens and Brett Caprioni and Kristen Doute and Stassi Schroeder were fired from Vanderpump Rules, Lady Gaga’s Chromatica became her sixth consecutive No. 1 album, Ben Affleck’s secret Instagram account has been discovered, Ryan Seacrest may move back to L.A., Secret Bundles of Joy -- these parents managed to keep the births of their kids hush-hush -- Drake and Sophie Brussaux, Iggy Azalea, Rashida Jones and Ezra Koenig, Cameron Diaz and Benji Madden, Enrique Iglesias and Anna Kournikova 

Page 61: Sound Bites -- Kelly Ripa on working with Josh Duhamel on All My Children, Keanu Reeves on why he signed on for The Matrix 4, Beyonce giving a speech to the class of 2020, Kristen Bell on homeschooling her younger daughter Delta 

Page 62: Horoscope -- Cancer Mindy Kaling 

Page 64: By the Numbers -- Sophia Bush 

[the-marvel-imagines-blog]

Madness | Chpt. 16

Chapter Title: “Destiny”

Pairing: Loki x Original Female Character

Word Count: 10,712

Warnings: angst (what’s new?), violence

Name Pronunciations: Hjalmar: “He-all-mar” | Aaldir: “All-deer” | Ephinea: “Eh-fin-ee-uh”

Summary: When the lives of Tony and Harley are in question, Eva discovers just how powerful she can become, and she is faced with a difficult decision.

A/N: First, I’m sorry for the long wait. My much younger brother is on summer vacation, and I have been tasked with babysitting duty, which means that I have almost no time in the day right now to write. As I’ve said before, I’ve taken a lot of creative liberties with these characters, and I’m doing it once again. I have “borrowed” dialogue from Iron Man 3 to use in these chapters just to make them fit in with the sequence of events from the movie. The love that people gave to the last chapter on tumblr, fanfiction.net, and AO3 is absolutely insane, and it’s only going to pick up more in the coming chapters. Once again, thank you all so, so, so much, and I hope you enjoy this installment <3

Tagged: @teddyboobear @alledeglyfunny @xletmetaste-yoursmilex @itsknife2meetu @mynameisyara @j-j-ehlby-writes @jillilama-blog (anyone who wants to be tagged can message me and ask. It’s not a problem at all)

*Eva’s POV*

Tony and I sat at a table in the bar with Mrs. Davis. Harley had been right. She was glued to the chair at that table like it was her home. Even in that moment with her, feeling her sadness and grief, I still couldn’t let go of the previous night and my interaction with Loki. Everything was weighing heavier on my shoulders than ever before. I left for more reasons than just Odin’s inability to see things my way or Tony’s sudden trouble he found himself in. A part of me needed to be away from Asgard. It was a place that reminded me of all I had lost. Hjalmar, Loki, her. I lost everything on Asgard, and I was reminded of each of those losses every morning, and I lived with them all day. Still, when I saw Loki last night, something was different. Something had changed. He was the man I loved again-a little bent, but not broken...never broken. I thought I would never see him again, the man I loved with every ounce of my heart and soul, but when I visited his mind, it was like he returned to me. It was as if I proved that I was worthy of his love once more, but I knew that it was just because he reached his breaking point. We all had one, and Loki, even though he was a God, was no different.

Suddenly, I felt like I would be needed again, like I had a purpose on Asgard. I always felt like my purpose was Loki. Even after the fall, I found purpose. When Thor and I brought him back to Asgard, I found my purpose in fighting for him to be released into my care. However, our interactions had broken me down into nothing. Once it sunk in that he didn’t want me or need me, I had nothing. I was left fighting for air, and I found it on Midgard. The Midgardians had always given me a greater purpose, especially the select few I was linked to. It was the first time since Loki returned to Asgard that I could breathe again. Now, the spark was back in those crystal blue eyes, and he let me see him once more-the good, the bad, the wondrous, and the upsetting. He let me in again, and I knew that he’d be waiting patiently for me on Asgard, waiting for me to return and run into his waiting arms. I would fight for him once more.

A part of me was afraid that Ezra had set his sights on Loki. I knew Loki would be safe from him, but the mere thought of the enemy picking out my love was terrifying. Every moment I thought about it, the pain in my abdomen grew exponentially more painful. Ezra had shown himself to be a powerful player when we fought on the bridge that day, but there was nothing that prepared me for his sudden interest in Loki. All I could do was hope that the guards would keep their word to me and alert someone should Ezra make a wrong move. I wanted to know everything he did and everything he said. With Loki in such close proximity, the stakes were even higher. I had faith in him, though. I knew he’d be able to hold his own against Ezra, but when I entertained the idea, a piercing, fire hot pain spread throughout my body and stemmed from the wound on my abdomen, causing my body to tremble in pain. I had been wounded in battle on many occasions, but nothing compared to that.

While Tony spoke with Mrs. Davis, I clutched her hand, watching her son’s life like a movie before my own eyes. I felt her pride in each of his accomplishments. I felt her heartache when he was sick or upset. I felt her disappointment when he made choices that she tried to steer him away from. I saw her joy when he straightened himself out, picked himself up, and moved on. I felt her guilt that she wasn’t able to give him everything he ever wanted, but I also felt the unconditional love she had for him through it all, and that was all that ever really mattered. I knew that her love for him surpassed all expectations he ever had. Through her memories, I witnessed the man her son grew into. His compassion, empathy, selflessness, and willfulness wasn’t because of the new bike she saved up for for months. The purest, most beautiful pieces of his personality were born from the love she showed him time and time again. From the long work hours to the meals she skipped so he never knew what hunger felt like to the times when she decided she was too full for the last piece of her favorite dessert because she knew he wanted it, I saw the purest love there was: the love a mother had for her child.

It felt like a knife to my heart.

The pain I felt when I grasped her hand was familiar, and I wished to take it away for her. I felt the weight on her shoulders and the guilt that she hadn’t intervened to protect her son. I knew that she had her doubts, that the man who took the lives of others was not the man she raised. The pain within her heart tore into my own until the anger began to creep up. I wanted vengeance. I wanted justice for her son, that hopefully it would atone for some of what I had done, that maybe it would take some of my pain away. The moment I felt that anger building up within me, I silenced it, focusing every ounce of my power on her. As I pulled up her most peaceful, tranquil memories of her son, I felt her mind begin the process of restoring her broken heart. My body felt strained as I tried to take her pain from her, but I clenched my jaw and continued through it, pulling up the most beautiful memories she had. Each second that passed when I was using my...gifts, the pain in my abdomen grew worse and worse, but I would take the weight of the world on my shoulders just so that she could experience a moment of serenity in the midst of the chaos. The pain I endured was nothing compared to hers. Experience taught me that.

As the burden of her son’s death was lifted from her shoulders, her grief-stricken eyes met mine, and she recognized me. While she didn’t say my name or call attention to my identity, she knew who I was, just like Harley did when we first met. We sat in a silent moment of appreciation for one another. I appreciated her willingness to speak with us in the first place, and she appreciated what I had done for her. We were trapped in a mutual understanding with one another. We both knew what it was like to lose. She hadn’t expected me to use my “talents” to aid her, but there was an unspoken word of thanks that was exchanged through her gaze. Tony’s voice pulled her attention from me, and I engaged in the conversation once more, desperately trying to push aside the pain, “Mrs. Davis, your son didn't kill himself. I guarantee you, he didn't kill anyone,” he insisted, pushing the file back over to the grieving woman. Her puffy eyes filled with more tears as she tried to process his words, but before she could ask what he meant, Tony explained, “someone used your son as a weapon.”

Her eyes searched his, looking for any amount of dishonesty. She didn’t want to be filled with false hope, not when so much was at stake. I knew that she didn’t want to think her son was a killer-no parent would-but when she was faced with evidence that was presented as facts, she was left no other choice but to try to piece it all together. She let out a pent up breath, “you’re not the person that called me after all, are you?” she asked, reaching across the table to grasp Tony’s arm.

Before she could reach him, the woman Tony and I encountered outside of the bar slammed a badge down onto the table in front of us. My eyes scanned the badge. Ellen Brandt. Upon gaining the attention of the three of us, she smirked over at Mrs. Davis, “actually, I am,” she noted before grabbing Tony’s arm. In one swift motion, she had Tony bent over the table, his left arm twisted behind his back.

I shot up from my seat, “take your hands off of him, now!” I demanded, the fury rising in my chest. It was the same rage that bubbled up within me when I fought on the battlefield. There was a part of me that craved destruction and death, part of me that wanted to hurt those who threatened the fabric of life. I spent my entire life silencing that piece of myself and embracing peace and harmony. However, no matter how much I hated to admit it, when Brandt put her hands on Tony, that hatred and anger bubbled up again. When she showed no signs of letting him go, I clenched my jaw, my ears beginning to ring. She pulled Tony up once she secured the handcuffs around his wrists, and I closed the space between us, stepping around the table. My voice lowered, “remove them or they will be removed,” I growled, a fire surging through me that could burn through entire galaxies.

Her brown eyes flickered over to mine, and she shrugged her shoulders, “no problem,” she smirked before pushing Tony down to the floor. She was rough with him, handling him without an ounce of gentleness. It only awakened the primal anger within me even more.

I narrowed my eyes at her as a man approached us, looking to be part of the small town’s law enforcement. As the two interacted, I gave Tony a once over to make sure he wasn’t injured. There were no injuries that he sustained in the quick altercation with Brandt, but it still didn’t sit well with me. He began moving to push himself back up off the floor, but every sense in my body told me that something wasn’t right. There was a part of me that just knew that something was about to happen, that we wouldn’t leave here unscathed. I motioned for him to stay put, not wanting him to be hurt in the crossfire. His was a life I would never be willing to risk. He furrowed his eyebrows in response to the unspoken direction I gave him, not understanding why I wanted him to stay down. The man was a genius, but there were times when he lacked perception.

I finally turned my attention back to the conversation between Brandt and the officer, who looked to be losing his patience quickly, “well, why don’t you get on the horn to Nashville and, uh, upgrade me?” he asked, crossing his arms over his chest.

“Alright. You know what?” Brandt asked with a sigh, gripping her badge tightly, “I was hoping to do this the smart way, but, uh, the fun way is always good,” she remarked, her skin beginning to glow as if there was a fire lit beneath it. I furrowed my eyebrows, but I had no time to process the new information before she used her badge to burn the officers face while he was distracted by giving orders to his men.

My first thought was Tony and the promise I made to his father before he was even born. I ran to his side and lifted him from the floor, dragging him to the exit as the screams erupted at the sound of her two consecutive gunshots. I glanced behind us to see that she had killed both officers. Her eyes scanned around the room at the frantic people who were finding cover and running out of the bar if possible, “what are you doing?” Tony asked as I pushed him toward the door.

“Get out of here!” I demanded, not willing to risk his life the same way I was willing to risk mine. Brandt would target more people, and I couldn’t bear to see anymore souls delivered to death that night. Not when I had the power to stop it.

Tony shook his head, “I’m not leaving without you,” he argued.

I sighed, turning my attention over to Brandt who had eyes set on the two of us. She raised her gun and took a shot. In the split second between her pull of the trigger and the time it took for the bullet to reach Tony and I, I pivoted my body, shielding Tony as best I could. I squeezed my eyes shut, clenched my jaw, and balled my hands up into fists in anticipation for the initial burning, but there was nothing. She had been aiming directly at Tony when she pulled the trigger, so there was no way she missed it. Upon opening my eyes, I saw that Tony was frozen in shock, his eyes wide as he stared at me. When I turned around to face Brandt, I noticed that she shared the same look in her eyes, as if she feared me. I glanced back at Tony, “get these people out of here, then we’ll leave together,” I compromised, knowing that he wouldn’t leave without me no matter how much we argued about it. I was prepared to meet my end in that bar if it meant he was protected.

He gave me a quick nod, and I reached behind him, snapping the cuffs from his wrists. Turning around, my eyes locked with Brandt’s, and the fear that had once been in her eyes began to die away. I narrowed my eyes at her, knowing that this would be a battle neither of us would win. I would lose a piece of myself if I was forced to kill her, and she would lose to me no matter what. I shook my head, desperately hoping she would listen to reason, “this doesn’t need to end like this,” I reminded her, wanting to do whatever I could to talk her down. Killing needed to be my very last option. While I could put her down without much of a struggle, I couldn’t resort to that without trying to reason with her first.

She snickered, “I won’t be meeting my end today...but you will,” she threatened, raising her gun once more, aiming at me this time.

I nodded my head, “so be it,” I sighed, pushing Tony out from behind me before I grabbed her wrist, turned into her, and twisted the gun from her hand. In the struggle, she fired off two shots directly into the wall. If Tony had remained behind me, she would’ve shot him. The screams around me only fueled my anger. Like Loki had once done, Brandt was jeopardizing the lives of the innocent, but unlike the situation with Loki, I would break her if need be. Once I relieved her of her firearm, I pulled the clip from it, emptied the chamber, and threw it at the window. The force caused the window to shatter, and the gun landed on the street outside. Knowing that she would have to take me on without her weapon, she raised her fists, and I noticed that they glowed just as her skin did before it all began. It was like there was a fire beneath her skin, but mine was hotter.

As she lunged at me, I ducked out of her way, blocking each of her blows. She was fast. With my wounds, I was slower than usual. Had I only been burdened with the wound Ezra inflicted on the bridge, I would’ve been faster. I could’ve subdued her quickly. However, I still had the wound in my back, causing every movement to burn even hotter than before. I fought through it, the pain only propelling me forward. Every quick movement, every blocked attack, every step was like someone was tearing me open and lighting my insides on fire. She lunged at me once more, managing to grab my throat. She was stronger than the average Midgardian, but there was something special about her. She was gifted. Her hand around my throat burned my skin, but before I could push her away, she threw my body against the wall as if I was light as a feather. I skimmed over a table before hitting the wall, and when my back connected, I realized just how much force she used to throw me. The wind was knocked out of me for a moment.

I choked, trying to pull the air back into my lungs as I massaged my throat. A fleeting thought crossed my mind that I would’ve been better off to just give up, that it wasn’t worth it. Tony could handle himself. I had only intervened a few times throughout his life, but he was more than capable. That thought was tossed out the window as soon as Brandt turned and set her sights on Tony who was finishing his task of clearing people out of the bar. I pushed my body up, fighting through the pain once more. Now, it was my turn to provoke her. I grabbed the table she threw me across, and I lifted it up before throwing it at her. The table crashed against her back, breaking into pieces. She turned back around to face me, completely unfazed by the attack, “you just won’t stay down, will you?” she asked, her fists glowing even brighter than before.

I shrugged, “I’ve been told I’m a real pain in the ass,” I remarked, recalling what Tony told to me the previous night. I sighed, knowing that this had to be the end, “this is your last chance to make the right choice. Stop, and you will live. Continue, and I will be forced to break you,” I fumed. She smirked, and I knew that she had already made her choice. I nodded my head, saddened by what was to come. However, she pushed me to my breaking point, and I would no longer hold back when it came to her. I would still do everything in my power to subdue her, but I would no longer be on the defensive. I ran at her, tackling her down to the ground. The heat from her body burnt my skin, but they healed just as quickly as they had appeared.

As I tried to wrestle her into submission, my focus faltered when I checked on Tony’s progress. I noticed that he was escorting the last person from the bar. Brandt took advantage of my lack of concentration, and she twisted our bodies, securing her place above me. He hands wrapped around my neck once more, and she began choking me. Her strength was impressive, but I was trained by one of the greatest warriors Asgard has ever seen, a man who just so happened to be my father. Aaldir taught me that brute strength was important at times, but speed, endurance, and technique were more valuable in the long run. As she focused all of her energy on choking me, I grabbed one of her arms, pivoted my body beneath her, hooked one of my legs around her neck, and slammed her body to the floor. Maintaining control of her arm between my legs, I thrust my hips upward, snapping her arm in half.

While she yelled out in pain, I pushed myself away from her, rubbing my neck. She groaned as she pushed herself up to her feet with her good arm, “you bitch!” she roared, closing the space between us. As I tried to push myself back up, she took the opportunity to land a hard kick against my abdomen, causing me to scream out in pain. The kick only aggravated the wound that was already there, and it caused such an unbelievable pain that caused the world to fade away for a short second.

“Hey, hot wings, you want to party?” I heard Tony’s voice from the entrance of the bar. Brandt turned her attention back over to him, which was exactly what he wanted. I could’ve screamed at him for his stupidity in that moment. He motioned for her to join him, “come on. You and me, let’s go,” he taunted her, causing her to close the space between them. Once she got close enough, he ran out of the bar, and I found the strength, once more, to push myself up off the floor of the bar.

I groaned out in pain and gripped my abdomen as I ran out of the bar. I knew what Tony was doing, and if I didn’t care for him as much as I did, I would’ve found it to be endearing. He wanted to protect me, to draw her attention away from me in order to keep me safe, but that wasn’t his job. I was meant to protect him, not the other way around. I couldn’t live with myself if he was hurt in order to protect me, not when his life meant so much more than mine. I was an orphan, a girl with no name. Tony had a role in the great war to come, the war that Thanos would undoubtedly bring to Midgard at some point. When I looked through Loki’s memories, I saw what Thanos desired, and I knew that he would find his way to Earth someday. I hoped that it wasn’t in Tony’s lifetime, but I knew that he was meant for something. I wasn’t.

As I stumbled out of the bar, a snowball whizzed past my head. My eyes followed it, and it landed on a man who was aiming at Tony as he ran across the street. When the snowball hit him, he lost his aim and fired at the window of a store across the street, missing Tony completely. My eyes followed his, and I saw Harley, desperately trying to find a place to hide. I could sense how much that boy loved Tony, how much he looked up to him. I knew that seeing his hero die would break him, and he was willing to risk his own life to protect Tony. We had that in common. When I noticed the fear in Harley’s eyes, I turned my attention back to the man who tried to shoot at Tony, and what I saw shook me to my core. He aimed his gun directly at Harley, his finger on the trigger.

There had only been one other moment in my life when I felt more fear, the time I almost lost her. I didn’t understand why the fear of losing Harley was so high up on the list, but it was. My body trembled, and I lost all sense of myself. There was no way I could protect him, no way I could jump between him and the bullet. Still, I had to try. Right before he could pull the trigger, a burst of pure fear and rage exploded out of me, “NO!” I screamed, the Earth beneath my feet beginning to quake, as if she was experiencing my feelings with me. I felt the pure terror rise up within me, and a power I had never felt before, coursed through my veins. I held out my hand, a black and red blast of energy shooting from my palm and hitting the man in the chest. The force of it sent him flying back, and I fell to my knees, suddenly weak.

I caught myself before I fell on my face, and I heaved. My ears rang as I tried to compose myself. In my state of shock, I didn’t hear the light sound of hurried footsteps over to me. Harley knelt by my side, trying to pull me up, helping me regain balance on my knees. My heart thudded in my chest as I looked down at my trembling hands, wondering what had just happened. Nothing like that had ever occurred before. I practiced magic with Frigga and Loki all my life, and I had become talented in the art of sorcery. However, there was no explanation for this. I didn’t have powers. I was just an average Asgardian. I learned the art of sorcery, since Frigga believed I had been born with a gift and talent for it. I wanted to read into what happened, but I couldn’t. I didn’t have time, not when Tony’s life was on the line. As I realized the depth of the situation I was in, my ears stopped ringing, and I regained my composure and control. My eyes locked with Harley’s, and I noticed that he was visibly shaken by what he had seen from me, “you need to leave, Harley. I need you to go home, lock yourself inside with Kaia, and stay there until we get back,” I ordered him, feeling so much like my father.

He shook his head, tears filling his eyes instantly, “what about you?” he asked, his bottom lip quivering as fear of the unknown overcame him.

“I need to be here to help Tony with this, but I can’t do my job unless you do yours, okay?” I asked, tilting my head as I cupped his cheeks in my hands.

He squeezed his eyes shut, a stray tear falling down his cheek. I wiped it away as quickly as I could, my heart breaking at the thought of potentially never seeing him again. When he opened his eyes, his eyes held every ounce of sadness in the world, “I can’t go without you,” he whimpered.

I smiled through the tears, feeling the absolute love he had for me. It was pure and beautiful, a ray of light in the darkest corners of my heart. Harley had one of the biggest hearts I had ever known on Midgard, and I couldn’t allow that goodness to be extinguished. I needed to protect him at all costs, “do you remember why I came here?” I asked, stroking his cheeks.

“To protect people,” he answered, breathing through the tears that threatened to fall from his eyes.

I nodded my head, “you’re one of those people, too, Harley. I want to protect you just like I want to protect Tony. The only way I can protect you is by sending you home. As soon as this is over, we’ll make our way back to the shack, but you can’t be here for this. I can’t risk losing you, too, okay?” I asked, thinking of the ones I couldn’t save. Harley couldn’t be on that list. When he finally nodded, I pressed my forehead against his own, calming his mind, “now, I need you to run home as fast as you can. Don’t look back, don’t slow down, just run, okay?” I asked.

He nodded his head once more, “promise you’ll come back,” he urged me.

“I’m going to try,” I replied, not wanting to get his hopes up, but I also wanted him to know that I was going to do everything in my power to make it back to him. I stood up from the ground, urging him in the direction of his house, and he began running. I turned my attention back toward the store Tony had found his way into, and the moment my eyes caught the fire raging in the building, the explosion happened, and my heart stopped. It felt like my world collapsed in on me once more, and that sinking feeling crept back up. The universe realized that I was being given too much, and I was in need of a readjustment. I had a piece of Loki back; therefore, Tony must be taken away. Tears sprang to my eyes at the thought of losing him, of losing my link to the woman I was once, to the people I loved so dearly.

I scrambled up to my feet, stumbling over to the building as the fear, anger, rage, and absolute despair built up within me. I felt weaker than ever before, but in that weakness, I found such an incredible power rising within me as well. A stray tear cascaded down my cheek as I made my way over to the building, afraid of what I could find. I didn’t know if I could handle the sight of him if Death had truly claimed him, but even if she did, I would fight her until the very end to ensure his safety and security. He was like a son to me, and I had failed too many people to fail him as well. My body trembled as if there was a pressure building up within me that I couldn’t release. When I finally reached the back of the building, my eyes landed on him as he stood upright, clearly shocked by what had just happened, “oh, God,” I breathed out, sprinting over to him and throwing my arms around his body and holding him as tightly as I could without breaking him, “I thought I lost you,” I explained, my voice quivering almost as much as my body was.

He gathered me in his arms, holding me the same way I held him. He held me like he was prepared to be my armor, like he would be the impenetrable wall between me and any danger. That terrified me. The fear I had when I thought I lost him was more than enough to drive me over the edge. I had no idea what would’ve happened to me if he was ripped away from me. I had lost too much to lose him as well. I pulled away from him just enough to give him the once over. My hands grazed his cheeks as I focused my energy on transferring his wounds to me if there was any. The second he realized what I was doing, he pulled away from me, grabbing my hands to stop me from healing him, “stop, just...let me carry these,” he insisted, his dark brown eyes pleading with mine.

Right before I could argue with him, there was a loud creaking sound radiating from the water tower, causing Tony to jump. I could feel his anxiety building up as our eyes locked on the water tower that began to tip toward us ever so slightly. One of the metal beams that held it upright was glowing red, much like Brandt’s skin did when we fought. It was heating up...melting. I grunted, “you have got to be kidding me,” I growled, grabbing Tony’s arm. His eyes met mine once more, “run,” I ordered, and the two of us took off with one another. Naturally, I was faster than him, but I couldn’t leave him behind. Behind us, I heard the metal beginning to break like it was as fragile as glass. Upon casting a quick glance over my shoulder, I saw that the tower was plummeting toward the ground. When I looked back at our path, I saw that we were completely cut off. A fence had blocked our escape.

Every scenario ran through my mind in that moment. I could break through the fence and continue running with Tony only to be overcome by the massive amount of water. I could try to shield him from the pressure of the water with my body. I could throw him over the fence and hope that he could make it to safety in time. None of the scenarios stood out to me, but when the water tower finally crashed down and broke open, I knew what needed to be done. It was as if the solution just appeared out of nowhere, even though I wasn’t even sure if it would work. I faced the water, grabbing Tony’s arm and pushing him behind me. As the massive amounts of water approached us, I knelt down and touched the cold ground with my hands, connecting with the essence of life within the planet itself just as I had when I first arrived. She was still so calm and beautiful, strong and loving. Her life empowered me, our souls still interwoven.

Upon rising from the ground, I opened my eyes and stared directly into the water that approached us, knowing what needed to be done. When I held my hands out, the water stopped on a dime to my utter disbelief. I heard Tony’s deep gasp from behind me, and I felt his body fill with amazement. I didn’t know how this was happening, how any of my sudden...abilities were happening that night. Perhaps my body just conjured up abilities in order to allow me to keep Harley and Tony safe. However, I couldn’t help but ponder Frigga’s words that day on the balcony: You are the balance. What if she was right? What if she knew something about me that I didn’t? This wasn’t who I was. I was just Eva, the girl without a place, without a name. I was the orphan. I had no purpose other than the one I made for myself...but what if?

When I saw the glowing silhouette of the man beyond the water, I recognized him as the one who tried to shoot Harley. The heat rose in my chest once more, and my hands balled up into fists, causing the flowing water to begin to shift. Where it had once acted as a gentle flow of water that I controlled, it became like the water in the middle of the ocean during a storm. I clenched my jaw, narrowing my eyes at the stranger as my body began to quake. The pain in my abdomen felt like it was sucking out the very soul from within me. I felt the power draining from me as I continued to hold the water in place, and I noticed a grin on the strangers face. As my vision began to blur, I realized what was happening. I was either going to die or faint. Either way, I couldn’t let my attempt to protect Tony be in vain. My hands raised, causing the water to raise with them, and with a scream, I used the last fragment of my power to hurl the waves back at the stranger before my world went black.

“Eva!” I heard a far away voice, one I heard my entire life. It was my father. As the sound grew louder, I heard the screams, the clanging of swords, the grunts and roars of battle, and my father’s voice once more, “Eva get up!” he commanded as his rough, battle broken hands shook my body. My eyes fluttered open, adjusting to the darkness. It felt like the evening had set upon us with the thick clouds in the sky, but I could see hints of light from above. The screams continued to grow louder and louder as my eyes found my father’s, “pick up your sword and fight!” he yelled before landing a kick against the chest of an Asgardian warrior with glowing red eyes, sending the warrior falling back. Once he was on the ground, my father lifted his greatsword, Omen, and plunged it deep into the chest of the soldier. The struggling ended, and the red glow in the soldiers eyes faded away.

I furrowed my eyebrows. These were our people, and he was...killing them. My eyes flickered around the battlefield to see more soldiers with glowing red eyes dressed in Asgardian armor. I knew some of them. Magni, Leif, Erna, Sten, and Ingvild. Men and women I once fought beside were slaughtering my people. They were being fought off by Sif, Ephinea, Thor, even Loki. It was a dream the moment I saw his face. This was all a dream. Loki would never fight alongside Thor again, and the only way he would’ve been released from the dungeons would be if I broke him out myself. Asgardian soldiers fought each other, but as my eyes continued to focus, I noticed a stark difference between the two, aside from their eyes. The soldiers with glowing red eyes had received mortal wounds that looked to still be fresh. Before I had time to process it, my father kicked my sword over to me, “pick up your sword and fight!” he demanded, his voice trembling with a fear I hadn’t heard in him at any other point. I fought alongside my father, and I witnessed him in such utter distress, but something left him with pure terror rising up within him.

I shook my head, desperately wanting to let go, “I can’t. It’s over,” I realized aloud, my eyes fluttering closed again. The wound on my abdomen made me hiss out in pain as it continued to fester and pull the life right out of me. I couldn’t even entertain the idea of getting up and fighting anymore. My entire life was spent fighting, and it was time for me to lay down, fall asleep, and allow the universe to swallow me whole. The book was over. This was the end.

“It’s not over until you give up!” my father yelled, kneeling down next to me. His eyes were stern as they had often been through our childhood, but that never diminished the love he had for us. He showed us all the love in the world, more than we deserved, but he raised us to be strong and capable. He raised us into people who showed love even when that was the hardest thing to do, but he also turned us into some of the fiercest warriors in Asgard. He taught us that fighting and bloodshed should be the very last resort, but if it came to that, he prepared us to be lethal. He reached down between us and cupped his hand over my cheek. In that moment, I took in the severity of his wounds. He had been injured, but he was still fighting. He sighed, “I taught you how to walk, how to speak, how to hunt, how to fight, how to lead. I never taught you to surrender. Giving up isn’t in your blood,” he explained, his thumb stroking my cheek. My eyes began to flutter closed as my hearing faded once more. The sky felt as if it was crushing my body into the ground beneath me. It felt like I was being suffocated. Another shake from my father caused my body to seize slightly, the pain coursing through me once more. I gritted my teeth as he spoke, “now, I know it hurts, but if anyone can handle the pain, it’s you. You’re the best warrior Asgard has ever seen, and there’s more potential in you than you know. You can do so much more if you let go and accept who you’re meant to be, Eva, not what you’ve been told you can be or the person you’ve been reduced to. You’re my daughter, my little wolf, but you must also accept where you come from. Your blood makes you powerful, and Asgard needs that right now. Your home, your people, your family...we need you,” he explained, his eyes filled with so much hope, so much desperation.

I coughed, tasting the blood on my tongue, “I’m tired of fighting,” I confessed, reaching my hand up to cup his own. Upon seeing my own hand, I noticed the bright red blood smeared across my skin. I didn’t know if it was mine or someone else’s, but it made my stomach churn.

“And yet the battle wages on with or without you,” he reminded me, “rest only comes after the battle. I will not bury you with your brother, so you will stand up and fight with me until the very end!”

I shook my head, ready to argue with him, ready to unsheathe one of my daggers and plunge it into my own heart to avoid the battle. I had suffered long enough, and for what? I lost everything I loved anyway. I lost so many friends along the way. I lost Hjalmar. I lost Loki more times than I could count, and I was bound to lose him again. I lost myself. I lost it all. Every ounce of fight I once had was spent. It was over. Then, there was a scream, a cry for help, a familiar voice on the battlefield. My eyes crossed the battlefield to see a man I’d never seen before but a man who was familiar to me nonetheless. He had long black hair and piercing green eyes. They were the color of spring. I knew those eyes. Ezra had the same mad look in his emerald eyes. This was the man he spoke of: Cul, his father. My breath hitched in my throat as my eyes caught sight of who was in his grasp.

Her.

So many questions began to fill my mind. I knew this was a dream, a hallucination, but it had been so long since I’d seen her. Her face only showed itself to me in my most beautiful dreams or my most vivid, terrifying nightmares. I always dreamt that I had her back in my arms or that I lost her once more. No matter what, when I fell asleep, I dreamt of her. No matter how hard I tried to forget her, she was there in the depths of my mind like a raging fire that I had no hope of stopping. Her crystal-like green eyes met mine, and she wept, reaching out for me like she had only once before, like she had on the day I abandoned her. Tears streamed down her cheeks, and I gritted my teeth, fighting back my grief of seeing her once more.

“She needs you, Eva, whether you accept that or not. Even though you don’t see it, you’ve never failed her. You’ve never failed me. You’ve never failed your home. Are you going to start now? Or are you going to fight with me?” my father asked, the fire in my heart lighting once more.

I nodded my head, gazing back up at him as he rose to his feet. I reached out my hand, ready to die if it meant she would be safe, “until the very end,” I promised.

He grasped my hand and pulled me up onto my feet, steadying me, acting as my anchor just as he always did throughout my life, “I’ve got you, little wolf. Everything’s going to be okay,” he promised me, acting as my foundation, my rock, my steady ground. Now, it was time for me to be hers.

*Tony’s POV*

As the attackers body was thrown backward at the force of the small repulsor blast, Harley took the chance to sprint over to Eva’s body. Everything happened so quickly that I didn’t get the chance to check to see if she was alright, if she was even alive. I watched as Harley fell to his knees by Eva’s side, and he began shaking her. She looked more peaceful than I’d ever seen her before, but my heart was in my throat as I realized that her peace could’ve meant my loss. I loved her both selfishly and unselfishly. I knew the pain and suffering she had gone through, I knew what she had lost, but the selfish part of me wanted her to continue living for as long as I did. I couldn’t bear losing her because it would be like losing the last good piece of myself. The unselfish part of me was the part that loved her the most, though. It was the part of me that made me wish for the very best for her no matter what that meant for me. If I was approached by any supreme entity that promised her happiness in exchange for my life, I’d hand myself over in a heartbeat. I loved her in a way that I’d never been able to love myself, and she loved me more powerfully and unselfishly than almost anyone else. The only other person who loved me that much was my mother.

As I realized what I’d be losing if I lost Eva, I scrambled over to her body, the weight of the situation finally sinking in. Harley threw his body against hers, gripping onto her like a child would their mother. That was when I finally realized what she meant to him. They shared a connection that I couldn’t quite put my finger on, but as time passed, I realized that he looked at her as his shield, his protection, his person, his mother. It didn’t take a genius to piece together what was going on in his home. From some of his comments to the bruises on his arms that were visible for only a fraction of a second, I knew that he had been in dire need for protection all his life. Even though someone had given birth to him, he didn’t have a mother, and he took to Eva like an animal imprinting on its mother. He sat up, pushing the hair from her face before wiping his eyes, “wake up!” he sobbed as he shook her. He was having a complete breakdown, and there were no words I could say to make it better. There was nothing I could do to take his pain away, and it tore me apart inside, “you promised!” he wept, his body trembling as if he was being torn apart on the inside.

My heart began to thud as she still wasn’t showing any signs of waking up. This couldn’t be the end for her. Nothing happened to her. She had been acting slightly strange since she got here, but I figured it was because she was still coming to terms with being back on Earth. She had promised to stay away, that she would fall apart if she came back. That was what was happening right in front of my eyes. She fell apart, and I didn’t know how to put her back together. She wasn’t breathing, she wasn’t breathing, she was just completely still aside from Harley shaking her. I shook my head, “Eva, don’t do this. Don’t leave me like this,” I sniffled, tears beginning to stream freely down my cheeks. I didn’t care about how I looked or how weak the tears made me seem. All I cared about was her. I reached out for her hand, gripping onto it like Harley was gripping onto her. My bottom lip quivered as I felt no sign of life from her, “you...you can’t die,” I trembled.

As I squeezed my eyes shut, desperately trying to will it away, I heard a soft voice whispering words that brought me back to my childhood, “nothing ever really dies, it simply retires for a little while only to return again when we need it most,” Eva whispered in a soft, weak voice. The memory of that day rushed right back to me. I had been sitting on the back porch of my childhood home after school. One of my classmates parents had died, and I was trying to process the meaning of it. Eva sat down beside me, and I could remember asking her if she would die. She whispered those same words to me and told me that she’d never be far away from me. When I finally heard those words, my eyes shot open, and I took in the sight before me. Harley had even sat up to take her in, to make sure he wasn’t dreaming. I clapped my hand over my mouth, trying to hold back the wave of emotions that crashed down on top of me. Her green eyes scanned both of us but landed on Harley first, “I told you to go home,” she murmured, reaching up to gently stroke his cheek.

He shook his head, tears continuing to stream down his cheeks, “it’s not home without you,” he confessed, causing my heart to twist in my chest. Even in our short time knowing each other, he took to her like I’d never witnessed before. They were meant to find each other.

Eva reached up and wiped the tears from his cheeks as tears began to form in hers. When they fell, it was like stars falling from the night sky. She could sense his pain, it was a talent she had since the first day I met her. It was like she could tune into the essence of a person and feel exactly what they were feeling; it was empathy on a whole other level. Harley let out a shaky breath and wrapped his arms around her, hugging her tightly. She closed her eyes, and a light smile spread across her lips as she basked in the love he had for her, which only strengthened the love she had for him. It took a moment, but once she opened her eyes, they connected with mine, “are you okay?” she asked, genuinely concerned with my well-being when she was the one who nearly died.

I nodded my head, sucking in a sharp breath in an attempt to collect myself. The thought that I came so close to losing her, to losing someone so pivotal in my life, it tore me apart. Her life had been put in question far too many times, and this time, it was to save me. Her hand grasped my free one as tightly as she could manage, catching my eyes. She knew how afraid I was of losing her because she was just as afraid of losing me. Once I found the strength to speak, I cleared my throat, “you’re such a pain in the ass,” I trembled, my voice breaking as my emotions betrayed me. I thought I had a handle on them enough to speak, but I didn’t. I clapped my hand over my mouth as I began crying tears of overwhelming grief, fear, and joy all at once. There were so many emotions that were bottled up that came to the surface in that moment.

As soon as the first tear fell, Eva sat up with Harley still attached to her side, hugging her. Her face twisted in pain, but she pushed through it. Once she was sitting up, she grasped the back of my neck and pulled my face close to hers, pressing our foreheads together until our noses brushed against each others. Her hand moved from behind my neck to cup the side of my face, stroking my cheek with her thumb and brushing away the stray tears. As she held me, I felt myself growing calmer by the second, and I knew she had a hand in that. There were gifts that she was given, gifts that I could never know the range of. She leaned into my ear, the side of her face brushing against my own, “you’re the reason I came back to Midgard, and you’re one of the reasons why I can’t let go,” she whispered before pulling away from me just enough to catch my gaze. The most beautiful smile in the universe spread across her lips and made me feel at ease for the first time in such a long time.

Then, like all good moments in my life, this one ended just as quickly as it began. Her body convulsed, and her face twisted in pain as her eyes filled with tears. Harley pulled away from her right before she threw herself back onto the ground, her chest heaving as she groaned out in pain. She clung to her abdomen, and it finally made me take notice of the spotted blood on her shirt. There were no tears in her clothes, but there was still blood. I reached out as she whimpered, her jaw clenching and a permanent frown finding her lips. My hand grasped the hem of her shirt, and I lifted it up, wanting to see what I could do to help. I wasn’t as talented as Bruce when it came to the medical field, but I wasn’t inept. However, upon lifting her shirt, I saw what had been hiding beneath all this time. It was clear that she was experiencing pain since she had arrived, but it didn’t seem serious. When I saw the wound on her abdomen, though, I realized just how wrong I had been.

*Eva’s POV*

My vision blurred as I tried to focus on Tony. His eyes scanned the wound on my abdomen that throbbed and left me useless for the moment. I tried to breathe through the pain, but it wasn’t taking it away. I was still uncertain of what happened to make it hurt so bad. I’d experienced worse flesh wounds than that one. I’d been stabbed before. I’d been cut, choked, shot, and beaten. I was a warrior of Asgard, so I knew pain, but every ounce of pain I’d felt before meant nothing compared to this. The pain of a mere slash shouldn’t have amounted to much, and it should’ve healed quickly. However, this one had festered. Tony’s eyes filled with fear, which was the last thing I expected from him. The wound was disgusting, so I expected him to be taken aback by it. It looked like that part of my body was slowly decaying. Just as the throbbing pain stopped and the more constant burn kicked back in, my head fell back against the ground, and I worked on catching my breath. Tony’s eyes locked with mine, “what happened?”

“Before I came here, I was wounded in battle. I thought it would heal, but...it hasn’t even started. It’s just gotten worse,” I answered through labored breaths, “it was this, or he was going to kill one of my closest friends. I couldn’t let that happen.”

“Are you going to be okay?” Harley’s worried voice sounded from beside me. I gazed up at him, feeling like the luckiest being in the universe with him looking at me with so much concern. I was lucky that I was loved even after all I had done. Still, the care that he had for me could hurt him, just like my love for him could hurt me. Upon my inability to answer his question, he looked to Tony, “is she gonna be okay?” he asked, desperation filling his voice as he looked for an answer.

Tony nodded his head before his eyes caught mine, “if I have anything to do with it, she will be,” he promised, speaking to both of us. I wasn’t afraid to die, but I knew that I had to fight for the sake of the people I vowed to protect. Tony was one of them.

I gazed up at Harley, “don’t worry about me. I’m gonna be alright,” I insisted, trying to give him as much hope as possible. I didn’t want him to fear my death, even if I was about to draw my last breath. Death would come for each and every living being at some point, so to fear her when the time came made no difference. My hand found his smaller one, and his bloodshot eyes found mine, shattering my heart.

His eyes narrowed at me, “you promised not to leave me!” he shouted, his voice cracking in desperation. My near death hurt him in ways that I couldn’t understand.

I shook my head, “and I didn’t,” I reminded him.

“You almost did!” he snapped, pulling his hand away from mine as he frantically dried the tears from his face. He sniffled, “you almost left me alone, and I don’t want to be alone anymore!”

The moment he spoke those words, I realized exactly what our relationship was. I knew that the mother/child feeling that I had for him wasn’t one-sided, and it took that moment for me to recognize what had been sitting right before me all that time. He reciprocated those feelings. He felt just as deeply for me as I did for him. I couldn’t discourage him from them or try to push him away because it would only hurt him, and I refused to be one of the people who hurt him, “in your life, there are going to be people who leave you, but that’s when you need to be stronger than ever before. Those are the moments, the moments when it seems like the whole world is falling apart, that you need to gather yourself and carry on. I may not be around forever,” I confessed, causing him to shake his head in denial. I reached up, my hand grazing his cheek, “I may not be around forever, but when my time comes, I want to know that you can make it through whatever life throws your way. I want to know that you’re prepared for whatever comes next because you’re a warrior, little one. You can make it without me.”

His bottom lip quivered, “but I don’t want to,” he whimpered, wearing every emotion on his face. In his sadness, he looked away from me, almost as if he was ashamed to be feeling so much sorrow and anger. It was sincere, though. I nearly died, and he was justified in his anger. I put myself in a dangerous situation, which-regardless of my intentions-could’ve gotten me killed. I had almost broken my promise to him, and that would’ve torn him apart. I knew what this was like. I’d been in similar situations before.

“Harley, look at me,” I insisted, trying to reach his face. He pulled away even further, and I knew that if I didn’t intervene, he would pull away emotionally as well. I gave up trying to turn his head and settled for grabbing his small hand in mine, “look at me,” I urged him once more before those sad eyes locked with mine. I knew that look. I’d given that look to my brother countless times before we went into battle. Loki and I gave it to each other on more occasions than I could count. I knew what it was like to lose, but I needed to let Harley know that he’d never lose me. I told him the same words Hjalmar once told me, words I told Loki, Steve, Tony, and her. I swallowed hard, hot tears stinging my eyes, “nothing-not even death-could keep me away from you. Even when I meet death, know that I’m always right by your side. Every breeze you feel rush past you, the warmth you feel when the rays of light from the sun hit your skin, the star that lights your way home: that’s me. I’m never gone, Harley, not from you. Do you understand that?”

Just as he nodded his head, another surge of pain made it feel like my body was being torn in half, like I was being ripped apart from the inside. The pain was so intense that my vision began to blur again. I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to will away the pain, trying to regain control of my own body. Instead, the pain, like the buzzing in my ears, grew louder and louder, stronger and stronger. It was like I was fighting a losing battle. No matter what I did, I was going to fail. Just as quickly as the pain started, it faded with the noise. When I opened my eyes, I was in the middle of the throne room, and he stood directly in front of me. Ezra. Familiar green eyes, strong facial features, and long hair that matched the color of my own. He was a beautiful man with the build of a God. However, the madness left him looking sick, like Loki did in New York. It was clear that he hadn’t always looked like that, like he hadn’t eaten or slept in weeks. The madness took time to settle in, and I’d weed it out if I could, if he gave me the chance.

Ezra paced back and forth in front of the throne, not looking at it, not attempting to sit in it, not even fighting an urge to touch it. He wasn’t king, and he didn’t want the throne. Still, he guarded it like a predator guarding its fresh kill. His eyes scanned along the edge of one of his daggers as he spoke to me, “the way I see it, you have two options,” he stated, a twisted smile forming on his face as he sheathed the dagger and turned his attention to me, his eyes almost glowing with hatred, “your first option is you come back to Asgard, set me free, we leave together peacefully, and I fix that festering wound on your abdomen,” he explained with arrogance in his voice as he gestured to where the source of my pain came from. He shrugged his shoulders, “your second-less appealing-option is you stay away from Asgard, I break out of this cell, kill every last one of these scum, including your beloved Loki, find her, kill all of your friends, make you watch as I slaughter her, and then force you to come with me anyway. Either way, I win. You just have a say in how many lives are lost over this.”

I narrowed my eyes at him, furious that he would call her into this, “you don’t know where she is. I don’t even know where she is!”

“You think your ignorance hinders me?” he chuckled, descending the steps to stand directly in front of me. He grabbed my neck and pulled me close to him, close enough so that his breath cascaded across my face. His hands felt...familiar, just as his eyes had. His presence felt right in the strangest way, but I couldn’t understand it. I wasn’t afraid of him. Even as he gripped my throat tightly, threatening to squeeze the life from me, I wasn’t afraid of him, “I’m a God!” he yelled before tossing me back, my body hitting the floor.

“No! You’re a monster!” I yelled, rising to my feet and closing the space between us once more. The pain subsided. Every ounce of joy, love, and compassion just evaporated into nothing. It left me with nothing but my rage. He threatened her life, the lives of people I cared about. He was a threat-a coal that threatened to burn down all that I loved, and I would stomp it out no matter what. I reached between us, my hand gripping his throat just as he had done to me only a moment prior, “and if you even think about laying your hands on her, there will be no place for you to run, nowhere for you to hide. I will tear open the universe looking for you. I will find you no matter the cost, and when I do, you’ll beg me for a painful, torturous death when you see what I do to you,” I growled, the anger and rage threatening to tear me apart.

“This...this is who you’re meant to be,” he noted, a smile forming on his lips as he gestured down to my hand that was clasped around his throat. My eyes widened when I saw what happened to them. I ripped my hand away from his throat, and I stared down at both of them as the anger continued to flow freely through me. The veins in my hands glowed red just like his had when we fought each other that day. I shook my head in disbelief. Something was wrong with me. My mouth fell open as I looked for words to explain it away. Any explanation would suffice, but I would not believe that I was like him, that I was cursed. Before I had the chance to speak, he chuckled, “I’m eagerly awaiting your decision, Eva.”

[unlikely-allies]

****Spoilers****

5/5

The majority of the Illuminae Files have been reviewed during the tribunal, but there is still one piece of the story left. Six months after BeiTech’s attack on Kerenza IV, survivors are being forced to mine for hermium to power the Magellan Jump Station. Once the Magellan is up and running, the BeiTech troops have been given orders to liquidate the remaining citizens of Kerenza. Rhys Lindstrom was a specialist working on the Magellan, until he was brought planet-side to replace the techs that were killed by members of the rebellion. Being sequestered on Magellan, Rhys was guarded from the horrors taking place after the attack.

Asha Grant, Kady’s cousin, is alive and working in the hospital on Kerenza. Asha is a member of the resistance working to fight against the BeiTech troops on the ground. Asha and Rhys have a history. Once high school sweethearts, the pair’s relationship turned toxic and Asha was sent to Kerenza to live with her cousin. The two hadn’t seen each other for three years. After being exposed to the injustices taking place on Kerenza, Rhys agrees to aid Asha and the resistance.

Back in space, the Mao has met up with the Hypatia, whose resources are running dangerously low. The decision is made to move the citizens on the Hypatia to the Mao, effectively combining the survivors from the Alexander, Kerenza, Hypatia, and Heimdall. A plan to return to Kerenza and commandeer the Magellan is formed, but tensions are running high. Many people are doing jobs that they are unqualified for, and those that are qualified are as young as 15 years old. Many adults refuse to listen to, let alone follow, the orders of a “child,” causing dissention among the crew. Kady, the only one able to fill her position, is the only one able to maintain a sense of respect from the adults. Ezra, after having been promoted to Wing Leader, is grounded after getting into a fight with adult trainees. Captain Boll can’t see past Nik’s criminal past, Hanna’s tactical abilities are demeaned, and Ella barely has a working life support system.

After AIDAN assisted in saving the universe, Kady convinced Captain Boll to allow AIDAN to be uploaded into the Mao’s system. Once resources become scarce. AIDAN takes it upon itself to do some population control, unleashing carbon monoxide into two levels of the ship and killing roughly two thousand people. AIDAN cannot be trusted, and Kady is forced to shut it down. AIDAN’s mistake worsens the already high tensions. Several ex-Heimdall crew members stage a mutiny, during which 16 crew members and Captain Boll are killed. Winnifred McCall manages to reclaim order and becomes the Mao’s new captain. Luckily, McCall has faith in our teenage heroes, and finally utilizes their talents once again in planning the siege of the Magellan.

After finally receiving a communication from the survivors on Kerenza, the plan is finalized. Kady, commanding the bridge, readies the others for war. Ezra and Nik man one of the Mao’s Chimera fighters, Hanna is apart of the invasion team and has worked out the tactical aspects of the mission, and Ella hacks into BeiTech’s system to earn the fighters an advantage. The crew of the Mao are outnumbered, but they have made it this far and have survived the impossible. They cannot give up now. The citizens of Kerenza join the fight. With air support from the Mao’s Chimeras, the rebels face off against the soldiers that have turned their world into rubble. The time to take back their freedom has come.

I don’t want to spoil anything too important so you’ll just have to read it to find out what happens. Obsidio was the perfect end to an amazing trilogy. The heroes that we followed in the first two novels are finally together and kicking ass. The adults on the Mao make life tough for a good portion of the novel. This was extremely frustrating given that Hanna, Nik, Ezra, Ella,and Kady have more than proven how capable they are. Issac Grant, Kady’s dad, and McCall are the only ones who seem to grasp this. Once the decision-making is left up to them, the plot hits it’s stride. Issac is the fictional father of the year. He has more or less adopted all four of Kady’s new friends and he truly cares about each one of them. Prior to the siege of the Magellan, Issac takes the time to write little notes for each of them and its very heartwarming.

Having Rhys on team BeiTech allowed the reader to have a different viewpoint of the enemy. The previous two books focused more so on showing the humanity of the victims, but not the attackers. In Obsidio, the BeiTech troops are shown as people simply trying to do their jobs. As AIDAN put it, the villain is the hero of their own story. Adding this new viewpoint provided an new layer of depth in a complex story, but without it the ending would not have had the same impact.

Like Illuminae and Gemina, Obsidio by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff is full of action, drama, betrayal and plenty of twists.  Heart stopping thrills are balanced out with romance and witty humor, making Obsidio a must read for fans of any genre. As someone who was never really into the Science Fiction genre, I can say that The Illuminae Files has converted me. Please read this series, you will not be disappointed.

P.S. If you read my reviews of Illuminae and/or Gemina, you know that my favorite character in the series has been Analyst ID 7213-0089-DN. In Obsidio we find out that Analyst ID 7213-0089-DN is none other than Nik Malikov. Unsurprisingly, the tattooed bad boy has once again stolen my heart. I can’t believe that I didn’t figure it out while reading Gemina. I could read an entire book of just Nik narrating random daily activities.

[oupacademic]

Have you ever wanted to know more about your favorite classic authors? Each month we share various facts about the lives and works of our Author of the Month.

For May, we honored Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Born on May 22, 1859 in Edinburgh, Doyle was the author of over seventy books, with publications ranging across a wide spectrum of genres, bridging detective, historical, and science fiction with treatises on war and spiritualism. Some of the most interesting things we learned about him this month were…

Arthur Conan Doyle established himself as an eye specialist in London where he took to writing during office hours to whittle away the time. In April 1891, he submitted the first of six stories to the Strand, a new magazine

When Arthur Conan Doyle put his hero to death in ‘The Final Problem’ twenty thousand people cancelled their subscriptions in protest

The investigative method and fame of Holmes and Watson have exerted great influence on pop culture, modern media, and successive generations, inspiring TV shows such as The X-Files, CSI and arguably The Pink Panther film series

In the 20s, when the literary cauldrons of London and New York boiled over with talk of T. S. Eliot and Ezra Pound, Virginia Woolf and James Joyce, Arthur Conan Doyle quietly, without fanfare or self-congratulation, became the highest paid writer in the world

For the month of June, we are exploring the life and work of Thomas Hardy. Be sure to follow the #ClassicsInContext hashtag on Twitter to learn more.

Image credit: “Arthur Conan Doyle” by Walter Benington. Public Domain Wikimedia.

[leah-jeffries]

Brightly Burning | Alexa Donne | @hmhteen​ Type: Standalone Where to Buy: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | BookDepository | IndieBound

Seventeen-year-old Stella Ainsley wants just one thing: to go somewhere—anywhere—else. Her home is a floundering spaceship that offers few prospects, having been orbiting an ice-encased Earth for two hundred years. When a private ship hires her as a governess, Stella jumps at the chance. The captain of the Rochester, nineteen-year-old Hugo Fairfax, is notorious throughout the fleet for being a moody recluse and a drunk. But with Stella he’s kind. But the Rochester harbors secrets: Stella is certain someone is trying to kill Hugo, and the more she discovers, the more questions she has about his role in a conspiracy threatening the fleet.

Heart of Iron | Ashley Poston | @epicreads Type: Series : Heart of Iron (1)  Where to Buy: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | BookDepository | Indiebound

Seventeen-year-old Ana is a scoundrel by nurture and an outlaw by nature. Found as a child drifting through space with a sentient android called D09, Ana was saved by a fearsome space captain and the grizzled crew she now calls family. But D09—one of the last remaining illegal Metals—has been glitching, and Ana will stop at nothing to find a way to fix him. Ana’s desperate effort to save D09 leads her on a quest to steal the coordinates to a lost ship that could offer all the answers. But at the last moment, a spoiled Ironblood boy beats Ana to her prize. He has his own reasons for taking the coordinates, and he doesn’t care what he’ll sacrifice to keep them. When everything goes wrong, she and the Ironblood end up as fugitives on the run. Now their entire kingdom is after them—and the coordinates—and not everyone wants them captured alive. What they find in a lost corner of the universe will change all their lives—and unearth dangerous secrets. But when a darkness from Ana’s past returns, she must face an impossible choice: does she protect a kingdom that wants her dead or save the Metal boy she loves?

Fairest | Marissa Meyer | @fiercereadsya​ Type: Series : The Lunar Chronicles (3.5) Where to Buy: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | BookDepository | IndieBound

In this stunning bridge book between Cress and Winter in the bestselling Lunar Chronicles, Queen Levana’s story is finally told. Mirror, mirror on the wall, Who is the fairest of them all? Fans of the Lunar Chronicles know Queen Levana as a ruler who uses her “glamour” to gain power. But long before she crossed paths with Cinder, Scarlet, and Cress, Levana lived a very different story – a story that has never been told . . . until now.

These Broken Stars | Amie Kaufman & Meagan Spooner  Type: Companion Series : Starbound (1) Where to Buy: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | BookDepository | IndieBound

Luxury spaceliner Icarus suddenly plummets from hyperspace into the nearest planet. Lilac LaRoux and Tarver Merendsen survive – alone. Lilac is the daughter of the richest man in the universe. Tarver comes from nothing, a cynical war hero. Both journey across the eerie deserted terrain for help. Everything changes when they uncover the truth.

Spinning Starlight | R.C. Lewis Type: Standalone Where to Buy: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | BookDepository | IndieBound

Sixteen-year-old heiress and paparazzi darling Liddi Jantzen hates the spotlight. But as the only daughter in the most powerful tech family in the galaxy, it’s hard to escape it. So when a group of men shows up at her house uninvited, she assumes it’s just the usual media-grubs. That is, until shots are fired. Liddi escapes, only to be pulled into an interplanetary conspiracy more complex than she ever could have imagined. Her older brothers have been caught as well, trapped in the conduits between the planets. And when their captor implants a device in Liddi’s vocal cords to monitor her speech, their lives are in her hands: One word and her brothers are dead. Desperate to save her family from a desolate future, Liddi travels to another world, where she meets the one person who might have the skills to help her bring her eight brothers home—a handsome dignitary named Tiav. But without her voice, Liddi must use every bit of her strength and wit to convince Tiav that her mission is true. With the tenuous balance of the planets deeply intertwined with her brothers’ survival, just how much is Liddi willing to sacrifice to bring them back? Haunting and mesmerizing, this retelling of Hans Christian Andersen’s The Wild Swans strings the heart of the classic with a stunning, imaginative world as a star-crossed family fights for its very survival.

Illuminae | Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff | @randomhousekids Type: Series - The Illuminae Files (1) Where to Buy: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | BookDepository | IndieBound

This morning, Kady thought breaking up with Ezra was the hardest thing she’d have to do. This afternoon, her planet was invaded. The year is 2575, and two rival megacorporations are at war over a planet that’s little more than an ice-covered speck at the edge of the universe. Too bad nobody thought to warn the people living on it. With enemy fire raining down on them, Kady and Ezra—who are barely even talking to each other—are forced to fight their way onto an evacuating fleet, with an enemy warship in hot pursuit. But their problems are just getting started. A deadly plague has broken out and is mutating, with terrifying results; the fleet's AI, which should be protecting them, may actually be their enemy; and nobody in charge will say what’s really going on. As Kady hacks into a tangled web of data to find the truth, it's clear only one person can help her bring it all to light: the ex-boyfriend she swore she'd never speak to again. BRIEFING NOTE: Told through a fascinating dossier of hacked documents—including emails, schematics, military files, IMs, medical reports, interviews, and more—Illuminae is the first book in a heart-stopping, high-octane trilogy about lives interrupted, the price of truth, and the courage of everyday heroes.

Zodiac | Romina Russell | @penguinteen Type: Series - Zodiac (1) Where to Buy: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | BookDepository | IndieBound

At the dawn of time, there were 13 Houses in the Zodiac Galaxy. Now only 12 remain…. Rhoma Grace is a 16-year-old student from House Cancer with an unusual way of reading the stars. While her classmates use measurements to make accurate astrological predictions, Rho can’t solve for ‘x’ to save her life—so instead, she looks up at the night sky and makes up stories. When a violent blast strikes the moons of Cancer, sending its ocean planet off-kilter and killing thousands of citizens—including its beloved Guardian—Rho is more surprised than anyone when she is named the House’s new leader. But, a true Cancerian who loves her home fiercely and will protect her people no matter what, Rho accepts. Then, when more Houses fall victim to freak weather catastrophes, Rho starts seeing a pattern in the stars. She suspects Ophiuchus—the exiled 13th Guardian of Zodiac legend—has returned to exact his revenge across the Galaxy. Now Rho—along with Hysan Dax, a young envoy from House Libra, and Mathias, her guide and a member of her Royal Guard—must travel through the Zodiac to warn the other Guardians. But who will believe anything this young novice says? Whom can Rho trust in a universe defined by differences? And how can she convince twelve worlds to unite as one Zodiac?

[all-my-books]

2017 Reading

262 books read. 60% of new reads Non-fiction, authors from 55 unique countries, 35% of authors read from countries other than USA, UK, Canada, and Australia. Asterisks denote re-reads, bolds are favorites. January: The Deeds of the Disturber – Elizabeth Peters The Wiregrass – Pam Webber Homegoing – Yaa Gyasi It Didn't Start With You – Mark Wolynn Facing the Lion – Joseph Lemasolai Lekuton Before We Visit the Goddess – Chitra Divakaruni Colored People – Henry Louis Gates Jr. My Khyber Marriage – Morag Murray Abdullah Miss Bianca in the Salt Mines – Margery Sharp Farewell to the East End – Jennifer Worth Fire and Air – Erik Vlaminck My Grandfather Would Have Shot Me – Jennifer Teege Catherine the Great – Robert K Massie My Mother's Sabbath Days – Chaim Grade Not the Israel My Parents Promised Me – Harvey Pekar, JT Waldman The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend – Katarina Bivald Stammered Songbook – Erwin Mortier Savushun – Simin Daneshvar The Prophet – Kahlil Gibran Beyond the Walls – Nazim Hikmet The Dressmaker of Khair Khana – Gayle Tzemach Lemmon A Day No Pigs Would Die – Robert Newton Peck *

February: Bone Black – bell hooks Special Exits – Joyce Farmer Reading Like a Writer – Francine Prose Bright Dead Things – Ada Limon Middlemarch – George Eliot Confessions of an English Opium Eater – Thomas de Quincey Medusa's Gaze – Marina Belozerskaya Child of the Prophecy – Juliet Marillier * The File on H – Ismail Kadare The Motorcycle Diaries – Ernesto Che Guevara Passing – Nella Larsen Whose Body? - Dorothy L. Sayers The Spiral Staircase – Karen Armstrong Station Eleven – Emily St. John Mandel Reading Lolita in Tehran – Azar Nafisi Defiance – Nechama Tec

March: Yes, Chef – Marcus Samuelsson Discontent and its Civilizations – Mohsin Hamid The Gulag Archipelago Vol. 1 – Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn Patience and Sarah – Isabel Miller Dying Light in Corduba – Lindsey Davis * Five Days at Memorial – Sheri Fink A Man Called Ove – Fredrik Backman * The Shia Revival – Vali Nasr Girt – David Hunt Half Magic – Edward Eager * Dreams of Joy – Lisa See * Too Pretty to Live – Dennis Brooks West with the Night – Beryl Markham Little Fuzzy – H. Beam Piper *

April: Defying Hitler – Sebastian Haffner Monsters in Appalachia – Sheryl Monks Sorcerer to the Crown – Zen Cho The Man Without a Face – Masha Gessen Peace is Every Step – Thich Nhat Hanh Flory – Flory van Beek Why Soccer Matters – Pele The Zhivago Affair – Peter Finn, Petra Couvee The Stories of Breece D'J Pancake – Breece Pancake The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared – Jonas Jonasson Chasing Utopia – Nikki Giovanni The Invisible Bridge – Julie Orringer * Young Adults – Daniel Pinkwater Jonathan Swift: The Reluctant Rebel – John Stubbs Black Gun, Silver Star – Art T. Burton The Arab of the Future 2 – Riad Sattouf Hole in the Heart – Henny Beaumont MASH – Richard Hooker Forgotten Ally – Rana Mitter Zorro – Isabel Allende Flying Couch – Amy Kurzweil

May: The Bite of the Mango – Mariatu Kamara Mystic and Rider – Sharon Shinn * Freedom is a Constant Struggle – Angela Davis Capture – David A. Kessler Poor Cow – Nell Dunn My Father's Dragon – Ruth Stiles Gannett * Elmer and the Dragon – Ruth Stiles Gannett * The Dragons of Blueland – Ruth Stiles Gannett * Hetty Feather – Jacqueline Wilson In the Shadow of the Banyan – Vaddey Ratner The Last Camel Died at Noon – Elizabeth Peters Cannibalism – Bill Schutt The Handmaid's Tale – Margaret Atwood A Fine Balance – Rohinton Mistry The Food of a Younger Land – Mark Kurlansky Behold the Dreamers – Imbolo Mbue Words on the Move – John McWhorter John Ransom's Diary: Andersonville – John Ransom Such a Lovely Little War – Marcelino Truong Child of All Nations – Irmgard Keun One Child – Mei Fong Country of Red Azaleas – Domnica Radulescu Between Two Worlds – Zainab Salbi Malinche – Julia Esquivel A Lucky Child – Thomas Buergenthal The Drackenberg Adventure – Lloyd Alexander Say You're One of Them – Uwem Akpan William Wells Brown – Ezra Greenspan

June: Partners In Crime – Agatha Christie The Chinese in America – Iris Chang The Great Escape – Kati Marton As Texas Goes... – Gail Collins Pavilion of Women – Pearl S. Buck Classic Chinese Stories – Lu Xun The Return of the Soldier – Rebecca West The Slave Across the Street – Theresa Flores Miss Bianca in the Orient – Margery Sharp Boy Erased – Garrard Conley How to Be a Dictator – Mikal Hem A Thousand Splendid Suns – Khaled Hosseini Tears of the Desert – Halima Bashir The Death and Life of Great American Cities – Jane Jacobs The First Salute – Barbara Tuchman Come as You Are – Emily Nagoski The Want-Ad Killer – Ann Rule The Gulag Archipelago Vol 2 – Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

July: Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz – L. Frank Baum * The Blazing World – Margaret Cavendish Madonna in a Fur Coat – Sabahattin Ali Duende – tracy k. smith The ACB With Honora Lee – Kate de Goldi Mountains of the Pharaohs – Zahi Hawass Anna Karenina – Leo Tolstoy Chronicle of a Last Summer – Yasmine el Rashidi Killers of the Flower Moon – David Grann Mister Monday – Garth Nix * Leaving Yuba City – Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni The Silk Roads – Peter Frankopan The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy – Douglas Adams A Corner of White – Jaclyn Moriarty * Circling the Sun – Paula McLain Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them – Al Franken Believe Me – Eddie Izzard The Cracks in the Kingdom – Jaclyn Moriarty * Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe – Fannie Flagg * One Hundred and One Days – Asne Seierstad Grim Tuesday – Garth Nix * The Vanishing Velasquez – Laura Cumming Four Against the Arctic – David Roberts The Marriage Bureau – Penrose Halson The Jesuit and the Skull – Amir D Aczel Drowned Wednesday – Garth Nix * Roots, Radicals, and Rockers – Billy Bragg A Tangle of Gold – Jaclyn Moriarty * Lydia, Queen of Palestine – Uri Orlev *

August: Sir Thursday – Garth Nix * The Hoboken Chicken Emergency – Daniel Pinkwater * Lady Friday – Garth Nix * Freddy and the Perilous Adventure – Walter R. Brooks * Venice – Jan Morris China's Long March – Jean Fritz Trials of the Earth – Mary Mann Hamilton The Bully Pulpit – Doris Kearns Goodwin Final Exit – Derek Humphry The Book of Emma Reyes – Emma Reyes Freddy the Politician – Walter R. Brooks * Dragonflight – Anne McCaffrey * What the Witch Left – Ruth Chew All Passion Spent – Vita Sackville-West The Picture of Dorian Gray – Oscar Wilde The Curse of the Blue Figurine – John Bellairs * When They Severed Earth From Sky – Elizabeth Wayland Barber Superior Saturday – Garth Nix * The Boston Girl – Anita Diamant The Mummy, The Will, and the Crypt – John Bellairs * Are We Smart Enough to Know How Smart Animals Are? - Frans de Waal The Philadelphia Adventure – Lloyd Alexander * Lord Sunday – Garth Nix * The Spell of the Sorcerer's Skull – John Bellairs * Five Little Pigs – Agatha Christie * Love in Vain – JM Dupont, Mezzo A Little History of the World – EH Gombrich Last Things – Marissa Moss Imagine Wanting Only This – Kristen Radtke Dinosaur Empire – Abby Howard The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents – Terry Pratchett *

September: First Bite by Bee Wilson The Xanadu Adventure by Lloyd Alexander Orientalism – Edward Said The Lost Crown of Genghis Khan – Carl Barks The Island on Bird Street – Uri Orlev * The Indifferent Stars Above – Daniel James Brown Beneath the Lion's Gaze – Maaza Mengiste The Importance of Being Earnest – Oscar Wilde * The Book of Five Rings – Miyamoto Musashi The Drunken Botanist – Amy Stewart The Turtle of Oman – Naomi Shahib Nye The Alleluia Files – Sharon Shinn * Gut Feelings – Gerd Gigerenzer The Secret of Hondorica – Carl Barks Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight – Alexandra Fuller The Abominable Mr. Seabrook – Joe Ollmann Black Flags – Joby Warrick

October: Fear – Thich Nhat Hanh Fall Down 7 Times Get Up 8 – Naoki Higashida To the Bright Edge of the World – Eowyn Ivey Why? - Mario Livio Just One Damned Thing After Another – Jodi Taylor The Yellow Wallpaper – Charlotte Perkins Gilman Blindness – Jose Saramago The Book Thieves – Anders Rydell Reality is not What it Seems – Carlo Rovelli Cranford – Elizabeth Gaskell * The Witch Family – Eleanor Estes * Sister Mine – Nalo Hopkinson La Vagabonde – Colette Becoming Nicole – Amy Ellis Nutt

November: The Golden Notebook – Doris Lessing The Children's Book – A.S. Byatt The Fire Next Time – James Baldwin Under the Udala Trees – Chinelo Okparanta Who Killed These Girls? – Beverly Lowry Running for my Life – Lopez Lmong Radium Girls – Kate Moore News of the World – Paulette Jiles The Red Pony – John Steinbeck The Edible History of Humanity – Tom Standage A Woman in Arabia – Gertrude Bell and Georgina Howell Founding Gardeners – Andrea Wulf Anatomy of a Disapperance – Hisham Matar The Book of Night Women – Marlon James Ground Zero – Kevin J. Anderson * Acorna – Anne McCaffrey and Margaret Ball * A Girl Named Zippy – Haven Kimmel * The Age of the Vikings – Anders Winroth The Spanish Civil War: A Very Short Introduction – Helen Graham A General History of the Pyrates – Captain Charles Johnson (suspected Nathaniel Mist) Clouds of Witness – Dorothy L. Sayers * The Lonely City – Olivia Laing No Time for Tears – Judy Heath

December: The Unwomanly Face of War – Svetlana Alexievich Gay-Neck - Dhan Gopal Mukerji The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane – Lisa See Get Well Soon – Jennifer Wright The Testament of Mary – Colm Toibin The Roman Way – Edith Hamilton Understood Betsy – Dorothy Canfield Fisher * The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse - Vicente Blasco Ibanez Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH – Robert C. O'Brien SPQR – Mary Beard Ballet Shoes – Noel Streatfeild * Hogfather – Terry Pratchett * The Sorrow of War – Bao Ninh Drowned Hopes – Donald E. Westlake * Selected Essays – Michel de Montaigne Vietnam – Stanley Karnow The Snake, The Crocodile, and the Dog – Elizabeth Peters Guests of the Sheik – Elizabetha Warnok Fernea Stone Butch Blues – Leslie Feinberg Wicked Plants – Amy Stewart Life in a Medieval City – Joseph and Frances Gies Under the Sea Wind – Rachel Carson The Red Virgin and the Vision of Utopia – Mary and Brian Talbot Brat Farrar – Josephine Tey * The Treasure of the Ten Avatars – Don Rosa Escape From Forbidden Valley – Don Rosa Nightwood – Djuna Barnes Here Comes the Sun – Nicole Dennis-Benn Over My Dead Body – Rex Stout *