#for all those who haave a bad memory like me

[astarlightmonbebe]

in the shadow of a flame: book i recap

in honor of me finally finished chapter eight, aka the first chapter of the earth arc, i figured i would summarize what happened in book one: spirits, since it’s been almost two months since i last updated. 

anyways! if you haven’t yet read in the shadow of a flame, please check it out on ao3 - and please, don’t venture past the general premise.

the premise: an atla swap! au where ty lee is the avatar, and the rest of the fire nation gang ft yue are her partners in crime, i mean, traveling and training. our story begins with zuko on year three of his banishment, traveling near the southern pole on the wani. zuko is a nonbender, and is accompanied by his younger sister, azula, who is a master firebender and has been journeying with him for the past year. they are respectively 16 and 15. 

book one: spirits [ spoilers past this point! ]

( i ) an iceberg washes up on the wani during a storm. azula cracks it open with lightning to reveal ty lee and a sky bison (moshi). upon quickly figuring out she must be the avatar, azula and zuko discuss their plans, and decide to, instead of turning her in, they will accompany her and overthrow their father (fun and games! fathers, love your children or they will plot your murder). 

ty lee wakes up, finds out she’s been gone for a 100 years, and about the genocide. zhao’s ship comes, and he attempts to co opt their crew for the northern water tribe invasion. zuko refuses, and azula challenges zhao to an angi kai, which she wins. 

they depart from the wani and decide to journey to the northern water tribe so that ty lee can learn waterbending.

( ii ) they stop at the southern air temple and ty lee is confronted with the truth of the genocide of the air nomads/airbenders. she enters the avatar state, which azula manages to knock her out of, and there is a confrontation between her and the two fire nation siblings.

ty lee has her first firebending lesson with azula, where they deal with some emotions.

( iii ) they stop at an island for a night, where they get kidnapped by the kyoshi warriors. ty lee proves she’s the avatar, visits kyoshi’s temple, and has a visit with kyoshi’s spirit. kyoshi tells her to go to roku’s island.

however, zhao has been tailing them, and he attacks kyoshi island. ty lee connects with the unagi, but they still have to flee. 

( iv ) the gang visits roku’s island and discovers the dragons, who invite the three of them (yes, including zuko) to dance with them. azula and ty lee have firebending breakthroughs. 

ty lee visits with roku’s spirit and learns about her connection to the fire nation siblings. she continues to have a moral crisis about killing the fire lord.

zhao firebombs the island and they have to fly away on moshi again.

( v ) they stop at a neutral seaside town for supplies, but ty lee gets enticed by a merchant who promises rare artifacts, leading them right into a pirate’s lair. they get in a fair amount of trouble when ty lee tries to steal, but manage to get out before getting entirely kidnapped.

while running away from the pirates & having an argument, they have a run in with the yuu yan archers, who zhao has taken temporary control of. ty lee allows herself to be captured in a vain attempt to protect zuko and azula, leading to zuko dressing up as the blue spirit to go and rescue her. he manages to escape with ty lee, but not without getting nailed with an arrow in the shoulder (rip to zuko and his injuries). 

( vi ) when they stop in a small town, zuko gets his wound treated by a fortune teller’s apprentice (song), while azula and ty lee get some ominous fortunes from the teller. azula realizes the volcano is going to erupt, but due to the villagers not believing them, she and ty lee lavabend the volcano and have some tyzula feels.

they arrive at the north pole, where they are introduced to yue, who is a healer in training. ty lee starts to learn from pakku, and is frustrated with his misogyny, while azula is frustrated that ty lee has stopped learning firebending (for the time being) and lashes out. 

yue and zuko are kind of becoming friends, only for the fire nation to swim up.

( vii ) with the northern water tribe under seige, our core four hurry to reunite. yue leads them to the spirit oasis in the hopes that ty lee will make a spiritual breakthrough. she communes with la.

zhao sneaks into the spirit oasis and stabs azula, disrupting ty lee just as she begins to connect with la. yue, in a last ditch effort, gives her life force back to tui and kind of snaps, and ty lee is able to connect with la and push back the fire nation ships. 

tui relinquishes yue’s body, but remains in her soul, as yue is her mortal champion. pakku gives zuko spirit water for azula, and they take yue with them on moshi, knowing the water tribe will ultimately fall in a few days. azula is rejuvenated. 

in ba sing se, an unidentified man receives a missive telling him that the northern water tribe has fallen and it is time to take down ba sing se. the man is iroh, though this is only implied.

and that’s that! please check out the new chapter :) 

[stereksecretsanta]

Merry Christmas, jimtremor!

For @jimtremor, who asked for basically anything. I did my best with that.

Read On AO3

*****

Useful Information

“Mr. McCall will be in the North Dorm and you Mr. Stillinski will go to the East.” The director of student affairs passes them Welcome packets, across his desk. Hn,

They both start to protest but Deaton holds up a quieting hand and stands, quickly moving them both out of his office. “I’m sure you’ll both adjust just fine. If there’s anything you need, my office hours are Monday and Friday 8am to 2pm.” He closes the door in their faces

****

“This is the stupidest idea ever,” Stiles says dropping his pack just inside the door to his new dorm. Stiles notices right away that the room is painfully neat for a college dorm.

“You can’t just throw people together and expect them to form proper pack bonds.”

He flops onto the empty bed across the room from what he assumes is his assigned Alpha and waits what he’s told is the appropriate amount of time for his new roommate to respond but the wolf just flicks hazel eyes at him, before going back to reading his novel.

“Scott— my best friend Scott, we applied to this place together. He’s going to be an Alpha and I’m going to be his bad-ass Emissary.” The wolf continues to ignore him and after a few minutes, Stiles huffs and starts unpacking.

It takes him a few minutes more to realize that his dorm is amazing. There’s a fridge. Not a mini fridge. A full-sized fridge in what might serve as a very quaint breakfast nook. The open area has a desk, a TV and closets next to the beds. When he opens the door to his, he finds a dresser and plenty of room for his meager belongings. His dad had been very proud of the fact that he entered college with a change of clothes, a martial arts trophy, and a six-pack (abs not beer). So Stiles was carrying on the family tradition. Sort of.

There’s a bathroom and if Stiles didn’t know any better a tub big enough to house jacuzzi jets.

“This place is amaaa—"

His roommate reaches over and clicks on a small iPhone dock that looks like a radio. It starts blasting some sort of German metal. Stiles stares at him for a moment before pulling out his grimoires ‘fine be that way then.’ he thinks, flipping through the pages to a spell he needs for his next class.

Scott is so going to hear about this dick.

****

“—a serious neat freak, and he acts like he can’t be bothered to answer even the simplest of questions. I swear Scotty we need to go over somebody’s head. It has to be a mistake that they split us up.”

“Derek Hale!?” Scott suddenly shouts sitting up from Allison’s lap. Stiles glances around hoping his best friend’s dorky exclamations aren’t drawing attention annnd yep people are staring.

“As in Hale Observatory? As in Hale Hall? AS IN THE HALE EXPLORATORY MEDICAL DEPARTMENT FOR THE SUPERNATURALLY INCLINED? The people who might be able to find a way to cure me?”

He says the last part much quieter. He’d worked harder than he ever had at anything to get into this private college. Hoping against hope that they’d somehow turn him back human. It wasn’t that Scott didn’t love every minute of being a wolf, it just came with a lot of baggage, including possibly outliving everyone important to you. Every human anyway.

“There’s no known cure for lycanthropy,” Allison says quietly.

Stiles glances up at the heavens, his ears burning. “Yeah my roommate is Derek Hale. Geez Scotty it’s not that big of a deal.” Scott stares at him as if he’s grown a second head.

“You—you’ve lived your whole life here and you think rooming with a Hale is not a big deal? The Hales own half the town and probably your house Stiles!” Scott’s volume is going up again and Stiles tries not to roll his eyes.

“Having a rich family doesn’t make you a big deal Scotty.”

Scott sputters his eyes going to Allison in a desperate plea for back-up. She just shrugs. Right. She just moved to Beacon hills so she wouldn’t know.

“HaAVing A RIcH FaMILY dOEsn’t maKe You a bIG DeAL.” Scott says half snidely, half mockingly under his breath.

Stiles cocks his head to the side, like he’s trying figure out who the crazy person was possessing his best friend and they begin one of their famous silent conversations.

‘I’m not an idiot’ Scott thinks at him

‘I know Scott but really it’s no big deal. He’s like a totally normal asshole. A painfully neat asshole.’

‘Think you can maybe talk to him about the whole *my best friend is a werewolf who didn’t ask to be a werewolf thing*? Maybe mention that your best friend is desperate for some guidance as to where to find a cure’

‘There’s no cure for werewolf-ism Scott! And Scotty. Friend. Buddy. Pal. I can’t even talk to him about where to put my toothbrush in the bathroom. Apparently it’s important to keep your toothbrush as far away from the toilet as possible. He even has this little protective cover on his.’

“Huh. I just thought of something.” Allison says breaking into the silent conversation. “Maybe they want you to be the new Hale emissary.”

Stiles and Scott both turn to stare at her.

“Huh” they both say

She pretends to study, but Stiles can totally see the dimple at her cheek deepen.

****

Derek is particular about his space, and his things. It’s normal for a wolf. Even at boarding school they hadn’t made him share a room, although maybe that had more to do with the hefty donation his mother had made and less to do with his werewolf sensibilities.

Stiles is in his space for less than a day and he’s somehow everywhere. He smells woodsy- like wet leaves and rain when he finally decides to shower off the cheap body spray. He puts his toothbrush in the wrong spot on the sink and unpacks his one box of belongings.

There’s a pile of spell books on the floor under his bed and pots of herbs line the windows. He doesn’t know what’s in the jars in his fridge and he doesn’t want to know. Instead, he politely tries to tidy Stiles’ things, but it seems like they just gravitate back to where Stiles left them. He does his best not to growl whenever the emissary walks into the room.

His annoyance level is already high. The welcome packet was clear that he was meant to start a pack with this kid. That they should spend their time working together and bonding for the sake of their future pack.

Everything about him was a mess, and Derek didn’t do messy. Not anymore. He’s half asleep when the scent of arousal teases at his senses. He wants to growl but he’s done that for the last several hours. This was definitely not happening.

****

‘Use your finger. Just one. You should be able to find it pretty easily.’

Stiles groaned into his pillow. He was on a dry spell. And when he was on a dry spell he always thought of Lydia. His other best friend, the girl who helped him find his G-spot. He’d flirted with every big dark-haired wolf he came across, but they’d all turned him down. It was strange. It was almost like they were actively trying to avoid even talking to him.

Stiles reached into his pajama bottoms, the memory of Lydia’s very thorough instruction all those years ago is still his favorite, although watching Derek workout was a close second.

“If you’re gonna jerk it, at least have the courtesy to do it when I’m not here. Stiles jerked his hand from his underwear at the miserable tone in Derek’s voice.

“Um..”

“Yeah, I can smell it. For days.”

Stiles groaned and dragged his pillow over his head.

‘who thought the human/werewolf hybrid dorm was a good idea anyway?’

****

Derek keeps his face neutral as he listens to Dr Deaton’s analysis of werewolf mating practices. He’s a little more accurate than the usual crowd but there were still things he’s getting wrong. The emissaries were always considered some kind of authority but human experts on werewolf mating rituals tended to start off wondering if human werewolves really grew knots whenever there was a full moon.

Deaton is at least trying to debunk a lot of the weird lore humans tended to apply to werewolves and it sort of gives Derek hope. Maybe this year he *won’t* have to listen to a half assed lecture on werewolf anatomy and moon cycles. Derek’s hope deflates when he hears the words Transitory Bite.

The last time he put a temporary mark on someone it almost started a war between hunters and humans and gotten him shipped off to boarding school. His mother had kept him out of Beacon Hills for three years. It had taken joining forces with his uncle to convince her he wouldn’t make the same mistakes. Now he was being told to mark some random dorky kid like it wasn’t a total imposition. He had a right to choose or not choose to mark someone and his mother needed to understand that he wasn’t interested in his life spinning out of control a second time.

“I’m not doing it.” Derek gets up to leave but Deaton steps in front of him hands raised. “I assure you Mr. Hale this is necessary. Starting a pack and choosing a mate can be extremely difficult. A transitory bite will allow you to test your compatibility with the mate you were matched with.”

“It won’t work” he growls eyeing Stiles

Stiles’ face is bright red, and he keeps his eyes on the toe of his sneakers. He’d been wearing them since high school. They were his favorite pair. He wishes he’d thought to clean them sometime in the last six years.

So that’s why everyone had been treating him so strangely. He was probably Derek Hale’s mate. He really should have read the welcome packet. He tunes out the rest of the conversation and tries to ignore the hot twist of humiliation in his stomach.

Derek tries to focus on what Deaton is saying but Stiles scent is rapidly changing. The burnt ash flavor of Distress and Despair fills up his senses and it’s all he can do not to gather the entire boy into his arms and run away with him.

“I don’t need this there are—there are plenty of wolves who would love—love to have me for a mate.” Stiles gathers his things as he tries to save face. It’s bad enough this is happening, but he can’t bring himself to look at the other pairs.

“Fine”

Stiles is almost to the door when that single word freezes him in place. He swallows and waits.

Derek moves him back against the nearest wall, with just a few intimidating steps. His hand lands on Stiles’ shoulder, his fingers brushing against the skin at the base of his neck. Derek’s hand slides up the side of his throat, and Stiles sways toward him. He growls at his traitorous body and forces every muscle to stay stiff as a board. The corner of Derek’s mouth kicks up and then he’s leaning in, letting his teeth scrape across the smooth skin at the base of Stiles’ neck.

Stiles gives an unmanly squeak when Derek’s teeth skin in, the pain just barely registering before he feels the brief swipe of Derek’s tongue across the wound. Derek stares at the mark for a long time before turning and leaving.

***

Stiles only has two classes with Scott, but he and Derek share the exact same itinerary. Even though Derek can’t really do the magic part, they’re expected to show a united front, so he sits off to the side and glares at everything and everyone.

Stiles spends his time doodling the different angles of Derek’s head during each class into the margins of his grimoire. When there’s wolf lore he flicks his eyes across the room to Derek. His can almost tell by the set of Derek’s brows whether the stuff being taught is accurate or total bullshit.

He tries to connect with the other students in his classes, but they tended to cut the conversations short or avoid him altogether. He’s pretty certain this only happens when Derek is around. He starts to feel boxed in, like the only reason he was there was to be slotted into the Hale pack, like everything about his future had already been decided. His whole week had been classes more about pack politics and somewhat less about exploring his abilities as an emissary.

Lydia listened patiently while he complained. It was a call that had lasted all the way across campus, and back to his dorm. She wanted to roll her eyes. For a kid who was curious about everything, Stiles hadn’t shown the slightest interest in learning about the alpha he’d been assigned to.

Stiles complained constantly that he was always around. Which was technically exactly how he was supposed to behave toward his potential mate. Lydia was testing herbal mixtures. Hopefully the small satchels would give Stiles some semblance of privacy or at least get Derek to give Stiles some space.

“You need to read the welcome packet Stiles. It’ll help you adjust to living with a wolf. And come to the party tonight.” Lydia says flipping through her notes. “I’ll introduce you to some guys who definitely won’t say no.”

He keeps glancing at Derek, but Derek’s attention stays on his novel, his thumb, sliding to leisurely turn pages. Derek’s pretending not to listen again, so he decides to be that guy. He refused to stay trapped in whatever game Derek was playing.

“Yeah. I’ll be there. I’m really looking forward to getting dicked down again” Derek doesn’t look up, but Stiles can practically feel the way he pauses in the middle of a page turn.

He hides a smile and goes to brush his teeth.

****

Lydia flits through the party commiserating with her numerous slightly-better-than-facebook acquaintances. They make it to the kitchen with Stiles only being handed three phone numbers and groped four times. He briefly wonders if other potential alpha mates are treated this way and then he remembers that he kinda wants to be treated this way.

Stiles is wearing his best button-up and his sluttiest pair of jeans. He fully intends to end the night with his legs wrapped around someone, anyone. It’s a surprise when they leave the kitchen with their drinks and Stiles is brought up short by the feeling of eyes on him. It only takes him a minute to spot his alpha across the room.

Derek is slouched onto the frat house’s well-worn couch like some kind of artist’s dream. He’s wearing tight black jeans ripped in all the right places and a leather jacket. His gaze starts to heat up as Stiles’ eyes hungrily catalogue every inch of him. Stiles eyes settle on the bulge in the tight jeans and Derek just lets his legs relax open. Stiles’ mouth goes dry and his dick gives a hard twitch.

Stiles does his best to ignore the feeling of the wolf’s eyes on him. It’s annoying that Derek can’t seem to make up his mind about ignoring him.

***

Stiles loses count of how many drinks he’s had and that’s when he gets the best idea. He can feel the wolf’s eyes on him as he moves across the room and one of the frat brothers steps into his space. Price or Preston something. He doesn’t even bother listening to whatever the guy is saying, just steps close and bites his lip.

Preston’s eyes drop to them and immediately his tone changes and he wraps an arm around Stiles’ waist. Stiles grins and runs his hands up Preston’s chest. Preston draws him close.

“I love the way emissaries smell,” he says leaning down and taking a deep breath against the side of his neck. Stiles laughs, because at best he smells like Axe shampoo mixed with a litany of the various herbs they have to learn to mix. It’s not a great combination. He tries to put some distance between him and the wolf, but Preston keeps, pulling him close and grinding against him.

Stiles thinks blearily that he’d like to get laid but not in the middle of a werewolf frat party and definitely not with the guy who thinks Axe and sage are a great combination. He tries to tell Preston this but Preston just keeps rambling on and Stiles’ alcohol soaked brain reminds him in his fourth grade teacher’s voice that it’s important to be polite and listen when people are talking.

This was a bad idea.

He suddenly feels Derek is next to him, and he wants to tell him that he has the prettiest eyes, but Preston is still talking, and he has to keep pretending to listen.

“I need to have a word with my roommate” Derek’s eyes flash as he glances at Stiles before stepping between him and Preston. Stiles watches as Preston stutters and stumbles, like a fan meeting their idol. He tilts his head and drops his shoulders in some parody of submissive behavior. Stiles scoffs and glances around the room. None of the humans are paying attention but all of the wolves are watching them closely.

He watches Derek tilt up Preston’s chin with one wicked black claw. “A Beta should know better” He pulls back his lips in a parody of a smile and shows his long sharp teeth. Preston swallows and raises his hands as if he only just realized he’d been flirting with an Alpha’s future mate. He moves as slowly as he can and backs out of the room one step at a time. Derek watches him until he’s certain the other wolf is gone and turns back to Stiles.

Red begins to seep from behind his irises and his smile turns hard. “I’ll kill anyone who touches you.”

He says it softly, but he’s still showing Stiles his teeth.

Stiles holds his gaze ignoring the little thrill he gets from the way Derek is looking at him. “I’m not your property wolf.”

“You are” Derek responds his eyes fully red. Derek’s hand settles around the back of Stiles’ neck, his thumb just barely brushing against the still-tender mark.

Stiles takes a shuddery breath, unable to break the hold Derek’s possessive gaze has on him. He relaxes his shoulders tilts his head back just slightly. It’s enough of an invitation but Derek doesn’t move to kiss him. Instead, he leans in until his lips against Stiles’ ear.

“Careful who you tease,” he breathes

Stiles shivers, wanting to call out to his alpha. Derek is long gone when he’s finally able to catch his breath.

****

Stiles doesn’t light the herbs Lydia mixed. He was tired of living like some reclusive monk.

He knows that Derek will probably know immediately. He knows the smell of sex could linger but he doesn’t care. He wants Derek to know and he wants Derek to come for him. He imagines the wolf coming home right when he’s just about there. He knows he’d probably run not because of embarrassment if Derek saw him.

He’d run because he knew Derek would chase. He’d run because he wanted to be caught. Stiles lets his imagination free. It’s been a week and he’s tired of caring about Derek’s sensibilities.

It would be a real hunt. Derek would simply stay on his heels nipping at him playfully, claws tearing off bits of his clothes. Stiles would run until he couldn’t breathe and then Derek would show himself. The wolf first. Its sleek black fur would glow under the moon and Stiles would lie back and tilt his chin up.

“Alpha.” He’d whisper, and Derek would take his human form naked and proud under the moon, he’d stare down at Stiles with a cocky grin. He’d enjoy watching Stiles submit to him.

“Stiles,” he’d growl and Stiles’ cock would stand up.

Stile bit into his palm, his fist flying over his cock, the sweet-smelling lotion he used as lube squishing between his fingers and making a lewd sound with every movement of his hand.

Derek’s teeth would sink into him properly this time and claim him, claim him, claim him…

Stiles gasped and came all over his fist.

Fuck. He needed to get laid before this got out of control. Before it got more out of control.

****

“So. Uhhh, about yesterday…”

Stiles is standing awkwardly in front of Derek’s bed. It’s all he’s been able to say for a good five minutes. That and some version of ‘Huuhmn. mn.’ Because Derek is currently shirtless. His feet are hooked into the openings between the bars on the baseboard of his bed and he’s burning through crunches like there’s a delicious zero calorie chocolate cake waiting for him if he hits a thousand.

His eyes skitter around the room because he knows if he keeps his eyes on Derek Hale for more than a few seconds he’ll end up embarrassing himself. He drags his palm from his chest down, just barely remembering to stop before he hits the waist of his jeans. Even he can still smell the lingering scent of sex in the room. He’s almost certain Derek’s lip curls up slightly at this but it’s hard to tell, what with all the sweat and muscles flexing.

It’s another ten minutes before Derek finishes his workout. Stiles completely forgot what he wanted to talk about. He just stands quietly watching Derek’s tight abs. When he manages to meet Derek’s eyes the wolf is glaring at him, and Stiles tries to open a hole in the floor with his mind. He doesn’t try too hard. The power of his will had been known to surprise him from time to time.

The wolf moves around him with a disgusted sniff and heads for the bathroom.

He looks even more annoyed when he exits the shower. It’s a full 3 minutes of Derek staring at the back of his neck before he finally lets himself meet the wolf’s eyes.

“What?” he asks. It’s easy enough to pretend he doesn’t already know. Derek’s kind deeply respects druids, just not Stiles shaped Druids apparently.

“You’re an Alpha-Mate”

Stiles blinks. This is first time since he was marked that Derek brought up the subject. And he sounded kinda… Pissed.

“Sooo….?” Stiles draws the word out to emphasize his confusion.

You. Are. An Alpha's. Mate.” Derek’s words come out a harsh growl that makes Stiles feel cold everywhere. Cold and Embarrassed.

“I’m not the one…”

“I’m not the one throwing myself at every wolf I come across!” Derek snarls.

Stiles cheeks pinken, but he hold’s Derek’s terrible gaze.

“I’m not the one denying my mate.” He says the words as quietly as he can, but they seem to echo loudly in the room once he’s said them.

It’s Derek’s turn to take on color.

Stiles doesn’t regret saying it.

He regrets not following when Derek walks out.

****

Allison and Scott both tell him he’s an idiot. For an hour. And then they make him read the welcome packet. He realizes after his third read-through he might owe Derek an apology.

When he gets back to their room Derek is organizing his herb garden. He keeps arranging them first by name, then color. He clears his throat and Derek pauses but doesn’t turn around.

“Did you know that wolves get really territorial about people they live with? That they only like certain people in their personal space?”

Derek moves from arranging plants to slotting his books into the low bookshelf next to his bed.

“And did you know that a wolf’s mate should probably never throw themselves at other wolves?”

He hears a quiet scoff and Derek finally looks at him over his shoulder.

“You’re asking me, a wolf if I know about wolves?”

Stiles shrugs and continues “Because I didn’t know.” He says stepping up behind him and wrapping his arms around Derek’s waist.

“You should have read the welcome packet Stiles”

Stiles lets out a choked laugh and presses his mouth to the back of Derek’s neck.

“Yeah. I know. It really is full of useful information.”

[anabe23bookwormstuff]

Hidden plans

No matter how bad Rey was feeling she wouldn't give them the satisfaction to see her cry.

After he burned enough of her arm's skin the trooper rejoiced on seeing Rey faint for a second, and then decided that the saber would make things faster, so instead he got out a dagger.

Rey avoided to look at her arm but the rope was getting close to the injury and it scorched so much that her eyes couldn't help but water as she took deep breaths.

"Do you want to beg for your life?" the trooper nagged her.

"May I at least know the name of the coward who's taking my life?" Rey said through greeted teeth.

"I'm no coward!" he took of his helmet and stepped closer to Rey, slapping her.

"Take a good look, because I am the last thing you'll see and I'll be more than grateful to get the reward for your head"

She spat right to his face and her saliva slid down his eye.

"Wait!" He wiped his face and ordered not for them to fire, Rey had managed to make him as mad as he could be.

He slammed her head on the tree and kicked her legs.

Rey used the distraction, if that's what you would call it, to make the snow crunch and some of the bushes to move.

"What is she doing?! should we fire sir?" one of the soldiers quickly asked.

"I'm- I'm not doing anything!" a string of saliva and blood fell from her mouth, she swallowed her blood closing her eyes.

"Some of you, go check if anyone's coming, the rest of you, aim at her head."

Ten here, fourteen far away, Rey counted. Somehow she managed to move further bushes and make more snow marks so the soldiers woul walk further. If she was planning on taking them out then she'll at least need a little number advantage.

"Rey... Rey, you are a pain in the ass of the galaxy" he dragged the knife up and down her neck.

"Look at me when I talk to you!" he punched her injured arm sending fire through her veins.

She bit hard on her lips not to shout.

"What?! Just kill me already!" When he brought the knife to her neck se closed her eyes, and a voice, her own voice, called her. The dark version of herself, the part of her heritage she never wanted looked at her.

Do it. She encouraged herself, a mischevious smile grew on her face as lightnings surrounded her.

No, I won't. She could save herself without using that. She was sure.

"Sorry" the man said making a small cut on Rey's neck.

Do it! Her sith version yelled at her.

"You know what? Give me the saber. That will be more fun" Rey was sweating and tired of the abuse, the cold, the fear, the fight with herself.

I'll do it MY way. Before he could reach the saber she lifted it from the snow and send it in a circle killing off the troopers that were aming at her and sending the knife and the blaster flying far away from her attacker.

"Untie me! Now!" she ordered him. He didn't move, he watched her in fear but decided that he may still have the upper hand.

"You are going to untie me!" Rey said firmer, using must of the force left in her.

"I'm going to untie you" He slowly did as she ordered and let her go, Rey got her saber and meditated about killing him, but he would answer for what he'd done.

"Drop any other weapon you have with you!" he only had another dagger which he threw away. Rey then tied him up and started dragging him behind her, she would take him to the palace, and she would have him questioned.

She saw the troopers quickly coming back and trying to get her, but tired of everything Rey opened a gap on the ground making them fall to who knows where, out of her way.

"Shut up!" Rey ordered and the man went silent.

She was so tired... she had to keep walking. Had she already been there? she wasn't sure.

Ben... she found herlsef reaching out... whispering.

Somehow, after what felt like years to her, Rey saw the palace from afar and pushed herself harder to at least get to the steps.

Her hands ached but she was still pulling the prisoner behind her.

"I hate this planet!" she spat out finally stepping on the entrance of the palace. Was she dreaming or was that the Millenium Falcon?

"Rey!"

"Ben..." she fell to her knees and finally let go off the rope.

Ben hurried to get her, in a second he was next to her. She was a mess, what had they done to her? She smelled like blood and burned skin, her pink clothes were all stained in blood and she was cold, very cold, this brought terrible memories to him. He noticed her tortured arm and carried her careful not to touch it.

She was panting and a few tears fell from her eyes, it wasn't good, but at least meant that she was alive.

"Rey!" Jannah came out of another part of the forest and saw Ben pick her up.

"Take whoever that is and bring him inside, I'm taking care of her!" Ben shouted at her furiously.

He walked as fast as he could getting inside.

"Bring a damn doctor now!" Ben was desperate.

Soon they indicated him where to take her and then begged Ben to leave but he refused everytime so they let him stay, never taking his eyes off Rey and holding her hand when he could.

"What about her arm?" The doctor had cleaned and checked the wounds made with the dagger and the one's she gave herself from biting into her lips, apart from the buises on her wrists, her legs and her face and the worst of all... the burned skin from her arm.

"The best we can do is give her something for the pain and maybe something for the scaring." the doctor acknowledged.

"But can she move it? Can't you- I- I don't know you must have something to make it better" The burn was on her left arm, near her shoulder and it had the shape of a long line, although it dind't look that deep, Ben knew that it hurt.

He remembered how when he was Kylo, Rey had managed to slice his face with the lightsaber. But she had done it fast, in one stroke, and from afar.

This... this was slowly pushed to her skin. If he hadn't had the medical attention from the first order then his pain would've been greater and the scar worst.

"She will be able to move it, but is lickely that she won't haave the same range of motion again... I'm sorry"

"Get out!"

"What?"

"You heard me, get out!" He was to no use after all. The doctor feared Ben, even if he didn't know who he was so he left.

Ben gently rubbed her cheek.

"I'm sorry, they did this to you" he whispered feeling his eyes water.

Rey didn't say anything as the doctor had given her something to relax.

Ben knew there had to be something he could do, he could feel all the pain she had gone through when he touched her arm and couldn't bare it.

He wondered if maybe he could heal her the same way he had brought her back to life, and this time maybe it wouldn't take his life as a price.

"Ben" Rey murmured with her dried throat.

"I'm here" he sat next to her.

"How are you here? Am I dreaming?" he couldn't even manage to laugh. He was so mad, he hadn't felt such rage in a long time.

"I... have to try something, and you must forgive me" he said taking a deep breath to calm down.

"What are you... talking about?" she half whispered.

Instead of answering Ben concentrated and gently placed his hand on her damaged arm, he pictured her skin healing, getting together again, the wound... non existant.

Rey lifted her torso and let out a cry of agony, suddenly opening her eyes to look at her arm.

"Ben stop... stop, it hurts!" he swallowed hard and tried to ignore her cry, focusing on the healing, he didn't know that she'll feel pain, but he couldn't stop now.

He opened his eyes to see the skin going back to normal and held Rey down so she wouldn't hurt herself, surprisingly he didn't feel tired or like he was going to die from the effort.

"He burned... he burned me with the saber" she managed to get out. She was a little more calm and Ben noticed that at least his force had healed her arm and the bruises on her wrists.

"You're safe now Rey. I'm not going anywhere, but you have to rest" he took her hand and stood beside her for hours, making sure that she didn't wake up, felt pain or needed anything.

"How's she?" Jannah said stopping by the room, she had been searching throught the palace for Ben.

"Why did you leave her?" Ben asked instead. He had his back to her and Jannah swallowed hard.

"They... It was a trap and they got me and Rey... she traded places with me and told me to hurry back here"

"You should've stayed or done something!" he hissed, he didn't want to scream and wake Rey up.

"I didn't even had a gun, everything was back here and once here I gave the king the news!"

"Leave" He didn't have to say it twice for her to do it.

In the end he fell asleep too, siting on the floor and with his hand still holding Rey's.

"Ben... Ben you're getting hurt" a very tired Rey said after opening her eyes to find Ben on the floor and his body in a weird angle.

He wasn't moving, so worried, Rey got off the bed as she could, her limbs hurt and she protested but managed to kneel next to him.

"Ben?" she shook his arm a little and he jolted waking up.

"What are you doing? You're suposed to rest" he helped her stood and hugged her carefully. She had her fists on his shirt and he noticed the moment she squeezed her fists, burying her face on his chest and crying.

"I'm sorry" Ben said again and again holding her and stroking her hair.

"I- I... almost lost control, I was so close to just let those damn lightinings come out of me and burn them all..."

"You're so strong, I don't even know what happened but I know that you resisted with courage and that probably you didn't held back your tongue... the moment I felt it... and the times your voice came as a whisper to me, haunting me on my way here. I was so scared that I wouldn't be able to help you, to get to you".

"For a second I did wanted him to kill me and just end the pain"

"You're so strong Rey... it must've been horrible, I'm sorry. But you're safe now."

"They told me things that won't let me sleep in peace ever again" she whispered sliding her hands around Ben's waist and holding him tight, like he was keeping her in the moment, in the present.

"What did they tell you?" His voice deepened.

"That... there's a price for my head and that the first order... is waiting for you" she leaned back to look at his eyes. "Well... for Kylo Ren, to rule the galaxy". He was clenching his jaw so hard Rey feared he'll get hurt.

"Do you know who this person is?"

"I dragged him here, I think I remember"

"You did got someone here but, who is the one trying to get you?"

"I don't know, but it's not like I don't believe him Ben"

"I want to find this bastard!" he had the rage of Kylo Ren on his face, Rey recognized.

"Together" Rey said.

"Together... now, don't you want to rest more? after what you went through... you at least need to lay down again"

"Can't we go to the horrible room they gave me instead?"

"If you want to, but I'm carrying you there"

"Why-"

"You're hurt, doctors orders" Of course Ben had made the poor man leave before he actually ordered anything but, she didn't have to know that.

On their way there some of the ladies saw them and Rey asked for them to bring some water and food to her bedroom please, she hadn't even had breakfast when everything happened and between her dry throat and everything she wasn't feeling better.

Once they were in the room Ben gently placed her on the bed and took a look around.

Rey wasn't exagerating when she told him that there were candles everywhere and that the window was huge, or about the size of the bed.

"This place is really... interesting" he decided to call it making Rey smile for the first time today.

"Told you" she murmured leaning back on the mattress and laying on her side.

Ben was going to join her but the knocks on the door demanded his attention instead, they got food and water and Ben gave Rey a glass.

She drank so fast that some water ran down her chin making him snicker and sat on the edge of the bed.

When Rey heard him sigh she left the glass on the nightstand and crawled as she could to reach him.

"What's wrong?" she asked placing her hands on his shoulders and timidly resting her chin on top op her hand, next to his head.

"Everything's wrong..."

"Ben..." he suddenly turned and wrapped her in his arms, burying his face on her neck.

"I was so afraid... and when I saw you falling to the ground I-" he didn't have to say it, Rey knew what it reminded him of. She tightened her arms around him.

"I managed to get out of it... on my terms." she leaned back a litle to see him and noticed the bruises. The one on his chin was still pretty bad and there was another faint one on his cheeck and probably more that she couldn't see.

She touched it lightly with a sad look on her face while he inched closer.

"They'll go away" he whispered almost on her lips.

"I know" she whispered back before he leaned in and caught her lips in one of the most tender but strong kisses they'd ever shared.

He followed her down to the matress and gently lied on top of her for a moment.

"You need to rest, Rey" he reminded her.

"But stay, please"

He whispered to her, reasuringly, until she fell asleep.

There was conflict inside him. He felt troubled because he wanted to harm whoever harmed Rey and at the same time felt like there should be another way to fix things... and the fact that she was wanted dead and some part of the resistance wanted him to rule as Kylo Ren...

He rolled in bed, resting his head on top of his arm while the other rested on his belly. He just couldn't sleep, he stared at the ceiling so much that it lost shape and form for a moment.

He sighed and took deep breaths with his eyes closed.

A flash, a vision of him as Kylo Ren came to him and his jaw clenched.

"I won't go back" he whispered reasurringly, saying it outloud helped him believe it.

Rey moving in bed next to him was enough to remind him why he wouldn't go back to who he was.

What he could do next was find whoever was threathening her and destroy them, destroy the people who believe in Kylo ruling and keep pushing for people to realize who he was now.

Rey didn't open her eyes, but she was awake, she'd been for a while now.

Ben tossed in bed so much that it'd woken her up and she heard him whisper those words... she felt his conflict.

She wasn't scared because she knew he'll make a good decision, she trusted him, so she waited.

Maybe he'll fall sleep or something, but he wasn't, so without saying anything she reached for his hand and wraped it in hers, sleeping soundly with them close to her chest, like she was hiding a treasure, or trying to keep them warm.

"I'm sorry I woke you up" he said turning so he also layed on his side.

"It's okay Ben. Try to rest... you need it too." He nodded a little and closed his eyes, trying to match his breathing with Rey's and then he fell asleep.

Somewhere in the galaxy, two places to be more exact there people plotting and planning things for the dyad, but keeping them together was not their plan.

"My King, he came even when we asked them not to bring him" a kneeled servant said, always looking to the floor.

"I know. He came for her, she was attacked or something... we'll allow it today. But tomorrow, she better change her mind" the king contemplated his drink making it circle around the glass.

Somewhere else a stromtrooper informed his superior about the amazing powers of the girl.

"She defeated them in keetar... and we still have no signs from Ren" the trooper was on the floor, kneeled with just one leg and bowing his head like usual.

[kyanmaaaa]

aight heres another dream journal

putting under a read more because this is the most vivid dream ive had in yeaars and i like to go in depth

okay so, my family and i are visiting this cool city type area with my grandparents, its a neat place thats hella popping with people, all the tech is a little outdated so its in need of a rehaul but its kinda cool, on the way to a store i have a stranger talk to me abt shoplifting and i watch someone else get chased down and tackled by a group of men in all black

the entire street of people changes path to avoid that, so we my family and i are at this department store now, its also pretty important to mention i can kind of see faces and hear the actual peoples voices in this dream, rare for one person maybe tops but i think even the strangers had faces in this dream, we dont stay in the department store long and leave to get checked in to the place we’re renting

place seems kinda nice! nice good size, little quieter area, but the whole place is overgrown with plants, and i dont mean like vines growing over the building i mean like theres a literal fucking tree sprouted out of end side and growing into the area above the street, now that i think about it there werent any powerlines. bricks of the buidling where just filled in with well developed flora and the like,

top floor of the building is where we stay but we check out the basement area to the place, i think a friend of my moms or maybe my aunt joins us here? the basement is.... not as in as good of shape as the upstairs

which isnt surprising because the only way into the basement was a set of stares and a ladder right next to the building, the stairs were covered in various plant grime like from when u go to a park thats not picked up as much as it should be. the ladder was just, sitting on the other side of the stairs completely loose , i distinctly remember it being a ladder but it was really more of a tube with no top, all sides of it were covered in extremely soft healthy grass, disturbingly bright in comparison to everything else. I took the stairs.

i can really only describe the basement as decrepid, walls have crumbled away to reveal supports that just look like dust and dirt, aunt/mom friend person tries to pull out a shelf and takes an entire section of a wall. she comments on how she couldnt tell that it was suppossed to be a part of the wall in the first place and honestly? i couldnt tell either. it just feels unnatural and dead in there and i decide to leave immediately. I take the ladder on the way back up and feel refreshed

since we’re all set in we head back into town to explore some more, on the way there we see a a couple dance and play groups and stuff like that performing in the streets, most of the members are middle school age with some adults, we stop at a large one featuring a dance troop performing some thing based on disneys pocahontas, with actual native americans playing the different parts but it still reaaaaaaaally doesnt feel right (i comment on this to my brother)

cut forward to the end of one scene and this dude dressed as a raccoon introduces himself as haaving the very important role of allowing people to kick him in the stomach (he has that cartoon bully voice like, that dude from phineas and ferb or campcamp) and then of course im like WHAT THE FUCK and step the fuck in cause i aint abt to watch this stocky ass little kid get his ass beat

This offends raccoon dude and this next part is really fuzzy, probably because too much happened in this part of the dream and ive been up for abt an hour now so memory of the dream is starting to fade, but during this part one of raccoon kids legs gets broken and i get dragged to the top of a giant fucking dam above where the performance is going to continue. Raccoon kid explains that he has obtained special permission to have people kick his neck instead. He demonstrates this with a drawing of a multicolored striped worm? Like, pointing at one stripe and saying kick me here, (this is played for laughs)

So the dam im on towers above every single building ive seen in the entire area, as even the department store was only 2 very short levels tall, and thats when it really clicks that something is absolutely not fucking right with this area, like, with how many people are here how do they fit in such small buildings?? Etc etc cause it just doesnt match

Before i get murdered or something i dunno, dylan steps in from either the troop or somewhere else? And we fucking book it

Dreams going to be out of order now but essentially what happens is us fucking booking it from a bunch of people, and heres just some bullet points before this turns into a fucking essay

Get back to where i stay thinking im safe

Mom stabs out camera in my phone on accident

Not safe there so me and dylan try to find a safe place in various hotels, every single one we check in this building has people fucking or about to fuck so we book right as those group of men in black break in to try and get us, they arent even in suits or anything theyre really obviously supposed to be undercover but theyre all in black so???? Stick out bad

We leave the city and its the next day by now, next segment of dream is us hiding in various patches of grass and bushes while cops on horses run around trying to find us, (several minutes of this is just them continually jumping directly above where we are, the timing feels like it’s supposed to be comedic)im very scared of getting stepped on, legs are starting to hurt from runninng and we’re getting hungry

Next area is also extremely grassy, less yellow toned as the area before, just feels safe here, i take a nap in a concrete thing, its like.. If u took a drawing of a football and raised the outlines of the shape up like walls, it titled down the hill slightly and ended in water, like a really weird version of the things that we have that let our creeks and stuff pass under  roads

Theres two dudes playing football or something nearby, they seem nice and dont bother us except to make sure we’re okay (i dont like jocks so this surprises me)

Im not sure if this next part was real in the dream or not as my dream self was very disoriented at this point, i fed an enderman a marshmellow and almost drown, this is somehow an older womans fault?

So cops catch up again and we waid through a flooded area of something.. Not sure if im underground or in a city its just dark and cold and wet and feels like death, get out of there mercifully quick, need to rest but cant

I lose my shoes at some point during this and comment to dylan that i have to get shoes or im not going to last, legs hurt a lot at this point, running on adrenaline alone

So we go to target!

We get split up

I keep going to the sports section? Somehow manage to blend in the building at different points so i have a bit to rest my legs as four just, normal cashier type guys keep trying to catch me, i kno im going to collapse soon

I put on some shoes and im about to walk out in them calmly as ive realised i blend in at this point, im recognised either by the bright blue shirt im wearing or my face as one of the target workers is a coworker of mine

He comes across as kinda malicious, i dont remember his name atm but hes the guy who thinks its okay to say ret*rded because its uuuuuur fault for getting offended

I get tackled down and give up, legs were going to give out soon anyway, im not sure where dylan is as we got separated ages ago and adreniline kicks back in but im pinned by 4 people so its hopeless

And then i woke up, heart rate was really fast, i thinkk i slept almost exactly 8 hours

so things that stick out the most in this dream, inclusion of real people, the extreme detail and the consistant use of nature as something sinister, like false hope or something